I have a business speech/awards ceremony I have to host and speak at on the 30th September, so that whole week will be no fanfiction as I have to prep, plan and perform, then deal with clients after, break down the show and transport all the equipment back afterwards.

That'll mean no updates on 27th Sept – 3rd OCTOBER (type on last chapter) inclusive, just to forewarn you all.

Cover Art: Mystery White Flame

Chapter 35

"So…"

Jaune did his best to ignore Roman – he really did. The man was brushing up against him so hard he might as well have been mounting Jaune's arm, and it was with a great force of effort that he wasn't reacting to it. The second-hand cigar smoke kept wafting past his ear.

"So…" Roman said again.

Jaune flicked a new page in the book he was reading. In the next room, Salem shrieked like a dying animal, which presumably meant she'd failed to notice something in the fog of war and now there were enemies in among her workers. The stream of internet-slang vitriol that poured through the thin door confirmed it.

"So…" Roman began anew. "So… So…. So…"

The book closed with a clap. Jaune sighed. "Roman, you've been saying that for the last twenty minutes."

"You've been ignoring me."

"Yes." Jaune said. "Yes, I have." To no avail obviously. "What is it? What's so important that you must speak to me, can't speak to Tyrian and won't speak to Salem? Is it the credit card? I told you letting Salem use it was a bad idea. Of course it was going to be maxed out."

"Nah, that's fine." Roman laughed it off. "I live with Neo, so kinda used to that happening. What's mind is hers, what's hers is hers and what's yours is hers. No. This is about the White Fang."

"You couldn't ask Tyrian?"

"I did." Roman said flatly. "He told me that if I prayed hard enough, the answers I seek would come."

"Vernal?"

"To stick my cane up my ass and die."

"Yeah, that sounds like Vernal." And of course he couldn't talk to Salem because she was busy climbing the online ladder and making an enemy of everyone with a functioning pair of headphones. There were already threads about her online, starting off excited to find a girl playing the game then descending into misery as they discovered said girl was about as toxic as twenty normal men. Competitive, she called it. No one else did. "Alright, fine. What is it about the White Fang?"

Roman grinned and jumped down onto the same sofa Jaune was occupying, making the cushions bounce and nearly throw Jaune off. He would have glowered, but the whole place belonged to Roman anyway. They were just guests. Or loafers. Jaune sighed, his patience not what it was now that he'd essentially been stuck on lockdown for three days. Stupid Vernal, Mercury and Emerald got to wander off and do whatever they wanted. Stupid, evil, assholes.

"Okay, so." Roman began as he had been trying for the last twenty minutes. "The White Fang are sorta waiting for our instructions on their next move. The heist at the docks was a bust and most of that dust was launched into the stratosphere."

"That wasn't our fault."

Roman stared at him.

"Okay, well, it wasn't my fault. Mostly Mercury's. Besides, what's the issue? Salem took you on as a knight. Doesn't that mean you're free of all your previous orders?"

"Yeah, and I'm very thankful for that-"

"You shouldn't be. You were probably better off following your last boss."

"You don't know Cinder."

"You don't know Salem!"

"Anyway," Roman went on, "While I am happy to work for her and to be told to drop things, the White Fang kind of won't be. They have their own orders and goals, and from what I understand you guys have a bit of an agreement going on. I don't suppose that extends to being able to order them around, does it?"

Jaune shook his head. The treaty was really more of a help them if they were in trouble and vice versa. There was nothing to say they had to proactively help one another, and definitely nothing to say they could give orders. "What's the issue, then? Let them do their thing and we'll do ours."

"Yeah. Hm. Well, the problem is that it's going to draw attention on us. People saw me working with the White Fang, which means they're going to assume you are working with them as well."

They were going to do that anyway seeing as how they'd broken the siege on Menagerie. "And?"

"Weeeeeell, the White Fang kinda want to blow up the entire city…"

Jaune scoffed. "As if they could."

Roman's laugh was… awkward.

"Roman. What did you do…?"

"Oh, you know, what I was told to. Steal some dust here, smuggle some there, get it shipped out to Mountain Glenn. Make sure there's a working train there to deliver an explosive payload into the heart of the city and have Grimm pouring out to slaughter people. You know. Regular old Tuesday."

"Roman!"

"I followed orders!" the thief groaned. "And yeah, I know that's no defence, but Cinder would have killed me and we don't all have the backing of the most powerful thing on the planet. It's not like I wanted to do all this. Besides, I don't have to anymore, but I figured if you – or we – are going to be tarred with their actions, you might want to know."

Yes. He did. If they were going to be stuck hiding in Vale, then they certainly didn't want Vale to come under attack by the Grimm. Salem was still vulnerable and they weren't following her orders. Plus, it would drive the already furious Atlas into a mad rage. They might sweep the city house by house. Even if they didn't, what would happen if the city went to war with the White Fang? Salem might decide that honour dictated they aid their nominal allies or something like that. Jaune shuddered at the mere thought of it.

"I see you're understanding my point." Roman said.

"Yes. I am."

"Should we bother Salem with this?"

Jaune looked to the door leading to the room she was in and heard the sound of a keyboard being reduced to constituent pieces. He sighed, but knew she had several spares. That and a few extra monitors.

"Maybe…" Jaune bit his lip. This was a bad idea, he knew, but then Salem would only come up with a worse one. It was the Salem guarantee. "Maybe we could deal with this without her. Between the two of us."

Roman hummed. "You want to go behind her back?"

"I want to spare her the effort. I want to do my duty. I want to-"

"I'm not Tyrian."

It was Jaune's turn to look surprised. "Oh right. Sorry. Yeah, I totally want to go behind her back. She'd come up with some stupid idea like conquering Vale first so the White Fang wouldn't have to."

"And what's your plan?"

"Our plan-"

"Your plan."

"Our plan!" Jaune stressed. "Is to convince the White Fang not to do this…?"

"Not gonna work. I've had scroll calls with the guy running this and he's a bit of a nutcase. Adam Taurus. I get the feeling he has a bone to pick with humanity."

Jaune blinked. "All of humanity…?"

"Apparently." Roman shrugged. "Every man, woman and child has wronged him, and he wants vengeance. Also, he's obsessed with this Blake girl from Beacon and wants to either kidnap, kill or kiss her. I really can't tell which. That's the final plan, by the way. Attack Beacon, kill a whole load of people and leave Vale in ruins."

That's insane, Jaune thought. It's bad enough I'm blamed for stupid crap I've had no hand in. I'm not being held at fault for the fall of a city!

"This Adam guy needs to go." Jaune paused, wondered for a second if that wasn't too violent and cruel an answer, and then backtracked. "N-Not killed per se, but maybe we could get him recalled to Menagerie or arrested. Then we could make a deal with whomever takes over. Or we can take them over. Put Tyrian in charge."

Jaune paused, tilted his head and considered.

Roman did the same.

He wasn't sure if they had the same imagination, the same scenario playing in their heads, but Jaune saw a Tyrian wearing a tall hat forcing a huge procession of faunus to touch their heads to the ground in front of Salem, all garbed in white, all chanting, all wearing crazed expressions just like Tyrian's. He shuddered.

Roman shuddered as well.

"Or someone else in charge." Jaune said. "How about Neo? We'll say she's a bird faunus and the hair is plumage. Or an ice-cream faunus. No one will know the difference."

"All behind Salem's back?" Roman asked again, just to be sure. "Just the two of us?"

"We may need a little help." Jaune stroked his jaw. "I think I know where we can maybe get it. It's going to take a lot of diplomacy to get it, though."

/-/

"So, wanna help?"

"Why would I?"

Jaune shrugged. "For fun? Kinda boring in here, isn't it? We're going to be dealing with terrorists and other strong people. It'll give you something to do."

Vernal hummed. She had been bored of late – they all had – and the city of Vale didn't give many opportunities for going out and beating people up. Vernal had joined an illegal underground fighting ring according to Roman, then been barred for it for being too brutal. How one got barred from an illegal fighting ring, Jaune didn't know. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. He could see the desire to do something warring with apathy on Vernal's face.

"Also," he said, "If I go on my own or with Roman then I'm probably going to get kidnapped again, and then Salem might do something stupid to try and get me back. You know she'd drag you into it."

"Ugh. Shit. Fineee." Vernal dragged the word out.

"Cool." Jaune grinned and turned to the left. "What about you, Mercury?"

The chronically lazy boy looked up from a book he was reading. The book was titled `dating for dummies` and Mercury had already read it back to front three times. The boy marked the page and closed it. "Give me one good reason."

"The guy in charge of the White Fang is your love rival for Kali's daughter."

Mercury sat there, silent. "Huh," he eventually said. "I didn't think you'd actually have one. Count me in and count that loser out. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a poem to write."

"I'm not going." Emerald said before Jaune could even ask her. "We should let the White Fang do what they want. They're following Cinder's plan! We shouldn't go against that."

"Cinder's plan was based on her being here," Jaune pointed out. "She's not."

"We're here in her place! We can do it!"

Roman scoffed. "It was a dumbass plan."

"You're a dumbass plan!" Emerald snapped at the man. "Cinder's plan was brilliant!"

"You don't even know what her plan was!"

"That doesn't matter. Any plan made by her is destined to work. You'll see!" she said, storming to her feet and then stomping away. "You can't just go and stop a plan she puts into place; it isn't possible. I can't wait to see you all fail. I'll be here to say I told you so when you do!"

The front door slammed shut behind her and they saw Emerald stomp past the window outside in a huff. No one quite knew what to say, though Neo made an admirable job by holding her fingers up in a V-shape before her mouth, crossing her eyes and frantically licking her tongue between her fingers. Jaune shrugged.

"Can we count on you being there, Neo?"

The girl tilted her head and raised her umbrella hopefully.

"There's almost certainly a chance we'll have to kick someone's ass, yes." Roman said.

Neo bounced happily and gave them a thumbs up.

That was everyone, then. Everyone except Tyrian, but someone had to stay behind to guard Salem, and Jaune knew the man would tell her everything anyway. That would get her angry at them, and then they'd have her sticking her nose, and her weird plans, into the mix.

"Meow! Meow!"

Jaune knelt and scooped the black ball of fluff up into his arms. "Of course you can be a part of the team as well, Gill. Who's a beautiful girl? You are. Yes, you are- ow!" He waved the finger that the feline had bitten. She was glaring up at him. "Ouch. Okay, okay. You're in the team." He let her jump from his arms to his shoulder and snuggle into the back of his hoodie. "Is there a way to meet with Adam?" he asked Roman. "We probably need to introduce ourselves and make it clear he's not dealing with Cinder anymore."

"I can arrange something at a neutral place. Friend of mine owns it."

"Get it done. And everyone remember not to tell Salem or Tyrian anything about this! They'd only go and muck it up."

/-/

Ozpin plopped a chocolate love heart into his mouth and idly chewed on it. Coffee flavour. He hummed happily. Sometimes immortality got to him and he started to wonder if it was all worth it, and then humanity went and did something like mixing chocolate and coffee and all those sacrifices became worth it.

The large box of romantic chocolates was a gift from Miss Belladonna, which would have been all kinds of controversial if every teacher hadn't received one, along with a fair few teams. The word `apology` hadn't technically been given when Miss Belladonna asked him if he wanted one, but he chose to take it as an apology for being such a pain in their collective behinds.

"Chocolate, James?"

"This is not the time for chocolate!"

"We are sat at my desk with precious little to do." Ozpin remarked. "It is as fine a time as any."

"Salem is in the city!"

"Really? I was not aware."

"Don't make light of this, Ozpin!"

"I am not making light of anything other than you." Ozpin glanced up, noticed the cybernetic arm and sighed. "You realise the moment you lose your temper and turn into a penguin - your arm will regrow. Dare I ask where you left your arm this time? Please tell me you didn't throw it into the cafeteria again. I still have students asking about counselling."

James had the good grace to blush and mutter an apology. Ozpin wasn't sure what amazed him more; that James would cut his arm off in public, or that he managed it with a butter knife. Either way, the cafeteria was in the process of replacing its metal cutlery with plastic sporks.

"This isn't about my arm. If it grows again, I'll tear it off again, and as many times as I need to. I will build a mountain of arms, a monument of arms. It will be glorious, and it will stand as a reminder of the indomitable human spirit and its eternal war against the dark."

"I'm sure that's the first thing people will think when seeing it…"

"Ozpin!"

"James." Ozpin returned calmly. "There has been next to no signs of movement or action from Salem or her people. They are laying low, and that means there is precious little we can do at this time. I am loathe to drive her to conflict when she's yet to do anything. If we escalate things here, she will do the same. Trust me. I know how she thinks."

"Escalate? Escalate!?" James slammed his good hand down on Ozpin's desk. "That monster has turned half my army into a zoo! Myself included! At this rate we have more right to being called Menagerie than the faunus do!"

"What would you have me do? Search every house in the city?"

The silence was concerning.

"No. It would be a gross invasion of privacy and the people would never stand for it. The Council would never accept it. The best we can do – and have done – is update the criminal information of Roman Torchwick and make sure his reward is tripled. We've also made the authorities aware of Salem and Mr Arc's presence."

"We should parade their names and faces on TV. Someone must have seen them."

"You would start a panic in the city. As I've said, they are currently choosing to stay under the radar. I am perfectly happy to encourage this behaviour from them. A cornered rat is dangerous. A cornered Salem even more so. Every huntsman in the city knows to look for her; I'm summoning more back under the guise of attending the Vytal festival. Leonardo is doing the same, and I would advise you to follow suit. We should quietly gather our forces while we can. You more than anyone know the importance of proper preparation."

At that moment, the elevator doors slid open and a dishevelled but familiar figure stalked in. Ozpin smiled on seeing him. "Ah, Qrow. There you are. I wondered what you were up to."

"I was kidnapped!"

"Really?"

Qrow glared at him. "You didn't even notice, did you?"

"I noticed your absence but assumed you were hungover somewhere."

"Asshole…"

"Consider my lack of action a sign of how much faith I have in your ability. I did not concern myself with your safety because of my boundless respect for your skill and fortitude."

Qrow stomped forward and snagged several chocolates, stuffed them in his mouth and chewed. He also gave Ozpin the middle finger, which the older man accepted with a patient smile. Perhaps he deserved it a little.

"So," Qrow said between mouthfuls. "What we discussing?"

"James here wants to send the army through the streets of Vale to locate Salem and bring her to justice in a grand display of violence." Ozpin enjoyed the way Qrow choked and spilled chocolate out his mouth. "I was advising a more patient and peaceful `wait and see` approach."

Smacking his chest with one hand, Qrow swallowed and said, "Y-Yeah. That one. Definitely that one."

"Damn it! Are you both that afraid of her?"

"Yes." Ozpin answered honestly.

"Absolutely." Qrow echoed. "You saw what she did to your army, man. Let's maybe not set her off in the middle of the city. What's to say she's even interested in staying here?" Qrow said. "She's been travelling all over Remnant. If we give her time, she might bugger off and go elsewhere."

Hmm. That was a new concept Qrow was bringing up. Not one Ozpin had thought of, and not one he was willing to gamble lives on. When Ozpin looked to his old friend, Qrow averted his eyes suspiciously. Almost guiltily. Whatever was that about?

"While I cannot comment on that, Qrow shares my sentiments. We cannot provoke her, James. That is final."

"Cowards!" Ironwood roared, knocking his chair back. "This is our chance – our best opportunity to end her once and for all. I understand the risks, everyone here does, but sacrifices must sometimes be made! We could transfer everyone to Mountain Glenn then bomb the city behind us as we go – and that would still be worth it to get rid of Salem once and for all!"

"Or," Qrow said, "She would survive it because, you know, immortal. And all you'd end up doing is killing Jaune Arc, the boy she's keeping close to her at all times and whom there are rumours she is carrying the baby of."

Ozpin had been sipping his coffee when that was said. He inhaled it instead, almost drowning on his beloved beverage. Hacking and coughing, he spat it out and cleared his throat. He was still choking when Qrow spoke again.

"Ask yourself what her reaction to that might be. Do you really want to set her off on a rampage across the entire world because we killed the father of her baby?"

"Do you want to let her birth another of herself?" Ironwood fired back. "It's bad enough we have one person capable of her power and to control the Grimm. What if our inaction today brings about a second version? The world can ill-afford a Grimm prince or princess to go along with its queen!"

"Then you'd order the death of a baby before it is even born!?"

Ozpin raised a hand, choking and gasping, trying to interject.

"She is no better than a monster, Qrow! This is no human child; it will be a monster!"

"It won't be to her!"

Ozpin awkwardly began the process of giving himself the Heimlich manoeuvre using his cane. It would have been rather convenient if any one of the two men in the room noticed and lent a hand.

"Make sure you don't become a monster yourself, Ironwood!"

"You're out of line, Branwen!"

"Ackk! Hackk!"

"At least I would never order the death of a baby!"

"I am not- wark! Wark!" Ironwood lost his temper and shrank drastically. His metallic arm clattered to the floor. That he transformed at all was perhaps a sign of just how much the accusation bothered him.

Ozpin would have seen that as a good sign if he wasn't currently finally hacking the last bits of coffee out. He took a great gulp of air, slumping over the desk as he finally found oxygen again.

Ironwood, meanwhile, transformed back into a human with an angry snarl. He'd come to better master turning back, even if he couldn't quite grasp not transforming in the first place. "Not again!" he growled, this time in a human voice. "And this blasted arm!"

He took hold of his wrist with his other hand and gritted his teeth.

"Not in my office!" Ozpin croaked, still raspy but aware enough to wave his hands in absolute panic. "Not in my office! Not in my-"

"RARGHHHH!"

Ozpin clenched his eyes shut.

"FUCKING HELL!" Qrow shrieked.

/-/

"Will Doctor Tsune please report to the headmaster's office. I repeat, will Doctor Tsune please report to the headmaster's office. Code Penguin. I repeat, it's a code penguin."

"Does that mean-" Ruby was shushed by Weiss.

"No. I do not want to think about that. I do not want to remember that. I do not even want to acknowledge that we saw that."

Yang agreed with her own little shudder. They'd only gotten the stains out the wall two days ago, and no one dared eat in that corner of the cafeteria anymore. Yang distracted herself with a fresh piece of expensive chocolate, munching away as she watched Blake stare at the diamond ring she'd placed on the bedside table as if it were a ticking bomb.

Blake was normally the calm one of the group (as long as the White Fang weren't mentioned) so it was a fresh experience to see her freaking out over something like this. To be fair, it was pretty weird. Yang had received her fair share of suitors in Signal, and a few had left her messages where she'd find them. Some had been sweet, some had been weird and a few had been so romantic she'd personally let the boys down gently, kissed their cheeks and tried to befriend them.

She'd thought she'd received some pretty forward messages, one even showing an unwelcome picture of a male's anatomy with the words "Want sum?" written below it. And yet that was somehow still less obvious than what Blake had received.

A wedding ring. An honest to goodness wedding ring.

Apparently, from a mysterious suitor.

"Are you sure it's not from your ex?" Yang asked.

"I know A- his handwriting." Blake was always cagey about her ex-boyfriend, so much so that knowing it started with an `A` was new information. Yang didn't feel the need to push further than that, though. There had to be a reason he and Blake broke up. "It's not him. He… He would be angry with me, and even when he wasn't he was… he was forceful. Not cruel," she added quickly. "At least not to me, but very forward. Blunt."

"This feels pretty blunt."

"It's not the same. He would do things I didn't like, but he would never bother with this. And poetry?" Blake snorted. "He'd say that was a waste of time. I don't think he ever got my flowers, either. Definitely not chocolates."

Man, what a wonderful guy Blake's ex sounded like. Not. Yang flopped onto her stomach and snatched another chocolate. Blake had way too many to go around as it was. They'd been eating them for days now. You knew it was bad when there was so much that Ruby declared yesterday that she was `off chocolate` for the foreseeable future.

Even Ruby looked shocked at herself for saying that.

"Not to be rude or anything, but this new guy sounds a lot better than your old boyfriend."

Blake smiled strangely. "You won't hear me disagree. Still, I'd like to know who it is and why. I asked Sun and he said it wasn't him. The only other boy I know is Ren."

"Nora would have murdered you in your sleep by now if it was him."

"I know. Why do you think I gave her so much chocolate and got Ren to say it wasn't from him?" Blake wasn't dumb enough to step on the landmine that was the together-but-not-together-together.

As if summoned by the mere thought of her, Nora knocked on the door and shouted through, "Blakey, let me in! I can't move my hands."

Yang had a suspicion what was about to happen and sat up excitedly. Blake must have too, because she simultaneously looked panicked and intrigued, blood rushing to her face. Say what she would, act how she would, but all of this must have been a huge boost to Blake's self-esteem. Terrorist or no, she was still a teenager.

"C-Coming!" Blake stammered, stumbling off the bed and opening the door. There stood Nora, also with Ren behind. It was hard to tell for sure of course, because of the fresh bouquet Nora pushed into Blake's face. "A-Again?"

Nora giggled. "Miss Goodwitch asked Renny and me to deliver them again. They came from outside Beacon for sure – we saw the postage address. Didn't have a return address on it."

"But the fact it was addressed to Beacon meant it must have been delivered from off-site." Ren finished. "It came from a Vale courier, so I'd assume your paramour is in the city."

Yang hopped off her bunk and approached the mess of presents. Flowers, chocolates, ooh, toffee fudge. Tuna? Huh. Someone knew the way to Blake's heart. There was also a wrapped package that Yang wasn't bitch enough to open, so she tossed it to Blake to do so.

"It's… books?" Blake looked at the covers, flushed and clutched them to her chest.

Yang didn't need to be a genius to put two and two together. "Someone is well informed. Your favourite series?"

"S-Shut up."

"The first poem said he or she knew your parents." Weiss pointed out. "Could they have found out your hobbies from them?"

Blake nodded slowly, stuffed the books under her pillow – Yang noted which, so she could nab them later for blackmail purposes – and took the vanilla scented envelope Nora offered with a deep and dramatic bow. Ruby and Weiss quickly slid up, trying not to look too interested but failing completely. Blake swallowed and shook it. No jewellery rattled within, not that you could one-up a wedding ring. She opened it and peeked inside, then gasped.

"What?" Weiss asked, giving up any pretences. "What is it? What is it!?"

"Is it a picture!?" Yang asked. "Show us!"

"I want to see! I want to see!" Ruby tried to grab the envelope, but Blake pulled it up out her reach. "Blaaake!"

"It's not a picture!" she said, shyly retreating from their huddle. "It's… it's an invitation. I-It's a ticket to a show, a-and a reservation for a restaurant…" Her face was so red it looked like she might blow. "W-What do I do?"

"Uh. Duh. You go."

"Do I?"

"Yes!" Weiss insisted. Then she tried to pretend she wasn't too interested and coughed. "I mean, you want to find out who this is all from, don't you? Seems the easiest way to do so."

"What if he's a psychopathic killer?"

"If only there was a huntress nearby." Ren drawled. "Alas, we are mere students of Beacon. Where could we ever find someone with the skillset of a huntsman here?"

Blake blushed again. "Okay, but what if he's weird or ugly or ninety years old?"

"What if he's hot and young and has a sweet personality?" Yang returned.

"You'll not know unless you go." Weiss said. "And it's only a date. If you don't like them, you say so and that's it. If they try anything, you defend yourself. This would all be in public anyway by the looks of it."

"I-I've never been to theatre…"

"There's a first time for everything."

"I've never had a date at a restaurant! Or… well… a date at all…"

No one on Team RWBY knew what to say to that. "Didn't you have a boyfriend?" Weiss eventually asked, and with a fair amount of nervousness. "Did he not do anything for you…?"

"We… There really wasn't time for it. Or the right moment." Blake's fingers teased the envelope's edge. "We sort of just… decided to get together. Similar interests. Friends. Companions. He initiated, and I… well, I didn't really know better and… um…"

Yang silenced her with a finger over her lips. Blake was seventeen now, which meant she'd probably been around Ruby's age when she and her ex got together. Yang didn't really want to imagine it could have been any younger than that.

"You deserve a real date." Yang said firmly. "You're my partner and some guy wants to show you how to properly treat a lady. You're going to accept, meet them and be spoiled like you deserve to be."

Blake swallowed nervously, but there was still a small, anxious, little smile on her face. "O-Okay," she eventually said, even more shyly than Ruby might have. "I-I suppose it can't hurt to try, and after all this." She looked around a room festooned with flowers, "I suppose it would be rude not to at least meet him."

Atta boy, Mercury. Atta boy.

Not like Adam and Blake would have had much chance for real romance when they joined a terrorist cell. Also, Jaune taking up the mantle of leader and dealing with the White Fang. Let's hope he doesn't get kidnapped.

Next Chapter: 20th September

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur