Distortion
It had been a few hours since Jaune had blacked out. He was slowly coming back to consciousness and he only felt one thing: pain. Every inch of his body felt like ice, fire and lightning was racing through it in an unholy union. The pain was beyond anything he had experienced before. More than when he originally awakened his Negative aura and more than when he previously went through this.
It took all his strength to not just curl up into a ball. His breath just came in very shallow pants that did nothing to dull the burning in his lungs. His body shook in pain and sweat started to accumulate across his body. His Negative aura was tearing his body apart and there was only one thing that could help. And one person he would let help him. "Raven…" he croaked out in a pained gasp.
He slowly reached out a shaking hand for his scroll. It was on his nightstand which was only a foot or so away but it felt more like miles to him. His fingertips brushed across it and he tried to picked it up. It slipped through his shaking hand and weak grip to crash onto the floor. Jaune gave off a weak and pain filled groan before he grabbed the edge of his bed and started to pull himself closer to the edge.
Once there, he used his one arm to brace himself against the nightstand as he tried to reach down for the device. His arm was shaking like crazy as it supported his weight. When he was only a few inches from his scroll, he heard a knock on his door and a familiar voice speak up, "Jaune, are you up? It's been a while so I wanted to check on you." Velvet said through the door.
That brief distraction caused his arm to give way and Jaune crashed onto the ground in a heap, the nightstand toppling alongside him. After the audible crash, Jaune laid there in pain, groaning as he did. His scroll was knocked away and further across the room. He just laid there, in too much pain to try to raise himself up again.
"Jaune, are you okay? What was that sound?" Velvet's worried voice came through the door again. Jaune couldn't utter anything other than a pained gasp. "I'm coming in." she said before she pushed the door open and the rabbit Faunus gasped as Jaune laid on the floor. "Jaune!?" She said as she ran to him.
She dropped down onto her knees and pulled him off the floor and into a sitting position. Not having the strength to stay up, he fell to the side and the side of his head landed against her breast. She paid it no mind as her left arm went around his shoulders and his right hand rested on his chest, "What's wrong? Speak to me." He tried but all that came out was a cough as a small amount of blood fall from the corner of his mouth and down his chin. That made her panic and there was only one other person in the Headquarters that could possibly help. "Neo! Jaune's hurt, hurry!" she shouted into the hallway in her panic.
After a brief silence, both could hear the telltale signs of heels racing down the hall towards them. A few seconds later, Neo came to a screeching halt in front of his door, nearly passing by it. Her panicked expression became worse when her eyes landed on him. Her eyes went even wider and a near silent gasp escaped her lips. She had seen him like this before but never this bad. There was only one thing she could do to help him.
She quickly made her way into the room and by his side. She went down on her knees beside him and took his hand in both of her's. She gave him a calming smile before she closed her eyes and started to flare her aura around herself. That's when something that hadn't happened in so long occurred: his Negative aura acted against his will.
His black aura surged around him before it started to surge up Neo's arms and absorbing her Positive aura at a fevered pace. It was like a starving animal eating after it finally got some food. A part of him hated the fact he had such little control over his aura in this situation. But both Neo and he knew that this was the only way to get him back on his feet. So he sucked it up and dealt with it.
After a tense silence of Jaune laying there while his Negative aura siphoned Neo's with Velvet watching on nervously, Jaune finally reeled in his Negative aura back under his control and stopped it. His aura was now at about half and Neo was around a third, he didn't need anymore. He took a deep breath and sighed. He looked at Neo with a grateful look in his eyes, "Thank you, Neo. I really needed that."
She just gave him a tiny smile and nodded. Jaune started to pull himself to his feet, after removing his head from Velvet's impromptu pillow. "Sorry about that, Vel."
She tilted her head slightly before she realized what he meant and blushed. She look to the side sheepishly, "I-it's fine, Jaune. Y-you weren't in great shape." she cleared her throat before she continued, "What happened anyway? What was wrong with you?"
With him now back on his feet, he started to pick up the nightstand he knocked over, "One of the weaknesses to Negative aura." He turned back around to look at the now thoroughly confused Velvet. "Negative aura is powerful but it recharges much slower than the traditional one you're used to. Which is why I taught myself, Pyrrha and Ren how to siphon Positive aura reflexively while fighting. To cover up that weakness as much as possible."
Velvet slowly nodded, "Okay. But even with the slow rejuvenation rate, how did that lead to you in that kind of condition? You still have the blood on your chin." She pointed at it as she said that.
He wiped away the blood with the heel of his hand before he continued, "If your Negative aura grows too low, less than a third, the Negative aura starts to damage the body instead of protecting it. Longer it stays that way, the worse it gets. You either have to try to suffer through it or siphon enough aura to replenish your own." He shrugged, "I don't know why it does that but my theory is since it comes from negative emotions, there is a certain toxicity to it. And that gets worse in lower amounts of aura because there isn't a lot to dilute it. If that makes sense to you."
Velvet thought it over for a bit, "I guess that makes sense. By why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"Don't take this the wrong way but you didn't need to know." He started. "The only people who knew about this were the masked members of the Branwen tribe before its destruction and I only told them after I ascended to being the leader. Most of Knightingale are made from those people or unlocked their Negative aura and had to be informed. I was going to tell you when we started your training."
"Would you have told me if I didn't?" she asked. A part of her was already starting to worry about having a similar situation to what she had with her team.
He placed his hand on her shoulder, "Yes, Velvet, I was. You are someone that had my trust, even before everything. Everyone in Knightingale is my family and someone I trust. But I was going to wait because you've only been here a week and I wanted you to get used to everything after I told you everything else when you first came here."
Velvet just stared into her eyes, needing to be sure he wasn't lying. It was painful to find out her team had been lying to her. But if Jaune was, she wouldn't know what to do. Luckily, she found no trace of a lie in his eyes. She sighed and placed her own hand over top his own on her shoulder. She gently squeezed, "I believe you."
They gave each other small smiles before they took their hands away. Velvet then turned to Neo, "So, when did Neo find out about this?"
Neo just raised her eyebrow with a small grin. Not understanding the girl just yet, Jaune answered for her, "When Neo became the first member of Knightingale after the Branwen's destruction, we went on a mission and I got very low after things went south. She had a front row seat to seeing that. So I had to explain everything to her afterwards."
Said woman had now walked past the two of them to pick up Jaune's scroll from the ground before she handed it back to its owner. Jaune took it with a smile and patted her head as a thanks. "And, let's not tell Raven about this. Even though she appears to be unshakable, knowing how bad I was will unnerve her. Okay?" The two women nodded and Jaune started to walk out of the room, "Great. Why don't I make us something to eat? I'll be sure to make extra in case the others show up."
They probably wouldn't since they all just left that morning and they were reliant of Raven's portals to get back to base. And Raven wouldn't be back until the next day at the earliest. But better to be safe than sorry. If for some reason they did come back, he would want them to have a meal waiting for them if they wanted it.
As he made it to the kitchen, he started to prepare a chicken stir-fry. As he was preparing the chicken, Velvet walked in and helped him dice and chop the vegetables. He gave her a grateful smile and she just returned it. Neo walked in a few minutes later but instead of helping, she just grabbed a pint of ice cream and a spoon before leaving. Jaune couldn't help but roll his eyes with a chuckle at her antics.
"Jaune?" Velvet spoke up as they were going about their tasks. He responded with a hum and she continued, "Why didn't you tell me or Neo you were that bad of shape when we came back?" she asked nervously.
Jaune paused for a second before he sighed, "I don't like having anyone in Knightingale seeing me like that. Except Raven." He went back to oiling the skillet he was going to use, "I'm the leader of everyone that lives here. I am in charge of their lives. If they die on a mission, it's because I sent them out on it. I need to be seen as someone powerful and reliable. Takes away from that when I end up in that sorry shape."
He thought that was the end of the conversation but he soon felt her arms wrap around his chest to hug him. He then felt her head lean against his back. He went rigid in her hold but didn't say anything. Neither did she. He eventually did relax and just stood there in her embrace and her silent reassurance. His hand moved up to one of hers and gently squeezed it, "Thanks, Vel." He said simply and quietly. She just nodded her head into his back. They eventually pulled apart and went back to preparing the meal.
Jaune woke up early the next morning. He awoke to find that he was still alone in his bed which was enough proof that everyone else was still out on their missions. With that confirmation, he got up and dressed and made his way down to the training rooms to get some light practice in before Velvet woke up and he could start training her in the use of Negative aura.
He arrived at the locker room and grabbed his sword and sheathe/shield before making his way into the training rooms proper. He set the parameters to be seven training bots at once and for them to be replaced with every one he destroyed. He then walked into the center of the ring as the seven drones came out of the ground around him. He drew his blade and dropped into his stance, even setting his own rule to not use any of his Semblances and using his aura at the bare minimal. He then started his training. He used his sword and hand-to-hand combat mostly and only used his shield when it was absolutely needed. As his body started to settle into the flow, his mind started to relive the events of the day before and what choices he would have to make from this point forward.
During that lapse in judgement, he took a punch to the chin from one of the drones. He was forced onto his back foot and he decided to really get into destroying these machines. He sheathed his blade before pulling it and the sheathe itself from his back, transforming them both into his greatsword. He then started to tear into the machines with a new vigor, using them as a way to release his surplus of negative emotions. And losing track of any measurement of time.
He was about to bring his massive blade down upon the head of yet another drone when it froze completely, unmoving. Jaune noticed this and stopped his blade before it could bite into the metal. He pulled his sword away and saw the thing turn around and walk back over to where it came out of the ground. The other six doing the exact same as mechanical arms came out to collect the couple dozen broken machines to repair and rebuild them. That would only happen if someone shut down the program.
He turned around to see both Raven and Aaeron standing near the control panel, both looking at him in concern. He was so absorbed in the fighting, he had missed them arriving, which was very unusual for him and both knew it. He tried to put on his best smile as he walked over to them, his greatsword collapsing back into it standby mode, "You're back. It's great to see you two. Especially you, Love." He hugged his wife and gave her a kiss, which she returned.
The two pulled apart and Raven gave him a small smile, "I missed you too, Jaune. I'm guessing things didn't go so well on your mission, did it?" she asked with a concerned but serious tone.
Jaune sighed, "Yeah. That's one word for it." He ran his hand through his hair, "When everyone comes back, we have something serious to discuss."
Raven nodded, "I'll bring them back as soon as they are prepared."
"So, how did things go on your end?" Jaune asked.
Aaeron shook his head, "Not well. We'll talk about that when everyone gets here, so we don't have to repeat ourselves."
Jaune nodded, "Fair enough. And just so you two aren't too surprised. The Beast of Mistral is locked up in one of the holding cells."
The two looked at him in shock before Raven started to massage her forehead, "I can only imagine the sort of headache this is going to be."
Jaune just gave a weak chuckle in return, "Come on. I'll cook you two breakfast and you can unwind." The two agreed with nods and they walked out of the training room, depositing their weapons into their respective lockers before heading to the kitchen/living area. The two took their seats, Aaeron at the table and Raven on the couch, while Jaune went about cooking them eggs, sausage and bacon after he set up the coffee-maker.
As the two were relaxing with their coffee, Velvet walked into the room with a yawn. She noticed that Aaeron and Raven were back and she gave them a small smile, "Welcome back you two, how did things go?"
Raven chose to not answer her while Aaeron shrugged, "It went. We'll explain when everyone comes back."
Velvet wilted slightly, "Oh, well, uh sorry to hear that." Not sure on what to say or do next, she quickly walked over to Jaune to help him out with breakfast. While Raven watched her like a hawk and made Velvet more nervous. As she was helping Jaune, she whispered, "Why do I feel like she hates me?"
He gained a slight smirk, "She just doesn't trust women who could have feelings for me." That earned a blush from Velvet and she was about to stutter out denials before Jaune continued, "She does the same thing with Pyrrha and Neo, for obvious reasons. But don't worry, just don't do anything that isn't platonic and she won't do anything."
Velvet had the brief thought of giving him a quick peck on his cheek, just to prove some sort of point to Raven but she quickly shook that off and blushed again. Her Negative aura was already starting to dull some of her inhibitions as it usually did when someone first unlocked it.
It wasn't much longer and four plates of food were ready with a fifth one on the counter with a lid on it for Neo when she woke up. The four of them sat down at the table and enjoyed their breakfast with coffee in a relative silence. All of them just relieved to being back home. It wasn't even ten minutes before Neo practically shambled into the room. She didn't even look at any of them as she grabbed her own plate of food and a mug of coffee and joined them at the table. She drowsily started to eat her food which made Jaune and Velvet smile slightly.
When they were all done eating, Jaune and Velvet took the plates and pans and started to clean them. As they were doing that, Raven was getting up from the table with her scroll out, "Looks like the others are ready to return. I'll head to the training rooms and bring them back."
Jaune looked over his shoulder at her as she was making her way to the door, "Bring them to the conference room when you do. We can just check in quickly and go from there." Raven just nodded as she finally left.
The two quickly finished the dishes and made their way to the conference room with Aaeron and Neo right behind them. As they walked up to the door, Velvet stopping just before they could enter, "Do you want me in there as well? I'm still new and don't even have a mask."
Jaune just turned to her with a smile, "Velvet, you're as much a part of this as any other member. So, yes, you can come in."
Velvet nodded and followed them all in. Jaune sat down at his usual spot at the head to the table and placing the Wyvern mask in front of him. Aaeron took his usual spot in the second seat to Jaune's right and placing his Deathstalker mask on the table in front of him. Neo sat down next to him in the third seat and did the same with her own Griffon mask. Velvet just followed their lead and sat down next to the ice cream themed woman.
They all sat in a comfortable silence as they waited for the rest of them to join them. It was only a few minutes before the door opened again with Raven stepping in with the rest of Knightingale behind them. Jaune gave them all a smile and a nod, happy to see that everyone was back and not looking too exhausted or even injured.
Raven walked over and took her normal seat on Jaune's right, placing the Nevermore mask on the table in front of her. Gil took his seat on Jaune's left with the Ursa mask in front of him. Onyx took the empty seat next to the bear Faunus following his lead and putting the Beowolf mask on the table. Pyrhha took the seat next to him and Ren took the seat right next to her. Following everyone's lead and placing the Leviathan and Imp mask on the table as well.
After everyone was seated, Jaune turned to everyone with an easygoing smile, "I'm glad to see you all made it back no worse for wear. Sorry for having this meeting so soon after you came back but I felt it'd be easier to get this all out of the way and discuss what to do next. But first, how did your missions go?"
Gil was the first to speak up, "Vacuo doesn't have much information to send to Atlas which we expected. And the people we were sent to see if they could be recruited were….taken care of. By Vincent."
That stunned Jaune, Raven and Aaeron. "Vincent's in Vacuo?" Aaeron asked.
Gil nodded, "He was. The hitman he was looking for was out there. He didn't have much information but he did give him the name of the guy that reached out to him. He's tracking him down now."
Jaune sighed, "That's good at least." He then looked to Pyrrha, "What did you think of him?"
Pyrrha opened her mouth before she closed it and thought it over. She eventually sighed, "He was a bit…abrasive."
That caused him to chuckle, "That's one word for him." He then saw the confused looks on Onyx, Ren, Neo and Velvet's faces. "Vincent Ostium is a member of Knightinagle and was originally from the Branwen tribe. He is currently on a personal mission and we've been respecting that. But we may have to keep an ear out in case things with Atlas get worse." He then turned to Onyx, "And Mistral?"
"Sneaking in was harder than we expected. They are trying to keep the Kingdom as secure as possible. But we managed to get in and meet Little Miss Malachite. We left her with the short list of people we had and she said it would take a couple weeks before she would have anything concrete."
The leader of Knightingale nodded, "Better than nothing." He then turned to his wife and Aaeron. "How'd things go in Atlas?"
Aaeron shook his head, "Not well at all. The contacts out there had nothing. Worse, Ironwood is getting back on his feet. He's almost recovered and once he is, he'll push this manhunt into high gear. And with me on the outside, it'll be tougher to get information."
Everyone was silent and Jaune massaged his forehead, "We knew this would happen eventually but damn it." He looked back over to Aaeron, "No way on keeping us updated?"
He scratched his chin, "I did leave a few presents in Atlas' systems. They would let me hack their systems much easier. But I would only have a few minutes at best before they would start trying to stop me. And it would only work once before they removed them and updated their security. So, I would recommend saving it until we absolutely need to."
"Fair enough." Jaune took a deep breath, "I have shocking but good news on my end." He motioned to Velvet with his hand, "Velvet has unlocked her Negative aura."
Everyone instantly turned to her in shock. She stared wide eyed and chuckled nervously. Onyx groaned and rested his head on his arm on the table. "How come everyone can unlock that but me?"
That caused Gil to laugh and smack him hard on the back, "Maybe its not meant to be, lad." He then looked at the fellow Faunus. "If you're interested, I wouldn't mind helping you out. I've helped the other three Negative aura users in this room, so I wouldn't mind."
Velvet smiled at him, "I would appreciate that. Thank you."
Jaune then cleared his throat to gain the attention of the room, "There is another thing. When the three of us went out on our mission, we ran into Valter Moonstone." That earned worried looks from Gil, Onyx, Pyrrha and Ren. "We were able to stop him with the help of Velvet unlocking her Negative aura. When the battle was done, I tried to retrieve the Sphinx mask but…" He sighed before he continued, "The mask has bonded to him."
That stunned everyone at the table. After a few seconds of silence, Aaeron slammed his hand on the table, "The bastard can't be worthy of that honor!"
Jaune just shook his head, "The miasma reacted and everything, Aaeron. It is his now."
That caused the spearman to growl. Gil stroked his beard in thought, "Does that mean you intend to induct him into Knightingale?"
"Out of the question!" Aaeron responded angrily. "There is no way we can trust him with the responsibility of the masks. He could betray us at any opportunity."
"So what do you think we should do?" Gil asked, annoyed.
"Kill the bastard. He killed Jasper, its only right." Aaeron answered.
As this was going on, the members of Knightingale that weren't originally from the Branwen tribe decided to stay out of this. It seemed like this was deep seated issue with them and didn't think their input would be appreciated. Eventually, Raven stopped the two from arguing, "What do you think we should do, Love?"
Gil and Aaeron stopped and just looked at their leader. Jaune had his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest. He was silent for a while, until he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "Killing him seems like the right choice. He killed Jasper and stole his mask." Aaeron grinned at that. "But, trying to find another person to bond with the mask would just be another issue for us to deal with." Gil nodded at that. "But again, we can trust him with everything."
"So, why not compromise?" He looked up at the table as a whole. "Why not sic the Beast of Mistral on Atlas?"
A/N- Here it is. Sorry for the long wait and the slightly shorter chapter than usual. This chapter was hard to write and life has been sorta hectic. After thinking about something for a long time, I have bad news: Distortion will be going on hiatus for three months.
For many of you who don't know, I have a very love/hate relationship with this story. Some chapters are so fun and exciting to write, while others are just so hard for me to even do. And lately, the excitement is getting harder and harder to find. This chapter was a physical struggle to even write. On top of that, this story gets more negativity than any other story I've written. I usually don't let it get to me but coupling that with the struggle to write it, its wearing on me more and more.
If I'm being brutally honest, I probably would've dropped this story if so many of you hadn't followed and favorited it. But you all did and that's why, I wanna do my best and finish this story properly. I know how it feels to have a story you like never end and is just abandoned, and I DO NOT want to do that to you all. That is why I'm taking this break, I'm hoping to refresh myself and regain the drive to keep writing it. But no matter what, in December, I will be posting another chapter. You can count on that.
I hope you'll all understand and be waiting patiently for the next chapter. If not, I get it. With that said, I hop you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see you all in the next update!