Jaune Arc swings the blade of Crocea Mors in the front yard of Preto's house. He struggles keeping the heater shield up as he cuts the air, not only that but he keeps tripping over his feet, stumbling with almost every swing.
The boy sighs and stops, closing his eyes in frustration. He doesn't know what he's doing, not even a little and it's not like he can teach himself.
He tried before watching sword fighting tutorials on Dust Tube; he could still feel the utter embarrassment of trying to show off to his parents, desperate hoping they would change their minds only to have every little flaw pointed out, them telling him how dangerous it was to train without supervision before having his scroll confiscated so they could lock Dust Tube and similar websites behind a parental lock.
Jaune can feel his frustration build, the familiar heat of his powers spreading, he grips the sword in his hand tighter. The sensation of the familial sword in his hand immediately calms him.
Things have changed though, haven't they? Jaune isn't under his parents thumb and his mentor has a scroll with no parental lock… maybe.
No, definitely.
Jaune sheaths the blade in the shield and folds it into a scabbard with a push of a button above where his left arm is positioned. He removes his arm from the straps and hangs the weapon on his baldric; a belt made to hold swords or similar weapons that Preto gifted him.
He walks into the house and sees Preto Hele-Nui sitting in his rocking chair, drinking a jar of moonshine.
"What's up?" The man greets, "How's training going?"
Jaune sits on the couch and laughs with a hint of self deprecation, "Badly. I don't know what the netherworld I'm doing but I was wondering if I can borrow your scroll?"
Preto raises an eyebrow before his confusion clears up, "Going to watch some tutorials?"
The younger of the duo hangs his head, "Yeah."
Laughing, he reaches into his pocket and tosses his scroll towards the boy who catches it out of the air, "No need to be so down, it's a pretty good idea especially for you, though I doubt it would have worked if you were human."
"What do you mean?" Jaune asks, wondering how him being a werewolf would help.
The man rolls his eyes, "Come on kid, don't tell me you haven't noticed?" Getting a blank look in return Preto sits up with a sigh. "A Couple days ago you told me how you were practicing moves you saw on t.v and movies, right? How it didn't take you more than a couple tries to get them right?"
The boy hums in agreement before realizing the implications of what the man was saying.
"I see you get it. Like I said before, we process information much more efficiently than ordinary people. Even someone with their Aura unlocked wouldn't be able to do a backflip on their first, second or even twentieth try but you could."
"Oh."
"In fact," Preto starts, "look up Pyrrha Nikos, she's the three time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament and fights with similar weapons; watch all her fights, how she moves, how she reacts, and how she improves. Put yourself in her shoes, her battles, imagine you're the one fighting in her place, that should really help you."
Jaune gives a slow nod, "Alright." He opens the device and looks for the icon for Dust Tube, he presses on it. The boy quickly types the name he just heard in the search bar and hundreds of videos appear. "Whoa."
The teen looks for her first fight and clicks on it.
Noah Arc stares at the empty mantle with hard eyes. The impotent rage he felt when he first came home and realized it was missing had cooled allowing for his more rational mind to take hold.
Nothing else was missing, only Crocea Mors and while the weapon held extreme emotional value to him and his family its monetary value was pretty much zero. He could only think of one person who would take it and only that.
Jaune. His son was alive and apparently still in Orleans, hiding from his family.
A part of Noah was so angry at the boy for making them think he was dead, even if he probably didn't know that's the conclusion they came to. Couldn't he think of anyone besides himself? Was his childish dream so goddamn important that he would abandon his family?
Didn't Noah and Jupiter teach him better than that?
The man closes his eyes and rubs his face in exhaustion. Where could that boy be?
He feels two hands place themselves on his shoulder, rubbing them, "You okay?" Jupiter asks softly.
"I don't know. I'm so happy he's alive but…"
"I know." She mutters as she crouches down and circles her arms around his neck, "I know."
"He doesn't even know how to swing a sword, why take it?" Noah asks.
Jupiter scoffs, "You know Jaune, he loves that fucking sword and if he wants to go to Beacon then he needs a weapon, so why not the family ancestral blade?" She questions sarcastically before sighing. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know." The father grits out, "I searched the forest again but I couldn't find him, I released so much Aura trying to sense him that I practically became a lighthouse for the Grimm. We're going to be lucky if only a few dozen of them come."
Jupiter hums.
"I think we underestimated Jaune's intelligence. Of course he wouldn't just run off without a weapon or food, no he's still in Orleans."
"He's not with Amethyst or Edward, we talked with both of them and we know they weren't lying when they said they didn't see him." She gently reminded him of her Semblance. "And he didn't have any other friends than them, so where could he be hiding?"
The two sat silently, thinking deeply before the woman started to recall a long forgotten fact.
"Wasn't there a family who used to live in the Forest of Orleans? Rouge used to go there all the time to hang out with that strange girl?"
Noah's eyes widened, "But I… I searched that forest; top to bottom. Three times! I didn't see a house."
"You must have just missed it, I mean it's a pretty big forest. It surrounds all of Orleans after all, you couldn't have scoured every inch."
The father huffs and stands up, he practically stomps to the door only to be stopped by his wife's hand around his wrist. He turns to look at her in confusion.
"Noah…" Her face is filled with conflicting emotions, "We drove Jaune off, he ran away from us, hidden from us. What are we going to do, go to the house and drag him out? Keep an even closer eye on him?" She questions. "What then when he turns seventeen and we can't just drag him home? That if we do, we'd be the ones in the wrong? Lock him in his room until he loses the will to live?"
Noah closes his eyes tightly, "Then what?"
"I…" Jupiter feels tears fall from her eyes, she lets her husband wrist and wipes them away, "I don't know."
His breath shutters, he hugs the woman he shared his everything with tightly, "When did everything go so wrong?"
Unaware by the two adults, their voices had carried throughout the house and were heard by all their children.
Many of them felt relieved that their brother was safe and had some sort of shelter. They hoped he would come to his senses soon.
And some, some had other plans.
Violette Arc waits till nightfall when she's sure her whole family is asleep and silently climbs out of her bed. She slips on her shoes and grabs her scroll off her desk before pocketing it, then she tiptoes towards her door and opens it as gently as she possibly could before walking out, closing it with the same softness.
The girl climbs down the stairs, towards the entrance of her home and slowly twists the knob open, when she walks out she closes the door behind her with a kind pull. Violette takes a deep, calming breath and jogs towards the forest.
She wouldn't rest until she finds her big brother and drags him home. As she reaches the tree line she takes out her scroll and opens it before turning the flashlight on.
Violette calls out to her brother, as loud as her voice can accomplish. Over and over again.
She does it until her voice is hoarse and scratchy, until a sound can barely pass her lips but even then she continues her mission.
The girl isn't sure how long she's been walking or in what direction but that doesn't stop her.
"SnAp!"
Violette turns swiftly, "j..a..u..ne." Her face falls in relief only to drop in absolute horror.
The Alpha werewolf stares at her with cold red eyes before their face splits in a heart stopping smile and the girl's throat finds its power.
"AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!"
She runs, she runs as fast as her legs can carry her. Her legs almost immediately start hurting, she's been walking for what feels like days but she can't slow down.
If she slows down, she's dead.
Violette almost slips but she quickly finds her footing and continues her sprint through the forest. Tears start to run down her face, broken cries barely escaping her throat.
She can't die. She can't!
She's too young! She's not ready to die!
Her foot catches a branch and the pre teen trips, her body thumps hashly against the ground. She crawls at the dirt, trying to climb to her feet but is pushed down.
"a..ug..ah.." A whimper escapes her throat.
"RAgGH!~"
A roar reverberates and the pressure against Violette's back disappears.
Looking up she sees Jaune, on top of the beast. Though he looks different; his face is harsher, wider. His nails and teeth are longer, deadlier.
He looks like a wild animal.
Jaune lays on his back, feeling the moon's light on his face through the broken ceiling. He feels sleep trying to overtake him and he doesn't fight its welcoming embrace.
As he closes his eyes his heart suddenly clenches, he sits up with wide terrified eyes and blinks with confusion. He feels his wolf claw at his insides and he has a terrible overwhelming sense of dread, "Violette…"
Jaune shifts and jumps to his feet, he jumps out of the broken window and starts running with all his might. He falls to his hands and gallops through the greenery, his speed almost doubling.
'More.' The boy demands of the creature beneath his skin, 'More!' His eyes burn and it feels like fire consumes his irises. 'MORE!'
He turns into a blur of pure speed, guided by an indescribable pull in his chest and he sees a blood boiling sight, "RAgGH!~" Jaune leaps at the Alpha and pushes them off his sister.
He claws at them, his fangs trying desperately to sink into their flesh.
The Alpha pushes him off and twists back on their feet, they rush at him. The beast raises its mighty arm and tries to sweep at him.
Jaune rolls to the side, missing the attack by a hair's breadth, their claws digging into the floor. The boy kicks with all his strength at the other's exposed jaw; once, twice, and-
The Alpha snaps its maw around the teens ankle and the bones crack under their power.
"AraGH!" Jaune screams, the heat in his veins cool but he quickly pushes past the agony and tries to embed his claws into their back only for the attack to be rebuffed by the thick hide.
He tries to hammer them in, swinging his arms with all his might but his claws shatter from the attempt.
The Alpha, seemingly tired of his effort, raises him up high and slams him back down, the ground cracking under him.
The wolf within the boy whimpers and retreats. Jaune tries to summon it, bringing it back to the forefront of his being but finds the task a losing game.
The truly monstrous werewolf pushes their face against his own and, "~RRRAAAGGHHH!~"
Jaune's eyes roll in the back of his head, his vision turning dark. An invisible thread linking the boy to the Alpha thickens into a rope and the wolf is dragged by the scruff of its neck from the back of his being right into the driver's seat.
It tries to resist, tries to escape the hold around it until a command is given, one that can't be heard by the ears but by the spark of power resting in the boy's very soul that was given to him by the creature above him. '
Its body stills without its input, without its will. The Alpha moves out of his field of vision.
The beast walks to a frozen Violette who sobs as they look at her, she tries to stand up only for it to disappear from her sight. The girl feels' hot breath on her neck and she comes to a startling realization, they could have caught up to her at any time.
The monster was just playing with her.
She sniffles in fright, Violette looks to Jaune and tries to call out to him, "J..a.."
The Alpha rears their head back and snaps their fangs around her shoulder.
"AGGHGGhHhhH!" The girl shrieks, fire filling her veins, her hands reach for the beast's mouth and desperately tries to push them off but her strength is found wanting.
The wolf's whole body twitches at the sound of its little sister's cries, the rope around his soul is pulled taunt.
The Alpha releases the girl and she drops to the ground, her whole body starts to convulse.
The Beta hears his sister's heart beat increase, it thumps against her chest like a jackhammer. Though her screams die off the newborn can hear the small whimpers that escape her sore throat.
It twitches again.
Violette feels an indescribable burning reach every corner of her being and she's sure her eyes catch aflame with how hot they are.
Another string around the Beta's soul, one that had pulled him to his sister when she was attacked, grows, mutates, and then… withers. The wolf snarls, it turns itself on its stomach and sees its sister's body glow, a deep purple surrounds her form.
The fire in her eyes extinguishes, her body stops burning, and her heart slows down before stopping.
"~
The rope that connects it to its marker snaps and the Beta lunges forward.
Its muscles bulge, its skin darkens, its claws grow back, sharper and longer as they turn pitch black while its teeth grow too big for its mouth to fit.
The wolf raises its arms high and brings them down like a mighty hammer, its claws sinking into its Alpha's chest, ripping their flesh from their body like tissue paper.
The rogue werewolf howls and tries to snap their jaws around the newborn's neck but it leans back. The Alpha takes the opening and swipes at its face, throwing the Beta off before running away.
The wolf lands hashly but finds itself back onto its feet almost immediately, they almost give chase only to stop when its acid eyes catch it- his sister's corpse. Jaune pushes his way through the red tinted fog, dragging the wolf into the cage of his soul.
He shifts back and rushes over to Violette's side, "No… no…no!" He presses his palm against her chest and tries desperately to revive her, he can hear her ribs crack but that doesn't stop him.
Jaune isn't sure how long he beats her heart for her but eventually he feels a hand on his shoulder, he growls and turns, swiping as he does so only for their wrist to be caught.
Preto stares at him with sad and consoling eyes, the boy's face falls.
"Please, don't make me stop." He begs.
"I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry." The man pulls him into a hug and the boy howls, the other joins.
They mourn at the loss of a young and innocent life, taken from the world too early.