Edge of Life

Chapter One

The Beginning

Jaune Arc was a happy young boy at the age of eight; he had a loving mother and father, and plenty of sisters to play with. Life was good for the Arc family.

Jaune's parents used to be hunters, the protectors of mankind against creatures of Grimm. But that just made them heroes in Jaune's eyes, and what eight-year old wouldn't want a hero for a parent? Jaune was happy, life was simple and peaceful

That was, until the day of the eclipse. Today to be precise.

The day started out the same as any other day in the village of Dorme, children were playing, adults were going about their business, and all was well. Until about 1:00 in the afternoon when John Arc noticed that the sun was starting to be blocked out by the moon.

What is that? The retired hunter thought as he squinted to get a better look at the fading sunlight. That almost looks like an… "ECLIPSE!" he yelled as it dawned on him, his shout directed to the towns people around him. "GET TO YOUR HOMES!"

Everyone knew that an eclipse meant only death and destruction will follow, it was when Grimm were at their strongest, and when humans were at a crippling disadvantage. The radiant warmth of the sun was torn away and the strength the Grimm seemed to multiply greatly.

People ran frantically towards their homes in hope to avoid the coming calamity, but it was two late, three monstrously sized Nevermores swooped in from above and started culling the villagers.

John quickly grabbed his family sword; Crocea Mors then went to fight the incoming monsters.

He fought the dark creatures with all his might, but as time drew on adrenaline began to fade. Crocea Mors felt like it was made of stone, the ancient blade becoming heavier in his calloused hands. But he did not falter; John Arc stood before his home and used all his skill as a hunter to protect his family inside. He spent nearly two hours protecting his home and family, butchering any Grimm foolish enough to come within range of his sword.

But it was not meant to be. As John was gutting an Ursa one of the Nevermores swooped in and tried to take a bite from John, but John was an experienced hunter and he deftly dodged the attack, what he didn't count on was the Nevermore flying straight through his house. John bolted into the ruined structure to try and find his family. What he found would haunt him forever, his beautiful wife, Jane Arc. Half crushed beneath a fallen support beam and one of his beloved daughters becoming a quick meal for the bestial Nevermore that caused this.

He would have given up right then and there had it not been for the terrified whimpers coming from behind some debris, with strength that only a father in need could provide John lifted the debris so see his only son Jaune curled up into a ball crying his eyes out, and Grimm be damned, John lifted the crying boy into his arms and made a mad sprint out of the house and away from the village.

But luck was not on his side that day. The other two avian Grimm saw the weary hunter trying to escape, and decided to make a meal of him. One of the dark birds made a swoop at John from his left, but the hunter jumped backwards and with his one free arm swung his sword down on the giant bird, the blow wasn't fatal to the Nevermore, but it did leave a large bleeding gash across its right eye, a cut that would likely scar the beast.

Jaune whimpered at the sight of the violence but otherwise stayed silent so his father could concentrate. The injured bird flew away from the hunter to recuperate, meanwhile, the other Nevermore brought its wings back to fire razor sharp feathers at John. His aura was depleted from all the fighting if such an attack hit him… it would not bode well.

The hunter was muttering soothing words to Jaune to try and keep him calm when he felt several sharp pains in his back pushing him to the ground and dropping Jaune.

John looked down and saw several black feather tips poking through the front of his chest. Black was slowly creeping into his vision, a siren's call for him for just let it all go. But John wouldn't give in, not yet. As he slowly started to drag himself to where Jaune had fallen he spoke his last to his son, "Be brave, son." And with a final gasping breath, John died. Leaving Jaune alone. Against 3 angry Nevermore and a small army of lesser Grimm.

A young man wearing a black hoodie and faded jungle camo cargo pants sat at a bar in a club slowly drinking a brownish looking concoction out of a small glass with a mostly empty bottle on the bar next to him. What's special about this young man? Well, the large sword strapped to his back might some indication. But the most striking thing about this man was the eye patch covering his right eye and the thick scar running from his jaw to his hairline only partially obscured by the eye patch. All this was covered over by his black hoodie, the terrible scars hidden under the shadows of the fabric.

Some might find the man's appearance slightly scary, but he was a regular at this club. Most people knew that unless you really pissed him off he won't hurt anyone.

He had many names, some recent, others he would give anything to forget. But before all of his other titles came the single name that burned the worst: Jaune Arc.

No one alive knew him by that name, the Arc family was considered to be a dead line. But most people know him by the name: Solus Superstes. If one were educated in the old Valean language one might realize that his name quite literally translates to Sole Survivor. But in the places that Solus frequents most people hardly understand common (English) let alone the old Valean words.

So Solus was just quietly drinking and speaking with the absolute bear of a man beside him, quiet words that were drowned out under the booming of the dreadful techno music that played throughout the club.

A tall blonde girl walked up behind the huge man who was talking to Solus and spoke to the nearby bartender. "Strawberry sunrise, no ice. Oh and one of those little umbrellas." without another word the bartender the blonde girl turned to the tall man that Solus had been speaking to, interrupting the ongoing conversation and totally ignoring Solus.

Rude...

"Aren't you a little young to be in this club blondie?" The tall man asked, Although his tone made it clear he didn't really care.

"Heh, aren't you a little old to have a name like 'Junior'?" she asked back in a teasing manner.

"So you know who I am, you got a name sweetheart?" Junior replied, clearly taken in by the good looks of the girl.

The blonde slowly traced- a finger down Juniors suit as she said: "Yes Junior, I've got several," she paused for a moment, her purple eyes giving nothing away, "but instead of sweetheart you can just call me sir." She grabbed the tall man's groin and gave it an uncomfortable squeeze, Solus cringed at seeing this and hearing Juniors high pitched squeal.

Cruel...

With her free hand blondie pulled out her scroll and waved it in front of Junior's face. "People say you know everything, tell me where to find her and I'll let you go."

Junior responded quickly in a higher pitch that would have previously been beyond him. "I've never seen her before I swear!"

Blondie tightened her grip slightly, her eye's hardening. "Excuse me?"

"I swear sir!" the poor man squealed.

Several men in black suits and red ties ran up. "Heh seems we have an audience, this must be kinda embarrassing for you huh? Awkward." Blondie said with a hint of humour, all previous traces of impatience gone.

"Listen, blondie - sir! - if you want to make it out of this club alive I suggest you let me go. Now!" the suit-clad man threatened, anger mounting.

Surprisingly enough the blond did actually let him go, much to Juniors relief. "You'll pay for that." he spat, his voice back to its normal pitch. He started to walk away, leaving his goons to finish it.

At least that what he tried to do, but blondie followed him and simpered "Oh Junior, I was just playing with you!" All the while batting her eyelashes invitingly. "Don't be so sensitive! Cmon let's kiss and make up ok?"

Junior… don't make even more of a fool of yourself… Solus thought silently as he watched things play out.

Junior, who was in the middle of the dance floor, took one look at the blonde's well-endowed chest then before nodding dumbly, drawn in by something he can never have. "Uhh ok..." he leaned in for the kiss. Aaaand... much to Solus's amusement and disappointment the huge man was punched all the way across the room back to the bar next to Solus. Much to Solus's displeasure, however, was the fact that when the dazed Junior hit the bar he knocked Solus's bottle over and poured it all over himself.

Heartless too...

"Hey! I wasn't finished with that!" Solus complained, ignoring the fact that everyone besides himself and Juniors men was running in terror of seeing such a large man sent flying so far and through one of the decorative glass pillars that dotted the club.

Junior didn't really respond, just made a few mumbles that sounded vaguely like: "Did anyone catch the number of that bitch..."

When Solus looked back at blondie he saw an absolute beat down of all Juniors men, and it was an absolute beat down, the closest any of the poor sods got to actually hurting her was when one guy charged her with a sword only to get blocked by yellow gauntlet things she had over her forearms.

Right, well those idiots don't stand a chance, should I help them?... Nah, I'll just get the twins to deal with it Solus mused as he absently finished off whatever it was he was drinking. He reached down into Juniors pocket and grabbed the elder man's scroll, quickly filtered through the contacts, quickly saving a few for him to check out later because they looked interesting, then called one listed under 'Melanie M'.

"What do you want Junior?" Came the snarky tone on the other side of the line.

"Juniors fairly out of it, and some blonde bimbo just beat up all of the security, thought you might want to know." Solus snarked back in a surprisingly gravelly voice.

"WHAT!? Why aren't you helping?!" Came the less calm twin from somewhere in the background.

A small smirk played across the face of Solus, he may have had a little much to drink but he still liked messing with people. "Because no one is paying me to, my skills and power don't come free girl." And with that, he cut the line just in time to see the blonde girl looking at him oddly.

Yang, on the other hand, was looking at the only patron still in the club, she could only see half his face because he was wearing a hood. From what she could see he showed absolutely no discomfort at the fact that she just wiped the floor with 20 armed guys, granted she was sweating like a pig under the hot club lighting, so she probably didn't look terribly intimidating. But she just beat up 20 guys single-handedly, surely that would inspire some fear, right?

But her attention was soon diverted when two girls in dresses walked into the bar, and both of them looked mighty pissed off.

Around this time Junior came back to his senses and oh boy, was he angry. "You!" He barked pointing at Solus. "Why aren't you helping us beat that bitch?!"

Solus gave him an icy look, one that conveyed how little Solus thought of the information broker. "I'm a mercenary you moron, I don't do things for free."

"Hmpf! Fine! I'll deal with this myself!" Junior then reached over the bar and pulled out a large rocket launcher and started to walk off to fight the blonde menace, just in time to see Melanie get nailed in the face with a spin kick to the face that knocked her lights out.

"Your gonna pay for this." Junior sneered confidently to the blonde girl. She just grinned and raised her hands defiantly.

Junior took aim and fired in less than 2 seconds, 5 rockets sped off to the blonde fist fighter. But she just leapt away, leaving the rockets to explode harmlessly on the ground, Junior fired once again, but instead of dodging, the blonde shot the explosives out of the air with her shotgun gauntlets.

Seeing his moment, Junior shifted his gun into a huge bat and jumped in and cracked blondie across the head, and she was unable to block the next 3 strikes that hit her in the face and stomach but by the end of it she was hunched over, when she tried to lift herself, all she saw was the bat flying for her face. When it hit her she was sent soaring backwards through a glass table, but it seemed her aura had taken most of the damage for her; moments later she stood and a large grin adorned her face.

Less than a second later she was upon the man, delivering savage blows that his aura could hardly protect him from.

Melanie, who had just dragged her unconscious sister to where Solus was looked at the scarred man in slight anger. "Why aren't you helping him?" she said pointing to the club owner who was getting the beating of his life.

Solus smirked as he snatched a drink from behind the bar, it seemed it was his lucky day. "Can't you see he has to fight this battle on his own? He's fighting for the honour of his fallen comrades." Solus gestured vaguely to the beaten thugs on the ground, he was far more interested in stealing from behind the bar than to bother with people that wouldn't pay him.

"Help me! - for the love of god - help me!" Junior screamed between getting punched.

"Like a true hero..." Solus finished as he took a deep drink from stolen whiskey.

Melanie just gave solus a weird look as if to say 'are you serious?'

Solus turned back to the fight just in time to see the bloody and bruised face of Junior take one more hit. He tried to block it with his bat, but it snapped in half in the huge man's hand, and in large man's other hand was a few strands of blondies hair. And oh boy, did she looked pissed.

Did her eyes just flash red for a second?

With a look of fear on Juniors face at the sight of the blonde's growing rage, the big man screamed out: "Fine I'll pay you! Just help me!"

That's more like it.

Solus jumped into action, leaping from the bar and performing a ruthless kick at the girl as she was charging junior with red eyes. Blondie got up off the ground a few feet away, clutching her side in pain, red eyes blazing in fury. "I suggest you back down girly, this isn't a fight you can win." Solus hissed with menace in his voice.

"Bring it on!" she snarled, not at all afraid of the hooded man.

And suffering will be your teacher…

Damn, he really needed to stop drinking. It made him all nostalgic.

Solus charged the other blonde. He nailed her straight in the face with a powerful punch that she was unable to block in time. Her head snapped backwards, but she quickly came back at him with a strong punch to the gut then an uppercut to the jaw. Knocking his hood down. She would have continued her assault had she not seen his full face for the first time.

She gaped at his maimed face, and she noted in horror that he seemed to be about her age. She took a step back slowly. "What?" He asked with a smirk gesturing to his face. "Something on my face? It's rude to stare you know."

Solus's aura suddenly sprung to life in a dull grey all around him, and with speed that shouldn't be possible even with aura he leapt at the other blonde and kicked her in the face hard enough to send her flying through the front doors and rolling on the ground. She slowly came to a stop and the feet of a small girl in a gothic black and red dress.

Violence is good for the soul.

"Yang!?" the girl cried in obvious distress.

Solus stepped out of the club, quickly eyeing off the new girl with a glare. Blondie, or Yang as it were, was out cold and the other younger looking girl was shaking her shoulders and shooting a venomous glare towards Solus.

"What did you do to her?!" the younger girl shouted, her small hands tightening into fists.

Just a job. Nothing personal. "I'm being paid to remove her from the club, she caused quite the stir tonight."

The girl didn't say anything, her silver eyes narrowed into a fierce glare.

She had purple eyes…

Solus sighed, any anger still in his system quickly leaving him. He really should cut back on the alcohol… "Look girl," he ground out the the red head. "just… take this."

Solus pushed his right hand forward, in it was a small fist full of paper notes; Lien.

"Wha- what's this?" the girl questioned, looking at him oddly.

"Do you want it or not?" Solus snarled, his anger quickly rising once more. "I'm giving you money for the hospital bill."

The girl looked at his hand, still not moving an inch.

"Fine!" Solus spat, throwing the money on the ground, his unseen single blue eye showing little but anger. "Your friend's jaw is broken, see if I care."

Solus turned on his heel and began marching back into the club, he was done with this. At least he would be paid for this crap.

A/N

Welcome! Or maybe welcome back! This is my new and improved 'Edge of Life'! for first-time readers I hope you enjoy, but be warned that this story is a serious and dark narrative.

For those who read the original incarnation of this story just note that not much has changed, it's mostly just grammar corrections and a few added words here and there.

Oh and for those who didn't read carefully enough, Jaune is Solus and Solus is Jaune. Okay? Solus is the name/title that Jaune will be using for most of the story. There will be times in his life that he use's/used a different name, but it will always be Jaune underneath, even if he doesn't know that himself.

Oh and one final thing, because I'm a bit of a prick, I take delight in creating plots and stories that revolve around half-truths and preconceptions. So please bear in mind that just because one character thinks something to be true, that doesn't actually make it true. And just because I say something that doesn't mean it's true, I could be lying, or maybe I could be giving extremely vague hints about what's going to happen later in the story, hell, I did this in the paragraph above this one "...will always be Jaune underneath, even if he doesn't know that himself." It's just how I operate, I like leaving frustrated readers who thought they knew what was happening only for all they expected to happen to never see the light of day.

Also, if you were one of the 10000 ish people who read through the spelling and grammar mistakes that the original Edge of Life was, then don't go and spoil it for new readers okay?

EDIT: 12/7/2016 Just correcting a few things, trying to bring the early chapters up to the same standard as the later ones.

Anyway, please leave a review!