Hope it's up to standard, enjoy!
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Chapter 22
"What do you mean you interrogated her?" Yang leveled her gaze dangerously at Jaune, who refused to take his eyes off the unconscious hybrid. He felt his throat tighten as the memory of what had happened flashed before his eyes, bringing with it all the guilt he managed to pack away.
"She had information we needed." Jaune tried to explain while the void in his stomach expanded. "After we realized she was part of the White-Fang we knew more would be coming. We needed to know more."
"So you commanded the Grimm inside you to torture her ." The creature finished Jaune's sentence with resentment touching it's voice. Jaune knew he should argue but he couldn't find it in him to do so.
Even if he didn't "command" Whitback to do anything, it was still his fault the girl attack them in the first place. He was the one who couldn't think of a better alternative to killing his assassin, forcing Whitback to think of a way to protect him while keeping her alive. He was the one who needed protecting.
"Jaune commanded me to do nothing but spare her life!" Jaune was too wrapped in his own thoughts to notice Whitback taking control. "I was ready to devour her every cell! Jaune is the only reason she's even alive." Whitback all but yelled at the creature before taking it's mask off to glare at the blonde haired human that continued to stare at Jaune with open hostility.
"You seem to be under the impression that Jaune is the monster here." It could feel the pit in Jaune, the feeling of remorseless self-hatred that consumed it's only friend. "Allow me to correct you. I am the one who made Jaune look like this. I am the one who devoured flesh and bone alike. I am the one who tore it's way into the mind of a defenseless faunus to get at the information within."
Whitback continued to glare ferociously at Yang while resisting the urge to rip her into pieces, how could Jaune enjoy the company of these apes so much? "And to be clear; I would do it all again in an instant, if it meant protecting the one I love."
The entire room fell into a stunned silence, even inside Whitback's head Jaune couldn't think of anything to say. "I believe introductions are in order." Ozpin spoke up, noticing the confusion plastered over the girl's faces. "Everyone, this is Jaune's protector; Whitback."
"Grande Protector." Whitback corrected curtly, glancing sideways to the silver haired human that spoke before turning to the Grimm it had unfortunately created. "And if you think I have forgotten who blew his limbs off you are woefully mistaken." It could see the creature as nothing but a mistake and worse still, a threat to Jaune that it created.
"Now I want you to give me one good reason why I should even allow her to wake up." Whitback motioned to the unconscious woman, knowing she wouldn't remain as such for much longer.
"You know when Lucy and I first escaped I had no intentions of confronting you." The creature returned the look blankly, it's lack of facial features making it next to impossible to predict it's thoughts. "You've been alive so much longer than me, you are so much stronger, but she didn't care."
It gently placed a hand on it's host, it's tone shifting to something more akin to affection. "She fixated on finding the one who stole the last bit of joy from her life, finding herself faced against a beast she couldn't hope to defeat." It chuckled to itself, looking down at the Faunus woman who unwilling had to suffer to bring it into the world. "She didn't care…"
"Get down!" Whitback yelled, noticing the minute movements of the creatures biomass and recognizing the incoming attack. The following explosion lacked any flames but carried enough concussive force to turn the creatures hardened biomass into a lethal storm of shrapnel.
With such little time to react all Jaune's teammates could do was hit the ground and hope their aura held against the onslaught of projectiles. Whitback refused to take the risk to Jaune's psyche and threw his shield into the ground, covering Ruby's prone figure while using it's body armor to cover Weiss and Yang as much as it could.
No one in the room was significantly injured by the sudden attack and yet it did what the Grimm had wanted, Lucy's body having disappeared from the desk and out the window. Whitback rushed to the freshly shattered glass, berating itself for failing to foresee the creatures intentions.
"We won't let them hurt anyone else." Neither Whitback nor Jaune checked to see if anyone heard them before leaping out of the window.
\-/
Lucy bounded through the forest, weaving around any obstacle with ease while she made her way towards the city. Even if Jaune was stronger than her the city would provide so much cover, noise and smells it would be next to impossible to track her.
I'm glad you're finally seeing reason. The voice spoke in her head, sending a shiver down her spine and drawing a frown to her face. "Why are you helping me?" When she had first heard the voice she thought it was just a hallucination brought on by trauma but that didn't explain how it could talk to others. How it could save her life. What do you mean?
"If you're not just a hallucination, then you're some kind of Grimm." She explained, feeling more than a little awkward talking to herself. "Why would a creature of Grimm help a Faunus?" It didn't make any sense, Grimm were supposed to be creatures of darkness that sought only destruction.
All I have experienced is thanks to you, without you I would not even exist. The voice sounded quieter, almost saddened. Without you I am nothing. It wanted nothing more than for her to understand, for her to trust it.
Lucy didn't know how to respond, this Grimm did not make her think of the bloodthirsty beasts that beat upon the walls of every kingdom. If anything it reminded her of a child, desperately seeking approval and validation.
It didn't take long for them to make it through the forest, considering the mental map and training Lucy's last job provided the Grimm inside her. Upon entering the city, Lucy found her senses completely flooded just like they had when she escaped the police station.
"You got through this once, you can do it again." She told herself, taking a calming breath and moving forward. She needed a quiet place to lie low and think clearly, and she knew only one part of Vale that could provide such a thing with few questions asked.
She began making her way to the cheaper area of the residential district when she noticed just how quiet the Grimm was being. "Hey Grimm? you still there?" She spoke under her breath, not wanting the humans around her to hear. They were already giving her strange looks for her physical features, best not to give them more of a reason to report her to the cops.
Huh…? Sorry just feeling a little… overwhelmed. It sounded slow, as if it had drank too much the night before. She knew that wasn't a good sign and that she should hurry up, she knew they were being hunted but something kept distracting her. Something so sweet it made her stomach twist while bringing her thoughts to a crawl.
"What is that smell…?" The Grimm didn't answer and Lucy began to pick up the pace, trying to focus on just getting to where she needed to go. Where did she need to go again…? She needed to get somewhere safe but why couldn't she remember where that was? Or why she needed to get there in the first place.
Why would she need to go somewhere else when that smell was surrounding her now? She didn't need to go anywhere, all she needed to do was find that scent and… What would she do?
Lucy found herself looking around the streets that slowly began to empty, the setting sun signifying the end of most work days. That's when she noticed him, one of the few humans too caught up in their life to actively cross the street and avoid her.
He was a small man, made smaller by the way he slumped with his hands buried in his pockets and a scowl on his face. His mumbling let everyone within earshot know he wasn't having a good day, causing most people to avoid him. Lucy didn't notice any of that, choosing instead to move right into his path.
The scent was stronger around him, so much so that it was all she could think about. "I need it…" The man froze at the sound of her voice, as did everyone else that was close enough to hear. "I must have it…" She felt her body ripple and shift moments before white and black fluid started leaking from her every orifice, wrapping entirely around her.
A few of the surrounding civilians were smart enough to start running but many could only stare in shock and morbid curiosity. Panic set in once she opened her eyes, the burning red orbs setting alight the survival instinct in every person around her.
She tore through her first victim suddenly and with ease, the man's flesh easily giving way to the jagged claws that covered her hands. As the others began to run in terror the new wave of negativity they created drew her attention, causing tendrils to burst from her torso and seek out the fleeing morsels.
The auraless pedestrians were completely defenseless as the tendrils picked off one, two three, fo-
"No!" A deep voice bellowed followed shortly by a dull smash, The fourth tendril having collided with a shield of pure ivory. Lucy's head snapped to whatever idiot was foolish enough to challenge her, glaring viciously at the colorless knight before her.
"You don't have it, why are you in my way?! I just need it- need it get it. Need to eat it!" She couldn't understand why this dull slab of meat was getting in her way, couldn't it smell the sweet around them!? "Get out of my way!"
\-/
Jaune stared at the twitching mess of a person standing in front of him, his heart feeling like it was being torn in half. He hadn't been fast enough, more people were dead because he couldn't stop her. Because he stupidly forgot to mention what negativity could do. Would more have to die to stop this?
He didn't respond to Lucy's mad ravings, instead bringing his blade behind his shield in his most familiar combat stance. Taking a moment to calm himself and focus on the enemy in front of him, rather than the sweet smell that permeated the air around them.
When she realized he wouldn't back down, she growled in frustration before producing a spear in her hand and throwing it with a guttural roar. The attack struck Jaune's shield dead center with enough force to send him back a couple meters, had he been some wild Grimm it may have been enough to scare him off.
He wouldn't back down though, even with the negativity keeping Whitback from helping, Jaune couldn't risk more people getting hurt . Even now he could catch curious eyes hiding in the shadows just out of distance, why were they just standing there watching? Couldn't they see the danger they were in?
He wanted to wait for an attack but when he saw her move to pursue her previous prey he leapt forward, forgetting defense in his rush to stop her. He landed with a resounding smash, slashing downwards at the same moment only to meet empty air while Lucy stepped out of the way.
She glared at him for no longer than half a second but the way her eyes burned, Jaune suddenly felt he could understand why Yang was so afraid of him. She moved faster than he expected, putting two dents in his armor with her claws before he had a chance to raise his defense properly.
Even with his shield raised she didn't stop striking at him over and over, doing no real damage but preventing him from even thinking of lowering his shield to strike. He could hear her claws breaking against his shield but she seemed fully content to continue wailing on him with the shortened claws.
Lucy finally seemed to accept she wasn't getting anywhere when the tendrils on her torso reformed their tips into what Jaune could only describe as miniature spiked flails. As the whips moved in to crush his skull he jumped backwards, pulling his sword up and swiping at the moderately softer part of the moving tendrils.
With speed he believed would make Qrow proud, he sliced the ends off two of the incoming appendages, dodging the remaining two and advancing quickly. A simple swipe was all it took to rob Lucy of her arms, causing her to hiss in surprise and jump back. Jaune spun and slashed horizontally above himself before she could get too far, relieving her of the remaining tendrils.
Jaune looked down at his sword, surprised how easily it had cut through Lucy's makeshift armor when suddenly he felt his body move forward. Don't get cocky, Whitback warned while attempting to skewer Lucy. The negativity is dying down, but I think that might work against us.
Jaune was about to ask how when an armored kick smashed his skull a moment before a second blow to his ribs sent him to the ground. Focus Jaune! Jaune jumped to his feet, seeing the Grimm had already reformed the majority of it's armor into hands wielding a bowie knife.
It didn't give him a chance to react, attacking him with practiced lethality and inhuman speed. The dagger flashed at him faster than he could track, forcing him to rely on Whitback to defend while he took every opportunity to retaliate that he could. His strikes didn't hit directly but he hoped the few grazing cuts were proof he was at least distracting her.
The exchanged continued until a well placed dagger sent a crack right at Jaune's shoulder joint where the armor was weakest. Whitback identified the issue and abandoned the cumbersome shield and unwieldy sword, switching to unarmed combat without a second thought.
Keeping it's palms open and using the pointed tips of it's gauntlets as claws, Whitback left defense to Jaune and struck out with calculated accuracy. It's first strike tore at the Grimm's wrist, shattering the half-formed bone beneath with ease and forcing it to drop the dagger.
Jaune was sure to sidestep the counter attack while Whitback's second swing ripped half the Grimm's face off, punishing it's lack of armor and exposing the skull beneath. The creature's one good eye stared up at them, no longer burning with feral rage but instead looking more like it was pleading. It did not want to die.
Jaune hesitated, could he really condemn this poor girl to death for running scared and losing control? He and Ozpin had given her plenty of reason to mistrust them and she couldn't have known what negativity could do to her Grimm. He couldn't fully blame her for this; so he hesitated.
Whitback did not.
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This chapter was pretty interesting to write, but maybe that's just because I was juggling several different outcomes before finally finding one i was happy with. I hope i shed a little light as to what makes the sentient Grimm inside Jaune and Lucy tick so to speak, I really enjoy writing with something so alien but still somehow akin to human. As usually I would love to hear any feedback possible in hopes of improving the work i take pride in. Have a wonderful Evening/Morning!
Specter343, Hope i didn't disappoint on the delivery! glad you're still enjoying things, sorry I havn't shown Cinder getting a good walloping yet but she is one crafty bitch. I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Grimm Choices!
Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, Yea i definitely need to plan better, i'm hoping the next story i write I'll have a preplanning phase for the entire thing to keep things a bit more structured so i dont keep stepping on myself. And yes about the assassin! I thought it would make sense to have one of Jaune's victims kind of "come back to haunt him" and though she wasn't around long I would like to hear any feedback on her character (as she is "OC" (Not sure what that or OOC stands for but pretty sure i get the meaning)). Hope you'll let me know what you think of my latest chapter!