Chapter 5: Back in Blake (Patreon)

Jaune let out a small breath and sheathed his sword in a smooth motion, trying to ignore how pleasant the hilt felt against his palm, a warm sensation flowing from it.

“Dude,” Yang hopped up next to him, “That was f- " Her violet eyes flicked to Ruby and her sentence changed. “freaking sick.”

Jaune smiled placidly and shrugged, unable to restrain the disappointment curling in his gut that the Griffon had been one level after all, not two.

“What the fuck, dude!” Nora appeared from nowhere between them and bounced up and down, seemingly uncaring that the motion made her shirt strain around her two bulging white mounds of feminine anatomy. “What kind of move was that!”

Yang’s head jerked back as she shot a scathing look at the bouncing orange-haired girl, opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to regain control at the last minute and shut it.

“Just something I picked up,” Jaune said truthfully because he had no other explanation other than his weapons told him things, and while he didn’t know much, he had now learned enough to know that your weapons talking to you wasn’t normal.

“Was that your semblance?” Weiss said, her ice-blue eyes narrowing as she looked at him more thoughtfully than before.

Semblance. He didn’t associate the word with himself; doing so would imply he knew more about his abilities than he really did. He only knew the word from the reading Glynda had made him do. The amplification was just that, an ability he could use.

Still, it was probably his Semblance; it at least seemed like the most likely explanation at this point. It made his aura and its effects stronger, but aside from that… he honestly had no idea.

And why did Blake seem to be staring at him with a complicated expression on her face?

Jaune nodded, not bothering to respond to the question verbally before he changed the topic.

“I couldn’t have done it without all your help,” he admitted easily, because after all it was true that move had only been possible because the Huntresses in training had been immobilizing and distracting the Grimm.

A finishing move on an already losing beast wasn’t something to be overly proud of, but it did at least mean that none of the Huntresses in training he had allied himself with were in danger.

Perhaps he was overly focusing on the numbers.

Weiss looked at him strangely; her pale blue eyes widening somewhat as if she didn’t understand why he had said those words, then she sniffed and began to walk toward the cliff. “If that’s done, then it would be for the best if we made our way back to Beacon,” she said.

Judging by the almost exasperated look Ruby sent her, and the raised eyebrow from Yang, the prim white-haired girl didn’t seem to be making many friends, but Jaune rather thought she had a point.

Pyrrha nodded as well, her face set in what looked to him to be a practiced smile. “Let's,” she confirmed.

Ruby was looking at him with stars in her eyes, he realized, or more specifically, his sword; he could see her hands twitching slightly as she attempted to restrain herself from what he had no idea about either.

It was strangely normal, and Jaune finally found himself calming down. It hadn’t felt particularly great having these seven people in the midst of combat with him. When he was by himself, he hadn’t been particularly worried; if he died, he would lose some of the progress to his next level.

Now, since the fight with the Griffon, a new fear gnawed in his gut.

And he didn’t know why.

-

“Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long retrieved the White Knight pieces; they will be Team WABY, pronounced Wasabi, led by Weiss Schnee.”

Weiss stiffened a bit where she was standing; yes, she had been expecting it, desired it even, but now it settled on her that she was the leader of her own team and-

Well, Yang had a sunny, vapid smile on her face as she stared off into the distance, very much tuned out, seemingly; Blake was staring fixedly in her own way out into the audience with amber eyes, though the tension around her body made Weiss suspect the other girl wasn’t particularly pleased, and Jaune was-

“Congratulations.” He turned to look down at her from his uselessly tall height and smiled faintly, though strangely enough the smile reached his eyes, causing his sky-blue orbs to spark.

Weiss nodded, a bit taken aback; she had somewhat expected Jaune to be upset, actually.

Certainly, his combat prowess was apparently not to be underestimated; that strange golden crescent of aura had been incredibly effective; she had never seen an aura construct that large. Not to mention Griffons weren’t easy Grimm to deal with from what she had read and now learned by experience; they were remarkably tough, and even bringing it to the ground had taken teamwork of all of them.

They moved together off the stage back to the audience of other first-year students, and for a moment Weiss felt overwhelmed in a strange way; it should be nothing compared to running the Schnee Company, but looking at her other team members, whom she would now be responsible for, made her feel-

Well small.

And one of them was a man, which was a bit unusual; Weiss hadn’t spent much time with Men other than her father and brother, and given her experiences with them, she couldn’t say she was overly fond of the other gender.

Still, it would be unfair to judge Jaune by that standard; he had been nothing if not pleasant so far.

The other four people they had battled with walked up onto the stage next.

“Ruby Rose, Sage Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, retrieved the White Rook Pieces; they will be Team RSPV, pronounced Raspberry, led by Ruby Rose.”

That girl, that infuriating, insufferable girl, had been made team leader as well. Instantly, Weiss took back every good thing she may have thought about Ozma’s judgment and simply stared at the Headmistress with as carefully controlled a look of disdain as she could manage in the moment.

Worse, the other girl had Pyrrha Nikos on her team, probably the most capable student of the year; how exactly was WABY supposed to compete with that?

“Is something wrong?” a soft, warm voice rumbled from above her head, and Weiss glanced up, surprised to see Jaune looking down at her, a small frown marking his normally impassive face.

Weiss didn’t know how to respond. Jaune certainly didn’t seem like the most socially inclined person she had ever met, but by his solemn look she could tell that he had noticed at least some part of her discomfort.

For a moment, something like indecision rumbled inside her gut: it shouldn’t matter; it didn’t matter; she was more than capable of accomplishing her goals by herself.

But it would have been nice if another girl who reminded her a bit of herself had been with her to do it. Pyrrha would have understood the position, the pedestal; sure, it was because she was a famous athlete, but people didn’t treat her like a normal person either, and that was the part that Weiss had felt desperate for: someone who understood her.

Yet there was something else to the feeling, a horrible small relief that she wouldn’t have someone else to be compared to.

“Team RSPV has Pyrrha Nikos,” she sighed, almost bemused with herself, as she shook her head, “Pyrrha Nikos and they gave the leadership to-“ she cut herself off, checking for a moment if Yang was listening.

The golden girl was currently hollering in support of her sister, so Weiss decided she was fine for the moment.

Jaune frowned; it was a small one, but it was definitely there. “I don’t understand,” he admitted bluntly, and Weiss had to restrain herself from startling as she looked at him in surprise.

Jaune, for once, seemed to notice the cue. “Pyrrha Nikos wasn’t the best suited to be team leader,” he said, shrugging.

Weiss looked at Jaune, bewildered. “We saw the same girl fighting that Griffon,” she attempted to clarify. “How is she not the best suited?”

Jaune cocked his head to the side. “Yes, she seemed to fight well. What does that have to do with leadership?”

Weiss opened her mouth, then closed it. He was right, yet he definitely wasn’t. The leader should be the most capable person on the team-

Jaune rubbed the back of his head, splaying the golden blonde of his hair awkwardly about his head, and for a brief moment the stoic calm faded, and someone else was left in front of her. “Command of a team or a battlefield relies on a different skill set than being an effective individual Hunter. Pyrrha doesn’t have the strength of personality to lead,” he shrugged.

Weiss stared at Jaune for a long moment. “What?” she said blankly.

Jaune looked away, scratching his cheek a bit awkwardly, a strange movement for the normally stoic boy. “I didn’t explain that well,” he sighed. “Just, you know, look at her- " Despite her better judgment, Weiss did so.

Pyrrha was smiling brightly and was clapping politely, picture-perfect and quiet. Weiss realized that Pyrrha, despite her bright crimsons and gold colors, was almost visibly attempting to vanish from the stage in the most polite way possible, positioning Ruby more front and center and moving visibly a bit back, but possibly only noticeable because she was looking for it.

“You see,” Jaune said confidently, and he smiled slightly, visible relief coloring his expression.

Weiss nodded slowly. “I suppose,” she said slowly, almost unwillingly, then, because the horrified fascination in her wouldn’t leave, “Do you think we can beat them?” she asked, not sure why she was asking Jaune but-

Jaune frowned before he shrugged. “Eventually,” he said calmly.

Weiss let out a breath she didn’t want to admit she had been holding, but definitely had.

A small warmth rose for the strange boy; maybe she was reading too much into it, but she hadn’t expected that much instant faith in her. He didn’t seem to even know who she was, which normally would have been offensive, should have been offensive but-

It was kind of nice.

-

Jaune once more regretted not choosing ‘One of the People’; that entire conversation had been frankly more terrifying than any Grimm.

Walking with the rest of his team and RSPV, together they traversed the school toward their new dorm room, their luggage in hand, though for Jaune that luggage consisted mostly of a medium-sized duffel bag full of the clothes he had been given by Peach.

His teammates, on the other hand, were absolutely burdened with a truly ridiculous amount of luggage that would have been comical except that Jaune was beginning to suspect that the baggage was actually something that was normal for students to have, and he was, in fact, the abnormality.

Still, nobody had commented on that fact, so he wouldn’t be the one to bring attention to it- anything to avoid what he assumed would be another confusing conversation.

It wasn’t like he understood his own past well enough to even begin to explain it in the first place.

Maybe he really should have taken Memory Return.

But Heritage of Combat had still proven its use on the field, so while he was still thinking about the feats he hadn’t taken, he could leave it to the side for now.

Either way, he needed to kill more Grimm. There was no other way around that, and the small ones almost weren’t worth it anymore; they gave him so little of the energy he needed to level up, at least compared to the Griffon.

Throwing himself at the big ones was probably more worthwhile at this point; it wasn’t like he would die.

He huffed quietly, amused by his own thoughts.

Blake glanced at him, a brow cocked, and Jaune was a bit taken aback; he didn’t think he had been overly loud in his amusement, but perhaps he should have had more care.

Thinking about it now that he looked at the dark-haired girl, he realized that, out of his three teammates, he had talked to her the least, or at least been talked to the least; actually starting conversations was something he was still struggling with.

Peach had mentioned that topics that the other person was interested in were sometimes an effective way to hold conversations, so perhaps the best way to break down that barrier was to simply… talk to her?

That was rather too circular.

They stepped into the dorm and were greeted by four beds covered in Beacon red blankets, spaced across the room and taking up almost the entire floor space.

Jaune glanced at the girls' luggage and contemplated the issue even as he adjusted his duffel bag on his shoulder.

Weiss glanced over the beds, seeming to count something, and opened her mouth to say something before Yang tossed her luggage at the foot of the middle right bed and threw herself on top of the covers with a relieved groan.

Blake bent down next to a set of open bookshelves at the far left side of the room and began to unzip one of her suitcases to reveal… books.

Weiss looked at the other two members of their team before glancing at Jaune. Jaune didn’t know what to do, so he replied with a weak smile.

Weiss clapped her hands together loudly, drawing the attention of the room onto her in a second. “As Team Leader, I would like to lay out some ground rules for our dorm.”

Jaune noted that Yang remained laid back on her bed, flopping bonelessly across the covers, and Blake had looked up from her books remarkably like a aat staring at a large dog.

“Given we are in a mixed company environment for all our sakes, we should set our shower times for the morning.”

Yang let loose a huff of amusement, but she sat up on the bed. “Sure thing, Ice Queen,” she yawned blatantly.

Blake frowned, seemingly annoyed by the other girl’s words.

Jaune figured now would be the best time to interject after glancing at his scroll. “Class starts at nine tomorrow, Grimm Studies with Professor Port.”

Weiss looked at him, and there was something confused in those blue eyes again. “Indeed, so the question is who will have to shower first.”

Yang groaned, “Don’t look at me; I don’t want to take up that early.”

Blake’s bow shifted slightly for no discernible reason, but she notably didn’t say anything.

Weiss sighed deeply, and Jaune could tell the girl was bracing herself for something. “If necessary, I will wake up first,” she said primly, though Jaune had the impression the offer was like pulling her own teeth.

For a moment he contemplated simply remarking that he didn’t sleep, before a flicker of hesitation went through his mind; it certainly wasn’t normal from what he had read, and he didn’t know how to explain it either- yet he didn’t want to lie.

“I’m up early,” he said quietly, “Well before nine at least; I wouldn’t worry about me.”

“Shouldn’t we?” Yang looked at him with an amused smirk. “You are a teenage man; maybe you want to take a glimpse at the goods?”

Weiss’s eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. “You do have a point, albeit a crass one,” she admitted.

“I do?” Yang turned to look at Weiss, seemingly befuddled.

Weiss nodded. “It would be improper for either of us to see each other in a state of undress,” she said, nodding her head firmly.

Yang shrugged. “We’re Hunters and Huntresses; I’m not sure we’ll always have a choice,” she said blandly, but there was something now way too amused about how she was looking at Weiss, like she was purposely needling the other girl.

Blake blinked, looking between the two girls. “Yang’s right.”

Yang looked even more baffled. “I am?”

Blake looked at Jaune, her amber eyes narrowed as she seemed to try to peer through him, and for a moment Jaune thought he caught the faintest flicker of amusement across her face.

“Do you promise not to peek at us?”

Jaune felt the air still as all three Huntresses' attention turned on him, and he instantly felt like he was in a great deal of danger.

Blind agreement was probably best here. “Yes,” he nodded his head unambiguously, “Doing so would defeat the purpose of us living together.”

Weiss frowned. “What do you mean?”

Jaune did know this from what Glynda had said: “I was told the purpose of us living together is a trust exercise; to break your trust during the exercise would defeat the purpose.”

The gazes of the three girls lingered on him. Weiss’s cheeks were slightly red, Blake’s amber eyes gleamed in a way he couldn’t parse, and Yang… Yang looked even more amused and wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“Hah, this guy's a riot!” She leaped up from her bed, causing her chest to bob with the motion, and grinned at him with a bright smile, her violet eyes flashing as she slammed a fist into Jaune’s shoulder. Jaune looked at the girl in surprise.

Weiss looked between them. “Well, I appreciate that you are taking this seriously,” she said to Jaune.

Jaune didn’t know how to respond to that, but it seemed to have settled the discussion in Weiss’s mind as the other three girls began to set up their luggage around the room.

Yang put up several posters of a group of men in strange poses, while Weiss began attempting to fit a large quantity of clothing into her dresser.

Jaune took his own duffel bag and, after filling his own dresser approximately a quarter of the way up, ran out of clothes and found his mind wandering to the Emerald Forest.

Perhaps if he-

Off to the side, he saw that Blake had also finished unpacking, and he realized on closer inspection it was because, instead of clothes, the girl mostly had books; it wasn’t as if she had no clothes, but compared to Yang and Weiss, she was certainly lacking in that department.

It was strange; his eyes flicked up to her bow as something edged at his instincts, something almost familiar…

Blake seemingly realized he was looking at her and turned back to look at him; he didn’t avert his eyes from her golden-yellow ones.

Blake frowned, and then her eyes flicked to the door for a brief moment; then she stood up from where she knelt, her leg muscles bunching, showing a surprising amount of definition. She walked over to him for a moment, ignoring Yang, who was fiddling with something on her scroll, and Weiss, who seemed to be coming to terms with the fact that their closet, which was also attached to the room, could fit no more.

“Can we talk?” she murmured, and there was something meaningful in her words that Jaune found pulling at him.

Jaune nodded.

Blake turned and exited the room, and Jaune, after a moment of hesitation, followed, seeing that the rest of WABY wasn’t paying attention.

He stepped outside, only to grunt quietly as he was pushed against one of the walls, and now Blake was staring at him with something cold in her eyes, her hand splayed across his chest.

“Why are you here?” she bit out.

Jaune was now well past confused. “I don’t understand,” he said.

Blake shook her head, glaring at him. “Don’t pretend. I recognize you. You’re an Atlesian soldier. What are you doing at Beacon?”

Jaune hesitated; he should just tell her he didn’t know what she was talking about. He didn’t want to lie, but-

“You know me?” his voice sounded strange in his ears; against his own will, he probed further.

Blake snarled, and the quiet girl was entirely gone. “Stop playing dumb. Know me? We fought on the train, you- " She took a deep breath, “You stopped Adam.”

The words were heavy with finality.

Jaune realized two things simultaneously: he needed to come clean, in this instant, and he really should have taken Memory Return.

Yet he couldn’t voice those thoughts so quickly; evidently, he had made an enemy of this girl, potentially by stopping this Adam guy.

“I’m sorry,” he defaulted to apologizing.

Blake rolled her yellow eyes so violently that Jaune was momentarily concerned for her health. “You’re sorry? You saved my life, I mean- you haven’t said anything; what is with-“

“I’ve been-” Jaune stopped, searching for an explanation because right now wasn’t the time to reveal the truth when she was so upset. “Busy,” he admitted. “I didn’t realize that you wanted me to approach you; I- well, it’s a bit hard to explain-”

Blake held up a hand and swallowed visibly. “You were-” she hesitated and shook her head. “You were trying to help me?”

Jaune hadn’t said that at all, but he could see a lifeline when he was thrown one, and he really should explain. Blake still seemed upset. He nodded his head. “I’m sorry,” he apologized again.

Blake released a breath. “And you aren’t going to-“ she hesitated and looked away. “Tell the rest of our team who I was?”

Jaune sure wished she would tell him, but he wasn’t going to go down that route either. “You seem different now,” he replied, and something like a memory flashed through his head; a warm voice reverberated in his ears with words he didn’t understand.

Jaune smiled a crooked smile. “As long as you’re happier now?” he asked honestly, because it seemed to him she was a girl in desperate need of that question, even if he didn’t know why.

Blake shrugged, tightening her arms across her stomach. “I am doing better now,” she admitted quietly before looking back up at him, her amber orbs strangely serious. “Thanks to you.”

She reached out a palm and held it hesitantly over his chest, then finally set it down and looked up at him seriously. “I can’t repay you,” she admitted.

Jaune shrugged; he didn’t know a lot about himself, but he was sure of one thing: “I didn’t help you to be repaid.”

Something soft entered Blake’s eyes, and then she slowly nodded. “Can you keep it to yourself right now, especially with Weiss? I don’t know how she’d take it.”

Well, that was probably a bad sign, but something instinctually had Jaune nod. “Of course,” he said, and now that she had calmed down, he felt like he could finally reveal the truth.

Which was probably the wisest decision considering he had already revealed such to Ruby unthinkingly. Now he was beginning to question that decision as well the more he thought about it. “It’ll be rather easy considering I don’t remember anything past two weeks ago.”

Blake blinked, then frowned. “What?” she said blankly.

Jaune grimaced. “I’m sorry,” he said, feeling the words more than usual. “You seemed upset, so I wanted to comfort you, but the truth is I lost my memories, and I don’t remember you at all. I just didn’t know how to say that when you seemed so upset.”

Blake looked at him. “You can’t be serious,” she said quietly.

Jaune shrugged, grimacing. “I woke up a couple of weeks ago, and that’s as far back as my memory goes. Whatever this secret is, I can promise you it’s safe.”

Blake opened her mouth, closed it. “You don’t even know what the secret is, do you?”

“Nope, but considering how concerned you were, you’re free to not tell me now.”

“I just,” Blake shook her head, looking bewildered, “You have amnesia? Like real amnesia?”

“Yeah,” Jaune shrugged. “So sorry again. I didn’t want to lie to you, but it seemed you had a lot to get out.”

Blake regarded him, something warring on her face. “Aren’t you scared?” she murmured. “You don’t even know what secret you’re protecting.”

Jaune shrugged again. “You’re my teammate, and you need help.”

Blake shook her head slowly. “You’re very similar to how you were when I last met you.”

“Is that a good thing?” Jaune couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Blake smiled faintly. “I’ll let you know.”

-

Ruby missed her sister.

Not that she would ever admit it within earshot of said sister; either she would be teased so mercilessly she would cease to exist, or she would be hugged so tightly she would suffocate within her sister's genetic gifts.

Not that she was particularly jealous of the fact; it wasn’t like she had to give up on male friends given how many of them had tried to befriend her to date her sister.

No, that couldn’t be.

Still, despite some of her sister’s more annoying traits, she loved her with all her heart; she would never say it except in front of Mom’s grave, but Yang was her role model. She was the girl who had taught her how to be a woman, and Ruby was more aware than ever of the sacrifices her sister had made.

Though she hadn’t really expected to be separated from her like this, even if they were right across the hall.

And the really screwed up part?

She had been made team leader.

Goodbye normal knees.

Still, when they had gotten back to their dorm room, it hadn’t been all that awkward, mostly considering that they were all absolutely exhausted, so they had fallen into their beds without much fanfare.

Which led her to now: if she was going to be the team leader, she had to lead. She needed her team to trust her with the big stuff and the little stuff. As a classic die-hard RPG gamer, she already knew the correct strat: smile brightly, have deep emotional conversations with her Team, give them cookies.

At least she assumed that it would work similarly; it was how she had made, well, she was sure she would make friends here at Beacon. She didn’t have Yang, but she also didn’t have the Ice Queen on her team, so that was a benefit.

And Pyrrha was actually really nice! Though she also seemed a little… placid? She didn’t really know it was if sometimes the other girl wasn’t really there.

Like, she was absolutely beautiful, and genuinely, Ruby had never met a sweeter, kinder girl; honestly, she was a bit starstruck. Not that she would ever trade Yang for anything, but Pyrrha had a super dependable big sister vibe.

Which was how she decided to wake up Pyrrha gently, with the piercing sound of her whistle.

Pyrrha sat up sharply before her eyes landed on Ruby, and then she smiled in a strangely elegant manner even if her crimson hair was a mess around her head. “Good morning,” she yawned sleepily.

Nora shot up in a startled martial-arts stance that oddly resembled a sloth.

Sage Ren was already sitting up, combing her dark hair back in her head in a movement that somehow looked so elegant that Ruby couldn’t help but find it a little off-putting.

“Sorry,” she said with a guilty smile, “But Class is in two hours, and this dorm needs some help.”

Despite now somewhat realizing this hadn’t been the best idea, none of the three other girls looked particularly offput, not even Sage, who seemed to be trying to fall asleep upright.

Ruby offered a thankful prayer to the Brother gods not because she was particularly religious, but because she could only guess the hell she had dodged by not ending up on Weiss’s team, or worse, with Weiss.

But there was the small downside that Jaune hadn’t ended up with her; if she had a friend at Beacon, it was probably him: no Team Leader dynamic, no Sister, just a friend she had made all on her own.

Who apparently had lost his memory, but he was a really nice, strange amnesiac boy! The type her Father would definitely not approve of, but it wasn’t like that! Even though a part of her worried that, because Jaune was partnered with her older sister, he’d start ignoring her now.

“Ruby?” Pyrrha asked.

“It’s nothing,” Ruby said, smiling brightly. “So why don’t we get our dorm put together?”

“Put together?” Pyrrha frowned, looking about. “I don’t understand.”

Nora cackled, “No, Team Leader is totally right; this place is seriously lacking in artistic direction. We could paint it Red! No Purple!”

“I believe she meant that we could organize and put up decorations that would most suit us,” Sage said softly, her voice barely above a whisper as she rubbed her forehead forehead.

“Awww, that’s so sweet.” Nora leaped up and wrapped her arms around Ruby’s neck, pulling her deep into her chest, and Ruby found herself flailing about in an all-too-familiar fashion as Nora’s overwhelming physical strength crushed her head between her cleavage.

Luckily, Ruby was already a Master in the art of breathing in that situation due to her own Sister.

Maybe her Sister was watching out for her after all?

“Nora, take it easy,” she heard Sage’s soft voice.

“Awww,” Nora said with a bright smile, “Sorry! Maybe I overdid it?”

Ruby shook her head. “No, it’s fine, actually. Don’t worry about it!”

“Awww,” Nora cooed again, smiling brightly. “You’re so adorable!”

Ruby restrained a flinch at those words; she was the Team Leader; she couldn’t be read as adorable by her own teammates.

“Nora,” Sage said with no intonation that Ruby could hear, but Nora seemed to understand as she stiffened.

Nora’s eyes widened as she looked Ruby in the eyes, and she shook her head. “Oh, sorry, I don’t mean that. It’s not that I don’t respect you as our Team Leader; you were awesome in the Emerald Forest. You’re just also absolutely adorable,” she smiled brightly.

Ruby blinked, and then something warm bubbled up in her gut. “Yeah, of course,” she smiled, nodding her head. “I knew you meant that.”

Nora squealed, and then her hands were on Ruby’s cheeks. “Oh my brothers, you are the cutest thing on the planet!”

Ruby had a feeling this was going to be a recurring thing; she would need to consult her most recent manga on how to handle this situation.

-

Blake had a lot of complicated feelings, which wasn’t an unusual state for her, but it was making finding out what happened next in Ninjas of Love a more troubling proposition than it had seemed when she opened her book that morning.

Normally, most of those feelings would revolve around the fact that she was on a team with a Schnee; that’s what they should revolve around.

But apparently Jaune Arc didn’t care for what should be.

She had avoided him purposely; she could admit that. She hadn’t known what to say to the man who had saved her life.

She had waited anxiously for him to expose her, and yet…

Nothing had happened.

Someone knew that she had been White Fang. He had, in fact, been involved in preventing the train dust theft she and Adam had attempted. Now he didn’t seem bothered in the slightest that she was attending Beacon.

Insane, he was absolutely insane. Though, strangely enough, seeing him fight the Griffon, he didn’t seem as overwhelming as the last time, which, considering that she had watched him beat Adam through several train car doors… well, that kind of impact she hadn’t expected again, but he seemed different.

Not as a person, but something was missing behind those eyes; the warm ocean blue that had saved her life looked at her like a stranger. The same quiet warmth, but now distant.

It hurt.

Which wasn’t to say she expected more; it wasn’t like they had been on the same side or anything. Why should he care?

But it did matter to her, just a bit.

But apparently he had lost his memory, and she didn’t even know where to begin with that. It was most likely true, or at least she believed it had to be; there was no other real explanation for the differences between when she had met him the first time and now.

Now, how exactly one lost their memories… it was like out of one of her novels, except she rather didn’t enjoy it as much when she was living it. If it was true, and he had lost his memories, she was safe…

“I don’t think this is all you are, and this path won’t lead anywhere you want to go.”

His words back then had meant everything, and now he was gone… well, in a way, at least if what he said was true.

And if it wasn’t true, and he did remember… but why would someone even lie like that? He already knew enough to destroy her; what point would there be to that kind of lie?

And it wasn’t like she could talk to her team about any of it; she couldn’t talk to anyone. Her parents would have been nice right about now, if they ever wanted to speak to her again.

Those thoughts and more stirred her sleepily from her soft plush bed to look about the room; Weiss was planted face down into her pillow, deep, heavy breaths emerging from her huddled form.

Yang was elegantly dangling half off her bed, seemingly about to fall to the floor.

Jaune was nowhere to be seen.

Blake frowned, then slowly tried to push herself free of the inordinately soft bed, slipping out to place her bare feet on the floor and idly tugging her black yukata into place.

It didn’t quite make sense to her still sleepy, bewildered mind: where exactly could Jaune have gone? His bed didn’t even look disturbed; it was, in fact, perfectly made up, looking like it hadn’t been slept in at all.

The sound of running water cut off, and Blake’s attention snapped to the bathroom as she finally fully realized what was happening.

The door opened, revealing Jaune, a towel wrapped lightly around his waist, padding into the dorm room toward his bed, his golden-blonde hair hanging in a shaggy curtain around his head, his abdominal muscles flexing with each step.

But that wasn’t what caught her attention the most; over his left pectoral was a massive white scar, and as he turned around, her breath caught in her throat as she realized the scar went entirely through his chest.

Blake had seen enough wounds that were healed by Aura; they normally faded very quickly, even severe ones. This one looked… recent, and with a dawning horror, she realized why perhaps Jaune didn’t remember her.

She had read once that traumatic near-death experiences could, depending on their severity, damage people’s memories.

It also explained why he hadn’t been moving like he had when she last saw him.

He had nearly died, and she had been more upset that he didn’t remember her.

She was awful. She was actually the worst. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t known that before, but now she was certain.

Jaune stretched, his muscles colliding across his back, and then he turned, and Blake immediately shut her eyes.

She waited in darkness for what she hoped was an appropriately long time, fighting against the immediate urge she felt to open her eyes again.

She heard Jaune’s chair shift and felt safe enough to open her eyes to see him with a book propped open on his knees as he slowly cleaned his sword’s blade with an oiled cloth in smooth motions up and down the steel.

Of course, his current outfit didn’t really help with keeping her eyes from wandering; he had indeed dressed, but his tie was nowhere to be seen, and his white collared shirt was buttoned only midway up, exposing his pale, muscled chest, his suit jacket resting on the back of his chair.

Still, it was better than being caught staring.

She was about to rise from her own bed when she heard a groan that sounded like a Grimm as Weiss stirred, removing herself with the control and deliberation one uses to defuse a bomb.

She grabbed her uniform and stumbled toward the bathroom, the door clicking shut behind her.

It was… surprisingly cute, for a Schnee that was, and a part of Blake was already furious she had thought it because she wasn’t happy with Weiss as her partner; she wasn’t yet-

“Oh, brothers, you’re a morning person,” Yang groaned as she stirred to life from her own bed, her eyes seemingly finding Jaune immediately, which Blake rather thought said a lot about the blonde girl.

“You’re the last to wake up,” Jaune pointed out.

Blake resisted the urge to startle at his awareness and merely rose from her bed, wrapping her black yukata tighter around herself, trying to make sure she didn’t give Jaune an eyeful, as it would have been… inappropriate, even though he evidently had known she had been awake, which meant…

Blake very consciously did not burrow into her own covers.

“It’s too bad,” Yang yawned, stretching out her tight yellow t-shirt, which strained with the motion, the yellow material revealing a hint of the pale flesh beneath, “I missed out on seeing a handsome guy like you getting undressed.”

“I’m sure there will be other opportunities,” Jaune said easily as he continued to clean his sword.

Yang sighed and shook her head. “I’m going to get you so bad.” She turned to look at Blake. “Sweet dreams, Sleeping Beauty?” she asked with an amused smile that told Blake entirely too much about what Yang knew- thought she knew.

Blake decided the other girl didn’t deserve a verbal response, so she merely raised her brow in reply.

Yang snorted, “I bet Ruby’s having way more fun than me; you guys are sticks in the mud.”

“Ruby is,” Jaune commented idly. “She and her team went to Breakfast ten minutes ago.”

The two girls stared at Jaune, unsure of what to make of his comment.

“How do you know that?” Blake said curiously, her ears flicking on her head against her will, the motion inhibited by the bow.

“Heard them,” Jaune said, shrugging.

Blake decided instantly that was bullshit; if anyone would have heard them, it would have been her. Still, he didn’t seem to be lying, which was rather strange.

“When did they wake up?” Weiss emerged from the bathroom, frowning, with not a hair out of place and fully dressed in her Beacon uniform.

Blake wondered how exactly anyone was supposed to know that and was going to say so in the most… catish way she could.

“Two hours ago,” Jaune shrugged.

Both Yang and Blake looked at each other for a long moment, and for perhaps the first time in her life, Blake was absolutely sure she knew what another girl was thinking.

Perhaps they had judged Weiss too harshly.

Yang seemed to have a similar feeling, visibly flinching. “Never mind, all hail the Ice Queen,” she mumbled lowly.

“What was that?” Weiss turned to look at Yang, her eyebrow arched delicately, her face prim sweetness.

Yang smiled brilliantly at the white-haired girl, “We’ll renew our dedication to your leadership, all exalted one.”

Weiss’s eyebrow climbed higher; she looked at Blake and Jaune as if expecting them to have the answers for why Yang was behaving this way.

Blake would rather die, but Jaune didn’t seem to feel that way.

“We’re appreciating your leadership capabilities,” he said calmly, continuing to polish his sword.

Weiss’s eyes narrowed, then something seemed to occur to her, potentially the fact that Jaune did not seem capable of sarcasm even if Yang was.

“Well,” she nodded her head slowly, “Thank you. I’ll do my best to live up to your expectations.” She picked up her scroll, glancing at the time. “We should all be ready in the next ten minutes. I’d like to arrive at class early.”

Yang groaned loudly, but began to slowly pull herself free of her bed.

Blake glanced at the other girl and then very consciously headed to the bathroom, grabbing her uniform and ignoring Yang’s startled “Oh, come on,” as she shut the door behind her, a small smirk on her face.