Fire everywhere, the smell of charred flesh thick in his nose.
The cold fear gripped him even as the fire burned him.
He wanted to cry out for someone, anyone, but smoke clogged his airway.
"For the White-Fang" The voice spoke again and again.
He was afraid; the words sent chills up his spine.
His father gripped his shoulders, finger's digging into his flesh.
"We love you Jaune… Be strong."
Jaune's eyes snapped open and he began coughing heavily, trying to expel the smoke from his lungs. It took him a few moments to realize there was no smoke. Confused, he took in his surroundings slowly.
He found himself lying in a small bed pushed into the corner of a white, metallic room. The wall he was facing had a large black window he couldn't see through while a door lacking any handle was on the wall next to it. Besides the bed he laid on, the room was completely bare.
He moved to rub his eyes only to flinch in surprise. His hands were so pale! And he could see his veins clearly? Why were they black?!
"What…?" he was confused for only a second before a feeling he was quickly becoming familiar with gripped him.
What was happening to him? His memories were fuzzy at best, yet he remembered and recognized the feeling growing within him, even as he felt his breath become more and more shallow.
Calm down Jaune, now isn't the time to panic. Despite the voice's advice, Jaune did not calm down. How was he not supposed to panic?! He could feel something inside his head! As if an insect had climbed into his ear while he slept and burrowed into his brain.
"What? What does that even mean!? I think it's the perfect time to panic!" Jaune yelled back into the air, shivering heavily at the blatantly creepy feeling the voice brought.
Why did his own voice sound just like it?
"W-what did you do to me?" he touched his throat, then his head, all the while his fear only grew worse. What happened? His head was pounding, why couldn't he remember? He knew his name was Jaune. but the voice said that already… What was his last name…?
I made you strong; So much stronger than you were. Isn't that what you wanted? To be strong enough to hunt down the White-Fang? To make them pay for what they did to you. What they did to us. The voice said something that made his skull ache. The White-fang? They hurt him didn't they? They stole his family.
No, that wasn't right. They weren't taken.
They were killed…
The thought brought a rush of emotion too powerful to grasp. Anger, hate, pain, and sadness, all swirled around his mind and body, forcing his eyes closed while he tried to understand what was happening. What had the voice said? To make them pay? To make them hurt like he had…?
"No! I-I don't want to hurt people…" Even to himself the words sounded unsure, hollow. He could feel anger and rage boil over at the mention of the "White-Fang" and he felt justified in wanting them gone, but dead? Why did that feel so wrong? "How do you even know about that?" his voice came out barely above a whisper. "I can barely remember…"
I can see your memories Jaune, I can see your life as if I lived it myself, it's how I learned to speak. It explained, Humans are truly an odd type, it's almost like your parents actively encouraged weakness. The voice continued as if he was talking about the weather being a bit worse than expected.
You might still be a little frail, but I suppose that can be changed easily enough. At least your aura is of superior quality.
"My aura? What d- wait, you remember?! why don't I?" Envy laced his voice. Why couldn't he remember? Why did his head hurt whenever he tried to think about his family? He could remember crying for countless hours over them but... Anything before then felt fuzzy, unclear. Whenever he tried to focus on it his ears would start ringing to the point where he was sure he would go deaf.
You seem confused. I suppose this is a bit... well, confusing. I wish I could explain it better but I'm afraid I only know what you know. or knew I suppose, what were you saying about not remembering? The voice sounded almost as muddled as he felt.
He let out a groan that sounded more like a growl with his new voice. "It's not important…" Of course it was important, but it hurt so much to think about… He couldn't help but feel that maybe he didn't need to remember everything right there and then.
"What should I call you anyway? Do you have a name? Do you know where we are? Or why?" He asked curiously, firing off questions whenever the voice hesitated to speak.
Sure it felt a bit strange talking to the air like he was, but at least it was something to talk to, something to distract him. With nothing else in the blank white room, Jaune found it difficult to keep from freaking out. This place made his stomach flip.
Well I was born yesterday with your memories so… You're with some guy named Jacques, he said he would make you stronger but I think you already remember that much. I don't know much else about what's happening now, though. the answers made him feel a bit stupid for asking but at least the voice didn't sound angry or annoyed. It only sounded… confused? Jaune wasn't sure why, but that made him feel better.
Maybe you should ask the two people behind that glass, they seem pretty calm. The voice brought his attention back again and his eyes snapped to the one-way glass.
"I-I can't see them." his voice quivered slightly. Who was watching him? Why weren't they telling him anything? Questions swirled around his mind and the sick feeling twisting in his gut got worse. Was it their fault he couldn't remember?
Right, you're still mostly human. Here, let me see if I can… it trailed off in his head, as if distracted. A tingling sensation spreading in his ears almost made him giggle with how it tickled, but it was gone a moment later. Huh, that was easy. I wonder what else I can do up here..?
He was about to ask what it was talking about when a new voice drew his attention. "-our presence, possibly due to the Grimm's uncanny ability to sense humans. I believe this is evidence tha-" The man was cut off by something, before a second voice made itself heard.
" ...Can you... hear me Jaune?" The second voice asked and Jaune nodded slowly, staring wide eyed at the glass. He didn't understand how he could suddenly hear them or why they were behind the window to begin with. Was he in trouble?
"Who are you?" Jaune asked steadily, a sudden calm overtaking his senses. That felt a little strange, his heart was hammering away a second ago, why did it slow so suddenly?
It appears I have a bit more influence than I first thought. the voice sounded pleased with itself. I can slow your heart and keep you physically calm. I imagine it's a limited effect, but it could prove useful.
"huh…?" What did it mean "influence"? Wasn't that control? Could it control him? Don't let it bother you Jaune, you'll know if I do anything. I believe that man is trying to get your attention, though. Oh yeah, he should probably be paying a bit more attention.
"-could hear me a moment ago, why is he refusing to respond?" Jacques sounded confused, which was understandable, Jaune thought, considering he probably couldn't hear the voice speaking in his head.
"Sorry, I was a little distracted." His voice made him sound so much older, it almost made him giddy to think about, but the feeling was quickly squashed and replaced with a quiet peace.
He wasn't sure how he felt about something controlling his feelings like that, but it at least kept him from being too scared to speak. He would have to worry about the rest later.
"Where am I?" he felt his hands shake as his nerves came back. What if he asked the wrong question and angered someone? How would he be punished if he did make someone angry?
Again the feeling was torn away. The question made sense, he had every right to know where he was.
His calm gaze returned to the glass
\-/
Not even Jacques Schnee, head of the SDC and the Schnee family, could hide his shock; staring slack jawed at the boy as he asked such a simple question.
The question wasn't what blindsided both men, that could at least be understood. Nobody wanted to be trapped somewhere unknown. No, what really shocked the pair to silence wasn't such an obvious question.
It was how Jaune's expression kept changing before their eyes. Shifting between calm and fearful, as if he couldn't decide what he was feeling. Or was something trying to block out his emotions?
One moment he would start to smile or fidget nervously in some way. Then it would suddenly disappear, replaced with a neutral, almost surreal calm. The deeply inhuman voice only further disturbed the already tainted scene.
Jacques cleared his throat, reigning in the unease he felt before answering. "You are in my home." A vague answer was always preferred, but not as important as avoiding saying anything that could be taken as a threat.
"I brought you here to make you strong, just like you wanted." Shift the blame; make the boy think he chose what happened to him. Jacques couldn't have the blame fall on him after all. If the child lost control the glass should protect them, but he didn't get to where he was relying on a single plan.
"Do you remember?" He asked cautiously and for a moment the boy frowned, looking like he might break down in tears, but that expression fell away just like the others.
"I don't. What did you put inside me?" To Jacques' surprise, Jaune didn't sound angry or upset, just curious. How interesting…
Jacques turned to Franklin but the man shook his head quickly, unwilling to speak while his subject could hear him. Was he truly so afraid? Could he really blame the man? Neither of them were strangers to what human experimentation could create, but all their research pointed to the same thing.
Grimm did not have true sentience. They could be intelligent, sure, but in the end they were driven wholly by instinct.
But what they were seeing told a different story. This could easily be seen as evidence of an unknown form of Grimm actively controlling a human child. Was it possible that the Grimm has taken full control of the boy? If that were the case then the sudden changes in expression, and presumably emotion, could be signs of the boy resisting. That was only if the Grimm was actually in control, a fact Jacques was unsure how to prove. The child might simply have suffered a mental break, the stress was certainly enough to cause such damage.
"It was a special type of chemical," Jacques finally answered, "Meant to bond with you. It was designed to make you stronger." A simple story, one close enough to the truth without giving anything away.
"Are you stronger?" A question for a question seemed fair. Considering he was telling the boy nothing of any real substance, he felt confident in continuing their impromptu interrogation.
Jaune looked thoughtful, staring off into nothing before suddenly raising his hand and looking at it with a curious expression that didn't fade like before.
Jacques stared in silence, willing himself not to react when a bone white liquid, broken up by streaks of black, began pooling in Jaune's uplifted hand. The liquid spread, slowly at first but it didn't take long to cover the boy's entire arm.
"Hmm…" Jaune hummed thoughtfully, "I don't know… Maybe sharp?" He mumbled. The strange liquid reacted immediately, sharpening at the tips of the boy's fingers before the black lines receded. What was left was a solid, gauntlet-like claw.
Jacques, much as he would deny it, nearly jumped when Franklin stumbled off his seat, the researcher's features paling by the second. Franklin had never shown such a reaction before. Then again, their test subjects had never got ahold of a proper weapon before.
Now armed, Franklin clearly felt the risk of the subject breaching security was too high.
Jacques scowled at the frightened researcher, was this really the best money could buy? Overjoyed to play god yet terrified of their own results.
Truly pathetic. He thought before turning his attention back to the boy.
Though he would have denied it, he nearly followed Franklin's example upon seeing the child all but pressed up against the glass
The boy sniffed gingerly at the tempered material. "I smell something…" He paused as a guttural groan escaped his throat "good…"
Jacques reacted immediately, grabbing the frightened man roughly by the arm and dragging him to the exit. Once the door was opened he all but threw the man out of the observation room.
"Don't come back until you can get a hold of yourself." Jacques felt nothing but contempt, looking down at the man who acted as a whimpering child might. He'd best be grateful to end up with just a pay-cut for such a display.
When Jacques turned back around, Jaune was tapping at the glass with his clawed hand. Though, it didn't look like he was putting any effort into it. "Mr. Schnee. Can you let me out...?" Despite his disgust with Franklin, and possibly even fear of Jaune, he kept his voice steady as he answered.
"I don't think that is a good idea Jaune, you need to rest" And I need to reinforce my security. Jacque thought to himself. He was no fool, but even he didn't expect the "Virus" to be this effective. He needed time to prepare, to readjust.
Jaune frowned at the statement but didn't say anything, only stepping back from the glass. A second later the bone-like material covering his arm liquified again and retreated back into his palm. Silently, he turned and trudged to the bed. Then, with a dramatic sigh, he flopped onto the fabric, looking every bit the sulking child one might expect from someone so young.
Jacque felt a sense of dejavu briefly overcome him. For a moment, he could swear the scene looked exactly like something Whitley would have done…
Strange. he noted while walking out of the room, trusting the monitoring equipment to warn him if anything happened.
He was busy enough before all this had happened, the further experimentation this new Grimm would require only promised to increase the workload. He would need to find more people to test on soon, they still had plenty of material to work with, and one child does not make a very "Elite Force".
As he walked he let his mind wander around the possibilities this new creation brought. Even with the Grimm inside him, showing an obvious influence, the boy still acted like a child with seemingly little to no effort. He felt that was good counter-evidence to the grimm being in control.
Perhaps a full grown adult would show better results. Being fully matured should make it easier for the person to remain fully aware and cognizant of their faculties. Hopefully they'd be able to negate the effect Franklin's fear had, maybe with some conditioning? Would that even be possible? Conditioning wasn't something that affected the grimm, he had already tried during Project Grimm Guardian's early days.
That begged the question, was Jaune part Grimm now? Or did he just have it living inside him? Was it possible he was the first person to make a hybrid of human and Grimm? It had never been documented before so it might as well have been.
The thought almost made him laugh. If this venture turned out to be successful, it would be another trophy to show the world. Another accomplishment for the glorious Schnee name.
Perfect.
\~/
Hope you all enjoyed! I gotta admit, feels nice to see how much attention my story is already getting despite being a rewrite with such a low word count (not sure what counts as a lot to some people but I'm happy!) If ya noticed anything worth commenting on please don't hesitate to let me know! Even if I wont change the story to the point I've already written, I still hope to learn from any mistakes or other things that simply dont land too well.
Can't wait to see ya next chapter, and I wish you all a good day/night!
