Cover art - Mike (I'm in prison now. But before they threw me in the cell, they allowed me to get this uploaded. Oh well, things aren't so bad. My cellmate's a massive guy who insists on being called 'Daddy'. Nice to meet a strong guy with family values)

Chapter 16 - Serendipity Twilight

Blake knew she was in a tree before she was properly awake. Her head nuzzled comfortably against the bark. Having woken up in trees for so long now, her body instinctively knew the best positions to assume when sleeping. She no longer had leaves tickling her nose, nor branches sticking into either her cat or human ears. A tree would never beat a bed, but it wasn't unpleasant by any means.

She yawned and stretched. Just a few more minutes. Then she could worry about getting down. Until then, she relaxed to the sounds of birds chirping and the feel of the morning sun shining on her.

"Wakey wakey."

A voice roused her curiosity. She rubbed her eyes and looked all around. Then she saw Jaune sitting in the tree opposite hers. He was smiling and eating the sandwich that had been in the tree.

"Jaune?" she said just as another yawn escaped her.

"I don't know how you can look so relaxed in these things," he winced, shifting his position on his branch. "I've only been up here for two minutes, and I've already sat on three pinecones. Also, I swear I can feel ants climbing up my leg."

She smiled and leaned her back against the trunk. "Years of practice," she said. "Stick around and maybe I'll pass down some of my techniques."

"Thanks, but no thanks," he grunted. "The only way I'm sleeping in these things again is if I build a treehouse. One of these days, you really gotta start installing pillows onto these things. Maybe even blankets."

"I thought about it once, but if it rains they just end up getting soggy."

"Maybe put them in the trees with the most shelter?"

"That's only useful if I can predict which tree I wake up in. Which I can't."

She heard him laugh.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked. "Is Cardin still putting you in trees?"

"Nah, he's been avoiding me like the plague since last week. He's still hung up that I spoiled his fun. He won't even look at me these days."

"Sounds like you've finally gotten rid of him."

"Looks like it."

"So why are you here?"

"I wanted to see you. And I knew I'd find you here."

She blinked away the last bits of her sleep and looked at him. Unlike her, he wasn't in his pyjamas. He was fully dressed in his normal clothes - his actual normal clothes, not the attire she had given him. He was back in his Pumpkin Pete hoodie and light-blue jeans again.

Blake's eyes squinted as she noticed something black and familiar tied around his arm. "You're still wearing the bow," she said.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Having it around my arm gets me fewer stares. I can't wear the rest of the outfit anymore, obviously. It's a bit awkward dating one girl when you're dressed like another."

"I can imagine," she grinned. "Speaking of which, give me the details. What's it like dating the strongest in our year? I'll bet it's great."

"It's freaking awesome," he said. "I feel like that guy in a TV show that ends up dating his best friend, only it works out perfectly. She's nice, strong, and she never bottoms. Ever."

"Nice," Blake approved.

"This'll blow your mind - turns out she's been into me for ages now! Isn't that crazy?"

She did her best to act surprised. "Yeah, it's uh… it's hard to believe."

"Not much had changed between us, except now I get to kiss her and stuff. She's the best girlfriend a guy could ask for. She was even kind enough to go swimming through the dump with me to get my hoodie back."

"I'm glad. I missed that hoodie. It's good to see you wearing it again. I still don't know why you threw it out in the first place."

He looked away, embarrassed. "I… may have accused it of being a faunus hate symbol, and swore never to wear it again."

"Hate symbol? But it's a cute little bunny."

"Yeah. I guess I'm not very good at this 'being a faunus' thing, huh?"

Blake winced as a feeling of guilt suddenly hit her. The sting was brief but impactful. It was hard for her not to feel responsible for his delusional thinking.

"Jaune, I know I've said this already, but I'm genuinely sorry for what happened," she sighed.

He looked at her confused. "You're sorry? What for?"

"The whole thing with Cardin and you believing you were a faunus. I'm sorry."

"Huh? Why are you apologising? You didn't start the prank."

"Not, but I failed to stop it sooner. I guess I got so wrapped up in the idea of having a friend who was just like me, that I failed to see what was going on. Or maybe I chose to ignore it on purpose. I don't know anymore."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter," she insisted. "You know me well enough to know that I'm not the most outgoing of people. Ruby calls herself socially awkward, but at least she has the confidence to talk to new people. I don't even have that courage."

"Don't be silly," he frowned. "You talked to me plenty of times before you truly knew me. You've got plenty of courage."

"That was because I thought we were so alike. It felt safe. I know I'm not the most normal of people. So I wait for others to approach me first. For the most part, it works. But if I didn't have the 'Bellabooty' - as Yang calls it - nobody would give me the time of day."

There was a nip in the air. Blake tightened her yukata to keep warm.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that now," Jaune said. "Because I think you're great, with or without your perfect butt."

"You don't have to be polite for my sake," Blake said. "I was short-sighted and selfish. I let you live a fantasy life just because I thought I met someone so like-minded. It must be hard for you adjusting to reality after what happened."

"That's what the four hours a day of therapy are for, which is going swimmingly, by the way. I'm actually starting to see images in those ink-drop pictures they keep shoving in my face. I only pretended to see something last time because I didn't want to hurt their feelings."

"This isn't a joke, Jaune. I really feel bad for what I did to you."

"And I'm telling you not to be," Jaune said firmly. His smile grew softer. "Did you know you were the only one I trusted when I thought I was turning into a faunus? I didn't tell a single person about my concerns. Not even my team."

"Why didn't you?"

Jaune gave her a look. "Really? Why didn't I tell my team that I thought I was transforming into a faunus? Is that what you're asking?"

She blushed slightly, feeling a little silly. "I see your point."

"They would've thought I was crazy. I love my team to death, but it's true. And they were absolutely right. I was crazy to believe that such a thing was possible. But it was all I could think about. I had trouble sleeping at night because of it. I knew that if there was one person I wanted to discuss it with, it had to be you."

"How come? You thought I was crazy too?"

"No, I thought I was crazy. Since you were the expert in faunus stuff, I knew I had to go to you."

"There's plenty of other experts in these matters at Beacon. You could've just gone to them. They would've told you the truth right away, and all this would've been avoided."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't do that. I'm happy this happened."

She blinked. "What?" Had she misheard him, or did he just admit to being happy about all this?

"Even though this was all just a joke at my expense by Cardin - albeit, it backfired - I'm glad this worked out the way it did."

"But why?"

"Look how far we've come because of it." His eyes shone when he looked at her. "I wasn't kidding when I said I trusted you. We got into a lot of shenanigans when I thought I was transforming. I'll never forget the day we destroyed the library chasing a red dot. We really bonded during those silly moments."

She too looked back on those memories fondly. "It was really fun," she agreed.

"You were the only person who didn't treat me like I was a freak," he continued. "I was genuinely worried that there was something wrong with me, but not only did you accept my change, you taught me to embrace it. Even though it was misinterpreted, you made me feel more confident in myself than I had ever been before… and I can't thank you enough for it."

The chill in the air faded, and she felt herself getting warmer. "Jaune," she murmured.

"Blake, you're my pal. I don't care if anyone thinks you're odd. They're missing out. You're one of the most supportive, caring people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. So yeah, I'm glad I fell for Cardin's prank. It gave me the chance to be your friend."

Her chest fluttered. Her eyes started to sting, and she found herself blinking back tears. Gods, look at her. She was up a tree sitting in her pyjamas about to cry because of friendship. She was a peculiar one.

She wiped her eyes. Her smile was wobbly. "For what it's worth, Jaune, I'm glad you're not a faunus," she said. "Because you're one of the finest humans I've ever met."

Jaune looked like he was torn between trying to play her compliment off cooly, or letting it get to him. The result caused him to shuffle on the branch with a blush on his face.

"Out of curiosity, what kind of faunus would you hope to be?" she said.

Jaune shrugged. "I thought for sure I was gonna be a cat faunus because I was bitten by one, and because of how I was acting. If given the choice though… probably a shark faunus. It'd be cool to have a fin."

"You'd have to cut a hole in all your shirts to make space for it though."

"I think it might be worth it."

She giggled. "I think you'd make a pretty cute cat faunus. But just because we'd be of the same blood, don't expect me to share any of my fish with you."

"Unbelievable. After all we've been through as well."

"I have to draw the line somewhere, Jaune."

Jaune rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to the sky. "You've inspired me, Blake," he said. "I've learned a lot from all this. I've learned that there's a lot of injustice in the world, especially towards the faunus. Just because I ended up not being one, doesn't mean there isn't a lot of bad things going on. I wanna make a difference. I want to live and fight for a world where everyone can feel safe, can be equal. That's why I want to become a huntsman, after all."

Blake felt her resolve strengthen. "I would be honoured to help you with this," she said. "You're gonna need a faunus expert, after all."

"I can think of no other one more suited for the job. I'm glad to have you in my life, Blake. If anyone's gonna help make a difference, it's you."

"Both of us," she corrected. "We're gonna be a force to be reckoned with. We'll do what the White Fang could never do - bring true equality to Remnant."

"I'm looking forward to it. You're a great friend. You're also the only girl I know cool enough to read and discuss porn with."

She groaned. "Not you too. Jaune, my books are not-"

"Blake, I have read every single copy of Ninja's of Love, including the collector's editions with the exclusive covers, as well as all the spinoff novels that were only released in very specific parts of Mistral. It's porn."

She crossed her arms. "Well, it's damn good porn," she grumbled.

"Hell yeah, it is."

"We can argue about the finer points of it later. Right now, we have a world to change. Let's make Remnant a better place for all races."

"Now you're talking."

Neither one of them moved. Their moment of revolution was starting to simmer.

"Uh, Jaune? You do have a way for us to get down, right?"

"You know, I knew there was something I was forgetting when I climbed up here!"

Dedicated to my friend Mike. Rest in peace, my nigga