Sunshine

Chapter 4: Death of Innocence

"There is no place for innocence in this world." - Anthony Neilson

@captdynamite: Thank you!

@Its_Fr0st: Adam will get his justice, trust me!

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A whole month had passed since his and Vernal's night in Kūsho, and Jaune was starting to improve in his combat, as well as his aura manipulation. It was amazing how fast he had progressed in a month's time.

Not only that but he and Vernal got a little closer. Vernal had actually talked a few times about her past, she had only spoken about it maybe two or three times since they left Kūsho, it was mostly about her abuse at the orphanage, and nothing about what happened to her with that man... but Jaune wasn't going to force her to get to that, he was just gonna let her work her way up to that, give her time to build up the courage, but it was better than nothing.

Regardless, while his combat skills and agility were improving, he was not where a specific individual desired him to be.

Raven observed as another spar between Jaune and Vernal took place. The fight was indeed extensively longer than previous spars. Vernal still only had one pistol, but she thankfully invested in a secondary weapon, not Mech-Shift yet but an improvement, she had a scramasax dagger. The blade was about 5 inches and made of steel, and the grip was also made of steel but dressed in dark red leather.

The Dagger allowed her to actually block and deflect Jaune's sword rather than having her dodge and fire her gun, but now, she could block and fire faster.

Raven would acknowledge that Jaune's spars between Vernal and her giving him pointers on how to focus his aura and how to properly wield his sword without his shield improved his skill immensely. But she was still annoyed, annoyed that no matter how much she pushed him or how many packs of Grimm she sent Jaune and Vernal on, he hasn't unlocked his Semblance yet.

Her tolerance was beginning to wear thin.

The spar was over, Vernal had won again but the match was close, Jaune was very close to winning. Raven took herself out of her thoughts and congratulated them both and gave them a few pointers on what they could still improve and also informed them what they did well and then told the two to go and eat and they thanked her and left.

As they left though, Raven turned and saw Jaune and Vernal talking and actually laughing and joking with one another, something that she was a bit surprised to see, but the more that she thought about it, ever since they came back from Kūsho, there wasn't as much as hostility between the two.

Something must have happened that caused the two to begin to bond.

And that's when an idea came to her head, an idea that would possibly get Jaune to finally unlock his semblance and allow her to see what it was that made Jaune so special, or that might end in his death.

But it was a risk she was willing to take. After all, it was the results that mattered. Nothing else.

A little while later, Jaune and Vernal were at their tent, eating dinner that the tribe cooks had made that evening.

Jaune took a quick drink of his ale, which the tribe seemingly only drank, and then looked to Vernal, "You're getting better with that dagger," Jaune said with a smile as he set his ale to the side, "When the time comes and you have the money, maybe you should invest in a pistol/Dagger combo,"