Jaune's Pineapple Jam Part 2 Ch. 9

One Week after The Breach, Evernight Castle.

“Well, now. This is surprising. Congratulations on accomplishing your mission ahead of schedule, Cinder.” Salem, the Grimm Queen, greeted as she sat on her throne, and the power in her voice alone was enough to silence everything else.

There was a moment when no other sound until that of Cinder’s own voice.

“Thank you, mistress.” Cinder smiled even as she knelt, remaining humble in the middle of Salem’s throne room. “I would not have been able to do it without the gifts you have bestowed me.”

Salem, however, only chuckled at her reply as Cinder felt the Grimm in her hand tingle.

“Please, dear, false modesty does not suit you. Now stand. Be proud of what you have accomplished, but do not forget who you speak to.”

Despite the words, and the unspoken warning in Salem’s voice, it felt intoxicating, even empowering, to be recognized like so.

“Yes, my queen.” Cinder stood, unashamed and basking as the only one to stand compared to her peers.

Already, she could see Watts gritting his teeth as he stayed kneeling beside her.

And while Hazel and Tyrian weren’t as affected as the scientist, it felt good to be ahead of them as well.

After all, it’s not every day that one manages to pull the wool over Ozpin’s eyes and leave with the full power of a Maiden.

Cinder felt the fire warming her body, and she let out a heated breath as she took a moment to bask in the power.

The magic of a fully realized Maiden.

What a wonderful feeling it was.

And yet Cinder knew of a way of how to amplify it more.

Before she could even say anything about it, however, Salem’s voice cut through her thoughts.

“The only thing that would’ve made things better is if you had managed to find the vault for the Relic of Choice, but no matter, we could always use the Relic of Knowledge after you find the Spring Maiden-”

“About that-” Cinder interrupted, and immediately she felt a massive pressure push down on her.

The silence that followed felt oppressive, and she gulped as she saw Salem narrow her eyes at her. 

Still, Cinder knew what was going to happen if she let her master continue. She was going to be sent on another hunt, away from her future power source.

No, she could not have that just yet, and so, she mustered her courage and used the high from her recent success to express her voice.

“About that, my queen. We found something.” She repeated, wetting her lips and breathing a sigh of relief as Salem nodded slowly.

“Speak, what have you found?”

“There is a large cavern underneath the CCT in Beacon’s area. We suspect Ozpin is keeping the relic there together with the old Maiden’s body.” She answered, hoping against hope that Salem would send her back to Beacon instead of somewhere else.

“I see, though it is only a suspicion, is it not? We will still confirm it with the Relic of Knowledge.”

Cinder winced, and the reaction was not lost on her mistress as Salem suddenly raised an eyebrow.

“Unless, of course, there is something else you want to share with us, dear Cinder?”

Cinder’s heart thrummed rapidly. She didn’t want to share Jaune, not really, but faced with the overwhelming pressure of the Grimm Queen herself in the middle of her domain, she could do nothing but bow her head if she wanted a chance at power.

“Nothing important, my queen. It is just a boy-”

Cinder winced as she heard a sound she had never heard before.

Salem, the embodiment of evil, squealed.

“A boy!”

It was a pure unadulterated squeal that rang out from her mistress’ mouth, and Cinder could only blush as she felt her face heat up when her mistress’ squeals turned into laughter. 

“Oh my, Cinder! All this for a boy?!”

What burned more than her mistress’ laughter, however, were the chuckles coming from beside her. 

Both Watts and Tyrian were laughing at her expense.

Thankfully, Hazel did not deign to join it and both Mercury and Emerald were too afraid to join in as they knelt far behind them.

Shamefaced and blushing, Cinder immediately moved to shake her head.

“No, it’s more than that!”

“I do hope so, Cinder, because as amusing as it is, I will not stop my plans for a mere boy.” Salem laughed, narrowing her eyes at Cinder even as she mustered the courage to bulldoze on.

“He is special, my queen. I believe Ozpin is grooming him to be one of his agents.” She said, bowing her head even as Salem raised an eyebrow at her.

“Oh, is that so? Why haven’t you killed him yet? You know what we do to Ozpin’s agents.”

Other than the act itself raising suspicions all over Beacon, there was one other reason.

“I believe he could be useful to our cause, my queen.”

“How so? What makes this boy so special compared to Ozpin’s other agents that we shouldn’t kill him on sight?”

Cinder looked down at that, biting her lip in frustration before letting out a sigh of resignation.

“It is his Semblance, my queen. He has the ability to amplify Aura, yet when I had him use it on me, he was able to affect the Maiden’s power as well.”

“He was able to amplify magic?” Salem asked and it was then did Cinder know her interest was piqued.

“Yes, my queen.”

“I see.” Salem nodded, tapping a finger to her chair as she looked at Cinder coolly. “I suppose you want him by our side then, or more specifically, yours.”

“....Yes.” She confessed, there was no use lying when Salem already had her motivations pinned down.

“Tell me everything.”

Cinder hesitated for one single moment before she only nodded as she began to speak.

“His name is Jaune Arc and he-”

—--

“-is a wonderful young man. You must be proud of him.” Cinder started, smiling as the blondes in front of her let out various reactions.

She noted the mixture of discomfort, pride, and guilt among the group, but she kept most of her attention on who was obviously the eldest.

“He is certainly exceeding expectations, that’s for sure.” The eldest among them replied, standing up from her seat to meet Cinder.

Before she could even speak, however, another voice cut in.

“I’m sorry, but how do you know our brother?” 

This time, the one with glasses looked at her skeptically.

Cinder only kept her smile, however, as she processed the question.

Our brother.

These were his sisters then. Cinder expected it, but it was nice to hear some confirmation.

She only smiled, however, waving to those behind her as she answered the sister’s question.

“I’m sorry, it must have been terribly rude of me, but these are my teammates, Emerald and Mercury. They are friends with Team RWBY, and since they are friends with Team JNPR….well, I guess you can call us a long chain of friendship.”

“Hey, Ruby. Hey, Yang. How’s it hanging?” Emerald interjected peppily to Cinder’s satisfaction.

Ah, Emerald, always the loyal peon. Cinder could always count on her to take the initiative when it came to getting her favor. Sometimes, she was too overzealous and prone to messing things up.

This time, however, pleased Cinder as he saw the Arc sisters slowly relax while Emerald smiled at them.

“Wassup.” Mercury added blandly, but who cared about Mercury anyway?

Even the Arc sisters only nodded politely at him for a bit before looking back at Cinder. 

“It’s nice to meet you three. My name is Merigold and these are my sisters Jade, Bleu, Mauve, and Violet.” Merigold, the eldest, greeted, and Cinder filed the names in her mind.

It would certainly be useful for what he had planned for Jaune in mind.

“Aren’t there supposed to be four members in a team?” Bleu asked, tilting her head as she kept her wary eyes on them.

Clever girl.

Cinder wanted to chuckle, but she only smiled inwardly as she looked at Jaune’s sister.

“Our fourth member is running late, but she’ll be here. She knows what’s best for her and her team.”

Still, Cinder internally bit her cheek. She’d have to visit Neo again to confirm her participation, but if she didn’t….well, Roman Torchwick was going to have a very long stay under the tender mercies of General Ironwood.

“Soooo, what’s up, Cinder? How have you been? Is there something you need from us?”

Cinder jolted out of her thoughts, and she turned towards the source of the voice to see Ruby Rose looking awkwardly at her.

“Yeah, you’re not usually one to approach us without Jaune around.” Yang Xiao Long added, and immediately the Arc sisters’ eyes sharpened towards her.

Cinder, however, only chuckled wryly. She didn’t know why these two were still wary of her when she was the one who saved their teammates while they were off somewhere else.

And so, Cinder moved to remind them what they may have forgotten.

“I merely wanted to reconnect with some friends, after all, the last time I saw your team, I was saving them and Jaune back during The Breach.” She answered, keeping her smile polite, even as both Ruby and Yang winced at the same time. 

Yet Cinder wasn’t done yet, oh no. Instead of staying on the defensive by being asked questions, she attacked.

“Where were you, by the way? We didn’t see you back then. Dear Emerald was actually worried if you were okay.”

Eyes snapped towards Emerald then, who only looked back with wide eyes before nodding hesitantly.

“I…uhhh.,,yeah. We were pretty worried.”

Ruby looked at Yang at that, and both sisters winced as Yang touched her neck.

“Sorry, we were….injured. We got separated but got ourselves out though.”

Cinder knew there was more to the story than just getting separated and getting out themselves, but she had more pressing problems than thinking about the mechanics of the sisters’ escape.

“So, what do you want with our brother?” The one called Jade asked as she crossed her arms at Cinder.

Now that was a loaded question.

Months ago, before The Breach, Cinder would have an answer to herself.

She wanted Jaune for his power.

For his ability to strengthen, enhance, and amplify her.

With him by her side, she would be unstoppable.

Now, however, it was much more complicated than that.

Warnings and directives from her mistress have muddied things, and in lieu of giving the truth, Cinder demurred.

“I merely wanted to find out if what they say about him is true. After all, there are a lot of rumors about him flying around. For example, is he really dating multiple women? Is it true? Or is it false?”

It was true, of course. Everyone who has seen the news knew it to be true, and Cinder’s question was mere formality. Though, it did serve another purpose. It allowed her to see how the people closest to Jaune reacted to it.

And it did get a reaction from the lot of them because despite being Jaune’s family and friends, this was the first time some outsider had managed to ask them straight about it.

“It’s real, it’s very much real.” Jade scowled, while Bleu pursed her own lips.

“You’ve seen the news, haven’t you?” 

Unknowingly to both girls, however, they just gave Cinder a closer view to their feelings.

They weren’t happy, at least not completely, but they seemed willing to let things go as they are. Cinder, again, only filed that tidbit of information for future interactions. If she could find a way to devise a much more palatable situation for these sisters, then they may give her their favor. Which, while she still didn’t know what to do yet, would certainly be useful as a bargaining chip for manipulating Jaune.

“Pretty hard to believe that that guy was kissing all those pretty ladies while we were trying to save them, don’t you think?” Mercury added, filling in the silence as Cinder noted everyone’s face.

“Those pretty ladies are our friends.” Yang narrowed her eyes accusingly, but Mercury only shrugged at her.

“Just saying, is all. I just didn’t expect that to happen, because one day, I thought he was dating Belladonna, and then bam! He was apparently dating Nikos and Schnee as well!”

“I doubt anybody expected them to do something like that. We didn’t, that’s for sure.” Merigold chuckled, laughing awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her head.

Cinder, herself, could only smile wryly as she remembered when she first heard the news herself.

Trust her, she did not react well. She was in disbelief at first, anger followed, and then resignation before she finally moved on to think about how she could use such information for her own benefit.

Information that was now being enhanced by the people around them.

“So what’s going to happen now? I’ve heard the Schnees are already in town. Do you think they’re going to let this relationship continue?” Cinder asked, steering the conversation to her desired direction.

The Arcs, however, only looked hesitant at each other before the oldest among them finally decided to speak to them.

“We don’t know yet, but I’m sure that’s what they’re talking about right now.” Merigold answered as Cinder narrowed her eyes.

So they were talking about it right now.

Interesting.

Cinder only smiled, however, keeping her face polite as she looked at the Arcs.

“Thank you. Could you please inform me of their decision when they have it?”

Merigold looked at her in confusion at that before shrugging. “Sure, I guess. It is not like it is going to stay a secret for long anyway. I’ll tell you when we hear something from them-”

DING!

“-Which is apparently now.” Merigold exclaimed with wide eyes, getting her sisters to crowd over her shoulder as they looked at her Scroll.

“They want to meet us at the gardens facing the Emerald Forest.” Bleu noted as the rest of the blondes turned towards Ruby and Yang.

“Do you think you could lead us there? Mom says to bring the two of you too as well for an announcement.”

“Of course! I think that’s where Weiss and her sister had tea once!” Ruby screamed out, standing enthusiastically as she pulled her sister up with her.

It was at that moment, however, that Cinder decided to remind them of her presence.

“Well, isn’t that splendid. Please let me know of their decision.” She smiled, gathering their attention once again just to cement her presence in their mind. “I would like to see if I have a chance of joining.”

Cinder saw the moment her words hit them like a thunderbolt.

The Arcs reeled back, while both Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long bristled. Why, she could even see Emerald clenching her fists tightly beside her.

Cinder almost chuckled, almost, because despite them suddenly throwing questions and accusations towards her, she knew for a fact she wasn’t jumping into Jaune’s bed anytime soon.

No, this was just a means to an end. 

A lead in her investigation.

A tool to ascertain the truth.

Because if her mistress’ suspicion was right.

Then…..Jaune Arc was Ozma.

—------

“-Ozma? Jaune Arc is Ozma?! How?!”

Cinder could not stop the outburst from leaving her mouth, but it only took her an instant before she was kneeling again as Salem frowned in displeasure.

“Think, Cinder, think. Ozpin slinks away from the public eye after the rise of the new Hero of Vale? As empty as that title is, it is not the first time my husband has cultivated a successor as his next vessel. Heroic, kind, and charming enough to seduce women, I believe I know my husband enough to see his like. I will admit, though, that him having relations with three women is new.”

Cinder took her mistress’ words into account, even as another voice angrily growled between them.

“We kill him then.” Hazel Reinheart announced instantly, his anger flaring as the target of his ire, Ozpin, was mentioned in the conversation.

Salem, however, only laughed at him.

“Now, now, Hazel. No need to rush. After all, it is still just a suspicion.”

“But it is a suspicion we cannot ignore.” Arthur Watts added, itching to have his voice heard and be included now that someone else has opened up the topic. “The advantage we will have alone, should we be able to capture him before he grows into his powers, is immense.”

Cinder clenched her fists at that. It was originally her plan to have Jaune pulled to their side, and yet here Watts was trying to include his name on it. 

And yet, she could only freeze as Salem suddenly stood up.

“Correct, my dear Arthur, which is why Cinder’s interest in this boy has merit.” Salem announced, and Cinder’s throat closed up as she saw Salem approach her. “Really, Cinder, you just keep exceeding my expectations.”

It should have made her happy, but the voice only sent chills down her spine as she attracted the full undivided attention of the Grimm Queen.

“I-I aim to please, my queen.” Cinder stuttered as Salem stood tall in front of her.

Salem, however, only laughed at her response.

“Of course you are. Why wouldn’t you be?”

Cinder froze, however, when a hand cupped her cheek to tilt her head upward. Looking upward, she saw Salem’s black eyes smiling down at her.

“Which is why I also know you will do what is needed.”

“My queen?” She asked, confusion tinting her voice as she looked at Salem’s smile.

“You will investigate this Jaune Arc, and if you find him to be my husband…..” Salem trailed off, and Cinder almost winced as the hand suddenly grabbed her chin tightly. “Well, if you find him to be my husband, then bring him to me.”

This…this was not what she wanted, Cinder, however, could only shiver as black eyes glared at her.

“A-And if he is not?” She asked, she had to, if she wanted the chance to amplify her powers.

It was…terrifying to be this close to Salem’s wrath, mercifully, however, she felt it abate as her face was suddenly released.

“Seduce him or kill him, that is up to you. Just make sure Ozma has no pawn to speak of when you are done with him.”

It was not what she actually wanted, but having the possibility of Jaune still be her future power source was something she was willing to accept.

“Y-Yes, my queen.” Cinder gasped for breath as Salem walked past her, everyone paused, however, when she stopped sharply.

“Oh, and since you are at it, why don’t you use the original plan for the Vytal Festival?” Salem started before perking up as an idea formed in her mind. “In fact, since you’re already so successful with the few resources I have given you, you can add Tyrian and Arthur into that plan. Attempt to retrieve the Relic of Choice, but if you are not able to, just make sure to cause chaos, divide Remnant, and cripple Ozma’s forces for what is to come at the very least.”

They all froze at that, and for one moment, all three glanced at each other.

The three of them, in Vale, with her in command?

“……What?” Watts muttered in horror.

“Ohh! Ohh! A mission from our glorious queen! I’m so happy you trust me so, your majesty!” Tyrian squealed in ecstasy.

And Cinder?

Cinder looked at both her peers, and grinned. 

—-----

VZZZZ-VZZZ

Cinder jolted out of her thoughts as she felt her Scroll vibrate, even as the Arc sisters choked on air in front of her.

“Another one?!”

“How many girls does big bro even have?!”

“The question is, how many will he have.”

“”YAY! MORE SISTERS!””

Cinder ignored them all as she fished out her Scroll. As a rule, there were only a few people who had Cinder’s Scroll number, and all of them were what one could call her business partners.

So she knew that whatever this was, it was important.

“I’m sorry, girls. I have to go.” She announced before pausing as she sent Ruby Rose a confident smile. “Do say hi to Jaune for me, will you? I do so miss my friend.”

Cinder watched as Ruby choked on air, but before anyone could reply, she turned around, dragging both Emerald and Mercury with her as they exited the cafeteria.

“What is it? How can we help?” Emerald asked enthusiastically, but Cinder only chuckled at her as they walked the halls of Beacon.

“What makes you think I need some help?”

“Well, you only drag us away when you need something done.” Mercury shrugged, but this time, Cinder only rolled her eyes.

“Please don’t tell me you were actually enjoying their company.”

She watched as Mercury shiver before a playful gleam appeared in his eyes.

“I don’t know. That older Arc girl actually looked pretty cute.”

“Pig.” Emerald curled her lips in disgust, but Cinder’s eyes only hardened as she looked at Mercury.

“Do not even think of compromising our position here, Mercury.” Cinder hissed before pulling him into a quiet corner away from prying eyes. “You, having relations with an Arc, could put you on the spotlight! We don’t need that, do we?”

Just for safe measure, Cinder let the power of the Maiden heat her hands up, and she watched in pleasure as Mercury gulped fearfully.

“Okay, okay! I was just joking!” Mercury raised his hands up defensively, and Cinder finally let go of him as his uniform started to smolder. “They’re too….happy for me, anyway.”

Happy. That was one way to describe them. Cinder could remember their unadulterated laughter echoing inside the cafeteria as the brood of Arcs interacted with each other and the Xiao Long-Rose siblings.

It was….intriguing to say the least.

Still, she had accomplished something. She’s managed to make contact with Jaune’s family, took a measure of their reactions to recent events, and put her hat in the ring so to speak. 

It wasn’t mission accomplished just yet, but it was only a matter of time before she could truly investigate whether Jaune was Ozma or not.

After all, who would know better if Jaune was changing or not, if not his family?

Meanwhile, however, she had other matters to attend to.

A.W: I’m in.

—---

Arthur Watts bit an apple as he watched Roman Torchwick get beaten on the screen.

------
Ahhhh, Cinder, how I love you as a villain. Someone who attains power, but will always have someone more powerful than her. Strong but never truly free.

And oh? What's this? Tyrian and Watts in Vale? I wonder, what's the worst that could happen?

And my, oh my, how has Roman Torchwick been?

Honestly, I am so excited once all these story lines crash together.

Imagine the Fall of Beacon but bigger, larger, and longer, because really, we haven't even seen what the White Fang has been up to just yet. ;)

P.S. In my own honest opinion, I think Salem should've went all in during the Vytal Festival instead of just leaving it to Cinder. Imagine if Hazel, Tyrian, and Watts were there during the Fall of Beacon. Qrow, Glynda, and Ironwood could've been targets to weaken Ozpin's powerbase. Meaning that even if Ozpin did reincarnate, he'd have to build his inner circle from scratch again, putting him at a severe disadvantage with everything going on.