The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Seventy Four, Forever Fall Failure.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Sanus, Vale, Beacon Academy, Emerald Forest-
The sun shone down upon the red leafed woods, its gray bark soaking in the solar radiation as the camera zoomed closer to a nearby hilltop, where a few individuals were busy watching several students, mostly Team JNPR, collecting the hard to obtain sap from the tree trucks for a class assignment.
And these individuals? Team CRDL…and Jaune? Eh? Why is he there and not with his team?
'Painful.' the blonde thought while currently squeezed between Cardin and Russel's bodies, his face right between their right and left chests respectively. 'And mortifying…why did he have to learn? Why!?'
As he watched the team, that he tried to be friends with but felt he could never trust fully, collecting the sap for Professor Goodwitch, he groaned and stared at Cardin with a confused look on his face.
"Cardin, wh-what's going on?"
"Payback." he said with a grin as Jaune's eyes widened in realization.
"Pyrrha...?" the blonde muttered in quiet shock, looking at his partner as she placed some of the red sticky sap into a glass jar. "Wh-What are you-?"
POW!
Jaune flitched as the taller student pounded the ground with his left fist, his eyes filled with vengeful anger.
"That's the girl. Red-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. Alright, boys…" he said while pulling out a cardboard box with a large 'W' on the sides, the sounds of agitated buzzing echoing in the blonde's eardrums. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work."
'He can't…no! He can't!' Jaune thought before feeling his right shoulder getting tightly grabbed by Russel, making him laugh nervously to prevent anyone from sensing his apprehension.
"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets." Cardin said with a smirk, watching as Pyrrha finished placing her sap into her jar. "I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two."
The blonde J of Team JNPR gulped as he saw Team CRDL getting up, the bigger teen moving his left hand outwards as he was forced to accept it, which nearly tore his arm off its socket as a jar of red sap was shoved into his arms.
"And you're gonna do it."
"Do what?" Jaune asked with false confusion, knowing what Cardin's plan was and…hated it.
"Hit her with the sap!" he yelled before leaning in close to Jaune's face and whispered in his left ear. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."
And like that, time froze as Jaune stared at the bully in shock and horror, only to look down at the jar of sap in his hands and then the grinning expressions of Team CRDL, who waited for his next move.
Was this going to be his life? Being under the beck and call of others all because of his…false transcripts?
Taking aim at his own partner, oblivious to his intentions and smiling happily at her accomplishments, he…felt his resolve fail him every passing second, his desire to follow a bully's word becoming muddled by his own conscience.
Should he do it? Should he even attempt to hurt his partner…the only one that actually made an effort to train a loser like him, to be there for him in his darkest hour…to turn her kindness back on her with malicious intent?
Yet as he tried to steel himself for a confrontation with his oppressor, his neurons fired up and allowed his hand to release the jar of sap…right at Pyrrha.
'NO!" he thought as he tried to grab the jar, but was unable to catch it as the jar went flying towards the Invincible girl.
CRASH!
SHATTER!
"AH!"
"Pyrrha!?" Nora cried out as the red head screamed in pain, glass puncturing her eyes and face as she stumbled backwards.
Ren, taking notice of where the champion's next step would be, quickly tried to grab her, but it was too late, for she, in her frantic attempt to remove the glass from her eyes, tripped on an exposed curved tree root.
SNAP!
And fell right onto a thick tree branch, the impact breaking her neck along with her aura as she fell backwards on the grass laid ground….dead.
Regret and shock filled Jaune's heart as he could hear Nora screams, Ren's disbelieving gasp and…Team CRDL's initial shock and accompanying laughter, thinking that their little joke wasn't deadly or even serious.
Yet he knew…he knew the truth.
He had killed Pyrrha Nikos…his partner.
He had…killed her.
He killed her.
He killed her.
HE KILLED HER!
"Good shot Jaune." Cardin said while smacking the blonde's back with his right hand. "Right in the face. She's not so tough now."
Anger filled the boy's heart as he heard Cardin's laugh in his ears, his team following his example while the cardboard box violently twitched, seemingly agitated by the laughter as well.
"Now, let's get the Rapier Wasps ready." Cardin said with a chuckle as he moved his hands towards the box. "Once we're done with her, she won't be recognizable."
Jaune's breathing became erratic, his eyes now bloodshot as his aura flared up and his right hand moved towards his blade.
"Welp, time to finish the Operation Nikos Humiliation." Cardin said with a smirk as he grabbed the sides of the box.
SWISH!
SQUISH!
Only to notice that a blade, coated in thick white aura, had pierced his chest, aura shattering on impact as blood dripped from his lips.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Jaune cried out in maniacal rage as he quickly pulled the blade upwards, slicing Cardin's chest and head clean in half, exposing bone and gray matter as the body fell on the body, crushing the Rapier Wasps in the process.
"What the!?" Russel cried out in horror as Dove and Sky moved backwards, terrified that their leader was cut down so easily.
Jaune roared with fury as he sprinted towards the terrified bullies, his blood covered blade raised for the kill as he quickly opened his sheath into its shield form and quickly stabbed Dove's neck with its pointed end.
"G-G-" he gasped before his neck was fully severed by the shield, his head falling to the ground as Russel and Sky screamed and ran away in terror.
"Run away!"
"He's insane!" Sky cried out before getting stabbed in the knee by Jaune's blade, making him stumble to the ground before the blade stabbed into his skull, impaling his brain in the process.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the blonde berserker screamed as Ren and Nora ran towards him, intending to stop him before he killed even more people.
WOOOSH!
SQUISH!
"Ah!" Russel cried out as the shield sailed towards him and split him in half by the waist, sending his upper half falling to the ground before Jaune stomped on the skull with his left foot.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH-"
BAM!
"Sorry Jaune." Ren said while hitting Jaune's stomach with an aura fist, causing the maddened blonde's aura to shatter on contact as he fell on the ground, out cold from over expanding his finite adrenaline laced aura pool, as the screen became pitch black.
(Sometime later)
-Beacon Academy-
Clank.
Clank.
Darkness filled the empty hallways as Nora Valkyrie, currently in her pink lined white PJ top and shorts, walked down the halls towards her room, having recently used the bathroom to…relieve her bowels of its last contents, which took her several hours to do so.
And for good reason, given her…team leader just killed an entire team with only his weapons and aura, and…killed his partner by accident. Not only that, but he had to be taken out by Ren's aura laced fist, something that he would never do to a normal person or friend.
Yet, she understood that Jaune didn't mean to kill Pyrrha, only stun her…but killing Team CRDL wasn't an accident, it was cold blooded murder.
"I still can't believe that Fearless Leader did that." she muttered to herself while recalling Jaune's fate. "And now..the team is disbanded, permanently." 'I should've broken Cardin's face! I should've!'
Clank.
Clank.
Exuding a deep sigh, Nora moved closer to the hallway's end, intending to turn right as she felt like someone was following her.
'I can't stew in the past…no matter how much I feel bad for him. I mean being yelled at by Professor Goodwitch and then having an entire day to pack before getting hauled to the slammer, right after Pyrrha's death? That…unnecessary evil, yet not without reason.' she thought to herself while not seeing a shadowy frying pan looming right over her head, coated in a white aura. 'Maybe I can visit him in jail? I mean he's still Jaune, and he would never hurt u-'
CLANG!
And like that, everything went black.
(Later)
-Basement, Generator Room-
"Ugh..." Nora groaned while slowly opening her eyes, the faint pale green light illuminating the emerald green walls, the sound of a generator ringing in her ears. "Wh...at?"
As she started to regain her bearings, he noticed that her arms were welded to the side of a massive dark blue generator by several metal bars, several thin tubes sticking in her mouth by several layers of duct tape as she noticed a figure right near her face.
"Sorry Nora." Jaune said while holding the other end of the tubes in his left hand, a sad smile plastered on his face while he moved towards a small chair on the left of the generator. "I couldn't think of anything else that didn't involve you."
"Fearless leader? What the? What's going on!?" she yelled while Jaune sat on the chair, a large water tank on his right side.
"It's a release." He said while moving the tubes towards a small nozzle at the far bottom before turning the made shift handle, one composed of a dorm room doorknob welded into place with copper lining, and released a dark brown substance into the tubes. "One from a world without Pyrrha. I made a mistake, but I will not make another one. And it's all thanks to you."
"What are…wait." Nora said while sniffing the air. "Is that…coffee?"
"Yes, it's coffee. An entire swimming pool's worth of the stuff." he said while sighing a little. "Took it from the kitchen when no one was looking and brewed it for this task."
"What task!? And please let me go!" she yelled as the coffee moved closer and closer to her mouth, the generator still producing energy in the background.
"I can't. If I do then my plan is for not." Jaune said while shaking his head and pointed to her. "And that plan, Nora, is to have you drink the coffee, see how it affects your semblance and see how the generator, which I placed at maximum power and lined with Electric Dust, increases that power to its true potential."
"WHAT!?" she yelled as the coffee moved even closer to her face. "That's crazy! If I drink all that coffee and my semblance absorbs the electricity, then-"
"Boom." Jaune said with a sad chuckle. "I know. It was the plan after all, to have you explode and take me out as well. I don't want to go to jail, Nora, but I don't want to live in a world where my partner…died from my own stupidity."
"Jaune! This is madness!"
"Yet if you were in my shoes, you would do the same thing." he said while his right hand became coated in white aura and placed it on the tubes. "And don't worry, with my semblance, I can make the effects even longer and more potent. Meaning you don't have to 'fill' the room with 'love handles', you just have to drink up and pray to the gods for a quick release."
Nora's eyes dilated inwards as the coffee was now mere inches from her lips, her attempts at keeping her mouth shut failing due to the burning heat the liquid was enacting on her sensitive skin. 'H-He's crazy! HE'S CRAZY!'
Jaune sighed while taking out his Scroll, turned on some calming music, and placed it on his lap as he closed his eyes. "You know Nora, if Pyrrha was still alive, she would've been training me by now, maybe even hearing my apologies for being an ass. But…I lost that chance the moment I threw the jar at her, and now…I pray that she forgives me for what I'm going to do."
Burning heat seared the girl's lips as she felt her willpower slipping away from the pain, the sounds of violins ringing in her ears along with the constant spilling of the generator.
As the boy began to picture his reunion with Pyrrha, he thought back to the balcony, where he hurt her…made her internally cry.
'Never again.' he thought as Nora's screams were muffled by the forced slurping of hot coffee. 'Never again.'
ZAP!
ZAP!
ZAP!
Pink aura formed over the girl's body, the aura laced liquid increasing the caffeine's addictive and energy laced properties, as thick lines formed all over her body, static forming around her eyes and mouth with every passing second.
'I'll see you in three.'
ZAP!
ZAP!
'Two.'
'AAAAAAHHHHH!' Nora mentally screamed as she felt her semblance overloading with power, her body unable to contain the excessive power of her trademark emblem any longer. 'REEEEENNNNN!'
'One.'
ZAP!
'Pyrrha…see you later.'
ZAP!
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!
And just like that, in a flash of pink light, everything was consumed as the screen flickered and turned to static.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Jaune Arc (Forever Fall Failure Jaune Arc- FFFJARWBY)
Age: 17
Affiliation: Normal Evil.
Dimension: - 0020002- 02 FFFJARWBY
Abilities: Enhanced strength, durability, speed and stamina, limited hand to hand combat skills, leadership skills, high aura pool, shield handling and knowledge, swordsmanship skills and knowledge, high adaptability, weapon enhancement (via semblance), heightened insanity (due to grief and anger).
Semblance(s): Aura Amp.
Bio: In this timeline, during the events of Forever Fall, Jaune Arc was forced by Team CRDL to throw a jar full of Rapier Wasp honey at his own partner, Pyrrha Nikos, under the threat of blackmail. Yet, unlike canon, Jaune was unable to stop himself from throwing the jaw itself and, in a split second, caused Pyrrha to trip on an exposed tree root and…break her neck on a tree branch during the fall, killing her instantly. His world shattered and the one person who believes in him, despite his outbursts, was killed by his own hands, he lost his mind upon hearing Team CRDL's mocking jeers and taunts, and in a blind rage killed the bigger and stronger students using his weapons, which were infused with his semblance to make then harder than diamond. However, as a result of this needless bloodbath, he was apprehended by his team and dragged to Glynda Goodwitchs' office, where she expelled him from Beacon Acadamy for murder, but allowed him a single day to pack before he was carted off to a Valeian jail cell to await sentencing from the Valeian Courts. Unwilling to live any longer and wanting to enter the Afterverse in a 'flashy' show of 'affection' to his partner, he kidnapped Nora Valkyrie and pinned her to one of Beacon Academy's Dust generators, allowing her semblance to work overtime through a mixture of electricity produced from the generator and thousands of cups of coffee. Supercharged to the breaking point, Nora was unable to stop herself from creating a massive explosion, with herself as the bomb, as Beacon Acadamy was destroyed along with half of the Emerald Forest, killing hundreds and sending the Grimm into a frenzy. Yet for Jaune, he was happy for this death, as he will see his partner again, one last time before the end. A moment of redemption or a moment of madness…who's to say? But in the end, he made a name for himself at the cost of everyone around him.