1 Silent Knight

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Beta : Darkvampirekisses

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He brought his shield up and caught the thrust with it, but the diminutive monster slipped to the side like that had been her plan, bending back under his own flailing thrust. Her heel, sharp and pointed, snapped up and into his sternum to push him back. The same foot snapped to the side as he staggered away and forced his shield open as the woman spun, her long sword snapping back out and catching him across his cheek just under his eye before he could even raise his Aura. The cut wasn't deep but it bled and he hissed as he retreated and the woman recovered, parasol in one hand laid across her shoulder and blade in the other, spinning in her palm like a kid might a knife.

"Son of a bitch…" Cheek stinging, he raised his shield again and locked it against his side like he'd been shown, and then charged her, slashing horizontally low enough that even she couldn't duck under it.

Instead, she leapt over it and spun in the air, one heel and then another catching him in the face. This time his Aura was up, luckily, but it shifted his momentum and sent him stumbling to the side while she slipped behind him. Before he could turn, one of those heels slammed into the back of his knee and forced him onto it, the thin blade snapping up and pressing against his throat warningly. He brought his sword up to force it away and her parasol, now collapsed down, slipped between it and her own sword, snapping open to force his sword away.

Heterochromatic eyes blinked down at him and the girl smirked, head cocked challengingly to ask, "Give up yet?"

He struggled, trying to stand and wincing as she simultaneously wrenched his head back into her chest with the force of her blade, dug her heel into his calf, and giggled mutely at his weak attempts. Attempts that died swiftly for her rather efficient emasculation, the blonde knight wanna-be finally sighing and nodded, "Fine, fine, I yield."

As soon as the words left his mouth she was off him and he fell forward, catching himself on the rim of his shield and the fist around the pommel of his sword. The woman he'd spent the last hour sparring with took the moment to trot around him and smile, patting his head gently before he grunted and rose. Small as she was, he towered over her, and he smiled for the little advantage. In answer, she cocked her head and snapped a hand up, the gook on the end of her parasol snagging him around the neck and letting her yank him down and steer him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Her brows rose and she cocked her head, tapping her chin with one hand and holding him down with the other.

"Now, now, Neo. Be gentle with him, he's brittle. We aren't getting paid to play with him." A voice that was as much smarm as charm called from the other side of the small, empty warehouse that he'd been brought to for their 'session'. Roman Torchwick, laid across an old couch with his feet up on the arm and his hat over his eyes, made a little 'o' of sudden realization. "Wait, that's right… We're not getting paid."

"I said I was broke when all this started…" He grumbled as he straightened and the little hobgoblin trotted away to hop up on the arm of the couch beside the man's head. Without her asking, the man reached for the bucket of popcorn sat on the floor and held it up for her to take, and Jaune sighed. "Did you actually bring popcorn to this?"

"Why, yes I did." The man chuckled, rolling upright in a smooth motion and flicking his hat back atop his head with a finger. Smiling, he waved a hand at him and, beyond, to the rather large room as a whole. "Watching Neo manhandle you around a mostly empty warehouse is the highlight of my day, you know."

"I bet it is..." He sighed, collapsing his shield and sliding the sword home in it now that the fight was over. The couch came with a chair, tucked into this corner of the abandoned warehouse, and he took a seat in it to rest, grumbling, "And why do I keep coming to an abandoned warehouse in the docks again?"

"Because you're a complete and total pushover and need training or you'll die." Neo signed rapidly with a hand, the ability to understand that long since quite literally beaten into him by the exact same hand. Likewise, she continued, slower than she did with Roman but still rapidly, "And hey. You lasted a bit longer than you normally do."

"A whole three seconds…"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Roman smiled, leaning back in his seat and spreading his arms theatrically, "You lasted a whole four seconds longer than you normally do. C'mon, kid, give yourself some credit."

"Gee, thanks, Roman." He chuckled, though, and sighed, looking around the virtually empty warehouse.

One corner had been walled off by empty cargo containers on one side to mostly close off a little sitting area. The rest had been crammed with random detritus over the years, from old cars to wooden crates and empty Dust transport crates. Some furniture was sprinkled among the random chaos, too, from which the little sitting area's, well, seats had been drawn. And for a couple weeks now, he'd been coming here and sparring with the little gremlin currently nibbling on popcorn.

"You know," he started, "usually, in the stories, when the guy saves the girl from the mugger, he gets a kiss on the cheek and a thank you."

"Normally the girl needs saving."

"And normally, the knight in shining armor does the saving." Roman added with a chuckle, tapping his cheek and raising his eyebrows. Jaune winced and, with the back of his hoodie's sleeve, wiped the blood away from the already healed cut. While he did, Roman went on, "Way I remember it, the cute little thing you ran in to protect ended up kickin' the mugger's asses and then carried you here to rest after getting throttled."

"How was I supposed to know that they were Huntsmen?" Or that they'd been cornering a criminal, for that matter. Not that he could judge criminals of the 'not particularly murder happy' varieties, given his means of getting his weapon, getting to Vale, and how he'd gotten into Beacon.

"Still, the point stands, kid." Roman argued simply, pointing a cigar at him with one hand while the other fished in his pocket for a lighter Neo dropped into his lap. Without missing a beat he grabbed it and flicked it open, talking around him lighting it, "You couldn't hack it against 'em. You barely hacked it at Initiation, way I hear it. You go out there, against real Grimm or, hell, criminals like us?"

"You'll die boringly." Neo signed slowly, frowning at the idea of it. The one and only sign that she didn't like the idea, but more than enough considering who he was dealing with. After a moment she hesitated and added, "You aren't boring. Don't die like you are."

"Yeah…" From her, he'd gathered that 'not being boring' was a pretty big compliment. Shrugging, he picked up a bottle of water from the table and took a drink. When he was done he shrugged again and leaned back in his chair, groaning as bruises were sought out and began to heal under his Aura's influence. "A simple little 'thanks for trying' would have done it, though. I don't get why you're both spending so much time helping me…"

"You tried to help us, or, well, her when you thought we were in a spot so we're helpin' you." Roman answered simply while Neo signed much the same, "It's the way of the rogue. Always pay back your favors, even if they're smaller than Neo." The woman swiped at his head and, expertly, he ducked to the side and began fending her off with a hand while she tried to steal his hat. "Us criminals gotta stick together."

"Yeah…" And he didn't like it, but he was a criminal, he knew. Doctoring documentation to submit to a place like Beacon was a felony, with time in prison promised for those found guilty of it. "I didn't even know that it was such a big deal when I did it…"

"Ignorance isn't innoc- God damn, girl, just take the hat!" Roman swore again under his breath as the woman's legs wrapped around his shoulder and she writhed, stealing his hat and pitching back to roll over the couch's arm, spring off a hand and come up with his hat on her head. Chuckling and shaking his head at the cheshire face she gave him Roman sighed and shook his head, "You're in it now, kid, whether you knew what was coming or not."

"I know, I know, I just… Yeah, I know." He just thought it was kind of dumb was all. Zero intent behind a crime, to him, spoke of someone that wasn't a real criminal. Taking a long breath and blowing it out he stood again and gave Neo a look, smiling anxiously. "So, uh… Nineteen or nothing?"

The small woman's face split in a vicious grin and, without turning, she flicked Roman's hat back to him. The man caught it in one hand and pitched Hush to her with the other. Chuckling, Roman sat back on the couch and shrugged, "Looks like our little knight isn't worn out just yet, Neo. Kind of disappointed in you, actually, letting someone like him last this long. Going soft, are we?"

The woman's eyebrows shot up at the accusation and, slowly, she turned from Roman to Jaune. After a moment, she signed over a shoulder, pouting profusely already, "He's gotten better, okay?"

"Not that much better, half-a-stack." The man teased, pointedly ignoring Jaune's desperate knifing motion over his throat, begging him to stop before a real knife went over it. "I think you like him and you're getting soft on him because of it." Neo didn't argue, drawing her sword and glaring death at him instead, and Roman mouthed, 'Have fun.'

"Oh you actual son of a- Bitch!" Neo, angry and pouting for Roman's teasing, didn't take it easy on him this time.

Like a spinning top of murderous, pixi sized rage, she spun and stabbed, slamming her feet, elbows, sword, whatever she could, into him wherever she could manage it. A risky way of fighting, but then, she probably figured that he couldn't fend her off. Which, to be fair, he really couldn't. The little imp was too fast and agile even when she was going easy on him, much less when she was teased into even pretending to take him seriously.

A few bruises and bloody nicks later she stepped in, pressed herself flush against him and slid to the side, between himself and his shield. Hooking a leg behind his knee she pushed and he fell, the woman carried down with him. Straddling his stomach she pressed Hush across his throat and smiled, ruffling his hair playfully and then rolling back, hand pushing off the ground between his legs to carry her up and over. She landed on her feet, sauntering away without missing a beat while Jaune groaned on the ground.

Standing over him, Roman smiled and squatted, resting on his haunches, "How ya doing, kid?"

"If I had arms I would stab you..."

"I mean, you still have your arms?"

"Do I?" He lifted his head and looked and, sure enough, he had two arms splayed out to either side. Neither moved when he tried them and, groaning, he grunted, "Guess I do, yeah. Lean over here so I can strangle you, would you?"

Roman only laughed and stood to leave. Over his shoulder, he called, "Ordering pizza and beer for us. And save the 'I'm under-age' crap, too, you little felon. You earned at least one bottle."

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Mostly a prompt. Something I wrote whilst bored and wanting to get the ideas out.