I've been thinking of ways I can continue to make this even slightly a bit more interesting and I feel like I probably got just the thing. GeralRrex to answer your question about pyrrha's weapon for her first draft I only have one thing to say and that's "Idk". I never saw if she had a different weapon from her original so I just kept it the same as the one she got in the TV show.
This was probably the worst thing jaune could think would happen and even worse there's wasn't a thing he could do about it at the moment. Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled before taking a step toward his teammate. Despite how much of a grudge Nora had against him the worry for her mistress far outweighed her own anger.
Jaune could see it in the way her hands clenched and her body trembled with anger at not being able to go to Vernals side. The blonde knew that his friend must have done something good to gain such loyalty from Nora and Ren that they'd feel this worried about her. "Tell me Nora, if you had to choose between me and vernal who would you save" jaunes asked with a serious expression.
Nora glared up at him "obviously I'd choose mistress vernal a hundred times over you". Jaune nodded "if that's the case then unfortunately I can't have either you or Ren working with me". The moment those words left his mouth he knew how she would react. Nora grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and yanked him towards her "and why the hell can't you" she screamed at him furiously.
Jaunes hand took hold of Nora's left wrist and began to gently pry it off "how about you hear me out first before you wring my neck"? The red head was reluctant at first but managed to calm herself enough to see reason. Jaune massaged the back of his neck as he spoke "how much do you know about master Alec"?
"Not much, just that he's the one who trained you, cinder and mistress vernal".
Jaune nodded to her words "well your not wrong for one but hasn't vernal ever told you anything more? Like what kinda of person he was as a trainer or what we had to do as a part of his training regiment"? Nora shook her head "Vernal doesn't like to speak of her training, in fact most of her time under Alec's tutelage is a big mystery except that you were there with cinder for most of it".
Jaune shrugged his shoulders "I should've expected as much seeing as all the crap we went through would definitely be considered as child endangerment. Anyways the reason I brought this up is because Alec is like cinder but multiple that by fifty...or maybe a hundred now. Just imagine cinder with children of her own and you kinda get a idea of what our childhood was like".
Nora silently thought about it before her face scrunched up in displeasure. The blonde chuckled lightly "now that you get an idea of what our master is like from all that I'll explain why we can't work together". Jaune face turned serious "Alec will go to any length to win even if it means resorting to torture".
The red head looked shocked "surely he wouldn't? Mistress vernal hasn't even done anything yet and you think he'll just torture her for no good reason"? Jaune nodded "knowing Alec he'll want to remove anyone who he might believe would choose me over him. There's also the fact that your my teammate here in Beacon which puts you in the unique situation to keep an eye on me at all times".
The blonde sighed deeply as he passed his hand through his hair "you said it yourself that you'd choose vernal over me and I'm sure Alec will use that to his full advantage". Nora gritted her teeth "just for our corporations he'd hurt her so easily"?! Jaune tapped his forehead "now that we know what he could do with vernal we just have to use that information to the best of our ability".
Nora watched her team leader begin to pace back and forth once more as he whispered to himself. She wanted to ask if there was anyway she could help but if what jaune said was true he wouldn't tell her. The blonde stopped pacing at the sound of a scroll going off.
Nora reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll before looking at the caller ID only to see an unknown caller. She clicked the answer icon and held her scroll to her ear "hello"? A deep voice she knew all too well since the man on the line was exactly the one she and jaune had been talking about earlier. "Nora I'm glad you picked up so quickly, there has been a new development that I could use you and Ren for" Alec answered.
Nora's eyes looked up towards the blonde who watched her like a hawk "master Alec is there something I can help you with" she asked nervously. The line was quite for a short time before a chuckle could be heard "it looks like I was too late in getting your cooperation before you reached jaune...put him on". The demand had her moving over to jaune before holding the scroll out for him to take.
Jaune took the scroll from the red head and placed it to his ear "it's been awhile Alec".
"I am still your master brat that's unless you forgot all of a sudden".
"You kinda lost my respect when you decide to aim for my life for no reason or did you forget that" the blonde retorted to his former master. There was a low grunt that came from Alec's side "I suppose we can skip the pleasantries and get to the meat of this then. In two days time I'll arrive in vale, on that day your going to surrender yourself to me without a fuss".
The demand caused a scowl to spread over jaunes face "and why the hell would I just willingly throw myself to my executioner"?! Jaune could practically imagine the smile on his former masters face as he spoke "because if you don't I'll have your precious vernal take your place at the end of my blade". The blonde gritted his teeth hard enough that he was sure his gums were close to bleeding.
The aura around jaunes body started to shimmer as his anger rose to new heights "if your hurt her I swear I'll rip your heart out myself"! Nora took a step back from fear she didn't know she could feel from her team leader. Unlike her, Alec didn't seem as affected by jaunes threat "don't make promises you can't keep boy".
"You said in two days you'll be here right? So tell me what you want me to do within those two days cause I know you don't just want me sitting around waiting" the blonde asked. "What I want is for you to say your goodbyes to your friends and make peace with what time you have left" Alec responded. Jaune looked confused but Alec spoke up before jaune could "think of this time as my farewell gift to my brightest student and jaune I'll know if your contact your friends in the underground".
The blondes hand tightened around the scroll "is that all you wanted"? There was a beeping sound that came from Nora's scroll that had jaune pulling his face away. The video icon blinked and jaune hesitated in answering for a brief second but when he did a separate video screen popped up as the video connected to another scroll. The screen flickered before cinders face appeared before him "jaune" she spoke with a large smile on her face.
"Show him" Alec commanded and the screen from cinders camera swung around to show a person chained to a wall with tore clothes and blood staining their shirt. The camera moved closer and cinders hand reached out and yanked the persons hair up to reveal vernals face covered in bruises and cuts from obvious signs of beatings. Jaunes breath hitched and his nails dug into the palm of his free hand.
The only eye that wasn't swollen over opened and vernal saw his face as cinder held the camera in front of her. "Jaune" her voice came out as a pained whisper but it was just loud enough for him to hear. "Do it" Alec commanded and cinder pushed her palm against vernals shoulder. The brunette felt her skin begin to burn under cinders hand and without any aura to blunt the pain she let out a pained cry that could cause nightmares to even monsters like the Grimm.
"STOP IT"! Jaune scream at the screen hoping his words alone would be enough to stop the scene before him. Alec let the scene play out for another second before he ordered cinder to stop "understand jaune that this is my proof to you if you think I would hesitate in doing what I believe is necessary".
Jaune didn't even get to answer when both calls ended and he was left staring at a blank screen. When the screaming started Nora had covered both of her ears and tried to block out the noise as best she could. When it was over she walked over to her team leader and slowly slipped the scroll from jaunes hand as he stared into a space that had nothing for him.
Nora could only imagine the thoughts going through her leaders mind right now but in the end even she knew he now had no one to help him. In the end Nora chose to not say anything but instead excused herself from the room to leave jaune with his thoughts.
The blonde stood in the same spot for the longest time trying to think of a way to turn this situation around but each time he tried he realized that without junior or his men there wasn't even a chance of getting out alive. He couldn't do anything and just him and Blake trying to get vernal alone wasn't even a possibility because Blake didn't even know the truth of the situation. The blonde had hoped he would never have to tell her the truth but even if he did and she accepted him they were still just two people verses Salems best.
Was that it then? Was there really nothing he could do? Jaune leaned his back against the wall before sliding down to the floor. In a desperate attempt he pulled out his scroll and tried to call Salem only for there to be no answer.
His scroll dropped to the floor before a laughter that bordered on hysteria tore from his lips.
That was it then, there was nothing left. After all his planning and ideas all it took was one hostage to destroy everything he built in one go. It wasn't like he could just forsake vernal and let her die since he never let something like this happen in the past. Even if by some chance he could let her die he doubted he'd be able to handle it mentally if at all.
What could he do? Who could he trust? He didn't know how long he sat there but it felt like hours and after awhile he stood up and left back to his dorm room for some much needed rest.
Honestly I wasn't planning to post anything until next week but after writing this I felt like this could be my Thanksgiving present to my readers. I hope you ladies and gentlemen have a wonderful Thanksgiving from yours truly!
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