Chapter 23 – Dark Urges

"There I was, fighting 30 beowolfs while enjoying a nice warm meal. I could have been…" Professor Port said. He was telling the students a story of his youth that left many of the students half asleep. One of these students was Jaune who did not sleep the whole night. The fact that he attended class was a big mistake in his part.

"Pssst… Jaune." Ruby whispered. Jaune who could barely stay awake turned to Ruby in hopes that she can keep him awake.

"I want to know what caused you to take so long to get here. I thought you said that we will be leaving together back to Vale." Ruby bringing up the incident in Mistral wasn't the best thing to bring up right now. Jaune was already exhausted and her bringing that memory back up annoyed him.

"Nothing that you should know." Jaune focused his attention back at Port's story in hopes that Ruby would drop the question.

"What is that supposed to mean? You've been acting strange ever since we were about to leave at Mistral. The others might not see it yet, but I do. I won't stop bothering you until you tell me."

"Why do you continue to annoy me?" Jaune asked.

"What? You think I'm annoying?"

"huh? No wait… I didn't mean it like that." Jaune thought that he had said that in his mind. He already knew that he screwed up.

"We got into serious trouble Ruby. We lost Jay. How do you expect me to act? Happy? You want to see me smiling?"

"Mr. Arc! Do you care to tell us about one of your tales? I'm sure you have been on a mission that was exhilarating and I am confident that the rest of the class would like to hear it." Professor Port placed the spotlight on Jaune after catching him talking to Ruby.

"Yeah… tell us." Ruby crossed her arms and looked the other way, obviously upset about what Jaune said to her.

"I really don't have a story to tell Professor Port. If I did, I would love to tell you all about it."

"I'm sure you would Mr. Arc. Will you be attending the tournament that is coming up next month?"

"Unfortunately I'm not. I have a lot of things to take care of during that time."

"Surely you jest? Someone like your caliber should participate. You are one of our greatest students since…" Jaune already knew who he was going to mention, but luckily for him, Professor Port stopped himself before he could have finished his sentence.

"What I'm trying to say is that you should enter the tournament to hone your skills as a true Huntsman like me." The professor stood up straight with his chin high in the air as a sign of honor, integrity, and strength.

"Honing my skills? My skills at what exactly? Fighting Grimm?"

"Why yes, that's…"

"That's why we're becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses? Why don't we ever talk about the criminals, the terrorists, the corrupted individuals here at Beacon? This school makes it seem like the only thing we will be fighting out there will be Grimm, but that's all a lie. We'll be facing criminals who are watching and waiting to make their moves on the innocent people who are trying to make a decent living. What if some Huntsmen or Huntress turns dark side? That's not a rare thing that has happened in the kingdom. How can we stop someone who we have no knowledge on how to stop? What if one day I decide to betray my friends, my classmates, my companions? How will any of them fair against someone of my caliber?" The class remained quiet. They were all equally shocked at what was unfolding. Jaune took a breather and looked around the classroom and witnessed his fellow classmates staring at him, as if though he were a crazy lunatic.

"I…I'm sorry. I have been studying a lot as of late and I guess it's starting to get to me. Excuse me." Jaune proceeded to walk out the classroom and head towards the restroom to cool himself off.

"What was that about?" One of the students asked.

"I don't know, but he was kind of right though. That's all we ever talk about." Another student said.

"I think Ruby was right when she said something was off about Jaune." Weiss stated to Blake.

"You don't say?"

Jaune breathed heavily over the sink. He turned on the faucet and rinsed his face, hoping that it would calm him down. Upon raising his face and looking into the mirror, he noticed his right eye turning into its dark state.

"No no no no NO! How is this happening?" Jaune continued to rinse his face off, hoping that it would disappear on its own after a short while, but after some time, it remained the same. He slowly begun to lose consciousness and immediately called Ozpin on his phone. He told him where he was and what was going on. After fighting so hard to stay awake, Jaune finally succumbed to his exhaustion and lost consciousness.

"What will you do? Would you continue to help humanity or will you finally realize who you truly are?"

"It's… that voice again. That… same voice."

"You're walking down a path full of blood, despair, and anger. Do you think you will be able to deal with all that? Will you stay true to what you believe? What you want is Justice and Peace. Something that humanity obtains through war. Will you still attempt to obtain it through violent means? If sacrificing who you are to obtain this peace no matter how short it will remain, will you do it?" The voice asked Jaune.

"I've endured the pain of losing someone I love… I will endure the pain of losing a friend. I will not succumb to the evil of this world in order to grasp it. I will bring about a change, a change that will remain on this world for a very…very long time. My gift… my curse… whatever anyone would like to think it is… it will help me on my dark journey to obtain it, if I have to sacrifice a few lives along the way… so be it."

"Where am I?" Jaune awoke to a sight of Atlesian Knights completely destroyed in a fairly sized room. Multiple Atlesian Paladin's were torn limb to limb and the sight of it all seemed no different than the people who were butchered at the hands of Jaune in Mistral.

"Mr. Arc? Are you finally awake?" Jaune could not tell who was asking the question. The entire room was too bright for him to tell where the voice was coming from. After a few seconds of looking, Jaune realized that he was a in some sort of control room that was utterly destroyed.

"What happened here?" Jaune asked the stranger.

"You don't remember?"

"… Did I…"

"You went on a rampage after losing consciousness."

"DID I HURT ANYONE!? ARE MY FRIENDS FINE!?"

"Calm down Mr. Arc. You started to attack after you arrived to this facility a few hours later. We were running some tests on you to determine whether your brain waves were completely normal. They were fine… until you turned to your berserk state."

"… So I did kill those people back at Mistral."

"We will unlock the door behind you. Come join us so that we can discuss this problem of yours." Jaune proceeded to go past the broken and beaten up androids and open the door. Upon entering through it, he saw Ironwood, Ozpin, and a young man who seemed the same age as Jaune.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jaune Arc. My name is Aero. You can pronounce it however you prefer, it doesn't offend me at all."

"Were you the one that was telling me about what had happened?"

"Yes I was. Professor Ozpin told me that you fell unconscious at the restroom and for safety reasons he took you here to one of General Ironwood's Psychiatric facilities here at Vale to fix the problem you seem to have.

"So this is a mental disorder now?"

"It doesn't matter what it is. The reason why you are here is because you can't control these violent urges when you are asleep. You're here to allow us to figure out a way to fix you." Aero pulled out a paper with Jaune's brain waves that he had taken while Jaune was asleep. The paper contained Jaune's brain waves prior to his berserk state and on the back of the paper was his brain waves seconds before going to his berserk state.

"Take a look at this. Your brain waves were perfectly fine… well, for a student who hasn't slept for a whole day."

"It was to avoid having this problem from happening again."

"Yeah I'm sure it was. Now if you turn the paper around, you will see your brain waves seconds before you turned on us."

"I don't know if you know this, but I'm no majoring in this kind of stuff."

"Your delta waves were higher than a normal person during a deep sleep. The waves basically looked like that of a person's beta wave when angry… well, more like he carried the wrath of god."

"How do we turn it back to normal?"

"That is the task that I was given by General Ironwood. I will try to find out a way to fix this problem and until we do, you will be staying here with me."

"No. I'm not staying here. I may have a problem, but I can't stay here all day. I have school work and friends that need company back at Beacon."

"Jaune, we need to find a way to stop this serious problem you have."

"Don't talk as if I were someone who was insane. I can fix this problem by myself. All I need to are some brain exercises and not go to sleep now and then."

"Oh yeah definitely. I heard that some anti-depressants will definitely stop a soon to be blood thirsty insomniac from killing a handful of people."

"You told him?" Jaune was angry at the fact that Ozpin told someone else about the killing incident in Mistral.

"It's better this way Mr. Arc. If you go on a rampage again at school, you could end up killing those who are close to you. I understand how frustrating this is for you, but this is for the best." Ironwood said.

"Well I don't need him to stay here all day long. He can come here after school since that would help me understand what gets him angry, upset, depressed, etc."

"Well… if it helps you with Mr. Arc's problem so be it. It's getting late it seems. I should head back to the school with General Ironwood. We will stay in touch." Ozpin proceeded to walk out the door with General Ironwood following behind. Jaune however, didn't agree to any of this and made it clear through his anger.

"Don't I have a say in it? I'm not staying here at all." Jaune took a step forward, but then was grabbed by Aero who placed his hand on Jaune's head and made him fall unconscious once more.

"You have anger problems Jaune. Serious… anger problems."

"What… what happened?" Jaune asked Aero who was sitting by a computer monitor across the room.

"You were upset at Ozpin for allowing me to help you with your problem, so I took the liberty of rendering you unconscious for the sake of us not having to listen to your tantrum."

"How did you do that?"

"The same way you are able to create black flames, black portals, and control over polarity."

"How do you kno…"

"I saw it all when you went berserk the other day."

"Oh." Jaune go out of bed and walked towards Aero to look at what he was inspecting.

"You didn't go on another killing spree last night."

"Can you please not say that."

"Say what?"

"Killing spree."

"Fine... Murder spree"

"…"

"What?" Aero asked, having a puzzling look on his face.

"Anyways, you didn't attack anything during your sleep last night. Your brain waves were completely normal and not a single thing was strange."

"Told you all I needed was some sleep."

"But I don't quite understand. Why did you not continue your destructive pattern? Did you feel anything strange last night? Anything at all?"

"Nothing that I can remember. Seemed like a pretty normal night." Aero continued to scroll through the information he had gathered that night and went over it multiple times. He did not find a single thing that seemed abnormal and pulled out a soda out of a fridge that was next to him.

"Before this violent urge occurred, did something happen to you? A traumatic moment or something similar to that?" Jaune was hesitant to tell him about what he had done, but in order to figure out the problem he felt that he had to reveal what had happened prior to his destructive nature.

"Well, I could tell you, but it is a long story and I'm sure you don't have time to listen to…"

"There's no need to tell me."

"What?" Jaune was immediately caught off guard by Aero's hand that was placed on his head. In a brief moment, Jaune had images of his past playing in his head. He saw images of Pyrrha's death at Beacon, images of him obtaining his Dark power, images of the incident in Mistral, everything he had remembered in his life… he saw.

"What the hell just happened!?" Jaune asked. An intense pain was surging through his head after Aero placed his hand on Jaune's head.

"I took a closer look at your memories."

"You can't just go into someone's memories without consent!"

"I actually have authorization to do that. The moment Ozpin brought you here was the moment I was allowed to do anything in order to help you." Jaune was still rubbing his head to ease the pain that slowly disappeared.

"Don't worry about it. Every small bit of information obtained will be strictly confidential. No one else will ever know about this besides me of course. However I must ask. How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Continue living." Jaune was shocked at what he was hearing. He had never been asked this question by anybody let alone a stranger. A stranger who learned every bit of information about him in a span of a few seconds."

"I… I…"

"I've known many people who went through many hardships in their lives and only a few of them barely managed to continue living. The rest of them ended their lives because they could not endure the pain of living in this world. Yet here you are, still walking among the living as someone who seeks a better future for not only himself, but for everyone in this world."

"I don't know how to answer that question. I have yet to find an answer myself, but like you said. I am looking for a way to bring as much peace as I can for as long as I can. I've lost a lot of things. I don't want any other person to feel the pain that I must endure."

"I see." Weeks passed by and Jaune only went berserk a few times. Jaune would go to school, spend a few hours to do what he pleased and returned after sunset. Little did Aero know that he had been doing some questionable after school activities. Jaune has been doing vigilante work around Vale during those few weeks. Some days he would go around Vale, looking for any armed robberies occurring and stopping muggers from possibly taking someone's life. This process continued for a month until Jaune's work has finally been getting attention.

"With the recent drop of crimes, Verdana has now dropped to 4th highest crime rate in Vale. The recent drop of crime rates has to be the work of a dark masked individual. Witnesses say that a black masked/hooded individual has been overseeing the safety of the citizens of Vale and other neighboring cities. We asked city officers about the recent events that have been transpiring relating to this hooded individual."

"We understand that this "masked hero" intends to help the people of Vale, but killing some of these alleged criminals is not allowed in our city. He or she is taking their own understanding of justice and using it as his or her judgement. That is not something we the officers of Vale can agree with. That is why law enforcement in Vale and neighboring cities have decided to track down this vigilante and arresting him for crimes he has committed. We will address the crimes when we catch this criminal and anyone who has seen or may know the whereabouts of this person can call their local police department." Aero looked at Jaune with a blank expression.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"You have taken law into your own hands?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Jaune… I don't care what you do after school, but when you are out there doing that, you should tell me because that could be vital information to your problem."

"What do you mean vital information?" Aero walked over to his computer and pulled out files from certain dates.

"Tell me… when did you start doing this vigilante work of yours?"

"… I started about a week after meeting you." Aero looked at the file of the date he had begun to stop crimes in cities.

"I understand now. I understand everything."

"What!? What do you understand?" Jaune asked, impatiently waiting for an answer.

"Do you enjoy helping these people?"

"Yeah of course I did. I'm doing something that I feel will help this city and kingdom become a better place."

"I see, and before you went berserk the 2nd time, were you upset?"

"Upset?"

"Upset, frustrated, furious, angry, any negative emotion?"

"I was upset about the school not paying any interest about criminals across Vale."

"And how angry were you?"

"Angry to the point where I lost myself in thought."

"Interesting. The amount of Dark aura you possess has been taking a negative toll on you, literally."

"What are you trying to say aero?"

"I could I have completely miss this." Aero pulled out various files containing information about Jaune's aura levels, chemical levels, and cat scans.

"The dark aura is slowly trying to consume you."

"What!?" Jaune panicked. He was frightened at the thought of him turning something that he does not want to be and possibly go on a murdering spree that could take many lives including his friends.

"You're kidding right? There has to be some way for me to control myself. Maybe I can release some of my Dark energy."

"No, that would bring terrible consequences."

"What? Why? What makes you think that?"

"I've been reading up about this aura you have from Ozpin's books. Although some pieces are missing in the information I obtained, but it says that you can only release the Dark onto another host."

"That means…"

"Someone will have to be a vessel for the Dark aura to allow you regain control over it rather it having control over you." Jaune didn't want someone else to have this terrible burden. Pyrrha was a vessel of the Dark aura and look what that turned her. He couldn't possibly allow someone else end up the same way she did. He has to find some other way to control his urges, his power in order to protect rather than to destroy.

"Does the book say anything about where the first encounter of the dark aura came from?" Jaune asked.

"Well the book seems a bit inconsistent, but it stated that the birthplace of men began in a forest called Shadow woods."

"Where is this shadow woods at?"

"Let me find out." Aero searched on the web of any location that had the name shadow woods and found over 26 search results of forests named the same thing across remnant.

"Dammit."

"What would going into this forest do?" Aero asked.

"There's bound to be someone who passed down information to the next generation. My friend Jay was given practices on how to do certain things that other families are not able to do. If Jay was passed down that information, I'm sure I'll find someone else who knows everything that I need to know." Aero looked at the book with worried expression.

"Very well." Aero said.

"Very well?"

"Wait a few seconds." Aero said. He placed his hand on the old book and his eyes glowed for a few seconds before he dropped the book and collapsed to the floor.

"Aero! What's wrong!?"

"I… I absorbed every bit of information the book had. Well not exactly what was written in there, but the memories left in it."

"Memories left in it?"

"This book is like a memento. Everything that happened to the person who wrote down this book and others who took hold of it gave me every bit of information about each of their lives, where they lived, and where they died."

"That… that's amazing. That semblance is something that humanity could use to solve unsolved mysteries of the world Aero."

"That's just it. What would humans do with these mysteries Jaune? If they ever find out about the Darkness, what would you think they would do?" Jaune remained quiet. He knew exactly what someone with evil intent would do with a terrifying power that he possessed.

"The location is here." Aero pointed on the map where the forest was at. It was located in a forested area that has been deserted for centuries. The information on the web says that the area has not been populated due to an electronic interference that disables all electronics in a 50 mile radius and anyone could easily get lost since compasses malfunction every single time.

"Aero, you're bleeding." Aero nose had begun to bleed after using his unique semblance.

"It… it happens. It takes way more aura than using it on someone's mind."

"But are you sure you want to go?" Aero asked.

"I have to." Jaune quickly got up and headed towards the exit.

"You're going right now?"

"I'm going to tell Ozpin about it first… then I'll be heading out." Jaune exited the structure and headed towards the school to advice Ozpin about the trip. Aero sat back and turned back to the news channel where they talked about Jaune's vigilante work.

"With the help of Vacuole military force, the kingdom in Mistral was able to maintain control over 70% of its land. Investigators who looked into the suspicious black beam from more than a month ago say that could possibly have found a lead on the terrorist who caused this giant catastrophe. They say that they will tell us about the person of interest later tonight."

"Jaune… your destiny is shrouded in mystery. Will you still be able to continue walking in this dark time of ours?"

Hey everyone! Here is another chapter for all to enjoy. If you don't know already, some of these chapters have dark souls inspired ideas and one of these ideas will be coming in the later chapters. For all you dark souls fans out there, you might know what might be coming for Jaune, but for those who don't know, it might be exciting once you find out. It might or might not be exciting to those who hate dark souls or never played it, but I hope you still find some enjoyment in reading it. I hope everyone has a wonder Monday which is highly unlikely, but I hope my chapter will make it a bit better. I will see you all later!