Much like an egg that was left on a frying pan for too long, Blake felt her brain sizzling behind her skull as she laid in bed. Staring at the bunk above her, she let out a sigh, "That was the worst." Her monotonous voice slowly oozing out as she put her lethargy on full display. The test had taken a lot out of the Faunus girl, that much she could not deny, and it was much the same for the other girls on her team.
Her partner dangled her arm off the side of her top bunk, groaning loudly as her mattress creaked. Blake assumed it was from some kind of exaggerated movement, "I know!" The blonde brawler yelled out, Blake's ears flicking from the volume of her voice, "What kind of a sadist leaves us to take exams with that many questions? It shouldn't even be legal!"
Blake heard a tired sigh come from the other side of the room, her eyes flicking to see the local Heiress slouched on her bed, "No amount of studying could ever prepare for that absolute torment of an endurance test."
Blake was surprised to hear her team leader giggle from her top bunk, her eyes heavy as she leaned over the edge of her bed, "I don't know, I thought the combat class exam was pretty easy. Just a little physical fitness here, some trivia there." The leader finished with another giggle, albeit less enthusiastic than the last.
"She wasn't talking about Combat Class." Blake heard from above her, silently nodding at her partner's words.
In response, Ruby let out a groan of her own, "Positivity, girls. Positivity." Blake snickered at her leader's words, rolling her eyes as she sunk deeper into her pillow. Blake was having plenty of trouble finding the same positivity that her leader preached. But on the bright side, there was one thing that she found.
"At least exams are over." She muttered, rolling onto her side as she pulled her blanket up.
She heard a laugh from above her, followed by a loud thump as Yang's feet hit the ground, "You've got that right." She let out a breath as she stretched her arms stretched above her head, "I just wish that they ended a little sooner, you know?"
Blake hummed as she nodded her head. Five days of exams, each day having spent several hours at a time sitting in the same spot, a pencil tightly held in her hand as she carefully jotted down answers, was horrible. She was certain that she felt the ghost aches lingering in her palm.
The leader of Team RWBY let out a loud yawn as she made herself comfortable, "Well, now we don't have to deal with classes for a few weeks." The red-haired girl remarked, rolling her wrist as her left hand clamped down on her achy forearm.
Blake watched her blonde partner's eyes widen as the fatigue was washed away by a smile, "Ooh, what's the first thing everyone's going to do with their new free time? Because I know what I'm doing." At her words, Blake watched her team leader's silver eyes light up like it was Valean Patriot's Day.
"Sparring with Dad, duh." The younger girl responded, staring at her elder sister as though she was held back a few years. Blake paused for a moment as the thought simmered, staring at her partner. One second passed, then two, then three. Yeah, she probably was held back a year.
The Blonde Boxer rolled her eyes, placing a hand firmly on her hip, "Pfft, get in line, Ruby. Dad told me he was going to be helping me supe up my bike with some new parts. I swear, by the time my baby's done, she's gonna be going faster than cookies at the dinner table."
The heiress in the room quirked a brow as she sat on her mattress, "That's a strange analogy." Blake had to agree with the local Schnee, as far as Blake was concerned, cookies needed a bit of time to go. Not because there was no demand, but because she had to finish eating her dinner first growing up. Blake loved her mother, she did, but goodness was she a tyrant.
Blake wasn't surprised to hear Yang laugh as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Trust me, when it's Ruby at the dinner table, it's not as weird as you think." Blake didn't bother restraining a giggle as her leader brought a hand behind her head.
"H-hey, it's not my fault that cookies are the best thing in the history of… maybe ever?" This time, it was the Heiress' turn to laugh at their leader, rolling her eyes as she allowed herself to slouch.
"Eating cookies the way that you do is a fast trip down the highway of health issues. If you don't pull back on the sweets, I don't doubt that you'd need some kind of supplement in the future." Weiss reprimanded her leader, not that she seemed to care.
"Pfft, I'll be fine. Besides, I've got a fast metabolism, I can handle it." Ruby brushing off Weiss' warning was a surprise to no one in the room, least of all Blake.
The Faunus girl sluggishly pushed herself upright, using her left hand to wipe her eyes, "I hope your pancreas works just as fast. Because if not, wish those sweets goodbye." Blake droned out, followed by a yawn. If being awake weren't so important, Blake would have fallen asleep the moment they'd all gotten back to the dorm.
But she didn't. She wanted to be awake for when everyone parted ways.
"Anyway," Ruby started, very obviously steering the conversation away, "how about you, Weiss? Do you have any plans for Spring Break?" Ruby's question felt somewhat silly to Blake. Blake believed that people with too much time and money would do one of two things: bask in economic superiority and buy dumb stuff, or lounge around and do nothing.
And as much as Blake was bitter about her family's business practices, she knew that Weiss was nothing if not wise with her spending habits. The girl would always berate Ruby and Yang over their… eccentric expenditures. Always telling them how they shouldn't spend their monthly funds on things as unnecessary as video games or sweets. In the open, Blake supported the spartan-like stance on materialism. At least, when she wasn't being a hypocrite about it.
What could she say, she liked her books.
Blake was pulled away from her thoughts by the sound of Weiss humming loudly, a pale hand at her chin, "Well, perhaps I'll go and visit my sister whenever she's free. Maybe take a stroll around Atlas and see what's changed? I'm not sure." However, her pondering face quickly changed, as though something had hit her with the force of several trains. "So long as it's not something like public relations, I think I'll be happy."
The atmosphere felt thicker after that last comment, Blake's collar tightening around her neck as she avoided eye contact with the rest of her team. Her own amber eyes flicked between her leader and her partner, the pair of sisters returning the look with awkward stares of their own.
After a few moments of silence later, a cough cut through the mist of awkwardness that lingered. "So, Blakey, how about you? Any fun plans for the spring?" Her outgoing partner put forward, and Blake couldn't help but quirk a brow. "The way you're looking at me makes me feel stupid- Oh! You're gonna be swapping spit with your boy toy all-"
"Stop talking!" Blake yelled out, a sudden surge of energy breaking whatever chains were binding her down earlier as she forced herself to her feet. Her face felt warm as she watched her partner break down into laughter, doubling over with her hands over her stomach.
Blake's reaction alone was the catalyst that led to laughter erupting in the room, and that was reason enough for Blake to feel all the more embarrassed. It wasn't her fault that she felt awkward whenever someone would make mention of her and Jaune in a weird context. No, if anything, she felt that she was entirely justified in her reaction.
"Oh come on!" Her partner began, waving her off with a smile, "You make it too easy for me to tease you, Blakey. I mean, you're supposed to be the calm and collected one-" The sound of Weiss clearing her throat from her bunk caught the attention of all eyes, but Yang swiftly moved on, "The calm and collected one out of all of us."
"Hey!" The prissy heiress yelled out, standing up with her arms rigid at her sides. The sound of Ruby giggly in her gremlin-like manner was of no surprise to anyone, much less her partner. "I'm perfectly calm and collected." Weiss brought a hand to her chest, her lips tilted to the side as she stared up at Yang.
Yang snorting beneath her breath was the straw that broke the camel's back, the white-haired girl's eyebrows twitching aggressively as she stared up at the smug-faced blonde. This was the point that Blake tactfully retreated into her mind, blocking out the sounds of Weiss' shrill shrieking along with Yang's taunts. Although, as she took a seat on her bunk, taking a book from under her bed and lifting it to her face, she was surprised to find the western book that Jaune had got her.
Huh, she was certain that she'd kept it on her bookshelf?
But an even greater surprise was her leader speeding off of her bunk and sitting next to her, peering over her shoulder and staring at the book. "Ooh, that's a good one. A little sad, though." She heard her leader mumble. She couldn't help but furrow her brows as she looked to her right, staring down at the silver-eyed girl.
"Since when did you get a chance to read through this book?" Blake had to ask; it wasn't every day that her leader caught her on the book foot when it came to reading. If she had to guess though, Ruby probably just swiped it off her bookshelf when she wasn't looking. It wouldn't have been a first.
The red-haired girl let out a quiet hum as she tilted her head, "Oh, I didn't read the books. A couple of months ago, Jaune and I were hanging out and we both saw the premier. Gosh, I'm super excited for when the next season comes out!" Something about hearing Ruby watch the show with Jaune left a bad taste in Blake's mouth. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that she hated it.
Blake plastered on her usual mask before returning to the conversation at hand, "Oh, that makes sense." She monotonously droned out, staring away from her leader as she scooched closer to the foot of her bed, tossing the book onto the top of her bookshelf. "Did you and Jaune ever finish watching it?"
Much to her surprise, Blake heard her leader snort as she rolled her eyes, "Pfft, no." The Faunus girl couldn't help but quirk a brow at Ruby's response, and it was clear that Ruby noticed. "Jaune's a bigger dork than I am, Blake. Do you honestly think that he would've waited for me to watch it with him?"
The raven-haired girl blinked a few times as she stared down at her younger teammate, "Why wouldn't he? He waits on me all the time."
"Yeah, but you're his girlfriend," Ruby quickly snipped, and Blake's discomfort very rapidly returned, her shoulders tensing up as a lingering warmth stuck to her face. "He's supposed to wait on you. But not me, I get stuck with Jaune sperging out and watching the whole show the same night, and then texting me in the morning about it."
Blake laughed at Ruby's rambling, it certainly did sound like something Jaune would do. "You know what, that's pretty fair. But I don't think Jaune gives me the special treatment you think he does." At the end of the day, she and Jaune were still just friends, despite whatever front they had both put up. Granted, there were a few moments that felt out of place from time to time, but she elected to ignore those for the sake of her mental stability.
"Blake, please stop lying." Her leader deadpanned as she stared up at her.
Blake felt her eyebrows furrow and her bow flattening as she stared back at the red-haired goblin that was her leader, "Excuse me?"
"Ah, bad response!" Ruby back-peddled as she waved her hands in front of her, the deadpan expression falling off her face. "It's just that I think you haven't noticed how he treats you different from the rest of us." Ruby's mouth going a mile a minute as she elaborated further.
Blake let her face relax as she stared at her leader, leaning back with her arms behind her against the mattress keeping her upright. "Maybe it's because he doesn't?" Blake rhetorically asked.
"Uh, yeah he does. Do you really think that Jaune would do half the stuff that he does for you for the rest of us?" Ruby answered Blake's rhetorical with one of her own, and the Faunus girl was growing tired of the conversation with every passing word. "I mean come on, you guys shared a bed twice now!" Three times, actually. But Blake would never say it out loud.
"Can we please change the topic of conversation now?" Blake allowed herself the chance to put her annoyance on full display.
Much to Blake's surprise, she heard her leader laugh, "Okay, sure." A smile on her face as she jostled her shoulder, "So, you never did say what your plans were for spring break are. Any fun adventures planned out in the life of Blake Belladonna?" Fun adventures, huh?
What, like going out into the frontier with the express purpose of hunting down the White Fang camps that she knew about? Or maybe tracking down high-value members of the aforementioned terrorist organization and handing them over to the proper authorities? That sort of thing?
No, no such plans in the mind of Blake Belladonna.
Blake let out a hum as she stared down at the ground, her lips pursed tightly as she broke away from her thoughts, "Not really. I'm probably just going to hang around the dorm until classes start up again."
Ruby let out a loud groan as she rolled her eyes at her feline teammate, "But that's boring!"
Blake only shrugged as she went to pick up another book, "It's peaceful." It was the best way that Blake could put it. After the whole debacle at the docks, she was more than happy to use her break for what it was. As a break. "Besides, I've had enough adventures for a little while."
The red-haired girl let out a hum as she brought a hand to her chin, and after a moment, her eyes lit up, "Why don't you come and bunk with me and Yang?"
On instinct, Blake opened the book in her hands and flipped a page, "You mean Yang and I-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, how about it?"
Blake couldn't help but laugh at her leader's excitement, her eyes skimming over the pages of the book in her hand. Something to do with an influential ship captain turning the tide of war with hit and run tactics from the sea. "No, I think I'm quite happy here, thank you."
From the corner of her eye, Blake watched as her leader's head drooped, the light in her eye dimming ever so slightly, "Aw. Are you sure?"
"Ruby, let me put it this way: If I have trouble dealing with Yang now, what makes you think that I'll have any less if I go with you." As much as Blake would have enjoyed going to see Patch, it would not have been worth even half of the hassle that came with Yang. Blake enjoyed her partner's presence, sure, but Yang made life unnecessarily difficult on some days.
Ruby let out a sigh as a smile slowly crawled back onto her face, "Yang sure does have a way with introverts." An awkward laugh forced its way out of her as she brought a hand to the back of her head. "And I would know. I'm pretty sure I'm the first introvert she's ever met."
Blake giggled as she flipped the page in her book, a daring night raid on a war camp by bogged down buccaneers, forced to strike due to attrition. "I'm sorry you have to live with her," Blake replied, a smile on her face.
"Yep," her leader mumbled, "and knowing my sister, she's going to be dragging me everywhere when we get home." Ruby's lack of enthusiasm would have been funny if Blake didn't feel the same way.
Everyone on her team was going home. To visit family and to return to the place they grew up, their achievements were going to be on full display. Her teammates had someone to be proud of them; Blake wasn't even sure if she had that anymore. Considering her poor choices, all of which were clouded by a strong sense of idealism for a future that was so difficult to obtain.
Blake was living with her choices. Her mistakes.
Blake let out a hum as she slowly nodded her head, "Shouldn't you start packing soon?" Her voice monotonously droned out as she hid behind the pages of her book.
"Oh!" She heard next to her, the bed creaking loudly as Ruby jumped up from her seat. "Shoot, that's right!" Her leader yelled out, the sounds of Yang and Weiss' bickering coming to an abrupt end. If Blake had been paying any attention to their squabble, there would probably have been some petty insults here, comments about insecurities there, and just all-around rude comments.
It wasn't a surprise to see her teammates rush to pack their things away, Ruby and Yang stuffing brown suitcases with clothes for the coming weeks, along with the occasional knick-knack. As for Weiss, she was busy pacing around the room with her hand on her chin, her bag having already been packed ahead of schedule. Ever the vigilant, Blake thought.
Oddly enough, Blake felt somewhat envious of their rush to pack their things.
The Faunus girl tried to shake her mind away from the intrusive thoughts, a heavy cloud of guilt weighing on her mind. Maybe she should call... no, she shouldn't. There was little point in calling her parents now. If anything, she'd only be intruding on their lives now. She made her bed, and now she had to lay in it.
Blake continued autonomously reading through the third chapter of her book with another flick of a page, albeit not paying any attention to the words on paper. At some point, she made notice of some kind of battle at sea with volleys of cannon fire and munitions exploding, but it felt warbled to her. She let her eyes slowly skim to the bottom of the page before flicking to the next khaki page.
Of all the things that felt so off for her, the imposing silence that sat over the room was certainly one of them. Whereas when her team was normally together, they would always loudly chatter amongst themselves, going on and on about some inane topic that held no weight; But now? Now it was dreadfully quiet.
As Blake flicked another page, she heard the sound of someone sighing as a zipper did its namesake and zipped a bag shut. "Well, I guess that's that." She heard her partner mutter from next to her drawers, the ears atop her head twitching.
The sound of her leader letting out a yawn as she stretched atop her bed was hard to not notice, considering the fact everything had been quiet before and all. "At least we're done now. All that's left is to get on a flight and go home."
Blake involuntarily let out a hum as she continued to skim through her book, silently berating herself within the confines of her own mind. She would have been better off not acknowledging her at all. Her amber eyes flicked above the pages of her book to look to her leader, finding a pair of silver eyes staring back at her before averting her gaze, staring back at the pages in front of her.
Blake felt her brows scrunch up for a moment as stared intently at the pages, her mouth curling to the side as she pretended to read further. She heard the normally prissy let out a sigh as she set her bag down onto the floor. "So, this is it then?" She heard her mutter, and Blake didn't have it in her to reply. Her stomach was tossing and turning as her face grew cold. She felt like she wanted to shake in place. But she held it together; The last thing she wanted to do was ruin a goodbye.
Much to her surprise, she heard her leader snicker to herself, "Pfft, as if. We'll all be back before you know it, kicking butt, taking names, and failing classes." Ruby's poor excuse for a joke forcing a smile onto Blake's face. A small one to be sure, but a smile nonetheless.
"Hmph, I think you forget who your partner is." The heiress quickly followed up with a playful scoff.
The sight of Ruby rolling her eyes was something that Blake quirked a brow at, "How could I ever forget? You remind me all the time." Ruby sarcastically replied, and this time, Blake allowed herself to laugh.
"She does like to toot her own horn, doesn't she?" Yang let her own bit of sarcasm slip out, placing an open hand on a quirked hip.
Blake let out a hum, closing the hardcover book in front of her before setting it down at her side. With the pages that once obscured her vision gone, the sight of her team standing together in their room as they smiled brightly at one another was one that ingrained itself into her mind. And for the next few weeks, it was likely going to stay ingrained.
They weren't going to be gone for long, Blake knew that. But it wasn't her fault that loneliness felt like an eternity.
For that moment, sounds felt muffled and distant as she watched as her teammates- her friends exchanged hugs and warm goodbyes. Some were even pointed at Blake. She felt that they were kind words given the smiles they sent towards her. Granted, none of them ever tried to hug her, and that was fine. She wasn't big on physical contact anyway.
One by one, they all walked out the door, closing it behind them with a click. And then nothing. No sound, no laughter, just… silence. The room felt devoid of that excited energy that made it feel so alive moments ago. It felt sickening to Blake. She tried to lay down and close her eyes, to ignore that nauseating feeling that came with the deafening, dreadful silence.
But her trying to ignore the silence did her no favors. If anything, it made her feel even more isolated. Behind her closed eyelids was little more than a dark, empty void, devoid of all things living and good. It was terrible. She felt her breathing become heavier as her chest rose and fell quicker as time went on.
Then something broke the silence, the sounds of strings quietly being strummed made Blake's ears perk up. The strings were nearly silent in their vibrating. Blake pushed herself up from her bed, put her feet on the floor, and stood up, walking to the door with an urgency that she didn't even know she had.
She turned the knob on the door and carefully pulled it open, the halls empty and desolate. Much to her surprise, the sound came from across the hall. From the JNPR room. With the finesse and grace that came with the namesake of her Faunus features, she quietly stalked over to the door, turning the knob and slowly pushing the door open.
As the door quietly creaked open, the creaking was drowned out by the sound of a guitar being strummed. Blake's eyebrows shot up through a small crack between the door and the door frame as she watched the local blond boy strum in a complex rhythmic manner.
From the other side of the door, he began to mumble, "And I wonder… When I sing along with you..." His fingers barred across the neck of the guitar, sliding along the strings as he continued to play.
Blake wrapped her right hand against the door, pushing it open so that she could step inside. She watched as his blue eyes widened marginally as he set aside his guitar, stuffing his right hand in his pocket as he stared back at her.
"Uh, hey." She muttered, hesitantly bringing her right hand up to wave. The fact that he was still dressed in his uniform and the fact that his bags were still unpacked said a lot about his readiness to leave.
A shaky smile made its way onto the boy's face as he gave her a wave of his own, "Uh, hey yourself." He followed up with an awkward chuckle. If anything, Jaune felt embarrassed. He wasn't exactly expecting someone to just walk in on him playing.
Blake's hand reluctantly fell, slowly inching towards her side as she had a hard time maintaining eye contact with the boy, "Sorry, did I walk in on something?"
The blond boy's right hand shot up, waving frantically in front of him, "No, no, not at all! I just wasn't expecting anyone to walk in, you know?" That statement more than helped paint a picture for Blake.
The Faunus girl let out a hum as she made her way over to his bedside, taking a seat next to him before flopping backward. From her peripheral, she watched as Jaune quirked a brow, but she didn't pay him any mind. As she tucked her hands behind her head, Blake let out a sigh as she stared up at the bland, beige-colored ceiling.
"So, what's up?" She heard the boy next to her ask, her left Faunus appendage twitching.
Blake only shrugged as she laid back, "Nothing. Just figured I'd swing by before you left." Her normally monotonous voice cracked as she spoke, much to her annoyance. Of all the times to be having trouble keeping a stiff upper lip, now was most definitely the worst.
Jaune couldn't help but chuckle to himself, picking up his guitar before stuffing it away into its travel bag. "Well, you're here now." He could tell that his playful sarcasm wasn't exactly appreciated by the raven-haired girl. Then again, it hardly ever was. "So?"
Blake pushed out a breath as her mouth curled downwards, "What time is your flight?" It was better to tear the bandage off sooner rather than later.
Jaune let out a hum as he zipped the travel bag shut, staring at Blake from the corner of his eye, "Sometime later tonight. Why?"
One second, then two, and finally a third before Blake turned her head to face Jaune, staring into his blue eyes. "You want to go out for a bit?" The boy's eyebrows furrowed as he stared back at her with a confused expression. "To Vale, I mean. You know, stretch your legs before you have to spend several hours on a flight."
"Ugh, don't remind me." The blond swordsman's reply plastered a small smile onto Blake's face, being reminded of a distinct story involving motion sickness and new boots. "Yeah, sure, I'd love to." A wide smile stretched across his face as he stared back at her.
That was good.
It wasn't long before the two of them had gotten out of their uniforms, throwing on clothes that fit the occasion. Blake in her normal black and white attire, and Jaune dressed in his hoodie and jeans. The two met outside of their respective dorms, and with a little chit-chat marched to Vale.
Neither of them knew what they were going to be doing in Vale, but that was alright by Blake. Being alone was far worse than not knowing what she was going to do for an evening.
Blake walked at Jaune's side for an undetermined amount of time as they made random turns on street corners, following sidewalks until they felt the need to change paths. The blond boy would often point out stores and stalls on the street for the two of them to visit, but honestly, Blake wasn't particularly interested in any of them.
Seventeen stalls, Blake counted them as she walked the streets of Vale. Seventeen stalls and not a spark of interest. It was a terrible feeling, seeing all sorts of stalls and stores she had never been to before, and being completely disinterested in every single one of them. Maybe it was because she was in a particularly foul mood?
She didn't know, and frankly, she didn't care either.
Although, as she followed the blond boy's step, taking one final turn at the corner of the street, there came into view a certain sign that wasn't unfamiliar. "Tukson's Book Trade," It read, "Home to Every Book Under the Sun." She felt a calloused hand probe at her arm, quickly following the source with her eyes before staring into a sea of deep blue.
"I don't know, how about Tukson's? From what I remember, you seemed to like that place well enough." She heard the blond boy confidently state. She had spent the better half of the hour deflecting suggestions from the boy, all the while being lost in her mind.
Blake took the moment of reprieve that she had to stare at the sign of the bookstore. There was little value in going to Tukson's now. She had all the books she ever wanted and then some, at least 20 on her bookshelf accumulating dust from lack of use. But some part of her wanted to go in and at least say hello to her old friend.
She let out a breath as she grabbed the boy's hand, walking towards the store with long strides. A short visit wouldn't do any harm, she supposed.
Now in front of the door, Blake carefully pulled it open, the sound of bells ringing as she stepped through the doorframe, her final bit of company trailing behind her with a dopey smile on his face. The same smile that he would wear when he'd tell her that all was right in the world, or when he'd remind her that she was all these incredible things in his mind.
The smell of aging paper hit Blake like a truck on a slick road, the room dimly lit and seemingly vacant. That was until a certain burly figure stepped out from the backroom, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.
"Sorry, we're closed for the- oh, Blake." Tukson started, his eyebrows high as he watched her and Jaune walk into the store. "Come on in, I was just getting ready to close up the store for the day." He off-handedly stated, waving the "couple" into the store as he leaned on the counter in front of him.
Jaune found himself being dragged towards the front desk by Blake. Not that he minded, it was one of those things he expected from Blake. Plus, it's not like he had a whole lot to complain about this time around. "And uh, don't forget about me." His awkward reminder drawing an eye-roll from Blake.
Now standing in front of the desk, Blake let herself smile as she stared up at the older man, "Hello Tukson, how has the store been?" She asked, an eyebrow quirked as she stared about the room, the shelves devoid of most of their contents.
The older man chuckled as a smile crept onto his face, "I've made sure to sell most of the inventory before I finished packing, as I'm sure you've noticed." Gesturing his arms out to the empty shelves, his chest puffed out with pride. "I'd argue that business has been fairly good."
"Sure beats having a full inventory," Jaune muttered, two pairs of eyes bearing down on him. "Okay, I get Blake being able to hear me, but not you." Jaune's follow-up caused Tukson's eyebrows to shoot upwards as his eyes quickly flicked to Blake.
Blake only shrugged her shoulders as she pulled the boy a smidge closer, "I got a little lax a few too many times, and when I told Jaune about my… extra features, he wasn't all too surprised." Her explanation was quickly followed by her bow bobbing up and down.
It was at that moment that Tukson's face relaxed, a look of clarity taking hold as he pushed himself off of the counter and stood up properly, holding his hands in front of him, his palms facing towards him. "Ah, so that's how it is." She heard him mutter before watching as his nails extended far beyond what normal nails should. For a human, anyway.
Jaune jumped at the sight of the store owner's nails growing thrice their size in but a half-second, taking an instinctive step back as his left hand rushed to where his scabbard normally rested. "Okay, that's new!" His voice loudly bouncing off the walls of the room, cringing to himself as he knew exactly what was going to happen next.
A hand dug itself deeply into his side, a dull pain radiating across his side. As Jaune glared at Blake, he wasn't surprised to see Blake staring indifferently at him. "It's really not. Tukson's had those his whole life."
Jaune let out a breath as Blake's hand retracted from his side, "Well, it's new to me."
"Does it change anything though?" A singular eyebrow rising from Blake as her golden eyes burned into his own.
"Why would it?" If Jaune had a nickel for every time that he'd found out someone was a Faunus in disguise, he'd have two nickels. Granted, it wasn't a lot, but the fact that he had two nickels to rub together was baffling in the first place.
The Raven-haired girl smiled inwardly as she stared back towards Tukson, her eyebrows rising as she flicked her eyes back to Jaune for a moment. She heard the sound of Tukson's laugh rumbling in his chest as he crossed his arms.
Although Blake's smile disappeared as she watched Tukson's eyes wander towards her and Jaune's hands, his smile grew wider as he leaned back against his wall. "Don't you know how to pick them?" Blake's lips curled to the side as her eyebrows furrowed deeply.
They furrowed even deeper when she heard Jaune laugh in response, bringing up their clasped hands at his side, "Believe it or not, this whole thing was her idea." He said, pointing at her intertwined hand with his own, all the while laughing.
The sound of Tukson snorting to himself nearly drew a grimace out of Blake. "Why does that not surprise me?" The rhetorical question was followed by Tukson shaking his head, his feigned disapproval making the corner of her lips dip downward. "I swear, with Blake, it's either her way or not at all."
She expected Jaune to come up with some kind of sarcastic remark, but much to her surprise, she watched his smile shrink, "Well, Blake's the smart one out of both of us. If it wasn't done her way, I don't think it would've lasted as long as it has."
Blake felt the muscles in her face relax as she stared up at the blond boy, staring at the side of his face. She felt her heart beating against her chest, not too fast, not too slow, but just right. She almost wanted to smack him upside the head for being too nice to her.
Almost.
The Faunus girl cleared her throat, bringing her free hand up to her mouth, "Right, uh…" Blake tried her hardest to move on from the subject, but she couldn't find any topics. It certainly wasn't easy to think of any, considering that she had two pairs of eyes staring at her. "So, how long before you fly out to Vacuo?" Blake gave herself a mental pat on the back.
She heard the older man let out a hum as he brought a hand to his chin, "If all goes to plan, I should be able to fly out before the week is over." Something about that statement left a hollow feeling in Blake's chest. Soon enough, she wouldn't even have Tukson's bookstore to hide away in. It felt like everything was just moving on.
Blake tried to smile, she did. Vacuo would be a good opportunity for Tukson, a way out of Vale and away from their… shared background, so to speak. "That's good." She mumbled, her eyes drifting towards the floor. It seemed like everyone was just packing up and leaving, for one reason or another. "Do you need any help finishing packing?"
Tukson brought a hand up as he shook his head. "Not particularly. I've only got a few boxes left before I can close up and catch my flight."
A frown spread across Blake's face before she nodded, "Are you sure?"
The fact that Tukson waved her aside was well enough of an answer, "Quite. Besides, the last thing I want to do is intrude." His words were quickly followed by a laugh, and to say Blake was confused was putting it mildly. She tilted her head to the side as she quirked a brow, hoping for some kind of answer.
Tukson, however, said nothing. No, instead he stared directly down at her and Jaune's hand. Tracing his eyes was not the hard part. Blake didn't have the heart to return to eye contact after that.
She heard Jaune let out a cough as his eyes trailed away, "Right, well, I hope it works out for you, Tukson. Wherever it is that you go."
Tukson let out a hum as he nodded, the corners of his lips tugging upwards as he stared at them, "Yeah, you too, Jean."
Blake heard Jaune grumble quietly to himself as his lips curled to the side, quietly snorting to herself as she stared at him from the corner of her eye. She watched as Jaune almost mechanically pulled his scroll from his pocket with his free hand, "Wow, would you look at the time, we should really be going." His voice droning out monotonously.
The bookstore owner only chuckled again, "Then wait right there for just a moment, I'll be right back." He said before walking back into the backroom.
Blake furrowed her brows before blinking, just what was Tukson up to? She felt a tap on her shoulder, turning her head to find Jaune staring down at her, an eyebrow quirked as he nodded towards the door to the backroom. The Faunus girl could only shrug her shoulders as she shook her head.
And so, the two of them were left in oppressive silence.
Needless to say, Jaune was a little uncomfortable. Don't get him wrong, being alone with Blake was… fine, but he felt a little fidgety given the most recent insinuation about his and Blake's relationship. That, and he and Blake were still hand in hand. So yeah, Jaune thought that he was within his right to be a little uncomfortable.
But he wouldn't pull away from her. Not because he wanted to keep holding her hand or anything, but because he had to keep up the charade. After all, why would Jaune ever want to hold the hand of one of his closest friends, who just so happened to be a very pretty girl?
If there was a reason, he refused to acknowledge it.
It wasn't much longer until Tukson peeked back out from behind the door, walking out with a black plastic bag in his hand. Jaune watched as the older man set the bag on the counter, its unseen contents thudding against the wooden surface. The store owner smiled as he gestured to the bag, "Consider it a parting gift, from me to you."
The blond boy turned to look at his raven-haired friend, her eyes widening as she stared at the bag before looking back up at Tukson. "Tukson, you know I can't take this-"
With an eye roll, Tukson groaned as he waved Blake off one last time, "Just take the books, Blake. It's the last time I'll be able to give you any, so for your sake as much as mine, please take them." The man's words caused Blake's bow to fall, the corners of her lips tilting downwards as her brows furrowed, her eyes burning a hole into the black bag. "I'm not asking you, Blake." The Faunus man sternly stated, standing at his full height with his arms crossed.
Jaune felt Blake's hand slink away from his own, watching as she darted around the counter before wrapping her arms around the taller man, "Thank you." Jaune heard her say, her voice muffled against Tukson's shirt.
A low rumble of a laugh escaped the older man's lips as he patted Blake on the shoulder, "It's no problem," he muttered before placing both of his hands on her shoulders, pushing her to arm's length, "Now go on, go spend the rest of your day having fun. Lord knows I'm going to have a very busy flight soon."
Despite her wishes, Blake sniffled to herself as she nodded to the older man, grabbing a hold of the plastic bag with one hand before walking around the counter. "I hope Vacuo treats you well." Her words came out shakier than she would have liked, but she thought she got the point across well enough.
In response, Tukson shooed away both her and Jaune, "Me too. Now go on, shoo."
For a moment, Blake wanted to tell Tukson to shove it, if only so that she could spend another moment with her old friend before he disappeared off the face of Remnant. After all, there was no other way to describe it. Blake understood well where he was coming from, and she knew just how much danger Tukson truly was in.
Either way, it was the last time she was ever going to see the old fool.
Blake swallowed her retort as she took a breath, gently grasping at Jaune's hand before leading him towards the door.
With a push, the door opened as the sounds of bells ringed, the sight of cars cruising by as the door shut behind the two of them. She felt her stomach tossing and turning as she walked down the street, the afternoon sun shining down as the sounds of rumbling engines and honking horns filled her ears. Blake felt nauseous as she took each agonizing step away from Tukson's bookstore. She was walking away from something that she would never see again, and if there ever were a god to know her pain, they would know it well.
She tried to push down the nauseating feeling as she walked farther down the block, stopping at the corner as cars passed her by. She felt a pair of eyes watching her from just out of her peripheral sight, and so Blake did something she'd never done before. She plastered a fake smile onto her face as she turned to face Jaune.
"Well, now that we've got all these books, how about we go and find somewhere quiet?" Jaune heard her ask, and while her voice was steady and her face unmoving, something about how she looked deeply wounded him. A slowly dimming light behind her eyes burning a pair of holes behind his.
"Uh," he mumbled, bringing a hand to the back of his head. There were tons of places that could have been quiet, but only so many of them were entertaining for Jaune. Knowing Blake, she probably wanted to go back to her dorm and read through her new books. But then it hit him like a ton of bricks, he knew just the place, "How about that little cafe we swung by a couple of weeks back? I thought that place was pretty good."
Blake let out a quiet hum as she stared at the boy, she was just going to offer that they go back and lounge around the dorm until Jaune's flight, but that worked better than what she had in mind. "Sure, that sounds good."
Cafes were good. They were quiet, serene, and they were isolated from prying eyes, there was quite seriously nothing that could go wrong at a cafe.
Then again, Blake wasn't unaccustomed to being wrong.
Sound. Sound was a perpetual thing, she couldn't erase it, nor could she muffle or isolate it. Blake had heard there were ways to create chambers with the express purpose of dampening sound to be nigh unhearable. But being in a chamber that you couldn't hear in didn't change the fact that sound was there. All that sound consisted of was small waves of vibration being picked up by drums in the Human or Faunus ear.
The only way to erase sound was for nothing to perpetuate it. But that was impossible. Sound was a part of a basic core of universal laws, much like light, matter, and so on. Humanity and Faunus-kind couldn't just fight the universe. No matter what they did, a light would always shine somewhere, sound would always bounce off of something, and matter would exist in some form of energy.
So, Blake learned to slowly live with sound, despite her natural sensitivity to it.
As she flipped another page in her book, she heard what sounded like static coming from the television in front of her. Blue light brightly shined against her pale face in the dark as her eyes drifted along the rows of words that made up the page.
The beanbag chair that Blake had nestled into felt warm from her time in it. How long had she been sitting there now? It must have been hours by this point. As she set the book pages down on her lap, she dug into her pocket before pulling out her scroll. Unfurling it, the bright light shined harshly against her eyes, bringing a finger up to quickly lower the brightness on her screen. She blinked once, then twice, and the burning ceased.
Blake's eyes traced over her scroll, the time reading 7 PM. She couldn't help but quietly groan to herself as she snapped her scroll shut before jamming it back into her pocket, dragging a hand down her face after pocketing the device. They were at the cafe for longer than she thought.
As she turned her head left, she watched as Jaune sunk deeper into his own bean bag chair, a small smile on his face as he watched a show that Blake couldn't recognize. From the bits and pieces that she had bothered to watch, she noticed the fact that some small-town farm boy had bought an odd book from a shady merchant, and in it were the plans for what would eventually become the gun.
Blake hadn't paid too much attention, so she personally hadn't gotten the appeal. But Jaune? Oh, he was more than enjoying himself.
"Hey." She muttered, her voice barely loud enough to cut through the sounds of the television. She watched as looked at her from the corner of his eye, reaching for the remote on his lap before promptly lowering the volume on the tv.
"Yeah?"
"Have you got any idea what time it is?" She asked, her voice even and slow. It was an honest question, one that strayed away from the rhetorical. The last thing she wanted her final hours with Jaune to be was ill-remembered.
Jaune let out a hum as his brows furrowed, digging into his pocket before pulling out his scroll. Quickly unfurling the device, the numbers on his home screen hit him with the weight of a goliath. "Oh." He mumbled, his eyes flicking away from his scroll as it snapped shut, turning his eyes to look back at Blake's. He let a frown take its rightful place as he pocketed his scroll. "Well, ain't that a thing?"
He heard Blake quietly hollowly laugh to herself, lacking any semblance of honest mirth. "So, when do you think we should call it quits?"
It was a tough question, one that Jaune didn't think he could answer. One that he didn't even want to answer. Jaune knew full well what Blake was going to be doing when he left, and that was absolutely nothing. She was going to end up spending her break in silence, and knowing how Blake got when things were quiet, she was going to be left with that faraway look.
Jaune hit the pause button on the remote, all sound from the television being abruptly cut as he turned to face his only Faunus friend. "I mean, my flight's not for another hour or so," he started, rolling his wrist as he went on, "we don't have to leave right now."
He watched as Blake's head tilted to the side, her amber eyes blinking twice as she stared into his own. "Don't you need the extra time to pack?"
The blond boy only waved the comment aside, "Hey, you just let me think about that when we get there, alright?" He replied with a smile.
Blake's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the boy, "Fine, sure. But when you're late for your flight, you've got no one to blame but yourself." She hadn't had the slightest idea as to why she was upset with Jaune's blatant disregard for his schedule. If anything, she should have been ecstatic about the extra time.
But she wasn't. She knew full well what getting her hopes up would mean. First, it would be a minor hope that Jaune would miss his flight, which would spiral into him staying for the extra day. After that, it would be him forgoing the idea of going home in the first place, staying with her for the entirety of break. The ideas themselves weren't bad, but they were certainly selfish.
Who was Blake to hope that Jaune would miss one of his few opportunities to see his family? Jaune hadn't seen his family since the school year had started, and it was beyond cruel to hope that he wouldn't see them for many more months. So no, Blake refused to get her hopes up, not just for herself, but for Jaune too.
But for all her mental gymnastics on the subject matter, it didn't stop the cold, empty void from slithering up from her stomach, gripping at her heart with its frost-bitten claws. It was a sickening feeling, coming to terms with the fact that not only would she be alone, isolated from her tea, but knowing that she would wake up a day from now, finding Jaune nowhere to be found.
She had gotten rather used to the blond boy's antics, and all the funny little ways he tended to greet her during breakfast. How he would ramble about fantastical dreams with her, or how he might rant about the day before's classes, along with whatever other topics he might've found to complain about.
Knowing that he wasn't going to be there to continue the running trend was… Blake loathed thinking of it as a sad event, but she couldn't help but feel that way. Even on the days that it was annoying, she couldn't deny that Jaune had some charm in his ramblings.
So, yes, Blake would think of it as something sad.
"Hey, Blake?" She heard the object of her thoughts break through the wall that was her deep pondering.
"Hm?" Turning her head to face the boy, she watched as he fiddled with his scroll in his hands. Not particularly doing anything with it, but gently tossing it between hands. Knowing Jaune, she knew that he was going to drop the device any moment now.
"So, weird question, right?" That start alone made Blake deadpan. Blake knew full well what a question like that would lead into. It was either going to be about herself, her thoughts, or her Faunus traits if she was unlucky. "Do cat Faunus purr?"
With that, Blake knew full well that her deadpan was warranted, and if she was in a better mood, she would have mentally high-fived herself. "Jaune, what kind of stupid question is that?" Monotonously droning as she stared at the boy, she couldn't help but feel the corners of her lips dip downwards as Jaune shrugged.
"I mean, it's an honest question." It sounded innocent enough, but that didn't change the fact that it annoyed Blake to no end. Just because Faunus had animal traits did not make them exactly like the animals that they took after. After all, Blake wasn't as cat-like as she could have been. And even if she was, she elected to ignore it, risking being a hypocrite.
Blake scoffed as she rolled her eyes, "Then I'll give you an equally honest answer. No, Jaune, I don't purr, much like how I don't knead dough when I'm happy, sleep in the sunlight on a nice day, or stand up with my back arched when I'm mad." The heat from her mind accidentally poured into her words as they left her mouth.
She watched as Jaune's eyes flicked from side to side for a moment, a heavy silence casting over them as the seconds passed. "So, you don't know?"The blond boy's shoulders tensing up as his words carried an obvious wariness.
Blake felt her jaw drop as she stared at the blond idiot in front of her. Yes, she was calling him an idiot, because the boot fit, and oh did it fit very snuggly. "Why would you ask that? Never once in my life have I ever purred."
"...Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Nearly screeching her words out, Blake's ears folded over themselves as she narrowed her amber eyes at Jaune. "I have lived for 18, nearing 19 years, I think I would know full well if I have purred." Having to deal with Jaune's question, while innocent, and holding no malicious intent, was driving Blake up a wall.
Jaune let out a hum as he diplomatically shook his head, he knew full well when someone was nearing their limits. So, Jaune made the tactically sound decision of retreating. And looking it up on his scroll. Not that he was going to tell Blake, oh no, that would only lead her onto a train of thought that Jaune dreaded even thinking about.
Quietly unfurling his scroll, he perused the web in the hopes of finding the answers he sought. His question was simple, 'Do catgirls purr?' He typed into his search, pressing the enter key with confidence. It was an innocent question, one that in no way could lead to any bad results-
"Oh my god." He muttered, quickly shutting his scroll as he cleared his throat, putting one leg over the other as he stared at a seemingly interesting wall.
Blake's ears twitched at the sound of Jaune muttering under his breath, and when she turned her head to look at him, she was surprised to see him so… Unusually awkward. Jaune was awkward, sure, but never so obviously awkward. She heard the snapping of his scroll, but she never saw the contents that made him the way he was.
What could she say, she was curious.
"You look like you've just seen something questionable." Blake laid it out as flat as she could, taking on the subject in a way that she knew Jaune would fumble.
"Uh, no, no, I don't know what you mean." The way that he rushed through his words, piled on by the fact that he refused all attempts at eye contact with her meant that she was on the right track.
She hummed to herself, the corners of her lips tugging upwards ever so slightly as she stared at the boy. "Sure you don't." Rolling her eyes as she stared at the boy, "So, what was on your scroll that has you so jumpy?"
"Nothing." Was his sole reply. Blake needed a change in tactics if she was going to gain any information. She needed to get more aggressive in her questioning.
So, she stood up from her bean bag and slowly stalked over to where he sat, taking a knee next to his seat and forcing eye contact. "It sure doesn't seem like nothing," She started, leaning closer as Jaune carefully began to lean away, "If anything, I feel like you might be hiding something."
After a moment of eye contact, she watched Jaune crumble as he let out a sigh, taking his scroll back out of his pocket before holding it out in front of him, staring away from her. "Fine, here, take a look. But don't be surprised when I say that it's bad."
Blake rolled her eyes once more as she plucked the scroll from his hands. There was no way that it was as bad as Jaune was making it out to be. If anything, it was probably something tame and easily digestible. So, Blake flicked open the scroll, leading her to find Jaune's browser open with a question that read, 'do catgirls purr.' Naturally, Blake was disappointed by the question in mind, but the results were beyond discomforting.
The entire page was filled with links that led to sketchy sites and less-than-ideal videos for someone to watch in public, the contents of which were lewd in nature. And the worst part of it all was that they all centered on traits that Blake had, specifically the trait that sat atop her head, among others.
So, Blake did the adult thing and snapped the scroll shut before pushing it against Jaune's chest. "Well, are you happy with your result?" Her words having been forced through gritted teeth.
Jaune sat quietly for a moment, and she could tell from the look in his eyes that gears were turning, if only very slowly. "I mean, I still don't know if they do."
Blake didn't know what she was expecting. She let go of the boy's scroll, letting it tumble into his lap as she went to go and find her seat once more. "Honestly," she muttered. She wasn't sure whether she should be embarrassed, angry, or just flat-out disappointed. On the one hand, she told Jaune that she couldn't purr, and that should have been the end of the discussion. On the other hand, Blake wasn't sure if she could. After all, she never tried to. Not that she was contemplating giving it an attempt, but if on the slimmest chance that she could, she would never be able to live it down.
"Hey, it's not my fault that I don't know anything about Faunus anatomy, alright?" He retorted, defensively bringing an open palm to his chest. So Jaune was curious, could she really stay mad at him for an innocent question? Then again, it was Blake he was thinking about, she tended not to like when he asked questions that she thought were dumb.
As Blake found her seat, she couldn't help but deadpan at the boy. Jaune knew full well that she was a primary source for most information on Faunus, considering that she was one. "Jaune, I'm not sure if you remember, but I am a Faunus!" She tried to keep her voice in check, but all it resulted in was a half scream.
Jaune chuckled to himself as he brought a hand to the back of his head, sheepishly grinning as he stared at the floor. "You're not exactly being forward with the questions I ask though."
Blake blinked as she turned her head, "What do you mean?"
The blond boy internally smacked himself upside the head, oh he'd done it now. "Uh, well… How do I put this?" He muttered to himself, his hand scratching at the back of his head with slowly increasing speed. "Whenever I ask you something that you think is obvious, you tend to blow me off and act like I'm being dumb. So I felt like you wouldn't really be up for this kind of discussion."
The Faunus girl paused for a moment, pondering to herself as she slowly sank into her seat. Had she treated Jaune like that? She knew just how many questions Jaune could ask, and how many of them she felt were obvious, but did she honestly treat him so poorly? If she did, it wasn't out of maliciousness. At least, she felt like it wasn't her being malicious.
"I… really?" Were the only words to escape Blake's mouth. She almost didn't believe him, out of the fear that she had done something to do him wrong. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, especially considering just how much of a poor liar Jaune was. At least, when he was around her.
"Uh, yeah." He mumbled, taking his scroll from his lap and stowing it into his pocket. "You didn't notice?" His sarcastic reply wasn't exactly something Blake appreciated, shooting him an icy glare, causing him to chuckle.
"...No." Her voice grew quiet, nearly beneath her breath as the need to curl inwards upon herself grew ever stronger. The earlier void that spread across her chest rooted itself deeper, the icy feeling spreading across her extremities. There it was again, that slowly encompassing sense of dread.
Watching as Blake curled in on herself, Jaune waved both of his hands in front of him, "I mean, I never took it to heart or anything! I just figured that you weren't much of a question-answering type, you know?" Tossing in a laugh for good measure. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Blake off in a worse mood than she seemed to already be.
After all, she was going to be left in Beacon by herself. Without her team to rely on for the morning routine, most of the campus being left vacant, save for maybe the odd professor or student. Shoot, even Jaune was going home for a week. But still, he couldn't help but feel bad about leaving her on her own.
As Blake curled up on her bean bag chair, resting on her side, she couldn't help but stare at the blond boy. There he was, explaining how she would slight him regularly, and he just laughed it off. Laughing it off as if it was just an inside joke.
"Well… Do you have any questions?"
Her question wiped the smile from his face as he tilted his head, his brows furrowed as he stared back at her. "You're serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" It wasn't exactly like Blake was much of a joking person.
His eyebrows shot up, seemingly shocked at her willingness to comply. She couldn't help but feel a little offended by that, but she let it slip by. It wasn't exactly like she had been forthcoming with answers to his questions. So, for just this once, she'd answer any and all questions.
"Uh, yeah, cool!" He yelled out, leaning forward in his seat with great effort, placing his elbows square on his knees. "So, here's a question I've had for a while, right? How good is your hearing?"
Huh? That was a dumb- no! It was a perfectly valid question. Blake let out a breath after a moment, sitting up in her seat, "If I had to give an example, it'd be this; when it gets really quiet, I can hear you and your team talking in your dorm from my bed."
She watched as Jaune instinctively leaned away from her, bringing his arms around himself, "Oh man, that's weird. Sorry, I didn't think you'd be able to hear us at night."
Blake only shook her head from side to side, her hair swaying behind her with each movement, "I mean, it's not like I can hear anything coherent. It tends to be too muffled for me to really pick anything up, so I try to ignore it."
Jaune let out a sigh, slouching forward as his eyes flit shut, "Well, that makes me feel a little better." At least Blake wasn't listening in on his conversations with his team, so that was good. "Wait, does that mean that you can hear me when I mutter all the time?"
"Hm? Oh yes." Casually shrugging her shoulders as she stared back at the boy, whose eyes threatened to bulge out from their sockets as they darted around the room, looking for a change in topic. "It's funny to hear you mutter most of the time."
Now, Jaune knew that he should've kept his mouth shut, that he should just leave the topic alone and find something else to focus on. But something in him felt brave and curious. "And the other times?"
"Annoying." Blake sharply replied, watching as he flinched from the proverbial slap she had dealt him. But she didn't let him focus on it for longer, trying her best to keep the conversation going, for once. "So, do you have any other questions, or is that it?"
Jaune let out a hum as he looked up at the ceiling, thinking to himself. Did he have any more questions? It was hard to find an honest answer, mostly because he didn't have one at the moment. His mouth crooked sideways as let out yet another hum before turning back to face Blake.
Although, as he turned to face the Faunus girl, his eyes ended up settling on her bow. Well, there was a question. "So uh, kind of a personal question, but… what's the deal with you and the bow?"
Blake's brows furrowed as she looked at Jaune, her ears twitching as he continued to stare at them. He was right, that was personal. But Blake did say that she would answer any questions he might have. She let out a sigh as she brought a hand up to touch the fabric atop her head, "It's… Personal, for sure."
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to!" Came his quick response, raising a hand before waving it in front of him. The last thing he wanted to do was make Blake answer questions she was uncomfortable with. He knew that they had done this once before, but it felt different in some way. Not quite as personal, but still a heavy topic.
Blake tried not to smile at his objection, but she failed, the corners of her lips tugging upwards as a giggle escaped her. "It's not something I'm against sharing, but it's just heavy to think about." Blake didn't wear a bow without reason, and it was more than just a shallow disguise she used to get into Beacon. "I wear this bow because, without it, people think I'm different. That I'm just somebody who doesn't belong, all because of an extra pair of ears. To me, wearing this bow is a reminder that I'll never be the same as an ordinary human."
Her words carried a weight that Jaune couldn't express with words alone, his shoulders sagging as he felt the aforementioned weight press down on him. He felt his throat tighten as a lump formed in his windpipe. "Blake, that's-" words failed him as his mind slowly came to a crawl. There was no polite way to express how he felt about it, "That's fucked."
To his surprise, he heard her laugh as a small smile rested gently on her pale face, "I mean, it's not all bad. Most people in Vale don't really carry the opinion of Faunus being lesser, alien creatures. But the fact that anyone could feel that way tends to instill some anxiety." Her smile slowly faded away as she stared at the carpeted floor of the rented room, "It's not fun to watch smile faces disappear at the mention of me having extra ears. So, I just stopped bringing it up after a while."
Jaune felt his brows form a crease between them as his heart loudly, yet slowly, pounded against his chest. The thought of someone like Blake being ostracized by people that thought she was sub-human because of a trait like her ears was painful, to say the least. "I mean, if it makes you feel any better, I don't think your ears are all that bad. If anything, I think they're really nice, you know?"
Blake's face remained the same, her eyes still focussed on the floor. She wasn't even listening, all sounds dulling and fading away as though they were far ahead of her. She was too lost in her mind to bother with the world around her. "I think we should call it a night. Head back to the dorms before your flight leaves."
Jaune watched as Blake pushed herself to her feet, taking the book that was once in her lap and half-heartedly tossing it back onto her beanbag seat. Quietly, he picked up the remote to the television. As he gingerly held the remote, he stared at the flashing lights that came from the screen, listening to the sounds for just a moment longer.
With the press of a button, the light flickered away, and all sound ceased.
It was a quiet walk back to the dorms, the dark sky had quickly settled on Vale, street lights lining the paths on Beacon's campus with vibrant orange lights as the pair of friends marched back to their resting places. For Blake, it was to settle in for the night and to prepare herself for a very long pair of weeks. But for Jaune, it was so that he could say his last goodbye.
It was a sickening feeling, knowing that he had to say his goodbye soon. He knew it had to happen sometime soon, but he wanted to fish for more time. Time to enjoy Blake's presence, to hear her laugh, to see her smile, to watch her roll her eyes at every other dumb comment he made. To bask in the warmth that came with being around her.
Unbeknownst to Jaune, his feelings were mirrored by the girl that walked next to him. She had been expecting the coming moment the entire day, trying to remind herself that she could have expected nothing more than what she got. She got to spend the whole day with Jaune when he could have easily spent the day with his team before they'd all left. It was the only thing that could have ever happened. Jaune was going to eventually go home, it was one of those facts that Blake tried to force into her brain.
But every time she tried to accept the reality of the situation, to come to grips with the truth that came with the day, a tiny, nearly silent part of her mind would dare speak up. It gave words of hope, hope that she wouldn't have to be alone. That she wouldn't be left with two weeks of isolation to come to terms with what her life had been before she'd gotten to this point.
As Blake trudged alongside Jaune, the nauseating feeling struck again, a cold claw gripping at her heart, tightening its hold on her with every step she took. Her windpipe felt like it was shrinking as she followed Jaune into the dorm building, matching him step for step. With every corner they turned, the two of them grew closer and closer to the end of the day.
It wasn't long before Blake found her dorm, stopping in front of it to stare at the plaque that was nailed to the front of her door. Team RWBY, it read, the letters engraved into the bright copper metal. Blake couldn't help but let out a sigh as she stared at her door, her eyelids feeling heavier as the cold grip on her very soul had left her numb.
She felt a hand touch her shoulder, but she didn't pay it any mind as she stared at the plaque. This was it, this was her last goodbye. She was probably being melodramatic, but she didn't care. She was going to be left with nothing but her thoughts to accompany her for the next few weeks, that alone was enough to inspire dread in her heart.
The force that rested on her shoulder gently pulled at her, turning her around to face the source. Blake didn't bother fighting it.
As she turned around, she stared up to look at the blue-eyed boy that she'd come to know so well smiling down at her. It wasn't forced, but it wasn't exactly the happiest smile he'd ever given her. She didn't even have the heart to return the smile, instead opting to wrap her arms around his midsection.
As Blake pulled him towards her, she heard him let out some kind of confused "Huh?" She ignored it, gripping tighter on him for just a second longer before slinking away and taking a step back.
Blake felt a hesitant hand pat her back, once, then twice, before finally just settling. She didn't plan to move any time soon, so she didn't have anything against Jaune keeping his hands on her back. "Thank you." Her voice was muffled by his hoodie.
"What for?" Jaune asked, quirking a brow as he stared down at Blake, her cheek pressed against his chest as her bow flattened.
"For spending your afternoon with me, I guess." Internally wincing at her unintentional extension of the statement. She didn't guess, she knew he spent the afternoon with her, and she knew full well that it was what she was thanking him for. There was no need for hesitation and second-guessing. But she couldn't help it.
She heard him laugh, his chest rising and falling in rapid succession as she leaned on him, "Hey, what kind of a friend would I be if I told you no? So, yeah, it was my pleasure."
Blake couldn't help but give him one last squeeze before breaking away from the embrace, letting out a breath as she stared up at him, trying to give an honest smile. She failed, of course, only managing to give a half-hearted, shaky grin. "See you later, Jaune." She mumbled before turning her back to the boy, turning the knob to her door before walking in and shutting the door behind her with a click.
In the quiet of her dorm, Blake could only feel one thing. Numb, Blake felt numb. She had said more than her fair share of goodbyes today, and fate was being so cruel as to make her say goodbye to Jaune too. Not that Jaune was more important to her than her team was, but it was… different. It struck more of a chord with her in a way that saying goodbye to her team didn't.
She spent every waking minute with her team, she was more than certain that they were all going to be fine without her, despite their quirks and personalities. But with Jaune, she couldn't help but feel a little concerned. Not because she thought he wouldn't be fine without her, or vice versa, but because being around him made Blake forget. He made her forget that she was all the terrible things that she used to be.
Ignorant. Unsociable. Rude. She was still all of these things, she thought, but at least she was slowly forgetting it. Not just the fact that she was those things and then some, but how to be what she was. She was an ex-terrorist, and although she never drew blood, it didn't change that she did horrible things.
Blake stumbled over to her bed, kicking off her boots before flopping onto her mattress, her face deep in her pillow.
Tired. Blake felt tired.
The Faunus girl's eyelids felt heavier than ever, a dark cloud looming above her thoughts as she readied herself for the dark days that were soon to follow. And worst of all, she was going to be stuck with them all on her own. No team to distract her, and no Jaune to listen.
Blake was alone.
She laid there for what felt like ages, trapped in a place between consciousness and lack thereof, always teetering on the edge of sleeping, but never truly finding herself swallowed by the abyss that came with sleep. It was a horrible feeling, the feeling of being tired enough to the point of wanting sleep, but staying awake in the hopes of not dreaming a terrible dream.
Blake was quickly pulled away from her thoughts as the sound of knuckles met her door. As she turned to look over her shoulder, still laying down, she saw Jaune standing in front of her door, using his heel to kick the door shut behind him. "So, I brought some movies and some snacks. You feel like watching some old action flicks with me?"
The Faunus girl blinked as she stared at the boy, slowly pushing herself up into a seated position. She couldn't believe what he was doing. She didn't believe he was there at all. She must have been dreaming. "What are you doing?" She asked, quirking a brow as she waited for the inconsistency of her dream to kick in.
Jaune tilted his head as he stared back at her, "Uh, offering to watch movies with you?"
"No, I get that. What I mean is: why are you still here?" She tried her hardest to reiterate her question, but all she got was a confused stare from the blond boy. "Don't you have packing to do?"
"Oh!" The volume of his voice caused her ears to ring, "Well, you see, I thought that it might be best that I call things off with my folks. Seeing as they've seen my face for more than their fair share, I thought that they could use more than a few months away from me."
Blake felt her jaw come undone, her mouth agape as she stared at the boy. Jaune was staying? Blake felt that dreadful feeling that gripped at her heart disappear, a comforting warmth sprouting in her chest as she stared at the smiling fool that had just forgone seeing his family. She couldn't help but smile as she pushed herself onto her feet, tackling the boy in a way that would have made pro-athletes proud.
In what felt like a split-second, Jaune felt his head thud against the wooden door he had just shut, movies and snack bags flying away from his hands as he fell to the ground with a new weight resting on his chest. He felt a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders as a head leaned on his shoulder, the sound of Blake's warm laughter filling the room as she laid against him.
He wasn't exactly sure what he had done right, but he could only laugh with her.
Blake pulled away from his shoulder for a moment, her hands resting on his shoulders as she kept herself at arm's length, "I would love to watch movies with you."
She watched as his smile grew wider, causing her own mouth to stretch in a way that caused her face discomfort. But despite that, her heart beated loudly against her chest, her face felt warm like she had just fallen asleep in front of the fireplace at home on Menagerie.
Some quiet part of her mind whispered to Blake that she should inch closer to him, for reasons that were beyond her comprehension. But despite that, Blake nearly wanted to agree. The only reason she hadn't was because she heard Jaune caught into his fist.
"Well, we can't do that with you sitting on top of me." He jested, and Blake suddenly felt very conscious of how close to the boy she actually was.
It took Blake a combined five seconds to untangle herself from the leader of Team JNPR, dust herself off, and start picking up the scattered films and goodies that Jaune brought. Good thing too, because Jaune was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Soon enough, they had both picked up their snacks, grabbed a random movie from the stack that Jaune had brought, and got comfortable.
It was a good night to finish off a good day.
Okay, I'm done. I'm not even gonna get into why I was gone for two months, so you kind folks are just going to have to settle with an apology from me, and a statement from me saying that I just can't keep up with the rate that I used to hit. I haven't got the energy to put out 10k+ word chapters in the span of a week anymore.
I gave it all I had, but it wasn't enough.
But that's alright, the good part is that I'm back to writing. I can't promise that I'll be able to get chapters out in the span of one or two weeks, so I hope you kind folks can just settle with me saying, "It'll be out when it's out."
Things are starting to ramp up in this story, but honestly, I feel like I might end it kind of soon. Not because I don't enjoy writing it, the opposite in fact! I just feel that if I don't end it soon, it'll drag on by focussing on things that aren't particularly crucial to the plot that I'm trying to convey. I've seen tons of people tell me that I could do so many different scenes and that with my writing, it would be great to read through.
While that is a flattering gesture, I don't think I've got it in me to do half of those scenes that are so thoughtfully recommended. At least, not for this story in the way that it is now. I was thinking about maybe doing a Street Lights: Side Story kind of thing when everything's said and done. I don't know, let me know what you lovely ladies and gentlemen think about that, and I'll act accordingly.
So anyway, y'all guys just go ahead and follow, favorite, all that garbo. In the meantime, I'm gonna see if I can't get ahead of the curb by starting this new document. But first, sleep.
And no, it's not abandoned. I'm trying my best.
Ciao, y Buenas Noches.