Welp, here's another chapter.
I have played... just too much Xenoblade 3 in the last few days. I will not stop though, because I love it.
Anyways, without further ado...
Chapter 3
They say when you meet your soulmate's gaze, you'll know.
You'll know? Jaune thinks, pursing his lips and trying not to throw up as the airship taking him to Beacon rocks from side to side. What the hell is that supposed to mean!?
His mom, when he'd asked her, had described it, paradoxically, as an indescribable feeling. Something you wouldn't be able to explain until you yourself felt it. Just… this surety in your breast that the person who's met your gaze is who you think they are. Like a piece of you you've never noticed is missing before just… slots into place.
His mom tells him some other things, too. Sad things. Things to prepare him just in case. Stuff they don't tell kids dreaming about meeting their soulmates. The truth that's been hidden behind little white lies.
The reality is that some people don't meet their soulmates until much later in their life. Sometimes it's in their thirties, or forty's, or even later than that. His mom tells him a story of a pair of people in a hospital, both dying, meeting each other's eyes for the first time, and passing side by side, hand in hand, smiling for having finally found each other.
And then she tells him something that has his breath hitching.
Some people don't meet their soulmates at all.
They go their whole lives, perhaps barely missing one another, perhaps never leaving their tiny little towns where they've lived their entire lives. That already has Jaune gripping his heart, trying to feel for the connection, however faint it's always been for him past the pain and the longing.
Then it gets worse.
Some people's soulmates die.
Because your soulmate isn't necessarily who you'll end up with. Some people marry without ever meeting their soulmates, and some people who lose their soulmates will still find someone else who's done the same. Destiny, or fate, or whatever god or gods there are that rule over Remnant, it seems, are fickle things. No one's really sure what to make of that, and Jaune doesn't really feel himself up to the task of deciphering it, either.
It's… scary. It's so, so scary. To think that the person Jaune's 'destined' to be with could at any moment drop dead, or end up with someone else, or hell, he might not even meet them. Might never be able to tell that person who's struggled so much, who's been through so much, suffered so much, that he hopes they'll be happy, that…
Well, thoughts sort of leave his brain as he vomits his breakfast into a waste basket the second he's off the airship. He's still a little anxious as he makes his way into Beacon, unsure what to make of his mother's words as he takes to the room where they'll be sleeping for the night in his blue bunny onesie.
And then he sees two soulmates meet each other for the first time.
He doesn't know either of them, well, not really. The older blonde is Ruby's – his first friend at Beacon – sister. But the black-haired girl with the bow is an enigma to him. When their eyes lock, however, the two just kind of… stop. And they stare at one another like they've never done such a thing before, and still aren't quite sure what to do then, either.
Their eyes are wide, and people part around them, excitedly whispering to each other, and Jaune finds he's the same, not able to take his eyes off the pair.
And then they just sort of… sit beside each other and start talking. Jaune's too far apart to hear what they're saying, but when Ruby comes over and sits down next to him, not wanting to get in the way of their conversation, he finds it doesn't really matter, does it?
Because they've found each other, now.
And perhaps that's enough.
There's a part of Cinder that wishes Emerald or Mercury had been her soulmate.
It'd certainly have been simpler, having someone who'd just follow her around, content to serve under her – and she means under her when it comes to Emerald. But… no. Life has never been that easy, and she's not expecting it to start becoming so then, either.
Even if meeting Emerald's obvious affection would make things so much easier. Even if giving Mercury a reason to stick around other than the fear of crossing her would make her job so much simpler. Hell, Roman, for as annoying as he is, is at least conventionally attractive.
No such luck.
She doesn't encounter her soulmate while she does her work in Vale, and secretly, she's glad for the fact. If she would encounter that tiny light now…
She's not sure what she'd do.
Could she face them, as she is? The fact that such a thought even occurs scares her.
What would she do? Would she bring them along with her? Recruit them to her side? She'd certainly have to try, wouldn't she, because whether or not she likes it, that little light in her soul is far more important to her then anything other than the desire for power within her chest, that longing for the Maiden's strength.
…Except, is it even the Maiden's power she desires, or does she simply desire the power, the abstract, unexplainable strength that will make it so that she never has to feel weak ever again?
Cinder chooses not to think any further on the topic.
The light in her soul, as much as she wishes it weren't, is a weakness. If someone like Tyrian figures out about it… then he'll abuse it, use them to control her, or… or worse.
Perhaps it's better if, regardless of what happens, Cinder simply pretends she has no such soulmate?
Because at least then, no one can hurt them. They cannot be guilty of her sin, of what she's done. She won't allow it.
Even if it will hurt her. Even if it will wound Cinder more deeply than she has ever been before, gutted in a way nothing else has ever quite managed…
At least that light will be okay.
And perhaps that's enough.
Jaune likes to think he's a rather committed person. Even if he might never meet them, even if they might die, or they might not even want him when they do meet, Jaune wants to be there for his… well, whoever they are.
And then he sees Weiss Schnee.
And he imagines, well, clearly she's his soulmate. Ignoring… well, everything about the fact that she can't be. Ignoring the way that he feels nothing when he first looks upon her other than a teenaged perversion.
Because Weiss Schnee never would've dealt with the horrors whoever they are did. Never would've been shocked, or exhausted, or wanted nothing more than to die.
But he walks up and flirts regardless, gets his hoodie skewered to a pole, and gets let down by the red-haired girl – apparently a champion, or something? – from off of the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box. More importantly, as Jaune's hobbling to the cliffs, following behind Ruby and her sister, and her sister's soulmate, he finds himself watching those two, yellow and black.
The way they're almost awkward around one another, and yet never want to leave each other's sides. The way that one will look at the other just as the other looks away, constantly blushing and trying to start a conversation with one another, yet always too afraid to manage it.
And Jaune just… gods he's an idiot.
That's what he wants. Not… not pining after the first pretty girl he meets. He's supposed to be a protector, isn't he? Isn't that the reason he's here!?
Ruby makes an "Eep!" noise as he smacks himself on his cheeks with both hands. It's probably going to leave a pretty visible mark, but that's a small price to pay. Because right now, more than anything, Jaune needs to wake up.
He's not here to hit on girls, slack off, and be some happy go lucky buffoon. He's here to learn to be a huntsman, someone who can help people.
Someone who can make sure that when he meets whoever's on the other side one day, they'll never have to be in pain again.
For perhaps the first time that Cinder can remember, she actually feels a phantom pain.
She's heard others on the streets describe it. That if the person you're linked to is hurt, you'll feel their pain. Their emotions, too, are translated, though to a lesser extent.
She imagines her own little light has dealt with quite the cacophony of suffering through their link to her in their time.
But for her… This is, perhaps quite literally, the first time she's ever felt anything more than a scraped knee, or a bumped shoulder, or any other manner of completely normal injury. Maybe there had been a small fight when she'd been much younger? She vaguely remembers something of that nature.
But this… Cinder's not really sure what to make of this. Are they being attacked, perhaps? In a dark alley, is someone taking everything they have on the point of a knife, finishing them off and leaving them to die?
No… she doesn't think so. She has a feeling, some odd, indescribable feeling, that she'd know if they were.
Still, it's clear that they're in danger, but… she simply has to assume they'll be fine. What else can she do?
…She could try to reassure them, she realizes. Like they'd always done for her. When things had been at their worst, when she'd felt like there had been nothing she'd wanted but to die… she'd felt that tiny little light, and she'd kept going.
Cinder's not really good with her emotions, she'll be the first to admit that.
But… just this once…
She tries.
Jaune's beginning to realize that forging his transcripts to get into Beacon had, perhaps, not been his brightest move.
He's doing surprisingly well given that his combat training up until this point really boils down to practicing with his father a few days a year and cutting into the bark of a few trees in his backyard with Crocea Mors. He'd watched a few videos about proper sword forms, how to properly angle your shield so as to best eat away at the attacker's momentum. Honestly, he's pretty sure his dad would've been impressed with how far he'd come, and he's fairly certain he could tango with a human opponent, maybe not win, but hold his own.
None of those things, however, had really prepared him for the question of 'what to do when a giant scorpion Grimm hellbent on killing you is barreling towards you with its stinger poised to snuff out your life.'
Which seems like a pretty serious omission now, to be honest.
One of its massive claws slams into his ribcage, and it's probably only his aura – something his father had unlocked for him when he'd been around fifteen – that keeps him from being turned into a paste on impact. Instead, he's just launched a good fifty feet into a stone pillar, slumping against it with a low groan of pain.
He doesn't think he's ever taken a hit that hard. One that leaves his lungs empty, his diaphragm unable to take in breath. To be fair, he's also never fought a Grimm before. Sure, they sometimes managed to get past the walls of his Village, but they had a militia for a reason. Jaune himself had never wanted to fight one, which certainly sounds worse now that he thinks about it.
How many other trainees at Beacon hadn't killed a Grimm before? He'd bet he's the only one.
He slides to the forest floor, and remains still for a second, and then two. He really just wants to lie there, honestly. To just accept defeat, accept that he's not cut out for this. He can't be a huntsman, he's just…
It's so infinitesimal that Jaune almost misses it. It's gone in the space of a second, nothing more than a blip on the radar, but…
He feels it.
The smallest tug upon the wire.
A tiny reminder that he's not alone.
…
His left hand comes down to brace against the earth beneath him, and he pushes himself up just as Pyrrha, and the two others, Ren, and Nora, take stances in front of him.
He does the same.
He has to win, he remembers. He has to pass initiation and be a huntsman.
After all, they're cheering him on.
And they're counting on him too.
And so, he hunkers down, and does the one thing simple enough that even he can do it. He blocks, and he shouts out ideas, which are apparently pretty good, because somehow, come the end of the day, he's the leader of Team JNPR, and he's sitting in his new room, in his new bed, with his new teammates.
And he's still beaming because he's going to be a huntsman! He's going to accomplish that which has always been his dream.
More than that, though, it's the first time he's ever felt anything through the link other than pain, other than suffering, and misery. The first time a message – or, well, he thinks it's a message? – has ever reached him.
So, they're there. And maybe that means that they'd gotten his messages once upon a time.
He hopes so, anyway.
And so, just before he lies down to go to sleep, he tries to send a little jolt of his own across the imaginary line, hoping that whoever's on the other side will get his thanks.
And on the opposite end of Vale, at nearly midnight, when Cinder feels a tiny pulse in the warmth of the light in her soul, it's all she can do to smile.
You're welcome. She thinks.
It's a seemingly random question out of Emerald that has Cinder's eyes widening the next day.
"Hey, Cinder, uhm, ma'am? Do you… do you have a soulmate?"
It seems curious rather than accusatory, so Cinder doesn't think the girl realizes how personal the question is for Cinder, or, if she does, she doesn't show it on her face. Still, she has to force herself to swallow on some of the bile in her throat as she turns to her most loyal servant.
"Why are you asking?"
"Well, the other day, I saw you reach out at your side, like you were in pain. I've just, y'know… seen that happen before. With soulmates, I mean."
Ah, so Emerald had been watching her? Unsurprising, given the girl's affection, but troubling nonetheless that she'd seen what she had.
"Why the intrigue, Emerald?"
"I… well, I sorta…"
It's obvious why, the girl likes her, maybe even loves her. It's a useful if annoying trait.
"I do have a soulmate." Cinder admits, seeing little reason to lie about something quite literally every person possesses. "Don't you?"
"I… yes."
"And what are they like?" She asks to keep the topic as far away from her little light as possible.
Emerald pauses for a moment, and then she speaks again. "I… my soulmate seems to get into trouble a lot. Always in some fight or another. She's pretty opinionated, I can tell. She seems like –"
"She?"
"Ah… well… I mean… I'm sort of…"
Into women. She does not say, but Cinder Fall already knows, so she doesn't either.
"…She seems like a troubled soul." Emerald continues after a few awkward seconds. "Something really bad happened a few years ago. I felt like… like the world was ending one day, out on the streets. I think someone must've died. Someone close to her. It was… It was much worse than the hunger I usually felt."
Cinder nods.
"I guess… I feel bad for them." Emerald admits after a while. "I was always hungry, and… some of the other kids would say that your soulmate feels the pain that you do, right? I guess… I feel bad that they must have always had that same hunger to deal with, along with everything else."
For some reason, Cinder realizes only then that whomever it is who's her soulmate has likely felt every single time she's been shocked. Has felt every single beating put upon her in training. Every bruise, every gash, every little thing she's told no one of.
They know.
And for some reason, she's asking Emerald something else, then. "Emerald?"
"Y-Yes, Cinder?"
"Do you care for them?"
"M-my soulmate?"
"Yes."
"Well… I guess I do, yeah."
"Even knowing that they might be disgusted with what you are, with what you've done, would you still want to care for them, regardless?"
Emerald is silent for a while at that, before, with a tiny, exhaled determination, she says, "Yeah."
Cinder wishes she could argue with that, wishes she hadn't been the exact same as Emerald. That, if that tiny light inside her soul appeared, she would know what to do.
But she knows she wouldn't.
Still, it's all Cinder can do to shake that feeling away, even as Emerald seemingly realizes what she's been saying, and corrects herself. "B-But I'm loyal to you, over anything. It doesn't matter who we come up against. I'll be by your side!"
She believes Emerald, in a sad, sort of distant way. She honestly believes that the girl's love for her might actually outweigh anything else, even meeting her own soulmate.
…Or, well, she might. Cinder's not sure. She's heard that when one meets their soulmate, for some people, at least, everything sort of changes. She doesn't really know what to make of that fact, even if most of the people she interacts with among the dregs of society have either never met theirs, or clearly don't care if they have.
And so, she just nods her head, and runs her hand through Emeralds hair, and as the girl leans into it, she knows without doubt that Emerald would kill for her without thought, without hesitation. And she only encourages it.
Cinder wonders if that makes her a bad person, and decides that yes, it likely does.
Jaune doesn't think he's ever been all that good at reading the feelings of people.
Maybe that's just because his mom and his sisters have always said he's a pretty oblivious person. Frankly, for an awful long time, he'd sort of failed to see what they were talking about. So, what if he'd missed a few girls that'd been interested in him in high school? They should've been more overt with their feelings! Then Saphron had informed him that, apparently, a girl kissing him on the cheek and saying she had a nice time on their date was about as overt as the girl could be, and at that point, Jaune had maybe sort of been able to see what they were talking about.
But even he, in his less than infinite wisdom, can see that Nora and Ren are crazy for each other.
Nora says the two of them are soulmates – she claims they're "platonic soulmates" but quite literally no one believes them – and Jaune just nods, trying not to be too jealous about that. After all, it's not like everyone among their two teams – Ruby's RWBY and his JNPR – has met their Soulmate yet. Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha don't know theirs.
So, what if Blake and Yang act like a newlywed couple, and so what if Ren and Nora are so close they can have entire conversations with their eyes? That doesn't make him envious or anything…
Well… at least not that much.
He asks Pyrrha, one day, about Soulmates, and he's not really sure why the girl's face is as beat red as it is, but it's like looking at one of the cherry tomatoes that Jaune would sometimes find growing in their backyard in the warmer months.
"I… I guess for me, I've never really worried so much about who is and who isn't my Soulmate." Pyrrha informs him, and Jaune supposes that different people will simply have different opinions. "After all, there were… hundreds of people who claimed to be my soulmate in my time as a fighter. They'd be interviewed in these weekly magazines for people who claimed to be celebrity soulmates, just absolute journalistic…" The girl pauses for a moment, puffs up her cheeks like she's about to say something entirely foul, and then mutters, "Trash."
It takes all that Jaune has not to snort.
"And… half the time in tournaments, these creepy old men there would try and pretend I was their soulmate, as if they, roughly fifty years old, could possibly–"
His partner just groans, and Jaune pats her on the shoulder as she hides her head in her hands.
"After so much of that, I guess the idea of 'the one' doesn't really appeal all that much?" Pyrrha says, looking up at him with a wan smile. "Maybe that would change if I met them, but to me, it's… I guess I'd rather let the chips fall where they may if that makes sense?"
"Not one for destiny, then?" Jaune asks and earns a quiet laugh from his partner.
"No, actually, I do believe in destiny. But… I guess I simply don't think it's everything. Or that our lives should be so fiercely dictated by it. I guess… just once, I'd like to make a choice for myself."
Jaune nods, and he understands the girl's perspective, even if he doesn't quite agree with it.
He asks Weiss the same question another day and gets another rather intriguing answer.
"I suppose… I do believe in Soulmates. My mother… she married someone who wasn't her soulmate for the sake of the SDC, and… well, it did not… entirely work out for her. As a young girl, then, I grew up with my older sister reading me stories of epic romances, of lovers kept apart by the whims of fate, struggling against their destinies, and…"
"And that appealed?"
"It did." Weiss admits, chuckling. "What about you?"
He tells her his story, and he tries not to blush too much as Weiss coos affectionately at his so called 'devotion'. She's teasing him, he can tell, but he doesn't much mind it, especially since he deserves it for that time he'd–
"You know, Jaune, you're… surprisingly more mature than I expected, especially after what you called me when we first met." The girl places a finger on her chin, smiling smugly. "What was it again? Ah, yes, Snow–"
"Please," He holds his hands up in total surrender. "Spare me. I'm just a boy."
Weiss just cackles at his expense.
And then another day he asks Ruby.
"Huh? Soulmates? Nah, I don't really believe in 'em that much."
That actually shocks Jaune. That the most happy-go-lucky among them could seem so… well, cynical.
"It's not like I don't believe in love or anything," Ruby snorts when he says what he'd been thinking. "I'm happy for Yang and everything, and I don't doubt Blake will make her happy, too, it's more… Well, my dad never met his soulmate, but he married my mom, and she made him happier than anyone ever had. My mom never met her soulmate either, and I guess she died without knowing them, but dad meant the world to her. They were happy together, despite not being soulmates. You'd never have known they weren't. So… I guess… to me, a soulmate is just… well, it's a cool thing that exists? It's just not the end all be all. Love is more than what's supposed to be, y'know?"
And now it's his turn-to-turn Weiss' words on Ruby. "You're… shockingly adult sometimes, Ruby."
The girl glares at him. "Is that because I look like a kid, Jaune? Do I? Do I look childish to you!?"
He pointedly avoids answering that question as he beats a hasty retreat.
Ruby catches him a day or so later, and then she has a question for him.
"I'm guessing you asked me because you do believe in Soulmates?"
"Yeah, I… I do. I've… Well, it's a long story–"
"If you wanna' tell me, I'll listen." Ruby says, sitting down beside him on one of the benches outside, overlooking the gardens, and Jaune can't help laughing, because man, Ruby's just…
She's such a good friend. Such a good person.
Whoever's her soulmate… they're a lucky son of a gun. Even if Ruby isn't quite so worried about it.
And so, he tells her. Tells her about the miserable soul on the other side of his link, tells her about the way he's been thinking about them practically his entire life. How, even when he'd been denied becoming a hunter trainee by the school that'd just moved into his village, he'd not given up, he'd kept going.
"And so, even when I was rejected on all sides, I faked my transcripts, and–"
He cuts himself off just a bit too late, turning and looking to see a wide-eyed Ruby Rose.
"Uhm…"
"I-I won't tell anyone!" She rushes to assure him, practically shaking him from side to side. "I promise, Jaune, I won't!"
He believes her. More than anything, he believes her because she's his friend. His best friend, probably.
"But uhm… you were, uh… saying?"
The girl's awkward now, and really, Jaune can't entirely blame her.
"Y-Yeah… Well, I guess I came here, and nearly died, would've died, if not for my team, and you guys helping out, and…" He swallows, deciding to just say it. "I'm here to become strong enough so that when I meet them… no one will ever hurt them again. I'm going to protect them, and… try and give them the love they deserve."
He tries not to blush as Ruby let's out a high-pitched "Aaaaww" but fails pretty miserably. Maybe, secretly, he enjoys the way that Ruby wraps him up in a hug and squeezes him with her tiny arms.
"You'll find them, someday, Jaune. I know you will."
And he just smiles.
"Thanks, Rubes."
"And hey, who knows," Ruby says as she smiles back at him. "They could be right around the corner!"
Cinder rounds a corner onto some dark and lonely street, down into the very bowels of Vale.
A woman of her physique, lithe and slender in rather form fitting attire, draws some untoward eyes, and she watches with some small amusement as one particular druggie gets an idea, and he approaches her, catcalling the whole time.
Well, the others get the picture when his jaw is rearranged, and she leaves him to lie on the floor, gargling his own teeth.
A rather nondescript warehouse is her destination, and she knocks thrice upon the door to announce her arrival. A white fang solider is the one who responds, nodding meekly towards her as he bows his head.
Cinder smirks. Subservience is a rather appealing trait, she feels, and as she runs by the man, who can't be any older than twenty himself, she gives him a lidded grin, delighting in the way he freezes up momentarily.
And then she's walking into the main meeting room, in which Roman Torchwick, and his diminutive partner, Neopolitan, await her.
"Cindy!" Roman exclaims with faked bravado. "How nice of you to join us. It was getting rather late, only a few minutes to midnight, I was worried you wouldn't show."
Oh, Cinder's positively certain he'd been worried, and not counting the minutes hoping, praying she wouldn't come, that something would hold her up.
No such luck for him, she's afraid.
They run through some rather boring descriptions of Dust acquisition. It's mind-numbing, but important nonetheless, which means she can't simply send Mercury or Emerald to listen in on this, nor does she want to take the risk of Mercury somehow being swayed to act against her, if Roman offered a deal that's better than her own.
Given her benefits package simply lists 'survive' and nothing else.
It's a rather effective motivator regardless.
Still, once it's clear they'll hit their deadline – and Cinder will never say it aloud, but she's impressed with the work Roman's managed to do – she finds her attention drawn to a few of the others in the room.
Namely, one Neopolitan.
Because whether or not the girl is useful, Cinder finds herself curious as to just what the girl, who can't be any older than Cinder herself, is doing here.
And so, given she has nothing to fear from Roman himself, she asks him about the girl after the meeting has concluded.
"What?" The man turns to look at her, and she can see emotions he normally holds back warring in his gaze. "About Neo?"
"I'm asking what's special about her." Cinder inquires. "She can fight, and her illusions are valuable, but you seem to care beyond that. If anything, I'd say it's far more personal than you let on."
Cinder's not expecting the way Roman reaches for his cane, as if to attack her, but she responds in kind, summoning one blade of Midnight in her right hand just to make it clear she's seen his actions.
"You would do well to remember your place, Roman."
"Yeah… maybe I would, but get this," He says, and he takes a step forward, to the point where, if she desired it, Cinder could easily swing her blade at his throat. It might not be a killing blow, what with his aura, but it would give her a crippling advantage in a fight, one she already doesn't need. "You don't touch Neo. I know you're using her in your plans later, and that's fine and all, but don't get any ideas. She–" He points to her, sitting a ways away, looking at the two of them with some concern in her expression. "Gets left out of this as much as possible. Understood?"
Cinder might normally try and bring Roman to heel for a comment like that. For daring to ask her if he is understood. But there's something there she can almost relate to; almost understand.
"Is she your soulmate?" She asks, tilting her head.
She's not expecting the way Roman shakes his head, laughing harshly. "Nah. Never had me one of those. But Neo… she's my family. Even if she ain't my blood." His eyes are gleaming steel as he looks straight at her. "Even if it's you… and even if you'll kill me… I'm not letting you hurt her."
Roman probably isn't anticipating the way Cinder smiles; not a vindictive or cruel smile, but one that's almost…
Well, Cinder's not sure what it looks like, but Roman's confusion is evident enough.
And then she's turning away, walking back and out of the warehouse without another word. She says nothing, just keeps walking, until the shattered moon is the only light to guide her back to hers, Emerald's, and Mercury's little domain.
As she enters in, Emerald looks up, and she gets this excited little look on her face when she sees her. Mercury looks up too, though there's nothing there. No real emotion at all.
Likely a sociopath, some part of her recognizes. Emotions quite literally beaten out of him when he'd been too young to really understand.
Perhaps that's why, despite the fact that she could handle the fighting, that she could serve as the muscle perfectly as well as Mercury does, she's brought him along.
Because to have someone just as damaged as her around is…
"How did it go?" Emerald asks her, and she turns to look at the girl, silently reveling in the way her eyes dance with unsung affection.
"It was…" She tries to think of some way to word it, some way of accurately portraying the evening in so few words, and she decides on something that really tells nothing at all.
Because truthfully, that's how she's always been, despite it all.
"Interesting."
End Chapter 3
Moving forward, stuff continues happening. Jaune's in Beacon, making friends, and Cinder's considering just how she feels in general.
Next chapter in a week, see you all then!
