Chapter II

Windmills

It is noon of the first day of travel, the sun shines with clear skies over the green hills of the Stained Coast Line. Dominique walks proudly with his head tall; the adventure begins! His blood boiled with excitement. Just imagining the journey ahead of him was enough to put a big smile on his face. The feeling of adventure wasn't new to him, but this time is different, Dominique has become a master, his young squire was a dreamer just like him, he finally had a like minded person to pass down his wisdom to…and of course to bust out about his exploits.

"And there I was! Surrounded by bandits, 10 humans and 10 faunus. They even had a big gorilla faunus strong enough to break tree trunks with his bare hands. But of course, that was no match for my trusty shield. The gorilla faunus threw a punch with all his might and weight and I did not yield!" Dominique said proudly. If there was anything, he loved more than the adventure itself was telling the stories of his journeys and quests. To captivate the ears and hearts of those who listened to his tales.

"That…is an awesome…story…Mr Cervan…tes.." Jaune said with difficulty. "But…I have a..ques…tion".

"Well, you are interrupting me, but go on lad, speak up"

"Why do I have…to carry…all of …this?!" Jaune said with a bit of anger on his voice. Ever since they left Argus, Dominique made Jaune carry all their heavy bags and equipment. They´ve been traveling for 4 hours nonstop under the summer sun without water or even a bit of shade and Jaune could barely keep going, him wearing armor and a hoodie didn't help either.

"Well isn't it obvious?" Dominique said, to which Jaune answered with realization "Of Course! Is..a part of…my…training…isn't it?" to which Dominique responded "What? No kid, I woke up with an awful back pain, I think I slept in a bad position or something" and immediately afterwards took a drink of cold water from his canteen. "Ah! Refreshing! You want some, Squire?...Squire?..Jaune?"

Jaune collapsed of exhaustion, the bags piling on top of him.

After refreshing on a near by stream and grabbing a bite, Dominique kept sharing his stories to an amused Jaune. "Let me tell you a story. One time I was in Vale eating the most delicious noodles I´ve ever gotten, when I heard some odd noises coming from the kitchen. A thick eyebrow creep had kidnapped some innocent faunus! He had them tied up and was holding a butcher knife, clearly, he had the intention of serving them in the noodles, that was his secret ingredient! I was disgusted, and angered! I fought him off and freed the victims! Can you imagine?! Eating another person?!" Dominique said, to which Jaune responded, "But, didn't you say it was the best noodles ever?", Dominique quickly answered by saying "Well, yeah, I mean it was pretty good but that's not the point, the point is that it was wrong! And they were expensive as hell too. 15 Lien for a bowl of noodles!? Damn Eyebrows man, I hope he rots in jail!".

Dominique finished his sandwich and noticed that Jaune had been really quiet in the few hours they have known each other. He tried to break the ice with the kid by asking him for a story of his own.

"Ah Story?" Jaune said a bit nervous.

"Yeah, your blonde friend said you have done plenty of heroic deeds, and that little red head rascal said you even fought a giant robot and a..a..Knuckle-Bee ?" Dominique said as he tried to encourage Jaune to share his story.

"Knuckle? Oh the Nuckelavee? Yeah well that wasn't me that much, Ruby, Ren and Nora did most of the work there, I did manage to block it on my own for a bit though" Jaune said a bit shy. He didn't want to take what he thought was undeserved credit from his friends just to impress his new teacher, but even so Dominique did nothing but praise him. "Blocking it on your own?! And you ask why I gave you those bags? You have the strength of a bull, my boy!". Jaune didn't know how to feel about that response, he was a little flattered by the comments but also...very annoyed that he had to keep carrying the bags.

"And that was it?" Dominique persisted, to him a well told story was more valuable than any reward he could be offered and was adamant in making Jaune share his. Jaune however was very uncomfortable by being put on the spot in this way. Dominique continued "Listed boy, if you are going to tell a story you have to tell it right. Make it sound grandiose! Spectacular! Exciting!".

Jaune gave it some thought and decided to give it a try "Ok, so we were on this abandoned town…well it was destroyed more than just abandoned, but then again it was abandoned because it was destroyed so…Ah anyways, Ruby and I arrived to this town that…I guess evacuated is the right term? If you abandon something that is about to be destroyed then you are evacu…Hey? Sir?" Jaune stopped realizing that his master was falling asleep. "IM AWAKE! Im a…" Dominique yelled before massaging the bridge of his nose "Good lords, kid, you call that a story?! Go pick up the bags and let's keep moving, we don't have all day" he added.

Jaune a bit ashamed did as told but when he tried to pick up the bags his frustration took the best of him. "Oh, come on! Can't we get a cart or a horse or something?!", Jaune yelled to which his master replied, "Stop whining! Tell you what, if you tell me a good story you won't be carrying those bags anymore, deal? Until then get moving, Squire!".

The road ahead was long and dangerous. The Stained Coast Line is one of the regions of Anima with the most settlements, allowing for a lot of merchant routes to be created along it. The region is full of different resources and has easy access to both the North Sea and Lake Matsu and its big reserve of both fresh water and multitude of Dust. The lands are very fertile as evidence by both their green hills and deep forests, in fact much of the success of the many settlements came from their agricultural production of fruits, vegetables, flowers and derivate agricultural products, making it the most lucrative industry in the region. The rest of the settlements were mostly fishing and merchant towns, the later ones being the ones that tied the entire region together. However, the abundance of human towns this far away from the main walls of the Kingdom of Mistral made this region very Grimm active. It is said that the Grimm territory of the Stained Coast Line holds some of the rarest and strongest specimens of Grimm in the continent in both land and sea. It is for this reason that settlements in the Stained Coast Line, while numerous are only compose of small towns and villages. There aren't big cities in the Stained Coast Line as the humans that live there choose to keep their towns as spread out as possible in order to reduce Grimm attacks…with varied decrees of success that is.

The distance from the main Kingdom also makes it difficult for Mistral soldiers and police forces to stablish effective operations in the Stained Coast Line. The richer towns generally create their own security forces composed of town people, while the smaller towns relay on bounty boards for Huntsmen to maintain order in their settlement. The lack of a stablished regional law enforcement unit made this region very attractive for bandits, their presence plagues the region as they prey on small towns.

Huntsmen were also very attracted to this region, the bounties were plenty, the legends of powerful Grimm were numerous and their services were always in high demand. For all of those reason the region was full of Huntsmen of different decrees of skill…or that´s how it use to be. The fall of Beacon wasn't the only tragedy faced by the Huntsmen academies recently. Huntsmen based in Mistral were slowing disappearing. To the public, the news was that Grimm activity had become higher and higher and Grimm were becoming stronger, but there was more to the story than that. Haven Academy´s former headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart, had been setting up Pro Huntsmen on what would be their last missions. He sent them to missions that were either suicide or were traps for them to be killed by the assassins of…his Goddess. Lionheart lost his life at the Battle of Haven, leaving Mistral´s Huntsmen lacking in both organization, skill, experience, and sadly, numbers. This event had severe repercussions for the Stained Coast Line as it meant that the first line of defense they had against Grimm and Bandits, was now, gone.

Jaune and Dominique had been traveling for 2 days now and during all that time Dominique told Jaune story after story, every story more epic and spectacular than the other. "Let me tell you a story" he kept saying and Jaune kept listening to every single one of them. So many damsels rescued, so many Grimm slain, so many feats of bravery and chivalry. He told a story about him piloting a smuggling ship full of refuges while followed by a swarm of Lancers. How he killed a Sphinx using nothing but his wit and a role. He told the tale of the feline damsel of a far away island who begged him to stay with her and lead her freedom fighting organization. That time he fought Beringels in the Jungles, Goliaths in the deserts, Sea Feilongs in the frozen seas and swarms of Death Stalkers in the Jungles…again...He went a lot to the Jungles, ok?

Jaune enjoyed every story told by his hero…at first. After the 20th one he started realizing that many…well, didn't make any sense. On one story he apparently infiltrated an Atlas military base to rescue a little girl when he was attacked by a group of Boarbatusks, but, how did a group of Boarbatusks get inside an Atlas Military base and why was there a little girl being held there? There was also this one story about underground cultists he was sure he saw on a movie, and another story of him fighting a wild feral man with a big mustache in Vale and don't even get him started with the story of the cannibalistic vegans.

The more stories he told, the sicker Jaune was getting of them and the heavy bags were not helping his patients.

"Now, let me tell you a story. You ever heard of an Ursa Major? Well what if I tell you there is an even bigger Ursa! The Ursa Primus! Or well, at least there was. I was tasked with killing the last of those beasts, finally getting the species extinct. It was a battle of epic proportions! The beast nearly took my leg off! But…"

"Can we please, stop for a minute!" Jaune said with frustration, interrupting his master in the middle of a passionate story.

"Wow, that´s the tone you address your master with, young lad?!" Dominique stated with a serious tone that remarked his authority.

"I..Im sorry, Mr Cervantes. It´s just that, we have been walking all day and…Do you at least see a town near by on the map?" Jaune asked, hopeful that at the very least he could a sleep on a warm bed for the night. His face however changed to a shocked one the moment he heard Dominique´s response.

"Map? Pff. As long as you can see the Sun raising on the West and setting on the East, you will never need a map, my boy!" Dominique said with his characteristic cheerful tone. But Jaune´s indignation couldn't be hide. "But that´s not… You don't have a…The Sun sets on the WEST!".

"Pick up the pace, Squire!" Dominique said as he pulled out his favorite flute and started playing it. "We will take this road over here" he said has he pointed at a bunch of bushes.

Jaune still frustrated replied with indignation "But, that´s not a road…"

"Lad, roads are made by your feet. There is a world to discover and You have a life to snatch from the hands of death itself!. Let's get to it! ADVENTURE!" Dominique replied as he charged into the woods playing his flute.

Jaune reluctantly followed him, but his mind was completely unease. He has been following an old man for 2 days, carrying his bags, traveling without a map and hearing stories he has been starting to doubt. Who was this man? What was he doing?! What wa..was…what was…he…d…

Jaune´s field of view started to get blurry. He started to lose his train of thought. He could still see Dominique so he kept following him, deeper and deeper into the woods. The unease mind suddenly got replaced with confusing thoughts and the things he was seeing suddenly started…to change.

Jaune´s vision started to go dark and everything around him became weirder and weirder. He saw trees bending from the middle of their trunks. He saw mushrooms that grew large and others that started to glow. Eventually the forest itself looked like it was moving on its own, the floor seemed like it was breathing. Jaune saw all of this but for some reason, he wasn't afraid, he wasn't freaked out or anything, he felt…nothing. He was walking aimlessly deeper and deeper into the forest. He no longer saw Dominique, he banished in thin air, but for some reason, this didn't face Jaune, he just kept walking. The forest went darker and darker the deeper he walked and it only became weirder over time. Bugs were eating birds. Streams of water floated in mid air and the fish in it kept staring at Jaune.

With every step, Jaune´s eyes started to get dry, he didn't notice that he had stopped blinking. His head started to hurt and he started to feel that his feet were sinking in the ground. Every step was harder than the next one but Jaune didn't stop walking in a straight line. His vision went darker and darker to the point he could barely see. And in the distance, he started to hear voices.

"J…Jaun….Jaune" He kept hearing. The voice was familiar and eventually other voices kept calling his name. "Jaune" the voices said. What started as faint sounds on the distance, slowly became stronger and stronger. "JJJauneeee" The voices kept saying. His mind was numb, but Jaune did recognize the voices, it was his friends. Ruby, Ren, Nora, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Oscar…Pyrrha. "JJJJAUNNNEEE" the voices became louder and closer to him. Without realizing it Jaune had stopped walking and fell to the front, hitting face first water he didn't even notice he was walking into and as he did, the voices became fainter and his vision went fully dark…

"Jan…Jaune…JAune…JAUNE!", Jaune heard as he woke up exalted and soaking wet. It was Dominique who held him in his arms while he was lying on the ground. "Jaune! Thank goodness! I thought you were a goner, lad..or a drowner?...Meh, forget it, Im glad you are ok, boy" Dominique said as Jaune breathed hard and looked at his surroundings. They were in a swamp in the middle of the woods standing on a little island in which Dominique had already settle a camp. They entered the woods at around 4pm but it was now the middle of the night.

"It´s ok, kid. Calm down, you are ok", Dominique said as Jaune started to relax a little, enough to start talking again.

"Py..Pyrrh…Wh…what was that?!" Jaune said, still breathing harshly.

"Ah…Well…" Dominique said a bit ashamed, "That was my Semblance…sorry…" Dominique stated while rubbing the back of his neck.

"WHAT?" Jaune said while freaking out.

Dominique tried to calm him down and explained to him "Yeah, My Semblance. Pretty strong don't you think? When I whistle anyone that hears the sound starts getting hallucinations, I don't control what they see but the longer they hear the more vivid they get until they eventually pass out"

Jaune sat down and massaged his nose's bridge "You got to be kidding me. But you weren't whistling!"

Dominique continued "Yeah, but you see, it also works when I play my flute. I started playing when we entered the forest and I think you heard for far too long. Now don't worry I have full control over it…it´s just that I sometimes let myself get carried away when I play the flute…Sorry"

"But…it´s been hours. How…Why didn't you stop? You didn't see me being affected? Jaune asked but the answer he got wasn't any less frustrating.

"Well, the thing is that I may also be a cough ffected a little by it…Anyways! Time for dinner, Ill get to it, you can just relax, buddy, you had a rough day" Dominique said quickly as he tried to change the subject.

Jaune laid back down and with his arm placed over his eyes said to himself "What did I get myself into?!"

The morning came and Jaune woke up covered in mosquitoes. He stood up quickly shaking them off in a frenzy and running to the muddy water. Most of the mosquitoes just left but a few stayed around flying over Jaune´s head and taking any chance they could to bite him. Jaune got out of the water and with a defeated early morning face he walked up to his master while slapping his own face as the mosquitoes kept biting him. There he was, the crazy old man who took him into this journey telling him he was a Legendary Huntsman, covered in mosquitoes from head to toe and swallowing a couple as he snorted. Jaune´s head was full of doubt about his new master. His stories started to sound fake and he hadn't even started the training he was promised.

Jaune contemplated taking his stuff and leave, reunite with his friends and go back to Vale, that was until he saw his arms and realized of a pressure on his head. The upper part of his arms and his forehead were covered in bandages, when he took one of the arm ones off he realized that he was full of cuts, he remembered seeing them the night before when he woke up from his trance, but was so tired he didn't pay much attention to them, Jaune couldn't remember getting hurt but realized that he must have gotten injured while walking through the forest and swamp under the effect of Dominique´s Semblance. The bandages though weren't there when he fell asleep.

Dominique had actually taken care of Jaune´s injuries while he was asleep, it was something he didn't have to do as Jaune´s aura was more than enough to heal all his wounds, he could have done that once he woke up, it wasn't necessary and still. Realizing this Jaune also noticed that he slept covered in Dominique´s cape which is why he didn't feel cold even though his hoodie was wet. Jaune´s doubts over his master were still there, but the more he thought about it the more he realized of something, Dominique wasn't a bad person. He was still a Huntsman from which he could learn a lot. He wasn't ill intentioned at all and in fact he did had an honest will to help others. That´s something that Jaune saw as extremely valuable as that was his desire as well, to help others.

Jaune took a near by bucket that was floating in the swamp, filled it with water and decided to take a little bit of revenge on his master. He poured the cold water on Dominique who woke up suddenly yelling "AH SON OF A…JAUNE?! What is wrong with you?!". "You were covered in mosquitoes, Master! I just had to help!" Jaune replied with a grin on his face.

During breakfast, Dominique took the chance to apologize to Jaune for what happened the night before "Listen, kid…I, Im really sorry for what happened, you could have gotten really hurt and…That really wasn't my intention" Jaune stopped him, at this point he had already forgiven Dominique which is why he told him "It´s ok, Mr Cervantes. Im fine now and besides, this will be a good story, right?". Dominique laughed a little and replied "Well, it will be a story that´s for sure, but for it to be a good story it needs something more memorable, something like…" His words were cut short when they both heard movement coming from the water. Whatever it was it was big but the fog surrounding them didn't let them see it. "Grab your things boy, lets see what we are going against".

Jaune and Dominique walked slowly through the swamp. Whatever they heard before seemed to be moving but not towards them, which made them think it may not have seen them. Jaune and Dominique started whispering to each other to avoid scaring the creature. "Over here" Dominique whispered.

Hidden behind tall grass, Jaune and Dominique saw the creature, a huge horse like being, completely black with a white bone mask covering its face and spreading all the way along its spine with multiple spikes on it. Its eyes were yellow, its mask had red stripes, there was no doubt of what type of creature it was.

"A Grimm" Jaune whispered with a worried face. But Dominique´s expression was different, he was exited.

"Not just any Grimm, lad. That is a Kelpie. Have you ever seen a more majestic steed before?" Dominique remarked; his eyes had a flame of admiration for the creature before them. He then turned to Jaune and continued, "Listen, Jaune. Let me tell you a story".

Jaune replied surprised and worried "What!? Now?!"

Dominique responded "Yes, now listen. When I was 25, I became know in south Mistral as The Black Horseman, the reason? I managed to tame and ride a Kelpie! And now, opportunity awaits you, my boy".

"Yeah, no, no, not at all. That did not happen, I don't believe you and I won't do…" Jaune said quickly in a panic but got interrupted by Dominique who put a rope in his hands and stood behind him graving his shoulders.

"You said it yourself, didn't you? We need a horse and there isn't better than that one. It´s easy, kid, just lasso its head and show dominance. The beast will respect you as its new master! Now go!" Dominique said right before pushing Jaune out of the tall grass.

"No! wait! Mr…Cer…Hi!" Jaune said as he saw the Kelpie notice him. Its attention fully placed on Jaune who stood shaking.

From behind the tall grass Dominique instructed Jaune "Now, kid! Lasso it!". Jaune swallowed a bit of saliva before shakenly making a knot. The Kelpie stood still, it seemed mostly curious. Jaune struggled but managed to make the knot and while closing his eyes he threw the lasso, to his surprise he actually caught one of the spikes in its head.

"I did it!" Jaune celebrated…prematurely of course.

The Kelpie started walking towards Jaune, vapor coming out of its nostrils.

"Uh, this might have been a bad idea" Said Dominique as the Kelpie kept approaching. Suddenly, from behind it, two more Kelpies came out of the tall grass. "Yep, this was a very bad idea".

"Mr. Cervantes? what do we do now? Mr Cervan…" Jaune asked, but as he turned Dominique had already started running away.

"RUN KID!" Dominique shouted to as he ran for his life.

"YOU BASTARD!" Jaune yelled at the fleeing old man.

The natural peace of the swamp was broken by the loud noises of an old man and a kid screaming and the angry sounds of the three Kelpies chasing them.

Later that day, Jaune and Dominique were covered in mud, bug bites and bruises but finally they saw signs of civilization.

"Aha! What did I tell you kid? It took three days, but we made it to a town! And is a big one, is pretty much a city". Dominique said proud of their accomplishment. However, his victory was short lived once Jaune realized that the city like town was in fact …a city.

"Is that…THAT´S ARGUS!" Jaune screamed as he fell to his knees. Three days of journey and they were back at the beginning.

"Huh. I see" Dominique said while rubbing his beard and with a serious tone he told his apprentice "Jaune…Maybe we might need a map"

Author´s notes:

Thank you all for reading chapter 2. I really appreciate it. Just like last time, I would really appreciate any comments and critism. As stated before, this is my very first fanfiction and I will like to make each chapter better than the previous one.

In this chapter we are introduced to Dominique´s Semblance, "Delusion", As explained in the chapter itself, the way this Semblance works is that by whistling or doing similar actions such as playing a flute, the user causes hallucinations to anyone that hears it, the longer they listen the more vivid the hallucinations and the hallucinations are not controlled by the user. Delusion doesnt discriminate between friend and foe, hallucinations last up to 5 minutes after the user has stopped whistling for 1 minute. As stated by Dominique, he is affected by his own Semblance but in a lower amount, using it in combat wont have major effects on him but the longer he uses it the more affected he gets. Delusion is based on the same side of Dominique´s personality that is presented this chapter, his love for telling stories and for people to hear them. In the same way himself and other people lose themselve in his fantasy stories, everyone lose themselves when affected by "Delusion".