{3rd Person POV}
'Shit, this really hurts,' Mordred thinks to herself while Jaune spreads the cream on her bruises.
She winced when he pressed his fingers a little too hard. She wanted to complain, but there was no way she was going to look weak in front of him. It was bad enough that she lost the fight pretty fucking spectacularly against a kid whose only fighting experience with Aura was a single Grimm. She had killed plenty of Grimm before whenever she went with her dad on hunting trips.
It usually surprised the rest of the family whenever she even agreed to join her father, but sometimes she had to know when it was time to fight with him, and when it was time to rein in her anger so she could accumulate more experience for her future as a Huntress.
"I... I'm sorry, Mordred," Jaune told her as he got behind her and started applying the cream to the bruises on her back, from being launched into the cave walls so hard that her Aura broke.
"This kid... didn't I tell him to stop?" Mordred thinks to herself.
She turned her head and glared at him. "How many times do I have to tell you, Jaune? It's a fucking fight! Of course there will be injuries!" Even though she was mad at him for pitying her, at least he cared, because she knew that if it were any other kid-for example, one of her classmates-who had beaten her, they would fucking gloat about it and wouldn't even think to help her patch up.
"Okay..." Jaune let out a sigh and finished applying the cream on her back. "There... I'm done. Is there anywhere else that hurts?"
She could feel her ribs throbbing in pain, because she might have lied about the extent of her injuries to Jaune. She knew what bruised ribs felt like, and this wasn't it. This was, at the very least, cracked ribs, especially on her left side.
How the fuck Jaune managed to fake being healthy for two weeks was beyond her, because right now all she wanted to do was lie down on a bed and sleep, and that was with only cracked ribs-let alone broken ribs and a broken arm, including God knows whatever happened to his muscles.
She shivered as she remembered the feeling on her fingers when she poked Jaune's ribs to check a couple of weeks ago.
"Nah, there are no more injuries..." Mordred lied to him, and then tried to stand up. Her legs buckled under her weight, and she would have fallen face-first if Jaune hadn't caught her. "Fuck off... I can stand on my own."
She grabbed Jaune's shoulder and tried to use it to pull herself onto her feet. "Look... no need to worry about me. I'm more worried about you. How does it feel fighting with Aura for the first time? That time with the Grimm doesn't count because I said so." She smirked, but the smirk fell as she looked down and thought about how weak she looked right now. "And... I'm sorry for not giving you a good fight. I am. It's... it's kind of shameful that I lost to you. I'm a prodigy. My teachers said so. Dad, and even Mom, said so. Dad also told me that I was even better than Artoria when she was my age..."
She saw the worry in Jaune's eyes, and frankly, more care than she got from most of her family. She knew how difficult she could be, and she didn't blame the rest of them for not making her their favorite.
Jaune smiled at her, gentle but steady. "Why would you be ashamed? You were incredible..."
His voice made her eyes start to water. "I'm not incredible, Jaune.... I lost badly... You didn't even try to beat me, did you? Don't lie to me!" She tried to blink back her tears, but it only made them worse.
She knew he held back, because a split second before the final clash she saw a glimpse of his Reinforcement and how dim the circuits were. The small number of circuits he had showed because he held back, and it was different from the last time Jaune showed her his Reinforcement.
"Mordred... I-" She cut him off with a shake of her head.
"Stop it, Jaune! Just say it! I'm weak, aren't I?! You're disappointed in me, right?! How am I supposed to protect you if I'm this weak, Jaune?! I was supposed to be the one who protects you! I'm older, more trained! I'm your big sister! I was supposed to be the one you can lean on, not whatever the fuck this is!" Mordred shouted as she let go of him, only to fall to the ground while holding herself back from outright bawling.
Her body started to shake. Her eyes widened when she felt a palm on her hair, and she looked up to see Jaune smiling as he crouched and held her face.
"Don't say that about yourself, Mordred. You are the best sister I could have ever asked for. You think Artoria would let me train? Would Saphron cover for me whenever I'm gone too long? Would Jeanne teach me about Aura? Hell, would any of them help me hide my injuries? No... but you did, Mordred. You did all of that and more, not because you don't care about me, but because you love me too much to stop me from chasing my dream. For that, you are the best big sister for me, Mordred. On my honor as an Arc, I speak truly."
Mordred stayed silent for a few seconds before a tear ran down her face, and then another, until she started to sob and cry.
"He said it... on his honor as an Arc... I can't believe he said it..." she thought as she cried harder.
Jaune wrapped his arms around her gently and rested her chin on his shoulder.
"Shh... It's alright, Mordred. I'm here. Let it out," he whispered, and she buried her face against his shoulder.
"Jaune! Do you know how worried I was when you came back that night?! You looked like you were about to die! I was so scared, Jaune! So scared! I don't want you to die, Jaune! I was supposed to be with you that night!" Mordred shouted as she bawled, and something inside her finally cracked.
Jaune rubbed her back to calm her down. "You didn't know, Mordred. It's not your fault. I would never blame you for it, Mordred."
"I don't care that I didn't know, Jaune! I'm your big sister! I should have known! I'm the worst!" She bit Jaune's shoulder and started to pummel her fist against his chest, not noticing that Jaune had actively turned off his Aura so she wouldn't hurt herself.
"You're not the worst, Mordred. You never were, and you never will be," he said, then winced as Mordred's teeth broke skin.
Mordred bit harder and tasted blood. "What...?" She pulled back and saw the left top side of Jaune's shirt was wet with blood. "Jaune... why..."
Jaune kept looking at her with the same steady warmth. "Why? I don't want you to get hurt, Mordred."
"But I... bu-" He cut her off with a shake of his head.
"No buts. I would rather it be me who gets hurt than you, Mordred. You may be my big sister, but I'm also your little brother. I won't let you hurt yourself," he said softly.
Her eyes widened, and she sniffled as she rubbed at her face with her sleeve. "I'm sorry, Jaune... I'm sorry..."
Jaune sighed, then wrapped his arms around her again.
"Come on. Don't cry. Don't you want to train with me today? I planned to experiment with my Aura later, but I can't do it without you, Mordred, so don't cry for me, okay?"
She nodded and wiped her face by rubbing it on his shirt, then looked at him again with red eyes. "Okay... but I expect you to show me something exciting, okay? If not... I guess you'll disappoint me."
"Don't worry, Mordred. There's no way I would disappoint the great Mordred Arc, because if I do, we both know you'll beat me up."
"...You betcha."
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