Reviews:
@LucasEmiya: Thank you for the comments
@SirWiskers: Jaune does have his Semblance. His Semblance is still pretty much the same but it will change/evolve in the future because of the changes he is going through.
@nightmares_nightmare: Thank you!
@Knightguard09: Yep! Most of them were pretty dark to begin with!
@AntonioRush7: Thank you!
@Its_Fr0st: She did indeed, but hey, at least she realized her mistakes and wanted to fix them, i expected her to be another "Cinder".
@444TheNumber4: Read it, it's good! Also yes, most were dark and rather scary and were rewritten to be more light-hearted, and thanks to Disney, most are familiar with the light-hearted versions of the fairy tales.
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A/N:
So... the ending of Volume 9 Happened and I learned something new about the Ever After and the Brother Gods... And, now, I have to rework the ending of the story slightly to Include the new information as well as the Curious Cat and the Jabberwalker.
Look I know it might seem early to discuss the ending of this story despite us not even being close to it, but trust me, if you want a good ending to this story, that would try to make sense of how Salem (And the brothers) are going to be defeated/killed, trust me, I have to work with the information CRWBY has blessed me with.
That being said, man oh man, Volume 9 was awesome and the ending was rather beautiful in a way. (Fucking still wish Jaune kept the hair and Armor though! But Imma fix that when the time comes!)
Anyway, here's another chapter of me, putting these characters through physical and emotional torture for your entertainment! ENJOY!
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He ran through the alleys of southern Mistral, ducking behind trash cans and leaping over fences. Every time he thought he had lost them, they would appear out of nowhere, their eyes fixed on him like a predator on its prey. Jaune knew he couldn't keep running forever, he needed to find a place to lay low, but where?
He frantically looked around, his heart pounding in his chest. Suddenly, he saw a small opening in the wall. It was just big enough for him to squeeze through.
Without hesitation, Jaune dashed towards it and squeezed his way through, on the other side, he found himself in a dark, narrow passage that smelled of mildew and rust. He could hear the footsteps of spiders gangsters outside, but they seemed to be fading away.
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief and let himself relax for a moment. That's when he heard something else, a faint sound of someone's breathing. He froze, his hand instinctively reaching for his weapon.
As he cautiously crept forward, he saw two of Malachite's men. They were standing there, smoking and laughing, completely unaware of his presence, they appeared to be looking for him, but didn't expect him to be right behind them.
However, He couldn't let them get away with it. His job was to take out as many of them as he could while away from the others.
He drew his sword and once he did, he thought back to Vernal words from the previous night.
Vernal looked at him with an angry expression and a raised brow, "If I kill her what!? What Happens Jaune, huh!? Are you afraid I'll go back to being how I was before I talked about my past!?" She asked him, "Because if you are, you have no right to say or even think that! What happens to you if you kill her, huh!? What the fuck happens to you!?" She asked him.
Jaune glared at her, "It doesn't matter what happens to me!" He told her with a furious tone.
Vernal glared back at the blonde, and pointed her finger at him, "That's what you think! Because it doesn't matter what happens to you!" She cried, she then jabbed him with her pointer finger, "But it matters to me! It fucking matters to me! You're my partner! We keep each other safe! We watch each other's backs! Remember!?" She asked him.
Jaune stopped himself for a moment and thought to himself. 'I... I can't be like how I was last night, I can't be reckless, not when they're expecting me to come back' He told himself 'I have to go back to them, I have to come back to her,' Jaune said.
He gripped his sword tighter and pounced on the two gangsters in front of him, catching them off guard. They tried to fight back, but since he had the upper hand, in a matter of seconds, they were lying on the ground, bleeding and gasping for air before slowly dying.
Jaune stood there, panting and trembling with adrenaline. But as he looked down at their lifeless bodies. He knew he had a choice. He could stop killing. Put an end to all the bloodshed by just walking away, but a part of him didn't want to stop, apart of him enjoyed this, wanted this more than anything, sure he could make the excuse that Little Miss Malachite and her gang were after him, and he had to do whatever it takes to survive, but that was hiding behind a lie.
After what happened to Melissa, he, Vernal, and Oscar could've just left and continued with their journey to Argus to visit his sister before heading to Atlas.
But they didn't, Jaune had suggested going for revenge, he had brought them all on this bloody path.
He'd become another killer, like Raven, Shay, and every one of the people he's killed.
He had become the very monster he had been so afraid of.
The Beowulf appeared in front of the two dead gangsters and looked at Jaune, 'So, does that mean you'll finally accept what you've become? That you're just another bloody cog in this world of bloody evolution?' The Beowulf asked with a chuckle.
Jaune glared at the beast and sheathed his sword, walked through the Beowulf, and continued trying to find a place to lay low, but if he ran into any Spider Members, he'd kill them too.
'You'd probably kill them just because you want to!' The Beowulf cried 'Why is it so hard for you to admit what you have become!? WHAT YOU ARE!?!?'
Jaune grit his teeth, "I'm not a Monster," Jaune told it.
'IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK!? WHAT WOULD THEY THINK!? YOUR FRIENDS AT BEACON!? WHAT WOULD THEY THINK OF YOU NOW!? PYRRHA! REN! NORA! RUBY! WHAT WOULD THEY THINK OF YOU NOW! WHAT ABOUT YOUR SISTER!? YOU'D REALLY THINK SHE LET SOMEONE LIKE YOU NEAR HER CHILD! YOU. ARE. A. MONSTER! WHY CAN'T YOU SIMPLY ADMIT IT!?!?' The Beowulf cried with anger.
Jaune stopped walking for a moment, his entire body froze for a moment, however, he continued walking, but as he did, tears rolled down his eyes.
Walking away, he couldn't help but think about all the people he had killed since he had been kicked out of Beacon, with the promise of returning next year.
When he had left Beacon and arrived in Mistral, Jaune had still been that idealistic teen, with a strong sense of justice and a desire to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, but as he met Raven, that's when everything changed, things became different, the world became darker. He had grown stronger and more skilled in combat, but he had found himself taking lives more and more frequently.
His mind again wandered back to his friends at Beacon, and couldn't help but wonder if they would still accept him if they knew the truth about what he had done. Would they be afraid of him, knowing that he was nothing but a killer? Could he even face them, knowing that he had taken so many lives?
As he sat there lost in thought, Jaune's mind wandered back to his time at Beacon. He remembered the warm and welcoming smiles of his friends, their playful banter and the sense of connection that had filled the air. He missed those days, and he longed to be able to go back to them.
Ruby smiled at him, "You're a leader now, Jaune, You're not allowed to be a failure,"
"You know, I'm glad you're here with me Jaune, now someone else can experience Nora being... Nora," Ren said with a chuckle.
Nora brought him into a rib-crushing hug, "You decapitated an Ursa Major! You are the coolest leader a girl can ask for!"
Pyrrha smiled at him, as she held out her hand for him to take after she had shoved him to the ground. "Let's try that again," She said, still smiling.
'Ruby... Ren... Nora... Pyrrha...' Jaune began as tears fell from his eyes. 'Would you look at me and see the same person you did before? Or would you only see the Monster I see in myself?' Jaune asked, still walking away with tears flowing down his face.
"Jaune, look at me," Vernal told him.
Jaune slowly turned to her and Vernal gave him a reassuring look, "You did what you had to do," Vernal told him, "You are not a monster, Jaune,"
Jaune's tears fell more as he walked away, thinking about Vernal. 'Vernal... I need you...' He thought sadly.
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Back at the Hotel, Vernal, Maria, and Oscar are in Vernal's room, the younger teen and elderly woman were watching the TV, and all of them were waiting to hear if Malachite had captured Jaune yet. As they waited, Vernal's thoughts were on her blonde partner, mostly about what happened between her and Jaune last night.
They had finally let out all their grief about Melissa last night, and Vernal had felt her worries leave her when she fell asleep but those worries returned when she woke up and Jaune was gone, along with his sword and cloak. A part of her wanted him to still be there when she woke up, she wanted Jaune to be there, by her side...
Vernal let out a sigh, she knew why he had left and what he was doing out there, she also knew he was right, they couldn't stop this, they'd already gone this far, and there was no turning back.
Jaune's expression shifted to sadness and he could feel his emotions begin to rise to the surface. Finally, he began to cry, and seeing him do so, so did Vernal. Vernal moved closer to him and hugged him and he hugged her back, both held the other tightly as their tears continued to flow.
Jaune sniffled and tried to compose himself, "We can't stop this, Vernal..." Jaune told her.
Vernal composed herself and nodded, "I know... I know..." She replied with a sniffle.
"We've already started our plan, and with the members of Spider I killed, they won't stop until we kill them all," Jaune told her.
"I know," She replied again. She then broke the hug and looked at him, but he looked at the bed, so she gently grabbed him by the cheek and moved his head to look at her. "But when the time comes, when we finally do that bitch in... we do it together, got it?" She asked.
Jaune nodded slowly, "Got it," he said, his tone still somewhat sad.
"Arc's word?" She asked.
Jaune nodded once again, "Arc's word," He replied.
Suddenly, a knock came on their door, taking Vernal out of her thoughts and causing all three of them to freeze for a few seconds, but then Vernal quickly got up and grabbed one of her daggers and shifted it into Pistol form, and hid the gun behind the back, before opening the door slightly, and when she did, her eyes widened with fear as standing at her door, was none other than Malachite herself, with two gangsters, one female, and one male.
Malachite saw Vernal through the cracked door and smiled at her, "Ah, Vernal, good to see you again," Malachite said in a sweet country tone, "Mind if I come in?" She asked.
So many alarms went off in Vernal's head, as she wondered what the older woman was doing there, but she reassured herself that if Malachite really tried to pull anything, she could deal with it quickly, and possibly end this if the older plump woman really tried something.
"Come in," Vernal said, her voice slightly nervous.
Vernal opened the door and in walked Malachite and her two bodyguards stayed close behind her. Once she walked in, Vernal's eyes quickly landed on Oscar, who looked equally fearful and angry, which made her worry yet kept her calm. Because if Oscar was fearful, it would tell Malachite that he feared her, which was the act they had to keep up and also let her know Oscar might not do something stupid, but she still worried that his anger would get the best of him and he'd do something he'd regret. Something that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
'If anyone is going to kill her it's me, not Oscar, not Maria... not Jaune,' Vernal thought as she eyes Oscar.
Malachite looked around the room, a small smile on her lips as her eyes landed on Maria and Oscar. She gave them a quick nod and Maria gave one back and Oscar gave her a small weak wave.
Malachite then turned back and looked at Vernal, "So, how have you been?" she asked the teen girl.
Vernal knew she didn't really care, but played along. "The City is... different, that's for sure," Vernal said, "Nice sights, but not a place I'd want to live in," Vernal finished.
Malachite chortled, "I can understand that this city, isn't for everybody," She said, "I know that better than anyone,"
At this moment, Vernal chose to get to the point, but she still kept up the facade of her being afraid of Malachite. "I don't mean to sound rude, Miss Malachite, but... why are you here?" Vernal asked her.
Malachite continued to grin at the teen girl, "40 of my men are dead, all of them were killed by Jaune Arc in an abandoned warehouse," Malachite told her.
Hearing this, the three looked shocked, Oscar most of all since he had no idea Jaune killed that many people in a single night, however, Vernal knew since she had cleaned his wounds the previous night, but she had no idea he had killed that many.
"He... He killed that many?" Oscar asked, still sounding shocked.
Malachite nodded, "That he did," She said, "I have to ask, have you ever seen him fight? Another person that is," Malachite asked.
The two teens had seen him fight, but they shook their heads, along with Maria.
"We only ever say the young man take care of the Grimm," Maria chimed in, "But like my granddaughter said, he looked like he barely knew how to use it," the older woman finished.
Malachite turned to the older woman, "When he fought, what did it look like?" Malachite asked Maria.
Maria shrugged, "Like he was copying some moves out of a video game or a movie," Maria asked.
Oscar nodded, "Yeah, it wasn't like the stuff I've heard huntsmen could do, you know... flips and stuff," Oscar said, sounding rather nervous.
"And he managed to kill these Grimm still?" Malachite asked.
Vernal nodded, "Yeah, he still killed them," she replied.
Malachite then began to think hard about the information she was getting with what the fight and her dead men told her. 'Could it be possible he was hiding skills from these 3? If so why? None of them were trained to fight Huntsman, or is he just extremely lucky? Some sort of Semblance mixed with skill?' Malachite asked herself. Malachite's eyes then wandered over to Vernal, Maria, and Oscar. 'Or... are they lying to me? Could they be somehow working with Jaune Arc and feeding me false information about him? If they are, why? Are they working with a rival gang? Mistral PD? Or are they just Huntsmen trying to take me down?' Malachite asked herself.
However, before she could think more about it, the ringing of a scroll came and Malachite was confused about where the call was coming from, but her female bodyguard pulled out her scroll and answered the call.
"What is it? Yes, I'm with her... what? Where was he spotted!? How many!? Hold on!" She cried before she moved the scroll away from her ear and looked to Malachite, "Jaune Arc was spotted near the southern side of the city, he's already killed 9 of our men and is on the run, what do you want to do, Little Miss?" she asked.
Malachite's expression turned to shock before it morphed into anger and she looked at the female bodyguard. "Tell them to pull back!" She cried, "They can't take him on, not now, tell them to pull back and not do something stupid!" She said.
The female bodyguard nodded and repeated Malachite's instructions on the other end.
As she did this, Malachite turned back to the 3 and let out a sigh, "I'll be leaving here, I have to deal with our... mutual friend," Malachite told them, "I hope to see you soon," she said.
With those words, Malachite and her two bodyguards left the hotel room, and Vernal waited until she was sure they were gone before finally deciding to address the news they had just heard, however, it was Oscar who beat her to the punch.
"Why is Jaune attacking them in broad daylight!?" Oscar asked, his voice confused and fearful.
Maria looked at the young boy, "He's trying to finish this as fast as he can," Maria told the younger teen, "However, I worry about that boy, all that fighting with Spider is taking a toll on him, he's trying to accomplish so much in so little time, all while he's still dealing with the loss of Oscar's Aunt," Maria finished.
Vernal wanted to say that he's already expressed his emotions to her last night, but she stopped herself because she knew something as simple as that was going to clear Jaune's mind of all the pain and sadness he was going through, all it did was lessen in by a little.
It was the same for her, she felt a little better about the whole situation due to her and Jaune's conversation last night, but those troubling emotions she had didn't go away, she still needed to deal with them, as did Jaune.
And it was then that Vernal came to a realization, that she, Oscar, and Jaune, they all needed time to mourn. Time to actually deal with Melissa's death as well as the sadness and anger they felt, both at Malachite and at themselves.
But this... this was not helping, and was only pushing all of them, one more than most, deeper into the abyss, and the thought of Jaune reaching the point of no return, terrified Vernal.
What kind of person would he be? Would he be like Raven? Shay? Malachite? Or... would he end up like him?
Vernal quickly shook that thought from her head. 'Jaune isn't like them, he's not Raven, he's not Malachite... and he won't become him, Jaune would become him,' Vernal thought.
"Stop struggling Vernal! Don't you see I'm doing this because I love you!?" He cried as he pinned her down, "Why can't you understand that this is love!?"
Hearing those words resurface in her mind, even for a split second, fear struck Vernal all across her body she ran into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and locked it before she sat on the lid of the toilet and breathed in deep and fast.
'Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!' Vernal told herself, 'He can't hurt you anymore! He's dead! He's dead! He's dead! He's dead!' Vernal told herself.
After a minute, Vernal's breathing calmed, but she was angry and herself and she bend over as if she was sick and began hugging her arms in fear.
"Damn it!" Vernal muttered angrily, "Why did this happen!? I-I... this shouldn't bother me like it used to!" Vernal cried silently.
"I'm broken, I can't be fixed,"
"I don't believe that... no one's truly broken, but they can stay that way if they let themselves and don't try to move on or push forward,"
Remembering that day, she also remembered what she had asked Jaune.
"Arc," Vernal called out to him.
Jaune turned his head back and looked at her, "Yeah?"
"Can I trust you?" She asked.
Jaune looked at her, a brave look on his face. He nodded, "You can," He told her.
Vernal looked at him, her face looking a little troubled, but she pushed through and asked him a favor, "Then... will you help me move forward?" Vernal asked him.
Jaune was a bit surprised but she gave her a nod, "I'll be there every step of the way,"
Vernal gave him a small smile and nodded, Jaune smiled back, and the two continued walking, this time, side by side. As partners. From this day forward, Vernal swore to face her past.
Nevermore would a storm cloud her sky again...
Tears fell down Vernal's face as she cried silently. 'Jaune... I need you...' She thought sadly.
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Later that night, outside of Widows Tuffet, the two bodyguards outside watched the street for anything suspicious.
One of them turned to the other, "Hey, Noah?"
Noah, turned to his fellow bodyguard, "Yeah Duncan?"
"You ever wonder why we're here?" Duncan asked.
"Hmm... that's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it?" Noah replied, "Why are we here? Are we the product of some cosmic coincidence? Or is there really gods or god watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff? I don't know man, but it does keep me up at night sometimes," Noah finished.
Duncan looked at Noah with wide eyes, "What!? Dude I was asking why the fuck we were on guard duty! Not shit that deep!"
"Oh..." Noah replied with embarrassment.
Duncan still looked baffled at Noah, "What was all that shit about god!?" he asked.
Noah shrugged, "I don't know man, Rebecca's been watching all these documentaries about some deep stuff, and it's been making me think, ya know?" He replied.
Duncan smiled at his friend, "How you got a girl that smart is what I wanna know,"
Noah rolled his eyes, "She likes me because I actually try to understand what she's interested in, unlike you dude,"
"Hey!"
Noah shrugged with a smile, "I'm just being honest dude," Noah told him, "At least I never asked Mistral's more popular hooker to marry me in front of an entire bar,"
Duncan glared at his friend, "I was high as shit and you know that!" Duncan cried.
Noah chuckled and Duncan couldn't help but grin and he chuckled as well. After having a good laugh together, a moment of silence passed between the two.
A soft smile crept onto Noah's lips, "I think I'm gonna asked Rebecca to marry me," Noah said.
Duncan looked surprised, "Really!?" He asked.
Noah nodded, "We've dated a year and a half now, I think it's time," Noah replied.
Duncan smiled, "That's awesome man!" Duncan told him, "Do you already have a ring?"
Noah nodded, "Yep, and as corny as it sounds, it belonged to my grandma," he told him.
Duncan nodded with a big grin, "Hey man, it'll make for a lovely story," Duncan said.
Noah chuckled and gave him a quick nod, he opened his mouth to say something but before he did, he felt a sharp pain in his side and he spat out blood as he felt something being pulled out of him. Duncan saw this and went for his gun but his head was lopped off before he could even grab it and his lifeless body fell to the ground.
Noah was on the ground and the pain in his side was intense, so intense that tears fell from his eyes. He slowly looked up to see the guy everyone had been looking for, the guy that had killed 40 of them last night and a whole lot more of them earlier today. Jaune Arc was the guy's name if he remembered right.
"Y-You... Bastard," Noah croaked out.
Jaune turned to Noah, looking down at the dying teen with his cold blue eyes, his face was blank as if he was void of all emotion.
"Why...?" Noah asked weakly, as he spat up more blood.
Jaune looked down at him and Noah then saw his expression slightly change, as he appeared to look saddened by this whole ordeal.
"I'm sorry," Jaune told him as he raised his sword up.
Noah had always heard about life flashing before one's eyes before they die, but he didn't see his whole life, he simply saw the smiling face of his girlfriend Rebecca before everything went black.
Jaune pulled his sword out from the man's head and looked at him with a sad expression. However, he recomposed himself and went over to Duncan and grabbed his gun, and cocked it. "You can do this, for Melissa, for Vernal, for Oscar..." Jaune began, "For me," he said as he walked into the bar.
After tonight, nothing was going to be the same ever again...
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Yeah, the next chapter is going to be the last chapter of the Spider Act before we go into the shortest Act, the Argus Act, which is going to be only 2 chapters, then we get right into the Atlas Act!
The Feels are going to be at an all-time high in chapters 15, 16, and 17!
I hope you all enjoyed today's chapter and I hope you all have a good day/night/morning!