Wraith
Chapter Forty-Three
Beta: Smithrooks
Blazing Ashes
Beacon, present day…
Weiss stared at the ghost before her.
He stared back at her.
Nihilus was a sickly looking creature, enough so that even Weiss felt a stab of pity upon seeing him. He looked only distantly similar to what he'd appeared as on the television when he first arrived - and even looked only vaguely like what he did during his fight with the other-Ruby.
He'd looked monstrous before, but now he looked… broken.
Gone was the ghostly white skin and hair; he was still pale, but naturally so, as if he hadn't been in the sun for years. But it was more than that - he'd seemed like an outright monster before, like he'd been tainted by Grimm and something wholly unhuman.
Disregarding the fact that Nihilus - Jaune - was literally transparent and a ghost, he looked… like he'd been mauled by a bear. His face was split in three by three massive grisly scars, and his eerily pale eyes that could only be blind stared at her with a strange intensity unlike anything Weiss had seen before.
His hair was still long and messy, but at least it was blonde now, not the bone-white that he'd had before. It was uneven and poorly kept - not entirely out of poor maintenance, but Weiss got the impression that it simply wasn't important. Like it wasn't even a factor.
And he looked old. Thanks to aura refreshing skin cells, hunters tended to gain a generally ageless look about them, so people like Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch looked far younger than they actually were. The same was true for Nihilus; gone was any of the residual baby fat that the Jaune she knew had. Nihilus, an older Jaune, looked perhaps thirty or forty; it was hard to tell given just how torn up his face was. But what truly made him seem ancient were his eyes, unnaturally pale but still terribly tired. Like he'd seen an eternity pass him by.
"How can you see me?"
Weiss blinked. That was… odd. She knew he had spoken, but the words themselves didn't really register as sound. It was as though he had spoken, but at the same time he hadn't.
It was an odd question too - was she not meant to see him? The revelation of his identity was rather startling, but no more startling than the man - the dead man himself - appearing out of thin air right in front of her.
"How…" Weiss wasn't entirely sure what to say, in all honesty. What could she say? 'Oh hey, that guy I've been having visions of suffering and pain about. How's it going?' This was crazy, absolutely insane. But, as with all things, perhaps it was best to start at the beginning. "You're… Jaune Arc?"
Nihilus' face twisted hatefully, the horrid scars giving him a fearsome visage. "No! Stupid little girl, I am Nihilus. Now tell me how you can see me!"
"I don't know," Weiss growled back at him. She did not appreciate being spoken to that way, regardless of who it was. "How are you here? You're meant to be dead."
"So are you, yet here you are."
So was she? What did he- oh god. The other Weiss… the one that was with the not-Ruby. He must have killed her just like he did Ruby. Maybe… maybe the visions she was seeing were the memories of the other Weiss? Memories of the life she was meant to live, or perhaps the life she had yet to live. Maybe even memories of the life she would have led, were it not for the interference of… whatever Jaune became.
"I don't know why any of this happened to me," Weiss admitted freely, her temper cooling slightly, "I don't know why I can see you. I don't know why I'm seeing and hearing things from a life I never lived. I don't know why I'm speaking to a ghost of a man I know is also in downtown Vale. But I know I want answers - so speak up."
Nihilus' face shifted, all traces of anger or rage draining away in an instant as mirth overcame his gnarled and ugly features. "Ha! As forthright as ever little Schnee, you see what you want and you move to take it - I like that! Very well, I shall… deign to answer your questions. Listen closely!"
Weiss blinked.
Was it really that easy? All the buildup and all the infuriating rage and hurt caused by her recent situation was just going to be answered? Just like that?
Well, things were finally going her way apparently. Go team...
The ghostly man laughed roughly, his voice oddly similar yet distinctly different to that of Jaune's. "In order: Because I killed your counterpart and shattered her soul in such a manner that the shards clung to the closest match they could find. I don't know, but it makes me very mad. Because I killed Weiss Schnee, not the components that made her such. Because he and I are not the same and having a ghost appear before you reasonably raises a few questions."
…what?
Nihilus looked quite pleased with himself as he began to lazily ooze about the room, his spectral figure never quite making contact with anything, but rather passing through whatever was in his way as he inspected the RWBY dorm room.
Wait, no, he said it was in order. She said she didn't know why any of this was happening to her - he said that he killed her… counterpart and shattered her soul? Okay, that… just raised more questions. Then he said he didn't know why she could see him, that one was straight-forward at least. Then he said-
"Weiss!"
"Don't you dare die Weiss!"
The door slammed open with the force of a Ruby-sized huntress - which to Weiss' horror, was actually Ruby, Yang and Blake just coming back. The echo of Ruby's voice, the words she hadn't ever spoken to Weiss, were also vaguely distressing.
"It's not what it looks like!" Weiss gasped as her eyes darted between her teammates and the ghostly apparition of Jaune. This was bad - what conclusions would they jump to if they saw her speaking to him?! The loss of reputation! The shame! The-
"What isn't what it looks like?" Ruby questioned as she stepped into the room, silver eyes never once straying in the direction of the dead man. "Damn it Jaune, why now?! Why couldn't you- Oh god, his leg!"
Weiss paused, her eyes settling onto Ruby for a moment before flickering to the transparent image of the elder Arc. He grinned at her savagely as Weiss glanced at his leg. "My, my, you look like you've seen a ghost. Do the whispers of the dead bother you?"
Bastard. He knew exactly what was wrong with her, he was choosing not to help!
It was worse too because apparently the rest of RWBY couldn't see him. The three girls spread into the room to do their own things, each utterly oblivious to the fifth presence in the room. But Weiss' eyes never left the blind orbs of the dead man as he inspected each girl in turn.
A disgusted expression twisted across his face as he peered at Yang, Weiss herself ready to react at a moment's notice if he were to try anything. "I'd almost forgotten," Nihilus scoffed, unheard to all but Weiss. "Yang is shallow and common. True trash."
Weiss restrained her snarl. Yang may be trying at times, but she wasn't trash! What gave this bastard the right to speak about her that way?
The older Jaune drifted over to Blake, his expression softening slightly. "The Faunus. She was a wretched thing of pity and remorse. I'd keep an eye on this one, Schnee. One day she will leave and never return."
Wait… Blake was a faunus?
Blake's bow twitched.
Huh… neat.
"And here we have the little hero," Nihilus scoffed as he settled his ghostly arms on Ruby's shoulders. "She will follow her dream until it drags her down and drowns her." Blind eyes darted to Weiss, "And if you're lucky, she might even make you the one that kills her."
Weiss recoiled as though struck. That was… that wasn't true. Ruby wasn't like that; whatever version of Ruby that he knew was different to this one. Twisted maybe, or - or just a different person. Jaune he may be, but whatever twisted this man into Nihilus obviously left some pretty deep mental scarring, PTSD maybe - the specifics didn't matter. He was… damaged.
"You okay there, Weiss-cream? You look a little pale," Yang asked from across the room. "Stay back! I won't let you hurt her, you monster!"
Weiss shook her head as she sat down on her bed, the mirrored voice of Yang ringing through her mind sharply. "I- Yes," she whispered. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."
"Well, why don't you get some sleep? It is the weekend after all," Blake said idly as she flipped a page of her latest book. "Why, Jaune…? You were the best of us…"
Something pulsed behind her eyes, the beginnings of a headache starting to eat away at her. "Yes…" Weiss whispered, her eyes never leaving the savagely grinning spectre of Jaune. "I think I will."
"Be careful Weiss, don't let your nightmares become reality."
Weiss couldn't help but wonder if he was speaking from experience.
Vale Hospital, present day…
Pyrrha wasn't sure what to say.
There were so many things that she could have said, that she probably should have, even - but they all rang hollow in her mind. What good were empty words of pity and sorrow to someone like him? No, she knew her partner well enough to know that there was nothing she could say now to console him.
Pyrrha pretended she couldn't hear him sobbing.
Even Nora, for all her usual energy and positivity, couldn't find it within herself to speak; all she could do was clutch at Ren's arm like a lifeline.
And so all the three of them could do was watch.
At Weiss' instruction, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora had rushed to Jaune's location. Weiss had explained, if briefly, that Jaune's father had committed suicide, but that didn't prepare them for the sight of it when they found Jaune. The blood, the utter despair…
They'd done what they could of course, but it was already too late for John Arc.
And upon arriving at the central hospital to… dispose of the body, Pyrrha had found out that the tragedy wasn't finished yet. Looking at the mangled body of Violet Arc, Pyrrha couldn't help but think it was too late for her too.
Jaune hadn't even stopped to change his clothes, as blood-soaked as they were now. But that didn't stop him from desperately clutching his sister's hand as he sobbed.
"Perhaps," Ren whispered softly to Pyrrha and Nora, "we should give him some space."
Pyrrha gripped Jaune's shoulder tightly, the empty gesture of comfort more for her sake than his. "We'll be just outside, Jaune." She couldn't bear to look at him, the sheer misery contained within the room was palpable.
He didn't respond.
Quietly, the three young hunters shuffled out of the room.
Was this how it was always going to be for Jaune? Was his life destined to be one tragedy after another? Pyrrha didn't know anything about his life before Beacon, but… surely it hadn't always been this way? When she'd first met him, Jaune had been such a different person: happy, friendly, chatty…
The effect of Nihilus was cancerous, even after the man was dead. Maybe… maybe when Jaune was resurrected, the person she'd met never truly came back.
"He's breaking," Nora whispered as the three of them sat down outside the room. Her voice was deathly quiet, almost as though she was afraid to break the silence around them. "It's not fair."
No, it wasn't. But life wasn't fair - Nihilus had taught her that lesson. "I don't know what we can do," Pyrrha admitted. "The doctor said that his entire family-"
"We heard," Ren cut her off. "All Jaune has left is his sister."
What went unsaid was that there wasn't much left of her, either.
"He has us," Nora protested as she clutched Ren's arm tightly, her eyes wide and sad. "We're still here, we can-"
"Do what?" Pyrrha asked, "Ever since he came back he's been distant. He won't want our help." As much as that pained her to admit. Jaune didn't want their help, so unless they forced the issue…
Jaune… simply wasn't the same person she'd met. The bright-eyed and hopeful young man that had flirted with Weiss before initiation was gone. In his place was the empty, hollow shell of a person that Nihilus had created. Jaune Arc was just… less, than he was before.
"We can still help him," Nora said softly, though Pyrrha got the impression she was trying to convince herself more than anything else. "We're his friends, his teammates. We can be there for him."
Pyrrha didn't bother replying. What was the point? Jaune would only accept their help if he actually wanted it. But the nightmare that Nihilus caused was seemingly never-ending; for all the might Jaune had gained, he could only find misery. Perhaps… perhaps it would have been kinder to have never revived him.
Pyrrha was disgusted that she'd even thought that.
But… she couldn't find it within herself to deny it.
"Yes," Ren muttered, drawing Nora in for a hug. "We will be there for him. Show him that he's not alone."
Pyrrha only wished she could share their optimism.
Vale Hospital, present day…
Why…?
Why did everything come to this? Why must everything come to dust?
For all his strength, for all the might he possessed and for all the love he had for his family… it made no difference.
Was this some cruel joke, perhaps? Did the universe truly have nothing better to do than spite him? It never ended, all the misery he felt simply compounded as more and more happened. His father and his sisters… they were all gone, all except Violet.
Though, if only for her sake, it may have been kinder if she'd died from her injuries.
Jaune held her single remaining hand tightly.
The doctors had done what they could, obviously, but that didn't change the fact that it happened. An arm, a leg and an eye were the least of the things that Violet had lost. If she ever woke… she would find herself truly alone, save for Jaune himself. And what good was that? Imagine waking to a world devoid of everything you have ever known or loved, then discovering that one thing, one person from your old life was still there.
Then imagine discovering that he was a broken shell of what he used to be.
Violet Arc would be alone.
"I'm sorry," Jaune wept as he held her hand close. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Violet had always been like a second mother to them all, especially after their actual mother had died. She was the one that had picked up the broken pieces of their father when Jane Arc died, she was the one that fed and cared for them when John couldn't.
But what was more misery in his life? More anguish and more suffering… it was almost becoming a joke to him now. How much further could the world push him? How much more could he endure before he snapped, just as John did before him? Next time, would it be Violet running in to find Jaune with Crocea Mors in his gut?
Was this all part of that wretched plan? The Memory of Nihilus had said that he'd engineered Jaune's life to be one of sufferance… was this just another part? Another step?
The thought probably should have left him shaking in rage, but instead Jaune merely felt… alone.
To show Nihilus that joy could be found even in the deepest depths of despair, to show him that he was wrong about the world. Heh, Jaune was turning into quite the good little puppet. He danced alone just as the strings were pulling him, just as his puppet-master ordered.
What good was there in fighting against it? What use would there be in trying to battle against destiny? His fate had obviously been decided for him long ago. Jaune Arc would play at being a good little martyr for the scheme that the Memory had laid out.
And Violet… his sister. If she ever woke she would alone and lost in the world, terrified and abandoned by all those she loved. Could he really do that to her? He'd rejected Nihilus' ideal of burning the world down just for family, only to instead choose to burn down a club for family. How much further was he willing to go? How many more steps would he take for a family that didn't even exist anymore?
Well…
If by his death, he could make the world a safer place for his sister? If he could prevent tragedy like this from ever befalling her again? He'd rejected his Nihilus' ideals then, saying that the world was more important than just one family. But now… now he didn't. To hell with the world, Jaune wouldn't die for them.
He'd die for Violet.
And he'd set the world on fire just to make her safe.
Dorme, many years ago...
Two years, eleven months and one week after the Fall of Amity.
They were dead.
Hungry.
It was his fault.
Hungry.
He promised to protect them.
Hungry.
He failed.
Jaune's hands shook, the despair and utter world-consuming fury pouring through his mind like molten magma. Their souls, one pure white and another a rich purple… John and Violet Arc were dead.
Because he'd failed to protect them.
Three years of self-control and training to master his semblance burnt away in an instant; all at once, he felt the disembodied souls of his father and sister added to his… collection. Eight-hundred and ninety-five souls, eight-hundred and ninety-five auras shot through Jaune like lightning. Terrible power he'd once hoped never to use again.
This was the abhorrent strength that forced the once-majestic Amity Colosseum to the ground, the might that was 'gifted' to him by all those that he'd either killed or failed to protect.
Aura boosted the strength, endurance and speed of anyone beyond human levels; that's what made hunters and huntresses so powerful. But a hundred auras, or rather eight-hundred? Jaune was a veritable god.
Nothing could quite describe the white-hot fury that clouded Jaune's mind. Everything washed away: love, happiness, loneliness, anger, hate… it was all gone. Instead there was a need, something so profound in its nature and its simplicity that it, for that single moment, became an absolute.
The Gleam Eyes needed to die.
The beast roared as fire licked at the back of its throat, ready to kill at a moment's notice.
Jaune roared back.
All at once, it felt as though something around him broke - like something was being torn away violently and Jaune could only watch it happen. The Grimm he was blind to, the whole world even, became clear to him. Not as though his eyes worked, but rather he simply knew what was before him.
It was like everything was under a magnifying glass, as though his usual aura vision was being amplified beyond what he was normally capable of. The clarity was startling, but not enough to deter Jaune from his path. Right now everything else was irrelevant, all that mattered was making the Grimm die.
Cursed fire washed over Jaune like a river and bathed him in an inferno.
The fire meant nothing to him right now, it barely tickled. So Jaune snarled and punched.
The Gleam Eyes' head exploded in a shower of gore, the wretched fire stopping immediately as the single attack reduced the Grimm's head to a fine red mist.
The strength and power of eight-hundred and ninety-five souls rippled through Jaune's body, his hatred for the Grimm before him swelling to new and far more terrible heights as his body shuddered under the immense pressure.
A few short moments later the Gleam Eyes was whole again, a bestial roar tearing through the air as it slashed towards Jaune with its razor sharp fingernails.
But right now? The Gleam Eyes was nothing to Jaune.
Jaune grabbed and pulled.
The arm was ripped from the beast with a shower of red.
Dorme, many years ago...
Two years, eleven months and one week after the Fall of Amity.
Ruby could only stare in mute shock.
Jaune had… obviously gotten stronger.
Beside her even Yang, for all her bluster and hatred, was equally as stunned as Ruby. Before his fall Jaune had never exactly been weak per se, but he wasn't exactly as strong as they were. His real power had always been in the abstract - creative strategy and spamming Dust attacks that were difficult to deal with in conventional melee.
But as she watched Jaune tear the Gleam Eyes' arm off, Ruby knew things had changed.
What had he done? The book - the one she had, well, stolen, from his parent's bedroom spoke about change, but this? This was insane. Jaune was doing a better job fighting the Gleam Eyes than the army did, and he was alone! No friends, no allies, no backup…
And he was winning.
Something tugged at her aura.
"Ruby!" Yang gasped from beside her as she broke from her stupor, "He's activated his semblance, we- we need to kill him before he can drain us!"
Kill him? That was the plan, that had always been the plan. But…
Jaune kicked the Gleam-Eyes in the chest, the beast's core practically exploding from the single blow.
...but this wasn't a fight they could win right now. Even ignoring her newfound doubts, Ruby was certain that attacking Jaune right now would be a terrible idea - a single tap from him at that strength would turn Ruby and Yang into messy red smears.
"No," Ruby breathed as she took a step backwards. "We need to get out of here. Call Blake and see if she and Weiss made it out."
"What?!" Yang rounded on her, red eyes blazing with anger and surprise. "We can't just leave him! This is our chance, Ruby! We can get revenge for-"
"If we attack him now we'll die!" Ruby shouted, urgency colouring her voice. "If we die here, it'll mean nothing! We're leaving, that's an order!"
Colour drained from Yang's face as Ruby, perhaps for the first time ever, truly used her position as leader. But Ruby didn't care, this was not the time for Yang's anger to get the better of her. Ruby loved her sister, but she loved her more alive. "Now!" Ruby barked.
"R-Right…"
That was enough the kick the older girl into action, her red eyes tearing away from the horrific sight of Jaune destroying the Grimm. The first few steps were awkward and jerky, but soon enough Ruby and Yang were running in the opposite direction of the epic battle behind them. It would be easy to escape in the forest surrounding what was left of the town - all they'd have to do was avoid any lesser Grimm and then meet up with any other survivors.
"Come on Blake," Yang cursed as she hammered at her scroll mid-sprint. "Don't you dare be dead. Come on!"
Maybe Blake wasn't answering because she was…? No, Ruby didn't want to even think about it. Blake and Weiss had promised, sworn that they wouldn't go and die while Ruby and Yang searched the Arc house. Ruby couldn't bear to lose more people in her life, not after her father, her uncle… and now Jaune too. The realisation that he was a victim too… no. She couldn't lose anything else. Her heart couldn't handle it.
They broke into the woods easily, but still the scroll didn't connect. The dial tone just kept repeating. "I'll try calling Weiss," Ruby half-shouted at Yang as the older girl became more and more distressed.
"Please Weiss, please answer…" Ruby whispered to herself. "Please…"
The call connected.
Blake's face filled the screen, her image distorted and fractured by a spiderweb of cracks running through the projection. "Ruby!" she cried, her face smudged with dirt and blood. "Thank God you're okay, where are you? Please tell me you're not still in the town!"
Why did Blake answer? Ruby called Weiss' scroll, so why…? Unless- no. It couldn't be true. "We're in the woods, where's Weiss? Why did you-"
Blake cut her off. "I must have dropped my scroll during the battle, but that doesn't matter! Weiss is hurt badly, she took a hit from the Gleam Eyes. We need to get her out, Ruby, or she's going to die!"
No, no, no, that wouldn't happen. Ruby wouldn't let it.
"We're coming!" Ruby cried, "Just don't die, you hear me?!"
Ruby couldn't lose anyone else. She just couldn't, because if she did then she may just break.
And she was afraid she would never recover from it.
Dorme, many years ago...
Two years, eleven months and one week after the Fall of Amity.
As he sat upon the broken remains of one of the settlement's taller buildings and watched the fight, Tyrian could admit that he was surprised.
And perhaps a little aroused.
But mostly surprised.
To see someone single-handedly fight one of the mightiest creations of his Queen? That was exquisite. He could practically taste the anguish and hatred rolling off the boy, the purest outpouring of negative emotion… it was divine.
Tyrian practically writhed in pleasure at the thought of fighting the little Arc boy, the one his Goddess was fixated upon. Never would he doubt his Queen's majesty, but to send him out here to test this child? And the notion that this boy could one day stand equal to her magnificence? Heresy, blasphemy, insanity!
No, no, no. Tyrian had gone to special effort for this one! He'd arranged for the deaths of his sisters, for the destruction of his entire home! Tyrian would suck the marrow from his own bones before he allowed this wretch to defile his Goddess with his mere presence!
His soul hurt.
Laughter bubbled from Tyrian's lips, his shoulders and chest heaving with deep amusement as he felt the disgusting worm's semblance wash over him. Anyone else it may have killed, but not he! Oh no, he was above that. His Goddess Salem had given him the greatest of gifts when he first entered her service. No longer was he a mere faunus - he was better now. Deep within Tyrian was the gift of the Grimm.
Some might call it a parasite, an infection or a cancer. But that wasn't true!
It was many things, but right now it was his shield.
Grimm didn't have souls - they were empty and pure and free from such petty weaknesses. Tyrian, unfortunately, was not. But for now that wouldn't be a problem, the gift of his Queen was more than enough to shield him from the wretched and disgusting influence of the maggot called Jaune Arc.
Actually… wouldn't that be fun? The boy looked as though he had well and truly won the battle with the Gleam Eyes - all he had to do was find a way to permanently kill it. But Tyrian didn't like the idea of just letting the worm win. Oh no, now was an excellent time to join the battle!
Tyrian couldn't wait to watch the boy's face twist in anguish and torment when he told him about his sisters. About the ones he slaughtered when they believed themselves to be safe, the way his sisters cowered in fear and terror when they realised that their deaths were upon them…
It was intoxicating.
Tyrian wanted more.
And he knew just where to go to get some.
Dorme, many years ago...
Two years, eleven months and one week after the Fall of Amity.
The wretched thing just wouldn't die.
It didn't matter how many times he killed it, or how exactly he did it, the Grimm just wouldn't stay down. Remove the head, crush its chest… it didn't matter. It just kept getting back up again.
It didn't matter that he was effectively invulnerable for now; if the Gleam Eyes managed to outlast him, then it was all over. If the Grimm forced him to burn through all the souls he had stored up, then he was dead. So he had to kill it now, lest he lose the chance to avenge his father and sister.
The Gleam Eyes roared as it once again healed from unthinkably terrible injuries, its massive form looming over Jaune monstrously as it once again prepared to attack.
Hatred welled up within Jaune; this was the beast that had taken his family away from him, the monster that had robbed him of the one reason Jaune had to keep going in life. He wanted it to suffer as it died, he wanted it to feel the same red hot burn of failure that drenched his soul.
"Die!" Jaune screamed as he leapt at his enemy, the beast staggering back as the Arc male tore into its chest.
Ripping aside bone, muscle and sinew was disgustingly easy as Jaune forced his way into its chest cavity. Attacking it from the outside was easy, but didn't offer the painful death that Jaune wanted for the beast. From the inside however… he would make it burn.
He didn't have much Dust - almost none, actually. No gravity Dust and only two fire Dust crystals. That would hardly be enough to burn past the skin of the monster, but from the inside? That was doable - Jaune could make that fire burn away everything below the skin level.
He would make it suffer as it died.
Jaune flexed.
His arms, already tightly wound around the still-beating heart of the Gleam Eyes, bulged monstrously with muscles enhanced beyond what was humanly possible. The Grimm roared in agony, but that didn't matter - that just made him dig his fingers into the pulsing organ in his hands, the black heart shuddering and bleeding profusely as Jaune gripped it.
Now he would make it burn. Now he would-
Something hit his back.
"Getting to the heart of things, hmm?!" a voice giggled as two razor sharp blades ground against his aura. "My Queen will not suffer this! I'll kill you!"
Heart of things? Queen? Irrelevant, and only a distraction from his current task. Jaune snarled and jerked his right elbow backwards to knock the fool off of him. The blow wasn't hard enough to break the idiot, but it was enough to send the blue aura of the man flying backwards and crashing into the ground.
Free from the distraction, Jaune gathered all his hatred for the beast that killed his father and sister, all the rage and all the sorrow.
And he clicked.
Jaune, being mostly inside the beast, felt the heat wash over him like a tidal wave as two entire crystals of fire Dust expended all their respective energies at once. It was like sitting in a furnace, one fuelled by his own hatred and rage, something of his own creation. And despite its malicious nature, Jaune was unscathed.
The same could not be said of the Gleam Eyes.
The beast roasted from the inside out, fire pouring from its eyes and mouth as everything below the skin burnt away within an instant. The sound of its agonised screeching was almost musical to Jaune's ears as he jumped away. The utter torment, the anguish…
That wasn't even close to the pain he was feeling.
But as the ashen remains of the beast fell to the ground, Jaune felt as though it was close enough. The Gleam Eyes was dead.
"You- you monster!"
Jaune's blind gaze fell upon the blue soul of the man he'd thrown away earlier. Something was wrong with him, his soul utterly malformed in some manner - like a perversion of nature. "Leave this place," Jaune snarled. "I don't know how you've managed to survive my semblance, but don't test your luck further. Go now."
He still had to find his other sisters, the rest of his family… they were likely in Vale by now. He… he could control himself enough to guide them out of the city, to move to a place where he could watch over them personally without the fear of the authorities trying to hunt him down.
"I will not!" the man spat, "I was sent here by my Queen to kill you! To exterminate everything about you!" his soul twisted with malice, and Jaune felt his eyes widen as he peered at the stains upon his soul. Were those…? "Already I made your pathetic siblings choke in pools of their own blood, and the Grimm did as I asked of it by destroying much of this cesspool. Now all that's left is you!"
The man's soul was so terribly stained, but six of those colours… they were… no. No, no, no, not now. Not when he'd lost Dad and Violet already to his own weakness. Don't leave me alone.
"What's wrong, boy?" the man laughed, "Did I hurt your feelings?"
Jaune was going to kill him.
Slowly.
633
A/N
Isn't the taste of failure exquisite? I'm sure Jaune will come to think so, eventually…
As a side note about Weiss' reaction to learning Blake is a faunus: Remember that in canon she finds out that Blake is a faunus, a former white fang member, and a white fang sympathiser all in one hit - and this was already after having spent a couple hours furiously arguing with Blake. Weiss was already angry, she was already feeling hurt and betrayed.
All Nihilus told Weiss was that Blake is a faunus. Nothing about the White Fang, and nothing about her past. It will come up later, and things will be said. But for now it's pretty much on the same level as saying Blake likes chocolate. It might be new information, but what would it change? Nothing important.
Anyway, onto the reviews:
Follower:
Thanks for reviewing.
Heh, I guess that's on me. And thanks, I appreciate you saying that.
ZHsteven:
Thanks for reviewing.
Yup, Weiss is now Nihilus-proof... mostly. Super painless process obviously, only a tiny little bit of horrible mental and emotional pain is required - and hey, she gets more out of the deal than just general immunity to Nihilus. But for that you'll just have to wait…
Shaded Azure:
Thanks for reviewing.
It's not that Ruby's angry exactly, but rather she's had a worldview shit on once again. When the Vytal festival ended in flames thanks to Jaune she (in her very black and white way of looking at things) came to believe that Jaune must be evil - either in the sense that he always was, or that he was simply never her friend to begin with. To Ruby, there wouldn't have been any guilt that Jaune felt - because evil people don't feel that of course. Remember that Noir!Ruby, and all of Vale (with a minor exception for Pyrrha) doesn't know what actually happened during the festival - all she, and Vale, knows is that the man that stopped the Breach has gone on a gleeful killing rampage and murdered literally everyone in Amity. All the while coincidentally Vale is attacked by the White Fang, Grimm, and reprogramed Atlas mechs. Jaune looked pretty suspect with all that...
So really Ruby didn't know. No one did.
But then she finds the book - which expressly states Jaune's feelings of guilt and remorse over his failures, saying how his semblance is a curse that he wished never found him. This gives the game away - Jaune isn't, nor has ever been 'evil'. Ruby effectively wasted the last three years of her life hating something that didn't technically exist. But knowing this changes only one thing: instead of being deceived by a bad guy, Ruby lost a friend. A friend who now she knows she's obligated to either kill or otherwise facilitate his death.
DuManHeiu:
Thanks for reviewing:
That would be because I never outright said what his plan was - I hinted at it a lot, but never really explained it. However, I will explain it now.
Nihilus has technically already succeeded in his original goal - he made Ironwood (the one from his universe) suffer through watching everything he loved be utterly destroyed, he made Ironwood suffer through watching Nihilus commit insanely immoral things just for shits and giggles. However, for Nihilus this wasn't enough. Nihilus didn't just want the Ironwood of his world to suffer, he wanted them ALL to suffer. Every Ironwood across the multiverse was going to die or live through terrible anguish because Nihilus felt it was justified.
Such was the plan anyway.
The Memory, part of who Nihilus used to be, schemed to stop this. Gathering souls of alternate Jaune's from six other universes, the Memory plans to use the current Jaune (the one from this world) to prove that Nihilus' nihilism is false, and that revenge isn't necessary. Happiness is the weapon against Nihilus - the Memory engineered the current Jaune's situation to be one of profound misery and anguish, but when the final stage is implemented Nihilus will look into the soul of Jaune expecting misery and instead be faced with joy and happiness. Effectively proving Nihilus' current ideals to be false.
The reason Nihilus stopped his crusade to kill Ironwood - all of them - is because Jaune has, unknowingly, shown himself to be the exact opposite of Nihilus himself. And yet he has also proven himself to be a massive hypocrite. The only reason Nihilus isn't on a killing spree is because he wants to understand what drives Jaune, and thanks to this latest chapter, what makes Weiss special. If he works it out there is a fair chance he may just go back to killing Ironwoods across the multiverse.
Anyway, leave a review.
