AN: Do know that I don't own anything regarding RWBY and Bloodborne. Please support the official creators Rooster Teeth on RWBY content and From Software for their legendary games.

(Rewritten): So this account is now its own thing yay! I can write whatever I want now! Yay! Originally this account was for my friend and I to work on and publish fanfictions together but now we got a new member and uh well things got complicated and we decided that we should just do upload on one of our accounts when we do any collabs. Anyways this is my first ever fanfiction inspired by Jagged Sword and The Day After The Hunt (read them, they're great) and is something I didn't scrap for once. Anyways sorry for this rewritten AN, let's just get on with the fanfic.

AciesMors signing off. And may the cosmos guide your way.

Man, that sounds cringy!

Dream Cycle: Tis but a Scratch

What makes a hero? A hero is someone who is pure-hearted, a hero is someone who in the face of danger will never falter, a hero is someone who will save all even without reason.

Jaune Arc is none of those, he doesn't have the courage to face danger, he has no one to save and even if he could, he never would be able to. And he certainly isn't pure-hearted… not anymore, not after this night.

"ARGHHHH!"

Pain.

He had never been in so much pain before. Stabs, slashes, so much pain, he just wants it all to stop. Burns, Gun wounds, Blunt wounds, so many kinds of pains are going through his body right now. And it's still not stopping.

"Jaune!" A man barged in.

This man was Augustus Arc. Father of the Arc family. He has short blonde, almost white hair and beard and is currently sporting a simple white shirt and black shorts for pyjamas.

"Jaune! Are you alright?" Augustus rushes towards his son.

But he only answered with more screaming and tears.

"What's wrong!?" a woman then came in.

This woman was Jeanne Arc. Wife of Augustus Arc, she has long blonde hair that is braided in a ponytail and sports similar clothing to Augustus.

Augustus didn't get to answer as Jaune's screaming intensified before a white light filled the room forcing the parents to cover their eyes. The light soon faded back, and the room returned to normal and the parents stared at their son like a deer in the headlights.

"D-did his aura just activate?" asked Jeanne.

"But doesn't aura only activate if someone unlocks or the person is experiencing intense danger?" Augustus asked.

Jeanne nodded.

"Then… why?"

That is the question that both parents want an answer to.

Location: Iosefka's Clinic.

He signed it. He signed the goddamn contract that the old man gave him. He didn't know why but all he knows is that he heard something, a voice – no… an echo and it was calling to him, calling FOR him. For some reason he felt like the echoes could guide him home and that's why he signed the contract, that's why he is going through with the blood ministration.

"Don't worry, you may think it all a mere bad dream" the old man said as he stabbed the needle into his arm.

Jaune felt the blood flow into his own body and how invigorating it was but then that feeling turned to pain, his body couldn't handle the pain anymore and he passed out.

When he awoke, he really thought he just had a bad dream but the room he was in told him that it wasn't. He walked over to the door to his left but found a note on a chair.

Note:

Seek paleblood to transcend the hunt

"Paleblood?" he spoke to himself.

He had no idea what that was, but it may be important to finding his way back home. When he opened the door and walked down the stairs, he was treated to a bizarre scene. Little white corpse-like beings popping out of the ground, they didn't seem to attack him but rather they have their hands clasped together almost looking like they're praising him. He walked past them, carefully trying to not step on them, when he got out of the small room, he was treated to another albeit more gruesome scene.

'B-Beowolf!?' he thought to himself.

What he thought was a Grimm, was actually a scourge beast. Once former humans turned monster due to the scourge. The beast was currently occupied by the corpse which it is eating right now and doesn't seem to notice Jaune, a perfect chance for him to possibly sneak past it if he wants to find a way home.

He crouched down low and slowly walked behind it, but fate unfortunately didn't plan on him escaping so easily and his foot kicked a glass bottle when he was nearing his exit. The beast, hearing the noise turned to face him and he froze up.

'I-is that really a Beowofl!?' he pondered when he got a closer look at the beast.

Its head was of a wolf, its eyes were pure white, and its body was of a humanoid body with elongated limbs and covered in fur from head to toe. It growled at Jaune and he tried to run, but the beast grabbed him when he turned to do so, pulling him in. Jaune looked up at it as its mouth opened.

'I-is this how I'll die?' he asked to himself, tears forming.

The beast then bit into him.

~~AMONGST US~~

Time Skip, Location: Great bridge

The screech of the Cleric beast can be heard nearly all over Yharnam, as the beast exploded into nothing but mist.

PREY SLAUGHTERED

There it was again, an echo that he heard in his head.

He was already tired, his body sagged, barely able to keep hold of his weapons. His body was soaked in blood, from the Cleric Beast he just fought. He was garbed in the classic Hunter set, the feathered cap, the shoulder-lengthen cape over the long black cloak, the metal-like gauntlets and leather gloves and the leather pants and boots.

He lifts his head to see a lamp appear in front of him, a purplish light glowing off of it. He walked towards it and lights it, white beings appearing from the ground around it, he crouches low and reaches out to the lamp. The floor around him appear to waver around like the waves of the ocean and a bright light surrounds and consumes him as his body fades away.

~~AMONGST US~~

Location: The Hunter's Dream

His body fades back into existence, all the blood disappeared from his garbs, he stands up to see the doll staring at him, wating patiently for him. He walked towards the doll to talk to it.

"Hello good hunter, what is it you desire?" the doll asks him.

It was always a bit weird for him whenever the doll calls him the good hunter. It all happened after he met Eileen, a fellow hunter, when he was escaping the sewers, that's when he found a weird skull. When he crushed it, he felt as though his eyes opened and when he returned to the dream, he found the doll that he's seen before lying next to the stairs to be standing and somehow able to talk to him.

The doll explained to him that when he crushed the skull of the madman, he gained insight, knowledge of the great ones. But when asked about what the great ones, it simply said that he will find out in time.

"Echoes" he answered simply.

The doll nodded and crouched down, holding out its hands. He stood close and held out his right hand for it, his eyes slowly closing. A bright spheric light appeared in between their hands, and small droplets of blood can be seen orbiting the light and some of it are flowing through and into his hand.

Memories, he can see the memories of those whom he has killed. Visions of many memories passes his mind, but one stood out to him and he focuses on it. He can see a man holding a cleaver in his right hand and the other shielding a little girl and a woman, there was also a beast standing next to a broken door, eying the man and what is presumably his family. The beast charged at him and he charged at the beast. When the beast died, he didn't stop his assault, hacking away at the corpse in absolute rage. Eventually he himself started to succumb to his injuries and he received a blood transfusion in order to heal, the next day he was visited by someone called Ludwig. The man was recruited by him to become a hunter, eventually he rose through the ranks and became a Black church hunter, finding strength from his family so that he could protect them. But one day he was too late to protect his family, when news reached his ears in the Cathedral, he became enraged, he went out to kill as much beast as he could find, using the strength that he found through anger, in order to seek vengeance. When he returned though, he succumbed to the scourge and he himself became a beast, a beast worse than those that he has slain. A cleric beast.

Jaune opens his eyes, the purple light now gone and the doll standing back up, retracting its hands. He himself did the same and retracted his arm before bowing to the doll to which it returned one itself. He stretched himself, feeling much stronger than before, he felt as though he can lift a whole stone slab.

Jaune walked up to the workshop to find Gehrman, the first hunter, but it seems he wasn't here at the moment, probably behind the locked gates which he can't enter. He still feels so tired, he didn't know what to do, he then exited the workshop and back towards the doll again.

"Um… hey doll?" he asks the doll.

"Yes, good hunter?" she replies.

"Um… do you know where I could uh… sleep?" he asks again, this time scratching the back of his head.

"Do you require rest?" she asks, tilting her head slightly.

"Y-yeah… I'm kind of tired" he answers, blushing and turning away from the doll.

Asking for things was never his strong point, especially from people that he's never met before. But the doll simply nodded.

"I can make you a small bed for you to sleep in. But I won't guarantee that it will be luxurious" she said.

"That's fine, anything works… and thanks" he said bowing in gratitude.

"Fufu, there is no need to thank me, I was created to serve you hunters after all" she chuckled, as she left to make his bed.

He frowned, feeling guilty about making the doll do something as simple as making him a bed after hearing what she said.

After a few minutes, the doll came back from… somewhere, probably done with the bed.

"Good hunter, I have your bed ready" she confirmed.

"Oh, okay" he says as he stands up from sitting on the floor.

"I figured you would want it somewhere with little disturbance, so I put it in the garden behind the workshop" she told him.

He nodded, thankful for it. He bowed to the doll a final time before going to the back garden. The bed was nothing special, just some stacked cloth, another long sheet of cloth over it and another small set of stacked cloth, presumably a makeshift pillow.

He lifted the sheet before he laid onto the largely stacked clothing and covered himself in the sheet. As he laid there, he thought to himself if he would ever find a way home, time will only tell, right now he only hopes he could get some peaceful sleep. And boy does he regret it.

Location: The Arc Household, Dom

Jaune stood up from his bed, with an ache going through his whole body.

'What happened?' he looked around to find himself in his bedroom.

'Wait a minute, I'm… back?' he thought confused.

'But I was… I was in the dream! H-how? How am I back in Dom?'

He was interrupted when the door to his room opened and behind it came Maya Arc, his second oldest sister. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, tied into a pontytail. Maya is currently garbed in a white buttoned shirt with a black vest and tie over it along with simple black jeans and a watch on her left arm.

'Bland' Jaune thought to himself.

Then again, Maya works as a bartender as a part-time job so that kind of explains her outfit.

"Jaune?" She called surprised from his awakening.

"Morning, Sis" he replied.

"Uh, morning" she replied awkwardly.

They stared at each other for what feels like a full minute. They never really spend much time together after she got her job, except during holidays but even then, they barely talk to each other. If he recalls, the bar was also part inn, so they get a lot of customers, the name of it was OakdInn, pretty sure it was a joke.

"So… mom told me to see how you were from last night" she finally said.

"Yeah?" he said slowly.

"She said to bring you down if you're fine so…" she says as she points her thumb backwards.

Again, they stared at each other for what feels like another minute.

"Yeah, I'll come down for breakfast" he said.

"Umm it's actually past eleven already so…" she says slowly wincing.

"Guess I'll ask mom if she can make me something huh?" he sighed.

'As if this couldn't get any more awkward' he thought.

He tried to stand up from his bed but immediately sat down, grunting in pain. Seeing this, Maya rushed towards him, concerned.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" she asked.

"N-no I'm fine" he says, trying to stand again but failing.

"You don't look fine, come on I'll help you down" she said putting one of his arms around her.

They both made their way down to the living room where most of the family were at. The twins, Thyme and Mentha were playing on the console with the other siblings Rosemary and Anastasia watching, while the third oldest sister, Valerie Arc and Augustus was nowhere to be seen.

"Jaune?" a voice came from near the kitchen.

Jaune looked towards the kitchen to find, his mother along with every other sister in the house looking towards him and Maya, who still held onto him. Noticing this, his mother dropped the wet cloth she was holding and rushed upstairs towards the duo.

"Jaune are you alright!?" she yelled.

"I'm alright mom, just really tired" he replied.

"And for some reason hurt" Maya added, glaring at him.

"Thanks… Maya" he sighed.

They slowly descended the stairs and when they did Jaune sat on a chair at the dining table. The other sisters slowly turned around towards the T.V but occasionally looking back towards the trio. Jeanne inspected his body, breathed out of slight relief that there were no visible injuries on her son's body.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

A sound came from the watch on Maya's wrist, she sighed and turned it off.

"Sorry, I have to go now, it's time for my shift" she said.

"It's alright, I'll take things from here" Jeanne said, smiling gratefully.

Maya nods and heads towards the door before grabbing her small backpack and exiting the house.

"So, do you want anything to eat?" Jeanne asked sweetly.

"Um, anything is fine" Jaune replied.

Jeanne nods and heads towards the kitchen to cook her son something to eat.

Now that she's gone, Jaune finally has time to think about what had happened before in Yharnam. He tried to recall all the events that had happened before he awoke in his room. The blood ministration, scourge beast he had slayed and the dream. He tried to recall more, and a vison popped into his head.

There was a street with a beast burning on a stake, there was blood everywhere, corpses too and then him standing before the burning beast, garbed in his hunter attire, soaked in blood from head to toe, blunderbuss in his left hand and a saw cleaver in the other. A Yharnamite, was crawling away, attempting to grab his fallen torch, Jaune walked towards the man and kicked him over to face him. He placed the barrel of the blunderbuss onto the head of the Yharnamite and pushed down on the gun.

"Y-you… plague… ridden rat" the Yharnamite spitted out.

Jaune stood over him, his eyes hollow but he himself countered the man's statement.

"No… but you sure are" he said before pulling the trigger.

Jaune gripped his mouth tightly, trying to not vomit from that memory.

'Gods… what did I become?' he asked, with tears starting to form.

His nose caught a scent coming from the kitchen and he looked up, tears slowly receding. Jeanne came out holding a plate of hot Spaghetti Bolognese and putting it down on the table.

"Here, eat up!" she said happily, offering him a fork.

He slowly reached for the offered utensil and dug in. Jeanne sat down watching his son eat like he hadn't for days, but her expression turned serious. Noticing this, Jaune slowed his pace before putting down his given fork.

"Jaune… do you… remember what happened last night?" she asked.

He closed his eyes, attempting to recall the events that transpired.

"Pain…" he said, as he opened his eyes slowly.

The sisters, noticing how solemn his voice was, ignored the game they're playing entirely and tried to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"I remember feeling pain, and not just an ache but rather I felt burns, cuts, gun wounds. There was more but I can't remember it all."

His mother gasped at the gun part, as did his sisters.

"And then I think I… passed out?" he said not fully able to remember what happened.

"So, that's why you were screaming last night, do you remember why you felt pain?" Jeanne asked still shocked.

"I was…" he paused to think.

Was did he say? Did he tell her the truth? What would his mother think? Figuring that he couldn't hold back, he told her what had happened. Yharnam, the cleric beast, the dream, everything. Meanwhile the sisters listened to him like he was a mad man ranting.

"That's a weird ass dream he's got there; you think he did drugs?" Thyme asked.

But all the sisters glared at her, even Jeanne did too. Looks like she was a bit too loud.

"Oh, heheh… whoops?" she tried, she really did.

Jeanne turned away from them eyes narrowing as she looked towards the floor.

"That may explain why your Aura was unlocked though…" she said, though uncertain.

"Aura?" Jaune asked.

"Right you don't know" Jeanne stated.

"Okay then I guess I'll have to explain"

Jaune nodded and listened closely to what his mother has to say.

"Aura is the physical manifestation of our soul, it is the energy that courses through all living beings, animals, plants all of it. As long as something has a soul, it has Aura. Huntsman and Huntresses uses Aura to protect themselves from harm in the form of a shroud or even force fields. You can still feel the pain but you wouldn't get hurt. And the more they use it, the more powerful their Aura becomes, eventually developing what is called a semblance. A powerful ability that can aid Huntsman and Huntresses in different ways, think of it like a superpower. BUT this does not make you invincible, Aura can be shattered, and you won't be able to access your semblance and will be left defenceless. The only way to recharge your Aura is to rest and recuperate." She finished.

"But what did you mean that my Aura was unlocked?" Jaune asked.

"Well… when most people are born, they have their Aura locked away for reasons unknown. Scientists theorise it's because they aren't in any sort of danger, as Aura only seems to only unlock when someone with Aura unlocks it for them or when they are experiencing immense or life-threatening danger." She said.

"That's why my Aura unlocked? Because I… dreamed of myself dying over and over?" Jaune asked.

'That means my body doesn't disappear like how I do whenever I died' he reasoned.

"That could be why, it's the only explanation why your Aura was unlocked" She confirmed.

Jeanne looked towards the clock on the wall and sighed, she then stood up and went to Augustus' and her room.

"Hunter job?" Jaune asked as she was about to enter the room.

"Yeah, oh and if you may, please wash the dishes" she requested.

He nodded, picking up the plate and fork and headed inside the kitchen, his body not hurting as much as it was before.

'The physical manifestation of our soul huh?' he thought as he started to wash the utensil and plate.

'That still doesn't explain why my Aura unlocked itself and how I ended up in Yharnam' he thought again.

Unless he really was just dreaming? No, he knows that the dream and Yharnam weren't fake and that they were real. It felt too real to not be. He then thought back to the dream, a haven for hunters, a place which they can return when they interact with a lamp or die. But that would mean, when a hunter from the dream dies, their body and soul get pulled from the real world to the dream, a separate dimension where they get revived. But what about him? From the previous conversation with his mother he could tell that his body wasn't pulled from this world and the only key thing that happened that night was his Aura being unlocked.

'Wait… Aura is the physical manifestation of the soul, an energy that courses through living beings. But that would mean-' he dropped the plate he just washed back into the sink.

'Of course, that would even explain why my Aura unlocked in the first place!' he speculated.

"Jaune?" Jeanne called out, hearing him dropping the plate and now wearing her Huntress' gear.

The gear she wore consists of a long amethyst cape, the cape covered nearly the entirety of her back and was marked with two crosses on both the right and left. Under that cape she a battle dress with armour that covers her abdomen, gauntlets along her arms, metal heels over amethyst thigh-highs and a strap to hold onto her Mistalian rapier.

"Sorry, I was just thinking" he apologized picking up the plate once again to dry.

"If you need to rest, then rest Jaune, I don't want you to burden yourself okay?" she requested, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah" he answered, nodding.

"Well… it's time for me to go, and remember, rest if you need to" she reminded, as she walks towards the door.

"Good hunting, Mom" he called out.

She turned and waved one last time before she turned to the sisters.

"And don't bother your brother okay? He's not well" she said before leaving.

'of course, she just had to say that' Jaune thought covering his face with his hand.

As soon as she left the house, the sisters came rushing towards him no doubt trying to squeeze out more details about the night before.

"YOU JUST HAVE TO SAY THAT DIDN'T YOU MOM?" he says out loud.

~~AMONGST US~~

Jaune plopped down onto his bed, faced down, already tired from his sisters pestering him for more answers. He looked over to his left to see that it was pass nine already and stood up to change into his Pumpkin Pete costume.

He plopped back down onto the bed, blanket now over him.

'Sometimes I wish my sisters actually listen to mom' he sighed internally.

But he still smiled.

'But that's what makes them my sisters' he mused.

His eyes started to slowly close, feeling like his body is slowly being drained.

'I wonder… if I'll go back… to… the dream' he pondered before his eyes finally closed.

That's it! Man, this took so much longer than it should've. This literally took me at least what? One term? Man, I really am bad. It was only thanks to my friend Neo-Badonis-69 (discord), for responding during the late night, which was really *cough* usually 12:00-2:00am, which allowed me to correct and finish this first chapter. Yeah you really got to give my friend some respect for staying up so late and responding though, I guess this makes him my beta reader? Probably. I am sorry for this really short chapter though, really I am, but I want to upload this before school starts again so yea sorry. If you have any advice please, you know put it in the comments.

Anyways I don't plan to make this a long fanfiction, maybe two arcs long but I hope I can make this longer than it should be.

Anyways, this is AciesMors. Signing off.

I need to stop sounding so cringy.