There were many places that he learned to loathe, since he was brought back to life. The memories of Ansel and Patch still haunted him, as they're probably going to do for the rest of his life. But now… he could say, without a shadow of a doubt, that he despised the Brunswick Farm, with all the most bitter hate that he could muster.

After teleporting, he didn't hesitate one second in turning his back and walking off towards his next objective: Argus. The more he went, the more hate gave way to worry, as thoughts about Saphron and her family ran rampant in his head. Ilia said that they were safe… but where? And for how long?

Worry devoured his insides… so much so that he ended up attracting a couple of stray Ursa, not too far from the town itself. A good chance as any to put his new weapon to the test. He'll have to forego either his sword or shield for it, though.

With not too much thought, he decided to keep the blade of Crocea Mors in his right hand and Mors Renata on his left hand, once more for maximum offense. He would have to do some tests later on, but this is how it felt more natural at the moment.

The two bear Grimm stalked towards him, while he raised the gun a shot once, to get a feel of the rebound and to see how effective it was. The first wasn't so bad, thanks aura, the second… could have been better. The enemy slid backwards a bit, but it didn't seem to do much in terms of damage. It did buy him enough time to dodge the other Ursa's attack, leaving it exposed to his sword.

Four hits connected before he was forced to jump backwards… right in the arms of the other beast, who picked him up and squeezed, like it was trying to break his bones.

Jaune managed to wiggle out of its grip and roll sideways, avoiding the first Ursa's charge, which collided with its twin. Mors Renata barked once more, finishing off the injured opponent, and then a second time just as the second Ursa jumped in his direction. The bullet, again, dealt minimal damage, but it stunned the Grimm long enough for him to finish it off.

He took one Booster and moved on, analyzing what just happened. Mors Renata wasn't strong enough to be used as an offensive tool… yet. But the power behind each shot was more than enough to act as a "parry" of sorts. The difference being that the window of opportunity for the gun was larger… but the shield could still be used to block strikes, when in a pinch. Interesting…

Not too long after, Argus was in sight. And just outside the walls, as promised, stood Ilia, which waved to attract his attention.

"There you are. Knew that Shay punk wouldn't have been enough to even scratch you".

She gave a light smile, before going back to seriousness.

"I did one more tour of the town while you were gone. Good news is that your sister is apparently very good at hiding, since I haven't found her… but I have reasons to believe that she's still in her house, somewhere. Bad news is, the entire district is teeming with revived White Fang members. My suggestion is a simple bait and switch: I'll go ahead and aggro as many Turned as I can, while you sneak in, eliminate the rest and search for your sister. After which, it should be a clear shot towards Adam".

It sounded like a decent enough plan, for what they had. Which, admittedly, wasn't much. But, what was she going to do after…?

"Me? When I'm done with the Fang members that I took away from you, I'm following another trail. It should lead right to 'you-know-who'. If I'm right, I'll see you there. I cannot help you against Adam, so you'll have to deal with him on your own. You faced worse thus far, so you should be fine… but just in case, here".

Obtained: Dust Bullets X10

Obtained: Aura Boosters X5

"This is as much as I can give you at the moment. The rest will be up to you. Stay alive Jaune, good luck".

For the third time, she disappeared right after she was done speaking, blending in with the shadows behind her.

Right, he had a marker at least. Saphron's house was close to the airport that Atlas built, where Ruby had her scuffle with that cranky old woman. That had been an annoyance and a half…

Shaking his head, he focused back on the task at hand. Sneaking in meant Mors Celeri, which almost flew in his grasp, and once he was prepared, he headed right in.

.

.

.

NEW AREA: ARGUS

.

.

.

Just like Ilia said, the place was full of faunus in White Fang clothing. The sight made his heart burn in hatred, remembering all the pain and devastation that they brought in the name of their "cause".

He just had to stay still and wait for the chameleon girl to do her thing. He didn't have to wait long. An explosion occurred, almost randomly, causing the majority of the Turned in town to run towards the smoke and check out what happened.

On his way towards his sister's house, he only counted 7 opponents. But like Ilia said, he had to be sneaky about it, lest they spotted him and called in reinforcements. Turned were not the brightest, sure, but the bare minimum was to be expected.

The first one was isolated, close to an alley. Circling around him was easy, piercing his neck with his dagger and dropping him in said alley while it smoked away was even easier.

The second one was a bit more towards the center, close to a big fountain, so he ignored him for the moment.

The third and fourth were walking together, but after a couple of minutes they separated. He waited a bit more until they were further apart, then he pounced on one, covering her mouth with his hand while slashing her throat open, before outright throwing his weapon towards the other one, nailing him in the forehead.

The fifth was apparently alone, but within line of sight of the second, who was now free to be eliminated. Stealthily, he reached towards him, before roughly submerging the other man's face in the water and stabbing him a couple of times in his kidneys.

Once that was done he checked back on the fifth member, who had moved more towards the sixth and seventh, which were side by side with apparently no intentions of moving.

Deciding to use the good old pebble trick, he aimed towards another alley close to the fifth faunus and threw, causing enough noise for the woman to check it out. Seizing his chance, he managed to follow her without being seen by the remaining two, covering her mouth and stabbing right through the skull mercilessly. He knew that he was being a lot more… ruthless than usual, but it was warranted, in his opinion. These… "people", were nothing more than scum, in his eyes.

For the last two, killing them together seemed like the only option. He still wasn't confident enough to just shoot them with Mors Renata, because he could still attract attention and because he wasn't sure that the shot would kill on the spot.

Crocea Mors also wasn't suited for stealth killing… meaning that he was going to have to use his hands.

Clutching Mors Celeri with one hand, he circled around the last two White Fang members, following the alley and ending up behind them. He walked up to them, mentally thanking the boots that Roman gifted him…

With one hand, he grabbed one his opponent's jaw and twisted violently, breaking her neck, before stabbing upward to the other, piercing the jaw first, then through the mouth and finally inside his skull.

Both Turned dropped dead, and he could finally turn around and see his sister's house in the distance. He started running towards it, eager to know if they were okay. He desperately hoped that they were…

He wasn't sure if he could handle more of the people that he loved dying. He wasn't even 100% certain that he could shoulder the rest of Team RWBY's burdens at this point…

Saphron… Terra… Adrian…

Please be okay. At least the three of you.

He prayed and begged under his breath as he reached the entrance of the house. Drawing deep breaths to calm himself, he gripped the handle of the door, finding it unlocked.

He opened it with a decisive motion of his arm.


The insides made his heart leap in his throat. Walls were scratched, furniture was flipped and scattered everywhere, most of it broken beyond repair. The good news, though, was that there was no blood on the floor. He stalked inside, seeing the living room first. He even remembered the wall on which he had slammed Oscar, in a fit of anger.

Nowhere to hide in that room. Not anymore at least. The kitchen was in a similar state, but again, no blood. Good… very good. But he still dared not to hope, in fear of the consequences of disappointment.

Next, he checked upstairs, finding much of the same. While his relief was palpable, his frustration started to show. One more door revealed his nephew's room. As destroyed as the rest of the house, but on the floor…

He bent down and picked up the, painfully familiar, object.

Obtained: Miniature Bullhead

Adrian's favorite toy… he would never go anywhere without it. Seeing the small item didn't do much to ease his anxiety. He clutched it to his chest before heading downstairs, now even more determined to find them.

He kept on wondering the house, getting desperate enough to start banging the walls while he went, in hope of finding a compartment. Nothing of the sorts.

Frustrated, he slammed the point of Crocea Mors on the floor. The sound that the impact made, though, reverberated. Almost as if…

He banged again, hearing the same echo, but this time accompanied by a couple of small gasps. They were down there!

Searching more fervently, he finally moved a fairly heavy armchair out of the way, revealing a sealed hatch. Saphron probably had the key, meaning that the only way to go down there was to…

Jaune sucked in a breath of hair and stomped on the lock. Screaming was heard from inside and he mentally apologized, also hoping that the Fang were still too far away to hear.

A couple more kicks were enough to break the seal. He quickly descended, raising his hands and making himself known.

"No! Go away! Go away you mon…sters…"

His sister laid her eyes on him, which widened upon recognizing him.

"Jaune! Is it really you?! Please tell me that I'm not going insane…"

She drew closer to him and touched his cheeks. Tears flowed down from her eyes.

"They told us you were dead… everybody said that you and your friends were all dead! That you had failed! But I was right… I was right…!"

Saphron hugged her brother, sobbing in relief. In the back he could a teary eyed Terra along with their son, Adrian, in her arms. They were okay… all three of them were alive and well…

It was like a huge weight was lifted from his heart. Finally, something good had happened! Thank the gods…

He hugged his sister back, finally finding a reason to smile again, after all the pain and suffering he had to go through.

Terra stepped forward.

"Do you know what's happening…? Ever since you all disappeared, it felt like hell had descended on Remnant! Can you get us up to speed…?"

He looked up towards the broken hatch, silently wondering if he should just send them away and resume the conversation later, where they would be safe… but he also saw the expression on Saphron's face. She was not going to let him go until he talked.

So, with a weary sigh, he sat down and started explaining everything from the beginning. It took a very long time, having to touch on Salem, her goals, Ozpin, magic and all of what happened since the Fall of Beacon.

Their expression changed and morphed multiple times through it all, ending on horrified.

"Those girls… those poor, poor girls… and you! How much did you have to go through just to make it here?!"

His sister had no idea. And it would be better if she didn't know all of the details. He even censored the fact that he had actually died while fighting Salem, as to spare some pain to his distressed sibling and her wife. For now, he just decided to say that Yang was already dealt with and he was on his way to do the same with the others.

"I don't completely get what exactly happened to you, or even what is going on in general… but I have a feeling that your tribulations just started, haven't they? Are you going to be okay…?"

Terra's concern touched him deeply… and in truth… no, he knew that he wasn't going to be okay at the end of it all. He honestly would consider himself lucky if he was even going to be sane at all.

But that was not here nor there, at the moment. So he smiled and reassured the two women to the best of his abilities. He finished off his explanation by showing the Proof of Passage, saying how it was capable of teleporting them to Beacon, where they would be safe.

In the meantime, Terra had let go of Adrian, who walked up unsteadily to him, gazing up at his uncle with big, sad eyes. Jaune's smile didn't let up and he crouched on one knee, as to be on the same level as the child, before handing the boy what belonged to him.

Given away: Miniature Bullhead

His nephew's laugh was more than enough to bring him some amounts of joy. He picked the boy up and hugged him for a couple seconds, before handing him off to Saphron.

"You better come back and visit soon, okay?! I'm not going to forgive you if you disappear on us again!"

He promised that he wouldn't and touched his sister's forehead with Proof of Passage, making her disappear in a circle of light. When he turned around to do the same with her wife, he saw the hard look on her face.

"She wasn't right, was she?"

Jaune tilted his head, asking for clarifications. Terra promptly elaborated.

"You did die against this… queen of the Grimm, right? You just omitted that so as to not worry her more than necessary".

He scratched the back of his head, feeling sheepish at being busted like that. She wasn't done though.

"And you also know that you're not going to be okay after everything is said and done. I mean… who would…?"

Shit, he forgot just how much perceptive Terra actually was. He should have known that he wasn't going to fool her…

"I appreciate the effort. Truly, I do. But she deserves to know. You are her brother… possibly the only family that she has left, excluding Adrian and I. I won't say anything… but you'll have to do it, eventually. But you already knew that".

Yeah… of course he knew. He sighed, feeling just a tad bit of shame at having lied. His sister's wife, though, merely smiled.

"I know that this is all for her sake… but she's stronger than you think. And she won't be alone. Think about it, okay? Here, before I forget, take these".

Obtained: Scrap Metal X5

"It's barely anything at all… but I hope that this will be useful, in the future. Good luck Jaune… please come back safe, okay?"

He nodded and teleported her away, to safety. Or… to as much safety as it was possible.

And just like that, he was alone again. But… he felt lighter, somehow. He was the last member of JNPR still alive… but he wasn't the last of the Arcs. Not yet, at least. His thoughts turned to the rest of his family.

The guard all the way back in Ansel told him that they were in Vale… but he had no time to go look for them. He hoped that his father was enough to keep them safe, and that they were all alive as well.

With a more noticeable spring in his step, he exited the basement and then his sister's house, lifting the Reader again to better check on Adam's position. The ray indicated out of town, towards… the waterfall.

Of course. Where else could the bastard be? Just like Banesaw… the faunus had been revived and was back on the place of his greatest failure. The place where Yang and Blake had killed him originally.

He clutched Crocea Mors in both hands, in its greatsword form, determined to open up a path between him and his target, by force this time. No more sneaking around like a rat.

That stupid bull had made one crucial mistake. He messed with his family. It would be his last mistake.

That, Jaune Arc swore.

Hello?! Is this thing on?! It is?! Noice.

Welcome back, dudes and gentleladies, to another episode of Auraborne, the show where, sometimes, good things also happen!

The next boss fight is on the horizon, my friends. Will Jaune be strong enough to take on Adam Taurus all on his own? With the power of family, everything is possible…! I think. Well, at least he can't do much worse than this, right?

Right?

Review responses!

merendinoemiliano: you know, I'm not sure if that was your intention or not, but your words kind of made me realize that maybe, just maybe, I was going a bit too heavy handed with the humor. If that was what you wanted to tell me, I got you. Otherwise… too much humor doesn't really fit extremely well in a Soulsborne game, doesn't it?

Essiter1987: That's… actually a very smart suggestion. Damn, maybe you should write the story, you have much better ideas than I do. Those are some good suggestions, I'm gonna check them out, for sure. I do need my daily dose of Dragonslayer, after all. Please don't apologize, I'm never going to complain about things like these. And yes, Shay was not a character that I envisioned even mentioning, but here he is. The gun will serve a hybrid purpose, similar to Bloodborne. Better for parrying, but leaves you exposed if you miss, while the shield is more reliable, but less effective overall. All will depend on how many risks Jauney is willing to take (don't worry, I also suck at parrying in Souls games. Like, a lot).

That's all folks! Ta-ta for now!