Update - 31st August - I am badly sick this morning I'm afraid and there won't be any Null update today (31st August) or a Rabbit Among Wolves tomorrow (1st September). Stories will resume normally after this. Thank you for understanding and my apologies, I know this story is pacing around its fastest moments right now, so of all the stories I'd have felt comfortable skipping a week on, this isn't the one. Alas, I'm shivering and shaking too much to properly write. The chapter would be like a fever dream.

Cover Art: Serox

Chapter 21

Jaune heard the shouting and banging from their private changing room. He spared a nod for the others to keep going with the show and slipped out, quickly hearing the volume increase and a scuffle break out. Ilia was out on stage now, and he had the horrible image of her being arrested on the way back in.

It wasn't Ilia.

Coco Adel of all people was coming out a changing room with a bloody and crying figure in her arms, leaning bodily on her shoulder with her face hidden in Coco's neck. Two women screamed and ranted angrily behind her, threatening everything from legal action to having her thrown out, promising to ruin her career and life.

An angry pair of brown eyes fixed on him. "Oi. Jau- Viv. A hand here?"

Should we be doing anything together? We're enemies.

The thought didn't stop him hurrying over. The girl Coco was holding was a faunus with long rabbit-like ears, though when he looked closer he could see they were a little more rectangular in shape, perhaps a donkey's ears. She was taller than Coco but hunched and shivering. His hands were, too, when he held them out but didn't dare touch, all too aware of the fact she was both in her underwear and had blood running down her neck and shoulders.

"You got anyone in yours who knows first aid?" Coco demanded.

"I… I'll check." He pressed the comms device on his mask. "Deery? Pass that on, will you?"

"On it."

"What happened to her?" he asked Coco.

"Those fucks-" Coco glared back at the Subtle Spices changing room, where two women were furiously shaking and whispering to one another, "-decided to up their game by copying your style and hanging jewellery between this one's ears. It'd make sense if they were pierced or prepared for that in advance, but they decided it'd be quicker to go at it with a pair of hammers and some metal spikes."

In his head he imagined an ear held flat down against a table, a nail placed against it and then the loud bam of a hammer striking. His imagination spared him the agonised cry from the poor girl, but not the surge of anger. He glared back at the two women, one of whom had already sprinted off. Part of him wanted to give chase, but Coco hefted the girl with a meaningful motion. Right. Help the victim first, deal with the bad guys later.

"Trifa is your girl. Says to bring her in."

"I have someone who can help," he said, helping Coco and the model to their rooms. "It's just… They might not all be masked inside. Can you…?"

"I'm not waiting outside but I'll keep your secrets. Sides, you've not done anything worth being arrested for yet." She winked at him, but it felt forced and stilted, like she was trying to regain some of her prior mood and couldn't.

The message had already been received by his lot and he was relieved to find they'd all donned fashion masks by the time he got Coco and the model inside. More than that, Yuma had cleared a space on the couches and procured some white cloth and a roll of bandages from somewhere, while Trifa had pinned her hair back and was ready to go with a bowl of warm water.

"Lay her down here. Lay her down – whichever way is comfortable for you. Wow. You're brave to be so quiet. Can you tell me your name?"

"S-Swan…"

"Swan. That's a lovely name. Mine is Trifa and this idiot is Yuma. Don't let him touch you, I've no idea where he's been or what he's caught." She earned a painful giggle from the girl and an indignant huff from Yuma. "Now, let's have a look at those ears. Oh, they're bleeding a lot and it must hurt. Don't worry, though. I'm used to treating faunus and you can – though I wouldn't suggest it – lose your entire ears without being in immediate risk. You're going to be okay…"

Trifa kept talking as she washed the holes, dabbing carefully among bloody fur and ruptured skin all the while going on about Menagerie, herself or Yuma, keeping Swan distracted and talking back. Jaune and Coco backed away, already suspecting they'd only be in the way. Sun was up in their faces before they could say anything, and he didn't look pleased.

"What happened?"

Coco recited the story eagerly. Jaune wasn't sure she wasn't hoping they'd break their disguise and rip Subtle Spices to shreds. "I almost lost my head, but I'm still a huntress in training. I know not to go in swinging against people who haven't got a chance of fighting back. Shame. I wish they had fought back. Would have given me the excuse to use force."

"Bastards…"

"Hey. Aren't you that transfer from Mistral?" Coco asked. "The one who can't button his shirt up?"

"No idea what you mean. I'm Solar. Solar Flare."

"Right…"

"You're the last person to be accusing anyone of anything," Jaune pointed out. "You're not meant to be helping us with our goals."

"They're not meant to be abusing their models. Only reason I came here was because no one on Team RWBY would be of any use. They're good at knocking down Grimm, not patching people up." Coco looked to the TV showing the fashion show and sighed. "Besides, you've as good as won here with what you did on the catwalk. Not much point fighting that now."

Fists banged on the door a second before it clicked open. Two men in black suits entered, followed by both sisters from the Subtle Spices group. They were smiling viciously, though the men in suits were much more polite, one standing with them while the other coughed to draw their attention and looked down at a clipboard.

"Mr Vivian Van… Vivian Von… Mr…"

"Vivian Von Van Volkvan," Jaune replied.

"Y…Yes. That. Ahem. You have been accused of sabotaging a competing fashion studio by abducting one of their models. I'm sure you can understand this is quite the serious accusation, and we do have to treat the matter as such. Would you be amenable to us searching your changing room, just to make sure it's not true, I'm sure you under-?"

"There!" one of the sisters said, stabbing a finger toward Swan. "That's her. See. Proof!"

"My goodness." The official covered his mouth with one hand. "Is… Is that blood…!? Do you require an ambulance called?"

"Might not be a bad idea," Trifa said distractedly.

"Mark. Call the hospital. Quickly now!" The second man at the door hurried out, pulling a scroll to his ear. The first looked nervously at Swan. "Miss Thyme. Miss Rosemary. This obviously looks more an act of kindness than sabotage. Your model is clearly injured-"

"Swan is fine – or she would have been if we hadn't been interrupted!"

"They made it worse," the other twin lied. "We had everything under control when that child from Beacon interfered. They should also be disqualified from the competition."

"Absolutely. Children playing at games above them and making a mockery of fashion."

Coco cracked her neck and removed her shades. "You want to go a few rounds with me?"

"Please. Please." The beleaguered official stepped between both parties. "There's no need for all these accusations. We'll simply ask Miss Swan her account of events and-"

"Swan is under an NDA," Thyme said quickly.

The official hesitated. "An NDA can be waived by an employer when they wish – and surely you wish her to here so she can proclaim your innocence."

Neither offered.

"Telling, isn't it?" Coco hissed.

"Miss Thyme. Miss Rosemary. I cannot make a proper decision without knowing the full story. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation here, but unless you let me hear it, there is little I can do – and I certainly won't be disqualifying two teams based on your word alone."

"Fine. Then don't. But we'll be taking our model back."

"The girl is clearly in need of medical attention."

"Attention she can receive when the ambulance arrives," Rosemary said, "But that doesn't change the fact she shouldn't be here. Swan is under contract to us and that includes a non-competition clause. Under that contract, she cannot seek employment, work with or interact with rival fashion houses within Vale for a period of up to two years from her employment. If she does, we can terminate her employment at any time."

"Vulgar threats already?" Jaune asked theatrically, angling Lisa Lavender's hidden camera toward them. "Victimisation and violence masquerading as virtue. Such a vile display."

"I agree." The official tilted his head. "I think…? This is not something I can take lightly, ladies. I will have to report this to the organisers-"

"Any and all actions taken within private changing rooms are considered confidential for the duration of the show," Thyme interrupted. "We were assured of this, as was every other agency. We would be within our rights to sue if that was impugned."

"This is all a poor misunderstanding either way," Rosemary said with a simpering smile. "Swan would not be in this situation if it weren't for the girl interfering. Isn't that right, Swan? All of this was done with your consent."

A broken sob sounded from the couch.

Sun stepped between them. "Doesn't sound like she agreed."

"It didn't sound like a disagreement either, you brute. The poor girl is in pain and you're all making it worse. Once this is all over, I'm sure she will be willing to give her statement and show that we acted reasonably."

"You drove nails through my ears!" Swan wailed. The official gasped, swooning.

"Swan!" Thyme snapped. "Those are lies! We won't stand for you spreading misinformation about our methods."

"We could have you in court for slander – not to mention breach of contract." Rosemary forced her temper down. "We won't, of course. You're clearly not thinking straight – no doubt being pressure to say things by Vivian and his models. Look, they're even working together with Beacon. Since when is collaboration allowed in a competition like this?"

"W-Well, it's not," the official said, "But I've not heard any talk of working together, either. They're obviously caring for an injured-"

"Enough! Swan will return with us or we shall cut ties here and call her employment over."

"And since it's clear she's being coached to spread lies about us, we'll see her in court, too. There's no telling what nonsense they'll have her say. Something as ridiculous as us driving nails into her ears, no doubt."

Yuma rose up threateningly. "And if we checked your changing rooms and found the tools used…?"

"You would be breaking and entering," Thyme said. "The changing rooms are considered the property of each team while in use. Even if you found evidence it would be considered inadmissible in court due to the illegal means you took to acquire it. As would anything Swan might say due to the NDA's she is under."

"Not that any of this is true at all," Rosemary added. "It's all baseless accusations."

Jaune turned to the official. The man looked out of his depth. He kept looking back to Swan on the couch, clearly wanting to do more but unsure if he could. His fingers gripped the clipboard with all his strength. "They… They're not wrong," he said reluctantly. "You could file a complaint with the police and request a warrant to search their changing rooms."

"We would co-operate with any investigation," Thyme said smugly. "After all, we've nothing to hide."

"Or," Tukson grunted, "We could go take a look now."

"That's illegal."

Everyone in Ivory Tooth turned to stare at him. Even Trifa looked away from Swan expectantly, while Tukson had already moved toward the door to block it off and Yuma was looming next to the Subtle Spice twins in a clearly threatening manner. Jaune glanced to Coco. Nothing. The huntress refused to meet his eyes, likely because she knew anything she said or did would be used against her when this went down. Ah, shit. There really wasn't much of a choice.

"Verily," he said, reaching for his mask, "It is a shame that Vivian Von Van Volkvan goes by another name." Their eyes widened, blood draining as the tree recognised his face from the news and quickly pieced together just who Ivory Tooth Studios really were. "And that neither of those identities cares much for legality."

Tukson and Yuma leapt as one, grappled the two women and pinned them to the ground. The official went unaccosted but still panicked, jumping on the spot and quickly bringing his hands up, palms empty and toward them in clear surrender.

"Oi." Coco stepped forward threateningly. "Watch it with those two. You hurt them and I'll be forced to intervene."

Jaune nodded and waved the official to move aside. The man couldn't have complied faster. "Sun, take Bane and a camera and record everything you see in the Subtle Spices changing room. We'll pass that onto the media later." He almost said Lisa but saved himself at the last. Stepping up to the trapped sisters, he said. "It may not stand up in a court of law, but I'm told the court of public opinion can be just as damning. I wonder how many outlets will dare even stock your outfits once this hits the ground."

"Y-You monster!" Thyme gasped. "Terrorist! No one will believe you – not when Swan speaks in our defence!"

"And she will!" Rosemary growled. "Or else it'll look problematic when we point out a faunus is siding with the White Fang against her employers." Her lips curled up into a vicious smile. "Why, people might start to think she has sympathies with terrorist groups. They may even think she's a member! She'd never find a job in the industry again with that over her head."

"How would I anyway!?" Swan shrieked, sitting up with a bloody towel wrapped around her body. "Look what you did to my ears!" They were spotted with holes. Tears ran down her cheeks as her eyes, rimmed red, shone. "I'm ruined! If… If it's the only thing I can do, then I'll make sure you go down with me!"

Jaune looked back, a curious smile on his face. "You want to drive the nail in yourself…?"

Swan stared back, nervous at first to be facing the leader of the White Fang, but quickly recovering her strength. There was a firmness there he couldn't mistake. "I want to bury them myself!"

"Will you help?" Jaune asked the official.

The man looked lost. "Will I live if I do…?"

"You'll live either way. We're not here to harm you and there's a Huntress right there." He pointed to Coco, who waved impishly. "Whether you'll be able to live with yourself, though? Well, that's up to you."

The man, the human man, looked at Swan's bloody ears.

/-/

No one in the audience knew what to expect after Beacon's last rousing display – one in which Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose finished back to back on the catwalk, frozen roses spinning gently in the air as they crossed their arms and leaned against one another like two mafiosos. The sparkling display of flowering ice sculptures did most of the work, enough to have people on their feet clapping and gasping, some even reaching out to catch and marvel at the thin, frozen petals melting in their hands. The two huntresses grinned, flourished and went back down the catwalk, applause behind them.

An official in a black suit hurried out from the curtain and to the side, whispering to the judges on the main desk, who nodded back. One picked up a microphone and said, "Our next display is a surprise style from Ivory Tooth Studios titled… the… The Price of Fashion…?"

Their confusion was short lived. The curtains parted and a procession of faunus walked out side by side. In terms of fashion, there was little. They were all of them in their underwear, no stitch of clothing other than what was required. They walked side by side, the hulking giant on the left and the bat faunus on the far right, between them the money faunus and the chameleon flanking and supporting a hunched faunus with long ears.

The first people in the crowd gasped. Others joined as the procession walked down the catwalk and the lights caught sight of the central girl's ears. The blood had dried, the wounds stopped bleeding, but the grisly holes were still there and had taken a toll on her ears, forcing them to droop down unnaturally. The model's eyes were pointed down, her footsteps uneven and reliant on the support of Sun and Ilia beside her.

Those in the audience recognised the agency she was from.

That was not all that drew attention, however. The hulking giant had eschewed the carefully placed leather straps and accessories, showing everyone the thick, ugly scars that marred his back and shoulders, the burns and the poorly healed injuries, the long red lines that could only have been caused by a whip or some other instrument impacting again and again. More than that, however, the letters burned and branded into his back.

SDC. SDC. SDC.

No one dared speak. Men and women sat in their seats, hands over their mouths, eyes wide and some even covering their eyes. Cameras forgot to flash for the longest time, only to go wild when the group reached the end of the catwalk and stood, bared and scarred. They turned, Bane revealing the full extent of his scars, then began the slow and defeated walk back.

The very moment they were gone, a hundred or more people were on their feet, shouting, demanding answers and threatening action.

/-/

Team RWBY were out in time to meet the group coming back, weapons not drawn, but Blake branding a high heel like she intended to use it. Ruby trusted Yang to hold her back, looking around with wide eyes for any sign of Coco. The White Fang had made their move – and things didn't look good. Weiss was practically hyperventilating, so pale that she might as well have been made of snow.

"Coco!" Ruby yelled, spotting her. "W-What are you doing over there? Does he have you prisoner!?"

Their so-called leader looked at the dangerous criminal, Jaune Arc, and laughed awkwardly. Moving away from him and his side, she came over to theirs with a guilty smile. "Not quite. Let's just say things have changed."

"What about that girl?" Blake demanded. "The holes in her ears…"

"Not caused by them. We're busting the ones responsible." Loudly, she added. "And it was Beacon who discovered this, even if the White Fang helped out in bringing them to justice. Or do you want to disagree with that one, Vivian?"

Jaune Arc didn't have his mask on anymore, but he still looked ridiculous in his white suit. Not at all dangerous. Considering his own people were practically naked from their little stint, it was a good chance to try and catch them.

"I don't disagree. We were here to expose them, but Beacon beat us to it."

Why was he agreeing with Coco? Why side with them when he could have taken the glory for himself? He was basically offering them a way out of looking like idiots. "Is this a bribe?" Ruby asked. "Are you trying to buy us off?"

"What? No!"

"It's not," Coco said. "Think, Ruby. What do all of their recent raids and big moves have in common?"

"He's in charge of them?"

"Well, yeah, but I was looking for something more specific. Recordings. They're all recorded and sent to the media after. And he's been angling his left breast to me and everyone he talks to all day. Either he's got nipple lasers as a Semblance or a hidden camera." Coco flicked her shades up and grinned at him. "Tell me it's the nipple lasers. I beg you."

Jaune Arc chuckled. "It's a camera."

Ruby's knees shook. If she'd done as she thought was right and run in to fight him, how bad would that have looked? The footage was probably being streamed elsewhere, so she'd look like she was totally ignoring the fact he'd exposed some bad guys to attack him. And without them doing anything they could really arrest them for right now.

It would be another disaster! Argh!

Coco wouldn't be around to bail her out forever, either. She had to start learning these things. On Yang's left, Blake dropped the heel and stepped into it, trying to act for all the world like she'd been getting dressed and not planning to murder someone.

"That's it, then, isn't it?" Ruby asked. "We can't stop them without looking stupid."

"Nope. Technically, this is Vivian Van Von Volkvan and Ivory Tooth Studios, and it's going to stay that way for the next ten or fifteen minutes. At least until people start figuring out what's going on. By which point I assume you lot will have made a run for it?"

Jaune shrugged. "Not a great idea to stick around. Can we leave Subtle Spices with you?"

"I'd not let you take prisoners away. What about Swan? You know it's gonna look bad if you take her with you."

"She's not White Fang."

"Not how it's gonna look," Yang said reluctantly.

"Yeah." Jaune sighed. "I guess we'll have to leave her and hope it works out. I don't suppose you could speak in her defence?"

"Course we can. I know she's innocent and I'm the one who found her bleeding everywhere." Coco waved her hand at him. "Get yourself gone, scoundrel. And watch yourself. You might have beaten us this time, but Coco Adel doesn't take losing well. I'm coming for ya."

Jaune Arc nodded at Coco, and then a second time at them. He stepped back, spared them one final look and then ran back to their changing rooms. Not a minute later, the assorted White Fang `models` left in their civilian outfits, hurrying out the back entrance of the fashion house.

The noise from the main show area had become louder still, people shouting and scraping chairs back, bottles smashing and overall starting to sound like the beginnings of the most polite and high-class riot ever.

"Did you just flirt with him!?" Blake hissed.

"Nah. Course not."

"It sounded like flirting!" Yang said.

"Must be your imagination."

/-/

"Did you just flirt with him?" Glynda Goodwitch hissed, looking up from the video.

"Nah. Course not."

"It sounded like flirting," Qrow Branwen pointed out.

"Must be your imagination."

Coco Adel stood boldly in the middle of Team RWBY and before the headmaster, his deputy and the Uncle of two of her mini-team, grinning up a storm and not at all cowed by the frankly murderous glower Miss Goodwitch was sending her way.

"Miss Adel, this is a serious accusation."

"It really isn't."

"What?"

"It isn't," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Me stabbing a child is a serious accusation. Me embezzling charity money would be a serious accusation. A teenage girl flirting with a guy, regardless of who he is, is pretty low on the `serious accusation` scale. Hell, most people would believe it if I said it was banter. Others will say it doesn't matter at all."

"Do you believe it to only be banter, young woman?"

Coco chuckled. "No comment."

"Miss Adel does have a point," Ozpin said. "In the grand scheme of things her mannerisms towards Mr Arc are mostly unimportant. What matters is that Beacon was seen taking a pro-active stance in both countering the White Fang, being there to protect the civilians, foiling a crime and even preventing the White Fang from taking away the accused to make an example of them." He looked up from the terminal on his computer, adjusting his spectacles. "Lisa Lavender's report – which happens to be the first airing – has mostly spoken well of both the White Fang and Beacon, praising both of our responses and our willingness to put aside our issues to work together in defence of a victimised faunus."

Miss Goodwitch looked stunned and she wasn't the only one. Team RWBY had come back expecting a serious dressing down for their failure. Only Coco had remained calm and continued to do so, grinning at the headmaster.

"What can I say? I do good work."

"You do, Miss Adel. I have to say I made the right choice in choosing you."

"Genius move on your part," Coco agreed.

"Yes, well, I like to think I know my students well."

"If the two of you are done congratulating yourselves!" Glynda said, fixing both Coco and her boss with a fierce glare. "This doesn't change the fact that the White Fang have come out as heroes again. This task force was made to prevent that."

"We limited it." It was Weiss who spoke up. "There was no chance of preventing it entirely, but sharing the glory means we prevented the White Fang taking all of it, which they would have done if we weren't there."

"Weiss is right," Yang said. "Sure, we didn't stop them, but we made sure they had to share. It's a win for them and us, rather than a win for just them like the last few times. That's progress, isn't it?"

"It certainly is," Ozpin said. "And well done to all of you. "It turns out Miss Swan has also been offered a job with A&A Fashion as head of their new faunus fashions department. They're opening a new label called `Fang` that's going to cater to faunus-specific fashion and have decided they want her chairing it. There's quite a lot of change expected in the industry now, if not because certain brands want to make it then because they'll have to. Anyone who isn't seen to fight this will face such a public relations storm that they'll be lucky to survive. Subtle Spices certainly won't even if they do manage to find a way out of their legal troubles. A happy ending, all things considered."

"If you count people literally walking around with White Fang branded clothing a happy ending, then sure," Blake muttered.

"Honestly, Miss Belladonna, I'd much prefer the White Fang a brand label than a terrorist group. I'm sure we all would." Ozpin read on and chuckled to himself. "You might also be interested to know the five of you won the fashion show. Miss Schnee and Miss Rose in particular have received a few part-time job offers, along with requests to feature at the opening of a charity shop next Saturday."

"Pencil it into our diary," Coco said quickly.

"Already done, Miss Adel. Already done. I guess great minds do think alike."

Ruby raised her hand, obviously about to ask whether they got a say in that before she remembered why they were here, how it was a punishment, and lowered her hand with an indignant scowl. Weiss only sighed, used to it all by now.

Yang less so. "Oi! How did I not get an invite?"

"Too stacked," Coco said. "Your chest is too big."

"You wanna say that again?"

"She's probably right, firecracker." Qrow laughed and dodged away from her fist. "And she's not saying there's anything wrong with that, just that most modelling agencies like their girls wispy thin and a little less developed. If you think about it, she's saying you're too eye-catching for modelling work. It's a compliment."

"If we can get back to the subject at hand," Glynda interrupted. "And away from Miss Xiao-Long's measurements. The White Fang have earned less of a victory than they otherwise would have thanks to your quick actions, but that doesn't change the fact they've chalked up another. The Vytal Festival is approaching, and we can't have the White Fang running rampant through that, especially not as beloved hero figures! Atlas will go ballistic."

"Atlas has its own problems," Qrow said. "Those brands on the big guy's back aren't going to be easily explained. No offence," he said to Weiss. "If Jimmy comes down here and tries to pin that on the White Fang, people aren't going to take it well."

"I shall talk to him," Ozpin said. "Until then, continue as normal and well done to both Team RWBY and Miss Adel, both for your actions in the show and after."

"I can't believe we got away with that," Yang said as they stepped out the elevator at the bottom.

"I can't believe we wasted our time competing in a fashion show when we could have been arresting Jaune Arc right then and there," Blake grumbled.

"And I can't believe my teammate flirted with a terrorist!" Velvet Scarlatina roared, hands on hips waiting at the bottom. "Coco! Explain yourself!"

Coco winced. "It was your imagination…?"

Team RWBY watched their PR consultant be dragged away kicking and screaming over the shoulder of an irate rabbit faunus.

/-/

"So…" Jaune wasn't sure of the exact level of politeness required when talking to a dead person in your head. Adam stood across from him, mask back in place and lips tugged down into his usual, perpetual frown. "It's been a while. How you doing?"

"Dead. You?"

"Alive. Uh. Helping the White Fang?"

"If you call making trained killers prance down a catwalk helping, then sure."

"Hey." Jaune would have normally backed down, but after all the hard work he'd put into the fashion show, all the alliteration and the things he'd seen, he wasn't about to here. Not to a prick like Adam. "We helped the faunus today. You can't deny that. Swan is going to have a better career now she'd free of Subtle Spice, and faunus will be better represented."

"You also shat all over the SDC by showing Bane's scars," Adam pointed out. "That, I approve of." Obviously that would be the thing Adam focused on. And he was rubbing his hands together and chuckling under his mask like a cartoon villain. Great. "As for what you did, I admit, this will help some faunus, but not all of them. You're applying a band aid to a broken back. You think fashion is the only industry treading down our kind? It's not. This is systematic of so much more and a fashion show here and there isn't going to fix things."

"And your actions were…?"

"I would have cowed humanity into submission."

"They'd learn to hate faunus."

"They already do."

"Not all of them," he argued, thinking of the official in the show and also Coco Adel. "There are plenty of people who would help if they were given the chance. Aren't I a perfect example of that?"

"The man only aiding us to clear his name?"

"Oh. Right. Ahem." He flushed. "There are still loads of other people and you can't deny that. Your plan isn't to raise the faunus up but drag humanity down. That'll put everyone on the same level, but it'll be a shitty level for everyone."

"You're being naïve. Inequality flourishes because it allows those on the right side of it to be better off. They have more resources, more wealth, specifically because the other side has less. Bringing everyone back to an equal footing won't just mean more for the oppressed. It means less for those at the top, hence why people like Jacques Schnee and the politicians in charge of Vale will never accept it. Oh, they'll dance to the tune of it and acknowledge your actions as good where they are, but only as long as it takes them to find one thing to nail you to the wall over. And then all of this – all you've made – will come toppling down."

Jaune sighed and crossed his arms. "You're in a fucking miserable mood tonight. What did I do wrong?"

"You had Blake on a catwalk!" Adam accused, stabbing a finger out at him. "And you didn't once try and challenge her to a swimsuit competition!"

"I knew it would be something like this…"

"Not once!" Adam raged again. "What kind of hotblooded man are you? You had the most perfect woman in existence right there. The Schnee? The allegedly related sisters who look like they don't so much as share an ancestor? Who cares about them? To see those morons laud over them while Blake walked down that catwalk…" He turned away, shaking. "It was incredible. Just the sight of her, the light reflecting off her raven locks."

"Adam, no."

"It moved me. It made my heart stutter…"

"No. Adam. No. Don't you dare."

"Yellow eyes on stage,

Judging everyone as lesser,

Not unlike a cat."

Jaune planted his face in one hand, watching as Adam turned away from where one might imagine the moon to be if his brain had a moon – and wouldn't it have been strange if it did? The masked man waited expectantly, eventually scowling and saying, "Well? It's powerful, isn't it? The layout is an old Mistral custom."

It was powerful alright. Jaune had already given up wanting to fight it.

"Sure. Very intense. Much wow. Anyway-"

"I have more if you want to hear them."

"No, that's really not-"

"Black petals touch me,

Hair soft and fragrant as roses,

But she is a cat."

"Is she a cat, though? Really?"

"It's poetry," Adam stated. "Metaphor. The meaning is deeper – and she is my cat. My black cat, for which the only misfortune I ever received was the hours I spent without her at my side." Looking away, he whispered, "I was less of a man in those times…"

"Can we talk about something more immediately important to the White Fang? I wanted to ask your thoughts on Cinder-"

"Hair like ash, eyes burn,

Taking the colours of my love,

She is not my cat."

"Yes. That person." Jaune tried hard not to point out Adam's less than stellar skill at poetry. "She wants us to steal dust and I'm fairly sure she'd going to be upset at us when we don't. Upset at me. Enough that she might kill me."

"I know. I'm rooting for her."

Asshole. Jaune opened his mouth and then changed tack. "That's fair. I mean, I did kill you. On the other hand, sticking with me means you have more chances to see Blake through my eyes. Since she's after me to avenge you and all, wouldn't that mean you'd get to see her being all emotional about you, proving her feelings for you once and for all?"

Adam whirled to face him. "You must live."

"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say that…"

"You must also date Blake."

"Not happening."

"You would suggest any woman can hold a candle to her glory?"

"No," he lied. "But I'm fairly sure she'd like to hold a candle under a pile of dust I'm strapped to and watch me go up like a gory red firework. And that'd be bad," he reminded Adam, "Since the longer you're with me, the more you get to see of Blake. Maybe even Blake in different outfits, doing different things. I mean, we did a catwalk today. What's to say we won't one day have a big mission on a beach and get into a jet-ski battle with her?"

"Or a wet T-shirt contest?"

Jaune opened his mouth to explain why he'd probably lose one of those with a woman before shrugging. "You know what. Sure. Whatever. But only if I'm not killed by Cinder. After all, if she kills me then Blake can't avenge her beloved Adam Taurus, can she?"

"I know you're trying to manipulate me…"

"But…?" Jaune prodded.

"But you're right. If you are to fall to anyone, it must be to Blake. Come." Adam bid him follow, though where he was meant to follow a dead man in his head, he wasn't sure. "I will tell you what I know, and then we shall talk on how to mislead her."

"Can't I just beat her with clever strategy or the power of teamwork?"

Adam burst out laughing.

Jaune pouted. "You could have said no…"

I know a few people have asked why Blake still likes Adam in this story given how much of a psycho he was in the show. I'd remind people that he started going full psycho after Blake left, so her last memories of him are more about a man driven too far who she could no longer agree with, but who was killed by Jaune Arc before he ever had a chance to redeem himself.

Not the, you know, "I'll kill everyone you love" Adam.

Next Chapter: 1st September

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