Blake was honestly surprised when she realised that Jae had been completely honest about his intentions to study with her; she had set the ground rules on there being no flirting and was surprised that he took her seriously with each study session roughly every other day of the week. This time she had found him sat at a nearby desk in the library with a stack of books. Books that ranged from Demonic novels and some labeled as "Demonic Folklore and superstitions" though it looked like he was turning up either dead ends or going in circles as he had a look of annoyance on his face.
"Good to see you're on a head start." Blake would remark as Jae looked up from a faded copy on famous demons and sighed, patting the desk so she could sit across from him, once she set her own books down and scanned the titles he picked up; she quickly noticed where his annoyance came from; "I think you've got the right idea but you're looking in the wrong places in terms of books, Jae." Blake explained as she held up a random hardback book. "Demons were considered a part of humanity so it might shed some light if we look into Human history." She points out and then held up a finger in a "Wait here" message as she headed over to one of the taller shelves and picked up some random books.
"The wrong spots, huh?" He would ask himself, though considering the last book he was trying to comb for details was about which former ruler or conqueror was rumoured to be a Demon, he was able to turn up some decent nuggets of info here or there; including one such notorious Demon warrior in the past by the name of Sparda.
There was a sudden loud thump as Blake came back with an armful of thick books; "So…I figured that we can start with some of the basics and I came across this….the three different types of Demon that used to be around…" Blake would explain as she opened up what looked like an encyclopaedia on not just Demons, but also on Humans and Faunus.
"Right, that one I do know about….the first archetype of them are called "The Dormants"…." Jae would say and pointed to a figure that looked like a human with a dark mark that looked similar to the markings that showed on a Beowulf's head along the back.
Blake began to read out rest of the passage; "These were the most commonly seen Demons….some people even thought that they were just deviations of regular people because their "quirks" weren't skin deep….It looks like these people had a small advantage; some of them could have enhanced hearing….some could have a higher durability or heal faster then others and some would just inherit the violent tendencies belonging to them…." Blake explained to Jae's growing concern.
"Violent tendencies?" he would ask her as he put the book down; "Though it's not much of a shock; considering how many of these books talk about how a lot of Demons were either conquerors, warlords or even just famous warriors." he shrugged as he then ran his finger down towards the second passage.
"The Second types are called....Recessives?" Blake would read it in confusion; "I guess it must be Atlas Speak for the next stage….It says that this particular batch have more physical aspect to their mutations." she said as she held up a book; showing a sketch of a woman with a bonelike mask that seemed to have melded with her skin along with long tusks jutting out of her lower mouth similar to a Boarbatusk.
"So they have physical changes and these minor boosts on top of that? Honestly Blake, that sounds a little unfair for us humans…." He would remark as a joke but Blake looked at him with an unamused look on her face before rolling her eyes "Great, another joker….".
"As far as what I've read before, it's the same as typical heritage between parents and children….sometimes you inherit one part more then the others and the rare time you get both…..But from what I can tell, the Recessives are fairly uncommon….There's about one Dormant type demon per 15 regular people and the Recessives tend to be one every 45…" Blake explained as she then lay a focused gaze on him; "So answer ME this Jae, why exactly are you interested in this subject? Demons haven't been seen in decades and even when they were around, they weren't exactly the nicest people."
Jae would then glance up from the book; "Well….why exactly do YOU like reading books? it's oddly interesting to see how these people just disappeared…even when they have all these abilities and features that can help them like some traits do with Faunus." he explained as Blake could see him actively becoming invested with this topic and in an odd way; she was happy that she could talk with someone who had the same kind of fascination with these books…even though they weren't ones that she typically read herself all that often.
"I guess I see what you mean…though that still doesn't answer the question about why Demons specifically?" Blake pointed out that Jae had unintentionally deflected the question.
Jae had a wistful look on his face that looked almost sad; "Well….I guess I heard that word around for almost all my time as a kid….My parents used to say it a lot….I think it was to warn me to keep being a good kid and what would happen if I stay out late or disobeyed them." Jae explained as he then noticed the third excerpt and the final type of Demons….and it appeared Blake did too.
"The Final type of Demons; the top of the archetypes and by far the rarest of all…."The Fullblooded" type; these iterations of Demon tend to be the most well known…and the most powerful; they're the kind of monsters that those stories you were told to be careful of." Blake would explain as she kept reading; "It doesn't have a whole lot there but before they all died out; you could count the number of Fullblooded Demons on the fingers of one hand….Sparda the Demon Lord was said to have been able to turn into a monstrous warrior when he fought in the war…."
"A monster? that sounds crazy….." Jae commented as he looked at Blake and noticed she was being serious about what she said.
"Truthfully….There's no hard facts about Fullblooded Demons….those stories tend to be inconsistent in the books so no one actually knows what is true or not….the only true thing about them is that them, the Dormants and the Recessives all share this." she turned a book around and showed him that same marking he saw before; a man with a bright red marking along his neck and a woman with the same red marks along her back; "All three types of demons tend to show this same type of mark on their bodies; they're bright red in colour and they often look like the red etchings on the Grimm masks….kind of like a birth mark." Blake mused about it as she eyed the sketches but the bell rang as it was time for their last class of the day….Practiced Duels with Glynda overseeing and his opponent so happened to be fellow team leader Cardin Winchester, trying to focus himself and remember what he had practiced over time.
——-a few days prior——
"You can't use Aura….at all?" Ruby would ask as her, Jae and both of their teams were in the training area on their day off/study day, Jae had finished explaining to the group about his experience in the forest when the teams were made.
"Yeah….ever since I was a kid, I always had trouble with it...Though I can use my Semblance pretty well…Any time that I try pushing my Aura to work just fizzles out." Jae explained to the group while they tried to understand how someone like Jae could use a semblance like he could but generating a shield of Aura was unrealistic for him.
"Wait…if you can't use Aura, then that means all those hits you took during our first training mission…." Yang would start to say before Jae finished it for her.
"Those took some time to heal." he laughed a little but the concerned look on their faces seemed to make the atmosphere uncomfortable to deal with; "B-Besides it's not a big deal, I still got back up." he would try to assure them with little success as Pyrrha, Ruby and Ren all shared the same look of concern.
"Well….We're here at the training yard so let's see if we can kickstart this bad boy into fighting shape." Yang would say to try pumping everyone up as they deliberated on the best way to help Jae with his Aura. Everyone had their own categories for help; Yang and Nora wanted to test the "Trial by Fire" method until he learns, Pyrrha and Ren wanted to try with exercises and basic techniques, Weiss was still trying to figure out whether she was impressed about Jae's body for handling that much damage or annoyed that Jae was as reckless as Yang was.
"Let's try the basics first before you two accidentally kill him." Blake said with a dry tone as she knew that Yang tended to get overzealous and as far as Nora was concerned, it was better to be safe then sorry.
"Jae, follow me." Pyrrha would say as she grabbed Jae's wrist and guided him towards a part of the gym that they could use for the two of them to focus; luckily besides the 8 of them, no one else was around as most of the other students were having fun in Vale or studying in their dorms, "I'm not sure if this will work but I think it is something that we have to try at least….so just….close your eyes for a moment and let me take the lead on this." Pyrrha explained as she watched him close his eyes, once he did; she slowly moved herself closer to him before gently resting her hand on his chest to make the connection….however Pyrrha was also trying to stop herself from doing anything else once she felt his chest on her hand and his breathing slowly pressing against her fingers.
"He has a nice chest…It'd be nice to rest my head o- NO Pyrrha, this is meant to help Jae not do…whatever you're thinking of doing!" she would mentally admonish herself as she tried to fight the crimson coating her cheeks and the butterflies in her stomach and began to recite; "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." Pyrrha would say in a quiet tone, almost like she was praying to herself, she gazed up at Jae who was a little taller then she was and felt her heart start to beat faster as she found her possible chance to do something she had been thinking of for a while. She felt herself leaning up to kiss him for a brief moment but before their lips could connect, the courage to do it along with her energy quickly left as she felt herself slump backward to catch her breath.
The ritual had started with their aura beginning to light up with Pyrrha's showing as red like her hair and Jae's seemed to be….odd; what would've been a colour like green or blue was instead a faint silver colour that seemed to cover him and flickered a little like a dying lightbulb before finally dissipating.
"H-Hey, Pyrrha….you okay?" Jae would ask as his eyes opened and he saw Pyrrha looking winded; he had felt her hand on his chest earlier and her words echoed in his head during the exchange but truthfully he felt no different.
"I tried to see if unlocking your Aura would help it flow better; but it looks like it's been unlocked already…I could feel something there, your aura is awakened but it feels off…I'm not sure how to describe it but something feels out of place." Pyrrha said before she started walking back with Jae to meet with everyone else
The others tried their own methods after Pyrrha got her wind back; Blake tried to get Jae's head into the right space to stimulate the flow of his aura, Weiss sat out helping and instead trained herself, Ren sat with Jae to see if meditation was the right help.
"So we've tried mental exercises, meditation, studying and Nora shooting a grenade at him to see if Fight or Flight works….and we got nothing…." Ruby would grumble as she was struggling to think of other methods to help.
"Well…we've tried everything so maybe I should give it a shot." Yang said with a grin; quickly grabbing Jae by the collar and practically dragging him towards the arena with everyone quickly following after; most of it out of concern that Yang was going to break the training equipment or Jae, the two of them stretched out as Jae was still uncertain about the idea while Yang was pumped up.
"Yang, are you really sure that this is a good idea? you can use Aura and he can't." Ruby asked nervously as she really didn't want to see what'd happen from this.
"Don't worry, I won't be using Ember Celica….besides we've been down the other roads and they were a dead end, maybe a good adrenaline rush from a fight will get the Aura flowing!" Yang said to assure her younger sister but she was also in her competitive mode so she was more then willing to see what Jae could do bare handed. "So….Ground rules Jae: No Weapons, no using your semblance and no touching the hair." Yang declared to Jae as she got into her boxer's stance.
"You got it Yang, let's see what you got!" Jae would smirk as he readied himself when Yang started to rush for him, stepping back as he used his forearms to block Yang's quick jabs and focused swings before pushing forward and using a high kick to retaliate.
Yang was quick enough to see the kick coming and used her own kick to catch him off guard as the two of them began a back and forth of kicks both high and low to each other.
"Wow, he's actually pretty good." Ruby remarked as Yang was the better hand to hand specialist of her and Ruby but she could see that Yang was quickly getting the upper hand as her elbow came around and aimed for Jae's chest.
Catching him right in the ribs; Jae heaved as he took a few tentative steps back to steady himself; "Damn, Yang….you pack a punch but you're gonna have to try harder to make me…."elbow" out of this fight." he would wheeze as he got air back in his lungs and smirked a little at his pun.
"Not by a long shot, buddy but I have to hand it to you…" Yang taunted him as she rushed forward at him with a twin fisted strike to try discombobulating him but was swiftly blocked with Jae's arms and then hit him with a headbutt to knock him back; "You certainly know how to get "a-Head" of the curve!"
Both Ruby and Blake watched the two but they both seemed to have the same thought in mind as the jokes made them react in horror: "Oh no, there's two of them now….." while Yang smirked back at Jae as this was starting to get fun.
With a wince of pain and sucking air through his teeth as Yang's head struck his, he was trying his hardest to pull whatever Aura he had to the surface while trying to block each of Yang's hits as they came at him; with a sudden upward palm strike, he hit Yang square in the chin and made her stagger backward. "Come on, Yang! Is this all you got? because this is just getting good." he would say with a wide smile and a hyperactive tone as the sound of his heart pounding in his ears and the fact that his body wasn't aching anymore meant that the adrenaline was kicking in on his brain….or so he thought at least.
That taunt seemed to get to the Blonde as the two's fight was getting more fierce with swifter and harder hits, the others were starting to cheer them on; both for Yang who was proving to be the best in her element but also the fact that they could see Jae's silvery Aura starting to flicker on his body more and more until it finally started to stick.
"Jae! YOU GOT IT, YOU'RE GETTING IT NOW!" Nora would yell out in encouragement as Jae felt his focus waver as he saw Yang moving much faster now; she was right on top of him with her burning hair and red eyes active….It looked like she had gotten into it as well but Jae's response was too slow as a haymaker swung straight towards Jae's face.
—Some time later—
Jae felt like his skull was full of lead as he started trying to wake himself up, with a dazed and aching groan he tried to open his eyes when he felt a bunch of people staring down at him.
Jae was collapsed on the ground and on his side as he felt woozy and the bottom part of his face felt weird. "Guys? what ha-" Jae groggily moaned as he tried to get up but Pyrrha nudged him back down. "Jae! Thank the gods you're okay….We were worried that you weren't going to wake up!" Pyrrha sighed in relief as she looked like she had been panicking.
Jae however wasn't sure what exactly happened, all he knew was that his nose felt bunged up and his body ached; "What do you mean? I just got knocked out right?" Jae would ask in confusion up to Pyrrha.
"Alright, Blake's gone with Weiss to get Professor Goodwitch, Ren and Nora are getting more i…..JAE!" Ruby would explain as she came back into the room and rushed towards him but yelled once she saw that he was awake; "Jae, what happened back there? you were doing great but then…" Ruby was staring in shock as she mumbled off her sentence.
"Jae?" he heard Yang as she then saw he was awake; it looked like she had been crying as well because her eyes were bloodshot, she quickly rushed over and tightly hugged him; "Jae, I'm so sorry! I got caught up in the fight and I activated my Semblance by accident! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" she would try to apologise.
Jae was surprised to see Yang worked up like this but he reached an arm around to return the hug but winced a little as he ached; "Yang, you don't have to apologise, these things happen in….oh…." he said to reassure her when he craned his neck back and saw that the wall behind him was badly cracked.
Weiss and Blake were still away but Ren and Nora were back and equally as worried; "Jae…what exactly do you remember from the fight?" Ren would ask Jae.
"Well….I remember sparring with Yang, things were getting pretty heavy and I felt all tingly….but then I saw Yang with bright hair and red eyes…then everything went black….I'm assuming it has to do with that crack in the wall." Jae said to try and recount everything.
Pyrrha however was able to fill him in; "While you two were fighting, we could see your aura activate for a brief moment but when Yang got….overexcited, her semblance activated and she managed to hit you hard…."
"Then what's with this cloth?" Jae asked as he reached up to touch at the cold, wet cloth placed against his face.
"I uh….I ended up swinging a haymaker straight in the kisser….as your aura broke…." Yang started to explain as Jae moved the cloth away; "….and your nose…."
Pyrrha and Ruby went white as a sheet, Nora and Ren were both wincing and Yang just had a look of shock and mortification when they saw what was underneath; Jae had a black eye and a swollen lip from the fight but the worst offender looked to be a broken nose, it looked like Yang's fist had squashed it in and now made it crooked.
"Man….Yang got you good…." Nora would say jokingly as she tried to break the awkward silence that hung over them as Jae looked at each of them and winced as he brought his hand up to touch his nose and feel it.
"Ah! man, it's really out of place…" Jae muttered to himself; "It's alright, I can fix it." he would say casually as he grabbed the cloth and sat himself against the wall.
"Wait….did he say he'd fix it?" The collective thought among the people there was shared as they watched Jae put the cloth in his mouth and then realised what Jae was about to do; Ruby had clenched her eyes shut and covered her ears, Pyrrha turned away while Ren, Yang and Nora were both wanting to turn away but couldn't.
"Wait, Jae! Professor Goodwitch is coming and we can get you to the Medical bay!" Yang would start to say but Jae had already placed the cloth in his mouth to bite down on and placed both thumbs on either side of his nose before taking a few sharp breaths.
"Guys, we've found Goodwitch and she's going to help Jae get t-" Blake had entered the room with Weiss and a concerned looking Goodwitch as a muffled yell and a sickening CRUNCH could be heard as Jae forcefully pushed his nose back into place, the mortified looks and yells of everyone involved spoke volumes as even Glynda was more then a little alarmed at walking in on seeing this.
"Students, what in the world are y- MR. CIELO!" She yelled out in shock as she saw the young man basically crunch his nose back into place before rushing over to him; "This is incredibly reckless and very dangerous to do on your own, what were you thinking?!" Glynda would lecture him sternly as she was in full alert mode as she kneeled down to examine him, though when she assessed him and looked him over, it looked like the boy was starting to heal already; it was slow but she couldn't tell if it was his Aura working or something else…She helped him to his feet and started to briskly escort him towards the sick bay.
"I think it's time we had a little talk, Mr. Cielo." Glynda would say seriously as she shut the door, leaving the two of them alone in the medical bay.