All for One, One for All
Part 2: Heroes United
Chapter 8: Coming of Age… Of Sorts
Jaune was well aware that his voice was too high to be manly. He figured it had something to do with Sentinel and he being separate entities for so long, maybe even being so young when he first went 'Centurion mode', as dubbed by Nora. He honestly had no clue what caused it; all he really knew was that it was embarrassing him now. Especially since his voice was starting to crack now. He was starting to sound like a broken whistle now, which was embarrassing enough for someone as old as he was, even more so that he was about to turn 18. The fact that he wasn't willing to speak made it worse, since people like Cardin Winchester used that to their advantage.
"C'mon, Jauney-boy," Cardin teased him in the arena as he usually did. "Aren't you gonna fight back? Or are you too weak to even talk back?"
Despite all the menacing words and blows he took, Jaune refused to give Cardin what he wanted; if he did, he was afraid Cardin would be incapacitated for an indeterminable amount of time, if not sent to the morgue. Neither of those two options was viable in the blond's eyes, so he kept quiet and refused to show his true strength. A mistake it may have been, but if it meant keeping a fellow student alive, he was going to take the risk.
"Suit yourself," Cardin chuckled as he hefted his mace once more and ended the battle right there. Despite having a massive Aura reserve, Jaune kept his lower than what would be considered 'normal' so as to make it easier for opponents to defeat him; with Cardin's weapon being so powerful, he was wiped out in one hit.
The lights in the arena turned back on. Goodwitch stepped on to the stage.
"And that's the match," she announced. "As you can see once more, Mister Arc put up no defense against Cardin's offensive.
"Mr. Arc, if you would please see me after class," she practically demanded.
As if on cue, the bell rang; all other students but the rest of JNPR left the arena. Jaune swallowed, knowing this wasn't going to end well.
"Jaune, what is going on," Goodwitch questioned the hidden soldier. "You haven't even tried to protect yourself whatsoever. Even worse, you've been limiting the Aura you use in battle. Why is that?"
Jaune simply shrugged. He knew if he spoke at all, there was a good chance that he would sound like a bird with strep throat, which would lead to some serious embarrassment.
"Please say something; it's worrying that you haven't even spoken to your teammates ever since initiation."
"I can't," Jaune whispered, knowing that a whisper wasn't too loud or strong enough to merit a voice crack.
"And why is that?"
"For some odd reason, my voice cracks every time I speak. It makes me sound like a bird with strep."
Out of nowhere, Ventus could be heard laughing near the vending machines. It seemed as though he could hear a whisper from a mile away… oh wait, he could.
"Hmm… perhaps your body skipped the vocal part of puberty at some point in your life. Completely understandable, I know other students who went through similar issues. However, your unwillingness to fight is absolutely absurd—."
"I just don't want to hurt anyone, alright," Jaune whisper-shouted. He sighed when Glynda raised an eyebrow. "Look, it may sound crazy, but I can beat the Aura out of someone even when drained of my own; believe me, I almost killed someone when doing so. I don't want to find out how far I can go with that, not unless it's for someone else's survival or against a Grimm."
"Then limit yourself. Not killing doesn't necessarily mean not fighting." She let that soak in before continuing. "Tomorrow, you'll be set up against Thor Lochlannach and Nadiya Luchnik. If you were smart, I'm certain you could take both of them with ease. For the meantime, get some rest."
"Alright, thanks."
Hours later, in JNPR dorm…
"WHAAAAAAT?! You mean you skipped puberty?!"
"No, Nora, I didn't skip puberty; it just got stopped on me."
"Well, that would certainly explain why your voice is cracking so often," Pyrrha noted.
"So why now," Ren asked, trying to piece the puzzle together.
"Well, now that I have one united soul and an Aura, I guess that had an effect on the timing," Jaune mentioned.
"Well, it's not so bad," Nora stated bluntly, which was surprising with her. "I know some people who haven't gone through puberty until their twenties. There was this one guy who didn't go through puberty until he was forty; he was fifty when it stopped."
"He actually got in a number of fights for ten years," Ren explained. "After he learned to defend himself instead of simply attacking, his wounds eventually healed."
"And how long have you two known each other," Jaune asked before he could stop himself.
"Oh, you know," Nora said, "pretty much all our lives."
"We were neighbors in the same village," Ren stated in his usual bored tone.
Jaune stood up and walked to the window. Now that his team knew about the voice cracks, he wasn't afraid to speak aloud in front of them. Then again, that wasn't his biggest problem at the moment.
"Jaune, what's wrong," Pyrrha asked. He grimaced, knowing this was coming. Still, he didn't want to worry his teammates, so he did what he always did: he put out a façade and hoped it worked.
"Oh, it's nothing," he said, praying she didn't pursue further. "It's just something on my mind, that's all."
Unsurprisingly, with all the bad luck he tended to attract, she pursued.
"Jaune, I know that tone of voice," she told him. "You look too down for it to be 'just something on your mind'."
He sighed, knowing he'd lost this battle.
"My birthday's coming up on the equinox," Jaune answered. "It's one of my least favorite holidays around. Normally, it's the one day when no one even acknowledges my existence. What's worse, it always ends badly, whether it be ended in a ditch or having to wrap up any injuries bigger than a scratch."
"But at least you get presents, right," Nora shouted excitedly after a pause. Jaune shook his head, remembering all the things he had to give on every equinox and getting nothing in return. The usually chipper girl seemed to freeze in place before falling down on her bed.
"Oh my God, Jaune," Ventus said, flying by the window. "That's pretty harsh, don't you think? Are you sure that's what's been happening?"
"As far back as I remember," Jaune responded, still a bit downcast.
"Eh, that could be either last year or a few years back," was the hopeful response.
"I remember back to the day after I turned seven. I woke up with a broken arm and a killer headache. On top of that, I could barely remember my name."
"Meh, at least they don't laugh at you or prank you, right," muttered Solis as he passed the dorm door.
"They don't stop laughing when they talk about it. It's almost like they thought it was funny, watching me be practically tortured."
Solis crossed his arms as he leaned on the doorframe.
"Give me an example of the better years," he ordered.
"Well," Jaune began, "It was my sixteenth birthday, and I just came back from training with the MIP guys. No one said 'welcome back', no one asked if I was okay, or if I'd made friends, or if I was happy to be home. My brother Azure was off with this one girl he'd been with for a few years, as if that really surprised me. Next thing I knew, Da—Tenebris was asking me for more money. When I told him I didn't have any whatsoever, one of his buddies beat me bloody and stole the wallet in my pocket. It wasn't even mine; it actually belonged to Bryen, a Sergeant who I'd befriended. Turns out, Tenebris and his friends just wanted beer and cigar money. At the end of the day, I'd finally gotten Bryen's wallet back, patched myself up, and had myself a mug of scotch-coffee. In case you didn't know, scotch-coffee does some pretty bad things to you in larger doses. That's how bad it got throughout the day."
The entire room was silent… as silent as it could get, what with Nora blubbering as if she'd just witnessed a puppy get blown up by its sadistic owner. Even Pyrrha, the Invincible Girl as she'd been called (so he heard), was starting to tear up.
"That is so sad," Nora finally whined as she buried her eyes in Ren's shoulder. Despite being in shock, he was still the classic, stoic Lie Ren. Still, he at least tried to comfort her, even though that was just patting her on the head and shoulder.
The only person not on the brink of tears or in total shock was the victim of the story, Jaune. The scrawny young adult everyone called a 'lovable idiot'. They had no idea what he went through to get to where he was now, and they still insisted that he was nothing more than the dust on their shoes, a weakling.
"Erm… what about when you were tra—ah… MIP stuff," Solis caught himself numerous times after bringing himself out of his shock.
"Eh, they treated us as if we were soldiers-in-training every day. Actually, it was better than what they did to me; when they made me do those embarrassing things, I actually came to enjoy it. I actually made Azure do one of those things once on his birthday a year or two back, and everyone laughed. At least, they did it when he did it; then my birthday came along and it's back to the inhumanity."
Solis whistled in amusement. Ventus was turning red from holding in his laughter, eventually leading to him bursting out in hysterical laughter.
"Well, that won't happen this year, Jaune," Pyrrha promised.
"Yeah, you'll love it," Ventus added. "Cross my heart and hope to fall. Wait, I think I got that wrong…"
Jaune waited a moment or two, then gave out a 'humph'.
"We'll see in a week," Jaune muttered before starting for the door. "I'm going to the forge, try to make myself something nice. Maybe a weapon that's not meant to be a Gatlin gun or Riot Shield."
"OWW, dammit," Jaune shouted in pain as he seared himself once more. It was around six days since his last duel with Cardin. In their battle promised by Goodwitch, Thor and Nadiya didn't go easy on him, but he did manage to go all-out since he knew they could take it; they were a Dwarf and an Elf, respectively, the duo was almost literally built to take punishment from heavy weaponry. They still beat him, but not before he went pseudo-Centurion (the one state where only his eyes change). It was technically a draw, but they knocked his Aura to the red while he barely nicked the red on theirs.
"Okay, that didn't work," said Vulcan, the designer aspect of his personality. "Maybe one solid piece isn't a good idea."
"Ach, that hurts," Jaune muttered in pain as he threw one more red-hot piece of metal that was supposed to be a three-point shield in the pile of failures. Each one of them was too small to be a real shield, too big to be part of a set of armor. At least all of them were smooth enough to belong to something. "Okay, what am I going to do with all these? What. Am I going. To do."
"These all look like they belong to some bigger structure," Vulcan noted. "Perhaps we could use them to make a multi-functional shield?"
"What sort of shield," Sentinel questioned Vulcan. Jaune was grateful that Sentinel's plan at Initiation was successful, but now he couldn't get the embodiment of combat wisdom to stop arguing with Vulcan.
"I don't know, one that can function while in Centurion form while also acting as a shield when not."
"Yeah, that'll work," Jaune mumbled aloud, setting to work as he started building. He used only a few Dust circuits in the build, several powered pistons to assist in transformation, and carbon steel as coverage beneath the regular steel plates above.
By the time he was finished, it was almost one in the morning. Still, he'd managed to finish the shield. It was a work of wonder, the new shield: it could turn into both a Roman Scutum and a three-point shield. In three-point mode, as he dubbed it, the image of his symbol was whole but slightly angular, practically mimicking his current shield-sheath; when in the form of the Scutum, the twin golden arches were much larger, glowed brighter, and smoother, as well as accented with dark gray between bright silver. Both forms allowed his forearm to fit in twin straps, as opposed to the singular handle of the Scutum. The glow in Scutum form was caused by the Dust circuitry being activated, which accented the lights and darks of the shield as well as expanding the triangular shield into a rounded rectangle.
Surprisingly, despite how tired he was, he gave the shield a pretty good name: Ancora Magna, translated from Roman Latin to mean 'Great Anchor', though Ancora could be translated to mean 'anchor, refuge, support, or hope'. Exactly what a Centurion was meant to be. Exactly what Jaune was going to be, despite his family practically hounding on him every year. Nothing was going to stop him from fulfilling his duty as a Centurion.
As a test before he returned to his dorm, he activated his Centurion mode and made Ancora transform into a Scutum. Sure enough, the shield did what he wanted it to: the carbon steel turned into a silver color as the regular steel seemed to turn blue. His symbol began to glow brighter than before. Ancora was now a true symbol of hope, shining bright like a lighthouse at night. In fact, it was shining brighter than the Sun did in the middle of the afternoon through a magnifying glass shining through twelve more. Finally, the glow faded, recolored to be blue plates on a silver background with two bright yellow arches painted on. He changed out of Centurion mode to discover that the colors didn't revert back to the ugly steel and carbon colors before. This pleased him greatly.
That morning…
"Hurry," Jaune heard a female voice say, though it was so garbled in his drowsiness that he could hardly tell what it was saying. "Before he wakes up."
"Don't rush me," said a male voice, clearly aggravated with the female one. "We both know that I can't run faster than you!"
"I wonder if he likes the—," another female began, only to be cut off by another male.
"Nora, please don't say what it is," the second male told Jaune's teammate. "You know he can hear us, even in his sleep."
"It's ten in the morning," Jaune recognized Weiss's voice among the crowd. "What was he doing last night?"
"I don't know," Pyrrha's voice rang smoothly, notifying the sleeping Jaune that he was starting to wake up. "Perhaps he stayed up. He did mention that he dreaded this day."
"Should I wake him up," Yang asked. He heard her grunt as if someone hit her.
"YANG! Let him sleep." That must've been Ruby.
"Besides, that air horn is so last year." AIRHORN?! "Watch and learn, cutie."
Jaune couldn't place the voice with the name on that last one despite being awake, but he didn't have the time to think it out before an ear-popping roar echoed through the room. That roar definitely woke him up, but what made him get out of bed was the disgusting coffee-breath it came with. Jaune was almost doubled over on the floor, coughing to get the scent out of his nose.
"GAH! Whoever just roared in my face, please brush your teeth or refrain from drinking coffee before you wake me up," Jaune pleaded while standing up, the scent of coffee still fresh in his nostrils. "Also, try to keep the volume down; I'd like to be able to hear you when you wake me up next time."
"I can't hear a dang thing," Ventus shouted before apparently running into the doorframe.
"Well, this is one heck of a happy birthday thing," Yang commented. She then held the air horn right next to Solis's ear and pulled the trigger. "And that's for killing my ears."
"Happy eighteenth, Jaune," Nora shouted as she pulled Jaune in for a chest-crushing hug.
"I was right," Jaune wheezed. "I'm gonna die today. Nora, you're suffocating me."
"Oh, sorry."
"You're lucky we don't have classes today," Weiss scolded him. "If we did, I wouldn't tell you what any of the professors talked about."
"That's what a textbook is for," Jaune pushed her commentary off with ease. "And believe me, I've read through that thing so many times I can't get it out of my head; still barely understand it, but now it'll be easier. I guess."
"That's what you get for staying up late to study, bud," Solis commented. Jaune grinned.
"Who says I studied," Jaune said with a deeper voice now that the early-morning gruff was out of the way. He knelt before his bed and pulled out Ancora Magna in its three-point form. "I was busy 'til about one last night making it."
"But Jaune, you don't need a new shield," Pyrrha told him.
"Well, if you think about it, Crocea Mors was made to be a Gatling gun and Riot Shield. I wanted something a bit more… multi-functional.
"Ladies and gentlemen—Ice Queen—."
"Excuse me," Weiss growled as Yang and Solis broke down laughing.
"I am proud to present to you," Ancora transformed into its Scutum form, "Ancora Magna, the Great Hope."
"Great anchor, actually," Weiss corrected him.
"I know Latin, Weiss; Centurion, remember? It's like second nature to me now. Besides, I had to entertain myself somehow, right?
"Anyways, she's designed to go perfectly with my Centurion mode, even amplify it if I wanted. Not only that, but I used Dust circuitry, powered pistons, and a carbon steel cover plate. The first test changed the colors from gray to silver and blue. The twin arches are the only ones that really react to Aura or the Centurion state.
"So… what do you guys think?"
"It… could've waited," Weiss stated honestly, "But it fits you, Jaune. Much better than Crocea Mors or any assault rifle."
"I agree," Pyrrha nodded. "It was also a pretty amazing process, I'm certain. My Semblance activated last night and allowed me to see you working on it in my sleep."
"Ooh," Yang grinned devilishly. "Didja see him shirtless?"
"Uhm, what?" Pyrrha started turning as red as her hair. "I don't know what you're talking about…"
"Aww, she's blushing," Solis cackled. Jaune almost forgot that the leader of SVTN was more of a jokester now that he'd gotten over the death of Aurora. "She did! She saw him without a shirt. Ooh-oh-ooooooh! She reeeaaally like."
In half a second, Ancora was back in its three-point state and glowing a violent blue and gold. A bright ball of yellow formed underneath the twin arches on the shield. Jaune had it pointed right at Yang and Solis.
"Changing types is not Ancora's only function, you know," Jaune threatened, grinning as if he'd cornered the two jokesters. "Want me to demonstrate? 'Cause I'd love to do that for you."
"Erm, no thanks," Yang swallowed as Solis cowered behind her.
"Hmm… Defensive and offensive," Weiss stared at the shield while Ruby drooled at the disappearing yellow orb. "Not bad, Arc. Not bad at all for someone so inexperienced in Dust circuitry and Aura."
"Thank you, Ice Queen," Jaune used the nickname again.
"Where does that name come from, anyways," Weiss finally snapped.
"Well, you know… you're an heiress… and you've got a pretty cold personality."
"HEY! I do not!"
"Do I need to record you arguing with Yang," Ventus threatened. Weiss turned red in the face as she clenched her fists.
"You have to admit," Blake said as she walked into the room. "You can be rather cold, Weiss. Like it or not, that's how it is."
"SEE?! That's where Ice Queen comes from… Ice Queen."
Weiss growled at Jaune.
"Now can he open his presents," Nora shouted excitedly. Ren groaned in defeat as everyone else chuckled.
"Why not," Solis shrugged. "Let's do the long cylinder first."
"Let Birthday Boy decide," Yang argued. The two walked over to SVTN's dorm and duked it out there, shaking the entire building. Minutes later, the shaking stopped but the sounds of the struggle continued. Thor facepalmed immediately.
"And there they are," he sighed, rolling the 'are' for two seconds straight. "Even Nadiya and I aren't comfortable going there."
"Going where," Ventus and Ruby asked in unison. Thor and Nadiya blushed as though caught 'doing the deed'.
"Just pick one and open it," Nadiya said rapidly, almost speaking Russian (hilariously coincidental, as she rushed saying so).
Jaune took Solis's advice and opened the cylinder first. The gold-tipped sky-blue steel Pilum was currently in its baton form. He noticed that Weiss's family insignia was on the wrapping and taped to the shaft.
"Wow, Weiss," Jaune muttered in awe. "This goes great with Ancora. Thanks."
"Don't mention it," she said, trying to cover up her pride and happiness with a scowl.
"Hey, what about that smaller box," Ventus muttered, obviously confused about the red and yellow striped box. It was a small box, 4 inches high and 6-inch width and depth.
Jaune literally ripped the box open, only to blush furiously and step away. The Pilum he gladly called Lancea Veritatis went from a single foot long to 7 feet in a flash, aimed at the interior of the box. He berated himself, thinking he should've taken Solis's and Yang's insignias as a warning.
"What is it," Weiss said worriedly, drawing Myrtenaster. Jaune stabbed the wrapping paper with the insignias and drew them closer to Weiss. "Why does that bother me?"
Blushing furiously in doing so, Jaune used Veritatis to reveal the 'gift'. Everyone in the room turned red except for Ventus and Ruby, whose eyes were covered by Thor and Nadiya respectively. Weiss, upon seeing the 'present', wasn't red just because of seeing it; she was furious with someone, and they were about to pay.
"YAAANG," Weiss shouted, taking the piece of cloth at the end of Veritatis and marching into SVTN's dorm. "DID YOU GO THROUGH MY DRAWERS!"
"Why do you—," Yang started before bursting out laughing, Jaune heard through his pseudo-Centurion form. Veritatis, unlike Ancora, did not change colors or form with the Centurion form.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT," Weiss roared as she practically murdered both Yang and Solis.
"What's going on," Ruby asked quietly. Ventus zipped around in a blur after turning blue. "What was in the box?"
"Yang apparently got in Weiss's underwear drawer," Thor said bluntly, turning redder than Pyrrha's hair.
"There was a camera inside," Nadiya added, holding the bridge of her hose. "Apparently, the goal was to catch Jaune holding Weiss's panties."
"And it woulda worked too," Solis shouted as he stumbled out of his dorm and ran with Yang from Weiss, cackling all the way.
"AW, YANG," Ruby yelled.
"SOLIS," Ventus blurted. "I thought you knew better!"
"Apparently not," Thor muttered. "Next, please."
After a majority of the legitimate gifts were opened, Jaune had the following: the Awake, Rise, and Unleashed albums of Skillet from Ruby and Ventus; some horror movies from Yang, action films from Solis, classic films from Thor and Nadiya; a Comedy Central collection from Nora; the first half of a book series from Blake, the second half from Ren; and the keys to an old car from Weiss's uncle's collection, car included, collaboratively repaid by Yang, Solis, Thor, Nadiya, Nora, and Ren. The only gifts left were a tall box in the corner, about the size of a full-grown man; and the gift from Pyrrha.
"Well, best get the tall one out of the way," Jaune muttered to himself.
"Hey, what about Pyrrha's gift," Ventus griped. Jaune turned to face the wind mage and his partner.
"Best for last, right?"
He turned back to face the box and was about to start tearing it open before it seemingly came to life and opened itself.
"Aha, gotcha," shouted a familiar friend from the MIP as the teen from within the box tackled Jaune to the ground. "Didja miss me?"
"You got my tailbone," Jaune wheezed.
"Oh, jeez," the fellow soldier cried as he stood up and helped Jaune up. The two stared each other up and down.
"Well, I'll be go to Hell," Solis muttered, slightly battered from Weiss's rage from earlier. "That's your friend, right?"
"How'd you get in there," Jaune asked the soldier.
"Ain't you gonna say you missed me," joked the soldier.
"Whoa, Jaune," Solis joked. "I didn't know you were swinging that way." Two fists came in and clobbered the team leader in the jaw.
"Let me introduce you guys to someone," Jaune began. "Guys. This is Sergeant Bryen Armstrong, the friend from the MIP I told you about.
"Bryen," Jaune led him to his own team. "This is my team. That's Pyrrha, he's Ren, and she is… where's Nora?
"Anyways," he took Bryen to SVTN. "These guys are Team Salvation. Solis, Ventus, and the apparently-married Thor and Nadiya."
"Well," Bryen muttered. "Good to know that the most famous first-year team is a bunch of OP crazies. Let's move on."
"And lastly," Jaune ushered Bryen to RWBY. "This is Team RWBY. Their leader's Ruby Rose. Careful, her sister Yang's pretty protective; she won't even let Ventus near her that much. Not that he really listens, but still."
"If you even think about touching her—," Yang threatened.
"You'll break my nose, eh," Bryen finished. "Well, I'm no pedophile, missy, so you've got nothing to worry about from me. After all, Jaune's brother was good friends with this one girl before they actually hooked up."
Yang immediately glared at Ventus, who turned yellow and started floating. Ruby was already out the window, so Ventus simply flew out the window after her. Probably to play tag or something, Jaune figured.
"Anyways, this is Blake," Jaune continued. "She's pretty quiet, so don't expect her to talk much."
"Well of course she's quiet," Bryen argued. "Never get between a good person and a good book. Or a crazy maniac and a badly-written fan-fiction."
The room was almost filled with laughter, except that it was only Bryen laughing and Blake chuckling.
"Glad you noticed," Blake said before gluing her eyes back to the book.
"Exactly," Bryen emphasized.
"And this is—," Jaune started before Bryen went off on his own.
"Well, if it isn't Weiss Schnee, daughter of Wilhelm, Glyph user," Bryen analyzed Weiss. Weiss's jaw dropped at his analysis.
"How did you know that," she demanded.
"I don't think there's a person alive who doesn't know Weiss Schnee," Bryen said. "I've heard stories about you, but I honestly didn't recognize you. Thought you were in Atlas."
"Then how did you know who I am?"
"The chill in the air."
Jaune chuckled at this.
"Excuse me? Is that where Jaune got that 'Ice Queen' business?"
"No, I felt a literal chill when I broke out of that box. Ice-elemental Glyph users have that effect on me."
"How so," she demanded. He tore off the bandanna on his arm to reveal a flaming ignis rune tattooed to his shoulder.
"Runes aren't so different from Glyphs. If that's not enough, I'm a fire-elemental Rune user."
"Rune user?"
A small motus Rune appeared under him, another right in front of Weiss. Almost instantly, he disappeared in a flurry of yellow particles, reappearing as the yellow particles moved him to the second Rune, this time with his back to her and a hand in the air. An aurum Rune appeared, a small spiritus Rune inside. He swiped his hand in the Runes and turned to her, holding a golden rose.
"A golden rose for a golden woman," he flirted. She almost blushed before taking it, holding it at her side; surprised as she was that he did that, she refused to let it show. "Smell it, if you're not allergic to pollen; it's a living golden rose."
She did so, and immediately her eyebrows shot up. Sure enough, the rose was actually alive; Jaune could smell it from there.
"Wow," Weiss stammered, clearly at a loss for words. "This is… this should be… How did you summon this?"
"Well, Runes are essentially an evolved, more powerful form of Glyphs," Bryen informed her. "And by the way, if you want to use less Aura in making Glyphs, try studying the Glyph type and effect before trying it yourself. Believe me, it works; if I didn't do that, I couldn't have made that rose so easily. Still woulda done it, especially for someone such as yourself. Winter Empress."
End
A/N: I've had that in mind for a pretty long while. By the way, Runes are exactly what they sound like: ancient symbols made to represent different elements. The more complicated the Rune and the better it's learned, the more powerful it is. For Weiss, if she could use Runes, hers would be a weak form of Vis, the embodiment of energy; either that or a seriously powerful of gelum, strong enough to create an entire glacier (BTW, all Rune names are in Latin, or derivations of Latin). With someone as experienced and as powerful as Bryen (derivation of Brian, more on that in future chapters), his most powerful Rune in the fire-elemental is both the strongest form of igneus mons maxima (great fiery mountain, the closest I could really get to super volcano) and a decently powerful version of erysipelas, which is one translation for Holy Fire, pretty much the most powerful of the fire Runes. In other words, Bryen is pretty much the only one other than Jaune's Alpha Centurion form, Ventus's 'Hyper Sonic' form, and Solis's greatest form (more on that later) who can defeat Cinder with her Maiden power without having to make the ultimate sacrifice or some serious help (medical and battle). And he will prove how badass he is. Just not yet. Trust me, I have a plan for Bryen.
Such a sad story for Jaune. I feel bad… no, I really don't. Okay, I do; even I can pick up on Pyrrha flirting with him in the beginning and middle (and he lost her in the cannon. I seriously hope RT brings her back or Imma have a chat with Monty once I go back to my mini-fort [if he's even down there].).
Are there any Skillet fans out there? Yes? No? Indifferent? Well, I am. And boy, am I excited for their Unleashed album. It's coming out (or came out, depending on when you read this) two days before my B-Day, on August 5! No, my birthday isn't 08/05. It's two days after; August 5 is when the album is released to the public. Check 'em out on Spotify, the pre-released music is under the Singles section: Back from the Dead; Feel Invincible; Stars; and I Want to Live. I'm not going to go all fan boy over this, but MAN ALIVE am I excited.
By the time I'm finishing typing all this, it's almost 2 in the morning. I've got to get to bed. See you all next chapter. Texas, out.
(Chapter written July 25)