Yo!
Here's the end of the... I don't really know what to call it. The Beacon Arc? Yeah, I guess that works.
Anyways, more after the chapter, so I'll talk more then!
Start Chapter 15
Their trek through the now almost entirely empty halls of Beacon Academy is one done in complete silence. Jaune himself is trying to avoid jumping at every little sound, every little creak of the floor beneath them. He can't help but expect a soldier around every corner, even if none appear.
"Beacon obviously doesn't have a prison block," Cinder states aloud as she gestures for him to follow, snaking around another corner. "But if I'm assuming correctly, they've turned the medical wing that they were treating me inside of into one for the time being. If they're holding your friends anywhere, it's there."
Jaune nods his head, silently agreeing with the woman's words. They make it to a stairwell and take the steps two at a time as they descend. Pushing open the door to the first floor, they see no one in the immediate vicinity. Jaune can't help thinking that's a good thing, though Cinder grows no calmer as she stalks the corridor, making her way for the medical wing she'd been locked within.
It strikes Jaune that the two of them had gone this way just two days ago, albeit in the opposite direction. During Cinder's own escape.
Too easy. It really had been too easy. Jaune should've known something had been up.
It's as they manage to make it to the medical wing – and Jaune notes that it is much more the prison that they are claiming it to be now, for the general atmosphere of the place has almost entirely changed since last he'd been there, clad in iron and fortified in many ways – that Jaune hears a voice calling out to them.
"Is someone there!? Hellooooooooo?"
Jaune perks up immediately. Because he recognizes that nasally, high-pitched, endlessly positive voice.
"Nora!" Jaune shouts, running in despite the way that Cinder hisses for him to stay back.
Luckily for him, and for Cinder as well, he supposes, the place isn't trapped in any serious manner. No bomb immediately blows him to smithereens, nor does a laser field pop up around him.
At the moment, however, his inner six-year-old doesn't have the time to complain.
"Nora! Ren!" He shouts a bit too loudly as he makes his way to a particular door, where, through the tiny crack in the iron, he spots tufts of both black and orange hair. "Are you guys alright!?"
"Uh, other than being arrested at like four in the morning?" Nora says, audibly rolling her eyes. "Yeah, we're alright."
"And yourself, Jaune?" Ren asks.
"I'm fine. I'm… I'm here with Cinder. We're breaking you out."
Jaune's honestly expecting his friend to have some qualms about that. To have something to say. Frankly, what he's not at all expecting are the words that come out of his mouth.
"Excellent. I imagine her control of the Maiden's power would allow her to bust us out quickly?"
"Uh–"
"It will." Cinder says as she moves up to the door and places her hand against it. "Take a step back."
Ren and Nora take several.
In the next ten seconds, what had once been a door of solid iron, virtually impenetrable to any kind of assault, now sports a rather gaping hole right over its lock. Cinder, with an almost casual air, swings the superheated material open, beckoning those inside out.
"Thanks, Cindy!" Nora says, smiling up at her with what Jaune can recognize is a bit of feigned optimism.
"Do not call me that."
Nora's eye twitches, and Jaune's just about ready to get in the middle and mediate before Nora sighs.
"Fine, what should I call you, then?"
"…Just Cinder is fine."
"Cinder then," Nora holds her hand out. "Thanks for helping us escape! And for coming back for Jaune."
"Mm." Cinder hums, looking down at Nora's handshake with a tired look in her eye.
It takes Nora about a second too long to realize the hand she's extended for a handshake is opposite Cinder's missing arm, and thusly cannot be shaken.
"Ah… uh…"
"Where are the others?" Cinder cuts Nora off before she can put her foot any further into her mouth. "Are Nikos and Branwen not here?"
"No, we didn't–"
"Ah, Mr. Arc. I thought I'd find you here."
Jaune isn't alone in reacting to the intruding voice by reaching for his weapon, though, obviously, Nora and Ren don't actually have their weapons on them, given that Atlas would've been downright idiotic to leave them on their persons.
Still, Jaune lowers his when he realizes just who it is who stands there before them, though Cinder, he notices, does no such thing.
"Ms. Goodwitch!?"
The headmistress of Beacon Academy stands before them with her riding crop drawn, which seems a ridiculous statement until one has seen Ms. Goodwitch wield her semblance through it.
"And with Ms. Valkyrie and Mr. Ren as well. Along with…"
Jaune notices as Cinder takes a stance beside him, and he can feel her stress through their link, the way that she's preparing herself for a battle. Jaune does his best to soothe her, reaching out and placing a hand along her arm. It seems to work, if the way that the stress inside of her ebbs away by a hair.
"Cinder Fall, I presume?"
Cinder says nothing, just stares hard at the woman standing before them. It's clear she's not going to be lowering her guard, no matter what Jaune does.
"May I ask what it is you're doing here?"
He could lie. That thought enters into his head first and foremost. That he could, if he really wanted to, lie.
But Ironwood hadn't been wrong.
He isn't very good at it.
The truth, then.
"To rescue everyone." He says, his voice strangely calm. "So that Ironwood can't use them to force us to come back."
"I understand why you came back, Mr. Arc, I am more asking Ms. Fall that question."
Jaune turns to his soulmate, silently wanting to hear the answer himself, if he's being honest.
"…He'd have come back for them."
"Hm. And you'd have had to follow him?"
"…"
"I see. And what of Qrow?"
Jaune steps in for that one. "We sort of assumed he'd be here too, but–"
"You've assumed incorrectly." Ms. Goodwitch speaks evenly, despite the way that her words make Jaune's stomach drop. "Jam– General Ironwood foresaw this happening. Qrow is locked on the other side of the school, along with Ms. Nikos. Somewhere you will not be able to reach without facing off against the might of Atlas' forces. In fact, I believe Ironwood is currently on his way here as we speak."
His eyes widen, even as he turns towards his teammates, towards Cinder.
"Then we have to–"
"Ms. Fall." Ms. Goodwitch cuts through his voice again. "A question."
"…What?"
"Where will you go? Where will you take them? Because certainly you must understand that they cannot stay here."
"I do."
"So?"
"…I would take them to Salem."
Jaune can tell by the way that Ms. Goodwitch's eyes flare to life that that had not been the thing to say.
"I will not allow–"
"If I had any other choice," Cinder says, stepping past Jaune, no, stepping in front of him, and meeting Ms. Goodwitch's gaze head-on. "Any other option, believe me when I say I would take it. But I simply can't do anything else. Perhaps a small unit could survive alone in the wilderness for a few months, but with Atlas tracking us, let alone Salem tracking me…"
Ms. Goodwitch doesn't seem satisfied with that. "…Even still…"
"I will safeguard them with my life."
Ms. Goodwitch's eyes widen, as do Jaune's own, and Ren's and Nora's too.
"I understand that you cannot possibly trust me, nor take me at my word. But I need you to understand that there is only one thing I truly care about in this world. And he is standing behind me."
Jaune does his best not to blush at that. He fails, of course, but he had tried.
"I will not allow harm to come to him. Nor will I allow such to be done to any he cares for. That I swear."
Ms. Goodwitch seems to take a moment there. Idling in the center of the room, with her crop still held towards them.
And then the door at the back slams open.
At least a dozen Atlesian guards charge into the room, pointing the barrels of their rifles towards the four of them.
"Freeze! No one moves!"
"Ah crap…" Jaune mutters beneath his breath, idly taking a step back. "Uhm… how do we–"
"Mr. Arc," The voice of General Ironwood booms out as the man steps into the room, addressing him in a cold, robotic way. "And Ms. Fall. I see you've managed to free your friends, only… it seems your little escape attempt is going to be rather shortlived."
Jaune hates how smug the man sounds.
"Excellent work, Glynda." Ironwood smiles then towards Ms. Goodwitch, stepping to stand beside her, and bringing his revolver up and pointing it towards them. "Now, do us all a favor and surrender peacefully."
Jaune has a moment there, a brief, almost crazy moment, where he contemplates throwing himself at the man to try and buy time for Cinder. And funnily enough, he can feel the same emotions going through Cinder, that want to sacrifice herself for him.
And yet, it seems neither of them will have to do such a thing.
Given that General Ironwood lifts off the ground for perhaps a millisecond, before he slams into the wall beside him.
It is such a sudden thing that Jaune doesn't really believe his eyes for a moment or so, too stunned to recognize such a thing as reality. He snaps out of it in the next moment, as a voice calls out.
"Go, you all!" Ms. Goodwitch calls, turning around and facing the elite guard who'd stormed in with Ironwood, ripping their weapons away from them with her semblance.
"Glynda," Ironwood groans as he pulls his arm out of the drywall. "What are you–"
"I believe I told you…" The woman reaches up, and adjusts her glasses with one hand. "To address me as Headmistress, did I not?
The man's teeth clack together, and Jaune has to resist with every bone in his body to avoid laughing at Ironwood's obvious distress.
Nora, on the other hand, does not even make that effort. She in fact points at the man, laughing openly.
"Go." Ms. Goodwitch speaks with a finality he's heard before. From Ozpin, as he'd sent them away, to protect them from… from the woman now standing beside him. "Rescue Ms. Nikos as well, and get out of here."
"I…" He can't think of what to say. "Ms. Goodwitch–"
"Cinder Fall." The woman's words barrel through his own once more.
"...Yes?" His soulmate speaks.
"If so much as a hair on their heads are out of place…"
To Jaune's shock, his soulmate just nods.
"I won't allow it."
"Mm. Then what are you waiting for?"
And before Jaune can really process everything, Cinder's grabbing onto his arm, and pulling him along with her own.
The last he sees of Ms. Goodwitch is the tiniest of smiles on her face. A different thing than the look of grim acceptance Ozpin had worn, and yet similar all the same.
And Jaune thanks her once again, in the corner of his heart, as the four of them make their way towards the others.
/
"There."
The flames being ejected from Cinder's hands die in the next moment, as she once more opens the door in front of her, and stepping back. "You may exit now."
"Yeah, uh… that's sort of going to be a problem."
As Qrow and Pyrrha exit out of their cell, Jaune comes to understand just why that's going to be a problem.
Because…
"Uhm… Hello again." Pyrrha says, smiling awkwardly as Qrow Branwen carries her along in his arms. "I'm afraid my heel is still…"
"Ah crap," Jaune groans out. "I didn't think of that. We should've brought a wheelchair–"
"Nah, it's fine," Nora snorts, stepping up to Qrow and placing her arms beneath Pyrrha, before hoisting the girl up and into her own – Pyrrha gives a tiny squeak of both surprise and indignation, though the latter is more subtle. "See? Got her."
"Can you carry Pyrrha until we can make our escape?" Ren asks his soulmate. "Because if not–"
"Renny, please," Nora scoffs. "Pyrrha's about twice as light as the weights I regularly bench."
"Yes, but you don't hold those in your arms for upwards of ten minutes."
It seems like being likened to a set of training weights does not entirely sit well with Pyrrha, though Jaune also knows that the girl is far too polite to actually voice this disgruntled feeling, and thusly will simply pout as subtly as she can in Nora's arms.
Still, a shouting down the hall cuts into their little 'argument' like a knife, and before any of them can even take up their weapons, Qrow's stepped in front of them.
"Well, get yourselves gone and all," The man rasps out, growing a cocky smirk. "I'll buy you some time, see if I can't meet up with Glynda."
"But if Ironwood holds you for ransom–"
"Me?" Qrow actually sounds amused at the thought. "Nah, Ironwood can't do that. The reasons why are… complicated, but let's simply say that I have a habit of being a bit hard to catch."
"Yes," Cinder rolls her eyes. "Almost like trying to keep hold of particularly scraggly pigeon."
Qrow snorts, apparently privy to some humor that Jaune doesn't really understand.
"Anyways, like I was sayin', don't you worry your little hearts for me." The man says, cracking his knuckles as he steps towards the corridor the voices are coming down. "I've had a few days in a cell to work up some rather… intense feelings. Intense feelings that I intend to unleash upon old Irondick over there. 'Sides, someone's going to need to play relationship councilor between Goodwitch and Jimmy boy once this is over, and frankly, I would pay money to be a fly on that wall."
There's a lot Jaune wants to say in that moment that he can't. He knows he can't. They simply don't have enough time for him to. And yet, despite that, he forces himself to say something, even if it's not enough.
"Thank you, Qrow. For everything."
Qrow actually cracks a smile at that, shaking his head like he's shocked at such a notion.
"Like I said, don't mention it, kid. Now go!"
Jaune doesn't need to be told thrice.
/
"So," Jaune pants out as the five of them – well, four of them, given Pyrrha's being carried – sprint down the corridors near the back of Beacon Academy. "We're going where exactly!?"
"To the landing strip," Cinder pants out, showing more than she'll admit that she's not much more recovered from her injuries than she'd been the few days ago they'd separated. "Once we're there, we'll make our escape."
"And uh… how are we doing that?"
"What else? We're stealing an airship."
"Hey, you used my idea!" He says excitedly, smiling up at her.
"It wasn't your– oh, fine, yes, I used your idea." Cinder rolls her eyes. "Certainly. Now hurry up! I doubt even the two of them alone can hold fifty soldiers!"
Jaune does as commanded, as do the rest of them, continuing for another thirty or so seconds until they reach a door that leads outside. They hit it at speed, launching it open and dashing out unto the grounds of the landing strip.
And, lo and behold, sitting atop one of the pads is a single bullhead.
"Hey, look!"
"We can all see it, Nora." Ren says with a smile, clearly happy to see the ship as well. "Quickly, we should make sure it is secure, and commandeer it for ourselves."
No one has any argument against that, and so Jaune follows along behind Ren, Cinder, and Nora as they make their way over to the ship. Ren and Nora seem to take point, moving over to the hull and checking it for anyone. When they find no one, they signal the all clear, and Jaune lets out a mental sigh of relief, pretty much done with action for the day.
Despite the fact that, technically, he'd not had to fight anyone.
And if he has it his way, he won't have to.
It's as he's reminiscing about this and that that Cinder's voice snaps him out of his reverie. "Jaune! Get over here and get in!"
"R-Right!"
He runs towards the airship, watching as Ren – with Nora just behind him carrying a very embarrassed Pyrrha along in her arms – moves to press a button on the side to open up the cockpit.
And then Jaune hears a tiny, almost absent click.
Cinder's eyes widen, and in that instant, she moves right in front of him, shielding him behind her…
And then the world explodes.
Jaune can't really comprehend what happens in those next few moments of fire and death. All he can really understand is the ringing in his ears, the blinding white that encompasses his vision. It takes him a second for his body to remember enough to feel pain, for him to wheeze out a breath, for him to push one hand out underneath himself and weakly force himself to his feet.
It is, likely, the pain of not just his own experience, but of Cinder's as well. Both hitting him all at once.
His eyes are able to take in his surroundings first. He peers up, at the fire now raging all around, and feels a fear unlike anything he's ever experienced pierce through him. He stares at the downed forms of his friends, of Pyrrha laid out atop Nora, whose eyes are closed as she weakly rasps out breaths. Ren himself is down as well, having been the closest to the… to whatever it had been that'd blown up in their faces when it'd happened – it takes his brain a moment to remember that it had been an airship, the airship they'd meant to commandeer, to steal away.
And oh gods, he has to help them.
He rushes up, and tries to immediately assess who needs his help the most. It seems clear that Ren had been the closest, and yet, at the same time, Nora had had Pyrrha's weight thrown against her as well.
He decides to do his best to funnel his aura into both of them with his semblance, feeling his own reserves eking away as he bolsters theirs.
By everything, they've so little. Almost none. He… Jaune doesn't want to think about what might've happen, had they been inside the vessel when that explosion had gone off. If by being a few feet away they'd only barely had aura left…
And then a voice rings out across the landing strip.
"I apologize. That blast was not meant to catch your friends, nor you, Mr. Arc. Only Fall herself."
Jaune tries to hold onto his faculties past the numerous worries currently worming their way through him. He does his best to finish his cursory aura transfers, quickly pumps the tiniest bit into Pyrrha and Cinder, just enough to make sure they're both alive – they're alive, they're all alive, and thank the gods for that – before he stands up, and turns around, exhausted beyond belief.
"General… Ironwood…" He pants out.
The man looks worse for wear, evidently having gone through a rather hard fought battle to even get here. Most of the bandages he'd been wearing have fallen off of him, exposing healing cuts and bruising all over his body. He's sporting a few new ones as well, and the revolver he'd previously wielded is nowhere to be seen.
And yet, once again, Jaune remarks that it is here he stands.
In front of him.
Just another obstacle in his and Cinder's way.
"We hypothesized she may try and escape via a craft. Thusly, one was placed here as a bait vehicle. We were to ensure it was only her aboard when it took off, but alas, it seems we could not manage that. I am glad to see you and your friends are alive."
Jaune can't find it in himself to answer the man. He just tries his best to recover as much of his energy as he can. Because despite Cinder having shielded him, he'd inevitably taken some damage from the explosion, and then he'd sapped himself further by funneling his aura into the others.
Not to mention the constant ringing in his ears.
"How did you make it here?" He finds himself wanting to ask.
"My soldiers managed to buy me space enough to break off from the main engagement. I don't doubt that they will eventually be defeated by Glynda's and Qrow's combined efforts because of it…" The man's eyes turn from him, and over towards the downed figure of his soulmate. To Cinder. To the sorrowful soul on the end of his link. "But they will be too late."
He takes a step forward. Towards Cinder.
And then Jaune steps in front of him.
Ironwood's eyes widen, before he lets out a quiet sigh,
"Get out of the way, boy."
Jaune just shakes his head, drawing Crocea Mors and angling the blade's tip up at the man standing before him. "…Can't."
"Even down an arm, even as bruised and battered as I am, even without Due Process at my side," Ironwood speaks, gesturing to the empty holster on his hip, sounding completely sure of himself. "I am still more than enough match for you."
"Yeah." Jaune lets out a hysterical little chuckle. "Probably."
"And yet you'll stand regardless?"
"I will."
"Hm." The man's eyes change, taking on an almost sympathetic air. "I respect that. I will do all in my power to make your incapacitation as painless as possible."
"Yeah…" Jaune remarks as he takes a shaky breath. "Same here."
Ironwood actually smiles.
And then he moves.
Jaune remarks in that next moment that fighting someone for real, in a match for what is, essentially, his soulmates life, is a tad bit different than sparring in a sanctioned training match.
His opponents, he realizes then, have always subtly taken it easy on him. Never really put their all into every hit. No. Because they'd understood as well as he had that, despite it all, despite the fact that they'd been supposed to learn and train and grow, expending their everything's would've been pointless for a spar.
But as General Ironwood's aura infused arm crashes down on Jaune's shield, he understands the gulf of that difference. Of training and reality.
Because his entire form bows. His thighs fall an inch or more. His calves scream. His arm simply feels dull and lifeless, and that's before Jaune is forced to bring it back up again, to block a kick from General Ironwood that would certainly spell his doom if it struck him across the face.
It's barely enough to block it. Even then, he's rocketed backwards, only able to keep himself on his feet through some combination of luck and training.
And Jaune immediately understands that he cannot possibly win this fight. Not when General Ironwood, after striking him twice, doesn't look a tad bit winded. Not when said attacks had taken more out of Jaune than any hit has ever done. Than any strike in his entire life.
And yet he remembers why he stands. Why he must continue to stand. Remembers not just Cinder, but Ren and Nora and Pyrrha, all of whom are now unconscious just behind him, barely hanging on, and if he can't finish healing them then… he refuses to think on that any further.
If he can win this, he can use his semblance on all of them. Heal them – in a manner of speaking – to the point that they'll be alright. If he can win this, he can keep Cinder safe, who's only ever lost, never gained a single thing. And he'd promised to change that.
So…
So he has to win, then. He has no choice.
Jaune forces himself in that moment to think about what advantages he could possibly have over General Ironwood, one of Atlas' most elite, veritably the most important man from the continent of Solitas, even as the man's singular arm bats aside his clumsy attempt at a swing like it's nothing, before moving in towards his face at a speed Jaune's not afraid to admit scares him quite a bit.
That he dodges at all is testament more to the stakes than any training. At any other moment, at any other time, he doesn't think he'd have managed such a thing. His neck seethes with pain from his little contortionist stunt, but really, he's got more important things to worry about.
Especially when Ironwood uses that moment, with his arm extended through Jaune's guard, hovering over his right shoulder, to drive his elbow down.
Jaune's entire right side erupts in pain, even as he lets out a yell and staggers backwards, cutting across General Ironwood's arm with a weak slash, but doing no lasting damage past the man's aura. In the next moment, as his arm wobbles, his sword clatters uselessly to the ground beneath him.
He follows suit in the moment after.
And the man across from him speaks.
"It is over. Clearly you can see that."
Jaune begs to differ. Because in no sense can it be over. No matter if he's stripped of his sword, of his shield, of every ounce of his blood. He can't afford to give up.
Or else Cinder will die.
But then… the man across from him doesn't know that, doesn't known the lengths he's willing to go to, and he's clearly giving Jaune a moment to speak, just in case he'll acquiesce to the man's request, just in case he'll make it a little easier for him.
So Jaune will take that tiny moment, and use it. He forces his mind to think of something, anything that can possibly bail him out of this situation as he pants into the ground beneath him. Slowly, as he gets the chance to breathe for the first time in perhaps thirty or so seconds, he allows his wobbling arms to push him back up, and for his silence to answer Ironwood's question.
He knows the man can tell, for his eyes harden, and he lets out a deep sigh.
"Fine then, have it your way, I suppose."
The man steps forward, his singular arm swaying with the movement–
And then Jaune notices it.
Blood trickling down his opponent's arm. Blood coming from a reasonably sized gash just along his wrist.
That…
He'd not had that before. Jaune's certain. He's not entirely sure how he's certain, but he gets the feeling he'd have noticed such a thing, especially when the man had come up to him with his aura up. It wouldn't have been possible for him to bleed.
Or, it shouldn't be.
Unless…
Jaune's eyes widen, even as he keys into a fact that brings fire into his weary form.
No aura… Ironwood has no aura!
His sword slash, his weak attempt to punish Ironwood for the hit on Jaune's shoulder, had drawn blood! It isn't much, but at the very least, it's something. Something for him to focus on.
…and, well, something for Jaune to be thankful for. That the man he's facing has been beat to kingdom come by both Ms. Goodwitch – and likely Qrow as well – before their encounter, because he doesn't think he wants to see what fighting General Ironwood at full strength would be like if this is him with none.
Even still, without anything else, the man will simply destroy him, aura or no aura. They are in different leagues, that's clear. Perhaps someone like Blake, or Yang, or Pyrrha, could defeat Ironwood as he is now, completely auraless, but Jaune?
Well…
He's given no more time to think as Ironwood barrels towards him, this time no longer overextending himself. He simply utilizes a brutally effect style of kicks to keep Jaune away from both his sword and his allies, and for a brief moment, Jaune curses that he'd not thought to run over to Ren's downed form and take up Stormflower.
The threat of his friends weapon alone might've been enough to buy them their escape. Even if Jaune understands that he'd never have been able to pull the trigger. Not and kill a man. Even a man who's tortured him, tried to kill Cinder.
Still, he's brought out of his mental flagellation by another severe kick that he just barely manages to stave off with his shield, and yet, this time, he cracks, letting out the tiniest of yelps as his arm screams. He holds onto the thing for dear life, knowing that if it falls as well, Cinder's life is forfeit.
And yet, Jaune's attention is drawn away from his own pain. Away from the agony his arm is experiencing. It is drawn, instead, to Ironwood's face.
Because Ironwood notices something. Jaune can tell by the little tick in his eyes.
And then he's back on Jaune. Only this time, his leg is not arcing the same way it'd been before. No, it arcs, not towards Jaune's body, not for a downing blow, but…
Towards Jaune's shield. There's a brief moment where Jaune doesn't understand it. Why he's switched strategies all of a sudden.
Well, until his left arm begins to go entirely numb, that is.
He's… trying to shut down my left arm entirely. Jaune realizes, cursing mentally as he forces his legs to dodge backwards, to try and put some ground between himself and Ironwood.
Without doubt, the moment his shield touches the ground below will mark the end of the fight.
It is horribly close to that reality as well. His arm vibrates, almost seizing as he tries to maintain his grip.
And yet, for some reason, Jaune understands in that moment that he has something. He has a fragment of an idea, the barest hint of something that might just coalesce into a real, fully formed plan. It's not much, but…
He knows how the man across from him will move.
He knows it.
He, in the next moment, will, trying not to extend too terribly much, trying not to injure Jaune more than necessary, fire out a kick onto Jaune's shield. It will gradually deaden his left arm, until he can no longer raise it, and then Jaune will lose.
But…
But…
Ironwood has no aura.
Under any other circumstance, at any other time, Jaune would have no chance. He'd not have any recourse.
But just this once, in this one, solitary moment of time, Jaune has an advantage.
And that advantage is that he's clever.
It's a bit of an odd thing, truth be told. Jaune had never been all that smart, certainly. His mother complaining about his grades had been a near constant of his childhood. And yet, time and time again, his friends, his teachers, nearly everyone he's met at Beacon had called him clever.
He understands, in that moment, as Ironwood's stance prepares itself for another round, another kick, one that will surely loose the handle from Jaune's grip, just what that means. That smart academically, and being a quick thinker, someone who can analyze a situation and formulate a plan, are two very different things.
He's not sure why he focuses so much on that. Perhaps… perhaps it is that Jaune has always thought of himself as a failure. As someone who, despite trying his very best, had still had to cheat, who'd had to lie, and swindle his way to his dreams. As someone unworthy. And yet, in this moment…
In this moment, for the first time, he feels like a Huntsman.
Ironwood's leg sails through the air, it comes within an inch of the edge of Jaune's shield – not the greatest hit for knocking Jaune off balance, but the perfect one to try and dislodge the piece from his hand…
And then Jaune's shield folds into itself. Into its sheathe form.
And he watches as Ironwood's eyes widen, as his leg, which he'd expected to connect with solid iron, instead sails past it, through the air. Jaune watches as the man, for just a moment, stumbles somewhat.
And Jaune moves.
It isn't much. He knows that. There's so little he can really do in the millisecond that General Ironwood takes to recover from that misstep.
But it will have to be enough. He knows for a fact that the man will not underestimate him a second time.
And so, Jaune floods every ounce of aura, every ounce of strength in his body, into his limbs. Into his deadened, numb arms as he steps forward. Into his legs that ache and cry as he breaks towards Ironwood's right side, which would, normally, be guarded by his metallic arm.
But such a thing has been ripped off by Qrow already.
And so, the man has no quick way to counter him. No way to stop the way that Jaune reels back, lets out a roar of adrenaline, exhaustion, and no small amount of fury himself.
Because as much as he can't terribly blame the man, he's hurt this soulmate. He's hurt the sorrowful soul on the end of his link.
He's hurt Cinder. Made her feel pain, even when Jaune had sworn in his heart he'd never allow such a thing again.
So maybe, just maybe, Jaune takes some small solace in the way his shield, still sheathed, and backed with the strength of his entire form, slams into General Ironwood's face.
The sound produced is one Jaune's fairly certain he'll remember for the rest of his life. The dull clang of metal meeting bone, the tiniest of cracks from the bone inside. And he'll remember the way his entire body, so full of energy in that last moment, is suddenly stopped, ripping the tendons in his legs further than they've already been.
But, crucially…
General James Ironwood, one of Atlas' most elite, veritably the most important man from the continent of Solitas, crumples to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
Impossibly, Jaune Arc has won.
/
Cinder's eyes flutter open to pain, which is not entirely something she's unaccustomed to. In fact, normally, it wouldn't even be worth considering, or even pondering as she is doing now.
Of course, the reason she does is that the pain is abating, slowly minimizing down to nothing. It is enough for her to look to the side with her single eye, to reach out with her single arm, and touch the arm of her little light, who's funneling aura into her body, evidently exhausted.
She has quite the bevy of evidence, actually, given she can feel his fatigue through their link.
"What… happened?"
"Oh, uh, kind of a lot? The airship exploded, and then General Ironwood came out, and I sort of… well, I knocked him out?"
Cinder takes a moment to ponder that.
"…You?"
"Yep." He says, smiling incredulously. "And no, frankly, I don't really believe it either."
"You… you beat General Ironwood in combat… the General Ironwood?"
"I know right!"
She rolls her eyes – eye – as she forces her body to sit up. It is easier than it should be with her little light's aura flowing through her. Especially given it's…
Well, she'll never mention this to anyone, but her little light's aura is just… soothing and warm. Like one of those wool blankets she'd secured for herself here in Beacon. She'd… always taken some small solace in the warmth of it. How it'd eclipsed the simple sheet she'd covered herself with in Evernight.
She shakes her head, forcing herself to not think on such aimless things.
"How about the others?"
"Nice of you to worry." Jaune smiles.
"I'm not–" She cuts herself off, sighing. "Fine, yes, sure. How are they?"
"Pyrrha's no worse for wear really. Nora… well, I think she injured her arms when Pyrrha fell on her, but I couldn't really diagnose her just… y'know, standing here in the middle of a burning airfield, so…"
"And the last one?"
"Oh, Ren's… well, he's going to be okay. But he took the brunt of the blast. His ears were bleeding, I'm assuming his eardrums were shot, which means his balance will be, too."
Cinder hums in understanding, even as she forces her aching form to stand, and maneuver over towards the edge of the landing strip.
She hovers just over the edge, looking out over the city of Vale. It has certainly seen better days.
And all because of her.
She can think about such things later. For now, she must do her part.
She holds her single hand up to the sky, reaches into her breast for the maiden's magic, and expels it into the sky in a great jet of flame.
Jaune seems confused.
"…What are you doing?"
"Signaling to our allies our location."
"Wait, we have allies?"
"My… lieutenants, I suppose you could call them." Cinder says as she sees a black shape rise from the Emerald Forest. "They should arrive soon."
"Oh… do they have an airship?"
"They do not."
"Then uh… how are they getting here?"
"I asked Salem for a favor."
"Right, that was that… that Giant Nevermore thing, right? Isn't it gone now? Y'know, like, shot into a million pieces?"
"Hah, little light…" Cinder smiles as she looks over the edge, feeling some of her usual confidence surge into her. "When did I ever say I only brought the one?
And then a shadow eclipses them all.
/
Okay. Jaune will admit it.
Cinder kind of scares him sometimes.
The thing hovering in the sky above them – and he can sort of recognize that said figure is a Nevermore – is at least twice the size of the one that'd been sicced upon Atlas' welcoming party. It's wings beat with strength enough to nearly make him take a step back, and it's red eyes, each easily the size of an exercise ball, peer down at the two of them quizzically.
"You… You…"
"Actually had a plan B?" Cinder arches an eyebrow in what Jaune's fairly certain is a playful manner. "Yes. Yes I did. Take a lesson from that."
"Hey, I just knocked out General Ironwood, OK! Give me some credit here."
Cinder hums. "Alright, that is fairly impressive."
"Ma'am! You made it!"
Jaune really tries to pretend like that voice doesn't startle him, because it would be really embarrassing for him to flinch at what is, essentially, nothing. And yet he jumps, and Cinder snickers quietly under her breath in his direction.
He shows his indignation with a pout.
Still, two figures dismount the giant beast, even as it does its best to land atop the landing pad, its massive talons resting along the stone.
"I did indeed." Cinder says to the green-haired one. "I… I appreciate your coming as promptly as you did."
Greeny seems to not have expected that or something, because her eyes briefly widen, before she smiles bright and wide.
"Of course!"
"Now, if you wouldn't mind, help in hoisting them," Cinder gestures back towards the others of Team JNPR. "Onto this creature's back, that would help greatly."
"Gotcha," The other one, silver-haired this time, moves on over, squatting down and lifting Pyrrha from off of Nora like it's nothing.
The sudden movement seems to startle Jaune's friend back into consciousness, and Jaune just barely lacks the time to tell her that everything's alright, and that the strange person she's never met before who's currently carrying her is actually their ally, before the man is flung a good fifty feet back by Pyrrha's polarity.
Jaune winces.
"I'm sorry!"
It goes like that for another five or so minutes, trying to explain to Nora, Ren and Pyrrha that one, the two new people are friendlies, two, the airship they'd been about to board had exploded, and thusly would not be boardable, and three, that they're going to be riding on the giant Nevermore currently eyeing them up like they're dinner.
Honestly, the fact that it only takes them a minute or two to digest that is pretty impressive in Jaune's opinion.
That or it's really sad the things they'll accept as normal these days.
It's as they're all being loaded onto the Nevemore, as they're making sure the Atlas Military isn't going to come barging out of Beacon to shoot them all while their guards are down, that he finds the time to ask Cinder a question.
"So… why didn't we just take the Nevermore in the first place?"
Cinder seems to have had that answer prepared.
"One, because a bullhead flying across the skies of Vale is both far more inconspicuous, and far less likely to be shot down than a Nevermore."
Jaune nods his head. "Alright, that's fair."
"And two… well, let's simply say that riding a Nevermore is not something I take lightly."
"O…kay?"
"You'll understand what I mean in time."
The complete and utter seriousness on Cinder's face lets Jaune know that whatever it is Cinder means by that, she's not joking.
Still, there's not much he can do. So he simply reaches up, grabs onto a tuft of feathers, and uses it to hoist himself atop the great beast's back. Cinder follows him shortly thereafter, marking the last of their number to board their… ride.
"Hold tight to the feathers, and be warned… riding a Nevermore is not a particularly pleasant experience."
"You've ridden one before!?"
Cinder actually shivers. "More times than I'd have liked to. Now, feathers, hold!"
"Right!"
He makes sure each of them is following the woman's instruction, checking Nora and Pyrrha, and paying close attention to Ren, who he's pretty sure has to have blown his eardrums out, being maybe five feet away from the explosion when it'd gone off. Aura could protect the body, but not when it needed to focus on other, more important things, like keeping him alive. Thusly, his eardrums had likely been left to dry as unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
Still, once he's confirmed that his friend is lucid enough to hold on, he looks up towards Cinder and gives her a thumbs up.
"Well then… let's be off."
The Nevermore gives a loud caw, almost like some terrestrial breed of raven or crow, before it beats its terrible wings once, then again, and again…
And then they soar into the sky.
/
Jaune understands around ten minutes into the ride just what it is Cinder had been getting on about as he hurls whatever food they'd fed to him that morning – he thinks he remembers it'd been some kind of pasta? – off the side of the great beast. Silently, he hopes that they're flying over the endless greenery outside of Vale's walls, and not, say, a tiny frontier village.
Because frankly, nothing ruins a day quite like having puke rain from the sky down onto your head. That might be a bit soul-crushing.
"Yeah, I feel you there." The silver-haired one speaks up, who Jaune guesses is probably Mercury, judging by the fact that the other one has green hair, and the only other name Cinder had given him is Emerald. "First few minutes Cinder had us on this thing I nearly hurled a good three times."
"And he did hurl once." Emerald says, ignoring the way her compatriot glares at her.
His stomach does not settle. He gets a feeling he will be throwing up many, many more times during this little trip. But still… well…
Jaune feels like he could focus more on that negative, on the fact that he still really wants to throw up again, but maybe it would be better, instead, to focus on the positives of their situation.
Namely…
"We did it!" He shouts out, given that he has no reason to be quiet given they're… very high in the air. "We actually did it! Dear gods, that was… I… I fought General Ironwood. I like… actually fought General Ironwood. And I won! I beat General Ironwood!
"That actually is fairly impressive." Mercury says.
"I know, right!?"
Ren mutters something under his breath, but his poor teammate is clearly having a… not so good time given his ruptured eardrums and the fact that they're flying atop a massive bird going, frankly, much faster than Jaune would like. The combination of bumpy ride and sense of balance being entirely out of whack can't be fun.
The fact that he hasn't thrown up a single time is something that Jaune will never admit he feels is unfair.
Still, as everyone else goes back to being silent, Jaune feels like they're missing something really important.
"So like, is anyone going to talk about the fact that I knocked out General Freakin' Ironwood!?"
"That actually is fairly impressive." Pyrrha says with a genial smile, despite looking like she's going to hurl chunks. "But, uhm…"
"You've brought that up three times in roughly fifteen minutes." Cinder comments from the… Jaune hesitates to say driver's seat, but perched on the Nevermore's neck as she is, and seemingly directing its flight path, he can't come up with much else.
"Well, I can't help feeling it deserves mentioning!"
Ren hums noncommittally, clearly not all there. "It is… fairly impressive."
Nora nods her head in agreement.
Jaune's just about ready to bring his achievement up again, because holy shit, he'd actually beat General Ironwood, before someone else speaks up.
"…I once tricked these two guys trying to assault me into knocking each other out without ever actually throwing a punch." Emerald speaks up.
"Oooh, damn, Jaune," Nora says, whistling jokingly. "I don't know, I think she has you beat."
"Uhm, I'm sorry, were any of those guys trying to assault you General Ironwood!?" He guffaws, before realizing that that was… "…Actually, y'know what, that was pretty callous of me, I'm sorry about–"
"Oh, uh, n-no, it's… it's fine."
There's an awkward pause there where no one wants to speak.
"Okay, so it's established that Jaune beating up General Ironwood is fairly impressive." Nora says shrugging. "Anyone got anything that can beat that?"
No one speaks, and then Mercury does all of a sudden.
"…I killed my dad."
"…Wow, that got dark really quick."
"Uhm…" Pyrrha speaks up, apparently deciding it's her job to rescue the free-falling conversation. "I won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row?"
"Oh, damn! I don't know, Jaune, I think Pyrrha's got you–"
"I beat up General freakin' Ironwood! I don't care what you say, I win, you all lose, end of discussion!"
"In all honesty, it is fairly impressive."
Ren seems to try and join in, though his words come slowly.
"…Myself and Nora once downed a pair of goliath by utilizing a particularly complicated maneuver to–"
"Oh, oh! We did the very first Flower Power combo!~ Oh, you guys should've seen it! I was all like 'Hiyaaaa~!', and then Ren was all 'You have breathed your last breaths, foul beasts', and then–"
And so, somehow, hovering what must be at least a mile above the land below them, the odd party of seven riding atop a Giant Nevermore begin recounting their most impressive feats of valor and bravery upon the battlefield.
Jaune isn't really sure why, but in that moment…
He thinks, no matter where it is they're going, just maybe they're going to be alright.
End Chapter 15
End Part 1
Alright, that's part 1 of Cinderella finished!
So, potentially unpopular announcement, this story will be taking a month off while I work on a personal project of mine! This is so I can get that finished without being overwhelmed with writing. I also have another story that I may post at some point (focused on a post-Salem world) that I think you all may like.
Anyways, for right now, I hope you all enjoyed the first part of this story. Part two will be more... wacky? I suppose that works for a description.
See you all in roughly a month! It may be slightly more, it may be slightly less, I suppose we'll have to see!