Wraith
Chapter Eleven
Beta: Smithrooks
The Dream Begins
Vale, many years ago…
So first semester had finally ended, and with it most of the other students of Beacon had gone home for the two week break. But seeing as Jaune himself couldn't exactly return to Dorme, lest his family stop him from returning to Beacon… well, he was stuck in Vale with nothing to do.
He had rented out the cheapest hotel he could find and just… sat and thought about stuff. It wasn't like he could do any homework or anything, and training was pretty much out of the question since his current method of fighting basically amounted to using as much destructive force as humanly possible with the elements. So he was just… ruminating on the recent turns his life had taken.
That incident at the docks had only been about two nights ago, and he still felt sore from all the hits he had taken from the man that he had dubbed 'The Prick' in his mind. Sure, Ruby explained later that it was Roman Torchwick, but calling him The Prick just had a nicer ring to it.
When Jaune had gotten back to Beacon after the colossal clusterfuck that was the fight at the docks, Team RWBY had been alarmingly grateful to him for 'saving' Blake. Okay, well, Ruby and Yang had been grateful; Weiss had just called him a dunce for not alerting the authorities or calling Beacon. But he was pretty sure that the icy girl had been grateful, maybe… possibly. She wasn't not grateful, at the very least.
As for Pyrrha… well, she had started mothering him as soon as the police arrived. She had practically demanded that he sit down and wait for an ambulance, which wasn't exactly a bad idea, mind you; his hands had been practically roasted from all the power he put into that final attack and his head was ringing from a mild concussion. Pyrrha was interesting though, she had seemed so concerned over his health… she actually reminded him of his mother a little, though not enough to be creepy.
The psycho-murderer-freak with unnatural aura had been whisked away pretty much immediately after the authorities had arrived, and boy was Jaune glad about that. Maybe the others hadn't noticed, or perhaps they didn't want to notice, but that monster had murdered quite a few people - everyone inside the Bullheads that she had brought down. Sure, they were terrorists, but they were still people.
Ruby had told him that the girl's name had been Penny, and Ruby seemed totally unaware that there was actually anything wrong with the girl at all. Perhaps Penny looked physically normal? Just like any other girl, so she could better blend in? Anyone with aura sight like him would be able to immediately spot that she was wrong, but the issue with that was that aura sight was a very rare ability to have. Ozpin himself admitted that he was hardly a master, and that he only used it sparingly.
As far as Jaune knew, aura sight was a skill less than 50 people around the world possessed, and one that none had bothered to master since it tended to take a great deal of time and practice. But that was okay to Jaune, as he could do nothing but practice his aura sight.
The monstrous aura of the girl at the docks had actually gotten him thinking more about it; Ozpin and practically everyone else Jaune asked said that aura was the physical manifestation of the soul. And that certainly did seem to be the case at first glance, but Jaune wasn't so sure anymore.
When looking at a normal person with their aura still locked away, he could see that the glowing light of their soul was still there, but there was a thin shell that held it back. For hunters and anyone else with their aura unlocked, their lights had absolutely vibrant forms that oozed life and emotion from their bodies onto everything around them.
But that girl… he wasn't sure what exactly was wrong with her. Aura and the soul were meant to be the same thing, right? But when he had looked at her he had seen… nothing. Aura was still there, but there was no underlying life to it. It was like someone had ripped away the only thing that gave it any semblance of true individuality and life.
That's why Jaune was starting to think that aura and the soul were different things. The girl obviously had aura - as scarred and mutilated as it was - but there was simply nothing behind it. She was as cold and dead as a rock or a slab of metal. Aura and the soul were obviously very closely linked, but they just couldn't be the same thing. When he looked at a person, he saw emotion; he saw pain, love, hate, regret, joy, all of it.
But when he had looked at Penny… there had been nothing.
But then what exactly was the soul? It was present in every living thing, for sure; everything from grass to people had a soul, with the single exception being Grimm. Could the soul be something else? A clearer expression of a person? Reading emotions through aura was difficult, but not impossible. Perhaps if he tried to focus on seeing past the colourful haze of aura, he would actually be able to see a person's soul and literal emotions.
Jaune shrugged; it was worth a shot.
From his position atop the questionably clean mattress of his hotel room, Jaune 'looked' at the world around him. The faded and dull colours of the old building he was in, the lifeless greys of cement and stone under the ground… and the explosively beautiful colours of random people as they went about their afternoon in relative peace. He could see it all, all the colours and shades of something he suspected was just a fraction of something far greater lurking just beneath.
Finally, Jaune settled his 'sight' onto the owner of the hotel. She had been a kind woman when he had met her, warm and very polite. She hadn't stared at his scars or even commented on them. What did she say her name was? It had sounded like something from Mistral, and her accent had only reinforced that… Misae? Yeah, that had been it. She had been wandering around the building doing her jobs for most of the day so far…
At first glance, Misae was pretty much a typical civilian; her vibrant yellow-coloured aura was shining brilliantly under the surface, and laid dormant. But for the first time since gaining his aura sight, Jaune looked at nothing else, his entire 'vision' narrowing in until she was the only thing that he could see.
Jaune instantly felt a slight sting in the back of his mind as he 'stared' at Misae, but at the same time it felt almost as if a fog had been lifted, and he saw things clearly for the first time in his life. Where before, Misae had simply taken the shape of an average-sized woman who was probably in her mid to late twenties, now she looked… more. He still saw her normal shape and form, but wreathed around her body there was an almost feline-looking creature made of the same comforting yellow light as her aura. It was wrapped around her in a loving embrace that instantly told Jaune that it wasn't a bad thing; if anything, it suited Misae perfectly in a way he would never be able to describe.
And he saw her emotions too. It was impossible to define it, but Jaune saw her emotions and felt them echo through him gently as he stared. He saw… contentment, happiness, old pain and sadness… it was almost like looking at a tapestry of such flawless creation that it perfectly reflected the owner.
A sudden and rather irritating ringing shattered Jaune's concentration, and in that single instant the gorgeous image of the soul he had just been looking at faded away once more to just the vibrant yellow of Misae's aura. Jaune couldn't help but feel a spike of irritation as he picked up his scroll from the bedside table. Who would be calling him? And couldn't they do it later? He was on the verge of a breakthrough here!
The blind boy fumbled around with the small device as it rang; he really needed to memorise where the answer button was…
Finally touching the right thing, the call connected with a gentle click, the voice on the other side speaking up instantly. "Ah, hey Jaune, how are you doing man?"
It was Cardin. Jaune could admit that he was mildly surprised that the other boy initiated a conversation with him; after the events of Forever Fall, Cardin and the other guys had apologised for not helping him more, and thanked him quite profusely for saving Cardin's life. But after that… they had been rather distant with him. Sure, they had stopped treating him like just some lackey, but all conversation and general interaction had practically ground to a halt between them. In the two and a half weeks that had passed since that day in the forest, they had treated him with polite disinterest at best.
"Sup Cardin," Jaune replied, his irritation over the interruption fading. "I'm doing okay, just chilling out in Vale. You?"
"Not bad," his leader said just a touch awkwardly, "hey, uh… me and the guys are gonna be in Vale for the next two days or so, and we were thinking that maybe you wanna come get a drink with us?"
Jaune felt his scarred and pitted eyebrows rise; Cardin and the others wanted to go out for drinks with him? He had never drunk any alcohol before, but as long as it was with friends then he was game to try. "Sure!" he breathed. Perhaps this was his chance to finally make them a proper, functioning team?
"Great, be ready in about twenty minutes. Me and the guys will pick you up from your hotel."
Jaune smiled as he heard the click of the call ending. Who knows, maybe this was the start of a great friendship?
Beacon, present day...
"So he killed his own team?" Ozpin questioned.
"Yeah," Ruby sighed, "among many others that day."
Ozpin sighed as he stared at his mug of coffee. So much death… all because of one man. Would it ever end? Not just the Lord of Hunger, but all of mankind. Always hurting and killing each other, for no reason other than because they feel it's justified. Grimm were the real enemy, they would always be the real enemy. Man was just too stupid and petty to realise that they were only aiding the foul creatures of darkness in their mission to wipe out mankind; Nihilus and all the others were irrelevant in the face of the greater threat.
"Do you know when his Semblance first began to manifest?" the elder headmaster asked eventually. As sad as it was, Nihilus did need to go, and any information would be helpful. "The Jaune Arc of this universe is different. He has different teammates, different circumstances. He will be a different person."
Ruby sat in pensive quiet as she stared at her helmet for a moment, but Ozpin couldn't tell what she was thinking. The girl kept her face blank and expressionless practically all the time, her silver eyes boring holes into the empty spaces of his office. "I can think of half a dozen times when it could have first appeared, but beyond what I've already told you I can't say for sure."
"Troubling…" Ozpin muttered as he took a sip of the heavenly drink held in his hands. If they couldn't pinpoint when exactly his semblance began, then they might need to confine the Arc boy… or at least they would if they actually knew where he was.
Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos could actually be dead right now; they had disappeared along with Nihilus, and the last reported sighting of them was with the false lord himself mere metres away. Worse still, the alternate Yang was killed by Nihilus with neither of the two missing students nearby - or so the brief report from the late huntress indicated anyway.
"You don't know what he has done, Ozpin," the older Ruby whispered, her eyes far away as she remembered times long since past, "I can't allow that to happen again in this world."
"I know, Miss Rose," the far elder hunter breathed quietly, "but that doesn't give us the right. Nihilus is the one who committed the crimes, not Jaune."
"Same person," Ruby replied softly, her head lowered. "Some details might be different, but he's the same person."
Ozpin sighed. Jaune and Nihilus weren't the same person, he could tell. Jaune was a weak boy, but he had such potential for greatness… but Nihilus wasn't like that. Despite what the alternate team RWBY said about him being a monster, Ozpin was starting to think otherwise. He certainly acted the part well, even going so far as to look like a Grimm too… but Ozpin could feel that wasn't all there was to him. When they had first met, he hadn't noticed at the time, but thinking back on it… Nihilus was sad. It seeped from his body and surrounded him in a barrier of his own misery.
Ruby and the others on the alternate team hadn't said anything about it, and it was obvious to him that they just saw him as a monster. But there was more to it, of that Ozpin was sure. Ruby hadn't exactly been forthcoming with details about what exactly made Nihilus the way he was, but she herself was mired in an unknown guilt that he couldn't even begin to decipher. Everything was wrong… Nihilus wasn't who RWBY said he was, and Ruby herself seemed almost broken.
If only it didn't have to be this way, if only it hadn't come to this... "My answer is final, Miss Rose," Ozpin finally spoke, his voice quiet but full of resolve. "If we are to reacquire young Mister Arc, then we will not punish him for crimes he has not committed."
The younger hunter stared at him long and hard, her guilty silver eyes boring holes into his own brown eyes. "This is a mistake."
"Perhaps," Ozpin allowed, "but it is the right thing to do."
Ruby didn't say anything else, her thoughts far away in times long past.
Abandoned mineshaft, present day...
Someone used lived here.
That was Jaune and Pyrrha's main thought as they walked through the lower levels. It had obviously been left alone for years; whoever had lived here was now long gone.
They had rushed to the lower levels of the facility when the Grimm had become too much to handle, and as luck would have it they had found sturdier doors to hold the feral beasts back. Jaune had carried Nihilus' prone form the entire way, and god had that been weird.
Jaune still wasn't sure what to make of the 'conversation' that he, Pyrrha and Nihilus had. The things he had said… was he really Jaune Arc from another universe? From this universe? Was that even possible? And the other things… Who were 'Cinder' and 'Amber'? What made them so special? Why did things only go wrong when he absorbed them?
And the most important question of all… would Jaune become like Nihilus? If so, when? Can it be stopped? Or is he doomed to live a parasitic life until the day he died?
But those things were just background thoughts in the face of more pressing things. Like where they were now, in an abandoned - lived in - then abandoned again mineshaft. The rocky walls were covered in shelves lined with books and a thick layer of dust, and the ground was far smoother than any other part of the tunnels in the facility. With the small light that Pyrrha had managed to garner from a discarded lantern, Jaune could see that there was even a bed and stacks of canned food.
Just who had lived here? Why would someone live here? It was as nice as you get as far as living in a dirty and damp cave went, but it was still a miserable hovel.
The deeper they moved into the makeshift home, the more uneasy Jaune felt himself grow. The myriad of books lining every wall had no titles, and the shadows cast by the lantern twisted and turned in the corners of his eyes, but as soon as he turned to stare at them they seemed normal.
And there was just something about the hovel someone had called home… the walls seemed to exude an air of melancholy, like the deep sadness had seeped into the very stone of the mine itself. It seemed like the tonnes of rock around them mourned over something that he and Pyrrha were blind to, almost as if some terrible tragedy had happened here and Remnant itself wept over it.
Gently, Jaune set the prone form of Nihilus down on the dusty bed. Thankfully, Nihilus did seem to be getting better; the constant decaying and mending from earlier had ceased, and now he just looked like he was asleep. Though how the bastard could have slept at a time like this was lost on Jaune.
"What is this place?" Pyrrha asked as she carefully took note of everything in the room.
Jaune sighed as he slumped against one of the few walls that wasn't covered in bookshelves. "I don't know," he muttered, "when my sisters and I used to play here as children this wasn't here."
"We're in Nihilus' home universe, right?" Pyrrha sighed as she stared at some of the books without touching them. "And he is an older version of you; that means that this universe must be ahead of ours by a few years. So this place has yet to happen in our world."
"You're actually buying into that stuff?" Jaune groaned, "That portal stuff was just some dumb fairy tale, it can't be true."
"But what if it is?" Pyrrha protested, "What if Nihilus actually is you from another universe? Aren't you at least a little curious?"
Jaune really wasn't. Whatever Nihilus was… he was way over their heads. Maybe Professor Ozpin would know how to go about the situation, but Jaune sure as hell didn't. "No, I-" he started, but was cut off when Pyrrha gave a shout of surprise.
Pyrrha had just tried to grab one of the hundreds of books that covered the walls, but as soon as she picked it up she dropped it in surprise.
"What?" Jaune demanded as he jumped to his feet, "What is it Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha's green eyes were locked onto the fallen tome in amazement. Ignoring Jaune's question, she gently reached down and picked up the book, her gaze shifting into wonder as she held the dull-looking, leather-bound book.
"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked again, growing more worried as he stared at his transfixed partner. "I think you should put the book down, Pyrrha…"
"Jaune…" she whispered slowly.
But Jaune was having none of it; that book was doing something, and he would put a stop to it. He snatched at the thick tome with his right hand; his fingers grazed the book for only a moment before he felt something both shocking and amazing.
For a moment he felt like he was on fire, his skin roasting under an alien heat. But then… he adapted. Jaune couldn't tell if the heat got colder or if he got hotter, but within a second he felt like he was standing in the sun on a warm summer's day, the gentle warmth covering every inch of his body in a loving embrace that reminded him of his mother.
But then the impossible voice started speaking, the sound nearly absolutely identical to Jaune's own voice. "There are hundreds of different ways to unlock the aura of a Faunus or human," it said, "but the aura is just an expression of the actual soul. Its composition and feel are often dictated by the pass phrase used-"
Jaune jerked his hand away from the book, and in an instant the feeling of comforting warmth and the voices stopped; he felt almost cold now. "What on Remnant was that?!" Jaune cried, already feeling deeply cold from the lack of contact with the single book.
Still wearing a look of utter amazement, Pyrrha looked over at Jaune. "This is proof!" she insisted, "Nihilus must have made these before he came to our universe!"
These? What is she talking about? There was only… one… book… Jaune gaped as his gaze wandered the room, finally taking note of just how many books there were. Nearly every wall was covered in blank, untitled tomes; stacks piled nearly roof-high littered the floor… they couldn't all be like the book Pyrrha was holding, could they?
A deep, rasping gasp of air snapped Jaune's attention to where Nihilus lay on the filthy bed, his sapphire eyes locking onto Nihilus as he awoke.
Nihilus' sickly yellow orbs darted around the dimly lit hovel in what Jaune could only describe as bone-deep rage. "This place…" the false lord muttered furiously, "I killed the Gleam Eyes for them, and they banished me from the only place of solace that existed!"
Pyrrha and Jaune stared at the raging lord, his black robes fluttering weakly as he rose from the dirty bed. "Nihilus," Pyrrha said soothingly, "it's okay. We spoke to-"
"You're taunting me!" he roared over the Spartan's words, but it wasn't directed at Pyrrha at all. "You think I don't know? I am forever! I am the destroyer! I am GOD! All the power belongs to ME!"
Pyrrha staggered to the ground as Nihilus' semblance washed over her, the small dregs of aura she had been able to recover as she slowly built a resistance to Nihilus disappearing in an instant under his more focussed gaze.
"Enough!" Jaune roared when Pyrrha went down, "Stop! Before you kill her!"
The sickly yellow gaze of Nihilus locked onto Jaune, fury marring his snow-white face. "She dies anyway, the sellout and her team of hollows ensures that!"
Pyrrha whimpered, her skin beginning to hurt as her soul receded.
Jaune didn't know what exactly Nihilus was talking about, but he wouldn't let Pyrrha die. He was a hunter, and hunters protected people!
With a shout, Jaune rammed his fist into Nihilus' face with all his might; his wrist ached and his fingers throbbed from the improper punch, but damn did it feel good.
Nihilus laughed as a thin trail of blood gushed out of his nose, "Good! Good! It means something to you? The rage, the pain! Her! Hold onto that my dear shell, for we must leave this place with haste!"
Jaune stared aghast at the older man. Just what the hell was wrong with this guy? He punched him, and then gets praised for it? "What?" Jaune demanded as he turned away from the Lord to face Pyrrha, "Where are you taking us?"
Nihilus gently ran his bony fingers across the spines of the nearest books, his face twisting painfully as he stared blankly with his sickly yellow eyes. "I made a mistake my dear shell, I need to repair the damage that I caused when I brought us here."
Pyrrha finally managed to stagger to her feet, a weary expression on her face as she looked at the man she was beginning to pity. "Nihilus, what are you talking about? What damage?"
The Lord of Hunger swept around the room as he brushed his fingers across the books he made so many years ago. "Do you understand where we are, children?
Jaune glared at Nihilus. He wasn't a child! Not anymore at least.
"We're in your home world," Pyrrha interjected before Jaune could say anything.
"Yes…" Nihilus purred, "but we're not meant to be here. I forced us through, I made a hole in the world."
Pyrrha and Jaune looked lost as they stared at the pale lord. What was he talking about? A hole in the world? "What are you talking about?" Pyrrha asked gently.
"I made a hole," Nihilus grew very angry, but it wasn't directed at them. "The entire surface of this dimension and yours is splintered." He glared at seemingly nothing on the far side of the room, "I need to repair the damage before total event collapse."
Jaune and Pyrrha grew slightly nervous. Nihilus was acting very… serious. Normally he was a gibbering nutter, but if he was this adamant about something…
"Okay, say we believe you," Jaune muttered slowly, "what do we do now? Why don't you just go fix the problem?"
The stone walls rattled and some of the books fell to the floor as Nihilus began to lose his temper. "I need more power, I am so very hungry right now… but we don't have time, we must act quickly!"
"Okay… so what do we do?" Pyrrha asked worriedly. Whatever Nihilus meant by 'total event collapse' couldn't be good…
"There is only one place we can go," the fallen Arc hissed, "we must make haste to Lavender Town!"
A/N
Let me start by saying I dislike Pokemon, though for those of you in the know you will quickly understand the meaning of the reference when chapter 12 is posted.
So, other important things to note in this chapter; most of you probably hadn't noticed, but Nihilus never actually speaks to Pyrrha. Whenever he is talking it's either directed at Jaune or something that no one else can see. That is, until this chapter. Nihilus didn't quite speak directly to Pyrrha, but he referred to both Jaune and Pyrrha when he said "Do you understand where we are children?" Interesting thing to note… could anyone guess why this is?
Also, some of you might be interested in Nihilus comment about the "Gleam Eyes" in both this chapter and in chapter 8. Hint hint…
On another note, how old do you guys think Nihilus is? I had an interesting PM conversation with a reviewer and I was actually rather surprised by how far he undershot the age. I'm perfectly happy to tell you all, since it doesn't really spoil anything, but I think you guys will be surprised.
If you're desperate for more information, read my answers to these reviews! I am far less subtle when I answer questions! that aside let's look at the reviews:
Dethcat:
Thanks for reviewing.
To answer your first review: thank you, I do try to make things interesting.
Second review: Nihilus never had any particular desire to save Dorme, although it won't be outright stated until later chapters Nihilus only wanted Jaune to stay away from Beacon. And no, in my stories I settled on the name 'Dorme' for Jaune's hometown. In canon no name has been given as of yet, though I am aware that some other stories (the most notable being Spectrum by Super Saiyan Cyndaquil) use the name Domremy.
Third, and my favourite review: Yang and Jaune were never particularly close, though at the time of that photo they could be considered friends by extension. Later on Nihilus was involved in the deaths of everyone else in the picture (NRVR, WASB, and the Y of RWBY) though he was not the only party at blame.
You're correct in assuming that the picture was taken shortly after the Breach prior to the Vytal festival, though that is hardly his happiest memory. The memory 'fragment' seen in chapter ten takes place about 6 or 7 years after the end of the tournament; and while it does involve Pyrrha, she is not the primary part of the memory. The reason for this should become slightly clearer by about chapter twelve: Ghost of Tomorrow.
I loved reading your reviews, I always enjoy hearing what people think of my stories.
Toddem Mach:
Thanks for reviewing.
Good luck on that house of yours, I hate it when mine explodes…
Jaune Black Smudge:
Thanks for reviewing.
Actually, I totally agree with you.
Surprised? Ironwood only wants what is best for Remnant as a whole, and generally speaking he would be far more compassionate than I portrayed him. But not only was Ruby being antagonistic, but the information that Nihilus could (and did in Ruby's universe) provide is practically priceless. Ironwood wouldn't be so pushy if it were under different conditions, but the idea of an army of Penny like mechs to drive back the Grimm and save pretty much all of mankind is kind of hard to argue against when the only price is the life of one man - a murder and a threat at that.
I appreciate that you were honest in your opinion and not just blindly praising me, I am always willing to hear out whatever people have to say - positive or negative.
Penny is a tricky subject to broach; no matter how you look at it someone (Polendina I assume) took someone's aura - their soul - and stuffed it inside a metal body that would forever be unable to live life as a real person. Perhaps Penny was the daughter of Dr. Polendina, whoever she was then is long dead - killed by whoever stuffed her inside a cold and unfeeling metal body. Why would Ironwood care if someone's daughter was dying? Sure it would be sad, but it also wouldn't be his problem. Ironwood is the literal head of the entire Atlasian military, he has more to worry about than the death of a single girl - regardless of whether she was training to be a huntress or not. Ironwood isn't cruel, but he has to think of the bigger picture. He only would have helped Dr. Polendina with Penny's creation if it had long-term benefits that would ultimately help him against the Grimm and other undesirables.
Even Penny herself acknowledges that she "isn't a real girl", and unless she died as a five-year-old (I mean really, she lacks pretty much all pretence of social skills) then I doubt she was ever real to begin with. Penny is a creation, a machine designed to fight and kill. Perhaps a girl called Penny did exist at some point, but if that is the case then I would say that P.E.N.N.Y is Dr. Polendina's attempt to revive the dead.
I can understand the appeal of having retired hunters put into new bodies on an intellectual level, but really think about that. Everything you are, everything you were, everything that you could be changed in an instant with the removal of your body. Forever trapped in a cold and unfeeling metal cage that can never truly be considered alive or human. I don't know about you, but personally that sounds like the worst sort of purgatory imaginable. I'd rather die than exist like that.
blaiseingfire
Thanks for reviewing.
What can I say? I like to mix things up.
Tabris the 17th angle:
Thanks for reviewing.
Actually, an interesting thing to note is that physically Nihilus is the way he is because he wanted to be like that. But mentally… yeah, that screwed him up pretty badly.
The way team RWBY has been acting is mostly born out of hatred and pain, though it is within reason - they have all lost someone to Nihilus. Ruby herself is the only one that realises that Nihilus isn't just a total villain, but she see's killing Jaune as something of a mercy so he didn't have to live like his counterpart did. She acts more out of pity than outright hatred, though the same isn't true for the other members of the team. Weiss, Blake and formerly Yang don't care about what made Nihilus the way he is, they just care about stopping him - even if it means killing someone who might become another Nihilus.
And don't worry, the past lives of the alternate RWBY will be fleshed out. Not all of the 'many years ago…' segments are going to be from Jaune's perspective, just most of them. The perspectives of RWBY and other supporting characters will be seen, though only to show things from a different angle to how Jaune see's stuff.
Thank you all for reading, and don't forget to leave a review!
