Chapter 3: They who bump in the night

Team NROM were out for a night in Vale. This was not Vale as mortals knew it. This was the Night World. It was a realm that existed between time and space, both connected and disjointed from the reality that the mortals could perceive.

A monster and human could share the same spot in the two worlds at once. That was a very common phenomena, which humans perceived as the feeling of something watching them. Besides that humans rarely could get into the Night World unaided, though a Faunus or two have been known to slip between the cracks.

It was never a pretty tale.

The city of Vale was changed. Skyscrapers were twisted and reached high into the atmosphere. Lanterns hung around every corner, giving a haunted but welcoming ambivalence. Roads were paved with stones and flora grew wildly on the sides. Urban and rural landscapes blended uniquely in this world.

Each building was tinted in a shade of black or purple. A miasma rested on the place. Streets were covered by a mist of gray. Here all manner of creepy crawlers traversed the street. It was a thing of horror stories for man. But to monsters it was a lavish street. Faint whispers were heard sporadically; it was a sign of humans walking in the normal reality.

As the group of four walked idly, a giant foot passed them by. Oska was bubbling with excitement as she clung to Naruto's arm. She pointed to the numerous stalls stationed around them and was trying to lead him towards them. For his part, Naruto was smiling that mischievous expression of his.

Moka was taking everything in, "This is fascinating. I never came to this part of the Night World. I was always situated in Mistral", the vampire said in a tone of amazement.

Rikuo smiled, "I know some great sites. I can show you someday." He began to act as a guide, explaining a number of the shops around. Quite a few of the stalls were run by monsters that were part of the Nura clan.

Oska's eyes grew even larger at the site of the theatre. "Let's go there. I haven't seen a play in forever. There might be something romantic. All those beautiful dresses and the music is always amazing."

"Alright Oska, you have me convinced. How about you two? My treat", Naruto said. When his remaining teammates nodded, he led them to the booth and bought tickets for them all. The play was starting soon and they bustled to get into decent seats. In the end, they sat in the middle rows.

Today's show was a classic monster play called Divisions. The narrative was as such.

Eons ago there was a charismatic dragon emperor. He watched all monsters in his domain strictly. At best, he watched the human populace with disinterest. That was until his beautiful wife pleaded with him.

For she was a spirit of the planet. Her kin were in tune with the land, skies, and seas. And the human wrought cruelly upon it. Humanity was a violent people at that age. Trees destroyed, not for shelter or food, but for weaponry. Land was soured in mining for metals. Waters ran foul with the blood of the slain.

It brought pain in his beloved wife's heart. So the emperor grew resolute. No more shall the humans be given such free reign. For the heartache that his spouse suffered, the humans would bleed. Raising his hand, he summoned his four great generals and set them upon man.

It was a massacre in the making. None of the generals held any love for the creatures known as man. Man was unprepared for the cruelty and might that the generals wrought upon them. By the time the humans grew wise enough to unite, their numbers were pitiful.

As reward for their success, the emperor gave portions of the territories to each general to rule as they wished. The might of the humans were forever kept in check.

Team NROM clapped at the performance. The actors had been engaging, the music enriching, and the illusions well done. All in the theatre were pleased, except for Rikuo.

Afterwards, the group shopped around until they decided to return to campus.

…

Jaune Arc walked with a slouched back. His stay here in Beacon hadn't gone exactly as he imagined. The courses were tough and the students tougher. Now he was being harassed by Cardin constantly. To rub salt in the wound, his team didn't believe that he had control of the situation. This all would pass over eventually.

Stopping by a pond, Jaune skipped stones across it as he contemplated his life. As he was preoccupied, a figure made its way towards him. "You seem to be having a bad time. I'm willing to lend an ear."

Turning around, Jaune was mystified by the beauty in front of him. She had long black hair that reached her back. A kindly but seductive smile was plastered on her face. A beautiful but simple black dress covered her form and fell just beneath her knees.

She looked astounding.

"I-I-I'm doing fine. It's just some things in my life suck. I don't belong in a place like Beacon."

He was surprised to receive a hug from the girl, "None of that. A handsome guy like you has a lot to offer."

The compliment made Jaune blush. It wasn't until later that he learned the girl's name was Alice. From then on, he would meet the girl many times in that week. Jaune found it amazing that his flirting was actually effective on Alice. But he didn't always flirt with her, a lot of time was spent just hanging out.

At the end of the week, Alice asked to speak to him about something. She looked flustered and shy. Cutely, she took him by the hand and led him to the deeper parts of Beacon academy surrounded by trees. It wasn't too far from the cliffs. "I wanted to show you something I think you'll find amazing", she declared huskily. Slowly she began to undo her top.

Jaune blushed and immediately turned around. He heard her giggle slightly.

"Come now, there's no need to be shy."

As she said that, Jaune was compelled to look. He could see her plentiful chest and was enamored. Despite his shock, he couldn't stop his body from reaching out to her.

He saw her smirking and a sense of dread overcame him. A bulge grew on her back and spider legs shot out! Her lower body took the form of a spider with a skull symbol planted on it. Her succulent lips had become mandibles that hissed at him.

Somehow, Jaune figured that she wasn't a Faunus. Screaming, he jumped away from her and tried to make a run for it. The spider woman was not going to allow that. She spat a wad of spider webs that tripped him.

Falling to a heap on the ground, Jaune leapt up and held up his sword shakily. With a feeble warrior cry, he dove at her with his blade. It bounced harmlessly off of her. His efforts only succeeded in making the woman giggle a nasty giggle. "Poor little Jaune, always the victim. And now you will die alone." Her voice was nothing but mocking towards the frightened teen.

As Jaune attempted to break away again, one of her legs shot out and slammed him in the side. He was blown right over the edge of the cliff. He could barely scream as he was sure his ribs had been broken. Barbs on the spider legs had pierced his flesh making gashes that bleed through his jacket. A monstrous shadow appeared before him and he saw the monster reaching him.

Two horrid legs pierced each of his arms and held him in place. He could feel every barb tearing apart his flesh as it wiggled slightly, no doubt to cause greater pain. Jaune hung there helplessly as his false companion stared at him with her multiple eyes. Slowly he eyed his surroundings and saw rows of spider webbed skeletons and knew that it was to be his own fate.

In desperation, Jaune flared his Aura and it did nothing. The wounds on his arms weren't healing a bit. The legs seemed to erode his very Aura. His actions brought forth a great glee from his predator. "Aura can't save you now. That's the oldest trick in the human book and everyone knows it. Get around Aura and the delicacy known as man is all for the taking." A course almost sharp tongue brushed against his face, sending shivers down his spine. "I just love the taste of cowardice and stupidity, Jaune. Tonight I dine on human stew."

With precision, the creature began to spin a web around his form. Throughout all this, Jaune could only whimper and think of all his regrets. He had so many of them. He failed his team and his family. How would they remember him? Probably as that jerk that wouldn't accept their help. The worst was with Pyrrha, she had offered support and he had become pigheaded. Honestly, this was what a loser like him deserved.

With a boom, Jaune was shot out of his web. A feminine figure held him by the collar as they crashed down into the ground. Jaune coughed to get the dirt out of his lungs as he looked at his liberator.

She was just as beautiful, if not more so, as Alice. The woman had long entrancing blonde hair that was tied in a bun and held in place by a hair ornament. Her kimono was luxurious looking and flamboyant. What really caught his attention was the jarring difference between her joking expressing and her hard eyes.

In her left hand was a fan which covered her mouth, in her right was a beautiful old fashioned handgun. The tip was still smoking.

Never looking away from the spider woman climbing down the cliff, she addressed him, "You're a lucky one, boy. I happened to be passing by, when all of a sudden I saw some poor sap about to eaten alive."

The spider woman reached them and hissed at the blonde woman for her interference. His savor looked smugly satisfied at giving her a bad time. She was so bold as to ignore the hissing and spoke to Jaune calmly, "Who's this horrid woman with no manners?"

"She said her name was Alice. Is she some kind of Grimm?"

Both snorted at that, Alice looked particularly offended. Jaune was grasped by the collar again as the blonde woman jumped away from the monster as it spat out a glob of acid. When it touch the ground, it ate right through it. Jaune sobbed softly.

"That, boy, is a Jorogumo, a spider monster. They typically target wet behind the ears males with their seductive female human forms. 'Alice' here wanted to devour you, and believe me you wouldn't have enjoyed it."

The Jorogumo sprang at them again, but the blonde woman shot the gun once more. This time a torrent of flames blasted out and had the spider woman screaming in agony. There was no mercy in the woman's eyes as the flames continued to devour the monster. She only stopped when the screaming did. On the ground was the charred carcass of the creature. Walking briskly, the woman seemed to take in some kind of energy that exuded from the body.

"Thank you", Jaune said with as much sincerity as he could.

"No need, kid. I got a lot out of it. I'm Julia, by the way. What were you doing out here?"

Filled with shame, Jaune began to tell her everything, from faking his way into Beacon to meeting Alice. It was almost like a confessional for the male Arc.

"Didn't exactly want your life story. But I'll tell you this. Your little confessions weren't that big a deal. You're an alright kid, but you're too caught up on yourself. Jaune, you aren't some tragic hero, just a bit of a bumbling idiot."

Jaune sank his head from the rebuke before he was smacked on the back of the head with a fan.

"Stop the pity party. It's not that big of a crisis sneaking into Beacon. Worse things have been done just to found the kingdoms. Just fess up to your team and work to be a better huntsmen in training. Kids make things so complicated. Get up, I'll patch you up."

After some burning medicine was put into his wounds, they felt a lot more tolerable, she then wrapped them in medical bandages.

When she was sure that he was properly cared for, she took out her gun and cocked it.

"What's with the gun?" Jaune questioned nervously.

"Oh, this? This is meant to beat the baby out of you. I have little patience to nurture you, but I figure I can make you like a weed, durable. If you don't take this seriously… you will die."

For the next five hours Jaune ran for his life. Every second was a battle for his continued existence. Professor Goodwitch had nothing on Julia's severity.

When he eventually met back with his group in their room, he fell face first into his bed. But despite his fatigue, he smiled happily in his sleep.

Outside of his dorm room, there no longer stood a woman. Instead a certain five tailed kitsune smirked. He was gone in a gust of wind and leaves.

…

In a torch lit chamber two monsters sat leisurely. The first was a woman who appeared in to be in her mid-twenties with tanned skin and light blonde hair. Across from her was a dark glob figure.

The tanned woman smirked with her fangs protruding, a goblet of human blood swirling between her fingers. Slowly she drunk from it, finding every bit of it delectable.

The glob monster formed a white bone mask to speak from, "The humans are growing rampant. I shall wipe them as I've done before." Its voice was an overlapping of multiple growls. Said growls made an eerie sing song tune.

"I'm going to have to ask you to push back your schedule a tad. I still need to horde some more provisions", the blonde vampire reasoned. "Every time you go on your human crusade, we vampires have to live off livestock until the population grows back."

"If you weren't such a staunch ally and friend, I would've wiped out the filth so much sooner."

"I can't understand why you're still so upset about the stupidity and aggressiveness of animals. It's silly to be so shook up by them, how could animals ever oppose their nature?"

The glob jiggled and responded, "It makes me feel sated."

The woman snorted and replied, "To each their own, I suppose." She took another sip of her drink, "Aura just makes the blood so much richer. It's a bit cool to the tongue, though. It's a shame we're going to have to ration off soon. My people's hunger has run human kingdoms to the ground before." Finishing the content of her cup, she stood up, "Let's take a nice relaxing walk. I believe there's a little village not too far from here that no one will miss."

Her companion shook her body in agreement.

Human beings were pinned to the walls of the chamber. Each of them pale from a lack of blood. Soon many others would meet their fate.

…

It was the dead of night and Team CRDN walked uneasily through the halls to their room. For the past hour they had searched for any faculty, staff, or students to no avail. The ticks of the clock rang sharply in the emptied halls.

Things were strange and their worry was beginning to grow to paranoia. In the window they saw the radiance of the moon.

A complete intact moon. Remnant's history had always included a fragmented moon, pieces floating just near the whole. It nearly overshadowed the fact that the sky was blood red.

Behind them they heard a ball bouncing against the title floor. Each of them turned around and saw nothing, but the sound of the ball came closer and closer. Nervously, they continued their path, albeit at a faster pace.

"I don't like this at all", Russel mumbled in fright.

"Be cool, we got this", Cardin said stubbornly.

Their bravado didn't prevent them from moving to a brisk walk. From the corner of their eyes, they saw the shadow of a little boy bouncing a ball. They released a sigh of relief. That was until the light flickered and the shadow was replaced by that of a giant fox, until the flickered again and it returned to that of a boy.

"Was I the only one who saw that?" Dove questioned as he pushed the others out of the way to get in the front.

They turned a corner and saw that the walls were filled with Grimm masks. Each of them had blood red eyes that wouldn't stop following them. Now the constant sound of the ball bouncing had disappeared. But a new figure was ahead of them.

"It's that freak, Naruto! This has to be his fault, somehow", Cardin didn't sound very sure.

Naruto began to shake as he turned around. Instead of his usual smirk, he had a fox head! "You ruined everything! How did you know I was but a beast!? HOW!"

"C-Calm down, we don't want any trouble", Cardin pleaded as his team backed up.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "I applaud you for seeing the truth. I am a beast, a monster, and you've ruined my guise through your sharp eyes. I didn't know that there were spiritually aware individuals in this academy." As Naruto walked towards them, his limbs grew large and furry. "You're a threat. Ones I must eliminate."

"You don't have to do this, we'll keep our mouths shu-", Sky began. But Naruto had no interests in words. He lunged at their throats.

They stumbled backwards and they got into a run. Tears ran down their faces as they realized that their weapons weren't on their persons. Alas, Cardin found himself pressed against the wall as the rest of his team found themselves under the heavy limbs of the fox monster.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at Cardin's as he spoke, "I curse you Cardin Winchester! You shall never again avert your eyes from the world hidden in the shadows. Let a peace of mind be forever out of your reach." Breaking out in a giggle, he stabbed the leader of CRDL through the chest with a flaming tail.

Cardin could only scream helplessly as the flames seared his very flesh, muscles, nerves and bones. The smell of burnt flesh invaded his nostrils. Painfully slow, a symbol of a whirlpool was etched into his very chest. Like that each of the four lost consciousness.

The hallway returned to its normal state. Only a five tailed kitsune remained as evidence to the events that just passed. Oska appeared through a door just behind the fallen forms of CRDL. She went to Naruto and picked him up. All the while he was snickering at the looks of horrors each bully had on their face.

That would show Cardin for ruining his ramen and bullying Jaune too. Jaune was definitely no less important than the ramen. Maybe.