CHAPTER 5: SHACKLES OF THE PAST

Cinder waited outside the bullhead hanger for Jaune by the Bullhead at ten am on the clock, ready and prep to leave, while still wearing her long sleeve red dress and high heels. The longer she waited, the more her inpatients grew; she woke up hours to get ready and prepare for the occasion. Then she looks into her scroll and sees he's five minutes late and begins pacing back and forth as her inpatients build. Until she hears the rattles of metal approaching from the dark hallway with red glowing eyes, she first thought it was a stray Grimm, but she remembers. Those weren't the eyes of the Grimm; those were the eyes of the Grimm knight appearing before her. Seeing Jaune emerge out from the shadows appear wearing his full suit of armour of black with red accents, his sword by his hip and his shield on his arm with his black fur tattered cape carried by the howling winds on his back while he approaches Cinder with ...a small bouquet.

"Oh, Dust...dose he sees this as a date!? I admit we don't see eye to eye, but this is ridiculous! However..." Panic fills her head but soon slowly turns to confusion as she eyes the bouquet. Seeing the flowers in Jaune's hand piqued her curiosity as she had never seen those flowers before, not in the wild forest or in any florist in Ramenat. If she were to give a brief description of what they look like are roses, four of them to be exact and different from the assorted colours and shape. But the one took her attention the most out of the four roses. This one was an orange rose that emits what looks like drifting orange smoke circling the rose itself. She couldn't help but be enchanted by such fascination with the orange rose that the sound of Jaune's voice broke her attention.

"Hmph, you here..." he sighs, disappointed while Cinder grits her teeth in frustration and is annoyed by Jaune's attitude towards her.

"To be thought I would be here before you." He sneers as Cinder's brow twitches slightly, trying to hold herself together, trying not to murder Jaune and being forced to bow before the Prince.

"This is my punishment under your mother's orders." She replies with elegance with a hint of venom towards the end and immediately forgetting the bouquet.

"Very well..." Then he turns to the Bullhead.

"do you know how to fly this machine?" he asks solemnly.

"Of course." She replies and notices Jaune pulling out his scroll, typing and returning it to his pocket underneath his armour. He stares at Cinder for a moment till her scroll vibrates and pulls it out to see a message sent by Jaune. To her surprise, how did Jaune get her scroll number? She stares at him for a moment till she opens the message and sees it's a map with a marked location that she recognizes. The Forbidden Valley.

The Forbidden Valley is located in Anima, a hot spot of rare and powerful Elder Grimm. Rare Grimm that Salem even herself couldn't control them, even if she tries they resist her orders to follow and would gladly attack her without a second thought. This is odd, Salem can create and control the Grimm, yet these Rare Grimm don't obey Salem. Are they, by chance are the Grimm born before Salem's curse? That is the only logical explanation Watts concluded when Salem tried to recruit these Grimm to bend to Salem's control. Yet they didn't attack her, which was odd but respectively leave, which highly support Watts's theory, while the Queen hasn't contended nor endorsed the idea or just didn't care?

Though these Grimm weren't a problem or issue to Salem's plan as they're known to be very solitary Grimm, only attacking and killing whoever enters the Valley and never leaves. So Salem left them because they wouldn't cause a problem or hinder her plan. Cinder continues to ponder what Jaune is planning that he needs to go to the Forbidden Valley. Just while she is still considering, she notices Jaune entering the Bullhead, which made Cinder panic about going to a dangerous location that his mother couldn't control.

"my Prince, I highly advise against the idea! That area is dangerous! Not even your mother could control them!" she tries to reason with the Prince but only for him to stare towards Cinder.

"Cinder, do you even know why they don't listen to mom?" this surprised Cinder to hear Jaune casually call out their Queen without any forms of formalities like "mom", so casual. Unsure how to feel to be either a bit of shock or surprise while Cinder tries to think of an answer, hoping to convince the Prince not to go to the Forbidden Valley.

"Cause their elder rank, Grimm? Old enough to disobey your mother?" she guesses, hoping it is a good enough excuse not to go.

"Yes and no." He replies cryptically while Cinder doesn't understand, as Jaune sighs and emphasizes his response.

"Yes, they are Elder rank, Grimm. However, the main reason they disobey; mom is that she didn't create them." He states as he slowly removes his helmet showing his face towards Cinder like his revealing his true face. But only to be unimpressed that it isn't new to see Jaune's messy blonde hair with a gold shine, blue eyes and light tan skin. She crooks her brow to expect something, but nothing happens. Till she noticed Jaune's skin slowly blenched of white, followed by his hair with a shine of silver, his eyes turning black with his irises turning blood red with black veins on his face like his mother.

"I did." He states with the same intimidating stare towards Cinder, an expression she's far too familiar to recognize. Seeing what's before her in a comprehensive eye of shock. Seeing Jaune in this form, you can immediately tell the resembles between him and his mother. And Now, see Jaune in this state; she couldn't help but be afraid again like she's in the presence of Salem before her. She couldn't help herself but be frightened once again, like the time she first met Salem. She remembers it, clearly, a memory she will never forget, forever engraved in her mind. After leaving her life with those Atlas Elites for the first time of her life to taste true freedom to do whatever she wanted and have the skills and knowledge to get away with it. She couldn't help but smile at those who cross her, especially her so-called stepfamily, although that didn't mean that she wouldn't experience some setbacks.

Such as the cold of Atlas's Forest, especially with the Grimm, that's when she first saw her, when she first met Salem. It was all by chance or Fate from whatever you see it; it was after her first two months of freedom. When News of the bodies of her dead stepfamily and a licences Huntsman were found. She was given two options: she hid in Mantle in plain sight and used the money and weapons. Cinder managed to take it before leaving the accursed place she calls home. But with risk to be found her quickly before it blows over. Or option B: gather whatever necessities she needs and leave Atlas, but can't take Bullheads or ships out of Atlas, can't take the risk that they may be looking for her. So have no choice but leave on foot. The second option looks more promising with a guarantee if she made it out of Atlas's borders as those Atlas elites won't bother wasting more of their lien to search for her outside their borders.

With a plan set, thank her so-called 'teacher' without a hint of empathy or regret killing him. With a route planned, gear pack, weapons sharpen and enough supplies to survive till the next village. Without haste, she left Atlas in the middle of the night; it was easy to slip past the guards without them noticing and entering the forest, marking her first step of freedom. Weeks have passed, and so far, no huntsman or authorities haven't followed her trail but at the same time had slight problems when it comes to camping. Though there were some issues, she'll admit, like it took nearly all night to build a shelter and fire and almost a week to get it right and encounter a Grimm or two.

Then one night, sleeping by the campfire, she tiredly opened her eyes she saw her. Seating by the campfire in a black obscured robe with a hooded cowl overshadowing her face watching her sleep, startled to immediately raise and draw her blades but to only see no one. She thought she dreamt that, but the next few nights soon became from slow pace jog from an all-night marathon of Grimm encounters none stop. But stop pursuing her at night, which is odd, yet give some rest and recovery. This continues as she couldn't help but wonder if it has to do with that woman she saw that night. But she shakes those thoughts away in denial as it's impossibly. The next day she began to notice a pattern and notice the behaviour of the Grimm and positive it has to do with that woman. So she decided to play along till the moment was right, and on the thirteenth night, it was time.

That night she pretended to sleep, hearing the sounds of the soft crunch of snow approaching towards her. Waiting patiently for the right moment, slowly pulled her sword underneath out and at the right time, she turned and threw the sword straight towards her target. It lands straight centre of the woman's chest with a satisfying smirk. But strangely, the hooded woman is still standing, and worse of all, she's still moving, oblivious of the sword on her chest while giving Cinder a slow clap. At that moment, she was afraid once again; without haste, she drew her second sword just to defend herself against that monster but only for the Grimm to appear and approach. Snarling and growling of their red eyes of death staring into her soul to kill. But it was immediately stopped when the robed woman raised her hand, signalling the Grimm to stop and slowly back away, surprising Cinder.

"Such drive for such a young age." Her voice sounds of concern, almost motherly that Cinder never had experienced in her life, but now she needs to remain strong. She can't lower her guard around her, especially the Grimm. The women notice her expression and turn over her shoulder to see the Grimm watching over her. She jerks her head to the side, signalling the Grimm to leave them, to which they comply, leaving the two women. The robed woman is alone in the campfire pulls the blade out of her chest coated in blood. Without a grunt or stagger of pain, she cleaned the blood off the edge with her robe and slowly presented it to Cinder. While she stares of amazement and shock at what she's just seen and the wound on her chest exposed to see its healing without leaving a scar, like it was never there, to begin with.

Quickly snatching the blade of the woman's hand, but with her guard remaining on high alert, but the woman didn't look offended but instead sat by the fire and brushed off some snow off the ground and patted to dry and signalling Cinder to join her. But Cinder didn't waver and was still on guard, but the women didn't take offence and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. Unsure of what to do, Cinder needs to either stand her ground or escape from this woman. However, escape is impossible with the Grimm and now know this woman can control the Grimm, chances are she'll order them to capture her. Standing her ground is also another impossibility, especially after seeing her still standing from a mortal wound and healed like it was nothing. No matter where she looks at it, she's still at this woman's mercy. No matter how hard she put on the front, Cinder is afraid and curious of this woman who approacher her with a question.

"Who are you?" she scowls while trying to be intimidating towards the woman.

And what came next, the woman removed her hood, revealing her elegant white skin, her long hair shine wave freely. Cinder isn't going to lie; she's beautiful and terrifying, especially her eyes. Yet she just smiles towards her, not at all offended by Cinder's threat.

Slowly she put her hand towards Cinder and gently caressed her warm hand to Cinder's cheek. Her mind spiralled out of control of emotion, confused. Her mind is screaming to her to run, attack, anything to defend herself. But then her chest swelled, feeling something she thought she would never expect to feel… love of the woman gently holds her cheek and gently wipe a tear-off her face and just like that. It hit Cinder like her heart had been squeezed out of her chest and cries on the stranger's chest. Completely forgetting everything that has happened, from the orphanage, the Atlas elites and the betrayal of everything, it washes away, lifting her burden.

While stranger did nothing but caress the lonely child in her arms, rocking gently back and forth while she hums a melody. Like a true mother comforting her child, till the said child cried herself to sleep. Even when she woke, she was still in the woman's embrace and looked up to see the woman smiling towards the child.

"Seems your finally awake. Did you sleep well?" The lady of white asks as Cinder nods

"That's good to hear. Tell me, child, what is your name?" she asks calmly.

"C-Cinder…" she stutters

"Cinder? That's a lovely name." Cinder was calm and unsure how to respond to the stranger until the said stranger realized with a light chuckle.

"Oh yes, I forgot. I didn't introduce myself, I did?" she smiles towards the child and nods again.

"My name is Salem…queen of Grimm." She states with a stern smile towards Cinder, seeing Salem's response, straightforward with no signs of deceit or deception and now with fear of knowing who she cried her tears on.

"Now that you know who I am. Cinder, do you wish to live with me?"

From then on, her life changed. No longer she's the weak orphan girl. No longer she's collared and enslaved. But now free to do whatever she desires, and her desire is power and to serve her Queen Salem and now her Son, Jaune.

"Cinder!" snapping herself back to reality and seeing Jaune sitting in the Bullhead waiting for Cinder.

"If you want to know more. Take me to the forbidden Valley, and I will tell you when we arrive." He said and saw Cinder staring at Jaune, still in disbelief of his appearance change. He sighs and reverts to his original blonde hair, light tan skin, and blue eyes.

"that's an order, Cinder!" as his tone went harsh for her to listen as she entered the cockpit and began lift-off and heading to their destination.

After a couple of minutes in the air, both Jaune and Cinder discover something they never would least expect. They found the Grimm Knight has motion sickness; while Cinder flies the plane, she hears the groans of Jaune's cursing, gagging, and one time used his helmet as a barf bag, spewing stomach literally into his helmet. A sigh of relief to Cinder she won't be cleaning that up off the floor and at the same time couldn't help but smirk of the irony of the great, strong and legendary Grimm Knight to have a weak stomach. Cinder would enjoy seeing the Grimm Knight in grovelling if it weren't for the smell of puke in a condensed ship. She would enjoy the show. But forced to pinch her nose to block off the foul odour, and she can't open a window without getting sucked out of the Bullhead for the altitude they're on. So with no choice but to endure the foul smell for the next couple of hours before they would arrive at their destination.

Hours pass, and finally, they arrive in Anima. They flow past a small village just before they landed, which can be seen in the distance close to the Forbidden Valley. It was best to land the ship deep in the forest to conceal the Bullhead close by a river to avoid unwanted attention. Just in time as both rush out of the vessel gasping for air while the foul smell of Jaune's sick escapes. Jaune sighs in relief to escape the cursed Bullhead for his suffering while Cinder inhales deeply of the fresh air to get the smell out of her nose. Then turned to Jaune with a taunting smirk and was about to say something, but Jaune raised his hand towards her.

"Not a word, Cinder or I'll order you to clean my helmet." He sickly threatens, breathing heavily while keeping his helmet away from the smell. Cinder immediately stops and looks out, avoiding eye contact, fearing to deal with a helmet full of puke. Jaune left the area without a word and headed for the nearby river close by the ship. Cinder waited for the next couple of minutes of Cinder waiting for Jaune to clean up his helmet in a nearby river to wash the barf and smell off his helmet. Jaune finally returns with his helmet clean and smell free and takes the lead to the Forbidden Valley while Cinder follows behind. She hesitated about the situation as they slowly entered the Forbbin Valley.

"My Prince, could you please now explain why we're here?" she asks, a bit demanding but trying to cover it up with gentle demeanour stopping the Prince in his tracks and turning to Cinder.

"we're visiting a few people in the forbidden Valley." He replies while he stares at the bouquet.

"someone lives in the forbidden Valley?" she asked with a crooked brow.

"you'll see when we get there. Oh, I almost forgot, follow my lead and stay close and no sudden movement, are we clear?" Jaune's voice changed from solemn to instructive, almost demanding, giving Cinder no choice but to obey and follow Jaune to the Valley.

After a couple of minutes of walking, nothing happens. The forest is calm and quiet, not the sound of the birds or even the winds. This made Cinder grow even more and more concerned; she would expect to encounter the Rare elder Grimm by now. But then she realizes something, what do these rare Grimm even look like? She looks around her surroundings for some clues that could help identify the Grimm. However, the only clues Cinder manages to find is a few trees with broken branches and four streak claw marks. That got her attention comparing the claw marks of Beowolves she remembers back at the Grimmlands. They usually have three streaks. Then she looks down on the ground and notices paw prints, mostly resembling a Canine. By the number, there's a lot of them, a pack of ten to fifteen tops and two distinctive paws stood out from the rest, as it's twice the size of her palm.

Finally realizing the size and number of Grimm in this Valley, Cinder is concerned to outright terrified. She read reports that these Grimm are dangerous; an incident involved a company destroying the forest for expansion of a new settlement. But only to encounter the Grimm and kill everyone with no survivors. They then sent a team of the most experienced Huntsman and huntresses to clear the Grimm out. But they were all killed, and only one survived out of the forest but soon died before they could save her in the hospital. The Coroner who examined the Huntress remains and stated that the victim was mauled and dragged with a bite of over a thousand Psi with the number of fractured bones in the bite area from her shoulder down to her chest; the Coroner believes it was a large Beowolf Elder class. It wasn't the only thing in the record of the Huntress's death. Her legs were shattered, and her right was torn off its socket. The only reason she manages to escape the Valley is that she jumps to the river to escape from the presuming Grimm.

She looks towards Jaune, even beneath his armour, his still calm. He didn't slow down his pace, nor did his hand rattle in fear. Then suddenly, a snap of a dry twig snap, stopping Jaune and Cinder in place. He raised his hand, signalling Cinder to stop, slowly turned and looked over his shoulder towards Cinder.

"Cinder, under no circumstances do you draw your weapon or attack. Understand?"

From the tone of Jaune's voice, Cinder knows this is serious and nods, then suddenly rustle of bushes sound their surroundings. Slowly emerging from the brushes wolves, but not ordinary wolves. These wolves are different, slightly more giant, and like the Grimm, their fur is pitch black, with a skull white mask over their head, plates of bone scattered across on their back and a bony spine along their back and small ones on the backs of their legs, their paws are too covered in bone plated claws. The only difference is that these Grimms are in all four legs, unable to stand on their two hind legs like Beowolves. And the most notable thing Cinder found is their markings and eyes. Instead of a glow of red eyes and markings of rage, they glow of blue of dread.

The Grimm were all growling and snarling threateningly towards the humans, the female reeks of fear slowly rising, but the other one in metal is calm and a threat. Just one of the pack step forward, a large thump is a sound in front of the humans and approaches. The pack stop and watch for their Alpha to arrive.

The sound of crunching bushes and shrubs approaches the two from the dark Valley. Jaune stands firm against the anomaly while Cinder slowly shivers in fear, trying to hold it in. She continues to watch the sounds approaching, till finally, it reveals itself out of the shadows.

Amaze for Cinder to see the Alpha and elder Grimm of the pack. But with a huge difference, it's twice the size of these wolves, its fur isn't pitch black but instead shine of white coat, a large white wolf, yet it's also a Grimm. It's baffling; the Grimm are known to have black fur, but to see one in white is beyond impossible, yet it's standing in front of her. It stills has white bone plates of armour and a mask with blue eyes and markings spread around its body. But what stood out of its markings was in its forehead; it had the two crescent moons like on Jaune's shield. Yet this one is somehow emitting what looks like...aura?! out of its blue markings! How!? Grimm are heartless, soulless monsters! No emotion! Only the drive to kill off all of humanity! They don't possess a spec of life!? And worse of all, these Grimm don't obey Salem! So how did this Grimm have aura!? Did Jaune really create this Grimm!? And how did he give a Grimm Aura!?

Jaune slowly hands Cinder the bouquet. He unstrapped his sword off his belt, then slowly kneeled and placed it on the ground with his shield. Then Jaune signals his hand to Cinder to follow his lead as she did, trusting Jaune since these...Grimm, haven't attacked yet.

The Alpha circles around the two separating between them and the pack while it sniffs their scent. Then stop in front of Jaune and bark towards him, as Jaune slowly removes his helmet and places it next to him while the Alpha sniffs his scent.

"So, are you doing? Or are you going to keep wasting my time?" Jaune smirks as Cinder comprehensive eye of shock. As the Alpha growls threatening towards Jaune, then leap on top of him. Cinder panics and tries to help Jaune, but only the wolves stand her way, forced to watch the elder Grimm growl towards Jaune. It opens its maw, and Cinder, fearing for the worse. But to only pause when Jaune began to laugh and begs the wolf to stop, as it licks his face, like a pet licking his owner.

"Haha, okay, stop! Alright! I miss you too! Stop Fenrir! Haha!" Jaune laughs, finally managing to stand up, hugging the giant wolf's head while it pants excitedly.

"it's been too long. Thank you for standing guard and waiting for me." He smiles, petting the wolf as the other wolves approach Jaune for affection. As Jaune did, stroking the and praise, confusing Cinder on the spot of what had just happened.

Till she's startled and felt something nudging her hand. She looks down to see a wolf eye her for affection, as she couldn't help but pet the wolf till more approach her and slowly begin to overwhelm her.

"Hey, slow down! One at a time-Woah! Stop licking me! Haha! Stop! Jaune, help!" Cinder panics, then falls over when overwhelmed to the ground to be licked non-stop as she laughs. While Jaune laughs at such entertainment, he records the entire thing in his scroll. Just as he has enough, he turns to the white Grimm Fernir with a smile.

"Fernir, would you please?" he asks as the giant wolf barks to the pack to stop and turn their heads to the Alpha; then, with a grunt, the pack leaves and scatter out to the forest. To only leave the Alpha, Jaune and slobber coated Cinder for Jaune to take a picture.

He picks up his sword and shield and carries his helmet onto his arms. While Cinder picks up the bouquet while wiping the slobber off of her. Jaune smiles towards Cinder, for only Cinder to irk the Prince as he turned his attention back to Fernir and gave it a nod.

The wolf turns and leaves the area while Jaune follows, making Cinder fall behind. The last thing she needs is another slobber attack from those mutts.

Fernir leads them to a stone with an iron gate for a good couple of minutes of walking, wrapped in vines of vegetation. Jaune pets the wolf as it leaves the two alone; Jaune then turns to Cinder.

"Cinder, could you please clear out these vines with your flames?" he asks not to order. Cinder, to her core, wants to outright refuse. She's not a gardener; she's a Maiden. Then again, this is her punishment from Salem; if word gets out that she isn't cooperating with it will leave a wrong impression on Salem. She complies with a groan and passes the bouquet to Jaune and steps forward and shoots a torrent of flames, burning the vines off the wall and gate. Leaving nothing ashes.

"Thank you, Cinder, now come." As he opens the gate for Cinder to walk through, and to her surprise, it's a cemetery. Of five statues of four children, young girls wearing a dress and in the middle a Knight, wearing the same armour as Jaune, standing tall with its hands on top of the shield in front of it. All standing on a black marble pedestal with gold accents.

He gently pulls out the flowers, places each in front of the statues, and kisses the forehead while saying their names.

The first was a red rose with black tips on its pedals with a warm sensation. He places it in front of the statue with her arms up like she's running with a cheerful smile. "Jasmine..."

The next one was a violet rose with a black stem with a fragrant scent that reminded her of spring. He places it in front of the statue with her hands open with a baby chick and stares in awe. "Aurora..."

Next is a white rose with a slight frost of ice forming on the flower. And place in front of the statue what looks like she's reading a book in her hand. "Eve..."

Finally, the last orange rose with the drift of smoke flowing around the rose. Jaune pauses and stares at the statue. Compared to the others, this one is shorter and looks younger than the other statues. And she was carrying what looked like a stuffed toy wolf in her arms.

Then it finally hit Cinder, whose graves these belongs to. The original four maidens and the knight is his brother. While Cinder continues to watch Jaune as he kisses the rose and finally places it on top of the statue left ear like a hair ornament. Then kiss its forehead.

"Happy birthday...Rhea," he whispers, then moves to the final statue and face his brother as he kneels and stares at the figure.

"Hey, Jonathan...it's been a while…" he smiles towards the statue.

"As you may already guess, I just recently woke up...heh, the last time I was here was after the Fauna war. We won, by the way, the Faunas are finally free, and they have their own independent country. However, I think the humans just gave them that country of Grimm infested lands so that the Grimm would finish them off. What they didn't know mother was with them and clear out the area for them to settle till they're strong enough to fight for themselves..." He pauses as a lump forms in his throat, his heart weighs heavy, his mind is flooded with suppressed emotions he held in him over thousands of years, tears soon run down his face, trying to hold it in. Yet no matter how hard he tries to suppress, ignore, forget or even try to move on for their sake, but he can't do it. He couldn't just forget them. It was his fault, his crime, his sin and now he's paying for it, to be shackled down and live in constant memory, a reminder of why he lives, a life while their lives are taken away to become a memory. Yet the only way he could do is just to mask his emotions, but they weren't the only lives that were lost…

"I'm sorry..." he cries

"I wasn't strong enough…" as he grips on the ground, tightly tearing through the grass to the soil.

"Strong enough to protect them. I don't even deserve to be called a hero…Those lives…those lives I lead during the war. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't wash their blood off my hands. They trusted me; they gave their lives to me at the Battle of Camlann…I don't know how you do it, Jona…" he cries as his tears fall into his grasp hands.

"You were always the hero, Jona, not me. To save the many and leave the few...that was my regret, I'm still not strong enough to save them all. I'm not like you Jona, you always were the one with the plan to save everyone, a true hero...I even sometimes wonder….if it were me instead of you…" he couldn't hold it any longer as tears flow down his face, while Cinder feels uncomfortable to be here but at the same time saddened to see Jaune like this and want to comfort him. But he calms down and dries his tears and tries to calm down for a moment of silence, and takes a deep breath to calm down and change differently.

"I wish you were here…all of you…I miss you all. Sorry I didn't bring mom again. She still refuses to visit. It seems she hasn't still haven't forgiven herself. No matter how many times I tried, she still blamed herself. I wish you were here. You would've known what to do." Then he placed his hand on the pedestal in a moment of silence again, then Jaune finally stood up, picking up his helmet.

"Anyway, it's good to see you again...all of you. The next time I visit, I'll be sure to bring mom with me and maybe my heir." He smiles, walking with Cinder still standing as he leaves.

She waited for Jaune to call out for a moment, but he didn't allow her to approach the young statue with the stuffed toy. She doesn't know why she's doing this, but something in her tells her Cinder would regret it if she didn't.

"I promise I'll look out for him..." She whispers to the statue, and just as she turns and walks away, a white astral silhouette runs past her hip with a giggle like a child.

"Thank you..."

Just Cinder turns around to follow the child, only to see the child gone and only statues remain.

"Cinder, we're done here. Let's go home." Jaune calls out by the gate, with Cinder rushing towards him.

They walk in silence in the deep forest while being escorted by the pack of Grimm. Cinder turns her head, seeing these rare Grimm in awe. She'll admit, these Grimm are more...artistic than the norm. And if she has to give a word that best describes these Grimm, it would be...alive. Then he turns to Jaune with his back facing towards her, remembering Jaune's change of appearance this morning. She's not going to lie; she thought Jaune was adopted by Salem. But after seeing his appearance change and admitting he created these Grimm, he is the Prince of Grimm.

But this gives more questions than answers of what Jaune is? Is he more human than Grimm or more Grimm than human, like his mother...or both?

"Is there something on your mind? I can smell it on you from here." Jaune voice calls, snapping Cinder out in embarrassment.

"A lot..." She confessed unease.

"Well, we got time. What do you want to know?"

"Those graves...are they...?" she freezes and hesitates, unsure why she starts with that question, but when she sees that astral silhouette. She needed to know what she saw.

"Yeah...those were my siblings. The original four maidens with my brother. Salem's Children..." his voice came cold and sadden.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay...moving on. What's your next question?

"These Grimm. What are they? They look more like Wolves than Grimm?" she asks while looking at the escorted Grimm. As one walked by, her nudging its head against her hand, asking for a head pat, this surprised her, Grimm isn't supposed to be affectionate, but she couldn't help but comply.

"I call them Direwolves. Unlike the Beowolves, Direwolves have the intelligence of Alpha, and they're not even alpha ranks. They're not as strong as the Beowolves when it comes to strength, but with their speed and intelligence made up for their strength."

"Wait, if these Direwolves have the intelligence of an alpha. Then what about that white one? I thought that's the Alpha."

"She."

"Huh?"

"I named her Fenrir…" as he stops and leans on a nearby tree in total depression, it becomes awkward from Cinder's perspective.

"…After Rhea's favourite toy…." Jaune whispers in depression as some of the Diremolves nudge Jaune to keep moving. Even some are of the Direwolves are pulling by his cape for him to move. Cinder isn't even sure what is she seeing, but in the end, Jaune resumed walking with some of the Direwolves, trying to cheer him up, nudging themselves against Jaune lovingly for attention.

"Um…Jaune…the wolf?" she calls out for Jaune's attention.

"Hmm? She's an elder rank and Alpha of this pack. Unlike other Grimm packs, this pack has a hierarchy. Fenrir is the Alpha, the one in charge. Then came beta, delta and gamma; Geri, Freki and Garm; they're her second in command. Each of them has a pack of their own of ten to fifteen Direwolves. They protect a section of the Valley from intruders and contact Fenrir for orders regarding unknowns, such as us, for example." He pauses as one of the Direwolves nudges its head closer to Jaune's face begging for attention, as Jaune laughs, petting the wolf of affection and noticing more of Cinder's bewildered expression.

"And as you can see, these Direwolves are more affectionate and more in control than other Grimm. A Familial bond, so to speak. With that, they recognize Fenrir's authority and assume her traits, empathy, obedience. Everything that the Grimm lacks. Making them superior." Jaune states while hugging another Direwolf for affection and continues.

"They have hunting parties, but we both know Grimm don't eat to survive, only to kill. That's only for training their pups to fight against intruders. The kills are the reward." He continued walking when Cinder froze on the spot when she heard the last part of Jaune's explanation.

"Wait, pups? As in... puppies?" surprised what she heard, Jaune turns, looking at her like why this is a surprise.

"of course. What did you think I meant?" Jaune replies with a straight face giving Cinder a bewildered expression.

"Because that is impossible! Grimm are soulless killing machines, intend to eradicate all of humanity! They're born in the Grimm pools! They don't even have a gender to identify!? Let alone a reproductive system?" while Jaune still gave Cinder an unexpressed look, as the pack immediately rushed past them through the shrub before them leaving the couple alone.

"Cinder, did you forget I'm the Prince of Grimm. That includes control and creating Grimm the way I wanted them to be. Intelligent, faster and the ability to breed. It's more reliable than the Grimm pools, to be honest. Cause in the Grimm pools, they're more of a…." Jaune pauses with his train of thought gone, away from the conversations and ponders of his afterword.

"What was that word again? I just learned it last week. What did Emerald call it again…a gacha was it?" He gave a bewildered expression, standing in front of a thick shrub.

"argh! Forget it; we're here anywhere. Come on, you want to see this." he smiles as he pulls the shrub entirely away, revealing an open space in front of the base of the mountain. Seeing the whole pack of Direwolves scattered in the open area divided into more miniature packs, either sleeping or playing together. At the bottom of the mountain is a cave with Fenrir lying on her side, feeding a litter of pups.

While they watch in the distance, Jaune smiles towards Cinder. "Want to meet the pups?" he smiles as Cinder vigorously nod. As Jaune stood and held on to Cinder's hand in instinct, escorting Cinder through the pack, while the group pauses and stares at the two until they reach Fenrir.

"Hey, girl..." Jaune smiles and approaches the alpha wolf's head-scratching the back of her ear as she becomes more relaxed, while Cinder is a comprehensive eye of the shock of what she's seeing. Puppies, and not just ordinary puppies, they're Grimm puppies. All have pitch-black fur with a skull white mask over their heads with blue eyes like the rest of the Direwolves. While feeding on the Alpha's milk, like an actual mother, it's impossible, yet it's right in front of her.

She is dumbstruck and stares in denial while Jaune approaches the pups still feeding on Fenrir. Till one-stop, notice Jaune's presence, and turn to him with curiosity and approach.

In awe, Jaune didn't hesitate and picked up the pup in his hands. "Hey there, little guy, what's your name?" he asks as the pup yip in response, awing the man even further, then turns to Cinder and hand the pup to her.

Surprise of the approach, the Grimm in her hand is conflicting. Startle and frighten to drop the Grimm, as she knows the Grimm she knows is lifeless and murdering machines without a mind of conscience. But in her hand, right in front of her, Cinder's not carrying a mindless, lifeless Grimm. She's holding something alive, a living being of darkness with the spec of light of life. She can feel the warmth in her hands, a beat of its heart and hears the breath it breathes...it's beautiful. She couldn't help but cradle the pup in her arms while giving the puppy a belly rub.

Unbeknownst to her, while admiring the pup in her hands, she finds herself surrounded by the rest of the pup's wanting attention. While Jaune watches, resting his back against Fenrir like a soft large fluffy pillow and as he pulls out his scroll and points it to Cinder as she scowls.

"Don't. You. Dare!" Cinder threatens as Jaune responds with a click of his scroll, taking a picture of Cinder surrounded by the litter.