51

Chapter 51 – I was a teenage Beowolf

"Arghhhhhh!" The stubby little figure ran along the forest floor, golden arms pumping up and down as it screamed silently – or at least silently to most. Behind it was something in pursuit, a creature far less silent, with huge teeth and angry red eyes. It leapt forwards, claws gouging the soil on either side of the bear, sending it flying. "Eeeeeeee – for the love of everything, someone help me!"

The Beowolf pushed itself up with a snarl, easily keeping track with its prey, which, it had to be said, wasn't particularly hard on account of how long it took the teddy bear to actually gain any distance. Even at a fast sprint, it only really covered a few inches with each bound of its legs.

"Crap, crap, crap – this is not what I signed up for!" The bear looked left and right, realising it had come to a dead end upon reaching a fallen log. It scurried beneath it, hiding in a tiny crevice that had been formed by some small woodland animal. It was big enough for him, however, and the bear squashed into it as the Grimm furiously began to claw at the edges, trying to dig it wider.

"Back!" the bear slapped at its hands, getting more excited noises from the Beowolf as it scratched harder and harder. "HELP!"

The soil and mud gave way, revealing that frenzied face one final time – as a claw reached in for him. Jaune's eyes didn't close, on account of the fact that as a teddy he had neither eyes nor eyelids, but he did metaphysically tense.

"Oh you found one," an unconcerned voice piped up, as a black ribbon wrapped around the creature's neck from behind, tossing it away. "Good job." A soft hand reached down, Jaune scrambling up it as Blake lifted him up to her shoulder. "Was that you screaming earlier by the way?"

"No." Jaune lied instantly, holding onto her hair for support. "Pft, why would I scream? I'm a Hunter."

"You're really more of a familiar," the girl pointed out. "Also it really sounded like you, in a girly kind of way."

"I didn't scream in the same way you didn't scream on that roller-coaster."

"My mistake," Blake waved one hand. "I must have been imagining it. And you imagining whatever it is you wrongly think I did." The Beowolf growled a little as it started to push itself up off the ground, red eyes staring at the relaxed Huntress with bestial hatred. "You're welcome for saving you by the way."

"I'd be more willing to thank you if it wasn't your crazy idea that we split up in the first place!"

"It worked though. We found one a lot quicker than we would have as a pair." Jaune grumbled at that but wasn't sure what to say. Blake's plans were always a little insane, no doubt a result of her time in the White Fang which, if the quality of her schemes was to be believed, must have been a little lacking in the common sense department. "Also, you said you wanted to learn more about your capabilities, right? Isn't that why you suggested we come out here?"

Again she was right, though he'd forgotten it a little, what with all the nearly being eaten ali- well, eaten unalive.

"Why the sudden urge to find out more?" she asked, deflecting the Beowolf's claws with contemptuous ease, but not striking a killing blow in return. "You've been fairly keen to just tag along in most cases. Why now?"

Because the psycho girl who had captured and subsequently released him had something in plan for him to do – something he definitely wouldn't be involving Blake in? He couldn't say that, however, since he knew Blake better than the back of his non-existent hand. She would want to get involved, or maybe tell him not to do it at all and ignore what threats the killer had made.

He wasn't willing to risk that, since it would probably mean the deaths of Team RWBY. If he told her the only options were that Blake would tell him to refuse her or otherwise Blake would try to fight the girl herself.

Both options were absolute no-go's as far as he was concerned. Which meant if he wanted to come out of whatever scheme the girl had in one piece, he needed to know what he could do.

"I don't want to be useless if a fight breaks out," he said instead, still the truth but not exactly the complete one. "What with the whole Emerald and Mercury maybe being dangerous thing."

"Hmm…" Blake's eyes narrowed as a snarl slipped across her face. Despite her distant expression she still fended off the Beowolf with ease, never once taking a blow from the clumsy and dangerous beast. They hadn't managed to find out anything more about the two, other than that their intentions towards the team was definitely shady.

Blake had tried to think of a way to explain it to her teammates, but instead had settled on appealing to their competitive nature instead, pointing out how training with the other team too much would mean they would know all of RWBY's secret moves. It wasn't a perfect solution but it at least kept their interactions to a minimum, since the tournament itself was just around the corner.

"Well we've learned a lesson here today then, right?" Blake chuckled, making him look at her in confusion. Naturally his stitched face didn't change, but she'd become adept at reading his motions. "Even in your bear, the Grimm can still see you – and still want to hunt you."

"Yay," Jaune drawled. "Such a fantastic ability… I am so very fortunate." A shame he hadn't proven immune, as that would have let him be a real asset in scouting.

"At least you work well as bait," Blake said, and to his horror he realised there was not a hint of humour in her voice.

"Blake, no…"

"Well I mean you can't die. If I stick close the worst that happens is that you pop out of the bear and the Grimm would ignore it."

"Blake, no…"

"Oh don't be dramatic," she rolled her eyes – as though the desire to avoid being mauled by a monster could actually be considered melodrama. "We'll just keep it as an emergency move. Something of a shock factor."

"That would work against humans too, if you threw me in bear form at their face," Jaune said, recalling one such case what felt like months ago where she had done just that. Hm, I wonder what happened to that faunus girl we left outside the warehouse anyway?

"Let's avoid doing that on stage in front of tens of thousands of people. Not to mention however many watch on the television. Ruby's still terrified."

"Well I mean it does make sense," Jaune said, feeling a little sorry for the younger girl and his technically first and last friend at Beacon. "Stage fright is normal, and this is a little bigger than that. Weiss really shouldn't have mentioned how many hundreds of thousands might be watching. Ruby looked like she was going to join me for a second."

Blake laughed at that, Jaune holding onto her hair as she back flipped away from a claw.

"On a side note… any reason you're like… not killing this thing?"

"You could say that," Blake slammed the hilt of Gambol Shroud against the side of its snout, eliciting an angry roar but doing relatively little damage. "Again, you wanted to know your capabilities. Why not see if you can possess a Grimm?"

Jaune leaned back a little, eyeing up the ferocious monster made of muscle, bone and sinew. He couldn't say the idea was particularly appealing.

"Uh… why? I really don't see what use this would ever be. It's not like I could make it fight alongside you since the rest of your team would just kill me."

"It might help one day," she backhanded the Grimm again, frowning as it staggered back and roared once more.

"You'd need to knock it out first."

"I am trying." Jaune sighed and hung tight as Blake unleashed a flurry of blows on the injured creature, using the flat of her blade on its head and neck, while dropping a few kicks in for good measure. The Grimm began to look worse and worse, armour chipped and blood dribbling from its body – but it still clawed at the ground and tried to bite great chunks from her. "I'm beginning to think they can't actually be knocked unconscious."

"It would make sense. Didn't Port say they're impossible to capture and keep for any real amount of time? He has to catch his in the morning before a lesson."

"You listen to him?" Blake asked, looking more impressed than she really ought to have.

"Well I can't actually sleep or anything," Jaune growled, referring to exactly what she and the others often did in his class. "So I kind of have to."

"I just…" Blake shrugged, "I figured you'd goof off. Look up our skirts or something."

"Eh, it's no fun if you're not awake to react," Jaune said, ignoring her irritated glare. "Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll be able to possess a Grimm if it's awake. I can't do that with people."

"But you can with machines," Blake pointed out, "and they have no soul, just like a Grimm doesn't. Try it now, see if you can take over it."

Jaune sighed, "Alright… I'll try." The bear went slack on Blake's shoulder, the girl catching it with ease as he floated free from its confines. The Beowolf looked between Blake and him, suddenly aware of a new target other than the girl it had been fighting. It sniffed the air, growling when it didn't pick up his scent.

"I'll get close to fight it," Blake said, suiting immediate action to words as she dashed in to bait the creature, Jaune trailing behind. A single Grimm was no match for her, and she was able to fend it off while Jaune tried to force his way into its subconscious.

"It's not working," he called, frowning as he tried to grip onto what felt like its mind. It was a lost cause, however, and whenever he was close it felt like suddenly slipped or was thrown off, the sheer amount of hate and rage shocking him into letting go. It was hard to explain, but it felt like trying to hold onto a rampaging bull, while covered in oil. "It's no good, I can't get hold of it while it's still conscious. Its mind is too difficult."

"I thought Grimm were mindless," Blake frowned.

"That must be an exaggeration," Jaune shrugged. "They can see us, hate us and hunt us, not to mention handle basic motor control – so they must have some kind of brain. Maybe it's just not capable of higher thought."

"I suppose that makes sense," Blake sighed, suddenly reversing the grip on Gambol Shroud and sliding it across the Grimm's throat. It coughed and hacked loudly, still trying to reach them as it slowly died. "It's a shame you can't, but we can get past it."

"Yeah…" Jaune mumbled, watching it die.

"You said you could get into its head a little though, right? Even if you couldn't take control?" Jaune nodded at her, still in his spectral form. "Do you think you could do that with a human?"

"I don't know," Jaune said, not sure he actually liked the method of thought. That felt too much like trying to take someone over against their will, which he wasn't exactly keen on after the last time. Sun and Blake – they had been desperation choices to save them, and even then he hadn't actually admitted to ever possessing her. "Maybe, but I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of forcing myself on people. If you want me to be able to fight why not consider the bear? You could attach claws to it or something, maybe hide a needle in its arm for me to use."

"Call me crazy," she chuckled, "but I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of a possessed killer bear, either."

Touché, Jaune thought. It did sound like something straight out of a horror movie.

"I know you don't want to possess people in case you hurt them," Blake suddenly piped up, making his eyes narrow. "But what if it was for a cause other than combat? Or if the people weren't exactly worth worrying about?"

"I'm not going to like the sound of this, am I?"

"Probably not." Blake didn't sugar-coat it. "But if I let you practice on me… would you be willing to try it on one of Cinder's team?"

She was right. He didn't like it. But at the same time he couldn't deny that he too desperately wanted to know what was going on. Maybe she was growing on him, or maybe he was growing on her, he couldn't tell. But it was probably a bad sign that despite the risk, his first thought was that it might be worth having a go at.

"You said I get to try on you?" he asked, visibly perking up.

Blake slumped, in equal but opposite enthusiasm to him.

"Against my better judgement…"