3

It had been nearly a week now, and Ruby was getting settled into the swing of things. Team RPBY and team WJNR had formed a rather close bond since initiation. Fighting giant monsters together had that effect, Ruby had noticed, and she was perfectly content with the situation. Weiss may not be on her team this time, but they shared classes, and she got to talk to the heiress during lunch as well! Weiss was at least nominally polite to Ruby during lunch, but Ruby could tell the white-haired girl was slowly warming up to her. It was only a matter of time till they were great friends again, she was certain.

Jack's presence at their table was, for her, a bit of a novelty, so Ruby spent more than a little time getting to know the smaller boy. One thing that seemed to have remained the same from her previous timeline was that Cardin was always a bully, and in the absence of Jaune, Jack seemed to be one of his favorite targets of choice.

Jack was a shy young man. Quiet, most of the time. He seemed to read a lot as well, something Ruby found easy to relate too. He had similar tastes to hers when it came to his reading material, and she, Blake and Jack sometimes talked about books during quiet moments at the lunch table. He kept his head down when Cardin was around, and seemed to ignore the taunts and verbal bullying Cardin inflicted upon him.

The more physical side of the bullying, however, didn't go quite so well for the larger boy as Ruby remembered it. Jack might have been shy in public, but he seemed to have more of a backbone when it came to protecting himself from actual attack. He was faster than Cardin, and quite agile, and several times Ruby had thought Cardin was on the verge of shoving the small boy or striking him, Jack had avoided the attack, which had caused Cardin to, on several occasions, either punch a wall or locker, or run headfirst into a doorjam. Ruby would be amused by the situation, except that Cardin didn't seem to be taking the hint. He'f started stepping up his bullying, and Ruby was afraid it was going to get serious before too much longer.

Still, at the moment, Cardin wasn't picking on Jack. Instead, he and his team had sat down on all sides of Velvet Scarlatina, and were starting to harass the nervous rabbit faunus.

Ruby's fists tightened. This had happened before, in her previous timeline, and she'd sat like a lump and let it happen. She wasn't big and strong like Yang, and she couldn't go get Crescent Rose just to stop a bully... but she'd felt terrible for letting Cardin bully Velvet like that the last time. She couldn't let it happen again, could she?

Cardin reached for Velvet's left ear, and grabbed it, and Ruby's hands hit the table with a thump, and she shot to her feet. "No."

Ruby started to walk over towards Cardin, and the sounds in the cafeteria seemed to die as her heart started to hammer wildly in her chest. "Let her go, Cardin!" She yelled, only to realize that the cafeteria really HAD gone quiet, and her voice echoed through the room loud enough that every single student there had turned to see what was going on.

"What the hell do you want?" Cardin growled, not letting go of Velvet's ear.

"I said..." Ruby swallowed, forcing herself to keep going. "I said, let her go." Her voice cracked and she knew she was sounding kind of squeaky, but it seemed to be the best she could do.

"Or what?" Cardin answered back, looking supremely confident.

"Or we'll kick your ass from here into next week, that's what." Yang's voice came hard but confident from just behind Ruby's left shoulder.

"Exactly." Pyrrha Nikos said, iron in her voice from behind her right shoulder.

Ruby felt her heart slow, and her breathing eased immediately.

Nora came bouncing up, looking eager. "Can I break his legs?"

Cardin's eyes had started to go wide, then they narrowed in rage. Nevertheless, the large boy wasn't suicidal, and he released Velvet's ears and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Sure, sure. Faunus loving dykes..." he muttered.

"Asshole says what?" Yang shot back with a grin.

"What?" Cardin said automatically. "What did you call me?"

Yang just chuckled, as did quite a few people in the crowd. Yang wasn't necessarily the most popular girl in school, but she was pretty good for a laugh, and today was no exception.

"Just go, Cardin." Pyrrha said with a tired sigh. "Before things get ugly."

Cardin snorted and stomped off, and Ruby took a deep, relieved breath. It was over, and nobody had gotten hurt...

There was a sudden clatter of metal on tile, and everyone turned to see Cardin sprawled on the Cafeteria floor. Just behind him, Jack Spriggin pulled his leg in from where it was, for SOME reason, stuck out across the aisle where Cardin had been walking.

Cardin surged to his feet, eyes promising murder, but Jack just looked at him with no expression. "Sorry. Didn't see you there." He said, his voice cracking slightly from nerves, but from the tone, he was doing his best to imitate Cardin's own teasing voice. It was, actually, now that Ruby thought about it, something Cardin did like to say when he'd tripped or pushed someone.

There were more sniggers, but before Cardin could do anything to the small boy, Yang and Nora were crowding up eagerly, looking at the tall boy with a certain amount of anticipation of the possible fight.

Another, almost feral growl ripped out of the tall bully and he stalked off, his teammates running after him to catch up as he left the cafeteria.

Velvet sighed and came up beside Ruby. "Thanks Ruby, but you didn't have to do that."

Ruby turned to face the shy rabbit faunus and smiled. "Maybe. But I wanted to. Cardin's a bully. It's time somebody stood up to him."

Velvet smiled shyly. "Well, I really do appreciate it. That was very brave of you."

Yang walked back to her younger sister and clapped her on the shoulder. "Well, I'm proud of you, Rubes. Everyone else was just going to sit there and watch, but you actually did something. That takes a lot of guts."

Pyrrha was beaming. "Indeed. Very good, Ruby."

Ruby found her eyes drawn towards Blake. The hidden cat faunus hadn't moved during the confrontation, but now she was looking right at Ruby, and smiling proudly at her. Ruby felt a warm sensation fill her at her team's praise. She couldn't believe she hadn't done this the first time! This was great!

Nora sounded disappointed. "Darn it. He didn't stay for the leg breaking."

/-/

That wasn't the end of Cardin's bullying, naturally. Things started to come to a head in Combat Class later that week. Combat class was her favorite, especially as, for some reason she hadn't worked out, the fight pairings had been different than they had been during the original timeline. She wondered idly how that had changed, but decided it wasn't really all that important. More and more things were happening differently than she remembered, and she tried to tell herself that the differences were a good thing. It meant that things wouldn't go the way they had the first time, right?

When Miss Goodwitch called Jack Spriggin up to face Cardin Winchester in the arena, however, Ruby started paying more attention. Cardin's team hooted and hollered as the large boy stepped up onto the stage, and when the smallest boy in school walked up on stage to face him, the difference in size between them was almost shocking. Cardin had a foot and a half of height on the smaller boy at least, and was quite a bit more than twice Jack's weight. Ruby knew better than to judge a fight based solely on size, she wasn't all that big herself, but Jack was just so tiny compared to the bully.

Miss Goodwitch seemed indifferent to the hush that went over the onlookers as she called for the fight to begin, although it was obvious everyone was pretty much holding their breath to see how it would go.

Jack did well at first. He was faster and more agile than Cardin, and he used his collapsible staff well, parrying Cardin's heavy mace easily and slipping in light hits past the bigger man's guard whenever Cardin overextended himself for a swing.

Cardin, however, hadn't earned his place in Beacon for nothing. He gave a huge swing that seemed to let Jack inside his guard, and Jack took advantage, stepping inside the bigger boy's reach and slamming his staff into Cardin's side. Cardin's aura dropped noticeably, but he took the opportunity to drop his mace and wrap his enormous arms around Jack before the small boy could get back out of reach. Jack had turned hard into the strike, and Cardin swept his hands under the small boy's armpits, then up and around so that Cardin had both of his hands on the back of Jack's head, pinning both of Jack's arms over his head. Jack dropped his staff and struggled, but Cardin had no trouble keeping him from escaping. Cardin lifted the small boy into the air and squeezed, pushing down on the small boy's neck with both hands.

Jack grit his teeth and struggled for all he was worth, and for a solid minute, the two boys strained and struggled. Jack couldn't get free, but Cardin didn't seem to be doing any real damage.

Ruby was paralyzed with terror for the small boy, and she whimpered slightly, but Pyrrha put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"I wouldn't count Jack out just yet, Ruby. Cardin hasn't won yet." The championship fighter whispered quietly to her team leader.

Cardin abruptly threw himself forward, obviously trying to crush the small boy under his weight, but Jack got his legs under him immediately and shoved back, slamming Cardin's own interlocked hands into Cardin's own face on the rebound. Cardin growled and tried to swing Jack from side to side to make him lose his footing, but each time Cardin tried to bear the small boy to the ground, Jack got his feet under him before he could, and each time Jack got his feet on the floor, he punished Cardin for the mistake by ramming the big man's own hands into his face again with the back of his own head.

Ruby blinked, and the crowd started to murmur as the bizarre fight wore on. Cardin's team shouted support, but despite his successfully pinning the smaller boy's arms and head, he didn't seem to have a way to finish the fight, and it was obvious that Cardin was starting to tire, and to tire faster than the smaller boy.

After another minute of straining, Miss Goodwitch raised a hand. "And that's time. Match goes to Jack Spriggin."

Cardin shot her an incredulous look, maintaining his hold. He gestured with his chin. "What are you talking about? I've got him right where I want him!" he protested.

Miss Goodwitch simply raised an eyebrow. "A Full Nelson, as the hold you are attempting is named, is banned from most sports for a reason. Without aura, it's possible to injure your opponent's neck with the hold, but baring that, once you have someone in a Full Nelson, there is almost nothing you can do with them. As you should have realized by yourself by now." She paused. "Mister Spriggin's aura is still in the green, while yours is in the yellow, and the time for the match has elapsed. Now, if you would be so kind as to release Mister Spriggin so we can go to the next match?"

Cardin growled as he released the smaller boy, giving him a rude shove as Jack stepped away from him. Jack moved with the shove, however, and his steps barely staggered as he exited the ring, nodding once to Miss Goodwitch and giving his team the thumbs up as he came back toward the part of the arena team WJNR was sitting in.

Ruby glanced at Pyrrha with wide eyes. "You knew all that?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I have studied several different forms of unarmed combat as well as how to use my signature weapons, Ruby. Although I am not likely to be disarmed, it IS possible, and grappling techniques can be especially useful to a hunter, even used in conjunction with weapons."

Ruby wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. She never fought without Crescent Rose if she could help it, but in the previous timeline, in the back halls of the arena, she'd come face to face with Mercury Black without her weapon, and she'd been all but helpless. Roman Torchwick had also disarmed her several times during their fight on top of the battleship, and she had been in serious trouble.

"Maybe I should learn some of that unarmed combat stuff..." she murmured softly.

"I would be glad to give you some instruction in what styles I know, if you'd like?" Pyrrha said back to her quietly.

Ruby beamed at the champion. "That'd be great, Pyrrha! Maybe we should get the whole team involved!"

Pyrrha blinked, and something flashed over her face almost too quickly for Ruby to catch it. Disappointment? But it was gone in a moment, and Pyrrha simply smiled and nodded. "That sounds lovely."

The idea for some group hand to hand training went farther than Ruby expected, as when they'd heard about it, all of team WJNR save Weiss were interested in the idea.

Ruby, remembering what they'd done for team training back in the months before the Vital festival the previous timeloop, got Miss Goodwitch's permission to use the Combat Class arena for their practice, and they scheduled for the two teams to meet there the following night.

All eight members of the two teams showed up on time. Weiss, although not thrilled about the idea, had apparently been badgered into showing up as well by Nora.

Pyrrha welcomed them all with a smile, and she stepped into the role of instructor with surprising grace. "I'd really like to see where everyone is in terms of skill in hand to hand before we begin..." she started, looking around.

"We should have a martial arts tournament!" Nora announced excitedly.

Ruby raised her hands in agreement. "That sounds awesome!" Nora gave her a high five as the two short girls grinned at each other.

Weiss groaned. "I'm going to end up sweaty and exhausted by the end of this, I know it."

Yang grinned at her. "In a good way?"

Weiss rolled her eyes and huffed.

Pyrrha chuckled. "Well, it's not the worst idea I've ever heard. We should probably keep things relatively light. Perhaps matches, but only going down to the yellow? Otherwise we might not have time to get very far tonight."

The others agreed with various levels of enthusiasm and the first inter-team unarmed combat martial arts tournament between team RPBY and WJNR (as Nora insisted on calling it) got under way without too much fuss.

It was soon obvious that there were massive gaps in skill in the group. Yang, although she didn't have the wide breath of training that Pyrrha had in various styles, was pretty obviously the strongest hand to hand fighter of their group. Ren could give her a decent match, as could Blake, and but even Pyrrha had a great deal of difficulty beating Yang in a purely unarmed match. Yang's style was pretty straightforward, mostly punches and kicks, with only a few grappling moves thrown in, but taking away Ember Celica barely slowed Yang down at all, and, as Ruby well knew, Yang hit like a truck, armored shotgun gauntlets or no.

Ren's style was mainly based on evasion, with palm strikes and sweeping kicks thrown in. He was probably the third most skilled at unarmed combat after Yang and Pyrrha, but he was significantly weaker physically than either of them. Blake had a highly aerial style, and was quite skilled, but it wasn't as highly refined as the others.

"I didn't learn to fight in a school." She explained. "I was taught a bit by my parents, and by... other friends. I spent a lot of time outside the walls when I was younger, so you had to know how to defend yourself."

Ruby had to wonder about that. She had never heard what happened to Blake's parents. Were they still alive? She didn't remember Blake ever saying so one way or another, which was odd, for surely if she'd been an orphan she'd have been able to commiserate with Ren and Nora, or even herself and Yang over their shared losses? Still, Blake had always been reluctant to talk about herself. That was something Ruby decided would have to change. She wanted to get to know the cat faunus better this time. If she'd tried harder to get close to the mysterious girl the last time around, perhaps things wouldn't have gotten so ugly between her and Weiss.

Jack, surprisingly, was the next best. He was almost Ren's equal in skill, although he seemed to fight more like Yang, using punches and kicks and a few well practiced grappling moves. Despite his obvious preference for striking techniques (as Pyrrha called them) he was nearly impossible to pin down in a grapple. Even Pyrrha had trouble with him in a grapple, he was really surprisingly strong for his size. His size, however, was his largest weakness, as he lost out in reach to everyone, and in strength to everyone but Ruby, Weiss, and surprisingly, Ren. The fact that the tiny boy was actually more powerful physically than Ren came as a surprise to everyone but Ren, who accepted the smaller boy's physical prowess with calm equanimity. He still dominated Jack easily in hand to hand with his greater reach and slightly greater agility, and he was careful not to accept a wrestling match with the smaller boy.

Nora was, to Ruby's surprise, absolutely terrible at hand to hand. Her enormous strength (for her size) and physical resilience were top notch, but Nora had focused very thoroughly on fighting with her hammer, and was even worse at Ruby at the basics of hand to hand. That didn't help Ruby beat her in their match, unfortunately. The difference in strength was too great, and Ruby's speed didn't help her much at all when she didn't know how to capitalize on it with her bare hands.

Weiss was just a bit worse at hand to hand than Ruby was. She had some training, but hadn't practiced it much at all. On the other hand, Weiss's semblance was a huge factor in her fighting style, one she didn't need to hold a sword to use. Weiss could block attacks, toss her opponent's around, and bounce around the battlefield with ease with her glyphs, armed or not.

Their impromptu tournament took most of the evening, so they never actually got to any actual training, but regardless, Ruby was starting to like the idea. The next time she had to face someone without Crescent Rose, she wouldn't be nearly so defenseless, she was certain.

As they were headed back to their dorm rooms, the group as a whole still excited and cheerful, even Weiss having gotten into things by the end, they passed by the common room that they shared with several other teams from various years, and Ruby couldn't help but overhearing a name she knew, coming over the speaker of the large projector in the room.

"Again, Roman Torchwick is known to be armed and dangerous. If you see him, please report his location to the police immediately." Ruby ground to a halt, eyes going wide. Had she heard that right?

The others all paused and looked at the large projection of the inside of a news room, with the rather well known commentator, Lisa Lavender at the desk. "To repeat, earlier this evening, as Roman Torchwick was being transported back to jail from the courtroom, his transport was attacked by members of the White Fang, and Torchwick was freed. Torchwick, last seen escaping with members of the radical terrorist organization, is still at large and a city wide search for the criminal mastermind has begun."

Ruby gaped at the screen. Roman Torchwick had escaped? This was terrible! If he was free, he'd start helping the White Fang again, and do all the things that had led up to the attack on the Amity stadium and Beacon. What was she going to do?

Yang caught Ruby's worried expression and gave her a quick hug. "Hey, don't worry, Ruby. That guy isn't going to get anywhere near you. He's probably half way to Vacuo by now, anyway."

Ruby frowned, but didn't argue. What was she supposed to say, that she knew Roman wouldn't run? That he'd be responsible for helping the White Fang start a terrorist attack that would threaten to destroy all of Vale?

Ruby caught sight of Blake staring at the screen, her face a mask. Then she overheard Weiss.

"The White Fang? I should have known... what a bunch of criminal degenerates. Naturally they'd join forces with such a villainous fiend." Weiss paused, turning to Ruby. "You fought with Torchwick and his gang, didn't you Ruby? Did you know he was working with the White Fang?"

Ruby hesitated. "Well... he had a bunch of guys wearing black suits and sunglasses." She explained. "And red ties. They all had red ties. Like they were all part of the same singing group or something."

Yang blinked. "You didn't mention that part before. All of Roman's guys were in black suits?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Yang looked murderous. "Oh... no special reason."

Blake had turned to Weiss. "The White Fang isn't made up of degenerates. They're a collection of misguided faunus."

Weiss crossed her arms over her chest. "Misguided! They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

Blake huffed. "So they're VERY misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would do something like break Roman Torchwick out of prison!"

Ruby started to panic. She REMEMBERED this argument, and it wouldn't end well. There was a moment of silence, and Ruby quickly filled it in an effort to stop the argument between Blake and Weiss in it's tracks.

"Please don't talk about this right now..." She said plaintively. "I... I don't want to think about Roman Torchwick right this second." The group went silent, looking at her.

Weiss nodded with an understanding look. "Of course, Ruby, I apologize. This must be a difficult subject for you."

Blake frowned, but she nodded as well. "Sure. Sorry, Ruby."

Ruby faked a yawn. "Well, it's getting late, and we've all been working really hard today. Let's get an early night!"

The others exchanged glances, but the decision to turn in for the night seemed to be agreeable to the majority, so the group said their goodnights and split up for their separate dorm rooms.

Once they'd gotten to their room, Yang gave her another hug. "Seriously, don't worry about that Torchwick guy. You beat him and his gang once before, and if he does come around, I'll have your back. I don't care if he has a whole army of White Fang or whatever to help him. He won't touch you."

Pyrrha sniffed. "Certainly not. But I'm sure Yang is right. Surely he's well on his way out of the city already."

Ruby tried not to show her concern. "Yeah... sure. I'm sure you're right." The lie was bitter on her tongue. She knew better, she was certain, but they'd never believe her, especially not now. There was no way she could tell them the truth at this point, she'd never be able to prove a thing. Maybe if she'd told someone earlier, she could have used her knowledge of future events to prove she was telling the truth, but now? She'd changed so much that she didn't know anything useful she could use to prove that she had traveled backwards in time. That didn't mean she couldn't act, however. There had to be something she could do to keep that dark future from playing out. But what?

Ruby's eyes went to Blake. If anyone could help her, it'd be Blake. Blake had found out where Roman and the White Fang were stealing that dust shipment, and she and Sun had found that White Fang rally where they'd learned about Mountain Glenn. If anyone could help her stop Roman, it'd be Blake. The only trouble was, how was she supposed to get Blake to trust her?

Ruby wrinkled her nose, then decided on a plan. And she had no time to waste. The last time Blake had heard that Torchwick and the White Fang had been working together, she'd gone off on her own to stop them. Even after they'd learned her secret, and Weiss and Blake had made amends, Blake had been focused on stopping the White Fang. If Ruby waited too long, Blake could slip away to try and handle things on her own. Maybe she wouldn't do so right away, as at least she hadn't spilled her secret to Weiss during their argument this time, but Ruby couldn't be certain.

"Why didn't I think about this earlier?" Ruby moaned softly to herself. "I've had plenty of time to try to figure out what to do next... and I've wasted it." With a sigh of resolve, Ruby decided that she'd have to act tonight, before Blake could make up her own mind to do something dangerous on her own.

She pretended to go to sleep, and lay quietly in bed for what seemed like hours as she waited for the sounds of the other girls moving and breathing to settle into the the quiet of slumber. As quietly as she could, she slipped out of her bunk, her bare feet touching the ground with only the slightest noise.

Her eyes found the lumps that were Pyrrha and Yang in the darkness. Yang was splayed out on the top bunk on the other side of the room, her hair the most visible thing in the dark, almost luminescent in the darkness. Pyrrha lay on her side only a few feet away, in the bottom bunk under where Ruby had been sleeping. She didn't move, and Ruby snuck quietly over to Blake.

"Blake..." Ruby said quietly, just inches away from the ribbon that covered the girl's hidden cat ears. "Blake, wake up, and meet me in the hall." Blake's bow twitched, and Ruby snuck away, slipping through the door as quietly as she could.

She waited, resting against the wall, for perhaps half a minute before the door opened slowly once again, and Blake, still in her nightgown, slipped through the doorway, her face a mask of confusion. Blake carefully closed the door behind her, then moved up close to Ruby before speaking quietly.

"What's this all about, Ruby?" Blake asked with a small measure of suspicion.

"We need to talk." Ruby said equally quietly. "Come on, let's go someplace more private."

Blake hesitated, then followed the smaller girl upstairs and out of a door leading on to the roof. "You want to talk out here?" Blake said slowly, looking around in curiosity. "What's going on, Ruby? What did you want to talk to me about that you couldn't share with Pyrrha or Yang?"

Ruby hesitated. This could go very badly if she said something wrong, but if she didn't act now, Blake could be gone tomorrow anyway. She had to take the chance.

"Blake, do you trust me?" Ruby said quietly.

Blake hesitated. "I suppose..." she offered slowly. "You've never given me reason not to."

Ruby took a deep breath. "Then, promise me you'll hear me out till the end, and you won't jump to conclusions or anything till I'm done."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Well, that doesn't sound good..."

Ruby looked directly into Blake's eyes. "Promise me, Blake."

Blake thought about it. "Alright. I promise I'll hear you out."

Ruby took another deep breath. "OK, good. First... Blake, I know you're a faunus."

Blake's eyes went wide and Ruby raised a finger. "You promised to hear me out, so don't freak out, OK?"

Blake swallowed. "But... but how?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Well, aside from the fact that your bow twitches all by itself?" she pointed at Blake's bow. "Don't your ears feel cramped or something having to stay still all the time like that?"

Blake winced. "A little. How long have you known?"

Ruby smiled. "For awhile. And I don't care. I don't care that you're a faunus, and I don't care that you wanted to hide it. I get why you'd want to. Faunus don't have it very easy most of the time. People like Cardin... and... well, and Weiss, although Blake, I don't think Weiss hates the faunus so much as she's been told she should, because of everything that's happened between her family and the White Fang."

Blake frowned now, looking angry. "Ruby, I can't believe you're defending..."

Ruby put up a finger to stop her. "You promised you'd hear me out, remember?"

Blake frowned but nodded, her brow tense.

Ruby sighed. "The SDC is terrible to the Faunus. I know that. But Weiss isn't the SDC, and she's not her father either. She was raised in a place where the White Fang were the monsters who killed people she knew, people who were probably perfectly nice as far as she knew. But she has nothing to do with how the faunus are treated."

She gestured in the general direction of the school. "Have you ever seen her bully a faunus? Does she say bad things about Velvet behind her back, maybe? Weiss only knows what she's been told, and for her, the White Fang have been the people hurting her family since she was a little girl."

Blake's expression softened. "I... I can't argue with that, I guess. But that's not the whole story...!"

Ruby held up a hand. "Of course I know that. I mean, I don't pretend to know everything about the White Fang, but I remember some. They started out as a peaceful organization once, right?"

Blake sighed. "Yes. The White Fang started out with peaceful protests. Civil disobedience, but nothing violent. Things changed about five years ago, when the... the current leader of the White Fang stepped down."

Ruby looked at Blake seriously. "So they were doing good in the past. But things changed?"

Blake sighed. "Yes."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Is it safe to say you don't agree with them hurting people?"

Blake looked at Ruby seriously. "I don't think hurting people is OK, no. What troubles me is why they'd do something like help a criminal like Roman Torchwick out of prison. That doesn't make any sense."

Ruby shrugged. "Well, they changed once, maybe they've changed again?"

Blake blinked at that. "It's possible, I suppose. But it's equally possible that a group only pretending to be White Fang were responsible for breaking Torchwick out of jail."

Ruby hesitated. "Sure. Anything's possible."

Blake frowned down at the shorter girl. "Ruby, why do you bring all this up now?"

Ruby wrinkled her nose. "Because, because I don't want you getting into a fight with Weiss. She has her reasons for how she feels, and you have good reasons for how you feel too, but I know you're both good people. This isn't something you should get into while you're both feeling angry."

Blake looked thoughtful. "I suppose. I guess it can't hurt to try and keep our emotions out of things." She grimaced. "I can't condone what Weiss was saying though. The faunus are not degenerates."

Ruby shook her head. "Of course not. She's angry, and she's saying things she doesn't really mean."

Blake looked dubious. "I'm pretty sure she means it."

Ruby shrugged helplessly. "She probably does really hate the White Fang. But I don't think she really sees them as individual people, but as a an organization that her family is at war with. All she sees are the masks. Hating an organization isn't the same as hating everyone who's a member."

Blake sighed. "Maybe. It's probably for the best if I just don't bring the subject up when she's around. You're right. Weiss isn't her father, and she isn't the SDC. She hasn't done anything to hurt any faunus. She was raised to hate, and that's not her fault."

Ruby smiled softly. "I know that Weiss is a good person, Blake. She's angry, sometimes, and abrasive, and a bit high handed... but..."

Blake chuckled. "But she means well. Mostly."

Ruby giggled. "Yes. Exactly."

Blake sighed, and leaned back against the wall next to the rooftop door. "I can't believe you figured out that I was a faunus so quickly. I hoped I had everyone fooled."

Ruby shrugged. "I think you mostly do. I don't think Yang or Pyrrha know."

Blake turned to her. "Could... could I ask you not to tell them?"

Ruby nodded. "I won't tell anyone. I promise. But I think YOU should. Pyrrha and Yang won't care that you're a faunus. Nobody in Beacon who matters will care that you're a faunus, and if Cardin or any other idiots bother you about it, we'd all stand up for you."

Blake smiled. "I know you would, Ruby, and I appreciate that. But I think I'd prefer to keep my secret for now."

Ruby sighed. "It's your decision, Blake. There was one other reason I brought you up here, though."

Blake blinked. "Oh?"

Ruby hesitated. "I want to learn more about the White Fang."

Blake was silent. "Why me?" she finally said. "Because I'm a faunus?"

Ruby hesitated. "Does it make me a racist if I say that's part of it?"

Blake looked thoughtful. "I don't know. What's the other part?"

Ruby shrugged. "You wouldn't have started to argue with Weiss about the White Fang if you didn't know anything about them, would you?"

Blake chuckled. "OK, that's a good point. But why do you want to know about the White Fang?"

Ruby wrinkled her nose. "Because if they are working with Roman Torchwick, I want to know more about them. I'm pretty sure that Roman Torchwich will want revenge against me if he can get it. I hurt him pretty badly during our fight, and got him arrested. He won't forget that soon." It wasn't the real reason, but it was reasonable enough to sound true. She didn't think Torchwick would actually try to hunt her down. He never had before. But it was a good reason for her request.

Blake didn't seem to agree. "And you think learning more about the White Fang would help you... what? Find him? Don't tell me you're planning on trying to capture him?"

Ruby hesitated. "I don't want to do anything reckless, but just in case Torchwick does come after me, knowing is better than not knowing, isn't it?"

Blake looked dubious. "Maybe. I guess I could look up some articles for you to read?"

Ruby knew that Blake could do a lot more than that, but she was fine starting small. "That'd be great, Blake! You'd know which stories were real, and which ones were made up by people who don't like the Faunus. That would help a lot."

Blake perked up at that. "Sure. I could do that. Hey, even if Torchwick doesn't come after you, you could turn it into a paper for Dr. Oobleck's class."

Ruby giggled. "Win win, I guess!"

Blake grinned at her. "Sounds like it." She yawned. "Well, I'm assuming you're not planning on getting started tonight?"

Ruby shook her head. "I just wanted to talk to you in private about you being a faunus, because I figured you wouldn't be hiding your ears if you wanted everyone else to know. And the White Fang stuff connected to that, that's all."

Blake nodded, then impulsively gave Ruby a hug. "I won't let Roman Torchwick, or anyone else hurt you, you know that Ruby?"

Ruby smiled and hugged the taller girl back. "I know that, Blake. You're my friend."

Blake sighed, resting her chin on the top of Ruby's head. "Yes. Yes I am."

The two girls headed off the roof, while, sitting in an open window one floor below, Cardin Winchester grinned evily to himself. "So... Blake Belladonna is a faunus, hmm? Interesting..."

The next day, during a free period, Ruby and Blake were in the library. Ruby was collecting books on the subject, while Blake scanned through recent articles about the White Fang. When Ruby brought a stack of books about faunus civil rights to the table Blake was working out, Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you're planning on reading all of those." Blake said, humor creeping into her voice.

Ruby shrugged. "I was hoping you could help me figure out which ones have the important bits to read." She went through her selections. "How about this one? 'The history of the White Fang?'" She flipped through to the blurb on the inside cover. "A history of the origins of the White Fang organization, up till and including it's radicalization as an extremist organization."

Curious, Ruby flipped to the first chapter, and scanned the first few pages. "Founded on the island of Menagerie by Ghira Belladonna..."

Blake winced hard, and Ruby blinked. She flipped through the book a bit more till she found a black and white photo that showed a very large man with dark hair and a dark beard, standing at the forefront of a group of different faunus. One female cat faunus to his left looked suspiciously like Blake.

Ruby held up the picture to Blake, her eyes curious. "Blake, is this...?"

Blake sighed. "Yes, that's my father." She took the book, looking at the picture more closely. "Actually, my mother is in the photo as well. Huh. I hadn't seen this picture before..." she mused. After a long moment, she handed the book back to Ruby. "I guess you have some questions?"

Ruby tilted her head to the side. "So... your father was the person who started the White Fang? Back when they were being peaceful, I mean?"

Blake nodded, looking mildly frustrated. "Yes. He stepped down from the leadership of the White Fang five years ago, when they started acting out more violently."

Ruby nodded, going back to the photo. "What happened to him?"

Blake hesitated. "He became the chieftain of the settlement on Menagerie when he left the White Fang. As far as I know, he's still there."

Ruby looked concerned. "As far as you know?"

Blake winced. "I haven't seen my parents for... a while. I kind of ran away from home."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Wow. So they don't know that you're OK?"

Blake grimaced. "No. Not really. I... I haven't spoken to them in a long while."

Ruby tilted her head to one side again. "Why?"

Blake shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

Ruby sighed, and decided to take a chance. "Was it because they left the White Fang?"

Blake's eyes went wide. "What? What do you mean?"

Ruby nodded to Blake. "Your parents left the White Fang five years ago, and you ran away from home when you were still a child. Doesn't seem like a coincidence."

Blake swallowed. "Ruby, I..."

Ruby put a hand on Blake's. "Blake, don't freak out. I know you're a good person, and I'm not going to judge you for stuff that happened when you were, what, twelve years old?"

Blake started to shake. "Ruby, you don't... you can't know..."

Ruby shook her head. "No, but I can guess. You stayed in the White Fang after your parents left?" It helps that I already knew that part, of course, Ruby thought to herself.

Blake's eyes were wide. "Ruby... I..."

Ruby squeezed her hand. "Hey. I know you're a good person, remember? You were a kid. You were fighting to help your people, right?"

Blake's face started to contort. "Yes, but..."

Ruby squeezed harder. "Trust me, Blake. I trust you."

I'm not part of them." Blake said quickly. "Not anymore."

"I know that, silly." Ruby said. "You're here at Beacon, learning to be a huntress."

Blake face was a mixture of confusion and bemused disbelief. "Ruby... as far as you know, I'm a spy for the White Fang or something."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Don't be dumb, Blake. You're my friend. You're not like that."

Blake sighed. "But I WAS, Ruby. I did terrible things..."

Ruby sighed. "You just said you're not part of the White Fang anymore, right?"

Blake nodded. "I'm not, but..."

Ruby shook her head. "But nothing. I trust you, Blake. What you did when you were a kid... what you did to try to help your people... I'm not going to hold that against you. You left them. Tell me why you left the White Fang, Blake?"

Blake hesitated. "Because... because I realized that they'd turned into something I couldn't accept. That they'd gone from trying to help our people, to just trying to hurt humans, wherever they could. It wasn't about doing the right thing anymore. I couldn't live with that."

Ruby nodded. "Of course you couldn't. You're not that kind of person, Blake. You're the kind of person who'd risk their life for a friend, or for a good cause. You'll fight to help people, not to hurt them."

Blake took a deep breath. "Do you really believe that, Ruby?"

Ruby smiled. "I do. The question is, do you believe that?"

Blake sighed. "I guess I do. I just... I wish I could have figured out what was happening... that I could have seen the signs. Maybe I could have changed their path... or at least, gotten out sooner. I really regret some of the things I did, Ruby."

Ruby nodded softly. "I believe you. And I promise, I'll keep your secret. I STILL think you should tell Yang and Pyrrha though."

Blake sighed. "Do you really think they'd accept the fact that I used to be a terrorist?"

Ruby nodded firmly. "They know the same things about you that I do, Blake. And you're not a terrorist. You were trying to help people till you realized what you were doing wasn't helping people, and you chose to do something else. I think I know you well enough to know that you're always going to make the choice to help. And that's all I need."

Blake shook her head. "You are the strangest person, Ruby Rose."

Ruby shrugged. "Maybe. But you like me anyway, right?"

Blake nodded with a smile. "I do."

Ruby gestured to the screen Blake was working on. "So... find anything about recent White Fang activity?"

Blake turned back to the screen, scrolling down. "A few things..." she looked at Ruby again. "Why are we really doing this, Ruby?"

Ruby hesitated. "I want to make sure Roman Torchwick doesn't hurt anyone else. Maybe it isn't my responsibility, but it's something I still feel like I have to do."

Blake took a deep breath. "And if we find him? What then?"

Ruby turned to her. "We bring him to justice. Will you help me do that?"

Blake looked incredulously at her for a long moment, then chuckled. "Somebody has to keep you alive, I guess."

Ruby was quiet for a long moment. "I know you're scared, Blake, but we could really use Yang and Pyrrha's help."

Blake glanced at Ruby. "Let's just see if we find anything first. I... I do trust them, but... I'm not ready to tell them the truth just yet."

Ruby nodded. "OK. I trust you to make the right decision."

Blake went back to reading, but she couldn't help but think that she wasn't anywhere near as certain of herself as Ruby seemed to be.

/-/

Just before Combat Class the next day, however, things went to hell. As everyone was entering the hall to take their places, everyone's scroll started buzzing at the same time. Ruby checked her scroll, as did almost everyone else.

There was a message posted from Jack Spriggin to the school message board. Ruby clicked on it, and saw a photo of Blake. A headshot, with the caption. "Ever wonder why she never takes off her bow?"

Blake had gotten the message at the same time as everyone else, and her eyes went wide. Desperately, she glanced toward Ruby. Ruby shook her head quickly. She had no idea how Jack had found out. Both of them looked around for the small boy, but he hadn't shown up in the classroom yet.

Blake's eyes narrowed, and she started to move, heading for the nearest exit. Ruby hesitated for a long moment, then raced after her, not caring who stared. It might cause more of a scene, but she couldn't leave Blake alone just now.

Outside the class, Ruby saw Blake rapidly rushing down the hall for the exit. Ruby raced after her, using her Semblance to close the distance till she was running side by side with the cat faunus.

Blake hit the front doors to the school at a run, only starting to slow as she approached the large ornamental fountain in the center of the main courtyard. The Courtyard was empty, everyone else presumably in classes at the moment.

"You didn't...?" Blake asked, halfway between hope and fear.

"Of course not Blake." Ruby reassured her. "I don't know why Jack would do this... but it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't... of course it matters! Everyone will know I'm a faunus!"

Ruby put her arms around Blake's waist. "I told you. No one important will care. Your team won't care, and we've got your back."

Blake shuddered, but didn't pull away. "What do I do?"

Ruby pulled out her scroll again. "Let's call a team meeting. Let's get Yang and Pyrrha to meet us in our room, and we'll tell them the truth. It'll be alright. You'll see."

Blake shivered in fear. "I don't seem to have many other options."

Ruby kept hugging her. "It will be alright. I promise you that."

Blake sighed. "You can't promise me that."

Ruby growled. "I will MAKE it alright."

Blake half sniffed, half chuckled. "I believe that you'll try." Ruby sighed into her back, and Blake patted her on the hands that were around her waist. "For whatever it matters, the fact that you'd try does help quite a bit."

Ruby leaned around Blake's torso to type on her scroll without letting go of the hug.

Blake tried not to laugh. "You're going to have to let go eventually."

Ruby shrugged. "Are you going to ask me to stop?"

Blake chuckled. "Well, not yet."

/-/

They met up with Yang and Pyrrha ten minutes later. Ruby had called them out of Combat Class, or she would have if they hadn't already ditched class to look for her and Blake.

"OK, we're here." Yang announced as she and Pyrrha came through the door. "I'm guessing we're here to talk about that post that Jack sent?"

Pyrrha hesitated. "Blake, are you a faunus?" she blushed. "It doesn't make any difference to me if you are... but is that why you're always wearing that bow?"

Blake chuckled brokenly. "Everyone has probably got that part figured out by now, I guess."

Yang blinked. "Oh. Huh. Wow. I can't believe I didn't notice after all this time."

Blake looked at her teammates hesitantly. "Does it bother you?"

Yang frowned. "It kind of bothers me that you hid it from us, but why would I care if you're a faunus or not? That sort of thing doesn't matter a bit to me."

"Nor I." Pyrrha agreed. "You are Blake. That's all that I care about." She took a deep breath. "And, unfortunately, I can fully appreciate why you'd wish to hide your heritage."

Yang grimaced. "Yeah, I get that too. I still see red when I think about Cardin and Velvet the other day, but that sort of thing happens all the time, doesn't it."

Blake sighed. "I am really sorry I hid it from you. I WAS going to tell you." she gestured to Ruby. "Ruby's known for awhile now, and she's been encouraging me to tell you two everything. I was just... working my way up to it."

Yang grinned. "Oh? So that's why you two have been sneaking around? I thought you were sneaking off to make out or something!"

Ruby flushed bright red, as did Blake. "Yang! We were not sneaking off to make out!"

Pyrrha's smile brightened at Ruby's vehement denial. "Yes, that was a rather foolish idea, wasn't it?"

Blake's eyebrows raised, and she grinned slightly. "Oh? Why is that? Are you saying that I'm not good enough for Ruby?"

Pyrrha's eyes went wide and she waved her hands. "No! Not at all, I just meant, I mean you're a very nice girl and everything, I just thought that..." she fought for words.

Yang gave Blake a thumb's up. "Hey, if you want, go for it! I give you the Yang Xaio-Long stamp of approval. You have permission to date my baby sister!"

Blake chuckled even as Ruby went right back to blushing as red as her cape. "Yang! Stop teasing!"

Yang tried to look innocent. "Teasing? Who me?"

Pyrrha turned at Yang with a mild glare. "Yang, you really shouldn't tease your sister like that."

Yang grinned back at the red-haired girl. "Oh? You thought I was teasing Ruby?"

Pyrrha started to blush again. "Yang..." she said warningly.

Ruby felt this was the perfect time to hit her sister with a pillow. So she did.

The scene with Cardin using the Full Nelson on Jack came directly from an actual fight, including the relative sizes of the combatants, so take my word on how it would go. A Full Nelson is kind of hard to transition into something that will actually do damage, unless you count squeezing your target's neck, and Jack may be small, but he's got a thick neck and strong muscles for his size. If Cardin had thought to drop backwards and try and roll on top of Jack, it might have won him the fight, but that would also give an experienced wrestler an option to get loose, so Cardin didn't really have a lot of good options there, unless he was more skilled at grappling than Jack was.

As for why everything is happening differently than in the original timeline, well, Ruby keeps changing things. Sometimes deliberately, sometimes not.

And of COURSE Torchwick would escape. Neo could have broken him out on day one if she'd wanted. So could Cinder, using Emerald, for that matter. Using the White Fang instead was simply them not showing any of their trump cards. For Cinder, Torchwick's capture is barely a bump in the road. It doesn't alter her plan in the slightest, although Ruby has obviously shot herself in the foot a bit here. It's still not over yet, although how Ruby uses her future knowledge is still quite the interesting problem for her.

Finally, yes, team RPBY will be confronting Jack for his betrayal... but I've kind of been ending each chapter with somebody getting hit by a pillow, so you'll have to be patient! Hope it's been fun so far.