Sunshine

Chapter 18: Ghosts in the Snow

It's been three days since he arrived in Atlas and three nights that he hasn't slept. However, he didn't let it stop him from taking jobs but he hasn't been able to sleep in any Motels, due to them being packed as one side of the city is in a constant state of panic due to a hole in the wall, that Grimm used to get in the city, for now, he's simply been sleeping on the streets, well, not sleeping at all, as stated before, the hallucinations of the dead and the Beowulf were haunting him, worse, the hallucinations are so vivid that Jaune could feel their boney fingers grab him, and he tried to fight them off, every night, but they seem to be endless.

Jaune Arc looked nothing like he did before he arrived, he was disheveled, restless, dirty, and looked like he was going to drop dead any moment.

In a dark alleyway, Jaune was backed into a corner and the corpses of those he had killed slowly began to walk towards him. Jaune glared at them and swung his sword at them, "killing" them once again, but there was still much more of them coming toward him, but he didn't care, he simply charged forward and swung like a madman, fighting off the hallucinations.

"Go away you damn ghosts!" Jaune seethed in anger.

"What do I keep telling you blondie!? You can't ever get rid of us!" Shay said in the far back.

"You're gonna suffer like we have! We'll haunt you to the ends of the fucking world!" came the voice of Noah.

"God damn right you are! If we can't get you here! We'll be waiting in that fucking abyss for you!" Duncan cried.

Malachite appeared and looked at Jaune with a smile, "You can never be free from us, our blood is on your hands forever," Malachite told him

Jaune grit his teeth and swing at the apparitions again, causing them to fade away, however, he began to hear laughter and looked up to see the Beowulf sitting atop the edge of a building, however, it looked much larger than before, even though it's bones looked thicker.

'What a wonderful sight! You're going absolutely crazy and falling deeper and deeper into the well of despair!' It cried with glee.

Jaune glared at the beast and returned to slashing at more of the dead that walked toward him, however, he was getting tired, he hadn't slept for three days and today marked his fourth, and if this kept up, he was sure he was going to lose his mind. Thankfully, however, morning had arrived and the hallucinations disappeared, even the Beowulf, and Jaune fell to his knees and let out ragged breaths, the young blonde wanted to rest, wanted to get some sleep, but he couldn't, he needed to work, he needed the money for when he was going to leave this place. So, Jaune got back on his feet, sheathed his sword, and went to look for local jobs.

As he was heading to a local Hunstmen joint that had a mission board, he saw a construction crew preparing supplies and equipment, no doubt heading to the wall, Jaune walked over to them and as he did, one of them noticed him and walked toward him as well.

"Can I help you?" They asked.

The worker had short raven hair, round circle glasses, blue eyes, and wore the typical construction worker uniform, his hard hat in his hands.

Jaune looked back at them, "You guys are heading toward the wall right?" He asked.

They nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"There's no soldier's with you, why?"

The worker sighed, "Because the Atlas Military isn't supposed to be involved yet," He replied, "Because the Hole in the wall was recent, we had to call up there for aid, however, a few members of the council think this is only a "Mantle Problem" And with the council butting heads, they're not able to come to an agreement of either staying out of it or helping us down here," they replied.