After we rounded up the bad guys, we found some more information on their scrolls about upcoming heists. It was practically a goldmine of crimes to stop! Needless to say, we were all excited to keep the streak going.
Of course we did have to play catch up for the day of classes we missed, but luckily that wasn't too difficult, we had help from RWBY and JNPR for that! Pyrrha took fantastic notes, and Ruby was able to browbeat Weiss into giving up some of hers as well. With their powers combined, a day of missed classes was nothing!
As the system had said, people were talking about our little crime fighting escapade. Not that it was something we had done to get popular, but Team CALM was making its rounds in the gossip circles. Moreso over the next couple weeks, as we continued our endeavors to stop crimes before they happened. More news articles, more coverage, we were getting noticed, but luckily it wasn't all that much. After all, we were just helping the police!
The most interesting thing to come out of the increasing notoriety at school was still listening to the things people were talking about though. Luckily Blake had been teaching me how to be inconspicuous and stealthy, in exchange for me teaching her some of the tricks Cinder had taught me. Of course, I never told her where I had learned those tricks, Cinder's name wasn't known yet, but it would be eventually. I had told Lunus and Aura it that day on the roof, but I didn't think they'd remember it for very long, if they hadn't already forgotten.
I heard things about everyone on the team, how 'dreamy' Lunus looked, how cute Violet was, and how adorkable Jeanne was. Really, there were a lot of compliments that I was sure would raise their moods. I had heard a few things about me, as well as some wild speculations, but luckily these kinds of topics never stayed in vogue. They'd forget about us in a month, of that I was positive.
The things people said about me were confidence boosters to be sure. How I was cute and 'soft' (whatever that meant), how I used to just be a barista before I came here (that wasn't flattering, it was just a fact) and some more… interesting comments I didn't want to repeat.
I checked on Cinder's relationship to me a few times over this period, it had dropped to 90/100 for the romance category, 78/100 for the platonic category. It was sad… yet, she hadn't tried to reach out to me, and I understood why her opinion of me was lowering. After all, I was sure I was being a massive thorn in her side.
It made me wonder if I really should just try to move on… she lived in a different world, and we were bound to end up fighting just like I suspected we would. The idea made my heart hurt just thinking about it, but there were plenty of fish in the sea, as they said…
That was a whole war in my heart and mind, why give up so readily on Cinder? Why not? Violet was cute, Jeanne was wonderful, if either of them were interested they would certainly be less potentially lethal options, and yet…
Cinder was something else. I had to work for the moments where she smiled, where she relaxed, where she seemed genuinely at peace with me, and I with her. That not-date we went on was still fresh in my mind even two weeks later, I desperately wanted to go on another one, even if I was certain that was impossible.
I had all but given up on her contacting me again when, on a Wednesday afternoon while I was relaxing on the balcony and thinking about the heist we were going to stop tomorrow, I received a text.
It was from Cinder, my heart fluttered and I grew nervous just from seeing her name pop up in my notifications.
Cinder: "Hey Neve… I'm sorry I haven't talked to you. Would you like to go for coffee again tomorrow night?"
I almost instinctively typed 'Sure, what time?' and then I stopped myself before I hit send and squinted at my phone.
Tomorrow night was the day of the heist.
Me: "It's okay, you're busy with work. I can't tomorrow though, I've got some stuff to do. How about Saturday?"
Not even a minute later, she responded.
Cinder: "Awh… I'm gonna be busy Saturday. Are you sure you can't come with me?"
Then she followed it up with the 'pleading face' emoji. I furrowed my brow, Cinder had never acted like this over text before… She must have really wanted me to not stop that heist.
Me: "Sorry, but it's super important."
It felt scummy that she was using the temptation of a not-date to try and get me to miss out on a heist. A part of me wondered what else I should have expected, I had been warning myself that this was Cinder Fall from the very beginning, why wouldn't she do something like this?
Still, it made me feel terrible…
Cinder: "Why not come to my place then? It's been forever, I wanna see you again."
Was she trying to…
No, Cinder wasn't the type of girl who'd do that. She didn't even know what a snuggle was until our not-date. Not that the text didn't still upset me.
I shouldn't have been getting upset over these texts. Maybe she genuinely wanted to see me? Maybe this wasn't a ploy? Yet, I couldn't deny that it was all too convenient… I decided I'd call her out on it.
Me: "If you're just trying to make me stop fighting crime then you can forget it. Trying to bribe me with something like that hurts."
I closed my scroll, turned around, and went back inside.
However, not even a few seconds later, I got another text. I sighed and opened my scroll, and what I saw surprised me.
Cinder: "You're stopping crimes? Can I come?"
She… wanted to come with us? To stop crime? Was this still the same Cinder that I knew and had complicated feelings for?
There had to be a catch, I thought to myself that I should just tell her no, that my team could handle it. Yet, I hadn't seen her in two weeks…
Me: "Okay. You can meet the rest of my team while we're at it. Come to the dorms at six tomorrow, we'll be ready to go."
She responded quickly.
Cinder: "I'll be there."
I closed my scroll and went about the rest of my afternoon, my mind stuck on the idea of seeing her again. Here I was worrying I wouldn't see her until the end of the semester, yet she seemed to have other plans.
Still, I wondered just what the catch was…
Telling the others that Cinder was coming with us was… an interesting experience. I let them know a few hours before we were due to go. Lunus was pleasantly surprised, he remembered how much she meant to me, at least based on what I'd told him before.
Jeanne and Violet were even more surprised, with Jeanne being excited to meet my mysterious teacher and 'good friend' while Violet was curious as to what kind of person she was like. I told her that she was a nice person, if a bit reticent at times.
So, dressed in our hunter attire, the four of us headed down to the first floor.
Waiting on the other side of the electronically locked, dust-reinforced, glass doors was the object of my affection, and her outfit made some traitorous heat rise across my face.
Cinder was wearing the outfit she would wear to the Vytal Festival in several months. Gray pants and boots, the beige leather sleeveless jacket she wore on our not-date, brown gloves, chest wrapping tied around her chest and around her hips, and a pauldron on her left shoulder. She also wore a belt with several satchels attached to it, much like my outfit.
Jeanne whispered to me as we started for the doors, "Sheesh… This is your trainer, Neve? You lucky dog!"
I rolled my eyes as my face heated up more. Lunus jabbed Jeanne in the side and caused her to pout, "What? I'm not wrong!"
Violet placed a hand on her hip as we reached the doors, "Her outfit looks super cool! Makes me kind of jealous, but my outfit is cool too!"
The doors slid open after I used my scroll to unlock them, as we walked out and came face to face with Cinder, she smirked, "Didn't think you'd see me again so soon-"
Before she could finish, I wrapped her in a hug. She gasped in surprise at first, much like the first time I hugged her, then she wrapped her arms around me and returned it. I smiled and spoke softly, "It's good to see you again, Cinder."
She returned the hug after a second, "Y-You too, Neve…" Then, after I let go, I saw that her face was just as red as mine, redder, even. She cleared her throat and tucked some of her hair behind her ear, "W-Well… Are you going to introduce me to your team?"
I stepped back and gestured to my right, where Jeanne and Violet were standing, "Introduce yourself guys!"
Jeanne waved and smiled brightly, "Hi! Nice to finally meet Neve's mystery trainer! Name's Jeanne! Jeanne Arc!" Cinder seemed taken aback by the sunshiny nature of Jeanne.
That was before Violet struck her usual pose and spoke in a boisterous tone, "My name is Umber Sha'dow XIV Esquire! Master of the Eight Blades of the Eclipse and Future Savior of Remnant!"
Cinder was completely at a loss. I looked at Lunus on my left and he smiled, placing a hand on his hip, "Her real name is Violet." In response to this, Violet deflated while Lunus smiled, "I'm Lunus Marigold. It's good to meet the mystery girl Neve's told me about. You know he's really-"
My face heated up as I waved my hands in front of me, "Ignore him! He's talking crazy!" I shot him a lighthearted glare while he just grinned at me. Of course, Cinder put two and two together, as evidenced by her already slightly red face heating up further, she gained a rare shy look on her face for a moment.
She cleared her throat and recovered before she managed a small yet friendly smile, "Cinder. Cinder Fall. It's a pleasure. I hope Neve has proven to be a competent leader."
Jeanne grinned, "He's the best! I don't think we could have asked for a better leader!" She sidled up next to me and hugged me sideways, causing me to blink in surprise. Sure, Jeanne was a very physical person, but that didn't mean I didn't still get surprised by it!
Cinder huffed and turned around before speaking a bit too quickly, "Th-That's good to hear. How about we get going? We have a robbery to stop, don't we?" Then she started off, and once Jeanne let me go we all followed after her.
I was still sure there was some kind of catch to this. Cinder was breaking Salem's orders by being here, if someone saw her and chose to report it to her, Cinder would suffer the consequences. The question was, exactly what was her game, here? She wouldn't be so brazen to try and attack us to stop our crime fighting spree…
I couldn't give voice to my concerns nor could I really show that I had any concern at all, because nobody knew about Cinder's real allegiances but her and I, and nobody had any reason to worry about her intent but me. Ultimately, I just had to act naturally while we took the bullhead down.
To get my mind off of it, while we were all waiting for the bullhead to touch down, I looked over Cinder's outfit, "So… chestwrapping? Is that… a good idea? It seems kinda…"
Cinder huffed and crossed her arms, looking away from me. She was sitting to my right in the Bullhead, next to the window, while Jeanne was on my left. Lunus and Violet were across from us. She defended herself, "They're called Sarashi, and they're a traditional form of Mistrali dress for warriors from all walks of life."
Violet came to her defense, similarly crossing her arms, "She's right! I wear Sarashi under my outfit as well, I don't know how some girls can fight with everything so… loose."
Cinder smirked, finding an ally in Violet, she nodded towards the smaller girl, "This girl right here. I like her. She has a good head on her shoulders." The compliment caused Violet's face to dust up red while she grinned in satisfaction.
Violet then added, "Besides, there's nothing to worry about! If they're reinforced with dust, they won't tear easily, nor will you be able to get them wet and make them see-through! Now that would be embarrassing."
The Bullhead touched down as she made that comment, as we all departed I noticed that Cinder's face had heated up. She cleared her throat, "Y-Yes, of course. What fool would forget something as simple as that?" Then she crossed her arms again and fell back a bit, trailing behind the group. I wasn't sure why at first, but then I saw how red her face is.
Did she really…?
I fell back as well, letting the others lead the way. I walked alongside her and furrowed my brow, then whispered, "Cinder… Did you forget to…?"
Cinder huffed and looked away, talking in a low voice so the others didn't hear, "Don't say anything. I didn't exactly have the luxury of time when preparing these wraps."
I covered my mouth to hide the smile that was growing on my face. I looked away, "So… if someone…?" She crossed her arms tighter, closing herself off in a way that told me that I was right, "Oh Cinder… Did you plan that? That's scandalous!"
Her eyes widened at the accusation, and her face heated up even more, "W-When did you get so bold?" She whispered, uncrossing her arms and lightly smacking mine with her hand, "I'm not even going to dignify you with a response." Then she huffed and quickly made her way to rejoin the group while grumbling, "Stupid Coffee Boy…"
I smirked and rejoined them as well. Of course she didn't plan it, Cinder was far too inexperienced with even the mere idea of dating or cuddling to be trying anything like that right now. Although I wouldn't put it past her to do something like that at some point in the future…
Of course, if she did, I wasn't exactly sure what I would do in that kind of situation… That was uncharted territory. Something I wasn't even dreaming about right now, there was just too much going on in life to think about things like that.
Speaking of, we reached the store that was said to be the next target not long after that. It was a bit larger than the past few we'd been to, selling dust on top of a bunch of other things like magazines and snacks… Like some weird cross between a convenience store and an arms dealer.
We fanned out and took up spots just waiting, as was routine. Jeanne was reading some magazines, Violet was playing on her scroll, Lunus was browsing the store's wares. The only thing different this time was the obvious addition of Cinder, who stayed next to me while I leaned on a wall and looked at my scroll.
We were away from the others, so I decided I'd just come out and ask, speaking softly as I did so, "So… what's your game here? You're here trying to help us stop a robbery you helped plan."
She looked shocked for a moment before smiling ever so slightly and leaning on the wall next to me. She spoke just as softly, to avoid getting heard by any would-be eavesdroppers,, "My dear Neve, I have no idea what you're talking about. I just wanted to see you again, and help you clean up these mean streets…"
I hummed and lowered my scroll, looking at her. She had a coy look on her face as she kept her arms crossed and looked in my direction. She was enjoying this game of cat and mouse. I hummed and furrowed my brow, "You're having fun. What'd you do, Cinder?"
She smirked and pushed off the wall before she turned towards me, "I could tell you… but it'd cost you." She stepped closer to me with a coy smile, "You'd owe me a favor… One that I could cash in on anything I wanted…"
I pushed off the wall and turned towards her, crossing my arms, "Oh yeah?" She nodded and I scoffed, "...On the condition that you don't make me do anything like stop fighting crime, or hurt someone at Beacon. I reserve the full right to refuse."
She placed a hand on her hip and pouted, "Awh… You're no fun, but I guess it'd be even less fun if it were that easy… Okay, then, I won't ask you to do anything bad. I don't think you have a bad bone in your body, my dear Neve… that's part of what makes you special."
Her face was red and it didn't take a genius to see that she was flirting with me. I felt my own blush rise, but I took this as a challenge. I leaned down a bit, smiling at her as we locked eyes, "You have a lot of bad bones in your body… but you're so, so gentle sometimes… like that not-date we went on. I saw a new side of you that day. Another piece that makes your puzzle all the more special, Cinder."
As I pointed out her gentler side, she huffed and turned around, crossing her arms and seeming to fold. While she was making a valiant effort, it seemed like she still hadn't gotten used to compliments, or praise of any kind, "Hmph. You're so unfair…"
I smiled and went back to leaning on the wall, "So? What's the catch?"
She turned back towards me and whispered in my ear, "The robbery was canceled. You're gonna be here all~ day and nothing is going to happen."
My eyes widened, as she stepped back and smirked I frowned, "R-Really?" She nodded and I sighed in exasperation, "Then why did you decide to come with us, if there's not going to be a robbery?"
Cinder placed a hand on my arm and stepped closer to me, "Why… to see you again, of course. Did you think I wanted to stop training with you?" She smiled and I knew that she knew that I didn't think that in the slightest, "The way I see it… even if your team is here, I've got a whole afternoon I can spend with you. Is that too much to ask for?"
I huffed and made a show of looking away from her, "Never let it be said that you aren't clever, Cinder Fall…" She really was, almost too clever, even if a lot of her plans were poorly thought out and didn't go well, in the moment, when presented with an opportunity, she was clever.
The worst part was I couldn't tell the others that the robbery was off, that would reveal that Cinder, or I, had inside knowledge on these people. I didn't need them getting suspicious, so in a way I felt kind of trapped in my own lie. I wondered if this was how Oz felt, sometimes…
I dismissed the thought and instead settled into waiting for a robbery that I knew was never going to come.
Hours ticked by, slowly but surely. Cinder and I talked about what we'd both been up to (and only telling half-truths, of course), eventually Jeanne started asking Cinder a bunch of questions while Violet tried to see if she was into manga. Honestly, I'd never taken Cinder as someone who could get overloaded with attention, but seeing her starting to draw into herself, crossing her arms and making herself smaller, particularly in a way that she was leaning on my arm, showed that she was more than capable of suffering from too much attention.
I supposed that came with the territory when you were raised like her, almost completely socially isolated. Honestly, it was kind of cute, although the circumstances that caused her to end up this way certainly were not.
Eventually night fell and the store was going to close. With all of the night-time security it had, it would have been insane for them to rob the store today. Which finally meant I had to pretend to be shocked that they had somehow found out we were going to be there, or otherwise called it off.
My acting skills were improving day by day and I honestly wasn't sure if I liked that or not. I told myself that I was just doing what I had to do.
After that, we had to head back to prepare for classes the next day, and while Cinder wished she could hang out longer, she knew that I had to rest. After all, it wouldn't do to go to class dead tired from staying up late…
After that day, the crime fighting became a lot less straightforward. Now, Cinder was clearly trying to figure out what we were doing, no doubt so she could call off and move around more robberies. However, for all of our efforts, we couldn't cover the entire city on our own, and without inside information on what robberies were being planned, we started to run out of things we could do.
Ultimately, we decided to leave the rest to the detectives. They had plenty of criminals and terrorists in custody, I was sure at least a few robberies could be stopped with the information they had.
Thus did we shift gears away from playing hero and towards being students, after all midterms were around the corner at the time. Once we had caught up to everything we had missed, it was mostly a matter of continuing to study hard for whatever came next. Luckily, we weren't alone.
It became routine to study with Teams RWBY and or JNPR (depending on the day) in the library. I was pleased with this not just to spend time with the people who were becoming my friends, but also because it allowed me to keep an eye out on what was developing between the teams.
There was Jaune's whole business with Cardin… I did him, and everyone else, a solid by telling Glynda that Cardin was harassing and bullying students, on top of the near assault he'd partaken in more than a few times. It was enough to get him and his team expelled after a thorough investigation.
Of course, I waited to do that until after Jaune had the time to learn to have some self-confidence. It wouldn't do to have him be spineless forever… Besides, he needed Pyrrha's help, and that macho nonsense would have gotten him killed if I had let it continue.
I actually met Velvet during all of this, she was… all different kinds of adorable. Of course, I expected that, and for all of her shyness she was certainly a very skilled fighter. Cardin and his goons really had no idea how lucky they were that Velvet wasn't the kind of person to get violet, even in instances where she really should have. I didn't really consider her a friend at this point, more an acquaintance, but I still admired her for her strength and general kind attitude.
Regrettably, Cinder wasn't really able to find an excuse to see me where she wouldn't risk getting caught during this time. It was the longest period of time we'd gone without seeing each other, around two months.
Eventually, the semester started to get close to ending. The time I anticipated the White Fang to strike the docks along with Torchwick was fast approaching, and that meant I needed to start gathering information to give to Blake, and so I would know when the heist was happening. There was no way I was going to miss it.
I'd be bringing along the rest of my team of course, I wouldn't be much help on my own.
I figured out when the shipment was coming in through a bit of detective work, the dust shops my team had helped save were more than happy to tell me when they were expecting shipments. All signs pointed to one particular day.
Now I just needed to tell Blake…
So, one afternoon just a few days before the shipments were due, I went to a training room. Blake and I had continued to spar together, just another part of our routine. It was nice, honestly beyond the whole White Fang thing, she was a very relaxed person. She and Lunus were breaks from the insanity of the rest of my team.
After we finished training we were both sitting on the ground, drinking water and wiping off sweat with towels we'd brought. I had taken my shirt off, my body was just way too hot after working out to not want to air out. I could actually do that and not feel insecure now, too. I had some muscle definition, but nothing close to Ruby or Sun. I had an… athletic build, I think that was the term.
Of course, Blake didn't care, and I had sort of graduated past caring about taking off a shirt. Although I still wouldn't change in the same room, taking off my pants in front of people was still a step too far, even with underwear on.
Blake, in the meantime, had taken off her vest and was left with just her undershirt on. Aura might have regulated our body temperatures, but we still sweat from exertion, and it took time for our bodies to get back down to normal temperatures. Just… less time than if we were relaxing without aura.
Blake and I were making some small talk, not much but some. She wasn't the kind of person to make small talk, she much preferred action over words, unless those words were printed on a page. I had sort of endeared myself to her by mentioning I was interested in reading Ninja's of Love, which I didn't do just to be friendly, I genuinely wanted to know what it was like!
She had lent me her copy of the first book and it was… saucy. Not the kind of thing you'd read in public, that was for sure. I didn't mind, though, after all it was just a book. We could avoid talking about 'love' scenes and just discuss the fairly intricate plot, and not that kind of plot either.
After about ten minutes of sitting there, she asked, "So, have you been able to finish reading the second book yet?"
Ah, a perfect opportunity! I shook my head and smiled, "Sorry, but I haven't really had the time. Between finals and some other stuff I've been doing I haven't had a lot of opportunities to read." I took my scroll out of my pocket, "You know how I've been dealing with those robberies, right?"
She nodded, "I wish you'd have brought them to me. I hear the White Fang was involved, they're very dangerous… Even if they don't all mean harm. Some are just… misguided."
Maybe a few of them… I hummed, "Well, if you'd have asked, I'd have gladly gotten you and the rest of your team in on the crime fighting. It was good fun while it lasted."
Blake took a drink from her water bottle and shook her head, "...You don't need to get them involved. I'm sure I'd be enough help. Five huntsmen is more than enough, any more would make it too obvious."
I'd have called her out, but she did have a point. I shrugged, "Well, I've been doing some digging…" I used the holographic projection feature my Scroll had to display a slightly larger view of the documents I had on there. It wasn't massive, but it was something. I explained, "The robberies have all been targeting dust shops. Nothing else has been hit by anyone even resembling a member of the Fang. I think their target is, as always, the SDC. As for what they're doing with the dust, well… nothing good."
Blake nodded along, enraptured in my explanation. I had anticipated her to be, and I knew that telling her was going to get her obsessed with being there the night of the robbery, but it was better that she was prepared. I switched to another document displaying a log of expected shipments, "I asked around and almost every dust shop still operating right now is anticipating a massive shipment of dust to come in during the night some time from now.."
I turned off the hologram, "Of course, Team CALM will be there!" I smiled, "It's going to be one big bust. A hit like this will leave the White Fang reeling for a while."
Blake's eyes widened, "W-What day?" She leaned closer to me, she spoke in a desperate tone, "When? I need to be there!" Then she caught how she was acting and cleared her throat, sitting back in her normal spot, "I mean… I would like to be part of the sting."
My smile turned playful, "I know you do, Blake. You've asked me a lot of things about the terrorists I've helped apprehend since this whole crime fighting thing started…" She looked away, she seemed to realize that she'd been making herself all too obvious. Cats and curiosity, as they said.
I took up my shirt, now sufficiently unheated, and slipped it back on. My coat, scarves, and turtle-neck were all folded up together. I stood up and began to dress, "Blake…" My voice grew gentle, "If there's something you need to tell me, you know you can. I'm not going to tell anyone."
Blake hesitated, furrowing her brow, before she shook her head, "N-No, there's nothing. I just want to be there, the… the White Fang needs to be stopped."
Once I was completely dressed, I started for the door, "Hmm, that's okay." I turned around to face her after reaching the door, "It's two days from now. Friday night. Don't be late, we could use your expertise, given your familiarity with them."
She looked up in shock, her eyes widened in terror, "H-How did you know?! I…" She swallowed a lump in her throat and looked down, clenching her fists. I knew how far she'd run to get away from her problems, she'd probably fight me if it meant keeping her secret, and she'd win.
I placed my index finger over my lips in a shushing gesture and grinned at her, "Sshhh." She looked at me in confusion before I lowered my finger, "Blake Belladonna. The same last name as the couple that runs Menagerie? Not a lot of non-faunus pay attention to things there, but I do. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone. You're a good friend, I don't want to see you judged for your past."
Her eyes glistened and she looked down, "I…" She looked angry, but not at me, "I… guess that makes sense. I should have used a different last name…" She sighed, "Thank you… for not telling anyone."
I shook my head, "We've all got our secrets Blake. It's nothing. Just pay me back by being at the docks, okay?"
She managed a weak smile and nodded her head. I took that as my cue, turning around and walking out, leaving her there to think. I was sure she was going to be doing a lot of that, over the next couple days.
When I got back to the dorm that night, I let everyone know what the plan was. As usual, they were all on board. Jeanne, in particular, was always enthusiastic to go after the Fang in particular. Sure, she was enthusiastic about crime stopping, even if the presence of the Fang wasn't guaranteed, but there was an extra bit of fire in her heart whenever they were involved.
I wasn't sure what to make of that. Between changing in the closet, being very careful with what she wears (even on the hottest day I'd never once seen her in shorts), and certain… behaviors, I had started growing suspicious over the past month that maybe we had a Blake situation of our own on our hands.
That raised some questions though, because Jaune was very clearly not a faunus. I wasn't sure how faunus-human interbreeding worked, I'd never looked into it, but it was still something that warranted looking into, at least then.
…Although looking up stuff about that online had proved unproductive. 'Faunus-Human Interbreeding' on the internet had a lot of results that were… interesting but not at all what I needed or wanted. I had to dig deeper into scientific articles and the like to actually get what I needed to know.
Which was to say, it seemed that when humans and faunus had children, it was about a 50/50 chance that the result would be a human or a faunus. That meant that the possibility wasn't off the table, although if she was a faunus, then why was she hiding it, and what exactly was she hiding?
She didn't have animal ears after all…
I didn't bring it up that night, but I decided that I needed to inquire with the others the next day. So, after classes were done for the day, I started to look for opportunities to inquire with the others about Jeanne's behavior.
That opportunity came when she went to take a shower to wash up after sparring. We were all sitting around on our beds, messing with our scrolls, and I decided to broach the topic, "Violet, Lunus, have either of you two noticed Jeanne behaving… strangely?"
Lunus looked up from his scroll and tilted his head, "In what way? Jeanne is pretty strange, that's kind of part of her appeal…" He wasn't wrong, although that was a strange way to word it, "Now that I think about it…" He rubbed his chin, "She does sit kind of weird. Always at like… an angle? Like she's trying to not sit on something."
I had never really paid that close attention to something that minute, but as I thought about it, I came to realize he was right. Violet, in the meantime, rubbed her chin, with Aura creating a charcoal colored question mark above her head, "She does take a long time in the bathroom, after she showers… I know she's not using it or anything like that. I listened in once and it kind of sounded like she was using duct-tape on something? I just wrote it off as her fixing something of hers…"
Duct-tape?
My face paled as I started to draw some conclusions. If we'd all seen things like this, heard things like this, then… "Okay, after she showers, we need to knock on the door and try to get her to hurry up. If she's doing what I think she's doing, she's… not in a good way, to say the least. Violet, if she doesn't open the door, could you have Aura go in and check on her? I don't want to do that, but, if she's… hurting herself, then it might be the only way, and you're a girl, so…"
Violet's face lit up a bright red, "I-I mean… I could… if it's to help Jeanne…" She looked down, "It's a good thing Aura and I don't necessarily share all of the same experiences. If I could remember everything they did perfectly, I think I'd have a really distorted memory…"
Lunus frowned, his words were laced with worry, "This feels like an invasion of privacy, but… I think I get what your concern is. Oh Jeanne, you idiot…" He looked down and sighed, "How could we not notice sooner?"
I shook my head and looked down as well, "If it's really what's happening, I'm ashamed of myself for not noticing sooner. She's my partner, I need to look out for her, just like she looks out for me."
Violet huffed, "Don't blame yourself! That's not gonna get you anywhere. How exactly would you guess that she's got something like that going on?"
She had a point, but it still didn't make me feel any better.
We waited until the shower stopped running to enact our plan, specifically Violet knocking on the door frantically to try and get in because she needed to use the bathroom. Obviously, she didn't, but she was a surprisingly good actress.
Jeanne had a panicked voice as she tried to ask Violet to wait just a few more minutes, however Violet was not having it in the slightest. Eventually she outright threatened, "Jeanne! If you don't unlock this door, I'm going to send Aura in to unlock it for me!"
Finally, I added some gentleness to the plan by speaking softly, "Jeanne. I heard about the duct-tape, I don't know what you're doing, but… we're a team. We're not going to judge you." This would all be unnecessarily overdramatic if she genuinely had nothing going on that warranted this level of intervention.
However, the shaky sigh she gave seemed to indicate that we were right to suspect something. She spoke in a worried, downtrodden tone that was just heartbreaking to hear coming from her, "Give me a second…"
Luckily, there was no sound of duct-tape coming from the other side. Instead after a few moments she opened the door and we all stepped away so she could step outside. She was looking down and playing with her braid nervously as she exited.
She was wearing a shirt with the Pumpkin Pete bunny logo on it and a pair of pajama bottoms, except this time, between where her shirt and her bottoms met, there was a tail! It looked like a Labrador tail, golden and fluffy. Well, mostly… There were parts of it that were patchy, missing fur, indicating that yes, she had been doing what I was worried she was doing.
She tried to come up with an excuse, "My parents always said-"
Lunus cut her off, crossing his arms and shaking his head, "Nope." Him and Ruby had more in common than I thought, it seemed.
She tried again, "B-But they told me-"
Violet placed her hands on her hips, with Aura mimicking the pose by forming behind her, "Nuh-uh!"
Jeanne's breath hitched as she looked down, "I…I…"
Finally, I stepped closer to her and wrapped her in a tight hug, eliciting a squeak of shock from the girl. I spoke gently, barely above a whisper, "Jeanne. It's okay."
I heard her start sniffling, before long she was sobbing into my chest, with the other two coming over. Violet joined the hug, hugging her from the side, while Lunus put a hand on her back, both wore worried expressions.
I got an idea, I wasn't sure it was going to work, or if it might be considered racist, but I knew Violet liked being pet. So, still hugging her, I reached my hand up and started to gently stroke her hair and scratch her head gently. At first she froze, and I was almost certain I was doing something wrong, but then I saw her tail, previously tucked between her legs, start to lift and slowly begin to wag as I continued.
Her crying continued, although after a few moments of us being with her, assisted by my gentle petting, she slowly began to abate, although her breathing remained shaky. Her tail had started wagging faster, and I honestly thought it was the most adorable thing. Well, it would be, were it not for the patches of missing fur that indicated what she'd been doing, I wondered if aura could regrow hair faster if you tried hard enough…
She returned the hug at some point, and she very clearly didn't want to let go. However, after a few minutes, she seemed to have calmed down enough that I could slowly loosen my hold on her, "Jeanne, you're my partner. I… I might not be the most attentive. I'll admit that, it's… not something I'm proud of, but you should know that I'm still going to be there for you no matter what."
I honestly felt stupid, and I took a large part of the blame for how long this had been going on. If I had been paying more attention to my team, to my partner, then I would have noticed this a lot sooner. Yet, even if I included them in it, I was still so focused on stopping the dust robberies, and then on school, and then on… so much else. Everything but what I should have been focusing on.
I just hoped that she would find it in her heart to forgive me. Of course, even then I knew she wasn't going to blame me, she would blame herself, and everything else but me. She never wanted to blame her friends for anything, she was practically self-destructive in how she handled herself. That, combined with her tail, raised a lot of questions. Questions that I wanted to ask, but I certainly didn't want to ask her…
I'd have to ask Jaune later, when I had the time. I figured if anyone might be able to provide the information I needed, it would be him.
In response to what I said, she mumbled, "Mhm… I'm sorry…" She nuzzled into my chest, while Violet and Lunus let go and seemed content that she was finally calmed down.
Damn it… I didn't feel right letting go while she was hugging me like this. I knew she was a very touchy girl who seemed to adore hugs and other forms of affection, so she must have really needed this right now. I spoke softly, "Let's sit down…"
She agreed, we moved over to my bed and sat down, where she wrapped her arms around me, rested her head on my chest, and sighed, "Sorry…" She acted as if her presence was somehow an annoyance or a deterrence, "I-I just…"
I shushed her softly, "No, it's fine… Jeanne, you're fine… You're wonderful. We all think that, we all know that." Her tail started picking up again, rubbing against the bed sheets as it did so.
We stayed that way for a while, until Jeanne was comfortable enough to pull away. On a lighter note, she lamented that she was going to have to make some adjustments to her wardrobe so she could have her tail out without needing to move her pants or shirt at all.
And before the day was done, something else happened. Jeanne had moved to sit on her bed, and she muttered, "It's… going to be embarrassing to have all these patches of… no fur."
That was when Aura pulled away from Violet and coalesced into its familiar charcoal energy around Jeanne's tail. I furrowed my brow as we watched her work, and when she was done, Jeanne's tail had regrown all of its missing fur! So aura could speed hair growth! Or, at least Aura could. Jeanne smiled warmly as Aura returned to Violet, "Th-Thank you, Vi…"
Violet smiled back, "I didn't even know Aura could do that, so thank her not me." That just added more questions to the question of Aura, but those were questions that could be asked later.
For now, though, we were just happy to have Jeanne as she really was. I found myself retroactively growing more pleased with myself for helping get Cardin and his crew expelled. If they had tried something with Jeanne I had a feeling that Lunus, Violet, and I would have not been merciful.
The rest of the day went by without incident, and the next day was the day of the docks heist. By the time the afternoon was coming, I already noticed that Blake was gone. It seemed like she had still gotten into a fight with Weiss and had run away. Ruby had asked me to try to call her, but she wasn't picking up her scroll, so she must have turned it off.
Well, she had Sun with her, so at least she wouldn't be alone.
I could have told the rest of Blake's team where she'd be, but I knew they'd find their way to the docks on their own. There was no reason to hint that I knew where she'd be and jeopardize changing things too much. I still very much wanted Weiss to move past her prejudice.
Jeanne had asked me after lunch if we should help them look, but I told her not to worry about it. She was confused, but I told her that it'd all work out in the end, which didn't answer any of her questions and left her even more confused but she accepted it nonetheless.
Eventually, finally, the time came. After classes were done, we all changed into our huntsman gear and took a bullhead down to Vale. After that, we began to quickly move through the streets, towards the docks.
When we arrived, just as I had hoped, it was already dark. The dock was dimly lit with street lamps as well as the bright overhead light of the full shattered moon. I directed everyone to take hiding spots on one of the warehouse roofs. I saw Blake and Sun on another roof, although the others hadn't noticed them yet.
Now to wait…
The cargo containers filled with dust were delivered not long after that, just dropped off by some of the Schnee automated airships and then left there for the morning. Easy pickings for terrorists and crooks up to no good…
Sure enough, two bullheads arrived and landed. They opened and out stepped Roman Torchwick and a whole host of White Fang members, there were a lot of them… Nothing we couldn't take on, but I knew there was more to come. We'd need to be careful.
It didn't take long for Blake to lose her cool and engage Torchwick and his terrorist friends, Sun joined in the fray not long after, but there were more terrorists than I remembered there being… Two more bullheads came and airdropped a whole whole more.
We had been laying on the roof, now as I stood up the others joined me. Well, I guess if there was any time to say it, it would be now… I drew Dawn and joined it into its bow form before nocking a lightning-dust arrow, "Titans go!" That got a confused look from the others, I rolled my eyes, "Oh, right… Ehm… Kick their asses!"
Everyone drew their weapons and jumped off the warehouse roof, landing and then racing forward into the fray while Roman and the other terrorists looked shocked at the sudden reinforcements. He recovered quickly, and while I couldn't hear what he said, I saw Roman saying something smug. That was when I took the opportunity to draw back and loosed the arrow.
Whatever monologue he was going to go on was interrupted as the arrow sailed through the air. It would have connected with him had he not noticed and leapt back and out of the way. It hit the ground and exploded in a lightning strike, sending several of the goons that surrounded him to the ground.
There had to be at least fifty, no, sixty of them! I sent at least five to the ground, Sun and Blake had taken out a few more, and as my team crashed into them, I was sure the numbers were going to get even lower.
I watched as Lunus engaged first, activating Selene and throwing it to the ground before leaping onto the giant buzzsaw and using his semblance to make himself lighter, allowing him to surf easily along with the thing. He surfed straight into a group of White Fang members, at least ten of them. After he'd crashed into one or two of them, he jumped off Selene and grabbed it by the handle, bringing it up and spinning in a complete circle around him, cutting down most of the remaining ones in range of him.
Next up was Jeanne, who brandished Alba Mors and swung a wide horizontal swing in front of her as she broke into a group of twelve that were holding rifles. Several of them were immediately sent to the ground, while those that remained had to deal another oncoming attack. She braced herself, digging her heels in and swinging in a diagonal upward slice, hitting several of the remaining White Fang members in the cadre she was targeting, She was left with just a couple left, who looked very much intimidated by her swordsmanship.
Finally, I watched as Violet did what Violet does best. She had already broken apart Suncutter, and she spun the chakram right into five or six of the goons, while Aura manifested in her usual combat form, a seven foot tall version of Violet, and began to bowl into several more of the terrorists, punching, kicking, and occasionally picking up and throwing people as she went.
As Torchwick recovered from the sudden shock of almost being struck by lightning, he turned his gaze towards me again. I saw his eyes widen as he looked at me, I guess he must have recognized me! He steeled his gaze, pointed his cane at me, and then shot a bright red dust round towards me.
I quickly nocked a gravity dust arrow and jumped off the roof just as the explosive round connected with where I was standing. Then, I fired the round at the ground, as it connected and exploded, it sent me flying up in the air again. I sailed towards the fight before landing on the ground again and breaking apart Dawn, just a few feet away from Torchwick. I smiled at him, "Fancy seeing you here."
Torchwick's gaze faltered, we stood in a small space of calm amongst the sounds of clashing metal and gunfire, the eye of the storm. He sounded distant as he spoke, "You of all people? Well…" He smirked, regaining his usual bravado, "Hats off to you, kid. I suppose I did tell you to live on the straight and narrow, didn't I?" I nodded and he closed the end of his cane, "Well, then, you were just a homeless loser when I saw you last. I heard news of a group of kids going around breaking up robberies, my robberies. I saw your picture but I wasn't sure if it was you, until now." He grinned and spun his cane in his hand, "How about we see how far you've come, huh?"
I smiled, "Sounds like a plan! Hope you're ready to go to jail." He snorted and then launched forward towards me. Torchwick kept Melodic Cudgel in one hand as he swung at me, I swiftly blocked with one part of Dawn, he responded by swiftly withdrawing his cane and switching which hand he was holding it in in the blink of an eye, bringing it down to attack the other side.
I blocked, from what I remembered about how Torchwick fought, he was very skilled, very fast. Luckily, I was fast too, a lot faster than I used to be. I wasn't so adept at blocking, though, so I took a new approach. As he began to swing his cane at me again, swapping between which hand he was holding it in several times as he spun it and struck out, I began to dodge, leaning to the left, right, bobbing and weaving, jumping back and doing everything else I needed to do.
He was fast! I couldn't sustain this for very long…
I saw an opportunity and struck back, lunging forward and bringing down both parts of Dawn. There was a rhythm to the strikes, first one and then the other, repeatedly over and over again as he found himself on the defensive end of this whole mess. Yet there was something I had been saving for just such an occasion.
My Talisman began to glow as I whispered, "Light!" Under my breath, suddenly a white ball of light shot out from the Talisman, right in Torchwick's face! He staggered backwards and swore as the light blinded him temporarily. I willed the light to fly into the air so it wouldn't blind me as well, and then I jumped off the ground and kicked upward, my boot connecting with his chin as I backflipped.
The force of the kick was enough to send him onto his back, he laughed, "Hah! You fight dirty kid, I like it, you've got guts!" Just as quickly as I sent him down, he kicked up onto his feet again, in a swift motion the end of his cane came open and he fired a shot off at me!
Having just landed, I didn't have time to react before the fire dust round connected into me and sent me flying backward. I would have kept going if I didn't get grabbed out of the air by Aura, who set me down and smiled at me. I smiled back, and that was when I saw Blake re-engage with Torchwick with a declaration of, "He's mine!"
I shook my head and after nodding to Aura, I raced forward. The battle was still raging around us. As I drew closer to Torchwick, just in time for Blake to get sent sprawling on the ground, I yelled, "Actually, I called dibs!"
He was still readjusting from beating down Blake, so he didn't have time to react before I bowled into him, stabbing outward with Dawn and striking his chest. He stumbled back, and I used that as the opportunity I needed to send him down for good. I channeled ice dust from my vambraces into Dawn and swung horizontally in either direction with my blades, sending out a blast of ice and fog that connected with Torchwick. Not only did he get sent to the ground, but he got iced over as well!
It didn't stick though, he yanked his cane out of the ice and aimed a shot above me, I realized too late that I had fallen into the same trap that Sun had once upon a time and quickly dove out of the way as he shot a shipping container and sent it to crashing to the ground where I was just a second ago.
As he pulled himself out of the ice and got to his feet, he aimed his cane at me. I laid on my back as he aimed at me and grinned at him, "You're good, Torchwick. Where'd you go to school? Hard Knocks?"
He snorted and shook his head, "That wasn't even funny, kid." Yet he was still smirking anyway, "Alright, seems like this party's gone on long. So how about-"
Then, we all heard, "Hey!" Over the din of combat, and who else would appear brandishing her scythe but Ruby Rose.
Torchwick rolled his eyes, "Hey there Little Red! Isn't it past your bedtime? Besides, this party is invite only!" He aimed his cane at Ruby and fired a round at her, which connected.
I used his momentary distraction to will the light I had sent into the sky down again, it got in Torchwick's face and he swore, "Damn it kid! You and this fucking flashlight!" He swiped with his cane and knocked it out of the sky, making the light dissipate.
I scrambled to my feet and away from what was to come as I saw a familiar ginger-haired girl appear on the warehouse roof. I grinned, "Ah, Torchwick… I think you've messed up."
He looked at me in confusion before suddenly Penny jumped into action, her Floating Array made short work of the White Fang that were still standing, allowing both my teammates, Sun, and Blake to recover. Some, like Blake, were in clearly worse states than others, although that was more because she'd tried to take Torchwick head-on and got overzealous more than anything else.
If Penny hadn't intervened, I would be right there with her. Even now, I felt the sting of that round Torchwick shot into me. I was sure I was going to be feeling it tomorrow, too…
With his goons being made short work of, Torchwick seemingly vanished into thin air. Although I knew exactly who had intervened, demonstrated by Torchwick's sudden appearance in a Bullhead. He gave me a two-finger salute and a cocky smirk before the sliding door of the ship shut and it departed from the docks.
After that, the remaining Bullheads were swiftly destroyed, either split in half or sent into the ocean. The terrorists, too, were defeated, either knocked unconscious or made to surrender. Much like the robberies before, I saw the rest of my team starting to round up terrorists.
Blake was still on the ground, so I struggled up and walked over to help her up as Sun came over as well. He smiled at me, "Sup, good fighting back there. That Torchwick guy is no joke."
I nodded and as Blake took my hand, I helped her up, wincing as I did so as I felt my chest protest against the exertion, "Yep… If Pe-That girl didn't get involved, I'd be done for…"
Blake looked down as the adrenaline left her system began to dissipate, "Sorry I rushed in like that… I should have waited for you and your team."
I shook my head as I let go of Blake's hand and patted her shoulder, "Shoulda, coulda, woulda, doesn't matter. As long as you learn from your mistake, speaking of…" I looked towards the driveway into the dock and saw Weiss and Yang arriving, with Ruby no doubt soon to be there too, I looked at her and smiled, "Go on and talk to them. I think you'll find them more accommodating than you think."
Blake managed a tired smile back at me, "Thanks, for everything…" I smiled sheepishly at the expression of gratitude, while Sun huffed, she rolled her eyes, "You too, Sun." Then, she started walking towards where her team was converging, the police would be here soon, I knew. We made quite the commotion.
Sun crossed his arms and smiled at Blake before looking around then leaning in and whispering, "Hey, so… Are you and Blake…?" He had a concerned look in his eyes, but I knew it was more the concern of 'have I been crushing on someone else's girl' rather than 'is this guy moving in on my crush'.
I shook my head and watched him sigh in relief, "She's a good friend, but no. Good luck with that, though. Some advice? Talk about her interests. She loves reading, maybe ask for some recommendations?"
Sun looked surprised for a second before he smiled, "A-Ah, yeah! Good idea. Thanks man. My name's Sun. Sun Wukong."
I smiled back, "Neve Cadere, I'll see you around, yeah?" He nodded and ran off to join Blake. I personally didn't want to get too involved in Blake's lovelife, that wasn't my business. Besides, from what memories I had of the old world, taking a side in that debacle was sure to come back to haunt me, somehow, God knows how…
My attention shifted as I turned to help round up the rest of the criminals. Eventually, Penny came around to help as well. As she set a criminal down in a pile of unconscious mooks, I was about to greet her, when suddenly she spotted me and her eyes widened, "Oh, sal-u-tations! I'm Penny! Penny Polendina! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
I smiled and rubbed the back of my head, "Neve Cadere, nice to meet you Penny. You were really good out there, I swear you fought like a machine, those guys didn't stand a chance."
If she had any notion as to what I was hinting at, she didn't show it, instead she kept smiling, "You seem to have held yourself admirably well as well! Wow, trading compliments! Does this make us friends?"
My smile brightened, ever the ray of sunshine, this girl
My vision flashed to a dark future where she lay down on the ground for the barest moment before it returned back to normal. My eyes widened briefly and my smile weakened before I swallowed a lump in my throat and quickly nodded. I reached over and patted her shoulder, "Okay Pen-Pen, we can be friends."
I fully intended to never call her that nickname again, but seeing the overjoyed reaction on her face was worth it, "Sen-sational! I-" That was when she caught sight of a car out in the driveway to the docks, "I will have to schedule friend activities with you later! For now, it was wonderful meeting you!" Then, just as quickly as she spoke, she ran off to the car.
I sighed and rubbed my eyes, another fate I hoped I was preventing…
After that, we all got questioned by the police. Once we had answered their questions, they allowed us to head back to the dorms. It was an uneventful walk back to the Bullhead Landing, and during the walk I received a notification.
Substory Complete!
Neighborhood Huntsmen!
After playing a part in stopping the docks heist, you can safely say the White Fang, and Torchwick, will be recovering from this blow for a few months. At the very least, you've brought Vale temporary peace with your efforts!
Rewards
200 Lien, Relationship increase with Teams CALM, RWBY, and JNPR. Relationship increase with Sun Wukong. Relationship increase with Roman Torchwick. Relationship decrease with Cinder Fall and several others, increase in Notoriety with the people of Vale, the students of Beacon, and the staff of Beacon.
Increase with Torchwick? That seemed… counterproductive. Maybe it was because he liked my 'style.' Who knew. If I could get him to turncoat, that would not only save his life, but it would save me a lot of trouble.
That was something to consider, at least.
After we got back to the dorms, I decided I wanted to enjoy the calm of the night after such a long day, so I grabbed a soda and headed up to the roof. Over the past two months, some students had stolen the metal chairs that used to be up there, so until the thieves were apprehended, the chairs were replaced with plastic ones. Honestly, they were surprisingly comfy.
As I sat in the white chair, I curiously decided to check on my stats and Cinder's relationship levels.
Neve Cadere
Level 9 Wannabe Hero
Age - Eighteen
HP
100/100
Aura
120/120
Stats
Vigor - 15
Mind - 22
Charisma - 24
Endurance - 18
Strength - 14
Dexterity - 34
Intelligence - 18
Sorcery - 5
Skills
Sword Fighting
45/100
Archery
48/100
Fist Fighting
30/100
Dodging
48/100
Blocking
38/100
Aura Usage
50/100
Dust Usage
45/100
Stealth
35/100
Deception
50/100
Leadership
40/100
Cinder Fall
20/100 - Good Friend (Tier 2)
60/100 - Crush (Tier 1)
Hm… Her view of me had declined a lot over the past few months. I felt a pang of sadness in my heart as I closed my eyes and looked down.
That was when I received a call on my scroll. Opening my eyes again, I checked who the caller was.
It was Cinder.
I swallowed a lump in my throat and took a sip from my drink before I answered, "Hey, Cinder. It's been awhile?"
Cinder Fall
40/100 - Good Friend (Tier 2)
70/100 - Crush (Tier 1)
She responded, "It has… I'm sorry about that. I heard from my… associate that a bunch of Beacon students intervened in the docks, the news broadcasters are already on the scene. You did a number on the White Fang, huh?"
I smiled and leaned back in my chair, "Uhm… yeah, I guess I did. It wasn't all me though, my team and a few friends were involved too."
Cinder harrumphed, speaking in a pouty tone, "Perhaps, but I don't care about them nearly as much as I do you." Her words sent my heart fluttering all over again.
Cinder Fall
60/100 - Good Friend (Tier 2)
80/100 - Crush (Tier 1)
I was glad she couldn't see my blush, "Y-Yeah? Well, did you just call to congratulate me?"
She spoke quickly, "No, of course not! I want to use that favor." Her voice slowed down as she grew a shy tone I'd only heard a scant few times before, "I-I would like it if we could arrange another not-date… You know, we can watch a movie and catch up with each other. It's… been too long, Neve."
My mood practically touched the sky just from her words, "Y-Yeah!" I cleared my throat, "I-I mean, sure, of course. When are we meeting?"
Cinder Fall
75/100 - Good Friend (Tier 2)
90/100 - Crush (Tier 1)
Cinder did her best not to sound too excited, "P-Perfect. Let's meet tomorrow at six. I'll text you the details, okay? I'll see you then!" She hung up the phone before I could say bye and I was left to sigh as I sunk into my chair.
Cinder Fall
80/100 - Good Friend (Tier 2)
100/100 - Smitten (Tier 1)
It had been too long since we'd last talked, and in spite of how much we continued to flagrantly fly in each other's faces with our clashing motives, in spite of how much I really should have considered her an enemy, more than anything…
I was just looking forward to seeing her again.