Multiplayer

by NeoShadows

Life is a game. In an attempt to save a friend during the Breach, Jaune Arc died. Brought back to life with powers of a Gamer, he must now attempt to beat the game called life. He's not alone though. Every win or lose ends in a Reset, so how will he beat a game that never ends?

30. The Beauty, The Beast, and The Goof

*Walks in in a heavy hoodie, covered in snow, eyes focused on a gaming device as shouts of 'Don't forget me!' could be heard from the game before closing the door behind him.*

Well, I guess two months are over. Damn, wish I had another of month. But I guess I should update today.

*The man sighs as he docks his game to charge before sitting down and opening his laptop. He blinks as he reads the date, rubs his eyes, and smacks his face.*

It's DECEMBER!? What the helll!? Of, fuck me, I should have uploaded a month ago! Shit, better late than never.

Ahem! Hey, it's your boi, NeoShadows! Finally back from his vacation to return with Multiplayer! Sorry 'bout that, but I may have gotten distracted with several games and animes during my supposed two month break that I forgot to write or upload. Been busy with work too. Been bumped up and had to train a lot of people. Overtime be a bitch, but she's worth it. But I could talk about all those things later. I believe I owe you part one of four of my DLC Special!

Uh, yeah. I got carried away again while writing. You all know how I get. What was suppose to be two chapters, turned to four. Don't worry though, they are all done with. They just need to be edited. So, I'll be sure to update when they're done editing ever week. More on that later.

As for reviews, I believe that you've waited long enough. I know a few reviews that I want to answer, but I'm strapped for time. I'll answer them next chapter, but I do love listening to what you all have to say. Let's just dive in this time!

So without further ado, let's dive in!

[Page Break]

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY, all rights belong to Rooster Teeth. Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to get back to my Switch. Been playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for two weeks straight while I've been recovering from a fever and an accident. It truly is a great game. I only wish people would give it try instead of judging it for its anime vibe. It's from Japan, the hell did they expect? It's got a great OST, a story that keep me playing, plenty of ways to farm that are fun, and an awesome combat systems that I enjoy.

Giving my Blade an impressive bust was just a bonus.

---

Chapter 30: [DLC] The Beauty, The Beast, and The Goof.

The bustling sounds of clopping horses and the chatter of townspeople along with the occasional laughter of children was a breath of fresh air for Jaune as he walked along the gray stone tiled streets of Wilhelm, a small town that touched the sea. It was much better than what he was used to when waking up in the small world within the book Ozpin gave him. No sign of a crazed woman wanting to jump his bones so far, only the simple civilian woman passing by with the sound of hushed whispers. It was the same with the rest of the people that he crossed as he came into the town.

He could understand their staring. While he was dressed as your normal civilian boy like the rest of the men around, the weapon he carried with him was anything but ordinary. Ignis and Crocea Mors weren't your average sword and shield, even sheathed they looked lustrous and deadly. Not to mention his forehead scar wasn't something you would see on a normal person, it was obviously a scar from a fight gone wrong. Overall his appearance would leave the average person apprehensive about approaching him at the least.

When he had dove into the book after some thought last night, Jaune had found himself in front of the woods of the world. Knowing the trouble he would find for wandering in, he had booked it straight for the dirt road for any signs of civilization. There was no way he was going to be dragged into another situation that left him at the mercy of some sexy woman. Eventually he had found a ride to the town close by thanks to some kind old merchant driving a carriage of supplies and he even met a kind-

Static appeared in Jaune's memories, causing him to grimace and hold his head with a pained grunt. And just great, his memories were out of whack even here! For some reason, he couldn't recall his ride. All he could remember was being dropped off and the faintest memory of white silky hair and red eyes. Hopefully nothing too important was lost.

Jaune sighed at the attention as more people averted from his path before shivering. Everywhere he looked he found people wearing winter clothing to fend off the cold. Didn't they find it odd that their town was stuck in a winter chill? It did match their town though. Not the most welcoming, that was for sure. Even the guards at the gate of Wilhelm had been wary to let him in. They had asked him if he was here on Hunting Business, to which he said yes. He didn't know what Hunting Business actually was, but he was a huntsman. It made him wonder if this world was plagued with the same problem as the Grimm. With a flourish of his weapons for proof, the guards had let him in with sighs of relief while muttering under their breath as they welcomed him in.

Jaune scratched his head as he stopped in front of a tavern, recalling the guards muttering.

Beast? Were they being terrorized by a monster?

Pushing the twin oak doors open, Jaune was greeted to the sounds of music and merriment as he stepped in. The aged wooden floor creaked with every step as he made towards the bar seats. Just about every other table was filled with parties of leather coated men armed with old time weapons. He even spied a few muskets. Beer sloshed as men leaned back to chug their drinks, a few small fights broke out without any real punches being thrown, and boisterous laughter drummed against his ears. It was almost as if they were all prepping for a hunt.

Spotting a lone seat between two burly muscled men, Jaune sat down and awkwardly smiled at the two gruff men as they noticed him. They gave Jaune impassive glares before returning to their mugs of frothy beer. Jaune sighed, happy that he hadn't triggered any sort of trouble before reaching for the menu on the table. Might as well see what kind of juice they had on tap.

'…There's nothing but alcohol here.' Jaune thought dryly as his blue eyes skimmed all the liquor available. He really didn't feel like drinking beer; his mother would kill him! But something told him that if he asked for anything else he wouldn't exactly be treated kindly. He did grow curious finding a drink made of grapes that sounded tasty even if alcoholic. Maybe what his mother didn't know wouldn't hurt him?

"Hooooooh? My~! Who might you be, young man?"

Just as Jaune was ready to reach into his Inventory and order a drink to quench his thirst, he felt someone sit down next to him as its previous occupant suddenly left. Turning to the voice's owner, Jaune nearly jumped out of his seat at the face of the man smirking at him. The man's face was manly, too manly in his opinion, with a chiseled jaw and cleft chin, dazzling blue eyes and fine dark brows and wavy raven hair combed back elegantly in a short bow ponytail that reached his neck. The man's red vest looked strained with his muscles stretching the fabric as the manly man looked down at Jaune with peeked interest.

"I'm sorry? Who are you?" Jaune mumbled as he gulped nervously under the man blue eyes. He could have sworn that they gave off a sparkle. That was unsettling.

The manly man simply laughed boisterously, confusing Jaune further before he found the man pulling him closer with his strong arm.

"Seems I was right! From your simple attire and obvious ignorance of The Great Gaston, you must be a traveler. How wonderful! And from the looks of it, you're a warrior?" Gaston quirked a fine brow with a glinting grin of his pearly white teeth as he pointed out to the sheathed forms of Ignis and Crocea Mors.

Jaune nodded, still uneasy with the odd man so close. Hadn't he ever heard of personal space before?

The simple nod was all Gaston needed as his grin grew wider.

"A Hunter then? Just what this town needed! Seems our Lord has heard our pleas and prayers and sent us a miracle! What a joyous occasion! YA HEAR THAT, GOOD PEOPLE! OUR DARK DAYS ARE OVER! DRINKS ARE ON ME!"

A roar of cheers exploded as the burly men inside raised their sloshing drinks high into the air with grins and shouts of excitement. Jaune could only look on in complete confusion, not understanding what was going on around him. Did he just trigger an Event? Already? As said drinks were given out by the attractive waitresses, Jaune turned back to Gaston as the man eagerly downed his mug of cold liquor.

"Just what exactly is going on? What just happened and what do you mean by 'Dark Times'?" Jaune frowned as he moved the mug of beer presented to him away.

Gaston blinked before smacking his head with a chuckle, amused at himself.

"How silly of me! I do apologize, dear friend. I got lost in the moment of excitement. Please, do allow me to explain." Setting down his drink as he winked at one of the waitresses, causing the girl to blush under his attention, Gaston's manly features settled into a frown as he began to explain, "You are a traveler, so you must not know of Wilhelm's dreaded situation or the terror that hideous beast has befallen us with."

"Beast?" Jaune's frown grew as Gaston nodded.

"Yes, Beast! Wilhelm has been plagued with a beast for the last ten years or so, constantly fearing the frothing monster that howls and threatens these simple civilian folks. It is a beast with horns, the body and black fur of a bear, the face and maw of a lion, the legs of a wolf, with a wild mane of red and yellow panther eyes! A literal beast from Satan's own creation! And for years, Hunter's, SUCH AS MYSELF!" Gaston smirked smugly as he paused to stretch out his arms and flexed his bulging muscles, earning sighs from the waitresses and shouts of appraisals from the men before going back to his explanation like normal, "Have tried to best The Beast and cease its torment. But alas, it has proven too strong! Even I have found myself at wits end!" Gaston grit out with frustration as he slammed his fist onto the wooden bar table, shaking all the drinks by them.

"No! Gaston, it's not your fault!"

"Yeah, you're our hero! Don't blame yourself!"

"A handsome face like that shouldn't be marred with frustration!"

"You've just been having a bad day is all!"

"We'd be dead already without you! Please, don't look so sad!"

Fixing his well-kept dark locks back as he regained his cool, Gaston sighed as he continued, "Thank you, friends. I truly would be lost without your kind words backing me with every step. If I was a well-trained Hunter, then maybe I would have been able to end that Beast's bloody reign. Alas, I am only a novice compared to others, picking up what I could from simply watching passing Hunters. And while I have been praised as their equivalent and bested my fair share of Hunter's, I am not a true warrior. Unlike our new friend here!" Gaston's grin came back to life as he leaned over Jaune in his seat, towering over the blond boy with his impressive height.

"I can see it in your eyes! The many battles under your belt and even the scars of your many conquests as a Hunter. The steel in your blue eyes, not as equally as brilliant as my own, are proof enough of your skills! And as a genuine Hunter, I know that you will happily lend your blade in our battle today to finally put an end to that foul creature after what it has done to my beloved Belle! Oh, my poor sweet!"

"Belle? Was someone hurt?" Jaune asked with concern as he stood up from his seat with urgency.

Gaston nodded with a deeply wounded expression and sighed, "My sweet Belle may as well be dead. A few days ago, my love's father had been abducted by said Beast during his usual testing of his odd trinkets out near the woods of the bridge. Growing frantic and fearing his safety, sweet Belle had gone against my orders of going after him and snuck past the town guards to go after him. Knowing The Beast, it has surely taken her as well and-" Gaston's face grew livid as he shut his eyes tightly. He didn't want to think about what that thing would do to such a fine woman as Bell! He felt nauseous at the very thought.

So, they had no idea if the woman and her father were dead? That meant there was a chance that they were still alive. Jaune knew better than anyone the weight of a chance, however small. And they were planning on rescuing them at the moment, right? After hearing the story of The Beast and the situation at hand, Jaune found himself gripping Crocea Mors with a determined scowl.

"Come in for a drink, walk out to hunt some Beast to rescue a damsel and her father. I'm not even surprised anymore." Jaune quietly muttered to himself with a dragged-out sigh. The situation was straight out of a video game, and given what his life had become, he should have expected nothing less.

Looking out to the gathered small mass of hunters prepped for a fight, willing to put their lives on the line to protect their families and friends, and even risk their lives for two others without even knowing if they were alive, Jaune nodded firmly back at the muscular man with the annoyingly perfect features.

"I still don't understand what's going on around here, but if someone is in trouble, I'd be happy to help however I can. I know a thing or two about fighting monsters after all." Jaune said with a confident grin.

"That's the spirit!" Gaston laughed loudly, patting Jaune's back and nearly sending him crashing to the floor. Ignoring the grimace on the boy's face, Gaston went back to facing the hunting party he had gathered with a fired-up expression. His left hand flew for the back of his waist and gripped the hunting musket with vigor as he cleared his throat.

"MEN! We now have a tried and true Hunter in our midst! God has given us a miracle to finally put an end to that filthy Beast and save our people from its treacherous ways, SO LET'S NOT SPOIL IT! WE MARCH, NOW!"

Again, the hunter's gathered around cheered in a roar as they all rose up from their feet with their weapons ready. Today was the day they finally took back their home from the monster plaguing the doors of their town. The nightmare they had been living would come to an end at last. With renewed energy the party of simple hunters rushed out the doors for the fight of their lives. Jaune yelped as he found himself dragged along with the crowd spilling out into the cold winter day, leaving only Gaston and the barkeep behind.

The barkeep mumbled to himself as he watched the hunting party go off to prepare.

"Ya really believe that you'll take The Beast down this time, Gaston? Even with a Hunter, it's no easy task." the barkeep chuckled to himself before throwing up his open hand. Golden coins flew into his palm, courtesy of the chiseled hunter. A purple miasma suddenly swallowed the owner of the bar, dispersing to reveal a cloaked man, their face hidden by the shadows of their hood.

Gaston threw his nose up pointedly in a huff, refusing to turn back to the cloaked man emitting darkness. A smug, vain grin stretched across his face.

"I am Gaston, The Greatest Hunter of All! Be they normal beast, or cursed beasts, or even beautiful woman, I will have them! For I am loved by all, and I deserve all their love and affection." Gaston glanced back at the cloaked man and gave him a wink as he chuckled pridefully.

The cloaked stranger nodded, having nothing more to say. With that, Gaston left the humble little bar to ready himself.

He had to make sure he looked his best for the hunt after all.

---

'The climate in this world is out of whack. It was sunny just half an hour ago for crying out loud!' Jaune thought bitterly as he tried to keep warm.

A gust of cold wind brushed past Jaune's cheek, his teeth chattering audibly and drowned out by the bellowing winter winds. Joining in with the party of woodsman hunters, Jaune had witnessed the very environment shift from the cold, sun beamed little town, into a winter wonderland the moment they touched ground upon the woods leading to The Beast's location. Snow sprinkled from the clouds above, carpeting the woodland dirt with layers of white that reached up to their ankles. Jaune sniffed, wishing he had some winter clothing in his Inventory as he and several other winter garbed hunters ducked under several low hanging branches.

Well, at least the woods they were trekking in wasn't part of Everwood. That gave him some comfort.

To the east side of Wilhelm was the woodland area of White Groove, a small constantly snowing woodland that came between the town and The Beast's lair. At first Jaune had thought it would live in a cave or something, but no! Apparently, the monster lived in a castle of all things. Gaston had said it had killed the original owner and had taken over the castle for its own needs. It wasn't an ordinary beast, it actually had some impressive intelligence, enough for it to outsmart the castle's owner and its attendants. It's why Gaston had assembled a hunting party of the town's best hunters along with some that had passed by on their journeys. But unlike them, they considered Jaune a Hunter, completely different from themselves apparently.

From what Jaune had garnered from the hunters around him as they made their way through the snowy foliage, a Hunter was a trained individual who was adept in fighting mythical beasts and individuals. Similar to a Huntsman/Huntress and the creatures of Grimm. He couldn't exactly deny the claim seeing as he was trained to fight monsters. Not to mention fighting a monster sounded like a good way to gain some Exp and kill some time before he was brought back to his world. That was the thing about the world inside Lost Fairy Tales, there was no clear objective from what he's learned. He pretty much just stumbled into Events in the pocket world. Which was kinda nice compared to what he had to deal with normally thanks to The Will.

Though that did bring up the question of how Jaune was going to return to his world once all was said and done. He did not want to believe that his original ways of going back were his only options.

Falling beside the shivering blond as he was deep in thought, Gaston threw his muscular arm around Jaune's shoulder with a wide, dazzling grin.

"Thinking about our approaching battle are we, Juan?"

Jaune's brow twitched in annoyance as he glanced back at the handsome hunter, "It's Jaune, not Juan. And I guess you could say that." From the sounds of it, he was going to be going into a Boss fight here. He was confident in the layout of his current Abilities and Skills, so there was no need to fix them. Not that he could, for some reason he couldn't access his Abilities or Skills in this world. But maybe he could use this moment to learn more about his enemy. From the sound of it, Gaston was familiar with The Beast, "What kind of monster are we dealing with? I know you described its appearance, but do you have any advice on how to fight it? Or anything I should watch out for?" he asked seriously, only to receive a nonchalant wave of Gaston's hand.

"Don't you worry yourself, Juan! There's not much you need to know about The Beast in our fight. We have numbers on our side this time, and with your help I'll finally be able to land the finishing blow. Just focus on keeping its attention on you along with the others to give me an opening. That's all you need to do." he said confidently with another smug, white toothed grin.

'He's doing it on purpose, he must be.' Jaune thought dryly as the muscled man again ignored his correction.

"Really? I thought I would have some bigger part in your hunt. You made it sound as if you really needed my help as a Hunter." Jaune frowned.

Gaston chuckled, patting the boy's shoulder roughly as he spoke, "But you are important! Having a Hunter by our side will turn the tides in our favor after all. But," his smile grew thin as his blue eyes narrowed as he leaned down closer to look Jaune in the eye, "Do not be mistaken. This is our fight. And it must end by our hands. More specifically my own. So, don't forget your place, dear Hunter. You are to help, nothing more, nothing less." he said politely, his voice soft yet harsh.

Jaune nodded stiffly, feeling the arm around his neck slightly strain his neck from Gaston simply bulging his muscles. Gaston seemed to be pretty arrogant and smug, but the man did carry with him strength. Those muscles weren't just for show. And while Jaune would have said something back concerning the plan, he decided to just follow along as he sighed. They simply needed his help, no need to start trouble over who killed the monster. Even if the man heading the party did annoy him.

Glad to see the blond boy understand, Gaston gave him another rough pat before readying himself to rally their party to pick up the pace, when the sound of several howls reached his ears. That wasn't what had made him pause though. No, it was the feminine scream of fear that interested him.

"It seems we've company! And I do believe that shrill, helpless, beautiful scream was my dear Belle!" Gaston growled as he reached for the musket holstered on his back. The howls grew louder, concerning the party of hunters as Gaston began barking orders, "Wolves are upon us and there's a lady in distress! I've no idea how she escaped The Beast, but we can save such thoughts for later! All hunters, spread out and deal with the wolves! The Beast can wait once we've saved my love. Now, GO!"

The hunters nodded firmly without question and began running off in search of the wolves and woman in trouble. Even Jaune forgot about Gaston's usual annoying smug attitude to sprint off deeper into the snowy woods. Jaune's HUD went to work to search out for the enemies nearby, displaying around a dozen red dots on his map of the area closing in on a specific spot. But with the hunters on the move the number of enemies began to drop slowly.

It wasn't long until all that his Map displayed were three enemies meeting together in one spot. Jaune could see his breath coming out in puffs as he picked up the pace, catching the sound of a cry along with several howls close by. He didn't want to waste another second and activated Gale Speed to close the distance as he spotted a large crop of snow covered bushes ahead of his targets. He narrowed his eyes, exploding out of the snow bushes and sliding Crocea Mors out of Ignis Mors with a deafening scrape of metal. The old war blade was bathed by a white light before he struck the closest enemy in sight.

"Power Strike!"

A rush of adrenaline pumped through Jaune's veins as Crocea Mors stabbed a rather large gray-haired wolf back from its charge. A slight boom echoed from the contact as Jaune fell onto his feet and unfolded Ignis Mors to shield him from a leaping dive of cruel, meat rending teeth from a wolf already on the move to the new prey it its sights. "Back off!" Jaune shouted strongly. He bashed his shield as the wolf chomped onto his glorious white gold shield. The blow sent it back with its stunned brother as the wolves gathered together to eye the strong human in their way.

Now that Jaune had a moment to observe the wolves, he noticed they were unlike any wolves he had seen back in his world. They stood on all fours, their fur grayish white that helped to camouflage them in the snowy terrain with black tearing claws, fangs and beady red eyes that wafted red mist. They were as big as the average adult male and bulky with muscles. The two wolves Jaune had attacked shook off the damage and snarled, their snouts showing off their mad fangs as their fur stood up like pines.

'Brisk Wolf.

9,200HP/10,000HP.'

Jaune released the Scan of the now identified Brisk Wolves with a click of his tongue. They were definitely tougher than the common Beowolf back in Remnant. They had more health than the Tutorial Bosses in Initiation. And Power Strike had only done 800 points of damage? It looked like he was in for a tough fight.

"BEGONE!"

From behind Jaune's turned back, an earth trembling roar stunned him in place along with the Brisk Wolves as his ears rung from the monstrous volume. Whatever had caused the roar had dropped 400 points of HP from the simple action. Jaune's eyes were shaken as his body refused to move a muscle. A look at his Status revealed that he was Paralyzed along with the snow wolves. He was helpless to whatever monster had frozen them still.

The sound of the snow crunching under the imposing presence behind Jaune only further shook him to his core. Heavy panting could be heard as a large shadow fell over his paralyzed form. As the thing responsible for his condition passed him over, Jaune was finally able to make out its identity. His breath left him as his hands trembled, whether from the fear or status ailment, he wasn't sure.

Walking ahead of him at ten feet high, a black furred beast trudged its way forward to the Brisk Wolves. It was just as Gaston had described to him, red horns, upper body of a bear, lower body of a wolf, and head of a lion. Only it was garbed in a tattered wine purple cloak over its large body and a flaring wild mane of red that fell over its shoulders. The Beast stopped, turning its face away from its prey to glance back at the paralyzed blond hunter behind it. Its eyes were completely white, haunting with no emotion as its maw opened and grinned. It was then that Jaune made out something surprising about The Beast.

Its fur did look black, but upon closer inspection, it was more like its fur and skin were made of waving shadows.

"Another human. You sacks of foul flesh simply don't comprehend the meaning of Stay Away." The Beast growled gruffly with a crack of its neck.

Jaune couldn't reply, he could only break out into a cold sweat as he felt the monster's imposing presence suffocate him. It took him a second to realize what was happening to him as he recalled an Ailment he had read in his Gamer Help Guide.

Fear.

This wasn't a normal monster. This wasn't anything he had ever encountered before on Remnant. An enemy that could inflict something like Fear just by speaking. It hadn't even hit him, and he was already unable to move.

The Beast scoffed at the trembling human boy. It turned back to the three frozen Brisk Wolves and clicked its claws. It fell on all fours and lunged forward like a shadowy blur. It tackled the gray colored wolf in the middle of the small pack and sent it breaking through a tree. The tree fell with a groan and kicked up a cloud of snow as The Beast craned its neck to the next wolf. It was at that moment that Brisk Wolves snapped out of their Paralysis. From The Beast's right a downward claw strike fell upon it. The Beast twisted its neck and rammed its sharp red devil horns into the Brisk Wolf, spying its underbelly open from its attack. Red splashed onto the snow as the Brisk Wolf's stomach was pierced. It whined from the stabbing strike before it was lifted up and thrown to the side. Distracted, The Beast was left open itself and found the third snow wolf jumping onto its back. The Brisk Wolf's teeth feverishly bit into its back, pulling its tough hide like taffy in hopes to rip its flesh off.

The Beast bucked around like a bull, trying to shake off the annoyance. Growing fed up it ran itself towards the nearest tree, slamming its back to crush the wolf. The Brisk Wolf whined and fell off from the attack. Done with its prey, The Beast turned back to the only threat left standing. Jaune mentally cursed as his body still refused to listen to him. From the glare on The Beast's face it didn't seem it would be leaving him alone.

"You are all that is left, flesh bag. And from the sounds of it, you are not the only one trespassing close to my territory. It seems I must make an example of you." The Beast panted, ignoring the wounds on its back to fully stand on its hind legs. "I've tried, and tried, and tried, to warn you to leave me be, but you all seem to wish for punishment. If a mangled corpse is what it will take to leave me in peace, then I suppose I must dirty my hands for solitude."

'Trespassing? Warning? What's it talking about?' Jaune thought as he struggled to move as The Beast slowly walked over, clicking its claws menacingly with a haunting grin. If only he had a Skill that shortened Paralysis! Dying within Lost Fairy Tales was the same to dying back in Remnant, he couldn't just stand by and let that thing rip into him!

"NO, PLEASE STOP!"

A new voice caught Jaune's attention and brought The Beast to abrupt stop. The Beast narrowed its hollow white eyes in annoyance, looking past Jaune to the person laying back against a claw scarred tree. Its large frame trembled, seeming to fight with its claws need to tear the frozen hunter to lumps of bleeding meat.

"This human is another hunter, trespassing into my land to kill and skin me! I've tried to be patient with these sacks of shit, BUT THEY KEEP PUSHING ME!" It roared madly, shaking the snow coated earth with such force that Jaune was knocked on his back. He gasped as he laid on the snow, free from his paralysis to finally move. Flinching as he tried to regain his breath, he moved his head back and found his blue eyes meeting with concerned hazel orbs. If Jaune's breath wasn't already gone, it was now.

Sitting back against the torn bark of a tree, was a gorgeous brunette-haired woman wearing a blue sleeveless dress over a white long-sleeved blouse, long blue skirt, and white apron tied around her waist along with a brown cloak to protect her from the cold. Her brown hair was tied back with a blue ribbon. Jaune was taken back for a second, the woman's beautiful face overlapped by someone else he knew with cat ears and yellow eyes. From the looks of it she had been attacked with her clothes having tears along with red bleeding out from her left sleeve. The sight of the injured woman was enough for Jaune to fight back his fear and scrambled back to his feet. He stood in the way of The Beast with his shield held before him and glared at the growling monster.

"STAY BACK!" Jaune shouted, his voice coming out hoarse from his earlier condition. His body tensed as The Beast snarled in anger and took a step further.

"You're in my way, human! If you wished to live, then you should have stayed home with the rest of your worthless kind!" The Beast barked as it raised its arm to show off its deadly claws. "I'll give you one kindness those mutts were denied; Leave and never return!"

"I'm not moving another step! Not when someone's in danger!" Jaune shouted back as he raised Crocea Mors threateningly.

The Beast's temper flared. It roared again, blowing away the falling snow with a visible shock wave that buffeted Jaune with pure force. But he held his ground against The Beast's roar and glared back as the monster fell on all fours. 'Scan!'

'The Beast, Cursed Pride.

5,208HP/30,100HP[Bleeding Severe].'

For some odd reason, Jaune found his sword arm hesitating. The Beast was weakened, its HP basically in the red. Clearly it had been fighting for a long time now. In its weakened state, all Jaune had to do was evade its attacks and land his strongest attacks as quick as possible. And that would be it, the mission would be over. But-

"Please, stop fighting."

-The cry behind him, weak and pained, stopped him from meeting The Beast as it lunged forward.

"I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME!" The Beast roared, its claws stabbing forward to break the shield in its way.

But before either of the two could make another move, a volley of basketball sized ice chunks slammed into The Beast's back. The Beast crashed onto the snow, sliding in front of Jaune with a pained grunt. Spires of jagged ice formed on its bleeding back, weighing it down as it fell back to the cold ground. Jaune frowned at the sudden attack and turned back ahead to the monster's attacker.

Apparently, the Brisk Wolves hadn't been killed. All three stood a few feet behind The Beast, wounded but still standing. A quick Scan of their Health revealed that their HP had been cut back to about three fourths'. And they weren't happy at the moment. The wolves opened their jaws, releasing a cold fog before each one flung their tails into their mouths and bit down. They pulled back their tails, coating them with jagged ice like blades. Snarling they sprinted forward with two of the Brisk Wolves jumping high in the air to spin around like saws. They set their sights on The Beast and slammed their jagged bladed tails into the giant monstrosity with audible cracks. The Beast roared in pain, feeling the spines of ice on its back shatter and stabbed by the ice tail blades. It slumped, losing its strength as his blood pooled freely into the snow under it. It tried to stand but found the two snow wolves had already launched another attack, this time backing away to his sides.

But while the two Brisk Wolves busied themselves with The Beast, the third of the lupine brothers sped after their original prey. Jaune gritted his teeth as the Brisk Wolf flew past him like an arrow and set its sights on the wounded brunette woman.

"BELLE!" The Beast yelled in alarm before another jagged tail slammed into him and kept it down.

Jaune moved quickly as the Brisk Wolf was only a few seconds from harming the woman. Crocea Mors cut through the air, stabbing right in front of the snow of the brunette before the Brisk Wolf could sink its jaws into her.

"Warp Strike!" As the Brisk Wolf snapped its freezing jaws open, ready to bite down onto the injured woman, Jaune teleported in front of her with Crocea Mors already swinging for its snout. It was knocked back on its feet away from the two, chopping off HP in the process. The Brisk Wolf snarled and opened its jaw again to fire several ice chunks. Jaune shattered the ice with several counter swings. The snow wolf growled and charged forward, spinning around in its charge to swing its ice blade tail around to slash the blond. Jaune swung Ignis Mors back, spinning to face its sharp point forward before blocking the repeated slashing tail. Swinging his shield, he broke the wolf's attack and started slashing at its stunned body with the heated edge of Ignis Mors. The Fire element of his bladed shield proved to be effective as its HP dropped farther with every connecting slash.

"Point of Impact!" Rearing his shield arm back, Jaune drove its burning point into the wolf's face. An explosive burst of flames devoured the monster and sent it flying away with a dying whine. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief with one of the monsters gone. Seeing the effects of his attack cloud his sights, he was ready to clear it away with a swing of his blade.

Five chunks of ice broke through the explosive cloud, shattering over Jaune's body. He shouted in pain as the attacks created creeping ice over his body from below his neck to his feet. Again, he was frozen still. Jaune jerked furiously within the ice, cursing loudly to break free. With the cloud of black smoke gone, he saw the two remaining Brisk Wolves running madly after him. But he knew what they were really after. The woman behind him.

"D-Don't worry, I'll p-protect y-you!" Jaune stuttered, his teeth chattering from ice over his body. He just needed to break free for crying out loud! The ice creaked, spreading cracks around his body as it weakened. But it was too late. The wolves were already jumping in the air, snapping open their hungry mouths to dig into their prey with glee.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

Jaune's vision was replaced by damp red purple as he suddenly found The Beast standing in front of him. He didn't even notice it move!

Sucking in a deep breath, The Beast let loose a roar that released a stream of vile flames tinted with darkness from its lion's maw. The airborne beasts were helpless as the flames obscured their sights. They were burned to a crisp in seconds. Only bits of ash were left as their remains fell to the snow.

With the wolves now gone, The Beast's shoulders slumped in exhaustion before its deer ears stood up in alarm and glanced back. It had almost forgotten Jaune in the moment. It narrowed its blank white eyes dangerously and clicked its claws.

"Human…" Its words slurred. Blood began to seep out of its shadowy hide and drench the soft white snow beneath its feet. Its strength had left it. Weakly it swung rending claws up for a slash. But with a groan it wound up falling onto the ground before the two humans with a heavy thud.

Jaune frowned at the wounded monster. A Scan revealed that it was still Bleeding and its Health was only a sliver. If it was left in such a state for even a minute, he was sure it would bleed out.

"No, please, don't die."

Looking back, Jaune found the injured woman he realized to be Belle crawling on her stomach towards the bleeding monster. He was stunned to see her reaching out to it. Didn't it kidnap her? Why would she reach out to it like it was her friend?

Crawling past the blond hunter, Belle moved her body over the large beast protectively. Weakly she glared at Jaune, not caring that her torn dress was being soaked with blood.

"Leave her alone! She hasn't done anything wrong!" Belle cried loudly as she hugged The Beast tightly.

"SHE!?" Jaune shouted in surprise as his jaw fell. That thing was a she!?

Something strange then happened. The shadow fur over The Beast began to lift off of it in ribbons flying up into the sky. Soon enough all the darkness cladding its body left it, leaving behind a tall red-haired woman. Jaune took a step back in surprise at the sight.

The woman was about six feet tall with chocolate brown skin. Atop her head her red horns had grown smaller, her muscles had disappeared and her monstrous features had vanished. The so-called Beast had disappeared and left behind a woman that could be mistaken as a faunus with sharp features.

Confused, Jaune was deeply confused! With the revelation, he found his sword falling to his side and his shield returning to its sheath form. He scratched his head as he tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing.

'I think I could use that drink right now.'

But while Jaune was confused, he did know one thing for sure. The Beas-the woman was in danger of bleeding out. Even if he didn't understand what was going on, Jaune knew that he wasn't about to let anyone die. Reaching into his Inventory, Jaune pulled out a potion and knelt down close to the brown furred woman. He smiled reassuringly at Belle and brought the healing liquid to the odd woman's lips. It wouldn't completely heal her, but it would be enough to drag her away from death's door.

Pouring the grape flavored potion into the woman's mouth, its effects were immediate as the once beast sputtered and gasped. Weakly, she opened her eyes to reveal her yellow iris. Her vision was a blur but she made out something yellow. She even felt something hugging onto her back.

"Who…who are you?" the beast woman growled softly.

Jaune chuckled softly at the woman's narrowed gaze, "Just some traveling knight, I suppose." he said with a small grin.

The answer wasn't what the beast woman wanted to hear. She growled and moved to slash at the man's face with her clawed nails but found herself yelping as the figure hugging her from behind increased their embrace with a happy giggle.

"Belle, you're killing me." the beast woman gasped as she felt her wounds begin to open again.

But Belle didn't seem to mind. She was just happy to see her friend feeling better. And it was all thanks to the blond man in front of them. She turned to look at him curiously, wondering what he was doing so far out from the town.

"Who are you, Mr. Knight?" Belle repeated as she moved her face closer to the knight still kneeling by them. Her curious hazel eyes stared dead into the blue of Jaune's, making the boy gulp nervously. She really was pretty, even more so up close.

"Name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue! Ladies love it." Jaune chuckled, his little introduction causing the brunette woman to giggle. The beast woman rolled her eyes despite how injured she was.

"Jaune Arc?" Belle tested the name out, playing around with it before smiling brightly, "It really does roll off the tongue. I like it!"

Finally! Someone who understood!

"Shit-head, that's your name." the beast woman said flatly, causing Jaune's shoulders to slump, "Just another blood hungry human, like the rest of them." she scowled in disgust.

Jaune glared at the beast woman and opened his mouth to argue with her name. But his ears suddenly picked up on footsteps coming closer. Still on guard, he stood up quickly and brought Ignis Mors up. But to his relief no monster burst out of the bushes ahead. Gaston ran in with his musket aimed for any enemies in the area. The handsome hunter's blue eyes scanned the snowfield and came to stop at the sight of both Belle and Jaune. Gaston grinned widely, his eyes passing over Jaune to Belle.

"My dear Belle, thank the Lord that you are alright! I had thought that monster had defiled you and picked its teeth with your bones." Gaston cooed before his eyes fell on the woman below Belle. He narrowed his eyes and aimed his musket's sights to the...thing.

"Gaston?" Belle muttered in surprise before frowning as she found his gun pointed at her friend, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Ridding our town of the ugly beast, of course! Please, my love! Move away from that disgusting monster! I must put an end to its torment!" Gaston smiled smoothly before shutting one eye for a better shot.

"NO! SHE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!" Belle shouted frantically. She let go of the beast woman and stood over her protectively to act as a shield. She glared furiously at the handsome hunter, refusing to move.

Gaston sighed dramatically. The poor woman must have been warped by the thing's magic. He would have to fix that once she was in his arms.

"Love, that's simply that monster's trickery talking. But don't you worry, your nightmare will be over with soon enough. Then we can resume where we left off earlier." Gaston smiled gently as Belle continued to glare at him, "I know your father will be happy to see you again after being away for so long. I already have his blessings after all, so we shan't have any problem there."

Belle narrowed her eyes, "I've told you time and time again, I don't want your hand in marriage. And did you say my father?" she dropped her glare with the bit of information as her face gained a worried expression, "So, he's fine. Thank the Lord." she smiled in relief.

"Wait, I thought you said The Beast had her father prisoner?" Jaune frowned in confusion. He stepped beside Belle while handing the beast woman another potion before staring at Gaston with suspicion, "So, her father was safe this entire time? Why would you lie to me about that? If you had simply said Belle was in trouble, I would have still helped." What need would there be to lie about something small like that? Jaune's suspicions grew more as his hand fell to the hilt of Crocea Mors. There was something important he just realized, "Where's Belle's father?"

Gaston flinched as if he was struck. And that was all Jaune needed to see.

"What are you up too?"

Gaston grew quiet. Along with Jaune, Belle stared at the handsome man with suspicion and took a step back. Gaston sighed and shrugged nonchalantly. It seemed he was now caught in a corner.

How unfortunate for them.

"Tell me, what was your name again, Juan?"

Jaune scowled, ready to draw Crocea Mors if he had to, "I've told you already, my name's not Juan! It's Jaune, Jaune Arc!"

Gaston grinned widely with dark intent.

The musket suddenly fired with a ringing bang. A green hue encased the small metal ball bullet as it flew through the air to its target. Jaune held his shield in front of him, ready to block the straight forward attack.

Gaston laughed at the useless effort.

Jaune's eyes went wide as the wind bullet curved around his shield in the blink of an eye before it hit his shield. He spun around quickly with his shield but was too late. The bullet kept curving until it dug into his back, piercing through the flesh before finding his left lung. Blood erupted out of his mouth as the metal ball blew up with a glint of emerald light shooting out of the bullet wound.

'I-It bypassed my a-aura?' Jaune thought in shock as blood continued to spill out of his lips. What the hell did Gaston do?

"JAUNE!" Belle shouted in alarm as she watched in horror as the blond boy fell forward with a gurgled cough. Red bled onto the snow, mixing in with the left-over puddle from the beast woman in an alarming rate. Tears began to fall from her hazel eyes as she brought her hands to her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

'Jaune Arc, Heart of The Gamer.

1HP/8,800HP [Severe Bleeding].'

It was only thanks to still having Yang's Perk, Dragon Scales active that Jaune had survived. But his Bleeding ailment shattered his aura, leaving him in the negative as a thousand HP was removed, his wound continuing to gush with his life force. At this rate, he would be dead in the next few minutes. Jaune struggled to breath with the loss of a lung, his body going into shock as his chest went into spasms. He couldn't even reach into his Inventory in this condition. His only hope would be that his Blood Oath Perk kicked in before his HP drained into zero.

"That despicable beast! Look at what's it done now! Killing a trained Hunter despite how hard I fought to protect him. What a loss." Gaston said dramatically as he popped open his musket to load another iron ball into its chamber. He smirked, impressed as he found the dying blond's blue eyes glare into his own with his dying strength. How surprising, a shot like that would kill most. It looked like the boy was a trained Hunter after all.

'L-lying b-bast-!' Jaune roughly coughed out another large amount of blood, his thoughts growing into static as his head fell onto the soggy red snow. He couldn't even think; the pain was too much. His HP was already past half of what remained without his aura up.

He was going to die. Again.

Gaston took a couple steps forward with his ever-present grin in place. He made a shushing motion with his finger to his lips as Belle cried softly into her hands at the bloodshed she just witnessed, "My sweet Belle, don't you worry. Like I said, your nightmare is over. Just leave that hideous monster behind and step away from its last victim. I promise you, this will all be nothing but a distant memory." he said softly as his blue eyes gained a hypnotic hue of purple.

With whatever strength, Jaune fought to stay conscious as his bleeding finally stopped. Blood Oath finally activated but unfortunately that left him with only 800HP. And a gaping bullet hole where his lung would be. Thank god for game physics. Now he just needed to wait for his aura to kick back in and-

Gaston's heavy boot fell onto Jaune's head, twisting the sole of his boot in the damp blond hair with faux sniff. His HP fell to 75 points with a single stomp.

"You're still with us? You don't know when to die, do you? Oh well, it appears The Beast had gone as far as crushing its victim's skull." Gaston grinned nastily. Jaune weakly raised his head up, fighting desperately to stay up and glare at the dark-haired hunter standing over him. The barrel of Gaston's musket jabbed into his forehead, pressed deeply into his skull as the man winked, "Don't worry, Juan. You will be remembered fondly as a man who helped in reuniting my dear Belle with her love and in defeating The Beast. You did not die for nothing."

The hammer of the musket clicked, cocked and ready to fire. Jaune shut his eyes, willing whatever strength he had to pull off a miracle.

"DIE!"

Both Jaune and Gaston's eyes went wide in surprise as a bellowing roar erupted behind them. Gaston turned away from Jaune to the sound's origin only to be thrown back from a monstrously large fist. A loud snap could be heard as the handsome man slammed back into the trunk of a tree. The tree shook, showering him with snow as he held his broken nose with a furious flinch. His picture-perfect features twisted in rage, his nostrils flaring as he quickly moved to stand back up.

The snowfield was bathed with an orange hue as Gaston's view of whatever attacked him was blocked by an enormous ball of twisted flames. Gaston rolled away from the attack aimed for him. In his roll he found himself tossed further away from the fireball's explosive detonation blowing apart the surrounding trees. He coughed into his fist as the smoke lingered by him before spinning his head around for The Beast, Jaune, and Belle.

Steam wafted from the flames melting away a large amount of the ever-snowing snow, leaving a fog. As the fog died away, not a trace of the three that had been present earlier could be found. The loss of his prey had Gaston's face growing a blistering red as he snarled madly.

"Y-You, ugly, malformed, hideous, rotten, pile of waste! You will not escape my bullet again!" Gaston yelled in frustration. He panted from the rage, his well-kept raven hair coming undone in his anger before he took a deep breath. With his temper reeled in, he glared at the spot his prey had laid along with the small bits of blood left over. His grin grew back, growing dark and cruel.

"Run another day. It matters not to me. But you will die at my hands, and I will have Belle as my wife. A gorgeous woman like that is only meant to be with a handsome man like myself after all. And I will get my way, I always do." he cooed smoothly before turning his back to the minor setback.

His thoughts did turn to the blond Hunter bleeding out, but shrugged it off as he left.

The Juan kid was good as dead.

---

The world became a blur in Jaune's eyes. He wasn't sure what exactly happened but he found his body bouncing on the back of something black. He couldn't make anything passing him by clearly. All he knew was that he was on the back of something moving at an incredible speed.

His thoughts were jarred, too tired to question what was happening. Even with such a deathly wound as a blown-up lung, his Gamer's body was working fast to repair the damage. If he had been a regular human there would be no doubt he would be dead. Right now, he needed to focus on his body healing. Questions could wait.

In Jaune's blurry vision, he made out a blurry blob close to him. The blob reached out its hand to him, their fingers gingerly running through his hair in some way of comfort. He could hear a voice, soft and caring, easing him to close his eyes. And as hard as he tried to keep his heavy eyes open out of fear, he found himself nodding tiredly.

His aura, albeit slowly, was mending the fatal wound. And it seemed like he was in good hands. Better to rest and let his body take care of the rest. With that thought, Jaune let his eyes fall to exhaustion. Sleep came quickly.

Belle smiled gently as she softly patted the wet blond locks on Jaune's head. She held onto his body tightly as they rode on the back of The Beast, leaving behind the snowing field of White Grove with every second. She flinched slightly as the bucking aggravated her own wounds.

The Beast scowled at the sound of Belle's wince.

"Just bear with it for a few moments longer, we'll be arriving at the castle's gates soon." it said gruffly.

Belle smiled into The Beast's back, snuggling into the waving shadow like fur with relief.

". . .Thank you, for not leaving him behind." she whispered softly, earning a snort from the dark beast.

"The maggot is as good as dead, Belle. I've no idea why you waste your time on a cold corpse." it muttered as it broke through the tree line ahead. Covered in snow it stopped for a moment to shake off the annoying white powder before growling as its wounds were agitated with the action.

Belle shook her head and turned her eyes forward to the majestic sight before them. An enormous white castle straight out of the many fairy tales she had read in the bookstore back home greeted them along with an elegant bridge above a ravine and a gate that led to the great castle. It was a sight that still took her breath away after all she had been through. The sun's ray fell upon them, warming their bodies now that they were free of the ever-snowing grove. Belle turned her eyes back to Jaune, smiling warmly at the boy's peaceful expression despite the blood caking his face. His rising chest set her heart at ease.

"He's alive, Eve. I saw it in his eyes, he's a fighter. And he did save your life, you know? It just proves that he's a good man." she said brightly.

The Beast, or Eve, didn't respond. It only scoffed and begun running towards the gated bridge.

Humans were all the same. The only exception she could note was the brunette woman and even she got on her nerves. The blond knight wasn't any different than that smug human with the musket.

But for Belle, she would play along. If only until the knight fully recovered.

---

"Tch, this looks like the last town on the list. At least the last one closest to that bitch's kingdom."

"Aw, Artil! I don't think the Queen would be happy to know that you were calling her a bitch! She's has ears everywhere, ahuh!"

Through the streets of the cold port town of Wilhelm, the townspeople found themselves staring oddly at the strange sight they were witnessing. Just moments ago, a large army of knights clad in heavy silver armor, lances, fire sticks, swords, and maces had arrived at their town gates on a mission. The carriage at the head of the army was decorated with flags and were painted blue and white with a royal emblem of a snow-white tiara of ice. The people instantly recognized the emblem as the queen of the region, meaning that the small army was the queen's own men marching in. Many were confused at the arrival of the queen's men. As far as many of them knew there wasn't any reason for them to be out this far from the cold queen's kingdom. Some believed that they had arrived to lend a hand in The Beast's demise, but threw such thoughts away as they recalled the new queen's position on such matters.

As strange as it was to see the men, it was even stranger to see the intimidating knights following the lead of two child sized men dressed in overalls who looked to be better suited mining for gems and diamonds. One of the dwarves wore a red bandanna and an eye patch with a loaded firearm strapped to his back, while the second one had a sunny smile stamped on his overalls with the biggest smile on his face. The army of knights wordlessly followed behind the two, awaiting any commands at any moment as the two bickered with another.

Scratching his scalp under his bandanna, Artil spat to the side in annoyance as Hap skipped alongside him merrily.

"As if I care if she heard me call her a bitch! She's the one who had apparently grown fond of us and forced us into such positions without our consent! I'm an outlaw! Not some damn babysitter." Artil growled, glancing back to the knights trailing behind him. A few of the armored men shivered at the deadly glint in the short man's red eyes and eyed the little man's twitchy trigger finger. Grunting, Artil turned his eyes straight ahead with scrutiny, "Even worse, she has us searching for that blond brat who was suppose make our troubles go away. Can't say I blame him. I would run away too if I was married to that ice queen."

"Well, I think she's super!" Hap giggled with his ever present bright grin, "She put me in charge of decorating the castle and made me Captain of Joy! Now our soldiers won't ever feel down with me by their side singing my happy, sunny melodies!" he giggled happily.

One of the knight's behind the two dwarves straightened his back and forced a strained smile on his head as Hap spun around to wink at him. The armored knight sweated as the little man turned away and sighed with relief.

No one in their ranks wanted to hear another song from that happy little monster. Behind that innocent and bright smile laid a true horror of sunshine and sparkles.

Once again, Artil was reminded of Snow's sadism. Putting Hap in charge of soldiers? That was just cruel.

"At least our long search will be over with today." Artil sighed deeply. He swung his small hands behind his head and looked up at the gray cloudy sky above with a smirk, "This is the last town on our list. Which means we got no other places to search for after this. And unless Snow wants to make peace with the queen of the eastern side of Fey to search for him there, our job will be over with. And I can finally go back to manning the artillery on our borders." he chuckled happily.

"And I can go back to whipping our boys into shape! Right, guys!?" Hap shouted gleefully to the small army behind them. The knights stopped in place, straightened their backs, and saluted the small captain as they shouted in sync.

"YES, SIR!"

Finally reaching what they believed to be the town square, the army stopped and lined up behind the small dwarfs as Artil reached into one of his pockets. Coughing gruffly into his fist, the gun happy dwarf reached out his hand for one of the knights to hand him an odd stick with a purple gem adorned to the tip. He tapped the gem a few times, the action causing a loud echoing boom to catch the attention of the towns people around the square.

"Alright, listen up!" Artil shouted into the stick, his voice amplified by its magical gem as he spoke, "I am Artil Klien, Commander of Snow White's Artillery and Defensive Line! And on the orders of her majesty, we are in search of this man right here!" Nodding his head to Hap, Artil watched as his cheery brother unfurled a large poster and hung on a banner stand provided by one of the knights.

The poster displayed an artist's drawing of a messy blond-haired man with blue eyes in his late teens. The man was dressed like a prince and wielded an old styled sword and shield. The only defining feature to the drawing would be the twin arcs on the man's shield.

Cracking his neck, Artil continued as he found a crowd gathered around in interest, "The man's name is unknown! All we have is a drawing from the view of her majesty. For reasons that cannot be stated or known, this man must be found alive and well! Rest assured that a large reward will be provided to the one, or ones, who provide any concrete information on his whereabouts or return! BUT! If any misleading information or false claims are given, be warned that a long, agonizing, grueling, public execution awaits you!" Artil finished off sternly with a deep frown.

Within seconds murmurs and whispers filled the air as the town's people talked among themselves. If the queen was offering a large reward than it would have to a king's ransom that could allow anyone to live in luxury for the rest of their days! But at the same time, they were uneasy about the threat of execution for giving any false leads. Even a far-off town like Wilhelm knew of the queen's strict and cold rule. Among the talk, a few of the people found themselves scratching their heads and squinting at the picture, as if they had seen the man before.

But none of the chatter was any different from the many towns Artil and Hap had visited in the last few months since they began their journey. From the sounds of it no one knew of the blond runaway.

Artil shook his head with a dragged-out sigh.

"Doesn't look like we got anything here either. Too bad, I actually found myself hoping to drag that blond brat with us. Maybe her royal coldness would finally warm up a bit." Artil shrugged in the end. It didn't make any difference to them. It was a wild goose chase from the start. They didn't even have the kid's name for lord's sake. The search was a failure from the start.

Knowing that they weren't going to find any clues, Artil moved to call off the search and head out.

"Hmm? What's all the commotion about? I'm gone for a few hours and the whole towns gathered in the square for no reason?"

Breaking through the crowd gathered around the small army of knights, a very handsome and chiseled dark-haired man walked up to Artil and Hap. The man's good-looking features were bandaged from what they guessed was some altercation and sported a few bruises over his face. Behind the handsome man followed a party of hunters who appeared to have just returned from a hunt. The handsome man suddenly blinked. He found his eyes staring ahead at the banner behind the two dwarfs. While the blond man in the poster was wearing a different getup than what he had originally seen, the twin arcs on the wanted man's shield affirmed it.

Gaston grinned and looked down at the two dwarfs.

"So, are you friends of Juan Arc? Well I'm sorry to say that I have some rather grave news about our friend here." Gaston said with a dramatic sigh.

Artil frowned deeply. He didn't like the sounds of that. The spastic twitch in his trigger finger said they weren't done here as he had hoped.

"Welp!" Hap grinned widely, "It looks like we've finally got some news for her majesty! She's going to be sooooooo happy!"

She wasn't.

---

"Look, Mama! It's a man! Eve brought home a man! Do you think he's the one?"

"Hush now, Chip! The young man is clearly in need of rest. He doesn't need some stranger looking down on him while he sleeps, that's impolite. Ain't that right, Cogsworth?"

"But I do say that I find it interesting that the young mistress would bring home another human into her abode. Here I thought she had given up on humanity and all its kind. Don't you find it strange, Lumeire?"

"My dear friend, don't you see? Our mademoiselle brought this young man home out of the goodness of her heart! It seems that our dear Belle's presence has been a good influence on her. Why, give the young lady another day and I'm sure even mademoiselle won't be able to stop herself from falling for her!"

"Errrr, yes, I suppose so. But wouldn't it be better for her to fall in love with the man? It's only natural after all."

"Bah! Love knows no bounds! Be it between a woman and a man, or a woman and a woman, love is love! And only love will free us all from our curse."

Groaning softly, Jaune's eyes creaked open and blinked in effort to clear away the sleep from his eyes. Strangely, he could hear voices very close by. He yawned and tried to get up from wherever he was laying but grunted as he fell back to the soft mattress. He gasped as he held the right side of his chest where he could feel gauze and bandages wrapped around his patched-up lung.

'Jaune Arc, Heart of The Gamer.

3,100HP/8,800HP.'

'Well, at least I'm out of the red.' Jaune thought as he let his head rest back on a pillow. He took a moment to regain his breath after the sudden sharp pain in his chest before looking around. He could have sworn he heard voices.

"Mama, he's awake! Look, look!"

Something odd jumped up and down from the left side of Jaune's bedside, catching his attention. As his vision gained clarity, Jaune found himself dumbfounded at what he was seeing.

Bouncing happily, a small chipped teacup with a set of black eyes and a small mouth greeted Jaune with a bright smile. The handle of the cup looked like it represented its nose. At a loss for words at the strange sight, Jaune could only continue to watch the animated teacup happily bounce around before it decided to jump onto his bedside. The little drink ware looked at Jaune with stars in its eyes.

"Hi, Mister! My name's Chip, what's yours?" it said curiously as it leaned closer to Jaune's astounded face.

'I must still be dreaming. That must be it. This is all nothing but a dream.' Jaune concluded logically. It only made sense. Why else would a teacup be talking to him in a little boy's voice?

Another figment of Jaune's dream hopped onto his bedside, this time in the form of a feminine looking porcelain teapot. The teapot shook itself in disappointment at the tea cup child.

"Now Chip, I told you to leave the boy be. Don't you see that he's still trying to make heads and tails of where he is? Poor dear, he must believe he's seeing things. It's not every day you see talking objects." the teapot chuckled softly before turning to look at Jaune kind. He was surprised to see gentle kindness in its eyes, almost motherly.

"Don't you worry, dear. You just take a deep, calming breath now. You've been through a lot, so just rest easy. You're still in no shape to be moving about all willy-nilly."

"Someone pinch me." Jaune said dully before yelping in pain. He rubbed his singed nose with a glare as he now found an animated golden candlestick. Its arms held lit candles in each of its 'hands' and the center wax candle stick held its eyes and mouth. The candlestick looked at Jaune with apology.

"Pardon me, monsieur! I just wanted to reassure you that you were indeed awake. Sadly, these hands are incapable of pinching." it laughed.

The feeling of his nose being lightly burned was just enough to prove that he was indeed awake.

"Y-You burned me?" Jaune stuttered, staring at the animated candlestick with a dropped jaw.

Another object jumped into his sight, standing on top of his chest with a look of annoyance at the flaming item. It was an old wooden clock brought to life with arms and a face on the clock's display.

"I agree, that was rude, Lumiere! There are better ways to prove he is wide and awake." Cogsworth scoffed with what Jaune could only describe as a snotty expression. The clock looked back at Jaune with apology, "I'm dreadfully sorry, sir. My friend here did not mean no harm, he's just a bit… softheaded!" the clock said brightly, only to yelp as Lumiere singed its arm.

"Now that was just rude, Cogsworth. I simply wanted to help him cement his reality. It was just a gentle little singe." the gold wick smiled. Now that Jaune was wide awake, he idly noticed that the animated candlestick's voice had an accent that clicked with him. Odd.

The feminine teapot, which on closer look had what appeared to be makeup on nodded in agreement on the clock's side, "I agree with Cogsworth, the boy's still wounded. No need to add another injury." she huffed.

The candlestick looked back and forth between the two before its golden metal arms slumped and pouted.

"I suppose that was my mistake." Lumiere admitted with some guilt before turning to the still opened mouthed blond. Lumiere smiled in apology and bowed, "My apologies, Monsieur. I hope you can forgive me." he said sincerely.

Jaune could only nod, still reeling from the shock.

"It's fine, really. I don't think I would have believed I was awake otherwise." he laughed weakly as he stared at the animate objects that settled around him. With the surprise waning, Jaune began to slowly sit up despite the protest of the teapot.

From what he was saw, he was bedridden in an old styled infirmary. And to his further disbelief he could see several of the medical supplies moving about with wills of their own. Jaune waved weakly back at a coat rack with a stethoscope around the neck of its frame as it greeted him before it left with the rest of the animate tools.

'This is literally something out of my mother's story books. I swear I've read about a story like this, but my mind's drawing a complete blank.'

Jaune's thoughts were abruptly cut off by a sharp sting on his chest. He sucked in a wince and flinched as he gripped the bandaged area around his lung.

The motherly teapot immediately began to scold Jaune, "I told you to take it easy, young man! You're lucky to be alive with a wound like that. Though," she frowned deeply as she stared at a faded, ugly scar on his chest and his forehead, "It seems you're the sort who's familiar with pain such as that. Children these days, getting into who knows what." she chided with a sigh.

Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly under the teapots scolding. It reminded him of his mother.

"Sorry! I tend to forget about my own wounds from time to time, Ms.-"

"Potts! Ms. Potts, at your service, young master." Ms. Potts said warmly while performing an odd courtesy in her teapot form.

"And I'm Chip!" Chip giggled as it hopped up and down happily.

Lumiere bowed elegantly as Cogsworth did the same.

"Lumiere, at your service as well, Monsieur!"

"And I am Cogsworth, glad to serve."

Jaune smiled at the friendly animate beings and waved.

"Nice to meet you all. Name's Jaune Arc! And thanks for the help!" he said gratefully. The situation was still weird but he knew that the odd little beings deserved his thanks. "But you don't have to be so formal or anything. I don't need any kind of special treatment." he chuckled sheepishly.

"Nonsense! You deserve nothing but formality and special care!" Cogsworth said stubbornly as the rest nodded along with the clockman, "If it wasn't for your help, our dear mistress wouldn't be back home with us! Not only that, but you saved Belle as well. Why, you're nothing short of a hero!" it smiled as it stuck out it's chest with pride in its voice.

Jaune tilted his head in confusion, "Hero?" he said slowly before his eyes went wide.

At the moment, everything came back to him. Lost Fairy Tales, waking up and riding along to Wilhelm, getting sucked into a hunting party to hunt a horrid beast, fighting the wolves and said Beast before finding the missing Belle and Gaston's betrayal. And then there was also the enchanted bullet to his lung.

"Where's Belle and The Beast!?" Jaune nearly shouted before falling back with a sharp gasp. His wound still wasn't healed despite his Gamer Body. Just how long was he going to be out?

Ms. Potts shushed Jaune and urged him to calm down. She looked at him warmly with a happy twinkle in her eyes, "They're fine, child. Ms. Belle's wounds weren't severe and simply needed some first-aid to treat. She's all better now. And as for our mistress, well, she's been recovering rather nicely these few days. Though I wish she had the natural healing factor like yourself." she said amusingly, "Your lung was utterly destroyed by that enchanted bullet, it was torn to literal shreds. But yet you clung onto your life and in just a day, your lung appeared to be regenerating like magic! Even us cursed folk were dumbfounded by it. Seems you're no ordinary boy."

"I'll say." Lumiere nodded as he crossed his flaming handled arms across its handle chest, "I was even more surprised that our mademoiselle brought you into her home. Eve is not fond of your kind." he chuckled.

With just a few sentences Jaune found himself full of questions. Cursed folk, Eve-

"A FEW DAYS!" Jaune shouted in surprise before once again gasping in pain and being scolded by Ms. Potts.

"Are you sure!?"

Cogsworth nodded with a flat look.

"Trust me. I know a thing or two about time." it grinned proudly before clarifying, "To be more precise, you've been out for exactly two days. Though I would have thought you would have been out for longer with such a grave wound. You truly are far from ordinary." he said with suspicion before staring Jaune dead in the eye with a quirked wooden brow, "You wouldn't happen to be a Warlock, would you?"

Jaune shook his head with a frown. Sure, he knew some magic, but he wasn't adept at it.

"I'm just your average traveler really." he said with some nervousness.

"Eh, it matters not to us. Though having someone who's knowledgeable about magic would have been very helpful." Lumiere smiled as he pulled back Cogsworth.

"Why would that have been helpful?" Jaune asked curiously while his eyes followed the small child like teacup giggling as it gently danced around his chest.

Lumiere's eyes light up with an idea, something Cogsworth noticed right away. The clock-man waved its arms negatively with a scowl, ready to protest.

"Now, Lumiere, there's no need to involve the young man in this any further! He's done more than enough! We should just leave him be to recover and-"

"But he could be the one! While I'm confident in Belle's chances, I just know that if the young monsieur were to be involved, we'd all be able to double our chances! After all, Love is a mysterious thing that knows no bounds or limits!" Lumiere said passionately before moving his clockwork friend away and smiling smoothly at Jaune.

"Mr. Arc, how would you like to hear a story of a poor, heartless damsel in need of saving?"

"And who exactly are you calling a poor heartless damsel?"

The low, annoyed voice by the open door made Lumiere's face freeze. He shuddered before slowly turning his head to meet the twitching yellow eyes of his mistress.

Jaune spun his head to the voice, finding the light chocolate brown skinned woman with red horn leaning against the door to the infirmary. The red-haired woman was dressed in a tattered purple colored cloak. Below that, he could make out a weathered black corset and ragged long skirt that stopped at her kneecaps. From the looks of it she wasn't wearing shoes, choosing to go barefoot and revealing the sharp black claws that were her nails. Jaune's eyes found their way back to the woman's horns, reminding him of a certain individual in his world. Now that he had a good look at her, he noticed the woman's face was sharp and mature with two claw like marks on each of her cheeks.

The faunus like woman's yellow eyes narrowed dangerously as she caught the blond's eye. Her voice grew deep and guttural as darkness began to crawl over her skin like fur.

"Where do you think you're looking at, Shit-head?" she hissed as her body began to morph.

Jaune gulped and went to apologize before he found Ms. Potts scowling. The little teapot jumped down from the bed and hopped over to the transforming woman.

"Young mistress, what have we said about your anger? Now's not the time for one of your childish outbursts. You owe this boy your life after all." Ms. Potts scolded with an upset glare.

The paternal little lecture seemed to be enough to calm the red-horned woman down. She scoffed and the darkness cladding her skin died away. With her features returned to normal, she lightly glared back at Jaune and crossed her arms with a grunt.

"…Don't think I owe you anything, human." she glowered with a show of her sharp teeth. "I would have been just fine without your meddling. If anything, you simply got in the way."

Jaune didn't know what to say, but nodded swiftly. He still remembered the woman's terrifying form when he had first met her. She wasn't the type to piss off.

The woman smirked at Jaune, happy that he knew his place. But that smirk quickly died as someone smacked her arm and tsked.

"Stop intimidating Mr. Arc, Eve! He risked his life to save us. He shouldn't be treated so rudely."

Stepping past 'Eve', Jaune found the brunette woman named Belle smiling at him. There didn't seem to be a scratch on her either, something he was relieved to see. She was still dressed the same as before, her clothing stitched up from their first meeting. He had to blink a few times to rid the phantom image of cat ears over her head. She really did remind him of a brown-haired Blake.

Careful not to aggravate his wounds, Belle pulled Jaune into a hug, surprising him as his head fell against her modest chest. He blushed as she gently stroked his hair.

"Thank the Lord that you're alright! You have no idea how worried I've been!" Pulling back from the hug, Belle pouted at the injured knight. "You've been sleeping for two days now, I almost thought you would never wake up."

"No skin off my ass." Eve snorted and inspected her deadly nails in boredom.

Belle rolled her eyes at the horned woman's response, "Don't listen to Eve, Mr. Arc. I know that deep down she was worried about you too." she whispered into Jaune's ears with a Cheshire grin.

But Eve's hearing picked up Belle's whisper, causing her to growl in annoyance. She took a step into the infirmary before her bestial feet brought her to tower over the smiling brunette woman. Even as Eve flared her nostrils and pulled back her lips with a sneer, Belle didn't make a move to step back or show any fear. The kind brunette woman simply continued to smile even as Jaune began to sweat nervously.

"I didn't give a damn whether this Shit-head lived or died. As far as I'm concerned, I've paid my favor to this…maggot." Eve's yellow eyes narrowed, and she spoke with a clear distaste for Jaune. He looked away from the intimidating woman's eyes and stared out the window awkwardly, "Once he's fully recovered he may leave my castle with the warning to never return or trespass onto my lands."

Fully turning her attention to Jaune, Eve leaned closer so that her face was inches from his own. At that point Jaune turned back to her and stared into her sharp yellow eyes with his nervous blue. He had to stop himself from gulping at the intense look on her face.

"Know this, human. While you may have aided in securing Belle and healing my wounds, that does not mean by any chance you are welcomed in my castle. You are here until you are completely healed and no more. Once you're well, LEAVE. I have no wish to entertain some human any longer than needed." Eve spoke coldly with a seething fire in her eyes. Every word was full of loathing.

But Jaune had grown use to such loathing since he was brought into this new reality. The nervousness he felt went away as he nodded with understanding, albeit melancholic. He wasn't happy to be under such anger and hate, but there wasn't much he could do to change it on his first meeting. He learned that the hard way a long time ago.

"I understand, I'll be out of your hair soon enough." Jaune said while working up a small smile despite the beast like woman's hateful gaze. He didn't look away as she narrowed her eyes dangerously, instead choosing to let his own gaze soften, "Either way, thank you taking me in and healing me. And I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm causing you." he said earnestly.

Eve's eyes shot open with an unknown emotion before the woman growled deeply. She shut her eyes tightly and looked away with a scoff. With nothing more to say, she spun around and headed out the door with the tap of her claws hitting the wooden floor. But before she left the room, Eve glanced back and found Belle's eyes meeting her own. The red-horned woman narrowed her eyes.

"While he may leave, don't forget that your stay is permanent. We have a deal." Eve said lowly.

Belle nodded with a soft smile on her lips. Her hazel brown eyes never lost their gentleness and even held a hint of amusement at the woman known as The Beast.

"Of course. Don't you worry, I'm not going anywhere. Okay?" Belle grinned brightly with a tilt of her head.

Eve snapped her face away from the sight before huffing. She left with the bang of the door as she stomped away amid a slew of low curses and a roar.

Watching the castle's primal owner exit, Jaune had to take a second to shake his head.

Was he seeing things, or did he see a tint of red on Eve's face?

Now that things had settled down in the room, Ms. Potts took the time to hop back onto Jaune's bed and begin apologizing.

"I'm sorry for our mistress's rough manner. Young Eve isn't the gentlest of souls, but I know she means well." Ms. Pott's said positively while her son Chip nodded along.

"Yeah, she's the greatest! And when she turns into a beast, she looks awesome! She's like a dark furry teddy bear!"

'Right. But I don't remember teddy bears being able to breath fire or rip my flesh to bloody chops.' Jaune thought dryly. He couldn't picture the woman being cuddly at all.

Standing on the nightstand by Jaune's bedside, Lumiere could only chuckle at the unbelieving expression on the blond knight's face. He shook his wax lit head in amusement.

"I know it's hard to believe, Monsieur Arc, but underneath those layers of anger and blister there's a loving heart. We wouldn't have any hope to be free of our curse if that weren't true!" he grinned.

There was that word again. Curse. Jaune frowned at its mention and looked over the household items speaking and moving with wills of their own. His line of thinking soon connected the human like objects to Eve's condition.

In his thinking, Jaune felt someone sit down on the side of his bed. He found Belle sitting by him while being careful not to disturb him with his injuries. He was confused why she hadn't left yet and opened his mouth to speak before his voice was lost as she moved her face dangerously close to his own. Her eyes were bubbly and full of curiosity.

"Soooooooo, what's your story?" Belle asked giddily, excited at a chance to hear a new story from the stranger. "Are you a traveling knight who spends his time banishing evil wherever he goes? Or are you a prince who was banished from his kingdom until he can prove his valiant spirit to be king?"

Ms. Potts laughed at the beautiful bookworm's wild guesses, "Now, Belle, I'm sure he'd be willing to tell you his own story in time, but right now, I think the young man would like to hear our own." the teapot mother explained in a chiding fashion. Belle pouted but nodded as she noticed the confusion still written on Jaune's face.

"Boo, I suppose we should. But only if you're all okay with it."

"Of course, my dear! Why I was ready to tell monsieur Arc our little tale before we were interrupted." Lumiere said in agreement before hopping over to stand in front of Jaune's lap. Cogsworth, Ms. Potts, and Chip stood beside him as they all looked up at Jaune before looking expectantly towards Belle. She looked confused for a second before smacking her fist into her head in realization.

"Are you sure? It's your story to tell?" she said hesitantly before Cogsworth shrugged.

"It would be better from you. You do have a way with words." Cogsworth explained with a small smile.

With their permission, Belle turned back to Jaune before clearing her throat.

"Mr. Arc, would you like to hear a story? About this castle's cursed inhabitants and its misunderstood master?" Belle asked with a somber smile.

Jaune nodded as he sat back against the bed. With nothing much to do while he healed, a story sounded nice. And it looked like it would help him understand what was going on in this castle better.

"Good. Now, our story began just about ten years ago, on a cold winter night…"

[Chapter End]

A story of a Beast and a Beauty, an old tale as they go. But things are not so familiar. Just what is Lost Fairy Tales? Is it a world of strife? Or the only freedom from forces that control you?

Cursed, Unloved. Your heart is empty and full of rage. But who are you to judge one soul?

How long must you wait to come inside from the cold?

There we are, the first of four chapters for our special. Don't worry, the chapters are done and being edited. And to ease any more worry, the fifth chapter leading back to the world of Remnant is already under way with 3k+. All's good.

And for those of you wondering about A Jaune of All Trades, the second chapter is done. Hell, its been done for a month. But I wanted to get more chapters finished before actually beginning uploading the story. I'm already on the third chapter, and once the fourth is done with I'll begin uploading the story regularly.

I'm back, baby! Best believe your boi's here to stay again. Been loving V5 so far, so much information and it just looks amazing. Only four episodes left, I can't wait to see how it ends.

Now, two things before we close up for now.

One, thank you all for sticking around this long. Sorry if some of you may have believed I abandoned the story. Trust me, I've written far too much to just quit yet. I do appreciate the suggested anime and manga to read during my vacation. I also blame you for suggesting them, seeing as I got carried away and binged.

Two, it's December. Which means I got to get a gift for all of ya too, like last time. Think I'll work on some oneshots from Arc Works. I think I'll have them as crossovers this time. Three of them. I got some in mind, but what do you all think?

I've blabbed on long enough. I'll see ya all again some time next week!

Remember, Read and Review! It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.