A/N: Okay, I lied. I have more issues to work out. Oh, and the reason that the anonymous commenter "Die," called me a degenerate and suggested that I drink bleach didn't have anything to do with this story. It's because I'm transgender and wrote "Falling Snow." I get comments like that from time to time, and decided not to delete it because I just decided to let the ugliness show. Let people know what I see sometimes when I moderate reviews, you know?
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To General James Ironwood of the Atlas Armed Forces, the new arrivals were of the highest interest. On Team RWBY was the only known silver-eyed warrior, the younger of Jacques Schnee's daughters, and the daughter of influential White Fang faunus. Team JNPR boasted the newest incarnation of Ozpin, and the Fall Maiden. The other teens that arrived alongside them were of lesser interest, but were still useful as young Hunters that, having been brought into the loop, he could potentially use to secure Atlas from Salem.
They had proven themselves to be more or less capable according to the commander of the Ace Operatives, Clover Ebi, and would be granted their Huntress licenses accordingly. But before all of that, Ironwood needed to make sure that the power of the Fall Maiden remained under his control.
"Specialist Marrow, I'm glad that you came." The general addressed Marrow Amin. The youngest member of the Ace Ops was a friendly, handsome, outgoing dog Faunus, which made him inappropriate for some of the Ops more… controversial missions. However, those same qualities also made him perfectly well-suited towards keeping a close watch over Fall. And if push came to shove, his Semblance could keep her from fleeing.
Marrow gave a quick salute before falling into parade rest. "Always happy to be of service, General. What's the job?"
Ironwood pressed a button on his desk, projecting an image of the Fall Maiden. "One of the new Huntresses is the Fall Maiden. We need to keep her nature hidden, but we also need to keep her protected. As such, for the foreseeable future, your mission is to guard the Fall Maiden and accompany her on her business as a new Huntress. Keep her safe and keep her close, Specialist."
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The young Hunters-in-training met at the converted Amity Arena. The sight of the floating arena where the end had begun for Beacon set off a myriad of memories and emotions in them all… and reminded them of how far they had come since the Fall.
Ruby Rose, beyond growing taller, had grown wiser in the intervening two years. Her youthful naivety had been tempered, but not broken, by the horrors she'd witnessed, and had yielded to an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Weiss, her long hair done in an elaborate braid, had fought for her independence from her father for good, and had risen from a near-death experience in Haven to become a stronger, wiser fighter. Yang had forced her way past the trauma of losing an arm and being abandoned by her partner and girlfriend, following her sister and putting her long-lost mother behind her. Blake stood with her Faunus cat ears free and exposed. Her friend Sun, at Weiss's insistence, had followed her to Menagerie, helping her come to terms with what had happened to her friends. She had confronted her abusive ex Adam, with Sun at Haven and again with Yang at Argus.
Ren and Nora had confronted the trauma of their childhood in the ruins of Kuroyuri. And Jane?
Jane Arc stood tall and proud. Her armor was now edged in Mistrali Bronze, melted down from the remaining armor of her lost partner and boyfriend, Pyrrhus Nikos. Her armor itself had been upgraded to become more extensive, with long greaves and vambraces, small hip faulds and a short armored skirt. She carried Crocea Mors on her back, and tied the burnt cape of Pyrrhus around her waist to act as a sash. In the years since Beacon, she had truly blossomed into a real beauty. While she was still slender and willowy, she had filled out. Jane now turned heads everywhere she went, but true to form, she was entirely unaware of it.
"It's… strange, to be here," she broke the silence, her voice subdued.
Ruby nodded. "I know what you mean. It's like… so many things have happened since then, but…"
"But here we are," Yang finished for her.
"But here we are," agreed Ren.
[/]
After an awkward speech by General Ironwood, each of them was granted the official license of a Huntress - or Huntsman, in Ren's case. The subdued mood of their earlier conversation lingered through the celebration, to an extent that even Qrow, patron saint of brooding, commented on it. For sure, they had managed to become professional Hunters years before schedule - Ruby Rose was now the youngest professional Hunter, female or male, in history - but it still felt… hollow.
Jane was just glad that she wasn't the only one who felt it.
Weiss, being Weiss, immediately wanted to get to work, pulling up the holographic Huntsman job board. "Let's see what we've got available…"
"What's this? Licensed for not even an hour yet, and you're already raring to go?" Two of the Ace Operatives who had accompanied them to clear out the mine strolled into arena. The speaker, Elm, was a tall, powerfully-built woman who used a hammer in battle, while at her side, the friendly dog Faunus Marrow walked with his hands clasped behind his head, looking like he had not a care in the world.
Jane thought he was rather handsome, in his military uniform, and only about four years older than her. She wondered if Pyrrhus would have felt betrayed by her thinking like that.
To her surprise, he walked straight up to her. Despite the years of her working to contain her response since she had been overpowered and raped by her classmates in Forever Fall, Jane still felt her heart begin to pound harder as a man approached her, and she fought down the instinct to take a step back.
Marrow came to a halt in front of her. "So, you're Fall." He held out his hand for a shake.
"My name is Jane." She crossed her arms over her armored chest.
"Well, we knew one of you was the Fall Maiden, but not which one it was. I have to say, you did real good hiding your abilities at the mine. We never would have guessed that it was you."
Jane sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Um… thanks? So, why did you come singling me out to talk to?"
"You're quick on the uptake, huh?" Marrow just shrugged. "I know you're gonna want to go to the job board, but before you do, you should know that I've been assigned to act as your partner and bodyguard."
She stared at him, her earlier thought about Pyrrhus being betrayed roaring back into full force. Now he was being replaced? "The… the last man to hold that position didn't fare so well," she said sadly, hoping to turn him away from his assignment.
His mood, and tail, both visibly dropped. "Yeah, I heard about that. Still, he carried out his mission, and completed it at great cost. You should be proud."
She arched an eyebrow at him. "And would you be proud if you ended up dead because someone wanted the power of a Maiden?"
Marrow just shrugged. "That's the job, you know? And I do know that if someone has to have weird magical powers, I'd much rather it stay with someone like you."
He flashed her a grin, and then Jane's heart started racing for an entirely different reason altogether. When she had submitted her armor and weapons to be upgraded, she had also resolved that it had been time to let go of her grieving over Pyrrhus, but honestly, she had never expected someone else to make her feel that same sort of giddy rush that she had felt during the all-too-brief time that they had been together.
What was a girl to do?
As she pondered that question, her teammates joined her. "You okay over here?" Nora asked, code for do I need to break a motherfucker's legs?
"Sure, I'm doing okay," answered Jane, code for please refrain from leg-breaking at this time. "At any rate, General Ironwood has appointed Marrow here to be my partner and bodyguard. Because of the whole Maiden thing."
Ren and Nora shared a glace. "Well… okay," Nora said, slowly. "Just let us know if he gets a little too close."
"You know, I am standing right here," Marrow pointed out.
"Yeah, but think of it this way… shush."
"Anyway," Jane broke in before things started getting loud, "I was just going to check the job board myself. Since you're stuck with me and all, I'll try not to choose something that'll strain you too much."
Without waiting to see if Marrow would follow her, Jane strode over to the job board, where Elm had been boisterously upselling some Grimm elimination job for Team RWBY. The big woman grinned as she saw her approach, Marrow sheepishly following in her wake.
"Ah, so you're Ironwood's special little snowflake?"
"I'm pretty sure that's Weiss," Jane retorted.
"Hey!"
Everyone ignored the former heiress's protest.
"Anyways, I'm just gonna see what's available myself," Jane continued, undaunted. She reached out an armored finger and began scrolling down the holographic interface. "Hmm… no… no… oh, this one looks nice!"
Team RWBY and the two present Ace Operatives peered over her shoulder at the job that Jane had selected.
"What?!" Marrow cried out in disbelief as Elm burst out into laughter, great guffaws as she pointed at her teammate.
"What's the problem?" Jane asked.
"You're… babysitting kids," Yang pointed out. "Escorting them to and from school."
Jane blinked with her large blue eyes. "Uh… yeah? And?"
Weiss gently placed her hand on Jane's shoulder. "Jane, don't you think that that's a little… underwhelming, for a Huntress's first mission?"
"I don't see what's wrong with it," the tall blonde defended, a little put out by the questioning.
Elm hadn't stopped laughing at Marrow, who tried to talk her out of her choice of jobs. "Listen, Fall -"
"My name is Jane," she interjected, crossing her arms once more.
"Yeah, look, this job is… well, in professional circles, it's the crap job. The practical joke that we play on the newbies, or something that we push down the totem pole to someone who royally screwed up somewhere."
"Well, even the crap jobs need to get done, don't they? And Weiss, Yang, think of it this way - while you're trudging out in the muck and the snow, I'll be busy becoming the favoritest Huntress for a whole bunch of adorable little kids."
Yang and Weiss shared a look, their mirth dissipating as it occurred to them that Jane was right.
"And you," Jane continued, tracing a finger down Marrow's chest and poking him in the breastbone. "You make sure to pack a traffic vest."
Unheeded by all, Elm had finally managed to reduce her laughter from uproarious to merely extremely loud snickering.
[/]
Marrow tried to remember that, as a Specialist, it was his job to serve the people in whatever capacity they required, no matter how vastly overqualified he was for the task at hand. He was a member of the Ace Operatives, the best Huntsmen in the world, and he had achieved that distinction at a young age. Marrow was a representative of the potential of the Faunus, a paragon of his people.
That was one of two reasons why Marrow didn't punt his new "partner" off a bridge, as retaliation for dragging him into a humiliating task. As for the other reason?
As they reached the school, one of the kids, a little girl, tugged on Jane's arm. Marrow watched as Jane knelt to allow the girl to hug her around the neck. "Bye, Miss Arc!"
"Bye, Kaylee!" Jane returned the gesture in kind. "Be sure to study hard in school!"
The other reason Marrow didn't punt his partner off a bridge was seeing just how unabashedly gleeful she was to be doing something, anything, for the civilian populace. As she stood up and waved goodbye to the children, Jane turned back to Marrow, and his heart practically stopped. Her smile was wide, light and carefree, and her huge blue eyes shone with an inner joy. That wild blonde hair of her whipped around in the breeze. The girl was practically glowing.
Ah hell, there goes his tail, wagging wildly again.
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She met him in the briefing room. It was, in Jane's expert opinion, way too early for this sort of thing, but at least she had a nice, hot, steaming cup of…
Marrow stared at the coffee in her hand longingly, then looked up at her with huge, puppy-dog eyes.
With a sigh, Jane relented and handed over her coffee. "You're lucky you're cute, Amin."
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"So, what are we doing here?"
"We're helping, duh."
"You know you're not getting paid for this, right?"
"I know, but we've got some time to burn until the kids are done, and with everyone else busy, well… we might as well do what we can, right?"
"I mean, we could have got something to eat. That is also something we could have done."
"Heh. We can eat after we deliver these supplies, Marrow. It's not that far to the farmhouse."
"How did you even arrange this anyway?"
"Well, I talked to the owner when I met him in the market. He said he was having trouble getting stuff to and from the farm with the Grimm about."
"You just… talked to random people on the street?"
"Yeah, why not? My mom always said that strangers are just friends that you haven't met yet."
"That seems… extraordinarily dangerous. Not everyone can be trusted, you know."
"Oh, I know. Believe me, I know. But I can't go around treating everyone like an imminent threat, not without them giving me reason to. That's just no way to live, you know? So, come on slowpoke, heft those crates. We're almost there!"
"…"
"...This girl's like some kind of saint or something…"
[/]
Marrow was a professional. That was what he told himself, anyway. It was what kept him from kicking six different colors of crap out of bigoted idiots when he was just out trying to do his job.
"Go on, boy, fetch!"
He took a deep breath as the empty beer bottle missed his head by inches, sailing past him to clatter loudly against the pavement.
"Hey, you!"
Oh, right. He had a partner now. Marrow watched, bemused, as Jane marched up to the drunken human who had been harassing him. She put her hand on her hip as she looked the man up and down.
"Now, civilian, I know you're not interfering with a duly licensed Huntsman in the course of his business."
The heavyset human scratched his head. "Uh…"
"Because I'm a licensed Huntress too, and during a period of civic uncertainty, I'm afraid I'd be obliged to run you in. Matter of national security, you know."
He'd be lying if Marrow said that he didn't enjoy watching the lout pale under Jane's threat.
"But I'm still a new Huntress. Marrow here, he's an elite. So I'm sure he'd know what the penalties for obstructing a Huntsman in a time of emergency would be. Marrow?"
He crossed his arms, pretending to think it over. "Well, depends. Best case scenario, he'd be imprisoned for the duration of the emergency, plus two years. If the judge finds that the obstruction is a deliberate act of treason… well, you'd be in the slammer for a long, long time."
The human started stammering. "I, er, it was just, you know, a joke. Right?"
Jane crossed her arms. "I dunno. Didn't sound much like a joke to me. But, I bet if you were to apologize to my partner here, he'd be less likely to haul you to jail."
He turned to Marrow, visibly sweating. "I… I'm sorry," he gritted out from between clenched teeth.
"I'm sorry…" Jane led.
"I'm sorry, sir."
Ooh, that looked painful.
Marrow stared at the civilian. "Get out of my sight, civilian. And don't go interfering again, or I'll drag you in."
"Uh, thank you, sir!" He scampered off.
Marrow watched him go, then felt Jane's hand on his arm. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. I usually just try to ignore them when I'm on the job."
"And when you're off?"
"Well, can't be dragged before a disciplinary board if they never hear of anything, right?"
"Right."
[/]
She smiled at him as she approached him in the briefing room. This time, she brought two cups of coffee.
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Nora knew that giggle. That was a Beacon giggle. No, that was a Pyrrhus giggle.
She watched carefully from behind her cup as Jane, sitting across from her at the Atlas Academy Mess Hall, tried very hard to pretend as though she hadn't been gazing at her Ace Operative and giggling like the schoolgirl she was still supposed to be.
Jane coughed awkwardly. "I don't suppose that you could just, uh… maybe ignore that, could you?"
"Well, I could, but it wouldn't help anything." Nora reached out to take Jane's hand. "Do you want to talk about it?"
The blonde girl sighed. "I mean… he's funny, funnier than you'd think at first. He tries to hide it under his professionalism, but he really does care a lot about justice, and about being an example for his people, and that puts a weight on him. And of course, he's just so damn dashing and handsome… only four years older than me… the biggest thing, I guess, is that I just kinda feel… comfortable around him, and you know how big a thing that is for me."
Nora grinned. "So, what's the problem? Just hop over there and get you some!"
"I just…" Jane hesitated. "I feel like I'm betraying Pyrrhus by thinking that way, you know?"
"Aw, Jane…"
Jane gave her friend what she hoped was her most reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm not going on any suicidal death marches any time in the foreseeable future."
"That's right, missy!" Nora wielded her fork distressingly close to Jane's face. "Pyrrhus didn't run off and save your bacon for you to go and throw it in the garbage. And speaking of that…" Nora sobered, her voice becoming softer more tender. "You know, when he went to fight that witch, he didn't mean to just save your life physically. He would have wanted you to have a whole life, and eventually, that could mean… you know, romance."
Jane absently twirled her fork around on her plate, then bit her lower lip as she looked over to where Marrow, having finished speaking with Clover, began to make his way over to her.
"Heya, Jane, Crazy Hammer Girl." Marrow bore his happy grin as he sat down next to Jane. "So, what misadventures are you two cooking up over here?"
"Actually," Nora began, her tone sly. "I was thinking that you two should get some more training in. You know, in case you actually run into something more dangerous out there, you'll want to know how well you two… mesh together?" Nora wagged her eyebrows at that last part.
Jane stared at her, appalled at her idea of "helping," Fortunately, Marrow seemed oblivious to Nora's insinuation. "I suppose that could be useful," he mused. "You know, Team FNKI's been looking for some training time. What about you and me go and kick their butts?"
"You should totally do it!"
Jane sighed. "Thanks, Nora. Sure, let's go," she said, trying to ignore how Marrow's tail wagged happily when she spoke to him.
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"Ooh! How am I supposed to talk trash when I don't know enough about you to diss you?!"
Jane smirked at Neon Katt's frustration. The gregarious cat Faunus was friendly enough in day-to-day interactions, but her irritating fight banter was the stuff of legend. Blake still refused to talk to her after some comment her fellow feline had made during a bout. Jane didn't know what Neon had said, exactly, but it must have been pretty bad to elicit that sort of reaction.
She had been expecting Neon to make some sort of vicious crack about Pyrrhus's death, bracing herself for it, but to her surprise, the girl never once brought it up. Maybe she had some standards after all.
Not that her trash-talking, or uncharacteristic lack thereof, had actually helped Neon at all. With her newly-enhanced shield, Jane had powered through Flynt Coal's sonic barrage and clobbered him, while Marrow had taken on the other half of Team FNKI single-handedly. While her partner was wrapping that up, Jane had simply chased Neon around the training room, silently lamenting her lack of mobility relative to the nimble, speedy Faunus - at least, a lack when keeping her abilities as a Maiden under wraps.
"Must be hard to run in heels."
Jane looked over to see that Marrow had joined her in her pursuit. "Well, some genius thought that my new boots needed to make my butt look nice instead of being comfy, " she groused.
She gasped when Marrow blatantly tilted his head to check out said butt. "Yep. Genius indeed," he deadpanned. "Need to find whoever designed your armor and shake his hand, maybe buy him a beer in thanks. I friggin' love Atlas engineering."
"Marrow!" Jane flushed fully, the redness even reaching down her neck. That he gave her a sly wink before leaping ahead of Neon didn't help matters.
Neon skidded to a stop, looking to break right and evade her pursuers. "Uh-oh!"
Before she could slip away, Marrow, with a truly, magnificently smug smirk, pointed at her. "Stay," he commanded. Neon stood stock-still, a complete and perfect paralysis.
Jane blanched as she jogged up to them. "Marrow? What's that? What did you do to her?"
Marrow remained in place, pointing at the cat Faunus. "It's my Semblance. I can freeze people just by pointing at them and saying the magic word. She's completely trapped now. You can do whatever you want to her to end the fight. Beat her up, toss her out of bounds, draw a silly mustache on her, the works. It's all part of… Jane?"
Beside him, Jane had begun to shake and tremble violently.
"Jane?"
"Let her go," she ordered.
"Uh…"
"I said let her go!" Jane shrieked, a corona of white flames erupting from her eyes.
Marrow immediately released his Semblance. "Whoa, whoa, what's -"
Before he could utter another word, Jane stormed out of the training room. Marrow looked over at Neon, who was scratching her head. "Bout's over," he said. "That flame you saw was Jane's Semblance. It's strategically-important that no one knows about it, so don't say anything about it to anyone, okay?"
Neon nodded, pressing the heel of her hands to her eyes. "Ugh, yeah, sure, okay. Man, that thingy you did gave me a headache."
The Specialist didn't bother to stay to listen to more of the girl's complaint, instead striding out of the room to follow Jane.
He found her staring out of a window in the hallway, looking out over Atlas Academy. At least the Aura flare had died down, but she still looked upset.
"Jane?" He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, but she stepped away from him.
"Don't touch me!" she snapped. Slowly, he put his hand back down.
She didn't turn to look at him. "What do you want, Marrow?"
"Well, an explanation for what the hell was with that little display would be nice, for starters. I had to come up with an excuse to the cat girl for the eye coronas. That's not being discreet, Jane."
The Fall Maiden shifted uncomfortably for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "I… I was afraid of your Semblance, Marrow."
He scratched his head. "My Semblance? Why?"
"... You could do anything to her. You said it yourself."
"Uh… that's what makes it useful in a fight, Jane. Complete paralysis."
Jane sighed, then finally turned to face him. "Marrow… a few years back, when I was at Beacon… I made an enemy of another student, guy named Cardin Winchester. At the class trip to Forever Fall, he and his team attacked my team, separated us. They dragged me away, and he had his teammates hold me down, and…" she dropped her gaze, unwilling to look him in the eye. "He raped me, Marrow."
His tail fell mournfully. "Jane…"
She took a deep breath to steel herself, then looked back up to meet his gaze. "He raped me," she repeated, firmly. "I felt helpless, and useless, and…I was afraid of men for a long, long time. I still am, at least a little." She reached out and gently placed her hand on Marrow's cheek. "I… I was comfortable around you, at least. Moreso than any guy since Pyrrhus."
"Was?"
"I don't want to be afraid of you, Marrow, I don't. But… your Semblance… it frightens me. Makes me remember feelings that I thought I'd left behind. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
For once, Marrow's brain did the smart thing, shutting his mouth before he could point out that, one-on-one, he stood a better-than-even shot of overpowering her even without his Semblance. Instead, he gently reached up and took the hand that she had placed on his cheek, and just asked her, "So, what can I do to stop making you afraid?"
"Promise me."
"Promise you?"
She nodded. "Promise me that you won't use your Semblance on me, Marrow. Promise me that you'll never trap me with it, that you'll never make me feel that way when I'm with you. Promise me, or I swear I'll go to Ironwood right now and demand another partner."
It was both the most reasonable demand, and the most impossible one. By all rights, as an Atlas Specialist and a member of the prestigious Ace Operatives, Marrow should have told this upstart, neophyte Huntress exactly where she could take that ultimatum and shove it. But as he stood there, staring into the deep blue eyes of this beautiful, brave, amazing young girl that he had been working alongside for weeks…
"Okay," he said. "I promise."
"I believe you." Almost as if despite herself, a smile flitted across your face. "I… believe you," she repeated, her voice soft and wondering.
Marrow felt his heart practically stop when her smile blossomed fully, brilliantly. He knew it really shouldn't have. As a Specialist of Atlas, he shouldn't have returned that smile with one of his own. He shouldn't have let his tail wag happily at seeing her so joyous to find that she trusted him, or felt proud that she felt that way. He really shouldn't have caught her when she leapt into his arms, and he shouldn't have relished the feeling of the bare flesh of her thighs in his hands as he supported her weight. He shouldn't have allowed her to wrap her long legs around his waist, or take such note of how her hair smelled of vanilla and wildflowers.
As a professional, he should have pulled back when Jane pressed her soft lips to his, the girl hungrily trying to devour him in her need. He shouldn't have let himself linger on the taste of strawberry lip gloss and the breath mints that she popped as a matter of habit.
Above all, he shouldn't have carried her to his quarters.
[/]
Her cuirass hit the ground with a muffled clank, followed shortly by her shoulder pauldrons. She tugged at Marrow's jacket and stole his ascot for her own with a wicked little smirk. Jane's boots touched down for the first time since the hallway when the back of Marrow's knees hit the bed. She used her knees to pry his legs apart, standing between them to nibble his neck and chest.
Her Scroll vibrated, unheeded, on the floor.
Marrow flailed an arm in the direction of his nightstand. "Condom," he rasped.
Oh. That would be a good idea.
Jane relented from her attempts to eat his clavicle for long enough to find the wrapped prophylactic in the nightstand, then began tugging his trousers down. Her heart was racing as she saw the extent of his arousal, of the effect that she was having on him. It made her feel beautiful, desirable… powerful. Distantly, she wondered if she would have done this with Pyrrhus, had he lived, but before she could lose herself in thoughts of loss and regret, she remembered Nora's words.
She would always love Pyrrhus, and treasure the time that she'd had with him. But it was time to look forward.
Slowly, she peeled off her black padded undershirt, baring her small, perky breasts. Marrow growled pulling her close to him again. Jane tossed her head back as he planted a line of kisses from her lips, chin, down her neck, and onto her breast. His clever hands reached under her skirt, pulling her panties down, allowing her to step out of them while she slipped the condom onto his manhood. He was hot and hard under her hand.
"Jane..." he croaked, his voice straining with need.
She put her hand on his lean, muscular chest and gently pushed him onto his back, then swinging a leg over him to straddle his pelvis. Jane gazed down at the young soldier, laying before her. Desire burned in her core. She felt… fear would have been too much. Fear had been what she'd felt back in Forever Fall. This was more like anxiety, or trepidation. She was taking a step, but it was for her to decide to take it.
Slowly, Jane lowered herself onto her lover, greedily engulfing him in her slick depths. She shuddered, eyes closed in newly-felt erotic pleasure, then opened them once more to lock gazes with him. Carefully, experimentally, she began to grind her hips against him, and was rewarded with the discovery of a place inside that made her feel even better when he stroked against it.
She reveled in the sensations she was feeling. His large hands sliding up her bare back, or caressing her breast, the jolt as she lifted herself up and ground back down around him.
Jane allowed herself to surrender to her passion.
[/]
He couldn't bring himself to regret it.
Marrow idly stroked his fingers up and down Jane's naked hip, smiling happily at the sleeping girl in his arms. He wondered if it would be a bad idea to let her know that she snored in her sleep. When she awoke, he would need to talk to her, to find some bearing. This had been… unexpected, to say the very least, and he needed to find out where, exactly, he stood with her.
He really wasn't looking forward to reporting this development to General Ironwood.
But, those were problems for tomorrow. For tonight, at least, he had a beautiful girl warming his bed. He closed his eyes, looking to get some rest. What Jane had lacked in experience, she'd more than made up in sheer enthusiasm, and he needed some sleep, badly.
So of course, that's when the pounding began at his door.
"Jane?! Are you in there?"
He recognized the voice on the other side as belonging to Jane's friend, the Crazy Hammer Girl. The commotion stirred the Fall Maiden from her slumber.
"Marrow?" she asked sleepily. "What is-"
She never got to finish her question as his door burst open. Jane had just enough time to draw up the sheet to cover herself before her friends - all of them - spilled into the room.
"Jane!" Crazy Hammer Girl called out. She came to a halt as she realized the pair's state of undress and the strong scent of sex lingering in the air. Unfortunately, she was the only one who Jane had discussed her growing attraction to Marrow with, and the others, remembering the traumatic events of Forever Fall, drew their weapons.
The blonde Punch Girl spoke first, her eyes red. "Jane? Do we have a situation here?"
Marrow held his hands up. "Whoa, hang on here - "
Jane looked to the side demurely, her cheeks flush with embarrassment. "It's, um... it's okay everyone. It was my idea."
"Oh!" Punch Girl's eyes changed to purple as she cheerily retracted her guns, her actions mimicked by the rest of the teenaged Hunters invading his room. "Well, that's different then. You need to answer your Scroll, you know. I guess you were… busy?" She said, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.
"I'm sorry for worrying everyone," Jane said, still unable to look anyone in the eye. "I, uh…"
"It's all good!" Punch Girl reached into her pocket and tossed a wrapped condom towards the bed. "Round Two is on me!"
They began filing out of the room, though Marrow noted that Winter's little sister openly ogled him for a moment before Small Scythe Girl dragged her out of the room. Finally, only Crazy Hammer Girl and Ninja Kid remained.
"You break her heart, I'll break your legs," the redhead said seriously. Beside her, Ninja Kid merely nodded with solemn gravity. "Okay, have fun Jane!" Crazy Hammer Girl, mood switching like a light, waved jauntily as she and Ninja Kid took their leave.
Jane flopped back onto the bed, uncaring of her nudity. "Whelp, so much for discretion."
[/]
"I must say, I'm surprised at this development, Specialist."
"General, I -"
"I hadn't expected you to opt for such a subtle approach, but it works well to keeping the Fall in Atlas."
"Her name is Jane, sir."
"Yes, well, it's still easier to keep Fall in Atlas if she wants to stay in Atlas. Just make sure that it's you drawing her in, and not the other way around."
"Sir?"
"What? You were expecting a reprimand? It's a clever angle to take, if a little ruthless. Assuming, of course, that you planned this for the sake of the mission, and weren't just thrown off-balance by a pretty face."
"..."
"That's what I thought. Dismissed."
[/]
She had been expecting the teasing from Yang, or the intrusive questions from Blake, but it was the naked curiosity from Weiss that took Jane by surprise. Her white-haired friend had practically cornered her to ask about her night of passion with Marrow.
"So, what made you decide to sleep with him?"
Jane's cheeks had adopted a more-or-less permanent blush at her friends' antics. Still, they meant well, so she figured she could humor them, for a little while, at least. "I just… felt that I could trust him, and that it was time. He didn't pressure me or anything. If anything, I'm the one who jumped him."
Weiss chewed her lower lip. "So, was there anything about him being Faunus that made it, you know, different?"
Realization struck Jane, and she grinned smugly. "Why, Weiss, are you planning on some sort of special reunion with Mister Wukong when we meet him again?"
The bright red flush spreading across Weiss's face, and even up to the tips of her ears, let Jane know that she struck right on the money. "I'll take that as a yes."
"I mean, I was just, maybe thinking about it," stammered Weiss.
"Well, to answer your question, no, not really, but then different Faunus have different features. You just need to find the right balance. They're Faunus, and it makes no sense to not recognize that, but you also can't fetishize them, you know? So, I mean, maybe Sun would want to use his tail, and that could be fun, but just don't be weird about it."
"How do you do that?" Weiss asked, frustrated.
"I dunno, I just kinda jumped Marrow, and let things work themselves out from there" shrugged Jane.
"Jane!" Weiss cried, scandalized. "That's terrible!"
"Oh, it was anything but terrible," Jane remarked, looking very much like the cat who ate the canary. "But seriously," she said, her tone softer. "Just follow your feelings. You'll know if the time is right when you see him again."
[/]
"So, did you do her… you know, doggystyle?"
"Shut up, Bree."
"I mean, when you stick close to a target, you stick close to a target, am I right?"
"Harriet, I'm serious. Shut. Up."
"I always wondered, do you have a knot down there? Maybe I should ask Fall if you got stuck in her."
Marrow spun on his heel, teeth bared. "If you say one word of this to her, I swear -"
"Hey, kids," Clover interrupted. "Stow the argument until after we get done here, alright?"
The dog Faunus scowled, but held his tongue. "Yes, sir."
"And Marrow, if you don't want to get teased about sleeping with the subject of your protection detail, than either don't sleep with her, or learn to be more discreet."
"Oh, like you're not crushing hard on that Qrow guy?"
An awkward silence fell over the group. "Uh… sir," Marrow added lamely.
"That'll be enough out of you today, Marrow."
[/]
They watched as rounds from Marrow's rifle cracked into the Beowulves, throwing them off balance just as Jane's furious charge reached them. As they recoiled from the shots, the Huntress whipped the tip of her sword in a short, brutal arc that cut through the beast's torso, before recovering her guard and lashing out with an efficient stab to another Grimm. Without pausing, she braced her shield, just in time for Marrow to land on it. Pushing up with her long, powerful legs, she sent the Specialist flying into the air, towards the next group of Grimm.
"You'd think they'd been doing this for years," Ren muttered.
Nora just shrugged. "I'm just glad she has someone watching her back again. I was worried about her."
"Yeah. If only he were just watching her back."
She nudged him. "C'mon, Ren. We haven't seen her this happy since…"
"Since Pyrrhus," he finished for her. "I know. Doesn't mean that I trust him with her."
"Well, that's her call, not yours."
Ren grunted. "True. Doesn't mean we can't keep an eye on them."
[/]
It was supposed to be a routine job. Barely even a job, closer to recreation. They were to go to the election night party for Robyn Hill, and just keep a lid on things. Jacques friggin' Schnee was projected to lose, so it really just amounted to maybe keeping any drunken celebrations down to a dull roar.
Gods, there was so much blood…
Jane was no stranger to death, not any longer. It was, after all, why she fought so hard to keep the rest of her friends alive and well. She'd unlocked her Semblance to save Weiss's life, her Aura Amplification being nothing short of a miracle. Even so, they all knew that their chosen path was a dangerous one, and few Hunters died peacefully.
Emphasis on Hunters.
Their role, their calling, their sacred duty was to put their lives on the line so that others could live in peace. The ordinary men, women and children who formed society, the shopkeepers and janitors, schoolchildren and dock workers, the doctors and cooks and couriers, all of the people who went about making a society worth the defending.
They'd failed them that night.
He found her among the dead.
Jane knelt, unheeding of the blood on her knee, clutching a body to her chest. Great, rasping sobs tore out of her, knifing through the silence of the room.
The mother had tried. She didn't have fancy armor, or spiritual powers to repel the high-powered bullets that had torn through and through. In the end, she had done all the she could, shielding her daughter with her own body.
It hadn't been enough.
Marrow recognized the little girl as one of the children that they had been escorting to and from school, the one who had given Jane a hug around the neck. The girl seemed almost unnaturally small as she lay still in Jane's arms, pale from blood loss.
Cautiously, he approached her.
"Jane."
She looked up at him, stricken. Steam rose from the Aura coronas around her eyes as they flash-vaporized the tears.
"Jane," he repeated. "We need to report this to General Ironwood."
He heard it. Hell, he felt it, a sound, like thunder, a primal force within Jane that had been building for eons, generation upon generation of women adding to it with their lives, their dreams, their very souls.
"I will kill that man," she swore.
Marrow gulped, then steadied himself. "We'll get him," he promised her, in a voice that he hoped was calmer than he felt. "We will. But first, you need to put the girl down and come with me."
She looked down at the girl again, staring at her for a long moment. Finally, she gently lowered her to the ground, nestled once more next to the mother who had died trying to save her. Jane reached out and carefully closed the girl's eyes.
The thunder faded away, and after a moment, so did the coronas. "I'm… I'm okay, Marrow."
He pulled her to her feet.
"Let's go."
[/]
It wasn't often that Maidens met. Ironwood felt it prudent to have as many Specialists on hand as he could, just in case they reacted violently. The Winter Maiden sat up in bed as Fall silently entered the room.
They stared at each other for a long moment, the elder and the younger. Slowly, Fall made her way over to Winter's bedside. The old woman reached out to the girl, pulling her in close, the two touching their foreheads together.
"Sister," said the Winter Maiden.
"Sister," Fall responded in kind.
The two separated. "I am glad to see you," Fria said, her smile wide.
Jane fidgeted. "You… you know how I became a Maiden, right? Does it still feel right to you?"
Fria canted her head, amused. "Girl, you should know that Maidens choose ourselves, irrespective of what machinations men try to contrive. The sisters recognized you, the half-broken soul trying to pull herself back together, just as they were. Believe me, if you weren't meant to become a Maiden, you wouldn't have been able to do so."
Jane sighed. "I suppose you're right."
"I suppose I am, girl."
"I may need to reveal myself as a Maiden soon, sister. There are a lot of lives at stake, and someone out there is gunning for us specifically. No one is safe from them. Not even children."
Fria lay back onto her bed. "It's always something, you know. Wars, famine, plague, the Grimm… the cycle never stops."
"What, so I should just sit back and do nothing because bad things always happen?"
The Winter Maiden sat up again and reached out for Jane… then flicked her right on the forehead, making the girl yelp. "Brothers save me from the obliviousness of blondes," she chuckled, as Jane rubbed her forehead. "No. You will have your own place in this turning of the wheel. What I mean is that you should discern where and what that place is, and let no one dissuade you from it. Never lose sight of your own strength, sister. Others will try and help you, or try and chain you, but your strength is what will set you free."
Jane nodded. "Thank you, sister."
Fria smiled once more. "Go on, girl. I'm sure that we'll see each other again soon."
[/]
She opened her door, and was surprised to see Marrow standing there, a bouquet of roses in hand. Jane shook her head, unable to stop herself from smiling.
"Wow, going real old-fashioned, huh?"
"I prefer to think of it as 'classic'"
"Well, who am I to turn down such a gentleman?" she laughed as he offered her his arm.
[/]
She could tell right away that Marrow was uncomfortable at the Schnee mansion. He had quickly realized that, with the sole exceptions of himself and Blake, every Faunus there was a servant.
"I think I'd best wait outside," he told Jane.
She frowned. "Don't you mean we should wait outside?" Marrow gently took her by the upper arms, causing her to flush and shudder happily at the contact.
"Not this time," he told her. "You can go and move in places that a Faunus simply can't, not without drawing the wrong kind of attention. Besides, if I have to hear one more reference to 'keeping a tight leash' or 'muzzling,' I can't be really be held responsible for what I do."
Jane chuckled, then brushed some of his dark green hair from his face. "I'm sorry, Marrow."
"Hey, you didn't do anything." He got a sly, almost wild grin on his face. "Wanna make these uptight aristos all kind of uncomfortable?"
She batted her lashes at him with exaggerated modesty. "Why, Specialist Marrow, what ever could you be suggesting?"
He stepped closer to her. "Well, I would never presume, Huntress Arc."
She matched his wild smirk with one of her own. "Doesn't mean that I wouldn't." She kissed him, taking no small satisfaction in the scandalized gasps of the crowd. Someone even dropped a glass.
Jane stepped back and gently pushed Marrow's chest. "Don't wander too far." She turned and strode back into the main ballroom, her head raised as high as any conquering queen as the elite of Atlas society parted before her.
[/]
She hacked down the Grimm with the ease of long practice. "They're everywhere!"
Marrow walked backwards towards her, his rifle kicking as he fired into the pack of surging Grimm. "We need to get these kids out of here!"
"I'm on it!" Jane activated her radio. "Ren, I need you and your Semblance. Rendezvous at the east square, ASAP!"
"I'm on my way," the quiet Huntsman's answer crackled over her radio.
Back-to-back, Jane and Marrow slew every Grimm that so much as looked at the children. They looked up at them with unabashed hero worship, the Atlas Specialist and the Angel of War. Jane knelt down to them.
"Hey, guys. We need to be brave, okay?"
Ren soon arrived on the scene, a shaken Nora in tow.
"Are you okay?" Jane asked her friend.
Nora nodded. "Y-yeah. It's just… real messy out there. With people, I mean."
"Okay. Ren, I'm going to boost your Semblance, and then you and Nora are gonna escort these little guys to the evac point, okay?"
Ren nodded his assent. Jane put her hand on his shoulder, and soon, the children greyed out, their emotions settling into a serene calm. "Right. Move out," Jane ordered.
When Jane turned back to Marrow, the dog Faunus looked stricken.
"Marrow? What is it?"
He shook his head. "Word from Ironwood. Something… something bad has gone down. There's a warrant out for your friends on Team RWBY, and the General wants you and your team there to explain yourselves."
Jane felt her blood run cold. She had argued with Ruby about the necessity of telling Ironwood about the revelations about Salem that they'd uncovered, before ultimately deciding to follow the girl's lead. Given how Leo Lionheart had turned traitor, a bit of caution was not unwarranted, but had they put off informing Ironwood for too long?
Still, while she'd thought that the General might be angry, or would pull their licenses in retaliation, Jane never would have thought that he would have had them imprisoned. The fact that he was willing to imprison four extremely talented Huntresses, one of whom was the last known Silver-Eyed Warrior, during a Grimm invasion told her that, whatever it was that had happened up there, it had left Ironwood seriously unbalanced.
"Marrow," she said. "I need to get Ren and Nora, and then we're going to go find Ruby. I need you to talk to Ironwood, find out what it is that's got him acting like this. I know those girls, and no matter it might have seemed, they only have the best interest of the people of Remnant at heart. Between the two of us, I'm sure we can get everyone back on the same page."
He shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sure you're right, Jane, but… I have orders to take you to him. Once you're there, I'm sure you can talk him down."
She blinked. "Marrow, I'm not just going to leave Team RWBY on their own out there, not with all of this going down. Whenever RWBY is in trouble, JNPR is right there with them. That's how it's always been, and that's how it's always going to be."
Marrow's tail drooped. "I'm sorry, Jane. I have orders, direct, no-wiggle-room orders. I need you and your friends to come with me."
Jane shook her head. "That's not going to happen. Look, we'll meet up after this is all over, explain things to him -"
"Jane, I can't disobey my orders! I'm a soldier!"
"And I can't go against my friends!"
They stood there, their words echoing in the abandoned square around them.
Finally, Jane turned away. "I'm sorry, Marrow. I need to leave."
"No, I'm sorry, Jane. I can't let you leave." She had just enough time to turn back to him to see him pointing at her.
"Stay."
[/]
Her heart would have been pounding out of her chest, but it couldn't. Marrow wouldn't let it. Jane would have been hyperventilating out of panic from how helpless she was, but she couldn't. Marrow wouldn't let her. Tears would have welled from her eyes from her heart breaking from the realization that he broke his promise, but they couldn't. Marrow wouldn't let them.
Instantly, she was catapulted back to Forever Fall, how she felt when Cardin and his cronies held her down. They had ignored her will, had forced her, had fundamentally violated her. Marrow wasn't pushing her down, wasn't driving himself into her body. He was apologizing, making some excuses to her as he fixed cuffs to her, but Jane wasn't listening. Even in Forever Fall, Team CRDL hadn't had the ability to take away her ability to kick, to scream, or even to cry.
Jane wasn't having it.
He had promised her. She had believed him, trusted him, let her into her body and her heart, allowing herself to be vulnerable before him because she truly believed that he wouldn't hurt her.
Something within her snapped.
The relationship between Aura, Semblances, and the magic of the Maidens was complicated, and not fully understood. That an Aura transfer machine had been able to infuse Jane with the powers of the Fall Maiden - or half of them, at least - proved that there was a link between Aura and the magic, though Maidens were able to call upon their magical abilities without draining their Aura, or when their Aura had been broken.
Jane had unlocked her Semblance as Weiss had been dying of a mortal wound, using her prodigious Aura to amplify her friend's own Aura to such an extent that she had not only survived, but had been temporarily boosted to new heights of power from the experience. In the process, they had discovered that Jane's Semblance didn't work as 'Jane plus the Aura of her subject' so much as 'Jane multiplied by her subject.'" Ordinarily, the Aura signatures of her sisters, the source of her power as the Fall Maiden, lay dormant. Now, in her panic, distress and heartbreak, they rose to her call, eager to guide and defend their youngest sister.
And Jane reached out with her feelings, instinctively boosting them with her Semblance.
All of them. Generations of women stretching back throughout history combined their strength, experience and power with her, becoming more than the sum of their parts.
Jane detonated.
A burst of white Aura swept out from her, knocking Marrow off of his feet, to tumble across the broken asphalt of the road until he crashed against a nearby building. Jane's Aura swirled in a cyclone of terrible power, burning like the heart of a star. As if an afterthought, she snapped the cuffs binding her wrists together as if they were a flimsy child's toy.
As quickly as it had come, it faded down again, as Jane, now freed from Marrow's control, drew that power back into herself. Only the corona around her eyes remained, fueled by her anguish and outrage.
Slowly, deliberately, Jane strode over to where Marrow had been picking himself off of the ground. She assisted him, by grabbing him by the throat and slamming him through a wall, before planting him into the ground.
"Jane-" Marrow began to try and reason with her, but the Fall Maiden wasn't having it. She grabbed his ankle and whipped him through another wall, sending him crashing roughly into an abandoned kitchen. He staggered and grabbed onto a counter, only to let go as she slammed her armored shin into his gut.
"You promised me!" she screamed at him. Jane drove her armored fist into his ribs, then stepped in to stomp on his instep, bash his jaw with her elbow, then grab his braided hair and yank it hard enough to send him sprawling to the ground once more.
Marrow was dazed, hurt, and pretty sure that pissing off the Fall Maiden was the worst decision of his life, a realization that only deepened as she punted him in the ribs so hard that he went crashing through more walls, hitting the street outside and rolling to a stop.
Jane stormed out after him, only stopping when she saw that Marrow's Aura flickered and then broke. No more Aura meant no more Semblance, which meant that he couldn't hurt her any longer.
She looked at him, as he struggled to stand once more. Her rage had played itself out, and now all she felt was an eerie calm.
"Jane!"
The Fall Maiden turned to see Ren and Nora run back to her. "Are you okay?" Nora asked. "We saw a light and heard crashing sounds! What happened?"
Jane took a deep breath. "Team RWBY is in trouble. Ironwood has called for their arrest. He also ordered us brought to him. He," Jane practically spat, referring to Marrow, "tried to force the issue. Do you know his Semblance?" Upon seeing their nods, she continued. "He promised me he would never use it on me. He promised me that he would never make me feel helpless when I was with him. He broke that promise."
"Jane," Marrow tried to plea.
"You don't get to address me," Jane snapped, her tone colder than the Solitas winds. "You don't get to address me ever again." She turned back to her teammates. "I need to meet with Team RWBY, find out what's going on."
Ren stepped forward. "Jane, Oscar's missing, and so is the Relic."
She let out a deep sigh. "All right. I'm going to see if I can find RWBY, you guys look for Oscar, and we'll meet up, okay?"
"Right."
Jane clapped her friends on the shoulder. With the masquerade dropped, there was no reason to hide her powers any longer. With the wind at her command, Jane took to the skies, flying up towards Atlas.
Marrow watched as the best thing that had ever happened to him flew away from his life. He was wrenched out of his thoughts by the sudden, shocking impact of a hammer to the back of his legs, screaming as the bones snapped under the hit, dropping him once more to the ground.
"I warned you," was all Nora had by way of explanation to the wounded Specialist.
[/]
General Ironwood used his robotic hand to pinch the bridge of his nose as he addressed his so-called "Ace Operatives." Vine, Elm, and Harriet had proven to be no match for Team RWBY, and Marrow, having been wheeled into the briefing with his legs and ribs in casts and bandages, had clearly taken the beating of a lifetime. While not part of the Ace Ops, even Winter had failed him, having been pummeled to an inch of her life and reporting that the powers of the Winter Maiden had gone to the damn gynoid, of all things. How was that even possible?
Clover couldn't get back soon enough. Ironwood desperately needed competent, loyal subordinates at his command.
"So let me see if I have this straight," he growled. "You three," he began, pointing towards the main group of Ace Ops, "failed to apprehend a group of neophyte Huntresses. In fact, not only did you fail to apprehend them, but they overpowered you in direct combat. Meanwhile you," he continued, moving to address Marrow, who had sat sullenly in the corner, "failed to use your personal relationship to the Fall Maiden to keep her under control, and damn near got beat to death for your trouble."
"Her name is Jane," Marrow said, dejected.
The General just shook his head. "Finally, you," he pointed to Winter Schnee, "failed to utilize the Aura Transfer machine as instructed, were attacked by either the Spring or Summer Maiden, and managed to lose the Winter Maiden's power to Penny, of all things."
Silence fell over the soldiers.
"This is my elite force?!"
"Sir!" If looks could kill, Ironwood's glare at the low-ranked soldier who had interrupted him with a salute would have vaporized the girl.
"Ensign, unless this is end-of-the-world important, you have two seconds to get out of my face."
"General, the scouts report an unknown flying Grimm of massive scale approaching the city!"
The ensign turned on the holodisplay, where they witnessed the Grimm Queen Salem riding astride what appeared to be a flying whale, a flotilla of smaller floating Grimm in tow.
His plan had failed.
[/]
Jane supposed that, in a perverse kind of way, it was better that things had ended that way compared to Forever Fall. She had grown powerful, more powerful than even her wildest fantasy that she had dared to dream back when she was a little girl with no Aura, swinging Crocea Mors at a training pell.
She had power enough to protect herself, to ensure that no one would ever use her as Cardin once had. After all, a choice between being a sobbing, broken girl lying naked and bleeding on the forest floor or laying a beatdown on the man that had so thoroughly annihilated her trust in him was really no choice at all. But more important than even her power was the fact that she was not alone.
She landed on the deck of the airship, where she met with Team RWBY. They had overcome their own would-be jailers, and now were spearheading the defense of Atlas. And so was Penny.
Jane knew as soon as she saw her. She smiled, approaching the robot girl, and brought her into an embrace, pressing their foreheads together. She ignored the slight clang of metal on bone, and felt the specific presence of Fria flare up in salutations.
"Hello again, sister. Ready to save the world?"
[/]
Endnotes: I don't know how well this came out in comparison to the first part. I hadn't thought to explore the more recent trauma because I wasn't sure how to play it out in this story. WearyCurmudgeon's comment about Jane recovering her agency in sexual intimacy actually inspired me to write this one. Jane wasn't sexually-active with Pyrrhus because they just didn't have the time to for her to recover enough to do so.
How much time does it take? Well, every person is different. For me, I wasn't really of an age to be looking for a sexual partner the first time it happened to me, so a few years passed before I was an old enough teenager to even think to do so. Then, of course, being transgender makes everything way more difficult. And no, I'm not transgender because I was raped. If anything, I was raped because I'm transgender. I've had relationships of various degrees of intimacy and intensity between when the attacks of my youth stopped and this latest ex that sent me into a spiral, so I was able to work out my sexual control issues that way.
So, Weary mentioned that he didn't see any potential dudes to ship Jane with since Pyrrhus died, and that got me thinking. I remembered how uncomfortable Marrow's Semblance made me feel, and then that got the ball rolling, as you've seen.
The thing with this chapter is that no one was really surprised that Cardin was a scumbag. Someone PM'd me to ask if I thought Team CRDL would really go that far, to which I pointed out that they should look at what they were willing to do in public, and what that meant for what they might be willing to do if they thought they wouldn't be caught. But Marrow is a friendly, outgoing, law-abiding man. Coming from him, it would be so much worse, because you could trust him, right until you found out that you couldn't. Just like my ex-boyfriend.
It isn't a perfect fit. Marrow in this story didn't rape Jane, and he had an argument to be made for his actions. My ex-boyfriend tried to rape me. Ultimately, even the act itself wasn't as devastating as the absolute shattering of my trust, the destruction of my confidence in telling which man is or is not willing to hurt me, and the tearing open of scarred-over wounds that I've tried to heal, especially when it comes to distrusting and fearing men.
I want to love men. Really, I do. Why do you have to make it so hard for me to love you? What is it about me that just screams "here, abuse her and stomp all over her heart?"
I don't know how Jane recovers from here, because I don't know how I do. The only solace that I have is that, while I'm emotionally devastated, in physical terms, I beat the snot out of him. Bit him so hard his hand needed stitches, planted my heel in his cheekbone, and chased him out of my apartment. Incidentally, I recommend Jiu-jitsu and Wing Chun as fundamentals for women's self-defense. Jiu-jitsu helps mitigate men's strength and weight advantages, and can teach how to fight from your back, and Wing Chun helps teach where and how to target to make the most of strikes.
I don't want to be violent, but I had to be. I want to add "wife and mother" to my list of roles besides "librarian and amateur author," but I just… I don't know. How am I supposed to find the man I'm supposed to marry if even the seemingly good ones don't heed consent behind closed doors? And yes, I know, this isn't fair to men in general, but goddamn it, I keep getting hurt! If anything else, ranting, sharing it, and exploring those feelings in fiction helps.
Minor points to wrap up:
With Cinder dead in part 1, how did things go down in between in this AU? Dunno, don't care, they aren't really relevant to what I was doing here. A more fleshed-out fic would delve into it, but as I said before, this is more therapeutic for me.
There are probably continuity errors with when Team RWBY's fight with the Ace Ops and the battle in Mantle were. If you wanna pick 'em out, you're probably right. I literally can't be bothered to care. Sorry.
Would Jaune's Semblance really interact like that with Maiden powers? Dunno, but the bad guys had best be grateful that he's a man.
For Jane's Volume 7 armor, think something like Lightning's armor set from FFXIII-2. Impractical? Yep. Something a Huntress knight in Remnant might wear? Oh my, yes.
Okay, now I think I'm done. For realsies this time. Unless I somehow have a breakthrough, but honestly, if I'm fully recovered, I'll probably just start writing normal romances again. Thank you all for reading and for bearing with my hangups.
- Mahina