Jaune Arc clutches his chest, his eyes snapping open turning acid yellow.
"Jaune?!" Amethyst Cazador stands up, a worried frown painting her face.
Preto Hele-Nui palms the boy's shoulder, "Wha–"
The boy shakes his head, tears leaking from the corner of his eyes, "My… my family…" He stumbles up, the chair he sat on scratch against the ground, ice spreading from his feet, "They… they… oh gods!" He grits his teeth and shifts, the Beta rushes towards the opening in the kitchen.
"Jaune!" Preto calls out, he runs after him with the two Slayers not far behind.
Jaune ignores the call and falls to his hands and gallops through the forest, the greenery turning little more than a blur.
A minute passes and another but he reaches his home barreling through the opened door, he freezes at the sight. Blood stains the floor, the dining table is crooked, and most of the seats are lying haphazardly on the ground.
His father lays on the table, the top half of his head missing. His mother spread eagle on the ground, her neck sliced open.
"No… no, please no…" Jaune staggers before falling to his knees, "NO!" He punches the ground, the wooden floor splintering under his strength, ice spikes growing from the impact. "~RRRAAGHHAH!~"
The roar that escapes his throat rocks the house's foundation, frost spreads across the ceiling and the rest of the room.
His black skin turns a deep blue while his yellow irises turn a bright green and his black claws morph into a crystal white. He yanks on the string that connects him to his Alpha and turns, galloping out towards the direction of the monster.
Every prance leaves verglas behind him.
The world becomes a haze as he pushes himself as hard as he can, Orleans quickly becomes a memory. Jaune rushes up a hill and finds the Alpha in all its unholy glory standing in front of some cabin.
The beast's eyes glow brightly, a noiseless order set before him. Her first Beta shakes the order off before slamming his hands against the ground, a glacier forms, trying to skewer the monster only for them to leap out of the way.
A roar escapes his mouth and a beam of power escapes, almost hitting his opponent only for them to twist out of the way.
A roar of their own leaves the monster's maw, stunning Jaune for a moment. He feels the ice in his veins shutter, trying to retreat.
The boy doesn't allow it.
Though it does give the Alpha time to rush at them, wrapping their arms around his form, their claws sink into his side.
The Beta bites into her shoulder and ice glazes across them. The beast throws the boy off and he rolls across the ground.
He slashes at the air and arcs of pale blue energy leaves his claw tips, the monster leaps up and towards the boy who smashes his hands against the floor to form a wall of jagged ice.
The Alpha slides to a stop and Jaune springs towards them, the two roll around the ground. His fangs and claws bury inside his creator, ignoring the agony from their retaliation.
Ice glazes over her and almost like poison she slows down.
"You're dead!~" The Beta promises.
The creature fell onto her knees, a shutter running across their grotesque body.
"Jaune…" The Alpha shrinks and turns their head to look at the boy, revealing the face of his oldest sister.
His eyes widened, he loosened his iron grip and his fangs shrink out of her flesh, "Rouge?" Before he can process what he's seeing, she throws him off and embed her claws into his chest.
She smiles brightly down at the boy, "Nice try." The woman splits his chest open.
"ARGGGHH!" The male werewolf bellows, his eyes rolling in the back of his head, he can feel the air caressing his exposed innards, "ag..g..h…"
"You really impressed me Jaune, when I bit you all those months ago I had no idea how much you would grow, it was like you were born to be a werewo–" Rouge suddenly twists around and grabs a silver headed arrow.
Henry stood a couple dozen feet away with a scowl across their face, Amethyst stood beside him her own bow held up in the ready but her face was filled with disbelieving dismay.
Along the shaft of the arrow in Rouge's hand is a cylinder device which blinks before exploding, smoke billows out in all directions.
"Ugmph!" The Alpha coughs, she tries to wave the smoke away, her lungs start wheezing as she stumbles to her feet.
"How do you like the taste of Wolfsbane?" Henry asks as he and Amethyst begin shooting off more arrows.
As the Alpha runs to escape the cloud Preto comes running in, dragging Jaune away as quickly as he can.
The boy groans by the jostling.
"You're okay kid. You're okay."
As they leave the battleground the man kneels beside the Beta and silver rays escape his eyes consuming the other's body.
The wounds on the younger werewolf close, leaving no mark but the pain persists, "There you go."
Jaune sighs in pure relief, "Tha..nk yo..u." He closes his eyes and passes out.
Preto rolls his eyes, "You don't have to thank me, you brat."
"AgH!"
A scream echoes and the Omega's face falls, he quickly removes his clothes before transmuting. He runs back onto the battlefield, as he enters the fight he sees Henry clutching the bloody stump where his right leg used to be while Amethyst is desperately jumping around the area shooting out those smoke bomb arrows filled with the wolfsbane concoction, creating a protective barrier of sorts from the Alpha who has shifted again.
Preto rushes in and leaps onto the monster's back, slashing at her exposed side.
The rogue beast growls and shakes him off, turning towards him with rage clear on her face.
Jaune eyes flutter open and finds himself not on the grassy plane of the hill but a beach, the ocean waves crashing near him. Sitting up, he looks around in confusion and finds a horizon of a jungle of sorts filled with odd and exotic plants of bright colors; Pink, orange, yellow, red, purple, white.
The entire rainbow.
And in the distance is a humongous tree that seems to reach the sky, "Whoa." He mutters.
Standing up, the Beta finds himself walking into the jungle and can't help but examine the strange flora.
"Chu!Chu! ChU!"
Jaune turns the hiccuping clucking and finds himself thrown to the ground, soft fur rubbing against his face, "He… wha…" The boy pushes whatever jumped onto him away and blinks.
A jackalope stares back at him, its stand larger than him, around seven feet tall with a wide back similar to a horse. She has white fur with dark gold paws that match the crescent mark on her snot with pale golden eyes.
Her dark gold horns stand straight up and branch out, longer than her ears.
"Crocea Mors?"
The jackalope hops around before smothering the teen honking in glee, Jaune laughs and hugs her tightly.
"Looks like I'm dreaming again, huh?"
Crocea Mors shakes her head and bows low, thumping her right front paw.
"You… want me to ride you?" The boy asks, the jackalope nods.
The werewolf hesitates but follows the command. As soon as he's on she begins running and soon they find themselves in front of a cave of some kind.
The manifestation of the Arc weapon thumps her back legs and Jaune holds on tighter, wondering what the creature is doing.
A low howl escapes the cave and the boy straightens. Slowly, a wolf only slightly smaller than the jackalope walks out, its head bowed, looking shyly at Jaune only to look away with its tail curled inward and its ears laying flat against its head.
It… it looks absolutely beautiful with sun gold fur and a white puffy chest that matches the tips of its toes on both sets of paws.
"My inner wolf?" Jaune mutters in shock as he pushes himself off Crocea Mors, he stutters forward and raises his hand only for the wolf to flinch back.
He freezes, "You're afraid of me?" He questions in disbelief. "No… no I'm… I'm afraid of you…"
His inner wolf whines and lays on the ground, moving on it- his back, exposing his belly.
"Oh my gods, Preto… Preto was right, wasn't he? I have absolutely no reason to be afraid of you do I?" Jaune mutters and huffs in shocked amusement, he falls to his knees covering his face with his palms and laughs, he laughs so hard he cries.
The teen feels a rough tongue licking the back of his hand, he lowers them and stares deeply into the… the kind eyes of the golden wolf. Jaune wraps his arms around his thick neck, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."
The wolf tails wag and he howls happily, snuggling into his neck.
Crocea Mors walks over and rubs her own head against theirs, purring in contentment.
The Beta closes his eyes and enjoys the softness of his companions only for his eyes to snap open, "Holy shit!" He pulls away and turns to Crocea Mors. "You're real?!"
Jaune groans, his eyes crack open only to widen in horror. He finds himself behind the cabin he fought in front of. He's inside a red circle connected to another and other; eight in total including his own.
In each circle is one of his sisters with a glazed look in their eyes along with the naked forms of Derek, his friend, and some woman. A line shoots out from each circle and forms another in the middle.
"Verte?! Bleue?! Indi! Igo!?" Jaune screams at them, he tries to stand up and reach them but finds his wrists along with his ankles shackled, linked together by a chain.
The boy tries to break out of them, a familiar fire burns through him only to scream, the flesh around his appendages blistering as if actual fire is pressed against his skin, "Silver?!"
"Look who's awake?" Rouge voice calls out, the boy twists around to look at her and sees her carrying a burnt body, still as naked as before.
"Why?!" He screams, he tries to shift again only to screech, "WHY! Why do all this?!"
The woman hums as she walks past Jaune who snaps at her ankles only to get a kick to the face.
He grunts but quickly shakes the pain off, "You killed our parents! You murdered our little sister and two other innocent people! WHY?!"
"You wouldn't understand, Jauney." The Alpha tells him as she lays the husk in the empty circle.
The Newborn roars but It comes out more like a yowl of a dying cat.
Rouge snickers at the sound before sighing, "I guess I do owe you an explanation, don't I, huh?"
He manages to push himself to his knees, "Rouge, whatever you're doing can't be worth it! It just can't be?!"
The beast wearing his sister's face snarls, shifting in a monstrous visage, "Don't pretend you have any idea what you are talking about!" She walks over and hauls him up by his throat.
The Beta tries to kick out but the attempt is weak, the woman rolls her eyes and drops the boy.
"I'm sure Preto told you all about his sister; Isabella." She starts moving behind Derek, who stands beside him, her nails glowing into claws, "I was her friend you know, her best friend. We told each other everything or… at least I thought we did." She rips his throat out.
Jaune's eyes widen as he feels a swell of power from Rouge's side of the bond between them.
Blood cascades from the bullies neck and the circle around him glows, the liquid moves towards the middle following the path laid out, washing over the charred corpse.
"After her family died she came to me, crying," The woman's voice became watery, mocking the dead Alpha, "Said how she had to leave, that it wasn't safe, that if I ever needed anything she was just a scroll call away." She walks over to the blue haired boy.
"No!" Jaune shouts as she rips his throat out.
Another swell of power and another river of blood washing over the corpse. She walks to the woman and the boy tries to shift again.
"AGGhHhH!" The Beta's eyes barely glow as the skin around his ankles and wrist swell, turning a ugly red.
"She was so upset, Jaune and like the good friend I was I tried to comfort her but then she attacked him!" Rouge exclaims with a scowl, "And then she left." She sinks her claws into the woman's jugular and tears. "I'm sure you know the rest."
Jaune screams as the Alpha walks behind Verte, "Rouge! Please! PLEASE! She's your sister! She loves you!"
"Not the love I need… or care about." Rouge gouges the flesh from the other's throat and the boy wails, "You see as I was struggling, lost at sea without a liferaft I began having dreams."
The younger werewolf burns trying to summon the wolf from within, a sulfur stench fills the area that grows stronger as he hears his oldest sister kill another of their kin.
"Raphael Hele-Nui, Isabella's uncle and victim to the slaughter, had entered my dreams. He began guiding him, helped me hone my gift and I fell in love."
Jaune screams, his eyes snapping open and acid yellow darken into a fiery orange.
"ScUch!"
The younger werewolf bellows as another of his sisters die at the hands of the oldest, his nails grow into claws only for his power to retreat once again at the excruciating pain, though not completely.
"But we couldn't be together. The love of my life was dead and there wasn't anything I could do about it, except that wasn't exactly true…" Rouge reveals as she steps behind the last of her sisters, "There was this magical ritual but I needed to be an Alpha for it to work, an Alpha with eight Betas."
Igo dies and the love sick woman steps behind him.
"I'm sure you noticed with that weird little ability of yours but every time I kill one of them my power increases. You see when an Alpha kills a Beta of their own creation they absorb their strength, adding it to their own and now you might be wondering how is this going to bring back Raphael, well that's where the magical circle comes in; the blood from my Betas will rejuvenate his body to peak condition, it'll be like he just freshly died and then-" Rouge hums in thought, "Actually this part may be a little confusing, has Preto explained Pain Absorption to you yet?"
Jaune remains quiet as he breathes heavily.
"Right well Pain Absorption is when one us literally takes the pain of another, in extreme uses it can even be used to boost another's healing but do that we sacrifice a bit of our power. What I'm going to do is sacrifice a whole lot of it, my Alpha Spark that has been supercharged by the death of my Beta's, that should be enough to bring him back from the other side." She smiles softly.
"Rouge." Jaune calls out.
The Alpha hums, looking down and is met by ruby red eyes.
"Shut the fuck up." The younger Alpha body expands, the shackles around his wrists and ankles burst open as what remains of his clothes tears off his body. Standing in his place is a six foot tall golden furred wolf.
Rouge leaps away in surprise, "Wha…what! Not only are you a Demon Wolf but also a True Alpha and you can transmutate?! Fucking really?!"
Jaune blurs and wraps his large body around the woman's, she shifts a moment later. The two tear into each other but the wounds inflicted onto the male Alpha are shallow compared to the ones on his female counterpart.
The rogue quickly realizes that he's deriving power from the bond they share but hesitates in breaking it.
Jaune rips off a chunk of her shoulder and the woman quickly comes to the realization that if she can kill him his power is her anyway and severs the link.
The wolf becomes noticeably weaker but that just means the two of them are fighting on equal ground.
The younger Alpha roars, the ground shakes under the force, Rouge flinches and Jaune blitzes forward, snapping his jaw around her thigh. He throws her into the cabin, the walls caving around her form.
The teen gallops forward only to twist to the side as the other leaps at him with her claws at the ready. Jaune bounds up and the two wrestle in midair.
Rouge kicks her brother away, the ground caving around his body and a cloud of dust explodes everywhere. She growls and sniffs the air, she lunges and embraces her siblings tightly, her fangs clenches at right his ear, tearing it off.
Jaune yelps and snaps at the back of her neck, shredding the flesh and muscle.
Rouge shakes the wolf off and tumbles him across the dirt before he could refocus the wolf is lifted up the ground and slams him back down, the older werewolf pushes forward making a trench with the other's body.
Jaune pierces her back with his claws and pulls, forcing the rogue to pull away, he quickly flips onto his paws only to freeze as his snout catches a familiar scent but no heartbeat. Turning to look, he sees Preto's body laying not so far away… torn in half.
He looks around and finds Henry with a leg missing and his stomach wide open, his guts spilt around him.
The Alpha whimpers, his legs losing their strength and he drops. The wolf's head finds the last victim, Amethyst, her body leaning against the tree, her head gone.
"SaCk!"
Rouge's jaws find themselves around his throat and clenches. Blood pours out and he thumps at the ground in panic, he howls, an instinctual signal for aid that no one could respond to.
No human or werewolf at least.
Crocea Mors, the Arc familial weapon that lays forgotten near the ritual site with Jaune's clothes, glows a pale gold, her body shaking with an unseen force. The metal reverberates, the dull white turning bright like snow and the edges sharpen turning gold while the bronze Arc symbol follows suit before morphing to resemble a jackalope with a thick circle around the image.
The bronze pommel of the sword along with the guard turns gold as the latter becomes much more intricate in design.
She floats up before shooting towards the call of her master, it turns perpendicular to the ground and the sheath unfolds into a shield, ramming into Rouge's side.
The older werewolf hits the ground not once, not twice, not thrice but four times.
The true Alpha struggles to his feet and stares at the weapon that moves in front of him. The glow around her body brightens, a memory resurfaces and the younger Alpha transmutes back into his human form.
"~RRAgGhH!~"
The boy quickly grabs the handle of the blade, unsheathing it, revealing the now shining saber with the fuller matching the color of the guard and pommel.
As his sister rushes towards him with unsteady movement, he slashes it towards her and the spirit of Crocea Mors is unleashed in all her glory.
The two meet, the jackalope stopping her dead, using her horns as a barrier.
Jaune grabs the shield from the air but as he touches it, the edges of the heater expands out into a circular shape; transforming into a rotella.
The older Alpha throws the energy construct to the side only to meet with a slab of metal to her face. She stumbles from the hit and then a hand enters her chest, clutching her heart.
Rouge shifts back, her eyes staring deeply into her brother's, "Jaune…" She mutters, shock at the situation she found herself clear in her voice. "I… I lov–"
He clenches his fist before pulling it out of the cavity he created.
Jaune feels a rush of power, his irises turn red and the veins across his body glow the same shade, "Go straight to the netherworld." He spits at the corpse before falling to his butt.
Crocea Mors spirit walks over and lays down, resting her head on his lap. Tears well up in his eyes and he screams as the day catches up to him.
His mom and dad are dead. Preto is dead. Amethyst is dead.
His sisters are–
"Fuck! Saphron!" His hand clenches his hair, he looks over the dead bodies, turning around he stares at the ruined cabin where the bodies of his sisters lay with the mayor's son and two others, "I can't explain this… how do I explain this?"