Sunshine Chapter 22: Deer in Headlights, a rwby fanfic

Chapter 22: A Deer in Headlights

NinjaFang1331: Thank you! And Yeah, I thought it was time Ozpin popped up again in the story even if it was for a small role. But he's gonna pop up again in this chapter too!

NullProxy: I love JaunexCiel, it's one of my OTP's next to JaunexVernal and a few others!

A Spanish Reader: Thank you and I think that is the plan after I finish the Act along with a few chapters of other stories. Yeah, Ciel is the "Farnese" of the story and will have a similar character arc to her as the story progresses and Yeah, Jaune is rizzing a lot of people up without him even knowing! Vernal is going to have to stab people who got their eye on her man! Also, your English is fine, no worries!

Guest: Thank you for the words.

Asianman2: Jaune has indeed come a long way, and I do plan on taking a break once the Act is done.

blaiseingfire: That's the point, Because of what happened before Atlas, the Beowulf's taunting, and Jaune not being in the right exact sound of mind, Jaune is pushing people away and putting on a Facade of a tough and lonely person, not only that, but he's reckless and not thinking and not caring about what happens to himself. Jaune is in an extremely dark place and doesn't care who he pisses off, and is fully willing to fight whoever stands in his way or wrongs him. Trust me, Jaune's "I could care less attitude" is going show up a lot more during this Act

Update 14:

THE NIGHTMARE ACT IS FINISHED BEING PLANNED! HOORAY! NOW ONTO THE BLASPHEMUS ACT! WHOOHOO! Wait... Holy shit it's gonna be one of the longest Acts in the story! AAAHHH!

Anyway, Here are the updated chapters!

Part 1 Acts:

Atlas Act (Chapters 23-25)

Patch Act (Chapters 26-31)

Shade Act (Chapters 32-51)

Part 2 Acts:

Beacon Act (Chapters 52-60)

Nightmare Act (Chapters 61-65)

Blasphemous Act (Chapters 66-?)

Clipped Wings Act (Chapters ?)

Part 3 Acts:

The Ever-After Act (Chapters ?)

Sunshine Act (Chapters ?)

XXX

Down in Mantle, Jaune, Ciel, Winter, and Penny were at a local Huntsmen Bar where they were set to meet the Happy Huntresses, eventually, the huntresses arrived with Deery, who was still wearing her clothes but was sporting a Happy Huntress pin on her left breast and was armed with the weapons the other four Huntresses had.

Once the five Huntresses met with the other four, Robyn looked at Jaune with a raised brow, "What's this about?" She asked. "And why do we need them here?" She asked, gesturing toward WInter, Ciel, and Penny

Jaune sighed and looked at the older woman, "They're here because The General and I made a deal," Jaune said, "I help them find the White-Fang that are here in Atlas, they let me off for attacking those two over there," Jaune said, pointing at Penny and Ciel.

Hearing his first statement the Huntresses, and Derry most of all, were shocked to hear his swords.

"The White-Fang are here!?" Deery asked with shock. 'Why are they here!? I don't remember any operations supposed to take place here before I left!' Deery thought to herself, now listening intently to what was being said.

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, which is why the general offered me this deal, I was skeptical when he wanted you guys to join, and thought it was a trap, but after someone I trust told me he was telling the truth and a threat on my end, I agreed," He told her.

Robyn smiled when she heard the last part, "You threatened James?" She asked the younger man with a smirk.

Jaune nodded, "Said I would kill him if this was a trap," He replied.

Robyn chuckled, "You got guts kid," Robyn said. "Not everyone's brave enough to threaten the General of the Atlas Military and Headmaster of Atlas Academy, after all, James is known to be a hard ass," Robyn said.

Jaune nodded, "Definitely got that impression from him," He said with a smile.

Winter made a sound to catch the two's attention and when they looked at her, she began to speak. "I believe that's enough chit-chat, we have a mission," Winter's voice cut in.

Robyn's smile faded and she rolled her eyes as the Schnee girl, "Yeah, yeah, let's get on with it then," She replied.

Winter was slightly annoyed with Robyn's attitude but understood why Robyn was acting in such a way, having read her file. "Very well," Winter said. "I know that things between our two parties are not the best as of right now,"

May chuckled, "Understatement of the Year," she said.

Winter rolled her eyes, hearing May's comment, but continued the conversation, "However, we need to put aside our animosities and work together to hunt down the White-Fang that are in Mantle as of now and stop them from fulfilling their plans within the city," Winter told them.

Robyn nodded with a sigh, knowing that Winter was right, while she disliked the Atlas Military for what they stood for, the White Fang was a lot worse and she would work with anyone if it meant stopping them from causing more problems for Mantle. "What are the White-Fang's plans?" Robyn asked. "We need to know or else we can't help, and I can only assume that their plans have to be bad or else you'd never ask for our help," She told Winter.

Winter looked at her for a minute without speaking but then nodded, "They are," Winter told her, "An agent on the inside has informed us that they're here in Mantle trying to recruit some of the protesters to their cause as well as bomb some of the mines, but it also appears that they are here to kill some ex-members that had fled the organization," Winter told Robyn.

Hearing this, Deery's eyes widened with shock and fear, and thoughts about them finding her and trying to kill her had frightened the deer faunus to the core, however, no one noticed her reaction, all except Jaune, who found it suspicious.

"Apprehend or neutralize?" Robyn asked.

"Apprehend," Winter replied, "Only neutralize if you need to,"

Robyn nodded.

Jaune then remembered an important detail and turned to Winter, "What about the White-Fang members that left the organization?" Jaune asked with a raised brow. "What do we do if we find one of them?"

Winter looked at him, "Then I expect you to bring them into custody," She told him.

Jaune looked at her, still with a questioning expression on his face, "Is that a good Idea?" He asked, "They left the White Fang because they stopped believing in their cause and they want a second chance, Shouldn't they have that?" Jaune asked.

"While they left the White Fang, they still committed crimes while with them, they have to face justice," Winter told him.

Jaune chuckled, "Oh yeah? What kind of Justice?" Jaune asked, "Because I doubt there's going to be a fair court in this city," Jaune finished.

Fiona nodded in agreement, "Jaune's right, the moment they step into that courtroom and the people in there hear they were a part of the White Fang, they're lives are over forever despite their wanting to better themselves," Fiona said.

Ciel stepped forward and looked at the two, "Then they should have thought about that before joining up with a terrorist group," Ciel said, her eyes then turned to Jaune, "We have our orders,"

Jaune glared at her and turned away, "You got a heart or just an empty space?"

Joanna stepped forward and tried to stop the conversation from devolving into a fight. "It looks like we're gonna have to split up our priorities, though," Joanna said. "One group needs to search the mines and watch the protests while the other works on hunting down the White Fang members that are going after their former comrades," She said.

Robyn sighed, "Then I guess we'll split up," Robyn said, "Winter, I, Fiona, and the girl with orange hair will go down to the protest and the mines and see if we can't find anyone suspicious, as Fiona's uncle knows the mine well," Robyn said.

Fiona nodded, "I'm sure my uncle knows at least something," Fiona said.

"Meanwhile, May, Joanna, Jaune, Deery, and the other cadet will search the city, either together or solo if that is okay with you, Specialist Schnee?" Robyn asked.

Winter nodded, "I'm fine with such a plan, Ms. Hill," Winter told her.

May smiled, "Then Joanna and I will search the city solo, we know the city better and cover more ground, by ourselves," May said.

Ciel looked to Winter, "I think it would be better if Mr. Arc and Ms. Deery accompany me, as I know the City as well, I grew up on the south side of the city," Ciel said.

Jaune looked at her, knowing she only wanted to keep an eye on him, and he looked at Deery and could see the uneasiness on her face, if he knew anything, he knew that things were going to be complicated from here on out, which was only going to greatly make things worse and annoy him. 'Can't catch a break,' Jaune thought with annoyance.

With the plan laid out, they all left the bar and did their respective parts. Winter, Robyn, Fiona, and Penny left to search the mine and watch the protest. May and Joanna split up and searched the North and East sides of Mantle, while Jaune, Ciel, and Deery searched the South and West sides of Mantle.

Today would be the day that Changed one of their lives forever...

XXX

Over in Vale, it was night and Ozpin was sitting at his desk, overlooking some papers from both the council as well as expenses, suddenly, appearing in his office like magic was none other than Qrow Branwen. The male Branwen appeared to have a rather troubled look on his face as he looked at Ozpin.

Ozpin looked up at him and saw his troubled expression and that caused him to have a raised brow, "Is something the matter, Qrow?" Ozpin asked.

"It's about Nic's son," Qrow said, "You told me to look into what's been happening with him since you saw him with Jimmy,"

Ozpin nodded, "Yes because I was surprised when I heard Mr. Arc attack two of James's Cadets," Ozpin replied.

"Yeah, well, I don't think you're gonna like what he's done," Qrow said, "Turns out after he left Raven's Camp he and a girl named Vernal, Raven's old right hand, arrived in Matsunoki where they found work with a farmer by the name of Melissa Pine and her nephew Oscar Pine, but, turns out this Melissa gal wasn't who she was,"

Ozpin was a bit confused, "What do you mean?"

"Turns out she was a cop in MPD, and went into hiding after her nephew's parents were killed by Spider, a gang known for their information dealing, I've even gone to them a few times, but she and her family were targeted because Melissa killed Spider's right-hand man at the time and the husband of the Boss, a woman who goes by Little Miss Malachite," Qrow told him.

Ozpin sighed and nodded, "Revenge, of course," Ozpin said.

Qrow nodded, "But it gets worse," he said, "Guess Malachite found her and sent some thugs to her place, I don't know what happened but there were a lot of makeshift graves where 22 bodies were found that belonged to Spider and the house and barn were burned down, with a single body inside, it was Melissa," Qrow told him.

"Gods..." Ozpin said, taking in the information, "Did Mr. Arc-"

"He did, some of the bodies have large wounds that could only come from a bladed weapon," Qrow said. "It only gets worse from there, because turns out that the kid went on a freaking killing spree,"

Ozpin's eyes widened when he heard that and he looked at Qrow with shock, "Are you sure!?" Ozpin asked frantically.

Qrow nodded, "Turns out he, Vernal, and Oscar went to Mistral and it looks like they destroyed Spider, mostly him," Qrow told Ozpin. "Everyone I talked to said Spider members were looking for Nic's son, and the kid killed a whole lot of them, I'm sure he had help from Vernal and another person, maybe Oscar, but he killed them, and he killed Malachite," Qrow told him.

Ozpin took his glasses off and set them on his desk as he pinched the bridge of his nose, taking all the information in. The older man couldn't believe that the young man whom he knew as kind, brave, and caring could do such a thing, he wanted Jaune to get experience, to train, to become the Huntsmen Ozpin knew he could be... but it seemed he failed.

"How could I let this happen?" Ozpin asked.

Qrow shook his head, "It ain't your fault, Oz," Qrow said, taking the seat across from Ozpin. "It's been months since he left Raven, how did he look when you saw him with Jimmy?" Qrow asked.

"He looked well, very happy to see me," Ozpin said.

"I bet," Qrow said, "Kid's been through a lot and I don't think I can blame him for everything he's done... I know for a fact if Ruby or Yang were in his position they'd be the same,"

Ozpin looked at him with a raised brow, "You believe so?" He asked.

Qrow nodded, "Tai and I have prepared them for everything we could, but we could never prepare them for the moment they kill another person, and I don't think anyone can, we can't prepare them for what happened on this job even though we know, is because they have to face the reality of being a Huntsmen," Qrow said. "Everyone thinks this job is amazing since they simply have to fight Grimm and travel around the Kingdoms but it's not that simple, but nothing ever is," Qrow said.

Ozpin nodded in agreement, "Yes, they never are," he replied. "Thank you Qrow, I know you're busy as it is but thank you for taking some time out of your day," He said.

"No worries Oz, besides, I don't mind doing something else besides keeping tabs on her," Qrow said.

Ozpin nodded, "Well, I shall be keeping tabs on Mr. Arc from now on, and speaking of her... have you heard anything?" Ozpin asked.

"Not exactly," Qrow said.

"What do you mean?"

Qrow pulled out his flask and unscrewed it before taking a drink and then set it aside, "Before you called me to check up on the kid, I was in a small town in the south of Vale, in an Inn getting some rest when in the middle of the night, a Huntsman covered in blood busted through the doors crying and screaming," Qrow began before taking another drink, "I and the owners went to see what was wrong and we saw they were young, probably fresh out of an academy, but it took us a while to calm them down and when they were calm enough to tell us what happened... it shook me to the core,"

Ozpin was shocked to hear such words coming from Qrow, who had dealt with a whole manner of things. "What did they say?"

"They said that their team was hunting a Grimm that had been terrorizing another nearby village and that all they knew about it was that it was a Grimm that the villagers had never seen before, so they hunted it down but when they did they said they had never seen anything like it before, it slaughtered their whole team," Qrow said, "After that, they froze up again and started muttering, and what they were muttering was what shook me," Qrow said as he took a sip from his flask for the third time and looked at the ground.

"What was it?" Ozpin asked, becoming more interested.

Qrow looked up at him with an uneasy face, "They kept muttering "It spoke" over and over again," Qrow said.

XXX

Back In Atlas, Jaune, Deery, and Ciel are searching the south side of Mistral, looking into bars and many other establishments. As they did, Deery turned her head to look at Jaune, and she saw the rather blank expression on his face. She hadn't gotten to know the blonde well despite how much Fiona and the other Huntresses spoke of him. It was clear to Deery that Fiona had a crush on the man, Robyn spoke of him as a student but also a friend as did May and Joanna.

She suspected him to be a brute and cold, and he kind of was, but the way he defended her and Fiona from Ciel and her partner spoke volumes about him, and the way he talked about the Ex-White Fang members also spoke highly about his morals, however, she wanted to know why he wanted to leave them be despite what he was told.

"Jaune?" Deery called to him.

Jaune turned to her, "Hm?"

"Why did you want to leave the Ex-White Fang members alone?" Deery asked, "Aren't they just terrorists and Faunus,"

Jaune remained silent for a bit and Deery wondered if he heard her or was ignoring her.

"I had a friend who was Ex-White Fang, and I know them to be a very good-hearted person, a far better person they me, and while they and I weren't close, they talked about how they wanted to do the right thing, how they wanted real peace between Human's and Faunus, not one race ruling over the other," Jaune told Deery, "I've seen both races come together while I've been down here in Mantle, and yet, they're suffering, and those up in Atlas don't seem to care, they barely do anything to fix the wall, letting the people get attacked in their kingdom and the Faunus miners are treated the worse,"

Ciel heard the conversation and couldn't help but agree with his words, "It is detestable," She said with a solemn tone, "I grew up in Mantle, and the reason she joined the military is because I wanted to help the people down here, no matter who they were,"

Jaune looked at her with a smirk, "Sure didn't seem that way back in the Cell," He teased

Ciel turned to him with a glare, "Don't you dare speak of that!" Ciel cried.

Deery was confused as to what they were talking about but continued asking her questions, "Then do you sympathize with why some Faunus join the White Fang?" She asked.

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, I see why they would hate humans, if I was a Faunus I believe I'd be the same, but I don't think I could ever condone some of their actions," He said.

Deery took his words in and remembered one mission in Vale that caused her and Perry to lose faith in the cause. They robbed a village for supplies and a few families were killed. Some were kids, and they didn't even fight back, they were just killed in cold blood. Fiona's hands tightened up around her staff, "I know what you mean, I don't think I could ever forgive some of the things they've done," Deery said, her tone laced with sadness.

Jaune heard how her voice sounded and saw her hands tighten up around her weapon and it made his suspicions grow since it looked like she was remembering something that made her upset

Deery eased up though and looked back at Jaune, "What do you mean that you're friend was a better person than you?" Deery asked.

Jaune looked at her and then looked away slowly, "I've just done a lot of bad things, let's put it at that," He told her.

Hearing this, Derry and Ciel were now wondering what he had done before they met him that he would give them such an answer.

"What do you mean?" Ciel asked, "What have you done?" Ciel asked.

Jaune remained silent for a moment and a split second, he saw all the people he killed standing in front of him before they disappeared. "It's a long story," Jaune told them.

The two girls wanted to ask more as they now were interested in the blonde knight's past, but they decided not to push it and continued walking to their next destination. As they walked and were getting closer to the next establishment, Deery noticed the place was familiar.

'This is nearby where Perry lives' Deery thought. She then thought it might be a good idea to meet up with Perry and inform him of what was going on, "Hey, one of my friends lives near here, they're a faunus and might know what's going on," Deery told Jaune and Ciel.

Ciel turned to her, "Why would he know anything?" She asked.

"he's in charge of a construction crew, I'm sure he might know if something suspicious was going on within his crew or around the neighborhood," She told him.

Ciel thinks about it and nods, "Very well, we can visit him and see if he knows anything," Ciel told Deery.

"Let us go!"

Hearing that, the three turned around to see five grown men hurting two children, the oldest of the kids appeared to be 12 and was a human boy while the youngest appeared to be an 8-year-old girl and a polar bear faunus based on her tail.

One of the men grabbed the boy by the shirt and glared at him, "Why are you defending this Faunus trash!?" He asked.

The boy spat in the man's face and the man quickly threw him to the ground and kicked the boy in the side, the faunus girl tried to help the boy but she was grabbed by the hair and held back.

The man who grabbed her, looked at her with a smile, "Where do you think you're going?" He asked, "We've got plans for you, Faunus," he said with a sinister smile.

"S-Stay away from her!" The boy cried trying to get up but the other two men kicked him back down.

The first man laughed and looked at the Faunus girl, "Yeah, we've got plans for you," He said. He then walked over to her and pulled his hand back to slap her.

However, before he could, he was grabbed by the back of his coat and thrown to the ground, he was about to say something but then his hand was stabbed by a Crossbow bolt and he screamed in pain.

Standing over him was Jaune and he turned around to look at the other four men, who were all in shock at what happened. "Leave, now," Jaune told them coldly.

"What the hell's wrong with you!?" One of them cried.

"This is none of your business asshole!" Cried another.

Jaune stepped forward and opened his cloak and put his hand on his sword, as he glared at the men, "Leave, or I'll slit your throats," he said.

The men could tell that Jaune wasn't kidding as they could feel a dark aura radiating off of him and they backed away.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Cried the first man as he was pulling the bolt out of his hand. "Get the fucker!"

Jaune then unsheathed Crocea Mors turned around at the first man, and pressed the point against his neck. The man froze as he looked at Jaune, who now had a sinister smile on his face. "Go ahead, try something, I've been itching for a reason to let loose," Jaune said, pressing the point a little deeper in his neck.

The first man began shaking in fear, "P-Please..." he cried.

A part of Jaune wanted to kill the man, just to let out some steam but he stopped himself and sheathed Crocea Mors and looked at the man. Quickly the man got up and ran away and his friends followed him. As they ran away, Jaune turned around to the two kids who looked at him with wide eyes.

"You better leave, you don't want to run into them again," Jaune said as he walked away.

Ciel walked over to him with a slight glare, "What the hell was that!?" She asked, "What were you thinking!?"

Jaune simply looked at her, "Does it matter, I stopped them," he said.

"There wasn't a better way?" She asked. "You stabbed a man in the hand!"

"And I would've done a lot worse if they didn't stop," Jaune replied. "I'm not you who just follows orders and does what he's told, I'll do what I want and what I feel is right, got it?" He asked with an annoyed tone.

"You caused a scene, Arc!" Ciel cried, "What if they report you!?"

Jaune just shrugged, "I don't care,"

Ciel glared at him, a furious expression on her face. "How can you not! You're already in hot water by attacking me and Penny, do you think the General can defend you if they say something?"

Jaune turned to her with a glare, "I already told you, I don't care," Jaune replied, "I am not going to let those guys beat on a bunch of kids, would you?"

"Of course not!" Ciel cried.

"Then why didn't you act?" He said.

"You mean why didn't I beat those guys up!?" She asked "Because there's a better way to do things when dealing with things like that! You have to follow the law! You can't just get involved!"

Before he could argue more, he noticed that Deery wasn't there and he looked around for her, "Where's Deery?" He asked.

"She ran ahead to find her friend so we can ask him questions," Ciel told him.

Jaune felt as if something was off, as his suspicions of Deery came back, and the feeling inside of him that something bad was going to happen grew. That's when the sound of Gunshots was heard from around the corner and they also heard the sound of a vehicle speeding off. The two quickly ran up the street and rounded the corner and they saw a black car speeding away but they also saw a body on the ground that Deery was kneeling next to, her gaze seemed to be a million miles away.

Jaune rushed over to her, as did Ciel, and when they got there, Jaune bent down next to Deery while Ciel went to the body and checked the person's pulse.

"Deery, Deery, are you alright?" Jaune asked as he slightly shook her.

Deery just stared at the body, her face frozen in udder shock and horror and Jaune followed her gaze at the body only to be shocked as well.

On the ground in the pool of their blood, was Perry, he appeared to be looking back at Deery.

Jaune was shocked to see him again and felt angry that he saw another good person he knew dead, but that's when everything in his head clicked. If Perry was targeted and shot like this, he was involved in the White Fang, and with Deery's behavior earlier and her being right here, all but confirmed what Jaune had been thinking. Deery was Ex-White Fang, and she too was in trouble.

However, it wasn't only Jaune who figured it out as Ciel did as well, concluding that this must have been Deery's friend, and with him being shot in a drive-by, no doubt by the White Fang, it was only reasonable to conclude that Deery herself, was also an Ex-White Fang member.

Deery remained frozen as she simply stared at her friend's body, still processing everything that happened in the blink of an eye, she was unable to move and unable to speak.

She was frozen like a Deer in Headlights...

XXX

Things have finally turned for the worse for Jaune and the others, and it appears that Jaune and Ciel have figured out Deery's secret. Will Ciel tell the others? What will happen next? It also seems like things are getting strange in Vale, as now there's a "Talking Grimm" in the picture.

Also, I'm surprised no one's touched on Melissa's conversation with her "Brother" back in chapter 11, as it is kind of important. Just like the "Talking Grimm" Is important in this chapter and both set up a certain plot in the future (Wink wink).

Edit:

I just recently heard that Arleen Sorkin, the original voice Actress for Harley Quinn, had passed away yesterday at the age of 67. I grew up on the Batman Animated series and I feel saddened by the news.

Ms. Sorkin played Harley in The animated series as well as the Arkham Games. She is what Made Harley Quinn so iconic and I can never thank her enough for bringing such an amazing and beloved character to life.

While we have VAs like Kayle Cuoco and Tara Strong and Actors like Margot Robbie bringing the characters to life, Ms. Sorkin paved the way for them.

So, thank you Ms. Sorkin, and may you rest in peace.