It took two weeks for Jaune to recover from his injuries. Jaune didn't think anything of it since he was already tired of laying in bed all day. But because he had so much time to think, his thoughts kept going back to his family.

While he wanted to deny it and pretend everything was okay, he knew that wouldn't help him. The first week he was depressed, the scenes of their deaths playing through his mind on repeat. The only thing that kept him from ending it all was his dream to be a huntsman. Not living up to his family's expectations was something he couldn't accept.

The next week was anger. Anger at the Grimm and anger at the world. Things like, why did Aldric only show up after everyone died? Where was the support for the other hunters? But he knew that the only thing to blame was the Grimm.

He gave up his anger at the world and concentrated it all on the Grimm. Jaune knew it wasn't healthy, but it was all he could do. Besides, having a goal was better than being depressed all the time.

Jaune was broken out of his thoughts by a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door swung open to the somewhat more familiar frame of Aldric, who was carrying soup in one hand and Crocea Mors in the other.

Jaune was shocked, not having lost track of everything when he passed out during the Grimm tide.

"Where did you find it?" He asked unbelievingly.

Aldric cracked a smile and tossed the sheathed sword to Jaune, who fumbled with it and almost dropped it.

"It's not me who found it, kid. You never let it go, even when you were unconscious. I had to pry the damn thing from your hand to start treating you."

"Huh…" Jaune trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Well, enough of that," Aldric set the soup down on his bedside table, "Eat up and meet me outside the Inn. It's time to start your training."

Jaune nodded, his face set with determination, and dug into his food. Aldric stepped out of the room, the door swinging shut behind him. As he walked down the stairs and out the door, he still couldn't believe that Jaune had healed up so fast.

'That's not normal…' He thought, 'Aura is one hell of a drug, especially for healing; but two weeks? I wasn't even sure he would survive with the severity of his injuries.'

People with aura heal two to three times as fast as normal people on average. Healing injuries that would put any normal person into a coma, though? That still takes time, at least two months.

Aldric stepped out of the inn and leaned against a wall, waiting for Jaune to finish. He was starting to anticipate training Jaune, if the size of his aura and speed of healing was anything to go by.

10 minutes later, Jaune stepped outside of the inn, spotting Aldric and making his way over.

"You ready, kid?" He asked.

Jaune nodded.

"Good. Follow me."

A couple of minutes later, the pair could be found standing in a clearing, about five meters away from each other.

"Alright. I'm going to test how far along you are with sword combat. I'm not an expert on swords," he said, lifting his hammer for emphasis, "But I should be able to tell if you moving wrong."

Jaune unsheathed his sword and took a defensive stance.

"You are going to attack me first. There's only one rule; come at me with the intent to kill."

"What? No! I'm supposed to protect people, not hurt them!" Jaune protested.

Aldric scowled, "You think you can hurt me even if you tried? That's rich. And not everybody is the sort you should be protecting…"

"I don't care, I'm not going to kill someone."

Aldric's scowl deepened, "Brat, if you wanna train with me, we do it my way. Or I'll drop your whining ass off at the next town. You got me?"

Jaune winced, before nodding reluctantly. He realized that he has no right to tell Aldric how to train him, considering it's Aldric who's sacrificing time and effort to help him.

"Good. Now, come at me!" Aldric shouted

Jaune rushes forward, stabbing his sword at Aldric's stomach. Aldric sidesteps easily and kicks Jaune in the side. Jaune was sent skidding back, barely holding his stance.

'So much strength!' He thought, ribs aching.

"Weak!" Aldric spat, "Is that all you got? Try again!"

And so Jaune did, again and again. He tried feints, stabs, overhead strikes, and even a couple of kicks, but Aldric seemed to predict the future and dodged every attempt. He hadn't even used his hammer yet, preferring to punish him with kicks.

Aldric scoffed, "Is this the extent of your resolve? When you can't even put your full power behind your swings?"

Jaune grimaced and spoke up to defend himself, but Aldric wasn't done.

"How are you going to protect anyone, when you're so weak? When your resolve is so lacking? Whoever trained you must have been weak as well."

Jaune saw red.

"Don't you dare insult my father! He was the strongest man I knew!"

Aldric scoffed, "Then attack me like you mean it! Prove it!"

"AHHHH!" Jaune screamed before rushing forward. He wasn't seeing Aldric anymore, he was staring at the Grimm. The Alpha Beowolve and their pack.

Aldric's eyes widened when a golden glow surrounded Jaune, enhancing his speed.

For the first time, Aldric didn't dodge. He lifted his hammer and batted away Crocea Mors with the head of his hammer. He then spun around and buried the hilt of his weapon into Jaune's stomach, sending him tumbling and retching.

Aldric grinned, "That's more like it, kid. I knew there was a fire in you."

Jaune got up shakily, wiping the spit from his mouth.

"Then what you said…"

"It was bullshit; I just needed you angry enough to attack me with your full strength," Aldric replied.

"Now…" He grinned darkly, "It's my turn!"

As Jaune watched inevitable pain launch towards him, he gulped.

'What have I gotten myself into?'

Jaune collapsed onto the ground, thoroughly beaten.

One hour.

That monster beat the shit out of him for a whole hour, mocking him the whole time.

"There's no such thing as a low blow in real combat, kid."

"Get up. When I was trained, my father would hit me while I was down. Don't make me do the same."

"Come on! There's no way you've got such weak arms! Pick up your sword."

"Alright, that's enough."

Jaune sighed in relief before slowly standing back up. He picked up his sword and was about to head back to the inn when Aldric spoke again.

"Where do you think you're going? I still haven't tested your hand-to-hand."

"Wha?" Jaune said dumbly.

Aldric chuckled, "You thought we were done already? Ha, the day's still young! Set your sword down and put 'em up."

Jaune groaned as he sheathed his sword and set it aside. He wasn't bad at unarmed combat, but it wasn't his strong point either. He knew a couple of grapples and some punches and kicks, but he always thought they would be useless against the Grimm and didn't practice much.

Jaune put his fists up and went on the offensive.

30 minutes later, he fell back on the ground, wheezing with exhaustion.

"Not bad, kid. We'll have to work on those basics some more, but you have good power behind your strikes."

Jaune groaned in response, feeling sore all over. If he thought that earlier was bad, then this was downright torture. He didn't get beat up; he got torn to pieces.

Every strike was aimed to disable or cause the most pain possible. It wasn't just punches and kicks, it was knees, elbows, and headbutts as well. His body was twisted in ways that shouldn't be possible.

"Can you stand?" Aldric asked.

Jaune tried, be he could barely lift his head, much less his entire body.

Aldric walked over to him and he felt himself being lifted off the ground. And then he was slung over his shoulder roughly.

"Gah! Be gentle!" Jaune complained, wincing in pain.

"Bah, you'll be fine."

He was carried back to the inn and plopped into one of the many chairs in the dining area. Aldric sat down across from him and set his massive hammer down as Jaune struggled to sit up. They sat in silence until a waitress came by to take their order.

Seeing that Aldric was content not talking, Jaune spoke up.

"I'm not an expert at unarmed combat," Aldric snorted and Jaune glared at him before continuing, "But I've never seen a style like the one you used. Where did you learn it?"

Aldric pondered for a moment like he was deciding if he was going to answer or not.

"It's a style that has been passed down in my family for generations. My father taught it to me before he passed."

"So it's a family secret?"

Aldric laughed at that, "No, no. It was very widely used a couple of centuries back. The style fell out of popularity because it isn't designed for killing Grimm."

Jaune tilted his head to the side, confused, "Then what is it used for?"

Aldric's lips set into a line, "Its origins were from blood sports. It was designed as the perfect killing tool against other humans. It's called Pankration, and it is the deadliest martial art on Remnant"

Jaune grimaced, "Then why still use it?"

Aldric looked at Jaune pointedly, "Don't play dumb. The Grimm aren't the only evil in Remnant."

"I know… It's just, why use a style that's only useful against people? Wouldn't it be of more use if it did both?"

Aldric's grin returned, "I never said it wasn't useful against the Grimm, kid. After mastering it, I modified it to work against Grimm."

Jaune was going to keep asking questions, but Aldric held a hand up.

"That's enough questions for now. It's time to go over your training schedule."

The waitress arrived at that moment with a tray full of food and drink. After she was gone, Aldric continued while they were eating.

"We'll wake up at dawn every morning and eat breakfast. From then until lunch, it's going to be physical training and combat training. We'll break for lunch. After lunch, I'm going to teach you everything I know about Grimm biology and surviving in the wilderness.

Jaune made a face when the subject of Grimm biology came up, which didn't pass Aldric's notice.

"You're gonna have to learn all their weaknesses if you want Pankration to be useful. I'll also be teaching you human anatomy. Knowing vitals is important for fighting with weapons and even more so when fighting without."

Jaune slumped in his chair, "I'll do it, even if I don't like it."

"That's the spirit."

The rest of the meal passed in comfortable silence as they enjoyed their meal. When they were done, Aldric took Jaune up to his room and lectured him on the basics of survival and Grimm types until sunset.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Go get some rest," Aldric said.

Jaune nodded sleepily before heading to his room. Aldric leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, deep in thought.

'That golden glow from earlier should be his semblance. So far, it looks like a basic boost to his physical capabilities, but I don't know for sure.'

It was obvious that Jaune didn't know he unlocked his semblance yet as he only activated it in moments of stress.

Aldric decided he wouldn't tell Jaune about it until he got better control over his aura. As he was now, trying to train a semblance he didn't know how to activate properly would just be a distraction.

Aldric stood up and moved to his bed, laying his hammer next to the nightstand.

'One month. I'll drill survival into his brain for one month before taking him to the wilds. I should be able to protect him well enough and he seems like a hands-on learner.'

Aldric fell into a fitful sleep, struggling with nightmares of all the things he's seen and done. Similarly, in the adjacent room, Jaune was also sleeping restlessly. Tortured by the scene of his family's brutal demise.

They went to bed lost in the past and would wake up to struggle in the present and hope for the future. All with no idea of how the simple kindness of taking in an orphaned boy would affect all of Remnant.

/ A/N /

Hello. I am pleasantly surprised by the positive response I've gotten to the first chapter. I'm not really good at writing dramatic things yet, but I'm glad you guys liked it.

This is a bit of a shorter chapter since it's mostly set up for the next chapter, which will cover his training and adventures in a multitude of time skips.

I really want to write him interacting with people at Beacon already, but I also don't want to do a seven-year time skip. It seems kinda lazy to skip 7 years of character development just because I'm a little impatient.

It still won't take long for Beacon according to my plan, but I've gone off-script from my notes before, so I don't know.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and leave a review!