When I started this story, I expected more random people's dreams to show up. That happened at the beginning, but not that the plot is coming along, the next person is usually related to what's been happening. I'm pretty sure everyone is going to figure out why the person in his dream gets targeted. Jaune's going to finally take the initiative. As for Cinder's plans with the Nightmare Grimm, nothing yet. We got to wait for them to attach to poor unsuspecting people. Creating fun and entertaining dreams though is the best part of this story. I really enjoy it so I update it frequently.
Special thanks to Neoshadows for Betaing.
If you continue to enjoy my stories, feel free to check out my p a treon.
P a treon . com (Slash) Darkbetrayer
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
"You guys were robbed last night?" Ruby gasped at breakfast after Jaune's team joined hers. Nora had wasted no time telling them about the situation yesterday after class.
"Yeah, some jerk went into our room and messed everything up!" Nora complained, stabbing her pancakes forcefully with a fork as if they had been the perpetrators. "We had to clean everything up! Can you believe it? We didn't even make the mess!"
"Goodwitch helped with most of it." Ren reminded her then turned back toward Team RWBY. "As far as we could tell, nothing was taken. Someone came in and wrecked up the place as if they were looking for something."
"And nothing personal was taken." Pyrrha reiterated with a faint blush.
"Beff it was Carbin," Yang said through a mouthful of food.
"It does sound like something juvenile he would do. Especially after Pyrrha defeated his entire team by herself." Weiss admitted thoughtfully. Pyrrha tried not to look too pleased at that. "But we can't blame him without proof."
"Pretty much what we talked about." Jaune agreed, yawning. "And I don't think we have anything someone would want to steal. I can't think of anything valuable any of us would keep in our room. You know, other than personal items. Even then, I'd doubt anyone would bust in for the sole desire of snatching one of my comic's; all my mint condition variant copies were left back home. "
"Blake might trash your room if she thinks you stole one of her books. Or just to throw out your comics." Yang pointed out reasonably.
"At least I don't wake everyone up in the middle of the night with my screaming." Blake countered, eyes narrowing.
"Shhhhhh!" Yang waved her hands.
"What happened?" Pyrrha asked, sounding worried.
"Nothing!" Yang stated firmly.
"She shouted something about Mom and…" Ruby started to say and Yang covered her mouth with her hands.
"I will tell them what age you last wet the bed, sis." The older girl threatened and Ruby went limp as she surrendered with a whimper.
"It's enough that she shouted loud enough to make Blake and Ruby fall out of bed," Weiss explained, eyes on Jaune, making the boy gulp.
While Weiss may not have known the details, she knew that Jaune saw Yang's dream and possibly influenced it in a way to lead to that outcome. What the outcome was she didn't know. It was just what Yang said involving Jaune and her mom was… concerning to some degree.
After breakfast, Jaune found himself cornered by Weiss.
"Hey," Jaune greeted her. "Did you get a chance to review it?"
"No," Weiss admitted. "I can't risk reading it with the others around in case they see it. So I've only just started." She shook her head and then stared at him. "I want to talk about what happened in Yang's dream."
"I already told you, I won't reveal what I saw in someone's dream." The boy's voice was firm. "Especially Yang's. It was very private and dealt with personal issues. Much like yours. If Yang wants to tell you, she can. We know the dreams are more vivid when I enter them so she'll be able to recall it."
"When Yang wakes up in the middle of the night and yells, 'You can't have Jaune, Mom!' it seems to have something to do with you." Weiss crossed her arms, eyes lidded with suspicion and ire. "Do you understand how troubling that sounds to me when I know your Semblance? A semblance a teenage boy raging with hormones can use whenever he desires? Might I add that Yang was blushing madly as well?"
Jaune gulped and raised his hands to protest his innocence.
In his defense, he still had no idea why the dream took such a weird turn. Idly, his thoughts had turned such a scenario into the kind of scenes one would find between a teenager like himself, a hot girl with an impressive bust, and her non-blood related and equally hot and mature mother, on a certain adult website. Meeting Yang's gaze was very difficult to do after that.
"Nothing like that happened," He replied quickly. Going by the way Weiss lifted a fine brow in doubt, Yang's behavior, and the fact something clearly had happened to garner such a response. Knowing it wouldn't be so simple to push it under the rug, he supposed it would have to reveal some of what had gone down last night.
"Fine, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let you in on the very end of the dream. I helped Yang out of a dark spot in her nightmare, like I did with you, and her mom's ghost showed up and made a joke about me looking like Yang's dad. Being blonde and tall I guess."
"Oh… that sounds like something Yang would imagine." Weiss looked a little embarrassed. "I'm… sorry. After everything that happened between us, and you telling me all this… I should trust you more."
"It's not like I don't understand," Jaune assured her. "But can you see where I'm coming from now? That's why I'm afraid to tell anyone. Misunderstandings are going to occur. Doesn't matter if some people would say that they know I'd never do anything with such an invasive power. It's the small nagging thoughts that will get in the way and color me with suspicion. Just like now" A sigh escaped him. "I'm glad I have someone to talk to about this though. Even if it's just a little."
Weiss eyed him and he thought he saw what looked like sympathy in her gaze.
"I'll try to investigate more after classes today." The heiress promised and then her face relaxed. " At least it's good to know such a Semblance is in capable hands. Having morals and ethics to avoid abusing it is quite rare. It might not be the most powerful of Semblances, but it has the potential to cause a lot of problems in the wrong hands. Admittedly…I wasn't as confident to think you wouldn't abuse your ability for your own desires. Especially with your past behavior."
Jaune had the decency to show some shame. So, maybe it wasn't a good idea to be so persistent in trying to get a girl to notice him. Too much confidence was, in fact, a bad thing.
"Lately though, you've proven the strength of your character is more than what I had originally perceived. You have indeed grown since the start of the semester began. Compared to the buffoon I first met, who couldn't take no for an answer, I feel far more assured of such an ability is in your hands."
"Thanks, Weiss." Jaune instantly felt better. "That means a lot."
Weiss gave him a small smile and left, leaving Jaune to think about what was said. He still wasn't sure why the dreams would sometimes give him a tantalizing show or embarrass the dreamer. Velvet had a wardrobe malfunction and Yang's had her mom compliment him. At the time, he figured it was just because the dreaming subconscious was thanking him for helping his friends out from a bad experience. Based on what Weiss said Yang had blurted out last night, was it possible she might have had feelings for him?
Being a teenage boy, that thought of course crossed his mind. Yang was an incredibly attractive girl with a bright personality. Always outgoing and joking around. Teasing, fun-loving, yet also warm and kind. Being one of the strongest in their class, second only to the likes of Pyrrha, she was like a blazing sun. But seeing that she had her own fears, an entirely different side of her, made her feel more human to him. At least more approachable. If she ever asked him out, Jaune would be hard-pressed to say no.
At the same time, he felt uneasy, as it was possible his dream invasion might have influenced her feelings.
"Jaune, are you okay?"
A familiar voice broke the boy out of his stupor. He had been standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall for a couple of minutes, thinking about everything. That strange behavior of course would attract attention when one of his friends passed him.
"Oh, hey Blake." Jaune smiled at the raven-haired girl. "I was just thinking about a few things."
"Bad dreams again?" Blake asked, eyes twinkling knowingly.
"Sort of?" The temptation to tell her was strong. Blake had already helped him out a lot without knowing anything. "I guess it's more along the lines they caused me to think about a few… personal things."
"I've had dreams like that." Blake set her bag down and leaned against the wall next to him. "Old memories of things I've done dealing with a certain organization." She didn't have to say the White Fang, as Jaune already knew. Instances like this were what made his unique gift unfair to the hints of turmoil she was trying to conceal in her eyes. "They can be unpleasant, but also beneficial. Dreaming allows us to help process our past, our desires, and goals. Even nightmares allow us to face our fears and traumas. They aren't real in any physical sense, but they can affect us more than we care to admit. Not just mentally but even physically in some intense cases."
"Even funny nonsensical dreams?" Jaune chuckled. Did that mean those 'bonus' scenes he experienced were products of the dreamer's own imagination?
"Even then." Blake found her lips twitching. "For all you know, they stimulate your imagination and allow you to relax while sleeping to rest your mind and body more efficiently."
"Have you been reading those dream textbooks you've been recommending to me?"
"I might have skimmed them." The girl's eyes wrinkled mischievously.
"Try not to dream about me then," Jaune joked around. "From what Weiss told me, Yang did."
"That was unusual for her, but Yang considers you a friend, so it's not unheard of." Blake shrugged. "I've had dreams about your team too."
"Really?" Suddenly, he recalled Blake's dream, one of the first he ever entered, and the show she had between herself and Yang. "What was it about?"
"Oh, just us winning the Vytal Festival. You came in second."
Was that a smug grin peeking from Blake's lips? Was she being catty?
"Sounds like a dream." Jaune scoffed in good nature, "It's good to aim for the impossible."
Blake swatted his arm, which only made him laugh more. Such an interaction between the two opposite Huntsmen was becoming a rather common occurrence. Funny seeing as neither never interacted with another at the beginning of the school year.
She really had opened up a lot more to him since they started their book club. Or maybe it was when he first confided in her about some dream troubles; since that first 'Spark'. Somehow, in the span of just like two weeks, all of Team RWBY had become friendlier. Ruby was always his friend, but there had always been a wall around the others. Not the kind that seemed overbearing, overwhelming, intimidating, or treacherous to bring down.
No, it was more like the 'wall' was merely there.
It was a wall. It wasn't necessarily in his way. It was just there. One he could merely go around without any fuss to speak with Ruby. He was already on good terms with the WBY of RWBY, seeing nothing wrong with just being friendly acquaintances . There wasn't any need to do anything with the wall between them. No need to put in the effort to bring them all closer.
One 'spark', one 'step', had cracked those plain old walls. Leaving him to either leave the damage behind and ignore the cracks, or finally shatter the obstacles in his way.
His Semblance may have been a big pain at times, but it was because of those sparks that the distance between him and the likes of RWBY had shrunk to the point of labeling them as actual friends, not mere acquaintances.
But what would Yang and Blake say when they knew he had seen their innermost secrets? That he had cheated to close that distance instead of putting in the actual real world work? Compared to Weiss, who had some issues with her father, Yang's parentification issues couldn't be just solved with a cathartic parent freezing. Blake didn't have a bad dream when Jaune entered, but her embarrassment of knowing Jaune had seen her naked with Yang in that was another story.
He wasn't sure if Blake actually had feelings for her partner like that or if it was just an erotic dream.
Either way, it wouldn't be a great idea to let either one know he had seen such intimate details.
"We should head to class," Blake pointed out. "Unless you plan on skipping?"
"No, my grades aren't good enough to skip even Port's class." Jaune admitted, pushing himself off the wall. "Think Weiss will let me copy her homework?"
"In your dreams."
"Wow, you've been channeling the spirit of a comedian lately. Are you really Blake or an imposter?" The well-deserved punch against his shoulder informed him that Blake was secretly becoming Yang or she was a clone.
Though he was smart enough not to say it out loud.
Jaune reached down to grab his backpack when his hand swiped through air instead. Looking down, Jaune frowned as he saw his bag was gone. Spinning around and looking back and forth down the empty hallway, there was no sign of his bag. It couldn't have just gotten up and walked away. Blake raised an eyebrow, as Jaune began to panic.
"What's wrong?" She asked, noticing his strange behavior.
"My bag's gone." Jaune answered, still looking up and down the hallway. "It was right by me!"
"I remember seeing it when I approached you." Blake frowned, as she definitely stepped around it to avoid tripping. Her eyes scanned the hallway too. "No one else passed us since I arrived."
"What the heck happened then?" Jaune took a couple of steps forward into the middle of the hallway.
"Hmm," Blake was also confused and a little curious herself. Bags couldn't just disappear on their own and no one else showed up since she arrived, so what could have happened? It was like a mystery novel and the girl couldn't resist. Her bow then twitched as she heard something with her sensitive hearing.
It sounded like paper being turned.
A sound Blake wouldn't mistake. It actually helped that the hallway was empty, as most students were in the classroom. Even sensitive hearing from an extra set of ears could only do so much. Something was there, near the wall, going through a book. But why couldn't she see it? Eyes narrowing, Blake raised a finger to her lip as she faced Jaune. The boy realized she was serious and went quiet. Slowly, Blake approached the noise, zooming in on it as her bow twitched more.
"Who's there?!" Blake suddenly shouted.
Bang!
Something hit the wall and Blake felt a foot collide in her stomach with enough force to lift her off the ground. Luckily, Jaune was right behind her and caught the girl as she was sent flying, even if he had no idea what happened. That wasn't the worst of it though. There was a sharp rap against the back of his leg causing him to stumble like someone stuck out their leg the moment he stepped back. A small light went off a second before extinguishing, causing the boy to fall backwards. Jaune hit the wall on the other side of the hallway, still clutching Blake in his arms. Grimacing, Jaune opened his eyes and saw his backpack. Sprawled on the floor, with his class books and notebooks scattered about. The sound of footprints could be heard heading off into the distance from a small figure, but neither Jaune nor Blake got a good look.
"Agh…." Blake groaned. The surprise attack hit her with her Aura down and she was feeling like she was about to throw up.
Seriously. The attacker was well-trained enough to strike and launch hits before they could even subconsciously will their Aura up.
"What hit me…?"
"A ghost!?" Jaune rasped, a little groggy himself, as he stood up and helped Blake to her feet. His arm was embracing her waist to hold her up as she recovered from the blow to the gut.
"Don't be silly, it had to be someone with an invisibility Semblance." Blake huffed, glaring up at him before something clicked in her mind. "You said this morning someone broke into your room. Suddenly, your bag disappears into thin air and we're attacked? Wouldn't that make whoever assaulted us the perpetrator? They have to be looking for something you have."
"But I don't have anything valuable!" Jaune protested, flexing one leg. "Unless they want comic books, some of those first editions are pretty expensive, but I only have a limited number I did take with me to Beacon, and they could have stolen those already. We keep our weapons in the lockers and my sword is hardly as impressive as anyone else's. Not even a relic like Crocea Mors is worth more than the fancy mech weapons everyone else has!"
"Hmm, true…" Blake leaned against his arm in contemplation, still feeling the powerful blow even as Aura worked on the damage. "This doesn't seem like a prank. They want something of yours and went for your bag when they couldn't find it in your room. It's possible this won't be the last time either."
"So am I going to have to keep an eye out for the rest of my life until they steal whatever they are looking for?" Jaune gaped at her and Blake looked up at him, patting his cheek.
"Just tell Pyrrha and she'll watch out for you."
"Are you enjoying this?"
"No, I just want her to beat up whoever kicked me." Blake had a surprisingly vengeful side. Who knew? "Now, mind letting me go? It's not that cold out."
Jaune looked down at his arm still wrapped around her waist. Instantly, he drew it back and started stammering as his face went red.
"I-It was an accident…I d-didn't mean… sorry!"
"That's enough." Blake flicked him on the forehead. "You were only helping me. Thanks for the catch by the way. I appreciated it. Now, let's get your stuff picked up, so you can report this to Goodwitch."
Jaune was really grateful she was willing to help, even with their constant arguments about books. Kneeling down, he and Blake started closing his books and gathering his school supplies.
Little did either of them know, someone had seen their little intimate moment.
Ruby had come out to check what was keeping Blake and didn't see her outside the classroom. Since the bell was about to ring, as the team leader, the young girl made it her mission to get her teammate to class on time. Weiss actually supported this which only made Ruby more energetic. Not sure where Blake was, Ruby rushed down a couple of hallways, checking if Blake had run into trouble. It was then she rounded a corner and gasped, before ducking around the corner and peaking out.
Blake and Jaune were standing together, with Jaune's arm wrapped around Blake's waist, while Blake had her hand on his cheek. It looked like she was about to lean into a kiss. This was just like in some of the stories Ruby had seen on Blake's bookshelf. At least now she knew for sure those two were dating. This was solid evidence! Cementing proof!
Why else would they be alone in an empty hallway so close together?
Not wanting to disturb her teammates' private intimate moment, Ruby turned to head back to class.
'I have to tell Yang and Weiss they were right!'
Nora was constantly swiveling her head as Team JNPR headed back to their dorm that night. Baleful turquoise eyes scanned every corner, every crevice, every door, for shadows.
And legs.
Breakable legs.
"Nora…" Jaune sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'm not going to be attacked at Beacon. You don't have to be jumping at shadows."
"You were already attacked by a ghost!" Nora declared. "It was invisible and was going through your stuff. Next, it's going to attack you. Or possess you. Which means I need to get some Light Dust to crucify those spirits with a well-placed hammer knee cap."
"First, it wasn't a ghost," Ren stated both firmly and tiredly. "Jaune saw someone running. It was most likely an invisibility or camouflage Semblance. If it was something like telekinesis, they could have pulled his bag from a distance. Secondly, why do you think they are going to attack Jaune? It seems they prefer stealth over the direct approach. If they meant for direct confrontation, there would have been no need for such a stealth-based semblance. Had they not been caught by Blake, there wouldn't have been any violence."
"Well, they failed at taking what they want from our Fearless Leader, so it makes sense the next step is for them to kidnap him and torture the information out of him." Nora explained simply. "And there's NO way we're going to let that happen!"
"Here, here." Pyrrha cheered, playing along with Nora. None of the others really believed someone was going to kidnap Jaune. Pyrrha might also have been a little happy it wasn't her fault someone trashed their room, not that she was happy Jaune was the target.
"Don't worry," Jaune assured Nora. "I can hide behind you and Pyrrha if I'm attacked."
"No one will get through us." Nora flexed her arms.
"Indeed, but I agree with Ren that things won't reach that point." Pyrrha partially agreed with a small nod. "I think we should focus on what Professor Goodwitch said about trying to figure out what they are after."
"But I told you already, I don't have anything!" Jaune threw his hands up into the air before unlocking the door to their room. At least this time everything was as they left it. He walked over to his desk and opened a drawer. "All my comics are here and they are my most valuable possession. The highest-priced one here is probably, I don't know, worth about 70 Lien. I don't think it's valuable enough to garner such a response."
"Unless you ask Blake." Nora joked, unable to stop herself from giggling.
"She knows she's wrong and will one day admit it." The boy replied confidently.
"Don't worry, Jaune." Pyrrha patted his shoulder. "We'll figure out who's after you and then maybe we'll know why."
"At least we know it's not Cardin." Ren stated, sitting down on the bed. "Stealth is hardly his forte. He may be a bully, but even he has limits. Whoever broke into our dorm is not afraid of Goodwitch, or at the least, figured they can escape being caught. They're also able to conceal their presence and strike silently. Again, direct combat wasn't on their mind, preferring discretion above all. If they're wise, they'll continue to avoid such violent methods. Especially if they spy Nora playing gatekeeper." He added that last bit in amusement.
"If they aren't afraid of her, they are probably from one of the other schools." Jaune plopped down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. "But if they're willing to go this far against me? Do they have a grudge? Seriously, what do they want or have against me?"
No one had a good answer to his question and while they talked about it a bit more, they really couldn't come to a conclusion. Eventually, to take their minds off everything, they changed the topic to school and some training ideas. While Jaune wasn't nearly as strong as his teammates, he tried to come up with creative combinations they could try out while working with Pyrrha to improve his individual skills. After that, they played some video games before it got too late. Funny enough, it was the one thing Pyrrha was really bad at.
Like unbelievably bad that it was almost comical. Turns out hand-eye coordination didn't translate over to everything.
Easy mode was even hard for her. Not even tutorials were of any use. Instead of remaining calm in combat situations, she panicked and lost control of her character. Because of her crappy skills, she had to be cared for by the rest of her team when they were playing together. None of them minded. The point of video games was team bonding and having fun. Something they all enjoyed doing together.
Eventually, they had to shut it down, regardless of how much Nora complained and begged for five more minutes. If she fell asleep in class once more, detentions would follow. Jaune was tired too and was hoping for a good night's sleep.
Boy, was he wrong.
"Huh?" Jaune blinked as he found himself in a giant underground cavern. Way larger than anything remotely possible. An entire city could fit down here. In fact, one would say there was one. "Damn…"
A huge crystalline fortress sat in the middle of the cave. It could have been a temple of some kind made completely out of clear, slightly opaque quartz. Light entering from the small hole way above it beamed down and hit the tip of the structure as if the fortress sat under the gaze of heaven, causing the light to split among the jettisoning crystal walls. Colors changed in the refracted light as pink, purple, red, blue, pretty much every color flickered around. The majestic structure distracted Jaune for a little bit, as he watched the dancing light. This was really an amazing dream.
Then that thought snapped him back to his senses.
"Why am I in a dream?" Jaune wondered out loud. "I didn't connect with anyone!"
Fear coursed through him. There had been no sparks this time. No one he could recall connecting with throughout the day. Not one instance came to mind to cause another dive into someone's most private world.
If there had been no connection, could that mean…
"Could… my Semblance have evolved?"
Sweating anxiously, Jaune stared at his hands as if hoping they would answer back in some way.
One of the few ways he could control his Semblance was avoiding physical contact with people. If he didn't touch them, he wouldn't create a spark to connect their Auras. Jaune didn't recall seeing the crackle of electricity today, and the only person he touched was Blake. Did he reforge a connection during that time? Was he able to revisit dreams then?
Something felt off for this to be Blake's dream though. Then again, with the books that girl read, there could be some hunky archeologist running around down here with her as his assistant.
"If this is another erotic dream, I'm going to jump into that pit."
Looking over the edge, the crystal temple was floating above a bottomless pit. Clouds or mist obscured the ground down there so Jaune couldn't tell for sure how deep it was. It was a good hundred feet down he could see, but in a dream, it could as well be bottomless. Normal physics didn't apply here. Walking along the edge, Jaune came across a crystal bridge that led to the temple entrance. Without any other clue, Jaune stepped forward onto the gems and continued across.
Footsteps echoed across the gap between the earthen cave walls and the gemmed building. If this was a horror movie or a nightmare, Jaune would expect some kind of monstrous entity to rise and attack once he got halfway. When nothing happened, the boy figured this was some kind of adventuring dream. It could be Blake, but it still didn't quite feel like hers to him. Jaune liked to think he was getting better at interpreting dreams, then he reminded himself that dreams could change drastically.
If he was right about his Semblance evolving, this could be anyone's dream. Meaning he couldn't expect anything or even had any clues as to what he could expect.
As he approached the entrance, his mind kept debating who it could be. Maybe it wasn't some random student. Most likely, it was someone he visited already. Those sparks made a connection, so maybe he didn't need fresh contact to invade their dreams anymore. Was it possible for those connections to still remain and simply activate randomly? Like, his Aura was actively seeking out both new and old conduits in his sleep because he had yet to learn how to turn it off.
Then there was the worst-case scenario. His Semblance didn't need any physical contact anymore. When he slept, he would randomly invade someone's dream within range. That meant anyone in Beacon was at risk.
If that turned out to be the case, Jaune couldn't keep it hidden any longer. Popping into a few people's dreams occasionally was one thing. But randomly showing up in everyone in Beacon's dreams? It would pose a problem.
He would need to get help to control this.
"Now I really hope it is Blake." The boy muttered to himself as he stepped into the crystalline fortress. Looking around, the slightly opaque walls were solid from the inside. Yet there was plenty of light to see everything. The floor was solid quartz with fancy rugs placed upon it. Countless statues lined the walls to the entrance, made of the same crystals.
"Heh, if this was a game, I would expect some of them to come to life."
Slamming a hand over his mouth, Jaune reminded himself that the subconscious part of the mind could be listening.
'Don't make more trouble for yourself.'
Still, resisting the urge to examine the statues wasn't an option. Jaune walked over to the nearest one and looked up. It was maybe fifteen feet high and towered over him. He touched the cool material and examined the face as best he could.
It wasn't Blake.
In fact, Jaune didn't recognize the girl at all. Not that Jaune expected Blake to dream about herself that way. That would be kind of narcissistic. Glancing at the next statue, an obvious similarity was quickly noticed. The boy spun around and looked at the others to verify it.
Every statue was the same girl, just wearing different outfits.
The statue Jaune was closest to was of her wearing a suit of armor like a knight. The next one had a fancy ball gown, while the one past was wearing a long sleeve shirt under a jacket with jeans. Every other statue was just like that, with different clothes, different themes, but the same girl. But despite being the same girl's face, he couldn't guess who they were.
If only it wasn't made out of a semi-transparent material that made it harder to identify exactly who it was. She didn't look familiar at all.
'Is this girl the dreamer or someone they are obsessing over?' Jaune wondered to himself, as he left the entrance hall full of statues and kept going. The floor led to a spiral staircase that descended only downwards. Darkness greeted him down there, though the stairs themselves had changed from crystal to solid stone.
"A torch would be nice."
As if his prayers were answered, Jaune noticed a torch on the wall that definitely hadn't been there before.
"Thanks." It was important to show respect and gratitude to the subconscious. The last thing he needed was for it to be against him. That's how people fall into bottomless pits. "You're really helpful." Jaune pulled the torch off the wall and held it out. Instantly, it sprung to life. "And fast too. You're the best host I've seen in a while."
Holding out the torch, Jaune continued his journey into darkness. Light from his new best friend pushed the black void away and it didn't return. Above him, the glow from the sun outside was shining downwards without issue. Marching onward, his footsteps echoed softly as he descended, quickly losing how far he's gone down. In a dream, it could have been one foot to millions. It didn't matter as logic didn't apply. Jaune actually found that really interesting, like reading a book that had constant surprises instead of being predictable.
Finally, he reached the bottom and stepped out into an old wet hallway with mold vines and…
"Are those snakes?" Jaune stepped back into the stairs instinctively as he saw the animals laying on the ground. "Of course it's snakes. What's next, bol-..." Once more he stopped himself from saying anything out loud. The dream was listening in. Finding the torch proved that, and Jaune did not want to deal with poison spear traps, boulders, and who knew what else this place had.
Noticing the snakes weren't moving, Jaune took a hesitant step forward.
They were dead.
All were stabbed to death and soaked the floor with their blood.
"That's one way to handle it." Jaune admitted to himself, carefully stepping around the corpses. He didn't hate snakes specifically, but dealing with a bunch of venomous reptiles wasn't a fun afternoon. Whoever the dreamer was had been here already and was getting through the traps then. A bunch of broken spears up ahead littered the ground, showing Jaune's suspicion was right.
"Looks like I'm heading the right way."
Passing the broken weapons, Jaune continued his trip down the hallway. A couple of other traps had been activated and bypassed, which made it easy for him. There was a pit on the ground that Jaune managed to jump over with a running start. Poison darts that had come out of holes in the stone to the right were stuck in the left side of the wall. He assumed they were poisoned, as he didn't know for sure and wasn't keen to test them. Eventually, something faint was glowing in the distance. That had to be whatever the dreamer was interested in.
Jaune picked up his pace and rushed forward, eager to figure out who this dream belonged to. If it was someone in Beacon he knew, then maybe there was still a range limit on his power. Best case scenario was it was someone he dream hopped into already and the connection was just permanent. Actually, Jaune wasn't sure which was worse. Permanent connections or a range that allowed him access to anyone.
In the center of the room was a large stone pedestal. Light was emitting from the object floating above it, like a trophy or valuable quest item in a video game. Due to the brightness, Jaune was having a little trouble seeing what it was. What he could see was two, yes two girls, standing on either side of the pedestal, presumingly debating what to do. One had pink hair and the other brown, though they both were dressed the same. Identical tan and brown short sleeve shirts, matching shorts, boots, and wide-brim hats down to the last details adorned both girls.
It wasn't the first time Jaune visited a dream where the person had multiple people there. Blake had Yang, Ruby had her team, Pyrrha had her rivals, and many others would imagine people they knew. The main difference here was both girls were really discussing something without words. All they were doing was gesturing to each other and pointing to the glowing object floating above the stone. They seemed really invested in this adventure and Jaune didn't want to interrupt. He was fine with standing over here out of the way, even if it seemed a little creepy to spy on a couple of girls.
Movement caught his eye and Jaune looked up at the ceiling.
What he saw made him wish he could have just fought snakes instead.
From the ceiling, long, thick, hairy spider legs were pushing out of a gaping hole in the ceiling. As much as movies liked to have giant insects and monsters arrive when adventurers reached the valuable treasure at the end of a temple, seeing them on the big screen versus seeing them face to face was a completely different experience. Jaune would have traded another couple rounds against Grimm, while being vastly outnumbered, in his underwear, in front of all his classmates, then come face to face with that.
This was the part where he would run away. High tail the fuck out of here. Up above was a fucking giant spider with glowing beady red eyes in the dark ceiling, twitching feelers poking out of the hole, and was that sickly green venom dripping down?! Just the sight of the rest of its form made his spine tingle.
But he opened his mouth and did something stupid that would definitely draw attention to himself.
"ABOVE YOU!"
Both girls looked up in reflex and gasped. Instantly, the pink-haired girl grabbed the brown-haired girl and tossed her away at the first sign of beady eyes. With an echoing boom, the hissing giant spider's legs descended like meteorites. A fierce sweeping burst of wind sent rubble and dirty flying with enough force to thrash Jaune's hair. Fuzzy feelers clicked from the shadows of the hole and loomed over the two identical girls of pink and brown, hungry to sink their fangs into their prey in one lunge.
Shielding her face from the buffet of explosive wind, the pink-haired twin swung her right hand back and grasped at thin air. From nothing, a thin blade was unsheathed with a deadly glint.
With a downward swing, she split a jabbing hairy leg in half like it were a rushing spear aiming for her heart. Hissing oozing green liquid erupted down the severed leg, forcing the giant spider to shriek and tentatively reel its legs back.
With the spider backing away, Jaune acted quickly. While the pink-haired twin was on the offensive, her sister was on the ground and in danger of the splattering ooze. Evading the hissing acidic blood, Jaune rushed over to the down brown-haired twin.
It was a dream, so there was no certainty about the properties of the blood. It could be jello for all he knew or a lethal venom. Whatever its effects could possibly be, he didn't want to find out.
Pulling the brown-haired twin up, she looked up at him, confused but not really scared. Just… curious. She didn't say a word of thanks or even question his appearance. Silence was the only thing she gave. However, someone else did speak. A man's voice echoed across the room.
"You were always a disappointment."
There was only one direction the voice could come from and Jaune looked up in horror. Once more, he wished he was fighting Grimm naked. From the hole, the rest of the giant spider came out, climbing out the ceiling, but its head wasn't a spider.
It was the face of an angry old man.
Or, at least, it had the face of an old man.
The body of the thing was of a giant black spider. But where the head would normally be found, Jaune saw a pale lump of flesh dangled like taffy. The fleshy lump was shaped like a human abdomen and upper chest with lanky arms flapping about. Jaune spotted the head of the spider, of the old man with dark hair neatly combed back, cracking its neck in a disfiguring twist. Beady obsidian black eyes glared down at the twins, its snarling mouth cracking open to reveal spider feelers and fangs glistening with sickly green.
Was this even a dream anymore?! That was straight nightmare fuel dangling above their heads!
Jaune was about ready to 'nope' right on out of there. A giant spider was one thing but that thing was just too creepy! Not even Grimm were that scary! Out of the corner of his eye though, he saw the brown-haired girl shift slightly and glare back at the man-spider. She wasn't shaking in fear but did seem worried for her friend. Whoever this man was, had to be someone the girl knew. Maybe a father? Weiss had daddy issues so it made sense other people might too.
The pinked haired girl merely put her hand on her hip and waved the sword at the man-spider.
"You useless thing!" The spider roared, reaching out its legs toward the girl. "You've corrupted my daughter long enough! You're just a poison, a sickness! It's time to get rid of you so she can make real friends!"
Daughter? Looking back, Jaune could see both twins scowling at the words of the man-spider like they were fed up with what sounded like a frequent fight. Being a dream conjured by either girl, it meant only one thing.
Man-Spider was the dreamer's father.
A furious and disappointed father threatened to harm the dreamer's friend. From the sounds of it, one of the girls was unwanted. And needed to be disposed of.
Jaune wasn't going to say something along the lines of just because he was her parent, doesn't mean he could control every aspect of her life. It worked in Weiss' dream at least. But Snow Angel was a friend he knew and had gathered enough from their interactions to be able to solve the core of the issue of her dream. This was a stranger though. Actions used with his friends wouldn't work as well with someone he didn't even know the name of.
Words wouldn't work. Meaning he would have to use action.
As he stood up straight to gather the monster's attention, a tug at his sleeve held him back. Glancing down at the brown-haired girl he saved, he saw her shaking her head and smiling. It seemed like she didn't want, or need, any help.
Pink hair shook as the more assertive girl with the sword began to mime laughing. No sound came out of her mouth and her expression was one without fear. The man-face spider lunged at her, its own face contorting in anger. Legs stabbed forward like spears, intent on ramming through Pink's chest and turning her into a donut. Without showing fear or nervousness, Pink reared her head back with a bellowing laugh and jumped over the first stab.
Thin metal flashed down, cleaving one leg cleanly through in a green splatter. A second jab followed even as the man-spider howled in pain. Criss-crossing lines cut into the leg, dicing the hairy appendage into misshapen chunks. With a flick of the thin blade, the crudely cut chunks of oozing green man-spider were blown aside.
An impish grin was aimed at the hissing nightmare, the pink haired girl leaning over and mocking her prey with a beckoning wave.
Roaring in pain, the spider charged again in its rage. Lashing wind streaked past its giant frame in its charging ram, its height and weight alone spelling breaking bones. But even with its sudden burst of speed and width, the charging nightmare was side-stepped by the small pink girl like it were merely a pissed-off bull against a trained matador.
With a flourish of dancing metal, the pink girl sliced the joints of two more legs as the spider attempted to make a U-turn. The floor quaked as it stumbled and crashed with a screeching skid, leaving it open for her to leap onto its back.
Taffy-like flesh stretched around like a serpent, the human top of the man-spider glaring hatefully at the nonchalant pink brat.
"You're just a hindrance!" The man spat with sputtering venom.
All those words earned it was a shrug before the girl spun the sword tauntingly in her hand, grinned nastily, and sank sharp steel into its soft flesh. The screech that followed sounded more like what Jaune would typically expect a giant spider should sound like.
It thrashed around on its remaining good legs, wildly swinging its giant body back and forth like a bucking bull to rid it of the mutely cackling pink girl. No amount of kicking about lifted even an inch of the blade from its profusely bleeding back. In anything, the pink girl simply abused the wrangling to widen the wound and sink her sword deeper into the ugly stab.
Lanky hands swung at the pink girl in the man-spider's bucking, swiping to tear off the smug grin on her face. The nightmare came close, long fingers filthy with ink-like oil snapping for her face as her stance nearly slipped. Pearly white teeth snapped open before biting down, missing young flesh by inches..
Something had to give in to their fight.
With a violent drag of a thin blade, the man-spider's screeches abruptly stopped. The lanky arms swiping for the pink girl went limp. With a thunderous thud that shook the entire castle's depths, the man-spider fell to its belly upon a growing puddle of its life's juices. The girl paid its death no mind, hopped off, shook the green goo blood off her blade, and strutted over to the glowing object on the pedestal. She swiped the item with a quick flick of her wrist and held it up high with a victorious grin.
The 'treasure' was a simple black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band.
The brown-haired girl pushed past Jaune and rushed toward her friend. As if the nightmare man-spider had simply been another annoying obstacle, the two smiled and laughed with one another in the glow of their precious treasure. They seemed to be communicating with gestures, pointing, and laughing without making any sound whatsoever.
Completely forgetting about the bloody corpse and the puzzled blond boy off to the side.
Jaune just stood there, not sure what to do except watch. Both girls seemed to be ignoring him so he had time to study their faces for a clue as to who they were. He was positive he hadn't seen either of them before. Now that he got a good look at their faces, he knew he wouldn't forget either one. Especially with one keynote feature.
Both girls had the most unique eyes he had seen. Mismatched ones with one brown and one pink, reminding him of pink strawberry ice cream and brown chocolate.
After a couple of minutes of being ignored, Jaune eventually did get a little annoyed.
"So what's special about the hat?" Jaune asked curiously.
Both girls turned and looked at him in unison. Almost as if they had just remembered he existed.
"Did I say something wrong?" Jaune asked, confused. "I assume it was since there were all those traps earlier and that creepy spider." He glanced over where the corpse should have been, only to see it had disappeared. Not that he minded that creepy thing gone. "Great job on taking out that spider though. You were amazing."
The pink girl smiled and waved a hand like she was bashful. Her friend that Jaune saved then gestured to Jaune and motioned for him to explain something. Again, no words were exchanged, but Jaune felt like he knew what she wanted.
"Why I'm here?" Jaune had to think fast. Flattery served him well in the past, maybe he could do that here? "I heard there were a couple of really smart, talented, and pretty girl archeologists investigating this place and I was hoping to see them in action."
The brown-haired girl's eyes widened and she blushed, but her friend pulled her away and they began to silently whisper(?) while periodically looking over at him. Pink Hair glared at him and pointed to her eyes then at him before turning back to her friend. Jaune wasn't sure what he did wrong, but he was sure that girl didn't trust him. Good instincts as he was technically an invader and a liar. He didn't mean any harm though.
The brown-haired girl shrugged and gestured to him then herself.
Finally, they broke up and approached him, showing him the hat.
"Yes, it's a hat, but what's special about it?"
Both girls titled their heads to the right and looked confused at the question. Then they looked at each other and began to gesture wildly. Pink Hair suddenly grinned and put two fingers on her open palm and mimed walking. Brown Hair's eyes widened and she nodded excitedly. They turned back to Jaune and gestured to themselves and then to him. Once more, he subconsciously felt like he knew what they were saying.
"You want to play a game?" Jaune spoke out loud to verify with them. "And if I win, you'll tell me." Pink and Brown Hair nodded in unison, reminding him of two little girls excited about some childish game.
"What's the game?"
Brown Hair reached out toward Pink Hair, who dodged and pretended to run.
"Tag? Sounds fun." A nice normal children's game? That was something he could do. He played that with his sisters all the time.
Pink Hair held up one finger though and wind suddenly flowered through the room. A voice was faintly heard, an almost flute-like melody, echoing around him.
"The floor is lava.'
Everything began to violently shake out of nowhere, causing Jaune to stumble.
With how far down they were, an earthquake would bury them alive. Under normal circumstances of course. A crack formed between Jaune and the girls as the shaking began to increase even more. That crack grew even wider, causing Jaune to move further away. He was about to jump across before the ravine grew too wide, but the floor on the other side began to rise quickly. The walls to the room began to crumble as the ceiling opened up. Rows and rows of stone columns, ledges, and archways began to form, creating a circular obstacle course.
Light shined down on him as the top of the dome opened up completely. Based on what he saw, if he started on his side, he could start moving up the stone wall , use the ledges to reach the top by running in a spiral, like in a video game. Easy enough in a dream. He was a Huntsman anyways and his Aura gave him advanced physical abilities. But then a burning scent wafted into his nose. It made his eyes water and had a sort of rotten egg smell.
Looking down into the crevice for the source, his eyes widened.
Red hot magma was churning in the pit. The heat was radiating from the bed of orange-red bubbling like hot plastic. A large bubble of magma popped, sending a burst of hot air up into the air and washed over Jaune's face. Immediately, the blond leaped back and held his lightly scalded face. That was worse than the steam from a hissing tea kettle!
Even from a distance, the magma was making him sweat. Seems the girl was right about the floor being lava. Thinking of them, Jaune turned his eyes upwards and saw the two girls helping each other up the jagged rocks and cliffs. They seemed close, though the pink haired girl seemed to be much more confident by the way she was dancing on up ahead. The brown haired girl was trying to keep up, though she appeared to be having fun.
The smell intensified and Jaune instinctively looked back down.
"Oh, crap…"
The floor being lava was more than just the crevice. As he watched, the magma was rising upwards. Lashing coils of orange-red slapped up the walls of the crevice and emanating heat rose in intensity. Bubbling, lashing, churning, but growing closer by the second. It wouldn't be long until the magma swallowed everything.
"You could have WARNED ME!" Jaune yelled as he quickly scrambled to the rocks and began to climb up.
The flute-like voice whistled by him along the wind, melodious, teasing, with a hint of viciousness. Could a whistle giggle?!
'We did.'
"We're going to have a long talk when I catch you!" Jaune yelled back.
Climbing rocks and trees wasn't unknown territory for him. Since he was a kid, Jaune was always kind of tall, so naturally he could grab low-hanging tree branches with ease even when others stretched high on their tiptoes. It was pretty easy to do so and getting to the top of trees always felt so free. It was one of the few things he was good at. Climbing was a talent he could call his own that made him feel accomplished. It also let him reach the top of some of the tallest trees to get a sweet view from up top.
Panicked climbing while being chased by lava was a new experience for him though.
All of the floors were completely covered as the magma continued to fill the cylindrical course. Jaune was currently hopping along the rocky edges, avoiding gaps that would send him reeling down into the burning liquid below. He still wasn't sure what would happen if he died in a dream. Were there drawbacks to things like death or fatal injuries? Dying in real life was probably a stretch, but how much pain would he feel? Would it affect his Aura?
There was no need to test out his theories and he just decided to avoid any discoveries if possible.
Panting, Jaune kept climbing. It was quite a bit of exercise and, deep down, he wished this transferred to his body in the real world. Dream exercising and waking up buffed would make everything worthwhile. Shoot, he could try to slip into someone's dream and train with them. If he could convince Weiss she was in a dream and not to wake up, she would probably help him now. The possibility of gaining any experience he gained in a dream would spell wonders for his lackluster combat skill.
Maybe not physical training… but would skill training transfer? Something to try later. Right now, he had more important matters at hand.
Shaking his head, Jaune leaned up against the stone wall and monitored his progress.
He was about halfway to the top to escape the death trap. Both girls were almost there and would shortly be out. There was no way he could catch them at this rate. The lava was still a good ways down and if nothing else happened there was no way he couldn't get out either. Though once the two girls got out, what would happen to him? Would reaching the top mean they won? Would the game end or would it speed up? Things might disappear all at once and he would end up somewhere else completely.
Movement from above caught his eye.
The brown-haired girl slipped on a smooth stone and stumbled off the side of the ledge. Her friend with pink hair lunged to grab her but missed by inches. Brown Hair opened her mouth and looked to be yelling, but no sound came out as she turned in midair to stare down at the lava.
Thinking of what to do never came to mind. Muscles screamed and blue eyes were already locked onto their target.
Instantly, Jaune's feet were running up a jagged jettison of rock hanging over the molten sea. Without thinking or worrying about what he was about to do, Jaune leaped with all his strength, feeling his Aura flare up as he pushed off the stone. All he could think about was saving that girl.
What would it mean if the girl was devoured by the sea of rising molten lava? Was she even the dreamer or just a creation representing someone else? Since this was all the creation of the dreamer, couldn't she just save her friend or herself?
To be honest, Jaune found himself forgetting about the dream. About the game or the lashing whips of lava snapping up. All he saw was a girl falling straight into an ugly death. At that moment, dream or not, he moved to save the random girl whose name he still didn't know.
The girl's eyes widened in shock as she saw him flying toward her, not expecting the blond to reach out to her. Her face twisted slightly as she felt his bigger body collide with her small frame before two long arms wrapped around her waist in mid-air. Momentum carried them further even as they continued falling, sending them crashing onto a ledge.
Somehow, Jaune managed to leap a huge distance, not that he bothered to question it. His Aura had flared, so he must have managed to manipulate the physics of the dream to his benefit.
Grunting in some pain, Jaune slid back away from the edge, his arms tight around the waist of the rather small-sized brown haired girl until his back hit the ledge's wall. Far from accidentally falling back into the lava pit, he leaned his head back and relaxed his body.
"Are you okay?" he asked, glancing at the brown-haired girl in his arms. She looked up at him with mismatched eyes before slowly nodding. "That's good…" Slowly letting out a long deep breath, Jaune leaned further against the cold stone wall, his body feeling sore. Pain was not a good indicator in a dream. "Can you stand or do you want me to carry you up?"
A surprised expression met his question as she sat up and tapped her cheek in a thinking gesture. Slowly, she lifted up her arms and wrapped them around Jaune's neck.
Huh, that was rather easy.
"Okay, I'll get you out of here." Jaune agreed. "And we'll pick up your friend too. She's probably scared." The girl snorted as if she didn't believe it but smirked humorously at the kind thought. "Hey, the way she tried to save you told me she does care about you." Brown Hair tilted her head and shrugged, before placing her head on his shoulder.
Jaune then stood up and prepared to start the climb upwards.
It wasn't a complete surprise to find himself standing in a field of grass out of nowhere, the opening to the pit behind him, as Pink Hair stood in front of him, arms crossed and cheeks puffed out angrily. Had the dreamer skipped the long trek? One moment, he was standing up with the girl, the next, he was out of the pit.
"Looks like we made it." Jaune played along, letting down Brown Hair, who quickly ran over to Pink Hair and hugged her. "Glad to see you both are okay."
The pinked haired girl checked with her friend to make sure she was okay and constantly gestured to Jaune, making Brown Hair shake her head. He had a feeling she was making sure Jaune hadn't done anything bad to her while holding her. Not like he could have when the dream suddenly time skipped. The brown haired girl then held up the hat toward Jaune, though she looked nervous.
"Hey, now." Jaune held up his hands. "I'm not trying to take it. I was just curious why it was so valuable. If it's sentimental and you don't want to tell me, I understand. You really didn't need to set up such a dangerous game to dissuade me. I'm not trying to force you."
The girl blinked and looked surprised, while her pink haired friend only scowled even more. Brown Hair clutched the hat tightly to her chest and smiled.
"Ya know, you're pretty cute when you smile." Jaune blurted out before he could process his words. She blushed and pushed a strand of dark hair out of her face.
Pink Hair's glare doubled and the world suddenly changed around them.
Jaune was taken aback by the music blaring in his ear drums. The sudden change between silence into loud club music was a drastic difference and it surprised him. They were no longer near the ruins, lava pit, or even outside. They were sitting on comfortable couches, indoors as a rave exploded around them. People were cheering, though the faceless masses ignored Jaune and the girls. All of their eyes were focused on the stages around them.
When Jaune looked around, he understood why.
It was a strip club.
Though the dancers weren't what Jaune would expect from a girl's dream. He would have assumed male dancers, but nope. All the dancers here were female, of varying shapes and sizes. Very attractive ones, but different all the same. This led Jaune to believe that the dreamer was probably into girls. Not something he would judge her for, of course; to each their own. It was the same way with Blake. With all of them being attractive women though, Jaune's eyes did wonder before he felt the gaze of the two girls on him.
Turning back, Brown Hair was looking at him curiously and Pink Hair had a smug smile.
"Nice place?" Jaune tried to chuckle to defuse the awkwardness he was feeling.
The brown haired girl smiled and waved her hand bashfully, but her friend raised her hand and snapped her fingers in response to Jaune's words. A dozen or so of the dancer's suddenly stopped their performances on the stage and started to approach them. The faceless members of the crowd parted like water to let them through.
"Hey handsome." One tall sultry black haired woman in a sleek red dress whispered. Her curves were perfectly highlighted. "Do you come here often?"
"Oh, he's cute." A green haired girl with dark skin added. She was wearing a gold and green two piece underwear set that covered just enough to leave a bit to the imagination.
"But would he like a show?" A pair of twins in red and white stockings and garter belts with black hair teased. "Two for the price of one."
"I… er… not now?" Jaune stuttered nervously, his body already betraying him.
This was a dream! Why couldn't he control himself? Down, almighty family sword! Now was not the time for combat of the flesh!
Both girls were snickering at him. Brown Hair then looked a little worried and tugged on her friend's sleeve. Pink Haired patted her on the shoulder and pointed to the bar. The girl turned around, looking for what her partner was referencing when Pink Haired glared at Jaune. She ran a finger across her throat and pointed at him.
Not a good sign.
The four strippers surrounded him, all latching onto his body with their skimpy outfits. Tantalizing flesh, sweet curves, and flushed skin threatened to drown him. Jaune struggled against their grip but found out they were like iron. He was stuck on the couch. Eyes flickered to each of the stripper's faces and that's when he saw their true forms. All of them had one pink eye, and one brown eye, along with devious smiles on their faces.
One of the sultry strippers leaned in, hot lips parting open and licking hungrily. He felt breasts squeeze against him from all sides. A hand or two slipped through his clothes to rub his chest. A set of thighs clamped down around his ankle. The sound of something unzipping was heard and one daring hand slinked in.
And-
SHNK!
A sharp sting jabbed him in the chest and the boy looked down in confusion.
The handle of a dagger was buried in his torso.
Deep.
Hips swinging to the beat of the club's music, Pink-haired parted the strippers pinning him down, and stood in front of the startled blond. Amusement could be seen dancing in her eyes, almost mockingly. Leaning down sensually to reveal a bit of her cleavage and how flexible her back was, Pink flicked his forehead playfully.
And silently laughed.
Warm liquid seeped from the buried hilt of the dagger, swimming down to stain his clothes in dark crimson. He was too stunned to even cry out in pain, openly gaping at the dagger in his gut.
Even as the world darkened, he didn't feel any pain.
The next moment, he was back in his bed, panting heavily as he stared at the dark ceiling. His hands immediately went to his chest and felt around. He searched for a metal blade, for the warm wetness soaking his clothes. But, of course, there was no wound, no dagger, no blood.
It was all just a dream.
Sighing in relief, Jaune allowed himself to relax and think a bit.
'Who's dream was that? It seemed to be focusing on two kids, but why? And more importantly, WHY DID SHE STAB ME!?'
No matter how hard he tried, Jaune couldn't figure out what he did wrong. He helped one of the girls out of falling into the lava. Both the Pink Haired and Brown Haired girl could have been sisters based on how similar they looked. One of them had to be the dreamer. They seemed really close, but could the pink-haired girl be a bully? Like subconsciously terrorizing the other kid? It's possible, but Jaune felt that wasn't the situation. They honestly seemed to care about each other.
Human relationships were complicated and hardly ever straightforward. For all he knew they were best friends, but whichever one of them was the real person had an underlying belief in the other. Pink Hair could think of Brown Hair as a weakling, and the other way around, a bully. Without knowing who they were, Jaune was trying really hard not to judge them. It was their dream and if they wanted to do bad stuff, it normally wasn't hurting anyone. A healthy outlet for frustration at the very least.
That didn't mean the boy wasn't upset.
"If I was still in that dream, I would give her a piece of my mind." Jaune grumbled as he turned over and went back to sleep.
In his heart, he vowed vengeance.
Jaune wasn't sure how it happened, when it happened, or if it was the fault of either dreamer but a connection was made once again.
He woke up to find himself in a large auditorium, dressed in a fancy black tux. Thousands of people were sitting down in rows of chairs, clapping as an announcer on stage was talking. Spinning around, Jaune tried to find out whose dream this was. Panic began to set in as it was now becoming a common occurrence to hop multiple dreams a night.
Who could he be spying on now?"
"It is my pleasure to announce the two most distinguished archeologists of our time!" The man behind the podium announced. "They may be young, but they outshine everyone here."
…N-no. No, no, no.
Hell.
NO.
This couldn't be real.
He had gone back into the same person's dream, even after waking up. This was the first time it happened and Jaune was shocked. Every other time, the connection had been broken when they separated. Waking up ended the connection and his Semblance usually turned off. It didn't matter which one of them woke up. Now he could go back inside a dream if the dreamer was still sleeping? Was this better or worse than hoping around random people for short times?
As the crowd clapped, Jaune's eyes narrowed as two familiar girls stepped on stage. Pink Hair was wearing a pretty white and black dress, while Brown Hair was wearing a pink dress. Those dresses seemed like they would fit each other better than themselves, but Jaune wasn't going to pretend he was at the height of fashion. The hat was being held in a glass case as they showed it to the audience.
Once again, it was the center of the dreamer's attention.
"Astonishing!" The announcer said. "This rare artifact is roughly priced at 2.7 Million Lien. These two lovely young ladies have quite a find. Sadly, due to the dangers, one of their team members didn't make it back. So let us have a moment of silence."
"Wait, huh?"
Blankly, Jaune blinked as the entire arena grew silent and bowed their heads collectively in mourning. Among the silence, a certain pink haired girl's shoulders trembled, her eyes watering, lips quivering, and…
Laughing.
She was silently laughing.
Dead team member?
'Oh, you cute vicious bitch.' Jaune cursed with a shaking fist aimed at the snickering pinkette.
They were not getting away with this! At least the pink-haired girl wouldn't. He 'died' because of her. As the crowd all hung their heads, Jaune felt a wave of confidence wash over him. Even if this was someone else's imagination, they didn't deserve to be rich at the cost of his life.
From his body, white energy pulsed and flared before fading away.
"That's a lie!"
Gasps ran through the attendees as they all stared as Jaune stood up. Both of the girls gasped at him, shocked he was there. Though Brown Hair quickly smiled and seemed happy. Pink Hair did not, but her disbelief covered anything else. Jaune pushed out of his aisle and began walking down the steps toward the stage.
"Who are you?" The man asked as Jaune stepped up on the stage.
"I was with them in the temple, and that girl there decided it would be fun to get rid of me," Jaune announced to them all. "I'm here to make sure my revenge is carried out."
In the real world, security would have probably been called and rushed up to stop him. A dream world? Not so much. No one came to stop him as the boy walked over to the two girls.
"Surprised to see me?" Jaune asked with a flat glare. Brown Haired nodded and smiled at him before looking embarrassed.
Her friend glared daggers at him. It was probably a good thing they weren't in the real world or Jaune would have been afraid he was about to get stabbed again. Fear was no longer present in him, as he now knew what would happen if he died. He would simply wake up. Nothing else.
Hand raised, the angry girl tried to slap him.
"Not this time." Jaune grabbed her hand, surprised at his own dexterity in the dream.
Behind the pink-haired girl, the other young lady nodded for him to continue, like she wanted to see the ending of this. Looked like he wasn't the only one fed up with her attitude. Seeing this filled Jaune with not only courage but vigor. Like he was being energized. Turning his attention back to his main target, the two of them locked eyes.
"There's only one appropriate punishment for a bad girl."
No matter how angry Jaune was at someone, there was no way he would stab them with a knife or do anything that would seriously hurt a girl. So, the only option available was something he knew would cause some eyes to be raised if people found out about it. Luckily, he was sure this girl would never tell anyone, even if she remembered. Jaune still felt like a little bit of a deviant for what he was going to do.
But she stabbed him in the gut. While he was being smothered by a bunch of sexy strippers. Every man's most treasured fantasy…tainted by a cute yet malicious pink-haired bitch who thought it was funny to stab him in the stomach while he had a hard-on!
Oh, revenge would be both sweet and satisfying.
"It's time for your spanking."
A wooden chair appeared out of nowhere, but Jaune didn't even consider questioning it. For the first time, that girl showed genuine fear as Jaune sat down and forced her over his knee. The brown-haired girl was cheering in the back but went silent as her friend looked at her for help. No one else in the auditorium was willing to help. The faceless onlookers all just stood there and watched. With the dream permitting him to continue, the boy felt a little better about what he was about to do.
Besides, it was just a dream. He was allowed to let go of some stress.
"This is going to hurt me more than it will you."
Eh, it was a lie. But she stabbed him in the gut while he had a boner.
Jaune brought his hand down, palm open, against the pink-haired girl's buttcheeks.
SMACK!
The girl flinched and opened her mouth to yell, but no sound came out.
Jaune brought his hand up again.
"One down, 9 more."
SMACK!
"Eight."
The girl tried to escape, but Jaune held her tightly with his other hand. He was a little surprised at how easy it was. Maybe the dream was really helping him out.
"Seven!"
Brown Hair was holding her side as she watched.
"Six!"
Pink Hair tried to attack Jaune, but he blocked her hand with his arm. The boy would not be deterred.
"Five!"
Gasps and cheers from the crowd inspired Jaune to continue.
"Four!"
The girl in his lap collapsed and went limp, seeming to accept her fate. For whatever reason, her body began to faintly quiver.
"Three."
She turned her head as the next one landed on her sore butt, pink and brown eyes watery and vowing vengeance.
"Two."
The anger coming from her eyes would have downed a lesser man, but Jaune was already bringing his hand up for the final slap.
"O-..."
The world went dark and he was falling through the pitch black void. Things were pushed too far and the girl must have woken up. Sighing, Jaune relaxed for a moment as he fell through the darkness, only to appear once more in his bed as he opened his eyes.
Some guilt ran through him at what he did, but it was muffled when he reminded himself about what she did to him first.
'Good thing it's a dream.' Jaune thought to himself as he rolled over. 'Nothing will come out of this. There's no way she would mention to anyone she imagined some random guy spanking her. I've never seen that girl before in my life so she probably doesn't know me either. But what came over me. Could the dream be influencing me back or was I just that upset at being stabbed?'
It was probably a combination of both and Jaune felt extra guilty as he realized he broke his promise to Weiss. Interfering with the dream the way he did was wrong, even if the dreamer didn't know it. He would have to be more cautious in the future, especially with his Dream Semblance growing stronger. Tomorrow was a new day and nothing would come out of what happened as long as he was careful moving forward.
There was really no point in worrying about it.
Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or ideas, I love reading them. If you have a question you wish to ask and would like a quick answer, feel free to message me directly. I try to respond to those within a day or two. Comments, I tend to respond to in the next chapter.