Going to get this out of the way now, this is your official Trigger Warning: If you are set off by implied emotional and physical abuse of a potential sexual nature, this is a fair chapter to skip. I'll be nice and put a recap of this chapter at the start of the next one. So if reading about the above is going to mess with you, you can skip it and not get lost in the story.

That being said, I did not go into detail, and I've cliff noted parts of conversations to avoid spelling it all out, so hopefully that will mitigate things.


Jaune was definitely having a Stone Temple Pilots kind of morning. He walked into the school having been dropped off by his mother and caught himself looking down towards the ground. He just was not in the mood after the dreams her had the night before about Pyrrha. In his disc-man was a copy of "Out of time" by Stone temple pilots and he walked in to the front doors as the song "Losing my religion" played in his ears with flashes of the dream last night playing in his mind.

Dreams about seeing Pyrrha looking at him, splattered with blood holding a hand out asking him to Come with her.

"God I never should of talked about her to Ruby last night" The thought crossed Jaune's head. as he walked into the school, hood of his sweater pulled up to hide his face and let him blend in better.

"Maybe... I'll just go to straight to class today, I mean I can't shake the guilt of even getting close to the two of them from my head anyways..." He thought as his mood dipped into the red.

He didn't make it that far however before he felt a weight plow into him and almost knock him off his feet, he looked at what hit him and saw dark hair and grey eyes looking up at him.

Ruby looked up at him and finger signed out a [Hi] with one hand while still hugging him.

Jaune waved back as well as he heard the giggles of people walking by as his headphones were knocked slightly off his ears. He also heard a few off hand comments talking about how much of a "cute couple" they made. This prompted Jaune to wiggle free and take a step back.

Ruby just tiled her head at him and signed [What's wrong, you don't like hugs?]

Jaune signed back [Sorry people were mistaking us for dating...] and rubbed his neck sheepishly as a different song played in his ears. [Didn't want to give anyone the wrong idea about us.]

Ruby tilted her head thinking it over, before it sank in and her eyes shot wide [Oh god, not what I was trying to imply. I know with what happened to your Ex your not ready for dating and I don't want to put pressure on you. I'm sorry please don't be angry at me!] Ruby said as she started to get frantic for a moment.

This time Jaune went over and gave her a hug [No, I'm over reacting, sorry.]

Ruby latched to him a bit tighter than he expected, almost like someone drinking from a glass of water after being lost in a desert. "Damn this girl really like hugs" Jaune thought to himself as he pulled away.

Ruby Audibly whimpered a bit when Jaune let go. He just didn't hear it because of his headphones. The pair walked over to the table that was basically the bastion and territory of their group, both Jaune and Ruby were a bit surprised to see Blake over at their table quietly talking with Yang.

The pair sat down both waving hello as they took their seats.

"Uh... Hi" Blake said in a quiet tone to Ruby and Jaune

"Hey, Blake wanted to go over some notes for your project since she says her boyfriend is requiring her to see him after school." Yang said with a slightly agitated tone.

[Some boyfriend...] Jaune signed out, Yang didn't have to, but opted to interpret for Blake.

"It's not like that... not normally... I guess" Blake said sounding almost nervous about talking about him like this.

Jaune had a thought cross his mind, remembering his Im chat with Ruby the night before, and his own misgivings about this Adam guy. "Ruby does act quite a bit different when she has that barrier between me and her. I wonder. if that will be true with Blake here?". Jaune gestured to yang to swap spots with him and sat down next to her with his notepad out.

Jaune took a moment to write out a note "I know you don't know us at all, we just met yesterday, but we don't judge here, I'm a loaner, Ruby's Mute, and Yang's a bit of a pain in the ass, we all have issues. so if your okay with this, I'd like us to talk for a bit on my notebook."

Blake side eyed Jaune but wrote out 'Okay... You seem nice and Yang has been very nice as well.'

Jaune nodded and wrote out 'So about this Adam guy, does he make you spend time around him a lot'

Blake thought about her answer a bit before writing 'I mean what guy doesn't want to spend time with his girlfriend right?'

Jaune mentally winced a bit, he saw Ruby and Yang from across the table looking at the pair before he wrote his next response. 'Maybe, but I was asking if he's forcing you to see him, even at times you might want some distance from him.'

Blake's shoulder and head sank a bit looking at Jaune's shirt before writing out. 'I guess, maybe... sometimes...'

Jaune could tell he was getting somewhere 'remember, no judging here. did you want to see him today?'

'Not really.' She wrote back

'But he won't let you say no?' Jaune wrote fearing where this was going.

'He gets upset when I say no.' Blake wrote with a shaky hand.

Jaune stopped for a second, he was not liking the sounds of this at all. Jaune found himself thinking "I know I was taught to mind my own business, but she's too shy, to reserved, I got a real bad impression about her situation yesterday, I don't have to have a Ren and Nora in my past to tell something is seriously fucked here, maybe she's looking for someone to talk about it? Maybe that's why she's sitting with us this morning?"

'I just want to pause for a second to say that I know this is not easy for you, and your with friends at this table. We would never force you to do anything your not comfortable with, so you don't have to answer this next question okay?' Jaune wrote as he felt his stomach turn.

'Okay, You all have been really nice, more than I deserve really.' Blake wrote.

Jaune's entire head contorted in discomfort about that sentence, he couldn't leave it alone 'Hey, no one deserves to be treated like crap Blake.' Jaune paused for a second 'Okay, So, I need to ask this, and I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, this is really uncomfortable for me to even ask, but I got a bad feeling talking to you yesterday about this, but has this Adam guy ever asked you to do anything you were not okay with?'

While Blake wrote out a response Jaune spared a glance at Yang and ruby who were quietly signing to each other, probably so Yang could take her sisters mind off of it. Yang shot a concerned look to Jaune.

When Jaune read Blake's response he saw that all she wrote was 'Yes' with a few tear stains on the page.

Jaune felt his hands ball into fists. he took a few deep breaths, something his old friend Ren taught him and wrote 'I won't tell Ruby or Yang, anything, hell I'll burn this notebook later if you want, and this won't change us being friends, but do you want me to help you talk to the office staff about this?'

Without writing anything else, Blake, shaking like a leaf as she did so, and refusing to make eye contact, stood up and pulled on the sleeve to Jaune's sweater and pointed towards the office. Jaune thougt to himself "God she must of thought about this all last night as well."

Jaune signed out [Yang I'm going to need you to help me interpret in the office please.]

Yang signed to her sister to head for class and stood up gathering her things as well as the trio led by Blake went to the school office.


Minutes later the three of them sat in the office of Principal Ozpin, Jaune was used to principal offices in general, but not normally because he's trying to help someone.

Ozpin sat at his desk, with Blake sitting in front of him, Jaune sat next to her and Blake stood next to Ozpin so she could clearly see Jaune signing.

"Ms Belladonna, I understand that you have something you want to discuss with us, if you want I can have Mr Arc and Ms Branwen stop outside so we can talk in private." Ozpin said with a patient practiced tone. "But I also need you to be aware, that if you tell me anything that I have to legally involve law enforcement for, I'm require to notify the local police about it, as a teacher, I am mandated to protect my student's well being even against their own wishes."

Blake looked to Jaune almost as if asking for permission, with Yang translating for him he signed out to her [Blake, you don't need my permission to talk, and we'll support you no mater what you say here okay?]

Blake, barely above a whisper, as her eyes began to tear up said "Okay, I-I understand sir."

Ozpin nodded and click a button to the inter office intercom "Carol, can you bring me 4 hot chocolates and please inform the teachers of the 3 students in here with me that they are excused from their first periods today?"

A voice replied back in the affirmative and Ozpin made a slight show of turning the intercom completely off. "Okay, so it's just us Blake, why don't you get a few things off your chest okay?"

What happened next was about 30 minutes of sobs, and painful confessions on Blake's behalf as she described her Years long relationship with Adam Taurus. It had sounded like they were at one point childhood friends, and that he had always sort of been the friend that spoke for her and made the decision for them. But as time went on, even though she may not have been comfortable with it, Adam coerced her into a "Deeper" relationship about a year ago, and Blake recounted how little by little her own self esteem was eroded down by small comments from Adam. Comments that from the outside, sounded like they were designed isolated her from friends, cutting ties with people who knew the two of them. As well as comments that convinced her that the world would rip her apart with out him shielding her from it. Moments that tried to make her dependent on him and to some extent worked..

More than once Jaune watched the principal take sips from the cheap paper cup of coco in an effort to hide his anger. Jaune was thankful for his own Speech impairment as he would have had strong words to say about this Adam asshole.

Then came the most difficult question Ozpin would ask of Blake. "Did he force you to perform any..." Ozpin struggled for the words "inappropriate adult acts with him against your will."

Blake looked down and didn't answer. But her silence was all the answer Ozpin needed. Ozpin reached for his desk phone as Yang sat down next to Blake and put a hand on her shoulder muttering something Jaune didn't fully hear about "We won't let him hurt you anymore." Blake just hugged Yang and whimpered.

Jaune just held his stomach fighting back a level of queasiness as Ozpin asked the desk reception "Do we know if Adam Taurus is in class today? No, no I don't need him to come up here right now, I just wanted to be sure. Make it a point to excuse Ms Belladonna from the remainder of her classes today, it's a sensitive mater and I feel this would be best if we didn't make any public announcements yet." as he hung up the phone and dialed the local sheriff's department.

"I-I D-don't want to get him in trouble sir." Blake muttered.

Yang was the one to offered the comforting word. "Blake, he may have been a friend once, but friends don't treat each other the way he treats you. Your going to be happier when this is all said and done."

Jaune couldn't help but be thankful that Ruby wasn't there to hear all this as well.


Almost and hour later, Jaune and Yang, having been given blanket excuses for classes that day sat outside of the nurses office. Blake was inside with a school nurse and a Medical examiner from the local Sheriff department. Neither had much to say to each other at the moment. Just as Yang was going to say something a man in a police uniform with a shade of hair similar to yang's walked up to them and sat down, Jaune looked at his uniform and saw the name "Long" as the officers last name.

"Hey kiddo, heard your having a rough day here." the man said to Yang.

"Not as rough as Blake is dad." Yang said to the officer.

"Who's your friend here?" Officer Long asked yang pointing at Jaune.

"Oh that's Jaune, I'm sure Ruby has mentioned him," Yang said trying to take her mind off of things.

"Oh yeah, this is guy Ruby won't stop talking about? Nice to meet you kid" The officer said to Jaune.

Jaune just politely waved.

"So, we got another officer taking a statement from your friend and she's going to get a physical checkout by a doctor, her parents have been called, and well... depending on what happens next someone's likely leaving school in cuffs today." Officer long said to the two of them.

Jaune just rested his head against the wall.

Officer long stood up and dusted himself off. "I need to go talk to the principal, but, yeah I know this is rough, but we'll take care of it all okay?"

Jaune shot him a thumbs up, Yang looked at her dad "Thanks dad."

"Look, I don't talk about work much and shit like this is why. But the best thing the two of you can do, is be a friend to her and don't try to treat her like she's a fragile broken china plate okay? It took an insane amount of strength to seek help the way she did."

Jaune signed out a [I'll be the best friend to her that we can be sir.]

Officer Long said back "Good man, she came out to you and my daughters first, that means she trusts you, but it was a hell of a risk in her head to do so. don't do anything to betray that trust okay?"

With that Officer Long left go speak to Ozpin.


Jaune was able to return to classes by third period and the rest of the day went incident free. He had heard talk about a student being escorted out in cuff's, and he heard Adam's name being tossed around usually acompitied by words such as "That son of a bitch" or "That slimy asshole". There was also a lot of speculation as to why he was arrested but it the common rumor going around, one Jaune was happy to help spread was something about beating up a homeless man and putting him in the hospital. It kept the heat of his new friend, and that's what mattered to him.

As he exited the school for the day he felt a tug on the back of his backpack and as he turned he saw Ruby looking back at him signing out a quick [Everything okay?]

Jaune just shrugged and signed out [Honestly? I don't know.]

The pair walked together out of the school. out of a need for a distraction Jaune asked Ruby [So Yang has a different last name than you?]

Ruby winced at the question [Uh yeah, her mom and my dad divorced before she was born so she has her mothers last name. My parents got married shortly before I was born so I have my dad's last name.]

Jaune thought about it for a bit [I met your dad for a bit today, seems alright.]

Ruby shrugged [I like him better than my mom.]

Jaune tilted his head as they walked. [Want to talk about it?]

Ruby shook her head [Not really, sorry maybe another time]

Jaune nodded as they walked without a destination in mind.

Ruby suddenly stopped and looked at him nervously signing out [So, this might be a tad forward, but did you want to go over to my place?]

Jaune scratched the back of his head before responding [What for?]

Ruby got a bit nervous looking shifting her feet and playing with her hair while finger signing out [Uh, guess video games or something, I just got a copy of Parasite Eve at the mall the next town over and maybe we'd have fun playing it?]

Jaune thought about it, he wasn't stupid and could tell Ruby probably just didn't want to be alone right now. [Yeah, I mean, video games are not my thing due to the whole colorblindness thing, but if you just want someone to hang out with I'm game.]

Ruby's entire body relaxed noticeably and she led the way...


So that was a chapter I wanted to just knock out and get past., Blake has a clear character arc in becoming a stronger person and overcoming her trauma, but she has to experience the trauma first to grow past it. I'll be honest I came like as close as hair's width from scraping the entire chapter. It is absolutely a hell of a thing to imply someone had suffered a lengthy bout of abuse, and it is absolutely a motherfucker to write it out. It risks effectively ruining a character before they had a chance to shine and I just don't like doing it really.

I'd like to think though that it shows just how strong Blake is as a character to approach three almost complete strangers. All of which she met a day before and ask for help. To extend that hand when in her own mind she's expecting it to be swatted away. I believe I mentioned at some point that every character is going to have an arc, and a major obstacle in their lives to overcome. Not all of them are going to be equal, and Blake certainly has the worst of it right now. but it's going to show her to be a far stronger character than those around her for surviving it and yeah... it's a spoiler to say it straight out that she will overcome it and come out the other side far stronger. But this is a case where I feel it needs to be said.

On a slightly lighter note, One reviewer asked me to try and slip in more 90's references, so you got a couple in this chapter, I'll slip more in, but i'm not going to overdo it, so hopefully this will satisfy the need to make it feel more 90's for the time being.

Other than this, hey thanks for reading, even if you skipped straight to the bottom of the page after reading the disclaimer up top and are now frantically posting a review calling me a total asshole for writing Blake the way I did. If you want a more "favorable" take on her, Dust Eater in my Profile. Beyond that I'll see you all next time with a significantly lighter chapter.