Ch2

When the blackness started fading I was surprised over all else. I thought I had died. Died to protect Pyrrha. Instead I now watched as the ruins of Beacon grew ever more distant as I was dragged away from it.

As memories of my last moments of consciousness returned to me I started to panic slightly. She had been too weak to even move and when I had gone down it had left her open.

I was too weak to struggle against whoever was dragging me, too weak to even move my limbs. The only thing I still had limited control over was my voice.

"Pyrrha"

All I could squeeze out of my throat was a quiet whisper. Barely even audible for me.

But it seemed like the ones dragging me had heard me anyways for I was set down and two girls came into my field of view.

Ruby and Weiss both looked worse for wear. Both of their 'combat skirts' showing rips and smudges on them with the occasional spec of blood. Both of them looked very concerned. Ruby even had tears in her eyes.

I tried to comfort them but it was to no avail. My voice would not come out, all my tries to force out even a single word were met with a wheeze of breath escaping my mouth.

The world was fading again. The edges of my vision darkening every moment. I could see their mouths moving but I only caught snippets of what they tried to say.

"Jau….ease….st..wit..u..do..t…ie."

"Do..t..yo…dar….do…us…yo..dolt."

Ruby was crying now, just great. Even Weiss, the normally icy girl was sobbing slightly, trying to hide her tears.

My head rolled to the side. Then I saw her. Pyrrha was being supported by none other than Cardin Winchester who was standing vigil over the group of battered hunters. His armor showed battle damage but he looked like he was still battle ready.

On her shoulder was Pyrrha, out cold if her steadily rising and falling breastplate was to be judged. I then came to a realization I had come to many times before. She was beautiful.

Thus I faded, the image of the girl I loved burned into my mind and the desperate cries of my friends echoing in my ears.

My memories of what came next were fuzzy. I could hear snippets of conversation, crying, the rumbles of engines, even more people talking. I could smell ash, blood, fire. As time went on the moments where I could hear, smell and feel lengthened. The smells of a battlefield did not last long, soon I could smell the cleanliness of a hospital and feel….cold. After a while of sensing the same quiet and cold I got moved to a new place. There I could smell roses and hear the sound of music.

The music was somber, the kind of stuff they play at funerals. There were pauses in the music where I could hear people speaking. I could not make out what they were saying but I could tell the difference between the voices.

Mom, Dad, All my sisters(I could never tell them apart by voice), Ren, Nora, Ruby, Weiss, Pyrrha and even Cardin. They all talked in the same somber tone.

Soon everything went silent, suddenly I felt cold, like going underground to the family cellar in the middle of winter. There was a single voice that made some kind of speech, followed by the sounds of dirt hitting wood.

After that there came a long silence. I could soon feel everything going on around me. That means nothing. There was no sound, the only thing I could feel was cold and that got old fast and the only smell was that of old wood and dirt.

After what felt like months I finally started to regain sight. Well sight as in I could feel my eyes moving around and my eyelids blinking. Everything was so dark, not in a dark night dark but like no-light-at-all kinda dark.

Finally, after almost going mad from not being able to move I finally regained control of my limbs. I tried to move, only to find that I was in a box. A small wooden box where I had barely any room to wiggle.

I won't lie. I panicked. I think I would not be the only one who would panic over being buried alive. The coffin, the small devices which I soon identified as mementos from my friends and family, the ceremonial armor that is only put on an Arc when he is either on a parade or dead.

So when I panicked I started thrashing about. Trying to get out. It was all in vain, I was about 2 meters underground. 1 meter, if all of the Arc family funeral traditions were followed.

As I was trashing about I hit something that made me pause. I knew that clink. It was the sound of Noras grenades moving around in their magazine.

Knowing her explosives, a single tap from anyone but her could set them off. And I did not want to be in an enclosed space underground when one of those went off, hell I did not want to be next to it period. The bloody things could blow up a god damn house. Or a deathstalker when directly fired onto it because things were shaped charges in a grenade… Shaped charges…

I started to dig around the various things put into my coffin for the afterlife. A blade sharpener? Nope. A makeup kit? Just why? A plate and what felt like mouldy pancakes. Just why Nora? Aha, a knife.

Using my limited mobility I grabbed the knife and started carving into the coffin.

It took a while but I finally had a hole large enough in the coffin for the grenade box to fit through to the small cavern that had formed when some of the dirt had flowed into the coffin. So I carefully pulled the box to the hole and tenderly set it up in the cavern, making sure the shaped charge was pointing upwards.

Having set the box of explosives onto the wood of the coffin I had to find a way to block the inevitable pressure wave from hitting me.

The answer to that was another piece I had with me. A replica of my shield. I could tell it was a repro because it did not have the nick I had gotten on it when I used the shield as a sled to slide down the flight of stairs I had at home and hit my father's sword, that was at the end of the stairway, with it.

One had at the manual pin on one of the grenades and the other ready to deploy my shield. I took a breath, then another, and another. Before I could start second guessing myself I pulled the pin from the explosive.

My hand darted back into the coffin and the other pushed the activation switch, unfolding the mecha-shift shield to cover the hole in the shield. With the hole covered I only had to focus my aura on myself, my armor and my shield. The amount of aura I had pulled from my reserves made me glow a bright white, well bright for someone who has gotten used to pure darkness.

One…

Two…..

Three….

Fou*Boom*

The world shattered around me. I could feel splinters from the coffin striking me but being repelled by my aura, the explosion heating my skin so hot that it should have been melting but having my aura heal the burns faster than they could form.

The pressure was immense, although most of it was directed upwards I could still feel it pushing down on me and trying to flatten me. Again my immense reserves of aura held my body together in the face of being squashed.

After the explosion faded and I finally dared to open my eyes I was greeted by the dark sky that signified it was nighttime. Good. Daylight would have probably blinded me. Even now I had trouble adjusting to the massive amount of light the moon gave as opposed to the darkness of the coffin.

I pushed myself up, ignoring the popping joints that only now got to move. I looked around me to see where I was. I had my suspicions but had confirmed it with a look around. The Arc family graveyard.

There were gravestones and crosses everywhere, we Arcs were numerous but we often died young. A statue here and there and in the distance I could see the old keep. The multitude of windows that had lights in them were like a beacon to me.
I started shambling towards my family's ancestral home, only straightening when my muscles got used to being used again and did not cause me pain by using them.

Just as I opened the graveyards gate and got through it I was met with two people rushing towards me, swords drawn.

Thanks to my time underground I could see in the dark pretty well, so I Identified them easily. The sigil on their armor and their custom swords giving them away as two of the guards serving in the keep.

I waved at them and called out to them.

"Rodric! Foley! Am I glad to see you!"

Both of them stopped in their tacks with shocked looks on their faces. They shared a glance between each other before turning around and running away from me.

I was confused as hell. I mean I was supposed to be dead and burie… Oh. Yeah. Did not think that through.

I sighed at that and made my way towards the keep. Better to go and explain myself to everyone before they start to hunt a ghost.

The armor I wore was intimidating enough, with its bright white and angular plates that covered the whole body and the intricate designs depicting my family's history, add the fact that the face staring at you from that armor is the dead son of your lord who was buried here recently and you get something even experienced soldiers run from.

The castle was an old building, the Arc family got it as a small wooden tower that stood on a hill and was meant to guard the land. Through the centuries the generations of Arcs upgraded the castle. First replacing the wood with stone, then building an outer wall, then connecting the wall with the keep underground. After that the large towers were built and then another layer of walls was added. After that the huge defence guns, missile silos and AA guns were added.

It might be called a keep but looking at it, one could see that it was a fully fledged fortress that rivaled Beacon academy in size.

It took me a few minutes to get there. It was a good thing there were no grimm around because fighting a beowolf in the dark would have delayed me even longer.

Yup, they raised the alarm.

The lines of riflemen aiming their weapons at me was quite a good hint. I could see there was even an HMG manned in one of the towers and a shell being loaded into one of the 88 mm guns that was pointed towards me.

I just nervously stood there for a few moments before raising one of my arms and waving at them.

"Hey guys. Mind opening the gate so I could talk to dad?"

They glanced at each other, clearly not understanding what was going on. Some even started lowering their weapons. That is until my oldest sister came through a portal and appeared in the midst of the men.

Bianca was a blonde with blue eyes, just like everyone else in my family. She was fairly tall, 1.81 meters to be exact. But right now her usually loving sapphire eyes were hard as diamonds.

"Hold."

Always the commanding one.

"Hey Bianca, could you please let me speak with dad?"

"Aim"

I was shocked, was I seriously going to be gunned down on the orders of my own sister? That's just cruel. The men on the walls, loyal as they were, did not question her and propped their guns back on the battlements and retook aim at me.

"Sis? I just need to get some of my stuff and a new scroll."

"Who are you, graverobber?"

She spit out the last word as if it was venom. I was confused, yea, I was buried but the evidence of me being alive was staring her in the face, namely, I was infront of him.

"Sis? Its me. Jaune."

As my sister opened her mouth to answer me the gate was suddenly raised and a huge man, easily over 2 meters tall walked out in full battle gear and with 4 guards in tow.

He marched right up to me, crocea mors drawn and the sheath unfolded in a shield. He looked at me for a few moments before grabbing me in a crushing bear hug

"Jaune!"

Everyone visibly relaxed, either from me being confirmed as their lords only son or that I was corporeal enough that my dad could hug me.

"Air….. need….. Air."

My father quickly disengaged from the hug. Now just holding me in the air with both his hands on my sides.

"But. We buried you a month ago. Had a fancy funeral and everything. The doctors said you were dead, that you drowned from your own blood filling your lungs."

I was shocked. So I was down there for a month. A whole month. I should have run out of air long before waking up, or died of thirst, or hunger. Yet I felt just like I had before taking those arrows from Cinder. Like I had enough food and drink in my stomach.

"A-a month?"

"Yes, a month Jaune."

I was still trying to wrap my head around the weirdness of all this. Suddenly I saw a flash of red from the corner of my eye and saw Pyrrha. She was standing in the gateway with full armor on and her shield on her arm. What was weird was that she had a normal spear in her hand, not Milo. She was looking at me, her mouth agape and her hands slack on her sides.

"Jaune?"

AN: I have no idea where I am going with this but I'll try to keep writing, I had a more depressing chapter half ready when I decided that I could use something not quite as heartbreaking. Anyways, any criticism is welcomed and I look forward to looking at your suggestions for this story.