26

When Jaune turned at the sound of the shout, it was too late.

Cinder shimmered into existence, and was far too close, though he could only see her out of the corner of his eye. Her blade was quickly coming in to gut him. Would the measly amount of aura he had left protect him? He doubted it, not when she was going to get a clean slice like this. There was a reason that spars stopped before their aura ran too low. A powerful enough strike would shatter it, and the sharp edge would slice through him like butter.

His friends, though they surrounded him, were too far away to stop her. A ranged attack would just bounce off of her aura, and melee would take too long to intercept her strike. Beyond that, they weren't prepared to defend against such an attack. They had come here in a rush at Jaune's direction, prepared to fight grimm. They hadn't been warned of an assassination, that Cinder might try to kill him. Perhaps Ruby, with her semblance, could have been fast enough to help, but caught off guard and on the other side of the plaza, there wasn't much hope for that.

Desperately trying to hold on, to give his friends time to save him, Jaune gathered the scraps of aura he had and pushed them to the fore, hoping it would be enough as he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

His aura flashed between him and Cinder.

She must have cut right through it, because he felt the blade pierce his side.

" FUCK! That hurts!"

…wait. What?

Jaune could feel the blade, and the blood finding its way out of the wound.

But far from the skewering that he had expected, it was barely more than a papercut. It stung, for sure, but he would take this result any day of the week.

"What the fuck?!" two voices overlapped as their brains caught up to the situation.

Cinder on one end of the blade, holding it by the hilt, her mouth agape as her swing was stopped in its tracks.

Jaune on the other end of the blade, its edge clean through his hoodie and shirt, embedded in his skin but going no further, similarly dumbfounded.

Between them, suspended in mid air by the blade impaling him, was a small… boy? It was hard to tell with them facing Cinder. They were bathed in the glow of aura, and… entirely blue?

Where had they come from? There was nobody there just a moment ago and now-

" Some help would be appreciated! Impaled on a sword right now!" the child shouted.

So shocked were he and Cinder, that the many people around them were finally able to act in his defense.

Cinder was flung away from him and into the crowd of huntsmen as Professor Goodwitch's Telekinesis took hold, her blade being left behind as it was torn from her hand.

Though he wanted to focus on the woman who had just tried to murder him, the child who had probably just saved his life was a more pressing concern. Without Cinder to support the sword's weight on the other end, he was worried that the child would fall to the floor, but it seemed that his scariest instructor had it covered because they stayed motionless, just floating there. He pulled himself back to give someone who knew what they were doing room around the kid, letting the blood drip from his cut more freely.

"Oh my god!"

"We need a medic!"

"Jaune!"

"What is a kid-"

Cries rang out all around him as his friends and those with medical knowledge converged on him and the child, the voices blurring together and becoming indistinguishable.

"Jaune! Are you alright?!" Nora flung herself at him, only stopping herself from actually crashing into him at the last second.

"Nora, he's bleeding!" Pyrrha pulled her back to give him space.

"It doesn't look that bad, I don't think the blade got too deep." Ren reassured the girls as he inspected the cut, though even he sounded worried to Jaune's ears.

"Yeah, the blade was stopped by…" Jaune started, looking over to the group now surrounding the child. It looked like they'd been lowered to the floor, with Goodwitch and Winter knelt down alongside some huntsmen he didn't recognize, blocking their view of his savior and hopefully preventing them from dying.

"Where did they-" Pyrrha's words were cut off by an explosion from the direction that Cinder had been flung to.

As the group turned towards it, they could see Port flying through the air, covered in soot and smoke wafting off his body as he laughed heartily, bringing an axe down in an overhead swing as he fell back towards the ground.

They probably had things under control over there.

Their distraction gave Ruby enough time to make it to them in a blur of rose petals. "Ohmygosh Jaune are you okay?! I thought you were still in the infirmary!"

The rest of team RWBY, along with Doctor Oobleck, caught up to her at that point.

"I only woke up a bit ago, but when I heard that you guys were already away on your mission…"

"I very much appreciate the save, Mr. Arc!" Oobleck thanked him. "However, you should not be out and about in your current state!" He pushed the students away, inspecting Jaune's injury for himself. "She barely cut you?" He asked in amazement. "When I noticed the illusion and that woman coming for you, I thought…"

"I save you from a grimm invasion, you save me from an assassin… I guess that makes us even? " Jaune replied with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "But now I owe some random kid… did any of you see where they came from? It was like they just appeared there or something!"

"That child did just appear." Weiss informed him. "From the angle I saw, it seemed as if they teleported there, with the blade lodged inside of them from the moment they arrived."

"The kid definitely showed up in the blink of an eye. Too fast for a speed semblance." Blake chipped in.

"Are we even sure that it was their semblance that put them there?" Ren mentioned. "I suppose they looked old enough that someone could have unlocked their aura, but what sort of child would willingly put themselves in the path of a sword?"

"Are we just gonna overlook the fact that they're blue ?" Yang asked.

"Yang! Since when were you a racist?" Ruby chastised her sister.

" Blue people aren't a race!" Yang defended.

"What if they're a faunus?!" Nora shouted.

"What sort of faunus trait would make you entirely blue ?" Weiss doubted.

"I know a chameleon faunus who can become blue, but that's not her default state…" Blake supplied.

"We could just ask them?" Pyrrha suggested.

"A marvelous idea, Miss Nikos." Oobleck said as he took a step back from Jaune, apparently satisfied that the cut was nothing major. "Provided they're alright of course. A child that small…"

It didn't need to be said that being impaled by a sword wasn't good for your odds of survival, but the reminder brought their mood down again.

"Mr. Arc!" Goodwitch shouted. "Would you care to explain?"

His friends made way for him to see the blonde professor.

"Explain what?" he asked as he approached her.

Winter looked towards him in suspicion, but she and Goodwitch both took a step away from the child, revealing them to Jaune and his friends.

" What did you do, you bastard? I'm tiny! This is an outrage!"

Now that the adrenaline from almost dying wasn't running quite so rampant through him, he realized that the voice was all too familiar.

Staring up at him from what must be just over half his own height, was a tiny, blue version… of himself? The gaping wound that should have been there was nowhere in sight, and as far as he could tell, he was looking at a ten year old version of Jaune Arc.

"Ohmygosh it's mini Jaune!" Nora pounced, wrapping the child up in a death grip one might generously call a hug.

" Would you stop that?! You're gonna pop me like a balloon!" the boy protested.

Everyone around them looked between the two boys, taking in the similarities, even if the differences were striking.

Jaune wasn't sure what to say, but he managed to squeak one word out. A simple question.

"...Second?"

This could not be happening.

This could not be happening!

Even as skilled and amazing as Cinder was, escaping from this many huntsmen was proving to be… problematic .

With how often their attacks were missing, Emerald was clearly trying to make up for her utter failure , but they were far too close for comfort. What was Neo doing?! She risked a glance back as she ducked under a thrown spear, looking for the little brat but seeing nothing but that fat lunatic .

What sort of madman asks their allies to blow them up? She wasn't eager to find out. His sleep inducing lectures must have been a ploy of some sort.

But the lack of pint sized menaces indicated that her suspicions were correct. Neo had seized the opportunity to throw her under the bus, and would try to find a way to break Roman free on her own.

That fool would pay for betraying her.

When she saw Ozpin of all people out of the corner of her eye, she changed directions. He would pay for stealing what was rightfully hers, but that would have to wait until after she had acquired the power of the Fall Maiden.

This led to her running towards some buffoon with his shirt wide open. While she could admit that he was easy on the eyes, his stupid grin infuriated her. And then two glowing yellow clones appeared at his side, reminding her of the little nuisance that had stopped her from killing Arc. Did this pathetic vermin dare to mock her? He would pay for that.

The number of people she needed to get revenge against was really adding up rather quickly.

No matter. She would escape. She would show these morons that she was their better.

Her scroll started to ring.

Having an inkling of who would think to call her now of all times, she refused to answer it.

It answered on its own, with the speaker volume turning itself to the max.

"Oh dear! How dreadful! Is the amazing Cinder Fall in a bit of trouble?" the voice on the other end mocked, though it was hard to hear it over the gunfire pinging off of her surroundings and aura.

"I don't need your help, Watts ."

"Are you certain about that? Why, I just couldn't help but worry when I heard that the grimm sirens were going off in Vale! Had dear little Cinder's plan gone just as she wished? Or was it falling apart around her ?"

"Do you have nothing better to do than spy on me? Surely your genius would be better used elsewhere?"

Her attempts at mocking him back were undermined by a blade sailing past her head.

"Ohoho! That was a close one!" Watts laughed, letting her know that he was watching her every move, though that was always a safe assumption when it came to him. "Are you certain that you don't need my help? I know that your feeble little mind might struggle to comprehend things like this, what with your failure to implant the virus at the CCT, and your little errand boy getting arrested, and-"

"I have not failed at anything!" She turned down a side street, escaping from the view of most of her pursuers, but finding that a decent number were still hot on her tail. Some girl with a speed semblance closed in on her, but she was dealt with easily enough by smacking her weapon away with Scorching Caress active, leaving the girl yelping and jumping back as the lump of metal began to melt in her hands.

"So you say, and yet I have the feeling that our master would not be so eager to agree with your assessment. It would truly be a shame if I had to report both your failure and your capture to her."

"And yet here you are, prattling on!"

"Of course, of course, my most sincere apologies. Ah, on your left, by the way."

She dodged to the right and watched as the spot she would have been in went up in a small explosion.

"Hmmm. It seems my generosity has run its course." Watts said in the most condescending tone he could. "Perhaps if you beg for my assistance, I might deem you worthy of my pity."

Not far from her, she could see the end of the evacuation area. Traffic was running normally, the mindless masses going about their day as if nothing was wrong.

She was going to have to add yet another person to that vengeance list.

"-and I want all escape routes cut off! She is not to escape!" James barked into his scroll as he chased the assassin down on foot. He hoped that the others would be able to save Jaune and the child, but he was of more use going after their attacker than he was trying to give medical aid. Though as the chase continued, and she somehow managed to keep evading them, he wondered if he would have been better off grabbing a bullhead and commanding from the air.

He wasn't sure why, but it seemed that just about every shot made against her was missing. Every once in a while they'd get a lucky hit in, but it was as if everyone's aim was off. What was her secret? Did she have a luck based semblance like Clover? Something that allowed her to alter trajectories? Maybe something relating to illusions?

Rounding a corner to find a student with burn injuries and a disfigured weapon put a damper on those theories, but with what he knew…

His knowledge on the maidens was spotty at best of times because of Ozpin's paranoia, but it was a possibility that this was the same person who had attacked Amber. Was it possible for her powers to have transferred partially? Obviously with Amber still alive, if only just barely, this woman wasn't the Fall Maiden in full, but maybe it wasn't all or nothing. A sliver of the maiden's ability as well as her own semblance…

It was either that or her accomplice was within the group chasing after her. His knowledge on the local huntsmen wasn't great though, and accusing random students in a situation like this would not be a good look. Best to capture the one actively fleeing and take things from there.

But she was nearing the edge of the evacuation area. A few of his men and Knight units were dropping down from a bullhead just before an intersection where life was continuing like normal, as he had ordered, but he wasn't sure they would be enough. They weren't exactly fit for going up against huntsmen.

"Sir, we have a problem." One of his men reported.

"What now?" They had successfully repelled a grimm invasion of the city. Was it really too much to ask for a break after that?

"Electronics in this sector of the city seem to be going haywire. Some buildings look to be losing power and I'm currently looking at a traffic light where every signal is showing green."

Timing like this was suspect. More interference? Glancing towards the road just past where his men had set up, he winced as two cars crashed. It didn't look like anyone had been injured, but his soldiers were distracted, and the escaping huntress…

"Did she just create a bow out of thin air?" He shouted to one of the huntsmen joining him in the chase.

"Why, it sure looked that way! It's been quite some time since I've had to put up such a chase for a vixen like that!" Ironwood was confused by the comment, but it all made sense when he turned to get a proper look and realized it was Port next to him.

They were helpless to watch as she took out the Knights with a single arrow each, knocked out his men, or at least he hoped they were just knocked out, vaulted over the crashed cars and disappeared from sight into the mess that the traffic had become.

"Does anyone still have a visual? I need callouts!"

He waited impatiently for his men to report.

"Negative sir, we've lost her."