God damn flu be a bitch. Aye, NeoShadows back and well!
Sorry for the long absence. Trust me, it wasn't to finish writing this chapter, it's been done for a long while now. But as I sent over the need to be edited Doc to my Beta, he got sick and was unable to do his magic. So, it's taken a while to edit along with my other pieces. And he wasn't the only one feeling sick, I got hit as well. Been feeling like crap for almost two weeks and just now began to feel better. But enough about all that, let's get to the story. We still have two chapters to go! Then we're back to the world of Remnant and all its own brand of fun.
First, some Reviews.
Ssjzohan: Yeah, feels good to be back to typing feverishly. To keep you from getting bored, I bring you this very late chapter. Hope I can bring a smile to your day.
The Gamer24: Sí, Adam como mujer fue una idea divertida. Apuesto a que no lo viste venir. En cuanto a los elementos en Enlaces, no todos los tendrán. Y no puedo decir nada sobre Penny. Por razones que dirían demasiado. Y sí, leo demasiado.
Commando squirrel: You'd think so. . .
InfinityxEternity: Probably because of different timezones. Still, I find myself laughing evilly that I won't let you sleep by simply uploading. Though I still think Coeur is levels above me when it comes to writing, but thanks! I'll try to upload faster, but I got to wait for the chapters to be edited. Quality does come in time after all. Thank you for waiting though, I know the feeling of waiting for your favorite fic to be uploaded.
EJspirits: Gaston's the guy I love to hate. It was fun working on his smug character. I died every time I described his handsomeness and snickered at the same time. The Gender swap with Adam was one I had thought up of for a long time, glad people liked it. I was afraid to get a negative response. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Cr00cy: Hmm, criticism. I actually welcome it, it helps to improve areas I know I struggled in. To answer your review to the end to Act 1 with Helios, I admit, I wrote too much and got carried away. I have a thing where I write whatever plays in my head and that's just how it seemed to play out. The fights were too long, that is true, and I'm trying to work on cutting back on that. But it is what is. And there are reasons for a few things you mentioned too, but I would be risking spoiling too much if I got into it.
The fight scene in first chapter of the DLC special wasn't meant to be anything big, it was more cinematic than anything. At least that's how I tried to write it. Trust me, I got a real good one already finished for the end. I can only write what I see in the old head, and hope you like it.
Lordrednight: That vacation was too much. It distracted me from getting back into writing for so long. X2 didn't help either as I got back into the flow, thank god I beat it. I fucking loved it. You compliment me far too much, sheesh, I'm kinda blushing over here. Though, it does make me happy as a writer to hear such things about my work. Fey was definitely one of my favorites to add into Multiplayer. Oh, it's just about levels in this world. Trust me, it's nothing like Remnant. You'll have to wait and read.
Randytphan: Ah, Multiplayer: Journals. Funny thing, I've already uploaded the Spells and Abilities page to Act 1. It's up for your viewing pleasure. Just search forums for Multiplayer: Journals. I'll be uploading more as promised when I can.
Googlemo: Jaune was afflicted with a Status condition, Fear, when he met The Beast. Not to mention he wasn't familiar with what was going on, he was randomly dragged into the event. It took a bit to realize what was going on as everything began to click into place.
And that's it for reviews! Keep them coming, I love to read me some reviews! For now though, let's get to scrolling. Y'all been waiting long enough.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY, they belong to RoosterTeeth. Hmm, I'm doing my best to continue with my writing flow after my Beta, A Fan1204 sent me a copy of Player's Unknown Battle Ground. It's a free for all with only one remaining. Which means only one thing.
Their can only be one!
. . .I'm going to die a lot, aren't I?
Chapter 31: Amore/Vaine.
A puff of cold air escaped Artil's mouth as he laid back against the large wooden gates leading to Wilhelm. He stared down the road leading in with boredom. A few of the knights he had arrived with stood at guard at the side of the gates, armed with muskets provided by the town. The dark cloudy weather hadn't changed since he had first arrived, dreary as ever and cold enough to chill you to the bone. And thankfully the people of the town had provided him with a furred coat to battle the cold. Unfortunately for the knights they weren't so lucky and had to settle with the small oil lamps on their person for warmth.
It had been two days since Artil and Hap had arrived in Wilhelm in search of the blond boy who had captured Snow White's heart. And it had been two days since they had learned of the tragic fate of the supposed 'Juan Arc' and sent news of what they had found back to the queen.
Juan Arc was dead. Killed by a monster known as The Beast who had been terrorizing the small port town for years. Apparently, the blond knight had come to help the people of the town and save them from the monster's rampaging. And even worse, the blond boy had died trying to save a woman known as Belle from The Beast. The pretty boy known as Gaston had seen it with his own eyes and tried to aid Juan. But the blond boy had pushed him away and urged him to save himself.
Artil wouldn't have believed it at first. Word of mouth wasn't much to go by. But then Gaston had brought him to the scene of the boy's final fight. The large amount of blood and multiple eye witness accounts said enough.
Their search was over. But there was no happy ending.
"Now I know why Ang smokes. There stress is too much without a good puff." Filling his lungs with another breath of toxic nicotine, Artil waited impatiently for the queen's personal envoy to arrive with a cigar in hand. After he had Hap send the letter of their search, they quickly sent back a response a day later. Artil didn't understand how their letter had arrived so fast and got a response in the same speed, but shrugged it off as the queen's magic. From what he had read, one the queen's allies would arrive to learn more before the queen herself arrived in a few days to decide what form of action she would take. And there would be action. Hell have no wrath like a sadistic woman's fury.
Dragging another lungful of smoke in, Artil blew out a stream of smoke before throwing aside the lightly burning nub into the dirt. From what the letter had said, the envoy would be here today and was to be greeted and debriefed about everything. Something he didn't want to do. But he had drew the shorter straw and found himself as the one to greet the mystery person.
"Stupid Hap. I'm pretty sure the happy bastard cheated." Artil grumbled into his fur coat. He was ready to screw it all and leave one of the knights to wait in his stead before his ears picked up on something. The sound of clopping feet caused him to look ahead of the dirt beaten road to find a single carriage drawn by horses heading his way.
It looked like he was stuck out in the cold for a bit longer.
Stopping a few feet away from the gate, the side door to the lustrous white carriage was kicked open by its rider. The door was ripped off from the savage kick as the woman responsible jumped out with a scowl. The woman had silky golden blonde hair running down her back with narrowed blue eyes and a fair complexion. She wore a leather brown coat with her midriff exposed and the top button undone to show off a fair amount of her chest, tight leather jeans, and boots. A purple scarf adorned her neck with a serpent dragon knitted onto the fabric and she also wore a leather brown cowboy hat. And to Artil's joy the woman wielded a what looked like a modified shotgun holstered by her waist like a hand cannon.
The golden locked beauty spun her eyes to meet the little man with an eye patch and bandanna. Her scowl grew deeper before glancing at the rider of the carriage.
"Scarlet, you can return to the castle and get the queen ready. I don't trust anyone else getting her here other than you." the buxom blond commanded strictly as the red pigtailed driver nodded with a solemn expression.
"Understood, Boss." Scarlet sighed as she reigned the horses to turn back. The red-haired woman scowled, her face pained as she glanced back at her boss with a heavy heart.
Goldi Locks didn't look back as the carriage drove off. She kept her eyes ahead, locked onto Artil's as she walked forward. She stood over the little man, making him feel smaller as her blue eyes intently stared down at him, demanding answers.
"You said that there was a Beast who took my love's life, right?" Goldi glowered as her knuckle popped. She had to hold herself back from doing anything out of anger as Artil nodded and she continued. Her voice trembled, "Is that so? He died fighting a monster, huh?"
Something came over Goldi as her voice grew heavy with rage and grief. Her blue eyes dyed a deep orange like fire when Artil nodded again and stepped back from her. Goldi's shoulders were shaking as she struggled to breath.
"He died saving another damsel in distress? That stupid idiot. God fucking damn it." Goldi whispered lowly before exploding with a vengeful scream.
Gasping for a breath, Goldi calmed herself down as the orange in her eyes reverted back to her beautiful blue. She snapped her head back to Artil and grabbed a fistful of his coat before raising him up from his feet to face her face to face. Her glare made the little man almost whimper.
"Take me inside the town, bring everyone who knows of what happened to my love and anything about The Beast, and gather any capable fighters along with the knights Snow gave you. Because in the next few days, we go to war." Goldi hissed angrily before dropping Artil off without waiting for an answer. She moved to the large gates and brought her fist back.
The large twin wooden gates, weathered to stand against the cold temperature and claws of wild beasts, trembled and cracked as the golden locked woman smashed her fist against its frame. Blood dripped off the torn skin of her knuckles as she let her anger and sorrow out to vent. The little knock was enough to send the knights scurrying to open up the gate to lead her in.
Goldi let her head drop onto the cracked gates as tears gathered in her blue eyes. Despite her strength and fighting, she couldn't stop the few tears from falling. She swallowed a cry and shut her eyes.
"That's fucked up."
Jaune suddenly winced as he found Ms. Potts jumping onto his head with force. The animated mother teapot looked at Jaune with a scolding stare as he looked up at her sheepishly.
"Sorry, Ms. Potts. But I can't find any other way to express how messed up the story is." he apologized before stopping in the middle of the hall with a frown.
Sometime during Belle's story, Jaune had made a comment of how uncomfortable he was beginning to feel lying in bed. He was starting to feel sore just laying back with little to do. So, Lumiere had suggested that Jaune stretch his legs for a bit as they continued their story. Belle had been against it of course, what with Jaune still recovering. But Jaune had assured her that he was more than fine to walk around for a while. And after he had steadied his shaky legs and gotten up after a few falls, they found themselves roaming the great halls of the cursed castle.
Cursed castle. Every inch of the majestic foundation was cursed to the roots deep within the earth. Which explained why every object from a step stool, forks, dresser, pots, chairs, tables, and even curtains were able to move about as if they were people. Because they were people. And this was definitely not a dream.
From what Jaune had heard, the people that served the master of the castle were cursed to live the life of the objects within. Eve, said master of the castle, suffered a similar fate. She had been cursed to live her life as a beast of beasts. It wasn't so bad in Jaune's opinion, she looked like a faunus. But that was only the surface of the curse she suffered. It was when Eve's anger rose that her true deformity would arise. Instantly at any signs of anger, the woman would transform into a beast clad in the hide of darkness with white eyes void of any emotion other than wrath.
It reminded Jaune of a superhero he had read about in a comic once. So, he had thought the easiest way to control such a curse would be to learn to control their temper. But their laid the problem. Eve was a wrathful woman with a very short fuse. She grew angry easily, especially at the sight of humans.
Lumiere and Cogsworth swore the red horned woman had made some progress since she had been cursed long ago. At most, she would transform into The Beast 20 times a day and would only retain the form for about half an hour until she calmed down at her worst. Which was a definite improvement from the time of holding the form for an entire week.
Jaune's frown grew deeper, showing hints of anger as he looked down at the red carpet that extended to the very end of the long hallway full of animated furniture.
It was a cruel curse, one placed upon Eve for her lack of love towards a stranger who sought shelter from a cold winter night. Her distrust, resentment, and bitter attitude had been repaid with a curse that reflected her heart.
At the age of ten.
Belle stared curiously at Jaune and noticed his shoulders tremble. What he had said earlier was still shocking. Seeing him physically react like this was even more.
Taking a moment to calm himself with a deep breath, Jaune looked back up to Belle with frustration and anger.
"She was just a kid. A kid for crying out loud!" Jaune nearly shouted before grunting as his chest acted up again. He ignored the pain as he walked on while crossing his arms, trying again to calm down as Belle and the other servants of the castle followed behind.
"I could kinda understand if she was a grown adult at the time, but she was just a ten-year-old kid! Do you know how many other kids like her are out there? Tons! I knew a whole village of kids who acted the same as her, and they weren't cursed to live as monsters! What kind of demented bastard would think that doing such a thing to a little girl was close to okay!?"
Lumiere and Cogsworth nearly stumbled behind Jaune, their faces stunned by what they were hearing. In all their time since being cursed, they had never heard the words leaving the blond's mouth ever uttered.
"B-But did you not hear the tale? Our mistress was punished for turning away a frail old woman and leaving her to the blizzard outside! For her lack of kindness or love for another person, she was cursed to live as a beast!" Cogsworth stuttered as he tried to comprehend what he was hearing.
At that, Jaune stopped again. The cursed servants and Belle looked to his almost imposing back wrapped in bandages anxiously, waiting to hear what he would say next.
"Tell me, where were her parents? Why didn't they answer the door?" Jaune said softly with his back turned to them all.
Ms. Potts shook her head sadly, "The mistress's parents had died shortly after her tenth birthday. The night before had been snowing awfully hard, making the roads slick and treacherous. One wrong turn and the carriage they were in went down a hill into the forest. Eve was lucky to have survived, her parents had protected her with their own bodies. We've all been taking care of her since."
"So she was just a little girl, whose parents died and found herself left alone in a giant castle, still grieving over their deaths, and the old sorceress or whatever was surprised to not find any love in her heart?" Jaune glanced back at the people of the castle with a bitter smile.
"If I was in her shoes, I wouldn't have any love for anyone either."
Belle found herself staring into Jaune's eyes, peering into the window of his soul. Pain, sorrow, anger, and hate looked back in sympathy to the girl in the story. Speaking of the same suffering he felt. Seeing it in Jaune's eyes took her back. He truly wasn't like the others who stared back at the eyes of The Beast that terrorized their town. Not even she got so angry after hearing the story.
A small smile found itself on Belle's face as Jaune turned away with a disgruntled scowl.
'You aren't a normal boy, are you?'
Of course, Jaune wasn't happy after hearing such a story. Who would be after hearing about a little girl being turned into a monster? Did that sorceress not understand kids? They were too young to know what they were doing was wrong! That's why they had parents and friends to teach them better. But a girl grieving over her parent's death wouldn't listen, not when their heart was still in shambles. Jaune wasn't sure himself if he would offer a stranger shelter when he was still in pain over losing his family. If that ever happened to him, he would-
A blond man with a poor constitution, hooked up to multiple machines and the sounds of steady beeping, within a clean white room came to mind. The anguish and fury of the memory came back. And the want to push others away and leave them to their own problems.
Pain like that he knew all too well.
After a few moments, Jaune settled his thoughts past the anger. His eyes went to his HUD, growing confused as he stared at his HP bar.
Jaune Arc, Heart of The Gamer.
3,150HP/8,800HP.
Why was his HP regenerating at such a slow pace? It had been almost an hour and it had only healed about fifty points? Normally he would already be up to his full health. What the hell was going on? The attack Gaston had dealt must have had some side effects to it. Then again, he had never healed from a blown-up lung either. Not to mention he had also been knocked out for two days with these wounds.
'This is the longest I've ever stayed inside the book. Normally something would happen, usually involving a woman stripping me naked with hungry lips, and I would wake back up in bed questioning my virginity. Not this time though.'Jaune mused in deep thought while scratching his head. Something was up. And when something was up it always involved The Game or The Will.
'As always, I'm caught up in another game. Right?'
That was another odd thing he noticed. Since he woke up in the land of Fey he hadn't once received any sort of mission notification from The Will. Not since the whole situation with Red. And that was only to briefly inform him of the new mini world. The only thing remotely relating to The Game were the enemy health bars and boss notifications. Almost as if the beings responsible for his curse had no other form of control within.
'If this world isn't controlled by those jerks, I wouldn't mind staying here a little more.'
But such thoughts could be addressed later, he had more important things to worry about at the moment.
"So, what was it that would break the sorceress's curse again?" Jaune asked as he turned back to meet Belle. The gorgeous bookworm opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the very excited Lumiere. The golden candlestick man hopped up to rest on Belle's head with a wide grin on his wax face.
"Why, True Love of course!"
Jaune stumbled slightly at the condition and looked at the candle man with disbelief.
"True love?" Jaune uttered slowly, getting nods from every cursed being around him. They were serious, weren't they? 'Well, this book ain't called Lost Fairy Tales for nothing.'
Cogsworth took the moment to explain, "The conditions are as such: Unless Eve can find love and love in return before the last rose petal falls on her twenty-first birthday, we are all doomed to lose our humanity. She must fall in love, honest and true, and that person who they fall for must feel the exact same! And sadly, we are running out of time." Cogsworth grimaced as his body began to shake with his clock body ringing.
"Well finding love in general is hard enough." Jaune sighed as he thought about his own love life. His own search wasn't any easier.
Back in the world of Remnant, several girls smacked their own faces and cursed a certain blond without realizing why.
"True, Monsieur Arc! But our lovely Eve is… difficult when it comes to interacting with others in general." Lumeire said stiffly, "In the months after we were all cursed, we had tried to get her out into the town to make some friends and hopefully find someone who would one day steal her heart. But even with how she appears normally, they called her a freak, a monster, a demon. They pushed our fair lady to a boiling point, causing her to attack them and begin the rumors of the so-called Beast." Lumiere spoke with scorn at the memory of the people of the past. It was the last time he had ever seen his mistress cry in anger, "Ever since then, she's developed a hatred for humans. She herself no longer considers herself a human, instead accepting her curse as a monster."
"What about you guys?" Jaune couldn't help but ask, "Can you accept your curse?"
Lumiere crossed his arms with a conflicted expression. He couldn't help but tap his wax arms, causing droplets of the hot substance to fall on Belle's head. He continued speaking, unaware of the lovely bookworm whimpering from the hot wax dripping on her skin, "We want what's best for our mademoiselle of course. If she wishes to stay a beast, then we won't discourage her. But we who have been turned into objects do wish to return to our former forms. It's truly perplexing at times. Do we force our mademoiselle who we've sworn to care for to fall in love for our own selfish wants? Or should we just accept our fate as walking, talking objects with no humanity?" he said softly with a sigh.
Belle cried, both at the sad ultimatums, and the wax dripping onto her face.
Jaune chuckled as he reached for the gold candle man, taking him off of Belle's head so she could clean the hot mess.
"Well, it's not like you can force love to happen either. It has to be pure and true, just as Cogsworth said. And I'd like to think that Eve wishes for you all to regain your humanity too. You guys are her family after all! I'm sure by now even she's realized that." he said warmly.
The kind words left Lumiere speechless. He looked up to Jaune in wonder as the blond spun his head to Belle.
"By the way, why are you here, Belle?" Jaune asked as the brunette village girl suddenly grinned brightly.
"I was kidnapped!" Belle said cheerfully.
Jaune blinked dully as he stared at the strange girl.
"You were… kidnapped?" he said slowly, getting a very energetic nod from the woman.
It was official. Belle was a strange girl indeed.
Again, Cogsworth explained.
"I wouldn't say kidnapped. More like, willing prisoner?" Cogsworth said in his own confusion, trying to make sense of the matter in a good light, "Originally, her father was taken in out of the cold by us, was discovered by Eve, and then locked up in her rage. Shortly after, Belle arrived and met Eve while finding out of her father's imprisonment. Next thing you know, she's trading places with him so that he could be free, on the condition she stays in Eve's castle for all eternity." Explaining the whole ordeal made the clockman exhausted all over again.
Prisoner, for all eternity? Jaune found himself staring at Belle strangely again. Belle didn't seem to be fazed by his staring, if anything, she looked away from his blue eyes with a blush as she clapped her hands to her cheeks with a giddy smile.
"Please, don't look at me so directly." Belle gushed as she swung around the tip toes of her feet. She was swooning about like a maiden, "It's almost like your undressing me with your very eyes! Oh my, I should have put on undergarments!" she gushed shyly.
'What the hell's wrong with this girl?' Jaune thought incredulously while fighting off the tantalizing image. He wasn't sure what she did could be called bravery, not with that kind of smile.
Cogsworth coughed into his wooden fist nub to gain Jaune's attention again to further explain, "Yes, well it had been our hopes that young Belle would be the one to break our curse actually. Why in the few days she's been here, our mistress has visibly calmed down and even tidied herself up. Belle's imprisonment could be seen as a blessing in disguise."
That bit of information again made Jaune blinked and return his sights back to the blushing Belle.
"You're into girls?" Jaune asked out of curiosity.
Once again, Belle continued to prove how strange she was.
"Loving another woman? Isn't that forbidden?" Belle said with a gasp, her face red as she broke out into a nervous smile. She shut her eyes, shaking her head back and forth as scandalous thoughts entered her mind. Thoughts of a being laid down, bare with flushed skin and sweat drenching her body as she gasped with shorten breath, and Eve with one arm standing above her naked form with hungry lips and her left hand pumping her fingers into her-
"Kyaaaaaa! I don't know if the Lord would allow it! It's so wrong, it's not right!"
"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GRINNING!?" Jaune shouted in annoyance as he watched Belle gush with a guilty red blush and a happy grin. He felt a vein in his forehead visibly twitch, "Are you into chicks? Because it sure as hell's looks so to me!"
"Why?" Belle blinked as she looked at the annoyed blond knight. Realization suddenly struck her as she gasped into her hand, "Could it be that you have feelings for me? Has the knight fallen for the fair, innocent maiden!" she shouted excitedly with eyes full of wonder. Her mind went down the gutter, picturing herself biting her knuckle as her naked body bounced up and down, her breasts groped by a strong hand as the other rested on her sweaty waist, laid back against firm abs as Jaune grunted and with one more thru-
"I'm just a flower! I've only met you and don't even know what kind of lotion you like! This is all happening so fast!"
"WHAT PART OF YOU IS INNOCENT!? HOW FAST DOES THAT MIND OF YOURS DROP INTO THE GUTTER!?"
Ms. Potts and Lumiere chuckled at the two humans as Cogsworth shook his head at their antics. Things around the old cursed castle were a lot livelier since Belle had arrived, and Jaune had only made things noisier in the clockman's opinion. Then again, that wasn't such a bad thing to the norm of the residence. Some life was needed after a decade of silence only interrupted by furious roars and violent sounds of destruction.
Without warning, Cogsworth's body began to emit a loud, high pitch ringing and his body trembled to the point he was jumping around. The sound broke Belle out of her risqué fantasies and she gasped in alarm. She spun to the clockman and picked him up. She stared at the time, stopping the alarm while doing so.
"It's 2 o'clock on the dot! Which means we have to get lunch going! That and we'll have to stop by Eve's room to change her bandages and give her another dose of medicine." Setting Cogsworth down, Belle turned back to Jaune with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, Mr. Arc, but I'll have to leave you for a bit. If I remember right, there's a nice garden a few steps away to the side of the hall. You can take a rest there while I go get some things done. I promise I'll stop by again and see if I can drag along Eve so we can all eat some nice sandwiches and soup!" She said brightly before running off to the other direction.
Jaune shouted at the odd girl's back, watching as the other servants ran off behind her, "Then I'll see you later?! And call me Jaune!"
Waving back at Belle as she disappeared around a corner, Jaune went off to search for said gardens before raising a brow as he found Lumiere still staring at him by the side of his feet.
"Something you need, Lumiere?" Jaune asked, snapping the candlelight man out of his staring.
Lumeire chuckled and shook his head, "No, no, no, Monsieur Arc! It's nothing. I was just lost in my own thoughts is all." he said amusingly before turning away to follow after the others. Lumiere stopped a few hops away, glancing back at the blond boy as he began to walk away.
'One look alone at your eyes is enough to reveal the deep reservoir of love in that surprisingly simple heart of yours, monsieur. Perhaps you were brought here for a reason as well, just as Belle. After all, a heart as empty as Eve's needs all the love it can take to understand it and set it free of her anguish.'
Love knew no bounds. Perhaps this was one of those instances.
It had taken Jaune a few minutes to find the garden Belle was talking about but after receiving some aid from one of the staff it was fairly easy to find. It was odd talking to a broom who could somehow speak without a mouth, but the human turned object was very pleasant despite its curse. Bidding the broom named Brush goodbye, Jaune now stood in the door to the gardens and pushed them open slightly. He shivered as a cold breeze hit him.
The garden was seated in the middle of the castle, leaving a gap of nature that one could see from above. Snow covered bushes decorated the garden with flowers surprisingly still blooming in the ice-cold weather, pine trees were nicely lined around the area with ice spines hanging off their branches like decorations. A large fountain laid in the middle of the well-kept garden with a cherub spewing water up, and Jaune could even make out some small woodland animals running about. Finding a stone bench, he sat down as he marveled at the scenery.
"It's like a little slice of frozen heaven." Jaune mumbled to himself before finding a bluebird of all things flying over to rest on his head. He smiled at the little bird, letting it nestle itself in his golden locks.
"Tch, it's my own personal hell. An isolated pen for The Beast."
From another door to the north of the large garden, Jaune heard the crunching footsteps of another visitor. He glanced back past the fountain to find leering yellow eyes staring back at him as Eve walked over. The red horned beast woman's face was set in a scowl, appearing disgusted with the very sight of him.
Jaune stood up abruptly at the sight of the intimidating woman and gulped nervously as she now stood in front of him. With her so close, he noticed she was several inches taller than him. She was almost as tall as Yatsuhashi! Her very presence made his skin crawl with goosebumps as her eyes narrowed sharply. She really must have been capable of inflicting Fear by second nature.
But past that fear entering his being, Jaune found himself staring into those smoldering, hate filled yellow eyes with a somber glint in his own.
The story of a girl with a broken heart turned monster came back to him.
"Hey, Eve! How are you doing?" Jaune asked as he settled his rattled nerves. Might as well start off their conversation with some light banter. Despite her appearance and earlier attitude, she couldn't be tha-
An arm of shadowed bulging muscles and dagger like claws crushed Jaune's windpipe not a second later. The sudden action took him back before he found himself gasping desperately for precious air. Eve was gone, The Beast had taken her place and lifted him up so that he was dangling with his feet lightly touching the snow as he clawed at the monstrous arm. Hollow circles the size of dinner plates stared back with malice as Jaune continued to gasp for breath.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT NAME! I AM BEAST TO YOU AND NOTHING MORE, MAGGOT, SHIT-HEAD, FILTHY WORM!" The Beast roared in Jaune's face, the very ferocity of its roar blowing back Jaune's hair. The Beast dropped the paling blond with a scoff after it was sure it made itself clear. It clicked its teeth, finding Jaune looking at it with strain as he gulped in deep breaths.
"Y-You sure d-do have a way w-with w-words, don't ya?" Jaune croaked and rubbed the bruising skin of his throat. He grimaced as he took a moment to regain his breath. He swore he saw his life briefly flash before his eyes. "And why not? Your name is Eve, isn't it?"
The Beast flared its nostrils down at the blond, "I am Beast, not some weak human like you and that woman. Don't you see that?" it growled in frustration.
Jaune looked back at the towering beast, its fiery red hair flowing behind it like flames, its white eyes staring him down hauntingly, its sharp teeth partly open to chomp down viciously, with an aura that sent chills down his spine. But again, he found himself reminded of the story.
Beneath all the dark mass of muscles and tearing claws filled with malice, was just a little girl. A little girl who had been wronged at her lowest.
Jaune's eyes went wide with pain as The Beast's heavy foot slammed down onto his head and pinned him to the ground, visibly shattering the snow ground below him with a loud boom. Weakly, his blue eyes stared at The Beast in confusion mixed with pain as it looked back with a sneer.
"That look in your eyes! Wipe it off that miserable face of yours!" The Beast howled. It dug its foot into his skull with a crunch from the snow.
"The hell are you talking about!?" Jaune grunted. He fought against her monstrous strength and stared up at the dark clad wolf foot with a grimacing glare.
The Beast creaked its neck, still keeping its foot ready crush Jaune as it leaned over with anger in its voice.
"That odd thing you're doing with your face when you're looking at me! I don't understand what it is exactly, but it pisses me off! And whatever pisses me off never lasts." it growled deeply.
"That's why you're threatening to squash my skull!? Because of what face I'm making!? Lady, you got some serious anger issues!" Jaune shouted in annoyance. His mouth opened to say more, but red replaced words as his injuries acted up under the strain his body was taking. Blood spewed out of his mouth before he felt his back meeting the ground.
Right, almost forgot about the whole regenerating lung thing. Being under the foot of a monster wasn't the best place to be right now. And there went 755HP he wasn't going to be seeing for a long time.
Once again, Jaune found himself gasping desperately as his wounds flared. His vision went blurry and he found himself staring up at the white sky and its dancing snowflakes. An annoyed grunt caught his attention before he was picked up by the neck of his hoodie.
Eve rolled her eyes at the bleeding blond as she carefully sat him back on the bench close by. Her Beast form had settled down, leaving her in her partial beast form.
"Don't be so dramatic. I hardly grazed you." Eve muttered with a soft scoff.
"You stomped my skull!"
"And you pissed me off!" Eve yelled back to Jaune's own yell. The two glared at one another, both annoyed at the other. Even as the darkness of Eve's curse slowly crawled over her skin in response to her anger, Jaune still continued to hold up his own.
He had dealt with a lot of hot heads lately. And despite his once noodlely self, he wasn't backing down when he was ticked off.
With his own growl, Jaune began to speak again, "I'm sorry if I offended you by calling you by your name, but I refuse to call you Bea-GAAAACK!"
Eve's eyes were flat as she watched Jaune spew more blood from his mouth mid-sentence.
"Maggot, don't go dirtying my garden with your filthy blood. My servants have far more important things to do than clean your blood from the snow of all things." she scoffed from her spot standing before the coughing knight. She inspected her nails as he regained his breath.
"I think I'm honestly dying." Jaune whispered to himself softly with horror. Even after the event of the FoF he hadn't been this weak and vulnerable. Why wasn't his Gamer's Body working?
"There you go being melodramatic again." Eve said with a snort before spinning her head back to Jaune, "I'm sure you're f-WHAT THE FUCK'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" she shouted in alarm, finding the blond spilling a literal waterfall of red from his mouth.
"I told you I'm dying." Jaune replied dizzily. Was the world supposed to be spinning?
"Then why are you out of bed if you're so fucked up, Shit-head!?" Eve roared furiously before her spike of anger morphed her body into The Beast. It shook its head with disgust before stabbing its long deadly horns forward at the blond.
Jaune flinched and moved to dodge. But instead of finding his body punctured when he failed to make a move, he found the horns slipping between his armpits and plucking him off the ground. The Beast flung him over its head where he landed softly on its back. With Jaune on board, it began to run out of the tranquil garden dirtied with puddles of chilling red.
"Where are we going, oh, magical edgy pony?"
The Beast felt its temper flaring at the comment. Even if the boy wasn't in his right mind, it didn't excuse being insulted. What the hell did edgy even mean? For some reason the word alone pissed her off more than being called a pony.
"You're heading back to the infirmary, where you belong!" it roared as it ran through a set of double doors. It jumped over several of its servants going about their duties a midst their surprised shouts of its charge. It kept its eyes ahead, avoiding their questioning stares as it picked up speed, "What kind of fucking idiotic, dead brain, empty headed, retarded, waste of flesh, thinks it's a good idea to move about after having one of their lungs blown up!? Even for a human, that's ridiculous!"
"Hey… using the 'R' word is a no-no, Ms. Edgy Dark Manelot."
"If that wound doesn't kill you, I'll sure as hell maim you worse than a pig in a slaughter house."
Jaune weakly whimpered at the tone of The Beast.
"Sorry, Evee."
The Beast was close to ripping its hair out in frustration as it shouted back at Jaune, "It's not Evee, it's Eve-I MEAN BEAST! You will call me Beast, understand!?" it corrected itself hastily. It felt Jaune shake his head against its dark clad back.
"Can't. You're not a beast, you're Eve." he mumbled in a slur as he fought to keep his eyes open. His body jumped lightly as The Beast's sprinting kicked up his body, "That's what your parents called you, right?"
The mention of The Beast's long-gone family made the dark fur on its hide stand up. It grew quiet as they grew closer to the infirmary. It barged through with a loud crack of the doors flinging open with its horns. The living clothes rack doctor spun around with a jump as the master of the castle ran in. It grew alarmed finding the blond boy on The Beast's back with a pale complexion and blood on his face.
"Oh, dear! The boy should not have gotten out of bed with his condition." the clothes rack rushed over to The Beast to inspect Jaune. It sighed before raising the arms of its body up and waving it at the boy. An unseen force seemed to grab onto Jaune and picked him up to move him over to the bed to rest. Several medical supplies flew up in the air and went to work on the bleeding blond as the clothes rack doctor undid the reddening wraps around his chest.
"It seems his wounds were opened. His movements were slowly aggravating the wounds but something must have finally split open his stitches. He must be willing to test his luck to be so careless like this."
Needles and thread were a blur as they closed the wound over Jaune's back where the bullet had pierced. His grimacing face began to relax. To all those around the blond, the flesh began to repair itself like magic before their very eyes. It looked like something was healing him before abruptly stopping and leaving him with his wound.
The Beast didn't understand what it had seen. It was almost as if someone had forcefully canceled the healing process. Its hollow eyes landed on the bullet wound, eyeing it suspiciously as it thought back to the human who had inflicted it.
"Could magic be affecting the wound?" The Beast muttered loud enough for the doctor to hear.
"Hmm, it could be a possibility. From what you've told me about the bullet, the marksman had used some form of magic. Sadly, I don't know much about attack spells or magic. But I do know most tend to go away after a certain amount of time. If anything, this looks like something else entirely." the doctor said gravely as it called back the medical tools once the wound was cleaned and bandaged.
The Beast found a growl escaping its throat as its claws cracked, "A Curse."
The doctor nodded, "It was meant to kill and curses only wear off once they've met their requirements or the caster has perished." it said regretfully before glancing back at the resting blond, "There is nothing I can do. It is a literal wonder he is even alive. It seems as if the curse doesn't know what to do itself either. Its kill shot failed, now it can only try to finish the job with the small amount of shrapnel in his body."
"And you can't remove the cursed shrapnel?" The Beast said in frustration.
"They're too small to remove, none of our tools are adept for such accurate surgery. Not to mention any attempts would prove useless due to its cursed nature. I'm afraid we can only hope he can pull off another miracle." the doctor clothes rack sighed. It sent back its equipment and headed out the door.
"Perhaps there's something in the library about curses? For now, we can only wait and see. His body is doing a fine job keeping him from death's doors, just as long as he doesn't stress those wounds. If anything abnormal does come up, you know where to find me, Madam."
The door shut behind the doctor with a deafening click, leaving The Beast alone with the slowly breathing blond knight. It stood by Jaune's bed, watching his sleep with not much else to do.
'…Tch, you're just another problem that won't leave me alone.'
Hesitantly, against its better wishes, The Beast's right arm moved over to the boy's head. Its deadly claws twitched, inching closer to the golden locks. The darkness over its arm vanished. Eve's clawed brown fingers were only centimeters from brushing back Jaune's hair.
"Is he gone?"
Eve's hand snaked back to her side in a flash. Startled, she almost stepped back as she held her rapidly beating chest. She glared at Jaune, finding him creaking an eye open hesitantly. She was just about ready to transform again with his sudden waking.
"You're awake?" Eve hissed venomously as Jaune carefully sat up.
"Yup! As soon as you brought me in here, I just pretended to fall asleep. If the doc knew I was up, he probably wouldn't stop questioning me about what was hurting and start scolding me." Jaune replied sheepishly with a grin. "Sorry if I worried you. Even if I've spent my fair share of time in the doctor's office, I'm not very fond of them."
Worried? Eve scoffed at the thought with a snarl.
"I wasn't worried about you, maggot! I simply didn't want to deal with explaining to Belle why you kicked the bucket. I couldn't care less if you died!" she shouted in frustration.
"Right, how could I forget." Jaune said flatly as he scratched his new bandages, "I'm just a maggot, shit-head, worm. Which is why you nearly crushed my skull and sent me back here." he pointed a small glare at the red-haired woman with bull horns.
The comment made Eve flinch before she turned away with a huff.
"…You're still breathing, aren't you? I don't see what reason you have to complain."
"Sheesh, all I did was call you by your name, Eve."
"I told you not to call me that!" Eve shouted angrily, spinning back to stare directly at Jaune. "If it's anyone's fault you're back here, it's yours! How hard is it to say my name!?"
"It's not hard. Your name is Eve, see?" Jaune smiled brightly a midst the seething glare on Eve's face, "If anyone is having any difficulty it's you. How hard is it let me call you by your name?" he said with his own confusion and frown.
If anything, she should have been pissed if he addressed her as Beast.
The bedpost on Jaune's right was shattered to splinters as Eve's fist slammed through it. Her entire left arm had been transformed into The Beast's arm, the darkness over the skin crawling over her neck in reaction to her anger. With the partial transformation over her arm grew to take over, The Beast clawed the menacing clicking claws towards Jaune as it snarled angrily.
"Because this is not the arm of Eve! I am The Beast, The Cursed Monster, The One With an Empty Heart! The girl known as Eve died a long time ago and what remains is this monster! What part of that don't you understand!"
"The part that sees you as a monster!"
A trembling arm stained with dried blood reached out to the monstrous appendage, taking it in its own with a firm grasp. The Beast was stunned to find Jaune clasping its deadly hand in his own with a stern gaze in his eyes. For reasons it couldn't comprehend, it found its body shaking under the boy's attention. It wanted to step back but stood against the instinct out of stubbornness.
Jaune flinched as his chest ached, the simple action straining him.
"When I first arrived in the town of Wilhelm, I was told of a beast that terrorized its people. That it was the reason the town was living under constant fear. But I've begun to realize that was just the stupid rambling of an asshole!" Jaune shouted angrily, "The town wasn't living under constant fear, they looked just fine to me! If that's what despair looks like, then this whole seems to have turned topsie turvy! A monster wasn't attacking them out of some sadistic pleasure, an innocent girl was simply throwing out trespassers that wanted to hurt her! All because she was different!"
The hand grasping Eve's own tightened as the darkness of her curse faded away in her shock. Her strength wilted. She found herself no longer able to try to pull away as she stared at the odd boy.
"I know of that kind of hate. I've seen it." Jaune whispered harshly. The White Fang came to mind. Remnant treated the animal people unfairly even as they came to slowly accept them. Hatred had created an organization that no longer wished-for equality, but fear. "Because you look different, because you're not normal, because they don't understand you, they fear you. And that fear can turn into hate like that. It can even turn the innocent under that kind of fear and hate into monsters. But I know that you're not the monster they see!" he shouted stubbornly.
"I've seen it from the way your servants treat you and how Belle treats you! They don't see you as The Beast, they see you as Eve! And I see the same as them! You could have left me to die back when Gaston shot me, and you could have left me to die in the garden too. But you saved me. A monster wouldn't have done what you did. So, what does that make you!?"
"Y-You…" Eve scowled angrily, growing even more furious as her voice trembled. Her lips moved, but no words came out. Because she couldn't find anything to say back to that. It was a wonder she hadn't been overcome by her curse.
Jaune grew startled as Eve pushed him back to his bed, the force nearly breaking its frame as he looked up at her glowering face. She sat on top of him, leaving him helpless and unable to move an inch with his state. He gulped nervously as she leaned in close to his face, her yellow eyes burning with anger.
"You don't understand a damn thing, so stop talking as if you hit the fucking bulls-eye. I only tolerate you for Belle, nothing more, nothing less. I know who I am, and that woman will help in returning me to who I once was. She's the only one who may have a right to uttering that name. So, if she wishes for you to be well and breathing, I will comply. I will do whatever she asks, so long as-"
"She breaks your curse." Jaune finished Eve's sentence with a scowl, "I already know about your curse. I've heard the story, about the enchantress and that cold winter night, the curse that leaves everyone who lived in the castle to what they are, and about the wilting rose you keep in your room that tells you how long you have until you're stuck like this forever. It's why you have her trapped in your castle for all eternity, in hopes she will break your curse and love you. Which I find pretty stupid."
"Why? Because I have her trapped like a prisoner? Because I'm forcing her to love me?" Eve said with a roll of her eyes.
Jaune shook his head, looking back with a dry expression, "No, because I'm pretty sure you don't need to do all that for her to fall for you. If anything, I think taking her prisoner has her excited. In all the wrong ways."
Eve opened her mouth to speak, but fell flat as she cringed. Having Belle living in the castle for the last few days had given her an idea to the kind of woman she was. For a girl who looked innocent, she had one hell of a risqué mind. The moment she showed Belle the library of the castle, the bookworm had immediately began browsing for the adult literature. All with a bright smile on her blushing face.
Jaune sighed as he let his head hit his pillow.
"Besides, you can't force love. I may be a novice in the whole thing myself, and been turned down by the same woman more times than I can count, but even I know that you can't make someone fall for you on purpose. If you really want someone to love you, they have to give you a chance. After all, no one falls in love with a stranger. They fall in love with a friend."
Eve frowned at the word, tilting her head as she scratched her scalp.
"Friend? The hell are you talking about?" she asked in utter confusion.
"If you want someone to love you, be their friend. Make happy memories with them, smile with them, be there for them, and most importantly of all, protect them. Through all that, love will blossom." Jaune said softly before grinning sheepishly, "Well, at least that's what my mom told me. So, take it for what it's worth, she's the type who believes in love at first sight after all."
Friend? Eve was still puzzled at the word. Living alone in a castle filled with servants with the appearance of a monster didn't give you the opportunity to make friends with anyone. Her anger problems would only ruin any chance of that anyways. Hearing that word didn't exactly resonate with her since she couldn't recall ever having a friend in all her life. But… maybe that was what she was missing from her plan. If friends fell in love with one another, then it was no wonder she didn't understand either subject. The new realization made Eve go into deep thought as she began to think of a new way to approach Belle.
If the boy's words were to be taken as true, then perhaps there really was hope for her to return to her normal self.
In Eve's thinking, she had forgotten about the position she was in. Jaune on the other hand, hadn't. His heart began to pound loudly in his ears as he stared up at the wrathful woman pinning him down to his bed. Her wild red locks of hair fell beside her shoulder and tickled his skin. He could see the slight rise of her busty chest, their closeness nearly causing their chests to touch. Eve's bottom sat on his crouch, the weight of her and slight movements made him gulp anxiously.
And then there was her eyes. In her deep thought, he could see the bold yellow iris of her orbs play out so many emotions. He could see her sharp features clearly and even smell an odd hint of perfume from her. And her light brown skin seemed so exotic along with her red hair and horns. How anyone could think she was a monster, he wouldn't know. Eve appeared as a normal woman to him. Well, a normal sexy faunus woman.
An odd stiff bump from her bottom broke Eve out of her thoughts. Her eyes were surprised before they fell onto Jaune who looked away in embarrassment. Realization struck her as she put two and two together. She gaped openly at the man with a blush of her own.
"W-What the hell, maggot?!"
"Can you blame me!? It's not my fault that I get this way when underneath a beautifully sexy woman!" Jaune cried in shame.
'Beautifully sexy woman?' Eve was stunned. She hadn't heard someone ever describe her as such. Still though, she growled as her eyes narrowed. Such perversion must be paid with blood.
"You, filthy little-"
"Oh, my! I didn't think I would walk to see such a scene! And without me? You're both just too cruel."
Jaune and Eve both froze at the sound of a familiar voice. Slowly they turned to the door to find Belle standing by with a basket full of sandwiches along with Lumiere, Ms. Potts, Chip, and Cogsworth. It finally dawned on Eve the position she was in as her blush grew deeper. She quickly jumped off of Jaune with a mortified expression on her scarlet face. Eve glared back at the intruders with her sights set on the amused Belle.
"It wasn't what it looked like!"
"Really? Boo."
"The fuck you mean boo?!"
Belle giggled at Eve as she walked in, "Well you two looked like you were having a nice little moment. And here I was, searching for Jaune in the gardens, only to be told he was rushed back to the infirmary. I rushed over as fast as I could after taking care of something. It seems we were a little hasty in taking you out." Belle said in apology as she looked to Jaune.
Jaune waved off the apology, "It's alright. I was the one who was complaining about being stuck in bed. I should have known better than to leave with my injuries."
"Are you alright, monsieur?" Lumiere asked in concern as he hopped over to Jaune's bedside, "I saw a worrying amount of blood back in the gardens."
"I'm fine, really." Jaune said with a small chuckle before bringing up his Status and frowning.
'Jaune Arc, Heart of The Gamer.
2,789HP/8,800HP[Curse].'
Well that explained his condition. The attack Gaston had hit him with must have left him with Curse, a Status Condition that produced Negativity, prevented Healing and Regeneration, and pretty much left him without the benefits of his Aura. Weird how it only now showed up. But if he was cursed, then it was a simple matter of curing his condition with a Purity potion.
Except he didn't have one. Disgruntled at the lack of the item, Jaune went off into his Recipes list from his Inventory.
Synthesis Recipes.
Small Potion Recipe.
Large Potion Recipe.
Small Mana Drink Recipe.
Everybody Loves Grapefruit Soda Recipe.
Everybody Loves Grape Soda MAX Recipe.
Purity Recipe.
Ether Recipe.
Finding the recipe given to him from Ms. Antheia, Jaune clicked on it to find what he would need to make one on the spot.
Purity Recipe: A medicinal potion created with the purest of water and curative herbs. Heals all Status conditions. Bitter taste. Requires (x1) Yggdrasil Dew, (x1) Yggdrasil Leaf, (x3) Green Herbs, (3) Mossdeep Shards, and (x1) Rain Water to create. Requires Synthesis Talent Level of 5 to perform.
Current Synthesis Talent Level[Lvl:3]
'All of which I have none.' Jaune thought in frustration. All he really carried with him were Health items. He didn't go out into the field for components to create potions when he could just buy them. Even if he did, he lacked the required Talent level. It looked like he was going to have make a habit of that when he returned. Never know when it could save his life.
"Are you sure you're alright, Jaune?"
Jaune smiled in apology to Belle as she made herself comfortable by the seat of his bed, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bummed out that I can't fix the curse over my body."
"Curse?" Belle frowned in worry along with the rest.
"It looks like Gaston did more than blow out my lung. His attack left a curse on my body that I can't heal without the right medicine on hand. And I'm not exactly a walking pharmacy." Jaune chuckled.
Eve stepped up with her own frown, "Right medicine? You mean you can heal your curse?" she asked in interest.
Jaune nodded, "A small one like this? Yeah, but I would need a potion called Purity to cure me. I don't have one on me, and I don't have the experience or items to make one. Seems I'm out of luck." he groaned as he fell back to his bed with a grumble.
"I wouldn't say that, young man. If you have the knowledge to create it, then perhaps I could be of some assistance?"
Jaune's eyes went wide as dinner plates as a new voice chimed in with a familiar chuckle. He swore he could hear his heart stop with an echoing thump. He sat up and spun his head back to the doorway along with the others to find an odd man standing at the open door.
The man wore dark green robes that reached his ankles, a gold sash wrapped around his waist as a belt, simple sandals, and a white dress shirt underneath his robes. The man had curly black hair that seemed disheveled, freckles on both his cheeks, and a small set of round glasses over his nose. But what had really caught Jaune's attention was the man's eyes.
The familiar shade of brown and aloofness in those eyes was all too familiar.
'Ozpin?'
Eve went on edge at the appearance of the spectacle man.
"Oswald." she glowered with a hiss, "What are you doing here? Who even let you in here?"
At that, Belle sheepishly raised her hand with a weak laugh.
"Yeah, remember that 'something' I had to take care of? He's that something." Belle smiled awkwardly as she pointed to the calm faced man being introduced, "He said his name was Oswald and that he was an old acquaintance of yours. I didn't really believe him at first, but he was very convincing!"
"I wasn't." Oswald said calmly as he stepped into the room, "I simply said I was an old friend stopping in for a visit and she let me in without another word. Which is a little worrying." he chuckled amusingly.
Jaune frowned at the odd man as he made his way over to his bedside. Just looking at him and hearing the sound of his voice brought a wave of Deja vu.
"He's an old friend of yours?" Jaune asked Eve, only to get a scoff from the fiery cursed woman.
"More like Warden." she mumbled with distaste.
Oswald didn't pay the comment any mind as he stood by Jaune's bed. He smiled at the blond boy, setting aside an emerald made cane by the night stand.
"Forgive the young miss, she isn't exactly the most trusting of sorts. Even after all I've done to help her, she still doesn't believe that I am of no harm." Oswald said with mirth, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Oswald, just your average traveling Sorcerer, or Warlock as the people of this continent like to refer to. And it looks to me that you are in need of help."
Jaune eyed the sorcerer with suspicion. Something about the man was familiar. He almost reminded him of a young Ozpin. Maybe that was why he getting an odd feeling from him.
Oswald reached out his hand to Jaune with a fond smile on his face. At that moment, Jaune's Scan activated on its own.
'Oswald, The Great and Powerful.
?/?'
"Would you like help, Mr. Arc?"
A petal falls. Just how long until your hope wilts to nothing?
The sound of marching metal draws near. A surge of negativity will gather for one night. What does Negativity create again?
This world isn't connected. It has no Echo. Its script is free.
Dance the night away then. You're free, free to say three magic words.
Can you?
And that's it for Ch.31! I've already sent the 3rd chapter to my beta for editing, and in the meantime, I'll be working on A Jaune of All Trades. Got to get some chapters going before heading back Multiplayer. Oh, I can't wait for that. And the DLC will be making a comeback as well. I know how much you guys love those.
And on another note, Multiplayer: Journals is up and running. Don't be afraid to take a gander at it. I've already uploaded all the Abilities and Spells for Act1 and got more coming soon. Such as Monty's Missing Pages. You can also discuss things there with another and even ask questions there on certain chapters for me to answer. So, go check it out later.
Now, I am tired. I need my sleep. Let's just say, after playing a certain game that shall not be named, I haven't had the best of sleep. For reasons. Horror, eh, just a little bit. Girls. . .Yes. Especially a certain girl that will not leave me alone. God damn it, it was suppose to be a Literature Club! It's what a writer like me always dreamed of!
. . .I may have also looked up certain artwork once I got over the psychological trauma. Don't judge me, damn it.
Read and Review. It's common courtesy.
NeoShadows fading in and out.