"Whooo! Go Yang!" Jaune fell back into his chair, looking left and right at the enormous crowd that surrounded him, the seats of Amity Colosseum filled with an unimaginable number of people. His team on one side, and RWBY on the other. He caught Blake's eye beside him, and he grinned at her, her reply much smaller, but just as bright.

This was going to be incredible. Yang Xiao Long was going to be fighting in the finals of the Vytal Festival Tournament. His friend; someone he knew! The idea seemed so unfathomable, so surreal to him. Someone he personally knew and cared for was going to be on international TV, in front of millions of people. He never imagined that his life would be so…big!

It had been a month since the dance, when he'd talked to Blake. The Vytal tournament had started what felt like hours ago, and yet it was already the finals, the last fights before all the smiling, cheerful people would return to their homes for the next two years.

He cautiously looked at Blake again, to see her staring at her partner, down in the arena. He and Blake were…friends? Right? Yeah, they were friends. She talked with him as least as much as Ruby, and certainly more than Sun. That meant they had to be friends, right? When the group was all together, she would sometimes sit next to him. If the main event was interesting enough, she sometimes put down her book and watched, occasionally leaning close to him to whisper some dry, sarcastic remark.

One time, he'd fallen asleep in the library, and woke to find her sitting next to him, in the next armchair. "I've never seen you reading anything larger than a comic, willingly anyway," she'd said, and she had that crooked little smirk on her face. When he'd said that he hadn't, she'd made him lie back in his chair, opened the book in her hands, and had read aloud to him. A tale of two souls, a dark and light half that fought for dominance. He had eventually fallen asleep again, but with the way Blake told the story, her voice so much more animated than usual, he couldn't help but feel…captured, by the little hardback book.

Blake nudged his arm in the present, and he jerked out of his daydreaming. "Look," she whispered quietly, somehow managing to reach him despite the deafening crowd. The second wheel had finally stopped spinning, and they now knew Yang's opponent: Mercury Black.

Yang was talking with him, a guy Jaune vaguely remembered from the team that sometimes hung out with RWBY. The two were smiling- well, she was smiling and cracking jokes, while he just smirked at her, his lips barely moving sometimes to reply.

"What's up with him?" He leaned toward Blake and didn't-quite-whisper.

"Emerald has always said he's pretty arrogant. He's probably not taking the fight seriously." Blake shrugged.

"The finals of the Vytal Festival Tournament?" Jaune was incredulous.

"Emerald also said he wasn't very smart." Blake shrugged again, and her mouth twitched in a small smile. "But I think she might be biased. She doesn't like him very much."

Jaune shook his head, and leaned against one side of the stadium seat. How could someone their age not be in awe of something like this? The eyes of the world were on them, and he was just sneering at Yang, not giving her, or the fight, the respect it deserved. While Jaune may have never met the guy, he immediately disliked him. Jaune had worked too hard for his place here, scrabbling his way from a fraudulent cheat into someone on par with (mostly) anyone in his year. He couldn't like someone who looked down on everything that represented.

After the two combatants had traded a few words, they fell into ready poses, Professor Port counted down and, "FIGHT!"

Jaune's eyes grew wider as the fight began. It was…beautiful. The way they moved, it was like a dance, graceful and terrible, flowing through forms he couldn't even begin to understand before changing course in sharp, jagged hits, every line either moving into the next, or breaking off and zigzagging from a blow or block. Jaune would have to rephrase his status: he wasn't anywhere close to the kind of combat that these guys were doing.

A thought occurred to him, and unlike many that he'd heard over the past month, this one was his own. What if he peered into Yang's mind? His powers hadn't changed much the last few weeks, but he could hear thoughts from a lot farther away, and with a bit more clarity. It was like, the best way to take notes! Jaune could look right inside Yang's head, look at her thoughts as she went through the fight, maybe pick up some tips, and learn some ways to get better.

'Watch his legs, step into his guard, can't exactly bend his legs in half, come from right, grab, throw off balance-' Her thoughts were short, rapid, and it made sense; she couldn't exactly be writing poetry in the middle of a fight. She just needed to think ahead one or two short steps, and then counter. Yang was too focused on the dance.

And like every dance, this one came to an end. There'd been a few close calls, Mercury almost fell off the platform one time, but Yang had emerged victorious, Mercury's aura levels totally gone. Yang said a few words to Mercury, but he was too far away to hear, before she turned around and started to walk away.

'There's not going to be a next time, blonde…'

Wait…that wasn't Yang's voice. That didn't sound anything like her thoughts. Jaune's own thoughts were interrupted, because, for the first time, he saw something.

He was standing in the arena, the crowds cheering around him. He heard something, a rushing noise, and he turned to see- Mercury was leaping right for him, leg extended in what would be a deadly kick! 'What is he doing?!' It was Yang's familiar voice in his head, and he jumped as Mercury flew at him and-

He jerked in his seat, breathing heavily, gasping for breath. It felt like he could feel Mercury's foot in his chest. The booing shook him from his own thoughts. Booing, jeers, outraged cries. He looked to Blake beside him, and she looked like she might snap the arms of her chair at any second. She was tense, breathing heavily, and he thought he heard her murmur something. "Just like him. She's just like him…"

Just like who? Adam? Jaune knew from Blake's memories that Yang and Adam were nothing alike. What was going on?

"Yang Xiao Long! Stand down!"

He looked into the amphitheater to see Yang, surrounded by Atlas officers, all with weapons trained on him.

"What!? Why?" Yang looked just as confused as he felt. He looked beside her to see Mercury, lying on the ground and clutching his leg.

"Why'd she do it? Why did she attack me?!"

What?! That was ridiculous, he had attacked her, she was just defending herself. The booing got worse, and Jaune looked around, confused. "What are they doing?" Every face around him was pointed up, and he followed their gazes to…the screen.

It showed Yang walk past Mercury, who was extending a hand to her. What? That didn't make any sense, he had been farther awa- The Yang on the screen turned around and shot at Mercury, the foreign student crumpling and clutching his leg.

"What?!" Jaune couldn't believe it. He stared in disbelief at the cowardly, dishonest pixels.

That's not what happened…that's-

"That's not what happened!" Jaune shouted at a man much more powerful than he, and Ironwood pursed his lips with cryogenic patience.

"Mister Arc, well I understand that your friend's actions must be upsetting to you, I-"

Jaune interrupted him, again. "But she didn't do it! I mean, she kinda did, but Mercury did it!"

Ironwood's brow furrowed, like storm clouds on the verge of thunder. "If you're trying to confuse me in an attempt to reverse the decision that the security council came to, then-"

"But she's innocent!" Jaune gestured with his arms wildly, his eyes wide as they bore into the general's own.

Ironwood looked like he might actually hit him. "And what proof do you have?!" The general's breath came out in great heaving pants, and Jaune thought he might actually see his skin getting paler. "Jaune, I understand you want to help your friend, but you haven't told me any evidence that even suggests you believe what you're saying."

Jaune grit his teeth at the use of his first name. Teachers never did that unless rules had suddenly come secondary to people, and Jaune was forced to realize that his friend was on the wrong side of those rules.

Ironwood sighed and rubbed at his face, his palm carrying the frown and furrowed brow away. He suddenly looked very old, and very tired. "You mean well, I know. But as far as I can see, you can't prove her innocence, you can't even properly explain why you think Yang might have acted out of character. Let me tell you what I see: I saw a girl, with a history for brazen violence, and a reputation of a short temper. I saw her jittery on hormones and bloodlust, and I saw her turn around and attack a student, probably out of surprise or shock."

He sighed again, and his whole body, normally so rigid and upright, seemed to sag under the weight of his problems. "I don't think Yang is a bad person, Jaune. But she's unpredictable, and lacks self-control. In all honesty, her disqualification is to satisfy the people, not myself. If I allowed her to compete, there might actually be riots, and god knows how long it's been since we've had one of those. The grimm are restless enough as it is."

"But…" What was Jaune supposed to say? If he could prove that something had happened to Yang, something had made her lash out, how would that effect any of the spectators? The world had already come to a decision as to what Yang did and why she did it. "You could release a statement, that there was tampering, that-"

"What tampering?" Jaune's mouth clicked shut as Ironwood was finally the one to interrupt him. "Nothing suggests that Miss Xiao Long's outburst was anything more or less than combat shakes. Do you have any evidence to suggest otherwise?" Ironwood's gaze was hard, and Jaune was hard pressed to meet his eyes. "Jaune, if you've seen something that is even remotely suspicious, if it's founded at all, I'll look into it."

Jaune thought back to what he'd seen, of Mercury's leg extended towards him in a deadly kick, of standing in the arena while sitting in the stands. How could he possibly explain what he saw? 'Oh, incidentally, I can read minds, I know that you and the headmaster are hiding something under the school, and that there's someone who can make people see things that aren't there.'

Yeah. That'd go over great. If they didn't believe him, he'd be kicked out of Beacon for mental instability, and if they did, he'd be locked up as a security risk. And neither of those options would help Yang.

He felt like scum for shaking his head. He felt like dirt for mumbling out, "No sir. It just didn't seem much like Yang to do that." And he hated Ironwood's patient and tired smile.

"I completely understand. If that's all, I have a press conference I need to get to." Jaune nodded numbly and stepped aside as Ironwood strode past him and down the hall, his back straightening up. Can't show the world how tired you are, he supposed.

Jaune was the worst. He'd had something, he knew Yang was innocent, knew that something had happened to make her act in self-defense, and he couldn't say anything. No, that wasn't it; he wouldn't say anything. He was too scared of what might happen to himself, of being locked up or expelled, when he had information that could've helped her. Not for the first time in his life, Jaune felt like such a coward.

He shambled to his dorm, feet as heavy as his heart as they dragged along the carpet. He was approaching his dorm, eager to just fall asleep and escape from his guilt. He wasn't sure he could look Yang in the face, even if she never would know why.

RWBY's dorm opened, and Blake, Weiss, and Ruby quietly stepped out, just as his own door opened and his team peered from inside. "How is she?" He asked, more on instinct. Maybe if she was feeling better, if she was taking it well, he wouldn't feel so-

"She's…doing the best she can." Blake's quiet reply made his heart clench. Yang was miserable. He wished he hadn't asked. He didn't listen to the rest of their conversation, Ruby cheering on, Weiss getting coffee, something? He could only think about Yang, about his guilt.

So many times in his life, he'd been paralyzed by fear, guilt, shame, and other people always paid the price. Jaune shook his head, the doubt replaced with a grim conviction. As RWB walked away, and NPR retreated into their room, he walked up to the opposite doors…and turned right. His hand settling onto the handle of a door his scroll couldn't open once it was locked.

Yang looked up as he stepped inside, and hurriedly wiped at her face with her sleeves. She didn't want him to see her crying. 'Yang Xiao Long' wasn't supposed to cry.

"Hey," Jaune's voice was hoarse and low.

"Hi Pumpkin Pete," Yang called back to him, and she gave him a winning smile, her tear-streaked face somewhat ruining the normally bright grin.

"I-" God, how did he say this? Should he just find something else to talk about first, then work his way around to it? He couldn't think of anything, and the awkward silence wasn't exactly helping. "I know you didn't do it. Didn't mean to do it, I mean."

She laughed shakily and wiped at her face again, the puffy shoulder-sleeves stained by a large spot of tears on each side. "Don't exactly beat around the bush, do ya?"

Jaune winced. Yeah, he definitely could have handled that better. He slowly approached Yang as she looked back up at him, the springs squeaking as he settled onto one of the lower beds, Blake's, if he remembered right.

"And how do you 'know'?" Yang's voice could've been called mocking or accusatory, if it had more energy. Jaune saw the same tiredness in her face that he had seen in Ironwood's, a kind of heavy sadness that weighed down her whole body.

But Yang's question was more worrying than her mood: How did he know? "I don't, I guess." Jaune shrugged, and something tugged in his chest when Yang winced. "I couldn't prove it in court anyway, but I know you didn't want to, an-and I know that it wasn't 'nerves' or 'combat shakes' or something like that. Well, I don't think so."

Yang's tears continued to fall, but she wasn't sobbing, wasn't even crying really. She just kept wiping at her face. "Well, that makes one person? According to Ironwood and most of the world, I'm a crazy rage-monster, or something."

"Yeah, but not according to anyone who really knows you." Yang shrugged helplessly at his words. "Right?"

"I dunno." She mumbled glumly, she looked out the window at the setting sun, which had just started its descent towards the horizon. They had a few hours of daylight at most, before the second night of the finals began. Jaune stood and stepped over to the bed Yang rested on, sitting beside her.

He wasn't sure what she was comfortable with, what would or wouldn't be crossing boundaries, but he cautiously stretched an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. Her frown disappeared into another shaky laugh, and she wiped at her eyes again, this time with her fingers. She leaned into Jaune's shoulder, raising one hand to gently squeeze his hand where it rested on her right shoulder.

"Thanks, man."

"Yeah. I know you better than all those idiots out there, and I don't think you're not some crazy girl or anything like that."

Yang laughed openly at that, before she turned to Jaune and crossed her eyes, wiggling her fingers at him. "Oh, but I am crazy. I stick flowers in boots and eat junk food and tell shit jokes. I'm bananas, lady killer."

Jaune chuckled, "Maybe we should put you on the menu for breakfast."

Yang's laugh faltered, and she looked at him, her eyes darting to the right, trying to think. "Wait, what?"

"Cause, you know, they serve bananas in the cafeteria…"

Yang snorted, and chuckled to herself, her breath a rapid little machine gun. "That was- ha ha! – so dumb!" She cackled and fell to the side, knocking Jaune on to the bed. His laughter joined hers, and the two of them laughed like loons until Yang finally caught her breath, and sat up, Jaune following suit.

"Thanks Pumpkin Pete." She pulled him into a hug, her arms squeezing his opposite shoulder. "I know you tried to help. You're good people." She gave him a final squeeze before letting him go and sniffing heavily, her arm wiping at her face once again. "I think I need some time to think, though, if that's alright."

Jaune nodded and stood, patting her arm awkwardly, but she smiled nonetheless. "See you."

"Yeah, seeya." Yang was still smiling softly when Jaune reached the door and stepped outside.

He wanted to help. It felt like a tugging sensation in his chest. A need to fix whatever had happened to Yang, whatever had resulted in her attacking Mercury like that. Ruby had once told him about responsibility, where if you had the power to help someone, you had to use it. When he'd asked why, she'd just shrugged a small shoulder and said "It's what we do."

The fact that he might be able to help her, but that he was choosing not to disgusted him. It was like the fiasco with Cardin, all over again; choosing his own safety, happiness, future, career over the same things for his friends. But…was he?

He shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket, his 'koala pouch', as Nora had once called it, and stepped ponderously to the side, brushing past a tall, dark-haired guy in a red cape.

If he really wanted to help Yang, would telling anyone actually do anything? Telling Ironwood, Ozpin, Oobleck, or anyone else that he could read minds would do one of two things: they'd think he was crazy, and he'd be locked up as soon as the festival was over so he didn't hurt anyone, OR they'd believe him, and he'd be locked up immediately, so that he couldn't tell anyone various state secrets.

His scowl shifted on his face in consternation. Neither of those options looked like it led to Ironwood releasing a statement reinstating Yang in the finals. And even if the teachers did believe him, and didn't lock him up, what would they be able to do? They could release all the statements they wanted, but the world had already come to its own conclusions, and no retractions would be able to change tha-

"Thank you." Jaune started, his circular worry broken as he looked up. A familiar black bow and golden eyes looked up at him, blinking owlishly. Blake shifted from one foot to the other, her eyes darting around them, occasionally meeting his own before continuing their chase around him.

"What?"

"Thank you." She said again, and she held his gaze for a slightly longer moment. Then the contact was broken, and she glanced behind him.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. Yang's my friend."

Blake smiled ruefully, and muttered, "Mine too." Jaune had a feeling he was missing something, but knew that if Blake wanted him to know, she would tell him.

Before he could say anything more, Blake stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a soft squeeze and then breaking away before he could return the hug.

"None of us really knew what to do. We're her team, but that's a certain amount of distrust that comes from people you know really well. You think they might lie to you, to spare your feelings. But with someone who's a stranger-" Jaune pouted, his mouth quirked to one side in faux-hurt. Blake chuckled, "-more of a stranger, that doubt isn't as strong, I guess."

"Guess?"

Blake shrugged. "I don't know for certain. Maybe Yang likes reassurances from boys better, or trusts people who look like her dad. Guesswork is the best I can do. I can't exactly read minds."

Jaune stiffened, before laughing and scratching at the back of his head. "Y-yeah, that'd make things easier, I guess."

"Guess?" Blake smiled coyly, and he chuckled nervously again.

"Yeah, I can't exactly read minds either."

Blake rolled her eyes before stepping forward again, pulling Jaune into a brief, soft hug, then releasing him and walking down the hallway towards her dorm.

"Thanks again. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya." Jaune raised a hand in farewell, before it dropped again. As if today couldn't get more confusing and exhausting.

It had gotten both more confusing, and more exhausting. Jaune was bruised, battered, and he couldn't feel most of his left arm.

Pyrrha, the girl in the case, Pyrrha, Cinder, Pyrrha, Ozpin, Pyrrha, Pyrrha, Pyrrha… He wiped at his eyes as the tears came again, and something his wrist creaked in protest at ever having to move again. He could read minds, supposedly help people with their problems, but by the time he'd realized anything was wrong with her, she'd run away, and he hadn't even thought to check her mind.

And now it was too late. His throat felt hoarse, and he could still remember why.

"Weiss! Please, you have to stop her! Don't worry about me! Please, you have to save Pyrrha."

"Please…" A few streams of tears trickled past his palms and down his wrists, and his eyes felt numb from rubbing, but his body was all cried-out. He was too exhausted to feel the shock anymore.

He lifted his red eyes only to see someone else, who'd cried just as much as him.

Blake stood maybe 20 feet away, Sun and Yang sprawled out on the ground in front of her, and unlike him, she had plenty more tears to cry. They were all waiting at the Vale air docks, for the next ships to return from Beacon. There'd been a flash of light from the tower, and Ruby's uncle had commandeered one of the bullheads to fly up and retrieve any remaining survivors.

Ren and Nora were a few feet to his left, leaning against the destroyed remains of a souvenir shop. Sun had said that the rest of his team were at one of the hospitals, though he hadn't said if they were volunteers or patients.

Sun himself was on his side next to Yang, having fallen asleep. The adrenaline crash had hit all of them pretty hard. Jaune idly noticed that Sun's tail was curled around his body. 'Kinda like a cat.'

Jaune's chuckle died in his throat when his eyes drifted to the next figure on the ground. Yang…

Yang's arm was gone. Shored off just above her right elbow, with a blood-soaked bandage concealing the stump. Though Jaune's body had trouble processing the shock, that didn't mean he could think of anything to do or say. How could you comfort someone in a situation like that?

He looked down to the cracked concrete between his knees as his thoughts turned to the people who weren't here. Weiss, Ruby, and…

She'd be fine. Pyrrha was a terror on the battlefield, a four-time champion. Probably more; she didn't like to talk about her own accomplishments. Pyrrha could handle anything that Cinder threw at her, and throw it right back. She was strong like tha-

The faint whirring that he had initially dismissed as a bug grew louder into the recognizable thrum of the bullhead. He and Blake, the only two people currently conscious, turned to look.

Ruby's uncle stood next to Weiss in the main section of the bullhead, Ruby herself cradled in his arms like a little kid. Jaune's heart turned cold before he thought 'She's probably just injured, and lying down in the back. Cinder must have been pretty strong to pull off something like this. Pyrrha's fine, she'll recover.'

"Blake?" Sun's voice carried across the eerie quiet, and Jaune turned to see as the faunus stirred, propping himself up on his arms. Blake was walking quickly away from them all, her matted hair swaying from side to side. Sun reached out to her for a moment before collapsing back onto the ground, asleep before he even hit the dirt.

As Jaune watched Blake go, he didn't even think as he idly switched on his 'gift'.

'It's all my fault…it's all my fault…' The mantra went on and on, and he never thought he'd ever hear a person sob in their own head.

The bullhead touched down, and Jaune pushed himself up, his knees clicking in displeasure, but his battered body could wait. He had to see Pyrrha for himself, make sure she was…

He'd half started to jog, but froze when he finally came to Ruby's uncle. He half-smiled at the grizzled man, and gestured back to the bullhead. "How's she doing?"

He looked very old and very tired as he watched Jaune. Jaune turned to Weiss, "I knew you could do-"

Weiss wasn't looking at him. She couldn't look at him. Jaune's smile grew brittle, desperate, as he turned back to the huntsman. "Where's…?"

Ruby's uncle sighed, and shifted his niece in his arms, his eyes going to the ground just like Weiss'.

"I'm sorry."

Jaune thought he would've been numb to the sorrow by now.

'It's all my fault…It's all my fault…'

It was all her fault. Yang, Ruby, Pyrrha, the White Fang, Cinder, all of it. It was all because of her, through Adam. She'd been a fool, a downright idiot. Start a new life? Fight for equality? She would've laughed, if misery hadn't been smothering her like a clinging fog.

She'd always known that Adam was determined. His commitment to the cause was part of what had led to him being promoted through the ranks of the early White Fang so quickly. "A hard worker", her father had once called him. Driven, but without dangerous ambition, and he'd been right in the end. Adam wasn't ambitious, but he was obsessed. Obsessed with retribution against the humans, and obsessed with her.

Wherever Blake went, misery was sure to follow.

As she jogged down the dilapidated streets of Vale, her mind was racing. Where could she go? She wanted to help, but there was nowhere that was safe from Adam, nowhere where he couldn't hunt her down and destroyed everything she cared abo-

"Blake!"

She stopped, chills raking her body despite the unseasonably warm autumn evening. Why was it always the blonds? She turned slowly, releasing her instinctive grip on Gambol.

Jaune stood at the end of a nearby alleyway, his breath coming in gasps, but his face… She'd once compared Jaune to a teddy bear. In a school so full of dangerous combatants, he'd seemed soft and comforting, but now…he looked positively murderous.

He stalked towards her, and while Blake was relatively certain she could either disable him or get away, what was more frightening was why he would be so furious. As he got closer, she saw tear tracks down his face, far more fresh than when she'd last seen him. Her heart sank. Pyrrha hadn't…

He stopped about ten feet away from her, his eyes boring into her like a bottomless ocean that could swallow her up at any second.

"Where are you going?"

Blake wasn't exactly sure how to answer. She'd hadn't figured that out herself, yet. However, even if the destination was unclear, the direction was not. "Somewhere else."

"Why?" Jaune hadn't even waited for her answer to finish. He'd expected it, he'd already known.

Blake looked at the crumbling buildings around them, at the few bodies that the rescue teams hadn't bothered to recover, before finally looking at Jaune. "So this doesn't happen again."

Jaune turned from her, furious, as if his incredulity had spun him around from its sheer force. "What?!"

"This is all-"

"This is not your fault!" Jaune's voice dwarfed hers, in magnitude and emotion. He'd whirled on her and extended a shaking finger, but not in accusation. "How could you even think-?! Argh!"

He stepped toward her then turned and stepped away, running a hand through his hair. He turned back, pinning her in place with his gaze before gesturing around at the ruins of Vale. "This isn't your fault…but if you leave, that will be. How could you do this to Yang, to your team?"

"It's to keep them safe!" It was Blake's turn to shout, to scream at him. Her breathing was heaving now, and she could no longer keep her own frustration locked away. "Adam won't ever stop. He'll find me again and again, and he'll destroy anything between himself and me!"

"Bullshit!" They were screaming at each other now, their voices reverberating off the skeleton of the city.

Jaune turned away again, clutching at his head as if he could hold his frustration inside. When he spoke again, his voice was a choked whisper. "You think you're being selfless, but you're not."

"What?"

"You're hiding." Jaune's face was a grim half-smile as he turned back to her. "The guilt is chewing you up inside, and you think being around them will make it worse."

He stepped closer, Blake stepping back, as if his words were physical spears that could wound her. "We're stronger with our friends, Blake. Pushing them away hurts them and yourself. After everything Yang has been through, you really think that abandoning her will help her?!"

"Stop it! I'm not-!"

"That's exactly what you're doing!" Blake's back hit a wall, and she cursed to herself as Jaune started making ground on her, until they were face to face. "My partner is dead! And you're just…throwing yours away?!"

Jaune's voice lowered, and his expression softened, a mix between pitying and pleading. "Your team needs you Blake. Yang needs you, I-" He broke off, and looked back towards the direction they'd both come from.

Blake's mind was racing. She thought back to last semester, her obsession with Torchwick, the dance, the conversations they'd had, Jaune comforting Yang, everything her friends had done for her. Jaune's expression broke her heart.

Jaune sighed and turned back to face her. "You can ma- Mmph!" She grasped his face, and pulled him close…and kissed him.

Her heart twisted when Jaune pulled away, but then soared just as high when his arms settled around her waist and pulled her back in. They were both filthy, tired, sore, and smelled disgusting, but for now, they felt happy. As happy as they could, given the circumstances.

They parted, sharing breath as well as space when they stayed so close together. Jaune idly caught a lock of hair in his fingers as he said, "We need you Blake. Please…don't push us out."

She looked up at him, glancing back toward the direction she knew her team, her friends to be.

…

"Okay."

A/N: I am so beyond unhappy with this. I've been working on this commission for the last three months, and I haven't touched it for the last two. I can barely string two clauses together with a direct object apiece, but despite how shit I know this is, I have to get it out. It's been like pulling teeth, but now that this is out of the way, I can move on to the next...three...oh god.

I'm not charging the client for this. Normally I charge half up front and half after, but I'm not doing the second half when this thing has taken three goddamn months. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next two or three commissioners decide they'd rather not wait.

This story also commits a cardinal sin that I absolutely hate in all fanfiction, but especially in fics focused on Jaune: romance without development. Blake goes from friends with Jaune to smooching him for no real reason, and I am so beyond frustrated and disappointed with himself, but as I said: I needed to get this out, otherwise I would just go on putting it off, getting distracted, etc. If I ever get my shit together, I might come back and rewrite this with a little more development, but for now: Yes, I know the romance comes out of nowhere and makes no sense. Trust me. I know.

So, some notes on this actual story: when I was first planning this out, Yang gives Jaune a kiss on the cheek, and is mildly interested in him herself. It ended with Jaune and Blake sleeping together, and Yang finding them the next morning, disappointed that Jaune was taken but overjoyed that he stopped Blake from leaving.

The second major difference between my planning and this first draft is a missing scene. Originally, I had Blake find Jaune after the 'Destiny' talk with Pyrrha, where she hadoukened him against the wall. Blake likens Pyrrha's odd behavior to Adam's shift in personality as the White Fang grew more militant, much like she was apprehensive about trusting Yang after Yang was disqualified. So, basically that conversation with Yang, but about Pyrrha, and to Jaune. I decided in the end that there wasn't time, since this fic was originally supposed to only be 3k words, and ended up at 5k despite all of that.

The next commission is some platonic (maybe budding romance but maybe not) Dragonslayer, set post V4, but completely deviating from V5 because, well...I planned it out before learning that Yang wasn't actually heading to Haven like I assumed, and was instead hunting down her mother. Seriously, I could've sworn she turned right, which is the opposite direction of the bandit's sign. gdi, CRWBY, what are you doing to me.