The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Applause

I'd known this was coming, but would have been a lie to say that the timing didn't surprise me.

When you got right down to it, Cinder approaching me was an inevitability, not matter what her plans were. This simple truth of the matter was that I was too big off a variable for anything else. After I knocked down a teacher, after I took on several of the strongest students in Haven, after I took control—this was going to happen eventually. I still had no idea what she was up to, but I was making big enough waves by now that it didn't matter. Hell, we all were; I felt pretty sure that Raven had probably at least started questioning people on here end. If nothing else, we were work on a big enough scale that simple probability meant we'd stumble way to force her to get involved.

Doing it on my first day was at once pleasing and confusing. On the one hand, I'd wanted this and I hadn't needed to spend days or weeks playing games with her to do it. On the other hand, I had no idea what I'd done that had caused this. Defeating Finn and Albus might have been impressive to any onlookers, but for me it was mostly just a means to an end; so long as Cinder was based in Haven and I controlled Haven, I could leverage that power to make her life difficult, at least in theory. As far as I could tell, she had been tied to either faction and their defeat, in and of itself, shouldn't have been a concern, so she must have been worried about…my control over Haven? Or something I didn't know about yet?

The latter was something to keep in mind, but as it told me nothing, I noted the possibility and filed it away. The former, however, implied—or, perhaps, confirmed—that Haven itself was important to her goals. It wasn't unexpected, but it did narrow things down considerably, for better or for worse.

Either way, the question now was why she was approaching me and, of course, how I should respond. This meeting was something I'd considered extensively and there were a number of different ways for it to occur, but given the circumstances, many of them could be discarded. For instance, the most worrying possibility—that she would try to fucking murder me once she realized I was interfering with her plans—seemed unlikely given that we were in front of hundreds of witnesses, including a number of teachers. Unless my information thus far was truly, astonishingly in error and she'd somehow subverted everyone without our knowing, that just wasn't on the table. It didn't necessarily mean she wouldn't try to kill some other time when there was no one around, but I could safely assume that this meeting did not have lethal intent.

Or even violent intent, in all likelihood. Part of the reason I'd shown off my power in such a way was to limit her ability—or at least her desire—to do such a thing. If she wanted to defeat me, she'd need to show an enormous amount of power, most likely beyond what any of her records indicated. Even if her power itself might not cause suspicion, what with the amount of power I'd displayed, the fact remained that it would seem very odd for that power to appear now after three years of school. I, at least, started out ridiculous, and I was a million percent sure they'd spend the next few weeks looking into me.

But the difference between Cinder and I was that even if they went over my background with a fine-toothed comb, they probably wouldn't find anything—even assuming Ozpin or grandmother or any of the other people that I mentally filed under Friends in High Places didn't step in and make them stop. Meanwhile, I was betting that a Cinder's profile was primarily fiction and, as a criminally, she probably didn't want people looking for inconsistences. Cinder, after all, probably couldn't make sure all her crimes were done by a different looking person of an entirely different race tied to an independent group of terrorists that had no connection to her secret identity.

Not a fight, then. Not an intimidation attempt, either, after the display I'd just pulled off; Cinder was undoubtedly terrifyingly powerful, but as far as she knew, I didn't know that and therefore she couldn't leverage it. No, if she was approaching me now, after Toxotes, Albus, and Finn, it was more likely that she was aiming for something else. Information gathering, a way to control or guide me, maybe even…

Ah.

Pretty sure I knew where this was going now, I turned to face her fully no more than a moment after hearing her applause. I looked her up and down once, as if I'd never seen her before, and then frowned very slightly.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Cinder Fall," She replied. "And you're Jaune Arc."

"I say something about how my reputation precedes me, but I've spent most of the day making sure everyone here knew who I was, so," I bobbed my eyebrows once as if to say 'what can you do,' shrugging as I did. Afterwards, I looked at her with furrowed brows and pondered her. "I apologize if I'm supposed to recognize you; I'm new. I'm guessing you're a senior?"

"Mm," She confirmed with a hum. "Albus, Finn, and I have classes together."

"Ah," I said, looking over my shoulder. There was no need anymore, since I could see the fallen boys without moving a muscle, but I'd found that those now-pointless things helped make people feel more comfortable around me—stuff like blinking and breathing and eating and asking them about things I already knew and not knowing exactly what was going on. As such, I waited until I was able to see Albus and Finn with my actual eyes, mulled over the sight of them, and then looked back at Cinder with a tilted head. "Do you want to avenge them or something?"

I made sure to sound confused but unworried, like this situation was new for me—which it kind of was—and I wasn't sure what to do, letting her take the lead in this situation.

Cinder quirked an eyebrow in fake surprise. I wasn't sure from her emotions if she knew they were fine or if she just didn't care; despite of the usual stereotypes concerning fire-users, it seemed to be a fairly cold place inside Cinder. Either way, she was good at acting normal.

Or whatever counted as normal among Hunters.

"Why?" She asked. "Are they hurt?"

"No," I answered, scratching the side of my head. "Nothing that won't be gone by tomorrow, at least. I'm a pretty good healer so I'll fix them up in a bit anyway."

"You're a healer?" She asked, still unsurprised. Even if I hadn't been able to feel her emotions, I'd seen the information about my actions in Vale on her school earlier.

"Yes," I answered, still frowning in false uncertainty. "I learned it…well, before."

"I see," She mused, a note of interest in her voice. "But if they're fine, then no. Those two get into a lot of fights as the strongest seniors in the school."

"The strongest?" I asked, wondering if I should make myself sound disappointed. I decided against it at the last second and made myself sound interested instead, before taking a step forward and looking her over again. In her glass heels, she was about five centimeters shorter than me, but she still cut an imposing figure in her dress, what with it being the one she probably killed people with. And even if other people didn't know that, no one else in the crowd had drawn forward after her, giving her space. "What about you? You look strong. Is that Dust woven into your clothes?"

At that, she gave me a smile that might have been almost honest.

"Why yes it is," She said. "Most people don't notice that quickly."

"My grandmother did some sewing in her free time," I replied before taking a chance—or maybe giving a chance. "I'm a fair hand at it as well; I used to help her. But yours looks better."

"It's rare to meet a man with that type of skill nowadays," She sounded honestly amused now. "Much less one who would admit it publicly."

I lifted a hand and gestured absently.

"My ego isn't that fragile," I told her. "Whether I'm sewing or wearing pajamas or whatever—the fact remains that I'm the strongest, right?"

"Hm," She hummed again, still sounding amused. "That's a good mindset, I suppose."

I lifted my eyes to meet hers and raised an eyebrow.

"You're powerful," I said again, more softly this time to add a bit more pressure. "You don't want to fight me, but it's not because you're scared of me."

I looked over my shoulder and then quickly back at her.

"Are you stronger than them?" I asked, expression simply inquisitive and maybe that was what made her meet my eyes.

With this, she couldn't just let things go.

She smiled at me.

"Let's discuss it later." She said. "Perhaps I can show you some tricks when it comes to sewing with Dust."

And with that, she turned and walked away, the bell ringing moments later. The sound of it seemed to jolt most of the other students out of their reverie and in seconds there was a mad scramble as students began rushing every which way to get to classes. Most took advantage of the giant hole in the ground and simply leapt down to the appropriate floor and I allowed them to before beginning work on fixing things.

Soon, it was just me and Adam.

"So…" Adam asked. "What the fuck just happened?"

I looked up from my work once and smiled at him.

"She made her move," I said.

Later, after I fixed all the damages and attended a few more classes that really weren't worth the bother, I was completely unsurprised to note that Cinder was in my room. I was several halls away at the time, so I mulled it over somewhat as I made my way towards her, but still failed to dig up anything like surprise. I'd been expecting this, too, though not quite in this way. One of the most likely ways of meeting Cinder had, after all, been through Emerald and Mercury.

Who were, I noted absently, there as well. No doubt if I asked why she was in my room, she'd just say they invited her; a predictable answer for a predictable question. As she often seemed to be, she was sewing, seated on Mercury's bed while my teammate sat on the floor and leaned against the bedpost. Emerald was on her own bed and both of Cinder's henchmen were doing convincing jobs of being apathetic, bored teenagers.

Probably because they were apathetic, bored teenagers.

"Look alive," I said as I came up beside Adam. We shared almost all of our classes, which wasn't unheard of for partners even if I was smart enough to know it was because of Grandmother. We only had a normal number of classes with Emerald and Mercury, because being elsewhere in the building did pretty much nothing to keep me from watching them at all times. The Adam thing was probably just Grandmother's attempt to keep either of us from being bored and alone, as well as to allow me to cover for Adam.

But the fact that I saw through what she was trying to do didn't mean I didn't appreciate it. I could honestly say this would be miserable without Adam to talk and complain to. I mean, I wouldn't say that, but I could and if I did, it would be honest.

Adam looked at me and raised an eyebrow. He'd slept through the entire class and only woken up when it let out, so he was a bit slow on the uptake—but I suppose it was just as well, since we were going to train through the night for, oh, forever, so I'd allowed it.

"Uh…what?" He asked. "Why?"

"Cinder's in our room," I said. I didn't anything about him being off his game in the morning, because he was my friend. Also, because he could react to a threat in a hot second, he was just otherwise completely useless.

"What?" He asked, blinking several times before shaking himself and focusing on me. "Our room?"

I nodded patiently, giving him a moment. Walking like a normal person, we had the time.

"That's…" He paused abruptly stiffening. "Wait, what's in our room? Do you have Autumn?"

"Easy," I answered, expanding the illusion around my arm would he could see it. Autumn was wrapped around my arm in bands of thorny green, all leading back to her central blossom that was seated above my wrist like a watch. Since Autumn had discovered sight and I'd had the opportunity to introduce her to color, she'd taken to coloring herself with increasingly diverse patterns and designs. Currently, she looked like a kaleidoscope on acid and part of the reason I'd rendered her invisible was to keep anyone from having a seizure. "There's nothing in our room; I've got everything stashed away, remember?"

Adam relaxed a touch and reached out to poke Autumn's petals gentle. In response, they opened wider to reveal the orb at the center—Autumn's single, unblinking eye. Well, maybe 'single' was deceptive; though there was only one orb, there were many pupils and irises dotting its surface. Autumn had evidently chosen to take quality over quantity when it came to her eyesight, with a single eye that could see in all directions instead of a multitude of the things.

"Sup, kid," Adam said. Autumn quietly stared at him before lifting several tendrils to wave at him in greeting. She hadn't figured out the who hearing thing yet—or, rather, she hadn't figured out the whole language thing—but she was a smart girl and she'd figured out that a lot of conversations start with greetings. "You got bored, too?"

As stuff like that was still beyond her, I translated it and she replied by closing her petals back around her orb, shutting her eye.

"Can't blame her," Adam said with a yawn. "At least I've been able to get some sleep, though."

"Are you actually awake now?" I asked.

"More or less," He answered. "Though God only knows the cost. Let's skip the guessing game and get to the part where you tell me what's going on."

"Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury are in our room," I repeated. "They looked around a bit, but you don't need to try hard to see that you and I don't keep much there. Now they're waiting."

"For us?" He asked and snorted at my look. "For us. Hey, I just woke up, okay?"

"This is why sleep is for the weak," I stated.

"Is this that move you mentioned earlier?" He asked, ignoring my words. "I'm going to go ahead and assume she's not going to try and kill us."

"Almost certainly not," I nodded. "I mean, in case you didn't notice, I'm good at making messes. Even if she could do it, I doubt she could do it clean and she sure as hell wouldn't do it here."

"What does she want then?" Adam wonder, lips curving down in a frown. "Information?"

"Probably," I mused. "She's surprisingly calm. I noticed it before when she didn't start going crazy about, you know—"

"Your mess?" He interrupted, smirking.

"Yeah," I said, unable to keep from smiling, too. "My mess. When she got the news, she didn't panic or run around screaming; she asked people for information, waited for it to come in, went over it, and then made her decision. I wondered at first if she just wasn't worried, but I think she's always like that. I barely felt her emotions change the entire fight, even when I started tearing the place apart. Image if you didn't know me and you saw all that—how would you react?"

"I'd have thought you were fucking insane," Adam answered at once. "Which…is how I feel now, so."

"I'm serious," I said.

"I know," He replied before falling silent for a moment. "To be honest, you can be a pretty scary guy, Jaune. I've seen you tear down cities in minutes and your idea of training something is to use it a million times in a night until you're a complete master. Even if I didn't know your real power, though, tearing buildings apart and putting them back together isn't something just anyone can do. I'm honestly not sure if I could have taken though two on but you didn't even look hurt. I mean, you never look hurt so that doesn't mean anything, but you get the idea. If I'd been one of those other kids, I'd have probably been scared, amazed, or both. Most of them have probably never seen Hunters fight even half-seriously before."

I nodded.

"Cinder saw all that go down in her home base and wandered over to a table to get something to eat while watching," I said. "Didn't even seem to faze her."

He frowned slightly at that.

"Could she have known about it before hand?" Adam wondered aloud. "We still don't know her Semblance, right? Maybe she has a precog power like that other girl you told me about. Or maybe she knows someone who does; we still don't know who else she's working with or for or…anything."

"Maybe," I allowed. "But it seemed less like foreknowledge and more like acceptance. Like 'Yeah, a freshman probably shouldn't be able to do this, but he obviously can and there's no point whining about it being impossible now.' It's like she saw it and just filed it away for future reference."

Adam was quiet for a moment.

"I've known some other people like that," He admitted. "General, they were some of the most terrifying people I've ever met. Really experienced Hunters—or freaks of nature like you."

I shrugged again, accepting that. It didn't bother me because it was true—and even if it did, if he hadn't said it, I'd have still known he'd been thinking it. One of the reasons Adam was my best friend was because he did say things like that.

"Where does that leave us?" He asked after a minute of silence.

"She's not the type we're going to frighten into doing something stupid," I said after a moment's thought. "Not this easily. I didn't really expect her to, but it's good to confirm that she's a profession."

"So you didn't get the reaction you wanted?" He guessed.

"Mm, I don't know about that," I pondered it for a moment. "With no real information about her, it's hard to say that there was a reaction I wanted. I'm happy with what we got, though."

"Oh?"

"It was only a little, but we know something now and we can assume some more," I answered. "She's a professional, she's extremely powerful and experienced, and she's good at keeping her head even when things go to hell. She's calm, smart, rational, and will make decisions accordingly—therefore we can assume that her plans thus far have been made with her best interests in mind and that it's leading up to something."

"So she's not just here at school because she's fucking crazy, is what you're saying?" He asked. "It would be a lie to say I didn't wonder. Still, that doesn't tell us anything new—she's smart and dangerous."

"Perhaps," I allowed. "But it's always nice to confirm. And while I'm not overjoyed by having intelligent enemies, I like to think that we're intelligent and so I'd say we have decent odds of figuring things out. And before you say a word, I was this close to saying 'I like to think that…, well, at least, I'm intelligent', so take what you can get."

Adam shut his mouth so as to better frown at me.

"It doesn't count if you say it anyway, prick," He told me. "What do we do now?"

My smile widened at his words and I bobbed my head cheerfully.

"We have an outline," I said as we approached our room. "Now we just…fill in the blanks. And, oh, look. Opportunity didn't even bother knocking before letting itself in."

Just before showing my scroll to the door, however, I paused.

"Oh, and cross your arms," I told him.

"Why?" He asked, but it did anyway. After only a moment, however, he glanced down. "Ah."

Halfway out of a ripple in space and right beneath his fingers were Wilt and Blush, ready to be drawn.

"It almost certainly won't, but just in case anything happens, kill Emerald and Mercury, okay?" I asked, pushing the sword back into my Inventory. "I should be able to at least hold Cinder off; if need be, we'll figure something out from there."

"Got it," He nodded. "Mind lowering it a little bit?"

He shifted so his arms were lower, more relaxed, and closer to his waist—to where his sword would normally be.

"Sure," I smiled, scanning my scroll over the door. "If things go to hell, just reach for your sword and it'll be there."

I wasn't expecting a fight, but that wasn't the same as not being prepared for one. I'd already prepared another charged Reformation, just in case things went south, and I'd plotted out several escape routes, both through the building and through Naraka. If worst came to worst, I was prepared to go all out and I knew Adam had my back.

So I opened the door.