Here we go.
No Omake this time around, as I didn't want this to take any longer than it already did. Sorry about that.
Enjoy the chapter.
Cover art by: Notgustiarp
Chapter 13
His knuckles slammed into his opponent's guard, fueled with hopes of ending things quickly. But feeling it connect had him grimace as their Aura shield seemed to work just fine—lucky them. The hard light barrier shimmered as his punch was absorbed though they didn't seem prepared for the momentum still carrying through.
Knocked away and undoubtedly surprised, it gave him enough time to finally fully take them in. With an unbuttoned dress shirt sporting an outrageously popped collar, his lack of a proper shirt and exposed abs severely weirded him out. Thankfully, he had a pair of blue shorts and some beaten up black and yellow running shoes.
But he only really paid attention to that yellow tail swishing in the breeze.
"You know," he eyed them warily, "if you come quietly, we could end this right now."
Hopefully, the new bruise he was nursing would—
"Man, Valean cops don't play around, do they?" The Faunus mumbled dumbly. Even as the bruise on his arm visibly healed with each passing second.
They stopped for a second as two blue eyes—one set lightly glowing stared dumbly at each other.
"…Cop?"
Did he look like a cop? He looked very much twelve…
It took a moment of stunned staring before the guy—kid. Cause he was definitely another kid like himself. Thankfully he got the message, though.
"Oh? Guess I'm off, my bad. Let me try again—Uh, you Vale Huntsman sure are something else!"
He smiled from ear to ear, and the emotions he was getting didn't seem like an act either. This kid was just a little—well he didn't wanna say slow, but it felt right here.
So it caught him completely off guard when they suddenly rocketed forward, leg cocked back.
"Which means I can't hold back!"
Ducking out of instinct, the world slowed to a crawl as his Semblance kicked in.
Yet his opponent just kept getting faster.
Whiffing that initial kick, the thief maneuvered in the air to land on his hands and launched yet more wild kicks. Dodging them was just like avoiding Summer's sword strikes, but unlike her this guy was aiming to crack his skull open.
It's not fair.
Another kick but this time Jaune dodged into his guard when it missed. Slamming his knee into the Faunus boy's suspended head didn't have the same effect had the roles been reversed. Instead of knocking his head clean from his shoulders, their Aura shield turned it into a love tap.
If only it worked like that for me…
The strike still flung the thief away, but it seemed they were ready for it, managing a perfect landing.
"Jaune, neither one of us wants to have you fight. You've done more of that in one battle than most do in their entire lives."
Returning to his stance, he watched in case of further attack, but It didn't seem necessary.
The Faunus cradled his head as he wobbled unsteadily on his feet. Seeing the opportunity, he needed to end this quickly before they recovered and potentially got off a lucky hit—as that's all it would take to down him.
"But this world isn't fair like that. So I just want you to remember one thing. When that time comes-"
A slight bend to his knees was all the warning given to the thief as he dashed forward at an intense speed. Bringing his Semblance to bear must have been blinding to his opponent.
"You can't afford to hold back."
He was like a rocket in the darkness blasting through the narrow alley, shining like a light—that might not have held a candle to his old speed...
Cocking his arm back was like a canon ready to let loose.
But he was sure it'd still hurt like a—
He hadn't noticed. Maybe it was the narrow passageway ironically giving him tunnel vision. Or possibly the amount of focus it took to land his attack at such ludicrous speeds—but the end result? It had him not notice his opponent's sleight of hand till it was too late.
But as his fist neared and his perception slowed, he finally noticed.
Elation was overflowing out of the Faunus as he gripped a piece of broken off pipe. At some point they must have ripped it off the alley walls. Behind their back, they rolled the object dexterously between their fingers as they prepared to counter his attack.
It was an odd feeling to see an attack coming yet be unable to stop it—much too committed to the swing. Time slowed further as his fist neared, and the pipe closed in as if they'd somehow anticipated the arch of his punch completely.
While he was weaker than when he fought Hazel, the punch should've still been strong enough to easily crush the metal pipe. But the fact that his opponent would also be aware of this yet is trying anyways worried him.
So when he sped into its path and a distinct yellow shimmer trailed from the Faunus onto the makeshift weapon, he became downright terrified.
Smacking the back of his fist, he felt the metal groan and creak in protest as it guided away the equivalent of a freight train, effectively parrying his punch. Carried with the momentum, he felt the full effect of inertia as he bulldozed past his opponent to almost demolish one of the walls of the buildings they were sandwiched between.
Instead, he weakened his Semblance and felt the rough brickwork against his near unprotected knuckles as the skin was scratched up and nearly sheared off.
Better than blowing down part of a building.
He tried to think as he nursed his now bleeding hand.
"Man your fast," but the thief wouldn't let himself be forgotten, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "but way too predictable."
They sounded pretty cocky, but the words rang true as he remembered the one or two times Summer would admonish his lack of creativity. Martial arts just didn't come naturally to him and his time with Summer proved he had a lot to learn.
Thinking about it came with the obvious answer of the weapon strapped to his back, but…
No. I'm not using dads sword on something like this. I'll handle this on my own.
Bringing his good fist up, he blinked away the tears welling up from the pain and focused that into anger but more importantly, a plan.
Looking back on Sum's advice gave him just that.
The Faunus seemed to notice too.
"Glad we're getting serious here." He smirked in response with a confidant yet cautious tone.
Outside, he seemed relaxed and a little cocky, but he couldn't hide his emotions—not from him and least of all himself.
Nor his physical response. How he shifts his stance or how his grip tightens on the now bent pipe he held. Each sign he'd willfully ignored, thinking he could just one shot every problem away.
The only cocky one here was him.
"My name's Jaune," he let slip. "Yours?"
Definitely wasn't a good idea to give names out to criminals, and even the other boy hesitated for a moment.
"Ha! You're really weird, ya know that?" He laughed. "But ill bite, names Sun! And just like the real thing, you guys can try an chase me all ya want." He lowered a bit, tightening his stance in anticipation. "You're never gonna catch me."
Lowering himself, he readied to dash. "Sun, huh? Guess you didn't get the memo." Blasting forward, he cocked back another telegraphed punch. Responding, Sun swung his pipe the same way as before, perfectly aimed to parry an attack that would never come.
Flashing his Semblance harder than before, he halted all forward momentum, canceling the attack and instead dexterously flipping backwards. The speed was so intense he cracked the pavement and striking the wall behind had him nearly sinking into it like a hot knife to butter, yet he wouldn't lose the momentum.
Like a skipping stone, he kicked off that wall and over his opponent in the span of a second, reorienting himself behind Sun and exposing his open flank.
"Cause it's time for you to set!" He roared, blasting off his perch and crashing into the other boy like a comet. Feeling his fist crack into his Aura hurt like heck, but the results spoke for themselves when he felt their airtight stance fall apart as the boy ate pavement. Landing on top, he pinned the boy's arms behind his back and held him there, ignoring his own aching hands.
Down one hand made holding them down tuff, but a little more shine and he'd doubt Sun would break out—
Sun's light chuckle showed he hadn't knocked him out cold like he thought.
"Heh, your one liners need some work." He groaned out from below.
"Makes sense," He shifted his grip to be that much tighter. "I learned from the absolute worst."
"Well, seems they taught you how to fight better than to trash talk—"
"Enough! Why'd you do it?" he leaned down, glaring at the still smiling Faunus. "Why'd you mug that chef guy?"
It just didn't make sense that someone this strong would need to resort to something as petty as theft.
"Woah woah—mugging? Me? I'd never do that!" He said, his tail thrashing around, agitated.
His inner emotions were just as indignant at the accusation.
Huh, this guy really wears his heart on his sleeves. It's so easy to read his emotions compared to grownups.
He figured out pretty early that other kids were much more honest with their feelings than adults. But even then, it was like this guy couldn't not express every emotion he felt but…
"So you didn't steal from that chef?"
"Well, ugh—technically-"
"And that burlap sack over there isn't filled with tasty food?"
"W-Well, I wouldn't call that stuff tasty per se…."
While his body spluttered and huffed, hesitating to answer but that tail was much more honest, hanging limply against his body.
"Well, I'm sure the actual police can decide—" he was interrupted by a booming and heavily accented voice.
"Y-you got 'em!" That same cook guy from earlier huffed out, rounding the corner and leaning heavily against it.
"Uh, sir you should step back. He's still—
"Dangerous? Oh, trust me kid don't I know it!" He said, rubbing his knuckles. "Danm Aura felt like I was hitting a brick wall…."
Hitting? Oh boy….
"Oh please, big guy if I'd let you actually hit my Aura, you'd be in a lot worse shape than that." Sun laughed out.
"Was that a threat, you little—"
"Naw, that was just a warning to not aim straight for the densest thing on Remnant!"
"Your head?"
"Wah—no! These washboard abs, my dude!" He spouted off. "Besides, this guy should be the one talking to the cops, not me. He assaulted a major here!"
"You mean minor—wait. So what? This guy just decided to attack you out of nowhere?"
"W-Well, I mean he did throw the first punch." He said sheepishly. "But I might have provoked him just a little."
"A little!? You little shits have been rummaging through my restaurant's trash for weeks now!" He said, marching towards the discarded sack off to the side. "Look at all this crap you've been scrapping out of my dumpster!"
He expected moldy leftovers or half-eat pizza crusts with how he described the stuff. Instead, the chef pulled out a perfectly normal loaf of bread.
"Uh, sir that looks pretty edible to me…."
"Disgusting! Do you not see the mold already festering on this trash?!" He said, pointing again at the loaf.
"Well, I mean…." Still activated, his Semblance sharpened his vision enough to see what he meant, spotting a slight discoloration at the edge of the crust. "I-Is that it?"
If I had a choice, I guess I wouldn't eat it, but if I was struggling? I doubt I'd care about something like that.
The older man looked so disgusted at him.
"What are you talking about, big guy?!" Sun yelled and squirmed under him. "That stuffs perfectly good to eat. Heck, back in Vacuo we'd used to eat sand just to fill our stomachs!" He shouted proudly.
Well, that explains a lot—wait. He's from Vacuo?!
"Then maybe you sand rats should go back to where you belong. Instead, I have to deal with a bunch of no good hooligans comin around and rummaging through my trash." The man yelled back, face getting redder and redder.
So this whole thing started cause this kid needed food? If he resorted to rummaging through trash, it'd be hard to come to any other conclusion than this kid being homeless. Should he really be punished for trying to eat? Either way, this guy's trash was being taken out…
"Are you really that mad over a little bread? Or is it really because I called you fat—"
Neither one had seen it coming, but thankfully he was fast enough to catch the oversized foot before it struck the helpless Sun. Caught in his hand, the man's face looked so menacing he just kinda held onto it.
"You damn animals always rooting through my trash like the filth you are. I've had it!" He wriggled his foot, trying to wrench it free but he didn't budge.
"All I did was feed one of you mutts, and now I've got dozens nipping at my heels for handouts. Not anymore. Now let go of me, ya brat!"
The awful old man kept yanking his foot, redding his face while muttering obscenities.
He said earlier that he needed to take responsibility for his actions and not lie to himself or paint himself as what he wasn't.
"You don't get to talk to people like that." He whispered out in disbelief.
He wasn't a hero.
"You don't know what it's like to struggle."
But that didn't mean he'd stand by and let someone walk all over others, no matter the circumstances!
"You don't get to hurt people just trying to survive!"
Letting his foot go had the man stumble back in surprise, nearly falling. Until his shove toppled him over, that was.
Falling head over butt, he crashed into the trash behind him, smearing him with the garbage he so hated.
"…uh oh." He mumbled, watching as they flailed around like a dog rolling in mud.
"Honestly, I think it suits him."
Whipping around, he only now noticed that Sun was up and about, stretching lightly as he watched the man struggle.
"He's as disgusting on the outside as in now." He noted popping his neck and back.
He didn't know about all that, though.
"He said he did feed at least one of the kids. Whether out of pity or to get them to leave, he didn't seem all bad at first…."
To kick someone already caught, even if they're a criminal wouldn't be evil per se, but it was still definitely wrong. But he could understand losing oneself to anger, even hate.
Understand but not tolerate.
"They're just trying to survive. We all are. So don't talk about others like that, or I'll get m-mad!" He yelled.
He doubted the man was paying much attention to him, but it seemed someone else was.
"Huh, I guess you're not half bad."
Oh right, the actually dangerous guy here.
Flinching, he snapped back and readied to fight. At this point, their Aura seemed to have healed almost all his wounds.
Maybe he should have let him get kicked at least a little, he thought as his hand throbbed jealously again.
He was prepared for another fight, but when Sun's hands came up in surrender, his came down.
"Woah woah! We already know how this is gonna go down so let's cool our jets before someone—namely I get hurt!"
Then why was he still here? He asked as much.
"I could honestly ask you the same."
"What?" He asked what he meant an only got a finger pointing behind him as an answer.
"Yes officer, they're still here!"
A wave of smug self satisfied glee radiated off the trash man as his grubby fingers shakenly clung to the phone held up to his ear.
But it was the other emotion that gave him pause.
It was raw and touched an odd place in his heart. So much so that he stopped paying attention to everything around him and just stood there staring at the man. As he did, they got increasingly panicked, now wielding a trash can lid as a shield while stuttering out their location.
"Uh, dude?"
Knocking his shoulder woke him up and reminded him that he was now technically guilty of assault on this guy. So when Sun grabbed and dragged him away, he didn't put up much of a fight.
"Quick up here!"
Leaping after the Faunus, they bounced up to the rooftops to make a getaway. All the while, the memories of those emotions warred inside him.
/-/
It was a mad dash to distance them from what would undoubtedly be a very odd police report. Jumping between walls quickly turned to sprinting on the rooftops, all accompanied by the howling laughter of Sun.
"Did you see his face?!"
He did, and the fact it didn't make him feel bad was…odd. Maybe hurting that guy wouldn't have meant much to everyone else, but to him?
When he caught his leg and refused to let go, that man felt so much anger...
And yet the fear was all he could focus on as he dashed away. It was the same fear he'd felt when fighting Hazel. The same fear Summer felt when she thought of dying alone to that monster's hands.
Yet he didn't feel bad about inflicting that same fear on another person.
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Sun yelled past the rushing wind, easily keeping pace with his hasty steps. "Stuff like that happens all the time with me!"
"Attacking people or running from the police?"
"Yep!"
Oh boy.
Author's Notes:
Been seeing that people are pretty happy about the story and man does that make me genuinely proud of my work so far. Though I have been getting questions about the world that seem like simple misunderstandings. My bad on that! I haven't given much info on his powers, so it's natural to feel confused, but I'll try my best to clarify it.
No spoilers, just me clearing the air a bit.
Yes, Jaune lost access to his Semblance after the fight with Hazel and has seemingly regained use of it over the 1 year he's been with Summer and Tai. Why can't he apparently use his Aura shield or Aura healing? Further explanations are on their way, don't worry!
Know that the world itself is different compared to canon thus, characters have altered lives though most origins are just reacting to world affairs/Personal events.
Thus, Sun is still from Vacuo—as he stated in this chapter. But different events have pushed him to Vale. I promise what exactly those are will be revealed later on. Some things remain similar though, as Jaune has no training whatsoever and relies more on the light self defense learned from Summer and his Semblance's overwhelming strength and speed.
That won't last forever, and Jaune will learn to fight throughout the story. He's only 12 right now, so he's got a lot of time to get better, trust me.
Also, know that I'm in the military and with all the crazy international stuff going on, my commands on edge. Cause of that, my schedule's been a little insane these last few months and will probably continue like that for the foreseeable future. I'll work on the chapters when I can, but it's going to get a lot slower than ever before.
See ya next chapter.
Date Published: 2022/11/07