Jaune emptied his stomach for the nth time this morning. The sun wasn't even up, and already the puke was flowing. Yet, that didn't take away from the fact that he felt better than ever. It was just, he didn't throw up bile and yesterday's late dinner. Instead, what remained of his spleen coated the tree and thicket.
Already he had thrown up his appendix, bladder, most of his large intestine, part of a kidney, his prostate, and a gland or something that had been in his lungs. He felt his own immune system and his blood, madly spurred on and enchanted by his newest 'gifts' working.
Snapping his fingers, he read how the transformation continued in journal. Turning onto the page detailing most of his brain. Ice flowed through him. In cold uncaring script, the spell wrote how part of his brain was changing moment by moment. The area related to emotions surging with unnatural activity. He didn't know when, but the neural clusters related to his self-preservation instincts were gone. Cannibalized to give birth to a new sort of gland that acted as a liver for his brain. Turning him into some sort of perpetual. Sleep becoming a choice, not a need.
'And that's just the unintended effect.' Jaune just knew. With a 'brain-liver', being mentally tired, or exhausted, became a thing of the past.
His body was changing, 'slow' as it were. The two runes he had 'earned' as reward from the Dream for the funeral rite supercharging his body. Taking what he specialised in and turning it up by twenty. He felt it, moment by moment. Like he was experiencing puberty again. Just instead of stretching out over years, it happened in days. A week at most until his metamorphosis were complete.
His already abnormal circulatory system was supercharged far beyond what could even be considered the realm of possibility and fiction. Apparently, his new runes didn't see his pyramid shaped blood cells as good enough. So now every blood cell instead had twenty sides, allowing each cell to carry even more oxygen and nutrients. Jaune swore he could hear the runes discuss among themselves. 'Having three types of blood cells is so redundant. Let's just make all the cells capable of doing all three.' 'Let's.' The other rune had answered. And since white blood cells existed mostly outside the circulatory system, that meant he now had 'free' flowing blood that just, moved in and out of his circulatory system with a mind of its own.
'At least my muscles aren't undergoing a ridiculous change like the rest of my organs. Just… racing for a tensile strength and hardness comparable to iron.' He thought, looking down on himself. He looked the same as he had gone to bed as he had woken up. It wasn't even visible. The only real change was his navel.
A silvery golden diamond had grown in his navel. From which eight lines sprouted. Four curving clockwise, four curving counterclockwise. Spinning along to their own rhythm. It felt unreal, having two moving runes. When they lined up, they looked like a four leaved clover, or a roughly sketched lotus flower if you squinted. The two runes the reason for his sudden second puberty. Or his metamorphosis as it really were.
Even if he found it hard to wrap his thoughts around, he could somehow understand the frying line of thought that led to the runes deciding he needed three new pair of ribs. Then fusing his ribcage together through multiple interlocking plates that somehow were still one big slab of bone.
The insides of his ears were completely new, even if he ate an explosion to the side of his head, without aura, it wouldn't damage his hearing. His eyes had multiple new membranes, and he had a new set of invisible eyelids so he could keep his eyes open and safe while shrapnel was flying.
His liver was remade from the ground up. Bits and pieces having been vomited out while a new and improved liver grew from what remained. Being so extremely effective at filtering and destroying toxins and waste that together with the changes to his gallbladder, he now had a chemical acid attack if he ever was desperate enough.
At least he thought so, looking at his bile gnawing through bark. Pops snaping from the bark and stones. The bushes already wilting from the roots.
'At least my kidneys don't do anything weird.' He thought to himself. Desperately hoping his runes didn't take his thoughts as a challenge. Without most of his intestines, his stomach had taken it upon itself to be able to completely digest food. While a dozen new glands grew on its outside like tumours. Each gland taking up one of the intestines other duties, producing specialised hormones, regulating water, and a trio of other immune system glands.
'Am I even human anymore?' The thought wouldn't leave after it came. Placing a hand against his abdomen. Feeling another heart beat against his palm. His abdomen ever so slightly expanding and contracting as another pair of lungs breathed. Taking up the empty space his intestines left behind. Wrapped in a bony exoskeleton that kept them in place.
Bending down, he ripped out some dirt and used it to choke out the acid. His two heart's beat in tandem. There was no confusion in his heart. Rubbing some of the dead petals in his finger's, he watched them scatter. "I stopped being human a good while ago, didn't I?"
Breathing out, he didn't know what to feel. The realisation not something to make his heart's spike or his pulse to quicken. It had been something he had known for a good months and weeks now. Something that he had refused to acknowledge, until it stared him in the face.
"At least you are clean again, partner." He mumbled to himself, ever so gently drawing Crocea from her sheath. A gentle and elegant, almost silent keening hum, escaped from her as he drew her blade. Nothing compared to the mad screeching or bloodcurdling keening screen she was prone to before. She wasn't without her scratches and nicks; a deep black grove had been left behind from the Queens nail. Her fuller, once yellow, then crimson, now had hints of black puss.
Looking at his reflection, a scared and ugly eye stared back at him. Where the dream had given him metamorphosis, Death had given him sight and tongue. An eye, or a star, a mixture of both had been carved into his right eye. Sharp and jagged blue lines scarred over both the iris and sclera. Coming to a heed on his pupil, where now a golden star rested in the middle. A sharp and jagged carving of an eye carved into the rest of his iris.
Strangely enough, the carved rune didn't take from his sight. The opposite in fact, making his eyesight multiple times sharper than before. As if he had lived his life if seven-twenty-p, and now he saw everything in fourteen-forty-p. He saw a butterfly flap its wings, already seeing the path it would follow. And like a puppet dancing to invisible strings it's followed the path he saw without as much as an antenna twitch out of place.
"That's going to take some time to get used to." He mussed to himself. Knowing it was going to save his life more times than not. 'Maybe it'll even help me work on my technique.' A wry little smile split his lip as he thought about it. Pyrrha wasn't entirely 'there', due to no fault of her own, that didn't stop her from shooting him dirty glances when he thought Violet. Taking offence to his technique.
"At least you are useful." Shaking the melancholy away, he stared into his reflection. The rune made the blue in his right eye take on an almost ethereal glow. "If only I could say the same to you." Holding out his tongue, the last of his possible runes, not requiring oath's, barred itself in all its glory.
An eye, or a chalice, of gold was carved into his tongue. A leaf surrounding it, it's stem going into his mouth while three dots' surrounded the leaf. "Strange how there's always a little more innocence to lose." He mumbled to himself, a glint flashing over his partner. Two gentle illusionary arms wrapped around his neck, Elizabeth resting her head against her arm as she looked into the reflection with him. "Gain knowledge and memories from consuming blood. A wretched ability."
Sheathing his blade, he stood up. Not wanting to look at his reflection for longer than necessary. Long since having lost any connection to the man in the mirror. He was clean, no stubble, no bags under his eyes, no blood on his hands, clean. And Jaune coulndt remember the last time he felt clean. Even now, after washing his hands in a nearby stream, running them through the dirt. It felt like a wet and sticky film covered them.
"Not going with your sisters?" He asked, mostly making idle conversating. Having expected some of the girls to linger for a day or two more so they could say their proper farewell's.
"No." Elizabeth whispered gently. An air of release, of carefreeness, falling of her. The shadow over her life that was her mother gone. "My sister's might have longed for death. To just… cease. No grudges, no rage, no hatred, just… peace…"
A soft hum left her, before she eventually spoke again.
"My life was stolen from me." Fire and ice filled her voice, venom, century old grudges, everything mixing together in a mad whisper. Running a nail down his chin as she hummed to herself. "There is so much I want to do; experiences I were denied."
"Isn't the same true for you?"
A snort of mist escaped out Jaune's nose. An uncaring and unscared eyeball burning her with an apathic gaze. Anger churning under apathy. "Careful with your words now." His voice was cold, chipped.
"Your anger doesn't make my word's any less true." Elizabeth replied easily. "Your innocence, memories taken as tithe, dreams for a future you will never live nor experience, even moment's you set aside to yourself, haunted by your gentle dream. The man who saved me and my sister's is already dead. So, now then, my dearest knight? Who… are you?"
Silence fell over the trees as Jaune breathed. Dancing leaves daring not to make a single sound. Finger's twitching.
"You take to roles like a fish to water, my dear." Elizabeth continued, voice hauntingly beautiful. "Vicar, Hunter, Leader, Gravedigger, Ferryman, Sorcerer, Father. Yet, the question still remains. Who… are you?"
"Let's get back to camp." Jaune said flatly, doing his best to not snarl the words out. Not taking a single step before deciding to change his pans, a familiar smell ticking his nose. Ever so carefully tracking through the forest, he stumbled upon a little open area covered in shadow with some frail rays of light breaking through the tree crowns.
Violet's eyes shining ever so faintly a cold blue as she used a piece of chalk to draw out a ritual circle. Soft droplets of sweat racing down her brow.
Jaune didn't need his spirit vision to see the burning shame that pushed her on. Nor the concentration and burning need to prove herself on her face.
Part of him wanted to stop her, to tell her that she was still loved. That he wouldn't throw he away like her fears told her.
'She needs this.' He knew, recognising the ritual she was planning. Intuition, the same ritual she had already successfully held once. 'The same ritual that ended with her head popping.' Familiar guilt gnawed at him. Still, he didn't stop her. Not when Violet was a lot like him. Stubborn and bull-headed to a fault.
"Does she know you and… Mother… killed her target yesterday?" The word was spat with venom while the question itself was born from an innocent curiosity.
"Let's give her the space to process her feelings." Jaune said softly, crossing his arms and leaning against a tree. Planning to step in if she did something wrong, but otherwise he would leave her to her own devices. Sometimes children needed to be loved, other times they needed to be allowed to run wild. It wasn't to him she wanted to prove herself after all.
Maybe she didn't even know why she had this burning desire to prove herself to herself.
{-ooo-}
Benny the barkeep muttered a hushed prayer, hoping the rest of the evening would be eventless. Even if he knew in his bones that tonight was one of the bad days. 'Hopefully it's just a bad evening. Not a terrible one.'
It started innocuously enough as all terrible evenings did. A group of six, four teenagers bordering on young adults, a slightly younger teenager, and a kid that kept to her brother like he was the only thing that mattered in the world. They had ordered something to eat and drink, some mild alcohol as well, then sat down in one of the more secluded corners. Talking among themselves and making merry. Some tarot cards, some card games, before eventually switching to one of the board games he had at display.
They didn't guzzle down alcohol like their life depended on it, weren't overly loud, neither were they waiting for a dealer, so he let them slip into the back of his mind. With the tragedy over the pond, he wasn't going to get between a team and their family.
'I wonder how Missy is doing in Atlas.' The thought came and went as he got back to working. Familiar faces came and went, some particular uppity customers earned themselves a hard stare when they recognized the red head. What the champion and her team were doing in a bar in a frontier town none of their business. Just as it was none of his.
A group of spiders came tickling in. What a group like that was doing so far from the nest, he didn't know, neither did he care. He wasn't paid to care, and he rather liked living too much to even want to care. He gave them a nod, took their orders, served them their drinks and that was that. Madam Spider would have their heads if they tried the merchandise, and so long they kept away from the hard stuff in his bar, he was more than happy to take their lien.
Just like he wasn't going to get on the blonde's case about puffing on an old-timely valean pipe.
Then after the spider's, a wandering huntsman by the looks of it, had made his home by the bar. Scorpion tail darting around, the man's burning eyes filled with madness making him probably the sanest huntsman Benny had ever laid his eyes on. He sipped his drink slowly with a content little smile on his lips.
Benny thought that had been that. And then a group of Triad member's packing heat had sat foot in his bar. Instantly entering a staring contest with the spider's, Benny catching the pink eyed huntsman-in-training throw a long look their way to add up into the coming clusterfuck.
Huntsmen and huntresses Benny could deal with. His usual's, while he didn't like them everyone, paid well. Gangster's and bandit's, he could tolerate. Moving ever so closer to where his shotgun rested under the bar top, Benny kept a close eye on the two beefing gangs. Looking at the door, feeling fear and anger, coil and burn its way through him.
"No. Out." Benny raised his voice instantly when he saw them. They might not flash the insignia or be in uniform, but he recognised Atlas when he saw them. It was in the way they walked, the straightness of their spine, the giant stick up their asses, the way they walked, how they acted, looked, how clean they were, their lack of any colour.
There was a tense silence following Benny's outburst. Every pair of eyes bearing down on the two atlas operatives.
"We won't stay for long." The leader said, a somewhat tall man with short brown hair and teel eyes. Dressed in a boringly brown long coat, lose grey pants, a pair of military boosts, with a four-leafed clover pinned to his chest. A confident, almost arrogant, little smile on his lips as he stepped up to the counter.
Leaning on the counter, a picture was pushed his way. Blond hair, blue eyes, some dark bags under his eyes, a tried if bright smile. Benny recognised the man instantly.
"I see you recognise him." The atlas operative said, brows furrowing ever so slightly. "Care to tell us what you know? And then we'll be out of your hair. I'll even add in something for cooperation."
Before Benny could tell them to fuck off, the Schnee rapped her boss lightly, gesturing with her head back into the more secluded part of his bar.
"Huh." A little self-satisfied smile etched itself on his lips. "Looks like our luck is turning around."
Then without even giving Benny another look, he made his way over to the group. Every pair of eyes following the two atlas operatives as the leader pulled out a chair. Sitting down by the end of the table, while the Schnee leaned against another empty table. Looking over her boss's shoulder.
"Jaune Arc, you are a hard man to find." He said, holding out his hand to greet himself. "Nice to meet you, Clover, Atlas Specialist." Taking his hand back awkwardly when none of the little group reached out to take it. Making Benny momentarily regret not having some popcorn at hand. Seeing Atlantian's make fools of themselves nothing that ever got old.
Clover didn't see offput by the teams muteness. "I'm sure you recognised Winter, I heard you were friends with her sister back in Beacon."
"What do you want?" Jaune said flatly. Benny just barely catching the boy's scarred eye. "For Atlas to come knocking on the door. To go as far as to track us down…" He let the words hang it the air, absentmindedly puffing on his pipe. Sharing a glance with his team as he turned back to look at Clover. "Don't you have better things to do?"
"Don't sell yourself short like that." Clover smiled easily. "You're the dragonslayer, aren't you? What would you fan's think if they hear you talking down to yourself like that."
"Don't they also speculate that I have three head's, six arms, five thousand weapons, can conjure the moon at will, and am some seven, eight, feet tall?" Jaune snarked back, rolling his eyes.
"You know how netzines are." Clover rolled his eyes, the inviting little smile on his face never leaving. "Still, no matter what they say and speculate, that doesn't take away from what you did. Vale as a city would likely be overtaken if you hadn't killed that Grimm."
"Vale as a city would still be standing if our supposed allies didn't empty their flagship's weaponry onto our capital." Jaune snarked. Benny could see how the gangster's looked over to the atlas specialists, something in their eyes. The beef between the Spider's and Triads momentarily forgotten as they waited for what the Atlas Specialists would say.
"Vale was a tragedy." The Schnee deflected instantly. Earning herself a loud snort from Jaune. Chuckling and laughter escaping the gangster's as they gave her a flat look.
"No." Jaune shut her down quickly and flatly, barely raising his voice. "For something to be a tragedy there should be some fault, some point of avoidable failure. A man dying in a factory is a tragedy, a woman slipping on the stairs and breaking her neck is a tragedy. A warship firing on a city, an allied capital at that, is a declaration of war."
A low whistle left Benny, having completely stopped cleaning the glass. Looking at Clover, so did everyone else. The tense silence from earlier returning in full with an electric undercurrent.
Before Clover could get a word in, a sharp smile grew on the boy's face. Angry and cruel, no different from the gangster's that sat some tables away. "But, calling the Scorching a tragedy. It does make one wonder, however. How long until another so called 'tragedy'?" Taking a puff of his pipe, the boy leaned back in the couch sofa. "How long until we hear of a dirty bomb going off in Mistral City? After all, Atlas and Mistral are long time allies' are they not? Argus is a living example of your long relationship. But Atlas and Vale were also allies, weren't we?"
"What?" It was only due to the crushing silence that Benny heard her. Her voice noting compared to the calm, inviting, and kind voice she had in her interviews. Even during the live stream she had seen more open and welcoming, nothing compared to the woman that sat in his bar now.
Pyrrha Nikos had clearly seen better days, with bags under her eyes and curls and knots in her hair. Yet her eyes betrayed a strength Benny recognised. So did the burning warm fire that momentarily flickered to life around her eye. A flame that sent recognition crashing through the Atlas operatives. The temperature steadily rising in the bar until Jaune whispered something in her ear. Placing a hand on her clenched fist.
"Why are you here?" The pink eyed boy asked the question everyone in the bar had rolling around it their heads. "Yes, Jaune killed the grimm dragon. Do excuse me if I'm wrong, but killing a grimm, no matter how impressive, isn't usually something that would result in two specialists headhunting someone for recruitment."
"That's because your team is unique, for lack of a better term." Clover said, smile faltering as he let out a long sigh. "It's because you aren't safe. We know, the whole world knows, how central team JNPR was against the White Fang operations in Vale. And if we could track you down, they could as well. Especially with how many that would see bringing your head back as a way to redeem themselves for the failures in Vale."
A loud snort escaped from one of the spider's, giving Clover a flat look. "When did Atlas get a heart?" The gangster snorted with a sneer.
"Why don't we all take a step back?" The young boy with forest green eyes and a field of freckles on his cheeks butted in diplomatically. "Before anyone says anything we will regret? Please? Calm heart's and mind's?"
"That's easy to say." Jaune rolled his eyes, taking a puff from his pipe and shooting Clover a dirty look. "He asks for me to become a quisling."
"I have never said anything even close to that." Clover frowned. "We want to help you. We know what you and your team are capable off. How much good you can bring to the world. Why are you holding your team back by wandering the countryside. You could save thousands daily if you just allow Atlas to have your back."
"Pssth. Ren" The orange haired girl asked, nudging the pink eyed boy in the side with her elbow. "What's a quisling? I feel like I'm missing something."
"Quisling mean's land, or nation, traitor." Ren replied calmly. "He was a Valean man during the great war that allowed for the combined army of Atlas and Mistral to invade and occupy Vale by opening the city gates at night."
"Ohhh." Nora mumbled, electric eyes moving back to Clover.
"Help who exactly?" Jaune continued, venom leaving his tongue. "Who are us? Vale? Atlas? Mantle?"
'Please.' Benny mentally began praying. 'Whoever is listening, please. I beg, no, I plead, with all my heart and soul to not let a fight break out.'
Hearing the door open, Benny turned to look at his worst nightmare come to life came slouching into the bar proper. Glass flying out of his hand before his thoughts caught up with him. Fear exploding into white hot anger. "Qrow! Out! Out you drunk bastard! Bringer of misfortune."
"Hello to you too Benny, you grouchy old bastard." Qrow snarked back. Finding his place by the bar as if raised there. Knowing how much the man drank, he didn't think he was far of the mark. "Afraid I can't do that. Me and Tai are looking for someone- Oh for fucks sake." Qrow grumbled loudly when he noticed the silent starring contest going off in the corner.
"Qrow, help me so I swea-"
"Ice Queen." Qrow cut him off, sauntering down to the corner. Blatantly ignoring every single red flag he could see. "And the fisherman. Never thought I would run into you here, so far away from Atlas. Who's your company?" Qrow asked, pale red eyes wandering over to the rest of the table. Only to be met with five awkward waves. Palming his face not a moment later. His muttered curse a balm on Benny's soul.
"It's good to see you safe." Qrow sighed, shoulder's falling ever so slightly. "Especially with the cluster fuck that was the Scorching."
"Missed you too, you drunken grump." Nora asked with a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Just because I missed you don't mean you aren't in trouble." Qrow threw a dirty little glare their way as he leaned against the sofa couch. Looking down at them with a disappointed glare. "As for why I'm here, looking for you. Or, looking for rumours to track you down really. Ruby have made it her life's mission to find you and get some answers. I don't know what Ruby saw during the Scorching, but with the rumours circulating around I have some ideas."
"Well then it would seem that we are all at an impasse." Jaune said impassively. Bringing his pipe up to his mouth and taking a puff. "You see, the fine gent and lady have headhunted us for Atlas. I'm still on the edge if that's in the literal sense, or a recruitment pitch. And… well we are on our own little personal quest."
"I'm also looking for a chittering little bird." The farmhand asked, electing a moment of surprise and understanding from Qrow. Before the rest of the words slammed into him as he groaned. "What the fuck Ice Queen?" Qrow muttered into his palm. "What did the poor bastard ever do to get Atlas up in arms."
"That's classified." The Schnee replied coldly. "Qrow, please stay out of this. This doesn't include you."
"I didn't want it to come to this." Clover sighed, leaning forward and clasping his hands together. "Vale is militarizing."
"And why is that?" Jaune threw right back. "What could possibly lead to Vale's militarisation?"
"While I understand where your sarcasm comes from, it's misplaced." Clover said flatly. The earlier jovial and easy-going mask slipping. "We are under strict order's to bring you back. We are on your side. Please, let's not burn any bridges. I can understand you are angry, but it's misplaced. We are on your side."
"And what if I say no?" Jaune snarked, throwing a hard look at his pipe before taking another puff.
"You won't." Clover replied plainly. Not a single emotion on his face. "Because you are a good man. Because you care. The General have personally asked for you. If you think you or your team will be mistreated, you can't be more wrong."
"Thing's really are going to be heating up in the coming months, huh." Jaune hummed to himself. "Mistral and Vacuo will be forced to pick sides sooner rather than later." Giving Clover a flat look, the boy didn't show anything on his face. "Please leave. I have nothing to say to you."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Clover smiled somewhat apologetic. "Please try and see reason."
Benny had his heart in his throat, looking between the two groups. Desperately hoping they wouldn't come to blows. Even if that was the only way Benny saw it ending. The kid's to headstrong, hearts full of anger. While the specialists were to dutybound. The bartender could see the silent realisation that the soft approach wouldn't work roll over Clover's face.
"You have an older sister in Argus, don't you." Clover said flatly. It wasn't a question. Calm teal eyes watching uncaringly as Jaune took a deep breath. "Married to a Terra Cotta-Arc that works in the city's CCT relay tower. I heard they recently had a baby together."
"If as much as a single hair on Adrian's head is touched. I swear to whatever god you believe in that I will bring down your floating city." Jaune hissed. Smoke coming seeping out from his mouth, taking wicked shapes. A hint of blood tickling Benny's nose. "If that means wiping your capital from the map, then so be it. Arc's word."
The two men glared at each other, both refusing to give a single inch.
With a loud bang, the doors were pushed wide open. The only mug he hated more than Qrow coming sauntering in as if he owned the place. A couple of goons following after him. Shoulder's squared tight, shooting dirty looks at the Triad members and the Spider's who for their part had done their best to act small, not wanting to be pulled into huntsman beef. Snorting when they saw the weapons on the tables. A jackass pulling back his coat to reveal a hand revolver, as if that meant something. Compared to the brawl that felt like breaking out between the specialists, Qrow, and the teen's, they looked like cocked up chickens.
"Benny my man. How's it hanging." Shay D Mann's nasally voice bellowed through his establishment. And with it the last hope Benny had that this night somehow coulndt be worse.
"Just get the fuck out of my bar." Benny sighed into his hand. Knowing that his blood pressure was rapidly beginning to look like what his bar would if the cocked-up idiot's coulndt read the room.
"Afraid I can't do that." Shay smiled, sliding up by the counter. A disgusting little self-satisfied smirk on his lips. "The boss isn't happy that you have been skimping on your payments. So she sent us to collect."
"I pai- Oh you cun-" Benny's triad was cut short by the cold metal barrel pressed against his forehead. The smug self-satisfied smirk, the sparkle in his eye, the way his goons smiled amongst themselves. "I'd like to see you keep that shitty smirk when Raven find's out you been skimming her."
"But Benny, buddy, she never will." Shay smiled, cocking back the hammer.
Benny stared into Shay's grey eyes, a loud snort escaping him. "Go fuck yourself, Shay." He spat, knocking the gun away and going back to cleaning a glass. The familiar action calming his fraying nerves.
"We'll talk later." Jaune's voice rang out from behind his back.
"Is that your answer." Clover replied plainly. "You are a smart man, Jaune. Don't force me to do something I don't want to."
"Good soldier's follow order's. Isn't that how the saying goes?" Jaune snorted. "Don't come here and act as if you are doing me some service. You knew what you signed up for when you joined the military. Truth of the matter is that I have something Atlas want. Something you don't want other countries to have."
"Yes." Clover nodded, dropping all matter of pretence. "We know of the things you can do. How you are capable of creating a red moon. How your head almost was chopped off, but you could walk it off. How you can disappear into silvery mist. The golden chains. Atlas want's you."
"And the only thing Atlas can have from me is scorn."
"Oi!" Shay called out, he and his goons making their way over to the live powder keg. So drunk on his little power trip that he didn't see how both sides gripped at their weapons.
"Then we will take our leave." Clover said, his earlier smile returning to him. "You have given us a lot to think about."
"That's a polite way of saying you will be calling for reinforcements." Jaune said. Also moving to stand. "For what's it's worth, I'm going to give you a chance. Leave, pretend we never met. Let's not race towards the tragedy we both know will happen." Glancing over at the Schnee, a grimace momentarily fell over him. "A proper tragedy. One which could be avoided."
"I'm afraid I can't do that Jaune." Clover smiled sadly. "You said it best yourself, good soldier's follow orders. And we both have our duties, don't we? You to your friends, bond's, and what you think is right. And me to my nation."
With those words, Clover and Winter made their way out. The cocksure smile on Shay's lips disappearing into a little shriek as he stumbled forward. Barely catching himself before hitting his teeth at a table, unintentionally clearing the way for the specialists. Taking with them some of the strength Benny felt in his legs. The old bartender almost collapsing forward on the counter in relief.
"Think I found religion." He mumbled to himself. Knowing only divine intervention stopped the fight between them breaking out. He could read between the lines. But honestly, what Atlas wanted with them was none of his problem. As long as they didn't fight in his bar, he was happy.
"You think that was the right move, fearless leader?" Nora asked.
"If Atlas had razed Kuroyuri instead of the grimm. Would you have wanted to fight with them?" Jaune asked gently. The keening whine ringing through the bar answer enough.
"This is a shitshow." Qrow grumbled.
"And it's only going to grow worse from now on." The farm boy sighed like a man five times his age. "Atlas is too proud to ever admit guilt. Vale to hurt and stubborn too even begin considering something else. Isn't it tragic, decades of peace and unity, razed down by a single moment."
"Oi." Shay called out again, face a snarl. "Pansies, never seen you around before. Don't you know this is Branwen territory?"
"Oi, barkeep." Nora called out. "If we break their legs, will we eat for free?"
"Don't break any furniture and you eat for free." Benny called back, shooting Shay a vindictive look the second the girl pulled out a grenade launcher from somewhere. The grenade launcher transforming into a large two-hammer not a second later. The exact moment Shay recognised he fucked up.
{-ooo-}
Jaune frowned, trailing after a bandit hobbling through the forest not how he expected to spend the night. Part of him regretting tracking down the Atlas operatives instead. The gnawing ball of anger searing him inside out. He felt his blood boil in his veins. In the literal sense instead of metaphorically. Another late boon from his metamorphosis. Pushing his already ridiculously immune system into another dimension entirely. 'Not to mention the boost to strength and endurance is nice.'
He didn't regret his words, neither did he regret allowing them to leave. He wasn't a beast after all. There were times for words, and that time had come and gone. The next time they meet it would be as enemies. And they would die. Not because he thought them destined, or himself infallible. Preparation and a healthy dose of magic support would turn the tides in their favour. He refused to lead his friends into a fight they coulndt win
"Fucking huntsmen." The bandit, Shay, if he remembered right spat. Hissing through clenched teeth as he held a hand against his side. "Just you fucking wait. When Raven hears about this, they are fucking dead."
"Why are we even following him, fearless leader?" Nora asked with a little frown. Tilting her head curiously to the side. "Should we really have left Qrow like that?"
"Who's there!" The bandit suddenly shrieked, pulling out a revolver that had clearly seen better days. Waving the barrel around from tree to tree, from bush to bush. Colour rapidly draining from his face.
"I guess we spooked him enough then." Jaune whispered, snapping a dry stick under his boot. Taking a large step forward, drawing the slightest on the moon to give him and his team a feeling of etherealness.
"Good evening." Jaune called out politely. A bullet slammed into his forehead not a second later. Falling into the undergrowth between his feet not a moment later. The familiar glow of Aura not shining.
Another gunshot rang out in the forest, this one sharper than the other. Followed by a pained scream as the bandit collapsed. Whimpering and clutching his leg. Jaune looked on with detached apathy. Taking a step forward, the moonlight somehow growing stronger, illuminating him for the bandit to see.
"Now why did you go and do that." He tutted. Crouching down before the bandit and staring him in the eyes. Seeing his spirit move, the dozen threads shooting out of him, some having a unique sort of weight that reminded him of Pyrrha. The only reason why they had been trailing him.
"Jaune, what was that?" He heard Nora whisper in awe and fear.
"I do apologise for my daughter. She is protective of me you see. Dangerously so." Jaune apologised with a half-hearted smile. "Get away from my you fucking psychopath." Shay shouted, unfortunately for him, with a little pull of his spirituality, the night grew deeper. His call for help disappearing into the darkness. "Now, before you so rudely shot me in the face, I'm going to be asking you some questions. Pyrrha, if you would so kindly."
A ball of fire lit up the night, draining all the colour from the bandit's face.
"Oh… you are like Vernal…" The words left the bandit, what last drags of colour and hope in his spirit disappearing.
"Well that answers the question of the Maiden's name." Jaune mumbled, "That wasn't so hard now was it. What about her powers? As a bandit I'm sure you have seen her make displays before."
"Lighting." Shay replied quickly, almost too quickly. If he hadn't seen his spirit, he would have thought the bandit would be lying. "She can throw lighting."
Before Jaune could ask another question, he felt something on the wind. Snapping his head to the side and standing up. Violet, pointing her pistol down at the bandit. Hiding a yawn into the crock of his neck.
"And here I thought I was being silent." A haunting little laughter rang through the night. His cloak falling to the side. Golden eyes almost burning in the night, while his clammy paleness made him look like a ghost. A ponytail and a scorpion tail swinging to an imaginary wind.
"You really are like me." The mad man smiled gleefully. Staring into Jaune's eye with a gleeful delight.
"Now don't look at me like that." The mad man smiled, a shudder racing through him. A long tongue coming out to lick his lips. "You are getting me all worked up."
"That's an innuendo, right?" Nora asked from behind him.
"What do you want." Jaune asked, finger's tapping over Crocea Mors' hilt.
"Well you see, it just so happens I overheard something delightful. Something about maidens." The mad man smiled. "So I coulndt help but ask myself. 'Oh Tyrian. Wisest and most loyal of all her majesties subject's. How can you make her most divine goddess happy?' And then it came to me like a bolt of lightning out of the blue."
A whip cracked through the air, Tyrian dipping and pirouetting under it. Dancing under multiple razor blades that twinkled in the dark. A mad cackle escaped the mad man. "Yes! Just like that!" Another cackle escaped him as Oscar swung his whip again. "So it was you after all, little immortal."
"You are of Salem's ilk, are you not." It wasn't Oscar that spoke.
"Have you told them little immortal?" Tyrian teased with a smile, dancing around the whip with grace and ease. "Have you told them off my glorious queen? Of your little game? How a cowardly little raven left the nest when faced with the truth?"
Tyrian cackled like a madman when The Infinitive Man upped his offensive. The tip of the whip acting like a meteor hammer, breaking bark open, while the razor's tore through thickets and branches with ease.
"Then, why don't I tell them in your place?" Tyrian grinned. "That my queen is immortal. Unkillable. That where you move from host to host, my Queen can never die. Unfellable to steel, dust, magic. Queen of the Grimm. Ruler of the Grimmlands." Dancing under the whip, the mad man's smile only grew as the whip grew fiercer. "Oh, did I touch a nerve? Could it be you never intended to share? The blind leading the blind?"
"Wait, there is someone controlling the Grimm?" Nora asked in disbelief. "That conspiracy theory is real?"
"How many times have you tried killing her? Never succeeding, never wining. Barely holding on by a thread as your work crumbles down around you." Tyrian's smile shone with malicious glee.
The infinitive man panted, no matter much and how hard Oscar trained, he was still just starting out. He might have the infinitive man's many lifetimes of experience to draw on. But muscles required time and diligence. For the first time the infinitive's man masterfully crafted mask cracked at the seams. Anger, frustration, and a million other emotions swimming in his spirit. Yet all Jaune could see, was shame.
It was a familiar shame. It wasn't hard, it wasn't burning, it was a rotting type of shame. A type of shame that came to you in your darkest moments, whispering in your ear, making even get out of bed feel impossible.
It was the type of shame he felt when he thought of Yharnam. The daggers that dug into his heart when he felt his friends look on himself. The clean help in their eyes, the want, their hands outstretched, he needed only reach out, and his friends would freely damn themselves. All because they cared for him.
'Salem is his Yharnam.' Something clicked inside Jaune. The walls the infinitive man had built up. How he would expertly change the topic, or how he would clam shut on other topics, suddenly making sense. Everything suddenly looked so familiar. A bizarre mirror of himself.
Pulling out his revolver, thunder cracked through the clearing. A tsk escaped him, a tree collapsed, it's entire trunk turned into saw dust. But Tyrian had dodged. Cackling madly.
"Tut tut. I'll see you later." With one last smile, Tyrian disappeared into the darkness like he was born in it.
The infinitive man panted, looking at where Tyrian disappeared from with hate in his eyes. Transforming the whip into a cane with a flick of his wrist. Beathing out heavily, he looked over the team. "I guess this is where we part ways."
Nora snorted loudly. "Yeah, as if." Giving the little immortal a flat look. "You think we are going to drop you just because of that? Please. Compared to waking up to Jaune's neck tearing itself open, finding out there's some type of mastermind behind the grimm? Well, sign me the fuck up. I signed up to kill grimm, the immortal kind or not. At least I can understand grimm. Instead of… whatever new nightmare Jaune decides to share with the class. Like fearless leader, what the absolute fuck where you thinking taking a bullet to the forehead without aura."
"I'm bulletproof." Jaune replied casually. "Or resistant is the proper word." He caught himself. Wiggling his eyebrows as he looked at Pyrrha. Not having forgotten the way she thought him pumping his Vitality and Endurance were stupid.
"See." Nora waved her arms at him. "You have been with us for what, little over a month now."
"Three weeks and two days' to be exact." The infinitive man replied calmly.
"Schematics." She snorted with a roll of her eyes. "But give me a grimm, give me something I can harm, something I can kill. Not… not… not something that forces me to watch as my brother from another brother scrapes out everything he is and will be, with a rusted spoon so he can give another little bit of himself to people I can't know. In a nightmare I can't touch."
Nora's voice broke in the middle of her rant, a choked sob escaping her as he bared her heart to them. Jaune's throat felt parched, swallowing, he looked back down at the bandit. Feeling like the biggest piece of shit in the world.
"Salem won't hesitate to kill you."
"I signed up to kill grimm."
"We all did." Pyrrha said softly. "We all know what we signed up for."
"Team JNPR is ride and die." Ren joined in. "And we are not going to let you walk into what would only be certain death alone. Multiple lifetimes our elder or not."
"I mean, if it can bleed, it can die." Jaune added. "I mean, sure. It's going to be hard. Impossible even. But that's just means we have to try harder. Nothing is impossible after all. Improbable maybe. Impossible not so much."
"I want you to know that are all idiots." The Infinitive Man sighed, the barest hint of a smile on his lips. A sincere one, a kind one. "Ozma. Please, call me Ozma."
"So that is who Jaune is." Elizabeth whispered in his ear, but he didn't much mind. A chain shooting out from his hand, trailing under the cover of night to nail the bandit squarely in the heart. Putting him out of his misery, while also cleaning up Mistral ever so slightly.
"Then, Team Alphabet setting off?" Nora chimed. "Of to chase a maiden who may or may not be a bandit."
"Why Alphabet?" Ren asked with a little frown. Nora beaming. "Because Ozma, or the infinitive man, have been dozens of people, right? Dead or not, present or not, they are part of the team too."
"I was thinking team Horizon." Jaune said with a little smile. Clamping down on the hurt he felt from Nora's earlier words. "Isn't it that we are doing? Chasing a horizon that may or may not exists, a day at a time. Step by step."
"A fine name." Ozma said before retreating into Oscar. "So what now?"
{-ooo-}
Arianna looked up at the moon, heart hammering in her chest. She didn't know what had happened. Even if she knew Jaune was someway responsible.
A crack split the moon. Making it seem like a giant eye in the sky. A crimson pupil looking down on Yharnam with a disapproving gaze.
Tearing her gaze from the moon, she felt her blood churn, her stomach hurl as she had to force herself to not puke. Leaning against one of the little pavilion's pillar's, one of her hands came down to rest at her midsection. The uncomfortable nausea giving way to pure unfiltered fear.
Something kicked.
{-ooo-}
Note: The boons from the moon presence is the Clockwise and Anti-clockwise metamorphosis runes, V4. So a 20% instead of 15% to max hp and stamina. While he also got two runes from the other great one. Eye and Communion. Both v4. So he have seven V-4 runes, and 1 of 3 possible oath/covenant runes.
Note: Shay D. Mann is a cannon character. Look him up.
Note: Part of me was tempted to have the gang and atlas break out into a fight. But it didn't fit. No matter how far gone Jaune is, he isnt going to attack someone in a bar with the intent to kill. Neither is clover going to start a fight against five combatant's, with two innocents in the mix. Especially when one of the combatants is a maiden. They both know that there will be a fight. But neither of them is going to break into hostilities at random, no matter how much they might feel like it.