I don't own anything

I hopped out of the shower, relishing in the feeling of the residual steam flowing over my body. I grabbed my towel off the rack and idly wiped at the bathroom mirror with a hand as I raised it to my hair. The blond locks were wet and limp, hanging down to my nose, making it hard to see properly.

As I toweled off, I couldn't help but smile at my reflection. My hair might have been a mess, and I should probably go get that taken care of soon, but the rest of me was coming along nicely. I had always been lanky, all noodle arms and stick legs before the summer.

Now, there was visible muscle coating my form. I had begun noticing the changes when I started upping my Strength, but I was bulking up. Now though, that I had a couple of points in Dexterity, I had slimmed down some. The muscles still hard, but instead of just being bulky, they were toned and slimmed down for increased flexibility. It wasn't why I trained so hard, but I couldn't deny the small bit of pride I had in my appearance now.

Maybe I would finally have some luck with the ladies now?

'Yeah right.' I thought sardonically, but a guy can dream, right?

I slipped into my school uniform before giving my reflection one last smile before quietly opening the bathroom door. It opened with a quiet click, and when I walked into the room, I realized that I wasn't the only one up. Blake, who had been missing when I'd arrived was in the process of closing the door as quietly as she could. When her golden eyes snapped over to me, the faint light from the bathroom trickling into the room giving me away, they widened almost comically.

I smiled at her, tilting my head towards the dorm's door and she nodded slightly, pushing the door back open. I walked through it, and behind me, she closed it.

Click

"Are you alright?"

"Mhm." She hummed, nodding tiredly. "I fell asleep in the library."

"The librarian didn't throw you out?" I asked, surprised. Since we'd started investigating Tukson's death, I'd spent more time than I ever thought I would in the library. Unfortunately, that meant occasionally coming into contact with the librarian. A surly old man that seemed more concerned with whatever book he was reading at the time than actually doing his job.

You'd think that would mean that he'd be rather lax in his duties, but no. Instead, the old man was beyond zealous. He made sure everything was done by the book and cracked down on people breaking the rules as soon as he caught them so as to spend as little time dealing with it as possible. To hear that he had either not seen Blake in the library as he locked up, or that he had ignored her was more than a little strange.

The way her half-lidded eyes widened again at my question made it obvious enough that it was a lie. To be honest, it wasn't really my business where Blake spent her night, but the fact that she had tried to lie about it made it clear enough that she was hiding something.

"He must have missed me." She murmured, and I simply let it go with a smile.

"Yeah, was probably so busy reading he even forgot to do his rounds."

Both of us knew that wasn't what had happened. Neither of us said anything about it.

BREAK

I fought to keep a smile off of my face as I watched Ruby completely dismantle Cardin in the ring. The leader of CRDL had only just returned from his lengthy suspension, and if what I'd heard was correct, the boy had detention twice a week until the end of the semester as well.

I wasn't sure how to feel about the boy. Rationally, I knew that he couldn't have known that I was allergic, or that those Ursa had been nearby. That it had just been a stupid and ill-thought-out prank that had gone wrong. On the other hand, I could very well have died in that encounter. In the last couple of days, I had settled on ignoring the boy as long as he ignored me.

That didn't mean that I couldn't take some pleasure in seeing the boy get his ass handed to him by my fellow team leader.

Rose petals drifted through the air lazily as Crescent Rose ripped off a chunk of Cardin's aura. Ruby's semblance activating again as the boy's mace came down on the spot she'd been standing in. Her dash wasn't purely defensive, though, as she slashed at her fellow team leader's arm in passing.

It was honestly a little embarrassing to think that I had lost to Cardin. Sure, Ruby was strong, and most likely the fastest person in class by a wide margin, but there were ways around it. I was confident that I could take her if I knew she was coming. In a spar during combat class, well, there wouldn't really be any surprises there.

Cardin, on the other hand, hadn't landed a single hit. A slight sliver of Ruby's aura was gone, but it had nothing to do with her opponent, the loss simply coming from her activating her semblance.

"Winner, Ruby Rose!" Ms. Goodwitch called out from her position next to the stage. Her advice for the combatants was pretty standard. Simply telling Cardin that he should find ways to combat faster foes, because even if they weren't as fast as Ruby was, he would still struggle against people who could out speed him.

Ruby, on the other hand, got a pat on the back and a warning not to let fights drag on as long as this one had. 'Your speed is an incredible advantage, Ms. Rose, but you should aim to end fights as quickly as possible. There are ways to counter semblances such as yours, and giving an opponent the time needed figure out how to do so could prove fatal.' She'd said.

Ruby ran back up to her seat by us, and we all congratulated her on the win. All except Blake, who was resting her head on her arms and breathing softly.

"Alright class, that's all we have time for today. Enjoy your weekend!" The professor's voice carried through the room just as the bell rang in the halls. All of us packed up what little we brought with us to Goodwitch's class, which was usually just a notebook and something to write with, along with our combat gear which we would go and put away after class.

Throughout all of this, Blake's head remained firmly on her arms, and she made no move to get up. It was the last class of the day, so it wasn't like we were in a hurry, but staying like that couldn't be comfortable. I crouched down next to her desk and gently shook her shoulder.

"Blake, wake up."

"Mmrgh." I smiled, more than a little amused at the cute protest she gave. I shook her shoulder again, though.

"Come one Blake. Class is over, let's get you to bed so you can take a real nap."

Her eyes opened slowly, revealing bleary golden eyes that looked at me in confusion. "Hey, good to have you back in the land of the living." I joked, standing back up as the black-haired girl raised her head.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"Yes. You must have been very tired." Pyrrha said from behind me, where she looked at Blake with a strange smile on her face. Was she worried? I guess it was a little strange to see Blake, who was usually rather responsible when it came to class and studying sleeping through a class, even if Combat wasn't the most important to pay attention to when you weren't fighting. It wasn't like we were going to be quizzed on the fights or anything.

Blake slowly got up, and while VLYR was already gone, having left the room with the rest of the students, I was glad to see that all of BASN had stayed behind to see to our teammate. Weiss gathered up her partner's stationery and put it into her bag. The white-haired girl was one of the few people who actually took a bag with her to Combat class, the rest of us usually just carried our gear with us.

When we got out of the classroom, Blake turned to head to the locker room, but I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Nope, you're going straight to bed." I told her, turning her around by the shoulder and guiding her in the direction of our dorm. Even as tired as she was, the girl tried to protest, though she had to do so through a yawn.

"But I have to put away Gambol Shroud."

"Don't worry, I'll put it away for you. But you need to go take a nap. I'll bring you something to eat too, then you don't have to go to the cafeteria later." I told her, and I brooked no argument. The girl mulled it over for a moment, and I could almost see the cogs turning in her head as she debated whether she should continue arguing. In the end, exhaustion seemed to win out, and she simply nodded.

"Thanks."

"Don't worry about it." I told her, before looking back at both Weiss and Pyrrha, both of whom were strangely silent, while both of them seemed to be giving me weird looks now. Had I said something weird or something?

They didn't say anything, though, so I chose not to worry about it. It was the strategy I'd employed with my sisters, and I had survived seven of them. As long as they didn't look upset, or brought it up, I could probably just ignore whatever it was.

"Well, I am just a poor boy, and my story's seldom told.

I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles such as promises.

All lies in jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest.

When I left my home, and my family, I was no more than a boy

In the company of strangers

In the quiet of the railway station running scared

Laying low, seeking out the poor quarters

Where the ragged people go

Looking for the places only they would know…"

I sang, rather badly, while I played the familiar chords to the old song. Most of the songs I knew by heart were rather old ones, those that I had learned alongside dad as we practiced together. They'd been some of his favorites, and they'd grown on me as I played them more and more.

When I finished the song, I took a look at the time. 'Should be good.' I thought, the screen reading 00:03. There probably wouldn't be anyone around at this point, so I wouldn't be bothered or disturbed out there. It was a school night, after all. Even the night owls at Beacon would probably just be in their rooms watching movies or playing games, not out in the halls, let alone in the forest.

So, I grabbed Crocea Mors from where I'd left it leaning against the wall and made my way out.

It was only when I got to the cliffs of Beacon, though, that I noticed I wasn't alone. A single figure was walking along the bottom of the cliffs, taking the path to Vale. The rather distinctive bow sitting on top of the figure's head kind of gave her away, though. It was Blake.

For a moment, I considered leaving her be and just going about my night, but Tukson's words echoed in my mind. "All I ask is that you take care of Blake for me. She can get in over her head sometimes." And considering the last time I'd seen her go into Vale at night, she had illegally entered a crime scene, so…

Yeah, I followed her.

I was careful not to focus on her directly. As tired as she probably still was, I couldn't really count on her not noticing me following her again. I stayed pretty far away, simply following what little sound she made while keeping my eyes trained on something, anything else.

Up until the wall, we followed the same path as last time, but that's where it deviated. Instead of heading north, towards the commercial district, we traveled west. If I remembered it right, that's where the industrial district was, but I hadn't been there before, so I couldn't be too sure.

It certainly made following Blake a pain, though. There weren't many people walking the streets of either district, which didn't exactly give me a crowd to blend into. Instead, I had to follow her loosely, staying far enough that I could turn a corner before she recognized me. Probably. It's not like I'd followed people before, so I wasn't sure if I was doing this right. It was working, though, so it was probably not a horrible idea.

Eventually, the smell of salt, brine and fish entered my nose. The streets were all but abandoned out here, with only asphalt streets and concrete warehouses for company. I hid in the gap between two of the warehouses, idly watching the street Blake was walking down. My eye twitched, though, when I saw her climb over one of the fences around the final building on the street.

'Yeah, definitely best that I followed her tonight.' I thought, crossing the street as I saw her climb the building. If I wanted to see what she was doing, I'd have to either follow her up her own building and risk getting caught, or climb up another building and risk not being able to see what she was doing.

After a moment of indecision, I sprinted across the street and used the fire escape to get up to the roof. On the opposite roof, I could see Blake looking down at the docks, and what I saw there made my heart race.

A huge tanker ship labeled SDC was moored there, and the contents of the containers were being unloaded into bullheads. Only, the people unloading them were probably not the intended recipients. I almost immediately recognized both the gray and white uniforms and Grimm-like masks.

The White Fang.

And in their midst, ordering the group of Faunus extremists around was an orange-haired man with a flamboyant white overcoat and a black, white and red cane.

Roman Torchwick

I didn't have all that much time to process the scene, though, as Blake suddenly leapt off the building she was standing on and into the thick of it.

"All I ask is that you take care of Blake for me. She can get in over her head sometimes." Tukson's words repeated in my mind again. He hadn't been exaggerating.

And there we go, the docks incident. How is Jaune going to get them out of this one?

And btw, the chapters are not getting shorter, the author's notes aren't as long anymore. Some chapters are a bit longer, but most are between 2k and 2.5k words of story. There are just some that are a little longer, but they are few and far between.

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Have a good one!

Anyways, have a good one!