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Jaune turned angry, red eyes on the Atlesian, and the large Faunus man sighed, "I told you to leave, now she's dead or dying. I am not to blame for your foolishness and failing." He nodded at him meaningfully and looked at the downed woman, "She took the blow for you, though. Will you waste it and attack me anyways? Will you really make her loss meaningless entirely? Because I can't back down, you must understand that." "Please back down, I hate killing children."

Jaune didn't, couldn't, say anything. Staring the man down with angry, red eyes, and sword trembling in his hands. He turned to look at Cinder, and felt the woman's nervousness, less for Jaune himself and more for herself, probably about what could happen if she had to report Jaune's death to Salem on literally their first mission. And a mere trial mission at that. He couldn't read the Queen to know how she thought for certain, but nice people didn't rule over the Grimm.

Turning back, he looked at the man and hefted his sword in his hand, the weapon trembling and his armor clinking up his arm at the motion. He could count the number of people he trusted implicitly right then, in that moment, on one hand and still not lose the grip on his shield. Neo, Mii and, to an extent Roman. And this Atlesian son-of-a-bitch had probably just killed one of them, while she was trying to protect him like she always was. The Atlesian shook his head, muttering something to himself and hefting his axe in both hands.

"Fine, kid. Perhaps it's just bad luck. Hopefully you have a better next life." Like the girl, thought I somehow doubt it." He said, voice echoing hollowly under his helmet while he lumbered forward. "I won't even leave your heads on the wall for too long." "Well, maybe hers, given what she did to my men."

An image flashed across his eyes from the Atlesian of Neo, her body left in a pile at the forest's edge and her pink eyes staring out from atop the wall, a spike buried into her neck, with a crow cawing nearby. Feeling his blood boil, he felt something new blossom inside him, deep in his chest. A sick feeling, churning inside him and twisting his stomach up from the inside violently. He was going to kill this man, not because he had to or needed to for some greater reason or purpose.

He wanted to kill him, for what he already did and intended to do to Neo.

He felt something else burn through him in parallel, like when his Aura had first awoken in the forest so long ago. Sparking down his arm and across his fingertips, like lightning in his blood and on his skin. Without another sound aside from a tired, almost bored, sigh the Atlesian rushed him again.

Angling his axe down, he brought the axe's electrified blade up to swipe across his left side. Jaune cut it on his shield, letting the weight turn him to the side so that the axe scraped in front of him and spinning, slashing across the Atlesian's armored back. The armored man flinched away, more at the weight of the strike, and spun with a roar, swinging his axe in his off hand and letting it slide out, forcing the Arc to stagger away to avoid the weapon and flicking his hand to summon one of his invisible walls behind Jaune.

The young blonde slammed into it, raising his shield to black a swing aimed at his left shoulder and stabbing forward at the Faunus' face. He ducked, letting the blade scrape along the side of his helmet and jerking his head to the side to force it away. Using his off hand, he leveraged the long handle of his weapon up, slamming it into Jaune's head and raising a boot to push him back. The blonde grunted when he hit the barrier, starting to push off it when the man released it, causing him to flail in the air and fall in a heap.

The Atlesian hefted his axe overhead, Jaune rolling away when he sensed the attack and stumbling to his feet a couple feet away before rushing in and throwing himself bodily at the large Faunus' side, shield pressed against his chest. The Faunus swore, raising a hand to catch him and slow his charge, and Jaune rolled around the weight, swinging at his head on the other side after he danced around his back.

His blade bit into the horns on the sides of his head, and Jaune yanked down, ripping away the bottom half of his right orn while the Atlesian snarled, staggering away with a hand on his horn. "You son-of-a-bitch, you cut my horn!" "It takes months to grow these out. Shit!" "I'll gut you and then hand your bitch of a friend to my medic. She might know something, and our interrogators need live subjects!"

Jaune didn't rise to the bait or let himself react to the pain or rage he felt radiate out from the man, simply raising his shield and glaring at his opponent, sword held close to his side behind his shield to brace it if he needed to. The Faunus continued to hurl threats for a moment while Jaune waited patiently, sparing a glance at Neo's form on the ground behind him worriedly. Cinder and the White Fang couldn't afford to try and get her, they'd be cut down before they could get close. And Emerald had to stay with Cinder inside the entrance, crouched in front of her like a human shield where she'd collapsed in case she needed protection from an enemy with a brain. He just needed to wait, Mercury would be back soon and he could help him.

With an angry roar, the Faunus rushed at him with his axe in both hands, held over his right shoulder with the flat parallel to his head. Jaune side-stepped the heavy downward swing, stabbing in with Crocea Mors' long blade at his throat. The man ignored the useless attack, yanking his axe from the stone and swinging at Jaune's side. The blonde couldn't dodge at that range, even with the few seconds of warning he had, but he did manage to get his blade between the axe and his side. It still forced him back, but he managed to deflect it up and away from himself before lunging in, basing his shield-rim against the Faunus' helmet.

He felt the Atlesian's surprise and pain, returning to his resting stance from before while he staggered away with a hand on his helmet. A small line of blood dribbled out of his helmet where his nose would be, the cracked glass of his visor telling Jaune he'd broken his nose. Yanking the flats out of the side of his helmet quickly, he yanked it off his head and threw the ruined thing aside so he could see.

He was pale was Jaune's first realization, skin almost as pale as he remembered Weiss'. A hard, handsome face - minus the crooked, clearly broken nose - with dark hair and blue eyes glaring at him. He raised his off hand and touched it to his nose tenderly, wincing, "You broke my fucking nose too, you damn terrorist."

"And you hit my girlfriend in the back with an axe." Jaune growled, grip tightening on his sword. "But don't worry, it won't hurt for long."

The man grimaced, returning his hand to his axe and shaking his head. "I've been holding back, terrorist, because I don't like hurting kids that probably don't know what they've gotten themselves into. Tell me, why are you even with the White Fang?" "You don't look like a Faunus as far as I can tell." Jaune didn't answer, and the man sighed and raised his axe again, "Fine, play the silent game. I don't have any more patience for you, and you clearly won't yield, so unfortunately I'll have to put you down. Accept my apologies in the next life."

He rushed in and decided on a change of attack, spinning the weapon in his hands in rapid strikes instead of the heavier ones he'd been using. Jaune raised his shield and braced it, the weapon sparking against his shield rapidly and forcing the Arc knight back. On the last strike, he spun it towards his legs instead, and Jaune leapt up and over the attack. The Atlesian flicked his hand out, summoning a wall under Jaune when he landed and making him collapse at the ground suddenly under him. Letting it vanish, the Arc landed on his knees heavily and Walter slammed a boot into his head before he could react, throwing him to his back.

The Atlesian raised his axe over his right shoulder in both hands, aiming the blade at his head on a mighty swing that Jaune knew from the Faunus' intentions would break his neck. He managed to get his shield up, deflecting the attack over him, and Walter sighed. Taking his boot of Jaune's chest, he kicked the shield aside and slammed his heavy boot into Jaune's elbow. Once, twice, three times until the blunt force broke the joint. He stabbed in at the man, the Atlesian's Aura sparking weakly, close to failing but still preventing the attack from doing any damage.

He raised the axe again, turning and blinking in surprise before staggering away, turmoil roiling in his mind, "E-Ella? What are you doing here, Ella? It's dangerous, you should go lie down. How did the doctor not keep you from coming here?"

Jaune scrabbled away weakly, cradling his arm, "Get moving, Jaune, I can't hold him forever." He blinked in surprise at Emerald, fingers pressed against the side of her head, and eyes glaring at him, "Hurry, move your ass so I can deal with him!" "And preferably before someone notices Cinder and shoots her."

He looked at the man, wincing as conflicting images of their surroundings started to filter into his mind and turning away, crawling away from the duo and towards Neo, stopping halfway.

Nodding when he was far enough away, she raised her handguns and opened fire. The Atlesian grunted as the rounds peppered him, several penetrating before he knew what was happening and could raise his Aura. "A Semblance." Jaune sensed the man deduce, sinking to his knees when a round ripped through it, "Gods, Brothers and Dust damn it!"

Flicking his hand, a wall appeared in front of him before anything worse could happen, and he staggered upright in spite of the hole in his leg and the scars of the other bullets having ricocheted away leaving black and white streaks across his body and limbs. Rising, he flicked his hand again, a wall appearing in Emerald's way at an angle while she tried to strafe to the side to get a better shot at him.

She shouted in surprise as she fell and Walter rose, rushing towards her. Jaune did the same, broken arm hanging limply at his side, slamming into the Faunus' side with and surprising him. He staggered to the side and snarled, wrapping an arm around him and yanking on his wounded arm's shoulder. Jaune ignored the flair of pain, pressing the point of his blade to the man's back, at the joint between his armored shoulder and back.

Pushing as hard as he could, he felt first surprise and then pain shoot through the man as he sank the sword's tip a few inches into Walter's side before he could force the boy back. The duo staggered apart, collapsing a few feet apart while Emerald scrambled to her feet and put another burst into his chest from each of her pistols.

Most ricocheted as he tried to rise, Crocea Mors still embedded in his side, but two managed to dig through his throat and he collapsed. With a wet sounding sigh, he collapsed once again and didn't rise, and Jaune felt the panic of the soldiers around him slam home.

Staggering upright and almost collapsing before Emerald caught him and wrapped her arms around him to hold him up, Jaune found the strength to speak, "Your Huntsmen is dead, so give up or join him." He strode forward, or rather he limped while Emerald half-carried him, to the Faunus' body and yanked his sword free, "I can't care right now which."

Cinder stepped up beside him after a couple seconds, looking strained and tired and resting a hand on his cheek, "I'm sorry, even now I don't have enough power in me to have helped you. Take her to the ship, if she's alive then the medics outside can help you." He nodded, turning and limping away with Emerald's help while Cinder took over, smiling confidently and cocking her hip, "Now, as my compatriot said, you either surrender or face three more Huntsmen-trained combatant, including myself. And every last one of you knows what I can do."

"Sit here, I'll get some men and a stretcher." Emerald said, laying him beside Neo and straightening. He grabbed her arm before she could leave, and she looked at him with a grimace, "You.. understand I had to stay with her, right?" "Cinder is more important than anyone to me."

"I-I can't sense her. Check before you go. Is she alive at least?" Emerald nodded and he released her, the green haired girl stepping around the fallen woman and resting a hand on her neck, feeling around.

"I have a pulse, but it's weak." She said quietly, standing and turning for the door at a run, "I'll send someone quick as I can." "Maybe the little bitch won't die after all."

Not sensing any deception from her, he relaxed and laid there, watching the Atlesians around him come down from their barricades and drop their weapons, if they had any. Many didn't, and some even had sidearms and nothing else, a testament to their unpreparedness. Turning to Neo, he smiled thinly and reached out to hold her hand. After a few seconds, he felt a weak - almost to nonexistence, and maybe a trick of his mind - squeeze.

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