You know, I still don't have BG3 downloaded because when I was maybe 5 hours away there was an update (as small as 100mb) which delightfully reset my progress to 0% while I was at the hospital.


Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 67


When Blake met Ruby at a small café in Vale, the younger girl had seemingly calmed down a lot. Enough not to be crying or show any signs of bursting into tears, for which Blake was supremely grateful. There was a low murmur among the café as Blake sat and ordered her drink and some food, sliding her card over with a "I'll pay for the both of us" to the waiter. He nodded and left, coming back a few moments later with a coffee for her and a strawberry milkshake for Ruby. Once he was gone, Ruby felt confident enough to speak.

"I used the app…"

"So did I," said Blake. "We don't think there are any negative side-effects of it yet, other than hurt feelings and what bad people do with the information. You sounded torn up on the call. Was it not the person you wanted?"

Blake was not religious and was even less so after discovering the so-called Brother Gods were just a pair of anomalies with delusions of grandeur, but she prayed to anyone out there that Ruby wasn't about to drop a horrific bombshell like Roman Torchwick was her destined one, or some forty-year-old man. It was entirely possible on every account, since the anomaly wouldn't factor in age, morality or legality. If an old man would treat Ruby best, and if she could be impressionable enough to fall in love with them, then the app would pair them.

Ruby's head dipped. "It… It was…" Her confidence gave. "Yang got you!"

"Eh…?" Blake blinked, then blinked a second time. "What…?"

"It was Yang that told me to try it. Her whole team did. Nora and Ren got each other and apparently they're insufferable now, but Yang tried it and she said the girl in the suit from the case of the invisible semblance guy was who she ended up with. Now Yang's going through a crisis of sexuality. Weiss refused to use it, but she probably figured out it was an anomaly."

It was a change in subject and a half, and Blake wasn't blind to the face Ruby dodged the question. It was a good distraction, though. Blake hadn't actually put any thought into the fact that people might see her. It could be some random person in another country who didn't know who she was, or it could be someone who did. Hell, it could be multiple people. She half-hoped Adam tried it just in the distant hope he'd see someone else's face.

Ruby's sister was a bit of a shock, but honestly not even on the list of most problematic people to be partnered with her. Yang had been a bit odd, but at least she wasn't a violent psychopath or a man whose family were locked into a forever-war with monsters. It was also a little flattering to know she was someone's perfect match, though she had a feeling that sentiment would turn sour if she turned Yang down.

She had turned people down before and watched their hopes and spirits crash and it was never a fun experience. Most people were mature enough to take it with a smile but some got aggressive and started accusing you of stuff. That was usually the so-called "nice guys" who felt you weren't giving them a fair chance. Yang struck her as the kind to take it maturely, or with a joke and a laugh, but it somehow felt like turning her down would be worse here, because Blake now knew she was the girl's perfect match.

It was one thing to turn someone down and know they had plenty more fish in the sea, and another to reject them when you knew they would never find the same happiness they could with you anywhere else in the world. Blake sat back, head spinning, bottom lip caught between her teeth. It was a lot more complicated than she would have liked. Yang had to be wondering if she should say something or not, and Blake sure as hell was wondering what she should do.

Date her? Give her a chance? Or would that be leading her on? Yang might not even want to be involved with her after getting a taste of the anomalous, but even if she didn't, she would probably spend the rest of her live wondering if she should have taken that chance with Blake. The same way that Blake was still wondering if she shouldn't put some effort into finding the random guy she'd seen on the app.

"It's crazy how the least dangerous anomaly is capable of the most distress," said Blake, taking a big, desperate drink of coffee, and an even bigger bite out of a chocolate éclair. The cream tasted too sweet for her, but she needed the sugar. "You know, there's already been at least one murder and one suicide because of this, and that's only in Vale. It's all over Remnant. The other offices are already thinking it might become Reality Class."

"Already!?"

"Yeah. I mean, how do we find this? How do we hunt it? And even if we did, the whole world has bee aware of the app by now." Blake set her cup down with a rattle on the saucer. Her hands were shaking. "I didn't even think people might get me on it, but now I'm confused on what I should do about your sister. Is she… Is she going to ask me out…?"

"I don't know. Yang didn't want anything to do with you and Jaune after what happened before."

Selfishly, Blake hoped that would hold, if only to spare herself the confusion. Yang might be happiest with her, but she hadn't gotten Yang, which meant she wouldn't be happiest with her. What kind of doomed relationship was that? Maybe it wouldn't be. Maybe they'd be fine and happy, but, having seen the face of another man, wouldn't it always feel like she was cheating? Wouldn't she forever be wondering if the grass might be greener in Vacuo? Blake cupped her face and groaned into her hand.

"Who did Jaune get?" asked Ruby.

"No one. The app couldn't see him. Lucky bastard." Ruby fidgeted and looked half relieved and half worried. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together. "You got Jaune. Didn't you?"

"W-What!?" Ruby jumped in her seat. "Nonononononononononono!" Her head spun from side to side. "Nonononononono-maybe…"

Blake sighed, already feeling too old for this. At least a two-year age gap wasn't as problematic as anything else, but that still didn't make this easy. "Look, it's not an issue to me if you did, or if you want to try your luck. I'd advise against it just because anyone marrying into his family is going live a horrible life. Any children you have would be consigned to ARC Corp against their will, and I've met the other members. I wouldn't want any child to grow up like them."

"But he's my match," whispered Ruby, and she sounded more upset than longing. "What if… What if there isn't anyone else…?"

"There will be." Blake leaned forward, elbows on the table. They must have looked like two girls gossiping about boys, and they were, but it was also much more serious than that. "The anomaly shows you your best match, but that doesn't mean it's the best by a lot. Think of it as a score between 0-100. Maybe Jaune is your 100, but there could be a host of other people who are 99, and it just isn't showing them. Or, hell, maybe Jaune is only a 46 and the others are 45 or 44. It shows the singular best match, but there could be hundreds or thousands of other people you could fall in love and be over the moon with. Me too. I'm not marrying some random guy in Vacuo I don't even know."

Ruby smiled gingerly. "My sister is single…"

"Hah." Blake laughed. "She can ask if she wants, and I'll consider it, but even knowing I'm her match makes me want to turn her down. Does that sound bad?"

"No. I kind of get it. It's like spiting it for trying to decide for you, right?"

"Yeah. I hate the idea the world might be deterministic. And I don't think it is. But I almost don't want to give it the credit. Plus, I'd feel really weird knowing your sister was only asking me out because some anomaly told her to."

If Yang had come to her out the blue, without this, then Blake might have considered a date or two, just to see. She wasn't committed, and could honestly use some friends and fun that weren't related to ARC Corp. And who knew? Maybe they'd have hit it off. Blake hadn't ever considered being with a girl before, but it wasn't like anyone would have cared. Adam could have turned any woman bi-curious after a few months of dating.

But to have it happen because some anomaly said so? That wasn't right. It took away a person's agency. It was like having a person come up to you and ask you out on behalf of their shy friend. Sure, it was sweet of them to do that, but if you couldn't ask someone out on your own then you weren't exactly putting your best foot forward. And what would Yang even say if Blake asked what attracted her?

"Oh, an app told me I should spend my life with you so here I am…"

Blake grimaced.

"I kind of felt the same," admitted Ruby, "b-but also not because… well…"

"You had a crush on Jaune before," said Blake, idly, only to notice Ruby had gone very still and very, very red. "Sorry, was that supposed to be a secret? I kind of thought it was obvious."

Blake could even understand it. Well-dressed man who looked very handsome in his suit steps in to fight monster in front of you, and then you find out he's some badass secret agent fighting a shadow-war to keep the people of the world safe. Hell, if Blake had been Ruby's age and slightly less jaded from time in the White Fang then she might have been all over Jaune as well.

"If anything, it should be easier for you," she said. "You don't have to wonder if it's the app making you feel attracted to him. I saved a random man's face into my scroll." Blake showed it – him – to Ruby. "This is apparently my dream partner."

"He looks kinda plain," said Ruby.

"I know! And boring and… and…" Blake yanked it back and looked at him. He was nothing special, but he was growing on her, and she didn't like that. She'd started to think he had warm eyes and a friendly smile, and that he looked like the kind of person who loved to cuddle. "Arghh!" Blake closed her scroll. "It's driving me up the wall. I know for a fact the anomaly isn't making me feel this way. It's just me hyper-focusing on the idea he's the one for me." Blake finished her éclair angrily. "Maybe -mph – Maybe I should go out with your sister."

"Don't break my sister's heart because you want to forget one man," growled Ruby, eyes suddenly narrowed. "Yang doesn't deserve that."

Blake winced. "Sorry. You're right. I wouldn't do anything like that. Ugh, now I'm terrified she'll come and ask me. What would I even say-?"

"Um." Ruby was looking to the side. "You might have a more immediate problem."

Blake looked and met the blue eyes of a boy with shaggy blonde hair and a white shirt, held open over a set of abs that were, quite frankly, unfair. Blake stared at the man, and blinked, and he blinked back, before he looked down at his scroll and- oh no. Oh, no, no, no. This could not be happening. Blake tore her head away and downed her coffee.

Ruby kicked her under the table. "If you leave now you'll run right into him!" she whispered.

"What do I do!?"

"How would I know? I'm fifteen and nerdy about engineering and weapons! How many boys do you think have asked me out!?"

"You're cute, small, and into boyish hobbies," snapped Blake. "So, lots!"

Ruby flushed bright red. "No. I mean, there were a few boys who asked to hang out and make weapons together, and one who wanted to go to a weapons expo with me, but they weren't asking me… they weren't asking…" Ruby's face paled as reality dawned. "Oh. Oh…"

"Yeah. Oh!" It didn't surprise Blake at all that Ruby would be completely ignorant of boys liking her. "Do you think he'll lose interest if I pretend I'm as socially helpless as you?"

Ruby was beginning to flush bright pink, lost in memory lane. "Eep."

Useless. Ruby was lost in her own world. Blake groaned and held her hand up for another coffee, planning to just wait the guy out. It wasn't that she had any particular issue with someone admiring her, but he'd probably matched with her. Oh, good lord, she was the perfect match for two different people. Maybe even more. If Adam got her, she was ending her life. This was bad enough.

No matter what I do, someone's heart is getting broken – and I also have to live with the knowledge that they'll never find the same level of happiness they could with me if I reject them. Guilt was a delightful feeling, especially when it was doubled. Maybe a throuple…? No, wait, what am I doing? This is my life to live. I can't tie myself down just to make Yang and some random, buff guy happy. Maybe they should date one another.

The bell above the café door tinkled and Ruby's eyes widened. It didn't take a genius to figure either the guy or Jaune had entered. Blake hoped it was Jaune, and to hell with Ruby being forced to confess to him.

Jaune, Jaune, Jaune, Jaune…

"Hey…" A roguish smile on a handsome face crept into her vision.

DAMN IT!

"H-Hey," she replied, cursing her stammer.

Somewhere, distantly, she could remember reading an article online that said "hey" was the least imaginative way for a person to express interest in someone in online and in-person dating, and that it had the lowest success rate. That information was completely irrelevant in her current situation, but Blake's brain offered it up anyway. Thanks, brain.

"Hey," he repeated. He really was quite handsome. "This is going to sound really strange and a little out there, but I'd never forgive myself if I didn't give it a shot. I'm Sun. Sun Wukong. May I have your name?"

"Blake… Belladonna…"

"A beautiful name. It suits you."

Blake wanted to scream as her face heated up. This was so much worse than being asked out normally. For one, she knew what he was leading to. That made it worse. Secondly… was there a second? She wasn't sure. A desperate glance Ruby's way showed the younger girl immersed in her milkshake, staring down into it like it held the answers to life itself. You treacherous little bitch. Do something! Blake kicked her under the table, but Ruby just activated her aura and took the constant beating to her kneecaps like she didn't feel it.

"T-Thanks. Um." Blake looked around for help. There were a few people watching, including a pair of girls who looked jealous of her. "I… uh… I…" Blake's eyes, still looking for inspiration, found one of his nipples.

It didn't help.

"I'm just going to come out and say it," said Sun. "Could I invite you out for a drink sometime?"

Say no, her brain screamed. Say no, say no, say no.

Blake smiled helplessly. "I… I guess that's okay…"

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Sun looked over the moon, which only made her feel worse. She took out her scroll and took down his number then, perhaps foolishly, sent him a message so that he'd have hers. Blake stressed her busy lifestyle and work, and he was just so damn understanding, telling her he'd make time whenever she was free. He then smiled and sauntered out with a wave, and once the door closed she saw him punch the air in absolute glee.

Blake's forehead hit the table.

"Um…" said Ruby.

Blake's head shot up, eyes narrowed. "You don't get to talk!" hissed Blake. "You little traitor!"

"Y-You looked like you were handling it just fine!"

"I'm telling Jaune you're in love with him."

"NO!" cried Ruby. Very loudly. The whole café looked over, and she flushed. "N-No," she said, quieter. "W-What was I meant to do? He came in and asked you out. W-Was I supposed to say you're my girlfriend and grab your hand?"

"Yes! That would have worked just fine!"

"Well, I didn't, and you didn't have to agree to go out with him. Just… um. Yang does this thing where she ghosts people…"

If only. Blake couldn't imagine how much it'd hurt the guy to be ghosted by, according to the app, his perfect match. No, she was going to have to go out with him, if only to give him a fair chance and then let him down gently. "Don't tell me that or you'll poison me against Yang if she does come ask me out, which, no offence, I'm hoping she won't do. I don't need to be caught between-"

Ruby's scroll beeped and she picked it up. "It's Yang," she said. "She wants to talk to me."

Blake pushed herself off her seat. "That's my cue to leave."

Ruby looked like she might argue on behalf of her sister, but she thankfully held off. It wasn't a case of wanting to avoid her so much as it was wanting to avoid getting anyone's hopes up and then hurting them later. And this wasn't fair. What this anomaly was doing wasn't love. It was throwing people at one another and forcing them to sink or swim.

Paying for both their meals, Blake let herself out and away, and thanked her lucky stars no one stopped her to ask her out on the way back to the office.

/-/

"-literally just a date, you fucking asshole!"

"I'm sorry but-"

"No. Fuck your apologies and fuck you. You're missing out, shithead!"

The door to the Containments Office crashed open and struck the far wall hard enough to make the glass crack. A petite woman with dark hair stormed out, barrelling into Blake. Green eyes stared up at her before the woman snarled and thrust Blake aside, then stormed off to the elevator. Blake watched her go before stepping into the office and gingerly closing the door behind her. A crack had gone through the A in ARC Corp, but the window held.

"Who was that?"

"Miltia Malachite, apparently," said Jaune, slumped at his desk.

"Who?"

"I don't know seeing as this is literally the first time I've ever met her. She got me on the app." Jaune laughed hollowly. "I guess I should be impressed someone could get me at all, or that the anomaly can show my face to someone even if it can't see me." He pinched his nose and breathed out through his mouth. "There's something important there, I'm sure. Something on how the anomaly only controls who it sees because it couldn't see me because I'm an anomaly but it was perfectly able to show me to her. But I'm too distracted to think."

"I understand." Blake took her seat. "Someone asked me out to. I panicked and agreed to a date."

Jaune didn't look upset or jealous, which hurt a little, even if she wasn't sure why. "That's good of you to give them a chance. Are you going to?"

"I mean, I'll not dismiss them out of hand…" Blake nodded backward. "Why not the same kindness for her?"

"I was kind to her. The kindest thing I can do is reject her cruelly and let her find someone to love who can hold her without burning her to a crisp. You know what awaits anyone who falls in love with me, Blake. I'm not so cruel to let that happen." He snorted. "You know, I was in a conference call with my family while you were gone. Discussing the threat. Almost everyone had used the anomaly in order to test it, and we compared notes. I guess I was lucky to be immune. You can't imagine how hard it is to hear your father explain his perfect match wasn't your mother."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I mean, I always knew father didn't love her. So did she. It was a case of her falling in love and offering herself as a means to the next generation. Mom knew she was little more than a means to an end, but she was fine with that as long as he played the part. And he did. He pretended to love her." Jaune sighed. "What else can you ask for? The others got random people. Saphron and Terra did get one another, which is nice, I suppose." He snorted. "Pyrrha got me."

"Really? Did she say anything?"

"She wasn't on the call but Saphron told me Pyrrha was appalled by the choice and said that she would never in a thousand year date an anomaly, and that her job was to hunt down and kill them all. The others were pleased."

"Bitch," said Blake.

Jaune shrugged. "She spent five years trapped in a temporal anomaly before it tried to devour her, Saphron and Terra. I think you'd come out different if you'd spent that length of time in the Welcoming House before getting out."

Probably, but Blake wasn't feeling forgiving of someone who expressed a desire to kill her friend rather than entertain the idea of dating him. It also went to show that, before her five-year jaunt, Pyrrha might have been the kind of person to fall in love with him. It was a shame, but it was Pyrrha's loss as far as she was concerned.

"What did Ruby want?"

"Oh, her sister got me on the app."

Maybe Ruby didn't deserve the kindness for abandoning her to Sun, but she would keep her secret for now.

"Hmm." Jaune nodded. "Someone's popular."

"It'd be more flattering if I wasn't afraid of breaking people's hearts. At least normally you can tell yourself they'd probably never have been happy with you anyway or they'll find love elsewhere. Here, you know both are lies. Are we any closer to discovering what's behind all this?"

Jaune shook his head. "We're trying to trace the app itself. It turns out there is a donation function, which means money is being paid somewhere. We've donated a few thousand lien and are tracing where it's going."

"You think the anomaly is sapient and needs money?"

"Maybe, or this could be an AAA-Case and someone set up the app to commercialise on an anomaly they discovered." Hm. That was an angle she hadn't considered, but it made sense. The app was fairly basic aside from its prophetic capabilities. "We've got a team monitoring Tomorrow's News to see if it gives off any useful information, but Lisa Lavender is apparently more interested in reporting on the Vytal Festival and the White Fang."

Blake tensed. "What are they doing?"

"Nothing that involves us."

"Jaune!"

"Nothing that involves us," he repeated. "Trust me, if we're not being told then that means they're not active in Vale."

Right. They – she – was safe. Blake sagged. The idea of Adam coming after her because of the app really did make her panic, especially because she could imagine him doing so whether or not he matched with her. If he did, it'd be to reclaim her. If he didn't, it'd be to make sure no one else matched with her, in which case Sun and Yang would be in danger. Or he might go dull nutcase and decide that the fact she didn't match with him was proof she had betrayed him, and that he should take his vengeance on her or something equally insane.

"So, we're waiting on this trace of a bank account?"

"Pretty much. It's really our only lead. We're trying to find out where the app was uploaded from, but the company behind the scrolls is pulling data protection on us. They don't know who we are."

"Can't we brute force it?"

"We're trying, but some tech companies are as strong as the governments and they're trying to resist. It's the most popular app in the world right now and they don't want to lose it. Someone's head is going to roll for this." Jaune noted her tenseness. "Not literally. I mean that ARC Corp are going to make an example by having the governments castigate them and drag them over the coals. They'll know better than to ever pull this again. Imagine if this was an app that killed people who looked at it. We'd be delayed because big companies think they can make the rules. Then their heads really might leave their shoulders."

They'd deserve it at that point. Blake groaned and sat down, stroking Timothy as he came up to nuzzle at her hand with his big, slimy head. His eight legs clicked as he bumbled up onto the sofa and plopped down in her lap like a big, terrifying dog.

"What do we do if the signal is in Vale?"

"We find the one responsible, arrest them, and see what's going on."

"And if it is a Triple-A case? Can we charge them with anything?"

"I mean, at the very least we can charge them with breach of privacy. Did you give permission for your face to be sent to complete strangers? I know I didn't." It was a paltry crime, but, given enough instances, she could imagine the scandal. "But we'll make up charges if needs be. We're not good people, Blake. We're just the ones who are tasked with stopping this crazy world from getting any worse. And when we fail, things like dust become commonplace, and then we're stuck in a twisted scenario where we have to sacrifice real people to a monster to keep the world supplied."

"You're right." Blake sighed. "You're right. If it means stopping another Reality Class like All Becomes Dust getting out into the world, then we should take any steps – no matter how distasteful they might be. I just hope-"

Jaune's scroll went off. He held one finger up for quiet and answered it. "Jaune here."

The was chatter on the other end, and Jaune's face darkened. His eyes closed, brow pinching down, and lips forming a grimace. The news wasn't good.

"Yes. I understand. We'll get on that." The call ended. "One of the bank accounts is in Vale."

"One of…?"

"It's a collaborative effort. The money was split and paid into two accounts. One is in Vale, and the other is in Atlas. The Blades Office are moving to intercept that one." Nicholas Arc himself. "While the Fist Office are going to be intercepting ours."

"Wait, what? Don't you mean helping us intercept it?"

"No." Jaune let out a long breath, and continued, in a tense voice. "My father – the Director – has decided that this is too delicate a matter to leave in the hands of the least experienced office. Ours. Since this is fast becoming a Realty Class anomaly, the Associate Director and her office will be dispatched. We are to follow their orders and provide all assistance we can."

Blake considered that.

"That's a whole lot of bullshit!" she spat.

"My thoughts exactly. But I don't get to make the decisions. Saphron, Terra and Pyrrha-" He grimaced at the last name, "-will be here in four hours. We're to meet them at the airport."


Next Chapter: 28th August

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