White Sheep

Chapter 32

Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 32 - Black Sheep

"Jaune!"  Lavender cheered, rushing forward to wrap her arms about his shoulders.  A head shorter than him, her cheek pressed against his neck, and her  breath washed over his skin. "It's so good to see you!"

"L-Lavender...?"  His mind still wasn't working straight, let alone coming up with the  right words. Questions surged through his mind, but only one had the  presence to pass his lips. "What are you doing here!?"

"I'm here  for you, dummy!" She laughed and stepped back, but clasped both his  hands in hers. "You ran away and scared everyone, even if they wouldn't  admit it. Everyone is scattered over Remnant, but we still knew, and you  should have heard Sapphire - she wanted to storm Vale herself to  reclaim you. That is if Mom didn't do it first."

His face paled as he imagined that, and the resultant nightmare it would have caused.

"And you?" he asked. "Is that what you're here for, to drag me away?"

"Drag  you?" Lavender pushed him away slightly and looked him up and down. "Is  that what you imagined? I seem to remember it was you who dragged me around, normally when you'd found a book you wanted to tell me about."

"W-When we were kids," he said, flushing slightly.

"I  still remember it. You treated me like a doll or a teddy bear, always  holding me close." She held up a hand and laughed into it. "And you used  to read me your stories before bed time."

"I remember," he said,  thinking back on those times. She'd been his youngest sister, the only  one until Amber was born, and he'd kind of claimed Lavender as his own.  She'd never complained about it, of course. She was always indulgent  like that, but he liked to think she'd enjoyed it as well.

Either  way, I've always been physically stronger than her, even if she's  better with a sword. If she tried to actively remove me from here, I  could transform and overpower her. She couldn't force him home... at least not against his will.

"I don't want to go home, Lavender. I'm sorry."

"I know."

His eyes widened. "You... know...?"

"How  could I not? You chose this path in the first place, and if there's  anything that makes you stand aside from the others, it's your  stubbornness." She giggled and danced away from him. "I think you got  that from Mom, you know? You may look like Dad, but she's the one who's  held a grudge for untold millennia, and now you have that same  belligerence. Either way, I knew you wouldn't want to come back if you'd  already come here."

"Then why are you here?"

"Didn't I already answer that? It's to see you. You're my favourite brother in the world."

He  wrapped his arms around her again when she stepped into his reach, and  he felt her arms – and tentacles – wrap about him, too. Lavender had  always been the cutest, maybe because she was the only one younger than  him that wasn't an absolute terror. Either way, while everyone  had grown up in their own different ways, Lavender had always been his  little sister.

"Don't be a moron..." Remy groused. "You're her only brother, so obviously her favourite."

"Don't ruin the mood, Remy."

"And you shouldn't let your guard down."

What  was he on about? It wasn't like she was going to attack him. In fact,  she let him go once he pushed back, releasing her tentacles easily. "I  get why you're here in Vale," he said, "but why are you here at a White Fang rally, and with Torchwick of all people?"