AN: 2,571 words of pure fighting… woop de doo!

Had to rush the ending a bit. Skuggs... I mean Chad (Not used to Skuggs right now) and I decided we will try and upload every Sunday for each of our stories. We won't be checking up or editing each other's stories until We have each uploaded them.

Anyways, I have obviosly uploaded mine a bit late. 'A bit' because I am currently awake and still writing and polishing this story to upload. And as of currently it is exactly 1:00 AM for me.

Edit: This is the final chapter of this arc btw. Just wanna let you know.

Woo de fucking doo!

Dream Cycle: Solace Iron Flower PT.2

His granddaughter stood by the entrance of the tomb, her left arm grasping the clothing of the hunter beside her. Her favourite dress was worn and torn in several places and her normally clean blonde hair was now dirtied, with a bloodied bandage wrapped around her head and left eye. But she was missing something, something that's a part of her. Her forearm.

Her right forearm was now gone, replaced with a stump wrapped in filthy bandages that was painted with small spots of red.

But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that his granddaughter was alive.

"Violet…"

"Grandpa Henryk?" his granddaughter asked innocently.

It's her. Oh, it really is her.

Henryk stepped off the boy below him and approached his granddaughter, but he made sure to do it slowly as to not scare her.

"Oh, Violet." He muttered.

"G-grandpa?" His granddaughter asked again but this time she… she slowly hid behind the hunter with her?

Why? Why is she hiding from him?

Oh, it must be the blood on his clothes, he should've known. Afterall, children shouldn't be seeing their grandparents covered in blood, that would be bad for their mental health.

"It's alright, Violet." Henryk spoke softly, "It's alright, grandpa's okay."

"I-it's not that grandpa." His granddaughter sniffed.

What? What does she mean?

"Your eyes… they're red." She answered for him.

Henryk's eyes widen in shock. His eyes were red? That shouldn't be possible, the only time that ever happens was when… when…

"A-and you smell… you smell like those beasts." She sniffed.

No.

The hunter of hunters beside her trained their eyes on him as they slowly hid his granddaughter behind them. The hunter of hunters shifted their heads to his granddaughter, seemingly whispering something to her.

No. He wasn't a beast, there's no way. No, she's just being tricked, by that hunter of hunters. Whatever that hunter whispered to her, she's being deceived!

"You… you'll take her away too?" Henryk growled.

He needs to get his granddaughter back.

"Give her back…"

He needs to convince her that he's no beast.

"You damn hunter of hunters…"

He needs to take her back.

"You goddamn crows…"

He'll-

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Henryk made to lunge for the hunter of hunter's, drawing his hunter's pistol to stun the damn crow to create an opening.

But he was stopped when that hunter that carried Gascoigne's scent tackled him to the soil.

"Jaune!" His granddaughter cried.

She knows this boy; he must've also deceived her. There's no way that she would show concern for someone who killed her father.

"YOU FUCKING BRAT!" He roared, slashing the boy in his shoulder blades.

He kicked the young hunter off him and raised his cleaver to deal the final blow before he can recover, but a faint sense of danger told him to dodge.

Henryk ducked just in time to dodge a strike from behind.

'That damn crow!' He thought, kicking the hunter away from him.

The hunter flipped over to recover before they charged at him, splitting their helix daggers into two as they dashed towards him.

Henryk fired off a shot at the crow, but they snaked through the bullets and continued forwards.

"Tch!"

Henryk kicked down onto the soil, kicking up a large cloud of dust. It wouldn't blind that crow because of their goggles but it would at least hinder their vision.

The crow bursts forth from the cloud and Henryk delivers a surprise slash to the side of their abdomen from below, cutting deep into the hunter's stomach.

The crow hunter grunted and made distance to heal themselves, but Henryk wasn't going to let them do that. He shot the crow in the chest, the impact of the bullet forcing them to the ground.

He rushed forwards but was stopped when he felt a sharp and ragged saw object slashes his back.

"YOU!" He roared at the brat he injured before.

Henryk quickly injected himself with a blood vial, its healing properties rapidly taking effect, rejuvenating him.

He let out a roar before he barraged the brat with a whirlwind of attacks, with each strike knocking away his weapon each time he tried to block.

"I won't let you take her!" He shouted with each strike.

Something pierced into his right shoulder blade, but he ignored the pain and kept up his assault on the brat in front of him.

"GAH!" He let out a bellowing moan as he felt two blades stab themselves into his back.

Swiftly injecting himself with another vial, Henryk kicked the brat away from him and forcefully shrugged the crow hunter off his back. The crow fell back, his hands now emptied. Recognizing the situation, Henryk rushed towards the unarmed crow.

But he did not expect the hunter to flip over him, penetrating his back with three small knives.

'Throwing knives?!'

The hunter reached for the daggers in his back and forced them out of his body, letting a waterfall of blood spill.

Henryk procured another vial, but it was smashed by another throwing knife from the crow. He returned the action with a quicksilver shot.

He hastily injected himself with another vial before any more damage could be done and rushed for that crow again.

"Grggh!"

That brat hunter ambushed him again, slitting open his right abdomen. He lashed out at him, but he retreated away from him, leaving Henryk opened to a flurry of slashes from the crow. He lashed out at that hunter, but he also retreated, slashing his arm as he did so.

Why did everything have to be this way? Why?

The blonde brat came in once again, cutting his thigh before dashing past his counterattack. The crow threw more knives penetrating and slitting his hamstring. The blonde slashed his chest as he kneeled, before dashing away again.

Henryk raised his arms with scarce strength to protect himself from another flurry of slashes from the crow and lashed out once more.

'Why?' Henryk thought to himself as he lashed out at a different direction, continuing on with this cat and mouse game.

Why?

His left shoulder was pierced by a knife.

Why must this happen?

His gun arm became limb from a swipe to the shoulder.

Why must the hunt happen? Why must this suffering continue? Why did his family have to die?

The nape of his neck was cut open.

'I just… want to rest now…' Henryk thought to himself.

His vision slowly faded, becoming darker and darker as he fell to the soil beneath him. He thought to himself at this moment – before he perished. Is he free?

Time froze.

At this moment, another thought had occurred to him. What about his granddaughter?

His original goal was to save his granddaughter from these two deceivers. He was to take her back and find a safe place for her to stay. He was to protect his only family member left in this godforsaken city.

So why was he to die now?

Time began to move.

He had to save her. He had to protect her. He had to do everything in his power to save his only family. He will do anything for her.

Even if he has to abandon his humanity.

~~AMONGST US~~

Jaune felt empty… no, no this feeling in his chest was more akin to the feeling of being defeated. Even though he and the Eileen lookalike have prevailed in this fight, the sense of perpetual defeat seem to hang off his shoulders.

'It was to protect her.' He told himself as such, 'It was necessary.'

Henryk, the grandfather of Violet laid on the soil, a small puddle of blood forming at the base of his neck… the place which Jaune had cut him down.

He turned away from the corpse, the sight sickened him.

Instead, he looked at the archway, the entrance to the tomb of oedon, to find the one who he thought he had lost.

Violet peaked from behind the archway, her only undamaged eye glancing around the wrecked and bloody graveyard. And as she looked about, she stopped, her gaze now focused on him. Her gaze was filled with a certain innocence that didn't, shouldn't belong to a hellscape such as this city, but it was also filled with fear, uncertainty and… guilt.

Jaune tried to speak but he couldn't find any words to say, and even if he could, he didn't think they would leave his mouth. Instead, he looked down at the soil to avoid her gaze.

'No. I shouldn't be scared.' He thought to himself, 'Just… talk to her. There's no need to fear.'

Steeling himself with resolve, he made to speak but when he looked up, he found her eye widened and filled with terror.

"Watchout!" She screamed.

Bloodlust. The very same one he sensed when Henryk had first attacked him.

He tricked the saw cleaver into its saw form and spun around to cut down whatever was behind him. The trick weapon dug deep into hard flesh with a sickening *schlick*.

'Henryk?' Jaune thought getting a clear look at the one he attacked, but the man's eyes were dark, almost soulless.

The Eileen lookalike jumped from behind Henryk and stabbed their blades into Henryk's knife laden back, their helix daggers digging deep into the flesh of the hunter in yellow.

'How is he alive? I-I made sure to cut his neck so… why?' Jaune queried.

Henryk went and grabbed Jaune's arm, preventing him from pulling out his saw cleaver out of the man's body. Such a simple action and yet, it terrified Jaune to his core.

Henryk soulless eyes stared deep Jaune's own as his grip on Jaune's arm begin to tighten, threatening to crush the bones underneath his flesh.

The lookalike noticed his distress and swiftly took out his daggers and swept for Henryk's nape once more.

Jaune let out a small, "Huh?"

Time slowed. To him, the world was spinning upside down and it continued to spin as Henryk became smaller and smaller.

Time began to speed up again as Jaune's grasp on his situation begin to settle and the duo crashed into a large four-meter gravestone located in the middle of the tomb. Jaune rolled off the crow and looked up to find Henryk stumbling and keeling over, his right hand now holding his saw cleaver and left, his hunter's pistol.

"GRRRRRGGRRAAAAGH!" The hunter in yellow roared.

The duo can hear bones cracking and flesh bubbling as the hunter in yellow began to mutate and transform, leaving behind a husk of his old self.

What was left of the man that was Henryk was now a tall three-meter beast standing in his place, their arms extended and almost bone-like, tearing through the yellow sleeves. What remained of his hands and fingers were hairy arms and claws that can rip a man's head off in a single swipe. However, his gun arm was morphed so bad that the flesh of the beast attached itself to the hunter's pistol, the overgrown grey fur covering most of the weapon except for the tip of the barrel.

The beast's body crackled as sparks flew off whatever skin was revealed through the torn hunter's attire. The beast that was Henryk turned to face the duo, revealing a torn hunter's mask, a bone mask now replacing his entire face, his eyes now hollowed out. Bones pierced through his chest, resembling something akin to that of a rib cage, but with Jaune's saw cleaver morphed into the side of the beast's abdomen.

"Quite the predicament you have gotten yourself in, apprentice."

The duo turned to their backs to find Eileen squatting atop the large gravestone they crashed into, training her void-like goggles at the beast.

"This situation have certainly gotten out of hand." The old lady said as she jumped from the gravestone, "And you may want to fix that hand, Jaune Arc." She said pointing at his right hand.

Jaune looked down at it to find the appendage dislocated and twisted in several ways that shouldn't be humanely possible.

The pain begin to settle and Jaune screamed in pain as he realized the state of which his hand was in.

"Such a baby." Eileen sighed, approaching Jaune and stabbing his shoulder with a blood vial, "There." She said as the effects of the blood begin to fix his broken hand.

*THUMP*

The group turned to the noise to find the beast taking a step towards the archway, the entrance to the tomb. The place that Violet was hiding.

Sparks begin dance violently between the beast's fur as it nears the archway, its heavy thumps and crackling of bones echoing throughout the tomb.

'No!'

Jaune made to rush for the beast, but a hand halted him, and a gunshot sounded near him. He looked back to find the Eileen holding his collar, her left arm extended as smoke bellowed from her hunter's pistol.

"Don't be foolish, boy. That's no ordinary beast right there, it's special, a one of a kind." She said dropping him, "That right there, is a Dark Beast, or a partially transformed one at least."

Bones crackled once more as the Dark Beast faced the group of hunters, its hollow eyes seemingly glaring at them.

"Apprentice. You and Jaune Arc stay out of this fight." Eileen got into a stance, now equipped with the same dagger as her apprentice, "Leave that thing to me."

With that said, the crow hunter charged towards the Dark Beast, feathers flying through the air behind the crow hunter.

Like a silent machine, the Dark Beast raised its gun arm to fire at the approaching hunter. Eileen weaved her way through the bullet with ease and ripped through the morphed appendage, dodging once more as the beast swiped at her with the same appendage.

"Are you not going to help her?" Jaune asked her apprentice.

The apprentice shook their head and in a masculine voice, spoke for the first time, "If she says she's got it. She's got it."

The beast attempted to slice up the hunter, but she moved past the slow attack with minimum effort and cut the armpit of the limb. She dashed past behind the beast and shot its head three times, disorienting the Dark Beast.

She dashed in, tricking her dagger and slicing the leg of the beast, the sound of breaking bones echoing throughout the tomb as the beast was forced to kneel.

"This is the end." Eileen muttered under her breathe.

She swiped at the Dark Beast's neck to break it, but little did she know. Her final attack was never going to make it.

The Dark Beast shot up and opened the bone mask's jaw and bit into the hunter's arm.

"What-?!"

The beast's body began to release sparks of blue which danced through whatever fur was revealed through its torn clothing, its body now emitting a bright blue light around its ribcage area. The beast glared through Eileen's goggles and into her eyes, the blue sparks revealing soulless eyes clouded in blood red behind the bone mask that its face was attached to.

The apprentice shot towards the beast immediately, but he was too late as Eileen let out an ear- piercing scream, blue electricity thrashing through her body as the Dark Beast itself bit harder into her arm to prevent her from breaking free.

"No!" The apprentice yelled, pulling back his daggers, intending to strike down the beast.

The Dark Beast lets go of its bite on Eileen and grips her by the head with its saw cleaver arm. It placed its gun arm against her ahead threatening to shoot the hunter.

'Dammit, I need to do something, otherwise…' Jaune looked to the archway to find Violet peaking from behind the wall once again, 'I don't even have a weapon… Fuck it! Screw this!'

The apprentice took a stance with his dual blades, eying the beast like a hawk. The tension between the two lengthens as the two adversaries stared each other down.

The apprentice shifts his leg, prepping to rush the beast.

"GAAAHHH!"

Eileen lets out another scream as the beast gives her another shock treatment. It raised her up high, as if telling the apprentice, "Make another move and she's getting something worse".

They continued their stare off for a minute or two, until the beast took its step towards the apprentice. The apprentice readied his blades as it slowly began to make its way towards him, gun pointed at the still hunter raised in the air.

The beast was now five steps away, the apprentice can lash out at the beast right now and free his master from it, but he didn't. Uncertainty kept him rooted in his place and he made no actions as the beast got closer, two steps away from him, blue sparks flinging off its fur, threatening to shock the old hunter.

*CRACK*

The Dark Beast fell back, its frail bones crackling about as it impacted the soil of the tomb. It's grip on Eileen was lost and she fell to the ground next to the apprentice.

"Get her away from him, quickly!" Jaune shouted back at the apprentice.

He was now armed with his saw cleaver, which still had blood and grey decaying matter covering half of the cleaver.

"H-How did you-"

"Hurry!" Jaune cut off the apprentice.

A bullet flew past his head and Jaune trained his eyes on the beast once more.

"I… I'll be back." The apprentice said as he began to carry Eileen away.

Bones crackling once more, the Dark Beast rose from the ground, its body rising almost as if gravity had no effect on its body.

The Dark Beast took a long look at Jaune, its eyes hidden behind the darkness of the bone mask piercing into his very being. It began to shake the longer it looked at him and gurgling can be heard as the shaking continued.

'Shit!'

Jaune shot towards the beast, his cleaver drawn back as he tried to end whatever the beast is doing.

"KKKKGRRRUAUAAAAAHHHH!"

Jaune struck the beast as it releases an unnatural high-pitched scream, its fur stood up, now coursing with violent sparks of blue lightning.

Jaune backstepped away from the beast but pain shot through his abdomen as he touched the ground.

'W-when did it hit me?' Jaune thought looking at the wound.

Another scream came from the Dark Beast and Jaune began to dash away from the skeletal monstrosity.

However, the beast appeared in front of him in a blink of an eye and Jaune was slashed by the beast's saw cleaver.

Injecting himself with a vial of blood, Jaune made to strike the beast, but it simply moved past the attack. Grunting in pain, Jaune takes another vial and assumes the offensive once again.

The Thundering Dark Beast and he danced in the cratered tomb that can barely be called a tomb anymore, the gravestones cracking and tearing as Jaune dodges each of the beast's attacks.

The beast raises its saw cleaver to slice up the young hunter and Jaune dashes in with his own cleaver pulled back, simultaneously dodging the attack. Or so he thought.

Jaune fell as pressured quickly built up on his toes and he looked down to find his foot being pinned by the boot of the Dark Beast.

"GAH!"

His chest burned as the Dark Beast dragged its saw cleaver through his chest, the bones in his body poking from beneath his ripped flesh. His knees felt cold as the beast shot the bones in his legs.

The Dark Beast raises its saw cleaver as it turns to make its way towards the tomb's archway, but it was stopped when Jaune grabbed its bony hand, and he held onto to it with all his strength.

"I'm. Not. Letting. Go." He grunts through the pain in his arms as electricity slowly began to burn through his gloves.

Jaune lets out a scream as the Dark Beast's electricity coursed through his whole body. He lets out another scream when his grip doesn't weaken.

No matter what. He won't let go. Not when Violet is in danger.

"AHHHHHHH!"

It burns. The electricity.

He felt his hair stood up as the blue lights of death continued to shock him. His blood feels like it would burst out of his skin at any given moment and his cheeks and skin jittered as the shock treatment continued.

His screaming faded and his hearing disappears, the shock treatment never stopping. His vision whitens and his sense of smell slowly vanishes like his hearing.

The pain suddenly stops and Jaune looks up to see what had happened. Though his blurry vision did not help.

"Thanks for the wait."

Eileen's… apprentice?

"Get up."

His body begins to feel light and rejuvenated as he said those words and he glanced at his ripped chest to find it fully healed.

"We have a beast to slay." The apprentice says, pulling Jaune up from the ground.

His vision begins to clear, and he grabs his saw cleaver.

"T-thanks for the help."

"You can thank me when we kill this-!"

A bullet shining with blue impacts the apprentice, cutting him off.

The Dark Beast shot towards them with blinding speeds and swung its cleaver at them, lighting arching and trailing the cleaver. The two was able to dodge past the attack and the apprentice quickly took action.

Four knives sunk into the torn yellow clothing, and a fifth aimed at hole in the bone mask. The beast shrugged off the knives and found its balance.

The beast's body flashed with blue light, and it takes a step forward, preparing to charge. As it began to move, the beast's movements halted, and it stumbled forwards.

"What's happening?" Jaune asked as he watched the beast falter slightly.

"Poisoned knives." The apprentice answered, "Although those were the last ones I have."

The Dark Beast lets out another high-pitched as electricity was discharged from its body and it charges at them.

The movement was slow, not unlike the movements of the beast-like huntsman he encountered throughout Yharnam. The duo dodged the attack with ease and the beast crashed into some gravestones.

'It must be the poison.' Jaune thought.

"Now's the chance!" The apprentice shouted.

Jaune nodded and rushed at the beast laying within the debris of gravestones and swung his cleaver down to deliver the final blow.

What Jaune did not expect though, was for his saw cleaver to break.

"Wha-!"

The Dark Beast had crushed his weapon, shattering it into a million pieces with the jaws of its bone mask.

A shadow loomed over Jaune and the Dark Beast. Jaune looked up to find the apprentice high in the air with his daggers drawn back. Electricity gathered within the rib cage of the beast as this happens.

Shit.

The duo screamed as they received another shock treatment from the beast.

Jaune was able to withstand the electrical discharge, but his body was slow, almost unresponsive due to how powerful it was. For the apprentice however, it was like having a branding iron stuck to your skin except it was all over your body.

The duo fell onto the soil of the tomb, the apprentice's weapons clanging as they fell.

The Beast rose up from the debris, stumbling and faltering slightly. It reached downwards and grabbed the apprentice by his face and raised him like a hanged squirrel.

"No…" Jaune moaned as he began to crawl towards the dropped weapon of the apprentice.

The beast pulled back its saw cleaver.

"No!" He grunted.

He was so close; he was almost there.

The beast swipes at the disabled hunter's neck.

"Grandpa, stop!"

The cleaver stopped, a few mere inches away from the apprentice's neck.

"V-Vio…let?" It gurgled.

*CRACK*

The Dark Beast's body fell to the floor and Jaune himself did the same, his back impacting a gravestone, dropping the apprentice's dagger.

It was over.

"Thank… you…" The bone masked beast muttered.

PREY SLAUGHTERED

~~AMONGST US~~

Location: Cathedral ward

Jaune's eyes opened, revealing unto him a world of grey and blue. There was a smell of incense and his back felt cold.

'Where… am I?'

"Jaune?"

A tiny voice came from his left and he turned to find…

"Violet?" He moans in a tired voice.

Yes, it was indeed Violet. She laid against his body, her only arm gripping his own.

"Looks like someone's awake."

Jaune looked up to find Eileen leaning against a wall. Her posture seemingly relaxed just like he had first met her outside the chapel.

"Where am I?" He asked the old crow.

"The chapel. I brought you here when I found you and my apprentice unconscious." She answered, "This little fellow helped look after you." She said, looking at the chapel dweller who waved at him, a dumb grin plastered on its face.

"Oh."

He felt his coat tighten, and he looked back to Violet to find her gripping his clothing a little more tightly. She moved closer to him, looking at Eileen before back at the chapel floor.

"Ah." Eileen hummed, "Heh. I'll leave you two for your reunion then." She chuckled before making her way out of the chapel and back to the place Jaune had first met her.

…

…

Jaune glanced at Violet, catching her watching him. She quickly turned away and stared off in the direction Eileen left.

"Hey, Vio-"

"Jau-"

They both immediately kept silent and looked away from each other.

…

…

What was he to say? How are you alive? Why are you here? You like jazz?!

He had thought she had died and had given up on her after finding her missing arm in the sewer with that… that pig. He didn't think she'd still be alive right now, so how can he find anything to say?

'Dammit, Jaune…' He berated.

In the end, he decided he should just get to the point, the one question that has been nagging him.

…

…

"Hey, Violet?" He began slowly.

"Y-yes?"

"Why did you… why did you leave your home?"

…

…

"I… thought you had died, Jaune." She answered sombrely.

"W-what?"

"When I decided that it was time for me leave my house, when I was ready to come to the chapel here, and I came out." She began to sniff, "I-I found you laying against the fence, without a single hint of moving."

She looked up, tears threatening to break out.

"I thought you were dead, Jaune." She whimpered, "You didn't respond to anything I said and worst of all… you weren't breathing. You just laid there like you had never been alive in the first place, like a big fake human doll."

…

All this time… she had thought that he had died?

"That's why I left." She said, tears flowing from her eyes, "I thought that I had no one left for me. And then I remembered all the times you've tried to help me and… and… I wanted to honor your memory in some way. So, I left for the chapel so that I can honor mum, dad and… you."

All this time… all this time she did it for… him?

"I'm sorry." Jaune whimpered, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry."

He hugged the girl keeping her close. His face was a bit wet, and his mask was stained for some reason. But he didn't care.

"I'm sorry for everything, I'm sorry." He cried pathetically, "I'm sorry for killing your father, I'm sorry I couldn't save your mum. I'm sorry I couldn't help you… I'm… I'm sorry."

The girl hugged him back and seemingly bawled into his dirtied clothing.

"I... forgive you…" she whispered.

~~AMOGNST US~~

Location: Tomb of Oedon

"Leaving already?"

Jaune turned to find Eileen's apprentice sitting atop a leafless tree, staring down at him as he neared the lamp in the tomb.

"Are you not going to stay with her?" The apprentice asks.

Jaune didn't answer and instead walked down the broken stairs of the tomb.

"She's forgiven you, no?"

"She has." Jaune answered, laying against the large tombstone in the middle of the tomb, "I just didn't want to disturb her in her sleep."

"I… see."

"I'll leave you to yourself then." He said as he jumped from the tree.

The apprentice made to go up the stairs.

"Hey. Before you go." Jaune called, "I didn't get to catch your name."

"Oh right." The apprentice chuckled, "My name is…"

He reached for his mask and pulled it off, revealing lush, raven hair tipped with pink. Pink eyes stared back at him as the apprentice answered.

"Lie. Lie Ren."

AN: And Jaune awakens, learning the name of his new companion. I've hinted this motherfucker ever since the interlude I have written and that has been the only fucking hint I've given in this whole story. WAIT! That's a lie, another hint is in the chapter titles. Although 'Solace Iron Flower' can have two different aspects in terms of meanings. One is mainly to represent Lie Ren, meanwhile the other has three meanings to them based on each word. 'Solace' is supposed to be Jaune trying to overcome his trauma and find peace, 'Iron' to represent Violet surviving in the harsh world of Yharnam and 'Flower' obviosly representing Ren.

Anyways, I am tired and I am broken and I have a fucking mock interview in... about 11 hours. See ya next Sunday, although for some of you it may either be Saturday or Monday.

Also I went back to add in an extra tidbit for chapter...3? When Jaune killed Gascoigne. I forgot to add 'PREY SLAUGHTERED' and went back to add it in.

Anyways cya, sleep time baby!

Edit: I'm one of the first ones to start the mock interview! WOO! Kill me. Jokes. Don't.