Fate's Wild Card Ch.22 (Released)

Disclaimer: Everyone here is a consenting adult over the age of 18+.

------------------------------

Pryce thinks about it for a while—not about letting her go scot-free, obviously, but what to actually do with this situation. Then he shares a look with his girlfriend, who has that wide, manic grin spreading across her face. She nods frantically, and a very crazy idea pops into his head.

"She will decide," he says, pointing at Neo as he moves towards the teacher's desk. The shortstack practically bounces on her toes while clapping mockingly.

Blake's ears perk up sharply, and she turns to look at Neo with growing alarm. "W-what do you mean by that?"

"You heard me," Pryce says simply, crossing his arms and leaning back against a desk.

Neo's grin widens impossibly further as she begins circling Blake like a predator sizing up prey. His fellow Faunus scrambles to her feet, her amber eyes tracking his girl movements, despite being taller than her.

"Wait, wait, wait," Blake stammers, backing up until she hits a wall. "Can't we talk about this? I promise I won't tell anyone about... about any of this!"

Neo stops directly in front of her and tilts her head, tapping her chin thoughtfully as if seriously considering Blake's plea but her hand says otherwise.

“Naughty-kitty-needs-punishment. She-watched-and-fingered-herself-watching.”

Wow. Damn.

Blake is pretty perverted.

Then Neo somehow pulls out a strange black collar from seemingly nowhere… that’s NOT a collar Pryce quickly picks up the size and design.

Blake's face goes completely red, and her ears flatten so hard against her head they practically disappear into her hair as she seems to regain her courage. "I am NOT wearing a collar!"

"It's not a collar actually," Pryce says, squinting at the belt Neo is holding up with obvious pride.

Neo nods enthusiastically, confirming his observation while signing with one hand. “A-pervert-kitten-needs-self-control!”

"That's even worse!" Blake sputters as she realizes what actually is, backing despite the wall prevents her from moving even an inch as Neo takes another step closer. "Where did you even get that?!"

Neo shrugs innocently. Then she holds the chastity belt against Blake's body, as if measuring the size fits her.

Yeah, he should have expected that from her.

But seriously a chastity belt?

Blake has gone deathly silent and still as a statue as she stares at the leather device with wide eyes. Neo grins again and leans forward, pushing it into Blake's chest and making the girl look down at her.

"I..." Blake tries to speak up but then swallows hard but manages to gain some confidence back and glares back in defiance. "I won't EVER put that thing on."

Neo shrugs again and signs the killing blow. “Tell-her-I'm-going-to-reveal-all-her-secrets.”

"She is going to reveal all your secrets." Pryce quickly translated. “And yes, she knows what you’ve been doing.”

Blake's mouth falls open, and she turns back to him, almost like she is in panic. "WHAT?! How do you…You wouldn't..."

He doesn't respond and unfolds his arms. That warning seemed too pretty effective on her. Maybe she was very strict and something among the lines of being too prude? Otherwise a little shame about kinks wouldn’t be too bad.

But the silence seems to work on Blake as she bites her lip and glances back down to Neo and then to the belt. "But there are no holes…how do I go to the bathroom with this?"

Ah, she is right about the belt now that he has a better look. Pretty on point from his girlfriend when she is given free rein, although not THAT much since she could easily go further. “Huh, didn’t notice that.”

Neo giggles and claps happily, as she moves back to him and nuzzles his arm affectionately and hands him a small key.

"What is it?" Blake asks, watching her cautiously.

"Wow, damn, that's harsh." Pryce immediately understood what the ice-cream girl meant with that silent gesture. "Are you sure?"

Blake's ears twitch nervously. "What are you talking about?"

Neo nods, determined and grinning wildly.

'It's-for-the-best! We-will-get-our-pet-on-the-first-day!"

She didn’t forget the pet part, did she?

Pryce sighs, dropping his shoulders slightly before rubbing the back of his neck, trying his best to follow Neo’s steps. "Well, what do you say?." 

Blake blinks a few times, then shakes her head and puts her hands out in front of herself as her face turns red once more. "W-what?! No! I will not wear this garbage! You two were the ones who were having sex in public! That's enough to have you both expelled!"

“She-will.”

Pryce shrugs and turns around. "Fine by me. It’s your word against mine."

Blake didn't seem to be that savvy in the way to lie your way out, and also she has been stalking him for a while so she doesn't have any legs to stand from. And also Ozpin seems to be interested in him for some reason so he might favor just like he did earlier.

Neo follows him towards the door without so much as a backwards glance.

"Wait! Where are you going?!"

He doesn't reply and keeps walking until he's out into the hallway. It’s better to get that pervert to overthink everything. Neo skips past him already back fully clothed which is definitely an illusion because she was a fucked silly and torn clothes moments ago.

"Pryce!" Blake shouts after them, before cursing and mumbling under her breath.

A second later, she rushes out into the hallway, slamming the door behind herself and clutching the belt against her chest.

"I'll do it," she mutters, turning away from them as her ears droop down in defeat. "But you can't tell anyone about this.” She points at her ears. “Or anything of what you know about me and my past!”

His ears perk up since it was a rather strange condition since he only knows her name is Blake, a cat faunus who for some reason is ashamed of her ears and she watched him fuck Neo in a classroom…

“Sure.”

“I can’t believe I’m accepting this…”Blake takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes, and nods, before quickly rushing away, back into her classroom.

Pryce watches her go, and he lets out another sigh. “I think this might be a mistake.”

Neo wraps her arm around his waist, and pushes her face against his side.

“I-will-train-her-for-you.”

"Just don't do anything bad." He tells her. Like it was fun to mess with that strange stalker but didn't want to go too far with her, it wouldn't feel right with his consciousness. And the way she was talking felt strange, she seemed to be thinking about something else.

The shorstack pouts and looks up at him. “But-I-want-to-do-very-bad-things. Imagine-her-all-big-and-round.”

"Neo..." He pinches the bridge of his nose.

Seriously, what up with her head wanting him to get another girl pregnant?

She wants HIM to get another girl pregnant right? Not referencing another way…right?

Pryce just stares at Neo, that doubt starts gnawing at him.

The ice-cream girl sighs dramatically and lets him go.

“Not-fun.” And she sticks out her tongue causing Pryce to roll his eyes before his hand moves and gives her a headpat. 

Naturally she leans into the touch. 

“Okay-nothing-really-bad.”

He chuckles and leans down to kiss the top of her head. "Good girl."

Neo giggles. She likes her praises after all and it helps to mellow down.

Best way to keep her grounded and don’t go too far.

That is when the faunus girl returns blushing furiously as she seems to be adjusting the belt under her skirt and her bow atop of her head.

Blake glares at him for a moment before turning to Neo. "How long am I going to have to wear this stupid thing?"

Neo holds up a hand and taps her chin thoughtfully before she comes to a decision. “A-month.”

"A week," Pryce interjects quickly. He tries to be subtle about it but fails as he reaches out to smack Neo's ass, making her jolt forward. She immediately retaliates by pinching the side of his stomach.

Blake watches them with obvious confusion, but the frustration in her amber eyes tells him she still doesn't like the idea—though it's clearly the best deal she's going to get under the circumstances.

"Fine," she mutters, crossing her arms defensively while her cat ears twitch with irritation. "Just keep this private. I mean it."

Neo's grin widens impossibly further as she moves closer to Blake, signing with exaggerated enthusiasm: “We-will-have-lots-of-fun!”

Pryce raises his hands and backs toward the corridor. "Alright, I'm leaving you two alone. I've been gone way too long and my team is probably looking for me by now."

Blake's ears shoot up in panic, her eyes going wide with alarm. "You're really just leaving me alone with her?!"

"Yeah, have fun you two," Pryce says, already reaching for the corner.

"Wait, but—" Blake tries to protest, taking a step forward. 

Neo is quick to hook her arm through Blake's and pull her back, practically dragging the Faunus girl into the same classroom. She waves cheerfully at Pryce with her free hand while Blake shoots him an absolutely desperate look over her shoulder.

Blake mouths something at him, but he doesn't read lips, so he has no idea what she's trying to say.

Pryce just shrugs unapologetically and makes the full turn.

Technically, that strange situation is solved. Or at least contained.

He shakes his head with a snort as he returns to the more crowded corridors, heading in the direction of his next class. What a bizarre fucking day this has turned out to be. First the whole Weiss pregnancy delusion, then getting called to Ozpin's office for the desk-smashing incident, finding out his girlfriend's been hired to assassinate him, and they decided to fuck really hard to throw off her new boss, and now they've somehow acquired a blackmailed a girl who had been spying on him to wear a chastity belt for being a voyeur and its ashamed of being a faunus.

He checks the time on his scroll—he's definitely late. His rabbit's ears twitch as he navigates back through the busy corridors toward where his team should be gathering. He needs to come up with some kind of excuse for where he's been instead of going to class like he'd told them he would.

But Pyrrha should have smoothed things over with Weiss by now.

Hopefully.

Maybe.

As he rounds another corner, he nearly collides with a group of upperclassmen who give him irritated looks. He mumbles a half-assed apology and keeps moving, his mind already trying to construct a believable excuse. "Got lost exploring the campus" sounds pathetic. "Ran into an old friend" is too vague and raises more questions.

His ears pick up familiar voices ahead—Ruby's enthusiastic chatter mixed with what sounds like Weiss's sharp, dismissive tone. At least they're easy to locate.

Taking a breath, he straightens his uniform and prepares himself for what comes next. Given how this day has gone so far…

But hey, at least nobody thinks he's gotten them pregnant anymore.

Well, hopefully.

-----------------------------------------------------------

It was night. Pryce sat at the desk in their dorm room with Ruby beside him, both of them staring down at their textbooks like the pages were written in gibberish.

Ruby let out a frustrated groan and dropped her forehead onto the open book with a soft thump. "I don't get it. Why do we need to know about... what was it again?"

"Dust composition theory and its practical applications in combat scenarios," Pryce read flatly from the chapter heading. "No idea. I thought we'd just point the weapon and shoot."

"Right?!" Ruby lifted her head, her silver eyes brightening with the relief of finding someone who shared her confusion. "I mean, I know how to use Dust in Crescent Rose, but all this stuff about molecular structures and concentrations..." She gestured helplessly at the page.

Pryce rubbed his temples before his hands went to his rabbit ears, pulling them down with a groan. He knew jack shit about this stuff since he'd never had any sort of formal education, and Ruby had apparently skipped the last two years of combat school, which explained why they were both equally lost.

It had been Pyrrha's suggestion to sit down and study together to catch up, especially after both of them had been completely lost during the lecture from that weird teacher called Oobleck who spoke at breakneck speed about historical Dust uses or something.

And much to Pryce's surprise, it was Weiss who had volunteered to help them catch up.

Despite being a total bitch and embarrassingly naïve about what sex is, she was shockingly competent as both a student and teacher.

"No, no, you're thinking about it all wrong," Weiss said with exasperation, though her tone was more instructive than condescending. She sat across from them in a light blue nightgown—apparently her idea of pajamas—with perfectly color-coded notes spread out in front of her. "Dust isn't just ammunition. Understanding its properties allows you to maximize efficiency and adapt to situations, especially when you need to use minimal amounts during shortages."

She pulled one of Ruby's textbooks closer and flipped to a diagram. "Look. Fire Dust doesn't just explode because you want it to or hit it hard. The combustion reaction requires specific conditions, temperature threshold, oxygen presence, and crystalline structure integrity. If you understand these variables, you can control the output precisely."

Ruby leaned forward, squinting at the diagram. "So... if I know how hot it needs to get, I can make bigger explosions?"

"Or smaller, more controlled ones," Weiss corrected, though there was a hint of approval in her voice. "Which can be more useful in combat scenarios. Raw power means nothing if you can't direct it effectively. You'll just waste Dust and potentially harm yourself and your teammates."

Pryce had to admit, when Weiss shifted into teaching mode, she was actually... bearable. Her explanations were clear and structured, much easier to understand than just staring at walls of texts.

"What about this part?" Pryce pointed to a different section. "It says mixing types can be dangerous but doesn't explain why."

Weiss slid her notes over to him, and he noticed they were absurdly detailed with little diagrams and color-coded highlights. "Because different Dust types have different molecular structures. Combining them creates unstable compounds unless you understand the proper ratios and catalysts. Think of it like..." She paused, tapping her chin. "Like mixing drinks and juices. Some mixes taste really good, while others make you want to puke."

"So basically don't just throw random stuff together and hope for the best," Pryce summarized.

"Exactly." Weiss nodded with a faint smile of satisfaction at his understanding. "Which is why this theoretical knowledge matters. It keeps you from accidentally blowing yourself up or your teammates."

She threw a pointed look at Ruby, who quickly looked away and pretended to be very interested in her textbook.

Right. The explosion back when they'd first landed at Beacon. The luggage incident.

Honestly, Pyrrha must have worked some kind of miracle. Weiss wasn't being a bitch or throwing insults at him anymore. She was still clearly a pompous atlesian snob, but she wasn’t showing any of that.

"Okay, so next question," Ruby said, flipping a page. "What's the difference between refined and unrefined Dust? The book keeps mentioning it but I don't really get why it matters."

Weiss straightened up, clearly in her element now. "Unrefined Dust is crystalline in its natural state—more powerful but also more volatile and unpredictable. Refined Dust has been processed to stabilize it, making it safer to handle and more consistent in output, but slightly less potent per gram."

"So unrefined is like... wild and dangerous, refined is tame and reliable?" Ruby tried.

"That's... actually a decent simplification," Weiss admitted, looking mildly impressed. "Though I'd phrase it as 'unrefined offers higher potential output at the cost of control and safety.'"

Pryce made a note in the margin of his textbook. This was actually starting to make sense, even if it was boring as hell.

"How do you know all this stuff anyway?" he asked Weiss. "I mean, I know you're from Atlas and all, but this seems like really advanced stuff."

Weiss's expression flickered with something—pride mixed with something less pleasant. "My family owns the Schnee Dust Company in case you didn’t know. So of course I’ve been studying everything related to Dust since I was old enough to read. Also Myrtenaster couldn’t be handled if I didn’t know the basics."

Wait, her family owns the SDC?

"Huh, thanks Weiss." He said, reading the text again.

No wonder she acted so high and mighty.

Weiss blinked, seemingly caught off guard by his simple response. "Yes. Well. We're a team. If you two fail, it reflects poorly on all of us."

She couldn't just accept a thank you without making it about herself, could she?

Typical atlesian.

Ruby yawned suddenly, covering her mouth with her hand. "Are we almost done? My brain feels like mush."

Weiss checked her own notes. "We've covered the basics. That should be sufficient for today. But you'll both need to review the next chapter before the next lecture."

Pryce rolls his eyes, already closing his textbook as he is finally free. His ears perked up as he heard movement from across the room and turned to see Pyrrha who had been sitting on her bed this whole time, quietly doing her hair. She caught his eye and gave him a small smile.

Strange.

"Alright team," Ruby said, standing up and stretching her arms. "Study session complete! Now we can all get some sleep and be ready for another day of becoming awesome Huntresses! And Huntsman!" She added quickly, glancing at him.

"Thrilling,"

A sudden knock on the door interrupts the moment.

Everyone looks up, and Pryce's rabbit ears swivel toward the knock. "I'll get it," he says, pushing himself up from the desk and walking toward the door.

He opens it to reveal Blake standing in the hallway, her face flushed pink and her cat ears twitching nervously beneath her bow. She's fidgeting with the hem of her sleeves—she's wearing what looks like a black pajama… yukata?

Is she from Mistral too?

Pryce glances over his shoulder at his team. "I need to step outside for a moment."

"Don't forget about curfew, Pryce. You only have about twenty minutes," Pyrrha warns gently.

"Yeah, yeah!" Ruby pipes up from where she's already changed into her red and black pajamas. "Professor Goodwitch is really scary when people break rules. Like, super mega scary with the riding crop and everything."

Well, he knows that woman’s attitude first hand.

"Noted," Pryce says, stepping into the hallway and closing the door behind him.

Blake immediately takes a step back, maintaining a distance between them. Her amber eyes dart around the hallway to make sure they're alone before she speaks in a hushed whisper.

"Your... girlfriend," she starts, clearly uncomfortable even saying the word. "She's insane."

Pryce crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. "Yeah, I'm aware."

"She made me..." She trails off, her face somehow getting even redder. "Never mind. I don't want to talk about it."

"Then why are you here?"

"I need to go to the bathroom," Blake says quickly. “And you.."

Pryce blinks once. "Right…"

A week of doing that might be really annoying to deal with but he can probably endure it.

He pushes off from the doorframe. "Fine. Let's go."

They walk down the hallway in awkward silence, Blake keeping a careful distance from him. When they reach the communal bathroom entrance, she quickly slips inside without another word and turns around to let him unlock the thing.

Heh, she has beautiful legs and looks meaty as well.

“Don’t stare!”

He just chuckles and quickly undoes the lock and she runs deeper in the bathroom.

Pryce leans against the wall opposite the entrance to patiently wait. Also to make sure Blake doesn't try to escape or anything, because Neo would definitely get mad at him if she did.

After a few minutes, his ears swivel sharply toward a sound that doesn't quite fit the ambient noise of the dormitory. A soft footstep, trying too hard to be quiet. He glances from the corner of his eye and catches a glimpse of blonde hair peeking around the corner of the hallway.

Isn't that the same blonde from yesterday?

"I see you!" he calls out without turning his head.

There's a yelp, and a startled squawk that echoes down the hallway, followed by a hard thud like someone's fallen on their ass.

"You can either come out now, or I'll go drag you out myself," Pryce adds, straightening up from the wall with a tired sigh.

Moments later, a girl shuffles into view wearing a light blue onesie with what looks like bunny ears on the hood—which looks absolutely ridiculous. She has her head lowered, and she's fidgeting nervously with her fingers.

He recognizes her immediately—Jeanne, that blonde idiot from initiation. The one who'd accidentally kissed him in front of Pyrrha and Nora, and who'd been doing that ridiculous attempt at seducing Weiss days ago.

"What are you doing here?" he asks flatly.

Jeanne keeps her head down, her face bright red. "I... I wasn't spying! I was just... walking. To the bathroom. Because that's a normal thing people do at night."

"Right. And you just happened to be hiding around the corner spying on me?"

"I wasn't spying!" Jeanne protests, finally looking up. Her blue eyes are wide with embarrassment. "I was just... I saw you in the hallway with my teammate and I panicked because I didn't know what to say after what happened earlier and—"

"Kissing with tongue and all that?" Pryce cuts her off, with an exaggeration. "Wait, she's your teammate?"

Well, if Blake comes out now, she's probably going to have a heart attack.

Jeanne's face somehow turns an even deeper shade of red. "It was an accident! And there was no tongue!"

"Whatever. So you came all the way here just to tell me that again?"

"Ummm, maybe not? I think so..." Jeanne trails off, looking uncertain about herself, which irritates him. “Come on Jeanne, you can do it…”

Pryce stares at her, waiting for an actual answer. His ears twitch with impatience.

Then, to his complete confusion, Jeanne suddenly drops to her knees in front of him, hands clasped together.

"Please! I know you're teammates with Weiss Schnee!" she blurts out desperately. "I need your help to woo my snow angel! You live with her, you must know what she likes! Her favorite foods, her hobbies, what kind of romantic gestures would make her swoon—"

…What?

Pryce just stares at the blonde.

Weiss hates him, and he has been her teammate and living with her for a few days. 

He still knows nothing about that stupid girl.

But Jeanne doesn’t know that…

----------------------------------------------

AN: Blake has her own melodrama going on her head.