Light streamed in through the windows of the little room at the Mistral academy of Haven where Jaune, Ren, and Nora sat. The light, warm and welcoming, was appreciated by all in the room, but it also seemed to tease them as it reflected off of golden metal forged into Jaune's shield lying against the wall. The loss that was on all their minds could never be made up by any amount of sunshine.

"Hey, I'm going to go check in on Ruby and Qrow. Jaune, if you need anything..." Nora didn't need to finish the statement. The smile accompanying her words was sad, and her tone was soft. She seemed to sense that Jaune wanted time alone, and Jaune agreed with a slight nod.

"Tell them hi for me."

Nora nodded back, and left the room.

Nora found Ruby closing the door of Qrow's room. "Is Qrow alright?"

Ruby looked up, startled. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there. But yeah, he seems stable. The airships arrived just in time."

"I'm glad." Nora was relieved. No one else needed to die. She had witnessed enough death for a lifetime.

Ruby put on a brave face. Like Nora, all she felt was sadness mingling with relief that everything had gone well. Better than hoped, honestly. "What are you up to?"

"Well, Jaune says hi. Though I was hoping to ask you something."

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"Well..." Nora struggled to get the words out. They seemed inappropriate for the setting. They would betray her thoughts to be less on the solemnness in the air and more on a happier subject. How dare she be thinking on such a lovely possibility while the others mourned?

"It's okay, Nora. You can ask me anything."

I can trust Ruby, Nora convinced herself.

"Ruby, how do you...boys?

Ruby's eyes widened in genuine excitement as she grabbed Nora and sped down the hall.

"I'm so happy for you!" Ruby squealed.

Nora looked around to see if anyone had overheard. "Ruby, it's not a thing yet. I dunno. Just, I don't want to jump the gun..."

"But...you said you held hands, and things..." Ruby was still glowing with excitement.

"I mean, it's more complicated than that, okay? We didn't talk about, and it's not even the first time it's been like that..." Nora trailed off. Her usual happy-go-lucky attitude was nowhere to be found. She was truly anxious, Ruby realized.

"What do you mean?"

Nora sighed. Over the course of a few minutes, she told Ruby of her and Ren's story.

"We were kids, you know. We still had to survive after the attack. Ren's semblance helped, you know, hiding from the Grimm we encountered before ending up at our preliminary fighting school. But we were by ourselves for years, and we wanted human touch, and we didn't know better, right? We'd sleep together, side by side, every night. Well, every night until we realized what that could mean. And then we stopped. Any physical affection, even though it had been innocent, was gone. And so this time, I thought, maybe the Nuckelavee made Ren revert back to those times, and it didn't mean anything besides that."

"Oh. You don't think he meant it romantically?"

"I...I don't know. Maybe?" Nora stuttered, "I don't want to read things wrong, ruin our friendship..."

Ruby took a moment to think. "Did it seem romantic?"

"Well, yeah, but I could be wrong. I want this so much, I could have made it up..." Nora swallowed, forcing herself not to cry. Ruby didn't need to see her weak.

"I honestly...I don't know, Nora. I don't have any experience. But I think you and Ren belong together, and you should probably talk about it."

"Okay. I guess...I'll leave you alone." Nora awkwardly turned to walk away from Ruby.

"Hey-" Ruby suddenly grabbed Nora in a hug. "I know you can do this. You're the unstoppable Nora Valkyrie."

Nora smiled. "Thanks, Ruby. I'm here for you too. I'll go and talk...yeah." She nodded quickly, and pulling away from the hug, hurried away.

"Boys," Ruby murmured, watching after her. "Well, she does deserve a win."

"You're going out with Nora now, right?"

Ren nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked back at Jaune, still sitting on the floor. "What?"

"Come on, you deserve a win. Don't be a butt about it."

Ren still looked surprised. "I wasn't not going to."

"Oh. Well that's good. She's probably freaking out about it. I mean, she's obviously had a huge crush on you, and you shouldn't waste it." Jaune's voice softened a bit. "I should know."

Ren didn't reply for a while. He was lost in his own thoughts, frozen in place. "It's...not like that."

"I hope not."

Ren sighed. "I have been planning to talk to Nora. It's just harder than I thought it would be, especially now."

Jaune now looked concerned. "You mean with the Nuckelavee?"

"Yes."

There was a long pause. Finally, after mentally debating the benefits of admitting what he had wanted to for a long time, Ren found the courage to say the words.

"I love her."

Jaune gasped. "Then what are you waiting for? Ahhhh! Oh, this means Ruby owes me money. She said you'd never confess, and Nora would force it out of you."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "You placed bets?"

"Yeah, totally. You should hear what Yang bet would happen, it seemed a bit extreme, but..." Jaune stopped, realizing the next words probably didn't need to be said. "So, why are you hesitating?"

"I don't want to hurt her."

Jaune's face was incredulous. "You're not."

Another sigh. "When you spend a lot of time with someone, you...you get used to them. So much so that I don't think I could be with anyone with anyone besides Nora."

"So? That's a good thing."

"I want to spend my life with her."

"Well, it seems Yang will win that bet."

Ren raised his eyebrow yet again. "Yes, I do want -in the future, not now- to marry her. But I watched what happened to my parents. If I die, what happens to Nora? If we have kids, what happens to them?"

"You're really worried about that?"

"Yes. Have you seen what's been happening? It's getting more and more dangerous. It would be an awful time to start a relationship. To promise hope that might only go away as quickly as it came."

Jaune was quiet for a pause. "Ren, I get that. But, you can't worry your life away. Again, I should know. With Pyrrha...I should have seen, and acted. She was my best friend, and I wasted the time I had with her. So you'd better act."

Ren found to courage to move from where he has been standing, inching towards the door. "You're right. I'll do that."

The door opened suddenly, neatly knocking Ren over. In the doorway stood a red-face Nora, breathing heavily, as if she had done three hundred jump-jacks a moment before. Ren stared. Had she...?

"We need to talk!" Nora yelped, pulling Ren out of the room and down the hallway.

Jaune watched them leave. "Don't you dare ruin this, Ren. Or I'll break your legs."

"Why are we in a tree?"

"Shush!" Qrow glared at Oscar. "The dorks are getting together. It's been way too long. I have to see."

"Don't you think this is a bit creepy? I don't even know you."

"Shush! They're here," Qrow pointed out a small Ren and Nora, walking outside on the academy grounds. "Also, Ruby and Jaune are watching too. We're not that creepy."

Oscar glanced at the tree line across the grounds from where that were hiding. He spotted Jaune and Ruby arguing over a pair of binoculars in a tree. "You're all weird."

"I thought you wanted to see this, Oz."

"I'm not Ozpin! Though," Oscar paused, listening to the voice in his head, "He agrees with me. You're creeps. He thinks you're being inappropriate."

"Oh, you would know all about that, wouldn't you, Oz? That one time you and Glynda..."

Oscar's face turned red, having seen one of Ozpin's memories. "He says you shouldn't have spied on him!"

"Hey, it was an accident, calm down. I don't try to spy on things of that nature."

Oscar glowered.

"Hey, I think they're talking! Damn, can't hear them. Eh, I'll ask Ruby later, she seems to have a closer spot."

"Ren?"

"Yeah, Nora?"

Nora was walking alongside Ren, trying to look like she was paying more attention to the beautiful grounds of Haven Academy than to him. "You don't think I'm annoying, right?"

Ren looked shocked. "Why would I?"

"You...you're not saying anything. I thought...you know, maybe..." Nora trailed off.

"No, I'm just thinking."

There was silence.

"I'm loud, I mean. And you're always quiet, and maybe you think I'm annoying..." Nora tried to change the subject.

"I love you, Nora."

The words came so suddenly, and Nora wasn't prepared. "What?"

Ren managed an awkward smile. "I want to be...together-together."

Nora, suddenly grasping the words, smiled larger than Ren had ever seen before. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I've wanted to tell you for a while, I've just been nervous and..." Ren shut up. Well, actually, he was interrupted by Nora's sudden kiss. It was electrifying- truly electrifying, in that it wasn't a metaphor. When Nora pulled away, Ren put a hand to his tingling lips.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't...Also, I didn't know that I could do that..."

"No, it's alright. I quite liked it," Ren smiled. "Do you want to go make pancakes? We haven't had them in a while."

"First date pancakes? Yisssss!" Nora grinned. "Also, is that Qrow in a tree? Isn't he hurt? And there's a random kid-"

Ren and Nora both looked towards the tree line, and Ren rolled his eyes as he heard "Goddammit, they saw us!" followed by a loud thump, which sounded a lot like someone falling out of a tree.

"I guess the answer is yes. As for why, I heard that there were bets."

Nora grinned. "Well, at least we have support. Also, let's go and get those pancakes!"

Ren smiled as he put his arm around Nora, and they walked back into the academy building.