A Flame in the Dark
Jaune just kept glaring at Weiss, who still didn't know what to do or how to handle this situation. Her eyes slowly lowered to his cocked gauntlets and she could see that his body was tense, ready to fight. She cleared her throat, "We have no time for this. We have to get our relics before it's too late." She tried to say professionally.
"By all means, don't let us hold you up." Jaune said with that edge to his voice. "Go on ahead. We'll follow after. Once I'm sure you won't be a danger to our safety that is."
"This is insane. You're letting your personal feelings interfere with your mission and duty as a Huntsman!" Weiss tried to pressure him with the moral high ground.
Jaune just shrugged, "Rather be a subpar Huntsman than a shoddy brother or partner. Or person for that matter." His eyes moved from her's to look past her, "Then again, most people from Atlas are said to be ice cold and detached from common folk. Shouldn't be that surprising, Miss Heiress."
Weiss was just staring at him again, totally out of her depth. Pyrrha took a step closer to her partner, "Jaune, I understand your anger but the Professors may be watching. This could affect your test in particular. Don't let her ruin that." Weiss flinched at the Champion's words, the person she was hoping to partner up with most saying that hurt more than she would've liked.
Before any of them could react, Jaune twisted his body to the right. Sliding his right foot backwards and pulling the same fist back at the same time. All of them knew he was readying an attack. Weiss reflexively reached for her weapon as Pyrrha started to reach for her partner. They were both too slow though. Jaune's fist came forward and a volley of ice Dust bullets went flying towards his target.
Which was to the left of Weiss. The three women turned to the direction and saw his bullets impacting three different Beowolves. The bullets impacted them enough to freeze portions of their bodies and impede their movements. Along with stopping them from pouncing on the distracted Heiress. He pulled his arm back before turning more to the right and firing off with his left gauntlet at another four Beowolves that were at his two o'clock. "Rubes!" he shouted as he didn't stop assaulting the Grimm.
That was all she needed to hear. She unfurled Crescent Rose before using her Petal Burst to fly over her brother's bullets and clear the distance across the clearing. She re-materialized right in front of the first partially frozen Grimm and brought her trusted scythe down to remove its head. Before it could fade to ash, she had already moved onto the other two and dispatched them just as quickly. She spun and planted her scythe blade into the ground before firing four sniper rounds as quickly as she could. Each one hit their mark on the Beowolves' heads and all four of the freshly frozen Grimm were done for.
Weiss and Pyrrha just stared at how quickly those two had killed the Grimm nearly effortlessly. They both snapped back to reality when on the opposite side of the clearing a much bigger Beowolf, borderline Alpha, emerged and charged at the human that had its back to it, Jaune. Both shouted to him before it was too late.
Hearing them and the snarl, Jaune's right hand grabbed Stalwart and he pulled the blade free as he spun clockwise to face it. His blade met the teeth of the beast but the force behind the Grimm's jump did push them back a few feet. The Creature of Darkness clamped its jaws down on the blade, making sure Jaune couldn't escape unless he relinquished it. Seeing that, Jaune pulled the trigger on his sword to fire off the Dust from the vents, freezing the Beowolves jaws around the blade and flipping the trap on it.
The minute the shock overtook the Grimm, Jaune let go of his sword and stepped into the larger Grimm's guard and slammed both his fists into its chest, releasing the remaining Dust in them for a flash freeze explosion. The force from the attack caused it to rear up, showing off the entirety of its frozen chest and exposing its throat. That signaled another sniper round to be fired but instead of the bullet hitting the beast, it was Ruby herself. Her scythe bit two-thirds of the way through its neck but she rectified that when she planted both her feet into its back to pull it completely through.
The head and sword went flying into the air as the body started to disappear. Ruby jumped off it and landed on her feet easily before resting her scythe against her back, blade nearly touching the ground. She smiled at her brother, "See? This is why I wanted either you or Yang as my partner."
Jaune just chuckled as he ejected the spent clips from Glacies Tempest and brought them to his belt, loading in new ones. "We are only this in sync because we've lived with each other for so long. Just wait and with enough time, you'll be just as good with your own partner."
That's when the Grimm's jaws landed on the ground next to him. His blade still caught in it since the Grimm flesh was frozen to it. He picked it up and quickly converted it into its standby mode. The blade retracting into itself was more than enough to shatter the ice. He was about to attach it to his belt when he heard something behind him. He quickly turned to see two more Beowolves entering the clearing. The siblings didn't have to worry because they were both dealt with quickly: one with a spear through its head and the other with a rapier through its chest after the owner surged across the clearing.
Jaune just grinned as Pyrrha pulled her weapon free from the now dead Grimm. He and Ruby started to walk over to the pair after they had their weapons put away. "Nicely done, Pyrrha." He said with a smile.
She turned back to him with her own, "I barely did anything. You and Ruby took out most of the pack masterfully."
Ruby looked to the side, slightly embarrassed by the praise. He just grinned slightly. "Well, we were both trained by our uncle. Well, she was taught how to use a scythe and I was shown how to swing a sword. But because of that and growing up together, we have good synergy."
Ruby nodded, "Yeah! You should've seen us before Uncle Qrow started teaching us. We were complete garbage before."
"You more than me, Rubes. I learned a good amount of hand-to-hand from Dad." He smirked at her.
She glared up at him, "I'm not built for the same kind of fighting as you three. I'm more speed than power."
He just gave her a deadpanned expression, "You use a massive scythe and I've seen you cut through trees without the sniper recoil." That just earned him a harder glare from his younger sister but it had little effect on him. Yang's were more intimidating and he gained immunity to those long ago. Pyrrha looked at the two and couldn't help giggling at the siblings antics.
"We should really get moving." Weiss said out loud and grabbing their attention. "The commotion from your weapons could draw more Grimm here and we need to move on regardless."
He just held her gaze for a while before he sighed, "You're right." He turned towards the direction he saw the ruins in when he was above the tree cover. "It's this way and is a good distance away." He started to walk and when he was even with Weiss, he looked her in the eyes, "Prove me wrong." That was all he said to her before walking out of the clearing. Pyrrha and Ruby followed quickly after him, leaving Weiss alone for a few seconds before following after them.
The four traveled for ten minutes or so in silence. Jaune and Pyrrha were in the front keeping their eyes open and ready. Pyrrha had both Akouo and Milo out and ready while Jaune had Glacies Tempest locked and loaded. Ruby and Weiss were directly behind them, keeping an eye out behind them. The silence was tense but considering the argument they had gotten into just before the pack of Beowolves showing up, that was understandable.
Jaune eventually sighed before breaking the silence, "Since we are going to be working closely until the end of Initiation, we should probably go over our weapons and Semblances. That way we won't be caught off guard by anything if we get into another fight."
The others nodded and Ruby was the first to speak up, "Crescent Rose is my scythe and is a high impact sniper rifle. My Semblance is Petal Burst, I can turn into a cloud of rose petals and move extremely fast."
Pyrrha was next, "My weapons are my shield Akouo and my spear Milo. It can also transform into a xiphos and rifle when it's necessary. My Semblance is Polarity and let's me to control metal relatively easily. Although, I would like for us to keep it quiet. I don't like broadcasting it."
Weiss sighed before she spoke up, "My weapon is Myrtenaster. It's a rapier with a rotating Dust chamber. I use the Dust to help with my attacks or mixing them with my Glyphs, my Semblance, for a variety of effects. Honestly, there are too many varieties and effects to discuss right now."
Jaune nodded but kept looking forward, "My weapons are my bracers, Glacies Tempest. They have submachine guns in them that allow me to fire ice Dust rounds or I can convert the Dust into a flash freezing explosion when I punch. The sword on my hip is Stalwart. It's a simple longsword but the vents on either side of the blade allow me to release ice Dust for a variety of attacks when I stab or swing."
Pyrrha waited for a bit but he didn't continue. So she asked the follow up question. "What about your Semblance, Jaune?"
Ruby went tense and her eyes widened when she heard that. Jaune however, just took it in stride. "You don't have to worry about that. I don't use it if I can help it." She would've asked what he meant by that but the tone of his voice said he wouldn't elaborate even if she did. Sensing it was a sensitive topic for him, she left it alone.
They all kept up their trek for several more minutes until they came across a cave entrance. They all stopped and looked it over. Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby seemed more interested in it than the Heiress, who just stood off to the side with her arms crossed. "This aren't the ruins, right?" Ruby asked.
"No." Jaune answered her as he started to look over the drawings around the edge of it. "The ruins look like a temple of some sort and they are still quite a ways northward. Huh, these drawings are old and they aren't exactly filling me with hope."
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked as she stepped up beside him to get a closer look.
"It looks like people running from a giant scorpion. Probably a Deathstalker." He then turned from them and looked into the darkness of the cave. "A warning?"
Weiss' curiosity finally got the better of her and she was now looking the same drawings over with Pyrrha. "Do you think it is in there still?"
Jaune shrugged, "I don't know." He then turned back to the other two as Ruby started to look in now. "But I don't wanna find out. Let's just keep moving on. We can tell the Professors when we are done and they can do what they feel is necessary from there if the Grimm is in there."
"I agree." Weiss turned to him, shocking the redheads. "We need to retrieve the relics; not fight Grimm we don't have to. We'd just be wasting our time, especially if it is empty."
They all agreed and were about to keep moving forward. Until they heard something coming from the way they had just come from. It sounded like something was crashing through the forest. As the sounds got louder, they could also hear roaring and what seemed to be explosions. And laughter? Before any of them could even voice their confusion, an Ursa burst from the brush at full speed, roaring. As they all got ready to fight it, it just ran completely past them.
That's when they saw the orange haired girl from earlier riding it. She had her weapon out, which turned out to be a massive hammer, and was slamming it into its rear, forcing it to keep running at its top speed. Which now revealed that its roars were from pain more than anything else. She released an explosion as they were just about out of sight, making it move even faster for a brief period. Before they could say anything, the black haired guy that was with her earlier quickly ran after her shouting, "Nora!"
When the two were gone, the four slowly turned to each other. "What was that?" Pyrrha asked.
That was when they heard it. The sound of something large and heavy shifting. It was echoing ominously from the cave directly behind them. They all slowly turned to it as the sound was steadily growing louder and louder. That's when they saw something glowing in the dark, swaying side to side like a pendulum. Then several eyes glowing the dark.
"Run!" Jaune shouted as he grabbed the arms of Ruby and Pyrrha, since they were the ones next to him, trying to pull them along. They all snapped out of it and started to run with him. When all four were twenty feet or so away from the cave entrance, it exploded open and rocks went flying. Jaune looked over his shoulder to see a massive Deathstalker revealing itself as it started to screech into the air.
That just made the four of them double their efforts to get away. As they were weaving through the trees and tearing their way through the underbrush, they could feel the tremors every time it's legs slammed into the ground. And they could tell it was starting to close the gap between them. During their sprint, Jaune could feel the familiar but unsettling heat slowly travel down his arms. He clenched his hands into tight fists and clenched his teeth as he tried to force the heat back where it came from while trying to not slow down at all. Letting the Flames out could cause the forest to catch fire and that could endanger all the initiates. He couldn't let that happen.
The four somehow managed to keep the distance between themselves and the Deathstalker. They also managed to catch up to the guy in green. He turned around in shock before gaining a second wind to keep even with the group. He turned back around to face his partner before he shouted, "Nora!" As a warning to her.
The girl in question turned around while still riding on her unwilling steed. She looked at the group of five in confusion before her eyes landed on the Deathstalker chasing them. They went wide before she gained a near manic smile on her face. She stood up on the stampeding Ursa and turned to face them in an impressive feat of balance as she was spinning her massive hammer over her head. She brought it back down onto the rear of the beast while firing off an explosion.
The Grimm reared up and combined with the force of the explosion, launched her towards the Deathstalker. The attack also had the bonus of putting the beast out of its misery. She flew over her fellow initiates and started to flip over and over to gain more momentum before slamming her hammer onto the beast's head. The sudden impact slammed its head into the ground and the rest following shortly after, tearing up the ground and uprooting several trees in its path. Nora then jumped off the Deathstalker to join the group and kept pace with the same mindset someone would have with a morning jog.
Seeing that, Jaune took the opportunity to stop and spin back around to face it. He heard Ruby and Pyrrha shout his name but he ignored it as he pulled his fists up. He started to fire as much of his Dust as he could to try to freeze the legs and sides of the dazed Deathstalker, hoping to buy them even a few seconds of time when it regained its senses. He probably unloaded about half of each of his clips in doing so before he turned back around to catch up to the group.
The group of now six soon reached the end of the forest and came into a large clearing with the ruins located there. "There's the ruins!" Jaune shouted, "Grab a relic and let's get out of here!"
As they neared it, Jaune saw Yang and the girl with the bow from the day before. Yang smirked at him while tossing her relic into the air. "Look who finally showed up. Took you guys long enough."
"Yang, not now!" Jaune shouted as he came to a stop beside her. Ruby stopped beside her siblings as Pyrrha, Weiss and Nora ran in to grab a relic. The blacked haired girl just watched with a raised eyebrow as the three ran in to grab relics and Nora shouting about being 'Queen of the Castle'. The only other male in the group stopped outside as well but he was doubled over and trying to regain his breath. "We have a massive Deathstalker following us. We need to get out of here, now."
Yang raised an eyebrow, "How big is massive?" she asked.
As she said that, they heard a loud screeching but not the same one they had heard from the Deathstalker. The five not in the ruins looked up to see several explosions going off in the distance. Right before a massive Nevermore burst out from the trees into the distance. As it hovered in the air, it started to look around before spotting their group and angled towards them. Jaune threw his arms up into the air, "And now we have that to deal with too! Sure, why not?!" he shouted in annoyance.
That is when the other three came out of the temple and they saw the trees at the edge of the clearing they came from break apart into timbers. That revealed the Deathstalker, free and more furious than before. "Oh, massive is that big." Yang said right beside Jaune. He saw her now staring at the Grimm with wide eyes. "Well, at least we can all die together." She said jokingly to try to lighten up the mood.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby shouted and started to sprint towards the Deathstalker.
Jaune reached out and tried to grab her hood to stop her but his fingertips just missed her. Yang shouted, "Ruby, wait!" But both siblings were ignored by their younger sister. Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose and fired behind her in record time and she was sent catapulting towards the Deathstalker. It just battled her away with one of it's pincers, sending her falling to the ground. She quickly pulled herself to her feet and fired twice into the Deathstalker's face, doing nothing to the massive Grimm. Seeing that, she quickly turned and tried to get away from it as it chased after her.
By that point, both Xiao Longs were in a full sprint towards her, "Ruby!" both shouted in panic and Jaune could feel the heat traveling down his arms. He was still debating on using them to get to his sister but the screech of the Nevermore had him looking up at it. That's when he saw it pull up and flap its giant wings towards them. Jaune quickly wrapped his arms around Yang's stomach before sending aura into his legs and jumping back with her, preventing either of them from being impaled by the feathers it had fired at them. "Ruby, get out of there!" Yang shouted as she reached out to her.
"I'm trying!" she shouted in desperation. Her cloak was pinned to the ground by one of the feather as the Deathstalker raised its stinger. The panic and desperation was the tipping point for Jaune. He let go of Yang and charged forward. He was already bringing his arm backwards; his intent was to release the Flames to rocket towards her. But as he was about to do so, a white blur raced past him and a wall of ice erupted from the ground. Freezing the Grimm's stinger and saving Ruby. And standing there beside his sister was none other than Weiss.
That had him come to a full stop in shock but he quickly saw the Nevermore pull up and fly further up into the air. It spun back around and was bringing its wings forward for another volley. Seeing no other choice, Jaune jumped onto one of the feathers impaled into the ground. It bent backwards until the tension was too much and it snapped back, flinging him into the air. As he was flying towards the Nevermore, he let the heat travel down to his hands unrestricted since he had nothing to burn besides his targets in the air.
As the feathers came towards him, he swiped his hands from either side of himself which were now engulfed in the silver fires. The fires were released as he was doing so, creating a curved wave of silver fire towards the feathers. The fires engulfed the feathers with little issue and they slowly turned to ash as they fell out of their path to the ground. The sudden release of the aura-flames sent him rocketing backwards since he had nothing to slow himself down in the air.
As he was being rocketed back, he managed to flip himself over and saw he was heading towards the Deathstalker. He also noticed that Ruby and Weiss were staring up at him in shock but that was enough of a distraction for the Grimm to free its stinger. Seeing this, he pulled his hands above his head and the silver fire manifested in them once again. 'Stay in control. Stay in control!' he thought to himself. With those thoughts in mind, he created a fireball the size of a beachball between his hands before throwing his arms down and letting it fly.
The fireball flew like a silver comet down towards the Deathstalker, slamming into the middle of its back. The fire exploded outward enough to cover most of its back and the beast screeched in pain. It quickly started to back up in an attempt to get away from the pain as it's tail was whipping around and pincers snapping in the air in a fervor.
Jaune landed onto the ground shortly after that, about ten feet or so from Ruby and Weiss. The ground cracked underneath him and his aura did diminish a bit but he didn't care at this point. He rushed over to his sister, the lingering flames on his hands extinguishing instantly. He pulled her into a hug, just to be sure she was safe, and turned to Weiss, "We need to get moving." He told her simply.
She quickly shook herself of the shock and nodded to him. She created a Glyph behind herself to increase her speed while Jaune sent some of his large aura to his leg, getting ready to leap the distance between them and Yang. The three of them quickly got away from the burning Deathstalker and back over to Yang. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Jaune let go of Ruby and Yang quickly pulled her into a tight hug. Ruby groaned from the strength behind the embrace but Yang didn't care, she just said loud enough for the two to hear, "I'm so glad that you are okay."
The others of their little group came running over as Yang was finally letting go of Ruby. Most were staring in awe at the Grimm in the distance burning in silver fire. Ruby turned to Jaune who was still just looking down at her with a neutral look on his face. "Jauneā¦" she started nervously, not exactly sure on what to say to her brother. She didn't get a chance to say anything else though. Mostly because his fist slammed onto the top of her head, luckily he had condensed that half of Glacies Tempest so it was just a normal punch.
Everyone was shocked by the sudden assault. No one more than Yang and Ruby since Jaune never did anything like that outside of the occasional spar. Yang just stared wide eyed at the two while Ruby cupped the top of her head as she looked up at him, shock and slight bit of pain in her eyes.
Jaune on the other hand was now looking down at her with a very annoyed look in his eyes, "What the hell were you thinking?!" Ruby just looked up at him, not saying a word. She was starting to flashback to the times she got in trouble with her Dad, especially since Jaune did look like a younger version of him. "You ever do something that dangerous again and I swear I'll ground you for a year!"
That made her jaw drop, "You can't do that!"
"I absolutely can. Dad told me to keep an eye on you and he would a hundred percent agree with my decision." She was just dumbfounded by that. Jaune then saw Yang smirking at the interaction and he turned to her as well. "That goes double for you, Yang."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "What have I done?" she asked.
He gave her a deadpanned expression, "Should I start with what Dad knows you've done or about the dozen others he doesn't?" he asked rhetorically. That made her look to side and try to act innocent.
The other five members of the group just looked on in confusion, not exactly sure on what to do or say in this situation. Pyrrha eventually decided to try to get them back on track, "Um, Jaune?" she asked. He turned to her, much calmer than before. "I know this is important but we need to get going."
After a second, he shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Yeah, you're absolutely right." He looked back up to the Nevermore that was now trying to circle back. "The Nevermore will be back any time now."
"Can you do what you did to the Deathstalker to it!?" Nora asked as she invaded his personal space.
Jaune leant back enough so he could see her properly, "No, no I can't. It's too far away for me to hit it." He then looked over to see the Deathstalker still screeching, "And the Deathstalker's shell is apparently too thick for the Flames to deal with it on their own. We should get out of here before it's too late."
The rest agreed with him and were about to run. Jaune quickly put his hand on the back of Ruby's head and pulled her into his chest. She froze for a second before she felt him leave a kiss to the top of her head, right where he had hit her. He then rested his forehead on top of her head, "I'm sorry, Ruby. You scared me to death and I'm just so, so relieved you are okay. Once this is over, I'll endure any punishment you have in mind." He whispered to her, his voice shaking with his emotions.
Hearing this, she just wrapped him in a hug and gave him a brief squeeze before they pulled apart. With that, the eight of them started to run towards the cliffs to end their exam. The Deathstalker watched them retreat and the eyes seemed to glow with more fury from the pain they had subjected it to. It screeched before chasing after them but at a slower pace and flames still licking at it. The Nevermore finished circling and started to give chase as well. Their test was far from over.
