The chapter is here and I'm currently working past a headache that has been plaguing me for three days straight. Lovely stuff.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 60

"Keep your head above the water," Cinder snapped. "Above! Damn it. Do you not know what that word even means!? UP! If you can't breathe, that's a problem." The woman stood on the edge of the pool and sighed dramatically. With a graceful dive she splashed into the water and hunted the floundering huntsman down.

Beacon's swimming pool was something of a rarely used thing, at least for any academic purposes. There were mentions of aquatic Grimm and courses in dealing with them in the upper years, but since swimming was good exercise the school left the pool open at most other times, free for the use of students. Most didn't have exercise in mind when they came down, but a little de-stress and relaxation was never a bad thing.

It also doubled up rather well for swimming lessons. Yang grinned as she watched the dark-haired woman reach Jaune and wrap an arm around his throat, kicking backwards to drag him into the shallows. She kicked her own feet in the water, enjoying the sensation. It was nice to have a break and since their team had technically done their first round fight, there was no need to be in the arena. It was also a nice chance to show off her yellow swimming costume, which was just shy of a bikini and clung to her figure.

She'd noticed more than a few boys stare – and Jaune glowered back in the periods where he wasn't busy drowning. His jealousy made her stomach flutter and she took a sinful delight in watching his attention fracture whenever he saw her. It felt good to be wanted.

"Shouldn't you be more concerned at another woman manhandling your boyfriend?" Weiss asked from beside her. The resident heiress had come in a one-piece that was far more conservative, if no less attractive.

Yang snickered. "Shouldn't you?"

"He's not my—" Weiss broke off with a sigh, realising she couldn't argue it in case Winter found out. "Fine, forget I asked. I'm only here to make sure something like yesterday never happens again. I can't believe the dolt didn't tell me he couldn't swim."

"You can't believe he doesn't know how, or that he didn't tell you?"

"Both, though the latter annoys me more. How am I supposed to develop a team strategy when I don't know what he can and can't do?" Weiss sighed dramatically. "At least he's willing to learn. He won't be a confident swimmer at this rate, but if he can keep his head above water I'll call it a win."

Yang hummed her own agreement, recalling that moment of heart-stopping panic where she – and much of the audience – had realised Jaune still hadn't come up from the water. The commentary had stopped, all sound coming to a halt, and it felt like a single pin falling would have deafened the entire arena.

It hadn't been much better when he'd been brought out by Cinder, lifeless and still. Yang had been halfway to the arena by the time he woke up – and he only had woken up because the woman currently dragging him out of the shallows saved his life.

For that alone Yang wouldn't have cared if Cinder had her hands all over him, which she totally did right now, but not in that kind of way. Really, with all the insults and the snapping, not to mention the glaring and foot-stomping, it almost felt like she was watching a reluctant sister chastise a stupid young brother. It was like her and Ruby, except five times more bitchy and with Cinder not quite having the same degree of patience she did.

That fact kept her from feeling jealous as Cinder Fall swam out with Jaune pressed against her chest, even if Yang couldn't quite squash her envy at the soft curves and elegant air Cinder gave off. And I thought I was a knock out. If I was a man I'd be all over that. Hell, if I didn't have Jaune I'd be questioning my sexuality right now.

It just wasn't fair.

"Yang!" Weiss snapped. "Are you paying attention to what I'm saying at all?"

"I've got a feeling I'm not," she said, tearing her eyes from Cinder's creamy skin. "Not unless you were talking about what I was just looking at, which I'm pretty confident you weren't."

Weiss looked back at the pool, grimaced, and came to the wrong conclusion. "Spare me the sordid details of Jaune's body. I don't need to see nor hear it."

"Sure, let's go with that. What were you saying?"

"I was saying that, swimming aside, I'm not sure what to make of the two of them. They act like siblings, but when I asked Jaune he said they weren't, at least not technically. He also repeated the story about his mother trying to marry the two together."

"I can see why," Yang murmured, mesmerised again.

"Yang!"

"I'm listening!"

"Eyes off my partner's chest," Weiss said. "My concerns aren't that she'll steal him away, at least that's not my concern – whether it should be yours is your own choice – but that their fight against one another was…"

"Ridiculous?" Yang offered.

"I was going to say staged but ridiculous also explains it rather succinctly, thank you. Yes, though I wasn't able to tell it at the time I reviewed the footage to try and analyse my own mistakes and their fight was… it was a joke, Yang."

"I know, we all saw it – or at least the students did." The audience didn't seem to notice, too unused to the shows they could put on or how much stronger they could be when they were taking things seriously, as Jaune and Cinder had not been. "I think some people started to figure it out at the end but I doubt there'll be any fallout. Most people see it as the sweetest thing ever, and if they find out they wouldn't even fight one another in the first place? That'll just make them `aww` even louder."

Weiss didn't look like she was ready to croon at the adorableness of it all. She looked prepared to murder her partner. "Yes, but that doesn't help us win the tournament! What if we have to face her team again?"

"I doubt the teachers will let that happen after this time," Yang said. "And you won't have to worry come the second rounds."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Yang grinned. "Because I'll knock your team out myself."

Weiss snorted. "You and what army? I have a Pyrrha and I'm not afraid to use her."

The two shared a quick laugh, a rare moment of camaraderie between two people who, by all measures of personality, shouldn't have gotten on as well as they did. Maybe it was shared woes over Jaune but still, it was nice.

"She isn't really a people person, is she?"

"Hm?" Yang blinked.

"Cinder," Weiss explained. "Look."

She pointed into the pool, where Cinder was currently stood in the shallows with one hand under Jaune's head, trying to teach him to float on the water. The woman's black swimsuit left little to the imagination and she'd already attracted some attention. One man was behind her, trying to hold a conversation with her. Cinder did not look amused. In fact, she looked downright murderous.

Yang couldn't hear what she said to the boy, but from the way his face paled, then went red, then white again, it couldn't have been anything nice. He stammered and backed away, slipping back and falling into the water with a splash. His friends laughed as he swam back, but he didn't. "Ouch," Yang said. "Someone got rejected."

"Someone got emasculated, you mean. She doesn't seem to like spending time with many people. I've seen the way she looks at Ruby."

"Eh, she's probably just not used to it. She lives out in the sticks with Jaune, remember. I bet she just hasn't had the time to get used to having a load of people around her." Yang grinned and gave Weiss a thumbs up. "She'll open up to us just like you did."

"If you're certain…"

"I'm a great judge of character," Yang said. "She's a cool girl, I'm sure of it. Just not patient," she added as Jaune sank like a brick. Far from help him up, Cinder slapped a hand to her forehead and grumbled something under her breath. Yang kicked off the edge and landed in the water with a splash. "I better go help before my first proper boyfriend drowns in a freak training accident. Wish me luck."

"I'll wish you more than that," Weiss said, not moving to join her. "Where is Ruby by the way?"

"Eh, she's off with Blake."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "And you're not concerned about that? When I asked her what she was doing earlier Ruby clammed up immediately. She made up some nonsense excuse about studying marine biology."

"Nah, Blake is cool. Besides, with all the drama she gets with Nora I feel like she deserves a little chance to relax every now and then. The poor kitten gets stressed otherwise." Yang laughed at her final joke, ignoring the roll of Weiss' eyes, and swam over to help Cinder.

It was going to be a while before Jaune could manage much more than the `death stroke`.

/-/

This must have been what being a drug dealer felt like.

The thought didn't quite manage to amuse Blake as much as she would have liked, not when she picked up the parcel from Beacon's front desk and stared at it. Such an innocuous thing, wrapped in brown paper and about the size of a textbook. So innocent and simple, and yet the white tag on the front – containing both the addresses of the recipient and sender – was anything but.

On one side it contained her name, location and residence at Beacon. Below it, a logo of a book opening – innocent enough – but for the words beneath; Adam's Adult Albums and beneath it a slogan, succulently sinful stories for all tastes and occasions."

The name was a coincidence. She had to tell herself that; otherwise her grasp on sanity – fragile enough already – would snap. "Is that it?" a voice whispered hungrily behind her.

Blake's heart leapt into her throat and she staggered forward, spinning in time to see Ruby staring at the package with wide eyes and grasping hands. The sight didn't calm her any, though her heart did stop trying to burst free from her chest. "Ruby, don't scare me like that!"

"He he, sorry. Is it, though?"

"Yes," Blake said, looking down at the parcel like it was a bomb. "This is it."

"Let's open it!"

"No!" She ducked aside, letting Ruby dart by with hands outstretched. "Not here," she said. "Not where people could see us. Do you want Yang to find out what this is?"

Ruby's face, suddenly ashen white, said she didn't.

"Exactly, and however bad you're imagining it to be, it'll be ten times worse for me. We have to be subtle, stealthy…" She tried to think up another word beginning with s that fit. She quickly gave up. "This is serious business."

"Blake, they're magazines," Ruby pointed out.

"They're not just magazines, Ruby." For one, she had a book or two she'd ordered with them. "Anyway, we need to get these back to your dorm, preferably without anyone we know noticing or asking what we're doing."

"Can I help?" someone asked.

In her defence, she was already on edge. The voice came from behind – too close to be aimed at anyone else – and Blake reacted instantly, turning with the package in hand. She didn't mean to use it as a weapon, not really, but she caught a shock of blonde hair and her mind leapt to the thought it might be Jaune. As such, there was only one option; something she had relied on all her life and which had never failed her.

Run away and start a new life.

Sadly, that wasn't an option.

She brained the person with the package instead, striking his face to the side and crumpling him like a pile of rocks. Blake Belladonna stood over the remains of a blonde faunus, clutching a brown package in hand and breathing heavily. Sun Wukong didn't move.

"You see that?" someone whispered.

"So violent."

"Never took her for being a racist…"

"Blake," Ruby whispered. "Did you just kill someone with your porn?"

"No," she replied defensively. "It's our porn."

"H-Hey, that's not fair."

"Life isn't, Ruby. Here, grab his legs."

"We're hiding the body?" Ruby yelped. "I'm too young to go to jail!"

"He's not dead, Ruby. Though he'll wish he was if he dares mention anything of what he saw here. We need to make sure he didn't see anything he wasn't supposed to. Help me get him out of here and outside."

It took a few minutes to carry the dazed faunus out into the gardens. He wasn't fully unconscious but rather stunned. Aura was something you needed to concentrate to use, and force to an area to block an attack. It didn't do so well against surprise attacks, especially not when you were completely at ease and not expecting several hefty books to the skull.

Sun groaned as he was put down on the soft grass. The dew wet his back, slowly bringing him back to reality. "Ugh, what hit me?"

"You tripped," Blake said, long before Ruby could interject with the inconvenient truth. "You tripped and fell. How do you feel?"

"Like I just took a brick to the face…"

Blake shifted awkwardly. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Do you remember anything?"

"I remember coming up to talk to you," he said, and flashed her a charming smile. Blake rolled her eyes and groaned. "I also remember you had something you were talking about. Something you needed to keep secret."

Gambol Shroud flicked out.

Ruby pushed it away. "It's nothing," the younger girl laughed. "Blake and I were just playing a bit of a game. We need to get back to my dorm without anyone noticing. It's… training," she said. "Yeah, training. In stealth."

"Heh, that sounds pretty cool. I've had to sneak around Haven a couple of times myself, maybe I can help." Sun held out a hand, and after a poignant moment to see where Ruby would take it and spare her the effort, Blake sighed and extended her own. Sun kept hold as she dragged him up, and even caressed it a little before he let go.

She resisted the urge to stab him. Just.

"What would you normally do?" Ruby asked the stalker- sorry, monkey faunus.

"Eh, I'd normally climb through a window or something. The corridors are a no go when you need to get in or out quick, and the window lets you check if your teammates are already there. Though to be fair the first time I did it was because we'd left our scrolls inside and locked ourselves out." Sun chuckled nervously. "Breaking into our own dorm in the first week wasn't exactly the highest point of our career."

Ruby and Blake looked away from Sun toward the building which houses their dorms. The wall was flat but not impossibly so. There were drains and ledges to be had, not to mention some parts of the foundation that stood out. It wasn't a vertically flat surface by any means.

Did Blake dare risk Ruby's life climbing up the side of a building?

Yes.

When it was weighed against the question of whether she dared let Yang find out she'd provided her little sister Class-A Smut, then yes she would happily risk her and Ruby's life. Falling and breaking her neck would be a mercy compared to what Yang might do. Except for one little problem…

"We don't know which window is mine," Ruby said.

"Oh, that's easy." Sun pointed. "It's that one."

Blake stared at him.

Ruby did, too. "How do you know?"

"Because it's next to Blake's window."

Blake stared a little harder.

"How do you know which window is Blake's?" Ruby asked.

Sun didn't immediately answer.

Blake's eyes turned to slits of amber.

"Heh, well, that's a story right there," Sun said, laughing nervously. "Would you believe me if I said there was a totally reasonable explanation for how I knew? One that didn't involve me being some kind of stalker?"

Blake's teeth started to grind together.

"No," Ruby said, placing a hand on Sun's arm. "But I think it's brave that you tried."

No more than fifteen minutes later Ruby was balanced on the ledge outside the window tinkering with it and desperately wishing Weiss wasn't so darn good at remembering to lock up every time they went out. "I can't get it open," Ruby whined.

"Move out the way. I'll do it."

"Don't smash it." Ruby pleaded, and Blake sighed as she threw the idea away. They could have just said a bird slammed into it or something. She brought out Gambol Shroud instead and ran it down the join where the lock was, working the blade in and twisting it to the side. The latch didn't so much open as it did bend in two, allowing her to push it inward. "I'll bend it back before I leave," she promised, climbing in and dragging Ruby in after.

"You better. Weiss will have my head if she realised what we just did."

"She won't if you don't tell her."

"Blake, we just climbed up the side of a building. Someone must have noticed." Ruby's face went red and she swept a hand behind herself, pushing her skirt against her rear. Blake winced. If they had noticed, then Ruby's outfit would have betrayed her a little.

"Sorry," she said. She placed the package down on Ruby's bed. "Maybe this will make things better."

It did, and with remarkable speed. Ruby hovered behind her shoulder, practically vibrating with excitement as Blake peeled the brown paper packaging back. Beneath it was a box, made of cardboard and carefully disguised so that no one would know what lay within. Her contacts were discrete, necessary in her line of work.

"C-Can I open it?" Ruby asked.

"Go for it. Just be quick; we don't know when your team will be back."

Ruby nodded and hurried forward, taking the box in two hands and swallowing audibly. A little sweat ran down her brow and she looked left and right – checking for a Yang hidden behind the curtains. When there was none, she pried the lid off and they both stared at the contents. Two book and six magazines. The books at least no one could tell of the contents, their covers blank and their titles misleading.

The magazines were less subtle, and bore their subject material proudly in the form of a girl in a school uniform held aloft by four black tentacles. "It's perfect," Ruby whispered. She took the one on the top and sat down on her bed, peeling off the cellophane and tossing it aside.

"Don't do that," Blake warned, catching it. She straightened it back out and showed Ruby the price tag. It also had the magazine's title on it. "This is the kind of evidence that'll give you away if someone finds it. You have to hide everything. Everything." She held it out. "Swallow it."

"Blake, I'm not swallowing that," Ruby said. She did take it, but only to pick up a pen and scribble all over it. She then stuffed it into her pocket. "I'll put it in a bin outside tomorrow or something. No one will know."

"Okay." Blake sighed, a little more relaxed now that their smuggling run was over. "You have a hiding place for them, right? You took what I said about hiding them seriously."

"Yep. They'll be hidden – and even if someone finds them they'll never realise they belong to me."

"Or that I helped you get them," she pressed.

"Or that. Relax, Blake. It'll be fine." Ruby turned a page and gasped. Her skin turned red and she drew the magazine closer to her face. She also shivered a little, and looked to Blake somewhat desperately.

Blake caught the hint. "I'll leave you to your reading," she said, taking her books from the box and leaving it behind for Ruby to deal with. "Try to make those last. I'd like to have at least a week or two before I need to start fearing for my life again."

"Okay," Ruby replied distractedly. She was too engrossed in her smut. "I'll do whatever you just said."

With a roll of the eyes, Blake slipped out the door and let it shut behind her. Now she just needed to find a quiet spot alone so she could enjoy her own—

"Hey," Sun said, popping up in front of her with a wild grin. "I take it my plan worked. So, you want to hang out a little now that you're done with whatever it was you were doing? Oh, books? I like books. Want to study together?"

"Uh…"

/-/

Sun sighed and watched as Blake slipped away, again with an excuse for why they couldn't spend any time together. Oh, it was politely given. Blake always did manage to make it sound like she had a reason for avoiding him, and usually without calling him a stalker. All I did was follow her when she ran away from the White Fang, ask her deeply personal questions, hang around her all the time and tell her I knew which window was hers. Does that really make me sound like a stalker?

No way. That was all cool, romantic and mature stuff. Well, at least he thought it was. Neptune had sighed pretty heavily when he'd told him, but what did he know about getting a girl? Neptune had all sorts of short relationships in Haven but no long-term girlfriend to his name.

Even so, it was hard to argue his process with Blake had been anything less than pathetic. Sun ran a hand down his face and cursed himself. Every damn time, man. You really have a knack for messing this up.

At this point he was about ready to give up, except that he didn't really think he could. Call it stupid – and it probably was – but he had a feeling he'd regret it if he did. "Just gotta keep trying," he told himself. "If I give up now it only shows her how little effort I'm willing to put in."

Wait, did that sound stalkerish?

Nah…

A hand clapped down on his shoulder from behind. Sun turned, excited at the thought it might be Blake – but his smile almost turned into a scream when he saw it was a ginger-haired girl with a wide smile. "I didn't try and break into Blake's room, I swear!"

"I know," Nora Valkyrie said. "I was watching."

"Y-You were?"

"Yep. I had to make sure Blakey wasn't sneaking off to try and get a leg up on Ren. Or a leg over," she added in a mumble.

"You followed her?" he demanded, a little offended. "You know, you can't just butt your nose into other people's business like that."

"Says you, mister. Anyway, I wasn't stalking her. I was just collecting blackmail."

"Blackmail?"

"Did I say blackmail? I meant… uh… something else. Anyway-" Nora quickly changed the subject. "I couldn't help but notice you trying to ask Blake out and being rejected. Again."

"Heh," Sun laughed awkwardly. "You noticed, huh?"

"I think the whole school has by now."

Sun's cheeks turned red.

"But it's your lucky day!" Nora crowed. "Because I, Nora Valkyrie, am your fairy godmother."

"My what?"

"Your love coach."

"Look, I appreciate the offer but I really don't think I need someone to tell me how to-" Sun was cut off as Nora's hand, still on his shoulder, clamped down with incredible force. The girl's face was flat, her expression unimpressed.

"Yeah, I think I and every woman alive are going to have to disagree with you a little there. I follow Ren around less than you do Blake and we've been together forever. Do you even know anything about Blakey?"

"Sure, I know loads. She's a faunus and she used to work for the White Fang but she realised how bad their methods are and is now trying to be a huntress in an effort to redeem herself. She wants to help the faunus find equality."

"Yeah, I was thinking anything a little less hefty," Nora said, rolling her eyes. "Like what her favourite colour or food is, or what hobbies she has or what she likes to do in her free-time."

Sun flushed with colour. "She-uh- she likes to read?"

"What does she like to read?"

"Books?"

Nora gave him the most pitying look ever.

"Okay, I need help," he finally admitted, sulking. "But why are you willing to help me? What do you get out of it?"

"Let's just say I get to kill two stones with one bird…"

Sun blinked.

"What?"

"No time. Come with me, prince charming. It's time for your make-over."

/-/

"And then I nearly drowned," Jaune said, walking down the corridor with his teammate. "Again."

"Well they have your best interests at heart," Pyrrha said, ever the diplomat. "I'm sure it's difficult but you should stick with it. Knowing how to swim could save your life."

"I know, I know…" Jaune mumbled something under his breath about drunken insects not helping – Pyrrha didn't really understand but chose not to comment. Jaune could be odd sometimes. She'd learned to just accept it.

"At least you don't need to worry the next time a water arena is used."

"Hopefully there won't be another water arena," Jaune groaned.

"I would hope so, too," a voice behind them said. Ozpin nodded, stepping out from an adjoining corridor. "Mr Arc, Miss Nikos, a pleasure to see you both. While it may be unprofessional to tell you this, I'll confide that I've asked the crews to ensure there are no more deep-ocean arena selections. Even had you not drowned a fight underwater doesn't exactly make for a good viewer experience. Calm water and little else doesn't reveal much."

Pyrrha giggled at the imagery, but was a little surprised to find that Jaune didn't. In fact, her teammate seemed almost defensive before the headmaster. Had something happened that she wasn't aware of? Headmaster Ozpin was strange, yes, but not in a bad way. She'd always considered him quite approachable.

"What are you doing here?" Jaune asked the man.

Shocked, Pyrrha rounded on her teammate. "Jaune! I'm sorry, sir," she said, spinning back to Ozpin. "He's had a hard day learning to swim and I don't think they were gentle with him."

"There is nothing to apologise for, my dear. I am not here in an official capacity, and I did interrupt your conversation. I apologise for that," he said, bowing his head. "In truth, I'd actually been looking for you."

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, recalling the many times he'd been summoned to the headmaster's office. It was something of a topic of gossip among the team.

"Yourself actually."

"Me?" she balked. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Not at all, and you aren't in any trouble here. It's something of a huntress nature…" Ozpin's eyes slid to Jaune's. "Mr Arc is already aware of it, at least nominally. I'm sure he'll confirm I'm not here to cause you any distress."

He did? Pyrrha's eyes sought his but Jaune wouldn't return her gaze. The awkwardness between them wasn't making her worry any less.

"You've made your decision, then?" Jaune asked. "I thought you said you hadn't decided."

"We haven't," Ozpin replied, and yet again Pyrrha looked between the two of them, completely lost. "This is simply us approaching Miss Nikos to explain the situation. I apologise if I didn't make it clear before, but I would present anyone in this situation with a choice. I won't force this on someone."

"A choice for what?" Pyrrha asked.

"Pyrrha isn't right for it."

Emerald eyes grew wide. "W-What? What's wrong with me?"

"Don't you think that's a decision best made by her?"

"No." Jaune's attention flicked to her at last, and Pyrrha found herself floored by the emotion in his eyes. He was frightened for her. She could see it as clear as day. "Pyrrha's a wonderful person," he said, and her heart soared. "And that's the problem."

Eh?

"She'll do whatever you say because she thinks it's the best thing to do. Well it's not."

"If that's the case, Miss Nikos can make her own decisions," Ozpin said. "She should at least be given the opportunity to listen. I applaud your concern for your teammate, Mr Arc, I really do. It shows how much you care for her."

Pyrrha's cheeks heated up. She just hoped no one noticed.

"However, you should try not to let your concern turn into control. Look out for her, but do not seek to make decisions for her, or to take the choice out of her hand entirely. She is not a child. None of your friends are." Ozpin turned to her at last. "Miss Nikos, will you talk with me in private? I can assure you – and your teammate – that nothing shall befall you this night. I only wish to tell you a story, and then to make you an offer. I won't even accept a decision until at least a few days have passed."

She knew the last bit was aimed at Jaune, and it seemed to calm him down a little – probably because he knew he'd have time to convince her out of whatever it was they were talking about. And really, what was it? Pyrrha's curiosity burned, even if it was tempered a little by Jaune's nervous posture. Either way, he'd asked her a direction question. It demanded an answer.

"I… I suppose so…?" Pyrrha looked to Jaune for his approval, even if she wasn't sure why she really needed it.

"She'll have time to think about it?" he asked.

"I promise you that," Ozpin said.

"And the other…?"

"She will be given the same opportunity," Ozpin said.

Pyrrha blinked. "Another? Is someone else going to be there…?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you who, Miss Nikos, for your own safety. You'll understand more once you hear what I have to say. Mr Arc can be trusted but you will have to keep what you learn here tonight secret from any other."

"I understand."

She didn't; how could she?

"Good. Come with me. And tell me, how familiar are you with fairy tales…?"

/-/

Jaune slumped onto his mattress and sighed into his hands. Ozpin had Pyrrha and was going to tell her about the maidens. That knowledge made his head ache. He was grateful Weiss was still out with Yang and, by the sounds of it; Ruby was busy having another of her unusually long showers. It gave him time to muse on what he was supposed to do.

It's not actually a bad thing, he told himself. Ozpin promised to give Pyrrha time to explain and I can use that to convince her to say no. Cinder has to become the maiden. It's the only solution that saves lives.

The reasoning was simple. If Cinder received what she wanted on a silver platter, then she wouldn't need to do anything to get it, which meant that whatever plan she had could just fizzle away. Pyrrha wouldn't need to be hurt, either by Cinder or the responsibilities of the maiden, and everything could continue on as normal.

"Couldn't you just tell Cinder?" Remy asked. "If you told her what was going on she would work with you. She wants that power, after all."

"That's why I can't tell her," he said inside his head."Big Sis wants it too much. If I tell her what's going on, she'll know about Pyrrha. What do you think would happen if she knew the only thing standing between her and the fall maiden was a single person? What do you think she'd do?"

"You made her promise not to hurt any of your friends…"

Jaune didn't bother replying to that. Cinder would keep her promise for his sake but that didn't mean she'd keep it in the way he wanted her to. She was a master of loopholes and trickery, and she'd find a way to remove Pyrrha from the game without technically harming her. A dead family member calling her away for a funeral, a scandal pushing her into the limelight and tarnishing her reputation, or hell, she could have manipulate someone else into killing Pyrrha, playing it off as an accident or their actions. If he could think up those three examples, Cinder could think up thirty more.

"It's too much of a risk. We don't know what Ozpin and Ironwood will decide. What if I tell Cinder the truth, explaining everything, but Ozpin decides it should be someone else? Cinder would go ballistic. She'd kill whoever it was."

"Nothing to stand between her and what she wants, huh? Yeah, that sounds like her. It's a shame your mother doesn't have any more female servants. We could make them the maiden and let that be the end of it. Though I doubt it would work with your sisters. It would probably kill them."

That seemed likely, and he wouldn't have put any of his sisters in front of Ozpin and Ironwood anyway. Really, the best bet was Cinder – and it wasn't like he had to try very hard to make her win Ozpin's little competition. If the headmaster had already gone to Pyrrha now, then he'd certainly go and talk to Cinder after, or maybe Ironwood was doing that right now.

Once she learned the truth through them – importantly not discovering Pyrrha's identity as her rival – she would do all she could to appeal to the headmaster. In turn, he could convince Pyrrha to do the opposite or bow out. It wasn't just for her safety but for her happiness. She wouldn't want the pressure.

A plan in hand, he let out a long sigh and slowly relaxed. Really, it all looked pretty easy. Cinder wanted the position while Pyrrha would want nothing to do with it. And if Ozpin really wanted someone to be the maiden then he'd surely choose the person actually willing to take it. If he forced it on someone they wouldn't stay very loyal to him.

"And Cinder is loyal…?"

No, but Ozpin didn't know that. He didn't need to know. Sure, he'd lose the maiden but that wasn't any problem for Jaune, nor would it be for Team JNPR. Cinder would either play nice for a few years until she graduated or she'd fake her own death. She wouldn't run away, not when it would put him in danger by association and send his mom into a mad rage. "She's loyal to mom. That's enough here. Cinder has some plan in place that involves the White Fang and Roman, but all of that is to become the fall maiden. If she gets a chance to acquire it early, and gets it by pretending to be loyal to Beacon, then she'll take it."

"She might even stand with Beacon if something happens," he whispered, a smile beginning to form. She totally would, too. If there really was some plan to harm Beacon about to happen – but Cinder saw a better, easier, way to get what she wanted, then she'd betray the White Fang in a heartbeat. Her complete lack of loyalty to anyone but herself and his mom would actually be a good thing for once.

Jaune laughed. It was perfect. It all fit. Relief flooded him and he fell back on his bed, laughing at the ceiling. He was glad for the loudly running water that blocked Ruby from hearing him, and the loud music she was for some reason playing in there, which drowned out any sound she might have been making in turn.

Something brightly coloured caught his eye as he did. He hummed, sat up, and reached for it. It looked like a page sticking out from the corner of a box, hastily stuffed under his bed. That was odd. He didn't actually put anything under there, not having anything in the way of belongings when he'd come to Beacon via Nevermore. He reached down to tug on it, finding the box to be unlocked. It was a shoe box, with the word `shoes` written boldly on the side. There were no shoes inside, however. It was instead filled with comics.

His eyes lit up. He'd forgotten all about the trip to the comic store with Penny and Ruby, and his desires to find more. Whosever these were, they looked pretty good. The picture on the front of the first looked to be a woman fighting a monster that, if he admitted it, looked a little like he did in Grimm form. He pulled it out and flicked to the middle.

Jaune's eyes widened. He squeaked.

Remy let out a strangled death cry deep inside.

"I'm done," Ruby yelled happily, pushing out the bathroom with a wide smile on her face. It froze as she saw him, sliding off the side of her face with a sound like shattering glass. Or maybe that was just his sanity.

The silver-eyed girl leapt at him a second later, red-faced and screaming like a banshee.

Oh, Ruby. You're awakening. To something terrible perhaps, but it's still a thing. Well done. Yes, I do play Ruby's innocence up differently in fics. Here, she is portrayed as being very innocent, while in some others she knows full well about things and acts much more natural. But she's still clumsy. But still, Ruby – Blake trusted you to keep those hidden!

And does Adam run an adult book store? Who can say? The show doesn't explicitly deny it.

Suddenly, the true reason for Tukson's murder is revealed! We all wondered why there was a scene thrown in where a person is murdered and it never gets mentioned again and never turns out to be important for anything plot-related. It was all just Adam's plan to corner the smut market, that fiend!

On Cinder, I've tried to make it clear why Jaune couldn't just tell Cinder the truth, especially in their match and even now. He needs to be sure she'll win the race to be the maiden, and only then tell her, because if he doesn't – and Cinder thinks there is any chance she will lose it – she will kill her rival. That's not an `if` or a `maybe`. She isn't going to play a fair competition if she can win it another way. Right now, he knows she has her own plan and that she'll be content to wait and be patient, which is ironically when he wants. He doesn't want her to try to catch Ozpin's eye, because he knows whatever she does will probably be at Pyrrha's detriment. I've tried to make that clear in the chapter.

Next Chapter: 5th April

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur