Jaune and the Real Girl.

Chapter 28

Jaune fell down into the snow, the steel teeth biting into his leg, the knife in his abdomen. Everything was numb, everything. He stared at them, at the hunter who stood between him and Penny.

He watched the snow kick up from the razor net and fall upon her deflecting Floating Array's blades and sending her down to the ground. The razor thin wire cutting her hair, cutting her in a checkered pattern. He heard her scream as Vasily raised his hunting knife to finish her.

Jaune reached into his pocket and retrieved the pistol he had taken from the dead driver and raised it to his back and squeezed the trigger. The hammer fell with an empty click, nothing. It was empty, or jammed or something he didn't understand but it wouldn't fire, it only clicked uselessly as Vasily drove his blade into her again and again and again. He threw the useless pistol at him, it soared harmlessly past the hunter's shoulder to land in the snow.

Vasily stopped and laughed at the futility of him. "Were you expecting that to do anything Mr. Arch?" He asked him.

Jaune didn't have any words, he could only look at Penny, still trapped in the razor net immobile like and sparking from her numerous wounds, she was dead.

No.

Penny had survived worse than that, she had survived being diced into a dozen pieces before, she wasn't human, she wasn't weak and frail like him, she could survive that, she was better than most people, she could be fixed.

He needed to save her. He reached for Crocea Mors, it was close by laying in the snow, he just needed a weapon to fight, his reach fell short. His numb fingers were only inches away from the familiar hilt, a few inches too far. He tried to stretch himself, just one finger and he knew he could bring it to his hand, that he could fight.

All the while Vasily laughed mockingly at him.

Jaune turned to watch him untangle the steel net and take Penny's limp body by her hair. The knife rose and fell cleaving into her neck, sparks showered out like a spray of blood. He felt nauseous, useless, helpless, all he could do was watch as he gleefully hacked away at her until her head finally separated from her body. Both sparked and Vasily held her head up by her copper red hair in triumph.

Jaune clawed at the steel urasi trap that had claimed his leg. His numb fingers trying to wrench the trap open, just trying to get a grip on the icy trap was a chore, he cut his fingers on the jagged teeth, he felt no pain. He heard Vasily's footsteps approach him and looked up as his fingers desperately tried to pull the trap open.
The assassin stood high over him grinning down as he clutched his knife in one hand and Penny's still sparking head in the other. His snow boot came up and smashed his face knocking him down into the snow.

"Pathetic," Vasily sneered at him stepping on his chest and leaning down.

The hunter sheathed his knife and took hold of the one he'd left lodged in Jaune's abdomen. "I'll be taking this back," he said pulling it free, hot blood flowed from the wound seeming out of him. He stepped away, turning his back on him, leaving him to bleed and freeze in the snow. Jaune clutched at the wound feeling the blood slip through his weak numb fingers.
He rolled on his side as if he could crawl after him.

His vision blurred, he felt what little strength he had being drained away from him, his leg was still in the ursai trap, he was weaponless, he was dying, he was useless. The severed head looked at him with cold dead eyes.

"Jaune?" it asked him, speaking his name, "Jaune!"

"JAUNE!" his eyes opened. Penny was staring down at him, her hair hung down like a curtain and a worried expression colored her face.