Eclipse - Act 4 - Cycle's End

Chapter 2 - Living Normal Lives

Jaune

With his car parked, Jaune walked into one of the school's blocks. All the kids were still heading in for the day, so he still had time. He opened the door, walking past some teachers who were here for the day, alongside all the students rushing to their homerooms. The school was rather vacant today, with the big festival on and everything else. This day always was a fun day for the entire world, for no celebration was more important than today.

He walked through the hallway, passing by the medals won by the Academy, then walked into his classroom. Nobody was here yet, but he had a class to teach early today, a History Lesson. He sat down on his chair and exhaled, taking off his jacket and resting it over the back of his chair. He looked at the textbook and opened it, getting everything ready for the class, and then he landed on the page.

And even now... his blood would run cold every time he saw it.

Salem – The Queen of Darkness

Jaune stared at the picture of her, and closed his eyes, clenching his hands into fists as he sat in his chair, feeling the sweat beading from his kin. He exhaled shakily, and his eyes faintly glimmered purple, and then he opened them.

For a split second, he saw her stood in the corner of his eye.

And Salem... she seemed to real, almost like the last twenty-five years were all a dream. "Hey Jaune!" a pretty, young teacher beamed. He gasped, then rubbed his eyes.

"Oh... hey Judy... I'm sorry, I was totally spaced out there." He chuckled, closing the book up once more and turning on his chair to his fellow teacher.

"You okay?" She asked him.

"Oh yeah, totally. Like I said, I just completely zoned out there." He assured, but she smiled softly.

"Is it... because of this time of year? I know your wife was a Huntress and I know you guys probably lost some friends after... y'know." She said, walking in and sitting on the edge of his desk. He chuckled softly, then he sighed.

They have no idea... even after all these years, it still shocks me how many people don't know... who I am... and what I did.

I appreciate that Dutch buried it, but... it still feels like I'm a fraud.

But he swallowed that guilt and nodded his head. "Lost a lot of good friends... very close ones, too." Jaune admitted, then he sighed, taking his glasses off and setting them down on the table. "I'm not the only one who struggles, either."

"Yeah. Mrs Arylide hasn't come in today... she wanted to go and be with her daughter and son's graves. Such a terrible and tragic thing... the Inhumane Necessity." She said with a saddened expression. Even after all these years, those two words made him flinch. "Just so you know, we can get someone to fill in for you if you feel you need to take a day off." Judy assured.

"No, no... I'm fine. Trust me." Jaune assured, clearing his throat. "Doing stuff helps... take my mind off it."

They both heard the bell ring and Judy just smiled, gently squeezing his shoulder. "Just know if you ever need to talk."

"I know where to find you." He answered. She snapped her finger at him with a smile before walking away. Jaune exhaled, looking at his hands, and for a moment, he saw blood on them again. He looked away, squeezing his eyes shut and closing his fists tight.

It never goes away...

... even though Thaddeus is long gone...

... he still haunts me... what I did... haunts me...