Distortion
On the island of Vytal, there was a party going on inside Knightingale's base. It had been the first time in months that most of the surviving members of the Branwen tribe had gathered under one roof. Jaune and Onyx worked together to make some great Mistralian food for everyone and as soon as the food was ready, they all dug in. They also stocked the base with several bottles of whiskey and they were enjoying it massively. Especially, Gil and Jaune. The old bear Faunus was already hammered and was regaling Onyx on some tales from his youth. Onyx laughed along with him since he had quite a bit of alcohol in his system already. Gil had lightened up to Onyx during their fight against Aaeron, but the alcohol helped ease any tension between the two of them.
Aaeron and Raven were talking and catching up on what had happened the last few months. Meanwhile, Jaune was bouncing between everyone, offering food and drink while he had a bottle for himself. He really wasn't worried about a hangover; his aura was already taking care of the effects of the alcohol. He'd have to chug the entire bottle to even get tipsy, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. He was just happy, overjoyed actually. Knightingale was almost reunited and he was ecstatic to have them back. To have his real family back.
Jaune woke up the next morning way earlier than normal. Mostly because he felt Raven untangle herself from him and sit on the edge of the bed. He turned to see her stretch her arms over her head. He smirked slightly, "Have I outgrown my usefulness in sharing a bed with you?" he joked.
She froze before she looked over her shoulder at him, "I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry, Jaune." She said sincerely.
He just shook his head and turned to his side to face her, "Its fine, Rave. But why are you up so early?"
She turned away, "I've slept enough. I need to get back to my search." With that she got off the bed and showed him her bare back and rear.
He got a lustful grin, but he beat those feelings down for the moment. "Raven, you've been searching for the relic nonstop for months. I know we need it, but we have time. The rest of Knightingale are still out on their missions and we still don't have wearers for the other masks." Jaune said, trying to reason with her.
Raven stood up tall as she pulled on her pure black panties with a snap of the elastic and was now putting on a matching bra, her back still to him. "That may be true, but we still need it. It's the lynchpin to our entire plan. And the sooner we get it, the sooner we can start our plans and we can always recruit other afterwards." She said stubbornly.
Jaune narrowed his eyes at her back, "But those people will be far less trustworthy. It would be stupid to trust those kinds of people with so much. Plus, you've even said that we are missing a crucial component to using the relic's powers and we don't even know what that even is. It's like getting a gun without the bullets to fire from it."
Raven finished clipping her bra and stood there with her hands at her side. They were in a silence for a while until her fists clenched, "Maybe. But better to have a weapon than not, even if we can't use it fully." With that said, she reached for her next piece of clothing.
That was until two strong arms wrapped around her stomach and pulled her back to the bed. Jaune had sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his lap. She tried to fight his grip but stopped when he lowered his head to her shoulder and kissed it gently. He rested his chin on the same shoulder before he spoke to her gently, "It wasn't your fault, Raven." Those words made her go stiff as a board. "You've told me time and again that the tribe's destruction wasn't my fault, but I had a larger hand in it than you did." His hand gently started to trace her stomach and the muscles underneath, trying to calm her. "It was because of Salem's lapdog, the Grimm that came during the fight and the fact I lost control of my Negative Aura. That's why the tribe is gone. I failed them, not you. So, stop trying to shoulder all of this by yourself." He held her tighter. "I didn't save you to just let you get yourself killed. I did it because I can't live without you. I need you."
They were both quiet with that and the two just sat like that for a bit. That was until he felt her place her hands over his and intertwined her fingers with his own. He then felt her shake slightly as he felt drops of liquid land on his hands. "They didn't deserve it." She said weakly.
Jaune moved his hands to her waist and slowly turned her around. She followed his lead and placed one of her legs on either side of him, so she was facing him while sitting in his lap. Jaune looked and saw she had tears running down her cheeks. He gently wiped away her tears before kissing her cheek and pulling her close. He whispered into her ear, "I know. You're strong, Raven. Stronger than most. You could've run from this, but you decided to stand and fight. I respect you so much for that. But, you don't have to be strong all the time. Let me help you, Beloved."
With that said, she leant her head into his shoulder and wrapped her arms and legs around him. She pulled herself as close to him as possible. Jaune wrapped her in a hug and gently kissed the side of her head. He just rubbed her back soothingly as she cried into his shoulder silently. It was the least he could do for her. She gave him the training to make him strong and a family he could rely on, along with more love than he thought was possible.
Raven eventually calmed down and the stress finally caught up to her. She fell asleep holding onto her husband. Jaune slowly eased her back into bed and untangled himself from her death grip. He tucked her in and gave her a kiss on the forehead before smiling at how at peace she looked. With that done, he took a quick shower before dressing in his normal attire, minus the armor and trench coat, and silently made his way out of their room.
He made his way to the main living area to relax and maybe start to look through Vacuo's and Atlas' files for potential candidates. He was shocked when he walked in and saw Aaeron sitting at the table. He was dressed in a similar style as Jaune and had his hair tied back in a loose ponytail. He had Wolk Priem completely disassembled on the table and he appeared to be cleaning. The rag and can of oil were a dead giveaway. Jaune smirked, "Didn't expect you to be up."
Aaeron looked up from his work for a second before he sighed, "Still used to Atlas' military routines. Didn't have a choice in the matter." He went back to cleaning his weapon, "Although, they did help me find something to help me relax." He motioned to his disassembled weapon when he said that.
He walked more into the room, "Huh, I was sure everyone would be out besides me. We all drank a lot last night."
"You, Gil and Onyx drank a lot. Me and Raven had two drinks each. Besides, I couldn't afford to have a hangover. Onyx arrows managed to get a shitton of sand in the firing chamber. Couldn't leave it like that." He said this as he was cleaning said chamber.
Jaune just shook his head, "Still don't know why you still have that gun form. You barely ever use it."
He nodded, "True. I prefer to get up close and personal but sometimes that's too dangerous. Always good to have a fallback plan."
Jaune nodded to him, "Good to know." He started to walk over to the coffee pot to get a cup as he noticed the one beside Aaeron. "Refill?"
Aaeron looked at his mug for a second, "Sure." He went to toss it, but he had oil on his hands and it slipped. It was about to smash onto the floor before it was covered in a black aura and stopped an inch above it. It then floated into the air and flew towards Jaune's extended hand. He then placed it on the counter and filled it along with his own. Aaeron just stared for a bit. "So, you really can steal Semblances, huh?"
"Yup." Jaune said simply as he walked over with both mugs. He handed Aaeron his before he sat down across from him. "Comes in handy but I still have no idea if I have a limit to how many I can take. And if there isn't, does that mean all my Semblances will weaken as I absorb more?" He sighed before taking a sip of his coffee. "I have no idea. So, I think I'm only going to steal a Semblance if it's very useful or no other option."
"Is that why you didn't bother with Winter's Semblance?" he asked as he started to reassemble Wolk Priem.
Jaune nodded, "That's part of it. But her being a Schnee also was a factor." Aaeron just raised an eyebrow with that. "Jacque may be a piece of human garbage, but he wouldn't be able to sit around if his daughter was killed or worse. Even if he doesn't care about either of his daughters; if the media heard of what happened, he'd have to do something to save face. Last thing we need is an army or force being supplied and funded directly by the SDC on our tails."
"Good point." Aaeron said before drinking his own coffee. "How long are we going to have to lay low?" he asked, all business.
Jaune just looked up at the ceiling. "Not long. At least for you, Onyx and Gil. Onyx and Gil haven't been tied to the incidents at Haven and Shade, respectively. So, they could still be sent on missions there or we could play it safer by sending them to the other three Kingdoms they have no tie to." He pulled out his scroll and started going through it. "You would be a bit different. We may just send you to Vacuo or Mistral, since you were well known in Atlas. Plus, for the time being, they'll be focused on you after your 'betrayal.' Luckily, they'll be more focused on me. Comes with killing someone as high ranking as Goodwitch and taking down the General. Good thing we didn't kill him, or all the Kingdom's Councils would be hunting us down, he does hold two seats for Atlas, after all. So, I'll still go out on missions as normal to divert attention from the rest of you."
Aaeron had his weapon completely assembled at this point, "Sounds risky for you but, you're the boss. I learned a while ago that you know what you're doing." He smirked as he ran his fingers across the scar on his cheek. "Have you heard from Ghost and Venom?"
Jaune was still going through his scroll, "You and your codenames, why can't you call them by their real names? We are in our base, after all." He looked up to see Aaeron giving him a shit eating grin. Jaune smirked before looking back at his scroll, "Fine. Ghost, is still in Menagerie and keeping an eye on the White Fang there, so we'll know if they'll cause us problems." He sighed, "Venom is still out on his personal mission. He has a few leads but nothing concrete."
"Should we really just let him run around like that? He wasn't exactly thinking straight when he left." He asked concerned.
"Were any of us?" Jaune asked as he put his scroll down on the table. "We all lost a lot. Venom started seeing us as his second family and it was taken from him as soon as he was starting to heal. He needs to work through this in his own way. But if he gets in over his head, we'll be there to save his scaly ass." Jaune smirked.
Aaeron smirked and raised an eyebrow, "He has scales on his ass?"
Jaune just shrugged, "No idea. But I'm not gonna ask or find out for myself." The two shared a laugh after that. "Not curious on our last missing member?" Jaune asked once they calmed down.
He shook his head slightly, "Not really. She can handle herself just fine and knows Vale better than anyone. Besides, she'd want you to be more worried about her safety than anyone else." Jaune just sighed and nodded, not bothering to argue. Aaeron just chuckled with that. "She has it for you bad, Jaune."
"I know." He groaned. "I'm just glad she hasn't done anything to make Raven try to kill her. Don't want to be between those two."
"Again, you're the boss. That's part of your job description, making sure we don't kill each other." Aaeron said with a smirk.
Jaune just glared at him, "Why did I miss you, again?" Aaeron just laughed again and Jaune joined him shortly after. Aaeron may've been a prick but he was like an older brother to him, he wouldn't trade that for anything. He looked back down to his scroll, which was showing Haven's student roster specifically, Team SSSN. Jaune smirked, 'May have to introduce myself soon.' He thought to himself.
A few days had passed since the incident at Shade and Ozpin had just received a message from Ironwood. It was a detailed report on how he tried to stop Jaune and Raven, but he was stopped when Aaeron Calis betrayed him and joined them. Apparently, he had been a double agent since the moment he rejoined Atlas. It also stated that Winter was knocked unconscious and Ironwood lost both his artificial arm and his remaining one. The two were back on their way to Atlas for the General to receive new replacements for his limbs. Ozpin could tell just by reading this that James was still set on bringing Jaune and Raven down, but it being even more personal now.
Ozpin sat back in his chair and massaged his eyelids. "Now they have sensitive material from the other three Kingdoms." He removed his hand and looked back at his desk, showing the fight Jaune had against CRDL months ago. "What are you two planning?" he asked out loud.
"That's the million Lien question, now isn't it?
Ozpin turned to see Qrow leaning near an open window of his office. He was drinking from his flask as Ozpin started to talk to him, "Did you manage to gather any information, Qrow?"
The Huntsman just sighed as he put his flask away, "Got plenty of info. Don't know how much of it is useful though." He started to walk over to Ozpin's desk, "Raven has been popping up all over Sanus and Anima since the Kid showed back up. She even made a few trips to Solitas. From what I've been able to gather, she's looking for something and whatever it is, it's tied to the Branwen Tribe."
"Is she meeting up with anyone of interest?" The Headmaster asked, knowing the specifics of her Semblance.
Qrow just shook his head, "No one that she would establish a bond with. Sometimes she just appears in the middle of nowhere with no one around for miles." He sighed, "Her Semblance is different now. It may have evolved past the point where she doesn't need a person to open a portal to."
"That is unsettling." Ozpin replied. "Although, it isn't unheard of for a Semblance to evolve. What about Jaune?"
Qrow sighed, "Similar case. He's been appearing all over Anima. But unlike my sister, he's been trying to meet up with people. High value targets, ex-Huntsman and Huntresses, some infamous criminals. As far as I've found, he'll talk with them and leave. No fights or deaths in his path. Also, someone running around with a Beowolf mask has been doing the same thing."
Ozpin looked back to Qrow, "Another mask from the Branwen tribe?" he asked.
Qrow nodded, "Most likely. But he only started to show up after that incident at Haven, so they might be connected."
"Hmmm." Ozpin said as he drank his coffee. "I'll ask Leo about it once everything is settled in Mistral. They're still checking over their systems and the CCT to be safe. Any idea on what the connection between what Raven and Jaune are doing?"
Qrow threw his hands into the air with that. "No idea, Oz. Like I said before, besides the masks, I've never heard of anything holding any significance to the Tribe. And even the details of the masks were hush-hush to most of us. So, I don't have the faintest idea on what Raven could be looking for. Jaune and the other guy are probably looking to recruit more people, the Tribe was almost destroyed a while back."
"So, they are looking for people to join their cause. Would make sense on why they would steal files from the academies. They would help them find people more suitable for what they have planned. But, we still have no idea on what they could be up to." Ozpin sighed, "This is troublesome."
The two sat in a silence for a while, until Qrow broke it. "How are they doing?"
Ozpin didn't need any clarification. "They are still shaken. They are still annoyed that we didn't send them to bring Jaune back. But with what happen to CFVY and Glynda, they are beginning to worry more for him. Soon they'll give up hope for him to come back and they'll blame themselves more for what he has been doing." He gently rubbed his forehead as he continued, "Or they'll become more desperate to save him and get themselves in more danger."
Qrow just gave Ozpin a look, "What do you mean by more trouble?"
Ozpin hesitated for a second, "Somehow after CFVY had returned, they set up a meetup with Jaune." Qrow's eyes widened, "They were fine. They only talked to each other. I didn't ask what because it seemed like they were trying to convince him to let them help him. It didn't go anywhere and eventually, some of James' Knights tried to bring him in. He took care of them, but Ruby got caught in the crossfire. She was unharmed since Jaune literally stepped in front of her to protect her."
Qrow just looked at his 'boss' for a few seconds before he sighed, "Looks like he's at least keeping his word on adopting Raven's 'rule of one'. How'd they take all of that?"
"NPR and Ruby are still convinced that there is some of the Jaune they knew in him still. Although, the rest of RWBY are uncertain. They can see him as being a threat but after he protected their leader, it's hard for them to decide one way or the other." He explained to him.
Qrow nodded, "So, what have the Councils decided on what to do with the Kid?" he asked solemnly.
"Now that he has attacked James, they are elevating his threat level. Instead of leaving it up to James to bring him in on his own, all the Academies are now advised to send any and all information they receive on him to Atlas for them to figure out on what to do. But James is now officially leading the hunt for him and Atlas is giving him their full support."
Qrow looked up at the ceiling and sighed, "Great. The Tinman is too stubborn for his own good." He looked back to the Headmaster. "You still intend to bring him in and help him?" Ozpin just nodded. "And you still want me looking into this?" He nodded again. "Well, it's a good thing I'm not part of Beacon then or I'd have to give that same info to Jimmy." Qrow gave him a halfhearted grin.
Ozpin returned it, "Thank you, old friend. Now to just tell those seven about what has happened." He added sadly.
"I'll do it." Qrow said as he made his way to the elevator. "It'd probably be best coming from me."
NPR were sitting in their dorm, trying to come to terms with what they just heard. Ruby and Yang's uncle had just informed them and RWBY that Jaune had recently attacked General Ironwood and Weiss' sister. They were stunned by the brutality of what happened to the General and were relieved to hear that Winter was mostly unharmed, which made Weiss breathe easy. They were also shocked to learn that he most likely had a hand in the incidents at Haven, and more recently, Shade. But what made their hearts drop, was when he told them that Atlas were backing the General on his manhunt for him and the Academies would have to send any information to them. That cemented the fact that Jaune was now viewed as a criminal by most of the world.
That caused Ruby to breakdown in her sister's arms as her other two teammates tried to help her. NPR were shaken just as much, but asked to leave and when Qrow nodded, they went back to their dorm. As soon as the door closed, Nora collapsed into Ren's arms and started to cry into his chest. He just pulled her close as she did, his face was completely emotionless, even for him. Pyrrha sat on her bed and pulled her legs to her chest and she leant her head against her knees. Tears flowed from her eyes as well.
"This isn't real, right?" Nora asked desperately. "Tell me this is all just a dream, Renny. That I'll wake up soon and Jaune will be here and we'll be one big happy family again."
Ren slowly shook his head as he gently patted her's, "I'm sorry, Nora. But this is real and there's nothing we can do."
Nora cried more as Pyrrha went rigid. "I wish I never abandoned him." Nora cried. "I wish I could just hug him, to tell him how s-sorry I am and that I l-love him like my b-brother. I want him to be our Fearless Leader again."
Ren nodded, "Me too, Nora. Me too."
The room was just filled with Nora crying until Pyrrha spoke for the first time since they talked with Qrow. "Maybe we can."
The two turned to see that Pyrrha was sitting up and looking at them, she had dried tears on her face. "W-what do you mean?" Nora asked.
"Jaune is like this because of us." She stated. "Yes, RWBY and us abandoned him but we were his team, we were supposed to be by his side no matter what." She looked them in the eyes, "It was our job to look out for Jaune and we failed him once. I'm done continuing to do so." She stood up from her bed with a fire in her eyes, "I say we bring him in before Ironwood can hunt him down. Bring him back so we can help him, and we can be Team JNPR again."
The two were stunned and looked at each other before Ren spoke up, "Pyrrha, we don't even know where he is."
She shook her head, "Doesn't matter. I'm done sitting around and letting my partner get himself in deeper and deeper in whatever he is doing. I don't care how, but I'm going to find him and bring him back to Beacon."
Ren was about to argue with her when Nora broke away from him. She wiped her eyes and sniffed before she looked back at Pyrrha, "Let's go get our leader back." She said seriously.
Pyrrha placed her hand on the bomber's shoulder and the two shared a smile. They then turned to Ren. They stared at each other for a bit before he sighed, "You do realize how crazy this sounds, right?" They nodded, "And we may be considered criminals if we get caught, right?" They nodded again. He just sighed as he placed his hand over his eyes. He took a deep breathe before he took his hand away. He looked at his teammates and put on a smile, "Alright, I can't just let you two do this alone." Nora cheered and hugged her partner as Pyrrha smiled widely. They were going to get Jaune back, one way or the other. Too bad they didn't know what the cost would be.
A/N- Here's the next chapter for Distortion. I feel bad about not posting this more often but for some reason I can only work on this monthly. I can't get into the right mindset for this story all the time. So, honestly, this will stay as being updated monthly. The next chapters will be posted on the first week of each month, hope you'll all understand. Also, shoutout to my awesome Beta Jauneforever, again. Goddamn legend right there. See you all in the next update!