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heliosthegriffin · 4 months

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Shadow Knight and Magic Girls XX

Chapter 20

Ao3 Link

----

Jaune got into the car, pushing his scroll up to the front. "I need to get here." He pointed to an address on his scroll.

Miltiades, seated in the front passenger seat, looked at him miserably. "This is the fifth place this afternoon," She whined. "I'm bored!"

"We have ten more places to hit up before we're done."

Melanie tapped the steering wheel. "Are you going to tell us what you're doing?"

"Nope. Drive." The blonde said, leaning into the back seat, and counting lien out in the back seat.

Melanie felt a flash of annoyance, then sighed, taking off down the road.

They stopped at a local pizzeria place in a decaying neighborhood, Jaune got out went inside, a couple minutes passed by, and then he exited, carrying a couple boxes of hot steaming pizza.

"Alright, now, we go here." He pushed a box into Miltiades lap, while he started devouring a meat-lovers in the back.

"We're not just going on food-runs, are we?" Melanie asked.

"No." He said between bites. "I was coming here anyway, got hungry, and it'd be awkward to be the only one eating."

Melanie reached for a slice, taken extra care to avoid her sisters hissing swipes for daring to take her food. "Alright, where to next?"

They went to several more small business, all in similarly low-income areas, with Jaune repeating his actions, leaving the car, going inside for a couple minutes, then return back, and going to the next locations.

Eventually, they hit all the locations that he had on his list.

"That it?"

"For today, at least."

Miltiades let out a whoop of joy. "Yay! Now, we can do something fun! Ooh, how about the gun-range, or ice-skating?"

Jaune looked at the clock, then shrugged. He could spare an hour. "Sounds fun."

"Awesome!" Miltiades cheered, then tapped her red lips. "By the way, will you at least give us a hint to what you're doing?" She gave him a sly look. "Not paying off baby-mamas, are you?"

Jaune blushed. "No! Nothing of the s-sort. I'm just doing something like, uh, ever heard of putting a chip on every horse in the race?"

Melanie looked at him curiously. "Yeah, but what's that got to do with you?"

Jaune shrugged. "I'm just making a bet,"

"And, if you lose?"

He shrugged. "Oh well, then. Gambles don't always pay off, and I'll have the experience."

Melanie shot him a calculating look through the rear-view mirror, the lien he had stacked back there was gone. Well, not like she could say that Miltia and her had been more responsible with their money. Let him reap what he sows.

------

Where the Wicked Ones went

'Once upon time, there was a great king.

In his kingdom, he did not accept any wickedness, and He chased from his lands the wicked and evil ones with the endless power of the Sun, and those that stood against him and his mighty knights, they were like livestock to the slaughterhouse.

The ones who fled, left this world entirely, fleeing to the Other World.

A place of different time and space, but not separate from our own world. It was not above the world, or under it, but overlapped in places, with stitching vein, and scars covered with stones.

Those who fled into this Other World, they took a different name, different bodies, but their wickedness remained. As they spread across the Other World, they founded many different kingdoms, still practicing their evilness, while fighting meaninglessly and cruel wars between each other.

However, on weird days, under rare stars, they stop fighting and turn to gaze at the World. The World changed, covered with layers of fallen ages and cycles of ever turning light and darkness, and they still yet remember, and most of all, fear that the King of Seasons will find them.

Or, if not him, one with a spirit to succeed him. In their arrogance, though, they are soon to forget that fear. Quickly, they turn their attentions to back to each other, and occasionally, with a bit of foolish pride, venture forth into their former home.

----

Jaune turned the page, the story ended there. He closed the book.

"Are elves, real?" He mused.

"Of course they are!" A voice shouted next to him, making Jaune jump back a step. He turned to look at the short ginger next to him.

"Thanks, Nora. I really needed those minutes off my life."

"You're welcome!" She circled around him, looking at the book. "Why are you reading a cookbook? You know Renny is always going to beat you in a cookoff!"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Shut up." He didn't needed to be reminded that Ren had magic hands, metaphorically speaking. Hopefully. He didn't want Ren involved in this whole magic business, he had a whole life of him ahead of beating the snot of people in the CKMC* to be risking life and limb.

*(Cross-Kingdom Martial-Arts Circuit)

Or at least, more than he would otherwise, but at least there were rules there.

Nora circled around him. "Wait, is this an elven cookbook?! Are you trying to cook for elves, or trying to cook elves?! If so, you may have a lead on Renny, as I don't think he has the heart to eat elf heart."

Jaune paused, looking at Nora. Despite his downright magical life, she still found a way to say the most downright weird things. Not that he'd have it any other way. "No."

"Oh," She paused. "But, what if-"

Jaune decided to end that train of thought, now. "No." Still, another person, who says something different about the cover. A idea sprang to mind. "Hey, read this off for me." Jaune pointed to a random sentence."

"I can read, no need to test me!" She squinted her eyes on the page. "Two egg, half cup of honey, a cup of milk-, Oh, are you making pancakes?!" Nora vibrated in places. "Never-mind, you're the best cook in the worlds!" She leaned in, whispering. "Don't tell Renny."

Jaune looked at the page. Not the same, what so ever. This was a paragraph detailing how a girl forged a sword from a shooting star and a matching shield too.

This likely meant that the book changed perception of whoever read it. What did that mean? ... Was he even reading anything at all, or was the book just having his mind fill in the blanks that he wanted to see. What in the world was this book? What was its purpose? Why did it do this, was it some kind of mind-eater thing, that fed off attention?

Maybe, he should get rid of it, or at least, copy what he finds out of the book, and cross-references it. So, that if he found something, a story that existed inside the book, one he had no prior knowledge of before he opened the book, he could know that, it at least wasn't making anything up.

He felt a pull on his sleeve, Nora was looking at him excitedly. "So, pancakes?" He looked at the book in his hand, then put it away, it could wait. "Sure, lets go get some pancakes."

She let out a cheer, jumping up and latching onto his back. "Onward, my mighty knight! To pancakes!"

Smiling contently, he started walking. "Ay, my great queen."

-----

Jaune opened the door for the twins into their home, a light sheen of sweat on himself, while behind him, said twins, shambled in like they were on the verge of passing out, heading to the shower.

"Good run, girls." He tried to sound encouraging, as he was taking off his fifty pound vest. Amber looked at the vest, then twins, then back at barely sweating blonde. "Those poor girls, how far did you make them run?"

"Not that far, just a light run, about ten miles or so,"

Amber sighed, she didn't even want to imagine running one mile, let alone at the intense pace he set. She threw a hot towel at him. "Get cleaned up, and I'll work on any knots who might have."

Jaune nodded, closing the door behind him, stripped his shirt off, and wiped off his chest and back. Then laid down on his stomach on a futon next to Amber.

"Been feeling any discomforts recently?" She asked, working on his right arm.

Jaune grunted, feeling a sense warmth go up his arm. "Not really."

"Good, don't be afraid to tell me anything, though. Even if you think it might be personal. Remember, I've already seen it all, you got nothing to be embarrassed about." Amber felt up his arm, it felt heavier, harder to massage, and looked at him surprised. "You gained more muscle?"

"I guess?" Jaune almost shrugged. "I've just-, oh. Yeah, the armor, the extra weight. It's pretty heavy, heavier than anything I wore before, despite how well it's balanced over me."

Amber let out a breath of disbelief. "You were already ready to compete in any inter-national team I can think of, and you're still growing? Thanks just plain unfair."

"Hey, I'll trade places if they want, then we can have a conversation about fairness."

Amber laughed. "Good point, I suppose, hard times breed hard men, and all that."

"Tell me about it, you should meet my grandfather."

The futon bounced a little, as someone sat right in front of his face, a someone with a pair of curvy, athletics legs, wearing a pair of short black shorts. "What's up, superhero?" Vernal asked him with a wink.

"Not a hero, if I'm getting paid for it."

"If so, most legends wouldn't count as heroes."

"Fair, enough."

A beat passed.

"You think about how you want to get inked, yet?" Vernal asked, curiously, looking at his back like a painter looked at a raw canvas.

Jaune had nearly forgotten about that, Big Bear did want him to get the clan symbol on his back. "I just figured I get the clan symbol."

Vernal looked at him harshly. "Don't be half hearted about this, this is a important piece of work that going to happen, and it's going tell the world about you. Think on it hard, this is something to define you to the rest of the world."

Jaune looked at her. "Woah, didn't think you had much about yourself besides ogling me."

Vernal smirked. "I don't just ogle anyone, just the finer pieces of art. Besides, you don't know all of me." She poked his nose. "I have all sorts of tricks that might surprise you."

Looking into her eyes, not to one to back down, Jaune gave her a smile. "You'll have to show me them one day."

There came a moment them looking at each other, with Vernal slightly flushing, looked away. "One day."

Amber sighed. "Please, no flirting while the doctor's at work."

"It's harmless fun, Am!" Vernal shot back. "Besides, you'll get your chance, later." The she looked back at Jaune. "Back to what I was saying, it doesn't matter what Big Bear wants on your back, it's up to you in the end. So, think about what you want the World to see back there."

"I ... I don't know, what it is, that I want back there. It's hard to think about something I can't see."

"Then, don't rush in. Wait, till you can see it." Vernal waved her hand over his back. "Me, though? I can see all the images in the world, and I can pen any of them, you want."

"What do you personally think would look good?"

Vernal sneered for a moment. "It's not about looking good, it's about the message. It can be the ugliest, bat-shit insane tattoo in the world, and still be a work of art on a living canvas, as long as its on the right person." Her arm made phantom motions over his shoulders, and Jaune briefly saw, among her many tattoos, a red-eyed Raven staring at him ominously. "I could ink almost anything here, something heroic, monstrous, or just strong-looking, but, in the end, it's up to you, and what you want it to be. What do you want to be Jaune?"

Jaune looked at the futon beneath him, thinking for a moment. What did he want to say to the world? That was a pretty deep question, or it felt like one. But, he wasn't one for deep thought, and found his answer quickly.

"Hopeful." Jaune said, his answer naturally coming off his tongue. "If I have to show anything to someone else, I just want it to give a bit of hope."

Vernal looked at him, surprised. Then looked at his bare back, her mind turning. "I can work with that," Then she got up, going to her room, the sounds of intense scribbling could be heard inside.

-----

Velvet stood in front of the mirror, anxiously looking over herself for any flaws in her appearance. Her ears twitching over head, hair shaking with it, hadn't even left her room, but felt like her heart was about to give from stress alone.

Looking over herself in the mirror, dare she say it, she looked cute. Wearing a simple brown and white dress that showed off her neck and shoulders, it felt a little daring, at least compared to her conservative normal outfits.

"Ah, look at my little bun-bun! Just the absolute cutest!" Velvet nearly jumped out of her skin at Coco's sudden remark. Turning around so fast that she nearly tripped over herself, she glared at Coco. "Don't scare me, like that!"

Coco shrugged, as she smugly looked at her. "What's a woman to do, not compliment you?" She pulled up her scroll, showing going through the pictures she had taken of her. "So, are you excited for your date?"

Velvet lost her steam, blushing fiercly. "Its not a date, Nora, and her friend, Ren, are coming along to. It's just a friendly outing." Her ears drooped. "He didn't even seem like he wanted to come."

"Vel, my baby-bun, no man, or woman, could say no to you!" Coco slid up against her. "Including me!" She said giving her friend a flirty smile. "Mr. Buff-tough, is just nervous, he's probably never even kissed a girl, so going out with you? It must be mind-blowing to him, and so what, if you have some tag-alongs? Make a polycule out of it, girl! That Ren chick is hot as hell, and Nora? I'd kill to be alone with her."

Velvet relaxed, feeling her heart-slow a bit. "Your way with words never ceases to make feel better. Also, Ren's a guy."

Coco froze, color draining from her face. "What?"

"Yeah, he's a man. With, a-ahem, the bits, according to Nora."

"Oh..." Coco looked at her Scroll. "I have some pictures to get rid of later. Enjoy your date, and if Mr. Moody gives you any trouble, call me, and I'll take care of him, got it?"

Velvet nodded, smiling. "I'll do that." Velvet chuckled, imaging Coco trying to brow-beat Jaune down, amused her. Though, she also couldn't see it working, she was pretty sure that if Coco tried to slap him, any part of him, she'd break her hand.

----

Getting off the bus, Velvet arrived at Vale's Historical Exhibits and Museum. She was surprised by how many people where flowing around the yard of the building, and was equally surprised to see the amount of couples here.

Looking up at the banner on the building, it explained nothing, just relics from Vales past wars when it was a series of squabbling micro-kingdoms. Though, she had to admit, there was a certain energy in the air that made her heartbeat faster, drew her attention towards the Exhibits.

A hand clapped her shoulder, making her jump in place. "Vel-vel!" She felt herself turn around, looking at the short ginger, who was unnaturally strong despite her size.

"Ha-hello, Nora." Velvet stammered out, she hadn't known Nora long, but the short and strong girl had quickly made a place for herself in her heart. Though, she wished she wasn't so forceful!

"Velvet, you're here! That means we can get this party started!"

Velvet nodded, Nora's energy starting to infect her. "Oh, everyone is else is here?"

"Yep! Jaune and Renny are off getting-, oh! There they are walking this way!" Nora pointed away from them, pointing to where the crowd was parting ways from two men walking towards them.

Looking at Jaune exit the crowd of people, or rather, the people rushing to move away from his unstoppable walk towards them, she paused, as something was off about him that took her a moment to figure out. His atmosphere was different, and it clicked.

He was relaxed, today he didn't have any tension about himself like he normally did, he was fully there with them. She gave him a shy smile, and he paused for a moment, before giving a calm smile back at her.

"So, what are we here to see?" Jaune asked, Ren following behind him like a remora fish.

Nora shot up. "I want to see the iron maiden and warhammers!"

The other three of them looked at Nora bouncing with excitement, Velvet didn't doubt for a moment they were going to see those exhibits.

"Sounds good." Jaune said, Velvet barely catching the concealed glee in his eyes.

"Don't try and touch them, they're artifacts and we're not here to get banned." Ren said strictly, though, Velvet noticed that he wasn't saying that just to Nora, as he made sure to give a look at Jaune. There was touch of humor in his voice, though.

"That sounds, great." Velvet found herself agree, she didn't have much interest in torture devices or weapons, but if she was with these three, she would be happy.

"So, we ready to go then?" Jaune asked.

"Yep!"

"As we ever can be."

"Yes."

Velvet felt a push on her shoulder, and looked back to she the ginger culprit, as she landed against Jaune, who caught her easily.

"Jaune-jaune, make sure you don't lose that, she's precious cargo!" Nora said firmly.

Jaune looked confused, then looked at the sea of people around them. "Oh, good idea." Holding out his arm to her. "Don't want to get separated."

Velvet looked at his out-stretch arm, noticing how his many-times thicker his arm was than hers, it almost made her feel like a child by comparison. As she linked her arm into his though, it made her feel secure too, that Jaune would protect.

In that sense of security, Velvet dared to pull herself closer.

----

Deep, deep into the mountains, away from the vices of civilization, in the bosom of mother nature. Where the fat of the land was thickest, and beasts that would rightly be called monsters roamed, a man with a glorious mustache led his disciples into the mouth of a dark, ominous cave.

He swung his axe down in front of the cave, spraying the blood of beasts off of his blade. Peter Port turned to regard his young students with admiration. When he first met them, they were unpolished, and aimless children, with nary a hope of a future worth living. But now? Now, they did not need to hope for a future, they could make their own!

They stood before him, bare chested and raw-muscles, covered in mud and filth from the world over, scratched, bruised, and likely had some broken bones that needed treated, but unbowed and unafraid.

Their leader Cardin had taken to wield the femur of a oxen creature they had fought, while Russel had made a pair of primitive stone axes during their camping adventures, Sky had his warpaint on and crude rucksack of javelins and his onyx-head spear, and Dove? He had a sling, which was good enough.

It was almost enough to make him shed a tear. Sucking in a deep breath, he bellowed out with enough power to rival a landslide. "Student!"

"Teacher!" They returned back, while not having the same power as their teacher, they equaled, no surpassed his energy.

It was time, Peter knew, they were ready. "My children, our final lesson is upon us! Soon, you will be men among men!|

They looked shocked at this news.

"But, Teacher!" Cardin interjected. "We've only just begun to learn! How can we be done?"

Peter sniffled a bit. "That, that is how you know, my child, that you know that you've only just begun to learn, that is the sign you've matured. That you understand that to be a man is to know there is always more to see, more to know, and more room to grow. So, that is why, it's time for you leave the nest and fly!"

They bravely held back tears. Manly tears. "Thank you, teacher. We won't forget our lessons." Sky spoke through his tears.

"You will be alright, my students. You are ready for your final test!" He swung his ax at the cave. "Be wary, though! This cave houses dangers you can't even imagine, but what you encounter inside, will change you forever, it will be your cocoon, one for your boyish state, to enters only to emerge as a man! Now go!"

With another sweep of his ax, he signal for them to run in. With a nod between the four young boys, no, the soon to be young men ran into their final trials of adolescences.

----

Humming to himself, a red-head man sauntered without a care around the back of the museum. A outfit and set of keys that weren't his adorning his person. He opened the backdoor and entered the storage rooms of the place.

Immediately his senses lit up, the feel of magic in the air, and not just from relics either. The ley-lines were practically clogged with power and that was great news! It'd make his goal all the more easy tonight!

Oh how excited he was, so very excited, and there was no-way he was going to be stopped. Not by those Maidens, and not by any questing heroes. Tonight was a new moon, that meant no locks on his power, and whole ley-line to use, oh, how rich was he going to be?

A door opened across the room, and elderly man exited, a janitor. The old man nodded at him, then peered at him curiously. "Are you a new hire? I know most everyone around here, and I don't recall seeing you before?" His voice was raspy, but friendly.

"I'm just a temporary-worker, no need to remember me."

"Oh, that's a shame, its a good place to work here. Maybe, you'll change your mind, once you get the feel of the place?"

The red-head paused, humming to him deviously. "You know what, I think by the end of my shift, they'll always be a piece of the place with me."

The old man smiled kindly. "That's good, sonny. Ah, I didn't catch your name?"

Tapping his head in mock-embarrassment. "Oh, how could I forget to introduce meself? I am the one, the only, Roman Torchwick." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a bone-chilling mask. "Hey, how do feel about presents, Mr...?"

"... Alans." The janitor said a second. He looked at the young man with concern, unnerved by his presence now. "What, what do you got there sonny, that don't seem right?" The bone-mask was strange to his eyes, and didn't seem to be capable of being made by any person.

Roman approached, Sam took a step back in fear, but in a flash of movement, he grabbed Sam's collar and forcefully put the mask on the old man. Sam's body contorted in pain, as if he wanted to have screamed, but couldn't, as the mask meld into his flesh. The old mans kind, bright eyes going dull and cloudy.

"Hmm, that was easy." He patted his newest servants head. "Good work, keep it up!" Then sauntered out, twirling another mask in hand.

----

Omake: Another build - Horse Arc(h)er

Jaune crept into his secret-shack, where he built and managed his gear, bruised and tired after another night of fighting shadow-monsters. He was so tired of this, they just seemed to keep getting stronger, and he stayed the same. He needed a equalizer for this mess, as it was only a matter of time before he got offed, either by luck on the monster side, or unluck on his.

Looking across his limited arsenal, he got to thinking. He looked over his plans and blueprints, but he had already tried them, or just too expensive or plainly impossible for him. He sighed, forehead against table.

In his childhood, Jaune liked to play knights with his sisters, even if it was him playing the princess in distress. It still was something he admired, the man with the sword, in the shining armor, on a noble and beautiful steed.

It was a shame though, that he couldn't get a suit of heavy-metal armor, or a sword that could cut shadow-monsters to pieces. A suit of armor would just give away his best defense against them anyway, not getting hit at all. Plus, he had done some research, and metal armor was good for turning away a blade, but actually made blunt hits worse, and the shadow-monsters were more than strong enough to tear apart cars, dumpsters, and metal railings, it wasn't really worth the effort.

His luck getting close was dice as well, as all it would take is one good hit to be dead and done with. Where as Jaune knew he would need to put sustained force on the bigger ones, while rolling the dice to dodge their strikes, not that he couldn't do it, but the thing is, chance adds up and eventually, he'd critically fail.

Still, a horse? That sounded nice, there wasn't a night that he didn't feel dead on his feet afterwards, so even just to lower his recovery time, well, that almost sounded worth it.

But, would that even work with hit and run still of fighting? The guns, well all he had was the shotgun, and didn't horses need to be trained to not get startled from shots? That didn't even bring up how he'd train one against getting frightened from the monsters.

Walking out of the shed, he needed some fresh air to think. Unconsciously, he ended up walking home. Stopping in the backyard, he saw his father, bow in hand and aiming at target. Jaune stood there for a moment, just watching gears turning.

His father let loose arrow after arrow in a stream of projectiles, it wasn't hard for Jaune to understand why his father was a former pro archer. All the arrows hit, tightly clustered around the center. Jaune felt a phantom feeling in his shoulder, rushing down his arms.

His father turned around, nearly jumping. "Son? What are you-, uh, why aren't you in bed?"

Jaune looked at the bow in his dads hands. "Can I, try shooting that?"

All confusion dropped from his fathers face, lighting up in joy. "WIthout question."

---

Across the dark streets of Vale, there came a sound, a sound that was forgotten to all, but the streets themselves. If there were thoughts in the cobblestone and concrete, this was a sound that would bringing them back a century, to when horses ran the streets. When carriages were pulled down the street, when horses carried passengers and messages, it was a sound of a different time.

It was the sound of hooves and horseshoes hitting stone, clamoring of nimble hooves hitting and pacing, as it raced down the streets. Ceaseless neighing, panting snorts and breaths, it was the sound of a large, powerful steed. No, not just one steed, but several. A rider changing steed regularly, ones he had stored across the city, as one became too tired from battle and the endless pace set by their rider.

Then it was followed, by another archaic sound, that of the endless stringing of a bow. All through out the night, outside on the streets was a shadowy rider, swaying over the back of a horse, never falling as he was aiming a mighty bow, firing tens of arrows every minute at some unseen quarry. Never seeming to run out of arrows, as on each horse were quivers of arrows lining the sides of the animals.

Beasts would pursue them, out from the shadows, the alleys, and forgotten corners of the city, only to pelted with a endless stream of arrows. Falling to the ground, finished off by being trampled by other monsters, or a horde of arrows ending them.

There was a new rider in town, and he was here to hunt the night away.

#jaune arc #shadow knight

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