…- A Place to Call Home -…
He fell down hard. For a moment, his entire everything swirled itself together and dragged him to the ground only stopping itself when, luckily, his backpack cushioned his impact on a nearby dirty wall some ten to fifteen feet across from where the thing hit him.
Speaking of which, the eight feet tall horror finally skidded to a halt from his- it's merry charge and was looking at him with a tilted sway of his head-
"M-must move…" Jaune said to himself as he ignored the pain aching his body and finally stood, picked up his fallen sword, and limped away as the thing eerily watched him from start to finish until he was about to pass the fourth door amidst the corridor- then it began to move.
No, not move, more like bolted across all four rooms behind him in a matter of seconds. Activating his sheathe-shield, right here and now would do him no good. Furthermore, defending himself against that kind of velocity… aura or not, bones will break.
So, desperately, he tried to jump away and dive to a nearby window inside one of the random rooms he was passing, however, the corrupted was too fast and got to him right after his feet begun to leave the floor and pummeled him, in its entire weight, sending him flying towards a green painted wall - Shook! - his aura flared, the impact strangely reminded him the time pyr unlocked it for him, and the memory gave him a moment of respite as the world slowly spins away from his elevated position.
Finally, as he landed into an array of assorted chips and biscuits, hunkered down the floor, and rolled to a stop, he couldn't help but let out a manic smile. Perhaps it's the resurfacing memories, the good ones, from the times spent in beacon before… before that event… that helped gave him a fraction of hope in dangerous times such as this… or it's because he found himself exactly where he wanted to be.
His stomach growling proved to be the latter as he begun to scooped up the junk foods- no, just foods, he quickly added, mom isn't here to tell him off to go scavenge more 'healthier' options - even at the end of the world! - and as he picked up some packaged biscuits that may or may not be expired into the depths of his backpack, he couldn't help but let a stray memory of the times he spent with his family during the apocalypse hit him.
…- A Place to Call Home -…
"B-But, mom! It's the end of the world! Why couldn't I pick them up!" He said, in the middle of some forgotten grocery store, as he complained to the blonde woman eyeing him disapprovingly.
"Jaune Arc." Juniper begun, tone having every inch of motherly authority, as she returned the 'junk' foods away and stashed the healthier ones into one of the supply bags that they've brought for this particular morning supply run. "Even if it is the end of the world, that doesn't mean you should let your life throw itself away." She ended, giving him a motherly glare, however, he was too stubborn and still wasn't done (It was his first chip for the last two and a half months! For brother god's sake!). So, he did the only thing that he thought will work…
"Dad!" He whined- no, protested, maturely, at a seven-foot-tall muscular man wielding Crocea Mors as he stood ever so vigilant at the entrance door (all the while looking outside and acting as a sentry as they ransack the entire place). Nicholas Arc, looked back, processed the entire situation in the blink of an eye, then nodded sagely, while stroking his unkempt beard for extra effect, as, after a few dramatic seconds, the veteran huntsman finally spoke, voice booming…
"Jaune…" His father begun, as Jaune looked at him, perhaps the only sane person here, with hope in his eyes, "You should… you should listen to your mother." Nicholas ended, signaling the simultaneous assassination of his final stray of light, as both he and his father looked at the ground, gazes downcast, as the matriarch of the family let out a 'hmmph' followed by an approval nod.
"Bummer." He heard, from his right side, his sister, hazel, giving him a sad tear eye expression, fingers and all, and as he was about to give her a petty glare - he stopped - noticed the bright red packaged chips hiding beneath the inside coat of his sister's jacket, then upwards towards the small devious smirk from hazel's face that he himself eventually shared.
…- A Place to Call Home -…
And, as if fate itself intervened, the same branded packaged red potato chips, clutched beneath his hand, below his tear tainted eyes, stared back at him from the present time. Afterwards, he wasn't sure if it was the sheer hunger melting his sanity away or just him being an idiot, like his sisters often teased, but, as the unnatural sounds of roaring footsteps starts to assault his ears- he gave up. Hands falling towards the floor, Crocea Mors a few feet away, and his aura dropping itself intentionally.
In that moment, he felt it all.
From the moment his family's camp was attacked, the panicking screams, the last words that his mother gave him – telling him to run away, to "Find a place to call home, Jaune… not this… not-" before she too fell from the unforeseen horde, his father's rage, witnessing firsthand what a real huntsman going all out at hundreds of infested could bring… and how it doesn't matter, that, his dad, strong as he was, eventually fell as his aura succumbed to a million bites and thousands of attacks from all sides, how he screamed at him, at his sisters, to run, to "KEEP RUNNING." How, after a few days of constant running, hiding, and grieving, he found himself separated after that incident… then here, back in this brother gods forsaken sad excuse of a super-fucking-market.
"I'm sorry." Jaune whispered, at himself, at the heavens, at, "Mom, Dad, I am so sorry. I- I…" His voice cracked, not dissimilar to the cracking floors twenty to thirty feet away, and coming closer, " I Should have never left you. I- I-," He continued to sobbed, face now on the floor, hands assailing his face." I miss you guys, so, so much-" Ten Feet." I… should…Fuck… I-" Five feet." I should have died with you." One foot away – Crack! – his body flew and, strangely, he felt no pain. It was as if he was carried-
"You fucking idiot!" Someone shouted.
That forced him to open his weary eyes and was greeted with a sight of a freckled face and hazel-like eyes. A boy, much younger than him, looked at him with so much anger and rage that Jaune himself paused, examined the shaking teen, clothed in combat jackets, multiple bladed weaponries hanging from his belt, legs, a weird mask, and a familiar cane, held in a combat stance, that he couldn't help but notice.
"You!" The boy grabbed him, his worn-out chest plate dragging itself outwards to the surprisingly strong grip of his perpetrator right towards said preparator's seethed looking face, "You Idiot! Even if it is the end of the fucking world! You shouldn't throw your life away!" he shouted.
Then, he suddenly pushed Jaune to the ground, forcing him to helplessly watch the kid ducked a lone swing, performed an acrobatic maneuver that led to the boy sailing behind the thing's head, then – Crack! – the impressive blow, while it didn't send the creature flying, it sure as well stunned the corrupted itself.
The kid landed, a few feet away, behind the tall beast, shouted, "Hazel! Now!" then came forth a massive man, garbed in full black metal armor like the medieval of old, bursting away from an unseen corner, roaring and running towards the creature itself, while landing devastating blow after blow using nothing but his sheer, albeit glowing, fists. For a while, Jaune watched in amaze as both equally sized fighters go at it. Where the kid from before fought with extraordinary acrobats, that will no doubt put even professional athletes a run for their money, the man fights like an experienced wrestler, dodging, weathering the few hits, and giving returning damaging blows afterward to a fucking corrupted, all the while staying calm and collected.
Eventually, after twenty seconds of constant fighting, the large man dodged a particularly dangerous swipe from the unnatural beast, then, suddenly, the behemoth of a man lowered himself, waited for his opponent to stumble at its own momentum, then gave a meaty upwards swing from below – Smack! – managing to send the entire weight of the corrupted towards the air- where the boy from before, appeared, then swiftly stabbed his cane at the creature's back and through its front. Ending the thing's un-life instantly as the kid, still situated at the grimm-like creature'sbehind, landed with the monster's carcass hitting the floor. Sending dust away, as Jaune himself stared at them in constant awe.
"Damn thing has aura." He heard the large man said," Almost like fightin' a huntsman." The man- no, hazel, from what he heard the boy call him, continued as he cracked his neck, stretching his muscles as Jaune saw Hazel grimaced, his helmet now stationed at his bulk of an arm, in disgust towards the decaying body of the corrupted as it slowly flaked itself away in blackened ashes like the grimm themselves. Only for the boy, in a now somewhat strange posture and eerily different body movement, to land at the floor, managing to not slip at the creature's oozing black blood, with an even greater grace then before, looked downwards at the deformed face of a man, and said, "That would be because they were once was." Solemnly.
After a moment, the larger man spoked with a raised eyebrow," That wasn't you earlier, Oz?" and which the boy responded with a proud smirk, "I'm a teacher, first and foremost, old friend. I always train my students well." The kid responded.
Hazel scoffed, then spoked," You may have let a child fight that thing… and won…. But they were not enough to beat her."
After a moment of silence, the boy responded softly, "I did… beat her."
"No, you didn't. We all fucked it at the end. Even when I turned on her, I always knew she has a plan, I warned you, all of you, and when you finally had the balls to charge her castle, with your best hunters, you ignored it, you were confident and arrogant-"
"So were you, Hazel Reinhart!" The boy screamed, cane hitting the man's chest as the larger man glared back, the freckled kid continued, unperturbed at the much larger man, shouting," If you have lived in my shoes, experienced what I have experienced, lived how I lived, for countless years!" The kid seethed, glaring, saying," Then maybe… maybe…" as he slowly hunched over, face looking like it experienced all his time, "You'll know what it's like having that victory, from which you sought after thousands of years, appear before you… then… then have it taken away." his eyes suddenly looked older than his body, both fighters stood silently afterwards.
Eventually, one of the larger of them spoke, began with" You did win. But at what cost?"
"Many. Too many." The boy, after a moment, ended.
It was at this point, where Jaune starts losing his consciousness. He begun to feel his body's energy, and adrenaline, finally fading away after all those dreamless nights spent outside, breveted of his father's protection, constant panicking, not sleeping in fear of getting caught by the dead, hungry, and crying to himself as he felt the dread of separation slowly sinking his sanity away.
But, as his entire body fell and hit the ground, gaining the two strangers' attention at once, he couldn't help but let out a laugh. A hoarse one, courtesy of the absence of proper nutrient and maybe because he should have paid more attention to where he stashed his water bottle days ago… Nonetheless, he laughed, for, in his pathetic state, he upped his father in one of their old arguments…
Strangers are just friends you haven't met.
"The boy is an idiot. Heard him just said something about strangers and friends… However, the kid's in a rough shape…"
"That I see. Shall we take him to the bastion?"
"You mean, I will take him to the bastion?"
"Oh, don't look at me like that, old friend, I am, after all, in a child's physique."
"Damnit, Oz…"
…- A Place to Call Home -…
NOTE: (For those who have read A Dark Lord's New Chapter and my other fics):
I shall be focusing on this fic only. At least until I have finished the first arc or so, then I may consider going back to ADLNC. I need time, guys, sorry, please don't hate me...
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For those who miss it... Yes, Ozpin is in Oscar's head.
The reason why will be explained in the oncoming chapters, so no spoilers!
However, all I can say is that this fic is set in a post-apocalyptic remnant and the reason for it is because when Ozpin and the other huntsman finally had the balls to charge in Salem's tower, guns blazing, they didn't take note on the fact that Salem may or may not have a last plan to spite them when she was taken down.
Now how did the eternal huntsman beat back the immortal monster (And the costs) will be conveyed in the later chapters.
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So, what did you think of this chapter?
Please leave a review, if you want to.
(I really appreciate it! but its okay if you don't want to)
Criticisms are welcomed.
And I hope you have a fine day today!
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