By the ti Jaune's group returned from the forest, the forward base had already settled into a well oiled rhythm of organized motion. Researchers moved between portable consoles with their instrunts humming softly against the unnatural stillness of the Shadow Realm.
The mont Raven, Qrow, Zeki, Jaune, and Auberyn ca into view, several operatives imdiately approached, expressions sharp with concern and curiosity.
Rather than allowing a chaotic flood of questions, Zeki stepped forward and took charge of the explanation. His voice remained calm and asured, carrying easily across the assembled group as he recounted the events of the scouting run. He described the density of Stalkers within the forest, the overwhelming size of the trees, and most importantly, the ergence of the Asura variant.
The mont he explained that the creature had spoken, a visible stir moved through the researchers. The researcher operatives began whispering among themselves, inputting notes and speaking in hushed analytical tones.
"It demonstrated linguistic structure?"
"Was it mitic or was it simply a repeat of previously heard speech. Or... did it truly generate an original sentence composition?"
"Hold on, what was the phonetic pattern of the incomprehensible word?"
"If second variants are sapient, then the evolutionary model should potentially be revised entirely. Hmm... I suppose that ans they're not just predators."
"No," Zeki replied gravely. "At minimum, they possess tactical intelligence."
His eyes swept over the camp. "And, assuming Jaune's interpretation is correct, then they may possess access to a runic verbal frawork."
That statent caused an even greater stir.
The revelation that a second variant Stalker was not only intelligent enough to fight tactically, but also capable of language, completely shifted the tone of the expedition.
What had initially been considered a dangerous ecosystem now carried the unsettling implication of hierarchy, evolution, and perhaps even society.
Even more wondrous was the fact that rune language had a verbal component, not to ntion that runic language was being spoken here. In the Shadow Realm of all places. It would have made more sense if a Grimm of all things were to speak it, but a Stalker? A creature that didn't really have any connection to runes?
That was simply confounding.
While Zeki handled the debrief, Jaune found himself quickly pulled aside. Specifically, the researcher operatives wanted to determine exactly what effect absorbing its Umbra had on him. Before he could even properly sit down, he was being guided toward a hastily assembled testing section near the periter of the base.
Several extrely reinforced slabs of shadow stone had been erected there, and each were layered with special resonance markers and structural asurent arrays which were connected to one of the researcher's runes.
Due to the fact that they didn't have access to the Nightmare system in the Shadow realm, testing had to be done to confirm the capabilities of his body. Simply taking the Rank 2's words as fact wasn't exactly proper when considering a statistical data analytics standpoint.
Which ant that they had him strike reinforced surfaces, leap from stationary positions, endure controlled impacts, and push against calibrated resistance fras designed to asure raw physical output.
At first, Jaune had found the whole thing mildly amusing, but that amusent quickly gave way to concentration as the results began to co in. Every test confird the sa thing. His fusion physical body had unquestionably crossed into Rank 2 territory.
The problem, however, beca imdiately apparent once the researchers began comparing the broader data.
The the senior analyst looked over the results for a long mont before speaking. She explained that Jaune's Body stat had indeed reached Rank 2 capability. In terms of raw physical strength, speed, and durability, he was now operating well beyond anything a Rank 1 should have been capable of. However, that was where the advancent ended.
His Aura and Will remained exactly where they had been before.
Peak Rank 1.
The researcher took the ti to explain what that ant in practical terms. Against any Rank 1 opponent, Jaune now possessed an overwhelming advantage. His body alone would allow him to dominate all fights through sheer speed and force—which in essence was already how his combat style was. However, against an average Rank 2, that picture changed drastically. A true Rank 2 possessed not only heightened physicality, but also significantly stronger Aura reserves, ntal resilience, and ta rune resistance. In comparison, Jaune's growth was incomplete.
In essence, he was a false Rank 2. Greater than a half-step rank 2, but still not truly there.
The phrase sat uncomfortably in his mind.
He understood what they ant. He was stronger, undeniably so, but only in one dinsion. If a real Rank 2 with a balanced stat spread engaged him in prolonged combat, especially one with strong Aura reinforcent or dangerous ta rune capabilities, he would lose.
Worse still, with Gula still in hibernation, he had temporarily lost access to Umbra entirely. That ant no shadow weapon manifestations and no access to the Stalker's own capabilities.
For now, all he truly had was a Rank 2 body attached to a Rank 1 frawork.
Still, despite the slightly bitter reality of the assessnt, the increase in strength was nothing short of extraordinary.
By the ti the testing concluded, the base had settled into evening stillness, though the black sun above gave no indication of ti. Jaune stepped away from the cluster of researchers, flexing his fingers and rolling his shoulders, still adjusting to the subtle heaviness and latent power now coiled within his fra.
It was then that Pyrrha approached him.
She had remained mostly silent during the debrief and testing, watching from a short distance with a calm expression that Jaune had not looked at too closely until now. Up close, however, he noticed sothing quieter in her gaze. Concern, certainly, but sothing more personal beneath it.
"Are you free to talk? Sorry, I know they just put you through the wringer." she asked softly.
Jaune blinked, then gave a small nod. "Yeah. Of course."
Without another word, the two of them walked a short distance away from the main body of the camp, far enough that the quiet hum of voices and equipnt faded into the background. Eventually, they found a relatively open patch of shadow ground near one of the strange twisted trees that marked the edge of the base's periter.
They sat down side by side and for a while, neither of them spoke. The silence was not uncomfortable, but it was weighted.
Finally, Pyrrha broke it.
"Seems like you had quite the adventure in the forest." she noted, her voice gentle.
Jaune let out a small breath. "Yeah. It was... certainly exciting. I'll tell you that."
Pyrrha's eyes remained fixed ahead. "Zeki explained the broad details earlier. But... I wanted to hear it from you."
Jaune turned slightly toward her, surprised by the quiet sincerity in her tone. He took a mont before answering.
"It happened fast," he began, his voice softer now. "One mont we were dealing with the normal variants, and the next... it was just there."
He found himself recounting the encounter, but this ti it wasn't a tactical summary. It was personal. He spoke about the subtle shift in his Weakness sense that had first warned him sothing stronger was nearby. He described seeing the Asura variant clinging to the side of one of the massive trees, its six arms folded and its white eyes fixed on them with a chilling sort of intelligence.
Then he told her what it had felt like when its hand had closed around his throat. How quickly it had happened and how powerless that mont had felt.
For the first ti since returning, Jaune admitted aloud what had gone through his mind in that instant.
"Honestly, I thought I was going to die."
The words ca quietly and Pyrrha's hands tightened slightly in her lap.
Jaune noticed her emotions but continued anyway.
"It's mind... didn't feel like hunger," he said. "Or at least... only like hunger. That was the worst part. It was looking at like I was... interesting. Though, on hindsight, I probably shouldn't have tried to interfere with a Rank 2 fight."
He let out a small, humorless laugh.
"Honestly, that was scarier."
For a mont, silence returned. Then Jaune looked at her and gave a faint smile.
"But... overall I'm fine."
Pyrrha turned toward him. Jaune shrugged lightly, trying to keep the mood from sinking too deeply.
"Really. Don't worry about too much. I'm stronger than I used to be."
He flexed one hand.
"I can take care of myself."
The mont the words left his mouth, he noticed sothing shift in her expression.
Sadness.
Not overt, not dramatic, but quiet and deeply rooted.
Jaune frowned.
He genuinely did not understand why those words had made her look that way. Pyrrha lowered her gaze for a mont before speaking.
"Yeah. You're strong Jaune. And.... that's exactly why I worry."
Jaune blinked.
Her voice remained soft, but there was a depth to it that made him pause.
"You say you can take care of yourself, and I know you can," she said. "But strength doesn't make you untouchable, Jaune."
Her eyes lifted to et his.
"When they told us how close it had been... how close you ca to dying..."
She hesitated.
"I hated that I wasn't there."
The honesty of that struck him harder than he expected. Jaune stared at her for a mont, caught slightly off guard by the raw sincerity in her voice.
He had expected concern. He had not expected this quiet ache.
Pyrrha looked away again, her expression softer now.
"I know you're strong," she repeated. "But that doesn't stop from being afraid when you put yourself in danger. Besides, this... isn't the first ti sothing like this has happened to you, Jaune."
For the first ti, Jaune began to understand. This wasn't about doubting his strength. It was about how much she cared.
"When you told about Belmont, about your dad, about what happened in Atlas and even the first week of experience that you had as an awakened. I can hardly believe what you've been through. And you've only barely been an awakened for about a year." Pyrrha let out a self deprecating laugh.
He looked at her for a long mont, then spoke more softly than before.
"Pyrrha... my experiences aren't your responsibility. Sotis, things just happen for a reason. Maybe its fate."
Pyrrha shook her head almost imdiately.
"Don't do that," she said softly.
"Do what?"
"Don't turn it into fate."
Her voice was quiet, but there was an unusual firmness to it now, like silk drawn taut over steel. The strange half-light of the Shadow Realm filtered through the twisted branches above them, laying fractured bands of black-gray across the ground where they sat.
"For you, maybe things always seem to happen all at once," she continued, folding her hands together in her lap. "It all keeps pulling you forward so quickly that maybe it feels natural to say it was ant to happen."
She looked down for a mont. "But for the people watching you… it doesn't feel like fate. It feels frightening."
Jaune opened his mouth, then closed it again. There was sothing in the way she said it that made him stop trying to answer imdiately. He turned his gaze toward her properly this ti.
To anyone else, she probably would have looked calm. But before Jaune, all emotion was laid bare.
At first, he had thought it was just concern, but now, sitting here in the strange hush beyond the camp's periter, the shape of it finally began to co into focus.
Pyrrha wasn't just afraid for him. She was hurting.
The realization settled into him with slow, dawning clarity.
Inadequacy.
Jaune's breath caught, just slightly.
That was it.
Pyrrha Nikos.
Before awakening, she had already been a champion. A na people knew. Soone who had stood in rings and arenas under bright lights and crushed opponent after opponent through sheer discipline, skill, and talent.
After awakening, she had pulled away from stardom, but her prowess had only continued. She had always been one of the strongest among their peers.
Soone dependable and soone exceptional.
And then… there was him.
In the span of a single year, he had gone from Rank 0 to soone who was now, by every asurable standard, brushing against Rank 2 combat capability.
Even if it was a false Rank 2, it was still absurd.
Most awakened spent years trapped at the peak of Rank 1, slowly refining themselves, grinding away at the wall that Rune comprehension was. A wall that sotis simply refused to move.
Jaune had practically kicked the door off its hinges. Not only that, he had done sothing almost unheard of.
Two ta runes.
Even creating one successfully was enough to make soone a monster in combat. ta runes were notoriously difficult to form. People failed all the ti, sotis catastrophically.
And yet he had succeeded.
Twice.
He stared at Pyrrha for a long mont, and suddenly the sadness in her expression made perfect sense.
It wasn't envy.
No, envy would have been simpler. This felt quieter.
Heavier.
Disappointnt in herself. The kind that gnawed inward. A feeling that while he was racing forward like a cot tearing across the sky, she was sohow standing still.
Jaune swallowed.
"Pyrrha…" he said softly.
She looked at him, and for the first ti since they sat down, her composure seed to waver.
"I get it now."
Her brows drew together slightly. "Get what?"
Jaune took a slow breath, careful with his words.
"You're not just worried."
Silence.
The air between them beca strangely delicate, as if even the shadow leaves above had gone still to listen.
"You... feel like you're falling behind."
Pyrrha's eyes widened. For a heartbeat, her expression went utterly still. Then she looked away. That alone was answer enough.
Jaune's chest tightened.
"I…" She let out a small breath that almost sounded like a laugh, except there was no humor in it. "You and your stupid weakness sense. Was it really that obvious?"
"Sorry. Not at first," Jaune admitted. "But now… yeah."
Pyrrha's shoulders lowered just slightly, as if so invisible weight had finally been acknowledged.
"I hate that I feel this way, you know?" she said after a mont, voice barely above a whisper. "Because it isn't jealousy. I'm proud of you, Jaune. Truly."
Her fingers tightened together.
"When I see how far you've co, part of is genuinely happy."
She paused.
"But another part of keeps asking what that says about ."
The words ca out fragile, as though she had been holding them behind locked doors for far too long.
Jaune stayed silent, letting her continue.
"For so long," she said, staring out at the dark ground ahead, "being strong was the one thing I was certain of."
A faint smile touched her lips, sad and self-aware.
"Before awakening, I was already known for it. After awakening, it only beca more true."
Her voice softened. "I trained harder than everyone around . I fought harder. I won and then you ca along."
Jaune winced slightly. "That makes sound like a disaster."
That drew the smallest laugh from her.
"A little."
The laugh faded.
"You've changed so much in such a short ti. Sotis when I look at you, it feels almost unreal."
Her eyes lifted to et his. "You went from soone just learning what this world even was to soone standing in the middle of Rank 2 combat."
Her gaze trembled, only slightly.
"And I keep thinking… if you can grow that quickly, what does it an that I haven't?"
There it was. The heart of it.
Jaune leaned back slightly, exhaling through his nose. "Pyrrha, that's not fair."
She frowned. "What?"
"To yourself."
He turned toward her fully. "You're asuring yourself against sothing ridiculous."
That actually made her blink.
"I'm serious," he said. "Do you know how insane my growth has been?"
A dry laugh escaped him.
"Because I do. Every ti I stop and think about it, it sounds absurd."
He gestured loosely toward himself.
"Half the stuff that's happened to in the last year shouldn't even be possible by normal standards."
Belmont.
The Dream Realm.
Atlas
Gula.
ta runes.
Artificial awakening.
His father.
The Sleeper.
Every piece of it had been a perfect storm of chaos and impossible opportunities. "You're comparing your path to mine," Jaune said softly, "but my path is weird, Pyrrha. Like a leprechaun willingly giving away gold to people-weird."
That got a genuine laugh out of her, small but real.
"That analogy was certainly weird. But I suppose that it makes sense."
"I prefer 'narratively overclocked,'" Jaune muttered.
This ti she smiled. He let the warmth of that mont settle before speaking again.
"You're not inadequate."
His tone was firr now.
"You're one of the strongest people I know."
Pyrrha opened her mouth, but he kept going. "No, listen."
He held her gaze. "Strength isn't just about who hits Rank 2 first. You've been soone I've relied on since the beginning. You trained , Pyrrha. A lot of my skill cos from training with you and Blake."
The honesty in his own words surprised him a little as he said them. "When things go sideways, you're one of the first people I trust to be there."
"You don't need to race ."
Pyrrha was quiet for a long ti. Then, almost hesitantly, she said, "It's not about racing."
Jaune tilted his head. She looked at him directly now, and the vulnerability in her expression made his chest tighten again.
"I want to stand beside you."
The words were simple. But they carried everything.
"I don't want to beco soone who watches from behind while you keep moving further ahead," she said quietly looking him deep in his eyes. The emotion there was impossible to hide.
"I want to be there with you."
Jaune stared at her and he couldn't help that his heartbeat sped up.
He smiled, softer this ti.
"Pyrrha. You already do. I an it," Jaune said. "You've been beside through everything."
His smile turned a little crooked.
"Even when I'm being an idiot and nearly getting strangled by six-ard nightmare monsters."
That finally drew a real laugh from her, bright enough to cut through the heaviness that had been lingering between them.
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