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 Five: Initiation in the Emerald Forest.
(-o0O0o-)
Sunlight filtered down onto her face as Blake awoke to the feeling of being enveloped in warmth and safety. She breathed deeply, allowing her body to stretch somewhat despite not daring to move from the safe warm spot. Opening her eyes slowly she found herself laying in bed with Jaune's soft breathing tickling her ears. She soon noticed sometime in the night they had entwined her left hand with his right. It she never really got to see the damage Adam and the others did to it, the slight maiming being one of the few things Jaune was still very skittish about.
While he still had most of his digits, the tell tell shortness due to his little finger missing most of it's distal phalanges, the incredible series of lattice work scars that all paled in comparison to the truly horrible looking dorsal to palmar scar that Adam opened daily for a week straight. At least until till Jaune's nerves couldn't hack the pain and he passed out from the mere touch of it, forcing the bull faunas to move on to more painful but untouched locations on Jaune's person. The man whose arms she now lay in hadn't been able to move that arm until weeks after his Aura had been awoken due to the amount of trauma it had endured and even now a year later, it was only when he was asleep and had taken her hand that she was able to see the true extent of her biggest failure. The last time she could remember even seeing it last was when they had first arrived at the Arc homestead and the near disastrous reunion.
(-o0O0o-)
Nickolas stood with his sword at the ready, the point of his long blade mere inches from the girl standing before his son as the boy hysterically called out to his mother. Juniper writhed on the ground surrounded by her daughters, the byproduct of her brief hug to her son. The golden eyed girl stood calmly despite the threat before her unarmed form, given she had thrown her weapons down in front of the Arc patriarch, hands in entreaty. The look in his eyes were of familiarity and for once, deserved hatred. Juniper cried out causing the Arc girls to react and the blade to inch closer to Blake's face.
Jaune's hand took hers moments later, grasping it tightly as he watched what his mere touch had done to his mother. She wanted nothing more than to turn and hold him from the pain she had seen coming as they traveled across Anima to return to Sanus. He was beyond determined to let his family know he was safe, and given his scroll probably was still with Adam only god knew what had been transmitted to the family. Blake only happily agreed to go with him, given the trust they had for one another. It perhaps seemed odd to most people, but for the two of them, it felt normal. The last two hard months of them running from the white fang to the western side of Anima, from Adam and his vengeance had worn the two of them down, made them latch on to each other in ways that they probably shouldn't have.
After learning what his semblance was and just how powerful yet dangerous it could be, it made them slide past settlements and people, past known areas of safety and into the unknown of the wilds where Grimm lurked. Out there, with only the two of them, where a single day was measured in remaining ammo and aura, they had little else outside of the knowledge the other would not let them down. As Jaune grew in strength from his ordeal, Gambol shroud's sheath blade became a welcome and familiar sight in his grasp. Where Blake had speed and stealth to dispatch foes, Jaune had power and wherewithal to hold and break the enemy.
Because of this and so many other reasons, she trusted him with her life. Was it odd that she should, given everything that had happened and the fact he was a human? Yes, and even more so for him to trust her, but they trusted one another all the same. From those moments where she patched his wounds, ignoring the bruises left by her ex-partner when she had spoken out against Jaune's treatment, to the two of them fighting off legions of Beowolves and some slightly more exotic grim, to fighting through raiders to which they learned the true destructive nature of Jaune's semblance; Jaune had been there for her in ways no one had in years, not since she had left her family and friends back in Menagerie. She had only hoped she had done the same for him. However in this moment she couldn't have felt more like she failed except when she learned of his imminent torment five months prior.
She had warned him, let him come to terms with his power, and he had understood her after seeing first hand the effects Discompose had on the bandits. Jaune knew to keep his distance. Sadly, Juniper had not and hadn't spared a moments thought to take him into her arms. Blake had been unable to stop it in time due to Nickolas' intervention of her.
"Please." The man's hatred seemed to fade noticing the growing distress on the faunas' face the longer Jaune cried out to his mother. "Please let me help him." Nickolas remained motionless, ready to strike for a few moments longer before the blade pulled back and Blake felt his gaze shift from attack to guarded. Blake threw him from her mind as she knelt and let her friend gather her in his arms. Juniper was finally responding to the girl's cries and her husband's hold of her person. Eventually the family calmed to the point words could be spoken once more.
"What happened to my wife? My son?" Blake and Jaune looked to each other, one worried and the other fearful but they nodded almost in unison. They were partners. No matter what, they would face it all, together.
(-o0O0o-)
Jaune's deep contented breathing came to a yawning end as he entered awoke, his muscles all flexing interestingly around her as he took in his surroundings with the practiced eyes of a hunter. It seemed not everything had been lost from their two months across the continents, even despite the comfy beds and easy meals he had gotten over this past year.
"That was a nice nap." He murmured, disturbing the quiet. Hearing the contentment in his voice was worth the loss of the slumberous mood.
"Yes." She turned and gazed up to him, as he looked down to her, amber eyes gazing into blue, and smiles soft and unguarded. She squeezed his hand, and to her happy surprise, he didn't pull away or change expression, merely gave her hand a gentle squeeze back. "Very nice."
(-o0O0o-)
Getting out of bed was slightly awkward for the both of them, given their waking positions but soon enough they had dressed and left the comfort of their dorm to head to the cafeteria for quick breakfast where they bemusedly listened to an energetic red haired girl's plans for her and her friend to stay together but not together-together as partners. They then headed to the locker rooms for their weapons. After saying hello to their young friend and her fiery tempered sister they found themselves stuck near their least favorite Schnee and a familiar spartan as Weiss tried to talk up Pyrrha into joining as her partner.
"-I think I'll just let the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha finally announced, shifting in place as if she were looking for a way out. Weiss seemed to take that as a yes and her face almost took on an demonic expression. Jaune took that moment to introduce his friends to one another.
"Blake, this is Pyrrha Nikos. Pyrrha, this is my dear friend, Blake Belladonna."
"Hello again Jaune, Blake." Pyrrha waved hello, her nerves at meeting new people seemingly odd to Blake given the almost celebrity status the Mistralian had.
"Likewise." Jaune seemed to laugh a little at her curt reply, causing the golden eyed female to pout at him. The look was cute enough that Pyrrha had to smile at the scene before the moment was wreaked by Weiss moving between them all.
"Hold on you two, do you know who you're talking so familiarly too?"
"Uh Pyrrha?" Jaune responded confused. Blake all but covered her face with her hand while Pyrrha seemed to take his reply in a very contented fashion.
"Pyrrha NIKOS. She graduated top of her class at Sanctum." Jaune looked more confused but Blake had a question.
"Did you not want to learn under a Faunas? I've heard that there are quite a few students who don't want to train with Professor Lionheart transfer from Haven to the other schools."
"Oh no! I've met headmaster Lionheart and he was a very nice man. However it was the act of him trying to entice me to go to Haven early that had me look to other schools." Pyrrha remarked, looking a bit unsettled by the thought of her having racist tendencies.
"Of course that isn't the reason, Pyrrha mentioned her hope for faunas equality after winning against faunas Chiro Dark for her fourth Mistral regional Tournament win!" Defended Weiss.
"Wow, given the Grimm me and Blake had to face through Anima, I know that Mistral Huntsmen are pretty powerful. That's quite an accomplishment." Pyrrha smiled bashfully at the praise.
"Blake and I, Jaune." Blake, however, corrected. Jaune made a face, hard thought it was for all but his friend to tell, at the monochromatic girl who merely gave a small self satisfied smirk in reply. Pyrrha took in the scene with comfortable laugh. Weiss seemed to have a problem with the open casualness the trio were having and gave a huff, waving her arms in the air before stomping off.
"Thank you for the compliment! It's better than being known for my Pumpkin Pete's sponsorship."
"Oh! My sisters love that one! I even have a hoodie from when I use to eat it. Sadly, Blake won't let me have the cereal anymore."
"It's not good for you." Blake snarked as she checked over Gambol Shroud.
"Haha, well... She's not wrong." Pyrrha conceded and the man just gave up, shrugging. He quickly reached for his locker as Professor Goodwitch's voice came over the schools PA system directing them to the cliffs.
"Alright Lady-killer, let's get this show on the road!" Yang remarked as she passed. Jaune deftly tightened Crocea Mors to his waist, glancing to his partner noticing her doing the same.
"Ready?" He asked cockily. She merely eye rolled and followed their friends out the door. Jaune caught himself admiring her walking before shaking the thought loose and followed.
(-o0O0o-)
Jaune and Blake made it to the platforms on the cliff last, putting them farthest from Weiss and Pyrrha in the collection of persons known to them but right besides Ruby and Yang. Jaune got his first closeup view of the headmaster, the man who was supposedly so knowledgeable about Aura and semblances that he could help aid him in mastering Discompose that he would one day be able to be around his family without the need of his coverings. The thought of being able to be normal again had him grinning and only vaguely paying attention to the headmaster's words, however when Miss Goodwitch stepped forward Jaune focused on her words as did Blake, the last time they spoke to the woman she had assumed something more of his and Bl-Of Blake and his relationship. Sheesh, even in his head he had his friend correcting his speech.
"Now, I am sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today." Ruby, just past Blake seemed to deflate at those words, Blake looked over at him, her bow cocking slightly as she thought about something. Ozpin continued.
"These teammates will be with you for the duration of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well with." It seemed Ruby was about to have an anxiety attack. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." What?!
"WHAT?" Ruby shrieked making the entire first year class look over to the shattered prodigy. Well that is except the two together who are not together-together-s.
"See! I told you!" She announced loudly, Ozpin continued as he gave instructions on what to do once landed and partnered up. It sounded a lot like the man who had come to their aid not long after leaving the Mistral hideout of the Fang, if only less drunk and sarcastic.
"Are there any questions?" Jaune had probably about a hundred of them, but one came to mind. Did all of that mean it wasn't certain Blake and he weren't going to be partnered up?
"Yeah. Um. Sir-"
"Good." Ozpin acted as if Jaune hadn't spoke, annoying both Jaune and Blake. "No take your positions."
"Sir." The catapults began firing off students down the line. "Sir I have a question."
"Yes, Mr. Arc?" Weiss was shot into the air, seconds later by Pyrrha. They had moments at most and it felt like Ozpin was just dragging things out, like he had all the time in the world.
"What about Blake and I, sir? We will be partnered together no matter what, right?"
"I wouldn't worry about that. If it's necessary, fate has a tendency to do what needs to be done to make it happen." The heavily covered man sweated at hearing the rather... unenthusiastic reply. The hammer wielder flew off in a yip of glee followed by her mostly silent companion.
"Please tell me that isn't how you plan on teaching me to control my semblance."
"Oh no Mr. Arc, should you and Ms. Belladonna pass this test I will be teaching you everything you need to know as my time permits." Yang shot off with a wink to her sister.
"Time permits?!" Blake nearly spat out. "Jaune and I risked everything coming here for a maybe and ' As my time permits'!?" She nearly jumped off the platform but was caught off guard when the device went off, flinging her away from the object of her ire. The golden brown eyes of the headmaster took in the clothed man before him.
"Take heed Mr. Arc. This isn't just a test for your application, this is also a test of your resolve. Do not disappoint." With that Jaune was flung away from the man.
(-o0O0o-)
Jaune squinted against the spinning dance of sun and wind that did little to help him right himself. Popping the shield of Crocea Mors had helped him from rotating, but only slightly in the flipping department. Without Blake's fancy ribbons or a high impact sniper rifle scythe, all he could do was spin until something hit him to cancel out the nauseating motion. What worrying bit he could make out, that something would be coming soon as green was overtaking his glimpses of the world. Jaune let some of his aura out, as much as he dared and readied for a hard, painful landing. It was at the moment he braced when an all too familiar shape came flying in and wrapped around his shield arm. Instinctively he pulled against the tug, righting himself. He noticed Blake had used the rest of Gambol Shroud to pull the herself and him towards each other while they still fell. His hand reached for hers, smirking slightly.
"Can't stay away, huh Blake?" Blake probably would have rolled her eyes had they not widened in shock.
"Watch out!" A distant familiar voice called out and Jaune watched as Blake pulled the ribbon, trying to move him from a bronze and red blur that struck his arm, thankfully his Aura kept the blade at bay from his skin but to his horror the weapon sliced his shirt from forearm to shoulder, shredding his protective layer and severing the ribbon holding him and Blake together. The javelin struck home into a tree, ripping the captured sleeve further and holding him awkwardly with only a few strips of the heavy fabric keeping him from the ground. "I'm sorry! Are you alright!?"
"I'm okay!" He looked around, desperate. "Blake, Blake you okay?" Hearing no reply, Jaune threw caution to the wind and pulled taught on the fabric holding him to the tree. It took a few moments, moments he didn't have, to pull himself free of the javelin and drop to the forest floor. "Blake!?" He called out again. The world seemed to grow darker, the heaviness in the air more prevalent. Rustling in the leaves near him drew his attention to the underbrush before him and the form slipping through the leaves. It definately was not one he wanted to see.
The red glowing eyes stood contrast to the bone white armor juxtapose against black fur of a Grimm, an Ursa Major to be exact. It roared in challenge as he made ready Crocea Mors.
(-o0O0o-)
Next Chapter: The Fight to the Relics
AN: This took more effort once again to come out, been a long crappy week at work, with my friend's mom fading out; her husband, a co-worker and fellow friend of mine has been late, distracted, and generally less focused and I've had to compensate for that and basically finished becoming the new shipping department in addition to every other role I had to take over due to people being shuttled to alternate locations at inopportune moments, the crap thrust upon me previously because I was good at it, and/or at least one person being sick this week every damn day. We need to hire more people or we need the people we got to actually work/show up because the one man show needs to stop or the one man show need to get a pay raise.
Once again this didn't follow the path I thought, but in the end I like where it DID go, even somewhere I feel like it was in relation to some reviews I got. Which I don't like doing that but I will say the reviews gave me ideas or at least made me think in directions I had considered but deemed non vital until brought up as they were.
Reviews:
Mo Eazy: Thank you for the interest and kind words. I've come a long way since my young writer days. It took me a day or two to realize what dock scene you were talking about. True. We'll see. I had an idea of how to do the flash backs as part of the story. They will be popping up next chapter so hope my idea works out.
That IS a valid point. However I feel like Ozpin has put others to risk with scary semblances before. I mean the most obvious one I can think of is Qrow. A little bad luck isn't going to kill you, but a lot of bad luck and your just asking for it. Part of me wonders if the reason Summer didn't come home might have been due to a unlucky moment. It might explain Tai's disinterest in having Qrow around more than the obvious 'Don't tell my baby girls anything.' dad moment. Of course Ozpin always the pawn master might see what Salem and Cinder see, a potential powerhouse to be used against the enemy. To get the piece into his own court he could have decided, might have been worth the risk.
Atrium, city, airship, you name it Jaune has the potential to cause untold damage. Think of him as the Manhattan project. However why he was allowed to come, despite the issue should become rapidly clear as the story progresses.
I've well... tried to read some stories that I couldn't stomach because Jaune was a Gary Stu or you had to suspend belief to the point the story was unrecognizable from the canon beyond the names occasionally used are the ones from RWBY. I'm trying to keep that from happening, but sadly with the fluctuating story in RWBY being a little hazy at the best of times it's hard to tack down where too far is. I'll keep going, hopefully remaining interesting, but thank you for your interest, your viewing suggestion, and concerns.
Guest #2: Jaune isn't completely okay and hunky dory after everything that has happened to him for certain. Only more time and exposition will tell if what you and a few others have been implying is correct.
If Blake seems to have the feel that she needs to be wanted and important I'm probably not doing her justice. This Blake feels very guilty about what has happened to Jaune. This is the disillusioned and fearful Blake we see pretty much after Volume 3, the one who because of action or inaction (in this case) has caused someone harm. However her sense of justice, the one that had kicked in at the end of V.4 has pushed passed her comfort zone, forcing her hand and need to escape the White Fang a whole year before the normal start of RWBY and the Black trailer.
As for your other question, in a way Blake is the one who captured Jaune, who she gave to others to give to Adam. However to her, he was a momentary way of escaping a sticky situation, and would/should have been set free once their goal was done. However with Adam taking his anger of Humanity out on Jaune, it's her own guilt at letting a person cause pain to another that is talking, the same guilt we see in V3/4 as she worried about Sun and Yang and the others due to Adam's promise from the battle during V3's end. In PMTA we can see what would happen if Adam got a hold of the members of Canon RWBY in the form of what he did to Jaune. It's not pretty and falls in line to what I feel should have been the accurate depiction of Adam given Blake's overwhelming fear of the man we see from V3, not that sad easily defeated punk at the end of V5 made him out to be. He was so good at being bad in the early volumes, did sitting on Sienna's throne make you lazy a-hole?!
Blake's fate also isn't so black and white, no matter canon or this fan fiction. In this fiction there has been a whole year of trial and errors between the Arcs and our little miss ex-terrorist that they have had to go through and get over. Even if there was problems, and trust me there would have been, the fact that at this moment Jaune needs Blake to keep from insanity/being dehumanized, and that given time Blake would make some headway with them. Given Jaune's nature I also feel he must have gotten that from somewhere and perhaps that also plays a part. If it doesn't oh well this is fan fiction after all.
I hoped that I don't need to write out all of that story arc, because I worry about my feet going over themselves or catch myself in a cause and effect overly complicated make it fit action/reaction mode. It's hard enough to justify how the actual series let her run around. I do try and keep a more realistic approach, but some things are just a bit out of whack to me in the canon story and that's hard to be realistic about them, especially in a world of super powered huntsman with mecha-shifting weapons and mystical soul powers fighting creatures of nightmare.
Iron-slayer-dragon: Glad to hear and also glad to see a fellow acolyte of the Knightshade.
X3runner: I'll split up my response in three parts. In a lot of my reading I always see a trend of leaning towards one direction. Happy or Anguish, light or dark, too much of one and nothing of the other till you are over saturated with that emotion or thought process. Here I have Jaune be Jaune but at the same time he isn't the bumbling goofball dork we either loved or hated in V1. This is a jaded human, who enjoys the happy moments when they rarely come up and prepares for the worst, because he knows the depth of some peoples depravity. Given Jaune's pretty self sacrificing nature in canon I too can see Jaune trying to find a way to make a person who in his eyes has sacrificed everything she had for his survival happy in whatever way he can.
Blake never really lost her insecurities until the last three minutes of V4, they were just hidden under the layers of normal teenager behavior. She had assumed she was free to be a teen girl and look a cute boys, and hang out with her friends, that she was free to not be the ex-terrorist 24/7... until she learned she was wrong. V3's later half drove that home, she was still reeling from that blow in V4 and in V5 we see her take the first steps towards reconciliation. So yes, Blake is a flawed person, but they also have the most story you can work with. As are most who are complex characters you can expect them to go one path but it isn't always certain. Blake is a skittish kitty, wanting to trust and love but always weary of the hand that feeds. So for the moment this is as far as she is willing to go. Trust Jaune with her life yes, with her heart? Only time will tell.
Sun's faunas fixation does seem very pushed upon by the CRWBY, and to be fair, Black Sun isn't my favorite pairing at all for my Kitten. The fact right now Blake would probably be less content to sit by and watch WF support continue after everything that happened to both Jaune and herself is telling. As for Salem, wait and see. We've had enough time with her to have a good idea what a man capable of ruining rational thought in a swirl of negative emotions could do to a city would mean.
Redwolf23456: Thanks
Eramis8: I'm glad you like it.
Disturbed911: Glad you enjoyed the chapter, yeah it seems people are blinking out around me right and left. My friend's mom has probably finally passed on by this point though she has surpassed the doctors expectations if only by days, and thankfully peacefully and painlessly in her sleep.
I see potential in BARN. Don't sell yourself short, if you don't write you never know. For years I didn't until I just couldn't wait for someone to write what I wanted to see and the ideas kept bubbling up so I took the plunge. That was Ranma½ fictions followed shortly by Evangelion fan fiction WAAAY back. Looking back at those writing is painful to say the least, given some of those are fifteen years old I think? I was a different person then. I actually have one I never put into digital form in several notebooks I was writing in high school, when FFdotNet didn't even exist. In ways it had inspiration for several of my Naruto stories but also shows I always had the desire to write emotionally driven character based stories and not look at this, he did this, he smack that; action styled stories.
Guest #1: Thank you Guest, and also thank you for catching that grammatical error in my blurb. All chapters and story summary have been fixed.
BukkakeNoJutsu: Hope it stays awesome, thanks for reading.
Furor Umbras: Thanks, trying.
TheXIIIth: There comes a point where mental pain cannot be differentiated from real physical pain. This power blurs that line. If you think the White Fang got it bad just imagine the the raiders. I'm glad you like the Knightshade moments.