The next chapter of Professor Arc. For those who might have missed it, Stress Relief came to an end after the last PA update and a new story has replaced it – The Entertainer – available on my profile.

Cover Art: Exvnir

Chapter 35

I'm dead.

It was the first thought he had on waking up on the Friday morning, which should have gone some way to disproving the notion in the first place, what with the whole `being alive` thing Jaune had going on. It wasn't even the fear of lessons or discovery that had his eyes snapping open in fear and terror, nor was it a sudden epiphany as to his situation, trapped in a school he had no right being in, stuck between the rock of Atlas Military and the very hot place of Cinder Fall.

It wasn't even how Neo grumbled in her sleep, spooning against his side as she pushed her head into the crook of his arm. And it really should have been, because the day she actually let him sleep in his own bed – as opposed to kicking him out – was definitely the day Yang declared she was going celibate and Ruby started lopping heads off people. Plus, it was Neo and she was spooning him, which should have been reason enough to start panicking, if only because with how tight her grip was he couldn't run away. But no, it was none of those things.

Jaune was dead because it was Friday, which meant that it was one day before Saturday and he needed to make it to his own funeral on the Sunday. Calm, he tried to command himself, taking a deep breath and sinking back into the pillows and psychopath as though one of them might protect him. I need to calm down. I need to think this through… I need to come up with a plan.

It was what Roman would have done, probably after taking a look around and asking how he could possibly have been so stupid as to get into this situation in the first place. But Roman was currently in prison, which meant Jaune sort of had the last laugh there, even if it was going to be a very shot-lived one.

Neo sighed loudly, something of an oxymoron with her, and pressed her face harder into his arm. The contact wasn't comforting, or rather it shouldn't have been. He still hadn't dealt with her and what she'd nearly done to Yang. He should have taken her to task on it by now, but considering how every other person was currently climbing onto the Jaune murder bus, he figured it might be best to sort Neo out after he'd managed to survive the current problem.

Cinder… that would be the first issue for sure, namely that it was Friday and he had his promised meeting with her in the evening. Just the two of them, alone in her office, no doubt with the promise of death over his head if he said the wrong thing. That would be a problem, since if Jaune was feeling a little arrogant he could admit to being very good at saying the wrong thing. It was a unique skill and one he'd perfected over his seventeen years of life. The only good thing about Cinder was that if he did mess up and get killed, then he wouldn't have to deal with the Saturday which included a potential maybe-sort-of-date with Glynda Goodwitch, but also a fight with Winter Schnee.

If he had a 50-50 chance of surviving Cinder, and perhaps a 50-50 chance of surviving Glynda (the risk of death there being Peter fulfilling his threat of killing Jaune if he messed it up), then Jaune felt fairly confident in saying that he had a 100-0 chance of defeating Winter. No prizes awarded for figuring out on which side of the odds he stood.

Wasn't there a rule about the number three? Actually, there were quite a few. There was `third time's the charm` which left him wondering whether it would be Glynda that finally led to his death. Then there was the `rule of three` which promised that things which came in three's were somehow funnier – presumably that was funnier for whomever so happened to witness his incredible ass-kicking.

The digital clock on the bedside table told him it was nearing half-seven. His brain told him if he didn't get up soon, then he wouldn't have time to make breakfast. His survival instinct told him if breakfast wasn't ready by the time Neo was awake, he wouldn't have to worry about any of the three other issues anyway. And so, with great reluctance, Jaune slowly extricated himself from his covers. The small girl shifted lightly but didn't wake, happily giving him up in favour of a soft pillow he placed into her arms. It would have been cute if she didn't smile even wider, as though in the depths of slumber she could still somehow criticise him for being less comfortable than a stuffed piece of fabric.

"I could be more comfortable than a pillow if I wanted…" Jaune grumbled as he had a quick shower and got ready for the day. He had a lesson with Peter in the morning, a relatively free day afterwards (barring a little coursework marking on the side), and then he would be off to meet his doom when it came to Cinder Fall. He also needed to go shopping after the fight with Winter, providing he could still walk after it, to grab a better outfit for going to dinner with Glynda. She'd apparently managed to get them a reservation at a rather nice restaurant in Vale, for what he still wasn't sure was a date or just a friendly and concerned chat between colleagues. She'd said it was to help him come to terms with the mission, but Peter had been quick to drag him aside and explain it was a date.

On the scale of who he trusted more between Peter and Glynda… well, it wasn't exactly balanced.

"Cover the current problems first," Jaune said, walking into the kitchen and flipping the hob on. Bacon, eggs and bread came out from the cupboards, freshly stocked by whoever it was that actually filled his fridge. "I can worry about the maybe-date after I survive the first two things."

First there was Cinder… and oh, how there was Cinder. So he'd kind of agreed to be on her side, which was obviously a lie, but one he needed to keep. That meant he would need to do what he could to appear as on her side as possible, while not actually causing any damage to the school, his friends or the kids. He also needed to keep deceiving her, ply the woman for information and try to figure out what it was she ultimately wanted.

Couldn't be too hard, right?

He could already imagine Roman's expression, the hand slapped into his face as the man furiously puffed on his cigar. He would then drag his bowler hat down over his face, in that `if I can't see this, then it ain't happening` kind of way.

It was hard to be too worried about Cinder, as strange as that sounded, because in all honesty Jaune was too worried about a woman with much paler hair… about as pale as one could get. Fire and ice, as opposite as the two could be – and yet the irony was still that he had an ally in neither of them. Jaune wasn't sure who he preferred more, on the scale between Cinder and Winter. Both were terrifying in their own right, both said one thing and definitely meant the other, and both could have him removed at a moment's notice.

The only difference was that Cinder still wanted to solve their issue with words, which somehow won her more points in her mind. Winter had skipped straight past that to the stabby-stabby phase, which wasn't exactly Jaune's modus operandi. You couldn't bullshit a sword.

"How the hell am I supposed to beat Winter Schnee?" Jaune sighed, burning two rashers of bacon before he noticed. Those would have to be his, since naturally he couldn't serve burnt food to Neo. He could… but he really shouldn't.

There wasn't much he knew about Winter, hell, there wasn't much he knew about any of the women around him. Information gathering had never been a strong point of his, and he definitely regretted that now. She was an officer in the Atlas Military, Weiss' older sister and probably a Huntress in her own right. He wasn't even sure how old she was, except that she was maybe twenty-five or so? That placed her five years older than him. Eight, his mind reminded, but he ignored that. In the end her age didn't really matter, since she could have been seventeen and still have more actual training than him.

Fighting her head on was out of the question. But then again, he'd never really planned on doing that in the first place. I didn't get where I am by following the rules.

Considering where he was, he really should have followed them.

"I beat Cardin by wearing him out…" The fried eggs began to sizzle lightly, as he scooped them out onto prepared slices of toast. Neo's had some jam spread on them, as per her usual demands. "But she's not going to fall for that… Weiss is fast and I doubt Winter's much different. She's experienced too, so she isn't going to wear herself out like an idiot."

And then there was her dust usage, which if it was anything like Weiss', was going to leave him in an awkward spot. Jaune's knowledge on dust was pretty much limited to `it goes boom` and that some people could do fancy magic with it. Neo didn't even seem to make use of the stuff, while Roman focused more on the `explodey` part of it.

Would Cinder have a solution for me? It was a thought… probably a terrible one, but worth a few moments nonetheless. The criminal mastermind would no doubt have some way of ruining Winter's day, but that would leave him in the difficult situation of owing her another favour. It would also tell her he wasn't as strong as Winter, which might lead to issues down the line. Losing to Winter would do the same as well, but there was always the chance he could play it off as a purposeful loss.

"No," he decided at last, picking up both plates and walking back to the bedroom. "This is my problem and I'm going to deal with it myself. I'm not going to let Cinder dictate my actions."

Neo stirred the moment she smelled the breakfast, one eye cracking open before the diminutive girl yawned and stretched her body atop the sheets. Not even a year ago, Jaune might have flushed and looked away at the way her pyjama top rode up to reveal her toned stomach. Now he was used to it, as horrifying as that sounded.

"Breakfast in bed," he rolled his eyes and handed over one of the plates, crossing his legs to sit beside her as they both dug in. Jaune watched her with one eye as he ate his own. He would have to confront her over Yang... the thought of her attacking the blonde still made him angry and he wasn't going to tolerate it. But yet again, why create trouble when he had enough going on already. If he survived until Sunday, then maybe that would be the best time to handle it.

When she finished the girl leaned up to wrap her arms around his neck, Jaune's eyes going wide as she gave him a tight hug, pressing her cheek against his. As she pulled back, she smiled – mouthing the words thank you.

Blue eyes narrowed instantly.

"What do you want?"

Neo's eyes went wide, one hand flying to her heart. He didn't believe it for a second. Neo was thanking him, Neo was being grateful? She was buttering him up, was what she was doing. He'd known something was off the moment he'd woken up still in bed, and this only seemed to prove it. His nostrils twitched. There was no scent of death, which meant she hadn't hidden a body under the bed or something. That still left him paranoid.

"You're trying to convince me to do something," Jaune said, to which the girl only rolled her eyes and waved one hand dismissively. She flopped back onto the bed, curling her tiny frame around his pillow and closing her eyes, leaving the empty plate by his side. There was no way she was asleep, not unless an additional part of her semblance was instant unconsciousness. But he knew as well as she did that if she didn't want to answer him then she'd just ignore him.

I'm keeping an eye on you, Jaune mouthed, holding two fingers to his eyes before pointing them at her.

She didn't stir. Not even as he backed slowly out of the room and shut the door behind him. It hadn't even been three days since they'd come back from Miserywood… she wasn't getting cabin fever, was she? Jaune's brain went through some mental anguish as he imagined what a stir-crazy Neo would actually be like.

"What am I supposed to do, though?" he wondered, pulling on his coat and heading to the door, "She isn't some pet I can buy a ball for."

No… Neo could wait until another time. Right now he had to come up with a plan for Winter. She was the only problem he couldn't get through without some grand plan, since he could effectively wing his way past Cinder and Glynda if he had to.

Maybe he could do the same with Winter? It was only a spar after all… there would always be a winner and loser, and it wasn't like it would be in public. All he had to do was bait her into using a powerful attack and get knocked out by it. He could then claim she caught him off-guard or something.

Besides, it wasn't like anyone else would know.

Professor Arc opened the door, instantly revealing six bright faces. Well, that might have been an exaggeration. Ren looked like he had been dragged along against his will and was currently still trying to wake up. But RWBY and Nora looked bright and alert.

"You're fighting my sister!" Weiss didn't bounce in place, that would have been unseemly, but she did vibrate with energy. "I can't believe you're fighting my sister!"

"Professor Arc against an Atlas Specialist," Blake said. "That should be interesting to see."

"You're going to kick her ass, right Prof?" Yang ducked forward to poke an elbow into his ribs, "Eh, eh?"

"He's not going to kick my sister's anything. Not that I don't have any faith in you, sir… but my sister is the best fighter I have ever seen."

The words merged into his head, as Ruby piped up to throw her support in for him (inadvisable) and Nora went on about how she hoped Winter would knock the vomit out of him, whatever that meant. Jaune wasn't sure if they were even talking to him at all, since he stood there in silence for five minutes while they bickered and argued over who was going to stand victorious on the morrow. Eventually, however, he managed to get his faculties back under control. Just in time to wade between them all, ending the battle of Nora, Weiss and a reluctant Ren vs Team RBY before it could ever begin.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He held both arms out, wondering whether his obituary would mention how he'd been crushed between a gaggle of excited school kids. "How do you know about our sparring match?"

Had Winter told her younger sister? That was bad, but not devastating… he could probably still work around that in one way or another.

"How do we know?" Yang asked. She looked left and then right, before throwing her arms wide. "How do we not!?"

"Huh?"

"This is like… Prof, this is huge! We all just see fights between each other and stuff, but a fight between a Professor and a professional Huntress? You can't think we wouldn't have wanted to see that! Everyone wants to!"

Oh dear… and there went the corridor, swaying ominously in his vision. Jaune clamped down on the urge to rush back into his room and hide under the bed. It was nothing… she was just saying how she wanted to watch the fight. That was fine, losing in front of a few of them wouldn't be too bad. Wait…

"Everyone?" Jaune asked, trying to smile but managing something akin to a grimace.

"Well yeah…" Yang shrugged, looking to her team for support. They no doubt wondered why he was singling her out, though as usual none saw fit to offer aid.

"Define everyone."

Yang paused and opened her mouth. She shut it a second later before thinking.

"Just…" Yang made a circular motion with her arms, "everyone. Us, every other first year, probably the upper years too… hell, I'd be surprised if even the janitors weren't looking forward to it."

He had started to sweat now, thick beads of moisture running down his forehead. "And where," he asked, voice like chips of ice, "did you hear about this fight from, Miss Xiao-Long?"

"Eh?" The blonde scratched her cheek. "Well I heard about it from a friend, who heard it from her partner, who got it from a person in their class, who intercepted a note for-" Yang went on, but Jaune had already stopped paying attention. God damned Beacon rumour mill… how had he even hoped for a second that this kind of thing would have remained under the radar? It had been over 48 hours since it had been arranged… by now he'd be lucky if Ozpin hadn't constructed bleachers, advertised it across the four Kingdoms and sold tickets! "-who heard it from Stacey who apparently saw a fat man with a moustache running down the halls screaming about how Professor Arc was going to beat up Winter Schnee to win the favour of his true love."

You're a dead man Peter… a dead man.

Okay so… the situation had changed a little. Now he couldn't just quickly throw the fight and expect that to be enough, not with everyone watching like that. Right… that wasn't a problem. Not at all… just a few hundred or so people there to see his downfall. There to judge and notice if he didn't fight to the standard of what was expected of him. If even a single person thought him suspiciously weak, then it might lead to questions, questions that he didn't have answers for.

"So you are going to fight her?" Weiss asked, looking like she desperately wanted to press the issue but also didn't want to appear rude. He'd never seen the girl look so excited before.

"Seems that way..."

"You'll win, right?" Ruby this time, looking up at him with bright, silver eyes.

"Seems that way..."

"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you," Weiss Schnee smiled. He could have burst out laughing right there, since it wasn't physically possible to be any less confident than he already was. "My sister has been trained by the best for much of her life."

And he'd been trained by the nastiest for all of three or four months… it didn't stack up, even in his mind. Then again…

"So what is your sister like?" Jaune asked. Normally Weiss might have seen through his less than subtle attempt at information mining, but she looked far too smug at that moment.

"She is perfect in every way," Weiss said. "Elegant, refined, she can play three different instruments and knows much about high society. She's educated too, can cook, clean and even handle family finances. You would never have to worry about her in terms of safety, employment or health. She looks after herself and is fiercely independent, yet also very loyal and kind. In fact, I think she would be a wonderful wi-"

"I meant in fighting," Jaune said, cutting the girl off before she could continue listing virtues.

"Oh…" And now Weiss looked disappointed for some reason. "Winter was trained by private tutors when she was younger before studying in Atlas and coming out with top grades in both academics and combat skill. She's fought in some tournaments, though she put that behind her when she joined the Atlas Military as a simple soldier and quickly rose through the ranks. Now she heads her own team of Atlas Specialists that she trains herself."

"Someone's proud," Yang grinned as Weiss went on. "Aww… I bet you talk about me like that too, right sis?"

"Uh…" Ruby coughed. "Yeah… sure…"

"So what kind of weapon does she use?" He ignored the others, focusing on what little Weiss could give. "Can she use dust like you do? Does she have a semblance?"

"Sir…" Weiss said slowly, "are you trying to find out more about my sister to give you an advantage in the fight?"

There really wasn't a good answer for that, and now that Weiss' initial pride moment was over she was looking at him with an almost suspicious glare. Looked like no matter how much he'd helped her team in the past, he didn't rank above her sister in terms of favouritism.

"Jaune's just trying to learn what he can about his next enemy!" Ruby said. "As Team Leader, I order you to reveal all your sister's secrets!"

"How about no?" Weiss crossed her arms. "No one is going to be cheating to give my sister an unfair disadvantage!"

"Jaune, my boy!" A loud voice shouted out from down the corridor. The seven of them turned to see Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck rushing up towards them. "Quickly, we have less than a day to prepare you to beat that silly Atlas sow!"

"Hey!" Weiss cried.

"Absolutely Jaune," Bart said. "Peter and I have been through her records and believe we have enough to give you an edge. Your victory is necessary to assure the reputation of Beacon stands."

"Not to mention fighting for Glynda's honour."

"And that," Bart rolled his eyes. "But the more important thing is that Winter Schnee loses!"

"Excuse me…" Weiss held one hand in the air, as though waiting for a teacher to pick her. "Sirs, can I speak for a moment?"

"Not now, Miss Schnee," Bart waved her away, "We have a Schnee to defeat." Peter grabbed his left arm, Bart grabbed his right. Jaune could only gape stupidly as he was dragged away, feet trailing across the floor.

As the Professor was dragged into the distance by the two other esteemed Professors, Weiss turned to her team.

"Why does everyone want my sister to lose?"

"Because she's a Schnee?" Ruby guessed.

"Because she's a Schnee," Blake nodded.

"Man-stealing Schnee," Yang agreed.

"I don't actually want to be here." Ren groaned. "I wish I'd gone with Pyrrha to meet Velvet's old team now…"

"Did someone mention pancakes?"

Weiss slapped her forehead and groaned.

"I hate you all…"

Mercury was not a nice guy. He'd never been a nice guy, had never wanted to be a nice guy – and certainly didn't have any intention on turning a new lead and trying it out either. He'd been brought up by an assassin, trained by an assassin, abused by an assassin and then – against all odds – used that training to assassinate said assassin.

Really, if nothing else his dad deserved to die for being that stupid.

In his time since Mercury had been many things. A killer, a thief, a mercenary and even a circus performer on that one infiltration mission no one was allowed to talk of. He liked to think he was fairly well-rounded, with more experience under his belt than most people had.

Mercury had done many terrible things in his life.

"Sure," Ruby Rose clapped her hands. "Yang always said every girl needs a gay best friend."

But this, he had never done.

"Great," Emerald said, with more cheer than he thought the damning sentence deserved. "Isn't that great Mercury? I told you she wouldn't be angry just because you have a crush on the same guy."

"I don't have a crush on that man."

"He's shy," Emerald whispered loudly – and to Mercury's horror all four members of Team RWBY nodded their heads understandably. "I hope you guys don't mind. He kept it pretty quiet at Haven and you know how some people can be."

"We won't judge, right guys?" The annoyingly bright and happy girl smiled at him – and oh gods, it made him feel ill just to look at it.

"I think it's very brave of you," the black-haired one said.

"We hold no such bigoted views," Schnee agreed.

"Anyone gives you grief, you come to me – I'll sort them out." And oh gods above, the blonde actually thought him so weak he couldn't put up with people giving him grief for being gay.

Which he wasn't – he had to quickly remind himself. Not that it would have been a problem if he was, but he actually liked girls more than enough. Emerald had a nice ass, Cinder had a nice everything (except for the personality), even that midget chick of Roman's was pretty hot – in a `tear your face off for fun` kind of way. Emerald jabbed an elbow into his side.

"T-Thanks… I really appreciate you all accepting me." It took a lot for him to find those words, mostly since he had to dig them out of his ass. And he didn't mean that in any way that made it sound like what he totally wasn't. Great, now he couldn't even escape the rumours in his own brain. Wasn't it time to annihilate the entire school already?

"This is going to be so cool!" The midget in red practically oozed happiness, shaking like a kettle about to go off. "I've never had a gay best friend before. Do we paint our nails, talk about makeup and cute boys?"

Kill me now…

"No!" It was Emerald who came to his rescue, though only because the thought of being subjected to that no doubt caused her as much pain as it did him. "I mean… uh, Merc doesn't want that kind of image, you know? People might think less of him."

"You shouldn't be afraid to show the world what kind of person you are," the faunus said. He knew who and what she was thanks to Roman's little issues with her. He also thought it more than a little hypocritical of her to say that when she was hiding behind a bow.

"Social justice warrior Blake has spoken," the blonde teased, earning an irate look from said warrior. "But seriously, if that's what you're into, we won't judge."

"That's not what I'm into," Mercury sighed. This whole thing wasn't what he was into. Emerald was supposed to be the one who infiltrated and tricked people, his methods were a little more direct – not to mention very appealing right now. He'd have loved to kill the lot of them. "I was wondering…"

Mercury hesitated.

What was he supposed to say? His mind had gone blank. What should he suggest they do? It wasn't like he had ever been a normal person, and beyond that it was a group of girls and just him. Did he suggest they go and eat? Watch a movie? Spar? Emerald's red eyes caught his, the girl raising and lowering her eyebrows as if to urge him on. He tried to telepathically transmit a message for help to her.

"H-He was wondering if you'd heard the rumours," Emerald laughed, trying to rescue him as best she could.

"About the fight with the Schnee bitch?" Yang asked.

"Hey!"

"Not that one," Emerald shook her head. "I meant about the date he might be having with the other teacher."

"Yeah…" Mercury agreed, thankful for any excuse. Cinder had made them aware of not only the fight with the Schnee, but also Arc's arrangement with the Deputy, Glynda, for the same day. Cinder didn't seem to think there was anything too unusual about it, but her suspicions had still been there. Mercury half-expected they'd be asked to try and follow them or something.

It would be a great way to end what was already shaping up to be a fabulously terrible weekend.

"You mean with Miss Fall?" the blonde asked, purple eyes narrowed. Wait, Cinder? Mercury's eyes met Emerald's, but the girl seemed equally lost.

"We heard about that," the small leader growled – sounding for all the world like an angry puppy. "She's got him alone in her room this evening, no doubt trying to sink her evil claws into him."

"Evil, you say?" Emerald asked, suddenly as alert as he was. How had they found out about the meeting between the two tonight? That had been information carefully kept between the three of them.

"Evil," Ruby Rose nodded. "Er… not that we've been able to prove it yet, but she has to be, right?"

Another look between the two of them, as Mercury tried to figure out what Emerald was thinking. He was thinking that they weren't paid enough for this, followed by the recollection that they weren't being paid at all. Either way, it didn't sound like little miss nosey and her team of do-gooders had actually found anything out on Cinder, but at the same time, it wasn't like they could sit back and ignore this.

"You think she's evil?" Mercury asked. "What makes you say that?"

"You wouldn't understand," the blonde said, shaking her head.

"Right… and you say the two have a date tonight?"

"Not a date," Yang was quick to say. "More like she'd invited him to her office for some drinks, no doubt so that she can try to get him drunk and take advantage of him." Emerald choked back a snigger, even as Mercury heard the blonde mumble something about the joke being on her and the Professor being able to drink with her uncle.

"And you're sure this rumour of yours is accurate?" Emerald managed to sound casual, but it was clear to him that she was looking for a name. A leak that they could follow and silence.

"Oh definitely," Yang Xiao-long laughed. "I heard about it from a friend, who heard it from her partner, who got it from a person in their class, who intercepted a note for… well, basically they heard it from a fat man with a moustache screaming about how all his plans would be ruined."

Fat man with a moustache, Mercury nodded to Emerald as they committed the description to memory. Now all they needed to do was find an overweight student with facial hair, then interrogate them until they squealed. How hard could that be?

That still didn't get rid of the immediate problem, though. The problem that the team of girls, the very team that Cinder had identified as being Jaune's biggest interest, had apparently decided they were against their boss. To Mercury's horror, he realised what that meant before even Emerald did. That they couldn't leave them alone to do their own thing… that they couldn't just pretend they had never heard this.

"So," Mercury said – sounding like a man walking to his own funeral. "What are we going to do about this date?"

"Mercury…" Yang grinned, draping an arm around his shoulder. "I'm glad you asked. How are you at fitting into tight and dark spaces?"

…

"Pardon?"

The day really hadn't been long enough, Jaune could only think as he procrastinated his way down the corridor towards Cinder's chambers. Every student that passed by was engaged in conversation, he stopped to tie his shoelaces four times, he even visited every toilet en route – just to waste more time. Cinder's chamber was a bit of a misnomer too, since it was just her office and he'd seen that it was practically a mirror of his sans the psycho girl in the bedroom. But even so, it somehow felt too low key to refer to it as Cinder's office. It was a chamber, a dungeon – a grave yard. It was some evil construct of wood, tile and plaster that might very well be his doom.

And he was at its very door.

He could have called it off, should have really, if he was being honest with himself. Peter and Bart had distracted him though; taking him through slides and documents of Winter's fighting style that they really had no right having. Part of him wondered where they'd managed to get it. Most of him suspected he wouldn't want to know.

Even with the help they'd tried so hard to provide, the truth of the matter was that she was in a different league to him entirely. There would be no trickery he could think of to match her, no single move or technique he could use to compensate for her overwhelming experience. In the end he'd been forced to smile and thank his two colleagues, while also promising to defend Beacon's honour and secure victory.

And now he was here, half-hoping that Cinder would save him the trouble and roast him over an open fire. Maybe if he managed to anger her into injuring him, then he could get out of Saturday's fight entirely? Even a weekend spent in Kitsune's tender care would have been preferable to this.

Be brave… you've done this once before. You didn't even know how dangerous she was at the time and you came out safe.

It would be fine. He could do this. All you needed was confidence, right?

He could fake that, couldn't he?

The door opened but a second after he knocked on it, the woman on the other side smiling coyly as she leaned against the frame.

"You're a little early Jaune." He wasn't, he knew for a fact that he was a good ten minutes late, but at that moment his brain wasn't working properly. She was still in her uniform dress, dark navy with a short skirt, yet the tights were gone, revealing her long, smooth legs. "Come in, though," she stepped back so he could enter, letting the door close behind him. "If you'll just give me a second to get changed?"

"Of course," Jaune waved one hand. He tried to tell her to take her time, but the words died in his throat. Cinder giggled, in that little fake way of hers that said she knew full well what effect she'd had on him. She didn't once look back as she turned and sashayed over to the door leading to her room, but she didn't have to. With the way she allowed her hips to sway, she knew exactly what he was looking at. Jaune didn't so much sit down on her couch, as fall into it.

The closed bedroom door didn't help matters. Not since he could full well imagine her slowly peeling her suit off, piece by piece, arranging it on her bed as she stood there in nothing more than her underwear. She would then reach up to unclasp-

No! He shook his head. Bad body – bad!

She was doing it on purpose, she had to be. There was no way she couldn't have gotten prepared before he arrived, not with how late he was. This was just… it was something to throw him off his game, to distract him. There was a light rustle through the door, and the sound of material falling to the floor.

Jaune didn't stand up, but part of him did.

And it's working, I know, he continued with grit teeth. But remember body – she's evil. Evilly sexy, but still evil! Funnily enough his body didn't seem to mind. Jaune let his head fall back with a sigh, counting slowly to ten and back down again. He'd been naïve the last time they had met like this, back when Roman had still been handling just about everything on his behalf. Back then he'd only just gotten into Beacon, with his aura unlocked by Roman less than a week or two before, and the promise of imminent doom at the prospect of his colleagues finding out the truth leaving him too stressed to worry about the alluring woman who could control fire.

There was a bottle of red wine on the table. He'd brought one too, the same brand he realised with muted horror. Were they so similar in taste and preference? There were two glasses next to it, and Jaune quickly uncorked the top and poured some out to calm his nerves. As an afterthought he poured some for her too, idly wishing he knew anything about poison.

The strong taste didn't soothe his nerves. People had always said alcohol did, but it would have taken many glasses to achieve that effect and there was no way he was going into this drunk. But it did give his hands and brain something to do. It helped distract him from the woman who was likely naked behind a thin, unlocked, wooden door.

"You've started without me?" Cinder Fall asked as she stepped forth once more. The red dress was a familiar one, with gold embroidery tracing patterns across her curves. The skirt was shorter, with a split leg that revealed her creamy flesh all the way up to her thigh. Thankfully the black shorts beneath saved his tenuous control.

They were tight, though.

"I did," Jaune waited for her to sit, tensing slightly as she ignored the seat opposite him and instead settled down on the same couch he was on. Hiding his sudden panic behind a wide smile, he held out a full glass of wine for her. "But I brought you a gift," he pointed to the bottle which stood beside her own, the two completely identical.

"You have good taste," she looked through her lashes at him as she took a long sip. "Something you learned from me?" It took him a second to realise what she meant, before he recalled that this was the same brand of wine she'd first given him when they met. Perhaps without even realising it, he'd picked it up from shops on future occasions.

"Guilty as charged," Jaune clinked the glass against her own, the two of them drinking. So close, he could smell the perfume she wore, a heady scent that made him all too aware of how her legs were pressed against his. "I remembered it from when we first met."

"Not the only thing you remember, I hope?"

Jaune smiled and took a drink, if only because he wasn't sure what to say. It was something he'd learned from Ozpin, as strange as that sounded. Whenever the man didn't want to give an answer he would take a drink from his mug, the silence often being answer enough. Cinder laughed, a rich and throaty sound that made his skin tingle. Or was that the wine?

"I have to admit," she ran a finger around the rim of her glass, "when we first met. I wasn't sure what to expect."

"Hm?" What was this, nostalgia and small talk from Cinder Fall? Where were the heavy words, the subtext and the threats – where was her taking control of him and trying to bend him to her will? In all honesty their meeting so far had been… almost pleasant.

"I suppose I should be honest," she went on. "When I heard from our mutual friend about you, I was curious enough to meet with you… but I did not expect much of you."

"Ouch." Jaune winced and Cinder laughed.

"Ouch indeed. When first we met, I thought you nothing more than a simple man, and I'll admit to thinking the same when we sat down together to talk." The woman shrugged, the motion seeming elegant with how she raised one shoulder and let it fall. "Imagine my surprise when you were actually quite the interesting person." Golden eyes looked at him from over the rim of her glass. "You surprised me."

"A good surprise I hope."

"No." Jaune's heart froze, muscles tensing as he readied himself for some attack. He felt her tense too, perhaps reacting to him. Was that why she sat so close to him, so that she could sense his intent and whether he made a move to attack? Jaune forced himself to calm down. It worked both ways and he could feel her relax too. "And even now you surprise me," she chuckled, "For a moment there I thought you might make a move on me."

"I didn't mean-"

She leaned forward, cutting him off by placing one finger against his lips. It wasn't enough to stop him, he could have kept speaking, but the surprising move brought him to silence nonetheless.

"You need not apologise to me, Jaune. Not all surprises are good, I'm sure you know this. You would be a fool to not fear me."

And now she was congratulating him for nearly freaking out? Something wasn't wrong with the situation, everything was wrong. He could only watch as she leaned back, taking her finger from his lips and taking a slow drink of her wine. He downed his, hoping it would have the answers he sought. When it did not, he reached for the bottle.

"Another glass?"

"Thank you," Cinder held her glass out for him to fill. The tinkling sound of the bottle's neck against glass helped calm him a little, along with the hope that if she was accepting wine from him, then she wasn't about to try and kill him. "I'm not a woman who normally likes surprises," Cinder broke the silence first, and it was only the way she leaned back and how relaxed her muscles felt that stopped him from starting to sweat at her words. "In our business surprises aren't usually good things. I'm sure you can see why you came across as a very bad thing when I first met you."

"Hopefully I managed to change your opinion."

"You did." A smile, golden eyes flickering lightly at him. "I suppose at first you impressed me, something I can assure you is very difficult."

I was just being myself at the time, Jaune thought.

"You didn't react to me," Cinder trailed her fingers across his thigh, "even when I made some subtle gestures." He winced as he felt her fingers heat up, the burning sensation something he could feel even through the fabric of his trousers. Luckily it stopped a second later, the woman only making a demonstration.

I didn't react because I didn't realise what you were doing. Because Roman didn't fill me in on how dangerous you were!

"I called it bravery at the time, or perhaps foolishness. But now… perhaps now, I believe it is something else. Suffice to say, my unpleasant surprise started to become much more interesting."

"I'm glad I was able to. I would rather be interesting to you than not." He had a sinking suspicion of what happened to those who proved useless to Cinder Fall… Roman had been one of her allies, and look where he was now.

"I am glad as well," Cinder said. "Initially I had misgivings, but now I am quite pleased to have met you."

That was good… that was definitely better than her having figured out that he was lying about wanting to support her. Jaune let himself lean back a little, relaxing as he took another long drink.

"I hear you have more than enough problems as it stands," the dark-haired woman continued. Jaune raised a single brow in question, to which she laughed. "Well I suppose to someone like you, a spar with Winter Schnee would not be considered an issue. Do you intend to defeat her?"

It wasn't a question as to his skill, he could figure that much out. Rather, she was asking if he intentionally wanted to throw the fight or what his plans were. That would have been easier to answer if he had a solution.

"We'll have to see," he said instead. "I've not yet really decided one way or the other."

"I would prefer it if you were victorious," Cinder said.

"I do owe you a favour. Is that what you want for it?"

"No." She shook her head, much to his relief. While getting rid of the favour he owed her would have been nice, he was still fairly sure the only way he was coming out of that spar was on a stretcher. "A favour from a man like you… I'd be a fool to squander that on something so paltry. Besides, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you if there was some plan you had in regards to the woman." It took him a second to realise she meant whatever his own nefarious plans were, the reason why he had apparently snuck into Beacon in the first place.

"That's considerate of you."

"We're friends, are we not? It would be remiss of me to cause you any undue trouble."

"I hope you'll warn me if I'm about to cause you any," Jaune said – if only because the last thing he wanted was to step on her toes and be incinerated. Cinder smiled and took a long drink, never once taking her eyes from his. He got the impression she would let him know… in no uncertain terms. "I'd hate to end up like the last man who must have crossed you."

"The last man…?" Golden eyes narrowed before the woman smiled, "Oh, you mean a certain flamboyant friend of ours? Rest assured Jaune, our mutual friend hasn't done anything to disappoint me." She paused for a moment, an expression that could almost be called embarrassed on her face. "Well, he did, but not enough to warrant what happened to him."

So Cinder had not intentionally sent him to jail? Jaune wasn't sure whether he believed that or not, but it did seem suspect that Roman would have purposefully allowed himself to be captured. That was another thing he would have to try and get out of Neo, if she was willing to reveal it. And now that he thought of it, hadn't Roman asked Jaune to keep Neo's presence secret from this woman? Strange, since they were apparently allied.

"Did you trust him that much, Jaune?" Cinder asked.

"I trust him," Jaune said. "But I don't have trust in him."

"Oh?" Cinder shifted slightly, settling a little lower as more of her body pressed against his. "Would you mind telling me the difference?"

"I trust him because he's predictable," Jaune said, echoing the lesson that Roman had taught him not so long ago. Roman would have raised a very sarcastic eyebrow at that comment, especially since Jaune knew diddly-squat about Roman's true motives. "If you know how a person will act, then you can always trust them to do just that. I don't have trust in him, however, because such blind faith would be foolish for someone like him."

"Very cunning," Cinder didn't seem displeased by his blatant plagiarism, likely because she thought it his own wisdom. "In that regard, do you trust me?"

The obvious answer to that was something best expressed without words. He would have stood up, leaned forward – and then laughed himself hoarse in her face. He didn't trust her as far as he could throw her, and he wouldn't have tried if she offered.

But he could also remember her asking something like that, what felt like so long ago – and how she had been more pleased with his unusual answer. Jaune took a long drink to mask his hesitation.

"I don't trust you," he said after a long pause.

Cinder smiled. "And why is that?"

"Because you are not so easy to predict," he said. "Because you are difficult to read."

Cinder's pleasure was an almost palpable thing, spreading across the room as her already pleased smile took on an almost egotistical edge.

"Forgive a woman for not wanting to lay all her cards on the table," Cinder said as she smiled through her fingers at him. "If I were so simple, then you might have found me boring long ago." That wouldn't have been an issue. Boring was good, boring was safe.

"I think I've gotten used to women catching me off-guard lately."

"The Schnee?" Cinder guessed.

"Among others."

"Would you like my assistance with her?" The offer caught him by surprise, more so because it hadn't come with any mention of favours or cost. There would be one though, even if she did not speak it. He wanted to say yes.

"It's fine," he shook his head instead, cursing himself the entire time. Roman had taught him that lesson though, favours were dangerous and he didn't want to owe any more. There was no telling what Cinder's solution might be or whether it would even work. Considering that she thought him actually a capable fighter, it might have only been to provide information like Peter and Bart, help that would have been useful to anyone else, but was completely worthless to him. "I think I'll be able to handle this on my own."

"As you will, Jaune." If she were disappointed she didn't show it. "If you ever need my assistance, know that I will be here."

"And the same to you."

He'd just have to hope she never called that in. There didn't seem to be anything else she felt the need to say, other than to smile benignly at him and finish her glass. Her legs shifted once more against his, but this time only enough for her to swing them around so that she was sitting up.

"It's getting late," she said. Jaune checked his watch to find with some surprise that they'd spent an hour together and polished off an entire bottle between them. That explained the light buzz in his head, not quite enough for him to be drunk, but enough that he might have spilled some poorly chosen words if she had tried for it. He was surprised she hadn't. "I know you have your bout tomorrow morning, I don't want to keep you all night. It was a pleasant evening, Jaune. Thank you for coming."

"It was." Jaune was shocked to find the words were honest. It had been pleasant, no matter which way he thought about it. The alcohol was good, there had been a warm body sat beside his and Cinder hadn't pushed or threatened him in any overt manner. If anything, it felt like what he imagined a quiet evening talking to a friend might have been like.

"Cooperation begins with communication," the woman smiled coyly. "We are on the same side now. There's no need to fear me causing you any trouble. That would be counter-productive. In fact, I would like to extend an invitation for this to become a more regular occurrence. Say, each Friday at the same time? It might allow us to talk candidly, while also avoiding letting the other know if we are stepping on their toes."

It would be a chance for him to find out more about her plans too. Somewhere deep inside a voice told him to refuse, that it was dangerous. Jaune nodded instead, telling the woman that he'd love to. All the panic from the morning, the fear and the caution – had it really been so unnecessary? Does she really believe I'm on her side? Is this why she trusts me so much?

"There is one thing, Jaune," Cinder said as she led him to the door. He paused and turned back, tensing slightly as though he expected some last-minute attack. "Just something that came to my attention after a little digging. Consider it a gift in return for the wine tonight, no strings attached."

Cinder placed her arms around his neck, drawing herself up as though she intended to kiss him. Jaune's heart hammered, but even he could see how she instead reached up to press her lips close to his left ear instead. Hazy and alcohol fuelled, his hands settled around her waist automatically, shivering as her breath washed against his ear.

"I managed to intercept a transmission between General Ironwood and Winter Schnee," she whispered. Jaune's eyes widened but he nodded against her shoulder, showing that he had heard. "She reported the spar to him, and his response was to praise her for a job well done. Make of that what you will."

She let go a second later, as Jaune clamped down on the panic that threatened to spread across his face. Winter letting her superior know was one thing, his response another. Jaune remembered the man crushing his hand, the suspicious looks – the probing questions. The General wanted to know more about him… the General wanted him to lose.

He couldn't afford to let either event happen.

Cinder pushed two fingers to her lips, giving them a little kiss before placing them on his cheek. "Good luck tomorrow," she said, stepping back and shutting the door behind him. His departure marked the end of the comforting heat she radiated, leaving him shivering in the bitterly cold hallway.

He had to beat Winter Schnee…

Which meant he'd better start thinking outside the box.

"Did you hear that?" Weiss Schnee gasped.

"Hear it?" Yang said, "That conversation was so filled with hidden meaning I'd have liked a subtitles option!" The four girls nodded furiously, though the small leader looked like she had no idea whatsoever and was just going along so as to not be left out. Mercury just wanted to smash his head against a wall until his brain leaked out.

Emerald gave him a measuring look, the two sharing a brief mental conversation. Mercury couldn't catch any of her thoughts, of course, but at the same time he wasn't sure he had to. No doubt she was thinking the same thing he had been, as the four preppy brats and two unfortunate criminals had been crammed and squashed into a cupboard that connected to their boss' room. They'd have to make her aware of that, since it represented a serious breach in security.

It had also been crushingly small, leaving him to be squashed between all the other girls. Naturally they'd taken that about as well as any girl did, elbowing and hissing at him whenever they thought he touched them somewhere inappropriate. He'd have thought being apparently gay would have saved him from that.

So the boss' plan was to try and seduce the Professor over to their side, was it? She'd certainly been subtle about it, subtle to the point where Mercury wasn't sure if the target had caught it. That was probably the point, though. He wasn't some stumbling buffoon to be caught by a flash of leg. If Cinder came on too strong then he'd probably suspect it was a ruse. Listening to the two of them trade hidden meaning and careful barbs… it had been enough to remind him of just why she led and he followed.

It had been like listening to two masters at work.

"She's trying to take advantage of him," Ruby Rose sounded like she wanted nothing more than to break the wall down and take the fight to Cinder personally. She wasn't wrong though, since that was exactly what Cinder wanted. "He's too good for her."

"He's off the market," Xiao-Long and the Schnee said at the same time, before their eyes narrowed and they glared at one another. Mercury was just thankful they hadn't expected him to chip in with that.

"Is it any of our business though?" Emerald asked, doubtless trying to steer them away from interfering with their boss. Mercury had to stifle a laugh as he saw the four teammates turn to stare at his partner, all with varying degrees of incredulity. "Right… I mean, go team?"

"Professor Arc has shown little interest in her," the Schnee went on. "But it's clear from her words and actions that the intent is not mirrored. I'm sure we can all agree this was a play by Miss Fall to try and seduce him." There were nods from the others, and with a shrug Mercury nodded as well. He'd have been hard pressed to pretend it was anything else to be honest. "The question is, what do we do with this?"

"Leave them to it?" Emerald said. "They're both adults. If one of them doesn't approve then they can say so."

Emerald, the voice of logic, went immediately ignored.

"I say we rush in there and give her a piece of our mind." The blonde slammed a fist into her palm, and Mercury had sudden visions of what would happen if they tried that. Well, it would be the end to his embarrassment at their hands.

"We could be expelled for something like that," the cat said.

Emerald sighed, "Exactly – thanks for bringing that up. I really think we sh-"

"Then we need to sabotage her attempts!" Emerald looked like she wanted nothing more than to strangle the girl in red who had said that, but Mercury held her back with one hand, masking it as him giving her a friendly hug. Even the thought of it made him shiver. "We can't let her take advantage of Jaune."

"I absolutely agree." Weiss Schnee said. That seemed to be a surprise for the others, who looked at the white-haired girl with nothing short of absolute shock. "Miss Fall cannot be allowed to interfere in true love, and I shall not stand for it."

"Weiss…" Ruby whispered. "Thank you, Weiss…"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Emerald waved her arms. "This is nuts, this is crazy! The two just shared some drinks and talked about when they were younger – what makes you even think she's trying to seduce him!?"

"Did you not hear the subtext?" Yang snorted. "She was either trying to seduce him or discussing her plans for world domination."

Mercury choked.

"Seducing then," Emerald did an immediate U-turn. "So what's the plan best-buds?"

"We need to find some dirt on her," Weiss said. "Something we can use to prove that she doesn't deserve to be here, that she can't get in the way of Professor Arc and his true love."

"Sabotage, then?" Belladonna asked, one brow raised. The other girls all nodded.

Mercury shared a look with Emerald, the two of them looking about as aggrieved as they could. It didn't need to be said that their job would be to stop this plan from going into effect. They would need to sabotage RWBY's attempt to sabotage Cinder's attempt to sabotage Professor Arc by seducing him.

It really wasn't his day.

P.s. I haven't forgotten about the Qrow fake name stuff and Jaune finding out, don't worry.

Weird week for me. I'm sure some may have heard my car died and I needed to borrow my sister's pink one? Well guess what, on the day she brought it to mine… it died too. So I was stuck. Now my car is STILL in for repairs and isn't expected to be done until the end of next week. Fun times.

Anyway, still managed to get this finished despite a compulsory and automatic Windows 10 update bricking my pc. Managed to dig the memory out of it and transfer it to another pc to get at this chapter and finish it, sigh.

With that in mind, and because I lost a full day's writing to this Windows 10 poop, I haven't had the time for an omake this week, I do apologise.

So instead I thought I might post one or two omakes that some fans came up with in the Professor Arc forums. Names will be accredited, and due to lack of time these are not necessarily "the best" but rather good ones I was able to find on short notice. There really are a lot!

Omake1: Mjzemancik

"We have a problem."

"No we don't," Jaune said to Peter, looking him square in the eye. "You have a problem. Whatever is going on, you deal with it!"

"Please Jaune," the pleading in Peter's voice gave Jaune pause. "You're the only one who can help me. Please."

Jaune resisted the urge to curse, whatever problem Peter had would only lead to pain, horror, and embarrassment. The man could deal with it; he had worked at Beacon long before Jaune joined the staff. He must have dealt with problems all those years by himself. He would be perfectly fine.

Peter gave Jaune the puppy dog eyes.

"How can I help?"

"Ah, well you see, my parents are coming here."

Jaune already regretted his decision. Well, more like he had regretted it as soon as he had asked and this was just confirming. "Ok, I can sympathize with the idea of family coming to visit, especially coming to the school," thankfully his parents hadn't decided to do that.

"I love them very much, but they can be a little… pushy. And mother is always nattering to me about grandchildren." Jaune could really sympathize. "And the thing is, last time they talked about how they wanted to set me up with something, and I kind of told them… I was already seeing someone."

His house of lies was collapsing around him, but however that karma thing worked Jaune felt that not helping would be a bad idea. "So, we need to find you a fake girlfriend?"

"That's right. We need you to be my fake girlfriend."

"… what?"

"I need you to be my fake girlfriend," Peter held out a dress to Jaune.

Karma was a bitch.

"I think we should explore other options before we resort to… drastic measures. How about we get Glynda-" Peter's deadpan look said all that needed on that idea.

"Right, ok, how about Tsune?"

"My parents already know we broke up, they wouldn't believe we got back together."

"WHAT! When did that happen?"

"Long ago, not important."

"… Cind- no, really bad idea."

"Look Jaune we don't have time for this, it will only be a short time before my parents arrive. We need to get you ready as fast as possible."

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I CAN PASS AS A WOMAN?"

Peter held out a makeup kit in his other hand. Jaune cupped his face in his hands.

/-/

"Where did you even get the dress?"

"Glynda," Peter answered, as he stood beside a lovely young lady.

"Didn't she ask what you wanted it for?"

"Oddly, it didn't come up."

Joan sighed, he just had to grit his teeth and get through this. A hour, tops. She could do this.

There was a knocking at the door, and a smile appeared on Peter's face. "Come in."

The door opened to reveal-

"Oh son, it is good to see you," said Ozpin in a low, gruff voice.

"Is this the lovely lady you've told us all about," Oobleck said, his voice high pitched and girly. Both of them held up their scrolls, recording him. Jaune just stared at the two, face growing red. From anger or embarrassment, it was hard to tell.

"Why," Jaune croaked. Oobleck and Ozpin reached into their pockets, handing over a stack of lien to Peter. "I guess I should be thankful that you limited my humiliation to just you few."

A wolf whistle came from the doorway. "Well, look at those legs," Glynda stood behind the other teachers, a large grin on her face. "You fill out that dress nice Jaune. Oh wait, sorry, Joan."

"And here I thought we'd have to get you drunk to stuff you in a dress," Oobleck quipped.

Omake 2 Coeur al'Aran

"This is the end Blake," the masked man whispered, stepping towards her as she frantically tried to drag herself away. Gambol Shroud was too far away, knocked from her grip in Adam's first attack. The look in his eye said there would be no more mercy. Her leg screamed in agony as she fell back, slamming into a table and collapsing to the floor. "This already hurts me Blake," he whispered, "Don't make it any worse."

Oh I'm sorry, she thought to herself hysterically, looking for a weapon, I didn't realise killing me was so inconvenient - we could take a rain-check?

Nothing, damn it - she could hear Yang in the distance coming closer, but there was no way she would be here in time. This was it, the consequences of her actions coming back to haunt her.

This was where she died.

I need something, anything! Her eyes strayed left and right, hand reaching out onto the table she had fallen against, rattling around as she felt for anything she might use - a butter knife, a fork... she wasn't sure if she could spoon out his eyes but by her Jaune x Mercury hardcore Doujinshi she was going to try!

"Time to stop running my love," the red blade reflected crimson light across her eyes. At the same time her finger touched something, instinct screaming as she picked it up and threw it at his face.

There was a loud smash, followed by hissing and the tinkling sound of ceramic pieces raining down around her. Adam recoiled, coffee staining his face.

"Argh - arghhh-... oh..." to Blake's shock the agonised screams seemed to pause, the faunus going suddenly still, even as steam rose from his mask and face. "Ohh... ahh~"

"..." Blake didn't dare breathe.

/-/

"Blake!" Yang screamed, "I'm here to sav-" her words were interrupted as something breezed past her, a flash of red and pink - a sound like a loud giggle and a smell like… coffee beans? Lilac eyes blinked slowly, head turning to look at what had just rushed by her, before slowly turning back to her partner... the girl hurt but alive, sat by a broken table.

She looked damaged though... not just the wound in her leg, but the expression on her face that said she'd just been through some horrific trauma. Yang coughed loudly.

"Did... did he just skip past me naked, giggling like a schoolgirl?"

"Did… did coffee just succeed where I failed?"

One day I might get around to actually compiling all the crazy omakes in the forums into some kind of anthology fic. There are some really good ones in there. You can the Professor Arc forum in the "forums tab" for the RWBY page – but it might be easier to just change the search bar to "forums" and search "Professor Arc" if you are actually interested. There's a lot of posts though, lol. Do beware.

Next Chapter: 7th October

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur