Distortion

It had been a week or so since Knightingale's infiltration of Beacon. Everyone was getting used to Velvet now joining them. Wasn't very hard though, she was just someone that you just got along with. Especially Gil. He was practically treating the young Faunus as a daughter or granddaughter. Even Aaeron had warmed up to her relatively quick and that was an achievement all on its own. Pyrrha and Ren also enjoyed having someone they knew before joining Knightingale around. The three would hang out often in their down time with Jaune joining when he wasn't off on missions. Onyx started to do the same and they all started to warm up more to each other.

Raven was still a bit iffy about having Velvet around, but that was just her being worried that the rabbit Faunus would steal away her husband. Along with that, Pyrrha and Neo weren't helping the situation. It was clear that Pyrrha still had some lingering feelings for him. While Neo, it wasn't necessarily love or affection. More like just lust. So Raven had many reasons to not be happy. Jaune then made it his personal mission to show her just how much he loved her. With no issue whatsoever from the couple.

Nowadays the base was much fuller. With now nine members coming and going from the base, it made the whole building feel much livelier. Which Jaune was grateful for. It made the place feel less like a base of operations and more like a home, similar to how he used to feel about the camp of the Branwen tribe. They were only missing two of their members at this point but both were busy. Either with keeping an eye out for anything suspicious in Menagerie or on a personal mission. But they would rejoin them when they could.

Currently, the only people still in the Headquarters were Jaune, Raven, Aaeron, Velvet and Neo. All of them were in a comfortable silence as they each enjoyed their breakfast. Raven would be leaving soon to continue her search for the Branwen artifact and Aaeron was going with her as usual. But his time it wasn't just for backup, a few contacts of theirs were in Atlas and they were going to go see if they could dig anything else up on the whereabouts of their prize. So Aaeron was the clear-cut choice for that.

Along with that, Onyx and Gil were going to head back out to Mistral and Vacuo respectively to see If they could recruit a few potential members. It would also give them the chance to see what information those Kingdoms might be sending to Atlas. They had actually asked Pyrrha and Ren to go with them. Pyrrha went with Gil since Vacuo was more about proving your strength and Ren went with Onyx for some much needed stealth on their end.

As they were all sitting there, Raven turned to Jaune, "So, what are you going to do today?"

Jaune took a sip of his coffee before he answered, "I'm going to check in on one of our informants. I want to see if any people of interest have been spotted around Anima lately. Especially Valter Moonstone."

Raven nodded, "By yourself?"

He thought for a second, "Unless you two wanna come along." He turned to Velvet and Neo as he said that.

Neo instantly nodded enthusiastically while Velvet gave him a smaller smile, "If you don't mind me tagging along, I'd be happy to join you."

Jaune just grinned, "It's no problem. Besides, it's usual procedure for someone to keep an eye on the new blood. And as much as I trust Neo, I think it'd be safer if you have someone else do that." He then sent a smirk at the multicolored haired woman.

That earned him a smirk from Raven and Velvet covered her mouth with a hand to stifle her giggles. Aaeron meanwhile just laughed openly. Neo just gave him a halfhearted glare as she tossed a piece of bacon at him. Jaune caught it easily and took a victorious bite from it, "Thank you for the gift, Neo." That made her cross her arms over her chest and continue to glare at him.

What he just said did make him remember something. He placed the bacon on his plate as he wiped his hands on a napkin, "Oh I forgot, I have something for you, Neo." That made her tilt her head and raise an inquisitive eyebrow at him. He stood up from his chair, "I'll be right back."

He left the small dining area to go back to his and Raven's room. When he got there and went in, he walked over to his dresser and on top of it was black wooden box with a brown trimming. On the lid was an emblem of a hammer with a pair of swords crossing behind it, blades pointed down. It was the emblem of a close ally of the Branwen tribe and their personal smith, a man simply known as Kajiya. Looking at the emblem made a smile cross his face and his mind went back several months.

Seven months. That was how long Jaune had left the Arc's personal Hell behind and was definitely stronger than ever before. His swordplay had improved enough so that Raven now had to fight him seriously. Still not at her full strength however but it was still an achievement. His hand-to-hand and quick draw had also improved but he wouldn't consider those skills mastered but he was definitely on the right path for them to be soon.

He had also fully mastered his Negative aura, making it so that it would no longer siphon Positive aura without his command. But that left him with a new mystery. He found that if his Negative aura went below half or so, it took longer for it to recover. Plus his body would feel much weaker until it did recover. And it wasn't like when he ran out of Positive aura, it was worse.

He had currently led several more missions with other members of the Tribe, most of them were successful. He had also gone on a few missions with the higher ups, mostly Gil and Raven, but he did go on one mission with another senior member, Aaeron Calis. He got the feeling the guy didn't like him much but he just put up with it and he eventually went back to Atlas to keep up his cover or something along those lines.

He had actually just gotten back from a mission an hour or so ago. They had raided the village of Shion, which was pretty conflicting for Jaune considering he used to visit there with his ex-family. But he quickly shelved those feelings for the betterment of the Tribe. He had to remind himself: The weak die. The strong live. They had just received some much needed supplies from Mistral and it was his job to retrieve them for the Tribe.

The raid went pretty well, they really only had to deal with one Huntsmen. But with Jaune siphoning his aura while he confronted him directly and another half a dozen tribesmen attacking him when he was distracted, he was dealt with pretty quickly. The real problem was that the Grimm were drawn in by all the Negativity. It was mostly Beowolves which they could deal with. That was until a Beringel showed up.

With that, Jaune had told all the others to retreat with as much of the supplies as possible while he chose to deal with it. Jaune was just holding it off, not trying to kill it, but that just infuriated the Grimm. So, it eventually grabbed a Beowolf and threw it at him. He ducked under the flying Grimm but when he was back on his feet, the Beringel was already on him with a massive backhand. Jaune quickly used his sword to try to guard himself from the attack but didn't have enough time to use Distortion before the attack hit.

The hit sent him flying backwards and his Negative aura took a big hit. But what caught his attention was the sound of metal rending. He corrected himself before he landed on his feet and slid back several more feet. When he finally stopped, he looked at his black broadsword and saw that the length of the blade was only a third of its usual size. He looked at the space between himself and the Grimm and saw the rest of the blade in two pieces on the ground.

He felt a surge of anger go through him as he placed the broken sword into its sheathe. He then pulled Souffrance Eternelle from its holster as he charged Distortion into his left fist, it gaining the black flame-like appearance. He glared down the Grimm and it sensed the increase in negativity from him. It just glared down at him and snorted before roaring its challenge.

The Grimm charged forward and Jaune took off towards it not a second later. When there was only ten or so feet between them, the Beringel jumped and lunged its arm towards him. Jaune sidestepped the attack and the massive fist impacted the ground where Jaune just was. With that brief second, Jaune closed the distance between them and pointed his revolver towards its roaring mouth and firing three shots into its throat. As it roared, or tried to with its throat ruined, Jaune pulled his left fist back before slamming it into the chest. Distortion amplified the impact of the hit causing the bone armor to crack and the fragments to sink into its chest. The Grimm's chest then caved in and the beast was throw back and into a building behind it, collapsing it on top of it.

Jaune stared at the rubble with his whole body tensed, ready if the Grimm emerged from the debris. He stood there for a full minute until he saw Grimm essence slowly rising from it. With that confirmation, he breathed a sigh or relief before he holstered his revolver. He then turned to the broken pieces of his blade to pick them up before he started to make his way to the rendezvous point to reunite with his tribesmen.

When they all returned to the camp, he quickly made his way to his tent. When he was in the comforts of his place, he threw his trench coat off and onto his bed then did the same with his gun in its holster. He then sat down on the floor next to a small coffee table and placed the broken pieces of his sword on it as he looked at them.

As he just looked at them, he felt a wave of regret run through him. This sword wasn't technically his, it was just a sword the Tribe gave him when he joined and he used it for all the time he was here, but he had grown attached to the sword. He didn't want to have to replace it but in the same token, he didn't have the resources or Lien to fix it. He just sighed as he closed his eyes, "I'm so fucked."

"Really? With who?" he heard a familiar voice behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Raven open the flap to look in. "Please tell me it wasn't Vernal."

Jaune just closed his eyes and sighed in defeat, "No, Raven, it wasn't Vernal. Or any other woman." There was a pause for a second, "Or man."

Raven just looked at him for a bit, "So, you're still a virgin?"

Jaune would've been a blushing and stuttering mess if he had stayed at Beacon. But after months of being around the Tribe, he gained an immunity to teasing, among other things. He just looked at her in the eyes with a deadpanned look, "Yes. I'm a virgin. Been a bit busy training and being the drunken Gil babysitter to worry about that." He snarked.

Raven raised an eyebrow, "Wow. What pissed you off?" She walked in and over to him. That's when she looked at the table along with the sword. Her eyes gained a look of understanding, "Oh, now I see."

Jaune turned back to it and gave a quiet, "Yeah." After a few seconds he sighed, "Sorry for that. I'm pissed with myself and I took out on you."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, "It's fine. I would be just as frustrated if my weapon broke." She looked at his weapon for a bit before she patted his shoulder, "Alright, get up and grab your things." She let go and walked to the exit.

Jaune looked at her in confusion, "Uh, why?"

She rolled her eyes and looked at him, "We're going to fix your weapon. Now get your well-toned ass up and come along." She walked out after that.

Jaune stood up and threw on his coat and holster. He then grabbed a spare blanket to wrap the pieces in it. Until he stopped, "Well-toned ass?" he asked himself out loud. He looked at the exit, "Has she been looking at my ass?" He quickly shook his head before picking up his bundle and leaving his tent quickly to catch up to her.

Once he did, the two started to walk out of the camp and into the wilderness to the north. Jaune tried to ask where they were going but she refused to answer so he eventually just gave up. He kept his eyes and ears open in case there were any Grimm in the area. Raven seemed at peace and didn't even seem worried for Grimm. He had no idea whether she was that confident in their abilities or she had no reason to worry about them.

After about an hour and a half of them walking, Raven eventually showed him to a small wooden cottage in a clearing. It looked big enough for one, maybe two people, but the weird part was that attached to the side was another smaller stone building. Jaune could see smoke rising from the chimney of that building and could now hear the sounds of metal hitting metal. Raven started to escort him to that part of the building and Jaune looked around to see that this wasn't a natural clearing. It was just that all the trees nearby were cut down previously.

Once Raven was standing at the door free entryway, she yelled inside, "Kajiya! Are you in?!"

Following that was the sound of metal clattering to the ground then a scream of annoyance from a masculine voice, "For fuck's sake! Raven, you know I'm in if you can hear the hammer! Now I have red hot metal on the ground!"

Raven smirked, "Sorry."

"No you're not." The masculine voice responded. "Let me get this back in the forge." A minute or so later, a tanned and well-toned man walked out of the forge. He was a head or so shorted than Jaune with light brown hair tied back into a wolf tail that went just past his shoulder blades with stubble across his chin and cheeks. He wore black boots, brown pants and a black tank-top. He was taking off a pair of thick forging gloves and tucking them into his back pocket. He also had a pair of tinted goggles around his neck. He looked at Raven with a pair of sky blue but annoyed eyes. "Alright, what do you want?"

Raven didn't seem bothered by his rude comment, "Is that anyway to treat a friend, Kajiya?"

"Raven, I've had a day. Can you please just cut to the chase?" he asked in a tired tone.

"Okay, okay. Kajiya, I'd like you to meet Jaune." She said as she placed her hand on his upper arm. "Jaune, this is Kajiya. He was a big up and coming weaponsmith in Mistral. But he eventually got tired of all the snobs and morons in the Kingdom and moved out here ten or so years ago. We then made a deal: he'd help with supplying the Branwen Tribe with weapons and repairs and we would help keep his neck of the woods Grimm free. And keep people who be looking for him away."

Jaune reached his hand out to him, "Nice to meet you."

Kajiya took his hand and shook it, "You too. Raven talks about you a lot."

They let go of the other's hand and Jaune turned to Raven with a raised eyebrow, "Does she?"

Raven just gave him her best poker face, not letting him get anything out of her. But Kajiya kept talking, "Yup. She's been going on and on about how much potential you have. How one day you'll be one of the greatest people to be a part of her Tribe." He scratched his chin slightly, "I think she even said that you may even be able to become the leader.'

Jaune turned back to Raven. It was very faint but he could pick up the light pink on her cheeks now. He just grinned teasingly at her, "Really?"

The weaponsmith nodded, "Yeah, I was shocked myself. Usually when she would talk about anyone taking over being leader, she would always add they'd have to take it from her cold, dead hands. Or something along those lines. Although with you, she seemed genuine and wasn't exactly against it."

Raven cleared her throat and the two men saw that the light pink was much darker now but still not red. "Can we move past this?" It came out more as a demand and less of a question. "We are here for a reason. Jaune here had his weapon break on our latest raid. I was hoping you could fix it."

"Depends on the condition it's in." He said as he turned back to his forge and waved them forward. "Bring it in here."

Raven and Jaune followed him in. As they entered, Jaune saw the actual forge in the back of the building with a roaring fire in it. There was an anvil several feet in front of it with a big tub-like item right next to it. It was either filled with water or oil, most likely the latter. On the left side wall was a table with a variety of tools like hammers, tongs, chisels, files and whetstones. On the right side was a small doorway that look like it led into a storeroom, probably for any ores, ingots or general materials he used.

Jaune then set the blanket on the table before he unwrapped it to reveal the his broken sword in three separate pieces. Kajiya stepped forward and examined the pieces, picking them up to examine the breaks. He eventually set them down, "It's not bad. I could fix it like it was before but that would be a moot point."

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

He tapped one of the piece with his index finger, "This metal is medium weight and very strong but me fixing it will leave weak points. Making it easier for it to break again or even worse. To be blunt, it'd be a liability."

Jaune looked at the blade and felt his heart drop a bit. He didn't want to just throw away the sword he had used over the last several months. But trying to use it now would just be a death sentence. Raven saw his downtrodden expression and she felt bad for him, as crazy as that sounded. She looked back at the weaponsmith, "So there's nothing you can do?"

Kajiya just smiled at her, "Never said that. Fixing weapons is only one of my many talents." He then walked past them and into his storeroom. As they could hear him moving materials around, Jaune turned to Raven with a questioning look. Her only response was to shrug her shoulders. He then walked back in with a big chunk of a red ore in his hands, "But I could reforge the sword with this to make it better than ever. Been saving it for a special occasion and if this guy is half as good as you've told me, I think it would be the best time to use it." He smirked, "That is, if you want me to."

Jaune just stared into his eyes with a grin, "Hell yeah!"

Jaune shook his head to come back to reality. He quickly left the room and back to the dining area. Velvet, Raven and Aaeron just looked on in curiosity while Neo had a look of anticipation. He just grinned and handed her a box, "Something I asked Kajiya to make for you when you got your mask. But by the time he finished it, you were already in Vale and I didn't want to potentially blow your cover."

As she took it and placed it on the table, Jaune sat down next to his wife. Neo looked like a child getting a birthday present. When she opened the box and saw what was inside, her eyes went wide. Inside were two armored bracers. One was pink and the other was brown to match her eyes. They each had white accents and had her emblem two-thirds the way down from the wrist, in the middle of the outer arm.

She looked up at Jaune wide eyed and he smiled, "They are more then just armor. You can use your aura to deploy the hidden blades at the inner part of the wrists. There's also a hidden gun on both, around the same area as the blade, but they are only single shot though. I hope you like-oof!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Neo had jumped onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around him to hug him tightly before leaning up and placing a chaste but long kiss on his cheek, just by his lips. She then pulled away with a gleam in her eyes before she rested the side of her head on his chest. Jaune got over his shock and wrapped one arm around her back for hug, "You're welcome, Neo."

That didn't last long because he started to hear a constant tapping sound. Jaune looked over to see Raven just giving him a hard look with her index finger tapping against the table. Jaune just looked at her with a small grin and weak chuckle. Meanwhile, Neo was just ignoring what was going on, Velvet was looking between the couple and unsure what would happen next and Aaeron was just giving Jaune a shit eating grin.

Luckily, a fight didn't break out and everyone finished their breakfast before heading to the locker room to grab their gear. Jaune and Raven walked into the training room while the others were still getting their weapons. Raven turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and he instantly placed his hands on her waist. She looked him in the eyes, "You be careful, Jaune."

Jaune just nodded with a small smile, "I will. You do the same, Raven."

She nodded and leant in to kiss him. He did the same and before he knew it, she suddenly deepened it and shocking him. She heatedly dominated his tongue for several seconds before he quickly returned the same amount of passion. The two heatedly made-out for several minutes and as air was starting to become thin, Jaune felt Raven's aura slowly flow into him.

The two eventually pulled away and Raven gently pulled Jaune down so his forehead was resting against her own. There was a moment of silence between them before Jaune spoke up in a gentle tone, "What brought that on, Beloved?"

She just gave a quiet chuckle, "Just thought I would show you how much I love you." There was a pause, "And to make a point as well."

That made Jaune open his eyes and look to the side to see the other three there now. Aaeron was looking off to the side, trying and failing to give the married couple some privacy. Velvet was blushing a deep red and was covering her eyes with her hands. But if you looked close enough, you could see her one eye looking through a gap in her fingers. Finally Neo was giving Raven an almost challenging glare with her hands on hips and her foot tapping repeatedly.

Jaune just looked at Raven and she just smirked victoriously. She then leant back up and pecked him on the lips again, "Be safe, my Husband." She then sauntered away from him and put her mask on. She then drew her sword and opened a portal. She walked through and Aaeron quickly went after her, placing his mask on as he went.

Jaune just shook his head as the two women walked over to him. He noticed that Neo had her bracers on, the brown on her left arm and the pink on her right arm to match her hair and eyes. "You're going to push her too far one day, Neo."

The shorter woman just shrugged before pulling her Griffon mask on and resting her parasol on her shoulder. Jaune sighed before turning to Velvet, "You have everything you need?"

Velvet nodded with a small smile and the blush slowly fading from her cheeks, "Yes. I just topped up Anesidora with hard-light Dust so I'm good." She said that as she motioned to the box at the back of her belt. She then looked nervous, "You sure it's alright for me to help myself?"

Jaune nodded, "We have a lot of Dust left behind by Atlas. The only people who use it are Onyx, Raven and me on occasions. But no one really uses the hard-light besides Raven when that blade breaks. So, it's all yours."

With hearing that, she smiled brightly and nodded. She then took out a black face mask, identical to the ones that Pyrrha and Ren wore when infiltrating Beacon. Once she did that, Jaune handed her a black scroll since she was now leaving the Headquarters. When she had it secured, Jaune placed the Wyvern mask on and slashed the air with his flamberge, creating his black portal. With that, the three walked through the portal.

As they emerged on the other side, they were now in one of the usual forest of Anima. When the portal snapped behind them, Jaune started walking in the direction of their informant with Neo and Velvet walking a step or two behind him. They walked for a good thirty to forty-five minutes through the forest. It was mostly peaceful with only a Beowolf showing up, which they easily dealt with. It seemed it would be a peaceful mission, that was until Jaune smelt smoke. He stopped and sniffed the air until he figured it was coming from the direction they were heading towards.

"Smoke. Let's move." Jaune said out loud before he took off in a sprint. The two women followed right behind him. It took another ten or so minutes of them running before they emerged by a riverbed and across that river was a small hunting cabin ablaze.

Jaune was about to run across the river before the sound of gunshots were heard. On reflex he activated Distortion and the Dust rounds bounced off him and in random directions, releasing flames as they hit the next target. As that was happening, he was moving to be in front of Neo and Velvet to act as a shield.

After the barrage stopped, Jaune dismissed his Semblance and looked around for their attacker. His eyes landed on a purple and red armored man with aquamarine hair and golden-yellow eyes. He had his sadistic grin still on his face as he twirled his black and purple daggers between his fingers. Jaune's eyes narrowed as he growled, "Valter Moonstone."

He just chuckled, "Looks like I hit the jackpot." was all he said.

A/N- Here it it! Sorry for the long wait but for some reason this chapter was hard for me to write. Still not sure why. Hopefully that explains the delay and why the chapter is a bit shorter than normal. I hope you all understand.

Now in other news, I have a poll on my profile to see what you all would like me to write next. So, head on over and place your votes. There is still about a week or so until I take it down, so don't wait long. With all that said, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in the next update!

Beat Reader was Knor Evik Vlakhavlakh, go check him out!