Really sorry that this is a short chapter. Can't exactly say why other than that it's related to my doctors visit tomorrow. Bit of a medical emergency on my end for once. Fun, fun, fun.

As such, this chapter is written as something of an interlude – continuing the story but doing so from a rare character's PoV. Rare in this story, I mean. Not mine in general.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 89

"What did she mean?"

It wasn't the first time Weiss posed that question, pacing back and forth in front of Pyrrha. They were back in her dorm and Ruby was nowhere to be found. Weiss rubbed her hands together.

"She said you killed people…" Pyrrha said.

"I-I know." Weiss gulped. "B-But Lady Goodwitch told us the lower quarter would be evacuated. There shouldn't have been anyone down there."

"It's not impossible that a few people didn't heed the warnings. Perhaps some stragglers refused and that is what Ruby saw." Pyrrha came over and drew Weiss down so that she was sitting on the bed beside her. "Sit still. You're going to wear a hole in the carpet."

Weiss struggled with her impatience, allowing Pyrrha to draw her down. It was possible that a few people had stayed behind and been swept up in the floodwater – tragically possible. They should have listened to the warnings from the Collegium, but she could accept that not everyone would. Did that make their deaths her fault? No. Of course not. If they'd been given every chance, then she couldn't be responsible for what actions they did or didn't take.

Ruby obviously felt differently.

"I don't get it. Did… Did I do something wrong?"

"It might have been bad timing," Pyrrha said, rubbing a hand up and down her back. "Ruby only just got back today, hasn't had any rest, and if she did see some bodies down there then it must have been a terrible shock for her. It might even have reminded her of Menagerie."

Weiss' frame shook. "I didn't mean to!"

"I know you didn't. I'm sure Ruby knows as well. It's just too fresh for her. Not to mention she's probably exhausted from her battles and all that time outside. The stress probably made her explode at you."

Yes. That made sense. Ruby was just high-strung and tired. That didn't make her feel any better, but it gave some hope this would blow over come morning. They'd apologise, make up and never speak of this again. Hopefully.

"Do you think I should go apologise to her?"

"Not tonight. Ruby… Let her get some rest."

"What if she's in trouble? Where will she sleep?"

Pyrrha thought for a long moment and then said, "Come stay at my place tonight. You don't want to be alone and I'm sure if we leave your and Ruby's dorm open then she can come back to rest here without feeling threatened. Ruby has a few other friends in the Collegium she could go to as well, or she could bunk at the White Cathedral if she wished."

"Shouldn't I wait for her…?"

"I'm not sure she wants this conversation tonight, Weiss."

Smiling bitterly, Weiss agreed. She wasn't sure she wanted it tonight either. This was all such a misunderstanding, and it would be wrapped up nicely come morning. She was sure of it.

/-/

Jaune Arc did not consider himself a good friend, though he would internally add that it was not entirely his fault. Being born special was something most among the noble families took for granted, their birth right, and yet he had been born more special than most, and he didn't mean with regards to being the son of a high family.

From a young age, friendship had been a strange and nebulous thing. People he thought were friends had turned on him once he didn't grant them the success of influence they wanted. Others toadied up to him, so vacuous and empty in their camaraderie that he couldn't bring himself to be around them. Once his gift had been discovered, the isolation only grew. Arcanists avoided him, bar the White who saw value in his abilities. Only his sisters had truly loved him, and he hadn't seen them for a while now.

Training at the Collegium had been little better. The competition between Newbloods was fierce and no one much appreciated the noble brat in their midst. The hazing and belittlement had lasted months, until he was able to prove he belonged there. Even when it ended people didn't like him; they put up with him.

Sun had been a pleasant exception, someone also ostracised by his fellows. Even then it had been more two people in the same situation getting on than either befriending the other. Allies made natural friends, at least when facing a common enemy.

For whatever reason, and despite all convention, Lady Ruby Rose had broken that mould. Unconventional was the best way to describe her. He'd realised that the moment Sun dragged him out skinny dipping and they'd found out the `boy` they were doing it with was actually a girl. A young, noble lady no less. The scandal would have rocked the upper quarter and she could have extorted him grossly for it, maybe even forced an engagement if she argued he'd seen her in so vulnerable a state.

She hadn't, of course. That felt so obvious to say now because he knew Ruby would never do that, but it had been quite the shock at the time. That she'd then chatted with them, remembered his name and even joined the Newbloods in the morning sprints marked her as an even greater anomaly, one that Jaune had found himself curiously interested in.

It had been selfish, he reflected. His main interest in her had been as something of a mystery to be solved, then, after a while, as a younger sister to stand in as surrogate for the ones he was no longer able to visit. Defending her from her rivals, saving her from trouble, taking her to the dance. All little ways of letting him for a moment forget himself and imagine he was doting on his younger sisters once more. That Ruby let that persist even after she'd discovered his secret only made it all the better. This was someone who would not be scared away by his unnatural power.

And now that same girl was crying and broken in his bed, wrapped up tight after the worst night's sleep imaginable and currently watched over by a Sun who had been told to guard her at all costs. Jaune would have stayed himself, but then how would he find answers if he did? Ruby had been terribly hurt. His resilient little friend, who he loved as a sister, had been driven to such an extreme of grief that she could barely function.

Jaune's emotional range wasn't what it used to be. The White told him this would happen, that his mind could not function without magic and that the lack of it would one day take its toll. As such, he'd taken to embracing any and all emotions he felt, be they positive or negative. Whatever they were, they were often muted. If the anger he felt now was muted, he dreaded to imagine what it should have been.

Someone needed to pay for making Ruby feel this way…

"You are not to use your powers against any Arcanist without the express instruction of the White or a handler given to you on a mission." The words of his trainers in the Sanctum echoed within Jaune's head. "Yours is a weapon to be used against the Collegium's enemies. It should never be aimed within. Do you understand?"

He had, and he still did, and there were few times he had ever gone against this. The first had, ironically enough, been for Ruby. It hadn't been intentional, not especially, but he'd been caught by a spell in the duel with the Crimson Arcanist. Luckily, the Arcanist had recognised what that meant and duly surrendered.

It could have been much worse.

Since then he had kept it under wraps. There was no stopping people who actively touched him and fell under his power, but then the White did not fault that. The rules were that he was not to actively seek out and force his anti-magic properties on another.

Jaune pounded his fist on the door of the temporary quarters assigned to visitors to the White. With the lockdown of the Collegium in place, no one could leave – not even the Newbloods. Suspicious. Or it would be if he didn't have a good idea as to the reason. Ruby's tearful ramblings had been incoherent for the most part, but certain bits filtered through.

"Coming. I'm coming!" The door was wrenched open, and a bedraggled figure presented himself, scowling angrily. "What? Can't a guy get a little slee-" Lord Qrow Branwen gasped when a hand caught his collar, then gasped again – louder – when he felt his magic ripped away from him. His eyes widened. "You-"

"I would like to speak with you, Lord Branwen." Jaune walked forward, forcing the man back into his own room and closing the door behind him.

"A-A huntsman?" Qrow's voice stammered with anger instead of fear. He was a braver man than most. "Who sent you here? Goodwitch? Has she finally decided to be rid of me? I should have known that speech of hers was bullshit."

"No one has sent me, Lord Branwen. I have questions. You have answers."

"Huntsmen don't act without orders from-"

"I have not yet fallen to that level." Jaune let that sink in, watching as the man's eyes widened slightly. "I'm still myself," he continued. "For now. I can feel enough…" He closed his eyes, tightened his grip. "A close friend of mine is in tears in my bed, hiding away from the world."

"What does that have to do with me, kid?"

"This close friend is known to you. You are the one she was last with…"

He put the pieces together. "Ruby…"

"Indeed." Jaune kept hold of the man. To let go was to invite magic. It couldn't harm him obviously, but it could be an inconvenience, draw attention or let Branwen escape.

"I never knew a Huntsman could have friends…"

Jaune kept his silence.

"You realise you'll forget all about her one day?"

"That… is my concern. Not yours." Jaune shoved him back while keeping hold, forcing the older man to sit in one of the wooden chairs. Jaune stayed standing. "For now, for as long as I'm still me, she is my closest friend. There is nothing I won't do for her."

"Up to and including illegally using your power on an Arcanist? One mention of this to Goodwitch and you'll be thrown into the Sanctum and kept there until there's nothing left of you."

It was no idle threat. Jaune's head bubbled. His lips peeled back to reveal teeth. "I am dead no matter what. In the little time left, I will do what I feel is right. Ruby is my friend."

Lord Qrow Branwen slowly closed his eyes. "What do you want to know?"

"The people of the lower quarter. They are all dead, aren't they?"

"Every single one of them. Ruby kept her eyes closed – I spared her as much of it as I could – but we walked through what had to be thousands of bodies. Most of them were under the water. I could feel them against my feet, pinned down by rubble."

He'd known it. The confirmation… It should have upset him, but his emotions were muted. Had been a long time ago. He felt sorrow for Ruby's sake but couldn't feel sorry for the dead. Not emotionally anyway. He could still objectively find the result tragic.

Even if I didn't care for them, some people did. This is families torn apart, loved ones lost. It is evil…

"What happened?"

"I wasn't there to see it, but I talked to someone who was. Ruby doesn't know this. Between you and me, I don't think she should know it. It would break her."

"Go on."

"The White didn't call for an evacuation. They never intended to. The people were used as bait to draw the Grimm in so the floods could decimate them. The gates to the merchant's quarter were sealed and locked shut. The guards manning them disappeared."

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "They were absent from their posts?"

"Removed. My… source for this mentioned that they ran to the gatehouses in person, unsure why the main gates weren't being closed when the Grimm approached the city. There should have been time."

There should have been. Being trained as a soldier meant he knew of the mechanisms to seal and close the gates – it was necessary knowledge for when he and Sun were stationed on guard at the Collegium gates. There was no magic involved, only a winch and pulley system, and while it was not swift by any means, it wasn't so slow that you couldn't close the gate within the time it would take the Grimm to approach from the forest's edge.

"What happened?"

"The White got there first. Arcanists killed the guards, kept the gates open and let the Grimm inside." Qrow slumped back, limp. He palmed his face and growled into his fingers. "After all, what good is a trap if some well-meaning people close the gates?"

What use indeed. Jaune loosened his grip but Lord Branwen made no effort to escape it. After a moment's thought, Jaune let go entirely. Again, the man did not try to affect an escape. He looked tired. Worn and broken, almost like Ruby.

He's as much a victim here as she is…

"The White commanded this?" Jaune asked.

"Yes. Goodwitch as much as confirmed it to me. A tough decision, or so she says, but if it were so tough then I'd have expected a little more hesitation on their part. The White moved quick. I guess they don't care how many paupers die. As long as they live."

"That's…"

"Disgusting? Cruel? Cowardly?" Qrow laughed bitterly. "Do you think the Collegium is anything else? We're an institution run by nobles. Maybe once upon a time we were a school to teach everyone with the gift, but nowadays it's a gentleman's club. Noble brats come here to get a good education and make sure their bloodlines remain stronger than anyone else's. Meanwhile, those with the spark in the lower ranks of society are left to squalor or, if they're unlucky, to discover their power alone and be branded a Rogue Arcanist for experimenting with it."

"The Collegium isn't what it was designed as," he went on. "It's been corrupted by powerful people who'd rather stay in power. The people here care more for maintaining the status quo than they do fixing the city's problems – and the White encapsulate that. They only care that things stay the way they are."

I've heard this speech before, Jaune thought, staring down at the man. It had been from a once-loyal Arcanist who had gone rogue. The man had ranted at how the greed of the upper class had derailed the Collegium's purpose. Jaune had, on orders, struck him down. He hadn't listened to the words then. Hadn't considered them. He had simply followed the orders he was given because that was his responsibility.

"That is treason you speak…"

"Treason?" Qrow snorted. "Treason is against the crown. This is sedition at best. Not that I expect the White would care. The question is, do you?" He looked up at Jaune. "Do you care enough to drag me before Goodwitch?"

"I should…"

"Then do it. Do it and see if Ruby forgives you."

Jaune hesitated. His teeth bit his bottom lip. Every bit of his training told him to take Branwen in and yet…

"You can't do it." Lord Branwen's eyes widened imperceptibly. He sat taller. "You care too much for her. Ha! Ha ha!" He threw back his head and laughed raucously. "To think history would repeat itself this blatantly. What a joke. It's our secret then. I'll keep yours and you'll keep mine."

Hands shaking at his sides, Jaune nodded. It was the only choice, at least until he could talk with Ruby. I'm not equipped for this. I shouldn't even be getting close to her when she'll only lose me…

And yet, deep inside, a small voice asked.

Aren't I allowed to be happy…?

"Keep an eye on her," Qrow said. "That girl has reason enough to hate the White, and the White are distrustful of her. I'd suggest you go back and look after her. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"Stupid like what?"

"Like wage war on the Collegium itself."

Impossible. Ruby didn't have the power for something like that. The thought did little to calm him. Power or not, people had tried as much and failed in the past. Ruby could lose her temper and do something she might end up regretting. But if he kept her near, he could prevent that. He could stop her using magic.

Jaune spun on his feet. "I have to go."

"How long do you have left?" Qrow called after him. Jaune froze. "How long until you won't even be able to remember who she is, let alone why you cared?"

"Weeks…" Jaune rasped. "Less if they find out…"

Lord Branwen sighed. "They won't from me. Enjoy your time together. Trust me, I know all too well how suddenly it can end."

He intended to. Before it came to an end. Pausing at the door, Jaune Arc sighed and barged his way out, slamming the wood shut behind him. If only there was someone he could go to, someone who might help or offer advice. A face flashed in his mind, a face he hadn't seen in years. Grimly, Jaune turned and walked toward the Sanctum.

It was time to face some old demons…

Can't get any more done today. Hoping things will be better for tomorrow – will likely depend on what is done at doctors, etc.

Next Chapter: 30th May

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur