Here's another chapter; hope you enjoy. Time to instantly start working on White Sheep in the meanwhile.

Heigh ho, and all that.

Entertainer 17

"I'm just saying that the police have more resources than we do. They could look for Blake, and then they can arrest her. It's a perfectly valid suggestion."

"Not a very good one," Ruby grumbled.

Yang glowered but remained silent, fighting back her immediate desire to show Weiss exactly what she thought of that plan. Instead, she focused on scanning the streets around them, to even catch a glimmer of her partner. She was still in Vale; she'd as good as said so.

"Didn't she say she would return anyway?" Weiss continued to complain. "We could just wait for her in our room. I, for one, can't wait to hear how she'll go about explaining this one."

"And I, for one, think Weiss' hair looks lovely today."

"Argh, Penny!"

With a roll of her eyes, Yang ignored her sister's weak attempts to push the ginger-haired girl away. A sigh escaped her, and yet again she looked down at her scroll and Blake's message. She would come back and talk to them, sure, but that would only be if she were able to. The White Fang were no joke. What if she got into trouble and got hurt, all because they weren't there to help her? We can look for your answer as a team, you silly girl… come back to us.

She looked back to Penny and Ruby, in time to see them talking about Blake and the reasons why she'd left. It was all time being wasted, and they stung more than she expected it to.

"This is ridiculous," Weiss said. "If Ruby wants to stand here and deal with this, she can do so. I'm going back to Beacon to-" Weiss didn't finish. Her eyes widened as Yang's hand clamped over her mouth and dragged her away. Ruby didn't even notice, too busy waving her arms and talking to the other girl.

The other girl did notice, however, but instead of looking offended, she sent them a happy wave.

Yang dragged Weiss around a corner and put her down. The heiress' hand gripped her own and dragged it away from her mouth.

"What on Remnant was that for? I don't need to be dragged around like some sack of dust, Xiao-Long!"

"Is that the thanks I get for saving you, Weiss-cream?"

"Your rescue needs work."

"Then we can practice while looking for Blake," Yang said. "Come on, I want to check out the shopping district before it gets dark." Yang tugged the heiress along, but stopped with a sigh when Weiss yanked her arm free and refused to move. So, it was going to come to this, was it?

"I'm not going," Weiss said, hands on her hips. "If Blake wants to run away, she can. If she wants to return and try to explain herself, then she can try that too. I'm not going to waste my time and my energy trying to find her."

"Is that so…?" Yang asked, eyes lowered to the ground and shoulders stiff.

"It is. I've put up with this for long enough and I'm not willing to go a step further."

Something snapped within her. Yang's eyes flashed red as she glared up at Weiss, enough so to make the girl to take a step back. Heat rolled off Yang's hair as she took a step forward. "You have put up with this for long enough?" she echoed, voice seething. "You, Weiss Schnee, are going to act like you have the moral high ground in this?"

"I-I do!" Weiss said nervously. The girl looked like she'd suddenly realised exactly who she had pissed off, but it was far too late to stop it now. "I'm the victim in this. She lied to me, she was a ter-"

"I never said Blake had the high ground," Yang snapped, grabbing Weiss' shoulder and pushing her against the closest wall. "I never said she wasn't in the wrong, Weiss, but if you think you're any better – then you are dead wrong." Her emotions were going haywire, fury swimming alongside hate and bitter disappointment in her mind. "You're both as bad as each other and I'm not saying she didn't make a mistake. She ran away without even giving us a chance to make up our own opinion. Ruby and I didn't figure anything out, even though there were probably more than enough clues… but our mistakes…" Yang shook her head. "Neither of those is as malicious as yours."

"W-What!?"

"You won't give her a chance!" Yang shouted, pushing Weiss up against the brickwork. "You've condemned her without even taking the time to listen to her! You act like you're so high and mighty, like it was the easiest thing in the world for you to be the person you are today. And you know what, Weiss? It probably was! You had a family, you had wealth, upbringing and whatever the hell you wanted. You could have been anything in life, and you'd have had the time and money to make it happen. Hell, I could have been too, even if my family can't hold a candle to yours in the lien department."

"What does that have to do with this!?"

"Not everyone gets those choices, Weiss," Yang scowled. "Not everyone gets the benefit of being able to choose what it is they want to do with their life." Her thoughts flicked to Jaune, her friend who'd lived on the streets and only become who he was today because of the charity of some random club owner. She thought back to Blake too, and fire ran through her veins. "Did you ever think that Blake might not have had a choice in joining them? She sure as hell had one when she decided to leave, so we already know for a fact she didn't agree with the same stuff you're complaining about. Did you ever wonder if maybe the reason Blake never talks about her past is because she doesn't have one? That maybe she never talks about her parents like we do because she doesn't have any? Hell, it could have been your family to take them away."

"That's not fair!" Weiss cried, hands pressed against Yang's wrists as she fought for freedom. "I'm not my family. I couldn't have controlled anything like that!"

Yang released the girl with a huff, though even without her holding Weiss, she still slumped against the wall. "Blake might not have done anything of what you're blaming her for, either." Yang said with narrowed eyes. "I'm not trying to lay all this on you, Weiss. Maybe she did and maybe she has things to answer for, but we won't know if you keep scaring her off. You know why she won't return home until she has an answer? It's because she knows that you, Weiss Schnee, won't accept otherwise."

"That's…" Weiss's face twisted in agony. "That's not…"

"Not true?" Yang leaned back and laughed. "I doubt even you believe that, Weiss." The white-haired girl looked so distressed, so upset, that Yang couldn't help but sigh. Her crimson eyes receded, replaced once more by lilac. "I'm not saying you don't have a right to feel shitty over this, Weiss," she whispered. "I'm not saying you're not a victim, that the White Fang didn't do bad stuff to you, or that this is all somehow your fault."

"Then what are you saying?" Weiss asked.

Yang sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm saying that if you want to run around making judgments, you better make sure you have all the facts – and you're not going to get any if you keep refusing to listen to Blake. Team RWBY is falling apart, and that's not your – or her – fault. It's a mistake we've all made, and we've all got a part to play in fixing it."

Weiss refused to answer.

"I'm going to keep looking for her," Yang said. "I'm not going to stop until its dark, and even then I'll probably keep looking. If you really don't want to… if you really can't bring yourself to listen to the person you've sat beside, talked to, and genuinely enjoyed having as your teammate… then go back to Beacon."

Yang turned on the spot and looked away.

"But if you can," she finished, "then you can come along and help me. I could use it…" She didn't want for an answer; even if she wanted nothing more than to do so. With a monumental force of will, Yang pushed one foot forward and walked away, eyes closed and heart in her stomach.

Behind her, she heard a loud huff and a pair of heels.

Yang smiled as she realised they were following her.

/-/

"This is the place?" Sun asked. "It looks like a nightclub."

"Did the name give it away, Sun?" Blake asked with a sarcastic glance towards the neon letters that hung above the door. Then again, she might also have been referring to the bouncers, the stench of cheap alcohol or the music that boomed away from within. It was hard to tell.

Jaune sighed and once again considered the wisdom of helping these two at all. It was a question he'd been asking himself all day, ever since he woke up in the dinky room in the Oyster, then been forced to explain to Reg why two random fuckwits (in his words) were sleeping in his spare bedroom. In the end, though, he'd been forced to accept the truth of what was going on. He owed Yang… he owed Yang a whole lot, and though she'd never made any mention of repayment, hell, she'd as good as said she didn't want him to – it didn't stop the fact that he was damn well going to try his best.

She would have done no less for him. That was just the kind of friend she was. Just the kind of friend I want to be, as well…

"It is a nightclub," Jaune said. "It's also a place where a lot of people who don't want to be seen in public go to relax… the kind of people who can't afford to be seen in public, if you catch my meaning."

"How do you know a place like this?" Blake asked warily.

"I work in a nightclub, Blake. Even if this is a shady place, it's still a nightclub. Besides, Yang knows about it too. She trashed the place a week or so before Beacon."

"Why am I not surprised?" Blake sighed and shook her head. "Were you involved in that?"

"It was before I knew her. The point I'm raising is that it's not unusual to know of this place. Junior, the guy in charge, it's not even much of a secret that he's an information broker. It wouldn't be very good for business if no one knew they could go to him. You guys aren't from Vale, so you just haven't heard of him."

"I see," Blake said. She seemed to relax.

"Is that explanation enough? Or do you want to get even more suspicious? There's an alleyway here; you can always pull out my toenails before we go in."

"Okay, okay," Sun laughed and stepped between them, arms extended. "I know we're not all super-best-friend-pals here, but can we calm down a little? Blake, Jaune seems like a cool guy. He got us a room and offered to help us out. Give him a break." The black-haired girl sighed, but nodded. "Jaune," Sun went on. "Dude… I know we're kinda holding you by the balls here, man, but we're not going to do anything like that. You know what she's like; she's just in a bad situation."

"I apologise," Blake sighed. "Sun is right and I… you haven't done anything to earn my paranoia."

Damn, and now he felt like the ass. "I'm sorry too," he said. "I'm just… I don't really like this place. It's making me nervous."

"You want us to come with?" Sun offered.

"No. You two should stay here. Junior's not unused to huntsman coming in to cause trouble, and after Yang… well, let's just say I don't want to approach him looking like a threat. He's pretty much a professional if you treat him as such and I think he'll listen to me. You two stay out here, or come in and grab a table by the main doors or something if you want to."

Blake nodded and leaned against a wall, arms crossed. Sun looked at her for a second before shrugging and placing his own arms behind his head. At least they were more co-operative than he imagined Yang would have been. Then again, he doubted he'd dare go near Junior if Yang was with him.

The Club was as it always was, which was pretty impressive given the relatively short amount of time since Yang trashed the place. Still, say what you would about criminal links, but they sure knew how to get stuff done in a hurry. A few favours exchanged had probably left the local craftsmen more than eager to fix the place up. Junior didn't just work in information and protection money; he worked in loans too – often with interest the business or person would struggle to pay. Jaune could imagine those same people would be thrilled to work the debt off fixing up the damage.

The man in question stood behind the bar with a rag in one hand and a glass in the other. That was all Junior ever did, and despite his uniform and position at the counter, no customer tried to ask him for a drink. The space before him was empty, and Jaune slipped into it with a polite nod.

"White," the man nodded. Jaune decided not to correct him. "What can I get you?"

"Answers, hopefully…"

"Answers, huh?" Junior chuckled and inspected the glass he'd cleaned. It shone in the light. "Those can be difficult things to acquire. There are plenty of them, and not everyone believes or wants the same ones. What are you looking for?"

"The recent robberies," Jaune said. "We want to know if the White Fang are involved."

"Not Roman?"

"I know Roman's a friend of yours, Junior. We're not really interested in him, and we're not trying to stop anything, either."

"Friend is a strong word."

"Acquaintance, then…" Jaune waved one hand. "I just want to know whether the White Fang are involved and where I could go to find out more."

"That's dangerous information. It's the kind that could get me in trouble if I shared it."

Jaune swallowed as he felt two familiar presences appear on either side of him. Miltia grinned at him from the right. "I don't want to get you in trouble, Junior," he said. "I'm not here to cause it, either."

"You don't want to play with us like you did before, Jaune?" Miltia crooned. "But we had so much fun."

"Now, now," Melanie laughed. "Miltia, you know he only plays with people that pay him."

Jaune's hands clenched on the edge of the bar. "I'm not here to cause trouble," he repeated. "I'm not asking you to rat them out Junior, just to… give us a direction. Give us a way to find out if it's true, not to stop whatever Roman has planned from happening."

"Did I say it was Roman?"

"Who else is it going to be?" Jaune sighed. "He's the best in the business. Anyone else would have been caught by now."

Junior hummed and leaned one elbow on the bar. The grizzled man's eyes remained locked onto Jaune's, but fortunately there was no anger to be seen within them. He hummed again, louder this time. There was no point interrupting him; not when he was thinking.

"I might have something," Junior said, after what felt like a good five minutes. "It's not going to come cheap, though, and the last thing I need is for it to come back, if you know what I mean."

"No one will trace it back to you. We're not going to get involved. We just need to confirm if the White Fang are involved. We don't even care about Roman or whoever is organising this."

"Three hundred," Junior grunted.

Jaune winced. Three hundred…? He wasn't made of cash, especially not after having spent two on Mag just to find Blake. Yang gave me five hundred for the hour, but I wanted to give that back to her in secret. He didn't want to spend her money… not when she'd paid to see him. Friends didn't charge one another for advice.

"You could always pay benefits-in-kind," Melanie teased. "Bring in three hundred in profit and we'll call it off. Work here next weekend. That should cover it."

"You know I already have a job."

"So?" Miltia grinned and leaned a little closer, trapping him against the bar. "You want this information, right? If you're not willing to work for it, it can't be that important."

It was, but he wasn't willing to go that far. Not and sell his soul and body to these people. "I'll pay the three hundred," he said, reaching into his pocket and placing it on the counter.

"Oops," Melanie laughed, catching his wrist before he could and stealing it.

He surged to his feet, but Miltia placed two hands on his shoulders from behind and pulled him back down. The hands remained there, claws digging into his skin.

"I don't think you understand, Jaune," Melanie said with a coy smile. "You and that blonde bimbo caused us problems the last time we visited. You're going to pay those off, and they'll cost more than a couple of hundred lien."

Miltia span him on the counter, pushing him back in against the bar and trapping him there. "Maybe once we're done, you can help us fix the Oyster's expenses too, hmm? There are so many months unpaid rent."

"You don't own Vale," he gritted out. A soft groan escaped him as her claws edged deeper, poking at his aura. "Screw you." he gasped.

"Such defiance," Melanie sighed. "Maybe we need to offer you a little remedial training too. We could make a show of it, whip you on stage like a dog." The sister in the white dress stepped back and reached down to put his money away.

A hand gripped hers before she could.

"That doesn't belong to you," Blake said. She then looked towards Miltia and narrowed her golden eyes. "Release him. He's with me."

"What?" Miltia laughed. "You rent him for the night?" She yelped, however, when Jaune drove an elbow back into her hip. Her claws dig deeper reflexively, but her grip on him slackened just long enough to let him slip free.

Jaune rubbed his shoulder to try and ease the pain, eyes narrowed on the girl's claws.

"Jaune," Blake whispered. "Is there a problem?"

"You shouldn't have come in," he hissed back.

She sent him an arch look, and he cursed internally. It wasn't that he didn't need the help, for he clearly did, but this wasn't the lifestyle he wanted Jaune Arc to be showing off. This was his life before Beacon, before he had a name to call his own.

The faunus sighed and twisted Melanie's arm behind her, flicking the lien out of her hand and tossing it back to him. She pushed the Malachite away, ducking with contemptuous ease when Melanie spun around and tried to cut her face with one heel. Gambol Shroud was revealed, the ribbon coiling loose.

"Enough!" Junior's deep voice snapped over them all. "The last thing we need is a repeat performance of you two versus Beacon," he said to the Malachites. He turned back to Jaune a moment later. "Three hundred and you get what you want. Then, you get the hell out of my club, got it?"

"Gladly," Jaune snarled and threw the money over. His brow twitched as the suited man made a show of counting it all. It was three one-hundred cards… how hard was that to count!?

"The docks," Junior grunted once he was happy.

"You better have more than that for me, Junior. I paid three hundred!"

"Tonight, the docks – there's a shipment of dust coming in from the SDC. You said you wanted a clue and that's all you're getting. If you want to know more, I'd suggest being there." Junior picked up another class and started to clean it. "Oh, and I'd suggest staying hidden too. Wouldn't want your head blown off now, would we?" The look on his face said he couldn't care less.

Jaune seethed and wanted to demand more, but a quick shake of Blake's head stopped him. It was enough… or she certainly seemed to think so. He nodded and stood, keeping an eye on the two as they backed away.

The Malachites didn't follow… perhaps they knew better than to try with Blake there.

"Sun said you looked nervous," Blake said by way of explanation. "He's perceptive, even if he pretends otherwise."

"I-…" Jaune bit back on his words. He wanted to say he had it under control, but that would have been a pointless lie. Even with his new sword, his family's sword, he still wasn't on Yang's level. Maybe she could beat the three of them at once, but he damn well couldn't. "Thanks, I guess."

"Just returning the favour. You've helped me out a lot," Blake smirked at him, "even if you're only doing it for Yang."

Jaune sighed and looked ahead. "Junior gave us a time and a location. You realise that's as good as saying that they are involved in this? He didn't even look surprised when I mentioned it."

"I know," Blake whispered and lowered her head. "Even so, I need to see it with my own eyes. It could be people pretending to be them, or Torchwick framing them to try and get himself out of trouble."

He sighed and shook his head. Torchwick wouldn't bother doing that. The guy was already infamous and on every wanted list ever. Did she really think he needed to avoid upsetting people any further? She wouldn't be convinced, however. And I thought Yang was the stubborn one on the team, sheesh. Nina always did say it's the quiet ones you need to watch out for.

"Jaune… what they said back there…"

His heart skipped a beat. "Ignore it," he laughed. "They were just trying to get a rise out of me."

"They said they would whip you like a dog."

"They probably would have. Ask Yang about them if you want. They're kind of crazy and attacked my club when she was there. Yang helped me fight them off." He shrugged. "I guess they wanted revenge for that."

"They said I'd hired you for the night."

Fear shot through him. His arms shook but he took a deep breath and shrugged one shoulder. "What's your point? It's just words. Shouldn't we investigate this lead of yours?"

"Winchester's rumours weren't quite as untrue as he thought they were, were they?"

Despair. That was the only way to express what he felt. It was as though a ten tonne weight fell on him, except that instead of crushing him in one go, it was slowly squeezing the life from his lungs. He didn't even realise he'd stopped moving until Blake turned around, a good ten feet ahead of him. His vision swam and his breath came out in short gasps.

"Jaune?" Blake asked. There was a rare note of concern in her voice.

"You're wrong."

"Jaune," she sighed, "I wo-"

"I said – you're wrong." His shoulders heaved. "You've got it wrong," he said again, desperately. "It's not like that."

"Okay," she said, after looking at him for a long moment. "I must have been mistaken."

Her words didn't stop the panic. He wasn't an idiot, not nearly enough so to believe a word she said. He shook his head and fought for something to say, but she cut him off with a finger pressed against his lips.

"Whatever you were before you came to Beacon matters not to me. It would be… incredibly hypocritical for me to say it did." Blake smiled, and although it was an expression he couldn't claim to be familiar with from her, he guessed it looked more amused than upset. "After all, you couldn't be much worse than me, could you? I won't tell anyone what they said, Jaune. As far as I'm concerned, it was a lie. I certainly won't tell anyone at Beacon."

His chest rose and fell. He stared at her, searching for what truth he could in her eyes. You know how to read people, he reminded himself. Look deeper! He couldn't, however, his nerves too frayed to calm down. He would have to take her on nothing more than faith… something he hated more than he cared to admit. "Why?" he asked. "Why keep this a secret? You know I'm… what I am."

"Why?" Blake echoed. "You may be doing all of this for Yang, Jaune, but is it so much to imagine that I might appreciate it enough to keep your secret? Maybe I'm even starting to think of you as a friend."

"You never sold your body," he whispered.

"No, I sold my soul." She looked away. "All I care about is getting to the docks and finding out what's going on. Then," she paused and took a deep breath, "then I can face my team again. Anything else is… not my business."

"You won't tell anyone?"

"I know full well how people act around undesirable types, Jaune. There's a reason I hide my faunus heritage. I won't tell a soul. I promise." She kept her eyes locked onto his as she said that, and after a brief pause, he felt his muscles begin to gently relax.

"I just… people will look at me differently."

"They would," Blake agreed. "People are… they don't often realise there are reasons people do things like we do. Everyone has a reason, even if others don't understand."

Jaune nodded, in almost desperate relief.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Sun asked, strolling over once he saw them.

"Nothing at all," Blake said. "Jaune found out where to go. We're going to check this out in person." Blake jerked her head to the side, and Sun nodded. She made no mention of what happened within the club, and as the journey continued with a constant hum of chatter from Sun, Jaune started to calm down.

She wouldn't tell anyone… he was sure he'd seen the honesty in her eyes.

/-/

"No…"

"You really didn't think it would be them, did you?" Sun asked. He, like each of them, was laid down on his stomach, watching the display below.

"I think I did," Blake said. "I… I felt they might when we saw that shop, then Jaune's contact hinted further. I just didn't want to believe it."

Jaune watched Blake from the side. In an odd way, he'd hoped Junior was wrong too, if only because Blake had proven herself someone worth trusting. "I'm sorry, Blake," he said. "I think… if we're done here, we should leave."

"Sounds good to me," Sun agreed. "We've got what we want, right? Let's scram."

"No…" Blake's hands hardened on the edge of the rooftop. "There has to be a reason for this. The White Fang would never work with someone like him."

"Well, they are." Jaune gestured needlessly towards them.

"There has to be a reason."

A reason for them to do what they did… Jaune's eyes widened as he caught onto her plan. "Whoah!" Sun cried, as Jaune lurched forwards to try and grab the girl's shoulders.

He was quick, more so because he anticipated her move – but Blake was faster still. With a quick flip, she pulled herself over the edge and fell to the ground below. Jaune growled to himself as he watched her dark form disappear between the cargo containers.

"So…" Sun winced. "This isn't good…"

"You want to date that?" Jaune sighed.

"Well… my buddy always says good things are worth fighting for." Sun stood up and jogged to the edge, taking a more measured approach as he swung himself out over and onto the ladder. "I've got this man," he said with one final wink. "You've already helped enough. Go on home or something. I'll make sure she keeps her promise and meets up with her team." Sun Wukong was gone a second later, sliding down the ladder with his hands on both sides of the rails.

Those complete idiots. What happened to just finding out the truth!? Argh, he should have known. He'd only really known Blake for this brief period, the Blake from Beacon being little more than a silent observer. She was stubborn, though… more stubborn than Ruby and Yang combined.

Yang… He dug his scroll out of his pocket, flipping it on as he dialled her number.

"Jaune?" she answered. "Hey, I'm kinda busy at the moment, could yo-"

"Blake is at the docks," he shouted into it. "We need help and fast – bring weapons!"

"The docks? Weapons? Jaune, what are you-" Yang's voice was cut off by the sound of a gunshot and an explosion. Smoke wafted in the air as he looked out with wide eyes. Blake… was she…? "We're on our way! Hold on and for the love of everything – don't get hurt!" The screen flicked off. He barely even noticed.

It was none of his business. This was the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. They were criminals – and famous ones at that. He could get killed!

"Maybe I'm even starting to think of you as a friend."

"Gahh!" Jaune yelled and drew Crocea Mors. The blade shone, the first time he'd ever made to use it, and in possibly the worst test he could ever put it through.

"Remember Jaune," Nina said. "Those who do nothing are destined to lose everything."

With a soft gulp, he pushed down on his fear and stepped forwards, off the rooftop, where he sailed down to the ground below.

Blake finds out Jaune's secret, but has one of her own and so understands it better. This also marks almost the end of this story arc. As some have noted, the chapter lengths of this story are short – and that's kind of on purpose. It's always been a shorter chapter kind of fic, hence the faster pacing – and I can't really manage this and the much larger word count of "White Sheep" at the same time.

I also, in canon, like to imagine that in the part where Weiss and Yang basically abandon Ruby to deal with Penny, that they had a frank discussion in which Yang helped bring Weiss around to what she is like after the docks. The change for her is too sudden otherwise, and it just feels like words were exchanged which helped to change her mind.

Next Chapter: 21st March

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur