Due to real life obligations and work, this latest chapter was delayed. In the meantime, the previous chapters were reworked to improve upon their quality(2/25/2020). Finally, by no means do I have any plans to abandon this project. I intend to see through this story till the end, so thank you for being patient.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to RWBY
"Adam, what have you done?" Sienna tightly grips the armrests of her throne. At the bottom of the steps is Adam Taurus, on a knee with his head down.
"I did what I had to do." He neutrally responds. "I accept any and all punishment you'll bestow upon me."
"You led an attack a Huntsman Academy!" Sienna yells. "This is a line that I thought you of all people would have never crossed! The loss of the CCT has brought global communications down to a crawl, and the White Fang is largely responsible for it due to your actions!"
"I know," He responds in a low, dull voice.
"Then explain yourself!" Sienna growls. Adam remains kneeling, head down, and silent.
Her feline eyes narrow slightly, before letting out a frustrated sigh. Sienna waves her hand dismissively at the guards.
"Leave us!"
Saluting once, the guards exit the throne room, leaving Adam and Sienna alone. Pushing herself up from her seat, she strolls down the steps and stops in front of Adam's kneeling form.
"You can speak without reserve."
"I'd rather we move to a more secure location," Adam quietly responds.
Sienna brow scrunches in thought, before turning on her heels.
"Very well then. We talk in my quarters."
*** Sienna Khan's Room ***
Sienna sits down the edge of her queen sized bed and crosses a leg.
"So, what is this about?" Her tone shifts to one of familiarity, though her anger is still very aparrant.
Adam balls his hands into fists.
"We were compromised in Vale. I could not risk unwanted ears overhearing anything."
"Compromised?" Sienna is surprised.
"A human woman going by the name of Cinder Fall had approached us. She proposed to the White Fang in Vale to work together with her," Adam growls.
"Obviously, I refused."
Sienna nods.
"Several weeks later, she'd come back and attacked our camp without warning," Adam grits his teeth.
"Dust rounds deflected from her with ease, and dozens of my men were burnt to ash within seconds. She'd clearly stated that she'd personally hunt down and kill every White Fang and Faunus in Vale should we not agree with her terms."
"These terms included the attack on Beacon?"
"No... she wanted us to rob Dust shipments."
"And why didn't you contact me about this development?" Sienna demands.
"I thought that if all she wanted from us was to rob Dust from the humans, particularly from the Schnee Dust Company, it did not warrant a report all the way back to Headquarters. If the lives of my men and the Faunus could be spared by doing what we'd originally set out to do, then the choice to make was obvious."
Adam heavily breathes out before continuing.
"All I'd expected her to demand from us was to kill and rob from the humans. Due to my misjudgment, I'd failed to foresee her demanding us to do something as insane as attacking Beacon Academy. By that point, I'd deemed the situation out of control and planned to contact you, but that woman had anticipated such a reaction."
He grits his teeth in anger before continuing his report.
"She'd broken into the Vale CCT and uploaded a virus into the Kingdom's network. She was kind enough to inform me that any and all communications leaving or entering Vale would not escape her eyes, and that if we did contact anyone, the location of whoever is contacted would be revealed. I could not risk calling her bluff, which we now know was not an empty threat she'd made based on how she hijacked the Tournament broadcast."
Sienna remains silent as she digests the information Adam just delivered. Her hand slowly begin to clench around the bed sheets. As Adam had admitted, much of the blame could be placed on the error of his judgement. However, she recognizes that such behavior demonstrated by this Cinder woman would have been incredibly difficult to predict. She briefly closes her eyes, imagining herself in Adam's position. What would she have done? The answer is not clear...
Sienna reopens her eyes and sighs, her initial anger towards Adam mostly dwindled, but she remains deeply frustrated at the current situation.
"For now..." She stands up. "Our main priority is to salvage this situation. The public opinion on the White Fang is at an all time low, and many, rightfully so, blame our organization for the attack on Beacon."
Her face slowly grows pale, having made up her mind on the next course of action.
"I've gone over your report, and we sustained a significant loss during the attack on Beacon?"
Adam nods in response.
"One of the survivors in that encounter managed to take a picture. According to everyone that was there and survived, it was only a single human responsible for the 83 KIA. Though his facial features are not clear in the picture, many of them assert that the human goes by the name, Jaune Arc."
Sienna clenches her hands into tight fists.
"Release that picture to the public. Ensure the source remains anonymous."
Adam's eyes widen in shock behind his mask.
"Sienna, you're-"
She responds with a resolute look, but a trembling voice.
"As High Leader of the White Fang, the responsibility of making any and all decisions for the betterment of our cause falls upon my shoulders. Even... even if it means that I must bear the burden of using our brothers' deaths as propaganda to lessen the ire sent our way."
She finishes with self disgust.
Adam suppresses a shudder. The reason why he chose to follow Sienna's lead in the first place was due to the resolve in her words. And now, she is following through with her actions. He looks back at his leader with newfound respect, and feels great shame that he is the one responsible for her having to make such a decision.
"As for your punishment, you are to be demoted down to the Lieutenant level. You are also to remain here, on Anima for the foreseeable future."
He closes his eyes and slowly nods.
"And while you are here, you will be working together with me to gather any and all information regarding Cinder Fall, and any of her associates."
Sienna's pupils turn to slits and her hair begins to stand on their ends, giving her a vicious feral appearance.
"We have a debt to repay," she snarls.
Adam drops down onto a knee without hesitation.
"As you command, High Leader Khan."
"If that's all, you may leave."
He picks himself up and makes his way to the door. As his hand grasps the door handle, he pauses at Sienna's voice.
"And what about Blake? You met her in Beacon, didn't you?" Sienna softly asks.
Adam tightly grips the handle.
"I did. But it doesn't matter now. We have bigger problems to deal with."
He twists the handle and promptly leaves, leaving Sienna alone in her room. She sits back down on her bed and falls to her side, her head facing the door which Adam had left through.
*** With JNPR and CFVY ***
"We were quickly getting overwhelmed," says Coco, recalling that night. "Our team can kick serious ass, but when there are that many, even the best of us will eventually get worn down."
She glances at Velvet.
"Velvet got injured due to running out of Aura, and right as the rest of the White Fang were about to converge on us was when Jaune came."
"And then what happened?" Pyrrha asks quietly.
Velvet whispers "He gave the White Fang a simple warning."
Coco looks down at her cup of coffee and slowly recites, "Those who choose to retreat will live, and those who do not will die. That was all he said."
She looks up at NPR with a complicated expression.
"Look, we know fully well that the profession of Huntresses and Huntsmen aren't just about saving the innocent from Grimm and playing hero. That eventually, we'll be faced with difficult situations regarding non-Grimm combatants. To make my point extra clear, we've seen people die in our missions, but... to kill someone so decisively without a shred of hesitation. It's not something anyone can prepare to witness, and the bloodlust he was emitting was something I've never felt before."
"He was collected... calm... cold... sharp," Velvet whispers.
"What happened next?"
"A White Fang member charged," Coco pauses to take a drink from her cup. "And then... he was dead. Cut down from a distance. Immediately afterwards, a large portion of their forces charged at the same time, to avenge their comrade's death."
She points to her Scroll on the table.
"And that was the result. It only took him a few seconds..."
Nora's mouth drops.
"Only a few seconds? There's got to be at least 50 in that picture! And what about their Aura?"
"They definitely had Aura," Velvet clarifies. "But none of that seemed to matter. Also, he... used that technique."
"Reflection of the Divine Moon," Pyrrha mutters softly.
Velvet nods in affirmation.
"I... don't think I can train it. At least, not right now, having seen firsthand the true purpose of such a technique. I need time."
'If our speculation on Ying Yue is correct, this isn't just a technique, but a precious memory for Jaune that he's entrusted to you!'
Pyrrha feels the urge to protest, but forces herself to remain silent on the matter. She looks over to the side and sees Ren subtly shaking his head.
"This is her choice to make. I'm sure Jaune would understand." He whispers low enough for only Pyrrha and Nora to hear.
Ren clears his throat to gain their attention.
"I believe that we should all ask ourselves an important question. What would we have done if we were in Jaune's position? From what you've told us, you were about to be overwhelmed. Taking a life is not an insignificant act, and I do not want to believe that Jaune would do such a thing haphazardly. Though I will admit this case is particularly... brutal."
He sips some tea from his cup and sighs, "As you've said, it is very likely that we will be faced with similar circumstances in our future as Huntsmen and Huntresses. Having to make tough choices comes with the job, so that others won't have to."
'It's the difference between training and actual experience...' Ren thinks to himself.
As a moment of silence fills the small room, they each begin to think to themselves. What would they have done in Jaune's position? What exactly is their level of conviction and resolve?
*** Vale ***
Jaune flips his Scroll open and verifies the address Roman had sent him. He pockets his Scroll and walks up to the massive warehouse's metal door. He presses in the key code Roman had provided and walks in. With the flip of a switch the lights inside turn on, revealing thousands of storage units stacked on top of one another. Jaune looks around for a several moments before walking over to one of the units and opens it with a casual kick.
He eyes the stacks of organized crates carrying high quality Dust crystals, and he nods his head in satisfaction. Grabbing several boxes, he opens them to lay out a large pile of gravity Dust crystals that reaches up to the top of his head. A gleam enters his eyes as he outstretches a hand and blankets the crystals with his divine sense(will), then begins to refine them, extracting the energy within and leaving the impurities behind. After several moments, a dark purple misty energy emanates out from the pile of Dust and gathers into a small sphere above Jaune's palm.
'Next, compress the energy.'
His fingers begin to curl inward, the resistance increasing as he clenches further. In response, the mass of energy's color darkens as it slowly compresses to a marble sized ball of pitch black energy.
'Precisely control my divine sense and allow a small opening to let the intense gravity absorb the surrounding space...'
Drops of sweat slide down Jaune's cheek as he slowly and carefully peels away a tiny sliver of the divine sense enveloping the marble of energy. Almost immediately, the space surrounding the pin sized hole distorts and twists.
'Oh shi-'
Jaune abandons the process and quickly conjures some Black Tortoise essence to reinforce himself, then braces. The pin sized hole violently ruptures open and releases a massive shockwave through the surrounding air, and Jaune takes the majority of the brunt as he was in the epicenter. Like a bullet through paper, he smashes through several storage units, tumbles and skips across the ground uncontrollably, before crashing against the warehouse's 2 foot thick steel wall.
After several minutes of laying in the indentation he'd created against the wall, he groans and pulls himself out. He cracks his neck with audible pops and pats the dust off his clothing. A brief cycle of Vermillion Bird essence through his body quickly heals the bruises and minor cuts he'd incurred within seconds.
Jaune walks through the aftermath of his "incident", back to the center of the warehouse where energy eruption originated. Thankfully, the vast majority of the Dust crates caught up in the explosion kept the Dust crystals within secure and undamaged. As he reaches the small crater he'd created, he begins to carefully ponder on what had gone wrong.
'The sudden influx of space caused me to quickly lose control. If I could limit the intake somehow...'
His gaze drifts towards one of the open storage units along with the Dust crates within. Jaune's eyes slightly widen and a glint flashes across them.
'Of course.'
With some impatience, Jaune quickly opens dozens of crates and forms another large pile of gravity Dust. Alongside the initial pile, he forms another one half the size of the first. A third and final pile is set beside him, but this time, hard light Dust crystals.
As he'd previously done, Jaune extends his divine sense around the largest Dust pile and refines their energy. Several minutes later, a familiar marble sized ball of pitch black energy hovers above his clawed hand. Maintaining his concentration on the marble, Jaune extends a second stream of divine sense around the second pile of gravity Dust, slowly refining and extracting their energy. With his mind, he guides the energy to surround the marble, creating a tennis ball size shell.
Breathing deeply and steadily, Jaune carefully peels away a pin sized hole on the divine sense maintaining the outer shell. This time, though the space distorts, it is only slight, and he is able to hold control over the process. Like a well filling with water, the shell saturates with the surrounding space. Due to the slower absorption rate, space rebounds and expands to fill the void in a nonviolent manner. After an hour, the outer shell is fully saturated, and Jaune closes off the opening he'd made.
'Be stable.'
This time, Jaune peels away an opening on the divine sense covering the marble. Due to the stronger gravitational force, the space absorbed by the shell gets siphoned into the marble like a sponge. Because the process was now completely isolated from the outside world, Jaune is able to maintain stability as the marble hungrily feeds on the space. Unlike with the outer shell, the marble absorbs what Jaune had collected in an hour, in mere minutes.
Jaune sighs out.
Over the next several hours, Jaune painstakingly repeats this process until finally, the marble is unable to absorb anymore. Slowly, Jaune releases his hold on the outer shell, dispersing the energy harmlessly into the air, and observes his handiwork.
The previously black marble now seems to ripple internally and its surface constantly folds into itself. Wasting no more time, Jaune flicks his free hand towards the hard light Dust, quickly refining and extracting their energy. A cyan colored misty energy streams out and mixes with the gravity space core that he'd created. As the hard light energy mixes, the pitch black lightens in tone to a dark purple with thin streams of cyan swirling in spirals, accentuating and defining the constantly folding portions of the core.
Upon affirming that his creation is stable, Jaune cups it between both hands and exerts the full strength of his divine sense onto it, willing it to compress and shape to his liking. After straining for nearly half an hour, Jaune loudly grunts with a final push, and the core seemingly shatters into a bright flash of light.
Jaune collapses into a seated position, breathing heavily from the several hours of constant concentration and effort he'd put out. Wiping the heavy amount of sweat from his brow, Jaune lets out a grin, feeling the fruits of his labor clenched within his fist. He brings his hand up and unfurls his fingers, revealing a ring.
The ring is semi-transparent, like crystal, primarily dark purple with small swirls of cyan moving and swaying across its surface. Without hesitation, Jaune puts it on and the band of the ring shrinks to perfectly match the size of his finger. With a thought, a sliver of his divine sense enters the ring, revealing a vast pocket of space, large enough to easily fit the warehouse he is in.
Verifying his creation is functioning as planned, Jaune lets out a chuckle, then hums in great satisfaction.
'A storage ring. Having one will be incredibly convenient for me going forward.'
He eyes the piles of the gray and spent Dust crystals while rubbing the surface of his ring with his thumb.
'This proves a growing suspicion I've had about Dust. The residents of Remnant are currently using Dust in a primitive manner. Though I doubt anyone could replicate what I've just done without the aid of divine sense and cultivation strength, further refining the energy within Dust should be within the realm of possibility for mortals.'
Jaune leaps into the air and rapidly flies through the warehouse, waving his hand over the Dust crates and storage units as he passes by them. To an outsider, the massive containers and crates would be vanishing into thin air. Shortly after, half of the Dust in the warehouse is now safely stored within Jaune's storage ring, leaving the other half for Roman and the city, just as he'd promised.
Upon collecting his share, he lands near the warehouse exit and keys in the passcode to slide the door open. As he steps out, the light from the setting sun hits him, basking him in warmth. With a sigh, he hops into the air, rapidly accelerating high into the sky and out of view from those on foot, then heads back towards Patch.
*** Later that evening ***
At the small field next to the Patch home, Jaune is casually sitting on top of a log with Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang sitting on the ground in a semi-circle around him. In the back, Taiyang keeps watch as Qrow had departed earlier in the day for Anima.
Jaune scans over his friends' faces, noting varying degrees of emotion in their eyes, though Yang's is the only one he could get a clear reading on.
"I believe that it would be a good exercise to test each of you on how well you know yourselves. Let's start from Ren."
Jaune gestures to Ren with a hand. In turn, Ren closes his eyes in thought for several moments.
"The most obvious weakness I have is my lack of offensive capabilities. I can not hit hard like Nora or Yang, nor am I highly skilled compared to Pyrrha or Ruby. Unlike everyone else here, I am not well equipped for solo combat."
He pauses.
"As for my strengths, I can be rather silent and agile, as demonstrated in our team fight during the Vytal Tournament. Which brings me to the fact that I do best when I am in a team setting. I can also feel that my sensory abilities derived from my Semblance are improving"
Jaune nods. As expected, Ren seems to recognize his limits quite well.
"How far do you think your sensory capabilities can go?" Jaune asks.
"I'm... not sure," Ren replies.
"Well, think about it this way. If you're able to sense the emotions from those surrounding you, do you think you'll eventually be able to sense intent?"
Ren's brow scrunches in thought.
'Intent? What does he mean by intent? Does he mean the intent one has before they take any sort of action?'
"Are you suggesting that my Semblance may allow me to predict attacks?"
Jaune gives a small smile.
"It is already a known fact that Huntsmen and Huntresses have sharpened senses, able to react to sudden danger with relative accuracy. However, with your Semblance, that instinct has the potential to become honed to another level of effectiveness and consistency. Of course, this is all speculation at the moment, but in my opinion, that possibility is worth exploring. In the end, it depends on you."
Ren's eyes slightly widen, his mind racing to some up with other possibilities.
"As you've said, you excel when working with others. In the field, your presence could prevent your team from being taken by surprise. It goes without saying how valuable it is to maximizing the chances of your team's survival. Because your survival is directly tied to the team's survival, I believe that you should focus on your defensive capabilities. If you can fully realize the hypothetical ability to sense intent, your safety would be further secured."
Ren brings a hand up to his chin, clearly intrigued. Previously, he did not have a clear path of training in his mind. He'd figured that for now, he would just follow through with standard training. It is just as he'd thought yesterday during their conversation with Coco and Velvet; regarding Jaune, there is a massive difference in experience between him and them.
"Okay Nora, you're next."
Nora gulps, then sheepishly chuckles.
"Well... like Ren pointed out, I hit really hard. Speed isn't an issue either when my Semblance is active. I guess my weakness is that I use up a lot of Aura."
Jaune internally sighs.
'The way she words it implies that she believes her Aura usage is her only main weakness.'
"Anything else you'd like to mention?"
"Hmm... nope."
Jaune stands up from his seat on the log, then walks to a more open area.
"Nora, I want you use Magnhild and hit me like you usually hit your opponents."
"What?" Nora looks surprised.
"Come on," Jaune taunts by wagging a finger. "Unless you're just all talk, hit me like you mean it."
A competitive glint flashes across Nora's eyes as she reaches behind her and expands her weapon to hammer form. Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha watch curiously, though slightly confused. While Ren remains silent, observing Jaune's actions, trying to decipher what exactly he's trying to teach Nora.
Sparks of pink electricity snake across her torso, and Nora hefts Magnhild up with both hands for an overhead swing.
"Alright, you asked for it!"
Nora suddenly accelerates forward in a blur due to her charged state, then swings down towards Jaune's head. Rather casually, Jaune brings up his left hand and brushes against the side of Nora's weapon, causing it to swing past him harmlessly. As Nora lurches forward from her attack, a hand reaches up to her head and flicks her on the forehead, knocking her several feet away, landing on her back.
She blinks once, then growls in frustration. Jaune patiently waits, allowing Nora to flip back onto her feet. Sparks snake across her body once more as she charges herself, and Jaune taunts her once more by lazily smiling and wagging a finger at her to come.
Her eyes narrow and she dashes forward once again, this time going for a side swing for Jaune's ribs. She viciously smiles when she feels her hammer make contact, only to quickly lose that smile with wide eyes as she realizes that Jaune has blocked it straight on with the back of his hand.
"This isn't even fai-" She manages to say, before receiving another flick to the head.
"Well, you should be glad you're learning this lesson in the confines of training, and not out in the field," Jaune sighs.
Nora sits up and grumbles in response while rubbing the red spot on her head.
"So, what did you learn from our brief spar?"
"That fighting you is pointless?"
Jaune remains silent, then raises an eyebrow.
Nora sighs, "My attacks are predictable despite being fast."
"I wouldn't say that's necessarily your main issue," Jaune shakes his head. "Your main problem is that you commit too much with every blow you throw out. It's devastating against weaker and equal opponents, but needlessly dangerous to yourself against far stronger ones."
Jaune walks back to his log and sits down.
"Are you able to use your Semblance in smaller bursts?" He asks.
"Hmm... kind of? I can stretch a single charge of my Semblance to maybe three or four separate attacks."
"I suggest that you try to increase that number. It should help with your Aura usage problem as well. In addition, think more about follow ups to your attacks should you hit or miss. You also got easily taunted."
Nora glances to the side towards Ren, who nods in return.
"Fine..." she groans.
"Pyrrha? You're next."
Pyrrha breathes out once and begins to recite, "I think it goes without question that I greatly under-utilize my polarity Semblance. However, due to my self induced limitations on my Semblance usage, my close combat skills improved significantly."
"Well that's an understatement if I've ever heard one," Yang mumbles.
Slightly pink, Pyrrha continues, "And due to not using my Semblance as much as most others use theirs, its precision and Aura usage are not as efficient as I'd like them to be."
"Wait, I thought you always use your Semblance. That's why your opponents always barely miss and people call you the Invincible Girl, right?" Ruby asks.
Jaune shakes his head before Pyrrha could reply.
"No, that is not true at all. From what I've seen in my time in Beacon, Pyrrha has won the vast majority of her matches through sheer skill. Quite frankly, even compared to all of you who could be argued to be geniuses in their own right, Pyrrha is an exceptional talent."
Pyrrha's face grows redder. It is one thing to hear praise from complete strangers, but quite another to hear them without reserve from those close to you. Especially Jaune.
Jaune slightly smiles at Pyrrha.
"Does this mean that you're finally willing to invest more time and effort into training your Semblance?"
She slowly nods.
"I... When I was facing Cinder, my shortcomings became ever apparent. Shortcomings that would have led to my..." Pyrrha trails off while averting her eyes.
The others shift uncomfortably, knowing exactly how that sentence ends. Jaune keeps his gaze on Pyrrha steadfast, unphased by her statement. After all, he'd seen the results of her death firsthand.
"Do you have a plan for developing your Semblance?" Jaune gently asks.
Pyrrha hesitates before shaking her head. "Unfortunately, outside of just using it more frequently, I don't have much of an idea on how to improve it."
She looks up at Jaune.
"Do you have any ideas or suggestions?"
"Hmm... I believe that I'll be able to help in terms of expanding your knowledge regarding your Semblance's nature. However, in terms of training its usage, there is someone who is better suited to instruct you than I am."
"Who?" Pyrrha asks curiously.
"Professor Goodwitch of course," Jaune chuckles. "Both of your Semblances are similar in terms of manipulating objects. She has years of personal experience on how to properly deal with whatever hurdles you may come across."
Pyrrha makes a surprised face.
"That... makes a lot of sense. But do you think she'll have the time? She's become rather busy having to deal with the aftermath of the attack, right?"
"I'll talk to her about it, there's nothing to worry about," Jaune replies confidently. He turns his gaze towards the youngest in the group.
"Ruby, it's your turn."
"Uhh... well," Ruby rubs the back of her head. "My hand to hand combat isn't great... but I'm really fast!"
'Just fast?'
Jaune testily asks, "Can you try explaining exactly how your Semblance works?"
Ruby tilts her head in confusion.
"What do you mean?" She asks with some uncertainty.
Jaune sighs, "Do you remember the food fight in the dining hall?"
"Um... yes?" Ruby looks confused by the sudden change in topic.
Jaune glances at everyone else.
"Do you all remember how the fight ended? What Ruby did at the very end?"
"Yeah, of course we do," Nora replies. "She went all super fast and slammed us against the wall with the vacuum she generated."
"And was she running?"
"Duh! Of course she was-"
Nora pauses.
"Wait a minute..."
"She turned into a burst of rose petals," Ren says.
Ruby looks down, vaguely recalling that detail. In fact, she remembers that she did a similar thing when she ran up the side of Beacon Tower.
"Okay..." Ruby's eyes squint in thought. "So what does this mean?"
Jaune leans forward.
"All this means is that your Semblance is not necessarily speed, but is likely one of the minor aspects of your Semblance. Therefore, I'd suggest you to begin experimenting with your Semblance. Try and explore what it can do outside of just speed. You've already done it several times solely on instinct, but actively exploring it would provide twice the results for half the effort."
Ruby slowly nods in response.
"As for your weakness in hand to hand combat, the solution to that problem is simple. Avoid getting put into such a position by carrying a backup weapon. It can be something small like a hidden dagger, or even something like a spare scythe that you can keep hidden from enemy view. In fact, most of you should consider carrying a spare weapon. It can be a powerful trump card to use as a surprise attack."
Everyone pauses for a second. This solution Jaune is proposing is very practical. Several of them feel quite foolish for not having thought of it themselves. For someone like Ruby, who has has little to no affinity with hand to hand combat, spending time on learning to do so would be an immense waste of time and effort. Instead, she can cover her main weakness by training in what she loves to use, weapons.
Satisfied, Jaune turns his gaze to the final member of the group in front of him. Yang slightly shifts, subconsciously bringing her left hand up to her missing arm. She sighs once before bringing her gaze up to meet Jaune's straight on.
"I'm not in any condition to fight right now."
"Then when will you be?" Jaune calmly asks.
Her gaze briefly wavers.
"I-I'm not sure."
Jaune hums in thought before his expression takes a more serious turn.
"I'll only ask one thing then, Yang."
"And what's that?"
"Do you regret losing your arm?"
Hushed gasps sound out from the group, surprised by Jaune's rather blunt question about such a sensitive topic. Yang stiffens, while Taiyang intently observes the scene from the back.
"I..." Yang looks down at her missing arm with a complicated look in her eyes. A mixture of anger, frustration, and conflict. She takes a small breath in an attempt to compose herself. Yang is fully aware that she did not lose her arm solely because Adam was more skilled.
Her head tilts back up to meet Jaune's impassive face.
"The short answer to your question is... no. I can't regret losing it."
'If it was Ruby, Weiss, or any of my other close friends in Blake's position, I would've reacted in a similar way.'
A look of praise flashes across Jaune's eyes, and he gives a small smile.
"If that's the case, then why do you say you're not ready to fight?" He rhetorically asks.
Before Yang could reply, Jaune continues.
"Do you know what the most important trait for a warrior is? It's not their strength, talent, or speed. In the end, none of those matter if one lacks resolve."
In the back, Taiyang nods to himself in agreement, as he'd learned that lesson from his personal experience... and failures.
Jaune points a finger at Yang.
"Your resolve is still strong."
His finger moves to point at her stump.
"And that is hardly a hurdle that will stop you. So I ask, Yang Xiaolong," Jaune's voice gains a regal tone. "Are you ready to fight? Or are you not?"
Yang's mouth is slightly open, and her lilac eyes glance between Ruby and her dad, both of whom are giving her encouraging nods. Some steel enters her eyes in response.
"What should I do?" She asks Jaune.
"Good," Jaune nods in approval. "For now, focus on your recovery. I have some things in mind for your training, but the details will have to wait."
Jaune looks at each person around him.
"I'd like all of you to think carefully about what lies in the realm of possibility of your respective abilities. Use your imaginations. All of you have been far too comfortable with continuously doing what you already know."
His eyes glint.
'Though I have a idea on how their abilities can potentially develop, I will not outright tell them until they step onto the path on their own. Otherwise, this entire exercise is meaningless."
*** Unknown Location ***
Cinder jolts up into a seated position on top of her bed in a darkened room, sweat drenching her sleeping gowns and sheets. Her eyes dart back and forth before realizing that she is in her room. In an attempt to expel the thoughts currently haunting her, she tightly closes her eyes for several moments.
Reaching to her right, she draws the curtains back, illuminating her room with the light reflected from the shattered moon in the sky. Her eyes blankly stare at the black pits of tar scattered across the barren plains down below, with the occasional Grimm emerging from them. She glances at the bloodied bandages wrapping around her missing left arm with ire, before grabbing her Scroll resting on top of a drawer beside her bed. After several presses on her screen, she sets the Scroll back down and waits.
Within a few short moments, several soft knocks sound out from the rooms entrance.
"It's open."
In response, the door quietly opens and Emerald hastily walks in.
"Bandages and water," Cinder grunts out.
Emerald quickly walks to the drawer and opens it, revealing rolls of medical bandages as well as a bottle of salve cream. With practiced efficiency, she unrolls one of the bandages and applies the salve onto the material. Then, she walks over to a sink across the room and retrieves a small clean towel and dampens it with warm water. Once she returns to Cinder, Emerald gingerly unwraps the bandages from the wound.
Cinder involuntarily hisses as her injury is exposed to the air. Wasting no time, Emerald cleans the wounded area with the damp cloth, taking extra care to not brush against the open wound needlessly. The only indication of Cinder feeling the pain is constant slight shivering as Emerald does her work. Once cleaned, Emerald grabs the new salve bandages and presses it against Cinder's injury. Sweat beading on her face, Emerald quickly, and neatly ties up the bandages.
Breathing heavily from the ordeal, Cinder tightly clutches the bed sheets with her remaining arm, due to equal parts pain, frustration, and rage. The Mistress could have easily sealed up the injury using her magic, but She refused, ruling that she must suffer through the healing process. To learn.
"Um, Cinder?" Emerald softly calls out.
Without verbal acknowledgement, Cinder throws a sidewards glance, signaling Emerald to continue.
"I was told to inform you that... She... requires your presence in tomorrow's meeting," Emerald shudders.
Cinder's eyes narrow and a brief flash of flames lick across them.
"You can go now."
"Of course," Emerald softly replies. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call me."
Without responding, Cinder turns her head back to the window, gazing out across the barren lands surrounding them. Emerald softly sighs to herself and quietly exits the room.