Chapter 13: Our Treasured Love

(Kitty Café)

The evening turned sour for Jaune. As much as he wanted to avoid trouble, trouble certain has its way of sneaking back to his life without him noticing. But this was a little different. This time, it was murder and not a pretty one too.

After their short visit at Tukson's Book Trade, Velvet went to a small state of depression unable to talk or make eye contact with him. And seeing as the police weren't gonna help them, the blonde boy decided to take the girl out to cheer her. Unfortunately he hardly knew a place in Vale and was forced to bring the little rabbit to the only place he knew.

Out of his own vanity, he ordered a carrot smoothie for Velvet thinking that it might raise her mood just a little bit. They stayed on the same spot that he, Sun and Blake met that one time last semester. The balcony's view of the café, though the atmosphere here was quite different now since most of the customers had already left.

An uneasy silence went between the two which reminded Jaune of how they first met. This time however, that silence was made from the death of a close friend of his. Tears fell voluntarily from her eyes but she quietly hid them hoping not to make a scene out of it. He wanted to find the words to ease her pain but unfortunately, there were none. What that girl was feeling is probably more than just loss. From what the boy heard from Velvet, the man who was murdered was a very close friend to her. She likely considered him a family, like a brother she never had. She spoke fondly of him, speaking like she knew every detail of him, from his cocky smile down right to his claws.

If anything, she probably felt more betrayed than loss. Her friend, someone dear to her was a member of a terrorist group and she didn't see it coming.

But even with all of that… Jaune knew that he shouldn't speak. He knew from experience that if someone was distraught from a great loss or searing emotional pain, one would probably heal faster if there was someone to listen. So… he did just that. The boy sat there, sipping his drink, waiting for the girl to put the pieces together. Waiting for her to open up whenever she was ready.

"It doesn't make sense…" The young knight paused on his drink the moment the voice escaped Velvet's mouth. Her rabbit ears perked to the clanking of his cup, her deep brown eyes darting to his smiling face. "I've known Tukson for more than a year now and… he's never been the type to lie. I… can't wrap it around my head that he would be… a White Fang."

"Velvet." Jaune opened up at last, again trying to find the words. "You couldn't have known."

"No… I should have." She replied sounding rather suspicious. "All the late night calls, all the time he complained about having no customers yet at the same time still keeping afloat after all these years running that store. It all makes sense in the end. If only I'd see it sooner."

"You can't beat yourself over this. You thought of him as family."

"I'd say the same thing. But now…" She turned away looking at the road to keep her mind at ease. "Ha… you must think I'm silly."

"Not at all." The boy answered honestly. "I just think you're grieving. It must be hard losing a friend."

Velvet could only look back at Jaune, seeing his tired, worrying gaze cast on her. It was rather embarrassing to be consoled by a boy she only knew for a few months and even more so that he was her junior. She could tell that the boy was trying his best to ease her pain, trying to just be there to listen.

Just then, her scroll suddenly began to ring, with Yatsuhashi's face on screen.

"It's Yatsu…" She sighed. "He must be worried that I haven't returned to the dorm yet. He's kind of overprotective sometimes."

"Are you gonna answer?"

Hesitantly, the girl ignored the call. "No. I don't want him to worry even more. If he hears me sobbing again he'll throw a fit for sure."

"Sounds like you have a knack of finding people who care about you."

She chuckled and smiled genuinely for the first time in hours, rubbing that depressive mood off her face. "Yatsu is different. He's a big softie to everyone. He's… he's not Tukson."

"No. He's not. But he also cares for you just like he did." Jaune pointed out even though the boy had never even met the guy in the first place. "You shouldn't turn a blind eye to people who look after you."

"Huh… now you're starting to sound like him." She wiped her tears away, revealing that golden look on her face. "I'm sorry to have brought this on you, Jaune. I didn't mean for this little walk to turn out like this."

"Meh. Don't sweat it." He waved it off, smiling. "It's not every day I get to hang out with a cute girl. So it's a win for me." Velvet couldn't but smile to his oddly placed flattery. "So… what are you going to do now?"

She breathed a sigh. "I… don't know. A part of me is wishing to find out what happened. I want to believe that Tukson was involved in something so dangerous. But… if I pursue this, it would hamper my team's performance on the field. I am… after all… still a student of Beacon and there's very little I can do in my position. I guess I can only rely on the police to bring justice to whoever did this. What… do you think?"

"I think that's the best idea." Jaune happily answered. "You think about your team and not just about yourself. Anyone else would probably do what you just did."

"It's hard… leaving things be."

"I know. But all things considered… I'm sure everything will work out eventually. Sometimes you just gotta have faith."

"Now you're really starting to sound like Yatsu."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In a training room back in Beacon, Yatsuhashi let out a sneeze looking a Japanese recurring joke character who always had this line.

"Hmm… the little rabbit must be speaking about me."

Fox could only raise a brow wondering how he got that out of a sneeze.

(Exchange Student's Dorm)

Cinder was in her room that night along with two of her compatriots going over the thing that they learned today. Despite the fact that each and every one of them was a highly trained killer, Cinder thought it best that they continue to play the role of exchange students in hopes to keep their act intact. It was a logical step in the plan considering that they would be able to snoop around without suspicion. Infiltrating this school wasn't exactly easy and they may as well use all the benefits they had before their plan commenced.

With Roman working with the White Fang outside the kingdom thanks to that hurdle he made back in the highway, she had her two underlings, Emerald and Mercury gather intel on the students and professors in Beacon, identifying which would later be a threat. The phrase 'keeping your enemies closer' would play an excellent role here.

"So my dears. What do you two have for poor old Cinder today?"

Emerald started first pulling out a list of names on her scroll. "I gathered the student's data. Seems like they only have roughly 200 students join this year. A little low on the numbers but most of them are from Vale."

"Anyone I should be worried about?" Cinder replied seductively, coying with her underling's work.

"Not that I know of. It's difficult to tell their strengths without seeing them fight. Tomorrow Mercury and I will be attending combat practice and gauge their abilities from there. If we see them spar, we'll know what we'll be up against."

"Excellent. Anything else?"

"The teacher's however… are another matter." Emerald added showing the faces of the faculties. "Glynda Goodwitch in particular…"

"Ah~ the wicked witch of Beacon." Cinder recalled remembering the blonde woman whom she had the luxury of sparring a few months back during one of Roman's botched robberies. "I dueled with her once. She's quite the fighter. Taking her down will… take some effort."

"She's that strong?" Mercury curiously asked giving an unraised smirk.

"Strong wouldn't be the word I use. I'd say she's… powerful. Just enough to give me a hard time. Her manipulation of her semblance along with Dust might make her a threatening enemy."

"Should I add her to the list?"

"Yes." Cinder answered. "She'll be a nuisance if not eliminated properly. I'd prefer to take her in an unconventional way than a direct confrontation. Who else do you have?"

"We got… Professor Oobleck and Peter Port."

"The yawn-master." Mercury groaned. "Don't even bother. They're Hunters that have passed beyond their prime. They won't be a threat."

"They're still teachers." Emerald argued.

"Old teachers…"

But Cinder quickly hushed them before they began to argue. "Now now, Emerald. Let us refer to Mercury's judgment this time he has far more experience fighting other Hunters than you after all." The gray haired boy stuck his tongue out in victory before dodging a punch from his partner. "Very well then Mercury. I'll leave those two to you. I hope you can deliver on your word that they are beyond their prime."

"Ha! Killing that fatso would be doing this school a favor." The boy finished taking his place by the wall with a comic in hand.

With a defeated sigh, Emerald continued. "What about Ironwood, the Headmaster from Atlas?"

"Ah, the proud and noble guard dog of the north." Cinder remarked. "I almost forgot about him. We should have him watched just in case. But other than that… he should be left alone. He is… after all… playing a big role in our plans. Especially his new toys…"

"Should we get someone to knock him out?"

"Now now, Emerald. Don't get ahead of yourself." Cinder warned. "Who you think are our enemies may yet be our potential allies. Leave room for yourself to move before throwing the net. That was excellent reconnaissance, both of you. Well done."

Emerald beamed with pride hearing her praise. It was a rare praise but a praise nonetheless. But before she could turn in on her pajamas, her partner had more to say.

"There is… one thing." He started, sounding rather ominous making the raven haired queen raise a brow.

"Do tell."

"About the Black Dust…"

Cinder's ember eyes sharpened in his general direction. "Now Mercury. We all agreed that we're not supposed to discuss such a… volatile topic in such an open ground."

"It wasn't me. It was one of the students." He explained himself. "I heard one of them, Lie Ren, talk about it on the line with someone. It seems like he's looking into it."

"Oh? And you're certain that he mentioned this… Black Dust?"

"I'm positive." The boy answered confidently, meeting his superior's gaze. "You can't miss it."

"That's impossible." Emerald said with disbelief. "No one here should know anything about that! It's been a well-kept secret. Only very few know of it."

There was a spark of panic spread amongst the three. For whatever reason, it seems like the topic of Black Dust was somewhat of a taboo to be spoken amongst them. They seemed to understand and believe of its existence… they only thought that none of the students here know anything of it.

"Lie Ren…" Cinder thought back. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"He's from the Jade Dragon Clan." Mercury answered.

"Ah… yes. Now I remember. A family of Hunters and doctors local to Vale. Interesting. What would a young man from a prominent family like him be doing with such a dangerous element outside of his field of study? What do we know of him?"

Emerald quickly got back to her scroll, finding the name of the said student. "Here. Lie Ren. Part of team JNPR. A first year student. His grades are at the top of class but we haven't seen him fight. From what I've heard around school, he seems to have set up a lab in one of the old buildings in the academy but we don't know which. What do you want us to do?"

Cinder pondered a thought for a moment before answering. "Hmm… we can't have students snooping around our secret weapon. Continue monitoring the students and behave like students. But at the same time… find out more of this… Lie Ren. Find out if he really does know of the 'Dust' and if he does and possess any… take it from him and find out whom else knows. But also remember to be discreet. No fighting, understand?"

"Yes. Of course ma'am."

(Team RWBY's room)

Blake was in her dorm room that night, once again looking over the records of the SDC that Weiss was able to retrieve from her family's archives. It has been days since she started looking over these files and honestly, her progress has been slowed significantly.

Much of the data here were obviously confidential other than the Schnee Dust Company executives. A lot of people would lose their jobs if word got out that this information was being read freely by external individuals. It displayed many transactions held by the SDC and she can tell that many of these were done in the shady part of morality. If she presented this to the police, they'd probably have enough evidence to put more than two dozen officials behind bars.

The White Fang would kill to get this information… well… at least one person she knew of.

Adam…

The name of that redheaded swordsman brought a lot of pleasurable and painful memories to Blake's mind. Simply thinking of him brought her back to the time when the White Fang's leadership changed.

Adam Taurus wasn't just a member of the White Fang, he was a founder. A leader and a symbol. A symbol of freedom against all who would oppress the Faunus. He wasn't just their top warrior or their best assassin, he was everything to them. He was a hero in the eyes of the Faunus population, their avatar of rage and justice all put into one. He was the one who taught her how to fight, how to survive. At one point, she once called him a teacher, a friend… and… perhaps… something else.

How would things turn out if she was still in the White Fang? Would she still find it in her heart to continue working for such an organization that held no morality whatsoever? Would she still be working with 'him' if she hadn't taken that last train ride from Forever Fall?

No…

This wasn't the time to ponder on what ifs. She made her decision. She chose to leave because she could no longer work with those who would harm innocent just to make a statement. They sought to bring about equality but that world they envisioned did not include everyone. The change in leadership brought about this perversion of their cause, twisting the respect of Faunus to fear and intimidation. The White Fang was no longer the organization that coincided with her beliefs. It was only because of 'him' that she stayed for so long.

"Adam… what could you be thinking?"

"Who's Adam?"

"Bwah!" Blake fell on her back when a voice questioned her thoughts. How could someone sneak on her without her noticing? Out of reflex, she drew out her weapon aiming it at the source.

"Whoa! Whoa! I come in peace! I come in peace!" The monkey man by the window raised his hands up in a mocking gesture of surrender.

"Sun?!" The girl yelled at him. "Wha… what are you doing up there and why… are you here late at night!?"

"Easy there Blakey." Sun cooed her down which didn't seem to work. "I was up here for almost ten minutes now. I've been trying to get your attention but you hardly said a word. Then you suddenly said Adam and stuff and now… we're here."

"Haaa…" Blake gave out a sigh, trying her best to sheathe her anger. But the lack of sleep coupled with the irritation that she can't find anything on the records was beginning to add fuel to that fire. "What do you want?"

"I was going to ask if you'd like something to eat." The boy gestured to the small basket of fruits that he brought with him. "I didn't steal it. Honest. The lunch-lady in the cafeteria had plenty so I thought I'd swing on by to share. Can… I put my hands down now?"

The cat gal lowered her gun, grunting at the monkey's stupid act of kindness. "No Sun. I'm not hungry. As you can see, I'm a little busy trying to figure out our enemies' next move."

"Yeah, I think I got that." He answered smugly. "I thought I'd swing by and thought you might need the company. After all, you need a little cheer every now and then."

"From you? That sounds more like a bomb just waiting to go off." Sun's cheery personality deflated feeling her words like daggers stabbing right on his ego.

"Hey explosive personalities are your thing." He pointed out recalling specifically the last two incidents that they've gone through together. "I was just caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time." Blake didn't answer. She found it better to conserve her remaining energy in her work rather than to use it conversing with a baboon… no pun intended. "Ok so that's the theme we're going for huh? Come on girl. Lighten up. Didn't you already like… beat that Torchwick guy twice now? If we're keeping score here, we're pretty much in the lead."

Groaning, she darted from her work once more, clearly irritated. "This isn't a game Sun. The White Fang doesn't play for sport they play for keeps. We've gotten lucky so far on our last two bouts but Roman is still out there with a new henchman in his arsenal. The White Fang is more than just an organization, it's an army. And that army has a plan. One that I have yet to figure out."

"I wouldn't call it luck." Monkey man returned sitting on the window while taking another bite off his snack. "It's more like you just got good friends looking after you. Friends that you ought to pay more attention to."

Blake stopped on her work for a moment to look at her Faunus compatriot, sharpening her eyes in a cat like manner. "You're starting to sound like Jaune."

"What? You mean Pretty Boy? Really? Ha… I guess we've got more in common." Sun gave out a hearty laugh. "Speaking of him… is it really true that he crashed a car on that Torchwick guy? I mean… I saw it on the news but they never caught the action. Man I'd pay good lien to see that again. That guy's got more guts than a snail I tell ya."

"You seem to be speaking rather highly of Jaune."

"Why not? He's cool and don't forget he saved your tail back at the docks. And besides… anyone who's crazy enough to drive a truck from a highway down to a giant killing robot is 'awesome' in my book. And… he's one of the few guys I actually know here in Beacon, except for you girls of course. So… wanna bite?"

"No."

"Aw come on. Don't be so blakey. Take five, grab a donut or a coffee break or something. Just put down the work for one minute and loosen up." The boy found quickly found himself pushed off the window which he fortunately grabbed onto the branch of a nearby tree. "Whoa! Easy there! Geez… you try to help someone and this is what I get."

"If you have no new information about the White Fang or Torchwick, then we have nothing to talk about." Blake finished returning to her desk.

"Can you at least tell me who Adam is?" Sun got his answer in the form of a window snapping close on his face. "Got it…"

(Courtyard)

Velvet and Jaune returned to school shortly after their supposed outing. Honestly it was probably the worst walk Jaune had up to date 2nd following the highway incident and the night at the docks and not necessarily in those order. He was hoping to break his streak of getting into other people's mess but it seems like that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Still… he had to admit that it felt nice to hang out with a cute and down to earth gal like Velvet. Even though the evening was pretty much a grieving session for her, he was glad to be around when he was.

After arriving at the central fountain near the Huntsman statue, the young Faunus turned to the boy, shyly offering gratitude for his company. "Well, this is where we part ways. Thanks again Jaune. I'm sorry things turned up like this."

But the boy waved it off, giving his casual golden smile as before. "Don't mention it. I should be the one saying sorry. Are you… gonna be ok?"

"I'll be fine." She raised her bunny ears in reply. "I just need time alone to… think this through. But I should be alright."

"Hey, if ever need someone to talk to, just give me a call. Like my day always say: You should always lend an ear to a lady."

She laughed. "That sounds like a very one-sided advice."

But the boy simply shrugged uncaringly. "Meh. It hasn't steered me wrong so far… so… why bet against the streak?"

"Well, I might actually take you up on that offer." Velvet smiled back, playfully patting the boy on the arm. The clock nearby told them of how late it was, but Velvet didn't seem too keen on heading back to her dorm room. There was a hint in her eyes that she wanted to stay just a little bit longer. Jaune didn't seem to mind the late hours. Even without the extra work, he knew that he was going to be sleeping in class one way or another. If it wasn't from exhaustion, then Professor Port or Dr. Oobleck can sing him a lullaby to sleep in the form of their own lectures.

"I should… probably head back." Velvet said suddenly, before realizing that she was tugging the sleeves of Jaune's uniform. A blush formed around her cheeks unaware of her beating heart. "Yatsu's probably worried sick about me right now. I shouldn't keep him waiting and we have a mission early tomorrow. Thanks again Jaune."

"Bye…" He returned the gesture in a drifting manner, waving back as the little Faunus darted off into the distance. Once she was out of sight, he let out a sigh feeling a measure of fatigue well over him.

What a day this turned out to be. It was one thing to be fighting giant robots and crashing cars onto them but murder? If everything that has happened could be speculated as a mere coincidence, Jaune might actually testify and claim that there was a conspiracy going behind his back.

Contradictory to what Velvet said, it was clear that she wasn't 'fine' about this incident. The death of her friend hit her hard and the sudden revelation of him being a member of the White Fang only made it worse. She has a good head on her shoulder, thinking about the team rather than just her selfish desire, unlike a cat Faunus that he knew of. She must be holding in the tears, trying her best to make herself look well… or at least play the part. Jaune knew how his sisters reacted to bad moods and normally it would only take a good night's sleep or a box of chocolate to prevent the regular symptoms. But for Velvet however, it would require a higher level of cheering.

And fortunately for Jaune, he was able to pick a trick after living with his siblings.