AN: Um… I'm sorry… Okay, okay, I really am sorry. I actually thought that I posted a video last month. Then, I saw the schedule for the last chapter. Then I looked at the published chapters on the site, and um. I am truly sorry that I didn't post it. So here you go.

Chapter 7: Shifting Through a Mess

Glynda felt stuck in her room. When she tested the waters an hour later, Jaune was just sitting there staring down her bedroom door, his hands resting on the pommel of his sword. So when she got the call for dinner, she didn't have much faith in the atmosphere. She stepped out, and when Jaune didn't have a plate for himself, that only zeroed in on her fear.

"Where's your plate?" She dared to ask.

"I'll eat when I can; it'll be lights out after." Glynda stared back at her guard as he brought the full force of his might down on her with just a gaze. With a quick look away, she strode to the table and sat down to eat. It was just as good as before, but something was missing. A flavor that always greeted her in the first bite and was still there in the last.

It didn't matter; the flavor palette of the food at the moment didn't matter. If it was salty, it was there; if it was sweet, it was also there. She finished her food and made for her room. It felt wrong as a small knot started to twist in her stomach. "What did you say to Weiss?" Jaune asked from his perch. "I need the truth and only the truth."

That stopped her at the door as she looked for any answer that wasn't the truth. Nothing would work because every excuse would be outlandish at best and stupid at worst. She whipped up an excuse about sex, but Glynda didn't know Weiss well. Unfortunately, it might have been her best choice. "We were discussing intercourse." She explained, giving her guard only half of the truth.

"Wah," Glynda turned and saw Jaune's composer broken. His metal gauntlet caught his head as he shook it. "Oh, Weiss," he said in an exhausted tone. She was lucky, and thankfully, somewhat of an educated guess got her where she is now.

"Yes, I was asking whether or not you two have slept together and what you were like." She turned and did her best to saunter up to him. "Unfortunately, she didn't have much of an answer. Do you have an answer, Jaune?" He sputtered and grew red but regained some control over his facilities. Jaune snagged her arm and pinned her to the bedroom door.

"I won't be tricked again," he hissed. "Whatever deceptions you are trying to use on me won't work. I've been through this before." He breached her room and tossed The Badwitch into the makeshift cell. "You will find nothing, witch." He cracked her door with a slam, but bits of magic started to whisk the wounds away.

There on the floor, she could only guess he had run-ins with a witch—someone so dangerous that they left a permanent scar on his heart. That would put a stop to her plans, so finding out about his past would be her only option. Then, she could avoid the pitfalls of blindly walking into a dark forest.

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Another day came, and Jaune was just as unapproachable. She sat alone at the table like last night, eating breakfast. The food didn't lose its usual quality, but the missing feeling was still there. "So, what do you have planned today?" He was reading a collection of fairy tales; the title read 'Tales of a Forgotten World.'

"My job," he said curtly.

She tried to play it off as a joke with a small laugh. "Well, I sure hope so. But I mean beyond the current day-to-day. Surely you have some flowers to plant or something?" He sat there silently, and moments passed. The sound of a page flipping was her answer. Glynda groaned on the inside. It was going to be hard to break past the brooding child. But she was Glynda, The Bad Witch.

If she could research the true reason for the world, she could surely make a knight bend and break. She finished her breakfast and made to leave for the front door. "Where are you going?" he asked, looking up from his leather-bound book.

"Oh, I'm just going to get some air. It would be a shame for it to be wasted. Coming?" She winked at the end of her reply, and she saw him roll his eyes heavily. You'll break before you know it. They sat outside for 30 minutes, with not much between them beyond the occasional page flip. Glynda shifted, uncomfortable in her simple wooden chair. There was nothing that could keep her mind occupied long enough.

She knew what a bird was and what it could do. The trees hadn't changed since they left them last night. The fighting circle was still there, and she wondered if it could be shaped into something else. Would it be possible for them to have the entire forest under control? But where would the focus point rest? It was definitely in the main manor, but where?

"You look bored."

"Huh?" Glynda turned to see Jaune's strange, flat face. It always had some form of emotion. Either he was laughing nervously, scratching his head when he was embarrassed, or he had a smile that would almost never go away. "Oh, yes. I just have nothing to do, unfortunately."

He laughed, showing some kind of emotion for the first time today. "You were the one who wanted to go outside." He stood and left for the front door. "Let me get you a book." He came back with a stack of books she never read before. "They are the 'Personal Stories of Peter Port.' He's a great man," he chuckled to himself, "if you can get past the long-winded stories."

She looked at them and sighed as she picked up a novel. It said, 'Personal Stories of Peter, Book 1.' She opened the cover, and it had a small handwritten note: 'This is the true stories that you wouldn't see in the other publications. Use it well. - For the people that will follow me.' Jaune stepped to the grounds in front of the house and started to go through different sword forms.

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He fought an invisible opponent. They went for a swipe of his neck, and Jaune parried the sword with his guard. Shoulder checked the enemy and went for the killing stroke. He stepped away and went back to his original position. His sword was ready, and his shield was raised to protect anything he had in mind. An attack aimed for his main body, and Jaune deflected the direction it came from. Another killing blow, and he returned to his original position.

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"Wait, he fought a drake and won?!" Glynda looked up from her book to see Jaune's sweat-covered form from his practice. His tunic was tossed aside, and his toned upper half was on display for the world. She had to admit the shape he was in was pleasing to anyone with eyes and anyone who could lean into the male form.

He chuckled but had to swallow more air as it had escaped as mirth. "Yeah, he did. I think it was before he became the head of combat for the order." A brand sat near the belt line. The excitement of the story slowly disappeared like waves lapping at the shore.

"What's that?" She gestured to his stomach. Jaune hardness returned, and he looked at the brand.

"A witch put this on me after she cornered me. I don't have a clue what it does, and neither does Ozpin." He pulled at it, and the skin stretched to its limit. He let go and looked away with anger.

"I think I know the witch who did that. I might even know what it might be." Jaune looked back at her. His soul reached out from behind his eyes. She could see that he wanted to ask a question, but he pulled away and returned to his training. "I was trying to find out ways to get out. I thought that maybe if I fed information to the Schnee sorceress, then maybe she would help. I hoped to reach her empathy and the possibility that she might like you."

"Heh," he looked to the sky and rubbed the back of his head. She wondered what that mannerism could mean. "I know it's hard, but it's for the best. You could've ended up in Solomon's Lamp, and I heard they don't treat their prisoners correctly."

"Yes, but you don't understand what I found." It's the true nature of the world. That was her thought, and that was what she wanted to say, but it never came out. "Damnit! They put a spell on me without me knowing!"

"They did?"

"Yes! I can't tell you what my research is about. Damn you, Emerald Warlock!" She slammed the book shut and slapped it back on the stack. She huffed and sat there with her arms crossed. She stared down the ground with the hope it would shudder with fear. "You're stopping me at every turn." She huffed again in her seat like a child.

Jaune chuckled at her antics, but when he walked up with his stomach staring at her, she focused on the brand that sat there on burned flesh. Twisted and mangled by flame, she reached out hesitantly. "May I?" Jaune nodded. "I think I do know the witch who made this spell. Her name is Cinder, right?" His stomach flexed as his anger flared beneath his flesh.

"Yes," the emission of raw feelings seethed from his mouth as he stared her down. There was no doubt he was thinking of the witch. It, however, gave her a slight blush. She fought it down to a light dusting of pink. "She killed my partner for a power that manic doesn't deserve."

"I know of her only through her spells, truly." She touched the brand, and he flinched. "Hold still. I want to get a feel of the brand. Now I never got to meet her personally. I'm not a real criminal, after all."

"Uh, huh," he said sardonically.

"Oh, be quiet, you." She slapped his stomach, and Jaune laughed. "I got to know of her spells more and more when I became infamous. I had to because all of my old connections became a fray sham of the past. I believe this one of her brands tracks its target and possibly even weakens you whenever she wants. I won't truly know unless I reverse engineer it." Jaune stood there contemplatively. He was silent thinking about the everything Glynda told him and she saw the chance. "What if I helped you? In turn you help me lessen my sentence."

"Could you make it so I could track her?"

She didn't know if it was possible, but she didn't care. It was a chance she wouldn't get again. "Yes."

"We can't tell anyone. If anyone finds out, and I mean anyone, we're screwed. You'll be on your own." Jaune stepped back and got down on one knee.

"I understand." He held his hand, and she took it.

AN: Leave a review if you have the time. I read them and do my best to interrupt them neutrally. If you like my work, you can find me on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook under DragooFire. Thank you for reading, and I hope I made you smile.

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Next Chapter: June 19th, I promise.