Anyone have a good image I could use for this story…?
Please?
All credit to Respective Owners!
-Y.A.R.N.
Blake sighed as she sipped on soda with Ruby as Yang mingled with the various partygoers, bored out of her mind. She took some solace that Ruby looked just as out of place as she did when it came to things like this; the poor girl nervously looking for a gap in the festivities that would allow her scurry off to her room without Yang dragging her back down. Blake wanted to join her but she had an obligation to at least show up, but was waiting. She wanted to put in the prerequisite hours of showing up and then leave as soon as possible, thus securing Yang grumbling acceptance that she at least came. Yang was convinced that her quiet friend was simply needing a push to become the social butterfly she could be, but Blake couldn't plaster on a fake smile and chat with people for fun.
Mainly because she didn't find it fun.
She checked the time on her phone and let out another sigh, the things she did for her friends...
Jaune was happily chatting with Pyrrha when his neck prickled with a feeling of being watched. He had developed that particular skill at his constant torment at Cardin's hands in order to make sure that he could avoid his bully from attacking when he was unprepared. It was also a little something the 'trainers' at Curdun Cay 'helped' form when they began working on him. His head snapped around, eyes scanning the small cafe, his position shifting from relaxed to alert. Pyrrha blinked at him stopping mid-sentence and looking — for all intents and purposes — like he was about get into a fight. Pyrrha immediately tensed as well and her hand clenched as her powers itched under her skin.
Jaune stood up and turned to her, "Pyrrha, I think it's time you left. I have to close up."
Pyrrha frowned, "Jaune, what is it? Is there a problem?"
Jaune shook his head, "Just trust me."
Pyrrha pursed her lips and stood up, "Jaune…"
He smiled at her, fake and completely unreassuring, "Don't worry about it. I can handle whatever it is."
Pyrrha's eyes flashed with annoyance but she didn't want to cause trouble, Jaune was clearly not willing to let her stay and while she could help if there was trouble…
"Stay safe." She said curtly before she left.
"I never do…" Jaune muttered to himself as he immediately began shutting things down once Pyrrha was out of sight.
The moment he was done he dashed out the door and locked it behind him, stuffing the keys he had been lent by Ghira in his pockets. He quickly hurried down the street, the feeling of being watched never once leaving his back. He didn't go his normal route home, and veered down back alleys and twisting streets in an attempt to lose his pursuer. He also headed for the less populated areas of the city in case he had to use his powers, he couldn't risk anyone seeing him using those.
The sounds of rocks shifting and crackling against each other in a way that he had only ever heard during his incarceration in Curdun Cay echoed behind him.
His heart shot into his throat as he abandoned subtlety to run away in earnest. He heard a muffled curse from behind him and the sound of crumbling rocks. He chanced a look behind him to see a dissolving spire of concrete leading to the roofs.
Shit.
A Conduit.
Was it Cardin?
He got no response except for a shadow to fall over him as a giant slab of concrete was falling on top of him.
Jaune's eyes widened as his instincts took over.
His body shimmered and he dispersed into light to swirl up to the rooftop a split second before he would've been crushed. He materialized behind a figure cloaked in black and wearing a balaclava to hide his features from being seen, who already tensed upon not hearing Jaune cry out in pain or a crunch of breaking bone. Jaune was partially relieved and partially confused that this person wasn't Cardin, the figure's body type had nothing in common with his bully. Overall the figure was taller and much more lean than Cardin's bulkier body type. He whirled and Jaune eyes widened as the figure lashed out with a swirling blast of concrete at the blond barista. Jaune rolled back off the roof he had just scaled, the blast missing him by inches as he fell.
Ok. So this guy just tried to kill him. Twice.
Instincts honed in Curdun Cay took over and Jaune dissolved into light to reform in the back alley in a crouched position to throw himself away from his landing position, body screaming in joy at him cutting loose. He scowled up at the figure who leapt down from the building, concrete swirling around him as he headed straight for Jaune. Jaune rolled out of the way as the figure landed, hand buried into the earth where several spires erupted from his powered landing. The figure straightened and the concrete rocks tore themselves free and floated around him as he aimed at Jaune. Jaune dove into his powers — ignoring the freedom he almost never felt before as every fibre of his being trembled with an excited buzz — light erupting up and down his arms as the figure fired the spikes of concrete at him. He punched the spires out of the air, hands encased in light as he backed away to give him room. He fired several streams of light that the conduit blocked by pulling spires of concrete out of the earth itself to block. Even though the spire was obliterated, it gave the figure enough time to pull another slab of concrete to shield himself with.
"Who are you?" Jaune demanded, "Were you hired by Cardin?"
The figure gave no response and rose on a swirling platform of concrete, hand lifting slab of concrete right out of the floor. Jaune growled in aggravation as he felt the prickling feeling of a King Conduit gathering his power for a battle. Jaune dissolved into light and surged towards the King, materializing right on top of the startled conduit. Jaune drove a glowing palm straight into the King's face — knocking his head back — before letting out a burst of light at point-blank range. The force of the blast sent the Conduit into one of his own slabs of concrete, shattering it and the surrounding blocks as his concentration broke. Jaune leapt off the crumbling platform at the King just as the King raised a hand and a swirling shield of concrete blocked Jaune's advance. Jaune dissolved just before he impacted the shield, materializing to the side as he whirled to get ready to block—
Half a second too late as a concrete blasted him onto his side.
He gritted his teeth moved with the blow, trusting his accelerated healing to cover the damage as he used the concussive force of the blow to gain some distance while firing off a scatter shot of light bolts to ward off a retaliation. He rolled to his feet, shield already shimmering in front of him as blasts of concrete pelted the shield and the area around him. Jaune grit his teeth as he realized that this guy was trying to kill him and didn't care about collateral so long as he managed it. Jaune threw the shield out as a concussive wave of light remembering the videos he had dug up of Cole MacGrath and — after his incarceration — Delsin Rowe, knocking the blasts askew as Jaune compressed his form and seared through the air towards the King.
The King conduit threw up a shield but Jaune burned straight through it to crash into the King, slamming him against the wall. Jaune materialized and pinned the attacker against the wall, driving a glowing fist into his attacker's face and repeating the action as fast as he could. He stuck the conduit's face several times before he was blasted away with a roar of concrete. Jaune twisted in the air, throwing his hands down as light swirled around his hands acting as makeshift rockets that held him aloft as he glared at the King (another trick he picked up from the Patron Saint of New Marais and The Smoker of Seattle). He dropped his powers as the King heaved a slab of concrete at him that he slipped under.
The King slammed his palms into the earth the ground roared and trembled as though it was alive and expressing it's displeasure as several concrete spires coiled and lashed out at Jaune with deadly intent. Jaune dissolved before he hit the floor and warped from rooftop to rooftop as the King followed behind him on a swirling storm of concrete firing spire after spire. Jaune fired blasts of light when he he formed a barrier to block a rain of concrete but could tell if he kept this going, people would get hurt. He could already hear the distant sounds of people seeing his fight and screaming or calling out. This guy wouldn't care and keep on after him, killing innocents in the process.
This needed to end.
Jaune scowled and seared through the sky at the King and materialized behind him. Jaune formed a blade of light and used a blast from his free hand to spin himself, jamming the blade forward. The man let out a cry of agony as the blade lodged in his side and immediately a gauntlet made of concrete back-fisted Jaune harshly across the face, knocking him down to the ground. They both fell in tandem as the King fell as his concentration was broken with the pain of Jaune stabbing him and Jaune falling from the counter the King hit him with. Jaune twisted in the air, vindictively pleased — despite the throbbing pain from his now bruised cheek — at the conduit holding a hand to his side and the red gleam of blood leaking from the wound. If he bled, then he was simply someone a former DUP agent or a person who was a psuedo-conduit made by Augustine, not even a mutational-conduit like Cardin had become as his latent abilities were boosted by being imbued with concrete abilities in Seattle.
Jaune held the advantage in power if that was the case, and power could be the difference between life and death in this case.
Jaune landed on his feet only for rocks to circle around him and slam into his legs locking him to the floor. Cursing yanked on his legs to try to pull himself free with brute force, struggling harder as the King managed to catch himself on a storm of concrete to slowly float to the ground. The King grunted in pain and Jaune caught wisps of brown hair poking out from the his shredded mask as the pseudo-conduit stumbled. The King formed a gauntlet of concrete and began to stalk towards the trapped blonde before he paused.
Both combatants stilled as the distant sound of sirens approached the area; conduit alarms had been ringing and both of them had been too caught up fighting to realize it.
Shit.
Jaune struggled to pull his feet loose before dissolving into light and moving away, giving his opponent the opening he needed. The King conduit hand covered the side of his face where Jaune's hits had shredded the mask and dived into the earth, swimming through it too fast for Jaune to follow as he escaped the alleyway.
Jaune reformed and scanned the alley, eyes narrowed as there was no sign of his assailant.
Just concrete spires and pulsing gouges of light that decorated the part of the city they had been fighting in.
"Who the hell was that? Why attack me?" He muttered.
He took one more scan of the alley an let out a small sigh as he quickly exited the alley, feeling his panic rise to the surface of his emotions as he ran away, letting his powers keep his stamina bolstered to move faster. He needed to get home so he could break down in peace and quiet where no one could see him freak out. It also would be really bad to simply wait there until the authorities found him, they would probably arrest him and detain him for questioning. It was better he get out of here as fast as possible and leave the police to try to figure this out. He hoped no one would find out it was him later, he really didn't want to have to flee the city after all he managed to find here.
Yuma climbed out of the earth and tore the mask from his face, scowling at the gouge in his side that definitely would have bled him out if not for his powers managing to counter most of the blood loss. He scowled at the shredded armor-weave that he had been given by Jonathan the edges were singed and smoking from the power that it had been torn by. Gritting his teeth he shoved the fabric against his wound, stemming more of the blood leaking from it. He now knew why Jonathan wanted him to fight Jaune, the kid being a natural conduit made it infinitely harder to kill him. It was probably a good thing the police had noticed their little fight and were heading over to break it up.
That was not going in his favor as it turned out Jaune Arc was no pushover.
The kid had trained extensively with his powers and had no problems engaging him in a close up fight; for a guy who apparently never used his powers in public, he was no idiot when it came to them. Even so, the intel gained from this little spar would help out later when Jaune was going to die. The more information he gathered about Jaune's skill, the better he knew at what level he should throttle himself to start the fight.
Judging by the focus and proficiency that Jaune Arc fought with?
He'd better start out guns blazing.
Jaune locked the door behind him as he enter his apartment and slid down against the door, breathing raggedly as he tried to relax. He lifted his hands and stared at the trembling limbs, clenching them into fists as he forced his panic down.
He had fought with his powers.
Granted, he didn't really have a choice when fighting another conduit but what worried him wasn't just the fact a conduit was gunning for him.
It was the euphoria that filled him as he fought, his blood singing with the adrenaline and for the first time in a very long time Jaune felt utterly comfortable in his skin.
What was wrong with him?
He shouldn't be comfortable when fighting with his powers! It was wrong! The vindictive satisfaction of seeing his attacker bleeding now made him sick!
He was a freak.
A monster.
He shivered at the thought of that monstrosity that force Cole MacGrath to kill himself and almost all the other Conduits….
A Demon in the making.
Delsin Rowe or Cole MacGrath or the current public could spew whatever useless fucking platitudes they wanted, Jaune knew how fickle the public's views were. If they found him he would be imprisoned.
No.
Not again.
Oh please no.
The feeling of the days of light depravation to see how far he could last. The beatings to see how far his healing went. The perpetual fear and choking darkness. It was so dark. He couldn't ever sleep easy. They'd drag him out, hurt him, he needed to BREATH—
Jaune forced his head down between his knees as he tried to steady his breathing. He fumbled for his desk and pulled a lighter out of the drawer and flicked it on, his body drinking in the light the small flame. Slowly the pulse of the flame and the quiet of the room soothed his nerves and he was able to drag his thoughts away from his self-flagellating mania.
'Calm down. You won't go back. Calm down. You won't go back. Calm down. You won't go back.' He chanted in his head.
Slowly the tremors shaking his body stopped and he rubbed his face, he needed to sleep, just curl up and pretend today didn't happen.
Then again, he was fairly confident he could stay anonymous if made sure to take some extra precautions. His wounds were already gone thanks to his high-speed healing and he could just spend some time sucking the lights in his bedroom to accelerate that if he needed to. He would sleep and be right as rain in the morning as long as he kept his lights on. Then, he would manipulate the light to bend around him when he was heading anywhere, keeping him practically invisible. It wasn't like he was on some sort of list they could consult and the only people who knew what his light-based attacks and after-effects looked like were his sisters, and they abandoned him.
Pyrrha had been halfway home when the conduit alarms began and she panicked as she realized that meant there were conduit-based violence occurring. She quickly took stock of her surroundings and breathed a sigh of relief as they didn't seem to be close by. She began sprinting to her apartment and let her powers itch under her skin in case she came across the conflict.
The party was officially a disaster as soon as the alarms blared, people suddenly screaming and shoving each other as they dashed for the exit. Yang didn't give a damn and made sure she found Blake first before hugging the girl and guiding her out of the way of the stampede of people running to get to their homes. Yang sprinted upstairs to open Ruby's room to panic as she didn't see her younger sister. When she heard Ruby cry out her name, Yang nearly cried in visceral relief at seeing Ruby hiding under her bed. Blake and Yang took Ruby down into the basement of the building, Taiyang Xaio-Long on their heels as he had been hurrying out of his room to check on his girls. They all huddled in the basement and hoped their house was not in the line of fire.
Ozpin scowled as the alarms rang.
No!
Not now!
Not here!
This had to be the worst possible timing!
He held onto his son who was curled up and shaking at the loud noise that snapped him awake into a nightmare.
Damn it all.
A man with a phone documented a small segment of the fight, which showed two conduits fighting.
Not high quality as it was too far to make out distinct features.
Streams of light and slabs of concrete smashing against each other in a struggle for dominance.
A man in a mask attacking a blond who desperately fought back, defending and giving ground until he realized where he would be going.
The video was seized and put on the news to help identify the two.
A sister of several siblings was watching the news while lazing on her couch.
Her heart nearly stopped at someone displaying power like she had only ever seen one person show before. A blonde with a bright smile who she loved with all her heart and broke his heart without meaning to.
It had to be.
It couldn't not be after all this time.