Chapter 1: It starts with Death
"-une! Jau-!" A worried maiden's voice rang out. "Jaune! Wake up!"
A hitched breath interrupted the noise. A young man's eyes fluttered open. A white blur encompassed the boy's vision. He didn't know many people with such a bright, snowy color scheme, so he quickly deduced who was in front of him.
Weakly, he greeted the girl in white. "F-Feels nice to be woken up by you, Snow A-hack!" The pain of a thousand blades stabbed his left arm. "AAAAAARGH!" The boy convulsed wildly, yet his left side was restrained. Amid his struggle, he stared at what held him down.
Cocrea Mors, his sword, laid at his feet. His left arm buried in ice. His broken breastplate discarded by the wayside. And his Pumpkin Pete Hoodie torn off at the chest in favor of examining the wound covered up in the very ice he was partially trapped in. It was without a doubt confusing as to why he was contained like this.
"W-Wha?" The strange sight momentarily took his focus off the pain. When it finally registered, the stabbing sensation was accompanied by the perception of being burned. His right hand reached for his ice-encased left shoulder as if to claw out the source of his pain. Spittle spewed sporadically from the corners of his mouth as he did his best to restrain his pain.
"Jaune! Stop that!" The girl commanded. "I'm doing this to stop whatever is happening to you!"
His heart raced uncontrollably. His breaths were labored and hasty. Noticeable beads of sweat cascaded down his forehead like a waterfall. The girl cringed with each violent convulsion Jaune displayed as if he were a man possessed by a Geist.
Her ears caught the sound of a collision. Frost fell from above and dusted the pair.
She glanced at her surroundings. Crystalline walls of ice encompassed the pair. Sturdy and as thick as an Atlesian military battleship's hull, the ice shook against a myriad of impacts from the outside. Muffled growls, screeches, and roars invaded their icy sanctum.
Trapped and with no escape, the girl gritted her teeth in frustration. She wondered where it all went wrong. She wondered if there was a way out of this. And most of all, she wondered if the young man next to her would even be-
"I-It's gotta be from that-ngh! That strange King Taijitu, right?!" Jaune asked. "Do you think it's some form of venom, Weiss?"
The snow-themed girl was knocked out of her snowballing negative train of thought. A reminder of that giant serpent was one thing she didn't need at the moment. Those black scales and ethereal yellow glow unsettled her to no end. Not to mention it barreled through the blond's armor as if it weren't there. She eyed his shoulder, where a hole resided beneath the ice.
Another bash rumbled from the icy wall.
Her body was rigid. Despite that, she had full confidence that the walls would hold long enough. Thus, she responded to the blond. "First of all, normal venomous animals lose the need for venom the bigger they are." She shut down that theory instantly. "There's no point if your prey is going to die by fang on impact."
The blond cringed at her bluntness. His pain spiked once more as he recoiled and craned his neck backward. It took a few seconds, but the pain subsided. "T-That so…? Then why is everything on my left arm feeling like it wants to boil off, Weiss?"
She turned away as if ashamed, and muttered, "...There's a first to everything."
Another bout of pain introduced itself. "HRgKKah!" He did his best to stifle his incessant noise. Where spit came out before, blood replaced it. Red dripped from the corners of his mouth as he bit into his lower lip. He covered his left eye with his empty right hand. His right leg flailed violently and uselessly.
Weiss took a closer look at her companion. Parts of Jaune's hair lost their blond sheen. Ash white strands weaved in between his cradling fingers, which tried to dig deep into his skull. Lower down his face, patches of black crept up his neck. His breaths became even more labored and haggard. His body continued its displays of mini aftershocks of convulsions despite being restrained in one half of his body.
Weiss shook at the implication before her. Her right hand clutched her left wrist, which had already grasped the handle of her rapier. Her sword hand refused to remain still. For that, tears welled up in the maiden's eyes. It wasn't venom that took hold of the Arc boy. Venom and eventual death would be the Younger Brother's blessing at this point.
In front of her was something far more sinister. Despite her restraints, she could not bind the atmosphere of chaos and corruption she felt in the air. Neither could she stifle her instinct to crawl away at the waking of some beast that took hold of the blond.
"J-Jaune…" She whispered shakily and fearfully. Her blade shook wildly despite being thoroughly restrained by her right hand. "D-Do you know what's happening to you?" The frequency of the impacts increased. So too did their volume.
"I… rgh. I have an… idea of what's going on!" He admitted. He not so subtly glanced over the girl's rapier. "Question is, do you think… you could pull it off, Weiss?" He lowered his right hand and stared at her with mismatched eyes: one being his normal sky blue, the other a… Grimm's blood-red eye. The immediate area around his left eye was a corrosive or charred black. And from what Weiss could gather from the facial transformation, she was sure his left arm underwent its change.
Frost showered over the pair heavily in response to a harder attack against the ice.
Weiss didn't respond. She knew her basic job as a Huntress was to eliminate the Grimm. Yet she wasn't so naive to think her time in combat would only be solely for use against the soulless creatures either. Why else did Beacon waste time teaching the students with impractical combat exercises against each other If it was supposed to be used against Grimm? Despite this knowledge, to cut down a life originally not Grimm nor irredeemably cruel…
"I don't think… I don't know if I can." Weiss replied weakly. "Creatures of Grimm are easier to kill, but your life is a whole different matter!"
Jaune shuddered. Shakily, he said, "You have to." He grasped the blade of the rapier and guided it to his heart. "Look… you're stUCk! Hng..rk! You're stuck here with me. You're low on Dust; maybe enough for a final hurrah, but that's it. And for sure, you… you don't have enough left in you to fight. If you and I are thinking the same thing, you'll… you'll defi-Ngh! Definitely die!"
"I'll still be trapped in here regardless!" Weiss argued back. "I'll be here, stewing in my regret, with these crumbling walls around me." Frustrated, she shouted, "You treating yourself like you're the source of the problem doesn't help us!"
Jaune winced. She was right. Who was he kidding? The majority of the time, she was right. Her killing him would only stir her fear into a cacophony of negative emotions. They were already stuck in this ice pillar. Weiss would only brew even more negativity in the wake of assisted suicide. It would signal the Grimm not already here as if she were a flare and she'd die alongside him. Just later than he would.
He grimaced as he faced the facts. He glanced her way; his eyes heavy from exhaustion. "So what now?" He asked weakly. "We can't… call for help. Ngh! No Sgrk-signal…"
She shook her head. "I don't know." She punched the ground. "I don't know, and it's so infuriating!" The walls were bashed on all sides, their impact resembled a synchronized percussion group.
The pair locked eyes for a moment. The maiden turned away; ashamed that she couldn't do more. The young man kept his gaze. However, the latter of the two wavered eventually.
He looked at his chest, bare against the ice that held him. At the edges of torn fabric, corruption emerged and snaked towards his right shoulder. His breath hitched in alarm. "Weiss… Can you trust me?" He watched her glance up at him.
His right hand balled into a white-knuckled fist. His right heel anchored itself into the soil. That dorky face contorted between worry and fury; whatever humanity left inside the blond was being eaten away with each transition between expressions. His already ragged breathing gradually sneaked snarls.
Her flawless hair, like that of a frozen waterfall, was something he wanted to tarnish -to tear out from that pretty little head of hers. He imagined her voice belting out a terrorized scream; how euphoric would it be to indulge in her fear? That tiny body of hers would be so delectable to break into pieces. Even if her body wasn't something she was proud of, it would be all the more wonderful to dine on her agony. That pale complexion of hers, already sullied by dirt and that battle scar…
He desired to vandalize it further.
He ground his teeth together and loathed how his mind thought of these things. It was degrading. Monstrous. It was too late for him! For he'd begun to see her as someone to kill.
With a firm gaze set upon the maiden, he said, "Don't wAste… more timE. Nip it right in the bud, this pain, this AGONY, this curse, WEISS! I don't want to turn into those things! Right to the end… I want to die AS JAUNE ARC!"
Weiss sat on Jaune's lap. Her hands grasped the handle of Myrtenaster, her rapier, above her head. Its point was directed straight to the blond's heart. She quivered at the thought of murdering him to save him from future madness. The choice was difficult to say the least. As annoying as she found him to be with his unwarranted advances, she didn't wish this fate on anyone. But as it stood, Weiss could see acceptance in Jaune's eyes. A look of understanding that no matter what, he wouldn't live past this day. "Very well... I'll honor the request. Anything else, Arc?"
He exhaled from his nose. He refused to let go of his white-knuckled fist. Jaune looked to the icy ceiling in thought. Each second that passed, Weiss watched the black, malevolent...thing encroach on the young man's skin. Each second, her resolve wavered out of fear. That very fear made the corruption dance across his skin as if it were Grimm.
"Sing to me."
Weiss was taken aback by the request. She was completely distracted by his condition that his request was nearly unheard. "S-Sing?!" She repeated.
He nodded weakly. "I...could use a FUneraL song, y-yeAh?" He tried to pass it off as something humorous. Obviously, this wasn't the time nor the place for it. When he didn't get a typical reaction, he simply said, "I'd rather hear your voice rather-grk! I don't wanna hear your tears and see your fears, Weiss."
"...You dolt." She whispered. Weiss closed her eyes to the sight before her. She shakily took a breath to compose herself. She emptied her mind, and let her emotions flow.
O your smile is tarnished and your face is cold
There's no more comfort in your lips and cheeks
The whirling noise is pulling me into the fold
Of the tainted carcass of this world.
Jaune grimaced at the lyrics. The serenity in the maiden's voice was as he imagined an angel would have. Yet the words she expelled contained the entire arsenal of heaven with how she described him at this moment. Each line dug a fictitious knife down his heart before Myrtenaster could pierce him. He already imagined how she would envision this scene in the future by those very words she sang.
All the incandescent stars of heaven
Will die at the end of days,
Your gentle soul is given to damnation!
Her grip tightened as she continued to sing. Her body moved as if swayed by her voice. Her gaze, sharper than the steel she bore, clashed against Jaune's wavering orbs. She readjusted her blade, which was raised above her head. The tip of her weapon touched skin and drew the first instance of blood. She took a deep breath and continued.
"Crimson moon shines upon a town smeared in blood…"
Cried the diva given into lament.
All those sweet little dreams buried deep
In memories until the very end.
The ice shuddered with thundering noise. The endless onslaught outside their icy fortress let out a chorus of crackles. The pair, ready to end this once and for all, were broken out of concentration. The intruder broke through her walls with a heavy fist. The one that breached was simian in appearance; A Beringel, she concluded. In response to a powerful foe, she froze the arm that entered their sanctum to keep it right where she could see it.
Behind her, a chunk was carved out by the pincers of an immature Deathstalker. She wasted even more of her Freeze dust to partially trap it as well. The two trapped creatures were of like minds and decided to push forward with the intent to collapse the walls from both ends.
Meanwhile, Jaune growled involuntarily. Weiss' determination mingled with desperation. Her song was of lament, and so her mood reflected it. Despite that, she was defiant; she wanted a last stand. She would grieve for not one, but two lives that night.
It was a decadent sight. Her turmoil brewed a whirlpool of negative emotions that only stirred his monster into a near frenzy! He wanted to be free of this madness, but he or rather the thing eating away at him wanted an embrace. Desired an acceptance of the inevitable.
Will you persevere, child who bears Juno's Scale?
'I will!' Jaune responded to the disembodied voice. He denied his monster's everything but the power. And that power burned away at his fatigue and pain. It reinvigorated him. 'If I'm going to be like them, then I'll make use of their stupid strength for as long as I could hold out!' He defiantly thought amidst the urge to raze everything that resembled humanity and their creations. He broke his icy prison in time to catch the Beringel's arm with his left hand as it breached once more.
The black corrosion appeared to have a distinct pattern. Lines of white scribed against his blackened arm resembled the pattern of that serpent that wounded him. Some sections resembled stylized chainmail. Nevertheless, its reptilian appearance was welcomed for he grew claws on his nails, and with it, he clamped down on the Beringel's wrist like a vice. A sickening crunch reached his ears as his fingers dug into its flesh.
His right palm touched the gorilla-like Grimm's chest. A surge of energy welled up inside him not resembling Aura. He let it flow into his right arm and released it into a concentrated burst.
Lightning erupted from the Beringel's back and pierced through the horde of myriad Grimm like a holy spearhead in flight. Thunder boomed shortly.
He didn't have the luxury of indulging time to be in awe of this ability and moved on to the next big threat. He retrieved Cocrea Mors and desired that unholy energy once more. "Get down, Weiss!" He ordered with primal force behind his words. She complied with some delay to her movement. He called to his mind an image of a shield in front of him, and not even a blink later, a circular glyph of white lightning answered his call. With a mighty leap into the fray, he charged and broke through the ice wall. Out of that tomb of ice, there he realized just how outnumbered they were.
The horizon was blotted in a sea of glowing red eyes.
Lightning bolts branched out of the edge of the glyph and struck the unfortunate ones who were close enough to try and capitalize off the weakness of the ice dome. They were fried in an instant as the chorus of a thousand chirping birds signified their doom. Those who survived were forced to respect his power and back away.
His main target, the Deathstalker, shielded itself with both its pincers. Its stinger attempted to counter but was met with electrifying resistance. The sheer voltage feeding into the giant scorpion's body paralyzed it. The rigid defensive form crumbled with time as the electricity continued to maintain it in a paralyzing state. Eventually, its pincers gave way for his finishing blow. He gathered the glyph's electrical energy and shoved it into his blade. With a spinning flourish, he cleaved the Grimm in two.
Heaven's blinding blade lingered in between the disintegrating body before it surged outward like a wave. Those behind the giant scorpion were wiped out without a trace. Thunder hammered the eardrums of those who remained in the battlefield.
But that did not deter.
Not even a second later, a Beowolf in the treetops pounced above him. He deftly swung his sword upwards. It met the same fate as the Deathstalker: bisected perfectly down the middle.
He took a glance behind him and saw Weiss make use of whatever Dust she had left to raze the area of the small fries. Each move of Myrtenaster wasted the last of her Dust. Stiff in movement, there were a few close calls. Despite that, she moved as fast as she could. Augmented by her glyphs, the lingering powders were used to its maximum efficiency even with the limited amount she had left. With her glyphs, she pushed blades of wind against the horde; a shower of decaying limbs and debris were all that was left of the section to her left. She stabbed the ground to her right side, and spears of rock rocketed off the earth and impaled all that met the tips. She did all she could to keep them away. She knew that if they engaged in sword range, she was done for.
Despite this burdening knowledge, she continued her song between each pause of attacks.
Lost and faded truth of bygone days,
She stepped back from a swift swipe from an Ursa minor's claws. She countered with an equally speedy lunge aimed at its head. Afterwards, she slammed her right hand down onto the earth. A black glyph sent her upwards to avoid a rolling charge from a Boarbatusk.
"Behind you!" She warned.
The blond swung Cocrea Mors behind him. Lightning infused steel cleaved the oncoming threat with ease. An arc of blinding white lightning showed the trail of his strike.
"Thanks!" He replied as he completed his spinning attack. The blond turned to the horde he originally faced and sent a lance of white death directly in front of him and fried a line of Grimm. Many attempted evasion, but the lightning spear branched out and charred the soulless beasts. Weiss landed behind him and summoned another black glyph in front of her and stopped the lunging heads of a King Taijitu.
Hidden deep in my corrupt body.
"Switch!" He ordered as he came from her right side. The maiden went with the flow and took his spot. She sent her blade forward into the open maws of a Beowulf. At the same time, the blond decapitated the twin-headed serpent via a hammering swing. With both heads out of commission, the Grimm dispersed into nothingness.
"Rotate!" Weiss ordered back. Without confirmation, the pair flowed into the previous pattern and dispatched their own Grimm.
I can hear the voices of the people I miss in this final melody,
I would tremble just to hold them once more!
She swung her sword down in front of her like a maestro of a symphony, and fire shot from the tip. It raced across the ground as if it actively sought a target. When it reached its destination underneath a group of Ursae, it spun and exploded like a twister of flame. Embers launched like arrow bolts to further stain the field with destruction. She took out from her back pouch the last of her speed loaders; she was officially out of options once that ran out. The elements flew from the tip of her rapier.
"Florid moon shines upon a world that is doomed to die…"
Wailed the diva given into lament.
All our pale, fleeting dreams are where the truths lie
Until they fade in the end.
"Leave the rest to me." The blond said.
"There's too many, Jaune!" Weiss protested.
"Watch me." Jaune's monster continued to revel in Weiss' actions. Her unceasing performance allowed it to gorge on more and more of what made its host. Trained swings became wilder, stronger, and instinctual. The bestial strikes became frenzied flurries that swung at anything in from of him. And the longer this battle took, the more it consumed the identity of Jaune Arc. The blond felt his control slip as it grew in power. If lightning poured out from his palms before, it oozed out of his body as if he became Heaven's lance as he trekked across the battlefield in the near blink of an eye.
His price for power, his desire to save her…
Became a catalyst for his self-destruction.
He was a lightning storm that devastated the land and skies. Every Grimm that met his sword was torn like paper. Resistance against him was futile. The Grimm knew it. But they couldn't get away in time the moment they grew a brain to realize that they were outmatched. Charred, dismembered limbs scattered in the air with each white streak that scarred the land. All the while, thunder became a constant beat that accompanied his assault. When he cleared the last of the horde, he completely stopped dead in his tracks.
He observed his surroundings. If it was a sea of red eyes before, then he drained the ocean and made it a barren desert. The trees and hills were not spared from his wrath. He shuddered internally at this mere taste of power. Power that he'd eventually lose control over shortly. Lightning poured out of him and arced in such a way that it looked like wings sprouted from his body. He slumped his shoulders, but the wing-shaped lightning flared out defiantly.
You've done well to last this long. Commendable. Though this is the end of the line.
'So be it…' He bitterly responded. The last of his resistance was all used up to save Weiss against the horde. Without it, nothing was saving her from his monster. "...I'm sorry, Weiss." He whispered.
The white maiden continued to sing. She lowered her rapier. The last of her breath was dedicated to ending this funeral song meant for them both.
"Crimson moon shines upon a town smeared in blood…"
Cried the diva given into lament.
He ran towards her with his newly gained superhuman speed. The distracted girl wouldn't know when her life would end. The fading boy would never know how his body would strike her down. It was mercy.
But something kept Jaune's mind lingering a little longer. That miniature speck where he wrested control from his monster changed everything. The boy, who was ready to give up, didn't for a simple, selfish reason:
He wanted to hear the end of her melody. As dizzying of a reason as it is, it made his body's attacking form change. He dropped his sword to prolong her life. He called her and said to finish it.
The snow angel obliged and twirled her body to face him head-on. When she did face him, she did so with Myrtenaster leading the way into his unguarded chest. The pair fell to their knees. No resistance came between her blade and his heart.
The same could be said for the sadness that pierced through her icy heart. The final lines of the song came in a whisper told to his ears.
All those sweet little dreams buried deep
In memories until the very end.
"...As beautiful as the first song I heard you sing." He whispered before coughing blood on her white jacket. His corrupted vision receded into normalcy. The black corruption on his skin slowly dissolved away as well. The fog of destruction in his mind cleared up. "Sorry... that you had to go through this."
Tears welled up in the Heiress' eyes as she replied, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you, Jaune."
Inwardly, he was happy she called him by his name. Unfortunately, there was no time to focus on that. "You... ended this torture." He whispered. "It's all I could ask for..."
He was free.
He rested his chin at the crook of her neck. A gentle embrace wrapped around the girl's tiny frame. There, he drew his last breath. Thunder was his gun salute. The remnant of his corruption lingered at the back of his left hand. And before it could completely eroded, the snowflake emblem of the Schnee family branded itself in brilliant boisterous white.
Her words of farewell were drowned in the symphony of thunder.
And done. Hi everyone. Thanks for stopping by for reading this. The song Weiss sang is the English translation of Houkai Sekai no Utahime from Honkai Impact 3. And for you fellow gamers of the fighting genre, you know the inspiration I've injected into Jaune. Not lore accurate by any means, but adapted and tweaked to fit the world of Remnant.
Anyways, have a nice day!