Welcome to another exciting dream adventure. Sorry it took so long to update, but Neoshadows had a lot of work running restaurants and couldn't find time to review until recently. He does a good job Betaing, so I feel it is worth the wait. Most of you realized Neo's dream last chapter and this isn't the last we've seen of her. She's going to cause some problems for sure, but not as much as others. This chapter starts off pretty fun, but gets into some intense nightmares later. Some people don't reveal they are still haunted by the past.
If you continue to enjoy my stories, feel free to check out my p a treon.
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Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
"Ugh, what are the odds Goodwitch is going to put me up against Cardin again?" Jaune muttered as he and his team headed toward the lockers before class. "Not that I mind getting smacked around like a ragdoll, but a little variety would be nice. Give me some spice with my bruises, you know?"
"She tends to put people around the same skill level together." Ren pointed out with a yawn. "Also complementary fighting styles. You're defensive and he's very offensive-oriented. It's a good way to improve both your skills."
"You okay?" Jaune asked, noticing how tired his friend looked. "It's not like you to yawn this much in the morning. You and Pyrrha are typically morning people who survive without things like coffee or energy drinks to wake you up. Did you get any sleep at all last night?"
"It's nothing to worry about. I got plenty of sleep and didn't have any issues getting up. Yet I do feel a bit sluggish." Lightly rubbing his eyes, the ever-calm and composed raven shrugged the concern from his leader aside.. "Might be coming down with something."
"Don't worry, Renny!" Nora hugged him from behind. "Nurse Nora will nurse you back to health if you are."
"Just… avoid the bandages," Ren sighed. "I would just need bed rest and some soup."
"If you want, I can let Professor Goodwitch know you're not feeling well." Pyrrha offered.
"No, I'll be fine and it might pass."
"If you say so." Jaune shrugged as he reached his locker and began to spin open the combination.
BOOOOOOM!
The second his locker opened, an explosion went off, the force flinging the door open with a great bang. Caught completely off guard,, Jaune was knocked off his feet and found himself lying on the floor. If that wasn't bad enough, something wet and slimy washed over him like wet goo. Thanks to Aura, he wasn't physically hurt by the impact. His pride on the other hand? Jaune reached a hand up and wiped his face, before sitting up and looking into a mirror.
Pink slime covered his entire front, dripping down slowly.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
While Jaune's team wasn't laughing, who were looking on in a stunned stupor, everyone else in the vicinity was doubled over. The mini explosion was enough to draw their attention and seeing Jaune covered in pink liquid was enough for even the strongest souls to break into laughter. Everyone was pointing and laughing as the boy sat there, looking around in a daze.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha finally snapped to and rushed over, kneeling by him. "Are you okay?"
"I need a shower…" Jaune sighed, accepting her hand to help him to his feet. "But otherwise I'm fine."
"Wow, that's some prank." Nora peeked into his locker. "This setup is pretty advanced." A small amount of Dust and a motion sensor were set to go off the moment the door opened.
Energetic, bubbly, a little crazy here and there, and manic with a lovely grin, but Nora wasn't a ditz. She could pick out the small mechanics leftover from whatever mechanism had set off the explosive paint without any trouble and even seemed to be studying it with some familiarity.
Amid all the roaring laughter of the other students, a few sets of distinctive footsteps could be heard rushing over.
"What was… pfft!"
Ruby quickly covered her mouth as she started laughing at seeing Jaune.
"Love the new look, Vomit Boy." Unlike her sister, Yang was more than happy to point it out. However, she did grab a towel and tossed it to him. "Pink's definitely your color."
"Har har har." Jaune laughed sarcastically but was grateful for the cloth he was using to wipe his face.
"What happened?" Weiss demanded to know. Not a crinkle of amusement could be seen in her typical icy demeanor. Her cold blue eyes locked onto him, face set in a stern scowl fit for someone like Professor Goodwitch. Beacon was a place of learning, not for this mockery.
"It seemed his locker was booby-trapped."
Slipping past the giggling Ruby, Blake only gave the pink goo knight that was Jaune a meager quirk of the brow before her amber eyes sought the contents of the blasted metal locker. Alongside Nora, she inspected the mechanism, picking up a small trigger that had acted as the firing shot to blast wet and funny-smelling sludge at her book friend. Her nose wrinkled at the odd rubber(?) scented gobs dripping off from inside, ruining whatever school material and personal belongings Jaune had kept.
"This can't be a coincidence. First, your room is ransacked. Second, your school bag is stolen and then you're assaulted by some unknown party, with a stealth-based semblance, when they fail to find whatever they're looking for? Whoever is after you seems to be frustrated. Which is understandable for a thief but this?"
Taking a sample of the bubblegum goo in hand, Detective Blake narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"This is just…childish. I wouldn't even say meanspirited; this is the kind of elementary school prank you'd see from a child. Maybe Nora."
"Maybe Nora." Ren nodded after a short pause, earning him a pout from his energetic friend, "But it would be far more explosive, chaotic, bright, and break a bone or two. And that's only if you've really ticked her off."
"Retaliation then? With pink goo? If this is the same assailant as yesterday, who could cover their tracks and even strike out in the open, why not go for something of a similar nature? Are they really so childish to release their frustration in such a juvenile manner as a vendetta?"
"And we still have no idea who is doing this." Ren pointed out.
"Who would hate you this much?" Ruby asked her friend, looking from his pink-stained clothes to his locker that had been broken into.
Was this hate? Jaune mulled it over while staring at his wide-open locker. No, this wasn't an act of anger. Was it mean? Yeah, it kinda was. But compared to the other kinds of pranks he suffered at the hands of someone like Cardin, it really was childish and silly. Even the blast was weak. Were Jaune a lesser man in some cliche high school movie, this would be the point in the film where he would have run away with tears in his eyes while everyone laughed at his retreating back.
But he was a Huntsman-in-Training. This was just goofy. But if it had to be someone he knew…
"Cardin." He said his bully's name out loud but even he didn't sound so sure about it, "But this isn't his kind of MO."
"I wish I did!" Came a male's voice from the other side of the locker room, causing several other people to snicker.
"If we find out it's you, you'll wish you were dead!" Nora yelled back, cracking her knuckles. No smart-ass response came back because, with Nora, she would break your legs.
"None of that now, Miss Valkyrie."
A cold voice spoke up, silencing any remaining laughter from the students in the locker room. Spines grew stiff and straightened as many felt an oppressive aura make itself known. Many who still lingered immediately hightailed it from the scene at the click of steady heels.
Glynda Goodwitch had entered the scene at the sound of a ruckus, quickly honing onto the center of whatever trouble was brewing, and soon stood before the members of RWBY and JNPR. Typically stern green eyes grew just the tiniest bit of soft at the blond knight as finished cleaning the last of the goo from his face.
"Mr. Arc, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Jaune assured her, wiping his arms off with the towel. "Just need to clean up. Like, everywhere. I think I can feel a few drips sliding down my underwear."
"Hit the showers and I'll excuse any lateness" Glynda waved him off, her expression softening before turning her stern eyes upon the few students still hanging about the scene. "The rest of you: to class. And as a warning, if any of you are responsible for this, I will find out."
Feverish nods were made and it wasn't long until only those who couldn't possibly be responsible for the prank remained.
"Will you be okay?" Pyrrha asked worriedly as the others grumbled and made their way back to class.
Though his friends wished to remain by his side, one look from the scowling deputy headmistress had them thinking twice. Even if they were Jaune's friends and innocent of any crime, the order to return to class was aimed at everyone. Yang slapped Jaune on the back and Ruby gave him an encouraging smile. Weiss and Blake both nodded to him as they passed and Nora was about to give him an uplifting hug, but Ren barely caught her. A gooey pink Nora wasn't needed.
Only the victorious beauty remained to linger behind.
"I can wait outside."
"Pyrrha… you know Goodwitch won't let you and there's no way I'll let you get in trouble for me." Jaune patted her arm. "Thanks for worrying, but it's just a prank. They aren't really trying to hurt me."
"Are you sure?" Pyrrha bit the corner of her lip. "You're definitely targeted."
Targeted, huh? And not by someone as blunt as Cardin. When did Mr. Noodle-Boy become such a big target?
"After class, we can take shifts guarding him then!" Yang called out. "Nothing's going to happen to Vomit Boy on our watch."
"When did you get so close to him?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow beside the eager blonde brawler.
Yang shrugged as they headed into the classroom. It's not like she could tell her bookish partner that after that one night, she started seeing Jaune in a new light. Not that her dream had anything to do with her feelings. It was more like she began to realize how nice the dorky guy was. Even when being pranked and stalked like this, he kept his spirits up and made sure everyone else didn't worry. She'd like to think she'd have done the same even if it weren't for the weird dream she had. They were friends, right? Why would it be so weird to watch out for him now?
"Rest of my team is, so I might as well. Jaune's our friend, so watching out for him is expected."
Though she couldn't understand why she dreamed about him like that. Seriously, what the hell had she eaten that day? Meh, it wasn't such a bad dream. Other than, you know, her mother blatantly flirting with Dork's-elot.
"Yeah!" Ruby fist pumped in some kind of victory. "My best male friend is friends with my entire team."
Jaune chuckled at this as he headed toward the boy's shower area. The towel Yang gave him really helped get most of the gunk off him, though his Beacon Uniform was stained pretty badly. It would need to be washed. Luckily he had his combat outfit, which consisted of his new clothes, inspired by Coco herself. Tossing his stuff on a bench, he stepped into a shower stall and began to get the rest of the gunk off himself.
With still no idea who was pranking him, Jaune hoped they would get tired of it soon enough if he didn't react to it. Childish acts like this weren't strange for a boy growing up with seven sisters. If you didn't ignore the juvenile tricks and attempts to get you to react, then you only opened yourself up for more. Best to just ignore it like it never happened.
Still, the boy couldn't help wondering again who had such a grudge against him. Planning something so elaborate wasn't Cardin's forte. Breaking into his locker and stealing stuff, sure, but setting a trap? That wasn't something that the bully would do. No, it was someone else. Someone more clever, more thoughtful, more…devious
The color of the goo washing off his body stood out.
Bright pink.
'It couldn't be…'
There was no way it could be that girl from the dream, could it? The timing didn't add up to support this. The pranks and destruction started before last night, so there was no way she would have been thinking about him in the first place. It was way too fast of a retaliation. Though the color was too much of a coincidence.
Should he try to find the girl then?. She had to be a student in Beacon if this was her doing, as he doubted his power was reaching all the way into Vale. Doing so would paint a target, no pun intended, on his back. If that girl saw him snooping around, she would get suspicious. The best thing for him now was to pretend he had no idea about his Dream Semblance and go on as normal.
Especially after what he did at the end. Were the dreams getting to him because that was completely out of character. There was still so much about his own Semblance he didn't understand, so he couldn't rule it out.
Turning off the water, Jaune grabbed his towel and stepped out of the shower. Jaune blinked dully, eyes slowly descending down upon the bench as droplets of water fell from his bangs. He didn't even have it in him to sigh or hang his head.
"Of course… I should have seen this coming."
His extra clothes on the bench had disappeared, along with his extra towels. A dripping wet Jaune stood without anything other than a really damp baby blue towel, only covering his waist, without even a Scroll to call for backup of emergency clothes.
"Maybe I really am haunted." Jaune moaned into his hand. "Who do I call for this?"
Who were you gonna call? Not Phantom Busters, they were hacks.
Left alone, kinda naked, and moist, the wet knight could only stare at the empty bench with a grumble in the quiet locker room. Maybe it was because it was so quiet that he caught it.
Something whistled through the air and Jaune ducked on instinct.
A bottle hit the wall behind him with a thud and as Jaune turned to look at it, he felt a sharp heavy rap on his butt, causing himself to stumble forward. Since the bench was right in front of him, the poor boy tripped, falling over as his baby blue towel unraveled. As the towel flew off there was a flash of light as Jaune scrambled to his feet. Sopping-wet blond locks slapped against his face as he frantically spun around, hissing as the flash of light directed itself to his eyes.
Taking advantage of his blindness, several more flashes were shot and a hand vanished around a corner. A Scroll?! Jaune ran forward, rapidly blinking the dark spots in his vision away, before realizing he was entirely exposed without clothes.
"Whoever you are, I'll get you back!" Jaune yelled, finding himself shaking his fist after the devious prankster like an old man would to kids on his lawn. "I don't know how, but I will! You'll rue the day you spanked Jaune Arc's ass!"
Rubbing his butt where he had been smacked, he picked up his towel and eventually found his clothes in the trash can. Weirdly, his Scroll was sitting on the bench, undamaged. That seemed unlikely if someone was trying to wreck all his stuff. Picking it up, he examined it, a little suspicious it might explode too. Wouldn't surprise him if another prank caught him now.
Deciding the person was only trying to prank him and not destroy all his stuff, he got dressed and headed toward class, grumbling under his breath with a hand lightly massaging his stinging ass.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Back in the privacy of their room, Cinder was standing in front of Neo, who was sitting on the bed and looking at the ground. The woman was furious at the small girl and had no problem with expressing herself. While everyone else was clueless as to who would set up an exploding locker against Jaune Arc, Cinder's team was not. They knew what the last member of their group was like. Emerald and Mercury were standing off to the side, hiding their amusement at Neo finally getting what she deserved.
Neo shrugged and tried to look innocent. Her small stature and current sitting position in front of the furious Cinder made her come off as some child being scolded by her mother for pulling on a boy's hair.
"Don't you dare try that with me." Cinder snapped with venom in her voice. "We finally got close to Team RWBY and JNPR and you decide to start some personal vendetta against Jaune for some…petty revenge?"
For all her scheming, planning, and knowledge, not even the Cinder was sure why their silent blade had struck so randomly. Or more so, she couldn't believe the deadly woman would act so suddenly. She was supposed to be a professional.
"She's upset that someone outsmarted her," Mercury pointed out with a sneer. "Still can't find the dork's book, huh? You'd think it would be easy with such a weak mark."
The green eyes slipped back to pink and brown for a moment as the short girl glared daggers at the boy.
Mercury was half right. Yes, Neo was upset that she couldn't find that book. She tore apart Team JNPR's room while everyone was in class and when it wasn't there, she checked his bag before class. It wasn't there and that stupid bookworm almost caught her. Neo smacked her around for good measure and got away without issue.
As a master thief, she felt her pride had been bruised. Scum Mercury may be but he wasn't wrong on his marks. By all intents and appearances, Jaune Arc was as easy as a mark as they came. To not have scored her prize from such naive prey was rather irritating and may have only added to her 'frustrations' leading up to what she had done.
Last night had been…a thing. A very unique circumstance that still boggled her.
Far be it from Neo to understand how dreams worked but she always found herself with the most bright, exciting, wild, and fun dreams she could briefly recall. Perhaps it had to do with her Semblance; a strong imagination was a powerful thing and hers was the wildest there was. Yet last night's dream had been really vivid, more so than any other she could recall. She had been enjoying it and found herself further enjoying the latest unbuckled fantasy when the blond knight suddenly appeared.
Neo must have really been focusing on JNPR's team leader for him to appear in it. Jaune Arc was the last person to ever flicker in her thoughts. Her latest assignment had her dealing with him frequently, so it shouldn't have surprised her to see the fledgling knight seeping into her dreams subconsciously. Why her brain went on such a weird trip with the blond dork, she didn't know. It was an interesting one, a fun one, and one powerful enough to stick to her consciousness even after waking up.
Stabbing him felt so surreal and she recalled it fondly. The sudden sense of betrayal and anger flitting across his face as her blade dug deep into his abdomen had been ever so sweet, she couldn't help but lick her licks deviously at the memory. Silly boy should have never trusted her to begin with. He'd frustrated her enough in the real world, so it was merely a chance to release her pent-up frustration at the lack of scoring his journal.
What a delicious ending to her fun little dream. That should have been it.
Except it hadn't.
Ten.
The number seared itself in her mind and made her squirm underneath Cinder's smoldering gaze.
Yes, it was a dream, a fabrication of her own wild thoughts allowed to run rampant to some random script, but it was the principle of the thing! She had been humiliated! Like some petulant child! Just because she had a small stature didn't mean she was a bratty girl you could just bend over your knee!
Vengeance would be hers. There was no way she was letting a dream version of Jaune bully her. The locker was simple revenge, a genius prank, and let her check it for the book all at once. Just a little taste of the fun to come, so long as she failed to score her mark.
"That doesn't matter!" Cinder hissed. "You were supposed to do this quietly, yet you ransacked his room, attacked in broad daylight, and now this? You know he's going to have his allies guarding his back at every moment now, right? It's going to make it difficult, if not impossible, to find that book."
Quickly typing on her Scroll, Neo held up the device and Cinder read it out loud.
"It's not with him or in his room, so he had to have given it to someone." Cinder paused and considered this.
Jaune Arc was not the fool he cleverly painted himself out to be. Yes, perhaps this was merely another one of his sleight of hands made as he danced around like some green-horned warrior who had just learned how to wield a sword. Jester's were rather tricky, and the young knight had long since proclaimed himself a fool. From the first move on their part, ransacking his room for something, he had most likely taken precautions.
What a brilliant move, but one only serving to irritate her all the more.
"If it is true, then that complicates matters even further. Said difficulty is only going to increase now that they've become aware" Her voice rose halfway through her sentence. "By now, many will have caught wind of the attacks on Jaune Arc. Especially with that loudmouth Leg Breaker on his team all but shouting about an assailant stalking her beloved leader. This is a Huntsman Academy, so many will begin piecing together the idea of Arc's assailant utilizing a stealth-based Semblance. They will have their guards up from this point on. You made a rookie mistake; you should have just checked that instead of rigging his locker."
"I can try to find it." Emerald volunteered, eager to be of help and please Cinder.
"No, not now." Cinder shook her head in displeasure. "We have to wait for the heat to die down. He'll be on high alert, for sure, but he's not paranoid to a fault. Clever he has proven to be but he's still a boy. He'll drop his guard and slip up at some point, then we strike. For now, continue the current plan. Get closer to RWBY and JNPR, watch Ozpin and see who he shows favor to, and I'll get closer to Jaune Arc personally. Maybe I can ask him about it without drawing suspicion."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mercury asked. "What if he gets the wrong idea and tries something? As you said, he's still a boy. Show a guy like that too much attention and he'll get the wrong idea."
"Yeah!" Emerald actually agreed with her annoying teammate. "What if he tries something?"
"He doesn't have the guts." Cinder scoffed to the side. "And if need be…"
She shrugged with boredom apparent on her usually stern features.
"Wouldn't be the first time I pretended to like someone. Intimacy closes the divide between men and leaves them wide open. Not even the cleverest of men are immune to a charm or two. " A nagging feeling in the back of her mind bothered her as she remembered an old dream. The boy was nice, too nice. It made him easily manipulated. "Besides, he's dating that Belladonna girl. I just have to make sure I don't get on her bad side."
"You could join their book club." Mercury suggested. "Probably be boring as hell though."
"I could join!" Emerald offered again, not wanting Cinder to get close to a horny teenage boy.
"That's not a bad idea, Mercury." Cinder hummed thoughtfully, ignoring Emerald. "I'll bring it up at lunch. Let's go and meet them." She turned around and glared at Neo. "You stay here and don't cause any more trouble!"
Neo nodded and sighed as the rest of her team left. She wasn't stupid enough to get on Cinder's bad side when she was already upset. That woman was dangerous and as much as Neo liked to antagonize Emerald and Mercury, she held back with Cinder. There was a reason Cinder had Roman under her thumb. She'll pay for that, Neo guaranteed it. For now, she just had to kill time. Opening up her photos on her Scroll, the girl grinned at some of the most recent ones.
Crawling under the covers, it had been a while since she had some alone time.
"Okay, Vomit Boy." Yang warned Jaune from across the table at lunch. "Remember, don't open any strange doors that might contain explosions."
"Yes, mom." Jaune rolled his eyes with a grin. "I'll also try not to go off with strangers. Unless they have candy."
"What luck: I have candy." An amused sultry voice commented, causing Jaune to turn around.
"Hey, Cinder!"
At the word 'mom,' Yang had frozen up and recalled several things from her nightmare. Her eyes even darted over to Ruby before managing to calm down. It was a fortunate coincidence that Cinder had distracted them all or someone might have noticed her sudden demeanor change and rush of faint red on her cheeks. The blonde girl had to remind herself it was a dream and Jaune was just her mind using him to help her. It just felt so vivid that she couldn't shake it out of her mind even a couple of days later.
"I heard what happened," Cinder said, sitting down next to Jaune as Mercury and Emerald joined them too. "Are you okay?"
"Our fearless leader wouldn't die from something like that." Nora huffed. "You would have to drop a building on him at least."
"That's not an invitation to try," Ren smirked, sipping at some algae-green shake, another homebrew concoction of his own design. To the confusion of Cinder's group, many at the table reeled at the sight of the patient and silent boy peacefully sipping at the frothy algae slush.
"Would be cool to see." Ruby admitted absently, gazing off into the distance.
"Jaune, your best friend is trying to kill you." Weiss commented to Jaune.
"Eh wouldn't be the first time. She wanted to spar with live ammo recently. Something about testing a new caliber against a live and sturdy target."
"But your Aura can take it!" Ruby protested indignantly.
"Well, it's assuring to see you're well." Cinder patted his shoulder, causing Pyrrha's eyes to narrow in suspicion. "Any idea who might have done it?"
"Not a single idea." Jaune sighed heavily. "I like to think I don't go out making enemies." He grinned boyishly. "My charm and good looks are enough to keep me out of trouble."
A loud snort came from Emerald as Mercury began to choke on his lunch as he started to laugh. Blake looked up from her book and smacked him on the back, saving the boy's life, before going back to reading.
"Thanks…" Mercury gasped, inhaling the sweet air into his lungs.
"Mmm hmm." Blake acknowledged in her normal Blake way as her eyes stayed on her book.
"Well, I enjoyed talking to you in the library." Cinder continued with a smile. "If you're free later, I would like to request your company again. There's a few things I need to purchase in Vale and I was hoping you could show me around?"
Jaune's brain turned off for a moment. An attractive girl was asking him out. On what seemed like a date. What weird universe had he woken up into? If it wasn't for being surrounded by people and appearing rude in front of Cinder, Jaune might have pinched himself. Though he knew he wasn't in a dream. Dream diving the last few days helped him recognize when he entered one. But to actually be asked out by a beautiful exchange student? After he sort of fumbled their first meeting? Jaune was incredibly lucky Cinder found that endearing.
The other people at the table didn't take it as well.
All as one, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang turned their heads toward Blake, who was sipping her tea while engaged in her book. Completely oblivious to everything around her unless it threatened the safety of her belongings. The girls couldn't believe their quiet raven-haired beauty was just ignoring the fact that Cinder was flirting with her boyfriend right in front of her. Ruby had even told Emerald that Blake and Jaune were dating.
The young leader looked over at Emerald and Mercury, both who had winced at this. They obviously knew, so why was Cinder a man stealer?
Pyrrha had gone silent and ridged as the blood rushed out of her face, giving her a ghostly complexion. Nora and Ren were looking between her, Jaune, and then each other. Nora had told Pyrrha multiple times if she wanted something, she needed to go for it. Maybe she shouldn't have been subtle and not only mentioned Jaune's name but put on a puppet display so they could see how cute they would be together. Now some random woman jumped in to snag their leader away. This could disrupt the team balance.
Or so Nora thought. Ren just felt sorry for Pyrrha, but she had plenty of opportunities to court Jaune. It would be unfair to think of Jaune's consideration when their friend had every opportunity to ask him out.
"I could show you around, sure." Jaune agreed, rubbing his neck anxiously. "My weekend's mostly free. And I had been thinking about going out to Vale too. So, I don't see why not."
"We have a lot of training to do for the Vytal festival." Pyrrha reminded him abruptly, seeing a way to try to prevent the two from spending the entire day together.
"Not until the evening though. But if we go in the morning?"
"It's a date." Cinder gave a small giggle, causing Emerald and Mercury to exchange shocked expressions.
With a mischievous twinkle in her amber eyes, she stood up, followed closely by her teammates, plates of lunch in hand as they appeared to have only stopped by to merely pick up their meals. She waved back at the shell shocked blond with another giggle (one Mercury had discretely gagged at out of sight of anyone) as they left the cafeteria.
"I'm sorry for us having to go so soon, but I promised to bring Mint some lunch. We'll talk later, 'kay?"
For several moments, Jaune simply stared at the retreating form of the raven leader, mouth gaping as everyone seemed to be in a similar state.
"Wow… who would have thought she would want to hang out with me?" Jaune muttered only to notice several glares coming his way. "What?"
"Nothing." Weiss sniffed, acting like the cold Snow Angel that Jaune had been used to during most of his time at Beacon.
"I'm sure you can figure it out yourself." Yang growled at the bewildered boy.
"Yang, Weiss, conference!" Ruby declared with a gavel-like bang of her fist. To Jaune's bewilderment, Weiss didn't even try to argue, she just got up and left with the sisters. Jaune stared after them and then looked at his teammates in confusion.
"Pyrrha!" Nora shot up. "I need to use the bathroom. Let's go!"
"Huh, wait, Nora!" The champion tried to argue but she was dragged away by the ginger's superhuman strength.
"What's with them all?" Jaune asked Ren. The boy merely shrugged. To him, this was mostly normal for Nora and he already had an idea of what those two were going to talk about. "Blake?"
The raven-haired girl looked up and noticed her team gone.
"Must be something they ate."
"You weren't paying attention at all." Jaune accused flatly.
"Not really." Blake gave him a small smile. "I trained myself to recognize my name and a few choice phrases Yang says that usually apply to me."
"I can't tell if you're joking or not and I find that disturbing." The chuckle escaping him contrasted with the boy's words. "Ruby always says you're a great listener and I know that's true. You just don't enjoy small talk to fill up the silence."
"Huh, you get me more than Yang does." Blake actually set down her book.
"What are you reading anyways?" Ren asked interestedly and Blake slid it over. "Oh, I heard of this series. It's a pretty popular mystery novel. Supposed to have a lot of twists to confuse the reader."
"A mystery novel?" Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Without romance?"
"I read a lot of different genres!" Blake snapped, amber eyes narrowing. "The Man With Two Souls is one of my favorites and it doesn't have romance."
"I'm just joking, but me thinks thou protests too muc- OW!" A sharp pain shot through his ankle. "Kicking again, Blake? Don't make me tell Ruby on you."
"She won't believe you." Blake countered. "I would never do something like that."
"Ren's my witness." Jaune pointed to his friend and teammate.
"Technically, I saw nothing if the kick happened under the table." Ren pointed out and then yawned. He seemed sort of out of it.
"Traitor!" Jaune accused with a fake gasp.
"As much fun as this is, I should check up on my team." Blake relented, slowly standing up. "Yang and Ruby are one thing, but if Weiss is going with them willingly and I wasn't asked to come? Something is up and it's never good. I'll see you around, Jaune. Ren."
"Probably a good idea." Jaune agreed with a nod. "Catch you later, Blake."
Jaune and Ren left a short time later after they finished eating.
"Feels weird not to have Pyrrha and Nora around." Jaune commented. "How long has it been since it was just us?"
"Not counting school work or Aura training?" Ren asked passively.
"Not counting those." Jaune confirmed with a laugh.
"It's been a while," Ren admitted, thinking back. "Nora always tells me guy time is important, just like girl time is for her and Pyrrha."
"So anything new happening to you?" Jaune half-joked.
"I should be the one asking you that." Ren pointed out. "You seem to have grown a bit. Not physically, just more comfortable with yourself."
"Confident?"
"Yes, in some ways," Ren admitted with a small nod. "Did something happen?"
"I guess I realized that while I have problems, everyone else does too,"
Jaune weighed his words as he thought back to all the dreams he encountered. Like Blake and Weiss, Ren was rather perceptive. He already had one person among their group in on his Semblance, and while Ren was his best male friend, he wasn't sure it was the right time to let him in on the secret. Last thing he wanted was his friend growing too curious.
"In the grand scheme of things, I guess mine are insignificant to what others have gone through. Training with you, Pyrrha, and Nora is helping me catch up to everyone, and I made amends with people I hurt, like Weiss. You can say I've been viewing things through others and it's helped me realize who I am."
"I see…" Ren pondered this in silence. "You mention you have a big family at home. It seems that being away from them has given you the opportunity to discover yourself."
"Huh, now that you mention it, my sisters were always a bit overbearing." Jaune considered his friend's words as he remembered his sisters dragging him around, making him learn all sorts of skills people would find 'girly,' and never giving him a moment's peace. "Maybe that's why I got used to Nora so quickly. She's not as hyper as when my entire family is together in one place."
"I'll tell her she's lagging behind and to kick it up a notch."
"Please don't. We have to clean up her messes."
A laugh echoed between them as they walked through the halls of Beacon. Ren was always something like a brother to Jaune. The closest male friend he had since leaving home. That didn't mean Jaune knew everything about him. Ren and Nora were orphans, their village overrun by Grimm when they were just kids, leading them to travel together for years. It's why they were so close. Beacon was their first permanent home in a long time. The silent boy cared deeply for his friends, was full of wise advice when Jaune was troubled, and would always set aside time to listen. Ren also enjoyed playing video games, and reading, though not as much as Blake, and was pretty much the team's resident ninja.
But a lot of Ren remained shrouded in mystery. It was hard for Jaune to really know what Ren was thinking when it didn't involve Nora. They were totally together-together, no matter what Nora said. Jaune was positive that if someone asked Ren out, Nora would deal with them. Not that Ren expressed interest in any other girl. They never discussed their preferred types, so Jaune always wondered who Ren was attracted to besides their teammate. It was kind of an awkward question, so he never really got around to asking about it.
That didn't mean he didn't wonder.
'I wish I knew what ran through Ren's head half the time.'
Jaune may have thought that, but he still valued his friendship immensely. He was sure that over their four years of Beacon, a lot of information would be revealed. Ren had also accepted Jaune's reasoning when he revealed to him and Nora about his transcripts. Now he was giving Jaune Aura lessons during his free time.
What more could he ask for in a friend?
Then a burst of light drew his attention.
Eyes widening in horror, Jaune saw a spark leap off his hand and flew toward Ren. There was a small green glow on Ren's back before the light flickered and vanished as quickly as it appeared. Jaune's footsteps faltered as he gaped at what he saw. It wasn't just the spark that filled him with dread, though he didn't enjoy seeing it. There was another important detail.
It jumped like three feet toward Ren. Like oil popping from a scolding metal skillet.
'There was no physical contact!'
"Jaune?" Ren noticed him stop and turned around. "Something wrong?"
"N-No." Jaune shook his head. "Just thought… I heard something."
Ren took a moment to listen, with his eyes scanning the area around them. It was not only a testament to their friendship, but an acknowledgment of what had been happening to Jaune recently that Ren didn't even bother questioning him.
"I don't hear anything," Ren told him. "Remember, while you should keep an eye out, it's important not to get paranoid. You'll jump at everything that moves and it will only cause stress."
"You're right." Jaune took a deep breath. "I'll try not to get wrapped up in it. I'm sure that person will get tired of me soon enough."
At the moment, Jaune focused more on his Semblance than over the mysterious prankster.
Physical contact was no longer needed! Just being near someone could cause his Semblance to activate. Would he have to be a hermit to avoid this happening? Things were spiraling out of control and he would probably be forced to tell everyone about his Semblance so they wouldn't think he was hiding this so he could spy on them. Part of him wanted to tell Ren about it now, but as he had told Weiss, there were a lot of things holding him back.
Oddly, part of him wanted to see what Ren dreamed about.
"Jaune?"
"Huh, what?" Jaune blinked and shook his head. "Sorry, was daydreaming, what did you say?"
"I asked if we could skip Aura training today." Ren repeated calmly. "I'm feeling a little off and wanted to get some rest."
"That's fine." Jaune assured him. "I'm feeling a little tired myself. Maybe there's a bug going around?"
They reached their dorm room and Ren went inside to take a quick nap while Pyrrha and Nora were busy doing girl things. Jaune decided to take the opportunity to get Weiss' advice and pulled out a Scroll. Thinking about how he wanted to phrase this, he sent a quick message.
'Shocked Ren by accident. No contact, but it jumped a couple of feet. Help.'
The boy waited and waited… and waited.
No response came, which was pretty unusual. Weiss tended to be prompt in her responses. Figuring her team was working on something and she couldn't answer, Jaune let it go. He was interested in hearing her take on what was causing his Semblance to trigger. The moment they could narrow it down, he could find a way to stop accidentally invading dreams. Once it was controlled, Jaune promised himself he would tell all his friends. Then they could figure out what they wanted to do with it.
Jaune didn't hear from Weiss all day.
Nora and Pyrrha returned within a couple of hours. He had questioned them about what they were up to but Nora only mentioned 'girl stuff.' Pyrrha kept looking at him and no matter what Jaune asked her, she didn't go into details. Thinking about her dream, he wondered if Nora had convinced her to confess. If she did so, Jaune wasn't sure what he was going to do. Rejecting her could disrupt their team dynamic and saying yes when he wasn't one hundred percent sure he wanted to go out with her wasn't fair to her.
It began to dawn on him the struggle his partner was going through.
Whatever happened, he would make sure to be as kind as he could be while being honest with her and himself.
The thought continued to haunt him along with the knowledge he was going to invade Ren's dream that night. Currently, Jaune was laying in bed, staring at the dark ceiling, his mind racing and organizing his fears and worries as the rest of his team slept soundly.
What would he do if Nora convinced Pyrrha to confess to him? Should he accept, or deny her? Could their friendship and team survive? Pyrrha was like family and he didn't want to hurt her. Ugh, at least Weiss didn't have to go through this. She didn't like him initially due to his actions. Speaking of Weiss, she still hadn't responded to him about him connecting with Ren. Was Team RWBY really that busy? He hadn't seen any of them all afternoon.
'I guess they have their own lives.' Jaune thought to himself as he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. His worries kept circling in his mind, but eventually, like every night before, darkness eventually overtook him.
The next moment, he woke up in a familiar setting.
"Huh?" The boy spun around taking in the familiar sights. "This is supposed to be Ren's dream. Why am I in Nora's?!"
He was outside, the pale light of the moon illuminating the buildings around him. The houses were of a more oriental style, more colorful, and spaced differently than Valean architecture typically was. A small river ran through it with an old sakura tree growing in the main square. It wasn't the first time he had been here. His very first dream dive with Nora led him to this location. This was Nora's recurring dream involving beating up Grimm and turning them into rugs.
The details didn't match here this time. Maybe he was in Ren's dream.
'Why was Ren dreaming about this too?'
Well, if Nora kept talking about it, and she did almost every day, maybe it subconsciously sunk into Ren's mind. However, what confused Jaune was how similar the place looked. Sure there were some differences in the placements of buildings, but the overall detail was oddly specific. It wasn't like dreaming of someone they saw every day. This was some random place where Nora killed Grimm.
Wait… was this a random place?
If Ren had been here with Nora before, then it would make sense that they could both imagine it. The small differences in details could be because of multiple reasons. They paid attention to different things, they only were here once, or maybe they were young. Jaune would have been more worried if two people unrelated to each other would be dreaming of the exact same setting.
He heard some shouting in the distance and Jaune turned toward the noise.
"Looks like the Grimm attack is starting." Jaune muttered. "If Ren is thinking about Nora's dream, it shouldn't be too bad, though probably not as weird." He chuckled a little. "Might as well go check it out."
Taking a step, Jaune suddenly felt a weight on his hip. Looking down, he saw his sword in his sheath.
For once, Crocea Mors was secured on his person before anything happened.
"What the…?"
Usually, he was just in his normal clothes when entering someone's dream unless he was taking the position of a side character, like the photographer in Velvet's dream. Starting with a weapon and, by the looks of it, his combat gear was something new. Ren would be familiar with his attire but for his friend's subconscious to give him the gear before anything happened was kind of unnerving. A small chill ran down his spine as Jaune continued to walk forward. Something was weighing down on him, telling him this wasn't going to be like Nora's dream.
The very air felt heavy and a buzz could be felt in his spine.
Did nightmares have some kind of natural overwhelming presence?
His hand slid down and gripped the handle of his sword, pulling it out slowly. Whatever was happening here, Jaune wanted to be prepared. His other hand unclipped his sheath from his hip and flipped it open, the metal plates sliding together to form the shield.
Taking a deep breath, the boy kept moving forward between the rows of houses. He hadn't actually seen a Grimm yet, but the shouting in the distance was getting louder. Jaune considered running ahead, but stopped himself. This was a dream by Ren, so the smart thing to do was to scope out the situation first or he risked being dragged in.
Though the fact he was in his armor with his weapon already implied he was.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A high pitched scream rang out across the town, full of panic and fear. Instantly, Jaune's feet began to move. No matter if this was a dream or not, he was a Huntsman and would help anyone who needed it, even if they were imaginary. His morals wouldn't let him do anything less. There was also the fact that the dream was picking up to consider and if Jaune waited too long, he might miss something important relating to his situation. Turning a corner, he arrived at the main square and froze.
This wasn't like Nora's dream.
Not at all.
Glynda's dream was the first one to come to mind as Jaune saw dozens of bodies laying on the ground. Male, female, adult, children, young and old alike. Gored corpses were strewn about like torn packages of greasy meat ravaged by wild animals. Blood pooled underneath him as several Ursai and Beowolves were prowling through the town. Grimm climbed over homes, tore down walls and stands, and demolished all which stood in the way of their hunt.
Bile sloshed in the pit of Jaune's stomach and threatened to crawl up his throat. A deep sense of frustration and regret burned in his chest before he calmed himself with a guttural grunt.
The massacre had already begun. Jaune's hesitation to rush, and his lack of being able to sleep, had most likely caused a good part of the dream to progress in Ren's mind without him there. It may have turned down this grizzly route even if he had fallen asleep sooner. Perhaps if he had slept at a different time, the dream's progress would have changed too.
The boy didn't get a chance to contemplate that idea for very long. His presence did not go unnoticed as the Grimm turned toward him. Their growls grew louder as they approached, slowly surrounding him in clumps of malicious black, white, and red.
'Damn it…'
Even if this was a dream, Jaune was hardly an amazing fighter. Sure, thanks to Pyrrha's help, he could kill one or two Grimm by himself. Surrounded? It looked like he was about to die and wake up back in his bed. But there was no way he was going to go down without fighting. Maybe his sacrifice would help Ren face his nightmare, like Jaune had helped Yang break free of hers.
Raising his blade, Jaune faced his opponents.
"Come and get me!"
A Beowolf leaped at him and Jaune braced himself for impact.
Thump!
Jaune heard a whistling sound a moment before an arrow flew through the air and sank into the skull of the Grimm. It fell to the ground, dead before it even knew what happened. The other Grimm turned toward the attacker before three more fell from a continuous barrage. Jaune took the moment to swing his blade and behead an Ursa that was closeby.
"This way!" A man shouted and Jaune didn't need to be told twice. Darting toward the archer, the Grimm tried to follow, only to be struck down by multiple well placed shots. The remaining beasts fell as Jaune slipped between two buildings where a man was standing, holding a bow tightly in one hand. When Jaune got a good look at him, his mouth fell open.
The man looked like an older Ren.
He was tall with black hair streaked with gray pulled back into a ponytail, a mustache, and a goatee. The man wore a sleeveless green tailcoat over a long-sleeved white shirt, and black pants tucked into open-toe sandals, a black sash with a single pouch and an archer's glove on his left hand. His eyes were like pale gold, so it couldn't be Ren, as Jaune's friend had magenta eyes.
Still, the resemblance was uncanny.
"Thanks for the help."
"Who are you?" The archer asked sternly, faded gold eyes never leaving the rampaging Grimm pillaging the village.
"Jaune, a passing Huntsman." A small white lie wouldn't hurt. He was a Huntsman-in-Training. "You?"
"Li, and your timing is fortunate," Li told him. "Our town is being assaulted by Grimm and we need all the help we can get."
"How bad is the situation?" Jaune asked immediately.
"The surprise attack overwhelmed our defenses and the survivors are taking refuge in the middle of the city behind the last wall of defense, come." The man gestured for Jaune to follow. "Though I don't think we'll get out of this alive."
"I think we will." Jaune tried to keep the man's spirits up as he led them. It was a known fact that Grimm was attracted to negative emotions. If you wanted to combat such negativity, then it was best to abandon all thoughts of negativity to begin with. "And I'll do anything I can to help."
The middle of town was barricaded as Li led him inside. There were guards, random civilians, and kids. All with blurry faces. They had actual faces and weren't just smooth skin, but looking at them was like trying to see through a blurry window. Eyes, nose, and mouths were all there, but details were distorted by some kind of mental fog.
It was hard for Ren to imagine these people, and yet he could imagine this Li person's face perfectly. This man had to be important to Ren and since they look the same, could this person be his dad?
The moment Jaune considered this, his stomach dropped.
Everything clicked into place instantly.
Ren and Nora had dreams of the same place and the same design, being attacked by Grimm. Both of them were orphans during the attack. Li was a splitting image of Ren and even wore similar colors and designs. The man's face was also clearly visible. Could he be…?
"Father!"
His question was answered as a small child with short black hair with pink eyes and a steak of the same color in his hair ran up to them. His shirt was green with magenta shoulders and was matched with white pants. The kid was only half as tall as Jaune was, but instantly, he could tell who it was.
Ren… as a child…
"You're alive!" Ren ran up and hugged him.
"I couldn't stand by while there were survivors." Li assured him. "This young man, Jaune, is helping us. He's a Huntsman."
Ren looked up at Jaune with admiration. That was probably the weirdest thing in the dream so far. Jaune wasn't someone to look up to among his friends, except in physical height. The others were much stronger, smarter, and worked harder than him. Ren was included in that. Seeing Ren as a child admiring him was a little disconcerting.
"Will you save us from the Grimm?" Ren asked hopefully with watery eyes.
"That's why I'm here." Jaune assured him, playing along with the dream.
"Where's your mother and Nora?" Li asked Ren.
"Mothers taking shelter and Nora's over there." Ren pointed. Jaune turned and saw a ginger-haired girl wearing pink pants, a white shirt with a pink heart on the front, and a black jacket. Her hair was longer and kind of shaggy over the Nora that Jaune knew. "Nora, father's back!"
"Is everything going to be okay?" Nora asked, rushing over.
"It's still a delicate situation, but we're getting it under control." Li told them. "For now, you two need to…"
CRASH!
"AHHHHHH!"
"RUN!"
"IT'S A NUCKELAVEE!
"Oh no…" Li's eyes widened in horror as he drew his bow. "Ren, take Nora and run!"
"But father…!" Ren started to protest.
"GO NOW!" Li yelled, beginning to run forward.
A deafening roar drowned out his words as it drew closer.
Jaune's breath caught in his throat, and for the first time since he had encountered his first Grimm, he took a step back out of sheer fear. Grimm were monsters but they each held the appearance of some wild animal you could encounter in the forest. They held some familiarity with them. But what stood before Jaune wasn't familiar or natural at all. It couldn't even be called a beast or monster.
It was a living nightmare.
A chilling breath was released from the lowly neighing beast as it stopped once it came into sight. The Grimm took the shape of a black horse-like creature. Its equine body was thick and muscled with a height two feet above even someone like Jaune. Bone plates protected its underside like visible ribs and its snout was platted with bones as well. Without the need for claws, fangs, or extra appendages, it could kill a person by trampling alone with its claw-shaped forelegs and crushing back hooves.
TWITCH.
Something dangled at the side of the behemoth of a Grimm horse's side, like a stretched-out lump of clay.
It squirmed.
It clicked.
It snapped.
It lifted its head, groaning lowly as if every twitch of its muscles only served to bring it agony. Asit rose, its lump of a body up to stare hauntingly at the frozen humans in its sights. Without a doubt, it was this thing dragging on the body of the Grimm, which made it a nightmare rather than a monster.
The thing had the shape of a skinless human, pitch black and lanky, with its rib cage exposed. Atop the humanoid thing's head were curved horns, a mouth that appeared seemingly sewn on to leave horrific gaps between tar flesh, and elastic arms dangling at its sides to drag along the dirt with its two-clawed finger. Adding on to its gruesome and deformed appearance were fish bone-like spines protruding out of its spine and various weapons buried in its bank.
Blood stained the lost weapons, shivering with slaughtered emotion.
Instantly, heavy pressure began to crush Jaune, bearing down on him so suddenly that he nearly fell to his knees. As if some almighty force had locked him in place and threatened to squash him if he so much as blinked.
It reminded him of Cinder's dream. Where he couldn't act against the flow of events. His entire body felt weighed down as if he was being chained to iron balls that restricted all movement while standing in mud. Struggling to do something, Jaune watched the Grimm approach them. Eyes glowing red as the horse snorted.
A couple of men appeared at their side, spears laid down to their waist, and ran forward with fierce shouts.
The Grimm horse snorted.
All it took was a mere lift of its clawed front legs and the spear men were crushed with ugly cracks of blood and gore stamping them down.
Li pulled back the string of his bow and let multiple arrows fly through. They collided with the tight black skin of the Nuckelavee, embedding themselves into the skin. No reaction could be seen on the Grimm's face as it approached, its hooves clopping softened by the corpses beneath it.
"RUN, LIE!" Li yelled again.
Behind the two warriors' backs, little Ren froze, body trembling terribly as his magenta eyes were glued to the thing cracking its joints in sickly pops.
Churning in Jaune's stomach was the first warning the boy received that something was wrong.
The pressure accompanying something important wasn't new. He had felt that in other dreams. Nightmares showing monstrous Grimm? Also not new. Feeling physically sick? That was new. Looking at that Grimm, Jaune felt something was off. He supposed it was possible that the Grimm might be a manifestation of the attack against Ren's parents and home. Everything else added up with what he knew. So either Ren was an avid dreamer…
Or Jaune's instincts were right.
Taking a single step forward was difficult, as his entire body was weighed down by increased gravity. He could actually hear the strain of his body in a groan. The dream was trying to stop him from doing something, but what was it? Was he not supposed to fight the Nuckelavee? That didn't make much sense. Not only was Ren a Huntsman who was supposed to defeat Grimm, but if Jaune's instincts were right and this was a dream of when he and Nora became orphans, then wouldn't his friend doubly want to take this monster out?
Or was he too terrified? Pressure had a source, it wasn't something born without purpose. It had always stemmed from the dreamer themselves in some form. Ren had only been a child when the Nuckelavee attacked. It was probably pretty scarring, even as an adult. How long had he been reliving this nightmare every time Nora talked about her own experience, as he knew the underlying truth?
"I'll stand by you Li!" Jaune shouted, straining against the weight on his arm.
Crocea Mors rattled, its blade seemingly being pulled to the ground. It hurt. Even if it was a dream, he felt his muscles cry out as if he was at the gym forcing himself to lift weights three times his normal limit. Briefly, his aura pulsed along the entirety of his body and he felt Crocea Mors rise.
Difficult as it was, Jaune lifted Crocea Mors shield up to glare back at the groaning Grimm nightmare and swung his blade in its direction in a warning.
"We won't let this Grimm break through the line!"
"I'll cover you Jaune!" Li cocked his bow and aimed at the Nuckelavee.
Bone snaps were heard from the Grimm as it began to shamble forward. Its demonic human face twisted its neck unnaturally and stretched its sewn mouth in some kind of gruesome grin. The haunting grin wasn't aimed at the two men standing in its way. Nor was it aimed at the humans scrambling away from it and its brothers like ants. No, its gaze sought only one person.
Those seething red eyes captured the little magenta-eyed boy who still hadn't moved an inch.
"Ren was it?" Jaune turned to him. "I can tell you're going to be destined for great things. When the time comes, I'll know you protect everyone, including Nora. Don't let fear dictate what you do."
"I won't, sir!" Ren agreed. "Nora's important to me."
"I can tell, now go." Jaune felt a little lighter as he talked to Ren. Giving him a small amount of hope and helping his mental state might be cutting through the nightmare's presence. "We'll take care of this."
"But…"
"You heard the Huntsmen, son." Li ordered. "GO!"
Child Ren gulped and turned before running away. Part of Jaune wondered what would happen if the dreamer was made to leave. Would the Grimm just disappear and they would appear somewhere else or would it be like a programmed simulation running in the subconsciousness? Weiss' dream had two completely different events going on simultaneously. A conscious and unconscious layer not even the dreamer was aware of.
Such deep thoughts would have to be put to rest. Because he had to rid these malicious nightmares to allow his friend to rest and wake up with a smile on his face.
"Ready?" Li asked Jaune.
"Let's do this."
Sparks sputtered, bounced, and shattered as Jaune's aura broke free from the overbearing force of the dream's authority. Energized by the freedom, Jaune dashed forward with a loud roar, body tucked behind his shield to meet with the groaning abomination. Any hopes of evading the behemoth Grimm was tossed aside as the Nuckalavee's sights immediately locked onto his white armored form. At that moment, it only saw the knight and only the knight.
Just as planned.
Compared to the likes of Ruby or Pyrrha, he wasn't agile. Even with all the leaps and bounds made in his training, there was no way he could speed blitz his opponents. He lacked the proper stats to achieve such moves.
In gamer terms, Jaune was the Tank. A unit lacking in speed, agility, strength, skill, but possessing a high stat in one of the most common attributes: Defense. Meaning he couldn't do the kind of feats of greatness his friends could nor could he imitate them. Training with Pyrrha, being taught by Professor Goodwitch, what fights he'd participated in thus far, all told him how to better himself in a battle.
Li was a long distance fighter. Most likely he had some high mobility and evasiveness. Direct combat was probably an option, and he was most likely far superior to Jaune's level of skill, but he appeared far more fit for being kept at behind the line rather than the front.
Meaning that if they were to fight together, this would be their roles: Jaune would take all the damage, keep the focus solely on himself, and let Li be the one to deal the continuous damage. Too bad they lacked a healer of some sort.
Clawed feet as big as Jaune's head stamped forward, slamming down upon the charging knight with the full weight of the Grimm's body.
Jaune scooted back to avoid it, not wanting to try to hold up the monstrous Grimm or start tanking any heavy hits so early. It was a good thing he evaded the first blow; the front clawed foot missed and slammed into the ground with a thunderous boom. Deep fissures sprouted from the clawed foot, kicking up dirt with such force that Jaune's aura surfaced automatically to shield him from the blunt spray.
The upper humanoid body jerked, its skeletal red eyes staring at Jaune with a sporadic twitch of its head. With a groan, its entire body gave out,slipping over the side of its steed like all its bones had turned to jelly, leaving it scraping against the ground.
"U-uuuuuuhhhh-hhgggggga-gaaaaaaaaa."
Jaune shuddered at the disturbing groan and the creepy stare of the demonic faced Grimm.
At that moment, he realized he made a mistake. Just like he had forced the Grimm's attention upon himself with a shouting charge, it was doing something similar with its groaning.
Something black squirmed along its legs like a snake. With rubber-like elasticity, the Nuckalavee discreetly stretched one of its lanky arms, twisting its appendage around its large body so that it burst out from overhead like a snapping viper. Boney clawed fingers snapped and clenched into a devastating blunt sling aimed at the stunned blond knight.
Bracing himself, Jaune quickly snapped his shield up to the striking bone plated fist.
CLANG!
Air cracked and metal erupted with the sound of a thunder-like crack.
"HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT!"
W-was this what it felt like to block a fucking cannon ball?! Not even Nora's grenade launcher could pack such power! The sound of claws colliding with metal rang out like a thunderous gong and the brunt of the blow reverberated through Jaune's shoulder. Even with aura, he-
Sneakers left the ground as the force did more than just cause his aura to visibly pulse. The blow sent him flying from his guarding stance like some rag doll breaking at its seams.
'What the fuck?! Not even an Ursa Major hits that hard! It's like being flung by a DeathStalker!'
He'd been hit so hard that he flew right over Li before colliding with the ground. Jaune gritted his teeth as he was sent rolling across the pavement, stopping only when his back hit a tree.
"T-That hurt." Jaune gasped as he forced himself back up on his feet, glaring at the groaning Grimm as it cracked more joints. The blow, even with Crocea Mors shield blocking a majority of the damage, had been powerful enough to deliver a terrible shock through his body and send him flying several yards away. It hurt…but not as it should have.
He rolled his shoulder with a curious stare. The pain was ebbing away faster than even his Aura's healing could normally fix. It should have honestly hurt more. Especially against a green horn. Was it because this was a dream? For some reason, this felt different when compared with his first dream fight in Velvet's dream against Cardin.
Jaune could identify pain, but because it wasn't his real body, there was a limit to what he could feel. Thank the Brothers, otherwise it was highly likely even a Tank like him could have been taken out with the first blow.
Arrows were flying from Li, but the Nuckelavee just kept approaching. The man was backing up as he continued the assault to give himself more time. Due to the size of the Grimm, the arrows were nothing more than small needles sticking into a monster already stabbed by several other large weapons.
"You won't take my son!" Li yelled, refusing to stop firing. Then his expression turned from determination to horror as his fingers gripped the empty arrow quiver on his back. Stepping back, the man knew he was in trouble.
The Nuckelavee screeched in a high pitch, the spines on its back elongating and shivering. With a snap, its right arm stretched far back like a rubber band and clenched its dense fists with a sick grin. Another cracking cannon shot was being prepared, one far more devastating than the one that had sent Jaune flying several yards back.
"NO!" Jaune yelled, kicking off the ground as he pushed himself forward. The weight of the dream bore down on him once more, but he wasn't going to stop. "That's Ren's father!"
This was a dream.
From the outside looking in, people would probably assume it's foolish to put so much emotion in facing a nightmare. You can cry and yell at movies, but you don't actually believe them to be real. It was an entirely different perspective being inside a movie. Jaune's Semblance did just that. To him, everything around him was actually happening. Not only that, it was happening to his brother in all but blood's head. No child should have to see their father die in front of them. If Ren actually saw this when he was a kid and was able to become the great person and friend he was now…
Ren was far stronger than Jaune ever realized. Especially if this nightmare continued to plague him to this day.
"I won't let you!" Jaune roared, a faint white light erupting around him as the weight holding him broke. Feeling as if he was free from being bound with countless chains, Jaune charged forward, shield raised, leaping in front of Li.
CLANG!
Shockwaves rippled through Jaune's arm and traveled through his body as the Nuckelavee's hand collided with the metal barrier with such force his ears popped. Gritting his teeth, the boy pushed back with everything he got. His feet slid against the paved street as the stretched arm continued to drive itself against his shield, causing his body to groan under the stress.
But this time he held! He wouldn't be blasted off again!
"D-dream on, you piece of shit!"
"Jaune!" Li yelled. "Just retreat! We can't take it down!"
"No!" Jaune shouted. "This is your home, your people, your happy memories!"
Another terrible thunderous crack of metal threatening to be shattered was heard. The second fist was fired and erupted with such force against Jaune's shield, the air exploded in a vicious shockwave that blew off the leaves of the tree close by.
It hurt, but Jaune held his ground even as his aura began to spark in a worrying manner he'd never seen before.
" I WON'T LET REN LOSE HIS HOME TWICE!"
If this had been in the real world, someone might have questioned what Jaune meant by it. Here? Li didn't even seem confused as The Nuckelavee pulled one of its arms back with a rubber band like snap. It grinned wider and swung its elongated clawed hands at the shield in an effort of knocking it aside. Gritting his teeth, Jaune leaned his head back, evading the sweeping swipe and slashed at the retreating appendage, causing the Grimm to emit a high pitched shriek. Red eyes glowed bright from the horse part and the human part as the smoking wound sealed itself close.
Of course it wouldn't be that easy. This enemy was Ren's foe and it was up to Ren to defeat it in his mind.
"You son, Ren, is one of the strongest people I know." Jaune told Li, as he kept his shield up for the next attack.
Claws swiped across the battlefield, sending sparks and screeching echoes across the abandoned town in the frenzied swats tearing gouges along the pavement. To counter the erratic slashing swipes, Jaune ran across the street, throwing his shield out to block the many swipes clawing at his shield.
"Lie? My son?"
"Who else?! What? You think I can defeat this thing?!" Jaune laughed desperately, raising his shield against a very wide slap that nearly dislocated his shoulder joint, "Hell no! Only Ren can beat this thing!"
"He's just a child!" Li shouted. "He can barely protect Nora!"
Something in what he said told Jaune he was on the right track. Ren was listening. Why else would the father in his dream say so out loud? This was most likely some kind of defense mechanism.
"Maybe now, but not the Ren I know." Jaune grunted as he was forced back by two twin piston punches. "A trained Ninja, capable of facing any Grimm in a calm and cool motion. I know he has my back and I have his… ahhh!"
The boy was lifted off his feet and tossed through the air again. Even if he could somehow block the blow, he was still much smaller than the Nuckelavee. It was strong enough to pick him up like a piece of trash. A gasp of pain escaped him as he slammed into the wall of a house.
"Jaune, just go!" Li said, as the Nuckelavee approached Jaune. It seemed to be ignoring the man. "You can't do anything here."
"NO!" Jaune stood up, swinging Crocea Mors back at the furiously scowling father. "What kind of friend would I be if I ran away!?"
"You barely know Ren." Li stressed with a glare. "He doesn't talk about his past with you and doesn't know how to talk with anyone except Nora. Even with her, he only listens. He lacks action! He's a passive child too fearful to take any risks for even his own good!"
"So what?!" Jaune spat back in anger. "Friendships are more than just words."
He ducked under the Nuckelavee's clawed hand, before rushing forward. He swiped at the retreating rubber arm, causing it to shriek and allowing Jaune to slip underneath its horse's legs. The monster almost stepped on him, but he just managed to roll to the side.
"He and I have fought side by side. When I needed help, he would always be willing to help me. I can tell him things I can't tell others because he'll keep them a secret. It can be about school work, about some stupid test I didn't study, about my lousy girl problems, about all my doubts and pathetic whining about being weak! No matter what, he'll listen with an open ear and never make me feel bad about my problems. Ren's the kind of friend everyone wants to have! Why else do you think Nora's in love with him?!"
That last line might have been a bit too far.
"We aren't like that!"
In the absence of whistling arrows, a spray of barking bullets arrived. Hot lead pierced the Nuckalavee's hide just as it prepared to stomp down upon Jaune, damaging it enough to cause it to leap back with a cry.
Turning around, Jaune saw Ren approaching rapidly, fully grown and guns drawn.
"What kept you?" Jaune yelled as he dove out of the way from an explosive taffy fist that would have collapsed his chest in.
"I need to make sure everyone had retreated to a safe spot." Ren unleashed a barrage of gunfire against the Nuckelavee, forcing it to raise its arm to block the bullets. "Thanks for holding it off."
"Won't Nora be upset she's missing out on the fun?"
"Oh, she'd never forgive us if I didn't tell her."
"DARN RIGHT!"
A giant pink explosion hit the Nuckelavee's flank, causing it to step backwards in pain as the missile collided straight into the underside of its ribs. On top of a nearby building, Nora was standing with her rocket launcher. Swinging it with a manic grin, the handle elongated into a giant hammer. The Grimm's long humanoid arm flew at her, stretching to unnatural degrees, but the hyperactive girl jumped out of the way and rolled on the ground before springing up to her feet.
"I'm going to protect my home too!" Nora told them.
"Good to see you back in action." Jaune laughed. "Ready?"
"Ren." Li said, stepping up. "You disobeyed me. I told you to leave. Run far away from here." Jaune frowned as again, he felt something was off but couldn't quite place it.
"I know and I'm sorry, father." Ren nodded. "But I can't. My friend here was willing to risk his life to protect my home, so I couldn't stand back and do nothing. You taught me that is the worst thing someone could do: a lack of action."
"You didn't take your mother and now she's dead!" Li pointed to a building. A woman with dusty rose hair held in a bun by a gray band and pink eyes wearing a long green dress screamed as the roof collapsed over her. "You can't help anyone but yourself!"
Jaune's eyes widened in horror.
"MOTHER!" Ren yelled, running toward her.
"No!" Nora screamed, rushing after him.
"That's not…" Jaune stepped forward and stopped. The Nuckelavee was just standing there, staring at them, but doing nothing except screeching occasionally. Ren and Nora were digging through the rubble but not finding anything. No body, no clothes, nothing. Something didn't add up. Jaune slowly turned toward Li and noticed something.
His eyes were slightly red.
Things weren't making sense. Something was definitely off. A small detail was noticed, causing Jauen's eyes to widen.
'The Nuckalavee…never actually hit Li. Even as Ren's father was shooting it with arrows. The Grimm only approached him and made one attack when I was running back. It only focused on me before Ren and Nora stepped in. Even now, it never once cared about Li. Why?'
Jaune gritted his teeth as he spun completely to face the 'father'.
"Who are you?" Jaune asked sternly.
"I'm Ren's father and I know what's best for him." Li answered simply.
"No… you're not. You can't be." Jaune's hand gripped his sword so tightly his knuckles were turning white. "What are you?" He raised his blade. "Answer me!"
"Get out of the way!" Li hissed, venom spilling out from his voice, hostility buzzing from his frame.
If Jaune was wrong, this might cause Ren some problems in ways he wouldn't understand. However, the creepy sick feeling was being intensified. He only now realized it wasn't the Nuckelavee generating it. The feeling was coming from Li. He couldn't tell before, but now there was no mistake. For some reason, the man was angry Ren returned with Nora to face the Nuckelavee. Why though? What could prompt a dream like this to form?
But his Huntsman instinct was drilled into him by countless training sessions with Pyrrha kicked in. Hesitation would only lead to being smacked around and struck down. If he saw an opening, he had to take it. An unpleasant taste formed in the back of his mind as he shoved his sword forward.
"Ah…" Li looked down into his chest as Jaune's sword stuck right through it. "You… bastard…"
"Leave!" Jaune ordered, his eyes narrowed in rage. "And never bother Ren again or you have ME to answer to."
Li's skin turned ashen as his red eyes began to turn into black voids. Black veins spread across the deathly pale skin rapidly like living snakes. His hair lost all color as the creature opened its mouth.
Unleashing a blood curdling scream.
Jaune had covered his ears at the sound and shut his eyes as the nightmare's high pitched wail made his head feel like it was being split in half. When the sound finally stopped, he tried to open his eyes, only to see everything as a blur for a moment. After his vision finally returned, he saw the pile of ashes that used to belong to Li's father with Jaune's blade standing upright in it. Jaune picked up the sword and sheathed it.
"Whatever you are, it's over. No one hurts my friends, even in a dream."
Turning around, a grin formed on his face as he saw Ren and Nora beating back the Nuckelavee. Explosions and gunfire echoed all around them as the giant Grimm was forced back. Jaune wished he had some popcorn as he watched. The nightmare seemed to have ended and it was now an action movie approaching the finale where the boss would finally be defeated. The collapsed building that the fake Li had made was gone, as if the woman had never been killed.
Nora had jumped so high, she actually was above the Grimm. Bringing down her hammer, the girl's monstrous strength caused the entire humanoid upper body to fall forward and smash against the ground, leaving a large dent in the pavement. Ren slipped under the horse's body and started cutting the tendons. As the ninja slipped out from behind it, the horse body collapsed onto the ground. Ren then jumped up onto the back of the beast and dashed forward. Running up the spiked spine, the boy transformed both of his guns into their dagger forms and held them out in front of him as he crossed his arms.
The humanoid body began to rise from the ground as it righted itself.
With a sudden swipe, the Nuckelavee's head was severed from its body.
"GO RENNY!" Nora cheered as she bounded toward him, wrapping him in a tight hug as the corpse laid there unmoving.
"No bad, but I think you could have done it flashier." Jaune chuckled, walking forward as he sheathed his sword.
"Thank you." Ren told him.
"For what?" Jaune asked. "You did all the work."
"I know I'm not the best talker, but you still have so much faith in me." Ren told him. "I promise I'll try to be better."
"Just be you, that's enough." Jaune held out a fist and, getting the idea, Ren fistbumped him back. "If you change to please me, I would hate that."
"And Renny's perfect the way he is!" Nora declared.
"I couldn't agree more." Jaune laughed along with her as Ren looked away embarrassed.
The next moment, Jaune woke up in his bed. It was still dark out, but he didn't feel that tired. If anything, he felt pretty good. Glancing over across the room, he could make out the peaceful figure of Ren. It was far too dark to see his facial expression, but Jaune hoped he was feeling better. Having to relive your hometown falling to a Grimm attack must have been tough.
And losing his family?
Jaune shivered at the thought. If he had lost his family, there was no way he would be the same person. How Ren and Nora could be so… normal after that gave testament to how strong they were. Jaune was really proud to call them his friends and valued both of them. Maybe one day they will tell him the full story and he'll be there to listen. For now, he would pretend he didn't know and keep treating them exactly the same. As his family.
Turning over, Jaune tried to fall back asleep to get another hour's rest before his alarm went off, but it was hard to fall asleep. Ren's father's transformation was still in the forefront of his mind. His stomach churned a bit as he remembered those vile words. What was that? Did Ren somehow blame himself for his parent's death? That didn't make any sense. He was a child!
Part of him was glad he managed to stab that aberration to stop Ren from believing that.
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