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-Y.A.R.N.
Blake cracked her eyes open after realizing she wasn't dead and arms were holding her gently in a was no doubt a protective manner.
Light.
Streams of light.
They weaved through the air like ephemeral snakes.
Beautiful as the northern lights, they had formed a wall just beyond the boundaries of the cafe, dust flying the barrage of rocks as they shattered against the barrier.
The light was streaming from one place.
All of it pouring out of Jaune's hand.
Blake eyes widened fully and she stared at Jaune as he let out his power in true, and she wondered how she could've never seen it. Only when she looked at his face did she flinch at the fury that made Jaune's eyes blaze. His body pulsed with light like a heartbeat, every pulse brighter and brighter, less and less restrained. Jaune carefully settled her onto her floor and carefully looked over her for any injuries. He stood up and walked forwards, saying nothing as he casually opened the door and made to leave before pausing. He turned to Blake and his form was suddenly alit with white light shrouding him, his expressive blue eyes now pits of blue light.
"Blake." He murmured, "If you don't want so see a murder, I'd suggest you go back to your room, lock the door, and don't follow."
He closed the door behind him as he face the conduit.
Yuma blinked as the barrage he had conjured impacted the wall of light and Jaune walked out from behind it, body glowing so brightly it almost hurt to look at. So that was it, no wonder he hadn't seen anything like that except for the neon girl. The boy was pulling in any and all light around him and letting it power him up. How annoying, that meant he had a near limitless supply of fuel. Yuma cracked his neck and sneered at the conduit who stopped halfway across the street. Yuma raised his hands, pulling more concrete from the ground and getting ready to launch it at the Arc. He choked as Jaune seared through the air to wrap a hand around his face.
Too fast.
"No more." Jaune growled, body blazing, "I will tolerate no more."
A blast erupted from Jaune's hand and sent Yuma flying, the psuedo-conduit face streaming light as he grimaced from the pain. Flipping to right himself in the air, Yuma scowled as he realized Jaune wasn't holding back before letting himself sink into the ground as he landed. Jaune dissolved into a storm of light to follow, a blast of light missing Yuma by inches as he was too slow to tag him. Jaune skidded to a stop and launched himself into the air as Yuma lanced out of the earth behind the blond, a fist covered in rock swinging. Jaune used his thrusters to propel himself downwards and bodily slam into Yuma, crushing the mercenary into the ground with pained grunt. Jaune grabbed his shoulder and forcibly flipped him onto his back before clenching his fist and clocking Yuma across the jaw with a glowing fist.
"I wanted peace!" Jaune howled in rage, launching another punch into Yuma's jaw, "I wanted to live a normal life!"
It's all he ever wanted.
He had so desperately craved it, and after things had finally been out in the open — he might able to live without having to worry with his secret shared — this bastard had come and ruined it all.
"You don't to take it from me." Jaune roared, each blow form cracks in the street from the force of his blows, "I have lost too much to let anyone take it all away again!"
Yuma managed to regain his wits and threw his arms out, two spires of rock slamming into Jaune's stomach and sending him into the air before he could keep punching. Jaune gritted his teeth and drank in the light of setting sun to supercharge his healing while twisting in the air. He used his thrusters to hover and drift back as Yuma rose on a concrete slab and chased after him, stones trailing after him. Jaune landed on a rooftop and began running, leaping across rooftop and lobbing light grenades at the King following him. Yuma grunted at each one he deflected, having to pause to draw the shards around him to lessen the force.
Jaune wasn't just running to escape.
He was going to end this.
But not here.
Not in the city where people could get caught in the crossfire.
When Empire City was finally rebuilt, they had tried to recreate the previous layout of the city before The Beast destroyed everything and killed everyone. But they also added things to the city, new islands, more area for the inevitable influx of conduit individuals. It was no secret that many of the conduit that existed would want to come here, the home of the very first conduit who mattered, the one to stop The Beast and the plague at the cost of his life and hundreds, whose greatest quality wasn't his power but his humanity.
So he headed to the parks, made to bigger and much more spacious in case people wanted more space from the city (or at least as the cover story that the public accepted, but everyone knew that conduit based violence was to be pushed there if there was ever a conduit the CCS had to subdjucate). There were solid stone paths, but wide spacious areas with nothing but trees and empty space. That provided the main advantage as it meant that Jaune wasn't going to have to worry too heavily about collateral in the form of innocent people. If concrete was the problem that demolished the area, it would be an easy fix for the CCS in that case. Some of the 'Pawns' and 'Bishops' of the former DUP now turned their powers to more socially acceptable jobs. Craftsmen and helping in landscaping, it was actually a construction company made mainly of former DUP members who worked together to make the large parks and new islands that existed in Empire City. It became a momentous action that people who once used their powers to fight and harm had used their powers to make beautiful and impressive places for people to once again repopulate.
Either way, it was a perfect place to keep people from getting hurt, and concrete conduits had the ability to undo constructs made by other concrete conduits. With the CCS having taken many of those conduits in and having a presence in the city, they should be able to undo any damage this mercenary would undoubtedly cause.
Jaune rolled off the rooftops to avoid a large slab of concrete, latching a light grenade to it so it could detonate harmlessly in the sky. Jaune landed in the street in a crouch, not pausing and immediately dematerializing into a storm of light as Yuma tried to bring another slab of concrete down on his head. Jaune only materialized long enough to fire a blast at his pursuer, he needed to keep the battle moving to the park and keeping the pressure on him. He knew from his previous fight and what he just tried to do that any collateral damage or death was not this King's concern.
Jaune recalled Blake's face as she screamed in terror and he grit his teeth at the hot flash of fury that shot through him.
Just a little farther.
The Jaune would let himself lose control.
Blake was bundled up in her mother's and father's arms as they had practically smashed the door down after hearing the noise produced by Jaune's abilities. Ghira had only seen the tail end of Jaune leading Yuma away and quickly made to call the CCS before things got too far and Jaune got hurt. Jaune had managed to throw up a wall before the cafe had been touched — let alone destroyed — but he was now the situation had escalated far too much for the family of three to hope to stop anything. Ghira had stopped to let Blake calm down and get her breathing under control, and soon she had stopped shaking and became coherent he quickly handed her the phone. He had already informed the operator while Blake stuttered out the situation into the receiver before handing the phone back to her father.
The situation was anything but ideal, but the fact that Jaune's first thought was to protect Blake sparked relief through Kali's and Ghira's chest.
At least he had been right about Jaune's character.
The alarms blared loudly throughout the city.
The battle was back on.
People watched as the light conduit drew the concrete conduit closer to the park.
Videos were taken.
Breath was held.
The CCS was coming.
Yang was in hysterics when the report came from where the battle started, that was the exact location of Blake's cafe. She fought to go, but Taiyang was refusing while Summer cradled her daughters, trying to soothe them with reassurances. If were up to her, Yang would've just blazed through the streets to find Blake, but she knew that unleashing her powers would only cause more trouble. The last thing her family needed was her unleashing her powers in an attempt to help where it could be construed as a attempt to make things escalate.
Blake was fine and safe. She was smart and knew better than to get tangled up in something like that. Blake would never willingly put herself in danger. She would be in her room or have rushed into the basement. She was alive and completely unharmed.
All the soothing statements spun in her Yang's head.
Yang knew that that didn't mean crap.
Being and smart and careful meant nothing when two conduits fought; the damage caused in those sorts of fights were massive. Even back when Cole McGrath fought against the Reapers or when Delsin Rowe clashed against the DUP, it was catastrophic for the innocents caught in the crossfire. They had no way to defend themselves when powers were thrown around, they could only find a place to hunker down and hope they didn't die.
Yang could only beg any god that would listen that her pseudo-sister was not in any danger.
Jaune formed a barrier as shower of concrete pushed him back, causing his feet to skid along the ground. Jaune dissipated into light as Yuma lunged with a spire of concrete trailing his hand and stabbing itself into the earth where Jaune had been standing. Jaune reformed at the edge of the park and used his thrusters to launch himself into the air before nailing Yuma with a blast of light. Yuma stumbled to the side a couple of steps, scowled at Jaune in fury before he immediately sprinted in Jaune's direction, concrete swirling around his legs to increase his speed as he rose into the air to follow.
Perfect.
Jaune forced down a feral smile, 'That's right asshole. Follow me to really get to see the light-show.'
Jaune backpedaled the moment he landed, twisting through two rows of spinning concrete blades that were launched at him. He landed and used the moment to roll to his feet, a burst of light dissipating another shower of concrete. Jaune fired several shots into air as Yuma swerved though the sky around him, before returning fire. Jaune was knocked back deeper into the park before dissolving before he hit the ground and reforming on his feet. Jaune and Yuma stared each other down, Yuma still in the air with a storm of concrete shrouding his lower half as he stared down at Jaune.
"You might as well roll over and die." Yuma taunted, "I won't stop till you're dead. the longer you live the more people you put in my line of fire. I don't think anyone will really mind if I kill a few random civilians. Shame though, that girl you got's pretty hot, maybe she'll be interested in a round or two?"
Jaune's form flickered.
Light seared through the air until a foot crashed into his shoulder and exploded, hurtling him through his own concrete storm into the ground. He landed with a cry of pain and felt the air rush violently out of his lungs as a two knees ground into his ribs. Before he could draw a breath a hand gripped his wrist and swung him into the air to throw him aside. He crashed and rolled onto his hands and knees, throwing himself aside as a rocket of light detonated where he landed. He formed to gauntlets of rock as he got to his feet, eyeing Jaune who features were blank and body pulsed erratically.
"What?" He coughed, "Touched a nerve? Don't like the idea of her with me, can't say I'd blame you. Her hooking up with your murder-hrk?!"
Jaune Arc fist buried itself in Yuma's stomach and his other hand dug his fingers into his neck, gripping hard enough to almost enough to rip his trachea out. Yuma managed to keep his focus and blasted Jaune in the face which sent the Arc sprawling as Yuma collapsed to the floor; rubbing his throat as he tried to keep his stomach contents from forcing it's way out. Where the hell was he getting this power; he wasn't anything like this when they clashed before!
Jaune simply dissolved from his prone position and reformed standing up, eyes cold.
"You realize I am going to kill you." Jaune said hands forming a pulsing light blade; his sentence wasn't intended as a question but a statement, "And I am done hearing you boast about how you intend to kill me. Maybe if you were only going after me I wouldn't go so far, but you decided to go after some people I can't let you touch. You can curse me out all you want, people who talk like that are like loud dogs. They always bark because they can't bite worth a damn. But you threatened those who I care about? You died the moment you finished your threat. This? This is just me enjoying the fact that I can draw it out."
Yuma eyes widened and raised his gauntlets just the Jaune seared forward to slash his blade against them.
"And for the record?" Jaune growled as the sparks and bits of rubble flew from their powers grinding against each other, "Blake has much better tastes than an arrogant jackass like you."
Seven sisters began running for the nearest shelters as the alarms blared throughout the city, none of them strangers to the occasional violent conduit having to be subdued. It was inevitable that every now and then some conduit got it into their head that they should rule this city and eventually the country. In pro-conduit city, plenty of the conduits were less than keen on throwing their power around and upsetting the status-quo that Delsin Rowe had established. It was ironic, but most of those type of people came from negative stigma against conduits and moved to placed that accepted them and tried to convince others to their ideas. It was stupid to offer something more to people who were satisfied with the way things already were, but most of the broken only found it frustrating that no one felt the same way and they would explode.
Sometimes very literally.
They slowed for a moment as they all tried to figure out the best way to go from there, the last thing they wanted was to be caught up in that.
Only one saw as one of the fighting conduit's attacks soared into the sky.
Light.
Several streams of light she had only ever seen one person use.
"Jaune…" Saphron breathed.
She came to a stop and and was running towards it before she could stop herself, ignoring her sister's shouts of protest.
It was him.
It was Jaune.
She had to be there.
A gauntlet smashed into Jaune's stomach as his blade of light bit into Yuma's shoulder, causing both of them to cry out in pain at the exchanged blows. Jaune tumbled back as his blade violently wrenched out of Yuma's shoulder, causing the man to howl in pain as his hand came up to cover his wound. Jaune coughed as rolled to his hands and knees, gingerly feeling around his stomach at the bruises that now decorated it; he knew that he'd have to just soak in light for a while to fully heal after this. The sun had already gone down and the moon and stars were already sparkling in the sky as he drank in their light; while Jaune would've preferred the sun out, the moon still gave him what he needed to finish this. He glared as he slowly got to his feet, vindictive pleasure sparking though him at the red spreading from the man's shoulder and running over his fingers. Yuma panted harshly and paused to generate some concrete to cover the wound, wincing as the rocks ground shut over his shoulder like jagged shoulder armor.
"You son of a bitch!" He snarled, trying to rotate his shoulder only to find it unable to move, "I am going to not stop at killing you! If you just let yourself die like a good little monster, then I would've left it at that! Now I have a family of three to visit once I am done here, and don't worry. I'll make sure that it's drawn out and your fault!"
Jaune scowled, "Just keep digging asshole. I'll bury you so deep that even Augustine wouldn't have been able to go even after a hundred years of practice."
Yuma used the concrete to force it to move and let out pained gasps as he shakily raised his arm, concrete sprouting and grafting into his skin in order to keep using his mangled limb. Jaune frowned and almost shook his head, whoever this conduit was, he was only going to damage his arm further at this rate. The blow in Yuma's shoulder was a much more dangerous hit than any of the bruises and bumps he had been giving Jaune as a gimp arm would quite literally shave off a quarter of his abilities.
This fight had already damaged the park enough as spires of concrete and wisps of light ran through the impromptu battleground. Neither conduit was holding back and it definitely showed through the twisting of the landscape, it would take some time before the park would even be traversable to anyone without powers. The CCS would have to work day and night to make any decent headway in making it presentable again. And as much as Jaune wanted to drag this out, he was done fighting with whoever this guy was; the CCS were probably already close and he knew that if this fight kept going, he would be imprisoned.
That could never be allowed.
Not again.
Jaune lunged and gripped Yuma's arm and yanked.
Hard.
Yuma screamed as Jaune used all his strength to flip him on the hard ground using his bleeding shoulder. Before Yuma could blink the haze of tears and pain from his face, Jaune was on him, fists glowing. Jaune began to hammer him into the ground, fists blurring into streams of light as he pummeled Yuma deeper and deeper into the earth. Jaune's fury and fear took over, each blow letting out more and more of the years of bottled up rage and pain out for the world to see. Yuma tried to raise his arms only for one of them to respond, letting Jaune deliver a right hook into his face followed by a left smashing into his chin knocking him senseless and snapping his concentration. His armor-weave mask was completely sheared off to show his face and the various bruises and blood painting his features.
Jaune grit his teeth and kept punching, uncaring of the blood beginning to stain his hands and how Yuma's attempts to push him off became weaker and weaker.
Jaune let himself lose control.
Saphron made it to the park with her family on her heels and stopped to catch her breath, panting like she had run a mile.
Maybe she had, she didn't care.
Her head snapped up and she gasped at the sight of the devastation the park had become, and knowing that Jaune was a part of it. There was an almost ethereal feel with the light dancing around spires that jutted out of the ground.
And at the middle was her little brother, standing over a broken figure.
He had grown taller since she had last seen him, but everything was still the same.
He was still her little brother.
Jaune formed a blade of light, reversed it into an icepick grip, placed it in both hands, and began raising it over his head.
Saphron wouldn't watch her brother betray himself.
Jaune raised his light blade over his head.
One last strike and Jaune would kill him.
He wouldn't have to worry about him hurting Blake or any of the family he had found.
But he would be a killer.
And that would cost him something he would never be able to reclaim.
He didn't have to kill him.
But if he didn't he would let everyone know who he was.
He had to do this.
He had to.
Jaune steeled himself and plunged the blade down.
"Jaune, NO!" A achingly familiar voice screamed.
Jaune froze, his blade a millimeter from the conduit's chest as ice filled his veins.
He slowly turned to see someone he hadn't seen in years.
It couldn't be.
"S…Saphron?" He whispered.