Auras and Alibis
Chapter 2
The day started about as busy as any other. In a world full of Grimm, it was inevitable that there would be a constant flow of injured people who needed help. Generally, however, Jaune knew what to expect from day to day – a steady trickle of injured Huntsmen and soldiers, maybe some occasional civilians who got in some kind of accident and needed help… nothing really took him by surprise much anymore.
But around noon, things changed.
Jaune was eating his lunch in the break room when the intercom suddenly buzzed to life above him, startling him and nearly making him drop his sandwich.
"All staff, report to the emergency ward immediately."
His eyes widened. That alarm could only mean one of two things – either there had been a major Grimm incursion, or a supervillain had attacked a sensitive area. In either case, his break was officially over – things were about to get busy.
Jaune left his half-eaten meal behind and bolted up from his spot, sprinting through the hospital as he went. As he ran, he nearly bumped into another male nurse.
"Sky," Jaune said, the two of them running side-by-side. "What's happening?"
"Queen Malevolent robbed one of the warehouses out on the docks," Sky informed him. "Security tried to stop her… I heard the EMTs talking about it – it's not good, Jaune."
Jaune winced. Queen Malevolent was well-known throughout Vale – she was one of the premier supervillains that plagued the city. There were others, but she tended to be the one who caused the most destruction wherever she went. Not only was she apparently a kleptomaniac famed for her high-profile robberies, but she was also a serial arsonist who tended to light up wherever she was robbing. Nobody knew why she did it – by now, she'd robbed enough high-profile locations around Vale that she could live under-the-radar for years without worrying about money. And that was to say nothing of her proclivity for fire.
Frankly, Jaune just assumed it was because someone like her was rotten to the core. She had been given a gift in the form of a powerful Semblance, and rather than help the world with it, she instead preyed on people weaker than her. It disgusted him.
The two of them made it to the proper ward, and Jaune was stunned at what he saw. There was a double-digit number of wounded security guards scattered around, some of them in worse states than others. Some of them had severe burns, while others had large pieces of glass embedded in their bodies; one unfortunate man had a jagged shard jutting out of his right eye, while another had a large spike impaling him through his abdomen. His one solace was that both had passed out from the pain already.
That was another thing about Queen Malevolent – nobody really knew what her Semblance was for a fact, but it was suspected that she was able to superheat things, and that was how she was able to start fires as well as instantly make glass constructs out of Dust and sand. It was a dangerous, highly destructive Semblance – one of the most wicked and devastating that Jaune had ever seen. The fact that she was using it for evil was absolutely repulsive to him.
One of the surgeons, Doctor Aiden Gray, was examining the wounded men. Gray was an older man, in his mid-fifties; he had deep blue eyes, a head of receding black hair, and a set of thick glasses on his face. Jaune had always thought he looked kind of silly, but not now – now, he looked every bit the seasoned trauma surgeon Jaune knew him as.
Gray stopped by the two men impaled by glass. He leaned in to appraise them, then turned towards the nurses who had gathered behind him.
"These two are priority," he said. "I'll take the one with the glass in the abdomen; Doctor Jade will take the other. Jaune, Sky, you're with me. The rest of you, get the remaining men as stable as you can, we'll deal with them in a bit."
Jaune nodded, then followed Doctor Gray and Sky into the operating room as he wheeled his patient in. The doors shut behind them, and Jaune hurriedly pulled on a set of gloves and a surgical mask, then took a breath as he prepared for what was about to happen.
He'd been working as a nurse for a few years now, but he was never going to get used to injuries of this magnitude, especially not when they were caused by such an injustice.
Cinder paced back-and-forth in their shared apartment, restless. Her contact's intel had been dramatically off – he'd told her that there was supposed to be no resistance, and yet on her way out, she'd been set upon by several squads of armed security guards. They'd been no match for her, of course, but there were so many that, in the end, she'd been forced to go all-out if she didn't want to be captured or killed. She'd taken it too far, though, and she knew she had when it had happened – those men she'd struck with shards of glass… she hadn't meant to get so carried away and do so much damage.
"They should have had their Aura up…" she muttered to herself. "What kind of security guards don't know how to maintain their Aura at all times? Must have been new to the job…"
And why had her contact's information been so off? She'd already sent him a message about it, but there had been no reply.
Even worse than that, she'd been messaging Jaune constantly ever since his shift was supposed to end at six. It was now eight at night, and he still hadn't even read her messages. And that worried her, because it meant that of all the hospitals to take the wounded guards to, they'd ended up Vale General. And the last thing she wanted was for Jaune to have to deal with the aftermath of one of her raids.
The one solace she had was that the heist had been a success – she'd made off with several cases of expensive imported jewelry, which had been stashed at her safehouse before she'd made her way back home. She'd have to lay low for a bit after a heist like this, but that wouldn't be a problem – the money from the stolen jewelry would keep her going for some time.
The real problem was going to be dealing with her pyromania, and she knew it. But that could wait for now – at the moment, all that mattered was Jaune.
The clock eventually struck nine, and he was still nowhere to be found. Cinder was growing more anxious by the second. She considered calling him once more, but just as she dug her scroll out of her pocket, the door to the apartment came flying open.
"Jaune!"
She practically threw herself at him, pulling him into a big hug. Jaune hesitantly reciprocated.
"Hey, babe…" he muttered.
Cinder immediately pulled away enough to look him in the eyes. "Jaune, what's wrong?"
She already knew the answer, of course, but that didn't stop her from feeling guilty when he let out a heavy sigh. "Long day… supervillain attacked the docks; put a bunch of guys in the hospital. Nearly killed at least one of them; did kill one other. And, of course, that was the one I was tasked to work on."
Her heart skipped a beat. "Jaune, I'm so sorry."
Jaune nodded, numb. He made his way over to the living room, then took a seat on the couch, burying his head in his hands as he let out another sigh. Cinder hesitated, then took a seat next to him, leaning up against him and putting her head on his shoulder.
"We worked on that guy for hours, Cin," Jaune muttered. "But in the end, it just wasn't enough. Queen Malevolent impaled him through the abdomen with a shard of glass; glass severed one of his intestines. Guy went into septic shock as we were working on him and died on the operating table before he could even wake up from being unconscious. Fresh out of school, third week on the job, and then dead, just like that."
Cinder brought a hand up to gently rub his back. "I know you did everything you could."
"That's what bothers me," Jaune said. "We did everything in our power to save that poor man, and yet it still wasn't enough. Some people just can't be saved no matter what you do."
Jaune's face contorted in grief, and his hands curled into fists. "...And what did he die over? A bunch of imported jewelry, bought by a company who couldn't care less about him? But he still responded because it was his job. He was just unfortunate enough to run into the worst supervillain in the city. But that's okay – when it's your time, it's your time, right? We all might as well accept that, I suppose."
"Jaune…"
He let out another sigh. "Forget I said anything, Cin. Sorry if I worried you by not responding to your texts or calls, I was just… not in the right headspace to reply at the time."
"I understand," she said softly.
Jaune rose to his feet. "I'm going to take a shower. After that, I'll probably just go right to bed."
"You're not hungry?"
"Believe me, food is the last thing on my mind. Could do with some whiskey, though. Maybe a glass or two before bed..."
Cinder couldn't help but cringe internally. Jaune hated the taste of whiskey – he only ever drank it if he was having a particularly rough day. For him to openly want a glass of it worried her, but at the same time, she had no right to refuse him.
After all, she was the reason for his malaise.
"If that's what you want." She reached out to grasp him by the hand. "I'm here for you, Jaune. Whatever's bothering you, you can tell me about it. Always."
Jaune gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Cinder. What would I do without you?"
With that, he turned and disappeared into their bedroom; a split-second later, Cinder heard the shower turn on. When it did, she let out a sigh.
"Yeah," she said quietly. "What would you do without me…?"
After several days of not burning anything, Cinder was beginning to get antsy. She found herself involuntarily creating small embers between her fingers when Jaune wasn't home, and even when he was home, she had to stop herself from idly doing it.
And, to make matters worse, the jewelry she'd stolen needed to be moved at some point. She couldn't afford to sit on merchandise like that for very long, especially not when there was that much heat on it.
And so, at the end of the week when Jaune was at work, Cinder stopped by her safehouse and began the task of moving the jewelry to one of her contacts. She'd always hated Junior, but the man paid well and didn't ask too many questions, and so she found it in her heart to look past his faults and to resist the urge to burn his nightclub down whenever she walked by it.
After a few hours of moving back-and-forth, taking the jewelry with her bit by bit, it was all done. The two of them were standing in the back of his club while Junior's men sorted and cataloged the goods. Cinder watched them as they worked, then turned to Junior.
"By my estimation, that's all worth a few hundred-thousand lien," she told him.
"I'm inclined to agree," Junior said. "There'll be a nice payday out of this one, even after we get it cleaned up and distributed."
He reached into his jacket pocket, coming back with a stack of lien cards. "This should cover it."
Cinder took the cards, then began to count them out. As she did so, a scowl crossed her face. "You're short."
"No, I'm not," Junior replied evenly. "You killed a man to get this stuff. That means there's heat attached to every piece of it. Heat means that we're going to have to pay extra to keep the cops and the Heroes away from it while we sell it off. And since you're the one who fucked up, it's coming out of your cut."
"I'm not the one who messed up," Cinder growled. "The intel was off. I was told that there would be no guards. Clearly, if this is coming out of anyone's cut, it should be Torchwick's."
"Intel is only as reliable as the person it's purchased from," Junior countered. "Torchwick got someone who he thought was reliable and paid top dollar for the information; turns out he was mistaken, and the man lied to him and pocketed the money. Believe me when I say that he'll be taken care of – Torchwick knows who he is, and from what I heard, he's got his little friend working on it."
"How comforting," Cinder said dryly. She held up her stack of lien cards. "Need I remind you who holds the cards, here? Were I to desire it, I could burn down your club right now and expose your entire operation."
"And were I to desire it, I could have your face plastered across the evening news in five minutes," Junior countered. "I work with you because you're good at what you do. But make no mistake – I will not tolerate any further fuck-ups of the magnitude, not when they risk compromising my entire organization like this. Bitch if you want, but that money's as much as you're getting for this job. Consider it a dock in pay for leaving a body behind. Next time, if you're going to kill people, do us all a favor and burn them to ash instead – at least then they'll be impossible to identify. Got it?"
Cinder glared at Junior, but nodded. "Very well."
With that, she turned and walked away, sparks dancing between her fingers the entire time.
"Babe, you okay?"
At the sound of Jaune's voice, Cinder stood bolt upright, a small gasp escaping her. "F-fine! I'm doing fine, Jaune!"
"You sure? Because that water's been boiling for a long time now."
Cinder blinked, then looked down at the kettle on the stovetop. Sure enough, it was boiling like crazy, which was embarrassing because the stove wasn't even on. She flushed red, then pulled her hand away from the kettle and pretended to switch the stove off.
This was becoming unbearable. She was going to have to take drastic measures – something needed to be done, and fast, or she was liable to lose her mind. Thankfully, she knew just the thing; it'd been a few days since Jaune and her had been intimate, despite her best efforts – he'd been in a bit of a funk ever since the incident at the hospital a few days ago, and he'd been missing some very obvious hints.
Time to throw all that back in his face, in the best way possible. The only question was how to do it without being confrontational about it.
"Sorry," she said. "Give it a moment, the tea should be ready by then."
"Sure, sure," Jaune said from his spot on the couch. "By the way, is something bothering you?"
"No," Cinder hurriedly answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, it's just… you've been kinda scatterbrained these past few days. Like, even more than usual. It's a little concerning."
Cinder stared at him, racking her brain for an excuse. One finally occurred to her; it was going to be mean of her, but she knew Jaune would buy it instantly, and so she jumped right into it without a second thought.
"Well, it's just… I'm worried you don't find me attractive anymore."
Instantly, Jaune's eyes widened. Cinder had to suppress a smirk. Hook, line, and sinker.
"Why would you think that?" Jaune asked. "Cinder, I love you, you know that."
"I know, I know, but… it's like you're deliberately missing the hints I've been putting out there."
"Hints? What are you-" Jaune paused, his eyes widening. After a moment, he groaned, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "...I'm such an idiot…"
"No, no," Cinder offered, a small giggle escaping her. "I'm sure it was very easy to misinterpret me strutting around the apartment naked all day yesterday as something else other than what I actually wanted."
"I just thought you were trying to be sexy for me, I didn't think that meant you wanted sex then and there," Jaune said. "Especially when you told me you were doing it to save from doing laundry. Can't believe I bought that excuse..."
Again, Cinder giggled. "It's all a game, you know – seeing how far I could push you before you finally understood what I was trying to tell you. Of course, at some point, I started to wonder how you were missing something so obvious; it made me worry you might have gotten used to me and started to find me plain."
"Never," Jaune insisted. "It's just… I'm a guy, Cinder – we're not good at picking up hints."
"Jaune, I don't know how much more obvious I could have made it," Cinder said, a grin crossing her face. "Do I need to draw you a map to it or something?"
"I mean, if you're offering-"
Cinder couldn't help it; she burst out laughing. After a moment, Jaune did too, both of them doubling over and clutching at their stomachs. It lasted for several seconds, and by the end of it, they were both wiping tears away.
Cinder flashed him a grin, then reached out and took him by the hand. "Come on," she urged. "You have apparently been slacking on your anatomy lessons and need a reminder of how this all works – embarrassing for a nurse, I have to say, but luckily I'm here to help."
"You're insatiable, you know that?" Jaune asked as she pulled him towards the bedroom. "I'm just now realizing how many hints you've been dropping these past few days… geez, how much sex do you need?"
"If it's you, as much as I can get," she said playfully. "Now, hurry up and show me a good time, Jaune~"
The bedroom door closed behind them, and in that moment, all of Cinder's worries faded away.
Thanks to my co-writer, Ickbard, for the help with this story.
It begins! You were all waiting for when that drama tag would kick in, and it's finally started. Consider this a taste of what's to come. We're really going to be earning the drama tag for this one. Personally, I like to think of this story as a romantic dramedy - that is, a romantic drama with the occasional comedic part.
That aside, I don't have too much else this week, as I'm very busy. So I'll see you all next time!
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