Jaune Arc
Jaune gasped as he slammed against the wall and the glass spear in his abdomen shattered. He groaned and pumped his legs desperately in an unsuccessful attempt at avoiding the hail of glass shot at him. Pain lanced through his body as each movement only worsened the wounds left by the shards holding him in place to the wall. Pyrrha was still on her feet for the moment, dodging and weaving around each attack, not in any immediate danger for the time being.
Jaune closed his eyes and focused the scattered remnants of his once impressive aural defenses into something that could help heal this body into at least a decoy for Pyrrha. Unsurprisingly, that's when the universe decided to throw him for a loop as the entire top of the tower blew off.
Luckily, it dislodged Jaune from the now non-existent wall and threw his bleeding body across the room and onto a deformed gear. Jaune couldn't summon enough energy to move anything but his eyes and stared in surprise as a huge Grimm dragon circled back around the tower, uncaring that it had just flown through dozens of tons of rock and metal. His spine must have shattered as he couldn't feel anything below his navel. His aura was nowhere to be found and all he could do was lay on his back and watch the one-sided fight between Pyrrha and Cinder take place.
Pyrrha was stuck on the other half of what was once Ozpin's office, trying valiantly to reach Jaune. Cinder had realized this as she kept blocking her advances, almost as if toying with the girl. Jaune couldn't see much of Cinder other than the back of her flaming red dress, but he could feel the aural energy that radiated away from her like heat from a bonfire. It was almost unbearable.
Jaune opened his mouth to shout something to Pyrrha but only blood came out of his mouth. Pyrrha shot him a worried glance, despite knowing full well that the body was disposable. It was a hard habit to overcome during battle, but it cost Pyrrha precious aura as a hail of glass shards glanced off her and into the wall behind her.
She hurled her sword at Cinder, only for it to be swatted away like a fly. Cinder stopped levitating (an absurd display of power) and walked towards Pyrrha, who was holding her shield in front of her, eyes glaring at Cinder. Cinder reached a hand out to the shield and stroked the edge of it.
Jaune couldn't hear what was being said. His eardrums were most probably busted at this point, along with the rest of this body. There was nothing he could do but watch.
Pyrrha Nikos
Pyrrha ducked suddenly and swept Cinder's legs. Cinder hopped over the sweep, but Pyrrha used the distraction to scramble to her sword. Cinder just watched her go, her sneer visible despite the low light.
"Still fighting the good fight. Brava, Ms. Nikos, but you are merely delaying me taking back what is mine."
"You don't deserve to be the Maiden. Being a Maiden is an honor and you will only misuse it." Pyrrha hadn't moved from her position after picking up her sword. She stood rock-steady and ready to fight.
Cinder on the other hand was the exact opposite. Her stance was casual, her arms folded in front of her elegant dress. Her eyes were locked onto Pyrrha's. "Ozpin is a liar."
Pyrrha flinched at the words, but she didn't respond.
"But now it doesn't matter. He's dead and gone." Cinder raised her hand and particles from the air around her materialized into a dagger, the edge glinting in the fading sunlight. Pyrrha blocked the attack, but a sharp pain in her ankle caused her to drop to her knees. The shield clattered to the floor and Cinder's shadow fell over the fallen warrior.
"Two faced attack. A true Maiden would never let such a trivial technique trick her. You deserve nothing and that is what you are going to get."
Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak but Cinder's dagger flashed and Pyrrha fell silent forever.
Jaune Arc
Jaune's frustration boiled over as he watched Pyrrha fall to her knees. There was nothing he could, despite his seeming omnipotence and immortality. Any body he switched to would not arrive in time and deprive some other team of a valuable ally. His body was reliant on his natural aura regeneration to fix his body, which would take until dawn. And he refused to run away. The least he could do was be around for Pyrrha's last moments, morbid as it may be. He owed her his meager company at least.
He wanted to yell, shout, flail his arms to signal to his partner that he was there, but all he could do was look back into her eyes as Cinder dealt the final blow. As the dagger pierced flesh, Jaune felt an incredible energy pour through his body like wildfire. He arched his mouth and screamed, but the scream was not his.
It was high pitched and sounded like…Ruby's. The world went white and the flow of energy through him increased continuously. He tried to stay coherent under the current but it was too much. The energy swept him away and tore apart his perception of reality. He felt multiple presences around him, as if he was in the presence of beings entirely out of his senses.
The white current of energy started to take form as strange musical speech reached his ears. With every swell of sound a mountain was formed and with every pause a valley. Fast speech formed rivers and brooks, babbling along peacefully. Patient speech created lakes and oceans. Jaune struggled to swim to the edge of the river that carried him downstream. Every time he thought he had gotten closer to the shore, a wave crashed over him and brought him closer to death.
This cycle lasted hours. Swim closer, get pulled away, try again. Hours of exhausting swimming later, he reached the side of the river of energy, utterly mentally exhausted. He heaved himself out of the river, feeling the surge of pure energy drain out of him as his shaking arms pulled his body out of the white torrent.
He closed his eyes and, with a final groan, freed his legs from the rush. He keeled over forwards, his legs pushing weakly at the ground under him.
No, I must get up and explore, who knows where I ended up now. But this ground feels so good. Maybe I can take a quick rest? Jaune's perseverance faltered and his body collapsed utterly, glad to finally get a chance to recover.
"Mr. Arc!"
A groan escaped his lips. Everything felt so good, he didn't want to move.
"Mr. Arc! Do get up!"
Jaune groaned and cracked his eyes open to see baby-blue eyes staring back at him. He blinked and everything came crashing down on him like an avalanche. He waved his arms and sat up. "Alfred?" He rubbed his eyes and looked around as the robot butler moved away from the fallen Hunter and continued his duties.
"Mr. Arc, you gave me quite a fright. Are you sure you are alright? I would suggest a scan to ensure that your nervous health is in perfect shape. Blacking out could also be a sign of abnormal blood pressure, which can sneak up on the healthiest individual due to stress…"
"Alfred."
"Oh dear Mr. Arc, when did you last check the health of the clones? An aneurysm could provide fatal in battle."
"Alfred, I'm fine! My mind was just elsewhere and my balance must have slipped."
The robot butler cocked his head in worry. "Should I check your inner ear sir?"
Jaune laughed. "Sure Alfred."
Alfred dusted his hands off, his entire body posture radiating relief. Jaune would know, he programmed it. He grabbed a kit off the wall and sidled up to Jaune's ears. He placed electrodes on either side of Jaune's head and monitored the data. Jaune already knew what to do and moved his eyes around in the appropriate order.
"Seems like usual, you were right Master Arc." Alfred sulked as he put away his device. He hated being wrong, the implication of which had been pointed out to him many times by his friends.
"Alfred, don't be that way. Let's get back to work." Jaune watched the robot return to his duties before turning back to his desk. What had just happened to him? He had never fallen asleep at his desk, and never had such a coherent and lucid dream before.
There were only two possibilities at this stage. The first was that he had somehow lived through the entire day of holding the Grimm back, followed Pyrrha to the top of Beacon Tower, got beaten handily by Cinder Fall, watched Pyrrha die, then travelled backwards in time, and landed back here.
The other was that he had developed a new ability to somehow dream with perfect lucidity and completely self-coherent laws of space-time.
There was no way of knowing. Except…
"Alfred, what's the timestamp?" Jaune was trying to make sense of everything that had just happened, and wished to validate his theory from a third party.
"Your inner ears seem healthy, but brain damage can be quite tricky for aura to heal. Should I…"
"Alfred. Stop it. I'm perfectly healthy. Just answer the question."
"It's currently the 15th of March equivalent, 21:47:52. As you already know, apparently."
Jaune checked his watch. 16th of March, 15:37:32. Jaune stared at the numbers as gears turned in his head. Relativity stated that no matter how you navigated space-time, your proper time would always increment at one second per second.
Time travel is possible. What a way to find out.
Whatever had transpired after the first day of battle had been undone. He had another chance to ensure the safety of Beacon, of his friends. And this time, he wouldn't fail.
…
Jaune groaned and sat up. He had failed. He recovered from his disorientation faster this time around and shooed a slightly worried Alfred away from his desk. Jaune had done everything the exact same way as before to test his theory. If he did everything the same as he had done the first time, everything that happened in the first loop should happen again, right? It was risky to potentially squander the do-over he had somehow been given, but Jaune's analytical side was overpowering his emotional side. The death of fellow students, teachers, even Pyrrha had become data points to him.
As it turns out, his prediction was spot-on. The day had ended, the Grimm had attacked in earnest at dawn, many died. Pyrrha and he had assaulted the tower and she had been killed. Ruby (the scream he heard sounded almost exactly like Ruby) had arrived too late and then time had reset by the blast of energy.
Jaune turned to the table to redo the work he had done the last time and the time before that. He worked in silence for a few minutes before throwing his pen down in frustration and storming out the doors of the lab. Knowledge of enemy movements was priceless, but what good was it if you were afraid of changing anything?
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was working with instinct rather than conscious thought now and it was incredibly difficult to form any plans under the circumstances. If he changed anything, events may swing in a way that could be unfortunate. If he saved a student's life, who knows how the battle may end? He wasn't willing to risk giving up the advantage of a guaranteed redo but if he didn't take a risk then he would end up right here yet again. And again. And again. He decided to take a walk to clear his head.
The world outside was as grim as it had been when he had entered the lab for the first time after the first day of battling. The first day of the battle had gone swimmingly. All the defenses had held. Each side had been equally pushed and the defenders had responded with extreme prejudice. While the school celebrated, Jaune had elected to retire to his lab to plan.
It had been a tough challenge but somehow it didn't feel like they were being attacked by a horde of savage, blood-thirsty monsters. It felt closer to an army that was laying siege, which frightened Jaune more than the number of the Grimm. He had expected the forest-side to be punished early on, but the Grimm came in waves, and none of the waves contained any strong Grimm. Professor Port had dismissed his concern, citing five other occasions on which Grimm had attacked in waves such as this. According to him, the Grimm attacked only when morale was low, and so each wave weakened as morale improved, eventually leading to victory.
Jaune acted relieved, but his instinct still worried him. Animals had an instinct for a reason, and those who ignored it didn't survive to pass on their inferior genes.
His team would be in the Great Hall right now, replenishing their energy and aura with thousands of calories. The emotional soup inside the four walls was almost palpable to a great range. It was the biggest battle in recent history and everyone was happy to be alive, anxious for what the night would bring, afraid for their friends.
Jaune turned away from the main campus and walked into the dark field that was marred with craters and black stains. Nora did a splendid job. She didn't even need my help. The Grimm had retreated from this side of the school first, which was no surprise as Jaune had seen Nora's frightening familiarity with everything explosive.
He was far enough from the school that it would be difficult to see him if anyone in the Great Hall looked out. He took a small device from inside his pocket and threw it onto the ground and wound his aura around a thin metallic rod jutting out the side of the puck-like device. The air around the object pulsed and took on a white glow.
Jaune smiled a little. The device had taken months of iterations to get right and the result was something spectacular. Remnant was already familiar with hologram technology and aura-assisted memorization techniques, but Jaune was the first to marry the two concepts together. If someone had managed to capture an experience or memory well in their mind, they could imprint that memory onto a section of their aura. Thus, whenever that memory faded from the physical brain, aura would repair it back to how it was at the time of preservation. A backup. It had drawbacks, the biggest being the fact that your overall ability to remember decreased along with your effective aura stores. It was a difficult, situational, and ultimately not very useful, but Jaune had mastered it nonetheless.
Now he picked out the strand of aura where he had saved his memories of the past two loops and wound it around the metal rod. The air shimmered once more and settled into the shape of the destroyed tower. He could have done this in his mind, but this device allowed him to play, pause, zoom, and many other functions that improved the technology significantly. He would've applied for a patent, but the fecal matter had made friends with the fan.
Jaune flipped the image upside down and wished he had started archiving the memory earlier. There were some crucial missing details that had slipped out of his mind the first go through. He fast forwarded past Pyrrha's death and the subsequent time slide into the past. He watched the whole day go by, watched people die a third time, and then end up back in the tower. Jaune moved through the memory frame-by-frame, watching for anything he had missed. There was nothing. Cinder was simply too powerful for the two of them, which wasn't too surprising.
She bested first him and then his partner using nothing but completely overhand techniques. There was no trickery, no outside interference other than the dragon, and no way he could even think of beating her in one go. Jaune continued the tape until the point where Cinder gave the fatal blow. He gave a quick pulse of aura around him, confirmed no one else was around, and then started the memory once again.
He searched every inch of his memory for any confirmation of the source of the immense blast of aura. On his fifth look through, he noticed a small speck of red cloth that entered his vision and left it immediately after. There had been nothing red save for Pyrrha's sash anywhere the tower before, and the it couldn't have been anyone else.
Alright, so here's the timeline. I notice Pyrrha running out of the school towards the tower, I follow. We reach the top while Pyrrha acts weird. Jaune held the emotion at bay as he remembered how Pyrrha had grabbed his hand and whispered a few, deliberate words in his ear. And then the doors opened, we fight. Ruby must have noticed the fighting and somehow gotten up here. She couldn't do it alone, so it must have been someone that could assist here speed. Weiss? Need to investigate. She reaches the tower, Pyrrha dies, she screams, insert source of energy here.
Jaune reopenedthe display and forwarded to the part where he entered the timeslide. However, the image came out all wrong. Everything seemed flatter than flat, it was two-dimensional. Jaune paused the image and tried moving around the image, only to see the image was two-dimensional unlike the rest of the memory.
Huh. This is interesting. I should've expected something like this, if I wasn't being a complete idiot.
It really did make sense. If his brain realized it was travelling through time at a velocity other than one second per second forwards, then it couldn't comprehend more than two spatial dimensions. Hence why his memory wasn't two-dimensional the first time around but it was now.
Ignorance is bliss, Jaune shut off the device and lay down on the grass, or something like that.
Now that he had the data he needed, Jaune found himself reluctant to think of the future. The walls he had built around his emotions were breaking down without any logical supports to keep them up. Seeing your closest friend die, not just once but twice, and having to face the reality that he must watch her die multiple times over was something that hit him like a punch in the gut.
Jaune covered his face and let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. The next day would likely be the toughest challenge he'd ever faced. Ensuring the best possible outcome while making sure that the day reset was something that would have to be done with the utmost precision. The logical supports slowly settled into their places and the sense of purposeful calm settled over him like a warm blanket.
…
Jaune closed his eyes and growled deep inside his throat. This was the twentieth time that he had gone through the loop and he still couldn't fix anything! He swept everything off the lab table and stormed out into the warehouse, past a concerned Alfred who was programmed not to interfere with Jaune when he was in such a mood.
Jaune went into a dark corner and sat down, his arms around his knees. Twenty times he had gone to the tower. Nineteen different deaths. Eighteen attempts to fix something. Seventeen hours before it happened again. Sixteen, the stories in the tower. He could see the numbers, the connections, the logic, BUT NONE OF IT HELPS!
Jaune breathed deeply again. He was supposed to be this genius, this powerful user of aura, hell apparently, he had made the damn thing! But none of his intelligence mattered if couldn't do anything about it! He had deviated from the original timeline in every way he could think of without breaking it and risking a non-reset. None of it had worked. Beacon was overrun thanks to inside interference (he had confirmed it on the fifth loop), many students died, Cinder won the fight, and then Ruby reset it all.
He still hadn't figured out what was causing the reset and that was utterly maddening. He was used to pulling deductions from barely any data and here he was sitting with eighteen sets of data and he couldn't understand. It wasn't something Ruby had done voluntarily, but something primal and base. It was raw, pure, and unchecked energy.
Jaune stayed in that position for an hour, thinking over everything that would happen the next to somehow come up with something new to try. Wake up, rally everyone to fight, get betrayed but not reveal that we did, follow Pyrrha to the tower…wait a minute.
Jaune bolted upright. Why was she going to Ozpin's office anyways? She knew that Ozpin wasn't in the office due to the attack so why would she be going to the tower?
Jaune got up and headed out of the warehouse, intent on leaving the battlefield a little earlier than the loops earlier. He was sure that whatever Pyrrha was doing, whatever she seemed so awkward and final about in the elevator was of utmost importance. And he would figure it out.
…
Jaune sprinted through the hallways of Beacon as the wing started to collapse under the barrage of Nevermore feathers. This sector had been the first to fall but it was also the closest to the heart of the complex so it made sense the Grimm attacked in greater numbers at this location.
His scroll beeped to indicate it had relocated Pyrrha's scroll after she had manually turned its location off. Thankfully Jaune had added in his own backdoor to each student's scroll that allowed its location to be tracked in case of emergency.
The red dot representing her aura was heading into the center of the school, to the main building. He picked up speed as the roof started to sag over him and managed to run into the door that Pyrrha had gone through a few seconds ago. The frustrated cawing of Nevermore was muffled by the heavy doors that would prevent the Nevermore from getting in.
Jaune threw a Barrier down for good measure and followed Pyrrha's trail to the central elevator of the building that led up to the classrooms. He rounded a corner into the main atrium to see the doors close. Jaune hurled a small glass sphere at the door which exploded in a burst of thermite. Jaune tackled the weakened doors and bounced off the metal, his flesh protected from the extreme heat by his aura.
He caught his breath as the thermite continued to eat away at the door. After a minute, he kicked the mostly molten slag and dived through the 2500-degree mass of metal into the elevator shaft. The powerful electromagnets in his boots activated and clamped him to the side of the shaft. A quick look down confirmed that Pyrrha had taken the cab down, into the 'forbidden depths' as the teachers termed. There was a cavernous excavation under the school but there was no documentation about it and no real advantage to exploring it.
Jaune hopped from wall to wall as he descended, wishing he hadn't been so lazy and devoted a few hours to checking out what was going under the school. If he had, he wouldn't be rushing into an area with no intelligence; it was maddening enough not to know what to do.
He reached the parked cab and dropped onto the top, where the maintenance hatch lay. A few taps on his scroll and the electronic lock on it opened, which in turn opened the doors. Jaune demagnetized his boots and swung down the hatch and out the doors.
It was a small tunnel, lit by small green lights that were spaced at regular intervals. There was some sort of machine at the end of it, inside a much larger tunnel. Jaune could make out Pyrrha's bright red hair and Ozpin's unique silhouette.
Pyrrha climbed into a pod of sorts and the machine lit up with an orange aura. Ozpin turned to him in surprise as Jaune slid to a stop next to him.
"Mr. Arc, you should not have come here."
"What do you mean? What are you doing here?"
"This does not concern you Mr. Arc. There are areas in which I let you have free reign to gather information but this is not one of them."
"She is my partner!"
"She is an exceptional fighter who is going to be our only chance to survive this battle."
Jaune was taken aback at the confident tone Ozpin used. "How can you possibly be sure?"
"Jaune, there are times when you must respect experience and authority. This is one of them. We do not have time to chit chat. She will be here any minute."
"Who? Cinder Fall?"
Ozpin threw him a sharp look. "How do you know that name?"
"That doesn't matter now, Headmaster. What matters now is what's going to happen after this. Cinder will reach your office with powers that are utterly incomprehensible and she is going to destroy this school. What. Is. Your. Plan." The decision to reveal what he knew of the future was a quick one, but it was the only way to get Ozpin to cooperate.
To his surprise, Ozpin turned to the machine, regret and resignation on his face. Jaune turned to follow his gaze to see another pod attached to the machine where a young woman with a large facial scar was lying comatose, her orange aura glowing around her.
"The future isn't as malleable as you think Mr. Arc." Ozpin's voice was quiet. "The dimension of time isn't as linear as is commonly accepted. Energy is the only currency the universe cares about." Ozpin turned to him and opened his mouth to continue but an arrow whizzed through the air into the comatose woman's chest. Her aura faded away and a burst of energy exploded out of the pod and into Cinder's body who was standing in the large hallway.
Jaune cursed and scampered backwards to Pyrrha's pod as the wind inside the tunnel picked up. He broke open the glass and helped Pyrrha out. Once she was on her feet Jaune turned back to Ozpin.
"Headmaster?"
"You two need to leave now! Jaune, I think that you now know what must be done. I entrust the safety of the school in your hands. Pyrrha, help Jaune do what must be done. Go!"
The two ducked into the side tunnel as Cinder flooded the main tunnel with tongues of flame. They ran into the elevator and rode it to the main floor. The ground rumbled around them as faint explosions sounded deep underground.
"Jaune, how did you know where I was?"
Jaune mulled over the question for a second. There was no reason to reveal the whole truth yet. "I couldn't feel your aura above ground. I knew that there was a large excavation down there, and so I checked."
"Why did you want to find me?"
"I…Well, I just kinda thought you were in trouble. Like a gut feeling or something. I honestly don't know, it's nothing scientific." The lie came naturally and Jaune hated it.
Pyrrha smiled and said nothing.
The elevator dinged open and Jaune pulled out his scroll. "There have been casualties, but nothing too heavy. The Grimm have been pushing in towards Beacon Tower."
"Ozpin's office?"
"Most probably, though I don't know why they would swarm an empty tower." Completely empty, except for the homicidal bitch that Ozpin's battling under the tower. How does she control them anyways?
"Guess we should go then." Pyrrha took off running and Jaune followed a second later.
…
The battle was going in full force all around the campus. Explosions were occurring at every range as massive amounts of aura and Dust were being employed to keep the creatures of darkness at bay.
The first team the two saw as they exited the main building was CRDL, who were battling a minor Goliath that had managed to slip its way through the exterior defenses. The normally cocky expressions on the four were replaced with fear, determination, hope, and ultimately more fear as Sky was thrown bodily across the lawn by a five-foot-long tusk.
Pyrrha slowed her run but Jaune was quicker to react. He used his aura boosters to launch him sideways. He recovered in midair and ran on his newly corrected path. A flare was enough to disorient the charging Goliath and for Jaune to scoop Sky into the air and over the seven-foot-tall Grimm. The blinded creature didn't stop and ran throat first into Pyrrha's javelin that she had embedded into the ground. It was a maneuver Port had introduced into the curriculum after seeing employ the tactic to kill a charging Alpha Beowulf with minimal effort. It was the same technique used by boar hunters in the medieval era and, hey, why fix what's not broken?
"Jaune, thanks for the save." Cardin slapped Jaune heartily on the back. "As much as we hate Sky, team CRD doesn't sound as good as CRDL." The team laughed at Sky's fake indignation.
"For sure. Good luck for the rest of the day!" Jaune and Pyrrha waved to the team and continued their run around the girth of the main tower towards the administrative tower. They had just managed to get Beacon tower in their sights when an explosion lit up the area and shook their very bones.
An airship came careening out of the air, flames blackening its sides. Pyrrha grabbed Jaune and dived back behind the building as the ton of metal and volatile Dust slammed into the ground where they had stood.
Jaune's eardrums must have burst at least twice with the initial crash and the explosion as the aura crystals bled into the fuel Dust directly. Pyrrha was already on her feet and scrambling towards the crash to check for survivors. Jaune sat up, confused as all hell. This didn't happen the first go around! Have I already screwed up the timeline? Why is everything more chaotic now?
Jaune finally collected his wits and helped Pyrrha with extinguishing the Dust and moving aside the twisted metal. It was clear within seconds no one had survived. Everything was too twisted and there were no living aura signatures from inside the wreckage.
"It was a civilian ship."
Jaune turned in surprise to his partner. "How can you tell?"
"No weapon grade Dust on board." She saw his surprise. "I did pay attention when you taught us that Jaune."
Jaune facepalmed. Of course! There would have been tertiary explosions if this was a vehicle of war. But that meant...civilian ships were now flying over Beacon. What in Dust's name was going on?
"Pyrrha, we need to end this as soon as possible. Did Ozpin give you any information, any plans?"
"Err…" They both looked up as an explosion lit up the sky. It was a Giant Nevermore this time that came crashing down into the East tower.
"Pyrrha, this is no time to hold back information." The irony stung. "I need to know everything so we can come up with a plan."
Pyrrha took a breath. Another explosion lit up the sky and cast long shadows across her tired face. "There is this fairy tale called 'The Four Maidens' that described how an ancient power was distributed amongst four maidens that gave them the power of the seasons. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall."
Jaune nodded. He had read a lot of Remnant's folklore to familiarize himself with the culture of the world. "That fairy tale is real?"
Pyrrha nodded.
"Alright, ok, so that woman inside the machine with you was a maiden?" That threw a wrench into his scientific understanding of the powers in Remnant. Dust and aura could be explained scientifically in terms of thermodynamics but the maidens' power was borderline magic.
"The Fall Maiden. Someone had attacked her with a couple of others and stolen part of her power before Qrow saved her."
"Qrow Branwen?" He knew Qrow went on many excursions on behalf of Ozpin, why not one where he saves a fairy tale character from getting her power stolen? "If they could overpower the maiden, why didn't they try to fight Qrow?"
"I don't know, Jaune. I'm telling you everything Ozpin told me."
"Fine, go on."
"The maiden, Amber, was brought here to Beacon to be kept safe from her assailants. Ozpin searched for a worthy fighter to take her powers using the machine. He chose me."
Understanding dawned on Jaune. That explained her and Ozpin's secret conversations. "Oh no."
She nodded slowly. "As you saw, the transfer didn't work out."
"Cinder was the assailant and now she has the Fall Maiden's powers?" That explained so much about Cinder's powers. She had been a formidable crime boss before, but now… No wonder why she seemed so indifferent towards earning money unlike Torchwick. She had broader goals.
The ground rumbled and shook and a bright orange flash of light shot up the inside of Beacon Tower illuminating the windows as it went. The sounds of battle became louder and the cries of Grimm grew more prominent.
"Jaune, there is no time. I have to stop her."
Here we go again. Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's arm as she turned away from him. "Pyrrha, you can't do this."
"I have to try, Jaune." Pyrrha's face masked her true emotions that brewed inside her, but Jaune had been through his argument twenty times already.
"Pyrrha, whatever you think you need to do, whatever you feel your destiny is, it's not worth it."
"Jaune…" She sounded scared, almost hurt.
"Pyrrha, trust me on this one. Have I ever done something that ended up being completely wrong?" That was a bad choice of words. "Answer this instead: do you trust me?"
"Jaune of course I do, but…"
"No. Do you trust me fully?"
They maintained eye contact as explosions and screams rang out around them. "I do."
"Good. Then listen to me closely. You cannot take Cinder alone. She is too powerful and all you will end up doing is getting yourself killed. We cannot lose you." Jaune blinked away tears. "I cannot lose you."
He pulled Pyrrha into a tight hug and held on, letting the emotions flow over him. Seeing her death twenty times had done some incredible damage to his psyche but somehow he could feel himself healing. Psychologists were right once again. Hope welled up inside him. Somehow, this will be the one I solve this problem. This is where I break the time loop.
Jaune broke the hug and held her hands in his. "Now, Pyrrha, let's go and end this. No more bravado and heroism. We do this together."
"Together it is." The two partners ran towards the tallest tower together as the school fought for their lives around them.
…
The elevator ground to a halt and Pyrrha threw the doors open. Jaune dived left and Pyrrha right in time to avoid the firebolt that seared the air between them. Jaune blind threw a doped smoke grenade around the pillar he was hiding behind. Pyrrha did the same but with a powdered Gravity Dust grenade.
The Gravity Dust would bring the doped smoke particles together after diffusion, resulting in a multi-use on-demand cloud of smoke. Patent pending. Jaune rolled through the smoke and threw a few firebombs into the mix.
A red glow emanated from within the cloud of smoke and a wave of pure heat blasted out from Cinder, dispersing the smoke and making the entire arena feel like a furnace. Pyrrha sprung out behind her pillar and threw her fully extended javelin at the floating Cinder.
Cinder swatted aside the javelin but was not ready for a piece of ferromagnetic material traveling at Mach Ten to impact her chest. She fell out of the air and slammed into the wall of the office, leaving a crack in it.
Pyrrha retrieved her javelin using her semblance and leaped onto the off-balance Cinder. Jaune reloaded his railgun and watched the hand-to-sword combat take place. Pyrrha was attacking at such a rate as to prevent Cinder from doing anything more than defend her strikes.
Jaune finished reloading and preparing his next set of gadgets for deployment. Pyrrha tired of her assault on Cinder who could now do more than defend. She dropped to the floor and swept her leg under Pyrrha who jumped and slammed down onto the older woman with her shield.
Cinder blocked the blow and threw Pyrrha backwards. Jaune threw a few sparklers at Cinder which ignited and threw out a constant stream of colored sparks and forced Cinder to push forward.
Jaune was ready for the assault, as it was one Cinder had used every time he had gone around. She faked a leap forwards then hovered and blasted Jaune with a stream of fire. Jaune had fallen for it the first couple of times, but he had learned that blocking a stream of fire with a metal shield wasn't very comfortable.
An Ice Crystal later, Jaune was safe behind a wall of melting ice that would absorb massive amounts of energy thanks to the high latent heat of ice. Jaune threw Pyrrha an aura crystal, which she drained immediately to refill herself to full.
Cinder quickly realized what she was doing wasn't working and summoned forth her glass blades to block Pyrrha's charge. Pyrrha used her sword fighting skills, painstakingly learned over years of practice to push the Fall Maiden back inch by inch.
Jaune grimaced at the grating sound of metal hitting glass, but there was nothing he could do but ignore it. He took aim and fired another slug from his sword at Cinder, who had enough presence of mind to dodge the attack by spinning away.
Pyrrha followed Cinder while Jaune reloaded with a different projectile. Everything had been going damn well so far. They had to push her hard for a few dozen more seconds before the dragon would show up.
"Heads up!" Jaune aimed and fired the special projectile. Pyrrha leaped out of the way, the projectile blowing her hair around before it split into five different orbs. Cinder had no time to do anything but use her flames to block the path of the projectiles.
It was exactly what Jaune wanted. If Cinder could apparently break the conservation of energy, he could abuse that. The heat was enough to completely disassociate the nitrogen atoms from the unstable compound filled inside the flimsy outer cover of the projectile.
Atomic nitrogen is one of the most reactive substances found in nature, and the formation of triple bonds releases stupendous amounts of energy. The whole section of the office blew up and the wall crumbled under the heat and pressure. Pyrrha and Jaune were thrown backwards by the blast, while Cinder was nowhere to be seen.
Jaune grinned as he saw the dragon stop circling the tower and prepare its attack. This was how it went down every time, but it was fun nonetheless. Jaune waved Pyrrha to get down and braced for the attack.
It never came. The dragon just flew over the top of the tower and continued to circle. Wait, what? Jaune's mind raced trying to reformat all his plans for this unexpected development. If the top of the tower wasn't destroyed, getting up here would be harder for Ruby. Which meant that this could be the final loop. What triggered it though?
The pile of rubble under the hole shifted and Cinder picked herself from within the pile of cement and dusted off her short dress. It was still immaculate, somehow. "Jaune Arc, you are quite a fighter." She bowed sarcastically, staring up at her two opponents with mirthful, yet cold, eyes. A shiver crawled up Jaune's back; he had the weirdest feeling of being a mouse in a cat's paws.
"Thank you, Ms. Fall." Jaune inclined his head uncertainly. This had never happened before and he had no idea of what to do. Getting dozens of redoes certainly ruined your intuition.
She laughed. "And Ms. Nikos while I live and breathe. You are quite a fighter yourself."
Pyrrha didn't say anything.
"Smart girl. Jaune, "Cinder walked up to him slowly, her hips swaying despite walking on what was essentially a pile of rocks. She reached up and stroked his cheek. "I am so sorry I kept you waiting, but you really shouldn't have escaped."
Cinder noticed his eyes twitch slightly in Pyrrha's direction. She looked at Pyrrha and then back at Jaune's slightly guilty expression before laughing. "Don't tell me you didn't tell your friends? That both is and isn't the Jaune that I know."
"You don't know me Cinder."
"Oh, but I do. More than you know. I know who you are, "she placed a finger on his chest. "And who you are." Her stare bore through his eyes and somehow seemed as if they were looking at something behind him.
Jaune was not willing to break their eye contact first. "And how exactly do you know me? The Prometheans? Torchwick?"
"No Jaune, someone who has been on your mind often lately. It's a little puzzle I'm sure the great Jaune Arc can solve. After all, you helped solve Vale's every problem for good."
This is going from bad to worse real quick. "Cinder, what are you doing here? Why do you want to see Beacon destroyed?"
"You haven't figured it out? I am most disappointed. I had such hopes for you."
"Give me a hint here. Is it about revenge? Power?"
"It's about revenge, yes. Power, that too. But there's a bigger picture that you're missing. Think hard Jaune, it's right there."
"The most peaceful time in Remnant history?"
"The highest expenditure on defense."
"The safest humanity has ever been?"
"The most corruption ever seen."
"The highest quality of life?"
"The unhappiest people have been. Jaune, think think think."
She's feeding me opposites. Higher, lower, safest, most dangerous. Positive and negative. Something clicked in Jaune's mind. His mind flashed back to Ozpin standing in front of the machine inside of which Amber's powers were being transferred to his partner. Ozpin's morose and regretful face as he said, 'The future isn't as malleable as you think Mr. Arc. The dimension of time isn't as linear as is commonly accepted. Energy is the only currency the universe cares about.'
"Oh no." Jaune breathed as things clicked inside his mind.
Cinder simply smiled.
The malleability of time is obvious, there were a lot of things I couldn't change like… Jaune looked up at Pyrrha's worried face. Nonono, that can't be true, there has to be some way to change that!
But deep inside he had already understood the gravity of the situation. Energy is the only currency the universe cares about. Spontaneity in the universe depended on the lowering of potential energy in any system. Chemical reactions only proceeded given the overall energy of the system decreases. A ball moved through space to the bottom of a hill to reduce the gravitational potential energy. Whenever a locus's energy seems to increase, the rest of the universe's would invariable decrease.
"Aura."
"Grimm." Cinder smiled as if Jaune was a slow student that was finally grasping a concept, but there were strong undercurrents of malicious intent.
"Jaune, what is she talking about?"
"It all makes sense now." Jaune's emotions were already being pushed to the side as his brain spurred into overdrive. "Our usage of aura and her usage of the powers of the Maidens create energy out of naught. I thought it was a consequence of this particular universe's rules, but it's not. The energy we create is taken from somewhere else. What is the antithesis of the Hunters?"
Pyrrha's eyes widened. "The Grimm."
"Exactly. Our usage of energy feeds into the Grimm population. They are the balancing factor to our unbalanced energy equation. The increase of entropy to our work done!" Jaune shook as epiphany upon epiphany struck him.
Talk about two edged swords. The very tool that enabled humanity to survive is going to end up consuming the world. There was something missing, however. Something utterly relevant to their current situation. But what about time? The future isn't malleable…time isn't as linear as thought. Pyrrha…
"Are you here to speed up the balancing of the equation? Is that why you do what you do?"
Cinder just cocked her head. "I have been shown the entire truth. The possibilities that reveal themselves once you look past the petty squabbles of humanity are breathtaking. Balance is where true power lies. Hence, the plan."
"You didn't come up with this on your own. Who helped you?"
"Time is running out Jaune. Time is running out. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. You know the truth now. You seek power, the same as I do. Join us. Balance the universe."
Why didn't any of this happen bef…oh. Of course. The universe always attempts to reduce its energy in any way possible. This must be the path of least energy, of the greatest entropy. Time is running out. It's not as malleable as I thought. This was going to happen anyways, but it would increase entropy the most if it was done by my hand.
Cinder must have seen the light of realization in his eyes. She smiled sadistically and stepped away. Jaune side-stepped over to Pyrrha. There was only one chance to do this. Even if the ball must end up at the bottom of the hill, what law says that it must be done at a certain time? He was an inventor, an engineer: he would fight the universe tooth and nail to make things work the way he wanted.
Pyrrha kept her eyes on the still-smiling Cinder. "What is your plan?"
He leaned over to whisper into Pyrrha's ear. "This will be hard, very hard, but it must be done. Do you trust me?"
"Completely." Pyrrha looked down at an aura crystal that Jaune passed to her. It was the clearest crystal she had ever seen, almost invisible. It was also perfectly shaped, each edge shaped to the highest tolerance, each corner sharp.
Jaune stepped behind her and took a deep breath. "This is experimental, but it's our only chance. I want you to empty your entire aura into the crystal."
"Jaune…"
"I need you to trust me."
Pyrrha nodded. Her familiar red aura glowed around her and flowed down her arms to pool into the crystal. The crystal absorbed every single shred, as Jaune intended. Jaune supported Pyrrha as the aura exhaustion took hold of her body. He fed some of his own aura discreetly to Pyrrha which both strengthened her and diluted the purity of the crystal both. All part of the plan.
"Done." Pyrrha breathed weakly. Jaune took the crystal from her and placed it into a pouch. "Now what's ne…"
Jaune shut his eyes and grit his teeth as he felt Pyrrha's heart pulse around the blade of his dagger.
"Ja…Jaune…"
"Sssh, it's all okay Pyrrha. This was all meant to happen." Jaune gulped. All his lies and half-truths to his friends had come easy, but this truth was one of the hardest things he had ever said. What does this say about me?
"I...dest…" Pyrrha went limp in his arms.
"Your destiny." Jaune shook his head. If the evidence hadn't been so damning and widely sourced, Jaune would never have believed. But to have Ozpin, Cinder, and the mysterious voice during his 'death' all give complementary information, there was no way to go against it.
"Curious. You seem almost desensitized to killing your own partner in cold blood."
Jaune shook as he stood back up. He put the bloody dagger into its sheath and looked up to Cinder. "This is the part where you reveal you've been broadcasting this to the entire school."
Some part of Jaune's mind managed to find joy in Cinder's surprised expression. "How did you know?"
"Destroying my reputation by showing me killing Beacon's best fighter from behind is an excellent way of increasing entropy. Some might even say the only method." Jaune's voice was monotonous.
"So, you do understand the true state of the world." Cinder's sadistic expression was back on her face, joined by an infuriating smug expression.
"We all are slaves to the universe's laws." Many people rejected the concepts of fate, of destiny. Jaune had too, until last night. Now it seemed that there was shortest path to the heat death of the universe and Jaune's worldview was shattered. "But…"
"But?"
"But that doesn't mean we have to obey them. Slaves can rebel. Slaves can fight back." Jaune threw an Ultra Barrier crystal onto the ground in front of Cinder and connected it straight to his aura pool. He groaned as Cinder threw everything she had at the barrier and stringed together the dozens of aura crystals he had hidden about his body. He pulled his scroll out and tapped into the PA system. Cinder may somehow have gotten access to Beacon's systems, but two could play that game.
"Attention students." The first crystal was now completely empty. "You have undoubtedly seen the video that just played. I know you are confused, scared, angry, but know that I, Jaune Arc, have a very good reason for doing this. However, the emotions you are feeling now have undoubtedly summoned more than a few Grimm to this location. Flee. Flee. Flee. Beacon has fallen. I repeat, Beacon has fallen. Retreat, regroup, live to fight another day."
Ruby Rose
Ruby watched with her mouth agape and watery eyes as every screen on campus showed Pyrrha slump to the ground and reveal Jaune holding a bloody knife. The leader of the defense was stony-faced and staring at the body of his partner and closest friend with no expression on his face. The video feet stopped and the chaos started.
The forests which were already dark with Grimm grew darker almost instantaneously. The Grimm that were once small and dark now bristled with spikes and intelligence in their eyes. Nevermore were tearing the roof of the main building and a Goliath managed to break the defenses and charge headfirst through the cafeteria walls.
Ruby stayed kneeling in her sniper perch and watched the tide of battel turn instantaneously. What was once a hopeful defense turned into a slaughter. The defenders were pushed back meter by meter by the newfound ferocity of the creatures of Grimm.
The rest of team RWBY came running up to her. Yang stepped forwards first. "Ruby, Jaune just issued an announcement on the PA system telling us Beacon has fallen."
"Jaune did?" Ruby gulped past the lump in her throat. "But that thing that Professor Oobleck was fighting could imitate people, right? Maybe it was it instead!"
"I know Ruby, we all saw it." Ruby could see the other three girls were extremely shaken up, but holding it back much better than she was. "It didn't seem like Jaune, and I don't think he would do such a thing, but we need to leave either way. This school is not worth dying for. There are some Bullheads in the hangars we can use to evacuate. Let's go."
Jaune Arc
Only two aura crystals remained, and Jaune needed the last one. Pain wracked his body at the sheer expenditure of energy and his mind was in pieces, the logical glue holding the trauma back had dissolved. He grinned maniacally at Cinder as the Barrier started to fade away.
"You may have broken Beacon, Cinder. But you will never break humanity. There's a day when we'll fight and we're not going to fall. There's a day when we won't crawl anymore. That day may be tomorrow. It may be next year."
Jaune emptied his aura into Project Phoenix, a series of shaped charges and Dust that he had placed throughout Beacon at strategic locations. It would annihilate everything around the area, but leave his vault underground safe.
It was a 'Scorched Earth' type of plan, but this was the only way to ensure the safety of his friends and classmates. The world shook as the chain reaction began, starting at the base of Beacon Tower.
"But know this Cinder: as long as I'm alive and kicking, I will fight entropy to my dying breath. Take that to your master."
With those words, the Fall of Beacon began and ended.
...
AN: Yes, I did go there. Sorry, not sorry.
Anyways, I was going to post this a couple days ago on the 333rd dayaversary of this fic, but I couldn't get it out on time. Close enough right? I wanted to use this chapter to celebrate the anniversary of this story and thank each and everyone one of you who reviewed, PM'd, favorited, and followed me/the story. Seriously, you guys rock. 27 chapters, and 150k+ words. More than I ever thought I could write! According to word I've spend 749 hours over the course of 11 months of this fic. I don't think that is entirely accurate and I think Word needs to stop drinking.
The next chapter will be a while as I have a lot of really important exams coming up. Please leave a review, PM me if you want to ask a question/discuss something/point out errors, it really helps me write better and that in turn will make the story better. Win-win!
Hope you all enjoyed this doozy of a chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time!
