"How nice to see you." The voice of Cinder Fall purrs. "It seems we need to have a discussion about how things are going on your end?"
"I'm sure we do Cinder. Especially since you called for me at such short notice." Roman stopped trying with the over the top bravado when talking to Fall a while ago now. He was too damn tired, and he had to save his energy for the dust heists. Instead he spoke casually to Cinder, he knew it pissed her off which was a nice little victory for him.
"You've been doing well on acquiring dust. I really am surprised. You are more valuable than I had thought. That tear you pulled two weeks back really was something. It could've been cleaner, but we'll get to that in a moment."
"Thank you Cinder. I've been trying my hardest to prove my value to you." Roman says with enough sincerity to keep the woman from giving him any more challenges. Cinder laughs. The sound is sharp and concise like she practices it in front of a mirror every day. There is no emotion in it whatsoever. It kind of gave Roman the creeps
"Now as I said before. We do have a lot to talk about." Roman leans back preparing himself for what the woman is going to bring up. "On the topic of the few messes you left behind."
'Of course. Damn it Neo.'
"What went wrong?"
"A few security guards, and a shop owner who managed to catch me from behind while I was collecting dust. Nothing more than that."
"I'm sure." Cinder says her face hardening into a scowl. "It looks like you handled it as best you could."
"Where are the brats today?" Torchwick says trying to get off the topic.
"Handling other business." Roman scoffs. The answer was helpful enough. When you're a thief like he is then you learn a lot about reading peoples answers to questions. Cinder hadn't wanted the other two be here, and had sent them away for real. It meant this talk was important. "I wanted to talk to you about how exactly you managed to be in two places at once."
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. I was interested in what went on that night so I managed to get the security footage of the shops you have stolen from, when something stuck out to me. At the same time you were robbing a shop on the eastside of the city another one in the South Vale Mall was in the process of being robbed."
"It could've been a couple of Junior's men."
"That's what I thought at first too, but I was curious and dove further. It turns out a lot of these police reports had two or even three robberies that fit your motif, and style going on. Normally I would just say that it was just them connecting you to multiple robberies because it fit. But it really popped out to me that during the eyewitnesses could've sworn they saw Roman Torchwick. Even some of the footage from outside the buildings back up the claim. Either you have a cloning semblance you've been keeping from me… Or you have someone else working with you."
'Oh fuck.' Roman thinks 'We're screwed.'
"I do have a cloning semblance. It's only one clone at a time, but I can control them enough to function far away from me."
"Oh really? That is an extremely useful semblance. I wish it was true."
Well that didn't work. "... Fine. I hired someone to help me with the heists some nights. They're good at disguises, and they don't ask questions."
"You just keep digging yourself a bigger hole don't you Torchwick?" Cinder's lip quirks up, "I know about you and Neopolitan."
"Neopolitan? The Ice Cream thief? I don't even know her that well. We ran into eachother once at Junior's and later at a museum on a heist due to us both getting the same information, but thats it"
"That's not what some of the things I'm looking at seem to say. From the information I'm looking at you two have known eachother for years. She even lives with you."
"She lives in the same building as me?" Roman tries to sound shocked, but it only comes out as a croak.
"You just cant help yourself from lying can you?"
Roman gives up knowing it's bad for both him and Neo's safety to keep the charade going "How did you find out?"
"As well as you're connected to the city, I am connected to everyone and everything on this planet."
"I asked how did you find out Cinder."
"None of your busines."
'It was Emerald.' Roman thinks "It was Emerald wasn't it?"
"Ah ah ah Roman you've heard what happens to curious felines haven't you?" Roman shuts his mouth, and nods knowing it's not good for his safety to keep going. "I am going to have to punish you, and her for keeping this information hidden from me. What an interesting turn of events. I suddenly just got a second illusionist under my control."
"She is not under your control." Roman says flatly
"Nobody decides that but me"
"Nobody decides that but her!" Roman stands up violently and takes a step towards the woman. Cinder doesn't flinch, but does crack a smile at the thief showing a bit of a backbone.
"I will not ask you for your cooperation on this matter. You kept a secret from me. A very important one. Do not forget Roman…" Cinder lazily looks up at the man "I. Own. You. I can and will kill both her and you on a whim if I feel like. I've already started thinking about plans for her as well once you're done collecting dust."
"You get to try to tell her that without ending up seriously harmed yourself." Roman threatens.
She smiles at Roman "No I wont. She trusts you, and if you tell her then I'm sure she will listen. She's already helping you anyways. Whats so difficult about telling her that she has a new boss?"
"This is low Cinder. I have been breaking my back for you, and now you do this?"
"I don't care how you feel about it Roman. Tell her that she will now officially be apart of this, and if she refuses. You should hope you know a corner of this planet that I do not. For her sake."
Roman lowers his head in defeat. He had come here expecting a meeting about him doing something else once she had all the dust she needed. He hadn't expected that Cinder Fall was going to tell him she knew about his partner, and was going to use her no matter what he wanted. It made him sick.
"Now that we've gotten that out of the way. I will be leaving." Cinder stands from her spot, "I do expect that you will not hide anything else from me. There will be real consequences next time."
The door closes, and Roman stands thinking about how badly he fucked up. "GODS DAMN IT!" The thief picks up the chair he was sitting on and launches across the warehouse. The chair shatters into a million pieces and Roman huffs in anger. He knew she would be okay if it was helpful. She wouldn't be happy at all with answering to Cinder though. He couldn't stand the thought of her getting used though, and knew she would be irrate when he told her what had happened with Cinder.
"I'm sorry Neo…"
Two weeks had already passed for Jaune. The days felt slow, but the nights felt like they went by in a flash. He hadn't trained with Neo the week before. He was settling into Beacon, and she had some work to deal with herself. They had still texted throughout the days though. Apparently Neo's attempt at getting her partner to notice her hadn't work.
Jaune felt like he could relate. He had tried asking Weiss out a few times. He complimented, and flirted with her, but he was met with an icy reception. One time literally. A few days ago she had used ice dust to glue him to the floor.
He hadn't mentioned his failed attempts at romance to Neo yet. He might ask for her advice when he saw her in person later though. He was going down to meet Neo for their training, after lessons were done. He really needed the training from his few experiences in class sparring against the members of team CRDL. Or more specifically their leader, Cardin Winchester. Jaune had lost 2 of the 3 times he had faced him so far, and the other fight was a draw that felt like a major victory for him.
Maybe it was because Cardin was able to get in his head so easily. Maybe it was because the crowd. Then again Jaune got his ass handed to him in his sparring sessions with the members of RWBY, and his own team. The only person he seemed to fight well against was Yang, and that was because their banter would manage to get her guard lowered a bit. Jaune had made sure to note that as a good thing to exploit in a real match between him and her if he ever had to face her one on one in Goodwitch's class. It also helped he was able to tank hits from her better than most.
Speaking of team RWBY. The leader of the team was coming with him down to Vale on Saturday to get a new recoil spring she had commissioned to better handle dust rounds a month prior. Jaune had wanted to explore the city a bit more, and wanted to see Junior and the twins, so he suggested they go down together, and hang out without their teams for a bit before they split up. Ruby had gladly accepted, her team was having some issues, and she needed to get away from them a bit. Maybe talking to another team leader would help her out a bit.
Classes had ended for the day, and it was time for sparring between students. A lot of the students didn't really do all that much sparring at all, and they fell into two groups. The ones doing whatever they felt like, and the ones of that were studying. The only team besides his in here most of the time was team RACT. Some nice guys for the most part. Today they were sparring two on two, and new manuevers and moves to help with team chemistry. Today it was Nate and Barry sparring against Alex, and Jericho. Jericho the smallest of the group had offered a spar with Jaune a bit earlier, but Jaune had declined, telling him maybe when he got better.
Some of the older students would stop by and spar as well, and Jaune loved seeing that. Especially the third and fourth years. It was incredible to see the way they moved, and fought. He hoped he could get to that level by the time he left this school.
He hadn't done any sparring today because of his meeting with Neo later. Instead he sat in the stands, and watched for a while trying to see if there was anything he could pick up from watching the other students. When it came down to it though, he was really just in here to watch the spectacle that the fights were. After about 45 minutes of watching he stood up and left to get his motion sickness pills, put on his armor, and his wallet for his trip down to Vale.
Jaune boards the airship, and sits down, and closes his eyes breathing slowly. He trusted the pills, but he was still a bit nervous flying. When Jaune heard someone sit down next to him. It was Blake. He really hadn't expected to see her here this time of day. Usually she was getting dragged around by Yang or Ruby.
"Hey Blake, What're you doing here?"
"Going down to the city, I can guess that you're doing the same?"
"You got that right." Jaune smiles at the girl, "What're you going down to Vale for?"
"There's a bookstore, who's owner I'm familiar with. I was going to visit him, and possibly buy a book."
"Sound's pretty cool. I know a guy who owns a bookstore. He's a faunus, and a really nice guy who deserves more customers. You should check it out some time it's called Tuksons Book Trade."
"That's actually where I was headed…" Blake says mildly surprised.
"Huh." Jaune blinks. "How funny."
"How do you know him?"
"Well I went into his shop a month into living in the city, and bought a few books to help me get ready for Beacon. I occasionally would help him out when I had time. He helped a lot especially since I was new to this whole thing."
"What thing?" Blake asks, growing a little suspicious of Jaune.
"The city thing." Jaune quickly says.
"Sure… The City is big after all."
Jaune lets out a breath. "Yeah… So what kind of books do you like?"
"Romance, and action mostly. Sometimes a good comedy, or classic. My favorite though is definitely romance. Especially forbidden romance."
"I can understand that. I haven't read many books outside of ones to help me get better prepared for Beacon. I've enjoyed comics, and have gotten back into them since I've been here they're good for when you have some free time." Blake nods her respect for Jaune dropping slightly. "But I have always loved a good adventure story, and I do have a soft spot for enemies to lovers as a trope."
"Really? I love enemies to lovers. I didn't really peg you for much of a reader especially since I've only seen you with comics."
"Haha… Yeah I've loved adventure stories ever since I was little, and I got to hear stories of my father, his father, and his father, and so on being heroes. I always wanted to be like them. I dove right into comics of superheroes, and books about adventures, and wars."
"What's your favorite book?" Blake asks curious about what Jaune liked
"Well it's not just one book, but a whole series. I've always loved the Iron Dragon Rider series. What about you Blake? I'm sure you've got a lot of favorites."
Blake thinks for a moment wondering if she should tell him what her favorite series was. "I'm a diehard fan of the Ninja's of Love series. I'm actually going down to see if Tukson has the newest one."
"A couple of my sisters love that series, I couldn't really get into it, but I was also about 10 when tried reading it, and the first sex scene kept me away from them."
"They are very… explicit at some points. If you like adventure though, I think the story is amazing, and the writing is superb. You should try them."
"I'll think about it especially if you're the one recommending. Have you ever read the Iron Dragon Rider series?"
"I read the first book a couple years ago, and thought the story was a bit childish to be frank."
"The first two books are fairly geared to more of a younger teen demographic, but after that they get pretty deep, and mature."
"Maybe I'll give them another chance. I haven't really gotten to talk about books with anyone. This is nice. You're also pretty calm right now."
"It's probably the motion sickness pills." Jaune says wondering if the pills he got weren't just for calming ones stomach.
"You're much more palatable like this. I like it."
"Very blunt. Here I was thinking we were developing a friendship." Jaune laughs
"Sorry. I meant at school you're fairly high strung, and usually harassing my teammate."
Jaune looks down and rubs the back of his head. "I've been trying to get her to give me a chance. I was hoping if I was confident, and persistent that she would."
"She's cold. She's probably been that way her whole life." Blake thinks about giving Jaune some advice, but knowing how much the Schnee heiress hates it she decides not to.
"You're right. I know she is, but whenever I see her smile from beating an opponent, or getting a good grade on a test… All I can think about is how much I want to make her smile like that at me."
Blake looked at Jaune, and a small smile formed on the edge of her lips. He may be a dork, but he's got a good heart. As she's lost in thought. The air ship lands with a soft thud. "Seems like we're here."
"It does seem that way."
"You really don't mind if I come along?"
"Not at all."
Blake and Jaune exit the airship, and head towards Tukson's. A new friendship between the two having formed.
Jaune had spent close to an hour with Blake before he eventually left. She hadn't gotten to ask him where he was going, but she didn't really mind being left alone. Nobody at Beacon was to know they hung out. Both of them agreed that Yang would hold it over their heads, and tease them forever if they did.
The air cools as the night begins to set in, and Jaune walks the streets. Fall was rapidly approaching, and Jaune liked it. The colors were beautiful, and the temperature was great for what he usually wore.
He texted Neo that he was on his way, and would be there in under five minutes. He had already gotten to the warehouses, and was just strolling slowly to their spot. When he opened the door the light was on. Something that hadn't happened since he had been coming here. Someone must have wanted to move some things out.
As Jaune makes his way to the centrer of the makeshift arena he feels a chill go down his spine. Like someone is watching him. Slowly he turns around. Just to find nothing.
WHACK!
Jaune flies across the area crashing through one of the crates. His ribs were on fire. What the hell had just hit him. Jaune pulls himself out of the crate, and faces the assailant. "Hey Neo. Can you give me a warning, or at least hit me that hard when I'm not expecting it? I think you just broke a rib."
Neo didn't make any movement. He couldn't even see her face. It was constantly shifting in and out of focus. Jaune had never seen that before, and was a bit scared "I know I was a little later than usual. But you can forgive me r-right?"
When Neo moves again Jaune can barely see her, let alone react. The handle of hush cracks across his cheek disorienting the knight. Before he can turn his head back a small fist buries itself in his stomach.
"GUH!" Jaune gasps.
Hush whips around again the blade slicing into his aura. Jaune backs off, and pulls out Crocea Mors. He might die, but at least when his body is found they'll think he went down fighting. Neo meets Jaune once again in a violent clash. He doesn't even see Hush coming in, but his instinct lets him block the attempt to behead him.
The next shot comes immediately after as she kicks him hard on the inside of his thigh. Jaune grunts in pain. 'Any god or diety, if listening… please save me.' The boot woman's boot slams into his chest pushing him back into a crate, and knocking the wind out of him. A barrage of punches, kicks, and stabs hit Jaune draining his aura, and keeping him from recovering. He was fairly sure she had stabbed him at least ten times in the span of two seconds during the barrage.
After what feels like an eternity of punishment the blows cease. Lifting up his shield to cover his torso Jaune stands backed up against the crate preparing for another onslaught. When he doesn't feel anymore attacks the knight looks up, and sees Neo falling towards him with Hush aimed to shish kebab him from head to ass. Jaune jumps out of the way, and sees Neo shatter.
She had led him right back into the middle of the arena. Attacks could come from all directions. He wished he had his team here, or at the very least Pyrrha to watch his back. Sadly though he didn't.
So Jaune stood in the middle hoping that whatever the girl had planned wouldn't be too painful. His wish went unfulfilled as a kick to the back of his left knee dropped him dropped him to his knee. When he felt Neo's legs lock around his neck his first thought was fairly impure, but it was quickly swapped for fear when he realized he was losing the ability to breathe. Jaune dropped Crocea Mors, and tapped on the girls leg in quick succession, but that did nothing.
Trying to think fast Jaune lifted himself to his feet causing the girl to lose her balance and grab onto his face. Thank the gods for aura, because it felt like she was trying to get a bowling ball grip into his skull. Losing oxygen though. Jaune did the one thing he could think of and ran as fast as he could towards a container. If he hit it hard enough maybe he could dislodge her from him.
As he gets closer he feels the pressure around his neck loosen, and eventually leave entirely. Jaune gasps holding his neck. "Please. Neo. I. Tapped…"
Neo doesn't seem to care, and rushes right back in. Jaune seeing his weapons on the floor puts his fists up, and hunches over trying to protect as much of his internal organs as possible. When the blade of Hush slices across his forearms jaune winces but stays put. He has no chance against Neo's speed, and whatever's fueling her right now is not something Jaune wants to risk anything more than a few punches. Maybe if he could connect solidly she would snap out of it.
Next time Neo comes back Jaune starts trying to fight back. He's punished for each movement he makes against the tiny demon. Slicing, stabbing, kicking, and punching. It hurts a bit, and Jaune knows his aura has to be under half by now. He needs to either figure out how to escape or knock Neo out of it.
So Jaune ran. He ran as fast as he could towards the door, he could come back for crocea mors later. The door is less than ten steps away when something catches his leg and sends him flying directly into the warehouse wall instead. Jaune lays on the ground for a minute.
He can feel Neo standing above him. As he stays still he manages to come up with a plan and waits as she stands there. As soon as he feels her nudge his side with her boot he pounces and latches onto her leg bringing her to the ground. Neo uses her other foot to stomp on Jaune's face. Jaune slowly climbs up the girls leg and the kicks are exchanged for punches.
When Jaune makes it up to Neo's head he's covered in bruises. His aura starting to fail after the relentless beating. Jaune pulls his own arm back and hits Neo directly in the nose. The punch stops Neo from moving momentarily. When her motions resume she grabs Jaune's left arm and wrenches it outwards. Jaune feels a pop in his shoulder , and a sharp pain and instinctively cradles his arm.
Neo takes the opportunity to push Jaune off of her, and Jump onto his chest and hold him there. Punches rain down on the knights face, and Jaune brings his non injured arm up to shield himself. Neo bats the appendage away and keeps whaling on him. Jaune's aura breaks with little flecks of white, and yellow. Neo doesn't stop, and a hook dislocates his Jaw and knocks him out. The next one breaks his nose. When Neo feels the blood on her fists on the next punch she stops, and looks down at the unconscious knight.
His face is bloodied, and swollen his mouth looks like he was still in the process of getting punched. She may have went a bit overboard. Was he breathing? Neo leans down and listens for breath, and feels a light warmth on her ear as he exhales. Neo exhales her own breath of relief, and grabs his jaw, and tries moving it back into place. With the sound of wet bones grinding, and a pop. She was glad he was asleep, because she was about ninety percent sure she did that in the most painful and wrong way possible.
His left arm was also pretty messed up from her twisting it. Feeling through his hoodie she felt his shoulder was out of place. She must've dislocated it. That was a problem she actually knew how to solve at least enough for his aura to take care of any other damage. Although with how strong, and how much aura he had it might just pop back into place on its own eventually. Better safe than sorry though. Neo takes Jaune's arm by the wrist, and pulls it to the side until its flat. After that she presses her feet into his side to stop him from moving towards her, and pulled.
Jaune's arm pops back into place, and Neo gets up. Kneeling in front of Jaune the tiny thief smacks him softly. When that doesn't wake him up she kicks him in the side. That ends up doing the trick. When Jaune's eyes open as much as they can Neo can immediately tell he's in a lot of pain.
Jaune writhes on the ground moaning. Tears stream from his swollen eyes, and Neo holds him down trying to stop him from doing more damage. When he calms down enough Neo texts a message.
'It wasn't that bad. You'll be fine.' As Jaune reads the text through blurry eyes he starts shaking. Neo was concerned he had went into a seizure, but soon realizes that he was laughing uncontrollably.
"Nuh da ba?" Jaune repeats while hysterically laughing.
Neo grows more concerned. Did she give him brain damage? 'Im sorry. I went too far.'
Jaune's laughter pauses as he reads the text, and he shrugs with a wince. 'Ih whue'er'
Jaune starts moving underneath Neo again, and the girl gets off of him letting him drag himself back towards one of the crates, and sits himself up. As he sits his aura starts back up and a faint glow engulfs him. So weak that Neo thinks it might die out once more.
Neo stands, and looks at Jaune. His bloodied and swollen face still smiling at her. He patted the ground next to him beckoning her over to sit by him. When Jaune looked at Neo's face he saw the apology she couldn't speak. She went overboard sure, and it definitely hurt like hell, but he knew things had to be pretty bad for her if he was getting beat on like that.
She sits next to him, and Jaune leans his head back, and tries to focus the little bit of his aura to his jaw. He feels the damage repair itself. He must've been trying to use it too much though because soon his aura fizzles out, and disappears once more. The swelling had gone down, but he was still in fairly extreme pain. He could manage to talk a bit now though
"What happened Neo? You wouldn't have been this hard on me if something wasn't wrong." Jaune speaks slowly.
Neo felt she owed him at least some form of explanation 'Something happened with my job, and now I'm stuck in a deal I don't want or else.'
"Or else what?"
'Me and my partner get fired.'
"Can't you two find a new job?"
'Not from this type of firing.'
Picking up on the true meaning behind the statement Jaune's concern grows. He knew whatever she did was dangerous, but if it was dangerous enough for her and her partner to be killed… "Neo, What do you do for work?"
Neo pauses. Jaune usually stayed away from questions involving her job. She must've been too on the nose with the last text though if it managed to get through to him. 'I can't tell you that.'
"Why not?"
'I said I cant tell you. Dont ask again.'
"Okay, can we at least talk about what's going on? You don't even have to tell me anything specific about what you do."
Neo nods, and starts explaining to Jaune that the woman in charge of her partner, had found out about her, and was forcing her to do a job she didn't want or both of them would die. This combined with how poorly her partner was doing, and the fact that he wasn't noticing her at all when it came to her attempts for them to be together more often. Neo needed an outlet.
"I'm guessing you cant go to the police either?"
Neo shakes her head.
"What can you do about it?"
'Nothing. There's not even a way to escape until the jobs finished. Even then we might die.'
"God's Neo… That's… Not a good place to be in. I wish I could help." She nods, and Jaune rubs her shoulder, trying his best to comfort the tiny thief. "If you ever need to 'talk' with me Neo. Never be afraid to text me. I like to think I'm your friend, and friends are there when the other needs them. I also have 7 sisters, and I like to think I've gotten pretty good at listening to peoples issues."
Neo laughs lightly. It may have only been a few months, and they didn't really hang out per say, but she could honestly say Jaune was a good friend to have. He was probably her only friend outside of Roman as well. 'I will.'
It was a simple response but it felt like a massive leap in their friendship for Jaune. If she trusted him enough to talk with him then it meant he was doing something right. She was ruthless, sadistic, and cold, but Jaune was glad to be able to call her a friend.
The two sit in near silence for an hour. The only two times they broke the silence was when Neo told Jaune that he was going to need to probably sleep down in Vale because even with his strong aura. It would still take a fairly long time for his aura to take care of the injuries especially from zero. The other time was when he asked her to pick up Crocea Mors, and clip it to his belt.
After the hour of doing nothing. Both Jaune and Neo get up. Jaune using his good arm to lift himself to his feet. His aura was working now, but was focused on the major damage he had incurred leaving the bruises, welts, and cuts visible on his face. It was probably for the best he didn't go to back to Beacon tonight.
"Ill see you again next friday?" Jaune asks holding his arm. Neo nods, and thinks about apologizing again, but decides against it. The knight smiles as he walks out of the warehouse, and into the night. Neo follows suit, and trails Jaune from a distance. He walks through the streets looking like he had just been mugged, with his sword on his hip.
A few people stared, and when he got into Junior's territory two large men walking down the street saw him, and came up to him. Neo couldn't hear what was said, but the men ended up turning back the other way. Jaune was close enough to his apartment now that Neo trusted he could make it back.
She followed the men back to Junior's club, and realized they were probably reporting to him, or gods forbid the twins that Jaune was walking the streets looking like he just got jumped. That wasn't her problem to deal with, and she was sure Jaune would explain fairly well what happened. It was about time for her real work to begin anyways.
Jaune took Crocea Mors off his hip and poked at the ceiling until his spare key fell from where he stuck it. Nobody looked on the roof for keys so Jaune thought it would be the perfect place to put it. Next time he came down though he'd just bring his regular set. Bending over Jaune grabs the key from where it fell and unlocks the door.
His apartment was just as he left it. Mildly messy, and smelling like the cheap air fresheners he had bought. Kicking the door closed behind him Jaune takes Crocea Mors off, and then very slowly removes his hoodie. He would text his team after a shower that he wouldn't be coming back tonight, and to not worry.
Going into the bathroom Jaune looks into the mirror and sees the way he looks his face swollen, bruised, and cut. It made a bit more sense why Junior's men had came up to him wondering if he had been robbed, or beat for information. Taking off his shirt next Jaune sees the angry purple bruises littering the rest of his body, and his swollen shoulder.
Taking off the rest of his clothes Jaune hops into his shower, and cleans himself. Blood from his broken nose, and other small lacerations flows down the drain. After the warm shower, Jaune dries off, and sits down on his couch. He was supposed to do something after that shower right? Jaune couldn't remember what he wanted to do though. He was too tired, and he needed to sleep this off after all…
Authors Note:
Neo's not handling the job news all that well it seems, and her favorite chew toy is a bit too fragile for now. This Chapter was supposed to have more, but I wrote too much for the scenes in it, and now it gets to be continued a bit.
I've always thought that Blake and Jaune would be pretty good friends, and this chapter got to have a scene with the two of them. I actually originally planned for the person going down with Jaune to Vale to be Yang, but decided against it, and added Blake in instead.
Next chapter will involve a bit of the aftermath of Jaune not showing back up to Beacon.
On the topic of Rusted Souls and Shattered Hearts. I still plan on writing that once I get through some of the writers block I have with the story. The holiday oneshot of RSSH will come out within the next two months. I have a good rough draft, but between these stories, and some other stuff in life I didn't get to finish it when I wanted.
I've also been thinking about continuing Apocryphal Blade Works, and possibly doing a test chapter for a new story. I might put up a couple ideas I've had for new stories, and let you guys decide in a poll or just put it in the bio, and let those who read it tell me what they want.
As always though I hope you enjoyed the chapter and enjoy the story. Feel free to leave a review, and tell me what you do and don't like as well as any theories or ideas you have. I love reading all of the reviews and I hope you all have a great day, night, morning or whatever time it is.