{Jaune POV}
I opened my eyes and let out a pained groan. Damn... my whole body hurts. It feels like every single fiber of my muscles has been shredded by a meat grinder and all of my bones have been crushed by a road roller.
"Wha... what happened," I managed to croak out through the pain. I tried to sit up but gave up halfway and lay back down on the floor.
I then looked at the moon and saw that it was already low. I probably have an hour or two before dawn breaks.
I then tried to remember what the actual hell had happened. Hopefully it would explain my current situation.
I remembered my stupid decision to follow my heart. Why did I do that? I chalk it up to me being a kid. Kids do stupid stuff, right? Well, I am kinda stupid, so I guess that answers it.
And then I remembered walking deep into the forest and reaching my usual spot before I had to dodge something, and thankfully I did, because that something was an Alpha Beowolf.
Why is there a lone Alpha Beowolf in the forest? Why would there even be a Grimm in the forest?! My father and a few of the hunters still hunted any Grimm in the forest or the surrounding land once every three days. Well, not Dad; he sometimes needs to go away for weeks if the job needs him somewhere else, like that time on Atlas where he became the bodyguard for one of the Schnees.
And I guess it was kinda stupid of me to even come here in the first place, considering that a couple of days ago I overheard Dad talking to Mom about how the hunters let a Grimm escape. Dad tried to track the Grimm down the whole night, but it looks like he didn't find it, huh. This is a bad way to find out about it.
I should be thankful that it was me the Grimm found and not Mordred. I don't want to imagine Mordred fighting the Grimm alone with a wooden sword.
I remembered rolling under the Grimm and I think it managed to nick my back. I would have checked it if I could, but I guess compared to what happened next that scratch would not be my biggest worry, because the Grimm slapped me into a tree. I'm pretty sure I broke my ribs and my left arm.
...Shit. How do I explain this to Mom? I would be pretty happy if she could come here and heal me, but no. Jaune, you just had to sneak away in the middle of the night, didn't you? Stupid Jaune.
And what happened next? Oh yeah... I remembered trying to stand up and I'm pretty sure I heard the sound of chains breaking.
I... I then... I then felt it... that energy... it felt like true freedom. Is that... Aura? That's gotta be Aura, right?
And those circuits... what is that?! I've never seen Mordred have that. Is that my Semblance? No. From what Mordred told me, she instinctively knew what her Semblance was when she unlocked it, and that is not my Semblance. So that's gotta be my Aura, right?
Why did that Grimm move so slow anyway? Did those circuits make me faster? But whenever Mordred used her Aura, whenever she showed me how she used it, she never had that kind of circuit pattern on her body. She also said that whenever she moved as fast as she could with her Aura, it was really hard for her to see or even concentrate.
I also experienced that too. I only meant to take a single step to the side of the Grimm so I could get to my tree, but suddenly the world went blurry and I was in front of the tree.
And when I picked up my sword, I got a feeling that I could flow that energy... or Aura. I need to ask Mordred about it. I then flowed my Aura into my sword and it also got the same circuit pattern on it.
And that attack... when the Grimm tried to hit me again, I swung my sword at its jaw and my sword, alongside the Grimm's head, exploded. Could that happen to my arm?
"I... I need to... go home..." I gasped through the pain that had covered my entire body.
My Aura... I need to use it again. Last night, when my body was covered in those circuits, I didn't feel any pain. I need to do it again.
I started to concentrate to bring that feeling back into my body for a few minutes before I stopped and panted roughly.
"Haa... ha... ha... I need to concentrate deeper... I have to feel what I felt before..."
With new vigor, I concentrated deeper and remembered the feeling I had when I first experienced that kind of power.
I remembered the feelings of pain... fear... anger... and the most prominent and powerful of them all... love.
Emotion... Aura is connected to our emotions, right? Well, hopefully it is, because I don't have any more ideas. Mordred never really told me about this emotion part of Aura.
I concentrated on the feeling of my love even more. I started to think about how much I love my family and the people I have met.
My mother's cooking, with a gentle smile when she looks at the children playing around.
My father's loving gaze when one of his kids shows him something to be proud of.
Saphron's gentle gaze when she dances with me to the sound of music.
Artoria's stoic facade that hides away her gentleness as she looks over and watches the others' backs while they play the arcade games.
Mordred's frankly fierce emotion and determination not to be chained by rules, and her willingness to support me by helping me train.
Jeanne's gentle Aura while she helps the others do their chores, and the gentle smile that has always been on her face.
Noir's extroverted love towards her twin as she drags Blancheur to play, and Blancheur letting Noir drag her around to play with a small, almost unnoticeable smile that breaks through her introverted self.
Olivia's beautiful eyes that look at the world in wonder as she looks at it for the first time.
I concentrated deeper on the feeling of love that had been prominent in my heart and I could finally feel the energy flowing through and out of my body.
I opened my eyes to the feeling of the pain greatly lessened and a white force field that had covered my body. At that moment I could finally confirm that the energy that had flowed through my body was my own, now-unlocked Aura. But I didn't get that circuit pattern again when I looked at my arm, though this confirmed that it was Aura.
I was still curious about the circuit-like pattern that had covered my hands and presumably also my body before, but I put the thought away for some other time as I focused on my Aura to help me move.
I managed to move my right arm up and when I felt pain, I fought through it as I forced myself to sit up.
I did not manage to sit up straight and had to lean on my right arm, and look at what I found... my left arm was bending the wrong way. Mordred's gonna kill me.
I then forced myself to stand on my own two feet as my Aura grew brighter to accommodate the stress my body was experiencing.
When I finally managed to stand up, I leaned my body on a nearby tree before I looked at my surroundings and saw the tree I had been thrown into was concaved in by the force of my body hitting it.
How did I survive that? I don't know... but thanks, Oum, for not having me hit that headfirst. Oum knows I would have broken my neck.
I wondered where the body of the Grimm had gone and my heart started to beat wildly as I looked around, panicking about where the dead body of the Grimm had gone.
Well, I guess that's one less thing to worry about now.
I then started to calm myself down and mentally chided myself for forgetting that Grimm corpses fade away into nothingness after a few hours.
I then had the realization that I needed to go home now. When I looked at the night sky I saw that I had about maybe a couple hours, or 3 hours if I were to be optimistic, to get home before the sun rises and the others find my room empty without me being there.
I then started to limp as fast as I could back to my town and sneak into my home. This is going to be a pain in my butt, isn't it?
It took me about two hours before I managed to climb into my window. I won't ever do that again. Climbing with one arm... I fell down a couple of times before I literally grabbed my broken arm and realigned it myself. That was stupid, but with my left arm not bending the wrong way, it was easier to climb the pipe.
I then lay on my bed and couldn't help but laugh as I thought about what happened and how I am now much stronger and closer to my dream, as I had now unlocked my Aura.
The fact my Aura is better quality because of me unlocking it by myself doesn't cross my mind, as I am too thankful for being alive and living another day to become a Huntsman.
Well, try to be a Huntsman. I need to go to the Academy first. That's a problem for future Jaune.
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