The water that swirled around his feet was tinted orange-red as he stood in the shower. Warm water cascaded off of his body, his hands scrubbing away at his skin lathered in soap. He had to get it off. He had to get clean. He couldn't shake the filthy feeling, however. Despite how pristine his skin appeared, despite how raw it was from his nails scratching against it, he still felt dirty. His mind could not let him forget.
Even as Jaune closed his eyes so that he would not see the bloody water as it escaped down the drain, he saw another terrible sight in the darkness. He saw the face of the man he had killed. Jaune hadn't been able to see his eyes, being obscured by the White Fang mask. However even without seeing the man's eyes, Jaune could read the expression of shock and surprise on his face. He saw the terrorist's mouth open wide as he was impaled by Crocea Mors' blade. He could hear the guttural croak which had slipped through the man's throat as metal slipped up through one of his lungs. He could hear his foe's own weapon clatter to the ground as he stumbled backwards a few steps before collapsing onto the ground.
Over and over again the scene played in Jaune's mind. It had repeated itself as he and the twins fled back to Junior's club. As he discarded torn and bloody clothes in his room. As he stepped into the shower to cleanse the filth from his body. He could not escape it. There was no escaping it. A terrible empty feeling in the pit of his stomach accompanied his thoughts. He felt cold in spite of the warm water and steam which filled the small room.
All the while the same questions ran through his head. Why did this have to happen? What would happen now? How would he ever live with himself? How would he ever get over this?
Jaune tried to rationalize it with himself. He tried to battle against his own thoughts and feelings. The member of the White Fang had been prepared to kill him. It was a fight involving weapons, after all. Jaune's foe had been prepared to kill him. It was kill or be killed. That he knew for a fact.
It didn't make the other facts any easier though. It wasn't as if the dead man had been some burglar who posed a threat to Jaune and his loved ones. It wasn't as if this was a fight between two soldiers on the battlefield. No, Jaune had gone there willingly. Jaune had looked for this fight. He had anticipated it. Enjoyed it. He had wanted this. He wanted to clash blades with the White Fang. He wanted to punish them.
Not like this though. Never like this.
That was the issue. Jaune had never wanted to kill anybody. It made him no different than those in the White Fang who he hated. Like them, Jaune had done this by choice. Like them, he had gone out with the intention of inflicting harm on others. Like them, he had killed.
He was the monster now. He had become everything that he hated about the White Fang.
Tears welled up in Jaune's eyes again. If only he hadn't gone. If only he had made one decision differently. Then this would not have happened. His hands would still be clean.
Or would they?
How many others had he harmed since he had come to work at Junior's club? How many people had he slashed at with Crocea Mors? How many had he pummeled into bloody messes with his fists? What if this wasn't the first one? What if one of the many White Fang grunts or Junior's men he had fought against hadn't had Aura either? What if he had unknowingly killed one of them?
He had been so stupid. So stupid and naive. Not everyone had Aura. Not everyone had once been an aspiring huntsman. There were so many people out there. So many ordinary criminals who didn't have fancy weapons or professional training. They were just people. Vulnerable, squishy people. Ones who could be killed with a simple stab to the torso. Just like the one Jaune had killed.
After standing in the shower for what must have been half an hour at this point, Jaune turned the water off before stepping out. A fresh wave of coldness hit him after leaving the warm water and feeling the air on his wet skin. He didn't know what he was going to do after getting dressed. He just wanted to sleep. A part of him was scared that he would not be able to. Another was scared of what he might see in his dreams when he did.
He quickly put on his sleeping attire and sat upon his old creaky bed. Staring down at the floor, he brought his hands up to his head and gripped it tightly. This had to be a dream. It was all just a bad dream. He wanted to wake up. However he also knew that this was all merely wishful thinking. He had killed a man. He would have to live with that now.
His body jumped as he heard a light knock on the door. A slightly muffled voice came from the other side. "Jaune, are you there?"
He couldn't tell who it was thanks to the door. Melanie may have been the more vocal of the twins, however she wasn't known for her tact, nor her respect of privacy. She was far more likely to barge in when he was changing his clothes rather than asking if she could come in. He supposed there was only one way to find out.
"Yeah."
A pause. Finally they spoke again. "Can I come in?"
Again, it was odd that Melanie would even ask. Did that mean it was Miltia speaking?
"Sure."
A moment later the door opened to reveal the girl in the red dress. A blood red dress. Jaune could not help but be reminded of the last time he had seen a person clad in red clothing.
Unlike him, Miltia still wore the clothes she had been in earlier in the evening. Jaune guessed that they had not gotten nearly as dirty as he had. They hadn't been stained with blood. At least not on this night.
A look up at her face showed she was concerned. There was worry in her emerald eyes. He hated it. He hated the pity that she had for him. He didn't like it when people felt sorry for him. It was simply enough that they acknowledged what he was going through. There didn't need to be any more to it than that.
She sat down on his left side, trapping him between herself and one of the walls his bed was against. It was almost like a modified form of the tactic the girls liked to use on him. Whether it was sitting at the bar, walking down the sidewalk, or right here, they always seemed to surround him. To keep him in the middle. So that there was no escape.
His hand flinched when he felt a weight on it. Looking over he saw that Miltia had placed her own hand on his. There was an utterly foreign expression on her face. One of sadness. Empathy. Her makeup looked off. Her eyes were tinted red. As if she had been crying too. He wasn't about to ask if she had been, however.
Her tone matched the expression fittingly. "How are you feeling, Jaune?" she asked.
How was he feeling? Could he even begin to describe it? He didn't think that he could. So he just answered honestly. "I don't know."
Miltia bit down on her lower lip and nodded. She didn't say anything more though. It wasn't unusual coming from her.
"Is there anything we can do for you?" she asked. She gently squeezed down on his hand when she asked.
She couldn't turn back time. So, no. There was nothing truly helpful they could do for him.
"No, but thanks though," he said earnestly. Despite how he was feeling, he wasn't about to lash out at her for what had happened. The fact that she cared about him deserved his thanks.
Jaune looked back down at the floor. For long seconds he sat there. His hand feeling the warmth of the one that held it. His entire body feeling the warmth of the girl next to him. He didn't have anything to say. If Miltia wanted a conversation, she would have to be the one who said something.
Finally she did. "I don't know what you're going through right now," she started. The was a surprise to Jaune. He had always been under the assumption that there was the possibility that the twins had killed before. "But... I dunno. It was a fight, right? It was either you or him."
It was the same logic Jaune himself was trying to apply to the situation. If Jaune had not fought back, if he had not used the weapon he had as his disposal, he would have been the one to eventually wind up dead. He could still recall the words Melanie had spoken to him before raiding the White Fang hideout. The same words which had echoed in his mind at the docks. He could not hold back. If he held back then he would die.
Well, he had certainly not held back. He had not been the one to die.
Jaune shook his head. "I know," he said softly. "It's what I keep telling myself over and over. But..." He felt his face growing warmer. He felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. "I should have stayed," he whispered. "I shouldn't have gone with Ruby."
He remembered how Miltia had pleaded with him. He remembered Melanie's anger. They hadn't been concerned about this hypothetical outcome. The thought of a dead man hadn't crossed any of their minds. To them it had all been about loyalty. Friendship. Choosing the correct side to take in an argument. Jaune wished he had listened to them. He wished he had never gone with Ruby.
Another squeeze on his hand caused him to look back to Miltia. "Don't worry about that," she told him. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but was having trouble coming up with the words.
He supposed he should be thankful that Miltia wasn't holding a grudge over his decision. She had always been the more reasonable of the sisters. The more empathetic. Perhaps that was why it was her up here talking to him right now and not Melanie. He wondered where the other girl was right now.
"You did what you had to," she added. She was straight and to the point. How very Melanie-like of her. "The world won't miss a terrorist."
Was that supposed to make him feel better? Trying to paint the man he had killed as evil, and therefore justifying his death?
"But there are like... people who would miss you."
Jaune suddenly became very aware of the fact that she was holding his hand. Lost in all of this was the fact that Miltia had a thing for him. Supposedly. If drunk Melanie was to be believed. He was starting to see it more and more now.
He mind may have been checked out at the time, but he remembered the way Miltia had held him at the docks. The way she had stroked his hair. The way she had kissed the top of his head in order to comfort him. Sure, it may have been purely out of comfort and concern for him. Yet more of Miltia's empathy on display. However, it hardly seemed like something that any old friend would do. He couldn't imagine Ruby or Yang doing the same in that situation.
What truly awful timing. What terrible circumstances. A girl liked him, and he had just murdered a man. Life was cruel. Life was unfair. Then again, he was the one who had chosen this life. He had no one to blame but himself.
He recognized that blame when he responded to Miltia's words. "I didn't have to do anything," he argued. "I didn't have to be there. I chose to. It's my fault."
That was the key. It wasn't about necessarily killing a person. There were certain situations where that truly was the only option, and he knew that. This was about choice. He hadn't needed to kill anybody tonight. His own actions and decisions brought it about.
"Well even if it was, he was still a terrorist," Miltia countered. "If he was willing to kill you, he would have probably killed like, a bunch of innocent people."
Was that true? Maybe. Still, it did little to make Jaune feel better.
"I could have knocked him out. Could have made sure he got arrested with the others."
She shook her head. "Things aren't that simple in a fight. You had to look out for yourself. And second guessing yourself will get you killed."
Again, maybe. Again, it didn't make him feel any better.
"He wasn't innocent. He was a terrorist. If it had to be him or you who had to die, I'd go with that monster every time."
Monster. Did she use that word intentionally because she knew that was how he viewed the White Fang ? It was a word he had used so often to describe them. After what they had done to Tukson. After all of their violent actions in the world which Jaune had become more aware of following his first experience with them. Yes, they were indeed monsters. Now after what he had done, what was he now if not a monster?
He knew Miltia was trying to make him feel better. Trying to justify his actions. Trying to rationalize the fact that he had killed a man. On the surface her arguments made sense. It was either Jaune or the terrorist who had to die. The terrorist was an evil man. The terrorist would have killed innocents somewhere down the line had he lived. The fact that he was dead was a good thing.
All of that was easy to say if you weren't the one who had carried out that death sentence. All of those pretty words were true if you didn't have to live with the consequences.
Jaune was tired. He didn't want to argue about it anymore. It was going nowhere anyway. Her words weren't convincing him of anything. She wasn't telling him anything he hadn't already tried to tell himself.
"I... I think I'm going to get some sleep," he said as he stared down at the floor.
Miltia was hesitant to get up. Hesitant to release her hold on his hand. She wanted to try to make him feel better. She wanted to be there for him. However despite her best efforts, her tactics simply weren't working. It wasn't through any fault of her own. It was his inability to be consoled. It was his fault.
He still appreciated her efforts. Like he had told Yang, these girls were not the bad people she had painted them out to be. There was more to them. Other sides to them.
Just as there were others sides to Jaune now.
The girl in red still hadn't gotten up yet. Finally though, after a few more seconds of silence, she stood. Miltia looked down at him. "Just call us if you need anything, alright?"
He nodded wordlessly. What did he need that they could provide? He wasn't looking for pity or sympathy.
Realizing that she wasn't going to get a verbal response, Miltia moved out of the room, closing the door behind her. Jaune was alone with his thoughts once more.
He laid back in bed, resting his head against the pillow as he brought the covers over himself. Who was he kidding? He wasn't going to be able to fall asleep right now. He just wanted to be alone.
Jaune could not recall a time he had felt this bad. Not even getting kicked out of Beacon brought as much pain and misery as he was feeling right now. He had never gotten punished for that crime. Perhaps this was it. His past was finally catching up with him. All of the events which had led up to this evening had started because he had tried to sneak his way into Beacon. If not for that he would have never wound up at this club. He would have never met Tukson. He would have never met Ruby. He would have never been at the docks.
He also remembered how he had dealt with the pain of his shattered dream. He remembered more of Melanie's words. Something that could make you forget for a night. And every other night after that, if he wanted.
Melanie would be the first to admit that she was a bitch. She had anger issues. She had a foul mouth. She had violent tendencies which she enjoyed taking out on others.
That was why seeing all of that in her normally docile twin sister was just a little bit unnerving.
There was broken glass on the floor. At least one table had been flipped. And that stool wasn't supposed to be on the other side of the dance floor. Yet, there it was. All of these things had happened in front of her very eyes. Seeing their typical roles reversed was an interesting lesson to say the least.
Miltia was pacing back and forth as she continued to work off all of that physical energy of hers. As she continued to blow off steam. Had the situation not been so serious, Melanie would have jokingly told her to go get laid. To get all of that pent up frustration out of her system in the most fun way possible. She would have even told her to go fuck Jaune's brains out. However, the boy was the reason for her sister's anger in the first place. Even Melanie knew that such jokes were off limits right now.
"I should have been there!" her little sister yelled. The girl was livid. It was a side of her that Melanie had not seen all too often in their lives. "I should have fucking been there!"
Miltia blamed herself. It was not hard to understand why. Since the beginning, Miltia had designated herself as Jaune's guardian while working at the club. She was the one who had tried to stop him from working here in the first place. However once that plan had failed, she had decided to try and protect his innocence. To keep him from ending up like them. To save him from living in a dirty, rough, grey-shaded world of crime.
After tonight, it was understandable to see why Miltia thought she had failed at that. There was no going back from this. Tonight a line had been crossed, and it could not be undone. Jaune from this point forward was firmly cemented in their world. Even if there were never any legal repercussions, even if no one outside of this club knew what he had done, he would have to live with it.
Melanie knew her sister's emotions were only further complicated by the fact that she had feelings for the boy. In her mind, Miltia had not only failed a friend tonight. She had failed the boy she had a crush on. Someone who she cared for as more than just a friend.
Still, there was no reason Miltia should blame herself for that. "Mil, there's no way we could have known that would happen," Melanie argued.
Her sister stopped, hands balling up into fists. "I still should have been there," she whispered. A soft shake of her head accompanied her words. "I was pissed off so I fucking abandoned him. And look what happened."
If that was Miltia's logic, then that made Melanie guilty as well. She had not accompanied Jaune to the docks either. However unlike her sister, she did not blame any actions or inactions on what had happened. Doing so was not only pointless, but it was also wrong.
"So what?" Melanie countered. "Even if we had been there, do you think that would have stopped him from fighting? You know how much he hates the White Fang and stuff. There still would have been guys there without Aura."
"Yeah, well, maybe one of us would have fought him instead. Maybe it wouldn't have been Jaune. Maybe-"
"Oh for fuck's sake, Miltia," she snapped. "You're gonna drive yourself insane if you keep talking like that."
Her twin turned on her with an angry glare. "Like what?"
"Maybe!" Melanie snapped. "Maybe! Maybe!" Her tone was harsh, but Melanie had never been the most diplomatic of people. She also felt that being blunt would be the only way to get through to Miltia. "Point is, you can't keep talking about all the 'maybes'. Maybe if we had been there there'd be more dead people. Maybe Jaune would be the dead one. We just don't fucking know, and trying to tell yourself things would be better is stupid."
Her words seemed to quiet her younger sister. This was why she was the older and wiser one, even if it was only by a few minutes. And as a responsible older sister, she would have to be there to set Miltia straight when the girl strayed down the wrong path.
"In fact, you know what?" she continued. "You wanna blame anyone, blame those two fucking bitch sisters. They were there. They should have had his back."
Not only was that the truth, but it would give Miltia an actual target to direct her anger at. Blaming herself would do the girl no favors.
"Yeah, they were there," Miltia said bitterly. "And I wasn't. What does that say about me if two bitches were there for him and I wasn't?"
The question shattered any semblance of progress which almost looked like had been made. This was going nowhere fast. Melanie was getting frustrated by her sister's guilt. By the way she was talking, Miltia may as well have been the one to drive the sword through the terrorist's gut herself. It was beyond stupid, really. She knew that Miltia liked the guy, but taking on this burden because of that attraction would do nobody any good. Least of all herself.
Thankfully there was another voice of reason in the room, albeit a quiet one. A glance over to Junior showed that he was still standing at the bar, idly touching up the many glasses and bottles which sat about. As usual, he simply listened. It was one of his greatest qualities. Having the ability to sit and listen, to absorb information, to form an understanding before speaking had helped him to raise two teenage girls as if they were his own daughters. Perhaps his insight would prove vital right now when it was needed the most.
Melanie turned her attention from her twin and over to Junior, who remained focused on wiping down the glass in his hands with a white rag. "Hei," she called out. "Can you talk some sense into her or something?"
The giant of a man looked up from his work, and dark eyes focused on the girl in red. "Shit happens, Miltia. You know that."
A statement which was all too true. Bad things just happened in life. There was no rhyme or reason to it. There was often nothing which could be done to prevent it either. Mountain Glenn fell to the Grimm, and she and Miltia had lost their parents. Shit happens. That stupid cunt Yang had showed up to the club on a whim and decided to trash the place when she didn't get what she wanted. Shit happens. Tukson was murdered by his own comrades in the White Fang for wanting to leave the organization and start a new life. Shit happens. Jaune went out on his little mission to fight the White Fang, and killed a man in the process. Shit happens.
Apparently the truth of that statement wasn't enough for Miltia, as she walked over closer to where Junior stood. "That's it? That's all you have to say?"
He shrugged as he looked back down at the glass for any signs of dirt or residue from its previous washing. "What do you want me to say, Mil?"
The girl threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "I don't know! Can't you like, talk to him about it or something? You of all people could help him..."
As a former huntsman himself, Junior was a worldly man. He had been a lot of places. Done a lot of things. Seen a lot of people. Seen a lot of death. Including deaths inflicted by his own hands.
It was the darker and grittier side of that glamorous, almost romanticized life of a huntsman that no one liked to talk about. Junior had told them that being a huntsman was about more than just killing monsters. It was about more than just saving people. In the real world there were bad people. There were petty criminals. There were murderers. There were those who had no empathy for their fellow man. There were people whose actions would undoubtedly result in the deaths of innocents. Huntsmen were tasked with apprehending these kinds of people as well. Apprehending, or stopping them completely. By any means necessary. Sometimes killing one person meant saving many. The lives of the many outweighed the life of one person.
"I can't," he said simply.
Those were not the words that Miltia had wanted to hear. Her face twisted in anger as she looked up at Junior. "What do you mean you can't? I'll go wake him up right now and bring him down here."
Junior held up the hand holding his cloth to stop the girl from going on. "There's no point. Not yet anyway."
"Yes there is a point! I was just up there with him. He's fucking hurting right now." Miltia shook her head, her face twisted as if she was holding back tears. "It's like he wasn't Jaune anymore..."
Melanie could feel the anguish in her sister's heart. The boy she cared about was broken. She herself had failed in her mission to protect him. To preserve him. All Miltia wanted to do was help him, but she had no idea how to. On top of that, her best hope of trying to help him had just been shot down by Junior. It was an understandably frustrating situation for the girl.
Junior set his glass and rag down on the counter, and leaned against it with both hands. "Look, it's not that I won't help him," he explained. "But there's no point in doing it until he wants it. If I try to talk to somebody and they aren't ready for it, it'll just go in one ear and out the other. You think that if I tried to make you two feel better about losing your parents the night after it happened that it'd have done any good?"
He brought up a good point. No, that wound had taken years to heal. Years to be able to go a day without tears forming in her eyes at their memory. Even then, it still hurt. There was still a gaping hole in Melanie's heart which she filled in a variety of different ways. The top three being alcohol, violence and sex. However Junior had always been there for her. An ear to listen to her, just as he had been listening tonight. He had been a shoulder to cry on, which both she and Miltia had done many times before in the past. If Junior had decided that they needed to get over their loss immediately, it simply would not have worked. She would have hated him for disregarding her feelings.
Miltia apparently recognized this truth as well, and she closed her with a heavy sigh. Junior was ever the diplomat. A better man than outsiders could ever possibly understand. "I guess..." the girl conceded.
"He needs time to process this. To work things out in his own head before someone else wants to give him their opinion. And it would be just my opinion. I'm not a damn shrink, and the only thing I prescribe is booze and more booze. But if he wants to talk, I'll be here. Just like I'm here for you two."
It was the best solution any of them could hope for. Miltia seemed to realize this as well. There was simply nothing that could be done right now. There was a saying that time healed all wounds. Right now they were still on day zero. Jaune needed time. Maybe then he would be able to move on from what he had done.
"I just wish there was something I could do..." Miltia quietly lamented.
"Be there for him," Junior was quick to say. "You don't have to have the answers. I didn't back when I took you two in. I still don't have them. But I was always there for you. And you two turned out all right."
Melanie smirked. That depended entirely on one's definition of "all right". A pair of enforcers for an underground crime boss who enjoyed drinking and beating people up was not what most people would consider to be "all right". However, it worked for them. All things considered, she would say that Junior had done a fine job in raising them in their parent's absence.
The younger twin nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Hei."
Miltia started to walk off towards the main staircase. Melanie wondered what she planned on doing now. She said that Jaune would have to be woken up, so she doubted that the girl was going to see him. Maybe she was going to grab a quick shower and go to sleep herself.
That was fine. It gave Melanie more time to speak alone with Junior, just as she had been doing before Miltia came down. He was already filled in on all the details which Melanie herself was aware of. After Miltia's outburst there was more to talk about.
"So..." she started uneasily as she slipped into a stool at the bar. The man was quick to slide an empty glass her direction, which she gladly accepted. "What are we gonna do about that?"
Junior grunted softly. "Whatever we have to."
She hummed in response. Tonight had turned out to be a disaster. Between a White Fang attack in retaliation for their own aggressions, the incident at the docks, and now both Jaune and Miltia's emotional issues, things had gotten complicated. Stupidly so. Her own plans were going to have to be put on hold, or maybe even scrapped entirely.
Melanie had once had an eye for Jaune herself. After all, if Miltia wasn't going to make a move, why let an opportunity like him go to waste? An opportunity for fun. Excitement. Pleasure. A casual relationship which both would enjoy, and both would reap the benefits from. Jaune would have been a perfect fuck buddy, as she had first imagined a couple weeks ago while sitting at the bar with him. Now though, after everything which had transpired tonight, how could she possibly go on with such a plan?
"You think she's gonna do anything stupid?" she asked.
Miltia had always been the far more emotionally stable of the two. The one to think things through more carefully. The one to not let her passions or vices get the better of her. Now though it was clear to Melanie that her sister was in a bad place. Such a thing could make a person unpredictable.
"Probably not. But you be sure to keep an eye on her too, okay?"
That went without saying. Her baby sister was one of the only things in life that Melanie genuinely cared about. She would never let any harm come to Miltia. Including harm that the girl unwittingly brought down upon herself.
Memories of the night Yang trashed the club came into her mind. Memories of cradling her sister's broken body in her lap. Melanie remembered how she had felt when she had first laid eyes upon Jaune that night. She had been ready and willing to tear the boy's throat out had he posed a threat to Miltia. Had that been the case she would have had zero qualms about her own kill count having a tally.
She took a sip from the drink Junior had poured for her. It numbed her tongue for a brief moment, but such a sensation was fleeting. The numbness always was. "Yeah," she agreed. "I will."
This certainly brought back memories.
A bare table lay in front of her. Bright lights hung overhead. Ruby had been here once before in this very situation. The night she had been accepted into Beacon Academy, she had sat in this very room awaiting her fate.
She felt like a prisoner waiting to be interrogated. The feeling was in fact half true. Although she was a student here at the school, those in power felt as though they needed to get answers out of her. Answers for what had happened earlier that night down by the docks. The fight. The presence of criminals and terrorists.
The dead body.
Ruby was still uncertain how to feel about that fact. She had not committed the act herself. Her sister and teammates said that they had not done so either. That left one other person whose statement she had not ever received, as the boy had disappeared sometime during the fight. Before the authorities had arrived. Before Ms. Goodwitch had come to her expecting answers about what had transpired. It was suspicious to say the very least.
She didn't know where the rest of her team was. Were they in separate rooms being questioned themselves? Or was it only her? She didn't know. Upon returning to Beacon they had been split up. Still, they had been given a chance to get their stories straight on the way back. And one thing she did not want to do was give her friend up. Not until she knew what happened. Not until she talked to him about it first.
The door opened, and Glynda stepped inside. As usual she looked as if she had never experienced the emotion of joy in her life. Tonight it was actually understandable. Four of her students had been present at a crime scene. The site of untold property damage. The site of a murder.
Setting a file folder down on the table, the woman took a seat across from Ruby and folded her hands. "Ms. Rose."
Ruby nodded nervously. "Hi," she said meekly.
"I've gone through the statement you issued to police while still at the docks. Everything seems to check out. Your teammates have corroborated the story as well."
The girl breathed a sigh of relief. That was good. In reality she had not lied about anything in the report. She had just omitted the presence of one person.
"While it is indeed the duty of huntsmen and huntresses to protect the people of Remnant and battle against those who would cause them harm, it is not advisable to go running off looking for a fight." Glynda's voice was now closer to her normal stern tone. "Huntresses are not vigilantes, Ms. Rose. You should have informed Beacon about what was happening at the docks. We would have been more than happy to undertake such a task."
The truth of the statement stung a little. Yeah, she probably should have called Glynda or any of the other teachers at Beacon. But she didn't. That would have meant getting them involved with Blake and her secret. They would have found out that her friend and teammate was a former White Fang member. It could have spelled the end of Team RWBY. It was a risk the girl had not been willing to take.
"And now because you did not do so, Roman Torchwick and his compatriots have escaped. A portion of the dust they sought to steal is gone too. Another good portion of it was destroyed. A lot of lien was lost, and a lot more will go towards repairing the section of the docks that you turned into a battlefield."
Those words stung a little more. While in the end she had gotten Blake back, and their team was beginning to work towards some semblance of understanding about both her and Weiss' pasts, they had still lost. Roman had gotten away. She had essentially failed in her mission.
The woman removed her glasses, cleaning them with a small cloth she had produced from her pocket. With a sigh she put them back on, and her eyes returned to the papers on the table before her. "The only outstanding issue is that of the body," she continued. "Preliminary reports say that the man was fatally wounded when a straight bladed weapon penetrated his abdomen. While this rules out yourself and Ms. Xiao Long due to the nature of your weapons, it does not exonerate two of your teammates who do use such weapons."
The statement set off warnings in Ruby's mind. No. Blake and Weiss were both innocent. She had been with them the whole time. Neither of them had been in the area where the body was found. None of their blades had any blood on them either.
"Ms. Goodwitch," she finally said. "I know Blake and Weiss didn't do it. Did you check their weapons at all?"
"I did," the woman confirmed. "While no traces of blood were found on their blades, they still are people of interest. Unless you know of someone else who may have committed the act."
Ruby swallowed hard. She did know of someone else. Someone who carried a long, straight sword. Someone who had been there that night. Someone who had vanished without a word sometime in the middle of the fight.
Someone she could not possibly imagine having committed such an act.
No. She couldn't believe it. Not without hearing his side of the story first. Ruby would give Jaune the benefit of the doubt, just as she had given Blake the benefit of the doubt. In the end it turned out that Blake had left the terrorist organization and was seeking to make amends for her previous choices. She was certain that Jaune would have an explanation first.
However Glynda might not see it that way. Ruby would not give up her friend so easily.
"I don't know," she lied. It was a dirty feeling, but she did so unapologetically. "W-what about the other White Fang guys? Some of them had swords right?"
"They did. I have to believe that the police forensic teams are taking that into account as well as they continue their investigation."
That was good. That would buy her some time until she could talk to Jaune.
"Ms. Rose," Glynda said, causing Ruby to look back up in the teacher's eyes. "What happened at the docks was a battle between those trying to inflict harm upon Vale, and those seeking to protect it. I am certain that Beacon will shoulder the blame for the incident, and defend those responsible for the death of a terrorist. No jury in the world would condemn a huntress for the death of an enemy combatant in defense of the public."
That was good. Glynda understood. She was certain that the entirety of Beacon's staff would understand too. What happened there had been nobody's fault. It was regrettable for certain, but it had just been a part of protecting the people of the city.
"You are not in trouble for the death of that man. No one on your team is. We are simply trying to get to the bottom of it. We are merely seeking out the truth."
Again, the words were comforting. Ruby was happy to know that her good intentions would be looked upon as such.
"And while it is admirable to protect one's friends, doing so at the expense of the law and the justice system is not befitting of a huntress. With that being said, are you sure there is nothing more you wish to say about what transpired tonight?"
Ruby's brief peace of mind was shattered. Glynda knew she was hiding something. Maybe the woman didn't know exactly what, but she suspected something. She was giving Ruby a chance to come clean right now. To tell the whole truth. To betray her friend. To tell her about Jaune.
She didn't bite.
"Nope," she said softly. "I said everything I know already."
Glynda sighed softly. There was a look of disappointment on her face. It hurt Ruby to see such a reaction, but she felt as though she did the right thing. She hadn't told anyone about Blake in order to protect her. She would do the same for Jaune.
"Very well," the woman said. "You're dismissed."
With a nod Ruby stood from her seat and quickly walked to the door. She didn't want to be alone with Glynda any more tonight.
On her way back to her team's dorm she thought about her decision. She thought about Jaune. She had done the right thing. That boy had gone through enough hardships already with getting kicked out of Beacon. Then he had started to work for a nightclub which seemed to employ criminals.
Her thoughts went back to all his weird questions. Questions about hurting people. About killing people. Hypothetical situations about what to do if you encountered a situation where there were bad people who might need to be killed. Was this what he had been talking about?
Ruby was happy when she reached her room. She didn't want to think about that right now. Right now all she wanted was to talk to her teammates and make sure everyone was doing okay. She wanted to try and continue to mend the rift between Weiss and Blake. Everyone needed to be on the same page again. That way they could all move towards solving the new problems which had sprung up in their lives. They would solve them together.
Three faces peered over to her when she opened the door. Yang was on her feet in an instant and moved over to pull Ruby into a hug. "They weren't too hard on you, were they?"
Had they been hard on anyone? Despite her initial fears it hadn't felt like an interrogation. It was simply one of her teachers asking a few questions. Necessary ones, really. However they were not ones she could give full answers to.
"No, not at all," she admitted. She looked over to the rest of her team. "Why? Who questioned you guys?
"Ms. Goodwitch," Weiss answered.
"Glynda," Blake agreed.
"Mmhmm," Yang confirmed.
So she had spoken to all four of them. The woman certainly did not slack in her duties. Ruby was simply glad that she seemed to get the same story out of all of them. Not that they had anything truly bad to hide. She just didn't want to shine a spotlight on Jaune that he didn't need in his life.
"I think that she knew I was keeping something from her though," the redhead said. "She seemed... I don't know. Disappointed when she asked if I had anything else I wanted to tell. You guys didn't mention Jaune, right?"
The mood in the room seemed to change at the mention of his name. At least with two of the other girls. Weiss had appeared to not mind the boy while they talked on the way to the docks. The fact that they both shared a hatred for the White Fang formed at the very least a mutual understanding between the two. Perhaps that was why her demeanor had not shifted.
Blake and Yang on the other hand looked conflicted. With Blake it was obvious as to why. Jaune had been a participant in attacking White Fang hideouts. He had dealt with their kind before and did indeed hate them. Blake could also assume that he hated her as a result. She might also hate him for his actions against her former comrades, and her species in general.
Then there was Yang. The girl who had the most history with the club he now worked at. While she had come to admit that the two girls she had tangled with once before might not be simple criminals, it did not mean she had to like them. She didn't have to like what they did. She didn't have to like what Jaune was doing with his life now.
For those reasons it was a relief that Ruby got the responses that she did.
"No," Yang confirmed. "I don't know what happened there, but... for his sake and yours I don't want to rat him out." She shrugged. "Not before he can explain himself."
Blake nodded. Her response may have been nonverbal, but she got the point across. She was probably the last person who would want to betray one's secret. Especially if there was no proof he had done anything wrong. Blake's faunus nature had probably gotten her a fair amount of false accusations for criminal activity in the past. Even before her time in the White Fang.
That left Weiss. The girl who had gotten along the most with Jaune. Ruby was confident that she had followed the plan as well.
So why wasn't she saying anything?
"Weiss?" Ruby questioned.
Her partner looked at her in the eyes. "Yes?"
"You, uh, you didn't tell Ms. Goodwitch about Jaune, did you?"
"I did."
Ruby felt her heart sink. That hadn't been the plan at all. Why? Why would Weiss do that to someone she had seemingly had no issues with?
"What? Why?"
"You snitched on him?" Yang added. "That's cold, even for you."
Weiss' eyes narrowed on the blonde girl before turning her attention back to Ruby. "It's true that I have no dislike for that boy," she explained. "However I also do not owe him anything. I am not about to risk my future here at Beacon, my future career in general, by lying to the authorities about the actions of a person I had only known for an hour. So, yes. I informed Ms. Goodwitch that Jaune was with us, and that he disappeared sometime in the fight."
It wasn't evidence against Jaune. It proved nothing. Only that he was there. With Glynda knowing the boy's name and face, with her potentially having a role in his removal from Beacon Academy, Ruby did not know how the woman would take the news. She did not know what might come next.
"But... he's my friend."
"Yes. He's your friend," the heiress agreed. Her features seemed to soften after those words. "And... you're my friends. I can't afford to get kicked out of Beacon, Ruby. I can't take that risk." She shook her head softly, as if answering to some unspoken comment in her mind. "Not if it means having to go back to Atlas..."
There was something about the way which Weiss had spoken those last words which sent chills down Ruby's spine. She didn't know why, but her partner seemed adamant on not going back to Atlas. To Weiss it appeared that telling the truth about Jaune hadn't been out of spite or fear, but rather self-preservation. Ruby couldn't condemn the girl's decision if that was the case. People usually did what they did for a reason. Weiss must have had hers.
So that must have been why Glynda had looked so disappointed. She knew that Ruby had lied to her face. It most likely wouldn't be a punishable offense. However the knowledge of Glynda knowing she had lied would be with her now. Ruby wondered how things might change between the two of them.
She wondered how things might change between herself and Jaune as well.
Jaune had been right about one thing. He couldn't sleep.
Sending Miltia away had been necessary. He didn't want to talk about what had happened anymore. Saying that he had wanted some sleep hadn't been a lie either. He had tried. He really did. It just wasn't happening though.
Every time he closed his eyes he saw it. He saw his arms thrust outward to impale his victim. He saw and heard the blood gurgling from the man's lips. And every time Jaune told himself that it had been necessary. That one of them had to die. He told himself he had made the right choice. Just as Miltia had agreed. However such reassurances still failed to make him feel any better about it.
That was why he had set out to the bar with a plan. If he could fall asleep he wouldn't have to feel this way. And if he couldn't fall asleep on his own he'd have to enlist a little bit of aid from what this place had in abundance. Junior wouldn't miss a little bit of the cheap stuff. He wasn't doing this for the taste or the pleasure of the experience. He wouldn't need much anyway. It wasn't like Jaune had much of a tolerance.
It was late in the night when he stepped out from the staircase and onto the main floor of the club. He wished he could have said that he was surprised when he saw the familiar form of a girl in white sitting alone at the bar. He was not, though. As he approached her he wondered if this was a nightly routine for Melanie.
Her attention turned to him when she heard his approach. There was no trace of pity in her emerald eyes, and for that Jaune was thankful. Hopefully Melanie wouldn't try the same routine that Miltia had done earlier. He didn't want the sympathy. He didn't want to be treated like he was made of glass. He just didn't want to think about it.
She didn't greet him verbally when he reached the bar, but the fact that she had visually acknowledged him was good enough. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
Grabbing a glass from behind the counter, Jaune slid it over to his prospective seat next to the girl. Thankfully she had already had a bottle out in front of her. If she had picked it then it was probably something strong. Something that wouldn't take long to accomplish the goal he had in mind.
After taking his seat he poured some of the liquid into his glass and looked down at it. Taking a deep breath, he downed the burning drink in one go. It took all of his willpower not to cough and gag on the potent stuff.
He poured another glass, and this time prompted words from the girl next to him. "You read my mind, little huntsman," she commented. "Shit. I thought only Miltia could do that."
Jaune didn't know if that was supposed to be some sort of commentary on how close the two sisters were. In the end he just chalked it up to another one of Melanie's nonsensical drunken comments, and grunted a noncommittal response.
Melanie snorted, and smiled as she looked down at her glass. "Spending way too much time around Hei."
He remembered the last time the girl had used Junior's real name. Did that mean she was drunk again? Or did she simply not care about that little secret anymore?
"Who knows," he shrugged.
She hummed, taking a smooth sip from her drink. It was the same stuff as he had, yet she was able to sip from it as if it was water. The difference in their levels of experience despite their relatively same age was mind-blowing.
"Whatever. So you can't sleep either, huh?"
Jaune noted how she didn't sound drunk. At least she didn't sound how she had some of the other times he had sat with her at the bar. He also noted how she had phrased the question. She wasn't able to sleep either. Was she thinking about what had happened tonight as well? Or something entirely different?
Either way, it didn't matter. He hadn't come here to talk. "Melanie, I just want to be left alone."
A sly smirk still played on her lips as she stared down into her glass. "Bullshit. No one comes to a bar and drinks if they wanna be left alone." She motioned over to him with her head. "And you wouldn't have sat right next to me either."
He would have raised the point that she would have simply gotten up from her own seat to sit next to him had he chosen any other place. She always did. However he hadn't been lying with what he said. He didn't feel like talking.
The prolonged silence and lack of a response made the girl scoff before finishing her drink. She spoke once more as she poured herself a refill. "What is it? You wanna be left alone so you can wallow in self pity? You think that'll make you feel better?"
Jaune felt his jaw clench. While he hadn't wanted anybody's pity, this was the opposite end of the spectrum. Was she purposely trying to piss him off? Or was her lack of empathy and interpersonal skills just a part of who she was?
"Shut up," he whispered.
"Or what?" she asked him. Those sharp green eyes finally focused on him. Indeed there was no sympathy in them like there had been in her twin's. "You gonna kill me too?"
His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened. In an instant he looked away and back down to his drink. His finger played with the glass before bringing it back up to his lips and sipping.
He heard some sort of satisfied grunt over from Melanie as she looked back down at the counter. "Yeah, I see it now. You're just like me, aren't you? Drinking to forget the shit you've been through. Just like old times, isn't it?"
Jaune assumed she was referring to the night he had returned to the club after getting kicked out of Beacon. It was the words from that night which had inspired him to come down to the bar in the first place. Drinking could make you forget. It could make all the pain go away.
So what pain was Melanie going through?
The girl smiled before taking another sip from her fresh glass. "This world is a really shitty place, ya know that?" With a free hand she toyed with her hair, pushing it behind her ear. "Fucking Grimm everywhere. Bunch of terrorists out there trying to kill you. I mean, you'd think the Grimm would make everyone wanna work together or whatever, right?"
She wasn't wrong. The words were surprisingly deep coming from Melanie Malachite of all people. Did she become wiser when given alcohol? Or was this part of her always hidden inside the girl? Or maybe the words weren't wise at all. Maybe they were a simple harsh truth that she knew from experience.
"But no. People are fucking stupid," she continued. "That's why I don't feel sorry for that stupid animal you killed tonight. Fuck him. Fuck people. They're always gonna try and take what's yours. And that's why you gotta look out for yourself."
The words certainly explained why Melanie was the way she was. Her outlook on life was one of greed. Only now he knew it wasn't for entirely selfish reasons. She didn't do what she wanted and take what she wanted on a whim. Judging from what she had just said, it was out of a need for survival. Take what you need to live. Look out for yourself first. Everyone else will try to do it to you.
"And that includes killing, if you have to," she finished.
The words were chilling. In his earlier conversation with Miltia she had all but admitted to never having killed anyone. He found such a reassurance to be comforting. With Melanie however, had she taken a life? Her personal philosophy certainly made it sound like she would not have a problem with it under the right circumstances. After all, the night he first met her she looked like she was ready to murder him if he had turned out to be an enemy.
He had to know. If nothing else maybe she could offer a perspective on the act. "Have you ever killed someone?" he asked.
The girl shrugged. "I dunno. Not that I know of. I've kicked a lot of ass over the years." The statement was quite literal considering her fighting style. "Who knows what happened to a guy after I left him broken and bleeding on the floor? But you know what? All I was doing was fighting for what was mine. Fighting to keep me and my sister safe."
Jaune hummed. "I see."
"Yeah. Shit happens, Jaune. It just does. Like I said before, life sucks. It sucks and then you die. Whether it's Grimm, some fuckwad terrorist, or whatever, you die. Which is why you gotta enjoy life as much as you can before you do."
The polar opposite approach from how Miltia had treated him was interesting to say the least. Rather than trying to justify his actions with self-defense, Melanie was simply saying that people died all the time. The world was a bad place filled with bad people. If they tried to take from you, be it your property, your livelihood, or your life, then killing them was sometimes the only option. It was better them than you.
Melanie held up her glass as she spoke next. "And what better way to do that than some expensive fucking liquor?" she said before downing the last of her drink.
Jaune did the same. He may not have been getting the same pleasure out of it that she was, but it would help him forget. That in itself would allow him to feel better. At least for tonight.
Author's Note: Special thanks go out to Spiritwaker95 for helping me make this chapter better than it would have otherwise been.
Apologies for time between chapters. I wanted to get Letters to Winter finished, and so focused all of my attention on that. Oh, and the glory that is Bleiss Schnee. Who's Bleiss, you might ask? You may just find out someday.
Also, an author by the name of lightningstrxu has decided to do something really cool and wrote a short story based on this one. It's called "Take a Walk on the Mild Side", and will focus on some more relaxed and fluffy moments between Jaune and the twins. Go check it out on his author page, as well as the other RWBY stories he has written.
As always I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Questions, comments or concerns? Let me know what you thought.
Thanks for reading.