Everything was perfect.

Jaune never thought he'd be able to say those words.

Sure, he wasn't super well trained or anything, he was getting better at fighting, he team had reconciled with Ruby's, and everyone seemed to settle into their partnerships. Everyone but him and Blake.

Everything was perfect, well almost perfect. Yang and Ren have been spending more time together, especially with Weiss and Nora. Often the teams would get together to train or play games. For three weeks it's been this way. Everyone but Blake attended these meetings or made up with Weiss.

When everyone came over, Blake had an excuse. They were lucky if she was even in the room. Oftentimes she disappeared around the campus somewhere. Jaune only ever saw her during their shared classes, when she came to the room to sleep, and when they ate together; And Gods forgive he see her express some emotion other than smugness, a discrete glare, or anger. Despite all of this, Jaune knew Blake was a good person.

How did he know this?

Well, he was paying for it right now.

"You really should get your animal loving, freak of a partner under control Jauney boy" Cardin Winchester taunted him. Jaune staggered to his legs and struggled to bring his sword and shield up before charging his opponent.

Cardin had been targeting Jaune since school started, but he was swiftly shut down by Yang when she spotted him getting shoved into a locker by his bully. That changed when Faunas' rights became the topic of Prof-er- Doctor Oobleck class. Cardin gave a rather racist remark to a question the doctor asked, and Blake embarrassed him for it.

Now Jaune was suffering for her kindness. That's why he knew she was a good person deep down.

Cardin smashed Jaune into the ground, and whacked him around the arena for a minute before Professor Goodwitch called the fight. Cardin loomed over him and said "Keep your partner under control there, Jauney Boy, and next time I'll take it a little easier on you." Cardin laughed and walked away to his team, who congratulated him on his win.

The blonde disappeared into the locker room and removed his equipment. When he exited Yang and Ren waited for him. Class had ended and they had the rest of the day to themselves. "Where's Blake?" .

Yang flipped her hair back. "She left already." she muttered under her breath "Guess she's too good for us.." Jaune frowned at that.

"Any idea where she went?"

They pointed to the western side of the school. He began to walk in that direction before Young caught his shoulder. "It's been almost a month Jaune…"

Jaune gently removed Yang's hand off of him. "I know, Yang. Blake's my partner, and an Arc never goes back on their word." Yang gave a nod. They turned to leave, and Ren's gaze lingered a second before he gave a nod. Jaune returned it and began his investigation.

Jaune checked the library, the computer lab, the gardens, the outside pavilion, the benches outside… Jaune slumped on a bench near the forest. He'd never find her at this rate. Jaune was blown off by his partner time and time again. No matter how hard Jaune tried, Blake brushed him off. Maybe it was time to just give up…

As Jaune stood up to leave, a flash of White and Purple caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Jaune moved closer to the flash of color. Blake was sitting peacefully up in a tree about ten feet up. She had a book in her hand and a content look on her face.

As Jaune approached he stepped on a branch, which subsequently snapped under his weight. Blake's head swiveled towards him. She sent a glare his way. He gave a sheepish look with an awkward wave. "Hey Blake."

His partner did not look pleased. "What are you doing here Jaune?" to the point, and curt. This was definitely his partner.

"Can I come up?" Blake glowered at him, but seemed to relent with a nod.

This led to the very awkward few minutes of Jaune struggling to climb, and eventually succeeded after ten minutes. Sadly the tension didn't end there as Jaune made himself comfortable at an adjacent branch.

Blake began to read again, but her eyes shot to him every other page. Jaune cleared his throat "So, uh Blake.". She looked up to him. "The teams are going down into Vale later today."

"Is that what all of this is about?" she questioned "That's not my sort of thing Jaune."

Jaune quickly responded before she could begin reading again "Right, right. I know that Blake". Jaune began to rub his fingers together anxiously. "It's just that.." he could tell he was losing her attention. "Blake. Things on the team have been great. Everyone's been coming together. Except for you. We've hardly even spoken to each other, heck I don't know anything about you other than your name!" He was feeling a bit emotional and took a deep breath. "I really just want you to be a part of the team Blake. We've got another four years to spend together, and we'll only get through this together." Jaune gave a long sigh.

Blake didn't say anything for a few moments, but huffed. "Fine. I'll go down to Vale with everyone."

Jaune felt a surge of energy through him. "Yes!" Jaune moved forward and hugged Blake. She squirmed a bit, but gave Jaune a pat on the back. "Thank you Blake!"

Blake did have a small smile on her face, the first he'd ever seen. "I'll do my best Jaune, but no promises that I fit in."

"I'm just happy that we can be a team." Jaune also said "Could also do me a favor and stop embarrassing Cardin in class? He keeps beating me up for it."

At this Blake's frowned. "Cardin is a bigot. He deserves everything he gets."

"Right, I totally agree, but do I deserve to get pounded into dust?"

Blake gave a moment of thought before saying "How about a compromise. Stay close to me or Yang, and we'll make sure Cardin doesn't bother you."

"That-uh works." That damper on his spirits. Jaune didn't want to be the damsel in distress anymore. "We're meeting up at three."

Blake nodded as Jaune climbed down the tree. "Oh, and Jaune." he looked back up to her "Don't tell anyone about this spot."

"Of course Blake." Jaune walked happily back to his dorm.

The Emerald Forest was a dense and dangerous place for the average person.

Mercury Black was your average person.

He was sitting on one knee, looking over some odd tracks. The Tracks were human looking, and definitely weren't an animal or grimm. The problem was that the tracks never broke a patter, yet they were too big to be an Atlas bot. Mercury was an adept tracker, his father had beaten that skill into him.

"Have you found anything yet?" Emerald was as indignant as ever.

"If you want to talk to me so bad Em, all you gotta do is say so babe."

Emerald made the motion as if she was about to vomit. "I'd rather die."

Merc pointed in the direction of the tracks. "It's a bot, but not Atlas. It certainly fits the MO of whatever we're looking for."

The duo began to walk further into the forest. "What are we doing out here anyway?"

Emerald spoke with an annoyed tone "Maybe you should pay attention next time Cinder gives us a mission. This is important to her plans."

"Important to her plans? Or is it important that you look good for her?" Mercury teased.

Emerald growled "If Cinder's plan fails, we go down with her." She took a deep breath. "Something is messing with the security network out around Beacon. Cinder needs these areas clear for her plan to work. We either kill this guy that Watt's found, or recruit him."

They bicker back and forth until they find a cave where the tracks stopped. Inside was a strange device that glowed. It was a pylon that was glowing.

Mercury snapped a few photos on his scroll, and then hit the contact for Watt's.

"What is it you want to run?" His voice had the usual air of superiority and holier-than-thou attitude.

Mercury held his tongue. Watts was a big player in these schemes, and he was just a lackey to Cinder. "We found something weird in the forest. Some sort of device. I'm sending some pics along now."

"Very interesting. It looks like Tech from Merlot Industries." Watts mumbled some other words, and Mercury heard some clicking in the background, and in a minute the device powered down and closed up. "Good work children. I have gained partial access to the network controlling these nodes. I will update Cinder when I discover more."

Watts hung up. Emerald looked to Mercury "I guess we should head back to Cinder." As they made their way back to Vale, several shadows followed them from behind.