Far From Home 003

They weren’t letting her anywhere near Jaune. Not without about a half dozen other people being present.

Blake was being afforded all the respect her station deserved, at least as far it could be while being their prisoner. Her room was well furnished with a comfortable bed, positioned just down the hall from Sienna Khan. She was provided with clothes, and not just the dreary uniforms of the White Fang that used to inspire her, but actual clothes; jeans, skirts, dresses, as if she could skip down to the corner store whenever she wanted to buy a carton of milk. She was being fed, and the food was of high quality. Sienna clearly remembered that Blake favored fish, and it was being served to her every other night, everything from tuna to salmon to pink snapper, blue cod and more.

Though a prisoner, she was being taken very good care of.

The same couldn’t be said for Jaune.

His room was a small two by two meter cell, big enough for a bed and not much else. Blake knew this because she’d managed to weasel it out of one of her minders, and when she’d heard, she’d been furious. He spent his days slaving away in the kitchen or in the laundry, and she’d even seen him performing maintenance on their base. Just yesterday, she’d caught him at the top of a ladder, helping to patch a leak in the roof.

He didn’t have a say in any of this, and they were working him to the bone. Though he appeared in good spirits, even smiling whenever he saw her, Blake knew that he must be exhausted. They’d been there a week now, and they were showing no signs of letting up on the chores he was required to do every day.

Not only that, but he was constantly shadowed by that pale bitch with the veins.

Her name was Trifa. Again, she’d been able to weasel that much out of her minders. It was only natural that Jaune would also have a dedicated watcher but did it have to be her? There was something incredibly off-putting about her, and it wasn’t just because of those long knives she liked to carry around and play with.

It was the way that even the other White Fang members tended to avoid her, as if they were afraid she might do something unpredictable. It was subtle and if Blake hadn’t been watching her so intently, she may have missed it, but more than once, she’d seen people shy away from her in the hallways, as if she were contagious – or dangerous.

Sienna was a busy woman but the current leader of the White Fang made sure to give Blake a piece of her time every few days, just to check in on her. A way to keep her appeased, no doubt – but Blake wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. During one of these meetings, Blake decided to be bold.

She’d been a good girl for a week. She’d earned herself a little leeway, right?

The underground labyrinth was only part of the complex she found herself trapped in. On this day, Blake was led above ground and shown to a large courtyard. Cobblestone paths carried her through a beautiful garden lush with vibrant flowers and cherry blossom trees in full bloom. The gorgeous pink petals swayed in the gentle breeze as they approached a round pavilion, the wood painted red and inscribed with golden dragons. Sienna Khan was already waiting, a complete tea set sitting in front of her on the table.

“Ah, Blake,” the dark skinned woman smiled. “Please, have a seat.”

The courtyard was ringed by a high stone wall. High enough that even with aura, it would take quite the leap to make it to the top. Her hands were no longer bound but she was surrounded by armed men, and that was before taking Sienna herself into consideration.

She was an extremely skilled warrior. Blake wouldn’t even make it halfway up the wall before she was taken down.

Blake sat down across from her and Sienna began pouring, the familiar scent of green tea filling the air. She hadn’t even asked if she wanted any, but a cup was prepared and placed in front of her.

“I can see something different about you today,” Sienna commented when she filled her own cup. Setting the kettle down, she picked up her cup and brought it to her face, inhaling the fragrant aroma. “Are you displeased?”

“How could you tell?” Blake asked sarcastically.

Sienna grinned. “Contrary to what others may think of you, I’ve always known you as a girl who wears her emotions on her sleeve. Even when she is trying so desperately to hide them.”

Blake scowled. “I’m your prisoner, of course I’m displeased.”

“Mm,” Sienna took a sip of her drink, her expression lightening. “Yes, but I believe this current dissatisfaction stems from something else. Care to share?”

Blake hated that she was being read so easily. But she’d been meaning to bring it up anyway, so it wasn’t like Sienna had uncovered some grand secret.

“I don’t like how you’re treating Jaune.”

“Ah – so it is about the boy after all,” Blake didn’t like her tone.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“What do you think it means?”

Blake wasn’t going to play these games. She wasn’t a child.

She remained silent, glowering. Sienna smirked, an amused laugh escaping her.

“Very well. I’ll stop teasing,” setting her cup down, she steepled her hands. “And how am I treating your friend?”

“Like he’s a slave.”

“He is our prisoner,” Sienna pointed out. “I could leave him to rot in his room, if you’d prefer? I thought you’d much rather the current status quo.”

“Or you could treat him with a little more respect!”

“And why would I do that?” she asked, genuinely curious. “He is a human, and human’s look down upon us. Why would I extend him any courtesy beyond what being your friend lends him? He is a means to control you, nothing more. Without that, he would have no use.”

“Jaune has never looked down on faunus.”

Sienna stared at her, contemplative.

Until finally, she said, “Are you so sure? How long have you known him?”

Not long. Not long at all.

Blake would never claim to be a great judge of character. She’d thought Ruby was nothing more than an overly naive child that knew nothing of the world. She’d thought Weiss was the personification of everything Blake hated about the human race. She’d been proven wrong on both counts, and she wasn’t afraid to admit it.

Just how well did she know Jaune Arc?

Hardly at all, but that didn’t matter. In that short time, he had shown her his worth. First when he found out about her being a faunus, and when she’d been a former White Fang member, and then when he’d leapt to her defence, placing himself in this predicament in the first place.

There wasn’t a hateful bone in his body, not when it came to this.

“Long enough,” she said, voice firm.

“Mm,” she leaned back. “Please, have some tea – before it goes cold.”

Blake could act like a brat and reject it, but beyond a brief moment of satisfaction, what was the point? Sighing, she lifted her cup and sipped at it. It was good.

It was really good.

Sienna’s eyes glinted with mirth, and Blake had the sudden urge to fling her cup at her.

“Anyway, I don’t know why you are so bothered. From what I’ve seen and heard, he appears to be thriving.”

“Really?” Blake’s voice dripped with derision.

“He has been a man of his word, and has not attempted to escape. In fact, he appears to have thrown himself into all the tasks he has been assigned. I’ve heard nothing but praise, which is an odd thing to hear about a prisoner,” Sienna sounded bemused. “He likes to talk, and he doesn’t seem to care who he is talking to, or what he is talking about. Trifa has been very grumpy, and yet she has not requested to be reassigned. I must admit, this friend of yours is piquing my interest.”

That isn’t what Blake wanted. At all.

If Sienna Khan was interested in you, that was not a good thing. Especially if you were human.

“Though he must be quite the man, for Blake Belladonna to call him friend. A human friend.”

Blake scowled. “I have many friends at Beacon, and they’re all human.”

“Once upon a time, you thought of them much as I do,” Sienna leaned forward. “What changed your mind?”

Blake looked away, feeling guilt. Guilt for how she used to think, used to feel, the disgusting bigotry that she’d shrouded herself in, thinking herself righteous.

“Fear will never save our people,” Blake said quietly. “Fear only benefits the Grimm. Humans… faunus… we’re all just people. We can all feel love and sadness, feel scared, alone… we can all feel anger, and lash out… we can all make mistakes…”

“So you believe we’ve made mistakes?”

Blake nodded. “We have. So have they. So, so many – but making more isn’t going to help anyone. It isn’t going to help our people.”

Sienna hummed. “You know – I think I like this version of you better.”

Blake looked at her, startled. “What?”

But Sienna asked her own question, “And what of those that harm our people? Should we just lay down and take it?”

Blake shook her head. “No.”

“So what should we do?”

Blake didn’t know.

She didn’t.

If it was that easy, wouldn’t it have all been solved by now?

“I can’t answer that,” she admitted. “I don’t know what the correct answer is. But harming innocents isn’t the way, what Adam wanted to do… I will have no part of that, and it isn’t something I could ever condone.”

Sienna took another sip of her drink. “You were once so sure.”

“Things aren’t so black and white.”

Sienna nodded slowly. “No. They aren’t. You are right about that, Blake Belladonna.”

They proceeded to drink their tea in silence, Sienna refilling their cups when they were empty. It was nice to be outside, her lungs filled with fresh air and feeling the sun on her skin. She wondered what her friends were doing right now. They were panicked, no doubt, and Blake hated that she had something to do with that. But there was nothing to be done.

She just hoped Yang didn’t do something reckless. Blake could rely on Weiss to keep a calm head, but Yang… and Ruby, for that matter…

“Would you like to speak to your friend?”

It took Blake a few seconds to register the words.

“I could have him brought here, if you wish,” Sienna continued. “A reward, of sorts. For being so well behaved.”

“Alone?”

Sienna laughed, and Blake couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard the woman express such genuine joy. She just wished it wasn’t at her expense.

“No, of course not,” Sienna continued to chuckle. “Though we can give you enough space to speak privately, if that is what you want.”

It was better than they’d had so far.

“I’d like that,” Blake said.

“Then I’ll have Trifa bring him here.”

Sienna pulled out a scroll and called someone, and only a few minutes later, Jaune was being shown into the courtyard. Blake stood up, and almost ran to him before remembering where she was. Catching sight of her, he waved.

“Jaune Arc,” Sienna greeted.

“Ah – hi,” he said awkwardly.

“Blake wanted to spend some time with you.”

“Oh,” blue eyes settled on her, and he smiled. “Hey Blake.”

“Jaune…”

“I’ll leave you two alone,” standing up, Sienna left them there, Jaune turning to watch her go. His eyes lingered longer than Blake liked, but she ignored that and instead grabbed him, spinning him to face her.

“Are you okay?” she asked hurriedly.

He blinked. “Uh – yeah, I’m good. What’s up?”

He was being annoyingly casual about all of this.

“They’re not treating you badly? Overworking you?”

“Nope. Everything is good on my end. Why?” he frowned. “Are they mistreating you?”

“What? No, I just – we’re alone now, so you don’t have to lie if they’re making you say everything is fine. I just want the truth.”

“That is the truth,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Oh, and we aren’t alone.”

Blake didn’t know what he was talking about until someone snorted. Trifa was there, eyebrow arched as an amused smirk adorned her face. Blake stiffened.

She’d completely forgotten about her.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t hurting your little boyfriend,” Trifa mocked. “He’s a good little worker. He’ll make a good wife for someone, someday.”

Blake scowled.

“She’s just messing around,” Jaune said before glancing at the table. “Were you having tea?”

Blake nodded. “Do you… want some?”

“Sure.”

They sat down, and Trifa moved away, giving them some space. Blake kept her eyes on the unsettling girl, watching the way she moved.

Jaune eyed the used cup before shrugging, filling it up and taking a sip.

“Mm, this is good,” he said happily.

She didn’t know how he could be so calm about all this. Being kidnapped was bad enough, but being kidnapped by people that hated you for being a different species had to have been nerve wracking. Jaune never struck her as the type to be cool, calm and collected, and yet he sipped away at his tea like they were both out at a cafe in Vale.

“Aren’t you scared?” she asked quietly.

Jaune paused, lowering his cup.

“I was a little bit, at first,” he admitted. “But they’ve been really nice, all things considered. Trifa can be a bit snarky sometimes but I don’t think she’s a bad girl.”

“She’s a terrorist, Jaune.”

“So were you, once,” he pointed out, and Blake just stared at him, a loss for words. “When you get to know her, she can be pretty funny. I think some of the other faunus here treat her differently because she’s a spider faunus. I think it bothers her a lot, but she probably wouldn’t admit it.”

So that explained why the other White Fang members were shying away from her. Blake pursed her lips, feeling a sliver of pity settle in her gut. Just as some humans could discriminate based on skin color, some faunus could discriminate based on the animal whose traits they shared, and things like spiders were near the top of the list.

They could be really big hypocrites, sometimes, couldn’t they?

That also explained the pretty etchings on her knives.

Then something occurred to her. “Wait, how do you know she’s a spider faunus?”

“I asked.”

Blake palmed her face. “Jaune…”

“What?”

She shook her head, feeling embarrassed. “You can’t just ask.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s rude!”

Jaune opened his mouth and then shut it again, grimacing. “Oh… I – ah, didn’t know that.”

He looked so distraught that Blake took pity on him.

“It’s fine, you didn’t know… and she didn’t kill you, so I guess it didn’t bother her that much…”

Blake was honestly surprised she’d told him.

“I mean, she told me to mind my own business and to shut my damn mouth a whole bunch, but I kept asking and she finally told me.”

“Oh my god,” Blake felt second-hand embarrassment just hearing about it. “Please, stop.”

“I think it’s super cool, she can even make web, Blake! Just like the Spiderkid comics! Isn’t that awesome?”

It was a little bit awesome, though also kinda creepy but really useful. Cats didn’t have anything like that…

“Anyway, Trifa is cool and Deery is a sweetheart. I honestly don’t know why she’s in the White Fang in the first place but she seems very determined to hate humans. I don’t really get it, but she’s really nice to me. I sometimes think she forgets that I’m human. Deery is – well, she’s a deer faunus. I didn’t have to ask, this one was kinda obvious.”

Yeah, no kidding. Some parents weren’t very creative when naming their children.

“Yuma is a bit boring, he doesn’t really talk much. When he does, he is making fun of me. He has wings, which is also really freakin’ cool. I just know he can fly but whenever I ask him to show me, he just sorta stares at me and it’s a bit unnerving.”

“You really don’t know when to quit, do you?”

“I had some girl scream at me the other day out of the blue, which was a bit weird. I’ve never met her before but she acted like I’d offended her in some way,” Jaune continued. “She’s really cute, though. Oh, and get this – her skin turns different colors!”

Blake felt her mouth go dry.

“I asked what her name was but she wouldn’t tell me, she just stormed off in a huff. Trifa won’t tell me her name, either. I think she’s enjoying holding it over my head.”

“Did she have olive skin? Long brown hair, wears it in a ponytail?”

He looked at her as if she’d just said something really weird. “Blake, didn’t I just say her skin turns different colors? It went bright red when she was yelling at me.”

“Yes, but what was it at first?” she leaned forward. “Dark but not too dark? Like a tan?”

“Yeah, I guess,” he replied. “She also had spots, though I think they were scales?”

That could only be one person.

Ilia.

Ilia was here.

How long had she been here? Did she know that Blake was their captive? If she did, why hadn’t she come to see her? So many questions swirled around in her mind.

“Her name is Ilia. Ilia Amitola.”

“Oh – you know her?”

Blake nodded. “I do… or at least, I did. Once.”

It had been so long.

Jaune seemed to understand. “You were friends?”

“Yeah… we were friends.”

Were.

How would she feel about Blake turning her back on the cause?

She had a pretty good idea.

“You said she was angry at you?”

Jaune nodded. “Yep – though I don’t really understand why. I hope I run into her again, though.”

He really was rolling with the punches, wasn’t he?

Jaune suddenly perked up, “Hey Trifa,” he called out, drawing the spider faunus’ attention. “Her name is Ilia.”

“Why are you telling me? I know already,” came the curt reply.

“I figured it out, I just thought you should know.”

She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t figure anything out. She told you, didn’t she?” she nodded at Blake.

“So?”

“That isn’t figuring it out, dumbass!”

“Hey,” Blake snapped. “Don’t call him that!”

Trifa scowled. “Just because Sienna Khan respects your parents doesn’t mean you can talk to me as if we’re equals,” suddenly, one of those pretty knives were dancing between her fingers. “I don’t like lippy little entitled girls, get it?”

“Blake, it’s fine,” Jaune said. “She doesn’t mean it when she says stuff like that. I don’t mind.”

“Yes I do!” Trifa said roughly. “Stop twisting everything around!”

“See?” he said, completely unconcerned, and it only made Trifa scowl deeper. “Anyway, Trifa – you should try some of this tea, it’s really good.”

“I don’t want any tea.”

“Come on, it’s really good. Don’t be stubborn.”

She pointed her knife at him threateningly. “Didn’t I just say I didn’t want any?”

“But you aren’t telling the truth.”

The spider girl spluttered. “You insufferable, insolent – I do not want any tea!”

In the end, Trifa ended up taking Jaune’s cup when he filled it and offered it to her, Blake staring in disbelief. What the hell was going on here? One moment, she looked ready to murder him, and Jaune – well, he was being pretty annoying, so Blake could almost sympathize. Yet she took the tea and drank it, even though they continued to banter back and forth.

She’d never seen anything like it.

“There, happy?” she snapped, finishing the cup and tipping it upside down to show it was empty.

“Good, right?” he looked smug.

For a moment, Blake thought she might throw the cup at him but thought better of it, no doubt remembering that it belonged to Sienna.

“It was… pretty good,” Trifa admitted reluctantly. “A bit cold, though.”

It had been sitting there for a while, to be fair.

She was prickly and sharp with her tongue, and yet Jaune seemed to have established some sort of mutual understanding with Trifa. Despite her harsh words, Jaune appeared completely unconcerned and unthreatened by her, which spoke to their relationship. If Trifa had been hurting him in any way, Blake doubted he would be so willing to tease and bicker with her.

It helped set Blake at ease, if only just a little bit.

Ilia being around, though… Blake wanted to speak with her, but she was scared. Leaving the White Fang had been the correct decision, she couldn’t abide by their ideology as it currently stood… but in leaving, she had undoubtedly left people behind.

People she cared about, and people that had cared about her.

Cutting Adam off at the end had been easy, but Ilia…

“Trifa,” she said, cutting off one of her scathing remarks.

Trifa frowned, no doubt annoyed at being interrupted. “What?”

“Do you know where Ilia is staying?”

“I’m not your fucking Schneemap’s app, find her yourself.”

Jaune snorted, and Blake gave him a look of annoyance.

“That wasn’t funny,” she said coolly.

“I mean, it was – a little bit,” he held up his hands. “Woah, you two are kinda similar when you’re steamed.”

“We are not,” they both echoed, tensing.

Jaune smirked. “Riiight.”

...Maybe he deserved to be worked to the bone.