Auras and Alibis
Chapter 6
Cinder got home just a little bit before Jaune's shift generally ended. She let out a tired sigh as she dumped her "Hero" duffel bag off in the safe in their shared bedroom.
Finally, she'd been able to work most of the kinks out of her system. If nothing else, the Grimm, at least, burned just as well as everything else in Vale did. And unlike when she did it in Vale, out there, the Grimm were completely fair game.
Of course, Scarlet had found her eventually, like the little nuisance she was.
"Little pest…" Cinder muttered as she closed the safe and spun the dial, leaving it securely locked. There was little inside save for the two duffel bags full of gear, plus some loose cash in case she needed to suddenly cut and run for a while; most of her real money was secured in either one of several safe houses scattered across Vale, or hidden in an offshore account. Even if they were to discover who she was and arrest her, they had no way of touching the vast majority of her money.
Of course, if they did catch her, they'd probably sooner fry her in the electric chair than give her a life sentence. Being Vale's number one supervillain would do that, she supposed. But at the very least, if they somehow did catch her, Jaune would be able to live lavishly for quite some time.
Cinder shook those thoughts from her head, then stepped out of the bedroom and back into the living room. She flopped down on the couch and began to absentmindedly flip through channels on the TV. It was all mindless garbage, as it always was; idly, she wondered why they even bothered paying for the service. Jaune was gone for most of the day, and she didn't much care for TV in the first place. Even when they were together, they preferred other activities compared to watching a show or a movie together. Not just sex, either – Jaune was a bit of an old-school romantic, so dinners and walks in the park were very commonplace between them. Really, though, her favorite thing to do with him was just silently enjoy his company, and the peace of mind he brought her.
As insane as the world could be, at least she'd always have Jaune by her side, serving as her rock.
The door opened, and Jaune stepped into the apartment. The first thing Cinder noticed was that he seemed quite riled up, like he had too much energy he needed to burn.
"Let's do something," he declared.
Cinder blinked. "...Okay. What, did you mean like something new, or-"
"Yeah, why not?"
"I see. I'll go get the lubricant, and-"
"No, no, not like that." Jaune paused. "...Unless you're offering, of course. But that's for later! For now, I think we need to go out for a bit."
"Okay," Cinder said. Anything for him, after all. "What did you have in mind?"
"Drive-in," Jaune declared. "There's a retro drive-in not far from here. You pull up, they take your order from the window, and you eat while watching a movie together on the big screen. I think it'd be a nice change of pace."
Cinder frowned. "There's something you're missing."
"Yeah?"
"We don't have a car, Jaune."
"We can rent one," he said. "There's a rental place down the street from here. I figure since it'll only be for a night, we can borrow it for a pretty good price."
"Do you even know how to drive? That's a genuine question, by the way."
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Jaune said, proud of himself. "Dad showed me how before I moved out, even made me get my license and everything. I'm road-legal."
"Your license isn't expired, is it?"
His expression faltered. "...It shouldn't be?"
"Jaune."
"Okay, more confidently, then – it's not expired. Good enough for you?"
"I suppose," Cinder conceded. "What movie were you planning on?"
Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it's a retro drive-in, so whatever they're showing will probably be at least a few decades old. Honestly, though, it's not really about the movie as much as it is the experience of something new. So, you interested?"
"I don't see why not," Cinder said, rising from the couch. "It beats absentmindedly sitting here and clicking through TV channels while complaining about how there's nothing on."
"We don't do that that often, do we?" Jaune asked. Cinder just stared at him, and he gave her a sheepish grin. "Alright, so I guess the two of us need some more hobbies together… we'll figure that out after, I guess. For now, let's get going."
As it turned out, Jaune had been right about the rental car. Since they were only taking it for a night, they'd gotten it at a low enough rate that they could afford it even on what little was in their shared bank account.
Of course, now that they had the car, the problem was actually getting there.
"Let's see…" Jaune muttered to himself. "Brakes in, then turn the key to start… after that, put it in drive, and should be good to go…"
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Cinder asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Shh, I'm driving here, no backseating," Jaune said playfully without looking over to her.
"Technically, we're stopped, so you're not actually driving yet."
The engine suddenly roared to life, and Jaune stuck his tongue out at her. Again, she rolled her eyes, but said nothing in response. Jaune put the car in drive, then began to carefully peel out of the rental place's parking lot.
The movie, as it turned out, was one she'd seen when she'd first met Jaune – some sci-fi romp about a young kid from a backwoods planet taking on a galactic empire with a ragtag bunch of misfits. Cinder had never much been one for science fiction, but it had brought back memories of her early days with Jaune, and so she'd managed to enjoy the film nonetheless.
Dinner was as expected, too – a tray full of burgers and fries soaked in grease. Far from the apex of the culinary arts, but she'd certainly had worse meals, and she'd never been one for high society, anyway… unless she was stealing from them, of course.
Experience had taught her that she'd never be accepted among the high society types, and so she had never bothered to try integrating with them.
In any case, they'd finished their dinner and the movie, and then they'd turned in the rental car. Now they were just walking home. It wasn't far, maybe fifteen minutes by foot. Cinder sighed contently as they walked, lost in her own little world.
The two of them walked hand-in-hand, gentle smiles across both their faces. This was what she loved most about being with Jaune – just being able to quietly enjoy each other's presence like they were now. There was certainly something to be said for being able to be around someone and just know they loved you and your presence without either of you having to say a single word. It was comforting.
So comforting, in fact, that she had almost completely missed the man moving out of the shadows of a nearby alleyway.
Cinder caught him in her sight at the last minute, but by then, it was too late – he'd already presented the blued revolver, aiming it directly between Jaune's eyes as he thumbed back the hammer. She watched the cylinder rotate almost in slow motion, her eyes widening at the anticipated shot, but none ever came. It took her a moment to realize why.
This was a mugging, not a murder. At least, not yet.
"Empty your pockets," the man demanded. "You too, lady. And make it quick before I lose my cool and do something you'll both regret."
Cinder's eyes narrowed dangerously. She was tempted to slip into her alter-ego then and there – how dare this man point a gun at her Jaune. It was unacceptable, and if it'd just been the two of them, she would have made him pay easily enough. But it wasn't – Jaune was right there, and in typical Jaune fashion, he had already moved to defend her.
"Leave her out of this," Jaune said, stepping front of Cinder with his arms outstretched. "She doesn't have anything on her. I'm the one with the money."
"I'll be the judge of that," the mugger growled. "Empty your pockets, now."
"Okay, okay. No need to lose your composure. Just stay calm; I'm gonna reach into my pocket and hand over my wallet."
Jaune kept one hand raised, then slowly slipped his other into his pocket and retrieved his wallet, which he went to hand to the man. The mugger immediately shook his head, though.
"Throw it on the ground and back up," he said with a snarl. "Now."
Jaune nodded in understanding, then did exactly that, throwing his wallet a few inches away from the man's feet before beginning to backpedal. But not her; never her. No, Cinder stayed rooted to her spot.
"Cinder," Jaune said, panic creeping into his voice. "Cinder, it's just money. Let him have it."
Cinder hesitated. Jaune was right – letting this man rob them was the smart thing to do, at least at this point. But on the other hand… he'd pointed a gun – a loaded gun; she could see the hollow-point rounds lining the revolver's cylinder in the moonlight – at her fiance. If it hadn't been for that, she would have let the man go, if only to make things easier on herself and because it was what Jaune wanted. But not now.
No, he needed to learn what happened when someone messed with her Jaune.
"Are you fucking stupid or something?" the mugger said with a snarl. "I said, back up-"
He took a step towards her, leading with the revolver as if to threaten her further with it, and that was his undoing. Cinder immediately lunged towards him, aiming for the pistol; the gun discharged once before she could wrestle it away, and she heard Jaune let out a panicked shout, but she'd felt the bullet impact against her Aura. Good, Jaune was safe now and she could take her revenge.
It was an easy feat to disarm the would-be mugger – he was untrained and uncoordinated; nothing more than some punk with a gun. But that wasn't going to stop her, especially not when she had Aura-enhanced strength and he clearly didn't.
She introduced herself to him by breaking his dominant arm in three places with just a few well-placed strikes, and it was all downhill from there for him. Past that opener, however, she couldn't recall what she'd done – it was all one big infliction of sheer agony on her unfortunate victim.
And as she rained down blows upon the man, she thought back to earlier, during her fight with Dragon. The mere thought of it forced her to grit her teeth – she'd almost lost that fight, the first near-loss in a very long time. And that bothered her, far more than it had any right to. It bothered her such that thin wisps of smoke began to curl up from her hands as she beat the man to within an inch of his life.
She'd wanted to wipe that cocky smirk and angry look off Dragon's face. It reminded her so much of earlier in life, how the people she hated always gave her the same looks, even if for different reasons. Dragon hadn't meant to do it, but she'd dredged up some very bad memories, and Cinder intended to make someone pay for it. And now she had the perfect excuse to do exactly that and get away with it.
There was a loud crunch as she shattered the mugger's jaw, spilling blood and shards of teeth across the pavement. This wasn't the worst beatdown she'd ever given out, but it was far from merciful. And it only ended when Jaune suddenly and forcibly pulled her off the man.
"That's enough," Jaune said sternly, yet quietly. Cinder looked at him in surprise, the haze of battle finally clearing itself from her mind, before she finally realized why he'd been so quiet.
The mugger wasn't dead, but he almost certainly wished he was by now. At this point, he was little more than a ball of sentient pain curled up on the concrete. Cinder herself was stained with streaks of blood, not a single drop of which was hers. The gun had been discarded a ways away, and was lying there, forgotten; Cinder stood up and moved to retrieve it. Jaune's expression turned to one of sheer terror, but whatever he'd been expecting, she defied it by simply opening the cylinder and dumping the remaining ammunition out on the street, then tossing the gun away.
The moment it was safe, Jaune rushed over to her, then began to look her over for injuries.
"Are you okay?" Jaune demanded as he fussed over her. "Where did he shoot you? Where does it hurt? Are you bleeding anywhere? Lie down so I can look you over."
"Jaune," Cinder protested. "I'm fine, really."
"How can you be fine?! I saw that bullet hit you, I saw-" Jaune instantly paused, his eyes going wide as he stared at her. "...You flashed gold when that happened. That… that was your Aura, wasn't it?"
Cinder didn't say anything, because she wasn't sure how to respond to that. Jaune was never supposed to know she had Aura in the first place – that was never supposed to factor into their relationship together; she'd always intended to keep it a secret, lest he attempt to dig deeper into it.
And now, it had been exposed with a single bullet.
Jaune hesitated for a moment. "...When were you going to tell me?"
"I wasn't," Cinder answered truthfully. "It's… not something I thought would help our relationship."
"Why is that? You know I love you. That will never change."
"Because…" She searched for something to say, some lie that could help her claw her way out of the hole she'd dug herself into, but came up empty. Instead, she sighed, then shook her head, and told the truth. "...It's not a happy story, how I got it."
Jaune's face went slack with shock, but just a moment later, he recovered, the surprise replaced with a face of patient understanding. "Does this have to do with your past?"
"It does."
Jaune bit his lip. Cinder had mentioned her past to him before – how she didn't like to talk about it. Jaune knew she wasn't lying, either – nobody could fake her reactions to the nightmares that plagued her almost every day. Cinder was no idiot, however – she knew he had to be wondering just how bad her past had been, but at the same time, she'd made it clear that discussing it was a boundary she never wanted to cross.
She could see how torn he was, how he longed to know more about her so he could reach out to her and try to help her move past it… but there was no way she was going to indulge him.
Some corpses were better left buried, after all.
Jaune must have seen the conflicting emotions on her face, because he hurriedly reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You don't have to tell me anything," he offered. "That is, unless you want to. I understand it's painful for you; I don't want to reopen old wounds that may have already started to heal. But just know that when you're ready to talk – and that day may never come, and that's fine by me… but if it ever does come, I'll be right here next to you, and nothing you say will ever keep me from loving you, Cinder."
Despite herself, Cinder felt tears come to her eyes. Jaune pulled her into a deep embrace, and she sniffled softly into his shoulder.
And a small part of her even believed in what he was saying.
Sirens caught their attention a few seconds later, and Cinder already knew what was coming. They broke apart just as the police arrived, hands on their holstered weapons.
"What's going on around here?" one of the officers asked. "Someone called in about a shooting."
"It was him," Jaune immediately declared, pointing at the downed mugger. "He tried to mug us, and fired a shot when it became clear we weren't going to comply. My fiance was forced to defend herself."
The officer looked over to his partner for confirmation, who just shrugged. The lead cop pursed his lips, then pointed to Jaune and Cinder.
"Watch them," he said to his partner, who nodded. The other cop moved over to examine the downed mugger, grimacing when he reached him.
"Yeah, I recognize this one," he declared. "Out on bail after robbing a liquor store a few weeks ago… somehow, I'm not surprised to find him like this." He looked up, turning towards Cinder. "You're the one who did this?"
"I am," Cinder confirmed.
"Shit… this might be the single worst educational beatdown I think I've ever seen. You folded this guy like an old lawn chair."
"Educational beatdown?" Jaune echoed.
"Yeah, you know – sometimes, some aspiring future doctor or lawyer – because that's always what they are, according to their parents – decides to do something stupid, and ends up victimizing the wrong person. Then they get the fucksmack laid on them. If they're smart, that will deter them from doing the same thing ever again, but then again, if criminals were smart, they wouldn't be criminals."
Cinder wisely chose not to comment.
"Anyway," the officer continued, "looks like there's a security camera on that building overhead. If it's working and your story checks out, then you're both free to go."
"And if it doesn't?" Cinder asked.
The officer shrugged. "Well, at this point, it's you two against him. And given that he probably can't talk all that well through all the broken teeth, I'm inclined to believe your side of the story."
"So we're free to go either way?" Jaune asked, hopeful.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," the other cop interjected. "This is still an active investigation. You're both being detained for the time being." He keyed his microphone. "Dispatch, we've made contact. Send backup and EMS to my position, over." Once he'd said that much, he turned back to Jaune and Cinder. "Let us check the footage first. If it's all good to go, we'll let you be on your way. Are you both pressing charges, or is his asskicking satisfying enough for you?"
"Of course we're pressing charges," Jaune said firmly. "He tried to shoot my fiance. I want him behind bars for a very long time."
"Shouldn't be an issue, then. Just give us a few minutes, we'll pull the footage and you both should be all set."
As it turned out, it did, in fact, take them just a few minutes to review the footage from the nearby security camera. Once the police had done that, they'd been able to verify their story, and aside from a few knowing looks over at Cinder, they'd let them both go without issue. The two of them had made their way back to their shared apartment in silence, though Cinder already knew exactly what to expect from the looks Jaune was giving her.
And once they were safely inside the apartment with the door shut behind them, Jaune all but pounced.
"Talk to me, please," Jaune said. "Your Aura is one thing, but those moves… where did you learn to fight like that?"
"Just some things I picked up over the years," Cinder hurriedly explained. "I've always had an interest in self-defense, and my company has only fostered that interest since I joined."
"Makes sense, I suppose… of course, I have to ask…"
Don't, Cinder silently begged. It was no use, however – Jaune began to shake with anticipation, and she knew what was coming before he even said it.
"Are you a Hero?!" Jaune asked excitedly, a huge smile on his face.
Cinder winced. Jaune had always been a fan of Heroes, much to her chagrin. On a few separate occasions, she'd even tried steering him towards villains, such as by pointing out Queen Malevolent's shapely figure and child-bearing hips, but he'd always brushed her off. That had wounded her somewhat, but not nearly as much as his incessant obsession with Heroes.
And now, it seemed, it had come full-circle.
"I…" Cinder hesitated, unsure of what to say. "...Dabble."
"You dabble?" Jaune asked. "What does that mean? Do you fight crime?"
"I… fight Grimm, mainly," Cinder replied. Sure, she'd dug herself this deep, why not go along with it? "To prepare for fighting criminals."
Jaune let out a decidedly un-masculine squeal of excitement.
"I can't believe it…!" he said. "I'm marrying a Hero!"
Again, Cinder winced. "Not so loud, please," she implored.
"Ah… right; don't want the neighbors figuring that out, yeah? You don't need to worry, Cin – I won't tell a soul. I'll take this secret with me to my grave."
"Good," she said. "Because… it would be very bad if anyone found out."
"Why is that?" Jaune's eyes lit up. "Ooh, do you have a nemesis? Do I need to worry about being captured by a villain? Ah, but then, you'd save me, wouldn't you?"
"Jaune," Cinder said, more sternly. "This isn't a laughing matter. Seriously."
Jaune's smile faded. "What's wrong, babe?"
Cinder rubbed her hands together, anxious. She did her best not to cause sparks to fly between them. "...This isn't how I wanted you to find out," she said softly. "I was hoping I'd have more time to put something together… I mean, I didn't want to tell you, since it'd be so dangerous, but… I figured I'd always need a contingency, just in case…"
"Hey," Jaune said quietly, moving towards her to put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Cinder. You know I'll always love and support you, no matter what. This changes nothing between us."
Cinder sucked in a shaky breath. "...Thank you, Jaune."
Once again, she allowed herself to believe it.
Jaune gave her another smile. "Sorry if I'm excited; I never thought I'd be marrying a Hero. This is legitimately like a dream come true for me."
Cinder returned his grin with a sheepish one of her own. "You know, somehow I feel like this shouldn't surprise me."
Internally, however, she was panicking. And as she stared into those brilliant blue eyes of his, the same words from her nightmare came back once more.
The walls that build you up can burn you down the same.
And there's the next one. Hope you all enjoyed it. I figured it's been awhile since there was any good Knightfall content from this story, so might as well throw a bunch at you guys at once lol.
The date at the drive-in was entirely Ickbard's idea. I had no idea what to do for a fun date with those two, and he ended up saving the day with that suggestion, which worked perfectly.
Ick: The date was based on a restaurant I went with my family to Disneyworld. It was such a silly and hokey idea that I felt it would be too good to miss out on a silly date.
And then, of course, we took that and ran with it, making sure to spice it up with a bit of the ol' ultra-violence along the way. Because it's not a story featuring Minaris without a bit of that, apparently.
Oh, and can't forget that Jaune knows the truth now. Kinda. Sorta. Alright, not really. But he's on his way there, maybe? Guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out, lol.
Thanks again for all the support. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and we'll see you next time.