Sup lads? Welcome to chapter 2 of A God's Return. I know I said it was only a one-shot, but a few people asked for more so, who am I to say no? Anywho, wanna say real quickly that this chapter isn't a continuation of chapter 1. Given it a bit of thought and decided this is what I wanted the first chapter to be. So, I hope you enjoy. Tell me if you want me to make this a story for the future. So, let's get into it.
They all sat in silence as they stared at the TV, their wanted poster in full display. None of them could have predicted that this would have turned out like this. Being fugitives. A few days ago, they were in General Ironwood's good graces, but now… now they were on his shit list.
And to make matters worse, Ruby and Yang were fighting about what they should do. Yang wanted to help the people of Mantle as much as she could, whilst Ruby wanted to go back to Atlas to launch Amity in the sky.
'What should we do?' Jaune thought to himself, watching as the two sisters continued to bicker. They really didn't have the time for this, to start fighting amongst themselves. But, they didn't have many options, so it's either Yang's way or Ruby's.
"Foolish… you have enough manpower to easily do both tasks."
Jaune's eyes briefly widened at the familiar voice inside his head. The voice of a God, one lost to time. The God of War.
He has been with Jaune ever since he could walk. At first, Jaune thought he was just an imaginary friend due to the fact that Jaune didn't have many, if at all, friends when he was growing up. Plus he was a kid. What else could he think?
But, as the years slowly passed and Jaune grew older, he realized that the voice in his head was in fact, very real. He learned that it was him that created the very first Arc to walk across Remnant, gracing them with incredible Aura reserves. Their Semblances differed, and was not hereditary like Weiss' Semblance was.
As Jaune went to Beacon, the God wasn't at all pleased with the methods he used to get accepted. False transcripts. That was mostly what he heard during his initiation and the time when he was bullied by Cardin.
"If you had taken your training seriously when you were a boy, you wouldn't be as weak as you are now, boy."
His words affected Jaune. So, when he accepted Pyrrha's offer of training, Jaune put all his efforts into getting stronger, and the God made sure that there would be no distractions, or leeway's.
Still, it has been a while since he's heard his voice. The last time he did was during Haven when he was fighting Cinder. Or, he should say when he was being humiliated by her. The God tried to offer Jaune assistance in the fight, but Jaune was too blinded by his anger to even acknowledge his words.
After that battle ended, he fell silent. But Jaune knew he was still with him. His grunts of either displeasure or acceptance would occasionally ring in Jaune's mind. Why he fell silent, Jaune would never know. Though in a strange way, he appreciated it. The God once told him that he needed to take decisions of his own accord, in order to grow as a leader and warrior. His counsel wouldn't be available to him whenever he wanted.
"But, wouldn't splitting up be exactly what Salem wants? Plus, we don't have enough people to equally distribute between us." Jaune stated.
"No. What the false Goddess wants, is to grow a wedge between all of you. And she is succeeding with how the children are bickering."
"But still, that doesn't solve the other issue we have. We don't have enough people to separate between us." Jaune once again stated.
"You do not. But, you are all warriors with enough experience to make this work out. Have faith in your comrades, boy."
Jaune blinked as he heard the God's words. He called him a warrior.
"Do not dwell on what I called you. Focus on the matter at hand."
Jaune quickly shook his head and stood up from the chair, making his way between the two sisters.
"We can do both. Ruby takes a group that want to work with launching Amity, and Yang takes another group to help Mantle." Jaune said, looking at Ruby and Yang.
"What? No, Jaune that's exactly what Salem wants, it's to divide us!" Ruby said, shooting down Jaune's suggesting immediately.
Oscar went in to respond, but Jaune beat him to it.
"No. What the false Goddess wants, is to turn us against each other. And from what I'm seeing, she's doing an excellent job at it." Jaune said, his voice changing a slight bit, without him even realizing.
Everyone jumped slightly at the way his voice changed, taking a sterner tone as he locked eyes with Ruby.
"Wait, Jaune why did you call her 'False Goddess'?" Oscar asked in confusion at the strange way he mentioned Salem.
Jaune blinked. Huh, he did call her that. The God must be rubbing off on him.
"Look, that doesn't matter. We don't have much time. Who wants to help Ruby with launching Amity?" Jaune asked, his eyes scanning for the people who would raise their hands.
Four people did. Ruby of course, Blake, Weiss and surprisingly, Nora. Ren looked at her with a surprised look, a small mix of hurt as well.
Nora looked down, not wanting to stare into Ren's eyes. But, she needed to think. Plus, as much as she didn't want to admit it, Ren has been acting strange ever since they lost the Relic. He was too quick to temper, which was unusual for him to begin with. And she could tell he was having doubts.
She really wanted to know what was wrong with him. But for now, she needed her space from him.
Jaune nodded as he looked at the group Ruby would take with her. That means he, Ren, Oscar and Yang would go out and help evacuate Mantle. Though there was another issue.
Penny didn't raise her hand.
Jaune turned to look at the artificial girl, who was still sitting on one of the chairs and looking down, in deep thought.
Jaune walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, snapping the girl out of her thoughts.
"What are you thinking about Penny?" Jaune asked softly.
Penny looked away, her eyes returning to the floor.
"Well… what if I take the Relic to Salem? Open the vault and give it to her. Maybe she'll leave us alone if I do that." Penny made her thoughts known.
"I doubt that would be the case, Penny. Even if you give it to her willingly, Salem has come too far to back down now. Her goal isn't to just take the Relic. It's to instill as much fear as she can, whilst taking down Atlas. And, if what Ruby told me is true, Cinder will also be there. She'll take the Winter Maiden's power from you and kill you. We can't risk that. For now, go with Ruby and handle our Amity problem. Out of everyone here, you know Atlas the best." Jaune told her with a nod.
"So, anyone else have an issue with the plan?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Good. Then let's move out."
"Jaune, wait."
Jaune stopped at the door, a pair of keys flying towards him. He reached and grabbed them, looking at Pietro in confusion.
"The keys to my lab here in Mantle. Before things went south, I started to work on something that would have helped you get around faster. I believe I finished enough of them to help the four of you out." Pietro said.
Jaune nodded in thanks and left the safehouse, the rest of his team not too far behind him.
/
Well, things could be a lot better.
After the team evacuated the rest of the people in Mantle, they took them to the Crater where Robyn's Happy Huntresses have built a base of operations. Fiona said that the Grimm were attacking in the East of Mantle, Jaune and the rest of the team volunteering to go and check it out.
Then, they met a Grimm that none of them have seen before. The Hound.
Getting the jump on them, the Hound fought off the group with ease, using the unconscious Oscar as a meat shield.
So here they were, following the new Grimm out of Mantle with their new Hoverbikes, courtesy of Pietro, whilst also trying to come out of it alive.
Shockingly, not only was this Grimm intelligent enough to speak, but it also knew how to call for support. So, now they were being chased by a lot of Centinel Grimm.
Jaune's hoverbike took a heavy hit by a Centinel's acid spit, damaging one of the thrusters which caused the bike to slow down. Jaune, using his quick thinking and shield, managed to get to the top of a ledge, where he was picked up by Yang so they could continue their chase.
Jaune did well to defend them from the many Grimm chasing them, but when their road was blocked by a Teryx and a few Centinel, Jaune used one of his Shield Grenades, again courtesy of Pietro, to create a ramp for Yang to use.
When they landed, no more Grimm came from in front of them, but they still had a lot chasing after them. Jaune looked up and saw the Hound go higher in the air, Ren still hanging from the wires of StormFlower.
"You are approaching a cliff, boy."
Jaune's eyes widened at the God's words. He took a slight glance from behind Yang and saw that what the God was saying was true.
"Before you start panicking boy… Do not worry. I will handle this."
"Wait, what?" Jaune asked, but was met with silence. Then, his world went dark as he found himself inside his head.
The God of War, now using Jaune's body, opened his eyes.
"We are approaching a cliff." He said calmly.
Yang took her eyes away from the Hound that was flying above and true to Jaune's word; a cliff was where they were driving towards. Yang's eyes widened with panic, but before she could hit the brakes to stop, the God stopped her.
"Wait. Do not stop driving. We have a dozen Grimm behind us, and if we stop now we lose both our lives and this thing that's got the boy." The God said, his voice staying calm despite the odds against them.
"What do we do then? Do you have a plan Jaune?" Yang asked, their bike nearing the cliffs edge.
"Yes. Drive off the cliff."
"What?!" Yang asked as she looked back at the God occupying Jaune's body in shock and terror.
"Have faith. I will handle the rest." The God whispered calmly as his gaze traveled to the Hound up above.
Yang didn't know why, but the way he spoke calmed her down a bit. He said it with such confidence, that she couldn't help but trust in his plan, whatever it was. Plus, Jaune's plans were always crazy, but they worked somehow. So, she nodded and sped up.
The God of War stood up from behind Yang and prepared himself. A few seconds before they would plunge themselves off the cliff, he grabbed Yang by the waist, causing her to let out a yelp of surprise, adjusting her in his arms, before putting a hand under her legs and carrying her bridal style.
Just as the bike drove off the cliff, he propelled himself with his jump.
Yang closed her eyes and hoped that whatever Jaune's plan was, worked. A few seconds passed and Yang felt that they weren't falling down, but rather… gliding?
She slowly opened her eyes and saw that they were truly gliding in the air.
"…Huh?" Came from the mouth of Yang.
She looked at Jaune, and saw the reason they were gliding. Or in this case, flying. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lungs.
Jaune had wings. Actual, feathery wings.
The wings were extended, slowly flapping in order to keep them from falling to their deaths.
"Jaune… you're a Faunus?" Yang asked in shock. Ever since she met him at Beacon, nothing indicated that the blonde boy was a Faunus. The wings were massive like a fully grown eagle, so there was no way he could have kept them hidden for so long.
Jaune turned slightly to look at Yang, his focus retuning to the Hound a second later.
"Not exactly. I will explain later. We must focus on getting back the boy and insuring my teammates' safety." The God said, leaving no room for further questions.
Yang just nodded, still too shocked and surprised to continue her questions. She turned to look at Ren, who looked just as shocked as she was.
Still, the God couldn't help himself by letting out a hum of satisfaction. The wings of Icarus. Since they were destroyed by Zeus' hands during their battle, he hasn't used anything to replace them. Now though, they were different. Instead of using his arms to flap them around, they now worked like a pair of normal wings. He only used his Magic to create them.
If his father could turn into an Eagle, then he could do the same, or a slight part of that transformation.
Now, it was the case of how to get the boy, Oscar back. He could use his lightning, a gift Zeus gave him when he was on his quest for vengeance against Ares, but he needed to go up in the clouds to gather as much power as he could. It was also the fact that he was carrying a mortal, who wouldn't survive that amount of lightning.
So, he only had one other choice.
"Hold on tightly." The God ordered Yang, whose grip tightened around him instantly.
He removed one of his hands from Yang and extended it forwards. Just as he did, he instantly felt the vibration of the Dwarves' Magic. The same Magic he used to recall his axe back.
If there was one thing he knew about this world, it was that Solitas was an exact copy of Scandinavia. Which meant, his Leviathan Axe wouldn't be too far away.
He was right.
He watched as a light blue shine came closer towards them. Just as it did, the axe severed one of the wings which kept the Hound flying, the one wing flapping desperately to keep them afloat. It proved futile, as the Grimm started to lose height and fast.
The axe flew back into the God's hand, ice briefly covering the metal as he held it up. He then flew slightly downwards to follow the descending Grimm. With one powerful flap of his wings, they gained a boost that could rival Ruby's Semblance.
"Ren, grab on!" Yang shouted as they got closer to Ren.
He nodded and with a click, the wires that were wrapped around the Hound's foot came loose, Ren falling backwards. Yang managed to grab onto his arm.
"Gotcha!"
"Jaune, how…?" Ren tried to ask.
"Later."
With another powerful flap, he gained even more speed. He flew directly under the Hound, coming to a stop by extending his massive wings once he was face to face with it.
He raised the axe in the air and with a powerful yell, brought it down onto the Grimm's skull.
The Hound in its pain let out a roar, letting go of Oscar from its arms as even more black ooze came out from its injured head.
The God gave himself another mighty boost, descending so that they could catch Oscar before he hit the ground. Ren extended his hand as far as he could, thankfully managing to catch the young boy in time.
"I got him!" Ren shouted.
The God once again extended his wings to slow down their descent. Shortly after, their feet hit the snow softly.
"Is everyone okay?" Yang asked as she looked at Ren and Oscar.
Ren gave a nod, whilst Oscar, who was still unconscious, was still breathing steadily.
Yang looked at Jaune, and saw his wings disappear into his back. She blinked as she watched in fascination as they disappeared from her sight.
"How come you never told us you were a Faunus?" Yang asked, crossing her arms.
The God simply held his hand up and looked at the sky. The Hound flew past their heads and crashed harshly onto the snow a few feet away from them.
The God slowly approached the fallen creature, noticing that despite the axe still in its head, it was still breathing, although harshly,
The God grabbed the pommel of the axe and yanked it out of the Grimm's head, letting its roar be heard at the pain it felt. He raised his axe once more, preparing to finish the job.
With another yell, he brought it down to the Grimm's neck, decapitating it and ending its existence.
He watched as the Grimm slowly disappeared, the black smoke fully engulfing it. Once it cleared up, there was none of it left.
The God looked at his old axe, a longing and sad feeling entering him. He softly traced his fingers over the sharp edge of the metal, closing his eyes as he did so.
"Faye…" He whispered the name of his former lover.
That chapter of his life closed a long time ago. There was no point in remembering it. So, he pulled his hand back and threw the axe, watching as it disappeared into the distance. He exhaled out the nose and turned to look at the two mortals.
"Let us get out of the snow. I will answer your questions on the way."
And that's a wrap people. Hope you enjoyed this. Like I said, if you want a full story to come out of this, I'll be more than happy to oblige. So until next time lads.