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Cover Art: Mystery White Flame

Chapter 49

Yang sat down next to Blake.

Blake shot her a warning look from one eye but Yang didn't budge. She didn't talk either, just sitting there staring ahead without a word. She thought she'd chosen her hiding spot well, but Yang somehow sniffed her out. Sighing, Blake rested her chin atop her knees.

"I don't need comforting."

"Never said you did, partner."

"You're implying it."

"You're inferring it."

Blake huffed, surprised Yang even knew the word. The little glare she received said Yang knew exactly what she was thinking. It brought a reluctant smile to her face that was washed away a few seconds later. She didn't want to feel in a good mood. Hunching her shoulders, she stared out the window over the blasted wastelands of Atlas and out towards the ocean.

"Tell me about him."

"Yang, please. Can we not do this…?"

"You look awful."

"Good! I feel awful."

"Then talk."

"I don't want to." Blake glowered at the floor between her feet. "People handle grief in different ways. Let me have mine."

"Last time I let you do things your way you started a free-for-all brawl on the docks." Yang nudged her shoulder against Blake's arm, and annoyingly enough, Blake didn't feel like telling her to get lost. She would have, if she pressed hard enough or screamed it or otherwise forced Yang out of the picture.

Blake pushed her face into her knees instead.

"Tell me about him," Yang said again.

"He… He was caring. Too caring…" Blake trailed off, waiting for the snort, surprised expression or demand to know whether they were talking about the same person. At the very least she expected an amused `I meant Adam` from her partner.

What she received was silence. Patience.

"Most people would have said otherwise," she went on, sighing. "People called him selfish, but that wasn't true. If it was, if he really only cared about himself, then the two of us would already be starting a family in Menagerie by now. We had everything we could have wanted. Sometimes I wonder what things might have been like. How happy we could have been…"

"But he cared too much?"

"Yes." Blake clenched her eyes shut. "He saw the things happening to other faunus and he couldn't ignore it. Even as a kid. He'd drag me to the protests with mom and dad and we'd both wave signs and say we were fighting the good fight. Doing the right thing. Change through peace."

"What changed?" Yang asked.

"Nothing. Nothing changed. That was the problem. Atlas continued as it always did, and actually started getting worse because we dared to complain. I remember one time they started throwing rocks at us. At children. There were Atlas soldiers all around making sure the protest didn't become violent, but they just stood there and let it happen." Blake snorted at Yang's horrified expression. "Apparently, it was only a problem if we became violent."

"Were you hit?"

"I wasn't. Adam was, blocking for me and trying to catch a stone before it hit me. It struck him right in the face. Dad dragged us away and into the crowd before any more could, but I remember holding him, crying and trying to wash the blood away. People were chanting all the while. Go home, faunus. Back to Menagerie. You're not welcome here." Her nostrils flared. "They called us animals, strays and freaks. But you know what? That didn't stop him. Adam was right back the next time, sign in hand and a plaster over his nose." Blake's laughter was brittle. "The stubborn idiot."

Yang laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Sounds like a character."

"He was. I tried to stop him and told him how scared I was. Do you know what he said?" Blake mimicked his voice. "Don't worry, Blake. I'll fight for both of us. I'll make it so we never have to be afraid again." A tear threatened to slip free. "I think that was when I fell in love with him. Or started crushing, anyway."

"Whoo. I'm not surprised. Sounding like that. Ha. I might have been swept off my feet as well. What happened to make him decide the White Fang needed to be violent?"

"The SDC." Blake glared out the window. "Atlas was bad enough, but when we started taking our protests to the SDC, things got worse. They managed to convince Atlas that disruption on dust supply was a military matter since it would impact munitions. People will say the terrorist White Fang came first, but that's a lie. Mom, Dad and Adam went with the rest to protest outside a Schnee refinery while I stayed home, still shaken and afraid of the rocks."

Yang looked resigned. "What happened?"

"The military `dispersed` them. By taking action against the military, even if mom and dad didn't realise it at the time, they'd apparently acted against Atlas. Someone called it terrorism and the SDC jumped on it, eager to paint us as enemies of the state. Suddenly, everyone was calling us a terrorist organisation. Faunus who just wanted to help out and protest with us lost their jobs, were forced out of homes or sometimes even arrested."

"That's insane…"

"I wasn't there to see it, but mom said it was a mess. They didn't open fire, but the soldiers waded in swinging. No one was a fighter there, Yang. They were just normal people. Adam was trodden in the rush and left behind. I-I didn't see him again for two weeks. I was terrified. I thought he'd died!"

"And then…?"

"He came back. Wouldn't ever say what happened, but he came back with that mark branded onto his face, burning out his eye!" Blake's lips peeled back as she snarled. "He was thirteen, Yang. Thirteen years old."

"Fucking hell. And that was when he wanted vengeance?"

"Not even then," she moaned, face in her knees. "He was broken. Terrified. I think he expected me to be disgusted but I was just so happy to see him I charged into him and cried all over his shoulder. Mom and Dad took him in. Looked after him. We spent every day together and he slowly got better. He was angry, sure, but he was always happy too – happy to be with us. With me. I was his lifeline. The only one who didn't look at him like he was hideous."

"He wasn't," Yang mumbled. "He wasn't ugly, even with that thing."

"SDC," Blake said. "It was enough. No one could look at the man who reminded them of their lesser place in the world. It was like faunus-repellent, making anyone who saw it want to look away. A-Anyway, mom and dad were beat up about what happened. Blamed themselves for all the hurt faunus, so they decided to retire the White Fang. They said if peaceful protest wasn't going to work, there was no point in keeping going."

"Can't say I blame them. I take it Adam didn't take that well?"

"No. No, he didn't. Neither did I. Doing so would have felt like letting them get away with that they did to Adam. He wanted to keep fighting. To be fair, a lot of people did. Adam didn't start the second coming of the White Fang; we were just kids swept up in it. Adam wanted to keep fighting and I wanted to be with him. The idea of violence… I don't know. Peaceful means weren't working, so… so I guess it just seemed obvious…"

Not the best idea, even now, but none of them had been in the mind to think of the consequences. They'd just wanted to make things right. If the SDC was against them and Atlas was willing to do anything and everything the SDC asked, then what else could they have done? Those were the words the old guard gave them, whipping them up into a frenzy.

"Adam didn't change straight away, even after that. He trained the hardest. Worked the hardest. No one put more effort in than him. He was going to change the world. We were going to change the world. We were going to light the fires of revolution. We spent every night huddled together talking about it until the early hours of the morning, then waking up in each other's arms."

Blake laughed awkwardly. "I'm not even sure when we became a thing. Everyone assumed we were, then we just sort of went with it. I adored him. Idolised him. And to him, I was the only person who could look at his face and not see the brand. He was a good man. He was a great man. I… I was happy to be with him, Yang. He cared so much."

"He sounds like he was a great person." Yang said it without judgment and Blake was grateful for that. Right now, with the memories so fresh, she might have struck her partner in anger had she called him a monster. "And I don't think it's hard to believe that either. I mean, it's people who care that are most likely to do things, isn't it? If he didn't care, he wouldn't have bothered with any of this. It's not like I don't lose it and act like a psycho when someone bullies Ruby. Does that make me right? Does that make me any less an idiot resorting to fists to solve problems? No. It's just that the haze descends when I see her in trouble."

"It was the same with Adam. I don't know how quickly it started. If it was the training teaching him to solve things with his sword, the sight of allies dying or just the growing disappointment when everything we did only made Atlas hate the faunus more. I don't know what did it. If I'd paid more attention, maybe I could have saved him."

The guilt gnawed at her for that. What kind of friend was she? What kind of lover? Adam had exposed himself to her and she'd missed all the signs. Had she not, life would have been so different. He might even have been with her now, on their side and a part of their team.

"Whatever it was, he changed. Or maybe I changed. I… I don't know."

Blake didn't resist when Yang's arm pulled her in. Tears bubbling forth, she pushed her face into her partner's shoulder and sobbed.

"He wasn't always a bad person!"

"I know." Yang stroked her head.

"He didn't deserve to die like that!"

"I know."

"I killed him! I… I…"

"I know," Yang said kindly, "And I think he'd rather it was you than anyone else."

Stupid thing was, she was probably right. Adam cared too much, but the one thing he'd cared about more than anything else in the world had been her. And she'd repaid that by murdering him. By abandoning him. By failing him just like Atlas had failed all of them. Worse, she couldn't regret it deep inside. Not when it had been a choice between Adam and everyone at Beacon.

He'd changed.

As had she.

But right now, gripping onto Yang, she was that stupid little girl again crying in her room while Adam boyishly told her he'd go on ahead, that she could stay back while he changed the world. And yet again, he'd gone on ahead. Gone on a journey from which he'd never return.

She'd heard it said that it was hard to remember the reasons you were angry with someone once they were gone. Now that he was, she could remember nothing but the good. The smiles, the laughter and the soft moments together. The best friend she'd lost.

Blake cried for a full hour.

/-/

Oscar saved Jaune from the women. At first, he'd thought it Ozpin, but a shy smile and a nervous blush as he excused himself by saying he felt the headmaster needed some fresh air proved otherwise. Jaune didn't complain. Partly because fresh air sounded nice, but mostly because Willow and Cinder were getting into a discussion about how the spiderweb of apparent romances around his life worked, and Glynda was about to blow a fuse.

"You saved my life," he gasped. "I'll never forget it."

Oscar laughed nervously. "You looked awkward in there, sir."

"Don't `sir` me now."

"Okay Jaune." He smiled and pushed him down the corridor. Atlas wasn't quiet, but with the Grimm approaching everyone was at specific locations going through training, strategy meetings or, in the cases of the students, evacuation drills. Not evacuation for them, but for helping the people of Atlas down below evacuate. "Ozpin wants to speak with you," Oscar said suddenly.

"Do you want him to?" Jaune asked back. "Remember, it's your body. You only need to let him have control if it's a life or death situation."

"I'm alright with it if it's just a talk."

Oscar looked more than at peace with the decision, which he hadn't been before. Nodding, Jaune watched as the boy's face slowly morphed, his innocent smile losing that edge and looking more sardonic. His eyes sharpening a little. His body leaning to the side, placing weight it really didn't need to on his cane. Old habits died hard, it seemed.

"Ozpin."

"Jaune," the immortal greeted back. "How are you feeling?"

"Spent. Confused. Funnily enough, not in pain…"

"Likely the frankly ludicrous amounts of painkillers you were hopped up on. I'm surprised you can feel anything at all." He chuckled at his own joke. Or Jaune hoped it was one. Maybe all medical professionals were certifiably insane. "As for the others, I doubt anyone can blame you. It's been a busy week."

"Busier for you than me, Oz, since I've been unconscious for half of it." Jaune glanced out over the snowy plains of Atlas and toward the Grimm horde. "Can I ask you a question? And get it answered honestly?"

Ozpin inclined his head. "By all means."

"Have I done a good job?"

"You have done a marvellous job, my boy."

"I'm serious!"

"As am I." Ozpin came up to stand beside him, which put them at a similar height even with Jaune in his wheelchair. "I won't lie and say the current situation is less than ideal, but you also need to realise that this is quite possibly the worst it has been for several generations. That you have kept Beacon standing and operating – even if clumsily – speaks well of you. I can think of few others that could accomplish such a thing."

"Glynda."

"No, I don't think she would be able to." At Jaune's stunned expression, Ozpin explained, "Glynda is a wonderful administrator and someone I would always trust to have my back, especially when it comes to paperwork. That said, she is too reliant on rules and guidelines. In peace, I could think of no one better to run Beacon, but when the world isn't playing by those same rules, her strength would become a liability." He winked cheekily. "You're welcome to not tell her I just said that, thank you very much."

"Ha. I won't." Jaune's smile wavered a little but stood firmer than it had. "I must sound like an idiot, fishing for compliments like that…"

"Everyone needs a little emotional support every now and then. I'm no exception. You've done well, Jaune. I could not have chosen my successor better."

"Even with this?" Jaune gestured to the Grimm.

"Even now. It's not like any of us could have expected the degree to which Salem would spit her dummy out. Attacking now. Really…" He sighed. "Though, to be honest, she could have done this at any time in the last few centuries. She can create and control Grimm. This is hardly your fault. In fact, I dare say this is more a result of her impatience than anything. She has always been content before to focus on acquiring the Relics and working from the shadows. While I never quite enjoyed our shadow war, it was preferable to an open one, so I never did anything to upset the balance."

"Did I upset it?"

"I don't think so. Losing Cinder is a defeat for her, but as the saying goes – there are plenty more fish in the sea. Almost half the population of Remnant, in fact, that she could draw from for a replacement. And if she were worried about you, well, that's a problem easily solved. Isn't it? Wait fifty, sixty, maybe eighty years, and the issue resolves itself. No. I think that if anything, this is my fault. I am in a weaker body. I am vulnerable. As is Mistral thanks to the work of Leonardo. It's simply that the stars have aligned unto a moment where she has the advantage, and she intends to press it. You, and Beacon in general, have precious little to do with our current problems."

The White Fang might also have played a part in that, he realised. Mistral's huntsmen forces were weakened, Ozpin was less capable than ever and the White Fang had driven a wedge between Kingdoms, and even damaged dust production. That wouldn't last and Atlas still had plenty of stored munitions, but with everything combined it was just a convenient time for an attack.

For her, obviously. Less so for them.

"It's just bad timing, then?"

"Bad timing or her plans working out. Salem did influence both Leonardo and the White Fang." Ozpin sighed. "If anything, the fault lies firmly with me. I missed Cinder and allowed myself to be killed. I trusted Leonardo and he betrayed me. I also allowed Amber to roam freely and she paid the price for it. Had I stepped in sooner, I might even have been able to pressure James into pushing back against Jacques and preventing the rise of the White Fang."

"Why didn't you?"

"It was so long ago and so soon after I'd become headmaster of Beacon. It doesn't excuse me but I was distracted with the Raven at the time, and then Summer's death. Even if I hadn't been, I'm not sure I could have predicted just how poorly the White Fang's peaceful protests would go. If anything, I was in support of them and thought the issue being handled. I am not omniscient."

"Sorry. We shouldn't be thinking about the past anyway."

"You're right," Ozpin agreed. "It's time to plan for the future."

"Do you have a plan?" Jaune asked.

"No." Ozpin glanced at him. "Do you?"

"No…"

"Ah." Slowly, Ozpin closed his eyes. "Well, that's unfortunate."

"You're the headmaster of Beacon," Jaune accused.

"As are you."

Shit. He was right. Having the position didn't magically give him any ideas how to handle this, but then it wouldn't for Ozpin either. They were both only humans, no matter what standards other people held them to.

"Fight the Grimm?" Jaune offered.

"Eh. It's as good a plan as any. Likely the only one we have. James will come up with better; this is his speciality, not ours. With any luck – or a lack of it – Qrow will come through and somehow manage to stumble on a way to acquire Raven's assistance."

"From everything I've heard, she won't join in the fight."

"That is fine. Her true strength, or at least her true value, has never been in pure combat ability. Skilled or not, she's but one woman. With the use of her Semblance, however, she can become an entire flotilla of Bullheads moving personnel across the world. It's really quite ridiculous."

"How did she get such a good one when Qrow got his?"

"Bad luck can be immensely powerful in its own right, Jaune." He nodded to the stitches in his stomach. "You've already felt the effect of its counterpart."

"Yeah. I need to thank Clover for that."

If Raven could open a portal, they could get reinforcements from Beacon. He wasn't sure how much of a difference that would make, but right now he'd enjoy having Neo and Roman around to bounce ideas off.

"Can we count on reinforcements from Mistral?"

"Doubtful. What with huntsman numbers having dwindled thanks to Leonardo. This will be a matter for Atlas and Vale. I doubt we have any other allies."

"Actually," Jaune said. "We do have one more. If she can pull off a miracle."

/-/

On the other side of the world, a `shark faunus` suddenly knew that Jaune had called her out and what he expected of her. Said `shark faunus` pinched the bridge of her nose, slammed the can of soda down and groaned into her hand.

"How obnoxious of you. Really, I'm supposed to aid you, not do all your work for you."

Aid humanity. Humanity would be pretty `un-aided` if they were wiped out by the Grimm. Jinn didn't need the capability to see the future to guess as to that one. Call it a freebie. Sighing a second time, she stood and power-walked through the Belladonna manor, past several guards and helpers who shot her odd looks.

It was the blue skin, she supposed. No, wait. She knew their thoughts. It was how she was wearing barely anything other than golden bangles. A naturalist? Oh, please. She didn't have reproductive organs. She was literally a being of purified god-stuff. Her skin was clothing. Clothing that just so happened to be shaped like a voluptuous female for a reason she didn't quite know, but which certainly painted the God of Light in a strange way.

Why would a God design her to be so sexy? Who knew? For once, not her. It was actually quite pleasant to not know something.

Walking into the quarters she knew Ghira to be in, Jinn ignored his confused question as to why she was breaking into his room so early in the morning. She couldn't exactly answer it anyway. She also ignored his rather panicked thoughts about what Kali would say, picked up his TV remote and flopped down on the sofa at the foot of his bed.

"Oh my," she said loudly. "I feel like watching TV all of a sudden."

"Miss Jinn, there are TVs in other rooms-"

"Oh wow, look. It's the news!"

The newscaster was talking hurriedly about the impending invasion in Atlas. By now, it had reached every Kingdom and what huntsman that could were marshalling for the long journey. Though Ozpin and Jaune would not know it, there were many brave souls willing to travel to Atlas to protect complete strangers.

Images on the screen flashed over the Grimm horde, Atlas, General Ironwood and then also briefly mentioned their `guests` who would be fighting alongside them, reinforcing the alliance between Vale and Atlas.

"Hey look," Jinn said, bored. "Isn't that your daughter?"

Cursing, Ghira stumbled out of bed and into a bathrobe. His feet pounded to the door.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Why ask what you already know the answer to!?" The door slammed and he charged away, headed to the comms to prepare what reinforcements Menagerie could provide. Apparently, he didn't think it would be much at all, but he was determined to hold a speech to try and drum up support.

Jinn clapped her hands and turned the TV off, leaned back in the sofa and sighed.

"Well, I've never had this happen before…"

A knife touched her throat.

"Come with-"

"Yeah. Sure. I surrender. Take me to the Albain brothers."

The White Fang agent who had disguised himself among Ghira's staff – a longstanding traitor who had, for the last half a year, been spying on the family – froze. He looked down to the knife, Jinn and then around, half-expecting an ambush. She could have told him there wasn't one, but only after he figured it out himself.

"Really, Maple, it's fine. I surrender."

"H – How do you know my name?"

"The same way I know you have a saucy picture of Kali Belladonna in your wallet. Can I just say that, all horror of you perving on her aside, I'm actually relieved you're not another person lusting after the younger model? I mean really, does everyone below the age of thirty in Menagerie want Blake?"

"I… I… But…"

"Yes, yes, you have me caught. I'm helpless." Jinn rolled her eyes. "I get it, but you can't slit my throat since the Albain duo want to talk to me. Can we get this over with? Your getaway vehicle is already waiting outside."

"B-But you're my prisoner."

Jinn sighed. "Am I debating this?"

"No." Maple looked down sorrowfully. "That's what confuses me…"

Brothers. This whole trip to Menagerie was a mess. She couldn't even get kidnapped properly here. Ah, but she'd seen this coming of course. Not because she could see the future – she couldn't – but because the Albain brothers had decided on this course of action a day and a half ago, soon after Adam's death, and she'd known the second they gave the order.

Really, why it took Maple so long to make a move, she didn't know.

Or she did, but she really wished she didn't.

"No, I'm not naked. Yes, you're a creep. Can we hurry this up?"

"Don't resist!" he snarled in an attempt to regain the initiative. "I may not be able to kill you, but I can cripple you for life."

He couldn't do either, but Jinn didn't bother pointing that out. If anything, she was curious to see where this would lead.

/-/

The answer to that, it appeared, was a cell. Jinn didn't bother testing the knot binding her wrists behind the chair she was sat on. The knot was a cleat hitch, a sailor's knot, and not exactly the best for tying a prisoner down, but the person behind it was a fisherman and really, the bars on her cell were the main deterrent to an escape anyway. And the two armed faunus outside with automatic weapons.

The chair itself was rather nice. It had been Sienna's. Not the throne, but a small chair she kept by a dresser for when she needed to apply the metric tonne of hair gel that kept her bangs as they were meant to be.

Jinn had been locked in the cell and tied to the chair for twenty-five minutes now. She knew it was so let her stew and become suitably intimidated, and that Fennec and Corsac would be down in five – no, they'd just checked her on a camera in the top left corner of the cell and, seeing she wasn't falling apart, had decided to come sooner.

Hm. Apparently, the loss of Adam has them all jittery.

Adorable.

The door on the other side of the bars slammed open. The guards jumped but Jinn didn't. Two faunus in red and white robes stormed in, flanked by two more guards who flanked out and took a position by the entrance, leaving four between her and escape. Well, escape to the upper level where another thirty or so were in various states of readiness.

"So, we meet at last," Fennec said, standing on the other side of the bars. "Jinn, is it? Did you really think you could infiltrate Menagerie, join with Ghira Belladonna and plot against us without being noticed?"

"No. Not really."

Fennec stood speechless.

"A brave face," Corsac said, interrupting. "I am-"

"Corsac Albain. And he's Fennec. Yes, I know." Jinn rolled her eyes. "And the others are Maple, Verd, Cream and Bob. Really? Bob? How is that a colour-? Oh wait." Jinn snickered and the guard in question flushed.

"Silence!" Fennec roared. He unlocked the prison door and stepped through, his brother beside him. "You are here to answer our questions, not to ask them." His hands slammed down on her shoulders and he pushed his face in close to hers. "We ask. You answer. Am I understood?"

"Wait. I'm being interrogated?"

He smiled cruelly. "Yes."

"Oh dear."

"Afraid?"

"No." Jinn replied honestly. "I'm just thinking how awkward this is going to be…"

"First question. Who sent you?"

"I can't answer that question."

"Wrong!" Fennec shook her shoulders, ripping her chair to the side and almost spilling her to the floor. Jinn didn't flinch, mainly because Fennec caught her before she hit – and he'd fully planned to since he was worried he'd knock her out and thus prevent her answering any more questions. Seeing as she knew that, she couldn't feel any fear.

When he rocked the chair back up, he appeared – and was – startled by her flat, bored, expression.

"You will answer my questions!"

"I won't," Jinn replied. "Not this century at least…"

Fennec sneered and drew back, rolling his sleeve up his arm. His knuckles cracked and his intent was clear, especially to her. Jinn watched the man prepared to commit torture and wished she could tell him that she lacked nerve endings, organs or well, anything to harm. Sadly, he didn't know that, so the knowledge was lost to him.

Well, this is going to be interesting if nothing else.

The fist struck her chin and snapped her head to the side. Jinn slowly brought it back, one eyebrow raised. Growling, he backhanded her the other way, striking her face with a loud crack. He stepped back, grinning with pinched eyes.

That hurt him more than it did her.

"You're really on edge since Adam died, aren't you?"

"I'm the one who asks the questions!" he screamed, hitting her again, this time in the stomach.

Jinn tried her hardest not to yawn, she really did, but she'd not had all that much sleep since Ghira and Kali had been indulging in phone sex – Kali being super excited since hearing about Blake's make-believe baby – and Jinn, even though she hadn't been listening in on purpose, had been forced to know every little thing those two did. They really were a kinky pair.

"ANSWER ME!" Fennec howled, raining blows down on her face and shoulders.

Maybe she should allow the misconception to continue because of that. It would be amusing to see Jaune and Blake try to explain it away, and it wasn't like she could be blamed since she couldn't inform Kali it was a ruse anyway.

"WHO SENT YOU!? WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE HERE!?"

Kali would be mad, though, and she was smart. Knowing that Jinn was forced to know everything that happened, she might be sneaky enough to get revenge by upping the ante and getting even kinkier – if such a thing was humanly possible – with her husband.

That woman was scary. Even to a Relic like her.

"STOP IGNORING ME!"

Well, it probably wouldn't matter. As long as it wasn't traced back to her, and in the end, it wasn't like it had been her idea for Blake to say that. Rather fun, though. She'd received first-hand knowledge of everyone on Remnant's reaction. Jinn tittered at the memory.

A chair exploded over her head, sending splinters flying everywhere.

"Wasn't that Adam's throne?" Jinn asked distractedly.

Fennec heaved and panted, knelt on the floor with the remains of an armrest clutched between his fingers. Sweat poured off him and his eyes were wide, staring up at her with so much hatred. Jinn blinked and cocked her head to the side.

"Oh. You're out of steam already? Wow. That's kind of unimpressive…"

"W-What are you!?" he gasped. "What the hell are you?"

The truth, she couldn't say, nor could she reveal knowledge they didn't already have – but technically speaking, they all believed a single piece already, so she could say it, even if it was false. It wouldn't reveal anything new and was so spared from the God of Light's rules. Her grin grew, showing teeth.

"I'm a shark, doo doo de doo de doo. I'm a shark, do doo de doo de doo~"

"RARGHHHH!" The butt of a rifle stolen from Maple smacked into her jaw, cutting off her annoying tune halfway through. Driven by fury and a very real fear that without Adam to protect them, his life might soon be in danger, Fennec reversed the weapon and aimed it at her chest. Corsac lunged forward to try and stop him. "DIE!" Fennec roared, squeezing the trigger.

Three dust rounds struck Jinn's chest, rocking her in her bindings and kicking her and the chair back, smashing her down to the floor and sending her skidding back from the force alone. Corsac struck his brother a second later, ripping the weapon from his hands and knocking him back.

"You idiot!" Corsac hissed. "What good is she to us dead? The White Fang is in shambles! Adam is gone! We need proper leadership, not this. Get your head in the game, brother."

"I… I know." Fennec swallowed, ashamed. "I'm sorry. I let an ugly side of myself show."

"Make sure it doesn't happen again." Corsac swore under his breath. "Maple, Verd, dispose of the body-"

"Things are really looking back now that Adam is gone, aren't they?"

The White Fang froze, jaws hanging open as Jinn wormed her legs and hands free of the now shattered chair, slipping off the knot by easily exploiting its weaknesses and standing. She dusted herself down, causing three flattened lumps of metal to tinkle down from her bosom. There wasn't a mark on her, not from the bullets or the numerous blunt impacts.

"Sienna did a decent job holding everything together but she had to go – or so you thought. You replaced her with Adam, but now he's dead as well, and while he struck a good blow against the SDC, he died taking hostages. Not a good look and you're all aware of that. You're also aware that Adam took the best of the White Fang with him, leaving you all with a significant lack of man and firepower. It's making you nervous, isn't it? Suddenly being so weak that you can't even hold onto what you own."

"You- W-What are you?"

"I'm Jinn." Knowledge filtered into her and she blinked, then giggled. "Hey. I'm working on a crossword. What's a five-letter word for the complete and utter demise of the White Fang?"

The Albain brothers stared at her.

Up above, gunfire suddenly echoed from the White Fang's Menagerie base of operations, the last bastion of the organisation. Everyone but Jinn flinched, looking up in shock and fear. In answer, a furious and deep roar sounded from a certain man's throat.

Corsac paled. "Ghira…"

Jinn clicked her fingers, smiling widely. "That fits."

Poor Albain brothers. You tried to re-enact Season 4's shenanigans but instead of sending grumpycat . jpg and bestbro4life, they sent an invincible spirit of knowledge with no ability to be outsmarted or harmed. The good guys really aren't playing fair, are they?

Seriously, though. I kind of liked Sun more than I did Nora and Ren by the end. Not because Nora and Ren were uninteresting people per se, but because it felt like they didn't have as much character development in the whole show as Sun did. They pretty much stayed the same as they always had by the end of Season 4-5, while Sun bent over backwards to be emotional support to Blake and grew as a character. I hope he wins big in the end, even if it isn't necessarily with Blake.

Hint. Hint. Weiss x Sun. You know you want it.

Omake:

"Welcome to Channel 4 Atlas News and that was the update on the Grimm threat. Now, onto brighter news, we're today continuing our story from last week – the love life of Headmaster Jaune Arc."

The audience clapped as a large white board on wheels was rolled forward, taking the empty space before the host. On it, Jaune's face sat in the centre of a long web of connected lines drawn in marker, connecting him to a host of images around the outer edge.

"Now, we have a special guest today, ladies and gentlemen. An expert on all things love, and on Jaune Arc himself. I'd like to welcome Cinder Faaaallll!"

The camera panned to the backdrop, where a woman strode out with one hand raised in greeting. Her red dress swayed as she strode past the cheering crowd, smiling and bowing her head before taking a seat opposite the host and on the other side of the whiteboard.

"Now, Miss Cinder. Thank you for coming by the way."

"No problem, Kenneth. Thank you for having me."

"You're a part of Beacon yourself and one-time enemy, potentially now personal squeeze of the headmaster himself. Is that right?"

Cinder smiled and coyly covered her mouth with one hand, turning away shyly. "Well, I really can't confirm anything." To the camera, she winked saucily. "But yes."

"I see. I see." Kenneth smiled and did his own wink, very exaggerated, to the audience. "Well, is it right to say you know the headmaster on a very close level?"

"No one understands his genius better than I."

"So, you'd say you're very close to him? A trusted member of his group?"

"Certainly. He trusts me with plans and schemes he does few others. If there's anyone in Remnant fit to comment on him, it is myself."

"Excellent. So, Cinder, can you offer any further insight on his complicated love life?"

"Of course." Cinder rose and made her way to the board, smiling the whole time. She took a position to the side of it, the better to let the cameras see what changes she made. "Now the first thing," she said, taking a photo of a certain middle-aged professor, "Is to take this one and toss it right out."

Glynda's photo bounced off the camera.

"Too old, too stuffy and certainly no good in bed. Now, where is mine? Ah yes." Cinder moved her own right next to Jaune's face. "More his age, passionate and well…" She winked again. "Let's just say there haven't been any complaints yet."

"Ooooh," the crowd echoed.

"Oh my." Kenneth fake-fanned himself. "Is it getting hot in here, ladies and gentlemen, or is it just me? What about Blake Belladonna? We've heard she's carrying the headmaster's baby. Is there any truth to that rumour?"

"Oh, certainly." Cinder took Blake's picture and slapped it below her and Jaune. "But it should be noted that rather than being a member of Jaune's harem, she is actually a part of mine."

"Your harem?"

"That's right. It's harem-on-harem combat, I'm afraid." Making a few other swift changes soon had Yang, Ruby and Neo stacked below Jaune's photo, while Cinder had Sienna, Blake and Willow beneath her own. "The stakes are even so far, but it's ever a challenge. Marital Kombat, one might call it. There are other wild cards, of course." Coco Adel took her place in the corner, along with Velvet. "If those two aren't banging, I'll eat my shoes." Cardin got tossed up there. "He's either the luckiest man alive or the biggest sub. I'm not willing to bet on which."

"And the apparent student counsellor who is bright blue and wears no clothes?"

"Jinn? Oh, she's just fanservice." Cinder put Jinn's photo to the side and drew about ten cartoon faces around it, all with hearts for eyes. "Now, the one you really need to keep an eye on is this one."

Weiss' image was circled.

"Not belonging to either camp but having the weight of being the heiress of the SDC gives her a lot of influence. I'm currently working on seducing her, but it's hard going. I've angled myself at the mother instead. She has the potential to unbalance the scales either way." Cinder tapped the equal forces of her harem and Jaune's for emphasis. "Should that happen, the fallout that would occur could shake Beacon to its very core."

"How violent do you think it might be?" the host asked.

"Very rough. NC-17 at the least. Plenty of hair pulling and spanking."

"I see." The host nodded, a thin trail of blood leaking from his nose. "It certainly sounds like things are getting hot – I mean heated – in Beacon. How do you see your chances, Cinder?"

"Fairly good. Either Jaune shall win and dominate me or I shall win and dominate him." Her eyes sparkled. "Either outcome will be acceptable. Should it be the latter, I may also claim Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren as concubines."

Kenneth blinked. "Isn't Lie Ren a man?"

"Is he!?" Cinder asked, visibly startled. "That's the first I've heard of it."

"Well, it's hard to say." The host shrugged. "There is one question I had, though. A wild card that we're not sure what to deal with." He held out an envelope. Cinder took it cautiously, opened it and looked at the photo drawn forth.

Inspecting it for a second, she nodded once and stuck Kali Belladonna's photo to the board.

"She just wants babies."

"Jaune's?"

"Anyone's. Kali cares not from whence the babies flow, only that they do. Ideally, she'd prefer Blake to have a few hundred, but I think she'll be forcing herself as grandma to any born within a five-mile radius. In the end it doesn't -erk!"

Cinder cut off as her arms and legs locked together, dropping her like a felled tree. Glynda Goodwitch stalked onto set, crop in hand, and levitated her into the air. Before the audience, she was escorted away, past headmaster Jaune Arc himself who walked forward with shadowed eyes.

"It's the man himself. Maybe he can shed some – w – wait, excuse me. What are you doing?"

Jaune gently pushed the man away and drew Crocea Mors, taking it to the whiteboard and hacking it down with a vengeance. Ancestral steel swung time and time again, reducing it and the images on it to a pile of paper, ink and plastic on the floor. Then, he drew a lighter, lit it and tossed it onto the remains, watching it burn merrily.

Without a word, he turned to the host, smiled once, and then departed.

"W-Well, that's all we have time for here on Channel 4 Atlas." Kenneth raised his voice over the sound of the fire alarm. "Tune in tomorrow, folks, where we'll be covering the love life of students, and what comes first - the debauchery, or the Beacon."

Cinder can't help stirring the pot as usual.

Poor Jaune and his complicated love life. Poor Ren. In the end, we all just want to be Cardin.

Next Chapter: 5th March

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