AN: One final chapter to officially wrap up the Ever After Forest Arc. Enjoy, everyone.
Chapter 64: Goodbye For Now, My Friends
With the term officially over, the students were free to either leave and return to family, their own living quarters, or even stay at Beacon over Term Break if they so wished. For Jaune Arc, where he was going for Term Break was obvious. He was returning home with his parents. However, that both relieved him and left him filled with dread at the same time. After all, they now knew he had faked his transcripts to get into Beacon. At least, according to Professor Ozpin they knew, because he told them everything.
Jaune dreaded that greatly. His father had been a tremendous Huntsman back in the day. His mother was no slouch in the field either. And now he had to face them.
Now, here he was, staring down the unreadable expressions of his mother and father: August and Marina Arc. August was the spitting image of his son, but much older, with a well-trimmed beard. However, Jaune had inherited his mother's eyes. And with both wearing their golden hair beautifully, it was a given Jaune would end up blonde as well.
"Mom…Dad…" Jaune said awkwardly.
"Son." August grunted.
Marina gave Jaune a stern glance. "Has Ozpin told you that we know everything?" She inquired. "Namely, that you forged transcripts. A very serious crime, might I add."
Jaune meekly nodded. "Yes." He replied, ready to accept any punishment he received.
"I won't ask you how you managed such a thing." Marina shook her head. "I just hope you understand that you are lucky you're not in prison for such a thing. And that would be the best case scenario. That is not an exaggeration, son."
"Yes, I do understand." Jaune replied instinctively.
Marina's beautiful expression, even in her late forties, was not marred by how stern she looked. "No, I don't think you do. Any other Huntsman Academy would've had you expelled and arrested." She promised. "I'm pretty sure General Ironwood would've hauled you off to prison himself. He's extremely rule bound and honorable like that."
Marina looked at her husband. "When Ozpin informed us what happened, your father wanted to drag you back himself."
Jaune winced. "Jaune, I'm sure you think I'm being a bit too harsh when I say all of this, but it's precisely because you're almost an adult that I've no choice but to be harsher."
"I know." Jaune promised.
"The only reason I didn't," August chimed in, "was because Ozpin also assured me that he intended to follow your development as closely as possible. He told me that he actually saw tremendous potential in you, hence the reason he let your forged transcripts slide."
Jaune winced again. "Now, before I make my decision, I just want to know why." August sternly told his only son.
"Honestly, I don't really have a good excuse." Jaune admitted.
"Try us." August shrugged.
"I thought it'd be a cakewalk, I thought I could handle it just like our ancestors for many years had." Jaune explained. "I was naive, stupid, and reckless."
"If you recognize that much, then why did you stay?" August demanded. "The first few days–hell, the initiation test itself–should've made you realize that it would be no mere cakewalk."
"Well, I mean, I definitely realized how overmatched I was when we started the initiation test." Jaune sheepishly admitted. "I had a little bit of help."
"And you didn't think to leave after the initiation?" August scowled.
"Well, Professor Ozpin named me team leader and my partner was being super encouraging, so I thought with her help I could pick things up…"
"You were always such a smart boy, why would you even think that was a good idea?" Marina lamented. "If you had just dropped out and apologized, Ozpin would've understood and he wouldn't have reported you to the authorities."
Jaune took a deep breath. "Because my team believes in me and in my potential." He said, in the firmest and most confident tone. "Maybe I'm in way over my head, but they believe in me, and that's a start, right?"
"Not when you almost die in the process, Jaune. Professor Ozpin told us the extent of your injuries from the incident in Ever After!" Marina exclaimed.
"Marina dear, no need to yell." August calmly told his wife. "We promised each other when we came to pick him up, that no matter what happened we would not yell."
Marina took a deep breath. "I know, I'm sorry, I just...you were even more beside yourself than I was when we got the news about Jaune getting hurt. I don't think you have any right to criticize how I'm taking this, darling."
August coughed awkwardly. "That…is neither here nor there." He tried to brush the whole thing off.
In spite of the tenseness of the situation, Marina had to giggle. Jaune sighed and let himself smile. "Look, I'm sorry about everything." Jaune said sincerely. "I brought shame to the Arc Clan, I lied to you, I lied to my friends, and I lied to my teachers."
"I just…I wanted to be like dad, and you, and all of the amazing ancestors dad used to tell me stories about before bed. But…neither of you wanted to train me. I got desperate, and I thought the whole thing would be easy because of my bloodline."
Jaune's expression turned serious again. "I messed up. I'm not going to deny any of that." He promised. "But I want to continue. I want to keep going."
August and Marina looked at Jaune in surprise. "I may have been…crazy behind when I came here, but I've learned so much. I unlocked my Aura. I'm not much, but I'm a decent swordfighter now. And I'm learning about what it means to be a Huntsman, most of all. A Huntsman like you two, and my ancestors."
"I learned all of that from my teachers, and my friends. So, I want to stay, and I want to be a Huntsman…and I want to do it right. Professor Ozpin said I could come back for my next year if I so wished, and that's exactly what I want."
August and Marina both looked at each other. "I told you this is what he would want in the end, he has both of our blood, after all. He's an Arc." August told his wife.
Marina sighed. "I know." She muttered in acceptance.
Before August could address his son once more, he noticed someone running up to Jaune. He smiled knowingly. "We'll talk on the airship, son. I think there's someone who wants to see you off."
Jaune blinked in confusion. He then looked over his shoulder and was shocked to see Pyrrha running up to him. "Pyrrha!" He exclaimed. He then coughed awkwardly. "Umm…isn't your aunt here already? I'm uh…pretty sure I heard the sounds of trumpets announcing her arrival."
Pyrrha had to laugh at that. "Funny, Jaune, very funny." She promised.
Pyrrha watched as Jaune's parents walked away from them both. "So, you're really heading home for Term Break, huh?"
"Yeah…uh, yeah." Jaune nodded. "Nora and Ren are sticking around at Beacon. And you're heading back to Mistral?"
"Aunt Circe wants us to spend more time together." Pyrrha jokingly leaned in and whispered into his ear. "I think she's just lonely. But you didn't hear that from me."
Jaune laughed. "I'm gonna miss you guys." He admitted.
"Well don't make it seem like you're never going to see any of us." Pyrrha jabbed Jaune in the chest. "Video chat is a thing, Jaune Arc. You better remember that."
"Okay, okay, I promise, I won't forget that." Jaune laughed.
Pyrrha then found herself thinking of something she desperately wanted to do before Jaune left. It made her nerves act up something fierce. Thankfully, Amber was there to encourage her. "If you're that worried about this job killing you after what happened, best to have no regrets, right?" She encouraged her with a smile.
Pyrrha would have nodded, were it not for the fact she did not want Jaune to think she was weird, even if he knew about Amber. She knew Amber was right though. "Jaune?"
"What is it, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked curiously.
"Listen…I almost lost you, you know. That man almost killed you." Pyrrha reminded him.
Jaune nodded, wincing as he remembered the beating that guy had given him. He especially remembered the punch to the midsection that shattered several bones in his body. If Professor Kobalt had not stepped in and were it not for his incredible amount of Aura, he would have been killed.
"Yeah," Jaune sighed, "that was…quite the wakeup call. A scary one, but still."
"I was scared for a moment. I really thought I had lost you." Pyrrha admitted.
Jaune knew she meant it. "I'm sorry." He said instinctively.
"No, don't apologize, I just want you to understand that it's precisely because of that, I don't want to have any more regrets. It's because of that, I need to do this."
Before Jaune could ask what Pyrrha meant by that, the Mistralian girl threw her arms around him and pulled him into a kiss. Jaune could only gasp into the kiss as his brain shut down. This is bliss. I've wanted to do this for longer than I've realized. Pyrrha noted
"I know, your dreams are…" Amber trailed off with a grin.
Hush you, don't ruin this for me. Pyrrha chided the soul inside of her as she delivered every ounce of the feelings for Jaune Arc she had been bottling up all year to Jaune himself.
Eventually, the need for air became too much and Pyrrha broke the kiss to see an utterly gob-smacked Jaune Arc. "Pyrrha…I…" Jaune said in disbelief.
Pyrrha smirked. His face told her he enjoyed that, but he still sounded confused about how he felt about all of this. It was a start, but more importantly that was fine for now. She told him how she felt. She showed him how she felt.
"You don't have to say anything for now." Pyrrha promised. "I just wanted to get this off my chest, make sure you understood the depths of my feelings. We can talk more about things in person once we get back to Beacon and you've had a chance to process things."
Jaune nodded. "I appreciate that," he smiled, grateful for Pyrrha's understanding. "Gods know you've given me a lot to process."
"For what it's worth though," Jaune instinctively touched his lips, "that felt incredible."
"Don't say anything else," Pyrrha grinned, "we can talk all about it once we see each other again in person."
Pyrrha walked away before Jaune could say anything else. "Are you sure about that?" Amber asked. "Nothing wrong with putting a guy on the spot if you're going to do something that bold."
It's better this way for now. Pyrrha insisted. Now, he knows how I feel, and he can process it his own way. He's struggling through his crush on Weiss, and I want to respect that. But, at the same time, I wanted to make sure I have no regrets, just in case something happens to either of us, and nobody's able to save us this time. Was it bold? Forceful? Yes. But I won't regret any of it.
"Maybe don't call it 'forceful' if you bring it up to your friends." Amber nervously pointed out. "Might give them the wrong idea."
Never mind that, I feel ready now, more than anything. Pyrrha admitted. Amber, my journey to mastering your power begins now. Even if I'm only half a Maiden, I'm going to be as strong as a full one.
Meanwhile, Jaune rejoined his parents in their car, both of whom were smiling knowingly at him. It made Jaune blush. "I…er…don't want to talk about it." He quickly said to them, making both parents chuckle.
"So, what else did you want to talk about, Dad?" Jaune asked.
August sighed as he began to drive his son away. "I owe you an apology, Jaune, we both do." He admitted.
"What do you mean?"
"The reason you were so woefully unprepared to be a Huntsman was because of us." Marina explained. "You see, we wanted both a boy and a girl in our family, and considering you have seven sisters…we struggled with having a son. Not that we don't love all your sisters, we just wanted both a son and a daughter to love."
"The thing is though, every time we tried to have a son, we both realized at different points we could no longer be Huntsmen ourselves." Marina continued. "I retired first so that I could provide a home for our growing family. And August…"
"I retired after a mission that almost killed me." August admitted. "You…never learned of this, but I ran into an opponent that I barely escaped from with my life. I knew I had to retire after that because I didn't want to leave my seven children or my beloved wife behind."
"And seeing your father in the hospital the way he was after that mission traumatized me." Marina revealed. "I've seen your father get hurt on missions, Jaune. Even played field nurse on a few occasions. But this was the last straw. And we had just had you, too. I couldn't handle the thought of the other boy in my life going through what my husband went through."
"So, Marina put her foot down," August picked up the slack, "you were to go through no Huntsmen training. I was rather shell-shocked by my last mission as well, so I agreed. We both vowed you would never become a Huntsman, not because you lacked talent. We were too scared to see our only son die."
"But what about Helena?" Jaune asked, referring to his oldest sister, the skilled Huntress Helena Arc.
"That was long before you were born, and by that time, we knew we had no right to ask your sister to back out of that life." August explained.
"Oh, Jaune, we are so sorry. This is all our fault." Marina told him. "We wanted you out of that life for your own safety, but we should've realized that you'd grow up learning of the Arc Clan's greatness and would want to follow in their footsteps, just like your father did. And now you almost died at the hands of a violent criminal because you were unprepared for the Huntsman life."
"We're sorry, Son." August apologized. "This is our fault, and we want to make it up to you."
"This isn't how I was expecting this conversation to go." Jaune admitted. "Wait. How do you plan to make it up to me?"
They were at a red light. August looked back at his son and smirked. "For the duration of Term Break, I'm going to train you in proper Arc Clan fighting. By the time you're back at Beacon for your second year, you're going to be a new man, Jaune."
Jaune's eyes widened. "You'd really do that for me, Dad?"
August nodded. "This is the life you wanted. I choose to respect that. We both do."
The light turned green. They began driving again. "This won't be easy though. Even if you are my son, I won't take it easy on you." August promised. "There will be moments when you'll wish you're dead. Are you still up for it?"
Jaune did not hesitate. "I won't be left behind by my team or my friends anymore." He vowed. "Dad, mold me into the Huntsman you think I can be!"
August and Marina both smiled proudly, realizing that their son had matured and Ozpin might have been onto something after all. They could both proceed with a clear conscience. "Sounds good." August said proudly.
Meanwhile, Team RWBY was saying their goodbyes for Term Break. The quartet pulled each other in a group hug. "You do your best to stay in touch, Blake." Weiss ordered. "Menagerie doesn't have a CCT Tower, right?"
"They're working on one." Blake replied. "But don't worry about me. I don't plan on stepping one foot outside of Menagerie until Term Break is over. Besides, I'm going to be working so hard to make things right with the people I hurt…I'm going to be busy."
"But we'll see each other again, I promise." Blake smiled sincerely.
Ruby gazed at the two girls she had come to know this past year. She thought back to how foolish she was at the start of the school year. "I don't need people to grow up. I drink milk."
Nah, Ruby concluded, I need these two…and Yang too.
"Weiss, Blake, I'm going to miss both of you." She promised.
"Don't worry, Ruby, we're all going to see each other again." Weiss reminded her. "I'll call you whenever I can to let you know how I'm doing."
"Hopefully it'll only be good news, Weiss-cream." Yang grinned. "What with your mom making an effort to be more involved in your life."
Weiss smiled warmly. "Yeah."
At that moment, a taxi arrived. "That's for us." Weiss admitted, referring to herself and Blake. "You two take care of yourselves."
Weiss and Blake hugged Ruby first simultaneously. Then the two hugged Yang. "See ya," Blake said simply.
"Don't do anything too stupid." Weiss added.
Yang stuck her tongue out while Ruby just chuckled. "Same to the two of you." She countered. "You both got as crazy as us towards the end of term you know."
With a final wave of goodbye, Weiss and Blake entered their taxi. Yang then turned her attention to Ruby. "You ready to go? Dad and Zwei are waiting." Yang told her.
Ruby nodded. She and Yang then began to make their way to the airship that would take them to Patch Island. The flights out of Vale were a bit further away. "Feels weird leaving after all this time." Yang admitted.
Ruby nodded again. "So, you still feeling the butterflies in your stomach, Rubes?"
Ruby blushed in embarrassment. "I'm over that." She said with a pout.
Yang laughed. "I'm proud of you, Sis." She told her. Her expression turned serious. "I know things are complicated for you now, but the thing I'm most proud of is how much you grew as a person this year."
Yang threw her arm over Ruby's shoulder. "But look, the important thing now is that we're on break. Train if you want on occasion, but for now, try to forget all this business about Silver Eyes, Salem, and all the other bad guys. You know how it's gonna look if Dad sees you stressing over that stuff."
Ruby sighed. "Yeah, I know." She muttered.
Before Yang could speak further on the matter, a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks. "Aww, now you weren't gonna leave without saying goodbye to little old me, were you?"
Yang shivered and glared at the source of the voice. "I didn't even want to say hello, Gin." She replied.
Gin Byakko laughed. "So spunky, a woman after my own heart." He teased her. "Just wanted to check in before I rejoined Lady Circe and the others."
"She came here to get Pyrrha herself?" Ruby was surprised.
Gin grinned. "Between the three of us, she's lonely."
Ruby had to laugh at that. Gin then addressed Ruby. "So, since I know your sister won't do this willingly, what's her scroll number?"
"Dude, seriously?!" Yang snapped. "I'm right here!"
Ruby smirked and gave her number to Gin without hesitation. "Ruby!" Yang shouted in audible betrayal.
Gin laughed and took out his phone. He quickly typed something in and Yang felt her scroll vibrate. She grumbled in frustration as she took out the scroll. Yang then saw a number texted to her. "It's my scroll number." Gin explained. "Message me if you ever want to chat."
Yang groaned. "Seriously, what is with you? We barely know each other."
"Didn't I already make that clear before?" Gin smiled. "You seem cool, so I'd like for us to be better friends. You wouldn't believe how boring and lonely bodyguard life gets."
"There are easier ways to make friends than being an annoying little troll." Yang scowled.
"This coming from the girl who can't go a day without making a pun or two?" Ruby gave her older sister a deadpan expression.
Gin's smile remained plastered on his face, Yang. "I am who I am." He shrugged. "And for what it's worth, I only act like this around the people I like."
Gin turned away. "Take that any way you wish." He said, waving goodbye.
"Are you seriously just going to leave after that?" Yang was in disbelief.
Gin laughed nervously. "It's either leave now or take too much time and take one of Chrysos' bear claws to the face. Seems like an easy choice if you ask me."
"I hope he does it out of principle!" Yang shouted.
"I'll let you know in my first actual message to ya!"
With that, Gin was gone. Ruby then looked at Yang in confusion. "You don't actually hate him, do you?"
Yang had a completely serious expression on her face. "When two trolls meet in person, Ruby, war is inevitable." She said dramatically.
"Eh?" Ruby sweat-dropped.
Yang then sighed. "But, no, I don't hate him. He's way too nice to actually hate. I guess there's just something about his sense of humor that brings out the worst in me."
"Is it because you realize he's you when he acts like that?" Ruby couldn't resist teasing Yang.
Yang grumbled. "I liked you better socially awkward." She muttered.
The two soon reached the airship that would take them back to Patch. Once on board, Yang would receive a second message from Gin's number. "'Did get the bear claw from Chrysos, lol.'" Yang read. "Oh my gods, he really meant what he said."
"You gonna respond?" Ruby asked.
Yang thought it over. "Screw it." She said, texting a response. "Pics or it didn't happen. And send."
Not even ten seconds later, Yang got a response. Her mouth dropped open before her eyes turned red. "Okay, what is this little jerk, psychic?!" She snapped. "Did he know I'd respond with that?"
"What?" Ruby was somewhat startled by Yang's outburst.
Yang then shoved her scroll in Ruby's face, revealing a picture of Gin's face, taking a bear claw from Chrysos. "He took a freaking selfie!" Yang shouted in disbelief.
Ruby had to laugh in spite of herself. Yang spent the rest of the ride back to Patch desperately trying to figure out how to one-up Gin.
Hours later as night fell, Glynda Goodwitch was running through the hospital, her eyes wide as the last call she received from Beacon General replayed in her mind over and over again. "Hansel Kobalt is awake. However, he hasn't spoken with anyone. Please come over here."
Hansel! I'm glad you're safe, but still, what could be wrong that you're still not speaking?
Glynda quickly arrived at Hansel's room and was greeted by Dr. Farrell. "His body has fully healed. But, like we told you over the scroll he hasn't spoken once. Also, he's got the thousand-yard stare going." She explained. "Because his body has healed though, we'd like to run some tests and release him in the morning. I am worried about his mental health though."
Glynda nodded. "He'll talk to me." She promised before entering Hansel's room.
Glynda could not stop the sigh of relief when she saw Hansel was awake and seemed fully healed. However, as Dr. Farrell explained, he was silent and in the midst of a thousand-yard stare. "Hansel?" Glynda tried to get her adopted son's attention.
Hansel took a deep breath. "Hey, Glynda." He said softly.
Glynda cautiously approached Hansel. "How are you feeling?" She asked.
"Did we lose anyone?" Hansel asked quickly.
Glynda froze. She shook her head. "Don't do that to yourself, Sweetie." She told him.
"Glynda!" Hansel said sharply. "Did we lose anyone?"
Glynda took a deep breath. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Ann Greene is dead. She died protecting Team JNPR from Cinder Fall."
Hansel's heart skipped a beat at the revelation that yet another whose face he could put a name to was dead. He knew that Professor Greene kept him at arm's length like many others, but thinking back, he found himself wondering if perhaps she had been beginning to change his opinion of him.
And now, he was never going to know if that was actually the case…
"What about the students?" Hansel asked, finding himself dreading the answer.
Glynda found herself smiling at that, however. "They're all safe. We saved them. You saved them. A few were pretty badly injured, but they pulled through. And none of them were anywhere near as badly injured as you were."
Hansel found himself breathing a sigh of relief without thinking. "I'm glad." He admitted.
Glynda, desperate to keep him talking, nodded, proud just from hearing that. "Then that means you're finally growing accustomed to your new job." She noted. "I'm proud of you, Hansel."
"Glynda…I almost lost control." Hansel bluntly told her.
Glynda froze, knowing exactly what he meant by that. "That fight with Hazel was the toughest fight I've had in years…and now I'm not sure I can even beat Gray Jackal's top brass because of that. He gave me a beating worse than any I got from Professor Ozpin during the years I spent in training." Hansel recounted. "And yet, I can still remember every single detail. Every painful blow. It's been impressed on me like a tattoo or a scar, and it's never going to go away."
"But the end…that's when it gets blurry. That's how I know…that's how I know I almost lost control." Hansel shivered. "But there are things I do remember. The hate. The bloodlust. The fear in his eyes. I remember those things."
"Is that all you remember?" Glynda asked.
"I…I think so." Hansel replied. "I…wish there was more I remembered."
Glynda's eyes widened when she realized that he wanted to know if what happened was witnessed by others. She shook her head. "Hansel, the only other person who knows how that fight went down was Hazel himself. Even Qrow doesn't know the truth."
Glynda had confirmed such herself. Qrow had gone straight for Ruby, Blake and herself. She was thankful she knew that for a fact, because Hansel was pretty good at spotting a liar in casual conversations.
"I'm glad." Hansel admitted.
Glynda let out a small gasp. That was the first she ever heard Hansel admit that the opinion of someone else actually mattered to him. Then he continued and her heart dropped. "I don't want anyone to see that side of me." He admitted. "It's better they only think I'm a demon…not know it for certain."
"Hansel…" Glynda tried to speak up to stop him from going down such a dark path of thoughts, only to see something she had not seen in years: tears forming in Hansel's eyes.
"I've never regretted this path." Hansel tried to sound brave, firm, but was slowly failing. "I choose to believe that every victory I have slowly makes a difference, so that even if I die, I can at last leave it to the next guy. If I just lived and ended my life like that, I can at least die happy."
"But sometimes…" The tears started to cascade down. "Sometimes it feels like with every monster I kill, every crime ring I break apart, every horrible thing I witness people doing to each other, all that darkness feeds my own darkness."
Hansel started to sob. "I'm scared, Glynda." He admitted. "It's like I'm standing at the edge of a cliff, thinking of jumping. And every time I think about jumping, the temptation to just do it gets stronger and stronger. I'm scared that one of these days, I'm just going to snap, and I'm going to become the demon that everyone in Remnant thinks I am. The thought of that scares me. And it just feels like it's more and more inevitable, every day."
"And what's just as bad–maybe even worse–is that it feels like one of these days I'm just going to let it all happen." Hansel revealed. "Like…a part of me wants to lose control deep down. A part of me wants to just fall to the darkness completely and just destroy everything before either I burn myself out, or someone else ends it for me."
"I don't want that." Hansel whimpered. "That scares me more than anything in the world, and I don't think I could live with myself if that ever does happen."
Glynda finally found it in herself to act. Hansel gasped as his foster mother pulled him into a tight embrace. She smiled through the tears. "That's not going to happen." Glynda vowed.
"You don't know that." Hansel muttered.
"I do, because no matter how much darkness you claim to have in your heart, Hansel, I know it's overshadowed by your light." Glynda told him. "Even if you have a hard time showing it, there is no one in this world who has a kinder heart than you. There's no one in this world who cares more than you. The fact you don't want any of that to happen to you, regardless of how much it tempts you is proof of that."
"And as long as you are you, I promise, none of what you claim will ever come to pass."
Hansel sobbed. "You just won't give up on me, huh?"
"I will never give up on you." Glynda told him. "I love you."
The dam broke and Hansel just sobbed into Glynda's warm and loving embrace.
Meanwhile, late at night, the airship to Patch Island landed. Ruby and Yang were soon greeted by their father, Taiyang Xiao Long, and Zwei the corgi, who had gone home with Tai earlier.
Taiyang smiled with relief, seeing both of his girls home and healthy. "Welcome home you two." He said.
Yang and Ruby both smiled. "Good to be home, Dad." Ruby replied.
AN: Arkos is on its way to confirmation. Quick PSA though, kissing someone full on the mouth out of nowhere is not usually the best way to get your feelings across and I don't in any way condone it. I just wanted to touch on Pyrrha's own insecurities and fears of losing Jaune before she gets a chance to say how she feels.
Also, we're separating Team RWBY. Not forever, mind you. I just think it's important to focus on Ruby for just a bit so that she can grow. It just makes sense cuz they're on Term Break.
And, to top it all off, Hansel is awake, but not well. There's a reason I call Hansel a brutal deconstruction of the edgelord character. It's not a healthy lifestyle guys. Edgelords should not be celebrated and they should not be emulated. The best ones are the ones who do more harm than good, and realize just how much they've hurt others in the process, like Kratos. Or the ones who are so over the top, they're laughable, like Shadow the Hedgehog. Or even the ones who are just meant to suffer, like Guts.
Point being, we're showing what being edgy really does to a guy's mental state. Edgy or not, Hansel's broken.
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Next arc is something a bit different. See ya!