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.
Jack and Cinder
Cinder grit her teeth. The Grimm had not been a major issue-After all, Salem gave her the means to command them. But these magical guardians around the ancient tomb were a different beast altogether!
Mercury spun through the air like a shuriken, knocking off the heads of two of them. Emerald let loose shots from her dagger-pistols as she bobbed and weaved through the other constructs, resembling piles of smooth stones bound together by nothing. Cinder's fire blasts took down more... Yet they just kept pulling themselves back together!
"Why is that idiot taking so long?!" She seethed, slamming several flame enhanced arrows into one of the constructs.
At last, a mop of blond hair emerged from the temple. His black jacket was charred and dirty, along with his matching pants. His white undershirt was dirty as well. He was swinging his single elegant blade around himself as he ran, the artifact underneath his arm.
"I'VE GOT IT! GO GO GO!" The blond young man shouted. Cinder waited until the blond ran past her, then unleashed a firestorm. The magical guardians were driven back by the intensity of the heat for a moment, before they began to push through it.
"RUN!" Cinder roared. Emerald and Mercury followed the blond, and Cinder brought up the rear. They ran through the stone ruins, up towards the cliff they had rappelled down here in the jungles of South Mistral. The blond young man ushered Emerald and Mercury up first, before he began to climb. Cinder followed, grabbing onto the rope and climbing fast.
Emerald and Mercury made it to the top first, throwing themselves over. The blond young man made it third. He then immediately turned around and reached out for Cinder. She grunted, climbing faster... Then rocky fingers wrapped around her ankles and pulled back hard.
"AAAH!"
"CINDER!" Emerald screamed. Cinder unleashed hell on the rock guards, but to her horror, they had joined together into a gigantic structure like army ants. They were pulling her down, tightening their grip as hundreds of additional rocks rolled up to join her.
"ACK! DAMNIT!" She fired off more fire blasts, but the stones were seemingly immune. She felt her grip slacken, she heard Emerald screaming her name.
Damnit... No, no, not like this, not like this, not like this...!
The blond shouted a few things, she couldn't hear him... Then she saw him. He had jumped off the cliff, and plunged his sword into the cliff face to slow his descent. He grabbed onto her around her waist, and heaved with all of his strength. She held onto him for dear life. He looked up and bellowed:
"NOW!"
A boulder rolled down. The blond leaped to the side, yanking out his sword and slamming it back in to provide leverage. Cinder clutched at him tightly and winced as the boulder dropped down, toppling the magical guardians. The blond watched this handiwork, nodded, then leaped up, slamming his sword in again. Emerald threw down a rope, and Cinder grabbed onto it. The boy yanked his sword out, and together, they climbed up.
They reached the top. Cinder breathed hard, but tried to hide it. She couldn't... She wouldn't show weakness...
"You okay?" The blond asked.
He was holding her still... There was a part of Cinder's mind that wanted to linger...
She shoved him away instead, and rose up to her feet.
"You kept the artifact, I hope?" Cinder demanded. The blond nodded, pointing to Emerald. The green haired girl held it up.
"Yes, he handed it off to me-"
"While I got the boulder and kicked it down to save you," Mercury drawled. "You're welcome, by the way."
Cinder snorted.
"Then mission accomplished," she stated. She took the artifact with reverence. Obtaining this meant pleasing Salem. Pleasing Salem? Meant power.
That was all she needed.
She glanced back at the blond, his face as impassive as ever. She worked her jaw.
"... Good work," she managed.
Emerald beamed. That morsel of affection lit her right up. Mercury snorted, looking unaffected.
And the blond...
"It was the mission," he said.
Mercury laughed.
"Cold as ever, Jack."
Jack Arc shrugged, and sheathed his blade.
"I'm starving. Let's get some food," he said, walking past Cinder into the jungle.
Emerald scowled after him.
"Who does he think he is, giving orders," she groused.
"Salem's son," Cinder reminded Emerald, "And you'd best remember it."
"Yes ma'am," Emerald immediately recanted, as Mercury snorted. They followed the tall blond, soon reaching the trail that led back to the town and their inn. They checked back in, and took their rooms. Cinder had Emerald and Mercury take one, and Jack meet her in the other.
She sat down, regal as a queen, on the bed with her legs crossed. Jack stood at attention before her, almost like a soldier.
He waited. She ground her teeth.
"... So," she stated, "What do you want?"
Jack blinked.
"Miss Fall?"
"You saved my life," Cinder said with a shrug, "You must want something."
Jack blinked again. He shrugged.
"Dinner?"
Cinder glared at him.
"We were getting that anyway. Why did you save me?"
Jack hummed.
"... Did I need a reason?"
"Yes, you did," Cinder growled, "Nobody does anything for free! So what do you want?"
Jack shrugged.
"I wanted you to not die."
"Why?"
"Because you're a great asset to Mother," he said. His blue eyes fixed themselves on hers, so focused and intense Cinder was taken aback, "You're a great asset to me. And..."
He hesitated. Cinder leaned forward.
"And?"
"... We're alike," he decided. Cinder growled.
"What do you mean alike? How?"
"... The world discarded us both," Jack stated, "My family abandoned me... Yours..."
Cinder's eyes narrowed dangerously. Jack wisely moved on.
"... Salem found us. Took us in. Raised me as her own," Jack said quietly. "I swore... I would never let someone else be abandoned like I was. Especially someone I... I consider important. To me... And my mother."
She was not blushing. She was not.
Jack Arc was the adopted son of Queen Salem herself. Yet in contrast to her darkness, he was... He was so bright. So kind. Stoic, yet always quick to act to protect someone. He even did that for Emerald and Mercury... And unlike Tyrian, Hazel, and Salem's other minions? He never belittled them.
He had to have some game, some scheme... It wasn't something Cinder had been able to figure out yet. What he really wanted.
It was almost like... Almost like he cared.
Impossible, Cinder's mind thought, Utterly impossible...
"Very well," Cinder said. She rose. "If I am important to you? Treat me as such. Take me to dinner."
Jack nodded, the ghost of a smile on his face.
"As you wish," he said. He turned to the door, but Cinder cleared her throat.
"You offer your arm to a lady when you want to treat her like she's important," Cinder stated coldly. Jack coughed.
"Of course, Miss Fall."
He extended his arm. Cinder took it, and let him guide her out the door down the stairs.
She would play along for now. Figure out his game. If he wanted to overthrow his mother... Well, she'd be there in a heartbeat.
Nothing said she couldn't enjoy playing along, now did it?
Just a little.
Until she figured Jack Arc out...
There are a number of evil Jaune or Jaune Raised by Salem stories. I decided to make a twist on this. Basically, Jaune had a twin brother: Jack Arc.
Basically, the Arc Family was out on vacation in Argus. A Grimm attack happened. Jack was lost. The entire family searched frantically for him for weeks, searches went on for months... But eventually, they concluded that Jack was dead. Jaune lost his brother, Isabel and Nick lost their other son, the sisters lost their brother. It was devastating and they grieved him for years. Jaune was probably far more determined to become a Huntsman in honor of his brother.
In truth? Salem had taken Jack as she wanted an Arc as a minion. Arcs have been foiling her plans for centuries. She decided she wanted to raise up an Arc to work for her. But he became her son, and he awakened something long thought dead inside her.
This means though that there is a ticking time bomb. Which will start... When Jack meets his long-lost brother at Beacon.