Alright time for the next chapter of Dark Knight of Zero. This is where we'll be going off the canon path even more as Jaune throws a wrench into Cinder's plans. I do not own RWBY or Familiar of Zero.

Chapter 12- A Plan Crumbles.

Louise's POV

This warmth, it feels so amazing. I bury my face into it and sigh in contentment. My head moves up and down with Jaune's breathing. The beat of his heart audible through his muscle. All of it puts me at ease, let's me live with no troubles or cares. Even if it's just for a fleeting moment.

"Hey there Princess, ready for class?" Drat, we have to get up now. I roll off of Jaune and pout, childishness be damned. I'm surprised when his arms wrap around me from behind and he kisses the crown of my head. "You know if you want to lay in bed some more we can. I could care less about classes and Ozpin only signed us up to avoid some attention." I relax back into his chest as he falls back on the bed and takes me with him. "Yah, that sounds wonderful." I have to make this week count, once we go back we have to be careful about affection once again. There is something on my mind though.

"Jaune, can we go to the matches today?" Jaune seems surprised but nods his head. "Sure, but why are you interested in them." I blush and turn away from him before mumbling out my answer. "I want to see the strength you're used to." Confusion overtakes Jaune's face. "Why?" I really don't want to say why but I can't lie to Jaune. "I feel unworthy of you sometimes, all that strength you have and you settle for me. A petite, flat, shrimp of a girl who has one spell that while powerful takes way too long to charge. What if someday you find someone better and decide to leave me." Before I can fully register it I find myself underneath Jaune, one of his hands is holding mine above my head while the other caresses my face. His eyes are slightly jaded but I can tell it's not directed at me.

"Louise listen to me. I don't like that you think like that, you are the one I love. The one I swore myself to. And you should never worry about me leaving you, it's not possible." His eyes gain that warmth I'm used to seeing in them and a smile forms on his lips. "Grimm mate for life, say what you will about them but they're loyal to their partners. I'll admit I was unaware of that fact when we first got together but Pecus has taken it upon himself to educate me on Grimm habits and such while I sleep. Even if I was human I'd think that. So remember that my darling Master." He then leans down kisses me, he releases my hands and his hand goes to my back while I wrap my arms around his neck. We are so going to be late for class.

Scene change – Locker Room

Jaune's POV

Thirty minutes later me and Louise were ready and went to class. Port simply laughed at us and asked it didn't happen again. Now it's time for Oobleck's class but I'm making a pit stop first while Louise heads to class. I'm able to create solid objects from shadows and keep them solid as long as aura's pumping into them, all I need to do is engulf something in shadows so I have a mold available. At first I ignored that ability as I truly have little skill in weaponry, but now I can use any weapon and I have access to the greatest collection of weapons nearby. My shadow's creep into every locker as I walk by and cover the weapons inside, seeping into every part of them to have the mold down to perfection. Nothing but the best to protect Louise with. Soon I have a whole arsenal available.

With that done I head onto class and take a seat beside Louise. Oobleck comes in and actually begins talking at a normal pace, apparently Glynda cut him off of coffee until after classes. "Now then classes today we'll be going over an old legend that I feel everyone should know about. The Warrior of the Void." I give Louise a glance out of the corner of my eye and see she's already taking notes down. "Now everything we know is tough ancient text that are merely copies of things passed down through vocal lore. However it appeared in so many different places that it was decided there was a grain of truth to it. Thousands of years ago as the Grimm began to appear a town found itself cut off from all help with Grimm knocking at their gates. Suddenly through what was described as a hole in the air a man stepped out and spoke in a strange language. For a full minute he kept speaking and then a bright white light appeared. When it ended the man and the Grimm had vanished, this continued on throughout multiple sights and was the reason as many people survived as they did."

"Just how wrapped together are these worlds?" Pecus took the words right out of my mouth. A glance shows me Louise is looking at me as well, she figured it out as well. The Founder came here before, several times in fact. Oobleck then goes on about what this could mean and if this man was one of the first users of aura. Class lets out and Louise and I head to the fairgrounds. I go first over what we've learned.

"So, looks like you'll be able to open doors here at some point." Louise looks up at me. "That's one thing, but could that be the reason random portals open. Perhaps the magic released lingered and causes them to form." It sounds likely, cases of aura being released into the atmosphere and having environmental effects have been recorded. It was one of the few lessons Oobleck was slow for before his coffee cut off.

"ARC!" I turn around to see Cardin stomping towards us with three vivid scars over the right side of his face. He stands five feet away with his Mace in hand and his teammates are behind him and also armed. "Because of you we got kicked out of the tournament." It's how I met Guiche all over again only with a bigger asshole. "You were kicked out because you threatened a girl, one of Atlas' students at that, with violence and sexual assault. Hell how are you all not in prison?" Wait I don't need an answer to that, Cardin's dad probably took care of that.

"She was just an animal. Now I challenge you to a fight, we've trained specifically to beat you. Once we win that girl of yours is mine." Cardin I'm going to make you beg for death. Louise lets out a laugh at that.

"Please, I like men who don't need a how-to-guide for breathing." A crowd has gathered from all the students just let out. All of the visitors have come to hate Cardin and his group and are looking at this with intrest, I notice the faunus I helped is among the crowd with who I assume is her partner. "Fine Cardin, I could use a chance to cut loose. Meet me at the arena in an hour." I walk off with Louise and ignore the whispering from among the crowd. Once we're back in our room I change into my usual outfit and then turn to Louise.

"I'm sorry that you're even a bet in this massacre." If I didn't want to deal with a lynch mob I'd simply sic Grimm on Cardin but for now I'll simply break him personally. Louise replies from behind the changing curtain. "Its fine, I know you'll beat him anyway." She comes back around in her academy uniform and pecks me on the lips. "Now how about you get us to the arena and I get to see a show." I laugh at that and open up a door and we walk into the arena. I'm surprised when Qrow is there and that the seats are filled up along with cameras for Tv studios.

"So kid Ozpin can't allow and I swear this is a quote "this one-sided asskicking from occurring unsupervised" so I get to referee this little shindig. Once word got out about this everyone else started piling in and cameras showed up, it's supposed to wet people's appetite for the tournament." I nod at that. "Okay I can deal with that." I make a staircase of shadow which Louise walks up to get a seat while I turn to see Cardin and his team standing at the other side.

"Hey Qrow, can you hold out your weapon for a sec?" Qrow looks confused but shrugs and holds out his weapon and my shadow covers it. "What are you doing kid?" I ignore him and concentrate on the task at hand, once the mold is down I withdraw my shadow. "You'll see an example of it during the match." Qrow looks interested at that and moves off to the side. Once he's out of the way he announces the start of the match and the cameras start rolling while the shield around the viewing area goes up. With that Qrow throws his hand down and the match starts. Cardin has a grin on his face.

"You know I'm glad to prove I can beat you at anything because I figured out your weakness Mr. Tactician." Oh this will be good. Cardin signals to Dove who shoots at me but I avoid the bullets easily but when they hit the wall fires form and keep burning. Cardin has a smug smirk on his face. "Flare dust, meant to create sustainable emergency flares. However since you fight with shadows the light will prevent you from using them." Cardin and his team then start throwing little spheres everywhere. When they land more fires appear. I just stare at this display before bursting out laughing.

"Yo…You're seri… serious aren't you?" Even Pecus is laughing with me. "Take a look around you, your fires merely make more shadows. And despite the belief light will triumph over darkness…" I break off from there and have shadows surround the flames and smother them. "Light can be taken out by darkness." I then have shadows cover my hands and a copy of Ember Celica appears on them although mine are colored various shades of grey and black. Looks of shock appear on everyone who knows these weapons faces.

"You like? I think I'll name them Umbra Mortis." Not giving them time to respond I jump at them. They scatter from the impact site and I fire right as I hit the ground. Like my handguns they use aura as a projectile. Where I land a crater forms and soon bullets, normal ones this time, start pelting me with bullets but using Yang's semblance turns each blow into extra energy for me to use. Now I know why Yang's so cocky, a semblance like this would make anyone overconfident.

The first to fall is Dove, I shoot to blasts at his feet and while he's down give him a blow to the back of the noggin. I charge Sky who blocks with the blade of halberd but it's knocked out of his hands when the blast is shot. He wisely runs after it while Russel covers him with his daggers. I use Umbra Mortis to block his slashes yet they soon cover in ice, forgot about the dust function. Russel smirks I me but it's wiped off when I simply keep attacking using the ice like clubs. I soon break out of the ice using Russel's body to break it and he runs into the red during that. Cardin comes at me while Sky tries shooting me from I distance. I rush at Cardin but before I reach him I jump and shoot behind me for more altitude and use his head as a stepping stone. Spinning around like a top I continuously shoot behind me and use the extra momentum to smash Sky into the wall.

"And then there was one." Cardin runs at me with a cry of rage and this time I meet him head on, this time I'll beat him at his own game of brute force. I don't bother blocking I just keep punching at him while he keeps swinging at me with his mace. I can see from the screen that while my aura's dropped into 80% Cardin's at 50%, twenty more and he's done. I gather all the extra energy I've gotten using Yang's semblance and punch him straight in the gut. It sends him flying back and he lands near Dove. Qrow then talks into a microphone.

"And with that folks Jaune wins against Team CRDL." I hold up one hand with a thumbs up and send a grin towards Louise who's sitting near that faunus I helped and her partner. Suddenly a gunshot goes off and the faunus pushes Louise down. I can see a chunk of the seat behind her fall off. Turning around I see Cardin pointing Dove's sword at Louise's positon. Black flames start swirling around me and I can see a black glow coming from the streak of black in my hair.

Lousie's POV

One second I'm clapping for Jaune and the next the girl he helped, Neon, is pushing me down and I hear a gunshot. When I get back up after thanking Neon I turn to see black flames swirling around Jaune while the black part of his hair glows and his irises have turned pitch black. He rushes at Cardin and lays into him, his fists are a blur yet black bursts of energy can be seen against Cardin. Cardin falls to the ground and starts begging for mercy. That doesn't work with Jaune. Jaune brings up a fist and shoots it towards Cardin's face only for Qrow's massive blade to knock it to the side where it creates a crater a few inches from Cardin's face.

"Why'd you stop me?" Qrow keeps his eyes on Jaune as both back away but Jaune's hands are still twitchy. "I didn't want you having his death on his hands, he's scum sure but he's not worth it. Besides cameras just streamed what he did live." That seems to placate Jaune and he turns his new weapon back into shadows and turns into one himself and appears at my side. Once he reforms he faces Neon and her partner Flynt.

"I thank you for protecting Louise." Neon waves it off. "Nah, you already helped me with that ass. Besides it was awesome seeing you beat him into the ground." Jaune smiles at her before picking me up bridal style and carrying me through another door. We emerge on a hill surrounded by red-leaved trees. Jaune sits down at the edge of the cliff and I join him. He speaks first.

"I nearly lost you to Cardin of all people." I can understand why this is upsetting him, he brought me here to keep me safe and now he nearly lost me. "You aren't omnipotent, you can't predict everything. I mean despite how much of a sexist, racist asshole he is did you honestly think he would attack me." Jaune shakes his head but keeps staring off at the view. "Then you didn't do anything wrong." I lean against Jaune and just stay there with my eyes closed. I feel the tension slowly leave him and me and soon I lose track of time.

"Come on Louise, we should go if you want to see the finals." I perk up at that and we go through a door to go to the stadium. Ozpin was responsible for getting us seats and soon the action begins. I don't pay attention to names only the fights, it's amazing to watch. While I still think Jaune is the most impressive I can see that the fighters are quite skilled. Then Yang comes up and faces someone named Mercury. There fight is a war between punches and kicks. Eventually Yang knocks Mercury down and walks away considering the guy is down. Jaune suddenly frowns.

"Someone's using aura on Yang's head." I look at him in confusion but then Yang turns and shoots Mercury who's simply getting back on his legs and breaks one. Everyone starts booing Yang as, robots I believe is what Jaune called them, surround Yang or looking away in fear but Jaune's frown only grows more and when the medic's and Mercury's partner come to help his eyes widen.

"Not that psychopath!" without warning he turns into a shadow and is out of my sight. He must have recognized a shadow. What is happening?

Yang's POV

What the hell? I swear that Mercury was charging me but that video just showed he was standing still. Ironwood's robots have surrounded me and guns are locked and loaded when the medics and Mercury's partner show up. As one medic helps Mercury up with Emerald doing the same on the other shoulder Jaune pops up in front of them with his sword drawn and walls of shadows cover all the exits near us. The bots immediately point their guns at him.

"Priority one, capture Jaune Arc." Jaune shakes his head. "Of course the old fart is still after me." Shadow spikes impale every one of the robots and his sword is pointed straight at the medic. "Don't think you can fool me you bloody sociopath, your shadow never lies." The medic seems to be shaking and Emerald starts yelling at Jaune.

"What are you doing? We need to get Mercury to a hospital." Jaune continues glaring at the medic. "Last time I only had parlor tricks with my semblance but now killing you would be easy. I don't think your illusion would hold up after death so that's one way to show everyone." The way his eyes have hardened I don't think Jaune is bluffing. He rushes the medic and screams ring out from the crowd but before he hits her she shatters like glass and an umbrella knocks Derf to the side only for Jaune to hit the medic in the face with his elbow knocking her back. Now I can see who it is.

"You're that girl from the train that caused the Breach." People start mumbling about that as it is suspicious. Mercury and Emerald share a look before both start going for Neo only for spikes to block their way.

"I saw her teleport once, don't think I'll give you the chance to run." Mercury and Emerald rush at Jaune and he jumps back and opens a small portal which he sticks his hand through and draws out Crocea Mors. That starts even more whispers among the crowd as the blade is famous for being an Arc masterpiece, I'm honestly surprised Ruby didn't recognize it when she first saw it. Jaune readies himself before muttering out loud.

"Escape trouble for a week my ass." I have no idea what he's talking about but it sounded self-deprecating. Jaune rushes the two and meets them in a clash of Blades vs. hand scythes and boots. It's become clear to people that Mercury's leg is fine as he's fighting even harder than he was against me. However Jaune is going toe to toe with them and is barely sweating. I notice a strong glow emitting from where we saw the brand, is this a side effect of it. Part of what made him so good. Jaune back once more as Neo enters the fight. I've gotten away as I can admit I stand no chance in this battle.

"I'll offer you one chance to surrender otherwise I'll be forced to actually send you to the hospital." Jaune's voice is cold, I can almost feel the temperature drop. Mercury lets out a laugh. "To take a page from you. All we have to do is kill you and your walls should come down." Jaune lets out a sigh at that. "Well I have been wanting to use this guy at least." Jaune's shadow begins to grow and spread behind him and a giant, black, stone hand pops out. Jaune's three opponents back up but it's too late as the hand smashes down at them. While they dodge slightly they're clearly in no shape to run off. Mercury and Emerald crawl towards Neo and grab onto her but shadow spikes place themselves near their throats.

"Try it." Before anything can happen an arrow hits the ground between Jaune's feet and an unholy scream is heard. Jaune looks down in shock before a pillar of fire shoots up. "Jaune." I cry out but to my surprise the fire is being absorbed into Derf. Jaune looks a little crispy but he's relatively okay. A frown makes its way onto his face.

Jaune's POV

They got away, I had to drop the spikes and focus on shielding myself. The midget must have teleported them out of here. They're also working with whoever killed that Fang. "Partner, something was up with those flames. They tasted… I'm going to go with corrupted, wrong at the very least. Like they were forced into existence." What the heck is going on, I thought I'd get away for a week and keep Louise out of the limelight but now I've thrown myself in it with this stunt. I think Qrow's onto something with his drinking, I could use something to take this headache away. "I make you immune to getting drunk human, part of the changes. Can't have my host being defeated while he's suffering a hangover." Of course he does.

So hope you enjoyed. I'm also looking for names related to shadow and darkness for the other characters weapons as Jaune will be using them in the future. Now here's a little extra.

Cinder's POV

I'm currently pacing in my room, the plan was just shot to hell. All because of one boy with an unpredictable semblance. I can't blame Neo because who would think someone would use a shadow to identify someone. Emerald and Mercury could have tried to play innocent longer but the Arc probably would have figured it out anyway. It was all going so perfectly, now the only bright spot is the tension and worry has caused the Grimm to become more active but not nearly enough.

"Well child, mind telling me what caused your plan to go astray?" I gulp and turn to see Salem, a projection at least. She could kill me in an instant even with the Fall Maiden power. "Someone recognized Neo. According to her, he knocked some of her ice-cream over months ago and she tried to kill him for that. He got away but he was running the whole time so she didn't think he was a threat. He found out about one of the trapping locations and knew about Neo because of her shadow." Salem's face shows interest at that part.

"What's this boy's name?" Honestly I can't believe who it is given what he was like before. "Jaune Arc." Intense glee appears on Salem's face and I resist the urge to run right there. "Change in plans Cinder." I stare in rapt attention. "I shall awaken the Dragon myself, I wanted to avoid that since because it's so ancient it's draining even for me. You shall personally help with trapping the Grimm with your followers until the time is right. Once the Dragon is released use the fear that will come to drive the captured Grimm into a frenzy." It's a solid plan.

"And the Arc?" the smile that Salem makes at that has a hint of dare I say lust, maybe even adoration. "I want him captured, if he dies I will skin you alive and heal you only to move on to another torture even worse and continue that cycle for years." She's serious, I've seen what happened to the person who failed her before I came along. It's the first time I felt true fear of Cinder. I actually feel sorry for Arc.

But not enough to risk my neck for him.