Well, this is probably unexpected for those that follow my profile.
The reason I am writing this is for two main reasons: the plot idea kept wriggling in the back of my mind for the past few weeks, and that by writing a one-shot, it would allow me to brush off my rusty writing skills that I have neglected for the past year and couple months.
Oddly enough, the thing that inspired me to start writing again was editing my girlfriend's university papers. Something about that just activated the dormant part of my brain. So, I guess you have her to thank for my return.
As a preface for this story, it is one that I have not put major amounts of planning into, and just thought that it would be an interesting take on Jaune's Semblance, and his character overall. It was mainly inspired by the scene in Volume 7, where everyone is training, and Jaune is seen recharging his Aura from about 65% to 93% almost instantly, as well as the concept of Semblances "evolving", so I thought I would take these two ideas and push them to the logical extreme, with some of my own thoughts thrown in.
Enjoy!
Crashing though the stone pillar, dust and sand being thrown into the air, Jaune tried to roll and shift back onto his feet, but the exhaustion that wracked him forced him back onto the ground.
He could only vaguely make out the blurry shapes of Ruby and Weiss trading stabs and slashes with Cinder, the Fall Maiden looking more frustrated than actually worried. Her clothes were simultaneously burnt, frost-coated, and had great slashes in them, curtesy of Weiss' Dust, and all of their combined efforts to take her down.
Managing to push himself up onto his knees, he watched as his white Aura flickered, trying to keep him going. A quick glance at his near ruined scroll showed that he was nearing empty, something that he hadn't seen since his days back at Beacon.
A scan of the room showed that he was not the only one out of the fight, or near enough to it. Yang was laying on her side, her side and back looking like someone had taken a blowtorch to it for several minutes, with Blake doing her best to drag her partner to a safer place, a large slash across her ribs bleeding her of strength and life equally. Yang's left gauntlet looked to have been half melted, and Gambol Shroud nowhere in sight.
The sound of shattering glass heralded the arrival of Neo, the two-toned girl unleashing a barrage of stabs with her misericorde, repeatedly going after Cinders remaining eye, forcing the Maiden to throw herself back with her powers. With a shimmer of pink, Neo seemingly vanished into thin air.
The arrival of their former enemy brought an exhausted smile to Jaune's face. She had gone with Winter, Nora, Ren, and Oscar to help Shade's Headmaster protect the Relic. Jaune and RWBY were on their way to the Vault when they had been blindsided by the inferno bitch herself. If Neo was here, then that must mean that whoever Salem had sent was either dead, or being handily dealt with. If they could hold out for just a little while longer, maybe everyone else would arrive, and they could finally put an end to Cinder.
Taking a deep breath, Jaune felt as his Aura began to restore itself, if only slowly. Looking back at his scroll that he was at least back into the orange. 'Not great, but its something.' Jaune thought, forcing himself to stand on his wobbly legs, the room seemingly tilt for a moment before stabilizing. Shuffling over to his two downed friends, Jaune collapsed back to his knees beside them. "How is she?" Jaune asked, scanning Yang, who had not stirred since she had blocked Ruby from being blasted by Cinder's flames.
Blake toppled back, somehow managing to stay sitting upright. "She's still breathing, but that's it. I can't wake her up at all!" Blake managed to growl out, her hand covering her bleeding chest. She couldn't repress the hiss of pain that escaped as she did so, drawing Jaune's attention to his faunus friend.
"Come here." Jaune said, shuffling closer to her, placing his hand over her gash, his other hovering over top of Yang's downed form. With a deep, steady breath, he watched as his hands lit up in a radiant white light, which seemed to coat both girls as well. It wasn't until he began to grow rather dizzy did he stop, nearly collapsing once more at the effort.
He was rewarded with the flickering sound of both Blake and Yang's Aura seemingly reactivating, Yang taking a much stronger breath, and Blake's side closing up. Lifting his head, he gave a tired, but relieved, smile to the thankful brunette.
A wave of heat blasted away the small victory of the paladin, forcing the three to tumble away. A scream of primal fury followed, along with the sound of shattered glass. Shakily getting back up, Jaune was nearly forced back to the ground by the sight alone, his mind struggling to process what he was even seeing.
There, Cinder stood, smirking cruelly, her flaming sword lodged in the shoulder of Neo, the girl's face twisted in pain and shock, her mouth making silent gasps. With a callous shrug, Cinder wrenched the blade from her foe, Neo's blood boiling off the weapon near instantly. The smell of burning flesh filled the room, with Ruby and Weiss recovering, lunging back at the monster. With a simple flick of her sword, Cinder sent a blast of fire at Neo, who struggled to lift her parasol, which exploded, sending the mangled girl into the wall.
Jaune scrambled towards the downed form of Neo, the blood rushing in his ears as he saw the growing pool of red around her. Sliding to his knees beside her, he turned her onto her back, the girl's eyes flashing with panic and fear, her mouth in a near constant silent scream. "I-it's gonna be ok, Neo." Jaune said, his voice shaking. "I can fix this. Don't worry, Neo. I can fix this." He repeated, as if to convince himself of his ability.
Neo managed a pained nod, crystal clear tears leaking from her eyes. Placing his hands on her shoulder, on either side of the cleave, Jaune began to push as much Aura as he could into Neo. His mind was simultaneously scrambled, and laser focused. 'Why was she so low? Why did this have to happen again? And WHY WASN'T THIS WORKING?!' he watched as what little of his Aura he remained trickled out of him, Neo's Aura shining faintly, with the wound struggling to stitch itself back together again. With another push of effort, Jaune's Aura shimmered, and faded, breaking.
That was it. That's all he had.
Not only had he lost a great deal of Aura during their fight with Cinder, but he had been doing everything within his power to keep the girls of Team RWBY on their feet and in the fight. He had been continuously topping them up whenever they took a bad hit, burning through his own reserves faster than ever, but it had seemed to be working.
All of that fell apart when he had gone to boost Weiss for one of her summons, when Cinder had seemingly erupted into flames, scorching everyone, and causing them to cover their eyes, the heat drying them out near instantly. Then Blake had narrowly avoided being gutted, but still being slashed across her side, blood flying alongside the sound of metal on bones.
With most of them pausing at the sight, Cinder had prepared to incinerate Ruby, finally putting an end to the thorn in her side since Beacon. Yang had done what she always done since they were kids; she hurled herself between the oncoming flames, and her baby sister, protecting her from harm. When the flames faded, everyone was shocked to see Yang still alive, her clothes black and flaking apart. With a flicker, her Aura broke, and with it, Yang had collapsed.
Jaune couldn't stop the flood of memories that swarmed his mind. He had been too weak to help Pyrrha. He had been too weak to kill Cinder at Haven. He had been to weak to save Penny. And now he was too weak to protect his friends again. He had always just been too weak.
And now, just like with Penny, he was forced to watch as the girl before him began to slip away before him. Healing the others was the one thing that he was good at; the one thing he could do that no one else could, and now he couldn't even do that as Neo's eyes continued to grow weaker and weaker.
No.
He couldn't allow anyone else to die. Not while he was still breathing to take the hit. Despite his talk with Nora and Ren, he had never truly been able to move passed his desire to sacrifice himself, if it meant that his friends would live. His time after Haven, Atlas, and their fall into another realm had only steeled his resolve.
Digging deeper than he ever had before, he gripped the flickering embers of his Aura, and forced it to grow. It didn't feel like it did before. Before, it felt like he was simply guiding his Aura back into his body, like he was moulding warm clay. Now, it felt like he was trying to pull white hot metal out of his very being. He began to hear his scroll beeping, alerting him of his Aura restoring, but he simply dug deeper. After all, if Aura was a manifestation of the soul, then so long as he had his soul, he could force it to fuel his Aura and Semblance.
Blood began to leak from his nose, and his vision grew cloudy with pain and dizziness. However, he could see through the haze that Neo's Aura began to shine brighter than he had ever seen it. Her shoulder began to pull back together, muscle and skin knitting itself together once more, leaving noting but a large, pale scar where bloody flesh had been not moments before.
Neo's eyes seemed to shimmer and shine as Aura continued to flood her body. As her eyes cleared, she looked up to see Jaune, his Aura burning bright, and blood pouring from his nose. Strength flooded her body, and with a shove, she had leapt to her feet, Hush miraculously still held in her hand. She felt her body begin to vibrate with excess energy, not used to the vast amount of Aura that filled her being. With a murderous glee, she coated herself in her illusions once more, leaping after Cinder with renewed vigour.
As Jaune watched Neo leap towards Cinder, and into her illusions, a splitting headache began to grow, staggering the paladin. Letting himself relax for just a moment, he was jogged out of his stupor by the beeping of his scroll, it showing that his Aura, which had been blazing not a minute earlier, had fallen back to zero. Glancing around the room again, he could not find Blake or Yang, the former probably having pulled the latter to safety.
He saw as Neo burst from her illusions, forcing her blade into the back of Cinder's neck, the woman's Aura struggling to hold under the strain. With another burst of flames, Cinder forced the ice cream-themed girl back, looking incredulously at the woman that she thought she had killed, Ruby and Weiss pausing momentarily in their shock, only to smile darkly and launch themselves back at the false Maiden.
Jaune sighed, happy that he had actually managed to save someone for once. For once, he wasn't useless. His headache continued to grow, but Jaune fought to keep it down. He couldn't afford to pass out now. What if one of the others was hurt again? They still needed him.
Running over to Crocea Mors, he felt its familiar weight in his hand. Sprinting back towards the battle, he swung at Cinder's exposed back. Cinder, for her part, tried to roll away when she heard his approach, but still received a small cut to her arm. Firing a ball of fire at Jaune as she rolled away, she watched in a near stunned disbelief as the magic flames simply exploded, and broke, rolling off his body as he shrugged the blow.
"Cinder!" Jaune roared, continuing to steam forwards, slashing and stabbing at the person he despised with all his heart. Cinder continued to move back forced to trade blows with all four of her opponents. Ruby's fast slashes and erratic movements forcing Cinder to remain on the defensive, with Weiss summoning swarms of Nevermore in an attempt to chip away at the Maiden. After all, all the magic in the world wouldn't matter if your Aura was broken, and you were bleeding out on the floor. Neo continued to flicker in and out of existence, taking swipes and stabs wherever she could, a growing look of victory upon her face. All the while, Jaune continued to barrel ahead, eyes locked on the bane of his existence.
As he continued to force himself onward, he felt almost as if his strikes were growing stronger, and his movements faster. However, a growing sense of burning also seemed to be filling his body. But all that didn't matter as he struck over and over. All that mattered was putting an end to this. She wouldn't be able to slither away this time.
And suddenly, it was over.
Due to having to constantly evade their attacks, it was only a matter of time until something went wrong. Avoiding a strike to the head from Jaune's shield, Cinder's eye widened when one of her feet slipped, her glass high heeled foot twisting as she stepped on a patch of ice, curtesy of Weiss. Taking advantage of the brief window, Neo stabbed her misericorde into Cinder's ribs. At the same time, Crescent Rose ripped across her back and shoulder, the Maiden's aura flaring for but a moment before breaking, Hush driving up passed Cinder's rib cage, and through her lung.
With a scream of pain and anger, Cinder's hands erupted in flames, forcing the three girls away, Neo pulling her blade as she leapt back, only for Jaune to stay rooted in place, his shield glowing red hot, and his Aura burning brightly. Cinder focused both her hands at Jaune, blasting him with flames as hot as she could manage.
"Jaune!" Ruby cried out, watching as her first friend be engulfed in magical flames. After seeing what had happened to Yang at close to full Aura, she knew that Jaune couldn't take the same blast, not with him having funnelled all of his Aura into them for the whole fight.
However, it didn't take long for those to fizzle out to nothing more than flickering embers, clinging to life, strength leaving her legs as she collapsed to her knees. As she glanced up, she was met with the sight of Jaune, his sleeves and leggings still smouldering, but otherwise looking none the worse for her attack. As he took a deep breath, his Aura brightened again, shimmering around his body, his ocean blue eyes darkening as he approached.
Anger flared through her mind as she fought to push herself up. 'No!' Cinder cried in her mind. 'I am the Fall Maiden! I destroyed Beacon, and killed Ozpin! I cannot be brought down by this whelp and his band of misfits!' Gathering all of her remaining might, she felt her power flare around her as she-
All her flames went out, a sense of numbness spreading throughout her body. Confused, she glanced down, only to see the paladin's blade sticking out of her chest. Blood filled her mouth as she coughed, falling back before Jaune caught her by the shoulder, keeping her upright.
As Jaune crouched down to her eye level, he twisted Crocea Mors, taking a sick sense of delight as the pain began to wash over Cinder as she struggled to breathe. Leaning closer, he stared her directly in the eye as she futilely tried to push his hands away from the sword hilt. "I told you I would make you pay back at Haven, and an Arc never goes back on their word." Jaune growled, ripping his ancestral blade out of the woman.
Cinder toppled back, weakly trying to hold the wound shut. Continuing to cough up blood, her tears mixed with it, leaving crimson streaks down the side of her face. "You can rest in peace now, Pyrrha." She heard Jaune say softly.
Her mind flicked to the Invincible Girl. How everything that had happened in the past year was because she had killed the champion girl. If she had spared Nikos, would the others have followed her to Haven? Would she have lost her arm and eye because of Ruby? Would Haven have fallen? Would… would…
Her thoughts drifted off, the last thing that flitted through her mind before darkness overtook her vision being the sight of her standing over Nikos as she into the wind.
Jaune watched as Cinder's breathing continued to grow weaker and weaker until, finally, she stopped all together. He heard as the others slowly walked up behind him, also looking at their slayed adversary, no doubt. "Is… is it over?" He faintly heard Ruby whisper, as if she couldn't believe that Cinder was finally gone.
Jaune couldn't help but to sneer, his grip tightening on his hilt to the point where the leather began to creak. His body continuing to burn with Aura and energy, he raised his blade, and slashed at Cinder's neck. Her head fell from her body, rolling away slightly, as Jaune continued to chop at her corpse. Jaune and the others were forced to shield their eyes when a bright orange light covered Cinder's body, condensing into a small orange ball, before shooting off into the night sky. The power of the Fall Maiden had gone to whoever was its new host.
Panting, and slick with sweat, Jaune pulled his sword from Cinder's body before kicking it away one final time. "Now it's over." Jaune grunted, turning back to face the others. Neo had a look of satisfaction on her face; although she would have preferred to finish the bitch off herself, she couldn't deny the happiness it brought her at seeing the woman get butchered to pieces by her shining knight.
Weiss and Ruby were both conflicted. Cinder deserved to die more than any other, but seeing the usually calm and positive Jaune mutilate her corpse was terrifying. As he continued to take large breaths, blood which had spattered on his face rolled down, mixing with his sweat. His face, even though it was covered in blood and grime, looked red and strained, as if he was in great pain.
"Jaune? Are you alright?' Ruby asked meekly, slowly stepping forwards to their friend.
Jaune looked at her, seeing her worried expression, concern shining through. Taking one last deep breath to steady himself, he gave her a tired grin. "Yeah, Crater Face. I'm…" Jaune trailed off, his exhausted smiling changing to one of of pain, confusion, and worry.
Dropping to the floor, Jaune felt the heat and pain that had been slowly building up since healing Neo rise to a fever pitch. It felt as if he was burning up from the inside. His Aura continuing to burn brighter and brighter, his form beginning to leak heat. Managing to roll onto his back, he frantically looked at Ruby, Weiss, and Neo, who had immediately crowded around him, trying to sit him back up. His chest burned as he could only take short, pained breaths.
"Jaune!" Ruby cried, grabbing him by his should and head. "What happened? What's wrong?!" She began to work furiously at the straps holding his by now mangled armour onto his chest, with Neo working on the other side, and Weiss using her remaining Dust to make some ice for the boy, who appeared to be burning up. "What's happening?" Ruby cried, desperately hoping either of the others had any idea, though both looked equally at a loss.
Tossing his armour aside, they could see nothing wrong with the downed boy. Apart from his burned clothes and flaring Aura, he looked perfectly fine. Pressing the ice to his forehead, the chunk began to steam upon contact, nearly causing the white-haired girl to drop it. The cold momentarily seemed to ease his pain, but it didn't take long for the ice to melt, and without it, the burning hot pain seemed to only double in intensity.
The sound of running footsteps caused Neo to jump up, her misericorde held defensively, standing between the approaching threat and the downed paladin. It wasn't until Nora, Ren, and Oscar rounded the corner did Neo relax, if only slightly. The trio looked a little worse for wear compared to when she had left them to fight Cinder, but otherwise ok. As they rushed into the room, their expressions went from ones of relief at seeing everyone, to intense worry at the fallen Jaune.
"What happened!?" Nora cried, nearly shoving Weiss out of the way of her Fearless Leader, gripping his hand tightly. Ren wasn't far behind her, kneeling opposite of his partner, grabbing Jaune's other hand, scanning over his body for injuries, though was confused to find none.
"We don't know!" Weiss said, panic creeping into her voice. "He was fine for one moment, and then he just collapsed! I tried to give him some ice, but its gone!" The others looked at her incredulously, as if she was speaking an ancient language.
Oscar looked on the verge of panicking before he seemed to calm instantly. Leaning over Jaune, he turned Jaune's held until it was directly facing him. "Mr. Arc, can you hear me?" Ozpin asked, frowning in growing concern when Jaune's unfocused eyes seemed to keep drifting around, his head lolling from side to side. His eyes were bloodshot, and his nose had begun pouring blood once more, his breathing growing even more strained and erratic. "Do any of you know what might have caused this reaction?" Ozpin asked, glancing at the three girls he had been with.
Weiss and Ruby could only shake their heads in growing despair. Neo, however, quickly fumbled to pull out her scroll, hastily typing away at it, before pressing a button, the scroll using a text-to-speech app. "I got hurt really badly, but Jaune managed to heal me. I thought he ran out of Aura for a moment, but then he began flooding me with it. His nose was also bleeding pretty badly after as well." The phone said, its robotic voice only confusing the rest of the room's occupants.
A look of dread crossed Ozpin's face, quickly snatching up Jaune's shield, before tearing off his scroll, and tossing the shield away. Though the scroll was almost completely destroyed, Ozpin could still make out Jaune's Aura level, which read as being at 610% and climbing fast. "Everyone must leave right now!" Ozpin shouted, standing up.
Looks of horror and betrayal crossed the faces of nearly everyone in the room, staring at the aged wizard. "What the hell?! No! We're not leaving Jaune behind!" Nora cried, gripping Jaune's hand harder, laying across his prone form, as if to protect him from whatever Ozpin had planned.
Ren stood, his hands falling to his dual pistols, though not drawing them, staring at Ozpin intensely. "Explain." Was all he said, not backing down even as the reincarnated headmaster tried to move around him.
Ozpin seemed to grunt in frustration, trying to move Weiss and Ruby away from Jaune's prone form, keeping a wary eye on Neo, who had once again drawn her dagger. "He has too much Aura in his body. If this keeps up, his body will ignite with how much energy is coursing through him! The only chance we have is if I can knock him unconscious and break his Aura!"
The others were shocked at this revelation, with Nora beginning to cry at the possibility of losing the one she cherished like a brother. Weiss and Ruby simply stood up and backed away, too stunned to do much else than comply with the Headmaster's orders. Ren stared at Ozpin deeply, looking for anything that could betray his intent, but seemingly found none as he nodded, and gently began to pry a weeping Nora off of Jaune.
As he led her away, Ozpin prepared for what he must do. "It would be best if all of you left the room. I don't want any of you to be harmed." Ozpin said, watching as his students quickly and quietly filed out of the room. "That means you as well, Miss Neopolitan." Ozpin said, watching as Neo stood, staring darkly at him. He stared back, neither flinching away, until Neo brought her hand up, pointing her misericorde at Ozpin, waving it lightly in warning, before quickly sprinting from the room.
Ozpin sighed as he looked at his remaining student, who was almost completely engulfed in a white hot bright light from his flaring Aura, it attempting to escape in anyway it could. 'Wish I could have saved this, but I believe this warrants its use.' Ozpin thought.
Gripping the handle of his cane, he pulled the grip of it, a pale green light spilling from the tip. With a stab down at Jaune's head, the room exploded into white.
And there you have it.
I only intend this story to be 2-3 chapters long, as I didn't have much more planned after the main event, and then another section to kinda explain what happened.
Probably going to post the second chapter sometime in the next week or so, which will mainly focus on just the repercussions of what happened with Jaune, and just exposit a bit over my thought process.
This was mainly just meant to brush up my writing abilities after a year or so, so I would appreciate any reviews, whether they be positive, critical, or somewhere in between. My only request is that it is kept somewhat civil. Flames don't help anyone, and only serve to cause more vitriol.
And with that, this is Canadian Admiral signing off.