Beta: ShadowMeister234
Jaune didn't know what to think. Out of all the decisions he expected to get pushback on, accepting Pyrrha's proposal to tell Ozpin about the situation was last on the list, but there Emerald stood steadfastly opposed to him.
"Why?" he asked.
Emerald's features hardened almost like she was ready for a fight. "Because it's a bad idea."
Jaune was fully aware of Yang, Pyrrha, Sky, and Russel gauging his reaction. He would have liked for them all to see someone who took criticism calmly and rationally, but Emerald's challenge had come so far out of left field that his mood was much closer to surprise and anger. "Then explain it to me like I'm an idiot because I don't see how getting help could possibly be the wrong decision."
If there was one saving grace to Jaune's image, it was that Emerald wasn't calm either. She was fuming as if they were fools for questioning her. "First, we don't have any evidence against Sulfur." Pyrrha made to speak, but Emerald quickly cut her off. "And I know you think that even if the Headmaster doesn't believe us it can't hurt to tell him, but you're wrong! If Jaune goes to the Headmaster and starts throwing around accusations without evidence, it's going to be him that suspicion falls on. Let's not forget that Jaune's still a suspect in Ren's assault which to Atlas and Beacon is still an unsolved case. If they discover that Sulfur is missing based on Jaune's information, do you really believe they're going to think that Sulfur killed Blake then went into hiding? No, they're going to think Jaune killed Blake then killed Sulfur and hid his body so he could place all the blame on him."
Pyrrha gasped and looked at Jaune apologetically which he didn't want her to. Her suggestion wasn't wrong, and in fact, he felt Emerald was the one blowing things out of proportion. "Even if everything you fear does come to pass, it's still worth it. Like you said, I'm already a suspect, so what does a little bit of extra suspicion matter? They wouldn't find any evidence of me killing Blake, since there isn't any, so suspicion is all they'll have. If anything they'll just keep an eye on me and increase security which is what we want."
Emerald's eye twitched in a way Jaune had never seen before. Why was she so upset by this?
"Do you even hear yourself? Evidence? Blake's death is an international incident that Beacon and Atlas are going to want to clean up as soon as possible. They're not going to wait for evidence or the truth. They need someone to face punishment now which means they're going to take the easiest path offered to them which will definitely be you if you march up to them with such a stupid plan! Hell, even if they found a note from Sulfur admitting he killed Blake, it doesn't matter if they can't find him. They need an actual arrest. A scapegoat to soothe the public." Emerald was panting for breath at this point.
Russel tapped his desk with his finger. "She has a point. People are riled up and I bet Atlas especially would do anything to stop it from getting even more out of control than it already is. Going in with a half-cocked plan might be more dangerous than we realize?"
The momentum was shifting away from Jaune. He had to do something to get them back on his side. "Fine, you don't want to tell the Headmaster then what is your suggestion because without any help we've hit a dead end." It was a lot easier to reject a plan than to come up with your own, so if Emerald couldn't offer any alternatives then she would have to go along with him by default.
Emerald's eyes darted back-and-forth as she tried to quickly pull an idea from her head. "What about that Sun guy? Didn't you say he was acting strangely about Blake's death. He might know if she had any connection to Sulfur."
"Pyrrha and I already talked to him and didn't get much. I don't see how talking to him again will help. Besides if you're right and Sun is keeping something about Blake a secret that's not going to help us find Sulfur."
"But we should at least try," Emerald retorted. "We should try and get as much information as we possibly can."
"True," Jaune relented, "but talking to Sun doesn't mean we can't tell Ozpin about Sulfur. We can do both."
Emerald's jaw trembled as she was backed into a metaphorical corner. Any idea she came up with would always lead to the conclusion that they could follow both plans. It was hopeless for her, yet Jaune knew how stubborn she could be. She would try desperately to offer one last solution. So it shocked him to watch Emerald lower her head and drop her shoulders in complete defeat. No last retort or even final huff of anger. Instead, she begged him. "Jaune, please. I don't want anything to happen to you."
Jaune stumbled a step back and Emerald took a step forward to follow him. He thought for a moment she might even throw herself into his chest and start crying, but she kept her slight distance. Still, she looked so small and vulnerable with her head down and hands clasped to her chest. It really made him feel like the bad guy.
Maybe he was the bad guy.
Jaune took a moment to relax his unusually tense body and take a deep breath. Even with just those small actions, he found it much easier to think, and he concluded he was being a complete idiot. Why was this an argument he needed to win? If Emerald felt that strongly against telling Ozpin then why should he push it? Sure, getting help from the proper authorities would give them an advantage, but the risks weren't something to ignore, and Emerald was clearly worried for him. Shouldn't that be enough?
His mind was made up.
He stepped forward to wrap his arms around her shoulders and let her hair brush his chin. She pressed further into him in wordless acceptance. "I'm sorry. Ever since you gave me hell for rushing into Cryphilictal, I've been trying to play it safer. I thought you'd be happy to try and offload some of the danger onto the authorities, but if you really think I shouldn't then I won't." He turned his head to face the onlookers. "Unless anyone else has anything they want to say."
He didn't get much from Yang's barely contained squeal of joy, or Russel's fake gagging, but at least Pyrrha was able to look beyond his and Emerald's sweet display and provide an answer. "I think we're good. We'll go along with whatever you decide."
Jaune smiled. "Then I've decided we should all call it a night. It's been an exhausting day."
"I didn't expect to hear from you so soon," a silky voice said from the other end of the scroll call.
"There was a sudden development in the investigation. I thought you would like to know."
"My, a hard little worker aren't you? Do tell what you've learned."
"Blake Belladonna's killer is almost certainly Sulfur Insure, the partner of Ruby Rose."
"I know who he is, but to think he would do something like this. Just what is that man planning? I should have gotten rid of him a long time ago. Oh well, there's no time like the present. Where can I find the little nuisance?"
"Actually, that's the other thing I wanted to bring to your attention. He's gone missing. No one knows where he is."
"Hmmm, that is a problem. I can't deliver punishment if he's not around to receive it. Perhaps I need to move my timetable up else he creates any more disruptions. Continue searching for him and if you discover anything more, inform me immediately or there will be consequences. Understood?"
"Of course."
In most cases, discovering the perpetrator was enough to claim victory. Unfortunately, for this investigation, knowing it was Sulfur was doing very little for them. The task now was finding his whereabouts which was an exponentially harder task since his chosen hiding spot likely had nothing to do with the actual murder. They could solve every detail of Blake's death from the why to the how, and they still might not be any closer to finding him.
That was why it was a miracle Emerald had managed to convince Jaune and the rest of them to go along with her plan instead of telling Headmaster Ozpin. She felt awful for manipulating her boyfriend's feelings, but it was for his own good. If Ozpin or Ironwood heard of any of this and heightened their security and surveillance even more than they already had, that woman would make sure they all burned.
To keep Jaune, and herself, safe, Emerald basically only had two options. One, she could stall until the woman in the red dress finished whatever she came here to do, or two, find out where Sulfur was hiding and have that woman deal with him herself.
Option one wasn't really an option at all since there was no way Emerald could convince Jaune to drop the investigation. Sure, he had been willing to step back and leave it to Beacon, but giving up and turning a blind eye just wasn't in his nature, something Emerald both loved and hated about him.
That only left the second option. The best way for this to end would be for Sulfur and that woman to kill each other off without anyone else needing to interfere. It might be a pipe dream considering Emerald knew first hand just how monstrously strong that woman was, but Sulfur was a complete unknown. If he really did have some control over the unknown world, then that woman might find out she bit off more than she could chew. Traditional strength versus irregular power, each vying for dominance.
Even if the fight didn't lead to both of them dying, hopefully, it would cause enough commotion for Atlas to notice all on their own. Maybe she could even use the disturbance as cover to tell Jaune everything that was going on without that woman getting suspicious. It would be such a relief if she could just share her situation with Jaune.
But, before any of that could hope to take place, she had to find out where Sulfur was which circled her back to the original problem. It was in attempting to solve that problem that led her to stalking Sun around the Vytal Festival.
That might seem like a non sequitur. After all, what was the connection between following around Sun and discovering Sulfur's location? The answer was that there wasn't one. The happy faunus likely had even less information about Sulfur than they did. Tailing him would almost certainly lead to nothing. That was fine. Emerald's goal wasn't to make progress but to make it look like they were. As long as Jaune felt like they were doing something then he should be satisfied.
It wouldn't last forever though. Eventually, Jaune would realize they were just wasting time and have them do something else, so Emerald was using her stalking time to think of something else. She wanted to find Sulfur just as much as Jaune. She just wanted to do it without outside help or suspicion.
Tailing Sun was a pretty simple two-man affair. Emerald was the one doing the actual following while Jaune was sticking far behind. Obviously, Emerald's semblance and life experience were very suited for this kind of task, but it wasn't the only reason Jaune had been rejected as the lead. He had already confronted Sun before so he'd be easily recognized, but mister tall and blond wasn't exactly inconspicuous in a crowd, so he had to hang back quite a ways since Emerald couldn't use her semblance continuously the entire time. Honestly, the only reason he was here at all was so he could see them doing something and for her to keep an eye on him.
As for the other members of their group, Pyrrha had to compete in the tournament since it was her obligation. Sky, the poor guy, had been chosen to take over Emerald's janitorial duties for the day, and Yang and Russel continued to try and find Sulfur the old-fashioned way by talking to people and looking around.
Stalking Sun was currently the most uneventful out of all those tasks, but it really shouldn't have been. In fact, they should have been done a long time ago. Sun had won his duo round and left the arena. He should have just gone back to his dorm room or maybe out to eat and party with his team, but instead he had been wandering around the fairgrounds alone for the past hour. He was even checking around him every once in a while like he was worried about being followed. Of course, he was being followed, but she knew she hadn't done anything to give it away, so he should have no reason to be acting like this.
It was pretty suspicious which was probably why Jaune hadn't called it quits yet. There was just enough here to suggest Sun actually was hiding some big secret.
Another fifteen minutes passed before Sun finally started heading towards an actual destination. The crowds and tents thinned and eventually fell behind completely as they moved away from the fairgrounds and towards the Emerald Forest. There were barely enough trees and bushes to keep Emerald, and Jaune way further back, hidden. Anyone that didn't have her semblance probably would have decided it was too risky to keep following. That assurance seemed to lessen Sun's caution as he put more focus into reaching his destination than checking his surroundings.
The destination turned out to be a small divot between the cliff's edge and a raised piece of the ground that was too small to be called a hill. It wasn't exactly private, but it was enough to not draw in any curious onlookers.
A person was waiting for Sun. They were wearing baggy black pants and a gray hoodie, so Emerald couldn't see who they were. Under the protection of her semblance, she approached to see what they were talking about.
It was a female voice that spoke beneath the layers of fabric, and she seemed to be asking Sun if he was sure no one saw him. Sun reassured the woman that they were alone and after some back-and-forth, the woman finally accepted Sun's words and lowered her hood.
Long black hair spilled out and a girl that was supposed to be dead stood in front of them. Emerald gasped, she tried not to but she couldn't help it. The ears hidden beneath the bow on top of Blake's head twitched and her gaze landed exactly where Emerald was standing.
"Who's there?" Blake shouted, but Sun was faster as he slid in front of Blake and kicked up the ground in Emerald's direction. Emerald blocked, but the impact still covered her arms in dirt and completely gave away her position. Emerald dropped her semblance in hopes that she could just talk it out with the pair, but Sun wasn't in the mood.
"Get out of here! I'll hold her off." Blake nodded and ran off while Sun pulled out his staff.
Wait, was he really going to attack her!
The answer was yes as Sun lunged at Emerald and swung his weapon at her face. Emerald grunted as she blocked with her own weapons. At the same time, Jaune was running towards them, having noticed the commotion. His gaze landed on the fleeing Blake and his decision to follow her was communicated with a quick nod to Emerald.
Sun was quick to catch on and tried to intercept Jaune, but Emerald stopped him by wrapping her chains around his legs. "I don't think so. I'm not letting you get in his way even if he is abandoning his girlfriend to chase after another girl."
Jaune had an endless amount of questions on his mind as he chased Blake. The most obvious of which was how she was alive at all. He might have only seen her body briefly on the television screen, but he had been pretty confident that Blake Belladonna had been quite dead. If she wasn't, which current evidence was very much suggesting, well, that opened up even more questions.
Blake glanced behind her and then quickly picked up speed as she saw him approaching. Jaune groaned as he sprinted towards her, but even with his heart beating like a drum, he couldn't say he was gaining any ground on her. At best he was just keeping pace.
"Come back here!" Jaune demanded.
Blake didn't answer. Instead, she looked off the side of the cliff down to the Emerald Forest as if she was thinking about making a jump for it. Jaune didn't know what he could do if she decided on that course. Thankfully, Blake just kept on running.
It wasn't long before they started approaching the fairgrounds. That was bad news for Jaune since once they hit the tents and attractions, it wouldn't be difficult for Blake to disappear into the crowd.
Jaune forced his legs to pump faster and he actually found himself getting closer, but it wasn't due to him speeding up. It was actually Blake who was slowing down as she seemed a bit worried about approaching the fairgrounds. Sadly for her, the festival spread out in all directions. If she wanted to avoid it, she would have to double back and try to run past him.
It was a strategy she didn't attempt as she slowed to a stop and turned to face him. "Wait, let's talk."
Jaune nearly tripped over himself. "What?"
And that was how he, Emerald, and Blake ended up sitting together at a small picnic table near the outskirts of the fairgrounds. It was shaping up to be one of the strangest days Jaune had ever experienced, and that was saying a lot considering what he had gone through these past few months.
He had been hopeful that Blake sat them down to explain everything, but she was doing very little talking, and by little, he meant none at all. She had pulled her hood back up and was mostly just glancing nervously at anyone who got too close. Emerald wasn't much better in the conversation department as she rubbed her cheek where Sun had apparently gotten a pretty good hit in when she broke off.
Speaking of the monkey faunus. "Shouldn't Sun be here with us?" Jaune asked. Maybe that wasn't the most pressing question when speaking with a dead girl, but Jaune felt bad for his fellow blond.
"No, he doesn't need to be here," Blake said matter-of-factly before softening her tone. "Sun is a good person and a great friend, but he doesn't know what's really going on. Not in the same way you do."
"Then please explain because right now I think I'm talking with the living dead and unless Sun is deaf, blind, and forgot how to use his brain he should be thinking the same thing."
Blake fidgeted in her seat. "Well, from his perspective I never died. I just went missing for a bit before coming back and meeting with him in secret. I told him that I was in hiding because of my connection to the White Fang and he was the only one I could trust. When my death became more public knowledge it wasn't difficult to convince him it was staged for my own protection."
"So when Sun was talking to "himself" in the library a few days ago, that was you, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it's because you almost caught us that we changed our meeting spot even if that didn't do us much good in the end."
"Alright, so that's what you told Sun," Emerald said. "Now what's the truth?"
Blake sighed. "The truth is that Blake Belladonna is dead and has been for a while."
Jaune and Emerald glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes as they processed this strange new revelation. They had gone from Blake being dead to seeing her alive to that same alive girl claiming Blake was actually dead. What a rollercoaster; one that still left a very important question.
"Then who are you?" Jaune and Emerald asked at the same time.
The bow on top of not Blake's head flattened into a distressed state. "I'm not anyone. I just exist."
Jaune felt a migraine coming on. "Explain, and start from the beginning."
"I mean what I said. About a week ago, I formed in a room next to a corpse that shared my face, and I do mean formed. I didn't open my eyes, I didn't wake up, I was just there one moment after not having been before. I doubt you could ever imagine how scary it was to suddenly start existing with no past and a vague sensation that you didn't really belong to this world. The only thing I knew was that I looked exactly like the corpse next to me and that the dead girl's name was Blake Belladonna based on her student ID card that had been conveniently left next to her. What else could I do but steal her identity and try to figure out my purpose?"
"You could have gone to the police," Emerald said.
The imposter chuckled sadly. "I didn't even know what the police were."
"Where did you wake u—sorry, pop into existence?" Jaune asked. If Blake had been dead long before she had been strung up, it might be helpful knowing where her body had been kept all this time.
Blake (easier to think of her with that name) shook her head. "I don't know. Somewhere in the city, but I couldn't take you back there."
"Well, aren't you helpful." Emerald sneered. "Do you at least have any idea who did this to you?"
"I have no idea who created me or why they did it. Maybe nobody did and the world itself decided a new Blake was needed."
"I doubt it was the world," Jaune said. "Your story screams that someone manufactured your existence."
"Yeah, I think so too, but why wouldn't they contact me? If they created me, they should've had a reason. Why just leave me on my own?"
"To cause confusion, maybe? Actually, what have you been doing this entire time? What are you and Sun sneaking around for?"
Blake must have felt the suspicion in his voice because she quickly went to defend herself. "I'm not doing anything bad, I swear. I just want to live my life because even if I'm a fake, I'm still a person, but it's difficult to do that without a past and a stolen face. That's when I realized that if I became Blake then I'd have both those things. It started with some research, and that's how I found out the basics about her, but it wasn't enough. If I wanted to become her I needed to dig deeper, and for that, I needed to find people that knew her personally. Sun was the perfect start since he was crushing on Blake, but didn't know her well enough to think something was wrong if I acted differently. That's why I'm hanging around him. I'll use the information he gives me to piggyback me into closer friends and so on until everyone accepts me as the real Blake." The black-haired girl clenched her fists in determination. "I'm still working on that though. Until then I can't afford to be found out, especially with Blake's body shown to the world. There would be too many questions. It's why I stopped when we were about to hit the fairground. I can't cause a commotion."
She was right about that, Jaune realized. Atlas soldiers were crawling all over the fairgrounds. Even now he could spot three of them in the surrounding area. If he had chased her through the festival, they would have been apprehended in seconds. He might have been able to talk his way out of it, but there was no way a girl who was supposed to be dead could. Worked out in his favor though. If Atlas wasn't so guarded, he probably wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation.
"You said you're not doing anything bad," Emerald pushed, "but I'd consider trying to replace someone's existence as pretty immoral."
Blake looked like she had been suckered punched by Emerald's words. It even took a second for her to recover at which point she stared at Emerald with a vicious scowl. "Me taking her place would be better for everyone. Besides, the real Blake is dead so there's no one to complain, and don't tell me you give a shit about her. Blake turned her back on and ran away from everyone that ever cared about her." The heat and viciousness in her tone were enough to have Jaune shuffling back in his seat. "I'm going to be better than she ever was. I'm going to put in the effort because I actually care about the people that care about me." Her rant ended with a hiss potent enough to have some of the pedestrians pick up their pace.
"I'm still not sure that gives you the right to just lay claim to her life," Emerald continued to needle. How much she actually believed in what she was saying Jaune wasn't sure. The real Blake and Emerald hadn't exactly separated on the best of terms.
The current Blake just looked frustrated. "Listen, I don't care if you agree with me. I'm not asking for your cooperation, but I beg of you, please don't reveal this to anyone. It might be a life based on lies but it's all I have."
Emerald shrugged, not giving Blake a clear answer which only frustrated the girl more. "Fine, say what you like. It's not like anyone will believe you. Now if you excuse me, I would like to go back to Sun and continue where we left off before we were interrupted. Unless you two have something else you need from me that is."
It was a challenge, and as much as Jaune wanted her to stay, he didn't have anything to convince her to do so. Better to just let her go than gain her ire. Emerald had already more than handled that.
Once Blake was out of eyesight, Emerald leaned into Jaune like they were on a date. It was a nice feeling, but Jaune knew it was so they could softly talk to each other without making it look like they were sharing secrets. Blake's little outburst already had the Atlas soldiers watching them a little closer. He wondered if Blake would have used that as an excuse if he tried to get her to stay.
"How much of that story do you buy?" Emerald asked.
Jaune didn't even need to think. "I doubt all of it was a lie, but even if everything she said was the truth, she definitely made some serious omissions."
Emerald hummed probably having reached the same conclusion. "What makes you say that?" Still wanting to hear his reasoning.
"She knew more about Blake than you could know from just a bit of research. Like that Sun was crushing on Blake, or that Blake "turned her back on everyone that cared about her" as she put it. Even if we assume that she got lucky about Sun and that for some reason Sun would, or even could, tell her about Blake's poor character habits, that doesn't explain why she was so willing to talk to us about it." Emerald rubbed her head against his shoulder in approval. "She could have said anything. Made-up any story like she did with Sun. Instead after all her claims of wanting to keep it a secret, she told us that ridiculous tale without even trying to hide it. To her, we should be total strangers, yet she was completely open to us. Almost like she already knew that we would believe her story because we're caretakers, and had a connection with the real Blake."
"How could that be?" Emerald quizzed.
Jaune chuckled. "How about you answer that. Need to make sure you're paying attention." It was strange how they could be discussing something so important but basically flirt with each other while doing it. Maybe that was just a part of being in a relationship. It felt good especially since the two of them hadn't had a lot of alone time recently.
"I can think of a few ways," Emerald whispered into his ear. "The first is that Sun got the truth and we've been fed the lie, and that really is the Blake we know, but Atlas wouldn't let her freely run around like this if that was the case. It could also be that the imposter does have Blake's memories and is trying to pretend she doesn't. I don't see how that would make any sense though. It would be easier to create a cover story with Blake's memories than without them, and there would be no reason for her to hang around Sun if she did. Unless she really is into him." Emerald giggled, a surprisingly girly one. "No, my bet is that she's lying about not knowing who created her and is following their to take a guess who I think that is?"
"Sulfur," Jaune said without hesitation. Even if he had no idea why Ruby's partner was doing any of this, everything just lined up too perfectly for it to be anyone other than him. "That said, Sulfur shouldn't know we're caretakers either."
Emerald rolled her eyes silently scolding him for what was apparently his first wrong answer of the conversation. "Please, it's not like we've been subtle. Running into him after Cryphilictal, and the whole mess dealing with Pyrrha's imaginary friend. If he's been in the know long enough to create a fake person, it wouldn't be too hard for him to put the pieces together. We found him out the same way after all."
"Great, not only do we have to find him; he probably knows we're the ones looking for him. What about Blake? Do you think she's just a puppet acting as his eyes and ears?"
"I'm not sure," Emerald admitted. "Her anger over the real Blake's attitude seemed to be genuine, and she did seem to legitimately care about Sun, so she might have feelings and thoughts of her own, or at least been tricked into believing she does."
"In that case, it might be possible to persuade her to work with us. If she's taking orders from Sulfur then she should have some idea as to where he is."
"I can't imagine it would be easy to convince her to turn on her creator. Plus, we have no idea how closely those two are actually working with each other. Hell, we're not even positive they're working together at all. Our evidence is compelling but far from conclusive. Even if we're right, she'll just deny it and we won't be any closer to Sulfur. How do we prove it?"
Jaune thought about it for a moment. "Maybe we don't have to prove it to begin with? At least not to her."
Funnily enough, they had the solution to the finding Sulfur problem from the very beginning. One of the only treasures they had managed to take from Cryphilictal, the incubus mask, could theoretically show them exactly where Sulfur was with the strings of fate.
Jaune had remembered it almost as soon as he woke up this morning and had told the others about it as well. He even had it in his room, along with the transdimensional plate, so there wasn't anything stopping them from using it. Unfortunately, as with most things, the devil was in the details.
For the mask to lead them to Sulfur they had to find someone with an at least somewhat strong connection to him which no one really did, almost like Sulfur planned it that way. The one exception to that would probably be Ruby, but yesterday's meeting had put a halt to any chance of cooperation with the little reaper. She would just assume they were trying to find Sulfur for nefarious means, and she'd be right.
Even if they could somehow convince Ruby to help, finding Sulfur would still be difficult. The only reason they had been able to use the mask to find Yang in Cryphilictal was because they had been hundreds of miles away from anyone else.
Here at Beacon. Ruby would have a bunch of connections to other students, people enjoying the festival and even in Vale itself with no way for them to figure out which one was Sulfur. Sure, they might be able to narrow it down a bit by the color of the connection, but it would still be a web of messy strings that would take forever to untangle if they even could.
It had been decided in their discussion that it was probably best to just not try unless they completely ran out of options. However, the appearance of this fake Blake offered a new much more viable candidate. Someone who had only existed for a week couldn't have that many connections and if Sulfur did create her then he was bound to be one of them. It was even probable he was the only one she had besides Sun.
He explained all of this to Emerald, and with each sentence, she snuggled closer into his side. "I think that's a perfect plan. We don't even have to confront her about anything. As long as we can see her through that mask we'll know where Sulfur is. That said, cornering her and getting her to sit down with us was a one-time thing. How much do you want to bet she's going to avoid us like the plague?"
"That's not a bet but a fact, but there's someone who can't hide from us. After all, he has to be in the tournament tomorrow for the single rounds."
"So we're going after Sun again? That poor guy."
Jaune playfully slapped Emerald's shoulder. "Don't make it sound like we're bullying him. If anything I would like to get him on our side and even the fake Blake too if it's possible. Assuming she isn't just a puppet to Sulfur and does have her own feelings and desires, I wouldn't mind if she achieved her goal." Jaune turned his sincere eyes towards Emerald. "Do you think that makes me a horrible person? Giving the okay for Blake's existence to be replaced like that."
Emerald returned the slap he gave her. "I think it makes you too nice. There's not a reason in the world we should support a potential enemy's dream, but here you are ready to give in after one conversation. Still, I don't completely disagree with you."
"Thanks," Jaune smiled. "Also, I owe you an apology. To tell you the truth I thought following around Sun would be a pointless waste of time, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Obviously, you were more in touch with the situation than I was. I'm sorry for doubting you."
Emerald suffered a brief moment of shock before looking away so he couldn't see the horribly guilt-ridden look on her face. "Yeah. I guess I did. Go me."
Under the table she had her fists clenched. She hated herself right now.
Cinder scrolled through her scroll messages and news articles with increasing frustration. Things were not going as planned. The chaos that had broken out thanks to Blake's murder had become an increasing hindrance. Her plans had called for the chaos to be swift and sudden leaving Beacon and Atlas little time to react. Not only had the increasing race tensions come too early, but it was giving Atlas time to bolster their forces. She had already heard that a new deployment was heading towards Vale.
If there was any good news, it was that the White Fang were more motivated than ever, but on the flip side, the added security was making it harder for them to operate. On top of all that, Adam was becoming increasingly difficult to control, whining about his lost partner like the singled-minded bull that he was. Cinder feared he was ready to attack Beacon without waiting for her go ahead.
It was all Sulfur's fault. That man who dared to approach her so casually at the dance. She would like nothing more than to melt the flesh off his face, but as things stood right now, he was lost to the wind.
A message from Emerald this afternoon had informed her that she had found a promising lead and might have a location as soon as tomorrow. She was putting in more effort than Mercury who was on his bed reading a comic book of all things acting little better than a disinterested house cat. How much Cinder wished she had tried harder to recruit Emerald back when they first met. She would have been a great addition to round out her team, but she had let the little pickpocket go wrongly assuming that there would be other more willing candidates. Sadly, good help was hard to find, and it was too late to force Emerald into the fold now.
At the moment, all Cinder could count on her for was her information gathering abilities which admittedly was impressively fast. Tracking a person down in only a matter of days was no easy feat. On the other hand, it was still too slow for Cinder's need for revenge. If she truly wanted to reclaim the maiden power, it had to happen soon before Beacon raised their defenses too high.
That unfortunately left open the very distinct possibility that she would have to give up on Sulfur. The thought of leaving someone who wronged her alive burned at her very core, but thinking about it logically killing him wouldn't change the situation he created.
Yes, as much as it pained her it would be best to move on from him.
Cinder had decided. Tomorrow would be the last day of the Vytal Festival.
Journal Entry #4
It's surprisingly easy to cause tragedy. It can be done in a single night of planning if you know where to strike. I wonder if Blake recognized the same thing when she left the safety of Beacon to chase after the White Fang. She might have known that one small action from the White Fang could have set the whole world on fire. Poor girl probably never considered that she'd be the trigger.
For a girl who spent so much time hiding in the shadows, it didn't take much to find her. One would think she would be more careful. It almost takes the fun completely out of it. Oh well, it's a flaw she'll never have the chance to regret, but one I was glad to take advantage of.
On a side note, Beacon should really keep better care of their armaments. Leaving high-quality dust around for any student to take; it's almost like they're asking for someone to turn it into a bomb.
Anyway, I wonder what I should do with the body. I don't want to leave it here to rot. After all, it's impolite if you don't use every part of the animal you've killed. I know I want to use it to cause another tragedy, but how should I go about it? Should I go for shock and awe or quiet and crafty?
I like the idea of connecting her with her traitorous side. When someone keeps so close to themselves it's hard for anyone to know what they really stood for. How wonderful it would be for both sides to hold her up as a martyr. How to go about that though?
Maybe I'll just write it out for them.