The boy had finished unpacking the contents of the box before turning to his team to continue on the topic of his package. "The horse is the symbol of my homeland. Kazimierz. The land of the knights. To the kingdoms we and a couple of other small similar communities are a liability, an uncontrollable by them group. That despite being outside of their cities has survived for so long…" there was anger in the blond leaders voice. before he stopped. "From such communities come most faunus with more than one trait. With the maximum being 4. From the look on Ren and Noras faces I can guess they have seen other faunus like me." Which got the adopted siblings to nod.
"A tall, dark haired man, would pass by Kuroyuri, with his family every couple of years." The dark haired boy said.
"I see. Thank you for taking the box in." he put the things under his bed. Only the letter and the newspaper were left on his bed, but they didn't want to pry into it, as it seemed to be an emotional hot topic.
The next big thing happened on the next Thursday. Their first class on aura arts. It was to be held into a separate building. It was a long but short building.
"It looks a bit like a shooting range pointed out Ruby." When the two teams met outside. The whole year had grouped up outside. There were even some second years present, who had sat on the ground. And when the bell of the central tower started to denote the start of the new hour. The double doors of the building split open. Seemingly by themselves. When they all entered. They met a group of people who seemed to have nothing in common other than all being older than them and wearing a dark clothe of one or another kind. The one that came forward was an older woman, probably pushing sixty or more, who wore an almost cowboy get up.
"Greetings students. Today we will go over some basic stuff that we believe you need to know. My name is Outcast. The people behind me are my fellow co-teachers. We come from multiple different paths in life. For the past couple of years we have taught this discipline in this academy." There was a bit of silence before she continued. "These classes are not going to be graded. There will be no exams. No homework assignments for you to read. And we don't take attendance. Any questions?" which got the Mohawk member of team CRDL to raise his hand.
"Why should there be such a class? If we aren't getting graded?"
"Good question. Everybody learns in different ways. We are going to give you the basics today. How you practice, how you meditate and so on depends on you. If there are no more questions let uss begin." A white board was wheeled behind her, strangely it seemed to wheel itself there without any visible help.
"First: Aura arts or aura techniques are ways to apply aura in different ways. They can be used with or without dust to augment your semblances, help you find new ways to use them or help you bring them to new heights." As the old lady spoke a man of average heihth with horns sticking out of his hair was writing behind her.
"Second: Arts require concentration, that is easiest to achieve through meditation and used through a focus."
"Third: Those of you who will meditate and practice, you will do so with your teams, plus one of us to look over you. If any of you has questions or wants to practice the usage of specific arts type, you can speak with me, and I would tell you which of us could help you the most."
"Fourth and final. While there are some books on the topic, some huntsmen, mercenary and warrior family lines have specific arts they prefer to keep as a secret of their own. But limitations breed creativity." At this point he felt as if she was looking straight at him. "Those of you who wish to leave may do so now. The rest will be assigned a mentor and led to a room." Team JNPR was approached by a dark haired faunus woman slightly shorter than Ren. A tail swishing behind her and a pair of ears stood proudly atop her head. A sizeable box carried on a strap hanging by her shoulder.
"Names Blaze and you are Team JNPR, right?" after getting the nods, she led to an underground room in the building. And once in the room she spoke. "You know I asked to be assigned to you right? Can you guess why?" there was a sense as if he had met her before. Something familiar, which clicked upon seeing Rhodes written on the sleeve of her jacket.
"You knew the Doctor?" the blond knight guessed. He didn't remember the man too much, most of their meetings being when he was a boy. He knew that despite being a medic the man his late aunt married led a bit of a mercenary company, Rhodes Island he called it.
"While correct, this isn't the reason. We have looked over each and every one of yous records. I even got the final fight of the major on record. What we talk here, will be confidential between me and you all." Before pointing at the blonde" You seem to struggle with what I have seen your mother and uncle pull off, funnily enough you seem to have her semblance, according to the files that have been submitted, allowing you to heal wounds. So for now we are going to focus a bit more on a mix of semblance and combat." Before pointing to the N of team JNPR.
"Bomber girl, while meditation is one of the best ways to practice control over your aura, many people have come to realize, it is like practicing a music instrument. I have the feeling that you might have an issue with meditating, so we will see what we can hook you up with."
"Lie Ren, you have shown to be experienced with the basic techniques of aura arts and like meditation, so that we will practice on more practical applications for arts and more diverse usages of your semblance." Then pointing to the last member of the team.
"And finally Pyrrha Nikos, I have rarely heard of a semblance that has so much possible aplications and yet being so… " the woman moved her hand around like if she was searching for the word to describe what she meant before continuing "…underutilized. So for you, we will start with meditation and reading of this." At this point she handed a book to the redhead. And while his partner was removing the paper. Before showing two man – one older bald man, with a beard and mustache standing next to a young man with short hair and a stubble. Its title proudly proclaimed "Basic and advanced phisics and sciences for the Highschool education level." With the writers being credited as W. Pink and J. White.
They laid out mats on the ground, for Ren and Pyrrha to meditate on, while Nora was led to a storage closet. Before being brought out with a muted drum and a set of headphones. And the young kuranta was led further in to a square arena of sorts.
"Put the gloves on kid. We will be sparring." Said the feline. While taking her jacket off, revealing a white tshirt under it. "And talking." After both were ready, they got in the ring. He felt as if a cold damp towel had been thrown on top of him. It was so off putting, he was taken by a surprise when the instructor had punched him in the face.
"The arena is an aura blocking one. The stone with witch its covered has some curious properties." Was said after ducking a cross. "A huntsman in this day and age comes to an academy. Without any obvious range options." While hitting him with a body shot while he was over extended. "So either you are hiding a ranged capable semblance or yar hiding things from us... " while kicking him in the thigh. And while the younger man was hobbling away. "Now to find out why, you were trained by your uncle, that old man was always a sneaky one. Always silent in battle." and when the golden tailed teen had fully gathered his bearing and started to circle around her. "…there aint a ref kid, and we aint boxers. I knew your old lady and ya sis. You can do better than this." Which finally prompted a response from the boy. As he rushed in, arms close to his body, fists guarding his face. a jab that was evaded, and a catlike spin around into a side kick. Which seemed to hit its target. Only for her leg to turn out to be caught, and the blonde to lift her leg up, by the grabbed shin, locking her in place.
"Don't let mother catch you calling her old." Was huffed by the young man, before using his other hand to throw a hook which was ducked under. Only to turn almost immediately into an elbow drop which hit its target. Said target instead punched him in the same spot as the thigh kick from earlier, making its victim drop the hold. Before the long haired faunus jumped outside of the arena with a catlike grace.
"Okay boy, get out, so your aura can fix you up and we can practice on the next step." Exiting the arena was reinvigorating, like warm shower after a cold storm. And feeling aura fixing the bruises and cuts on him brought a sense of relief. For some reason the small amount of bruises on the instructor weren't healing. "Now heal me." And when he reached out to touch her shoulder she stepped away. "Not like this. Heal me from the distance we are at currently. This will be your training, you have five minutes, before we head back so I can get greeny in here." When the five minutes passed, she went to him and touched his shoulder, the healing was near instantenous. "Neat."
When they left a hour and a half later all had their opinions. On what the class was. They passed by team CRDL who carried a box of some kind. But beyond poisonous glare nothing else happened.
Their next class was again something that they would have for the first time- Weapon Crafting and Upkeep. Beacons forges is where they met the man. He stood imposing, tall and broad shouldered, from under the white t-shirt muscles were clearly visible, with a blacksmith leather apron, from whichs pockets a couple of smaller tools were protruding.
"I am Harold Mullbery. All teams will be split by cabins, as to not get into each others way. BUT FIRST: I am by law required to get you all acquainted with the safety rules for the usage of the smithy." After which was the spiel one can expect. Have anything that can be caught up on a spinning element covered tied and so on unless you want to lose it, he had been told all of these when he was little and went to watch how his aunt was working in her shop, and while yang was whining and putting a hair net over it he tucked in his tail. And by the end of it a book was passed around in which they had to write their names, the date of being instructed and sign it.(this is something this fanfic writer does at work 2 or 3 times a year, since I am machinist-assembler, mainly the second but I occasionally have to do the first.) "And in case any of you, students, wants to make something new, as first years, you must first give me the blueprint and discuss the process. Now let me lead you to your workstations. Also we have most of your records from preparatory schools."
The teams were brought to a hall made of multiple big rooms, each having a shelf, four workbenches, each with a vice and drawlers. Desk drills, bench grinders, and what seemed to be a locked up lathe. And a blackboard on the right wall. Jaune felt as if he was back in the forge, all that was missing was the sound of hammering metal. Team JNPRs room was right in between team CROE(crome) and RWBY.
"So what do we do now?" Ren asked, honestly the knight hadn't thought about it, since Nora was the only one of them to still not have fought in class, and even the ones who had fought didn't think. And even then the ones who had fought didn't think their weapons were in too much of a need to maintain.
"I say, we go over our weapons, check what needs work, and think of possible improvements. Analyze possible jam areas and how to deal with them… Yes Pyr?" he said as he noticed the champion coughing.
"Pyr?" a slight surprise in the redhead's voice.
"I thought since we are friends, it was appropriate."
"I don't mind it. Due to contractual obligations, I am not legally allowed to modify Milo and Akouo without consulting their maker and my agent." There was a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Okay new objective. Making you a sidearm of some sorts, you can work with in case it malfunctions. All of you should get a back-up weapon or a sidearm." He moved to the blackboard. And took a chalk out of the box.
"What do you mean, all of you Jaune?" there was a bit of an edge to the mistral boys voice.
"Its obvious that Fearless leader doesn't need a backup, you saw how he threw Cardin last week. Them guns are lethal weapons." Spoke Nora, so matter of factly as if her brother was stupid to even suggest otherwise.
"If I have to fight without my weapons, I am passable in a brawl. Plus I have my armor. So any ideas?" the rest of the class was spent either discussing ideas. The next class was combat and after that they would be given half a day off before their deploy… school trip to the forever fall forest on the next day.
When they entered into the stands it was quiet, there was only one pair of students who had yet to fight – Nora and Raffia Amandla from team CROE. And after that you could challenge anyone, and it would seem people were out for blood today, there was palpable tension in the air. And after Noras loss by submission. Because despite her efforts she was quickly tied up by thick ropes which sprouted from the ground and was left to just take the hits, after which the combat instructor just ruled the match in the darker skinned girls favor. Pyrrha was challenged by Dove bronzewing, making his W/L record into a 50/50. And then out of nowhere.
"I challenge Jaune Arc-Nearl." The voice was from the blonde dragon of team RWBY. Had he angered her in any way?
"Do you accept the challange Mister Arc-Nearl? IF you do then stand up and get ready, please make sure your armor is unpowered." Which he did heading towards the changing room. Putting his armor on, with practiced efficiency. And a couple of minutes he was standing in the arena. In front of him stood Yang Xiao Long in her own combat gear. Vanbraces being the only armor he could see on her.
"Why would you challenge me Yang?" voice just like uncle thaught him, not showing any emotion.
"Afraid to fight me, vomit boy?" the cheeky reply had him going "After your showing in the canteen last week I've been dying for a hand to hand fight with you. Beat me and I might stop calling you vomit boy."
"If you take your shotgun shells out, I am willing to not use my sword and shield." And after the bombastic blonde took a boxers stance he planted his greatsword Crocea mors into the ground, removing his shield from his hands. And tossing it outside the arena. Time for him to adapt to the occasion, practice fights with Rouje and miss Indra of clan victoria going through his mind, and finally his embarrassing performance against instructor Blaze from earlier the same day, her words fresh in his mind. "no refs and no boxers, going through his mind." As he took a boxing stance himself.
"Both of you ready?... Begin!"
As the Dragon rushed the Pegasus, he stood in place, the young womans blow blocked with a forearm, and a pivot on his leg and throwing an aura empowered fist into the side of her ribcage. Even through the aura it must have hurt as his opponent hopped away. Holding the side of her chest. He still stood there silent.
"If you wanted to cop a feel, you should have told me, vomit boy." Despite all his training, he couldn't stop an annoyed sneer. As she rushed him this time he let her hit him, powering through the pain making his move, and before she could retract her fist. It was gripped and then twisted at the wrist, then applying pressure with his other hand above her extended elbow, and then she was forced to lean forward as otherwise would present the risk of having her shoulder popped out. And while leaning, she saw it, a knee came towards her head, it seemed so slow to her adrenaline filled brain. And despite moving her other arm to cushion the blow she could practically feel her aura getting chunked. The knigh letting his opponent go, noticing the fiery wisps flying around her. And moving further away, then it was showtime. Her whole body was on fire and when she rushed him, she hit him in the chest, denting his armor and continuing her barrage slowly losing steam ending it when she couldn't stand, due to a sharp pain in her thigh, as an armored shin was removed from there, just standing hurt. The pain enough to not notice the haymaker for her head.
"Winner by Aura depletion Jaune Arc-Nearl, mister Arc-Nearl please don't attempt to fracture you classmates arms. Miss Xiao Long, you limiting your main means of mobility crippled your fighting ability, not everyone out there would be willing to stick by your rules. This goes for both of you. Mister Arc-Nearl, help miss Xio Long to get to the infirmary, for a check up. Dismissed. Anybody else?" And as the knight offered the dragon a hand, she took it and leaned on him, on their way out of the arena.
"I haven't slighted you, why choose me as your opponent?" there was genuine curiosity in the boys voice.
"Saw how you fought in the cafeteria, wanted to see how good you are. Safe to say you got me all banged or should I say yanged up, vomit boy." The pun and the nickname elicited a sigh from the one the brawler was leaning on.
"We had a deal, Yang." Annoyance cleared in the armored teens voice.
"Shit, sorry dude. Kinda slipped out."
"Apology accepted. Now, hear me out. If you can keep a secret, we can go back to watching fights okay?" when she nodded there were two things for her to make that choice – one the curiosity what was it that he was going to do, and second she wanted to go back in the bleachers. "okay lets do this." Grabbed her hand and opened an empty class rooms door, pulling her inside. When the door behind them closed, she realized that the boy, no the man was taller than her, had more aura than her and was all alone in an empty classroom with her. And as she started to blush, a warmth started to spread through her body, originating from the hand he was holding. And where the warmth was, the pain was going away, leaving a sense of safety. It was refreshing like a post workout shower. And soon after it felt as if she hadn't fought at all, like she could fight a mountain by herself.
"Please keep it a secret." Ooh she would, for the way he said it, meant it was important to him. For despite her bombastic behavior, she was a caring person.
"Just keep these magic hands to yourself, and we got a deal." There was unintended cheekiness to her voice, which seemed to elicit a reaction from a now blushing knight.
And as they exited the room, she head back to the spectators area, while he continued in the exact opposite direction, towards the forges.
Proffesor Mullberry was hammering a small metal piece, and looked in his direction.
"Ya want help with those dents?"
"I would be grateful, if you help me do it." Said the boy.
"I will. Get out of that thing, while I finish what im doing." When looking at the dents the teacher had a thing to say. "uffda, they didn't let you power it did they?" And when an hour later they were done. " Ope, tell ya aunt I say hi, next ya hear her." And with those words whose meaning he could guess partially. Upon his return he was surrounded by his frien… teammates. They had known each other for less than a month, but his hearth told the knight he was amongst friends.
After a light breakfast as to not vomit in his armor, they whole class had gathered on the bullhead docks, and since this was an out in the field assignment, he had taken the liberty, of powering his armor. The lightning dust crystals, carefully placed in key parts to provide their curious mechanisms with energy. No two knight armors were exactly the same, as each knight changed their armor to suit them, only one thing was common among all knights, the armors who were able to support some of their weight. But even in an upowered state a trained or aura unlocked individual could move in it. His own armor fancied after the ones the silverlance pegasy wore – a slim and not overly bulky one but still emphasizing his body contour. When during the flight, he felt his stomach try to rise, he closed his eyes and held his helmet in his lap. Nora squeeling how pretty the landscape was didn't help his concentration and when he looked outside he was indeed bewildered by the sea of red leaves. And soon he regret opening his eyes. But the flying deathtrap had managed to get to firm land and he still kept his breakfast in his stomach, he would need something to get the acidic taste of bile from his mouth. The deputy headmistress, coughed to get the attention of all of em.
"Welcome to Forever Fall everybody. Every team needs to present me 4 jars of the famous red sap – 1 for each team member. Anything above those 4 jars you gather is yours for the keeping. Don't go too far, and if anything happens call me. Scroll reception here is dodgy so be carefull. Now spread out." And with that all the teams headed for the forest 6 teams, headed in different directions.
And just as the first jar was full, the hammer maiden of the team, ever curious dipped her finger in the red sap, before turning it up and straight up chugging it. A small splash from it , landed on their leaders, naked face helmet, clasped on his waist. An almost immediate reaction was the itching and his eyes watering.
"Nora, be carefull." Chided her non related by blood brother, while throwing his leader a bottle of water and a packet of tissues. "I take it this is a new development?"
" Yes. I will take a small precaution I hope you don't mind." And after his face was cleaned, the helmet was put on, a small hissing sound when it clicked in place. And things were going well for a bit, they had managed to get two jars full, and defended from their ginger teammate. It all came crashing down with the sound of shattered glass, and wetness on his tail. He hadn't seen or sensed where it had come from but while his team had gone in a fully defensive formation, weapons in arms. The buzzing of hundreds of angry insects could be heard angrily approaching towards their location, a bunch of rapier wasps soon broke straight for him. Soon the pests were all over his armor and tail, and while they couldn't pierce the armor his joints and tail were another thing, so left without any choice it was time to take an ace out of his sleeve. And from different spots in his armor vials of powdered fire dust activated, turning the knight into a living torch. Before stopping a bit later, the ground around him burnt and covered in the ashes of the small assailants.
"Wait here!" the order given the golden kuranta headed for the direction from which the jar must have come. And after some walking he came upon team CRDL, he could hear their laugh, from some distance. So blood boiling he entered at speed at them. Aura pumped in his legs shot him forward so that he could shoulder check the Mohawk one, taking him forward and into the closest tree. As crimson leafs fell all around the five young men, weapons were brought forth, from the ones still conscious. And as a halbeard slung for his head, he ducked, grabbed it by the haft, and used his other hand to stab towards the other team, the sword tip sliding over aura, but seemed to still take a significant part of it. A strong blow to the blonds back got him reeling and having to step forward, coming even closer to Sky, just in range for a helmeted headbut, dropping the number of fighters to 3. Dove rushed him and despite striking his armor, the stab had force behind it. Unfortunately when one is almost daily, trained by people who fight with swords, one picks up tricks on how to deal with them. So when the other swordsman tried to strike him again, another trick was out of the bag, and an opponent was out.
If one was sitting to the side they would have seen how the handle of Crocea Mors, extended propelling the greatsword forward and right at the, moving forward opponent. Before just as quickly coming back to hide in its handle.
Turning towards the last enemy, Jaune rushed forward, landing a punch on the bully with his free hand, which seemed to stagger his opponent. Only for a trio of Ursas to enter the clearing, with 3 of the people as easy picking on the ground the grimm had took their chances. The biggest of the 3 bearlike grimm rushed the ones still standing, only to be stopped by the fully armored one. The sound of suspensions being put to the test, as the force of the impact was absorbed as a punch moved the bear grimms head in the other direction, leaving its neck open.
The smaller ursas rushed to attack them in mindless aggression, and a lucky paw swipe managed to push the knights hand away leaving him open. Only for said ursas skull to be smashed by a flanged mace. The two boys taking care of the last monster together. They stood there panting, before the faunus to grab the other one by the shoulder and to pull him, as their faces stood mere centimeters apart.
"You ever, try to attack me or my friends, I will make you regret it." Before letting the ginger boy go.
"Thank you for helping me defend them. " There was a hint of respect in the boys voice. "For an animal you are alright one."
"If people didn't say and do things like this the fang would not exist." The idea was sombering, how the sins of the previous generations were weighting heavily on the current ones.
"They are part of the reason for why I see things this way, you know?" the ginger spoke after a bit "A Fang bombing. I lost someone close to me."
"For a racist jerk, you might also be an alright one. For I too lost a relative in a fang attack. A bystander caught in the same hijacked flight." Spoke the knight somberly. They would soon have to give explanations to the chaperoning teacher and live through detentions sometimes together, but without knowing it, the pegasy had changed the humans life trajectory for the better.
Yes it is cannon Jaune semblance since I am still a HACK. I didn't know who to make arts teacher so I made them multiple. Team CROE exists because a whole year of students being the 3 teams we are shown is beyond stupid.
Raffia is an OC I cooked up, her name comes from the raffia palm, and since its kinda used for making ropes I just made that be her semblance. Was it lazy – yes. Would I use the character again if I remember – yes.
Now for the next omakes: Angels(cute and funny) or devils(blood and cursed swords)
Responses to reviews:
To Voidicus: glad you like it
To TwinStarDragon: thank you for the praise even if its undeserved
To extracon69: its kinda hard to bring big changes without me worrying that I am straying too far from how Jaune is supposed to be.
Responses to Ao3 reviews:
To: SANCTUM_26 : I had an omake but not enough for a standalone story, so I hat to write a chapter to go with it.
To: Catstodies: Sorry for not doing it justice, but I don't know enough about IRA and its fight to write such a story properly.
Since one guy(VGBlackwing) asked for it as an omake, and im hopped on too much sugar to sleep properly Ill write this and a chapter at some point in the future. Warning: it's a bit dark.
Omake: What if the White fang didn't take the knights warning seriously. (in the main story some of them got hit with 3000 true damage)
The idiots by the door thought they could get them to run. To be scared, and turn their back on their mission. They couldn't do a thing to the Fang. They were fighting for the good of all faunus, even if some of them didn't understand it yet. So the moment they got to the warehouse they were told of, they quickly started preparing it for the rally on the next day. A group of them took out posters and went out. But by the time the hour would have come to pass, they were back. It was starting to become dark outside.
He stood there, warily looking at the doors, and windows. The cold voices and the warning still rang out in his head. And as the hour came to a close. Soon so would be his tale. The fang had closed and locked the door. If they had paid attention, they would have noticed the unnatural silence. There weren't sounds of cars. No birds were singing, no dogs were barking, neither near nor far. Too busy talking amongst themselves, about how none of them were scared. If they had left the door open they would have noticed the heavily armored group, that had encircled the warehouse.
And as the hour rang. So did they ears, as the sidedoor was kicked in. there stood an average sized armored figure. And the figure spoke with a feminine voice.
"You were warned to leave. You took people I loved from me, people who had done nothing wrong to you. For a crime against kazimierz and its people, and a crime against me you will pay the price. For this crime there is only one Verdict. One punishment. Death. They died in a small metal box. So you will all die in this big concrete one." The voice didn't scream, it wasn't raised nor it betrayed any emotion. And despite that it reached all of them. Arrows, came through the nearby window, hitting things indiscriminately – chairs, tables, people and the floor. The ones who were closer to the walls, had aura or were just lucky rushed to the main cargo door and the emergency exit. And just as they opened it, they tried to rush out. Like cockroaches when the master of the house, lights the lamp in the kitchen. Only that the exits were blocked by even more armored figures, standing there immovable like a wall.
Over them as soon as the door was open enough to allow it, jumped others. Ones wearing lighter armor and shorter weapons. He saw a short woman with an earthly complexion and pink hair wielding a pair of connected daggers. But while he wasn't looking a figure which had come unhelmeted had rushed him. Above a young face, amidst a hair of gold stood a pair of horse ears. And as Tucksons retractable claws came out to defend their owner, so came the womans sharp clawed gauntlet towards his face. And amidst the carnage, the panther faunus lost consciousness.
When Tuckson woke up he was in a room, tied tightly to a chair. Attempting to move, seemed to have caught someones attention, as the world seemed to change its orientation. And he felt his head hit the concrete. And a pair of black slacks over shoes. Polished black with a brass decoration dress boot. A hand lifted the chair upright. It carried the man with it and placed it so it can be with back against the wall. Now that Tuckson could see his captor. A faunus man older than him by at least 40 years. Dressed in formal dark clothes, save for a sword on his hip and armored vanbraces and gloves.
"Now we can do this the easy way. Or the hard way. The easy way is you spill out everything you know." The mans voice was calm and practiced. "and the hard way is everything else."
"Fuck you old man. Why are you doing this?" only to get an armored punch to the face.
"The white fang took a relative of mine away, and her husband. An unfortunate casualty of an attack on a SDC shareholder, investor or something of the sorts. Two precious members of our community. Our land has its own sins, we too have money hungry corpos, internal strifes and corruption. But we left the fang, and its fight with the kingdoms continue, as it wasn't something wed throw our hats in." the old man stopped and took a breath." And soon you will regret not telling me all you know."
"Sorry to hear it old man, but you don't scare me." He would get out, he always survived.
"Afraid to hear that. It was worth a try. Well we have someone to take care of you." And on that ominous note the old man exited the room. A woman entered. Slim, Pale and black haired woman entered, sat up a chair some distance from him, exited and carried a cello in. She didn't lock the door behind herself.
"What are you gonna do put me to sleep with your music?" was what Tuckson said before the dark dark haired beauty took a bow out. She didn't rise to the provocation. Just smiled, something with her smile was wrong. She started playing. And at some point he did in fact fell asleep. When he woke up, the room was empty, after some fiddling with the leather that barely kept him in place he rushed, seeing as the door was left unlocked, just like how she had left it when she had entered the room. Dashing through the halls and corridors, up the stairs, he found himself outside a small building in the kazimierzian wilderness, after climbing a tree he could see in the distance the knights great city. After waiting for some time to see where east was. He went East knowing how to find the Blackrock camp was roughly at. And after days of walking and sneaking past knight patrols, he was finally there. Then a sound, like a high note played and the world shifted around him. What had happened, he was back at the room, he must have fallen asleep, the cellist was still playing, she had a small jagged halo and aura shards behind her making a mockery of wings. So that was their plan, to make him lose conciseness and wake him up roughly, to break him. She was writing something down while looking towards him, smiling. And then started playing again. He woke up in the same room. It felt strangely familiar, but he chalked it up to the time with the old man. The restrains on the chair barely keeping him. The door was left unlocked again. Again? He was going through it for the first time. Rushing past some locked rooms. Tukson noticed a light in the halls end. He rushed out, noticing he was in an underground bunker, in the distance he saw the walled city of Kazimierz, something was gnawing at him, like it wasn't quite right. But in the end he rushed West towards the cell in the village of Redfall, it had such picturesque waterfalls, with those red stones underneath it. And when he was close to it a discordant note, and he was back in the room, tied to a chair, he was thirsty…
After the fifth or the sixth time he woke up, he wasn't paying attention anymore. His head was killing him, he felt horrible, unreal thirst, and pain white hot searing pain, from his abdomen. And she was still there sitting, smiling at him, but she no longer played her cello, nor did she wrote anything. Instead she came close, closer to him than it was safe for a captor, he could smell the lavender perfume on her, but couldn't find the strength to lash out at her.
"Thank you so much for cooperating with me Tukson." Her voice had something in it that worried him, he couldn't place it but it was there like a scientist after they are done with an experiment, and the pain, he would do anything to make it stop. She brought out a small vanity mirror and started fixing her make up. "The brain, it is such a curious thing you know? If it strongly believes into something, it could harm the body, how was the water tasting? No, tell me does it hurt?"
"Yes" the tied man groaned.
"As it should. That should be your kidneys, by the way." Her voice now bored. "Tell me did you slept well? After all those dreams told me everything I needed to know." The phrase punched through the clouds of deliriousness and bring his mind to the forefront.
"My cousin is going to come pick me up, and deposit me back in my own cell. In the past couple of days, you were a joy to be around." Her voice smug and he could finally place what unnerved him earlier, a quiet sadistic joy at his suffering. She turned the vanity mirror towards him. What he saw shocked him. He looked like a shell of the man he remembered himself being.
"So far, you have vomited, trashed and other things that you might consider generally unpleasant." There was a knock on the door, and she went to open it. Throught it came a handsome if slightly older man in a white coat, a bandolier belt black, dark travelling pants and combat boots. He had a pair of noise canceling headphones on who put handcuffs on the woman, before leading her out. Leaving Tukson alone to his pain and delirious illusions. Soon he came back with the old man.
"I wish you picked the easy way kid." Said the golden haired one, before heading out the door. "Federico, he is in your custody now."
"Frances Tukson. For multiple counts of terrorism and assistance in it you have been sentenced to death. You have a bunch of other sentences, but they pale to the final verdict" The man was loading a shotgun, while speaking with an impassive voice. "For us to not make it harder for the cleaning people here, we were asked to do this outside." Despite the man being older than himself, Tukson was lifted up like it was noting. Next he was carried out and saw a field of golden rye. He was put on the ground and after that noting as he lost consciousness.
"As you are unconscious I shall skip the formalities, of last words and last meal. It makes things easier." If there were other people around, they would have heard a single gunshot. "The sentence has been executed."
Sorry if this was a bit too dark. in the main story of CtB Tukson was part of the group that ran away. But someone else who was running away was pulled aside and put through the ringer.