"N-no! I-I promise I didn't do it!"
Her words were shaky, uttered skittishly and without an ounce of confidence or strength. She was like a frightened rabbit, desperately begging with unsteady hands. Amber eyes pleaded with cold blue, imploring for some sense of empathy. That empathy never came, however, in its stead a hand would grasp something, and a moment later yellow light flashed from the necklace around her neck. Agony surged inside her, knocking the breath out from within like a punch to the gut, pain roaring from her body like one hundred piercing needles. She collapsed onto her knees and cried out from the intensity. The pain had become familiar by now, as had the necklace around her neck, the jewelry that was much more like a collar that enslaved her to whatever her master commanded. It felt like it weighed ten times the few ounces it did.
"Oh Cinder, what have we discussed about lying?" The words were uttered with an ice cold tone, spoken to her without remorse. The girl in question simply let out a shuddered breath, fingers rubbing along her arms in a desperate attempt of self comfort. She could feel a wetness at her core..and it took her a few moments to realize that she had urinated herself.
"N-not to lie.." She rasped, and the woman nodded slowly, a dreaded smile suddenly broadening across her lips. "That is correct, so tell me my dear; why is it that when I asked you whom took a piece of our most expensive cake, you said you did not know?"
The question was spoken coldly, an edge to her tone that promised pain should she utter anything out of line. "I-I.."
"-the cake clearly had rather small finger indents." She interrupted, taking a step forward. "-The only children who had access to the cake would be you or my daughters. And they have no reason to steal when they can simply have some at any time...isn't that right girls?"
The woman turned, and a moment later both twins would perk up. Devious smiles crossed over both their faces as they nodded up towards their mother.
"That's right, mother."
"-it could have only been Cinder."
It was a lie of course, she knew it, both girls knew it, and she was certain that even the madam had to have known. She had been called in earlier by the woman, being asked why her daughters claimed that Cinder had stolen the cake. When she proclaimed that she didn't know..things had become more and more painful.
The sisters had tended to do that, frequently doing things before blaming her, or simply sabotaging her when things had gotten out of hand. She was sure some of the hotel guests had noticed at least once, though no one had ever spoken up. She was sure someone would have if they were certain..
..right?
"Well, I suppose that issue has been taken care of then, Cinder? Why don't we discuss some more..suitable punishments for your childishness?"
Dread crept up within her, like an iron glove ensnaring her heart within a vice like grip. She felt her breath hitch, tears threatening to spill from her wettening eyes as she lowered her head and nodded.
"..Yes, madam.."
/-/
"So, Uhm..are you sure this is a good idea? We aren't really sure if the sparring rooms are open right now."
The worried voice had asked, she bit back a response that would almost certainly seem out of character for a kind and oh so sweet girl. "-Oh I'm sure it will be fine, Jaune. You said that you wished to be stronger, correct? I do not wish to intrude on your training with your partner, so we must do this now."
It had been a mere day since she had proposed the idea of training with him. At first he seemed…hesitant, very hesitant. Though after explaining that she simply wished to help the man who helped her, he tried to argue that he didn't want anything in return for that. When she then stated that she merely wanted to do it because helping him would help others...he gradually accepted.
What a fool.
She wasn't quite sure what to make of him yet. A part of her was quite curious as to who he was or what his motives were; he still seemed...just too strange. Ozpin wouldn't have allowed him to lead a team with three prodigious students and the champion fighter Pyrrha Nikos if there wasn't something special about him. On top of that his utter lack of skills- despite getting into beacon, didn't make any sense. Combine that with his rather odd personality and other factors..well it made the blond simply seem..suspicious. Emerald and Mercury seemed to disagree, but they wisely kept their mouths shut, they knew better than to question her, especially when she was so stressed.
Even if this whole thing had been nothing, then at the very least she could establish a connection with him in order to gain a direct link to his troublesome peers and the potential maidens.
The blond simply nodded his head, hooking up his scroll as he unsheathed his blade and placed himself within a combat readied stance. It reminded her somewhat of the stance Nikos possessed, he had certainly been learning with her, if she could gain knowledge as to the time these training sessions occurred, it would bestow upon her even greater tabs in the long run.
She simply unsheathed two daggers, she couldn't reveal her real weapons after all, least suspicion of what she really was fell upon her.
"Now." The word slipped from her lips and suddenly she was on him, pushing forward as the blonde's eyes widened. He seemed to panic for a brief moment before quickly thrusting his blade forwards, only for her to side step the strike and aim a deadly stab towards his neck. He managed to raise his shield in time to bounce the blade off- Cinder having held back the speed to not draw any unneeded attention towards her abilities. Her eyes would narrow as he attempted to then deliver a powerful slash into her shoulder with his extended arm, though she managed to duck just in time, due to his body now possessing no forms of defence- and his slash having taken too much force for him to simply pull back now- she was given the perfect opportunity to quickly thrust her fist into his chin, the blond crying out as he tumbled back and into the ground.
"While your swings are powerful, and your stance is solid...your moves seem to lack ingenuity and understanding. Even if your attack had connected, you would have simply struck your wrist into me, I made sure to step into your guard so you couldn't properly utilize your sword. Tell me Jaune; what should you have done?"
He seemed to buckle under her words, eyes casting down towards the ground. After a few moments she simply sighed before continuing. "-You should have either stepped back to gain distance once more, or used your shield offensively. You hesitated before attacking both times as well. I am not weak Jaune- there is no need to hold back against me."
Her words were uttered calmly, though she couldn't help but raise her voice somewhat towards the end. The sheer gall it took for one to think she needed to be coddled..
"N-no! It wasn't that!" He stammered, releasing his blade as he raised a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it nervously. "I..just panicked okay? I mean, I saw how fast you were, and it didn't look like I'd be able to land a single hit..so I guess I just wasn't sure when to swing or not.."
She raised a singular brow at his words, understanding dawning within her golden gaze. The fool lacked...confidence when fighting her, her speed having proven too much for him to deal with. Was that why he hesitated? He simply didn't think he could hit her? So why bother?
Her eyes would narrow a moment later, this could also simply be a method to gain knowledge on how she fought or her abilities.. By greatly holding back he could watch how she fought and understand some of her movements.
"Jaune-"
"-What is the meaning of this?!"
The cold, threatening tone caused her shoulders to tense. The two turned a moment later to meet emerald green orbs staring back; Glynda Goodwitch.. the combat professor and all around thorn in the side. She was powerful..very powerful. She was confident in her ability to kill the professor; but she knew that said battle would take far too long for either woman to come out unscathed, along with all the attention it would cause.
This still proved to hold even greater issues however.. While the woman didn't seem to recognize her, this would place more eyes on her, as she gained the view of being a rule breaker towards the professors. Causing more eyes to now he placed on her..
"M-miss Goodwitch.." The blond beside her stuttered, pushing himself into a standing position as he awkwardly sheathed his blade. The woman halted roughly a meter away from the both of them, staring down below fierce green eyes.
"-It is past curfew to be out within the halls, and it is certainly past the acceptable time to be in class." She stated, hand resting upon the hilt of her weapon- though Cinder guessed it was more so as an intimidation factor.
"Miss Goodwitch.." She began, lowering her head. "I-"
"It was my fault!"
Cinder paused.
Green eyes snapped towards the male beside her, and he seemed to recoil under her stare, but continued nonetheless. "-Cinder is the girl from Mountain Glenn.. She saw that I was having trouble in combat training and offered to give me some advice, I accepted and told her we could train here.." He paused, finally breaking under the eyes of the professor, gaze falling to his feet as he rubbed away at his neck. "..I'm sorry, it was my fault."
...what?
Emotions raged on within her, roaring at her core like an earthquake. The Professor meanwhile seemed surprised for a moment, before nodding her head with a sigh.
"Mr. Arc..while I understand the desire to improve, do understand that it is to be done at an opportune time. It's against the rules we've mandated. You will both set this place back the way you found it, and Mr. Arc; you will see me tomorrow after class for detention. Am I understood?"
Both 'students' nodded wordlessly.
"Good." With that the woman turned on her heel, walking off with mighty clicks following her out. Once her figure had finally retreated from view, Jaune turned her way.
"Gah..well I'm glad that-"
He was promptly silenced, her hand clutching his throat as she whirled towards him with fire in her eyes. Her lips were pulled back into a sneer, fingers tight around his neck.
"What...was that?" She demanded, words practically spat out like venom. He recoiled under her stare, eyes widening. "W-what do you mean?" He asked shakily, much to her further irritation.
"Why did you take the blame? I was the one to tell you we could use this room, I was the one that set this up. Why did you place the blame upon yourself?"
Her words were spat like scorching flames, demanded without a hint of mercy. She could feel the rummaging of her heart behind her chest, like an endless drum being struck continuously. She had to fight the desire to tighten her hold.
How dare he?
"I-I didn't want you to get in trouble!" He gawked, words spoken in a rush. "You're helping me right now! And..and I didn't want you to get in trouble for helping me. You just got here and you already ended up in the hospital..I guess I just wanted to help."
"I didn't need your help!" She spat with a snarl to her lips and a fire to every syllable to her words. The scorching tone was enough to silence Jaune completely as he merely looked down at his feet, unable to meet her gaze any longer. The sight was enough to snap her out of her stupor, causing the woman's grip on him to loosen as she took a step back. This wasn't what was supposed to happen, she was supposed to play a proper role, a good role.. but he just had an uncanny ability to get under her skin, to cause her to make mistakes.
She couldn't let her emotions guide her like this any longer.
"I'm...sorry Jaune." She managed, forcing as much sincerity into her words as possible. Despite that he still looked uncomfortable, as was natural.
"I..it's the simple fact that you've been doing so much. I don't like the feeling of owing people."
He finally looked up, meeting her gaze. Those sapphire orbs were so honest, so pure even. He held her stare, nervously rubbing at the back of his neck- a nervous tick- before finally waving off her words. "Hey I mean..it's totally fine, I get it. It's happened to me before... I uh, well I snapped at my partner once; when she first asked that I train with her. I felt like an ass after..but she convinced me after, and I apologized."
The words were almost annoyingly calm, and he was annoyingly sincere, annoyingly forgiving. She held back the desire to snap back at him, instead giving him a nod. "I see..well I suppose we should end our training tonight. I'll speak to you later I suppose?"
He seemed surprised, and she wanted to laugh at the giddy grin that forced its way upon his lips. He nodded eagerly, a chuckle escaping him. "Y-yeah! That sounds great."
Bidding one final nod, she turned on her heel and..for lack of better terms, fled.
/-/
It was ridiculous.
His actions, his words. They didn't make any sense. Cinder's harsh eyes glared holes through the wall of her dorm, staring at the plain surface as she breathed out. She had assumed that he had his own goals for being here..but if that was the case why accept punishment in the first place? Why fully remove any attention from her and instead fully place all blame on himself? Why place more attention on himself? It was becoming increasingly likely that he really was just a student, yet one with multiple strange anomalies. She found herself..curious, intrigued even. Though even more so irritated with those emotions that bubbled up within her.
She was irritated with herself above all else; irritated at her recklessness, irritated at her arrogance that caused the situation to occur at all. Jaune was merely a fool, and she was an even bigger one for proposing the idea of training the blond in the first place. Even so; he still managed to disappoint her, having held back despite telling her what he so desperately wanted the night prior, before then getting himself into trouble with the faculty by putting himself at the end of the gun's barrel.
Why did he do it..? Why take the blame?
He hadn't done anything wrong, she was the one to have asked that they train within that area, generally just for practicality's sake. Yet when faced with punishment he had taken it for her sake. Why do such a thing?
'I didn't want you to get in trouble!'
His words painfully burned into her brain, and yet they brought about..worse memories.
'N-no! I promise I didn't do it!'
She stood up in a flurry. Stalking towards her dorm's bathroom as she allowed the water from the sink to descend upon her hands, bringing it up to her face a moment later. The cool liquid felt raw against her cheeks, just enough to send her mind away from the thoughts that plagued her, or the nightmares that clung at her.
Her head would raise, hands settling upon the sink as golden eyes would stare into the mirror, meeting her own gaze with fiery irritation and firmness.
"Never..again."
She stated with a bite, fingers tightening along the borders of the sink, amber eyes glowing with unused potential, as the eldritch might of the maidens power roared within her veins, reminding her of just how powerful she truly is.
"I...I will never be that weak, ever again."
/-/
The night air was gentle, it did enough to pleasantly calm the blond down. His thoughts were..at an uproar to say the least. Confusion, worry, and guilt gripped at his heart. The last hour had been..a rather interesting one. After the outburst Cinder had demonstrated, Jaune couldn't quite head to his dorm just yet, despite his friends probably being worried. He had too much on his mind, he had her on his mind.
Even if he saw the anger that raged within her eyes like a spiralling inferno, he could've sworn he saw something else there as well. A look of hurt, of..something greater. Like he had done something unthinkable..like she had never experienced that before. He wasn't quite sure if he had injured her pride or something by taking what was going to be her punishment or not, but the reaction was just..a lot worse than he expected. Had it been some kind of mistral...thing? Pyrrha always did seem a bit more competitive than others..
He sighed at the growing headache, fingers settling within his rough pockets as the air picked up around him, flaxen locks being carried up by the winds. "Dammit…"
"Quite a nice night, isn't it Mr. Arc?"
The sudden voice caused him to let out a very manly girl yelp, spinning towards the headmaster of beacon with surprise written across his eyes.
"H-headmaster Ozpin? What are you doing here?"
He winced at how accusing it had sounded, though due to having nearly had his heart leap from his throat in surprise; he felt he could be pardoned this time.
"I spotted you overlooking the rooftop by my tower." He spoke gently, taking a step forward to now stand a few feet away from Jaune, now overlooking the academy. "I thought I should check up on my student."
His eyes would widen for a brief moment, before he quickly raised his hands and waved them erratically in front of him. "N-no! I wasn't planning on doing anything! I was just...well, getting some air, sir."
The headmaster smiled and nodded. "Of course, I thought as much, you merely looked a little..out of sorts." He spoke, raising a cup of coffee to his lips as he took a sip from the white mug. Jaune raised an eyebrow in surprise, tilting his head towards the white haired man.
"Isn't it a little late for coffee?"
"It is never too late for coffee, Mr. Arc."
The boy shook his head, turning back to the view. The headmaster's addiction was a well known issue at this point, everyone knew of Ozpin's coffee issue, and professor Goodwitch's constant failed attempts to detour him.
"How are you settling in Mr. Arc? Glynda tells me you've made great progress as of late."
Jaune simply sighed in response, shrugging his shoulders in response. "I guess I am? I mean I'm still one of the worst students in the class. Definitely the worst on my team."
The headmaster shook his head, with his eyes still trained forward he spoke, voice somewhat more firm than it previously was. "Do not say such a thing. You have earned your spot within both your team, and in Beacon."
The words were enough to set his blood cold. The transcripts.. the words Ozpin uttered seemed to only twist the knife deeper into his gut. He had wanted to tell the man the truth so badly, but it seemed as though every time he felt his legs take him towards the headmasters office..he'd freeze. The thoughts of what could happen plaguing his mind; losing his team, losing his friends, and even his dream.
He just couldn't do it.
Maybe that made him a bad person. That he'd break the rules of the land and commit a crime all so that he could live some heroic fantasy.. but he was in it too deep down, and he thought he could actually make a difference.
"Mr. Arc?"
He was startled at the sudden address, realizing that he had been lost in thought. He averted his gaze, rubbing at his neck nervously.
"I...I don't know, sir. I'm still so far behind. N-no matter what my marks were on my transcripts."
Ozpin didn't reply for a moment, causing Jaune to raise his head and meet the man's eyes. The golden orbs seemed to peer into him, as if they could see his very soul through his sapphire eyelids. Jaune gulped, and a second later, Ozpin shook his head.
"...You have started the year with many disadvantages. Yet every one of those disadvantages was surpassed by you as a person, Mr. Arc. You passed initiation. You showed your ability within the battlefield. Combat schools don't prove anything, Jaune. They have never proved anything."
Those words seemed far too insistent and clear to be simply nothing. That added on with the more personal use of his name.It was as if Ozpin knew the truth, and he was simply telling him that he didn't care.
..but he didn't dare hope-
"Tell me. Many students have different definitions of what it means to be a huntsman. Some think it's to inspire others, others think it's to kill Grimm…What does being a huntsman mean to you?"
He hesitated, uncertain of where this was going. Turning back towards the scenery in front of the two men, Jaune squared his shoulders and answered.
"To...protect lives, to save people."
Ozpin nodded. "To protect humanity."
The wording was different, but Jaune knew what the headmaster meant. The man simply smiled behind his coffee mug as he took a sip, eyes shining with a form of mirth.
"Being a huntsman is about protecting humanity, not about killing grimm. By saving Cardin, someone that has had problems with you in the past.. You; Mr. Arc, have proven yourself more than nearly any other student within your grade. I don't regret allowing you into my school."
The words caused Jaune's eyes to widen considerably. His very breath was taken from him as the man turned to leave. Not only did Ozpin know about what he did..but he saw it as one of the reasons that proved why he deserved to be here.
Jaune felt..
Happy, elated...excited, and most of all..at ease.
He smiled brightly, feeling giddy to his stomach as the air blew swiftly against his golden locks. Sapphire eyes twinkling in excited glee.
"I won't ever be a burden again..I won't let anyone down, I promise."
Well there you have it folks. Will quickly address something for anyone who may read this; my account seems to have a few problems, because for some reason I can't respond to any direct messages you guys send me. That's my fault, apologies.
(By the way...I'm thinking of writing a one shot Knightfall fic with an empress cinder and widower Jaune arc. It would be after chapter 5 and would be completely unrelated, would you guys be interested in that kind of thing?)
As for what you lovely people may have spoken about; so not worth. Kindness will by be the only connecting factor between the two, Hell the last chapter does mention a certain similarity they have...
Thank you all for reading! Like, share, and tell me what you thought about the chapter. Until next time, peace.