The Force shall set me free

Chapter 8

Yang frowned as she carefully studied her partner while team RWBY had their breakfast in the cafeteria. It had been an entire week ever since she had started to act weird, Yang kind of knew that she was a little bit shaken up by what happened at the docks but for the life of her she could not figure out why her behavior changed from depressed to hyper alert in the las two days. She had dropped everything she had on her faunus and politics studies and replaced it with aura and semblance. Weiss was the first one to notice and call her out on it, Blake being the secretive person she was gave a tilt of the head and confused look as answer.

"Don't we have a test coming about this, shouldn't we be studying for it?" she had said and it was somewhat true but it was still nowhere near the date, Weiss had bought it and Ruby was not even paying attention but Yang was not so easily fooled.

Weiss might be one of the smartest in her year, but in Yang's humble opinion there was no one with her intuition and her internal bullshit sensor made her narrow her eyes. So here she was stealthily looking as Blake as she shoveled cereal into her mouth, the dark rings under her eyes letting Yank know that her friend was not getting enough sleep.

Just when Yang was about to give up for the day, team JNPR appeared and sat down to eat with them. Yang's eyes widened as Blake's eyes lingered for some seconds on the blonde dork leader an unreadable look on her face before she turned back to her cereal.

But to Yang those seconds told her all the story and in the blink of an eye her worries where transformed into teasing material, oh poor poor Blake. Enamored with the enigmatic leader of team JNPR and his weird abilities and semblance, but her road to victory would not be so easily achieved for there stood Pyrrha and how could she ever compare.

"Now that's a story" Yang said her mouth full of pancakes, Weiss gave her a grossed out look to which the blonde bombshell replied with a wink. Wiping her mouth with a napkin she leaned on her partner "Don't you think Jaune looks dashing today"

Blake's eyes widened and gave her a glare "What are you talking about?"

Yang gave her a devilishly smile "Oh I am sorry, we will talk of this later when your main rival is not on the table" Blake tilted her in confusion but to the corner of her eye she felt a glare.

A certain red head was staring at them in both confusion and slight tinge of jealousy; Blake ignored it and kept on eating while Yang chuckled and scratched the back of her head "I talk really loudly huh?"

"Finish your meal Yang" Blake answered angrily.

Jaune was not happy, but he was not angry he knew that Blake ignoring the whole thing was a possibility. He was not a dumb man but he did not think that this would annoy him as much as it did, anger was good but it clouded his judgment to very simplistic choices.

Kill her or forget her, both his masters agreed on the first one but to him neither was a viable option, so for now he needed to train more and gaze deeper into the dark side of the force. Something that he had noticed is that anger was clarity, the dark side gave him clarity in his deepest rage as a cold feeling washed over him when his darkest thoughts and feelings manifested.

But concentration had become difficult to reach, it was as if the dark side was refusing to answer and in turn this only annoyed him more and that type of anger did not give him clarity creating a never ending loop of frustration. Not helping as that Blake was there every day, studying him and his actions.

That night Blake had stood up as soon as the revelation of his true nature was unveiled, said that she needed to study for a test and left; his masters advice to kill her with the Force but Jaune felt how the dark side clung to her and decided to let her be for now. So now here he was training in the middle of the night in one of the rooftops of Beacon hoping to get some clarity in his rage.

Cleave right, turn the wrist to follow the movement and above all surrender yourself to the force; he had to flow with force and master the form. Bane was clear that in order to master all lightsaber forms a sith must first master Juyo or the seventh form, Jaune right now had no knowledge of the how many forms where but knowing that he had to learn at least seven seemed a little daunting.

His lightsaber cut the rain as his movements accelerated, vicious attacks that would cut down any opponent in pieces as they screamed in agony but this vicious aggressiveness came with a downside. Bane had explained it as a useful tool for quick destruction but Nihilus had chimed in with advice of his own.

"To use Juyo is to leave yourself to attacks from the force, this form sacrifices much in order bolster offence" the ghost of the lord of hunger had said and Jaune while not very knowledgeable could see where his master was coming from. The flurry of furious attacks would leave him open to an attack from his sides, he knew that with the aid of the force and his aura he could shrug off one or two serious hits, but an attack from the force was a whole different game.

"Jaune?" a soft voice came making him stop, confused as to how someone managed to slip past his senses Jaune turned around and was met by Blake who was holding an umbrella. The whispers of the dark side silenced leaving him to his decision, as if testing him.

"Hey there Blake, what are you doing out here in the rain" he asked with a small smile as he tried to get his damp hair out of his eyes, Blake frowned "I should ask you just that, aren't you cold?" the faunus asked.

Jaune simply shrugged "Sometimes we have to feel discomfort in order to see some clarity" he replied not wanting to mention the fact that the clarity he wanted was what to do with her.

"Do they teach you that in your religion?" she asked with a slight edge on her voice. Jaune felt her anger rise, her hatred flowing as her focus was directed at him.

"No, that's all Jaune hehe, the Sith teachings are more subtle and need to be applied to every part of your life… sometimes they can be kind of extreme when it comes to pain and stuff like that" Jaune said as an image of Darth Sion popped into his mind. The master of pain, to Bane he was just a story but to Nihilus he had been a comrade and an example of what Jaune did not want to be.

"I don't understand I have looked to everything, there is nothing in the history books nor the science ones and… it scares, what are you hiding Jaune? You are my friend but if I find out that you are planning to hurt anyone I will cut you down right here and right now" Blake said her voice not carrying the strength of her claim, Jaune let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

"Curiosity can kill the cat you know that right Blake? We all got secrets to hide but you have my word that I do not want to hurt anyone here in Beacon you are my friend Blake" and if as by a show of trust he threw his deactivated lightsaber towards her feet.

"We all got secrets that's true all right… I don't want you to hurt yourself Jaune sometimes people take advantage in your faith in someone or a cause to twist your hand into something that is just wrong… these people from your religion are using you and I don't want you to be alone in this, just leave it all behind and just be you" Blake said as she grabbed his lightsaber and looked at him expectantly.

Jaune simply smiled at her sadly "I am already alone Blake, you are seeing the only Sith on this planet all I know comes from dead ghosts" Nihilus and Ragnos scoffed at the pun, but to Blake this revelation made her almost drop his weapon.

"B-but then how…" blake started but was interrupted by Jaune who instead of answering opened up Bane's holocron among the teachings there was also a handy map of the galaxy, it didn't show where Remnant was but it would serve as an example. "The universe is shaped by things far more important than anything here in Remnant Blake, I stumbled into this secret by accident… well not so much as an accident and more like the will of the Force, an all-encompassing energy that shapes destiny itself. The Force lives in all living things, I am just taught by people beyond our stars how to sense it, how to use it, this is not a religion is more of seeing the world in a different way" Jaune said as he sat down not caring that his clothes where already wet and that explanations to his teammates where going to be a bit complicated later on.

Blake gave him a blank stare "Beyond our stars, so what like aliens?"

Jaune chuckled "You know when you put it like that it does really sound like I am insane but I would not be telling you this if didn't think you would understand, after all the Dark side clings to you too" and here came the point of no return. Jaune barely blinked as he felt Blake's weapon press against his neck a furious look on her face as their yellow eyes clashed, one burning with a suppressed passion and the other with a calm rage that made Blake shiver.

"You are not going to convert me into any cult Jaune, I will not be manipulated again… I don't know how deluded you have become in your fantasy but I will get you help even if it's against your will" the Cat faunus said firmly expecting a meltdown of sorts but to her surprise Jaune remained seated a small smile on his face.

"Good, let that rage and fear burn and let you feel the force around you" he said and Blake felt herself gripping her weapon and his harder, rage? What did he know about rage?

He did not know about anger, pain suffering and fear like she did and now that he saw him sitting there all smug she could not help but to let out all the rage that had been building up inside for oh so long; the oppression of the faunus, the lies of the White Fang and her own fear and worries of her secret coming to light made her explode and with a swift motion she activated his lightsaber and the crimson red illuminated the small roof that they where on.

"Think very carefully before you speak your next words Jaune, beacause you know nothing of rage and fear like I do, got it?!" she screamed at his face but something had changed, she saw two figures behind Jaune. These shadowy figures stared down at her and what was worse she could feel them.

She felt her chest ache and Fear gripped her as white bone mask and a red monster flanked Jaune, not knowing what to do she took some steps back.

Jaune stood up and with the force took back his lightsaber deactivating it "You are right maybe I don't know rage like you do, but to know and to understand are two very different things"

Blake clutched her head as the screams of fear of all of Beacon rushed to her head the whispers of the Dark side clouding her mind "Jaune… it hurts… what did you do to me?" she asked as tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, but she was picked up gently by Jaune who pressed his forehead against her and the screams and whispers disappeared.

"I did nothing, you simply unlocked it yourself" he said with a small smile. Blake frowned she did not understand, she was cold, wet and above all very tired for some reason. "I don't want this… its hard enough for me to be…"

Blake herself being hugged by Jaune as he carried her inside "Don't worry, you don't have to have it I locked it and it will only come back if you want it" Blake felt her ears twitch as the cold became uncomfortable; she cursed and looked at Jaune waiting to see a reaction.

Jaune simply smiled "I know how hard is to keep a secret Blake, don't worry I won't tell even if you tell mine, you should go I still have some training to do and no offense you look terrible"

Blake snorted but didn't move "Why… don't you care that I could just run to Ozpin?"

"If you do is your choice and quite honestly I don't see anything wrong with what I am doing, I believe and see things differently sure, but is not like I have any malicious intent and I know that Ozpin would understand… and if he doesn't I would just go where the Force takes me" Jaune said, but he omitted the parth where the dark side would most likely take him towards a violent path but for now details were not all that important.

Blake looked at her shoes and nodded "I guess… see you around Jaune… I still have some questions"

Jaune gave her a bright smile "And I have answers, just swing by and we can chat all you like" he said making Blake turn her head quickly hiding a blush, this was so stupid she taught. She had threatened him not so long ago, of course she would never kill him but still… it was weird.

"Bye" was her last goodbye as she disappeared and to her relief when she turned back to look at Jaune there was no horrible mask nor red monster to stare back at her.

"ACHOO!" Weiss rolled her eyes as she handed her sick teammate another tissue, Blake nodded in thanks as she blew her nose, Ruby patted her on the back "There there Blake, don't worry I am sure that this cold will pass quickly!" the optimist leader said, but Blake only grumbled in response annoyed at herself and everything right now. Yang laughed "Oh come on don't be like that Blakey, I am sure that whatever you did yesterday under the rain was worthy of being sick"

Weiss stopped her writing and let out a curious hum "Oh yeah, you never told us what you were doing outside in the rain yesterday you simply barged in, took a shower and then threw yourself into bed, so… care to explain?"

Blake coughed into her fist nervously and shrugged "You know, I was training… some secrets techniques you know, the rain lets you focus your senses… yeah"

Weiss narrowed her eyes she turned to Yang and Ruby "If someone believes her raise your hand" she said, and the room went deadly quiet as no one raised their arm. Ruby tried to out of sheer camaraderie towards Blake but a quick glare from Weiss made her lower it faster than Blake could see.

"Its fine if you don't want to tell us Blake, but remember we are a team and we help each other" came the soft voice of Ruby making Blake frown and look down.

"I know and its not like I don't want to tell you… I just that I don't know how I feel about…"-"Him?" Blake was interrupted as a Yang's scroll was shoved in her face and on it an image of Blake being carried by Jaune. Blake's cheeks went completely red and she looked in horror ar her teammate "Where did you get that?!"

Yang smirked and shrugged, but before she cold comment she was literally tackled by Blake "Delete that, now!" Blake said as she tried to grab the scroll and to her annoyance Yang simply laughed.

"You can delete from my scroll but I didn't take it, someone posted it on the beacon forums… and oh boy you don't want to see how many views it has" Yang said as she raised her hands as if that would solve something. Blake turned to Weiss "How long have you know?!"

"I knew it before you woke up this morning, Yang was kind enough to show it to all of us" the heiress said with a small smile, Blake felt her face redden.

"You… all of you… have been just toying with me!" she said embarrassed and to her surprise Weiss laughed and moved to place a hand on her shoulder "We simply wanted to see if you would share it with us but don't worry we wont pry further, its best that you found out because of us and not by someone else"

Blake groaned and put both of her hands on her face "Ruby… be a dear and cover your ears please"

Ruby pouted at being at treated as a child but complied nonetheless.

From the room of team JNPR the loud stream of curses reached the ears of both Jaune and Pyrrha who were getting ready for their day, some moments passed before Jaune let out a whistle "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed"

Pyrrha gave him a forced smile "Sometimes Jaune… we just have bad days"

A/N: KOTOR remake let's goooooooooo!