Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY.


Iron

By: Imyoshi

Why now?

Of all the worst times!

Why did it have to be now?!

Damn his luck—damn it to hell!

Feeling the Outer Space around them and on Nora's body intensify in pressure, Jaune Arc has a pretty damn good idea why the Grimm showed up now of all times. The Lore. Plain and simple! Nora's Aura being destroyed by the Lore must act as a beacon or signal for all the Grimm around them. Plus with their out-of-control emotions, it takes no Dust scientist to figure out why this was happening.

Forced to forget about many unanswered question for now, Jaune shifts his Lore to Aura, quickly holding his hand out as the hordes of catlike Grimm started slowly stepping out of the forest, rather than running wildly like he would come to expect. It's only until a rather vicious looking lion Grimm pounces out, does Jaune note the heavy amount of bone platting on all the Grimm slowly emerging with little splotches of black fur.

Suddenly, everything becomes dangerously clear as the Mountain Lion Grimm—known better as a Leo from Professor Port's extravagant tales—charges at him with others not too far behind!

No humans ever venture out this far! There's no negativity to be sensed. So the Grimm surrounding the vast region just daze around and grow older, stronger, and wiser! Who knows how many powerful Grimm are around the area! Compared to initiation... this was going to be a living nightmare.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouts, pulling her away from Nora's side cautiously. He doesn't need to say anymore for her to get the hint, already grabbing Crocea Mors and preparing for battle. He does the same, concentrating on his Aura, "Atone, Excalibur!"

The Aura sword materialized in his hands, and for a split moment, Jaune considers calling for Ren, but he's not too sure if the ninja in their team would even hear his pleas. Poor Ren looks too fixated and trapped on the panting Nora. He probably can't even hear the Grimm closing in on their location.

"Ren! Ren!" no response.

Damn it, of all times for Ren to lose his cool!

Looks like it's defensive tactics for now.

Filling three Aura sphere into his palm, Jaune gets into a battle stance with Excalibur close to his chest in a horizontal angle. Pyrrha's right beside him, holding his family's weapon and shield better than he ever could. He could even see her—through Space—using her semblance on the weapons, coating them in a layer of energy alongside her metal outfit. Perfect.

Meeting the eyes of the first Lion Grimm lunging at them, Jaune aims almost pointblank for the boneless stomach and fires. "Soar, Shooting Star!"

The sphere rips right through the body of the first Grimm and crashes headfirst into another unfortunate Leo, exploding on impact when the orb clashes against the bone platting on its upper torso, killing the second Grimm in the process and damaging part of the other lions in the process. Nonetheless, that does nothing to the sheer numbers charging at them, and Jaune aims again, firing and easily hitting a target in the mass of darkness.

"We need to keep them away from Nora!" Pyrrha nods, knowing that order took priority over everything else.

She quickly brings up her shield to intercept a slash before sliding around the Grimm's blind spot and thus digging Crocea Mors deep into the body. Pyrrha gets no chance to check if the cut killed the Grimm, already countering another pounce heading for her. Jaune, on the other hand, brings up Excalibur to stop a Lion from biting down on him as he crashes his Supernova onto another Lion that tried to prey on him while he was distracted. Excalibur then begins to dig into the jaw of the Grimm holding him down, cleanly sliding into the mouth before decapitation takes place.

Powerless to rest, Jaune dodges a lunge and has to quickly duck to avoid a second. He brings up Excalibur to cut off the paws of the third trying the same tactics, rendering it to collapse on its own weight with a burning sensation, then he turns around and meets the other two Grimm head-on, quickly transforming Excalibur into a Supernova with his other hand creating a second. And Twin Supernovas collide with the Leo's jaws, breaking bone and propelling them across the clearing into others of their pride, but the numbers are still strong and determined to rip their throats.

Jaune fights the urge to rest, feeling his Aura draining much heavier considering he made Aura shards that morning. He can't just keeping wasting Aura like this! But all his Aura techniques require a fix amount of Aura to expend, except for Excalibur. There's just too many of them. If only he could find a way to quickly cut down their size without wasting too much Aura!

Jumping back from a crater created paw swipe, he quickly looks over to his partner, and sees her deliver an semblance enhanced kick to a Lion's jaw, breaking teeth while tossing Crocea Mors right at another Leo's abdominal while in midair. She then uses the shield to block another swipe and uses her foot still connect to the lion's jaw and propels herself up in the air to charge downward and cut the Grimm's head off with the shield with a push from her semblance.

It's kind of funny when he looks at it, Pyrrha seems to be in perfect sync when it came to fighting hordes of lions. Almost as if fighting Leos was a past calling of hers and she was heeding the call to her utmost abilities.

Interesting to say the least.

Pulled back into his own fight—or risk getting his shoulder bitten—Jaune brings up Excalibur to stop the Grimm's claws from digging into his skin, but the weight is something his muscles stress against. He then uses his leg to push the Leo back, barely dodging the tackle from the side and then countering with a slash to the Grimm's stomach, taking that moment of distraction to distant himself from the growing number of opponents.

"This isn't working!" he yells to no one. Pyrrha's occupied, Ren's distracted, Nora's down, and the numbers weren't looking so good. Not good at all.

Blocking a bite with locking Excalibur, Jaune can't move fast enough to avoid a claw swipe right for his chest from a second Lion Grimm, forced to maneuver back and dodge the last attempt of his life. Luckily his Aura took the blunt of the damage, but he still felt the sting of the sharpen claws dig partially into his skin. The pain enough numbed to the point of hot. And he's not too happy about his current Aura reserves

Seeing more Leos focus onto a center, he risks running away from the still prone Nora and restless Ren, towards Pyrrha with a quick plan, "Pyrrha! Launch me up! Now!"

Hearing her leader's orders, she quickly sidesteps an attack and brings Crocea Mors down onto the Leo's palm before kicking it away and catching Jaune with his shield. Using her semblance to add a little extra oomph to the launch, she pushes him up and watches him glow brightly for a moment as he holds out both his hands towards the centers of the pride of Leos.

Creating a few Aura spheres, Jaune absorbed them into his palm and rained down straightforwardly into the pride of lion Grimms, scattering them apart and doing some untold amount of injury from the collateral damage of multiple Shooting Stars crashing down onto the battlefield.

But it's not enough.

The monsters get hurt, but not enough to kill them—to finish them!

Falling back down, Jaune feels his Aura reserves at an all-time low, maybe just enough for one or two Supernovas or Shooting Stars and barely enough to keep his sword maintained. If only he could find a way to do some more damage before the Grimm could properly scatter and protect their weak points, but he's at a loss for now. Two Hunters-in-Training versus a pride of advanced Leos was basically suicide. Plus, he has a lot of wounds on multiple parts of his body from the gash marks.

Looking down, he sees his partner avoid a swipe to the head, barely, only leaving a small trail of blood from her forehead where the claw cut. She then sweeps Crocea Mors on the floor, drawing a small amount of dust to not only shield herself, but blind the surrounding Lions, creating openings long enough to strike their soft spots.

A sound tactic and strategy, such a damn shame it can't hit all the—?!

Wait a damn minute!

Almost reaching the floor and seeing the Leos close in on Ren and Nora, Jaune gets another crazy idea of his, and creates a Supernova in his hand, condensing the sphere tightly into a smaller shape. He presses the Aura tight, using his utmost control before slowly allowing the control to completely slip.

Tossing the orb up into the air, Jaune lands and dashes forward with his arms out towards the advancing pride, "Pyrrha, close your eyes!" She does, and the orb of Aura breaks apart, "Illuminate... Quasar!"

Even with her eyes closed, Pyrrha can still see the sudden brightness penetrating the darkness she's created for herself. There's a familiar warmth surrounding her, and in the background, she can hear her leader running off with the sounds of confused Grimm falling to his surprise attack. And after a few seconds of waiting, she opens her eyes slightly, barely able to see a dark silhouette of her leader running and cutting in the distant.

But when she finally opens her eyes a tad more, they widen instantly in surprise, ignoring the piercing brightness for the time being.

There her leader was, hacking and slashing Grimm left and right—with two Aura swords!

And none of the Leos could do anything to stop it, except growl in agony as Jaune skewered them in the lasting brightness, completely unaffected by his Aura technique's immense brightness. And those who he couldn't kill immediately, he impaled their legs, effectively downing them from the fight, too preoccupied with the lasting pain that came from being stabbed with Excalibur.

And she should know, she's taken a cut from that darn Aura blade. That darn swords burns like hell.

He's nowhere near proficient with his left land—that much was obvious with little to no practice—but as long as the Grimm can't react to a hidden stab to the gut or head, then it matters not. Dead was dead.

Having to shield her eyes away now from the burning sensation building in her eyes, Pyrrha can't help but smile as her leader killed a significant amount of the pride, no longer needing to worry about his defense in an all-out assault that none of the Leos could properly guard or retaliate against. And Pyrrha smiles softly as Jaune cuts a Leo in two.

He's come so far from the awkward knight that she pinned to a tree. Now he's a brilliant knight who's still a touch awkward, but one worthy in her humble and perhaps bias opinion, staying as their team leader in Beacon Academy. Screw what others thought! She believes in her Fearless Leader. Just look at that air of confidence and glare of determination of his!

Seeing the blinding light starting to shimmer out, everyone's outline becomes less murky and the Grimm are starting to respond as well, shaking their heads to sway away the blurry images and hindrance Jaune's attack has created. Pyrrha uses the small opening and lunges forwards, taking out a few more Leos before they could fully grasp the situation. By the time one of them does, Pyrrha's foot has kicked one at a group of them, breaking them apart enough for her to finish off a few before having to retreat from a sloppy paw swipe to her stomach.

Counting the remaining numbers, Pyrrha won't fight off the courageous smile spreading across her face at the remaining few lingering still, tightening her hold on Crocea Mors as Jaune moves forward along beside her. He dashes headfirst, catching a Leo's attempt of biting him with Excalibur as Pyrrha dives forward to slide underneath Jaune's feet and strikes its stomach and roll out to see another Leo roaring at her from above, only to see Jaune puncture Excalibur right through the small opening on its head.

Now this, she grins with adrenaline filled excitement, is how partners should fight!

Thinking of partners, Pyrrha spares a quick glance to her other friends, worrying deeply for them before she's force back to the fight. She has to bet on Ren to keep Nora going until they're done here.

...

"Nora! Stay with me!"

Lie Ren futilely attempts to keep his childhood friend awake, but each word only seems to allow the darkness to take hold of her vision, obscuring everything and anything for Nora to see. The pain she felt earlier had started to dull minutes ago, and all that was left was some gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. It almost hurt to feel so empty inside.

Like a restless hunger that never stopped consuming her soul, Nora wanted the feeling to go away and never come back. Childish thinking maybe, but she's out of alternatives at this point, only having Ren's panic voice to go on anymore. She can't even remember the last time Ren had been so broken up before.

Finally the darkness is taking hold of her, and she can feel her eyes begin to close.

"Wake up, Nora!"

Ren? Is that you? I'm so tired.

"Wake up!"

Can't. Want to sleep.

"Wake... up!"

Goodnight... Ren.

"Please... d-don't leave me... your all that I have left."

Sweet dreams.

Grabbing her freezing hand, Ren grits his teeth painfully at the almost nonexistent pulse Nora had, allowing an actual tear to escape his breaking mask for the first time in years. More soon follow after, and he's having an impossible task at holding himself together even more so when Nora's eyes finally close to the world around her.

Hiding his pain within his hand, Ren sadly peers through his fingers, and his pink eyes illuminate a soft glow inside the darkness of his palm.

"... I don't know what to do."

A tear of Ren's lands on Nora's cheek as her heart stops, and Jaune's the first to react, having lost the feel of Nora's Space the moment her Aura faded away. Fortunately, there only seemed to be a few Leos left, and Pyrrha didn't seem to have a problem finishing them off, allowing Jaune to stop and turn around to glare at Nora's static body.

His eyes narrow painfully as he wills away his swords and switches from Aura to Lore, no longer able to sense any lingering forms of Lore anymore. Seems without any Aura to devour, the Lore simply dies out. Assuming it's not hiding in a place he can't see. But there's no time to second guess himself!

Nora's in trouble.

Coming back to his Aura, Jaune only takes a few steps forward until an unnerving growl catches him off-guard. He turns around to quickly spot a Leo far larger and more bone platted than the ones Pyrrha and he fought. Its eyes showed ancient wisdom, and its movements proved to be subtle and deadly from the cautious steps it takes out from outside the depths of the forest.

Jaune can't pin the name correctly of this level of Leo from Professor Port's lessons, but Pyrrha beats him to it.

"It's a... Monarch Leo," she awes, actually shaking a tiny bit in fear. And without so much as a warning, the Monarch Leo went from waiting to lunging at Jaune's partner in an impressive display of speed.

Pyrrha hardly has time to lift up her shield before the Grimm crashes headfirst into her, sending Jaune's partner clear across the clearing. Seconds later, she barely manages to avoid a deadly pounce that shook the foundation of the ground around her, holding Crocea Mors protectively over her tired body as the Monarch Leo stalked its weary prey.

Scowling at the choices given to him, Jaune looks back over to the Aura depleted Nora and saw the Aura shards near Ren, and for a split moment, he could faintly see a thin glow of turquoise Aura around Nora's chest. It's light and extremely faint to the point he can't even feel it. In all honesty, he might just be imagining the near faint subtle glow, but if there's ever a time to hope, then now would have to be the time.

"Ren!" Jaune yells from across the clearing, forging Excalibur to aid Pyrrha. "Her Aura's weak! Feed her some of the Aura shards! Hurry!" Anything at this point to keep her Aura alive.

It's the first words Ren actually hears since the whole ordeal started, and he stumbles to search and find the shards his leader shouted, clinging desperately to a silver lining of hope. Ultimately he finds them and grasped them tightly in one hand, using the other to partly open Nora's mouth and edge her head upwards. Then he crushes the brittle Aura shards in his hand, breaking them into tiny pieces before carefully, but quickly, forcing Nora's throat to ingest some.

And now Lie Ren hopes to Monty that the Aura shards help.

Spark!

No one knew this about Aura, not even Jaune Arc and all his Aura wisdom, but many assume that once you're on the edge of death, your Aura control starts to slip and you lose the power to stay alive. Even more so when Death has finally claim the last remaining breath of the poor soul.

That couldn't be farther from the truth. When you're are practically on Death's door, your Aura clings tighter to the body that ever before, fighting to keep the body going and soul alive. A person's Aura control doesn't get weaker the closer they walk towards the light... it gets stronger the closer they reach towards the light. A last ditch attempt at life before their spark is wiped out forever.

Aura is light! It's warmth! The very manifestation of one's soul! There's no reason for being closer to your soul to weaken such power.

But sadly, everything depends on the person and their sheer will and condition.

Some bodies were just too far gone for Aura to simply help... other times their will have been broken too much to make a difference if the body doesn't want to cling to life anymore. The matters are only worse if Lore's negative properties are applied to the issue.

But when it came down to it—really came down to it! All someone needed to keep going was a tiny little—!

Spark!

Jaune suddenly paused for a moment to feel a tiny amount of pressure coming Nora's Space, and he's hit with a tail swipe from the Monarch Leo for his slip up, hitting him up to a nearby tree that broke from the impact. Fortunately, his Aura softened the blow, but the Arc felt only enough Aura to keep Excalibur going—and that's all!

There was absolutely no Aura leftover to act as a shield to protect him anymore. No more to give his muscles a boost or his reflexes the edge he needed. Only enough to keep him moving at the same level he first had when he came to Beacon Academy.

And the motion gave way to many sensations. Primary fear. Plenty of it. But fear was just another word for motivation. And Jaune Arc had plenty of that as well.

Struggling to get up, he tiredly looked up from his position, having to move away some broken branches when he spots Pyrrha taking a nasty hit to her ribs from the Monarch Leo's claw swipe. And from the nasty looks of it, Pyrrha didn't seem capable of dodging the next claw coming down at her from above, too exhausted and hurt from the strain of fighting a pride of Grimm.

Using Excalibur to get up, Jaune fought through the pain and dashed forward, narrowly pushing Pyrrha away, and taking the full force of the attack for her!

"Jaune!"

He ignored Pyrrha's cry to use his free hand and bring up Excalibur to rest heroically between the teeth of Monarch Leo trying to rip his face off in a power struggle he's sure to lose. It's a fight of dominant wills, and Jaune's giving it his all, purely trusting on his Aura blade to keep death at bay. The rest of his body was currently being pressed down by the Grimm's overly sized paw to be any use, even getting damaged from the digging of some of the bone platting and sharp claws into Jaune's skin.

Pyrrha tried to get up to help, but her sides hurt too much to move, and Crocea Mors fell out of her hand the minute Jaune pushes her away. Even worst, she's bleeding from her forehead and forearms, slowly getting covered in an array of crimson. And Ren's busy trying to force Nora's body to ingest the Aura shards to aid Jaune.

Pyrrha's... never felt so helpless before. Even more so when the Monarch Leo raised its other paw, preparing to strike her partner, "Jaune!"

Remembering a similar situation he was in with an angry Death Stalker, Jaune ponders quickly on what to do, thinking of a way to connect a solid hit in the next few seconds. Creating Shooting Star would be beneficial at this current pointblank range, but the time to will Excalibur into ammunition would take far too long, and he seriously doubts Lore's going to save his butt a second time. Plus the jaws of Monarch Leo would probably tear his arm to shreds when he willed Excalibur to an Aura sphere—?!

Eyes widening, Jaune smirked confidently for a moment before glaring at the deep red eyes staring back at him.

All or nothing now!

Willing away Excalibur, the Monarch Leo's mouth instantly takes hold of Jaune's entire right arm with no resisting force holding it back and he has to ignore the blinding pain, drops of blood, and Pyrrha's cries for his name to solely concentrate on the act of commanding his Aura to bend to his will.

"Burst, Supernova!"

It's an odd feeling... feeling the ripping of shreds of a Grimm's inner intestines from an Aura powered bomb. Particularly when so up close and personal to see the actions take place. But Team JNPR's leader has dealt with creating and forging weapons from the manifestation of his soul, discovering the secrets of Aura, one-sided rivalries with hot-blooded blondes, and even living in the same room with a Nora Valkyrie.

This wasn't so crazy.

Amazed at Jaune's display of power that ripped to shreds the Monarch Leo's insides, Pyrrha barely has time to register a lone Leo coming right for her, feeling her breath wedged deep in her lungs when it pounces right at her barely kneeling form.

She has neither weapon nor shield to aid her, and her vision is starting to weaken from the strain on her body from Aura exhaustion. Little by little, the distance closes between them, and Pyrrha's instincts hone on a nearby metal substance for her semblance to grab. Only strange thing about it, it felt like it was all around her skin and she didn't even notice the subtle glow coming from body. But what she did know, her life was on the line, and Pyrrha actually ignored the cliché life flashing before her eyes images in front of her, and reached out for the tiny numerous bits of iron she felt all over her.

Spark!

Driven on the will to live, Pyrrha forced her semblance to react and moved her arm across her vision and the nearby iron reacted... rising to strike the incoming Leo with a torrent of sharpen blood that dripped from her forearm. Thus instantly killing the Grimm from the sharpen blood, preventing her death and allowing her adrenaline to finally die down, which led to the controlled blood to fall apart and splash carelessly on the floor.

The cereal girl doesn't even get a chance to study on what just happened, too busy hearing and watching the Monarch Leo across the clearing break apart from the sudden burst of Aura. Then her eyes land on her leader who is breathing heavily from what she can guess is a case of extreme Aura exhaustion. And knowing his issue with Aura, he's in serious danger.

Still, she smiles wistfully at his sudden laugh and attempt to rest on his undamaged arm. The victory isn't missed on her.

They won the fight—against all odds—so the blood issue could wait for later.

Struggling to get up, she makes her way over to him with a small hitch in her step, not even bothering to grab Crocea Mors from the floor or the shield, knowing she hadn't the strength to even hold the sword up. Less alone both the weapons. Her legs alone felt like Red Sap. Sticky, gooey, Red Sap.

There's irony somewhere in there with her drenched in blood.

She finally makes her ways towards Jaune, finding him on both his knees away from her, using one arm to keep himself steady as his other arm rested painfully on the grass, supporting his weight. He's coughing, clearly out of breath. Then he spits out some blood, trying for the life of him to stop.

He tries to lift his head, finding that movement too much to handle and instead tries to even his hazard breathing. Jaune Arc has never felt this before. He's got zero Aura left. Zero! Nothing! Never before has he hit zero before. Every other time he was close to Aura exhaustion, he always had a tiny insignificant amount to keep him afloat.

Not this time.

It felt so cold around his body. Colder than even Lore makes him feel. And scarcely empty inside.

So this was what zero Aura felt like? Jaune already knows he doesn't want to feel this helpless ever again. It's terrifying! The feeling of being unable to even stand sends an indescribable chill down his spine.

Wanting any other feeling to fill this emptiness inside of him, Jaune reaches out for his Lore, desperately yet hesitantly pulling the dark power to comfort his body in a sea ice. Anything was better than this hollow feeling inside. And it's an unusual slow process for some odd reason, but the Lore finally reaches him and he can feel his muscles begin to strengthen from the feeling of power, but his wounds refuse to heal.

Strange? How come he's never noticed that Lore doesn't seem to heal wounds? That's oddly ironic and appropriate considering Lore was an enemy to Aura. Makes sense that some things Aura did, Lore did not. Healing must be one of those things while increased strength, speed, and reflexes applied to both powers.

Although he prefers that wasn't the case with his wounds needing tending to for the blood loss, because having practically all his Lore would mean nothing if his wounds slowed him down still in a fight. Such is the burdens of power he suppose. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Feeling his lungs working again, Jaune can finally hear Pyrrha behind him, talking in confidence. "Jaune, we did—?!"

Pressure!

...

Moments earlier, Ren finishes forcing the Aura shards down Nora's throat after ignoring the blinding light behind him, silently hoping the subtle white glow restarts her light. He can feel a small warmth come from the Aura of the shards faintly spreading throughout her body from the light grip with her hand.

What he can't see is the Aura from the shards centering around that tiny spark that still lingers from her soul's last attempt at survival. He can't see how her own aura glow from Death's experience, and he can't see the Aura jump starting that tiny spark of turquoise Aura.

He can't see none of that.

But Nora Valkyrie can definitely feel something once more.

She can feel the warmth of someone's tears on her face again. Feel a cool breeze blowing through her hair. And even feel someone's hand holding hers that seemed oddly familiar to her. Calling her! Pleading with her to find her way back from this cold maze she seems to be deeply lost in. But she's not sure she can find her way out. Everything's so dark. So cold and lonely. So... distant.

She's not even sure what happened to her, anymore.

But she is sure someone is shaking while holding her hand. Almost like they were happy?

And in her distant mind, Nora Valkyrie was dead right. Lie Ren couldn't stop shaking from the intense feeling bubbling up inside, threatening to burst at any given second. The muscles in his face move on overpowered instinct, and he doesn't care. Doesn't care that he might be smiling a foolish smile that rivaled even his childhood friend's. Because, right now, at this very painstaking moment, he was only focused on the light bumps coming from her wrist.

It's a faint heartbeat, ghostly even, but Ren's just damn happy it's there.

"Please wake up, Nora," he pleads, soothingly touching her cheek. "Please."

The words hardly reach Nora through the murkiness of her mind, but she somehow depicts the message even in her absent thoughts, wondering faintly if she truly could.

Do you really think I can?

It's not even a question of faith.

I know you can.

Spark!

In the off distance, within the cold darkness, Nora can see a shade of turquoise Aura glow harmlessly, lighting her entire body with a blanket of warmth. The glow begins to grow brighter, and before she even knows it, her eyes are barely opening to a distraught Ren hovering over her with a smile she hasn't seen since they were children.

And the touching moment would make her smile, but she's too tired to move any more than her eyelids, already welcoming back the urge to sleep.

Luckily for her, Ren gently lifted her head towards his chest, and Nora welcomes the strong heartbeat beating against his chest. It's soothing and pleasant to listen to, and she finds an untold amount of joy radiating from deep inside her.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Nora hears Ren say, silently wondering what happened to her. She can't really remember, and she really wants to, but can't. Her mind's too fuzzy right now, and she feels so weak.

A tiny jolt in her chest is the only other thing she can sort of feel, but it's disorienting and lost to her. Perhaps another time she'll search for that odd spark, but for now, sleep seems like the perfect choice. Simple and pleasing, just like the way Ren likes to sleep.

Far away, Nora barely hears in the off distance an explosion that echoed vibrations on the very floor itself. She might've heard one of her Fearless Leader's famous catchphrases—Jaune-Jaune's always silly with those—and Nora tries to see what all the commotion is about, ignoring the lure of sleep had on her.

Just for the time being.

"Jaune, we did—?!"

...

Pressure!

Still coughing up blood, Jaune's eyes widen as he gasps, feeling an Outer Space far greater than all the Leos from before. He desperately turns his head around against the agonizing pain in his body, just in time to see a shadow of a large humanoid shaped Grimm standing cautiously behind Pyrrha, even taller than the Monarch Leo and obscuring the light from the sun.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune yells, finding the action terribly draining even with Lore. "Turn around!"

Pyrrha's body trembled and her happy smile is momentarily frozen, "Huh?"

Cupping its massively long and powerful arms together, the monstrous Grimm quickly slides them across the air to land on a barely aware human; hitting her with unnaturally powerful strength that others pale to comprehend on the female's unguarded and already damaged mid-torso.

Crack!

There's a distinct crunch sound from the impact, and the Grimm can feel its hands bending the unusual armor coloring to its will and fracturing bones, carelessly sending the human flying across the clearing towards the other two humans. A crash later, dust starts to fly outward from uproar, and the other male human releasing negative emotions noted its kind peril before looking over its shoulder to stare at it.

Indolently tilting its head at the human, the Grimm looks away to peer down at the other male human kneeling in front of it with its emotions scattered all over the place. At least... the Grimm thought it was a human. It wasn't too sure with the human radiating the same power as their own kind. Even the absence of Aura tricked the creature for a momentarily lapse of judgment before observing the way the human cautiously stood up and guarded the others, and remembering the strong presences of Aura only moments ago far stronger than it's ever felt before.

Now it knew the strange human was still in fact, a human.

Lifting its massively long and powerful arm, the Grimm slowly pushed its hand forward to strike!

Gritting his teeth, Jaune feels his Lore overcoming him, thus allowing him to narrowly avoid the large, slow fist aiming for the spot he was just at. Seconds after the near miss, a large crater forms from the impact, obscuring his vision from the debris flow of dust and earth, and he barely—through the shift in Outer Space—avoids the slow swing of the Grimm's arm, jumping back from the dust screen.

Thanks to the sudden distance between him and it, Jaune observes the emotionless red orbs piercing from even through the dust cloud, slowly getting a clear picture of what this new Grimm really looked like as its body's outline started to focus from the dust.

Soulless, blood eyes that had almost childlike wonder was attached to a surprisingly simple face with no mouth, or nose, or even bone platting for that matter. The face was rounded and lacked any real features except for the eyes, but it's not the face that strikes Jaune's inner will. Nope! It's the damn things body that sends a haunting shiver down his spine.

The monster had an abnormally large muscular frame covered to its teeth in bone platting with little pikes of bone sticking out from the shoulders. Its chest and torso oozed muscles and age, and the damn thing hosted up on its outlandishly long arms for support. The legs weren't as muscular, but the arms more than made up for the lack of muscle, especially with the long claws piercing out from underneath. For all Jaune Arc knew, this thing had at least one to two-hundred pounds of muscle on him and was almost twice as tall.

But the damn worst part about it was, Jaune can feel even more but far weaker Grimm hanging lazily behind in the forest shadows, all sporting the same curious eyes. Now they're so obvious, he didn't know how he missed them before. But they're there. They must've been watching them fight the Leos from earlier. And it looks like the King of them came to play instead of the soldiers.

Damn.

Even with Lore here to help, Jaune's not too sure what he can do. Gravity and Black Hole only affected Aura the last time he's checked, and Grimm do not have Aura. Plus, he could see only Lore surrounding the Grimm in a large mask of perpetual darkness, only backing up his Grimm do not have Aura fact. Things would probably be different if he could create a sword, but Monty hasn't been smiling down upon him on that little problem, either. Oum knows he's tried.

Looks like he's going to have to use his hands for this one! Time for those two weeks of humiliation to pay off!

Moving into an amateurish fist stance he's picked up from a stubborn Yang here and there with far too many openings, Jaune waits idly by for the large Grimm to come at him, but it just stands there, tilting its plain black head at him as if couldn't quite comprehend the situation. Eventually, the Grimm slowly looks past Jaune to an exhausted Nora, angry Ren, and defeated Pyrrha. Then it looked back at him with conviction and moved one step closer in a very slow manner.

Jaune took no chances and took a step back, instantly creating three Gravities to accompany him in the fight. Even if the orbs did nothing to the Grimm, which it did not from Jaune's Outer Space perspective on how the Grimm's Lore didn't seem affected by the three Lore spheres at all from his distance, he still felt safer with them close by. Call it instinct. Call whatever! He wanted them!

And Ren's earlier idea could prove useful... if he could somehow implement it and find a way to manipulate the gravity around him.

Keeping two Gravities close, Jaune willed the third closer to the Grimm, proud at his control of the sphere's speed compared to when he first started. And just maybe, maybe wondering if Gravity could find some way to harm the slow monster.

Hoping silently that Lore or Gravity would've done something—anything! But nope! Turns out that Lore really is an Aura user's greatest enemy. Because from Jaune's Outer Space view, it did nothing when the orb was practically floating face-to-face with the Grimm, who at the moment, peered the sphere lazily with unmatched curiosity.

Curiosity that throws Jaune off his game and allows some emotion other than desperation and anger to escape, enough to remind the Grimm that this creature standing in front of it was still indeed a human. And before Jaune could figure out what was happening, the Grimm lazily slaps away the Gravity with amazing force, and Jaune feels his control completely slip as the orb leaves his range of control and crashes into a tree—destroying it in the process.

Jaune barely has time blink before the Grimm's shadow grabs his distracted attention, and he's forced to turn and see a slow fist coming towards him. His arms come up to a cross guard at the very last second, and the collision with the Grimm's fist is more than enough to fracture something in his already weakened right arm.

Team JNPR's leader doesn't even get time to scream from the pain as he's sent flying through the air, crashing beside Ren and the rest of his team. The two Gravities had followed alongside him, unknowingly to his knowledge, and lessened the impact a tiny bit from the attack, weakening the force around their host in an attempt to lessen the blow's trajectory.

It's all instinct based and Jaune never notices as he stands up from a crater too small.

Feeling his body cold and blood warm as it dripped down his right arm, Jaune breathes heavily from the sudden punch, really wishing that Lore healed wounds. Anything at this point. But he's forced to push aside his own injuries for the time being, needing to go on the offensive before this Grimm could continue its assault.

Thinking on his feet, Jaune spars a momentary glance at his partner's defeated and unconscious form and gets a rush of determination to stop this Grimm. He rushes hazardously towards the behemoth, willingly the Gravities to follow and perhaps even be used as a distraction. The first two rush towards the Grimm while Jaune slows down, doing nothing to the monster as it flicks them away, but just giving Jaune enough time to aim a leveled fist to the Grimm's plain face.

The force behind his fist does nothing—absolutely nothing.

And Jaune Arc doesn't realize he's taken a direct hit to the chest from the Grimm's fist before he's sent flying back.

There's no pain... not until he's trying to crawl out of the second hollow he's helped create, and it's numbing and cold. To the point his breathing is beyond shallow, or to the point that standing on his two legs is too much to bare with vibrations threatening to shatter his ribs. Doesn't really matter! He could already feel more than half his Lore already gone.

There's no way he could win this fight.

At least, not alone, anyways.

Looking over his shoulder, he calls back two out of three of the Gravities, absorbing them to preserve his Lore while the third has already fracture away from Jaune's lack of control. Even if Ren's idea was solid, he still had nowhere near enough control to get them to change their gravity and thus increase his force. He was barely moving them faster than half the speed he could run. Forget about Ren's amazing idea. Survival was the top of the list.

Speaking of Ren's amazing idea, "Ren, buddy! I kind of really need your help here."

There's desperation in his voice, and that seems to grab his friend's attention. Enough to at least look away from a weakened Nora for a second. Then his attention is diverted even more so to the large Grimm looming beside him and Nora, and Jaune's eyes widen.

He didn't even hear that thing move!

Moving its arms down to strike the defenseless duo, Jaune fights through the pain and dashes forwards to bring his arms up and intercept the Grimm's massive arms before they could crash down.

In retrospect, it was a terrible idea, but he had no other options. His body had moved on its own. There hadn't been any time to think! Let alone question! His friends had been in danger, and as Team JNPR's leader, protecting his teammates came first.

No matter the danger!

Collapsing under the weight behind the Grimm's forearms, Jaune's arms began to shake under the pressure. The small cracks on the earth became larger under his feet as the Grimm applied more force, attempting to finish what it started, and Jaune found that the battle was quickly falling under its favor.

Just as his bones began to crack, a surprise roundhouse kick clashed right at the Grimm's head, pressing the creature back a few steps, allowing Jaune a quick moment of relief as the weight fell away. He instantly looks to the side to see Ren out with his weapons poised at the Grimm, eyes burning in emotions.

Forgetting about everything else, Jaune smiled through the pain, sweat dripping down his tired face, "Took you long enough."

Ren loses his cool composure for a moment and frowns, "Sorry for not helping sooner—!"

"Yea, yea, hugs and kisses—whatever!" Jaune wipes away the sweat from his forehead, getting back into a unstable fighting stance. "First fight, then win! We can talk about it later!"

"No..." Ren warns, voice edging hard. "Get Nora and Pyrrha into the cabin. I'll take care of this."

Jaune pauses, looking back between the massive Grimm and Ren, "Are you sure?" he gets a simple nod and he shyly drops his stance. "Alright then."

He would argue more, but his body hurts too much for such trivial things. Plus, he's starting to feel woozy from the blood loss. At this point, he would only be in Ren's way.

Running towards the barely conscious Nora and down Pyrrha, Jaune uses his remaining Lore to give him whatever ample boost in strength he could muster to lift Nora on his back and hold Pyrrha by her upper back and legs. His body hurts from the act, but the Lore starts to numb the feeling.

He's mostly at the cabin's walls when Nora weakly tilts her head to see the Grimm that Ren was facing off. And against her body's demand for rest, she actually smiles thinly, eyes barely able to see the Grimm's simple face and body structure.

"That Grimm..." she mumbles, smiling even despite the dire situation and heavy drowsiness in her body.

"What is it, Nora?"

"I-It... it..." she wavers, but allows the words to slip past as she falls into a state of slumber. "It looks like a sloth."

Jaune spars a small glance as enters the cabin, allowing his eyes to roam the Grimm's form. Now that she mentions it...

...

Ren came to same assumption as Nora, instantly recognizing the sloth Grimm's curious eyes and body proportions that resembled a sloth. The long, sharp nails were also a dead giveaway, and the absent features on its face only strengthen his resolve. That would perfectly explain the lack of muscles on the legs—compared to the rest of its body that is—and the other, much smaller and weaker sloth Grimms hanging lazily on the trees within the forest.

No matter, Ren still acknowledged that the sloth Grimm in front of him probably outranked all the others in all terms of knowledge, age, and power.

In a funny sense, this sloth Grimm was their king—King Sloth or Sloth King—and Ren permitted the smallest of smiles to edge on his lips before killing it, and instead focusing on also killing the Sloth King in front of him.

Gripping StormFlower tightly, Ren narrows his eyes and charges forward, firing rounds at the Sloth King. His weapon's dust powered bullets do not pierce the Sloth King's armor of even thick fur that peaks out, barely tickling the monster even. So he settles into close combat with StormFlower's blades and higher level dust ammunition, using his superior speed to his advantage.

Sure, when it comes to his Fearless Leader, he's got him beaten on the flashy moves and powerful explosion skill set, but when it comes to speed and close-hand combat, Ren's the better fighter. He's the ninja, essentially, or at least that what Nora hassles him on and on about.

Running up to the Sloth King, Ren notices the Grimm picking up speed as well. It moves slowly at first, but when the Grimm charges, its speed surprisingly matches that of Ren's. For such a lazy monster, all the slothful moves are actually kind of hard to read for Ren with its dangerous pacing game. And don't even get him started on the monster's massive strength that defied logic. Yang couldn't ever compete.

Dodging a blow meant for his head, Ren used its massive claws as a stepping stone and lunged straight for the Grimm's head, aiming his twin pistols directly point-blank for its defenseless head. The dust powered bullets had no effect and he's shaken off before crossing his arms in midair to block an incoming swing of the sloth Grimm's arms.

The metal from his weapon takes most of the damage, but the force still sends Ren toppling through the air and into a nearby tree which another much smaller sloth Grimm curiously peered over to the human hidden beneath the broken branches, quite interested in him. Ren doesn't get his own opinion on the weird Grimm before he spots a huge boulder coming towards him.

Eyes slightly widen, Ren maneuvers out of the way, narrowly missing the huge boulder. He then aims and fires more Dust powered bullets at the sloth Grimm for a distraction, but they do nothing to the bony texture coating its entire body and the Sloth King ignores the bullets. The only real vulnerability in its defense seems to be around its head where he's barely able to see any black fur peeking out from the Grimm's curious red eyes.

Picking up speed, Ren power slides underneath another chunk of Remnant tossed at him, getting ready to try and pierce the armor with his pistol's blades.

He lunges forwards, narrowly missing another swipe of the arm from the sloth Grimm and attempts to stab the creature in the eye, but the Grimm hasn't survived for such a long time for nothing.

Before Ren could even get so much as an inch close to its head, the Grimm brings up its other paw to cover its eyes, slowly leaning its weight on the side Ren's body was currently standing on. Ren of course jumps away, sighing at the crater and tremor caused by the giant Grimm from the immediate impact, the very ground shook beneath the force.

"This isn't working," he mused, looking down at his StormFlower. He then tched as the sloth Grimm slowly got back up, balancing on the claws extending out from underneath its armor. Ren's damn lucky for such an old Grimm that it moved slowly at most times.

Knowing his weapon can't pierce the Grimm's advanced bone structure and that the Sloth King will protect its face, Ren slides them back into his sleeves, thinking if both Jaune and him could somehow escape these Grimms if they each carry their partner on their back, but he fought against it a second later.

Jaune's running on fumes after practicing with his Lore and having exhausted his entire Aura reserves as it is. And Ren doubts they could escape from these sloth Grimm's in a forest. Trees are their friends, not Team JNPR's. And Ren really doubts this big guy right in front of him will just let him leave.

Sliding his foot back, the Sloth King moves closer, sliding onto the floor and practically swimming across the clearing in a very slow but ominous movement. Then it lunges forward and Ren narrowly dodges the attack, having to resort to using his sleeve to shield his eyes from the dust explosion.

When the dust starts to clear, the Sloth King stands up and peers through the dust cloud with an impassive glare that reminded the stoic ninja a little too much of himself.

"I don't know what to do," he panicked, wishing that Nora could actually come and take care of this monster. Monstrous strength was her department. It had to be with that overly large and heavy hammer of hers.

And he should know, he's been forced to carry and wield that weapon of hers for two weeks now—?!

Gasping, his eyes widened a lot this time. He can't believe this. Should he? Could he? No. No. No! Damn it, no! But? But Nora was hurt. Badly hurt! But also alive! And neither Jaune nor Pyrrha could lend a hand right now. He was the last one standing between this Sloth King and his friends.

The first friends Nora and he had since their days in the orphanage and the streets! And he's not about to let some damn sloth Grimm take that away from him—from her!

Determined, Ren had no hesitation and turned around and picked up the fallen Magnhild, feeling that familiar texture of steel in his hands. Looks like Nora's quick thinking actually came in handy this time.

Thank you, Nora.

Balancing the hammer on his shoulder, Ren peered over his shoulder to the station Grimm, never once noticing at how much stronger he's gotten since the first time he's lifted up the massive hammer. Only the fierce glare of pink eyes gazed towards the Grimm, glaring lazily at it with an equally disinterested face.

"Let's go."

Kicking one foot out, Ren twisted the hammer, resting the head onto the floor. He calmly stepped onto the head and fired the handle, flying through the air towards the large sloth Grimm. The monster retaliated by swinging its arm towards the airborne Ren, mildly surprised at the human kicking up the hammer to rest on both his shoulders as it ran across on its large arm.

Sliding forward, Ren turned the hammer into his hand, bringing down Magnhild onto the Grimm's arm. He could see a slight tremor pass through the body, and he fought the urge to smirk, using the handle to twist and spin out of the way from the Grimm's counterattack.

Dodging the counterattack, Ren fired again, building up momentum and sliding across the grassy floor to land another heavy blow on the Grimm's chest. Another tremor passes through the body and Ren could see the sloth Grimm move around from the sudden pain, thrashing its arms slowly towards Ren in an attempt to grab and neutralize him.

He fires Magnhild, using the Grimm's body as momentum to launch backward. He then uses the hammer to ground him, stopping the momentum entirely.

Unlike Nora, Ren preferred to rely more on the laws of physics and gravity, rather than brute physical strength to unleash devastating force. And he did so by twisting his body on the hammer's handle and bringing up the weapon to swing in the air with an arc before firing another round to spin the hammer a second time with his foot skidding on the floor to build up even more momentum.

Dust traveled behind the velocity of the head of Magnhild and crashes together with the Sloth King's chest, actually forcing the Grimm to stumble back a few steps from the intense collision.

Looking up, Ren sees a large crack mark on the Grimm's bony armor, pleased that he was making some headway. But darn was he getting tired and every second he kept fighting the Grimm seemed to be waking it up from its restfulness more and more. Not something he would prefer.

Aiming for another buildup blow, Ren ducked underneath a claw swipe and fired again to swing, but things change. The Sloth King learned of Ren's tactic, using its other massively large arm to block the hammer before it could build up a lot of momentum. And Ren's too stunned to do anything before a slow but powerful fist collides with his exposed chest, literally knocking the wind out of him.

Stumbling across the clearing with a trail of dirt following him, Ren eventually comes to a stop with a deep burn centering on his upper and lower chest.

He cannot take another one of those.

Trying to get up, Ren wonders if this is how Jaune felt when his Aura hit zero. Pain and trouble breathing!

Forcing his muscles to move, Ren uses Magnhild to hold himself up, observing the sloth Grimm slowly making its way towards him. And without any sort of warning, the Sloth King picks up speed that rivals Ruby's and Ren's forced to bring up the handle of the hammer to intercept the head-butt to the chest.

More for lessening the damage than anything else as he's still sent high up in the air from the strong impact, but while in the air, he does get an idea.

Floating in the air, Ren turns his body like Nora, firing another round of her hammer to come crashing down back to Remnant. The sloth Grimm waits for him, preparing to strike Ren within striking distance and Ren knows that this is the deciding move.

All in!

Firing a second shot, Ren picked up even more speed, barely dodging the Grimm's massive fist. He landed powerfully on the floor, cracking the floor, and fired his last round to increase the hammer's speed towards the one opening he's got.

But Ren holds back, twisting his heels on the floor to build up one more spin from the still increasing momentum, fixing his knees strongly on the floor to twist his shoulders and torso back to deliver a powerful blow for the Sloth King's chest.

It's all or nothing!

Crash!

Crashing Magnhild right at the crack in the Grimm's armor, a powerful shock wave moves from the epicenter of the crash, creating a powerful wind to travel across the entire clearing and past the trees themselves where the other lesser sloth Grimms resided and hang on.

Not one creature moves from the silence, wondering what the outcome would be.

Then...

C-Crack! Crack!

Hearing something breaking, Ren looks forward and spots the bony armor around the Sloth King begin to break where he hit it. A large chunk of the Grimm's chest breaks apart, shattering onto the floor. Though a large amount of bony structure remain, Ren could now see the sloth Grimm's black fur peeking out from the hole he's caused.

It really amazes him that after all that, the monster was still standing, lazily staring down at the broken part of its armor as if it meant absolutely nothing. Like this fight meant absolutely nothing!

Which at this point, it didn't seem like—?!

Taking a sudden step back, the Grimm sharply falls on its back, seeming defeated or either too tired to fight anymore. Its massive arms and legs stretch out all over the clearing, looking obviously tired.

Ren doesn't exactly know what to make of it, but he's not tempting fate again and cautiously moves in for the kill, using his remaining Aura to lift the hammer once more over the exposed section of Grimm's armor plating.

For a second, he prepares to finish off the supposedly defeated Grimm, thinking nothing but finishing off this massive beast, but he stops at the curious and natural glare the monster had. Its crimson eyes peered at Ren with the same level of curiosity that Nora has every time she begs for answers. Almost like it's challenging Ren, testing him even.

Shaking his head, he lifts and brings the hammer down—you'd be surprised at what a Grimm will do if you leave them alone after proving you're the stronger one. They'll back off—and stops it before he can connect.

Remembering Jaune's words and his crazy stories about Death Stalkers and Beowolves, Ren sighs, unable to believe where his thoughts are scattered. He even shakes his head and re-attempts to finish off the Sloth King multiple times, but always stops himself. Because somewhere in the back of his head, Lie Ren knows that if the other sloth Grimm's decided to join in the attack after their king falls... Team JNPR would surely fall.

Only his leader's advice stops him from committing suicide.

Kind of makes you wonder, huh? What else would a Grimm do if you spare it...

Can he? Can he really take this chance? Knowing his accursed luck?

He's not so certain.

Although, now he couldn't find the will in him to finish off this Grimm anymore... not when it stared at him with those childlike eyes. There's too much of Nora in those eyes. The gesture is even stranger since Ren knew it could probably still fight, and was most likely just too tired to fight anymore or simply did not care.

Heh, he could actually relate to that.

Pulling Magnhild away, he looks at the ancient Grimm, glaring lightly, "You're lucky your Nora's favorite animal."

Walking away with the hammer balanced on his shoulder, Ren silently prepares his remaining Aura just in case the sloth Grimm gets up and attacks him, but it doesn't move until he's halfway out the clearing, leaning forward to stare curiously at the human that spared a Grimm.

Ren glares back, harboring no hate or fear, just indifference. Maybe he would've harbored some sort of hate a few months ago, but his leader has drastically changed his perceptive since then. So, no, it's not hate, just unwavering cautiousness that any creature has when their instincts are stretched to their limits.

Slouching up, Ren still doesn't maneuver Magnhild into a defensive position, waiting for the Grimm to make the first move. But when it takes a very slow step forwards, for the first time during the fight, Ren sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I just want to protect my partner, sleep all day, and relax... is that too much to ask?"

Stopping at those words, the ancient Grimm appears to understand the human's plea, ever so slightly staring up at the cloud filled sky. Ren still doesn't move as it stares back down at him and then the hole in its armor plating, and then back at him again.

Seconds turn into a minute before the slothful Grimm turns around and walks away sluggishly, making a large gurgle sound that echoes through the woods. Moments later, the other younger sloth Grimms answer the call, climbing down towards the massive Grimm that even seemed larger in comparison now from the trees.

Their black fur bodies huddle up together towards the King and Ren's not sure what they're planning, but his instincts are telling him to wait and not worry about a sloth assault. And wait he did, but not too long before the overly large sloth Grimm turns back around and slides across the clearing halfway towards the Ren.

There's that same look of curiosity in its eyes as it peers at Ren. Then, without any sort of warning, the Grimm turns around, venturing towards the nearest pair of trees and hugs the bark, instantly falling asleep with the other lesser sloths following its lead.

Ren's not too sure what to make of it.

But he does know he envies them for being able to sleep without a care in the world after the intense battle that just occurred and aftermath that Ren still had to take care of.

Not completely sure whether the Grimms will attack, Ren hesitantly moves back to the cabin where Jaune waited by the door, eyes wide.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know," he stressed, feeling the strain of Magnhild on his shoulders now. But he pushes that aside instantly for, "How's Nora?"

"Aren't you even a little bit worried about them?"

Glancing hardly back at most of the sleeping Grimm, he wasn't. Ren really didn't feel worried about them at all for some odd reason. And he didn't care enough to tempt his luck today, not anymore. Jaune's words just keep bouncing around in his head too much to care, anymore.

"No."

...

In the end, there is no happy ending or perfect end to the perfect day. Rather, in the dead of the night, the males of Team JNPR sit in the living room part kitchen on the couch with a fire blazing strong, wounds patched and bodies extremely sore. Nora and Pyrrha have been placed in the same bed with the room that had no window, to keep prying eyes away. And after much hesitation, Ren had left them to rest, looking positively drained. Even more so after Jaune told Ren that Nora had been suffering from Lore entering her system.

Luckily for him, Ren knew a thing or two about first aid and patched Pyrrha's abdominal, bandaged Nora's head, and wrapped his right arm up and stopped the bleeding. Good thing too since his Aura was just barely recharging and all he could rely on was his Lore to keep him going, even if healing didn't seem to be a factor the dark power possessed. More of a give and take relationship since Jaune kind of needed his Lore to make sure no other Grimms were approaching the cabin. But except for the sloths he still felt outside, no other Grimms seemed to be around the area.

That's good.

"You're probably still wondering why I lost it when Nora got hurt," Ren suddenly broke the silence, barely glancing at Jaune. "I owe you an explanation... I'm sorry. We almost died because I was so out of it."

Jaune smiles weakly, eyes tired, "No, it's fine. Nora was dying. And you didn't know what to do. I can sort of understand."

More silence stretches and the fire's breathing is the only sound echoing in the room. No words are exchanged, but it's an awkward silence. Not the usual level of comfortable silence Ren and him are used to.

"I wonder how Nora even got Lore in her system in the first place?" Again Ren breaks the silence with another question. "Jaune?"

Jaune pretends to think about it, but in the end, it's not that hard of a mystery for him to solve, "She probably ate the Lore shard I was working on."

Ren actually turned his head at him, "You had a Lore shard?"

"Yea, I was making one, just because... you never know," he shrugged halfheartedly with guilt. "But I never thought Nora would find it and then eat it. That's the very reason I hid it," he laughed hollowly. "Hehe, guess she found it, anyways."

Jaune Arc kind of assumed that Lie Ren would be angry with him for getting his childhood friend in danger—he's honestly waiting for an violent outburst—but he merely stared blankly, never once breaking his mask. Then Ren looked back at the fire, allowing the blanket of heat to warm the room.

Memories he's locked away begin to blur right in front of him, and tries desperately to ignore them... but they won't stop. Not while Nora is hanging by a thread in the other room and Jaune and him are the only things keeping away the monsters outside. But Ren couldn't hold it in!

Just... just seeing Nora so broken up with him unable to help brought back some painful memories for him to relive, and he tries to forgot. Oh, he tries so damn hard! But they're there! And they aren't leaving anytime soon. Not again! Not this time!

Feeling his resolve weaken, Lie Ren thought about his Fearless Leader—which he definitely knew wasn't fearless, but he's not planning to crush Nora's spirits—and recalls the instant his secret had been revealed to them by accident... more or less. Okay, not really an accident. It was intentional on their part. And some days, thinking back on it, Ren still feels bad at discovering Jaune's secret before he could find the confidence to just tell them.

Ironically, Nora calls Ren the ninja of the team and that's partially true. He's centered most of his life to following the beliefs behind them. Ninjas wear a mask, remain calm, have hidden weapons, hide their emotions, and have secrets. Ren understand secrets better than anyone. Some people think keeping secrets is the sign of a bad person. He personally thinks it's the sign of being human. Trust is not something one should just willingly give. It's something that must be earned. And because of that, he feels ashamed for discovering Jaune's secret before he told them.

At the time, Pyrrha's emotional outburst made more sense to him than it did for Jaune, but that did not completely justify her actions.

She had been mad, that much was fair considering the cold circumstances. Pyrrha felt betrayed for Jaune not opening up to her twice. And Ren has a sneaky suspicion that the champion had many people that looked up to her, but no friends growing up. A causal smile and simple Hello Again had been her only real weapons for making friends. Luckily for her, Jaune fell to her might and they quickly became friends.

Then the Cardin fiasco happened.

Ren learned two things about his leader that day. One, Jaune was prone to slipping on a mask to protect the people around him, for good or bad intentions, and Ren could sadly relate to that struggle. And two, he lived by a strict Arc code that forced him to always want to prove himself in the face of overwhelming odds.

And when those facts are mixed with the knowledge of Jaune's little progress in Pyrrha's training regiment and his tendencies to lie here and there, well then, you have a recipe for disaster. It's no mystery why Jaune distanced himself in order to train and practiced all on his own. At that point, how could he not?

And then back to Pyrrha, Ren could see why she would be angry and emotionally hurt. How could she not be mad at him for lying to her twice? Having hoped they got past this no more lying phase Nora so eloquently put it. But her anger—like Ren knew—wasn't totally justified. Honesty is a two way street and Pyrrha should've told Jaune that his progression in training had been nonexistent. In the end, they were both at fault, and had worked out their differences.

Probably helped that Pyrrha enjoyed having a partner who could match her almost to skill and wits now, even though she would most likely never say it, hating the idea that lying to your team could have any positive effects.

Ultimately, everything worked out in the end, against the odds, and their team was stronger than ever. Well, not now of course. But this all did come back to where his train of thought had originally been at.

Secrets.

He's betrayed Jaune's trust once and his leader instantly forgave him. Now it felt like his turn was up to reveal something and keep karma at bay, because Lie Ren absolutely knows that karma is a cruel mistress and watches over him. And he did owe Jaune a reason for freezing up on the battlefield and further endangering their lives. Besides, he's tired of hiding who he is and Nora's almost-death has finally pushed him over the edge.

Glaring at the fire, Ren's eye twitched and he looked over to Jaune, masked finally slipping from so many bottled up emotions, "I wasn't always like this, Jaune..."

Jaune lightly glances over to Ren, playing carefully with the bandages on his right arm, "Like what?"

And the mask finally falls...

"Like—Like this?!" he stands heatedly, gesturing to every part of his person in a rare bout of free emotion. "I used to act normal. Smile, joke, and even laugh. Nora and I..." there's a harsh pause, and Ren feels his emotions slipping into a dangerous territory. "We each used to have a family. Both of us... but... it's my fault. I ended it."

A piece of wood splinters in the fire from Ren's outburst and he glares a bit at the offending element, slowly sitting back down. His shoulders suddenly sag and he can't help but sigh at the terrible memories resurfacing back from the depths of the abyss he tossed them in. Luckily his leader says nothing to the random secret, and Ren's forever grateful, content to being allowed to move along his own pace.

The only sound both the males listen to is the fire burning, filling the room with a light glow. Seconds turn into minutes before Ren tilts his head towards his leader, lifting a hand covered in a low layer of pinkish energy that Jaune recognizes from his Space. Only this time, he's seeing it in Outer Space, and the glow is strong and distinguishable in a room coated with auburn and crimson.

Ren grips his hand, allowing only a fraction of his semblance to leak out and touch the wooden floor. Immediately the wood cracks and splinters, but barely holds out. Even then Ren sighs, forcing his semblance back. Like he's disappointed in himself.

"My semblance is probability, misfortune... in short, bad luck."

Stunned at finally learning Ren's semblance, Jaune forgets about Ren's confession about Nora and him having no families and slowly recounts all the times he's seen Ren use his semblance, mostly during his spars with Ruby, but sometimes here and there on small things. All of it makes sense now, and Team JNPR's leader can't fight the urge to grin.

"Bad luck!" he will admit, he's majorly jealous. "Whoa! That's an awesome semblance!"

Every piece of wood in the fire suddenly breaks in two simultaneously, the flooring cracks in every corner, and the flame almost reaches outside the pit, enlightening the room a glow of fierce color that's a mixed of crimson and ominous pink.

"It is not an awesome semblance!" Ren roared louder than ever, even louder than Nora's ever reached, finally losing the mask Jaune never even knew he wore. Those pinkish eyes of his glowed ominously in fury and made Yang's crimson eyes pale in comparison, breaking the bleak illusion of a stoic friend and more of a person filled with only hurt and regret. Seconds later, Ren realizes what's done and calms himself, reattaching his mask, although the sadness is clearly evident, "It's not... an awesome semblance."

He's almost afraid to ask, "Why? Why are you telling me this?"

Looking down at the fractured floor, Ren felt all his spirits drained at the damaged he's caused, "I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm afraid of the idea of being alone. Maybe just because you deserve the truth or who knows." Cursing life, he tried to control his emotions better. "I—we've never told you or Pyrrha this... Nora and I are orphans."

"... What?"

Ren suddenly stands up and looks out to the hall where Pyrrha and Nora were recovering, "Our families were killed... and it was all my fault. I lost—Nora lost her parents, her entire family because of me."

Jaune didn't really understand what the mood was, but what Ren said couldn't possibly be true. He caused the death of his and Nora's family? That's just not possible. Ren practically lives to make Nora happy.

Jaune stands up as well, grabbing his shoulder, "C'mon, Ren. That can't possibly be—?"

"No! It's true!" he shrugs away Jaune's hand, fixing him a strong glare. "It's all my fault!" Ren then quickly moves back to the couch when some of the hallway floors begin to crack. There's this defeated glare in his eyes, even with an uncaring face, and Jaune says nothing even with Ren's semblance threatening to escape his body.

So instead, he opts to sit down and allow Ren to steer the conversation in any direction he wants. Doesn't take too long before Ren's calmed himself down and his semblance is quiet once more.

"My Aura was unlocked when I was just a child. My family—from the bits and pieces I could still remember—called me a genius. Told me that I was born lucky. And that had been my downfall. I thought I could do anything. I thought I was special! I had been so blind at the time."

This time Jaune can't help but ask, "What made you so different? What made you lucky?"

Ren peered at Jaune with an intense gaze, widening his eyes for his leader to see, "I was born with two pink eyes."

He knew his leader was still lost, that much was plainly obvious. So Lie Ren continued to dwell on his family tree, "Unlike Nora's family, mine had resembled more of Weiss's family. And if you know anything about the Schnees, their semblance is hereditary. My family kind of followed that same scheme, except our semblances only had things to do with Bad Luck and controlling the power of chance and odds. A special trait my family once had was our pink eyes and distinguishable hair."

Ren pointed at his eyes, "Almost all of my family had one pink eye, but like I've told you, I have two. That's what made me different and gave me my semblance. Besides the pink eyes, we all had pale skin and unique hair," he gently grabbed the pink strand between his black locks. "No matter what, we have more than one color of hair, but one color that has always stuck has been pink. You think I dye this, don't you? I don't. It's naturally like this."

"How come I've never heard of your family before?"

Ren shrugged, "We'd kept mostly to ourselves. We weren't really big fans on talking. A bad luck semblance isn't exactly something we wanted others to know about... especially criminals."

Jaune glanced back at the hallway, "And how does Nora's family fit into all this?"

His friend searched for the right words, trailing really. "The Valkyries were mostly family friends... but only because they never left us alone. Nora's stubbornness comes from them and their boisterous attitude. It was just much easier to accept them than try to push away an unmovable wall. Less of a headache that way."

Jaune Arc could see the truth behind his words. Trying to get Nora to do the opposite of what she wanted was a nightmare all on its own. Sometimes even his leader authority held no power over the mad bomber. Not like he's tried too often to control her, but the few times he has, the outcome never really came out the way he desired.

Jaune grinned anyways, "I can actually see that happening."

But Ren didn't return the grin and went on, needing to get this off chest and not be distracted, "Being shrouded by arrogance because I thought I was born lucky, I was in such a hurry to reach my semblance and I ignore my family's warning to slow down. I essentially tried to run before I could walk. Every day I cursed my rotten luck for not being able to achieve my goals. So one day I did every bad luck thing I could possibly think of... and it worked. I had finally unlocked my semblance that allowed me free reign over the probability of chance."

Jaune saw Ren form a fist and his voice cracked a little, "And that's when everything fell apart. My own terrible luck caught up to me, and cursed me for ignoring the warnings my family gave me to slow down and learn properly who I was. My bad luck semblance killed our families."

The Arc was confused, "But... but I thought your family's semblance was hereditary? How could it have led to their deaths?"

He remained silent, listening to the fire burn away the wood, but Ren finally lifted up his hand again and called forth just a smudge of his semblance to hover over his palm. Jaune saw all this through Outer Space, and couldn't believe something so calm could cause so much pain.

"Unlike me," Ren pulled him away from his thoughts. "My family had common semblances between each other that had to do with bad luck, but couldn't just cause bad luck on a whim. One of the strongest was creating glass illusions that reflected perfect doppelgangers of the user."

Glass illusions? "And how did that work?"

Ren hums thoughtfully, "Nothing too complicated, really. All someone had to do was smash the glass illusion and the semblance would take effect and curse the opponent with seven seconds of bad luck. Not really difficult when you first think it's the actual person standing there. Didn't hurt that the semblance could be used as a distraction and even alter your appearance," Jaune's about to ask, but Ren beats him. "Seven seconds probably doesn't sound like a lot, right? Well... it only takes one second to slit your throat."

And his leader is silent again.

"My family also had a code they followed. Anything bad luck or that could influence bad luck that could be utilized as a weapon would be favorable over any other weapon, unless of course the person wasn't very versatile with the weapon to begin with."

Okay, now Jaune's definitely lost, "And what does that mean?"

"Your weapon had to be something that could cause bad luck."

Jaune, despite the tension, still grinned a little, "What? Like a ladder or black cat?"

Lie Ren gave him a sideways glance, neither angry nor happy, "The preferred weapon was mostly an umbrella. Since opening up one indoors is a sign of misfortune and allowed a range of options to be used. Hidden blades and a rounded shield always made fighting a lot easier. But I didn't fall under any of those codes. My semblance allowed me free control over misfortune. I could create my own bad luck."

It's the first time Jaune's ever heard Ren laugh, and it's hollow and dead. "Of course at the time, I didn't know it was a curse. I didn't know, but by the time I did, it was already too late. I had been using my semblance far too carelessly and it spread too much. Eventually, disaster struck. Both Nora's and my family fell to ill misfortune, and I knew it was my fault. I could feel and even see my semblance all over their remains. They said it was a freak accident—but I knew!"

Ren gritted his teeth, letting his mask slip again, "And I told Nora it was all my fault. I wanted her to know that I was the one that took away out families. I wanted her to be mad at me and hate me and never trust me again! Hate me for everything I took away—but do you know what she did? She forgave him! Me! A monster that robbed her of everything! I didn't deserve that!"

Fighting his emotions, Ren is unable to stop the lone tear that slides across his cheek, and he stubbornly wipes it away. He knows he doesn't deserve tears. Jaune in the meantime, lets Ren work through the emotions, not sure whether to comfort him or not. It's all so confusing for him. And he has a feeling that Ren's been bottling this up for years.

Having seven sisters never prepared him for this.

"Ever since then," Ren added, smiling gently at the thought of Nora's forgiveness. "I devoted my life to finding ways to stop my semblance from destroying the last good thing left in my life. Only using the barest of minimal when I fight or otherwise. Never too much."

"How did you stop your semblance from causing havoc?" Jaune asked, not sure if he wanted the answer or not.

No words are said for a brief moment, and all Jaune can see is Ren staring lifelessly at the burning fire. Eventually, he looks away from the flame and stares tiredly at Jaune, almost attempting another smile.

"You know better than anyone Jaune that Aura is also controlled by emotions." Ren allows the weight of his words to fall on Jaune, not surprised when his leader finally puts the pieces of the puzzle together, coming to the same conclusion he came up with all those years ago, and pure disbelief floods his leader's face.

"You killed your own emotions... to protect Nora?"

Ren glares at the fire again, hating every part of himself, "I'll do anything to protect Nora. I'm all she has... a monster that killed both our families. A genius that did the most foolish things and made the biggest mistake in both our lives. Heh, how messed up is that? How did she luck out and get the monster as her only friend for twelve years!" Ren then pulls out Jaune's Aura notebook from his sleeve and tosses it back to him, "It's also the reason I'm so interested in your Aura control..."

Nothing more needs to be said. Jaune fully understands now why Ren was so keen on his notes. Any possible way to keep his semblance from hurting the ones he cares about is enough of a motivator for Lie Ren.

"But that doesn't mean you should try and kill off your emotions!" his leader argued, but Ren easily countered with his own.

"Some semblances are based off control and others off emotions, and then both. You know Yang's can be fueled off raw emotion and Ruby sometimes uses hers by accident when she's overexcited." Ren sighed. "Negativity and anger created my semblance, and all it could do is cause destruction and pain. I'm just... unlucky."

Jaune didn't care, "But you've been better lately. I've noticed it, and so have Pyrrha and Nora. Sure, you still don't express much, but every once in a while we all see something. You even smile more and—!"

"And look where that's led me!" Ren gestured to him and towards the bedridden females of the team. "Don't you get it?! I didn't just take away Nora's parents, I took away everything! I don't deserve to be anywhere near her! She deserves better! You all do!"

Jaune realizes that Ren's talking about the Grimm attack and Nora's near-death experience and he gets up from the couch, grabbing him by the shoulder, "Ren, you can't blame yourself for something that was out of your control."

Shoving his hands away, Ren glares at Jaune, "That's exactly why I'm blaming myself."

He then shoves past him and attempts to walk out the cabin and get his emotions under control, but Ren stops at the door and sighs sadly, letting his hand linger on the handle just for a bit. He could feel the sting of anger building up, only to be turned into mushed sadness, but not for his sake.

"Ren—?"

"I'm all Nora has left, well, that and this team. We have no home to go to or family waiting for us if we fail."

Then Ren's out the door before Jaune could stop him. And he wants to run after him, but someone has to stay behind and watch Nora and Pyrrha, and that's probably why Ren even left in the first place. Better to have their Fearless Leader stand guard then allow some emotional, bad luck ticking time bomb go off and do Monty knows what amount of damage to a weakened team.

Still, Jaune Arc's eyes linger around the damaged cabin, eventually resting on the fire still burning with small traces of Ren's semblance in the wood. His broken friend's words come back to haunt him, and he doesn't know what to do.

We have no home to go to or family waiting for us if we fail.

He really needs to win the Vytal Tournament.

If not for him... then them.

Someone has to keep this team together.

...

Running outside to get away from the cabin before his emotions do anymore damage, Ren stops in the middle of the clearing, having the wary sensation that something was watching him from all corners.

He turns and looks towards the forest. Simple red eyes pierce through from the shadows of the mass of trees, and Ren glares at them with equally powerful pink eyes, especially at the largest of them all, feeling his emotions slipping once more.

"What?! You want a rematch?!" Moving his arms, his StormFlower pops out from the hidden space from within his sleeves and he aims directly at the shadows, not flinching when the Sloth King itself slowly emerges out from the darkness. He's sorely tempted to fire with his anger as the fuel, but doesn't. Can't—won't!

Not now.

Not when he needed to keep his emotions in check more than ever.

Not when Monty Oum had so gratefully prevented his semblance from causing any harm to Nora when he was heartbroken earlier.

Dropping and tossing StormFlower carelessly away, Ren gives up and simply falls to the floor, staring at the cloudy full moon night. He's just too tired and the mood to fight dies as he recalls the moon's similar appearance the same night Nora and his parent's had died. The same night he became a monster!

Sensing negative emotions come off from the human, the Grimm does nothing, observing the sadden creature who had spared its life, fall to deep misery. Those eyes of it seem oddly similar to their own, only slightly different. Brighter, yet colder. Filled to the point of bursting from guilt, regret, and self-doubt.

Feeling a gust of wind pass it's blacken fur, the king looks down at the opening within its armor. Not all of its kind was alike. Sure, the little ones hunted humans to quench the desire to fill the emptiness within the pits in their beings, needing that stranger power humans poses when clouded by sadness to feel full, but the older a species got, the smaller the hole became. Eventually the desire to fill that void simply vanishes.

Some species simply wanted aggression. The wolves, the bears, the boars, even the scorpions all wanted only aggression. They're naturally aggressive monsters, carnivores and predators.

However, the Sloth King's species just tended to avoid conflict altogether, unless provoked or finding humans trespassing on their home territory. But this time, the sloth Grimm couldn't make heads or tails of what to think of the humans within their territory this time. Unlike most humans its kind has bear witness to but ventured away from, one of these humans possessed a life force similar to their own, and the other did not seek out their death. Plus, they all have a bit of their life force around them as well, not just the one.

Looking up to what the strange human was staring at, the king regarded with its old age and wisdom the lack of violence radiating from the creature, still only sensing extreme sadness. Finally, the little ones behind it grew restless and moved a little forward, but the king stopped them with a simple huff. This human... was different.

This human knew pain... it knew what it's like to have a void resting deep in their being that never seemed to ever even be half-filled.

Moving slowly, the sloth Grimm did not miss the cautious sideways glance the human threw at it, but simply lazed over the threat, moving beside the human on the floor to lay with it. It always did enjoy a good relaxing laze, and apparently this human enjoyed it as well. And the strange ball in the sky and shadows did look pleasant this dusk.

Too lazy to even find the urge to fight anymore, Ren did not stop the massive sloth Grimm from lying beside him, vaguely content to allowing it to rest next to him, and confident enough to dodge if a preemptive strike ever did come.

Imagine him, the apparent prodigy, the lazy one, the monster, relaxing with a sloth Grimm. It's troublesome, really. No words are spoken—not like he expected the Sloth King to speak—but it's a comforting yet awkward silence. Grimm and man are supposed to be enemies? Yet, here he was, lying beside the largest and strongest sloth Grimm of them all. And he doesn't feel this urge to fight, not even the urge to run. Maybe it's from the lazy appearance the creature has? Or perhaps the odd face it had? Possibly even all of that.

It's ironic and not possible, but then again, the things his leader does with Aura alone can also be considered wishful thinking as well.

Glancing sideways once more at the prone Grimm, Ren couldn't help but remember Jaune's words once more... You'd be surprised at what a Grimm will do if you leave them alone after proving you're the stronger one. Was just another thing his Fearless Leader has discovered? Was this proof right here?

Did Lie Ren make the right choice at not killing this Grimm?

"I know my leader isn't thinking anything bad about me," Ren sighed, content to talking to humanity's threat and not having something talk back. "That's just like that of him, but I don't want pity, neither. I'm not even sure what I want or even sure if you can understand me. But your face holds no emotion. You're not judging me. Even when I was fighting you, there was nothing there."

He sat up, hugging one knee close to his chest, still staring wishfully at the moon. "I wish I could control my emotions like you can and not hurt the people that matter."

Feeling better at getting that off his chest, Ren stood up with a small wince from where the Sloth King had hit struck him, but brushed off the pain to glance down at the prone Grimm with a stare equally as detached as its own.

The king blinks once at the human as it turns to walk away and pick up its tools from the floor. It sees the struggles it overcomes and wonders what could've caused this human so much pain and regret.

It sees no anger. No resentment at not finishing it off. All it sees is a human on the verge of breaking from the negative emotions pushing down on it—a human who spared its life simply because it didn't feel like killing it, far more concerned for its mate life force than the act violence, and only fighting because its mate's survival depended on it.

This human... wants only to protect.

But fear held the human down, thus preventing him from ever truly controlling his emotions. That is why the human pleads, and wishes for help. Only something that could absorb the negative feedback and channel it can truly save the human before true despair washes over him.

Understanding everything now, the Sloth King slowly gets up and returns back to the solace of the trees, calling forth the younger ones to follow alongside and not mess with the humans for the time being. For since the clearing out of their competition for space, the Leos and their king, the sloth's territory has expanded immensely, and the Sloth King knew when gratitude is deserved and when gratitude is earned.

Unknown to Lie Ren, sparing the Sloth King has set in motion a chain of events that not even Lady Luck could stop.


Author Notes: Edited 11/6/2016