AN: Gotta say, I loved everybody's reaction to the question Alexander asked and Djinn's little shit attitude showing at a chance to piss off Ozpin.

To Be Relentless

Chapter 17

-Jaune-

"Ooooooh, you look so handsome!" Saffron cooed as Jaune stepped out of his bathroom, his sisters on a skype call to wish him well before the dance while Marrow relaxed on Jaune's bed.

"Gonna knock her socks of bro!" Astrid cheered on screen, the girls all back in Argus at this point.

"I expect you to be an utter gentleman tonight Jaune." Arturia gave him a serious look before she cracked and revealed her hidden nature as a little shit, just like every other Arc before her, "And be sure to use protection."

"Turi!" Jaune stumbled at that, face beat red as his sisters and mentor laughed merrily at his flustered state.

"Oh, be nice." Mercedes chided, or tried to at least. Her giggles rather took away any warm feelings of support "Those two are adorable together."

"Guuuuys." Jaune groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Don't mess up your hair!" Hestia scolded "I know how long it took you to get it all nice and neat."

"Yes Hestia." Jaune sighed, giving in to the humiliation. He shouldn't be surprised, this was the first time he'd ever gone on a date and if he knew his sisters, they'd been saving up teasing about this for years.

"Relax man." Marrow gave him a reassuring grin, "Ciel asked you, she asked you because she knows going with you will make this a great night. You're a good guy and I know you're good to the girls, so Ciel is gonna have a great time. Besides, what is it you're going to?"

"…A dance?" Jaune gave his mentor a confused look.

"Exactly!" Marrow gave him a cheesy grin and a poke to the forehead, "And if I've heard one thing, it's that you know damn well how to cut a rug."

"Damn straight he does!" Igrene laughed, "No Arc child gets away not knowing how to dance!"

"Right." Jaune nodded, working to hype himself up "Yeah, you're right! I got this! I can do this! I-" a knock at the door had him suddenly nervous "I'm not ready!" Marrow, pointedly ignoring that, opened the door as Jaune got a look at his date for the dance. Ciel was in a blue dressed that matched her eyes perfectly, gloves of the same color adorning her hands. Complimenting all the blue were some gold bangles and necklace along with matching lipstick and eyeshadow, all the same color as the sun symbol on Ciel's forehead. "Beautiful." Jaune breathed, unable to do anything but stare when he laid eyes on Ciel who blushed at the compliment.

"Alright you two, have fun and take pictures for me." Marrow gave them a grin as he ushered them out, Jaune's sisters shouting their well wishes as they ended the call, his Scroll to be left here.

"You…you look beautiful Ciel." Jaune told her, feeling how warm his cheeks were as Marrow departed, leaving them to head out when ready.

"T-thank you." Ciel blushed as well rubbing her arm shyly.

"Can…can I hold your hand?" Jaune had never had a girlfriend, never been on a date, or even had a kiss so this was all new territory and making him very nervous. At his question, Ciel brushed brighter, nodding shyly as he laced his fingers wither hers, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand as they walked down to the large open hall where the school dance would be held.

"Friend Jaune, Friend Ciel!" Penny spotted them first, the happy orangette rushing over to hug them both "Tonight will be so fun!"

"Yeah," Jaune smiled at Ciel over Penny's head "I think you might just be right at that." Linking his arm with Ciel, Jaune walked into the dance hall, Penny happily skipping behind them.

"I will let you two enjoy your date." Penny told them proudly "I've read that It's important to not act as a 'third wheel' during times like this. But I would like to dance with you both at some point!" after getting one more hug, Penny skipped off to have fun, leaving Jaune and Ciel alone.

"May I have this dance?" Jaune asked, trying to sound as gentlemanly as he could.

"Jaune." Ciel rolled her eyes "You don't need to put on some act for me. I asked you to this dance because I wanted to go with the real you, the man who saved my life." As she spoke, her smile turned playful "Speaking of, this has been bugging me since I saw it." Reaching up, she ruffled his hair, cheerfully messing up the hairdo he'd spent so long carefully making to look formal instead if his usual messy misbehaved mop. "There." Ciel smiled, making his chest flutter and dispelling any protests he might have voiced "Much better. But yes, now, you may have this dance." Chuckling, Jaune smiled and pulled Ciel onto the dance floor.

"Looking forward to dancing together again?" Jaune smiled as he led Ciel to the middle of the dance floor, a few other couples doing the same while others stood awkwardly by tables or the punch bowl. The moment they got ready to dance though, the song abruptly changed. Hearing one of the songs that had played when he taught Ciel swing at the festival, Jaune glanced over to the DJ to see an eager Penny sending him two thumbs up.

"How on earth did she even-?" Ciel shared a confused look with him, clearly just as baffled as he was at how she knew what songs they'd danced to before.

"Who cares." Jaune decided it didn't matter as he gave Ciel a smile "Let's show these people how to dance Ciel." After a surprised moment Ciel burst into a smile to match him own.

"Gladly." Ciel laughed as they started to dance, moving to the swing as he led, her semblance helping her pick up any moves she wasn't aware of, possibly something she'd even been looking up on her own since that festival. They danced, moving across the floor to song after song that had played at the festival from before. The entire time, Jaune just couldn't tear his eyes away from Ciel's face. Her smile, bright as the sun, made butterflies flutter in his stomach and warmth spread through every bit of his body. Eventually, the songs from the festival stopped playing as more dancers stepped onto the floor, not many at the academy apparently knowing Swing.

"Wanna grab a drink?" Jaune asked Ciel as their last sone came to a close, both of them breathing slightly heavy from both the enthusiastic laughter and the energetic dancing.

"Yeah." Ciel ran a hand back through her hair, "I'll find us a spot and meet you out on the balcony?"

"Sounds good, I'll get the drinks." Jaune gave her hand a squeeze as he moved over to the refreshment table, quickly grabbing two cups, wanting to get back to Ciel as soon as he could. Looking about, and spotting Ciel through an open door onto the balcony overlooking the city, Jaune hurried over. "Hey there pretty lady." Jaune called out playfully as he stepped outside, "Care for some company?"

"Hmmm, I don't know." Ciel tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she gave him a smile "My date might get jealous."

"I think I'll risk it." Jaune laughed, handing her a cup of punch as he stood at her side, a tentative arm going around her waist. The tentative arm holding her with more confidence as she happily leaned into his side, sipping the drink he'd brought as they looked over the snowy city floating in the clouds.

"…Tonight's been amazing Jaune." Ciel smiled up at him, "Thank you for agreeing to come."

"Thanks for asking me." Jaune's thumb gently rubbed Ciel's side as he looked into her eyes, "I…you're an amazing person Ciel. I'm just glad you'd be willing to give me a chance." As he spoke, gentle slow music carried out through the door to them.

"You're selling yourself short Jaune." Ciel smiled, turning to face him as her hands slid up his chest to wrap around his neck "But I think I'd like one more dance." Moving his hands to her waist, they slowly began to sway to the gentle music, coming closer and closer. He wasn't sure who started it, if he leaned in or her, but as the music reached a crescendo, he felt her lips against his own. As they kissed under the stars, he felt her arms pull him closer, not wanting to let him go while one of his hands slid up to tangle in her hair, getting lost in the kiss that was making this the best night of his life.

-Alexander-

Face set in a dark scowl, Alexander followed the brainwashed 'Crownsmen' leading him to the base of this Vacuo terrorist cult, two more walking behind with guns aimed at his back. Roman and Neo had come through, 'leaking' information about him to the Crown organization so when he arrived, they recognized him and moved to capture the 'washed up Arc' when he was seemingly recovering from overdrinking in his hotel room. This place clearly wasn't the underground fight club so it must be The Crown Bunker where the organization worked out of and kept their army.

"Well, well." Hearing a voice, Alexander looked to the people standing by the door, able to see far clearer than the black eye he'd allowed these thugs to give him would imply, "Who do you boys have here?" studying the woman speaking he saw the scantily clad woman Carmine Esclados who's brother had given the threat against Jaune. By her side was a massive dark-skinned man with a green mohawk who must have been Bertilak Celadon. They weren't part of the original team of the delusional twins running this shitshow but were some of the upper ring leaders according to the Spiders intel.

"Retired Huntsman." One of the brainwashed grunts stated, handing over Alexander's weapons, a sword and pistol, the weapon making Carmine buckle momentarily from the unexpected weight of the weapon.

"That so?" Carmine studied the weapons that looked surprisingly tame for a Huntsman's weapon, apart from the weight of the pistol. There was no mechashifting ability, no dust enhancements, no secret flamethrowers. Just an oddly heavy pistol and a plain looking sword. "Well, I'm sure Jax and Queenie'll be happy for some new meat. Do you know his semblance?"

"Our digging said he could control water. We saw him showing off in his hotel doing so as well." The same brainwashed grunt stated, Alexander hiding his satisfaction at the false information Roman had sprinkled in taking root, a hidden Maiden an easy way to fake an elemental manipulation semblance. He wished his old friend, not to mention Neo, could have helped here outside of spreading information and signaling the cops but he didn't want to risk his connection to the Spiders getting found out, let along giving any opportunity for Ozpin's curs to learn of Neo having the powers of the Spring Maiden.

"Safe enough then." Carmine nodded smugly, confident that he couldn't pose a threat without his weapons and his semblance apparently needing a resource he seemingly didn't have on hand, "Bring him along boys." Carmine waved as she and the sneering Bertilak led him deeper into the underground bunker, the inner circle waiting in the most fortified room.

"Ah, Carmine." The Asturias twins observed them as they entered, skin pale despite their desert home given how much time the twins seemingly spent underground, "Bertilak. I see our Crownsmen have found us a new recruit."

"A retired huntsman at that." Carmine nodded smugly, tossing Alexander's weapons casually onto a table, "He can manipulate water according to the grunts."

"That will prove useful when we expand to take the other kingdoms." Jax gave a bloodthirsty sneer as he rose from the throne, his body clearly not as trained for combat as a huntsman should have been. It was easy for Alexander to see that this fool relied heavily on his semblance above all else, relied on others doing the fighting for him. Alexander just scowled as Jax approached, subtly preparing his semblance to flare the moment this little shit touched him to try and control his mind.

"Don't worry." Gillian Asturias was smug as her brother approached, "One touch and you won't have any concerns to bother you ever again.

"Now, submit to-" Whatever dramatic statement Jax had planned was cut off as he screamed in pain, staggering in back, the flesh of his hand decaying and crumbling apart to dust.

"Too easy." Alexander snarled, his massive aura reserves deflecting the bullets from the brainwashed grunts behind him as he surged forward, grasping Jax by the throat, the man's screams quickly turning into gurgles as his windpipe decayed under Alexander's touch, the fool's weak aura unable to withstand the assault without his sister boosting him.

"Jax!" Said sister cried out in horror at seeing her brother's body collapse to the ground, blood seeping from the stump where his neck once stood, the would-be king's head rolling away.

With the death of the mind controller, those under his influence found themselves free and struggling to process what had happened, only knowing for sure that they'd been mind controlled for who knows how long. The Crownsmen scattered out of the bunker, leaving Alexander alone with the inner circle as he picked up his sword and pistol.

"Carmine Esclados. Bertilak Celadon. Gillian Asturias. Rosa Schwein. Argento Pocoron." Alexander's cold voice snapped the inner circle out of their shock as they finally processed that their leader was dead and Alexander, once again fully armed, was in the way of them and their freedom, "Let's see how many of you I can kill before any authorities show up shall we?" That was all the incentive that Bertilak, the self-proclaimed 'best huntsman in Vacuo' charged swinging his massive, chained flail with a yell.

"Pathetic." Alexander moved in a blur, his sword letting off a black miasma identical to Alexander's aura as his blade cut through the chain of Bertilak's weapon, the flail's head going rolling across the room, even as Argento charged to try and help the brutish Bertilak. With the loss of his weapon, Bertilak tried throwing a punch, the brute not smart enough to process that what they thought they knew of his semblance was wrong after what he'd done to Jax's throat. Alexander's head jerked to the side, but his opponent's fist started to crumble, the semblance Decay being incredibly dangerous in close quarters, even if it was a massive aura drain. A quick slash of this throat through the bastard's throat ended any potential screaming.

Feeling the power of a semblance wash over him, Alexander looked towards the pig Faunus who was charging towards him, seemingly faster than he should be. A time or reality perception semblance then. But even with that he wasn't fast enough to catch up with a fully trained huntsman of Alexander's caliber. Argento's limbs fell to the ground before his torso did, Alexander's blade finding the pig's heart and thus leaving just the three women.

Rosa, the old teammate of the Asturias twins, tried running towards the door in fear, Alexander casually firing his pistol as the slug filled with his own aura hit her in the back. The slug, much like his sword, having been specially made to channel his semblance. She was flung against the wall, the bullet decaying her from within as Alexander stalked towards the last two ringleaders of this cult.

"Pathetic." Alexander's countenance was dark as he stared down at the two women "Students could have bested you fools."

"Shut up!" Carmine screamed, her semblance lashing out as stones from the wall shot towards him, his blade lashing out to cut through them before he threw it like a javelin, the sword hitting the less combat-oriented batter that was Gillian Asturias in the heart, pinning her to the wall even as her body slid to the ground the lingering aura in his sword eating through her body as it fell to the ground. "W-who are you!" Carmine demanded, fearful tears falling down his face "What do you want?! Why are you doing this?!"

Staring down at her coldly, Alexander grasped the woman by her head as he lifted her up "You are filth." Alexander snarled, "You may pretend that you care about Vacuo but the blood of the innocent you spill shows all you care about is yourselves. I would have dismantled this fucking cult of yours on principle. But then your little brother had to go and make it personal. I won't let anyone, least of all monsters like you, threaten my family." As he finished his statement, Alexander flared his semblance once last time, decaying through Carmine Esclados's aura and then skull, her body going limp and falling to the ground "Even if it means becoming a monster myself to protect them."