Chapter 20: Sleep with the fishes
Yang Xiao Long was not a morning person, especially on a weekend. Who needs to wake up early when you've got no class to go to anyway? A girl like her needs her beauty sleep. So when her scroll started blowing up with messages in the early hours of the morning she was understandably pissed, she turned it off before reading any of the messages and going back to sleep.
Now that she's awake however, she's starting to regret that decision, because really, what the hell did they miss last night? Waking up late on a sunday morning that they've already missed breakfast, she finally manages to read the messages that's been blowing up her scroll earlier.
The first thing she sees are video messages from Nora. Videos showing her a dance party with a topless Jaune busting off some of his dance moves. The next are videos of team JNPR together with Blake and the blonde monkey Faunus from the docks having fun drinking and partying. Some videos show the twins she fought before she got into Beacon, which leads her to conclude that they partied at Junior's Club.
..What the hell?!..Since when was Vomit Boy this cool?!
Yang thinks to herself as she blushes at the image of Jaune Arc. That's something she never ever thought would happen, but the sight of his lean figure with muscles emphasized by the sweat from dancing is doing wonders to better her mood.
"Uhhh, guys…..Did Nora send any of you some videos?" Yang hears a blushing Ruby shout out from the shower.
"RUBY ROSE! You better not be watching what I think you're watching in there!" Yang's protective sisterly instincts flare up at the thought of Ruby ogling a boy's body.
"What?! I'm just watching cat videos! Who said anything about Nora's videos?! Not me! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Ruby laughs out nervously, not willing to admit that she's just as enamored with seeing a topless Jaune while she's in the shower.
"Honestly, you should never bring your scroll with you while showering. You could hurt yourself or damage your scroll. It's just plain dangerous." Weiss points out as she brushes her bed hair.
"Some of us want to live dangerously, Weiss!" Ruby shouts back.
Normally, Yang would approve of such backtalk from Ruby especially against others since it shows how badass the Rose-Xiao Long family is, but right now Yang is busy watching and reading each message she has received.
"Huh, I guess Blake really is okay." Yang comments as she watches Blake smile together with their sister team in one of Nora's videos.
"Hmph, doing something like running away to a party with Arc? How improper. She should be ashamed for making us worry for nothing." Weiss replies snappily.
"Maybe they just showed her a good time and it's just what she needed? I'm sure she's fine, it's Jaune. He gave his word he'd take care of Blake." Ruby responds, fully supporting her bestie's action as she comes out of the bathroom dressed in her iconic combat dress.
"Getting her drunk at a party is not something I would call taking care of someone." Weiss counters back as she frowns at a video of Jaune posing with Blake and Pyrrha. Weiss would never ever admit it, but she thinks that Blake and Pyrrha with cat ears look good together.
"Pleaseee, Pyrrha's there. Do you really think someone like Pyrrha would let Jaune get Blake drunk? Nothing wrong is gonna happen." Ruby asks while rolling her eyes.
Huh, this must be one of the rare times Ruby could sass Weiss.
"...Pyrrha is a lot more responsible than the dolt." Weiss answers slowly, agreeing that Pyrrha would never let Jaune do anything as foolish as that.
Ruby just looks at Weiss with a smug grin.
Normally, Yang Xiao Long would agree with that assessment but this is not a normal situation. What Ruby and Weiss do not know is that she has just received a message from their wayward teammate.
BLAKE: PLS HLP!
…typing…..
Blake asking for help? Especially when she just ran away from them? No matter how you look at it, that's not something you'd expect to happen. Something serious must have occurred for Blake to ask for help. Waiting for Blake to explain, she decides that they'd need to get there ASAP when she realizes that Blake isn't able to finish typing what the situation is.
"Come on girls, we gotta catch a ride to Vale." Yang announces as she leaves her bed and prepares for a day out in Vale.
"What?! Why?! We haven't even eaten yet." Ruby complaints with a pout.
"We can eat in Vale. Bring your weapons" Yang answers promptly as she puts on her combat clothes.
"What? Why?" Ruby asks, curious why her sister suddenly wants to go to Vale armed and ready.
"Blake just asked for help." Yang replies as she shows Ruby Blake's text.
Eyes widening at the message, Ruby looks back at her older sister.
"Do you even know where to go?" Weiss asks as she begins donning her outfit even as she frowns at the situation.
"I recognized the club they partied at. I know who to ask for them." Yang answers with confidence.
"Huh, something serious must have really happened if Blake is asking for help." Ruby points out curiously.
"Nothing wrong is gonna happen if Pyrrha's there, huh?" Weiss retorts as she looks at Ruby with a raised eyebrow to which Ruby replies with a roll of her eyes.
Something seriously wrong has just happened.
Pyrrha Nikos has just talked to Sun and the Malachite sisters without her disguise.
Everyone's eyes go wide as they realize how momentous this moment is.
The Malachite sisters are shocked and excited to know that the Pyrrha Nikos partied and got drunk in their club.
Sun Wukong is a mixture of disbelief and shock. He's so surprised that Pyr turned out to be Pyrrha Nikos in disguise that not only are his eyes wide, his jaw also dropped.
Pyrrha feels like slapping herself for being careless. She just exposed herself to other people because she was so caught up in her thoughts.
Can you blame her though? She was too busy thinking about what just happened in the bedroom. She just got fucked by her boyfriend while one of their friends watched. As if that wasn't wild enough, Pyrrha then asked Blake to clean Jaune up with her mouth! Pyrrha never thought she would ever do something like that, but seeing Blake service Jaune after fucking her sent a thrill through her body!
Speaking to Blake 1-on-1, Pyrrha couldn't stop the urge just to tease her a bit. She still remembers Blake's gasps and moans last night, so different from her usual aloof cool beauty person in Beacon. The fact that it was her and Jaune who brought that side of Blake out just made Pyrrha feel good.
Yet she had to lay down the law, draw the lines so to speak, she had to clarify something. She might've been thankful to Blake for helping them be together, but Pyrrha was Jaune's girlfriend.
That's not to say she's mad at Blake, it's more of…Blake should accept a hierarchy? It's very confusing even to Pyrrha, but the point is while she's okay with Blake doing lewd things with Jaune, she should accept that Pyrrha is the top dog. As for future activities being done together with Blake? Well, they'll just have to see what the future brings. After all, didn't she already say that last night was enjoyable?
So as Pyrrha blushes at the thoughts that plague her head and how unlike her normal self she was acting, it's not that surprising to her when she greeted Sun and the twins absentmindedly as they got out of their own room across from theirs. She only realized her mistake when Sun started stammering trying to greet her back. So here they all are, four people stuck in a hallway, wide eyes looking at each other.
"Py-py-pyrrha Nikos?! I flir-" Sun stammers out while pointing at her with a shaking finger but is interrupted by a screech..
"Pyrrha Nikos!" Militia gasps with wide eyes.
"Pyrrha Nikos partied at our bar sister!" Melanie exclaims excitedly as she grabs her sister's hands.
Pyrrha winces at that, she's been so used to Beacon that she forgot how fans are when they meet her. Judging by the twins' reaction, they are both fangirls.
"I KNOW!"
"WE NEED TO LET EVERYONE KNOW!"
That remark finally shakes Pyrrha out of her stupor.
"NO!" She shouts in wide eyed desperation that stuns everyone else
Before she knows it, her body is already moving and she pins both twins to the wall by the throat. Sun squeaks out of the way as the twins choke on their words. Pyrrha winces at what she's done but she needs to do this first.
"You can't tell anyone! I was in disguise for a reason!" She shouts desperately as the twins continue to choke.
"Uhh..Pyr, you're kinda choking them." Sun pipes up nervously from the side.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologizes in mortification as she realizes in her panic that she just kept choking the twins.
Unfortunately for Pyrrha, her mortification does not end yet, because before she could even let go of the twins, Blake Belladonna exits the room they used last night in a rush. The scene that greets Blake Belladonna is Pyrrha choking two other girls as Sun panics nervously at her side.
Pyrrha sees Blake's eyes go wide as she takes in the scene. Her eyes flick back toward the room assessing whether it would be safer to just go back inside or not.
Oh Gods! She probably thinks I like cornering other women against the wall!
"It's not what you think?" Pyrrha laughs out nervously with a blush as she finally lets go of the twins.
"I…Uhh..what's happening?" Blake asks confusedly.
"Nothing! Nothing is happening! Right, girls?" Pyrrha says panickedly as she looks at the twins meaningfully.
"...Crazy bitch, yeah yeah nothing's happening." Melanie snarks raspily as she rubs her throat.
"I'm sorry! But you can't tell anyone about me being in the club!" Pyrrha pleads with panicked eyes which actually gets Blake to understand the situation.
"..What's in it for us?" Militia asks as she takes deep breaths.
"I..uhh..won't destroy your club?" Pyrrha replies with a wince, unable to think of any other solution.
"Damn. I thought you were cool Pyr." Militia answers with a pout as Melanie just scowls.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologizes as she looks to Blake for help.
Yet even Blake looks apologetic at her, unable to think of any solution to help. However, it seems that not all is lost for Pyrrha just yet. Her savior comes in the form of her partner Jaune, if only he didn't arrive shirtless though.
"Blake? Pyrrha? Do you know where my shirt went? I can't seem to find it." Jaune calls out as he opens the door from inside the bedroom.
His entrance is so unexpected that Blake jumps away from him and almost bowls over Pyrrha in surprise. As it is, Pyrrha is strong enough to catch Blake and ends up embracing the other girl as they both turn into Jaune with a blush on both their faces. Other than that, another important reaction that happens is Sun's widening eyes at the situation.
Pyrrha sees Sun's wide eyes from beside her swivel between her, Blake, Jaune, and the room that the three of them just came out of. Pyrrha blushes as the implication sinks in in everyone's eyes.
"Y-you….both?" Sun points out with shaky fingers as he looks at Jaune in awe.
"H-huh?!" Jaune responds with wide eyes as he finally takes in the scene of Sun and four women looking at him with a blush while he was topless.
"...Nice." Sun replies with a grin as he shoots Jaune a thumbs up.
That gets Pyrrha, Blake, and Jaune to blush at the same time. Silence dominates the hallway as nobody seems to know what to say next. Eventually, Jaune breaks it as he still has something to look for.
"So…uhm…my shirt?" Jaune asks with a blush.
"I..uhm… ripped it off when you tried to wear it? Sorry." Pyrrha says embarrassedly, staring at the floor to avoid looking at anyone.
""...Kinky."" She hears the twins say with an impressed tone.
Pyrrha has never wanted to be swallowed by the earth more than any time else.
Jaune Arc is currently in the middle of the most dangerous situation of his life so far.
Getting launched from a cliff without Aura during initiation? Easy, get pinned to a tree. Fight a giant Deathstalker within an hour of getting your Aura unlocked? Manageable, just fight with your team. Facing down an angry Nora in the middle of her hangover? Well, that's a problem he does not know how to solve.
One would probably wonder how he got here, but there's a simple explanation for that.
Well, he went inside the bathroom to take a shower after fucking Pyrrha and getting a blowjob from Blake, which by the way was crazy to think about. Just thinking about Pyrrha's fit and warm body moving against his and Blake's beautiful amber eyes looking at him as she knelt with her pale supple body is giving him a boner..
Which is a bad thing to have in his current situation by the way.
Anyways, after taking a shower, he of course looked for his clothes. He found his pants and Crocea Mors sticking out from under the bed, but he couldn't find his shirt anywhere. Thinking that the two ladies involved with him last night would know where his shirt went, he of course went to ask them. He probably should have been more careful when going out of the room, as it is, he just had to run into Sun and the twins in the hallway.
There was a moment when Jaune locked eyes with Sun and both boys instantly knew what the other was thinking…. Yeah, that was awkward even if it did give Jaune a little bit of an ego boost that yes, Jaune Arc did indeed have sex with both Pyrrha Nikos and Blake Belladonna.
Did he already mention that it was crazy to think about it? Yes? Well, allow him the moment to say it again. It was so crazy to think that he, Jaune Arc, the weakest of Beacon, slept with two women so far out of his league that he could scarcely believe it. More than that, Pyrrha just became his girlfriend! It only got crazier when said girlfriend asked their other friend to suck him off! Anyways, he can freak out about all of that later back at Beacon, as wild as the events of last night and earlier this morning, he needs to get through the rest of the day to have all the time to freak out later.
Compared to that, Pyrrha apparently ripping his shirt apart last night wasn't as wild or kinky as the others are making it out to be. He remembers taking it off to dance back at the club, but he's pretty sure he got a shirt back before they stumbled into the Malachite Apartment. Luckily, the twins have a lot of stock uniforms for their bar employees that Jaune could borrow even if it is just a plain black shirt.
With a shirt acquired, Jaune then pushed the group to at least get some breakfast in them before asking any more questions, which led them to their current situation.
Jaune Arc, sitting between Blake Belladonna and Pyrrha Nikos to his left and right respectively while Sun seated in between the twins watches from the sidelines like this is some trial.
"So you're telling me you slept with Pyrrha and Blake at the same time?" Nora asks with a stern glare, one hand pinching the bridge of her nose to fight off a headache and the other holding a glass of Ren's hangover cure.
"...Yes." Jaune replies slowly as both girls flush beside him on the breakfast table.
"And now you and Pyrrha are dating." Nora states with a straight voice as their audience looks back and forth between them.
"...As of less than an hour ago, yes. We're trying to keep it a secret from the public but yes Pyrrha and I are now dating." Jaune confirms slowly looking at Pyrrha with a smile which she reciprocates.
Jaune sees Sun tilt his head quizzically at that, unable to know why he would want such a thing kept secret. The twins just look at him in understanding, after all, they know he has a reason to keep a low profile which is mainly to avoid people from snooping his background and discovering his fake transcripts.
"I KNEW IT! SEE RENNY! I KNEW MY ARKOS SENSES WERE TINGLING EARLIER!" Nora shouts as she slams her hand on the table.
"Nora…" Ren tries to reply but is interrupted by Nora.
"HUSH! DON'T YOU NORA ME! WE MISSED IT BECAUSE OF YOU!" Nora exclaims as she waves her hand holding Ren's hangover cure to him.
"Nora…I doubt you'd want to intrude on their privacy considering what they were probably doing." Ren responds exasperatedly with a light blush on his face.
Nora and Ren watching us?...
Jaune shudders at the thought. He already thinks of Nora as a sister and he has already acknowledged Ren as a brother by heart. If they walked in on Jaune having sex it would be like having his own blood sisters walk in. The thought almost makes him puke in disgust.
It seems he's not the only one who had that reaction because they all see Nora suddenly go pale as she puts a hand to cover her mouth.
"...You're right. I think I'm gonna be sick." Nora says with a shaky voice as Ren pats her back comfortingly.
"But what about Blake? She was there wasn't she? Are you building a harem, fearless leader?" Nora continues, trying to move on from the horrid image of seeing Jaune doing the deed while she tries to drink her hangover cure..
The remark makes Jaune blush as he feels all attention in the room concentrate on him. Looking at the two beautiful ladies beside him, he sees Blake's wide searching eyes and Pyrrha's surprisingly supportive smile aimed straight at him. He knows he and Pyrrha have already talked about this earlier, but he still feels like he needs to clarify the situation.
"...No, Blake's a good friend. What happened last night was because of the alcohol." Jaune breathes out slowly with a blush as he sees Blake slowly let out a sigh.
As enjoyable as last night was, he's pretty sure that Blake only did that because of the alcohol and to help him with Pyrrha.
Turning towards his new girlfriend with a reassuring smile, his heart stops when he sees Pyrrha's disappointed frown. Before he could even analyze Pyrrha's reaction even deeper, his thoughts are interrupted by Blake's remark.
"Last night was just supposed to be helping Jaune get with Pyrrha. I went too far and I'm sorry for it." Blake coughs awkwardly as she looks at both Pyrrha and Jaune apologetically.
Before Jaune could even reply, he is interrupted again.
"Well, I'm not. I'm happy you went that far." Pyrrha replies instantly from his right.
"What?" Jaune blurts out in surprise.
"Holy shit." Sun whispers out loud as he proceeds to crunch some Pumpkin Pete.
""Damn."" The twins speak at the same time.
Nora….Nora spits out her hangover cure at Ren's face who promptly uses a towel to clean himself.
Jaune sees Blake just blink owlishly at Pyrrha's unexpected reply.
With all eyes on her, Jaune sees Pyrrha blush at the realization of what she just said. Yet she reminds them yet again why she is often called the Invincible Girl. Even when embarrassed at the attention, Pyrrha bulldozes ahead with boldness and confidence.
"Blake, it's because of you that Jaune and I are together right now. If it wasn't for you I would still be pining after him while doing nothing. While Jaune will probably be thinking of doing something stupid to unnecessarily prove his worth or something." Pyrrha says bashfully as she looks at a shocked Blake and holds Jaune's hand at the same time.
"Hey! Winning the Vytal Festival is not a stupid thing. It's something everyone our age should aspire for." Jaune pipes up boldly, injecting some levity into the room and making everyone crack a smile.
"Jaune, you don't need to do something like that to date me. I already love you." Pyrrha replies, amused at what she thinks is Jaune's silly antics.
"I'm serious Pyrrha. I still intend to win the festival just to shut up everyone who'll be against us. Which means before then, this doesn't get out to the public." Jaune says seriously, locking eyes with Pyrrha and looking towards Sun and the twins at the side.
"No problems from me bro." Sun says supportively with a grin, having fun at the situation unfolding before him. To Sun, this must probably just be like prime movie entertainment but instead of watching, he's living it..
"What's in it for us?" Melanie asks with her arms crossed as Militia nods besides her.
Spoken like true syndicates, huh? Good thing my experience with Cardin and Junior already gave me a solution to something like this. I just need to bluff them.
"I won't tell the police you're connected with the White Fang." Jaune offers, trying Cardin's method of blackmail while using information from Junior.
"Please, the police are in our pockets." Melanie rolls her eyes at him.
Crap. Should have expected something like that.
Faced with an unexpected obstacle, Jaune does what he does best when his lie threatens to spill out. He doubles down.
"I'm sure you have some people in your pockets, but you can't have bribed all of them. If you did, you could have probably gotten that huntress that trashed your club arrested." Jaune notes with a fake smile as cold sweat begins to form behind his back.
"Tch. I doubt you'd know who to talk to. As it is, you'd probably just report to one of those in our pockets. Face it Jaune, you'd have to pay us to keep something like this a secret." Melanie clicks her tongue at Jaune, not willing to budge and instead trying to extort more from him with a grin.
"Sorry Jaune. It's just business. No hard feelings, okay?" Militia winces apologetically at him while trying to comfort a nervous Sun who keeps flicking his eyes at each of them.
Damn, if only we know someone from the police who strictly follows the law and protocols….Wait a minute.
As Jaune's thoughts race through every possible solution he can think of, he sees Pyrrha's nervous eyes and Blake's twitching cat ears. He already knows someone who strictly follows protocols inside the police even if he doesn't like them.
"Captain Goldy Roger." Jaune throws out the name of the officer who tried to interrogate Pyrrha when they prevented a Dust Shop from being robbed.
Sun's eyes widen at the name. After all, it's the same guy who arrested him at the docks two days ago.
"Really, Jaune? You just had to know the guy notorious for being strict with his precinct. How do you even know the guy?" Melanie groans at Jaune's surprise counterattack as Militia just looks in surprise at him.
As for Jaune, Melanie's reaction makes him sigh in relief. The relief gives him a boost of confidence as he smirks at the twins.
"That's a secret. You'd have to pay for that information." Jaune grins confidently, he does not notice Blake's impressed stare or Pyrrha's blushing face. Let it not be said that confidence does not suit Jaune Arc.
"Ha! You're not as naive as before, huh. Fine, we'll keep you and your girlfriend's secrets." Melanie replies with an impressed smile.
"Great! Sordid threesomes and shady negotiations aside, are we going back to Beacon now that we found Blake, fearless leader?" Nora exclaims, apparently recovering from her hangover as she looks at Jaune eagerly.
If Jaune didn't know any better, he'd say that Nora was just so excited to go back to Beacon. Unfortunately, he knows better. Nora probably just wants to know the details of how he and Pyrrha started to date without outsiders being able to listen to them. It would be such a Nora thing to do when she apparently shipped him and Pyrrha enough that she already has a ship name for them.
Arkos, huh? Not a bad name. It could also work as a callout for a combo. I wonder what Ren and Nora's would be? Flower Power? Boop?
Preoccupied with his thoughts, it was Blake who had to answer Nora's question.
"I can't go back yet. I…still have some issues to solve." Blake says ashamedly.
"What issues?" Nora asks with a curious tilt to her head.
Blake stays silent at that and turns to Jaune with a plea in her eyes.
It takes Jaune a moment to understand what Blake is getting at. He was so caught up with everything that happened between him, Pyrrha, and Blake that they never even told Nora and Ren their plans, not to mention the fact that Blake was once a part of the White Fang.
Taking a deep breath, he nods at Blake and turns to Nora.
"Nora, there's something you need to know. Don't freak out. Let us finish. It's related to what we plan on doing later." Jaune says in a serious tone. His sudden change in demeanor causes Ren to narrow his eyes as he puts his hand on Nora's shoulder.
"Well, what is it? You're making me nervous, fearless leader." Nora asks with a small frown on her face.
Looking at Blake once again, he nods and tries to convey that she should be the one to tell them. As much as he wants to just blurt it out, it is Blake's secret to tell.
Blake's eyes widen, there's a moment where it looks like she might shake from the nervousness but Jaune doesn't let her break down. He does something that he wouldn't have been able to do before last night. He holds her hand in support and gives her a reassuring smile.
"It's okay, Blake. They're my team, you can trust them." Jaune comforts her with a calming voice.
"That's right. We're here for you Blake." Pyrrha adds with a supportive smile.
"...Alright." Blake lets out slowly while taking a deep breath to calm herself as she accepts both Jaune's and Pyrrha's supportive words.
Looking at a frowning Nora and a curious Ren, Blake shares with them her history with the White Fang and the reason why they won't return to Beacon just yet.
Blake Belladonna was uncomfortable.
The fact that there are a lot of valid reasons why she should be uncomfortable was not helping her right now.
As one can expect, one of those reasons that is making her uncomfortable is the fact that she slept with both Jaune and Pyrrha at the same time.
Having the time to cool down from the experience, Blake can admit it to herself that she did enjoy their time together.
She's self-aware enough to know that she was pleasantly surprised that Jaune was actually a skilled and considerate lover. Even now, Blake has to fight the satisfied smile that's threatening to appear on her face just by thinking about it.
As if that wasn't enough reason to enjoy their time together, it was comforting to know that Pyrrha was actually accepting and supportive enough not to be angry at her. Instead, it was a surprising delight to know that she was happy at Blake's participation.
Yet even with all those reasons to enjoy the experience, the fact of the matter is that it was still something she never saw herself doing.
Blake would like to think that she's not an easy or loose woman, but events from last night and even earlier this morning prove that, yes, she is an easy woman. For Jaune and Pyrrha at least.
It was uncomfortable to know that two people who she really only saw as friends yesterday were able to be that intimate with her. The fact that they were able to bring out such lewd reactions from her that it would put the books she read to shame does not help matters.
Now if that wasn't uncomfortable enough, the fact that Nora, Ren, Sun, and the twins know that she had a threesome was just added embarrassment.
Seeing Sun giving Jaune a thumbs up, the twins giving her knowing smirks, and Nora throwing a teasing smile at her has been making her blush since breakfast.
She's happy that no one is judging any of them for their debauchery last night but come on! If this is how bad it already is, how much worse could it get if Yang found out? Blake would never know peace. Just the thought of Yang finding out makes her shudder in dread.
Yet despite being uncomfortable with all these things, Blake can't help but not hate the experience!
Her newfound friendship (relationship?) with both Jaune and Pyrrha were instrumental in helping her share her story and plans to Nora and Ren. Especially, when they backed her up when addressing Ren's unexpected concern.
"I know you've said that you already left the White Fang, but bonds between comrades are not that easy to sever. What will you do if the White Fang really are working with humans to harm Vale? Whatever they plan to do, it would most likely put everyone in danger" Ren asks sternly with his arms crossed as his eyes flicker to Nora in concern..
Blake freezes at that question. She knows the right thing to do would be to stop them and fight the White Fang yet she knows Ren is also right.
No matter what she says, she was still a member of the White Fang for years. She made friends, comrades, brothers and sisters in arms. Can she really throw all those bonds away so easily?
Just imagining having to fight her friend Ilia in the middle of a battlefield makes her hesitate to answer Ren's question. Luckily, Jaune is there to help her.
"No matter what happens, we'll cross that bridge if we get there. I trust Blake to do the right thing." Jaune says with a confident grin aimed at her.
"That's right, and she won't do it alone. She'll have us with her. In fact, I already plan to use my fame to fight against racism and bigotry. Hopefully, that would reduce the reasons the White Fang would want to attack Vale." Pyrrha adds with a supportive smile across from Jaune.
"Aww! Come on Renny! Fearless leader and Pyr-pyr are already vouching for her. We can be warriors of justice together!" Nora exclaims excitedly in support of Blake
That only serves to make Ren crack his stern facade as he lets out a small smile.
"Alright, I apologize for insinuating you won't do the right thing, Blake. I just wanted to make sure that none of us would get hurt unnecessarily. If our leader is already vouching for you then we trust you." Ren responds apologetically to her while giving Jaune a nod of approval.
Touched by their words, Blake could only nod her head in gratitude. She's so surprised at Team JNPR's easy acceptance of her, it was enough to make her think that if they could support her that quickly, then perhaps her own team would support her as well?
Still she cannot forget one thing, Jaune's complete trust and Pyrrha's unwavering support were giving her warm feelings. Those warm feelings in turn just makes it more embarrassing when she thinks about it. Then that embarrassment just makes her more uncomfortable!
Thankful she might be, but Blake is now stuck in a feedback loop where she likes what Jaune and Pyrrha are doing for her, she's embarrassed for liking it, and that embarrassment makes her uncomfortable which in turn makes Jaune and Pyrrha unwittingly comfort her and the loop starts again!
Frankly, it's enough to make a girl tear her hair out and scream in frustration. The only thing stopping her from doing just that is that they are currently sneaking around in the docks.
To Blake's immense relief, the activity of sneaking and searching around for SDC Dust shipments is a familiar and comfortable feeling to her.
It says a lot about her character that she has to resort to such questionable activities to distract herself from her frustrations. Mainly, that she isn't normal and not ready for romance.
It took them hours to get here but on account of Pyrrha losing her disguise they had to wait till night time to sneak around Vale lest they want to be mobbed by her adoring fans. As it is, they got here right on time the SDC Dust shipment was supposed to arrive.
Entering the docks was a lot easier than expected. Usually, security would be tighter but Blake isn't complaining if it gets them inside safely. It was only a matter of finding a vantage point so they could have a view of the whole docks to find the shipment.
"It's strange, we didn't even see a single lookout from the White Fang." Jaune wonders as he lays on his stomach beside her on the rooftop of a building overlooking the ship currently arriving.
"Do you think Junior lied to us?" Pyrrha whispers from Jaune's other side.
As much as Blake wants to think that Junior lied and that the White Fang aren't really working with humans for nefarious purposes, she knows there's a more plausible explanation for the lack of guards.
"No, posting lookouts is a surefire way of telling anyone looking inside that something suspicious is going on before everything is ready." Blake intervenes, thinking of all the stealth operations she's done for the White Fang.
"Then how do we know they're here?" She hears a voice say from behind her.
Turning to look behind her, she sees Ren sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed as Sun and Nora entertain each other from behind him.
Is he really meditating right now?
"If they are really smuggling Dust, they'd have to expose themselves to carry the loads and transfer them to transport vehicles. We'd see them, trust me." Blake answers with a grave tone as the ship carrying the Dust finally arrives.
There's a moment when everything pauses, as if the world is taking a moment to breathe. The pause is eventually broken when they see figures move from previously shadowed areas.
"They're here. They're really here." Blake lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Taking in the scene, they see people wearing a metallic fanged mask moving crates out of the ship.
"Is that them?" Blake hears Jaune say in a serious voice beside her.
"Yes, it's the White Fang." Blake answers with a breathless voice as she finally makes out a bloody wolf insignia on the figures' outfits.
"There's no humans working with them though." Jaune observes which makes Blake gasp. She got so focused on her previous organization that she forgot one of her reasons for being here in the first place. To confirm if the White Fang are working with humans or not.
But before she could even sigh in relief, Pyrrha's voice rings out in alarm.
"Jaune, over there. Look." Pyrrha gasps as she points at a small figure beside a large one coming out of the ship.
"That's…the girl from the Dust shop." Jaune's eyes open wide at the familiar figure of a girl with pink and brown hair brandishing an umbrella at the larger figure.
Before they could even take in more of the sights, they hear the sounds of a Bullhead's engine approaching the docks. Suddenly, searchlights beam down from the sky in search of a landing spot. It eventually chooses an area near them in the middle of some cargo containers to land at.
As they watch the bullhead's ramp drop down, they see a figure clad in white walk down with a swagger.
"What the hell is taking you so long, you animals?! We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment so pick up the pace!" Roman Torchwick enters the scene.
"Great, time to call the po-" Jaune starts to say but before he can even finish, Blake is already jumping down to hide behind a container and approach Roman from behind.
"Blake no!" Jaune whisper-shouts with wide eyes.
Unsheathing the katana of Gambol Shroud, she suddenly appears behind Roman and puts the blade at his throat.
"Holy shit!" Roman unflatteringly shouts in surprise.
"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?!" Blake shouts with all the pain of a wronged member of society.
LT was pissed.
To be fair, LT has been pissed ever since the SDC cut off his wolf ears when he was still a child and that was a very long time ago.
Ever since he escaped from the mines he has dedicated his life to fighting for the Faunus Cause and for the destruction of the Schnees. His devotion was so unquestionable that he even gave up his own name, promising to only take it up again once the Faunus Cause is won.
While he never shared his birth name with anyone, it does not stop some people from trying to make some names stick. Throughout his service with the White Fang he has been called by many names. Nameless, Bouncer, Grunt, Lapdog, and the most recent one Lieutenant or LT for short. Some have even started calling him Banesaw on account of his chainsaw weapon.
Banesaw. Ha! The name amuses him. While he will admit that Banesaw does sound menacing and he was sure to like it in time, the title LT or lieutenant is much more meaningful to him.
Being Adam Taurus' lieutenant and enforcer in Vale is an honor he will never forget.
Adam Taurus.
Just thinking of that name makes LT's heart beat in pride. Now that's a warrior who knows what he is doing!
Unlike those soft-bellied curs in Menagerie, Adam is a warrior who fights at the frontlines and is not scared to get his hands dirty. He's a warrior, a hero, and a symbol to the White Fang!
LT will never be ashamed of following someone who knows what needs to be done. The Cause could only be won by shedding blood. It's just a shame that Adam Taurus had to leave Vale after being abandoned in Forever Fall by Blake Belladonna.
Belladonna…..
Just thinking that damnable last name makes LT furious. He will never understand why Adam let the daughter get near him like that, but LT already knew from those girl's parents they are unreliable.
Anyone who is not willing to fight for their kind is a coward in LT's eyes. The thought that they were traitorous as well was just proven by Blake Belladonna when she betrayed Adam.
With Adam leaving Vale after that debacle in order to lure the authorities away from their local cell, it fell to LT to rally and organize their local members. It quickly became apparent to him that their local cell had a lot of issues.
First and foremost is that they are undermanned. They are already being stretched thin by the constant Dust heists, and they just keep losing members every time they fail! It's the main reason he even has to go out tonight.
Instead of focusing on training the new batch of recruits, LT has to be pulled to guard their current smuggling operation just because some grunts got arrested!
As if that wasn't annoying enough, he even has to work with that prick Torchwick! Still, orders are orders. Adam must have a plan for why they need to rely on these thieves just to get Dust.
You don't gather this much Dust for something small, it would have to be for a big operation. Whatever it is, LT can't wait to be part of it.
Still, LT knows that big operation would still be in the future. Right now, he has to focus on his current predicament. Which is mainly this runt that Torchwick dropped on him.
"Listen, mutt. This is Neo. She's my right hand. She'll sneak you and your group into the ship. Your job is to hijack the ship and get it to the right location so we can transfer the Dust." Roman briefed them while waving his hand towards this small child with an umbrella.
He'll admit to himself that he almost laughed at first but that laughter died when the runt showed she could camouflage a whole bullhead using her Semblance. It took a lot of effort for her but she made sure they managed to sneak into the ship before it arrived at the docks. Knocking out the crew was child's play after that.
Approaching the docks, LT can't help but admit that as much as an ass Torchwick is, he knows what he's doing when it comes to stealing. Hell, he could even say that he'd give him a modicum of respect for his competence, now if only he didn't drop this crazy runt at him.
The crazy runt has been making motions at him with that savage grin of hers. If he didn't know any better he'd have probably already slapped the runt for mocking him. As it is, LT knows that at 30 years old, he cannot allow a mere 14 maybe 15-year old girl provoke him.
LT is pissed but he's not that pissed that he'd hit a child just for wanting to get his attention. Don't get him wrong. He is dedicated to the White Fang and the Cause but he's not gonna harm children if he could help it. He's better than that, unlike those SDC monsters back at Atlas.
As it is, the runt was probably just bored. He can't blame her either. After the action of hijacking the ship it's just been a matter of waiting till they get to where they're going and carrying the crates to the bullheads. Honestly, he'd probably be bored out of his mind too if he was a kid.
["Hey! I heard the grunts say you don't talk. Funny that, I'm mute too, you know?" Neo signs in greeting at the big guy.]
So here he is, Adam Taurus' lieutenant looking at the distance as a teenager continues to do her strange hand motions beside him.
["Silent type, huh. I could respect that. What do you say you and me form a team? We'll call ourselves The Silent Types." Neo signs with a silent laugh]
LT just grunts and groans at the indignity of having to babysit Roman's apparent sidekick.
["Ha! Don't like it? Too punny for you?" Neo signs and elbows the big guy with a grin just to get more reactions from him]
Great, the child is now resorting to elbowing him to get his attention. Letting out a big sigh, LT puts his hands on his face to help ignore the problem.
["Ha! Admit it, you liked it! Anyways, I liked you whack slash chainsaw, but I still think my swish swish stab stab is better, you know?" Neo grins as she motions what she did with her umbrella.]
Huh, at least the kid is practicing some moves now. Good job kid, never waste time and always improve yourself.
LT thinks in approval as he sees the runt practice some moves with her umbrella. He's more of a hard slash and whack kind of guy, but he can see why the kid would favor the quick jabs of a small blade.
Feeling his annoyance decrease slowly at the runt's antics, LT observes his men currently unloading the Dust. He notices Roman Torchwick swagger forward from the first bullhead that has arrived, but something catches his eye from behind the thief. The mystery solves itself when a shadow moves swiftly to apprehend Torchwick from behind and proceeds to shout.
"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?!" A young familiar voice shouts from the figure holding Torchwick.
That voice…
Narrowing his eyes at the figure currently holding Torchwick hostage, LT notices her cat ears, her black hair, and even her amber eyes. There's only one woman he knows that has those combination of traits.
"Belladonna" LT growls out.
With that said, LT charges out. He does not notice Neo's shocked and betrayed look beside him.
So I have some news, my 6 year old laptop is starting to die on me.
What does this mean for the schedule? Nothing hopefully. I can still write using my phone but it would be definitely harder. Just be prepared for delays during December for the worst case.
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