Haven Academy Cathedral, an hour before dawn
It was raining. It'd been raining since he got to this dust forsaken place. He shouldn't have been surprised; they called it 'rainy season' for a reason. The consequence was that he was perpetually wet and cold. Going from pub to bar to apartment over the last two weeks, seeking hunters to hire. The headmaster, Lionheart, had provided a list when Jaune had come calling of available hunters while the school was closed for the season; the students and staff tending to their families homes during this season annually.
Haven was situated on top of a mountain. A spring somehow brought water up from the base, which flowed down into the city from an inexplicable waterfall. Jaune was sure it was somehow man made; a feat of forgotten technology or perhaps even magic that could no longer be replicated. He'd crossed the bridge in front of it, slick from the rain and the overflow from the waterfall. His hands shook a bit from the cold but he held the railing as he made his way across to the imposing stone structure that was little more than a tourist attraction now. The great cathedral of Mistral at Haven Academy. It wasn't lit inside, but he knew this was were they would be.
Everything was coming together. All the strings weaving together in a way that felt entirely too contrived; getting kicked out of Beacon, his love affair with Pyrrha, the dust theft case and his sister's murder that'd led to animosity with the White Fang, and Adam Taurus in particular. Torchwick, Mountain Glenn, tracking down Eis Schnee for Jacques... Cinder, and Pyrrha's death. He'd come to Mistral to speak to his fiancee's parents and help lay her to rest, then picked up a lead on Eis.
He knew Ruby and Yang were with Ren and Nora somewhere in the city; in a dive bar he'd heard some fantastic story about them fighting a giant demon of a grimm in some place called Koroyuri. They'd walked to Mistral of all things. Maybe Weiss and Blake where here too, but he didn't quite know how to find them and they'd only just arrived a few days before.
It didn't matter anyway. This was his business. He checked inside his long coat, thumbing out the cylinder on Retribution and checking to ensure each of the five chambers was loaded with the special heavy piercing dust rounds. He slid it back into it's holster, and then checked Judgement, the handgun that'd served his sister and mentor Ambre that she'd passed onto him in her will after Torchwick's henchwoman had stabbed her in the back. He released the magazine; 15 fire dust tipped rounds. His coat held a few more magazines, his belt another 20 rounds in four quick-loading cylinders for Retribution, the gun he'd had forged after Pyrrha's killing on top of Beacon tower. His coat also covered his light armor; it hadn't protected him from Adam's blade, but he'd held that blade and lived and the insane faunus hadn't. Repeated shots to the forehead would kill anyone, aura or not. And if these specially made shells worked as advertised, Retribution would only need one.
Jaune sighed and started up the stairs to the entrance; there might have been a side door he could sneak in through, but he didn't know it, and he was as likely to run into one of Cinder's goons as find the door. He went through the motions Ambre had taught him when he started with her, after Beacon. First, what were his goals: Kill Cinder, free Eis. Ideally escape with his life. What was his plan? Walk in and wing it. He didn't know who was here or exactly where they'd be. Would Eis Schnee be tied up somewhere so he'd have to search, or held hostage to keep him from acting? Would they attack immediately, or try to talk him into something. There had to be a reason they'd been fucking with his head instead of just killing him.
The doors opened with a loud groan, and all the light was behind him, though it was still quite dim. He still had his nightvision; there wasn't any light other than the broken moon shining through the clouds, which wasn't much, and the ambient light from the city below, but daybreak would be soon. He walked in, leaving the doors open, rain coming in at an angle and wetting the entrance to the great church to the two brother gods of light and dark. The religion was all but dead, and the lack of true care of the cathedral showed it. He could see broken pews, a ragged rug leading away to the dark back of the church, and a pair of glowing eyes, lit as if there was a fire behind them.
"I didn't think you were going to show, Arc."
"I keep my word. Family motto." His speech had shortened since Pyrrha's death; more angry and less youthful. He'd stopped shaving regularly, though he did tend to keep bathing, if for no other reason than to make sure he didn't have much of a scent to go down wind. He looked every bit the ruffled private investigator from the vids. His coat was open at the front, showing his jeans and the hoodie Pyrrha had given him, covered by his light body armor and gun belt. His hair was cropped short, dripping from the rain, and as Cinder snapped her fingers and fire lit the candles in the sconces and chandelier above, his eyes had lost their vigor they'd held when he'd still been able to hold his champion girlfriend turned future wife.
"Where is she?" He asked.
"Where's the payment?" was his response from the brunette. He could admit she was beautiful, but the personality didn't match the picture. She was a total sociopath, and the only goal she really had was personal power.
He didn't respond. There was no payment and never would be; he'd not even told the old man he'd found his estranged wife, and her faunus lover. He hadn't even been here for her in the first place.
"I see. Well, if she matters so little to him, maybe we'll just kill her and be done with it. Or maybe you'd volunteer to take her place?" She was walking forward now, a slow seductive step. "I have to admit, I've enjoyed what you have to offer far more than I thought I would." As his eyes narrowed, her features morphed, and green eyes and long red hair stood before him. Pyrrha reached up, her hand caressing his face, and despite knowing it wasn't really her, he leaned into the touch. "I've had you every night you've been here, Jaune Arc. Did you think you were dreaming?"
He would have, except she'd not bothered to clean him up afterward. It'd been maddening. The time it took to secure passage to Mistral from Vale had left him living in Ambre's studio for months, wallowing in his grief at her loss, and then to feel her touch again... but the smell told his brain what his eyes wouldn't. She'd left him smelling like he'd rolled in ash when he woke up in Mistral after a night with her; first dreaming he was making love to Pyrrha, and then being awake. Now, the smell as he leaned in was quite different, but still not Pyrrha's. Pyrrha had smelled like sweat from hard work, sunlight, and that light flowery scent he'd thought was perfume but was actually her antiperspirant. Cinder smelled like ash; he figured that was who'd been fucking him. But this woman smelled like rain and mildew; or maybe it was just too long in this decrepit church. Either way, she didn't smell like ash, but she didn't smell like Pyrrha either. Rather than reach for her, he put his hands down into his coat pockets.
Instead, she reached around him, and then he felt the bite of her kama below his armor, through his coat. His aura blocked it, and her aura initially blocked Judgement's reply, for the first four shots that threw her off him and broke her concentration, revealing Emerald. He'd cut the bottom of the pockets of his coat so he could reach his weapons, and he continued to fire into her until the magazine emptied, and Emerald was a bleeding and smoking mess. He drew his arms out of his coat, Retribution in his right hand and Judgement in his left. Mercury was charging from an alcove to his right, but Jaune had caught a glimpse of him while the fake Pyrrha was stroking his face, so Retribution was already on its way up. Before Mercury could get his leg up to fire, Jaune pulled the trigger.
When he'd gunned down Emerald, the flashes had been bright in the dark church, and loud, but Retribution was more like a cannon blast. He lost hearing in his right ear, replaced by a deep ringing noise, and his eyes lost vision from the flash for a moment; something he knew was going to affect anyone looking at him too. By the time he could open his eyes and see again, Mercury's headless corpse lay 10 feet back from where it'd been when he fired.
"Guess they do work."
Dust rifles fired from an upper balcony, and Jaune dove down under a pew. The shots were chewing right threw them, but he could crawl away unobserved, especially in the low light after having their nightvision screwed up by the powder flash of Retribution firing. It took him half a minute, but he was able to crawl over behind a pillar, reloading Judgement with a spare magazine and waiting until the now random firing from above stopped.
"Stop wasting ammo you fools. You don't even know where he is." They didn't, but he imagined they'd be able to follow the trail of blood if they came looking. Emerald hadn't gotten through his aura, but she'd weakened it severely. Mercury hadn't even fired a shot. The dust rifles, though, and hit him a few times despite not knowing where to shoot, and the last hit had gotten through his aura and went through his thigh. He let his eyes adjust and waited, listening. Ambre had taught him that trick; people got impatient; they'd move around for a better angle, look around corners. No one wanted to wait. So he waited and listened, and the wooden balcony above told him exactly where three people were, if he was guessing correctly.
One was directly above him. Another was across the church, closer to the front than the back, but too far for him to be sure based on the creaking floor. The third was leaning over the railing on his side of the church, but toward the back near the alter. Jaune could see his shadow when lightning flashed through the stained glass above the alter. He slipped Retribution back into it's holster and took Judgement in his right hand; he was a better shot with it. Leaning out to the outside of the pillar he raised the gun and fired, three shots, then ducked back. At least one hit; the shadow fell and he heard the body hit the ground floor. Might not be dead, but most likely was. Unfortunately, he also revealed his position. Raising judgement up he fired the rest of the magazine into the floor above him, hitting his target on the third shot and emptying the remaining magazine into that area. Blood dripped down on him through the bullet holes.
The shooter across from him opened up on him now that his position was exposed. Before he could move around the pillar away from it, the rifle struck his armor twice, then penetrated beneath it on his lower torso. Pain flashed in his mind as he fell, but he still dragged himself behind the stone blocks. Two shots more had hit him in the legs. He put his back to the pillar and tried to keep sitting up, hoping his aura would recover and help close up the wounds. The dust rounds from the rifle were still in his stomach and his leg, though, so it seemed unlikely. Judgement hit the floor as his hand slapped over the wound on his stomach, earning a hiss of pain and another flash behind his eyes.
Behind him, he heard the thump of feet hitting the floor, and walking over to him. Multiple pairs.
"Ohh, that looks pretty bad, Jaune." She was cooing at him.
"Where's Eis?"
"You knew before you came she'd already be dead." He had, but he'd had to come anyway. Retribution went off, and the last shooter flew backwards and Cinder leapt to get to cover. Jaune scooted his way up the pillar, leaving blood behind him, the adrenaline pounding through his system the only thing keeping him conscious. "Jaune" she whined "Why did you do that? You're already dying. Do you know how expensive it is to hire a good mercenary? Especially when they're all so booked up."
"Maybe if you hadn't killed all the hunters, they'd be more available. Should have thought about supply and demand."
She laughed. "I like this version of you, Jaune. So much better than the brat I left on that tower, cradling the broken shell of that poor girl. That was Ozpin's fault, you know. He should have never set her against me."
His response was more controlled that the old him would have been capable of. He edged around the pillar, then back as an arrow flew past where his head had been. "That's not going to do you any good. He's already dead, and you're here."
"True, I suppose. I'll tell you what, Jaune. I seem to be a little short on manpower. Why don't you join me? I'll save your life. I can still do it. We can even continue our nighttime activities. Retribution roared, and the pew she'd been standing behind shattered as she dove behind a pillar herself. "Oh, don't be like that. I know you enjoyed it as much as I did. Maybe we can even raise our little one together?"
Retribution answered her, the rock near her head exploding. "You're right. I lied, there is no little Jaune. Why don't you stop hiding and we can end this?" The feel of metal against her skull was his answer. He'd crept up on her under cover of his gunfire, slow as it was.
"Lets." He pulled the trigger, the hammer fell, but nothing happened. Instantly shortswords of blackened glass appeared in her hands. From experience on the tower at Beacon he knew they were harder than they looked, and sharp. His aura hadn't really recovered, either. He fell back, the blade in her left hand stricking up and hitting the trigger guard on Retribution instead of his hand or the skull behind it. Falling to the ground saved him from the next strike with her right which swung over him, and despite his pain he rolled over his shoulder and back onto his feet as her third swipe swept down, just catching his back acros his coat and his armor. Miraculously, she didn't penetrate.
He thumbed the cylinder release, and dove between some wrecked pews to avoid the arrows headed his way. She was fast; far faster than him. She dropped the bow and threw a stream of fire at him. He covered himself in his coat; still wet and made of non-flammable material, it was little protection from the heat as his skin began to scald underneath.
"Last chance. Your back is going to be ugly to look at, but when I tire of you, you'll be able to afford to buy a ladies services." He swung retribution up and she blocked with her left fist, fire in the other as she thrust it into his chest. He pulled the trigger as her right hand exploded against him, throwing him back across the church to hit the wall next to the entry. His body slumped to the ground.
Cinder was now deaf and temporarily blind. She screamed. "Die, fool!" Fire began to dance around her in curving streams, setting the cathedral ablaze. He couldn't see well, but it was hard to miss her glowing form, floating off the ground with fire spewing around her. Retribution's shot sounded like a dog's bark to his deafened ears, but the lightshow stopped and she fell to the floor, the fire instantly snuffed out.
He put the barrel of the long revolver to the floor, and using his remaining strength pushed himself to his feet against the wall. Catching his breath as best he could, his adrenaline beginning to wane, he threw himself to the pew in front of him, using it like a crutch to hold himself up. He was bleeding profusely; the wound on his side had been cauterized by her blast, but he was sure he had broken ribs, and his legs were far too wet for the protection his coat had provided on the way in. His heart was hammering in his chest and his vision was blurry and darkening.
The storm broke, and the sun peaked across the horizon from underneath the fast moving clouds, shining through the stained glass and into the church. Cinder's chest was still rising and falling, though blood gurgled up in her throat where the shot had hit her. She tried to raise her hand as he neared her, but she didn't have the strength. Instead it flopped back to the ground.
"I should let you lay there and drown in your own blood, for everything you've done." He raised Retribution and fired, her skull shattering. "I still have some mercy." He slumped against a pew, holding himself up. It was quiet; with Cinder's death a great wind had swept some glowing substance away, taking all the fire in the ruined building away as well, with only the light from the stained glass shinning in to provide any illumination. Jaune stumbled and turned, heading for the exit, but started to fall.
"Let me help you." He left an arm reach around him, under his arm, and pull him up. Together, they stumbled to the doors, where Jaune slumped to the ground against one, looking up into the rapidly brightening blue sky as the clouds had swept away. "Jaune, you have to get up. You'll die here if you don't." It was her.
"I'm so tired. I think it's time I finally was able to rest. Don't you, Pyr?" He slid down the wall, his back leaving a bloody smear as he came to rest, one knee up, with Retribution still in his hand, dangling over it. "It's so Blue, Pyr. I thought I'd never see a blue sky again. Can I be free now?" There were tears in her eyes as she nodded, taking his hand, and lifting him up to walk away, free from pain and guilt for the first time in so long.
Ruby raced across the bridge, sliding on the boards and almost losing her footing. Yang was quickly closing behind her as the reaper stopped, looking at the old cathedral and holding her breath. Blake and Weiss were still crossing when they saw the blonde take hold of her younger sister, pulling her into a tight hug and trying to soothe her.
Up the steps, sitting against the door, sat what could only be Jaune Arc, head hung down. As Weiss climbed the short steps to where he sat, the pool of blood he sat in was obvious, Judgement laying on the ground next to him. They'd finally found where he was staying after getting talking to a local barman about who was looking for huntsman, and then having failed to be able to contact him, had gone to his room and found the note to Ruby on the nightstand.
"They're at the Cathedral. Claim to have Eis Schnee as a hostage. Probably dead, settling accounts. - Jaune"
Ruby wouldn't climb the steps, and Yang wouldn't leave her, but Weiss rushed into the cathedral, desperately hoping to find her lost mother. Blake followed, noting the corpses; a headless Cinder Fall and Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai with a gut full of bullet wounds and vacant eyes, and two men lying dead next to rifles. As she helped Weiss search the cathedral, she found a woman slumped over on a rifle on the upper balcony. Eis Schnee was not anywhere inside, dead or alive.
"Was she there?"
Weiss shook her head.
Ruby looked at her. "Is he... is he..."
Weiss reached forward and joined in hugging Ruby, trying to help the girl with her grief as best she could while grieving for her missing mother.
I was watching old episodes of Cowboy Bebop (which if you haven't seen, you definitely should take the time to do so as soon as you can) when I ran into the scene with the shootout in the old cathedral. From there came this story, which I imagine is actually the last in a series of stories about Jaune Arc, kicked out of Beacon and becoming a PI under his sister, and dealing with another side of what happens in the main story. More of a Noir version of RWBY's first five seasons. I actually thought perhaps I'd write the other stories as well, but frankly the RWBY muse has been holding out on me. While writing the end of this, the song 'Blue' from the ending of Cowboy Bebob was playing in my head.
If it wasn't clear, Cinder had been having Emerald make herself look like Pyrrha to literally fuck with Jaune. In this version of events, Jaune was up on the tower with Pyrrha when she died, and while Cinder didn't get to kill him, she knows who he is and gets off on the idea of screwing with him, and Pyrrha's spirit. She knows they were engaged and what finding out he'd been fucking her murderer would do to him. Eis Schnee is Weiss' mom, who'd run off with a faunus lover rather than stay with her abusive husband, who Jaune got hired to find at one point, but he let her go rather than tell Jacque where she was. You can't trust Cinder to tell the truth here, so you, and I, don't know if she's dead, and neither does Weiss.
In this version of events, Jaune gets kicked out of Beacon after Cardin spreads around that his qualifications are fake. His friends stand by him, and his sister takes him under her wing at her Private Investigation business. She's murdered by Neo at the end of the first volume, on the docks when Jaune helps Blake foil the dust theft by Torchwick and the white fang. Torchwick gets jailed by Vale, and Adam takes over at Cinder's demand. He captures Jaune at the white fang meeting where the giant Atlasian mech is introduced. RWBY destroys the mech, piloted by Neo, but don't recover Jaune. It's Adam who's in Mount Glenn, and when Ruby falls into the underground area and is captured, Jaune is being tortured because Adam thinks Jaune is with Blake, though Jaune has been dating Pyrrha and Blake has been covering for them because of Pyrrha's fame. Jaune is with them on the train, and he and Blake confront Adam in the engine compartment, where Blake's fear leaves her vulnerable, and Jaune gets stabbed through the abdomen, but grabs the blade and then kills Adam with Judgement, the gun he inherited from his sister, Ambre. Because Torchwick and Adam are dead, Ruby confronts Neo on the Alasian airship and defeats her more quickly; Jaune is with Pyrrha because he was watching her match where she kills Penny, and he stays with her through the rest, including going up the tower with her instead of being sent away. Pyrrha dies saving Jaune, though she's not incinerated, because Jaune drags Pyrrha to him, and before Cinder can kill Jaune, Ruby arrives. He goes to Mistral to take Pyrrha's body to her parents for burial and morn with them, and gets hired to find out why all the hunters are disappearing, which is when Cinder starts to mess with him and eventually uses Eis Schnee to draw him into her trap. Retribution is the large calibre revolver forged with Pyrrha's parents using Pyrrha's weapon and shield, and Jaune had special rounds made for it that would cut through aura the way Adam's sword did.
And finally, yes, Pyrrha's spirit leads Jaune off to heaven when she can't get him to save himself. He's tired of life without her and just wants to lay his burdens down. He was never getting out of this one; it's called 'Jaune dies at the end' for a reason. And not just as a play off the movie (I read it as a sort-of book) John dies at the end.
If you were paying attention; Jaune dropped Judgement and never picked it back up. That it's sitting next to his corpse is intentional.