What's up everyone?

Here's chapter 9 for everyone, while I wait here at the car dealership for them to repair my truck.

Things start to go... downhill. But maybe I've said too much already.

This chapter's song is "Lie to Me" by Milo Greene. Funny thing is, Barb (who plays Yang) indirectly introduced me to Milo Greene, and although their very new more indie-pop sounding album is vastly different from their debut folk album sound, I cannot get enough of it. Highly recommend it.

Beta: Maxaro, as always. I have not played Divinity: Dragon Commander. Should I try it?

Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Lie to Me

Neptune looked up as Weiss entered his car and slammed the door.

"So… how'd that go over – whoa, hey, are you crying?"

"No!" sniffed Weiss, wiping her face. "I'm not crying."

The blue-haired boy narrowed his eyes. "You're lying again. What'd I say about that, Snow Angel?"

Weiss remained silent for a moment, then spoke, her voice cracking. "She was wearing his fucking jacket. Goddamn, I know I shouldn't be upset. We broke up, after all. But it still hurts."

Neptune gave a sigh. "So… you are still hung up on him."

"I…" Weiss hesitated.

Then she nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry Neptune, I –"

"It's fine," murmured the blue-haired boy dejectedly.

They sat in uncomfortable silence.

Neptune sat up in his seat. "Well, since I see that you're not going to let this go, what do you want to do?"

"Neptune, please, let me –"

"Weiss," interrupted Neptune once more. "Just go take care of what you need to take care of. If you wanna get back with him, fine. If you clear you conscience and decide you wanna talk with me again… then come find me. But I know this shit is still on your mind, and it doesn't do any of us any good if you don't resolve it."

He breathed in deeply, internalizing his rampant emotions. "So what's it gonna be?"

Weiss sniffed. It truly hurt her on the inside to see Neptune crumbling before her very eyes, but she knew he was right.

"Okay. Jaune's in the van right now, so eventually he'll go back to where he left his Crown Victoria. He did offer to take me back at the bar, after all. Maybe they'll go back sooner rather than later. But I know he'll be there."

"Is that where you wanna go?"

"Yes. Please, Neptune."

"Hey, Blakey?"

Blake's trance was broken as Nora's voice poked out from behind her.

"Huh? Oh, hey Nora. Hey Pyrrha."

Pyrrha smiled politely. "Hello again!"

Nora gave Blake a strange look. "You okay? You were staring at the door when we got out of the restroom."

"Oh." Blake laughed nervously. "I'm fine. I just… had a moment of clarity, that's all."

"Was the door an alien in disguise trying to tell you where the Casey show is?"

"N-no…? What?"

"Oh, okay." Nora shrugged nonchalantly at Blake's growing confusion, but Pyrrha stepped in.

"You know you can talk to us about anything if you need to, right?" assured the redhead.

"We're just going to skip over the whole alien thing?" Blake scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, I know. It's nothing, I promise…"

Oh wait. "… No, hold on, there was something. I know where Yang is!"

Nora and Pyrrha gave a start. "How'd you find out?" wondered Nora.

"I, uh… Sun called me," Blake lied. For some reason, she made the split-second decision to leave Weiss out of the story. "He got my number from Yang, I guess. They're at the pizza place on Luna and Shawcross."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Nora grinned. "Let's get going!"

The orange-haired girl bolted full speed out the front door. Pyrrha and Blake shared a glance.

"Sorry about… well, losing her in the first place," Pyrrha murmured, looking towards her feet.

Blake gave her a reassuring smile and put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it wasn't you fault."

"Well… I mean, I probably should've at least stayed behind to keep an eye on her –"

"Pyrrha," Blake rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "I think I've had enough with people blaming themselves for things that aren't their fault. So don't worry about it, got it?"

The redhead nodded, then subsequently smiled back. "Got it."

"Yo!" They both turned to Nora, who had poked her head back through the door. "You can kiss and make up later, we got shit to do!" she yelled, before zooming back out.

The two shared a knowing laugh, then rushed after her.

Back at the cash register, the old cashier shook his head. "Found 'Yang,' eh? Is that what the kids are calling drugs these days?"

"Ren."

"Yes, Jaune?"

"… These pancakes are phenomenal."

"I'm saying."

"I mean, holy shit. It's like I'm eating at one of those super-posh gourmet restaurants that Weiss used to drag me to. You guys had the right idea grabbing all these boxes."

"Dude, we've got plenty, so help yourself. They were from that pancake house that Nora always wanted to try. They were pretty cheap, too, so that's always a plus."

"We probably should have listened to her, huh?"

"Maybe just that once."

"Yeah. Just that once."

The side door of the van suddenly slid open, startling Ren and Jaune out of their pancake paradise.

"We found Yang!" announced Nora proudly.

"We'll, actually, it's more like Blake got a call from Sun telling us where to pick them up," added Pyrrha.

Blake chuckled. "It's okay, Pyrrha. I'm just happy that we know where they are."

"Perfect!" mumbled Jaune on a mouthful of pancake. "Where to?"

"The corner of Luna and Shawcross," answered Blake as the girls climbed aboard the van.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ren. "I know where that is. There's a sex shop very close by!"

The van went dead silent.

"Uh…" Jaune was the first to speak up. "Why do you know this?"

"Hey, different strokes for different folks, right? And… I have a Nora."

Nora pouted. "Oh, bull, you're not throwing me under the bus for that, you son of a bitch!"

Jaune groaned. "So now your best friend and two strangers know that you frequent at a sex shop. How does that make you feel?"

"Look, man, I don't give a fuck. You want me to tell you what we got from that shop?"

"Okay, seriously… I don't even wanna know. I regret asking," Jaune waved his hands, repulsed.

Blake chuckled, sitting beside him. "You and your big mouth."

"Really?" Jaune gasped in mock hurt. "We've got the ginger and you're calling me the loudmouth?"

"You're the one I can hear from back here," the faunus girl smirked.

Jaune glanced pointedly in the general direction of Blake's bow. "I kinda doubt that."

"Selective hearing."

"Ah."

One thing that Jaune realized as they drove off was that instead of sitting opposite of him like she usually would, Blake took her spot right next to him. They were, in fact, sitting completely shoulder to shoulder, neither bothered by the proximity of the other. He even noticed Blake leaning towards him when she spoke, possibly indicating her comfort in his presence.

Jaune smiled thoughtfully at that realization.

He picked up the open to-go box next to him and held it towards Blake. "Pancake?"

The dark-haired girl seemed a bit surprised at the apparently random appearance of pancakes. "I'm not the biggest fan of pancakes."

"Most of the time, they're not my thing either. But I promise, these are really good." The blonde offered a fork with his other hand.

Blake blinked at the food items in front of her when suddenly a growl emitted from her belly.

Jaune laughed at the faunus girl, who grew red in the face. "I guess there's your answer right there."

"Fine," Blake muttered self-consciously, snatching the fork from Jaune's outstretched hand. She proceeded to dig out a piece from the box and stick it gingerly into her open mouth.

After a brief moment of chewing and deliberation, Jaune gave Blake a sideways glance. "Well?"

"… This is absurdly delicious."

"See? What did I say?"

"How does anyone even make a pancake this good!? It's like there's a party going on in my mouth."

"Hey-o!"

Blake elbowed the blonde in the ribs, laughing. "Shut up, Jaune."

"Sorry," said Jaune with a grin. "I had to."

"You didn't have to, per se."

"There was pressure on me to make the joke."

"Literally no one is pressuring to say anything!"

Up by the front, Ren glanced in the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of Jaune and Blake sharing a box of pancakes and laughing together. "Guess Jaune took that bull-guy incident pretty well."

"Since when did you change your mind about 'not trying to get him with a chick?'" smirked Nora.

"By that logic," piped in Pyrrha, "Technically I'm just 'some chick,' too."

"Nah, your our friend and new drummer, Pyrrha!" protested Nora.

"See what I mean?" countered Ren. "Blake's as much of a friend as Pyrrha is, I'd say."

The redhead gave an inquisitive look. "Not to change the subject, but you guys are fine with me being the drummer? I assumed there might at least be an audition or something of the like."

"Nah, why would we –"

"She's going through an audition," interrupted Ren.

"What!? You're a nonbeliever!"

"I have no doubts that she's a good drummer," remarked Ren. "But the last time we didn't audition a new drummer, our subsequent show went pretty badly."

Nora frowned. "Renny, the only addition to our band we ever made was that drum machine."

"My point exactly."

Pyrrha giggled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys."

"Did you hear that?"

Yang blinked at the faunus boy, who had suddenly become alert.

"You forget? I'm only human here."

"Right. Sorry."

Yang pouted. "Well, what is it?"

Sun cupped a hand to his ear. "It… sounds like a car horn. But it's playing some kind of… classical music shit. Like… the Nutcracker… or something."

Yang cocked her head in confusion, but it quietly came into her own hearing as well. The horn grew louder and louder, almost to the point of being obnoxious. Maybe it was her imagination, but it was almost as if she recognized that particular car horn…

And as if on cue, the Juniperberries van unceremoniously appeared out of nowhere and screeched to a halt in front of the pizza parlor, still honking "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy."

"It's them!" cheered Yang, rushing towards the front of the restaurant with Sun following closely behind her.

The front door swung open as Blake and Jaune burst through.

"Yang!"

"Blake!"

The two met in a warm embrace.

"What took you so long, kitty-cat?" joked Yang lightheartedly.

Blake shook her head. "Don't even try to test me right now," she cautioned. "I have spent most of the night looking for your ass and quite frankly I'm still pissed at you."

"C'mon! You have no confidence in me whatsoever," complained Yang as they pulled apart.

"For good reason," snorted the faunus girl. She sniffed suddenly. "What's that smell?"

"Smell?" Jaune inhaled in curiosity – and his eyes widened.

He immediately glanced knowingly at Sun, who stared back, his eyes just as wide.

Yang laughed nervously. "You mean the pizza?"

Blake frowned. "No… it's more like… some sort of musk –"

"I'm sure it's nothing!" blurted Jaune and Sun simultaneously.

The faunus girl looked between the two suspiciously, then turned back to Yang with a sigh. "I'm just… I'm just glad you're safe."

"And I'm sorry," admitted Yang. "I didn't mean to get black-out drunk and cause you all that trouble. I probably ruined your night…" She hung her head, ashamed.

Blake went to hug her best friend again. "It's alright. Just… don't do it again, okay?"

"Hear you loud and clear," said Yang, muffled by Blake's shoulder.

Jaune approached the two. "Let's get going," he said with a smile. "The others are worried about you."

Yang turned to him, almost incredulously. "Really?"

"Yeah. We've been searching for you most of the night, after all. The guys have been beating themselves up pretty hard about losing you, especially Pyrrha."

Yang pondered a moment. "The redhead, right?"

"That's the one."

Yang breathed in, then out. "Wow. All of you guys went on a search-and-rescue for lil' old me?"

"Yep."

Blake gave Yang a comforting smile. "C'mon, you. Let's go say hi to the guys."

"Alright."

They started to walk out before Yang stopped.

"Yang?" asked Blake hesitantly.

"Hold on a moment." Yang looked over her shoulder, towards the remaining occupant in the restaurant. "You coming?"

Sun started. "Me?"

Yang laughed. "Yeah, you." She meandered back towards him. "Who else would I be talking to? The nonexistent restaurant owner?"

Sun chuckled. "Sorry, blondie. I promised Neptune I would meet up with him and Weiss."

"You sure?" Yang grasped the faunus boy's hands, and for once in her rowdy life, she seemed… bashful. "It would be… nice if you… if you came with me. Besides, you gonna wait here by yourself?"

Sun glanced for a moment at their intertwined hands, then gave Yang a sheepish grin. "Yeah. I wish I could come with you, but… a promise is a promise. Maybe next time, Yang."

Yang seemed crestfallen at first, but brightened up almost immediately.

"Well, in that case…" She ran behind the counter of the restaurant and fumbled around for a few seconds before rushing back to Sun.

"Here," grinned Yang as she smacked her hand against the faunus's chest.

"W-what?" Sun seemed startled by Yang's motion, which wasn't surprising considering how many times that had already happened that night.

"You're… you're a cool guy," smiled Yang awkwardly, grabbing Sun's hand and closing it over the object she had given him before sliding her own hand out from underneath. "We should hangout sometime. So, y'know… call me."

With that, she ran back out of the pizza place, where Blake and Jaune were waiting.

Sun watched them walk away briefly before looking at his clenched fist. With a shrug, he opened it.

Resting on his palm was a torn piece of paper with a phone number on it.

Sun read the number. Then again. And again.

He grinned.

"Oh, Yang," he murmured contentedly to himself as he pulled out his phone and began entering her number into his contacts list.

"AAAAAAAYYY!"

The whole van erupted into cheers as the door slid open to reveal a slightly taken aback Yang.

"D'aaaw, you guys," she grinned, taking the seat next to Pyrrha. "You went looking all over the city for me? You seriously are the sweetest people I know."

"Don't mention it!" exclaimed Nora. "We weren't just gonna leave our new friend Yang out in the cold!"

As Blake and Jaune filed in after her and the van began to drive off, Yang turned to the redhead seated next to her. "Hey… Pyrrha, right?"

Pyrrha smiled politely. "Hello, again!"

Yang smiled back. "I heard you were taking it pretty badly for me going off on my own and all. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for that. I'm sure it wasn't your fault."

"Oh!" Pyrrha seemed surprised. "It's quite alright. It happens to the best of us. I'm just happy that were able to find you again."

The blonde girl nodded. "Seriously though," insisted Yang, addressing the rest of the van as well. "I mean, besides Blake, I barely know you guys, but you are all so fucking awesome for taking the time to come looking for me. So, y'know… thanks."

"No problem at all," intoned Ren. He tossed a phone charger over his shoulder, and Yang caught it handily. "Heard your phone was dead?"

"Hey, thanks!" Yang grinned. "Any cigarette lighters back here?"

"There should be one right next to you."

"Gotcha!" The blonde girl plugged her phone in and within a minute, light from the charging phone illuminated the van. "Ah. Let there be life."

She turned around to face Blake. "So… anything exciting happen while I was gone?"

"Aside from trying to find your drunk ass? Not much," deadpanned the faunus girl. "We… thought we found Casey."

"'Thought?'" Yang's confusion was apparent.

"Yeah, they tend to do bait-and-switches," added Jaune, who sat next to Blake. "Needless to say… we found the bait."

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?" Yang droned. "That sucks major balls. So what do you guys plan on doing now?"

"We're actually thinking about going home," admitted Nora.

"But isn't there still a show out there?" Yang protested.

Jaune shrugged. "Probably, but we can't figure out for the life of us where it is."

Yang squinted hard. "Damn. Sun probably knew where they were playing. I mean, he's still waiting on Neptune and Weiss, after all, and he did say he was going to the show. Maybe I should've gotten his number…"

"Guess that ship sailed," muttered Nora. "Hey Jauney, we dropping you off at your car?"

Jaune nodded. "That would be nice."

He turned to Blake. "You wanna come with me? I've got a treasure trove of CDs you might want to take a look at."

"Really?" Blake perked up at the thought, but she caught herself. "Sorry, I need to take of Yang. Not gonna have her disappear for a second time tonight – actually, it's morning already, isn't it?"

Yang blinked at Blake's fleeting enthusiasm, then grinned slyly. The faunus girl never looked that excited over… over anything, really. "Hey, you're Weiss's Jaune, right?"

"Yang!" Blake chided, but the blonde girl continued.

"No wonder," she snickered. "Kitty-cat's clearly fallen head over heels for you and your obscure music tastes!"

"YANG! What the hell!?" Blake turned as red as a beet, and Jaune had become a stuttering mess beside her.

"W-w-well, we just… uh… that is to say… um…"

"Don't sweat it, buddy!" beamed Yang. "You two are totally cute together! And Blake, I honestly don't mind if you go with him."

"Forgive me if I don't necessarily trust you when you tell me not to worry about you," snarked Blake, still trying to hide her burning face.

"Hey, I'm not drunk right now. I swear. I'm good. Besides, I trust these guys." Yang gestured to Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora.

Pyrrha smiled appreciatively, and Nora chirped, "Damn skippy!"

Blake grumbed. "Fine."

Jaune chuckled at her short response. "You don't have to come."

"No, it's alright," smiled Blake softly, growing red again. "I… I'd like it very much."

When they reached Jaune's car, however, they were greeted with an unwelcome sight.

"Is that… Weiss?" Blake's eyes narrowed.

It was indeed. The girl in white sat primly on the hood of the Crown Victoria, shivering slightly from the cold.

Jaune sighed. "I'll go… see what she wants."

The van door slid open and Jaune walked out to converse with Weiss.

Not for the first time that night, Blake felt her heart sinking. It seemed as if Weiss was going through with the threat that she had given Blake earlier at the convenience store.

And knowing how Jaune felt about the whole situation…

"Can you hear what their talking about?" Nora inquired warily. "This is not good."

"I'm sorry, they're too far." Blake's answer came out almost as a whisper.

They were talking rather quietly as well. No yelling. No arguing. Just talking.

And Weiss's expression seemed… hopeful.

"For once, I agree with Nora," muttered Ren. "This has bad news written all over it."

From a distance, Blake could see Jaune's shoulders beginning to slump, and he slowly started to walk back to the van.

As he got closer, Nora practically yelled, "Don't do it, Jaune, she's fucking crazy!"

Jaune stopped at the door and turned to look Blake straight in the eye.

Blake's heart stopped.

The blonde boy exhaled heavily. "Blake… I'm sorry. I just have to know."

He turned to Ren. "You can take them home, right?"

"Jaune. Don't do this," implored Ren.

"I need to, Ren. I just need to. Otherwise I'm never going to stop wondering about where I went wrong." Jaune looked back at Blake pleadingly. "Blake?"

She nodded stonily. "I know. Go on."

Jaune reluctantly nodded.

Then he walked away.

The van door slid shut. "Well… let's go home," murmured Ren. "He's not gonna change his mind."

Yang jumped over her seat and went to hold Blake in a comforting manner, wrapping both her arms around her slumped shoulders.

Pyrrha also came to sit by her. "Blake, I'm so sorry."

"No. It's alright." The faunus girl tried to force a smile, but it came out more like a grimace.

"I'm sure the idiot'll come around," offered Yang, squeezing Blake tighter. "Boys are stupid like that."

Blake appreciatively squeezed back.

The van drove silently through the early morning coldness. Nobody was particularly eager on making small talk of any kind. As a matter of fact, they were all collectively tired and just wanted to go home.

Yang had started to nod off on Blake's shoulder, and the faunus couldn't help but smirk just the tiniest bit at that. Across from her, Pyrrha was twiddling with her thumbs in an inconspicuous and rather awkward manner. And upfront, Nora and Ren remained uncharacteristically silent, obviously still distraught at their best friend's sudden departure.

Bzzzzt.

Blake frowned.

Pulling out her phone, she realized that someone had texted her.

She opened the text.

Hey. Sorry bout the casey show shit. I hope we're still cool. Wanna hang? I got something I wanna show ya.

~ Adam

Blake stared at the message. Her conscience told her that this was a bad idea.

But it was 1am, and she didn't care anymore. Conscience had gone fuck-all out the window.

Blake started to type.

If I can be honest, I hated writing this chapter. I had absolutely no inspiration for writing this, and quite honestly I've gone and rewrote the damn thing a couple times. I feel like I'm using the same ploys and conversations over and over again. But, at least it's over with, because the next chapter gets hectic.

Let's be honest here: Jaune does not deserve to get back with Blake at this point, right?

Anyways, they should be about done with my truck any second now, so I'll catch you on the flip.

Until next time!