Wow. A day without drama. Shocking.

Chapter 8

It was a rare thing that Jaune and Cinder were separated for any length of time longer than a school day in Sanctum. Cinder didn't like him going anywhere without her knowing and giving her full permission, and although Jaune didn't put the same restrictions on her, he didn't like it when she was gone for too long either.

Cinder couldn't cook for one. There was no telling how much she'd poison herself in his absence, or just skip meals and get too thin. He also didn't trust her to look after herself if an opportunity to get stronger appeared, since Cinder's typical approach to power was to acquire it first and then wonder who she'd pissed off after. In the end, those were all excuses. The reason he didn't like it when she left was because it meant she'd left. They were both of them possessive; Jaune just found ways to make his sound less controlling.

But it appeared that he and Cinder weren't the only ones missing one another.

"Jaune!" Mercury cried, breaking into a run. "My broth—urk!"

He collapsed to the floor, cybernetic legs flying off to the side as Cinder swept them out from under him with a brutal lack of regard for his disability. She stepped over his groaning body, past him, and then to Jaune, arms open. "Jaune!" she greeted. "My brother!"

They met in the middle, arms wrapping around one another. The hug was warm, fulfilling, but her hands sliding down to the hem of his shirt were a little more worrying, especially when they yanked it up.

"Um—!?"

Cinder dragged his shirt up and stared at his chest, then his stomach, then turned him around so she could look at his back. Her hands were already on the waistband of his pants when he realised what she was doing and pulled away with a yelp. "I'm unhurt! I wasn't injured!"

"Are you sure? You're not hiding anything?"

"No. I mean, yes, I'm sure and no, I'm not hiding anything. It never came to combat." Jaune pointed angrily at her. "And shouldn't I be the one to challenge you on this? What the hell happened to you?"

Cinder looked back calmly. "I tripped."

Her left eye was blackened, her bottom lip split and scabbed over, and there was a nasty line across her throat that he was fairly sure would have come from a bladed object striking her aura and leaving a mark. Her dress was dishevelled, and her hair was uneven at the back where someone had cut off a chunk with no regard for symmetry. Mercury and Emerald were far worse, though a good portion of Mercury's bruises might have come from Cinder knocking him down.

"What happened?" Jaune groaned. "I thought you were going to convince some people to join us who were practically already agreed?"

"That's… true…"

"Then how did it go?"

Mercury, who had collected his legs and pushed himself back up onto his feet, groaned. "Oh man, it went just awf— Arghhhh!"

He spilled onto the floor again as Cinder kicked his legs aside at the knee.

"It went perfectly," she said. "I handled it as best as could be handled. Don't you agree, Emerald?"

The green-haired girl looked down at Mercury and then looked away. "Yes. It went great. All according to Cinder's plan."

Cinder smiled at him. "See?"

"And the black eye? The split lip? And whatever you're hiding on your ribs since you keep favouring the other side?" Jaune crossed his arms as his elder sister fidgeted. "Take your top off."

"Jaune, really. Don't tell me you're getting into those Mistral comics now…"

"Top. Off."

Ten minutes later, Jaune was sat in front of Cinder as she wore her pants and bra, her hands held high in the air as he applied some cream to her bruised side and back. Whatever had hit her had done so from behind, leaving a nasty mark around her side and just about missing her kidneys. Emerald was off in the shower while Mercury had gone to read some of the latest comics Jaune had bought. Ones not of the adult variety.

"It'll heal on its own," Cinder mumbled.

"But it'll hurt. I'd rather you take care of yourself, sis. I worry."

"Hmph. I should be the one to worry. You were sent off on a far more dangerous mission than my own."

"The difference in our injuries would suggest otherwise. Are the White Fang not on our side, then?"

"They are. This was…" Cinder searched for the right word, which probably meant she was searching for a word that would make this sound better than it was. "This was a way of familiarising one another with our combat capability."

"Uh-huh?"

"The White Fang wanted to be sure we were capable. Call it animal dominance if you like."

"That's racist."

"Not because they're faunus." Cinder rolled her eyes. "Didn't your bandits have the same mentality?"

"I guess…"

"It's something inherent in both humans and faunus. The petty need to prove your superiority by lording it over others. Establishing a hierarchy to make yourself feel good. You see it not only with violence amongst criminals, but in pettiness among models and wealth-gathering among businessmen. Everyone wants to feel like they're better than those around them; the biggest fish in a small pond."

"Don't you also want to be strong?"

"The strongest," she agreed. "But not for them. Who cares what other people think of us? We'll have one another. The White Fang want to be seen as strong to make the humans that abused them afraid. A rich businessman wants to be wealthy beyond measure so he can lord it over those beneath him. I don't care about any of that."

Jaune hummed and took her hair, drawing it back between his hands. He picked up a pair of scissors from the first aid kit and began trimming the tips, shortening the length to match what had been cut out. Cinder sat still, bringing her hands down to her lap. It wasn't the first time he'd cut her hair. Nor she his. The quiet snip-snip of the scissors created a soft melody, and soon Jaune's knees were dotted with tiny black hairs.

"What did the Branwen clan say?" she asked.

"They want to stay out of things. Raven is a coward."

"Oh?"

"It's like you said about animal mentality. She wants to feel she's strong, but the way she does it is by only picking on defenceless villages. Even if she joined us, she'd bolt at the first sign of trouble."

"Worthless, then. Did Salem give you any trouble over it?"

"No…"

Something about his tone must have clued her in because Cinder stilled. "Jaune," she whispered. "What did you do?"

"Well, you know how you say I have a bad habit of adopting people who need help…"

"Jaune, no." Cinder palmed her face. "Bad enough with Mercury. Please tell me you didn't take on some dejected orphan from a bandit camp. Or worse, some poor victim of theirs."

"Not… um… Not exactly. Not one."

"Jaune!"

"A hundred or so. Maybe two."

"JAUNE!"

"But it's okay, I shipped them off onto Salem. She's going to find them homes through Tyrian and Watts and use them as spies. She was actually fairly impressed with me getting so many people to be loyal to he—"

Cinder twisted and yanked her hair away, snapped out her arm and caught him by his throat. Instantly, he was dragged under her arm in a headlock, and then her other fist was grinding down into the top of his head.

"Arghhh! Cinder, no! Whyyyy?"

"Idiot!" she said, grinding her fist into his scalp. "Why did you make them loyal to her? You should have made them loyal to us!"

"B—B—But you said no more adoptions! You said they'd be useless!"

"I'd rather have a hundred useless people at our beck and call than hers!" she growled. "Idiot brother! Stupid brother! Why would you give over a hundred spies to someone we're planning to betray!? Arghhh! This is what happens when I leave you alone for a single instance!"

"You're one to talk!" Jaune cried. "I leave you alone for a weekend and you come back looking like you fought a cheese grater and lost! Any more weekends like this and you'll have a pixie cut!"

"Don't talk like that to your big sister." With a final huff, and a final smack on the head, she let him go and presented her back once more, silently telling him to get back to work on her hair. Jaune was tempted to cut it uneven, but he couldn't do that to his sister's beautiful hair. "You really are hopeless," she mumbled, as the snip-snip returned. "But that's fine. Your big sister will take care of everything. How is your own spy coming along?"

"My what…?"

"The girl. Uhh. Rachel?"

"You mean Ruby? She's not my spy, Cinder. She's my pen pal."

"Same thing. You get regular deliveries on vital intelligence pertaining to the state of Vale."

"Ruby is fine. We're getting along. I owe her pictures of Haven when we get there."

"Monday. Won't be long. Any useful information?"

"No. Because she's my pen pal, not a spy. I also don't like the idea of harming Vale with her there."

"Oh, relax. She lives on Patch from what I recall. Plus, she's two years younger than your real age." Which was three years younger than his fake age, since he needed to enter Haven in Cinder's year group. "She won't be a student when we destroy Beacon."

"Her older sister will be, though."

"The one she said could beat me up?" Cinder asked heatedly. "And who put a kiss print on that letter to you? Good."

"Sis, that was just a prank…"

"If that girl thinks some bimbo with an over-compensatingly large chest can beat me, she has another thing coming. Did anything else happen?"

"Well, I met Qrow Branwen and he called me a monster and pointed his weapon at me."

Cinder tensed but, knowing he was alive, let it go. "I'll add him to the list."

"The list?"

"List of people who need to be punished and killed. So far it's Tyrian, Watts, Mercury—"

"Why is Mercury on this list?"

"—and Qrow. I'm sure it'll grow and shrink as more people annoy me or are dealt with. Our adoptive mother and big sisters are on it, too, but crossed out. Rhodes as well. Anyone who crosses us will die."

"Right. Sure. But Mercury hasn't crossed us."

Cinder eyed him balefully. "He toes the line every day."

/-/

The first day of Haven snuck up on them. Cinder had them arrive as a group and stick together, standing apart from the horde of hopefuls looking to make it into Haven's halls and secure their future as huntsmen and huntresses. Many of them were nervous, but they also laughed and smiled and interacted with one another, hoping to make friends. Few took it as seriously as their team.

"The headmaster knows to put us on the same team but that doesn't mean we can slack off," she hissed to them. "There's an initiation test. We're going to be dropped off close to one another. We will make contact and meet up. If anyone should try to team up with you first, get rid of them. You know your partnerships, correct?"

Emerald nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Yep," Mercury agreed. "Me and Jaune. Partners forever."

"You would be even more useful with prosthetic arms as well as legs," Cinder threatened. "Remember that. Jaune and I shall be partners. As shall the two of you. That said, don't be afraid to make connections among the other students." Cinder stressed the word with narrowed eyes at Jaune. "Connections. Contacts. Not friends, no matter how pathetic or lonely they look. No matter how in need of saving and adopting you think they are."

Jaune ducked his head. "I'm not that bad."

"Yeah, Jaune isn't that bad. He's a great guy—" Mercury's mouth clicked shut as Cinder turned her glare on him. "Um. But, you know, maybe it's better as just the four of us. No need to bring anyone else in."

"My thoughts exactly," Cinder seethed. It was rather obvious she was thinking that four would be even better as three, or perhaps two. "Go and mingle. Not you, Jaune. You're staying with me. I can't trust you not to save a village if I take my eyes off you."

"Sis! This is Haven. People here aren't going to need to be saved."

"Where there's a Jaune, there's a way…"

"Mean."

The Headmaster of Haven, Leonardo, came out to give them a big speech about bravery and courage and fighting the good fight. All things that probably would have been a lot more inspiring had Jaune not known he was a coward and traitor who had sold his lot with Salem out of fear for what she'd do to him. It felt like there was a low of cowardice going around lately. First Raven, now Leonardo. Once the speech was over, they were encouraged to mingle and get to know one another and to rest before the initiation the next day. It quickly became clear why there was that break, as extra students kept arriving as the day dragged on. The first had been domestic students from Mistral, but there were a few students from Vale, Atlas and Vacuo.

"Probably failed the entry requirements for their local academies," Cinder mocked. "They'll be the first to die if the initiation gets tough."

"Be nice."

"I am being nice. Look at them, showing off to try and attract the women here. More animalistic behaviour." At least it was from humans instead of faunus this time. A few men were posing and stretching in ways that were clearly meant to show off. A couple of girls were encouraging it by batting their eyes and giggling along with them. "You'd think they would understand their lives are on the line."

To be fair, they probably did. This might have been their attempts to fight off nerves, and Jaune couldn't blame them that. Many of them wouldn't make it tomorrow. They wouldn't necessarily die, but only about half the people here would be accepted into Haven. Anyone would be nervous given those odds. Except someone who had cheated and knew the headmaster would ensure their success.

Not that we need it. Cinder has trained me like a psychopath and she's stronger than anyone here. We'd be fine either way, but we'd have to hide our abilities if we didn't have Leonardo covering for us.

The sibling duo sat together while everyone else interacted. Mercury went about flirting (without success) and Emerald anti-socially flitted around the edge of the hall without making any contacts. As the sun set and the teachers advised they bunk down or risk entering the initiation while tired, Jaune rolled our Cinder's sleeping bag and then his own, making sure they were close to one another.

One or two people had tried to talk to them – to Cinder, mostly. Jaune didn't blame the guys wanting her attention. She was beautiful, and the fact she didn't care probably made her all the more alluring in their eyes. He'd tried to hint them away by shaking his head, but the guys seemed to think it was him trying to selfishly keep her to himself, rather than save them the inevitable tongue-lashing that came when they shot their shot.

His sister was a walking example of why "the worst she can say is no" was not accurate.

/-/

Initiations were pretty much the same no matter what academy you went into, or so Cinder had told him thanks to her investigations. The schools might favour different things – like Atlas favouring teamwork and loyalty, and Beacon favouring independent ability – but they all pretty much came down to dropping candidates in a dangerous area and making them work their way either out or to some location. Sometimes both to and then out.

Beacon apparently launched people off cliffs, but Haven wasn't that far out of Mistral, so they had to use aircraft. Each of them was giving a random ticket with a number on and that marked their drop time. They would line up and jump out the aircraft as it flew over a forest when their number was called. Jaune wasn't surprised when he and Cinder got numbers right after one another. Emerald and Mercury would get the same, albeit a few numbers down.

"You are to land and form a team with those you first come across," said a teacher who had not yet bothered to introduce himself. He likely saw no point when half of them wouldn't stick around to be his students. "Once you have formed a team of four, you must slay Grimm. Your scrolls will keep a tally. Grimm slain will only count once your team has been made, so fighting them on your own is a waste of time. Each Grimm is worth one point. Every injured teammate is negative five points. You must secure as many points as possible before extracting. Those with the highest points will make it into Haven. It will be your judgment on how far to push your luck, and when to back off and retreat. If you lose a teammate, your score is instantly reduced to zero. If you cannot find a team, your score will be zero. Haven has no time for those unable to work together, so those of you who are shy or antisocial might want to get over that quickly."

A points-based system? Well, it beat Beacon's "retrieve an object" system, since that might as well have been luck in a lot of regards. An excellent team who killed every Grimm on the way to it might lose out to a team of cowards who ran and abandoned other teams to fight the Grimm while they raced ahead to grab the object.

"Number eleven! Jump!" Twenty seconds. "Number twelve! Jump!" Twenty seconds. "Number thirteen!"

"I'm scared of heights!"

"Jump!" said the teacher, yanking the man's collar and hurling him out the aircraft. "Number fourteen!"

Cinder stepped forward and flung herself out.

The teacher nodded approvingly.

"Number fifteee—" Jaune was already, running, determined to track Cinder's descent and meet up with her. As he leapt out, he just caught the teacher shouting. "That's more like it!"

The wind whistled against his face as he fell. The aircraft wasn't as high as a skydiving one would be, since they lacked parachutes and all. They were maybe three hundred feet in the air max. Probably less. Time enough to react. As the wind whipped his face, Jaune narrowed his eyes on where Cinder burst through the canopy. He angled his arms to shift his flight that way, and pushed aura into his limbs as the forest canopy approached.

Some people had fancy landing strategies.

Jaune had lots of aura. Cannonball, it is!

The forest never stood a chance.

"Ugh." Jaune peeled himself out the mud. "Not my best performance but I'm alive. Now I just need to find Cinder before someone else does."

/-/

Cinder dusted herself off. As tempting as it was to leave in search of Jaune, she had been the first to jump and he second. He would have seen where she landed, and moving from the position would make his job of finding her more difficult. She, meanwhile, had no idea where he'd landed and could only guess based on the trajectory of the aircraft.

Better to wait for him to find her, then reconvene with Mercury and Emerald before killing Grimm. Technically, they didn't need to kill any since Leonardo would make up their number and slot them middle of the pack compared to everyone else. Not high enough or low enough to stand out. However, it wouldn't do for people to never see them and wonder where they'd been fighting Grimm, and it also wouldn't do to come back too early and have the teachers wonder how they finished so quickly.

It was easier to take the test legitimately and then have Leonardo cheat for them only if they needed him to. Less risk all around that way.

"Hey hot stuff." The man that came out the trees was not Jaune, though he had similar blonde hair cut wavy around a handsome face with an obnoxious smile. He swept his hair back and winked her way. "Looks like the two of us are partners. Can't wait to get to know you better."

Cinder rolled her eyes. "I'm afraid I'm waiting for someone."

"No need to wait any longer." He pointed his fingers at her, like tiny guns, and said, "Because now you've found me."

Her eye twitched.

/-/

"Cinder!"

Jaune burst out the trees and toward his sister. Her raven hair, shorter than he liked it, flashed as she turned to face him. As she did, his sprint came to a slow stop. Cinder was covered in blood. All over her front and arms.

"Um…"

"The Grimm got here before you," she said.

"Grimm don't bleed."

"Yes. I… made a friend while waiting for you." Cinder glanced away and touched a thumb to her cheek, smearing blood over it. "Alas, he fell to the Grimm. I shall miss him dearly, but his final words were for me to carry on without him."

"Were they?"

"That's how I translated his screams, yes."

"Cinder, did you murder someone already…?"

"No." She crossed her arms. "The Grimm did come. That wasn't a lie. And he did die to then. Technically."

"Sis. It doesn't fill me with confidence when you say technically."

"Well it's true. He died of blood loss related to Grimm claws."

"Please stop. The more you try and explain it, the worse it's sounding." And it already sounded pretty bad. Jaune stepped up to her and licked his thumb, then used it to clean her cheek. "You've got blood on your face."

Her cheeks warmed up and she looked away. "It's just a little blood."

"Yes, but Grimm don't bleed, and you're not wounded, so we don't really want you covered in the stuff. Geez, big sis. Were you that upset at someone becoming your partner over me?"

"No," she lied.

Badly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm glad you're my partner as well."

"That better not be sarcasm!"

"Of course not. Would I ever mock you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You'd better not."

"Come on. Let's find Emerald and Mercury before they get into trouble."

/-/

Leonardo Lionheart whimpered as he deleted the camera footage showing the unfortunate death of Cinder's first partner. He watched as the boy and girl walked into the forest side by side, chatting amicably as if she hadn't just murdered someone in cold blood. They were monsters, both of them, but what was he to do?

He wasn't strong like Ozpin. And he'd been abandoned to hold the line against Salem.

There had been no choice but to give in when she and hers had come in the dead of the night and threatened to kill him! Had he done anything else, Haven would just be run by someone else. Yet another poor soul thrown into the meatgrinder.

It was Ozpin's fault for not giving him enough support!

But I have to play the part for now, he thought, wiping a hand over his sweaty brow. I'll hide this killing and alter their points so they succeed. I'll do what I'm expected to do to stay out of trouble.

A feverish smile overcame him.

But Haven is dangerous. Of course it is. All that training, all those exams, and all so dangerous outside in the Grimm-infested areas. No one could blame me if a few students died. No one would think it suspicious if their team didn't make it later. Not even Salem and her allies.

He was a coward, but that didn't mean he couldn't protect himself. A rat was at its most dangerous when it was cornered. Cinder was the frightening one. If he could just get rid of her, he was sure the boy would fall apart and leave. Salem and her allies couldn't say he had a hand in that if Cinder died of her own weakness.

"All I need to do is give things a little push…"

Next Chapter: 4th March

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