A/N:

Welcome to the fourth chapter of The Darkness Inside! (So much for two weeks at most, huh?) Luckily for everyone here, this is the last chapter of the 'Menagerie Arc'. Unfortunately, it's a bit short thanks to my limited time and seeming hatred of everything I write, but it's here, and hopefully you'll like it (at least a little). It'll probably be a month or so until the next chapter, but I'll try to make it a bit longer, in order to set up for Beacon. It'll have a lot of timeskips, so that I can get to the actual story and be done with the filler.

Remember last chapter, when I asked for a ship name for Jaune and Jade? Well, a reviewer by the name of MidKnightMoonglow99 (I love the name, by the way) submitted several of them, but the one that stood out to me was 'Jaded Knight'. In retrospect, I probably should've thought of that, but my naming sense is nonexistent. Anyway, that name won, since I like all of the different things it can represent. That's all I wanted to say, just felt like I should give a shoutout to the winner.

On to the disclaimer!

DISCLAIMER: "Hello, my fellow reasonable lizardmen. I would just like to inform you that I did not intend to steal the rights of RWBY and Destiny from their respective owners, and that it was all my readers' faults for making me continue to write. So, I believe I am not guilty, and in fact tell you that you should prosecute my readers instead. Thank you." (Excerpt from the trial of "Apply Water Directly to Burn", who was declared criminally insane later that day)

{KUO KUANA, INNER CITY}

{NEAR MIDNIGHT}

I followed Khan and her entourage into the city, silently taking out any groups of ambushers I could see. It took another three magazines, but I got them all, making sure the White Fang leader's journey was as smooth as possible. After all, I had some… 'questions' to ask her, and she would likely be more willing to meet with me if she felt she had power over me.

Of course, if she wasn't cooperative, then she'd be more fearful of me when I beat her at her full power. Win-win, really.

I had left the chameleon girl, Ilia, tied up on the roof I had fought her on. I knocked her out, of course, and hid her well, but there was no way I was going to just let her go until I was able to ascertain her intentions. Just because my moral compass wouldn't let me kill her didn't mean my practicality and paranoia would let me let a potential threat go on a whim.

My train of thought was derailed when Khan stopped in front of Ghira's house, knocking on his door. A few moments later, it opened, revealing a woman that was most likely the mayor's wife, who ushered them inside before looking around fearfully outside for a moment. Her eyes landed on me for a moment, and when I waved some of the tension visibly left her. She sent me a grateful look before closing the door behind her.

I waited a few moments, just enough to make sure my guns were loaded, before using my Lift to jump off the roof and land unharmed. Quickly making my way across the street, I ducked beneath the windowsill in a classic breaching position, listening to the conversation inside and readying myself in case I needed to act to protect Ghira and his wife.

"Hello, Khan."

"Ghira, please. I know you don't agree with my methods, but that doesn't mean that all the time we spent together is meaningless now."

"Funny, seeing as how the girl I practically raised in the Fang was the one who changed it for the worse. But nevermind that, what do you want? We both know you never come over just to chat."

"Yes… I hear word that one of my Fang is attempting a coup. There's no real evidence outside of the circumstantial, but it seems to point to Adam Taurus. You know him well I'm sure."

Ghira's next words were dripping with contempt. "Yes, the boy you encouraged my daughter to date. Oh, don't give me that look, we both know what you did, and you know I haven't forgiven you for it. But, back to the issue at hand, what exactly makes you think he's attempting to take over? It's not like his ideals are any different than yours."

"The problem is that they are, he's grown from the sweet boy who was practically a little brother for me into a man whose first and last resort are murder and torture. He's trying to take over, citing some bullshit about how I'm growing soft, and once he does… Atlas is already trying their best to flush out the Fang, torturing Faunus in the mines and causing Grimm attacks in Faunus villages, but if Adam takes over, they may just declare war on Menagerie in its entirety."

I had to stifle the growl that wanted to escape me. Sure, I didn't exactly care for the majority of Menagerie (in fact, I saw most of them as shallow hypocrites), but a war would threaten the few I did care about, and that was unacceptable. I'd kill Adam myself if I had to, dismantle the Fang one cell at a time until it was a pitiful shadow of itself, and then tear Atlas down to its foundations-

Shaking my head to get rid of the thoughts, I sighed. I had become fairly good at telling which thoughts were completely mine and which were influenced by the Darkness, but sometimes the line became blurred. Whenever I was feeling strong emotions, the influence was covered up by my own anger or sadness, which made it hard to tell whether I truly meant what I thought.

Tuning back into the conversation, I just barely managed to catch the end of Ghira's response.

"… killed countless people, burned down countless villages while you slaughtered their inhabitants, allowed your followers to rape and torture innocent humans for fun! And you expect me to help you, to ally myself with the abomination you made my White Fang into?! It was meant to be a symbol of peace, of equality, not of weakly-justified racism! I want no part of your glorified bandit tribe, Sienna Khan, and you would be wise to leave. Now."

She sighed, and I slowly peeked over the windowsill just in time to see her draw a bladed staff from her back. "So be it. Your death will revitalize the Fang, old friend. It is an honor to die for that which you believe in."

The look on Ghira's face could be described as pure rage and betrayal, while his wife showed fear and disappointment. That was all I saw before vaulting through the window, blasting Khan with the Invective before she could react.

She fell back with a shout of surprise, while her guards roared in rage and attacked me as a group. I gave the three men just enough time to get within range of their melee weapons, before ducking under the mass-produced swords each had and blasting the first in the chest. He managed to stay standing despite his stumble, but I was on him before he could recover, slamming a fist into his face before kicking him in the groin.

I heard a quiet shattering sound, likely his Aura, and turned to the next man just in time to catch a sword strike to the helmet. My overshield took it without any issue, and I gave the man a punch in the sternum for his troubles. He stumbled back, wheezing from getting the air knocked out of him, and I fired the last two Invective shots into him. His Aura shattered, allowing me to turn to the final man.

He was charging at me while bellowing a war cry, which gave me enough warning to sidestep his pitiful slash and grab his arm. I drove my free palm into his elbow, forcing it backwards and breaking it. He screamed in pain, falling to his knees, and I used the opportunity to kick him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

I regained my balance from the kick just in time to catch a blow to the back, actually throwing me forward into a wall and breaking my overshield. When my ears stopped ringing, I quickly rolled out of the way of another strike, dodging it and the follow-up by a few inches. I slid a shell into the Invective as I stood from my crouch, blasting the woman as she leapt at me again. The shot managed to knock her off course just enough to allow me to dodge, and I dropped the shotgun, slipping Her Memory off my back and aiming down the sights at her.

Khan had just enough time to hold her staff in front of her before I pulled the trigger, launching off Gravity Dust rounds that packed far more punch than most others just like them due to the Focused Fire perk I had upgraded the auto rifle with. Each shot caused her to visibly flinch, and I walked closer as I fired. By the time the mag was empty, I was within range of my Blink Strike, which I took full advantage of by teleporting in front of her and punching her in the face hard enough to throw her head back.

I didn't let her recover, punching her again in the stomach as her arms reached up to protect her face. As she bent over from the pain in her abdomen, I grabbed her staff, holding it like a bat before slamming it into the side of her head as hard as I could. The sound of Aura shattering filled the room as the momentum from my strike continued, knocking her into a wall. Her body went limp, but when I checked her neck I felt a pulse, so she was just unconscious.

Sighing, I turned to look at the room around me, seeing the two broken walls, the wooden table that had been reduced to splinters, and the various bullet holes littering the room. "… Whoops."

As if that word had reminded the Belladonnas that I existed, both of them turned to look at me. I stood there awkwardly, unsure of just how they were going to react (sure, I saved them, but I also destroyed their living room). After a few seconds, Ghira laughed loudly before hugging me.

"Jaune! Where have you been, and where did you learn to fight like that?"

Let me make one thing clear: in all of my second life, I hadn't truly experienced any 'hugs' or other means of affection. Sure, I'd had friendly bro-hugs or fist-bumps, but never any that actually felt like I was being hugged by a parent or significant other. At that moment, I understood exactly why so many of the Guardians who had their memories missed their families so much, and I allowed a tear to escape my eye.

"I was… well, that doesn't matter right now. What's important is that you two are okay. You didn't get hurt in the crossfire right?" I had only been on this planet for less than half a month, but I still felt indebted to Ghira, and by extension his family, due to him being the first person to help me and act truly friendly. I can honestly say that, if it wasn't for him, I would've likely been killed by the Fang or been starving in an alley right now.

"We're fine, you took out Khan and her goons before they could do anything. Speaking of, how did you know they would be here tonight?"

"Heard a rumor about a possible split in the Fang, decided to check it out a bit. Found out about Khan's visit here, as well as the ambushes Taurus's faction had planned. I waited at the docks for her to arrive, then followed her here and took out any hostiles I could see. Once your wife let her inside, I hid near the window to listen in, and when I heard Khan threaten you I acted. Sorry about the damage, sir."

He chuckled, tightening the hug once more before releasing me. "Oh, Jaune. It's just a few holes in the wall and an old table, we can repair that easily. Our lives are much harder to replace, and thanks to you we won't have to worry about that. If there's anything we can do for you, anything at all, just ask."

I was about to wave the debt off, after all it was only fair that I saved him after he saved me, but a thought entered my mind. The long-ranged combat I had engaged in tonight while taking out the enemy Fang had been hell on my ammo reserves, especially since neither of my weapons were really meant for anything beyond close range. Maybe it was time to see exactly what this world had to offer, especially if a simple staff strike could break my shields.

"Actually, would you mind if I had a weapon made? The ones I have aren't really as versatile as I'm used to."

His eyes lit up, the excitement shining in them easily driving back the lingering fear. "Of course! What kind were you thinking? I'll fund the materials and pay the smith as long as you supply the blueprint."

"I was thinking a military-grade designated marksman rifle, with a variable-zoom scope and an extended barrel add-on. Would that be doable?"

He looked somewhat surprised. "Just that? Of course, it could be made easily, but what type of alternate mode would you want? Surely you don't want just a basic gun, right?"

Wait, what? How is a heavily customized military-grade rifle a 'basic' gun? That's like saying a hand cannon is just a sidearm! "What do you mean?"

"You know, like the weapons Huntsmen use. Take Khan's staff for example," he gestured for the staff and I handed it over, curious, "If you press this button here, and twist this section like that…"

He performed a few quick adjustments, and suddenly he was holding what looked like two bladed sticks, one in each hand. The exposed hilts clearly held Fire Dust crystals, and there were grooves along the blades where the Dust effects could cover the weapon. "See? Almost every Huntsman's weapon has at least two modes, usually a ranged and melee, though of course there are exceptions. So, what kind of alternate mode are you thinking of adding?"

… Huh. That sounds both incredibly cool and impossibly impractical. Sure, you'd effectively have two weapons in one frame, but maintenance would be a bitch and there was a much higher chance of mechanisms jamming or smaller parts cracking or breaking on impacts. But still, I could easily just have the secondary mode slightly improve upon the primary, like a scout rifle becoming a sniper.

"… I have an idea, I'll have to draw up a blueprint for it. What time would you need it done by?"

"If you could just draw up a quick rough draft of both modes, as well as how it'll change, by next week then the smith should be able to finish it in less than a month from today. It all depends on how complicated your weapon is, really."

"I'll do that. Thanks again, Ghira. There's no way I can repay you for everything you've done for me."

"In my opinion, after what you just did, I think you already have. For now, I'll contact the police and have them arrest Khan and her men. You should visit Jade, she's been sick with worry ever since you left," at this, he gave me a sly look, "Quite a fine young woman you have there, don't let her slip through your fingers boy."

I sighed, ignoring the tingling in my chest. "She's just a friend, Ghira. Please stop insinuating things."

He gave me a knowing look before nodding and changing the subject. "Kali, dear, could you get Officer Jenkins on the phone? Tell him we need him and his boys to pick up a few terrorists for questioning."

His wife nodded, her expression still showing some shock, and she left. Ghira turned to me, his expression far more serious than before. "This schism in the Fang… how bad is it? Will it affect my daughter?"

"If she's with Taurus… it's likely. Even if she agrees with the Fang's methods, which you told me she doesn't, Adam's methods are another matter entirely. Rumor around the Underground says he's killed more Schnee employees in the last few months than the Fang has in the last two years. He also apparently has no qualms sacrificing Faunus mine workers just to get a crack at the SDC. All in the name of his 'glorious revolution'. At this point, it's almost guaranteed that your daughter will either leave or get sent on suicide missions until she doesn't come back."

I didn't sugarcoat it, no father wanted to be lied to about the danger their daughter was in. Ghira bowed his head in sadness, before looking me in the eye. "Can you help her?"

My answer came without hesitation. "As it is, no. I'm underequipped, low on ammo, and have no idea where she might be besides somewhere in the Kingdom of Vale."

"What do you think you would need to find her?"

Realizing he was completely serious, I gave him an honest answer. "Not including weaponry, I need transportation to Vale, along with some form of identification or passport. I'll also need some way to track down and contact your daughter, likely a scroll number or GPS signal. While not strictly necessary, an apartment or other kind of shelter would be appreciated, and if you have any contacts there I'd like to meet with them in order to see what they know and maybe get some more info on Vale."

"Done. I'll have your new weapon, along with the things you've requested, finished within a week. Will you be ready to move out by then?"

It was at this moment that I realized how crazy this was. I had been in this world less than a month, but here I was, having just saved the mayor's life, and he was now asking me to find his terrorist daughter and bring her home. Honestly, it was like a terrible movie plot, but… "I will. I promise, Ghira, I will find your daughter. No matter how long it takes."

He slumped in relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much Jaune. If there's anything at all I can do for you, just let me know."

"You don't owe me anything Ghira. After all, you've helped me out far more than I have you."

He chuckled, giving me a tight bear-hug. "Let's just agree to disagree, son."

{KUO KUANA; DOCKS}

{SIX DAYS LATER}

I stood in front of the cruise ship, all of my belongings packed into the suitcases next to me. My old backpack had unfortunately been torn open earlier, finally falling apart after carrying my heavy armor for so long, so now I had three brand-new suitcases: one for armor, one for weapons, and one for my clothes.

I had gotten my new weapon earlier that morning, and just looking at it I could see the exquisite craftsmanship. I had gone with my original idea of a scout/sniper rifle hybrid, with the barrel being able to extend and the gun able to accept both normal and heavy caliber rounds. The magazine was held at the back of the rifle in a bullpup design, to help keep it compact, while the sniper used a bolt-action design and held one round at a time. While limiting, it helped to keep the gun at a reasonable size, which allowed me to carry it almost anywhere I wished if I strapped it over my shoulder.

The reason I was here in the evening instead of earlier, however, was because of the cosmetics on my gun. The gunsmith actually would not give me the weapon until I both customized it and named it, and I had given up on changing his mind after a few tries. So now I had the newly-christened "Mercury Lance" slung across my shoulder. I had to admit though, despite the pointlessness of customizing a weapon, I enjoyed the look of it.

I had designed the blueprint itself to look similar to a Vex Line Rifle, albeit less alien and more practical with the bullpup magazine connected to the stock, so the gun itself had two barrels. The bullets fired from between them, and they were lined with Lightning Dust so that I could charge up a magnetic field to, basically, make a railgun when I needed it. The gun itself was gunmetal grey, with the barrels being a midnight black. The top rail had a pair of built-in iron sights, but there was a scope off to the side of the gun that could fold up onto the rail for long-range shots. On the left side, right under the bolt-action, there was an all-white engraving of what was apparently my new emblem: A four-pointed star with a circle in the middle, representing my Ghost.

Out of all three of my weapons, this was definitely my favorite. It wasn't just my newest gun, but it was one I had designed and customized myself. It felt less like a tool and more like a partner, which was what truly sold me on the whole 'custom Huntsmen weapons' idea. If all of them made their own weapons, that would explain why so many of them were just as iconic as their owners.

I was knocked out of my thoughts, quite literally in fact, by someone running into me. Due to being completely unprepared, I lost my balance and we both tumbled down onto the docks. The back of my head hit the ground, and if it wasn't for my now-constant overshield then I might have actually cracked my skull.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry sir… Wait, Jaune?!"

I lifted my head off the ground just enough to see who ran into me, before letting it fall back down with a sigh. "Before you start-"

"Before I start?! I wasn't the one who left without a word! Where have you been, what have you been doing?!"

I'm sure my fellow passengers were getting quite a show: a young man with a Huntsman weapon, being yelled at by a teenage girl sitting on his chest. "Look, Jade, I couldn't exactly stay around with your mother-"

"Oh, that's another thing! She's been insufferable, doing nothing besides complaining about how she was 'clearly right about your intentions'. Seriously, I've had to deal with her for weeks!"

"Yes, and I'm sorry for that, but if you'd let me explain-"

"Not to mention that I haven't been able to spy on the Fang since they were on high alert, something I'm sure you had absolutely nothing to do with!"

"Would you shut up and listen?!" she leaned back away from me, startled, and I sighed, "Thank you. Now, the reason I wasn't around was because I needed to learn how to control my Semblance. After all, I had just killed over twenty people while under its influence, so I needed to make sure it wouldn't happen around someone I cared about, okay?"

Now that she had calmed, Jade realized our position, as well as the people around us. Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten just exactly how her mind worked, and she made sure to remind me.

"Is that a scroll in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

I threw my head back and groaned in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance. Of fucking course she would pull something like this, especially in public. "I highly doubt anyone would be that happy to see you yell at them, Jade."

Thankfully my thoughts were still on the topic of what I would say to her questions, or else she'd have never let me live it down.

She pouted, crossing her arms and finally getting off my chest. I used my newfound freedom to stand, stretching out and popping the kinks out of my back. "Jeez, girl, did you have to try and break my spine?"

"Oh please, like you have any backbone after running away. Did you really think that I would abandon you just because your Semblance is weird?"

"When it makes me a homicidal maniac, yeah, I did think that. Your mother sure did, along with almost everyone I've seen who knows what I did. You and Ghira, along with his wife, are the only ones who actually care about me in any way."

A sad look crossed her face, some form of sympathy and pity that somehow made me feel better rather than annoyed me. "Look… I'm sorry for what Mom did, I really am, but you don't need to leave town just because she doesn't like you. Come on back with me, I'll talk to her for you."

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Oh, I'm not leaving because of her. Sure, it was kind of depressing at the time, but I got over it after a while of beating up the Fang." Wait a minute… that chameleon girl, I left her on the roof didn't I? Well shit, it's been a week so hopefully she got out okay… damn I really need to make a list of all the crap I need to remember…

"Aha! I knew you were the one they were mad about!" she crowed, clearly happy about being right, before frowning, "Wait a minute. If you got over everything, why are you leaving?"

"Well, Ghira asked me to do something for him, and I couldn't exactly refuse, you know? So now I'm off to Vale, might go to Beacon while I'm there if I can get in."

She looked from me to my gun a few times, before snorting. "Yeah, you'll get in. I've seen you fight, with and without your Semblance. With it, you're an unstoppable beast, but without it you fight like a soldier, you've got that 'military precision' think down to a science, Jaune." A frown crossed her face, before she continued, voice subdued, "I can see you're going to leave no matter what I say, but… at least keep in touch, okay?"

"Don't worry Jade, I've got your scroll number. You'll be able to talk with me whenever you want… as long as I'm not busy or anything. Besides, I'll be back again whenever I get a break down there, so it's not like this'll be the last time we see each other. Go out, get some friends, have a good time, and I'll be back before you know it."

Honestly, this entire situation was strange to me. After all, in the Tower, most people were friendly but none really formed close attachments due to the fear that they would lose even more people than they already had. The only thing I could really compare it to was an old, long-forgotten memory of one of my sisters -or maybe my mother- tearfully kissing me goodbye as I left to go… somewhere. The vague bits I could remember were nothing but gold hair, kind eyes, and familial love, which was more than most Guardians got when they revived.

"Jaune… I'm not going to kiss you or anything, we're not like that, but… don't die, okay? If you die, I won't be able to kiss you in the future." With that, she turned around and left, giggling a bit as she did.

I sighed, shaking my head in amusement. This girl, always with the jokes… wait a minute. "Kiss me in the future?!" I yelled out in shock, which sent her into hysterics as she turned the corner and left my sight.

"Son, are you getting on the boat or not? Seriously, you kids these days…"

I turned to look at the person who spoke, and saw a large number of people standing on the ship, clearly impatient, and realized I had been holding them all up. "Ah, sorry, yeah…"

Great way to start out a voyage, I know.

A/N:

So, here's this chapter done. Hope you all enjoyed that, especially since next chapter will detail all of his fun times in Vale. Not much else to say, so onward to the explanations!

1)Leaving Ilia tied up

Well, as was already stated last chapter, he didn't really feel like killing a teenage girl who wasn't involved in the coup. Sure, she was a terrorist, but he didn't know the extent of her crimes (remember that, despite the Fang's actions, they're much more subdued with Khan than with Adam, and Jaune's only seen Khan's work and a few of Adam's agents). He also felt uncomfortable with the idea of just shooting a teenager who debatably looked innocent (seriously Ilia seems more kitten mad than 'burn all the humans' mad when she isn't being depressed or yelling at Blake about her love or whatever). So, therefore, just leave her tied up on a roof somewhere (and yes, she was found and let loose by another Fang member).

2)Khan attacking Ghira

So, when you're a fanatic cultist/terrorist, and someone disagrees with your ideals, you kill them. Especially if they, as the previous leader, had enough say to sway popular opinion out of your favor. So, you kill them, frame the enemy of your faction, and the martyr makes your cause more enthusiastic and more hateful towards your enemy, while getting rid of the threat to your power. Win-win really, unless there's a Deus Ex Machina in the form of a main character around…

3)Khan getting beaten

So, we never see Khan fight in RWBY. She sits on a throne, scolds Taurus, and gets stabbed. Basically she's a disposable character. So, if she got taken out by Adam that easily, there's no way she was a fully-trained Huntress of any kind. But then again this is RWBY and everyone has to have some level of training to defend themselves from Grimm if they don't live in the Kingdoms (excluding Vacuo cause apparently that place is the Wild West on steroids), so she got a weapon I thought suited her along with some training, but she wasn't skilled enough to beat a Guardian with three years of experience, the element of surprise, and superior range and CQC capabilities.

She'll break out of jail soon though, don't worry.

4)Ghira asking Jaune to find his daughter

So, after everything that's happened, along with Jaune saving Ghira's life, he sees him as a bit of a son of sorts. Therefore, he trusts him far more than any random Faunus on the street, especially since he doesn't really know which ones are in the Fang or not. So, simple solution is to ask the person who you trust, who is also capable of defending himself, and isn't afraid of the Fang (and can't be in the Fang due to him being a human) to find your daughter.

Spoiler alert, Jaune won't find her before Beacon, but once Initiation starts everything will go down quite a bit differently. Especially the part where she runs away later on…

5)The Mercury Lance

I'm actually really proud of this. Basically, Jaune's biggest weakness is his lack of ranged capabilities farther than mid-range. Therefore, I gave him a scout-rifle-slash-sniper combo that he can use for anything from mid- to long-range. The railgun is more of an experimental, one-shot-one-kill weapon that he slapped on for the LOLs to use against anything heavily-armored. Basically it's my Chekov's Gun for this story.

6)Jade's comment(s)

So, I've already established that Jade has a dirty sense of humor (honestly I'm basing her off one of my friends and she's hilarious). However, she is starting to possibly develop feelings for Jaune. As she said, they're not like that, but she might want to date him in the future. Time will tell whether that happens, but right now he's interested her, and is pretty much the only one who treats her normally (It hasn't been shown due to this being a first-person POV but most people Jade knows treat her like an immature child due to her fixation on finding her sister, and the lengths she goes through, while her mother is a racist and she can't stand listening to the woman who forced her sister onto the path of the Fang. So yah, Jaune's the only person around who she actually cares for).

7)MY SLOW UPDATES

Yeah, I apologize for that. My school has started back up, and it's hard to squeeze out a chapter in-between tests, essays, and homework (along with learning how to code using some of the advanced portions of Java's GUI), so updates are going to be extremely slow. I honestly can't promise anything resembling a deadline for my next chapter, but hopefully it'll be out before the end of the year.

Anyways that's it guys, I'll see ya when I see ya. Don't forget to leave a review about what you liked or didn't like (along with any constructive criticisms), and tell me what you want to see next!

Until next time, this is AWDTB, signing off.