Without further ado...
Start Chapter 12
The man guarding the cell – well, technically it's an operating room, but really, it's a cell – that houses Cinder Fall yawns for perhaps the third time in a minute as he leans against the door behind him.
He's been stuck on this boring ass guard detail for the last few days now, and it had gotten old about… thirty seconds in. He understands the importance of his duty, really, he does, but that doesn't mean he has to like it.
Even still, whether or not he's bored, he's still on guard. And so, when he hears a banging noise off the hallway just in front of him, his eyes narrow as he takes a step forward.
"Oi," He calls out. "Something going on?"
The moment the man takes a few steps too far, he hears footsteps coming up behind him. He turns as quickly as possible, aiming his gun, and…
Nothing.
What!?
And then something conks him on the back of the head.
He's unconscious before he hits the floor.
/
"You ready, then?"
Jaune nods his head, taking a deep breath as he, Ren, and Nora finish their preparations.
"Remember, the single most important thing about this is that the guards don't spot us. Camera feeds can be deleted, but memories cannot be."
Jaune hums in agreement.
"We go in quickly," Ren points down at the schematic that his scroll is projecting onto the floor beneath them. "You distract the guard, make him turn around…" Ren looked up at him.
"And then I'll knock him out."
/
Jaune pants lightly as he rounds the corner, looking over to see that Ren has, in fact, done his part. The guard is already beginning to snore on the floor.
"Thanks, Ren."
"Thank me once this is over," Ren speaks, before signaling with his head towards the door. "Your job starts now. Nora should be distracting the others,"
/
"So, then I said "Oh my gosh! Another Ursa! All for me? Ren, you shouldn't have!""
The several Atlas officers trapped with Nora Valkyrie let out a variety of noises that all feign interest.
Not even Nora is fooled.
/
"But I'm sure they'll come up with an excuse to ditch her before long," Ren shakes his head. "I'll disable the cameras in the hall. Feel free to do whatever in there. I already confirmed there aren't any cameras or bugs inside the operating room itself. Which means this here… It's up to you."
Jaune nods, even as he moves over to the man on the ground and picks him up. He takes the man's hand – more specifically his thumb – and places it on the fingerprint lock. The lock undoes itself.
Then, he reaches into the man's pocket, takes out the card key, and swipes that. The second lock unlatches.
And then, he types in the code Qrow had given him.
The door opens with one final 'click'.
"Wish me luck." Jaune mutters.
"Good luck." Ren nods back.
And then he steps inside.
/
Cinder isn't expecting a visitor.
That's not to say she's feeling particularly welcoming, either. Given that she's scheduled to be executed within the next 48 hours, she's honestly not feeling all that cheery. The only person she might want to see at all is her little light, and only really to say goodbye.
Which… is odd. She's never…
She shakes her head, waiting to see which Atlas guard it is this time who's come to mock her for her fate. Perhaps she'll turn it around on this one, get him angry enough to try and slap her or try and abuse his power some other way. Get him close enough that she can immolate him and attempt to make some getaway.
She breaths out a laugh, mostly because of how asinine such a thing is.
Her chances of making it out of this base are slim to none. Not even if she had a head start before they realize she's gone. The maiden powers are her only advantage. She can walk for perhaps thirty seconds at a time, and if she tries to run, it'd cut down on that by a large amount. She's already theorized she could perhaps use her maiden fire to propel herself, but that would both burn the place down around her, likely killing anyone inside – which normally wouldn't be a problem, except her little light is here, and this is, also, a medical area, and a school for children, which… which she's factored into the plan as well – and burn away at the already dwindling supply of energy that she has.
On her own, an escape simply isn't possible.
So, imagine her surprise when into the room steps her little light, with a nervous determination behind his eyes, a sword on his waist, and a half-cocked smile on his face.
"Uh… hey Cinder."
"What are you…"
"I've uh… Come to bust you out!"
Cinder feels she can be forgiven for quietly uttering the word. "What?"
/
Jaune admits to himself, privately, as the two of them skulk down the hallways of Beacon, having left the medical-wing-turned-hospital, doing their best to not be noticed, that this had perhaps been a rash decision.
Breaking out the single most dangerous criminal in the entire world out of the medical wing of Beacon is a rather reckless plan. In his defense… neither Ren, nor Nora, hell, not even Pyrrha, had been able to come up with anything better.
Not with their short timeframe.
They'd come up with… everything they had in roughly the last twelve hours. Honestly, Jaune had been fairly impressed with all of them, especially with Nora, who had revealed a far more intellectual mind than he'd first assumed. She'd been the one to come up with the idea to wipe the cameras in the first place.
Honestly, if they'd had Pyrrha around, it might've been easy. Apply her magnetism to the server room, and…
Well, that would have been that.
Unfortunately, Pyrrha is still tied to a bed at the moment, and Jaune hadn't been alone in thinking that perhaps wheeling the woman past the security room might get a few cursory looks from said security.
Oh, well. Ren himself isn't exactly a stealth master, but he's trained enough that they all trust him to do this. Nora distracts. Ren deletes the camera feeds…
And Jaune sneaks Cinder out.
That had been the plan. They'd even found an exit that only the janitorial staff used when hauling out the garbage from the cafeteria. It'll take them straight to the dumpsters, which will give them a pretty decent place to escape from.
Of course, that doesn't quite factor in the guards that have currently taken to Beacon like they own the place, but hey, it had been a quickly formed plan, like Jaune had said. They had been working with precious little.
The only benefit they have is that the Atlesian intelligence officers don't know that Jaune is aware of their intentions to execute Cinder. And so, luckily, they'd not had him guarded all that heavily.
Oh, they'd had guards. Two in front of his room in the morning, and they'd been quite eager to follow behind him as he made his way out of his room.
But luckily, he'd built himself somewhat of an alibi recently, on account of going out and helping out around Beacon, and all of Vale, in the rebuilding effort. It had become his routine. A routine that he'd yet to do anything suspicious while apart of. And because of that, he'd bought himself an opportunity.
He'd been able to ditch his guards the moment he'd gone out with some of the others on patrol to clear Grimm. He can't help imagining that they're probably not supposed to ditch him like that – he's fairly certain they're supposed to watch him at all times – but then again, the entire time he'd been guarded, the ones assigned to him had been complaining about how boring their duty had been.
Luckily for Jaune, their boredom had aided him.
He'd snuck back in under a light disguise, contacted Ren, and initiated their plan.
Part 1 had been fairly airtight. Leave, ditch his guards, get back in, take out the guard watching Cinder, have Ren destroy the cameras so that this can't be traced back to them, and get Cinder out of her 'cell'.
Part 2 of said plan, on the other hand, is a bit more… flexible.
This is both a good and a bad thing.
On the one hand, having no rigorous plan to stick to means that they can adapt if they need to.
On the other hand…
"They're blocking it!?"
"I doubt they've figured us out," Ren says through his scroll, "But yes, Nora says that the janitorial exit we were planning on using is being watched. A single Atlas officer, but more worryingly, several members of the kitchen staff. It's likely he's only there to prevent them from being attacked by Grimm, but…"
Jaune bites down on his lip, even as he shakes his head in frustration.
"So, uh…" He whispers into his scroll to Ren. "Where are we going now exactly?"
Cinder seems to find fault in that.
"Did you seriously not have a Plan B when breaking out the worlds most wanted fugitive from captivity!?" Cinder hisses.
"Well, we were going to sneak out of the janitorial exit, make our way to the landing strip, and steal an airship!"
"You were going to steal an airship from the Atlas military!?"
"How hard could it be?"
"Very hard!" Cinder hisses.
"…Can't be that hard."
Cinder just glares at him with her singular eye.
"Okay, throwing out that terrible idea," Cinder lets out a horrid groan, before shaking her head. "Beacon has few exit points that will not be watched from all angles. Are there any you know of that won't be under as strict of surveillance?"
"Uh… the janitorial exit that is now under strict surveillance?"
Cinder runs her hand down her face.
"Any others?"
Jaune takes a second to think, pondering their options as he tries to weigh the potential pros and cons of each of their choices.
Because sure, they could simply take their chances on one of the major entrances, but then Jaune himself, at the very least, would be an accessory to Cinder's escape. And while he's okay with it himself… he can't ask his teammates to take the fall for him as well. Not when it would be such an easy assumption to make.
Which means they have to somehow find a way to sneak their way out where no one can see them, notice them, or even really know they're gone until it's too late.
…
"Cinder… the Maiden's power… it lets you blast flames from your hands, right?"
"It does," Cinder says, turning to him. "Why?"
"Is it enough to keep you in the air?"
Cinder's eyes widen momentarily, before she nods, a firm look of determination in her eyes.
"I believe it is."
Jaune takes that information in, nodding his head with a hum. A moment later, he looks back up at her.
"I uh… I have an idea."
/
There isn't anyone on the upper floors of Beacon Academy, which Cinder is ultimately grateful for, even if that fact causes her to pay more attention to the way that the windows are blown out, how the carpets are ripped. How the occasional stain of what looks to be blood marks the walls.
She tries not to focus on it. Even if she knows its her fault.
"Not much further now." Her little light exclaims between breaths, even as he pulls her into another stairwell. "Do you need to take a break, or…"
Cinder's panting, her energy almost entirely spent on simply making it here. If the boy's idea is what she thinks it is, then she's not entirely sure she'll have what she needs to pull it off.
Still, it's not like she has any other options, so she'll simply need to make it work.
"I… I'm fine."
Her little light shakes his head. "No, you're not. We'll take a quick break here. A minute or two. Just try and rest up."
Cinder wants to protest, but in the end, she can't find it in herself to do so. Largely due to the fact that he's right. She really shouldn't be moving even this much.
And so, she forces herself to sit on one of the steps and let herself breathe. It takes until she stops for her to really realize just how exhausted her body is, how it aches and pains her in so many places.
Jaune doesn't say anything, probably so that she doesn't have to talk at all, even though she finds that one of the few things she enjoys in this world is the sound of his voice. High-pitched and whiny, on occasion, but…
She smiles.
"I'm ready."
Jaune nods, even as he holds out his hand. She takes it and allows him to do the bulk of the work in getting her up.
And then a door opens a level below them.
Jaune goes white as a sheet, even as Cinder huffs below her breath and signals for him to go.
The boy runs ahead of her, and though Cinder tries to keep up, she trips on the steps. She lets out a growl of pain as her knee slams into the concrete, and Jaune turns back around, quietly asking if she's alright under his breath.
"Hey," A voice calls from below. "Is everyone alright up there?"
Cinder bites down on her lower lip, even as Jaune goes white as a sheep.
"Uh… sorry about this." Her little light mutters.
Cinder's eyes go wide.
"What are you–"
And then he hoists Cinder into his arms.
Cinder rather pointedly avoids saying anything at all. Nor does she acknowledge the way her face burns as her little light hauls himself up the remaining steps towards their destination.
"Sorry," He says every time he stumbles a little. "Sorry…"
"Oh, be quiet!" She hisses under her breath. "Just… Grr…"
Finally, after what feels like an eternity, but had realistically been perhaps thirty seconds, Jaune slams into the door at the top with his shoulder, and then promptly hits her ankle on the frame.
She does her best to pretend like that doesn't sting.
As the two of them arrive on the rooftop, Jaune immediately turns around and locks the door behind them. At that exact moment, he lets out a titanic breath of relief.
"Whew… that was closer than I'd have liked."
"…Are you going to put me down, now?"
"Oh, right."
As Cinder is released, she simply takes a moment to breathe again. It's… she really shouldn't be moving this much, no matter how infuriating it is that walking up five or so flights of stairs – and then being carried up another few – has managed to do this much to her. She's supposed to be the most dangerous woman in the world, and yet she's been reduced to… this.
"Here…" Jaune says, pointing towards the tree line hanging off in the distance, an emerald expanse that seems to stretch on forever. "Do you think you can make it into the forest from here?"
She'd been fairly certain this had been his plan. For her to use the Maiden's flames and rocket herself into the Emerald Forest. It takes her a moment of mental calculation to conjure up an answer to his question, but when she finally does, she feels a bit… well, pathetic.
"I…" She growls, looking away, before speaking the truth. "If you used your semblance on me, I could."
Jaune doesn't hesitate for a moment, instantly moving beside her and flexing his aura. It flows into her like a river, and even if most of it trickles off of her, she allows some of it to seep into her, to augment her body instead of her reserves.
Yes… its raw, not yet tamed, but the beginnings of a powerful amplification semblance are here below the surface. Perhaps… perhaps her own people would find it useful? Perhaps she could bring her little light with her, take him to Evernight, and–
"Do you have anyone you can call? Allies?"
She's snapped out of her reverie by the boys voice, even as she forces her tired mind to work, to think.
"I… Emerald and Mercury, my charges."
"Okay." He hands her his scroll. "Uhm… call them. I guess you'll probably have to destroy that, uhm… Gods, I'm not really equipped for this whole… breakout thing."
And it's all Cinder can do not to smile at the boy's foolishness.
Why help her? Why would he…
She takes his scroll, and she contacts her two enforcers. Neither of them message back, but then again, she'd let them know that the device she'd been contacting them on had a decent chance of being bugged, or at the very least, tracked.
It's as she's building up the strength to make the 'flight' to the Emerald Forest that her little light speaks again.
"I… I guess this is goodbye, then…"
She turns, sees the desolate look on the boys face, and feels a guilt inside her heart even more vicious than what she's been feeling these last few days. It is amplified by his own feelings, striking into her. that pain in his chest. That longing.
She knows longing more than most.
Even still, Cinder… can't find the words to respond. Despite the fact that responding is all she really wants to do.
"I just… please don't hurt people. I know you might have to, or… gods this is so hard, uhm–"
"I won't."
Jaune looks up, uncertainty warring with hope in his azure eyes.
"If I can…" By the accursed gods does it hurt her, but she speaks what she wants to be truth into the air. "I won't."
"…Thank you."
Cinder nods her head, not facing her little light. She steps closer to the edge, working up the strength to rocket into the forest, just as her little light calls out to her again.
"I could go with you!"
And for just a brief second she allows herself to imagine it. A world where the two of them could be together. A wondrous place where Cinder could perhaps finally feel real freedom, real adoration, and affection.
Maybe she'd meet the family he talks so much about, and spend time around all seven of his sisters, being coddled and teased a lifetime's worth in just a few days. Maybe she could become closer with his team, JNPR. Maybe she could apologize to Nikos, maybe she could make Lie Ren and Valkyrie forgive her.
…But she knows it's nothing but a beautiful dream.
Because then she thinks of Evernight, which is undoubtably her destination. Of the spawning pools. Of the Grimm that walk the halls. Of the Seers. Of Watts, and Tyrian, and Hazel. Of Salem herself.
Jaune… he's not equipped to face such things. And really, Cinder doesn't want him to be. Not ever.
So, she smiles a little sad smile, and turns back around.
"…You can't. My side, my allies… They would use you against me, the same as yours did here. I wish it were not so, more than… more than anything."
Gods but it hurts. The way his heart aches alongside hers. The emotions through her link have felt stifled, lately, perhaps on account of dealing with her own myriad of issues and simply having too much to deal with, but…
"I'm sorry." She mutters. "Truly. For you to have ended up paired with someone like me… someone cursed by the very gods…
"Don't."
She looks back up, confusion warring on her face.
"I…" Jaune takes a breath, then, shakes his head, and looks up at her. "We'll see each other again. I promise. I'm not…"
He steps forward and takes Cinder's hand.
"I'm not going to give up. We'll be together, I promise!"
Gods, she must be more naïve than she thinks she is.
Because she believes him.
There's a moment there, a miniscule moment, where Cinder debates simply taking him anyways. It's not like she has to go to Evernight. If she took him and fled, into the wilds, into the untamed wilderness of the world… how long would it take for them to be discovered? Would they ever be?
…But that's not fair to him.
"Here." Her little light says, reaching into his pocket and taking out a small piece of what looks to be… fabric? "To… I guess to remember me by?"
"What…" She mutters as she reaches out and takes the piece. "What is this?"
"Oh, uh… the patch from off of my Pumpkin Petes hoodie." Jaune says, rubbing at the back of his neck and laughing awkwardly. "I thought… it might be a nice thing to give you?"
Cinder takes a moment then to ponder the logistics of this. A gift. Something she has not had to take for herself. Not something earned. Just… given. For perhaps the first time in her life. Even if it is, admittedly, a rather silly thing.
"It's an… animal of some kind?"
"It's a rabbit." Jaune says, his lips curling a bit lopsidedly, a bit goofy, which is just so very much like him. "It's the uh… mascot, I think? I don't know… Okay, I do know, it's the mascot, his name's Petey, I just don't like to talk about the fact that I know cereal mascots and–" The boy cuts himself off. "Actually, y'know what, I'm going to stop talking now.
Cinder just shakes her head again, still grinning despite… everything.
"Isn't the lady supposed to offer the knight a favor?"
"Eh, my sisters say I rock a dress."
And she's laughing, and how is she laughing when it feels like the world is falling down around her? How can she…
Without really meaning to, Cinder reaches out, and takes her little light's hand. And she just… holds it for a little while. A time that feels far too short.
Their hands linger on one another's for as long as they can, and then, Cinder pulls away. It's the hardest thing she's ever done, but unless she wants to be executed for her crimes, no, more than that, unless she wants her little light to be caught up in her crimes as well…
She has no choice.
And so, she does her best not to look back. Not to look behind her, see him standing there, silently thinking about what could've been. She looks back anyways, and it's somehow more painful than she'd imagined it would be.
And he waves, a somber, almost pathetic thing.
Her single arm rises as well, and she gives the saddest smile as she turns back around and does what's she's always done.
She taps into the deep well of power in her chest, feels the flames take shape inside her heart, forces them out of her arms, out of her legs…
And Cinder uses all of that power to fly.
But away. Not towards.
Because of course she does.
It's all she can ever do.
Run.
/
And still inside Beacon, sequestered away, General Ironwood sighs.
"I wish it hadn't come to this."
And then his eyes harden.
"But I will do what I must, Mr. Arc."
End Chapter 12
Well, that's not ominous at all!
Hope you guys liked the chapter! I'm writing this at roughly 4 am so I'm a bit out of it. Forgive any grievous errors in this little post-lude.
...Post-lude isn't a word, is it?
Oh, I threw in a joke about hijacking an airship, because someone commented/reviewed predicting that being the plan, and even though it wasn't, I felt it was simply too in character for Jaune for me to not throw in a gag about it. Whoever you are, I hope you enjoyed that!
Anyways, see you all next week!
