Wraith

Chapter Thirteen

Beta: Smithrooks

Fight of The Ages

Beacon, many years ago…

The first day of school is always the worst; it's the sudden shift from relaxed laziness to grumpy teachers and pissy students that does it. If there was one good thing that Jaune could always count on, however, it would be Beacon serving only the finest foods to their students.

Lunch was easily Jaune's favourite meal of the day, not just because he could eat as unhealthily as he liked, but because it was the one meal where his team allowed him to go and sit with Pyrrha and her team. Not that he disliked his own team; it's just that the friendship he had with them was… different than with Pyrrha.

Maybe because Pyrrha actually made conversation as she ate, unlike the rest of team WASB who just grunted and glared at anyone who interrupted their meal.

"Hey Pyrrha, how was your holiday?" Jaune asked as he settled down into the seat next to Pyrrha, the rest of team NRVR giving Jaune only a cursory glance before going back to eating - though Russel's aura practically simmered in agitation.

The black and gold aura that Jaune knew to be Pyrrha seemed to glow a little brighter, though without using his soul vision he could only guess what emotion that was meant to signify.

"It was very good," the Spartan girl said enthusiastically, utterly ignoring her partner's thinly veiled irritation at Jaune's presence. "I had forgotten how good my father's cooking was, much better than the food here."

Jaune smiled thinly at that. It wasn't like the food at Beacon was bad, but it lacked… personality. Although that was hardly a surprise, considering that the school's chef was just some old Atlesian Knight robot that had been repurposed into cooking. Jaune wasn't exactly sure, but he was reasonably certain there was a story behind that somewhere. He also couldn't help but wonder who programmed the robot to think that students his age enjoyed eating whole swordfishes, but hey, who was he to judge?

Hearing Pyrrha talk about home actually made Jaune feel a little sad; he missed his family - particularly his mother's cooking. None of them knew about his disability... heh, none of them would recognize him now - that would make for a fun homecoming when he graduated.

"Yeah, I bet," Jaune answered in lieu of his own thoughts. Pyrrha didn't need to hear his sob story; best to change subjects then. "So…" the blind boy said slowly, "before last semester ended, you asked me if I could teach you how to see like I can…" Damn if that didn't sound awkward, especially given that the rest of team NRVR was seated at the table. "If you still want me to, that is!"

Wait… the rest of team NRVR was at the table, why was Nora holding that pie like she was about to throw it…?

"That sounds grand Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed, utterly unaware of the pending disaster. "Why don't we-"

Whatever else the champion was going to say was cut off when from across the room Weiss gave a gasp of utter, and quite reasonable, outrage as Nora's pie slammed into her face.

"Oh… oh my…" Pyrrha muttered as she stifled a giggle.

A moment of absolute silence dominated the entire cafeteria, but that moment was absolutely shattered when the ever composed and dignified Weiss Schnee gave a shout of righteous anger as she hurled her salad at Nora's face.

Jaune could only shiver as the hall broke into chaos; when he was younger the Arc family had quite a few food fights, and John Arc, being the mature and responsible father he was, always followed the only option available to him - join in.

One would think that a fight of eight against one would be fairly simple, right? Dead wrong. John Arc wasn't a top class hunter for nothing; that man could throw food hard enough to maim.

And now as the hall around him descended into a chaotic mess of fleeing students and the embattled teams RWBY and NRVR, Jaune could only hope that he had inherited at least some of his father's culinary warfare skills. So with that firmly in his mind, Jaune put all of his tactical knowledge into practice and came up with the perfect way to start this war.

Hide behind a table.

Pyrrha had abandoned him and joined her team in what seemed to be some demented version of a castle - complete with the team's resident Nutcase-Nora singing about how she was the 'queen of the castle'.

Team RWBY seemed to be at something of a disadvantage - though that was hardly his problem. Jaune wanted to win this for himself, so screw the others.

With a battle cry for delicious vengeance team RWBY leapt into battle with team NRVR, watermelons flying through the air as a testament to NRVR's defiance.

Luckily for Jaune he had plenty of ammo, as the table he was currently cowering behind - in a manly way of course - was covered in uneaten food. So with a shout of what he hoped was righteous, tasty anger, he hurled a juice box at the closest enemy - which just happened to be Weiss.

The prissy girl was of course offended at getting sticky juice all over her, though Jaune hardly had any time to gloat over this as he suddenly found a watermelon exploding rather violently over his head - courtesy of Pyrrha.

Well, if she wanted to play that game then Jaune could certainly oblige.

With a grunt, Jaune hurled a nearby apple back towards Pyrrha, the small projectile working as a wonderful distraction to what Jaune planned next.

Water Dust generally worked best when controlling or creating large bodies of water, but with enough aura and effort, water Dust could work on pretty much any liquid of similar density. Like say… soda.

Ignoring what was no doubt going to be a monumental headache later, Jaune slipped a water Dust crystal into his hand and sent out a thrum of his aura to all the cans of soft drink in the room, the liquids within practically exploding out of their metal shells and coming to him in a wave of sugary goodness.

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle aloud when he saw the auras of everyone else in the room flicker in alarm and shock. To him, it all just looked like a thin shimmer of his own aura guiding the lifeless light of the soft drink, but to them? It was probably rather disconcerting to suddenly find what amounts to an indoor tidal wave of pure sugary goodness practically appear before their eyes.

And all this… he did for Pyrrha. Jaune may not be the strongest fighter, but no-one gets a free shot on him anymore. That watermelon she had thrown at his head earlier… well, this was just him repaying the champion with a little interest.

"Taste that, Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted with what amounted to manic glee as all of team RWBY and NRVR were knocked off their feet and swept away, "Taste my sugary revenge!"

Jaune felt so giddy at his apparent victory that he could dance, he had just wiped the floor with two full teams of hunters! Sure, if it had been a real fight then they would have creamed him, but did that matter right now? No! Jaune was the victor! He was the conqueror! Jaune the undefeated! Hell, he felt like he should get a lordship for this. Lord Jaune! Now that had a nice ring to it, just wait until he could rub this in Cardin's face-

Why was he floating in mid air?

Indeed, Jaune had only just noticed it, so caught up in the thrill of what he believed to be a victory that hadn't noticed the arrival of the woman that he now feared the most in Beacon - Glynda Goodwitch.

Her aura practically quivered in rage, or was that her actually quivering from the dousing of soda he had just accidentally given her? At this point it probably didn't even matter, she was going to kill him.

"Mr. Arc." Oh god… the way she said his name… would his family be there for the funeral? Would they be sad, or just disappointed that he was killed by a teacher? "I believe you and I need to go and discuss your punishment."

The words said one thing, but she meant something else. The telekinetic grip she used to hold him aloft was actually making her intentions pretty clear, in a bone-crushing, throat-strangling kind of way.

"However," however… however what?! What was she gonna do to him?! "I believe that our discussion can wait until you hit the ground."

Hit the ground? The hell did that mean? "I don't-" his words were cut off, however. Funny how being hurled through the roof and flying a couple hundred metres into the air will do that to someone.

Well, Jaune thought to himself as gravity began to make itself known once more, this just means I have one more person to get revenge on…


Lavender Town, present day…

Jaune awoke with a gasp, his blue eyes widening to the extreme as he jolted into wakefulness.

However, he regretted this instantly. As usual, Nihilus paid utterly no attention to the concept of personal space and practically smothered Jaune with a close-up intense look from his sickly yellow eyes. "You were dreaming," the false lord announced after a few moments of silence.

To his side Pyrrha slowly awoke, much more gracefully than Jaune and with a good deal less fuss. At first she seemed deeply confused with her surroundings, the weak dawn light casting the destroyed ruins of Lavender Town into a new creepy light that was different than the night before - but still no less unsettling.

Jaune quailed slightly under Nihilus' intense 'stare'. "Y-yes? It was weird."

Pyrrha yawned widely as she watched the scene unfold before her, though she apparently felt no particular need to intervene.

"I felt your confusion and anger, my mortal shell…" Nihilus purred, "it is your dream and you control it."

Jaune jerked backwards as soon as Nihilus finished speaking, his mind snapping back to the dream he had awoken from. The girl had said that… The girl smiled warmly at Jaune. Her exquisite violet eyes looked sad, however, like she was trying to mask what she was feeling. "Whenever I had a nightmare, you used to read me stories… you'd say that it was my dream, that I controlled it." The unnamed girl rose to her feet, and suddenly her white dress vanished and was replaced by a thick purple coat and mittens. "Let me show you the dream… the place you dream of…"

It was all coming back to him now; the dream, the girl, the things she showed him… what had it all meant? Why had she called him… daddy, at the end? He was so confused…

"Nihilus…" Jaune said as he tried to push the lord away, "do you… do you know a little girl with red hair and purple eyes?"

The Lord of Hunger stilled, his entire frame rigid and unmoving for a single moment, sickly yellow eyes turning icy cold. Jaune and Pyrrha sat utterly frozen in the face of the expression on Nihilus' face, but the moment passed quickly and the false lord turned his back and stepped away from Jaune. "No," he muttered, his voice uncharacteristically serious, "I do not."

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look as the lord stepped away. Just what had that been about? The reaction alone was enough for Jaune to know that he had lied about the girl, but why? Pyrrha wouldn't know since she didn't have the dream like Jaune did, but with just a glance even Jaune could tell that she was concerned about the reaction Nihilus showed. And who wouldn't be? Last time they saw Nihilus this serious, he forced them through that purple… portal thingy - which was easily the most painful thing either of the young hunters had ever experienced.

But for some reason, Jaune just couldn't shake the feeling that the dream had been important; the image of the little girl burned in his mind's eye unlike anything that he'd ever felt before. He felt like… like he needed to know, and if he didn't find out then something very bad would happen.

"Nihilus?" Jaune began to try again, "Are you sure you don't know a girl-"

It was so fast that Jaune didn't even see it coming. One moment Jaune had been standing facing the back of the robed lord, then the next moment Jaune felt his face collide with the uneven cobblestones of the courtyard with thunderous force. Through Jaune's eyes the world shook and stars danced merrily, but his face felt like it had been totally flattened against the stone.

It took Jaune a few moments to come to grips with what was happening around him, but even then things seemed slightly disjointed as the young hunter tried to sit up.

"Jaune?!" he heard Pyrrha call out, "Jaune! Are you okay?!"

But finally, Jaune's eyes responded properly; on his right side, Pyrrha was hovering over him with a deeply concerned expression on her face. Standing over Jaune with his hand raised into a slapping position was Nihilus, an expression of such thunderous anger that Jaune instantly felt cowed at the mere sight of it.

The sheer murderous intent that Nihilus was putting off was frightening, so much so that for the first time since meeting the man Jaune actually felt his aura recede within himself slightly - a feat which had nothing to do with the elder man's semblance, only his anger.

But Nihilus wasn't done, apparently. With a mere flick of his wrist, a blast of air punted Pyrrha away from Jaune and through a nearby building, then with ease startling for such a thin man Nihilus grabbed Jaune by the throat and yanked him up to eye level.

Jaune choked in the elder man's impossibly tight grip. He couldn't breathe at all; his windpipe was being mercilessly crushed with strength that Jaune had absolutely no hope of being able to counter, despite his desperate attempts to claw at the ghostly white hand that held him aloft. "Never speak of her," the dead man whispered, rage flooding his sickly yellow eyes, "if you ever mention her again, I will kill you."

Jaune couldn't speak; the only noise he let out was a pained gurgle.

But suddenly a gunshot rang out, the bullet speeding towards Nihilus from the barrel of Pyrrha's rifle.

With his free hand Nihilus lazily swatted the bullet to the side, his head turning towards Pyrrha as she pulled herself out the broken wooden structure. Her fickle amount of aura had protected her from taking too much damage when she was thrown through the building, but from just a glance it was obvious that the girl didn't have aura to spare.

"Let him go!" the champion shouted as she held her rifle up, ready to fire again despite knowing how little effect it would have.

The sickly yellow eyes of Nihilus glared dangerously, his blind gaze levelling onto Pyrrha for just a moment. "Illusion," he hissed, before forcing the Spartan girl back to the ground with a concentrated dose of his semblance - she held onto consciousness, if only just.

Jaune choked and flailed as he tried to free himself from Nihilus' impossibly strong grip, but the effort was utterly moot in the face of the might of the Lord of Hunger.

The vibrant, unhealthy eyes of Nihilus focused on Jaune once more. "Do you understand, my shell?" he whispered, "Do not forget what I am, what we are."

Then with only the laziest of motions, Nihilus dropped Jaune on the ground like he was little more than a sack of potatoes. Jaune coughed and sputtered as dark spots danced around in his vision; his throat felt like it was on fire, and each time he coughed he felt like he was hacking up his own lungs.

After a few moments of violent coughing Jaune forced himself to look upwards, his blue eyes only dully noting that Nihilus was once again in the faded, semi-transparent state he had assumed the night before. Jaune's eyes settled onto Pyrrha as she struggled to remain awake on the far side of the courtyard.

With what felt like herculean effort, Jaune dragged himself over to his partner; each breath he took felt like inhaling glass shards, but he didn't stop. Pyrrha needed him, and Jaune owed her this much.

"Pyrrha," he wheezed painfully as he drew close, "Pyrrha, are you okay?"

All was silent for a moment, and Jaune began to fear that Nihilus had done some permanent damage, but then two bone-weary, green eyes met Jaune's sapphire blue orbs. "Jaune," she whispered, her soul-deep fatigue obvious.

Jaune moved closer still, relief flooding his mind that his partner and currently only source of sanity was alright. Damn Nihilus for doing this to them; all this, over what? A vague description of a little girl Jaune saw in a dream? Obviously something larger was afoot here.

Jaune couldn't help but feel a swell of anger when he thought about it. All this crap that was happening to him and Pyrrha, it just wasn't fair! Initiation had only been, what, three or four days ago now? He and Pyrrha should be in a classroom in Beacon learning how to be hunters, not trapped out in the middle of nowhere with some psycho who killed and stole people's souls just for kicks.

Jaune's fiery blue gaze snapped towards the half-faded Nihilus on the far side of the courtyard. How dare he just sit there, utterly apathetic to their struggling-

A small hand stopped Jaune's angry thoughts utterly. The palm settled onto Jaune's left shoulder gently, and instantly he knew it couldn't be Pyrrha's hand - it was way too small.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Jaune turned his head to see who the hand belonged to.

Blue eyes widened when they met the gorgeous violet eyes of the little girl from his dream, weak tears in her small eyes as she sat next to Jaune with a painfully sad expression on her face. Jaune opened his mouth to say something, but in a flash the girl disappeared, the feeling of her small hand on his shoulder lingering for only a split second before that too faded away.

What on Remnant was that?

A/N

So… we all know that Nihilus has had a pretty shit life so far, but at least he won the food fight! Because that totally makes up for everything else right? Right?!

So jokes aside, a little clarification here: quite a few people mistakenly made the assumption that the little girl (Nihilus' daughter) only appeared because of the location, and that she is 'bound' to Lavender Town itself. That is, in a word, wrong. The girl has been following Nihilus for years before he made his appearance in chapter one, she just hasn't had the strength or inclination to communicate with anyone bar two specific people (Jaune and- well, you'll see) before now. Lavender Town is an entirely different can of worms, holding several thousand souls as well as functioning as a prison of sorts.

All that aside, let's look at the reviews:

Dethcat:

Thanks for reviewing.
A rather apt name for young Nihilus I'd say. And yes; Nihilus, or Noir as you call him, studied aura quite extensively during his life. To the point where he was able to create the 'books' shown in chapter 11, though even at the time of their creation Nihilus (Noir) absolutely hated them - seeing them as a sign of his own failure and weakness. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that he put life into them, but it would be wrong to say that he created life for them - he took it from somewhere else.

Soul sight vs Aura sight is rather muddled really, but it is pretty much as you described it. Aura sight gives a more general impression of a person, like if I were trying to describe what my brother looks like to someone has never seen either him or myself - whereas Soul sight would be like showing a photograph of my brother. It doesn't give any funky mind reading powers or anything, but it makes clear the details that define the person in question.

Lavender Town is actually something of a contradiction for Nihilus - and even characters like the alternate team RWBY wouldn't be able to make sense of the town. Nihilus certainly 'killed' everyone there, but he killed their bodies - ripping their souls out then basically just dumping the spirits in the town because he didn't want to eat them (for reasons he mentioned somewhat vaguely). And while it's true that the souls still hover about the town, Nihilus has an exceptionally poor understanding of what other people (or spirits in this case) can do - he assumes that they are all at least competent in soul manipulation, something he is literally the only man alive who can do.

The kid shown is the former daughter of Nihilus; and (obviously) the red hair is a trait picked up from Pyrrha, the purple eyes are from his side of the family - though this won't be expanded upon until other members of his family start becoming more prominent characters in the plot a little later on.

I love the long review, it really made my day!

killerbeats359:

Thanks for reviewing.

Cheers! I like to think I've made a pretty intricate plot, the more complicated the better I say.

Tabris the 17th angle:

Thanks for reviewing.
This chapter gave a lot of context for why Nihilus is the way he is, with the loss of both his daughter and Pyrrha Nihilus' violent streak is suddenly much more understandable. A sad truth of it is that his daughter will always be with him in her ghostly form, though he will only be able to see her under very specific circumstances. One could even go so far as to say that he has blinded himself to her; because while he is 'aware' that she is present, he knows that there is nothing he could ever do to help her - despite that she only wants to help him.

Thanks for the compliments, I try my hardest.

Toddem Mach:

Thanks for reviewing.
I wouldn't say I hate Pokemon, just a dislike. Intellectually there's all the common reasons; animal cruelty and so on so on. But the main reason for my dislike is because I grew up playing (and watching) Digimon - which was the original and (in my opinion) better version of Pokemon drawing a lot of inspiration from Digimon, but lacking originality when it was first created. It's almost funny now though, as I have watched or played any Digimon related games or anime for at least 12 or 13 years - but my admittedly irrational dislike for Pokemon is still as strong as ever.

The main reason I am able to create such elaborate reference is because Lavender town is a rather well known Creepypasta - and I do love a good Creepypasta.


So I haven't been getting many reviews, which is frankly a little disheartening. If you take the time to read this then please take the time to review! Particularly if you have a question to ask or even if you have a complaint, I tend to be much more spoiler-y when talking to readers. So please leave a review!