Through the darkness I look out and see a city, a city that is burning. I know not its design or its people but the darkness. Small fires rage within the buildings and a red liquid seems to be flooding it. I feel. I feel angry and sad as I look out upon this site. A towering colossus seems to come forth from the darkness, no it seems to bring the darkness with it.

A flash of golden light comes now as I raise my right arm and a strange book appears in my hand now as I declare in a haughty but determined voice that is not my own "This will be Uruks last stand against Tiamat!"

My gauntleted hand holds this strange book of stone and a magic circle of golden light appears from one side over the fold and into the other. A ringing noise is made by that golden of light as I boast my voice loud and clear "You sit there and see through this to the very end!"

I raise my left hand in front of me then throw it to the side like I am giving an order to someone. A golden circle of runs now surrounds me as I do this and I see and feel from around me and see lights from the far distant walls of this place begin to light up. The light illuminates the ominous darkness now and I hear some strange voice say "You don't have any lapis lazuli or any soldiers yet the Dingirs are operating!"

I can feel some sort of weapon nor an arrangement of weapons upon the walls all moving all redirecting towards the monster that is approaching the city now as I dismiss the voice of concern claiming "Who do you think I am? All three hundred and sixty Dingirs mounted here in Uruk were made by my hand!"

One by one they fire in rapid succession in a brilliant display all of them reaching up into the sky and heading for the giant creature that causes me to quake as it draws ever closer to the city! The sound of it is like nothing I have seen or read about, all of it is truly fearsome as I explain in a voice filled both with arrogance and determination "Infused with my Magical Energy and controlled by me!"

As the golden circle of runs continues to spin around me and in the book, I can feel the sweat from the strain of such a task bearing down upon me. I can feel my hair, my collar and my earrings flapping about in the wind created by this power. Now as I see upon the volley of arrows or spears made of light crash into that monster. That creates explosions of smoke, surely this has done something now as I announce despite the strain "If I work this body to death, I can work them all like this!"

I am certainly grinning as I say that, I can feel it, no doubt I am confident that I can do this. Through the pain it is causing me, no matter how tired I feel, I can push on. Death will not stop me and I will battle on until there is nothing but dust! And openly I declare "I will show you what I can do to stop Tiamat!"

As I declared those final words I feel my gaze focus upon that beast, upon Tiamat! I can hear its cries from here as a continuous volley of these projectiles each shaped like arrows of light slam into the beast. The golden explosions that appear and then vanish only to be replaced by more ones seemingly is making it harder for me to gage if the beast is this Tiamat is going to be taken down from this.

This is Uruk's last stand as I said before, here we will stand against this monster Tiamat and here I will give it my all. I'm holding on to hope even though I can see the road ahead is rocky! I won't fall down, the light that is needed has never been so loud as I hear it ringing out each time the Dingirs fire which is constantly.

If we lose here, if the plan does not work, it will have all been in vain. It isn't the end of just Uruk, it will mean the end of all things. The end of the world, not just one world, the end of all worlds, of humanity, but wait, what was the plan? Wait something is happening, but it's all fading away? Why, why is it always like this just when it becomes so clear? What is going on where am I? Who is this Tiamat and what is she? Who am I to command such power?

Jaune's eyes snap open, it was another dream, another one of those dreams. The ones that made no sense and left him to wake up with a cold sweat upon his body. These dreams no nightmares had been plaguing for many years, in fact probably as long as he could remember. Although the content of the dreams when he was younger was harder to recall. But now upon his thirteenth birthday they had gotten stronger, oh so much stronger and he could see and recall certain aspects of them clearly.

It of course had worried his parents when they found out about them. But so far nothing had worked at all. No medicines, no treatments, nothing worked at all. So in light of that, Jaune chose to bear it all on his own. It was a part of life for him now and these nightmares were not an everyday occurrence, but they were far too regular to be seen as a seldom occurrence.

Breathing heavily, Jaune rose out of his bed and ducked just in time to avoid hitting the bunk above him. The downside to having seven sisters is that the kids must room share, although who they share with changes from time to time. Right now it was his sole younger sister Jasmine who let it be known that she was already awake when she asks "Did you have a nightmare big brother?"

Trying to give a short laugh after hearing that Jaune looked up at his sister who was sitting upon the top bunk, her pillow propped up so she could sit up without pressing into the railing. It did cause Jaune to wonder how long she had been up, but choosing not to ask that question. He instead asked "What makes you think that Jasmine?"

Leaning forwards and somewhat draping herself over the railing that was on the side of the bed, Jasmine replied "Well if you don't have a nightmare you usually hit your head when you attempt to get out of the bottom bunk. But when you have a nightmare, you wake up and for some reason don't hit your head when you get out."

Yes indeed, Jasmine did speak the truth and Jaune knew it. He at times could be quite clumsy, so hitting his head on the underneath of the top bunk was something he had done often. But as she had said, after he had a 'nightmare' like the one he just had, he would be more cautious and thus not hit his head. So with a sigh of defeat, Jaune raised his hands in surrender and said "You got me there Jasmine, I did have another nightmare."

In response to hearing that, Jasmine promptly turned and moved towards the ladder before hopping down it. Jaune watched as her little legs moved as quickly as they could down the rungs. Once upon the ground she ran up and hugged him before saying "It's okay big brother, you don't have to be afraid, I'll protect you!"

Jasmine was around five years younger than him, so right now she came up to his tummy. Her declaration to him caused Jaune to smile now as he gently patted her on the head saying "Thank you Jasmine, I'll be safe with you."

Despite saying so and giving his younger sister an affectionate gesture, it still felt a little hollow to him. He'd always felt some sort of gap between him and the rest of his family. Unlike his sisters his eyes were red, which may or may not have been a cause of tension between his parents. Jaune has suspected and still suspects it was, but at least thankfully as he has grown he looks somewhat similar to his father.

But that wasn't it, his family loved him and he knew it and he did love them or at least believed he loved them. Even if he did feel there was a barrier between them. Something that made him feel different to them, like he did not belong, in fact he felt that way about almost everyone he met. There was no real way to describe what he was feeling or at this point in time he still didn't understand what the feeling truly was, but the description he assigned to it was 'different'.

There was always this urge, this instinct to step back and away from everything. To observe it from somewhere on high but not partake in it. It was a strange sensation to have, even when it comes to family. So now before he became more uncomfortable gently Jaune let his hand rest upon Jasmine's head as he said "Jasmine you can let go of me now."

Somewhat reluctantly Jasmine let Jaune go and pouted because of it. Seeing that, Jaune ruffled her hair now as he said "Let's go get some breakfast Jasmine, we can't face the day or combat hordes of grim without the proper sustenance!"

"Err Jaune you're talking weird again? I don't even know what susthing mings?" Upon hearing that Jaune looked at his younger sister before blinking and then tried and failed to hold back a laugh.

This only caused Jasmine to pout even more as she quite angrily but still in an adorable manner said "Jaune stop laughing like a jerk. Stop laughing like you're looking down on me!"

When he did not comply, jasmine used her lethal move, the 'shin kick' which she launched into the aforementioned place. But Jaune did not stop, he continued to laugh, worse yet he didn't even budge from that kick. In fact tha3t only thing that hurt was Jasmine's foot as she now held it and hopped on her other foot.

Seeing his little sister in pain Jaune forced himself now to stop as he said "I'm sorry, not sorry, I didn't mean to laugh so hard."

He had to actively cut out those four words from flowing into his sentence. Though now he decided to do the brotherly thing and lift up his younger sister "Come now let's go get breakfast."

Jasmine who was still upset with him gave him a humph before turning her head away. Amused by her display Jaune decided not to put her back down and proceeded to carry her towards the kitchen. "Ah yes stay silent, after all silence is golden Jasmine, and suits your hair nicely."

"You are - ?" the person covering their face with their hand says to me.

I do not sound haughty like I normally do. Nor do I sound condescending "Who else would I be, you fool?" There is no arrogance or pride in my words, just sadness this time, I have no idea why, but the feeling is very real. The situation which I feel best describes this is meeting an old friend, who I haven't seen in forever, only to discover that they are not my friend any longer.

The person takes away his hand from his face and gasps taking a step back in response to what I just said. Summoning that book to my hand a certain snideness seeps into my voice as I ask "What happened to efficiency? What happened to being calm and collected as a weapon?"

I smile slightly as I move forward, still a little sad but also somewhat happy, with each step I inform this person "It's unlike you to enjoy the thrill of battle…"

Whatever else Jaune Arc was dreaming was disturbed by the sound of a ruler slapping into his desk. But now noise did he make, not even flinch now as he slowly opened his eye lids. He had one arm raised at an angle on his desk so his face had been resting on his fist. His teacher was in front of him looking very unimpressed, Jaune for his part just arched an eyebrow at her. Not even to bother asking anything, if she wanted something she would have to ask for it.

Seeing as Jaune wasn't going to give an explanation of why he was asleep, his teacher cleared her throat saying "So mister Arc, I asked you just where was it that the Four Nations met to end the war. What were a few of the things established in those treaties and who was the technical victor of the war?"

Jaune for his part wasn't sure why he was being bothered with such trivial information, he gave a yawn before answering "The treaties were done on neutral ground which was the Island of Vytal. The Vacuo campaign is what caused it to end, with the defeat of Mantle and Mistral at the hands of Vacuo and Vale. The technical victor was the Vale or rather the Warrior King of the Vale. Since all the other Kingdoms were willing to bow to him, but in another aspect no one was since all were reograngized."

There was a moment of silence now as the teacher's mother dropped she looked Jaune up and down while Jaune simply arched his eyebrow again and gave another yawn before asking her "Is there a reason why you asked me?"

In response to that his teacher cleared her throat again before saying "I thought you were sleeping and not paying attention."

Ah the purpose of these questions was to use him as an example, so when he was supposed to get it wrong, so she could ridicule him use that as an example of what not to do. But it had backfired since such trivial and useless knowledge had always been easy for Jaune to remember.

The irony of it was not lost on Jaune that this teacher's ploy to use him and embarrass him had backfired. Now she looked the fool and it caused Jaune to burst out laughing at her. In fact he laughed so hard that he corrected his seating posture to sit straight.

And now speaking through the laughter Jaune spoke letting it be known "Ahaha, I see now that you sought to make me into an example. But you chose poorly, for it is clear to all here, that I can do this all in my sleep!"

This caused the class to roar with laughter and the face of the teacher to go even redder now as she got more embarrassed and angry. To the point where her voice grew colder as she said "Jaune Arc, report to the Principal's office today after school, that terrible attitude of yours has to be dealt with!"

Jaune now began to laugh even harder than before and through the laughter challenged the decision stating "Oh is your fragile ego so bruised that I was able to overcome whatever questions you threw at me that you feel the need to reprimand me on my victory?"

This incurred an 'ooh' from his fellow students because quite frankly what he said was true, from a certain point of view. It caused his teacher's face to now get redder once more and to her credit she did not have an outburst. Taking in quite a few deep breaths, she composed herself before stating "Jaune Arc, the Principal's office after school this is not a negotiation."

Taking in a few more deep breaths, she turned and left the classroom, leaving all of the students unattended. A roar of approval came from the students now as they all chanted "Hail Jaune Arc! Hail Jaune Arc!, Hail Jaune Arc!"

Of course Jaune felt some measure of satisfaction at such praise, who could fault him for feeling so? Well of course others could, but that of course would make most of them hypocrites since who doesn't like praise. Because if people were praising you, it meant you had done something and sometimes it meant people were impressed, grateful or in awe of said person they were praising.

"Seriously Mr Arc, are you telling me that you are here right now for the sole reason of upstaging Ms Slise?" Principal Anura asked Jaune this while looking across from his desk at the young blonde haired red eyed boy. In his time he had seen and dealt with many troublemakers, delinquents, bullies, snobs and many more. But Jaune Arc? He was different, he was not like the others, while on the surface he did this for the attention and validation of his peers.

An older and wiser man could see that he didn't. No indeed this boy simply did as he did because it was natural for him to do so. And sighing greatly now as Jaune stared at him and nodded indicating that he believed that he had done nothing wrong. Clearing his throat and giving a cursory skim over the report and shaking his head he sighed again saying "In all my years I have never met a child so entitled, so arrogant, so self confident, so crass, so brilliant and so lazy all separately, but you have rolled them all into one Mr Arc, to that I take my hat off to you."

Jaune for his part had to hold back saying 'as it should be, I am not like others'. Instead he went another route saying "When I do something Principal Anura, I see to it that I do it well enough that others cannot compare I do my best."

He had to physically suppress those three words from coming out this time. While the Principal may hold authority here, Jaune did not feel like the man in front of him had the power. In fact in this situation, just like every other one, Jaune could feel that he was looking down on this man, ever so slightly that it was not entirely noticeable but it was still there and Principal Anura was old enough to detect it, but also old enough not to be bothered by it.

"Indeed, I have to agree with you there. When you apply yourself as you demonstrated for Ms Slise, you are indeed able to learn with your eyes closed. Internalize and reproduce the information you are given and present it in a clear and precise manner for others to understand. Yes Mr Arc, I have no doubt that what you just said was true." While it was clearly a compliment, the tone of voice used by Principal Anura was more lamenting those qualities rather than praising them.

Staying silent, Jaune wished to hear what else the Principal had to say before making any more remarks. Although he did have to beat down the urge to burst out laughing and ask if excelling was a bad thing. This was picked up by Principal Anura who went on to say "The issue at hand Mr Arc is that you are so capable yet so arrogant. Even if at times you try to hide it, it's still there. Now while such behavior can be expected towards your peers, it is only natural for you to look down at 'some' of them. You Mr Arc don't look down on 'some' you look down on 'all' your peers and even your teachers. Which is why you are here now in my office and not heading home."

This was too much and Jaune just started to laugh now in a rather condescending tone again. Thankfully Mr Anura knew this was going to happen and only politely took a sip of his tea while he waited for Jaune to finish. Patience was a virtue he had learned to value and well, he was quite fine with Jaune letting it all out rather than keeping it in.

It did take a little while around five minutes for Jaune to calm down and stop laughing or rather laugh himself out. But when it did happen, Mr Anura calmly put down his tea which was now empty and said "That is exactly what I mean Mr Arc. The fact that you feel no remorse, that you believe that you have done nothing wrong is wrong in itself. I can tell you right now everyone is not beneath you and you need to learn that, better now than later Mr Arc."

"Is that so, just how do you plan on making me grow out of this Principal Anura? I just feel this way normally." Jaune did not say it is who I am, because he knew full well that this man would tell him to 'change' who he is. So instead he had chosen to ask just how the man would do so rather than stating that it cannot be done. He could at least hear what Principal Anura thought could work out before he judged just how badly it was going to fail.

Giving a soft smile Mr Anura opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, instead massive alarms went off. It was not something that happened often, but this time it was different. This time if Jaune recalled properly this was a very specific alarm. It was the alarm for 'the grim', which had not gone off at least in his memory while he had been at school!

The first thing that came to Jaune's mind when the connection was made, is that Jasmine no doubt was waiting for him at the school gate. She probably would have either told their older sisters to go on ahead without her while she waited for him. She can be quite stubborn at times and may even resort to kicking and screaming in order to stop her elder sisters from taking her home without him. So in his mind, either she was still here and outside alone, she had been dragged home kicking or screaming or either all or a few of the elder sisters had waited with her for him!

Needless to say, that only in the first situation was she safe or at least somewhat safe. But that did not mean he did not worry so now rising up as Principal Anura did he said "My little sisters could be outside, I'm going to get her!"

To his surprise the older man had reached across the table and grabbed his arm as Jaune turned to leave. Turning back somewhat annoyed he saw the older man's face full of concern as he said "No Jaune you need to get to the shelter with me right now. I'm too old to risk going out there and doing anything and you're just a child. I'm certain that your sisters are safe."

Yanking his arm free Jaune coldly said "But I am not certain" and with those words said he rushed off out of the door. What was he going to do if Jasmine was there? Well get her to the shetler, but life is never that simple, Jaune knew that things could get ugly. But Jaune understood that he shouldn't just stand by like everyone else, because he wasn't like everyone else and right now he would prove it!

Internally Jaune could admit that he didn't feel glad that people felt so, he felt that it was the proper state for others to be in. While like some of his other feelings he could suppress it, he did feel that others should always be in awe of him and should always be grateful to him for just being around. That said, Jaune was aware that wasn't how things were supposed to be, people earn awe and gratitude not demand them, but for some reason Jaune still felt this way.

Hey guys thanks for reading this fic, it was just an idea I got after watching Fate Stay Night Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, which I felt I just had to write.

Please review and thanks for reading!