Wraith

Chapter Sixteen

Beta: Smithrooks

Stolen Love

Vale, many years ago…

Jaune had never particularly been a big fan of jewellery before now; him and his father had too many harrowing memories of being dragged into stores for hours on end by the rest of the Arc family. The girls had all enjoyed the pretty baubles enough that the only two males in the family had been used as what practically amounted to slaves to carry around all their purchases.

Back then, Jaune had never really been into the idea of any jewellery for himself, not really seeing the point of having shiny bits of metal hanging on his body like a demented version of a Christmas tree. But now… well, now Jaune had stopped caring what people thought of him. That, and it was the ideal solution to getting a focus for his Dust.

The smallish jewellery store that he had found was a nice enough place, though Jaune would be the first to admit that he was probably the worst person to ask if something looked nice or not. Though as he stepped into the store and 'looked' at all the small pricks of light that he knew to be rings, a sudden and rather embarrassing thought occurred.

He couldn't read.

Of course Pyrrha had offered to come with him to get a focus for his Dust, but he had waved her off. He was a big boy; he didn't need help with every little thing after all.

But he was regretting that now; it hadn't actually occurred to Jaune until he had set foot in the store, but how was he meant to find the rings that would suit his purposes? It wasn't like he could read display cases or anything, and Jaune wasn't particularly inclined to ask one of the employees milling about. He hated asking for help, hated the idea that he wasn't good enough to do something on his own.

Maybe it would just take a fraction longer than expected. But it was probably better this way; he could let his 'sight' make the decision for him - avoid having his opinion influenced by someone who could actually see what Jaune was considering.

All the rings and other pieces of assorted jewellery were of course stained with the aura of anyone who had ever touched them; such was the way of all things that weren't living. This was irrelevant in regards to the actual properties of the metal. To determine that, he had to look deeper… it was almost like his soul sight in a way, but since small bands of metal didn't exactly have a soul it was more like a defining look at something non-living.

In particular, Jaune needed something that could withstand extreme temperature changes without melting or fracturing; anything too soft or not dense enough would be nigh useless - especially given that Jaune mostly used fire Dust.

Most of the rings his 'eyes' passed over were practically worthless, drab grey lights that would turn into a puddle under the heat of fire Dust. Others were interesting, though they weren't quite what he was looking for - though it was slightly surprising to see a small ring that could only be described as blurple. Who knew metal could turn out that way?

But soon enough, Jaune found exactly what he was looking for. Hidden in the far corner of the little shop and surrounded by lesser rings sat two gorgeous red flares of light. At just a cursory glance Jaune could tell that extreme heat wouldn't be a problem for either of the rings, both of them looking like they could probably be dropped in magma without melting.

They were perfect.

"Something catch your eye?"

It was just some shop assistant. "Yes," he replied curtly, gesturing to the two rings that burned a stark red in his sight. "I want those rings." Normally he would be more polite, but living with Cardin Winchester didn't exactly reinforce proper manners.

"Are you quite sure, sir?" the shop assistant asked, a slight note of hesitation in his voice. "Those rings are quite expensive…"

Heh, he probably thought Jaune didn't have the money. The Arc family wasn't exactly hurting for Lien, and when Jaune made his escape to come to Beacon he made sure to take more than enough to cover all tuition fees as well as a good deal of extra spending money. He intended to pay it all back of course, but only after he became a master huntsman. "Yes, that's fine," Jaune said, his voice betraying his slight irritation at the delay. "How much are they?"

The transaction was quick and to the point, though Jaune got the impression that the man was rather surprised that he managed to pay without any issue. The two rings were warm in his hands when he finally got them, the heat of whatever happened to create the metal resonating within his sight. Whoever had formed these also had a greenish aura, but that would soon be wiped away as Jaune himself used them.

With absolute glee, Jaune slipped the first of the rings onto his right middle finger, the cool metal a polar opposite to the heat he knew it could sustain. The second ring went to the matching finger on his left hand; it was slightly uncomfortable on his fingers, but he would learn to live with it if it meant he didn't have to literally roast his hands anytime he wanted to fight like-

Why was the ground shaking?

It actually was, like something giant was-

Holy shit.

It was The Prick, the orange aura of the asshole from the docks was literally running right towards him. Except apparently he'd gotten an upgrade… it wasn't fair, why did he get a giantrobot? Jaune would have liked a giant robot…

The huge form of Torchwick in his robot sprinted past him, the ground shaking and rumbling as he went. Apparently either The Prick hadn't noticed Jaune standing there, or he just hadn't considered him much of a threat.

Either way it was a mistake on his part, because Jaune was not going to be ignored. The Prick would come to rue the day that he ignored Jaune Arc!

The surprisingly fast machine sped onto the nearby highway, punting a few cars out of the way in its effort to chase… Blake? And that monkey Faunus guy from the docks, what was his name again? Star, or something.

Well, good news Blake and other guy! Because Jaune's tagging in for this!

Jaune dashed off into a sprint as he jumped onto the highway, only narrowly avoiding becoming a person-shaped smear on the ground by one of the many cars that were whizzing past. Since apparently the giant robot could run as fast as the cars on the highway - because that was totally fair - Jaune found himself at something of a disadvantage since he wasn't actually fast enough to keep up with the machine, but that was an easy problem to fix.

Because Jaune always came prepared.

Gravity Dust was always a handy thing; surprisingly, many people who used it didn't utilise both aspects, most preferring just to increase their weight or the weight of everything around them. Not that using it that way was bad, it just seemed… limited. Maybe people just didn't realise the crazy benefits that making stuff lighter could have, like for example… the human body, thus granting one the ability to run fast enough to catch up to a giant robot tearing up the local highway and… wow, killing lots of people as it punted cars out of the way.

Jaune was easily able to keep up with The Prick after making himself about twenty kilos lighter. Mostly this was thanks to his use of gravity Dust, but his aura also played a large part in it as well. Interestingly, Jaune had noticed that his control over his aura was actually way more precise than any of the other students at Beacon, though the professors were still about the same level as him. Maybe it was because he used it so much more? Or maybe it was because he was just awesome.

Blake and the other guy were doing a pretty questionable job so far in Jaune's opinion, their aura-assisted leaps between cars causing just as many crashes as The Prick as they bounced between the moving vehicles. He'd have to bring that up with Blake later, because that was not okay.

Yang's sunny yellow aura was coming up fast, some blue-coloured dude on her motorbike with her. That was good; he'd need the help to defeat The Prick.

"Hey Jaune!" Yang screamed as she pulled up beside him, her bike more than able to keep up with his Dust-powered sprint. "Slow it down!"

Oh totally, because it was just that easy of course. Nonetheless Jaune waved his Dust-free hand in affirmative, his mind already buzzing with ways to slow down Torchwick and his killer robot. He had plenty of Dust on him: fire, gravity, lightning and even some water too, but how would any of those be useful against the armoured chassis of the mech?

Nothing great came to mind, well, nothing that wouldn't involve what basically amounted to mass murder of the poor people just driving home from work that is.

But Jaune wasn't given much time to think, as apparently The Prick had noticed him. The garish orange aura within the cold metal machine tingled with amusement as he steered the giant machine into punting cars backwards towards where Jaune, Yang and whoever was on the back of her bike were.

Jaune dodged with a yelp, feeling righteously angry for the poor souls within the now demolished cars, their lives snuffed out in an instant by Torchwick. Slipping a warm fire Dust crystal into his free right hand, Jaune forced his aura through the Dust and into the ring on his finger, a fireball exploding outwards with traces of Jaune's spirit illuminating it to his vision.

The fireball splashed against the armoured back of the mech rather uselessly, though it did make him feel better.

The blue guy on the back of Yang's bike was an idiot though, that much became very clear very quickly as the moron leapt onto the now smouldering back of the mech in an attempt to stab it with his… spear? Trident? Jaune couldn't quite tell.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the blue aura'd idiot was soon being shaken around as Torchwick attempted to rid himself of the buffoon pissing in the gene pool.

"He's an idiot!" Jaune cried to Yang, the thrum of her bike mere metres away from him.

"I know, right!?" she shouted back, her brilliant golden aura flaring in agreement.

Apparently the Faunus guy that Blake was with was also an idiot as well; two empty projections of aura - which Jaune could only assume was a semblance of some kind - splashed harmlessly against the front of the mech as he tried to help his friend. Upon seeing that his attack had failed, the idiot must have thought that leaping towards the giant killer robot with only a complicated-looking stick was a good idea.

Even to Jaune's blind eyes that particular course of action was beyond stupid, and that was really saying something considering he only had a couple of months worth of combat training - most of which amounted to little more than setting himself on fire and getting beat up a lot.

Predictably, the yellowish aura of the monkey guy was punted out of the way with ease, though even Jaune had to give credit to Torchwick for managing to make the blue idiot body-slam his friend mid-air, though Jaune was less than amused to see the two tumble off the highway and into the lower levels of the city.

Oh hey, was that Weiss? Her icy-cold aura dropped onto the highway before them, primed and ready by the look of things. And now that Jaune was actively looking he could 'see' Ruby too, but why was she beneath the highway? She couldn't exactly do much from there…

But Jaune's distraction cost him; Weiss, the master of ice Dust she was, slammed her rapier down and coaxed the Dust in her sword into making an extremely thin, extremely slippery sheet of ice. The mech and The Prick staggered for a moment, but gravity wasn't something that took no for an answer, so in just a few short seconds the robot tumbled off the highway towards the ground below.

Unfortunately, Jaune was also a victim of this since while his own use of the now near-depleted gravity Dust made him obscenely fast, it didn't exactly grant him the ability to slow down. His sneakers slipped across the icy surface just as badly as Torchwick's death robot did, although thankfully Jaune didn't find himself tumbling from the edge of the highway.

Weiss leapt off the side just as Yang brought her bike to a skidding halt before Jaune, her brilliant golden aura shining with exhilaration. "You coming, Vomit Boy?" she quickly asked, gesturing downwards towards where the mech was only now righting itself.

Jaune pushed himself up, surprised that he wasn't feeling any of the usual side-effects of prolonged use of gravity Dust. But that surprise soon turned to elation when he realised it was because of the ring on his left hand; he'd been using it to channel the power - and by god did he feel good now. None of the usual symptoms like loss of balance or motion sickness plagued him, he felt great! "Sure," he resisted smirking, knowing how ugly that made him. "I have a bone to pick with that guy."

He and Yang quickly made their way over to the edge of the highway, the busty girl leaping off without any hesitation whatsoever. Jaune grimaced and followed suit; he had never been particularly keen on heights. It wasn't that he was afraid of them exactly, it was just that when he was really high up he tended to have problems with gravity.

Thankfully, his fall was broken by his aura rather than his ankles. "Ladies," Jaune greeted politely to the other members of RWBY, "I was just in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd drop by."

Nailed it.

Yang snorted, Ruby laughed, and Jaune got the distinct impression that Weiss and Blake were glaring at him.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby said brightly as Torchwick and his death robot stalked closer, "Help us deal with this!"

Internally Jaune smirked, that was the plan. With a shout he hurled a fireball at the towering machine, his hands remaining thoroughly unburnt as he channelled the power of the fire Dust though his new rings.

"Weiss and Jaune!" Ruby yelled, "Keep it distracted!"

She wasn't his leader, but Jaune would take the order anyway. It wasn't like Cardin was here, nor would he be terribly useful against an opponent such as this.

The icy-looking aura of Weiss stepped up to his side, her rapier thrumming with power. "Arc!" she snapped, "You attack the body and I'll immobilize the legs!"

Jaune nodded and willed the wisps of flame that still clung to the machine from his last attack to burn hotter and brighter, his strength of will powering his offensive.

Weiss flourished her sword, and with precision Jaune knew he couldn't match several large blocks of ice sprouted around the machine's legs, though it was only mildly effective at slowing it down.

Several missiles shot out of the robot, all of them arcing towards the two Dust users violently with speed that Jaune had little chance to react to. Weiss elegantly danced out of the way from Torchwick's counter, but Jaune wasn't quite so lucky; he had only moments to raise his hands to shield his body before the explosives slammed into him with a thunderous explosion.

"Jaune!" Ruby cried from somewhere behind him, "Yang! Hammerfall!"

Jaune's head was ringing. Fuck, that hurt! His aura quivered in agony as he lowered his guard, just what kind of missiles were those?! If he hadn't poured his aura into his arms to protect himself then he would have been a bloody red smear across the ground! Where the hell did The Prick get a robot that could do that? And why couldn't he have one?!

Fortunately for Jaune, Torchwick was unable to continue his attack. If he had… well, aura was useful but it wasn't all-powerful. And Jaune's dream of becoming the most powerful hunter in the world wouldn't exactly work if he became a fine red mist.

In a series of complex movements that Jaune had neither the time nor inclination to focus on, Blake launched Yang high into the air above the robot, the vibrant golden aura of Yang practically humming in anticipation as she sailed through the air.

She came down on the machine like a storm, the gravity-assisted dive allowing her to smash into the cockpit with extreme force. Not enough force to actually damage the damn thing, but enough to slow it down momentarily.

"You okay Jaune?" Ruby cried as she dashed up to him, her burning red aura so similar to that of a blooming rose.

Jaune staggered to his feet. "Yeah…" he muttered as Yang continued to pummel the robot, "I just took a bad fall…"

But he was more than ready for some payback.

"Weiss!" he barked, more than ready to end this fight already. "How much lightning Dust do you have?"

The pale, icy aura of the Schnee girl flickered in contained contempt. "Enough, why?"

Jaune didn't answer her question, instead he turned to Ruby and said: "Get Yang off there, Weiss and I are gonna try and cook the robot!"

Ruby nodded, "Blake! Ladybug!"

The Faunus girl nodded, and hardly an instant later both Blake and Ruby were running perpendicular to each other. Their respective weapons slashed at the legs of the machine, not truly doing any significant damage but still enough to draw Torchwick's attention. "Yang!" Ruby shouted as she made another pass, "Off!"

Jaune readied his lightning Dust as Yang leapt from the mech, idly watching as Weiss did the same with her rapier. Only when Yang was totally clear did he roar to Ruby to get out of the way, "MOVE!"

In a burst of semblance-powered speed, Ruby grabbed Blake and within less than a second the two were clear.

Baleful arcs of lightning shot out of Jaune's hands and Weiss' sword towards the mech, the energy crossing the gap in an instant and raging over the metal coffin that Torchwick was piloting. Weiss' use of the Dust was much more refined than his own, her power shooting outwards in a single devastating bolt of destruction instead of the maelstrom of chaotic energy that Jaune produced.

Jaune smirked lightly as the bright orange aura of The Prick faded slightly from within; obviously their plan was working! They just needed to keep this up-

The ground below Jaune and Weiss' feet exploded violently, concrete pelting Jaune's already weary aura as he was blasted backwards. Just what the hell was that?

"Weiss! Jaune!" the other three cried, their shouts blotted out by the stomps of the machine as it drew closer.

Within moments, his question answered itself. Dust cannons. The frickin thing had Dust cannons! Dust cannons were something of a cheat really, since they took all the naturally occurring types of Dust and mixed it into one single destructive attack that wasn't terribly useful against the Grimm, but made up for that in their absurd ability to annihilate aura.

Weiss wasn't looking too good; her aura was faded so much that Jaune easily pegged her as being at less than 15%. Luckily for him though his aura reserves were pretty big, and he hovered around 40%.

Jaune staggered to his feet, "I'm okay!" he coughed, feeling anything but. "Weiss is done though!"

The other three made a deadly, and frankly stupid mistake however; in their haste to see if Jaune and Weiss were okay, they turned their backs to the giant killer robot.

Almost in slow motion, Jaune watched as the aura-stained cannon rose again, this time taking aim at the backs of the distracted huntresses. Before initiation Jaune might have thrown himself in the way, but now he had a better idea.

Dust.

An earth Dust crystal slipped into his left hand just as Jaune slammed his knuckles into the concrete, willing with all his might for the Dust to obey his order and bend to his command.

It did, luckily for Blake, Yang and Ruby. A thin wall of stone shot upwards behind them - effectively blocking a powerful shot from The Prick that would have taken them out of the fight. "Fuck yeah!" Jaune shouted, elated that it had worked - earth Dust wasn't something he had really explored the use of up until now.

A plan was quickly forming in Jaune's mind; this robot thingy was obviously super durable, the only damage they'd really managed to achieve being when Yang dropped onto it. The problem was that she was just too light to cause any significant damage, but Jaune could fix that problem.

"Yang!" he shouted, hoping that they would understand quickly, he didn't know how long his improvised wall would hold out… "That attack you did earlier! Hammer-something, we need to do it again!"

"What?!" she demanded, her golden aura vibrant. "Why?! It didn't work!"

"Because you weren't heavy enough!" She couldn't be offended by that, right? He was saying that she was the opposite of fat! "If you do it again, I can use gravity Dust to make you heavier!"

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, "Just do it!"

Yang grumbled something that Jaune didn't hear, but complied anyway. Her aura pooled in her feet while her right hand gripped the ribbon of Blake's weapon.

The flimsy wall finally shattered, and in that same moment Yang launched herself into the air with an aura-assisted leap, Blake's ribbon helping provide direction while in the air.

Jaune's part of the shitty plan was probably the most difficult. Using gravity Dust wasn't actually that hard when the only target was the user, but it got progressively more difficult the faster or further away the target was. Finesse was also a rather tricky issue when focussing on someone else; if Jaune didn't put enough power into it, then Yang wouldn't be heavy enough to destroy the robot, but if he put too much power into it then he might accidentally make Yang crap out her spine as well as the vast majority of her organs - which was actually entirely possible if he really over did it.

But fortunately for Yang, Jaune had been practicing with gravity Dust almost obsessively since Forever Fall. So when he reached out with all the fine control that he could muster, Yang didn't lose any of her insides, though she did get about three times heavier.

Her brilliant golden aura dropped out of the air like a meteor onto the robot, the obscene amount of force having exactly the intended affect - utterly shattering the cockpit of the mech and dealing a hefty blow to the pulsing orange aura of Torchwick as he was thrown to the ground.

"Damn," the criminal muttered as he brushed his hands over his clothes, "I just got this thing cleaned."

Yang stumbled out of the wreckage of the robot, her aura practically shaking from the sudden changes in gravity. "Whoa there, vomit boy," she choked as she staggered to a ready position, "you really know how to show a girl a good time!"

Jaune couldn't help but feel his cheeks burn slightly at that, "Well I-"

"WELL…" Torchwick said loudly, drawing attention back to him, "I hate to break up this witty banter, but I have places to be! Dust to steal, people to rob."

Yeah, no. After all the trouble that they had to go through they weren't gonna let him get away now. "Like hell, prick," Jaune grunted, "You're going to prison!"

Roman chuckled, his already waning aura flickering in dull amusement. "I think not, ugly."

Ohh, that stings. What an original insult, Jaune had never heard that one before.

"Cute," Blake snarled in Jaune's defence, "but it won't save you."

The Faunus girl raised her gun, quickly firing off a few shots to end the discussion. But moments before the rounds impacted, a new aura - a new person - came into the fray. The… girl… was short. Very short. And their aura was… pink? A lightish red for sure. With a single sweep of her… umbrella… the bullets were deflected away from The Prick, the lightish red aura practically purring in amusement.

"Neo," the criminal chuckled, "if you would?"

Jaune's blind eyes widened as the scene unfolded around him. The two auras before him… vanished? One moment they were there, but the next… there was just a phantasm of sorts left. It clearly wasn't actually them, but more like a faded image of them had been left behind. Was this a semblance of some kind? Teleportation perhaps? Or was it an illusion? Or both even?

But apparently he was the only one to notice this; Yang leapt forward with an aura-assisted leap towards the ghostly traces of aura, seemingly unaware that her targets were long gone. With a yell, Yang's vibrant golden aura crashed against the empty space, the sound of breaking glass the primary indicator that the illusion had literally shattered.

"Huh?" Yang muttered, seemingly at a loss as to what exactly happened.

"They're gone," Jaune muttered, vaguely seeing something that could be the orange aura of Torchwick in the far distance. "It was an illusion."

Yang swore loudly, while the other three girls muttered curses that Jaune couldn't quite hear. Oh well, you can't exactly win everything. Besides, they fought a giant killer robot and won! That had to count for something, right?

"So…" Jaune drawled, "Anyone wanna get some dinner? I'm famished!"

Jaune got the distinct impression that Blake and Weiss were glaring at their teammates as Ruby and Yang practically cheered. "Yeah! Great idea Jaune!" Ruby breathed as her aura began to relax, "I'm starving!"

"Aww, you know how to treat a girl!" Yang slapped him on the back roughly, though not unkindly.

It was nice to have friends.


Beacon, present day…

Ruby was bummed.

Not an emotion she felt very often, not having felt it in any significant quantity since her mother vanished when she was little. But now… everything had been going so well; she'd stopped Torchwick from robbing that shop, gotten into Beacon, made a bunch of new friends… but then he showed up.

The Lord of Hunger, the man that had single-handedly wiped out an entire city block in Vale. Even Ozpin, the wise and powerful headmaster of Beacon, acknowledged that the Lord of Hunger was incredibly dangerous. Of course, Ruby and the others had believed him… but even Ozpin's televised warning hadn't prepared them for what it was like to actually meet the 'man' in person.

Officially, teams RWBY and JNPR fought the criminal within Forever Fall, but unofficially? That hadn't been a fight, the word 'fight' implied that they'd had a chance to win - which they did not. Worse still was the fact that the Lord of Hunger took her friends away! Particularly Jaune - the boy who was literally the first friend she had made at Beacon, and easily the person she was most comfortable with not counting Yang.

Currently she was sitting alone in the library, having needed to get out of the crushing atmosphere that had seemed to suffocate the RWBY dorm room since their failure in Forever Fall. Weiss, Yang and Blake were great and all, but sometimes Ruby just needed to get out and think. Even if said thinking didn't extend past lamenting her own failures and the general failure her time at Beacon had been so far.

It wasn't fair! It wasn't meant to be this way. Beacon was meant to be an adventure where she and her new friends learnt to be kickass hunters and beat Grimm, not… this.

With the loss of Jaune and Pyrrha, team JNPR - now only consisting of Ren and Nora - had been officially assigned as an attachment to team RWBY. But it was just so depressing; Nora constantly shifted between manic energy and quiet sadness that would just make Ruby's heart break. Ren was quiet, not that he had spoken much to begin with, but now he just didn't speak at all.

It was just so frustrating! The feeling of utter powerlessness, the crushing knowledge that even if they found and confronted the Lord of Hunger then they would have literally no chance of winning. The false lord's semblance was just too overpowered, there was absolutely no way Ruby could think of a counter for it!

"Lien for your thoughts?"

The cold and metallic-sounding voice washed over Ruby like a bucket of ice water, utterly snapping her out of her misery and Grimm-attracting thoughts. Across the table from her was… one of the huntresses from Forever Fall! One of the four women that had found them after RWBY's crushing defeat at the hands of the Lord of Hunger. Also one of the only four women that were able to fight the crazy Lord on a somewhat level playing field. "N-nothing really…" Ruby squeaked, her silver eyes locked onto the faceless black visor of the huntress before her.

"I'm not exactly allowed to tell you my name," the presumably older woman chatted, her voice still distorted by the helmet, "but you can just call me 'Red' for now, I suppose it'll do as well as any other name."

"I'm Ruby," the younger girl muttered, not really seeing where this was going, or why the huntress was speaking to her.

"You're upset about what happened in Forever Fall, right?" Red asked, her hands resting lightly on the wooden table. "Don't be."

Ruby looked up sharply, was she that easy to read? That emotionally open? Only Yang was that good normally, the elder sister able to pick up on even the slightest nuances in Ruby's normally cheerful and upbeat mood. "And why shouldn't I be?" Ruby groaned, "it wasn't even a fight, it was a slaughter - made worse because we lost Jaune and Pyrrha!" Ruby was panting by the end of her rant, a sudden self-directed anger over her failure burning through her mind.

"I've lost friends before," the other woman said airily, not at all concerned over the outburst. "When I was in school I had this one friend, my best friend, and he was a kind soul… but he's gone now."

Ruby slumped back down, feeling immediately guilty. Here she was complaining over losing a fight and having two friends kidnapped - as in not dead - while this huntress admitted that her best friend was dead. "What…" Ruby began slowly, "what happened to him?"

Red seemed to pause for a second, the dark armour that covered her entire body going still as the older woman pondered the question. "He had a family, a daughter and a wife who he loved more than anything else in the world…" Red paused, her hands rubbing together almost nervously. "But life was cruel to him, and eventually he started being cruel back. When his daughter and wife died… his kindness died with them."

"How did he die?" Ruby asked not unkindly, not quite sure why she was so curious.

"Oh, he's not dead," the older huntress said lightly, "you've even met him."

What? Ruby hadn't met anyone like that! It was impossible, no one she knew fit the criteria for what 'Red' described. "What?" Ruby asked, puzzled. "No I haven't."

Red hummed, "Yes you have, just recently in Forever Fall when he took Pyrrha and the Arc boy away."

Ruby shot to her feet in a blur, her mouth open in shocked horror as she stared at the seated huntress before her. That couldn't be true, it just couldn't be. The Lord of Hunger was an evil monster, a villain and a freak. Not… not a person. The thought was just too alien to her, the concept that the Lord of Hunger was… tragic was just wrong. He was a murderer, he was evil!

Her disbelief must have been showing on her face, because Red laughed quietly as she beckoned for Ruby to sit back down. "I know what you're thinking, 'but he's evil', right?"

Ruby nodded dumbly, not trusting her mouth to say anything remotely intelligent.

"Good and evil isn't quite so… black and white, Ruby," Red continued. "Yes he's a murderer, yes he practically destroyed downtown Vale. But I've killed before, a mother and a daughter. I've caused more than a bit of property damage in my time too, does that make me evil?"

"You've killed people?" Ruby whispered, "Why?"

"Because I had to," Red replied, though Ruby caught the bitter edge to her voice. "Because it was 'the right thing to do'."

"But why?" Ruby pressed, "What did they ever do to you? Why did they deserve to die?"

Red hummed as she rose to her feet, "They didn't, but he did… it was the only way." Red stepped away from Ruby, her swift steps signalling the end of the conversation.

Beacon, present day…

That had been an… interesting conversation.

Ruby, or Red as she had called herself, stepped out of the library and slowly began to make her way towards her room.

Speaking to her alternate self had been both enlightening and somewhat disappointing; enlightening because the younger girl had a rather… unique perspective on Nihilus that Ruby herself had never experienced back when she had been a student. The hatred wasn't there - but neither was the close friendship and the eventual sting of betrayal. It was disappointing because her younger self still had such a narrow view of the world, still seeing everything as good and evil.

Obviously she'd been like that herself once upon a time, but that had been what? Over ten years ago? It was distant enough that such a time seemed practically alien to her now; the utter innocence, the belief that everyone fell into either a 'good guy' or 'bad guy' role.

And the questions that her younger self had asked… while they were reasonable, they also brought up the familiar stab of guilt that Ruby had long since grown used to. Yes, she had killed before, and yes she did it because it had been necessary - or it had at least seemed like it at the time. She still remembered it so clearly… the snow, the thunderous roar of Ironwood's machines as they tore away at someone who just wanted to be left alone. The single crack of her rifle as the bullet carved its way into the single greatest regret of her life.

What had the girl looked like? It had been years ago now, and Ruby's memory was fading slightly. The little girl… red hair like her mother, but with those gorgeous violet eyes, dull and lifeless in death. She wasn't meant to be there; hell, no one even knew she existed up until that point! She was just a child, no older than what Ruby herself had been when she had lost her own mother.

One death that day Ruby had planned on, hated, but expected. But two deaths… no. She knew it well enough; Jaune became what he is now because of her.

It was all her fault.


Beacon, present day…

The world around Jaune exploded into fire with just a single snap of his fingers.

Unlike when he used his new powers against the mechs that had stormed down the rough and narrow stairs to the basement, Jaune's current use of fire Dust was much more… hazardous.

The flames curled around him and Pyrrha like a cyclone, the intense heat burning with a barely restrained fury that practically begged Jaune for a release. The flames licked and bit at the heels of the two young hunters as it throbbed under Jaune's control, the roar of the blinding heat more than enough to immolate anyone without aura.

Jaune gasped and struggled to control the immense power that now gushed out of his body, the ring on his finger searing his skin with its blinding heat from focussing the fire. Pyrrha huddled slightly closer and shouted something to him, but her words were utterly lost under the roar of the fire that swirled around them.

Kill, kill, kill… the words were a chant in Jaune's mind as white-hot rage flooded through him, and this time he knew something was wrong.

Never before had Jaune wanted to kill anyone, or anything besides Grimm. But now… hatred poured from every corner of his mind, utter and all-encompassing rage at the maggots that dared attack him and Pyrrha.

It was too much; like the inferno around him, Jaune felt his anger mounting to new levels, his desire to utterly annihilate the veritable army that had confronted them was growing too strong for him to control. He… he couldn't stop it, the rage was too great. The all-consuming fury that burned through his soul, an anger that Jaune could hardly even comprehend let alone control. Distantly, he knew that it was wrong, that it wasn't him… but the rage was so real and so close that he found himself not caring.

They were filthy, disgusting creatures that deserved the burning hell Jaune was about to unleash. Their lives meant nothing in the face of what they had done; he needed to burn them all! They were slime, beneath even the Grimm. How dare they continue to live? Their crimes were absolute, and their punishment would be the same!

A vicious snarl crossed Jaune's features as he pumped all the power of the fire Dust into the inferno, his rage pushing him to new heights of power so he could stand a mountain above the filthy creatures that dared threaten him and his family! He would never let them hurt her again! He would have his revenge against them all!

Fire wreathed around Jaune as his righteous anger mounted to new levels, the flames burning so hotly that anything outside the centre of the cyclone began to combust from the sheer heat.

Anything except the soldiers, that is.

In his rage Jaune didn't question it, but he saw the aura of all the worthless beings now, facing off against him and his towering inferno of fire. He watched as the lights quivered in both terror and grim determination, he watched with morbid delight as those foolish enough to get too close were utterly consumed by his cleansing flames - their aura utterly extinguished in mere moments.

The foolish weaklings tried to douse his flames with ice and water Dust, but it was to no avail. His mastery was too great, his righteous anger too much for their petty attempts to save their worthless lives.

The blinding brightness of his towering inferno was too much for his eyes, but Jaune watched anyway. His aura provided the means to see in far more clarity than ever before the mesmerising sights of the world, more specifically the Vale military around him being consumed by his unstoppable flames. He 'saw' as Professor Port, the vile and cretinous thing he was, struggle as the fire began to tear away at his aura, the elder professor struggling violently against the flames for a surprising amount of time until it utterly consumed him.

Jaune couldn't help but laugh in delight as the filthy man died what was no doubt an agonising death, serves the bastard right! He deserved it! They all deserve it!

Power throbbed outwards as Jaune extended his might, the cyclone of fire reaching new heights under Jaune's enraged will. Soon, the nearby bullheads began to either flee or were consumed in the fire, the machinery melting and crashing into the already dwindling legions of mechs below.

The power of his crystals had been halved getting here, but that was no issue. At this point Jaune knew it was only a matter of time before he totally decimated the worthless scum that dared face him.

The assembled hunters were dropping like flies, their aura only lasting mere seconds before they met their death under his impressive might.

Yes… they deserved this, they all deserved this. Their suffering meant nothing to him, why should he care? After all, they never cared when he suffered. This was his justice! His retribution for what they had done to him! But he needed more, more than just these nameless and faceless grunts. He needed the man responsible, the hollow that had caused all this.

His name! What was his name?! He was so angry, he couldn't think. What was the beast's name?! The foul thing that had ruined the only light he had in the world, the hollow man that had destroyed his one single chance at happiness… the anger was there, the impossible fury that drove him to survive, but the knowledge of the man that had done this was just… absent.

Jaune howled with mind-wrenching fury. It wasn't fair! These… weaklings didn't know suffering! He suffered! He was the one that struggled, that fought and had lost! Not them, never them!

But all the rage, all the anger, all the fury that had encompassed Jaune's soul died as she appeared before him. It was like a bucket of ice water was dumped over his head, an utter coldness that drenched through his spirit and washed away the foreign and unnatural anger that had plagued him. The instant that she appeared, all the righteous fury was just… gone.

It was the little girl again; her vibrant red hair and gorgeous violet eyes forced his mind back into reality.

The fire began to dull as Jaune stared at the little girl, her expressive purple eyes swimming with tears as she ran her small hand down the side of his face. "Please…" she begged quietly, her voice bleeding over the sound of the dying inferno. "Don't let it happen again… don't let history repeat itself… please daddy…" the blood-stained snow suit she wore darkened even more as she whispered to him.

And in that single instant, Jaune felt himself slump to the ground, dully noting that Pyrrha was looking at him in absolute horror. The fire slowly died around them, the raging heat evaporating under Jaune's faltering will.

Within moments the fire was extinguished completely, leaving only a thick haze of ash and the intense smell of burnt flesh.

Slowly, almost fearfully, Jaune let his blue eyes wander over the decimated area around them. Ash hung in the air like a poison, and what was once the relatively undamaged centre of Beacon was absolutely gone, replaced with a charred ruin. Half-disintegrated bodies were scattered left and right, the disgusting stench of burnt flesh oozing off the decimated corpses.

And all of this was because of him. All the death, all the pain… what… what had he done? How could he have done this? He was a murderer! A freak! This…. this was evil, this was so wrong…

Jaune howled once again, but this time it was in utter despair. He slumped to the ground as tears began to work their way down his face and onto the ashen ground; vaguely, he heard Pyrrha say something from beside him, but he was too lost to care.

This was his fault. He did this. All of this.

The deaths, the suffering, the misery… he was a monster, an abomination… he killed people, dozens of innocent people that were just doing their jobs...

A shadow crossed over Jaune's hunched form, but he didn't bother to raise his eyes to see who it was. Why did it matter? He was a monster, a murderer, no better than the Grimm…

"Is it everything you expected, Usurper?" The words of Nihilus stabbed through his mind like a sword, "This is what you asked for, after all."

Jaune finally raised his sapphire-blue eyes to look at the man that had given him this 'gift'. "What…" he croaked, "Why…?"

Nihilus knelt down, his sickly yellow eyes locking onto Jaune with absolute hatred pouring from him. "The power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy," the dark lord breathed, his vicious yellow eyes staring at Jaune like he was the absolute worst thing on the planet. "Because if you can't kill, then you will always be subject to those that can, and then nothing and no one will ever save you, Usurper."

Jaune wailed. Was this what he had become? Just another Nihilus? Just another freak that ruined everyone else's lives? He was less than human, literally a younger version of the monster that even now hovered over him.

"Nihilus," he heard Pyrrha mutter, "what… what did you do to him!?"

Jaune curled up as tightly as he could, his armour clinking together as he did so. Couldn't Pyrrha see? Nihilus didn't do anything, this was all his fault. He was a killer, he was the one that did this. Not Nihilus, he just gave Jaune the means.

"Me?" Nihilus purred above Jaune, his voice showing none of his previous anger. "He wanted this, he asked for the power and so I gave it to him." Jaune felt himself sob even harder as Nihilus spoke the truth. "The Usurper did this himself, he killed them all himself… he is to blame, little champion."

Pyrrha made a sound that was suspiciously similar to a gag, "How can you be so heartless? He didn't want this! He would never want this! If you were really Jaune Arc then you would apologise, and do whatever you could to undo the damage you have done!"

"Apologise?" Nihilus practically hissed, towering rage in his voice. "For being heartless?" Out of the corner of Jaune's tear-ridden eyes he saw the false lord quiver with barely-restrained anger. "Do you see what I am? Do you see what I do? Did anyone apologise for making me this way? NO! The world isn't fair, get over it."

Jaune just sobbed.

Pyrrha had a different reaction though; her own mounting anger was becoming steadily more apparent. She screamed something at him, though Jaune hardly cared to hear what it was. She was wrong in trying to validate what he had done; she was a fool to believe that Nihilus had forced this on Jaune… he had asked for this. He asked Nihilus for power…. How arrogant of him.

"Usurper?" Nihilus cackled, utterly ignoring Pyrrha once again. "Get up, Usurper. I mended the world, but now it is time for us to leave."

Leave? What was the point? He was a monster, in this world and his own. Nothing would ever erase his sins; they would always be there, like a stain on his soul. And even then… what would happen if they returned? Nihilus might drag them around some more, but… even if the false lord didn't do that, what would Jaune do? Despite his new power and skill he suddenly found the idea of being a hunter rather… repulsive. How could he ever be a hunter? Hunters were meant to be the embodiment of honour and mercy - something Jaune himself had been decidedly lacking in when he slaughtered dozens of people a few minutes ago.

He couldn't exactly return home either, with it having burnt down and all. He didn't even know if his family was still alive… he had seen his father before coming to this god-forsaken world, but his mother? His sisters? If they weren't face down in a ditch somewhere, then they probably would have fled to the nearest village. And… they probably hated him right now. What would they think, their son running off to go save a known murderer and terrorist? His mother and eldest sister Violet might forgive him, but the others? Jaune wasn't so sure.

But apparently Nihilus wasn't in the mood to deal with Jaune's sorrow.

With a harsh yank the pale lord pulled Jaune to his eye level, a surprising feat of strength considering that Jaune was still hunched on the ground sobbing. "Usurper, we are leaving."

"Why?" Jaune croaked, tears still seeping from his eyes. "What's the point?"

Nihilus didn't answer; ungracefully Jaune found himself dumped back on the ashen ground, the false lord above him looking into the distance.

"What are you doing?" Pyrrha demanded, her voice still holding a venomous edge directed at Nihilus.

The immortal didn't bother answering her either. With a grunt and a vicious wave of his hands the world around them began to dull, light fading into darkness gradually until only a single light remained before them: a large, purple… tear.

It was extremely similar to the rift that Nihilus had forced them through back in Dorme, but it was… calmer? In Dorme it had been violent flashes of light and total chaos when they looked upon it. But this portal… it looked almost serene? Like staring at a calm pond, the gentle eddies of purple energy swirling around in calm patterns.

All in all, this portal looked natural.

"Finally," Nihilus breathed, his sickly yellow eyes wide with delight. "I leave this place of torment and unto the new world."

Then, with a grin of absolute delight, Nihilus laughed as Pyrrha glared daggers at him while she stepped into the rift herself.

"Your turn, Usurper," Nihilus cackled once Pyrrha was gone, his eyes wide with malice.

Jaune dragged himself to his feet, his sad blue eyes wandering between the portal and his older self. "Maybe… it would be better if you just left me," he whispered, he was a monster now after all. If he returned… there would be nothing for a freak like him.

But apparently Nihilus wasn't having it. "No…" he breathed, a cruel gleam in his blind eyes. "You asked for this, Usurper… I paid the price for wanting more power; I wanted to be the best, the greatest! And you? You asked for the power to help your friend, you wanted to be strong… and now that you are, you will live with it!"

With a violent shove Nihilus tackled Jaune into the portal, the two Arcs tumbling through worlds at exactly the same moment.

A/N

So little Jaune has made a rather explosive entrance into the world of murder, all topped off with a healthy dash of self loathing. All in a day's work I suppose? And it really is work too! Jaune just killed not only Port and Oobleck, but a decent chunk of Vale's military too - quite the achievement for somebody who only a few days ago would have been turned into a bloody red smear across the ground in initiation were it not for the timely intervention of Pyrrha.

Add to that Jaune's new title! Usurper. An interesting change from the hilariously ironic (for me anyway) title of 'shell'. Whatever could the new title mean? Could it perhaps be in reference to Jaune's, frankly, infuriatingly quick rise to power?

Meh, you'll see…

Reviews:

Romulus Black Talon:

Thanks for reviewing.
Nope, he did something way, way worse.

Guest:

Thanks for reviewing.

Cinder's soul doesn't exist anymore. Neither does Amber's or (the original) Jaune's. They are Nihilus. None of them can be removed or transferred simply because they don't exist anymore. It would be like if I got a bucket of red paint, a bucket of yellow paint, and a bucket of of green paint and mixed them altogether for a couple of hours, let it dry, then told you to get the red out of it.

As for how exactly Nihilus has the power to bend reality and make portals… that is actually an ability anyone can learn, Nihilus was just the first to do so. It's a skill one gets when they achieve absolute… understanding. You'll see later…

Death-The-Horsemen:

Thanks for reviewing.

Thanks!

Shaded Azure:

Thanks for reviewing.

Jaune is now, whether he likes it or not, an absolute master over the power of fire Dust. Though saying he 'controls' it would be a stretch, especially given what happened in this chapter.

Noir's (kick ass name, have to admit) control over his particular favourite Dust types is absolute. And I haven't really read any other stories that featured heavily on a Dust user as the primary character (in terms of mechanics I mean), so I like to think what I'm writing is fairly unique.

COOLER:

Thanks for reviewing.

Thanks, I try.

Jaune and Pyrrha (and pretty much every other character as well) have some trying times ahead of them, but things are just beginning for them…

SonicFanFlame:

Thanks for reviewing.

The reason behind it being rings and not gloves (or pretty much anything else) will become clear later. And I think this is a pretty good example of things getting worse for Jaune…

Even without using his semblance Nihilus as he is in the present would absolutely crush Pyrrha in a fight (if he felt the inclination anyway), but at the point we are with the flashbacks Jaune (Nihilus) isn't even close to being a fraction as powerful as his future self.

Ruby's reasoning behind killing are rather vague at the moment, but will become very clear in the near future. And that's assuming she knew about the kid first - which she did not.

thelastcenturion2015:

Thanks for reviewing.

I thought it was fairly unique.


A huge thank you to anyone who takes the time to review! I always love reading what people have to say about my work, I'll see you all next time!