At Beacon, students were expected to carry out a number of practice field operations to rehearse for what a real one might look like. A situation where Civil Defense called up a large Huntsman response and mobilized them en masse against the Grimm. Obviously, these were bad situations where anything can go wrong, so as part of this exercise, they had to try out different worst case assumptions. And in this one, that meant communicating through runners rather than scrolls, radios, or any other form of electronic communication. And for their initial message, Team RWBY was tasked with delivering it after sunset, to get used to operations in the dark.
Not a problem for Blake, with her Faunus night vision and her experience with the White Fang, where runners were often preferred to more easily intercepted electronic means of communication, she was naturally adept at the role and she was happy to volunteer. Besides, she was already a loner, so taking the solo job worked for her.
She just hadn't thought it'd be raining when she volunteered for this.
Not hard, but enough to make Blake aware of the damp that suffused the whole world around her. Every step squelched in mud or wet leaves, she heard the thwip-thwap of raindrops spattering on her poncho, and she could already feel that her socks were wet, even though she tried so carefully to keep them dry. Which was making this a miserable walk to her destination.
But then again, it wasn't like camp was much dryer, warmer, or less frustrating. She might be better off being away from everyone as Yang struggled to keep a candle's worth of sputtering fire going and Weiss's already-limited patience had already hit negative numbers. But of course, she'd be lashing out because she had been the one to select the site for the tents, a site that had immediately turned into a river as soon as the rain started, completely soaking the interior of their shelters before they could pull them out. Fancy SDC heiress, of course she didn't know the first thing about camping. Probably used to her Faunus slaves doing the work for-
Blake stopped herself, taking a deep breath and trying to banish the tight ball of anger that was growing within her. She was lashing out. Things weren't going well, so she was trying to turn that frustration into anger so she could feel in control and vent her fury upon a target for catharsis. Back in the camp, she and Yang and Weiss were mostly keeping their tempers in check for Ruby's sake, but Blake knew that couldn't last, even as the guilt of possibly making Ruby feel like a bad Team Leader stabbed her in the heart.
At least misery could take some solace in company. She was heading to JNPR's camp, and if there was one team that'd be in just as bad a place as RWBY, it'd be them. It wasn't becoming of Blake to think this way, but sometimes, knowing that you weren't the bottom of the class was the kind of morale boost you needed to get through the day, and for that, thank the Brothers for Jaune.
Though… she hoped it wasn't too bad. Ruby managed to keep the team together in spite of everything through her endearing and lovable personality, Jaune basically just had Pyrrha's crush giving him legitimacy as Team Leader. Now that she thought about it… what exactly was she about to walk into? She remembered, back in the White Fang, hearing about a team who was supposed to be on a deep cover stakeout of SDC shipments and security procedure had gone ugly from being cooped up together and ended in a full, cover-destroying brawl. Ren was sedate, yeah, and Pyrrha had her crush… but Pyrrha was clearly a girl who was used to a warm bed and a hot shower. And Nora…
She might be entering a war zone.
Picking up the pace, Blake cursed her lack of foresight. Should have pushed for JNPR to send the first messenger, so that the four of them would be responding to the inevitable disaster instead of just Blake on her own having to deal—like always!—with the real problems. She'd been forced into taking-
Wait… that wasn't…
The rain had slowed enough that she was able to smell something through the precipitation. Something… something savory and rich and fish. They couldn't- they couldn't possibly…
Blake started jogging towards her destination, but as soon as she saw the unmistakable glow of not only electric lights, but a cooking fire, she broke into a sprint. She could smell fish. Fish! Not the awful freeze-dried noodles that were, simultaneously overcooked mush and undercooked crunch with every bite, with a flavoring of "salt," and a caloric value of "you won't starve." No, this was fish, with- with garlic! And actual herbs for seasoning and-
Before Blake realized it, she was standing in the middle of JNPR's camp, staring directly into the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in the world.
A stew pot. A rich, brown broth where chunks of fish and vegetables floated merrily before her, simmering to perfection in-
"AAAAAAH!"
Oh, yeah, she'd scared the hell out of Jaune, who was tending to the sacred stew and nearly fell backwards off his seat (the stew was fine, that was the important part) at the sight of Blake materializing from the darkness before collecting himself.
"S-sorry," he said, sheepishly, "You kind of-"
"I thought you were a ghost!" Nora erupted from beside her, "Like, I thought you were gonna warn of terrible transpirings that happened to Team RWBY and that we had to avenge you!"
Blake was just nodding along, her eyes still mostly focused on the stew and not whatever Nora was saying. She was trying not to salivate, but ohhh, it looked so good! Smelled even better! And she could practically taste it, with Jaune already having a ladle in hand. Thinking of the insult to noodles waiting back at camp for her, with a miniature stove that would tip over on the slightest provocation and could somehow burn water, Blake's senses became simple more attuned to how good this food would be. Everything Ren and Nora were saying right now just just unimportant chatter until-
"Could I offer you some stew?" a vision of divine grace and compassion said unto her, his blue eyes proclaiming a future where humans and Faunus could live in perfect, blissful harmony as he raised the ladle to her. "It's Matelote, well, uhh, kind of. We mostly foraged up-"
"Foraged," Blake echoed, her mind not quite putting these words together. Obviously, they didn't bring all this with them. But… but did that mean… RWBY could have eaten like this if they only…
"Yeah!" Jaune said, gesturing to his teammates and beaming with pride, "You can thank Nora for the fish," Bless you Nora, queen of noise and thunder, "and Ren for the herbs and veggies." Bless you Ren, superb ninja and appreciator of finer things.
"Bare hands!" Nora cried, throwing up said hands in demonstration, "Went POW and grabbed the sucker right out of the river!"
Blake nodded attentively, far more appreciative of nonsense that was related to her getting fish stew.
"But Jaune did the lion's share," Ren said with quiet admiration, "He really made all this possible."
"Oh, it's just a family recipe," Jaune blushed, "Really, all the important parts were-"
"Do not sell yourself short," Ren cut in, his voice so grave and serious, it sounded like this meal was of sacred importance to him. Because he had sense and it was. "Nora and I… we never ate like this on the road. This… you have contributed greatly, Jaune."
"And Jaune-Jaune thought to bring cooking wine," Nora added, "Which I thought was crazy, but…" she gestured to the stew, the proof that none could ever question Jaune's perfect wisdom.
But Blake, even in the midst of rapture, did not lose sight of the environment surrounding her. Jaune, lordly in his benevolence, was offering her a taste of paradise gratis, but Blake didn't lose sight of the fact that her position was still a fraught one. An outsider, from another Team, and the bounty JNPR had was for JNPR. She could not count on grace alone in this moment, and so her strategic mind picked up on an important detail.
No one had mentioned Pyrrha in this.
A glance at Pyrrha showed a face of mixed emotions. Pride, she was clearly very proud that Jaune was behaving like a true Team Leader in this moment, but there was more going on there. Beyond the obsessive level of crush she had on her partner, there was a trace of… bashfulness. Pyrrha was, deep down, a little embarrassed that her team had all come together so well and she… wasn't a part of it.
Valuable information. One, it indicated that, if the time came, Pyrrha was the surprise weak link, but more so, someone who did not work still got to eat, establishing a precedent that might become necessary in the future.
As loathe as Blake was to delay the bowlful of dreams now in Jaune's ladle… she had to make sure she did this right.
"And so Pyrrha," she asked cheerfully, "Did you help set up camp or…"
She had gestured over to the campsite for rhetorical effect, only to realize that in pulling her eyes away from her soup, she could see that the JNPR campsite was absolutely different from the one Blake had just left. Not just because they hadn't pitched their tents directly in the path all the water would take as it ran down the side of the mountain, but that there weren't tents, but proper shelters, made with sticks and rope and leaving nice, dry patches for them to sleep beneath. This… this just wasn't fair!
Fortunately, Pyrrha missed Blake's obvious disbelief as she blushed and confessed, "Oh, um, no, I wasn't… um, well… it was Ren and Nora, really. They knew all about how to make a campsite and Jaune selected the site and I, um…"
It seemed, from the awkwardness, that Pyrrha had been less than useful so far in this mission. And not as a lazy, entitled princess—not that anyone could ever suspect Pyrrha of being lazy—but in just having a lack of experience and ability to make it, for once, that she was the one being carried by her team. But the important thing was that Blake saw an in. Pyrrha was more than her excessive, slightly unnerving, obsession with her partner, and part of that was her sense of moral fairness. She was relentlessly apologetic and polite, and right now that part of Pyrrha was in the unfamiliar position of feeling actually guilty.
"Pyrrha helped!" Jaune valiantly tried to stave up for his partner, an act that caused an interesting reaction on Pyrrha's face. "She, uh, she… stood guard while Nora was fishing!"
Nora punched her first into her palm. "She sure did! Any Grimm that would have tried to ambush me, they'd have to go through her!" Then Nora grew contemplative. "Unless it came from the water… but then I'd have to wrestle it bare handed! Which would have been-"
"Well, we all chip in where we can," Blake cut in, giving Pyrrha a smile, "It's great to see Team JNPR coming together in this mission. You've really stepped up as a leader, Jaune."
Jaune blushed at the compliment, trying to deny it, but Blake's focus was on Pyrrha, who seemed more than pleased that someone else saw… whatever it was she saw in Jaune. Probably something not stew-related, which was Blake's primary context for Jaune at the moment.
But on that front, Blake's stomach was now poised to overpower her brain. But she felt confident in her position now, and-
Grrrrrrr…
Okay, yes, fish now, and wouldn't you know it, Jaune was ladling a bowlful for her. Gods above, it seemed to glow with flavor as she took the bowl and the spoon–Jaune gave her a spoon! Like in the epics, she was gifted a holy sword from the gods, and now….
Blake took a spoonful of Matelote and, through Herculean strength, she paused to inhale the scent before swallowing a taste-
She wanted to cry.
Wanted to cry because she was in a world where there could be such beauty found in the worst days, that humans would find a helpless, bedraggled Faunus girl and offer her fish, just as her parents once dreamed could happen. This was… oh this was everything the White Fang didn't understand. There was fish. Fish for someone who had only ever tasted misfortune and now had compassion shining down upon her! Blake had never had a single thing go her way in her entire life, and now, fish from the heavens!
Another spoonful, another taste of pure wonder and joy and…
And Blake realized that she couldn't go back. She had now tasted paradise, supped amongst the fae and partook of their meal. She had forsaken her old world and embraced a new one, brought into the world of JNPR, with their unstated romantic tension and secret Semblances.
And all she had to do…
Was leave yet another team behind.
This… this would be a serious betrayal. To Ruby. And also to Yang, but Blake was far more afraid of seeing those silver eyes grow watery. Some betrayal of Weiss, but that was more in the pro column when she thought about it. But not enough to balance out the thought of Ruby, her eyes wide, asking, "Why did you do it Blake?"
Augggggh, okay, okay, she couldn't. The White Fang, at least, she was in the right there. And she was really only betraying Adam. Ilia and the rest knew that she had to choose her conscience. This would be worse. And it'd confirm that she was simply a disloyal and-
She thought of the camp. Thought of the soaked tents and ill tempers and Yang snoring all night and…
She could spend the night warm and dry or she could be loyal to her team.
So, yeah, her mind was made up. She was a member of Team JNPRB now. Like a superb Juniper. A Juniperb. Yes, that was who they were now.
Opening her eyes to a new world, Blake smiled, feeling all the warmth and love surrounding her. What wonderful teammates… she had finally found what she had once thought she'd find in the White Fang.
"So… do you like it, or…"
Blake just felt her smile go wider in response to Nora's question.
"She's just sitting there, smiling, without saying anything! This is weird, right?"
"It… might be," Ren murmured.
But Blake had nothing to say, because words stood in the way of fish, and her tongue now held a higher purpose.
"Just keep giving her stew Jaune-Jaune," Nora said, "Keep giving her stew and nobody's gonna get stabbed."
Wonderful idea. Simply wonderful. More stew.
Jaune awkwardly chuckled, "I don't… don't think anyone's gonna get stabbed."
"No," Ren gravely replied, "I've seen this on the road before. Give her more stew, Jaune."
One bowl became two, and knowing that she was eating a hot, savory, homemade meal on a dark, drizzly evening when she had already resigned herself to noodles… Blake considered it a miracle she didn't cry in front of her new teammates. They all ate together in a moment of pure, perfect unity, slightly marred by her new teammates' frequent, concerned looks shot her way, but they'd come around. Blake would make sure of it.
"Well… okay then…" Jaune said, breaking the silence, "So you have a message to relay-"
"Oh, that's not important," Blake waved it off. She might still be hearing the songs of the angels, but Blake was a born survivor who wasn't about to be pushed out. "It's late, so we can surely talk about this tomorrow."
"But… I have to deliver the return message tomorrow morning?" Ren asked, "If you return to your camp with me-"
"What I mean," Blake interrupted, "is that a true Valean gentleman, and a Team Leader at that, wouldn't send a lady into a cold, dark night while it's raining."
"If it was her job to go back, he might," Nora suggested. But Nora didn't know her Leader as well as she might have imagined: the look on his face said that no lady would be cast out from his campsite.
And speaking of ladies…
"And Pyrrha," Blake smoothly turned to the one remaining obstacle standing between Blake and a warm bed. She might be able to physically dismantle an entire team by her lonesome, but Blake was not losing her bed. "If you're worried that I'd take up too much space with you and Nora-"
"A-actually," the blushing Mistralian cut in, "We were bunking as- by partners. B-but that- there wouldn't be any reason for you not to join us! N-nothing is going to- I mean, I certainly wasn't planning on anything- there's nothing suspicious in- There's no problem is you join us!"
It was almost embarrassing how swiftly Pyrrha's position collapsed into inviting Blake to serve as a chaperone. Just as Blake predicted, the implication brought up by her and Jaune sharing a tent would make her panic and overcorrect. But Pyrrha would come to discover that having a worldly, experienced girl like Blake as her teammate would help give her some pointers on how to get a boyfriend.
"Wonderful!" Blake clapped her hands together, "I'll spend the night with Jaune and Pyrrha and make sure that nothing untoward-"
"Oh, is that what you'll be doing?"
Blake turned, horrified, at the sound of her partner's voice. Yang loomed above her, illuminated harshly in the flicker of firelight. And she looked mad.
"You. And me, Blake," she growled, "We're going to finish this mission, get back to Beacon… and we're going to settle this."
Looking mournfully at the nice dry shelters that were now denied to her… Blake had to reckon with something as bad as that being the least of her problems.
This was not what Blake expected when Yang said they would "settle" things.
"Oyez, oyez," Yatsuhashi's voice boomed from deep in his chest as he rose, "All rise for the Honorable Coco Adel."
Blake stood—the fact that they'd looped Yatsuhashi into this spoke to whatever terrifying threat Yang and Coco had up their sleeves to make this "court" actually happen—as did her peers as Coco made an expectedly theatrical arrival, wearing a long black robe along with her familiar beret and sunglasses. Which was a choice, in Blake's mind—she knew she wore those sunglasses so that girls "couldn't see when she was checking them out," as though anyone wasn't aware that Coco was checking them out.
If anything, it was another sign of what an absurd farce Blake had found herself looped into, but one in which the livid fury of a woman who got in bar fights for fun was mantled by the Law… even if it made no sense. And Blake preferred her chances here. The previous day had been marked by looks of betrayal and teammates unwilling to speak with her, which cut Blake deeply, but not literally, which was what a pissed-off Yang could easily do to vent her fury.
"Thank you, you may be seated," Coco said with a magisterial wave to the crowd. Clearly, she was drinking this up, more than thrilled for the opportunity to serve as judge. She arched an eye towards Yatsuhashi before sitting down, adding, "And I believe I asked to be referred to as the 'beautiful' or 'stylish' Coco Adel rather than Honorable."
"That you did, Your Honor."
Coco sniffed in annoyance, but took her seat. Okay, so this was going to be stupid. But stupid was better than whatever Patch Justice Yang thought she could mete out with her fists. Or worse… seeing Ruby cry.
"Alright, so this is the case of Team RWBY v. Blake Belladonna," Coco began, "where the defendant is accused of the high crime of betraying her team and attempting…"
The recitation of her crimes seemed to sink away into a fog of words as Blake tried to seem stoic in the face of her alleged misdeeds. She could feel the eyes of what felt like half the student body on her as they heard Coco read out the made-up charges against her. Blake never liked being the center of attention—it was a downside, if one drowned out by the much, much bigger ones, of being Adam's girlfriend—and so she glanced to her… "counsel" sitting with the kind of serene confidence Blake had pretty much never seen on his face before.
Jaune, out of some kind of sense of Valean hospitality intersecting being kind of a weird dolt, had taken up the role of representing her in this "case." Leaning over to her, he whispered, "Don't worry. I've got a plan for this, and even if Yang leaves court unhappy cause she lost, she'll respect the ruling."
This kind of thing was way more the domain of Jaune and Yang, so Blake trusted he knew what he was talking about. Coco had just gestured to Yang to give her opening statements, and hearing the scandalized anger in Yang's voice, the way she spoke of betrayal made Blake… genuinely appreciative to have Jaune with her. Once again seeing a radically new side to Jaune, who, before seeing him in the JNPR campsite, was easily the most forgettable person Blake had ever met. So points to Jaune, both in cooking and sticking up for her.
"Prosecution," Coco said, "You may-"
"Isn't she the Plaintiff?" Blake asked, bewildered enough to interrupt, "This- this isn't a criminal case…"
Her words trailed off as she realized that asking a question of a fundamentally stupid process was a major mistake, made worse as she felt Coco's glare—and Yang's grin—on her.
"My apologies for my client," Jaune said, shooting her an annoyed look, "I assure you, your Honor, she won't interrupt again."
"See to it she doesn't," Coco icily snapped, then turned to… whatever role Yang had and gave her a curt nod. "Get on with your opening statement."
"Thank you, your Honor," Yang said with a sickeningly overdone tone of admiration. Blake was careless—she had been sensible, but this was a space where what Weiss would call doltishness had free reign. And Yang…
"We are brought here today," Yang began, her voice full of scandalized drama as she began her opening statement, "by treason, a treachery so foul and twisted that it threatens the very foundation of the Academy we call home. It is our duty, it is our honor, to stand side-by-side with our teammates as we face the implacable threat of the Grimm!"
Blake shrank back in her seat, feeling the guilt rising up around her. Yang might be laying it on thick, but… well, Blake could feel not only the sorrow in Ruby's eyes right now, she thought back to her friends in the White Fang. Well, not Adam, he was a dick and she was glad she left him behind. Just an all around terrible boyfriend and, honestly, once she stopped looking at him through the eyes of a starstruck teenager, he really wasn't all that great of a leader, either. "Keep the unit from eating, drinking, or sleeping before a mission, the self-denial will bring forth the clarity of our purpose," what the hell kind of planning was that? Half of Blake's job, now that she thought of it, was counter-acting Alpha Male bullshit and making sure Adam didn't do things like implement a "No Firearms" policy because "We should face the enemy as men with the might of our steel." And he'd say things like that while she was right there! Oh, he "didn't mean to exclude the women in the Fang," but come on, how many times did Blake have to have that exact conversation with him about gendered language? Honestly, she didn't get enough credit for all she did for the Fang. In fact, she should probably get in touch with Sienna and let her know that-
"-and with that, members of the Jury," Yang vaguely gestured at where a Jury… might be, Blake wasn't sure if they actually had a Jury for this, "you will see my case that Blake Belladonna is nothing more than the lowliest of all Remnant's denizens: a traitor."
Oh, she probably should have been listening to Yang's opening statement and heard how she was going to be going after her instead of thinking back to her time in the Fang. Because at the least-
"And also kind of a skank."
Oh fuck that! Blake's eyes narrowed, her ears twitched as she leaned forward to-
Jaune placed a calming hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention back to him where he just shook his head with a calming smile and whispered, "She's got nothing. Watch and learn."
Blake… had some doubts that there was much she could actually learn from Jaune, but he had earned considerable esteem in Blake's eye for knowing how to properly prepare delicious, delicious fish. And this was a deeply stupid place, so he actually might have an advantage over Yang…
And he was helping her, so she should probably be less condescending to him. She might even get more fish out of it! Maybe tuna!
"Your Honor," Jaune began as he rose, a hint of his rural accent slipping into his voice, "I am proud to be addressing the court on this day. To stand in Metropolitan Vale is to stand in the shadow of history, and I, a man of Arceaux, know well that we have always looked to this fair city, steeped in its history and an august and revered respect for the law…"
It took Blake a moment to realize what the hell Jaune was talking about, but… the looks on Coco and especially Yang's faces immediately clued her in. Blake had picked up that Valeans were weird, weird people with numerous regional rivalries… which Jaune was now flipping on its head as he flattered the big city… and Coco, the big city judge. Yang looked livid, Coco was trying to look stately, but was clearly far too pleased to hide it as Jaune spoke of Metropolitan Vale as a "center of learning" and "beacon of guidance for the entire Kingdom" all in that—Blake could admit it, he was her lawyer—honestly kind of sexy accent.
Damn, learning a lot about Jaune this week! Maybe there was something to Pyrrha's weird crush on… no, that might be too far. Still kind of weird on that one, Invincible Girl!
"...the Law is the Law," Jaune continued, "But the foundation of our laws reaches deep into our history, our duties and obligations to one another, as Valeans, that shapes how we must act in our society. And Beacon, at the heart of our Kingdom, is built upon that foundation. Your Honor, members of the Jury, and all assembled here today, this is a matter of the Law and of our Honor. And as my honor as a Valean compels me to offer hospitality, compels me to offer the visitor all the accommodations I can offer, it so compels you to see this claim that my client's acceptance of that hospitality is treason as an insult to my hospitality and a threat to my honor! I come today to-"
"What honor?" Yang snorted in annoyance, "Every single person in this courtroom has personally kicked your ass, including and especially the defendant!"
That… was true. And Blake was now feeling a little regretful of how she'd most recently bested Jaune in Goodwitch's class. Downside of being a sack of aura and a lightning rod for the instructor's ire: Ms. Goodwitch loved making Jaune match up against just about everyone. And it seemed the court was remembering how Blake had made the match last, nimbly whittling Jaune down as she dodged around him, tripping him up, and then kicking him while he was down. Repeatedly kicking him while he was down. Mostly in the stomach, but… Even Ruby had seemed upset with her after that, which was hard to bear… and Pyrrha looked like she was halfway to murder, so Blake had made herself scarce the rest of that week.
But Jaune, alone in all the courtroom, seemed unaffected by Yang's allusion.
"I daresay, the island of Patch has made its opinion known," Jaune joked, to an audible snicker from Coco and a twitch of fury in Yang's eye to be so easily outplayed. Blake… Blake realized she might actually win this!
Coco thumped her gavel against the desk. "Alright, alright, you've both had your outbursts. That should be the last I hear of that. Yang, you can call your witness."
Blake's eyes darted to Ruby, the one person she couldn't bear to see lose faith in her. And if Yang brought Ruby to the stand-
"I call Weiss Schnee to the stand!"
That… that was not what Blake expected! She had thought for sure Yang would call Ruby to just twist the knife and make Blake feel like the worst villain to ever walk Remnant. She'd been living in dread of the possibility that she might make Ruby cry, and Yang was just… bringing up Weiss? Who Blake felt no particular guilt for betraying and, honestly, kind of saw as an upside?
But that made Blake think that there was more going on here. And that made her wary.
Weiss seemed equally surprised by this as she stepped forward to where Yatsuhashi presented a thick book for her to swear on—it was a Grimm Studies textbook, because it was the heaviest book Coco could find—which Weiss waved off. Bringing in a witness so overtly peevish towards the trial… what could Yang be doing here?
Swaggering up to the witness box, Yang began her questions, "Ms. Schnee, if that is your real name-"
"It is!" Weiss protested, "And I'm your witness, so why are you-"
"I ask the questions here!" Yang snapped, then turned to Coco, "Permission to treat the witness as hostile?"
"Sure," Coco shrugged as Weiss made a scandalized squawk of anger.
"Ms. Schnee, could you state your relationship with the Defendant?" Yang asked, rolling right through whatever it was she was doing here.
Weiss stiffened, trying not to make eye contact with Blake. "I…" she started, her words dying in her throat, "Blake and I are teammates in Team RWBY," she said, her voice careful not to show any particular emotion.
Blake knew that her relationship with Weiss wasn't… the closest, but she felt a slight twinge of pain to hear how carefully she was wording her answer. Just… teammates? After everything they'd done together? After all the lessons they'd learned from each other? Was that really all they were?
A point Yang seemed interested in as well. "Just teammates, Ms. Schnee? Might I remind you, you are under oath."
"I am most certainly not!" Weiss snapped back, but then seemed to loosen in her posture, "But… yes, Blake is… or at least, I would hope that Blake considers me a friend."
Ah, there was the twist of the knife!
"I've learned… so much from Blake, about the limits of my own worldview, about how to admit a mistake, about-"
"Didn't ask for your life story," Yang interrupted, "Next question, do you know that guy?"
She pointed square at Jaune, causing Weiss to give her an annoyed look.
"Yes, I know Jaune," she said through gritted teeth as she had to shift, hard, from one emotion to another.
"And how would you characterize your relationship with the Defendant's Counsel?"
Weiss glared at Jaune, all her earlier sappiness forgotten. "He asked me out. Several times, even though I couldn't make my 'no' any clearer." Then, in a quiet voice, she quickly added, "...and also, we talk about the newest X-Ray and Vav comics when they come out."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Coco cut in, "You have to build on that. You read X-Ray and-"
Weiss threw up her hands. "My father never let me read comics and I borrowed some of Ruby's and I didn't know how to tell Ruby so I-"
"You like X-Ray and Vav!" Ruby squeaked, a brilliant smile on her face, "Oh, oh, oh, we have to- official team business, we have to-"
"A lot of my life is changing at Beacon, okay!" Weiss cried, "And yes, part of that includes talking with Jaune about… whether Rossi's run deserves the hate it got online or if expanding on Vav's own crisis of identity was a necessary step for building up the modern themes the comic explores."
By the end of her statement, Weiss was redder than Blake had ever seen her. And she had to admit… this trial was bringing up some unexpected discoveries—which made her wonder if that was Yang's real goal for putting Weiss on the stand.
Yang chuckled, seeming to confirm that theory. "That's fun and all, but to get back to your first point… So you would say that Jaune Arc has a history of expressing an interest in the ladies of Team RWBY?"
"Objection!" Jaune cried, "I'm not on trial here!"
"Can he be?" Weiss asked Coco, her voice frosty and sardonic.
Coco shrugged. "Probably, but not now. Objection sustained!"
"Very well, I'm out of questions," Yang said breezily, "You can go now."
Jaune swiftly protested, "I get to cross-"
"Nope, I'm done here," a still red-faced Weiss said, hopping up from the seat and walking off. Yatsuhashi and Coco made no effort to stop her… because a beaming Ruby was clearly excited for the opportunity to talk her partner's ear off about comic books.
"We'll add you to the XRV chat, Rubes," Jaune called out to Ruby while fiddling with his scroll, and she just about died with happiness.
Which, all things considered, was a very good turn for Blake! Yang had used up her witness to just poke fun at Weiss and Jaune and leave her, basically, in the clear! Now it was her turn to call witnesses, and Blake trusted that Jaune, who was taking this far more seriously than Yang—far more seriously than anything else Jaune had done at Beacon for that matter—had a plan here to get Blake out, scot-free from any consequences.
Finally, the legal system was working for the Faunus instead of against them!
Jaune gave her a confident smile, and frankly, he'd earned it. Blake felt a buzz of optimism and good will, with Ruby mollified and a much, much bigger betrayal on Weiss's radar than Blake's, things were actually looking up. Jaune just had to best Yang in this sham of a trial and then all three of her teammates would have to move on from the whole, "JNPRB" thing, which they didn't even really know about because she'd only thought it instead of saying it out loud!
"The defense calls Pyrrha Nikos to the stand!"
Oh.
Oh no.
Oh no.
Blake's optimism suddenly sank. This could turn… Blake glanced at Yang, seeing a sly, familiar smile on her face. Because she and Blake knew something about Pyrrha that her "lawyer" didn't.
Pyrrha advanced to the stand, her movements stiff and hesitant, but being Pyrrha, she somehow made it seem like a regal, queenly approach. Coco was definitely checking her out as she advanced and, frankly, so was Blake. When Pyrrha had her game face on, she just had a presence, not just her famed invincibility but the sense that this was a woman unlike any other, and what you were about to see was something you ought to be paying attention to. It was something that Blake, the daughter of two world-renowned activists, well knew the value of.
Also, she was pretty hot, a topic that Blake had overheard discussed by more than a few Beacon students.
"Ms. Nikos," Jaune began, slipping into that accent that was clearly having an effect on his already-besotted partner, "I suppose I should begin by drawing a page from the opposing counsel's book. How would you characterize your relationship with me?"
Oh gods.
Jaune had an idiotically self-confident look on his face, utterly oblivious to the rhetorical bomb he'd just lobbed onto the stand. The whole court, literally everyone there, realized what Jaune didn't, as Pyrrha's face turned red and Nora whispered, "It's finally happening!" in a voice a little too loud for a whisper. Even Coco seemed to realize that the very many emotional knots that composed the psyche of Pyrrha Nikos should probably not be loosened so swiftly and in a space with so much collateral damage. Hell, even Yang seemed to have her jaw hanging open as-
"We are partners in Team JNPR, and close friends," Pyrrha said in her perfectly honed media voice.
Autopilot, apparently, had kicked in. Behind her placid, emerald eyes wasn't a hint of cognition, Pyrrha's mind completely shutting down when tasked with saying what her relationship with Jaune was. But Pyrrha, so experienced with post-match interviews and pressers, was well trained in speaking platitudes without having to think. A godsend, because right now, Pyrrha's higher cognition had stopped working and Blake wasn't sure it would be coming back.
"And we've both helped make Team JNPR into a team, a community, really."
"That would be true, Jaune," she answered, as vapid and cheerful as any beauty queen, "Team JNPR means so much to me, and it's been an essential space for me in developing as a Huntress."
"In your time as a member of Team JNPR, would you characterize the Team's attitude as generous?"
Blake watched as Pyrrha's mind slowly… rebooted, genuine emotion coming into her voice as she answered, "Yes… yes I would. You and Ren and Nora… I've never been in a place where I've felt more welcome to… to be myself. Not a celebrity or national figure or the girl on the pedestal, but my own person, and Jaune, you have done so much-"
"And would you say," Jaune idiotically cut her off as she seemed poised to confess her love for him, "that welcoming Blake to our camp on a dark, cold night would be a logical extension of that hospitality?"
The degree to which Pyrrha was put out by the question made the whole courtroom, Blake included, wince. Of all the time to draw the line of questioning back to her, Blake tried to not meet Pyrrha's eyes as they shifted away from her crush to where Blake was seated.
"Yes," she answered flatly, "It was hospitable of us to let Blake stay with us."
"No further questions!" Jaune said, completely unaware that he had not, in fact, killed it. "I knew Pyrrha would love a chance to talk up JNPR," he whispered to Blake.
She wants to talk up you, moron!
But Blake's justified fury at her counsel was interrupted by the fact that Yang didn't miss the tone in Pyrrha's voice as she rose up from her seat and approached the Invincible Girl. No, from the look on her face… Blake had reason to fear.
"Ms. Nikos," Yang said, her voice measured and betraying no hint of the violence she was sure to commit, "That 'hospitality' you spoke about with your team… it was so touching to hear it. You and your teammates… especially Jaune… seem to have a real… special bond, don't you?"
Pyrrha didn't answer, which made Blake shift, nervously, in her seat.
"And when the Defendant came to enjoy that hospitality, well… it was more than just soup she was after, correct?"
Blake saw Pyrrha's face turn dark. The kind of darkness she'd never imagined on Pyrrha's face before, the kind of stormy look that reminded Blake that Pyrrha was a globally ranked champion at destroying people. That her kind politeness made them all forget that there was no one at Beacon who could inflict more pain with a spear than she could.
And all that, right now, was directed at her.
Who was seated… right next to… oh no. Oh no.
Through gritted teeth, her eyes locked on Blake's throat, Pyrrha answered, "I… did notice that she- she was interested in spending the night…"
"With only two shelters?" Yang asked in mock confusion, "But where would the Defendant sleep if there were-"
"Objection!" Jaune cried, "This line of questioning adds nothing to the-"
"Uh-uh," Coco grinned, "I wanna know where kitty wanted to rest her weary head…"
"Aren't you supposed to be impartial?" Blake hissed. Coco only shrugged.
But Pyrrha's eyes remained locked on Blake as she uttered, "She wanted to join our tent. She wanted to sleep n-next to Jaune as she…"
Her voice trailed off into a deep, throaty growl that made Blake know the number of her days. She had seen this in Goodwitch's class before, saw Pyrrha take an immediate dislike to a dark-haired girl from Haven and choke slam her into the ground so hard that her aura hadn't even managed to cushion the blow and left an ugly, dark bruise looped around her neck like a choker as her voice was left hoarse for over a week.
"Your Honor!" Jaune cried out, "This- this is pure speculation, no untoward intent has been anything more than speculated in-"
"If it so pleases the court," Yang said with a hope-destroying smirk, "I would like to add the following into evidence. A small journal-"
"NO!" Blake shrieked the very second she saw a flash of its black and white cover. But Yang's grin just grew wickeder as she knew what Blake had just done.
"Well I suppose that confirms the authorship of these stories," Yang smugly told the judge, "But this journal contains a series of fictions, perhaps more like fanta-"
"Objection!" Jaune yelled, trying to somehow think their way out of this before he blurted out, "We- unlawful search and seizure, or- or- habeas corpus! In flagrante delicto!"
Bang! "Overruled!" Coco cried, "Cause this is hilarious!"
"Oh, I don't think you'll find it hilarious once you know the contents…" Yang added darkly, her mouth of shark's teeth curled into a wicked grin.
"What is in that journal!" Jaune whispered to Blake in a panic.
But Blake could only shake her head. She knew… she knew what everyone was about to discover…
"A series of steamy, though fictional, stories that feature…" Yang drew out the explanation to heighten the tension, but Blake already knew what was coming next and already knew what was going to happen now…
"Romances!" Yang cried, before salaciously adding, "With blond men."
They used to all be redheads! For obvious reasons, Blake had changed that feature, but it was- she liked the contrast with dark hair! Yes, all her female protagonists were dark haired, bookish catgirls, but she wasn't on trial here! Or, at least, she wasn't on trial for that!
Especially as her counsel just stared at her, wide eyed, clearly picking up the message Yang wanted everyone to get.
"It's not like that!" Blake shot back, "Sun! Sun's blond, and- and- I could be-"
"If it was based on Sun," Yang lazily replied, knowing as well as Blake did what she was saying next, "Wouldn't the protagonists be Faunus men?"
"Oh," Jaune said, a single syllable that shattered the peace of the courtroom.
It was- It was another coincidence! Blake had happened to get burned on her redheaded Faunus crush, and so she had tried to flip the script in her writing! Blond instead of red, human instead of Faunus, admiring and inexperienced rather than her aspiration and-
Oh fuck.
She had really been writing stories about banging Jaune this whole time.
Oh fuck.
"It's not what it looks like!" Blake hissed at Jaune.
"Every. Single. Story," Yang said, punctuating each word by thumping her index finger into her palm, "Features the same dynamic. A quiet Faunus girl finding a blond-haired man of no particular skill or talent, a young man she has to train, has to build up his confidence, until he's-"
"O-objection!" Jaune blurted out, "Relevance! This- this isn't relevant to anything with- with this!"
Yang just grinned. "Oh, isn't it? Perhaps her loyalty to Team RWBY had been tested by a boundless lust for a certain blond-"
"Your honor, opposing counsel has not proven that I'm the-"
"Blond! Inept! Doofus!" Yang cried, leaving Blake reckoning with the fact that she'd written a hundred stories about banging Jaune and the world was so cruel as to not swallow her up for doing it! How had the Brothers created a world so unjust that ink could meet the page when this was what they were writing? Could they not spare a thunderbolt to liberate her from this humiliation?
But her one angle… was that Coco seemed to enjoy Blake's misery enough to offer her a reprieve.
"Yeah… sorry Yang," she said through a crooked grin, "but I think we've gotta move on from this. It's funny, but beating it into the ground isn't-"
But Yang cut Coco off as her grin widened and Blake's blood ran cold. "Oh, you've already done your part, Coco," she explained, savoring the moment of her victory, "This whole 'court' was a charade to begin with."
Coco stared for a moment in disbelief before spitting out, "Contempt! That- that is contempt and Bailiff, you will-"
"All I needed to do," Yang continued "was create a space where I could get Pyrrha to understand that Blake's after her man."
Silence.
Every eye in the room shot to where the redheaded Amazon sat, forgotten, still at the stand. Her face was dark, a malevolent aura of wrath that would make a Grimm retreat swirled about her. She was the most dangerous woman Blake had ever known, and now Blake was seeing her without the omnipresent apologies and timid mien. Now Blake was seeing what happened when a woman who could outfight literally anyone across an entire continent decided that she had a reason to kill.
"I… what?" Jaune said, his idiot eyebrow cocked in confusion… exactly like she imagined Joshua looked like in her fics when told- WHY DID THEY ALL HAVE J NAMES TOO?
"Yang," Jaune blindly continued, a very mistaken look of confidence returning to his face, "This is absurd. First, you're trying to imply that Blake has an interest in me, now Pyrrha? No one would ever believe on any-"
Instinct kicked in as Blake threw herself to the side, a javelin materializing in the table behind her—did Pyrrha just summon her weapon to her hand?—as she heard the sound of wood splintering and giving way… followed by a bellowing Mistralian war-cry coming from a girl who normally apologized to power cords she tripped over!
"THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE WHO WALK OUT ON ME!" Yang roared as Blake legged it to try and get some distance between herself and the psychotic champion. "YOU ARE RIDE OR DIE TEAM YANG, BLAKE! RIDE OR DIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
In all matters of statecraft, Ghira Belladonna knew that there was one rule that transcended all forms of politics. Kings and iron-shod Dictators and stately Prime Ministers all knew it, and now, as Chieftain of Menagerie, he knew it too.
Keep the wife happy.
And so Ghira knew that as she arrived for dinner, all smiles and good cheer, that there was something she had to say, and whatever it was, he would be expected to share in her good cheer, too. Even if—especially if—it brought him nothing but bewildering apprehension. He'd experienced it before.
Kali had taken to motherhood with such ease and grace, even Ghira sometimes struggled to reconcile that his wife and mother of his child was also the Director of Covert Intelligence in the White Fang and off-the-books Spymaster of Menagerie. Officially, matters of State Security and Foreign Intelligence were handled by specific Ministers as empowered by their constitution, but they… knew as well as Ghira did that when it came to matters foreign or covert, Kali knew before anyone.
"You look like you have good news," he said, really, really hoping it wasn't going to be that she finally stabbed Sienna. Ghira had done too much work to get through to that stubborn, pig-headed… but he wasn't going to let his mind go to that, not yet.
Kali smiled broadly. "It's about Blake."
Ghira dropped his fork. "Blake?" he gasped. He'd been pleading with Kali to give him daily updates about his little girl at Beacon, to forge an excuse to make a state visit to Vale, anything that would give him a chance to see her and tell her that he didn't have any ill will for running away and all that he cared about was that she was safe and that she knew that her father loved her very, very much. "What is it- is- is she- you said this was good news, right? I don't-"
"It's good, it's good!" she laughed, "Honestly, this is why I keep news about Blake on a tight leash with you, dear! It gets you too excited, and you don't-"
"Just tell me!" he cried out.
"She got in a fight."
A million emotions suddenly exploded in Ghira's mind, everything from parental concern to stern discipline to- to- "She's alright, right?" he choked out.
"She's fine, she's fine," Kali waved his concern off, "Our little girl is more than capable of handling herself. But she, apparently, dueled no less than Pyrrha Nikos across the whole length of Beacon itself! Quite a thrilling thing to learn from my sources, but it seems that Beacon wants to keep it very hush-hush, considering who was involved. But it was apparently quite a fight."
Ghira slunk back in his seat. Of all the things… how would his daughter have gotten into a drag-out, unsanctioned fight with a tournament champion? He knew that Huntsman, especially students, were… passionate individuals, but what could have-
"Oh! And it was over a boy."
…
Fuck.
"He's cute, too," Kali continued, "and human, which was a surprise! Though I'm just happy that it's anyone who isn't Adam… really thought Ilia would have a shot, and it's a shame it isn't her, but I've looked into him and he seems quite delightful! Jaune Arc, that's his name. Valean, good family—he has a sister who's in my network, works in refugee resettlement…"
His wife continued to list the finer points of this young man, but Ghira's thoughts were elsewhere. In any other context, learning that his daughter had a boyfriend would have Ghira's wrath brought to the front, determined to see what man thought he was good enough for Ghira Belladonna's little girl, but knowing she had been in a fight with another girl… a combat champion at that, brought up memories…
"Do you remember Gracey?" Kali asked, a wistful, nostalgic smile on her face, "We used to compete so much so that our big, strong, handsome leader would notice us…"
"And you got into a knife fight on the Yalu Bridge," Ghira grunted, remembering the night he'd received a panicked message that two of his lieutenants were apparently publicly squaring off on a matter of honor.
But Kali just smiled. "She got a piece of my ear," she gestured to the slight notch taken out, "But I got the boy!"
"And you both spent six weeks in jail for it."
His wife, love of his life and mother of his child, just shrugged. "Prison was where we patched things up. And besides," she pinched his cheek, "I thought boys liked being fought over."
There was no way, Ghira well knew, to dislodge that thought from Kali's mind. He'd tried before to explain that, no, as the leader of the White Fang, he did not want two of his top lieutenants getting into public altercations for PR reasons alone… and that, as a man, he really did not like seeing two people who were both close to him attempt to stab each other to death!
Ghira sighed. Of all the things Blake inherited from her mother… well, he just hoped this "Jaune" boy wasn't right now scared out of his mind that a former White Fang operative and a tournament champion—two of the most dangerous people at that school!—were apparently willing to go to blows over him.
"Did she…" Ghira fought for his words as he settled on, "Did our daughter… win?"
Kali leaned back, a serene smile on her face. "My sources couldn't confirm, but knowing our Blake… either she's won or she will win. So I'll start moving the wheels for getting a state visit to Vale going—just like you've been asking for!—and we'll give Blake a perfect opportunity to introduce her new beau to us!"
What must be going through that young man's mind right now… but Ghira knew statecraft. He knew diplomacy. He knew law. He knew a great many things as a world leader, and if there was one thing he was going to impart upon the young Mr. Arc… it was to keep the wife happy. And even if you were married to the kindest, sweetest, most loving utter lunatic you know, you kept her happy.
Or the Brothers help you!
Thanks to Renarde for feedback on this work!