Jaune wasn't sure what to do with the information that Velvet accidentally placed in his lap. On the one hand, Blake being a faunus really didn't matter to him. Human, faunus – he just didn't care, and he'd made that perfectly clear to her in the past. Blake was Blake, first and foremost, and what species she happened to be was about as important to him as what color hair she had. Black was nice, but if it was blonde or brunette, that would be nice too.

The thing that made him uneasy about the entire situation was that she felt the need to hide it. It wasn't just because of Weiss since she'd been hiding her faunus traits even before meeting the girl. Blake had come to Beacon with every intention of hiding what she was, and Jaune couldn't help but feel that something was wrong about that.

There were faunus students at Beacon. Velvet was obviously the prime example but there were students in their year that were faunus. None of them hid who and what they were, and could be seen every day, walking around campus, in class, training, studying, living the student lifestyle.

He just didn't get it. Especially for someone as passionate about faunus rights as Blake was, it seemed almost blasphemous what she was doing. She was the kind of girl to be proud of what she was, not ashamed.

Her actions confused him.

Could Velvet be wrong? Whenever he thought this, the idea didn't last very long. No, Velvet had been horrified that she'd let it slip. If she wasn't sure about it, her reaction wouldn't have been so desperate. If she wasn't sure, there wouldn't have been a slip up in the first place. She was positive that Blake was a faunus, and Jaune couldn't ignore how suspicious her bow was.

Should he confront her about it? It wasn't like she was doing anything wrong and at the end of the day, it was her business. It had nothing to do with him and if she wanted to hide her faunus traits, then so be it. Jaune believed a person should never have to hide what and who they were, but his opinion didn't really matter.

It was her life, she could do what she wanted.

But he couldn't shake the idea that this was the symptom of something much larger, and it made him nervous. What could drive a person to hide themselves?

For now, all he could do was keep it to himself. It wasn't his secret to reveal, and he could only trust that Blake had a good reason to be doing what she was doing. Other than that, it was just a game of wait and see.

"You know, you've been staring at me for a while now. Do you have something to say?" Blake asked wryly, hand on hip. Behind her, there was a loud explosion, followed by a smattering of applause as Yang managed to control her Fire Dust demonstration. Professor Plum was among them, giving Yang a passing mark.

Jaune blinked, realizing that she was right. Trying to act casual, and very much not like he was staring at her bow, he carefully shifted his eyes down to meet her eyes. She didn't appear cross, her lips quirked in amusement.

He'd been told many times in his youth by his Ma that he was a very poor liar. Even when he wasn't actively trying to keep a secret, he always gave it away by how suspicious he would act. Like when he tried to hide the little bird he'd saved from the cat, keeping it in his closet and attempting to feed it worms, and his horrible acting whenever someone was in his room. It lasted all of five hours before his Ma found it. His sisters loved it because they knew he could never keep something hidden from them, and made it their mission to extract every embarrassing little secret he may have had.

Not that he ever broke with those kinds of attempts. While it was obvious to them he had something hidden, Jaune was as stubborn as an old billy goat and never gave it up, though sometimes he didn't have to say anything for them to confirm a detail. His reactions were enough.

Thankfully his teammates didn't know him well enough yet to know all his tells, and it was simple enough to deflect.

"Sorry, just lost in thought."

That wasn't a lie.

"I could see that," Blake quipped, moving closer. "Want to talk about it?"

Jaune shrugged, carefully keeping his face blank. "It's nothing. Just thinking about my family."

That also wasn't a lie, not entirely. Half-truths, right? That was the best way to lie. At least, that's what he'd heard. At this point, his sisters would already know that something was up, no matter how stone faced he was. That was the problem with them, though. Jaune was never stone faced unless he was hiding something.

But Blake didn't know that.

A strange expression crossed her face but it was gone as quickly as it come.

"Oh," she looked away awkwardly.

Jaune frowned.

"I was just trying to think of what to write in my letter home," he continued. He hadn't been thinking about that but it was something he needed to get onto soon. He'd been in Vale for awhile now and other than a brief note to let them know he'd arrived safely, he hadn't sent anything since.

"Can't you call them?" Blake asked quizzically.

"We don't have a phone in the house," he explained. "There is a public holo-screen at the local post office but they would have to call me, not the other way around."

It wasn't anything fancy like the stuff you find at the CCT or even at the numerous relay towers scattered across Remnant in small towns, but it was better than nothing. Letters were slow and there was always a chance they just didn't make it. The roads outside the kingdom walls were dangerous, even the well traveled ones, and Jaune's small village did not number among those that existed along those paths well traveled.

But it was all he had.

"I sent them one when I arrived in Vale but nothing since, my folks will be worried sick," he felt a little bad that he hadn't penned something earlier but acclimatizing to life in the big city had taken up most of his time. It was a poor excuse but he was sticking to it! "Not to mention my sisters…"

Something about the current conversation had Blake troubled and he wasn't sure what. He watched her as she opened her mouth, thought better of it, and shut it again, only to repeat the process a couple more times.

"Now it looks like you want to ask me something," he lightly ribbed back, and she sighed, shooting him a half-hearted glare.

"I do. I just…" she hesitated before he saw resolve settle in her eyes, hardening her features. "What do your parents think of your current path?"

"You mean becoming a Huntsman?"

She nodded.

"They weren't really a fan of it," Jaune admitted, thinking back. His mother had been staunchly against it, while his father had understood but tried to steer him towards something a little less dangerous. When it became apparent that he wasn't to be dissuaded, they gave their blessings and his Pa even gifted him the family sword. It had been an emotional day, that was for sure. "I guess most parents don't want to see their children go out to fight monsters but…"

He'd already fought them. That was probably one of the biggest factors in them accepting his wish to train and become a Huntsman. He'd already looked the Grimm dead in the eye and defended his family with no training, only a stubborn resolve born of fear. When his aura unlocked, perhaps that had sealed his destiny. It just took them some time to accept it.

He considered Blake for a moment, his eyes drifting back up to her bow briefly.

"Jaune?"

"My village was attacked when I was younger, by Grimm," he said, making his decision. "It was… bad. Really bad. Our house was attacked and… my sisters, they were trapped inside, surrounded by Grimm. My Pa wasn't a Huntsman but he knew how to fight, and was doing his best, but it wasn't looking good. They almost…"

Blake placed a hand on his arm, her face full of compassion. "Jaune…"

"I didn't even think. I charged in and nearly got myself killed, but then my aura unlocked. Talk about a lucky break. Even better, I had my semblance. The first Grimm I punched, my fist went through it. I don't really remember much about it, after that. Just… screaming. Lots of screaming."

"You don't have to – I didn't mean," she tried to stop him but he shook his head.

"It's fine. I don't like to think about it but – well, it has a happy ending. My family survived, they're all safe and sound. But my folks – they felt guilty, as if they'd failed us. In their eyes, I shouldn't have had to step up like that and defend my sisters… but they were also proud of me, and what I did. It was almost inevitable that I'd want to become a Huntsman after that, and I think they feared that – but in the end, here I am. They let me train, and they let me go."

It must have been difficult for them, knowing he was putting himself in danger for others.

They stood in silence for a bit, and watched as Weiss showed off her mastery of Dust with a very impressive display, combining several different types to create a myriad of effects, many of them dazzling.

"What would you have done, if they stood against your choice?" she asked quietly.

What would he have done?

Jaune sighed. "I'd have trained myself the best I could, whenever I had a spare moment, and when it was time to leave for Beacon, I'd have taken up my great-grandfather's sword and fled in the night."

Blake appeared surprised – and also not. Amber eyes gazed at him, a strange intensity held within.

"They'd be mad at you," she stated.

He nodded. "Yeah. They would be mad."

"And you'd still do it?"

He nodded again. "I'd still do it."

"Even if they may come to hate you?"

Her voice wavered, and he saw something cross her expression again, that same something from earlier. Regret?

Jaune smiled. "Blake, you're forgetting one thing."

She frowned. "What's that?"

"They're my parents," he said simply. "They may be mad at me. Furious, even. But they'd never hate me. At least, not the mother and father I know. I'd get an earful when next we met, and maybe my Pa would wallop me good for making my Ma cry – but they'd never hate me. I'm their son."

Blake looked down, her hands curling into fists. Jaune had no idea what this was about but it was clearly important to her with how she was acting.

"Do you really believe that?"

"I do."

Blake paused. "Even if… you did something reprehensible?"

He had an idea that this wasn't about him, and hadn't been from the very start.

"Blake…" he hesitated. "Did you do something like that?"

She tensed.

Jaune didn't press, instead saying, "It would really depend on what I did. If I murdered someone? Then yeah, maybe they'd come to hate me. That isn't an unreasonable possibility."

"...and what if you associated with people that did?"

He almost missed it, her voice soft as another explosion went off. This time it was Nora, lightning crackling as she drank it all up with her semblance, her laughter containing a tinny undertone. Jaune stared at her, and slowly, a dawning realization overcame him.

No.

It couldn't be…

If Blake had known what he already knew, she'd have never said that. Jaune would guarantee it. But Velvet's revelation, Blake's odd actions in hiding what she was, her constant arguments with Weiss, her fervent defense of not just faunus but the White Fang and now this admission… any of it on its own didn't mean anything, but it hit him like a stack of bricks, and his mind reeled as it connected the dots.

Something must have shown on his face because he saw the moment she realized she'd perhaps revealed more than she should have, her face going blank as she stepped away. Their conversation had been loaded with tension, and it now only skyrocketed with a different kind.

"Blake…" he tried but Jaune knew she wasn't willing to continue, turning away from him.

Blake was a member of the White Fang. The thought came suddenly.

Or had been, he quickly corrected before he let that thought get away from him. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but…

Either way, it explained so much – and with dread, he realized the bombshell that was just waiting to erupt if it were true. His eyes found Weiss who was chiding Nora about something, Ruby snickering by their side. She must have felt his gaze on her because she looked his way questioningly.

He smiled but it was a poor smile, one that she saw through if her furrowing brow was anything to go by.

Things were only going from bad to worse. If Blake was White Fang, former or current, and she was on a team with Weiss Schnee – no, not just on a team but her partner… it was a recipe for disaster.

Could he be wrong about this?

Yeah. He was making a bit of a leap here. He could be dead wrong, and these people she associated with – these people that did reprehensible things – could be someone else, but…

Did he think he was wrong about it?

...No, he didn't.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur as he went through the motions. They had Language, followed by Survival and Navigation, and finished with a double Grimm Studies session. Professor Port was in fine form and spent the entire first half of class waxing on about past exploits, putting most of them to sleep, and then sprung an impromptu test on them, a group assignment that had them assigning Grimm to their most likely habitat, placing pins on a massive map of Remnant.

He thought maybe no one would notice that his mind was on other matters since Port had caused significant enough psychic damage with his long winded tales, but that wasn't the case. Nora cornered him the first chance she got, grabbing his arm and hauling him down the hallway before anyone could get a word in edgewise.

Yang whistled behind them.

"Nora, what are you doing?" he asked as she pulled him into an unused classroom and slammed the door.

"Okay, what's wrong?" she asked bluntly.

Jaune grimaced.

"And don't try and lie about it, because I know something is bothering you and if you do, I'll make your life miserable."

"...And how would you do that?"

Her smile was pure evil. "Jaune, why do you have my panties in your bag? Those are my favorite pair."

She was kidding, of course. While Nora was a bit of a jokester and wasn't above dropping veiled comments, she wouldn't outright assassinate him with fake news. Because that is exactly what would happen if she said that around their predominantly female friend group. He would be dead by sundown.

Jaune snorted, shaking his head.

"Please don't even pretend with that. I'd die and you know it."

Nora chortled before her face became serious, concern shining in her eyes. "So – what's wrong?"

Jaune hesitated. Hadn't he been thinking that this wasn't his secret to reveal and he should mind his own business? That was before he realized what he might be dealing with. Now that he had pretty good inkling on what Blake was truly hiding, sitting on it and keeping it entirely to himself felt a little… reckless.

Getting another perspective might help and while Nora could be a very unserious person, Jaune knew that when it was important, she was more than willing to treat it with the appropriate care.

She was also his partner, and if you couldn't tell your partner, who could you tell?

"Let's move away from the door," he said, and they made their way over to the far side of the classroom. Jaune pulled out a chair for her and Nora smiled, sitting down before he grabbed a chair for himself.

"Have I ever told you that I adore your country boy manners?" she teased.

Jaune grinned briefly before sighing, placing his hands on the desk between them. "Whatever I say needs to stay between just the two of us."

Nora nodded. "Of course. I won't break your trust, Jaune. It'll be safe with me."

Taking a deep breath, he spilled everything. The fact that Blake was likely a faunus, that he had suspicions that she was associated with the White Fang – currently or formerly, he didn't know – and the shitstorm that was likely to occur if Weiss found out about it. It felt like he said everything in a single breath, and it took him a moment to settle afterwards as the heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders, shared between them.

"Oh," Nora said faintly, looking as troubled as he felt. "Well… shit."

Jaune huffed out a laugh. "You can say that again. You don't think I'm overreacting, do you? That I'm seeing things that aren't there?"

"I mean, it does seem pretty suspicious. I always thought it was weird she was hiding her cat ears but I didn't want to pry, ya know?"

Jaune blinked.

"Cat ears?"

Nora nodded. "Yup. She has a pair of cute little kitty ears under her bow. They're so adorable, it's a shame she keeps them hidden away but I guess if she is White Fang, it makes a bit of sense. A little on the extreme side, it's not like everyone thinks every faunus is a member. Do you think she's here on a mission or something?"

"Wait, wait, hold up," he stared at Nora in disbelief. "What do you mean she has cat ears? How do you know that?"

"How do you think?" she rolled her eyes, as if he was being very silly. "I've seen them, duh~!"

"You knew she was a faunus? Since when?" he asked incredulously.

"Since our first week," Jaune didn't think he could feel any more surprised but Nora, as usual, had ways to outdo his expectations. "I accidentally walked in on her when she was in the bathroom. I didn't think anyone was there because the shower wasn't going and the door wasn't locked. I guess she just forgot. She reacted pretty quickly and covered her head with a towel, but I saw her reflection in the mirror before she could. She was pretty spooked by the whole thing."

"So she doesn't know that you know?"

Nora shrugged. "She never confronted me about it. She was a little tense around me for a while but I didn't treat her any differently, and I didn't question her about it because I didn't want to upset her, so things just sort of sorted themselves out."

Trust Nora to find out before everyone and keep it hidden.

"I was going to tell you but I forgot," Nora rubbed her neck awkwardly, a rare moment of embarrassment for her. "It just slipped my mind after that. It wasn't important, right?"

But now it was. He had no proof. Maybe it was all in his head and this was a huge mistake, jumping to conclusions like this, but he couldn't ignore it. He hoped he was wrong. That he was overthinking things and being stupid. Even if it ended up destroying their friendship, it was better than the alternative, right?

"Do you think she's up to something?"

"I… don't know," he said honestly. "What would the White Fang even want with Beacon?"

"Nothing good," Nora sighed, troubled. "Blake can be a little withdrawn sometimes but she doesn't strike me as a bad girl."

"No," Jaune agreed. "I don't think she is a bad girl either."

The only way they'd discover the truth of the matter is if they talked to Blake herself. But how did you go about broaching such a topic? Walking up to her and asking if she was a member of a terrorist organization sounded like a poor course of action, but not doing anything also felt like a reckless decision. If they were wrong about all of this, it made them look like jerks. It could damage any chance of their team going forward. If they were right…? It felt like there wasn't a win condition.

"Weiss will flip her lid when she finds out," Nora said grimly. "You picked a fine team to lead, Jaune-Jaune."

"I didn't pick, remember?" Jaune leaned back. "None of us picked this."

That was the only reason he wasn't considering the worst case scenario. There was one thing at Beacon that the White Fang would be very interested in and that was Weiss. She was a Schnee, and from the little Jaune had seen and heard, and from what Weiss herself had told him, they'd have no issue with making an attempt on her life.

The fact that Blake had ended up as Weiss' partner would have been comical if it wasn't so serious. And if she had been at Beacon for Weiss specifically, she'd done a very poor job at keeping off her radar. Their constant bickering at the beginning of the year didn't strike Jaune as the actions of someone trying to be discreet.

And if she really were gunning for Weiss, she'd had ample opportunity to make a move on the heiress. They slept in the same room. All it would take was for Blake to attack in the dead of night, and the deed would be done.

Thinking about it all just made Jaune realize how ridiculous it all was.

He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't even know where to start with all of this."

"No kidding. Damned if we do, damned if we don't," Nora quipped. "All I know is that the White Fang are bad news, and we know they're trying to make a move, right? Why else would they be trying to sneak things into the city? If Blake is involved in any of that…"

Then they needed to stop her.

He didn't want to believe it. The Blake he knew was friendly if a little withdrawn at times. Passionate and well meaning, her heart in the right place. But how well did any of them really know each other?

Jaune recalled their conversation in Dust Usage. She'd asked about his parents, and things had quickly spiralled from there. If anything, she appeared full of regret. About what, he could only guess at. Something to do with her own parents?

It was starting to give him a headache.

"What do you want to do?" Nora asked.

That was the million lien question.

As awkward and as horrible as it might turn out, Jaune could really only see one appropriate way forward.

He needed to speak with her.

"I think we need to confront her," he said, the words sour on his tongue. "We can't just ignore it."

Nora pulled a face. "Right. Okay. Hmmm – so how do you want to go about it? We should probably leave Weiss in the dark, right?"

Telling Weiss would be as helpful as lighting a stick of dynamite when all they needed was a shovel. "Right. She doesn't need to know about this. It'll only make things worse."

"How long do you want to wait?" Nora asked, brow furrowed.

"Not long," he said, thinking. "Maybe this weekend would be best. You could invite her down to Vale, meet me after work and then we can try to soften the blow…"

Not that it'll do any good but it was probably for the best to have this conversation away from Beacon, and away from Weiss.

"I could ask Ruby to keep Weiss busy on Saturday, they've been hanging out a lot more recently," he added. "She's been wanting to show Weiss some new sketches on possible upgrades for Myrtenaster."

"I can get Renny to keep an eye on her, as well."

They had the beginnings of a plan forming, now it was only a matter of implementing it.

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