Relic of the Future: Chapter 35, Chapter 37

Winter stared back at Ashari. "There. Are you satisfied now?"

"I won't truly be satisfied until she's safe but I am at least in a better mood than I was ten minutes ago." He raised his sword in a fencer's salute. "Must we fight, Winter? My orders are to keep you occupied. Talk may be cheap but it's also less likely to hurt you."

If her sister weren't in danger Winter might have agreed. If this were the Ace-Ops, other soldiers or Ironwood who she could trust to know the risks, she might have accepted his offer. It wasn't. They were children. Winter brought her sabre up and lunged forward. His sword was no fencer's weapon no matter how he wielded it and a quick slash from the left-

His sword surrendered and pirouetted around her own as he hopped back, leaving her to cut through air where she expected to bounce off steel. It unbalanced her lightly, just enough for him to tickle her chin with the tip of his sword. Winter launched herself back but needn't have. He hadn't bothered to try and strike her.

"You always open with a backhanded swing from above your left shoulder," he commented. "You bounce the first off the opponent's weapon, strike again while using your momentum and then feint on the third, sweeping over to attack low and from the right."

Winter's lips pursed. That was not an inaccurate summation of her preferred opener. Obviously, she mixed it up against her frequent sparring partners so as not to become repetitive, but he was not-

Or was he?

"You know me in your world. You are… my age…?"

"A little older." He chuckled. "Old enough to draw a few looks."

"Oh?" Winter snarked and readied herself for round two. "I hope you didn't try anything inappropriate with me."

"Well." Ashari laughed awkwardly and scratched his cheek with his sword hand. "I may have… uh… knocked you up."

Winter's sabre wobbled. "E-Excuse me!?"

"I suppose I didn't introduce myself properly. I could have sworn I mentioned it to Weiss." He bowed from the waist. "Jaune Ashari-Schnee. And you, in my world, would be Winter Ashari-Schnee." He cocked a smile. "I did say our fight was a tragic comedy, did I not? It's good to see you again, Winter, even if you're not my Winter."

—Arc Royale: Chapter 35



Ashari had little difficulty disengaging from Winter. She'd kept him busy and that was all they could ask for, but she couldn't kill him.

—Arc Royale: Chapter 37