The next two days more or less fly by, with everyone getting back into the swing of things. Goodwitch has already lovingly given us an essay due by Friday, and while that's not an issue in theory, I have to get the willpower to do it, and that's an entirely different matter. No, instead of doing that, Tuesday afternoon, after wrapping up my morning classes, I'm in my room after cooking myself some pancakes. Yes, yes, I've made pancakes a thousand times and told you in detail about every little detail, whatever. I cook other stuff sometimes, but the food in the cafeteria just wasn't what I wanted. Anyways, our first class after lunch was canceled due to the teacher feeling unwell, so I was just enjoying the bit of respite between lectures and whatever Port was planning on making us do today. Maybe I get to watch Weiss and Lukas take turns struggling with a Boarbatusk like the first few weeks. Oh, what a time that was.
Eventually I realize that I need to clean up, and as I'm cleaning up the dishes from my uncharacteristically messy go at making the pancakes, there's a knock at my door. Weird, I don't remember getting any texts from anyone. "One second!" I call out while drying my hands. Then, I make my way over to the door and open to reveal Blake. My heart immediately sinks as I look at her.
She looks like she's been crying, and she looks rather hurt. There's extremely red marks on her throat, and she's wearing her combat gear, not her uniform, oddly enough. The makeup she wears is running down her face as she looks up at me. I don't register it immediately, but after she throws herself into my arms, I notice that she's also covered in dirt, and a decent amount of blood is on her face.
"W-what happened to you?" I manage to ask, though most of my previous jovial energy is gone from my voice.
…
One Hour Earlier
Blake's sitting down in the lunchroom, watching Doge walk off after declaring that he wanted pancakes, and thus was going to make some in his room. She sighs, and looks back to the others, everyone from teams DAIS and RWBY minus Doge and Jade. A thought comes to her mind, that Jade wanted to talk about something earlier. Well, no, she wanted to spar, but they hadn't worked out any of the details yet. Jade was doing something in her dorm according to Levi, so Blake excused herself from the table.
It was a rather sunny day, the type Doge would immediately complain about it being too bright for his 'sensitive eyes.' Blake would then, as always, ask him where his sunglasses were, if that was the case. 'In my room…' was almost always the sheepish answer, followed by a shrug. For someone apparently so intelligent, he was an absolute moron. Her footsteps fell quietly against the pavement as she made her way to the dorm building that the first years resided in. After making her way to their floor, and passing her room, she knocked on the door to Jade's room.
The door swings open, and due to the way Jade's standing to the side Blake can get a good look into the room. The beds, no, bed, looks like four frames and mattresses roughly stitched and bolted together. There's no lack of vegetation in the room, with plants here and there, but there is one that stands out especially. It's a plant on the windowsill, but it just looks a little different. Words don't work to explain why, though. Jade looks at Blake, and smiles a little. "Honorary faunus sister! Do you wish to take me up on that offer?"
Blake's faunus ears twitch under her bow from the excited tone, and she winces from the fact Jade is proclaiming her heritage loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. There's no one, though, so no harm, no foul, but still. Regardless, though, Blake nods. "Sure. Is there a specific time you'd want to do it? Spar, and such?"
Jade's expression seems to shift, and frankly, it's creepy. Her eyes narrow a little, but the smile remains on her face, though it seems more sinister in nature. "Oh, yes. Meet me at the arena in fifteen minutes, Kitty. Make sure to bring your combat gear, because you'll be working up a sweat."
That's… uncomfortable for a few reasons. The nickname on its own slightly pisses her off, due to that being what Roman mockingly called her during the fight at the docks. Jade couldn't possibly know about that, of course, as none of Team DAIS were there that night, but still. Not to mention the weird look, and strange phrasing. "I… yeah, alright. I'll see you there, then."
Jade giggles, and it's as unsettling as her smile. It's almost like Jade was staring at Blake as if she was something to be toyed with, or something equally strange. Blake pushed away the thought, though, chalking it up to her misinterpreting Jade's mood. Just like that, she steps away and heads to the armory to grab her stuff, leaving Jade alone just as quickly as she appeared.
After the trip to the armory, getting her gear on and making sure that Gambol Shroud was in good shape, Blake makes her way to the arena that team DAIS always uses for their sparring sessions. Just the other day Blake had found herself watching one of the sparring sessions between them, and it looked more like that they were trying to kill each other to her. Lukas electrocuting Levi until he couldn't move and Doge following up by smashing Levi in the face with his own maul wasn't exactly the most teamlike exercise Blake had ever witnessed. Still, they learned a lot about how they fought, and could thus predict each other's movements and strategies during battle… even if they took turns nursing concussions from time to time. Truly the crème de la crème of Beacon Academy.
As Blake approached, Jade saw her and waved her over. "Over here!" Jade shouted. She looked a bit more normal now, no borderline manic look in her eyes. That was a relief to Blake, at least.
Blake's sword dangled on her hip as she walked over, and looked up at Jade. She easily had two feet on Blake, even with Blake wearing heeled boots, and accounting for the few inches that the cat ears on her head added, if you wanted to count them. Jade really was kind of intimidating, especially with her whole demeanor. Something always felt off about her, and while Doge, Lukas, and Levi didn't really pick up on it, just about everyone else did. Doge had once told Blake about the day he met Jade, and how she immediately tried to kill him, and this wasn't alarming to him!?
Doge's tendencies when it comes to forgiving people never ceases to amaze Blake. He could hold a grudge for months over something petty, or he could let an attempt on his life slide without a second thought. Or maybe that was just how he presented himself? Blake didn't know, truthfully. Despite being with him for a decent bit now, he hardly would open up to her, much less anyone. 'Yeah, it's Doge, what did you expect?' Lukas once asked Blake. Granted, he just started saying 'I love you' to her out loud maybe three weeks ago, and he hadn't kissed her on the lips yet, so it isn't that alarming. Doge just likes taking his sweet time when given the opportunity, yet always manages to get himself into situations where rushing is the only option. Maybe he saw their relationship as one of the few times he wasn't on a time crunch? Blake smiles to herself at that thought, finding it a bit sweet.
"Are you ready, then?" Jade asks, snapping Blake out of her own head.
Blake nods, and looks over the railing and into the arena. She also notices Nora in the stands, who waves at her. Blake waves back, and turns to Jade. "I didn't think anyone would be watching…"
"Is that an issue?" Jade asks.
"No, no, just… surprising, I guess." Blake admits.
"Well, if it's not an issue, then should we begin?" Jade asks.
Blake starts walking down the steps, and curtly nods. "Yeah. Let's go."
Blake takes the first attack, which is dodged by Jade. Jade swings, hitting Blake in her chest and knocking her backwards. Before Jade can hit her again, Blake flips away, and holds her blade in front of her. Blake attempts to use her chain blade to bind Jade, but Jade instead grabs it and yanks her forward. Jade uses this opportunity to slam her fist into Blake's sternum, causing Blake to lose her breath. Blake uses the gun on her hilt to force Jade to step back, giving her just enough time to breathe before a kick flies at her. Jade's then knocked off balance as Blake kicks off of Jade's side, and attempts another swing. While looking flashy, it isn't the most practical, and it ends up with Jade grabbing her shoulders and kneeing her in the stomach. Saliva flies out of Blake's mouth and her eyes widen as the breath leaves her again. Before she can react, Jade uses one hand to grab her throat, and slams her into the dirt. Blake eventually manages to push herself back up, sputtering as she does. Keep in mind that neither of them were using any semblances, and just fighting with pure skill, nothing else. Blake simply blundered by doing a very Blake thing midway through the fight, and it all went downhill from there. Nothing crazy. Nora cheerily claps as both combatants stand up from the dirt, dusting themselves off.
"Well, look at you... So persistent. So adamant. It's almost admirable, if nothing else." Jade says. "Come then, Kitty. Show me those claws of yours."
Blake finds the line to be incredibly cringey, and that only pisses her off more. It's not so much that fact that she got her ass handed to her on a silver platter despite having won the sparring session in class only a few weeks ago, it's the combination of Jade's entire strategy being different, and her taunting her. With Blake never giving a verbal response, Jade continues, "What, cat got your tongue?"
'Right,' Blake thinks, 'that's more than enough with the damn puns. My best friend is Yang, and I'm dating Doge, who's adoptive brother is Lukas. I get more than my fair share from those three, and I'm not taking it from you, too.' The fighting commences once more, with Blake once again opening. Right before Jade lands a punch on Blake, Blake uses her semblance to dodge, leaving a shadow clone in her place, and slashes Jade from the side. This causes Jade to keel backwards before gaining her footing, and looking dead into Blake's eyes. Jade runs a hand along her left shoulder, where the blade connected. Of course her aura blocked most of it, but there's still a visible mark on her light brown skin. Jade's eye twitches, and she glares at Blake before launching a vine at her from under the ground.
Now, Blake just manages to dodge, and slashes the vine with the bladed part of her sheath. Soon enough they're both about ten feet away from each other. Blake's aura flashes for a moment, and she silently curses under her breath. Jade cocks her head at this before speaking, "Before we continue, I need you to make me a promise…"
Blake feels a chill run down her spine at the gaze. It's wrong. Everything about the way she's looking at her is wrong. 'No, I'm being paranoid. She's my friend, isn't she?' Blake thinks. She opens her mouth to speak, and it takes a few tries to force the words out of her throat, "Promise what?"
"Don't break. Whatever you do, don't break." Jade says before taking back her position, fists readied.
The whole area suddenly feels alive, and Blake takes an involuntary step backwards. 'What the actual hell does that mean?' she thinks. Blake stands there, staring into Jade's eyes and trying to formulate some kind of idea as to what the fuck is running through that girl's mind.
"Promise me that, please. I need you to promise me that no matter what, you won't break." Jade says.
Once again left in shock at the absurd and unsettling nature of the statement, Blake stays silent. All she can do is nod, putting her sword back into a guarding position as she takes a deep breath. Once sure of her footing, she nods again. The ground shakes and shudders, as a torrent of plant mass rises around the arena, obscuring them from Nora. Jade twitches somewhat violently for a moment, her mind rapidly shifting to a more feral composition with the massive use of her semblance. Once she stops shaking, Jade speaks, "Now, come."
Blake charges forward and using one of the tree-like growths to kick off towards and slash at Jade's head. Jade simply dodges it, and attempts to grapple Blake. Now, due to their previous fight, Blake was betting on this and manages to reverse the fight into her favor for the first time thus far. Blake drops Gambol Shroud in the process, but manages to get Jade in an armlock, tugging at her dominant arm while pinning her to the dirt. Jade, however, starts laughing. "Oh, so this will be fun after all…" she mumbles under her breath. Jade can feel her arm on the verge of dislocating, but doesn't tap out. No, not Jade.
What Jade does is some borderline inhuman folding of her own body, popping and cracking sounds mixing in with her giggles as she folds herself to an angle that shouldn't be possible in order to flip Blake over her back, and throws her down. Jade's body contorts as she stands back up and immediately stomps on Blake's throat. The maniacal laughter grows worse as more and more pressure is applied to the cat faunus' neck, the rabbit faunus bearing down further and further.
"Jade! Stop! I-" Blake starts coughing as Jade increases her grip. Tears stream down her face, Blake's left hand desperately tries to find her sword, and she clasps down on the blade of Gambol Shroud. In a panic she swings upward, cutting her palm open in the process of swinging at Jade's leg. Normally her aura would have prevented such a thing automatically, but it's stretched thin, and Blake didn't expect herself to become injured like that. Jade blocks the hit with her forearm, the blade sinking into her… flesh? No, not her flesh, plant mass. No wonder why her aura didn't block it, Jade wanted the hit to cut open her arm. Jade's skin breaks, and bits of blood dribble out from the split skin, but other than that, it's just an amalgam of green fibers. They quickly regrow and leave no evidence of the attack, her skin also appearing to quickly heal. With a spike of adrenaline, Blake attacks again, making sure to use her aura to prevent further injury and hits Jade in the hip, causing her to stagger.
Blake rolls to the side, and swipes up her blade as she gets back onto her feet. Now Blake properly holds her sword as blood starts to drip down the hilt. Pain emanates from her lacerated palm, and she winces every time she tightens the grip with that hand. Still, she's not giving in yet. Blake ejects the current magazine in the grip, and loads a fresh one. She hasn't been counting her shots, and would much rather be safe than sorry right now. When she looks up from reloading, there's no sign of Jade. Actually, no, there is a sign. Humming. Blake almost recognizes it, but doesn't know the name of the song. She pushes the thought aside and waits for any movement, her cat ears swiveling around like radar dishes in an attempt to pick up on any sound, any sound except for the humming, that is. After what feels like, and is, genuine minutes of nothing, Blake hears a faint sound, and turns just in time to see Jade flying at her from an opening in the makeshift canopy of the plants.
What Jade had done was use the plants to fling herself out of the vegetation, and slam her fist into Blake's nose. It starts bleeding as Blake stumbles backwards, and there's once again no sign of Jade. Blake's vision is blurry as a few more tears stream down her face due to the impact, and she eventually shakes it off. Something that Blake hasn't noticed yet is the fact that her sheathe is gone, having been snagged by a vine at some point during the hit and run by Jade. Blake tentatively touches a hand to her face, and lets out a small sigh of relief that her nose isn't broken. Her aura must still be doing something, at the very least. "I surrender! Alright! Can we stop now!?" Blake borderline begs. There's no response.
The horrid humming continues just as Blake continues to try and listen for anything giving away Jade's position. Just then a small rustle can be heard, and Blake uses her semblance to teleport to the side, and immediately brings her blade down. What she cuts through isn't Jade though, but a vine. Suddenly Jade leaps down and grabs Blake's head, slamming it into the ground. Gambol Shroud is then dragged off by plants, and Jade flips over Blake and looks into her eyes. Jade puts both hands around Blake's neck, and starts choking her out once again.
"You said you wouldn't break… Don't break… Survive…" Jade mumbles, as blood, tears, and sweat all run down Blake's face. Blake hits against Jade's arms to no avail, leaving blood on Jade's right bicep. Her eyes widen as it becomes clear to Blake that Jade isn't going to relax her grip, Blake feeling true fear as the rabbit faunus' sadistic smile grows. "Yes… Fight back…"
Blake sputters and coughs, struggling to get any breath in. Her vision starts to fill with black splotches. The sound of humming is the last thing she hears before being unable to further struggle, and falling unconscious.
A minute or so later, Blake finds herself in a state of semi consciousness, not fully awake, but not entirely out of it either. She can't find the strength to stand up, and as she coughs, the urge to throw up overtakes her. After managing to get onto her hands and knees, she vomits to the side before pushing herself away from it, and staring at the sky. She suddenly remembers what had just happened, and forces herself to look around. The plants are gone, and so is Jade. Gambol Shroud lays sheathed five or so feet away from her. 'Thank the gods…' repeats over and over in Blake's head, just being thankful to not be dead. Still, she can't lie there forever. She needs to get up, and go to someone. Anyone... Doge. She'll go to Doge, just as soon as she can get onto her feet. She needs to have him talk to Jade about what had happened, seeing as he's the leader of her team. That, and just because he's him. Blake won't be doing any talking to Jade though. She doesn't think she'll ever allow herself to be alone with Jade again, not after that.
…
Meanwhile, Nora's chasing after Jade, trying to catch up to her. She just watched as the entire area that the two girls had been sparring in get enveloped by an artificial forest of sorts, and it took twenty or so minutes before they dissipated, revealing an extremely hurt Blake. Once Nora was sure that she was alive, she ran after Jade to try and get an answer as to what happened, and why she left so suddenly. "Jade!" she calls out, grabbing her by the shoulder.
Jade spins around, nothing particularly notable about her expression. It certainly doesn't look like it did when she was halfway murdering Blake mere minutes ago. "Hi, Friend Nora! What is it?" she asks.
"What… what exactly was that, back there?" Nora asks, a hand resting on her hip.
"What was what, Small Thunder?"
"The part where you… how do I put this… Started humming and almost killed Blake? Yeah, that part." Nora nods as she finishes speaking.
"I… I don't recall what you're talking about…" Jade says, looking troubled. She starts to fidget with the hem of her shorts, but maintains eye contact with Nora.
"Seriously? You were humming, and I couldn't see much, but I could hear Blake asking you to stop, followed by what sounded like choking sounds?" Nora says, tapping her chin.
"What? I don't remember anything like that. I remember fighting her, and even complementing her on her defense, or something like that…" Jade trails off, getting a small headache at trying to remember the fight.
"Oh, yeah. Like, you were humming, and you kept saying really messed up sounding creepy things." Nora says. She then tilts her head and asks what can only be described as a 'Nora Question,' "Are you sure that you're not secretly some kind of faunus supervillain?"
"What? No. Of course not. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get back to my room and take a shower, thank you." Jade says, turning to walk away.
Nora sighs, and lets her go. It then occurs to her that she kind of left Blake passed out in the arena, and she hurries back. When she gets there, though, Blake's already left.
Blake has already made her way to the staff dorms, and is making her way up the steps. As she passes Professor Port she gets a confused look, before a bit of realization washes over his face. He's then confused once more at her injured appearance, but Blake walks faster to avoid any questions. Then she walks up to one of the two rooms occupied by students before knocking. As the door opens, the purple glow of Doge's LEDs shines through, silhouetting his features.
…
"W-what happened to you?" I stammer out, before wrapping my arms around Blake. She stays with her face pressed against my chest for a while, and I just look down at her. What the actual fuck could have done something like this? Did she get attacked by a Grimm on campus somehow? Was another student responsible? Oh, if they were, I'd fucking break their nose for this.
"It… it was…" Blake takes a second to compose herself. "It was Jade. She just wouldn't stop, and I thought she was going to kill me, and that I'd never see any of you again, and that, and that…" after stammering a bit more, she breaks down, falling further into my arms. I easily hold her weight, and start to process everything. Jade. Motherfucking Jade Ivy. Ok, now, new questions, why the hell did Jade do this? I mean, it's obvious based on Blake's injuries that her aura gave out, so why would the fight go on past that?
"Honey, if you don't mind me asking, did you do something to provoke her? Or did she just… I don't even know…" I trail off, continuing to hold her tight.
"N-no… We were sparring, and, and, she just… I thought she was going to kill me, Doge. I was so scared, I…" Blake sniffles after speaking. Ok, so, they were sparring, and it went off the rails. Y'know what? It doesn't matter yet. What matters is that I can help clean Blake up a bit.
"Ok, well, you're obviously a bit shaken up, and I don't blame you. That… I'll try to talk to her, I promise." I say, squeezing her once more. "Still, you need to get cleaned up. Wound wise, and in general. If you want to take a shower, I can throw your clothes into the washing machine really quickly. You could, like, borrow a pair of pants and a shirt, though I doubt it would fit well…" I sigh, before looking down at her.
Blake nods, and eventually stands under her own power again. "I'd like that, if you don't mind."
"Obviously not. Let me see if I can find some old stuff that might be a little smaller for you…" I say, letting go and heading into my bedroom. I throw open the wardrobe, and rummage around. Near the back, I find a shirt I haven't worn in a year or so. It's a size smaller than everything else, so we're going with that. With nothing else as an option, I grab a pair of sweatpants with drawstrings in the hopes that she'll be able to try and force it to something resembling her size. I walk back over to her, and hand her the clothes. "Just leave your stuff outside the bathroom door, and I'll get it cleaned." I say, leaning against the wall to the bathroom. Blake nods, and steps into the room. Through the wall, I can hear the sounds of clothes rustling, and the shower being turned on. The door opens, and her blood, dirt, and sweat stained clothes are left on the floor as the door closes. I scoop everything up, and toss it into the washing machine that's in the 'kitchen part' of my room. After throwing in a detergent pod and starting the wash I plop myself down on the couch. The purple glow of the lights washes over me, and I sigh.
My mind races, and I think over everything. What in the names of the Brothers could have caused Jade to do that? Is Blake telling the full truth? Even if she isn't, what could she have possibly done to elicit that sort of response? No, this probably lies a lot heavier on Jade, here. I need to keep myself busy, don't I? A bit more thinking, and I might stray into extreme overthinking, and that never ends well for anyone. I continue cleaning up the kitchen while Blake cleans herself up. It really doesn't take long before I'm done, and I find myself right back where I was, sitting on the couch, and thinking more than I should be. I really should get Jade's side of the story, but everytime I pick up my scroll to text her I get unreasonably angry. Well, I wouldn't consider it unreasonable considering what she did to my girlfriend, but still…
A couple minutes later, Blake emerges from the bathroom in the clothes I gave her. Yeah, they definitely don't fit. Normally it would be endearing, or cute, or whatever, but the marks covering her body just make me a bit sad. Her left hand's wrapped in the towel she used to dry off, and I decide that I'll help dress the wound. No words are spoken as I open the cabinet that I keep a bunch of medical supplies in. I push aside the burn cream, and grab the rubbing alcohol. She presumably cleaned it, but the disinfectant should make sure it doesn't get, y'know, infected. I then grab the roll of gauze and a roll of bandages.
"This might… Oh, you know it's gonna sting, you're smart. I'll be as quick as I can, alright?" I say, before moving her hand over the sink. After getting her confirmation via a nod, I pour a bit of alcohol over the wound, wincing a bit for her. I can see Blake's fingers start to tense up as she yelps and her free hand grabs my shoulder. I gently push them back open, and then press the gauze to the wound. Then I wrap the bandages around her palm, and let out a small sigh. "All done. Is it too tight, or…?"
"No, no," Blake starts, "it's fine, I promise. Thank you." She keeps her hand on my shoulder, and I nod.
"Alright. Let's go sit down, then." I say, walking over to the couch. The washing machine continues its work in the background as we both lay on the sofa. My fingers comb through her hair as she lays on my chest, her eyes closed. My eyes keep landing on the bruises that now cover her, well, everything. There's nothing that I can really do, though. Nothing but try to comfort her. She came to me first, so I better do what she wants me to do, and that's just be there right now. Of course she'll want me to figure out what the fuck was up with Jade, but that's for later. Right now I'm on human teddy bear duty, and honestly, that's just fine.
About half an hour passes in comfortable silence. Neither of us need to say a thing, the now red glow from the LEDs bathing us in the warm color. Red is the darkest color that the LEDs can be set to, and neither of us wanted the lights to be too bright. My hand's now scratching behind one of her faunus ears, her bow unwrapped and laying across my chest. Her clothes have been in the dryer for a few minutes now, so it might be a bit longer before they're dry. At some point I turned on a playlist consisting mostly of metalcore music, and "21 Gun Salute" can somewhat be heard in the background. The volume's low enough to count as in the background, but it's still easy to pick out the lyrics and instruments, and such. Or maybe that's just me? Well, I'm sure Miss Kitty here can, with her extra ears and all, but still. The mood has settled, being a large bit better now.
"Classes start soon… Ugh, I don't want to move…" I whine, truly not wanting to move. Blake sits up, and looks into my eyes.
"We don't have a choice, now do we?" she asks.
"No…" I trail off and sigh. Whenever Blake sits up and stretches, I follow suit. "Your clothes probably aren't dry, though." I say, pointing at the dryer.
"I guess I'll just come pick them up after class. My uniform's still in my dorm." she says.
I nod, standing up and putting the lights back to their usual purple. The music's shortly turned off by me, too. "Makes sense." I say, and then yawn. Gods, I really was comfy. Blake puts her bow back on, once again concealing her cat ears.
"Whenever you're ready." she says after putting on her shoes.
"Let's go, then." I say, opening my dorm's door and stepping out into the hallway. I'll walk with her until we pass the lecture hall, and then she'll head off to change out of my clothes while I go and listen to a lecture from Port. Fun.
Hey, what's up? So, you may or may not have noticed that there's no before chapter author's note. Yeah, I'm doing away with that. Kinda breaks the flow if you're reading through and whatnot. On a side note, I did some edits/rewriting of the introduction and first three chapters. They didn't really meet my current standards for myself, so like...
Anyways! Yeah, next chapter should be out within three weeks at maximum. Not gonna set a minimum date, as it'll be out whenever it's out. See you then!
