Stalking towards the hut, he noticed two blips on his radar, now three. "What now?" he whined quietly, grabbing night vision goggles. Spotting an ashen-haired woman, he smirked deviously, shooting a dart into her neck.
"Nighty night, bitch," he whispered, crawling in the sand to find Jaune and Pyrrha asleep in a makeshift hut. "You people make it too easy," he thought, swiping their weapons and flexing a needle blade. He flared his lightning, waking them.
Sheathing his blade, he smiled, unseen by them. "Good evening," he said, grabbing their necks, choking them. "Yes or no questions, got it?" he asked, clenching tighter.
"Speak, and you both die," he warned, allowing them to breathe slightly. "Is Ironwood dead?" They nodded, uncertain. "Do you know where I can find Raven and Qrow Branwen?"
Jaune rasped, "You mean Ruby's da-" but was cut off.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" he asked, tightening his grip. Pyrrha confirmed they knew.
Growling, he slammed them to the sand. "I told you just to nod," he scolded. Jaune kicked him, freeing Pyrrha. He dragged her away, realizing they were far from help.
No one came, and Jaune, in pain, couldn't call for help. Spotting no sign of Reaper, Jaune suddenly felt a powerful impact on his chin, thanking his aura as he stood up, disoriented.
"Good to see you can still stand," Reaper remarked sarcastically. Jaune, recovering, got into a boxing stance.
Reaper chuckled, tossing a makeshift club to Jaune. "With a large aura like yours, this will be delightful," he said, challenging Jaune to give his all.
"Dead serious, Arc. Give me everything you've got," Reaper urged, noticing Jaune's glare. "You're a fake and a liar, a nobody," he taunted as they circled.
Jaune rushed in, but Reaper, aware of Jaune's reliance on his shield, took pleasure in the perceived defenselessness. To his surprise, Jaune's swing continued even after Reaper stopped sparking, catching him off guard.
Reaper mocked, "Not even worthy enough for Cole's rivalry." Jaune, feeling the knee strike's unusual intensity, noticed Reaper's taunts.
As they engaged, Jaune adapted, making smaller, less telegraphed swipes, but Reaper dodged each one. Jaune, growing impatient, made a large swing, but Reaper countered with precise strikes, leaving Jaune staggering.
"He's merciless," Jaune muttered, trying to strategize. They exchanged blows, with Reaper's controlled and powerful movements leaving Jaune drained and dizzy.
Reaper mocked Jaune's fighting style, claiming to be a lion playing with a gazelle. Jaune, feeling overwhelmed, uttered, "You aren't human." Flashbacks revealed Cole's strategic spar with precise hits on critical points.
Reaper continued to batter Jaune, who struggled to comprehend his opponent's strength. Jaune, feeling sick and drained, remarked, "You're not fighting like this is a spar. You're fighting like you're going to break me."
Reaper feigned innocence, continuing his assault. Jaune, realizing the severity of the situation, struggled to understand the source of Reaper's formidable power.
Flashback: Cole and Jaune's 1st spar*
"Well," Yang, said tapping her chin with a pen as she tried to think of how to explain the situation, "you see where cole has been striking jaune?"
They turn just as the man in question hit jaune in the chin by the top of cole's boot, pushing the blonde boy backwards then used his lightning to knock the wind out of him.. "Yeah, just like that. Every hit cole has landed has been to the temple, eyes, jaw, liver, kidney, knee or ankle."
"All valid targets" Weiss added
"I'm not saying they're not, but each location is where you hit to either disorient or disable someone. What im getting at is whoever it was that taught him to always hit those places likely let him fight like he plays for keeps. Also, a few of those spots I was told never to hit during a spar, as they could be crippling or even fatal blows."
"What?" Pyrrha , nora and Ren exclaimed in surprise.
"Temple and jaw strikes shake the brain and disorients the person on the receiving end," Yang listed each point with her fingers, "hits to the eye puff up the skin and slowly shrinks your field of vision to nothing, liver and kidney strikes make it hard to breathe and sap your strength, knee and ankle strikes lower mobility until you can't even properly stand. It's the last two I was warned about, cause if you hit them too hard the other person isn't going to walk correctly or ever again. Cole is picking jaune apart piece by piece. If he keeps this up, -despite his aura reserves- I'd be surprised if jaune can speak his own name at the end, much less stand or even walk straight" They watched as cole rolled behind the knight and sent another kick to the back of one of jaune's knees forcing him to stumble, but he didn't fall down and swung again wildly.
"cole is a multi-martial arts fighter why abandon it for a more merciless fighting style like he's a beast?" Ruby asked but didn't get an answer.
Not letting anyone know her actions, weiss had been recording the entire fight using a small drone the size of a beetle.
end of flashback*
"after all these months hearing about him we never should have forgotten that reaper wasn't taught how to fight, he was taught how to destroy; to break someone so thoroughly…" Jaune thought as he caught a glimpse of Pyrrha on the ground still unconscious.
A few more hits to the head and jaune had lost any sort of patience he once had. He came in swinging more wildly, hitting air or blowing sand aside with each miss.
Reaper dodged everything by a hair's breath until he got clipped in the arm and sent spinning to the floor. But recovered by rolling backwards to his feet, and dodged a downward strike and sent him flying a few feet away.
Emboldened by his first successful attack of the fight, jaune rushed toward reaper with wild, powerful swings. Reaper decided to end the fight and dropped to one knee to dodge the swing. And jabbed jaune on the inside of the right thigh, striking a nerve and locking jaune up for a moment.
Reaper uppercut him in the diaphragm, eliciting a strangled gasp as jaune doubled over, reaper quickly took the chance to grab the top his head and brought it down into a rising knee breaking his nose.
Jaune stumbled backwards, arms flailing and off balance but reaper didn't give him time to recover, jumping on to him like an angry monkey he began wailing on his face with his metal fist, riding jaune to the ground where he continued to punch him. Jaune tried to ward him off with his mace, but reaper grabbed his right arm and spun him around into an arm lock, back on the floor, hands around the wrist and legs around the arm below the elbow.
He arched his back and jaune screamed out loud, fingers loosened until he dropped his makeshift mace. Reaper tossed the wood club out of the way and rolled both of them until he was sitting on jaune's back. He then wrapped his left leg around his neck, tucking the left foot under his right arm which he still had a hold of. Reaper then arched his back once more, forcing jaune to choke himself while trying to stop reaper from breaking his arm.
Jaune's attempts at escaping slowly diminished as his blows became weaker and weaker and was left gasping for air. Reaper let him go and quickly rolled to his feet and electrocuted jaune's arm and legs leaving him temporarily paralyzed making jaune cry out in pain he'd never felt before.
"now…let's see if we can start this again….from the top shall we?" he said grabbing jaune and dragged him toward Pyrrha and sat him up against the debris of the hut he kicked reaper out of.
Reaper then grabbed Pyrrha's body and in front of jaune stabbed her in the stomach waking her up with a scream that reaper muffled by shoving a wadded up ball of cloth in her mouth and said "answer honestly with a nod or shake of your heads and I'll decide if you both deserve to live"
They both nodded frantically while jaune quietly cried watching Pyrrha hold her wound. "please don't kill her" he muttered "please reaper- kill me. Take my life but don't hurt her I'm begging you, don't do this"
To shut him up reaper shot the needle blade past her eyes and replied "then answer yes or no" he smiled and retracted the blade and put his hand to her temple "can she handle all 6 inches- why am I asking you?"
Jaune froze at that and blushed "ask your questions I'll give you the whole truth"
Reaper snickered patting Pyrrha on her face "have you stopped letting your ego dictate your actions?"
"yes" he said tearing up.
"did you follow Ruby because you were ordered to?"
"yes, but to be honest I didn't have a choice"
"we all have a choice in this life jaune" reaper said pulling his hand back and sprang the blade out. "last question"
Jaune flinched at the sight of that needle and went into panic mode, "please reaper, I cant lose her- she's all I have!"
Reaper stabbed Pyrrha in the shoulder forcing her to scream and cry in pain and growled "you have seven sisters, two HEALTHY and loving parents, a woman who loves you, and-" he froze feeling her shudder and immediately pushed her aside and looked at her stomach holding her down by her shoulders. Letting his eyes flash with a gold shine, and for a fraction of a second he saw something he never expected.
Looking up at him he let out a low chuckle "you don't know about this did you?" he asked putting his metallic hand on her stomach, he missed it completely the first time but now that it was known he pulled back and chuckled more.
"what are you talking about" jaune asked forcing himself to his stomach and tried crawling toward them but lied there on his stomach in pain.
Reaper smiled devilishly, stomped over to him, grabbed jaune and dragged him toward Pyrrha by his hair and put his ear to her stomach "listen and you'll find out" he quietly said ominously.
Jaune listened intently for something but there was nothing. Then his eyes went wide, heart stopped and blood ran cold with dread.
bumbum bumbum bum-*
"no…it cant be" he said shaking with a newfound terror and possible happiness of what they now had.
Hearing what he needed he threw jaune into the debris and decided to break the façade "you haven't suffered like I have…the people I lost, the amount of pain I endured to get to this moment…" he trailed off watching Pyrrha bleed out and cried hoping she'd live.
"please don't kill them, please reaper IM BEGGING YOU!" he wailed tearing up in desperation. Then he heard a bone chilling, quiet and reserved laughter, "hehehe….ha ha hahaha…..HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA yo- you really think you can beg death to spare life on a timer?!" he grabbed the cloth out of her mouth and sat her on her knees.
Arms limp, throat dry as the desert of vacuo and shaking like a leaf in the wind Pyrrha looked at jaune and said "Jaune, please look at me!"
He stopped shaking long enough to look her in the eye before he noticed reaper behind her waiting patiently, he choked on a gasp and teared up again "it's going to be alright….i promise we'll get through this togeth-"
"not before you suffer jaune, you said I lied to garner everyone's sympathy; you never had to suffer so I understand that much I really do….but now you will" he said bringing out all six inches of the dust infused needle blade.
"jaune, I love you today and forevermore my heart is yours to hol-" she struggled out between breaths and hiccups.
"but what I want to know is, how come armies would move heaven and remnant for you huntsman but not a broken boy, a lost family, a village, and a mentor...hehehe, that's funny isn't it? I was just like everyone else on this planet; innocent, loving, naïve…..and oh so stupid! Yet I was tossed aside-" he knelt down on one knee and put the tip to the back of her neck right at the bone "but the people I lost? WHO CAME FOR US!" he roared pressing it to her skin puncturing skin making her go wide eyed and cried. "No one! Easier to sweep it all under the rug then to put the same effort in that you all will for her- Why!?" he demanded.
"I don't know man, I swear to the gods I don't know- let me pay the price not her" he begged as he stood up, forcing his aching body to protest against his movements, but it was already too late. Reaper shot him in the gut burning his stomach but nothing lethal, he paused to say one last thing "tell me something jaune, what do you see when you looked into my eyes… a demon, a monster, or A broken man with nothing left to lose" his voice went back to the bass-y voice for a moment of rage and gripped Pyrrha's shoulder tight.
"whatever happens here jaune, just remember you made me the happiest-!"
"I said I'd make you suffer, just like. I. had." He paused and looked at Pyrrha and smiled under his mask. "reaper. Please for the love of gods, don't do this im begging you" jaune exclaimed frozen in place too scared to move.
"Your world took something from me." His eyes flared behind the protective lenses revealing a familiar pair of blue and green eyes mixed with arcs of colorful lightning "so let me take something from yours."
Ignoring the pain jaune tried to rush reaper but was far too slow when a six inch needle protruding from the other side of her throat choking and coughing on blood, lots of it sprayed out onto his face, neck and chest.
Getting out of the way with his speed reaper watched jaune frantically try to stop the bleeding "NOOOO, PYRRHA….NO. please don't leave me, your my world…..I can't… lose you too" his voice broken and faltered. She looked into his eyes and gently touched his cheek and ran her thumb over his lips "I…*cough*…lug yo…"she choked out before fading in his arms.
Reaper stood behind jaune and growled "how does it feel to know no one is running when you hit the ground!" he said before knocking him out with a side kick to the head burying half his face in sand with a crunching sound akin to a sledgehammer to a side of beef.
Taking a moment to calm himself he looked over to see no one coming to their aid just yet, and looking down he decided instead of blood he felt it best to just write the death poem in burning embers of their little hut then left in a thunderous blast waking the others.