Bloody Arc

by Kharneth666

The typical Gamer story has a character suddenly become an RPG character. Their body becomes defined by stats, quests and the vaunted Gamer's Mind. This is not one of those stories. Tonight, Jaune Arc joins the Hunt.

5. The Night Unfurls

Chapter 5: The Night Unfurls

It was early in the afternoon, and Jaune has been casually strolling along with Pyrrha through the Emerald Forest for about an hour or two… well as casual as one can be while being on guard in a forest full of Grimm. A common strategy while traveling is to keep up good spirits. Boredom can so often descend into frustration, drawing the soulless abominations like flies to honey. Jaune was humming the tune to 'Laurence, the First Vicar' as he tried to think of something to talk about.

'I need to get used to talking with people my age. Yesterday was great, but the way things are going now, it'll be four years of awkward silence.' To break the silence, Jaune asks his partner, "I'm curious Pyrrha, but did winning four tournaments get?"

Blinking at the mild surprise at the break of silence, Pyrrha responded with a sad smile, "Surprisingly only the third. She went in already prepared for defeat, and told me as such before the fight."

"Damn, that's depressing." His bland line delivery gave her a light laugh.

Keeping the conversation alive, Pyrrha wanted to know more about her new partner. "She tried, nonetheless, but it didn't have that… spark, you know? What about you? You said that you didn't go to any Academy; where did you train?"

"All over." Keeping the exact locations nebulous but truthful, "I apprenticed to my Dad, since he's a Hunter."

Their conversation was ended by the sound of an explosion in close proximity. "Well, it seems our comrades have engaged the enemy. Shall we take a look?"

"Should be a blast!" With Pyrrha smiling at the pun, they started running towards the noise, with Jaune pulling out Orion and locking it into Ludwig, keeping it on his back with his left hand on the hilt. Pyrrha pulled out Milo and shifted it to its rifle mode.

The noise originated from about a half of a mile away, echoing nicely on the trees. As they were running through the trees and jumping over exposed roots, they could hear more explosions getting louder as they approached, as well as short bursts of automatic fire.

"Pyrrha, your weapon seems quite sophisticated. Did you design it?" He asked, as some of his father's interest in weapon design and creation rubbed off on him.

Keeping her eyes on the path ahead, she replied, "Miló and Akoúo were my mother's weapons before she retired. When I was accepted into Sanctum, she gave them to me and trained me in its use." Sparing a glance at her partner, "What about yours?"

Sensing some tension in her voice, Jaune put the topic under the category of things to avoid for now. "I had some inspiration in the designs based on previous hunters, but my Dad and I worked on them together. Nothing too fancy, but they get the job done and I look cool doing it."

Seeing the logic in that, she asked, "You said that your father is also a blacksmith, correct? I may not have intimate knowledge in skills like that, but I can see the high level of skill required in their creation."

As Pyrrha finished her compliment, they stopped as they entered a clearing with smoldering craters and an evaporating sloth of Ursi. In the middle of this clearing were two people who couldn't look any more different from each other if they were trying. Both of them turn around at the sound of the newcomers entering the clearing, briefly inspecting them as Jaune and Pyrrah were doing the same.

The girl was the shortest of the four, just clearing 5'. She had a slightly more muscular build; understandable considering she was currently putting away a large war hammer that shifted into a grenade launcher as she put it to rest on her back, similar to how Ruby stored her sniper-scythe. 'She's a hammer-user? I guess she's a lot stronger than she looks. The only other hammer-user I've seen is Dad, and she's tiny compared to him. Then again, so am I… and almost everyone else.'

The girl had a pale white complexion, similar to Jaune before he started training and spent a lot more time outdoors, but healthier. 'If anything, her skin looks like Marie's, only real.'

She had short orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her clothing seems to be a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wears a collared black vest that ends at her waist. Her emblem, a hammer with a lightning bolt in pink, was on the back, just between her shoulders. Under the vest are two layers of clothing, colored red and light blue respectively.

She also wore a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm. She wears matching fingerless gloves on each hand. She sports a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh. Her shoes are a mix of pink and white with pink laces, displaying her emblem on their soles.

She also seemed to wear some sort of armor that began in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist. 'Yet another outfit with a design similar to a corset. What is that, three now?'

The male was almost six feet tall with a very slender build. He had a fair complexion with long, black hair in a ponytail and a magenta streak on the front left side. He's wearing a dark green tailcoat, diagonally buttoned in the Vytal fashion, with black and golden trim as well as pink cuffs. It has sleeves loose enough, extending just over his hands, to store his weapons as he slid the compacted, green, dual Sickle-SMG's underneath them. The outfit is completed with a long sleeved shirt underneath the jacket, white pants, and black shoes.

"Hello~!" The girl rushed at them, and was now standing on front of them with a wide smile. Grabbing their hands and shaking them vigorously, she continued, practically bouncing with energy, "I'm Nora, and this is my ninja best friend Ren, or best friend who's a ninja? I guess we're together now… But not together-together, just like a team, you know? Oh, this is going to be so much FUN!" Nora grabbed Pyrrha in a hug and lifting her and spinning her around, laughing with glee and oblivious to how awkward Pyrrha was to her antics, looking to the two males for guidance and salvation.

Ren sighed in a defeatist tone. "Nora, please put her down."

"Okay, Ren!" Gently setting the dizzy redhead down, "So who are you guys? Or guy and girl, or is it girl and guy? I like both of your headgears. Did you decide to match? No wait, they don't look anything alike. Not that that's a bad thing, because they suit both of you."

Used to being around a hyper girl due to one third of the triplets, though to a much lesser extent, as well as not having to recover from unexpected dizziness, Jaune took it upon himself to reciprocate an introduction. "I'm Jaune, and this is Pyrrha. Pleasure to meet you both."

Ren nodded, "Likewise, Jaune. It would seem that we're a team now. I hope that we can work well together."

Hearing some nearby howls and growls, they halted their conversation and focused on the new arrivals, about dozen D-class and newborn Nemeans, the feline 'cousins' to beowolves. Jaune replied to Ren, pulling out Ludwig as he did so, "I guess we are about to find out. Here kitty kitty kitties~!" He took a slightly higher pitch in his voice to mock the Grimm.

As if they understood his mocking, the Grimm charged and the four hunters responded in kind with Jaune in the front. Jaune held his great sword in a low stance, almost dragging it behind him, and then quickly swung the blade up as the first Grimm entered his range, bisecting the Grimm and causing a crimson spray that was ignored by the other three as they were focused on the fight ahead of them.

With the first kill, Jaune laughed and boasted, "Looks like first blood is mine!"

He jumped, shifting his grip so that his sword pointed down, and thrust towards the ground, impaling his second kill, a D-class, through its back and pinning it to the ground with the evaporating Grimm acting as an impromptu sheath. Rather than pull Ludwig out, he unlocked Orion, leaving Ludwig embedded in earth and smoking shadow for the moment.

Nora, hearing a challenge in his boast, responded in kind by swinging her hammer like a golf club, splattering the Grimm with a loud crack and launching it, along with the one immediately behind it into a nearby tree. "C-C-C-Combo~! Oooh are we playing Kill Count? Loser buys a stack of pancakes!"

Ren, used to Nora's obsession with that game, responded without missing a beat as stabbed the sickle blades into the eyes of his first kill, "I'll get in on that if I must."

He then charged the nearby trio to his left, firing his dual weapons, Stormflower, and peppered their faces to distract and blind them. Ren stopped in the middle of the three newborns, jump kicked the Nemean in the back in the chest, and with his limbs enhanced by his aura, caved in its chest cavity and causing massive damage.

Using the now dead Grimm as a springboard, Ren corkscrewed in mid air, dealing several deep slashes to the other two. Landing on the ground rolling, Ren quickly turned back around and finished the two off with bullets that, at point-blank range, pierced through the sides of their heads.

Pyrrha shield bashed one to stun it before slicing its throat with her sword. Using her momentum, she turned around to stab a Nemean that was about to attack her back and thrust her sword straight through its eye, and out the back of its head. At this point, Pyrrah found that her weapon was currently stuck in its head, and shifted the corpse to gain better leverage to quickly pull out her weapon.

As she was distracted, another Nemean charged at her with a loud roar, seeking to take advantage. Just as she was moving her shield to block its blow, the move proved to be unnecessary as the Grimm suddenly collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, a dagger in the back of its skull the culprit. As it lay on the ground, 'blood' trickling down from the wound, contrasting almost beautifully with the abyssal black of Grimm fur and bone white of its armor, Pyrrah broke from her internal musing from her partner calling out to her as he pulled out the dagger, a nine inch Bowie and held in a reverse grip. With a smile on Jaune's face like he's having the time of his life, "Falling behind, Red. Looks like your wallets going to lighten up real quick, I saw Nora slurp them like noodles at breakfast this morning."

Due to the prize money that she had earned, Pyrrha was unconcerned with the possible loss. All the same, she gained a familiar competitive spirit from the implied challenge, and she yanked out her sword with a flourish that literally disarmed another Nemean before spinning and stabbing it through the chest.

In a few moments, the Grimm were demolished, all but the leader, boxed in between the four, tensing to defend any attack. Suddenly, looking at Nora and her weapon, Jaune had an awfully wonderful idea. Calling out to the cheerful carrot top, "Nora, you like pancakes, right?"

Looking at him like he asked the dumbest question in the world, and yet somehow not losing one iota of her glee, "You bet, why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just wondering…" Pausing for dramatic effect, Jaune locked Orion into the second sheath on his back. It was smaller, but thicker and more box-like in shape. As he heard a familiar click, he pulled it over his shoulder as a rectangular shaft covered Orion's blade, leading to a thick hammerhead almost as large as Jaune's torso. The head's corners, cut at a 45˚ angle, had all sharp angles removed. On both sides that are used as the striking surface, there were several holes about as thick as a finger. Jaune held a finger briefly over almost invisible panel on the shaft, and the vents began to glow an ominous red, highlighting the red layers in the metal. Jaune gave a wild, savage grin, and asked, "Do you want to make one?"

Nora looked a bit unsure, "Well, I don't know. Ren always told me not to be in a kitchen unsupervised."

"But we're not in a kitchen, and you are supervised."

Nora perked up at the revelation, "OH boy! Hammer high five!" and her hammerhead glowed with pink in anticipation due to its primed ammunition.

With both hammer wielders laughing manically, Jaune charged from its front left side, and Nora from the front right. As one, they swung their hammers, meeting in the middle with the Grimm in the way. With a splat and a circular spray of blood forming a line between the two, the hammers met and immediately exploded with a red blaze and pink smoke.

The two more reserved members of the team looked at each other, resigned to dealing with the two trigger-happy battle-crazed fiends.

Taking a deep post-battle inhale of the addicting rotten stench of Grimm vapor and a loud sigh of relief and appreciation, Jaune answers, "Pyrrha, Nora, Ren?" All three turn to Jaune as he called out to them, seeing his feral grin. "I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." All four smile at the proclamation in their own way, with Nora copying Jaune's, Ren with his small, reserved smile usually directed at Nora, and Pyrrha smiling warmly.

Nora looked down and asked, "When did Grimm start bleeding? If this one is a pancake now, is this the syrup?" Bending down and reaching towards it to taste it, Ren called out with a practiced tone to rein her in, "Nora! I don't think that's a good idea."

Nora blew him a raspberry, even though she followed his cautionary advice, "You're no fun!"

Pyrrha, looking around, saw that a few other select Grimm were also bleeding form their wounds, and brought it to her team's attention. Jaune, feeling an explanation was due, "That would be my doing. It's my manifestation."

While two of them gained a look of realization on their faces, Nora looked puzzled. "Mani-what?"

Ren stepped in to explain to his best friend, "Manifestation, Nora. While actively using a Semblance, a person's aura can create temporary illusions that best fit the Semblance, and therefore the person. In this case, it's 'blood'." Ren said the last word while using his fingers to make quotation marks.

Jaune thanked him for explaining to her, and furled his brow in thought. "Hey, did any of you get a scroll message after we met?"

Pulling out their scrolls, they found yet another text missed in the heat of battle.

'As you have now found new comrades, your next task awaits. On a map you will find beacons marked on it, as well as your current location. These are supply drop boxes, one for each team. Or rather, there would be if there wasn't a technical difficulty and one was not deployed. In light of this, the supply drops will be first come, first served. Looted supply drops will be red for occupied, and black for available. The next message will be sent at 0600. -Headmaster'

Quickly switching to the map application, they indeed found beacons that located the supply drops, and even a number determining their current distance from each respective drop. There was only one problem, which the member of their quartet with the hat decided to vocally point out. "What the fuck? There's only one left! Stupid fucking Grimm." 'Almost not worth the echoes.'

Nora agreed with him by yelling at her scroll, "BOOOO! You suck as DM, Ozzy!"

Ren, seeking to calm them, or at least Nora down to prevent negative emotions form attracting even more Grimm, "There is a silver lining. It is not far away, and is the closest one to us, and adjacent to a river, so we'll have fresh water and a barrier."

Pyrrha added her own two cents, "It could be worse. It could have been on the other side of the forest."

Jaune, calming down from his post-battle high, "You're right. Oh well, time's a-wasting! Let's move."

As one, they began to run, hoping for a semi-decent meal of rehydrated military rations and tents for the night, as the weather forecast this morning predicted a windy night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

With significant haste, only briefly halted by the odd Grimm or two, Jaune and his companions had reached the supply box, but they were not quick enough. On the opposite side of the supply drop, were three girls that Jaune was familiar with, and one that he had briefly exchanged a conversation of facial expressions with last night. No one moved as a thick tension filled the air.

Which was broken by a socially clueless girl cloaked in red waving at calling out, "Hi Jaune! Lovely forest we're in, isn't it?"

Jaune smiled at the breaking of the ice, "Well it's no grandmother's house, little red, but it's not bad. We've even killed a few big bad beasties along the way."

Ruby whined at the fairy tale reference, "I told you to call me Ruby. It wasn't funny at Signal, and it still isn't here."

Yang cut in, "Hate to barge in, but we're kind of in the middle of something. Or rather, something in the middle of us." Pointing at the metal crate containing the supplies for the night.

Ren spoke, acting with the gravitas of a diplomat between two armies with a peace treaty, "Let's be reasonable here. There's not reason that we must fight over the provisions."

Yang, nodding in agreement, said, "Right! Because we were here first!"

Nora was having none of that, and retorted maturely with, "Nuh-uh!"

As the two argued almost childishly over who had indeed came first, everyone bar Jaune and Ruby began readying their weapons. Ruby was frantically trying to calm her sister down, but with little success. Jaune tried a different approach, as he grew frustrated with the situation, and inhaled deeply. 'This is gonna fucking suck.'

A loud roar nearly deafened everyone in the area, and an uneasy silence fell on the bank of the stream as everyone turned to the source of the cacophonous noise, Jaune. 'OH FUCK THAT HURTS!'

Mentally unleashing a tirade for nearly wrecking his vocal cords again, especially so soon after they had fully healed after he had tried it for the first time, Jaune began violently coughing, causing even more pain. With a sudden flurry of red rose petals, Ruby ran over at a blurring speed, with her sister not far behind her to make sure their friend was okay. White and black hung back a bit, but still looked on in concern for the well-being of a colleague.

In addition to the siblings, his new teammates and partner surrounded him, laying him down on his side as he continued coughing violently, feeling a few specks of blood on the palm hovering in front of his mouth. After an agonizing minute, he stopped and took a few deep, rasping breaths, calming down from the adrenaline rush. 'It's not as bad as last time. At least I know what I'm investing my echoes into tonight.'

Ruby asked, "What did you do?"

"Oh dear Oum, are you all right?" Jaune's partner asked at the same time.

Jaune sat up, and with harsh grit in his voice from the damage, causing his entire audience to wince from the audible pain in his voice, "I'm… all right. It's a… technique I discovered. I… haven't mastered it yet… close ,though. You should have seen me… the first time I tried this."

No one there wanted to because they did not want to imagine how what just happened could have been worse. From outside the small crowd, Jaune heard Weiss ask with a tinge of curiosity in her voice, "Is that why you're voice sounded like it did yesterday? Because of… that?"

Turning to Weiss, Ruby remembered that Jaune's voice did sound like it did when they first met. "Hey yeah, how did you do that?"

Smirking to mask his pain, "Can't teach it, I don't think. I call it… The Beast Roar. What do you think?"

Blake, silent until now, gave her opinion. "An appropriate name."

Everyone agreed, remembering a tremor of primal fear when they had heard it, not unlike their own first encounters with a Grimm.

Still worried for her partner, "Why did you feel the need to hurt yourself doing that?"

"It got you… all to stop, no?" Realizing his intent, they all were embarrassed about how trigger-happy they had been over something so trivial.

Nodding at his wisdom, Ruby said, "He's right. It's easy to forget that we are not enemies. That title belongs to the Grimm."

With a potential conflict averted, Weiss said, "Well, let's take a look and see how much we can share."

"I also have some extra food supplies. I try to always keep some in handy, just in case." Ren added, glancing briefly at Nora, wordlessly stating his companion as the reason why.

Leaving Jaune to sit on the ground and recover, the two teams took inventory of the drop's contents.

-2 tents

-4 sleeping mats

-4 Emergency Blankets

-2 buckets

-MRE rations (which, to everyone's relief, was enough for everyone)

-Biodegradable eating necessities (plates, utensils, etc.)

-Camping stove with Liquid Fire Dust Fuel

"It may be a bit small, but I believe we can fit three people in each." Ren voiced his thoughts on the tents.

Yang pitched her own thoughts on the matter, "Looks like it'll be a tight fit. You boys gonna be okay, or will we have two more tents for the night?"

For once, Ruby shared in her suffering due to Yang's innuendo as many faces became varying shades of red and glared at the blonde, Weiss most of all, as she was offended at her crass behavior. The best off was Nora, who just tilted her head, "I don't get it. Ren doesn't have a… Oooooooh." And there it was, six out of seven, a victory for Yang. Looking back at Jaune, Yang became puzzled, as he bore no reaction.

Jaune was not looking, nor was he listening to the group. He was busy staring at the moon. 'At least the pain is mostly gone now.'

Standing back up, Jaune turned around and saw the group staring at him. He asked, "What are you doing? We're wasting daylight. I'd like to get food in my belly before dark."

Hearing his nearly recovered voice seemed to get them back to their senses. Weiss voiced her concern for their situation, "We still need to figure out sleeping arrangements. Even if we manage to squeeze three people in each tent, we'll still have two extra people."

Curtly, Jaune replied, "Two-person watch shifts. After all, we are in a Grimm-infested forest."

He continued to take charge of the situation. "All right, let's divvy up duties and get this done quick. Nora, Yang, could you get one bucket filled with water, and one with sand?"

Saluting, mockingly on Yang's part and like an Atlas soldier for Nora, "On it boss!"

Ren, stepping in to volunteer, "I've cooked MRE's, especially this… flavor, for lack of a better term. I also have some spices on hand so that we can eat something with taste."

Nodding, Jaune asked, "Want some help setting up?"

Shaking his head, Ren replied, "Unnecessary, but thank you. Thankfully, this one provides bread so we won't have to share plates"

The disguised Faunus was next, "I've used these tents before. They're a bit tricky, so I'll need someone to help me."

Proving her point, Jaune looked at the tents and agreed with her. "You mind showing me how? I've only used single-sized before."

Weiss raised her hand, "Would you mind showing me too? I've never used a tent before."

Blake looked slightly disapproving, but was not surprised, "Never? You have never gone camping before for training?"

Shifting a bit, "No. I've never had the chance."

"All right. Anyone else need to know?" Blake shrugged, brushing the matter aside, as at least she was willing to learn.

Ruby, along with Pyrrha, had already started on the second tent. Calling out to her teammate, "No worries, Blake. We got this."

Jaune sighed in mild relief, 'So that's her name. Thank you Ruby for saving me that awkward question.'

In a few minutes, their rudimentary camp was ready, and they were all sitting around the stove on appropriated logs. They did not want to risk building a fire to attract unwanted attention, so the heat from the small stove would have to do as the last remnants of a winter chill carried on the wind.

With their weapons on the ground behind the logs that they sat on, well within easy reach in case of an ambush, they settled in for dinner and an awkward silence filled the air.

Jaune was used to eating in a crowd, coming from a big family. The Arc family might not have had a full family meal as frequently as in his childhood, but they still happened at least twice a year no matter how busy everyone was. However, those meals were never as quiet as what the two teams were currently experiencing. Scarfing down the last of his portion of what appeared to be chicken soft tacos, Jaune pulled out his torch from the belts on his right thigh in order to change that.

"Jaune, what are you doing?" Pyrrha was the first to ask, her voice tinged with curiosity.

Ruby asked excitedly, "Oooh, is that another one of your weapons? What does it do? Can you show me your other weapons? Pleeeaasssse?" Adding a puppy-eyed glaze to coerce Jaune into spilling the beans. Yang smirked, as no one she had seen had ever resisted that look. It was how Ruby convinced their uncle to start her training early, after all, and with such a dangerous weapon as a scythe, no less.

Alas, to the siblings' shock, Jaune merely smirked, "Ruby, I have seven sisters. Do you really think that I wouldn't gain a resistance to that?" With the reveal of his siblings, Ruby's gaze shifted to horror, and his team perked up, wanting to know more about their 'leader'.

"Dear God, how did you survive?" thinking about all of the things Yang had put her through. The rest of the group were baffled at the concept, although Nora kept smiling and asked, "How'd you not drown in all of the estrogen?"

Jaune laughed at both of their questions, thinking, 'Oh thank the goddess she stopped. Only Violet ever used it, but they don't need to know that.'

"A large house, and because they're all older than me, most of them had moved out before I was a teenager. It's a full house only on special occasions. Well… Bianca, the eldest, moved back in recently, but that's because she took over the family business."

Setting down the torch and propping it on the log for the moment, Jaune had an epiphany. "But to answer your earlier question, it's a flare torch. Just a thought, but why don't we all introduce our weapons? If we're going to work together, we should know each other's capabilities."

After a moment, everyone nodded, agreeing with his common sense. Looking at the girl sitting on his left, shaking with excitement like an adorable puppy at seeing new weapons, "Ruby, would you mind leading us off? We can go clockwise."

Ruby pouted like a five year old, "No fair! That means you'll go last."

"Really? I hadn't noticed. What a coincidence, eh?" He put on a façade of shock that no one believed.

Ruby's pouted at him for a brief moment, but excitement to see new weapons quickly overtook her. Standing up and stepping back, she unfolded Crescent Rose and explained her weapon's basic information as she went though a few slow attack motions. Taking her example, Yang raised her arms to show off her shotgun gauntlets, Ember Celica.

One by one, each of them revealed their respective weapons and their basic capabilities; Blake with Gambol Shroud, Weiss with Myrtenaster, Ren with Storm Flower, Nora's Magnhild, and Pyrrha's pair of Miló and Akoúo. Finally, it was Jaune's turn.

Clearing his throat, Jaune started with Evelyn. After that, Jaune pulled out Orion, and he saw Blake's small flinch.

Concerned, Jaune asked, "You all right, Blake?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I knew someone with a katana, and we… parted on bad terms." Seeing her discomfort, Jaune didn't push any further and shifted Orion to its bow form.

Ruby looked all over him, and Yang jokingly asked, "Oh dear, Ruby. Checking out our model so brazenly. Whatever happened to the sweet, innocent sister I used to know?"

"Y-Yang, stop it!" She stammered, turning back to the chuckling Hunter, and ignoring everyone else's amusement.

"Jaune, where's your quiver? I don't see one on you, or any arrows for that matter." That question visibly brought curiosity to the rest of the group, as they had not noticed that. That is, all except for Pyrrha, who remained silent, having no desire to reveal that she had been spying on… 'Observing'Jaune and had been wondering the same thing all day.

"How about a demonstration?" Jaune asked. At Ruby's gleeful smile, Jaune reached into his ammo pouch and pulled out, to their befuddlement, a silver marble flaked with red. "Actually, it's also my ammo for Evelyn as well." Confused, Weiss asked the rather obvious question, "How is that possible?"

"Yeah, that's no arrow. Aren't they usually long and pointy with feathers?" Nora continued.

Ignoring their questions, Jaune pulled out his dagger, "Oh, and this is Yharnam by the way. Before you ask Ruby, she's just a dagger." After the Grimm attack, Jaune only found it fitting that the first weapon that he and his father make would be a dagger. Using the point, Jaune pricked his finger and smeared the bullet with his blood, to everyone's surprise and confusion. 'Well, at least I only have to show this off once for them. Better now than in the heat of battle.'

To all of their shock, the solid bullet became an arrow, right before he fired into the ground. Picking it up and transmuting it back into a bullet and placing it into Evelyn, Jaune answered the unasked questions with, "It's an ability I trained with my semblance."

The Spartan asked, "Your blood? I've seem some strange semblances, but that's quite…" she stopped, not knowing a delicate way to put it.

Jaune had no such adherence to decorum, "Strange, maybe, but it's me."

Cutting into the moment by clapping a couple of times to gain their attention, Yang said, "Hate to cut into your little bonding session, you two, but you're not finished quite yet, Jaune."

A brief moment of confusion, and then snapping his fingers, "Oh right. I apologize for that. I can get into tangents sometimes."

Continuing with his demo, he locked Orion into Ludwig and hefted up the massive blade. Impressed with his strength, and remembering his cut figure, Yang hid her blush by asking, "So Jaune, you never answered my question yesterday. Compensating for something?"

"That all you got? Online trolls would eat you alive, and not in the fun way. And so I ask again, care to find out?"

Yang's reddening face conceded the victory to Jaune, as he shifted back to reveal his last weapon on hand, much to Nora's joy of finally having a hammer buddy. "This is Djura. The vents are for a high-grade Fire Dust Crystal, in case I'm in the mood for a 'crush and burn'."

His arsenal, and the vast amount of situations he would be prepared for as a result were impressive. However, Ruby had one question niggling her mind.

"So none of your weapons turn into a gun?"

Jaune, mildly scoffing as he put down his weapons, "Don't sound so disappointed, Ruby, I've got one. It's just not here. Besides, it saves a lot of time and money using less complex weapons."

Pyrrha, in a light-hearted jest, asked, "You sure that you don't have anything else?"

Jaune, looking up in a totally innocent manner, "Not weapons, no."

Even Ruby, a self-proclaimed weapon nerd, found that to be a bit over the top, and asked, "What else could you need or have? Is that torch also a flamethrower? Is that small lantern a bomb?"

"Well–"

Ren cut in, "I'm pretty sure she was joking."

On the inside, the Vytalian thought, 'Please, dear merciful Oum, don't have a bomb. I can barely control Nora as it is.'

"Just to make it clear, I don't have any bombs." He clarified, to the relief of everyone except Nora's disappointment.

"What guy doesn't like to make a bang?" Yang quipped.

Ignoring the innuendo, Jaune picked up the torch that had started this whole weapon exhibit, and he said, "But back to the matter at hand. It's not a flamethrower, although that would be pretty cool. Not important. What is, though, is the answer to my next question."

"And that is?" Blake deadpanned.

"Who wants some after dinner music?" He smiled and pushed a button hidden on the shaft, the torch quickly expanded into a musical instrument, compelling Weiss to ask, "Is that a violin?"

He replied, "Close, but not quite. Iosefka is a hybrid between a viola and a violin. She has more strings so that I have more range. A gift from my youngest sister, Amethyst."

It was a beautiful instrument. After shifting from a torch, the seams were airtight, a necessity for proper acoustics. It was made with wood from Forever Fall, a forest famous for its rich, red colored wood due to the sap it produces.

Pyrrha, hesitant about playing a loud instrument in their situation, "Won't that attract Grimm?"

"Way ahead of you, partner. I hired a guy to make a small modification." Sliding open a hidden panel on the side, Jaune revealed to her a computer chip and dust crystals. "With this, I can limit a range for it to be heard. I've brought it on missions before, and I guarantee that it works. I wouldn't have offered it otherwise."

"Well if you're sure, I wouldn't say no."

With no other disagreements, Jaune set the sound range for a few meters, and then tuned Iosefka's strings for a couple of minutes, as sometimes it got out of tune during a shift.

Weiss, after a small yawn, "Bianca did say you're skilled with a violin, but shouldn't we decide a watch schedule soon? It's getting a bit late."

"True. How about a short song, and then we'll decide a watch schedule. Sound fair?" Thinking for a bit, she nodded.

Jaune took off his hat, allowing a clear view of his intense dark blue eyes, unobstructed by the wide brim. He also unwound and took off his scarf, folded it, and placed it with care on top of the hat now placed on his lap.

As he brought up Iosefka to rest against his neck, Jaune decided to put on a bit of showmanship, which Weiss recognized as an introduction for a recital, "And now… ladies and gentleman… Jaune Arc with 'The One Reborn' composed by Cyan Amon."

Carrying on with the joke, Yang and Nora clapped briefly, while Weiss became struck with familiarity, thinking 'Why does that name sound familiar? Maybe I worked with him during my brief singing career? It's probably just my imagination.'

As he played, his audience became more at peace, even the hyper Nora, soothed by the dark, haunting melody that held a tint of menace. All too soon, the music came to an end.

Recovering from her borderline trance, Pyrrha was the first to compliment, "That was lovely. Where'd you learn to play like that?"

Smiling from the praise, and putting his hat and scarf back on, "Amethyst gave me some lessons. She plays professionally, along with her other thirds." 'And it's been a big help, in more ways than one.'

"Soooo… watch schedule?" That snapped them out of their light trance, and he continued, "Right. Well, why don't we draw straws to determine who gets what? The two with the shortest get a bye."

Nora asked, "But Jaune-Jaune, we don't have any straws, and they're aren't any straw houses or cafeterias nearby."

"Thankfully, there's an app for that. Rubes and I use it at home all of the time for chores." Yang put forth a solution.

She then sent the app, and they began linking their scrolls for it to work properly. Each person's scroll would be sent simultaneously a number between 1 and 8, with 1 - 2 getting the bye, 3 – 4 on first shift, 5 – 6 on second, and 7 – 8 on third.

"Seems fair enough." Blake shrugged, going with the flow.

After they all pressed the activation button at the same time, their shifts were determined. On first watch, Nora and Yang, with Blake and Jaune on second, and Pyrrha and Ruby on third, leaving Ren and Weiss a full night's sleep.

Thinking about how little sleep she had gotten the night before, Weiss was grateful for her good fortune. Shepractically dragged herself into a tent to catch up on sleep, having been running on fumes for the past few hours. Everyone else followed suit, with the exception Yang and Nora.

Before entering the tent, Jaune turned and requested, "Since it's 22h, wake Blake and me up at 01h. Ren's on the right."

"You got it." Yang said, giving him a lazy wave.

He carefully moved to the left side of the tent, making sure not to step on Blake or Ren. The sleeping arrangements were determined earlier with each bye in one, and the two with the same shift in the same tent to facilitate waking up the correct people in the middle of the night. 'Too bad I can't visit Marie, since I've got to wake up in three hours. Am I forgetting something? Oh well, she did say that I should sleep normally anyway.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXX First Shift XXXX

With everyone asleep, the two heavy-hitting Huntresses talked quietly in order to pass the time to stay awake, while still keeping an eye out for any Grimm that might pop out nearby.

Yang started off with, "So Nora, how'd you get such a nice boyfriend?"

"Boy… oh no, Ren and I aren't together. Well we are, but not together-together. We've been friends since a long time ago. Everyone thinks we are, but we're not. It'd just be weird. I mean, he's really nice, and handsome, but it's not like that."

"Are you sure? You two seemed mighty comfortable with each other to be just friends." Yang, like a shark getting a whiff of blood, didn't give up just yet.

Nora, looking a bit uneasy, "N-no. It'd be awkward. Can we talk about something else, please?"

Seeing that she might have drifted into uncomfortable territory, Yang complied. 'I might like teasing, but only to a point.'

Changing topics, "So, how'd you meet Ren?"

"Meet where? Where we first met? The week before we came to Beacon?" Nora answered, continuing on to list every time she met her best friend after the rare times they were apart.

Yang cut her off. "No, I mean here, after you landed."

"Oh, why didn't you say so? I was flying through the air, so much fun by the way, also I saw you ahead of me. So I thought that we were in a race, with bonus points for landing distance. So I took my hammer to launch grenades and use the explosion to double and triple jump, kind of like you fire-fisting the air."

Yang snorted at the possibly unintended innuendo.

"But I aimed the wrong way, and went straight down. A big, fluffy bear broke my fall… and its face." She said, leaving her audience of one impressed that she said that in one whole breath.

"So I walked around a bit, then I heard Ren's weapons nearby. I ran, and I saw him fighting this really, REALLY big snake. Another snake was about to attack, so I banged it with one of my special grenades. Then it was like a party, and some more fluffy bears came to play, and there was much rejoicing in the land. That's when Jaune-Jaune and Pyrrha came in, and we celebrated the awesomeness of our team with some kitties. We didn't have any catnip or yarn, but Jaune and me became hammer buddies. We even made a pancake together. I've never had a hammer buddy before."

From then on, Nora began rambling to herself. "Is there some membership fee? Or…" inhale "a super-secret handshake? What if the hammers were the handshake? We banged really hard, and made a big splat."

Hearing her ramble, Yang thought, 'Okay, I swear that one was on purpose. Did she forget that I'm here?'

She cleared her throat, and Nora jumped a bit, "Oh, right. How'd you meet your partner?"

"So I was looking for Ruby, and instead I find a couple of Ursa. I have some fun beating them up, and one of them gets a lucky shot and hits my hair, and rip a few strands out."

Nora, gasped, completely into the sparsely detailed story, "How dares they? You have such lovely hair!"

"Thank you. I put a lot of effort into it, and they think that they can just damage perfection? That's just plain rude. Anyway, while I was… expressing my displeasure, the last one was right behind me. Before I could take care of it, Blake came in and killed it."

Nodding almost feverishly, Nora wanted to know more. "Uh-huh, and then what?"

"Uh, that's it" was the budding bard's eloquent response, which disappointed Nora a bit. "Wait, no. That can't be it. Where were the sparks, the boasts, the-"

"I guess I don't have the same… flair for story telling that you have. I like getting to the point. Well, unless I'm reading."

"Reading?"

She smiled in nostalgia, "Yeah. I used to read bedtime stories to Ruby when we were younger."

"Wouldn't your Mom have…?" Nora began to ask, but stopped, seeing a hurt look on her companion's face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up anything bad. Let's talk about something else. Do you like pancakes?"

They continued talking about random things, stopping to kill the occasional newborn Grimm wandering too close. Nora was a bit disappointed about not being able to use her ammo, but she was beginning to run low, and people were sleeping. Eventually, 01h rolled around, and they went to shake the next two up for their time for watch duty.

XXXX Second Shift XXXX

In the middle of the tent, and the easiest to access, Yang quietly shook her partner awake. Blake was a light sleeper, so she woke up quickly, and remembered why she was up before morning. Blake reached over to wake up Jaune, easily identifying who was who in the darkness.

She gently shook him up, and he sprung into action. He grabbed the dagger still on his back, and held it against her throat before she had a chance to react, as she had been a bit groggy, but no longer. She tensed up in fear, and for a brief instant, Blake thought she saw Jaune's eyes flash with a dark hunger.

Blinking, his gaze was now tinged with regret as he put away his knife; Blake dismissed it as her imagination.

Silently yawning, Jaune apologized, "Apologies Blake, I get bad dreams sometimes. Time for watch?"

"Jumpy, aren't you? And yes, it is. I need my beauty sleep, so kindly vacate." Yang answered in a whisper before her partner could.

Realizing that the two of them were still in the tent because of that small incident, they quickly switched places. Both sitting on a log, with some space between them, Jaune said, "Sorry again about earlier, Blake."

"It's all right. It's for the better to be on edge a bit out here."

They sat in an awkward silence for quite some time. Blake, finally fed up with her discomfort as her curiosity won over, asked, "How'd you know?"

Confused by the vague question, Jaune turned to her answered with a question of his own, "Know what?"

With a very mild glare, "You winked at me last night in the ballroom. You know about me being a …" She stopped, her previous confidence slipping, unable to finish her line of questioning.

"What, a pretty girl I made eye contact with across the room?" Jaune's eyes widened in realization, "OH, about you being a Faunus?"

"SSSHHH!" Blake shushed him, and after listening in to everyone else's breathing, confirming that everyone else was still asleep, "Yes, the latter. How. Did. You. Know?"

"Easy. I grew up around Faunus. To be more specific, around feline-type Faunus. I just knew what to look for."

She had never heard of a human talk about growing up with Faunus with no trace of hostility or animosity, and so took his statement with a grain of salt. "I thought you said that you grew up with your family?"

"I did indeed. Perhaps this will help. I give you… the Arc family" With everyone sharing scroll information to 'draw straws', Jaune sent a picture to Blake's scroll. Opening up the file, Blake nearly dropped her scroll. In the picture center of the picture was Jaune, dressed exactly as he was now, sans his hat. A very large man towered behind him; hands on his shoulders, and eight women surrounded him in a giant group hug. 'If this is his family, they look nothing alike…'

What drew her attention was that the taller man and three of the women in the photo were clearly Faunus with their animalistic ears. The man had rounded ears, similar to a bear, and the three women had feline ears similar to her own, covered in fur matching their respective hair colors.

Not even trying to hide the surprise in her voice, "But… how? You all look nothing alike. And I've read history books on the Arc clan, and none of them mentioned anything about them being Faunus."

With a quiet chuckle, "Yeah, we get that a lot. Considering old family photos of previous generations, they had the same problem. As for books, well… I'm pretty sure that you might understand why."

After the Faunus Rights Revolution that had began on Menagerie ended, there was a covert effort to heavily edit, or even eliminate positive contributions in history by Faunus to negatively influence public opinion. As the picture in her hand proved, it had succeeded, at least in part. It was the public discovery and reveal of this effort that contributed to the violent shift in the White Fang's goals.

Moving behind her, Jaune pointed to everyone in the picture, naming each of them and going from his parents to his sisters from eldest to youngest.

"Wait, if you're all here, who took the picture?"

"That would be Noire's husband, Gomez." He pointed to the one with black hair that wasn't his mother.

That name rang a loud bell in Blake's head, "Gomez? As in Gomez Addams?"

He nodded, "That's the one. Why?"

"Are you kidding me? It was all over the news that a CEO married a Faunus. It was a very big deal." News covered the revelation for several days after the surprise announcement. 'Even he never thought that would ever happen. But that means…'

"Your sister is Noire Addams, the critically proclaimed author?"

"Yep. I'm guessing that you're a fan?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

An understatement if she'd ever heard one. Whenever she could, Blake loved reading books of all genres. Some of her more recent choices in literature were of the… romantic persuasion, but she also loved horror stories, and Noire's books were immersed in the macabre.

"Very much so. I love her anthology." Blake nodded, a bit embarrassed.

"Aah, Lovecraft's Journal. It almost wasn't published, you know."

Shocked once again, Blake merely asked, "Does it have to do with her changing publishers?"

"Yeah. Her first publisher had died for one reason or another. He never had a problem with her, and was very pro-equality. His son, on the other hand, was cut from a different cloth. He didn't know Noire was Faunus, and denied any future business with her unless he was able to charge far above market price. He probably thought that she couldn't find a new one, as she was fortunate in finding his father, and even threatened to blackball her."

Blake was disgusted at the man's behavior, but not surprised. She had heard, and experienced similar things. "So she found a new publisher?" Searching her brain for a moment, "Sang et d'Encre?"

"Sort of. Gomez loved her books even before meeting her. So, upon discovering her predicament, he bought it and gave it to her as a wedding gift."

"How romantic." She uncharacteristically sighed with joy.

"She thought so to, and she began to express her gratitude, right in front of the rest of us."

'Dear Oedon, those two… shit!' Jaune cut off his own reminiscing.

"Finally, I remember now." He snapped his fingers, finally recalling what he had forgotten before his nap.

"Remember what?"

"Would you mind keeping a secret?" Jaune asked, a bit nervous.

Crossing her arms, "Depends, will you keep my… status a secret?"

"Seems fair. Don't see the point, but okay. Just some friendly advice, it will get out eventually. Best to do it on your terms, rather than someone else's."

Continuing, "Anyway, I forgot to pray earlier. I always do so during a Hunt."

"That's it? You're religious? You're willing to keep my secret, just to hide the fact that you practice the predominant religion in Remnant?" Blake didn't understand his anxiety.

"Not quite." He replied with a dark chuckle. He pulled out his pendant from under his clothes, the Hunter rune clasping an ornate silver eye, with the iris and pupil of an unusual stone that shined in many shifting colors.

"That's… not a cross." She said, stating the obvious as she appreciated its beauty.

"No, it is not." Suddenly, she understood that their deal was indeed skewed, but not is the slant she had first thought. While if she was ousted as a Faunus, the worst that could happen would be ostracization and some mild discrimination… so nothing unexpected. For him, it was a different level. She had heard of other beliefs and doctrines, blindly labeled as pagan by the masses. They were deeply hidden, in contrast to Jaune's virtual openness by comparison.

"So do you trust me now?" She mutely nodded to answer him.

"Excellent. I want to do this before the redheaded duo wake up." He stood up and walked over to the river, only to kneel at the shore, facing the moon and its reflection in the relatively placid surface.

Bowing his head, staring right into the gem for a minute, thinking of what to say, he started his prayer in a soft voice, but full of conviction and reverence.

"Remain wary of the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young.

Were it not for fear, death would go unlamented.

Seek the old blood.

Let us pray, let us wish... to partake in communion.

Let us partake in communion... and feast upon the old blood.

Our thirst for blood satiates us, soothes our fears.

Seek the old blood.

But beware the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young.

The foul beasts will dangle nectar and lure the meek into the depths.

Remain wary of the frailty of men..."

A heavy silence filled the air when he finished. Jaune turned to Blake who had walked up behind him to satisfy her curiosity. He put away his pendant and rebuttoned his shirt. She looked at him with a hint of trepidation. Jaune, much more at ease after his prayer, asked in a calm voice, "What's wrong? Did I make you uncomfortable?"

Shaking her head, Blake said, "No, I've just… never heard of a prayer like that. What kind of god would you pray to like that?"

Perking up his head, Jaune said, "Goddess, actually. We can talk about it later, if you like."

Blake was interested, if only academically, but his earlier advice took precedence in her mind. She put it aside when she heard the sound of their replacements waking up and exiting their tent.

XXXX Pyrrha, a few minutes ago XXXX

Pyrrha, before going to sleep, had set an alarm on her scroll so that she could wake up in time for her shift. As usual, she woke up a few minutes before it, eliminating the need for it as she lamented her body's sleep cycle. 'Every time.'

Quietly shaking Ruby awake, she let out a silent yawn as she reached for the zipper, before she stopped as they heard, "-my secret, just to hide the fact that you practice the largest religion in Remnant?"

Pyrrah, at having heard only the ending of what was clearly a longer conversation, thought, 'Jaune's religious? He doesn't seem the type. Maybe I can ask him to go to the temple with me sometime?'

With no clearer of an understanding of the situation than her fellow eavesdropper, Ruby thought, 'Secret, what secret? Is Jaune telling her that he's devout? I found it strange that he didn't pray earlier. Maybe he didn't want to in front of so many people.'

"Not quite." He replied with a dark chuckle.

As the interaction outside the tent continued, the two inside were a bit stunned with the revelation. They turned to each other, and decided to communicate via text.

P: Did you know about that?

R: I knew he was religious, but not that it was… u know. U okay?

Pyrrah, touched with her friend's concern, smiled as she typed.

P: Yes. I don't begrudge others for different views, though I go to temple often enough. Let's pretend we didn't hear anything, make a bit noise in a minute, and pretend that we're just waking up. I don't want to make them uncomfortable now. Talk later.'

Ruby, a bit off put by being about to lie soon, nodded in agreement all the same.

Distracted by their non-verbal conversation, they missed the rest of the brief conversation as well as his prayer. After a minute passed, they shifted enough to make a bit of noise, and then opened their tent to switch watch duty.

Jaune, taking a deep breath through his nose, took notice of a shift in the air. 'Looks like our rest is over.'

"Wake the others. Right fucking now." He whispered in a voice that was just loud enough for them to hear, staring with a deep intensity into the trees.

Hearing the severity and urgency in his voice, the girls brooked no arguments and complied. In one minute, everyone was up and about, weapons drawn.

"You better have a good reason to wake all of us up." Weiss was the first to voice her opinion of being up ahead of schedule.

With a feral grin and a low voice carrying a hint of anticipation, "Indeed I do. I picked up the neat trick of being able to smell Grimm, and their rotten stench permeates the air. It would seem that we are partially surrounded." The vitriol in his voice took the other seven slightly aback.

"I've never heard of that trick before. Grimm don't have a scent."

"My dad taught me. I'll teach you all later, if you want." Jaune pulled out and lit his torch, illuminating the area, including the large dog-sized spider Grimm called Arachs silently creeping from the trees towards them, a myriad of red eyes now visible as their stealthy approach failed. "Now then…" Jaune stabbed Ludwig into the ground to use a prop to hold up the flare and illuminate the area; Jaune finished his question as he unsheathed Orion and Yharnam with a savage fervor. "Who's up for a bug hunt?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Unbeknownst to the heroes soon to engage in battle, at the Vale Astronomy Centre, an astronomer was studying the moon for research purposes. The man in question, Dr. Ivory Willem, Provost of the Institute, was writing a paper on the moon. For as long as history has been recorded or discovered, the moon shining above Remnant has fragmented and slowly dissipated at a constant rate. At least, that was the case until a little over two years ago.

For some reason currently unknown to the world, the rate of which the moon had been disappearing, and the fragments floating away from the larger 'whole' had slowed.

Reading over the printed sheets, Dr. Willem found that his eyes were indeed functioning well, even in his advanced age. The data read that the MDR, or moon decay rate, had at long last dropped to zero, and then continued to a microscopic negative.

Dr. Willem paused to stare up at the moon, beautiful and radiant even shattered as it was, and considered the full ramifications of this discovery.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

In an region far away from civilization, a woman dressed primarily in black, with a couple of red 'eye' patterns, staring at the grand cosmos above her felt rather than saw something stir. She sensed something familiar; something she had not felt since… Quickly focusing at the moon, she felt the faintest stirring of apprehension upon hearing the whispers of a prayer, before ruthlessly crushing the undesired emotion and feeling amusement instead.

"So, it seems you've found yourself a Hunter. Excellent! The game has gotten rather stale lately." Her voice was almost human, but it subtly echoed with something both greater and lesser.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter End

I really enjoyed writing Nora; just writing whatever came to mind and picturing her voice saying the lines.

If Coco can have a handbag / HUGE Gatling gun, then I can have a torch / musical instrument. If anything, mine is more reasonable.

Speaking of weapons, I didn't go through explaining everyone's weapons because I figured that most of you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't at least passingly familiar with them.

I replaced Lovecraft in this story with Noire, one of Jaune's sisters whom you'll meet eventually. I wanted to pay homage to him.

Bestiary:

Arachs

These Grimm take the form of large spiders. They do not have the normal growth cycle consistent with common forms of Grimm. Instead, they are all identical in size, comparable to larger canine breeds. They are primarily found in forests and caves.

Their exoskeletons provide minimal armor, but their thick facial masks are the thickest of any Grimm species, and use it to their advantage, using their agility to keep their prey in front of them.

Although weak individually, their most threatening characteristic is their numbers, and their ambush and swarm tactics. If you see a dozen, expect three dozen or more flanking you, and even a few more to crush you with a flying head-butt. Other common attacks at their disposal include leg swipes and stabs, as their legs have sharp points.

Presence in large numbers hint at something worse waiting in its parlor.