60

Chapter 60 – Jauneware

"Your technique needs work," Weiss sighed as they re-joined their team once more. Blake's opponent had limped from the arena under his own power. It was clear he wouldn't be playing his trumpet for a while, however. Thank the gods for that.

"I told you," Blake sighed, "I know that's not how I'm supposed to use a trumpet."

"I meant the longsword," Weiss rolled her eyes.

Oh, right… that. She was saved from answering by Ruby and Yang rushing up to them, though the smaller girl had eyes only for the weapon dangling from Blake's hand.

"That's his…" she whispered despondently.

"Ruby…" Jaune sighed. He was floating beside her so she couldn't sense his emotions, but they weren't hard to guess. Ruby had been his first friend… even after death he'd still cared about her.

"You used his weapon to fight?" Ruby asked.

"He would have wanted it."

"What!? I didn't say that!"

"Let me get this straight," Weiss planted her hands on her hips. "You fought with a weapon you weren't even familiar with, just to honour the dying wish of some guy from initiation?"

"Wrong!"

"That's right." Jaune shot her a dirty look, but what was she supposed to say – that she'd had an argument with the ghost spirit next to her and she'd figured getting her ass kicked would prompt him into action, only he'd proven to be just as useless with a sword as he was with everything else?

Weiss sighed but seemed to have run out of steam. It was hard to argue with something like that.

"Hang on," Jaune's mouth fell open, "Are you trying to use me as an excuse for why you did a crappy job out there?"

Blake coughed awkwardly.

"What the hell!? You can't do that – I'm dead! That's like… disrespecting the dead or something, surely."

"Jaune's father said you could keep it, right?" Yang sighed, remembering the tale. Blake recalled it too, that moment after she'd come back from meeting Nicholas Arc. The pain on the man's face… the despair at having lost his child.

"He said he didn't want it." Blake confirmed, eyes drifting shut.

"I don't want it. I want-…" Jaune's father had wanted something she couldn't give. He'd wanted his son back.

"It's a fitting tribute…" Ruby whispered, eyes downcast. The mood between them was sombre.

"I'm sorry – what? How is beating a man to near-death with his own musical instrument a fitting tribute to my life?"

"It's what he would have wanted," Blake nodded.

"…" Jaune stared at her. "Wow Blake… just wow."

"So, our next fights aren't until tomorrow," Yang chimed in to try and improve the mood, dispelling the tension by clapping her hands, "You all want to watch the next fights or maybe do something together for the time?"

Jaune gave her a quick look, but Blake hadn't forgotten her promise, "Let's do something as a team," she said, more than aware of Yang's pleased look and Ruby's cheerful expression. "We can re-watch the fights tonight before bed if we want to try for an advantage."

There were too many competitors left to adequately work through anyway. Even the randomly generated battlefield made planning in advance a difficult task. What strategy you had could be thrown out the window the moment you ended up fighting in a battlefield with a mountain and against a team with a sniper.

Not that such had stopped Pyrrha slaughtering her way to victory, but that was to be expected. Blake really hoped she didn't end up against her in the next round.

This might be my last chance to end up against someone from Cinder's team, provided they even make it through their next fight. If they didn't, then she'd have to find a different route to her answers. Perhaps one including Jaune in his bear form. No… that was too much of a risk.

She would just have to hope for the best… that was all she could do.

/-/

Playing that board game with her team was tiring, especially when Jaune refused to cheat for her. He claimed honour, she figured it was more him getting back at her for earlier. Whatever the case, it was hard to be upset when Ruby just looked so happy to see them all playing games together like normal teenagers.

Well, normal teenagers with a ghost companion. It was kind of complicated. Most things involving Jaune were.

Regardless, Blake watched the scroll's video feed as it replayed the battle that Mercury and Emerald had won some hours earlier. "I'm not sure what happened," Yang said, mulling over the same footage. "Coco isn't one to just miss them walking up behind her. She even looks at them – like straight at them."

Blake nodded, seeing much the same. Coco glanced back to the green-haired girl, saying something before looking away. By the time she realised her mistake it was too late. Defeated before she could even act.

Coco Adel was no pushover.

"Semblance?" Jaune guessed. Blake wanted to roll her eyes but settled for a nod instead. That went without saying; what else was it going to be? The question was more what kind. She didn't even know which of them they were sending forwards, though given Emerald's performance, it would make sense if it were her.

Blake's fingers tapped on the scroll's edge for a moment, drawing Jaune's attention. Once he was looking she started to type out a message. "The plan stays the same. If I can knock her out, you need to possess her. Or him… whomever is chosen."

"That's if we end up facing them at all."

True… but at the same time not necessarily so. Even if Pyrrha knocked them out, all Blake had to do was get close enough to their unconscious body to drop Jaune off. The medical tents were off-limits, naturally, but she had never been one to let that stop her. "Just stay close tomorrow," she typed, "Stay in the bear. If I need to drop you off close to them, I shall."

"So long as you stay close enough not to trigger an aura attack" he warned.

"Last time it only happened when there was multiple miles between us. I'll stay close but it actually took a few days of us being separated by Cardin to cause that." Even then, it hadn't been as severe as her recent one at Mountain Glenn. "I'll be careful, however."

"That's the best I'm going to get," he sighed. "Just… don't let this consume you, Blake. I don't want to lose you."

Because he was in love with her.

"You won't." She typed, fingers shaking a little. That was still something she wasn't prepared to face. She wasn't sure if she would ever be. Was avoiding it fair to him, however? Was anything fair to him, in the situation of which he'd found himself? Maybe it was time to contact Penny again. In fact, now that she thought about it, the android had been rather unusually silent in the recent week or so.

Blake glanced down at the nine hundred messages she hadn't opened.

Almost unusually quiet…

It would normally have been closer to three thousand. "Guys, I need to call Penny quick," Blake said, rising to her feet and holding her scroll out for emphasis. Weiss waved a hand dismissively, while Ruby squealed as something or other happened on the game she was playing on her scroll. Yang didn't even respond, too busy re-watching fights. Shrugging, the faunus pushed her way out the door, finding a quiet part of the corridor with which to call the girl.

"I thought we'd given up on the body idea," Jaune sighed from beside her. "I said you didn't need to."

"Not given up," Blake shook her head. "They're already working on it. I don't see any reason to stop now." Not when they were this close. Pushing the last digit into the device, Blake pressed the call button.

"Hello friend-Blake!" Penny cried, not half a second later.

"That was fast," Blake said, impressed despite herself.

"My scroll is built into my head!" Penny cheerfully said.

"And… you don't think that would be at all suspicious to people who see you talking to yourself?" Blake spared a glance to Jaune, who shrugged in return. Wasn't this girl supposed to be keeping her robotics a secret?

"Everyone who sees me looks at me as though I am insane," Penny happily replied. "As insanity is a trait available only to humans, I believe I am doing a stellar job."

"Riiiight…"

"Okay… great work." What was she supposed to say to that? "Regardless, Penny… has there been any news on Jaune's robot body? Has the doctor found anything out that might help?"

"Father has been busy working on the machine for the Fall Maiden."

"The machine for what?" Blake asked.

"What machine?"

"The… one you just talked about?"

"I talked about no machine."

Jaune could only shrug as she looked at him once more. Blake could feel a headache coming on, and she was still no closer to finding out if Jaune's body was ready.

"What was that about a Fall Maiden?"

"I have no idea what you mean friend-Blake. How about the tournament? It is really interesting, no?"

"Penny, what-?"

"No?" Penny sounded worried, "Then how about the weather? That is definitely conversation worthy."

"The weather's nice?" Blake tried.

"It certainly is!" Penny chirped. "I particularly liked the part where it neither snowed nor rained."

"She's your friend," Jaune offered when she looked to him for help. "Technically I'm just a third wheel. I'd hate to come between you."

"Jaune's body?" Blake sighed, "Can we just talk about Jaune's body?"

"Happily! I have yet to see his body but am sure it was, as they say, like sexual chocolate."

"The robot body," Blake groaned, forehead pressed against the nearby wall. It was too late in the day for this… one in the morning was too late in the day for this.

"Oh!" Penny made a sound of comprehension, audibly slamming her hands together over the other end of the scroll. It sounded somewhat like a car crash. "Why did you not say so, friend-Blake?" Blake banged her head a little harder on the wall. "Jaune's robotic body is progressing at a steady rate. I understand that it will be finished soon, even with father working on things that neither I nor you know of. To better facilitate Jaune's crippling deficiencies in the topics of coding and computers, father is working on something a little extra which will aid him."

"I shouldn't be worried about hearing that," Jaune sighed, "But I'm totally worried about hearing that. Ask her what she means, please." Blake relayed the message as requested.

"Hello friend-Jaune!" Penny cheered. "I look forward to hearing and seeing you in person. I have not yet had a chance to see your body, but father promises me he took the information from your records – so it should he accurate to how your previous body was."

"That's good," Blake smiled. It would be awkward as hell to explain, of course, but at least that could be his problem, not hers.

"Some proportions were difficult, I am told. But since Jaune made mention of it being sixteen inches, I believe father took that as fact."

"That's… good?" Blake tried again, not really sure if it was. Even Jaune looked a little embarrassed at that. "So will it be done soon?"

"I will make you aware when it is," Penny promised. "That is the best I can do. Now, if you do not mind, I have people asking me if I need to see a doctor. Fear not fellow human hunter attending the Vytal Festival. I am combat ready. Why, yes, I am unusual – thank you. Every human is, as they say, a unique snowflake."

"I'll… leave you to it then," Blake winced, "Thanks Penny." The scroll went dead a second later, Blake sending a silent prayer to the poor soul who'd had the misfortune to come across the girl. Hopefully they'd do the smart thing and not agree to friendship. With a shake of her head she turned to Jaune, "See? Your body should be done soon. Then we can start having you move around and interact with things. I know it's not real life… but it's a start, right?"

"I suppose it can't hurt to try," he smiled. "Thanks Blake… for everything."

"Not a problem." Would she miss him, once he had a body of his own? He wouldn't need to travel around in her head anymore, would he? There would be no need to be careful when she got dressed, no fear of him peeking while she was in the shower. It would be peaceful…

Lonely…

But it would be better for him, she tried to comfort herself, as he floated around her, humming quietly to himself. As much as she wouldn't admit it, as much as she couldn't say it, she didn't want him to go.

But she couldn't be selfish about it either. He was dead…

But that was no reason not have his own life.

Well… it was… but… it was complicated…

"Come on," Blake whispered, hoping he didn't pick up on her melancholy. "Let's go read together."

"Hell yeah! It's been ages. We were about to get to a really steamy section. Mitsu just snuck into the Shogun's Dungeon, but got caught by the Queen of Pain, remember? And then she chained him to the wall and, oh god it's going to be so good."

It would be good. She just wished it could stay that way.