Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY and its characters, Rooster Teeth does.

Foreword: So, I've chosen the world of RWBY to be my new playground, which is quite exciting for me. This foreword will be quick, as it is only to tell you that this fic is inspired by and took some elements from three separate anime series, all three of which are massively popular in and out of Japan, with two of the three also being franchises that are either both popular and influential in anime culture.

Anyway, other than that, expect different development of events and some elements compared to the canon world of RWBY, it is an AU after all, and that's all from me, let's get on with the story!

Amongst the dead he wandered listlessly. His eyes were devoid of life, as if mirroring the state of his surroundings. His expression was blank, as if he had been robbed of the ability to feel and with the posture of a man walking towards his execution, the small boy kept on going, uncaring and yet also unyielding.

Despite being as lost as he was, it was as if something was pushing him to keep on walking. Against common sense and sense of preservation, defying the darkness that surrounded him, the boy continued to walk, trampling the dead as he did so as if they were dirt.

Such was the figure that remained in the hellish landscape. Surrounding him was the remains of what was once a lively village, one that no longer resembled anything of the sort with the ruins of buildings, streets soaked with blood and dirtied with the black remains of the dark creature known as Grimm.

The boy didn't know how long he had been walking, only that he had nothing else to do. He felt the need to walk, perhaps to get away from this place? To find whoever it was who caused this to happen? He didn't know, and perhaps he had no idea what he should do in the first place.

He kept on walking, and as seconds passed by, his steps began to slow as it felt heavier and heavier, a sign of fatigue that began to engulf him whole.

One step... Two steps... Three steps...

He persevered. There was a sense of necessity in his gait despite the fact that it was clear he's lost. Admirable, especially considering how terribly, tragically young the boy was. But in the end, his body gave in as he sank to his knees, and then his upper body began to follow suit on its path towards the ground...

What saved him from having his head hit the ground was a pair of hands, and faintly, he could make out what the owner of the hands was saying...

"...Jaune! Tha... ness! ...kay, I'm here..."

Almost as if it were a wisp that would escape his grasp, he faintly recognized the voice of the man who spoke. '...Father?' he wondered, as if his memory of the man had been forgotten until that moment, yet before he could ask, his mind began to grow fuzzy...

And then darkness engulfed his vision.

Knight in Shining Aura

Waking up from a light slumber was like stepping into the outside world after being cooped up inside for a sufficiently long enough time. There was no drowsiness nor disorientation, merely a realization that one has been sleeping for long enough and needed to get up.

When his blue eyes opened, he still vividly remember that memory of what happened thirteen years ago. Ever since that day, nothing escaped from his memory, yet sadly that did not hold true for what his life before that time.

Then again, many people did not have any memories of their life before the age of 5 as well, so he supposed he should not be too saddened, if at all, by that fact. He was hardly unique in that regard after all.

As he rubbed his unkempt blond hair that reached to the base of his neck, he sat up on the bed that he had rented for the night. He had spent the night on an inn after finishing a 'mission' of exterminating Grimm, the dark creature that had preyed on humans since the beginning of history. Yesterday, another group of Grimm is vanquished, and another community of people had been saved with no casualties.

It was a victorious day... But it won't be the last, and neither will he stop moving. He had earned the reputation of being a Wandering Huntsman, the moniker given to Huntsmen who hunted Grimm all across the world of Remnant without caring if the exterminations were approved missions or not.

What was the reward for this particular mission he had done? The answer would be the very bed that he stepped off of to go to the bathroom to prepare for the day. It was given to him for free, along with the dinner of the previous night, the breakfast this morning and the lunch... If he had any intention of staying past morning.

Yes, he possessed no money and was basically a homeless nomad, but one Jaune Arc cared not for those things, not when he could be out here, making a difference by helping people any way he can, and one way to do so, in fact, one of the most straightforward and most to-the-point way was to kill Grimm whenever and wherever possible.

The naked form of the showering 18 years old young man whose stature was as tall and dignified as any high-tier, well-seasoned fabled warrior should be, showed the testament of his experience, skills and strength, of the dense and yet also thick strands of muscles that bulged beneath his fair skin which showed the scars of what were once wounds from the battles that he had won.

What drove such a man to become so dedicated in the pursuit of hunting Grimm? What was the impetus that guided his hands to become one of the most prolific, if not proficient, yet also mostly unknown, Wandering Huntsman in recent history?

It was the idea that culling the Grimm population all around the world will help a lot of people in the long run. In so many regards, he was right to assume this: Grimm population outnumbered humans by virtue of them possessing more territories than humans' do. Hell, even the oceans' depths were presumed by the people to be the place where the truly gigantic Grimm dwell.

For that reason, he chose to travel the world, doing the best he can, improving himself while he did so, and hopefully creating a better world in his wake. He had heard other people saying that he was far too altruistic to actually be true in his reasoning, others said that he was a real-life samaritan figure, genuine in his desire to help.

On his part, Jaune simply didn't care. As long as he did something good for others, either direct or indirectly, he would be content.

Having finished his shower, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed young man now clothed himself with a sleeveless white t-shirt beneath a dark blue hooded long coat that fell a centimeter shy of touching his ankles, a pair of black combat trousers with quite a number of pouches in addition to pockets that is also integrated with a lightly plated black combat boots.

Covering his hands were a pair of black leather gloves, which he stretched by making and unmaking a fist continuously for a couple of seconds. Then with the in-built belt around the waist part of his coat, he tied it while leaving it unbuttoned, showing parts of his white t-shirt and the well-muscled chest beneath it. "...Right." he said out loud with a nod as he exited the inn and quickly go downstairs.

"Ah, there's the hero of the day!"

Greeted by the lively master of the inn along with several patrons who were coming to get breakfast from the small restaurant below the inn, Jaune simply smiled as he nodded, "Good morning." He greeted back with a nod.

"And what a good morning it is, thanks to you!" the rather portly man with thick beard exclaimed as he wiped one of the tables, "There anything you want? It's on the house!" he offered, a service appropriate for a hero.

"I'll be fine with a loaf of bread. I need to move soon after all." He said to the man, thankful but did not want to take any advantage of him.

"Aw, don't be like that lad." Said the portly man before his smile became even wider, "You're our hero after all, so you deserve to be treated like one. Tell you what, sit yourself down while we prepare a hearty meal for you. And don't give us a 'no' for an answer." He warned, "You've done much for us, and it's only fair that we do what we can to aid you in any way. Now no offense, but sit down and take this gift."

Facing such opposition, how could anyone do anything but back down? With a small, grateful smile, Jaune simply nodded and took a seat nearby.

It was a nice feeling, receiving smiles like that. He certainly remembered how his parents had been when he woke up after what happened that terrible day. When he woke up, the first face he saw was that of his mother, smiling widely with tears in her eyes at the sight of him being conscious again. Then came his father, and he mirrored his wife's face at the sight of him.

The sight never failed to brighten his day, and though he did not want to impose, the fact was that his host was more than willing to provide him sustenance, and it would be extremely discourteous to refuse, and so he accepted.

It was quite the breakfast: A couple of scrambled eggs, some fried bacon along with sausages completed with a pair of mini-sized pancakes with maple syrup and to top it off, there was also a banana served along with the dish. Certainly it was a breakfast appropriate for those who anticipated a long day coming.

"H-here you go sir." Said the waitress who gave it to him with her cheeks burning hot at the sight of him.

He nodded and gave her a thankful smile, "Thank you."

The young girl whose brown hair was styled to a bun simply nodded before she said; "I-if there's anything else you want, please call for me. I-it's on the house." Then, as if she was being called to another table, she left.

Jaune did not seem to notice the telltale of attraction the waitress was exhibiting, but what he did was to graciously and with gratitude eat the plate filled with food that had been given to him free of charge. To do otherwise would be the peak of impoliteness after all.

After finishing his hearty breakfast, he bid his goodbye to the host and the small community before he left, fully intent to wander the earth again, looking for people to help or Grimm to eradicate, two sides of the same coin really, always inclusive to the other for the latter but at times exclusive from the other in regards to the former.

There were lots of ways to help people after all, sometimes it required him to gather supplies, escort said supplies, heal people, solve criminal issues, and other times involved him killing Grimm. Whichever one he did contributed to the well-being of others, and thus, fulfilling his innermost desire.

Yes. Desire. It was almost to the point of compulsory to him, but in the end, he did all of this, training as if he were a man possessed since the age of five, leaving his comfortable home at the age of eleven to wander the world for seven years, all for the sake of fulfilling his desire to help as much as he can, whenever and wherever he can.

Noble perhaps, but also foolish. If he weren't strong enough in physique, mentality and spirit to handle such heavy burden he chose to lift by himself, he would've fallen under its enormous weight. And if he weren't resourceful enough to help in other ways besides combating the ever present darkness that was the Grimm, he would've been nothing but a vagabond pseudo-Huntsman.

Still, because he made sure that he became strong and resourceful enough, such noble foolishness became easy for him to bear. Never in the thirteen years since that day had he been easy on himself, and it yielded its results.

Driven by such a lack of concern for oneself compared to how much he cared for others, that sentence defined his life-long passion project for quite long enough that he had decided to wear it as a badge of honor and never once hiding the fact that he really did not care much about himself.

So as he walked, Jaune contemplated. Where will he go next this time? He has visited almost every corner of Remnant at least once on the course of his life, and he did so by feet, either along the established paths or the unpaved way in the wilderness.

At times when he was not sure or when he lacked any information about known communities that required help, he would just wander. It was at times such as these that he would encounter Grimms as well, so even when he was aimless and lacking an intended destination he could do something that would, in the end, contributed to something good.

Through the woods of tall trees he walked. The first time he ever decided to wander, he would face Grimms by the dozens per ten meters. Now, it seemed as if they had gone and secluded themselves wherever he went. 'If one wants to hunt for Grimm, all they need to do is to step into the wilderness', such was the saying, and for a time, it had been true for him.

One hour passed since he entered the forest... Then it became two, and Jaune Arc found his mind beginning to wander as well.

His thoughts as of recently always wandered towards his family that he had left behind long ago, with the only thing that let them knew of what happened was a page of paper he taped onto the back of his closet in case his parents or his seven sisters were chose to scour his abandoned room to find a clue as to why he left.

He knew that they wouldn't be completely on board with what he had decided to do, nor would they be completely happy with his decision. He supposed that on some level, his parents and some of his sisters would understand, but nonetheless would've forced him to stay if he ever talked about it with them, and so he took away the choice from their hands.

Like many other people, once everything in his life had gone quieter, his mind began to cast its sight unto himself. What he did was, to be put concisely, shitty, but then again, it was a path that he had chosen, and he was not unaware that all choices came with their own consequences, even back when he was still eleven years old.

Jaune did not regret leaving, but never did he think that his family would be content with what he had done. Such thoughts plagued his mind in these moments of peace, but even if there was a desire in him to come back, the desire to use what he's capable of for good was much stronger.

He needed a welcome distraction. If he were to entertain these thoughts further, it would no doubt cause him to spiral down like it often did before he had to steel himself out of his own volition and willpower.

It came in the form of a commotion he heard nearby. An encampment, a massive one that housed almost a hundred people located not too far east of his position. Swiftly he jumped up the branches above and leaped from one of them to the other towards the direction of the encampment he heard.

On a tree branch closest to a steep cliff, Jaune watched the encampment being so preoccupied with activity. With his blue eyes gazing into the distance, he saw that all of them, without exception, were faunus in varying types that seem to encompass all category, mammalian, reptilian, even avian, and all of them were also, without exception, armed.

A faunus encampment that seemed to be filled with armed-to-the-teeth members in the middle of nowhere? Even if there were no banner to indicate the group they belonged to, Jaune knew enough to identify them as the White Fang, the very well-known faunus terrorist group.

Their presence called for a wait-and-observe tactic. After sensing no traps nor scouts near him, Jaune sat down on that branch and began his observation.

Many hours later...

In a very late afternoon, a trio of humans left the White Fang encampment after a deal that had collapsed minutes ago. Two women and one man, the leader being one of the women, the one with fair skin, black hair, golden-shaded eyes and clad in red and black ensemble. The other girl was green-haired, red eyes dark-skinned and clad in white and green while the man was, though still young, gray-haired, grey-eyed and clad in dreary colors of black and grey.

Out of the three their leader seemed to be much older in age while the other two looked at least in their late teenage years. As the two walked behind the woman in red-and-black, they found themselves conversing with one another.

"Really, Merc? You just had to pick a fight with one of them, didn't you? You could've had ruined the whole thing thanks to that." Said the one with green hair, calling her peer by the nickname 'Merc'.

"Of course I didn't Em." Said Merc, identifying the green-haired girl as 'Em', "The deal was falling apart anyway, it's all part of the plan, don't you know?"

Em's eyes narrowed, "Sounds like you and Mistress Fall knew about it and left me in the dark. Which is funny, considering that you're not really her equal." She said with a vicious smirk on her face.

Merc had an offended look on his face as he said; "Hey, I'll have you know that-"

"Children." Said the leader without turning her head to look at them yet her voice compelled them enough to stand up straighter, "For the sake of getting to the point, Mercury was simply assuming things." Em smugly smiled at Mercury, "One that happened to be true." The smile on Em's face was lost pretty quickly, "Still, Emerald was right... Do not think that you are even on the same ground as I am, Mercury."

"Y-yes Cinder Fall ma'am." Mercury said as both he and Emerald instinctively lowered their heads.

There was a moment of silence as the three continued on their way on foot for a good ten minutes before their leader Cinder suddenly stopped. "Emerald, did you not sense them?" she asked.

"H-huh?"

"Did you not sense our tail? Did you, Mercury?" she asked the young man next.

"A tail?" he looked around to find nothing that his keen eyes and senses could catch. "I-I don't see anybody Mistress Fall."

"It's because they are watching us from very far away..." answered Cinder as she gazed her narrowed fiery golden eyes at a certain location far behind them, "Normally, they would not be detected, but there's something to his presence that alarmed me... Move fas-"

They heard a far-off noise that sounded as if two massive boulders hit one another at terminal velocity and broke each other apart. Then something landed in front of them, causing a large amount of dust and dirt to be carried by the wind of the force that the object had exerted and hit them.

All three of them shielded their eyes for a few seconds before they managed to see who it was that had intercepted them, and what they saw was a young man clad in blue and black looking at them with narrowed blue eyes that seemed to have the ability to pierce through their souls. "You felt my presence from so far away." He addressed Cinder, "Impressive."

Looking at the man in front of her, Cinder couldn't help but to find him an enigma. One that her instincts tell her to be extremely careful with or else she would end up dead or worse. "And you are our tail... Pray tell, who are you?" she asked the young man.

"Someone who wants to ask questions." He introduced himself without giving out his name, "For some reason, I can't help but think that you guys are even worse than the guys you met back there. Call it my instincts acting up, but it always did me right many times before. Who are you people and why were you meeting with the White Fang?"

A wicked smile formed on her lips as she subtly signaled Emerald to activate her Semblance, "Why should we tell you?" she asked.

She saw that he was then hit by Emerald's illusion. Obviously she was showing him what he wanted to see, hear and feel, whatever that might be, and as such, she then signaled Mercury to pre-emptively attack him.

As Mercury quickly approached him however, Cinder realized something was off. He was just... standing there, not answering her previous question nor did he move or act as if he was in his own little world in any way. Something was up, but she couldn't tell what it was until it was too late.

Mercury activated the blade he had on one of his prosthetic legs and jump-kicked his way with his bladed right foot directed at the man's neck. Midway, Cinder finally realized what was up and couldn't help but to yell out, "He's not-!"

Mercury saw as his feet was dodged when he was mere millimeters away from stabbing the guy in the neck. The guy simply tilted his neck to the left without even seeing him the whole time, and to pour salt into the wound, his foot was grabbed and the hand that held it squeezed shut until the pressure was more than enough to completely separate his prosthetic legs from knee-down.

'I-Impossible!' Mercury thought as he landed messily, skipping the ground several times as he lost his ability to balance himself out thanks to losing one of his legs. 'T-That prosthetic leg is made from steel! How strong is he?!'

Before he could pull himself up however, the man was already in front of him with one of his legs raised... And then with a firm stomp, his other leg and the ground where he rested it were destroyed as well. All the while, he never spoke and his eyes were still rather unfocused, showing that he was, somehow, still in Emerald's illusion.

Using his remaining functional limbs to try and get away, Mercury began to crawl on his chest with his hands... Before his back was stomped on by the man, eliciting a cry from the gray-haired young man as he felt the bones of his spine beginning to crack under pressure.

"Illusion, huh?" uttered the young man before he looked up, as if directing the question to the skies above, "I would say I'm sorry, but then again you caught me unaware. If I had the chance, I would've warned you that it would only make things worse for you."

With a burst of light, a rather ghostly construct materialized on his back, shining quite brightly despite its partial transparency. It was a white cape that would've touched the ground if it weren't billowing against the non-existent wind. "When faced with something that numbs or manipulates any of my senses, I tend to go over the top once attacked. I've learned to restrain myself over the years but..."

The sound of crunching bones made Emerald wince and Mercury's scream did not help matters. "I really hope that I did not kill you with that." Said the man with the ghostly white cape that was still billowing despite the lack of wind, "Just need to make sure you stay down, whoever you are." Which he made certain with a final push of his foot that made Mercury slack and motionless.

Seeing the prone form of Mercury struck immense fear in Emerald's heart and cause her to release her hold over the man. Even if it meant that he would now see them, perhaps he would not be as ruthless to them, that was her hope.

Now that he could see, he saw the prone form of Mercury and with a wince, he muttered, "Oh crap, I overdid it again... Hang on." He said before he knelt down and in one swift motion, pierced Mercury's back with the tips of five of his fingers, passing by his skin, flesh and muscles and touched his spine before sending a blast of visible white Aura that was channeled from him to Mercury.

Mercury took a deep breath before his body convulsed and he screamed again, conveying how painful it was. "Relax, I'm healing you. Broken spine isn't exactly easy to heal." He chided Mercury who simply continued to scream until he finally pulled his fingers out, the holes quickly closing with a sick, fleshy sound of the regeneration and Mercury fell unconscious once again due to the pain.

Mercury's mind simply couldn't cope with the trauma of being pulled back from the brink of death due to a healing process that was hellishly agonizing and decided to stop being awake for a while. A long, long while.

"Alright..." he then turned to the two seemingly petrified onlookers and said; "Now that I know you would go so far as to kill someone who you think might be onto you, I'm even more curious." He cracked his knuckles as fire burned behind his blue eyes, "You have two choices here: go ahead and put me under illusion again, see where that gets you, I won't weep afterwards, or you fight me to protect your secrets, lose and ends up under my mercy. I would've offered you a third choice, but it's clear now you won't take it. So, what's it gonna be?"

Cinder knew what the white cape represented. Being as involved in the underworld as she was, she knew that there had been news/rumors beginning from five years ago, about a warrior, a Good Samaritan type, that went out of his way to help people whenever he can and hunt Grimm all day every day.

The sole most remarkable trait that they knew of him was his billowing white cape. Strangely, this small detail about the Samaritan Warrior began only three years ago from a testimony made by people who saw his work from afar, of how easily he took on the old Grimm that were known for their endurance and win with ease.

And that didn't even cover the rumors about how some of the natural disasters that involved the death of many powerful Grimm can supposedly be linked to him, because apparently he was that powerful.

She cursed her horrible luck in facing this very real threat now, lacking the necessary power to face him, the kind of threat that possessed enough power in his presence to make her, her, Cinder Fall, afraid. Regarding him, her mistress simply had nothing to say to her, which also unnerved her. Facing an unknown like this, especially one that was more dangerous when put under an illusion was tantamount to suicide.

However, at the same time, surrendering was not an option. Cinder Fall had a feeling that the man in front of her would see to her lies easily as he did with Emerald's illusions, and considering that she opted to quickly eliminate him also eliminated the third option, which was presumably a diplomatic one.

"One."

And he's counting up, presumably to three until he acted. She needed more time, damn it!

"Two."

"Emerald, run." She ordered her remaining ally who looked at her with concern, an unneeded one that she quickly reprimand her with, "Run and hide."

With a shaky nod, the green-haired woman left, leaving Cinder alone. Though facing him alone was no easier compared to the alternatives available, it was the only thing that she could do. At this point, Emerald was simply a liability as her illusion proved to be beneficial to their enemy so she must be discarded for the moment.

If she had timed it right however, she might be able to come back with some backup... She knew her route, and she hoped that Emerald remembered it when she told them about it a couple of weeks ago. If not, then she might end up dead...

"Facing me alone?" asked the man before he simply nodded her way and began to approach her, "Alright then." He emphasized his willingness by smashing his right fist unto his opened left palm, creating a loud, reverberating shockwave that made her flinch.

Never had Cinder felt being out-menaced before and the man did that so easily as if it was second nature for him. She brought out her twin swords and steeled her visage so as to not show her fear at the thought of facing the man, even if he was not filled with intent to kill her outright.

Perhaps she could use that to her advantage...?

With Emerald...

She had thought that Cinder Fall was terror incarnate wrapped in a beautiful packaging, a monster wearing a human skin, and the way she held her dominance over them was proof of that, but now she was proven wrong. Cinder, in front of that man, was simply a pretender playing a monster.

Oh she knew why she sent her away. Cinder Fall was not one to play the 'sacrificial lion' card, she was sent away to do a specific task, a task that she was desperate to complete. "Shit... shit shit shit shit shit...! How the fuck did I get into this mess?!" she felt useless after seeing her accomplice defeated so easily while still in her illusion.

'And he said that my illusion only made him more dangerous?!' If it weren't true, she would've laughed at the rather cliche line, but after seeing Mercury crippled from the knee down and forced to go to sleep was more than enough of a wake-up call.

'I need to find her, I need to find her, she's gotta be near here!' was her desperate thought as she pushed herself to the limit.

Even though Cinder's loss or even death, would mean that she would be free free to go anywhere she wanted again, it didn't mean that she actually had a place to go to without her, so she was stuck with the woman no matter what. 'C'mon, where's your target when you really wanted to see them?!'

After what seemed like hours of running, she finally heard what she wanted to hear... The sound of a trotting horse commanded by a woman, and the edges of her lips turned upwards into a wide smile. There might be a chance after all...!

With Cinder...

Keeping one's distance against a much stronger enemy was a sound advice, no matter the circumstances. With her fighting style, Cinder had been trying to follow that advice the best she could, to pelt her enemy with her bow-blade while constantly moving further away from him as fast as she could.

Fortunately for her, he had no intention of killing her. Unfortunately for her, she proved to be far inferior in power for her to take advantage of that sentiment. "Tch!" she clicked her tongue at how fast he was gaining on her despite her moving as fast as she could from one branch to another.

'Unless you have overwhelming power, always use the environment to your advantage', an adage that she found to be an absolute truth in battle, was rendered into an empty platitude by experiencing what facing sheer overwhelming power felt like firsthand. The tall trees that were surrounding them proved to be worthless to provide her with some sort of support against the man with the billowing white cape.

She loathed the idea of being forced to run, hated it with all her being, and as such, she found no joy in doing what she needed to do to survive. Despite that, what she was facing now was a monster that scared her as her mistress does, and her feelings must never get in the way in regards to something such as this.

She withheld a curse as she narrowly dodged a fist heading her way and ended up pulverizing part of a tree. Despite his destructive strength, he followed through his threat with utter silence and unbreakable focus. If he was as cocky as he was strong, perhaps she would not be so unnerved! Such a demeanor from a man possessing such strength made her shiver in fear.

Like a blur, his hand was suddenly upon her neck, and it was thanks to cultivated reflex that she managed to avoid it and leaped backwards. 'Gh! He's so fast as well!' Rumor has it that he fought a herd of Griffon-type of Grimm that had been dormant before he came along and vanquished them in seconds. Being one of the fastest Grimm to have ever existed, to defeat them in such a short time should've made it clear that he would also be fast.

But the word 'seeing is believing' had been in full force. Just because she heard it, doesn't mean it's true, it could've been an embellishment... Yet now that she saw it firsthand, embellishment it was not.

'Where are you, Emerald?!' she mentally demanded as if the young woman could've heard her. Rare of an occasion it was to see her so desperate, but considering the circumstance, even those who held themselves high with pride would be rendered to such a lowly degree.

He saw him coming for her again, and in response, she crossed her blades in front of her as she saw his blur getting closer by the millisecond. At the last moment however, she successfully dodged sideways. It was strange however. Despite their speed, he hasn't caught up to her once. What kind of game was he-?

Before she could complete that question, she felt a pair of arms encircling her waist from the back before she felt her body being pulled backwards as they began to fall, backwards, towards the ground.'Is he going to-?! Are you kidding m-?!'

"Suplex." She heard him whisper, and as she began to channel her aura to shield her head, she felt every part of her bones and muscle from the neck up crashing into the ground and creating a rather large crater as a result.

Darkness overtook her mind for a moment, but she was still willing to fight. Groggily, she began to regain her consciousness, and through the dark borders around her blurry sight, she saw the blue sky up above and groaned as she tried to move her body despite the protests that she got from her brain, muscles and bones.

Before her efforts could even bear fruit, she saw the silhouette of the caped man looming above her and crouching down so that they see eye-to-eye. "Hey." To her ears, his voice sounded as if he was talking to her through a wall, but it was still audible. "I know you can hear me. What was your business with the White Fang?"

She would've retorted with a snark had she retained the capacity to do so. As it were however, she simply pooled all her energy to restore her cerebral functions to full power. However, even if she were to fully restore all her thinking capability, she would still be cornered. If Emerald didn't return with the backup soon...!

Then, when she heard the sound of a roaring flame hitting the white-caped man, she tried to form a smile... only to make a grimace due to the concussion still affecting her pretty badly. Hope has arrived!

With the Attacker...

The fire didn't affect him. Of course, considering that she used it only to distract him from the downed woman, she didn't use much of her energy to fuel that attack to begin with, but even so, he should've at least felt that!

Yet despite what should be, he remained unfazed. "Alright, that's new..." the woman with light brown skin, eyes and hair muttered as he turned to her with blue eyes that didn't convey anything related to anger, hate or... anything that could suggest the reason why he attacked the helpless travelers, "So this is the one who attacked you?" she asked the girl at her side.

"Y-yes." She heard her answer with fear, "P-Please do something, miss Amber."

"Don't worry, Emerald." Amber assured Emerald with a smile before she extended her staff and glared at the man with the white cape, "I'll take care of this, you go take your friend and run."

Amber's eyes began to glow fiery red as she twirled her staff and summoned the forces of nature in the form of a miniature storm directed at the man. Using it as a distraction, Emerald moved as quickly as she could towards her mistress, and when he moved to intercept her, he was stopped mid-way by a stray lightning bolt that struck the ground right in front of him.

"Hey! Your opponent is me!" yelled Amber as the red crystal on one of end of her staff glowed, "You leave them alone!" a volley of numerous fireballs was shot towards him and behind them was Amber, charging towards the white caped man.

With him being distracted, Emerald quickly went towards Cinder and began to carry her, only to be stopped when Cinder squeezed Emerald's wrist, "Don't...! When the time is right, trap them in your illusion...! If you do it right, we'll get what we came here for!" she furiously whispered, still affected by the concussion but full of vigor.

A retort was ready to come out of Emerald's mouth, but she withheld it and opted to direct her eyes to the battle that was happening. She saw how Amber, their target, was handling the blonde man with the powers of the Fall Maiden in her hands, and found herself succumbing to both awe and fear at the sight of what was happening.

When he was fighting against them, their loss could've been justified due to their lack of power. However, Amber was on a different level compared to them for she was a Maiden, a human possessing honest-to-Oum Magic which, in her case, allowed her control over parts of nature such as fire, lightning and wind.

To put it quite simply, Amber was a force of nature on her own. Against her in direct combat, no normal humans could even hope to match her. However, what Emerald and Cinder were seeing proved that the man they fought was not normal by any definition of the word.

He was fighting against a representation of a force of nature, against someone who could command Magic instead of pale mimicry of it through Dusts and Aura, and was holding his ground with barely making it as an effort on his part.

Lightning came down on him and though it ended up with his body steaming due to the heat it carried, he was fine as he stood his ground. Fireballs the size of basketballs were shot at him and when he was hit, they made decent explosions that created craters where he stood yet he remained unfazed. Wind fast enough to make a person go deaf and cut through their skin hit him yet he acted as if it was a cool breeze on a summer's day.

Unlike before, he just stood there, immovable, unyielding.

The hope that Emerald had when she brought Amber to fight the caped man was slowly being extinguished by how nonchalant the man was against the barrage of attacks given to him. However, confusion was also present in her mind as despite the fact that he was unhurt, he was not willing to fight her.

"Kh!" the fire surrounding her eyes died down as she took a couple more steps backward. 'This guy... he's not normal! No wonder those two can't defend themselves against him!' She cast her concerned gaze over to the two women who were now watching from the sidelines. 'Still... why aren't they running away?'

"Are you wondering why they're not running away?"

"Eh?" she couldn't help but to mouth out at the sudden question. "H-how did you-" she stopped herself from asking if he could read her mind before she narrowed her eyes at him, "Are you still going to hurt them? You know that I can't let that happen." She said as she prepared herself to fight again.

"Out of good faith, I assume?" he asked before he put his hands into the pocket of his combat pants, "Look at them. Aren't you a bit curious about them? Do they look at all innocent to you?" he asked.

She looked at them again and could see what he was talking about. Both of them had the bearing of a fighter, more than that, both of them had that look in their eyes that she had seen before from those who were... of the unsavory type.

However, she shook her head and said; "That doesn't matter. Emerald came running to me desperate for help, and after seeing what you did to the other woman, the one's clearly in the wrong here is you." Amber then began channeling her Aura to her staff again and said; "Whoever they are, I won't turn down anyone asking for help simply because they look suspicious."

Her answer was met with silence and a lack of reaction that lasted for a few seconds before she said with a slight blush on her face, "H-hmph, you must think I'm an idiot or something." She muttered.

To her surprise, he responded with a warm smile and said; "You are an idiot." She flinched at the answer that was given and her glare intensified, "But one that I can respect somewhat." Her gaze softened at that unexpected addendum, "I guess I should tell you then, they're not innocents, they are linked to-"

"Emerald, now...!" whispered Cinder before Emerald activated her Semblance and with great effort, forcing the two into an illusion. Jaune stopped talking while Amber frowned at how Jaune who was in her line of sight seemed to stop mid-sentence. Emerald could not finely control her Semblance at this point, considering that she was using it on two people, but she hoped it was enough.

Cinder, who had recuperated enough to think clearly and move, stood up and walked as quickly and quietly as she could towards Amber with a sick smile on her face. 'Foolish girl... In my hands, the power you possess will be capable of fighting this damn Samaritan...' she thought as she channeled her Aura to the glove she wore on her right arm, causing intricate glowing symbols to appear on its surface.

Cinder was closing in on Amber, to reach the proximity where her hands could easily touch her, and then when she was right in front of her, she began to extend her right hand towards the Maiden, 'Stay still... this will be over soon enough and everyone but you will come out unscathed...'

In her slightly delirious state due to the concussion she experienced before, she walked herself closer than what was necessary before she let out the creature residing within the glove. So certain she was that if she did not attack the man directly, he would not be able to do anything, she put his back towards him, disabling her from anticipating an attack...

The insect-like Grimm came out from the palm of her glove alongside tendrils of blackness that began to spread along her wrist. A worried frown marred her face, something was wrong with the tool, and she felt a sucking emptiness in her gut that filled her with doubt and fear. 'No, don't be ridiculous, she would never-'

As if capitalizing on the hesitance she exuded, the man she had turned her back to had somehow sensed her presence, grabbed her by the back of her neck and then threw her away from the Maiden with the same hand. Her shoulder and ribs hit the ground first before her back did, multiple times as she skidded against the ground, resisting the momentum of her impromptu flight and subsequent crash as she gritted her teeth in pain.

When she finally came to a stop, she looked at where the Maiden and the Samaritan were and found that they were still inside Emerald's illusion. It worked to calm her down, but not by much, 'Calm down! You can still do it...! You were too cocksure before, you need to be more-'

Her train of thoughts was stopped when she felt something slithering its way up her right arm. When she looked, she found her glove and her forearm was now completely covered by an expanding black goo with pulsing red veins that was coming out of the palm of her right hand.

It was at this moment that Cinder realized things was not going the way she wanted it to, shattering her confidence and brought about fear, 'No... No, no no no no no! Don-! Don't!' she internally screamed as she extended her forearm away from her head, as if that would help stall the slithering, encroaching black goo.

The black and red goo moved fast as it extended its mass to cover her whole right arm, her right shoulder, then it was coming to her face and belatedly, she realized how the fate that was supposed to befall the Maiden was being done to her instead, "S-Stop! STOP! NOOOO-!" her scream was cut off as the slithering goo reached her face.

Her opened mouth was filled and so was her throat, the next orifice to be assaulted was her nostrils as it penetrated them and then the goo came for her panic-filled eyes and covered them. Despite this however, her pleading was not muffled, as if it was coming through the goo's cells as it continued its process of engulfing Cinder's body.

Then, under the cover of darkness that she had unwittingly inflicted herself with, Cinder screamed on top of her lungs as her mind was next in line to be violated.

As if it was the cue that forced them out of their illusion, both Jaune and Amber turned towards where the scream originated and saw Cinder's form slowly being covered by the terrifying goo, "W-wha!" Amber was mortified by the sight, "What is that?! How did it get here without-?!" she frantically looked around and saw no one else besides the caped man that she did not know and the woman being covered in the black goo, "Emerald?! Where are you?!"

As Jaune too looked over where Emerald was, said green-haired girl was already running away.

With tears falling down her red eyes and blood dripping down her nose, she ran as fast as she could to get away from everything, 'This isn't happening... This isn't happening...!' she thought, trying to deny what has happened. All was lost. Cinder failed to extract the Maiden's powers and somehow ended up being eaten by the very thing their plan was hinging on.

The only thing that she could do now, hell, the only thing that she knew best, the very first lesson she had learned when faced with a situation like this... was to run away. To run and never come back.

And so with that, Emerald Sustrai fled.

"What I was about to tell you before," Jaune said, prompting Amber to look at him, "is that they have connections to the White Fang. They're not good people, and I think I might've saved you from becoming that." He pointed to the writhing form of darkness that was once Cinder Fall.

"Saved me? What do you-?" she stopped as she was reminded of the strangeness that happened, "Wait... just a couple seconds ago, everything felt weird, like everything was... diluted in something, what was that?" she asked.

"That was an illusion. One of the two women has a Semblance that can play around with your senses, possibly it's that green-haired girl, Emerald." Jaune answered, "Luckily, I'm experienced enough to overcome something like that, and a few seconds ago, I sensed one of the two approaching you, so I acted. It seems that she, " the one that was still screaming, "was about to attack you with something that backfired on her."

Amber's brown eyes were as wide as they were filled with fear and disbelief. "T-that... that could've been... me?" she spoke as she looked at the pitiful, nauseating form of one of the women she sought to help, "I... I can't believe it..." she cast her head down in disappointment and sadness. She trusted them, she even went as far as to help them and give them the benefit of the doubt and yet they were the ones who really meant to harm her!

She felt his hand grasping her shoulder, "Hey." Said the blond man, "What matters now is that you're still here, alive and well. Right now, focus on something more important at hand." He then directed his gaze at the writhing mass of darkness and demonic red veins and Amber nodded with resolve.

"Right. Let's take care of this monstrosity." She spoke as she prepared her staff.

The barely humanoid mass of goo that used to be Cinder turned its 'head' towards them before its whole body spasmed violently. With an inhuman screech, it chose to do something that they didn't expect... It ran.

"Get back he-!"

Amber couldn't even finish her sentence as the blonde man was suddenly behind its retreating form and punched it, hard enough to create a reverberating effect that shattered the black blob and destroyed many parts of their surrounding area.

'H-he's fast too?!' Amber found herself shocked even more. 'To possess such durability and strength to exert his body at such a high level... I'm so glad he didn't fight back when we fought...!' she thought about how quickly the tables would turn if he just retaliate during their 'fight' and winced.

With a frown, Jaune focused on the splattered remains of the goo for a few seconds before he turned towards Amber and began to walk to her... And then stopped, turned back and saw that the splattered goo had largely disappeared. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the last remnant of it seeping into the ground.

His fists tightened, and for a moment he was tempted to hollow out the ground to hunt the goo, but now that it's come to this, there's no other way around it, and he didn't want to extensively damage the environment just to find them. He needed to let it go, at least for now.

Turning back towards the brown-haired woman, he called off the cape with a silent, mental command, extended his hand to her and said; "Amber, right? I heard that Emerald woman said your name before. Mine's Jaune Arc. It was a rather... bizarre circumstance that led us to meet, but anyway, it's nice to have cleared things up with you."

"Uh, s-same here..." Amber muttered as she accepted the gesture from the much taller man while still reeling from the show of power he did just moments ago. "A-and thank you. If it weren't for you, I would've ended up like... like that woman, whoever she was, or... Whatever it was that she wanted to do to me." She was then reminded of something that stopped her mind for a moment.

Flooding back into her mind as if freed from its containment now that things had calmed down was the memory of how she attacked him before, and she began to frantically apologize, "O-oh, and I'm really sorry for attacking you back there! I-I just jumped in because that girl Emerald looked so scared and asked my help, so when I saw you and that other woman, I just... got ahead of myself when I should've asked." She deeply bowed down and said; "I'm truly sorry!"

"Hey, hey, it's alright." Assured Jaune as he made her straighten her back, "I wasn't hurt anyway." He said with a shrug, "And you were only trying to help. Misguided, but not malicious, so no need to beat yourself over it." He smiled at her again and said, "I respect that kind of tenacity. Even if it could've harmed someone innocent, your heart was in the right place. Just need to work on your diplomatic skills more."

"Heh, well, I... I was just trying my best to do good, s'all..." she scratched the back of her head in elation and slight embarrassment at his compliment and advice. Was she blushing too? She hoped not, it was embarrassing enough being told off and complimented at the same time, "So, Jaune Arc huh...? I think I've heard your family name before... But you know, that cape thing you materialized, that was... Aura, right? But I've never seen it look so real before."

"It's kind of an acquired thing." Jaune answered with a shrug, clearly fully-intent on keeping it a secret.

"Really?" she asked with raised eyebrows, "So... is it... like my own, or something?" she asked in a quieter voice, as if afraid of asking the question itself. Now that the cape was no longer on his back, she could feel that some sort of pressure on her very being had been lifted.

"...I don't know." Jaune said as he crossed his arms, "What was that thing you do back there with the burning eyes and nature manipulation?" he asked before he blinked and turned his gaze to what was behind her.

"I kinda wanna know that myself." said the one behind Amber, prompting her to look, and what she saw was a man with unkempt graying black hair and red eyes clad in grey, black and red armed with a compacted scythe on his back and a flask on his right hand, presumably filled with alcohol due to his audible slur, "Not about your thing, young lady, but about his. "

"Who are you?" Amber asked as she prepared herself for a fight.

"Me? Well, if you must know..." he shrugged before he took a swig from the flask, "Aaaah! That hits the spot... Anyway, my name's Qrow Branwen. Initially, I was here only for the young lady, but after seeing what you did, I'm kind of compelled to ask you to come along as well."

"Why? Who do you work for?" asked Jaune with narrowed eyes.

"Heh..." a smirk that conveyed exasperated amusement formed on the man's stubble-covered mouth, "Let's just say that he's a really swell guy who'd definitely love to see you two safe and sound. In his basement that is."

There was a really awkward silence that lasted for a long while before the man Qrow said; "Right, well, that was a tasteless joke anyway, but serious talk: The guy I work with wants to meet you, young lady, and knowing what kind of guy he is, I'm willing to bet that he wants to talk to you too, young man." He said.

"Ah, now that makes more sense."

Jaune's remark was met with sweatdrop and a frowning pout on Qrow's part, "Don't blame a guy for trying to lighten up the mood..." he muttered under his breath, "Anyway... What do you say, huh? You can take along the horse and that unconscious guy I tied up as well."

Amber frowned at what the unkempt man said at the end, "Unconscious guy? What do you-"

"Oh you tied that guy up? Thanks." Jaune said, prompting Amber to look at him with questioning eyebrows, "Is he still alive?" he asked, wanting to confirm the man's condition.

"Yeah, but he's still unconscious. Even a couple of the good ol' wake-up slaps didn't do anything to him. What did you do to him, I didn't see any bruises on his body?" Qrow asked.

"Oh I cracked his spine with my foot and then healed it afterwards." Jaune answered so casually that Amber couldn't help but to wince at the mental image, "One of them put an illusion on me and that guy tried to attack me, so I reacted. To be fair, I did heal him, even if it's agonizing as hell that he passed out from it."

'...Alright, he definitely has to come along. A meeting between a Maiden of old and a newborn Legend? Ozpin loves that kind of shit, might think it as some sort of destiny or something like that.' Qrow thought before he took another sip from the flask, 'Still, I'm not gonna deal with this sober...'

To be Continued...

Thank you for reading this, hopefully, you have enjoyed yourself in the process, and if so, please review, and I'll see you when I see you.

P.S.: In regards to Jaune's voice, personally speaking, because of how much Jaune in this story is different than the one in canon RWBY in physique and demeanor, I imagine if this Jaune were to be voiced, it wouldn't be by Miles Luna (Jaune Arc's English VA). I'm thinking Troy Baker (Delsin Rowe from Infamous: Second Son/Male Protagonist Voice 1 of Saint's Row the Third and Saint's Row the Fourth/Booker DeWitt from Bioshock Infinite), his voice fits this Jaune in my opinion.

Of course, I also thought about who would voice him in Japanese, canon Jaune's official Japanese VA, Hiro Shimono (Keima Katsuragi from The World God Only Knows/Connie Springer from Attack on Titan), is good, but... either Junichi Suwabe (Archer from Fate/Stay Night/Daiki Aomine from Kuroko's Basketball/Shouta Aizawa from My Hero Academia/) or Yuki Ono (Higashikata Josuke from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Diamond is Unbreakable/Masayuki Hori from Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun/Kagami Taiga from Kuroko's Basketball)'s average voice range would fit this Jaune more nicely.