Broken to a point

The hard stop

Just before Jaune could activate his aura and begin thr process, a voice stopped him "I probably wouldn't do that."

Jaune whipped around, going so fast his neck groaned in protest, and laid eyes on the speaker. It was a boy, probably around Jaune's age, with spiked blond hair that was buzzed on the sides. His grey eyes were wide in surprise as he their eyes met.

How the hell had a missed a whole person sitting in the room with him? Was he so focused on the collar and the cold to miss such critical information? Gods he really was loosing it.

"Who the hell are you?" Jaunes first words were probably more hostile then they needed to be, but right now with this collar around his neck he couldn't find it within himself to be nice.

The man flinched slightly at Jaune tone, nevertheless he answered "My name is David" his voice shook slightly as he spoke "Who are you?"

Jaune's eyes narrowed as his cellmate spoke, his cold blue eyes taking in David's form. The man- well, boy more likely, he couldn't be older than Jaune himself- was hunched over in the corner of the cell. His prison jumpsuit was identical to Jaunes, its tight form showcasing the lanky frame of the boy.

Adorned on his neck was also a thin metal collar, its silver form caught the light and contrasted harshly on David's pale skin. 'Guess I'm not alone with this' Jaune thought bitterly

"My name is Jaune" He said carefully, still eyeing David wearily. "Why did you stop me from breaking the collar?"

David's eyes were downcast as he tugged at his own collar and spoke "I've worked a lot with Atlas Tech, I've seen this stuff before." He reached his fingers in the space between the collar and his neck, pulling back at a zap of electricity "They made it for aura users, to keep the ones who go rouge in check. One burst of aura above a little glow, and, well..."

David made an explosion with his hands, even making a little sound effect with his mouth too.

Jaune's eyes narrowed, though the image was not lost on him, "What if I don't believe you? All I've got is your word, and I sure as hell don't trust that."

David looked nervous but shrugged "Hey man, no need to get aggressive." He put his hands up in surrender "I just thought I'd give you some advice, that's all."

Jaune started at his cell mate for a moment, hand still resting on his collar. David really had no reason to lie to him, they were both stuck here even without the collar.

If he was lying, Jaune could just take the collar off later.

If he wasn't, well not having a head would suck.

He slowly removed his hand from the cool metal of the collar, his glare moving from David to the object in question. This thing would come off one way or another, he would never be collared again.

Not after last time.

Davis let out a sigh of relief and slumped against the wall, "There you go man, no need to kill your self." He gave Jaune a small smile "Thank you for trusting me."

"Who said anything about trusting?" Jaune grumbled "You shoulda just let me blow my own head off, less trouble for you."

David looked sick at the prospect "Why would I ever do that?" He shook his head violently as if to rid his mind of those thoughts "I've always thought that that people stuck together should work together, and who knows maybe we'll end up being friends?"

Jaune blinked at the familiarity in those words. While they weren't exact, it was pretty similar to what he used to say to everyone he met. Before he grew up and was ruined by the world, before he saw the magnitude of suffering mankind was capable of inflicting.