Beta: ShadowMeister234
The festival mood had soured.
The fairground was a ghost of its former self with guests hobbling along in silence moving from one booth to the next in hopes of finding some joy. It was sad because the people who had chosen to come back obviously wanted to put the tragedy behind them and continue to enjoy the festival, but that wasn't easy to do when an Atlas soldier was stationed at every corner. A constant reminder that a killer was on the loose and tensions were at an all-time high. There were already rumors of fights breaking out between humans and faunus on the fairgrounds and while these were unconfirmed even suspected violence would make people nervous.
Jaune was probably one of the only people walking around the festival that didn't have their eyes glued to the ground. Despite their show of support for finding Blake's killer, Emerald had her janitorial duties, and Yang had opted to stay in her room claiming she wasn't feeling well, probably a case of drinking too much the previous night. That left Jaune to take on his new temporary partner.
On any other day, Pyrrha Nikos would have been swarmed with fans trying to get her autograph and attention, but today she was just another person attending the festival. Sky and Russel were also around having formed their own two-man team, but they had admitted they'd probably be next to useless since they had no idea what to look for.
They assumed Jaune, with his expertise, would have a better idea of what to do, but they'd be wrong. Jaune hadn't been this lost since he first became a caretaker. For Blake's murder, they had no leads, no clues, and the only source of evidence Jaune could think of, Blake's body, was in Atlas' hands far out of his reach. They didn't even know if this had anything to do with the unknown world or if it was just a copycat murder.
So what other option did they have than to wander around the festival hoping to just stumble upon something?
"Is this how it normally goes?" Pyrrha asked after hours of walking without any hint of progress being made.
Jaune sighed knowing he couldn't keep his lack of plan from Pyrrha any longer. "No, preferably we'd have some destination in mind that would hopefully get us started and provide some answers, but with this case we're fresh out of luck. Unless you have any ideas?" He'd be really grateful if she did.
Pyrrha thought for a moment. "I know we can't look at Blake's body, but maybe we could investigate where she was killed. The forest arena should be somewhere within Amity Colosseum."
He had thought of that as well, and it wasn't a bad idea, but "that place will almost certainly be swarming with Atlas soldiers and we don't have any right or reason to be there. Pushing too hard and having Atlas turn their attention onto us is asking for trouble." Jaune already suspected Atlas was suspicious of him thanks to his kitchen brawl with Pyrrha's imaginary friend which to Atlas and Beacon was still an unsolved case. He didn't want to make things worse on himself by so obviously involving himself in another massive incident.
"What about going back a few steps? Blake was a White Fang member, right? Maybe they have some idea of what could have happened."
Jaune appreciated Pyrrha's commitment, but investigating the White Fang was impractical. Not only did Jaune have no idea how to go about finding an underground terrorist organization, but even if he could find them, and get them to agree to talk to him without killing him, it was extremely unlikely they would know anything about Blake's death especially if it had anything to do with the unknown world.
Jaune told Pyrrha as much.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" she responded.
Jaune wished he knew. Honestly, this was starting to feel like a lost cause.
The pair wandered around for a few more hours making exactly as much progress as they had been making before, which was none, until they decided to stop at one of the food stalls for lunch. It was a simple ramen stall, but that was enough for them. Anything would taste good after wasting the entire morning on literally nothing. At least their poor moods matched the rest of the festival guests.
A small television in the corner was broadcasting the current tournament match. The bleachers surrounding the arena were noticeably emptier than they had been the previous days and the crowd was much more subdued. There were no chants or loud cheering whenever someone landed a hit. At best there was some polite clapping. Even the commentators didn't seem to be giving it their all, only relaying the most basic details of the fight. Jaune wasn't paying it much attention, but Pyrrha was oddly focused on it.
"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked.
"That guy, the monkey faunus, seems pretty happy."
Jaune watched the fight a little closer and it did seem like the monkey faunus was much more into it than either his teammates or the opposing team. "So? Maybe he's just trying to put on a good show. Someone should be trying to bring the festival out of this despairing air."
"No, you don't understand. That guy, Sun, has a huge crush on Blake. If anyone should be furious over her death it should be him."
"I didn't realize Pyrrha Nikos would be so invested in the gossip mill?"
"It's not gossip if everyone knows," Pyrrha said confidently even if her face was a little red. "Trust me, Blake was gone for almost a week and he was miserable throughout it all. It's strange that he isn't now. We should talk to him."
As a lead it was so flimsy it barely held together, but it wasn't like they had anything better to go on. Plus, Jaune did recall seeing the guy around campus a couple of times and could agree the mood swing was rather sudden. "It couldn't hurt."
Jaune and Pyrrha waited outside the competitor's exit waiting for Sun to arrive. The place was off-limits to the general public, but since Pyrrha was a participant and Jaune was technically part of Beacon's staff they were let in without incident.
The fight had already been concluded with a decisive victory from Team SSSN, so they didn't have to wait long for the man of the hour to arrive with the rest of his team. It was an odd sight seeing Sun acting so jovial and hanging off his team trying to celebrate their win while the rest of his friends were so subdued like they were afraid any wrong word might set him off.
This strange one-man celebration continued up until the moment they saw him and Pyrrha waiting for them. "Holy shit, it's the guy who beat Pyrrha," the blue-haired one blabbed.
The green-haired one delivered a harsh elbow for that thoughtless comment before speaking himself. "Is there something you need from us?"
"Hello," Pyrrha waved, "we were hoping we could talk to your team leader for a couple of minutes." For whatever reason, that seemed to have been the wrong thing to say as the three members of Team SSSN closed in around their leader and one got dangerously close to drawing a weapon.
"He doesn't have anything to say to you."
Pyrrha, so struck by the sudden aggressive tone, took a step back and looked at Jaune for help. He wasn't sure why she did. He was as clueless as she was but apparently his caretaking experience somehow equipped him for situations like this.
Luckily, before Jaune could bumble himself into an even greater mess, Sun pushed his way through his teammates and held his arms out for them to stop. "Calm down guys. They just want to talk. How about you guys go save our spots at that food stall I was talking about and I'll catch up." There was some grumbling among his team but they eventually complied and left the three of them alone. "Sorry about that. They're just kind of wound up," Sun apologized. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"We were wondering if we could ask you some questions about Blake," Pyrrha said politely, if not subtly. A fact reflected in Sun's new frown.
"I don't know why you would. I didn't have anything to do with it, and no, I'm not a secret White Fang agent."
"Seems like you've been asked about this already?" Jaune said.
Sun crossed his arms. "Yeah, Atlas already questioned me and probably any other faunus they could get their hands on."
"Is that why your teammates were so against the idea of us talking to you?"
"They're jumpy just like everyone. Who wouldn't be after seeing something so horrible?"
Jaune saw his opening and took it. "Well, that would be you. You don't seem down at all. You were pretty elated just a couple seconds ago. Why is that?"
"Is that what you think?" Sun growled unnaturally like it was his first time doing it. "I'm just as sad as anyone else, but acting miserable isn't going to help anyone. It isn't what Blake would have wanted. She was all about helping people."
"If you say so. I didn't really know her all that well, but I hear the two of you were pretty close." Sun was getting angry, and Pyrrha was waving her arms and hands in every which way trying to tell him to back off. Shame, Jaune was too stubborn to listen. "You must have at least some idea of where she's been this past week."
Sun huffed and squared his shoulders. "Whatever you heard, it's wrong. I'll admit I had a crush on her, but she wasn't interested in me. I have no idea what she was up to. If I did, I would have told someone a long time ago."
"Really? Because I remember hearing you in the library promising someone you wouldn't let anyone know about something then denying you talk to anyone in the first place." Jaune mostly said that just to move the conversation along, but Sun reacted way worse to the accusation than Jaune ever expected him to.
His body stiffened, his eyes narrowed, and his face paled. "What's with the third-degree! I haven't done anything wrong. I'm a student so I have every right to use the library. Hell, maybe I should be the one asking you why you were there. Why does a cook ever need to enter Beacon's library?" Jaune froze as he was hit with a sudden reminder of what he had been doing in the library although Sun took the lack of response in a completely different way.
"That's what I thought. Now if you excuse me I have a celebration to attend with my friends."
Pyrrha watched Sun stomp away with a defeated look on her face. "Sorry, I shouldn't have suggested this. All we did was make someone mad."
Jaune shook his head. "You're fine. Actually, I have a question to ask you. Did you happen to check out any strange books from the Beacon library?"
Pyrrha didn't even need to think about it. "No, I hardly ever go to the library since people always seem to find an excuse to interrupt or distract me. Why do you ask?"
Jaune rubbed his cheek. "When we were looking into your imaginary friend, I found some books that might have talked about how to use magic, but they had been checked out. At the time, we assumed that whoever took them was also responsible for the attacks, but obviously, that's not the case. It kind of just slipped my mind after we found out it was you, but we never did figure out who took those books. Maybe it's nothing, but I can't help but be curious."
"I think we should give it a shot. What do we have to lose?"
"My thoughts exactly."
Emerald was frustratingly scraping away at a bathroom stain that refused to come out while thinking about what Jaune and Pyrrha might be getting up to. The scenarios she imagined only made her angry and led to her scraping harder, for what little good it did.
The rational part of her mind knew that nothing scandalous was going on between them. They were simply doing exactly as they said they were and trying to find clues to Blake's death. Emerald didn't want to be the jealous girlfriend that lost her mind whenever Jaune was outside her sight, but no matter how much she tried to bury those feelings they always resurfaced.
Pyrrha obviously had some romantic interest in Jaune and there would be no better time to get closer to him than now. Emerald was also fully aware of how prestigious and beautiful Pyrrha Nikos was. Of course, Emerald was gorgeous as well, but looking at the scar on her lip and down at her hand, where two mechanical digits hid beneath fake skin, she knew that any outside observer would agree that Jaune would be trading-up if he went for Pyrrha.
The thoughts, as stupid as they were, scared her. Jaune would never push her aside just because of a few injuries…but what if he did?
She should have had sex with him that him what she could really offer him no matter how uncomfortable it had made her feel. It would have been better to lay her claim as fast and aggressively as possible.
That's the way it was done.
A few seconds after that internal proclamation, Emerald stopped scrubbing, rested her head against the cool bathroom mirror, and groaned.
What the hell was she doing? Romance wasn't some turf war to take and hold. Jaune would be disgusted with her if he knew, not because he would be offended but because he wouldn't want her to be feeling this way at all. He had turned her down that night precisely because she had tried to put his desires over her comfort. He promised they could take things slow and she wanted—needed that, but the anxiety that was building because she wasn't doing everything she possibly could for him as a partner was eating away at her.
"My, you're not looking too good," a silky voice whispered from behind.
The breath on her ear felt hotter than it should. Emerald paled and cursed herself for not noticing someone sneaking up on her, especially with a mirror right there showing a reflection of the woman in red.
She had let her guard down in the dumbest way possible, but it was too late to fix it. The woman that had tried to recruit her all that time ago had all the power in this situation, and judging from that vicious smile, she knew it.
The woman cupped Emerald's chin and gently pulled her around until they were eye to eye. Emerald was without her weapons and with the woman's hand firmly on her face no use of her semblance would let her escape. "If you kill me, Beacon will know and whatever plan you have will fall apart."
It was a pathetically weak threat, but it was all Emerald had. Anything to hide how scared she really was.
The woman just chuckled, probably thinking of Emerald as nothing more than a child. "My dear, I don't want to kill you. I just want to have a chat. It's been so long after all."
Not long enough. "If it's just a chat you want then how about you let me go. It would be more pleasant for the both of us."
The fingers on Emerald's chin only tightened and she could feel a slight burning sensation on her cheek, not enough to be painful but just enough to be uncomfortable and more than enough to send a warning. "I think not. I'm well aware of your little tricks, and I'd prefer if you stayed for the whole conversation."
Emerald glanced at the bathroom door. The chances of someone walking in on them were slim and it was too far away to make a run for it. Cooperation was her only option. "What do you want to talk about?"
The woman ran her finger up and down Emerald's cheek much like someone would do to a pet. "Let's start simple shall we. What have you told Beacon about me."
"Nothing," Emerald answered honestly and confidently. "I don't even know your name."
The woman hummed, likely wondering if Emerald was telling the truth or not. "Why did you come to Beacon?"
"For work." Before Emerald could even smile at her half-truth, the woman's fingers tightened and Emerald's cheek grew much hotter.
"Don't try to be cute. I want specifics, and don't you dare try and tell me that you really just wanted to be Beacon's janitor."
Emerald resisted the urge to grab the woman's hand and pull the burring appendage off her cheek. "I was asked to investigate the recent assault on a student, Lie Ren, so I'm undercover trying to figure out who did it." Emerald groaned through her discomfort. Thankfully despite it still being a half-truth, the woman was far more accepting of it and loosened her grip, if only slightly.
"So you are doing detective work now. I can see how your semblance would be good for sniffing out information. Such a shame you refused to work for me." At the reminder, the grip came back stronger than ever. "Well feel free to keep up the good work. It's not like I had anything to do with it in case you were curious, but since I have such a brilliant detective with me perhaps you have other information. What do you know about Blake Belladonna's murder?
Emerald swallowed. "At the moment not much, but I am looking into if it's related to Ren's assault."
The woman petted Emerald's cheek again. "That's unfortunate. I was hoping to pay whoever pulled that stun a visit. Causing a commotion right now, well you could say it's been an inconvenience, so do me a favor and keep me informed on the progress of your investigation. You'll do that for me won't you?"
Emerald didn't say anything which earned her a hard squeeze from the woman's fingers. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good." The woman released Emerald's face and Emerald stepped back until her back hit the wall. Her whole body was shaking. "And one more thing, nobody hears about our little arrangement, or I might have to have a more heated one," a flame came to life in the woman's palm, "with your friend Jaune Arc and you wouldn't want that now." If Emerald's panic wasn't obvious before it definitely was now.
The woman just smirked. "I'll be in touch."
Even long after the woman was gone Emerald found it hard to move, hard to breathe even. Not only had that woman known about Jaune, she knew the best way to hurt her was to hurt him. What else did she know? Yang? Pyrrha's imaginary friend? Was she actually the one to kill Blake and just acting like she wanted to know the truth? Who the hell even was she?
Emerald's head was spinning. She needed to talk to someone about this but wasn't that the issue. The woman's threat had been clear. Even if she talked with Jaune in absolute private, who was to say the woman still wouldn't find out. The walls have ears and even the slightest amount of extra suspicion might clue the woman in.
No! Emerald couldn't risk it and put Jaune in danger. He was strong, much stronger than when she first met him, but that woman was a monster. If she really set her mind to it Jaune would be obliterated from this world. The thought made her want to puke. She had been spouting bullshit when she told Jaune that she wasn't scared of that woman. Emerald was terrified, and now she had to face it alone.
Emerald's legs finally gave out and she sank to the bathroom floor, sitting there like a useless ornament. Her cheek still felt hot. Maybe that woman was involved with this case or maybe she wasn't. It didn't matter anymore. She would do anything to make sure that woman never set her sights on Jaune.
Anything.
The library was basically deserted. It made sense given the festival and the murder; not too many people would be focusing on their studies at a time like this. Still, there was something a bit eerie about a mostly empty library.
At least the staff was there, but unlucky them it was the same librarian that had stonewalled Emerald when they had tried the first time. They didn't even have the luxury of impersonating a teacher since Emerald wasn't with them. Jaune had tried to get her to come on her break, but she wasn't answering his calls and the only reply he had gotten back was a simple text message telling him she was busy.
He wouldn't lie and say that didn't make him a bit nervous. What could keep her from the investigation?Surely not her she found some other clue and was investigating it herself. Oh well, they could touch base later tonight. Whatever she was up to, he knew she could handle herself.
If they could handle this situation without her however was a different story. "We need to find out who checked out those journals?"
"Can't you just ask the librarian?" Pyrrha asked.
Jaune chuckled at her naivete. "If it were that easy, I would have already found out. No, apparently it's against school policy to give out that kind of information." Jaune said, mimicking the librarian's tone.
Pyrrha hummed as she looked at the librarian. "Let me give it a try. What were the names of those journals again?"
After Jaune told her, Pyrrha walked up to the front desk with a stride of confidence and elegance that Jaune could never hope to match. "Hello there."
Immediately the librarian that had looked so disinterested before now perked up. "Miss Nikos! What a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?"
Already Pyrrha was getting a better reception than he or Emerald, disguised as Ozpin, had ever obtained. "Well you see I'm looking for two books, but I can't find them anywhere. I believe they're called Regent's Journal of Magic, Oddities, and that Unseen and The Journal and Guide of the Mystic World."
"Oh my, it seems like everyone's been looking for those books lately. I'm sorry to say they've already been checked out though."
"Oh." Pyrrha's face drooped in a way that would have had her fans ready to go on a crusade, and Jaune could have sworn he heard a whimper coming from the librarian. "Is there any way you could tell me who checked them out? I just want to borrow them for a bit."
The librarian bit her lip and looked around nervously. "I'm not really supposed to do tha…" Pyrrha's face drooped even more. "But you know what, I can't turn down a request from you." She began typing away at her computer. "You know, I've always been a huge fan of yours."
"Why thank you," Pyrrha replied with a TV perfect smile.
The librarian smiled back like she was looking at one of her own grandchildren. "It's no problem at all. Ah, here it is. Looks like those books were checked out by a first-year, Sulfur Insure."
"Thank you for the help."
"Anytime and good luck at the tournament. I'll be cheering you on."
Pyrrha returned to Jaune with a smug smile that he didn't appreciate at all. "I thought you didn't like to use your fame like that?" He wasn't annoyed about how easily she got the information. Not one bit.
"I make exceptions, but Sulfur. Isn't that Ruby's partner?"
"It is," Jaune sighed. "We should go talk to Yang. It will be much easier to investigate Sulfur with her help, and she deserves to know that her sister might be in danger."
Pyrrha seemed surprised. "You don't think he would hurt her, do you? I'll admit he's a bit strange, but he's usually pretty nice from what I've seen."
Jaune wasn't sure, but he thought back to the conversation the two of them had had in the cafeteria, and there was no doubt in Jaune's mind that there was a wrongness about Sulfur, and it was finally time to figure out what it was.
The walk to Yang's dorm room was a quiet one. Jaune sent another message to Emerald telling her what they were doing only to again not get any response. Just what in the world was she doing?
They arrived at their destination and Pyrrha knocked on Yang's door. "Who is it?" a soft voice replied, completely unlike Yang's normal boisterous.
"It's Jaune and Pyrrha," the champion replied.
Jaune could hear the squeaking of bedsprings and footsteps on the carpet before the soft click of a lock opened the door to reveal Yang. She did not look good. Her short hair was disheveled and she was still in her pajamas. "Yang, have you been crying?" Jaune asked with muted surprise.
Yang wiped her red-ringed eyes as if she wanted to hide them then seemed to realize it was pointless. "Yeah, I have been. Come on in."
Pyrrha and Jaune gave each other a look before awkwardly following Yang into her room. Yang immediately sat on the edge of her bed where it looked like she hadn't left the confines of its covers all day.
"What's wrong?" Jaune worked up the nerve to ask, and then immediately wished he hadn't when Yang gave him a death glare with bright red eyes. "Why don't you tell me! You think it might be because my partner was murdered and hung out for all to see. Maybe it's because a race war is about to begin because of it, or maybe it's because I didn't do a damn thing to stop any of it!"
"You can't blame yourself for this." Pyrrha stood up.
"Then who should I blame," Yang spat. "Her killer? I guess, but it wasn't the killer that ignored Blake's disappearance. It wasn't the killer that decided that maybe things were better without their partner. It wasn't the killer that traveled all across Vale to find a cure for their sister."
"You can't tell me you regret that," Jaune said.
"Of course not, but why didn't I put in the same effort for Blake. Why did I come back to Beacon and just decide enough was enough? What kind of friend am I?" Yang hid fresh tears behind her hands as Pyrrha finally decided a hug was in order.
"Please don't cry," the champion soothed by rubbing Yang's back. "You can't be everywhere at once, and you couldn't have known what was happening. Even if you did, what could you have done? You didn't know where Blake went and trying to find her would have just led to you wandering around Vale for hours without finding anything."
Yang sniffed. "I know that, but I should have still tried. Done something to show that I'm not an uncaring bitch."
Jaune felt like he should step out for this private moment, but doing that would mean ignoring what he originally came here for, and even as rough of a mood as Yang was in now it would be even worse if he didn't tell. "Yang, we found out who checked out those library journals."
"Good for you. Who is it?" As expected Yang didn't seem too interested at the moment, but Jaune still spoke up.
"It was Sulfur. Your sister's partner."
Pyrrha winced as Yang's arms tighten around her waist. Her eyes flashed between red and purple. "DAMN IT! Why does it have to be Ruby again? What did she do to deserve this? Why can't she just be left alone!"
The entire hallways could probably hear Yang's roar, and it took a lot of pacifying and explaining that their discovery didn't necessarily mean Ruby was in any danger to calm her down.
Once Yang was in a state that was acceptable for her sister to see her in, the trio headed out at Yang's behest. Jaune took the time to send Emerald another message only to not get a response yet again.
He was starting to get worried.
Yang didn't waste any time banging on Ruby's door, and Pyrrha had to put her hand on Yang's shoulder to keep her from bashing a hole in it. To Yang's credit, she did seem to realize how ridiculous she was being and knocked at a more appropriate force.
"Yang?" Ruby said as she opened the door. "What are you doing here, and um, why did you bring friends." It was probably quite a surprise for the young girl to see her sister, Pyrrha Nikos, and the guy who had beaten Pyrrha Nikos all hanging out in front of her dorm room, but all that went ignored by the single-minded Yang.
"What, am I not allowed to visit my sister anymore? Even when I have such great news." Yang held up her arms, both of them.
"Oh my gosh," Ruby cheered, "you got your cast removed."
"Yep, Yang is back baby." To prove it, Yang picked up her sister and spun her around in a move that surely mortified the poor girl especially with it being done in front of two others. Pyrrha giggled at the sweet display, but Jaune wondered how much of this was just Yang overperforming to cover up her current distraught mood.
"That's great," a slightly woozy Ruby said after being put down, "but why are you really here? I know you didn't come to see me just to show me your arm, especially not with guests."
Jaune took that moment to step in. "Hello Ruby, I don't mean to be rude, but we're actually here to see Sulfur. Do you think we can talk to him?"
Ruby looked surprised and even a bit distrusting. She set her gaze on Yang for reassurance and Yang replied with a soft nod. Ruby still didn't seem too sure of giving what were basically two strangers access to her partner, but thankfully Yang's reassurance was enough to tip the scales.
"He's not here right now?"
"Then where is he?"
"I don't know?"
Jaune nudged Yang figuring Ruby would be more receptive to her than him. "Do you know where he might be?"
Ruby sighed and lowered her shoulders. "I'm sorry Yang, but I really don't know where he is. He shouldn't be anywhere with…with everything going on right now."
"Alright, then when was the last time you saw him?"
Ruby turned trying her best not to look directly at any of them. "Not since last night."
"You haven't seen him in almost 24 hours!"
Ruby burrowed her face into her cloak as she quickly tried to explain herself. "It's not as bad as it seems. We both went to sleep in the room, but when I woke up he wasn't there. I figured he was just getting breakfast or enjoying the festival, but it's late and he's still not back. I was just about to go looking for him." Ruby threw out as one last defense.
Yang shook her head. "Then if he's not here, do you mind if we look around your room?"
Ruby stiffened. If they hadn't been suspicious enough before they definitely were now. "Why do you need to do that? You just want to talk to him, right?"
"We do," Yang deflected, "but if we look around then we might find out where he is. He might have left a note or something."
"He didn't."
"Couldn't hurt to look again."
Ruby eyed the three of them before settling back on Yang. "Be honest with me. Is something wrong? Do you think something happened to Sulfur?"
Yang looked uncomfortable especially with how worried Ruby sounded over her partner. This might have been a good time to let Ruby in on what was going on. Maybe not the whole truth but enough for her to understand; however, Yang had made it very clear, even back in Cryphilictal, that she didn't want Ruby involved with the unknown world under any circumstances. Jaune wasn't convinced that was the best decision, especially since Ruby's silver eyes made her plenty involved already, but it was Yang's sister, so it was her call.
"It's not that we think something happened to him. It's just he might have some information that we really need to ask him about. You shouldn't worry about it."
Yang's answer was as vague as it was unconvincing and for a moment it looked like Ruby might deny them entry altogether, but whether because she didn't want to drag it out with her sister any longer, or for some other reason, Ruby relented.
"Pardon us," Pyrrha apologized as they entered the room. The layout and design was the same as every other dorm room with four beds and four desks. The differences came in how barren it was. While Yang's dorm room was full of clutter and personal items, the only part of this room that had distinguishable personality was what was clearly Ruby's portion with weapon magazines on her bed and posters hanging above it.
Jaune knew that Team RSTT had lost two of its members, so it made a bit of sense that the room would be emptier, but the only evidence that a second person lived in this room at all was the fact one of the beds, that wasn't Ruby's, hadn't been made.
"What does your partner usually do while he's here?" Jaune had to ask.
Ruby leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and watching them closely. "He mostly just reads or studies, but he doesn't really hang out here all that often."
"What does he read?" Yang questioned a little too aggressively.
"I don't know," Ruby answered equally defensively. "I asked him and he showed me, but it was just so boring. I think it was an autobiography or something, but I couldn't stand to read more than a paragraph."
While Yang was talking with Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune were busy investigating Sulfur's portion of the room. There weren't many places to search, so it wasn't a long process. They found nothing, almost literally nothing. Sulfur's desk drawers only had pencils, pens, erasers and blank notebooks; no signs of any books or even any study material that Ruby claimed he had. It was strange, even creepy. It was like he had filled his part of the room with things he thought a student should have instead of what he wanted to have. It was a disguise. A bad one since the perfectly sanitized setup worked to increase suspicion instead of decrease it, but it did serve to not give a single clue about him, and maybe that was the real goal.
Sulfur had those journals. They knew this for a fact, but now the question became where he was keeping them, and also where was the man himself?
"Does Sulfur usually disappear like this?" Jaune asked.
"Stop saying he disappeared!" Ruby countered. "He hasn't been gone for that long."
Jaune hummed. "Not that long? So you're saying it's not unusual for you not to see your partner for more than a day."
Ruby's mouth opened and closed without sound as she tried to come up with a defense for this very bad look. She kept looking around the room like the answer would be written on the wall, or maybe hoping that he would just drop the issue. He did not, and he continued to stare at her until she admitted that he did have a slight tendency to go missing.
"Why are you asking me this!" she demanded. "What do you want with my partner?"
Jaune decided to go all-in with the worst possible scenario. "I'll be honest with you. Where was Sulfur when Blake Belladonna went missing."
For a second time, Ruby was shocked into silence at the reality of what Jaune was accusing her partner of. Her lips curled and her fingers twitched. Then she turned to Yang as if to ask her if she had heard the same thing. Yang didn't look happy at him either for not sugarcoating it, but it was too late to force him to take it back.
Ruby must have felt pretty betrayed by her sister's silence and it showed in the way she looked at all of them like she was being cornered. "I don't know where he was!" she yelled. "I was in a coma!"
Jaune gasped. That was right. Ruby had been unconscious the entire time they were in Cryphilictal. That gave Sulfur a huge amount of unaccounted time. He could have gotten up to basically anything.
The alarm must have shown on his face because Ruby finally put her foot down. "I can't believe you? Sulfur would never do something like that. Get out of my room."
"Ruby." Yang tried to comfort her, but Ruby snapped.
"I said out!"
Jaune, an upset Yang, and an apologetic Pyrrha were shuffled out into the hallway and Ruby slammed the door behind them.
Immediately, Yang gripped Jaune's arm and pulled him towards her. "What the hell. I thought we were just figuring out what those books were. Not accusing the guy of murder."
"Listen, I'm not saying he did it either," Jaune defended. "But the more I learn about this guy the more suspicious he becomes. Whoever killed Blake copied the spider-slug's method, something that might very well be in one of those journals Sulfur has."
"Or they could have just copied it from seeing it on television," Pyrrha said. "That story was widely circulated."
"Like I said, I'm not sold on him being the killer either," Jaune reiterated. "But he had the time and possibly the knowledge to pull it off so we can't just ignore that possibility."
"Ruby's pretty adamant that he didn't do anything wrong," Yang interjected. It was a weak argument and they all knew it. Ruby's words meant less than nothing with how biased she clearly was. Jaune didn't blame her. She had already lost half her team so it wasn't hard to see why she would be protective over the last one.
"Regardless, we have to find Sulfur. Nothing's going to be settled until we do that. I also want to look for Emerald, something's bothering me about her."
"So it's a manhunt." Yang finally released Jaune's bruised arm. "Fine, while Jaune looks for his girlfriend, I'll let Russel and Sky know to search the fairgrounds, I'll take Beacon, and Pyrrha can ask around if anyone has seen him. I'm sure anyone would be delighted to talk to the beautiful Mistral champion." Pyrrha blushed heavily but agreed with the plan.
Thus they all went their separate ways.
After hours and hours of searching, Sulfur was nowhere to be found. No one had seen him and no one even had a guess as to where he might be. It was like the man had disappeared off the face of Remnant. On top of that, while Jaune had found Emerald, she was keeping the same emotional distance from him as she had over text, and Jaune couldn't understand why. She completely shut down every attempt of him asking her what was wrong. How could he help her when she wouldn't tell him anything?
This all led to a rather awkward meeting in Team BRYL's dorm room where everyone had gathered but no one really knew what to say.
"I just don't get it," Pyrrha whispered. "I talk to every bullhead pilot I can find and none of them could remember seeing Sulfur, so he has to still be in Beacon somewhere, but no one has seen him here either."
"Isn't it possible that a pilot just didn't see him get on?" Sky asked. "I mean do you really think they remember every passenger they take?"
Pyrrha shook her head in disappointment. "I don't think they would have missed him. The crowds were already thin from what happened, so a Beacon student should have stuck out. One of the pilots I talked to even remembered you and Russel traveling to the colosseum and back."
"Then what if he didn't take a bullhead?" Yang said. "What if he used the Emerald Forest?"
"Why would he go through there?" Russel spat.
"I don't know!" Yang argued back. "Why is he missing at all? We have no idea what that guy is up to."
"Please calm down," Pyrrha said before things could get out of hand. All of them were tired and on edge after what felt like a day of completely wasted effort.
"Pyrrha's right," Jaune said. "We just need to think this through. What did Sulfur normally do when he was around?"
The four Beacon students looked at each other lost in thought. "You know something. I have absolutely no idea what he did," Sky said. "Did any of you ever see him outside of classes or meals?"
Another round of looking at each other hoping someone else would have an answer. "I think I saw him in the library once," Russel said sheepishly.
"Ruby did say he liked to read, but he couldn't have spent all his time there," Yang said. "Didn't he have any hobbies or even other friends?"
No one could think of anything. "He always kind of just appeared, said a few words, and then disappeared again," Russel pondered.
"Ruby would know," Sky suggested.
Pyrrha shook her head sadly. "Ruby isn't going to talk to us anymore about him. I'm not even sure she would know. She seemed about as clueless to what he does as we do."
Yang slammed her fist into her bed. "Does anyone know anything about this guy!"
"What about Blake?" Jaune asked. "Did she have any connection with Sulfur? That might be why she was killed."
"Why do you keep insisting that he killed her? You don't have any evidence," Yang argued.
"I don't know," Jaune admitted. "It just feels right."
"So we're just going based on feelings now," Russel snorted. "Look, I'm all for writing Sulfur off as a total weirdo with magic books, but I'm not ready to label him a murderer."
"Can you just answer the original question?"
Sky rolled his eyes. "What is there to say? Besides Sulfur, Blake was the most mysterious person Beacon had. We didn't even know she was a faunus until we saw her body."
"How could you not?" Jaune questioned. "She had cat ears on the top of her head, Don't tell me you were tricked by the bow…" Wait a second, hadn't he seen that bow again somewhere?
The memories were coming back now.
That was right. The night they had returned from Cryphilictal he had run into Sulfur, and Sulfur had been holding it. He had been holding Blake's blood-stained ribbon.
Jaune bit the bottom of his lip as he silently cursed himself for not remembering until now. To be fair, he had been under a lot of stress at the time and a lot had happened before that meeting to cause it to slip his mind, but it still felt inexcusable to forget about something that important. If only he had noticed at that time, then maybe Blake would still be alive.
No, he shouldn't think like that. Blake had probably been killed before that meeting took place. There was nothing he could have done.
Telling himself that didn't really make him feel better, but explaining his lost discovery to the rest of the group did offer some comfort. There was a range of emotions from everyone as he told his story, but no one accused him of lying about it.
"So that's it then? My sister has been living with a killer this entire time," Yang growled.
"Guess that explains why Jaune felt so strongly against Sulfur," Sky said. "He probably subconsciously remembered even if he didn't actually remember."
"Where does that leave us though?" Russel asked. "Even if we know Sulfur did it, we still have no idea where he is or what he's planning."
"I think we should tell Headmaster Ozpin," Pyrrha spoke up. "I know that might seem weird for me to say since you guys didn't tell him about my crimes, but in my case, I didn't know what I was doing. If Sulfur is deliberately out to kill students then the Headmaster should know. Even if he doesn't believe us, it can't hurt. He also has many more resources to find Sulfur than we do."
Jaune thought about it, and Pyrrha was right. This wasn't a case that only he as a caretaker had to deal with. Sulfur had murdered Blake and that was more than enough reason to get Ozpin involved. "Let's do it." Jaune stood up to leave the room only to be stopped by a very unexpected person.
Emerald, who had been completely silent until now, blocked the only exit with a look of pure determination. "I refuse."
Journal Entry #1
The therapist Beacon assigned me suggested keeping a journal to record my thoughts. I haven't been a fan of her and her sessions, (how can someone else claim to understand what is going on in your mind better than you), but this is a fair suggestion. My memory has always been bad. Things just slip and days blur together. I don't even remember the names of my former teammates, but can I really be blamed for that. They were so uninteresting it was painful to be around them like being asked to watch grass grow. Slow, agonizing, and ultimately pointless since it will just be cut again.
At least now things are picking up. (I was starting to worry I had made a mistake in coming here.) My partner has presented a wondrous talent although startlingly no one seems to want to focus on it. They all seem more concerned about her condition as if the two things were unrelated. Don't they understand that the first step in developing a treatment is diagnosing the cause? Makes one wonder if Ozpin even wants Ruby cured at all, or if he's more concerned with hiding her and her ability away.
Well, if no one else is interested in exploring the silver light then I shall do so myself. I'm sure a suitable answer will be in one of these books.