Super Duper Author's note at the end of the chapter!
Chapter 25
(Anima Wilderness-Night)
"That's…a lot to take in all at once."
Roman gave a noncommittal hum in agreement to Jaune's comment. Granted, he'd left out the extremely personal details, both his and Neo's, out of his explanation for being here. The flame-haired man turned his attention over to Whitley who coughed into his hand.
"So to summarize, this farm was your home, and you're here to kill a special kind of grimm and bring yourselves some closure."
"More or less."
"And this grimm saps away your will to do, well anything; making it, theoretically, impossible to deal with."
"On the money. From what Neo remembers, she heard this wailing and started to feel weak, but once she got far enough away, her energy came back. The theory we have is that their ability to take away our strength is sound based, so we brought earplugs. The other theory is that we need to be within a certain range for them to affect us."
Roman glanced over to his pint-sized partner, making sure he hadn't left out any details, and received a thumbs-up in response.
"Do you know where they are?"
Neo shook her head as Roman answered their question.
"No idea. After we found you kids knocked out in her house, we checked the perimeter. No sign of them at all. But trust me, they'll come. And if I had to guess from where, my bet would be from the tunnel connected to the cellar."
"What makes you say that?"
Roman looked at Flynt before staring off into the fire as he responded.
"Call it a hunch."
The gentleman thief stood from his seat and stretched before heading towards the cellar. Neo retrieved a previously unnoticed case before stopping behind Roman as he called out to the students.
"We're going to go set up shop down in the cellar to get ready for our guests, do whatever you all need to and join us. Don't take too long either, we're going to need help preparing for them."
Without another word, the partners in crime left the room, leaving the teens to themselves.
"So, you and Roman are on good terms?"
Jaune looked to Whitley, noticing the, maybe not edge, but perhaps, apprehension in his voice.
"Yeah…he was the one who forged my transcripts so I could get into Beacon."
"I was wondering how you two would've met. Do you consider him and, Neo was it, your friends?"
The blonde thought about how to word his answer as he faced his squad mates.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do. They may be thieves, but for the most part, they try to do things without hurting anyone. I know they're the ones behind the dust problem in Vale, but…let's just say they wouldn't be doing it if their lives weren't at stake."
After saying that the blonde moved to head down to the cellar, ready to take part in whatever plan the two thieves had cooked up, but as he turned around, Whitley spoke again.
"Do you intend to help them?"
Jaune didn't turn around as he answered his fellow team leader.
"I'm not going to help them steal from you or your family, but I do want to save them if I can."
With that the knightly teen made his way down, idly hearing the sound of his friends' footsteps behind him.
As they arrived where the two former huntsman were sitting, they saw Neo opening the case she carried down with her. Inside was a rather large amount of explosives and a remote detonator. Roman put out his cigar before moving to handle one of the bricks.
Picking it up, he turned to face the teens before speaking.
"Alright, so here's the plan. Those things are going to come for us from this tunnel. Best case scenario is that our ear protection keeps us from being affected by those things, we kill them off from afar, and then we all go off into the sunrise for our happily ever afters."
Neo snickered at the deadpan Roman earned from Ciel while the flame-haired man continued.
"Worst case scenario, the earplugs don't work, they start to close the distance and we're forced to set off these explosives. Even if they can sap our energy, I don't think I'll be unable to press a button. Anyway, if we set these off far away enough, we'll bring down everything but the house above us and kill them in the explosion."
Craning his neck from side to side, the gentleman thief let loose the tiniest sigh before resuming.
"Now here is a problem. Neo and I have some ear muffs for both of us. We were going to wear the earplugs as well, but since there are so many of us now, two of you can wear a pair of earplugs. Since there are only two pairs in the pack, two of you are gonna have to rough it."
Neo pulled out the pack of earplugs and pulling out some for her and Roman before tossing the pack to Jaune. The blonde decided to forgo having a pair and passed the pack to Whitley. The white-haired teen was about to decline taking a pair when Flynt spoke up.
"You take 'em, your semblance will be a big help if we need it."
The younger teen looked a tad conflicted but nodded nevertheless while Roman began pointing out where about to place the charges. Roman and Neo where in charge of the bombs closest to the house, as they were used to handling such ordinance, while the students were setting up further into the tunnel.
Time slowly ticked by before five of the six present at the farm were sitting at the edge of the tunnel, waiting for whatever was to come. Jaune, Roman, Ciel, Neo, and Whitley sat discussing possible problems with the current plan of action, while Flynt had ventured upstairs to look for anything else that might be able to help them know what to expect.
"What happens if things go wrong?"
"It won't go wrong. And if they do, we'll improvise. Jeez Kid, you really are a pessimist, huh?"
Whitley and Roman's interaction was predictably untrusting from the teen's side, but to the rest watching it had been more than a half hour of passive-aggressive back and forth between the two.
"Hey, Roman?"
"Hmm? What is it Blondie?"
Jaune internally sighed out of relief from having temporarily interrupted the two before continuing.
"I know you probably weren't planning on making any other stops once you're done here, but…do you think you could help us out and drop us off at Argus?"
The cellar quieted whilst Roman and Neo shared a brief glance.
"…While I suppose that wouldn't be out of our power, our current affairs are keeping us rather, nomadic let's say."
Knowing better than to question them about what they were speaking subtly of, Jaune chose his words selectively.
"We don't have to get brought all the way to the bullhead platforms, we don't even need to get taken into town. All I'm asking for is to at least drop us off a few miles away from Argus so we can get back to the academy."
"I know Kid, just…let me think okay? The way things are right now…"
"After stealing my families dust."
All eyes turned to Whitley, now directly broaching the subject that had him rather tense, accusations laced in his tone. To his surprise, though, Roman simply crossed his legs while idly massaging his knee, a new nervous habit that he hated, and one that Neo picked up on. The man was leaned into his chair in a way Jaune never expected to see from the flame haired gentleman. He was the epitome of confidence, charm, and finesse; yet, he was sitting here, haunted by something.
"Listen Snow White, if giving back everything I've ever stolen, picked from a pocket, or robbed at weapon-point could change the situation I'm in, I'd surrender it all in a heartbeat. If I could go back in time, I'd give up every little luxury I have now if it meant things would be different for me and Neo. Nothing would make me happier than to go back to being some nobody huntsman who believed I was the good guy."
There was an almost awed silence as those around the gentleman thief listened to him.
"But that isn't the real world. In the real world, Neo and I were forced to make hard decisions, and we thought that the choices we made were right. And now? All that we can see ahead of us is the endgame."
Neo said nothing as she stood from her spot and made her way up the stairs, not wanting to hear any more of their situation.
Quickly ascending up the steps, the girl looked took a deep breath to calm the storm that raged in her mind. Noticing movement, she peeked around the corner to see Flynt gliding his hand across the spines of the texts on the bookshelf slowly, looking for something.
As if sensing her presence, the dark-skinned teen turned around to study her for a second before continuing his task. A few footsteps later, and the petit woman was seated nearby in the living room as he searched through the books in her house.
The silence was, while maybe welcome, truly awkward for the both of them. Finally deciding that to break the silence, Flynt coughed before turning to her.
"You uh, wouldn't know where any journals or anything like that would be, would you?"
The girl made a look of thinking before shaking her head negatively. She had seemed to be about to make motions with her hands but stopped herself a few times before she had given him her answer, prompting Flynt to do something that would somewhat shock the shorter woman.
"I'm, definitely, out of, practice, but, I know, how to, sign."
The trumpeter spoke, most likely to himself, at the same time he signed out his sentence to Neo. Luckily, she wasn't deaf because while the message got across, correctly as well, his inexperience in this form of communication was obvious from how sloppy some of his gestures and motions were. Hopefully, he was more adept at reading signs so that she'd be able to have conversations not involving her scroll with someone else, however temporary it would be.
'I'm impressed. But no, I don't. I lived here a long, long time ago. I think my father may have kept a journal, but I'm not sure.'
Flynt nodded as he went back to glossing over the contents of the bookcase, but before he could get too absorbed in his task, a tapping on his shoulder stole his attention. Turning around, he waited briefly as Neo signed out her sentence.
'What does your weapon do?'
Flynt pulled his trumpet from its holster and spun it in his hand expertly before pulling out one of the dust valves, handing it to her for inspection. The girl lifted it up to the light of the fireplace to study the contents, impressed by the quality of the dust. She handed it back to the teen who returned it to its slot in his weapon. Storing his weapon back in his holster, Neo followed up with another question.
'Have you found your semblance yet?'
The teen nodded with a smirk this time, making a small show of pulling off his hat, he activated his semblance, summoning all three of his clones. As the clones appeared, all four of Flynt tossed their hats into the air before catching it and placing it back onto their head with a flourish.
If the girl had been impressed by the dark-skinned teen before, now she definitely was. Curiously, she went to poke one of the newly appeared Flynt's, and when her finger pressed against it, she made a face of thought, until it poked her back surprising her before they all returned into the trumpeter, a multicolored glow radiating from him for the briefest moment.
"What about you? What's your semblance?"
The girl made a thinking face before she smiled deviously, her pink iris and brown iris swapping places, before she activated her semblance and turned into Flynt. The trumpeter jumped back in surprise before studying the illusion. It was a perfect mirror of him, and with a smile he gave a small round of clapping as Neo turned back into herself and gave a bow.
The two fell into a more comfortable silence, Neo ascending up the stairs to assist in Flynt's search while the trumpeter continued searching in the living room. The petit woman opened the door to her parent's room, now empty after having removed the bodies from the house, and began to search through the books in the room.
Fairy tales, history texts, maps, encyclopedias, books on politics; everything but what the tricolored woman was searching for. She checked under the mattress, behind the pillows, and every other obscure hiding place she thought of in the room, but still didn't find anything. Giving up her search, she began to make her way to the door when she spotted a basket in the corner.
It had a few knitted quilts inside, but more importantly, there was a pair of earphones meant for hunting resting on top of them. Picking them up, the girl locked the door behind her and closed it, never to be opened again. Looking at her own room, she decided to take a peek, possibly against her better judgement.
Seeing everything that she left behind from her old life made her stop. She did a full turn once inside the room and just remembered. Life for Trivia Vanille was, well, equally unhappy as it was for Neo, but it was simpler.
Life after leaving the farm was hard. She lost everyone and almost died before she finally fell in with Lil' Miss Malachite, even attending the same academy as the woman's daughters, Melanie and Miltia.
After replacing Trivia with Neo, the girl started to take after the Malachite Matriarch, becoming more ruthless in her combat training at the academy. She developed an apathetic streak, and continued on a downwards spiral until she eventually reunited with Roman.
But now, the threat of her or Roman dying at the end of whatever Cinder had planned only really began to set in after the night Roman had been 'punished'. Neo was forced to watch as Cinder tortured her partner, someone she spent years of her life with, and couldn't do anything about it.
Trivia on the other hand, while she never really wanted for anything, her home life left much to be desired. Her father wasn't someone she particularly cared for, wanting the picture perfect home and family he created in his mind, he often projected that upon Neo and her mother, which caused much dysfunction. But, awful as it was, it was a tiny bit comforting, as she knew what to expect from each day on the farm.
However, despite the familiarity her old life held, Trivia didn't have Roman present nearly as much as Neo did, so there really wasn't much waiting for her to come back to in the past. Her partner stuck with her through thick and thin, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. A small smile crept onto her face before she turned to look elsewhere.
A framed picture caught her eye, one of her, or rather, of Trivia and her parents. Neo stared at the photo for a few moments before removing it from its frame and tearing part of the picture, and stashing it in her pocket. What was left of the picture was returned to the frame before she placed it on its face.
Satisfied with her little trip down memory lane, Neo took reached into her the pack on her hip and retrieved only last bundle of the explosives, planting it in the center of the room before moving to the door. Taking a deep breath as she opened it, the girl lingered on whether or not to lock the door behind her, before deciding not to, and returning downstairs.
As she returned to the living room, Neo saw Flynt sitting on the couch flipping through some text. Walking her way over, she leaned over the back of the couch and the trumpeter's shoulder to look at what he had, and as if sensing the girl was either curious or going to ask, the dark skinned teen spoke up after a brief yawn.
"Found this hidden on the shelves. I think this was your Pop's journal and uh, no offense, but he didn't seem to have it all together."
The petit woman shrugged her shoulders in response as she watched Flynt begin to flip through the journal looking for any type of illustrations or more interesting passages. With a yawn, Neo remembered the earphones she'd brought down with her, and removed the trumpeter's hat, much to his confusion before sliding the hearing protection into place. He turned to reject them, but was hushed by a finger before Neo signed him a message.
'Don't bother. We both know Jaune will only accept them if everyone else is taken care of.'
The dark skinned teen nodded reluctantly in response before returning to his search in the journal. A few more seconds passed by before he passed a large black drawing followed by empty pages. Catching both his and Neo's attention, the teen began to flip back until he came across the page he was looking for.
There was a foreboding dread the two of them felt looking at the illustration of the grimm that changed the tri-colored girl's life. It was humanoid, a rare but not unheard of trait for grimm to have. What was infinitely more harrowing however, was the passage written by the girl's father depicting his plan to bring the apathy with him to the farm.
Before the girl could lose herself in her thoughts, Flynt shook her by the shoulder before nodding his head towards the stairs that led to the cellar, sending her the message that they needed to share this with the others. The girl shook herself of dread for a moment before following after the Atlas student.
The sound of footsteps drew the others in the cellar towards them as four pairs of eyes watched Flynt and Neo return to the underground with the journal they found. Just as Roman was about to ask a question, the dark skinned teen passed him the notebook before sitting down next to his team leader, accepting a canteen as it was handed to him.
There was a silence as all eyes were on Roman, the man after seeing the illustration flipped back a few pages to read the last couple entries penned by Neo's father. Once he was done, he handed his partner in crime the notebook before retrieving a fancy cigarette case from the breast pocket inside his coat, and pulling one of the expensive cigarillos out before placing it in his mouth. Taking a second, he looked at the students before speaking with the case held out.
"Smoke?"
Ciel declined, as did Whitley, though curious as he was. While Jaune had smoked cigars with both Roman and his former family before, and found it somewhat relaxing, he decided against it for now. Flynt on the other hand, thought for a moment before reaching out and accepting one from the man, somewhat surprising Whitley and Ciel.
The man waited as Neo plucked one for herself before he closed the case and returned it to its place in his pocket before pulling out an equally ornate lighter, lighting the end of his tobacco before handing the device to Neo.
The girl, after lighting her own, held the lighter with its flame still flickering out towards Flynt, who leaned forwards silently and allowed his cigarillo to be lit, before nodding to the ice-cream themed girl in thanks. The girl handed the lighter back to Roman who, after a few exhales of smoke, picked up the notebook before handing it to Neo for her to show as he spoke.
"So, what we're dealing with are called Apathy. From what's written here, they usually roam in groups, and as we thought, they drain a person's energy to feed off of. The book also mentions the sounds they make, but doesn't elaborate on if they thought that was the cause or not. And finally, after Neo's father brought this grimm to the farm, there aren't any more entries after."
The man nodded to his partner who closed the book before setting it down on a barrel nearby before the flame haired thief stared up at the ceiling to the cellar, watching the smoke from his tobacco dance upwards before continuing to speak.
"I've actually heard of something like this happening before; specifically, there was a frontier town on the east coast of Anima. Their field reports showed low to no numbers of grimm activity in and around the area, but over a little bit of time, they stopped reporting in. Mistral sent a few groups of huntsman to investigate, and sure enough, the entire town seemed to have died in their sleep, with no evidence of any grimm having been there."
The classy criminal's leaned forwards, rubbing his hands together as if to keep warm while letting the reality of what they were waiting for sink in for the students. Time seemed to pass agonizingly slow with Roman checking the time every ten minutes on the dot. The flame haired thief looked beyond paranoid, but after an hour of constantly checking the time passed, his vigilance paid off.
Roman suddenly jumped to his feet, alarming the rest of the group. Just as Jaune was about to question him, the flame-haired man shushed him as he closed his eyes and sent a bit of aura to his ears.
Heartbeats, rhythmic breathing, and the sound of multiple lanterns burning became audible to him, but as he stretched his senses outwards, past the sound of water dripping from the stones, his intuition told him something was here, hiding in the black.
A second passed. Two seconds, then three. Three more passed as the sound of his own increasing heartbeat drumming in his hears made him feel as he'd either go deaf or insane, before everything fell mute as he saw it.
A single red light glowing however far away from them in the passage way.
Headphones and earplugs found their way into place for use as everyone's weapons fell into their hands, ready for anything. Oddly enough however, the eerily glowing red light seemed to disappear and reappear in different places. Neo growled silently as she glared into the darkness, but something felt…wrong to Jaune.
Breaking the line to grab one of the lit lanterns nearby, he let a bit of his aura flow through him before flinging the light far down into the tunnel. It flew a few dozen meters before it hit the ground, rolling and rolling until it bounced off something in the center of the passage. Shooting a look to Ciel, the girl nodded before taking aim briefly and firing a round and breaking the lantern. Unfortunately, the spreading fire and oil revealed what was at the other end of the tunnel.
At least a few dozen of the Apathy, all opening their eyes simultaneously to stare back at them. Roman growled before raising his cane and firing off a shot towards the center of the group, but as the projectile made contact, it seemed only to agitate the grimm. One by one, the mouths of the humanoid grimm opened before they all reared back slowly, and the group realized what was coming, unfortunately, too late to do anything about it as a debilitating wail echoed throughout the tunnel.
Roman, Neo, and Flynt were spared from the worst of the screeching's effect thanks to their earphones, but their comrades were unfortunately not so lucky. Whitley and Ciel, having had only earplugs, momentarily lost the ability to stay on their feet, but while the two were shakily attempting to stand, it was clear they were much worse for wear compared to a few minutes ago. Glancing past the partner duo, Roman's eyes widened when he saw the state Jaune was in.
Dropped to a knee and hunched over, the only thing holding him up was his grip on the handle of his weapon that was stabbed into the ground. He wasn't still either; not quite convulsing, but definitely not motionless, and had the gentleman thief not been wearing the headphones, he would have heard the almost choking noise the blonde teen was making.
Jaune's chest seemed to rising and falling so slowly it was as if he was asleep, but his eyes were unmistakably open. But perhaps that was the most worrying detail; the knightly teen's eyes, normally so full of determination and optimism, seemed dull and empty.
The flame haired man wanted to command Neo to take the blonde teen upstairs, away from the danger, but the best way to save Jaune now was to remove the threat, and for that he was going to need his petit partner. Looking back to the Apathy, they were advancing at a snail's pace, but it felt as if with each step they took, the creeping lethargy he felt went a bit deeper. It was subtle, and he wasn't sure if anyone else noticed, but his weapon felt…heavier than normal.
Finding the energy necessary, the former huntsman grit his teeth before managing to fire a round off at the grimm. To his alarm, it didn't have the same effect it normally would. Taking a few more shots to test his theory, he attempted to channel more of his aura to help fuel the dust, and when they seemed to have less of an impact with each shot, he had his answer. Looking back to Neo he signed the girl a message.
'They aren't just making us tired, they're affecting our aura and ability to use it efficiently.'
This got the girl's attention, as well as Flynt who caught the second half of the signed sentence. Ciel, Flynt, Whitley, and Neo joined Roman at the tunnel's entrance as they began prepared to begin firing off into the crowd of Apathy. Neo, who was without a ranged option, noticed the pistol at Jaune's waist before making her way to his downed form and taking it so that she could kill off the grimm. The five able to stood side by side as they began firing off whatever they could into the crowd of Apathy.
Every time they managed to kill one, it seemed as if another mysteriously appeared to take its place. It seemed to Roman as if they were less so pushing back the grimm and more so holding a line while wasting resources. With a grim sigh, the flame haired man got Neo's attention and signed her a message.
'We don't have any choice. Blow the charges.'
'Are you sure? I set one of them up in my room like we talked about.'
Seeing Neo's signed response, the man's mouth made a line as his brow furrowed, but after a second of deliberation, he gave her a nod, before he motioned for the students to make their way back to the cellar. The teens retreated back to where it was slightly safer, Flynt managing to drag Jaune with him closer to the stairs, but as they beginning to ascend, another wail ripped through the cellar sending everyone to their knees.
A bit of despair filled Neo as she noticed that even the detonator felt heavy in her hand, worse, she was forced to lean on the wall to support herself, lest she go to the ground and risk not getting back up. She sent a look to Roman, who realized that they wouldn't be able to run away as they were, and nodded to her.
She thumbed the lid that covered the switch for the detonator, but as she went to raise it, a screech sapped her energy as she fell to her knees, sending the device down to a few feet into the cellar. Looking back to the detonator revealed that the Apathy were closing in, the closest of them only a few meters away from the tunnel's entrance now.
Ciel, being the closest to the fallen device, shambled towards it, growing weaker with each step until she let herself fall forwards instead of trying to reach down to grab it. As her hand brushed against it, darkness pricked at the edges of her vision, before she stopped doing anything, having succumbed to the same near catatonic state as Jaune.
"C-Ciel…"
Whitley stared frozen at his deathly still partner where she laid on the cellar floor, managing a look of disbelief despite the pure tiredness he felt. He reached out towards her, only to lose his balance and fall onto his backside. Ignoring the minor pain, looking past his partner's body, he noticed something terrifying; it didn't just seem like there were more of these things, there were more of them.
Past the entrance of the tunnel, where the closest of the Apathy were, he saw a countless number more of them pouring in from brothers know where. Looking back to his partner, her doll-like expression suspended in place, he noticed the closest of the humanoid grimm approaching her.
It kept closing the distance, second by agonizing second, as it inched forwards. During its sluggish stride, it stepped on and promptly crushed the device that Ciel had seemingly sacrificed her life trying to reach, and the white-haired teen could only hope that Roman or Neo had some way to save them from this apparent end. If only the teen could muster the energy to glance behind him, he'd see that the two criminals he'd hoped would end this nightmare were just as incapacitated as he was.
Time seemed to slow as one of the Apathy reached its long, malicious claws out towards his partner's downed form. His blood chilled, he felt as if he were being pricked by needles, and his insides wrenched. Just as the tip on one of the claws caressed Ciel's face, a shred of light and anger returned to the youngest Schnee's eyes, and he managed to summon forth enough aura to create a glyph, but he did so without a target image, only wanting what was going to take Ciel from him to go away.
The famed Schnee glyph appeared in between the upper and lower halves of the grimm's body, and after a moment, the aura construct disappeared and the grimm fell to the ground, bisected. Sadly, another Apathy stepped forward, fully intent on finishing the dark-skinned girl off where she lay, and this time, Whitley knew he couldn't do anything to stop it.
Something silver sailing through the air just barely managed to catch Whitley's eye as it flew towards the entrance of the tunnel. A bright purple flash erupted from the source, dragging the grimm nearby, and most thankfully, the one about to kill Ciel, towards the implosion.
'Gravity dust…? But…Who?'
A few footsteps filled his ears, before a familiar form walked ahead of him towards Ciel. The tall blonde, picked up the dark-skinned girl before laying her on the stairs next to her partner, and when Whitley studied Jaune's state, he was petrified. The older teen was bleeding from both of his ears, but more noticeable, he was glowing bright enough to illuminate the dark cellar, the blue of his eyes blazing, and the expression written across his face was one of unrestrained anger.
The white-haired teen watched as his co-leader turned away from him and brought his still unnamed weapon into his hands. Sword and shield at the ready, Jaune took a big step and removed the head from the Apathy closest to him.
Seeing one of their rank fall, the horde prepared another of their haunting screams to immobilize him, and Whitley feared for the worst. But as the screech came, the youngest of the Schnee family laid confused where he was on the stairs before he noticed something.
He felt as though he was having an easier time breathing, and looking down at his hand, he noticed his aura flickering, feeling less and less deathly with each dim flash. Straining to turn his head, he noticed the others in a similar state, but was most grateful, to the point of tears, when he heard a feminine coughing as he looked at Ciel.
Taking stock of the situation behind him, Jaune was satisfied that, well, whatever he was doing was helping his friends, and had no plans to stop. But, holding off against this many grimm with what he had to work with wasn't possible.
As the Apathy ceased their wail, they seemed stunned once Jaune took another step and cleaved through three more of their kind. Catching a glimpse of the seeming infinite number of silhouettes stalking towards the tunnel's entrance, the knightly bit his lip trying to figure out how to save everyone.
As he took a step forward to ready to kill off more of the grimm, he stepped on something, and looking down, he saw the bits and pieces that belonged to the detonator, before his eyes widened as he remembered the explosives placed throughout the tunnel.
The idea he had was dangerous, foolish, and unfortunately, the only way out of this as far as he could see. There was just one problem; there's no telling how many of these things were past where the first of the bombs were set. If he could find some way to collapse the entryway of the tunnel, he could at least stop the Apathy from reaching them, but after that, they'd have to make it back to civilization while tired, cold, and hours away.
No. Jaune wasn't going to let these things live to kill anyone else. These things, this nightmare, ended here.
He wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but he knew he had to find a solution before he ran out of aura. Shooting towards another of the grimm in the room, he raised his shield for a charge before slamming into his enemy and sending it sailing towards a few barrels before it crashed into them, splashing alcohol on the floor as one of kegs broke.
Looking at the scene, Jaune thought for a moment before he smiled with a plan in mind. Jumping to where the shield bashed grimm lay trying to make its way to its feet, it was swiftly impaled before the blonde grabbed a barrel by the lip and flung it towards the tunnel's entrance, the wood splintering upon contact and drenching the area nearby with alcohol.
Snatching one of the remaining lanterns, the teen threw it at the ground directly below some of the wine drenched Apathy, setting them ablaze. The few Apathy near their burning lookalikes backed away quite violently, telling Jaune everything he needed to know.
Pouring aura into his sword, he slashed towards the ignited grimm and watched as a white arc flew forth, killing the front most Apathy and repelling the rest through the entrance. Wasting no time, the knightly teen began taking bottles of liquor from their resting places to toss them through the entrance, shattering the glass containers and spilling their contents onto the horde.
Soon, all that was near enough to him for quick retrieval were two barrels. And a glance revealed that some of the grimm in the tunnel were beginning to make their way towards the entrance with evil intentions. Turning one of the barrels onto its side, Jaune picked up the wooden keg with ease before throwing it violently towards the ground of the entryway.
Seeing the container burst open, Jaune wasted no time grabbing the final lantern from where it hung on the wall before tossing it towards the pool of alcohol soaking at the ground of the tunnel's opening. Watching as the grimm recoiled from the now alight entrance, the blonde picked up the much smaller barrel before pulling off a cork at one of the heads and taking a whiff.
Recoiling immediately, Jaune discovered that whatever was in this barrel, was most definitely not wine. Just a brief smell of the contents brought tears to his eyes, but gave him hope for his plan. Reinserting the cork, the blonde checked back to the tunnel to see that none of the Apathy had made it through and the fire was still burning proudly, so he made his way quickly over to Flynt.
Looking down at his friend, Jaune noticed that the teen was trying to say something, but as he couldn't hear him, he opted to continue with his gamble. Pulling his teammate's trumpet from its holster, the knightly teen checked each of the valves before finding what he was looking for; fire dust.
Turning around to Whitley, the blonde took the younger teen's lasso, having to fiddle with it desperately for a moment before managing to remove the lighting dust contained within the handle.
Fire dust, lightning dust, and a thick, wooden keg full of strong liquor. The knightly teen took a deep breath before beginning to let his aura begin to flow into the two dust containers, watching as the substances inside began to glow. That glow slowly turned into a shine as Jaune kept carefully, for as reckless as this was, pushing his aura into the dust.
Once the phials began to almost hum in his hand, he pulled the cork away once more before sliding both of the dust containers into the hole, and replacing the cork for the last time. Walking back to the entryway, Jaune peered past the fire, looking for the blinking green light on his target.
Just barely being able to spot it after almost a minute of looking, Jaune prepared to let the keg fly as close to the bomb as he could get it, but just as he was about to make his toss, his aura flared, and he knew that he was running on fumes.
Gritting his teeth, the blonde forced himself upright before rearing back and throwing the keg as far as he could. He watched silently with his lips pursed as the keg flew above the Apathy before rolling to a stop, just a few meters away from the bomb. That was going to have to be close enough, and Jaune prayed that his makeshift bomb would cause a chain reaction. All that was left now was to seal off the tunnel's entryway.
A quick look around revealed nothing that would be of use to him, so that only left one option; to pull down the wooden support beam above the opening.
Breathing heavy as he felt the limits of his aura being reached, Jaune staggered his way towards the overhead support beam. Thankfully, the ceiling of the cellar wasn't too high, and he was able to reach and firmly grasp the top of the wooden support before he began straining his muscles and pulling downwards. A few moments of this struggle persisted until the blonde felt something beginning to give.
Just as he started to pull with a renewed vigor, one of the Apathy stumbled through the fire, moving much quicker than any of its kind and locked eyes with Jaune. The knightly teen felt a burning pain in his arms, but ignored it as he continued trying to tear down the support he was latched on to.
The grimm didn't plan to let the huntsman student continue doing as he pleased, and upon making it close enough, began slashing at him repeatedly. Feeling his aura drying up, one final slash from the Apathy broke Jaune's aura. And the teen felt his grip on the wooden beam overhead slacken. The glow that he had been emitting slowly began to fade, letting the cellar begin to darken as the grimm brought its claws back and straightened its arm, intent on impaling the blonde.
As it thrust its arm forth, Jaune's head snapped up and his eyes once more shined in the dark, the illuminating glow that had almost fully disappeared returning full force. His grip on the wooden beam tightened to the point where his fingers had dug into the wood, and he took a powerful step.
As the Apathy's clawed hand nearly speared into the blonde's chest, Jaune ripped his arms downwards and tore the support from the ceiling. The heavy wooden support crushed the grimm attempting to kill him while large stones and dirt began to fill the area.
On the other side of the now rapidly sealing entryway, Jaune's improvised bomb began to vibrate as the two dust phials began to crack from the pressure, and as their contents seeped into the liquor, the resulting explosion ripped apart the grimm near the keg. The blast also managed to detonate the ordinance nearby, causing a chain reaction as all the bombs set throughout the tunnel began to explode one by one.
The shaking persisted for a few moments, before everything finally stood still. Jaune stared at the sealed and smoking entryway for a moment as his aura finally ran out. Feeling himself sway, he let himself fall onto his back as he gulped in air, finally registering the ringing in his ears as more than just a mere annoyance.
The blonde felt a few hands on him before he had his arms slung over the necks of two people, but he couldn't tell who. Feeling himself get carried up the stairs, the blonde was eventually laid down on the couch in the living room before he managed to look up at the five faces of his friends staring back down at him with all sorts of expressions.
A few of them tried to say something to him, and while Jaune could faintly hear their voices, he still couldn't make out was being said. So, instead of saying anything, the blonde gave them an exhausted grin before promptly passing out, the rising and falling of his chest visible in the flickering light from the fireplace.
(A/N)
Hey everyone, I'm still here. Work on this one was slower than ever, but that's due to some personal stuff that I don't wanna get into. That being said, what I do want to share with all of you, is that next chapter is for Vol. 1. After that, Vol. 2 should only be about 10-15 chapters at most, and they should be shorter with the exception of the last few.
Lastly, I want to get everyone's opinion on something pertaining to the Vytal, so I'll be putting up a poll for it to get your thoughts, but here is what I'm thinking. Also, yes, they Vytal is still in Vale, and the other academies will do their own things attempting to try and steal the spotlight and wow the crowd, Atlas isn't the only one there to put on a show.
A) Jaune/Whitley sky-drop to touchdown in Amity Colosseum during the opening/welcoming ceremony.
B) Jaune/Whitley walk out with a flag/banner for Atlas in their ancestor's armor.
C) Jaune/Whitley offer up dust to the Vytal flame, (think like the Olympic torch and flame) and then do the Hunger games outfit change, but with their team.
The poll can be accessed from my profile page.
Anyways, besides that, I uh, don't think I have anything else. Leave me a ton of long reviews for this chapter though because I wanna know how this felt to you, and what you think about what I'm thinking. Discord is also below.
/dSbQbK7FTy
See y'all soon!
B.J.H.