Cuts of RWBY

A RWBY Fic Collection by AndrewJTalon

DISCLAIMER: This is a fan based work of prose. RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and WB Animation. Please support the official release.

Just a collection of plot bunnies and ideas for RWBY fics. Free for you to take and make use of.

For instance... What if Jaune bullshitted his way into saving Vale just like his bullshitted his way into Beacon?

A guest chapter by Guikoi. Go check out their fics!

WIth a press of a button the double doors closed with an inaudible whirl of mechanical systems. However, Jaune Arc did feel the slight rumbling the engineers had been unable to remove from the elevator's design.

The blonde first year dragged an armored hand through his hair, gripping his scalp tightly. "Deep breaths, Jaune. Deep breaths. You got this. Just use your brain. You don't have the strength to win. You don't have the skill to win. You don't have the power to win. But… Pyr and Ms Goodwitch always said I had a good head on my shoulders…"

He took another deep breath as the elevator reached the top, reaching his final destination. "I just need to use my brain. Alright, it's time to face destiny. It's fucking go time." He swore, feeling his heart beat faster and stronger.

He knew how dangerous and stupid this was. He wasn't very good at social interaction, and now he was going to try to get into her head? But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how bad he is at it; it was his only chance. Which path does he take? Guaranteed death or a chance at life, however slim? There was never any other option for him.

Jaune knew what he was getting himself into. He had begged Pyrrha not to do the same thing he was going to do. That's why he forced her into the locker and sent her to Vale. And if he was being honest to himself… "I think I have a better chance at victory here than Pyrrha would. Heh."

Steeling his nerves, burying his emotions like he was used to, tuning out the screams and the roars of Grimm from below…

'My body is steel. My mind a vault. Keep it closed and defended. No matter what comes I shall remain steady.'

The elevator doors opened, his foot already moving through. His left arm was raised in front of him. He didn't bother deploying his sword or shield yet. He used his gloved hand to stop a ball of flames. It splashed against him, singing his glove and turning the skin on his arm red and raw from the heat.

He had consciously stopped his aura from taking the blow. It was unnecessary, the damage to his aura, however small, was not worth the risk as an injury as small as this would not affect his combat capabilities and so could be ignored…

"Oh?" She actually sounded surprised to see him. He stopped a short distance from her. The black haired, amber eyed beauty before him scanned him from feet to head. "I was expecting someone else."

The smallest lock of flames around her signalled her emotions. She was new to the full power of the Fall Maiden. She only had half of it before, which was a lot more than people normally had, but he could work with it.

Jaune shrugged, letting a smirk onto his face. "What can I say?" He said in a friendly manner. "I just had to meet you myself."

"Oh~? A fan, are you?" Her fingers traced a line over her chin. She leaned on one leg and pretended to think deeply. "But I think there's a bit more to that, no~?"

"Of course." He told her, voice as empty as the lifeless corpses dotting Beacon's halls and Vale's streets. "I didn't come for pleasantries, however much I enjoy them."

She blinked and tilted her head to one side in thought. His eyes drifted down to her neck. She smirked and put on a voice that had seduced many men. "Like what you see?"

Jaune didn't let his grin display on his face. 'I've got you.' Instead, he put on a face of disgust and anger. "Stop that."

"Stop what~?" She leaned the other direction, a hand caressing her hip and ever so slightly pulling her skirt to reveal more of her bare legs.

"You can stop with that fake voice and act, for one." While his disgust and anger was real, he did admit he was exaggerating it quite a bit. "You can stop with the fucking chuunibyou shit!"

She narrowed her eyes. "'Chuunibyou'?"

'She's from Mistral, but doesn't know that term? I see. She never went to school. Never got a formal education. Kids are cruel. Young children naturally push boundaries, testing the waters and rules of society. Seeing what they can and cannot get away with. A natural part of childhood. If she went to a formal school she would have been bullied quite badly for the act she was putting on, called a chuunibyou and more, but she doesn't know that term so she never went to school.'

"It means 'Middle-School Syndrome'." Jaune provided. "It's used to denote someone who acts like a middle-schooler. Someone with grandiose delusions. Who fills their world with fantasy. You in particular act like a child who's in drama class and pretending to be a villain for the first time."

Deciding to see how far he can push her, Jaune copied her voice and tone. "Oh, look at me, I'm Cinder Fall! Muhaha I'm so eeeevil and scaaary~! Mommy and daddy didn't give me enough huggy wuggies!" He even put his hands together and swayed his hips side to side to play it up, dumping fuel to the fires of mockery.

Another lick of flame from her eyes, this one stronger.

He dropped that act and put his disgusted, angered mask back on. "Why don't you drop the act and talk to me like a normal fucking person, Cinder!" He decided to let one of his cards show early. "Or are you too afraid to let your true self show? Don't want me to see the little slave girl that you really are!?"

A fire blazed around her eyes like an inferno, but only for a second, before she regained control. "Oh? A slave girl? Me? What makes you think that?" A single drop of sweat ran down the side of her head.

'She doesn't seem to notice how easy she is to read. Whoever her teacher was did a shit job… Or maybe Cinder's just a garbage student alongside being a garbage person?'

Jaune fully revealed the card he had laid on the table. He looked back down at her neck. "It doesn't matter the amount of makeup you put on to hide it. Your past is open to me like a book. There's a ring of slightly lighter skin around your neck." Her hand flexed towards her neck before she stopped it.

Jaune swapped his mask for one of smugness. "You wore a collar. Not only that, but you wore it constantly. Never taking it off. And… Yes… There's burns. A shock collar." Her throat tightened up and her nostrils flared. "Maybe mommy and daddy really didn't…"

'She averted her eyes when I mentioned 'mommy' but not 'daddy'. I see…'

"No. It was only your mother. Ah, wait… Your mother and sisters." Jaune could feel his glee rising, but like his other emotions he locked them in a box deep beneath steel.

'My body is steel. My mind a vault. Keep it closed and defended. No matter what comes I shall remain steady.'

He reminded himself, trapping the steel box containing his emotions behind another layer of steel, this time steel chains.

"Tell me, Cinder…" Jaune clenched and unclenched his left hand. He could barely feel the pain with how deep he buried it. Good. "What did you do to get the collar off once and for all? I first thought that maybe you killed them in their sleep. Stabbed them to death and swiped the key. It's what I would have done." And he didn't lie. He didn't need to lie.

She opened her mouth to respond.

The blonde boy raised his hand and rapped a knuckle on the side of his head. "However…" She shut her jaw. "Then I thought about how you've acted at Beacon while you were here. Any time your two companions, no, tools acted out in a way you didn't like you reprimanded them with a glare or their name. You want control. You want control because you never had it."

She grit her teeth and responded.

"Cinder." Jaune said, glaring at her. "I'm not finished." He waited a few seconds, but she was silent. So he continued: "While here at Beacon you've never once put down the flirty, 'seducer' type voice. Your ease with that voice makes me think that my original thought of how you got out of slavery was wrong. I mean… It's obvious. You just slept with men. Either you slept with the right man or men, or you whored yourself out to make enough lien you could just buy your freedom. I cannot imagine that was cheap, so you had plenty of practice putting on a seductive act."

Jaune kept a close eye on Cinder while he talked. "Hmm… No, seems I was wrong." He shrugged. "I doubt someone as proud as you would lower yourself that much. To you, slavery was better than prostitution. Your pride simply wouldn't allow you to degrade yourself like that. Not even freedom from your collar was worth it."

Jaune froze. A stray thought came to him. "No." He admitted. "All of my guesses were wrong."

Cinder smirked. "Seems you realized it. Look at me. How could I have been a slave girl? It seems even a loser like you has some capacity for thought in that empty head of yours."

"You weren't a slave. You are a slave."

Her smile vanished in an instant. Fire bloomed once more, and the air danced around them in a mirage from the sheer heat emanating from Cinder Fall.

Jaune knew he was right on the money. 'Jackpot!'

"That's right. I figured it out. You did kill your owners, don't get me wrong. That's obvious. Your mother and sisters are dead by your hands. However, you are not a free woman. All you did was trade one collar, one master, for another one." Jaune turned away from Cinder and watched the Grimm Wyvern fly above Vale.

'Think, Jaune, think! She's working for Torchwick? No. He's working for her. The White Fang are working with Torchwick, so are working for Cinder by default.'

'Who's she working for? Is it someone in the attack? For now let's assume that, and go by process of elimination. Let's see, we have Atlas… no, only the robots. The Atlas soldiers are defending Vale. Probably a cyber attack that got them. Not Torchwick or the White Fang. That leaves only the Grimm…'

'But how can anyone work with the Grimm? And not a moral ground, but rather practicality. How do you get the Grimm to follow your commands? A deal? No, they're not intelligent enough for that. Or perhaps there's some Grimm we haven't seen yet or a kind of super Gri…'

Jaune turned his attention back to Cinder Fall. The two silently watched each other.

'No… She's a Maiden. Something only in fairy tales. But it's real. Come on, Jaune, think! There must be something I can work with, here! Maybe…'

His gaze turned to the floor. Or rather, to the tower they were in. Flicking his eyes back up to Cinder, things started to click into place.

'Why would she come here of all places? There's nothing up here. Was she looking for something? No. Whatever cyber attack that took control of the Atlas knights should be more than enough to get whatever information she could get from Professor Ozpin's office or scroll. Maybe not information, but an object? It wouldn't be something he had on him, as she left him down below in that secret vault.'

Jaune watched her eyes scan his face for any sign or twitch that revealed his thoughts to her. But his mind was steel. If he didn't know any better he'd say she was scared of him. But Jaune assumed she felt something closer to apprehension or anxiety over something so banal as fear.

'Ah. I see. She doesn't know what she's looking for. So her master didn't tell her anything except the basics? So her master obviously has other servants, other agents that her master trusts more. Or perhaps her master simply wants her to clear the way? Her master can probably get whatever they want themselves, but wanted Cinder to clear the path.'

'So her master is cautious. Are they weak in combat like me and didn't want to risk coming themselves? No. If her master was weaker than her, she'd kill them in a heartbeat. Her pride wouldn't allow someone weaker than her to lord over her. She's too much of a control freak.'

'That must mean they're… Are they too lazy? No, they sent Cinder to bring down an entire Kingdom. Why do that unless you're poised to take advantage of that? They're ready to strike at a moment's notice then, so laziness is off the table. Is it Mistral's underworld? Hoping to take over… No. No human or faunus can control the Grimm. And the underworld would have no reason to bring down a Kingdom. They'd prefer fighting rival crime lords and ruling from the shadows…'

He glanced back outside the window. The Grimm Wyvern was dropping black sludge that spawned Grimm.

'That's how the Grimm come into being, then? That… that mud. Maybe there's pools of that stuff, and the Grimm just crawl out of it? No. If they were on the continents the Kingdoms are on, surely we'd have seen at least one pool of mud before? Maybe from the dragon shaped continent? Then how do they get here?'

'No. It's obvious. Flying Grimm like the Wyvern there would just drop the mud onto the ground. But there's no mentions of a Grimm like that thing in any books I've read. Were they holding back their true capabilities this whole time? But then why reveal them now? They want to kill us all, right? Then why didn't they just do that and overwhelm us then from the start? Maybe not all Grimm can do that, only special ones? Is it age? Species? Or… No, wait, the ones spawning have armor. Young Grimm don't. Ruby told me that.'

'Wait, if they can just spawn mature Grimm, then why do young Grimm even exist? Are they capable of sexual reproduction? Or… When they die and disperse… Do they come back as young Grimm? Reform some time later? Do they reform into one or multiple young Grimm? Is there a limited amount or is the amount of Grimm increasing over time?'

'No. I need to focus on the bigger picture. The Grimm are part of it. I just need a few more clues. Think! Ozpin… Ozpin… Ozpin… Think back on every interaction and word he said. He must have known something. I need to remember every fucking word I've heard him say! Start from the beginning.'

'Alright. The speech in the beginning of the year was a vague and pointless word salad of nothing, even I can tell that. He spoke a lot of words but really said nothing at all. He looked like he said it a million times before. He looked bored. He also looked… like he wasn't really there. Lile he was having a conversation in his head. He's also later mentioned that he made more mistakes than anyone else. Why?'

'Perhaps he's serious? Or maybe it's more cryptic horseshit. That seems right up his alley. No. He really had no reason to lie to anyone at the time. No human is perfect. So why didn't he just say he's made a lot of mistakes? Why make it seem like he made more mistakes than anyone else? Perhaps he didn't mean to reveal that? Alright, I'll just metaphorically put that in my back pocket for later. Maybe it'll make more sense with context?'

'What was next? Initiation. We had to collect relics from a temple in the Emerald Forest. We ran int- Wait. Why call them relics? Any significance? The temple is obviously for a form of landmark to signify it's the right place, so I don't…'

'No… The temple is important. Maybe it meant something to Ozpin? Hold on, it's what, a couple thousand years old at least? Does he know what it was originally for? Is that why he put the relics there? If he knew, why didn't he tell Profes- Doctor Oobleck? He taught history and he's a doctor, so he's probably a historian. So surely Dr Oobleck would have made mention of the temple's significance? I would have if I was in his place. Tried to entice students to be interested in history by pointing out something 'close to home' as it were.'

'Maybe Ozpin's not supposed to know but does? Hold on, I need to compare it to what I know. He's got secret knowledge of history. He's made more mistakes than anyone else. He knows about magic and the Maidens. He tried to turn Pyrrha into a Maiden, or I suppose, a Half-Maiden like Cinder… probably to combat Cinder.'

'He couldn't have made a gigantic secret vault under Beacon without someone knowing. And that machine… Alright. Ozpin's the head of some secret cabal that rules the world. Or, at least, he was.'

'I can safely assume the other Headmasters are in on it. General Ironwood did visit Ozpin often. Professor Glynda probably knows. So too does Ruby's uncle. Qrow, right? So what does that…'

'Ruby told me that Ozpin mentioned her eyes. Now that I think about it, other than being the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen, they're silver. Ruby said her mother had silver eyes too. Maidens were fairy tales and the Silver-Eyed Warriors are as well… So I can assume Ruby can… What? Shoot lasers from her eyes that instantly kill Grimm? Fuck, that's cool. But she probably doesn't know. She'd definitely have told me.'

'But wait… Ozpin probably had ulterior motives for bringing Ruby to Beacon two years early. Was he planning to groom her into a powerful warrior to use against the Grimm? No, wait, he's doing that to all of us. That's why we fucking came here in the first place. Did he know something like this was going to happen? He wanted her here to… Maybe the Silver Eyes work on Maidens too?'

'So they don't destroy Grimm. They destroy magic. The Grimm are magical constructs, then. Maybe Cinder's master is a mage who created the Grimm? No, the Grimm have been around since the dawn of humanity.'

'I see. Cinder's master didn't create the Grimm. But they do control them. But that doesn't explain why their behavior has never changed. Surely her master would command them to do stuff, and we'd notice changes in behavior corresponding to those orders? Or… Maybe we do, but Ozpin and his cabal are the only ones who know.'

'Okay… Once more, I need to put everything together. I need to piece it all together.'

Jaune took a deep breath.

'My body is steel. My mind a vault. Keep it closed and defended. No matter what comes I shall remain steady.'

'The Grimm… Cinder Fall… She's a slave… She can somewhat command the Grimm… The Grimm are doing things not seen before… Cinder's master controls the Grimm… Ozpin knows… Magic exists… Fairy tales… The other headmasters know… The temple… The relics… Silver Eyes… Ozpin's mistakes… Ozpin's secrets… Cinder's looking for something…'

'Ah… I think I see the answer. Yes. Yes. Yes. Now to see if my hypothesis is right.'

Jaune returned his eyes to his enemy and met her gaze. "The Relic?"

Cinder breathed in a gasp, her eyes widening.

'Fucking bingo.'

She growled. "Ozpin didn't tell you? Of course Salem wants the Relic. What else would she want from Beacon?"

'Salem? Must be the name of her master. Alright.'

"I know. But why'd she send you? In fact, why are you even here? Here in this tower? The Relic's not here. Ozpin wasn't stupid enough to keep it here."

Cinder scoffed. "He keeps the other three in the Academies. Why would this one be any different?"

'There's three more. In the Academies. Did she take them? Did Salem or her other agents take them? No. She said that as if they're still there. Does Salem only need or want one? No. She would need all four. There's four Maidens, one for each Relic. Ozpin had Ruby here, probably to train her to defend the Relic. He must not have had the time to get her ready. So… The Relic is in the school. No. Under the School. Probably below that machine somewhere.'

'I need to make Cinder think it's not here. Lead her astray.'

"Ozpin expected you. Or rather, he expected someone like you. Ozpin's lived a very long time. Just like Salem, he's immortal. You think he wouldn't know she's coming for the Relic? Of course he would. But I don't care whether you take it. In fact… Do me a favor, and I'll tell you where the Relic is."

Cinder's glare would have killed me if her eyes were as cool as Ruby's. "If you know where it is, why didn't you take it for yourself?"

"...I see… She didn't tell you." Jaune shook his head.

"What? Didn't tell me what?"

"Salem knows you plan to betray her. You're so obvious it hurts! You're a slave and you want freedom. You want control. As soon as you have a chance you'll snatch power for yourself to get out from under her thumb."

Her brow furrows. "How would you know what she knows?"

'Fuck it. Time to gamble everything on the slimmest chance.'

"Because she told me."

She stepped back and growled. "No she didn't! Why would she tell you?"

"Because I'm on her side, you idiot!" Jaune keeps his emotions in check, never letting them out. The only emotions he shows are masks, fakes he can swap out at will. The one he's using currently is disdain.

"I've never seen you with her before!"

"Of course not! You think she'd lay all her cards on the table for you? She never told me about you, either! I can guess she never told you how to unlock the door to the Relic, either."

Her teeth gnashed together hard enough that her aura protected them from breaking. "H-How?"

"Silver Eyes. You need Silver Eyes."

"Silver… That brat?"

"Of course. But not just Silver Eyes. You also need the powers of a Maiden. You were sent to get the Maiden's powers. While I was sent to corrupt Ozpin's pet Silver-Eyed Warrior. You get it, don't you? Salem sent you to die. Well, not die here at least. You'll return to her, she'll congratulate you. Then I'll return with Ruby in tow. Salem then uses her magic to force you to look at and think of only Ruby… Then she kills you. Salem wants Ruby Rose as her key. She told me it would be delicious to use Ozpin's own pet against him."

"What…!? N-No! No! No, you're lying!" Fire raged out of her eyes, bathing the office in an orange glow.

Jaune stepped forward. Cinder tried to step back but found herself backed against Ozpin's desk. "You know I'm telling the truth."

"W-Why are you telling me this? You're… She'll kill you for telling me."

"It's fine." Jaune waved off her concern. "After all, the original plan broke down when you first failed to get the Maiden's powers. Half of it won't do. Ozpin's smart. The key needs a precise amount of magic. The Maiden and Silver Eyes. You were never supposed to be in Beacon in the first place. This…!" He waved towards the carnage below. "Was never supposed to happen."

Cinder looked down. For all her incredible beauty and terrifying power… Now she just looked like a scared, vulnerable girl.

Jaune grasped her chin and forced her to look at him. "But you can still fix this. We can still fix this, Cinder. There's three other Maidens. You can use that girl, Emerald. Make her a Maiden, have her think of Ruby. Kill her. By the time you've done that, I'll have Ruby as putty in my hands. She'll do anything I say. I'll get the Relic and bring it to Salem. After you kill Emerald, go back to Salem and report to her 'I have forged the Key to the Gates'. That should be enough to convince Salem to spare you."

Jaune stopped Cinder from speaking, putting a finger on her lips. "But, I want you to call off the attack on Vale. After all, I do admit I've grown rather fond of this place. Plus, if Beacon or Vale falls, the students will scatter. They'll go home. Or they'll go to different schools. My job will become much harder. And I don't want to risk you and Ruby being in the same Kingdom any time soon. At least, not before I can fix all the trauma you caused her or turn it into loyalty to me and Salem. And, when Ozpin reincarnates into a new body, who do you think he'll go to first?"

"R-Ruby?"

"Exactly. If Beacon or Vale are destroyed, he gets a chance to get to her before I can finish my work on her. She must stay here with me. This is our only chance. Do you understand me?"

"Y… Yes."

"Good. Now. It's time. You need to and call off the attack. But first… I need to maintain my cover. I'm supposed to be weak, it would be suspicious if I came out of this unscathed. You need to beat me. Cut me, burn me, throw me around. Just don't maim me, because then I can't stay in Beacon and I can't keep working on Ruby. Understand?" Jaune let go and stepped back. He needed to stay in character. He let his aura cover him. "You ready?"

"Yes." Cinder nodded. But then, with a blush she stepped forward and laid a chaste kiss on his lips. "Thank you."

'Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Why do I find evil women showing their vulnerable side so fucking hot! Don't get a boner! Don't get a boner! Don't get a boner!'

Melted glass appeared in Cinder's hand and formed a blade. In the blink of an, eye she was upon him.

'It hurts! Oh god it hurts so bad! But it hurts so good to have a plan come together so well!'

Qrow Branwen has been around a long time. He's over forty years old and has been fighting with Ozpin in this Shadow War for over half of those forty years. He'd believed he'd heard and seen everything.

This, though… This was new!

Taiyang, his best friend, dropped his head into his hands. "You're fucking insane!"

The young blonde sitting opposite them in Taiyang's house grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I-It was a gamble. But it wasn't like I could fight her. I'd have died! So I… pretended to be on Salem's side."

Qrow upended his flask and drank until it was empty. "You're special, kid. You know that? I don't think even Oz could weave absolute fucking bullshit quite like you."

The blonde kid, Jaune Arc or some shit, preened under his compliment.

'Well, the kid does deserve it. He basically saved Vale and Beacon single handedly. Sure, he put another Maiden in danger, but if Cinder kills her own minion to make Ruby a Maiden… that gives us plenty of time to prepare and aeakens them. Plus, here's hoping that Salem kills that Cinder bitch for failing so gods damned hard! Now all we need to do is wait for Oz to come back, and we can figure out how to kill Salem once and for…'

Qrow paused and realized something. Jaune had figured out everything on his own. Does that mean he was right that Salem was immortal? Like… unkillable?

"FUCK! FUCK! FUUUUUUUUCK!"