It's the battle of Haven, and Jaune goes to attack Cinder as usual. However, Cinder goes for the kill by impaling him. But it doesn't work as his semblance just tanks. Cinder keeps trying to kill him, but he just won't die. (Cinder literally exhaust her aura and stamina trying to kill him leaving her open..)
| A/N: intended as a sister piece to destiny part a but can also be read as a standalone.| [ next : epilogue]
| Destiny [part b] - mod lilac |
“In an era of fancy customizable weapons, you might’ve asked yourself why I chose the shield and spear,” Pyrrha said as she adjusted the camera.
“Well, Jaune. It’s simple,” the girl smiled directly at the camera. “It’s because the combination of a blade and shield is the most balanced.”
“And balance is what will allow you to find an opportunity against foes far stronger than you are.”
—–
Ow. Did someone catch the plate of that Bullhead? What happened?
Oh right. His ass was getting beat by Cinder. And if it weren’t for his stupid amount of Aura, his chest would’ve been run through by now. As it was, this was probably the second wall - oh Headmaster’s office - she blasted him through.
If he kept taking blows like that, he’s going to run out of Aura and well… die.
Rubble clattered as he lifted himself up using his greatsword as support, free hand patting against his chest. Shock filled him. Instead of the familiar smoothness of metal, he felt cloth. That last blow must’ve ruined his chestplate; if it weren’t so close to his skin and being protected by his Aura, his Pumpkin Pete hoodie would’ve gone the same way.
…Pyrrha.
He was being stupid, wasn’t he? Cinder was goading him, and he was just taking the bait. Why was he fighting like an idiot? Pyrrha didn’t train him - didn’t make those videos for him - just for him to charge in like a bull to the slaughter.
A figure peeked out from the hole in the wall, one that made his eyes burn with tears and heart with anger. Cinder.
Her head tilted in mockery.
“Ohhh. I remember you now. You’re the little boy who doesn’t know when to call it quits,” the woman smiled maliciously.
“I am going to make you pay for what you did,” he replied to which Cinder replied with a look of fake pity.
Indignation. Hate. Rage. He felt them all. But he won’t let those emotions control him anymore. He couldn’t afford to. If Cinder was here, she wasn’t downstairs to interfere with the rest of the team’s fight downstairs.
He’ll keep her here. He’ll keep them safe.
His greatsword quickly disassembled back to the familiar shield and sword of Crocea Mors.
“You really think that antique of yours will protect you?” Cinder crowed out with a smile.
—————————————–
“Fighting a person is different from fighting Grimm. Grimm are for the most part stupid. They only know how to attack you physically. A person though…a person can get inside your head. They can make you overconfident. They can make you despair. Foolish. Angry. Reckless.”
“Words are just as much of a weapon when it comes to a fight between people.”
“And in a war of words, the best defense is a good offense.”
_________________________
“Gee. I was just thinking the same thing about your Master,” Jaune retorted as he readied his shield in front of him. “How much wrinkled ass did you have to kiss to get to where you are now?”
The woman stood still, the shock on her face quickly replaced by fury. “What did you sa-”
Did Cinder really think she could contend with him when it came to insults?
He had seven older sisters!
“Need me to repeat myself? Guess your arm and eye weren’t the only things that went when Ruby kicked the shit of you,” Jaune interrupted. He lifted his sword arm, putting his hand around shoulder level. “You know Ruby, ye high girl, still drinks milk to help her grow.”
The air felt like it went up several degrees from Cinder’s anger. Her hand trembled and turned white from how tightly she gripped her sword. Her mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out, sheer rage taking the words from her lips.
“Of course. Getting your ass kicked by a teenager half your age isn’t the only cause of hearing loss though,” he continued with a sneer, “Syphilis can cause that too; really, who knows what sorts of gross STDs your Master accumulated over thousands of years?”
The papers and books beneath Cinder’s feet ignited spontaneously.
“You dare moc-”
“Guess you must be regretting that easy way to power now,” he mocked. “Then again, maybe crusted sores and fishy discharge are your sort of thi-”
Clang!
Stalwart shield met fiery blade in the blink of an eye. He could see the dawning surprise filling Cinder’s eyes when her blade failed to hit its mark. That was instinct.
In that moment, he threw his shoulder into his block and swung his shield arm, blade skidding off to the side and throwing Cinder off balance. The corner of his shield did the rest and bashed against the woman’s face, cracking her mask and sending her crashing into a bookcase.
That was training.
His victory was short-lived. Without giving him a chance to catch his breath, Cinder emerged from the rubble like a phoenix of legend, setting the rest of the room alight with her recovery. The scars over her left eye and a skeletal black arm were exposed for all to see.
“I’ll kill you. I’ll make it slow. I’ll rend every piece of flesh from your body and-”
He burst out laughing, which only infuriated the woman more.
“Pretty bold words for someone who took a shield to the face,” he taunted.
With a speed comparable to Ruby’s, Cinder became a gravity-defying blur, blade swinging to take his life.
—————————————————————————-
“Speed is but an illusion for those using martial arts. To pursue speed for speed’s sake is to walk the wrong path.”
“What we seek…is control. To make the weapon an extension of our body. To grasp the perfect timing. To rid our movements of the excess. When you have control, speed will naturally follow.
“However, for those of us who might’ve not mastered control yet, there’s still another solution to deal with superior speed.”
Pyrrha grinned at the camera.
“Use a shield.”
—————————————————————————————–
Clang! Clang!
It was obvious Cinder had been holding back, but how much she was holding was surprising. Had she used this speed or power when he was using his greatsword, he would’ve died without knowing why.
Clang!
A flurry of strikes struck against the shield on his arm, every blow numbing the limb more and more. He gritted his teeth against the pain, meeting her attacks with his tenacity.
He wasn’t like Pyrrha or Ren who developed such a level of control where they could swat bullets out of mid-air. He wasn’t like Nora who could plow all the obstacles in her path. He was never going to be a powerhouse; all he could amount to on a personal level was being an above-average Hunter at best, no matter how hard he worked.
He knelt low to deflect an overhead sweep and rammed Cinder off-balance again.
All he had going for him was a lot of aura, the ability to take a beating, and a good eye for opportunity. The old him might’ve despaired at his lack of advantages, but the current him…well…the knowledge he knew now was a blessing.
He knew his path - he was the guardian, the vanguard - the one who would take the blows so that his teammates won’t have to. He didn’t need superior control when he was supposed to be a meat shield, not when he had a figurative wall to place in harm’s way.
His legs twisted out of the path of another arrow. He somersaulted away from the ground suddenly erupting into a pillar of flame. The woman suddenly ambushed him from the side, but his shield met Cinder’s blade again.
All he had to do was change his footing and adjust his arm when it came to blocking Cinder’s attacks. Meanwhile, Cinder had to constantly change her angle of attack and gather momentum in an attempt to get around his shield. She had to find ways to create openings. All of these things meant she was expending far more stamina and Aura than he was.
His shield bashed viciously against Cinder’s skeletal hand, interrupting her swing. The woman’s furious face contorted in pain before she dashed backwards, glaring at him the whole time.
A couple of nicks and scrapes and some burnt skin on his part, but he could probably go on for another hour or two. Cinder on the other hand is starting to look peaked from all the flames and fancy moves she was forced to do.
“All you can do is hide behind your shield,” Cinder scathingly shot out. Her head turned towards the sound of fighting downstairs. “Maybe I should bring one of your friends over and see if that’ll get you out of your turtle shell.”
Cinder was strong. It was already a miracle that he, the weakest member of the team, could delay her for so long. If she went back downstairs with the powers of a Maiden at her disposal…
He couldn’t let that happen.
“You don’t think you’re getting enough of an ass-kicking?” His taunt made her glower. “Here I come then!”
He charged forward.
——————————————–
“Before I became Mistral’s Champion, I was weak. When I first entered Sanctum, I did not have any noble backing nor was I gifted in any way. My first day there, I got beaten up for my lunch money and came home in bruises.”
“My mother never knew.”
“I fought and lost over and over again against these students who’ve been nurtured and trained by their families since they learned how to walk. And I realized I wasn’t going to beat them with strength or speed or weaponry.”
“So I learned to be vicious instead. Not just to my enemy but to myself. And all those pampered geniuses were forced to give way…”
———————————————–
The look on Cinder’s face became more and more frustrated as they fought.
As her blade homed towards his chest, he didn’t blink an eye as his blade swung for her throat. Immediately, Cinder’s face contorted in frustration as she twisted her blade to block his blow again, which allowed him to bash her away with his shield once more.
It was no wonder she was feeling stifled. They’ve already made several exchanges that ended the same way. She went for a lethal blow, and he would do so simultaneously. And in the end, she was forced to block the blow and take a strike from his shield instead.
He was being vicious to both her and himself. To him, mutual destruction was acceptable; even a crippling blow would make him happy as long as Cinder was unable to return downstairs. To Cinder though, to be killed or even crippled by someone she thought of as an ant wasn’t worth it.
Their next several exchanges left the office more of a balcony at this point. Both of them were hemorrhaging Aura to maintain the strength of their attacks. The last exchange separated them, him left with another cauterized wound in his chest and Cinder with another bruise.
He took a deep breath as he settled himself; despite his goal, being on the precipice of death took its toll on him. Still, he couldn’t help but smirk tauntingly at her, which made the woman glower.
“You think you’re better than me!?” Cinder said incensed. “I’m done with this farce!” Aura twisted around her as she rose both her arms into the air; the energy she summoned condensed around the blade she carried, transforming it into an enormous fiery claymore that collapsed the rest of the ceiling.
“DIE!”
————————————————————————————–
“Everything’s coming to a head so fast. Powers lurking in the dark that even Professor Ozpin is leery of. There’s so much I want to teach you, but I’m afraid you won’t have enough time to learn it.”
“If you ever encounter a fight you cannot win, run,” Pyrrha paused before sighing. “- is what I want to say, but I know you won’t do that. You’re you. You’ll be the last to leave the fight; you’ll make sure everyone is safe. Because I know you’ll rather die before you consider abandoning your friends to save yourself.”
“…So I can only pray that my teachings are enough to keep you and everyone else alive.”
—————————————————————————————–
The enormous fiery claymore swung down like an executioner’s axe as he charged forward with shield in hand. Every step forward felt like he was drowning in an inferno, his Aura flickering unstably just from being in Cinder’s presence.
Yet he didn’t stop his charge. If he stopped, he would die. Only with a direct clash did he have a path to victory.
His shield rose to meet the enormous blade, and he could feel his own arm giving way to its tremendous might. His ancestral heirloom gave him but a moment of reprieve before it splintered in two, but it was all he needed. He swayed slightly to the right, the fiery blade severing through his arm and part of his chest in that single cleave.
He didn’t die instantly. This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
Cinder’s joy and excitement slowly changed to fear as his momentum carried him forward, the remnants of her aura flickering and dispersing with their collision.
They were both falling.
He reversed the grip on his blade as he fell on top of her.
A splatter of crimson lined his cheek.
Blood dripped from Cinder’s mouth as she stared disbelievingly at the blade in her chest. Her gaze moved to the ant who killed her.
“Y-you…”
He couldn’t help the tears dripping from his eyes.
“That was for Pyrrha!”
From how close they were, he could see the shock on the dying woman’s face.
She mouthed a single word he couldn’t hear, her eyes staring straight through him as if she weren’t looking at him but something - or someone - else.
Realization and acceptance filled her face.
And then the life in her eyes glowed no more.
He rolled off the corpse and turned his gaze upwards, the missing part of his chest bleeding profusely and dyeing the floor red.
…What a beautiful night sky.
————————————————————-
“I want you to know that I’m proud of you. I’ve never met someone so determined to better themselves.”
“You’ve grown so much since you’ve started training, and I know this is just the beginning.”
“Jaune, I…I…I want you to know that I am just happy to be part of your life. I’ll always be here for you, Jaune.”
————————————————————-
He was so tired, but he did it. He won. He beat Cinder.
And now it’s up to the rest of his team.
They’ll beat Salem. They’ll save the world.
…This is where his story ends.
Images of Beacon and a red-haired green-eyed girl with a brilliant smile flitted in his vision.
“I…I did it Pyrrha. I protected everyone,” he smiled as his heart beat its last. He closed his eyes.
“I’m.. coming home.”
