Preface:
First and foremost, a big shoutout to CHR15C0 for giving me the go-ahead to remake this story my own way.
So, this is my first spin on a betrayed Jaune Arc story. Pretty satisfied with how the first chapter came out. Now, there are gonna be a few changes to the canon plot as you can probably tell, but for the most part I plan to keep it fairly close to canon.
Fate is one cruel mistress, and none knew that better than Jaune Arc. He knew things were pretty bad for himself, but being abandoned and left to die really took the cake.
He had fallen to the ground, wounded in battle and clawing at the snowy earth, trying to get up. With the intensifying blizzard ruining everyone's visibility, only a handful of students remained remotely near him as they all made mad dashes to the Bullheads. Though, as he scrambled to regain his footing he watched as the ire of his time at Beacon, Cardin Winchester, was trudging his way up to him.
"...That looks bad Jauney boy, really bad." He huffed with low, hooded eyes staring down at the wounded boy.
"C-Cardin... I need some help getting up-"
"Not happening Arc. Not with those wounds, you'll only slow me down and honestly I've had just about enough of you. I would've thought the transcript thing would've been enough for you to get the picture, obviously not," He spat with his trademark self-righteous indignation.
" I s-saved your life...!" Jaune croaked out painfully as he tried desperately to stand again. He was on his knees pushing himself up onto one leg.
"I know!!" Cardin shouted angrily, his voice going unheard by anyone but Jaune because of the roaring winds around them. "I haven't forgotten, the shame I felt when a weakling like you had to protect me. I'm a damn Winchester, I don't need protection! Especially not from a talentless hack, bastard like you!"
With that, the boy left behind could do nothing as Cardin turned to kick him squarely in the chest.
"Ugh!" Jaune fell back into the snow with a pained groan, tumbling back a bit. "You-"
"Like I said, not happening Arc." He said as he turned to sprint off, probably to meet his team and escape to safety. Jaune Arc was left behind in the red stained snow around him.
His former and sister team had already made their way to the Bullheads by the time the decision was made. Did they know? Did they care? He'll never know.
He was to be left behind.
Anger and sadness, that was all he could feel now. To be tossed aside so callously... the fact that Cardin had by all accounts made an attempt on his life via abandoning him here was burning up his thoughts. He was enraged, but he was even angrier at himself for expecting anything different.
Looking away from where the Bullheads had taken off, the nearby blizzard picked up in strength and was headed straight into his direction. As much as he wanted to get up and try to find shelter from the storm, pain was quickly becoming the only constant in his life. The four red parallel gashes stretched across to both sides of his chest throbbed, the price of his own negligence.
While In the middle of a heated fight with an Ursa, he heard the engines of the airship and in his naivety, he turned away from his opponent. The dark beast capitalized on the error and it nearly ripped him in half, if he hadn't clumsily swung his shield upwards to somewhat guard himself when he did, it would've been quite the mess.
He didn't even kill the damned thing.
That being said, this isn't much better. Jaune raised the hand he felt the gash with and looked at the dull red liquid covering his gloved hand. He sighed as he felt the last little piece of aura in his reserves drain, the power of his soul attempted to seal the wound, but he was still in dire straits.
Looking to the side, he felt around with his hand to his left and outstretched in the snow near a piece of his old armor. What a fat load of good that was, the Ursa's claw ripped right through both it and him. To his left, his family weapon, Crocea Mors laid in the snow yet still in his hand.
Staring into the night sky of Solitas, he couldn't help but feel broken and ashamed of himself, of his own arrogance and foolishness that caused all of this.
This was all his own fault.
He knew from the moment he left his boyhood home with the ancestral blade of his family, he was putting it all on the line. His parents had long since forbade him at a young age from the family training and tradition, the reason being was his seemingly sub-par potential in swordplay. His father had allowed his oldest sister to show him the basics hoping that his first son would be skilled enough to take being trained by him personally at some point in the ancient Arc sword-style.
Sadly, the boys aptitude for the sword was just not there. Days turned to weeks as his sister constantly failed at training the boy, his weak stance and sloppiness constantly rearing its head. While normally, this wouldn't be a major issue as the boy would simply have to learn a different style of combat, the family tradition was quite clear in its terms and conditions.
Every male Arc has had to learn the past down techniques of the family, the reason being traditional in nature. Only a male was allowed to lead the families affairs. The title of ruler of the family had to be given to his son but because of his numerous failures at learning the style, he could not be seen as worthy. Though Julius loved his son, in truth, he loved the traditions of his family line and name far more. Knowing that his son wouldn't be able to hold the title after his passing had become the nail in the coffin for the healthy relationship he once had with the boy.
Julius had deemed his son, unworthy of their ancestral sword style, unworthy of being a warrior.
With his mother's overbearing, protective ways and his father's more than stern banning of his now discontinued training and by extension, any form of huntsman training, his dreams of being a huntsman, a hero... were dashed to the wind.
In his mind, he had no choice but to leave and try to make it happen on his own. Too bad life usually has other plans for people.
The moment Jaune was outed for his fake transcripts by none other than Cardin Winchester, his life at the Academy took a sharp nose dive. Even after saving him from being mauled to death, Cardin still chose to be a pathetic worm of a man. Unable to accept that he was saved by someone who in his eyes, didn't deserve to be there in the first place, he had absolutely no qualms about ratting Jaune out.
After the revelation, the entire student body was shocked over his false transcripts, how he cheated another worthy candidate out of a chance at being a huntsmen or huntress. His friends… his former friends, took it the hardest.
Ruby, his first friend was quite hurt when she learned the truth. Though, while she couldn't believe that he lied to her, she by no means wanted to just abandon him. As upset as she was, he was still her first friend and she wouldn't leave him to the wolves. That being said, once her the rest of her team caught wind of the big scoop, she couldn't be around him without her sister and partner making sure that he was a far from her as a physically possible.
The rest of team RWBY would never see him as anything more than a liar, a fake and a fraud from then on.
As torn as she was about it all, Yang decided to make it clear to him that he was to stay far away from Ruby, she simply didn't want him anywhere near her now. She could admit that she had her faults and that she was no stranger to lawbreaking, but this was something she spent time and effort training towards, and he just snuck in with no real effort. That being said, he stuck it out through the initiation with them all and she couldn't just downplay that. She was quite conflicted over the whole ordeal with him.
Weiss, ever the Ice Queen would in fact verbally tear him to pieces every time he was in eye-shot of her. Words like weakling, liar and filth were commonplace from her whenever they were near each other. Other times if he even dared to try and get a word in edgewise, he would find himself flash frozen from the neck up. To her, he simply cemented his worthlessness with the reveal of his botched transcripts. She didn't like him beforehand, now she couldn't stand the sight of him.
Blake stuck to ignoring him as she more or less did before. The only difference now was that her silence came with an odd stare or an overly long and unreadable gaze.
His own team was in shambles now. When the word eventually found its way to his own dorm, it was Ren who confronted Jaune the moment he entered their shared dorm. He berated Jaune for potentially putting the team and especially Nora in harms way and not telling them. Heated words were exchanged but the line was drawn in the sand when in a very rare moment of frustration, Ren punched Jaune in the face and kicked him out of the dorm.
Nora wasn't much better than Ruby, no one had ever seen her so glum and moody before. She couldn't even look at Jaune without bursting into tears, not because of the transcripts but as a result of the fight between the two of her dear friends. She didn't care at all about Jaunes fraudulence, he was her fearless leader and after the initiation that was made clear. She could see his potential and the fact that Ren and the others couldn't really upset her.
Of all people however, it was Pyrrha's reaction that Jaune could never quite get over. She was the first know, the first person he willingly told and while he wanted desperately to believe that she would understand, fate would not let it be so.
While she seemingly hadn't been as upset as the others, her frustration was clearly visible. She made sure that he knew how much she didn't approve of him taking a spot from someone who truly deserved it. He tried to explain to her how his parents and sisters outright gave up on training him, how his father simply didn't believe in him but it all fell upon deaf ears.
"Regardless of how and why, you lied Jaune! You lied to me, to us all and you stole a place from someone who was truly ready to be here. I... I can't excuse that, you'll eventually end up hurt or worse the longer you stay here! ...Maybe... maybe your family was right to deny training you, not everyone was meant to be a Huntsman."
She ended their last conversation with the strong suggestion of him leaving Beacon for his own safety, before she left him on the rooftops alone, both of them in tears.
Meanwhile, things with the Administrators weren't so good either.
While Ozpin hadn't expelled him immediately and still had faith in the boy's potential, there had been a great public outcry for it to happen. The Headmaster faced incredible ridicule, public mockery and scrutiny as did many of the Beacon staff. The Council was furious at Ozpin for even allowing Jaune in to begin with, they wanted expulsion AND jail time for the boy. He had to be confined within the school itself, for his own safety.
His combat lessons were now done privately with Prof. Peach as he no longer had a partner and couldn't be inside the classroom anymore without some incident happening. No surprise that Cardin was the ring leader of a majority of his classroom abuse. The constant bullying from the other students had become nothing short of relentless and when you add that with Weiss and her Icy barrages whenever he so much as nudged her, the classroom just wasn't safe for him any longer.
Things didn't get any better from there, especially when he tried to get his friends to at least her him out, to which a few of them quite vocally rejected the very notion of. After that, The rest of his former friends began to just ignore him altogether. No longer wanting to be associated with Beacons fake, they took to usually looking away when he was near, though the occasional sad glance from Ruby, Nora and mostly Pyrrha was always seen.
To say that his feelings were hurt was an understatement... He was absolutely miserable.
His family's reaction however, was the icing on the cake. Once the of rest the Arc's got wind of his fraudulence, Julius Arc came to the academy personally to tell him that he was no longer an Arc and was officially excommunicated from the family. He had soiled the Arc family name and Julius simply would not stand for it. It didn't help that Jaune snuck away in the night and had stolen the family heirloom to begin with. Now with this slight to the family, he could no longer ignore his son's decisions or hold his tongue.
Furious over the theft of the family sword and his own son's foolishness, he told Jaune to never show his face to any member of the Arc bloodline and to never step foot in his household again or risk having his aura sealed and ultimately imprisonment. His own mother and sisters wouldn't even look at him, the shame and sadness was simply too much for them to take. To throw salt in the wound, his older huntress sisters even made sure to publicly disassociate themselves from him and denounce him via a live interview with Lisa Lavender.
Unable to hold back the pain and the sadness in his heart, Jaune closed his eyes and let the tears run down his face. He'd been abandoned by those he thought were his friends, humiliated, beaten and bullied by the rest of his peers and finally abandoned by his own blood. The pain he felt inside was immeasurable, but the outside pain was unbearable and soon enough the dark of unconsciousness hit him like a brick.
The last thing he could remember was the long, deep howl of a wolf in the distance.
-8 months later -
A young man with long, blonde hair walked through the entrance of a cave. Behind him roared a fierce blizzard, raging just outside of the cave as he calmly made his way inside.
A thick, black, overcoat draped down to his lower hips, the last thing he had been provided with at the start of his last mission besides the small backpack given to him as well. His blue jeans were still in ok shape, though now the were prominently ripped and frayed all over the bottoms. The combat boots he had were in good condition thankfully, being barefoot out here is uncomfortable even with Aura.
Finding a seat near an empty fire pit, he set to work at producing a fire by dropping a few sticks and collected branches into the pit. Once that was finished, he grabbed a thin stick, some loose kindling and a flat bark of wood. After placing the kindling onto the bark, he planted the stick in the middle of the kindling, clasped onto it with both hands flat and started to spin the stick. With a few tries, a small bit of smoke and cinder created a roaring flame before him. He'd already eaten earlier in the day, so he had no need for sustenance at the moment.
He reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a small notebook with a two matching black pencils. With a small smile, he grabbed a pencil and turned to an empty page to begin to write.
Anyone who says that they want to live off the grid must really have some stones... or some screws loose.
Well, I'm alive.
I'm not even sure how myself but I'm grateful all the same. I still can't believe how lucky I was, that blizzard could've easily taken me out and it nearly did.
When I came too, I was in a cave with a strange wolf. Turns out it dragged me all the way back here, I've never seen a wolf this big in any of the textbooks and nature documentaries back home. It's got this super thick, dark blue fur and blue eyes like mine. I completely thought it was gonna eat me and that would be it, imagine my surprise when it shared its kill with me, showed me the way to its den and I met the pack.
Of course, most of them are still wary of me which is understandable. Granted, the Alpha as I've come to call him, is on pretty good terms with me. It took some time before they would even approach me in the caves during the in between times. Though, with a-lot of patience, Ive come to respect each of them in my own way. It took some time for the wolves to fully accept me into the pack, most of the time they're pretty alert around me. It was only about a week ago that they had finally started to warm up around me and be in my presence more. Still, some are definitely apprehensive of me to a degree.
Not counting the Alpha, there are six other wolves that make up the pack. A pretty small group, sure, but these guys are definitely bigger than the average wolf you would see in the forests of Vale. Strangely enough, the rest of the pack also have the same blue eyes as well. Its pretty peculiar honestly, unless the Alpha only produced blue-eyed spawn, did they just migrate here to him on a whim? These wolves are definitely a mystery to me at times, but its not for me to go trying to figure out their genealogy. I've got enough on my plate as is...
After the first month of failing out here, I can say with certainty that this is not easy in any kind of way. Every day is a new struggle to survive, but I'm finally making progress now. I was lucky to still have my pack with me when I came to, so a lot of my first aid and fire starting equipment was a blessing. The complementary combat knife has been good to me as well, its definitely saved me more times than I remember. Larger weapons can easily be wrenched out of your hands at times, having a back off weapon can make all the difference in an aggressive situation.
I've managed to finally pick up on some tactics from the wolves. Silence was one of the first lessons I learned from them, how to move swiftly and silently even in the snow. My boots were my biggest hindrance at first but with time and effort, I became swift and silent.
I've changed the way I fight as well, flipping my sword around like an idiot didn't do much nothing for me so I started training. I had nothing but the bare bones I learned at the academy and no one to teach me anymore, but I did have the wolves and that gave me an idea. The first month was a lot of trial and error just watching and paying attention to the way they moved, how they attacked prey and how they fought as a unit. By the third month I had a basic pattern to work with, applying it to practice has been unbearably slow but after a few more months of hard work I've finally created my own fighting style that works for me.
For the first time ever, I actually feel... strong.
Granted, Crocea Mors... it just doesn't feel right in my hands, it never has honestly... I did steal it from our family vault after all.
Besides that, I've learned how to make a bow, arrows too! By the third month, my technique with it was acceptable to a degree at least. Hunting's been a breeze with it, now that I've got a handle on it.
I've been experimenting with meditation and my Aura as well and since then, the control I have over my own has increased dramatically. I can freely strengthen any aspect of myself now. Whether it's my speed, strength or even my senses, I can empower them all. I guess they weren't kidding when they said I had a-lot of Aura. Being able to strengthen myself like this has really been a blessing.
Understanding how it shields me has been pretty eye-opening also. As it turns out, I really don't need to use a whole lot of my aura because even a fraction of it can be stretched to maximize efficiency. Working smarter, not harder has been the motto these days.
You would think I have a lot of time on my hands to be writing this. Truth be told, I usually don't have any time to think of other things. If I'm being completely honest, after having nothing but time to really think about it... I've come to accept it all for what it is. My actions brought me here, plain and simple so now I've got to deal with that. At least I've got some company though.
I'm not sure what's gonna happen next, I might not even make it long enough for there to be one. The only certain thing is that I'll keep pushing on, I won't let this change me. I may have been handed life's ultimate shit-stick, but I'm not gonna just lay down an die.
I'll keep moving forward, I have to... for my own sake.
Day 180 with the wolves.
As Jaune finished the final line he sighed wistfully, he didn't care to mull over things like his past much less writing about how he feels about it. The time he had spent in the cold lands of Solitas cemented his new thought processes, he no longer really cared about any of it because ultimately, he had more pressing concerns now, like survival.
Moving from the cave with Crocea Mors in hand, he picked out an open spot for his training, Jaune began some easy exercises before going into various stances and techniques. Constantly switching from standing to a crouch, nearly on all fours as he would roll, duck and spin. He allowed the aura to flow through his body, but in controlled bursts as he finally had grasped and understood the concept of conservation. To anyone watching, he looked beastly, almost feral in his movements but he didn't care in the slightest.
Over time, he used his shield far less defensively as his main focus was swordplay. Its weight was continuing to be an issue for him. Truthfully the whole package was starting to bother him fiercely. Though he had accepted his lot in life, the sword was his tether, or rather his chain to his life before. Truthfully, he just wanted to be free from his past as much as possible, so he was definitely considering a new weapon when and if he eventually made it out of the tundra.
Not like the cold bothered him now.
The frozen tundra which he once believed was his deathbed had quickly become his stomping grounds, evident by how he would now jump from branch to branch of the Evergreens, Ferns and the various other dormant trees as he moved. His speed and balance were both leagues ahead of what they used to be, before he ended up here.
By now, he'd faced and bested multiple Grimm as well. The fodder Ursa's and Beowulves were less than child's play for him now, and as he dove onto the shoulders of an unsuspecting Ursa Major variant nearby, he punctuated that point with a swift, downward stab through the foul beasts bone-plated head. The overgrown, evil bear monster slumped over unceremoniously and hit the ground with a muted thud. After the sudden intermission, he returned to his tree hopping laps.
Gone was the old, naive boy who had believed that the world would make a way for him. While he had managed to keep his heart in tact, the extended time alone definitely had an effect on his state of mind and being now. Having to struggle and work hard to survive within the Iced-over forests and Tundras had irrevocably changed his outlook on life, to the point where he truly embodied the principles of the survival of the fittest. He had nothing but time to ruminate on the multitudes of events that brought him here, that brought humanity here to this point in time.
He spent hours in deep thought at times, pondering on the very essence of life on Remnant and one constant truth always came to his mind: To live is to suffer, to struggle and to fight. That is what life is in its essence, a never-ending, uphill battle.
Anything and everything worth obtaining must be fought for, you have to bleed for the things you desire. It made him put his own life into perspective, his life before and after Beacon was no different honestly. He hadn't fought hard enough for his dream and the consequence was everything that had befallen him. Now he had to truly start at the bottom and work his way up now, the only other alternative being death.
Thinking about it like that gave him some solace, out here he had to work twice as hard, with twice the risk and at nearly all hours to obtain the strength he has now. Granted, it all paid off in the long run with all of his gains, even Jaune had started to think that perhaps he had needed this all along, perhaps this was supposed to happen him.
After his pop quiz-like training session, he stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow. He rubbed his hand across his face, feeling the new grooves of layered skin from scarring and scabbing flesh. The changes in his features had become quite apparent to the exiled boy, each one a testament to the ongoing saga of the forsaken one.
Under his hairline on the upper left side of his face was a small scar that stretched down to his eyebrow from his fight with a flock of young Nevermore that appeared during one of his hunts. One of them got the drop on him and left him with a nasty surprise.
This one reminded him to remain constantly cautious.
The lower half of his face held scars on both the left and right side of his jawline that trailed up to his cheeks. Gained on a hunting run, from a wounded Beowulf wanting nothing more than retribution.
This one was a constant reminder to never underestimate his enemies, no matter how weak they may seem.
Last but certainly not least, was the long gash on the left side of his chin and down his neck. Gained from a one on one with a strange wanderer that swooped onto him from behind. He said nothing as he relentlessly attacked, Jaune barely won that fight via an uppercut and an adrenaline-fueled slash across the wanderers chest.
His first kill.
That one that reminded him to rarely, if ever trust anyone or anything outside of his pack.
Surprisingly enough, even a frozen tundra like this has its own brand of weirdos and bandits. His first run in with them quickly showed him just how much more of a threat people can be. It made him realize just how unaware he was of the world outside of the kingdoms, and how he would need to be ready at all times.
Just then, one of the younger wolves quickly approached him from the trees behind him. By the looks of things, it was frantic and panicked.
Jaune stood as he stared at the above-average sized wolf as it huffed and grumbled. Picking up on its alertness, he immediately stood up. He was just as ready and tense as the pup who stood straight up as well. It sniffed the air and suddenly shot off through snowy fields. Hot on the pups tail, He followed the wolf as it ran through the snowy fields. Tearing through the woods like the howling winds and moving through the snow.
As they approached a hill, his nose picked up on an odd scent. It was faint and sort of rusty, but a smell he felt familiar with. Blood. The young man picked up his pace and outran the young wolf, jumping over the hilltop and finding a horrendous scene. His wolf pack, battered, and broken had formed a semi-circle from the stone mountain behind them. A few adequately sized deer corpses sat in the middle of the circle, a fine haul from an earlier hunt no doubt. From where he stood, he made out other figures in the distance.
By the time they made it back to the pack, the opponents were all but made clear to him. No wonder the Grimm population was rising here, more bandits started to try making this place home. Their very nature emitting negativity and a vicious intent to harm any who oppose them. It made perfect sense now, the occasional two or trio he came across before were part of a larger clan of sorts.
About nine men began to surround the wolf pack, his new family was outnumbered eight to six of their own. Each of them were armed to various degrees from basic swords, axes and knives to pistols and shotguns. Jaune was pretty sure at least two or three of them had unlocked Auras and knew that with these odds, someone was bound to get hurt or killed.
This was no time to have cold feet, but he hated having to fight other humans. He'd only killed out here in an act of self-preservation, gaining one of the scars of his face as a consequence of such an encounter. Now? He would have to do no less in order to protect his pack, so he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and thought only about the survival of himself and his pack before notching an arrow. With his improved skill over aura, he charged the arrow enough to do serious lethal damage to anything without the empowering force protecting them.
Taking aim, he focused his aura into his vision, in an instant he could clearly see and differentiate from the bandits and picked out the back of the head of a man furthest from the raiding gang. Releasing the string, he fired without any remorse. The slightly glowing arrow, soared through the air and aimed true as his arrow slammed into its target with gruesome accuracy. The young exile squinted his eyes in disgust as he watched his arrow pierce the mans head unceremoniously. His death was instantaneous, his body crumpled and dropped like a heavy sack and with a muted thud thanks to the snow.
He now had a short window to pick out another bandit before their partners death was noticed, he quickly aimed at the opposite side of the group to shoot another straggler. He lined out his shot, and fired again.
Success. Another was taken quietly and without notice. The success was short lived however as the rest of the gang started to engage the wolves in battle. Shots rang out from the bandits guns as they attacked. Pained yowls and whines could be heard across the entire field.
"No... oh no." He let out in a hushed but highly upset tone as he sprung into action and ran with the young wolf into the fray. They shot out from the tree-line together, putting aside his bow, he drew Crocea Mors and shield bashed a sword-wielding man only to see the familiar flare of aura surround his opponent.
The man was momentarily stunned from the hit, but he was quickly regaining his footing. Before he could initiate his own attack however, the young wolf leaped onto the man chest. With the force of the wolfs full weight on top of him, he fell back into the snow and was unable to defend himself from the sword falling down upon him. With a short shriek, his life had come to an abrupt end.
With that, some of the other bandits were alerted to him now. He lifted his shield in time to deflect a few bullets thrown his away, this was beginning drag on for too long and he had no way of knowing how the rest of the pack was fairing. In the midst of his defensive play, he couldn't help but notice the sudden silence that came over the area around him.
In that moment, more shots rung out across the field and as he peered over his defenses, he could see a shotgun-wielding bandit mauled by none other than the Alpha Wolf. His fangs and claws tore through the little bit of Aura the man had with ease, even Jaune squinted in fear of the wolfs power. After shredding its hapless opponent into nothing, the Alpha sped off to the boys aide, "Wait, if you're here with me... what about the others...?"
The Alpha let out a long, mournful howl into the air. Its low pitch releasing a slight vibration into the air around them, unsettling more than a few of the remaining bandits.
The boy and the young wolf were both instantly downtrodden about the loss of most of the pack. The bandits numbers had been greatly reduced, but they were still outnumbered five to three. Jaune knew that they had to be decisive and quick to end this battle if they wanted to survive.
Suddenly, two of them sprung into action. Without a delay, the knife wielding duo charged at Jaune specifically, assuming that the human was the most dangerous target. True, but still a bad move on their part as he quickly rolled between them, letting the wolves make short work of them. They clashed for a moment before the Alpha tore through the throat of one of them, the young wolf pounced on the other taking a knife to its chest as it mauled the man to death, refusing to die alone, Jaune could hear its final cries but he pushed on, no time for tears.
Shield deployed, He brought up his guard as a hailstorm of bullets rained in his direction. The machine-gun toting thug continuously spat fire dust-infused rounds as his partner charged at the preoccupied boy. Machete met shield as they clashed, the gunners barrage stopped momentarily once his partner in crime engaged in fight. Jaune quickly blocked a downward swing from the man, just in time to roll to his right as he noticed the last of the bandits join in the fray.
While the others had been throughly cloaked, he stood out from the others with his violet ponytail and golden eyes. The mans bulky frame was noticeable through his jacket. He had on a pair of dark-violet, rectangular sunglasses and attached to his hip was a dark blue beret. In his hand was a long Halberd spear, it looked to be an ordinary weapon without the capabilities of mechashifting.
Still, the visage was quite the intimidating one.
His dark purple Aura flared as he ran through the clearing towards him. The boy could tell with just a glance that he was going to be an issue if he wasn't handled quickly, he had his work cut out for him now.
A quick shield bash to the face incapacitated the Machete-wielder, followed up by a cross slash to the chest. He wasn't getting back up, that was certain.
His reaction time was his saving grace, narrowly avoiding the lunge of a halberd by a few inches. The violet-haired bandit wasn't finished however, flipping the halberd into a reverse grip, he swung from the opposite side and managed to knock his shield out of his hand. He spun around for a final slash fully intended to take the boys head, but in a flash a large, blue eyed wolf to jumped onto the mans back. The Alpha looked truly feral as he clawed and gnawed at the grunting, supposed ring leader.
Just then, Jaune heard the familiar snaps and clicking of a reloaded gun. 'Shit!' He'd completely forgotten about the gunner! He looked up just in time to see the bandit taking aim at the Alpha. Panicked and beyond worried, he scrambled to his feet, boosting himself with his Aura, he took off running pushing himself through the thick snow.
He was so close, so close...!
Sadly, it was all for naught as the shots rang out across the clearing. The bullets tore into the great wolfs backside unceremoniously as he slumped off of the bandit boss's back and fell into the ground with a dull thud.
"No!" The boy screamed as he witnessed his only remaining wolf friend fall. His sadness and rage peaked and with vengeful force, he ran the gunner through, piercing his chest as he drove him down onto the floor. He wasted no time getting back up to his feet and regaining his stance, tears streaming down his cheeks as he stared down his opponent hatefully.
Unbeknownst to himself, his blue eyes began to glow eerily as he stalked his prey.
The violet-haired marauder noticed however, he became far more cautious as he twirled his halberd beside him. Said bandit took a few measured steps to the right as he eyed the young man before him, he held his weapon high for a downward starting attack. Once he cleaved through the boy's defenses, he would slice back up to split him right down the middle, his plan was set.
As the exiled Arc waited for the first strike, something unexpected happened. His vision had begun to darken, more appropriately it began to darken around the burly bandit until only he and the ground itself remained. He was so engrossed in the fight, he didn't even question what he was experiencing. While his world was darker now, the bandit was brighter then he'd ever been as his aura encompassed his entire body. A glowing, violet-shaded man stood before him, shimmering brightly as he stood posed to attack.
Just then, Jaune witnessed another oddity in his vision. From where the bandit was standing and glowing, a shining, purple stream of light shot out from his chest. It glistened and shined the same sheen of violet as its owners body, it curved around the left side of their positions and arched straight at him. He wasn't stupid enough to just let whatever it was collide with him, so he quickly stepped back and completely avoid the purple trail. What followed that was the glowing mass of the bandit leader, following the violet trail made by the stream. His body was poised to strike as he made the left arch, his Halberd was raised high, ready to come down in a powerful chop. Sadly, he missed his mark completely and hit nothing but snow.
"W-what the hell!?" The bandit leader screamed in frustration, "You little punk!"
'Ok, did that really just happen?,' the ex-Arc thought to himself. 'Did I just... see the future? No. That can't be it, he's not in the future to begin with and it wasn't like a premonition.'
"Rah!" The last bandit shouted as he sprung off the ground and spun into a horizontal slash, lapping at Jaunes aura as he grazed his stomach. The boy's counter was just as unexpected however, he side-stepped his attackers next swing and delivered a brutal elbow to his head and a slash to his Achilles' tendon to temporarily hinder his movements.
"Argh!" Grunting in a considerable amount of pain, the bandits stance was broken as he momentarily knelt down in agony. This was it, Jaune was poised to thrust right into him until his sight grew dark once again. Once again, he was in front of a kneeling, glowing man, the violet stream quickly sprouted out from his chest once more.
Moving purely off of instinct, he sidestepped the violet stream just in time for the marauder to shoot past him again. 'Ok, so I'm definitely seeing something before it happens.' His mind was racing as he narrowed down the list of what he thought he was experiencing. 'If it wasn't future sight, then wha...,' he paused before quickly checking his own aura reserves. It had dropped a noticeable amount in the time he'd been fighting, but he wanted to get a solid confirmation on this strange vision oddity he's having. An idea came to the forefront of his mind, a simple and an effective way to figure out what's going on.
As his opponent turned to face him, Jaune focused his aura into his eyes. In an instant, the darkness returned and the man glowed violet once more but now it wasn't just the bandit that shined. The falling snow in the air glittered with flakes of white and cyan light specks around him, the Ferns and Evergreens of the forest had a dull but soft, green hue around them. Even the ground had a tan, pulsing, glow emanating from it, the world around him now shined and glowed with a myriad of colors once unknown to him.
"Wha-what is... wait, this is... Aura. It's all Aura..!" He gasped aloud as the epiphany hit him, Aura was in all things so it made sense that it was all around them. Remnant was alive and now he knew it without any uncertainty.
"What in the hell are you talking about!?" The bandit shouted as he cautiously stepped forward.
"You made a mistake trying to steal from my friends."
The bandit stared at the boy curiously before a devilish smirk formed on his face. "What, those oversized dogs? Kid, how long have you been out here? Heh, you must have gone crazy from living in the pines for so long."
The boy said nothing, it unnerved the bandit captain a great deal.
With a final check of his own reserves, Jaune was satisfied to see that he still had plenty for the fight ahead. Settling into a low, somewhat crouched stance; his wolf style, he activated his new eyesight with a determined look on his face. The last bandit spun the massive Halberd over his head menacingly, trying to intimidate the boy while preparing himself for combat. Too bad for him, it went completely unacknowledged by the young exile.
This time, it was Jaune's turn to initiate the fight and with an aura-empowered leap, he sprung into action. Once he was within range, he was poised to let loose a powerful overhead blow, the bandit could easily see the attack coming however, and decided to block the blow with the pole of his halberd. Unfortunately for him, Jaune had anticipated this and reached out to get a firm grip of the mans head. Using the momentum of his descent, he pulled the head upwards and with a flash of his Aura around him, rammed his own into the bandit leaders nose.
With a sickening crunch, the scumbags aura shattered and the bone in his nose split. Which in turn, caused a chain reaction of gushing blood spilling into the snow from the bandits face. Disoriented and now wounded, the bandits was holding his disfigured face as he groaned in pain.
Seeing the opportunity however, Jaune pressed the issue and drove his foot into the mans chest, pushing him to the floor before he had the business end of Crocea Mors at the last bandits neck.
"H-hey now, take it easy with that thing..." croaked the downed thug, staring at the blade pointed at this throat. This irked Jaune tremendously, because of the bandit crew, his newfound family of sorts was scattered and broken around him. Now their apparent leader, this scumbag wants mercy...? "Did you 'take it easy,' with them...?" The boy said quietly as he pointed out in the distance to his fallen pack.
"They're just dogs man! Animals! Like the damn Fauni- Agh!" Another nasty crunch was heard, the bandit was rendered unable to finish his rant due to the sudden pain that shot through his face. His nose had been bashed again with the pommel of the boy's blade.
Jaune was not about to listen to his bigotry and racism any longer.
"Strip."
Incredulously, the man scoffed as if he was offended at the very suggestion, "You can't be serious!-" Just then, Crocea Mors was pressed into his neck even harder drawing a spec of blood in the process, the boy was tired of his nonsense and refusals at this point. "Ok! Alright already! Just chill out man!.." he cried out in a panic as he stared into the eyes of one really pissed off kid.
"Your clothes, your gear, everything but your underwear!" Jaune commanded, the so-called leader was now angrily trembling in defeat. Even he knew that trying to refuse at this point could mean the end of him. "Put it all on the ground next to you." He did so quickly, dropping his pack and Halberd to the ground along with his jacket, his tight-short sleeved shirt, the dark blue beret previously attached to his belt, his pants with pouch straps attached to both legs and his almost knee high boots. Before long, he was nearly stark naked and shivering.
"Now get lost," the exiled boy ordered. "Oh come on, thats cruel-!" That was all the boy needed to hear before he made an attempt to behead him. Taking the hint, the bandit ran freezing into the frozen expanse.
With a long sigh and low groan, the boy was trying to regain his breath, until he jolted up in remembrance. He sprinted frantically through the clearing in a panic, praying to whatever deity was out there for his friends safety.
Alas, disappointment was all he would find. He didn't need to run far, after a few steps he knew everything he needed to know. Before him laid seven wolf bodies in the field, each one as lifeless as the next and all of them partly covered in a blanket of snow. He took the time to check each one for any kind of vital signs, but to no avail. They were gone and he was alone again.
Tears for his new family streamed down his face, finally able to feel the weight of his actions. He allowed himself to cry, but only for a moment. After he wiped his eyes he said a silent prayer for the Alpha and his pack before preparing to leave. A burial out here would be meaningless and a waste with no means to dig.
Resigning himself to the fate of his pack, he took a deep breath, exhaled softly then set about salvaging whatever he could from the scene. He cut out and took what deer meat he could carry before going through the bandit man's belongings. An extra knife, a few pieces of flint, a first-aid kit and a map of Solitas, all of which was very useful or would prove to be later.
After swapping a few clothing items out for new ones, namely his pants, shirt, sunglasses and the beret, he stared out into the expanse, trepidation and slight worry in his eyes.
Now that he was by himself again, he was left with a choice. Stay or Go? Truthfully, he'd grown tired of solitude and the cold and was desperately craving human contact. He was incredibly grateful for his time in the wild and the lessons it taught him but it was time to return to the world at large. Except... he had one major problem, his name. By now Jaune Arc had to be considered dead, it had been months and Opzin more than likely would've been pressured to classify him as such. He needed a new name for himself, but what?
He thought about the Alpha and the time they spent around each-other. His many adventures with the wolves danced around in his memories, from the their first encounter to their last hunts together. Suddenly, the lightbulb went on and with a satisfied huff, the boy had figured it out.
"Azure. Azure Wolf..."
After testing the new phonetics of his name, he was certain that it would be just right. He'd have to live with it, after all.
He grabbed his pack and gave the Tundra one last gaze while muttered a near silent prayer. So much had happened here in such a short amount of time but all of it had left a mark on him that he would bare forever. For better or worse, this place was his real initiation into the world and meant it a great deal to him. Satisfied with his goodbye, he turned and walked away into the forest. Nothing but the light of a broken moon and a map to guide him onward.
According to the map, there was a small town fifty miles away from Mantle and one-hundred and twenty miles from where he was sure he was currently located. Didn't matter, he had a destination and was starting to get a plan forming in his mind. While he probably could never be huntsman now, a damn good mercenary isn't a bad idea either.
Words from the Author:
Ok, ok! So what did ya think? ;D
Time to address the elephant in the room: Jaunes new Semblance. I've always been 50/50 with Aura Amplification, so I wanted to try something different.
To make a long story short, I more or less gave him a combination of Ryougi Shiki's (Kara no Koukai) eyes of death ability and Inca Kasugatani's (Fire Force) ignition ability of sensing and detecting fire through her sense of smell. If you've ever seen Donnie Darko, think of the aura streams like that in a way. In Jaunes case, its Aura via his vision. It'll definitely become more of a precognition like ability later on in the story.
Later guys~