The bullhead ride back and forth from Beacon was starting to become monotonous. But unfortunately, it was the only quick way to reach the school, he mused. Good thing that he didn't suffer from motion sickness anymore, otherwise it would be a suffering through and through.
A small sigh escaped his lips, as he mentally went over what had happened during the trip. He reached the Breach… found Taiyang, killed Banesaw and the group of White Fang with him, spilled the beans to the other blonde about his daughters and was now heading back to his former school, so that he could learn the position of one of said daughters… to kill her and free her from her torment. And Roman's scroll, can't forget that.
And Taiyang… he wanted to help. Help… eliminating one of his precious girls. While he didn't question the man's strength… he could definitely question his determination. Not that he could blame him. He was starting to doubt his own as well.
The machine dropped in front of the academy, and Jaune stepped out, with the intention of visiting Roman first, to try and delay the inevitable.
The stand was still there where he left it, and the ginger haired man was also there, smiling like… a thief, which he was, he supposed.
The older man was indeed happy to see him.
"Knight boy! Man, are you a sight for sore eyes! If you are here, it means that you have accomplished your objective, correct?"
He nodded. He almost died again because of it, but he managed nonetheless.
Roman clapped his hands.
"Splendid. Talking about your objective, do you remember my… request? Do you have it?"
Jaune reached into his pocket, picked up the scroll and handed him back the scroll, with a small eye roll.
Given away: Roman's Scroll
Roman's grin broadened, somehow. His cheeks must hurt by now, his face was basically split in two.
"My most sincere thanks, knight boy! You took a heavy load off my mind. Now, how shall I reward you for your generosity…"
Jaune crossed his arms and waited, patiently. The longer this took, the better for him, honestly. He cringed lightly at himself for thinking that.
A snap of fingers brought his attention back to the ginger.
"I know! While I could simply offer you some discounts or privileges in my business, I have something better in mind. Say, have you ever… taken into consideration the idea of being… sneakier?"
Sneakier? As in, crouching around, not being seen? He hadn't, ever. And to be fair, someone of his… build and equipment wasn't exactly made with stealth in mind. So, he shook his head no. Roman was apparently expecting that response.
"Yes, as I imagined. You probably think that you are not built for this kind of thing, correct? Well, let me tell you, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Some equipment adjustment and good pointers and I guarantee you will become a shadow on the battlefield. Now, your armor is mostly fine, it adheres to your body nicely, and it won't make noises. Your boots though… those are a problem. And your sword is not a weapon fit for this kind of thing. So, here's my gift to you".
Roman ducked under the stall for a couple of seconds and presented two items to him, which he took.
Obtained: Padded Boots
"Those boots will completely eliminate the sounds of your footsteps, making it easier for you to sneak around. And that dagger that I gave you together with them is the perfect weapon for quick, swift kills. Feel free to name it to, it is yours now".
A name uh? He thought about it, while he switched his old boots for the new ones. Crocea Mors was old valean, if he remembered correctly. It meant "Yellow Death". So, he felt like his new weapon should be in the same vein. By the time he was done, he had made his decision.
Obtained: Mors Celeri
Mors Celeri. Swift Death. It sounded fitting, in his head.
Roman nodded, satisfied.
"I see you fitting right in. I knew those boots were your size. About teaching, it is fairly simple, all things considered. Your enemies are not particularly smart or aware, so the basics that you already know are probably going to be enough. I'd wager that even hiding in the tall grass will work. For the rest, distractions are excellent. Use pebbles, small stones or whatever you can find. It won't work on Grimm, but it's one more tool to up your arsenal, correct? That is all knight boy, make me proud".
Another eye roll. This guy's ego was annoying, but he couldn't deny the usefulness of this gift, so he nodded to show his thanks. He ended up spending another two Stones to get 10 more Aura Boosters, then he was in the tower, going down to the pedestal and the portal.
It was time. He really… REALLY didn't want to continue. But he had to. So, he approached the pedestal and inserted the Frenzied Revolutionary's Aura.
A loud clanking sound occured, and the two auras were covered. The portal turned on, showing images of a new place.
An island by the looks of things. A small, sleepy town, overrun by Grimm. A house, isolated in the forest. A school, by the looks of it, with the name Signal written over the entrance gate. And a grave, overlooking a cliff, well kept all considered, but that was starting to show signs of age.
Summer Rose. Thus kindly, I scattered.
Before the portal turned off, a flash of something showed. A yellow mane of apparently hair, and two red, angry spots over a black sclera, probably eyes, and veiny, pasty white skin.
Yang. Yang was the RWBY member in Vale. And the place… he had been there, a long time ago, shortly after the fall of Beacon, alongside Ren, Nora and a recently awake Ruby.
That was obviously Patch.
How… fitting, he supposed. Taiyang was not going to be happy about it, he could tell.
Jaune sighed and prepared to head out once more. Emerging out of the tower, he found Taiyang Xiao Long outside, waiting for him to come out, glaring daggers at Roman, who merely waved at the veteran huntsman with a cheeky grin.
The older blonde saw him coming, and his expression changed to seriousness.
"Jaune, there you are. I trust that you know what is happening, and where we have to go. Please, tell me".
He nodded and revealed what he had learned, with a grim face.
Taiyang's expression soon mirrored his.
"Yang? In Patch in front of Summer's grave? Why… why would she be there? And you say that she's Turned? Damn it… FUCK!"
Jaune let him vent a bit, knowing that this was probably a heavy blow for his companion. Not that it wasn't for him, but he had a bit more time to get accostumed to the idea. Not much, but some time is better than none at all.
Eventually, Taiyang calmed down, addressing him.
"Thank you for letting me rage a bit, Jaune. I'm okay now… well not really, but I'll have time to think about it later. For now… let us depart. The ferry that I used to get to Vale should still be at the port. We can use that to reach Patch in a timely manner".
He nodded, and the two blondes were off, to probably the hardest task that they had been asked to do. Silence stretched between the two, as they took the bullhead back to Vale and started heading towards the docks. Only problem was…
Taiyang put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. The docks were full with gangsters and armed men, all of them Turned.
He heard the older man swear under his breath, as they both peeked around the corner to check the numbers.
Seven gangsters, surrounding their ferry. And one of them had a gatling gun. A direct assault against that would be suicidal.
"Damn it. Now what? That ferry is our only way into the island!"
Jaune furrowed his brows. Now what indeed…
His right hand casually rested on his waist, where Mors Celeri was resting, and he knew what to do. Taking Taiyang away from the scene, he explained his plan.
Obviously, the other man was skeptical.
"You want to sneak in and kill the gatling gangster in silence so that I can get in? It sounds recklessly risky, Jaune. I don't think that's a good idea…"
The man's eyes bore in his.
"But… I can see that I'm not going to change your mind anytime soon. Alright, make an attempt. But if I hear gunshots, I'm coming in. Understood?"
He nodded and took a wide path around, in order to get close to the group of gangsters. Just like Roman had predicted, he was silent, his armor made no sound and his footsteps were non existent.
The guy was kind of an eccentric asshole, but he knew his stuff. He wasn't Vale's master thief for nothing after all.
When he was about to reach the gangsters, he crouched behind some containers, keeping himself hidden. His hand went to his waist and drew Mors Celeri, peeking with his head around the corner.
There were three Turned between himself and the gatling gun criminal. He had to be silent, taking them down so that Taiyang could intervene and clean up the mess.
The first gangster had his back towards him, standing still with a club in his hands, ready to smash some skulls from the looks of it. Not on his watch.
Realizing that the guy was relatively isolated from the others, he sneaked out of his hiding place, reaching the Turned in just a couple of seconds.
Faster than he ever did before, Jaune used his free hand to cover the gangster's mouth shut, while Mors Celeri buried itself on the side of the man's neck.
Blood squirted from the wound and the Turned collapsed to the ground, dead.
One down, three to go.
The next two were patrolling some boxes, going back and forth on both sides of them.
He couldn't just sneak and kill one of them like he just did, not without alerting the other guard.
What to do…
His gaze fell to the floor, where a pebble innocently stood. He remembered Roman's tips, something about using items to distract.
He picked up the pebble, making it bounce on his hands a couple of times, to test its weight. Believing it satisfactory, he cocked back his arm and threw the stone at a decent distance away from one of the guards, who heard the noise and went to investigate.
Just like in his video games, he mused. Granted, it was only working because Turned are dumbasses, but he wasn't one to look a gifted horse in the mouth.
Quickly he approached the second guard and killed him in the same way as the first one, deciding at the last second to drag his body away, out of sight.
He crouched back behind the boxes just in time for the distracted guard to come back to his post, going back to his patrol.
Jaune quickly cleaned Mors Celeri's blade and waited for the guard to arrive at his box, coming out of the corner and impaling the guard right on his throat, sidestepping him and letting him fall to the ground.
All right then, now for the big guy.
Coming close to the Turned, Jaune swiftly realized a teensy-weensy little problem in his plan. He had no way of killing this guy in a timely manner. Not silently at least.
Welp, this is the end of his stealthy adventure. He did kinda good, all things considered. But now… time to make Nora proud.
Taking out his remaining fire dust bombs, he waited a couple of minutes for the gatling wielder to finally turn around, before taking a deep breath and chucking them all at the big man, quickly crouching back in cover.
The noise from the bombs impact wasn't as big as he had imagined. But the Turned's screams of pain were.
The noise obviously attracted the remaining three guards, but it was too late. Gatling gun man died devoured by the flames, and Taiyang joined the party with all the grace of an angry Goliath.
The poor bastards had no chance.
When the fighting stopped, Jaune emerged from his hiding place, meeting back up with his older companion.
"Well, I'll be damned. It actually worked. Who taught you how to sneak around like that?"
Jaune shrugged and answered that his father would often bring him when he would go outside to hunt. So he learned there, but given his career choice he never had the chance to use them practically. Taiyang nodded at that.
"I see. Yes, normally being sneaky isn't a skill needed when facing against Grimm, but now… these aren't Grimm…"
The older man shook his head.
"Anyway, we better proceed. The boat is docked right over there. Are you ready to go?"
Jaune nodded, and together they climbed on top the boat and sailed off towards Patch. Once again he thanked his lucky stars that he didn't suffer from motion sickness anymore.
He leant against the railings, face up towards the dark sky. He had just noticed, but the night seemed to come much faster than before. Almost as if the sun itself didn't want to stick around this ruined world.
He heard footsteps and saw Taiyang in the corner of his eyes, leaning on the railings on his left. Silence stretched for a couple of minutes, until the man started speaking.
"This is… insanity. My little girls are corrupted, Salem has the entirety of Remnant in the palm of her hands, Ozpin is dead and I am currently teaming up with one of my daughters friend to go and kill one of them, to get her out of her misery…"
He sounded broken. And he couldn't blame the man, this is probably the hardest thing that he will ever have to do. Jaune himself was definitely not feeling good about this. But, Ozpin had promised that they could be brought back, and while the man had omitted a lot of things, he never straight up lied to anyone.
He pushed his lips together, hoping beyond hope that he was right.
"I know that you can't promise me that Yang and Ruby will be okay. And that regardless of everything, they need to be put down, for their own sake. But… I trust you. And if you say that their death will not be permanent… then I believe you. I will help you deal with this, I promise."
Jaune nodded, feeling relieved. Truth to be told, he wasn't sure that he could deal with Yang all on his own. While he had assessed through his fights that Turned people are weaker than their original counterparts, Yang was still Yang. It was going to be a tough fight regardless, so he was happy to have all the help he could get.
"Look sharp Jaune, we're almost there".
Indeed they were. The boat docked on one of the piers, and the two men touched ground, Jaune looking around. He had been there only once, to pick up Ruby for their journey to Mistral, and he wasn't in the right state of mind to look around. But, he remembered it feeling homey, a good place to settle down. Or at least, it used to be.
The buildings were in ruins, the streets cracked, fires were still going and he could hear the howls of the Creatures of Grimm, still roaming around and about, ready to tear anyone to shreds. Jaune steeled himself, but he was ready. He could only hope that Taiyang was too.
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NEW AREA: ISLAND OF PATCH
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Taiyang came up behind him, a pained grimace on his face. He could sympathize, he probably had the same expression when he woke up to his village being turned into a meat grinder.
"Okay Jaune, I think we should split up here. I… have some business that I have to attend to at Signal, before dealing with… Yang. You go ahead to her, just follow the road and turn left to the crossroads. You'll end up on the cliff where Summer's grave is located. If you make it before me, wait for me, do not face Yang alone… if you value your life that is. I'll see you later Jaune, take care".
And with that, he was gone. He looked particularly disturbed when he mentioned Signal Academy, so whatever he had to do was pretty damn heavy.
Before proceeding, he took a second to examine some of the bodies scattered around the town. They were obviously dead, but their wounds… not all of them seemed caused by claw marks or bites. This woman had a giant gap on her left collarbone, Grimm. But this man… he had a clean, shoulder to hip cut. Much too precise to be caused by one of these beast's. Weird…
Jaune drew Crocea Mors from its sheath, turning it into a shield. He didn't have time to think about it. He had some pests to exterminate. The answer will probably come with time.
The first pack he bumped into was made of four Beowolfs, one of which was an alpha.
Two of them threw themselves at him, only to meet a swift end to his blade. The third one tried to attack him from behind, but a quick block of his shield and a downwards stab put an end to its existence.
The alpha was the only one left. He expected a difficult fight, he truly did. But a couple of swings of the great sword form of Crocea Mors were enough to defeat the beast.
That… that's all? Really? He remembered taking so much time to kill half of the Grimms that he had just eliminated, and now there he is, eliminating a pack of four in as many strikes.
Signs of progress, he guessed. These things weren't a problem anymore. He needed to start hunting something bigger.
After looting some corpses and finding more scraps, his wish was granted.
Two Ursas stood in his path, scouring around the ruins, probably looking for survivors. Not that there were any, but the sheer amount of negative emotions there poor people must have suffered had saturated the air.
Jaune stepped in the two beast's line of vision, making himself a target. Irresistibile to the two bastards, no doubts.
The first one barreled towards him, claws first. Jaune casually jumped sideways and dodged, being then forced to block the attack from the other Ursa. He retaliated with a heavy stab of his own, injuring but not killing. The first Ursa had recuperated in the meantime, grabbing him from behind.
He cursed and then screamed in pain when the beast sank its teeth in his shoulder viciously. He managed to shrug the thing off, driving it away with a wild slash. He backed away a bit and took two Boosters. Lucky for him that he was stacked up on the things…
The Ursas attacked him together this time around. He stood his ground and waited patiently for his chance. Last second he leaped sideways, transforming his weapon at the same time and delivering a powerful slash, killing the two beast's simultaneously.
Jaune huffed, lamenting how close he had gotten. He got cocky there and almost paid the price for it.
Slow and steady wins the race, he had to remember it.
He looked around, noting that apart from the last few Grimms, the place was devoid of anything useful. It was probably a very small village back in the days, and now its even worse than before.
He tightened the grip on his sword and went on to kill the creatures remaining, determined to exterminate as many of them as he could.
It didn't take long, and before he knew it, he was following the road that Taiyang had indicated, coming to the fated crossroads. While on the road, he also noted in his head the extremely low number of Grimm, both in town and outside. There should definitely be more…
He shook his head. Focus back on the task.
Left towards Yang, he knew that much. But right…
He could see it, in the distance. A building, not terribly large by the looks of it. He couldn't make out what it was, but he had a feeling that it was Signal Academy.
He tilted his head both ways, trying to decide where to go. Taiyang told him to go ahead to Yang… but he also looked like he could use some help. What to do…
He hummed for a couple of minutes, until finally he concluded that Yang could wait a little bit longer. Not because he was afraid. Of course not. Definitely that wasn't the reason. Like, at all. He was… worried for Taiyang? Sure, let's go with that.
He shook his head at himself, heading towards the school. You'd think that after sneaking into Beacon years prior, he'd be better at lying…
Signal itself was even smaller than he had imagined. A short two floors, not very wide or long. It made sense, Patch was a small island in itself, no need for a big school for such a restricted space… but it's also true that anything looks small compared to Beacon.
The school itself was sealed shut, debris blocking the passage, but to the right of the small building there was another, a gym if he had to guess, which was open. Or more like, smashed through.
Three guesses on who did that.
He entered the gym, hearing sounds of combat.
Another three guesses on who was involved.
He stalked inside, walking quickly. And lo and behold, it was Taiyang himself, battling against two people. Turned from the look of them, two men. Two men that he… recognized.
A portly big looking guy with a glorious mustache and a green haired, bespectacled speedster.
Two of his former professors, Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck.
What… are those two doing here now?!
He had many, many questions. But first, he had to help Taiyang.
Crocea Mors out, he ran into the fray, shoulder checking the rounded elder huntsman, who was preparing to shoot with the blunderbuss function of his weapon.
The older blonde noticed him after struggling off the other teacher.
"Jaune?! What are you doing here?! I remember telling you to reach Yang and wait for me!"
He sounded a bit ticked off. Justly so, but he was saving his bacon, so a thank you would be appreciated, you know!
Taiyang shook his head, getting his head back in the game.
"No matter, we'll talk about this later. Help me deal with these two first".
Welp, that's a familiar feeling. Like those times he did something bad in public and his mother would give him the stink eye for the rest of the day, until the inevitable scolding in the evening. Great.
Later Jaune, Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port first, he thought to himself.
So he prepared to square off against his former teacher, making sure to keep an eye out for the other fight happening, just in case.
It was incredibly disturbing, seeing the former jolly professor with that now familiar pasty white skin, completely silent and without any real emotion on his face, save for a bloodthirsty scowl.
Jaune got close and threw a couple of slashes, probing for the older man's defense, who blocked without issue, retaliating with a powerful slash of his own, forcing his opponent to back step quickly.
The slash felt strong, he definitely couldn't block that without some serious damage to his arm, but like usual it wasn't as strong as it should have been. It meant that he could win this.
Port had other ideas. The former professor ran to him, axe held high above his head. He dodged to the side, seeing with a wince how the floor crumbled under the force of the weapon. Weaker or not, he couldn't afford get hit with that.
Realizing that the shield wasn't going to help, he switched to the greatsword form of his own weapon, forgoing any form of defense, except dodging, in favour of more raw damage.
And so the two opponent danced. Port would attack, miss and get hit by Jaune faster slashes and stabs, until the man had enough.
Jaune backpedalled from his latest assault, just in time to see that his opponent had decided to go for range, pointing the other end of his weapon to him where the blunderbuss was located. He heard the sound of Taiyang and Oobleck's fight behind him and decided to take a risk, banking on the Turned's inability to properly strategize.
He sprinted to where the other two men where ducking it out, praying that he would make it in time. He got in position at the last second and quickly dodged the gun shot.
The effect was imminent. With him out of the way, the new target became Oobleck, who was too much focused on his own battle to realize what was going on, getting hit square in the chest.
Taiyang didn't let the chance slip, getting in quickly and delivering a devastating combo of punches, sending the green haired doctor on the ground, where he exhaled his last breath and disappeared.
Now a 2v1, the rest of the fight became a joke, and the already weakened Port was finished off by a stab to the back, courtesy of Jaune.
He took a second to sit down and breathe. It wasn't a terribly hard fight, but definitely exhausting. Then, a surprise.
Obtained: Scholar of History's Aura
Aura once belonging to Bartholomew Oobleck, researcher of truth and former professor of Beacon Academy. After falling in the battle to defend Patch together with his collegue Peter Port, he became a Turned, going back to place that felt more like home.
Use this Aura to become stronger, or for an unknown purpose.
Obtained: Dashing Veteran's Aura
Aura once belonging to Peter Port, veteran huntsman and former professor of Beacon Academy. Even after death, Port seeked to defend those that couldn't, but a Turned cannot see the difference between Creatures of Grimm and civilians.
Use this Aura to become stronger, or for an unknown purpose.
Jaune frowned, upset at what he had seen. With a clench of his hands, he dismissed the two Auras, muttering an apology to his former professors.
He heard a sigh behind him, followed by someone sitting to his right. Turning his head, he saw Taiyang, who looked pained.
"This is exactly why I didn't want you to come. I… wanted to avoid burdening you any further. But… I guess it wouldn't have been much of a mercy, considering what awaits us. Regardless, thank you for your help Jaune, I don't know if could have dealt with both of them at the same time. Even in the state that they were, huntsmen are still huntsmen".
He nodded silently, hugging his legs. Up until that point, the Turned that he had to take out were strangers. Some of them he had heard in passing, but no one that he knew personally. But now… the magnitude of what he had been asked to do seemed to hit him fairly hard.
Maybe that's why he was exhausted.
He pushed his lips together, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's take a moment to rest, okay? The worst still has to come… but I believe in us. We… can't afford to falter now".
Seeing that he wasn't particularly convinced, Taiyang sighed and decided to change his approach.
"Think about it this way. Peter, Bart, Yang and everyone else Turned… these people are suffering, doing things that they would never do and attacking anything in sight. We are not dooming them Jaune… we're freeing them. I don't like this anymore that you do… but it must be done".
He nodded once more, taking a deep breath and steeling himself. He had a moment of weakness, but he couldn't allow himself to stop. Keep going, one step at a time…
He got up, prompting Taiyang to follow him.
"Our biggest challenge is ahead of us. Are you ready for this?"
One last nod and the two left Signal behind, heading up on the cliff Summer's grave was located.
He felt nauseous while he went, his stomach feeling more and more like lead. His companion was probably feeling worse, but he didn't show it, somehow.
He was almost envious.
Stepping into the fated plain, Jaune casted a look around, seeing nobody. But he felt it. Someone was watching.
He took a couple more steps, heading towards the grave, when he heard a twig breaking to his left, followed by a shout by Taiyang.
He reacted quickly, raising his shield a blocking… a truck by the feel of it.
His slid backwards a bit by the sheer force of the attack, until he managed to push back the attacker.
He felt his heartbeat in his ears, while Taiyang took his place to his right.
He focused on the legs of their opponent, clad in brown pants, with the right thigh being exposed.
One beat.
Then on her arm, to be more specific her mechanical yellow arm, that clenched up.
Two beats.
And then her face, pasty white skin and long blonde hair. She opened her eyes, dark red like blood. A red different from the usual that she would have when angry. More malevolent, almost demon like.
Three beats.
And when those eyes focused on him, Jaune knew that ready or not, he was going to have to fight for his life.
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YANG XIAO LONG, THE SUN DRAGON
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Hello? Is this thing on?! It is? Noice.
So… guess who's back? I feel like I should be apologizing for the long delay. I really should. But with the last year of University biting me in the ass and my general laziness and apathy hitting harder than ever before and my writing inspiration going elsewhere, I can't really muster the will to say anything in my defense. And probably because there is no real excuse, that too. But anyway, I managed to push through for the moment, I dunno for how long, but I hope that I can stick around for a bit this time. Hopefully.
I cooked up a longer chapter than usual, almost double the length, as a bit of an indirect apology, I guess, soooo… eat it up peeps, you guys deserve it.
I wouldn't trust me if I were you to be honest.
Now, onto review responses!
merendinoemiliano: Uhmm… is it too late to formally ask for forgiveness. Yes, I know what I said in the notes, I'm inconsistent like that.
Ultimate Kuuga: A normal person would have broken down, for sure, but Tai is no stranger to losing someone close to him. The fact that her daughters can be brought back is probably what's giving him the strength to continue. About what's it gonna say… that's actually a nice suggestion, I might just steal that. Joking, I'm joking. I'm happy that you enjoyed it, hope that the wait was worth it.
That's all folks! Ta-t
