Jaune walked through the doors to Cinder's studio and saw that Ferro was in the middle of trying to throw a round kick. It looked like he was attempting a snap kick. That was one of the ones that Jaune never really tried to master. He was a simple man. Ren taught him some sort of spacing based kickboxing. Yang taught him really good boxing. and Winter taught him wrestling.
remembering Winter made him smile slightly before he went back to watching his son. Ferro was having a hard time getting the balance right and Cinder was helping him. "can I help you?" someone beside Jaune asked him.
It was an older man who was dressed in a black Gi with a red and white belt. Jaune knew what was happening here. He was an unknown man who just randomly walked into a childs martial arts class. He had a few questions to answer. "I'm just here to see my son." he said pointing at Ferro
"he's your boy?" he asked, not totally believing Jaune.
"Yeah, His name is Ferro." Jaune continued.
that seemed to slightly pacify the older man. his face softened as he spoke. ``he seems to really be enjoying himself out there but I think this is his first day, how did you find this place?"
Jaune wasn't sure how to answer that. "I slept with the head instructor last night and this is just sorta where things lead" seemed like a bad idea to him. "He's a friend of Emerald." Jaune said, hoping to further placate the worries of this man.
nodding the man went back to the spot in the corner where he was standing. He was watching the older students who were training what seemed like a spinning kick.
Jaune heard the distinct crack of someone eating a shin and turned to see Ferro on the ground holding his face. He was about to rush over when instead of crying Ferro hoped back up and took a fighting stance. Jaune was about to say something when Ferro returned the favor cracking the taller boy with the same kick he was practicing earlier.
That was the end of their sparring session since the other boy had enough and wanted to go do something else. that and the class ended. Everyone lined up with Cinder and the man at the front and the students on the other end of the mats.
After everyone but Cinder, their kids, and the older man left the old man started teaching Ferro what looked like a right straight. Emerald was watching which allowed the adults a bit of privacy. Cinder led Jaune to the smaller side room that served as her office. There was a small table inside that had two chairs. Jaune sat on one and she sat at the other watching the kids through the window.
without thinking about it their hands wound up holding one another, well Cinder didn't seem to notice. it was Jaune's idea, a step towards his long goal. "do you ever miss it?" she asked.
"miss what?" he replied.
"the fighting, I tried to leave it behind but I couldn't. That's why I opened the studio." she explained.
" I miss the practice and the sport but not the blood and gore." he answered honestly.
"Can I ask you a personal question?" Cinder said awkwardly.
" Of course, you've already seen me naked, in more ways than one." Jaune answered, smirking at the end.
after fighting down a mild blush she continued. "do you regret any of it, the killing, that is?"
"no, I never killed without a reason, that's where I drew the line, as long as there was a purpose then I could lay the weight on the purpose, I didn't kill you because I wanted to, I killed you because I couldn't allow you to live, too much was at stake." he said.
"who was your first?" she asked nervously. She almost hadn't not wanting to push too far but she suspected that Jaune was the kind of man that came to peace with the past and wasn't as opposed to it as others.
"You ever hear of ACE-OPS?" Jaune asked.
"the Atlas team from forever ago yeah, are they involved?" she asked back.
"I killed them all." he said looking into his own past.
after picking her jaw up off the floor she asked him. "how? they were supposed to be the best on the planet. I actively avoided them for years."
"not how, why. If the cause is just then the just with find a way." Jaune said with practiced ease. she could tell it was something he had said to himself for a long time, long enough to believe it
"why?" Cinder asked knowing that Jaune was getting at something big.
"they were planning to kill Ironwood. something about putting Atlas above the world and somehow getting Winter made General. Winter found out about it but she was on the other end of the country. I earned their trust so I was staying with them at that point."
with a tired sigh Jaune brought his free hand up and ran it through his hair. " when she told me I wasn't sure what to do, then I learned that they planned to use a team of students from Shade as cannon fodder. sending them in to die in order to tie up a few loose ends. that was when I drew the line."
it was clearly a hard memory for him so Cinder gave his hand a firm squeeze and in doing so realized that they were in fact holding hands. she was considering bringing it up when he continued.
" I knew they needed to be stopped, but I knew that I could never beat them in a fight. so one night after we had all been drinking heavily I went around and killed all of them in their sleep." When he was done he had to rub his eyes not liking what he was seeing.
"you killed eight of the most dangerous people on Remnant in one night?" Cinder asked, still astonished that the man sitting next to her was somehow the boy she fought at Haven.
"seven, the only one I spared was Winter, she wasn't involved." Jaune added. "Ironwood was told afterwards, better to ask forgiveness than permission. turns out he was proud of Winter and very grateful to me."
"Forgive my disbelief but I still can't believe that you killed them all. even with surprise on your side it just seems too much." CInder said, trying to contain her shock.
"the first two were in bed together, I was shaking so much that I couldn't believe that they weren't woken up by my armor. I brought my greatsword up and with both hands I severed their heads. the next one was when I made my first mistake. When I drew back I clattered my sword on the light fixture. He woke up in time to see my sword coming. He fought for the blade but too little too late. he was dead in thirty seconds, he stopped fighting in twenty but he nearly killed me in fifteen."
giving Jaune's hand a second squeeze knowing that even thinking about such matters was hard. "after that I knew that I had to stop them some other way, I could risk that twice. so I went to the armory and after using a borrowed finger I got in and found the Hellraiser Mines."
Cinder didn't know what that was and Jaune suspected as much. " Hellraisers are a thing of my own creation. they're banned from use against non grimm forces and by now I'd bet they're banned in general now. they launch a set of canisters into the air that dispenses supercharged air, fire, and shock dust."
Cinder was no chemistry master but she knew what all three of those could do alone as such she could see where this was going.
"when combined in the right ratios you get something that can melt through metal like its paper, something that sticks to flesh like glue, and burns for hours. I placed one under in the middle of the barracks, one at the front door, one at the back and two on the back wall. I pushed a armored truck with a machine gun on the roof into position and set off the mines." looking down at his hands Jaune said. "The funny thing is I stopped shaking somewhere between killing the first three and then. so when I set off the mines the whole building was engulfed in flames. they screamed and they burned but only two of them had the presence of mind to run out the only wall not on fire and they ran into a hail of fifty caliber bullets. they were all dead inside of five minutes. but it was over before it began."
"that sounds horrific." Cinder said she was all too familiar with the smell of burning flesh.
"I couldn't wake up without the taste of those damn mines in my mouth for at least a month." Jaune explained. "it's not something I regret but I don't like remembering it much."
"I'm sorry for bringing it up." Cinder replied honestly.
"don't be," he reassured, "you were going to find out one way or another better now and form me."
a new wave of children these ones a little older than the last showed up. Emerald and Ferro were too small to spar with them so the older man led them into the office and then into the basement. on his way past he told them both. "they wanted to spend some time with the adult class." Cinder chuckled and leaned closer to Jaune.
"the adults have two training rooms down stairs, one of them is for the young adults and the other is for the purple belts and above. they are heading to the young adults. they are going to be the center of attention but they will be safe." she whispered, dispelling his worries about losing sight of his son.
looking at the clock Cinder took a deep breath and said. "time to go back to work." getting up she felt her hand disengage from Jaune's and she stopped for a moment before returning to her work. She was half way through the warm ups when she noticed that Jaune was gone from his seat in the office and since he hadn't left through the front door she felt a spike of fear shoot through her. she knew where he must have gone but she didn't like the notion.
"Rodney, take over the class." she said to the assistant she hired for this exact purpose.
"Of course," he answered, picking up where she left off.
The door to the basement was open and so she quickly made her way downstairs and hoped she wasn't too late.
...
Jaune was watching Cinder go through her warm ups doing his best not to stare at her and failing badly. When he heard the basement door open he turned his head. a man who looked about thirty saw him and froze. "you here for Ms. Fall?" he asked.
"you could say that." Jaune answered not really sure what the man meant.
"Come with me." he growled heading back into the basement. not sure what he had just gotten himself into. Jaune followed the man and made sure to keep his eyes and ears open. He couldn't tell what was about to happen but he knew a trap when he smelled one.
Once down the stairs there was an open door and a closed one. heading into the open room the man from before closed it behind him. "we know why you're here." he snarled.
"I'm pretty sure you don't" Jaune answered not wanting to fight but feeling on coming anyway. when he figured that there was no way to get out of this without someone getting hurt he asked. " any of you hunters?" when no one answered he nodded his head. He had to admit the notion of getting to use his training sounded a little fun.
...
Cinder saw the purple belt and above door closed and had to kick it in since they had locked it. inside was complete carnage. Jaune was breathing heavy and leaning against the wall with a bruised eye and a bloody nose.
everyone else was laying on the ground groaning in pain. "what is wrong with you!" she shouted. everyone figured out that Jaune wasn't how they thought he was but they chose to carry things through just for the hell of it. as such they weren't really sure who she was made at.
when she rushed over to Jaune they all figured it out. "what happened?" she asked him helping him over to a clear part of the mat so he could sit down.
"These fellas thought I was someone named Brendan so they tried to beat me half to death, being a decade out of the game I think I did pretty good." he answered ignoring his broken rib.
the mention of the name Brendan soured Cinder's already upset face making Jaune file that way for later. she turned to the man who had been in charge of the group. "explain yourself!" she snarled.
"he can't, I broke his jaw with a left hook." Jaune answered between breaths.
snapping back to Jaune she barked. "don't cover for him!" making Jaune raise his hands in mock surrender. returning to the rest of the room she ordered. "this class is suspended until I can trust you to work alone again."
a few of them groan out a response. mostly variations of understood and yes ma'am. when she went to help Jaune up she saw him touching his face and using his semblance to repair his eye and nose. with that down and before she could say anything he reached out to the first person he could and began pumping his aura into them. Soon enough they were up on their feet and leaving not sure what just happened but not wanting to look the gifted horse in the mouth.
when he moved onto the next one she chose to head back to her class and deal with this tonight. she was just at the bottom of the stairs when she realized what she had just said to herself.
When her final class was done she saw Jaune sitting in the office trying not to fall asleep. that made sense; he had gotten into and won a fight with a dozen trained people at once and then used up most of his aura to fix them. He had every right to be tired.
the kids appeared from the side room and ran over to him Ferro climbing into his lap and Emerald stopping just short. They were talking about what the old man had shown them. His name was Terrance and he was the second most qualified instructor there.
The walk home was gracefully short. The kids were asleep on the couch where they were the night before soon and Cinder all but dragged Jaune up the stairs. He was less resistant to following her this time.
Once they were upstairs and the door was locked Jaune tried to reach down for his boots only to stop halfway there and groan in pain. "that sounded like a cracked rib," Cinder said from her end of the room.
"it was," Jaune wheezed out trying again with the same result. ultimately he chose to just kick them off which given how tightly laced his boots were was quite the achievement. then came his belt. He unbuckled it easily enough but when he went to take off his pants it occurred to him that he wasn't in his bedroom.
looking around he realised that in his tired and sore state he had somehow ended up in Cinder's room again. sighing slightly at the humor of the situation he dropped his pants and then went to his shirt. there was a small tear in the armpit. tossing it next to his pants Jaune sat down on the bed.
Cinder was already in bed and once he was under the covers he somehow found his way over to her. when they were wrapped around each other, him holding her tight and her trying not to touch his injured rib she said. "how did we get here again?"
Jaune chuckled at the question. It was a good one though. how did they wind up sleeping in each other's arms for a second time. they lay there in silence before Jaune asked. 'Cinder, who is Brendan?"
the way she tensed told him that she didn't like the name. "he was my fiance once. he's also Emerald's father but he doesn't know about that." she said nervously.
"what happened?" Jaune asked, still trying to understand why the people at her studio would have such a violent reaction.
he could hear the pain in her voice and when he looked he saw that she was trying not to cry. "I loved him, he gave me purpose for a long time, then while we were engaged I told him who I used to be." she had to stop to take a calming breath. a chance that Jaune took to tighten his hold on her. He understood what she was talking about, Brendan had learned the truth left her. That was why her students hated him. she must have talked about him at some point so when they saw a random man who was about the right age they decided to settle the score.
"please don't tell Emerald." she asked him, desperation in her voice.
"Your past is yours to share, not mine." he answered snuggling in and setting off to sleep.