RWBY: Corrupted Save File

Part #23. - Tournament Troubles.

"I'm sorry. You've left us with no choice." The General said.
"But he attacked me!" Yang defended.

Team RWBY was conversing with General Ironwood, the headmaster of Atlas' Academy, also the head of Atlas' military.
Two Atlesian Knights were stationed outside of Team RWBY's dormitory while they spoke.

"Video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise." Ironwood explained calmly.

"But Yang would never do that!" Weiss exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Ruby added.

The General sighed and turned to face the four huntresses-in-training.
"You all seem like good students. And the staff here at Beacon are fully aware that you would never lash out the way you did. Under normal circumstances." He stated.
"But I believe, and hope this to be, nothing more than the result of stress and adrenaline. When you're out on the battlefield, your judgement can become clouded in an instant. Sometimes you see things that simply aren't there." He paused for a moment. "Even after the fight has passed."

"But I wasn't--" Yang hastily tried defending herself once more.

"That's enough!" Ironwood snapped. He resumed speaking, this time in his previous calm tone. "The sad truth is... whether it was an accident, or an assault... it doesn't matter. The world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their conclusions. And it's my job to inform you that... you're disqualified." He said. The room was silent for a moment before Ironwood turned and left, bringing his robotic guards with him.

Not a moment after, the door opened again and Saffron walked inside.
"What's poppin'?" He grabbed one of the chairs from Team RWBY's desks and sat down.

"Yang got disqualified..." Ruby spoke sadly.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Saffron said, leaning back in his seat.

"You guys believe me... right?" Yang asked.

"Duh!" Ruby said.
"You're hotheaded, but not ruthless." Weiss stated.

Yang turned to Blake and Saffron, awaiting their answers.
"Blake...? Saff...?" She pleaded.

"What? Sorry, I wasn't here to listen to your side." Saffron pointed out.

"She saw Mercury attack her!" Weiss explained hastily.

"Oh." Saffron said. He fell silent for a moment.
"I'll let Blake go first." He said with a smile on his face. He knew that if he started talking now, he was gonna make some jokes and totally undercut the tension of the situation. Yang didn't like Saffron's decision to wait as she thought it may have meant that he didn't have faith in her.

Blake remained silent. She looked away from Yang and inhaled before talking.
"I want to believe you." She said quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Weiss asked loudly. Yang began tearing up. It was clearly upsetting for her teammate to not be on her side.
"Blake?" She asked, her usual confident tone vanished.

"How can you say something like that? Yang would never lie to us!" Weiss stated angrily.

Blake sighed. "I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual... little choices that began to pile up." Blake began her story, keeping the specifics vague.
"He told me not to worry. At first, they were accidents... then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right. This is all just... very... familiar." Blake looked up, into Yang's watery eyes and continued.
"But you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So... I want to trust you. I WILL trust you." She decided. "But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did." Blake told Yang.