Felt like updating this story a bit early this week. Not really sure why, but here's this!

Start Chapter 29

For just a moment, a silence falls upon the battlefield at Yang's arrival.

It is a loud silence, paradoxically. Surely, the fires that Adam has been kicking up around them blaze, and surely, Blake is laughing and crying all at once, and Jaune's just about there himself. And surely, Adam Taurus is fuming as he takes panting breaths, having clearly not allotted his energy for another combatant to show up…

Well, from out of the sky, through the hole he'd inadvertently created in the ceiling, to join the fray.

But even so, it feels like the world stands still.

"Y-Yang!?" Blake sounds stunned to even comprehend that her soulmate is here. "What are you – how did you get here!?"

"Hey, I said I'd see if my dad could pull a few favors." Yang winks back at her as she stretches out her neck, and even though she's still speaking conversationally, Jaune notices the way that her posture shifts as she moves, forcing Adam to either allow her his blind spot, or back away from Blake entirely.

He chooses the latter.

"Well, one of those was owed to Patches resident bullhead pilot." Yang says as she moves to stand right next to Blake, offering her left arm out to her, and pulling her to her feet. "He's usually on call to take people into Vale when they need to make the trip, but, well… we got him to make an exception for our sake."

Blake just laughs, shaking her head as great, bulbous tears run down her face, impacting against the ground below them.

"And…What about Ruby?" She asks.

Yang shakes her head, groaning. "She jumped into the first skirmish she could see. Apparently Nora was running into some struggles near the back of the mansion. I didn't really get to ask that many questions before she quite literally dematerialized into rose petals in front of me." She rolls her eyes. "Trust me, I wish she were more careful too, but that's just how she is. Oh, my dad's here too. He uh… didn't approve of me jumping out of a bullhead like a meteor, so if he shows up later, vouch for me, alright?"

"I will…" Blake says as she wipes at her eyes, and sniffles, but it is a happy sound, albeit marred by her watery eyes. "I uh… I like the arm."

Yang flexes her prosthetic, the white material clashing slightly with her yellow and brown theming. "Eh, I preferred my old one." Yang winks her way, before growing far more serious. "Speaking of which..."

She turns towards Adam, and Jaune watches as Yang's eyes glow a dangerous scarlet.

"I believe we have a score to settle with this guy, yeah?"

Blake manages to stem the tide of her tears then and there, taking up both halves of Gambol Shroud once more as Adam watches them cautiously. It is clear, to Jaune, at least, that his style of hyper-offense is not something he will risk against two people. No, it is something meant for one-on-one offensives. To do so when Yang or Blake could easily catch him would be foolish.

He will be playing this far differently. Exactly how? Well, that Jaune doesn't know.

The soulmates don't give him the time to think too hard about it, dashing forwards and immediately taking up one of the formations they'd used during the Vytal Festival. It's familiar to Jaune because of that, but he doubts that Adam quite knows the trick the two are about to pull.

As expected, he doesn't, simply taking a standard guard, which will do him no favors against this.

Blake throws out Gambol Shroud, still holding it by the ribbon, and pulls it taut as Yang takes ahold of it. The two-build momentum quickly, spinning around before, barely two seconds later, slamming into Adam's guard.

It is an obvious move, of course, easily blocked by Adam as he puts his sword up. It glows red, flaring brilliantly for just a moment, and the man smirks.

"Is that all you've–"

And then Blake, who's just used Yang's sudden stop as a catapult, slams Gambol Shroud's other half into Adam's face.

Jaune can't resist smiling at that.

Well, up until he sees what's underneath, anyhow.

Because Adam goes down hard, and though he's up within another second, it's clear the hit has at least somewhat rattled him. Enough so that the mask he's always worn slips from his face, impacting against the ground beneath them with a crack as it breaks on contact.

And Jaune is left to stare at the horrifying scar on the man's face. The SDC logo branded there.

Yang and Jaune seem in alignment there, although Blake's face only grows some small bit dimmer.

"Hmph…" Adam sneers out, wiping away at the small bit of blood that had been leaking from a wound on his forehead, from where Gambol Shroud had struck him so hard it had, however briefly, managed to pierce his aura. "So, what? Is this your first time seeing a scar? Or perhaps the first time you've been confronted with the horrors of what the SDC have done? The righteousness of our cause?"

Jaune doesn't think he can really say anything in response to that, and Yang seems to be thinking rather similarly. Luckily for the both of them, they will not need to speak.

Blake has stepped forward, determination writ upon her face.

"Adam, please," She stresses, placing her left hand, still holding the sheathe of Gambol Shroud, to her heart. "You have to understand… what you're doing? That's not helping the faunus. It's not aiding people like you, who've gone through the same things you have, to live better. All you've done is inspire terror in the world. You brought an academy filled with both humans and faunus to its knees, crippled an entire Kingdom, and now you mean to continue!?"

"Hah, not anymore I don't." Adam shakes his head. "Not since we've been betrayed by that woman. No, her and her master have no say in our actions."

"Then what!?" Blake shouts, and it is enough to get Adam to stiffen momentarily. "What are you fighting for!? What's the purpose of coming here!? To kill her? To kill Cinder? Sienna? My mother and father? Me!?"

Adam says nothing, he just stares at Blake as she shakes her head.

"You have to be able to see that this isn't doing anything! This is just… it's–"

"Nothing?" Adam interrupts, taking a step forward and barking out a laugh under his breath. "Nothing!? No, Blake, what we've done isn't nothing. We have inspired fear in the world, as you say, but just like when it was the two of us, spurning the old ways of your father, it has led to a better world! We will see a brighter tomorrow, Blake, even if the light that illuminates that world must be the flames of this one!"

Blake stares at Adam with pain in her eyes, such agony. Yang steps closer to her, taking her hand, and Jaune notices the way that Adam's nostrils flair at that small show of affection.

"…What happened to him, Adam?" Blake says in such a small voice. "What happened to the boy I met back then, who preached for justice, and peace, and to fight only when it was to protect what we held most dear. To stand up for what was right?"

Adam smirks. "You slew him. The day you ran away."

If it's even possible, Blake's expression grows duller. The emotions within it grow hazy, until eventually, Blake is regarding Adam only with a cold disdain.

"No… I didn't kill him. I… it took me this long to see it, but… that boy…"

And then Blake removes the hand over her heart, and takes a battle stance, even as a few tears fall from her eyes, staining her cheeks.

"That boy was gone a long, long time ago."

Adam lets out a haughty breath. And yet… he seems to have no final retort. No finishing statement. No. He just… stands there.

There is a moment, again, of silence. Despite the noise, despite the way the now rising flames are beginning to encompass the entire room, leaving only a central area for their battle, despite the way that the sounds of combat outside are still raging, even if they have begun to die down…

It is quiet, somehow.

And then a moment later, the room comes to life once more.

Adam is no longer equipped for this fight. Jaune catalogues that immediately. Instantly.

He hadn't been expecting a sudden two – or three, if one counted Jaune's earlier tiring of him out as fighting – on one. He'd been trying to finish Blake, expending extra energy to do so, and then all of a sudden she had both caught a second wind, and been reinforced by another fighter, full on aura and hellbent on making Adam pay.

The battle is now squarely in their favor. Exactly how long that will last really remains to be seen.

Yang and Blake fight quick and clean, which seems to favor them more than it does Adam, despite the man's previous reliance on speed. As Jaune had suspected, a good deal of his energy has been spent on the both of them.

Jaune does his best to aid in that effort. He certainly doesn't have a lot of aura, but ten percent of his own aura is likely twenty or so of Blake's, and perhaps a little less than that of Yang's. In case either are injured, he'll be there to act as a battery, able to fuel them back up. He's been out of the fight long enough that he should be up to around twelve or thirteen percent aura now, so he can afford to sacrifice some of it.

Although he may not have to. Adam seems almost sluggish now as he blocks attacks, gives ground, and only occasionally strikes out, like some exotic viper, to try and gain ground back.

But he is losing. And fast.

Jaune sees it before Yang and Blake do, the quiet desperation playing about on Adam's face. The way the man's eyes briefly dart to his scabbard, and then–

It is almost too fast for Jaune to catch it. The speed with which Adam sheathes the blade. The speed with which he pulls the trigger on the release, and channels all of the energy he carries within him into it.

And yet it is not too fast for Yang.

No. She catches the blade in her metal hand, wraps her fingers around it, and, with a roar, shatters the thing in twain.

The pieces of Adam's sword fall to the floor, and the hilt and what remains of the base of the blade linger in his hands.

The fight is over.

Adam seems… shellshocked. It is as if the very concept that he could lose, the very concept that he would fail here, had not even occurred to him. It is all he can do to stare down at his shattered blade, which mirrors the moon that almost perfectly hangs within the hole that Yang has created in the ceiling to enter into the space.

"…What…?" He mutters. "How could I–"

And then the wall off to Jaune's left explodes.

There is a moment of complete and utter panic on all of their faces – Adam's included, which would have amused him at any other time – as they turn to see just what this newfound threat could be, but then, when Jaune manages to make out the identity of the figure…

He's smiling, and waving towards them before he can be bothered to worry about how lovestruck he must look.

Because… damn.

Cinder pulls herself through the remains of what had once been the rooms western wall with a heavy breath, sweat running down her skin and her face flushed. Jaune knows this is just about the least appropriate time he should be having sexy thoughts about his soulmate, but like…

Damn.

"Where's–" She immediately begins to speak, her eye darting about the room, until it spots him, and her entire demeanor sags somewhat.

"Right here." He says, walking towards her.

He's a bit taken aback by the way that Cinder closes the space between them in an instant, wrapping her arm around him and practically tackling him into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry." She whispers to him.

"Huh?" He's puzzled. "Why?"

"I heard your yelling, but I wasn't… I couldn't break away from them without leaving the Khan and the Belladonna's as easy targets, and damnit, I knew you'd never forgive me if I did that and they were hurt, so I held my ground, but… I continued to feel your pain through the link, over and over again, and I–"

He doesn't waste a moment in wrapping his own arms around Cinder, embracing her as tightly as he possibly can. After a moment, he pulls back, and plants a soft kiss along her hairline. It is a chaste thing, but Jaune feels it means more than any other gesture he could give might.

"I'm okay." Jaune says, smiling down at her. "Blake came to my rescue. And then Yang came to our rescues."

Cinder nods her head, seemingly still attempting to get the adrenaline to flow out of her system. If Jaune's right, he doesn't think it's going to be exiting any of their systems for a while, at least not until they've managed to…

"So, uh… what exactly are we supposed to do with the White Fang?" Jaune asks, bringing up something none of them had really thought much about. "Since they're kind of like the Menagerie's unofficial police force… how exactly do we go about… arresting them?"

Blake shakes her head. "Provided she actually left anyone alive to be arrested, we do have an actual police force as well. The White Fang is simply more convenient on a day-to-day basis, a lot less overhead, a lot more immediate results. I'm also near certain that a few sects of the Fang will still be loyal to Sienna, and a good deal of Adam's men will turn on him when she announces all of… this. It won't be too difficult to get them to help in detaining these people."

He nods, even as his face briefly pales as he turns back to Cinder, and though the woman sighs, she isn't able to meet his eyes as she mutters, "I left them alive. They might not be walking anytime in the near future, but they're alive."

Jaune considers that a win.

"Thank you."

Cinder just huffs. Jaune briefly wonders if she'll say something silly like 'I didn't do it for you', but she doesn't, mostly because the both of them know that isn't true.

Still, baby steps.

"Okay, so, first goliath in the room," Yang speaks up for the first time in a long while, "What are we doing with Mr. Moody-Pants over here?"

Adam doesn't even respond. He's still too busy just… Jaune hesitates to say sulking, but more processing the events that have happened.

"I guess it's Blake's call?" Jaune offers.

"The same as everyone else." Blake speaks out, not hesitating for a moment. "A jail cell. If he and those who followed him can prove that they can do good for the world, instead of ill, then maybe one day they'll be free."

It is only those words that seem to snap Adam out of whatever funk he'd been in. In that moment, he looks up, his gaze meeting Blake's own with a subtle emotion that Jaune is not sure the identity of.

Blake meets that look with one of her own. It is… it is tense, but not harsh. It is not forgiving, but it is not condemning. It is not an offered hand in peace, nor a declaration of war. It is…

It is a question.

Jaune has a feeling he knows what it is.

"Does that boy still exist somewhere in there?"

Adam looks away, down at the floor, and seems to want to hide away from Blake altogether. His expression seems almost ashamed.

Jaune feels he deserves to have to feel such.

"Alright, cool," Yang speaks again, trying to diffuse a bit of the tension. "Now, second goliath in the room, and frankly, this is the big one…"

Yang looks right at him.

"Why is Jaune tenderly kissing the woman who destroyed Beacon?"

…Y'know what, now that Jaune thinks about it, that is a bit of a goliath in the room, isn't it?

/

The whole 'arresting the White Fang' thing proves to be about a thousand times harder than Jaune had really wanted it to be, although, to be fair, Jaune had wanted it to be '0' harder, so…

Anyways, they do, eventually, manage to get the local police force to act. It is, of course, with some very pointed help from Sienna's remaining allies, who seem entirely too eager to please their newly returned high leader, who is, as Sienna had postulated earlier, suddenly not in self-imposed exile.

Jaune can't help but feel that a good number of them are only following the tides, anyhow. They're as loyal to Sienna as they'd been to Adam, and very few of what had hours ago been staunch supporters of Adam's regime had stood up in his defense.

Very few is read as 'none', in this case.

Still, Sienna is a good politician, or whatever the technical term for the leader of a terrorist organization is called. She deftly navigates through the many, many questions as to just what it is had happened to her, why Adam had suddenly taken charge, and a number of other things.

She then hits them with a rather unexpected bit of news.

"I would like to announce the return of one of our most esteemed members," She speaks, gesturing behind her to where a hulking figure is standing. "Ghira Belladonna."

The announcement is met with mixed reactions. Some seem rather okay with it, probably the more moderate members, and others seem downright furious. Jaune supposes he can see an angle for what both are feeling, what with Adam and Blake's words about how they'd once claimed the White Fang for themselves because Ghira had been too passive.

Still, the world had likely seen a lot fewer extremists under Ghira's rule. But then, Jaune has to wonder if simply protesting peacefully, without any threat of violence, could truly achieve anything.

No one likes to admit it, but very rarely in history have the oppressed overthrown the oppressor without… well, either threatening to, or outright dealing with them.

The faunus aren't the first example of that fact.

"Ghira will not be taking on the role of High Leader, nor will he be involved in the day-to-day activities of the White Fang. He will be acting as an advisor. Someone who will help to steer the course of the White Fang so that this," She gestures behind her, to the now half-ruined Belladonna mansion. "Never happens again."

Jaune doesn't listen to too much of the speech. He's a bit busy dealing with… well…

Far more awkward affairs.

"So you're… soulmates?"

"Yep."

"Like… for real?"

"Yes, Yang." He sighs out. "Why would I lie about this."

"I just… I mean…" Yang shakes her head. "It's like being told that Ruby's soulmate is… I don't know, Winter Schnee, or something!? How can your soulmate be Cinder Fall!?"

He laughs, even as he runs his hand awkwardly along the base of his hairline.

"It's uh… it's a bit complicated, but… things are…"

Yang takes one look at his face, squints as if to try and see him better, and then goes wide-eyed.

"Holy shit, you actually love her, don't you."

Jaune feels he can't be blamed for how scarlet his face is in that next moment, as he checks to make sure Cinder isn't anywhere around them.

She isn't. She's off–

She's off staring at Ruby Rose, who seems, by some miracle, to not have noticed Cinder yet.

Ah, man, Jaune had almost forgotten what it had been like to not have to pussyfoot around the matter of his soulmate. Almost.

As it stands, he turns back to Yang, fills her in as quickly as he can that Ruby had been the one to injure Cinder so badly, and that the two of them talking alone can really only end badly, and then suddenly they're both approaching Cinder rather quickly.

"Cinder, wait!"

She turns to look at him, spots Yang, and cocks an eyebrow at the two of them. "What?"

"Well I just…" He feels a bit awkward now, having to come out and say it. "You were looking at Ruby, right?"

Cinder's eyes widened briefly, before, with a small nod, she confirmed Jaune's suspicions. "I was. Why?"

"I mean… I know she hurt you, but–"

"But she's my sister," Yang butts in, pushing her way into Cinder's space and eyeing her harshly. "And if you lay so much as a finger on her, I'll–"

"Yang!" Ruby's squeaky voice rings out through the outside courtyard of the Belladonna mansion, and her sigh as she uses her semblance to rush in between Cinder and Yang, pushing the two of them apart, is squeakier still. "Gosh, can you stop being so protective all the time! Sheesh, I'm not five!"

"I- well, I mean, I know that, but… that's kind of… do you know who you're–"

"Some random lady?" Ruby harrumphs, placing her hands on her hips and turning her back to Cinder, looking up at Yang with disappointment in her gaze. "You can't go being mean to everyone who wants to talk to me, Yang!"

Yang looks at him as if he has anything to do with this. He shrugs and makes a face at her, as clear an indication of 'I have no idea what to do about this, either' as he can provide.

"Oh, right," Ruby turns around, huffing out another breath, as she finally looks up into Cinder's face. "I'm sorry about my sister, she can get a bit, uh, protective? But she's really nice, and actually a big sweetheart, so I hope you'll forgive her!"

Cinder just sort of… stares at Ruby.

Ruby, meanwhile, seems entirely oblivious. "I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose. What's your name?"

Cinder continues to stare for a long enough time that Ruby starts to lean in, her eyes squinting like she's trying to see Cinder a bit better, which is a look she seems to have gotten from her sister.

"Hey, you look kind of familiar, do I know you from somewhere?"

Cinder looks like she's about five seconds from just coming out and saying who she is before Ruby finally puts the pieces together, and the enthusiasm rather rapidly fades from her face as she realizes just who it is that's standing directly in front of her.

"…Ah, crap." She says in a small voice.

"Uh… sorry about your face?"

In Jaune's opinion, Ruby really could've picked a better opener.

End Chapter 29

Next chapter will be the end of the Menagerie arc, so we'll see what there is next for our heroes then!

Sidenote: writing a book is about a hundred times harder than writing a fanfic. I mean, that sounds obvious, but holy crap, I can usually pump out 2-3 thousand words in an hour, if not more, when writing fics, but I can barely manage 1k in that same time when I'm writing for my book, and that writing is also usually way worse than what I write in my fics. Ugh. Life is hard.

Other sidenote: I've got an idea for another KnightFall (Jaune/Cinder) fic on the backburner atm, based around current timeline of canon, AKA Vacuo, so if that sounds vaguely interesting, then that might be happening at some point.

Anyways, enough with all that, I'll see you all next time!