Chapter 24 – Blackout

"I have no other choice but to go. If I don't stop myself, I will end up doing more harm than good. Even if there is a 0.1% percent chance of someone actually able to help with my problem then it will be worth it."

"Did you hear about the announcement today in the local police department?" One of the people of Vale said.

"Of course I did. I can't believe the police are going to arrest our vigilante hero." Another said.

"Hero."

"The poor man doesn't deserve this. It should be obvious to the police department that this black knight only wants what is best for the people."

"He has done more that any law enforcement in the kingdom could ever do. I heard crime has been in an all-time low since he first appeared here…"

"I feel safe knowing that there is someone at night who is watching over our safety."

"When I listen to more of these conversations, the more I feel compelled to believe that the voice in my head is wrong. The complete opposite is happening. Instead of the people going against me, they trust me. I have nothing to be afraid of."

Jaune arrived at Beacon and headed towards Ozpin's office, but was stopped by Velvet who called out to him.

"Jaune!"

"Oh… hey there Velvet, what's up?"

"I was thinking that maybe we should change up tonight's practice up a bit. I can invite Coco to team up with you and spar against me. I want to see if I can keep up with fighting two rather than just one."

"I'm sorry Velvet, but I have a mission on my hands for the week. When I come back I will be sure to assist you."

"Oh… well ok." Jaune walked away from the Faunus to Ozpin's direction.

"Take care!"

"Where did you get this information from?" Ozpin asked Yang.

"While everyone was too busy with school work, I was looking into the recent kidnappings that were connected to Rhett."

"Why do I find that hard to believe?" Ozpin took a sip from his coffee and looked over the notes and pictures Yang had been gathering.

"I may not be as good as Jaune, Qrow, or… Jay, but I can do a little research of people I'm personally interested in and find their location."

"So then I take it that Ruby, Ren, and Nora have agreed to join your little crusade?"

"That's right!" Nora exclaimed.

"Well, I thought this over many times and I think it should be obvious that this man is too dangerous to still be roaming free in Remnant." Ren said, trying to hide that he wants some revenge for his friend.

"I'm ready for anything that comes my way. This mission will be over quick and Rhett will already be behind bars before the end of the week."

"You do know that I've seen countless of trained Huntsmen and Huntresses take on the task of arresting Rhett this past month, and less than half returned with poor results."

"What happened to the others?"

"I haven't heard from them. They have yet to return or call back."

"Oh…" Ruby and the others would be lying if they said this statement did not frighten them.

"But unlike the people who went after him, they don't know Rhett as much as I do. He won't be able to pull the same trick twice on me." Yang was confident in her skills as a Huntress in training. She had developed her skills further than she had while training alongside Jay. The others did not know this, but Yang had actually opened the glyph/sigil covered box that Jay had locked away from the others and hidden inside his hidden room. Inside the box she had found a pair of Gauntlets that looked very similar to hers, but with tiny glyphs/sigils on it. She already knew at that moment, it was supposed to be a present for her. During the time when Jay had been sparring with her, he would spend most of his time cooped up in his hidden room working on something in his workbench. Jay never talked about it with anybody and simply said it was a surprise. After a few weeks using it, Yang had already figured out the purpose for the handmade glyphs. Not only that, but she also found a knife and a single-shot hand gun. The handgun she figured was the gift that was supposed to be given to Ash, but she already knew why that didn't happen. Just like her new gauntlets, the knife and handgun also had carved symbols on it that peaked Yang's interest. She kept the weaponry and locked away the box at Jay's room and said no word about it.

"Are you sure you all want to do…" The sound of the elevator caught everyone's attention and out came Jaune with a surprised look on his face, realizing that the others were here as well.

"Jaune are you also helping with Yang's mission?"

"No he isn't." Yang quickly answered.

"Mission? What mission?"

"Nothing that concerns y…"

"She found Rhett's location and intends to stop him, with the help of Ms. Rose, Ren, and Ms. Valkyrie of course." Jaune looked at the others, slightly irritated that they didn't say anything to him about this.

"No… no I'm not. I'm actually here to talk to you about something else. A mission that I want to go to. I see now isn't really the best of time to discuss this, so I will be back in a different time."

"What kind of mission are you thinking of going?" Ruby asked.

"Just your everyday regular mission. Taking out some Grimm that are becoming a problem in some rural parts of Vale."

"I know you're lying. Why do you continue to keep things away from us?" Ruby demanded to know. Jaune over the past month has been constantly avoiding her constant questions about where he goes after school and continues to be almost like a nuisance to Jaune.

"Mr. Arc, I think Ms. Rose and the rest of your friends have the right to know what you are hiding from them." Jaune glared at Ozpin for admitting that he is indeed hiding something.

"What exactly are you hiding from us Jaune?" Nora asked.

"I'm not hiding anything Nora. Professor Ozpin seems to be confusing me with someone else who is hiding stuff. Am I right Professor?" Ozpin simply sipped his warm coffee and continue to stare at the knight who was hoping for a response.

"Let it go Ruby. It's obvious that Jaunney boy doesn't trust his friends with secrets." Yang said. She made sure that Jaune heard every single word that came out of her mouth.

"Yet you are the one that has been keeping something like this from me." Jaune replied.

"Why would you care? You've said it yourself that you don't want to go after Rhett!"

"Who told you…" Jaune looked at Ren who was just as surprised as Jaune.

"I wanted her to calm down so I thought that by telling her that it could help her…"

"There's no reason to make him understand Ren. He is too overconfident with his own power that he has completely disregarded how his friends feel and what they want."

"Is… is that what you think? Is that what you all think? You all think that I don't care about any of you?" Jaune asked the others. Ren already knew that wasn't true, but did not say anything that could reveal what Jaune has been hiding. Ruby and Nora nodded in agreement with Yang's statement. Jaune took a deep breath and turned to Ozpin.

"I'm leaving to the mission and it will take me up to a week to complete. Whether you allow me or not, I don't care. I am just here to advise you about it. I will send you more information about it on my way over there." Jaune turned around and returned to the elevator.

"Jaune! Wait!" Ruby yelled. The door immediately closed before she could stop him.

"Professor what exactly is going on with Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"I think you should all know what is wrong with Jaune. He can't keep this a secret for long and I think as Jaune's close friends, you should know."

Jaune went to his room to pack his stuff for the trip and made sure he had everything he'll need for the trip. He unsheathed his sword and looked at it confused by the weird material that covered parts of his sword's blade. At first he thought it was rust, but closer inspection made him think that it must be something completely different.

"Hey, Jaune." Blake who just entered the room greeted the knight who was inspecting his sword.

"Oh… hey Blake. What brings you here?"

"I was hoping to find Ruby here since she likes to spend most of her time with you, but it seems she isn't here."

"Well Ruby is with my team speaking to Professor Ozpin about something."

"Did she tell you about what they were going to discuss?"

"There was no need since Ozpin was the one who told me. You already knew about their plan didn't you?"

"Yeah I did, but I told Yang not to go."

"She is hell bent on getting revenge and I don't blame her. I did the same for Pyrrha so I can see why she desperately wants to go." Jaune said, trying to remove the dark material that partially covers his sword.

"So have you finally mastered that katana I gave you?" Jaune asked.

"I haven't mastered it yet, but I am getting there. I actually got it customized to my preferred color. How does it look?" Blake unsheathed the Katana and showed it to Jaune who inspected it. The blade was now black instead of red and the handle was white.

"I see you still have your other weapons still."

"Well you can never be too prepared when getting into a fight."

"You got that right. Anyways, I have to get going. It's been nice talking to you Blake." Jaune returned the Katana and headed straight towards the door.

"Wait... where are you going?" Blake asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I have a mission to go to and I don't want to be late."

"How about I go with you? I haven't been on a mission yet and I've been waiting to try out the weapon on a couple of Grimm to see whether I improved or not."

"I'm sorry, but it's a mission specifically for me."

"You're acting the same way Yang is acting right now. You know you can't do everything by yourself right Jaune?" Jaune took a moment to think about the way he is doing things. He is keeping his close friends in the dark. Not telling them anything that is going on with him which he finds very difficult to do, but he knows that he can't involve them with the possibility of him accidentally killing one of them.

"I know that Blake. It's an easy job and I want some time to myself. You know." Jaune put up a fake smile, hoping that it was enough to convince Blake that nothing out of the ordinary and it worked.

"Well when you come back, I want to do a quick sparring match with you to see how good I have gotten."

"I hope you will go easy on me." Jaune exited the door and headed out to his trip which will determine whether he can get this problem fix or he will have to live with it for the rest of his life. He knows that this is his only hope to cure his midnight madness.

"Why is that ship taking so long!?" Jaune yelled. He has been waiting impatiently for the last 20 minutes with the rest of the people who were waiting for the ship to arrive at the dock. As Jaune looked at his watch, someone behind jumped on top of him and the two fell to the ground with the person on top of the knight.

"Hiya Jaune! I will be your partner for the trip!" Ruby exclaimed as she looked down at the knight who had an upset look on his face.

"Why do you enjoy being practically glued to me Ruby?"

"Ruby… do you mind getting off of me. People will get the wrong idea by the way you're sitting." Jaune said. Ruby looked a bit confused and looked around to see everyone staring at the two. She quickly got back up and helped him clean himself off.

"Why do you insist on following me wherever I go? You're like an obsessed girlfriend who would make most guys somewhat afraid… and that's pretty hard to do."

"Well you keep lying to me about how you have been feeling and it's my job to make sure you're fine."

"You sound a lot more like a mother than a friend you know that?"

"Well I don't see myself as your mother. I see myself as a grown woman who is ready to take on the challenge called life!" Ruby raised her arm in excitement which made Jaune crack a genuine smile.

"It's nice that you care a lot about me Ruby, but you should head back to Beacon. You can't come with me. I will be back in a week and it isn't really something so complicated that I would need backup." Jaune looked over the horizon and noticed the ship closing in towards the doc.

"Professor Ozpin already told me what you did and what is wrong with you. I'm here to make sure you don't lose yourself again."

"So you already know." Jaune pulled out some money from his backpack and handed it to Ruby to which she gave a confused look to him.

"What's this for?"

"Well, you're not going to be able to get on the ship without any money right?" Ruby smiled and hugged the knight tightly. Jaune was surprised at first, since it has been a long time since he felt the Ruby embraced him.

"Okay that's enough. If you keep hugging me people are going to think we are a couple." Jaune said, trying to get Ruby's arms off of him.

"And that's a bad thing?" Ruby tightened her arms around him, making him lose air in his lungs.

An hour Later…

"No Zwei! Don't do that! Stop biting that! Stop Zwei that tickles!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Why did you bring your dog here? Do they even allow pets on the ship?" Jaune asked.

"Well if they didn't before, they do now!" Zwei walked over to Jaune and sat in front of him. Jaune looked at the black haired pooch that continued to stare at him with an obvious smile.

"What do you want?" Jaune asked. Zwei barked at Jaune who looked puzzled.

"Do you want a tre…" Zwei jumped on Jaune who fell to the floor with Zwei licking his face joyfully.

"Zwei likes you! He knows a good person when he sees him!" Ruby exclaimed

"I'm sure… he does." Jaune getting a barrage of licks from a happy Zwei.

"Did your dad send him to you today or what?"

"Yeah he did. He said he was leaving for the week and needed me to take care of him. Yang was going to leave so I couldn't leave him by himself."

"What about Blake? I'm… sure she wasn't… planning to do anything. How much… stamina does this corgi have?" Zwei was still licking the knight's face who wasn't really putting up a fight.

"Well Blake gets uneasy around Zwei so that was out of the question." Ruby said. She was lying down on her bed and scrolling through her phone.

"What about Weiss?" Jaune said, getting up from the floor with Zwei on his arms.

"Weiss was too busy with school work and I already knew that she won't have time to take care of him." Jaune walked over to Ruby and placed the pooch on her belly which caused her to let out a loud "Umpf".

"I can't believe this is the only room available to us." Jaune looked around with an upset look.

"Well technically it's a room for two, but with only one bed that can hold two." Ruby said, placing her finger high in the air.

"Well I guess I can sleep on the floor. Unless Zwei here doesn't like to share."

"Well Zwei always slept on Yang's or my bed at night. He doesn't like sleeping on the floor unless it's the only place he can sleep at the time."

"Floor it is then." Jaune placed covers on the floor, hoping that it would be comfortable enough for him to sleep on.

"Why don't you sleep here with me?" Ruby asked. Patting the side of the bed to show Jaune where he can lay down.

"I can't sleep on the same bed with you."

"Why not?"

"Well… you know."

"You know what?"

"… Never mind, I just remembered I can't sleep."

"Oh right… that problem."

"Yeah… I'm just going to stay up drinking a lot of caffeine."

"You could at least lay down for a bit. Zwei and I can stay awake with you to keep you from snoozing off." Zwei turned to Jaune who looked at him and barked in agreement.

"Well thanks for the offer, but I'm fine with drinking caffeine." Ruby scowled at the black knight and slammed her hands down repeatedly on the side of the bed till he lay next to her. This kept on going for a few minutes until Jaune finally gave in to her demands and joined her and Zwei on the bed.

"It's still a bit too early to go straight to sleep. Why don't we order some food? I haven't eaten all day." Jaune said. Ruby agreed and they both ordered food and had a fun time. They were cracking jokes, showing each other funny pictures over the internet, and playing with Zwei. It's been too long since Jaune had the opportunity to act as a teen and not as a grown man. The sky grew dark and Ruby was already soundly asleep next to Jaune. She had her head on Jaune's chest and the sound of his heart beating caused her to slowly drift off to sleep. Jaune slowly placed the delicate Rose on the bed and pull the sheets over her to keep her nice and warm. He quietly walked over to the door to exit the room to feel the cool ocean breeze. He proceeded to walk over to the front deck and stared at the moon. Mesmerized by the glowing light it gave off. It shined across the ocean to the point where Jaune could see the neighboring islands. A few minutes after looking at the beautiful scenery, he heard the sounds of an animal's footsteps behind him. He turned to the side and noticed Zwei walking towards him and stopped next to him. Zwei sat down, looked at the shattered moon and howled. Zwei's howl caught Jaune off guard and felt an unfamiliar aura approaching to his direction. Before he could do something, Zwei had already rushed into his sweater to hide.

"Hello sir, you don't happen to have heard a howl did you?"

"A howl? I didn't hear anything. Maybe it was the ship or something."

"Perhaps you are right sir. Sorry to have bothered you. I will leave you to your peaceful night."

"Thank you." The old employee walked off to the opposite direction and Jaune breathed out once he vanished.

"I really hope that you won't give me a hard time just like now." Jaune said to the pooch. Zwei popped his head out of Jaune's sweater and licked him.

"Okay okay you're welcome." Jaune said, chuckling at the pooch.

"Well, it looks like we'll be here for a while. This ship is going to take about 3 days till we finally reach the closest city. I would have like it better by airship, but knowing Ozpin he would simply reject it and make me stay there or something. Then I again, I was being a little brat." Jaune sat down on a chair and stood up all night gazing at the night sky along with his newly friend Zwei.

After 3 days of staying fully awake, Jaune was already giving in and was ready to sleep. Ruby however was the only reason why he managed to stay up all day and night in the past days. The three adventurers reached the nearest city at noon. Jaune's mind was clouded and he found it difficult to retain his focus on one single thing. Luckily Ruby was there to basically be his mind and legs. They whistled for a taxi and were now headed to their destination. However, they would only be able to go by vehicle in a certain distance. The rest needed to be on foot since any electronic device becomes useless to use. While on the road, Ruby hoped that by talking to Jaune constantly, that would prevent him from going to sleep which somewhat worked.

"So we are supposed to walk all the way over there after getting off?"

"…Yeah. The reason for that is because once you pass through a certain distance, everything that we use that is powered by electricity would no longer be powered, meaning that if a vehicle were to pass, it would just turn off. We are going to need to walk a total of 50 miles (80 Km) to reach the area."

"WHAT!? I can't walk that much! My legs would get tired and where would we sleep!? I'm pretty sure we won't be able to make it there today!"

"You said you wanted to come. Now you have to deal with it." Jaune began getting irritated by Ruby's voice which he couldn't control since he was heavily exhausted and simply wanted to sleep.

"What about food, water, and supplies!?" Ruby continued to shout.

"We are going to stop by in a few minutes to get all that. Driver… can you take us somewhere close by that sells camping supplies?"

"Sure no problem." The 30 year old looking driver took them to the closest store he knew and all three entered the tore to purchase all the necessary things for the long walk. After a few minutes of gathering the items, Jaune and Ruby went to the checkout and Jaune noticed a television that was showing the news.

"The search for a student from Beacon Academy continues across Vale. Investigators say that the student named Jaune Arc could be responsible for the killings of criminals across several cities. In addition to that, they have video evidence of him killing an important member of the White Fang organization. Investigators believe that he was involved with the tragic incident in Mistral that caused all the creatures of Grimm to invade parts of the kingdom." Jaune saw that they placed in image of his school picture and had no choice, but to place his hoodie over his head and walk out the store.

"Do you think he really caused the Grimm to invade Mistral?" One of the employees asked a customer.

"I don't think so. Why would he want to do something like that and clean out crimes in several cities?"

After making it outside, Jaune entered the taxi and waited for Ruby for her return. After several minutes of waiting she exited the store and hastily walked towards the vehicle and got in.

"Why did you rush out like that? You could have at least helped with the bags you know?"

"I'll explain later. Get in." The taxi driver was reading the local newspaper when all of a sudden Jaune noticed that he was in a page where it had the same image of him in the news.

"We're ready driver. You can go now." Jaune said. The driver stopped for a moment and didn't move a muscle.

"I said… we're ready to go." Jaune this time said it with a somewhat sinister voice. The driver did what he asked without saying a word. After an hour on the road again, the driver slowly pulled out his phone and began to dial someone.

"Who are you calling?" Jaune asked.

"Oh… I'm just calling a friend to see uh… how he is doing." Jaune raised his arm and used his polarity semblance to pull the driver's phone out of his hands and onto his.

"Jaune what are you doing?" Ruby asked, confused of what was happening.

"Let's make this clear… you're going to take us where we need to go and you won't do anything rash or else the only thing your friend will ever see… is your body without a head."

Ruby's face grew pale and was shocked of what Jaune just said.

"Ruby… the newspaper and the news on the television… law enforcement is looking for me."

"Wait… what why?"

"They think that I am somehow involved with the incident in Mistral." Ruby grabbed the newspaper that was on the driver's lap and read the article.

"What… what are we going to do?"

"You aren't doing anything. They are looking for me and only me at the moment. I'm not sure if they also have video evidence of you and the rest of the teams. We are still going to shadow woods. Once I fix my problem… I'll find a way to fix this one."

"How, where and when did they manage to get proof of me being there? Neo took out the cameras and most likely destroyed any video evidence of us being inside the facility. Wait… if it was footage from the facility, they would have also announced Ruby as well. I need to figure out where they got the video from."

After several hours on the road, they finally reached their stop. The vehicle could no longer go further inside. Jaune, Ruby, and Zwei got off the vehicle with their supplies and Jaune signaled her to go on ahead. Although they still needed to walk, they had to stop in front of a green forest. It seems that nature had taken more of the land than Jaune initially thought. Jaune struggled to walk over to the driver seat to tell the man a few things before he leaves.

"If you tell anyone about this… I will make it my mission to track you down and slowly kill you. I wrote down the license plate of your taxi and it will take me no time at all to find out where you live. Do you understand?" The black veins slowly spread through his cheeks and this frightened the grown man and all he could do was nod his head in agreement.

"Good. Here's the money we owe you." Jaune handed the driver a lot more money than he expected.

"Why… why give me more than the actual… amount?" Jaune showed the phone that the driver used to call his so called "Friend" and burned it in the palm of his hand.

"You're going to need to buy a new phone when you return to the city." Jaune turned around and wobbled his way toward Ruby's direction. The driver drove off in great speed, never looking back at what could have been his last cab fare he would have ever done.

An hour later…

Jaune collapsed to the ground and sat back on a tree. He grabbed two items from his backpack and gave it to Ruby to hold.

"Handcuffs? Rope? What's this for?" Ruby asked.

"You're going to tie me to this tree and make sure I don't get out."

"Wait… no I'm not going to."

"Dammit Ruby… listen to me. I'm… I'm about to pass out any second now and when that happens there's no telling what kind of person I'll be. These handcuffs will suppress my aura, but not stop me from going on a rampage." Jaune positioned himself to allow Ruby to handcuff him.

"Hurry up!" Jaune yelled. Ruby had no choice but to do what he said for her own sake. She handcuffed him and tied him down to the tree, making sure that the rope was tight and would not allow him to move around. Zwei simply looked at Jaune who was now ready to lose consciousness.

"Hey Zwei… you're about to… see a person that is not me. Don't think that this person… is the actual me because it's not."

"All done Jaune." Ruby said. Jaune could tell that Ruby felt as if she were betraying her own friend.

"Ruby… whatever I say after I go to sleep… don't do anything. Don't listen to me… don't let your feelings get in the way. Make sure I stay like this. If you notice that I'm about to get out… kill me." Jaune passed out and the last thing he said made her tear up.

"It won't come to that. I won't do that. I… I love you."

A few minutes passed and Ruby kept her full attention on the blonde knight who was sleeping soundly in front of the tree. She looked at Zwei who was lying down and doing the same exact thing she was.

"It seems Jaune isn't going to go berserk huh." Ruby told the corgi. Immediately after saying that, the blonde knight raised his head and looked at the rose who had a shocked look on her face.

"J…Jaune?" Ruby called out to the student who made no sudden movement at all.

"Jaune… c… can you hear me?"

"Hey Ruby…" the black knight said. He stared at her with a smile that somewhat made her uneasy.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked. The black veins slowly reappeared on his cheeks and his eyes slowly descended to its dark state. Zwei immediately got up and began to growl at the boy who he shared a bond with.

"Never have I been better."

Hey everyone! Here's another chapter for all to enjoy. It's a lot longer and I think this is the longest chapter I have ever done. I hope that it doesn't bother you and if it does, I apologize. I never thought that this chapter would be so long and the chances of chapter being long as this is pretty small. Anyways thank you all for continuing to read these chapters and I hope you stick around till the end. I will see you all next time!