Warning: some content of this chapter may be graphic and sensitive to certain readers. Proceed at your own risk. Skippable parts will be labeled with (S) at the start of the scene. The next relevant piece will be label with (R). Read at your own discretion.
Unknown Narrator PoV:
The first time I met that kid, was the first time I truly understood what the term Apex Predator meant. All my life I believed that the Grimm and Humanity were neck and neck at the Apex of all killers, but that belief was broken, hell it was shattered into pieces the moment I met that kid.
It was also the moment that I finally met someone with a worse hand at the poker game called life than my own.
~~ Statement by Qrow Branwen.
Qrow Branwen was known for many things. For being a raging alcoholic, without the rage. He was known for being a Huntsman nearly without peer. But to a select few he was known as the best when it came to espionage and tracking down a target.
Such was the case when Alexander Arc approached him more than three years prior and requisitions his services to find his missing son.
Now most would turn down the job, especially considering the three month time gap between the boy going missing and the request. Unfortunately Qrow didn't have a choice, as the father and formerly retired Huntsman had called in a favor he was owed for saving the Branwen's life when his sister went rogue.
So now here he was, three plus years later following a lead, in searching for an underground bunker that supposedly was the base of operations for a rogue Valean mad scientist.
How did he find such information you ask?
Well... an escaped soldier covered in claw and bite marks and missing an arm was more than happy to squeal in return for getting himself some medical attention.
Did he get it? Yeah he did. Qrow was a man of his word afterall. Of course he got it on his way to Vale's maximum security prison.
Qrow almost laughed as he remembered the look on the soldier's face when the Police showed up and arrested him.
Turns out the guy wasn't just a kidnapper's accomplice, but a known serial killer and child rapist.
Qrow was more than happy to stop on the man's balls before he was taken.
But he digressed.
He looked around his surroundings and immediately saw the grim face of a certain blonde haired mountain of a man that was his client.
"Heh... Grimm faced... ugh I'm turning into Tai." Qrow grimaced at his accidental pun.
The father of the boy caught his look amd took that as his opportunity to speak up.
"How much further do you think this bunker laboratory is?" Alexander asked him.
Qrow glanced at his scroll, which displayed the coordinates of their destination on a map of the area.
"Should be just up this hill." Qrow informed the man as they began to ascend.
Alexander nodded curtly and kept silent.
They trekked in silence again, the only sound being the crunch of feet on fallen autumn leaves.
Soon enough they reached the summit of the hill and began to look around for anything that even remotely looked like it could be an entrance to a bunker.
However after several minutes of searching, Qrow began to doubt the validity of the information he had been given. That was until he saw the streak of dark red on the dry gold grass.
"Hey Alex! I think I got something." He called to the man, who ran to join him.
"What is i-?" Alex began but stopped when he saw the streak of blood, or rather what it lead to.
There was a patch of fake turf that was hastily placed down over a large metal hatch.
If it hadn't been for the blood, they might not have even found it.
Qrow crouched and lifted the fake turf to reveal the rest of the hatch.
"Well what do you know... Fucker wasn't lying after all." Qrow mused.
"Let's get to it then!" Alexander barked impatiently.
"Hold on a sec Alex. Notice anything about this door that strikes you as odd?" Qrow asked the man with a bit of snark to his tone.
Alexander was about to voice a complaint before he saw what the man was referring to.
"... this door... it's locked from the outside."
Qrow nodded.
"Looks like whatever roughed up our little friend back there is still locked in." Qrow finished as he reached for his weapon, Harbinger, keeping a hand on the hilt just to be prepared.
Alexander, being a hand to hand fighter, merely clenched his fists to warm them up in preparation for a fight.
"You wanna do the honors?" Qrow asked the father of eight.
Alexander nodded and with a quick tug of the handle, the solid steel door snapped off its hinges and fell into a crumpled heap to the man's left.
Qrow whistled in appreciation at the man's strength.
"It's always impressive no matter how many times I see it." Qrow said, referring to the man's semblance.
Alexander's semblance granted him the ability to augment his physical attributes to the extreme, only one at a time however. Meaning he could only boost his strength or his speed but not both at the same time, but those were just a couple of examples he could boost.
The owner of said semblance merely shrugged and gestured for his fellow Huntsman to proceed.
"Ladies first." The man teased.
"Hey I wore a skirt one time! And you know what? I still got more bitches than you did!" Qrow flipped the man the bird at his joke.
Alexander gave him a deadpanned stare.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call my wife a bitch, thank you."
Qrow ignored that and proceeded to look down into the newly open bunker.
"Looks pretty deep." Qrow mused
"Oi... I'm serious..." Alexander sighed, only to be given a thumbs up by his coworker.
"Yeah yeah whatever, hey come check this out." Qrow motioned to the hole.
Alexander rose a brow and looked down.
"What?"
"Do you smell that?" Qrow asked.
"Smell what?"
"Blood... and lots of it." Qrow said with a dark tone.
Alexander got a look of concern on his face.
He was more than a little worried for his son's life, but he held out hope that the boy was still alive with whatever was down there with him.
"Let's get a move on..." Qrow said as he took point descending into the black hole in the dirt with Alexander joining him soon after.
"It's a good thing I already called Oz." Qrow thought to himself as they descended.
Deep within the underground compound, a pair of chilling blue eyes opened.
"Ggrrrrrrrrrll..." a deep rumble escaped his throat as a sound echoed from somewhere higher up in the bunker.
He knew exactly where it had come from. The locked hatch had been opened. By who he didn't know. Probably by reinforcements of the little piggies who tormented him.
He allowed his large body to rise, four limbs planted firmly to the steel floor, which was slick with blood and gore.
"Let the hunt begin." Thought the mind of a fifteen (almost sixteen) year old Jaune Arc.
Qrow and Alexander reached the bottom after only five minutes and had found themselves stood in a putrid mess of blood, guts and what was likely human excrement.
"Ugh nasty!" Qrow spat out as he covered his face with his sleeve.
Alexander did the same as he looked around the room they found themselves in.
"This looks like a decontamination chamber of some kind." The man pointed to a series of air vents.
"Yeah well it's not doing so good at decontaminating my nostrils!" Qrow snarked at the man.
Alexander rolled his eyes as he made his way towards the only exit to the chamber.
"The door's practically torn apart..." Alexander muttered as he inspected the crumpled central parting steel door.
"Yeah... I don't really want to know what did could have even done that... Let's just look for evidence of your kid even being here first. Then we can look for him if we find anything. Sound like a plan?" Qrow suggested with a quirked brow.
Alexander considered having them split up for a second, before deciding against it and agreed with the other Huntsman's plan.
"Alrighty then... Let's find us a lab, or maybe an office?" Qrow decided as the pair ducked past the crumpled remains of the door and began their exploration of the bloodied hellscape that was this bunker.
"Damn... whatever did this was downright sadistic..." Qrow muttered as he witnessed the headless body of a obese midget of a man dressed in a lab coat, having been impaled; neckfirst, onto a large piece of steel, which had apparently once been part of the wall, judging by the massive hole at least.
Alexander nodded, but honestly would have done the same if he had been a little earlier than whatever had done this.
"Ugh gross." Qrow spat as he shook at loose intestine from the bottom of his boots.
Alex rolled his eyes at the man's childish behavior but didn't disagree in the comment.
"Alright let's see... there's gotta be a map or some signs... Ah here we go." Qrow leaned forward, face towards what appeared to be a rather conveniently placed map of the compound. It even had a "You are here" marked on it.
Qrow ran a finger onto the map point where they stood and looked for anything that could be useful.
"Canteen... no... Library? The hell did they fit a Library in here? Not important. Uuuuh... aha here we go! Laboratory Administration. Sweet." Qrow said with a cocky smirk as he ran his finger along the map to trace the path they needed.
"Alright. Got the way memorized. Follow me." Qrow said with a beckoning wave as he took point through the blood soaked halls.
Alexander followed without a word, he was far to lost in his head to speak. The amount of carnage they'd discovered was beginning to make him doubt that Jaune was still alive.
After about fifteen minutes of walking they reached a room with a placard hung above it. The sign itself was too bloodied to completely read but they managed to make out the word Administration in big bold lettering.
"Looks like we found it..." Qrow said as he glanced around them.
It all seemed too easy... wasn't there some kind of monster in this place hunting them? There was no way it didn't know they were there.
Alexander however grew more impatient by the second, and soon enough found himself pushing the surprisingly intact door open and revealed an office room that doubled as a laboratory. Filing cabinets covered one side of the wall, while the opposite held a desk was cluttered with shattered beakers and various stains of some black liquid that reminded them disturbing of Grimm Tar, a liquid that could only be found in Pools meant for spawning Grimm.
Qrow walked up to the beakers and inspected them, they had the same traces of the same liquid, but it was mixed with some sort of Plasma, the kind you extract from blood.
Alexander on then other hand took to searching the filing cabinets, soon enough he began to notice a pattern. They all had dates. So he rummaged through several until he found the date of when his son had been taken, it went up to about six months after the kidnapping date for that file alone.
Opening the file he saw no papers, but a hard drive.
"Qrow. I got something." Alexander called out to the man as he moved to another desk, one that had a computer mounted to it.
Qrow joined him at the computer and stood looking over the man's shoulder as the man inserted the drive.
A window popped up onto the screen, showing several dozen video files, each dated exactly a week after each other.
Alexander and Qrow looked at one another before the former clicked on the first video.
(S)The video opened to the sight of a man that could have easily been mistaken for a faunus, messing with the camera angle to point it at a sight that made Alexander gasp.
"Jaune..."
The sight of his twelve year old son, bloodied, beaten, unconscious and most of all suspended from a pair of chains connecting his left and right arms to the adjacent wall, like a chain imitation of a crucifixion.
"Introducing test subject W-01F. We just managed to bring this fine specimen in after he practically slaughtered my brother and a majority of my men. I'll have to waste some of my funding on hiring new help. Fuck that pisses me off! If there's one thing I hate it's wasting precious funds that could go towards my research!" The scientist ranted like a manchild as he diverted his attention to the chained boy.
Alexander's fists tightened.
"Wait that mutt up already! It's time I give him a... thorough examination." the scientist's putrid tongue flicked out across his ugly face as he held up a branding iron and a blow torch.
"Dear god no..." Alexander breathed in horror as they watched a guard that they hadn't noticed throw a bucket of ice cold water on the boy.
"Pwuah?! What the? Where the hell am I?! What's going on?!" Jaune sputtered as he frantically looked around him only to be slammed in the face by the bucket the guard was holding.
Alexander tensed at the sight of his son's head whipping to the side from the blow.
Qrow could only watch with a dark expression.
"Shut it mutt! Your master is about to speak!" The scientist marched over to the boy and spat in his face.
Jaune started to get angry from what they could see and soon enough they saw his body seem to change, his body got hairier and his muscled bulged with his fingers gaining claws.
"Ah ah ah. Not gonna happen wolfy." the scientist mocked as he motioned for something to happen.
And happen it did. Electricity coursed through the chains holding Jaune captive.
"Rrrraaaahh!" Jaune's voice was gutteral at first before returning to its original pitch, as his body returned to normal.
Alexander was dumbfounded by what was happening to his son, while Qrow was beginning to get an idea of what happened to this place and the men who called it home.
Thing were about to get worse however as the scientist lit up his blowtorch, placing it on the floor and held his branding iron into the flame.
Jaune looked up from his shock therapy session to see a glowing hot piece of iron with a barcode design molded onto it.
Alexander could only watch as his little boy's eyes widen in fear at the sight of the burning metal.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Jaune's scream combine with the distinctive hiss of burning flesh sent shivers up their spines. It was too cruel in their eyes, and Qrow had once been a bandit!
The video ended with the sound of the scientist's mad laughter. (R)
Alexander stood abruptly and lurched to one side and vomited the contents of his stomach at what he just saw.
Qrow patted the man in the back, and pulled out the flash drive.
"There might be more of these in the cabinets... we should find them. I know it's hard but we need to see what happened. For that kid's sake." Qrow stated as he moved to search, leaving the father in a nearly catatonic state.
Soon however Alexander stood and joined the Branwen in his search.
Soon enough they found a total of seven flashdrives, likely each had about six months worth of videos each uploaded to them.
Qrow inserted the second one and hit play.
(S) The video didn't show the scientist's ugly face immediately, instead they were watching him as he cut open a table bound Jaune.
Alexander wanted to leap through the screen and kill the pig right then and there.
However one thing they noticed was that with every cut the boy gained, it healed up just as quick.
"This healing factor of yours is starting to annoy me mutt." The scientist sighed as he glared at Jaune who was glaring right back at him with more hatred than Alexander had ever seen from him.
"Piss off." Jaune spat at him, literally.
The scientist's face hardened into a scowl as the comet of phlegm landed on his face.
That scowl turned to blind rage just as quick and Jaune found himself with a pair of surgical scissors lodged into his arm.
To his credit Jaune didn't scream like he had before previously, instead he launched into a stream of curses that would have made any sailor blush.
The scientist stood and walked toward the camera and sat in front of it.
"It's been only a few days since we recovered from our loss of manpower at the claws of that mutt. I've begun to notice things in the boy's plasma that might be responsible for the changes his body goes through whenever he shifts his form. But whenever I try to extract a sample the tissue dies and is soon replaced by that damned healing factor of his." The scientist spoke into the camera with anger at his lack of progress.
The pair of Huntsman listened intently to the man's words in better hopes to understand his motives.
The next words the man spoke chilled them however.
"Unfortunately due to good help being so hard to come by, I've had to resort to hiring the lowest of the low. Rapists, Pedophiles, Murderers, Bandits, etc. The former two of which have been getting... restless around the boy. They likely intend to take advantage of the boy while he can't defend himself."
Alexander paled at the thought.
The pig of a scientist's face twisted into a malicious smile.
"I might just let them! Oh what kind of reaction will he have? I just have to know!" The scientist said with twisted delight.
The video cut to static for a second before it cleared and they saw a sleeping Jaune once more suspended by chains.
"No god no... please don't make me watch this.." Alexander begged whatever would listen, but he was unheard as several dozen men in black combat armor entered the cell with laughter and vicious smiles on their faces.
Jaune was startled awake by one of the men's hands grasping his face.
"Hey there mutt, remember me? I'm the guy who's ear you tried to bite off you little shit!" the man shouted before striking the boy in the gut with his free hand.
Jaune grunted and laughed a little.
"That the best you got? Come on you've seen the shit I go through every day! A weak ass punch like that won't do shit to me!" Jaune taunted.
Alexander was practically begging his son to keep his mouth shut.
The men all chuckled darkly at the boy who grew confused at the laughter.
"The fuck is so funny?"
"Oh we weren't going to really try to hurt you, in fact we were going to play a... little game with you, we thought you might be bored here all alone." one man taunted as they began to remove their clothing.
Jaune's eyes widen as he understood what they meant, and he was terrified. Alexander could see it in his eyes.
Qrow's fist clenched on the hilt of his sword as he realized something.
"Alex... that guy who punched Jaune... he was the one who gave me the information about this place." Qrow muttered to the man.
Alexander tensed at hearing that and vowed that he would visit that man in prison, and murder him.
Jaune began to beg and plead for them not to do what they were planning but the men kept approaching and they were soon upon him, tearing apart what few scraps of clothing he possessed.
They could only watch as Jaune was violated in every way possible, the entire time Jaune was begging for someone to save him, which soon turned to cries for his parents, something that made Alexander nearly breakdown.
"Dad!? Mommy!? Please!!! I'll never run away from home again! Just please save me!" Jaune cried just before the video cut out. (R)
Alexander was shaking in his seat at what he'd just heard and seen.
"This is all my fault..." he said as he held his face with his hands.
"If... if only I had just let him be the kid he was... Then none of this would have happened!" Alexander finally broke down and sobbed into his hands.
Qrow placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder.
"This isn't your fault Alex... This happened because these fuckers are the scum of Remnant. They don't have a shred of morality or human decency. They deserved what they got." Qrow said to the crying man.
Qrow's attempt at comfort surprisingly worked as Alexander looked at him and nodded.
"Next drive."
Qrow nodded and switched out the flashdrive for the next one, however instead of keeping the order he decided to simply play the last flashdrive.
There were only one video in the drive.
Alexander and Qrow looked at each other and nodded, before Alexander pushed play.
The scene before them was... different than the last ones.
Instead of Jaune being chained to the walls, a large creature identical to a beowolf was in his place.
The scientist entered the cell, joined with an identical man, this one dressed in a fancy suit.
"Here he is brother. The potential fighter I was talking about. I only have a few more tests to run before he's yours to do as you wish. I've extracted enough data from his body over these past three years." The scientist said his brother respecfully.
"Hmmm, Finnel... you said this was the beast that killed our little brother Garth?" The oldest brother said with an arrogance that surpassed the scientist's.
"Indeed he is. His unique physiology allows him to shift into various forms, which he has named." Finnel explained.
"Oh? Do tell." the oldest brother asked
"The boy calls what he is a Garou, or Werewolf. He can change his shape into that of man or Homid as he calls it. A wolf-like faunus, Glabro. An actual wolf, the Lupus. A wolf the size of a horse, Hispo. And finally... the beast you see before you, the Crinos." Finnel explained the information he had tortured out of Jaune.
Alexander was unfamiliar with any of this information. Hell, he was having a hard time processing that this beowolf thing was in fact his son!
Qrow however finished putting the pieces together and understood what had happened.
"I see... however he wants to call himself doesn't matter to me. He either does well in the arena, or he dies. And if he does indeed perish in combat Finnel.. I will pull all of my funding to your... projects. Do I make myself clear? " The older brother said as he walked up-to the wolfman that was Jaune.
Finnel looked down.
"Yes Darren... crystal clear." Finnel muttered just loud enough for his brother to hear.
"Good." Darren cooed before he looked up at the closed eyes of Jaune's lupine face.
"Wake up beast." Darren commanded.
However Jaune's eyes remained closed.
Darren's face contorted into a snarl as he raised his bejeweled cane to hit the beast.
Alexander couldn't bare to watch his son harmed again and was about to close his eyes when...
"Chomp!" The lupine jaws of Jaune closed around the head of the man and wrenched it from where it sat upon his shoulders.
Finnel's face took on a look of horror as he sputtered for the guards to do something, he quickly evacuated and sealed the room, with several guards still inside.
Jaune strained against his shackles and soon enough felt them give way before his Crinos strength.
The guards pounded on the sealed door, begging to be let out. Jaune approached them as a sedated pace.
"Kid's planning to savor the kill..." Qrow stated mostly to himself.
Alexander was internally rooting for Jaune, even if he did cause all the bloodshed they had seen on the way in.
They watched as Jaune tore apart the guards with vicious but precise swipes of his razor sharp claws.
Soon enough all of the guards were slain, and Jaune's wolven form huffed at the minimal effort he had put into his task.
The Crinos looked at the camera, which they realized was a security camera, and launched himself at it.
The video ended there.
They sat in silence for several seconds before Alexander stood abruptly.
"I'm going to look for Jaune." he declared.
Qrow didn't even try to stop him.
"That's fine. But we need to make sure he knows we aren't a threat. He's likely lost in whatever Primal instincts that possessed him." Qrow said, which he got a hard stare from the father of the boy in question.
"Leave that to me. Just stay back when we find him. I'll do the talking." Alexander said as he turned and walked out the door.
Qrow watched the determined father go with an unreadable expression.
He never knew his father, his sister and him had always been alone until the bandits now known as the Branwen tribe took them in.
Looking at Alexander, he found himself a little jealous of Jaune. To have such a man as his father... Qrow would've liked that.
He stalked the halls of his prison, his nose was in overdrive so as to discern the scent of blood and rot from the scent of the newcomers.
He only smelled two but there could be more on the way. Best to deal with them before reinforcements arrive. But there was one thing bothering him... one of the scents he picked up was... family to him, but it had been so long that he couldn't quite remember where he'd smelled it.
As he silently tracked his quarry he allowed himself to think about the past three years and how he had coped with the torture and other activities that had been inflicted upon him.
The first year was by far the hardest, he not only had to cope with the torture, but also the memories of the people he had murdered, and of White Mother who had died trying to rescue him.
During his second year he had discovered that he could disconnect his mind from his body and enter a trance like state, one where he could freely enter the Ever After to escape the experimentation.
He only ever appeared in the same room within the tree, but he had the Blacksmith for company. They'd seen each other so much that he'd begun to think of her as a mother figure. She helped him stay sane, and he would forever be grateful.
She taught him much during his time there. The basics of smithing and various other craftsmanship skills. He was allowed to hold Blaidd's Royal Greatsword and had even taken a few test swings with the weapon.
He also learned more about his various forms and their strengths.
Homid was pretty basic, it was just a human appearance. Whatever a human could do it could. However he did note that any injuries he got in any of his forms would heal near instantaneously, so that was a plus.
Glabro was just a physically enhanced faunus version of the Homid form.
Lupus was great at hiding.
Hispo was insanely fast and excelled at tracking and hunting down prey.
The Crinos however was both strong and agile, perfectly built for combat. He had trouble controlling the form, so he decided during his third year of captivity that he would constantly maintain that form until he was always in control.
Did he let his anger get the best of him when the damned piggy scientist's even piggier older brother came and tried to attack him? Nope not even a little. Every Jaune did, he did with a cool head augmented by righteous fury.
And he enjoyed every second of it. His enthusiasm only died when he had gotten locked down here by one of the guards managed to escape.
But that would all change very soon. One he took care of whoever had come then he would leave this place and find his way back to Ansel and then he would do everything he could to follow the path in life he wanted.
The path of a Huntsman. He wouldn't let others suffer the same cruelty that he had endured.
His ears twitched as a new sound reached them, a voice, one that was familiar to him.
But it couldn't be... could it?
"Jaune?!" Alexander called out for his son as he and Qrow walked through the halls at a sedated pace. Rushing now would only agitate the boy they searched for.
However they did make sure to call out the boy's name. Qrow did think it was a dumb idea at first, until Alexander pointed out that he was the boy's father and he would be recognized quickly.
Qrow conceded but was reluctant to call out the boy's name due to the unfamiliarity they had between each other.
Qrow had only met the boy once, not long after he was born. Ozpin had sent him to check on the so called "Miracle baby". He found nothing out of the ordinary about him and had simply left.
However despite that, Qrow couldn't help but feel worried for the boy. He had two nieces that meant the world to him, and to imagine them potentially going through the same treatment as Jaune made him quiver in barely concealed anger.
"Jaune! Can you hear me?! It's dad!" Alexander called out again, this time into a particularly dark hallway, one where Qrow could barely make out a pair of pale blue lights at the far wnd of the hall.
Qrow froze in his tracks.
There weren't any other blue lights down any of the other hallways.
"Alex... what color was your kid's eyes again?" Qrow asked to be sure.
Alexander looked at him quizzically, until he noticed that Qrow was fixating his attention down the hall. A quick look over the man's shoulder told Alexander all that he needed to know.
"Blue... his eyes are blue." Alexander breathed.
"Thought so." Qrow muttered as he and the father watched the blue eyes inch closer. They noticed that the eyes were far taller than either of them.
Soon enough the beast that Jaune had become, stepped into the dim lighting of their current position.
The security camera footage did the beast no justice. Qrow had only ever seen a beowolf come close to the size of Jaune's Crinos form, and that was during his initiation into Beacon, the same battle that formed team STRQ.
The average beowolf was maybe 6 feet tall, and an Alpha was only a few inches taller than the regular ones. But Jaune's form stood at a whopping 7 feet tall
"Holy shit..." Qrow really wanted to curse his luck but couldn't find it in him.
Alexander however immediately noticed the intelligence in the beast's eyes.
"Jaune..." He exhaled a breath he'd been holding as he took a step towards his son.
The Crinos narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"I'm here Jaune... I finally found you... Gods I'm so... so sorry... for everything you've been forced to endure." Alexander said with a wet shimmer to his eyes as he gingerly reached a hand out, but found himself falling to his knees and sobbed.
The large humanoid wolf looked down at the man that was his father, a quick glance to Qrow made the already on edge man back away slightly with his arms in the air.
"No need to worry about me, I was just hired to help find you. I'm a Huntsman." The man explained to placate the wolf.
Jaune's eyes shone a bit with what Qrow thought was amazement, before the blue orbs drifted towards the weapon that was on his hip.
For a split second Qrow thought that Jaune could see something about him from just glancing at his weapon, before he ruled that as ridiculous.
Alexander continued to sob at the Crinos' feet for several seconds, before he felt a soft hand place itself onto his shoulder.
"It's alright dad. This wasn't your fault." The voice that greeted his ear was harsh and unused, but it was warm and inviting.
Alexander looked up to see the human face of his son.
His hair had gotten long, and clearly hadn't been washed in ages, it was dirty and untamed, yet strangely the roots of his hair were the only black he had, while the rest was the same pale gold as it had always been.
Alexander instinctually made to hug the boy, however he flinched back and Alexander was reminded again of what the boy went through.
"Please... don't. I just... don't want to be touched right now..." Jaune muttered with a hand gripping his wrist tightly.
"I-... sorry... I know you've been through a lot... and even that's an understatment." Alexander quickly apologized, internally cursing himself for his lack of empathy.
Of course the boy wouldn't want to be touched after everything he'd been through.
Jaune nodded at his words.
Qrow almost hated to ruin the moment but... they had to leave.
"Listen... I know you two have a lot of catching up to do, but this," Qrow gestured to the blood soaked halls. "this isn't the time or place for that." He finished.
Alexander wanted to shoot the man a dirty look but knew he was right, and as such got to his feet, now standing almost eye to eye with his son, who stood at a height of 6ft. He almost couldn't believe that this tall man was only 15 years old.
"You hit quite the growth spurt during your time here." Alexander noted.
Jaune gave cocky grin with a proud nod.
"Yup. And I'm not done growing yet old man. pretty soon you'll be the midget of us two." Jaune taunted in a playful manner.
Alexander barked out a laugh.
"I look forward to seeing that. I'm 6ft10 Jaune, you'll have to beat that in the next few years."
Jaune's grin widened.
"Challenge accepted."
Alexander returned the grin with one of his own.
"Ahem..." Qrow deadpanned at them when they turned to look at him.
A sheepish look overcame their grins, while Qrow just have them a look that clearly said "yeah no shit."
"Honesty you two... making me of all people play the role of the responsible adult! Got some nerve." Qrow teased, to which Alexander snickered a bit at the turn of events.
"Yeah yeah dad, let's just out of here before you have a cow." Alexander taunted.
Qrow flipped him the bird but the amusement on his face told them he was glad they were in high spirits.
Qrow turned to locate the way out, which should have been the way they came... but unfortunately each hallway he saw looked the same.
"Shit... Uh which way to get out?" Qrow looked to Alexander who shrugged.
"I don't know. I was just following you." He said.
Qrow gave the man an incredulous look and was about to comment when Jaune sighed.
"Follow me. I know this place better than even the fuckers who built it." Jaune said as he walked down one hallway.
"...language." Alexander muttered.
"Human." Jaune's voice echoed back from the hall he entered.
Qrow and Alexander shared a look.
"What did he mean by that?"
Neither of them had an answer to the question.
With that they followed after Jaune.
As Jaune's head breached through the darkness of the underground, his lungs stung at his first intake of fresh, unrecycled air in nearly four year.
As he climbed out from the place that had been his prison, he couldn't help the exhilaration that swept through him.
His eyes drifted over the darkened sky, past the clouds and at the shattered moon that had only been up for nearly an hour, he became more and more conscious of the beating in his chest.
"I'm out... I'm really outside..." Jaune muttered, just as his father and Qrow finished their own ascent from the bunker.
Alexander looked at his son with a kind smile.
"That's right Jaune. You're free." He said.
Jaune turned to face them and the pair was honestly stricken speechless by the happiest smile that anyone could have produced.
"I'm free!" Jaune cheered, before shifting into the largest wolf either of them had ever seen and howled at the moon.
They were a little wide eyed by his spontaneous transformation but decided it best to let him do what he liked.
Soon enough however, Jaune's solitary howl was joined by several others, originating from the forest.
"Wow..." Qrow said, having never heard a chorus of howling be performed in person before. Sure beowolves howl too, but there was a distinct lack of intelligence or emotion to it, like they howl just for appearances. This was the first time Qrow had ever heard a howl possess an emotional effect to it. It wasn't unpleasant in his opinion.
Maybe he should try hanging out with real crows more often? He could shapeshift into one after all.
Soon enough the howling ended and Jaune returned to his normal human self, he was giving them a sheepish smile and used his left hand to scratch the back of his head.
"Hehe, sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. I was just so happy to be free." Jaune said with a sheepish laugh.
Alexander shook his head.
"There's no need to be sorry. I half expected something like this to happen... minus the wolf part but I figured you'd be excited nonetheless." Alexander admitted with a smile.
Qrow just gave a noncommittal shrug.
"Eh it wasn't the worst way to celebrate I'll give you that much kid." the drunkard said.
Jaune still wasn't sure how to feel around that man, but his spirits that made up his sword were rather protective of the man. So much so that they had practically begged him not to kill the man the second they had met.
What kind of man was he? He wondered that as he took another glance at the man's sword.
There were only two spirits, well technically they were one, but at thw same time rhey were seperate. They appeared to Jaune at a pair of one winged crows, one was missing their left wing, while the other missed the right. They leaned into one another to create a single being capaple of flight.
Jaune's eyes softened a little at the sight of them fluttering about the man's shoulders, rubbing their beaks into the unseeing man's cheeks.
"That blade of yours..." Jaune looked the man in the eyes.
"Hmmt?" Qrow blinked at the sudden change in topic.
"Take good care of it. It might sound crazy to you but to me... it looks like that blade cares a great deal about you." Jaune finished with a whimsical smile.
Qrow blinked and looked down at his sword, it twinkled in the moonlight and for a split second, he thought he saw a pair of one winged birds reflected in the blade's steel.
But that was ridiculous... wasn't it?
Of course it was... yet why was he smiling?
"Yeah ok... I'll take good care of her, she's done the same for me for as long as I can remember." Qrow said.
Jaune's smile widened.
"Good. Now then... how are we getting home?" Jaune asked as he turned to his father.
The man looked at Qrow, who sighed.
"You knew I called him didn't you..." Qrow stated.
"Who?" Jaune asked but was ignored.
"That's right, I knew the whole time. So... when is Ozpin getting here?" Alexander asked with a smirk.
"Eh?! The headmaster of Beacon is coming here?! But I'm half naked and my hair is atrocious!" Jaune started to freak out at having to mee such an important figure while only wearing the tattered remains of his prison trousers.
"Relax kid. I doubt Oz is going to care about your appearance, especially not after what you've gone through. Besides... he's already here. Isn't that right Oz?" Qrow said as he looked towards to darkened forest.
"Eh?" Jaune blinked as he looked around.
Alexander gave out a sigh.
"Indeed I am Qrow. I must say I wasn't truly expecting to see your son alive and in such fine of conditions Alex." The man known as Ozpin stepped out of the forest with a can and a mug in hand.
The second Jaune laid eyes on him, he nearly puked.
"D-dad... are you sure that's O-Ozpin?" Jaune asked, petrified by what he sees from the "old man."
Alex looked at his son quizzically.
"What's wrong Jaune?" Alexander asked with concern, Qrow also had a look of concern on his face. Ozpin however seemed curious as he approached.
"That... man... His soul is an amalgamation of hundreds no... thousands of others..." Jaune took a step back in fear.
Qrow's eyes widen.
"So you can see it..." Ozpin muttered as he came to a stop right in front of the boy.
Jaune found himself frozen as he looked at the man, who was nearly a head shorter than him, but he'd never been so afraid in his life. Every instinct, even his wolven ones, was telling him to run. There wouldn't even be a point to fighting, Jaune would have lost to this... this thing in mere instant.
"Ozpin! Back off! I don't knkw what you're doing to scare my son like this but it ends here." Alexander glared at the man.
"D-dad stop! This guy's... he's way too much for anyone." Jaune said as he took another step back.
Alexander looked at his son in disbelief.
"I was right... You can see my soul, can't you." Ozpin stated with a sharp look in his eye.
"That's right. I can see the spirits of living and none living things." Jaune's voice came out a little more weak than he had intended but at least he answered.
"I see... and tell me what does my soul look like to you?" Ozpin asked.
Jaune gulped as he took in the sheer magnitude of the man's soul.
The closest way to describe Ozpin's soul would be... Biblically Accurate.
The being that took shape from Ozpin's soul was clearly a warrior or knight of some kind, but instead of a sword it wielded a jeweled staff. It's body however was made up of faces, each different and all seemed like a seperate but still a single part of the knight. What unnerved Jaune however was the way the eyes of each face seemed to stair straight at him, unblinking, unfeeling, forever watching.
Jaune shivered as he quietly described what he saw to the man before him.
"Hm... such a twisted thing... So that is what I am... how fitting." Ozpin muttered to himself before glancing back up at Jaune.
"Young man... how would like to come to my school, when you turn Seventeen of course." Ozpin offered.
Alex and Qrow were dumbfounded by what they had just heard.
"O-Ozpin?!" Alexander tried interject but was shot down with but a single look from the man in question.
"What do you think young man? Do you want to become a Huntsman? Do you want to prevent the things that happened to you from happening to another?" Ozpin asked the boy.
For a second, Jaune's eyes saw a change in the man's spirit, the knight's shadowed face gained a pair of its own eyes, the color was hard for him to tell but the overwhelming passion and determination within them made him forget about how unnerving the man's soul was.
Jaune's fist clenched as the man's words resonated within him.
"I do... Even if you hadn't asked... I had intended to become a Huntsman from the very beginning. I won't let what happened to me repeat itself unto others!" Jaune said with conviction in his voice.
Alexander looked at his son with conflicting emotions, he was proud that his son still had his dreams and now had a reason to back them, but... he had only just gotten his son back.
"Very well young man..." Ozpin said as he took a sip of... was that hot chocolate?
Yes it was, or so Jaune's nose told him.
"When you turn Seventeen come to Beacon academy when the new semester starts. I'll admit you as a special case, however you will have to pass the initiation in order to be allowed complete entry into my school. In the meantime... why don't you spend some time with your family and perhaps learn a thing or two about... human combat. Speaking of... have you given any thought of what kind of fighting style you would like to use?" Ozpin informed him, before finishing with his question.
Jaune nodded.
"I have... I want to use... a colossal greatsword." Jaune said with a grin.
"Pardon?" Ozpin asked not understanding the term.
"I want to use a greatsword that is both longer and heavier than my own body." Jaune explained.
"I see. Well... I'm sure that Qrow here would be more than happy to give you a few pointers." Ozpin gestured to the man, who looked behind him, seeing nothing there, then proceeded to look at Ozpin like he had grown a second head.
"Me?! Teach?! Are you nuts?!" Qrow was sure the man had gone senile.
"Oh please Qrow. We both know you've been taking the time to teach that niece of yours, Ruby was it? How to wield a scythe. Plus I know for a fact that Tai-Yang managed to pull some strings to get you a job as a professor at Signal. I'm sure showing Jaune here the basics would be well within your qualifications." Ozpin said with a dismissive wave.
Qrow, his argument completely shot down by irrefutable fact, slumped forwards and decided to agree.
"Fine... but only the basics okay! If Ruby finds out that I trained someone else besides just her... she might sick that damn Corgi on me!" Qrow shivered.
Jaune blinked at the mention of a Corgi being owned by a person whose name literally meant Red.
It had to be a coincidence... right? Of course it was. What were the odds that he'd run into the uncle of red riding hood?
Then again... Qrow does wear a red cape... another coincidence. Right?
Jaune was beginning to wonder about that, but he shook it off and approached the man.
"Please Qrow... teach me to use a sword properly." Jaune asked with formal bow, one that had been taught to him by Alexander.
Qrow looked a bit surprised by the politeness.
"Ah fine! I don't mind teaching you kid. But you gotta know that I'm a hard ass when it comes to training! You better be ready to give it your all! I won't hold back you hear me?" Qrow said with a cocky smile.
Jaune's smile widened.
"Yes sir!"
Alexander let out a mournful sigh.
"My son doesn't want to learn from me!"
Jaune blinked at the man like he had said something dumb.
"Uh dad... Hand to hand is essential in any part of combat... plus I'm sure I can adapt anything you teach me into my transformations, so of course you'll be teaching me.
Alexander just gave his son a comical "tears of joy" face.
Ozpin watched on as the scene unfolded.
"A simple soul perhaps... but an old soul could be just as helpful..."
[A/N: Phew! first off I'm glad that's over. I like dark shit as much as the next guy but let me tell you I was actually hard for me to write the ahem... you know moment... I wish I could have used the skip option myself for it. Hell I had originally wanted to make it worse but I couldn't bring myself to do it. So I kinda made it so they skipped through most of the videos. I had wanted them to watch others but nope not this time... but I'll let you know ahead of time... when Ironwood comes into the picture... I'll be writing them again so he... gets the point.
Okay now that, that's covered... what did y'all think of Jaune's description of Ozpin's soul? pretty fitting if you ask me. I thought long and hard about what Jaune's first visual impression of Ozpin so I decided to make him appear how I personally think Ozpin's would be. An amalgamation of all the people the body snatcher has possessed/reincarnated into.
I hope you all enjoyed this... minus the parts otherwise I'd be concerned for your mental state but oh well. Thanks for reading.