"The Tale Of Jaune Arc" : An ArKos fanfic! (AU)

The Tale Of Lies

Jaune suddenly awoke, his dark blue eyes latching their gaze onto the wooden ceiling above him. He'd been in a coma ever since the end of the battle. Memories of the battle just last month returned to his mind, but only in fragments.

---

Tai Yang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen, and even Ren and Nora had defeated their adversaries and moved into what once was Beacon. They left behind Jaune and Glynda to deal with the possessed Ozpin and Cinder Fall, the latter of which were both defeated after a struggle.

Jaune could remember the fight with Cinder very vividly. He'd completely destroyed her. At some point in the fight, Jaune could remember that he had somehow forced Cinder to the ground, then got on top of her and began slamming his fists into her face. He remembered shouting profanities at her, before eventually stopping as he noticed that her breathing had stopped. Her nose was practically broken in half, her eyes having glazed over quite some time ago. Perhaps what seemed brutal to others was justice to Jaune.

She had killed Pyrrha, the only person in the world he hadn't wanted to die.

Then, as he had stood from his place and stumbled blindly around, he lost consciousness.

---

Jaune felt someone leaning on his bed, near his waist. Given that Jaune was probably in the infirmary and that the infirmary had only one-person beds, it was likely that someone was sleeping near his waist using their arms as a pillow.

Jaune was going to move when his eyes suddenly noticed the red hair near his waist. His eyes suddenly teared up.

"Pyrrha." He choked out as he quickly leaned upward, his hand shaking in the air as it slowly approached the ball of red hair silently sleeping. The clothing and armor certainly was Pyrrha's. After all, who else wore gladiator-like armor with golden coloring and had red hair?

Pyrrha suddenly sat up, yawning. her emerald eyes glanced at Jaune before widening in shock.

"Jaune! You're awake! Oh, thank Oum!" Pyrrha exclaimed as she rocketed forward and squashed Jaune in an awkward hug. He slowly closed his arms around her, despite knowing that she was dead.

"Pyrrha? What's going on? Why are you... alive?" Jaune asked after several seconds. Pyrrha pulled away from him, a confused look on her face.

"Jaune, what are you talking about? We were talking in the locker room before your first Vytal Festival match when you suddenly lost consciousness. It's been two weeks." Pyrrha calmly said as she placed her hand on his cheek. She looked into his eyes before shaking her head.

"Are you sick, Jaune? Should I go and get medicine?" She offered.

"So then..." Jaune said as he slapped away Pyrrha's hand. He suddenly got out of his bed, sweat pouring down his face. "Everything I went through... Beacon being destroyed, killing Cinder, losing you... was just a dream?"

In Pyrrha's eyes, Jaune was delirious. He had just woken up from a two week coma and yet he was spouting nonsense as if he had actually gone and lived through some tragic event.

"Jaune, you should calm down. We're in Beacon's infirmary and it's practically midnight. Please Jaune, we've all been waiting for you to wake up." Pyrrha said as she got closer to him.

"No, no, no. Listen, alright? We lost Beacon, Ozpin became possessed, you died, I killed someone.... this all happened, right?" Jaune said as he turned to face her, a frantic expression taking control of his features.

"Jaune, please calm down. None of that happened." Pyrrha replied.

"None of it." She said as she eventually hugged him again, only this time gently wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I'm glad you're back, Jaune." Pyrrha said as she felt Jaune return her hug, eventually calming down.

"I'm not." Jaune quietly replied.

---

"How sweet." Salem said as she peered into the dream of Jaune Arc. After her protégé Cinder had been killed, she'd swooped down onto the battlefield and easily defeated all of the combatants. She imprisoned everyone but Jaune, whom she kept locked inside a large Grimm egg where she could watch him.

"The poor boy is heartbroken. Doesn't just wrench your heart, Ozpin? Knowing that you couldn't do a thing to stop this? Now, your greatest weapon, the Oracle Of Light, has been captured by me, the Vassal Of Death." Salem taunted as she tapped Ozpin's chin. He was chained near Jaune's egg, battered and bloodied.

"You must have really loved Goodwitch for her to have sacrificed herself in order to free you from our spell. A shame, really. She would have been the perfect puppet." Salem taunted. Ozpin angrily shook his chin, freeing him of her grasp. He then remained silent, only glaring at her.

"Oh, you poor human being." Salem said as she approached the egg that held Jaune.

"Soon, you'll be reborn. Soon, I'll have my son back. Soon, humanity will pay for what they've done." Salem then turned to Ozpin and smiled as she said her final words to him.

"Soon, I'll destroy this world, and you along with it."