\~/

Come on Jaune, you said you wanted to be let out right? The voice didn't waste time after Jacques had left, taking a more energetic tone as it spoke. Jaune couldn't blame it. Despite Jacques' suggestion, he didn't feel even slightly tired. In fact he couldn't quite stop fidgeting about, his own energy seemingly increasing to match the voice in his head.

"Well..." He hesitated, Jacques didn't sound like he wanted to let him out. "You don't think he'll get angry?" He asked quietly.

He said that you needed rest. Now that I've replaced your need for stamina, you no longer need rest. The voice stated matter-of-factly, reminding him of Jacques' exact wording.

"I guess…" He trailed off, sounding as unsure as he felt inside. Jacques was helping him, wasn't he? It didn't feel right to cause trouble for someone who helped.

Would it make you feel better if I held your hand? The voice asked, triggering a memory of a blonde woman holding her hand out for him to take, easing the fear he felt almost immediately. The image made him think the idea had merit, but last he checked, a disembodied voice couldn't hold much of anything.

As if in response, the black&white liquid the Grimm had used earlier started dripping from his palm, coalescing on the floor at a steady pace. It took some time for the liquid to stop flowing and solidify in a proper shape. When it did, the final product that stood in front of him brought a joy-filled smile to his face.

The "doll", for lack of a better word, looked exactly like him, but less than half his weight and height. The grimm even copied the red eyes and darkened veins. Though, the veins were much more noticeable on the doll and seemed to spread further than jaune's did, wrapping all around its whole body like a web of tar.

"That is so cool! You look just like me!" He failed to keep the excitement from his voice, a thought coming into his mind suddenly. "We can play something! What should we do…? arrg!" He exclaimed with irritation. His memories were still so fuzzy, it frustrated him that he couldn't even remember what he used to play with his friends.

'Wait.' Jaune paused. He had friends at some point… right?

Don't get ahead of yourself. The voice responded inside Jaune's head as the doll kept ahold of his hand. You wanted to be let out right? Jaune gave a nod, following the doll to the door.

"Any idea how to open it?" Jaune asked while sliding a hand over the flat surface. The slim grooves shaped like a rectangle were the only sign a door was there at all.

The voice didn't respond, instead the doll moved forward and raised a hand to the door. After a few moments of silence, the doll's hand began to soften and morph. The individual fingers shivered before deflating, making them so flat one could lose sight of them at the wrong angle.

It proceeded to slip the slim limbs into the crack and push its way through. Jaune couldn't see the doll's fingers come out the other side, groping around for anything that might open the door.

Less than a minute later a faint buzz could be heard before the door slid open with a loud hiss. Jaune clapped his hands in delight but the doll stopped him. It placed a hand over his while pulling its other hand to its lips in a "shushing" gesture. Try to be quieter Jaune, I can sense people around. The voice warned.

"But Jacque said this was his house, right? They're probably just his family or something." The voice didn't respond right away, unable to fault the logic as it loosened its grip, letting him poke his head out of the room.

He found himself at the end of a hallway lined with doorways. Above each door sat a sign with one of two words on it. "Observation" was written on half of them, including the door closest to his. Did that lead behind the glass window in his room? It would make sense if that window was for "observing things".

"Danger" was written on every other door and, assuming the pattern held, his own door would have had that above it. Was he considered dangerous? Why? Was it the voice in his head? Or was it something he'd done before all this…? The memories were still fuzzy, but what could he have possibly done?

Closer to the start of the hall he noticed a door that stuck out to him, different from all the others; it didn't have a pair. It was instead marked "Storage" and had a keypad to get in rather than a single button.

This looks nothing like what you used to call home. Jaune nodded to the voice absentmindedly "Doesn't feel very safe either…" He muttered while slowly approaching the door opposite to his that read "Danger". Next to the door was a button Jaune assumed would open it. Every room had one, but only the "danger" rooms had a protective covering over them.

He wondered what could be inside it that made them label the door as dangerous? Was it another person like him? Would they know why a voice was speaking in his head? He reached forward, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Whitley?" A confused voice made Jaune whirl around, forcing his heart to his throat while the doll jumped in front of him defensively. I'm in trouble. was the first thought that came to mind. "I-I'm sorry!" he called out reflexively, hands raised in front of him.

The man halted his advance the moment Jaune spoke, a look of panic crossing over his face before he raised the metallic, pipe shaped object in his hand.

What's in his han- The voice in his head paused at the same time that Jaune froze. What is that smell? A powerful scent that all but killed any thought in his mind. The doll was withdrawn without either meaning to, at a speed that might have been painful, had he been able to feel anything at all.

"That smell again..." It sent shivers down their spine, neither could resist it, that sickeningly sweet smell that made the world fall away. Nothing else mattered, not the burning in his veins or the storm in his skull. All that mattered was finding the succulent morsel that smelled so... Good.

"Where..." They dragged the word out, sniffing at the air.

\-/

The guard now stood frozen in place, wondering how he could have thought this creature was Whitley. Even if the voices in his headpiece weren't screaming the truth at him, the black&white liquid being sucked into the thing's arms made it clear this was not a curious child. It forced him to grip his rifle so hard that his knuckles turned white, calling on whatever training he could to keep from panicking.

"L-listen kid," He failed to keep his voice steady, "Just get back into your cage a-and I'll pretend I didn't see anything." He didn't know what Jacques was working on down here, but the higher ups yelling in his earpiece made it clear this creature was to be contained, not destroyed. Not that he felt particularly confident in his rifle's ability to kill the mockery of a child standing in front of him.

Instead of getting into his cell, the thing twitched before looking straight through his skull. Its blood red eyes were wide as it crouched down and brought that strange black&white liquid back around its hands.

It made him take a step back. His trigger finger twitched as the liquid hardened into claws around the things fingers.

"I'm warning you! This is your last chance!" He tried again, hoping desperately the boy- the monster- would understand and back off.

\-/

"It must be coming from..." He couldn't help himself, it was too much to resist, every breath in was like a fresh mouthful of ambrosia. And it was becoming increasingly obvious where it was coming from.

"you!" A horrible screeching sound echoed through the halls as Jaune's claws tore into the metallic floor for leverage. Then he lunged forward, throwing himself like a torpedo, claws outstretched, seeking to rip and tear.

CRACK

A bullet tore through the air, faster than he could ever hope to be. It punched through flesh and bone, planting itself firmly within the soft tissue of his right ventricle.

The force of the shot was enough to stop him midair. He hit the ground a second later in a crumpled heap, clenching the wound that weeped painfully inside him.

"Huh…?" The word slipped from Jaune as the fire that burned through him began to fade. The world was coming back into focus, but instead of pain all he could feel was a cold numbness spreading through him.

He wanted to rub his hands together, to try and regain some of the warmth that was leaking from his chest. His body protested, a strange sense of exhaustion keeping him still and forcing his eyelids to dip heavily.

Is this… Is this what dying feels like? It's… surprisingly relaxing and also… terrifying.

"I-I don't want to die." He mumbled with what little strength he could muster.

I won't let you. There was no malice, fear or even doubt in the voice.

It was only stating a fact.

\-/

He hadn't even had the chance to sit when the sensors in the Arc child's cell sent their signal. Alarms within Jacques' Office as well as the security room began blaring loudly, alerting the research facility of the containment breach.

Inside the security room, four workers tended to the large security console; observing the rows of monitors diligently.

Several monitors were adjusted to show the video feed of one of their own attempting to convince the experiment to go back into its cell. Judging by its lack of movement, it was not a very successful attempt.

Behind the four workers stood another pair who were coordinating with Jacques via scroll. They relayed orders to the four workers who, in turn, relayed them to the security forces spread throughout the facility.

"Don't you fools damage my property! Firing is to be a last resort, I want it alive!" Jacques yelled into his scroll while he ran to the security room.

The boy had shown no signs of rebellion and yet minutes in captivity was all it took to attempt an escape? The grimm must want out, that was the only explanation that made any sense.

The security room relayed the order to hold-fire to the man currently speaking with the escapee. The man failed to respond and they were left unsure if the man heard them. It didn't matter a second later as the experiment lunged forward.

A gunshot rang throughout the facility, right as Jacques barged into the security room. He was just in time to witness his prize experiment put down like a rabid dog.

The men inside the room expected an explosion of anger, threats and promises of reprisal. They were surprised to see him take a breath and exhale slowly.

"Were any other rooms breached?" He asked, sounding more annoyed than actually angry. "Uh- no sir!" a worker responded after recovering his composure.

"Then we start with a new subject. At least it was only a few days of time lost." He wanted to be angry with his men, was angry with them, but he knew the fault was ultimately his own. He underestimated the microscopic grimm and failed to treat it as the threat it clearly was.

"Uh sir...?" Another guard spoke up, motioning towards the monitors. Even through the screens, what was happening was horrifyingly obvious.

The white&black material that made up the grimm's claws now covered the boy's chest wound, stopping any more blood from leaking out.

The sight reminded him of something Franklin had said. "-three minutes of continuous flames-"

"Fire." He muttered quietly to himself before turning sharply to the workers coordinating security. "Have some of the men rearmed with Dustthrowers, loaded with fire dust. Now!" He could fix this yet. He would fix this.

The value of the material he had in storage could be worth billions by itself. Jaune might be worth even more than that as a live subject, but only if he didn't draw the military's attention. If Ironwood got even a single whiff of this, all this work would be confiscated while the fines would be immense. The lost profit would be astronomical.

If it meant keeping the grimm within the facility, he'd gladly kill the boy-turned-monster.

\-/

The guard standing in front of the quivering mass felt sweat dripping from his forehead. Did he shoot again and risk Jacques's ire? If it was just about the job he would have done so in an instant, no job was worth risking his life. But pissing off Jacques Schnee would have far worse consequences than unemployment.

He'd be lucky to end up homeless.

The sound of boots smacking down stairs drew his attention backwards and a relieved sigh escaped him. His backup had almost arrived, in a few seconds this whole mess wouldn't be his problem anymore.

With his attention backwards, he saw the squad of armed men reach the bottom of the nearby stairs. He saw them rush towards him, saw them shout something, though he couldn't catch it over the adrenaline pumping through him. He saw all that, and yet none of that explained the disgusting squelching sound that echoed through the hall.

"Huh…?" He stared dumbly at the needle-thin tendril poking through his chest. It was such a small thing, barely visible if not for the red stains that outlined it against the white-washed interior. So small it almost looked like he could snap it between two fingers.

Such thoughts were torn from the impaled man's head, forcibly replaced by something far darker. A voice, sick and twisted beyond anything a human could ever achieve. Monstrous enough to make the coldest of veterans shiver in disgust.

I need your flesh. I need your blood. The voice intoned.

Do not fear, you will live on, He opened his mouth, but only silence came forth.

As material for our body. He could not scream, could not cry, couldn't even whimper.

He could only succumb to the grimm void.

\-/

Jacques looked upon his creation and, for the first time in years, he felt true fear as cold as ice grip his heart. Would fire Dust even work? It wouldn't matter unless something was done before the monster got any further.

"...Shoot." Jacques looked at the workers manning communications, uncaring if they saw the fear in his eyes. He knew they held the same in their hearts. That thing… ate that man. literally digested him in front of everyone before sipping him up like a soup.

"Are you deaf, man!? I said SHOOT!" The shock was dispelled and the order was given. Every guard in the hall pointed their Dust powered firearms at the growing mass of black&white that covered Jaune's body.

The impromptu firing squad all pulled the trigger with every intention of preventing a repeat of the horror they just witnessed. The Grimm was reacting before the ammunition even ignited.

Swirling into a large disc in front of Jaune proved effective against small arms fire, hardening to block and deflect the hail of bullets. Two needle-thin tendrils shot out in retaliation, causing most of the guards to panic. They all turned, desperate to avoid the same fate that befell their late comrade.

Most escaped unscathed, but the grimm wasn't aiming for "most". Having snagged two more bodies, it quickly digested them, turning them into more material to use. With the added mass, the Grimm enlarged the makeshift shield until it covered the entire hallway, blocking the security guards from being able to even see Jaune.

Inside the security room, Jacques was trying to adjust the camera to observe what was happening behind the white wall of hardened organic material. It proved an exercise in futility as the camera's movements drew the grimm's attention, prompting its sudden destruction via grimm tendril.

Once again, silence reigned in the room. Several seconds passed before anyone could scrape together the courage to ask, "What now?"

Jacques stared at the man who spoke, pinning him to the spot with a stare.

"Give me your scroll." Jacques ordered numbly, unable to comprehend just how he had lost control of the situation so quickly.

He couldn't believe it. The venerable Jacques Schnee, head of SDC, The largest dust mining company on Remnant, was being forced to call for help.

The call was picked up on the first ring and it was immediately put through, the secretary too shocked to see who was calling to ask any questions. It took but a moment for a new face to show up on the screen.

"Mr. Schnee, I wasn't expecting to hear -" General Ironwood cut himself off, "You're looking a little pale, Jacques. What's happened? Is this about the recent White-Fang attack?" The General's question went ignored.

"We have a containment breach. Code black." Jacques spoke with a surreal calm, using the code they reserved for a grimm outbreak. How else could he describe the situation he created?

"I'm at the facility just underneath my manor, bring anyone you trust as fast as you can. We're short on time, Ironwood. I'm sending you files." He paused, took a purposeful breath in, and continued "More will be sent if things get worse." He sat at a console and began tapping away vigorously, sending Ironwood the files pertaining to Jaune.

"I'm on my way Jacques, I'll be there in twenty. You better survive, I'll need far more than your usual bullshit to explain this." Ironwood stated, hanging up without waiting for a response. Not that Jacques noticed. He was already making his way up to his manor with only one thought on his mind.

Escape.

\~/

And things progress, Jaune getting acquainted with negativity right properly as well as Jacques learning Grimm aren't so easy to control. Hope to hear what ya think!

Enjoy the morning/evening!