I AM ALIVE!

Here is the first chapter of the Revamp.

I am posting it as it's own standalone and as the final Chapter for Divergence.

Enjoy, respective credit to respective owners, etc.

Reviews and opinions are mch appreciated.

-YARN

BTW thanks for the advice everyone, but my friend's ship sailed, and I'm over it. She was a great friend and that's how I will remember my time with her.

Flames made of holy radiance.

Ice spikes that were filled silver luminesce.

Furrows of blood in the ground.

Bone spires climbing into the sky.

She flicked her wrist.

Jaune slammed into a cliff, Ruby a half-beat behind as she crashed next to him. Jaune scowled and swiped at the blood dribbling from his mouth. Ren swiped at her and she grabbed his wrist and casually threw him into the floor. Nora moved in behind, Magnahild moving to hit her in the head. Her free hand came up and caught the massive warhammer, stopping it dead.

With one hand.

Nora was stopped with a hand and was knocked off her feet with a bolt of dark light.

Salem sighed, "Honestly, I am beginning to grow weary of toying with you. Is this really all you can do?"

She looked up and moved back as Weiss' luminescent guardian slammed its massive broadsword where she had been standing. Salem lifted an eyebrow and snapped her fingers, pointing at the massive white knight. A bolt of dark power crackled and snapped out from her finger like a coiled snake striking.

The knight shattered into a million shards of aura and Weiss let out a ragged gasp as she fell to her knees.

"Pity." Salem murmured, "I may have actually felt that if it connected."

She flicked and bolt of darkness at Weiss only for it to strike a shadow clone as Blake grabbed the weakened Schnee and leapt out of the way. Yang erupted from where she had been planted in the ground earlier, her right mechanical arm sparking and smoking under the heat of her own aura. Salem gracefully twisted out the way before snapping a hand out, ripping out Yang's prostethic, and backhanding Yang away. Yang's back connected with a crystal with a loud crack and she slumped to the floor bonelessly, eyes hazy.

They had been at this for a long while, so granted they were more than a bit angry at their lack of any headway (Jaune forcibly shut out the fact that Nora and Yang were out cold and probably would be killed if they didn't keep Salem's attention). Jaune's holy weapons had done some damage but in the end, he simply was outclassed, she had been too strong and if anything they were in her domain. Jaune's grip on Crocea Mors tightened as he dashed forward. He closed his eyes and let his dark power free as it erupted in a torrent of malice. Black wings erupted from his back and bone plates slid to cover his body. He gripped Crocea Mors with both hands on the blade and began to crush it under his grip. It shattered into a wave of white fire and ice.

Ever since Cinder tainted him with some of Salem's very blood, he had been able to draw on the darkness the grimm came from. At first he couldn't stand it and he kept it locked down and keep it under his fragile control. Then after struggling with it, forcing it down and the constant push and pull, he realized it wasn't so much a new evil as simply all his dark thoughts, bringing them to the surface, and manifesting them as grimm. He accepted that it was a part of him and began to work with it rather than not use it. Everything was still a part of the greater whole. He just needed to unite it. It was practically the only reason he was still on his feet, he practically had three abilities, one of which was allowing him to draw power from his environment.

Two semblances and a grimm inside him.

But that meant he could play at drawing from this realm and his darker half drank greedily as it fed on the nature of the aura that saturated the air.

"Ah, this again? Very well..." Salem mused.

Jaune twisted out of the way of a shower of dark energy and responded with a barrage of holy ice. Salem made lifted a hand and a dome of dark power coalesced around her, blocking the icicles from even getting close. Jaune noticed a light glowing beneath him and saw a golden clock begin spinning it hands at a higher pace.

"Go Jaune!" Wiess hollered.

He shot forwards, shooting at Salem as a three foot bar of holy fire erupted into existence in one hand and a blade of holy ice coalesced in his other hand. Dark power gathered in Salem's hands as he slashed at her and she directed the slices away. She grimaced at slight hiss of her hands meeting the holy elements. Jaune began to throw a flurry of slashes and attacks at Salem, who conjured a serrated blade that looked like it had been crudely shaped from black stone. Jaune pressed forward and ducked under a slash only to roll sideways as her foot came down right where his head would have been.

Suddenly a bullet hit Salem in the side of her head and she hissed in pain. She glared to see Ruby gripping Crescent Rose and smoke hissing from the Sniper-scythe's barrel.

Jaune placed his swords in an sheathed positions at his waist, seizing on the moment of distraction.

"Try this!" He roared, slashing the two blades in a X.

Fire and Ice erupted in the shape of a dome and exploded outward in a rush of steam. Salem tumbled back and Jaune staggered away before collapsing to his knees. He coughed wetly and grimaced at the sight of red that had spattered the ground in front of him. He looked around, almost everyone had been knocked over, Ruby had managed to keep her footing by shielding herself with Crescent Rose, and Ren had laid down as the force passed over him. Jaune threw himself sideways as his instincts screamed at him to move.

He rolled out of the way of a beam of dark power that obliterated the spot where he had been standing.

Salem growled in anger as she stalked forward. Jaune noted with slight satisfaction that parts of her face were scorched and other parts of her were frozen or dusted with shimmering ice. Steam and smoke rose in wisps from her various burns and she glared at Jaune with a look that would have made lesser men soil themselves.

"Bastard." She hissed.

"I'll have you know I am completely legitimate, thank you." Jaune replied, gasping a laugh.

"You'll be the last to die!" She screamed, "I will kill all of you here! NOW!"

One chance, He had to make it count.

"Ruby. Tell everyone to go." He murmured.

Ruby blinked, "Jaune..."

"Please."

Her eyes widened, "No."

"Ruby ple-"

"No! You don't get to make that decision for us Jaune! Till the end, you swore! An Arc never breaks his word!" She yelled, "You expect us to run while you-"

He lowered his head, "Ren?"

Ruby turned, but Ren was already behind her and silenced her with a chop to the back of her neck, "Sorry Ruby."

Dark power gathered and began rolling in from the very ground where they were standing, all of it was flowing towards her. Jaune straightened and took a deep breath, calling on all of the power he had left. Fire and frost began to float out of his body and he began to breath fire as his Grimm's pressure increased. His blades melted into a glowing white sword he grasped with both hands. The ground began to crumble in a circle around him as his grimm began to break down the floor around him to draw in power.

It was more than enough to make Salem flinch.

His body trembled from the strain of simply keeping his power together and contained, he had only had a few instances where he could practice without his friends noticing and he wasn't even at 100%.

"Will we see you again?" Ren asked, his tone controlled but pained as he picked Ruby up.

"Get to the gateway, if this works, this portal should collapse as the dimension closes off." Jaune said, "Get them there safe."

"Jaune." Ren said in warning, shifting Ruby into a more secure position over his shoulder.

"No. Probably not." Jaune sighed.

"It's been an honor."

"It was always more than that for me. Tell them, okay? Make sure to collect Yang and Nora."

Ren took a deep breath, "They'll hate you for this."

Jaune closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, "They should."

Ren nodded, "Goodbye brother."

"Goodbye."

He turned his mind to the task at hand.

"You can't save them. Even if by some miracle you beat me, you'll be stuck here, you won't make it back to the portal in the state your in. No way back." Salem growled, voice dripping hate, "No way out."

Jaune shrugged, "It's a fitting end to the Arc's legacy. After all, the bloodline of them ends with me, you would know. You killed all of them but me. The weakest. The last."

Salem laughed, "Your mother, father, and sisters all fell by my hand."

"True, but you miscalculated, I discovered something about our family, why our family was always able to hang on by a thread." Jaune said, "Did you ever wonder why when it came down to it, when my ancestors were hanging by a thread, they somehow managed to live and carry on throughout countless battles and wars that massacred countless others heroes?"

She rolled her eyes, "Wrap it up, boy, I have to murder your friends."

He scowled and took a deep breath, "When the last Arc lives, we can call upon all of those who came before."

His power flourished anew, and he straightened as his family's aura provided the necessary strength.

"So now Salem," He smirked, "You get to face all of us, instead of just me."

He didn't intend to draw this out at all, he wanted it over. He knew that even with all of his power, a prolonged fight wouldn't matter here, she still had the advantage, and while they could both siphon the darkness in the environment, he wasn't trained with his grimm to be able to accomplish that at the rate she could. He knew she had expected him to make his moves on trying to draw this out, buy time for his friends. He didn't need to, she was overconfident and while he may have had more power right now than she would be able to take from the environment, she could easily outlast him.

So it would be an all or nothing strike.

Jaune began to walk forward as she did, they broke into a sprint and she vanished in a flash of dark light.

A simple feint, Jaune had no intention on letting it rattle him as his wings glowed with black light.

He felt the shift in the darkness behind him.

Jaune didn't hesitate and spun on his heel, skidding as he positioned the blade at his hip, his wing moving to cover him. She reappeared behind him, and he stabbed as her hand shot forward. Her hand impacted against his wings and tore through it.

That was fine though.

He expected that his wings weren't strong enough to completely block it.

But he didn't want a complete block.

He bit a snarl back and he flapped his wings out, throwing her arm to the side. He moved forward and she threw out her other hand. His blade struck her squarely in the heart as her hand pierced through his grimm armor like it was paper and straight into his chest.

He grit his teeth and managed one to say one thing, "Checkmate."

Light filled his vision as he let all of his contained power out in a roar.

Jaune didn't know how long he sat, staring at his corpse and hers.

His face was molded into an almost blank expression, lips slightly parted, hands stretched as though reached for a point behind Salem. His blue eyes - something vacant in the expressive eyes his mother once told him was the most beautiful things he had - were half closed, stuck gazing at a point above Salem's head.

Salem's mouth was slightly open, her eyes wide in shock and pain, almost as though she didn't know she could be killed or trapped. Her hand - painted red with blood - had been withdrawn a inch from Jaune's chest as she had desperately tried to escape his technique. Her eyes fixed on his face, but seemed to look past it as though it wasn't there.

The two figures were trapped in a massive crystalline structure, unbreakable.

Everlasting eternity.

He got up and stared at the pillar of light that stretched into the sky parting the darkness in the sky like a sword that stretched on forever. He sighed and closed his eyes as he waited for what he knew would be coming.

Eventually two arms circled his neck, and he smiled as he leaned into the familiar presence, "Pyrrha."

She smiled against his neck, warm tears pricking points of warmth on his neck, "Jaune. My stupid, brave Jaune."

He turned his head, almost pouting, "Geez, Pyr. You don't need to insult me, I have gotten smarter over the past few years."

She laughed, "Even so, you are the guy who missed my affections until I planted a kiss on your lips."

He made to respond, but sighed, "I really don't have a comeback for that. So..."

"So...?"

"I am headed for heaven?" He asked, "I really hope I am, because going through all this for hell? S'not fair."

She pulled him down and he sat with her, content.

"Did you want to keep living?" She asked, letting her head rest against his shoulder.

He shrugged, "I lost everything. There's no point. Even if I escaped from the ice prison it's not like there was anywhere to go. The portal that Raven had opened is shut. I cold walk for years and still find nothing but barren wastes."

They sat in silence for sometime.

"If you could change things, would you?" She murmured.

He pondered this.

"Yeah, I would have saved you. Tried harder, been better," He chuckled, "asked you to the dance for sure, tux and all."

She chuckled.

"Would have definitely reciprocated what you felt and tried to make the most of the chance we never got."

She smiled at that.

He continued, "I would have saved my family, protect Yang from losing her arm, I would have made everyone proud to have known me and met me. I would be the best of them, I would have protected the world using every ounce of power I could muster. I would destroy Salem and be able to return to Remanent. I would have made a family and live to a ripe old age."

Jaune smile faded as he realized all that hadn't been able to do.

"I would have done things right." He sighed softly.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha began, "What If I said I may be able to help you change things?"

Jaune froze, "Pyr. What do you mean?"

"You want to change things, don't you, save everyone?"

"More than anything."

"If you could go back, you -"

"Can I?"

"..." Pyrrha pursed her lips.

"Well..?"

"You could head for heaven."

"I don't deserve it." Sad certainty filled the words, "I killed those people in Mistral."

"Jaune..." A warning tone, "You were protecting friends."

"That's not an excuse, I could have incapacitated them, knocked them out, anything else. But I killed them. Heaven? No. Who I've become, what I am... People like me never deserve that."

"I am offering you a choice because you deserve it, but I want you to stay. If you don't... this all goes away. You won't be able to -"

"I assumed that."

"You'll give it all up? You'd give me up?"

"Never."

"Then why?! Haven't you suffered enough?! Why do you keep hurting yourself?" She growled.

He stepped over to her and pressed his forehead against hers, "Because you're worth it. You're worth everything I have and more. And if what you're telling me is true. If it is at all possible, I want to save everyone from all I can."

"...I lo-"

"Don't."

"But I -"

A sad smile, "I know, but I really don't want to start crying right now."

She half-laughed, half-sobbed.

He pulled her close.

Pyrrha rested her head in the crook of his shoulder, "I want to go back with you. I can't let you do this alone."

He cocked his head, "Are you even allowed to? I mean, for all I can assume, this is like some sort of pre-death instant dream or something, I might as well play along."

"Well there's a choice, but I won't tell you the other options, because I left you once, I won't let you do this without me." She said.

"Just tell me what it is."

"You can either go back with aura, grimm, and whatever other skills you may have acquired and or learned alone. But if I also go back, We both can only retain one power, we'll both be as strong as we were during that time, with only one ability."

Jaune hummed at this, "Alright I know what I am taking. No chance of talking you out of this? I don't want you to give up what you have for me."

She glared.

"Fine."

She nodded, "Together then?"

"Till the end."

Warmth suffused in his chest, spreading to his body and he felt as though the ground vanished beneath him as Pyrrha dissolved away from his arms.

He fell into darkness.

His eyes scrunched tight and he groaned.

He froze.

His voice was so... high.

His eyes snapped open and he looked around.

He was in his room.

Not his dorm in Beacon.

But his room in his house in Dorme.

He lifted a hand and stared at it.

It was small.

He was small.

He scrambled out of bed and looked in the mirror.

He blinked at his startled 5 year old face.

The ensuing scream of pure shock woke the entire house.