Beta reader: Actualize (a member of the SpaceBattles forums)
In the end, he didn't have to wait long for Ruby to show up. She arrived from the treeline, and beside her came a tall girl, dressed in black and white and with a strangely shaped bow on her head. For a second he swore that it had moved against the wind.
He must have been more tired than he thought.
Ruby's face lit up at the sight of him and... disappeared completely? He recoiled as she abruptly appeared right in front of him. How...? Rose petals scattered over the ground she had crossed, drifting slowly to land on the grass below. People couldn't move at that speed, no matter how much help they had from their aura. She must have used her semblance.
"Jaune! I'm so happy you made it! And..." She disappeared again and reappeared right in front of Pyrrha, in a thoughtful pose. "I think I've seen you somewhere, but I can't remember. Well, it doesn't matter! " She went back to him, using her semblance, of course, and gave him a big hug. "I was afraid that something had happened to you!"
"Have a little more faith in me," he told her as he grinned. "Even if it doesn't look like it, I'm a knight."
Ruby laughed softly against his chest. She separated from him much more slowly than she had hugged him.
"Yes, you are. My sincerest apologies." She opened her eyes wide and flapped her eyelashes. Perhaps she was imitating something she had seen her sister do? "Can you forgive me?"
"Of course. To forgive a lady's transgressions is also natural for a knight."
Ruby couldn't go on with their little performance. She folded, giving a surprisingly high-pitched laughter that was still quite pleasant to behold. Then she made a face as if she had remembered something before blushing and looking away.
Jaune grimaced. Okay, now it was undeniable that something was wrong with her. He would keep an eye on her.
Well, he had been planning to do that anyway.
"Well? How did it go?" she asked, referring to the trip through the forest.
"I haven't had a chance to show off," he admitted. "We haven't come across a single Grimm. And the way things are progressing, it looks like I'm not going to. All we have to do now is head back to the cliff."
"Oh, I'm sorry. It must be... disappointing?"
"To be honest? I don't care. Getting into the academy is enough for me."
"Ruby," the other girl said as she finally arrived at the group after having been left behind when Ruby used her semblance. "I understand that you want to catch up, but this is neither the time nor the place to start a discussion."
Jaune glared at her. She was right, but that didn't meant he had to like hearing it.
"True. I'm sorry," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your partner?"
"Blake Belladonna," she replied succinctly. "And your companion is Pyrrha Nikos."
"Oh! She's..." said Ruby with a frown. "...No, actually I'm still not sure where I've heard her name."
Blake entered the temple, looked around. She finally picked up a white knight piece. Jaune took the other and put it in his pocket. That did not go unnoticed by the girl, but she made no comment. Good.
The earth shook under his feet.
At first he thought he had imagined it. He hadn't.
"Ruby," Jaune called her.
"What?"
"Get ready. Something's coming."
That something turned up to be a Death Stalker, which burst into the clearing, almost tearing two trees from the ground to make way. Almost as if it had been following the other creature, a Nevermore appeared shortly after with a frightful squawk, flexing his wings.
His streak of good luck had ended quickly and violently, just as it usually did.
"Okay," Ruby started saying. "How about we run?" Seeing no one disagree, she added, "Great! Let's go!"
Jaune turned his head to look at Ruby, surprised.
Run from this? From a simple Death Stalker and a Nevermore?
He had killed many Death Stalkers before, and this would be no different. He would slay it with his sword like so many others. Also...
Also, he had fought more than half of his life for Ruby, so that she could keep smiling no matter what. Now was the perfect time to show her the results of all his effort and sacrifices. He stepped forward and drew the sword, holding it with both hands. The shield remained where it was.
They said the best defense was a good offense. He believed it too.
At least when one fought the Grimm. That did not necessarily apply to human opponents.
He threw himself at the beast, fast as lightning. A few inches from it, he stopped suddenly and spun in a quick, intense pirouette, narrowly avoiding the creature's claws and darting to its side. Its movements were clumsy, too slow. Either it hadn't been long since its 'birth' or it was already wounded. But did it matter?
He took the opportunity to cut off a pair of its legs using the momentum of his spin, and the creature lost its balance, falling sideways to the ground. The ground shook beneath their feet due to its immense size. Before it could recover, he leaped over the pincer that was now resting against the ground, and stabbed his weapon through one of its eyes and into the center of its head, where its brain would be if it was a normal animal.
Although the Grimm lacked normal biology, their weak points still adhered to logic. The head, the heart, the stomach.
The creature roared in pain, or perhaps rage, and lashed out with its pincers and its stingers with the sole idea of trying to kill him, or at least hurt him, forcing him to dodge as the poisoned stinger slammed home in the spot he'd been standing mere instants before. As if to compete with it, Jaune forced the sword deeper into its head as he let out a hoarse, malignant scream, full of disgust and rage. As if he were vomiting his soul.
When it finally died, he rested a boot on his head and pulled the sword out with all his might, but it was lodged in place.
Before he could try yanking it out a second time, he saw a shower of feathers falling towards him. Someone shouted a warning, but by then he was already on the move. He gave up his efforts, took out the shield, kneeled on the ground and unfolded it until it reached its full size just in time to block a feather that would've made a direct hit. The feather clanged against the thick metal, but the shield held.
When the bombing ended, Jaune rose to his feet. Silently, and without looking away from the Nevermore, he finished pulling out his sword with one hand, the Death Stalker's corpse having decayed enough for it to be freed.
The terrain did not favor him. They were in an open field, so the creature would always have him in its field of vision. In addition, he lacked long-distance weaponry, so he could only wait for the Nevermore to pounce on him to be able to attack the creature. He deemed that unlikely in the current circumstances.
His reasoning was simple.
The Nevermore had watched his brief battle with the Death Stalker even though they could have attacked together, so that it could observe his abilities without endangering itself. This was a clear sign of advanced intelligence. In addition, the creature was accustomed to making human beings who were capable of defending themselves its prey.
In other words, he could not expect it to commit the typical imprudence of an animal that did not know and could not understand what it was up against.
It was time to retreat.
He turned his back, and ran.
He realized that the glances of others were fixed on him, and stopped suddenly. In fact, he had so far forgotten that he was not alone. He was not accustomed to having someone watch his back, much less three people.
"Wow, Jaune... that, that was awesome," Ruby said. Her cheeks were a little red.
"No. It's just my duty."
The Nevermore squawked and lunged at them like a bullet, giving them all the motivation they needed to get the hell out of there.
While wondering whether it would be best to run to the cliff, despite everything, or stay and fight, Jaune took a moment to glance at his phone to measure his aura.
It was still at 100%. As it should be, for he had not yet received a blow.
Of course. As long as he remained in control, he had nothing to worry about.
He slipped the phone away as the trees ahead began to thin, revealing a ruined structure built around the side of the cliff. A stone bridge crossed a deep, vast ravine, beyond which a stone building was set into the cliff face. It must've been the way back up to the top. A massive pillar stretched up from the center of the ravine, supporting the bridge, and on a couple offshoot bridges that lead to nowhere, several pillars stood in various states of decay. Those pillars would put him in a position to reach the Nevermore, if he acted at the right time. On the other hand, if he took too long to do so or the opportunity did not present itself, the beast could corner and kill them. He was well aware of the risks involved in taking a position in such a place, which seemed about to collapse even without the help of a giant creature.
It may not have been the best option, but it seemed that no one was going to offer an alternative, so he would settle for that.
The Nevermore lunged again.
Not towards them, but towards the bridge they were crossing. In response, they could do nothing but increase the speed. And hope it was enough.
It wasn't.
The ground shook beneath their feet as the enormous creature split the bridge in two, and at the same time divided the group, though not perfectly. While the three girls had managed to cross, being swifter with their lighter equipment than his own armor, sword, and shield, he was stuck on the forest side of the bridge. Barely, he skidded to a stop a moment before he would've fallen down into the dark pit below, and he had a sudden vision of his body being splattered as it hit the ground, his brain and organs scattered everywhere like food arranged for a hellish feast.
His courage almost failed him.
The break in the bridge was wide, but he needed to get across. He could see Ruby waiting on the other side, and he had no way of helping from here. He tossed his shield to the other side because he couldn't waste time putting it on his back, and on the other side, Pyrrha managed to catch it. Without wasting a moment, he jumped. For a moment he thought he was going to fail, the gap being just slightly too wide, but he managed to pierce the sword into the broken edge of the bridge, managing to avoid falling into the deep ravine below... But then the bridge began to crumble further, cracks widening around his sword simultaneously with his eyes.
His legs swayed in the air, they found nothing to lean on. He was going to fall and die. That nightmarish vision he'd had, it was coming true.
He heard raised voices above the bridge, but couldn't make out what they were saying.
The depths of the ravine seemed to spin when he glanced down, and hurriedly, he looked back up to see those beautiful bright silver eyes looking earnestly upon him.
Suddenly, something wrapped around one of his ankles.
It was a thin black ribbon, dagger on his end hooking onto his greaves and on the other end tied to something out of sight above the bridge. Before he could react, it retracted, dragging him up with it despite its flimsy appearance.
In the process, his head slammed against the bridge side and it hurt more than he expected, almost making him drop his blade. It hurt more than normal. His aura...
It was still on, but it was fragile. Not because of the blow. Because of the fear, the loss of control.
"Thank you, Blake!" Ruby said as he landed upon the bridge, worried expression fading.
The girl with the ribbon had saved his neck, that was clear. The ribbon that wrapped around his ankle, it had come out of her weapon, and he saw how it returned to her. Her expression was cold, empty, like that of a porcelain doll. It didn't make sense... but he imagined that deep down she was making fun of him for acting this way.
Jaune rose. And he immediately threw himself aside to avoid another volley of feathers, which were driven deep into the stone of the bridge, crumbling it further as the group moved to the center, where it was more steady. The adult Nevermore found it difficult to maneuver because of their enormous size and all the weight that accompanied it. That's why she had managed to save him in time, and even then it had been a close thing.
He hurried to recover his shield, receiving it back from Pyrrha. Even without it he was not helpless, far from it, but...
A cascade of blood. A defiled soul.
Nothing. Nothing.
"Okay," said Ruby. "And now what can we...? Jaune, wait!"
He climbed to the top of one of the pillars at full speed, almost as if he were walking on the ground instead of climbing. Before that, of course, he had ascertained that it would serve his purposes.
"Ruby, break it!"
"What?"
"The pillar. Trust me."
Ruby didn't seem very convinced, but she split the pillar in two with her Crescent Rose. His half of the pillar began toppling into the void, only to be halted as it slammed into the side of the cliff. Almost immediately it cracked across the center, breaking in half and with both pieces falling into the darkness- but that was no longer his concern. As soon as the top of the pillar had slammed into the cliff face, he had leaped across, hands piercing into the sheer wall and forming handholds.
Finding more hand and footholds above him, he quickly began scaling the cliff, climbing high. What he planned to do would be a little complicated, but he had already done things like this before. He knew he would manage. And it was dangerous, but all the fear he had felt so far had turned into rage. To hell with waiting for that animal to come within reach. He was going to drag it to the ground with his own hands.
As he climbed, he kept the Nevermore in the corner of his eye at all times. It had stopped in the middle of the air, out of reach of the others, and now it was looking at him. Its eyes reflected a thirst for blood that went beyond what any animal was capable of.
It didn't stay that way for long, of course, as the others immediately took advantage of the opportunity to try to shot it out of the sky and was forced to maneuver in the air to avoid shots from three different directions.
When it went on the attack, it did so with a speed that was also unnatural, but to which he was accustomed. He had killed larger, fiercer creatures in all his years as a hunter. He was not going to allow fear to blind him.
Jaune remained in place, ignoring whatever was being shouted at him below.
Blood reverberated in his ears.
He was shaking, not out of fear, but out of excitement.
At the last moment, where the creature's wing swept the cliff above him aiming to cause a landslide and push him into the abyss, he leaped up and back, legs together and arms outstretched like the wings of an eagle, blade ready in one hand. For a moment, it seemed to him that was what he was doing: flying.
The wind howled, forcing him to squint, but he saw the Nevermore just above him. Its vast shape was impossible to miss. He switched Crocea Mors into a reverse grip, and as he reached the peak of his jump, he slammed the blade home into the beasts chest. For him, hunting had always been a duty, but as his sword pierced into its chest all the way to the hilt, his heart filled with a pleasure he had never felt before, a pleasure he believed himself incapable of since then. He felt his lips curve into a smile.
The Nevermore squawked in pain. Perhaps even out of fear, if the Grimm could feel fear.
It thrashed in pain, its wing slamming against the cliff side and his body being crushed between it and the Nevermore, but he held onto the sword lodged inside its body. Its blood, thick and black, dripped, ran down his face, his hands. One of the claws of the creature raked his stomach, but he didn't even feel it.
Jaune laughed stridently, half-crazed, if he had ever been sane, as if to make himself heard above the howl of the wind and the squawks of the creature dying above him.
Then they fell, and he found the blade slipping free from its chest.
He imagined his head exploding like a watermelon when it hit the ground. Even if that wouldn't happen, he did not believe that his aura would save him from such a fall.
He stretched out his arms. Trying to grab something, anything, as he parted ways from the Grimm that was falling into the ravine's depths.
He didn't want to die like this. Not so soon.
He felt arms around him, the warmth of a body. That made him open his eyes suddenly. Ruby... He didn't know how, but Ruby had caught him in the middle of the air and now they were falling together. She'd slammed into him, pushing them towards the platform. The edge of her Crescent Rose was near one of his eyes. He looked at her face as it appeared in the reflection of the metal, as if hypnotized.
His heart stopped.
Suddenly he forgot how to breathe properly.
It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. Her. She was the most beautiful. Even without his promise, what he saw in her eyes was clearly the greatest treasure in the world, and it surprised, frightened, and even hurt him a little that others apparently could not see what he saw.
Not just her name, everything about her was full of magic.
Eternity abruptly ended. They crashed down on one of the offshoot bridges covered in pillars, and his ankle snapped as they slid across the stone. It took him several seconds to realize that he had broken his ankle.
Shit.
His aura had collapsed without him noticing, and now he was practically unprotected. That he had not broken his broken neck was out of luck more than any other reason. He felt clumsy, slow, and stupid. As if he had gone back in time to that day.
That was not too far from the truth, in a way.
He stood up with Ruby, and had to stifle a grimace at the pain caused by putting some of his weight on that foot.
"Jaune, what's going on?"
It was Pyrrha, concern in her voice.
Ruby started, and examined him from top to bottom. And of course, she realized what had happened to him. Her expression darkened.
"Did you run out of aura?" she asked.
"No. But almost," he reluctantly admitted.
She put her hands on his shoulders. She seemed very worried.
"I'll carry you the rest of the way. Relax and rest, okay?"
He laughed unintentionally.
"What are you talking about? It's just a broken ankle. It will heal right away."
"Jaune... you're bleeding."
He looked at himself.
Oh. It was true.
He had a very large wound in his stomach, and the blood was dripping non-stop. He had even soiled Ruby's combat attire with it. That filled him with deep shame.
"I'm fine." His voice sounded strangely distant, as if he had spoken with his head tucked under the water.
But he felt no pain, even now. He could move on. Could...
(I am not dead!)
He felt a strong wind on his back. As he turned around, he saw that the creature had returned. It was badly wounded; you could see that at first glance. It had even lost an eye at some point... But it was still alive. It had not broken its head against the rocks and disappeared into the darkness at the bottom of the cliff.
It let out a great cry, and this time there was no mistake; it was angry.
It lunged forward like a bullet, passed through the middle of them, spinning in the air, flapping its wings almost like they were swords. They threw themselves to the ground. Biting his lower lip, Jaune watched the creature shatter several of the pillars on the platform and continue as if it had been nothing. The nightmarish bird rose up into the air and spun as the debris flew around it, dark blood pouring from its chest and eye wounds.
He swallowed.
It was absurd, but it seemed unstoppable. As if even if he ripped its heart out with his own hands, it would find some way to continue. Yes, it just seemed that way. But it couldn't be true.
They got up again.
"Huh," Pyrrha muttered. "Does anyone have a good idea?"
"I expected you to have one," replied Ruby. "This is the part where you say it was a joke and you have the perfect solution, right?"
"I'm afraid not."
The Nevermore squawked again. Each time the sounds it made became more like screams, like a human voice.
Jaune stepped forward.
He stopped Ruby, who had taken aim at it with Crescent Rose's sniper rifle form, by grabbing her shoulder.
"That's enough," he muttered as if talking to himself.
He lifted Crocea Mors above his head with one hand and threw it.
The shot failed, but he hadn't intended for it to reach the target. As it passed by the Grimm, Jaune saw a hand appear from within the blade of his sword. From so far away, bathed in the sunlight, it probably seemed an optical illusion to the others, if they even noticed it. It was not. And that was proved immediately afterwards. The Nevermore fell into the abyss, this time truly and forever.
Of course. He shouldn't have expected otherwise.
"How did you do that?" Ruby asked in a low voice.
"My semblance," he lied to the person most important to him again.
He fell to his knees. He had been running on fumes for the last few minutes, and what he had just done, it used up the very last of his Aura. So now he had nothing left, his legs no longer had the strength to bear the weight of his body.
"Jaune. Jaune!"
Darkness. Nausea.
The heat of another person against his body. Heat, but not love. He didn't deserve anyone's love. He recognized it and could not change that fact. As much as it hurt.
Silver eyes. A red cape.
A pure face in the darkness, stained with blood. His blood.
Everything was spinning.
"I'm sorry, mommy." He began to weep with emotion. "I'm so sorry..."