Madness Chapter 38

A/n: Warning. Not dead. May be playing hopscotch with time.

"Blake"

"Hm?" My ears twitched under my hat as I took another sip of my tea.

"Will you go on a date with me?"

I spat my tea, the tea I had spent five months trying to perfect, all over the coffee table and the book I was reading.

Motherfuc-

"What?!" I barely managed to spit out, unable to stop coughing up the tea that'd gotten into my lungs.

Pyrrha frowned, "I said, would you go on a date with me?"

"I…" I coughed again, "What?"

Pyrrha's frown deepened, her brow furrowing deeply as she held up a notepad to read.

"Am I doing something wrong?" She muttered to herself, flipping through pages, "The research suggested…"

"Wait wait wait," I held up my hand, trying to get my breathing under control and my mind to wrap around what was happening. I glanced around the room, trying to see if anyone else was here to watch this trainwreck.

To my misfortune, both Lilith and Jaune were sitting on the couch watching us. Jaune with wide frantic eyes, a slack jaw, and his scroll fallen from his empty hands, like he couldn't believe this was happening in front of him. Lilith looked...intrigued? Impressed? She had a ghost of a smile playing on her pinched lips as she tilted her head and idly fiddled with her pen.

Wait, she's trying not to laugh! That little bitc-

"Ah!" Pyrrha interjected, "I forgot the present."

"The wha-" I said, dumbfounded, my brain still playing catch-up.

"This," Pyrrha shoved something in front of me. A black box with a suspiciously familiar silver filigree and a black bow wrapped around it. "Would you please go on a date with me, Blake Belladonna?"

"I-I-I"

"How bold," Lilith commented, faking a scandalized look, shielding her mouth with her hand, "In front of all us? My my."

Pyrrha turned to look at Lilith, the confusion becoming further etched on her face. "But why wouldn't I-"

"-Oh my god-" Jaune mutter under his breath, seemingly rebooting himself.

"I-wait-Pyrrha" I tried to get a word in edgewise, and get some kind of control over the situation.

At my words, Pyrrha turned those oh so intense dark emerald eyes on me. I couldn't help but gulp under her deep and smoldering gaze.

Does she…?

"Pyrrha...what is this?" I asked carefully.

"I am asking you out." She replied factually. "I would like to court you."

She frowned again, "Was that not clear?"

"No no no," I shook my head frantically, "It's just...well…"

She raised a silent brow in askance.

I thought you liked Jaune I did not say. I'd seen her make goo-goo eyes at him enough. Well...probably about half the time. The other half she seemed to either dismiss him or hate him. I still wasn't sure why, but I figured it was just her thing.

But for her to be going after me?

"Are you sure?" I tried and failed, not to sound too uncertain of my question.

"Well, Glynda was first on my list-"

"-What the fuck-" Jaune said in a flat voice as if his mind had just taken too much to really process emotion anymore.

"-Then there was Lilith-"

"Hah!" Lilith actually laughed,

"-But Glynda seemed to think you were a better choice," Pyrrha concluded, looking up from her notes with a confident look, like she'd just cracked the fucking case.

"...What the fuck?" I looked at her like she'd just said...well, what she just said.

It'd definitely been one of the top ten weirdest things I'd ever heard.

"Well, my M-father said I needed to find a date to the dance," Pyrrha began, flipping through her notepad again, "but I had no idea how to do that. So I began to research the subject."

"Wait," My brow furrowed, "you researched how to date?"

"Yes," She looked up with a proud smile, "I was very successful in this endeavor."

Then she gestured to the bookshelf. My bookshelf. "Those were very helpful."

Oh no

"So I made a list of eligible candidates based on compatibility in combat, as it is where I feel the best common ground would be drawn, then I-"

"Wait, what?" I interrupted her, "You made a list."

"Yes."

"Based on who fought the best?"

"No."

"No?"

"It was based on who would fight best with me. As well as availability." She clarified, as if that made everything better.

"So you-" I stopped, closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, and forcing myself to calm down. "Ok."

"Ok?"

Not even remotely.

"Ok." I nodded.

"Right, well" Pyrrha continued, flipping to the next page, "I first asked Glynda Goodwitch, seeing as she had the greatest combat ability I'd seen."

"Any...other...reasons?" I attempted to ask subtly. Lilith's aunt wasn't exactly ugly. I'm betting more than half the entire student body wouldn't mind getting a shot at her.

"Well, she is Lilith's Aunt, so it was easy for me to meet with her," Pyrrha answered.

I waited.

She stared back.

Lilith snickered.

Jaune tried, and failed, to pull himself together.

I clapped my hands and a smile so strained it made Ilia's clothes look baggy, "Ok."

"Ok?"

"Yep!"

Pyrrha starred for another moment, a lone brow slowly marching it's way up her face.

"Right," She went back to her notes.

Fucking notes!

"She suggested that I look towards my own team." she looked up and sent a pointed look at me. "Namely, you."

"Me?"

"Yes," Pyrrha nodded, "She seemed to not want me to date her niece."

"Awe, auntie's so sweet." Lilith smiled.

I shot her a scowl. She returned a shit-eating grin.

That sadistic little shit.

"So just me?" I continued to glare at the little demon disguised as a girl.

"Well, no. After you, there's Weiss, Yang, Coco, Adeline…"

Jaune blanched.

"Not Jaune?" I asked. "I mean, he's on the team?"

"He's terrible," Pyrrha said bluntly. "The fact he isn't dead amazes me. If he lasts until the end of the year, it'll be a miracle."

"I'm half tempted to put him out of his misery myself."

Jaune looked like he'd been punched in the gut. Or the feels.

Lilith was there to pat his back. But it looked like she was struggling not to cackle maniacally and had instead managed to bring it down to the occasional sinister giggle.

"So no, I'd rather not carry around dead weight if I can help it."

"Well...that's harsh." I gave her a concerned look.

"But not untrue," Lilith commented.

Jaune gave her a betrayed look. She gave him a helpless shrug.

"Right…" I trailed off. Then I realized something.

"Any...guys on that list?"

Pyrrha actually had to look down at her notes. And turn a page.

...And another page.

...And anothe-

"Pyrrha?" I tried to get her attention.

"Ren's there." She mentioned, "And…"

"And that's it?"

She turned another page. "Ah, no, here they are."

"Lt. Nifelheim, Dr. Oobleck, Professor-"

"They're at the bottom of the list?" I stopped her before she could read off the entire list.

I don't want to know the things on that list.

"Well," She paused, checking, "Lt. Nifelheim is fairly high."

"But mostly women?" I asked, giving her an opening.

"...I guess, yeah." Pyrrha admitted. And saw nothing special about that statement.

"Any reason why?" I offered.

She looked at her notes again, carefully looking them all over.

Pyrrha shrugged, "Not really."

Right, I nodded to myself, I don't know what I expected.

Why would the world start to make sense?

I actually almost laughed.

"So, you think I'm, what?" I rolled my hand at her, just guessing, "Combat Compatible?"

"Correct." She said seriously.

"So that's why you want to date me," I added flatly.

"Well, yes?" She seemed puzzled, that lone brow hiking up her scalp, "What other reason is there?"

I almost said, "because you think I'm hot", but I held my tongue.

"Maybe you like my personality?" I suggested instead.

"Oh, well of course I do," She nodded seriously, "I've been studying you."

"You've been what."

"What I've found suggested that knowing the person I seek to court can aid in the related mating rituals."

"This is amazing" Lilith giggled.

I shot a glare at her devious form and…

Wait, I frowned, Jaune doesn't look so good.

He was actually looking a little sick. Pyrrha had mentioned wanting to fuck his sister and leaving him to die, so I guess it made sense.

"So I learned everything I could about you. All of which affirmed that Glynda had made the right choice." Pyrrha continued, "I especially appreciated the fact that you had live combat experience."

"And that you'd killed before," She said in an impressed tone.

The whole room began to spin.

Jaune ran off to the bathroom, a hand clamped over his mouth.

Lilith gasp, a look of unbridled joy on her face.

"Uh, wha-?" I sputtered, dazed.

"You've killed before," She repeated proudly, "And, given what I can tell, quite often."

I...how? Why? I panicked. S-she can't know!

How does she know?!

"All in all, a very impressive review," She continued, heedless of my panic, "And as such, I decided to move forward with the next step."

"And you're just fine with that?" I nearly growled. "That I've killed people?"

"Of course," She blinked, "I mean, I've killed lots of people. I figured we could bond over it."

"Besides, it'll make it easier to fight with you if you aren't squeamish."

I barely restrained myself from snarling, "What, you think killing someone is something to bond over?! Something easy? Fun?!"

"Of course not," She frowned, "I'm…"

She stopped, taking a breath, stepping back, and cracking her fingers, "I'm doing this wrong, I apologize."

She paused, almost uncertain, before putting the box on the table beside my lounge chair, "I'll leave you to think about this."

Without another word, she walked out of the dorm room door and closed it with a swift click.

Leaving me alone with Lilith.

And her smug smile.

"Shut up," I growled, deliberately turning away from the box she'd left.

"Oh come on, Blake. That was sweet."

"She's sick."

Lilith snorted, "We're all sick, Blake."

I shot her a glare, hoping that if I thought about it hard enough she'd just melt.

It didn't work.

"You're awfully chipper today."

She shrugged, "I'm having a good day."

"Because I'm suffering." I guessed.

"I actually think you should take the offer," Lilith argued.

"So you can watch the trainwreck."

Lilith tipped her scroll at me, "I actually think it'll be kind of sweet."

"Really?" I questioned in a dry tone.

"Well, sweet in a kind of dark way. So, you know, my favorite flavor."

"Do you even care about my happiness?"

"Who says it wouldn't make you happy?"

"Experience."

Lilith tilted her head at that, but decided not to pry.

"Just open the box," she said instead, nodding towards it.

I glanced at the box in question, "No."

"It won't hurt."

"It'll be giving in."

"Is that so wrong?"

I snarled, throwing myself out of my chair and walking to my room. Maybe there, I could read in peace.

"Oh come on!" She called after me, "Don't turn this into an angsty brood session. Be happy!"

"Happy that someone wants to date me just because I've killed? Happy that that murder is a turn on for her?" I ground out.

"Well, if you have any real doubts, maybe you should take them to Aunt Glynda?" Lilith suggested.

I paused. That's…

That's not a bad idea.

"Wait, she what?"

"She asked me out," I repeated slowly, trying not to grind my teeth, "Because she thinks I've killed before."

Lilith's aunt, Ms. Goodwitch, looked stunned. She was sitting across from me at the desk in her office. When I came in she welcomed me in with surprising warmth. Apparently, there were perks for being on the team with her niece. Or she was just like that with everyone.

I had my doubts about that one.

Finally, Ms. Goodwitch pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Of course she did."

"Why throw her to me?"

"Pardon?"

"According to her," I begin slowly, letting my annoyance color my voice, "She came here first, asking you out, and you directed her to me."

Look up with those forest green eyes, she seemed almost...sad, resigned or pitying. "Ms. Nikos is a very troubled young girl…" She began.

"You mean she's a psy-"

Ms. Goodwitch gave me a sharp glare that cut me off mid-sentence.

"Ms. Nikos has been through a lot. That she's mentally stable at all is nothing short of a miracle."

I frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You remember those psych exams you took last week?" Ms. Goodwitch began to explain, "The ones with Dr. Enyo?"

"Yes?"

"Well, the reports I received from Pyrrha's painted a disturbing picture. After she came to see me, asking much the same she did of you, I decided to go to her father for clarification." She explained, "Her adopted father. She did not grow up in the most stable of settings."

I opened my mouth to reply, then closed it when I remember what Pyrrha had said during initiation. "My mother's probably a whore."

Right I bit my lip Pyrrha grew up in the slums of Mistral as an orphan. I don't even know when she was finally adopted.

While I can't say I don't know what being an orphan's like, to not even remember your parents? To have nothing? No support, no friends or family, nothing?

I can't really imagine what that was like. I had all that, and look how I turned out.

"Okay, so she had it rough. How does that involve you giving her permission to seduce me?"

She arched a brow and tilted her head and aristocratic fashion. It was a simple, airy, move that made me feel like a petulant child for speaking out. "I simply gave her a person more appropriate to deal with her advances and problems."

"Is courtship and dating not a typical part of teenage life?"

Not for me, I managed not to say.

"I guess," I grunted, folding my arms together and slumping in the chair.

"And are you opposed to indulging Ms. Nikos?"

"I'm opposed to being used as a tool. Or for being appreciated only for how much blood I can shed." I scowled.

Ms. Goodwitch pursed her lips, "Ms. Nikos is...poor at explaining herself."

"Huh?"

"Ms. Nikos does not truly know what she wants." She explained.

She held up a hand before I could reply, "I mean that to say that subconsciously she knows what she wants, and consciously she agrees, but for different reasons."

Now I was confused.

Lilith's aunt sighed, repressing a roll of her eyes, before biting the bullet, "Ms. Nikos is sexually attracted to you."

I tried, and failed, not to blush at the sheer blunt impropriety of the statement. It was like just being slapped in that face with the naked truth of, well, sex.

"Ok," I gulped, trying to hide behind my hat without looking like I was. "A-and?"

"And, she doesn't actually realize that."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Ms. Nikos doesn't really...process sexual attraction. Consciously, anyways. I can't say what specifically it is. Perhaps it is just that she finds your body attractive, or maybe she is drawn to the type of person you are." She suggested.

"Probably the first one since she's, well," I shrugged, "got quite an eye for women."

Ms. Goodwitch nodded with a grimace, "Yes, I noted much the same myself. It's part of what I meant, though."

"Ms. Nikos is consciously picking up on her favoritism. She skews towards women and feels more attracted to them, but her sense of sexuality and personal needs have been skewed and neglected so much she doesn't understand how to process through any method other than the lens of combat."

"So…" I considered how to put it in my own terms, if only to have a better understanding, "Pyrrha's probably gay, but her childhood was so screwed up she can only understand that desire for love in a violent context? Like, as a combat partner as opposed to a romantic one."

"Yes," Ms. Goodwitch said sadly. "I talked to her father about it, and he is, well...out of his depth."

"He's trying his best to bring his daughter to something resembling baseline mental health, and trying to give her the life of a normal girl she never had, but, well, he's only one well-meaning man."

"And it takes a village," I supplied, remembering the old adage.

"Indeed," She nodded solemnly.

She opened her mouth, but paused, as if considering and reconsidering the words she wanted to say.

"If you are...uncomfortable...with this, you don't need to do it. This isn't an order, and for all her issues, Pyrrha does not have a fragile ego. You can be free to turn her down if you, well…" She trailed off, attempting to suppress her growing discomfort, "Well, if you aren't, ah, into what she offers."

"I'm not into the idea of a girl my age finding 'experienced killer' to be a selling point," I growled.

"Ah," Lilith's Aunt nodded, "yes, I can see how that would be...discomforting. But I meant, well, if you found the idea of courting Pyrrha at all to be, well, distasteful. For...other, more physical, reasons."

I blinked.

Oh.

"I, er, no," I shook my head, "No, no that's not the main issue. I… Pyrrha being a girl is far from the largest roadblock in the way of any relationship."

At least, if Ilia had anything to say about that. I thought, doing my damnedest to suppress any hint of a blush.

Given the way Ms. Goodwitch quickly nodded and changed the subject, I have a feeling she just wanted to check the box and move on.

"Well, I can understand why her views may be disconcerting," She started quickly, rushing to get the new topic into the air, "But she is still learning how to be a normal girl. How to lower her walls and just...live, instead of surviving."

She held her hands up in mock surrender, "I'm not saying I want you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

I smirked, if only to take my mind off darker thoughts, "you mean you're not ordering me to date my teammate?"

"Heavens, no. That would be…" She sneered, "Actions of that nature are more the area of a certain...superior of mine."

I blinked

She can't mean Ozpin, right?

"In any case, I simply encourage you to help Ms. Nikos...put herself together, as it were. Be a good friend. It's very much up to you how far down the hole you're willing to go, but whatever you do bear in mind that she is a very damaged girl who never really learned how to interact with the world the same way you or I or even Jaune did."

"Not Lilith?' I raised a brow.

"Lilith is…" Ms. Goodwitch pursed her lips, "Complicated. Where she grew up, what she went through, what it took for her to survive...it took a toll on her."

"Then why don't you get her to date Pyrrha?" I frowned, "They could bond over that right."

Ms. Goodwitch outright grimaced at that, "I would...not recommend that?"

Now I was confused, "Why not?"

"Lilith is...very…" She searched for the right words, "callus, let's say. As a result of what she went through, she has a very jaded view of reality, and has lost her appreciation for the value of human life."

Given what I've seen I shuddered, I can believe that.

"So cold Lilith plus subservient and lost Pyrrha would mean…?"

"Neither of them would grow and it would likely spiral into both of them having some kind of...negative emotional feedback loop." She sighed, "Sure, they would mesh very well together, but they would likely feed the worst parts of each other. Lilith would grow colder as she's able to get the very capable Ms. Nikos to do whatever she wants, and Ms. Nikos remains in her current submissive condition where she relies on others to do the thinking for her. Lilith would be the master, and Pyrrha the tool."

That painted a very dark picture. One I could see all too easily. Lilith either wouldn't care about making Pyrrha a better person or would find it satisfactory compared to making Pyrrha a better weapon."

"Don't tell me you want to show Lilith how to be a 'real girl' too?" I groaned, trying to force more levity into the conversation before my mind crumbled under all the stress it had.

"No…" She gave me a smile that sent a shiver down my spine, "Though there is an old law regarding foreign royalty and polygamy."

I cringed, "Nope, nope, just...nope."

I, unsuccessfully, tried to scrub the image from my brain.

"It wouldn't be the first time a team managed to melt into one large four-way relationship," She mused, a smirk on her face.

"I don't want to think about that."

"What's wrong, do you find my niece unappealing?"

I wouldn't touch that with Adam's magic sword.

...dammit brain.

"What do you even mean by royalty?" I questioned, trying to force this train to switch tracks.

"Oh," She perked up, "You thought we wouldn't check."

Fuck

"Oh don't tell me." I slumped.

"It was quite surprising to find out that we had the long-lost daughter of the departed Chief of Menagerie at our school." Ms. goodwitch explained, "Many thought you were dead."

"I'm supposed to be" a darker part of me whispered in my head as I rubbed my brow.

Here I'd been hoping to keep past a secret. To cut it off, start anew.

"Fucking…" I muttered to myself as I massaged a growing headache between my eyes.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up, seeing Ms. Goodwitch looking at me with earnest concern.

"I'd been trying to lighten the mood. Lilith and Emrys keep telling me I need to make people laugh more, but I seem to have troubled you." She looked genuinely remorseful.

"Well, "I began sourly, "If you could figure out that I was Ghira's daughter, I'm sure you can figure out why I might not be happy about you bringing it up."

She frowned.

"You don't plan on inheriting his title."

"I think that's my business." I scowled up at her,

"Fair," She acquiesced, "But as small as Menagerie is, it's still a player on the world's stage. You have a lot of pull, if only because of the people who respected and owed your parents."

"I also," I say with a bitter smile, "Have a whole mountain of problems and people who would like me dead."

Ms. Goodwitch opened her mouth to refute my claim but closed it with a sad nod. "True."

"Just remember, you do have friends you can rely on. Including Ms. Nikos."

I snorted, "Rounding back to this topic?"

Ms. Goodwitch sighed, leaning back in her chair and taking a moment to relax.

"I am not trying to command your life, Ms. Belladonna. I would never dare to impose myself to such a level or to even ask you to sleep with another student. However…"

She pauses, tapping her fingers together for a second.

"...When I look at you and your record, I see a woman trying to start over and find her place in the world. A place she can feel proud of."

Something in my gut clenches at just how right she is, but I don't let it show on my face.

"Doing this is admirable...but it can be lonely. Leaving your old life so completely means leaving behind all the friends you used to have."

It's easier when they're all dead. I thought bitterly.

"But whatever you decide to do, you don't have to do it alone. You can make friends on your team and beyond. And I think you'd be a good friend for Pyrrha." A ghost of a smile flashed across her face, "She's the type, I think, that wouldn't mind if you kept your relationship more platonic."

"So that's the pitch?" I said, biting back my first reply.

She sighed. "Yes."

"Why do you care?"

"Should I not care that my students are healthy in body and mind?"

"Shouldn't you also, I don't know, try to keep them from…" I trailed off, fighting down a blush at the road my thoughts went down, "indecency?"

She actually laughed at that. It was a simple, careful, and soft thing. But it was there. "You mean try and keep well over 300 young adults living in prolonged and stressful close quarters from having sex?"

I grimaced, "Point."

"Trying to stop them would be impossible. Honestly, it's not my job to manage it, only come down when things flare up." She shrugged, "But I find preventive measures more effective."

"And this is a preventative measure?" I challenged.

All levity drained from her face as it grew stony serious. "Yes."

I flinched, not expecting such a hard response. "Yes?"

She nodded, "Ms. Enyo and Professor Ozpin both agree with me. Your team…"

She opened her mouth and held back her first response.

"...Either you'll go far," She finally finished, "you'll go far and you'll become an incredibly close-knit and powerful team. One of, if not the best we've ever produced."

"Or you'll snap."

Well fuck

I came back to the dorm room with a far gloomier mood. I'd just been told that chances were my team was either going to be a legend or it was going to snap and, if we were lucky, simply go our separate ways hating each other.

More likely, we'd be dead.

Given her niece was on the team, I could see why Ms. Goodwitch cared so much.

It wasn't even hard to see how she'd come to that conclusion.

Pyrrha was probably some kind of uber-warrior-women who grew up biting and clawing for every scrap of food she could get as a kid in the massive slums of Mistral, only to grow up with the incredible pressures of being a champion. She was probably 5 seconds from going, psycho killer.

Jaune was a prideful, gullible, powerful, but unskilled fighter who was tied to one of the oldest and most prestigious families of hunters in the kingdom, if not the world, with the weight of all that on his shoulders.

I was the daughter of the 2nd chief of Menagerie, the supposed "haven" of faunus, ex-terrorist, and a person on Adam's shit list.

And Lilith was a little girl with psychic powers who watched her entire village get slaughtered, including her family, and as a result, had lost respect for the value of human life.

What a wonderful combination we were.

A/n: Right, not dead. I'm back.

Why did this sort-of-die?

Well, a couple reasons. One of which being, I sorta fell outa the RWBY fandom. V4 was such a disappointment I didn't feel like watching V5. Hell, I just took a big long break from the whole damn fandom.

Fucking glad I did that.

Watched V5 over the course of 2 days in June. Since I'd taken a break from the fandom I went in going, "This is a show that was kinda neat, right?" As opposed to, "RWBY is love, RWBY is life, and if they fucked it up someone will die".

So I liked it.

And then I went to the Fanfic page for RWBY

And remembered why I left.

And more importantly, why the hell I wrote this fic. There are so many fucking fics with "dark Ruby" where she has dark-ish heritage or growing up or some such shit, but instead of taking the plunge they pussy out at make it all about happiness and sharing and caring and love and just Fuck That

So, you know, kudos for Grimm Heir for doubling down on evil. I approve.

Also, as an explanation for the "hopscotch with time" comment I made above?

Basically, to renew my motivation to write this thing, I'm skipping around to what I feel like writing at the moment, all while generally trying to progress forward at a semi-regular pace chronologically. I'll try to fill in what happened in the intervening time with back explanation and description. It means I'm going to be missing out on writing a whole lot of scene I actually wanted to write, like the Psychology scenes, and that I'll have holes in the work that, if filled, would have made for a better work of writing.

But, it does mean that I'll actually make fucking progress on Madness. As much as I'd like to write the psyche scenes, and everything in between, I'm tired of beating my head against a wall regarding that stuff. Hopefully, you can understand why I'm doing this.

In addition, I'd say my style has changed. in large part because of the 2nd reason I haven't worked on this much. I have a quest I'm doing on Sufficient Velocity called Hunger. Not sure if I mentioned it before, too lazy to check, but it's been going long and semi-consistently for a year. Working on that, among other things, has, I think made me a better writer. A different one, at the very least.

So if my style has changed this story to the point you veterans no longer like what I'm doing, well, that sucks, but too bad. Couldn't go back even if I wanted to. This is what I've got.

Anyways, I'm hoping I didn't fuck this one up. It does seem like a pretty large jump, but I also don't particularly feel like waiting much long. My birthday seemed like as good a time as any to post this shit.

Oh! Almost forgot.

Regarding the time hopscotch and hiatus, I actually have a tiny little chapter that was the first version of what happened here. Takes a different path. I'll probably post that at some point soon-ish, if only to feed you and delay the next chapter.

So, enjoy, leave a review, feed my ego, pander my fragile self-esteem, etc etc.