xXx

The Decisive Slice

xXx

A battle between Jaune Arc and Cinder Fall could only end one way.

Certainly, Jaune Arc had improved since entering Beacon. Under the tutelage of Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune had gone from a bumbling fool with a sword to the level one would expect from a lower-than-average first year Beacon student. His skill had only been further refined during the journey to Mistral. It was, when one stopped to think about it, an insane rate of growth. Many people trained for years to prepare themselves for Beacon, yet most didn't make it past the initiation.

This, of course, had never occurred to Jaune. His companions were too dazzling, even by the standards of Beacon, for him to notice how impressive he was becoming.

Before Cinder Fall, none of that mattered.

Cinder Fall was a master of hand-to-hand and armed combat. She had full control of her Semblance and profound knowledge of Dust. Even without the powers of the Fall Maiden, Cinder was easily on the level of the strongest Hunters Remnant had to offer. With the powers of the Fall Maiden, which she had spent months mastering, she became a force of nature, something beyond the reach of mere mortals. Then there was her Grimm arm, a gift from Salem that allowed her to drain the very Aura that gave Hunters their strength. A final layer overkill.

Before Ruby Rose's Silver Eyes, all that mattered little.

It happened in an instant. Fear of losing yet another friend triggered Ruby Rose's power, bathing everything in her sight in silver light. Unfortunately, it also left her defenseless, and Emerald Sustrai did not miss her chance. Ruby fell, and the light vanished. The damage, however, was done.

Cinder Fall fell to her knees.

At that moment, Cinder Fall was neither strong nor fast. Her aura was down, her body in pain, her head confused. She was not some exalted existence. Cinder Fall was just a wounded woman and nothing more.

At that moment, Jaune Arc saw his chance. His sword sliced through the air, and it did not miss.

Cinder Fall, slayer of Ozpin, Fall Maiden, the mastermind behind the fall of Beacon, one of the most powerful beings in Remnant, fell to the blade of Jaune Arc. A single strike cut through her neck and separated her head from her body.

For a moment, there was silence. Sheer shock paralyzed the room as everyone turned to look at the blond's bloody blade and the headless body before him to confirm that, yes, that had really just happened. No one was more shocked than Jaune who stared at Cinder's corpse as if unable to believe his eyes.

In that situation, the first one to act was not Jaune who was too shocked. It wasn't Ruby who was too unconscious. It was not Ren or Nora or Yang or Weiss or Qrow.

It was Emerald.

Shock and disbelief played across her face for an instant before giving way to grief and rage. Another emotion soon took their place, burning through Emerald's body like fire, blinding her to everything but the sight in front of her, overwhelming her every rational thought with its intensity.

Hate.

Emerald hurled herself at Cinder's murderer, blades raised high. She could have shot him but didn't. She could have used her Semblance but didn't. At that moment, Emerald was not thinking. She just knew she needed to make contact, needed to feel as her blades tore him apart.

Jaune barely had time to raise his shield.

Emerald's blades clanged against his shield again and again. Emerald didn't try to use her superior speed and agility to get behind him. She didn't try to hook one of her blades on his shield to wrest it away from him. She just hit and hit and kept hitting with strength and speed borne of rage.

She never saw the attack coming.

First, the hilt of a sword struck the back of her neck with great force. It was not out of kindness or mercy that the blade was not used. With Emerald's Aura still up, blunt force had its own merits. The blow stunned Emerald, stopping her attack on Jaune and leaving her wide open. Her legs were kicked out from under her. A knee pressed against her back. A hand took hold of her wrist, pulling it back, twisting her arm.

Something cracked.

An instant later, Emerald's body was hurled into a wall. The pain in addition to the jumbled mess of emotions in her mind caused her to lose control of her Aura for a moment, just in time for the impact. The girl fell into a crumpled heap and did not get up.

Satisfied at having incapacitated Cinder's little illusionist, Raven Branwen allowed a smirk to appear on her face.

When Cinder Fall had marched into her camp, Raven had known the odds. After so long, Salem had finally acquired a Maiden. Fighting Cinder would force Raven to reveal herself as the Spring Maiden. Disgraced Watts may be, but there was no denying the man was capable. In the best-case scenario, Raven would defeat Cinder, the fight would attract Grimm to the camp, and Watts would get away. Salem would know the truth before the end of the day.

Raven couldn't have that happen.

So Raven had played along. She had goaded Cinder into confronting her brother, trusting Qrow's Semblance to work in her favor like it had so many other times in the past.

Still, Raven had been worried for a moment. Qrow had brought nothing but children with him. What they had in numbers, they lacked in power and experience. They dragged Hazel into the fight when they had no need to, engaged Leo even though the man would have hidden in a corner if left alone, and let the blond attack a Maiden on his own.

Raven compared them to Team STRQ and found them wanting.

Still, Summer's eyes had come through in the end, and the boy had not hesitated. He took his shot and ended a Maiden's life, a feat only a select few had managed through the ages. Just like that, the situation radically changed.

Salem had a Maiden no longer.

As strong as Salem was, the monster had not left her territory in ages. Raven doubted she would start now. Without her Maiden, Raven and her secret were safe once more. There was no need to escalate things by taking the Relic. Certainly, Salem would send some of her forces after Vernal, but Raven had experience keeping herself out of Salem's interest. She had done so for eighteen years after all.

And if Raven killed all the pawns Salem had sent to this place right now, she would save herself a lot of trouble in the future.

Raven spared Jaune a glance. She had been there, disguised in raven form, when he had lost his temper with her brother, angry at Ozpin's machinations. Back then and just a minute ago, his eyes had been full of anger. Now, his eyes were lost, unfocused. He had gotten his revenge, but reality had not sunk in yet. No matter.

"Vernal," she called out. "Change of plans!"

Vernal gave her the briefest of nods before she abandoned her fight with the Schnee in favor of striking at an unprepared Mercury while Raven turned her blade on Haven's diminished Headmaster.

It was a predictably short fight.

xXx

The Battle of Haven had come and gone. The people of Mistral would never realize just how close they had come to losing their Hunter Academy. Tomorrow, they would see the news. They would learn the White Fang had attacked Haven. They would learn the headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart, had bravely fought off the invaders but died in the struggle.

Well, that was the official story.

Of course, none of that mattered to Jaune right now. The young Arc was training in a clearing close to the house they were staying at. Most had already gone to sleep. Jaune knew he should follow their example. Many things had happened, and the morning would help him deal with them. However, sleep eluded him. Sheer restlessness compelled him to move, compelled him to go through the forms Pyrrha had taught him. Jaune swung his sword again and again with more force than was required.

The White Fang had been stopped from blowing up Haven. Blake had shown up with her family and Sun in tow. Jaune had no idea how on Remnant had the authorities of Mistral allowed an armed group of faunus bearing the symbol of the White Fang into their borders, let alone listened to them about the threat, but that was what happened. With Blake back, Team RWBY was once again whole.

Jaune was happy for them.

Hazel had escaped. The impossibly tough man with seemingly inexhaustible Aura had shrugged off their best efforts before taking Emerald and Mercury and fleeing into the night.

Cinder Fall was dead.

A scream left Jaune's mouth as he swung his sword down. He stopped. The force behind the blow carried through, blowing away dirt and nearby leaves. A sheen of sweat covered Jaune's body. His breath came out in small pants. He was tired, but not from swinging his sword, not from fighting Cinder. He just felt old. It was as if years had passed since the night began, and he had stayed awake for it all.

He had done it.

The simple fact kept echoing in his mind. He, Jaune Arc, had avenged Pyrrha. He had killed the monster who murdered her, who took away the first person to believe in him. Why then did he feel so…

"You should not be out alone so late at night. Who knows what dangers lurk out there?"

Jaune raised his sword as Raven Branwen stepped out of the darkness.

"If I wanted to hurt you, you would already be hurt," the woman said, an amused smirk tugging at her lips.

"What are you doing here?" Jaune asked, his sword still up.

"I just finished discussing some things with my idiot brother and Ozpin."

Jaune frowned. That was another thing that had happened. After the fight was over, Raven and Vernal had come back with them, presumably to discuss some things. Naturally, Ozpin told them all to get some rest which gave him and Qrow the opportunity to discuss things with Raven behind closed doors. Ozpin was good at sending people away without them realizing he was doing it.

"Do you perhaps want to know what Ozpin wanted?" Raven taunted.

"No," Jaune lied. He did want to know, but not from her. He did not know much about Raven, but what he did know did not paint the most trustworthy picture.

"How does it feel?" Raven suddenly asked, surprising Jaune.

"How does what feel?" Jaune asked, confused.

"You killed a Maiden," Raven said, slowly circling around Jaune. Jaune moved so as to not show his back to her. "In the past, people who killed Maidens were hailed as great heroes or great villains. Which one do you feel like right now, I wonder?"

"Neither," Jaune replied.

"Really?" Raven challenged. "You seemed to hate Cinder Fall quite a bit before the fight started. Are you not even a little proud of yourself right now?"

Jaune swallowed. Proud? Maybe. Perhaps, there was a part of him that did feel like that. Most of him, however, did not have that problem.

"I just got lucky," Jaune said, and he knew it was the truth. "I…I acted like an idiot. No, I was an idiot."

Because he had lost it back there. He had lost control of his emotions and allowed himself to be goaded into a fight he should have lost. He could have died.

They all could have died.

"You did. You were." Raven did not disagree. "Yet your strength saw you through that fight."

Jaune barked a laugh. "Strength? Cinder toyed with me from the start! I… I thought about it so much," he said, his voice suddenly tight. "I thought it would be different. I thought I was making a difference. I trained so much. I tried so hard. I thought I could be a hero. I still did, you know? In the end, I am only alive because I was nothing more than a joke to her! How is that strength?"

"Cinder could have killed you at any moment yet chose to toy with you instead. That was her weakness," Raven scoffed. Battle was no place for sadism. Only a fool would price it above efficiency. "Cinder's weakness allowed an opening to appear. When it did, you did not hesitate. You killed her. That is your strength."

Jaune took a step back.

"That's… that's messed up."

"That is how the world works. The strong survive. The weak die. For all her power, Cinder proved herself to be weak. You did not." Her words were cold and callous, yet Jaune felt it was the truest praise he had ever received.

How many times had Pyrrha told him he was improving? How many times had his friends told him he was doing well? Why then was Raven's praise the one which resonated more with him?

Maybe he was messed up too.

"Whatever." Jaune looked away. "If you're done with your thing with Ozpin, then you should just leave already."

"Oh, I don't think I will." Jaune backed away as Raven drew her sword.

"What are you doing?"

"Much like you, I don't feel like sleeping," Raven said. Her red eyes shone a bit too much for his liking. "Perhaps, a spar will do me some good?"

"I am nowhere near dumb enough to agree to that," Jaune said, taking more steps back. Raven stepped forward.

"And here I thought you wanted to improve," Raven said. The smile on her face was entirely too smug for Jaune's liking. "In front of you stands the strongest fighter in Remnant. Just one spar with me would teach you much. You can take the opportunity to grow stronger… or you can go running to Qrow and Ozpin and trust them to protect you next time you run into danger. After all, they are so very good at that."

This was stupid, Jaune told himself. This was so very stupid.

"Alright." He raised his shield and aimed his sword at Raven. "Let's do it."

Raven smiled.

xXx

AN: Weirdly enough, I don't think I have seen a single fic use the idea of Jaune managing to kill Cinder during the Battle of Haven. It seems like such an obvious What if. The guy was literally inches away from it. Then again, perhaps that's telling in its own way. Who knows?

The idea here is Jaune kills Cinder, and Raven is suddenly not feeling a lot of pressure. She is free to pursue other interests like stealing, raiding and increasing the membership of the We Hate Ozpin club, the most exclusive club on Remnant.