Notice:

There will be no updates from 13th – 19th June inclusive of both days. I'm away at an expo and stuck going out with clients pretty much every night. Going to be exhausted, overworked and drunk or hungover whenever I'm not. I'll be back 20th June to write as normal.

That means next update will be three weeks.

Cover Art: Serox

Chapter 63

Jaune woke at the crack of five and was left wondering why the sun was going down instead of up. The little "pm" beside the number five explained it with a little added shock. Had he really slept through the night and most of the following day? Apparently so. Despite the almost sixteen-hour nap, his body felt tired and he yawned loudly, fighting the urge to crawl back into the warm spot he'd left on the mattress. It was a losing battle, but wakefulness received reinforcements in the form of Sienna letting herself through the door.

The tigress was dressed, of all things, in a Beacon uniform, and Jaune hadn't ever realised he had a schoolgirl fetish until he saw her long, toned dark thighs beneath an indecently short skirt. Better yet, the white blouse she wore did a good job hiding her body from him but not her stripes, which were so dark they showed through the thin material like a black bra might have.

Far from be upset or annoyed at him, Sienna turned sideways and linked her hands behind her head, puffing her chest out proudly. "Enjoying the view?"

"Very much so."

"Good." The woman paced forward and dropped onto all fours, padding over the sheets toward him with a predatory air. Jaune sucked in a breath and sat frozen, afraid that if he moved, he might somehow ruin the moment. The older woman's piercing eyes roved over him, her lips curling seductively. "Maybe I'll let you see a little more." Her fingers came up and tweaked his nose suddenly. "Later. If you're good." She chuckled at his forlorn expression and wheeled her legs back off the bed. "The lazy bird who sleeps all day certainly does not catch the worm. Nor does the person who makes their partner do all the work catch a break."

"Ah." Beacon, the White Fang and the fallout. "I guess you've been busy."

"That's an understatement and a half."

"Sorry."

"I'm teasing you. You were kidnapped and nearly killed. A little rest isn't too much to ask." Her smile returned and she pushed up off the bed, rummaged through some clothes and tossed him a pair of trousers and a white shirt. Another school uniform. "Ozpin is lending us these for now. There hasn't really been time to go shopping in the city, not with what's going on."

"What is going on? The battle is over, right? Things should be better."

"They are better. Much better. Of course, `better` is relative when the whole city was under attack yesterday. Things still aren't back to normal."

"Fill me in."

"Cinder was captured and her little minions as well – you know that much. Emerald refused to abandon Cinder, but Mercury rolled so hard he might as well be an armadillo faunus. It turns out Cinder was responsible for your near assassination by Atlas. Emerald used her Semblance to mimic orders given to an Atlas sniper. The testimony is being used to clear his name along with Ironwood's."

"He must be happy about that."

"I wouldn't know as he hasn't thanked us."

"Really?"

"Ozpin did in his place. As did a few of the teachers here and even the leader of the Ace-Ops." Sienna shrugged one shoulder and took a seat, boldly making it clear she wasn't going to look away as he got changed. It was strange getting dressed in front of her. There was a little embarrassment, but more than that there was a raw, fiery feeling inside him that was made all the hotter by Sienna's predatory eyes. "It's bad optics for an official of Atlas to thank terrorists publicly. He might do so in private or just trust that we know he's thankful. You can't expect Atlas to change overnight. Nor Vale."

"Council still a problem?"

"Naturally. You'd think us saving Beacon would clear us of any suspicion, and it has in most camps. Alas, their careers depend on proving us wrong now. They've dug their graves and have to either climb out or be buried in them."

"So, what you're saying is that even though they know we're innocent, they're going to try and convict us just to keep their positions." At Sienna's nod, he sighed. "To hell with politics. It's just too pathetic."

"Old fossils clinging to power usually is. I doubt we'll have to worry about them for much longer. They lost too much reputation when they fled Amity on private flights and left their citizens behind. They're trying to claim it's necessary for leadership to be safe and in a position to make important decisions to save lives but… well, it's not flying even if it probably is true. Rose and her team singlehandedly stayed behind to look after all the people on Amity and keep them in order. If it were anyone else, it wouldn't be a problem, but it's their political rivals who stayed to protect the people and quite frankly that's going to win them the election no matter what."

"Good. They deserve it."

"Do they?" Sienna asked. "I don't disagree that I'd rather have them in power than the current incumbent, and they certainly saved lives, but quick thinking in a crisis does not the qualifications to run a city provide. Believe me, I know that from running Menagerie. Sadly, that's the downsides of democracy, I guess. You get the freedom to elect your leaders and the accountability for those in power, but sometimes you vote for someone popular and they turn out to be terrible at the job."

Jaune paused while adjusting his tie. "That's a little cynical."

"It's realistic. And I'm not saying it's wrong or tha they'll hurt the city, just that every system has its ups and downs. Heaven knows, if the White Fang were a democracy than Adam would have been in charge over me, and we'd have killed ourselves attacking Beacon or some nonsense like that."

"She isn't wrong," Adam said. "I would have been a poor choice."

"Does that make you a dictator?"

Sienna scoffed. "More a despot. Though given I've surrendered much of my power to you based on your track record, I'd prefer to say we're a meritocracy. Those that deserve to lead and show capability receive it. Team RWBY running Vale… well, it'll go wrong at first. They're just too inexperienced. If they learn quickly and accept aid from those more experienced, however, I'm sure they can bring the city around. It's not in an economic crisis or a recession or anything, so aside from the rebuilding effort here it shouldn't be too much of a challenge for them." Her smile dimmed. "The question is more about what damage can be done to us before the transition."

That was a fair point. The Council might not have trust enough to rally people against them, but they were desperate and in a bad position – and frankly, they might realise they were doomed and just try to take Jaune down with them. There would be supporters for that as well. Some would be racist, and some would just fully believe the Council, or they'd think it too unlikely that Cinder had done all the bombing on Amity. There was just no convincing everyone.

I really thought it would end with Cinder.

"A romantic ideal." Adam said. "But if we could win equality and peace for all faunus from one battle, we would have done so years ago. It will take a long time to truly change people's minds. Perhaps longer than a single lifespan."

That was an unhappy thought. He – they – had done so much, and it felt so unfair to realise now that they'd likely never see the fruits of their labour. He wasn't even a faunus but after all the work he'd put in, he wanted to see this through.

"It's enough that you try to make what changes you can. If you can, then I'm starting to believe other humans can as well. If the groundwork is set, faunus may yet see a future brighter than the one I was offered. Does it matter if you're not there to see it? Does it matter that I am dead now, and did not live to see this? As long as we know it will happen, that ought to be enough."

Yes. Adam was right. You couldn't build a kingdom in a day, and you couldn't change everyone's minds just because you did one good deed. Or even fifty. Ozpin had faith in them; Team RWBY believed in them; others did as well on 4-Fang and beyond. It was proof they were on the right track, even if it was slow, tiresome work.

"Right." Jaune stood. "Shall we go see Ozpin and get an update, then?"

/-/

Ozpin looked like a man who had been dragged through six hedges, a meatgrinder and an argument with a group of old grannies by his feet. He had that worn `bring me coffee or bring me death` look, and it didn't get any brighter on seeing Sienna approach. It did lighten a little on seeing who she came with, however.

"Ah. Mr Arc. You're awake. The White Fang will be pleased to hear that. Perhaps pleased enough to stop bothering the faculty every hour to ask."

Jaune laughed. "I'm sorry if they've been wearing you down."

"Oh, this? No, no. It's annoying but practically a relief at this point when they come by. No. It's the Council that are doing this to me. Them and the more old-fashioned media outlets demanding I explain why I am taking the law into my own hand and harbouring terrorists."

"I thought you said Beacon was independent in times of crisis."

"It is, and I am well within my legal rights here – that's why the Council hasn't pushed it or sent someone to try and arrest me." Jaune noticed the try and wondered just how done with it all the man really was. "But you can't explain that to people who won't listen, and they won't air anything that doesn't fit their narrative. You know how it is."

"We have people like that in the White Fang as well." Sienna said. "Puritans. Racists the other way around. I try not to pay any attention to them."

"There's no pleasing everyone." Ozpin agreed. "However, I am done trying to please them entirely. They've shown themselves much too inattentive and not at all fit for office. Honestly, if I wasn't sure it would make things worse, I'd go oust them myself. I expect more than half the huntsmen in Vale would support me if I tried. Sadly, the city is still reeling and we need unity now more than ever. Usurping power for myself isn't going to sell people on trusting my word."

"Yeah." Jaune agreed. "That sounds a little… extreme."

"You haven't heard the Council's ideas," Ozpin muttered. "And quite frankly, I'll spare you the details. Suffice to say, you're still welcome in Beacon and I strongly suggest you all stay in Beacon for the time being. Step foot in the city and you will either be arrested or escorted back to Beacon depending on whether police loyal to the Council or against them find you first. I dread to imagine what would happen if both found you. It might break into open warfare."

"It's that bad?" Jaune asked.

"It really is. There are three camps currently. Those that believe the evidence and trust that Cinder was responsible for the bombing, those that cling to the false narrative that it was the White Fang, and those that either do not care or are undecided. The two extremes are at one another's throats. You even have supporters in office."

"Real supporters or people jumping ship to save their careers?" Sienna prodded.

"Almost certainly both. Does it matter? Any support is good for you right now. Lisa Lavender is leading the charge of positive relations on your part-" Good to know she was still loyal, or saw his story as too important to abandon, "-and she has a lot of sway. It helps that she is reinforcing fact and not making things up like some are. Sadly, there are still a lot of people who simply despise faunus either for what happened in the war, people they lost to the White Fang or for their own personal reasons. They feel threatened and isolated, suddenly cast as the bad guys, and that's making them defensive and angry. They're siding with the Council on principle alone, and I'm sorry to say a lot of old and very influential people are with them. Old money, as it were. That's being thrown around to cast your name in doubt and call for you to serve the time you were sentenced with in court."

"Jaune isn't going to prison after he bailed Beacon out." Sienna said. "I don't care if it's the right thing to do or if it will calm the city down. I just got him back after Cinder tried to kill him. I am not letting anyone take him away."

He nodded. It might be the right thing to do given he was fairly convicted, but at the same time he could see it was just another way to weaken the White Fang. If he was gone, Sienna might not be able to stop people getting angry and calling for vengeance on Vale. They'd claim the city had shown they wouldn't change, and they'd be right to say it. Something had to give. This time, it wasn't going to be him.

"I let myself be sentenced before." Jaune said. "It didn't fix anything. In fact, it made things worse."

"I agree." Ozpin said. "Protests and riots would break out and they'd fly into a frenzy. There are just too many people invested in this now and everyone would be able to see it as the last dying breath of a Council who despises you. I already said the city needs unity. Arresting you and sending every faunus in Vale into a frenzy is not that."

"What then?" Jaune asked. "Do you have a plan?"

"I have the beginnings of one. It depends on a lot of things, not least of all James' cooperation. He's returning to Vale, to Beacon specifically, and I do believe he'll be open to assisting you as thanks for clearing his name."

"You sure about that?" Sienna said.

"He will be." Ozpin stressed. Jaune got the impression that this was an issue Ozpin was going to be quite forceful on. "I can't speak on it now, I'm afraid. If it's found out that you knew in advance people would claim you were involved. It will be better if you feign ignorance on this one. That doesn't mean you have to be idle, though. Feel free to roam the grounds, interact with people and even the media if you wish it. Just be careful. Your words can and will be used against you if you say something wrong."

"Don't worry." Jaune said. "I have a good idea who I want to interview me."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "She's one of yours, isn't she?"

"Ozpin." Jaune smiled. "It'd be better if you feigned ignorance on this one."

The man shook his head and muttered about he'd known Lisa was suddenly too pro-faunus and too quick to get every story and scoop on the White Fang. He was grumbling about it even as he walked away. Sienna nudged Jaune's arm once the headmaster had gone and said, "He's a good ally to have. We would have been ruined without him."

"I know. I think he wants what's best for the faunus too."

"If we can show more humans like him and Rose to the puritans back home, we might be able to change their minds as well. It's something we'll have to handle sooner or later. It would be a disaster if we achieved peace with the humans only for our own people to attack them and start the conflict all over again."

Yes, they'd have to be dealt with in time. We, he noticed. We will have to deal with them. Given that Sienna knew much more about the White Fang and Menagerie than he did, he could see the logic there. For once, he'd be able to rely on someone else's expertise and let them make the decisions. It sounded great.

/-/

"Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Jaune and Sienna," Lisa said softly and kindly. The woman who had agreed to work with them to further her own career certainly looked like she'd struck gold now. Her dress was a light green and obviously expensive, and she was sat on a chair with one leg crossed over the other while Jaune and Sienna sat side by side in two similar chairs a little over.

Opposite them, a frankly monstrous crew of cameras, sound technicians and other things he just didn't know about had turned one of Ozpin's classrooms into a mini theatre. It was like being a guest at a talk show without an audience. That was the vibe Lisa had said she was going for, and the fact she could command a full forty-minute block at primetime in a single day all but confirmed she'd risen from news anchor to star.

"Thanks for having us, Lisa." Sienna returned.

"You've only just woken up, I understand," Lisa said to him, "so why don't we let Sienna tell us exactly what happened after your kidnapping by Cinder Fall during the prisoner transport. I'm sure our viewers are dying to know the true story."

They'd been briefed on what was going to happen, the questions and even on what kinds of answers they should give. Lisa was a show-woman and wanted this to be another big smash hit, which meant she'd coached them on how to act. Included in that was Jaune's right hand being clasped tight by Sienna's with their fingers interlocking. Part of Lisa's advice was to sell the romantic aspect of their relationship and reach out with a love story.

"-I thought I'd lost him forever." Sienna said, her voice cracking. He wasn't sure if she was acting anymore. "It was one thing to watch him be sentenced and know I'd not be able to visit him. I accepted it as his choice. I knew he was doing it because he wanted to send a message and show the world how unfair the system is, and that springing him out the prisoner transport would ruin that. It was unbelievably painful. I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do but watch, trust him and hurt."

"That must have been awful. I imagine it didn't get any better when the transport was attacked."

"I was horrified. At first even I believed the official story – I thought someone might have done it behind our backs and without our say-so. But after asking around it became clear that wasn't the case, and then the terror set in. I didn't know if Jaune was alive or dead. You can't understand how painful the uncertainty is without experiencing it yourself. I couldn't sleep; I couldn't think; every day I spent combing the city for him or those responsible for framing us. I needed answers. When I got them…" Sienna shook her head angrily. "I wasn't thinking straight, and I charged right in. If Jaune hadn't nearly escaped on his own, I would have died. Worse, I'd have gotten him killed and granted Cinder her free attack on Amity."

That felt too real to just be acting and Jaune squeezed her hand. He felt her cling back.

"That was when you escaped the attempt on your life in Vale. Is that right, Jaune?"

His turn. "Escaped is a strong term. I was actually aided by Roman Torchwick of all people. He wanted to escape Cinder, but she had his life in her hand. He slipped me a knife to help me, and we wouldn't be here talking if it wasn't for him." Jaune looked to the camera. "If you're out there, Roman, I owe you my life."

"Aided by another criminal. Is there honour among thieves?"

The question might have been offensive if she hadn't prepped him in advance. "I don't know if honour factors into it so much as no one wanting to cause as much chaos as she did. Her goal was the complete destabilisation and possibly destruction of the city. Torchwick is a thief, not a mass-murderer. He wasn't prepared to have that much blood on his hands."

"Couldn't he have gone to the authorities?"

"I can only assume he didn't trust them or believe they could stop her." Jaune said. "Or that he thought I had a better chance. I'm not sure if that's because of the White Fang's success in stopping criminals in the past, or because he knew Cinder was afraid of me. Either way, he chose me, and I like to think I didn't let him or Vale down."

"You certainly did not. Warnings granted to Amity in time to prevent a tragedy and an armada of White Fang sent to assist and liberate Beacon's students. What's more, I hear you were instrumental in taking down Cinder Fall."

"Instrumental is a strong way of putting it." Jaune said with a laugh. "Headmaster Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch and the Ace-Ops from Atlas did far more work than I did. And then the students and the White Fang stopped her when she tried to escape. I'd just come from nearly being killed so I wasn't much of a combatant at that point. I was mostly keeping her distracted and trying not to get killed."

"You did aid Beacon's students in capturing her accomplices, I hear."

"Okay. I can claim a little credit for that." It was mostly Adam's work in reality, but Adam was only too happy to give up the credit if it advanced the cause. "Though I wouldn't have been able to without the help of a team from Beacon. The next generation of huntsmen coming out of here is going to be really strong. Vale has a bright future ahead of it."

Planned transition. Lisa smiled. "It's funny you should say that. One team from Beacon, Team RWBY, went above and beyond on Amity by staying behind to calm down the frightened civilians and keep them entertained until they could be safely evacuated. According to Atlas forces on the scene, without their intervention there would have been significant loss of life. What do you think of that?"

"I've worked with Team RWBY to shut down criminal gangs enslaving human and faunus alike in the past." Jaune said. "I trust them implicitly, and it doesn't actually surprise me all that much they'd step up like that. They're not the kind of people to ignore when others are suffering."

"I agree." Sienna said. "But I also think they shouldn't have had to step up like that. I've been in their shoes, feeling like I had to do something to try and stop the racism and poor treatment of faunus. I wasn't ready back then and I made mistakes, terrible mistakes, but no one else would act. I think it's the same here. They're great girls but they should be allowed to live their lives and have fun. Why is it that they of all people have to throw away their chosen careers as huntresses to step in and fix the government here in Vale? Why? What have Vale's taxpayers been paying for the last twenty or so years?"

"That's the question on everyone's minds." Lisa said slyly. Yeah, right. It was a question Lisa had practically begged Sienna to bring up. On hands and knees no less. "And I think it leads neatly into the Council's charges against you. Despite your very much public and recorded on CCTV intervention to defend Beacon, they are claiming that the White Fang were responsible for the bombing of Amity."

"I think it's all coming down to a select few people clinging to the status quo, Lisa." Jaune said. "They look at change and come up with all kinds of derogatory terms for it, trying to paint is as an attack on their values, when the reality is that the world is always changing. You can't expect the world to stand still just because you happen to like things the way they are. Grass grows, years pass and society changes. That's a fact of life. To stand against a river and demand it changes it course isn't just silly. It's pointless." He turned to the camera. "That's the message I want to get out there. Times are changing. The White Fang is changing. Those that don't like that – be they the people standing against us or even the old and bitter folk within the White Fang itself – are going to have to accept that. The days of the Great War are over and gone. It's time to move on."

"It's easy for a faunus to say that, isn't it?" Lisa prodded.

"Actually… there's something I need to announce." Jaune took a deep breath. "I'm not a faunus."

The truth finally comes out...

In three weeks :D

Next Chapter: 28th June (Three Weeks)

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