Cinderella and Prince Charming (Well, Kind of, Jaune's Doing his Best) is a RWBY fanfic by Deferonz.
When he was five years old, Jaune suddenly fell over screaming. His parents rushed him to the hospital, only to be informed that there was nothing that they could do: His soulmate was being tortured. For the next ten years, Jaune would feel spikes of pain and despair as his soulmate was systematically crushed in every single way. All he could do was try to send some positive emotions through the bond.
Cinder has been used and abused her entire life, told she was completely worthless and beaten down by everyone. The only thing that has ever kept her going was the tiny light of her soulmate in her heart, a link to someone who understands her and will always forgive her.
Jaune goes to Beacon to become a Huntsman so that he might one day be able to protect his soulmate.
Cinder goes to Beacon to tear down the world around her.
Eventually, they will meet. It will not go well.
Can be found here.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- A minor background detail, but Jaune has a much better relationship with Weiss. Though he does flirt with her briefly, he gives up on her very quickly because of his bond with his soulmate. He even feels comfortable discussing his bond, and she finds his devotion adorable.
- Played with. For quite a long time, Cinder and Jaune's relationship is exactly the same as canon; she barely even knows he exists, just knowing him vaguely as Pyrrha's unimportant partner. That's why it takes so long for them to actually meet. Once they do actually meet, however, Cinder instantly turns around and devotes herself to protecting Jaune. Jaune, likewise, reciprocates.
- Affectionate Nickname: Before she meets him, Cinder always referred to her soulmate as her "little light," because the bond was the only bright spot in her life. After they meet, she does still often refer to him that way, even out loud.
- All-Loving Hero: Jaune very much becomes this, instinctually helping others whenever he can and lending a sympathetic ear to even morally dubious characters that the rest of the group have already written off. Cinder regularly muses that this is what she loves the most about Jaune.
- Attempted Rape: Emerald mentions a time that two men tried to assault her. Of course, any trauma from that seems mostly negated by the pride she feels for having tricked them into knocking each other out without her throwing a punch herself.
- Blasé Boast: Salem orders Cinder to conquer the White Fang as if she's ordering her to do her chores. She clearly considers the most powerful terrorist organization on the planet inside their own headquarters to be a complete non-threat.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Jaune always hated the pitying looks he got as a child whenever he was wracked by random pains from his bond with his soulmate. Jaune tells Cinder that no one seemed to care about what was happening to his soulmate, the one who was actually being tortured.
- Deus ex Machina: Throughout the story, Jaune can't help but note that quite a few of the things that happen to the group seem a bit too coincidental or convenient, but tries to ignore the uneasy feeling and appreciate their insane luck. Towards the end of the story, it turns out it was the God of Darkness manipulating events, so he can distract his brother and gain an upper hand in their upcoming fight to become the Top God.
- Freudian Excuse: Discussed; most people don't particularly care why Cinder did what she did. Jaune is the only one who is truly on her side, because he understands—even better than Cinder herself—that she's been pushed into horrible situation after horrible situation her entire life.He wants to give her a second chance. Because no one else will.
And because no one had ever given her a first to begin with. - He's a Friend: The dynamic between Cinder and Team _NPR, though both parties already know who the others are to Jaune by the time of their first interactions, and it's that knowledge rather than Jaune's physical presence that tempers their behavior. Following the fight for the Maiden power, both parties attempt to be cordial to each other for Jaune's sake, to the point where Nora holds back her anger in lieu of faking her usual joy and trying to force friendship when Jaune formally introduces her to them.
- Knight Templar: Atlas has the classic mindset of "we are in the right, therefore it doesn't matter how many people we have to kill or threaten to get what we want." They threaten Jaune to control Cinder, arrest Jaune (after entrapping him to break the law) and torture him to drag Cinder back, and all but take over Vale. Threatening Jaune is the one that gets brought up the most; they took the one thing good about Cinder and used it against her, justifying every horrible thought she ever had.
- Morality Chain: Discussed. Pretty much the only reason Cinder chooses not to do evil is because she is worried it might 1: physically hurt Jaune or 2: emotionally hurt Jaune. And the second one is a far lower priority. Jaune points out that if he's her only reason for ever doing good things, she's never truly going to improve, so she works to get past that bit by bit.
- Oblivious to Love: Jaune, as always. In addition to his utter failure to recognize Pyrrha's feelings for him, he mentions a time when his sister had to explain that a girl liked him... after she kissed him on the cheek and said she enjoyed their date. At least it's justified by him being devoted to his unknown soulmate. And he does realize Cinder's feelings for him immediately, though that's mostly due to the soulmate bond.
- Pet the Dog: Cinder changes instantly once she confirms that Jaune is her soulmate.
- While she does try to continue her plan, she hesitates before executing Pyrrha (knowing she's Jaune's friend), resulting in her survival.
- When she finds herself injured in a room with Qrow, who she previously fled from even though she outnumbered him, she immediately pulls Jaune behind her for his protection.
- When she hears that Ruby is the one who injured her, she briefly considers going after her... then discarding the thought because she's Jaune's friend.
- She instantly capitulates to Atlas' demands when they threaten Jaune.
- She goes back to save Jaune when Atlas threatens him, and then goes back to save Jaune's friends when they're in danger too.
- Related in the Adaptation: Jaune turns out to be one of Salem's direct descendants. Salem is pleased by the revelation and becomes even more fond of him as a result.
- Shipper on Deck: Salem, of all people, finds Cinder and Jaune's relationship to be adorable, and keeps offering suggestions to get them closer.
- Soulmate AU Fic:
- Soulmates feel each other's emotions, especially negative ones, and pain most of all. When (or if) soulmates meet each other's eyes, they will instantly recognize each other, but before that they have no way of finding each other. Jaune is bonded to Cinder, and the fact that she's been tortured for most of his life bled over. Jaune resolves to be a Huntsman in large part due to a desire to protect his soulmate. They finally meet each other in the middle of the Battle of Beacon, the worst possible time.
- For other pairings, everyone has a different opinion. Yang and Blake discover they're soulmates on the first day of school, and from then on are inseparable. Ruby is rather dismissive of the concept of soulmates, since her own parents weren't bonded but were perfectly happy together. Nora and Ren are soulmates, and while Nora claims it's platonic, no one believes her. Pyrrha has been soured on the concept due to the hundreds of fans who tried to claim they were soulmates. Weiss, on the other hand, is a hopeless romantic and finds Jaune's devotion adorable.
- And then during the Menagerie arc, Emerald finds out Illia is her soulmate right as they're in the middle of saving Sienna Khan when they were supposed to be helping Adam launch a coup. And yes, Illia is already of Adam's side. Whoops.
- Spanner in the Works: During the Menagerie arc, Jaune sees Adam stab Sienna Khan and rushes over to heal her—forgetting that they're supposed to be helping Adam overthrow Sienna. After they escape, Cinder admits that Salem isn't actually going to care who is in charge of the White Fang as long as they bend the knee, but this is still going to require changing some plans.
- There Is Only One Bed: Salem offers to invoke this. She notes that if Jaune's bed is destroyed in an "accident," Cinder will surely be willing to share. Jaune politely declines.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: After Jaune beats Ironwood in a fight, Jaune can't stop talking about it. This leads to the others mentioning their own impressive accomplishments. Jaune is soon overshadowed, but he's still grinning like an idiot.
- Worf Had the Flu:
- Atlas is able to hold onto Cinder after the Battle of Beacon because her injuries are so severe that she can't use her full Maiden powers.
- Jaune's fight against General Ironwood. Ironwood has lost his cybernetic arm, lost his weapon, is injured and exhausted from two major fights, and completely out of Aura. He still almost completely curb-stomps Jaune, and Jaune only wins with cleverness and observation.
- Wrong Context Magic: Downplayed. Salem reveals that Semblances and Aura are what remain of true magic, and thus humans can still use them to act as a gateway to learning the original craft with enough patience and training.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Ironwood orders Cinder's execution after her interrogation. While he tries to dress it up as justice, it's blatantly obvious to everyone that it's more about disposing of a useless asset.
