Chapter 4: Clashing Mettle

Beta: ThePhantomScribe

Her hands… they felt cold.

And like a virus, this chilly numbness infected her skin – the tingling feeling of a thousand insects scaling her body and engulfing her in a disgusting shell of obscure emotional turmoil.

Understandable, considering what she'd just heard.

Her companion had left her about an hour ago – which was probably for the best, because right now, Blake needed the comfort of solitude. Her brain whirred like the engines of a machine, the fuel known as raw emotion pumping into the pistons and shifting the entire block into turbo. In that moment, hundreds of thoughts and questions ransacked her brain, and due to her present shock, she was unable to utter a single one of them out.

Had she heard that right? No… no way. It was absolutely impossible that she heard… what she heard. Hadn't heard! It was a fib; a plain-faced lie that Jaune had conjured up just to evade her questions, as he usually did whenever he was nervous.

He didn't scratch his head, though…

Something caught in her throat; for a moment, she thought she might need the Heimlich, the churning heat from her body warming the cushion beneath it and her hair cascading over her shoulders while her eyes bore into the empty plate that sat on the marble table.

It was a lie. It had to be. No way could it be true…

Oh but it was, and she could deny it all she wanted, but it would not change reality…

Jaune Arc, her-

Blake paused, shuffling her weight on her seat with a disgruntled grumble as she realized where the thought was headed. She'd left the Fang… and for all intents and purposes, Jaune was now her only friend.

So… didn't only friend count as best friend? The ravenette scoffed at herself, her pride momentarily turning its nose at the admission even though she slowly found herself contemplating the converse of the argument. 'Best' certainly sounded much less lonely than 'only'...

Shutting her eyes, she gave out a slow, long sigh… was it really that far of a stretch to say he'd already been acting the part? Jaune had treated her better in a few scanty months than the vast majority of Faunus in the Fang had treated her in her entire life.

No… 'best' friend didn't sound too bad, she supposed… but said best friend was currently deciding to enlist in the Armed Forces.

Well, at least she could see now why he was hesitant about telling her.

Her amber orbs locked onto the ajar door of the study, mistakenly left open by the conflicted blonde who all but sprinted out - smart boy; had he stayed for much longer, Blake might've realized how angry she was and throttled him.

"That idiot…" she grumbled to herself, snatching her book up and opening the pages to her last bookmark. She needed to stop thinking about it, she needed a distraction from this… this… insanity.

Books had always been a comfort, a solace - a place where she could escape the reality of the real world and dive headfirst into a land of trials, tribulations… and occasionally, more mature themes.

And after adjusting herself more comfortably in her seat, she was set on doing just that. Simply sitting back and allowing her mind to be taken over by the glorious story now spread before her eyes...

…

…

That… idiot!

What could he possibly be thinking? Did Jaune even know what he was saying? This was war, war! This wasn't like training at the Huntsman Academies to fight the Grimm; this was much, much worse.

She would know, she'd been directly involved in it continuously for five years. If anyone knew what war was truly like, it was her. Which begged the question… did Jaune truly know what he was getting himself into?

He had to have seen the news, or heard stories. War was not an epic tale of heroics and grandeur, it was quite literally the personification of chaos and slaughter. With widespread battle razing the land, bullets tearing through the flesh of the living, and their charred, torn remains all but sprawled over the ground… what generation wouldn't be horrified at such atrocities, unless of course there were no generation left to balk at the irony that the only result of a war borne on discrimination was indiscriminate destruction for all?

But Jaune sounded so sure, though; so certain that this was something he wanted to do. Why else would he try to keep it from her?

Oh right, because he cared.

Sometimes Blake overlooked the fact that her friendship with Jaune was akin to a two-way street. She figured she knew everything about him, but tended to forget that he knew just as much about her. He probably knew that if he told her what he was going to do, she wouldn't like it. That it would hurt her.

And boy was he right…

The ravenette felt like some kind of thin wire was slowly coiling itself around her heart, droplets of blood oozing as it got tighter and tighter - sadistically inflicting the most pain in the slowest manner possible. Her hands trembled uncontrollably - forcing her to lay her book on the table for fear of either dropping it… or tearing it apart.

Why would Jaune want to join the Armed Forces? She thought as hard with every fiber of her being she could muster, but couldn't find a single legitimate reason for a… doofus, like Jaune to want to engage in countrywide bloody warfare.

No offense to her friend, but Jaune had always had the appearance and personality of a weakling. Not cowardice; Jaune was brave to a fault. He could be tough when he needed to be, but his physical skills often failed to live up to his words.

But she liked that about him. To her, Jaune didn't need to be big and strong… all she wanted was for him to be there. Who he was now was already far more than she felt she deserved, and she figured Jaune was happy with himself as well...

So why?

Should Jaune actually go through with this, he'd be exposing himself to horrors that no one as untainted as he should ever experience. Surviving the war was one thing; as many people had survived and continued to do so… but it was what the war did to you that dealt the real damage. But not even that scared her as much as the single thought that'd burrowed in her head ever since he blurted out that malodorous remark.

What if… Jaune got killed?

Fear gripped her like the coiling body of a snake; its seductive hiss promising safety in its grasp… only to crush her with its monstrous strength and devour her whole. If Jaune died… she didn't even want to consider it honestly, but she knew she had to. The weight of this moment was too great to not consider the safety of her one, and currently only, friend.

What an infuriatingly poetic gift of irony from the frank bastard known as real life. She had left the White Fang in order to escape this, hadn't she? She wanted to escape the war; to no longer be plagued by it with the deaths of comrades, murder of innocents, and success of breeding hatred. She ran from it all in order to come to a world she knew was safe and beautiful… and for what?

So that her best friend, the only person she had left in this world, could just charge straight into the mayhem?

No. Hell no.

Clambering up to her feet, Blake's eyes narrowed in unison with her shaking fists. She tried to quell the rage in her throat, keeping it to an almost beastly growl before it could erupt in an audible yell. She would set this entire debacle straight - Jaune hadn't the faintest clue of what he was getting into, so all she needed to do was convince him not to go. Which if she was being honest, wouldn't be hard. Despite his brave claim, Jaune was still as timid as a rabbit - easily frightened, quickly submissive.

She hated to exploit those weaknesses, it felt wrong… but this was to save his life! In case that boob didn't know, you only have one of those! And he was going to waste it on a pointless series of skirmishes that have lasted for half a decade?

Screw that.

Squaring her shoulders and setting her mind, Blake's stride matched her purpose as she exited the library, preparing herself for what she knew must be done.

The only question now… where was he?

Well great, so not only did she just receive the Oum-awful news that her friend was joining the Armed Forces… now she would be forced to look all over the Oum-damn house in order to find him, effectively to unleash her entitled rage.

Jaune… you better hope that I don't kill you.

~Between the Lines~

I really hope she doesn't kill me…

This was why Jaune didn't want to tell her - that mortified expression laced equally with shock made his heart lurch with guilt. But what was he to do? The plans to head for Vale were already set in stone - quit his job at the neighborhood coffee stop as a barista, packed his things, and anything else that needed to be taken care of. With all of that done, Jaune was finally ready to register and get drafted at the Valean Military Base: Beacon Academy.

But of course, something had to get in the way…

Not that he was regretting Blake's appearance - it was a happy surprise, if anything. But he couldn't deny that putting her sudden appearance in a bigger perspective made it more problematic than it was supposed to be. He had been quite literally hours away from leaving; had Blake arrived any later, he would have never known she'd come back.

Which was bad! In a good way, but good… in a… bad way?

Ugh, I need some painkillers…

But Jaune granted himself no such reprieve; stress igniting the spirit in his bones, it gave his arms the energy to beat down the human-sized wooden dummy that stood perched on a pole in front of him. Each blow was an audible thwap, pounding against the hardened structure with an incredible level of ferocity. A right handed palm-strike slammed into the the dummy, striking directly at its side. The impact caused the torso of the dummy to rotate rapidly…

Sending an outstretched wooden arm speeding toward his shoulder.

Without sparing a glance, the back of Jaune's left fist blocked it entirely, and after pushing it back with the follow-through of an elbow-strike, the torso rotated back again.

From there, things only got faster.

Blurry even; for Jaune's subsequent flurry of jabs, elbows, and kicks intercepted each arm of the dummy, sending them away and countering those that came back for more. His expression was oddly far from calm… yet not quite angered. Instead, it was a strange combination of focused tenacity… directing vast pool of energy deep inside him that had been waiting for sweet release.

His left straight punch nailed the opposing side of the dummy's neck, knuckles digging into it before pulling back out. Having applied just enough force to slow it down, Jaune torqued his body around and swung his foot into the face of the dummy with a growling yell.

The head was now hanging limply from the skin of the wood.

But he continued, blow after blow amongst the dozens of dummies scattered around the spacious courtyard. Loud grunts accompanied each attack, as though his very breath released the remaining power his hands and feet could not. Jaune was light on his feet as his next volley of strikes made to attack each and every one of them, throwing their forms into motion as they spun at the greatest speed they could maintain.

Do not get hit.

His brain's command was instantly put into effect, Jaune moving as quickly as his body would allow him. Blocking arms simultaneously as he struck others, spinning around to take on more, spinning back around again… his breath quickening with each passing second as he struggled to control it.

Seconds turned to minutes as he continued using his momentum to propel him toward his targets, new and old. A knee crashed into the head of one - the other foot planting into its shoulder before kicking off. The shaky dismount carried him backward, shoes scraping the ground as he skid a few feet before coming to a complete halt. But judging by the grimace on his face, he was yet to be satisfied.

"RrrrrrrrAGH!"

Wood shards and splinters burst from the back of yet another dummy, flying outward like spray as a single fist crashed through it. Its owner slowly clenched and unclenched his fingers in a momentary pause to reflect on the deed, as if getting a feel of what it was like to grab instead. After all, there were only so many dummies kept in storage at the manor to replace as needed. But grapples never came easy - not when his primordial training had never gotten past elementary punches and kicks.

It was a real pain the neck having to train himself… something he might not have had to do had he gotten the right help. His fist remained unbothered, at least - at one time, the least he had to look forward to at the end of a training day was tending to skinless, bloody knuckles. A reward, one could say, for his perseverance if nothing else. Now his hands remained unperturbed despite forcing themselves through an object with roughly the same density as a tree trunk. Mostly because they once were tree trunks.

"Whew…" Jaune steadied his pounding heart as he ripped his arm free of the dummy, glancing over his forearm in case he was cut.

It's still not enough… damn.

Jaune's gaze made a lazy right, casting itself upon the lone sword resting just alongside its expanded shield and hanging on the arm of one of the only dummies he'd yet to attack.

"Then of course, there is still that…"

"Do you always talk to yourself so openly?"

Jaune nearly leapt out of his skin, whipping his attention around to catch Blake sitting idly on one of the tree stumps around the ring as she observed him with an expression he couldn't quite place…

Wait… no… could it possibly be?

Narrowed eyes, pursed lips… fists coiled tightly as her sights zeroed in on the only other person in the immediate area. Him.

Well, goodbye, world.

"How long… have you been there?"

He rubbed his shoulder as he looked away, hoping she failed to spot the bit of shakiness in his voice.

"Oh I dunno," she drawled, the sass in her voice as apparent as the black locks that streamed behind her shoulders. She kicked off the tree stump and approached him, her hard amber orbs boring into him as she got closer, "Since the second or third time you screeched like some pissy Taijitu?"

A moment passed between them, Jaune painfully unsure of how exactly to proceed. He felt so small, despite her being half a head shorter than him. Her crossed arms helped to accentuate her assumed superiority, and he felt his heart quickening at the sheer thought of her unbridled rage. He should've expected this… he did expect it… but it didn't make it any easier to handle, though…

However, his gaze followed the girl as she made her way to the dummy he'd just punched through. And to his surprise, she looked over it with analytical curiosity; as though there was something more to its demise than it seemed.

"You punched straight through a dummy compiled of this type of wood… not an easy feat."

"Uh… yeah," Jaune nodded with vigor; she didn't sound very angry… maybe this was his chance? "My dad once said these are pretty tough to break."

"Carved redwood trunks from Forever Fall, I know. It's comparable to the density of stone to some."

Jaune breathed out slowly, "Huh… didn't know that. Heh, thankfully we've got a load of extras in the depot behind the manor – barely started putting a dent in these things until earlier this year, anyway. I'd like to think I'm ready…"

Jaune instantly clamped his mouth shut upon Blake whirling around to face him, a deep scowl giving way to the anger so expertly hidden from the surface. Did he set her off?

"Ready? Your form is crap!"

Yeah, he set her off.

"Your movements are all over the place! You fight like a child!"

Now, far be it from Jaune to outwardly say that Blake was barking at him. Not only would that be racially inaccurate, but it would probably only make her angrier than she needed to be.

"...You think you're remotely ready? I've never heard of anyone so 'ready' to throw their life away with that kind of combat skill!"

It wasn't often that Blake yelled; in fact, it was still pretty weird to him. But her rising and falling shoulders as she heaved heavily managed to fire down any confidence he had building up. Looking at her directly was impossible; he was too afraid of what he might see there.

"Sorry…" he uttered, unsure of what else to say. It wasn't like her words were crude… for she wasn't exactly incorrect.

Still hurt, though.

But in the next instant, she was facing one of the available dummies, straightening her form in preparation. Then after another ordering gaze, she spoke again, "Every strike must have a meaning, a purpose."

A single right jab, faster than he could see that left the torso spinning. But just after two rotations, hardly even a full second, the dummy was completely stopped by her opposite fist.

"Every movement, direction."

With a spin to the side, she let her momentum work for her and struck the arm of one of the dummies, putting it into motion. The same applied to all those surrounding her, setting them into a frenzy of squeaks and whirls with simple moves that didn't seem to carry much force behind them.

But again, quickly measured attacks brought these rotating replicas to a silent halt, as though they'd never been touched in the first place.

"Every jab, step, and kick, like words and pauses to a single sentence – a single flow of thought that actually makes some decent sense!"

Sometimes Jaune forgot that Blake was a highly-trained fighter; she was more than capable of reaching speeds that his eye had trouble tracking. A blur of black striking each available dummy across the entire ring, the sounds of rotating gears permeating the air. And just as before, they never spun for longer than a second before being hit to a stand-still.

It was… beautiful.

She reappeared just a few feet away from him, strolling toward him in that damn yukata, a slight pant to her breath. But her stern look remained as she spoke again, "So you can hit, big deal. That's barely enough to win a battle. But do you honestly think that meager level of training can help you survive a war?"

Jaune's fingers coiled, not noticing the little flare of blue energy that bounded off his shoulder.

"Yes."

Jaune almost flinched as her fists tightened even more, knuckles turning white as her angriest glare and rebuke came straight at him, "Jaune, I don't think you realize what you are saying… what you're even getting yourself into!"

"Are you sure about that? How do you know I haven't been spending time thinking about each and every aspect of this!?" Jaune growled back, meeting his peeved best friend head on, "I know exactly what I'm doing! And despite that, I think… no, I know I'm ready!"

"Well what you know is a big fat lie," Blake countered evenly, Jaune feeling he'd lost some ground, "Your skills are nowhere near polished enough… you might be able to punch through redwood, but that's not enough to be a part of the military. Not even with a draft going on."

"That's not your decision, Blake! It's my own!" Jaune's heart beat fast as she closed the distance between them, daring him to say more, "You are being completely ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous!?" Blake hissed, grabbing a double fistful of his collar with surprising strength, "Ridiculous that I care about your life!? What, am I just supposed to sit idly by and wait to hear that you've been gunned down by a Fang warship during a siege!? Or publicly executed in the worst imaginable way for no other reason than the uniform you'd be wearing!? You're the one being ridiculous! Getting yourself into something you should never have!"

"Well you know what, Blake?" Jaune levelled his voice, but pure rage was still on his face as he glared down at her, "It doesn't matter what you say! No matter what, I'm still going!"

Blake let him go, her subsequent sigh doing nothing to belie her resolve as she all but mumbled in reply, "Yeah… I figured you'd say something like that."

Another grimace, but Jaune flinched when she raised her lightly closed fists in front of her. Her legs spread moderately apart as her focus centered onto him, "So prove yourself. Right here, right now. Fight me."

Jaune momentarily forgot his anger, no longer filled with rage… but confusion. His eyes drifted away from his friend's battle readied gaze… and down to her flowy sleepwear.

"In that thing?"

Blake didn't so much as flinch as she responded, "Try not to look up the hem to see if I'm wearing anything underneath and you might even last ten seconds… If you want, I'll even give you the handicap of getting in a few licks with that dingy sword you got there..."

Was this really happening? Was Blake truly challenging him to a fight?

Burning pride kindling within him, a desire to prove himself coming to the fore, he shook his head decidedly, "…no, I'm fine without it… I say I last at least twenty bare-handed."

Blake's frown deepened, not the least bit entertained.

"A little overconfident today, are we?"

Jaune goaded her with a half smirk as he too dropped into a more rigid combat stance, "We'll see."

Silence.

Stillness.

Blake's sights were locked firmly on the shabby guard of her target - loose, relaxed… barely suitable for a defensive strategy. Her own training would have been fruitless if she failed to notice every single one of the reprehensible openings he so foolishly gave her.

It would be over before it even started.

And just as she predicted… her male friend was the first to attack.

She ducked and weaved accordingly; allowing his clenched fists to pass over her head, just barely nicking the long strands of her black tresses following after. With her speed, he wouldn't be able to touch even the afterimage of her. He was focused, and each strike surely would have hit if she wasn't so evasive…

But once again, he was pathetically predictable.

Even more so, his breathing was out of control. He was exhaling and inhaling briskly as he tried to keep up the onslaught, and she wasn't ignorant to the miffed turn of his lips as he realized his attacks were never going to land.

Better luck next time.

Blake weaved to her right, letting one foot stick out and catching Jaune's dominant foot with it. As she expected, Jaune had yet to see the attack coming and tripped over. To her surprise, however, he held out his hands to plant on the ground, ceasing his descent before pushing off the ground with the previous inertia to get back on his feet.

She would have been impressed… if she wasn't within his guard already.

Sorry, Jaune.

Blake leaned back at the same time Jaune was spinning back around to face her; swinging her leg up, her foot would be sure to nail him right in the jaw…

Or at least, that was what she thought.

But Jaune had disappeared.

Now taking preliminary caution, Blake looked amongst the dozens of surrounding training dummies, eyes swinging from side to side as her naturally sensitive ears listened for even the tiniest of sounds.

A step.

She whirled around just in time to see a blur vanish behind the second dummy on her right. Before a second could pass, she was right behind it as well, a single fist ready to strike the blonde who dared think he could hide from her.

Only, he wasn't there.

...What?

She'd just seen him. She'd literally just seen him a mere half second before, dashing to hide behind this very dummy. Had she been seeing things? Her, of all people? No, horrors Blake had experienced, but she was proud to say that of the many things she'd lost, her sanity was not one of them.

Her ears twitched again as the scuffing of soles scraped the ground.

Whipping to her immediate left, she was once again greeted with nothing but the same field of dummies as she had before.

How… was he doing this?

Blake barely paid mind to the moisture on her bare feet from the dense grass, her steps naturally quiet as she moved with the utmost caution. She kept her senses everywhere, her ivory legs tightening in practiced preparation for any semblance of attack.

The whir of a rotating dummy drew her attention; its body was spinning rapidly in place where she found it. The same happened again just behind her, once again forcing her attention to it. But as she stared, she tried her best to keep her head level while keeping an eye out for her opponent.

Again she moved quietly, stopping the first spinning dummy before moving to the second. Grabbing a free arm, the second one ceased immediately, restoring tranquility to the world. The ravenette then took a step back, turning her head left and right in search for any sign of the blonde. This didn't make any sense… had Jaune just suddenly disappeared?

Couldn't be, absolutely impossible. But oddly enough, what seemed even more unlikely was the prospect of him moving so quietly that her enhanced senses could not accurately track him. A feat that was surely impossible for a human to pull off.

Right?

Her patience was wearing thin, and after having looked around the field for the umpteeenth time, she found herself growing impatient.

"Where are you…?" she muttered to herself more than anyone else, her narrowed glance shooting down to something that suddenly caught her eye..

Wait… what was that on the ground? That silhouette slowly growing larger as it descended upon… her.

Blake kicked away from her spot with all her strength, slightly wincing as a person landed firmly on the ground…

A single fist now removing itself from the torn up earth.

"Hm," Jaune's grunt was firm and filled with intent, bee-lining at her with surprising speed before giving her a taunting smirk, "Twenty."

With a scowl at herself from the realization that she'd lost track of time due to his tactics, Blake dodged his subsequent flurry of jabs, countering with well timed punches to his face and body.

Her knuckles screamed in protest, somehow feeling as though they were hitting something only slightly less durable than the redwood. Her hands, knees and feet hurt with each successful impact - her only compensation being the injuries now decorating her friend.

Ducking her head, Jaune's kick passed over her. She then knocked his grounded foot off the grass with a perfect undersweep, though Jaune regained his stance by pressing his palms into the ground and kicking back up.

In the next instant, her face was the target of Jaune's rocket-like fist.

A very slow-moving rocket.

The faunus had no trouble getting out of the way, gaining purchase just a few feet away from the boy. She was just in time to see his fist burst through the chest of the dummy behind her, but not just that… somehow, the force was enough to tear the dummy out of its foundation in the ground, leaving the obviously weighty object lodged on Jaune's wrist.

Blake might have made time to laugh; the moment certainly seemed to warrant it. That is, if she hadn't just watched Jaune grab the dummy by the head right after… and tear it straight in half.

I dread to imagine what I'd look like if he managed to hit me…

"Okay… I'll admit that whatever training you've done has paid off," the ravenette began carefully, brushing off the show of strength with a nonchalant air, "But that's not enough to assure your life in war, Jaune."

"You could say the same for any fully trained Huntsman," Jaune countered, shaking off any tightness in his wrist with practiced ease, "Why is my going any different?"

A silent scoff from the fighter, "I'll show you why."

Blake closed in on him, assaulting him with a flurry of straights and kicks. It was clear to each of them that aside from the punishment he was taking, he had no viable way to defend against her. And that could only spell bad news for him.

She performed an easy backhand spring, a carbon copy of herself materializing just in front of her as his fist came barreling into it. His blow hit hard, but her clone stopped it just as it did, giving Blake the means to leap back at him and drive her knee into his jaw before he could realize what was going on. His teeth snapped into one another with a loud clack, surely dazing him, yet even so he made the attempt to grab her.

But the most his got was another mere image. Another clone replacing Blake's position as she torqued her body and wrapped one leg around his neck, the second one locking it in place. Blake never excelled in terms of upper body strength; one weaknesses she'd never need to overcome, considering that there was one part of her body that did retain a great deal of power…

Her legs.

Shifting her weight, her wrapped legs lifted Jaune over her as her hands planted on the grass with a perfect scissor leg takedown. Then, after swinging him down head first towards the ground, she freed her legs in the last instant so that Jaune's body could instead soar toward the dummies. And it was made so, Jaune letting out an audible yell as he hit the dummy squadron a few feet away.

Even then, he was up a second later and darting right after her yet again despite his momentary disorientation at first. Blake smirked a little, passively brushing down her yukata as she waited for him to close the distance between them.

Getting in before he could so much as flinch, she evaded his elbow and dug her right knee into his side. As he reeled back in pain, she spun on her opposite heel, swinging her right leg up and around… aimed directly for his face.

Jaune's eyes widened before impact.

Blood gushed out of his nose with an audible crack, Jaune's face flung to the side from the intense impact and even forcing him to take a step back. If anything, Blake figured he hadn't completely recovered from being thrown into the dummies… which meant that hard smack to his face had only served to multiply the damage to his cranium.

He doubled over faster than she anticipated, no longer making any motion to continue the spar.

At last, it was over.

Blake hadn't realized how much energy she'd exerted, her shoulders rising and falling with her exhausted breathing. But he'd never seen her Semblance in action before; heck, with how sheltered he'd been growing up, it was likely that he'd never seen any Semblance in action before. But she was confident it'd instilled in him just how out of his league he was with these pointless ambitions.

However, Jaune rose to his feet slowly… a bit dazed, but otherwise managing to hold onto sure footing. His forearm clearing the blood from his nose as he looked at her not with anger… but vibrant determination, his voice showed no less conviction than when he began.

"I hope you don't think this is over yet…"

"Don't bother getting up Jaune," Blake said simply, "If you can't even manage to hit me, what makes you think you'll last out there?"

"No idea," Jaune admitted honestly, a dim glow she'd only seen in passing before now slowly coating his entire bruised and bloodied body, "But I'll be damned if I don't try."

Jaune was on her in seconds, now pushing himself to move faster than he did before. Blake stepped back as his attacks grew wilder, making a sizable leap backward to space themselves apart before her exhaustion could spell her end.

Fruitless.

Jaune's fist was cocked back readily at close range, already closing the distance between them… and Blake only had a few spare milliseconds to react.

It was an opportunity she capitalized on by kicking up the shield that matched Jaune's sword which so serendipitously had happened to be lying at the base of the dummy behind her, holding it firmly in front of her to block the attack.

And soon, she regretted it.

It felt like an explosion had rocked the world - the moment Jaune's fist clashed with the sturdy shield, it hit the like an extremely loud gong. Blake was jolted with a strange wave of power that passed over every square inch of skin on her body, a sting of a headache-inducing ringing sound already beating against her eardrums.

And to her utter surprise, his attack followed through even as she was violently launched back. All she could hear were several of the wooden dummies behind her erupting from the echoing force of the punch, shattering to bits around and above her as her body was left skidding on the ground. It was only through conscious effort that her fall ceased, sparing her of any form of injury thanks to her aura.

And there she lay… the clouds passing high above before a shadow loomed over her, it's owner promptly reaching a hand out to her. She could tell his lip was busted, the blood in his nostril barely drying, and the rest of his exposed body completely covered in bruises. In all fairness, he looked far worse off than she did.

Yet it was her who was lying on the ground.

"Blake, I -"

"Forget it," Blake cut him off, promptly getting to her feet even as she fought back the faint grunt of pain that almost made it out of her mouth as she did so.

Instead, her eyes refusing to acknowledge his as she scanned over the field, Blake saw scattered shards of the sturdiest wood now strewn about like the grass around them, every dummy directly behind her all but obliterated with the follow-through from an Aural attack she'd only heard about in fabled battles. But finally, she glanced back at the cause of this devastation, not quite sure just what to be mad at anymore. One Jaune Arc, standing there with that stupid look on his face… how such destruction could come from total obliviousness was beyond her.

Whatever, she didn't care anymore. All she wanted right now was to be away from this.

"...Just, do whatever the hell you want."

And before Jaune could respond, Blake had turned on her heel and walked off.

~Between the Lines~

"Ow…"

The winding stairs proved to be more of a bane than a boon for the poor Jaune Arc. Whether it was the pulled muscle in his legs, the mild pain in his hands, or the injuries healing slowly but surely under the few bandages on his face… fate spared no expense for him, content to allow him to suffer from the physical markings graciously bestowed upon him by a certain faunus.

As well as the emotional ones.

Perhaps that was the reason he was climbing these stairs now; to talk to her. Sad to say, the two childhood friends pretty much went the rest of the afternoon and evening without saying a word to each other. He'd made a conscious effort to stay away from the library… under the assumption she would be there. Yet somehow in his gargantuan house, they ran into each other a bit more often than they'd meant to.

He dared not meet her eyes in those awkward exchanges.

But he knew he couldn't avoid her forever… and the only way to ensure no permanent damage had been done was to do this straight away.

He just hoped it would turn out better than it did before…

Once he reached the peak of the steps, the space opened up wide to form the large flat roof that encompassed the entire top of the manor, with only a few skylights and other roof-bound constructs jutting up in their typical pyramid-like shape. The large glass windows glistened with purpose - the universes inside them hidden as they instead reflected the piercing light of the shattered moon, a pale luminescence that shone down on any and everything.

Including the only other person on the roof.

"And you were calling me predictable…"

Maybe not the best opening, he realized the instant after speaking. But approach didn't often matter with Blake, whether he was serious or not. She was the kind of girl that preferred the end result instead of the journey - odd, considering how much she liked to read.

Questions for another day.

His footsteps were heavy, if only because of his tiredness. His shirt barely shielded him from the tickle of the cool night air - slow, unexcited wind forced his hair to dance like blades of grass, kicking up stray leaves from the treescape covering the several acres of land around the mansion. It was beautiful - as it always was - being able to see such ambient nature surrounding the manor, the heavy forest just behind him being of his favorite parts. That, as well as the grassy courtyard in front.

He was sure that Blake enjoyed it just as much.

"I figured you'd be here… every time you used to come over after a tough week of training or a mission you didn't really agree with… you were always up here; you'd tell me it was cuz you needed a minute to knock on the sky…"

"And listen to the sound…"

Blake response wasn't a quick one; in fact, Jaune was certain she was going to ignore him before her soft voice permeated the sound barrier. She was talking to him at least. So… progress? Though she'd acknowledged his presence, however, she refused to look at him… still.

Moments passed between them, Jaune unsure of how to proceed from this point. He got her to talk? Was that good? Sometimes it was hard to tell with Blake; she was usually so adept at hiding her emotions, that even if he knew she was upset… there was no clear remedy for it.

Oh Friendship, why must you be such a royal pain in the ass?

He was uncertain about sitting next to her, unsure of how angry she might still be. Oh who was he kidding? She was downright infuriated… but the scary thing about his best friend was that her fury was an unforeseeable and terribly unpredictable one. But he decided the risk was worth the fallout, taking a close spot next to her...

Only for her to scoot a noticeable inch away.

Jaune wished he had to energy to sigh dramatically.

"Blake… I'm sorry it had to come up the way it did - even though the timing couldn't have been worse, I could choose not to go… but I wouldn't be able live with myself if I didn't."

Her brows furrowed for just a second before relaxing, but her reply was swift even if she still didn't look up to meet his gaze, "And what about your life? Hm? You think you'd be able to live at all if you did?"

She sounded so calm, which was good at least; that is, if he hadn't noticed the growing bite in her tone as she'd spoken.

"...That's not fair, Blake. If things are as bad as they are - like you said - then why would I avoid the problem, even if it's just to keep myself alive a few more years?"

Jaune was honestly getting tired of the profound silence that was becoming increasingly more common as the night progressed. Had there not been enough of that already? He was being as civil as he could; he'd already seen how well their argument went down at the training field… and he was not hungry for another slice of that mayhem. This wasn't how he and Blake were meant to speak - they were always so open, so honest, and most of all, there was nothing keeping them from speaking their minds. This resulted in more than a few… disagreements, and this time was no exception, but in the end, it was never enough to tear them apart.

He truly hoped that this case would be no exception.

Blake's gaze remained on the gap between her knees, legs drawn up and pressed into her body before shaking her head, "I'm going to let you answer that question… what I say won't change anything. Today has shown me that."

Jaune just stared, letting yet another moment drag by in silence before being unable to restrain his musing any longer.

"You're really bothered by this…"

"Of course I am! Did you think I'd be excited about your going off into war?" she quipped in reply, causing him to flinch as she continued with the very same ire from before that he'd wished to avoid, "I just got out of it two days ago! ...Do you have any idea how it feels to know that if you don't die fighting, then all that means is that you'll be living long enough to see that someone you care about will?"

Of course he knew… it was a question he oft asked himself with his mother in mind, even if it was something he dared not admit to her… or anyone else, for that matter. And in light of the day's events, it wasn't a conversation he was exactly ready to have with Blake right now, either.

So instead, he shrugged with as confident a smirk he could muster with his current fatigue, "Don't jump to conclusions just yet… who is to say that I'm going to die?"

"I gave up on testing fate a long time ago Jaune… I don't bother with ifs. All I see is what's real, and what really happens is that thousands of innocent lives are taken in this… madness," Blake paused after replying, her amber eyes dulled to a pale yellow by the moonlight finally reaching up to meet his as a different kind of pain laced her next words, "I've watched so many people I grew up knowing die… so many, Jaune. Executed in the worst imaginable ways - by fire, by bullet, by blade… and I am terrified of that happening to you."

Jaune's gaze fell, ashamed. This was exactly what he was afraid of… hearing those damning words from the her. Because he knew they had the potential to change his mind, to force him to throw away his dead-set mission and continue on the peaceful life he'd been fortunate enough to lead until now. He could deal with Blake being angry; his sisters did always say that once you make a girl angry the first time… she'd always be angry at you. Just in lesser degrees.

But what he didn't want to look at was the heartbreak in those orbs, seemingly dispelling the darkness around them even if their color was dimmed; unselfish and caring emotions that knocked around his ironclad will like a chew toy… whittling away its sturdiness before completely destroying it.

Dealing with that kind of emotion from Blake sucked. Like, a lot. And as if it weren't enough with how she began… she continued, every word sending the chilled stave deeper into Jaune's chest.

"...So forgive me if I'm angry, I have every right to be! Because right now, what you're asking me to do is sit back and watch as your march onto the front lines!"

And just as she had been doing before, she turned away from him, leaving them both in that cold blister called silence.

But Jaune couldn't let it end that way - this needed to be resolved, whether Blake was cooperative or not. And to do that… he had to understand.

Slowly opening his mouth, his tongue briefly whetting his lips as he momentarily seemed to silently place his next words, he finally worked up the strength to ask aloud, "Blake… why did you join the war?"

A single amber eye met both his, the hint of a glare presenting itself until she decided to once again… turn away.

"I guess the better question would be, why the Fang?" he pressed anyway, unwilling to give up on learning why she saw things so bluntly so easily, "They weren't always what they were now… were they?"

Her raven hair bounced in the wind as she softly shook her head in reply, his persistence finally paying off as she chose to speak.

"No. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of the first Great War, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus... But obviously, the peace didn't happen, and the unity never came. So the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. Our leader truly believed we could change the way things were… The way things still were… And when he spoke in front of all those Faunus crowds, I believed him. I wanted to believe him… So I did what I thought was the right thing - I joined. But I was wrong - only, it was too late to realize that my faith in our cause was a mistake."

Jaune listened, his frown only growing until he finally found his chance to reply, "Blake… It's never wrong to look for the good in people, no matter who they are. You can't blame yourself for trying to make a difference… It's way more than what I ever did…"

"Is it really?" Blake shot back with vigor, "Because honestly, I was thinking exactly what you just said when five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. And looking back on it now Jaune, I can honestly tell you I've learned something about the way people work since then - nothing ever happens overnight. It's inch by inch; one day, you're peacefully protesting… then the rumors of others using fists instead of pickets begin… then you look the other way when you see it happening in front of you… And suddenly, our peaceful protests are being replaced with organized attacks - setting fire to shops that refuse to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that use Faunus labor. Suddenly, the gun is placed in your hands. And one day, the nape of someone's neck is under your blade… And after you're done cleaning off the blood, you look back and realize you're a much different person now than you were five years ago…"

…

Jaune was beginning to understand why these silences were happening so often; heck, because he had no immediate response, he needed the moment. Truth be told, what she said was exactly how he'd imagined war… but hearing it from the mouth of the experienced somehow brought forth a realization he figured he'd always come to in light of his own naïveté. But with what little he could say in response to something like that, he could at least convey the bright side he saw in all this.

"But you left…"

"Yes, I left," Blake continued with a soft sigh, legs kicking back and forth against the edge of the roof as she continued, "I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence… but this is war, Jaune. What makes you think you won't be in the position of the one trying to clean off the blood someday…"

She paused, and Jaune was certain he'd seen her shoulders jolt before she gathered the will to continue with a hint of a tremor in her voice, "Or worse, the one whose blood is being cleaned off…?"

Jaune's attention found the moon, as if asking it for all the answers. Wishful thinking, but he could use a little of that right now. Blake's cynical perspective wasn't unjustified in the slightest, which only made it that much worse that he was getting himself into something that she'd taken such drastic measures to avoid.

So at this point, he wasn't sure if this conversation could end well anymore… but if it was going to end badly or not, he knew he'd have to make sure he'd laid himself out as she had just done as well.

"Y'know, it's not that I never thought about how being trained to kill might actually involve me killing someday…" Jaune began cautiously before pausing in thought, "But all my life, I've never done anything worth a damn. Just sat about in my room… alone, no goals, no aspirations. All while I watched my family from a distance. I was weak… and unimportant."

His fists tightened, staring with the fire in his eyes at the distant, starry horizon without even realizing just how deeply he'd caught his companion's attention, "I couldn't do that anymore… I had to work myself to become better. To become stronger… because if there's one thing I fear more in this world than death… It's living my life knowing that I never did a single Oum-damn thing that neither I nor anyone who knows me could ever truly be proud of…"

He let out a shaky sigh before shutting his eyes with the salty sting welling up within them, not realizing how difficult it would've been to have said this about him out loud. But he had… and it burned… burned, even when he felt shaky fingers slowly brushing over his where they lay on the ledge. Burned, even when those fingers stayed there as their owner spoke.

"Jaune… that is just not true. I have always cared… I've always been proud. To me, you don't need to be a fighter… everything you are now has always been more than enough."

"I know, and you have no idea how happy that makes me… but the truth is, after this war is over, if I can't be happy with myself, if I don't believe in myself, then nothing would change even if the whole world was to say they believed in me… wanna know why?" Jaune paused, his eyes having stayed shut until now as he explained and his brows now furrowing with the answer to his own question… letting the tear that fell on the side of his face that she couldn't see run all the way down his cheek as he continued.

"Because every time I wake up, every time I look at myself in the mirror, and every night before I close my eyes, I'd remember that I lived that day by letting a thousand others fight and die for me in order to build a world I should've wanted enough to fight for myself. There are people out there who still fight for the right reasons, Blake… people who fight so that humans and Faunus receive equal treatment and nothing less. And I'm one of those people… so if I have to die so that the very world you once fought for could be possible, then I'd gladly do it a thousand times… and I'd do it ten thousand more if I knew it'd keep you safe long enough to be able to live in it, too…"

He then looked at her, in the way he always had. Jaune was not a man of many secrets - his parents had said many times how readily he wore his heart on his sleeve. No lies, no mask, no clandestine motive… not here, where only the truth mattered. But it was to show the faunus in front of him how much the things he was preaching meant to him. And now it was the time of reckoning, to see where this would lead now that hearts were laid bare… now, or never.

"...Can you understand that, Blake?"

And as Blake stared back, he made note of the surprise in her stare. He expected her to look away… but instead, she kept full eye contact with him, like she was searching his expression for a flaw in his resolve, any sort of hesitation.

But he knew full well that she'd find none.

"No Jaune. I can't…"

If Jaune's downcast was any indication…. maybe this was it, then? No matter how much he explained it to her, Blake would not be able to comprehend how he felt. That could be good in a way, as neither of their time would be further wasted in a completely futile attempt to make up for differing views that'd grown to be too opposed to reconcile over the years. Perhaps the effort was too idealistic… he couldn't just expect her to side with him in everything. They had their differences, this he knew…

He just wished he'd realized sooner how different they really were before he'd let her back into his life, in more ways than one...

"But…"

His attention snapped back toward her, surprised and hoping against all hope that the look in her eyes as she still gazed at him might be cause for elation while she continued, "I haven't heard someone speak that way in a very… very long time. Even if I might not like it… you're right, that is a world worth fighting for."

Shock and elation did indeed seep into Jaune at the same time upon such words, so much so that he wasn't certain which one was more prominent.

"You mean… you won't try and stop me?"

"No," Blake noted with a shake of her head, Jaune suddenly catching what looked to be the ghost of a smirk unexpectedly turning up the corner of her lips, "Because now you've forced my hand…"

The blonde paused in momentary confusion, but her next words would send him into a sputtering fit that she soon after decided was fair retaliation for the bomb he'd dropped on her earlier.

"I'm going with you."

Took a while to update this. Sorry about that. XD

Not much to say, Jaune and Blake get into it and the war of their beliefs was short-lived but impactful. Saying anything more would ruin the future chapters so I'll call it here.

See you in the next one.

ISA

Jaune had gone to sleep not long ago.

That fact brought some level of relief to her - even if the issue itself had been solved, Blake was certain they would both need the night apart to settle themselves. Sleep came easy for the blonde, lucky jerk… Blake, however, was a different case.

Stress was to be her lover for tonight - a preferable alternative, since lying down with him in arms only boded for a bothersome attempt at rest at best. So with eyes that defied the mantle of darkness currently upon the silent manor, and naturally nocturnal instincts, she resolved to give the night no leeway.

She would pull an all-nighter, child's play in comparison to all the consecutive sleepless days she'd endured in years prior, in order to execute an idea that promised to both dispel stress and grant her rest.

Blake smoothed out the t-shirt she'd preferred to think she'd 'liberated' from Jaune's room - her dirt-stained yukata now spending its lonely night in the wash after the afternoon brawl. It was a large, plain-white affair that served her sleepwear's job well enough, giving her legs comfortable breathing room while providing her otherwise… exposed… lower regions just enough coverage.

In other words, much to her momentary chagrin as she decided to be honest with herself in her fatigued laziness, as long as she was careful, the hem of the t-shirt reached just far enough down to cover the bottom of her black low-rise underwear.

My yukata was bad enough. If Jaune sees me like this, he might have a heart attack…

But well, that was worry for another time. The ravenette was content to just spend the rest of the night, and likely pre-dawn, just relaxing in a place that was well out of the way of any of the blonde's possible nighttime trajectories through the manor.

She plopped onto the couch, the cold fabric of the comforter becoming warmer as she opened the familiar little black book in front of her and skimmed through the heavily written pages until she found a blank one near the end.

"Long time since I've done this…" she couldn't help whispering into the wide area before a loud bump from somewhere else in the house rang in her muffled ears.

Poor Jaune probably rolled out of his bed… again. In any case, 'Onward!' she ordered with unexpectedly excited anticipation to the ink pen loosely held in her fingers over her journal...

First time in years I've tried my hand at this, so I'll keep it short…

Jaune, she wrote, fingers tracing the name through the ink as the smallest of smiles grew on her lips…

To think all this time, you had that deep inside of you. I'm no longer surprised why your Aura turned out to be so powerful… It reflects your spirit, and the conviction in your words. Those rare qualities… I must admit, they've made a believer out of me; and Oum knows how stubborn I can be, so you best be proud of what that idiot little head of yours accomplished today.

She managed a small chuckle, eyes peering up at the ceiling with the tip of her pen tapping her lower lip in a moment of uncertainty as she pondered her next words.

Nevertheless, despite said stubbornness, there turned out to be nothing more I could argue against what you said earlier… almost… so, here's the last thing I didn't have the heart to get out of my chest when I spoke to you, but'll write down now before it tears me up inside:

Suddenly it came back to her, the pain… she was sad to admit that many of these journal entries lacked anything remotely good. Not like she wanted it that way - all she wrote was the truth, her life, her beliefs… whether that made it more morbid or not was not something she cared to contemplate. Still, those feelings often left a knot in her throat… a quiver in her soul, just like it was doing now… but she continued writing regardless.

Jaune, you may be right about what you said today… but I couldn't imagine a world worth living in if you weren't in it…

Her lips tightened, her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes sharpened… she wrote the last few lines with strength, depth of mind… and most imperatively, promise. Not only to herself, but to the young human who had dared to give a damn about her.

So here I am, once again… picking up arms for the same cause, but with a new mettle…

Blake paused again… by now, it felt like over an hour had passed since she'd begun writing, and she could sense exhaustion creeping up on her even though she fought hard to disobey. But a part of her knew she wouldn't win… and honestly, she didn't really have the patience to fight it, either. She'd done enough of that already. And so she finalized that last of her entry, grudgingly accepting gratification in just laying there for the rest of the night and reading over her latest entry until restful slumber overtook the resilient young woman.

Because I refuse to lose you Jaune... and I won't, no matter what it takes.