Welcome to Ch 36 of TPA
"You think she's there?" asked Ren, reading his Stormflowers.
Jaune took a moment to observe the scene in front of him. Two bullheads were circling over Vale's dock, having just dropped off several people. He could see a third one on the ground, engines up and running, but it didn't look like it was going to take off just yet.
Jaune could also hear the sounds of battle - the clang of weapons, and gunshot grew louder by the second. He couldn't tell how many people were down there, or even who was fighting who, but it was clear that there had to be at least a few dozens of combatants.
"Not sure. It could be some kind of gang war that got way out of hand, or a maybe police operation, but knowing my luck?" He sighed, rolling his shoulders. "She is right in the middle of this mess."
"I hope she is alright…" Ruby whispered, her eyes scanning the area.
"So, what's the plan, Fearless Leader?" Asked Nora, chambering her last grenade into Magnhild.
"Ruby, you try to find some high ground, give us some support fire. Try to look for the leaders, if we take them out, the rest might just surrender. Nora, no grenades. There might be Dust in those containers, we don't want to set it off. Ren, if there are any civilians down there, prioritize taking them to safety. I'll try to grab their attention."
"All right kids, this is as close as I can get." The pilot called out, hovering over the roof of a building, almost two hundred meters from the hot zone. Jaune thanked the man, and jumped off, the rest of his team quickly following after him.
"Ruby, go ahead, but do not engage!" He called out, as soon as they landed. The red Huntress nodded, and dashed ahead.
I'm starting to understand why Leon hates cites so much. Thought Jaune , leaping off the roof, and landing on road below with a roll. They bring nothing but trouble.
Blake ducked under the swipe, and deflected the follow up attack, wincing when her counter was easily deflected. She grit her teeth and pushed on, trying her best to ignore the pain from the numerous blows she received.
In hindsight, maybe coming out here wasn't her best idea. Roman Torchwick proved a far more capable combatant than she anticipated, and with all the White Fang grunts he had at his disposal? Yeah, definitely a bad idea..
She ducked under another swipe and jumped back. Roman, with an ever present smirk, allowed her to retreat, spinning his cane in his hand.
"What's wrong Kitty-Kat? I thought you wanted to stop me? Can't do that if you just keep running away."
Blake growled, but didn't attack, instead sparing a quick glance around. Sun was giving his all to keep White Fang busy, but he simply couldn't deal with so many opponents.
Something is wrong. She thought, watching as one grunts took a nasty blow to his stomach, but got up as if it was nothing. They were too good to be simple grunts. Tough, fast, and disciplined. Not the kind of soldiers one would send for a simple heist like that.
This didn't make any sense.
"What's this? Worried about your boyfriend over there? Or maybe your old friends from the White Fang?" Roman drawled, pulling a cigar from his pocket. "Don't worry, they will be fine. After all, they've been upgraded." He chuckled. "Now they are almost worth something. Still not the brightest, but at least they follow orders and don't try to think. Brothers know they were never good at it."
Blake's eyes narrowed. Upgraded? What was that supposed to mean? She spared one more glance at Sun, and the faunus he was fighting against. It wasn't that they were particularly skilled, but they were attacking relentlessly, as if they weren't concerned about the damage that they took.
Or couldn't feel it. Blake glared at the smirking criminal in front of her. What did Roman do to those people? Was this some kind of drug?
"What did you do to them?" She shouted.
Roman lifted his hand with a mock hurt expression.
"Now, slow down there Kitty. Whatever happened to your friends there, it's not my doing. They Were like that when I got them, and just between you and me?" He leaned towards her, as if to whisper some secret. "They creep the hell out of me. They just stare at you with these empty eyes, and sometimes I think that 'death to humanity!' and 'long live White Fang!" are the only things they can say." He shook his head. "Really, I never thought I'd say it, but I preferred it when they were just useless animals."
Blake growled and charged. There was no point in trying to question him, Roman would just mock her. She'd ask again when he was laid out, disarmed, and with the blade of her sword at his throat.
Unfortunately, it appeared that the flamboyant thief had different plans. Before she knew it, Blake was the one on the defensive, desperately trying to block the swift strikes of his metal cane. She gritted her teeth, looking for any opening that would let her go on the offensive, but every time she thought she found one, her attack was countered.
She growled and pushed on. There was no way some simple criminal would beat her!
Except, apparently, there was. Blake staggered after the cane hit her in the head, but grit her teeth and lashed out with her sword. It was swatted aside, and the follow up stab knocked the air out of her lungs. Before she could recover, another hit to the head knocked her down.
"Well, it was fun Kitty." Said Roman, pointing the barrel of his gun at her. "But I think our little dance will have to end here. But don't worry, I'll send your little friend to accompany you shortly."
Blake's mind went blank. She was going to die here, killed by some crook? A bitter laugh escaped her lips. So this was it? Her crusade for a better world would end like this?
A pained yelp from behind caused her to clench her fist. So she failed. She failed miserably. Not only that, she dragged an innocent bystander into it, and now he was going to die too. She looked up at man who was about to end her life, and made a decision. If she was going to die, she would at least wipe that annoying smirk off of his face.
And then Roman staggered, his smug expression replaced by one of shock and pain. The sound of the shot reached her ears moments later, and she knew it had to be something high caliber. Much higher than anything she, Sun, or any of White Fang had.
Like, for example, a custom made, high-impact sniper rifle.
The second shot hit the criminal in the chest, pushing him back, but he managed to hold his ground. Roman cursed, but before he could do anything else, a green blur slammed into him. They exchanged series of lighting fast attacks, and Lie Ren jumped back, landing next to the downed Blake.
He spared one glance at the faunus girl, and not seeing any visible injures, focused back on enemy in front of him.
Roman didn't look amused.
"And what do we have here?" He trailed off, looking young Hunter over. "Another hero wannabe?" He scoffed and readied his weapon. "Look at you, knight in shining armor, coming to save a day. So eager to help his friend, that he forgot to ask himself the simple question." Roman smirked and pointed his cane and the black haired boy. "Who is going to help you?"
Ren smirked back.
"Nora."
Roman blinked.
"What?" Was all he managed to say, before an explosion threw him back. Nora landed next to her friend, winking at the still downed Blake, and rushed off to help Sun.
"Ok, you know what? Now I'm pissed." Roman Torchwick said, getting up and dusting himself off. "You kids wanna play a heroes? Well, then do you part, and die uselessly!" He roared, firing from his cane. Ren just barely managed to grab Blake and dash out of the way.
"Stay here and recover. I'll hold him off." He said. Blake gripped his hand.
"Wait! You can't fight him alone, he's too strong!"
Ren shrugged.
"I don't intend to win, just hold him off. We called for backup before we got there. Plus, I doubt he's going to give us a choice."
Another shot flying their way proved that the green ninja was right. Ren duked under it, and dashed forward, firing from his machine guns. Roman quickly realized that defending was pointless out in the open. With only his cane, he had no chance to block the storm of bullets that flew his way.
Unfortunately for Ren, his pistols didn't do much damage, the low caliber rounds serving more as a distraction than a means to win a fight.
Then again, distracting the thief was all he needed to do. He was certain that Nora, with the help of the monkey faunus, could easily dispatch the White Fang grunts. All he needed to do was to buy enough time for them to finish the fight, for Blake to recover, or for Jaune to come to his aid.
We really have to work on his mobility. The black haired boy thought, ducking under a swipe and countering with a kick to the stomach with his own. Ren blocked two more blows, fired a few rounds at Roman and used the moment of distraction to retreat again. Just far enough to be out of the thief's melee range, but close enough to close back in if his opponent wanted to use his gun.
It was a simple strategy, but one that had worked well for him numerous times. Now all he needed to do was to stay calm, not take any unnecessary risk, and everything would be…
A pained scream caused him to look back, his eyes widening at what he saw. Nora, slumped down near a container, and a massive man with two curved swords standing over her. His first instinct was to rush to help his friend, but he knew that leaving Romen behind his back was a bad idea.
Ren cursed, and turned to his opponent - right in time to catch a cane in the face. The blow sent him flying back, but he managed to roll and jump to his feet. Unfortunately, he had no time to react to blast from thief's cane, that blew him back again. This time ninja landed hard, skidding a few meters and finally stopping with a groan.
"You kids are really annoying, you know that?" Said Roman, walking calmly towards him, smirk back on his face. "You come here, picking fights you can't win, thinking that you'll somehow pull it off if you believe hard enough. But guess what kid?" The criminal stopped next to downed boy, a cruel smirk on his face
"In real life, you will not beattronger opponent just thanks to power of friendship." He lifted his cane, popping its barrel open. "Let me give you some advice kiddo. Next time…" no one learned what advice Roman had to give. A high caliber sniper round hit him in the leg, stumbling the thief. He growled, rolled and aimed his cane at the red figure standing atop one of the cranes.
A pink explosion threw him a few meters back, his back slamming into and cracking the wall of one of warehouses.
Ren jumped to his feet, shot a quick smile towards his partner and focused back on the downed criminal.
"I'm listening." He said, calmly walking forward.
Roman looked up at him, and scowled." You know what? Fuck it."
He quickly scanned the battlefield, and he certainly didn't liked what he saw. Most of the White Fang grunts he brought with him laid unmoving. From nearly twenty combatants, only six were still standing. Well, that was to be expected. Even though they had a greatly increased tolerance to pain, and increased strength and endurance, they still were just simple grunts with little to no training and no Aura. Against two trained Aura users? It was honestly a miracle they had lasted this long.
Especially against her… he thought, eying the ginger girl. She was swinging her oversized mallet around, knocking faunus left and right, laughing maniacally all the while. He noticed one especially brave, or stupid, faunus trying to jump at her.
Nora slammed the butt of her hammer into his stomach, and with one solid kick, sent him to the ground. Roman actually felt a small twinge of sympathy for the poor soul when the ginger demon raised her hammer and brought it down on the man's knee, giggling all the time. He looked back at the black haired boy and sighed.
"I don't know who is crazier. Her, or you for sticking with her."
He just shrugged.
"Does it matter?"
Roman chuckled.
"I guess not." His hand shot forward, throwing some dirt into the young Hunter's eyes. Ren cursed, and Roman smirked, rushing to his feet, his weapon already falling down on the teen's head.
A black ribbon wrapped around metal cane, tugging it back. Roman cursed, and jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the sharp blade that sliced into spot he stood at just a moment ago.
"Need some rest?" Asked Blake with a small smirk, standing next to Ren. He just chuckled and rolled his shoulders.
"No." He lifted his weapons."Lets go." They both dashed forward.
Jaune peeked around the corner of the building he was hiding behind. He tensed when Nora got slammed into container by some bulky faunus. He could hear Ren cry out, first the name of his friend, then in pain. Even though he couldn't see his teammate, he could guess what happened. Ren, holding off Torichwing on his own, got distracted by Nora's scream and got hit. The blond tensed, ready to run off, but thankfully Nora didn't need help. Her hammer smashed into the knee of the faunus standing over her, sending him to the ground. Another hit, to the head, knocked him out for good.
Not wasting a second, the ginger girl transformed her weapon into grenade launcher and fired a single round somewhere he couldn't see, then switched it back to a hammer and rushed off into the melee. It looked like she gave up on trying to be gentle, ever strike breaking legs and arms of faunus terrorist.
Good. Jaune thought This is no time to play around.
With a change in strategy, it looked like Nora and the monkey faunus she was fighting alongside with had their fight under control. It was a bit strange that simple grunts could hold up against two trained Aura users so long, especially considering that they apparently didn't have Aura of their own. But that was a question they could find the answer for after the fight ended.
What was a more pressing matter for Jaune, was to figure out what the hell was happening with Eclipse. Ever since they landed, his black sword had starting to act strangely. No, even before that - ever since he woke up this morning at the tavern in Dragon's Maw. The constant drain that he grew so accustomed to felt somewhat… different. He could still feel its presence, but it didn't feel as… heavy as it used to.
Granted, it wasn't something that happened over night. The strain on his Aura had grown maybe not weaker, but more mangable over the past few months. He did recall Leon saying it was something one gets used to, so Jaune had assumed it was just him getting accustomed to his black sword, and ignored the change.
But now it was different. Eclipse felt alive, constantly vibrating, as if it was ready to jump out of scabbard on its own accord. Jaune never believed the stories that black swords grew sentient over time, thanks to all the souls they absorbed, but this was definitely something new.
He didn't like new things. They tended to mean trouble.
Ok, think. What could have cause this? And what could it mean?
The blond strained his memory, keeping a close watch on fight happening in front of him. He wanted to join in and help his friends, but he was hesitant. If something unexpected happened, it could put everyone in danger.
That, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. This strange gut feeling he sometimes felt when approaching a Ghoul den, or a Wraith spawning point.
Had Leon mentioned something about this?
He… might have. Jaune winced. He loved Leon like a brother, and was eternally grateful for the older man training his young and useless self up, but he couldn't ignore the fact Leon wasn't exactly the best teacher. At least not when it came to details. Sure, if it was something necessary to survive, Leon would drill it into Jaune mercilessly. But everything else?
Jaune winced, the memory of how much he freaked out after his first rebound still fresh in his mind. When he asked Leon about it, the older man just shrugged, and said, 'yeah, that happens from time to time'.
Ok, so this can't be something too serious. Think Jaune, what did he say about black swords…
The blond strained his memory, recalling old lessons. Aura sensitive, kills Harrowed, Awakening…
His eyes widened.
He did mention there is another awakening, but it's something I have to 'grow into'.
He spared a glance at Eclipse, still cheated at his hip. Could it be it? Jaune shook his head. He would have to ask Leon, or Peter, later. Now, he had a fight to focus on.
A fight that was apparently almost over.
Only one White Fang grunt was still standing, but the monkey faunus in the white shirt seemed to be determined to fix that in a very fast, and brutal way. Roman Torchwick didn't fare much better. He might be a seasoned criminal, but faced with three trained Hunters, with sniper support, he was at a severe disadvantage.
Everything looked to be under control. He noticed the bullheads flying over them pull off, the last White Fang grunt falling down after a nasty hit to head, and Torchwick flew and hit the ground hard, after Nora's grenade hit him in the chest. It was, by all accounts, over.
Then why Jaune couldn't shake off the feeling that something was very, very wrong?
Could it be Harrowed? It shouldn't be possible for one to spawn here without anyone noticing. Unless it's a Wraith that someone didn't deal with properly, and it's only now coming back...
T blond scanned battlefield again, trying to find anything that was out of place. Could Roman had some more men hidden somewhere? No, he would have sent them to fight earlier. Could he be waiting for reinforcements to come? It was a possibility, but it looked like it would be over before…
The roar of engines broke the blond out of his thoughts. He looked up, and saw a bullhead speeding towards them. It flew over dock, barley slowing down, and dropped eight figures.
Gray uniforms and Grimm mask, marked them as White Fang members. But, judging by their equipment, they weren't simple grunts. They wore simple, but sturdy looking breastplates, greaves, and gauntlets. They were armed with a variety of weapons - swords, maces, hammers, and spears, but Jaune could see handguns on their belts.
Ok, so he did have reinforcement waiting somewhere.
Jaune grabbed the hilt of Ellipse, eyes narrowing. It was vibrating much harder now. What was that supposed to mean? Black swords were supposed to be tools to deal with Harrowed, so why was his so obviously reacting to several faunus?
The newcomers didn't waste a second and rushed to the aid of their… boss? Acquaintance? Definitely not friend, if the scowls on all their faces were any indication.
Jaune took a deep breath, and reached for Crocea Mors, but didn't draw it. He really didn't think himself superstitious, or crazy, but he could swear he felt a disappointed whine from Eclipse.
Well, if you insist.
With a resigned sigh, the young Witcher let go of his ancestors' sword, and drew the one he forged with his own hand, the black blade awakening before it even left its scabbard.
Jaune watched it for a few moments, then smiled.
Lets go, partner.
"You certainly took your time. I called you like ten minutes ago." Roman growled, dusting off his suit. It was ruined, but he couldn't get changed right now, so he had to make do with what he had.
"Silence, human. We come to aid our Brothers and Sisters, not filthy scum like you." One of Fang growled back. Roman just rolled his eyes. Really, why did he have to work with these fanatics?
Oh, yes. Because some fire bitch said so, and he wasn't crazy enough to say no.
"Whatever. Let's just clean this up and get the hell out of here. The heist is busted anyway."
White Fang soldier glared at him, but didn't say anything, instead focusing on the young Hunters standing in front of them. He snarled when he spotted two faunus among them.
"Traitors!" He roared. "How dare you aid human scum?!"
"What…" The blond faunus standing next to Blake began, but was quickly interrupted.
"Silence!" The burly faunus drew his sword and pointed it at the gathered teens. "Brothers and Sisters! Here stand instruments of human oppression! Let's show them the might of the White Fang! KIll them all!"
Both groups clashed with each other a second later.
Jaune sprinted towards the fierce melee, weaving between stray bullets, a fierce scowl on his face.
Those blasted, idealistic idiots! What the hell are they doing?!
The eight White Fang soldiers were better equipped, and much better trained than the previous grunts. But it was still not on par with where his friends were, nor explain why they were struggle as much as they did. He saw the monkey faunus get knocked down, and Blake disengaging with her opponent and rushing to aid the downed teen.
Just shoot him! Why carry a damn gun if you don't use it!?
Unfortunately, the faunus girl didn't hear his silent plea. She rushed in, blocking the massive hammer at the last second. The Fang soldier grunted, and pushed his weapon with both hands. Whether or not he had enough strength to overpower the Huntress didn't really matter, because two more quickly closed in on the immobilized girl. She managed to jump back in time to avoid the sword coming from her left, but it left her open to the spear that caught her in the arm.
Jaune cursed, and forced himself to not rush in. It wouldn't do to be out of breath when he join a fight. Instead, he observed his opponents.
Nine people. Judging by wounds, only Roman has Aura. The faunus were arewell trained, disciplined. High pain tolerance, one of them is fighting with broken arm. Almost certainly under the influence of some kind of drug.
His grip on Eclipse tightened. Even though they were exhausted and outnumbered, his friends shouldn't have such a hard time. The reason they were struggling was as clear as day.
They were holding back. None of them wanted to risk seriously wounding or killing anyone.
The blond cursed, and focused on the melee. He was close now, but the melee was so fierce no one noticed him. He still had the element of surprise, he had to decide how to use it.
Go for Roman? The thief was probably still the biggest threat, if only because of his Aura. But then again, Jaune wasn't so sure he could take him out, even with a surprise attack.
Go for big wolf faunus that was apparently the leader of the newly arrived group? That one should be much easier to deal with, and taking out the leader might cause chaos in the enemy ranks. But it might also drive them into a frenzy, and push them to do something stupid to avenge their leader.
He'd rather not have one of his friend get crippled or killed by fanatical terrorist performing some ridiculous suicidal assault.
His choice was made for him, when he saw the monkey faunus get knocked down again. His opponent, probably a lion faunus, judging by the tail, raised his sword with a maniacal grin.
"Die, traitor!"
Jaune cursed, and ran full speed ahead. But he knew he was too far to each them in time. So he did the one thing he really didn't want to.
He roared.
Him suddenly announcing his presence had the desired effect, with all combatants taking a second to check out whose side the new arrival was on. The faunus he was charging at cursed, and jumped back, narrowly avoiding the slash that would have opened up his stomach.
"Oh. come on, another one?" Roman cried out, looking up as if asking the heavens why they were doing this to him.
"What's up with you kids, playing heroes? Shouldn't you be doing something productive? Like, I don't know, helping old ladies cross streets, or something?"
Jaune moved to stand beside the wounded boy, doing his best to keep all combatants in sight.
"Can you move?" He asked.
"I think so." The blond faunus pushed himself up, using his staff as support.
Jaune spared a single glance at him and winced.
Ok, this one is out of the fight.
"Back off. I'll take care of the rest."
"You sure man? I can still help."
Jaune winced. As much as it pained him to say it, he agreed with Roman.
He didn't need anyone playing hero right now.
"With a busted leg, and low Aura, I don't think you will do much good."
The faunus watched him for a moment, then sighed.
"I guess you are right." He said, slowly backing off.
Jaune relaxed a bit. One problem taken care of. Time to focus on the remaining nine.
Roman, who was watching him patiently up until now, smirked and started clapping.
"Bravo! True hero right here. Sending the wounded comrade away and taking his place on the field of battle. Now, tell me kid. What makes you think you will do any better?"
Jaune didn't respond, content to let the crook talk. If Roman wanted to waste time, who was he to stop him?
"Nothing to say? Don't tell me you're scared." The thief laughed and shook his head. "No, of course not. Such a brave young knight knows no fear! Just charging straight into the action, not a care in the the world. Or a thought in his head." The metal cane shot up, Roman firing without wasting a second. Jaune though was already in motion, dodging to the right, away from the faunus charging at him with a roar.
A roar that was cut short when Eclipse removed his head.
Jaune sidestepped the falling body, that traveled a few more steps on momentum alone, before falling to the ground with a soft thud.
There was a moment of silence, where no one moved. The one to break it was the wolf faunus, whos turned to Roman, and grabbed him by the collar.
"You said they wouldn't dare spill blood! How dare you lie to us?!"
"Well obviously, this one is different. Now shut up, and help me take care of him."
The fight started soon after, with the Fang leader and Roman charging at Jaune, and the remaining warriors engaging the Beacon students.
Jaune's hand twitched toward his belt, and the several small bottles he had there, but he refrained from pulling any. Drinking Elixirs in the middle of combat was a bad idea.
Ruby ducked under the swipe of a mace and spun her scythe. Her attack was blocked, and she had to jump back to avoid the spear thrusting at her face. She bit her lip. This fight wasn't going well. It's not that they opponents were stronger. It was just that they were so fierce, and just wouldn't stay down, no matter how many times they knocked them to the ground.
She quickly scanned the battlefield, her eyes falling on the motionless body lying in a pool of blood.
She quickly averted her gaze. She could almost feel the red, sticky liquid covering her hands, the intense metallic scent…
She shook her head to dispel these thoughts. She had a fight to finish.
She blocked the sword sailing at her head, and dashed back, avoiding the mace aimed at her head. Thankfully, Jaune managed to draw the two strongest fighters away from them. She spared a quick glance at her fellow team leader. He was struggling, but it didn't look like he was going to get taken out. Neither of his two opponents were as aggressive as they were before.
Ruby supposed it made sense. Jaune proved he wasn't going to hold back. At all.
Ruby shook her head and scowled. What was she doing, getting distracted in the middle of the fight? She needed to focus, otherwise…
She noticed motion out of the corner of her eye. She reacted instantly, spinning around, and pulling the trigger of Crescent Rose. She felt resistance when the curved blade cut through something. Then there was pained grunt, and something wet and hot sprayed on her face.
She froze, when she felt familiar metallic scent reach her nostrils. Her wide eyes stared at the faunus in front of her, his breastplate cut open, red liquid leaking out.
Ruby trembled, her mind going blank. She did it again. She killed someone again. And this time she had no excuse that it was to help them, because they were turning into a monster. No, she killed normal person. She was murderer, a monster.
She barely registered the man raising his hand, curved blade singing in the moonlight. She heard a strange, wet sound, and more blood sprayed on her. She stared at the man who was about to end her life.
He stared at her. Then his eyes left her, and focused on the two blades poking out of his stomach. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, something yanked him back, and Ruby looked in pair of green, concerned eyes.
"Friend Ruby! Are you alright?"
She nodded.
"That great! Please stand by, while I dispose of the remaining threats."
With that, Penny Polendina, ran off to join the melee.
Ruby slumped to her knees, just staring ahead, her head blank. She slowly looked at her hands. They were covered in blood. She started shaking again, something was flowing out of her eyes.
She barely registered the pained screams all around her.
Jaune sighed, slumping onto a crate. Hsi friends were under medical care, the surviving White Fang cuffed, and being taken care of by the police. With the help of the strange girl that claimed to be Ruby's friend, they were able to quickly push back Roman and the Fang warriors.
It surprised him how… efficient she was. But hey, he wouldn't complain. It was nice knowing that there were more people his age ready to take things seriously.
He sighed again,and got up. He had one more thing to take care of.
Ruby sat where he last saw her - wrapped in her cloak, with arms around her knees.
"Hey Ruby." He called out."
She looked at him and smiled weakly.
"Hey Jaune."
"How are you feeling?"
"Good. Just a bit tired. It was long day, afterall." She chuckled weakly. The blond chuckled too, and they both fell silent.
Damn, I'm really bad at this.
Jaune thought, trying to figure what to say.
"So… what happened earlier? You kinda froze there. It could have been bad if that girl didn't show up."
Ruby tensed, and Jaune winced. Yeah, he really was bad at this whole cheering up thing.
It was much easier with his sisters. Then again, none of his sisters almost died, and almost killed a person.
"Listen, I know you are shocked, but I want you to know you did a good job. This whole thing was mess, far out of our paygrade, so…"
"How many?" She asked suddenly.
He blinked, surprised.
"How many people have you killed? That faunus back there wasn't your first, right?"
Jaune sighed.
"No, he wasn't. And I can't say how many I've killed. I don't keep a count." He sighed again, running a hand through his hair. "Listen, I…"
"It's ok." She said, slapping her cheeks. "It's just another part of a Hunter's job I need to learn, right?" She shot him a smile.
"I'm fine now." She got up and stretched. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a teammate that I need to scold for running away. See you later."
Jaune watched her walk away, then sighed. She was not fine, they both knew it. Hopefully, someone at Beacon will be able to help her deal with it.
Brothers knew he was bad at it.
And here it is. Ruby got her own trauma to deal with, Jaune shows he is more than willing to dirty his hands, and the White Fang got themselves some stronger soldiers.
Also, it occurred to me that FF net is not allowing me to write certain words/phrases. So you might noticed some strange messages at the end of AN's in the past few chapters. So, the thing is, there's this website, that starts with 'Pat' and ends with 'reon'. You can go there, and support artists you like. Now, I do not consider myself an artist, but I did make my account there (same name as here). So if you like what I wrote, and have dollar or two to spare, you could consider supporting me there. It would mean a lot.
See you all next week.