It was the day after Jaune was taken in by the Huntresses and he was given a spare room to himself. He got up and saw the base was empty, so he picked up his sword and strapped it to his belt and then he grabbed his cloak and wrapped it around himself as he walked outside, once outside, he that he was somewhere beyond the wall and noticed the Base was built into a small hill surrounded by some mountains. Jaune then looked forward where he saw the Huntresses were training, seeing Fiona and Joanna having a spar but is seemed like it was coming to an end as Fiona lost and she fell to the ground on her ass.
Robyn looked at the Sheep Faunus, "You gotta keep your defense up Fi," Robyn told her.
Fiona got up and nodded but then saw Jaune and smiled at him and greeted him with a wave, "Good Morning Jaune!" she said.
The other huntresses saw Jauen and they smiled at him, and Robyn walked over to him.
"How are you feeling, Jaune?" Robyn asked.
"Better," Jaune replied, "All healed up thanks to my Semblance,"
Robyn smiled, "Some semblance you have then," She said,
Jaune nodded.
Robyn smiled at him and looked to see he was fully dressed and had his sword at his side. "Would you care for a spar?" She asked, twirling her staff.
Jaune looked at the Huntress with a raised brow, "With you?" He asked.
Robyn nodded, "Yes," She replied, "I'd actually like to see what you're made of, you may be able to fight Grimm, but can you hold yourself against a trained Huntress?" She asked
Jaune looked at her and nodded, sure he could put up a fight, after all, he had been training with Vernal and had faced multiple threats and could've overpowered, he was sure he could put up a fight against Robyn, "Alright," Jaune said.
Robyn nodded and they both \walked over to the front of the base while the other Huntresses stepped to the sidelines and prepared to watch the fight.
May looked at her teammates and smiled, "25 Lien on Robyn kicking his ass with ease," May said.
Joanna chuckled, "I ain't even gonna take that bet," Joanna replied.
Fiona looked at May, "I bet 25 Lien that Jaune puts up a good fight," Fiona said.
May looked at Fiona, "Wanting to see your crush in action again, eh Fi?" May asked
Fiona blushed, "I-I don't have a crush on him!" She cried.
May rolled her eyes, "Sure, whatever you say~!" May teased.
Fiona growled in frustration as her blush grew.
Joanna patted May's arm and then pointed at Jaune and Robyn, "Fight's about to begin," She said.
The three Huntresses watched as Jaune and Robyn had their weapons at the ready and prepared for a fight, and Jaune was going to put everything he had into the fight, and his eye met with Robyn's, and when she too met his gaze, she simply smiled softly at him.
Jaune was a bit confused by her expression but didn't have time to think about it as she quickly fired two bolts at him, quickly he raised his shield and blocked the attack, once the attack struck, he lowered his shield only to see Robyn rushing toward him and he decided to rush at her with his sword at the ready, and when he was close he swung at her but she slid underneath the attack and once behind Jaune, she struck him in the back, causing him to stumble forward.
Jaune quickly turned around and swung his sword at her but she blocked his attack and quickly pushed his sword away and managing to use the other end of her staff to strike Jaune.
Jaune groaned and swung again but missed due to Robyn jumping back avoiding the attack, and quickly Robyn delivered a multitude of strikes with her staff, hitting Jaune across his entire body before kicking him hard in the stomach before jumping back just as Jaune tried to hit her with his sword.
Jaune pushed past the pain he was feeling and charged forward and swung at Robyn, yet the older huntress blocked it again, but this time, Jaune kicked her in the gut and sent her back, and he quickly swing at her again, but Robyn rolled out of the way, and she got back up to her feet and fired a bolt at Jaune, but Jaune deflected it and then charged at Robyn again, but she pulled her staff back and went in for a jab, managing to get him in the chest, sending Jaune off his feet and onto the snowy floor.
Jaune groaned as he got up and looked at Robyn with a glare. 'How is it this hard?' Jaune asked himself, 'I've faced worse than this! How is it-!? No... No this is how it really is, this is the difference between skilled huntsmen with years of experience and a gangbanger with a gun,' Jaune thought.
Robyn charged at him and Jaune prepared himself for whatever attack Robyn was going to deliver, however, when she was close, she stabbed her staff into the ground and leaped over the blonde, landing behind him to kick him in the back, and causing him to fall tot eh ground on his stomach.
On the ground, Jaune slowly got back up and continued his thoughts, 'I still haven't reached the level that I need to be at,' He thought, as he got to his hands and knees. He looked up to see a large mountain near the base. 'I still have to climb that mountain of power if I want to protect what matters,' He thought.
Despite knowing he was going to lose, he still got up and boosted his aura and decided to try and wear Robyn down, as he looked at Robyn, she looked back at him and saw the look in his eyes and smiled, and she put her hand up, stopping him.
"What is it?" Jaune asked, "Why do you want to stop?"
Robyn lowered her hand and looked at the younger man, "You've killed people, haven't you?" She asked.
Jaune's eyes widened when he heard Robyn ask him that question, and he was not the only one shocked as the three other Huntresses were surprised to hear Robyn ask someone so young such a question.
Jaune glared at her and his hand tightened around his sword. "Yeah... I have," Jaune replied.
they were all surprised by Jaune's answer, except for Robyn, who had a feeling the moment she saw the boy, it was all in how he acted and the look in his eyes.
"Ever killed someone with Aura?" Robyn asked.
Jaune shook his head, "No, most of the people I killed didn't have Aura," He replied.
Robyn nodded, "So you haven't fought anyone with Aura in a while huh?" She asked.
Jaune nodded.
"I can see it," Robyn said, "You got skill kid, your far above the average punk on the street with a gun or a knife, and you're pretty much on the same level as the average Academy student, but you still got a long way to go before you can hope to really beat people like me," Robyn told him.
Jaune gave her a quick nod. "Yeah... I figured that," He said.
When he was thinking about it, he thought back to his fight with Raven, and he wondered how he had won that spar against her... did she let him win or did he just get extremely lucky?
Robyn saw the look on the young man's face and could tell that the information of him still being far behind disturbed him, but then a thought came to her head and she gave the young man a smirk, "But don't worry kid, I think I can teach you something that'll give you an edge over every skilled Hunter," She said.
Jaune looked at her with a raised brow, "What?" He asked.
Robyn's smile widened, "You got a powerful semblance that boosts your Aura, right?" She asked.
Jaune nodded, "Yeah, and?" Jaune asked.
"Well, when you boost your own aura, your aura becomes a lot stronger and you can kind of reach a higher level of Aura than most, right?"
Jaune never thought about it like that, he usually boosted himself when he knew his aura percentage was going down, but he never thought about boosting it to such an extent that he could reach higher Aura percentages, he was sure it was possible, after all, he was able to boost his aura to such an extent that he could heal a major wound in a matter of minutes. "I suppose so," Jaune replied.
Robyn nodded and continued to smile, "Well... with your semblance, you could say, overpower another Semblance," Robyn replied.
Jaune's brow raised with both confusion and curiosity, "Overpower a Person's Aura with my own?" He asked.
Robyn nodded, "Let me explain," Robyn began, telling Jaune her idea on how Jaune could use his Aura to "Overpower" other persons Aura.
After Robyn's explanation and after a few more spars, they left for Mantle and Jaune was with the Happy Huntresses getting food for some of the Faunus Miners who lived near the mines and were also protesting, currently, Jaune was partnered with Fiona as they handed out food to those miners.
Jaune saw the conditions of the houses of the miners, he saw how old and weak some of them were and also saw how some of the children looked like they haven't taken a shower in weeks. It pained Jaune to see such harsh conditions, it reminded him of some of the conversations Blake would have with Weiss about the conditions of Faunus SDC workers and how bad they had it, hearing it was different the seeing it.
"How can Atlas let something like this happen?" Jaune asked himself aloud.
However, Fiona had heard him, "Because they don't care," Fiona told him.
Jaune looked at her and Fion looked back at him.
"I use to live here with my uncle after my parents died from a mine collapse," Fiona told him,
Jaune looked at her with slight pity, "It must have been rough, living like this," Jaune said.
Fiona nodded, "It was, I would sometimes see some of the guards beat my grandpa because he stood up for a few of the miners, or because he didn't work fast enough," Fiona replied. "But no matter how dark things got, I knew that one day, things would get better," She said with a slight smiled
Jaune looked at her with a raised brow, "Have they?" Jaune asked.
"They have for me and my Uncle," She replied, "I just wish that it got better for everybody, you know? I wished that the cruelty of the mines stopped and that Faunus were seen as more equal, don't get me wrong tho, we have rights and I know there are humans to treat Faunus as equals, I just wish that the hate and the inequality... would go away," Fiona finished, handing some food a miner.
Jaune nodded as he also gave some food to another Miner, "So do I," He said, "I may not be a faunus and I don't think I could ever really understand what kind of suffering Faunus have suffered, but I've seen a lot of terrible things since I left Vale... even done a few terrible things myself," Jaune said.
"Like killing?" Fiona asked him, turning around and facing him with a concerned look.
Jaune looked at her and saw the worry, knowing that she probably viewed him differently now than she had before. "Yeah, like killing," Jaune said with a low tone.
"Did they deserve it?" Fiona asked. "The people you killed?"
Jaune's eyes widened when Fiona asked him that question, but he would answer. "Some of them did, some of them... maybe not," Jaune replied.
Fiona looked at him and could see the storm of emotions inside of him, "Well, I don't think I can blame you for what you did," Fiona told him. "Joanna and Robyn have killed people before, and while I was shocked, I never could blame them, they always told me that while senseless killing is a terrible thing, killing in order to protect what was dear to them or to defend themselves was different," She told Jaune.
Jaune looked up and back to her, "But there's blood on your hands no matter what... something that never really washes away," Jaune replied.
Fiona nodded, "That's true," She said, "But if I had to kill someone who threatened the people I hold dear, I'd do it, because... I'd rather have my hands soaked in blood than have someone important to me dead," She told Jaune.
Jaune sighed and rolled his eyes, "You can say that, but trust me, it isn't that simple," Jaune replied.
Fiona stopped and turned to him, "Are you telling me that with what you know, you'd rather let someone close to you die than kill and protect them?" Fiona asked him.
Jaune opened his mouth to retort but... nothing came out, he knew, deep inside he knew, that if he had to kill to protect Vernal, Oscar, or Maria, he'd do it in a heartbeat because he loved them, they were close to his heart, they were the most important people to him next to his family and his friends at Beacon. He would do anything for them. With that, Jaune closed his mouth and shook his head.
Fiona nodded, "Exactly," She said. "Despite knowing that in the future I may kill protecting myself or those I hold dear, I want to keep walking down this path I've set myself on, because I know one day, Everything will change for the better," She said.
"But it won't, not when people like Jacques Schnee are in power, nothing will change," Jaune replied. He thought back to some of the happy moments he had since he left Beacon, but all of them were overshadowed by all the bad ones, by all the terrible things he's done. "The darkness of the world is a lot bigger than the light," He told Fiona.
Fiona simply smiled, "While that's true, that people like Jacques Schnee in power, things won't change, and while we don't have control over those things, doesn't mean we should stand by and do nothing, because then things won't change either," She told him, "The Darkness may be bigger than the light, but that light, that light is the hope in a dark world that guides people forward give them hope to keep going and the courage to fight, and as long as there are good people in it, people like us, who will do anything to change the world or protect what matters to us most," She told him with a smile.
Fiona walked forward to hand out more food but Jaune stopped and thought about Fiona's words, and they struck deep into him, before he left Beacon and started this journey, when things got dark, he could see the light, he could hope, and get back on his feet and keep going, but now, after everything that he had done and gone through... could he still see that light in the darkness?
Yes, he could, he could see Vernal, Oscar, Maria, his team, Ruby, and his family... but did he deserve it? Did he deserve that light in the darkness after everything he's done?
Jaune shrugged, "You're right, but with Aura, you should feel well-rested after most nights of sleep," Jaune said.
Vernal smiled as a thought came to her, "Does that mean I'll even feel better after a hangover?" She asked with a smile.
Jaune thought about it, "I'm not sure, I know that Aura helps with some headaches and even when you're sick sometimes, but I don't know about a hangover," Jaune said "But I wouldn't try it Vernal,"
"Say's you, Arc," Vernal said with a smile and a point, "First chance I get, I'll give it a try," she said with a smug grin.
Jaune shook his head and he smiled, "Not until you learn some better Aura control," Jaune said, smiling.
A smile graced his features as he remembered that memory.
It's been a day since they had taken the job on the farm, and right now, it was in the middle of the day, both Jaune and Oscar were in the garden, removing all the large rocks they could find before they had to plow it the next day, and it was really difficult finding almost every large or medium-sized stone that might affect the plow machine.
Jaune stood up straight and wiped the sweat off his brow, and took a few breaths, before he turned his head and looked at Oscar, "I still can't believe someone your age can do this almost every 6 months," He said.
Oscar turned to the older teen and smiled, "You get used to it the longer you do it, trust me," Oscar told him, "I'm just glad that I have some help this time, it gets a little boring when it's just me or me and my aunt,"
Jaune laughed, "Glad I can be of service, Mr. Pine," Jaune said in a phony country tone.
Oscar laughed as he put a rock down in the wheelbarrow.
Jaune's smile grew a little more as he remembered that Memory with Oscar, however, other memories, more darker ones, came to mind...
Having enough of her wild barrage, Jaune grabbed both of her wrists, shocking the teen bandit before she was rolled to the side, and onto her back. Both of her wrists were pinned to the cold cement floor and she looked up with a glare but suddenly, she froze in fear as Jaune over her with an angry glare.
"Damnit Vernal calm down!" Jaune cried.
Vernal's voice was caught in her throat as her anger shattered. She looked at Jaune's face, however, it changed to a much older and stern face, his blonde hair and blue eyes changed to green hair and green eyes.
"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!?"
It was... him.
Based on instinct, based on nothing but the intent to survive, the terror and pain that she was convinced were coming her way.
"L... L-Let go of me," She whispered, in a voice so small and quiet that Jaune couldn't quite hear her.
"What?"
"LET GO OF ME!" Vernal screeched. Quickly, she began to thrash around frantically in Jaune's grip in hopes of getting free from his tight grip. she was too consumed by terror to be rational anymore. All she could see in her mind was the face and eyes of the man she'd tried so hard to forget, she kept fighting back because if she didn't... he was going to hurt her again, "LET GO OF ME! PLEASE! LET ME GO! PLEASE, DADDY! PLEASE! I'LL BE GOOD! I'LL BE A GOOD GIRL! JUST LET ME GOOOOO!" Vernal frantically cried.
Jaune's eyes widened in horror as he realized what he had just done. Jaune quickly let go of Vernal's writs and got off her as fast as he could.
That did it, Vernal crawled away from Jaune, attempting to put as much space between herself and him as possible, her eyes wide and terrified as she did so. She scrambled into a wall of beams and pressed herself against them as if trying to shrink more into the room.
Jaune looked in horror as Vernal's icy blue eyes were still widened with dread and her whole body was quivering severely, her breathing was ragged. She looked about ready to pass out or have a terror-induced heart attack.
Jaune stumbled away to the front entrance, leaving the building and giving Vernal much-needed space.
Remembering that, Jaune's smile quickly faded, 'I did that to her... I made her relive that...' He told himself with anger.
Melissa looked closer at the young man and she could tell that something was bothering the young man, so, she decided to ask. "What's bothering you?" She asked Jaune.
Jaune looked at her and his expression became much more miserable, "Am I a monster?" Jaune asked her.
Melissa looked at him with a raised brow, "Wh-Why would you ask that?" She asked.
"The young man who shot you, I beat him to death, he begged me to stop, told me about his father who was sick, and yet... I didn't care, all I could think about was killing him, making him pay for what he did, and I killed him, like a Grimm, so I'm asking you... does that make me a monster?"
Melissa looked at him with a serious look, "No... it doesn't," Melissa said, "You did what anyone would do, he made his choices, and he faced the consequences like we all have to do at some point in our lives... we all live in a world of cause and effect, and we are the cause, and we must face the effects we make, you are no monster, Jaune, who did what was natural in this world, you... followed the law of nature, do you get it?" She asked
Jaune understood what she was getting at and nodded back, "He was his own cause, I was... just the effect," Jaune said.
'But you were wrong Melissa... I was a monster,' Jaune thought, 'I could've spared him, but I didn't, I just... I butchered him,' as he could feel the self-hate building inside him.
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.
'Vernal...' He thought with sadness, however, Jaune's face grimaced as he looked at the floor and shook his head. 'No! No, don't even think about regretting leaving them behind him, you did what was right damn it! If you stayed with them... you'd just end up hurting them... you'd end up hurting her,'
With that thought, Jaune steeled his emotions and went back to handing out food to the miners, moving his thoughts away from Vernal and the others, however, despite Jaune trying to hide his emotions and push them away, it was Fiona who noticed the troubled look on his face and the shift in his demeanor.
'Just... what happened to you Jaune?' Fiona asked.
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Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Deery Doefield, a Deer faunus who was 17 years old, had short peach-colored hair that reached her soldiers, two small horns on her head, and blue eyes, and was still wearing her White-Fang Uniform, though, without her mask, this was because now, she deserter of the White-Fang. Currently, was at a bar, sitting at a table and waiting to meet with a friend. As it turned out, that old friend was none other than Perry Flynn, the construction worker who Jaune had met just the other day.
When he sat down and saw his old friend, he smiled, "I'm finally glad you left," He replied.
Deery nodded, "Yeah... I started to see what you and the others were talking about," Deery told him, "I'm sorry that I doubted you, Perry," She replied, her down somewhat sad.
Perry shook his head, "No, it's alright," he replied, "We both believed in the cause, both wanted to have the same thing and to you, when it seemed like I had given up and betrayed everything we fought for, I knew it must have been hard for you," He told Deery.
Deery looked at him, her expression still saddened, "Still, I shouldn't have lashed out as I did," she said.
Perry nodded, accepting her apology, "Anyway, I'm surprised you made it this far to Atlas, I was a bit worried about you stopping in Mistral," He said.
Deery nodded, "Believe me, I'm also surprised I made it this far... I'm surprised Bane-Saw or Adam himself didn't track me and the others down and try and kill us,"
Hearing that, Perry's expression got serious, "Yeah, with what I've heard, they've been trying to deal with deserters," Perry said, "But we should be safe here, after all, this is Mantle and Atlas, Adam wouldn't dare set foot here,"
Derry nodded in agreement, Adam wouldn't come here, but the Fang and spies and they could infiltrate into Mantle or Atlas, Deery knew one spy who was very good at her job. However, she pushed those thoughts away and looked at Perry. "Anyway, Do you have any work I can do?" She asked.
Perry looked at her, "Could work with me in construction?" He asked.
Deery shook her head, "I don't mean to sound rude Perry but I don't think I can do that," She said. "I... I still got the fight in me, I can't just go back to doing a regular job, ya know, the fire still burns and whatnot,"
Perry understood that very well, some of the Faunus that he left the White-Fang with still had the fight in them, but instead of being terrorists, they moved on, wanting to become cops or join the military, hell some of them now were part of Mantle PD, but then his mind shifts to The Happy huntresses, and despite what Atlas would say, the Happy Huntresses helped just as much as the Huntsmen in the city and the MPD. "Well, if you're really up for it, you could join the Happy Huntresses," He replied. "I know that Trifa was teaching you and some others how to fight like Huntsmen," He replied.
Deery nodded, "Yeah, and I'm pretty decent," She said. and then raised a brow as she looked at Perry. "You'd think they'd take me in?" she asked.
Perry shrugged, "They might," He replied, "I know they took in another person just recently," He said, remembering hearing about Jaune being saved by the Happy Huntresses. "Not to mention they are standing up against some of the SDC's bullshit as well at Atlas, so there's a bonus," He said with a smirk
Hearing this, Deery had hope and smiled, "Sounds like my kind of place then," she said, "But it's been a long day, mind of I crash at your place tonight?" Deery asked.
Perry nodded, "You can crash there anytime, Deery," He said with a smile.
Derry smiled softly at her friend, "Thank you, Perry, this means a lot," She told him.
Perry rolled his eyes but still kept his smile, "Again, don't mention it, Deery," He replied.
The two sat and drank for a bit before leaving the bar and heading to Perry's apartment, where Deery would be spending the night until the next day where she hoped to meet the Happy Huntresses and join them.
However, her arrival would mean that a storm would be arriving soon, a storm was going to follow her and that would affect her as well as another who already tried to run from another storm...
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That's it for today guys and I hope liked it because now! DEERY HAS ENTERED THE STORY! Yep! She's gonna play a role in this act! She's been one of my favorite background characters in early Volumes and it's sad there are not a lot of stories about her (ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: New ship - Jaune X Deery!). Though she won't be shipped with Jaune (Not in this story at least!) she will be fun to write for and I hope to include her in other stories!
Also, while I haven't set anything in stone, and while focusing on more of my current stories, I have planned out a JauneXGillian Story and am thinking of a lot more but the main one coming sometime down the line should be the JauneXGillian, and if you don't know Gillian, look her up, a pretty interesting character from the RWBY books!