Yeah, this going to be short one. You'll see in a bit why.
Time stood still as soon as Jaune uttered those words and so did the two huntress' in training but for different reasons.
Ruby was racked with concern and shock due to the fact that to her knowledge, Jaune was not best known for his combat competence. She was sweating bullets at the prospect of him facing one of the most high scoring students in the school who so happens to be her own partner.
Eyes wide and lips stuck in a perpetual line of mild worry, Ruby was brewing a plan to avoid Jaune's confrontation with Weiss, who of which did not have the best opinion of the blonde boy and may go a bit overboard due to her personal disdain over him. She did not know where or how Jaune had found the gall or stupidity to face Weiss but Ruby was going to try to stop Jaune from waking up in the infirmary the next day.
Weiss on the meanwhile looked at Jaune as if he had grown a second head and said head was whispering the secretes of how to create the perfect croissant in his ear. Her left eyebrow rose in skepticism, unknowingly showing of her scar as if responding to challenge which honestly intimidated Jaune as the rest of her face remained of neutral disinterest. Over all she was a bit surprised but would be lying if she was not looking forward to smack what she considered as a persistent nuisance into the ground.
It still surprised her though. Jaune would be the last person she would ever expect to face her in a spar, mainly because of his horrendous combat ability and tendency to scream like a seagull that had somehow inhaled a lethal dosage of helium from a massive balloon it had tried to consume, thinking it was something edible...ok that somewhat too specific.
Although, despite her opinion of the breathing training dummy, she would grant him a bit of respect for doing something that would most likely leave the boy with quivering legs that would move faster than Ruby sprinting full speed at a glass of chocolate mousse.
Jaune on other hand was internally screaming like said seagull that Weiss had pictured her mind. Searching his memories to see what had brought him to this point and cursing whatever mind control that he was being subjected to that is causing him to fight person who, in his personal opinion, could decimate fifty of himself and probably even more. The Knight wannabe, in all case and terms, was scared shitless. Then he spoke.
"Yeah...So...can we spar?" Jaune uttered as if he was being choked while in reality he was just utterly terrified and was asking why was he doing this to himself.
"Uuuuh Sorry, Jaune!" The red reaper uttered as she brought her hands up to insinuate some sort of apology. "But me and Weiss-"
"Weiss and I." The maiden of frost interrupted to correct her leader's poor grammar earning a half lidded deadpan from Ruby.
"Weiss and I...have some things to do! So, sorry but we've gotta go an- Weiss?" Little red chopping hood suddenly looked towards her partner only to be met with the sight of Weiss meticulously reloading the dust cylinder of her sword with an evil smirk that implied what Ruby had feared While Jaune was getting ready for the many injuries that he will be receiving.
"I accept." The Ice queen articulated, still adorning that evil smirk that only promised pain and a severe case of hypothermia, said with cold integrity as she brought her blade close to the left side of her face to make her actions apparent and eyes gleaming with malice and softly spoke to continue.
"Although your offer was quite a surprise, understand that it was not an unwelcomed one". Weiss closed the chamber of Myrtenaster as it hissed with challenge in mind.
"You have five minutes to retrieve your weapon." And with that Jaune run like hell while Ruby can only watch her attempts of saving her friend's skeletal integrity burn. Slumping at her failure and hands hanging in futility, she uttered two words.
"Uh oh..."
Jaune's P.O.V
"I can't believe this. I can't freaking believe this! I'm so screwed! Weiss is gonna kill me! I gotta-OOF!"
Jaune was running towards his dorm only to loose his footing to nervousness and fear, causing him to trip on course dry ground.
"I gotta stop doing that..."
Rubbing his unfortunate face and dusting his hoodie, the boy quickly dashed to his dorm, barging through the door open and frantically looking for Crocea Mors and finding the family heirloom at the foot of his bed just as he remembered.
"Sigh, Ugh. Why did I do that? I'm gonna- ok. ok. What would dad do in something like this?"
Lips pursed and eyes racked with fear, Jaune entered his own mind the search for memories of advice from his parent.
'Remember, son. If you ever find yourself in a scuffle that may result in physical violence, always and I mean always...Run away for help or call the police.'
Instead of gleaming inspiration that fuel everlasting bravery he ended remembering how much his father abhorred the thought of his son being in a fight despite being a fully fledged huntsman himself, which only caused Jaune to deadpan at the practically worthless advice in regards to his situation.
"Ok that didn't help. Well, guess I'm doing this whether I like it or not."
Jaune slumped due to the hopelessness of his predicament, a predicament he somehow provoked. The boy walked towards his board n' blade with a slight shuffle to pick it up and looked upon the ancient weapon as it's dull metal stared back, offering no reflection, not advice. Nothing.
"Hahh... I shouldn't have come here..."
He stared at the ancient weapon a bit longer only to have something gleam into his eye surprising him for a moment. He turned his head and his eyes laid upon the massive rusty sword that had taken residence in his team's dorm, he can imagine it looking smugly at his misfortune.
"Hey, at least you don't have to deal with this, cut me some slack."
Jaune stared at the sword waiting for a reply and chuckled.
"Look at me. Talking to a giant sword, I gotta be going nutts."
("Eh, I've way seen nuttier.")
Jaune rolled his eyes in response.
"Oh please, enlighten me with your great knowledge oh great talking swo- Wait what!?"
("Hah! Took you a bit to notice. You're a tad bit slow aren't you?")
Jaune staggered back in response, almost tripping again as he quickly moved away from the seemingly talking sentient weapon. His face adorned with shock and fear.
"Wha-What!?"
("I said you were a tad bit slow. Took a total of 5 seconds for you to notice. I don't know if that's impressive or just sad.")
Jaune continued cling his back to the wall arms spread out, mouth hung a gape and eyes manic with adrenaline.
("What's with that look? Never seen a talking sword before?")
Jaune only nodded to the ridiculous question. Considering punching himself in the face to see if everything that had happened through out the morning was some strange yet terrifying dream.
("Well, if it makes you feel better, you're completely sane.")
Jaune continued to cling onto the with dear life, could it be that he may be somewhat terrified that one of the fundamental laws of nature and life have been completely violated? Who knows?
("You have no mental illnesses developing at the moment. You're completely healthy and besides, you are far too young to be developing schizophrenia, though that is quite debatable. Many children have been diagnosed with such illnesses due to either being born with it or being subjected to extreme mental or emotional trauma but I know for a fact that you did not live such life nor were you born with the condition.")
Jaune shook his head trying grasp the situation at hand.
"Wha-what? What's schiz-schizo-schizophrenia?"
("...Oh wait, things work quite differently here. Well...Either that or it's just called something else but in simple terms, you're not hallucinating. You're fine.")
"I-I-I-Wha!?"
Jaune slowly relaxed as he his mind began to process what was happening right now, despite the improbability of the situation.
"What...What are you?"
Jaune still stood quite the distance away from the big blade but was listening intently for an answer from his inanimate acquaintance.
A few seconds pass, the silence of the room made apparent, the sunshine peering through the windows of which illuminated the ground, light bouncing on to the rusty sword causing to glimmer as birds and wind sang their symphony from the outside world beyond and as the 10th second passed the sword finally answered.
("A friend.")
Jaune slowly walked towards the blade still cautious of the possibility that it could just be a really smart Grimm that can possess nonliving objects (Ahem Geist Ahem). His hand slowly and shakily creeping towards the tower tool of terror.
("You're going to be late, Weiss is probably storming her way up here as we speak.")
'THE SPAR!'
Gritting his teeth and eyes dilating in fear, the boy jumped at the reminder of the death sentence that he had arranged for himself. Quickly shaking his head to regain focus, he snatched Crocea Mors from his bed and dashed to the doorway only to stop. Jaune took a couple of seconds to look at the violation of the laws of life and made quick contemplation before finally running off with mech shift weapon in hand, tripping slightly again due to his innate clumsiness.
Back in the room, the sword glinted an quick and eerie white flash.
Weiss was getting impatient, Jaune had taken more time than what she had given him and was tapping her foot audibly out of irritation. Each tap ticking like a clock to one's execution. Though, she did not have to wait any longer.
The knight of beacon stumbled his way to the arena with his sword and shield in hand, scarce armour placed upon his torso. Noticing Weiss standing before him with harsh eyes and a sharp frown while Ruby was nowhere in sight made the boy shrink a bit.
"Hey, Weiss. Sorry I took so long I ran into so-"
"Take you're stance." The Ice queen ordered as she elegantly stood to her full height, Myrtenaster pointed towards her opponent with her left hand and head held high. A stance of confidence and elegance.
"Ok." Jaune deadpans.
Jaune on the other hand had sheathed the blade from his shield then proceeded to expand the device. Jaune had assumed his usual stance, shield low in front of him and sword held behind him as if ready to stab, just as Pyrrha taught him. A stance of refinement, of which Jaune miraculously noticed.
Soon the boy noticed how uncomfortable and unnatural his stance really was. The magnetic properties of the shield sticking to the back of his hand felt heavy and unstable as if it were about to fall off at any second. The sword itself was another problem. The blade was wide and thick, making it disproportionately heavy and the handle was large and circular, which causing the weapon's graspability to be skewed considerably. The cross guard and pommel were practically non-existent, which only disrupted the balance even more.
Then it dawned on Jaune. Crocea Mors was practically just an oversized meat cleaver. This was a weapon designed to eviscerate moronic mindless monsters that knew little to no technique at all. This was a weapon that was specialized to destroy Grimm, not people and it showed in it's construction.
Crocea Mors was not created to fight people but Grimm.
Factors such as nimbleness and speed were not necessary when one slash to a vital point on a very large target was all it took. Strength and durability were the most important aspects against fending off the grim.
Jaune's epiphany was not unnoticed by his saw the look of realization induced unfocus on the boy. His eyes hardened and planted to the ground in a distant stare, brows furrowed and teeth slightly shown in grit.
"Jaune?" Weiss called out to the boy in hopes of bringing him back to his senses only to fail.
"Jaune!" Still no reply. Weiss was angry now.
"Jaune Arc!" If was angry before, now she's pissed
"JAUNE ARC!" Thir-wait... Fourth time's the charm.
As Weiss had finally succeeded in bringing the Arc back to the fight which cause him to jump and loose his grip of his weapon causing him to throw the sword quite a bit away which lead to an embarrassing pause between the two.
"Sorry! Sorry. Uhh, gimme a moment to, umm..." The Schnee glowered a dark glare towards him.
"Uhh. Hehe, gulp, get that." Jaune coward away from the glare of the significantly shorter girl to pick up his sword.
Running towards his lost weapon the leader of team JNPR snatched the blade of the ground and took a second to indulge to his thoughts on the weapon and made a silent decision.
Jaune quickly jogged his way back to face Weiss and steeled his fear and took a stance once more, though this one was a bit different. As he contemplated o how to make his scuffle with Weiss as unpainful as possible, his mind was bombarded with visions of stances and strikes of which he had never seen before. He could only come to the conclusion that every strange thing that had happened to him since the moment he woke up in the moment could be traced to the talking sword that had residence in his team's dorm.
Jaune considered his advantages, he was taller than Weiss, significantly taller. Meaning he at least had a reach advantage, though, her rapier is some what longer than the bastard sword that he wielded. Grappling won't work, Huntsmen in general can lift 3 times their own weight...
'Wait...what's stopping from just grabbing Weiss when she tries to backflip away?' The knight thought for a moment before assuming a stance different from the one before.
His feet were spread apart and knees bent a bit higher, torso facing his right side and his back slanted straight forward lightly as it twisted slightly to meet his opponent. His shoulders relaxed as his shield was brought up higher than how he would usually hold it while it hugged closer to his body and his sword rested on his right shoulder to rest it's weight. The shield hid most of his upper body with the exception of his eyes as the blue orbs peered at the top of the metal board and along with his sword. His stance complete, Juane closed his eyes and breathed.
His heart slowed, his vision rested and his mind cleared. Jaune was ready to fight.
'This feels way more comfortable. I can do this.'
'What is he doing?' Weiss on the other was perplexed by her opponents sudden change of defense but shrugged it off as just a form of intimidation considering that Jaune was proven to be leagues bellow her in the ring many times before with his duels with Carden and other students.
Jaune looked around for a moment and saw Ruby seated at one of the chairs the overlooked the Arena with several packs of gauze, disinfectants and a few small bottles the one can assume to be painkillers. Though such a sight would normally scare people, Jaune felt abnormally confident. He felt calm, serene even, as if he wasn't about to fight what was essentially death by razor blade tornado.
The countdown began.
10
'Huh, did Weiss ever looked so...exposed?'
9
'I'm going to land this idiot onto a world of hurt.'
8
'I wonder what she's thinking. Probably about cutting me up into Jaune-salad. Shudders. Oh no.
7
'Should I finish this quickly or should I let it drag on. Hmm, what to do? What to do?'
6
'Well, I'm here now. I really she goes a bit easy on me...No, I really she goes really easy on me.'
5
'Hmm, I guess I can let it drag on. Perhaps he can learn something from me.' A smirk appeared on her lips to accompany her malicious thoughts.
4
'Why is she smirking at me? WHY IS HE SMIRKING AT ME!?' Hidden by his shield his body abruptly quivers.
3
'How did this fool even get accepted into beacon in the first place? He is very clearly incompetent, he loses every single match against anyone in Ms. Goodwitch's class and I dread to think of his academic grades.'
2
'I feel a bit dizzy. Oh, man. I'm boned. Ooh, Weiss has really smooth hands. Myrtenaster doesn't...protect her hands...much. Un...protected...hands...Un...pro...tected... s...'
1
'I hope you're ready you bumbling idiot, because I am not going to wait on your incompetence.'
0
Hey, lads. Look, Making these stories can be quite exhausting and require a lot of motivation and due to the fact am an amateur when it comes to writing stories in general, I can end up in a pickle at times. So if you want to me out and perhaps improve the quality the story as it goes I could use some help and advice. So please. If there's anything you want to say at all whether praise or criticism, please leave some reviews. It would be very much appreciated and can motivate me to pump out chapters faster.