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

The Arc Of Jaune Arc (Part 2)

Jaune sat in the highly uncomfortable meeting chair, a blanket thrown around his shoulders and a cup of warm coffee in his hands. He glanced down at the delicious liquid before sighing. 

His headache was roaring at him, practically begging him to end himself. 

A joke of course. 

He was hung over from his previous night's indulgence, the night that Ren had arrived at his uncle's bar. 

Ren and Nora suddenly entered the room, the door closing and locking behind them. Jaune nodded his head towards Ren who nodded back. Then Jaune's blue eyes landed on Nora. He suddenly lost the courage to look at her, his eyes trailing to the ground. He just couldn't look at her, not after what he had done to her the last time they had met. He'd put her in the hospital, someone he considered one of his closest friends. 

"Hi Jaune." Nora said in a slightly restrained voice. Jaune finally looked up at her before smiling. 

"Hi Nora." He replied. Ren suddenly inserted a USB into the holographic projection table, basically a large meeting table that could project holograms given any data. A light blue hologram suddenly appeared on the table. Jaune quickly inhaled a breath of air upon seeing the image the table produced. He wouldn't be breathing any time soon. 

Pyrrha Nikos, in a holographic form, smiled at him. The hologram then zoomed out, revealing Pyrrha to actually be a Pyrrha that had been merely zoomed in from the last group picture the four had taken. 

"I won't spare you the details, but let's get straight to the point shall we?" Ren said. Jaune nodded at this. 

"That'd be... that would be great Ren." Jaune slowly replied. His eyes then drifted towards his feet once more. 

"We think we may have found a way to bring Pyrrha back." Ren said as he lifted his finger and touched a holographic control panel that had appeared in front of him. He swiped his left pointer finger to the right, the hologram shifting to follow his movements. It was like Ren was cycling through folders and the holographic display was following suit. 

An image of a group of mountains provided from what seemed to be a picture taken from a helicopter took Pyrrha's place. 

"This is an area called 'The Ares' Mountains.' Supposedly, a witch who has lived for thousands of years inhabits these mountains, killing any and all that attempt to trespass. She has claimed the mountains as her territory." Ren explained. The blue digital image then was replaced by a hunched-over person wearing tattered clothing and using a walking stick. Presumably the witch. 

"Okay. So what does this witch have to do with Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, almost impatiently. Ren then gave Nora an unsure look before steeling himself. 

"There have been rumors  that she is not the only one on the mountain, Jaune. Reports have spotted her with her son patrolling the mountains." Ren replied. This was when Nora excitedly jumped forward. 

"And get this Jaune! Ren and I did some digging and we found out that the witch was't born thousands of years ago but born three hundred years  ago!" Nora shouted. Jaune gave them a confused look. 

"So, again, what does this have to do with Pyrrha?" At this, Nora gave him a slightly disappointed look. 

"You don't know?" She asked quietly. Ren placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

"Jaune, her son died hundreds of years ago and yet she was spotted with her son. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Ren asked. 

"So what? So she was spotted with a young boy who vaguely looks like her dead son. She could have just stolen a kid who looks like him." Jaune replied. Nora shook her head. 

"That isn't the case, Jaune." Nora replied softly. She sighed as a sad look crossed her face, however Jaune didn't notice this. Instead, he placed his cup of coffee on the table in front of him before standing up and taking the blanket off his shoulders. 

"I shouldn't have come. I knew there was nothing we could do to bring her back." Jaune said as he walked towards the door. It was only when Nora spoke up that kept him from turning the knob and leaving the compound. 

"The witch is my grandmother, Jaune." Nora said. He turned to face her, only to find that her eyes were glowing with a bright pinkish glow. 

"And I can't afford to lose another friend." Nora said as the doorknob Jaune held suddenly turned bright red. Jaune quickly snatched his hand away, the doorknob basically being on fire. 

"Ow! What the-" Jaune exclaimed as he suddenly connected the dots. Nora's grandmother was a witch. The doorknob he held a second ago suddenly increased in temperature, so much so that his hand felt like it was touching fire. 

"Nora?" Jaune asked, still unsure of what was happening. 

"Jaune, I'm sorry but I can't let you go. If there's even a small chance that we can bring Pyrrha back, I'm going to take it." Nora said, her eyes soon swelling with tears. Ren then placed his hand on her shoulder once more, his semblance masking her emotions. 

"Calm down, Nora. Please." Ren asked. Nora shook her head before violently knocking him back by creating a pink shockwave of energy. 

"No! I have been calm enough!" Nora shouted angrily. Jaune was also knocked down by the blast, a confused look on his face. 

"Nora! Calm down!" Ren shouted once more, climbing back to his feet. 

"No! If he leaves, any hope of bringing Pyrrha back and stopping my grandmother goes down the drain!" Nora shouted in reply before she shot her hand outward. A clear, pink energy grabbed Jaune, wrapped itself around him, and lifted him into the air. 

"You aren't leaving! We need to talk about this!" Nora shouted, gently placing him back in his seat before lifting the pink energy. Jaune sat baffled and quite honestly terrified. Ren dusted himself off before reactivating the holographic projector. He cleared his throat before glancing back at Nora who had calmed down and blushed sheepishly. 

"Sorry, Jaune. It's just that I-" Nora began before Jaune cut her off. 

"Nora. It's fine. I'm sorry. I should have listened entirely." Jaune calmly replied, although Ren saw the shakiness within his right hand. 

"I can't lose another friend, Jaune." Nora repeated once more. 

Ren then cleared his throat. 

"I believe it is time Jaune heard the story, Nora."

---

Laura Valkyrie nodded. Tears slid down her face as she cupped her hands over her mouth. 

"No..." She breathed. The police sheriff sadly nodded his head. 

"We uh... found his body this morning ma'am." The chief, a burly broad shouldered man named Brian Lockris said. He tipped his hat to her before gesturing to the car on the street. 

"We're putting you and your two kids in protective custody. Whoever did this is going to finish the job." Lockris stated. 

"What do you mean?" Laura replied, her voice shaking. "What do you mean finish the job?" 

"Well ma'am... we have evidence that suggests that your husband wasn't the one the killer was targeting. Now we need you and your two children to pack up the essentials and come with us." Brian continued. Laura nodded at this, still visibly shaken. She called to her two children. 

"Mira! Odin! Pack some clothes! We're leaving!" She shouted. 

---

Later that night, Laura shook in her sleep. 

In her nightmare, she could see her husband, Thor Valkyrie, being violently assaulted by a shadowed figure. The figure, after her husband stopped struggling and fell limp, then turned to her. Her eyes widened in her dream as the killer suddenly spoke. 

"Your turn." The killer said as the shadow lunged at her.