"No detrimental effects on your long term health…"

Jaune's gaze snapped back over to the doctor, clipboard and pen in hand, after he had been lost in his thoughts. Raising his own hand up, he said "Sorry, could you say that again?", not hearing all of what was said. After being admitted into the local hospital of Hotaru, the town they were staying at, Jaune was immediately brought in for treatment. Now, with stitches having sealed the wound, he laid in bed and began thinking again. "What will they say when they hear the details of what happened to Ferris? What are they going to say about all this? ...What would Pyrrha say about all this?" he thought, which unfortunately drowned out his doctor's words about his injuries.

The doctor, a kindly young woman with coffee-toned hair and hazel eyes to match named Dr. Russet, simply smiled and held up her own hand. "Oh, no, I'm sorry," Dr. Russet politely said, "I forgot that whatever happened may be distracting you. Anyway, I was saying that it's projected that there won't be any long term effects on your health. Sadly, there will be scarring from your wound, though I don't know how bad it will be."

Jaune nodded, glumly saying "Got it," as he lowered his head back to the pillow of his hospital bed. The room was completely white, stark silence accompanying the sterile visuals. It almost felt claustrophobic and isolated, like the walls were bound to close in on him.

"If I may ask, Mr. Arc, how did you receive those wounds?" Dr. Russet asked, curiosity apparent in her voice as her eyes glanced over his freshly stitched wound. Her fingers tapped the bottom of the clipboard as she kept glancing over the chart, clearly awaiting an answer from the Huntsmen.

Jaune eyes squinted as he peered down, not wanting to look the good doctor in the eyes because of the haunting image that still flashed through his eyes. "I...I, um," he began, his hands shaking as he clenched them into fists, gripping the bedsheet and gritting his teeth just to try to stop thinking about it in some way.

Dr. Russet seemed to understand, leaning down to place a comforting hand on his shoulder, and saying "Don't worry. If you can't tell me, you don't have to." After a second, she rose back up and looked at Jaune's stitches. "Well, the wound seems clean. Keep an eye on it for a couple of weeks; if something gets infected, come see me right away. Be careful when taking showers so as to not damage the stitches, though you should also try to keep them from getting dirty. Other than that, you can go. Not much else to do."

Jaune nodded and rose to his feet, before slowly walking over to the white door. He breathed in nervously, feeling the air catch in his throat, before opening the door and stepping forward into the hallway. It took not three seconds before he suddenly found himself stumbling back from a sudden weight hitting him, rose petals following behind her in a trail leading straight to him.

"Jaune!" Ruby said, hugging her friend tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Jaune hugged back and let himself smile a little, saying "Ruby, you knew I was just going in for stitches."

Ruby hopped out of the embrace, her cheeks red as she planted her feet on the ground. She began rubbing her arm anxiously, stammering around her words as she tried to look him in the eye. "I-I just don't like seeing you hurt, t-that's all," she explained, "I mean, between your wound and what happened with the Gambler-"

She stopped talking when the sound of the first Guardian's title seemed to suck the blood away from Jaune's face, his cheeks turning pale and accentuating the stitching that lined most of his features. "Oh my God!" Ruby exclaimed, "I'm so, so sorry. I-I didn't mean to just remind you about that."

There was a pregnant pause in the air after that, the awkwardness of the situation keeping their voices silent as neither knew what to say next. Eventually, however, Jaune shut his eyes and let out a shaky sigh, trying not to let the image of blood enter the dark abyss of his sight. "Let's just get home, okay? We still need to figure out what to do with Cinder."

"Are you sure?" Ruby said, stepping forward with concern in her tone. "This is really bothering you, and talking about Cinder might jus-"

Jaune interrupted her by opening his eyes, quickly saying "Ruby, she's either going to be in a cell or with us. You're trying to reform her, and I'm trying to make sure she doesn't die! Let's get her situation out of the way, first."

Ruby placed her hand on Jaune's shoulder, her fingers shaking from the contact with his skin. "And then will you try and get some help for this? What happened must have been painful, and I…" She trailed off, unsure of how to press on. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and her cheeks were burning from the mere sensation of contact. After a second, she finally said "I-I just really don't like seeing you in pain, Jaune."

The seconds seemed to tick by for ages, but eventually, Jaune wrapped his arms around his younger friend and pulled her into another hug. "I promise," Jaune said, sincere and calm as he kept his embrace with Ruby. The warmth in her cheeks and in her chest burned it's brightest, and she couldn't help but nod into his shoulder.

"Like hell we will!" Nora shouted, her arms crossed and her eyes fierce as she stood before Ruby and Jaune. All of the members of teams RWBY and JNPR left were gathered in Ruby and Jaune's room, the older of the two lying in bed to try to avoid aggravating his stitches. Cinder was outside, her ear pressed to the door in an attempt to listen.

Ruby was indignant and stunned by how quickly the more hyperactive member of the teams responded, her words leaving her mouth just as quickly as her own feet left the ground. "But, Nora-"

"But Nora nothing!" she responded, interrupting Ruby's attempt to continue. "She's a murdering sadist! She killed Pyrrha, she burned Beacon to the ground, and she overran what was left with Grimm! Why the hell should we forgive her, and why the absolute fuck should we give her the chance to redeem herself?"

Ren wrapped an arm around his partner's waist, pulling her back slightly in an attempt to calm her rage. "Nora, I think Ruby and Jaune were about to make their case-"

Nora turned around in his arms and stared right into his pink eyes, yelling out "And? What could they possibly say that could convince us it's the right idea?!"

"Hey, now, hold on," Yang tried to intervene with, raising her left hand up to interrupt. "I trust Ruby, and if she can say that we should trust Cinder, I think we should hear her out."

Sitting close by to her, Weiss cleared her throat loudly. When Yang took the bait and looked at her, Weiss said "While her and Jaune being the ones to try to convince us is a reason to assume that they have a great point, given all she did to them, I don't exactly trust Ruby to make the best judgement calls."

"Excuse me?" Ruby said, her arms outstretched to show her indignation at that remark.

"Well, you charge headfirst into danger with nary a second thought, you frequently use your Semblance to perform inane tasks, and," Weiss responded. She turned her gaze to her partner and finished with "I'm still not over you stealing and writing in my expensive binder."

"That was a year ago!" Ruby cried out. She looked over to the quiet girl on the floor, a book opened up in her hands. "Blake, please just help me out here."

Blake didn't even look up before saying "I don't really care either way. If she joins us, great. If not, then she's our enemy. I don't have enough of a personal grudge to care about what happens to her ultimately."

Nora turned to her with a glare and said "And why not, after all she did to us?"

"She didn't mutilate my best friend, stab me in the gut, and then claim she'd personally hunt down and slaughter everyone I loved," Blake replied, silencing Nora for the time being as she took a step back away from her. There was a silence in the air after that remark, and the energy of the debate seemed to be sucked right out of the room.

After a while, Jaune sat up in his bed and said "Well...okay, how about we just calm down and hear each-other out on this one? I-I mean, just bickering isn't going to solve anything, right?" His appeal seemed to pay off, but only barely, as everyone calmed their attitudes and leaned away from the edges of each bed.

Even in the silence, the glare coming from Nora was still fierce and felt from where Jaune sat, even though she now peered at the door. Before she could respond, her better half did it for her, as Ren replied "I agree. This is important, and having an argument could just exacerbate the problem."

"Okay," Ruby said, her tone now quiet as she tried to keep everyone calm. She felt tempted to reach a hand to Jaune's own in comfort, even going so far as to unclench the held fist on her skirt to free it for him, but with a quick blush unseen by the rest, she reluctantly ceased the movement. With a deep breath in, she said "Yang had a point, and I think we should hear her out, first."

With a nod, Yang took a second to focus her thoughts into the right words to say. Jaune could tell from his point on the bed; the way her eyes flew about the room, she was reading the mood, debating as to whether or not it really was a good idea. But with a sigh, she relented. "Okay..," she began, "out of all of us besides Nora and maybe Ren, Jaune and Ruby have the most to hate about Cinder. And here they are. Asking for support in redeeming her." She leaned back on the bed, supporting herself on her hands, and shrugged. "I dunno," she admitted, "I just trust my sister on this."

Ruby smiled at her sister, before looking right at Nora. "Nora," she asked of her, the other woman glaring at her with a burning expression of venom. "I know Cinder did horrible things. But she really wants to change. She had the opportunity to kill me when she brought me home, she had the opportunity to kill me when we were alone together. She didn't take a single chance."

Nora scoffed and crossed her arms. "Well, duh," she said, as though her protestation was obvious, "she's still clearly weak. Obviously, she just can't take all of us." Jaune and Ruby both raised an eyebrow at her in doubt. To Nora's credit, she quickly realized what they were getting at, looking more unsure as she scratched at the back of her head. "...Okay, okay, maybe there is a point, but...Ren, help me out here!"

The man in question looked at her, kind of surprised at being put under the bus like this, but he eventually confirmed her own feelings. "She knows," Ren admits for her, "but she still isn't sure why the answer is to go along with it, especially because losing Pyrrha made forgiving her a fool's errand."

Jaune laid back down on the bed, and thought for a second. His cheeks moving as his lips twitched in thought brought a slight ache, but his winces were either unnoticed or deemed unimportant. Finally, he replied "Well, what do we have to lose?" He could feel the rest of the room looking at him oddly, but he then said "I mean, either she's genuine, we redeem and forgive her, and she becomes one of the most viable assets we have on Salem...or she's playing us like a damn fiddle, and we can just let the last Guardian kill her, thus removing an asset of Salem's." He looked back up at Nora, who was staring at him, before he shrugged and finished with "Makes sense to me, I dunno."

The room paused, save for Ruby scooting a little closer, before Nora finally sighed and threw up a hand. "Let her in," she conceded, bringing a smile onto Ruby's face.

Weiss and Ren both immediately asked the same question of "Are you sure?" to the woman, making sure she was really on board, but she just stood up and looked at both of them before focusing a rebuttal on Ren's part.

"Yes," she said. "Look, I can't find it in my heart to forgive Cinder. At least, not unless this plan works out. But Jaune has a point. It's either we win 'cause she's on our side, or we win 'cause she's just gone and Salem can't get us. It's a win-win, in my book." Nora walked over to the door, and opened it, revealing Cinder on the other side of it. "...Were you listening in?" she asked the wounded woman.

Cinder shrugged and said, out loud, "More or less," before accepting the invitation and coming inside, where she didn't look anyone in the eye, instead seeming more focused on looking forward and avoiding their eyes.

"Your voice is healing," Jaune notes, watching her and her actions. She's standing more confidently, too, like she did at Beacon. And he couldn't lie, there was a slight pang of worry as he saw both of these facts for himself.

Cinder finally looks at him, and nods. "Indeed," she responds, smirking as she says "In fact, I feel more...myself, lately." Just then, she heard weapons unfolding, and turning around the room revealed that most everyone had unfolded their weapons upon hearing that. She sighed in exasperation and rolled her remaining eye, putting her hands on her hips. In the heat of the moment of the battle, Jaune didn't even realize she had the left one anymore. It looked disturbing, like a Grimm's arm just attached to her. "...Really? I will admit to a poor choice of words, but still..."

Everyone sheepishly folded their weapons back in, with Yang admitting "Force of habit…" while scratching the back of her neck. Cinder rolled her eyes again.

Gesturing with her human hand, she waved to Jaune and asked "Mind if I spend a second alone with this one?" She could feel Nora glaring at her from behind, and she added "I do not wish to hurt him. I just wish to speak with him, is all." Reluctantly, the door opened, her eye trained on Jaune as she saw Ruby hop off the bed, following the rest as they walked out.

"Fine," Nora conceded, "but we hear anything and we're coming back!" Cinder nodded with a noise of acknowledgement, as the door closed, leaving the two alone.

Cinder walked over to the bed, and sat down by Jaune, who seemed to lean back on instinct. Luckily, she was a woman of her word, as she simply asked "So...you killed Ferris, hmm?" She heard a quiet come from Jaune, to which she responded "Guess so...Look-"

"What?" Jaune finished for her, "gonna tell me that the first one's always the hardest, or something? Is that it?" He didn't sound angry, but more suspicious of her.

Cinder sighed and shook her head. "No...maybe?" she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "I mostly just wanted to say that how you're feeling gets easier. It has nothing to do with killing more people. Just that the guilt, well, eases."

Jaune sat back up again. She sounded like she had experience, mainly because, to Jaune's assumption, she really did. He shifted a bit, before asking her "Who was your first, then?"

She didn't respond at first, seeming content to sit away from him. But eventually, she did turn to look at him for the first time. He could tell she meant what she said about having a return to form. Those yellow eyes burned with a spark he hadn't seen in a long while, and her voice was back to normal, pouring from her lips like a seductress' whisper. "I do not remember," she admits, "it's been so long and so many bodies ago. And yet I...still feel guilty. About having gone to Salem just because she saved me. Because I wanted power."

"And do you still want that power?" Jaune asked her, leaning forward a little. She frowned at the question a little, but nodded.

"Of course," she said, but then frowned more at the response. "But not as much as I want to be...human. Not some agent of chaos fighting a war older than me." She looks down at her left hand, letting Jaune see that it was, indeed, Grimm-like. The fingers ended in what looked like claws, and he could see bone through the black. "I want a power I don't need to be a sadist or a monster to get," she continues. "I truly want to be a better person, it's just...that means I start from scratch, searching for a way to be stronger that I never knew I could go for."

Her confession of her motivation gave Jaune a feeling of resolution, as though he had truly completed step one of this plan. He quirked his lip a little, and said "Well...we can help with that. That's why we're here."

By the time the door opened again, things seemed fine once more. Cinder walked out with purpose towards a guest bedroom they had rented for her (and the still M.I.A Qrow), Jaune giving a slight wave as he smiled back at her.

Sooner or later, she would change. He had promised himself that.

Woo! Over a year's hiatus finally over! Sorry for the short chapter, assuming it really is short. I needed to finish this and get it out the door to resurrect the story before working on anything more substantial for it, so I decided to just complete the scene I was on, and start doing more with it next chapter.

And don't worry, next chapter will not take more than a year to come out, I promise. I hope you enjoyed this little taste!