It had been two days since Jaune died, and he finally reached Vale.
It was a surprisingly easy, especially when Jaune could just fly away from danger and roadblocks.
Ravine? Just fly over it.
Hiking a Mountain? Fly instead.
One of the demonic looking Creatures of Darkness jumped out of the trees? Fly away.
Unless it could also fly, then Jaune just shifted himself and went inside a Mountain. All his belongings, minus his sword, didn't shift with him and were left scattered on the ground.
For how much Jaune used flying, he didn't have a proficiency for it. Although Jaune could go sky high, that was only when he wasn't carrying his luggage.
With all his luggage, the most he could do was hover.
Jaune spent most of his journey thinking. He knew he was dead, but what exactly does that mean? Almost nothing, Jaune could still be a hero.
His powers were another matter, he didn't know why he had them, or what they were.
Jaune had heard stories of Huntsmen mastering their Souls to fight the Soulless Creatures of Darkness, The Grimm.
Was this what they meant, actual superpowers? Jaune thought it was metaphorical.
Something Jaune had noticed as he made his way to Vale, was that he didn't feel the need to eat or sleep.
Jaune made sure all his wounds were covered when he reach the walls the surrounded Vale.
After his papers were checked, they allowed him in.
The light coming from fragmented moon was overpowered by the artificial lights that lit up every street Jaune could see.
Jaune felt a little overwhelmed by the Kingdom's capital, he was from the outskirts in a village that had gotten electricity right before he was born.
Jaune had seen streets lit up before, he had seen bustling towns before, but that was only in passing, when his family would go camping.
The knowledge he was in Vale was what sent him over the edge, but he felt numb.
The pit in his stomach, the one that would form when he was nervous, the one that alluded to vomiting, was empty.
Jaune knew what he was feeling, but his body didn't acknowledge it.
Jaune eventually shook away the feeling of melancholy, and sat out to find a criminal. He had a plan, he wasn't proud of it, but it was necessary.
Of course, his determination came to a halt when his eyes landed on a building.
It was a store, a store that sold sewing and knitting materials, it was between a laundromat and a tailor shop.
Jaune changed his objective, he was now going to get his onesie repaired.
First, Jaune made a note or where the store was, then he left to find a thrift store.
Jaune managed to find a shady, and rundown looking, building where he purchased a clean black shirt, the sleeves just barely cover the hole on his bicep, and he got a pair of black khakis. Jaune had counted on the dark to hide the scratches on his arms.
Then Jaune went to the laundromat, and put all his old clothes into a washing machine. Jaune had tried to clean his onesie by hand when he found a creek, but he couldn't get the blood out.
While his clothes washed, he affixed his belt and weapon on to his new pants.
As Jaune counted how much it would cost to dry his clothes, he realized he was almost broke.
Well, he still had the Lien he had put aside to buy something illegal, not that anyone but him knew that.
Jaune leaned against the machine washing his clothes, fluorescent light reflecting off his pale skin, he had crossed his arms to cover the small marks that peppered his flesh.
Jaune was currently dressed in all black with a messy and disheveled appearance, his eyes looked dead, his expression was troubled, his hair was a mess. The shaking machine would tap rhythmically against the sheath that held his sword.
And he was contemplating spending the money, he'd saved up for his dream, on his blue bunny pajamas.
Apparently, his state must've misled others into believing he was some troubled teen, a mother kept her distance, but a shady and rugged looking man approached Jaune.
"Seems like you got a problem, and luckily for you, I got answers." The man said to Jaune.
Jaune froze, his mind racing with anxiety, he didn't know how to respond to the man, all he could do was stare. But his body didn't get the memo, no sweat broke out, no nervous laughter bubbled within Jaune, his posture didn't shrink to make himself seem smaller.
The unnamed man took Jaune silent acknowledgement as a sign to continue. "I could get you anything, drugs, money, even a plaything, all you have to do is a little task. What do you say, kid?" He offered.
Jaune calmed down, the man was offering medicine, toys or money as a payment for doing something. Jaune made these kinds of deal before, with his neighbors, Jaune usually just had to clean of babysit. He was still slightly nervous, he considered the pros and cons of working for a stranger.
But then he remembered his mother's words: Strangers are just friends you haven't met.
And besides. "I do need money." He accidentally spoke his thoughts. Jaune was embarrassed, but before he could internally freak out, the man continued.
"Great, follow me." The man told Jaune and went out a back door.
Jaune checked how much longer until his clothes were done, and set a timer on his Scroll before exiting the building.
Behind the laundromat was a dirty alleyway, the man had lit a cigarette before Jaune had arrived. "Okay kid, we'll start off small." He said as he pulled a brown paper bag out of his jacket. "Deliver this to my regular at The Club, he'll be wearing a green shirt, when you find him say you were sent by me, he'll pay you then you bring the money back here and I'll give you your cut." The man said with one breath.
So Jaune just had to deliver a package, easy peasy, But. "What's your name and where's The Club?" Jaune asked as he took the brown paper bag.
"The Club's just down this alleyway, about thirty minutes down that way." The man said and pointed south. "And my name is Verletzt, aber nicht gebrochen, but people call me Verlet, now shoo."
Jaune started walking, the cold air of the night brushing by Jaune. He expected to shiver, instead his body merely took noticed of the cold but didn't react.
Jaune could hear The Club before he saw it, the plain looking building was blasting music and flashing lights escaped the windows.
Jaune walked straight in, and stumbled, the music was deafening and the light was blinding.
The sensory overload caused discomfort in Jaune, physically. He was a little surprised to feel it, but he didn't like it. Jaune had experienced world as a bright colour, but he can't seem to handle flashing colours. Jaune remembered the deafening world, but the sounds here seemed unnatural.
Jaune brought a hand to his head and massaged his temples.
Then he tried to focus, he didn't want to see flashing colours, and he tried to block out the sound.
The world went silent.
Jaune glanced up, he met a world of black and white, with shades of gray.
Jaune took a moment to look around in awe, but he needed to hurry up so he could put his clothes in the dryer.
There was one problem, Jaune couldn't see colour and he was supposed to deliver the bag to someone in a green shirt.
He tried asking, but he was currently deaf, and other people could still hear the music.
Jaune didn't want to experience discomfort again, so he used his Scroll to ask people if the ordered something from Verlet.
Most people ignored him, and the ones that did answer shook their head no.
Jaune took a seat at the counter and sighed, he only had a few minutes before his clothes were done, even though it would've taken an hour at the minimum to complete his task, Jaune just wanted it to be over.
Jaune began thinking of ways to apologize to Verlet, when two girls appeared in front of him, he didn't notice until one of them kicked his shin.
Jaune felt a numb buzz from his leg, his attention was brought back to reality, where two identical angry girls standing in front of Jaune.
He didn't know what they wanted, so he just waved and smiled, Jaune found it hard to get nervous in The Club, he felt the atmosphere was too inviting and warm. As long as he couldn't see colours or hear sounds.
The two girls took turns opening and closing their mouths, they were probably trying to speak to Jaune.
Jaune was going to use his Scroll to tell them he couldn't hear them, but apparently they had a different idea.
The one to Jaune's left punched his cheek, his head jerked to the side and he fell out of his seat, where the one to Jaune right grabbed him and started dragging him.
Jaune was confused, he didn't know why he was punched or why being dragged off. He was calm but confused, he found it hard to panic as they dragged him into a backroom.
The girls handed him off to three guys in suits, who forced him to his knees and two of them each held an arm, while the third pushed something against the back of his head.
Then a big burly guy with a beard walked into the room, the two girls where on opposite side of him. He was saying something, but Jaune still couldn't hear. Jaune considering turn sounds back on, but all that would do is give him a headache if the music was still on.
The bearded man continued to talk, not knowing he was going unheard by Jaune. After a while, the man looked angry, and waved his hand at another guy in a suit.
The new suit guy, searched Jaune, he took out the bag Jaune was supposed to deliver, which seemed to anger the man more.
Jaune was confused, but he believed this man was the boss and he somehow pissed off the girls who work for him.
After some more ranting to a deaf Jaune, another suit guy stepped into the room, he seemed nervous as he interrupted his boss. The suit guy handed the boss Jaune's scroll.
The boss read that text that was on the Scroll. :Sorry, I can't hear what you two are saying, I'm deaf.
The boss sighed, he looked tired, and the two girls laughed at him, before he turned to speak to them.
The boss said something to the suit guys holding Jaune, because they released him and gave him his Scroll back.
One of the suit guys gave the boss another Scroll. :What are you doing here? The boss typed out and showed his question to Jaune.
Jaune used his Scroll to type his answer. :I was told to give a man in a green shirt that bag for some money, but I'm colorblind so I couldn't do it. Then I think I pissed of those girls, sorry about that.
The boss sighed again. :Who sent you?
:Verlet. Jaune answered.
:Of course, follow me kid. The boss spoke to the suit guys, and led Jaune out of the room and to the bar. He pointed at Jaune then at a seat.
Jaune sat down, the boss gave him a drink and told him with the Scroll to stay there. Jaune took a sip, it was flavorless.
A few minutes passed, Jaune was just waiting for someone to tell him he could leave, he had already finished his drink.
Then someone approached the boss, it was an orange haired man dressed in a fancy white suit. They argued, until the boss looked defeated. The boss, some suit guys, and the fancy suit man started walking, a suit guy motioned for Jaune to follow.
Jaune got out of his seat, and as he walked, he realized something, it wasn't the club that made him calm. It was definitely his powers, he was beginning to feel numb all over.
Once Jaune caught up with the group outside The Club, the fancy suit man laughed when he saw him.
A suit guy showed him a Scroll. :Take this guy's partner to Verlet, if you don't she kill you. It read.
Jaune gave a lazy thumbs up.
The fancy suit man left with some suit guys, and the boss went back inside.
Leaving Jaune all alone in the back alley, until the sound of shattering glass came from behind Jaune, as someone else appeared in the alley, not that Jaune heard it.
Jaune only turned around when someone poked him in the back, he met a short girl with three shades of gray in her hair and eyes that were different shades.
:You the girl I'm supposed to lead? Sorry by the way. I'm deaf. Jaune typed out to her, she nodded and motioned for him to walk.
Jaune led her back to the laundromat, Verlet was still smoking.
Well, not for long, Jaune had only blinked and Verlet was headless.
The girl that followed Jaune was standing over the corpse with a smile, Jaune waved her goodbye as he went to check on his clothes, he didn't get far when he felt another poke at his back.
He turned around and found the same girl, only this time she was holding a head and a Scroll. :Not so fast, I want a photo of us with the head. :)
Jaune put on a smile as the girl used her Scroll to take a picture of them. Jaune was smiling, Verlet was dead, and Neo was sticking out her tongue.
After the picture was taken, Jaune turned around to go inside the door, but, in the blink of an eye, the door was replaced with the moon, then Jaune fell into a hand.
No, his head fell into a hand, the girl had beheaded him.
The girl took out her Scroll and prepared to take another picture, she put Jaune's head against her own head, both facing the camera. The girl squeezed her eyes shut and grinned.
Jaune, not wanting to seem rude, put on another smile as she took the picture.
When she was done, she vanished and dropped Jaune's head.
Jaune's head started to float, he moved over to his fallen body, when he reached it, he connected the two. After healing, Jaune went inside to his clothes.
He put his clothes in the dryer and sat down on a bench.
The world regained colour and sound as Jaune passed out.