Chapter 10
Jaune sat down with a sigh, closing his eyes as he leaned back on the wooden bench, resting his hands on his knees. The day was windless and dull, without so much as a bird chirping to fill the empty space that enveloped the courtyard.
Man, just when it all seemed to be looking up…
Only one day earlier, everything had seemed so promising. He'd even gotten a date! Except now that was the problem, wasn't it? He was scheduled to go out with Cinder, but then Pyrrha wanted the same thing and he'd had to tell her no.
It wasn't that he'd rather have gone out with Pyrrha, but denying her like that had obviously made her upset, and he hated seeing her like that. Especially because he knew it was his own fault.
So now he had to find a way to fix this whole thing. He couldn't exactly leave it alone and hope for it to fix itself, that would probably just make it worse. Somehow, he needed to let Pyrrha know that they were still best friends and that he had no intentions of changing that anytime soon.
For now, though, she probably just needed some space. If the same thing happened to him, the last thing he'd want would be for the person rejecting him to come up and pester him immediately afterward. He'd at least need a bit of time.
But what if she thought he was ignoring her? Refusing to have a conversation might make it seem like he didn't want anything to do with her after that. He didn't want Pyrrha to think that she'd just ruined their friendship.
He really had no clue what to do. You'd think he'd be better at this kind of thing, growing up with seven sisters like he did.
"Oum, I don't think I'll ever understand women…"
"Right with you there."
Jaune jumped at the sudden response. Turning to his right, he saw a familiar face sitting next to him on the other side of the bench, the guy from Cinder's team. What was his name again? Michael? Merc- something?
"Oh, hey… Sorry, I didn't see you there. Matthew, was it?" he guessed.
"Mercury."
"Ah, now I remember."
"So… What's got you all heavy-hearted? Problems with the ladies, I take it?"
Jaune laughed bitterly. "Yup, hit the nail right on the head there."
"Tell me about it," he said, rolling his eyes. "Everytime I think I've got it all figured out, they gotta go and make things more complicated. This one girl on my team-" Mercury looked around, as if to make sure nobody was watching them. "-crazy, man. Plain crazy. So, anyway-"
"You mean Cinder?" he asked, cutting in on his rant.
The boy paused for a second before continuing. "Uh… no. No, actually. I'm talking about someone else. Her name's…" Mercury leaned back and let out a sigh. "You know what? You don't wanna hear about all that. Too personal. Anyway, what's going on with you?"
"What's going on with me?"
"Yeah, man. What's got you sitting here all depressed?"
Jaune sighed. "My friend wants something from me that I can't give to her. I just feel bad that I can't make her happy."
"What, she like you or somethin'?"
He didn't respond.
For the first time in their conversation, Mercury looked over to him, his eyebrows raised. "Well, shit," he said, taking his silence as confirmation. "That's quite the situation you're in. Can't say I envy you."
"Believe me, I know. Never thought I'd ever be upset about someone liking me like that, but here I am," he said, laughing.
Mercury looked around again for a second before reaching over and putting his hand on his shoulder, making him stop. "Listen, man. I know you've got something going on with Cinder now, and I gotta warn you, she can be a bit… crazy, if you wanna put it like that."
Jaune sat there, speechless. He really wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond. Thank him? Defend her? "Oh… okay then?"
"Look, I'm just trying to look out for you. If she finds out your friend's into you, she's gonna make a whole thing out of it, and trust me, you really don't want her to do that. I've gotten wrapped up in her drama before, and it's not pretty."
Jaune thought over what he was saying. Surely, it couldn't be that bad, right? He'd understand if Cinder was his girlfriend, but they hadn't even gone on one date yet, just agreed to. Would she really care that much about Pyrrha's feelings?
"Alrighty then," he said, laughing awkwardly. "Thanks for the warning, I guess?"
"Yeah, no problem. Just be smart and keep her happy. I gotta live with her for the time being, and I don't like dealing with her when she's upset." Silence took over for a short moment. "Anyway… Vytal festival isn't too far from now, is it?"
"It certainly feels close," Jaune said, grateful for the change in topic. "Cinder seems to have a lot of confidence in you guys' team. You feel the same way?"
Mercury shrugged. "I think things will go well for us. How about you?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I'm not really worried about how the rest of my team will do, but I can't help but feel like I'm going to mess it all up." Jaune chuckled. "But you're not here to listen to some loser's problems, are you?"
"Nah, I get it. Believe me, we're all stressing, not just you."
"You certainly don't seem to be," he said, more as a joke than anything.
Mercury rolled his eyes. "That's probably because I don't go around telling everyone that I'm worried."
Jaune sank into the bench and sighed. "Yeah, I get it."
"I'm kidding, man," he said, laughing. It sounded forced, like someone was holding him at gunpoint and telling him what to do. "Just a joke." Once again, Mercury glanced around, as if he expected something to be there. Why'd he keep doing that, anyways? "You know, if you're unsure about it, I can always help you out a bit with training."
"Oh, well, I've got a full schedule right now, but maybe if I get some free time I'll let you know."
Mercury shrugged. "Feel free to ask." Taking out his scroll, he checked the time and got up off the bench. "Whelp, I should probably get going. Team meeting, can't keep 'em waiting again. See you around."
"Yeah, see you."
Once he'd left, Jaune considered what he'd said.
It was certainly a bit strange that he felt the need to warn him about Cinder being "crazy." He just couldn't imagine that she'd get that upset over Pyrrha's feelings if she figured them out, especially considering how short a time they'd known each other. She seemed a little more easy-going than that.
In any case, he certainly hoped it wouldn't bother her. Pyrrha's confession would likely end up making things complicated enough, and he really didn't need anything extra on top of that.
He was probably just getting ahead of himself, though. Cinder hadn't given any indication that she'd get mad over his relationship with Pyrrha, and the only reason he had to believe she would was her teammate saying so. Heck, he didn't even know this guy.
For now, if he wanted to fix this whole thing, he had to be careful about it.
/-/
Mercury whistled to himself as he made his way back to their dorm, walking purposefully but not too quickly. He wasn't in a huge rush to talk to Cinder about her boy toy.
Seriously, what was so special about this dude? The way she talked about him, he half expected the heavens themselves to open up in his presence, but he was just some guy. Even by civilian standards, he didn't really stick out at all. He was just… average. Who knew how he had Nikos and Cinder both going after him. Whatever the case, the guy was about to get wrapped up in a real shitty situation.
He didn't plan on saying any of that to Cinder, though. No sir, he preferred his organs intact and inside his body, thank you very much.
His boss looked up at him as soon as he opened the door. "How'd it go?" she asked, straight to business as usual.
Mercury shrugged. "It was fine. Not like we're best friends, but we're not strangers anymore."
"And what did you discuss?"
"The Vytal tournament. Y'know, how we're feeling about it, stuff like that. Nothing all that exciting."
"Right," she said, nodding along. "And how does he feel? He isn't too nervous about it, is he?"
Yeesh. He didn't think she'd ever shown this much concern for him or Emerald.
"He seems a little anxious, I guess. It's not like he's having a breakdown or anything, though. He'll be fine."
Cinder looked at him expectantly. "Well? Did you not comfort him?"
Mercury raised his eyebrows. He was supposed to comfort him? What was he, his therapist? He supposed he could add that to the list, right after "body guard."
Did he really want to tell Cinder that he'd done nothing, though? Come to think of it, he technically had comforted him. It had been really basic and empty, just telling him that he wasn't the only nervous one, but it wouldn't be a lie to say he had.
"Yeah, I reassured him and everything. He felt a lot better by the end of it."
"Good. I'm glad you're finally starting to understand your role." Cinder leaned back and stared off into space, smiling. "Oum, isn't he dreamy?"
Mercury went over to his desk and began sifting through its contents, taking out a few lien to go out into the city with, his latest excuse for getting away from Emerald and Cinder. When he turned back, his boss lay in the same spot, scowling at him.
"Well?" she said, narrowing her eyes.
Mercury froze in place. "Well, what?"
"Is he not dreamy?"
He would have laughed if she didn't have the power to wipe him off the face of Remnant. She couldn't actually be serious, right?
"I, ah…" Mercury cleared his throat. "He's great."
Cinder's scowl deepened. "That doesn't answer my question, now does it?"
She had to be trying to humiliate him. There was just no way she genuinely wanted him to call him "dreamy" like some lovestruck teenage girl.
"Are you… being serious?"
He spoke without thinking, and if her facial expression was anything to go off of, she didn't like the result. Her scowl grew into clear anger.
"What tells you I'm not being serious, Mercury?" she growled.
"Nothing! You see, what I meant to say was yes, he is quite dreamy. I totally agree with you there." He put on a fake smile, trying to push himself through… whatever this was.
Cinder seemed to calm down, relaxing and leaning back again. "Good. I'm glad we can agree on that."
Oum take me now.
/-/
Pyrrha opened the door as quietly as she could, trying her best not to be heard. As soon as she'd opened it wide enough, she poked her head in and took a quick look around. Nobody was inside.
Drawing a breath of relief, she walked into her dorm and took a seat at her desk. She wasn't trying to avoid anyone, per say, she just didn't want to talk right now, that was all. It would be uncomfortable, and she clearly wasn't all that great at discussing her feelings.
Taking a book off the shelf, she set it down and opened it, hoping to use schoolwork to distract herself. It wasn't exactly enjoyable, but she needed some way to take her mind off things.
Her workflow was almost instantly interrupted by the door slamming open. She didn't have to turn around to know who was there. Only Nora could manage to make something as simple as entering a room so loud.
"Pyrrha! What are you doing in here? Aren't you usually training at this time?"
"Yes," she said, hesitantly. "Usually, I would be."
Nora walked up next to her and stood over her. "This is about Jaune, isn't it?" Pyrrha said nothing. "Look, I understand that you're upset, but you've got to talk to him! Locking yourself up in our room all day isn't going to get you anywhere."
"I know," she said, sighing, "But he probably doesn't want to see me right now anyway. I can't just… go up there with him like nothing happened."
"You two are best friends, Pyrrha! Dating or not, what you have with him is special, and I think he'd agree. He doesn't see you as anything less because of what you've told him. Just sit down and talk to him about it! I know it'll be hard, but you can't throw away your friendship because of this."
"I know, but that's not the point! Look, I just… I just…" Tears began forming in her eyes. "I just can't right now. I'd get all emotional. I can barely even keep it together now as it is."
Nora looked at her with sympathy. "I guess if you're not ready, you're not ready. Just try not to wait too long, okay? Like I said, what you two have is special. It's worth fighting for."
Pyrrha nodded and buried her face in the palms of her hands, trying to hide her tears as if doing so would shut out her dejection.
"You know what? I'll get Team RWBY and we can talk about this together! You can get all this off your chest and they can help you through it all, and I'm sure-"
"No!" Pyrrha snapped. Her teammate jumped in surprise. "S-sorry. I don't need you to do that right now. I don't want them to see me like this."
She felt Nora's gaze linger on her for a few seconds before she turned away. "Well, I can't make you do anything, but if you want to talk about it, we're all here for you. You're lucky to have such great friends like me," she joked. On a better day, Pyrrha would've laughed.
"Thanks," she choked out.
Nora suddenly grinned and stood up taller, puffing her chest out. "You know what? I can make you do something! This weekend, we're going to go get ice cream and I'm going to convince you to settle this whole thing with Jaune. A classic post-heartbreak outing you can't say no to!"
Pyrrha leaned back in her chair, letting out a shaky breath. "O-okay, if you think it'll help…"
She mostly said it to get her off her back. When Nora made a declaration like that, she usually meant it. It would be nearly impossible to talk her down.
Part of her, though, thought she might need it. She might have not liked to admit it, but Nora was right. She couldn't just sit around all day. At some point, she'd need to have a conversation with Jaune, and maybe talking to Nora first would make it easier.
"See? Was that so hard?" she said triumphantly, smiling ear to ear. "Trust me, by the time I'm through with you, you'll be perfectly prepared to sort this whole thing out."
Pyrrha nodded, the tears having mostly stopped by now. "Okay…"
/-/
The clicking of her shoes echoed throughout the warehouse as Cinder walked to her next meeting. The only thing occupying the building was a seemingly endless amount of cardboard boxes filled to the brim with dust and weaponry. The paint, having been mostly peeled back to reveal the brick underneath, made it about as unwelcoming as it could be. Still, the dull atmosphere did nothing to deter her.
Moving further into the warehouse, she saw a large, burly man wearing a white fang mask passed out among the stacks of boxes, clutching a bottle of alcohol. Her scowl deepened. Was Adam truly this incompetent with his recruitment? It seemed to her as though all the manpower he provided turned out useless, or at the very least, severely unhelpful. It frustrated her to no end, and the promises only exasperated that.
If the people the White Fang had working for them were half as good as he said they were, she'd already be a maiden by now. The same went for Roman and his men.
Speaking of Roman, he stood at the very back of the building, staring at a large screen in front of him with a cigar in between his teeth. Neo sat on a table off to the side, her legs dangling as she watched her approach with a smirk on her face. Her partner, on the other hand, still didn't even seem to notice her coming, too busy with whatever he had on the screen.
"I trust this isn't all that you've managed to get your hands on," she said, grabbing his attention. "If so, you've got work to do."
Roman froze before turning around to face her. "Good to see you too, Cinder." Seeing the look on her face, he quickly moved on. "Of course this isn't all I've got. I have other locations. What kind of criminal mastermind would I be if I put everything in one place?"
Cinder crossed her arms, unimpressed. "You're going to need more."
"I already told you I have other locations."
"Well, I'm telling you that you're going to need more," she said, dismissing him. "This isn't one of your silly bank heists, Roman. We're talking about Beacon. About Vale."
"What, you think I don't know what we're doing here? You've only told us a million times." Roman took a puff of his cigar and pulled it out of his mouth, holding it between his fingers. "At least we're finally getting a move on with it instead of waiting around all day like we were before."
"Maybe instead of 'waiting around all day,' you could have taken the opportunity to make yourself useful and do your job. Instead, you're racing around the city all day playing catch-up. You do realize what happens when you show your face as frequently as you are right now, Roman? You get caught. I assume you don't want that."
"'Course not," he said, putting the cigar back in his mouth, "Wouldn't want your grand plans to fail."
"Believe me, I don't need you for this. You just happen to have a bit of a reputation, and if it weren't for that, I would have never had any reason to seek you out. At the end of the day, you are replaceable." Cinder paused to look him in the eye. "Exposable, even."
Roman turned away from her, trying not to let her see the look of agitation on his face. "Alright. I'll get more dust, just give me a little bit of time, will ya? Can't go out everyday with all these cops around."
Cinder looked over towards Neo, her real reason for coming. She kept staring at her with that same smirk on her face, as if to mock her. As if to say, I know your secret. I know what you're hiding. Her hands balled into fists as she glared back at her.
The fact that she needed her was the worst part. The little devil was too valuable a piece to sacrifice - for now, at least. Once she'd taken down Vale and become a maiden, that might end up not being the case. Perhaps then she could deal with her. Test out her new powers while she was at it, too.
"I've given you plenty of time, Roman, and I can't offer you much more of it, so you'd better make good use of what you have left."
"Look, I've made plenty good use of it so far, so why don't you let me continue to do that without all these confrontations, huh?"
Cinder paused, glaring at him. The silence hung thick in the air. "Fine," she said, finally breaking it. "But don't think I'm done supervising you." Turning back to his little helper, the girl sat in the same position, giving her the same look. I know something you don't want me to know. "How much longer do you need her?"
"Depends on how bad you need that dust," Roman said, annoyed. "If it's as urgent as you say it is, I'll need her around for another month at least."
"She comes to Beacon by the end of this week."
Roman looked over at her. "I just told you-"
Cinder shut him down before he could finish the thought. "I know what you said, and I'm saying that Neo will be at Beacon by the end of this week."
The self-proclaimed 'criminal mastermind' furrowed his brow and gave her a death stare that she couldn't imagine actually intimidated anyone. "Fine. She'll be there."
"Keep yourself in line," she said, turning around and walking towards the exit. "I don't need to tell you what will happen if you don't." On her way back, she saw the same White-Fang grunt, laying in the same position he'd been in a few minutes prior. "Oh, and by the way, Roman," she called out, not bothering to stop, "You really ought to take the trash out more often. It might do you some good."
She heard footsteps follow behind her, and some shouting, before finally leaving and shutting the door behind her. Hopefully, he'd get rid of the man like she'd told him to.
As usual, she loathed having to deal with the "gentleman thief," but as far as their meetings usually went, this one hadn't been too bad. For one thing, Roman didn't seem to know about Jaune. If he had, he'd have tried to use it as leverage, or at the very least hold it over her head. The bigger news, though, was that Neo would be coming to Beacon, where she could keep an eye on her.
She was just too unpredictable to be left alone with the kind of knowledge she had. The only thing she could rely on was that Neo wasn't stupid enough to try hurting him at a huntsman academy, hence bringing her there early.
In all honesty, Cinder found her difficult to deal with. Perhaps it was only because of her inability to speak, but the girl did a much better job at hiding her intentions than anyone else she'd met, and that made controlling her an issue.
If the circumstances were different, that might've been one of her top priorities, but once all her plans were complete, Neo was irrelevant. She held no long term importance, thus she had no need of a long term solution. Jaune and her plans for Beacon, on the other hand, required attention. Attention that she couldn't waste by coming out to a different part of the city every night to meet her and Roman. No when she had to plan her date.
Some might assume that arranging such a thing would be easy, but those people had clearly never had to do so with as much on the line as Cinder did. Their future together rested on her ability to make Jaune happy, and that meant putting more than a little care into it, unless she wanted to see him move on and find someone else.
Hell, she already had competition with Nikos. She was probably waiting right by him, ready to pounce at the slightest mistake. The second Cinder slipped up, she'd be right there to "comfort" him. That bitch.
Well, Cinder did not plan on slipping up. He belonged to her. It had always been that way, and it would stay that way forever, whatever it would take.
