Disparate Youth: Locked Up

Chapter 4: Quiet Discomforts

Dear Mom,

You asked me to let you know how I am as soon as possible, and I think this is the only way I can do that. They haven't given me my backpack since I arrived, so no scroll, which is why I'm writing a letter like an old person or something.

Relax Mama, that was just a joke.

The ride here was fine, the views were nice. I even made a friend… I think. Her name's Miltia. There was another kid on the ship, he had rabbit ears. He didn't get put in the dorms with me and Miltia though. I think he needs extra help or something, he was muttering and shaking a lot. We do get single rooms, which is nice, but the dorms are mixed, which was a surprise to me.

The place doesn't seem so bad really, they have a lot of security. They even use Atlesian robots sometimes. I mean, it is kind of cool, but they can be pretty scary (and strong). Honestly though, they seem friendlier than some of the human guards!

Anyway, I don't think I'm getting my scroll back, but I am hoping for the books you and Papa gave to me, which should make the rest of this less boring.

How is everyone doing, are Jade, Lavender and Violet doing okay? I don't think I got to really explain to them properly. Can you tell them and the twins that I miss them? And can you thank Rogue for me, for sticking around while I'm away?

Anyway, I've got class starting tomorrow morning and it's getting late, so I should really get to sleep soon. I really miss you guys, and I can't wait to come home.

Love, Jaune.

P.S. Can you apologise to Saffron for me? She'll understand what I mean.

Reading by fluorescent lamp light, Jaune failed to see what all the fuss was about. Off all the things to be dragged out of class for, his letter was the last thing he'd expected.

"I'm sorry sir… I still don't-"

Jaune jumped in fright, when Officer Moss, sitting opposite him, slammed his hand down on the desk.

"You don't see what's wrong with it?" The man growled.

"I Just-" Jaune tried to defend himself, wondering how this man could possibly be the same one who charmed his teacher just minutes before.

"You just-" Moss began, holding out one of his fingers for each of Jaune's 'infractions'. "-Shared the private medical details of a fellow resident, privileged information on the running of the facility, confidential, proprietary information about our security arrangements and, to top it all off, you Insulted my guards, making them out to be frightening or abusive."

"I didn't- I'm not-" Jaune stumbled, as anxious as he was confused.

"Let me explain something to you, Arc," The man continued, leaning in and lowering his voice. "You are not going to worm your way out of this punishment by crying to mommy about how mean we all are. Hell, with this behaviour, you'll be lucky to get out of here by the end of your sentence at all, let alone earn an early release."

"I'm sorry," Jaune said, a few scant tears dripping down his cheek. "I didn't know."

Moss seemed to analyse the boy's face before sighing and leaning back on his chair.

"Fortunately, you can make it right," Moss said, pulling out a blank piece of paper and a pen.

And so, with 'Custodial Officer Moss' (according to the man's badge), breathing down his neck, Jaune re-wrote his letter, according to his guidelines.

Despite his pitiful demeanour, as Jaune erased any mention of robots, rabbit faunus or co-ed dorms, the boy wracked his brain, wondering why any of this was forbidden. Afterwards, he was also tasked to explain away his scroll being taken because; 'Scrolls are confiscated to prevent disruptive influences on proper rehabilitation'. It was a load of bull, and Jaune couldn't stop himself from giving out an audible scoff.

"Something wrong, boy?" Moss said, the ghost of a smile gracing his lips.

"No, nothing," Jaune muttered quickly, putting pen back to paper.

His handwriting looked much worse on the new letter, mostly due to his shaking hand, and after almost an hour in the room, the boy was finally finished.

"Your second class has already started, Mr Arc," Moss informed him, seeming incredibly pleased with himself as he folded up the letter. "You better get moving, you don't want to be marked as absent."

Jaune's face twisted in anger, assuming correctly that the man was not going to give him any kind of note.

"Every infraction counts," The man concluded, as Jaune started walking to the door. "You don't want to stay here any longer than you need, do you?"

Jaune entered his second class of the day with little fanfare, just a dismissing wave from the teacher before he finished explaining where he was. It was quieter as he sought out a free chair, this teacher clearly having more control over his classroom than the last.

Unlike earlier, Max was sitting at a single desk, closer to the front. Luckily, he couldn't see Blud at all, and as he scanned the room for the last free spot, he found one, right beside a mop of bright green hair.

When their eyes met, Emerald shrugged, and so Jaune slowly made his way to her, and sat himself down. Without a word, she pulled her book into the middle of the table, and pointed to the part of the page they were reading, and which problems they were solving.

"Why did you get taken out of class," Emerald whispered, her head still in the book.

"They didn't like the letter I wrote," he answered quietly. "Had to re-write it."

"That sounds about right," The girl exhaled, knowingly.

"Is there anything you two would like to share with the rest of us?" The teacher announced, making Jaune hump in surprise.

Jaune and Emerald didn't get the chance to speak until they began working, in pairs, to solve the problems in the book. Even then, it was in low, hushed voices, and focused mostly on the task at hand. Eventually though, the teacher looked down at his watch and stood up.

"Students, that's the end of the period," He announced, dismissing them.

As the dreary teenagers began peeling themselves from their chairs and marching out, toward the promise of lunch, the teacher gave them an unpleasant reminder.

"Solve problems six through ten from this chapter by next class," The teacher called, watching their new smiles fall. "And remember to show your work!"

When he heard this, walking through the doorway to freedom, Jaune couldn't help but give out a low chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Emerald said, looking up at him curiously.

"Oh," Jaune remarked, smiling to himself. "It's just that, of all the things about being in this place, kinda thought I would at least get out of homework for a while."

Emerald blinked.

"I wouldn't, know" She remarked, chuckling mirthlessly and walking ahead of him. "I never had homework before I got here."

When the girl turned her head back, Jaune was frowning.

"How did you-" He began, looking down at her questioningly.

"Trust me Jaune, you don't wanna hear the sob story,' She interrupted, averting her eyes from his, before turning back around. "It's pretty run of the mill anyway."

As he followed the girl, Jaune's mind kept going back to the last thing she said. Despite being able to make a pretty good guess what that 'sob story' would be, he still found himself wanting to know it anyway. However, fearful as he was of scaring her away, and completely unaware of how to broach the topic, he hesitated.

And so they walked, somewhat awkwardly, not saying much until, as they entered the cafeteria, and made a beeline for Milta and Melanie's table.

"So this is, like, his spot now?" Melanie wondered aloud, as he sat down opposite her.

"Mel," Miltia hummed, not looking up from her half-eaten meal. "Lighten up, will ya?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Melanie relented, though not before shooting the boy a quick wink. "Plus, it's alway nice to have some eye candy around."

"On that, I have to agree," Miltia replied, before taking a long sip from her drink.

Jaune's cheeks barely got a chance to grow red before Emerald stood up.

"I'm going to go get food," she announced, staring at the smirking girl with an unreadable expression.

After a beat, Emerald looked down at him and feigned an annoyed cough.

"Are you coming?" She spoke, her eyebrows raised, seriously.

"Oh, uh- right," The boy stammered, awkwardly vacating his chair to follow her.

When they were a little further away from the twins, she spoke up again.

"Look, Jaune," Emerald said, quietly refusing to turn around and face him. "I'm sorry for last night."

"Oh," Jaune replied, his eyes a little wide.

"I mean for shouting at you… and making fun of your family, and all that..."

"That's… okay Emerald," he answered, slowly. "I get it."

The girl finally turned her head, seeing the somber expression hiding behind a false smile.

"It's not like you said anything that wasn't true, anyway."

She nodded her head regretfully and turned back around. His agreement did not stop her from feeling guilty. If anything, it just made it worse. Emerald tried to suppress that feeling as they got to the counter, she couldn't afford any distractions. She was quickly handed her meal, a plain looking sandwich served with a packet of potato chips and a paper cup full of orange juice. When the mean woman was about to call the next kid, Emerald struck.

"Excuse me," She said, with her sweetest 'poor orphan' voice. "I think you may have forgotten my chips?"

When the woman graced her with the foulest expression one could give, Emerald just smiled, and that sickly sweet way she had practiced so often, but to the total befuddlement of the boy standing behind her.

The woman was befuddled too, when the packet she was sure she placed onto the tray, was suspiciously absent from her vision. After giving the girl a sharp assessment, the woman reasoned that there was simply no time for her to have stashed the chips anywhere.

Without apologizing, the woman grunted, tossing Emerald a second packet.

"Thank you, ma'm," She nodded, smiling brightly before turning on her heel and walking away.

Jaune hurriedly took his meal and followed her.

"What was that?" He whispered, sounding impressed with her.

"Nothing," Emerald replied, far too quickly to be as casual as she was trying to seem. "She owes me extra chips, that's all."

Jaune frowned. He supposed the answer made sense, but there was something off about the whole exchange.

"Are you gonna complain some more," She continued, annoyed by his frown. "I got extra for us to share, you know."

It was a complete lie of course, the street-rat didn't share food if she could help it. As soon as she offered, however, all of his suspicion quite suddenly vanished, and Jaune flashed her a toothy grin.

"Really!" He remarked, a little too loud for Emeralds liking.

Even if she had only offered him a share of food to cover for her recklessness, it worked out for the best in the end. Emerald was far better at apologizing this way, through gestures and material exchanges, it was how things were done, at least where she'd grown up.

Despite all that, and also the redness of her neck, the orphan was glad to see him smile again, and quite glad to be the one who made it happen. She hadn't really seen his teeth since she yelled at him last night. For some reason, when Jaune smiled, Emerald wanted to smile along with him.

When they sat back down at the table, the twins were already gone, their trays laying around their former seats.

"Where do you think they went," Jaune asked, before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Probably the yard," Emerald shrugged. "Mel likes to play basketball sometimes. Plus, most kids eat lunch outside. That's why it's so quiet here"

Jaune hummed, only just noticing the relative quiet, and took a sip of his orange juice. When the liquid graced his lips, the boy choked, almost spitting it out.

"What, not fancy enough for you?" Emerald teased, sipping her own drink without a care in the world.

"I thought it was orange juice?"

"Orange drink," she smirked. "Totally different."

"How on Remnant can it be this bad?"

"I watched them make it once," she explained, laughing. "They put this powder in the mixer, and just stir it into a boat-load of water."

"That's horrifying," he chuckled.

Nevertheless, he went for another sip. His reaction was much the same.

As they laughed together, Jaune saw, for the first time since their meeting, a genuine smile from the girl. Unlike her sarcastic jokes, or sly smirks, this smile reached her eyes, and like his, was accompanied by a dusting of red upon her cheeks.

"Good afternoon, Emerald," Came a familiar, and rather nasty voice from behind him.

Uncomfortably close to the pair was Moss, looking down at Jaune as if the boy were a particularly large cockroach.

"I trust the pair of you are staying out of trouble?" He asked, turning his attention to Emerald, who simply met his gaze with narrowed eyes. "Nobody being a negative influence?"

Jaune already disliked the man, annoyed by his apparent 'two-faced' nature, but the way he was looking at Emerald… it just rubbed the boy the wrong way.

Jaune must have been staring pretty intently, as Moss quickly turned his attention toward the boy, smiling down at him, scornfully. However, it was Emerald's face wincing, twisting silently in discomfort, which became the only factor Jaune needed to consider in order to make a decision.

"Do you wanna go to the yard, Em?" He asked, cutting the man off.

Before getting an answer, Jaune stood up, and held out his hand. Emerald didn't miss a beat, reaching out to grab his wrist, lifting herself up, and practically pulling him along with her.

Moss merely smiled, his eyes aflame.

"Best behavior Emerald," He warned, menacingly, as they walked away. "I'll be checking back with you soon."

Internally, Emerald shivered.

Their last class of the day wasn't a class at all. It was more of a lecture, attended by all the residents in Jaune's age group, stuffed inside a classroom like sardines in a can, and presented by Mr Achan, their 'correctional facilitator', or more accurately, their warden. As the man droned on and on about 'rehabilitation', and 'recidivism', Jaune couldn't help but twitch nervously, the boy watching the pair of security robots flanking the man, their heads swiveling slowly to scan the children sitting opposite.

Curiously, Jaune followed their lead, and looked around. Max was next to him, his head resting in his arms, the glum look on his face being the only indication to Jaune that the boy wasn't sleeping. Jaune came very close to letting out a laugh when, as he locked eyes with Melanie, sitting across the room, she made a 'blah-blah' gesture with her hands.

For the most part, Jaune agreed with the sentiment.

Beside her sister, Miltia just stared into space, clearly having heard the bullshit before, even if it hadn't been from this guy's mouth in particular.

Beside him was Emerald, squeezed so tightly into him that his heart was, initially at least, beating rapidly. With her legs crossed, Jaune could hear her tapping her foot against the table leg, her body shaking with her. Shooting the girl a concerned look, she merely rolled her eyes and faced front again.

Jaune admired his surroundings, the dusty carpet, the ratty couch, the fist sized hole in the off-white wall. The boy had expected something clean, clinical, but it seems his perception of what a psychologist's office should look like were inaccurate. Shrugging to each other, Jaune and Militia followed the latter's twin, who without hesitation strolled over to the old couch, plopped herself down, and rested a leg over her knee.

"I can't believe everyone else gets free time today!" She groaned, pouting pathetically.

"You can, like, go if you want too," Miltia replied, cooly, sitting down next to her sister. "No one is forcing you."

As he sat down, Jaune nodded, knowing her statement was true. According to the warden, the only residents required to visit the psychologist today were the new arrivals, which meant just Miltia, and himself.

"Nah! Where you go, I go,' Melanie countered, giving her sister a light punch to the shoulder.

As Miltia gave her sister a fond smile, the trio heard the door to the office open, and watched as a very jittery, and familiar, rabbit faunus exited. Jaune didn't hesitate and stood up to greet him.

"Hey!" he called, waving the boy over with a smile.

Unfortunately for Jaune, the faunus practically jumped in fright, and only stared at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"Uh, it's Jaune… from the ship,' Jaune said, far softer this time.

Slowly, the boy seemed to recognize Jaune, and very shakily stepped toward him. Jaune couldn't stop himself from wincing, as remembered how thin the boy was.

"Hello, Jaune," he said, his whispers barely audible.

"It's good to see you're doing okay," Jaune told him, lowering his voice after an awkward pause. "I didn't catch your name yesterday."

"I- My name…" The boy stuttered; his eyes trained upon the floor. "Russ- Russet."

As he reached his hand out, and Russet timidly shook it, Jaune could see, from the corner of his vision, Miltia giving the boy a pitying look, while Melanie rolled her eyes.

"Where have you been today? I haven't seen you anywhere," Jaune asked, a little too loud again, apparently, as Russet winced when he spoke.

"Oh, I have to sleep in a special bedroom, which means I… I have to go to special classes as well."

"So, what are you, like a spaz or something?" Melanie interrupted, as vicious in tone as she was in words.

At that statement, Russet went bright red, and his arm started shaking so much that he needed to use the other to hold it still. Jaune, angered, looked at Melanie, wondering what could have possibly made her say something like that. Miltia, the seemingly more empathetic of the pair, felt the need to elbow her sister, who seemed to be awakened from a stupor.

For her part, the expression on her face seemed genuinely regretful.

"Sorry, Kid," she sighed, reluctantly. "I didn't mean it like that."

"It's… okay. I know I'm not... that I'm-" Russet began, his downcast expression speaking volumes where his words could not.

"No it's not," Melanie affirmed, surprising Jaune immensely. "I know, like, what it is… Look I just shouldn't have said it, okay. I'm sorry."

"Mr Arc," came a voice, calling from inside the psychologist's office. "Is Mr Arc there?'

"I uh, I think that's me," Jaune sighed, annoyed by the interruption. "I'll see you all later?"

Miltia nodded in the affirmative, while Melanie merely waved a facetious goodbye. Jaune waited, however, with his focus on Russet, to watch the timid faunus nod shyly, his face less downcast than before.

Satisfied, Jaune turned away, glad that, at the very least, he had finally learned the boy's name.

When Jaune entered the office, and sat down without a word on a chair sitting opposite the desk. A woman, still typing away at her terminal, glanced over him, presumably by way of greeting. There was something off about her gaze, however, like she was looking through him, rather than at him.

"Good afternoon Mr… Arc," she said, still looking at the screen. "I am Dr Caero, and it's my job to assess your mental health at regular intervals during your sentence."

"Right," Jaune responded, dumbly.

"How are you adjusting so far?" The woman asked, looking Jaune in the eye for the first time since they began speaking.

Of course, her eyes flashed to his scar immediately afterwards, making the boy shift in his seat.

"I mean, fine I guess," Jaune said, shrugging his shoulders a little. "I mean it's not great, but it could be worse."

The woman looked back down at the terminal, then back to Jaune, frowning.

"So, uh, on a scale of one-to-ten that would be…?"

"Uh, seven. I guess?" Jaune answered, perplexed by the question.

"Have you made friends yet?" She continued, making Jaune's answer on her list.

"Uh, I think so? It's only the first day and all."

"Good, that's good. Records show no history of self harm," The woman muttered, mostly to herself. "How often do you get thoughts or urges of self relating to hurting yourself?"

"I Do-" Jaune announced, quickly.

"One-to-ten sweetie." The psych reminded him, gently.

"Oh. Right. Zero, I guess."

"I'll mark that as a 'one'," she whispered, before speaking up again. "And how about urges to harm others?"

"Umm, like two, maybe?" Jaune responded.

"Two?," Inquired, her eyebrows raised. "You were charged with assault, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Jaune sighed, his shoulder's slacked.

The woman hummed thoughtfully to herself, before typing something into her terminal.

"It helps to be honest during these sessions Mr Arc. It's the only way I can help you."

Jaune swallowed, saying nothing. He didn't know why shame was permeating through him, the boy thought he was being honest.

The woman had quite a few more questions, mostly strange one-to-ten answers again, but many where he simply had to lay out a preference for something or another, or to describe how he would solve a number of theoretical problems that she had posed to him. Finally, after some time rattling his brain to answer her inane queries, it was finally over.

"Now, there's nothing in our records, but do you have any conditions or illnesses that we should know about?" The woman asked.

"No, I uh- I don't think so,"

"Good, good, that's good," she muttered, checking off another box on her list. "I think that's all we need for today…" The woman paused, her eyes scanning the terminal for his name. "Jaune."

"Just remember that if you ever feel like you're not adjusting well, or are having bad thoughts, make an appointment, "She said, standing up to open the door for him. "We have numerous treatment options available."

Jaune sighed as he walked out the door, not answering her.

It'd been a fucking miserable day. He knew being sent here wasn't going to be pleasant, but at every turn this place battered his spirit. Emerald, the one person who really seemed to want to spend time with him, also happened to be the person who warned him of what he now knew was true. Nobody cared.

The young man was angry. He was angry at the shrink, at Moss, at Blud, at the warden, at the judge, the cops and that bully… He was even angry at Emerald, the girl who seemed so satisfied to let him know how it was.

Jaune stomped up the stairs, eyes bitter with resentment. The boy wanted nothing more than to lay his head down on a pillow, and forget the day ever happened. It was either that, or punch something, but that would probably make things worse.

As Jaune chuckled, darkly, to himself, Jaune found himself drawn to voices, coming from the cell behind his own. From the doorway of Emerald's room, he found Officer Moss, leering over the wincing girl, his hand firmly squeezing her shoulder.

Finally, Jaune's anger found a worthy target.

"Hey Em," He announced, leaning on her door frame as if Moss wasn't even there.

She stared back at him, dumfounded, before her nervous eyes looked back toward Moss. Slyly removing his hand from her person, the man turned his head, and analyzed the boy, an unreadable expression upon his face.

"I'm not sure you're supposed to be touching girls like that, officer ," the boy taunted, defiantly.

Moss, for his part, let out a hearty chuckle, before striding toward the doorway, looking the boy dead in the eyes. Before Jaune could get so much as a word in, he felt a sudden pain in his gut, as Moss pulled out his baton, jabbing it directly into his gut.

Finding himself on the floor, the boy felt one, two, and three more blows to his side, before the man stopped, and stared down at the wincing boy. Through his blinking vision, Jaune caught sight of Emerald, staring at the back of Moss' head, her eyes narrowed in deep concentration.

"You best patch up that wound, kid," Moss grunted, seeming more annoyed than anything else. "Just don't get any blood on your sheets."

Jaune, confused, held his side in pain as he wondered what the man was talking about. He wasn't bleeding at all and given the man's expression just a scant few seconds earlier, he had expected more blows than what he was actually given.

Jaune watched the man give one, last, unreadable look toward Emerald, before turning on his heel and marching out the room. When his footsteps finally faded into nothingness, Emerald, allowing the boy to lean on her, helped Jaune get to his room.

"You're an Idiot." She said, bluntly, pushing him down on the bed.

"Yeah, that's me," Jaune muttered, feeling slightly annoyed at the girl. "I'm an idiot."

Hearing him, Emerald crossed her arms and looked down with narrowed eyes.

"Don't piss him off again," she warned. "He can make both lives hell, do a lot more damage than a few little bruises."

Holding his stomach in pain, Jaune felt more than a little insulted by her words.

"He was-"

"So what." She interrupted, bluntly. "I already told you, heroes aren't real, and that goes double for in here."

Jaune's anger was reaching a bubbling point. All his life, his mother had taught him to do the right thing by everyone he met. As a boy, he watched his father return, day after day, risking his life and health to help the people, to intervene when no one else could. Who was this girl, this criminal, to tell him that heroes didn't exist.

"That's not true," he told her, gritting his teeth harshly.

Emerald chose her next words carefully, partly as a means to warding him away from risking himself for people he didn't know, and also to callously satiate her frustration by hurting the boy.

"Daddy doesn't count."

Jaune found himself on his feet again, fueled by rage, but with the onslaught of pain, collapsed back down.

"So you were being serious then, about getting big and strong, becoming a huntsman like your old man?" The girl asked, looking down at him, unimpressed.

"Yeah. So?" Jaune replied, his eyes narrowed.

"So, you've had your aura unlocked then?" She asked him slowly, taunting him.

"Yeah, for-"

"So why don't you use it!" She snapped back, her red eyes glimmering with fury.

"I wasn't ready!" Jaune shouted back, suddenly finding himself up on his feet again, towering over her.

The girl merely tilted her head to the side and looked up at him in disdain.

"You know what Jaune," she said, calmly, poking her finger into his chest, "You better 'be ready', because next time, I'm not gonna save you."

Before jaune could ask when exactly she did to 'save' him, she was already making her way out the door.

"And don't worry," she continued, standing outside his room. "The way you're going, there will definitely be a next time."

Jaune, alone in his room, attempted to forget his confrontation with Emerald, and instead focused on the 'home'-work he's been assigned. Math was never his strong suit, so he tried that first, finding the painful dullness of algebra to be almost comforting, if only in its familiarity.

For the first time since last night, this place was quiet. Oh, make no mistake, beds creaking, teenagers gossiping, and the soft sounds of a basketball being bounced echoed up to his ears, but it seemed that most of his peers had enough respect for each other to keep it down when they needed to do homework.

You would think then, especially given the quiet nature of his activity, when an announcement came through the speaker system, it would have made the boy jump, but in this instance, it came to him like a whisper.

"Emerald Sustrai, please report to the custodial office immediately- That's Emerald Sustrai to the custodial office immediately."

Jaune could only hear it from his back facing wall, which made sense, as this was clearly a message for the sole occupant of his neighboring cell.

As the girl walked past his door, her shoulders slumped, she spared him a look which was in equal parts resignation and bitterness. Jaune's stomach churned, as his mind reckoned with the implications. Moss was the 'custodial officer', right? Did that mean Emerald was being sent to see him.

As the minutes went by, the guilt ate at him. Jaune wondered if he had made things worse, if Emerald had been right and despite his intentions, he had done nothing other than annoy and provoke Moss further, making the man more of a problem for her than he would have been otherwise.

In hindsight, it was obvious Emerald had done something to Moss, somehow tricked him into believing the blond to be more injured than he really was, and this debt Jaune now owed the girl only made him feel all the more horrible for making things worse for her.

This time, deep in thought, when he heard a few soft taps on his door, the noise did make him jump, if only a little.

"Hey, Jaune," Max said, standing shyly at his doorframe. "Do you, uh, wanna play some chess?"

Turning to face him, Jaune saw the boy shake a small wooden, folding chess set, the pieces rattling inside.

That's how Jaune, desperate for a distraction, found himself cross legged on Max's floor, setting up his pieces on the board. Usually, when playing with his mother, he would have to fight for who got to play white but curiously, his neighbor insisted on being black from the get-go.

"Your loss," Jaune grinned, smugly.

"We'll see," The boy challenged, only spurring him on further.

The game started off fairly standard, Jaune opening with a 'Valean Defense', while he pondered that both of them sitting across from one another were both holding their sides in pain, Max more than he, both from injuries sustained by someone out to hurt them.

Apparently, the faunus was thinking much the same thing.

"Someone's moving up in the world," He murmured, using his fourth move to place the black pawn on d5.

Jaune, having moved his knight to attack, looked up at Max, confused by his meaning.

"Making enemies with guards… that usually means you're a real 'juvenile delinquent'," The boy 'clarified', looking up to Jaune to gauge his reaction.

The blond didn't look up from the table, unwilling to let the boy win this little chess match within a chess match.

"What is it you got in for again… assault, right?"

Now Jaune did look up.

"How did you know about that?" He asked, unable to prevent his anger from seeping through.

Max merely cocked his head to the side, and made a dramatic show of raising his hand, and pointing to his scarred and drooping cat-ear.

"Right," The blond huffed, moving his bishop to be sacrificed.

"So, what happened," Max urged him on, accepting the trade of bishops.

"The same thing that happened earlier, which I'm sure you listened in on," The blond huffed." And it was the same thing that happened when I first met you."

Jaune moved his second knight to pressure the queen, refusing to take his eyes off the board.

"I tried to help someone, and suffered the consequences," The blond growled, every bitter thought he had had since his arrest coming to the forefront of his mind. "There was a prick with a dog whistle. Made a faunus boy's ear bleed. But you obviously heard all that this morning."

Max, giving him nothing but an audible humm, watched Jaune trade pieces again, this time their queens.

"And what about you Max," Jaune continued, his voice a little scornful.

"I heard you were a dealer, got someone killed with the poison you were handing out."

Truthfully, the blond was hoping to get a rise out of Max, but when he looked up, there was no anger in the boy's glassed over eyes, only resignation.

"That's what they tell me," He muttered, pushing his king forward. "Distributing experimental narcotics, reckless endangerment of 'human' life, involuntary manslaughter."

"So," Jaune pushed, his eyes narrowed.

"It was all bullshit. Made up. Every last bit of it." Max grunted, pushing his king forward.

"So… you're innocent then?"

The brunet sighed, quite aware of how unlikely Jaune was to believe him.

"A sweet little human girl was dead, and a rich Atlesian family needed their 'closure'," Max explained, bitterly. "The Mantle police found their culprit. Easy to see why I suppose, who wouldn't suspect the nasty little faunus who happened to live in the very same building the girl got her supply from."

Jaune frowned, surprised the boy had opened up so much.

"And the Jury… maybe a little more open minded than the cops, but black cats? Even the other faunus looked at them suspiciously," the boy added, sarcastically. "Add to that, the fact his father happened to overdose on the same exact drug as the victim, and the state of his mangled ears, maybe sending him to juvenile detention would be doing the little cretin a favor."

Jaune didn't require more context to see how likely this story was to be true, rumors of the way Faunus were treated in Atlas had always been troubling, but until that moment, they always seemed so much farther away.

Once again, Jaune felt the sting of guilt. Max didn't need him bringing up bad memories and hadn't done anything to deserve it either. Fortunately, it didn't seem the cat faunus had taken any of his prodding personally.

"So… I guess we were both fucked by the system," The boy laughed, trying hard to remove the edge from his voice.

"Yeah, I guess we were," Jaune commiserated, smiling softly.

From that point on, the pair were fast friends, finding themselves to have much in common, despite their vastly different upbringings. As they compared growing up on a farm, to living in a city like Mantle, Jaune held his tongue, not daring to ask the one burning question he had left; What had happened to the boy's feline ears?

By the time Emerald returned to the dormitories, the chess game with Max had already ended. As she walked past, despite his guilt, or perhaps because of it, Jaune followed her, but waited at the doorway, silently asking permission to enter.

At her nod, he entered, with the full intention of apologizing.

Unfortunately for the snarky girl, when sat down, her new neighbor caught a flash of something from under her collar, a dark purple mark on her shoulder. Once she noticed his gaze, her underlying frustration began to bubble to the surface.

"What is that?" the boy practically growled.

"Not your business, newbie." She replied, curtly, readjusting her collar to hide the bruise again, shame, guilt and anger swirling around her mind.

"Listen, Em-" He attempted, before being immediately interrupted.

"Stop calling me that!" Emerald growled, frustrated he had seen her in such a vulnerable state. "You don't know me."

"I;m sorry," The boy cringed. "I just want to-"

"Why do you care so much anyway!" She exclaimed, partially asking herself the same question.

"I don't know," he sighed, earring a scoff from the girl. "I just do, I guess."

"I didn't ask for that," Emerald sighed. "Or for your 'help' earlier."

"Sorry, but what was I supposed to do, walk into my room like nothing was happening?" Jaune asked, exasperated.

"Fucking duh!"

"Well I can't do that, okay?" Jaune sighed.

"Then you're an idiot."

"Yeah, you told me that already, remember?"

Emerald pinched her nose in frustration. She didn't know why she was saying all this, being this mean to him… again. Despite a selfish part of her, the one who really wanted this all to be about how Jaune, or anyone for that matter, cared this much about her, the girl knew the reality. In the short time she'd known him, he had already tried standing up to two bullies, on behalf of Max and herself, two people who had been absolute strangers to the boy yesterday.

Playing hero was Jaune's thing, and in the short time she's known him, the girl assessed that he'd stand up against anyone he thought was wrong, just like he did when he defended Max yesterday. He wasn't like her.

Jaune didn't belong here, Emerald thought. He was too innocent, too soft, too damned kind. Even his crime. Bothers, he placed here because he tried helping someone, like a naive little costumed crime-fighter.

"What's the plan then newbie, gonna try and stop everything bad going on, fight every asshole in here?" Emerald asked.

"If I have too," Jaune answered, surprising even himself with his conviction.

The girl let out a breath, and let out the tiniest smile Jaune had ever seen, vanishing so soon afterwards that the boy questioned whether it was real or not.

"That's a long fucking list Jaune," She whispered, pinching her nose.

The pair stared intently at each other, and after a pause, Emerald sighed.

"You're not gonna make it through this place trying to do that," She told him. "Not unless you know how to fight."

Without warning, the girl barreled into him, using her shoulder to push his lanky frame onto the floor. He grunted, annoyed by his failure to activate his aura in time.

"Get up," she said, holding out her arm.

He took it, nervously.

Jaune knew Emerald was pretty already, but with her red eyes softened, her sly, almost cheeky smile, and her soft fingers interlocked with his; the blond's heart thumped ever so slightly faster, and the boy found his face warming up.

At that moment, to him at least, Emerald was the most beautiful girl Jaune had ever seen.

"You wanna survive this place," she said, using her aura enhanced strength to pull him upright. "Get released just so you can go out there and play hero? Fine by me Jaune, but we are really gotta get you better at using your fists. Or you know, at least better at taking a hit."

Despite her cheeky comment, Jaune was focused on only one part of her spiel.

"We?" Jaune asked, tentatively.

"We." Emerald confirmed.

Their hands remained entwined but, no longer blushing merely for holding a girl's hand, Jaune now felt as though he were simply shaking hands with Emerald, like he was just meeting her, or at least the real her, for the very first time.

"Hope you're a quick learner," She teased, moving suddenly to strike him again.

Despite the incoming fist, Jaune smiled.

Maybe his mom was right about friends and strangers after all.

Note:

Hello All!

Thanks for reading another chapter. I can't wait to read the reviews.

I'll be honest this is my least favorite chapter, mainly because it was all supposed to be in chapter 3, but it all became too bloated. As I go forward, I'm aiming to maintain this chapter length or longer (6-7k words), however some chapters might be longer than that. Chapter 5 begins the next arc of this story: Life in the Clink

While some reviewers have been worried this fic will get too dark, some have (sharing some of their own experiences) rightly indicated how tame it's been, so far at least. While not giving anything away, this story is based on contemporary scandals, but seeing it is set in a fictional world, I can use older examples of conditions in prisons, juvenile centers and orphanages for reference, while also adding new elements that the culture of Remnant would influence institutions such as these. While I can definitely say things will get much darker before they get better, I will absolutely not write abuse gratuitously. In the end, this is not a hurt/comfort story, it's an adventure story. If anyone would like some confirmation about which topics I will or will not explore, and to what detail, so as to not spoil anything for others, please feel free to contact me directly. I'll be happy to answer any questions or concerns, even if this fic is updated well past this point already. Links are on my ao3 profile.

Some extra ramblings:

If Jaune's letter is poorly formatted, or grammatically incorrect, it's because he's a fifteen-year-old boy. I treat dialogue much the same way.

Jaune does still, in part, judge Emerald for being a criminal. He's gonna have to learn that the line between criminality and victimhood is blurred. My intention is not (like in some other fics) for him to lose his moral compass or go full criminal as the story progresses. Emerald's cynicism will be balanced out with his own boundless optimism, and his desire to be a hero, to do the right thing. The hang up; in some circumstances, what the 'right thing' is can be pretty difficult to figure out, especially for someone so young, in a situation like his. During the fight in this chapter, one part of Emerald relished arguing with Jaune, knocking him down a peg or two, but a smaller part of her, the more vulnerable side, wanted to be proven wrong.

There's a good reason why it was Jaune's mother who taught him chess, and played with him, rather than his father. My basis of Jaune's mother is as a warrior as much as her husband, but in a different way. Think of the French partisans during the second world war, the folklore of femme-fatales who helped smuggle weapons and assassinate Nazi's. That's her side of the family.

Jaune and Max's chess game is based on Kasparov vs. Korchnoi (2001). Just used the first game on with a 'French defense' opening. Jaune (white) won the game by concession.

Fun fact: Did you know that for much of this story's development, Russet and Max were the same character? Later on, I funneled some old ideas I had for a different fic, and by trying to mix them I ended up with two characters that could not be made whole again. I probably agonized for about a week whether I made the right decision. Since I added the scene with Russet in this chapter at the very last minute, I'm fairly certain now that I did.

Bonus fun fact: The original title of this fic was going to be: Juvenile Delinquents.
Anyway, Special thanks to l0rd khaos for BetaReading.

Peace out everybody. Keep moving onward, and remember that someone loves you.