6

Chapter 6 - Blake Swan

"Tomorrow is the Forever Fall field trip," Glynda Goodwitch explained to the class, "I expect each of you to treat it with the discipline required of your positions. If I find out that any have not, there will be consequences."

She didn't ask if they understood her, nor ask for their agreement. Instead she just let her green eyes roam over the lot of them. They seemed to pierce each person individually, promising some fork of retribution should they cross her.

"She's scary as hell." Jaune shivered from his position sat in front of her. Blake rolled her eyes at his words, even as she idly kicked a foot through his back. "I mean, I'm dead and she still scares me."

"Despite that," the stern woman continued, "Forever Fall is still Grimm infested territory, so violent encounters must be expected. To that end we will be conducting spars for the remaining time today – to better identify the weaknesses of each combatant."

More combat class? Blake supposed she shouldn't have been surprised given that it was Miss Goodwitch's personal class, and certainly weaknesses was something the blonde woman loved to harp on about. Honestly Blake could understand, it was to burst the bubbles of those powerful fighters among them who might allow arrogance to cloud their vision. But it felt needless when the most powerful fighters, which were honestly Nikos and Yang, both had a fairly good control over their hubris.

Not that she was in any position to argue with the teacher, she thought to herself as two combatants were drawn up onto the stage for the first bout. Blake recognised neither, though considering how little she cared for anyone not in her immediate vicinity – that didn't say much.

Yang and Ruby seemed to have no trouble cheering for whoever they were. Though with Yang, she couldn't help but think it was more out of a desire to see some action than any real emotional support. Her attention seemed to fire the two boys up anyway, as they each puffed and began circling one another aggressively. The disguised faunus could only roll her eyes, such typical men. Even from where she was sat she could see Miss Goodwitch sigh and do the same.

A few more fights came and went, with probably the only interesting one being between Ruby and Weiss. Their relationship still seemed as awkward as it had been that morning, with the both of them being just a little too vicious in their attacks. Not enough to hurt each other, but definitely enough to show that they each desperately wanted to win. To prove something.

Jaune and Yang had cheered their leader on, and although Blake had not done the same – she still grinned in pleasure when it was Weiss' aura which fell into the red first. If she were feeling more charitable she might have pointed out to the glum heiress that Ruby's semblance seemed to counter hers quite effectively, or that she might look to use ice to limit Ruby's movement along the ground the next time.

Instead Blake had just shrugged, subtly enjoying the distress the Schnee felt.

"You know… you shouldn't be so pleased your teammate lost." Blake pulled her expression back into a neutral mask, even as she glanced towards the ghostly voice. Jaune sat watching her, a piqued expression on his face. "I kinda thought I was imagining it at first, but you really don't like her, do you?"

She shrugged quickly, pulling a small frown that seemed to convey the message where words could not. She didn't hate the girl per se, that wouldn't have been fair. But she did hate the Schnee for all they had done – and what could she say? Weiss hadn't made a single effort to prove herself as anything other than a Schnee. From the moment they had been put on a team together, and okay that had only been like four days – but still, all the heiress had done was belittle Ruby and try to usurp control of the team.

Those were not endearing traits.

"Well you're going to have to try and get along if you're going to be on a team together. Sheesh, between you and Weiss, and Weiss and Ruby… I didn't expect a team to be this dysfunctional."

Blake huffed, ignoring him as she looked back to the fights. She wasn't sure who could think putting four teenage girls on the same team wouldn't lead to bitching and fighting, but Jaune seemed to be the naïve type like that.

Yang and Nikos were called up next, and Blake watched as the two squared off in the ring – dust flying and metal clanging loudly. Pyrrha Nikos was the only huntress in training to not have a partner, and that handicap hadn't seemed to slow her down for an instant. It had left many others whispering about her however, about how powerful she must be to be able to put up with that kind of weakness.

Her team seemed to have her back however, or rather the louder one did – who was currently shouting about broken bones and blood. The quieter one, who Blake could freely admit reminded her of herself, simply watched on.

"Go Yang! Represent!" Ruby shouted adorably, standing up on her bench and waving a small flag. And although she didn't do the same – Blake wished her partner well in her own mind, even if she feared the fight would not go her way.

Nikos was a championship fighter for a reason.

"It's so not fair," Yang said as she threw herself down beside Blake. The dark-haired girl patted her partner's back, trying not to smile at the impressive sulk the girl was throwing. "I mean she's just ridiculous, how am I supposed to fight against someone with like three different weapons and styles?"

"If her weapons worry you, try and get rid of them?"

"Try and get rid of her weapons?" His reasoning seemed good enough, and since it was sort of her job to help her partner, she didn't see the harm in echoing his words.

"How?"

"Make her shield her face, then tackle her."

"If you hit towards her face, so she brings her shield up and loses vision – you might be able to tackle her."

"Then drag her to the floor."

"Then drag her to the floor."

"And ravage her."

"…"

"And?" Yang demanded, excited to learn more about her new strategy, "what do I do next?"

"Tear off her clothes and make her scream your name in submission."

"Maybe… get her in a hold, and make her submit?"

"Ooh, that sounds even better! I know just the hold, I saw it in a movie once – it's called scissoring and-"

Blake blocked the rest out, even as Yang mumbled something about choke holds that Blake really didn't need to hear. Served her right for listening to his words she supposed, especially when she knew what he was like. Ugh.

"Will Miss Belladonna, and Mr Winchester please come up to the stage," the teacher said loudly, an impatient expression set on her features. Blake sighed as she picked up her weapon, following the instructions.

It wasn't until she was face-to-face with her opponent however, that she suddenly remembered who he was.

"Oh hell yes!" Jaune cheered as he danced in mid-air before her. "Blake, you've got to kick his ass, please!"

She shouldn't show any of her hate towards him, none of her animosity for the way he acted around the faunus. It would just draw attention to her, weaken her secret so that she might slip up. Maybe even make her partner suspicious as to why she was so aggressive towards him now, when she had held Yang back in the cafeteria.

She nodded however, despite those concerns. He was everything she hated in people, the culmination of the discrimination many of her kind faced. And here he was, before her – in a simulated battle where she not only could do what she wanted to him, but would be congratulated for doing so.

So yes… she would kick his ass.

And she would enjoy it.

"Begin!" The teacher shouted, throwing her arm down even as Cardin dived in to attack. Blake slipped past the mace with ease, her feline grace giving her the edge necessary to close the distance and deliver a punishing kick to his shin. The boy grunted, falling to one knee as he swung his mace horizontally at her, forcing her to dodge back.

His aura was barely damaged. But that had been her plan from the start. Oh she could have used Gambol Shroud there had she wished, torn a great chunk from his aura – but where would the pleasure be in that?

She wanted to make this slow.

"Damn it, that hurt," the brute said as he readied himself once more. This time holding the mace more in a defensive posture.

She began to circle her prey, short steps to the left, keeping her knees bent – ready to dodge at the slightest sign of movement. Something flickered in her peripheral vision and she threw herself to the right – only to flinch as he struck out, catching her in the midriff and sending her tumbling across the ring. A pained gasp tore itself from her throat as she climbed to her feet, amber eyes darting left and right as she tried to figure out how he had changed his attack so quickly. It wasn't until she saw Jaune floating to her left that she realised he hadn't. It was his ghost she had seen, which had spooked her into dodging – allowing Winchester to hit her mid-air.

That was a stupid mistake, she sighed as she readied Gambol Shroud once more, just ignore Jaune and focus on the real threat. The next strike came down towards her head, a slow and predictable move that she was able to sidestep. But he recovered with admirable speed, spinning and using centrifugal force to sweep his mace across the floor. Still too slow for her, as she easily hopped above it, firing three quick shots towards his face.

"Go Blake, shoot him in the balls!" She glanced to the side where Jaune was floating with his fists in the air, before his eyes widened.

"Gah!" She grunted as she was knocked back, pain blossoming across her cheek from where the bastard had struck her. Cardin shook his hand with a grim smile, before picking his mace up once more.

"Might want to keep your head in the fight," he laughed, "or someone will knock it off."

Ugh, she probed about the inside of her mouth with her tongue, feeling sore muscles but no real damage. Though if she were unlucky there would be one hell of a bruise for her trouble. In the background she could hear Yang screaming angrily, but there was no denying Cardin was well within the rules to do that. To keep up with her speed he pretty much had to think outside the box as it were.

The problem was… it was easy to ignore most of the distractions outside the ring. Beacon used a system which cut out audial and visual distractions, kind of like a one-way hologram. But Jaune was within the boundary of it, and couldn't leave it.

And as much as it annoyed her to admit it, she was allowing him to distract her.

And judging from the torn expression on his face, he had realised it too.

She should have been beyond such things interfering with her, you could never tell how busy a battle would get until you were in it. And certainly her time with Adam had trained her to adapt to multiple enemies… but the problem was that you tended to either react to them by dodging, or if they weren't a threat you ignored them.

But reacting and dodging whenever Jaune passed nearby was leaving her open to Cardin's attacks… and ignoring him wasn't an option since it wasn't the same as an audience. His figure was literally within a metre or two of her – a distance which had her instincts screaming at her whenever she caught sight of him, or even heard him. Non-threats didn't usually hover less than a foot behind you when you were in the middle of a fight…

She had been trained not to let anyone get behind her in a fight, to the point where her body reacted without her telling it too. Even now she found she had positioned herself to be able to keep them both in view, which only left her more distracted.

"Get behind him," she whispered quietly, hoping it would be passed off by the crowd as mere mumbling. "I can't fight if I have to keep an eye on the both of you."

"R-right," he nodded as he floated over to Cardin, super-imposing himself behind the boy's body. She let out a quick sigh as she narrowed her eyes on her opponent once more, this time prepared for whatever tricks he pulled out. Sure his punch had hurt, he had a lot of weight behind himself. But it would take a long time for him to drop her into the red like that.

Conversely one good hit on the head from that thing would likely have her spending the evening in the infirmary.

Then she would just need to make sure he didn't manage to connect with her, she thought to herself as she ran forward, heels clicking loudly on the mat as she leant forward. He hefted his mace above his head, holding it prepared for when she entered his range. In return she thumbed the latch on Gambol Shroud, ready to surprise the man who hadn't truly seen what her weapon was capable of.

The mace swung down, even as Jaune seemed to gasp in horror. It carved into her skull as she recoiled, shouts of distress coming from all around them. Before the dying girl seemed to vanish.

"W-what!?" Cardin gasped before something wrapped around his throat. Blake grinned from beside him, Gambol Shroud split into two, with the ribbon wrapped around his throat. He seemed to look from her back to the clone he had killed, before his eyes widened.

"Night-night," she grinned as she pulled the weapons taut – the black ribbon connecting them snapping into place as he fought for air. "You might as well give up."

The boy fell to one knee, revealing Jaune stood behind him who was looking down at the boy in surprise. She supposed like the others, he might not have really seen her semblance. She hadn't had much of an opportunity to use it in initiation.

"That was… badass." He whispered, making a proud smile come to her lips. Damn right she was badass – now all she needed was for this idiot to surrender or for his aura to drop into the red. He reached down to the mat, slapping his hand against it. Three hits would mean his surrender, a signal given for those who couldn't or at that moment weren't able to talk. His hand slapped down again. Two…

Right before it flung towards her, splashing dust into her eyes.

"Arghhh!" She screamed as she recoiled back, scratching at her face. Her eyes burned as she tried to clear them – and in her distress she forgot to keep the ribbon taut.

"Blake! DUCK!" She heard his voice through the agony. She barely knew him, but her time serving with Adam had taught her to always trust the warnings of your partner. She collapsed to the floor at his words – hearing something whistle by overhead. "Roll to the left!" Again she threw her body to the side, as something heavy crashed down on the spot she had just occupied.

She gritted her teeth as she forced her eyes open, the dust still stinging painfully, but becoming slightly more bearable. She was lucky the dust manufactured by the SDC didn't cause any side effects, other than the usual irritation and advisory caution to wash it out. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out the dark figure walking towards her. When had he pulled out some dust? Before she even attacked him, or at the moment the clone had fallen?

"He's going to attack from the left, swinging his weapon across his body." The voice of her companion said, the words coming from somewhere behind the approaching figure. "He's already holding his mace that way."

She nodded, trusting he could see it as she feigned distress – pawing at her bloodshot eyes. In her right hand Gambol Shroud, now locked into its single form again dipped down towards the floor.

"Now!" He shouted, right as she allowed herself to fall forward, dipping just below the shadowy shape that crossed above her head. Another clone took the blow, exploding as it was hit – but causing just the briefest distraction. Just the opening she needed.

One knee hit the mat, but she pushed herself forward, surging up within his guard as she smashed Gambol Shroud into the underside of his chin – snapping his head backwards. She didn't hesitate, knowing the teacher would have ended the fight were it enough. Instead she squeezed the trigger, discharging dust rounds straight into his face.

"Enough!" A stern voice shouted, right as her weapon clicked empty. The dome around them fell, as light and noise streamed back into the tiny arena. "Mr Winchester's aura is in the red, and this fight is over."

"You did it…"

Blake grinned viciously, her vision starting to clear as she looked down on the defeated racist who lay at her feet. She could see the hatred on his face, but more satisfying – the fear.

"Maybe if you spent less time bullying faunus who won't fight back, and more time training – you'd be less of a worthless failure." She turned away before he could respond, idly nodding her thanks to the ghost who was at that moment dancing and shouting something about sick burns.

"You fucking bitch," the downed boy growled, "I'll get you for this, mark my words." She ignored the words as she walked back to her team. Empty threats from men filled with naught but hate. As though she hadn't heard them all before…

And really. What could he do?

#Foreshadowing There's a super small thing eh? Out of all the people who guessed differences, I wonder if anyone remembered that Cardin always fought Jaune, who obviously isn't there now. Well he is... but, you know...

Anyway I'm sure a few people might be concerned that I am nerfing Blake, trust me I'm not. She kicked his ass while blinded and distracted. Sure it's easy to ignore some people on the sidelines, but Jaune is literally floating right by her. I hope I explained it okay in the fic, but the issue for Blake is that he is constantly on the edge of her vision, which is distracting her a little.

She needs to get used to it, they both do.

I actually considered Cardin dying at Forever Fall as a difference of Jaune's absence, before realising that without him there, there wouldn't even be an Ursa. Because Cardin would have no reason to bully any of them, and even if he did (as he does now) - Cardin isn't likely to throw sap on himself lol.

On the chapter title front, I almost considered adding more clone shenanigans and calling it "28 Blakes Later" xD - Before deciding changing an entire fight scene just to match the chapter title was a bit ridiculous.

Finding and adapting titles is easy - making them fit the content of the chapter is less so. As many commented with Jauntergheist, it didn't really fit there...

Yet...

Mwa Mwa mwahahaha! #Foreshadowing...

P.s. Blake's thoughts on Weiss are quite critical eh? The show is always an omniscient viewpoint, but since this fic is from Blake's PoV I decided to show her emotional transition as she grows up alongside her team. We see from the early episodes that she is a little antagonistic towards the Schnee family, so I decided to run with it a little. She doubted Weiss right up until the docks incident, so there must have been some gradual emotional progression for her. I don't want to miss that out. Blake literally just came from the White Fang, so despite how nice she looks in the show, at that point she would have been very cynical and independent (which is shown by how she runs away rather than face her team, because she just assumes they would turn on her).

Want to see more fics, updated more frequently – or just support me for the pleasure and enjoyable reading I bring you? Please consider supporting me on – enabling me to bring you even more fics, updated as regularly as possible! There's even a goal where I would update a chapter for a different fic EVERY WEEKDAY. That's right – 5 days, 5 fics. Daily chapters.

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What is the 7-Beat Romance Structure?

You can and should ignore this if you have no interest in writing your own stories. But a few (lots of) people have asked me what the 7 - beat romance structure I keep referencing is, and also since College Fool has referenced it a few times as well. Essentially it is a story structure that works well for romantic stories, and can be used to streamline and plan the plot. It is something I teach to my supporters who have 1-1 lessons, and something I will be teaching to all of them in this month's writing article, along with other non-romance structures.

Either way, I'll do a brief summary of the 7-Beat here. If you want examples then you can grab those online perhaps, or if you check out "The Writer Games" between me and College Fool - you will see it often used. CF has pretty much fallen in love with it since I told him about it, and it really works well.

Beat 1 - The Status Quo - Why the protagonist needs/wants Romance. Often used to show loneliness, or a strong desire for love - so that the audience can get behind the pairing.

Beat 2 - The Meeting - The initial meeting between the protagonist and the love interest, a connection should be formed. Either emotional attachment, or forced closeness.

Beat 3 - Conflict Point 1 - Initial tension between the characters as their personalities/ideologies clash. A simple or "easy" romance is a boring read, so these should be obstacles. They can also be things like class, wealth, etc.

Beat 4 - Raising the Stakes - Despite the conflict, the characters become involved somehow - the romance is increased, perhaps they kiss - or sleep together. Feelings are admitted/accepted.

Beat 5 - Conflict Point 2 - A larger conflict than the first one, often revolving around what happened in Beat 4 - It's not uncommon for the relationship to be "tried" at this stage, the two date or whatever, but it isn't perfect, the relationship feels brittle (as they have not overcome their conflicts yet).

Beat 6 - The Black Moment - Everything goes wrong, a disaster happens that completely destroys the relationship, everything seems lost. Iceberg in Titanic, Family War in Romeo & Juliette, etc...

Beat 7 - Resolution - Either the lovers come together in a happy ending, or a tragedy pulls them apart for a tragic ending.

I won't do any other lessons like this, as I don't want to go into them too deeply. But I tend to offer more in-depth lessons on my , if you're interested. My Plot Structure one will be going up this weekend coming, and will be quite the big piece.