Thank you all for coming this far! hope you like this installment of Grimm Choices!

\~/

Chapter 23

Ruby looked nervously between her sister and Weiss, both of who hadn't said a word since they left Ozpin's office. Instead Weiss was looking intently at her scroll, tapping at it every so often while Yang just laid on her bed with a far off look in her eyes.

Ruby knew her sister was deep in thought, she could see the way her brow crinkled slightly but didn't quite know how she could help. Why did things have to be so complicated? Jaune didn't really deserve to be feared so much, did he?

"So…" Ruby got Yang's attention but Weiss was seemingly too caught up in her scroll to notice her leader speak. "Are you still mad…?" Ruby asked cautiously, not wanting to provoke her sister but not willing to let things remain so suffocatingly quiet.

Yang sat up and stared for a few seconds, a series of expression crossing over her face while she thought of what to say. Or maybe how to say it. "I'm not mad…" She started, letting out a long sigh "I'm scared, alright?" She didn't meet Ruby's eyes, instead looking downwards with a deep frown.

"But why?" Ruby asked quietly, she couldn't understand how this situation could be any scarier than being surrounded by Grimm or bandits. Sure Jaune wasn't normal and could do some amazing and potentially terrifying things but so could any of them.

In the eyes of the average person anyone with aura could be scary, and semblances? They could be downright terrifying. Why did Yang see Jaune so differently than everyone else? Did it matter that much if he had a Grimm inside him? He still wanted to do the right thing, didn't that count for something?

"Isn't it obvious?" Yang looked to Ruby with genuine confusion, as if asking how could her little sister not see something so obvious. "He's stronger than any of us, maybe even all of us. He could do anything he wanted and no one could stop him." The blonde looked up to Ruby with a hint of desperation.

"If he attacked you, I don't know how I could protect you, and if he killed you…" Tears touched her lilac eyes as her voice quieted. "I almost lost you to them once… I won't let it happen again." Ruby did the only thing she could think of, giving the biggest hug she could muster.

"Yang… I'm not going anywhere. Why do you think he'll hurt us?" It didn't make sense, since becoming there teammate all he had done is try to help. With combat, with studies, all he tried to do was help. How could she be afraid of that?

"Because that's what Grimm do." She spoke with quiet certainty "They will keep taking until you have nothing… left" Her voice was barely above a whisper "Just like they took mom from us… Just like they tried to take you…"

Ruby felt her stomach twist as a metaphorical light bulb lit up in her head, it all made sense. Yang couldn't get wrap her head around the idea that Jaune, or Whitback, were not feral beasts like the other Grimm. Even if they were smarter than average Grimm, she believed they still had the Grimm's seemingly endless thirst for destruction.

"But if that were true" Ruby started, her mind going to what Whitback had said "Why did it say all that about "protecting the one it loved"?" Sure it could have been lying but so could anyone, people were innocent until proven guilty not the other way around. "Jaune is not some mindless Grimm like the ones we've seen,"

"he's our friend."

\-/

"But how can you be so sure," Yang continued to press, though she found herself doubting her own words more and more "Even if he's still the same person you have no idea what that person was like. What if he used to be a criminal or killer or something?" She knew she was grasping at straws now but she couldn't stop how she felt.

Her little sister was sleeping right above someone who could basically do whatever he wanted, how could she let that go?! Who knew what kind of upbringing he had!? At least with someone like Pyrrha you knew she was raised by Hunters, people with a strong will and understanding of what their power could do if used wrong.

"I don't think you have to worry about that." Weiss interrupted "He was raised in a small town called Ansel by a couple named Jack and Jane Arc along with seven other sisters." Weiss didn't take her eyes off her scroll, clearly reading directly from some kind of document.

"How do you-" Weiss stopped Ruby's question by turning her scroll around and showing her a picture of a young, blonde haired boy, underneath which was a paragraph titled "Early Life".

Yang grabbed the scroll, ignoring Weiss' protest and began skimming through the various paragraph titles. "Early life, pre-experiment, post experiment, abilities, personality" She stopped as she reached a video player with several videos available. "Weiss, how do you have this?"

Weiss looked unsure how to answer "Well… Remember how I said everything happening with Jaune reminded me of something?" Yang nodded slowly while debating to play a video. "Well I asked my older sister if she knew anything about it, turns out Jaune was an… experiment of my father's." Weiss didn't look pleased, disgusted was more the word Yang would use.

"It says he was taken in after his entire family was killed, can your dad really do that?" Yang was lost for words, sure she had read stories online about the big bad corporations and governments but it was supposed to be just that; stories.

"He can't seriously just take people… right?"

\-/

Weiss turned away, feeling shame well up inside her "I…"She wanted desperately to agree with Yang, to say that her father was nothing but a smart businessman and leave it at that. But she couldn't hide when the truth was staring her right in the eye. "I wish I could say otherwise…"

Weiss had always disliked her father, as a child she barely saw him and even when he was around he basically refused to acknowledge her. It wasn't until later that her dislike turned to some more akin to hatred, when she began learning what kind of man he truly was. Faunus and human rights violations, corporate sabotage, and contract killing were among the few things she learned through the vents of her father's office.

"Hey…" Yang interrupted her thoughts by softly squeezing her hand, surprising Weiss with how gentle the brawler's hands could be. She cleared her throat suddenly and quickly collected herself, realizing that she was staring.

"...Well? Going to press play or just keep gawking?" She pushed the attention off herself while taking her hand back, keenly aware of the sudden lack of heat soon after. Had Yang always been so warm?

The moment Yang clicked on the video the top-down image was focused on a young blond boy strapped down to what looked like an operating table. His eyes were wide with fear as he stared at the massive needle looming overtop his body.

As the video continued the girls fell into a grim silence, no one sure what to say once the graphic transformation came to an end. "That was… really messed up." Yang finally spoke, saying what everyone was thinking.

Weiss had known her father was a horrible person but hearing how he spoke in the video, speaking of an innocent child as nothing more than a lab rat? It was a good reminder to say the least.

Ruby's face was completely downcasted, sorrow almost radiating from her but she said nothing. Yang to a glance to her sister before handing the scroll back "Here," she was quiet, sounding almost as defeated as Ruby looked "I don't think we need to see any more..."

Weiss nodded and tucked her scroll away, feeling like the room had been sapped of life. How could her father be so heartless? Any doubts she might have held about his cruelty were smashed in an instant. He was a psychopath, a criminal that needed to be stopped.

She took a breath to calm herself, they was no point in getting worked up when she could do nothing to change the situation. She was already at beacon to become strong enough to live free of that tyrant, she needed to focus on one thing at a time. First she needed independence, once achieved she could work on taking the Schnee name back from him.

\-/

Jaune made sure to leave the scene of his fight as quickly as possible, ignoring the looks passerby's gave him in his rush to get back home. He didn't want to talk to anyone, not now. not after having to put down a terrified woman like some rabid Grimm.

He could still remember the brutality of it, not the fight itself but the very end; when everyone could see Jaune stood victorious. Normally his enemy would be killed and absorbed in moments, over before it began kind of deal. Not that time.

Even after winning they couldn't just let her walk away, couldn't risk her absorbing the nearby bystanders so they finished the job. It took much longer than Jaune expected, even on what seemed like the brink of death, the Grimm inside her fought with everything it had in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

He wanted to blame Whitback, say it was all it's fault and that he was powerless to stop it. But Jaune hated lying, hated it so much that he refused to look away from the truth, even when it hurts. He could have stopped Whitback whenever he wanted, could have forced it to spare Lucy's life and deal with the consequences himself.

But her was afraid. He didn't know what she would have done, who else she might have hurt so he let Whitback simplify the problem. It turned his stomach, was he really so cowardly? So hypocritical? Was he really so afraid of being responsible for his own actions?

He looked up after a few minutes of running, finding himself in the emerald forest once more. "Not far now." He mumbled to himself before looking towards Beacon "I wonder if she's still mad." He could still picture the look Yang had given him, like he was something less than human.

We need to replenish our biomass Jaune, perhaps we should spend tonight outside? Jaune idly thought Whitback's words should have made him feel worse, like he was more Grimm than human or something. But honestly he only felt relief, maybe he was a bit cowardly. At least he wouldn't have to worry about it for a few more hours.

"Sure, let's do some hunting."

\-/

Roman sat on his couch inside his apartment, inhaling deeply from his cigar while he enjoyed one of the few nights he had to himself. The regular dust robberies were only getting harder and if he was being honest, he was starting to get bored stealing the same thing over and over with no real reward to show for it.

Sure his current "Boss", if you could call her that, paid him incredibly well but that didn't change the fact that he was being forced to do something. To say it cut at his pride would be a gross understatement, he loathed the idea of being someone's dog. He was Roman Tortchwick for fuck's sake! Was the greatest thief in all of Remnant really going to keep doing what some crazy rich bitch ordered?

…

...Probably…

A click from the door brought him from his thoughts, seeing his favorite tri-colored enforcer walking in with a tub of ice cream already in her hands. How she could eat so much of the junk and still remain so tiny confounded him to no end but he wasn't stupid enough to say anything about it.

"Find what you were looking for?" He asked his partner, getting a bright and rather childish smile as a response. Roman could only chuckle at her, sometimes she could act like such a kid. Even if she could rip apart most full-grown men with ease.

She sat down on the couch next to him, swallowing another spoon full of the sweet frozen treat before fishing out her scroll and handing it to Roman with and odd smile on her face. "Something you want to tell me?" He asked while flicking the screen on, revealing what looked to be a fan-made Hunter forum.

She shook her head and pointed at the scroll "You really expect me to go through this drivel without a drink?" He asked while skimming over some of the newest posts. They were exactly what he expected from propaganda drinking sheep that only watch the Hunters because they "looked cool". None of them understood just how horrifying the grimm were, and by extension the Hunters that preyed on them.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Neo placed her treat aside and took the scroll back, scrolling through it some before handing it back with a huff and glare. Roman put his hands up in mock surrender, a grin tugging at his lips while he took the scroll back and looked at what the little demon wanted him to see.

He felt his spine involuntarily straighten at the image of a familiar white knight in a video's thumbnail. Looking back at Neo who's smile only grew while she nodded, he could almost feel the excitement radiating from her.

"You know I can't tell if you want to fight him or fuck him." That earned him a hard jab in the ribs, forcing him to drop his cigar "Suppose I deserved that…" He groaned while producing a replacement and lighting it, hitting play at the same time.

The video was shaky at best with what sounded to be teens or young adults speaking in the background. "You guys heard that right? Tell me you just heard that fucking thing talk…!" A voice hissed out "Dude, shut the fuck up. My scroll wont hear them if you keep bitching back there!" Came the "cameraman's" response

A loud smash echoed before the video focused on Jaune and something that looked almost human, if it wasn't for the tendrils, claws, and strange fluid-like skin. Roman could recognize the black and white fluid-like substance almost immediately as the same thing Jaune used to kill his henchmen and destroy one of his safehouses.

It brought up a few questions, like why would he be fighting his own ability? Or was this someone else's power? Was there more people like Jaune? Should he start running now or could his "boss" really handle it like she said she could?

The creature turned suddenly and looked at the camera a moment before the image fell to the floor, the "cameraman" having dropped his scroll in shock. It took a few seconds of fumbling for the image to refocus on the fight, showing the creature basically trying to maul Jaune.

The back and forth continued for another few seconds until Jaune got the advantage, cleaving the majority of the creatures limbs from her body. "See that!? No Aura, told you it wasn't a person. Just some new Grimm for the Huntsmen to slaughter" a new voice called in the background, a moment before the creature's "outer layer" shifted and formed hands and a large combat knife.

"long hair, slender figure, ya I'm telling you that's a chick." The second voice spoke again, oblivious to the sudden shift in the fight in front of them. Roman guessed most of the civilians watching wouldn't notice just how drastically the fight changed when the creature properly armed itself.

Roman could see it attacking not just random weak spots in the joints but aiming for a single joint with practiced accuracy. Jaune almost seemed to struggle for a moment, then he abandoned his weapons and changed the fight once more before ending it entirely.

Neo shivered next to him, though he noted she looked less scared and more excited by the sudden, brutal strikes. If he hadn't known what kind of monster Jaune was even he would have had to admit it how impressive it was to do so much damage unarmed.

The pair stared at each other in silence for a second before Jaune brought his fist down mercilessly onto the kneeling figure, producing an audible crack that was felt even through the small speakers of the scroll.

The body landed with a thud, twitching here and there while a pool of black liquid spread slowly outward. Jaune turned around, the area so silent his footsteps could be heard as he moved to retrieve his sword and shield.

As soon as he turned around the black liquid that had surrounded the body moved, wrapping itself around the corpse. Suddenly the corpse was on it's feet, covered in a pitch black materiel and charging towards the camera. It was moving much slower than earlier but much faster than any untrained civvy could hope to escape from.

That said, it wasn't nearly fast enough to escape the white blade that burst from it's chest. Roman could see black tendrils beat helplessly against armor as Jaune yanked his sword free and proceeded to weave his blade like almost like a conductor.

they were close enough to the recording scroll that the sound of limbs being freed from their home could be heard clearly. The black liquid continue to move around the limbs but it had slowed significantly and even looked to begin disintegrating.

Jaune stood over the liquid, cutting off any pitch black tendril that either tried to attack him or escape. The seconds turned to minutes and the last of the blackened liquid turned to dust in the wind, leaving nothing but a pile of heavily damaged bones behind.

Without even looking up Jaune turned and ran off, leaving the video to end and Roman with more questions than he started with. He decided it ultimately wasn't worth the trouble to think about, at the end of the day if the kid didn't start guarding dust than why should he care?

Turning to Neo, Roman saw her going over the video again as if she enjoyed simply watching someone be as ruthless as she was.

"Send me that video, I'm pretty sure our… "Boss" will want to see it."

\~/

This chapter had me going back a bit and relooking at some of the earlier chapters and I admit i fell a bit discouraged sometimes looking at all the errors I made. Not saying i feel like giving up, frankly I'm still overall pleased with the progression of the story but I suppose what I'm saying is thanks for sticking with this story so far! Even with the mistakes made I'm hoping to finish this one and possibly start another one with much more planning! Anyhow, as usual I really hope this chapter maintains or improves the quality of the story and I truly hope you all have a wonderful day/night!

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, That makes sense! I had a vague idea but thanks for clearing it up, I suppose that would make most if not all my characters OOC but honestly not really sure how I've been keeping in that respect. Can't wait to hear if you think I made Yang's reaction believable! honestly I couldn't remember if she called Summer "mom" but i know she saw her as a wonderful mother figure! either way hope you like the chapter!