Some semblances are oft crafted by the soul of the person, yet some are shaped by the experiences of their owner. In that case it can be either a blessing or a curse and for one Jaune Arc, when captured by the White Fang, he learns his Discompose certainly seems like the latter.

Pain is Merely a Touch Away.

By

Hibiki

Imagine you could have the rights to RWBY, but for the rest of your life, you would have to clean up every mess or problem created by every Rooster Teeth 'Million Dollars, But..." challenge accepted. Would it be worth it? Not for me.

RWBY is created by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Two: To disturb the composure of; agitate; perturb:

A Year and Five Months Ago.

Pain. He felt nothing but a pure agonizing wall of pain from his restrained arm down to the bloody mess that was his right hand. The appendage had been stabbed clean through the palm and deep into the wood of the chair in one horrible move. For a boy, who to be fair had been sheltered by his entire family, the continued act of the faunas named Adam and his entourage putting sewing needles into the joints of said hand produced his worst screams yet. It was the Bull's favorite act to do as of late for the group he was preforming his pièce de résistance for. He even had the recruits help by pushing the needles in further and around in said joints, getting a feel for the pain they could inflict on a human and for Adam to see their intent if they would be willing to go the distance.

Through the tears long since gathered in his eyes, Jaune could still make out all of the people around him. For the most part, the Grimm masked faunas seemed indifferent to it all, while others, the scary ones, seemed very entranced. There was a small percentage who could not take the image of the boy being tortured and were dismissed from his sight but not one of these 'unbelievers' ever spoke out against the tortures happening.

Not even the girl who had patched him up every day since it began. The cat faunas hiding just barely in the rim of his fading vision through beaten and blackened eyes. Jaune learned quickly never to ask her for anything, to never say her name in the Bulls presence. Adam didn't feel the human worthy of speaking to 'His Darling'. He also learned that the only reason the bull had not cut out his tongue for the supposed offense was he wanted Jaune's father to hear his son's screams on their daily recordings Adam sent his family

The screams grew worse as Adam took an evil looking pair of scissors and began trimming at his pinky finger, slivers at a time.

(-o0O0o-)

Present Day:

Jaune's hand had shook since they had arrived in Vale. He hadn't been around this many people in a year. Not since he and herself had fled the White Fang. Even Blake's usually calming presence and grasp was not helping the quickly overwhelmed young man and she had them quickly flee the main roads, until they came across a small cafe by the Valerian Harbor. She was proud of him though, despite his fear, he hadn't once had his semblance spike, even when the faunas waitress, a dark skinned panther, had served them. Despite him and his family saying they had no hatred of faunas, even after the horrible things done to Jaune, she felt silly even thinking they weren't truthful. It once again made her remember why she betrayed the Fang in saving this man.

It was his infinite capacity to care, no matter what happened to him, he never once stopped worrying about his family, about those his semblance could hurt, about her. Jaune was the living embodiment of caring. It was in his caring of her, even when he was at his most injured, that helped her realize that Adam wasn't the 'passion' she had assumed he was. No, it was through Jaune and his treatment by Adam and the others that she realized Adam was living just to 'spite' humanity. It was what made her realize that the White Fang and Adam himself had lost their way; and what had her awaken the man's Aura to save his life rather than let him continue to suffer due to her fear of the man she had thought she once loved. But she couldn't have known that despite Jaune's nature, due to him being been horribly hurt for months on end, that the pain had buried in so deep that it had become a solid part of him no matter how much he had tried to hide it, until it polluted his semblance into what it is. No matter what he, his family, even her own mother said, Blake Belladonna was the reason Jaune Arc had any darkness in him at all. So despite Jaune's willingness to forgive her, she owed him. But even further still, she had grown to care for him back.

It had started even as far back as when she had tried to staunch the blood from his wounds after he had tried pleading to her during his latest... session, talking to him to try and get him to focus on anything but the pain wrought from Adam's monstrous actions, Jaune got her to open up about herself. Things she hadn't even talked to Ilia about. Her hopes, her dreams. Those few moments when they were truly alone and could speak about their fears. It shook her to her core to learn his greatest wasn't dying. In those three months of hell, he had come to accept, and perhaps even secretly wish for, death. No, his greatest fear was leaving his family behind in pain because of him and Blake, his friend, in the clutches of a monster she was frighted of leaving.

It had been her breaking point. She couldn't take him hurting anymore, she was tired of hiding and cowering from Adam. She barely remembered taking him into her arms, so delirious from blood loss and the latest round of torture he didn't realize she was chanting what had come unbidden from her subconscious. His Aura sputtered to life, then roared a brilliant white that was sure to catch the guards attention. Part of her wondered if she hadn't doomed them both with such a flashy display when, to her horror, his Aura's color... changed. As his wounds began to close he began to shout and a burst of his now sickening red black Aura enveloped their camp around the old Sheriffs office. At first there were screams of alarm but they quickly turned into cries of pain. She gathered up Jaune, keeping Gambol Shroud out as she raced out of the cells and out of the building into the morning sun. What she found was pure bedlam. The White Fang members were all clutching at various parts of their bodies, some screaming their lungs out, others clawing at their flesh as if trying to remove something buried under the skin. Those with claws were well on their way to bleeding out in horribly gruesome fashions by the time the two stumbled past. The few still moving she later gathered were ones farthest from the initial blast of Jaune's semblance. Much to the two escapee's horror, Adam was one of them. The bull turned, clutching his hand as it shook in tandem to Jaune's, his masked face set in a rigor of anger and hurting. He began reaching for his blade.

(-o0O0o-)

Blake shook herself back into the present as Jaune looked on cautiously. She gave his hand a squeeze, and his partially uncovered face a smile to know she was alright. She glanced down at her scroll and sighed at the time before finishing her tea. Jaune's coffee was quickly downed and the two rushed off towards the transit center to Beacon.

"You do have your sick bag, right Jaune?" Fully covered as he was she couldn't help but laugh at the obvious deadpan expression he gave her. At her laugh all he could do was shake his head at her amusement to his expense.

"You do realize motion sickness is more common than you realize, right?" She gave a small laugh behind her hand, trying to keep from antagonizing him more before she couldn't resist another jab.

"Don't worry, your mom gave me extra just in case you forgot." His shoulders slumped as she giggled softly. Through his shades Jaune watched her with a warm secretive smile. He was glad she wasn't thinking back on those times. He hated not seeing that beautiful smile on her face.

(-o0O0o-)

The airship shifted beneath their feet as the disembarked from Vale to head to Beacon, and Jaune was suddenly glad his mother had packed extra sick bags. He carefully pulled down his face mask and silently took a bag from Blake's offering hand. If only he could use his aura control like most hunters could to control the rolling of his stomach. However every ounce of it was poured into keeping his semblance's second ability at bay. If he let even a touch slip through, he had no doubt that pain would kill everyone on board. It was enough to make him feel sick...er. BRLRG... He sped away from Blake, ignoring the hologram of some Goodwitch, stumbling past two girls talking right in the way to the trash can in the corner as he quickly filled up his sick bag to beyond capacity. Thankfully he made it to the trashcan with little splatter. That did not stop his ears from hearing the two girls shriek about vomit on their shoes.

"U-ugh... So... embarrassing." Blake was laughing again, he didn't need faunas hearing to know that.

(-o0O0o-)

Next Chapter: The Means to Destroy Capacity for Collected Thought or Decisive Action.

AN: If you haven't caught on the chapter names are hints to his Semblance and the definition of Discompose from various different sources. You also got a glimpse of the worst case scenario of Jaune's semblance in this story. However the real problem has yet to come about, the reasoning for his clothes as they are. A very short chapter but a could leaping off point. In a way we've gotten both of their sides of parts of what happened and some reasons for Jaune's more noticeable ticks.

REVIEWS:

bossbomb135: Thank you, I will try.

Banryuwielder244: Third person for the BARN/SYRN combo. While it's true having them separate does stink, it would give reason for the team and King of the North's reasoning for some good Weiss/Blake interaction to happen as Nora wouldn't allow being on a different team from Ren slow her down from being together, but not together-together, you know? It WOULD force the teams to connect similarly as they would in cannon. However I have a vague plan still due to Nora on why they would interact with their sister team. Not to mention Jaune needing some testosterone in his life, even if that source IS Ren the stoic monk. I think this set up for teams is probably going to be the set pattern.

Baron Bolt: Suspense hopefully. And another one for BARN/SYRN

BukkakeNoJutsu: Thanks!

KING IN THE N0RTH: That is actually a point I'm trying to keep hidden until a reveal here soon. Jaune doesn't like his semblance. Blake doesn't like his semblance. To Jaune it's a curse that he fears, for Blake it's guilt that she was the one who gave it to him. I also see your point about Weiss and Blake needing to be on the same team, that actually IS a good dynamic, character growth, and tension device when needed at times. The problem is... I have a way around those little tidbits through Nora and Jaune and more to the point and reason, the bloody team names which already have driven me mad in trying to find something that at least as apt as STRQ. I only managed those two options with BARN/SYRN or WYVN/BARL without having to resort to ripping apart other teams who are irritating 1D characters I dislike from the Beacon Arc or having to add in Ocs (I steer away from Ocs if I can help it now a days).

Guest: Barn and Siren is seems to be heading towards.