Chapter 12

Jaune Arc was sitting next to one Blake Belladonna in the library, both of them reading a book.

He and Blake had created some sort of weird relationship during Beacon. They were not necessarily friends but they were definitely more than acquaintances.

They never really talked to one another at their respective team's combined lunch tables, but they did both share an interest: reading.

He didn't know when it happened but one day both of them just sat down together at a library table. Ever since he would find her sitting near him or he unconsciously did the same.

He would read the books he borrowed from Shirou about myths and legends, while she, her fine literature, but they sat together.

They would occasionally speak to one another mostly about their books and mostly initiated by Jaune but sometimes (once in a blue moon) she would also start up a conversation.

Strangely she would talk about very deep and philosophical things, like Faunus rights or geopolitics, which he would have no clue what to say for so he just merely listened to her.

She didn't seem to mind however because after her many tirades she would look up at him with a small smile and would thank him for listening to her ramblings. He would smile back and say no problem before they both got back to their reading.

He knew that even though reading was one of those things you did for yourself it was still nice doing it around other people, he had a feeling she felt the same way about it as well. Maybe that's why they stuck around each other so much.

He looked away from Blake and her beautiful mane of black hair to his own book he was reading; The Nameless Hero.

Jaune doesn't know why, but he enjoyed this book even though it ended in tragedy. He already finished reading it and was just rereading it again.

It's about a nameless man who traveled around the world helping and saving as many people as he can. Never asking for anything, never wanting anything.

He help for the sake of helping.

At the end, although he desperately fought to end a war, he was in turn branded as the mastermind behind that war and subsequently executed because of the betrayal of his allies.

Although he died of betrayal, he did not hate mankind. 

Shirou said that he is contemplating if he wanted to write the sequel of the book, and Jaune almost begged him to. After all, he did enjoy the story, despite it ending in tragedy.

He sometimes couldn't help but wonder, will he end up like nameless one day? Being misunderstood, and betrayed, eventually dying in the hands of people he have risked his life to save?

But he didn't think much of it. He was as weak as chicken(not true, he is physically strong) and still struggled to not fail combat class.

"What's that about?"

Startled, Jaune almost yelled in shock but managed to held himself back and just took a deep breath.

Tilting his head, he saw Blake leaning to take a peek at his book.

"Huh?" Great job Jaune. You have now obtained the title "conversation killer".

Thankfully, Blake just smiled and repeated her question, "Your book, what's it about? I noticed that you've been rereading it for awhile now, so I got curious."

"Oh, um, well," Jaune closed the book to show her the cover, "It's The Nameless Hero, written by a friend of mine. It's a tragic story of a boy who wanted only to save people, but got betrayed and killed by the very same people he saved."

Blake looked intrigued, "After you finished, may I borrow it? It sounds interesting."

Jaune shrugs and handed it to her, "You can read it now, I already finished it."

"...Thank you." Blake took a book with a small smile before she flipped it open. There is a poem on the first page, which surprised her a little, but she decided to read it.

My body is made out of swords.

My blood is of iron and my heart of glass.

I have overcome countless battlefields.

Not even once retreating, Not even once being understood.

He was always alone, intoxicated with victory in a hill of swords.

Thus, his life has no meaning.

That body was certainly made out of swords.

'...what a deep poem.' Blake felt a stir in her heart reading that, but remained calm and continued to read.

Just the intro was already so good, she couldn't help but imagine just how good the rest of the story was.

Jaune smiled at Blake who was engrossed in reading the book and took out another book from his bag, this one was titled "The Twelve Labors". He haven't read this one yet, but considering Shirou wrote it, this should be good.

He already finished writing his history report from Profes—Doctor, Doctor Oobleck's class so he can just chill and read in peace.

Heracles, a demigod born from the God-King Zeus and a human woman. Having accomplished several great deeds, a certain king betrothed his daughter to him.

Life was good, Heracles have a wife and two children, but Zeus' wife - Hera - detested the child born between Zeus and a human.

She meddled with his fate at every opportunity, and she started by sending madness to him that caused him to kill his family.

Troubled by the sins he had committed, he received a sign that he should atone by becoming the slave of Eurystheus, the man who took away his promised position as king.

Eurystheus, jealous of the strong hero, gave him many difficult tasks, and claimed that Heracles would remain his slave until they were completed.

These difficult labors were tasks impossible to complete with normal human skills that later came to be known as the famous Twelve Labors of Heracles.

The number of labors originally chosen by the gods was ten, but Eurystheus added two more labors after denying the fulfillment of two of them.

Heracles managed to complete even those tasks, so he was granted not only his freedom, but he also received an immortal body as proof of his great accomplishments.

Despite that, Hera's hatred was endless, so the rest of his life was again full of madness. While he should have been immortal, he was killed by poison by one of his wives.

Though he was a great hero equally matched with the sun god even as a human, he was slowly killed by Hera's persistent jealousy.

He burned his own body, still contaminated with poison at the time of his death, and he entrusted himself to Zeus' judgment.

The gods approved of his great deeds in a conference, prepared a seat in Olympus after his death, and acknowledged him as a god.

Jaune sighed as he closed his book. Though Heracles indeed became a god, Jaune couldn't think of it as a happy ending.

He lost his family due to a goddess's pettiness, and even though he should've live a great life after accomplishing the 12 Labors, he was poisoned by one of his wives and was eventually forced to kill himself.

This made Jaune think just how scary women are. In this moment, he decided, he will avoid getting involved with women.

He can think of them as friends, but nothing more than that.

He don't want to end up like Heracles.

Suddenly, the librarian made an announcement.

"Will all students please exit the library, it will be closing in three minutes. I repeat will all students…"

He stopped listening to her at that point and started to pack all of his stuff. He saved his history report and put away his headphones when he suddenly realized someone was watching him.

He looked up to see Blake, who had stayed in her spot the entire time, still holding the book he lent her, looking at him with feline curiosity.

Feline curiosity? Why did he think that?

"Is there something wrong Blake?" Asked Jaune.

Blake hummed, "Is there no continuation? I already finished reading it and honestly, I loved it. I want to know if there's a second volume or a sequel."

Jaune put a hand on the back of his neck and smiled wryly, "Honestly, I don't know. Shirou - the writer - said that he was contemplating whether to continue it. He still haven't decided yet though."

Blake looked disappointed as she handed the book back, "Well, thank you for lending it to me."

Jaune took the book back. He thought for a moment before handing her the Twelve Labors, "Here. If you want, you can read this. I enjoyed it, and honestly It's really good."

"The Twelve Labors?" Blake took the book from Jaune, "Well, if you say so. Thanks for lending it to me. I appreciate it."

"No problem. In fact, I can introduce you to the author of these books. He lives in Vale and owned this weapon shop."

"Really?" Blake perked up. "The author of Nameless Hero?"

"Yeah, he also wrote that Twelve Labors and a bunch of other books such as The Hundred Year War, Hound of Ulster, Absolute Demonic Front, and many more."

Blake gave a dreamy sigh imagining reading all those books. From the title alone, they already sound great.

"Wait, how come I never heard of such a talented author," asked Blake.

"Apparently, he just writes and never published it. That book is the original, and there's no copy. So please be careful with it."

"I will. I'll look after it even if it cost me my life."

"Please don't. It's not that important, even Shirou didn't bother with it." He grabbed his things and asked her, "Do you wanna go back to the dorms together?"

Blake shrugs, and nodded, "Yeah, sure."

"Let's go then."