Seven days since last update, almost a month since this story's last update. Nightmares every f***ing night, work, translation and proofreading, sickness and overall lots of tiredness. Due to all this... late update.
"S-So, did you enjoy today?" Ruby asked nervously as they walked through Beacon's corridors, their little date almost over.
"Y-Yeah, I really did… w-we should do this again sometimes…" Jaune replied just as nervously. "I-I mean… i-if you want of course…"
"Yes!" She blushed when he recoiled from her shout. "S-Sorry, it's just… I don't want you to think I'd refuse. Cheating at dice aside, I really enjoyed today…"
The two of them walked for a bit more, passing several other students wandering through the halls. With it being a cool but serene Monday, most had chosen not to waste the day staying indoors, instead playing outside or just relaxing in the gardens, thus the young duo didn't have to face the curious and inquisitive stares of their classmates as they made their way back to their dorm. Only third or fourth years were still in the school buildings, probably too busy to enjoy a day off, those poor souls.
The only duo who had acknowledged how close they were walking was a couple of third years. The two boys were a known kickass-yet-sweet couple in Beacon, and they hadn't hesitated to congratulate the two of them for getting together – much to their embarrassment. Worst of all, both boys had nodded knowingly when they'd tried to explain how they weren't a couple yet, walking away with identical grins on their faces.
"So… wanna go out again next Monday?" Jaune asked after a while, when no student was in sight any more. "Or what about the one after that? I've heard they're gonna set up an amusement park in Vale King's Park. We could drop by and see what there is to do."
"That sounds fun!" nodded Ruby. She'd never go to an amusement park on her own, too many people, but with someone it seemed like something they'd both enjoy… as long as there were no rollercoasters – which she usually enjoyed, but that maybe weren't the best choice since Jaune wasn't good with moving at high speed. Still, there were a lot of other things to do at an amusement park.
"Great. Now, as long as we don't do something stupid and get detention, it's set!" grinned the boy. "And even if we do get detention, I'm sure Auntie Glyn is gonna be fine with letting us off the hook once or twice."
"Being the Deputy Headmistress's nephew is just cheating…"
"What? No! I'm making full use of what resources I have!" he protested with a pout. "It's not like I-"
"No! I won't allow this! Not in my room! Not in our dorm!"
Yang's voice interrupted him and, from the sounds of it, it seemed like things were getting pretty heated and angry. While Yang by herself wasn't a really calm person, neither of them saw her as someone who would yell like that at her friends. Whatever it was, it had to be incredibly serious.
The two of them exchanged a glance before rushing forth and quickly reaching their dorm's door, the origin of the noises. Wrenching it open -after unlocking it with their Scrolls of course-, they took in the scene before their eyes.
There was Yang, hair aflame and eyes of a murderous crimson, facing off an irate Blake with her cat ears flat against her scalp. Sky, the one who normally tried to avoid any kind of direct confrontation, was siding with Yang, glaring disapprovingly at the cat Faunus. The dorm was thankfully still intact, and the only things out of place were a few books. Yang was currently holding one, waving it around too fast for them to catch the title, while Blake was hugging a whole pile of books with similar covers to her chest, the angle at which they were not allowing them to see their titles either – though Jaune had a sinking sensation he knew what those books were.
"I'm gonna burn every single one of these!" Yang yelled furiously, almost shouting in Blake's face with how much she was leaning forwards. "I won't stop until they are all ashes in the wind!"
"Why are you so upset anyway?! They're my books, not yours!" Blake retorted in a hiss, clutching said volumes closer. "You don't have to read them!"
"Blake, be reasonable. If you're into that kind of literature, fine, but at least buy some better books. Those are just a waste of paper!" Sky exclaimed, exasperated. "Seriously, we're doing a favour to your mind by destroying them! Come back to sanity!"
"You're the insane ones!" Blake shrieked. "This is art!"
"Ruby, you know what?" Jaune began uneasily. "Let's go on another date. Like, right now. I'm sure they have all very important… Ruby? Ruby?" He turned to where the crimsonette had been not three seconds prior, only to find a coloured silhouette in her place. Looking around, he saw her standing behind Blake, with a book in her hand. Open. And she was looking at it. Reading it. "NO! SOMEBODY STOP HER!"
Too late. It was too late. Jaune closed his eyes, tears already threatening to spill at the horrible sight before him.
"-the ninja strongly rammed his sword into her sheathe, uncaring of how it moulded around his tool as he forced every inch of it inside, right down to the very hilt, before it finally hit his scabbard's limit, and released warm and sweet milk inside of it." Ruby's eyes rose from the book and glanced at Blake. "Seriously? Everyone knows swords can't produce milk. And this 'ninja' must be really silly if he's trying to sheathe a sword into a sheath that's not its own. That would just ruin both the sword and the scabbard."
The room was deathly silent as Yang marched over to her sister and swiftly removed the accursed book from her pure hands before tossing it at Sky and gently embracing her sister as tears fell from her eyes. "I almost lost you…"
Ruby blinked in confusion.
Blake was rigid, staring at her books in horror, realizing the enormity of her faux pas. She had almost allowed their sweet Ruby to be corrupted. Looking up to Sky and Jaune, she saw no mercy in their eyes. Nothing would be spared in order to remove the taint, and if she were to step between the corruption and the purifiers… she wasn't sure their friendship would protect her from their ire.
/-/
The courtyard was silent aside from the light shuffling of feet and the soft crackling of fire. Oh, and the muted screams of a certain bookworm catgirl who was currently tied up, gagged, and with a sign saying 'Sinner' hanging from her neck. The spot was quite a bit away from the places the students liked to visit, a quiet corner of Beacon's gardens they had found thanks to Ren, who liked to meditate there whenever he had free time.
A light plume of smoke and ashes rose from the middle of said corner, as the cleansing flames consumed the corruption. Several piles of books were still awaiting their turn on the pyre, as no one could rush redemption, and the three purifiers were standing by the Accursed Ones, guarding them as to prevent any corrupted soul to attempt to stop the ritual. An untainted soul watched over the burning books, purity and innocence still adorning her features as her spirit remained blissfully unaware of the corruption blazing in front of her.
"Uhh… guys? Why are we burning Blake's books?" Ruby asked, awkwardly fidgeting with the pearly white outfit they had borrowed from Weiss. "She doesn't look too happy about it…"
"Don't worry Ruby, Yang and Sky won't take too long," Jaune shrugged beside her, wearing a long priest's robe, white with golden motifs of swirls and spirals. "As for Blake, we're actually doing her a favour. We're burning her books so she'll have room on the shelves to buy others, but since she'd never sell, give away, or destroy her books, we had to take initiative – and since we didn't want her to try and get the books back if we sold them, we chose for the quickest and most definitive way."
"And the chant Yang and Sky are intoning?" continued Ruby.
"Propitiatory. Since we're gonna buy her new books as apology, they're asking the spirits of these books to help us find good books for Blake," he explained without missing a beat. "Also, they like to be melodramatic."
"Yeah, Yang totally would…"
The two of them continued to watch as Yang and Sky, still chanting and swaying, burned book after book. At some point, Blake fell asleep, having probably cried herself into exhaustion. Someone had to have noticed the slowly raising smoke, but strangely enough no one came to bother them. Probably Goodwitch's doing, Jaune decided, though it could've been anything, really. Maybe some student had actually gone as far as investigate the smoke, only to crawl away once the sight of their purifying ritual had been imprinted in their weak minds. Or maybe it was too much of a nice day for anyone to be bothered to check.
"And what's with the sign?" Ruby asked, pointing at Blake.
"Uhh… Ruby, do you remember the small paragraph about sexual perversions in the articles I had you read?"
"Yes, I… oh."
"Oh indeed. Though like with Velvet, no discriminating."
"No no no!" Ruby hurried to clarify herself. "I wasn't going to – I was just surprised, that's all I swear!"
"Don't worry, I understand," Jaune nodded reassuringly. "I had a similar reaction when I discovered it too."
"Yeah…" Ruby trailed off, not really knowing what to say any more. They had all solid reasons for doing that, for crying out loud! And if Blake was into that… she might not agree with her tastes but who was she to condemn her? "That's gonna be awkward…"
"Definitely." Jaune glanced at the long pile of books still to go -Blake had four copies of every volumes, unfortunately, hidden around the room for emergencies- and sighed. It was surely gonna be awkward to be in the same room as Blake for a while – awkward, and potentially deadly.
/-/
"What do we do?"
The afternoon air was still fresh despite the sun, and the smell of smoke travelled unhindered up to their noses. The four figures laid stomach down on the top of a nearby building, looking down at the odd scene below them.
"Simple. We take as many pictures and videos as we can," Cardin Winchester grinned as he took out his Scroll and angled the camera downwards while increasing the zoom. "This is how we get our revenge, guys. I want pics and videos of the whole thing, then pics and videos of each of them individually, and if you can get any really embarrassing pics, even better. Also, Russel, stop looking at Xiao Long's tits. You know you'll go blind otherwise."
"S-Sorry Cardin. Just… admiring the view from up here."
"I get it, but focus! Also, your pants aren't baggy enough and it's gross to stay beside you when you have a boner."
"Sorry…"
"Stop apologizing and start blackmailing, for Dust's sake!" Cardin gave a long-suffering sigh. "Saber, how is Dove?"
"Still kind of foaming at the mouth," came the bored reply from the last member of their team, the black-haired student laying down next to a beige-haired boy tied up and gagged. "Just how much does he love those books?"
"It doesn't matter – those aren't even his copies of that stuff. Saber, take pics and videos too instead of wasting your time." Cardin rolled his eyes at Dove, who was still trying to wrestle free of the rope they had tied him up with. "I'd send you to keep watch for other students, but I guess you'd just rush to save those books, wouldn't you?"
Dove's muffled screams were all the answers he needed.
/-/
Weiss sighed as Nora continued to whisper excitedly about conspiracies and demonic rituals as their team stealthily observed Team ARBYL burning some 'Ninjas of Love' books. Not like any of them knew what they were, though, they had only managed to catch the title of a couple and assumed it was a series. Why the five of them had decided to burn some books, and in such a preposterous manner, was beyond her comprehension, but eventually it didn't matter. Despite being the leader, Weiss knew there was no dragging Nora away from the rooftop they were hiding on.
"Why would they do that…" Ren mumbled pensively, frowning at the spectacle going on down below. "And why did they have to tie Blake up? Was she against the idea? If so, then why are they doing it anyway? Is something special about those books?"
"Or maybe Blakey played a prank on them and now they're getting revenge by burning all her most precious possessions!" Nora whisper-yelled beside him. "It makes perfect sense!"
"It could've, had the rest of her team been cruel and overly vengeful," Weiss replied tiredly. "But knowing them, something extreme must've happened. Pyrrha, why don't you go and ask them?"
"Me? But… weren't you on the same team as Jaune before?"
"Yes, but you were on the same team as Yang, Sky and Blake… so you'd be the best choice to approach them."
"I'm not sure we should… ahem… approach them at the moment." Pyrrha coughed and flushed embarrassedly when Weiss sent her a pointed look. "It's just that they don't look like they'd welcome newcomers. It'd be rude to interrupt them, wouldn't it?"
"Maybe it would, but then again they are being rude themselves. I mean, burning those books while Blake is obviously against the idea, and even forcing her to watch as they do… that does border on cruelty." Weiss adopted a coy smile. "And besides, weren't you the one who wanted to make friends? You never deny Nora's statements."
"B-But we are already their friends, aren't we?" Pyrrha looked around for help, but found none. "I mean, there's no need to disturb them, isn't it?"
"Pyrrha Nikos, are you backing down from a challenge?"
"…yes."
/-/
Roman Torchwick was definitely in dire need of a long, relaxing vacation in the solitary peaks of Mistral, where no soul would've come to bother him with stupid tasks and damn death threats. The thief nursed a coffee in his right hand and his cigar dangled loosely from his left index and middle finger, the latter of which he was really tempted to show Cinder. Of course, he knew the woman was a ticking bomb that was ready to go off at the minimum provocation – which was probably why he so enjoyed making it out alive from all their meetings.
"Animals, saved. Dust, taken. Trip back, over. White Fang, resupplied. Idolization, attained. Roman Torchwick, still alive. Was anything else on your list?" he snarked with his usual cheekiness.
The woman before him regarded him with a look he wasn't sure whether it was amused, sensual, or calculating. With Cinder, sometimes it was really hard to tell. Especially when her death threats were delivered with a voice that never failed to leave him pitching a tent. "You did good, Roman. Better than I expected." The criminal mastermind wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult, to tell the truth. Considering who was speaking, probably the latter. Cinder had never really been a fan of giving out compliments. "But… there is still something you could do for me – something I'm sure you will greatly enjoy."
"Ugh… no one likes more work," grumbled the man, trying to take a sip from his cigar before inhaling his coffee. A coughing fit and some serious observation of the two objects in his hands later, he continued. "That's kinda why I got an organization instead of doing the job myself."
"You will enjoy this, trust me." Not a chance in Hell, but of course he wasn't gonna tell her that. He just nodded submissively. "I want you to find out a few things about a few people."
"Huh?"
"Three Huntresses in training. Yang Xiao Long, she wrecked Hei Xiong's club and got away with it almost scot-free. Blake Belladonna, from how you said she addressed the White Fang, she's an ex-terrorist. And Ruby Rose – a student who's been accepted into Beacon almost a week after the start of the school, and who has been declared dead a few days before being accepted, currently being in the only five-people team of the whole Academy."
Roman blinked. "Uh… I can definitely do that, but what should I do?"
"Get some dirt on them, and then snitch to the news. Make people talk. Make people know what kind of people they have as their defenders. Those three are on the same team, so it's even better. Point out how they have a five-people team, only them. For the other two, you can either paint them as victims or shovel dirt on them as well, your choice." Cinder smiled malignly, malice glowing in her eyes. "For Xiao Long, you can make some of Xiong's men speak. For Belladonna, have some White Fang tell everyone she was one of them and is now hiding her past."
"That ribbon certainly wasn't fashion choice," he mumbled in agreement. Then he clapped his hands -spilling coffee all over his new suit, but that was a small price to pay for his happiness- and grinned at the woman. "Can do. I'll go wild on this, I really needed some long overdue stress relief, and if sex's not available, I'll go for the next best thing. I'll have to bring a new TV in here though, I need the best to watch how the news are gonna eviscerate them."
"But be careful with what you reveal," Cinder admonished – uselessly, he might add, since he was the criminal mastermind and she was just his boss. "Do not make it look like you're hiding stuff, but don't give out anything that could make them look redeeming. Twist their actions to make them look bad. Blame them for everything you can."
"Basically, shovel a boatload of bullshit on them and snitch to the news," nodded the criminal. "Sure thing. Do I have a deadline?"
"I'd appreciate if you could hurry up – even tomorrow if it's possible. But if you can't, you have until the next step of my plan has to be set into motion," explained the dangerous woman, carelessly inspecting her nails. "Can you do this?"
"Of course I can. I'm gonna have the time of my life!"
Cinder smiled slightly and turned around to exit the room. Before she was even at the doorstep, Torchwick already had his Scroll out – not a burner Scroll, his actual work Scroll. By the time the woman was out of view, he was at his third beep.
Junior answered at the seventh.
"I'm gonna stick a bazooka up your ass and fire you absolute-"
"It's good to hear you didn't have my Scroll number yet, Junior. At least some of my secrets are still safe," Torchwick commented mirthfully.
"…Torchwick?"
"The one and only. The real deal. Yours truly. Take your pick for the introduction." Roman took a puff from his cigar. "Listen, do you remember that time a blonde chick smashed your club?"
"Yes I do, I'm still still finding cracks everywhere. What about it?"
"Well, I need as much dirt on her as you can find, and I will also need some of your men to speak to the news and tell everyone about the incident. Also, find me everything about Blake Belladonna and Ruby Rose. Those three are all on the same team at Beacon. And while you're at it, find what you can of the rest of the team too, just in case. Think you're up to it?"
"To get revenge, anything. Though don't expect a discount, I still have many costs to pay."
"Perfect. It was a pleasure making affairs with you."
Torchwick cut the call and sighed contently. It had been a shit week, but finally things seemed to be looking up again. Or well, partly. At least it was better than lazying around or going to Atlas to save some animals. Speaking of which… "Terry!"
A few seconds later, a disgruntled-looking Faunus with small antlers on his head entered the room. "It's Perry…"
"Sure thing, Merry. How are the miners? All cheering my name, hopefully?"
"They're sleeping at the moment, and no they aren't going to cheer your name," the man explained wearily. "Most of them agreed to join the White Fang, but a few just want to be free."
"Ungrateful little mongrels," mumbled Torchwick. "Oh well. How's the Dust?"
"Not much, and still being organized."
"Ugh, why do you always have to bring such bad news, Derry?" He cut off the man before he could protest. "I got something else for you. We have to handle an interview with Lisa Lavender. Are you up to it?"
"W-What-"
"Good! I'll let you know when. Keep your uniform clean 'cause you're going with that." Roman Torchwick clapped his hands and spilled the rest of his coffee on his now-brown suit. "Also, get me a new suit. We'll talk on what you need to say later…"
/-/
Professor Ozpin calmly sipped his coffee as the meteorologists uselessly tried to forecast the weather on his computer, which was currently connected to the CCT – which probably meant Cross Continental Television, now that he thought of it.
As the weather forecast finally ended with a pathetic last effort of bringing up everyone's mood after a forecast full of rain, he patiently waited for the news to start and when they did, he was slightly intrigued by seeing Lisa Lavender, Vale's best reporter, introducing herself.
"I'm now standing just outside The Club, a local owned by Mr Hei Xiong, called 'Junior', that has recently suffered great property damage due to a fight within its premises. The perpetrator, a Huntress in training by the name of Yang Xiao Long, injured several employees, including Mr Xiong and his two bodyguards, Miltiades and Melanie Malachite, and caused almost a quarter of a million Lien of property damage."
Ozpin froze mid-sip and slowly put the mug down.
"Here are a few of Mr Xiong's employees. They have kindly accepted to tell us what exactly happened, as Mr Xiong is currently busy and unable to meet us." Onscreen, the purple-haired woman turned to the nearest goon in black suit. Strangely enough, all of them had removed hats and sunglasses. Ozpin knew they were trying to make themselves look as normal as possible to get pity points, and he had to admit, it worked fairly well. "Please, could you tell us your name?"
"Name's Rosso. I'd like not to say my surname though. You know, you never know who might want revenge on you. I wouldn't put it past the chick that destroyed our bar, honestly."
More pity points earned for them. Even though Ozpin always tried to protect his students, he had to admit they were doing a good job at making him frown at Ms Xiao Long's actions. Nevertheless, what was done was done. The damages had been paid, and the matter had been settled. He couldn't change how he had handled it any more – and even if he could, he doubted Taiyang or Qrow would agree with him.
"I understand, Mr Rosso. This isn't the first time people only give out their first names. Now, can you tell us what happened that night?"
"Well, before that chick arrived, it was a pretty normal work shift. Nothing special, honestly. When this girl, Yang Xiao Long is what you've called her right? When Xiao Long arrived, she didn't immediately start a fight. When there are Hunters around we are always nervous, as they tend to be full of themselves and they think they can order civilians around just because they're powerful, but usually the law keeps them from actually going through with their threats, so we didn't really care about her." Ozpin winced at the accuse. Most Hunters didn't, but people usually remembered only those who caused a ruckus. For every ten Hunters, one was arrogant or drunk enough to threaten civilians, and that marked the whole Hunter community.
"Why do you think she did it then?"
"Well, you've said she was a Huntress trainee, she probably thought herself above the law or something like that. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if these days, they allowed the kids to become Hunters without even teaching them the laws and restrictions they have to submit to." Rosso… the goon shrugged vaguely. Ozpin forced himself not to humanize him too much lest he actually agreed with him. "Anyway, she went to the counter and ordered something. Alcohol. The boss was manning the bar and he refused to give her anything alcoholic unless she showed him proof she was of legal drinking age – which she wasn't."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. If he had to stop his students from drinking alcohol, he'd forfeit immediately. Maybe he should just add a bar to the Beacon mess so the students would stop going to Vale's bars and pubs.
"Did she start a fight because of denied alcohol?"
"Nah. She didn't even take anything after she wrecked the club up, so it wasn't like she was truly there for the alcohol. After the boss told her no, she asked him something. As you might know, the boss has the reputation of knowing lots of stuff. All legal, of course, he pays taxes and bills on that revenue. Only thing, you need money to buy info. Kinda like info breaking, but legalized and official. Well, the chick wanted to know something, and didn't want to pay. The boss told her he didn't know – which he actually didn't, if I may add. She got mad and grabbed him by the balls, literally, and threatened him. We all rushed to help, and she released him, and we thought that'd be it. As I said, no Hunter actually goes through their threat – not in our experience at least."
"What happened next?"
"Well, the girl knew she had to take the boss out first 'cause he's the strongest of us, I'll give her that: she knows how to fight. So out of the blue PAM! She punches him with some weird gun gauntlets that, let me tell you, hurt like hell. Then she began to punch everyone around her, not even stopping to think if we had Aura or not. Thank the gods Junior thought we could need it to deal with unruly customers when the twins were busy, or we wouldn't be talking to you now. Hate to say, all of us together didn't hold a candle against her. Makes me think if Hunters should really have all that power, they are impossible to stop unless other Hunters step in. Which sucks for us civilians. Anyway, the twins, Miltia and Melanie, fought her for a bit, but neither of them has actual Huntress training, so they went down as well. And when Junior joined the fight again, that crazy girl knocked him down too. And then she walked out of the club as if she'd just taken a walk in the park instead of having sent many of us to the hospital and almost destroyed the whole local – which is reinforced, I may add. So yeah, that's about it." Beside him, the other henchmen nodded in agreement to his tale.
Ozpin's frown turned fully into a scowl and he made a mental note of talking with Glynda about that particular event. If that was indeed the truth, then Ms Xiao Long had vastly overstepped the line.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr Rosso. Do you think there's any chance of being able to talk with Mr Xiong?"
"'m 'fraid not, sorry missus."
"It's miss, actually, and that's a shame, but understandable. I won't hold you any longer. Thank you once again."
"No problem, miss. Besides, at least we got a break from work."
Lisa Lavender and Rosso shared a short laugh, one Ozpin was inclined to join in as well. Work was truly the bane of humanity, and all adults knew that. Then the reporter turned back to the camera.
"Still regarding Ms Xiao Long, we have found out she has records of poor behaviour and anger issues back in Signal Academy, the combat school she attended before joining Beacon Academy a couple of months ago. While she was an above average student, are we sure allowing such an irascible and quick-to-anger fighter to become a Huntress has been a good choice? Is it better to have fight-enthusiasts skilled Hunters, or to have less skilled, but also calmer Hunters? Are we truly in such a moment of dire need that we can overlook such flaws in the future defenders of humanity?"
Ozpin sighed and took his head in his hands. That was going to be a pain in the ass to deal with, and to be honest he didn't even know if he could deal with it without causing a scandal or having to expel Ms Xiao Long. Alas, the news were scoop-hungry beasts ready to tear anyone to shreds if it meant they'd have their story. And who could be a better target than a young girl still in training, who had made the mistake of not being perfect?
He shook his head. True, they had a point. Several points, maybe. But Hunters were still people, and as people they weren't, and couldn't be, perfect and flawless. Too often civilians forgot that it was because of those Hunters they were living in peace. And that what to them looked like a long period of peace, was instead a period of continuous fighting to maintain that peace. Fighting most civilians never knew about.
He steeled himself. He'd save Ms Xiao Long's reputation, one way or the other.
He'd surely need tons of calming drug and coffee.
Beacon's funds would need to be scraped off a little bit more.
"On the same topic, we have identified another rather questionable Huntress in training at Beacon. Ms Blake Belladonna, age seventeen, cat Faunus, daughter of Kali Belladonna and Ghira Belladonna – the current mayors and rulers of Menagerie. Thanks to several calls from our informants, we have discovered that she, alongside her team, was one of the causes for the incident at the docks, a couple of weeks ago. And… am I reading this right?"
Ozpin looked up in alarm. They couldn't have known-
"And it seems that Ms Belladonna… is a former White Fang member, having left the organization not three months ago."
No Ruby accusations 'cause Ozpin removed all and any actual proof, and news usually (usually) don't work on rumours with no proof. So, problems arise... alongside the smoke.
The Ninjas of Love plot won't end so quickly though! We have already spotted another tainted soul! This is just round 1!
Oof. Sucks to be Oz, Yang or Blakey right now.
I'd like to keep this longer, but my little brother is crying for me so gotta go.
Until next time,
Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh