A sea of Grimm staring inward,
In recognition to the sorrowful sight,
The Weeping King once sat there,
Until he was greeted by the White Knight.
"Hmmm, it seems like I'm lost again." Jaune was in the middle of the forest, trekking a path that seemed endless. With a dramatic sigh he plopped himself down and breathed steadily as he let his feet relax a bit. He smiled nostalgically at the uncannily familiar sight of the wildlands.
No matter how far he went, it seemed that some things didn't change. When he first started his adventure, he really wasn't keen on sleeping in the wild. Now? It was a unique experience. He'd been taught on how to sleep with one eye open, straddling the line between straight-up sleeping and daydreaming.
So he entered the odd realm of half-sleep, where the world was a moving painting that seemed to keep still. His breathing was calm, the only sound he could hear was the occasional gust of wind.
And all of sudden, he was awoken from his slumber. From how his muscles and joints felt, he hadn't slept for long. So he got up and looked around for whatever interrupted him.
And then he saw them.
A sea of black surrounded him, ten or twenty yards away was a perimeter of Grimm. Ursa, Boarbatusks, Creeps, and Beowolves of all sizes surrounded him on ground while thousands of tiny nevermore stared at him. The odd thing was that they weren't attacking.
"Ragghh." A voice that could only be described as ragged made itself known. Jaune turned around and cursed himself for not recognizing the presence at his side.
They looked human, perhaps. With a lithe build, torn clothes, and open festering wounds, they looked more dead than alive. And if there was any doubt about what they were, their head was replaced by the signature mask of a Geist, with a cloud of black mist in place of hair.
"Yea?" Jaune had truly mastered the ability of acting nonchalant when he was scared. He prided himself on being able to accurately gauge his own abilities. And it didn't take a genius to say that the small army of Grimm was far beyond him. If the only reason they weren't attacking was because this, Geist? Whatever, if this Geist wanted to talk, he wasn't about to stop it.
The Geist let out a string of noises that were incoherent to Jaune.
"Yes?" A young Beowolf snarled and tried charging, only for the Geist to put a hand up, making it stop dead in its tracks.
"Narhleto." The Grimm snarled amongst themselves but did as told, skulking away to let the Geist personally fight the wandering huntsman.
"Well, how's your day?" Jaune tried to make polite conversation, but found that the Geist forwent pleasantries in favor of rabidly rushing at him and making a few wild swings with their fists. Jaune erred on the side of safety and simply dodged each swing, occasionally giving a kick back in a token counter effort.
He really did not want to risk some bone spike popping out and impaling his leg.
"RAARAGH!" The Geist screamed as it continued to try and hit him. Its movements were wild and most of their strikes overextended. Jaune simply dodged and observed, watching as the Geist tried to slash or lunge like an animal.
But then he got clocked in the jaw.
Rubbing the bruise as Aura healed it, he looked at the Geist once more. Their movements were still wild, but now it felt more like an actual strategy. A slash would lead into a spin kick that would lead into a backhand strike. After initially being surprised by the solid punch to the jaw, Jaune paid careful attention.
After backing up into a tree, he decided to set the tempo and began with some basic punches in a boxer's stance. As he blocked a wild kick with his left arm, he gave a mean right hook to the Geist's mask, which cracked with the impact.
It snarled and fell back, allowing Jaune to advance with a few more experimental jabs. Nothing he really committed to, just light pokes that the Geist suddenly began to dodge. The minimal movement was reminiscent of military martial arts, where the goal was to dodge with the least effort required. Funnily enough, it was the same way he dodged.
Jaune decided to test a hypothesis. He dodged under a fist and used the opportunity to grapple the Geist before tossing it over his back. It tumbled a bit before springing back up. It approached him this time with a sturdy stance, fists up in a constantly changing stance.
And when Jaune over committed to his next punch, he was similarly grappled by the Geist.
Jaune smiled, it seemed that the Geist was learning. He felt flattered by its imitation. He got up and drew Crocea Mors, dots of light reflecting on the blade. The Geist paused for a moment and stared at him before, oddly enough, running away.
Jaune ignored his instincts and sheathed Crocea Mors, watching as the Geist took one final look at him. Its eye was filled with malice. It was trying to kill him. But Jaune could've sworn he saw some confusion in it.
Shrugging, Jaune sheathed the sword.
"This is why I love traveling." Who in Vale could say they saw a Geist possessing a body?
"BLEGH!" Jaune was desperately rubbing his tongue against river water. Why? Well, if someone were to ask him, he would say that he ate some rotten berries. The real story is that, in a moment of supreme stupidity, he chewed on some poison ivy thinking that it was mint. Upon realizing his mistake, he immediately bolted to the nearby river and began to wash it.
That single-minded focus on cleansing his tongue was why he didn't notice the Geist from before standing across from the lake, staring at him. Now though, it had a sheathed sword at its side. Jaune raised an eyebrow as it slowly took it out, revealing it to be a chipped saber. It got into a one-handed stance and simply waited for Jaune.
Jaune, seeing no problem in indulging the Geist, let Crocea Mors breath air and fell into a familiar stance. Wielding it with two hands, he decided to hide the shield nature of his sheath for now. As soon as he fell into his stance, the Geist began its assault.
It focused on slashing him, the curved nature of the sword making thrusts harder. Jaune easily deflected each wild strike. He pushed the Geist back with a feint and follow-up swing that hit its side, though Jaune found that the Geist had grown some plates of boney armor on its host. The Geist was wading in the river, though it wasn't strong enough to push it away. Jaune decided to join it, thanking himself for getting leather boots as he felt the odd sensation of his feet being dry yet cooled by the water.
And as Jaune tried to counter another strike from the Geist, it feinted and instead struck his armor. Recoiling, Jaune felt a smile grow on him again. The Geist seemed confused at this, tilting his head as it felt Jaune surging with joy. So this is what his master felt like when he finally learned his lessons.
Upping the ante, Jaune suddenly kicked the water up into the Geist, making it swing wildly in confusion. Jaune capitalized on this with a forceful strike at the saber's blade, which threw it out of the Geist's hand and embedded it into the ground.
Without a moment's hesitation, the Geist tried to lunge at him, only to hit itself on Crocea Mors' shield. Jaune bashed the Geist and made it tumble out of the river by its blade.
Jaune simply watched as it recovered and got into stance once more, only for it to fall when he saw Jaune sitting down across the river.
"Hmm, you weren't trying." The Geist responded with confusion, tilting his head. "You came up to me and offered me a fair fight. If I were you, I would've taken that distraction and tried to stab me. A fight isn't about fairness, you know. I'm not above kicking dirt into your eyes."
The Geist simply took that in while staring at Jaune. And then, it seemed with all its effort, it nodded and walked away. Jaune could only chuckle to himself. His chat was this Geist was somehow the best conversation he'd had on the road for a while. Shrugging, he continued on his way, for some reason gleefully anticipating the Geist's next attempt to kill him.
"Caw! Caw!" Jaune was being swarmed by tiny nevermore. He had been for quite a while. He really hated them. They were small, annoying, and didn't even do that much damage! What they did do was block his vision, caw loudly, and divebomb him like they were suicidal pilots! With the furious swinging of his blade, he sliced up a few nevermore that were crowding around him.
And only barely dodged the full body lunge of an Ursa major. The nevermore continued to peck at him, but he had much more to worry about than shitty knockoff crows. Something like the several ton hulking mass of murder that was clawing at him. Pulling out his shield, Jaune decided to dodge and deflect.
At least, he did that until a Boarbatusk began charging at him from behind. Annoyed, Jaune got under the Ursa Major by deflecting a claw aiming for his head, and used a bit of aura to take off the striking arm, making it stumble forward. Jaune used that movement to pseudo-suplex (though mostly by utilizing the forward momentum from the Ursa Major's overextended strike) it and use its body as a shield against the boarbatusk.
Leaning against the Ursa Major's upside down body, he thrust through it and hit the Boarbatusk, though the thrust was deflected off of its ridiculously durable skull.
And then he heard the growls. Multiple Beowolf packs were descending upon him. Forgoing any thoughts, he decided to run in the only direction the Beowolves weren't coming from and saw some shelter: a cave that might lead somewhere safe.
In hindsight, he really should've seen the trap coming. With only the slight resistance of a piece of twine being pulled by his leg as a warning, he set off a dust explosive that was put in the cave and was knocked back into a tree. When he got up and looked around, he saw that the Beowolves were looking at him, though keeping their distance.
The reason why became evident when the Geist came back, arms crossed smugly, and head tilted. Jaune's anger at the attack abated when he realized that the entire encounter was merely a gambit by the Geist. The hours of nevermore, the sudden ambush, the coordination of the Grimm. He really should've seen it coming.
And the Beowolves were laughing at his expense, cackling at the fact that he bought the trap hook, line, and sinker. And, surprising the packs, he joined in, laughing uproariously at his own slip-up. He gripped onto Crocea Mors and its shield, taking the classic stance of a knight, and looked at the Geist once more.
Its shirt was gone, overtaken by bone plate armor all around his chest and arms. It wore a jacket above, though it was tattered at the ends. Its weapon was the same saber from before. Its posture communicated cockiness, which Jaune supposed it earned from the well sprung trap. Jaune couldn't help but beam with pride.
Wow, he really went insane in the wild, didn't he?
"Good job!" At the joy he was feeling, the Geist tilted his head, but leaned forward, as if enjoying the praise. "You got me! You worked up my temper to make me ignore the obvious signs. But don't you think you're a bit cocky? Didn't I say a fair fight's not what you're looking for?" And somehow, the Geist pulled out another trick from its sleeve.
"Fair? This is not." It spoke. Its voice was still raggedy and ethereal, akin to the sound effects from a TV show or cartoon. But its voice was light and communicated a lot of smugness.
"Hah! Never underestimate your opponent." And so Jaune pulled out his flare gun and shot it straight at the Geist's face. Its cocky posture made it so that it couldn't draw its saber in time, which meant that it was struck with the bright light right in the mask. It was temporarily blinded, but that was all Jaune needed as he quickly descended upon the Geist with Crocea Mors. He noticed a few nevermore dive bombing to slow down his momentum, but Jaune moved Crocea Mors to effortlessly slice the little birds as they came down.
"Kill." The Geist muttered hatefully, its instinctual urge to murder Jaune being fed once more. It rubbed its eye and pulled out its saber in time to block Crocea Mors. Jaune pulled back and began thrusting at the Geist, only to meet bone plate at each strike. The Geist chuckled and tried striking Jaune with the hilt of the saber, but Jaune managed to pull back in time.
While Jaune was somewhat confident in his abilities against the Geist in a straight up fight, he was not confident in his abilities against the Geist, five alpha Beowolves, an Ursa Major, a few Boarbatusks, and a horde of small nevermore.
So, gambling a high pot, Jaune sheathed Crocea Mors and put his hands up.
"Alright, you win this time." The Geist tilted its head, confused at the concept.
"What?"
"You won. I can't win here. Maybe if I had a really cool semblance, but I don't. So, you win!" The Geist looked at Jaune before nodding, sheathing its own saber. He could teach the Geist about false surrenders, but Jaune both felt like keeping his pride and not teaching the Geist to never accept white flags.
"I'll get ya next time!" Jaune waved happily towards the Geist, who only tilted its head in confusion at the fact that a part of it liked the happiness coming from the human.
Jaune was not a well prepared person. He did not bring camping supplies everywhere he went. Arguably, that was a horrible mistake. Realistically, it just meant he had to get creative. Firewood was easy enough, he just utilized the indestructible nature of Crocea Mors and added some aura for an extra kick to chop down some small trees and use that wood for fires.
Food was a little bit harder. His only ranged weapon being a flare gun meant that he was often stuck with eating berries, fruits from trees, nuts, and the occasional ration he had in his pocket. And by ration, Jaune meant a stick of jerky. Jaune was chewing on a stick of jerky.
In terms of safety against the Grimm, Jaune had much more than light sleeping. Ok, actually, he didn't. He really didn't. But he had ways to make it harder to sneak up on him. Step one was gathering a ridiculous amount of crunchy leaves and lathering the ground around him with them, so that nothing could take a step without making a crumpling sound.
The second step was getting a bunch of twigs and similarly tossing them about the place. To deal with airborne Grimm, he decided to settle down in cave that he made extra sure wasn't trapped with a bomb. Using some extra firewood, he set up barricades in the cave and then went to sleep behind one of the barricades.
Step three was what usually got the Grimm: an aura infused gravity dust reusable mine. The aura he put in it attracted Grimm and the gravity dust would make noise and not damage the mine beyond repair. It was a worthwhile investment if he was being honest.
So, with all those security measures, he settled down in the camp in his cave.
Travelers, even huntsmen, are typically advised to go with a partner. It was for a whole host of reasons. To have someone to keep watch during night, to have extra hands and muscle, and to have someone to talk to to stave off the loneliness that traveling often created. Jaune once traveled with his master, but they parted ways a while ago. Now, like his master once did, he was traveling alone.
"So, here to talk or fight?"
"Talk." The Geist sat down across from Jaune, somehow having dodged all of his security measures with ease. Jaune wasn't too surprised, the thing was a quick learner. Faster than him even.
"Well, it's kinda weird to call you Geist, you have a name?" The Grimm looked at him oddly and tilted its head.
"I think I did. I'm hearing names that I was called." It spoke slowly, as if new to the language. "Son. Child. Love. Father. Friend. Pal. Rival. Enemy. Huntsman." Jaune chuckled and stoked the flames, earning a flinch from the Geist.
"Those are titles. What about you? Do you want to give yourself a name?"
"I don't know. Names are for humans." The Geist stared long and hard at their hands, confused. "Humans die, we kill humans. But why do I want a name? Do I want to die?" Jaune shrugged.
"I hope not. You've been the best conversation I've had on the road for a while now." The Geist nodded.
"I want to kill you." Jaune nodded, understanding. "But I also." A pause. "Don't. I remember how to use this." The Geist pointed at the saber at its side. "But I don't. Why am I remembering things I don't remember?" Jaune whistled a bit before shrugging.
"Maybe its the muscle memory of your host?" The Geist nodded in understanding.
"Yes. That's probably it. But, if these memories are not my own, why am I feeling things?"
"I dunno. Maybe you're fusing with the body?" The Geist unconsciously snarled at the prospect of becoming human, but caught itself quickly.
"Why do I hate humans? Why do I want to kill you? Why do I want to kill humans?" The Geist became manic, lunging at Jaune and shaking him in search of answers. "Why do I feel lost? What am I missing? Why am I searching in the forest? What is here?"
Jaune heard sorrow in the Geist's voice.
"I have no idea." The Geist's sorrow burned into fury at the lack of answers. It controlled itself long enough to nod and stumble out of the hall.
"I think I know the name I used to have. They called me Alexander. But I don't know if that's my name anymore." That was the last thing Alexander said as they walked out of the cave, leaving Jaune to sleep alone once more for the night.
Jaune was not ambushed. Hell, it seemed that all the Grimm just up and disappeared. None of his security measures were needed and the forest seemed untouched. No Beowolf hopped from a bush to maul him. No Ursa slashed through a tree in an attempt to gut him. No Boarbatusk was trying to ram him. Nothing, not even a Nevermore cawed in the air.
It was eerie, to say the least. There were only a few reasons why the Grimm just up and disappeared. Either they were recently cleared or they were all gathering someplace. And that just brought up a whole host of other possibilities into Jaune's mind. What if the Grimm had gathered for an attack? What if Alexander decided to embrace his Grimm urges and organize an attack?
Did he inadvertently doom hundreds with a misplaced act of mercy?
He was shaken out of those thoughts with the reminder that there wasn't a town for miles. He was also shaken out by those thoughts when he heard a symphony of Beowolf howls ringing through the air. It went on for a while and it was joined in by the loud caws of Nevermore, the growls of Ursa, and the snorts of Boarbatusks. The noises became ever slightly more loud as he came closer to the source.
And so Jaune saw it. A large part of the forest had been painted black. But the Grimm were not attacking. Instead, they singing in sorrow. Giant Nevermore sat atop trees, cawing in response to the blistering amount of negativity coming from the center of the crowd.
Boarbatusks snorted and faced towards the center, lying down as they basked in the noise. Beowolves took position and continuously howled up to the sky. Ursa Majors let out bone-shattering screams that echoed through the woods. Jaune made his way through the crowd, the Grimm to focused on whatever was in the center to even notice him.
And so, in the eye of the hurricane, Jaune heard nothing but the sobs of someone broken. In grass stained by blood, there were four figures, all dead. Four huntsmen, their weapons shattered on the floor. One of the dead was kneeling before his three comrades, sobbing pitch black tears that weren't his own.
"This is it." Jaune could hear Alexander, though their words were stuffed in between incoherent and desperate sobs. "This is the end of his story. They were ambushed. They were killed. Now, I don't know who I am. I am not Alexander, for he is dead." The Geist was still crying, but their sobs died down.
Jaune sat down besides the Geist, patting them on the back with empathy. "It's hard to lose someone. I cannot imagine what this feels like."
"Please, who am I?" The Geist's calm voice betrayed the stream of tears leaking down onto the crimson grass. "What am I? Am I human? Can I be human? Humans seems so happy."
"You're a good fighter. You're smart. You're witty. You looked proud of yourself when you tricked me. You liked hearing me compliment you. I'd say you're human enough."
"I can feel the last slivers of his soul in me. Its becoming part of me. Its growing like a flame hiding beneath my skin. What is happening to me? Who will I be? What will happen?" Jaune shrugged helplessly.
"That's the million Lien question. I don't know. But you don't have to not know alone. You wanna talk for a bit?" The Geist looked at Jaune, considering it heavily.
"Perhaps that is for the best. Perhaps. I still feel the urge to kill you. Is that ok?" Jaune chuckled.
"Eh, I've dealt with worse. Do you mind if I try something?"
"Go ahead." So Jaune put a hand to the mask of the Geist, making it flinch. He was pushing his luck with a theory, one he wanted to try for the sake of it.
"It is in the winds of change in which we actualize ourselves. Through the gradual wandering of our eyes we realize who we really are. Infinite in potential and unbound by the roads of convention, I free you from your shackles, and by my shoulder, christen thee, Talos." And with those words, Jaune saw as the Geist glowing light orange. It worked.
"T-this feeling. The piece of his soul. It has become, part of me. Thank you. Talos, you called me? It's a good name, I think I like it." Talos laid back, looking at the bodies of the men and women that were the friends of the body he was possessing.
"So, what are you going to do?" Jaune leaned against a tree and sipped on his canteen, the lukewarm water helping ease the tension in his body.
"I want to know who I am. I want to know my purpose. Perhaps I will find other people." Talos experimented, flexing their aura and trying to put it into their saber like Jaune did before. They picked up a small rock and tried crushing it without aura to meet resistance, then pushed aura to his hand and found it exponentially easier.
"You'll find something to do." Talos looked at Jaune.
"And what is it that you do?"
"I wander, I help. That's it. Not everyone wants to or should do what I do. A quiet life as a farmer is quite appealing to some." Jaune smiled as he remembered the farmers he'd met. They all had their own gripes about their life. Whether it was the relative poverty they were in, the constant danger, the poor harvest, or even just their shitty neighbor. But in the end, they wouldn't trade that life for anything.
"Perhaps. A quiet life sounds, nice." Talos flexed their muscles for a bit. "I spent both of my lives fighting. Perhaps I may find peace in a simpler task."
"Maybe. All I ask for you to do is to take care of yourself, alright?" Jaune got up and looked at Talos, whose form had changed once more. The bone plating covered their entire body sans their head, which was still the same mask and black cloud. Combined with the short tattered jacket, Talos seemed like a comic book anti-hero or a knight straight from hell.
Jaune smiled as Talos nodded.
"I will, do not worry. Perhaps we will meet again-" Talos paused and Jaune chuckled awkwardly
"Oh! I never introduced myself. I'm never usually this rude, sorry. Jaune, Jaune Arc. And I think we will. Can't promise anything though, it's up to the road to deliver me unto you." Talos nodded.
"That is acceptable. I suppose it is time we parted ways?"
"Lets. Stay safe, Talos."
"Do the same, Jaune." And so the two walked their separate ways. The horde of Grimm simply stared at them as they walked away, bowing as they were before. The Nevermores didn't caw, the Beowolves didn't howl, and the Ursa didn't screech. They simple sat there, watching as the two walked away into the horizon.
AN1: Sorry if it's a bit short.
AN2:To those who did, don't worry about me bringing too many canon characters in. At most they'll make an appearance as just another character where an OC really isn't needed. Like RWBY doing a training mission and Jaune laughing when they run out of ammo/Crescent Rose jams.