AN: Apologies for the wait.
The weeks have been very busy for me. One moment I'm writing, the next I'm procastinating and the day after that I have to go to do my 1-week internship at a newspaper company. Saw a woman get run over during the final day of my internship, ruined my lunch honestly. Made me realise how valuable life is and how much of a dick I am, since I used that moment to analyse and compare people's reaction to seeing someone getting ran over. Stuff happened, hanged with some friends, had two tests that broke my mind and my fingers and now here I am posting this chapter... fun.
Anyways, for a final note, this is not the final chapter of this arc. Well, it is but it's just this is the "first part" of the final chapter, as I had to split this into two, otherwise I would've ruined the chapter.
Alright that's it see ya soon... hopefully.
Dream Cycle: Solace Iron Flower PT.1
Peach glanced at the scroll alarm that sat on the table. It was almost time for the Arc family to arrive at her office.
Floral Lullaby… what a troublesome semblance. She can still remember all the times she was nearly arrested for putting people in deep sleep out in the streets when she accidentally activated her semblance. Or that time when she almost burnt down her team's room with a flame lotus back in Beacon because she nearly lost her temper.
'Damn perverts.' She growled, blushing.
The door to the room and she raised her head to find the Arc family trio by the door.
'Guess it's time then.'
She gestured for them to come in.
"I thank you for coming in today." She said.
"No, it's you who we have to thank." Jeanne bowed.
Their son – Jaune – sat down, but his parents stayed standing by his side.
"I'm sure you are aware of what you are about to be put through." She addressed the boy.
He nods.
"You are aware that you must go through those nightmares once more, no?"
He nods again.
"You still have the chance to refuse."
He stayed silent.
"I see. This is a useless question, but are you ready?"
"No." He speaks for the first time they've arrived, "But I know what's necessary for me, so I won't refuse."
Hmm. Mature enough to know that he should get help huh?
"Very well then." She stood up from her seat, "Follow me."
She walked to a couch and gestured for him to lay down on it. She then took a nearby chair and sat down on it, next to the young Arc.
"I'll ask one more time, are you ready?"
"Yes." He answers.
She nods and reaches down to the boy, gripping onto his arm lightly.
"You will feel a slight sensation, like vines or roots gripping onto your body." She announces, "That's my semblance activating. All you need to do, is keep your body relaxed and eyes closed, my semblance will finish the rest of the process."
"Okay." He responds, closing his eyes.
"We'll now begin."
She activates her semblance, causing aura-like roots to extend from her hand. The roots spread throughout his body, running across him like a snake. They then stop once they have spread through his body and begin to dig into his skin.
He grunts and his body tightens up.
"Relax. That's just my semblance doing its job."
He seemed to calm down after hearing that and his body relaxes once more.
After a few seconds, she then felt the connection between her and the boy. His aura felt warm and soothing, not unlike that of a fire from a hearth, and it seems that he has a lot of it. She could also feel what his emotions are, as of currently.
She could feel that he was astonished – perhaps of her semblance – and fear at the same time, but she could also feel a tinge of relief – perhaps from being able to find a way to help himself.
She shook away the feelings and focused on her task.
'It seems that the connection is stable. Then it's time for the final process."
She activates the true nature of her semblance and aura-like buds begin to grow on the roots. She forced the buds to bloom, causing the flowers to release a group of spores that was thrown into the air as the flowers bloomed. The spores had no effect on her, but for the young Arc, he would begin to feel the great desire to sleep.
His body slowly goes limp from the effects of her semblance, but he occasionally tightens up, preventing him from fully going to sleep. Thankfully, she was able to soothe him to the point he began fall into deep sleep.
'Alright then.' She thought, 'Let's see what happens when you dream.'
Her vision turned black.
To her she was surrounded by darkness, darkness which does not seem to lift. In the darkness, she felt weightless, cold… yet warm, and… she felt… lost. Or perhaps she felt as though she lost something? Peach couldn't tell. She couldn't place the feeling either. It was confusing.
'What… is this place? Is this his dream?'
She tried to move in this empty space, but she just couldn't seem to be able to do so. However, amidst her struggle, a light has moved into her field of view.
The light was golden, yet it shone so bright that it nearly resembled white. The light continued to move into her field of view until it stopped, covering half of her vision. The light itself felt as though it hugged onto her or perhaps it was her that held onto it, that was all she could tell from the how warm the light was.
She wanted to move closer to it, it's warmness.
Suddenly, something grab hold of her and that golden light. Whatever grabbed her felt sharp and thin, like bones.
At this moment, her vision was filled with a bright blueness, and she began to felt heavy.
'Am I… moving?'
Indeed she was, she felt something brush past her body. It was akin to that of… water. Yes, it felt as though she was being pulled through water.
She shifted her gaze under her to find a path of mist leading to the direction to wherever she is being dragged.
The light she saw was still next to her, unseparated. She wondered why.
She didn't get to think any longer as she turned her gaze back to the direction that they were being dragged to, she found the thing that she saw terrify her to her core.
'What…the…fuck?'
She couldn't even describe it. It was… it was… hideous. The thing resembled something akin to a human, except its only bones and… tentacles? What is this thing? Why is it here? Is this- is this part boy's dream?!
The warmth from the light disappeared and she saw it being dragged away by… a hand.
Turning back to the thing, the being continued to stare into her eyes, and she stared back, suddenly, her vision was filled with weird images. Ruins of some sort, blood, a crimson moon, weird symbols and… eyes… lots and lots of eyes.
"▄▌█m̸̛͓̰̹̪̦̪͖͈͖̯̳̈́̂į̸̱͍̩͉̬̱̩̯̜̰͐͆̀͂n̷̡̧̧͉̘͓͍̭̫̹̩̒̎"
Was it… talking to her?
"▌noţ̸̗̞̠̯̗͍͙͎̝̪̅̃̽ǐ̴͚̐̈́ń̸͉̖̹͓̲͈͙̺̼̭̻̫͖̌͐̏ţ̶̙̮͙̊̈́̽é̶̛̥͚͎̯̬̤̮͉̳̥͙͔͇̘̻r̴̦̺̠̭͍̥̣̐̌̈́̋͐̽̊f̸̡̬̮̼͈͙͔̟̞͊̌ȇ̵̲̣̑̈́͊̈͂́̏̑̈͘͝͝r̶̡̡͔̳̤̫̜̙̹̝̈́̑̈́̚͜ȇ̸͙͎͌ ▀▬s̸͓̲̻͎̳͕͋̓ì̶̻̘̻̫̗͔̱̃́̇͗̅̀n̴̛̯͈͈̙̫̯͗́̄̽e̶̛̙͕̻̦͛̊̌̄͆ş̵̧̢̧̧̫̯̭̘̥̱͖̱̜̉ş̷̧̱͎̲͕͚̳̙̋̈́̆̎̂ oḟ̶͔͈̉͒̌͛̉ͅ gȏ̶͕͕̖͓͕̳̫͇̻̙͓̫̹̮ͅds̴͖̣͕̳̹̓͑̍̆̀̊̊"
The language it spoke was horrific, ugly and incomprehensible, almost like the symbols she saw. So how was it that she can understand its words?
"▀▌▄ ń̷̰̦̮̬̙̭̅̊̊ọ̶̬͓͇̪͍̗̺͓̣͗̆t ch̷̡̟̠͚͎͔̽̅̿oş̸͔̾̈́̉̚en"
"B̸̲͝È̶̦̮̹̾̽̈G̷͔̼͈̣͋O̶̩̺̮̾Ǹ̵͚̆͐E̸̛̛̱͊"
~~AMONGST US~~
L▌▀ion: ▄▌ch's o▬e
"We n-ed a stre-ch-r."
Loud… too loud. There was too much noise.
"Th-re'- sti-l no re-pon-."
It hurts… why is there so much shouting? She tried to open her eyes but struggled to do so. Although, that seemed to alert whoever it is that was speaking.
"-h-'s waki-g up!"
"Ugh… what happened?" She croaked, raising herself from the floor sluggishly.
"Professor? Professor Alphonse, can you hear me?" a voice seemed to address her.
"Yes, that's… me."
She heard something to her right and turned in that direction. She saw a blurry image of… August and Jeanne? It seems that they were… talking to another figure. She tried to listen, but it was muffled. The best she could guess from the noise is something about her… semblance?
"-ssor? Can you still hear me?"
"Yes." She muttered turning back to the voice.
"Before you collapsed, can you remember what happened?"
"I… collapsed?"
"Yes, and you also had quite the seizure too, that and…" the figure who spoke to her looked to the floor next to her and she followed their gaze to find…
"Is… that blood?"
"Yes, it was quite a heavy nosebleed that you had along with that seizure." The figure answered, "Your face was a mess when we arrived."
"What… happened?"
Location: Hunter's Dream
"-nd that was why."
Jaune sat cross-legged on the stone path of the hunter's dream. In front of him, was the servant of the dream, the doll.
After he had come back to this nightmare, the doll had asked him as to why he had killed himself inside the dream. Of course, he had explain to the servant of the events that had occurred during Yharnam, how he had found the missing limb of Violet and the ribbon that belongs to her lying in the blood-soaked sewer.
Which lead to this moment.
"So… how have things been while I was gone?" He asked the servant.
He couldn't help but chuckle emptily in his head. Showing concern for a character inside a reoccurring dream just shows how far he has gone.
"What do you mean?" The servant tilted its head.
"Huh?"
"You were gone for but a moment, so why do you ask how things have changed?" It clarified, "It's almost like you thought you were gone for a lot longer than a few moments."
"B-but… I wasn't sleeping for a whole week, so-"
"Ah." She hummed understandingly.
"Doll?"
"You see good hunter; time works differently within the dream." It started, "Time is meaningless here, good hunter. A million years can pass by in Yharnam and only a second would in the dream. This is the same between the dream and all worlds. And of course, this is the same for Remnant and the dream."
Numerous thoughts bounced through his mind, but there was one thought that stuck out to him. How did the doll know about Remnant? And if it knows about his world… then does this mean…
"I've said it before good hunter." The doll said, almost like it read his mind, "This is no dream."
"…"
"…"
"So…" He muttered shakily, "All those times I've killed those people… I…"
The doll stood straight and merely shuts its eyes, staying silent to leave the hunter with his thoughts.
"You knew… you knew all this time that the people I killed were real… you knew that this wasn't a dream, you knew…" He looked up at the servant, eyes hollowed with shock, "You knew that I was from a different world."
"Of course, I've known since the beginning that you appeared before me." It said, rolling its eyes in an almost sarcastic manner.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he said, his voice reaching a higher pitch.
"Because you never asked."
"…"
"…"
"Do you feel betrayed because of this?"
Of course, he did. Of course, he would feel betrayed by the fact that the one who took the role as his caretaker in this nightmare knew that everything he did was real and didn't tell him about that fact. Who wouldn't be?
He should be angry, he should be mad at the servant, he should be. Yet in the end, he couldn't find the reason to be. Afterall, it's just as it said, he could've asked.
Damn it all.
"But how?" He asked, "How do you know that I was from a different world?"
"Well, that's easy." It leaned forward once more, "You weren't the first hunter to be from your world, here."
He wasn't the first?
"Then that means-"
"That there are others before you, yes."
~~AMONGST US~~
Location: Central Yharnam
Jaune ducked under a rifle shot from one of the Yharnam huntsman on top of the carriage and sprinted away from the huge mob by the huge burning stake.
He avoided them like a street rat, darting and weaving around their attacks, never once sparing a glance at the crazed murderers. He couldn't glimpse at them, not when it reminds him of all the things he's done and that same feeling of betrayal he felt from Doll.
He ran through the archway and continued towards the crates and wooden coffins.
He just wanted to be away from everything, alone.
Why did everything have to turn out this way? It was just supposed to be a dream, a dream where he can truly experience everything within it. He thought that perhaps it was his semblance, the ability to experience hyper-realistic dreams. Or that perhaps it was just a strange phenomenon where his dreams become realistic due to his aura being unlocked but…
'Everything I did… the people I killed…'
Gascoigne, Viola and Violet.
'Damn it all!'
Amidst his internal struggle, his foot kicked against his other, causing him to trip and crash into the wooden crates and coffins.
"Ugh…"
A manic laughter could be heard coming nearby and he turned to its origins to find a door with light shining underneath, with a lamp nearby, the scent of incense emanating from it. The light from under the door had a spot that was darkened however, perhaps from the person behind it.
"What's this?" the voice behind the door hissed, not unlike that of a snake, "A hunter running away from beasts? PAHAHAHA!"
"Shut up." Jaune growled.
"We have a coward hunter, PAHAHA!" The snake-like voice laughed once more, "Oh! You poor, poor thing!"
He backed away from the door but his foot lost hold of the ground when he backed away to the edge by the broken crates and coffins. He fell down the edge and hit a cage, the pain searing through his right shoulder.
He was caught off guard when the dog inside the cage immediately growled and barked at him, thrashing about within the small thing.
He got back up and ran, he ran like there was tomorrow in whichever direction his body took him, he just couldn't think properly right now.
Throughout his runaway, he encountered the giants once more, rats, crows, more madmen and half-turned beasts.
In the end, his body took him back to where the madness had all began.
Location: Oedon Chapel
Why was he back here? Why?
Perhaps it was because of the memory that took him here, the lingering echo which was left behind when he and Gascoigne killed each other. He couldn't tell.
He fell to his knees, dust and soil kicking up from the force behind it.
"Why?"
No one answered.
He kneeled there for what felt like a millennium, the dry, suffocating air and the stench of Viola's corpse oppressed him, forcing him to stay down.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. It was heavy and measured, accompanying it was the sound of ragged breathing and growling.
He slowly turned around to catch a glimpse of what was approaching him but somehow.
He once again had died.
~~AMONGST US~~
Location: Hunter's Dream
Why was he chosen?
If he wasn't the first person from remnant to become a hunter in this… world. Why was he, of all people chosen? But just like in Oedon Chapel, no one answered. Not even the doll did so. It just stared at him as he laid on the stone path.
He let the silence take over.
Minutes seem to pass, eventually it felt as though hours has also passed.
He couldn't tell how long he actually laid there, only that he did. He gazed deep and faraway into the painted skies, the clouds which enshroud them moving about and away, revealing nothing more than an endless greyness.
Why was he chosen?
He wasn't special, he wasn't strong, he wasn't brave. So why?
He got to his feet and scanned his surroundings, the servant of the dream now gone, vanished somewhere else.
He couldn't care much, he told himself as such. Yet, something compelled him to search for the doll. Perhaps it was out of desperacy or some form of lingering desire to talk, but he moved about, looking for the servant.
After a few moments, he found the servant in the back gardens of the workshop, gazing staring off and far into the endless sea of mist, its hands grasping the metal fence as it leaned slightly forward.
"Doll?"
It didn't respond and kept gazing into the sea of mist.
He slowly approached the servant, reaching out and touching its shoulder to get its attention.
"Doll?" he called once more.
It turned around and asked, "Yes, good hunter?"
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, I was simply reminiscing of the past." It answered, "You haven't moved in the dream for a while so… I took the time to remember all that's happened."
"Is that so?" He asked slowly, "How long did I lie there?"
"If I were to estimate, at least twenty minutes long."
That short? He thought he'd been there for hours.
"Oh."
He followed the servant's gaze into the mist ocean. This brought him some small comfort.
"Uh, Doll… about before, when I ran away." He said. "Sorry about that, I couldn't think straight."
"That is understandable." It said, without looking away from the mist. "You are still young so it would make sense."
"Right…" He muttered.
"…"
"…"
"I should get going." He announces.
"Before you leave good hunter." Doll called to him. "I have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
"You may want to visit the cathedral ward." It said, their head turning to see him, "There's someone you may want to meet, a dusty old crow of sorts."
A dusty old crow? Who would that be? He didn't know anyone else besides Gilbert and… Violet. So, who could it be?
"Who is this 'dusty old crow', doll?"
Though the servant didn't answer and turned back to the mist and only said, "Go straight, and you'll find them."
His eyes furrowed in frustration, and he walked to the first gravestone.
He reached out to the messengers and the messengers reached out to him.
"Cathedral Ward."
~~AMONGST US~~
Location: Cathedral Ward
He arose from the floor, his body slowly conjuring into a physical form as the light and mist died down around him.
He looked up, finding two archways inside the chamber.
"That scent… is that you, Mister Hunter?" A jittery voice stuttered from his side.
"Oh… you."
The dweller of the chamber smiled at his comment and giggled lightly.
"Yes! Me!" the dweller shrieked, "So, did'ya find anyone to bring here? How about that person that you thinking of bringing here?"
Jaune didn't answer and walked away.
"W-wait! Where are ya going?"
He didn't answer.
Jaune instead walked forwards to the archway in front of him, recalling what doll had said to him. He came out the archway but found no one in his sights. Although there was a corpse of a man in a weird grey outfit.
He sighed, it seemed that no one was here. He was prepared to turn and return to the dream when he was stopped.
"Quite rude of you to leave that thing without an answer now ain't it?"
He swung his cleaver, the mechanism of the weapon shone with sparks as the cleaver was tricked, swiping the space behind him. Yet no one was there.
"You shouldn't be swinging that toy around now; you could hurt someone with that."
Jaune turned to the voice – which sounded like it belonged to an old lady – to find a figure leaning against some stone railings just behind him, almost like they had been there the whole time.
The figure was garbed in blue with a black feathery cape covering most of their body. What made them stood out was presence the figure seemed to exude. This was a hunter.
'A crow's mask.' Jaune thought as he looked at the hunter's face.
"There's someone you may want to meet, a dusty old crow of sorts."
"So, you're the dusty old crow."
"Hoh? And who did you get that name from, young'un?" The hunter chuckled.
"No one particular." He replied.
"Very well then, keep your secrets." The hunter chuckled.
The hunter turned her back to him and leaned back on the stone railing, staring off into the area in front of her where two men in strange grey clothing seem to wander around.
"So, tell me young'un, what brings you to these parts?"
"Could ask you the same thing… old lady." He shot back.
"Old lady huh?" The hunter chuckled, "Well, I'll answer first. I'm simply conducting a test on a certain… apprentice of mine."
The hunter pointed her thumb back to the chamber he was in before.
"We recently learned that the chapel was a suitable haven for housing people that are still sane. So, my test was to have my apprentice escort someone through Central Yharnam and bring them here." The hunter turned to him, looking at Jaune in the eyes, "Of course it wouldn't be a hard test without a challenge to it."
"Yeah? And what that be?" Jaune asked out of curiosity.
"Can't tell you that now, can I? What if you find my apprentice and tell them about it?" The hunter said, placing a finger under her crow's mask, "Let's just say that you should stay away from the tomb nearby, things will get quite bloody there."
'It must be the thing that killed me there then.'
"Thanks, old lady." Jaune said.
"Name's Eileen." The hunter said, "What about you?"
"Jaune." He replied as he began to walk away.
"Hoh?" Eileen hummed, "I assume your last name is Arc then?"
Jaune stopped in his tracks, his body frozen like a statue.
"How did you know that?" He unintentionally growled.
"Forget what I said before. I suggest you visit the tomb, Jaune Arc." Eileen chuckled, "There's someone of great value that you should meet, or rather reconcile with."
"Who are you talking about?" Jaune asked, but the crow hunter didn't answer, "Tch!"
He sped through the cathedral ward's chamber and down into the library.
"H-hey! Where, are ya-"
The dweller's voice faded away as he jumped down the hatch in the library, ignoring the ladder altogether. He injected a blood vial into his thigh to fix the damage to his bones and quickly rushed out the corridor and made a left turn.
Bloodlust.
His body rolled forwards instinctively, dodging an attack aimed for his neck.
'That's!-'
"RAGH!" his assailant roared as he lunged for him.
Jaune weaved between his attack and held his saw cleaver in front of him like a sword.
'He's trying to corner me.' Jaune thought as he swiftly glanced behind him, to find himself nearing a wall.
His assailant was a hunter garbed in dirty yellow and brown clothes, in his right was a saw cleaver and in his left was a hunter's pistol. What made his assailant stood out however, was his eyes. The normally white sclera was soaked in a dirty yellow colour with red veins probing towards the deep blue iris. The hunter was blood-drunken, just like…
"Another one…" Jaune muttered shakily.
The hunter roared again and lunged for him.
Jaune attempted to step past the attack so he can reverse their positions, but the hunter blocked him and kicked him back, closer to the wall.
'Dammit.' He cursed.
The hunter rushed him, forcing him closer and closer to the wall until he could no longer back away.
'If only I had my pistol.'
Just as he thought of these words, the hunter shot his pistol, hitting him dead centre in the chest and forcing him against the wall, the same wall he was thrown into by Gascoigne.
The hunter used this opening to swing at him.
Jaune met the attack with one of his own, parrying the attack aimed for his neck. But the hunter swiftly spun to execute another attack which Jaune blocked poorly with his saw cleaver.
"It was you…" The hunter growled.
"What… are you talking about?" Jaune strained as he fought back against the force behind the enemy's cleaver.
"You carry his scent! IT WAS YOU!" The hunter roared as he forced Jaune to his knee, "YOU KILLED HIM!"
At that moment, Jaune came to realize who the hunter was talking about, the one who he accused of killing.
"You… you know-"
The hunter cut him off as he grabbed Jaune by the collar and threw him over the metal fence and down into the soil below.
Jaune's back skidded along the soil, kicking up a small cloud of dust. He coughed from the small amounts of dust that made their way through his mask and kept his weapon up.
A beastly roar came from above him as he found the hunter up in the air, cleaver drawn back to smash down on him.
Jaune rolled away, keeping his distance from the hunter.
His hands shook the longer he held onto the saw cleaver, the image of him piercing Gascoigne's chest blinding his sight.
'Dammit…'
The hunter glared at him through the smoke of dust, his deep blue irises, now melting into a sickly dark blood red.
"GAH!" Jaune yelled as his left shoulder was impacted by a pistol shot from the hunter.
Jaune was forced onto his knees as he received a shot to the ankle. He quickly raised his cleaver to block the one from the hunter in yellow, who growled at him like a beast.
"If you find mum, give her this music box!"
'Dammit...!' Jaune cried within.
His hands slowly buckled as the thought of murdering the hunter in front of him came to his mind. The hunter pocketed his pistol and grasped the cleaver with his second hand, pushing the weapon further against Jaune's own cleaver.
"I…" The hunter, growled, his voice losing its human-like tone, "I will kill you. I will avenge them."
"I… I…" Jaune breathed out shakily, "I'm sorry…"
Jaune's saw cleaver was knocked out of his hand and he fell to the ground as the hunter forced them out of the clash.
He didn't fight back; he simply closed his eyes as the blood-drunk hunter raised his cleaver high and dragged it down towards him.
"Jaune...?"
…
…
He opened his eyes, and he found the hunter frozen, looking off in a different direction, a bewildered look, painted over the hunter's masked face.
Jaune turned to the same direction, and he found… them.
There was a person garbed in the exact same clothing as the old-lady Eileen, and on that person's hip, was a small dagger-like weapon. But that wasn't what stunned him, no. It was the person that was behind the lookalike.
"Violet…?"
AN: Wooo, spooky... or whatever.
Btw, small translation for the dialogue with Peach's encounter with the great one: "Vermin" - "Do not interfere with the business of gods" - "You are not chosen" - "Begone".
I think I messed something up in this first half of the final chapter. Same feeling as when I wrote that one chapter in Fragmented Star where Shirou gets his vision. Might be the change in the way Jaune acts sometimes? I don't know, I'm still bad at writing so I can't tell. Hopefully the next half will be finished soon, already have the half of it done... I think?
Oh by the way, in case some of you couldn't figure it out, which I highly doubt. Peach has now gained *drum roll* insight! You can tell since during her pov when she awoke, there was a 'location' display, which has only been occuring in Yharnam, specifically for dream-scented hunters such as Jaune. The 'location' display is an interaction between the character and the world, where they recieve information of their location upon materialising.
Anyways, since the chapter is split into two, I'm going to release a (techinically speaking) third chapter after the second part release as to follow my three chapter rule.
Cya, have a nice day, now if you don't mind, I'll be getting my sleep which I desperately need.