Chapter 1: Arc's Descent
Beacon was falling and Jaune couldn't help but feel like it was his fault. He might not have been the perfect hero, he knew he had a lot of room to improve, but he had been improving. He had been training, working day in and out to improve himself, and with Pyrrha's help he had been in improving. He had even managed to unlock his semblance during the Breach, when Ren had been injured by the Deathstalker that came through. His Semblance had let him heal Ren while team CVFY took down the giant Grimm. Upon further experimentation he found he could do more than just heal, he could boost people's aura and even semblances, by giving some of his own.
He didn't cause the Grimm to start attacking, or the Atlesian robots to turn on them, or the giant dragon Grimm to burst out of the mountain… but he didn't get how badly Pyrrha was doing, and he must have said exactly the wrong thing, cause she just got even more freaked out. Ruby said what happened wasn't Pyrrha's fault, and he agreed, she had no way of knowing that Penny was a robot, would never mean to k- to do anything like that. But would it have turned out the same way if he had known the right thing to say?
No matter what though, under the tunnels was his fault. He was confused, wondering what on Remnant Ozpin was doing and why he was putting his partner in something that seemed out the laboratory of a mad scientist from one of his comic books, but he was supposed to guard the entrance. And he didn't, he failed and now that other girl was dead, and Cinder had powered up? She seemed way stronger, so much so that Ozpin sent them out of the way.
As much as that stung, he should still try to fulfill the mission Professor Ozpin gave him. "C'mon, I know I have Glynda's number here somewhere" Jaune mutters to himself as he opens up his scroll. Looking over at Pyrrha he asks "Pyrrha, what was all of that?"
She pauses for a moment, and before she can answer they see Cinder fly up to the top of the tower. Ozpin doesn't appear to be close behind or engaging her in any way at all. "But, Ozpin…" Ozpin was supposed to be one of the greatest huntsmen of all time, the youngest hunter ever made headmaster, if even he couldn't beat her then how could anyone?
Pyrrha's face turned even more grim as she turned to jaune and said "There's no time, go get to Vale, get some help."
Jaune feared what she was thinking but had to ask "What are you going to do?" Pyrrha turned her gaze up to the top of the tower, giving Jaune all the answer he needed. "No, Pyrrha you can't, you saw how powerful she is. I won't let you do this, not-" He found himself cut off by Pyrrha suddenly kissing him. It was shocking, yet wonderful, he never would have imagined how soft her lips felt. He was so distracted that he almost didn't notice when they broke apart what Pyrrha was about to do.
"I'm sorry" she said right before pushing him towards a nearby locker. Jaune only just managed to trigger his shield, causing it to expand outward and block him from being thrown into the locker. Jaune had learned a bit from the pranks Cardin had pulled on him before and figured he could use the shield jam to block getting pushed into a locker again, he just never expected that Pyrrha would be the one doing the pushing.
"Wait, you can't go fighting her! Not on your own." Jaune shouts out trying to get her to stop before she fully pushes him in. He knows it wouldn't be hard for her to force him in, but she stops at his words.
Shaking her head, she says "I don't have time to wait for Glynda and the others to get here. That woman must be drained from fighting Ozpin, this is the best chance I'll get."
"I'll send out a message to everyone, but I'm saying you should take me along as well."
"I can't, you aren't strong enough and if-" Jaune cuts off her next words.
"If I'm not strong enough now then when will I be? This is the moment I've- we've been training for. I know I'm not as strong as you, but I can support you and my semblance can boost you." Seeing Pyrrha still unsure he adds "Look, if we don't have much time then we should just go together rather than arguing, right?" He finishes sending out a group message letting anyone else at school know where they are. He has no idea if any of them will be able to make it to them with all the Grimm swarming around, but it didn't hurt to send the message out.
Pyrrha hesitates for a half second more before taking his hand and running toward the elevator with a shaky smile on her lips. She's not happy about the situation, but she seems to be doing a bit better with Jaune there, and if he can help her out then he's done good.
When they come up to the elevator, they see the person sized hole going through the top and bottom of it. "Oh man, how are we supposed to get up now?" Pyrrha raises an eyebrow at him.
"I was thinking of using my semblance." Jaune flushes with embarrassment having forgotten she could use it like that. He grabs onto her hand and gives her a quick boost from his aura, letting Pyrrha lifts the elevator up to the top in a couple seconds. Jaune's still a little off balance from how quickly they skyrocketed upward but manages to roll out of the elevator alongside Pyrrha, though Pyrrha also threw her weapons at Cinder as she left. When he gets up fully, he sees Cinder standing in Ozpin's office, as if she owned the place. She dodged or blocked Pyrrha's first attacks, but Pyrrha's back on her in an instant, her thrown weapons drawn back to her with Polarity. Cinder lifts herself off the ground, flying now, which prevents her from being thrown off balance when the largest Grimm Jaune has ever seen or heard of climbs up the outside the tower and roars, its draconic masked head looking in through, and obscuring most view out of, the windows. The sound itself seems to shake the floor, Pyrrha shifting with it to attack Cinder from the side and dodge her flame blasts. Jaune stumbles over, focusing on keeping his shield up, knowing that he doesn't really have enough balance to try and make an attack right now.
Cinder blocks a shield strike from Pyrrha, moving to blast her with another burst of fire, which Jaune intercepts placing his shield in between them. The heat is sweltering, but his shield and aura are holding out. Jaune's sword arm is held loosely out behind him, reaching towards Pyrrha. Pyrrha moves to grab his hand, but Cinder just flies up higher, cutting of her blast of flame towards Jaune and sending an even stronger one towards Pyrrha. It's a testament to her skill that she manages to roll herself up behind her shield and have it take the majority of the blast, but the force from it still sends her skidding back, away from Jaune. Cinder's eyes actually seem to show some annoyance for once, an appreciated change from the arrogance she's otherwise been displaying, but not one that Jaune can fully appreciate as she starts beating into him.
Jaune brings his arm forward to swing his sword at Cinder, planting his feet perfectly, just like Pyrrha's taught him, but it's not enough. Cinder deflects it to the side with her hand and an application of Aura, before whipping that hand back with a newly conjured sword of glass in her hand. His shield rises to block it in a way that he suspects wouldn't be possible without Pyrrha. It stops the sword from taking his head, the glass shattering on the shield. It hangs suspended in the air for a split second before all the shards fly towards him with a twist of her hand. Jaune brings his shield down back down to block most of it, but several pieces still clip his Aura and take small chunks off it.
Before she can move in further, Pyrrha's charging back in, jumping over Jaune to get at Cinder. Cinder backs away from the strike, throwing out blasts of flame herself, that Pyrrha spins around to avoid. Jaune can't dodge them as agile as Pyrrha can, but blocks most of them, save for one that strikes a little too close to his feet and knocks him down. Pyrrha's strikes can't get past Cinder's defence and Jaune begins to wonder just how much he thought he could do in this fight, barely able to keep up with the movements. Pyrrha turns Akuo into rifle mode to let off a shot that guides her back to Jaune, but he's still trying to get up. She turns around wondering where he is and offering a hand to pull him, which Jaune moves to grab while focusing on trying to boost her Aura, to give her the edge she needs to beat Cinder.
Cinder must have seen that coming, as the moment before his hand reaches Pyrrha's, Cinder has spun her away, grabbing the rifle she still held out and twirling with Pyrrha almost as if they were at a dance, not a combat. Jaune could almost see their moves as a dance with how swift, graceful, and fluid they are, if it were not for the very real threat of death, Jaune could almost let himself be entranced by their moves. He rushes forward but finds the fight moved on to halfway around the room in an instant as Cinder kicks Pyrrha away. Pyrrha returns the favour, sliding under a blast of fire and striking at her with Akuo in sword form. Cinder deftly blocks the shot only for Pyrrha to let the sword go flying up, rotating around slightly and changing into spear form with Pyrrha's Polarity. All of that only serves as a distraction to let Pyrrha punch Cinder, and from there flow into a sweeping throw, sending Cinder hurtling towards Jaune.
Jaune's blade is raised and ready to strike down where Cinder lands, but only hits the air as Cinder flies away from him even while prone. Cinder slides around and over Jaune pushing his back down even further after his strike to glide over, Pyrrha's shield sent rocketing towards her and then kicked away just as fast. Cinder draws and fires a bow of glass at Pyrrha, halting her movement forward momentarily as she blocks. Jaune, having recovered in the time it took her to do so, is standing again and swinging his sword towards her. Cinder drops the bow and just steps inside his strike range as she turns to meet him. Jaune tries his best to shift backwards and turn the slash into something useful, but Cinder blocks it before grabbing his head. "Foolish" is all she says before engulfing his head in flames and sending him crashing through Ozpin's desk and into the one of the walls.
His vision is blurry and more than a little disoriented, he's sure that almost anyone else would have been killed by that blast, and even he had most of his Aura taken out by it. When he focuses again, he can see that Pyrrha is pressing Cinder against the ground, her spear inching closer to Cinder's neck as she tries to hold it off. Jaune can also see behind her that the Wyvern is flying in at a rapid pace, on a direct collision course with the tower. "Pyrrha, look out!" Jaune cries, which does get her to notice the giant Grimm, but the split second of taking her eyes off of Cinder lets her take a hand away from the spear and uses it to blast Pyrrha into the ceiling with a gout of flame. "Pyrrha!" Jaune shouts as he stands up and tries to move towards her. His efforts are stopped by the Wyvern smashing into the tower, shattering all the glass and breaking off most of the ceiling, sending it off the side or crashing down on the floor. Jaune shields himself against the glass and debris, kneeling behind his shield as the force pushes him against the wall.
Jaune picks himself up as Pyrrha manages to pick up on of the largest gears that was going over the edge and surfs it back into battle, jumping off of it as it goes over the top of the tower and letting in continue to fly into the Wyvern. The dust has mostly cleared and the two of them see Cinder floating in the air again. Pyrrha calls her weapons back to her, but before they can arrive Cinder is charging her again. Jaune leaps in the way again, this time managing to hold her off for a few seconds as Pyrrha rolls around calls her weapons to her. Cinder makes a pair of identical curved glass swords and sends a flurry of blows at them both. Jaune and Pyrrha manage to counter every strike, deflect every slash and push her back with their own. Pyrrha throws her shield at Cinder, a move which she just manages to duck under, which only sets up Jaune's shield bash. Cinder spins around from it raising her blades just in time to catch the synchronised sword slash Pyrrha and Jaune send at Cinder. He knows the battle's been tough running him ragged after what can't have been more than a minute or two, but now that Cinder can't keep them apart anymore, their teamwork can beat her.
As they press Cinder backwards with their swords, Pyrrha's shield comes sweeping back to take out Cinder's legs. She falls backwards, pushed down by the force of their blows and sent tumbling away. Before she can try to fly away or even pick herself up again Pyrrha launches the gears that had scattered down around them at her, burying Cinder under them.
Jaune's thoughts on Cinder being unable to match their teamwork are cut short by a piercing shriek from the Wyvern, reminding him of her 'partner' in this fight and how it's getting closer to the tower again. Pyrrha grabs his hand and says "Jaune" her tone instantly conveying what she wants. Jaune starts using Aura Amplification, letting Pyrrha draw on more metal with her Polarity than ever before. Cinder blasts her way out of the gears only to stumble as she feels the rumbling beneath her feet. She starts flying, upwards, and then further upwards and backwards to get out of the way of the rising tower as Pyrrha starts lifting it out of the ground. Only half of it rises up, accompanied by a cacophony of screeching and crashing as the metal supports tear into the air, some of the stone staying attached to the partial tower, other chunks falling off as it rises, the flips into the air, dropping towards the Wyvern and Cinder.
Pyrrha drops her shield underneath her and uses it to start guiding them back down, Jaune having dropped his Aura Amplification after being so drained from boosting the tower throw. He's surprised that Pyrrha even has enough left to stop them from falling to their deaths after that. "Pyrrha, that was amazing!" Jaune shouts over the wind as he sees the tower falling on the Wyvern. The Wyvern's trying to roll out of the way, unable to stop it's momentum in time to avoid the tower, now just trying to lessen the impact and cushion the blow with one of it's wings. Pyrrha blushes slightly, from the compliment or only just now realizing how close she's been holding Jaune to her, Jaune can't tell.
Pyrrha says "Thank you-" the rest of the words not registering in Jaune's mind as he sees Cinder flying towards them, having flown straight through the tower, bursting through one of the windows to reach them, hatred visible on her face. Jaune sees the blades moving to descend upon Pyrrha and pushes her out of the way. Pyrrha tumbles off of her shield as the blades strike into him, breaking through his Aura. He sees Pyrrha tumbling off into the void and Cinder about to blast her, but his worries are assuaged when a red streak comes flying off the side of the tower and grabs her out of the way. Jaune's confident that Ruby's got Pyrrha, but there's no one to get him as he falls helpless through the air, his crash into the ground quickly followed by the titanic, earth-shaking crush of the tower and giant Grimm falling down beside him.
Jaune can hardly believe that he can open his eyes at first, not that he can see much through the dust and rubble falling all around. He thinks it must be a miracle that he was able to survive it, but when he tries to move to get up, he finds that he can't. He looks up and finds that his arms and legs just aren't moving, even though he's trying to get them to move. It could just be shock or exhaustion, but the lack of feeling he's getting from his limbs is worrying. He can't move, but his voice isn't broken, and he calls out "Ruby, Pyrrha! I'm over here!" He shouts out for them a few more times before he sees someone walking towards him through the dust. "Thank you, I'm not able to move but-" he cuts off his words as he sees that gait and realizes who it is. "No, no, no, no" he chants as the dust clears and his fears are confirmed and Cinder walks through to see him, her grin smile showing a hint of pity that enrages him further than any amount of cruelty or malice could.
"You shouldn't have been here. This power wasn't promised to you, what reason did you have to try and interfere? It's only brought you ruin."
Jaune spits out "I don't care about your power, I'm here to take you out because you killed Ozpin and attacked us
"Just another sacrifice Ozpin has forced on the world. I think I can somewhat understand Hazel now. You say you don't care about it, but this power is what brought me greatness, what will take me farther than you can imagine. And why I will live and you will die, achieving nothing." He can see that the rubble has stopped falling and the Wyvern is laying motionless under the largest chunk of the tower, black specks flaking off into the air from where it's pinned.
Jaune glares at her "Like-" he coughs up a bit before continuing "Like you have any right to say that, after everything you, you caused. I did help, your dragon is dead because of my help, and even if I'm not 'the hero' I can help fight against the darkness, support others who are doing it. That's all I need." He hears some sounds like scratching on chalkboard, but he can't figure what's causing them, or if it's just his head ringing about.
He sees Ruby and Pyrrha come running towards him, which Cinder just smirks at. They move to attack her, when a bunch of Beowolves and Ursa come burst through the walls of the tower, the Wyvern suddenly moving again, trying to shift its way out from under the tower. Jaune realizes that it wasn't ever dead, just faking it through the Grimm it could spawn, then making more of them to help break apart the tower and get at anyone trying to get too close.
Ruby and Pyrrha are holding off well against the Grimm. Even tired, Pyrrha's technique is impeccable and Ruby's speed helps rip through the weaker Grimm, but they don't see the Wyvern's tail flicked around to start sending in more spawn at them from behind. Jaune yells out as loud as he can "Watch out, it's making Grimm behind you too!" The girls turn around and start fighting off both of them, not surprised thanks to Jaune's warning, but not able to make any headway having to fight off the additional Grimm. Weiss' arrival changes things though, she slices through the Grimm and locks several in a wall of ice.
At the grin on his face Cinder just calmly states "Your actions have changed nothing." She turns away and fires her bow at Ruby and Pyrrha as they try to move closer. "All your support does is draw in more lambs to the slaughter, as they try and help you." Cinder's flame blasts knock Pyrrha off her feet and break her Aura, Ruby rushing to the side to get her out of the way of further shots. Ruby keeps on trying to move forward but has to zig zag around the fire and a glass all while carrying Pyrrha. "But you can relax now, they will no longer have to fear for your safety." As she talks and fights Ruby, she kicks a large stake of wood off a piece of rubble nearby, the piece flipping up into her hands where she casually ignites it. "Not that the end of your life will guarantee their own, as I said you are just another pointless sacrifice." The wood is launched from her hands, spearing through his heart. He hears someone else shout "NO!" before his last sight is filled with a bright silver light, that finally fades to white.
A/N: The idea around this fic is that Jaune unlocks his semblance earlier than in canon* which leads him to try and help in the battle against Cinder w/ Pyrrha. The end result is that he gets killed instead of her. Everything else flows as a consequence from there**. I'm fully caught up with volume 6 and I'll try to keep everything properly following canon, but there is the chance that at some point with what I have planned I'll have to mark this as a complete AU. If a scene from canon is completely not mentioned (at least for volume 4 and some of volume 5) assume it happened normally off screen. A lot of those scenes involved other characters and/or would be minimally impacted by any divergences. I want to explore how things could go differently not novelize the volumes after 3. if you haven't seen those volumes yet then certain points are going to be confusing, especially in the later chapters where it's assumed that you've followed the stories of characters that aren't Ruby and Pyrrha and thus know what's going on.
This is my first Fanfiction and if you have any criticism, want to discuss the story or just mention what you liked, please leave a review. I hope you enjoy this story.
* look just assume that Emerald or Neo messed with his senses/misdirected him away from Mercury so he couldn't offer to heal him before PvP. It's not like he actually had a lot of time for that anyways with other team duties and his talk with Pyrrha that happened in between those fights
** there isn't any direct correlation between Jaune's death and the modifications Ruby makes to her weapon in chapter 3, but I put it in because 1) it helps make the fight scene's have more variation than they would in canon and 2) because I think it's a cool concept that I haven't really seen used in a lot of rwby stories