Jaune Arc didn't know what was going on. This wasn't unusual. At ten years of age there were many things about the world that just went over his head. This, however, seemed important.

There was a girl in his house.

He knew her, she lived nearby in a small, dilapidated house and spent her afternoons at the neighborhood park, watching the kids climb on the jungle gym. Violet and Indigo thought she looked sad. Azure said she looked angry. Jaune wasn't sure. To him she looked like she wasn't there, like she was in a memory that hadn't happened yet.

And now she was in his house.

He didn't know why, but his parents gave him very strict instructions. He wasn't supposed to bother her, wasn't supposed to ask her why she was here, wasn't supposed to ask about the bruises. Just be polite, be nice, and stay out of the way.

So Jaune did. He read in his room, did his homework, ate some carrot sticks and apple slices, and pretended everything was normal, even when the police came by and talked with his parents in quiet intense whispers. And the only question he asked her was when his favorite show came on and he asked if she wanted to watch cartoons.

She nodded and the two watched the television silently together on the couch. Jaune tried to focus on the antics of the clumsy but good natured knight on the television, but found himself watching this girl out of the corner of his eye. Sometime during the show she'd started crying. He didn't know why or what to do, but she caught him staring. She didn't look away, just stared at him in return with red and yellow eyes.

"I'm sorry," he found himself saying. He meant for more than staring, but didn't know what exactly he was apologizing for. He just knew he was.

She seemed to understand and nodded, and turned back towards the television. They watched in silence again until it was time for bed.

The girl was put up with him for the night, the two rooms his six sisters took up were overcrowded already. Jaune lay awake staring at the unmoving dark shape in the bed across from his for what seemed like hours until sleep at long last took him.

He was awoken by his sheets being drawn back and someone moving onto the bed next to him. A warm body was pressed against his back and arms wrapped around his body.

"Who is that?" he yelped.

She replied with a reassuring murmur and a quiet name; "Cinder."

Jaune tried not to think about how warm she was or how her breath felt on the back of his neck. He tried not to think about how boys and girls weren't supposed to sleep in the same bed together, or how much he really didn't mind. He tried not to think about how worried he was about her.

"Are you okay?" Jaune whispered.

Cinder sighed, a breath of warm air that tickled across his ear and sent shivers down his spine.

"I'm just lonely," she said, "and scared. I don't know... I don't know what's going to happen now."

Not for the first time that day, Jaune didn't know what to say. When he was scared he'd run to his mother or sisters for comfort, what was he supposed to do when someone came to him? Why did she come to him at all?

"It's okay," he said, trying to mimic the calming tones his mother used, "I'll protect you."

He felt her squeeze him tightly for a second.

"My little knight," she murmured, sleepily. "But you're so small."

"I won't always be small," said Jaune, thankful that the dark hid his blush.

"Then for now I'll protect you."

He didn't understand. How could she protect him when she needed protecting? But he felt safe in her arms and he could tell she felt safe with her arms around him and soon he slipped back into a dreamless slumber.