Blake didn't much enjoy being Jaune's minion.

She liked the term even less when he said it to her, though one quick bout of pointing out Ruby's silent suffering was enough to heap the guilt on until she agreed to it. Jaune had never been a very threatening person, but she was beginning to realise she'd underestimated him. He wielded a guilt trip like Weiss did her rapier, piercing through any and all defences until she was curled on the floor bleeding from a thousand tiny pinpricks.

Except with less blood and more self-hate, which quickly forced her to cave and agree to do everything and anything to help him help Ruby.

And really, she owed it to Ruby to try for the support her young leader had given through all this time at Beacon, supporting her when she came out as ex-terrorist, supporting her in searching for the White Fang, and supporting her by being a convenient shield every time Weiss or Yang threw a temper tantrum.

Blake didn't want to be a bad friend.

Even though a part of her was somewhat certain she was, because it was Jaune of all people who noticed this before her. Oh sure, Jaune and Ruby were closer than she and Ruby in some ways, they had the whole 'mutual team leader suffering' thing going on, along with the 'absolute pair of dorks' thing. Still, Blake lived with Ruby, and liked to pride herself on being observant even if she was a terrible judge of character.

Which she supposed didn't make much sense in hindsight. Being observant if you couldn't judge what it meant was kind of useless, but then she could hardly call herself a good judge of character when she'd dedicated several years of her life to Adam. Blake would be the first to stand up, raise her hand, and say she was quite possibly the worst judge of character ever.

Case in point, she'd judged Weiss a racist, Yang a dumb bimbo, Ruby a childish idiot, Jaune as being useless and weak, Sienna as being a good leader, Adam as being perfect boyfriend material, and her parents as traitors to faunus. If there was an award for mort mischaracterisations made in a lifetime, Blake was fairly sure she was among the nominations for it.

And hey, she was getting better – partly through effort but also because it was hard to get much worse – and that was why it annoyed her to realise Jaune had figured this out before her. Had she spent too much time reading? Had she been too eager to write Ruby's silences off as her being lost in daydreams about weaponry? In hindsight, it had probably been the reading. That and her habit of vanishing off to quiet spots to get some extra reading done. Hard to notice anything wrong if your every spare moment was spent hidden in the library or balanced on a tree branch.

"Don't you start with the emotional over-analysis," Jaune said, not looking up from the book he was reading. "At least hold your problems in until after we've dealt with Ruby's. Then we'll get onto yours."

"I'm fine."

"You're a bundle of not-fine," he replied, both rudely and quite accurately. Blake didn't like it. "But that goes for a lot of people so I'll let it pass as long as you're not having a mental breakdown right next to me."

"How kind of you. So, what do we do?"

"I don't know."

"Aren't you the psychiatrist?"

"No."

"But you're always reading those psychology books."

"Aren't you the biggest slut in Beacon?"

Blake recoiled. "Excuse me!? No!"

"But you're always reading those smut books."

Blake's eyes narrowed darkly. Touche, Jaune Arc. Touche. But being technically correct with his comeback wouldn't stop her remembering this, nor her paying him back the next time Glynda partnered her with him in combat class.

"Fine. Then are you at least reading on how to help with Ruby?"

"I'm going to assume that's a rhetorical question, and that you don't actually think I'd bring you here to watch me read about something else." Jaune turned a page, both in the book and in her head on how much of a pushover he was. This snappy Jaune was almost pleasant. "But helping someone with their problems isn't as easy as just fixing them, especially when said person doesn't see it as a problem in the first place."

"Hmmm." Blake sagged, recalling Ruby's words. "I don't understand how she doesn't see it that way. Putting herself down, comparing herself to Yang, it's so obviously bad."

"Agreed. But then me going along with Cardin's blackmail and ghosting my team was kind of obviously bad to everyone on the outside. Same, I imagine, as you being in the White Fang. It's easy to miss or ignore the signs when it's you."

Fair. And probably on the money. Not even the other people in the White Fang had approved of her dating Adam, with several – Sienna included – going out their way to warn Blake against it. At the time, she'd ignored it. True love would prevail. Yuck. Looking back, she wanted to pull her old self behind the bike sheds and give her a beating.

Hopefully, Ruby would feel the same way once they helped her.

"Do you think we should bring Weiss in on this?" she asked. "I know we said no to Yang because she'd try and brute force it and hurt Ruby more, but Weiss cares about Ruby." Even if she'd die before admitting it. "And more than that, Weiss respects Ruby."

Even if Remnant would be swallowed by the sun before she admitted it.

"I don't know." Jaune bit his lip. The old Jaune would have jumped at the chance to bring Weiss anywhere within range of his terrible flirtations. This, at least, Blake was glad to see was not present in new Jaune. "I think you're right that she'd help, and I don't think Weiss would be bad in any way. I'm more worried about what Ruby will think if – or when – she finds out about this. Me doing this is fine because she already knows, and you have the excuse of being in that tree. But if we bring Weiss in, I can't help but worry she'll think her whole team is ganging up on her. Her own partner, too."

Damn it. There went her hopes of offloading some of the guilt and responsibility onto Weiss. Jaune was right, though. Ruby had to have someone she could go to and complain about them, someone to be on her side, and it couldn't be Yang any more than they could involve Yang, because then Ruby would have to tell her why. Ruby needed someone, and that someone was going to have to be Weiss.

Blake's head hit the table with a dull thunk. "Psychology is haaard," she whined. "Why can't we just fix things by hitting them?"

"You sound like Yang."

"Good. Yang is smart. Yang is life."

"Yang has her own share of prob—"

"Don't tell me!" Blake's hands latched over his mouth. "You're proving to be a repertoire of TMI, Jaune. I don't need to know so much that I'll feel guilty for her as well, and then be guilt-tripped into helping fix her problems."

Jaune smiled behind her hand."

"Don't."

"But you're her partner," he mumbled into her palm.

"And you're her boyfriend. Go be romantic about it." Blake pulled her hands away and wiped them on her shorts. "But no. Don't go dropping any more bombshells on me just because you have a fetish for discovering people's traumas. And don't you dare go dropping my traumas on other people either!"

"But Blake, I thought you didn't have any traumas."

She snarled at him.

"Fine, fine. It's not like your self-hatred and crushing guilt-complex is a secret to anyone, though."

His casual words made her flinch. "Ack—!"

"Nor the fact that your constant reading is an escape mechanism to hide away from the thoughts and memories that haunt you day and night."

"Kckk—!"

"Plus, your self-destructive quest to stop the White Fang or die trying, as a way to assuage your guilt, is so obvious even the faculty know of it."

"Blrk..."

"But don't worry." He flashed her a wide smile. "I'll keep it a secret."

Blake gurgled, head resting on the desk, eyes spinning.

This man...

He was a true monster.

/-/

"You know," said Yang. "You're spending a lot of time with Blake lately."

"I'm cheating on you with her," Jaune replied, watching as Blake and Ruby sparred in the ring. Blake was pulling her punches, and not out of some desire to let Ruby win to try and help her feel more confident.

Blake was pulling her punches because facing someone you knew was wrapped up in a complex was difficult, and because Blake couldn't stand to hurt her. This, it turned out, did not endear her to Ruby, who was escalating from happy-Ruby to murder-blender-Ruby in real time. Blake was good, he'd give her that, but Ruby had a speed Semblance and a scythe.

It was like someone had taken the motor and blades from a blender, set them on a Beyblade, then let it rip.

"I can't believe you'd just come out and say that."

"It's not like you'll believe it."

Yang smirked. "True. You and Blake just feels so weird. Like, I get you both enjoy reading and hang out together, but I can't decide which of you would want to strangle the other first. Also, where would you even go on dates?"

"To a White Fang rally, obviously."

To their side, Weiss snorted.

Yang laughed as well. "True. Silly me for not realising it. Take her anywhere the White Fang is and you're in for an exciting night. So, uh..." Yang trailed off helplessly. "You... uh..."

"Ruby is unhappy with me?"

"Yeeeeeeeeah." Yang seemed relieved to not have to say it, even as she stretched the word out. "You could say that. You could really say that. Not that I'm going to beat on you or anything, because this looks more like a friends falling out thing than you doing anything bad to her, but... uh... let's just say you're lucky it's not you up there."

"What did you do, Arc?" Weiss demanded. "And why is my partner doing her best to turn Blake into a smoothie?"

"Ruby and I had a discussion that went south last night. Blake was eavesdropping from a tree branch. I can't say about what, I'm afraid. Ruby would never forgive me for telling either of you and I value her friendship too much to do it."

Yang nodded and dropped the issue then and there. She may have been Ruby's sister, and his girlfriend, but she seemed content to trust them to sort their issues out, which he appreciated. That and Yang had probably been through things like this before, maybe even with Ruby and old friends of hers.

Weiss was less so – less willing and less used to this.

"Really? Because Ruby came back to the dorm furious last night and told us we would either not be eating breakfast with your team or she would not be eating breakfast with us. Given Pyrrha couldn't insult a dead housefly, Ren wouldn't, and Nora does not perceive of existence beyond the distance between herself and Ren—" Yang sniggered, "—that means it has to be you. That's my partner you've insulted, Arc, and I will have justice."

"I mean, I'm fairly sure you're sparring me next."

Weiss huffed. "That isn't justice, that's inevitability."

"Ouch."

"Tell me what you said to Ruby."

"No."

Her eyes narrowed. "Arc..."

"I can't. Really. Ruby would hate me for it and threats or no, I'm not doing that to her."

Weiss looked ready to drag the answers out of him, but Yang stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Leave it be, Weiss. I know you haven't had many friends before but this... this isn't unusual. I've had fights like this with best friends, you have too with Ruby, and it wouldn't have been fair for us to interfere in that. Give him a chance to make amends, especially if he's saying Ruby wouldn't want us to know."

Scowling, Weiss pressed her lips together and was silent.

Though her glare made it clear she didn't fully agree with Weiss, nor was she content to simply let this matter be left in his hands. It was a shame he couldn't involve her, but maybe this was for the best. Weiss coming to Ruby's defence on her side would help remind Ruby she wasn't alone.

Meanwhile, Blake hit the deck.

"Winner, Ruby Rose." Miss Goodwitch waved her crop and showed the world that there weren't many problems that couldn't be solved with a busted telekinetic Semblance by levitating the whirlwind of death that was Ruby up off the floor. "Ingenious use of weaponry and Semblance, Miss Rose, but please remember in future that this is a friendly spar."

"I knew she could take it," Ruby chirped merrily.

"Ughhhh..." Blake moaned.

"I can go for another round," Ruby added. "Can I pick my next opponent?"

Jaune shrank back behind Yang.

"No."

"Awww..."

Ruby hopped down as the next bout was called, and Yang was quick to cheer her. "You go, sis. You kicked ass up there. Daaamn!"

The cheerful praise would have normally had Ruby blushing and waving it off, but her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. She looked past Yang to him, furious for a moment. No doubt wondering if this praise from Yang meant that he'd up and told them, and this was just Yang trying to make her feel like she was tougher.

"Ruby!" Weiss snapped. "Arc won't tell us what it is he did to upset you. I demand you tell us right now so I can punish him in the ring."

Good old Weiss. Good old vindictive Weiss. Just like that, she'd made it clear he hadn't shared her secret, and it was enough to break Ruby's evil expression. "Huh?"

"He won't tell us. Says he considers your friendship too important to lose."

"Does he?" Ruby glanced back at him, a little less heated. "Fwah. I guess that's fine, then. But it's between him and me, Weiss. Sorry."

"But—"

"It'd still make me feel better if you beat him up."

"Oh, come on!" Jaune cried. "I've not said anything!"

"And, because of that, I'll probably forgive you by tomorrow," she replied, smiling awkwardly his way. The smile seemed to almost admit she was furious but didn't want to be, and that she wanted them to go back to normal. "But you still told Blake."

"I didn't. Blake eavesdropped."

"Hah...?" Ruby scowled back at where said girl was limping over. "And suddenly I feel less sorry for trying my new move on her."

"I didn't eavesdrop," Blake groaned. "You picked my tree out of all the trees in Beacon to sit at."

"But you could have announced your presence and told us it wasn't safe to talk there."

Blake flinched. "Ah, well... uh..."

"Curiosity killed the cat," said Jaune, earning a middle finger from Blake. "Like I said, she can't blame us for not knowing she was around when we had our talk." Sorry Blake, but he'd side with Ruby here if it meant her forgiving him. Ruby nodded quickly. "If you know two people are having a private talk and don't a) quietly move away or b) let them know you're listening, then that means you're eavesdropping."

"Yep." Ruby nodded. "You dirty eavesdropper."

"I didn't want to know what I know!"

"But you do – and without any permission." Ruby crossed her arms. "Hmph."

"You know, this makes me more curious about what this is about," Yang said.

Ruby went pale.

"No." Jaune cut her off. "You don't. This is between me and Ruby, Yang. Or at least it was meant to be before Blake turned voyeur on us." Blake held up her second middle finger. "Ruby and I will fix this on our own."

"Or, alternatively, it doesn't need to be fixed because nothing is wrong," Ruby replied, pointedly. "Jaune said something stupid, I proved him wrong, and all he has to do is accept it as fact and we can go back to being best friends."

"Or, alternatively," Jaune argued back. "Ruby can keep an open mind—"

"No, no, no." Yang stepped between them. "Not here. If you really want me and Weiss kept out of this, don't start it in front of us. You two need to find a quiet corner to go make up and make out in – and yes, I realise how wrong that sounds since I'm dating him, but I don't mind sharing with my sister."

"Ew." Ruby gagged. "I don't want your sloppy seconds, Yang."

"But I think we can agree on the quiet corner thing," Jaune said, grabbing her arm. "Let's us talk now, yeah?" He dragged her past Yang. "Cover for us."

"Sure thing," Yang replied.

The two of them slipped out the arena.

"Hmmm." Weiss scowled. "Do you think it's safe to let her go with him like that?"

"Absolutely. Friends argue, Weiss, and then they make up. It'll be fine." Yang smirked. "Though he's pretty smooth, I've got to say."

"What does that mean?"

"You haven't realised? Heh. You will in a moment."

Weiss opened her mouth to ask what she meant, only for Glynda to speak up.

"Weiss Schnee versus Jaune Arc."

Yang cleared her throat. "Jaune had to take Ruby to the infirmary, Miss G!" she shouted. "Ruby twisted her ankle."

Miss Goodwitch pinched the bridge of her nose. "Call me Miss G again and I will bury you in detentions, Miss Xiao-Long. But fine. Weiss Schnee versus Cardin Winchester."

Weiss' jaw dropped.

"Figured it out, eh?" teased Yang.

"That coward dodged his rightful beating!"

"Yep. Like I said, smooth."

/-/

"I didn't tell Yang or Weiss. Nor my team."

"Hmm." Ruby leaned back on a wall, tapping her heel against it. "Thanks. I didn't think you would but after Blake started going easy on me like that... I guess I assumed the worst. Did she really overhear us?"

"Announced her presence after you stormed off. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

Ruby grinned. "Sounds like her."

"In her defence – for the fight, anyway – I didn't ask her to go easy on you. Didn't even suggest it. If my goal is to prove you're wrong to say Yang is better than you in every way, then having someone throw a fight in such an obvious way would be a terrible opening move."

"Hmm. True. Especially since I know Blake's fighting style and can tell when she's holding back. Why did she, then?"

"I think she just feels it would be wrong to hurt you right now."

Ruby's scowl deepened.

"I'm not saying she's right. You're a huntress – and a way better one than I am a huntsman, so you don't need anyone treating you like you're made of glass. And you're not. You may feel this way that I disagree with, but it's obviously not made you any worse a fighter."

"Hngh." Ruby let her scowl fall. "It hasn't. Honestly, I don't get why it's such a big deal to you. I'm fine like this. I'm not hurting or suffering or anything. I'm two years younger than Yang. Doesn't it make sense she'd be better than me in every way?"

"No. And she isn't."

Ruby looked away with a sigh. "Not this again. Let's not, okay? You and I disagree. Can't we leave it at that? I don't like being angry at you. I don't like being angry period."

"I don't like listening to someone talk down a person I care deeply about," he returned, and Ruby glanced away with a blush and a sigh.

"I'm not talking myself down, though. Yang is better than me. That doesn't mean that I think I'm worthless or anything, it's just acknowledging when someone is stronger. Why is that bad? Isn't it worse to mindlessly fight to try and be better than someone?"

"I imagine it is. Same as how it's bad to mindlessly fight to be seen as worse."

"Ugh." Ruby pouted. "I'm not trying to be worse. I just am. Yang is just that strong."

"Don't you think Weiss feels the same way about Winter? Yet I don't see her acting like this."

Ruby snorted. "That's because Weiss is definitely in the 'tries too hard' category. I'm happy how I am, and Weiss wants to be the best. Maybe we get on because we're opposites or something. You're worse than Pyrrha," she added. "You're not stupid enough to think otherwise, are you?"

"Of course not." He wasn't that dumb. "But I'm also not going to settle for just staying there. I'll keep training and fighting to stand alongside her, and I know she'll help me along the way. Yang would help you as well. If you'd just stop thinking you're in her shadow."

"You're pushing it again," Ruby mumbled out the warning. "Stop pushing it."

Jaune stopped, took a deep breath, and stepped back. "Sorry. I won't push, but I'm also not willing to stand by and not do anything. Neither is Blake." Because of guilt on her part. "You're our friend and neither of us likes hearing you talk bad of yourself."

"This again," she grumbled. "Why is me talking good about Yang being equated as me talking bad about myself?"

"I think it's more a case of you desperately trying to push the idea you're talking Yang up," he fired back. "When we both know that's a smokescreen."

"Do we both know? All I know is talking with you last night was the worst mistake ever."

"Ugh. You're so annoying."

Jaune took it with a smile. Ruby was doing her best to dissuade him, up to and including going on the offensive. That was normal, tough. Doctor Oobleck had told him as much. People were resistant to the idea of change, and doubly so if it meant addressing their feelings. He had been as well, back with Cardin, and even back with telling his team the truth of his Semblance. Jaune knew how it felt to believe you were doing the right thing, and the lies you told to convince yourself it was the logical decision.

"I'm going to keep haunting you whether you like it or not, so how about a compromise?"

"What kind of compromise?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I want an hour of your day, you and me, to chat. Each day. We'll meet up somewhere and talk – maybe about this, maybe about other things, maybe about random stuff going on in school. You can call it a mutual team leader meeting if you like. Give whatever excuse you want to the others. But we talk in private and without dancing around the subject."

"That sounds awful. Why would I agree to that?"

"Becaaause..." Jaune dragged the word out. "If you don't then I'll be forced to try and secure that time on my own, which will mean bothering you when you're with other people. Or I could ask Blake to do it on my behalf, and we both know she's about as subtle as a shotgun."

"Gnh." Ruby growled under her breath. "Half an hour."

"Thirty minutes? That's not much time."

"Thirty minutes minimum," she haggled. "And if it's not annoying and I'm not busy, I'll consider staying for longer. But not on weekends. I want some time to myself without having to deal with you and Blake on my back."

It wasn't that great a deal but the fact Ruby was agreeing at all when he had no real way of forcing her hand meant he'd be a fool to say no. "Agreed." He offered his hand, which she shook. "How about tonight, then? You, me, the tree we talked at yesterday and no Blake above listening in."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "And what will we be talking about?"

"Signal."

"Why...?"

"Because I'm curious and never got to go to one of those pre-academy schools. You know how I got in—" His fake transcripts and all. "—so is it so strange to think I'd want to know how other people did it?"

"Can't you ask Pyrrha?"

"I get the feeling her school experience was less than normal. Weiss', too."

"Yeah..." Ruby sighed again. "You're probably right there. Fine. We'll talk Signal, but if you start going on like I'm some clinically depressed girl about to shatter into a million pieces, I'll bring out my scroll and be gone the nanosecond it hits thirty minutes."

"Deal. I'll keep that out of it. I just want to know what it was like going to Signal and what kinds of things you learned there. It's all a mystery to me."

Ruby hummed in the same way he had to Blake the night before, the way that said she didn't believe a word he was saying but was content to pretend she did if it meant ending the conversation. He didn't exactly have the most honest of intentions anyway, since he knew from her nightmares that Signal was where it all started.

I should thank Blake for being so obvious today and getting beaten up, he thought, as Ruby walked away.

Especially since, despite what he'd told Ruby, it absolutely had been his plan from the beginning. Get Ruby annoyed at him and Blake, offer her a compromise as a way to stop that nonsense, then move on from there.

"Let's just hope I can make these half-hour sessions count."

On that front, it was time to go to Doctor Oobleck and ask for advice on how to start helping someone. At this rate, he was going to end up as a full-time student psychiatrist, but that didn't sound so bad. Pyrrha was able to look after the team's physical health by keeping them safe, but Team JNPR didn't have anyone to care for their mental health. After all they'd done for him, this was the least he could do.