A Semblance of Emotion 033

“My belly feels heavy,” Nora murmured, her fingertips lightly stroking the spot just below her bellybutton. She was cuddled into his side, their sweaty skin sticking together, their warmth mingling as one. “I think you filled me up completely.”

He was still half hard, his cock flexing against his belly, arching up before flopping back down. The cave reeked of sex, and it kept him on the edge, touching something primal within his psyche. His body was ready to run it back if she made a move.

The panic of potentially getting her pregnant had come and gone, a frightening prospect – but also unimportant right now. They didn’t know if they were going to make it out of this situation alive. That Grimm was still out there and while it hadn’t found them, Jaune had a feeling that it wasn’t the last they were going to see of it. A Grimm like that wouldn’t be happy with letting prey escape.

Having loud, mindless sex while being hunted by a powerful creature of darkness was a pretty stupid thing to do, all things considered. But they hadn’t cared – and Jaune didn’t regret it.

“What if I get pregnant?” Nora asked softly.

“Then we raise our child,” Jaune said automatically without hesitation. He tightened his arm around her, hand caressing her hip. “It’ll be hard and I wasn’t expecting to be a father so young, but it doesn’t matter. I would never abandon him – or her,” thinking about it, the likelihood that he would have a daughter was actually pretty high if his own parents were anything to go by.

Nora turned her face so she could look at him, her face cheeky. “Is that right? If you aren’t careful, you might put me in the mood for more,” she touched his member, giving it a quick pump. It twitched. “Hey, don’t get too excited, mister – I was only joking. I’m really sore, you know? You fucked me a little too hard at the end, even though it felt really good. Mm. This thing is dangerous.”

“Stop touching it then,” Jaune swatted her hand away, willing his cock to keep softening – even though he’d love to take her again, and again, and again. “You’re encouraging it.”

She giggled, and he wasn’t sure but her skin appeared more lush somehow. Radiant, almost. “I wish we could have spent some more time. I didn’t plan for our first time to be so rushed – and in a cave,” she looked around. “Though I kinda like it.”

“So you’ve been planning this?”

She nodded seriously. “Did you really think I was going to let you get away with seeing my panties?”

Jaune shook his head. “You’re never going to let that one go, are you?”

“Nope,” she popped the P, looking adorable as she nuzzled his chest and kissed it. “Never. You’re stuck with me. Hope you can handle this,” she gave her rump a shake. “Because I don’t want this to be a one time thing.”

He didn’t either.

He liked Nora. He liked her a lot. But he would be lying if he didn’t also have feelings for the other members of his team. Weiss captivated him at times, and he found himself staring at her like a witless teenager. He supposed that was exactly what he was. And Blake… they’d kissed…

“You’re thinking about something,” she narrowed her eyes shrewdly. “What is it?”

“Nothing important,” he denied.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a really bad liar, Jaune – buuut if you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine. I get it. You’ve had your fill so now you’ll discard me, bored with me.”

He squeezed her hip, leaning down to peck her on the nose. She blinked, eyes crossing. “I would never discard you, Nora. Don’t ever say it.”

She blushed prettily. “Aw, when you’re all earnest like that, it’s really embarrassing. You’re making my stomach fill with butterflies.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

She poked him in the side and he jerked. “Smarty pants. You act like an innocent farm boy but you’re actually a big ladies man, aren’t you?”

Jaune laughed. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m hopeless with women.”

Nora snorted. “You have no idea, do you? Well, you’ll find out soon enough. I’m the least of your worries, mister.”

What did that mean?

Nora suddenly sat up and stretched, her lovely body arching. Jaune stared at her back, the lithe muscle stretching out and then contracting as she rolled over and stood. She was completely nude bar her panties, and with a disgusted expression, she peeled them off and tossed them away.

“I liked that pair,” she sighed. “But they’re totally ruined now.”

Jaune throbbed as he saw her pussy properly for the first time, cock stiffening in appreciation. A thin stripe of ginger hair carpeted her mons, leading down towards her flushed vulva, her outer lips plump and tight, her pussy appearing no more than a cute, innocent slit. All he could make out was the hood of her clitoris sitting neatly at the apex, small and unassuming.

That was until she peeled herself open, glistening pink petals burned into his brain.

She looked so sexy. Freshly fucked, her skin lush and alive, her womanly body soft and jiggling. She was going to drive him insane.

“I can feel it moving inside me,” she complained. “It feels weird.”

After a moment, some of his cum began leaking out of her and Nora dabbed at it with her finger, rolling it between thumb and forefinger, curious. Apparently her womb hadn’t been able to take it all.

“It feels silky,” she said, stretching her fingers apart. “You filled me with this. It’s still warm.”

Jaune groaned and covered his face with an arm, rolling over. “Nora, please stop.”

He was almost at full mast again.

“What? I’ve never seen a guy’s stuff before, it’s interesting,” she then went silent. “Jaune, your back!”

Her voice was filled with alarm.

He rolled back, “What?”

“There is something on your back!”

He sat up, reaching behind him but she moved closer, kneeling down and touching around his shoulder blades. Nora stroked his skin, tracing a pattern he couldn’t see. One thing he noticed was that where she was touching him was very sensitive, and his skin rippled with goosebumps as she continued to trace it.

“Nora, what’s wrong?”

“You’ve got a tattoo.”

“What?”

“You’re not going to believe this.”

Nora leaned over and found her skirt, digging through it. She quickly found her scroll and took a picture of his back, showing him on the screen.

Jaune stared at it, shocked.

It must have been the size of a fist, the skin raised slightly on the right side of his back, positioned high. It was familiar, one he’d seen on the back of Nora’s shirt countless times. Her personal symbol, a piece of herself; a pink circle with the shadow of a hammer within, a lighting bolt cutting through it. Surrounding it were a series of twisting thorny vines, inked into his skin as if by a pro, shaded with various other depictions. Various faces of Grimm, what looked like a burning house, trees of a forest, all seamlessly blended together.

It was a work of art.

“How did that get there?” he exclaimed, truly puzzled.

“You didn’t have that before,” Nora continued touching it. “Even yesterday.”

What had changed between now and then?

That was pretty obvious.

Having sex with Nora had caused it to appear. But why? How?

“Do I have one?” she asked. “You saw my back.”

Jaune shook his head. “No, there was nothing on your back.”

Suddenly, her fingers moved to the other side of his back, finding something.

“Jaune…”

“What?”

She didn’t say anything, snapping another picture. When she showed him the screen, Jaune stared at it dumbly. It wasn’t like the other one, no ink, just raised skin, as if something had scratched him, almost like a welt but not quite. But those didn’t look like nail or claw marks. Instead, it was a faded symbol and he had to squint to make it out.

It was also familiar.

Even uncolored, unfinished, it was unmistakably Blake’s emblem, the one she wore on her stockings. The stylized depiction of a belladonna bulb, almost appearing as dark flame. It didn’t take long for Jaune to place the connection.

They’d kissed.

Was that why it was there?

“This looks like Blake,” Nora mused, tracing it like she’d traced her own symbol. “But it’s unfinished. It isn’t colorful like mine.”

Jaune knew the question was coming.

“Did you guys do something together?”

Where he expected jealousy, maybe even anger – Nora just sounded amused. It threw him.

“Uh – well, uh huh?”

Nora snickered, embracing him from behind. Her heavy, plump tits pressed against him, sweaty and warm, and soft.

“I’m not mad,” she whispered into his ear. “I expected that silly kitty to make a move at some point, I was just expecting that I would be first.”

What?

He was so taken by surprise that he didn’t even chide her for calling Blake a kitty.

“You didn’t sleep with her, though, did you?” she continued softly. “If you did, it would be colorful like my one, right? Unless it’s only colorful because we’re near each other, or because it’s fresh...”

Jaune shook his head before her mind ran wild with ideas. “We haven’t slept together. She kissed me.”

Nora hummed. “It looks like when you’re intimate with someone, it appears on your skin.”

But why?

There really could be only one explanation.

His semblance.

That was the only thing that could be causing this and yet, Jaune couldn’t figure out what it meant.

“I don’t see a snowflake,” Nora leaned back and inspected his back closely, hands moving lower. “You haven’t kissed Weiss yet?”

Yet?

“Nora, I’m not – why would – it isn’t what it looks like,” he finally managed to get out, getting tongue tied. “I don’t just kiss everyone around me.”

“Only the girls you like,” Nora agreed.

He was struck speechless.

“It’s okay,” she said, kissing his shoulder. “It’s not like I didn’t know or anything.”

Jaune knew that Nora was very observational. She caught things that a lot of people didn’t. He just didn’t expect her to be quite so astute.

“...And you aren’t bothered by that?”

Nora kissed his skin again, a little lower.

“Should I be?” she asked, making her way down until she kissed the inked emblem on his back. His skin tingled. “You like me, right? I mean, I don’t think you’d have slept with me if you didn’t. Jaune isn’t that type of guy.”

“I’m not,” he said quickly. “I do like you.”

“So there is nothing to be bothered by,” she licked the symbol next and he jumped, startled. “Mm, it doesn’t taste like anything. Just your skin.”

“Nora, what are you doing?”

“Just testing things,” she replied, sniffing it. “Mm, it doesn’t smell like anything different.”

Jaune turned to face her and saw her face, her mouth pulled in a very cheeky grin.

“I like it,” she said, looking proud. “It’s like I marked you as mine, and anyone that sees it will know.”

“That might cause some complications.”

She shrugged and it did very interesting things to her chest. “We’ll get through it.”

She was rolling with things incredibly well. It put Jaune at ease.

But they weren’t out of the woods yet. They still had to get out of this forest, away from that Grimm and make it back to Beacon, safe and sound. There was really only one way to do that.

“We need to kill that Grimm,” he said, and Nora’s face became serious.

“That thing is really powerful, Jaune. I don’t know if we can kill it.”

“We’re going to try anyway,” he sighed. “Beacon will figure out that something has gone wrong. They’re meant to be coming today, they’ll be sending a Bullhead soon to pick us up and they’d realize things have gone sideways when the proctor isn’t there to meet them. We need to be at the pickup point when they get there – but I don’t think that Grimm is just going to let us waltz over there, uncontested.”

She nodded grimly, though he saw the turmoil in her gaze. “We’ll need a plan.”

“I think I have an idea,” Jaune smiled. “We still have that Ice Dust, right?”

They both dressed before hashing out a basic plan. The idea was simple; Jaune was going to amplify them as much as possible, and using the Ice Dust, they would take away its mobility before hitting it with everything they had. They would target the humanoid torso, the neck and head, going for a swift kill.

It was their only chance to come out of this on the other side. Getting into another protracted battle with it was too dangerous. If they took it by surprise, negating its maneuverability, they took away most of its strength.

They gathered their things and before setting off, Nora grabbed his face and pulled him into a searing kiss. Jaune met her enthusiastically, their lips smacking wetly as their passion soared. When they parted, her eyes glittered, her lips wet and swollen.

“I’m not wearing any underwear,” she whispered and Jaune rolled his eyes, pulling away. She laughed heartily. “The look on your face was so funny!”

Any embarrassment on her end was completely gone now and Jaune was sure this was going to come back to haunt him many times in the future.

“Just don’t distract me during the fight,” he muttered and she laughed harder.

The cave that Nora had dragged him to was about two miles south of where they had the confrontation with the Grimm. When they arrived at the spot where they’d done battle, the landscape had been irreversibly altered. The ground was upturned, soil and stone scattered as massive craters littered the area. Trees had been felled, and several of them looked like they’d caught on fire, withered husks.

They were lucky it hadn’t spread.

“So that’s what happened to all your grenades,” Jaune said, looking around. Nora flushed.

“I told you I went berserk, didn’t I?”

From here, they knew the direction they needed to travel. According to their scrolls, it was nearing noon. Jaune didn’t know when the Bullhead was meant to arrive but it was probably soon. He couldn’t see them flying in for a pick up in the evening.

“Come on, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

Even though so much time had passed, the area was completely silent. No birds, no insects, nothing. The animal life were still frightened and that pointed to one thing.

That Grimm couldn’t be far.

It wasn’t.

Twenty minutes went by, the pair of them on high alert when they found it. In amongst a group of trees, it sat upon a large slab of rock as if it were a throne, elevated several feet above the ground. Jaune paused, Nora tensing beside him as the Grimm’s infernal head slowly looked up. It still bore the scars from their previous encounter, and a new one. One of the long bone blades had snapped near the base, leaving it devoid of one weapon.

“I did that,” Nora said at his questioning look. “I almost dislocated my shoulders, I hit it so hard.”

The Grimm stared at them for a moment, the silence stretching ominously – before with a heave, it rose up, towering above them.

Jaune unsheathed his sword, deploying his shield. He heard Magnhild mecha-shift next to him, the heavy head of her hammer thudding against the ground as she let it drop.

“Get the Dust ready,” Jaune said from the side of his mouth, gathering his aura. “Freeze it, and then we hit it with everything we have.”

Nora nodded, face tight. “Right.”

Jaune summoned his semblance, anticipating the flood of power and enhanced emotions that came with it, but it didn’t prepare him for the sudden surge of pure radiance that exploded from his body. Jaune gasped in shock as he felt aura pour off him in waves, the strength of his amplification skyrocketing.

“What…?” he managed to say before he heard Nora shout in surprise, and turning his head, he saw something unbelievable.

Aura surged around Nora’s body, the pink hue of her soul mixing with the white-gold that Jaune exuded. Even though he wasn’t touching her, his semblance was flowing through her, Nora’s eyes wide as strength and vigor seeped through every pore.

“Jaune, what’s happening?” she asked quickly, panicked.

Jaune stabbed Crocea Mors into the dirt and stared at his hand, flexing his fingers. He’d never felt so strong before, and his emotions – they were strong, empowered, and yet not overpowering. Almost like something was focusing it. He’d experienced this in their last fight, when he’d shoved his fear down and dedicated himself to Nora’s safety.

Had he conquered the weakness of his semblance?

His fear was strong but it didn’t feel wholly his own. It was a jumble of different feelings, blending together.

Jaune blinked.

A pleasant warmth radiated from his back, stemming from a certain point, and at once, he understood.

Those feelings weren’t just his own. They belonged to Nora. That’s why it felt so potent, and yet not crushing as they usually did. They were bearing the weight of their feelings together, joined as one, so much so that he hadn’t even needed to touch her to share his aura with her.

Semblance could evolve. Was this the next stage? Or was this something that he had all along, and he just didn’t know it because – well, he had never been intimate with a woman before. He had never bonded as closely as he had with Nora.

That was what had changed from yesterday until now. Jaune and Nora had come together as a man and woman, physically but also emotionally. The physical intimacy was just an expression of their emotional desires, and now…

...Jaune’s fist tightened before he relaxed, grabbing the hilt of his sword. He pulled it from the earth and swung it in challenge, the Grimm roaring with murderous intent. Almost as if it knew they were no longer the same people they’d fought the day previous.

They could win.

“Nora?”

His voice was calm, cold as steel.

“Yeah?”

Her voice was filled with fire, a molten edge.

“Forget the Dust. Let’s crush this Grimm.”

He could feel her agreement through this new bond they shared, rippling down his back. “I thought you’d never ask.”

The ground shifted as they launched themselves forward, in perfect sync. The Grimm screeched and charged, thundering on galloping hooves. The terror Jaune had felt before when facing this beast was absent, replaced by a newfound confidence. He felt like he could take on the entire world, as long as Nora was by his side.

The remaining bone blade whistled as it cut the air, and Jaune ducked low while Nora went high. She twirled through the air as she jumped, twisting effortlessly with her hammer. Magnhild slammed into its torso, the strength behind her strike rocking the Centaur back. Jaune slashed at its front leg, and unlike the last time, Crocea Mors bit deeply into its flesh, a spray of blood misting in the air as it screamed in pain.

He felt lighter on his feet, his body moving in ways he’d never moved before. He’d always been a grounded fighter, preferring to keep his feet firmly on the ground. Jaune felt more comfortable that way, though he knew that he was capable of leaving his feet if he had to. This time, he vaulted effortlessly as if it was second nature, as if he’d been doing it all of his life, kicking off the Grimm’s side and flipping wildly through the air as its back swing missed him by a hair. Nora landed on the ground in a crouch before shooting forward, swinging upwards and striking it in the underside of its belly. It bellowed as it was lifted off the ground, the stone beneath them cracking as Nora dug her feet in, and Jaune lashed out at its face, Crocea Mors carving off a piece of its jaw.

Its scream was horrible to hear and yet it washed off them both, none of the pressure it exerted touching them. Jaune landed on his feet moments before it turned, trying to kick him with its powerful back legs. He was moving before it even got the chance to launch them, cartwheeling in an unfamiliar yet familiar move, the air shifting as its hooves missed. When Jaune was the right way up, he spun around and leapt, knowing she would be there.

Nora caught the underside of his boots, and with an effortless heave, tossed him into the air. It was usually the other way around, Jaune throwing Nora skyward, yet it felt natural as he twisted in the air and landed on its back. It tried to buck him off, thrashing wildly but he buried his sword through its spine between two bone plates, hoping to disable it.

It only seemed to piss it off.

Wrenching his sword out, Jaune rolled off its back as Nora slammed into its side, the sound of cracking bone echoing through the forest. Enraged, it spat a stream of that vile toxic liquid at her as it stumbled but she was long gone, rolling away.

They were winning. They were faster than before. Stronger than before. Their movements were crisp; perfect. Their awareness of each other was otherworldly, impossible. They charged in together, and Nora swung, Jaune ducking on instinct, knowing it was coming. Her hammer punched into its front as he rolled beneath its body, slashing upwards. Thick blood spewed across the ground as he opened it up, and in most Grimm, that would be the end.

But not this one.

It staggered and screamed, backing away as it started spasming, moving erratically. Dark miasma rose from its skull, infused with the hellfire that spewed forth and with a horrible wet snap of flesh and bone, a pair of massive leathery wings sprouted from its humanoid back.

It was changing before their very eyes.

Dimly, Jaune heard the roar of a Bullhead engine but he didn’t take his eyes off the mutating Centaur, its arms growing larger, thicker, spikes erupting from its flesh. The horn atop its head got longer, sharper, the horse body widening, the tails thickening. It grew several feet, and its already massive bulk was even larger, the feeling of despair it exuded becoming more potent.

Jaune charged without a second thought. Aura hummed through his blade as he blurred, moving at speeds he’d never before achieved. It tried to strike him but Crocea Mors met it in a yellow flash, and its arm tumbled to the ground as his aura slash carved straight through it.

Like a warm knife through butter.

It screamed as Jaune leapt, flipping over backwards and driving his sword between its shoulder blades, the base of its new wings on either side. Without even having to say it, Nora was there, Magnhild high above her head, her back arched to generate as much power as she could.

“Die~!” she roared, and she swung with every ounce of strength she had.

Crocea Mors acted like a nail, and she struck it dead center. The Grimm crumpled beneath the power of her swing, his sword punching through and down its body, exploding out the bottom and plowing into the earth like a meteor. The stone cracked, and with a scream of triumph, Nora rode it down, the Centaur coming apart beneath her hammer.

Blood, bone and flesh flew in all directions, the Centaur’s dying screech cut short. The humanoid body convulsed on the ground before growing still, the dark flames sputtering out, the horse body completely in ruins.

There was a calm suspension of time, Jaune staring at the carnage before Nora flew into his arms. He caught her and spun her around, the dark blood turning to ash on their clothes and skin as the monstrous creature began breaking apart.

It was finished.

Jaune set her down, and Nora beamed at him.

“That was frickin’ amazing,” she cheered. “Oh my god, Jaune. We totally kicked its butt!”

They’d gone from struggling desperately for their lives to absolutely dominating it. It was unbelievable.

“Oh,” Nora looked up and Jaune followed her gaze, a shadow passing across them. The Bullhead sat suspended, the bay doors open. Jaune couldn’t make out their expressions but he saw Pyrrha and Ren, moments before they jumped down.

“Are you two okay?” Pyrrha said moments after landing, her form perfect. Emerald eyes frantically searched them over before turning to the decaying corpse. Her expression was tight. “That Grimm…”

Ren wrapped Nora in a massive hug, his usual calm shattered. Nora hugged him back furiously, and when they parted, Ren’s worry was written clearly on his face.

“What was that?” he said, eyes turning to the dead Grimm. “The pilots said they detected a disturbance and then – we could feel it, up in the sky,” his mouth pulled taut. “It felt horrible. I’d never felt so scared and yet I didn’t know what I was scared about.”

Pyrrha nodded along. “I’ve never felt anything like it. Right down to my bones, I wanted to run away and never look back – and then it stopped.”

“That thing – it killed our proctor,” Jaune said grimly and their eyes widened in horror. “It almost killed us. It was… strong. Stronger than the Hydra we faced during initiation. We wouldn’t have stood a chance but…”

“Jaune’s semblance,” Nora said proudly. “It worked waaaay better than usual and we smoked it.”

Jaune chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it that way but… she isn’t wrong.”

He then realized he was still channeling his semblance, the pair of them still under its effects, though their aura was no longer blazing like miniature suns. Jaune let it fall off, and he instantly felt the difference. It was like stepping out of a warm bath and into a cold one, the shock of it making him flinch. Nora gasped in surprise.

“Woah,” Nora said after a moment, blinking rapidly. “That was… weird.”

“We better get moving, they’re waiting for us,” Pyrrha pointed up. “You two have some explaining to do.”

“I can’t wait until we get back to our own beds,” Nora sighed. “Wait, Jaune – don’t forget your sword.”

“Oh, right.”

Most of the Grimm’s body had dissolved already so it wasn’t difficult to find. Even though it was mostly buried in the dirt, it was at the very epicenter of the crater they’d created, and dusting some of the rock away, he gripped the hilt and pulled.

What came free was just the hilt, the blade missing.

Jaune blinked at it.

“Uh,” he turned and saw the others gawking. “My sword is broken.”