It was dark when she first saw him and he first saw her. Her eyes glowing amber, lit by the flames of an ancient magic. Her face a mix of smug satisfaction and a scowl that seemed more permanent by the day. Sweat lingered across her face filling the creases on her forehead as she stared down. A girl promised her power on her knees in front of her, conquered. A mesmerizing shroud of gold materializing in place of her physical form. The remaining power rushing into her, intoxicating in its form. She feels strong. She feels accomplished. She feels hunger for more.

Her ears twitched as she redirected her gaze to him - following the sound of his anguished cry. It did not take long to recognize the source of the noise. It was the girl's partner, Jaune Arc. An unremarkable student. No particular talent, no particular skills, and no particular history. She had thought the pairing was made in order to allow the girl's light to shine even brighter by having such a dull light as the comparison. It certainly seemed like everyone else thought the same based on the crowd reaction during the Vytal Festival. As undisciplined as ever, his eyes weren't even on her, staring at the now empty spot where the girl had once knelt. He was as unremarkable as ever. She would make quick work of him, not out of any sense of pity, he simply wasn't worth the time to taunt. She brought midnight up silently and began to pull back the string. That's when their gazes first met.

She saw his eyes widen, as she felt hers do the same. She saw his mouth gasp, as she felt hers do the same. She saw his hand loosen from his weapon, as she felt hers do the same.

She felt the ancient magic, creeping and demanding, on the back of her hand, but could not pull her gaze away from him. She had often though the scenes depicted in the media as oddly disturbing, seeing one's body be modified without their consent, but she couldn't gaze with anything except abject fascination as her symbol materialized on the back of his hand, his face looking down at in some cute mockery of horror. She felt a pull, an attraction unlike anything that she had ever felt before. She had heard of soulmates before, of course. Everyone knew they existed and media loved to over represent them in romance, but it was generally accepted that the chances of actually meeting your soulmate was nearly zero.

Yet she had. The girl who has killed four to escape. The woman who had killed hundreds for her mistress. The maiden who had killed his best friend for power. She had met her soulmate. Something uniquely hers, owned, specifically by her. The maiden powers might live on after she dies, but Jaune Arc would only ever have one soulmate and it would always be her. It was an exhilarating amount of power. More intoxicating than the maiden power in ways she couldn't explain.

The boy screamed in pain, in denial. It hurt her more than she would admit to anyone, but she could handle pain. She wanted to comfort him, to show him that he could rely on her, yet she knew that the time was not right.

She had time. He would be hers, as promised. This was proof that she was on the right path, a reward for her ambition. Her bow dropped to her side - and she heard a scream before silver took over the night sky.

When she saw him next, she was proud to see his growth. He stood across from her, sword drawn as she smiled slyly at him Midnight in her own hand as well.

"I like your hair grown out, you know. You should keep it this way. I'll help you style it." she spoke with confidence.

He glared back at her and bit back, "A person as broken as you couldn't help me with anything."

She frowned at him holding up her left hand displaying the Arc mark, "Someone seems to disagree."

Now that seemed to anger him, with a shout he charged at her and she him. She enjoyed trading blows with him, maiden fire licking at her eyes. He was untempered in his attack, but his skill had grown leaps and bounds since Beacon. Their attacks and parries bounced off each other like a dance - she felt connected to him in a way that no one else could understand, and when she caught his eyes in the right moment, she knew that he felt the connection too. Even soul mates had fights and this was just one of them. When the right moment came, he would come around.

It ended in the same way that it always did with him, silver overtaking the room. Through the pain of her Grimm arm, Cinder couldn't help but grimace at the irony that Ruby hadn't figured out that she would never actually hurt him.

She couldn't help the jolt of affection that she felt as she turned back to see him having skewered the Android. Counterproductive to her plans in every way yet she couldn't muster up the anger that usually came so easily. His willpower and determination was inspiring. His loyalty was unwavering - when he realized they were meant to be on the same side then she had little doubt that he would go to the same lengths for her. These traits were just a small part of what made him special. She felt closer to him than ever as she watched him wipe the blood off his sword. He was sobbing, his body shaking as cries wracked his body. She kicked Weiss off the platform quickly before hovering next to him and landing. Putting her human hand on his shoulder, she brought him into her chest.

As he cried she couldn't resist, bringing her human hand up to run through his hair, cut short as if to spite her. She would discipline him there, but now was not the time. She left her Grimm hand by her side. She wasn't ashamed of it, but Jaune was hers and hers alone. Salem deserved no part in partaking in her property.

"There, there. The first one is always the hardest, even for me."

He let an extra strong sob out at that, taking a sudden step back as he glared at her, bringing up his sword and shield.

He shouted at her, "Are you a psychopath!? How can you say that to me when you're the one forcing me to do all of this?!"

She scowled in disapproval remarking, "Jaune, I didn't force you to do anything. I only want the best for you. I recognize that you want to grow on your own right now, but that doesn't mean I'm going to abandon my goals while I'm waiting for you."

"Waiting!? The gods must have really hated me to make me your soulmate. You really are insane." He looked at her in disgust and that was something she couldn't stand for. "Let me make this clear to you, Cinder" even now her name on his lips sent a shiver through her, "I will never love you."

She snapped at that unable and unwilling to control her anger. She rushed at him, weapons colliding as his sword shattered. The new winter maiden arrived and she chose to retreat for now, anger still coursing through her.

As she realized the danger her soulmate was in, she couldn't stop herself from looking back. She saw him fall and cried out making to return as the portal closed. Left with nothing and no one, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with despair and regret at that moment.

AN:

I find this pairing fairly fascinating, shout-out to onewomancitadel and Obsequium Minaris for spearheading this ship.

One common theme in these stories though is that Jaune usually is a cinnamon roll who turns cinder into a particularly sassy do-gooder. That makes for a great redemption story, so I'm not trashing it by any means, but that's not the dynamic I want to explore here. Expect power struggles in this relationship and Cinder to not be a particularly good person in this one and Jaune will be trying to claw agency back anyway that he can. To me, Cinder could never be a good person - even if she wanted to, she has too much trauma to ever not be manipulative at the very least

Lastly, reviews are greatly appreciated - they push me to write more so if you actually do want more then please review so I know theres some level of interest in my style and in this story. I'm trying a more stream of consciousness style for this story; it allows me to write faster, though of course it makes me worry about the quality so let me know if the wording is awkward or parts are unclear.