11. The Fool, the Devil, and a Stroll through a Highschool Heartthrob

Storm's coming. Jaune remembered that from a movie he'd seen a while ago. It hadn't meant a literal storm, but rather the foretelling of a war between the police and escaped convicts of a corrupt, broken city on the verge of collapse. Supposed to be symbolic foreshadowing or some shit like that.

In the case of Neptune's heart, the figurative had taken a rather notable backseat to the literal.

He jumped as thunder crashed above, left his ears ringing from the sheer impact. Lightning danced across black clouds like the water-logged guts of an overworked machine. Flashing, streaking, crackling, sizzling, and left such a potent, plasmic stench in the air like it was burning away the ozone layer. Did heart worlds have ozone layers? Did heart worlds have outer space? Important questions to consider.

Especially considering he was walking in the middle of the ocean.

As far as the eye could see, and he did mean that literally, there was nothing but ocean. Turned black due to the blotted-out sky, but damn near blinking white with every flash of lightning. Bolts even pierced the sea, sending unrealistic spouts in the air like an angry geyser.

It was strange and terrifying to be walking on the surface of such a massive body of water like it was, well, normal. Jaune jumped at every sound, muscles tightened when he saw giant dark shapes swimming below. A thousand fast shadows streaking under him like fire torpedoes. A great big mass swimming slow and sure, and Jaune was damn sure he heard moaning as if the creature was calling out to him. Then something with eight big lashing arms, hidden by the darkness, then exposed for a half-second by a flash of light, over and over again until it disappeared. Jaune imagined he'd have been sweating if there wasn't so much rain, but his pounding heart and cold shivers more than made up for it.

Were they real sea animals? Were they Grimm? He had no clue. And he wasn't intent on solving that mystery, either.

How he hated the ocean.

He pressed on though—figured the sea beneath him had better things to do than pay mind to him. As for where he was going, he had no inkling of a direction. But he kept straight, hoping to come across something.

Soon enough, he did.

There was someone ahead of him, just standing there. A woman.

It looked like she was waiting, arms crossed under her chest, a bored look on her face. But it was her getup that was the most, well, revealing.

A black skintight suit and lord was it tight in all the right places. Bottle-figure, and he had a feeling that if he was struck with her hips she'd bowl him over. Even darker hair, if you could believe it, falling in tempting curls.

Her eyes were on him then—molten gold behind a black mask, fair skin, and a smile so red he could have sworn it was blood rather than lipstick. The way she looked at him—it was like she'd decided in that moment that she wanted to eat him. Like a black widow spider. Like an alluring siren. I am the devil, now kiss me.

She raised her hand and Jaune near flinched back. She snapped her fingers.

The thunder, lightning, rain, and darkness… it all stopped.

The clouds receded so quickly it was like they were on a time-lapse video on fast-forward. Lighting vanished into the gray, replaced with a clear blue sky, white clouds, and a bright sun. The rain reversed its momentum, shot up at the sky in one fell swoop. The waves ceased crashing, the noise withered away, and all within the space of a second. Jaune merely blinked, then the only felt water dripping off his nose as he stared at the woman, gawked even.

How in the world did she do that?

"Well, hello there." Her voice was soft, sultry, sent a chill up his spine in the way he liked and didn't like. "I'd ask if you got lost, but it'd take a unique circumstance indeed to dive into a heart by accident."

Jaune had no idea how to respond to that, mostly because he couldn't stop staring at her. "Uh…"

She held out her very delicate-looking, finely manicured hand. Freaking porcelain. "Best we don't exchange names for now. Call me what you wish."

Jaune slowly took her hand. Gentle, smooth, and hot. His hand felt like it was smoldering. His whole body did. Jaune struggled to swallow. "You too…"

She smiled at him and Jaune couldn't decide if that calmed him or made him panic. He was getting stiff in a place he really didn't want to be and he had a feeling this woman knew it.

"What's the matter?" They hadn't let their hands go. In fact, she stepped closer to him, put a hand on his chest, nails scraping smoothly against his chest plate, drawing circles. "Do I scare you?"

Jaune pulled away, and the woman looked shocked for a moment. Before that shock turned into a delighted grin.

"Sorry," Jaune muttered. Why the hell was he apologizing?

"I should be the one asking your forgiveness. I have a certain… aura about me. Beyond my control, I'm afraid." Then she grinned. "Though if I may flatter you a moment, you seem to have a resistance to me."

Jaune doubted it considering where his thoughts had been going. He shook his head and warded those thoughts off. "So uh, ma'am, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, wandering. Took a wrong turn, I'm afraid." She stepped closer. "What's a young man like you doing in a place like this? Are you an apprentice for the organization?"

Jaune blinked. "The what?"

"You aren't, then. Or you're good at keeping secrets." Gods, Jaune just noticed that her suit pushed up her breasts and looked away. "I'm supposing you're an apprentice to an individual sect. I'll keep from spoiling the bigger surprises."

"Surprises?"

"You'll find out soon enough," The woman stepped back. "First, let's decide on names. Don't judge me for my lack of creativity, but I think 'Knight' would serve." She drew his attention to her legs by tucking one foot behind the other. "You could call me Princess or Damsel, but I don't think that's the way you're thinking of me."

Jaune was increasingly shifting between wanting and uncomfortable whenever she talked to him. She spoke smoothly, deliberately, with no stutters or pauses, as if she'd written a script and followed it to the tee. Jaune, not wanting to waste any more time, said the first thing that came to mind. "Mystery, I guess."

She giggled, and even that managed to be disarming. "I like it. Now that we're such close friends, I suppose you can be privy to my activities. I'm here on an investigation, of sorts."

"In Neptune Vasilias's heart?" Jaune started to calm as the conversation geared back to the task at hand. "Do you know him?"

"Not personally, no. Rather, I'm here to gauge the behaviors of another, and thought I might find answers within his heart." Mystery dipped her head. "I apologize for intruding in the personal life of a friend of yours."

"It's fine." It most definitely wasn't fine, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. She didn't seem dangerous—no scratch that, she seemed very dangerous. In more ways than one. But if she was just here to investigate something, then perhaps she wasn't an enemy. And she couldn't be some illusion made by the Grimm, either. Least as far as he knew.

"Well, Knight, while our business may be different, I think we can both benefit from working together for a while." She stepped to the side as if inviting him to take his place beside her. "Shall we continue on together?"

Jaune didn't really see a point in saying no, so he straightened up and joined her side, only now realizing she was shorter than him by a full head. He felt like he'd been looking up at her the whole time.

"Allow me to take the lead, I have a hunch on where to go," Mystery's hips swayed left and right as she took a few steps ahead of him. "You have experience, I assume?"

Not the kind of question a virgin guy was keen on answering. Wait, that wasn't what she was referring to. Goddamn it, brain. "Uh yeah, I've fought Grimm."

She nodded. "Lovely. Then can I trust you to watch my back?"

Jaune nodded, and she walked on ahead of him. As he promised, Jaune made sure to watch her back. No doubt the most interesting thing to look at. He certainly wasn't looking anywhere else. Not at all.

Jaune sighed. He had a feeling this would be a long walk.

"That's what I'm saying, dude. That's why you use this perk!"

Neptune hummed in response. He didn't mean to ignore Sun—he's the last person he could ever want to—but he was just tired.

Class was always a slog, but today had been a special dish of it. He hadn't wanted to keep Sun from eating lunch with their friends, but he didn't want to sit with them, either. Not with Weiss there. Heck, he wasn't even sure if he'd join them even then. So the whole time, he tried to convince himself he didn't care as everyone laughed at that table together, while he sat at the table Jaune usually occupied by himself. He knew it was petty, wishing the world was unhappy just because he was, but it just felt so unfair.

At least, until he'd had this moment of zen. This universal realization of a truth he'd gone on denying. Now, his mind was clear. Now everything made sense.

His father was right.

"Up there, up the—damn it!" Sun cursed. "Okay, loop around, Nep. I'll shoot from the balcony."

"Hm."

He'd tried talking with Cara today, too. If only to make himself feel better. He'd forgotten her nasty attitude, and that mountain of hatred she carried both for him and Weiss. Needless to say, it didn't go over well. He looked back on it and wondered how he expected it to go? Had he not kicked her to the curb the moment Weiss showed up? Chased after the next piece of tail? Maybe this was his comeuppance. He deserved a good chunk of that hate.

It didn't stop it from hurting though.

It was time to face facts—he was a loser now. What else could explain the pathetic cry baby he'd turned into? He used to be smooth and cool and confident. Unbreakable. Unbendable. Then that one-two punch called life came in and it made him face the truth.

None of it had been real. Or rather, not the Neptune deep inside.

He'd looked into the mirror and finally seen what he was. He could see his true self.

Weiss was right to ask where his spine had gone. And if she were with him right now, he'd have told her it was never there in the first place.

How could it have been? How much had he predicated his life on shining up his gold plating and ignored the rusty, creaky mechanisms inside? The shell was polished and pretty, and he played the suave and cool and intelligent Neptune entirely too well. So well that he even managed to fool himself.

But now, as his hair hung messily in his eyes, his pants a wrinkly mess, and his blazer was stained from cheese puff residue because he'd been too lazy to take it off, Neptune accepted something.

He'd always been weak and spineless.

And, you know, maybe there was nothing wrong with that. You had to adapt in life to survive. Accepting these parts of himself would make him happy in the long run. Everything he had built was gone now—his dreams, his team, his girlfriend, his father—but now he realized he never deserved those things. A shallow, hollow, worthless loser like himself didn't deserve anything.

Maybe not even to live.

"Wow, cool." Sun growled. "Killed on the respawn, now that is just excellent game design. You see that, man?"

Neptune put up a smile. "Uh yeah, good design."

Sun raised an eyebrow at him. "Bro, if you're going to pretend to be playing along, you gotta do a better job than that."

As always, Sun was too perceptive to miss a thing. "Sorry."

"Is it about the stuff Jaune said? Look, I'm sorry. I should've stopped him from saying that stuff."

"Its not that." He hadn't been thinking about that, but now he was. And it still made him angry. Only now the fury was wilting like a dying flower, seeping away into misery he was so keen on perfecting. Maybe it was a testament to his lack of a spine, but Neptune hadn't ever wanted to punch someone so badly. He hated how Jaune got under his skin, how quickly and easily he'd done it, how he acted like he knew everything and was so much better to the point that he even got Weiss's praise."I'm just not feeling it today."

"Alright, you gonna hit the sack then?"

Neptune thought about it a moment. "Yeah, but at my place."

Sun blinked at him. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I mooched off you too long."

Sun nudged his arm. "When it's family, it's not mooching. Well, good family anyway. You finally gonna talk to your pop?"

"Yeah." No. His father would never say anything so long as Neptune didn't talk to him, so he'd keep it that way. He didn't need the car and he could just shove himself up in his room. Forever. Or as close to forever as he could manage.

"Proud of you, dude. I know it's gonna be hard, but I've got your back if you need me. Okay?"

Neptune nodded. He wanted to cry, just sob on Sun's shoulders. The strongest shoulders he knew and just blubber about how much he hated everything. The world, his life, Jaune, most especially. "I'll go get my stuff."

"I'll take you in a few hours. Come on, let's just play a little longer. Hey, I can't beat these guys on my own. What do you say?"

Neptune let out a breath, then put up the best smile he could. "Sure."

"Good!" Sun patted him on the shoulder. "Now come on, let's do the balcony strat again."

Neptune attempted now to focus on the game, his mind resolute. He'd ask his dad to transfer him to a new school—a new atmosphere and a fresh start. He wouldn't even need new friends since he'd still have Sun. And he wouldn't need to see everyone else. Wouldn't need to face their scrutiny. Wouldn't need to feel so pathetic standing next to them.

He could hear Jaune's condescending voice even now. Even if he hadn't actually said anything insulting, it was more about what he didn't say. How easily Jaune had gotten him to snap. As if he understood his feelings better than anyone else. Asshole. What did he know? What the hell did he know? He knew what it was like to have everything he was familiar with ripped away from him. Jaune didn't get to choose a fresh start, it was forced on him, even if it was out of love.

But Neptune didn't want to concede to that. He didn't want to believe that he and Jaune were similar and that the only difference between them was that he was strong enough to face the pain. He just wasn't built that way. He wasn't strong enough.

Maybe his leaving would hurt people, but at this point, he didn't care. All he wanted to do was get away. And if his father wouldn't let him change schools? Then fine. He'd just leave. Run away to the end of the world or something poetic like that. Why not just do it? Screw the consequences, screw the school.

Screw everything.

Should he have been surprised that a woman like her, with an ass like that, was so good at kicking ass?

The mystery woman spun out of the way of this weird manta ray Grimm that burst out of the water, hard shell armor scaling down its back, big bug eyes shining red as it let out an angry hiss and slashed its whip-like tail at her. A Mobula—she called them.

A black sword took form in Mystery's hand in a wreath of flames, like she was summoning them fresh from a forge in hell. The black streak, ink on a canvas, and the mobula was two halves sinking into the water. A second came from right below her, and all Mystery had to do was take a half step back, and ended that one the same as the first. Two more, both airborne, speeding toward her. Mystery weaved past them, smiled, dodged again, practically goaded their aggression like she was having an absolute blast doing it.

One of them came at her again, this time Mystery ducking under and then snatching it by the tail, let it carry her into the air. Jaune had to squint just to see her, the bright sun getting in his eyes. The mobula thrashed and flailed, but Mystery didn't at all seem like she was fighting to hold on. You might have assumed she was driving the creature herself.

The second mobula came darting at them, tail extended like a long thorn, nearly ran Mystery through.

It would have to settle for its partner.

Mystery let go the moment it got too close, falling toward the ground—er, water—arms spread out like she was gliding rather than plummeting to sure death. She spun around, and flames coated her arms and weapon, then vanished to reveal… a bow.

He didn't hear the twang of a bowstring or the whistle of a speeding arrow. But what he did hear was an explosion. The entangled mobula were engulfed in a ball of yellow-orange fire, practically a miniature supernova. Exploding arrows? Jaune couldn't help a bit of envy as he looked at his dinky shield. Why can't you be cooler, god damn it?

Oh yeah, Mystery was kinda falling to her death, wasn't she?

Jaune bolted after her, pushed himself as she picked up speed. He hadn't been fully prepared to catch her, nor had he been ready for the floor to give way when he did. Cold water rushed them both, shot up his nose, forced him to squeeze his eyes shut. He was certain that Mystery was holding onto him for dear life and definitely not the other way around, most notably when she patted him on the face and made him look at her, then pointed behind him.

Oh, was that a shark? Awesome.

Jaune pushed Mystery away from him, entirely too late to get out of the way himself. Giant jaws clamped around his chest, pinned his shield arm, which he'd just barely managed to get up. They were bulleting through the water, everything was spinning and dark and confusing. The shark grimm lashed and swung him around in its crushing grip, and Jaune felt his armor start to dent, felt the teeth start to break through. That and, you know, having no air.

With his free hand, he bashed its nose. No effect. He wailed on it anyway, tried to scrape at its face, but the Grimm refused to let go. He tried to wriggle his shield free, but it wasn't coming loose, didn't even budge. His lungs were starting to burn, the urgent need for air was rising and Jaune started to panic. Was it going to end like this? Falling to the first real Grimm fight he'd ever been in? The shark clamped harder, and Jaune sucked down water as he let out a scream even he couldn't hear.

Out of options, Jaune pulled from the energy within him, and a desperate Reflect shell formed around him like a cocoon. Right as the shark bit down again. Maybe it was quick thinking, maybe it was luck, but the shell burst apart, forcing Grimm to let go and swim away.

Jaune wasted no time scrambling for the surface. Threw one desperate arm in front of the other, cold water stinging at open wounds. Air. Needed air.

Jaune flipped over as something bashed into him, floundering to adjust, he found that shark turning quickly to come back at him. Jaune raised his shield, let it smack into him again, then hastened his climb.

Behind him, the shark came back much too fast for him to keep away from. It weaved away from black arrows spearing through the water, not once slowing in its pursuit.

He wasn't going to get away. His breath was almost gone. The world felt blurry.

But he'd be damned if he died without a fight.

Jaune dispelled his shield and curled into a ball as the shark's black hole of a mouth closed in. Gods, he hoped this worked.

Teeth scraped at his body, head, and arms, but since the world turned dark and warm, he was certain he'd been swallowed whole. Wouldn't be enough. The creature had to break him apart to eat him.

That's when he casted Reflect.

The shark's jaws crushed him on all sides, but the shell took it. Heat swelling throughout his body, Jaune let it break free of him, let out a soundless roar. Freedom. He couldn't see, not with his vision so muddy. But he could imagine the shark blown to chunks, now that he was floating in the water again. Only, the last of his air was gone and the world was getting dark again.

Oh well, he'd tried.

His eyes popped when something snatched him. The shark again? He had no strength to fight back, and everything was moving too fast for him to know where he was going.

Air.

Jaune practically guzzled it as he thrust to the surface, he hit the water-ground, this time not going through, and crawled to his hands and knee, coughing, gasping, throat on fire.

"My my, that was exciting." Mystery said as a long black she held vanished into a wreath of fire, inappropriately calm. He half-expected her to be so unaffected that she wasn't even wet, but she was human after all. Black hair slicked to her face and neck bangs hovering over one eye, and lipstick washed away. "I believe thanks are in order."

"Thanks." Jaune coughed.

She chuckled. "I meant from me. I could have taken that Apex myself."

Maybe she should have. Jaune looked in worse shape than he'd ever been in training sessions. His armor had so many dents and bites marks that it almost felt useless to wear. And while the wounds in his arm were shallow, they still stung like a bitch. He felt like he needed a break already. Should he really have just waited for Aunt Peach?

"I doubt your uh feminine wiles would have worked on a Grimm. No offense."

She actually laughed, like, a full unrestrained one. "You wound me. Though I suppose not as much as you've been."

Jaune pushed up. His legs felt strong at least, having suffered no injury. Given time, he figured his arms wounds would close up in a few minutes. This was still doable. "I'll live. Thanks for saving me."

"You saved yourself, really. Apex are not weak by any stretch of the imagination." She looked around them at the calm, endless sea. "You can judge the threat level of a person's heart world by the Grimm that appear in them. And while Apex are certainly not the thing you should most be concerned about, it is still indicative of what we may face here."

There were worse things than that Apex? Jaune hung his head. "You should have let me drown."

"I'd be wanting for company, then. Who will protect me if not a knight in shining armor?"

"Not so shiny anymore."

Mystery knocked on his chest plate. "Sturdy though. Looks are no replacement for substance. Shall we continue on?"

"I'm following you," Jaune said.

"Let's switch then. Truth is, I have no better a clue where I'm going than you."

"Then why did you say you did?"

Mystery smirked. "Can you blame a girl for wanting to play with her food a little?"

Jaune wasn't sure he liked being referred to as food, but considering how playful she was, he wasn't surprised either. "You sure you want me to lead?"

Mystery gestured for him to get ahead of her. Didn't make a difference whoever led so Jaune did so. They couldn't even be sure if they were going in the same direction as before anymore since everything looked the same. Damn shark. He hoped they came across some kind of landmark. And soon.

"Besides," Jaune could almost hear her grin. "This gives me a chance to pretend I'm watching your back, too."

He was really glad she couldn't see his face.

"How blasé. Wouldn't you agree?" Mystery asked.

That depended entirely on him being sure of what he was looking at. In which case, Jaune abso-freakin-lutely did not agree. Why in God's name was there a museum in the middle of the ocean?

And why was it so enormous?

Dozens of marble-white pillars speared up toward the towering rooftop that sat so high that it cast much of the surrounding sea into its shadow. A great, looming, gaping mouth of black that swallowed up everything. A place where the sun could not reach.

People headed up the giant stairway leading to the entrance, and as much as Jaune had expected them to look strange, he was surprised they were so… not strange. Men in spiffy dark suits and women in colorful, bouncy dresses, like they were attending an exciting play rather than a stale old museum. Limousines were even pulling up on the… parkway? Waterway? Ocean… parkway? They pulled up on the ocean parkway, spraying sparkling white foam into the air. Hundreds of them. And their passengers flooded out like waves of fancy ants, surging up toward the museum until they were a sea themselves, scrambling to get into this odd museum in the middle of fucking nowhere.

There was a mighty groan as the giant double doors parted, but from the base of the steps, Jaune couldn't see the inside. People rushed inside, a great din of excited clamoring. On either side of the doors were heavily armored warriors wielding tridents crossed over their counterparts like they were protecting the museum, and would awaken at any moment to destroy the uninvited. Ah, Mister Arc, are you on the VIP list? No? Here, let's see what you look like skewered on my giant trident. For Jaune's sake, he hoped they were just statues.

But he prepared to summon his shield, just in case.

"Shall we?" Mystery said.

"We don't know what's in there."

"I think that's the point of investigating."

Jaune pursed his lips for a moment. "But just walk in? Shouldn't one of us, like, sneak around?"

Mystery smirked. "You want to part so soon? And here I was beginning to think you were warming up to me."

Jaune tried his damndest not to let his mind go anywhere with that. "I'd just want to be careful, that's all."

Mystery shrugged. "Well, he's your mark. Very well, I'll check around the back. You try to make it through the front."

Jaune looked down at himself. "I'm not exactly dressed for the part."

"Then your exceeding charm will win you a spot inside. Or your fighting ability, whichever comes first. I'll see you in there." Mystery turned sharply on her heel and started to head around the museum.

Jaune palmed his forehead. Nothing to it but to do it.

Remember when I said I was slowing down? I mean I meant it, but I got too excited for this chapter. You can probably tell I really liked writing this one.

And yeah, it's pretty obvious that Cinder would be the Devil arcana—and she is my guilty pleasure character. So much potential, so very wasted. But we'll try to do her some measure of justice in this fic.

Was there a shark Grimm in the show? I think there was, but I can't remember. And I'm really shitty at names so don't make fun of me!

It's pretty fun writing horny Jaune. Though you can probably tell there's more to it than Cinder being hot. But what's this? Why is she of all people inside Neptune's heart? It's a mystery! HA!

Laugh, I'm funny.

ISA