Beta: Jefardi
Cover Art: Natzo
Falling Down
Chapter Seven
Jaune knew it was only a matter of time before someone from his family came to get him.
However, what he had not counted on was that family member being Violet. His mom or dad made sense, but why would they send his eldest sister? It was even more strange considering she didn't live at home with the rest of them anymore.
In a way, Violet was the one he least wanted to see. And that wasn't just because the look in her orange eyes right now was terrifying, although that was certainly a big part of it. The real reason, however, was because Violet had been the one he felt like he had the most to prove to when he started this journey.
She was the first and only one of their siblings to become a Huntress. In fact, she was the only one aside from him to try. All he ever wanted was to be like her, but now here he was; stuck in a wheelchair and likely never to graduate.
"Jaune." Honestly, he didn't know how to react when she stopped in front of him. Despite being the eldest, he had long since grown taller than her. Now that he was stuck in this chair, it was her looking down at him again, just like it was when he was a child. Her voice betrayed nothing of what she was feeling, simply stating his name as if just for the sake of it.
He thought she might be mad, orange eyes hardened as they assessed his condition and her body terse, looking almost ready to uncoil and strike at him. It was only because he knew that's just how Violet was, that he couldn't be sure. If she really were mad, he imagined she would have already hit or shouted at him, instead of just standing there silently.
It was almost like everyone else in the world didn't exist anymore. Ruby wasn't standing behind him holding the handles of his chair. Ozpin didn't stand off to the side. The other passengers who had unboarded the ship with Violet were not walking around them. It was just him and his eldest sister. Both waited for the other to act, but neither seemed eager to break the delicate quiet that settled over them as they stared at one another.
Inevitably, however, it came to an end. Violet crouched down in front of him, one knee coming to rest on the concrete ground beneath them and arms reaching out towards him. On instinct alone, he flinched and tensed up, shoulders and arms locking in place. He needn't have done any of that, Violet not moving nearly quick enough to even suspect her of striking him.
Instead, her arms came around him, hands resting on his back and pulling him forward. His chin hit her shoulder even as her own rested on his, the side of her purple ponytail tickling his cheek. Only after several seconds did his body finally seem to recognize the sensation as a hug and he relaxed into her, chest leaning against hers and arms coming up to grip her back.
"Violet…" He heard himself call out to her, voice raspy and almost unrecognizable to him. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes and he couldn't tell if that was because he was sad, scared, happy, or some other emotion. It felt like he might be overloaded, holding his sister, his family, after all this time.
"I was so worried about you, idiot." Her breath tickled his ears and he felt her lips press against his blonde hair as she peppered him with hard kisses. It was like he could feel her own complex mix of emotions with each one, knowing how frustrated and frightened, yet relieved and overjoyed she was.
"Yeah, I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say, not that he was even sure he could say anything more. His throat was already hoarse and tears rolled freely down the sides of his cheeks, wetting the shoulder of Violet's shirt.
How long the two of them sat like that he couldn't say. When he first saw her, he had been filled with terrible unease, yet now that he was holding her it was like he never wanted to let go. Like their initial staredown, the hug too had to come to an end and it was again Violet who finally began to pull back. Even as she did, her hands lingered on his back until the last possible second and her own tear-filled eyes never left him until she was standing upright again.
"It took me longer than I thought it would to get the paperwork and I'm sorry for that. I'm here for you now, Jaune." Even when on the verge of tears, her voice was strong and somehow full of self-assurance. Not that he understood the meaning of her words.
"What are you talking about? What paperwork?" He hated how weak and broken his own voice sounded in contrast to hers. Violet's eyes narrowed and she wiped the lingering droplets from her eyes before turning to look at the only other man present.
"Ozpin." Her voice turned short and clipped, completely lacking any of the softness it held when she talked to him. "Did you not tell him anything?" Even the headmaster of Beacon seemed to waver slightly under Violet's ever stern gaze.
"Ah… regrettably it did not come up in our conversations, no. I was attempting not to overload young Mister Arc with information and I thought any family matters might be better heard coming from you." Ozpin pulled at his collar, tapping the base of his cane against the concrete - which might have actually been something of a nervous habit.
"I don't even know why I'm surprised." Violet relented with a tired sigh, pulling out a pamphlet of folded papers from her back pocket. "Everything you need should be in here. If there are any problems with it let me know and I'll get it straightened out."
"I'm sure it will be fine." Ozpin accepted the papers gratefully, but Jaune still had no idea of their purpose and it seemed like they had forgotten he had even asked.
"What's going on here?" The former meekness in his voice was gone, replaced now by a simmering heat. Violet turned back to regard him, orange eyes apologizing but also looking weary.
"I am your legal guardian now, Jaune." He knew what he just heard, but for some reason those words didn't make sense. "The paperwork I just gave to Ozpin is the official documentation signing guardianship over to me from our parents."
"Are you saying…" His mind was whirling with so many different reasons and possibilities he didn't know which one he would say until the words were already leaving his mouth. "...that mom and dad don't want anything to do with me anymore?" Had his failure been that monumental that they wished to disown him?
"No! God no!" Violet crouched down in front of him faster than he could see, a hand coming to rest on his knee - not that he could feel it. "They're worried sick about you. Dad tells me mom hasn't slept in days. They want nothing more than to bring you back home and coddle you, keep you safe for the rest of your life."
"...Then why?" Their actions didn't line up with her words. It wouldn't have been the first time Violet had tried to keep the truth from him either, all in order to protect him from something that she thought he wasn't strong enough to hear.
"I talked with them about it in detail and in the end, dad and I agreed this is the best course of action to help you adjust to your new life." New life? Now what was she talking about? Did she mean to imply they had already decided he was done training to become a Huntsmen? "Mom was against it… but dad managed to get her to see our reasoning. This is just about doing what's best for you."
"I still… I don't understand." His head hurt and it was beginning to feel like the earth was spinning.
"Domremy is just a small expansion towards the edge of Vale." She referred to their home village, the town he and all his sisters grew up in. "There are hospitals here in Vale city, where I live, better equipped to take care of you and your new needs." She used the "new" word again, like somehow his old life was gone forever. And what did she even mean by better equipped to care for him, as in to cure him or something else?
"There's also the matter of living arrangement. You remember Lily, my old partner, right?" He nodded vaguely. "She and I live together and it's just the two of us. Four of our other sisters still live at home with mom and dad and we feel… that may be a little too much for you, right now. Mom and dad will bring the rest of our sisters to come visit you a couple at a time, once you're all settled. It'll just be much less stress on you to come live with me."
"What do you mean about living with you?" Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "I'm not leaving. Beacon is my home now… I'm a student here." He looked up at Ozpin, desperate to see what he would say. Violet turned towards him again as well, and he glanced between the two Arc siblings before clearing his throat.
"Nothing has been officially determined yet. There is a panel being held tomorrow at noon that will decide your future at this academy."
"What!?" This was the first Jaune had heard about it at all. He just assumed it was up to Ozpin to decide. "I- I need to talk to them. I can convince them I'm going to get better. You've got to let me-"
"You, myself, and Violet will all be there tomorrow to make your case, Mister Arc." Ozpin cut him off, but there was no sense of urgency to his tone. "Violet will be there as your guardian and I will be there in the capacity of your legal counsel." In other words… not as the headmaster? "I too wish to see you remain here and plan to present your argument to the best of my capabilities."
"Exactly what argument do you plan to present to them?" Violet huffed and crossed her arms, once again fixing Ozpin with a glare. "I did some research… we won't be able to afford the cost of the surgery, even with insurance. And even if we could, the type of surgery that can fix Jaune's spine is still experimental and dangerous. There's no guarantee it won't make him worse."
"We have no choice but to try." Ozpin took the words right out of Jaune's mouth, although he didn't appear to be talking about the surgery, for now just focusing on the panel tomorrow. "If we can convince them young Mister Arc is worth betting on, perhaps there is hope."
"...Fine." Violet relented easier than he expected. "Let's not talk about this anymore. It sounds like you have a plan for tomorrow so I'll leave that up to you." Her eyes drifted up above Jaune. "How about in the meantime, you introduce me to the girl behind you."
"Eep!" Ruby gave a small gasp, reminding Jaune that she was still here after having remained completely silent the whole time. She quickly scurried around to the front, extending a quivering hand. "It's really nice to meet you, Jaune's sister, Violet, ma'am. My name is Ruby Rose and I'm the leader of team RWBY." The words tumbled out her mouth so fast Oobleck would be proud.
"Ah, you had a match the same day as Jaune's." Some small light of recognition dawned on Violet as she shook Ruby's hand. "You're younger than I expected, given your impressive performance."
"Hahaha, shucks." Ruby grinned bashfully, rubbing the back of her head with one hand while the other continued to shake with Violet's, already passing the timeframe that the length of the shake would be considered awkward. "I'm really glad to hear you think that. I was afraid you might not like me or disapprove of me as Jaune's girlfriend."
"..."
"...What?"
Violet's smile cracked.
"Umm… did I not mention that already?"
"No you did not."
Ruby's eyes twitched in pain and darted down to their hands which were still linked together.
"Your uh- your grip is getting really tight."
Well, it looked like this was about to end as well as every other time he brought a girl home… and by that he meant it never once did.
"Might I just say, Miss Schnee, it is a real honor to have you and your friends pay us a visit today."
"As you've said." Only about two dozen times before, Weiss didn't add aloud. It was literally every time they entered a new room she got that same line from their guide. She did her best to put on that practiced fake smile, but even she could tell it was getting strained at best.
This wasn't even a very large or important facility in the grand scheme of things - the more principal research centers being located in Atlas - yet they had somehow managed to make this little "tour" take two hours. And in all that time they had yet to come to the room where those evil gauntlets and greaves had been stolen from.
"Oooh… what do these do?" Part of their delay was Neptune's uncharacteristic childishness. She almost thought she was hanging out with Jaune Arc, what with the giddy way in which the blue-haired dolt skipped over to the conveyor belt on the other side of the room. Some form of crystallized Dust was being transferred across, but Weiss didn't even know the purpose for it yet.
"Mister Vasilias, please refrain from touching that!" Their tour guide, whose name Weiss still hadn't bothered to learn, chased after Neptune in a panic the same way she always did; heels clicking loudly against the steel floor and open palms waving in the air.
"Weiss... " Blake prodded her shoulder, yet another thing Weiss was getting sick of. Every time Neptune went off and did something they went over this.
"No! Just no!" She hissed under her breath, not even turning to look at the faunus. "We don't even know where they kept those weapons yet. I'm telling you to wait until after the tour." Did she have any idea how much trouble they would all get in if they got caught trying to snoop around in a place that had already been robbed once?
"Come on, Ice Queen." Sun griped loudly, taking long steps around to the front of her. His tail twitched anxiously and hands rested on the back of his head. "This is soooo boring. I can only watch Neptune make an ass of himself so many times before even I start to get bored of it."
"First, don't use that kind of language around me-"
"Ass?"
"Yes, don't." She held a threatening finger up, eyes narrowing dangerously at him. He didn't appear the least bit intimidated, smiling uncaringly. It was like they thought this was some kind of field trip. They were aware that Jaune had been seriously injured by the things that came from this place, right? "Second-"
"Okay, let's go to the next location." She was again cut off as their guide returned, a dejected Neptune following behind her with head hung low and hands tucked into his jacket pockets.
"Look what you did man." Sun threw an arm over Neptune's shoulder. "Now we don't even get to know what the stuff does…" As if he even cared. Weiss thought this dryly as she and Blake followed after the two of them.
"Why did we bring them along again?" She asked under her breath.
"I believe you said something about at least making them useful." Blake recalled, although she didn't look nearly as distraught about their presence as Weiss felt. She and Sun were up to something and Weiss had a feeling Neptune was in on it. If they thought they were going to pull something with her here, then they all had another thing coming.
"I can hear you, y'know?" Sun called over his shoulder. Sometimes Weiss really couldn't stand that enhanced faunus hearing.
"What are they saying?" Neptune had no such boon. "I don't got something in my teeth, do I?" Not that it made her want to smack him any less.
"Excuse me, ma'am." Blake interrupted the conversation, coming to a stop. Everyone in the group turned to see her pointing at a closed sliding door they had just walked past. "What's behind this one here?"
"Ah…" Their guide appeared uncomfortable, clasping her hands in front of herself while her eyes darted around. Even if she didn't say anything, her mannerisms alone were enough to tell them that this was the room they had been looking for. "There is unfortunately nothing in there anymore. We halted that project." So they were trying to brush the whole incident under the rug after all. Did her father know that… or had they been his orders to begin with?
"Now if you all will continue to follow me. We're almost done." The woman turned and began walking again, not even checking to see if they would heed her words and follow. Weiss could only sigh, not at all surprised by this turn of events. It looked like they would have to do things Blake's way in the end after all. She just really hoped they waited until after she left to try anything.
"Umm… is it normal for my hand to turn purple like this?"
"What!?"
Of course, that was asking for too much.
She knew now why Neptune had been acting the way he had the whole time, as he slipped off the glove on his hand, the whole of it covered in some kind of purple substance. It had all been in preparation for this little show. Their guide naturally ate it up, eyes wide with horror and it looked for a moment like she might faint when she saw his hand.
"W-when did this happen? Are you okay? Do you feel woozy?" She hovered over the "infected" hand, not willing to get close enough to touch it but at a lost what else she could do.
"I don't remember…" Neptune held his other hand up to his head, eyelids fluttered as he put on what was actually a fairly convincing act. Weiss might have even bought it if she didn't know how full of crap he was. "Everything's kind of blurring together. Is it hot in here? I'm getting hot."
"We need to get you to the decontamination ward immediately! You two help- where'd they go?" She looked up for their two faunus friends, but the moment Neptune had begun this charade, Weiss heard them slip away. She glanced up to the ceiling just in time to see a vent grate click shut.
"Bathroom." The word slipped out of her mouth far more easily than she was comfortable with. Part of her wanted to get Blake caught out of spite, but unveiling their ruse now would only get her in trouble along with them. "I will assist in getting Neptune to the ward. Come on, you idiot."
"Ow, Weiss! Be gentle with me, I'm injured!" She grabbed him by the ear and began pulling him along, ignoring both his and the guide's shouts about possible contamination.
Blake owed her one, that was for sure.
"You think Ice Queen is gonna be mad?"
Blake didn't even know why Sun would ask such a dumb question unless it was rhetorical. There was no way Weiss wasn't mad already, but the fact that they hadn't been caught yet meant she was at least playing along with them.
Of course, part of that was probably just because if she exposed them now, she would only be selling herself out as an accomplice. Blake could imagine the headline already.
Schnee Heiress aides faunus renegades in stealing from company
"I'll take that as a most definitely?" Blake had to keep from groaning aloud, shooting Sun a dirty look as he paused in the vent shaft they were crawling through to glance back at her. The moment he saw her irritated gaze, which probably only looked more frightening in the dark, he quickly set forward again. Quietly this time, thankfully. It would really suck to get caught because he didn't know how to quit running his mouth.
Still, she was thankful to him and Neptune. If not for them tagging along, she wouldn't have been able to get away from Weiss to pull this off nearly this early. She would've had to wait until the tour was over before she could try anything. And while she would never admit it aloud, their presence had made that tour from Hell bearable. She would've shot herself in the head with Gambol Shroud long before they reached the end if they hadn't been here.
"I think this is it." Sun had adopted a much more hushed tone to Blake's relief. The cat ears hidden under her bow twitched as she heard him remove the vent cover he was over. His head ducked into the room beneath them, but he made no other movement save for the twitching of his tail.
"What can you see?" She hissed, leaning forward but careful to keep her face just far enough away to not get swatted by his faunus appendage.
"Not much, it's pitch black so give my eyes a second to adjust." Even with enhanced faunus night-vision, if the room was too dark they couldn't necessarily see right away. "It looks like the place has been completely abandoned. I can see security cameras but it doesn't even look like they're recording anymore."
"If they're not recording we should just head down already." The less time spent away from Weiss the better. It would only be so long before someone became suspicious. Sun made a grunt of acknowledgment and then a moment later his whole body slipped through the hole.
She followed after, the heels of her shoes making a loud clack when they hit the steel floor. Amber eyes immediately began to scan the room, but like Sun, her vision hadn't adjusted quite just yet.
"Go stand by the door. Keep an eye out for anyone approaching." That should be their first priority, making sure they did not get caught. Bringing down the White Fang and exposing those who would hurt their friends was important, but they couldn't do that if they were treated as criminals themselves.
"On it." Sun made for the door, not even making the slightest sound even when his shoes touched down. Blake meanwhile began to make her way forward, eyes finally beginning to make out the finer details of the room.
The majority of it was just empty space with a low, reinforced wall separating that space from the front door and what appeared to be a back lab. If she had to guess, she would say this had been a practical applications arena where they had been testing the weapons. Further inspection showed dents and cracks in the walls that supported this theory.
She made her way to the lab on the other side, sliding easily over the low wall and landing on a soft carpet. Instead of having a glass pane to separate the lab from the arena, it appeared the wall was able to emit some type of dust shield, similar to what the Amity Coliseum did. Only the best for the Schnee Dust Company, she noted this with a bitter thought.
And yet they still managed to get robbed. For a place that was building experimental, highly dangerous technology, their security sure was lacking. Where was their sense of urgency? They had just been robbed not too long ago but two students had been able to sneak into the same room with a poor act and quick feet.
She supposed it might just be because this wasn't Atlas, so they considered the priority of technology to be of a lesser value. Which was really just a poor excuse if you asked her, especially considering what that technology had done to Jaune.
The lab was about what she would expect. Two pedestals sat next to the one wall, where the weapons had likely been taken from. A little ways from those pedestals was a workbench. Even now that was covered with a myriad of tools, wires, and scrap metal, not to mention the numerous half-empty vials of Dust. Someone had been working hard and for what looked to be a long time on this technology.
She wondered how that person felt now? Were they terrified to know their weapons had been used to commit a terrorist act? Perhaps it was one of those less moral scientists who only cared about the results and was ecstatic to see their weapons perform up to expectation? Either way, it looked like the project had been officially shut down.
Fortunately for her, that didn't mean they cleared out and even the computer appeared left untouched. She walked up to the terminal, sliding into the rotating chair and finding the power button.
With a soft whirl, the computer booted to life and the monitor placed on the desk lit up. Her hands quickly found the volume, muting it before any kind of unnecessary noise was generated.
"Blake, you find anything?" She jumped a foot in the air and for a split second actually thought her heart was going to come flying up her throat when Sun's voice came through her scroll. Already she had forgotten that they turned on the short-range communicate feature shortly after entering the vent. Whirling around to glare at him across the room, she fumbled for the device.
"Do not startle me like that again. I thought someone had already found us." She hissed angrily into the mic. On the other side of the room, she could barely see him give a sheepish shrug.
"My bad. I just wanted to know what your progress was. It's not very exciting over here." Not exciting was a good thing when on lookout duty. If he was having an exciting time, they were in trouble.
"I've only just turned the computer on. I'm looking through the files now." She began navigating the computer's drive as she responded. "Hopefully, there is something here that can help us."
"What exactly do you think could be on there? I thought we were… you know? Looking for clues the White Fang left behind, not looking into the company." She supposed his confusion made sense, this likely being the first time he had done something like this. However, she was only all too used to these types of operations and how the White Fang did things.
"Just because they stole the weapons didn't necessarily mean they were going to know how to use them. There might have even been some kind of code stored on this computer that they needed to operate them."
"And you think they might have left some kind of proof behind? Like what, a digital footprint?"
"More like a program they used to copy the software they needed. Or maybe something that will allow them to access this terminal remotely." Immediately after saying that, amber eyes went wide. "I think I got something."
"Already? Damn, you're good."
"I can't be sure, but this certainly looks unusual." Not to mention it was in buried behind so many obscure files it would be impossible to find if you didn't know what you were looking for. Unfortunately for the people involved, Blake did know what she was looking for and this just proved even more that it was the White Fang's dirty work.
Of course, she'd never seen them use a program quite like this before either. Instead of having some kind of alpha or numeric symbol, the program was illustrated by a single simple design: A Black Queen piece, like one might see when playing chess. She wasn't even sure how that was possible, but unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, that was what she was seeing.
"Blake, I think someone's coming down the hall." Crap! She didn't have any more time to waste. While it would be optimal to access the program here, she had no idea how long it would take or what kind of prompts it would require. Which just left her with one option.
"Talk to me Sun, what's going on?" She stuck her scroll in the computer and saw it pop up as a separate storable drive.
"I can only hear them now, but two people are definitely walking down the hallway. Their footsteps are heavy… I'm thinking maybe Atlas military?"
Atlas Military? That was right, they were still here for some reason. Even though everyone else from the tournament had left, General Ironwood had yet to pull out his troops. Putting the conspiracy theories to the back of her head for the time, she focused on the task at hand.
"You said they're walking? As in not in a hurry to get here?" She grabbed the program and dragged it to her scroll's folder.
"Yeah, I don't think they know we're here." At least some good news. Which they really needed, this program was massive. Far too large for some kind of simple hacking tool.
"I can see them. Definitely soldiers."
"Sun. Get away from the door and up the vent." Why was this stupid thing transferring so slow?
"What about you?" She heard him already scurrying back across the room.
"Just go." Almost there, it was almost there now.
"Ah shit." The door made a loud clunk. The soldiers were right outside it now and it sounded like they were coming in. "Blake, hurry up." Sun hissed, voice coming from the ceiling above.
"Got it!" Blake snatched up her scroll and hit the power button.
She whirled around just as light flooded into the room, the door swinging open.
"You see… no one here."
Blake lay pressed against the low wall, hands clamped over her mouth in an attempt to mask her rapid breathing. She only wished she could force her heart to be still. It hammered against her chest like a loud drum and she thought for sure they would hear it.
"Maybe we should check it out, just to be sure?" A thump echoed across the room, one of the soldiers stepping further in.
"Nah, come on man. This is a waste of our time." Yes, that was right. Listen to him. Don't come any closer.
Several terse seconds of silence passed as she waited for the other soldier to make a decision.
Her mind wandered to the weapon on her back. If they kept approaching, she would have to choice but to engage them.
She didn't want that. She left the White Fang specifically so it would never come to that.
"Yeah… I guess. Let's go."
And it still looked like it wouldn't.
They proceeded no further into the room, instead turning around and shutting the door… casting her once more into darkness.
Only once her heightened senses could no longer pick up their footsteps did she relax, hands falling against her side and giving a long, shaky breath.
"Blake? You okay?" Sun's voice echoed once again through her scroll, but it was several seconds before she had the strength to answer, arms feeling like jelly.
"I'm fine." She finally responded, voice sounding like she'd run a marathon. "I'm just fine." When had she gotten so unfit for these kinds of operations? It was almost laughable, considering what she once used to do for the White Fang.
Beacon had changed her… she let it change her. But maybe… that wasn't a bad thing? This affected her so badly, scared her so much because no longer did she want to do these kinds of things. She didn't want the world to see her as a criminal, where before she hadn't been capable of caring less.
Blake had her friends to thank for that. It was her friends she had done this for.
She looked at the scroll that had the proof she needed to expose those who had hurt Jaune. He was more of a friend of a friend, really. She didn't have to go this far for him, but for some reason anyway she wanted to. If only maybe to prove she was a better person now than she was back then.
"Should we maybe get out of here?" Sun didn't need to ask twice, Blake already climbing to unsteady feet.
"Yeah, now all that's left is just to get yelled at by Weiss."
"What in the name of all things holy were you two idiots thinking!?"
Sun and Blake finally emerged out the front door of the building, both of them at least having the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry." They both mumbled, almost too quietly for her to hear.
Weiss sucked in a deep breath and they both flinched, prepared for the berating they were no doubt expecting her to give. The one she had fully intended to give them. They had made her worry so much. What if they had been caught? Dragged out here by guards? She'd be forced to live with that.
It was such a relief seeing them not in that situation however, that she felt all the tension and anger slowly drain from her body. She didn't want to be angry and yell. It was always her that looked like the bad guy. Besides, she'd yelled plenty enough already… Neptune sitting on the ledge of a nearby fountain looking about ready to cry was testament enough to that.
"Did you… at least get something useful?" Instead, she asked this in an exasperated tone.
Blake and Sun shared a surprised look and it took them several moments to realize Weiss was in fact not going to rain down a vocal maelstrom on their ears. An uncharacteristic grin split Blake's face cheek to cheek and she held up her scroll.
"Let's find out."
Chapter End
AN: So hopefully this chapter helps explain why none of Jaune's other family will come into the picture. Family in such trying times is, of course, important and the others will certainly visit him, I just won't be showing that happen. Doing it this way is actually two-fold: I read that it's best not to overwhelm those who are going through what Jaune is with crowds of people... and having that many sisters bombard him at once is likely a recipe for disaster. Again, this also allows me to keep the story from being over-stuffed with OCs you don't care about.
Blake and Weiss' section got longer than what I expected, but it was necessary to push the plot forward. This story has a lot more going on than I originally intended and there should be more answers to what's going on with Pyrrha/Amber next chapter. However, the main focus of this story is still supposed to be Jaune/Ruby so even if some chapters have less of that, every chapter will always have them in it.
In other news, Falling Down has cover art now. Natzo (who has also drawn fanart for Violet) created it and I posted the link on my profile page, if you were interested in seeing it in a higher resolution.
