A/N: Well, I know it's been two weeks since I updated, but I hope that this chapter will be worth the wait.
Snake
Chapter 10: Confrontation
"Get up", Bartholomew said, fists finally at the ready, "I know that you weren't knocked out that easy." Jaune chuckled before slowly pushing himself up off the ground.
"Observant", he said as he turned to face the professor, "Another lesson taught from paying attention to history?"
"Yes, actually. Many civilizations have fallen due to underestimating their opponent", Bartholomew said before delivering a quick punch to the stomach.
"How ironic it will be then, when you are lying on the ground bleeding out", Jaune said kneeled over. As if he hadn't just been hit, Jaune lunged again at Oobleck. Unlike before though, Jaune managed to deal a small cut to his shoulder.
"I applaud you for managing to cut me, but I won't be bleeding out from a cut this small anytime soon." Bartholomew said, lifting the shoulder of his shirt up to see the damage done to it. "Shame, I liked this shirt. Stitching up a hole is no issue, but washing out blood-".
Bartholomew bent down, and delivered a punch to Jaune's side as his sword swung over him. Jaune backed away a bit, fighting off the look of pain on his face, before replacing it with one of irritation.
"I take it you and Ozpin have chatted?" Jaune asked.
"Would I really be ignorant enough to come and fight you with no information of your abilities and weaknesses?" Bartholomew retorted.
"No, I guess not", Jaune said, before putting his hand on his side, before immediately drawing it away and towards his face. "Blood?" He asked as he looked at the small amount of it on his hand, "What did you stab me with?"
"Have you forgotten one of the basic principles of aura?" Bartholomew asked, before looking disappointed. "If enough aura is condensed properly, it can create a physical form. I condensed my aura around the knuckles of my hand, having it protrude as a small spike. As I punched you, I had the spike loss its form, and create a barrier around where I hit you, leaving you unable to use your aura to heal the wound. In fact", Jaune moved back to dodge a punch from him, but it was a feint, and Oobleck punched Jaune in his shield arm's shoulder, causing it to go limp, Jaune's shield clanging to the ground, "if I hit the right spots, I can paralyze your whole body. Temporarily of course." Oobleck pushed his glasses up.
"Thanks for the heads up", Jaune said raising his sword.
"I will not be wishing to give me thanks soon." Oobleck said, before disappearing. Jaune turned in time to see him launch a punch. Jaune swung his sword at the attack, but the aura spikes acted like a layer of armor. Flipping backward from the momentum of the clash, Jaune managed to avoid a direct hit, but was soon hit with a second punch to his remaining arm.
"Guess you were right", Jaune said trying to think of what to do next. He was being out-speeded and made even slower and more defenseless then he already was without his shield. If he lost either one of his legs, the other would soon fall as well.
"Tell me Arc, why are you doing this, and why continue to fight even when you will almost surely lose?" Oobleck questioned.
"Why?" Jaune asked back, "I do this because I refuse to give up and let the world continue to rot away like it is! Don't you see, all of you, that we're going to end up destroying ourselves?! War may have been over centuries ago, but of all people who should know that war is never permanently gone, you should know the best Oobleck! I gained the power I did because of war preparation!"
Jaune felt the loss of feeling in his legs.
"War may never truly be gone Arc, that fact remains true as long as civilization exists, but you, while you may think you are preventing war, are doing nothing to delay it. You are just starting a war you aren't familiar enough, war between you and Vale." Oobleck said standing behind Jaune, who had fallen face first onto the ground.
"Explain to me how killing off the sickness of civilization like killing off the sickness in a plant is any different! You cut off what is decaying before it leads to everything else following suit!" Jaune struggled to try and get up.
"Is that what you truly believe is going on? That this is what you are doing?" Ozpin asked as he stood against the frame of the roof access door.
"Would I be doing what I have if I did not truly believe in my cause?!" Jaune yelled at him.
"I asked Jaune, not New Moon", Ozpin replied.
"I am Jaune you-!" Jaune was cut off as Ozpin's foot collided with Jaune's jaw.
"You know who I mean!" Ozpin yelled before stomping on Jaune's head. "The one who would never hurt Pyrrha, never try to harm anyone!"
"Professor, st-" Ruby began, taking a step towards Ozpin, but Bartholomew interrupted her as he put his arm in front of her.
"I know that Jaune is your friend Ruby, but there's more than Jaune right there on the ground. Trust Professor Ozpin in his methods." He told her.
While Jaune began to be beat, he began to conflict with himself again.
"Pyrrha..." Jaune said to himself. He seemed to be in nothing but a black void, a light whose source he couldn't pinpoint illuminating him. As Jaune struggled to put his thoughts into order, give them some sort of substance, a mirror appeared before him. Jaune looked in it, but didn't see his reflection.
"What about her?" Jaune heard come seemingly from the mirror.
"Who is that?" Jaune called out. He couldn't put a face to the voice, but it sounded familiar.
"Have you tried looking in the mirror, or more specifically, what lies beyond it?" The voice told him. Jaune looked back into the mirror, seeing that now its reflective surface had become transparent, like that of glass. Behind the clear material lied what seemed to be a reflection of himself, but it stood still when Jaune moved, seeming independent.
"Oh, you." Jaune said as he realized who he was speaking to. His eyes hardened as his mind went back to Pyrrha. "What did you do to Pyrrha?"
"Don't you mean, what we-", New Moon started, but was interrupted as Jaune's fist slammed against the glass of the mirror, cracking it.
"Don't bullshit with me! What happened?!" Jaune yelled as blood slowly dripped from his hand, some of it smudging on the mirror.
"Pyrrha's dead", New Moon said, as if he was simply stating that it was cloudy outside. He grew a smug look as he seen Jaune burst through the glass, grabbing a sharp shard as he approached. Within seconds he was pinned to the ground, Jaune holding the glass to his neck. He felt a small amount of blood on his skin, but couldn't tell if it has Jaune's from gripping the shard too tightly or his from Jaune cutting into the top layers of his neck before stopping. "Can't finish the job?" He asked before kneeing Jaune between the legs, and taking the chance to reverse who was on the ground. Reeling back his fist, New Moon punched Jaune directly in the jaw. Blood flew into the darkness as Jaune felt a couple of his teeth break. New Moon held his jaw open with one hand, and reached in with the other, picking out a broken tooth. He pretended to examine it for a moment, "Must've hurt", he said before giving it one more turnaround and tossing it to the side. Without warning, Jaune stabbed New Moon in the ribs with the piece of glass which continued to cut deeper into his hand. He moved back, holding where he had been stabbed, but blood still leaked out between his fingers. He pulled the shard out, and threw it at Jaune's head. He rolled to the side, but still sustained a cut just under his eye which immediately began to bleed down his cheek.
"You're going to fucking die!" Jaune said as he roared forward, grabbing hold of the sides of New Moon's head. New Moon grabbed hold of Jaune's neck, cutting off his airway as he choked him. Jaune instinctively took his hands away, and struggled to pull New Moon off of him. Jaune began to lose his strength, and it was not long until his arms hung limp at his side. Jaune's life began to flash before his eyes. It was all happy until the day of his death. For years his life was nothing but pain and anguish unless he did as he was ordered. He got to the day he escaped, remembering how even though he was now free, he was also alone, the only person that was with him being New Moon. That changed when he came to Beacon.
Jaune remembered his first day, trying hopelessly to try and 'woo' the ladies, and how at first he was still alone. Then he remembered the friendship and support Ruby gave him while Cardin manipulated him, and the way Pyrrha reached out to him, despite probably having a couple reasons to just ignore him. He remembered his first mission with his team. It was a small mission of clearing out a herd of grimm that were getting too close to a nearby village. As usual, Jaune had just been a fool, and not only managed to not kill a single grimm, but almost got himself killed. Despite this though, his team supported him, congratulating him on the formation he had made to make sure no one person was too far away from another in case they needed help, which kept their injuries to a minimum. Jaune realized that they weren't just people he worked with that day. They were truly his friends.
Jaune reached up and slowly peeled off one of New Moon's hands with his, before reaching up with the other and freeing himself.
"I'm not going to let my friends be hurt by you anymore!" Jaune said taking deep breaths, before hitting New Moon with a punch to the ribs, breaking one as he made contact. He held onto his chest as he rolled back, the pain constant with his breathing as Jaune walked towards him, blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth and bleeding out from the cut above his cheek. New Moon was visibly angry.
"Well I'm not letting you beat me down in here!" He yelled before delivering a knee to Jaune's stomach. Jaune took the pain as best as he could, and grabbed New Moon's wrist. With a quick turn, and some momentum from being hit, Jaune broke it with a snap. New Moon grew furious, and actually leaned forward, and sunk his teeth into Jaune's arm. Yelling out in pain, Jaune kicked him away, tearing away part of his arm, from which Jaune began to bleed badly. New Moon spat out the chunk of Jaune's flesh. Both of them stood, looking at the other.
Jaune's vision began to get blurry. He had lost a decent amount of blood, as did New Moon. His broken rib had punctured his lung, making him bleed at an increased rate every time he took a breath. Staring for a moment, they both ran at each other.
"Has his aura finally stabilized?" Ozpin asked. Bartholomew stood up from crouching over the now unconscious Jaune.
"Yes. The aura I felt while I was fighting against New Moon has subsided; leaving the one I've deduced to be Jaune in its place." Bartholomew told him. "Just in case though, I've sealed off his aura for the next few hours."
Jaune slowly opened his eyes to see his friends, as well as the professors, standing around him. He slowly sat up, despite the pain raking his body.
"Is it you Jaune, and not New Moon?" Ozpin questioned.
"Yes…" Jaune answered solemnly.
"Enjoy beating me Arc", New Moon said from the ground as he began to lose consciousness thanks to the uppercut Jaune had given him, "You still only have yourself to blame for your actions."
"Jaune?" Ozpin snapped Jaune out of his flashback, "Are you alright?"
Jaune didn't answer.
He slowly stood up, and walked away from his friends, and towards the still embedded Myrtenaster.
"Did I really do it all, kill Pyrrha and almost Weiss?" Jaune asked as he stopped in front of the rapier, staring at the handle.
No one answered.
"I suppose I don't need any confirmation for my actions", Jaune said before pulling Myrtenaster out of the ground. "Everyone, I'm sorry for my actions, sorry beyond words! For everything I did, everyone I made suffer! All because I couldn't keep that part of me locked away!" Jaune apologized without turning around. "But, don't forgive me." Jaune said quietly.
Everyone stared in horror as the tip of Myrtenaster protruded from Jaune's back, metal fused with flesh as blood touched the air.
"I deserve whatever hell awaits me…plus some…" Jaune thought as his name was called out. "I'm sorry Pyrrha..." The tears Jaune had built up cascaded down the side on his face, and onto the ground, hitting a drop of blood left by Pyrrha. "At least..." Jaune thought as he was losing the last bit of his vision, along with whatever senses he had not already lost at this point, "New Moon will die with me..."
Jaune's heart stopped beating.
A/N: Well, that's it, Jaune is dead. What more could I possibly do? I'll tell you, but you have to get closer.
Closer...
Closer...
A little bit more...
*whispers* An epilogue.
Yep, I'm doing an epilogue.
Anyway, make sure to leave a review. You're thoughts and opinions are music to my ears. Until the final part of Snake, see you guys later.
