Migraine's gone! Have actual medication for it now!
Haven't coughed blood from the dangerous amounts of ibuprofen I took so I'm probably ok!
Have an interlude to celebrate and also make up for lost time!
I'm not sure I like this one. Actually, no, I'm pretty sure I straight up
don't like this one. Honestly, the only bit I'm remotely happy with is everything before the first break, and that's just because it was fun to write, so I might be a little biased, but honestly, the rest was just written out of
spite.
The Mob storyline was the
original storyline, Hold It In, as a whole, was originally an MP100/RWBY fic, and I think its development was kind of... left by the wayside, alongside TZK and Preacher, since The Zombie Knight had probably the
least effect on the world, besides Mob and Preacher, which were the only 'Exalt' options, so to speak, they really didn't need much development. I don't think it was that I wasn't interested in them, I think I was just... the others captured my inspiration more than those three did.
Either way, this is probably something that... I would have benefitted from either writing
more of for practice, or writing a less context-sensitive piece. I don't think I'll be doing a second piece for Mob, not for... a while, I don't think. Then again, I thought that for Gurren Lagann, and I already have an idea for a second interlude for that, so obviously I can't predict these things.
Also Jesus Christ how did this get this long seriously I haven't written like this in
years-
|||
Psycho: 85%
Aura: 7.39e34
You're honestly not sure what possessed you to turn and throw the sap at Cardin.
No, seriously, a bit of psychic bullshit, you could have thrown it at Pyrrha from a completely different direction and had nobody be the wiser, nope, another great jape got away with scot-free by You and Cardin ft. The Gooniest Goons, but no,
something made you turn around and glaze him like a stack of pancakes!
… Granted, if you had thrown it fast enough the weight of it easily could have damaged her, like seriously that was about a kilo of sap, one good smack to the back of the head and you probably could have fractured her skull, so really Cardin's chest was the best place for it to go, what with the armour and STOP TRYING TO JUSTIFY YOUR IDIOCY YOU SUICIDAL KNUCKLEHEAD-
And now you're on the ground, being picked up by Cardin again, and by
god, you're glad your face is already numb! Your head lolls back, and you reflect on how heavy your nose feels right now.
"You know, that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy." He growls at you while his cohort watches, picking you up again, and bringing you closer to his face. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny,
pieces."
Somebody forgot to brush this morning and it ain't you ya feel
86%
Still, you feel compelled to say something in your defence.
"I don't care what you do to me... but you are
not messing with my team."
WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU FUCKING MORON
88%
No, seriously, where the
fuck did that come from!? By 'something in your defence' you meant grovelling and saying you had no idea why you did that so how about you just let me get another jar and we can try this again, right, right, no harm done, really, that'll wash off-
A tiny part of your mind decides now is the moment to inform you that Forever Fall sap, while great on breakfast cakes, ruins clothes like nothing else, and that's the reason your mother never let you or your sisters have it as kids.
Cardin chooses that same moment to
lift you off your freaking feet GOOD GOLLY SOMEBODY ATE THEIR PUMPKIN PETE'S AS A CHILD-
"What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?"
COME ON THIS IS YOUR CHANCE
GROVEL LIKE NO MAN WITH THEIR DIGNITY LEFT HAS EVER GROVELLED BEFORE-
You give him an apologetic little smile and begin to apologise profusely, but all you get from him is an angered growl, and another fist flying to your face.
Note: he has not stopped holding you up.
Weighing the desire of hurting him versus the chances of him finally breaking your nose in two, you decide it's not worth the risk and form a quick shield. His fist is arrested less than an inch from your face as if hitting a brick wall, and he drops you a moment later, grabbing his hand as he hisses in pain.
Ok! Managed not to hurt him! Great! Or at least, any more than he's already hurt himself!
It's an improvement!
You think.
Speaking of things you think, you think someone tried to kick you back down and failed miserably.
Before anyone can properly retaliate, you feel more than hear a low rumble through the forest, followed by heavy footfalls.
Then Ursa Major. The Grimm bursts through the trees, an enormous specimen, age forcing the growth of dozens of spines on its back covered from view by the rest of the goddamn Ursa as it leaps forward, landing just in front of you all, sniffing the air… for…
You look at Cardin's armour.
...
93%
The Gooniest Goons, bravest of their kind, run, one of them choosing to waste energy commenting on the size of the Ursa instead of
running faster.
Did you say bravest?
You meant...
Dumbest. Yeah. Fuckin' got 'em.
You scrabble back, hoping that the monster isn't attracted to the notion of the
motion of the ocean pure high-octane bowel-voiding fear currently filling you completely, and almost fulfil the last criterion when your tormentor is batted out of the way like a small toy, and it looms over you…
And away from you…
And chooses to loom over a nice candied Cardin instead.
You know, if that didn't just save your life, you might be a little insulted. You watch as he pulls his mace from... you're going to assume from underneath him, instead of from some kind of mace space- hammerspace,
hammerspace, you're not Yang- and immediately gets it batted out of his hands, towards you. You watch him crawl back, looking at you,
pleading with his eyes for help.
He... wants help from you.
94%
He... wants help from you. After he spent
two weeks, using you as his personal mule?
95%
After making you do
five sets of homework, every night?
96%
After making you spend
three hours, catching those
fucking Rapier Wasps, which,
by the way, is nigh-impossible even with psychokinesis and you should be given some kind of reward for managing that?
97%
After trying to make you throw sap at your teammates, at
Pyrrha, over, what, some kind of inferiority complex? After beating the crap out of you for standing up to him, acting all macho as shit, and then turning into this, this
whimpering little coward who can't even get a hit off?!
98%
You clench your fists, feeling something bubble up through your shell, and before you can get it under control, you feel your temper getting the better of you, and quickly overwhelm yourself-
99%
-with-
100%
RAGE.
|||
"Ursa!
Ursa!" Russel yells, colliding with Yang, who takes the bump like a brick wall, grabbing him by the shirt instead.
"What!? Where!?"
Still uselessly pedalling his legs in the air, he points back the way he came and is released for his troubles.
You drop the jar of sap in your hand, your heart turning to ice as frustration turns to fear.
"Jaune." You say, grabbing the attention of your teammates, and sharing your concerns, though for entirely different reasons.
You saw what he did when he...
snapped, in the cave, and...
It wasn't, the way he killed the Deathstalker that unnerved you. Telekinesis, as a Semblance, isn't...
too out there. To the point where you can rip the individual plates off Grimm, maybe not without training. It wasn't the fact that he started floating, his eyes beginning to glow, his Aura lighting up the cave like a second sun.
It was his face.
For the entirety of his... episode, his face...
personified anger, frustration, that sort of 'why can't I get a break already' feeling. Like it was the one emotion driving his actions. Jaune Arc scares you because you've seen past the nervous, awkward boy, who tries his best to suppress everything he's feeling until he can't anymore.
... What if this time is anger? You know Cardin's been using him like some kind of gopher, you've seen him doing homework when you go to sleep and still doing it when you wake up, of
course he'd snap after a few weeks of that, oh
god why didn't you step in you stupid,
stupid girl-
"Yang! You and Blake, go and get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby quickly takes control of the situation and snaps you out of your thoughts.
Ok, Pyrrha. No time to worry about the past.
"Nora, Ren, come on!" You yell to your teammates, spurring them into action.
Weiss joins the rescue party and the five of you rush off towards the roars.
Even from here, you can feel it- the air almost
thickening with power, a sort of kaleidoscopic effect on the very edge of your vision. As you moved forward, you felt resistance against your limbs, against your chest, breathing slowly beginning to take
effort, and you see the others beginning to struggle too.
Raw Aura. All the way out here.
Oh god. He's gone into another episode.
"What...
is this?" Weiss asks after a moment, shivering as the power flows over her. You see Ruby actually
stumble as a pulse washes over you all, like a wall of pressurised air.
"Jaune." You tell her after a moment of reluctance.
"Oh god, I hope he's not fighting whatever's doing this-" Nora mumbles, her worry finally showing.
Before you can say anything, you finally reach the clearing and find carnage waiting for you. The ground is torn up, churned into a fine soil in places, trees stripped of their bark, some uprooted, blasted away by sheer mental force. You see Jaune, that kaleidoscopic Aura of his in full force, outlining him like some kind of comic-book character, his hair gently floating under its own power.
"... Careful what you wish for, Nora..." She mumbles to herself.
The Ursa Major takes a swipe at him, and you hear Ruby scream at him to get out of the way. He doesn't move, a flash of white-blue light instead appearing around him, halting the Ursa's paw in its tracks, sending it reeling.
You try to see his face, and your heart stops as the Grimm is suddenly launched into the air, allowing you a glimpse.
Annoyance. Anger. Not the snarling, mad rage you expected, no, simply a
sneer of mild offence, as if he's finally dealing with a minor problem he's finally being... forced... to... confront...
Oh god.
Your team leader raises his arm, and the Ursa stalls in mid-air, flailing uselessly. You finally notice Cardin, frozen on his back, watching the scene overhead.
|||
The rage burns slow. It is not a violent rage, the kind that drives the berserkers, the adrenaline-fuelled madmen of days gone by. It is a quiet pique, demanding only the slightest of your efforts in solving a problem that has gone on for far too long.
The Grimm, once terrifying, floats in the air above you, now useless off the ground, roaring impotently in your face.
A tree uproots itself from the ground, slivers the length of your arm breaking off and joining their brethren, floating in a cloud of wooden death. With a flick of the wrist, they flit through the air with dizzying speed, the entire tree soon consumed and transformed into simple spears, driving themselves into its soft underside at speed, until it looks like an army of rather enthusiastic javelin throwers used the Ursa for target practice.
Somehow, it still lives.
You twist your hand skywards, and its skull follows the motion, breaking its neck in one smooth motion and one sickening crack, finally killing the beast. You send it lazily flying through the air, the corpse already disintegrating into black ash, kindling raining from the sky, and turn to face Cardin.
"... So. Am I... tough, yet? Because if my words earlier didn't convince you of such, surely this is enough?" You ask him, the shortness of your patience for him plain as day in your voice.
"Holy crap, Jaune! Y-you saved my life-"
Avoiding the question does not grant him mercy. You flick your eyes to a tree and slam your former bully into it with enough force to drive the wind from his lungs.
You hear someone yelling for you, and ignore them. They don't deserve you right now.
Walking up to Cardin, you watch him struggle, taking no pleasure in the display. You are simply showing him what exactly he's brought upon himself over the past two weeks, and hopefully, convincing him that leaving you the hell alone is a good idea.
"I'll say this once, so listen carefully. Are you listening?"
He starts nodding frantically, and you feel a flash of something hotter take its colder cousin's place.
"Use your words, Winchester." You hiss, driving him into the bark just a little harder.
"I'm listening!
I'm listening!"
He whimpers.
"Good. I. Am done. Whatever blackmail you had over me, is null, and, void, because you owe me now, and all I want in return is for you to leave me, and my team, my friends, the hell alone. Are we clear?"
"Cr-crystal!"
Your... teammates.
You look them over without your annoyance for a moment and note their faces. Confusion.
... Fear.
Why fear?
Why...
Why...?
The rage burns out finally, and you're left with clear eyes to look at what you just did.
Something tells you to run. You oblige it.
"J-Jaune, wait!" You hear Pyrrha yell, but you ignore her, focusing on running as fast as you can.
|||
Dammit, dammit,
dammit!
"Pyrrha, what
was that?" Ren asks as your rescue team swiftly becomes a capture team.
You take a moment to gather your thoughts, trying to put what you know into words.
"Jaune's a lot stronger than he acts, or looks, but, it's like he locks it all away. He's, let slip about
something in his past, and I think... I think it left him
scared of what he can do."
"Ok, and
that?"
"It's... I don't know what it is! He did the same thing in the Initiation, he just
snapped and ripped a Deathstalker apart. It's like he bottles everything up until
something breaks through, and then
that happens!"
Silence is the only reply you get, so you focus on keeping him in your sight.
"Jaune! We just want to talk!" Ruby yells, pleading with her friend to stop.
"Leave me alone!" He yells back. "I'm too dangerous!"
"We don't care! You don't have to deal with this by yourself!" Nora joins the chorus of people trying to reach him.
"I said-"
A flash of that kaleidoscopic Aura envelopes the world, and you have the sudden, mildly nauseating feeling that you're moving
backwards, despite the ground underneath your feet and Jaune's sudden approach saying otherwise.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
However, you are not- the trees are moving forwards. Two dozen great Fall Maples are uprooted, flying to form a circle around your leader, blocking him completely from sight. The sound of creaking wood intensifies, and you follow it upwards to the source and see the boughs locking together, branches weaving between each other to completely seal him in.
You slow, stopping a few feet from the self-imposed arboreal prison, waving at Ruby to put her scythe away.
Instead, you take a deep breath and slowly walk towards it instead.
"Jaune?" You call his name softly between the boughs of his self-made prison. "Can we talk? Just for a little while?"
"... Fine. Go ahead. It's not like I can run away." He says, irritation clear in his voice.
You try not to let his surliness get to you. You... don't entirely understand why he's acting this way. But, then again, that's why you're here, isn't it? To find out.
"Are you scared of your Semblance?"
"No." He answers you quickly.
"... Have you hurt people with it?"
You hear him suck in a breath, trying to calm himself, then a whispered response.
"... Once."
... Oh. You hit a nerve, it seems.
"Was it an accident?"
You didn't say you were gonna
stop hitting it. There's
something there, he's let slip about it before, there's
something there, and you feel like it's
important!
Still, he doesn't respond. Perhaps he needs some coaxing.
"... I've hurt people with my Semblance, by accident. Did I, ever tell you what my Semblance is?"
You don't think you did, and you hear the others lean in to listen. Jaune mutters no under his breath, confirming what you thought.
"It's polarity." You continue. "I control magnetism, and I... didn't realise how powerful it was, the first time I really strained it. The kids with fillings just complained that their teeth hurt, but there was this one girl, who had really,
invasive braces, and... I ripped them straight out of her mouth. Took three teeth with them, and loosened half a dozen more. It was so fast that she didn't even have time to tell me. 30,000 Lien's worth of repair and that was just for the braces, not even the artificial teeth she had to get."
You find yourself looking at the ground by the end of it, surprised at how hard it was to admit to that. It stings a little, still.
"I broke Ren's ribs once!" Nora interjects, sounding all too cheery about it. "I discovered my Semblance was absorbing electricity after I got struck by lightning, and I was so excited that I hugged him..." She trails off.
"She broke through my Aura and three ribs before she realised what she was doing." Ren finishes for her, wincing a little bit at the memory.
You look at them and realise what they're doing. Everybody has something they regret. Everybody makes mistakes with their Semblance, it's just
natural to.
Ruby grins at Weiss, silently egging the girl on, apparently immune to the chilling scowl being brought to bear. After a moment, Weiss finally relents.
"... I used my glyphs to try and make a trampoline for my brother and I, and I...
misjudged how much force it would put out, and how much force it would take to break it, so he hit the ceiling, then the floor. He ended up with a broken ankle, a concussion, and I got a very stern lecture on why Semblances aren't toys."
Looking away, Ruby seems a lot less pleased with hearing her friend's mistake but quickly launches into her own story anyway.
"Uh, I ran into my dad once while I was practising with my Semblance. The doctor said if he didn't have Aura, his chest would probably have collapsed and even
with Aura it was a... a close call. I broke his chest bone, you know, the big, uh..."
She gestures to the centre of her chest, running a line from collarbone to solar plexus.
... Oh, gods, you
know this one, hold on, hold on, just-
"Sternum?" Weiss suggests.
Dammit, Weiss, you had it on the tip of your tongue.
"Yeah, that's... that's the one." Ruby finishes quietly.
"My-
our point is... mistakes happen." You finally regain control of the conversation and direct it back at Jaune. "Mistakes happen, and you can talk to us about whatever it is that's bothering you because we've been in the same position-"
"Except it wasn't a mistake!
I pinned Cardin to the tree,
I threatened him,
I hurt-" He cuts himself off, and you hear him sniffle. "... My Semblance isn't the problem, it's never been the problem.
I'm the problem."
"... Who did you hurt?" You ask him, silently praying he'll open up, even just a little bit. Enough so you can try and understand him.
You catch Ruby looking at where you came, and turn to see Blake and Yang with Goodwitch in tow. You glance at Ruby and see she's already got her Scroll out, frantically mashing away at the virtual keyboard. When you see Yang take hers out and stop the others from going any further, you realise what she's done, and give her a thankful look.
It's hard enough keeping things under control with just the five of you here.
He doesn't respond. Not immediately. You hear him taking a deep breath, and find yourself wondering when he's going to put the trees back because trying to figure out what he's feeling is hard enough when there
isn't several tons of hardwood in the way.
"... I was ten years old. My sister and I, we were walking home, some, older kids, I dunno, high schoolers, maybe..."
|||
"Oi! It's a 50 Lien toll for this road!"
"... We don't have any money."
"You tryna be smart with us?!"
The fist to your sister's gut was the first sign that things had gone wrong. It shouldn't have been, but it was. You hear her wheeze as the air is driven from her lungs, and find yourself stopped by a boot to the skull. Your head snaps to the side, and already you know you're going to pass out. Your sister pleads with her eyes, begging you to get up and stop them, and the last thing you heard was her screaming in pain.
The last thing you thought was that you wanted them to stop.
The next thing you know, you're standing in the middle of a war zone. The alley was covered in craters- like someone had turned an artillery company on this one backstreet in the middle of Vale. Three barely living teenagers gave you your answer as to what did that.
Your unconscious ministrations broke every bone in their bodies, you found out later.
Every. Single. One.
The doctors were almost impressed.
But that's not what haunts you, not really. You couldn't care less about them if you tried.
The thing that keeps you up at night, that wakes you in the middle of the night, and greets you in the morning, is the sight of your sister, a bloody gash along her head, clutching her broken arm, watching you with nothing but terror in her eyes.
And they ask you why you're scared of your power.
|||
53%
"... Oh my god." Ruby whispers after a moment.
"So, yeah. I lost control. I lost control, broke my sister's arm, nearly killed three teenagers, like I lost control with Cardin, like I lost control with the Deathstalker, and one day I'm probably going to lose control with all of you too. I mean, if my own sister isn't safe... who is?" You ask them.
Nobody says anything for a moment, leaving you to regret saying anything at all. You slump further against the rough bark of the tree, uncaring of the scuffing you're gonna have to buff off your armour later, or the way your hoodie is riding up.
You know, on some level, that it wasn't
you that did that. It's like...
something took over, as soon as you passed out. You didn't sleep well for about a month, once you realised that. Which, didn't help with the whole not snapping thing.
"... Do I scare you?" You ask them after a moment, knowing the answer already.
You saw their faces. They were scared and confused, they didn't
know that Jaune, they didn't know... the real you, you guess.
"Kinda, yeah." Nora blurts out before anyone else, continuing before you can say anything. "What?! I just watched him rip apart a tree to impale an Ursa with the splinters, then snap its neck
with his mind! Ugh, look-" You hear footsteps, and when she speaks, she sounds closer. "Jaune, I
get it. You feel like you're too strong for your own good. I know what that feels like!"
"I'm too strong for anyone's good." You mumble.
"No, you are
not. That's not a thing, not when the Grimm exist. Look, you took the crap Cardin gave you for
weeks, and what did you do to him? You
saved his life, then told him to leave you the hell alone! You tried to protect your sister,
while unconscious, and
succeeded without actually killing anyone! If that's you losing control, I'm not at
all scared of you, because so far all you've done is
save people when you lose control!"
You try to speak, but she barrels on ahead of you, refusing you an argument.
"I broke Ren's ribs, I
could have paralysed him if I had stopped a second later, Weiss concussed her brother and broke his ankle, Pyrrha ripped a girl's braces out and Ruby nearly killed her father, and none of that matters because
we are not our mistakes!" She yells. You hear her huff, and when she continues, she sounds a little hoarser. "... Sorry. I didn't mean to yell."
"'S fine." You lie.
60%
"... I know it should be kind of obvious, but, uh... what, exactly,
is your Semblance?" Ruby asks you, trying to drag the conversation into less depressing territory, so you're more than happy to indulge her.
"On a base level, psychokinesis. I move things with my mind. It's just..." You trail off, gesturing to the circle of trees around you, before remembering she can't see you.
... Dumbass.
"... And... with the Ursa?"
"What about it?"
"I've never
felt someone's Aura before, let alone actually struggle to move in it. I've never seen someone with so much... raw power before. You said you lost control with Cardin, but, what does that actually
mean?"
You take a deep breath, wondering if you really should tell them. Because you're seriously tempted not to. Except they'd just keep pressing, and pressing, and going, until they browbeat you into telling them anyway, or you have to show them.
... No way around it, you suppose. You explain your problem, how your Semblance's power, and by extension, your Aura, are tied to your emotions, and how intense they get. The more negative you feel, the more likely you are to hurt someone, so you try... not to. Until you can't do that anymore, and then you just... snap.
Something breaks through, and it's all that guides your actions for a while, for better or worse.
"... That... is such an incredibly unhealthy coping mechanism that I don't even know where to begin." Weiss comments, and you can imagine her fingers gently pressed against her temple in exasperation. "Jaune, people break down just from bottling up the
negative things, and you expect to do better by shoving
everything down?"
"What else can I do?"
"Not hide your feelings until you have a mental breakdown? Because that's
exactly what you're describing! Except, instead of depression or anxiety, you end up being more powerful than some of our teachers,
probably including the headmaster!"
... What?
They aren't breakdowns. There's no way they're...
Shit, she has a point.
"... Jaune... why didn't you talk to us? Any of us? I, I know I've been... cold, the past few weeks, but if it was something as important as this, I would have..." Pyrrha trails off, going silent.
"I don't think anyone's at fault here. I'm just used to not talking to anyone about it, and I didn't... want to drop something like this on you. I mean, I've known you all for less than two months. No offence, but, that's kind of a short time to be opening up about life-long personal problems."
Lie. it's your fault for not realising that you could have solved all this by
talking to people. If Pyrrha had kept going that night, you probably would have opened up about it, and today would have gone
so much more smoothly.
Maybe. You don't know.
62%
"Well... I think we're past that point, now." Ren points out. "... All of us are."
"Yeah! I mean, what are friends for, right?" Ruby asks, and realise just in time she's being rhetorical. "So... put the trees back, and we can talk?"
Oh. Yeah.
"Ruby, I don't think you can just put trees back and they'll survive."
Somehow, you forgot about that for just a moment. You stand up, using the tree to support yourself as your legs try to wake up. Once you can stand without it, you flare your power, grabbing the trees and placing them vaguely where they would have gone. Push them down, like sticks in mud, and you're sure they're not going to fall over. They might not survive, but they won't take anything with them.
You watch your teammates for a reaction and see something very different this time.
Not fear. Surprise, shock, awe, almost giddiness, in Ruby's case, but... not fear.
... They're... not scared of you anymore.
Were they ever scared at all?
You listen to Ruby laugh as the last of the trees float overhead, almost like a parade balloon of sorts, and realise you genuinely don't know. How much of what you thought they felt was just... what you
expected them to feel?
... Does it really matter now?
You feel something hot underneath your eyes. Your throat hurts.
61%
The heat travels down your cheeks, and your vision begins to blur.
60%
"... Jaune? Are you... crying?"
You wipe at your eyes with your sleeve, but that doesn't help at all.
54%
"I-y-yeah, but I-I don't, I don't know why I'm crying. It's just... nice, to have people I can- talk to, I guess."
38%
You're not sad, you're just... you don't know
what you are.
23%
Someone throws an arm over your shoulder, pulling you into a half hug, and you take it.
14%
You feel everything that's been building up begin to flow out again, and you realise that... this is some people's
normal.
8%
Not, bottling everything up, not forcing it all down, just... letting it out.
1%
Your crying ending as quickly as it started, you look over to see it was Nora who was holding you through all that. You give her a weak smile, and wrap your arm around her shoulder as well.
0%
