Corsac kept his eyes closed as he remained kneeling in the center of the living room within his borrowed apartment. His hands rested lightly upon his thighs as he kept his mind and expression as blank as he could manage. Though he had changed into an Atlas Academy uniform since his arrival, Corsac hadn't bothered to change out of it since. Time had slipped away from the man almost entirely, and minutes had turned to hours and days with frightening speed since beginning to live at the Academy. Despite all that had gone on, the man found himself entirely listless as he simply kept to himself, meditating through most of his waking hours. It was an evening like any other when the intercom beside the door to his suite crackled to life, and a vaguely familiar voice pierced the usual silence.

"Hey, uh, Corsac? It's Jaune. Jaune Arc, from Sun's team? I was wondering if we could talk for a bit? It's just me, I don't have anyone with me. If you don't want to, that's fine, too. I mean, I guess I underst-"

Corsac had already arrived at the door and slid back the barrier before Jaune had stopped talking. The faunus' eyes were immediately drawn to the uneven, choppy hair that sat atop Jaune's head like a malformed crown hammered into life by a drunken blacksmith. Despite the horrific sight, Corsac managed to hold his composure and simply stare as he spoke in a soft voice.

"…you may enter, though you may find me a disappointing partner for conversation. I have little to say."

"Oh, that's fine," Jaune reassured as he watched Corsac step to the side. "I just… I wanted to ask you about something, and maybe… talk about the future."

"The future is uncertain," Corsac said airily as he turned and made his way back to the center of the floor, where he kneeled once again. "I have made no plans, and I have no expectations. I am awaiting a decision from you and yours as to what will happen to me, moving forward."

"Yeah, about that," Jaune replied cautiously as he walked into the room and stood before the faunus. The sliding door closed behind him with a mechanical shff, leaving the two men alone in silence for a moment. "I… think you're making a big mistake."

Corsac took a deep breath as Jaune slowly lowered himself to the floor and sat cross-legged, facing him. The faunus searched Jaune's eyes for a moment and found a myriad of nervous jitters within their deep blue hues.

"Quite a claim, for one so young," Corsac said simply. "What would you suggest?"

Jaune shifted uncomfortably upon the carpet and swallowed hard.

"It's… advice that has to come with some context. From both of us," Jaune said before taking a deep breath. "I… need to know a little about your brother. Your relationship with him, and what happened when you lost him. I heard Sun and Ilia's perspective, but I'd like to hear yours."

Jaune froze as he watched Corsac's face twist immediately from indifference to a cold glare full of hatred. For a moment, he expected the man to lunge for him, and the tip of the bushy tail twitching behind the faunus only reinforced his fears. Jaune held his breath as he watched Corsac inhale through his nose and grit his teeth. The older man's right hand clenched hard around his thigh as he stared at Jaune, unblinking. The usual calm within his voice was replaced by a barely contained and dangerous tone that Jaune recognized from Yang's occasional outbursts.

"…I do not see what bringing up Fennec's death has to do with my future here, or our relationship as what could become very temporary allies. You have no business prying into affairs that have nothing to do with you, and especially not when they are events that I expect no human could relate to. Drop this line of questioning, before I see you forcibly removed from this room," Corsac warned.

Jaune finally took a breath of his own and puffed his chest slightly to try to instill some confidence within himself. The effort rang hollow, and he feared that he might pass out from anxiety as he shook his head, producing black dots within his vision.

"…no. I won't just drop it, because I think… I can tell just from that reaction that the two of you were close. That he meant something to you in a way that you think nobody else would understand. His death changed you and made you confront some truths that you didn't want to face, didn't it?"

Jaune felt his pulse quicken as Corsac rose into a standing position, his hands balled into fists and teeth bared. As the faunus took a step toward him, Jaune closed his eyes and inhaled quickly before continuing.

"I came here because I thought that might the case. I came here because I… lost someone like that, too."

Jaune braced for a hit that never came. He kept his eyes tightly shut for several moments and held his breath once again. As he finally worked up the courage to open one eye, he found Corsac clear on the other side of the room, looking out the glass door toward the balcony.

"…speak."

Another moment of tense silence passed before Jaune pushed himself up off the floor and stood awkwardly, alone in the center of the room. The boy ground his teeth together as he tried to figure out just what to say, but his mind was filled with only fuzz and the mental image of a face he had tried so hard to forget over a period of months. He swallowed the lump in his throat before taking a hesitant step forward, his entire body suddenly feeling heavy and sluggish.

"…Pyrrha Nikos was… she was my friend. More than that, eventually, but I didn't realize it until it was too late. She was the first person to really take me seriously, and see me as something more than a joke," Jaune began, his head beginning to pound in time with his pulse. "She was a student at Beacon with me, and I was lucky enough to have her placed on my team. We didn't even get a full year together, but she… changed me. She invested in me in a way that nobody else ever has, to try to help me be better. Pyrrha never lost faith in me, even after she learned all of my secrets. I did… questionable things to get into the school, and she barely even cared. She took it in stride and stayed close to me. She didn't have to do that."

Corsac kept his eyes locked with his own reflection as he listened, his tail finally still. He was vaguely aware of Jaune's reflection approaching within the glass, though he paid the sight no mind.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Corsac replied, his tone once again neutral and seemingly disinterested.

Jaune stopped his approach and nodded slowly.

"It's… I know it's not the same. That part's not the same, I mean- I wasn't expecting you to really care about the fact that I lost the only girl I've ever really been close to. You didn't know her, and, to be honest… you don't really know me, and I don't know you," Jaune admitted. "But I can see in your eyes how your brother's death affected you… and it's something I've seen a lot, in the mirror."

Corsac tensed again and transitioned his arms behind himself. He clenched his right hand into a fist as his left grabbed the wrist. The faunus said nothing, and merely closed his eyes as he let out a noise of either frustration or warning.

"Pyrrha… died fighting," Jaune began, only to stop immediately. Where a moment before he had felt ready to state his case, all of his motivation to continue speaking was stolen from him in an instant. He paused for an uncomfortable amount of time, his throat dry and seemingly closed. It took a herculean effort for him to start speaking again, and his voice cracked slightly.

"She… died to save people. The last time I saw her, she pushed me out of the way so she could go and fight an unwinnable battle to try to buy other people time. She made a decision for me, and she knew what was going to happen because of it."

Corsac merely shook his head, his eyes still closed.

"Jaune, I appreciate your intentions, b-"

"I had no one after I lost her," Jaune interrupted, his shoulders trembling as the corners of his eyes began to sting. "I had no one because I wouldn't let anyone in, but I still felt totally alone, even when people tried. I walled myself into my own mind, and if my teammates tried to bring it up, I lashed out and shut them down. Pyrrha was my life, for a few months. She was what kept me going, and when she was ripped away, I just… I shut down. I can't imagine what it would feel like if I had known her my entire life. If she had been family, instead of just a friend. I don't know if I would be able to live with something like that, and especially not alone."

Corsac finally opened his eyes only to find Jaune's reflection upon the couch, his head in his hands. The faunus slowly turned to find that Jaune's shoulders were shaking, and his voice was unsteady.

"I just…couldn't talk about it. I couldn't face them, and I felt like it was my fault. Like I wasn't fast enough, and like she knew I wasn't good enough to fight alongside her, and maybe stop her from doing what she did. For months afterward, I trained every night the way she tried to teach me to, but it was all just… hollow. It was meaningless. I always felt like I was making real progress when she was right there in front of me, but when all I had was a recording… it only made it hurt worse. All of her belief in me amounted to nothing in my mind, and I never let myself mourn, or let anyone help me get to the point where I could. I locked myself into a state where being alive was just being numb, and that was what I wanted. I wanted to just exist, and hope that someone or something would come along and give my life meaning again. It never happened. It still hasn't."

A sensation of pins and needles worked its way up Corsac's arms as he listened, and he again let out a pained sort of noise as he cast his eyes down to the carpet.

"…you have meaning," he said slowly. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be staking your life on this… 'mission', or whatever it is that you and Sun are up to."

"…wouldn't I?" Jaune asked with a sniffle as he finally looked up at Corsac. "Do you think I actually care, or do you think I'm just going through the motions to play 'hero', and almost hoping I end up getting myself killed in the process?"

Corsac hesitated, and for the first time, he was the one to look away.

"…I don't know."

"Neither did I. Not until pretty recently. Not until last week," Jaune admitted. "Sun… started something, for me. He talked me off the edge of the cliff, so to speak. I'm still there, looking down and wondering, but… I'm closer to stable ground, and I owe that all to him. All it took was one person to get me to see sense again, and even though it still hurts, even though I still feel like I'm responsible for everything… it's a little easier to wake up in the morning, now."

Corsac sucked in a breath and moved to sit beside Jaune. He clasped his hands together and held them in the space between his knees, looking pensive.

"…what did he do?"

Jaune sniffed once and offered Corsac a weak smile.

"Sun's got a way with words. I'm not sure entirely what he said that flipped the switch, but something about the way he talked to me when we were alone… he convinced me to start making decisions for myself again, and to live for something. So… yeah. I'm in this fight, for real, and because I choose to let my life mean something. I'm choosing to recover and fight… and that's why I'm really here. I want to try to convince you to do the same."

Corsac said nothing for a long time. Eventually, he let out a deflating sort of sigh, and shook his head as Jaune simply watched him.

"Fennec and I… we were born into the Fang. It was all we knew. We were trained, beaten into becoming warriors to fight for our people. Our parents were both involved within Ghira's inner circle, and then, Sienna Khan's. They were largely absent, and where we grew up in Vacuo… the Fang were largely seen as extreme. Unwelcome. We had each other to cling to as we suffered abuse and neglect from our peers, and not much else. We convinced each other that our path was righteous, and when Ghira abandoned the Fang… it only strengthened our resolve. Made our fanaticism grow. Many felt that way, but for us… we were unwilling to change our entire identity to suit the new direction of the Fang that Sienna Khan had chosen."

"I uh… don't really know much about the Fang, beyond what little Sun and Ilia have told me," Jaune admitted. "But I'm… willing to learn, if it would help?"

"To be honest, it… matters little," Corsac deflected. "It's simply an explanation as to why Fennec and I were the way we were, once. We conspired with Adam Taurus to have Sienna killed and replaced, as his ideals more closely matched our own."

"…oh," Jaune replied, suddenly uncomfortable. "That's… a thing."

"…it is," Corsac agreed. "Adam brought us to Ghira. The target of our frustrations, and the one who had made our living situation worse, in our minds. With his death, we were pleased, for all of a moment… until his wife crushed my brother's skull. I saw an aura manifest around his head, and a moment later, he was… gone."

"I'm… sorry," Jaune said quickly as he shifted uncomfortably upon the couch.

"…indeed. From that point onward, though, I began to again start assigning blame. Ghira, Sun, Ilia… Adam himself. Adam's inept leadership eventually planted the target firmly upon his back, and then Cinnamon thought to challenge him. I worked with her to try to lure Adam into a position to be killed, and then she betrayed me shortly afterward, for nearly getting Ilia killed," Corsac finished.

"That's… a lot," Jaune said carefully. "And I'm seeing a pattern."

Corsac allowed himself a lopsided, sorrowful smirk.

"…I didn't. Not until I was thrown from a helicopter into the ocean, and, well… you know the rest. Rage is blinding and having Fennec there to feed off of only made that symptom worse. That revelation came too late and led to my retreat into this… shell that I've become. You're not wrong that you and I have similar experiences, Jaune. I, too, now feel as though I have nothing. That numbness you described… directionless, and empty. My identity died with him, as yours died with Pyrrha."

"Yeah," Jaune confirmed, before the room once again fell silent for a while. "But it doesn't have to end there. We don't have to just… drift along, and let an ending be written for us. We can write our own. Together, if you want to lean on each other. I'm always willing to talk about stuff, and… I'm sure Sun is, too. We can choose to have purpose."

"We can choose," Corsac repeated before standing into an overhead stretch. "What was it that Ironwood requested of the five of you?"

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked as he stood to follow.

"To begin working for him," Corsac clarified. "A physical, and desired weapon upgrades, was it?"

Jaune smiled and offered the other man a nod.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Then take me to the medical facilities," Corsac instructed as he cracked his knuckles. "It's time I join the fight."

Author's Note:

And here we are, with Corsac formally joining in on the fun. Next chapter will deal primarily with Ruby's crew a few days after these events, and Chapter 100… is going to be a bit special and contain some things I think a lot of people have been waiting for.

-RD