Jaune suddenly woke up, no, he had suddenly re-awoke. The last he remembered was sending electricity to his brain, right now he could feel a slight buzz going through his entire body, almost as if everything within him was alive again.
Most people had left the ballroom, some were just lazily going about their business, and there were definitely a lot fewer students than when he had sent a shock to his brain. He felt a faint confusion well up inside his head, and then he noticed the scroll he was holding.
Jaune Arc is dead, we died, and then his ghost(you) possessed his corpse(me).
I don't have a lot of time, so I'll be quick.
The electricity was only one third of the required power to start up our brain.
We also needed oxygen and blood. We can make air, but we are low on blood.
I'm not energy efficient, the amount of work it takes to keep me active isn't worth it right now.
Try again later, when you have resources to spare.
I fiddled with our electricity to re-active most of our systems, it should keep your thinking from devolving.
You've been doing well with our powers, hopefully I managed to leave behind some thoughts about them.
But there is something important you have to understand.
You are my Soul.
You can get depleted if you aren't careful, and then my corpse will rot away.
Now, go become a Huntsmen.
It's our REASON.
(P.S. delete this note.)
With three taps of his fingers, the message left behind by his resurrected corpse was gone. Jaune sat in silence, his brain now working enough to trouble him.
Oh well, let's just… what the fuck is all this shit?
He tried to put everything behind himself, but his brain was twisting with revulsion and shock. He couldn't believe the last few days he had gone through. He wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear, mental stress began piling up until it suddenly collapsed away. He blinked and he felt nothing.
I turned them off, my emotions.
Jaune could barely remember from the lingering thoughts of his corpse, but apparently his power to control his senses was actually just him intuitively fiddling with his brain. He could also remember some other thoughts about his powers, but he didn't do anything with that knowledge, he felt no need to. He didn't feel anything.
I can't be a Huntsmen like that.
And his emotions turned back on, he needed to feel his motivation, or else he would wonder why he would keep going. He spent a few more minutes, just thinking and trying to get his mind back in order, then he stood up. Although he was dealing with a lot, what really mattered was becoming a Huntsmen, he needed to get ready for Beacon's Initiation.
When he reached the locker rooms, he checked out his appearance in a mirror. His skin now had a healthy flush to it, his chest moved with each breath (even though it leaked air), and he blinked automatically, he looked alive. Just as he finished changing clothes, he fastened all his armor to his body, but then his hand froze when he reached for his sword.
A portion of his Soul had entered Yang, and it remained conscious. A portion of his Soul was inside his sword, and it had been there since he died a few days ago. Thankfully, with his brain in working condition, he had an idea. Jaune separated a part of his Soul and pushed it into the sword, his hope was that they would sync up and then when he checked in on the Soul, it wouldn't be troubled.
Finally with everything ready, he closed his locker and was about to leave when someone caught his sight and he heard what they said.
Snow Angel, real name: unknown, was talking about teams. This was new information for him, he didn't know that there would be teams. Deciding he should probably learn more about this topic, he walked towards Snow Angel and the person she was talking to.
Red, green, bronze, gold, fierce, happy, but I should probably focus more on having a conversation than coming up with a nickname.
"Well, that sounds grand!"
"Great!" Snow Angel spun around, her face scrunched up something cute and her eyes appeared unfocused. Her small hands were raised in victory or something, then she caught sight of the boy approaching her.
Jaune met her gaze and smiled, then when he was an arms reach of her. "Say, I heard something about teams!"
Snow Angel stood up straight, tilted her head at an angle, and her cold blue eyes stared down at him even though she was smaller than him.
Fucking Gods! How can one girl be so fucking cute! No wait fuck- what fuck- what fuck!
Jaune's face twitched as his brain spasmed. Two points near the center of his brain were quickly fried and healed, and so were two points in an area around the bottom of his ribcage. For just a second his brain remembered that she was the type of girl he preferred, and then it went haywire trying to express that within his body at a causal level.
Unfortunately it miscalculated how his body functioned now, and chemicals flooded his system, the new substances directly affected how everything else was working. Things were supposed to change but his brain couldn't remember how to do that and so, to prevent any further damage, it self-destructed the failing parts of his body.
He saw her mouth move and sounds entered his ears but the meaning behind her words couldn't be deciphered at the moment, not that he particularly cared about that right now, he smiled. "You're cute. Do you want to team up?" All he knew right now was that she was cute and she had asked someone if they wanted to team up.
Memories wouldn't form, sights and sounds couldn't be processed. Snow Angel just continued to be cute, and then she left. With her presence gone, his brain was able to focus on repairing itself. By the time his thoughts and feelings could be thought and felt, he could also feel the cold metal of a locker. In a rehash of last night, he was pinned against a locker. This time he was being held in by his arm behind his back, and another hand was squeezing his skull against the metal.
"Do you believe in following your instincts?" A kind voice asked him.
Jaune could see red and gold in the corners of his eyes. His body was also telling his brain that his bones in his arm were broken and his skull was cracking. He supposed panic was the appropriate emotion, but his brain was hesitant to produce chemicals, so it just told him what he felt. "Uh, I guess." He answered.
"So do I. As much as I say that I got where I am by hard work and determination, and as much as I believe in Luck and Destiny, I also believe in my instincts." The red haired girl dressed in gold said, her voice still kind but beneath it all was cold unfeeling steel. "Every day I thank my parents and the Gods for the body and the brain I was blessed with, because I know that without those two I wouldn't have gone as far as where I am right now, nor as fast as I did."
"Okay?" Jaune couldn't really understand where she was coming from, and his brain was working fine right now. He started to wonder what had happened since his brain screwed up.
"And yet right now I'm not listening to my instincts, even though this is the loudest and clearest command, I haven't killed you yet." Her voice was laced with confusion. "Why? Why is everything within me, down to my soul, telling me that you must die? If I'm going to stain my hands with blood I want my conscience to be clean, so tell me, who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Jaune Arc, nice to meet you." He blinked. "Or not nice I guess."
"Jaune!" She nearly screamed, and then she released him. "Oh, I'm sorry!" All the steel in her voice was gone.
Jaune, now free, turned around and looked at the odd girl. "So, what's up? Did you just have the sudden urge to kill me or something?" He did wonder why she had said his name as if she recognized him, but he figured that his brain had just mislabeled the emotion in her voice.
"Sorry!" Her face had gone bright red, almost matching her hair. "It was nothing! Really!" Her voice was smooth and sweet, similar to honey and the like. "Just forget all about it!" A wide smile and begging green eyes.
"Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, I'm Jaune Arc." He extended the arm she had broken, the bones were all fixed now, to her.
"It is nice to meet you for the first time too." She shook his hand.
"How about your name? I think I should know it, you did just pin me to a locker." If this was going to be a common thing for him, he at least wanted to be aware of who was doing the pinning.
A smile, one less wide but somehow it contained more emotion, blossomed on her face. "I am Pyrrha Nikos, and I hope we get along from now on."
"Cool, just don't try to kill me, or if you do, don't make it painful. And if you could, try waiting until after I become a Huntsmen." Jaune smiled. "Oh, and good luck out there today."
Jaune stood as the last person in a row of students, all of which were standing on iron platforms near the edge of a cliff, over looking a large forest.
Next to him was Ruby who, aside from appearing nervous, was watching her sister with concern. Her sister, Yang, was glaring at him with red eyes, and four people from her were Pyrrha Nikos and Snow Angel. Whereas Pyrrha had been watching him, fondly and like a hawk, Snow Angel was glaring at him like she was about to dive down and peck out his tongue.
The Green Suit Man was giving a speech, with Glynda Goodwitch by his side, but Jaune wasn't paying him any attention. He had still heard something about teams and teammates, something about eye contact and partners, something about the northern end of the forest, an abandoned temple, and some relics.
Perhaps he should've been paying some attention, but the incident in the locker room had eaten up most of his brain power for the day, but now he could fix it while he was awake instead of resetting it when he slept, and he had an Initiation to do, so he was focusing his entire being on repairing his thought process and decision making skills.
Jaune blinked as he was shaken from his concentration, he had been flung into the sky. He was soaring above a green forest that perhaps in another life might've killed him, but he was dead now. Using his Levitation ability he slipped free from gravity's grip, he was even able to freely use all the momentum he had, and the only thing dragging him down was his clothes and shield.
Not for long though, from his memories gained from a blonde girl, he knew that his Aura could be conducted into objects. So he extended his Soul from his body and encased the fabrics and metals that were weighing him down.
And gracefully, like a feather carried by a gentle breeze, Jaune Arc landed in the forest unscathed.
And like a rock thrown by a tornado, or like a bullet fired from a gun, Pyrrha Nikos bursted through low branches and high bushes. Her feet dug into the ground as she came to a sudden stop, her emerald eyes intensely scanned her surroundings, and her muscles resembled metal by how taut they were pulled, she looked like a predator prepared to pounce on her prey.
Then she saw Jaune, her eyes landed on him and then her stare shot straight into his eyes. All tension evaporated from her form. "Oh my, Jaune? Is that you?" She giggled lightly. "Just what are the odds of us meeting like this?" As she spoke her hands were busy placing her weapons on her back, she had a spear and a shield, red blood dripped from both. "However, I am glad that you were the first person I met."
Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Honestly sorry about today's chapter, my brain just wouldn't write today.
Currently I'm super low on motivation and I've been forcing myself to get out at least one chapter a day for any of my stories.
I almost broke that streak today, my mind was telling me that it didn't matter, but I pushed through.
Sadly, I'm pretty sure the quality of this chapter still suffered because of it.
Hopefully, when I feel better I could edit this chapter to be better.