Big news everyone! I'm going to be a father! Wow, I cannot believe I just said that. I just found out an hour ago that I'm going to be a dad. I didn't think that after writing my April Fools pregnancy chapter my wife will say the same thing to me a week later. With that said, thank you always for your support! We appreciate it and I hope you have fun reading the chapter. Let me know what you guys think!
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pa tr eon.c o m (slash) MrLightbringer0
Ruby Rose had to cover her eyes to stop seeing the horrific scene in front of her. Yet even without being able to see it, she could still hear the horrifying sounds that reach her.
"Oof!"
"Ow!"
"No, no, no! Stay away! Hel-urrgh!"
"Not the face! Not the fa-guurgh!"
Every single person watching what was happening winced at the beatdown Team CRDL was receiving under the tender hands of Pyrrha Nikos.
"What happened?" Nora whispers to her as she cringes again when they see Pyrrha pull Cardin back away from the edge of the stage screaming and crawling.
Nora wasn't with them this morning because she was busy tending to Ren so she had no idea what could cause Pyrrha to be in such a mood even now after lunch during Combat Class.
"Jaune's not here." Ruby could only whisper back, eyes stuck on the horrific scene of Pyrrha covering Sky's mouth to stop him from giving up.
"I know that, silly. I can see he isn't here. But what happened?" Nora rolls her eyes, ignoring the sight of Russel and Dove desperately trying to save their friend.
"No, you don't understand. We haven't seen him this morning and Pyrrha said she woke up alone in your room." Yang clarifies for her from Ruby's other side, staring at Nora with a pointed look.
Ruby could see Nora frown at that but what really surprised her were Nora's next words.
"I could have sworn they were both going to fuck when she left them in their room last night."
Ruby….well, suffice it to say she blushed as she imagined what Nora just said about her best friend and his girlfriend. It…has certainly been a weird time for Ruby Rose ever since last night and Nora saying that does not help her already confused thoughts.
"Ahem."
A fake cough from Nora's other side shows Ren who was looking at his partner with a blush.
He might have been released to attend classes but he had to take it easy and was not allowed to join any fights just yet.
"I said that out loud, didn't I?" Nora squeaks, a blush growing on her face.
Nora looks around frantically only to breathe a sigh of relief once she notices everyone else other than Team RWBY were too enamored watching the carnage on display to listen to her.
"Well if they did do that then it's no wonder P-money would be in that mood if Jaune left her in the morning." Yang pipes in casually, crossing her arms while turning back to the annihilation of Team CRDL.
"Jaune, wouldn't do that." Ruby frowns at her sister.
She might be a bit confused and a bit peeved but she knew enough that Jaune's not the type of person to just abandon someone.
"Face it, Rubes. He did or Pyrrha wouldn't be wrecking Team CRDL this badly." Yang waves at the stage and both Nora and Ren cringe that she has a point.
"He must've had a reason." Ruby continues to defend her best friend but everyone seems to just look dubiously at her.
"It better be a damn good reason if he has to make Pyrrha act like this. What do you think, partner?" Yang adds, elbowing her partner, Jaune's other lover.
"H-huh?" Blake's ears twitch as she flinches from the sudden contact.
That's when everyone knew something was going on with Blake. To be fair though, something is always going on with Blake. With her track record taken into account, Ruby turns to look at their resident Faunus worriedly.
"I said, what do you think, partner?" Yang asks slowly.
Blake only looks at Yang back blankly before tilting her own head. "About what?"
"About Jaune making Pyrrha act like this because he left?" Yang replies, raising an eyebrow at Blake's absent-minded reply.
"He must've had a reason." Blake answers, her hands unconsciously scratching the edge of her seat.
"That's what I said!" Ruby yells before she realizes Professor Goodwitch could notice her. Luckily for her, Team CRDL's desperate cries for help that go ignored covers her blunder.
Still, the vehemence was enough to jolt Blake on her seat.
Yang takes the opportunity to poke her partner at the shoulder, testing to see her reaction.
"What's up, kitty-cat? You've been weird ever since this morning."
Ruby could see Blake stutter out a reply before someone else cuts in.
"She's thinking about Jaune."
That much was obvious even to Ruby but Blake's reaction of freezing up tells them there's more to the story.
"Weiss?!" Blake whispers harshly, snapping at the heiress beside her.
"It's obvious. You haven't been acting yourself since you tried to enter their room last night and Jaune was nowhere to be seen this morning." Weiss answers casually, eyes turning to Team CRDL's continuing torture back on stage now that Blake is reacting to them.
That observation however transfers the attention from Blake's weird behavior to Weiss'.
"Wow Weiss-cream, I can't believe you noticed." Yang's incredulous words brings back their teammates full attention to them.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Nothing. Just thought you wanted to think more about Neptune than about us." Yang leans back defensively, putting Blake firmly in between them while pointing at Team SSSN's general direction in another section of the classroom.
To be fair, Weiss couldn't stop worrying about Neptune last night that even Ruby would be hard pressed to believe her partner would be able to notice them. However, Weiss' next words blows that disbelief out of the water.
"Of course I think about you. All of you." Weiss mumbles shyly, turning her head away but every single one of them knew their resident ice queen was blushing quite prettily.
Her whole team smiles at that, even Blake despite her earlier weirdness pats their teammate affectionately.
"Awww, the ice queen does care." Yang coos to Weiss' further embarrassment and everyone chuckles at their friend's attempt to change the subject.
"I-uhm, that's besides the point! The point is Jaune Arc is missing and it's causing our friends undue worry."
"You sure you are not worried about him too, Weiss?" Ruby, in a rare opportunity to tease her partner, adds in with a smirk.
"Hardly, despite how he seems, Jaune is proving himself reliable." Weiss only rolls her eyes, causing Ruby to pout before the words sink in.
It gets all of them to stare at Weiss with a stunned look, causing Ruby's partner to blush once again.
Yang, unable to stop herself, chimes in as she leans over Blake just to get closer to Weiss with a grin on her face. "Careful Weiss-Cream, next thing you know you might find yourself in love with Lover Boy."
Weiss' face takes on a red hue. Either from anger or embarrassment, it does not matter, because the moment Ruby locked eyes with her partner, she knew she wasn't going to like her answer.
"You know…." Weiss starts and Ruby was already paling at the smirk she was aiming at her. "You should be more worried about your sister falling in love with him considering they kissed last night."
The words hit her like a lightning bolt as the image forms in her mind and the reply comes automatically from her mouth.
"We did not!" She shouts with a blush, slamming her hand down on the table even as she sees Yang's fist clench and her hair starts to blaze.
They did not. She knows they did not kiss last night but every single time she remembers her face leaning in to kiss Jaune, her heart does weird things. Her heart does even more weird things when she realizes it was Neo leaning down to kiss him.
Ruby freezes however when someone cuts through their conversation.
"Ms. Rose, you seem to be spirited today. Would you like to face Ms. Nikos next?"
All their eyes widen as they all slowly turn their gaze towards the stage. It seems Team CRDL's torment is over as they lie all around the arena in various states of distress with Pyrrha looming victorious over them.
Any other time and she would be happy to test herself against Pyrrha. It's always fun trying to find an opening in the champion's defenses even if Pyrrha wins all the time. Yet something about Pyrrha's intense gaze aimed at her, combined with the showing she just did to Team CRDL, has Ruby frozen to her seat.
She aims a glare at Weiss. Everyone knew that it was Neo who did…that with Jaune and not her but she just had to throw it out like that to distract Yang.
Betrayal that's what it was. Betrayal of the highest order. Now she had to face Pyrrha because Professor Goodwitch called her out for only reacting to Weiss!
Weiss' apologetic wince however cools any anger she might have but that still doesn't solve Ruby's problem. Pyrrha was so going to kick her ass.
"I uhh-"
"I'll do it!"
The voice causes everyone to turn quickly at the fool who just volunteered to face off against an obviously pissed off Pyrrha Nikos.
Standing from behind Ruby with his hands in his pockets was her new friend, Mercury Black, giving her a supportive smile. She gives him a grateful smile after releasing a sigh of relief.
"Thanks." She whispers with a smile and she giggles as he winks at her even as his own team besides him roll their eyes at him.
"Alright then, Mr. Black. If you are willing to face Ms. Ni-"
SLAM!
Everyone flinches at the sudden sound in surprise. Before anyone could get their bearing however, another voice shouts out.
"SORRY, I'M LATE!"
"Jaune!"
Pyrrha's shout was so happy that if you didn't see her break Team CRDL, you would think she was happy from the start of the day.
All because of Jaune Arc.
Jaune Arc, sweaty, battered, bruised, and already in his armor, tiredly standing at the entrance of the room with…glowing eyes?
Ruby tries to squint to see better but a sound breaks through her concentration.
"Meow."
Heads snap towards the sound and they could see Blake staring at Jaune intently with a blush.
"Blake? Blake?!"
"H-huh? Sorry." Blake apologizes with a blush, keeping her head down and…wiping drool from her mouth?!
"Hi Pyrrha!" Jaune shouts back enthusiastically after gathering his breath and that's when everyone starts noticing something weird."You look amazing standing over the defeated bodies of your enemies by the way."
All thoughts of Blake's weirdness vanish from Ruby's mind at that voice. Sure she's happy to see Jaune is okay but something about his voice right now sends tingles down her spine even as he makes Pyrrha blush. She couldn't stop the smile from appearing on her face even if she wanted to.
"Mr. Arc, you're late." Professor Goodwitch sighs as she takes in Jaune's disheveled form.
"Hi Professor Goodwitch! Thank you for taking the time to train us!"
There it is. It makes everyone pause. As harsh as it may sound but this genuinely feels like the first time any student has greeted the stern disciplinarian with such cheer and joviality.
Jaune…Jaune was being happy? Confident? Assured without a doubt in himself? Smooth with his words? What?
It disturbs even Professor Glynda Goodwitch so much that she turns a worrying look towards Jaune.
"Mr. Arc….Are you alright?"
Jaune however just casually walks inside with a smile on his face. "I was out training!"
"...Well then, you wouldn't mind showing us the fruits of your training then would you?"
"I would be happy to!"
No hesitation whatsoever, completely unlike the usual Jaune despite his improvements.
Recently, Jaune approaches the arena with determination and resolve in his steps to do better when called upon to spar. That determination and resolve was missing right here right now.
He walks up the stage so casually that it felt like he was just going for a walk with a smile on his face.
Professor Goodwitch pauses for a moment before shaking her head and turning to a beaming Pyrrha. "Perfect. Ms. Nikos please vacate the arena and rest up."
"Bye Pyrrha!" Jaune interrupts, waving at his partner again to Professor Goodwitch's exasperation.
"Bye Jaune." Pyrrha responds shyly, giving him a small wave of her own with a blush as she notices everyone looking at them.
"Mr. Arc. You, in turn, will face Mr. Black." Professor Goodwitch cuts in, turning to look at Jaune's opponent.
Jaune's mouth reacts faster when he sees his opponent walk towards the stage as Team CRDL is carted off to the infirmary.
"Hi Training Bot!"
"What the fuck did you just call me?!"
"You look like a training bot." Jaune only finishes blankly.
In no way did Mercury look like a training bot but Ruby couldn't stop the giggle that came out of her mouth even as she cringed from the curse. Her friends and sister beside her went even further.
Yang and Nora laughed boisterously while Weiss and Ren chuckled at the banter.
Only Blake who started purring was subdued as her. She does not currently like that similarity so Ruby gives up on restraining herself and laughs openly.
Everyone was so busy laughing and talking with each other that for a rare moment, not one of them in their class noticed this one person approach her seat.
"Hello again."
The greeting catches all of them off-guard and Ruby snaps her head towards Pyrrha worriedly. As much fun as she is having now, she still couldn't forget how intense Pyrrha was when she looked at her earlier.
Ruby stutters when she notices that instead of immediately sitting beside Ren, Pyrrha keeps standing and staring at her.
"Pyrrha, I…uhm…that is-" She doesn't know what to say so she's thankful when Pyrrha cuts her off.
"I'm sorry. I was stressed and I almost took it out on you. Can you forgive me?" She finishes with a bow.
Ruby gapes at her. In fact everyone gapes at her. It wasn't surprising that Pyrrha would apologize but for her to bow without hesitation? Well…perhaps none of them should have been surprised. Pyrrha has always been so kind so she returns kindness with kindness.
"Sure thing! It was no problem. I understand why you were stressed after all." Ruby says with a smile.
It might have been the wrong thing to say because she asks Nora with a smile. "May we switch places, Nora? I'd like to speak with Ruby."
Ruby freezes, in fact all of Team RWBY freezes at that, even Blake!
She might have liked to complain about her sister's overprotectiveness but she feels like this is one of those times she appreciates it because Yang turns to regard Pyrrha carefully. She doesn't think anything is gonna happen but she squeezes her sister's hand beside her for support.
Nora however, has no problem with the switch as she smoothly stands up to give the seat to Pyrrha. "Sure thing, Pyr-Pyr!"
"So…uhm, what did you want to talk about?" She asks, her eyes flicking back and forth nervously between Pyrrha and Jaune who was limbering up even as Mercury tries to talk to him.
"Jaune." Pyrrha says neutrally and Ruby could actually hear Yang growl from her other side.
"W-what about him?"
Before Pyrrha could answer however, a voice cuts through every conversation in the room.
"START!" Professor Glynda Goodwitch starts and the fight is on.
There was no time to talk to Pyrrha as Ruby watches Jaune clash with Mercury.
Mercury launched the first move, charging forward and aiming a roundhouse kick towards Jaune's head. Jaune blocks with his shield, pushing Mercury's foot upward as he bends down to hook Mercury's other foot with Crocea Mors.
She gasps with everyone when Mercury goes down. Conversation starts flowing all around them, surprise very evident in their classmates' tone of voice at how smoothly Jaune executed that move.
"Hey, your friend is pretty good."
Ruby almost jumps from her seat when Emerald remarks from behind. Pyrrha only looks coolly at her new friend so it was up to Ruby to reply.
"E-Emerald! Mercury's not so bad either." Ruby replies as she watches Mercury smoothly flip back to standing position while avoiding Jaune's downward strike when he was down.
Jumping backwards a few more times, Mercury takes some distance from Jaune to shake his leg loose.
"Not bad." Mercury utters nonchalantly but Jaune's reply cracks his facade.
"Thanks, I practiced with training bots." Jaune only replies with his unflappable smile.
"What the hell is your problem?!" Mercury yells, as his eye twitches in growing anger.
Jaune however only perks up at his question as he casually walks forward while brandishing his sword.
"None so far! I have no problems when you are going this slow."
Mercury growls even as their classmates snicker at the reply.
"You should be faster than this." Jaune continues, stopping at a distance and raising his shield.
"Haha! Holy crap, VB! Best diss I've ever heard!" Yang has no problem shouting towards the stage, forgetting her earlier wariness to Pyrrha for the fight below.
Any other person would have seen that as more taunting but Ruby could hear the frown in Jaune's voice. As if he knows Mercury could be faster but isn't.
Instead of being able to think more on it however, Ruby has to elbow her sister in embarrassment to get her to stop jeering as Mercury charges again. "Yanggggg."
They trade a series of blows. Jaune uses his shield to block kicks while Mercury dodges his sword swings. That's when something else comes into play.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Gun boots! He has gun boots! So coooool!" Ruby squeals with stars in her eyes before someone coughs beside her.
"Ahem."
Turning to the side, she sees Pyrrha and the other members of Team JNPR staring at her.
"Uhm..go Jaune?" She mumbles shyly before going back to watching the fight.
With Mercury using his Gun Boots, his kicks become faster and Jaune commits fully into defense. Though Jaune might have lost his unflappable smile by now, he still doesn't look bothered by the series of attacks
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Shield and sword alternately block Mercury's powerful attacks before Jaune pushes him back with his shield.
Not willing to lose the momentum, Mercury advances forward using quick bursts from his Gun Boots. The speed allows him to get under Jaune's guard and kick his shield upward.
She can hear Pyrrha gasp beside her then in a move so surprising, grasps Ruby's hand tightly.
With his shield out of position, Jaune had to use the hilt of Crocea Mors to block Mercury's follow-up attack. He barely manages to hold Mercury back.
Seeing his chance, Mercury smirks as he uses a quick burst from his Gun Boots to shift momentum and hit the sword from the other side, knocking Crocea Mors out of Jaune's hand.
This time, Ruby gasps and holds Pyrrha's hand tightly on her own.
The world slows as Mercury uses his Gun Boots to initiate a front kick that could send Jaune flying out of bounds.
Bang!
"STOP!"
Light flashes as Aura comes to the fore even as Glynda Goodwitch shouts to stop the match.
When Ruby manages to blink the spots out of her eyes by rubbing her eyes with her free hand she sees…..
"Argent Rose!" She shouts as Jaune has Argent Rose, the gun they made, aimed upward towards Mercury's smoking hand that was blocking his face even as a foot is stuck on Jaune's gut.
"Wait. Who won?" Yang asks beside her, tilting her head at the sudden stop of the match.
Ruby pauses as she takes in that question. Even if the exchange didn't push either of them out, it shouldn't have put their Aura in red either.
She looks up at the Aura meters only to see….
"That's not right." Weiss mutters, interrupting her thoughts even as similar remarks come up from their other classmates.
Ruby looks down again and yep, that was Mercury's foot buried in Jaune's gut who was now slowly reeling back. Looking upward however, she sees Jaune's Aura again. 105%.
That's impossible. Your Aura is supposed to go down if you get hit, not stay the same much less go past 100%.
At first she thought it might have been a glitch in the system but if that was so then Mercury's should be glitched as well. With her limited knowledge of coding and engineering, Ruby knew that the Aura meters used for competitions or spars were protected from such glitches or tampering just to avoid cheating.
If that was so then the only reason was Jaune didn't get hit. But that was wrong. Everyone saw the Aura flash to protect them.
There was no doubt too that Jaune did get hit as everyone can see him bending down to catch his breath a bit while Mercury shakes his hand off of the pain of blocking a bullet so logically speaking…he should be less than 100%.
"Jaune Arc! What is the meaning of this?!"
Ruby flinches with Pyrrha, she has never heard Professor Goodwitch this furious so it is impressive that Jaune only tilts his head confusedly at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Your Aura, Mr. Arc!" Professor Goodwitch exclaims, gently pushing Mercury away as she stands in front of Jaune to show the scroll with their Auras.
"Oh that! That's my Semblance!" Jaune exclaims, unbothered as he pokes the scroll Professor Goodwitch was showing.
Professor Goodwitch pauses at that before taking the scroll back.
"Your…Semblance, Mr. Arc?" She clarifies after the pause..
"Yup." Jaune answers with a smile.
"Are you telling me that your Semblance can stop your Aura from dropping even as you receive attacks? That it can grow your Aura past 100%?" Professor Goodwitch asks slowly, the implications slowly being clear to the other students.
"If I keep it on then I guess so!" Jaune answers jovially with a grin, as if he wasn't doing something groundbreaking.
A Semblance that functionally stops your Aura from dropping after an attack? With no visible drawbacks whatsover? Where instead it strengthens him? That effectively makes him….
"Invincible."
Turning towards the sound of the voice, she sees Pyrrha sighing dreamily. It was at that moment that Ruby remembers they were still clasping each other's hand.
"Uhm, Pyrrha?" She asks as she shakes her hand free.
"Oh! Sorry! It's just…impressive, isn't he?" Pyrrha apologizes before looking at Ruby with a blush.
"Y-yeah. I guess so." She blushes back, opting to turn her gaze towards the stage even as she peeks at Pyrrha from the corner of her eyes.
On the stage however, Professor Glynda does not stay stunned. She latches on one important note.
"If….you keep on? If I may ask, Mr. Arc, how long have you been keeping your Semblance on?"
"Since 4 AM!"
Mutters break out from all around the classroom.
"4 AM?!"
"Holy shit."
"Damn, that's broken."
"...Interesting."
Even her own friends whisper their own opinions with Blake purring loudly.
Professor Glynda has to crack her whip to get everyone's attention again.
"Everyone calm down!" She shouts before taking a deep breath and turning towards Mercury. "Mr. Black, please return to your seat." She then turns towards Jaune again who was now frowning at her. "Mr Arc….please keep your Semblance on and look me in the eyes."
Jaune does just that and it takes a moment for Professor Goodwitch to find what she was looking for. Ruby frowns when she sees her close her eyes, take a deep breath, and turn towards their class gravely.
"Everyone, listen closely…..As amazing as Mr. Arc's Semblance is, what he is doing right now is dangerous."
That's not good. The class starts to mutter again before falling silent when Professor Goodwitch glares at them.
"Our Aura is our soul and our bodies are the vessels. Aura automatically comes to the fore to protect its vessel, when attacked, correct?" Professor Goodwitch stares at them listening intently before continuing when she sees them nod.
"The state Mr. Arc is currently in is something we used to call Aura High, which literally means being high in Aura. You can confirm this state when you look into his eyes. There's a reason people call eyes as the windows to the soul."
That gets everyone to look at Jaune…Jaune who was looking back at them. Ruby could swear at that moment that she literally felt his gaze. She could also swear that she could feel her body heat up but she wasn't going to say that out loud with Pyrrha beside her.
Luckily for her, Professor Goodwitch continues before Ruby could think even more weird thoughts as she starts to blush.
"People used to achieve this state by consuming large amounts of Aura Boosters in a short period of time. Now I know some of you would think this is a good thing, believe me, it is not. What do you think will happen if the vessel can not contain the content?"
All the blushing is blown away as she immediately realizes the answer and her blood goes cold.
"It breaks."
Pyrrha gasps beside her but Ruby turns to the voice in shock. She sees a dark-haired beauty with amber eyes behind her staring intensely at Jaune from beside Emerald.
"Exactly, and what is your name dear?" Professor Goodwitch nods and asks.
"Cinder." Cinder replies coolly, keeping her eyes solely on Jaune.
"Then shouldn't Jaune stop using his Semblance now Professor?" Ruby raises her hand shakily to ask, concern for Jaune evident in her voice.
"I would rather he does so in the infirmary where we can monitor his condition after he stops using his Semblance." Professor Glynda answers with a sigh, looking at Jaune who was staring at his hands.
"So… I'm breaking? I don't feel like I'm breaking."
"That's the Aura High speaking. With that said, class is dismissed. Teams JNPR and RWBY follow me to the infirmary."
It doesn't even take a moment for Ruby to decide using her Semblance was the best option here. Bursting into petals, she immediately flies to Jaune before the others even started standing up.
"Jaune! Are you okay?! Are you dying?!" She asks as she hovers around him, hands staying at a distance in fear of further breaking him.
"Ruby, I'm fine! Never felt better, in fact!" Jaune only smiles at her, even going so far as ruffling her hair before freezing.
Ruby's eyes widen at that before ducking her head down in embarrassment. "B-But Professor Goodwitch said you were breaking."
She peeks up after a moment of silence passes and she sees Jaune stuttering and blushing at her….which of course made her blush on her own as her silver eyes locks with his blue ones.
Professor Goodwitch wasn't kidding. Eyes really are windows to the soul. You could see the blue light in him seemingly trying to cover all of his eyes. And wow, isn't that beautiful.
Ruby could only guess that this is what it looks like when your soul starts to overflow. She wonders what would Jaune see if she gets to show her own eyes like that. Would he think hers are also beautiful?
"Ahem. Ms. Rose, please give him some space and follow me to the infirmary together with your team."
The words jolt the two of them out of their stupor and Ruby turns in shock to see Professor Goodwitch and the rest of their friends looking at them.
"Hi guys!" Jaune greets them softly, he still has a blush on his cheek but Ruby speeds away to avoid thinking about it.
"U-uhm, yup! Let's go! No time to waste! Make way, everyone!" She squeals as she sees Pyrrha raise an eyebrow at her from behind Professor Goodwitch.
As she herds their classmates to make way for Jaune to walk through, Ruby does not notice Pyrrha slightly shaking her head at her with a thoughtful smile. She was too busy mentally slapping herself for having these weird thoughts and feelings.
"Mercury, report." Cinder commands brusquely in the privacy of their own room.
Mercury winces internally to himself. His mission was to endear/befriend himself to Ozpin's Maiden Candidates while assessing Pyrrha Nikos' combat capabilities.
The plan was simple. Spar with Pyrrha to earn some points with Team RWBY by replacing their leader in the fight before quitting after he has properly assessed her.
Nowhere in that plan did it involve fighting Jaune Arc and getting baited into anger. Still, the name sounds familiar and it only takes a moment for him to remember one of Ozpin's students from last night was named Jaune. Only then, the guy had black hair instead of the blonde he is sporting now.
Ozpin's undercover agent maybe? It would be a simple matter to dye one's hair and the body type does fit. There's only one problem. Last night the guy was Neo's hostage but now he's suddenly a fighter? Suspicious as fuck that's what he thinks.
"I can take him."
Wrong answer it seems because the boss lady just growls at him.
"I did not ask if you could take him or not. I want you to report everything you've learned about this Jaune Arc."
Tsk, fine.
"Sorry, just thinking is all."
"So think faster." Emerald pipes up, leaning against the door behind him to his annoyance.
He smirks when Cinder snaps toward her though. "Quiet, Emerald."
Not wanting to attract Cinder's ire however, Mercury starts his report.
"Jaune Arc, we met him last night when Ruby Rose of Team RWBY dragged us to fight Roman Torchwick in Vale." He thinks about the idea of Team RWBY apparently investigating the White Fang and lets a frown appear on his face. More agents of Ozpin, possibly? The boss' target Maiden candidates?
Cinder narrows her eyes at that, apparently coming to the same conclusion as him.
"Team RWBY and Roman, huh? It seems your recent…distraction was at least productive."
Mercury schools his features neutrally at that, preventing a smug look from gracing his face. Cinder did give them a hard time last night when she learned that they allowed a 15 year old to drag them away from their mission of scouting the CCT. Instead of gloating however, he continues about the current person of interest.
"Jaune Arc was disguised back then, together with his partner Pyrrha Nikos."
As expected, Cinder perks up at that. Reaching the same thoughts Mercury had himself.
"Ozpin's agents? What was Jaune Arc's role last night?" Cinder mutters before asking another question.
That's when he turns to glance at Emerald. No matter how they look at it they have no idea and he says as much.
"We don't know. When we saw him he was already Neo's hostage in exchange for Roman."
"Hmmm, we'll just have to ask her when we can. What can you tell me more about Jaune?"
Mercury doesn't hide the frown this time, thinking about what he gathered from their spar and the comments the guy threw at him.
"He's good. I'm better but he seemed to notice I wasn't giving it my all."
"Hmmm, and you think you can take him on despite him being able to reach this state called Aura High?" Cinder hums before raising an eyebrow at him.
Mercury scoffs at that. His old man might have been a piece of work but one thing's for sure, the assassin did not skimp out in training and educating Mercury on how to kill different types of opponents.
"Yeah, I can take him."
"In a fight, right?"
"Fuck you." The words come straight out of his mouth as he turns to glare at Emerald at that unexpected remark.
"You saw how his Aura went over 100%, how do you think you can beat that?" She smirks at him and Mercury fumes at that. He turns back to Cinder only to see her curious as well.
Sighing internally to himself, he reminisces about his early training just to get them off of his back.
"If there's one thing my old man taught me it's that there's more than one way to kill a person."
"Well done, Mr. Obvious. There's stabbing, shooting, cho-"
"Listen you dipshit, Jaune Arc with his bullshit Semblance and large Aura is going to be hard to kill, that's true. But not impossible." Before Emerald could interrupt him again, Mercury continues while turning back to Cinder. "There are ways to work around Aura. Can't break it? Drown him, wait for him to sleep then stab him, poison him, you could even try to cook him alive, there's a lot more things you can do as long as you can imagine it."
The room falls silent and Mercury takes a peek at Emerald only to see her frowning at him quietly when Cinder smiles at his answer. Ha! Serves her right.
"That's for assassination. How would you defeat him in a head on fight however?" Cinder asks, leaning against the window and letting the late afternoon sun illuminate her profile.
Mercury's mouth moves faster than his brain.
"I'd choke him."
Fuck.
"Oooh, Merc. I didn't know you had that fetish." As expected, Emerald coos from behind him.
In hindsight, he should have thought about how to word his answer better but what's done is done. So he only flips the bird at Emerald.
"Enough." Cinder raises her hand after a moment of chuckling softly to herself however. "Regardless of how Mercury plans to beat him. I want the both of you to research what you can about this state called Aura High."
Redemption. Mercury smirks to himself.
"No need, I already know about it."
"Oh? Why don't you share what you know with us, Mercury?"
Mercury preens as Emerald could only gawk at him from behind. Still, he schools his face soon enough when he sees Cinder tap her fingers impatiently on the windowsill.
"Aura High, usually achieved by consuming multiple Aura Boosters in a short amount of time while your Aura was still full. It considerably raises your protection along with minor enhancement in speed and strength. Drawbacks however include recklessness, impulsiveness, and as you said before, your body breaking down on you. It works literally like steroids for Huntsmen. Dear old dad of mine used to say, however, that when you have to resort to Aura High to beat your opponent then you are already losing."
Cinder only stays silent however, considering what he said before looking him in the eyes and saying the most unexpected of orders.
"Jaune Arc, befriend him. Get close to him. Then await further instructions."
"What?! Why?!"
Cinder just continues however, ignoring his own questions.
"Failing that, get close to his friends which you are already doing with Ruby Rose."
Mercury only grits his teeth at that before nodding his head.
"Fine."
"The same goes for you, Emerald."
"Of course, Cinder." Emerald only simps from behind him, even going so far as bowing to his disgust.
"Now leave, I will attempt to sense the dying Fall Maiden again and you will only distract me."
Mercury clenches his fist, but what can he do? Go against the person who can burn him on a whim? He turns and leaves without a word but the last thing he hears before he reaches the door are Cinder's mutters.
"Jaune Arc….I'll remember you."
Authors Note:
I wanted to tweak Jaune's Semblance a bit. It's still Aura Amp, but using it for hours on end should have both positive and negative effects on him.
Plus I've always wondered, don't Huntsmen Competitions have problems with doping athletes like we do? It seems like something people would do especially during the first Vytal Festivals where memories from the war were still fresh and everything was more competitive.
Thus, the concept of Aura High was born. Let me know what you think! You can suggest a new name if you want but priorities to answers from The Founders and The Huntsmen Graduate Tiers of course.