Jaune woke early by the low sounds of students chattering, a brief glance out the windows revealed just how early it was, the sun had yet to rise on Beacon. Even though he had gone to sleep pretty at a pretty decent time, he had still felt very tired. He wasn't exactly surprised, because he had gone through a lot in just a day, and of course, there was that.

'You awake?' He asked his new buddy, well not actually, but he hoped to put his murder behind him and build a reasonable semblance of friendship with Adam.

Surprisingly he got nothing in response, not even to his own, admittingly foolish, thoughts.

'Well, if you're not in a rush, then neither am I.' Jaune had found his excuse for going back to sleep. However just before his mind drifted off, he realized what this meant, and his eyes snapped wide open. 'Oh, sweet Gods! I can change clothes while looking at my body!'

Like a turtle flipped on its back, he wiggled around before crawling to his knees and then standing up. After quickly rolling up his sleeping bag, he started to speed walk out of the ballroom, and unsurprisingly his rabbit themed pajamas earned him a few snickers on his way out. He didn't particularly care for it, he was a firm believer in function over fashion.

He dropped off his issued sleeping bag into a large bin and made his way to the locker rooms. In his excitement at getting to change without feeling nervous or uncomfortable, he barged straight in, and right into a wall. Surprisingly, the wall had a lot of forward momentum, which was transferred directly into Jaune, pushing him backwards and onto his ass. "Ahffum!" He exclaimed.

"Woah, sorry ab…" A rather amicable voice started and trailed off. "What are you wearing?" Somehow the voice completely changed tune, now it was a sneer filled with derision.

Jaune looked up at the speaking wall, he saw a tall boy with broad shoulders and a head of brown hair, he was decked out in metal armor with a bird emblem displayed on his chest. And that boy was looking down at him with what appeared to be disgust. "Uh, hello?" Jaune mumbled up.

The boy snorted, and stepped around him. "Whatever, watch where you're walking next time, or else." Although what he had spoken was a threat, he couldn't have sounded less concerned.

"Weir-…" He stopped mumbling and licked his lips, blood, he tasted blood. "Oh, fuck, c'mon really?" Quickly Jaune brought up a hand and pinched his bleeding nose.

"What did you do?" Adam suddenly spoke up inside his skull, he sounded greatly displeased.

'Nothing, just ran into someone wearing armor.'

He could somehow hear a sigh in response, followed by a question. "And the reason you're still bleeding?"

'…oh, yeah, totally forgot.' Now reminded of his Aura, he closed his eyes and focused on doing what Adam had taught him. Slowly the energy within his body swam up and gathered in his nose, and the minor would quickly closed. 'Thanks for reminding me.' He said to be polite.

A snort echoed within his mind in response. "You could thank me by throwing away your stupid pajamas." There was a pause. "Seriously, a rabbit? What's wrong with him?"

'Hey wait, was that your thoughts?'

"What? Hold on." A beat passed. "Fuck."

"So you don't think my pajamas are stupid! You just want a different animal on display!"

"Just shut up." Adam grumbled. "And don't speak out loud."

Jaune frantically looked around, but luckily he was alone. 'My bad, oh and great, you're awake.' He also grumbled as he stepped into the locker room, slowly this time.

By following the loudest sounds of people, Jaune was able to find the cafeteria. He entered into the large hall, his pajamas replaced with his normal outfit and gear, he had left Adam's sword behind at his kind request (read: demand). As he walked by tables filled with excited students, in front of each of them were plates and plates of delicious looking food, his mouth started watering at the prospect.

Yesterday he had restricted himself to snacks alone, he knew he would just throw up any meal he had eaten when he got on the airship that would take him to Beacon, but today he was going to eat his fill. Or at least that was his hope, but as he approached the serving tables, he noticed the cash registers sitting front and center of each one. Without any cash on him, his hopes and dreams were crushed, and he froze on the spot.

"There's a table over there without one, maybe you could get some food from there." Adam told him, and somehow Jaune was able to tell where he meant by just his words alone.

Looking over, he did in fact see a table without a register, and a sign next to it that read: Free Food! Limit One Tray Per Person! His mood instantly rose.

'Oh, sweet, free!' Jaune took two fast steps before he realized Adam had been confused. 'What's up?' He walked at a slower pace as he walked.

"It's nothing." Adam snapped back, and yet perhaps he should've learnt from yesterday, but the more he tried to not think about what he was thinking about, the clearer Jaune could sense it.

'Why doesn't it make sense? What's confusing about it?'

Adam sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you, then we're dropping this subject." Then he shared with Jaune what he knew about free's definitions, to not be controlled or confined by anything or anyone, to do what one wants at their own will.

'Yeah, that's true, but that's not all.' And then Jaune shared what he knew about the word, getting something without giving something in return.

"That doesn't make sense." Adam grumbled again.

'Yeah, well I wasn't taught why it can mean different things, so I can't help you there, but I do know that every word we speak has evolved over hundreds of years. There were probably a lot of things about language people don't understand anymore.' Perhaps Jaune had been too patronizing in his tone, cause all he got in response was a growl.

He dropped the topic as he reached the free food table, on the large table were medium sized lunch trays packed with a variety of food groups, and some that focused on a single group.

'Do you have a preference?' He tried extending an olive branch.

After a few seconds, Adam answered. "Meat or wheat."

He scanned the table, and eventually his eyes landed on a tray with fat strips of bacon, fluffy pancakes and a handful of berries. 'You cool with that?'

"Sure." And even through Adam's tone had been as clipped as always, Jaune could feel his satisfaction and eagerness.

And then, as he reached out his hand wearing a fingerless glove, another hand wearing a fingerless glove grabbed it at the same time as he did. Jaune blinked at the pink gloves, and then his vision followed up an arm and he looked at an orange haired girl staring at him with turquoise eyes.

"…I called dibs!" She suddenly shouted.

"…What?"

Suddenly the girl turned to the side. "Tell 'em Ren, as soon as I smelled these babies, didn't I say dibs!?"

Jaune turned his head to see who she was turning to so she could prove her claim, and he saw a boy with long black hair, a single strand of pink standing out, and he met calm bright pink eyes.

"Nora, you can't claim free food." The boy spoke with an almost monotone voice that barely hinted at exasperation.

"Aww." The girl visibly deflated, but her grip on the tray was still frim. "I guess I was just too excited that I could eat food that had been prepared in a kitchen for the first time in my life." She moped.

For a second, in confusion and concern, his grip wavered.

"Yoink!" The instant she had her chance she yanked the tray from him. "I got 'em Ren!" She shouted as she walked over to the boy. "See? I told you we should play into our tragic pasts, sympathy's awesome!" As she was gloating, she was shoveling food into her mouth.

"Seriously?"

'Sorry that I felt sorry!'

After recovering from having his meal taken from him, Jaune and Adam settled on a tray with toast, sausages and a blueberry muffin. And then, as he was searching for a seat to eat his food at, he caught sight of a bow wearing girl.

'Hey so, you got anything against me going over there?' He checked, even though he already started walking.

"Just don't mention anything about me, and I won't have a problem with you." Adam's tone was noticeably colder than normal.

That didn't stop Jaune though, although he had accepted his odd circumstance without much issues, something even he found a little odd, he would still rather be as informed about it as he could be.

Blake was holding a small book in one hand, and in her other hand was a pair of chopsticks. As she read her book, without looking she would deftly remove a small piece of salmon and bring it up to her mouth. Jaune almost didn't want to interrupt her, entranced by her skill, but then he shook his head and sat down across from her.

As soon as his body met wood, amber eyes bore into his own blue ones. '…Now what?' He suddenly asked himself, only now realizing he didn't have a plan. All he knew was that he needed the information from her book, but not how to get it out of her. His mind ran a mile a minute. "Book." His mouth said.

Blake blinked, some of the intensity fading from her eyes in what was most likely confusion, then her attention went back reading and eating.

"I, uh, mean, uh." He cleared his throat. "Hi, I'm Jaune, and I was wondering what book you're reading." His mouth finally caught up to his brain.

Blake looked at him, her eyes filled with soft contempt, and then she slightly tipped the small black book in her hand. Drawing his attention to the cover, where titles of books were commonly written.

La Belle et La Bête.

Were the words written in golden letters.

'…That's not the book she was reading last night!' He whined in his mind.

"Oh, that one, it's her favorite, she likes to re-read it whenever she has free time."

Blake Belladonna had been enjoying her breakfast, she had bought a tray containing salted salmon with rice and miso soup, and she thought that the chefs had done an excellent job, it was better than what she could do, but it didn't really hold a candle to what her mother could make.

The sudden thought of her mother brought up conflicting feelings within her heart. The last time Blake had seen her parents, she had basically called them cowards before running away. Now she could see how young and foolish she had been, but that didn't make it easier to recall their heartbreaking expressions as she screamed at them.

In the midst of her eating and her troubled heart, she was also re-reading a book that she hated more than any other piece of literature.

And then a blond boy sat down across from her, and the way he awkwardly started the conversation put any thought of him being a playboy hitting on her to rest. She was going to continue eating and reading, giving him time to collect his thoughts before he spoke to her, but then he recovered quite quickly, spoke his name, Jaune, and asked a very stupid question.

Since she was still savoring the salmon in her mouth, she just waved the book's cover.

Then Jaune, although his face briefly expressed how foolish he felt, it quickly morphed into shock and despair. A very confusing reaction, enough so that Blake decided to give him some attention.

After a second, in which he appeared to have spent thinking very hard about something, he opened his mouth again. "Which version are you reading?"

'What's this?' She thought for a moment, it wasn't everyday that she got to chat about books, especially not in detail. So she swallowed her food, a waste in her opinion but people frowned upon spitting up food to enjoy later, and she answered. "Bellēmōns' version."

"Oh." As he expressed disappointment, his shoulder sagged, and his attention was quickly given to his tray of food, he stared at his hand stabbing a sausage very intensely.

"What's wrong? Not a fan?" As Blake asked, she closed her book and placed it on the table, her focus entirely on this conversation.

"Uh, not really?" He shrugged. "Don't get me wrong though, I think it's fine, it's just that I prefer reading Vīllanova's and telling Lanc's." As he spoke, he held a sausage up to his mouth and then he shoved it in when he was done.

'I don't think I've talked to a human about this story before.' But then again, she rarely talked to humans, even when she had decided to hate humans, it had been before she had ever seen one in person. "Have you read and told it often?"

"A few times, yeah." He then looked conflicted. "There wasn't a lot to do besides reading, and I had a lot of sisters who didn't want to go to sleep without a bedtime story."

"What did you take from it?"

"Oh well, I think it really depends on how your life is going that you could find meaning in stories with basic morals." His hand stopped moving, as if shocked by himself, and then his face twitched. "For instance, one of my older sisters hasn't had the best love life, and what she takes from the tale is that all men are either pigs until they marry a good woman and that good men die if they find a bad girl."

"And what about you, what did you see in the story?"

"Sorry, but I haven't been in love, so romance stories are hard for me to be super invested in, I've just taken in the basic morals. Don't judge someone based on their appearance, never take advantage of others, be happy with what you have, and don't break promises."

"Okay, so what would you do? Have you thought of that? What if you found yourself in Belle's role?"

"Fight, I guess. I mean from a reader's view I know he isn't entirely evil, but if a beast or even just a human, anyone really, if someone threatened my family's life then it's my job to protect them."

'This is a shame, I guess our perspectives are too different, he can't even comprehend it from another angle. Or maybe he's just being a dumb guy.'

"What about you? If you have the question, you must have an answer, right?"

Blake suddenly felt her pulse increase, she should've expected the turn of events, for a moment she contemplated not answering, there wasn't a real reason to, but a small part of her wanted to finally get her thoughts out into the real world. "You're familiar with the basic premise, it's a parent who screws up but doesn't want the punishment, so Bête decides on taking one of their children instead, and they fall in love, but if Belle leaves or breaks a promise, then her captor dies, and he'll live if she stays, and love will transform away the scary parts."

'The animal parts.' Her brain reminded her.

Jaune just nodded as he ate awkwardly.

"But, what if Bête never took Belle? What if one day her parents warned her of a monster, and instead of listening to them, she ran away to join him? What if only Belle fell in love, and Bête just remained a monster? What if Bête didn't care if she left? What if Bête was never cursed, but he was born a monster? What if love could do nothing to calm him? What if his hatred grew too high for Belle to love him anymore? If all of that was true, then even after Belle left, Bête would remain a monster, so then would his crimes be on her hands as well?"

Jaune sat mostly still, his eyes appeared troubled, but his hands and mouth never stopped feeding him.

"Tell me Jaune, in your version, the one where you fight him to protect your family, what if your family followed him and they would turn on you for trying to protect them? Would you be able to kill him, knowing that his and your enemies would rejoice and knowing that his and your allies would hate you? Jaune? What if? What if Belle was also born a Bête?"

Jaune cleared his throat, and his hand stopped feeding himself. "Uh, well, your version definitely sounds like a more interesting read than mine." He nervously looked away. "I'm really not the best person for any feedback regarding any of that, but, I think there's something in your version that hasn't changed all that much. Belle's family was pretty big, and there were some who were jealous of her to the point of hatred, but more importantly, there were those in her family that loved her very much, regardless of everything else. I think that as long as she knows that, she'll always be Belle, inside and outside." He smiled nervously, clearly and obviously uncomfortable.

"Ahem." Blake felt her heart pump blood into her cheeks in embarrassment. It had just been a day since she abandoned him, and all her thoughts regarding their life together spilled out. "Well, look at the tíme, I'll excuse myself now." She quickly got up from her seat, and gathered all her things, she was ready to run.

"Ah! Wait, um, if you don't mind, I've read more stories, so if you ever want to chat, I'll be there." Again he appeared nervous, as if he wasn't used to doing this. And then he smiled. "And, uh, in fairy tales, miracles always happen because of love, so I'm sure that one way or another, Belle did save Bête, even if neither of them noticed or will ever realize."

'Thanks Jaune, but this world isn't a fairy tale. He won't die because I left him, and my love won't ever reach him, that well has run dry.' She gave a light smile back. "Blake, Blake Belladonna."

When Blake left, Adam was forced to deal with a confused Jaune reflecting on his conversation with Blake. 'You're sure?' He asked him again.

"Yeah, it meant nothing, she's read enough books that she likes to write her own sometimes, well most of the time it's characters from a ninja book that she hides away. I've even read one where she suddenly found herself in a ninja village."

'Okay, but you're absolutely sure that she isn't emotionally troubled by an ex-boyfriend she thought about killing?'

"Absolutely, she just likes to be dramatic sometimes. I'm pretty sure she has tried pitching that story idea to me while she was still working on it, but I'm not a reader so I didn't get it, she was pretty bummed out at the time, she would mope a lot too."

'…It sounded really intense, though.'

"Jaune, listen up, I've known her for a long time, she has never fallen in love with anyone. That was just a story." Adam didn't understand where Jaune was coming from, he had been partners with Blake for a while, he would've known if she fell in love with a mentally unstable man, but she never did, he knew that.

Gee golly, like Jaune, I had thought Blake had been pulling from real events, but Adam said she had never been in love, so I guess it was all just a story.