A/N:
Welcome to the second chapter of The Darkness Inside! First off, thank you to everyone who took the time to write a review! Speaking of, a reviewer asked a great question, that I'm going to answer here: Will Jaune have Aura?
That would be a no. The reasoning behind that is pretty simple: He already has a power of his own that shields him when used, which is pretty much the entire use of Aura. As for his Semblance, it just wouldn't work with this Jaune. Why, you ask? Well, Jaune's Semblance is healing through infusing Aura, right? That's fine when your Aura is pretty much, on a fundamental level, the same as every other Aura. But what happens when you infuse your Aura into someone when you're corrupted with Darkness? I'm going to go out on a limb and say probably nothing good.
So, there's the reasoning behind Jaune not having Aura.
Also, a few people seem to be upset that I used Jaune instead of an OC… I can understand him being overused, but please consider: This is not, and will never be, the same Jaune as canon. He's been a Guardian for three years, gone through things that even Ozpin couldn't imagine (yeah sure, the Grimm Witch is scary, but then there's Oryx…), so there's simply no way he'd ever be the same fool as in the actual RWBY show. Really and truly, he's more of an OC with Jaune's name. So don't worry about this simply being another 'hero Jaune' story, he's definitely not going the valiant hero route… at least not willingly, anyway.
Also, I changed some of the organization of the story, makes it a bit easier to read. Anyway, on to the Disclaimer, the best part of this story!
Magical Disclaimer Shield: AWDTB owns nothing, he is currently living in the writer's equivalent of under a bridge. However, RoosterTeeth owns this show called RWBY, and Bungie and Activision have thought up this great game called Destiny, you should go check those out!
And now that my anti-lawsuit shield is up, onto the story!
{KUO KUANA; WEST CITY WALL}
{DURING GRIMM INCURSION}
I held down the trigger once more, several rounds piercing through one of the black birds that dove at me. I vaulted over a street cart, hearing a vague cry of something about cabbages, and aimed down my sights at the next bird.
These shots came out slower than the ones before, but each one did more damage, the armor-piercing rounds punching holes through the bird's mask as its corpse faceplanted in the street. I finished making my way over to the ramparts, quickly scaling the ladder up to the top.
"Howdy stranger, mighty kind of you to lend a hand!"
I looked to my left, seeing a strangely-dressed man holding what appeared to be a lever-action rifle attached to the back of a sword. He wore some strange leather outfit with a wide-brimmed hat of the same material, and had a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth that he was chewing on. He also had a horse tail swishing behind him.
"Uh, yeah, no problem. What's up with these things?" I asked, pointing to the flock of Darkness birds.
"Them there are Nevermore, 'bought the only thing that gives us problems up on this wall. Them suckers are fast and can shoot razor-sharp feathers, not to mention they can fly."
"That's-" I cut myself off as I ducked under one of the afore-mentioned feathers, shooting one of the birds who got too close with the Invective as I did, "annoying, I suppose."
He laughed, holding out a hand. "You said it! The name's Joe Amarillo, partner."
"Jaune Arc." Another few shots from Her Memory put down another bird, and I shook his hand. "Are these things always this easy to kill, or are these just weak ones?"
"Well, these are juveniles, they're smaller and weaker than their adult versions. And then there's the Giant ones… but yeah, these are pretty easy to put down, they just come in large numbers and do their best to ruin your day."
"Got it. Do these attacks happen often?"
"Every now and again, we don't have a lot of turrets set up on our wall like the Four Kingdoms do, so we make do with militia and volunteers. Every once in a while we'll get enough to hire a team of Huntsmen-in-training, but we try and save that for the bigger incursions, y'know?"
I nodded, satisfied with the information I had gotten, and we went back to shooting down Nevermore. After a few more minutes of this, we had cleared them all out, and so I said my goodbyes, exchanged scroll numbers with Joe, and wandered off, hoping to find something else to tide me over for a while. All in all, the fight with the Grimm was really disappointing, it was like shooting flying Legionaries, nothing really challenging or interesting.
Of course, part of me, the part that I really didn't want to acknowledge the existence of, was simply upset that I hadn't gotten an excuse to channel the Darkness again, but I ruthlessly smothered that thought and kept walking, resolving to find myself an ammunition store.
{KUO KUANA; FROM DUST TILL DAWN}
{TWO HOURS LATER}
After a long time spent searching and asking for directions, I finally found the nearest 'Dust' store. Apparently that was capital-D Dust, some kind of magical crystal powder that acted as both ammunition and power source. I mentally equated it to some kind of crystallized Light and moved on from those questions about how it worked or how it even appeared in nature in the first place.
Now, I stood in front of the doors of the store, Her Memory slung on my back and one of its magazines in my hand. I was down to only three of these now, counting the one in my hand, after I had used most of my ammo on the Grimm. In hindsight, kind of a bad idea, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time.
I shook myself out of my thoughts, opening the door to the store and walking in. Inside, there were wall-to-ceiling shelves stocked with some kind of multi-colored crystals and powders, most likely this 'Dust', as well as boxes of ammunition with different effects. I looked over to the front counter, finding three Faunus with masks talking to the shopkeeper, an elderly man with… walrus teeth? Huh.
I steeled myself, having recognized the masks as the same one that the lizard-woman wore, and walked closer, just enough to hear their conversation.
"You have my thanks for helping protect our town from Grimm during the attack but… why are you here?"
"Well, we came here for some ammo for our weapons, and since all our ammo was wasted defending you, we were hoping you could give us some. You know, for free."
I rolled my eyes, barely stopping myself from calling them out. I hadn't seen a single person wearing a mask at the wall, and these guys were attempting to steal credit already? Wow…
"Well, I would love to help you, but… business here has been scarce, especially since all of our Huntsmen candidates are all going to Academies in the Four Kingdoms now. There's simply not anyone here who needs Dust in large enough quantities for me to make enough money anymore…"
"Yeah, that's great old man, but are you saying you'd deny heroes the Dust they need to protect you? Because that's what it sounds like."
"N-No, that's not at all-"
I stepped in at that point, fed up with their attitudes. "Oh shut up you three. I was there on the wall, fighting off the Grimm, and I didn't see a single person from your little White Fang group there. Do you even know what kind of Grimm we fought?"
"Yeah, obviously. There were Alpha Beowolves and Ursa Majors, I even killed a Deathstalker myself!"
I shook my head, face in my palm. "There were about two dozen juvenile Nevermore, not a single other kind of Grimm. And they definitely weren't anything that took a lot to kill, we took them all out in a few minutes with no casualties, only a few injuries here and there. So why don't you three just run along and roleplay as heroes somewhere else?"
I turned away from them, about to talk to the shopkeeper, only to feel something rake down my side, cutting into me. I fell to the floor, hand grasping my side in pain, my bag slipping off my shoulder and falling to the ground.
"Ha, not so tough now, are you human? You don't even have your Aura unlocked, there's no way you could stand against us, the White Fa-"
I cut him off with a shot from the Invective, kicking him in the stomach before turning to his friends who were staring at the gun in my hands. "I don't give a shit who you are, I don't care who you work for, but know this: try that again, and I'll keep shooting till I get through your Aura. And trust me, you'll run out of Aura long before I run out of ammo. Now scram!"
The two of them dragged their buddy out, who was still yelling threats at me. Once they were gone, I allowed myself to sink to the ground, gritting my teeth in pain. Why the hell did I turn my back on them?! That was a rookie mistake, I stopped doing those once I got shot in the back by a Cabal I thought I killed, so why the hell did I do that again?! And… why was I so angry? I mean sure, I was pretty pissed that he did such a cowardly thing, but I took that far more personally than I would have before… well, before I came here, I suppose. Come to think of it, I've been far more irritable lately, and I can't put all the blame on the Darkness in me. I want to, but I can tell when the Darkness is influencing me, and it definitely wasn't right then.
The old shopkeeper ran over to me, checking me over. "Are you okay?!"
I slowly stood, feeling the Darkness activate against my will and begin to heal me. It would've been nice to know that it would do that, if, you know, it wasn't the Darkness doing it. I really needed to figure out just what the heck was going on with that… I shook myself out of my thoughts as I turned to the shopkeeper, "I'll live, bastard got a lucky shot is all."
He seemed to calm a bit as he saw my side knit itself back together. "Thank you for helping me young man. I am in your debt."
"Ah, there's really no reason for that sir, I was just doing what anyone would do…"
"Nonsense. The White Fang has been getting bolder lately, some of their recruits becoming cocky and thinking they can do whatever they want, since they're 'protecting the Faunus'. What a load of crap, but there's not much that normal people can do, since even the lowest grunts get training in hand-to-hand and armed combat. So again, thank you. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
I thought for a second, wincing a bit at the pain in my side. I really didn't want him to feel he was in my debt, but at the same time I was also completely on my own and unable to really do much at the moment. "Is there any way I could get some custom rounds made? I'm running low for my auto rifle."
He rubbed his chin (barely avoiding his tusks) for a moment, thoughtful, before replying. "I'd have to take a look at your rounds first, but I'll see what I can do for you. The first batch will be free, seeing as how you saved me money in damages and the Dust they would've taken, but after that I'm afraid I'll have to charge you."
"That's fine, I'd pay for the first batch as well if you weren't so insistent on repaying me." I handed him one of my magazines, mentally cringing as I noted I was practically out of ammo now, "I'll be seeing you around. Here's a magazine, it has thirty-six rounds in it. That should be enough for you to study."
"That should be plenty. It may take a few days before I can provide a steady supply, is that fine?"
"That'll be just fine, I'm not planning on getting involved in any gunfights in the next few days." Well, not planning on it, but tonight I do have to check out the White Fang… wow, I haven't even been in this city for a full day yet, have I?
"That's good, I'd hate to lose my only paying customer!" he joked, chuckling. After a quick exchange of scroll numbers, in order for him to call me whenever he had any ammunition for me, I left.
Looking around outside, I noticed it was starting to grow dark. The time on my scroll read 18:34, so I shrugged and decided to head over to the White Fang outpost a bit earlier than I had planned. Not like it would make any difference anyways.
{KUO KUANA; WHITE FANG EMBASSY BUILDING}
{FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER}
I looked up at the building in front of me, a two-story cement brick structure that looked like it could probably take a shot from the Gjallahorn and stay standing. Someone definitely had experience building bunkers here. I mean, it was no RAS-2, the Warmind's bunker survived the Collapse and several other attacks after all, but it was definitely the strongest building I had seen so far here.
At the moment, I was simply standing around in my civilian clothing, an oversized bag on my back, the very picture of a tourist. The looks I received from the people around me ranged from curious to suspicious to hateful, but no one confronted me, and I moved on after a few moments of glancing over the White Fang's base.
I took a few turns as I walked, before eventually slipping into an alley. I put my backpack on the ground, leaning against the wall as I thought about what I had just seen. No windows of any kind on the first floor, second floor windows too thin to fit through even without armor, doors looked too sturdy to simply knock down, walls definitely too thick to get through without channeling the Darkness, no other visible entrances, no large bushes or structures to hide behind… they really had thought of everything, huh?
I sighed in frustration, leaning my head back against the wall and closing my eyes. Of course I just had to go and promise to help out, huh? Never could turn down a 'quest' I suppose… but this was more of a Hunter thing…
Slowly opening my eyes, I looked down at the scroll that the mayor had given me, deciding to spend some time searching the Grimm. I would much rather get a job killing them than spying on terrorists… less danger that way too.
Finally night fell, and I found myself perched on a roof across from the embassy building, using my scroll's camera zoom in order to look through the windows. It was a bit harder than I thought it would be, true, but I didn't exactly have the money to buy any good binoculars (if they even had them in this place, after all Faunus have incredibly good vision… lucky), so this was my only choice.
"Stealth really isn't my thing."
"I'd say, you've been here for- woah!"
I stopped my fist right before punching the person in front of me, silently willing the Darkness inside me back down. It had swelled up in time with my surprise, and I had almost given into it on reflex… that would've been… bad.
"Jade?! What are you doing here?" I hissed quietly, glancing around quickly to make sure no one else had snuck up on me. That was twice now with this shit!
"Apparently almost getting punched in the face," she snarked, before smirking, "But originally I was spying on that building there, then I saw you and decided to stop by."
Spying? A clothes store clerk, spying?
My skeptic look must have been obvious, because she glared. "Hey, just because I have a day job doesn't mean I can't have a hobby." She crossed her arms, pouting.
I sighed, shaking my head to clear it. "And just why are you indulging in your hobby here, next to me?"
She giggled, and as she opened her mouth I cut her off, realizing what I had said could be taken differently than how I meant. "Spying, why are you spying on this building in particular?"
She pouted again. I had spent enough time trying on clothes and listening to her to realize she had a slightly (read: very) dirty mind, and as much as I appreciated the ego boost, I had no desire to discover if the Darkness had infected more than just my blood… and derailing that train of thought right now.
"Fine, you're no fun. I came here to check on my sister, okay?"
"You have a sister? Nevermind, more importantly, why are you checking on her?"
She sighed, grasping her upper arm with her left hand and looking down to the side. "It's just… she joined the Fang a while back, said she wanted to make a difference, but then they went… violent. And now, whenever… if she comes home, she always has this look in her eyes, like she's starting to lose hope, you know? And I came here to see if I could convince her to, well, give it all up and just come home. Our mother's worried sick about her…"
I kept my eyes on her face as she talked, looking for any signs of deceit. Hey, I had been attacked at least three times in a single day here by Faunus, so I felt I was allowed a bit of suspicion. Luckily I didn't find any, but then again I wasn't exactly an expert at this… after all, there's no real reason to get a read on something you're currently pumping lead into.
"I'm sorry to hear that…"
She choked out a laugh, her sadness giving way to amusement. "You know, for a human, you're not that bad Jaune…"
I shrugged, not sure how to take that, "Thanks, I think. I try."
She fell into giggles once more, before giving me a look. "So, Mr. Spy, what're you doing here?"
"Well, it all started when I entered the city and stopped an attempted rape, then I was thrown in jail…"
{ONE LONG STORY LATER}
Jade finally drew in enough air to breathe after almost a full minute spent laughing. "Oh my Dust, your life is so much more eventful than mine! You were attacked twice today, not to mention the Grimm attack, and you're still standing? And I thought I was strong!"
"Yeah, so that's basically it, up until I almost punched you at least." Obviously I had decided not to mention being attacked in the forest, as then I would have to explain just how I mysteriously appeared in said forest in the first place, or even on this continent. I had looked up Menagerie on my scroll, and found out it was an island, so I was pretty much stuck here until I gathered money for a boat.
"So, you don't have anywhere to live, or even anything to use to spy on the embassy, huh?" I simply nodded, I had already covered all of that in my story, "Alright then! You're staying with me for now!"
I'm fairly certain my complete and utter shock was written on my face, because she just laughed and grabbed my bag, easily lifting it and throwing it onto her back. "Come on!"
And I was left sitting there for a moment, before I realized she had just taken my gear and ran off, the only things I had from my old world and the only weapons I had here besides the Darkness. "Wait, get back here!"
I chased after her, trying my best to keep up with her annoying parkour skills. Just how the hell can she jump around like an experienced Hunter?! I really need to research this world's fighting styles…
{KUO KUANA; FELU RESIDENCE}
{FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER}
I finally caught up to Jade at her home, having run almost fifteen minutes at a full sprint. Not the worst run I had ever done, but definitely tiring. She simply smirked at me, showing no sign of exertion from her own session of parkour on the rooftops, and opened the door, walking inside and dropping my pack on the floor. I winced as I heard the contents impact the floor, rattling together with an obvious sound of metal-on-metal.
Jade raised an eyebrow, opening the backpack as I gave up resisting and walked inside. I reached her just as she pulled out my helmet, inspecting it with a critical eye. "I've never seen armor of such amazing craftmanship before… but you obviously haven't fixed it up lately, look at all these dents and chips in the paint. And this," she said, pulling out the Armamentarium, "you have a lot of pouches for ammunition here, but they're all empty except for these grenades…"
She trailed off as she removed one of the grenades, giving her a perfect view of one of the holes in the armor. It had come from a fight with a Thrall before I faced Oryx, the little shit having sunk its claws into my heart even as I blew its head off with the Invective, leaving a fair-sized slash mark that Ghost hadn't had time to patch up before Oryx attacked. There were several more similar marks littering the armor, the helmet having received the least punishment with only a few large dents.
Jade looked up to me, as if evaluating me, and suddenly, before I could blink, she was standing in front of me, having lifted my shirt up to reveal my torso… and the scars littering it. Revival didn't 'restore' you so much as it 'healed' you, meaning that lost limbs would be fixed, but if you lost an eye you were pretty much out of luck unless your entire body was practically mush, in which case Ghost would have to construct a new one. It took a lot of Light though, so it wasn't done very often.
"These look…" she swallowed audibly, why I didn't know but I definitely heard it, "… lethal. Just how 'interesting' was your life… and how are you still living it?"
I wrenched myself away from her, my shirt falling back down to cover me. "Very, and with a lot of luck and a little skill."
She gave me a pitying look, which caused my annoyance to flare once more. I didn't feel like reliving everything I had ever gone through, but here was this pushy teenager dragging my bad memories kicking and screaming into the light. "Look, can we just not talk about this right now? It's over, it has no impact on the present."
I broke eye contact with her, snatching up my helmet and walking over to the couch, laying down with the helmet held above my chest. I looked at it with a critical eye, remembering everything from the day I received it to now, and felt a tear escape my eye. So many deaths, so many Guardians lost permanently, the destruction of attempted colonies and old cities alike were seen by these dark eye sockets…
Sighing, I lowered the helmet, placing it next to me on the ground. "Are you just going to stand there, or do you have a question for me?"
In my peripheral vision I saw Jade twitch slightly in surprise, obviously not having expected me to notice her. "I just… Look, I'm sorry for whatever memories I made you relive, but… it's not healthy to keep them bottled in like that. That's what Dad did, before… well. Just, I'm here if you ever need to talk, okay?"
I bit back my first response, that being a simple 'fuck off', and forced myself to think about it. She seemed genuinely worried, not simply pitying, and she had mentioned a father who, judging by her tone, had kept his own emotions bottled up, and was most likely dead now. Knowing this, it seemed more likely she simply didn't want the same to happen to me… not that she really understood, but I could understand her position more now. "… Got it. Thanks."
I gave her a weak smile, enough to reassure her a little, and she left the room. I turned back to stare at the ceiling, now pondering just why she was so friendly and trusting. Sure, we had spent about an hour together that day, and we had talked about a lot, but it was mostly just small talk. Exchanging numbers wasn't really all that uncommon here it seemed, so that wasn't really an act of trust or real friendship. But, the fact that she came up to me tonight, actively sought me out while she had her own objective, made me think that she wanted something. What that might be I didn't know, it could be anything from friendship to a personal guardian, or even a servant, but she definitely didn't search me out on a whim… and suddenly I remember exactly who I'm thinking about.
Of course she sought me out on a whim, even spending a single hour with her was enough to tell she was extremely outgoing and friendly. She had likely just saw me, and thought she would catch up with her friend, figure out what I was up to… but then why tell me so much about herself? Even the most easygoing Guardians didn't give away much about themselves unless you were on extremely good terms… She mentioned a sister in the White Fang who she wanted to help, maybe she wanted me to help her with that? But how the heck was I, a human, supposed to convince a human-hating terrorist to give up her ways?
I groaned, closing my eyes and deciding to think over this in the morning. It was almost midnight now, and after everything that had happened today, I just wanted to rest.
{THE NEXT MORNING}
Of course, the next morning wasn't any better.
"Jade! Why did you make your boyfriend sleep on the couch?! Where are your manners young woman!"
I opened my eyes to find an older woman leaning over to look at me, a bemused look on her face. She had a tiger tail instead of ears as her apparent daughter, with deep blue hair that somehow didn't clash with her orange tail. She wore a simple white dress with a large gauntlet on her left arm, covering the entire arm in plate armor. Sheathed on her waist was a straight sword, which was strange compared to the usually curved swords I had been seeing while in this city. Her eyes were mismatched, one being green while the other was a strange gold color, both filled with mirth at the moment.
I was distracted from my observations (and slight discomfort) by Jade falling down the stairs, letting out a pained moan once she reached the bottom. "Mom… He's not my boyfriend…"
I barely stopped the laughter that tried to escape me when I saw how she looked. She had apparently been fixing her hair, as she still had a comb stuck in one of the knots on top, and it looked as if she had just awoken, as her eyes were still half-closed and it seemed to take all of her effort to keep them open. Obviously, my newest friend was not a morning person.
"That's nice dear, but why was he sleeping on the couch without even a blanket?"
Huh. Her mother was… different than what I expected. Sure, it wasn't like I had met a lot of mothers in my three years as a Guardian (it was very rare that a pregnant Guardian stayed alive very long, and even once they were revived the baby was lost), but from what I could remember of my old life, my mother would've been alternating between chewing one of my sisters out for bringing a boy home and glaring at said boy in suspicion.
"Hey, that wasn't my fault! He just decided to sleep there, and I wasn't going to bother him!"
Her mother seemed to smirk, before saying something that almost caused me to fall off the couch. "Was this before or after you two made me grandbabies?"
I was struck speechless, mouth wide open, and it seemed that Jade was not much better. "Mom!"
The older woman's laughter echoed through the house as she clutched her sides, eventually calming down enough to speak. "Oh my Dust you two are adorable! Ah, that was exactly what I needed after this week…"
I managed to recover just enough to speak. "Uh… Mrs. Felu, Jade and I really aren't-"
She cut me off, chuckling. "Of course you two aren't, Jade would've been gushing about you earlier if you were. I was just teasing you two. But I must ask, Jade, where did you find this one?"
"He came to the store I work at looking for clothes, still dressed in his ridiculously heavy armor, so I helped him out."
"Oh, you were helping him out of his clothes when you two first met? My chances for grandbabies are getting higher and higher with this one…" Well, I can see where Jade got it from… I must've really pissed someone off in my last life to- oh right, Oryx.
"Mom! Stop it, you're embarrassing me!"
"Fine, fine. You mentioned armor? Are you a huntsman-in-training, young man?"
I shrugged, "Something like that. More of a freelancer at the moment."
She nodded, seeming a bit uncomfortable, but I equated that to either discomfort around humans or seeing a strange boy in her house. Or both, really. "Have you ever thought of applying to one of the combat academies? They'll be having their entrance exams in a few months, and you seem to be the right age for it."
"Not really, after all I've been a bit busy lately with everything that's been happening. I may do that though, it sounds like it may help." Help with what, I don't know, but the term 'combat academy' implies I'll be able to find some kind of career that will fit my skillset, at least for a little while until I can get established here and actually do some freelancer work. According to my research, there were Grimm everywhere, I'm sure I could find plenty of work killing them.
"You should, maybe you'll even go to the same academy as my Jade here. I'm sure she'd absolutely love that."
"Mom!"
This woman seems extremely… catty, for lack of a better term, she really seemed to enjoy playing around with words and people alike… "That may be a possibility, ma'am."
"No need for that 'ma'am' stuff, just call me Sapphire. Judging from your looks, your words and the helmet I can see there, I'd say you're from Atlas, probably raised by a military family, perhaps?"
Oh shit. Uh… let's see, Atlas, military kingdom, very few outside settlements due to the cold weather and risk of Grimm, lots of soldiers and Huntsmen in their army, generally bad opinion on Faunus… "Uh, yeah… My mom and dad moved outside the Kingdom, couldn't stand the racism against Faunus, even the ones in the military. They were killed a little while back by Grimm during a snowstorm, couldn't see well enough to shoot them I guess. Been traveling ever since, took their weapons and Dad's armor with me. Arrived in Kuo Kuana yesterday."
Well, that'll do as a backstory in case anyone asks I guess, hopefully. I didn't really like lying to them, but what the hell was I supposed to say? 'Oh yeah, I was fighting the physical embodiment of evil since he hated me after I killed his son, and then I was teleported here by him after I used some kind of evil eldritch energy instead of the pure holy energy I had before, and now I'm stuck with that? Oh and I was also immortal until now.' Yeah, I'm sure that'd go over extremely well…
I was drawn out of my thoughts by the sound of sniffling, and Sapphire surprised me by practically choking me with a sudden hug. Her words came out in between sobs, "That's… so sad… you poor boy…"
I shot Jade a look, and she returned it with a sheepish shrug that I translated to 'Sorry bud, you're on your own'. Great.
{KUO KUANA; WHITE FANG EMBASSY}
{ONE HOUR LATER}
Luckily for my sanity (and my poor ribs), Sapphire calmed down pretty quickly. That woman goes through so many mood swings I could barely keep up. After a quick breakfast (which was actually surprisingly good), Jade and I went our separate ways, me to spy on the Fang and her to her job.
At the present, I found myself in the lobby of the embassy, talking to the woman at the counter. I had enough time to think over it, and had decided to simply see how much I could learn from simply asking. Of course, I had forgotten to take into account one simple fact…
"The White Fang doesn't associate with your kind!"
Yeah, that.
"Look, ma'am, I was told that your mission statement was to foster cooperation between humans and Faunus. Was I misinformed?"
"I don't think you understand, sir. The White Fang was created for equality between humans and Faunus! Look around you, do you see a lot of equality right now?!"
I tried to stop my next words, I really did, but the hypocrisy needed to be called out. "No, right now I see a Faunus discriminating against a human based on race, the very thing the White Fang was created to stop. But of course, equality only goes one way in your point of view."
Her next words were delivered with remarkable restraint, especially for someone who had just had their hypocritical views challenged. "Get out before I call security on you."
I nodded respectfully, before turning around and walking out the door. I got about halfway across the street before it hit me just what I had done. Great, now I had to watch my back for any Fang looking for me… And all because I just had to make some stupid comment. Must be the Titan inside me coming back out…
Sighing, I decided to call the mayor. The scroll rang a few times, before he answered.
"Jaune, my boy! Have you found anything yet?"
"Unfortunately, nothing great. First off, a lot of the new recruits seem to be on a power trip, I had to stop some of them from attacking a Dust shop owner yesterday. They also seem to be stealing credit, as I was on the wall helping repel the Grimm attack and didn't see a single Faunus wearing a mask or uniform, yet the recruits were spreading lies that they had been there and fought off the Grimm almost single-handedly. Also, I just finished talking with the receptionist inside the embassy, and… it would seem that the White Fang is most definitely no longer a human-friendly organization, if the 'friendly' receptionist they chose was the best option available."
"That's… not good at all." I could hear the worry in his voice, and hoped my next words would help some.
"No, but I did find out some good news. I talked with a friend I made yesterday, she said her sister in the White Fang seemed to be having second thoughts about what they were doing. Of course, that makes me pretty sure that what the Fang are doing is bad if it's enough to make older members think about leaving, but it does mean that some members are sincerely thinking of leaving, meaning that not everyone in the organization is a die-hard, human-hating zealot like most people think."
"That's good. Have you… found out anything about my daughter?"
I winced, the sheer concern in his voice making me feel a bit guilty that I couldn't help much. "Unfortunately no, I haven't been able to do much on that front. As a human, I can't infiltrate the Fang, and their embassy building is more like a bunker than an embassy. There's no real way I can get inside to look at anything, especially since I'm not really built for stealth, and to break down the walls would require using my Semblance, which isn't the most… user-friendly."
I had simply decided to call the Darkness my Semblance, after all that's what the lizard woman called it, and that way I could simply refer to it as powerful but dangerous to the user. Easier than calling it an evil eldritch energy corrupting my soul, I suppose…
"I'll see if I can find a stealth expert to place some listening devices inside the building. Thank you for what you've done so far, and the small amount of hope you've given me. I hate asking more of you, but I've heard rumors of a supposed White Fang operation tonight. Could you look into it for me?"
"Of course."
Thinking back on it, I probably should've said no.
A/N:
So, continuing the tradition from last chapter, here's some explanations:
1)Juvenile Grimm
So, this is mostly just me trying to explain away a few plotholes from RWBY. Such as, 'if giant and extremely old Grimm can be killed as easily as in Initiation, then how the heck are they such a problem?' Basically, I've created four 'tiers': 1) Juvenile, for the extremely young and stupid Grimm (fodder, basically), 2) Adult/Alpha Grimm (smarter but still weak, able to form basic strategies such as ambushing enemies) (Alphas are just a slightly stronger version, between Adult and Giant), 3) Giant Grimm (abnormally large Grimm, excessively strong but only about the intelligence of an Adult), and 4) Ancient Grimm (extremely strong and sturdy, able to trick even experienced Hunters if given the chance). So yeah, if anyone was wondering what the difference was, that's it.
2)The White Fang being idiotic pricks
This is actually not true at all… mostly. All the Fang that have acted like idiots have been newer recruits, those who think that just because they joined a club that they have special privileges (think of it as you're playing an RPG, made a clan or guild from scratch, and some cocky little shit joins and starts bullying other players, giving you a bad rep. It's kinda like that). As you saw last chapter with the lizard-girl, there are plenty of Fang who are actually skilled, and those will be a problem for Jaune. (Also, while not all the Fang are idiotic pricks, like 97% of them hate humans cause, ya know, it's an anti-human terrorist group).
3)Jade
So, basically she's there to help Jaune get back on his feet. Right now, pretty much the only thing keeping him from straight up breaking down is the chain of events happening to him. I'm sure you've noticed him mention his old world or that he hates the Darkness about a dozen times already. That's not him being angsty (well, it is, a little), that's him pausing long enough to realize he's got nothing and start breaking down, before yet another thing drags him out of his thoughts. So, in comes Jade! She'll be important in Menagerie, but pretty much nothing else, so don't start liking her too much. Also, fun fact, Jade and her sister Amber's name come from the names of my two cats… for some reason they just kinda fit the characters.
Also, a character bio in case you guys wanted to know.
Name: Jade Felu
Alias: The Jade Demon
Race: Faunus, Tiger (Trait: tiger tail)
Looks: Orange eyes, Dark green hair, lightly tanned skin
Aura: Unlocked, Average Strength
Semblance: Agility (improved flexibility, speed and acrobatic ability)
Weapon(s): Demon Talons (clawed gauntlets, dark green)
Personality: Flirty, Outgoing
Family: Amber Felu (older sister), Sapphire Felu (originally Sapphire Tear) (mother), Shiro Felu (father, deceased)
Also, yes, she's extremely outgoing, but she has her own story to explain that just like everyone else. Think of it as more of a defense mechanism than her actual personality…
4)How long is he going to be in Menagerie?
Eh~ about two or three more chapters, possibly four. It's definitely important, and stuff that happens here will appear later, but I know a lot of people want me to get to the 'good part' of Beacon (specifically the Breach and Fall), so it'll be over relatively soon.
5)The explanation of his armor and scars
So, in Destiny, since it's a videogame, you never see your character's armor damaged in any way. Of course, thanks to the miracle of programmable matter (nicknamed 'Glimmer'), that can be explained away, but you still need time and resources to repair your gear, which you wouldn't have if, for example, you're fighting the physical embodiment of evil. As for the scars, in character customization (of Humans at least), one of the options is a blind eye with a scar over it. This wouldn't make much since, as the scar is quite clearly not one you would've been reborn with (since it would be an incredible disadvantage), therefore I made up some bullshit about Light cost for revival and trying to find shortcuts. So that's what that's about, after all there's no real reason to heal a small scar, but there is reason to fix a limb or three.
That's probably enough explanation for now. If you have any other questions, just ask and I'll answer them either in a PM or the start of next chapter. Thanks for reading, and please review!
Signing off for now, AWDTB.
