Chapter 8

Jaune looked at Ruby.

She was in bed, curled up in the sheets. She was wearing pajamas in the same colors as her combat gear and her weapon, primarily black with a bit of red. She slept peacefully, unaware of what was going to happen.

The moon filtered through the double doors of the balcony, turning her face into a mask of light and shadow.

Gathering his courage, he straddled her, put his hands on her neck, and squeezed.

That made her wake up, opening her eyes suddenly. They hadn't had time to get used to the darkness, so she couldn't see who was attacking her. She was only aware of the pain in her throat and that she was going to die at this rate, without even knowing why.

Ruby fought for her life tooth and nail. She punched him in the chest, kicked him, bit his hand. It didn't work, he just squeezed harder, trying to end this as soon as possible.

Her eyes grew wider and wider, as if they were going to pop out of their sockets. She let out muffled moans from the pain and lack of air. A curtain of sweat and tears covered her face.

He recalled that this was necessary.

He wanted the nightmare to end, but as long as she was alive, he was doomed to repeat it, over and over again. He and him alone.

He wasn't doing anything wrong. At the very least, it wasn't his fault.

Die for me.

The girl stopped moving.

Jaune didn't continue to strangle her, but he didn't pull away either. He waited patiently to see if she was just pretending to be dead. When he was convinced that he had succeeded, he sensed a quick movement and felt something against his chest.

Crescent Rose. As she unfolded it, he was thrown backwards and fell off the bed onto the floor. Team RWBY used bunk beds, and she had chosen the top one, so the impact made enough noise to wake the others.

Someone turned on the lights. He was caught on the ground, a little disoriented, with Ruby looming over him and Crescent Rose in her hands.

There was something dangerous in her eyes. Before, he would have compared them to a fragment of the moon, but now they seemed to shine like a dagger.

"What's going on here?" Yang said.

"Why? " Ruby asked, crying silently. "I thought we were friends. Why did you try to kill me?"

At those words, the rest of the team grabbed their weapons and prepared to do whatever it took to stop him. They didn't know the reason for his attack, but unlike Ruby, they didn't need to know. They only knew that a precious friend was in danger, and that was more than enough.

"Get away from her," Yang said, almost shouting.

Jaune stood up, staggering back. He looked at the distrustful and angry faces surrounding him.

"Jaune, tell me," Ruby asked again "Please, at least tell me the reason."

He kept his silence.

He opened the balcony door and ran out into the night, not listening to the cries for him to come back, or to those telling him he couldn't escape. He ran and ran and his feet didn't stop until he could no longer run and fell to his knees.

He didn't want to face them. Especially not Ruby.

An idea occurred to him, and he laughed like a madman. He could correct his mistake. Pretend nothing had happened. It was very simple, really.

He just had to die.

He returned to the academy to retrieve his sword. It was fitting that a family heirloom was the tool he used to end his life.

He didn't want to be found by RWBY or JNPR, so he went to Vale to find a quiet place where he could die as he wished. When he did, he raised his sword and placed the tip against his chest.

He was scared.

It was ridiculous. He had already died dozens of times, and many of those in ways more painful than being stabbed with a sword. And he would wake up again, just like always.

A part of him, however, feared that this would not be the case. That this time death would claim him and never let him go again.

He had wanted it all to end, that was why he had tried to kill Ruby. And now that very possibility was what kept him from moving. He would have laughed at himself, but it wasn't funny in the slightest.

Before he had time to think about it, he pierced his chest with his sword.

He felt his heart explode.

He fell to his knees.

He felt the blood rising in his throat, and he vomited it all over himself, over the blade and hilt of his sword, on the ground, between his legs. It seemed ridiculous that the human body could hold so much blood, and there was even more escaping through the hole in his chest.

This time he laughed. Openly and without restraint. And then he fell onto the pool of blood that was spreading below, on his side.

Jaune struggled to turn around so he could look at the stars as he died, shaking from the convulsions. Hundreds of thousands of white eyes. And the fragmented moon, floating in the void of space. Looking like this, he couldn't help but think that this end was just and natural.

After all, he lived on the 'moon,' a single point of light in a bottomless sea of ​​darkness. And no matter how brightly his light shone, it always needed something to feed it, and one day that would fade, and the darkness would take over again. For it was unfathomable and eternal, it did not change form.

He didn't know how he dared to hope.

Jaune woke up, shaken and sweaty, beside himself.

For a few long, tortuous moments he didn't know where he was or how he had gotten there, there was a gap in his memory. But then, little by little, reality crystallized. The uncertain shadows showed the shape of a room, of furniture and beds, of people lying in them.

His room. His team's room.

With a hand on his chest, he forced himself to control his breathing. To maintain his composure.

It had only been a dream. A dream from times past, but a dream nonetheless.

It was the first time he had committed suicide. It had been a decision made in the heat of the moment, out of fear and shame, an impulse. The second time, it hadn't. He had planned it down to the last detail, he had put his affairs in order. Or at least as in order as it was possible to leave your loved ones of your own free will.

He had felt… at peace. There was no word that better described that feeling, but it hadn't lasted long. From his point of view, in fact, only a moment.

Darkness and then light. Like the faces of a coin.

Yes. Darkness and light.

The moon was still in the sky, but he was sure he would not be able to sleep any longer. So he got up and left, trying not to make any noise so as not to wake the others.

They were standing in the hallway waiting to enter the arena. Jaune didn't have time for this pointless nonsense with everything at stake, but he had no other choice. Ozpin couldn't just cancel it like that.

What trick would Cinder pull this time? There were too many possibilities, he hadn't seen even half of them in her previous iterations, and one way or another they couldn't prepare for everything.

Being constantly on guard would only help so much.

"…Jaune, are you listening to me?" Pyrrha asked.

"Uh, sorry. I was… distracted. Is something wrong?"

"No, I just… heard you leave last night. Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yes," he replied simply. There was no point in avoiding the subject, it would get him nowhere. 

"If you ever want to talk about it…

"I don't want to. I'd rather forget it. Bury everything except what's necessary."

"But if you ever need it, I want you to know that I'll be there for you. Okay?"

Ruby had given him some good advice, but he wasn't ready to let it all out, to open up. He wasn't that kind of person anymore.

"OK."

"Yang told me what happened yesterday. I'll support you and Ruby in whatever way I can. I think you'd make a good couple. Well, I have no experience in such things, but…" Pyrrha took a deep breath. Obviously, she was agitated. And very red. Her other self would be wondering what the hell was wrong with her, but for him, it was more than obvious.

"Okay, thanks."

Rejecting her outright, without even letting her express her feelings first, would be cruel. So he decided it was best to say nothing. After a while, it seemed Pyrrha had come to the same conclusion. Though for a different reason, of course.

Jaune heard the voice of one of the commentators, introducing his team. It seemed to him like it came from another world. In a way, it did. The difference between his perspective of the world and Oobleck's was so vast that it could be said that way.

Team JNPR made their entrance into the arena.

He had previously been an incompetent whose role within the team was to plan, although everyone except Nora was better at it than him, and he could contribute little in combat.

He remembered the first fight against the BRNZ team, Bronze, vaguely, as if it were a dream, but he was sure that it had not been any different then.

He had even named combination attacks he had made up on his own, and said them in battle hoping they would understand, because he wanted to imitate Ruby and because he wasn't thinking about what he was doing. Not really.

Now things would happen in a very different way.

Without even trying to cooperate, he launched himself at the members of the other group, sword in one hand and shield in the other.

He attacked, without making the slightest noise. The three boys were specialists in hand-to-hand combat, so, because of his weapon, he had the advantage of a longer range. But he had no interest in them. He launched himself at the girl, the sniper. The sooner he got rid of her, the better.

He dodged the attacks they threw at him while running non-stop and trusted that his team would distract them and take care of them.

The girl had already taken a position, and was aiming at him with her sniper. Jaune tensed his body, preparing to react to the shot.

He stopped the bullet with his shield.

The rifle's long, heavy barrel gave it great range, but its slow reload countered that advantage. On a real mission, she would be deadly and very effective with it, but in a fight in an area, no matter how spacious, it was going to cost her. He was going to make sure it did.

Seeing that she would not be able to stop him in time, the girl got up and moved to another location.

Growling, Jaune threw his shield like a frisbee.

He almost hit her with it, but she managed to shoot it into the air and knock it down, still running. She was good, he had to admit.

He could make a small detour to get back to his shield… but no. Shields were good, but not if they bred passivity. The best defense was a good offense, especially considering what his Semblance was.

Jaune didn't allow her to settle into the new position. He swung his sword, and the girl barely stopped the blow by parrying it with her rifle.

"Don't underestimate me," she said through clenched teeth.

He resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment. It wasn't a battle to the death, but still, wasting breath was idiotic.

If he had breath to talk, he might as well use it to swing his sword a little harder on the next blow.

She stepped back, hitting him with her rifle, and as it flew through the air it transformed into an axe. It shouldn't have happened, but it caught him by surprise. Of all the things that had happened in the replays, the particularities of an opponent's weapon at the Vytal festival were the least of his concerns. So he had forgotten all about it.

Okay, she had an axe, but that didn't mean she knew how to use it well. It was obvious she wasn't used to hand-to-hand combat, her role within the team was to support and distract by shooting with the rifle. The axe was for emergencies, like this one.

The exchange of blows came to an end when Jaune changed pace, kicking her in the chest with a kick that sent her flying and out of the arena and the fight.

One down. Three left.

He turned to the last members. The cheers of the audience and the comments of the two teachers were an indecipherable jumble of sound.

Even though they had lost the key member of their strategy, they weren't doing badly. In fact, they were doing a little too well. Pyrrha was losing against her opponent, a boy with claws as a weapon.

She was distracted, probably because of him.

When that boy hit her in the face, piercing through her Aura and leaving four bloody marks on her cheek, something inside him snapped. He lost his mind.

Since the battle had begun he had not made the slightest sound, but now he came at him, howling wildly and furiously, like a jackal.

He saw him coming. Or rather, he heard him coming. Of course.

So he pushed Pyrrha aside, turned to face him, and stopped his sword a few inches from his neck, wedging it between two of his claws.

Jaune gritted his teeth, pushing with all the weight of his body and every ounce of strength he possessed.

"I am going to kill you!"

In the other boy's eyes, he saw fear.

He gave up the struggle, taking a step back. He felt the heat of the flames behind him. Close by, he heard the sounds of Beacon collapsing piece by piece. Ghostly sensations and noises, his head told him, but he had abandoned reasoning since he saw Pyrrha's blood gush out.

All that was left inside him was rage.

He attacked again, not giving him time to breathe. Each blow he delivered became stronger, not less.

Do you believe in fate? Cinder's cold smile, her eyes burning like a bonfire. Fighting her at the top of the tower. Her baptism of fire. He remembered the pain, but most of all he remembered the smell of his own burning flesh.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" the boy said as he dodged and parried his attacks, as that was the only thing he could do, he had no time to counterattack, nor was there a gap in his defenses that he could take advantage of. "Calm down!"

But he couldn't calm down. His memories had surfaced, and now they were more real than reality.

Pyrrha's lifeless body in his hands. The viscosity of blood.

'I beg you, Jaune. I don't want to die like this. I'm scared.'

Ruby's eyes were misty, her smile broken.

Cinder kneeled in front of his broken and dying body, looking into his eyes as she caressed his face, mocking him and all his efforts, while he could do nothing but gasp and vomit blood.

Her laugh, clear and like that of a girl in love, without a trace of malice or bloodlust. A laugh that froze the blood in his veins.

Something small, black, slimy, some sort of Grimm, was entering his mouth and spreading out to cover his face, choking him. As it moved down his throat, he also felt the tentacles clawing at his brain, though that couldn't possibly be true, and it was taking something important from him. Something irreplaceable that he could never get back.

He came to, and the fight was already over.

The boy was on his knees, covered in cuts, and his Aura had disappeared. His sword was in the air, and something, a force, prevented him from moving it.

Pyrrha's power over polarity. Her Profile.

I had been on the verge of killing him.

Jaune fell to his knees and dropped his sword. He wanted to cry, but he felt no pain or sadness, only emptiness.

"I'm sorry," he said without inflection. "I'm sorry."

There was absolute silence in the stadium. If you looked up and looked, you would see that the spectators were horrified.

He didn't dare look. He was afraid his eyes would meet Ruby's and he wouldn't like what she saw there.

Apparently, Nora and Ren had taken care of the other two. Which meant they had won. However, it didn't feel like a victory.

Pyrrha ran up to him, standing behind him. She didn't reach out to touch his shoulder, though. She didn't dare.

Jaune began to tremble from head to toe.

"Well," Professor Port's voice echoed through the silent stadium like an aerial bombardment, "the battle between Team JNPR and Team BRNZ has come to an end. A rather violent and unexpected one. Seeing his partner injured, Hunter Jaune Arc lost his temper and destroyed the opponent who had landed the blow on him in just over a minute. And he almost… well, almost… seriously injured him."

As if those words had brought them back to reality, the spectators booed him from the stands and shouted things at him that he could not understand, because their voices were mixed together and became incomprehensible.

"You are obviously very united," he continued. "The response was a bit excessive, but has he not demonstrated the courage and determination that we ask of our hunters, ladies and gentlemen?"

Port ended his little speech with a nervous, unconvincing laugh.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Jaune said, not even knowing who those words were really intended for, like a broken record. But no one could hear him. No one except him, because the rage and fear of the spectators released in the form of screams drowned out the sound of his voice. "I'm sorry."

His team helped him up and out of the arena. He vaguely noticed that Nora was unusually serious, looking at him sideways as if trying to analyze him.

Sitting on one of the benches, Jaune managed to calm down after a while. He didn't remember what had happened in the meantime.

He raised his head and looked Pyrrha in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," Jaune said, once again. "I lost control. I didn't mean to do that. I… I'm not dangerous. You believe in me, right? You know I'm a good person. Tell me I'm a good person."

"You are," Pyrrha said, but there had been a slight pause before that, a moment of hesitation, and that said a lot about what she thought of him.

He lowered his head.

He didn't know what to say. Words didn't seem enough to express what he had to express.

"Jaune, I've decided that I'm going to do it."

"What are you talking about?"

"The transfer," she clarified. "But I need you to tell me, please, the probability of it going well."

"Sometimes you die trying. Sometimes the transfer fails and nothing happens at all. And other times the process succeeds. Ozpin and I tried to figure out how to ensure a one hundred percent success rate, but we weren't able to. So you'll most likely die trying. I'm not going to lie to you. This is too important a decision for me to justify hiding anything from you."

Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora exchanged glances.

"Okay. But I'll do it anyway. If I can do something to change the future you've talked about, it's my responsibility to do it."

"It's not your responsibility. No one can force you to make that sacrifice."

"I demand it of myself. If there is even the slightest chance to help, I should take it. That's what I think. Even if it costs me my life. Even if it's all for nothing in the end."

Jaune looked away.

"Do you really want to die? Is that it? Do you want to die doing a good deed so you can be remembered as a heroine?"

"No. It's not that. That's the last thing I want, to be remembered for something I did and not for who I am."

"…I'm sorry. I crossed the line."

"It's okay. I understand that you're not in your right mind right now."

Jaune stood up.

"I'm going out for some fresh air," muttering a transparent excuse, he fled from there. From their stares.

While wandering aimlessly, he came across Ruby.

"Thank goodness," she said. "I was looking for you."

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

"What?" she said, gesturing nervously, as if trying to push aside what she had almost done. "Why would I? You're harmless."

Jaune let out a dry laugh.

"Yes, you're right."

"Um, um… What happened there?"

He looked around to make sure no one would hear them.

"Bad memories. I've seen Pyrrha die many times, so when she bled I lost my mind. It shouldn't have been like this, but I couldn't control myself. Because deep down I'm weak. That hasn't changed in the past few years, even though I try to pretend otherwise."

"Look, Jaune…"

"And you were there too. In those memories. In fact, now that I think about it, you've been with me from the beginning."

Ruby shifted in her seat.

"I love you."

"Jaune, yo…"

"I know. I don't expect you to change your answer or anything, and I'm sorry if you feel pressured… but I needed to say it. I didn't get the chance that time."

She looked away, blushing.

"They are beautiful words. Yes, I should have said them sooner. I love you and I always will. And no matter how many times I have to repeat this, I will make sure that we all survive. I promise you. That's all."

"…Okay" He didn't blame her for not deciding anything else. If he had been in her position, he wouldn't have known what to say either.

He heard a sound.

Ruby's scroll. She pulled it out of a pocket.

"It's Ozpin," she said.

He stood behind her so he could see the screen.

'It's about time. Come if you want to be there.'

It was clear what he meant. The transfer of the remaining half of Amber's power to Pyrrha.

"Ruby, she might die," Jaune said."At the very least, Amber will die. Are you sure that…?"

"That's why I have to be there. I haven't known her very long, that's true, but she's one of the kindest people I know. She has to see familiar faces around her as she deals with this. It has to be that way."

"Okay, let's go then."

When they arrived, Pyrrha was already inside that capsule, that metal tomb. Even though she could die, so far from her home and her family, there was not a hint of fear in her eyes, only an unwavering determination.

All the members of Ozpin's group were there, watching, tense. Especially Ozpin. He knew that today he was going to kill Amber with his own hands, and that the same could happen to Pyrrha, making their deaths meaningless.

He noticed that Qrow was constantly turning his head to look at Ruby. She had noticed this too, but was trying to hide it.

As he looked at Pyrrha, lying behind that glass screen, was he thinking about Summer?

What nonsense. Of course, he was doing it.

"Ozpin, are you sure about this? " Qrow asked ". They're kids, they shouldn't see this. If something happens…"

Jaune let out a short, mocking laugh.

"We have entered this academy to become soldiers, to fight and die for the world if necessary. Besides, we have all lost an important part of ourselves. We have known sadness and death. So you have no right to treat us like children whenever you see fit."

"I guess you're right, it's hypocritical. But that doesn't mean I have to like the idea. Well, I'll just shut up."

Ozpin approached Pyrrha's capsule.

"Miss Nikos, do you have anything to say before we begin?"

"A lot of things. But I can't think of how to express them, so go ahead. I hope… I hope I don't have to regret staying quiet."

No one knew how to respond to that. And perhaps it was better not to respond, because it would seem that they were trying to decide something significant as a farewell.

They watched as Ozpin started the machine, the transfer process.

Jaune's heart skipped a beat. What would be the outcome this time? If Pyrrha died, he couldn't count on Ruby's power. He hadn't all the other times she'd died this way and he wouldn't now, he was sure.

He wasn't sure why… but it was a fact and he couldn't escape it.

Amber's eyes flew open and, not knowing where she was, surrounded by strangers, she died. The transfer process had ended.

The lid of the capsule opened and Pyrrha staggered out, breathing heavily.

"Do you think it worked?" Ozpin asked.

"Don't know."

"Try something."

"That… isn't a very helpful suggestion."

"But it's the best I can give you. A Maiden's power is instinctive, to a certain extent, like a Semblance. And at the same time, it's so different from what hunters are capable of that I can't teach you how to use it."

"Okay," Pyrrha closed her eyes, perhaps to try to visualize what she wanted to happen.

A gleam like thunder flashed in her eyes. She opened them again and looked at her right hand. A small flame sprang up there that did not burn her skin, but it sputtered and quickly died out.

Pyrrha clicked her tongue, irritated.

"That's a start," Ozpin said. "So that you're ready when the attack happens, Qrow and I will help you control and use your powers."

She looked at him and smiled slightly. There was hope in her eyes, and he wanted to share it. But he couldn't. Pyrrha had successfully become the Autumn Maiden more than once, and even then they hadn't managed to stop Cinder. In other words, nothing had changed except her renewed will to keep fighting, and that mattered very little.

Not to mention she only had a few days to train, at best.

He kept going around in circles on the hamster wheel.

He had to stay strong and believe that there was something beyond the darkness, but it was hard, so hard…

Ren and Nora moved on to the doubles round this time. They had stopped really caring about the tournament, but they had a role to play, as each of them did.

Cinder hadn't made her move yet, and that fact was making him more and more nervous, not less. He wanted to stop fearing, imagining the worst possibilities, and have it happen already so he could do something about it.

Irrational, but that's what he felt.

Together with the others, they went to watch the fighting. They ate and drank and talked normally, pretending to be just one more in the crowd. That the greatest catastrophe in Remnant's history since the Great War was not coming.

In the previous loop, he had tried to kill Cinder before the Vytal festival even began, but it had been out of sheer desperation. He knew that was a very, very bad idea.

If they won the battle, they could collaborate with General Ironwood to spread a story that left out the inconvenient details and hope the public would accept it... but no. It might prevent the Battle of Beacon, but that event could be the spark for a much larger catastrophe. That was not acceptable, because his friends would surely be caught up in that catastrophe.

As Ren and Nora fought their opponents, two girls from Atlas, he noticed one thing out of the corner of his eye.

Cinder had hacked into the feed again… but what he saw on the huge screen made his heart stop for a few painful, eternal seconds.

Emerald, lying on the ground, in a pool of blood.

But how was that possible? He had asked Ozpin to get rid of the corpse, and he wasn't stupid. He knew he meant incinerate it.

Then he realized an incongruity. The blood, so much blood, was still flowing, as if she had been recently killed.

Neopolitan, he thought. It had to be her. An illusion constructed by her Semblance.

Of course. If they couldn't kill Penny in front of thousands of spectators, that was the next best thing.

It was a very realistic corpse. No one would doubt for a second that it was real, because it was obvious that she wasn't even breathing, otherwise, you wouldn't know who she was and what ability she possessed.

Everyone had noticed, and their eyes were glued to the screen. Even the combatants. With the attention of people from all nations on it, Cinder Fall appeared on the screen.

"That was Emerald Sustrai, a member of my team," she said. "She's dead. Under the watch of Atlas troops and Beacon teachers, she was brutally murdered and displayed like some kind of work of art. The heads of the hunter schools have the power they have to protect you, to ensure peace, or so they say. And you believe them, you support them."

It was too late. Even if they managed to recover the transmission and silence her, the seeds had already been planted.

"But tell me, how can they protect the kingdoms when two of them have been unable to protect a single girl? And cast your mind back to yesterday's fight. One of Beacon's students, a certain Jaune Arc, nearly brutally murdered his opponent. He didn't stop at the last moment, he was stopped. Pyrrha Nikos' Semblance is control over polarity, and with that, she stopped his sword.

"That's the only thing that stopped you from seeing a sixteen-year-old boy bleeding out on the ground, spitting blood from his mouth. But he's no exception. It's no accident."

"They come to schools to become soldiers, killing machines. And Mister Jaune Arc is not the first hunter who seems to feel an inclination to use his talents against humans and not the beasts of Grimm."

"It is no secret that many hunters, after graduating, flee the fight that is supposed to be their responsibility to become bodyguards or hitmen. An easy and violent life."

"That's what your noble protectors are really like, just people like you and me. And you're no safer here with them than you were out with the Grimm. That idea is nothing more than an illusion perpetuated by the men in power."

"We are on the brink of war. That is a fact, what remains to be seen is when it will happen. Is Atlas' sending troops to supposedly watch the tournament actually the first step, an attack maneuver? I don't know."

"I'll leave you with one last question"

"When the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?"

Cinder had lit the fuse, and it would soon explode.

[T/N: F*CK! This was a long one. I'm so glad that Jaune didn't try to kill Ruby in this loop, also how... never mind I've already figured it out. Anyway, why don't you leave a comment, write a review for this new book, and drop some stones. If you don't know I've got a few good books I'm busy with right now so why not check them out, just go to my profile, or search for the books, Invisible-A Harry Potter FanFic, and A Gamer in Game of Thrones. Or if you want to read some advanced chapters then check out the P@treon, or the Ko-fi.]

----------------------------

[p@treon.com/PuddingLord]-replace the "@" with "a"

[ko-fi.com/puddinglord]