Yang was for once having some girl time with the better half of team JNPR. When that author had come to Vale, Blake and Weiss had for once agreed on something: It was time to cultivate the team. Ha! No one should cultivate Yang Xiao Long; she was not going to be dragged along to some stupid lecture. Ruby had not been quite so lucky to get away in time, poor girl, in all her innocence she had embarked willingly. Say hello to two hours of solid boredom my friend. Now she was having a kick-ass time with two of the most kick-ass girls she knew outside of her team
Jaune and Ren had gone to town, for whatever reasons boys need to go to town for, and it had suited Yang perfectly. Now she was with both Pyrrha Nikos: Minstral champion, and Nora Valkyrie: A girl that rides a hammer into battle. That is what you call KICK-ASS friends. With them, there was nothing but excitement, and adventures and action, most of the time anyway or at least some of the time…
Who was she kidding? She was bored! The only thing she could imagine to be more boring would be to listen to some dreary author talk about symbolisms and its effect on the early realistic movement. Since Jaune had confessed to Pyrrha, and Nora had finally gotten "together-together" with Ren, there had been nothing but sickening love talk. Whenever Pyrrha would mention Jaune, and she would, it would be with some remark about how kind and funny he was and then Nora would retort about how smart and caring Ren could be, as if it was some kind of contest! Then there would be those little "suggestive" phrases they would use and then go beet red and abruptly change the subject, but worst would be those praises of their faithfulness and devotion, which would just go on and on and on
"You should think they were something else but men"
Did she say that aloud? She looked up to see their eyes piercing her with pure contempt, as if every single letter of her sentence had somehow insulted their very being
"What do you mean Yang?"
The reply was in unison; their outlines had suddenly gained an uncharacteristic dark aura around them. Yang suddenly felt she had to hold on to her chair so the contempt emanating from her two friends would not tip her over
"Well, I mean the way you speak of them, you should think they aren't-"
"WASN'T WHAT YANG"
They had gotten up from their chairs simultaneous, leaning in over the table in such a way that it gave Yang a good clear view to the murder in their eyes
"I mean, I know men. I know they eat and sleep, and do their business-"
"Hmm-hmm"
"And I know they sometimes are tempted by-"
"BY WHAT YANG?"
She never would have guesses that the disbelief of two girls could create enough energy to blow her of her seat, but now she could contemplate this on the floor, while preparing a new strategy to get out of this. She had to think quickly, for a spear had appeared against her neck
"I hope you're not insinuating anything, Yang?"
"The only thing I'm insinuating is that Jaune shares a room, with a girl whose idea of relax wear consist of a tight t-shirt and pink shorts, and that only a person that has given up all interest in the joys of life, would have overlooked that"
"Yeah, Jauney-boy does seem to have a bit of trouble keeping focus sometimes"
Pyrrha gave Nora a stare normally only reserved for the her opponents before the final match, and her cheering turned into a solemn look at the floor
"And as for Ren, though he seems pretty uptight, he do share a room with a model, a MODEL Nora, I know half the boys here have a poster hidden somewhere… and they don't keep it for motivation"
"More like: for inspiration- WAIT A MINUTE!"
Her bright smile disappeared instantly, and soon after Yang was covered by a big looming shadow
"Yang I want you to know that both me, and Magnhild, have realized what you just meant, and it turns out Magnhild doesn't really like it, NOT ONE BIT!"
"N-Nora come on! You must expect them to be human, accept them to be men, and it just doesn't lay in their nature-"
"It does in our men!"
They were getting closer
"Alright, Alright… Jeez"
Yang raised herself up, their weapons was still aimed at her, to defend themselves against anymore smart ass remarks about their boyfriends now supposed fidelity
"So you believe Ren and Jaune will remain at your sides no matter what, that is… delightful, naïve perhaps, but-"
"Believe? We know!"
Pyrrha had now raised her voice to a level that would normally leave any sane man trembling.
"Knowing takes proof, and what proof do you got? You have only been together for, like, two weeks"
A nervous glance were shared between them before Nora clarified "We don't need evidence; our love is all we need to know"
"Really? Because I know how to get the proof"
"HOW?"
Was the unison answer the excited girls screamed, they had never known how much they truly wanted the answer to that question before this day, but with Yang all was changed
"Simple: a wager-"
Neither Pyrrha nor Nora was dumb. They knew the consequences of a wager with Yang was almost always fatal, yet they were also curious, and determined to prove her wrong. Unfortunately, such emotions as insecurity and anxiety are usually stronger than the common sense. In the second, they decided to bet 100 lien, each of them knew it was a decision they were going to regret, but they did not care
When the boys returned, they found the girls had packed their bags, and sat on their beds, waiting on them with sorrowful faces. Though they both had had some fun in town, their mood shifted completely from glee too melancholy with the site of their sad faces. Then a strong grip took hold of their shoulders, and everything was made worse by the anticlimactic happy tune in Yang's voice
"Hello Boys! I'm afraid your girls have some bad news for you"
They turned to look at their partners that had gotten up. They tried to look sad, miserable with a touch of despair, but it was a horrible act. Ren and Jaune did not know that, but they could tell something had gone terribly wrong. Pyrrha cleared her voice, coughing gently into her hand
"Yes, it does appear that way, it seems like-"
"WE ARE GOING ON A SECRET MISSION AND YOU CAN'T COME, BECAUSE IT'S SECRET, SO WE HAVE TO GO ALONE, AND BE ALL ALONE FOR A LONG TIME"
"Yes, thank you Nora, just what I was going to say… so anyway, we have to leave you guys alone for quite some time, so we have just been waiting here… to say Farewell to you"
After having loosened himself from Yang's grip, Ren cupped his arms around Nora, holding her close, so he could whisper sweet goodbyes into her ear. It looked like it was going to be one of those horrible drawn-out goodbyes, though Jaune had at least just taken the more standard responses of simply giving a farewell kiss, and… and that is a lot of tongue. Do they think they are going to part forever? This is worse than she first thought!
After Nora ended Ren's rant with a small "Boop" on the nose, and Pyrrha had gotten her hands of Jaune, they were finally ready to leave. Yang helped them with the luggage. Jaune said he would like to sing them off with a serenade on his guitar, but then Yang said she would rather like to break the stupid thing on his spine, so they settled for just waving.
The door was quickly closed after them, and soon after the long trip was made to the door on the other side of the hallway. The suitcases were gently tossed in a pile on the floor, and from the closet Yang brought forward the necessities for the transformation
Soon after the boys were starting to adjust to life without their partners. Jaune had taken the opportunity to start counting every second they were gone, while Ren were looking at some extra homework, but soon his attention turned towards his leader and his new extremely annoying "hobby"
"Jaune… eh, don't you think Pyrrha would have liked to see you do something more productive?"
"Yeah, but Ren, Pyrrha is always the one making me do something productive"
Ren did not even get a second to take in the pettiness of his answer before the door was blasted open by two foreign looking young women, each dressed in sparkly colorful outfits, which showed just enough to flame the imagination, but still not enough to drain their sense of mystique
"God day handsome gentlemen of Vale, we are exchange students that have come to Beacon, and since half of your team has gone on secret mission, we have come to share the reum with you"
The newcomer with the lively and exotic voice ended her introduction with a deep bow. A sly smile grew on her green-eyed companions face as she saw the look of surprise on the boys faces, though they could not see it behind the thin veil covering the lower half of her face.
"That's right, my name is Pyrrhana, and this Norana, and ever since we heard we would come to share a reum with such distinguished gentlemen, we have waited with much anxiety"
Jaune's eyes darted back and forth from the two beauties; his mouth had not yet closed, and his pupils had almost expanded out of his own head. Though this was mostly because his head was still undergoing the comprehensive task of figuring out what was going on
"I'm not sure I know what a 'reum' is"
Ren tried not to hit his head to hard down on the table. The mysterious girl with the bubbly voice and clear blue eyes made her way towards him
"I'm sorry; we just arrived here today, so you must forgive our speaking. What we mean is 'room' we are going to share 'room' with you"
"Ohh…"
Jaune tried to respond casually, but the redness on his cheeks almost made it into his words, coloring the vowels. Pyrrha was not blind to his reaction, but instead of filling herself up with rage, she went over to Ren. It was easy to embarrass Jaune in that fashion, but she knew there was nothing in it, on the other hand… How hard could it be for her to get closer to Ren? He was always so reserved, and she was always so shy. They could bond over their shared introverted nature. How hard could it be?
"Um… Norana… Do you have to sit there?"
It would seem like Nora had already begun the flirtation, but Pyrrha would not be far behind. Carefully she peered over Ren's shoulder, in just a few seconds, there might come a math problem that could acquire her assistance.
"Oh but Jaune… With such a big and comfy bed there's plenty of room for both of us to share"
Any minute now, Ren will find a math problem he would need some help to solve, and when that moment comes Pyrrhana Nikos will be there to assist.
"Then why do you have to sit on my legs?"
Any minute now, any minute…
"So I can admire you better, you're are so much more masculine and handsome up close"
Do not take the eyes from the price
"You have so wide shoulders and such a large and chiseled chest. Don't you think so Pyrrhana?"
Perhaps it was time to change strategy…
"I mean, look Pyrrhana, doesn't this one have SO big, and toned biceps? I can't help myself from touching"
"I'm sure he have, but look at how smart this one are"
"And look how well-defined this one's abs are. When I put my hand on I can feel how hard he is through his shirt"
"This one is probably very caring and thoughtful in every situation"
"…This one is packed like a-"
"THIS ONE IS VERY LIKELY BOTH COMPASSIONATE AND KIND!"
They all stared red-faced at Norana, even Ren had dropped his pencil and both Pyrrhana and Jaune had a layer of horror painted over their already scarlet faces, yet, Norana's fascination had not fully subsided
"Seriously do you keep a second sword down there?"
Jaune had never been in a situation as this, and he had never wanted to. He did not know what to do, only that he wanted to get out, and fast. As quietly as he could he started to slip out under Norana, like a snake or other amphibian he smoothly glided under her, while sputtering a bunch of apologies regarding the need for fresh air. When he hit the floor, he sprung up on his legs, grabbed Ren under his arms, and ran for the door. With a final excuse about leaving them to do their unpacking, he was gone.
Their sudden leave was a bit of shame, for it was their presences and their role as future witnesses that were the only thing that had kept Pyrrhana away from tearing out Norana's windpipe with her bare hands
"NORA what was that all about?!"
"What? I just wanted to be sure he didn't have any secret weapons on him"
"And you had to do that in the most inappropriate way possible?"
"All right, All right, I just wanted to be completely sure he wouldn't have any surprises for later"
"LATER! YOU THINK THERE WILL BE A LATER!"
Luckily, it was the appearance of a new possible future witness, which hindered Pyrrhana from ripping Norana apart limb for limb with the fury of a thousand Ministralian amazons
"HEY GIRLS, that reading turned out to be PRETTY boring in the end, so I sneaked out, and I just saw Ren and Jaune do the same to you, so I thoughts it's time for some GIRL TIME, and… and what is going on here?"
Ruby tried; actually, she tried hard to understand why two of her best friend would try to wrestle each other on the floor looking like the Vacuoian carpets discount department
There was a bit of awkward staring before Norana answered
"Well HELLO new friend, I'm afraid we have never met before-"
"Yes we have!"
"What my friend is saying is that we are the new exchange students, my name is Pyrrhana"
"No you're not, your name is Pyrrha, and we have known each other since the day we were initiated"
"But we are wearing traditional Vacuian clothes"
Nora pointed to her now rather ruffled sheets that draped her body
"No you're not. That is a makeshift outfit made from those drapes I was forced to buy, when Glynda saw what I had done to the ones in my dorm, artistic freedom my ass…"
Pyrrha looked at her in disbelief. She had lost all strength to continue, and slowly just collapsed on the floor
"But Yang said she had borrowed them from Sun, and that they were authentic and traditional, and would fool anybody"
"Yang? Yang told you? Well, that explains a lot. Excuse while I go find my big sister, and tell her why that is not okay; in the meantime: Could you stop what you were doing, because it was pretty disturbing"
Ruby smacked the door back in, turned 180 degrees, and walked to her own room. Inside she met Yang that completely failed to appear innocent, even though she had buried her face deep into the pages of a sports magazine
"Yang where are my curtains?"
"I had nothing to do with it"
"Yang why is Pyrrha fighting with Nora?"
"I had nothing to do with it"
"Yang… what the hell is going on?"
"THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON?"
Yang threw the magazine aside further demonstrating her exaggeration, but it were a game Ruby knew too well. She replied by folding her face in her trademark pout.
"Yes Yang, and unless you tell me what it is, I'll make sure you get to accompany Weiss and Blake next time we have to attend some kind of sophisticated entertainment"
"All right, All right… Easy there sister, there's n-no reason t-to joke about something so horrifying… but yes, I might have played a small part in the events that are currently unfolding"
"What you are saying is?..."
"Me, P-Pyrrha and Nora might have agreed on a small, petite, innocent, little bet"
"That was probably the most terrible thing you could say"
"And now they kind of have to seduce their p-partners"
"And somehow it keeps getting worse!"
She took her hand to her face, washing the tragedies of this world away with the darkness of her palm. If only it was all a nightmare, a nightmare she could wake up from, but she knew just how crazy Yang was, crazy, heartless, insane enough to taint the innocent feelings of young couples with her self-proclaimed wisdom
"How could you?!"
"You should have been there, to have seen them, to have endured them!"
"BUT WHY?"
"Because they need to know the truth of men! That even if they are in love, they are not invulnerable to everything!"
"Come on Yang! Jaune loves Pyrrha, and Ren loves Nora. Why can't it just be that way?"
"Because we wagered hundred liren!"
She did not know what law of nature that had prevented her from strangling her sister right then and there, but if Ruby had to guess, it would have to be one of the strong ones, like gravity or funny cat pictures on the internet. She let out a sigh as she prepared her case against greed itself, but a loud crash that only could have come from the room across from theirs stopped her toughs
"Wow Yang, that sounded a lot like your mess, shouldn't you go check it out?
"No thank you Ruby, I'm quite fine"
"Yang!"
Ruby took the brightly colored pages up from the floor, and slammed it down on her skull, as Yang tried to get them back, she rolled them into a club, and dunked them into her back, where after she practically flew out of the door
Fine, if it had to be that way she might as well see what was going on between the vixens, by now one of boys must have surrendered to their womanly charm, and then she would cash in. Why would one want a good conscious if one could have money?
As she opened the door, she found her friends alarmingly calm
"So… Did anything happen while I was gone?"
Norana was lying on her bed, looking into the ceiling with tired eyes
"Why do you think anything happened?"
"Because Pyrrha's bed has been flipped over"
Pyrrha turned towards her, a red blush on her cheeks slowly fading as she regained her cool "Well, there might have been some minor… disagreements, but it has all passed"
"Disagreements? So something did happen?"
"Well yes, and no… Nora got a little bit too close to Jaune, b-but Jaune was strong and determined. He simply threw her of, and before any harm could be done he heroically grabbed Ren, and escaped from her clutches in a way so suitable for his… his… his?"
"Idiom?"
"Idiom! Thanks Nora"
There was a short pause where Yang considered she might have made a mistake
"So no… Progress?"
"Yes Yang, lots of hope, lots and lots of hope… For true love, and for lots of lien, from you. Now if I remember correctly it was a hundred too each of us, right Pyrrha?"
"Indeed Nora, a hundred each, for a failed but honest attempt at your game"
Yang's head was boiling. Where did this come from? How could it happen? How was she going to get a hundred- how was she going to get two?
"Now remember you have to keep it up u-until… Tomorrow!"
"WHAT!"
Pyrrha and Nora was both equally shocked by this alteration to their plan
"Yes that's right, until tomorrow evening that was the deal"
"No it wasn't"
"Well it is now Nora! Remember! We are doing this because you care for them! Because you want to find out if you can trust them, to find out if they are faithful! Now where did they go? Better find them before they throw themselves for somebody else…"
Yang went outside and quickly found Jaune clutching Ren in his grip for comfort. They were sitting at a lonely fountain, closed for maintenance, and all around them was a sense of neglect and rot. The brown leaves on the trees, the empty pool basin and Jaune's empty traumatized stare. Yang was for once a little affected by the tragedy she had caused and carefully took his hand away from Ren, and into her own. A little life seemed to return to him as she guided him back to the dorm
When they entered, Jaune seemed almost completely restored to his old self, a bit shaky on the hands, but with more cheer to his voice. That changed when they found their new guest wriggling on the floor, imitating fish noises. Fearing the worst Jaune and Ren approached carefully them; Jaune knew he as leader would have to make the first move, though he did not like it
"What are you doing?"
"Your absence made us sad, depressed, and devastated. There was no more to live for; there was only relief… through DEATH!"
Norana rolled onto her side to give Pyrrhana a subtle wink where after she faced Ren to continue the elegy
"Yes it was so unbearable hollow to be without your companionship, so now we are going die, alone and deserted, without ever having felt the earth shattering emotion of love, and tender physical contact"
Jaune looked at Ren in hope his brain had some brilliant way of working this out. Ren looked at Jaune in hope he had a plane crazy to get them out of here. They both stared at each for a few seconds before, they took the horrible actors up from the floor, and placed them in their respective beds
"Where did you get the poison from?"
Ren inquired from the redheaded beauty
"We had brought it as a specialty to our weapons, but as you rejected us, we found it a better use. For the Poison meant to kill our enemies, became the POISON meant to kill our hearts!"
"Did somebody say POISON!?"
The completely unexpected entrance of Ruby brought the eyes of everybody to the door frame where a funny little man in a white coat with a stereoscope around his neck and great big bushy beard stood
"There is no reason to fear anymore! I am Dr. Ruben Roze, and I am a doctor!"
"A Doctor!"
There was a collective cry from all the other, and now Pyrrhana and Norana did start to look a bit ill. They had both agreed to play a bit sick so they could win some sympathy, but now a real doctor had arrived. Would they have to give up the charade, or try to conceive the authorities as well? Could they even do that?
"Uhm… Ruby what are you doing?"
"That is Dr. Doctor Roze to you goldilocks, and please do not disturb. The situation is critical as it is. Two patient is very ill, and I have come to cure them"
Before Ruby could start to work her medical wonders, she was dragged to a corner where she was faced with Yang
"Now DR. Roze tell me: Why are you wearing a coat and a stereoscope and call yourself Doctor?"
"Pretty good, don't you think Yang? Now watch as I in the best way possible puts an end to this the masquerade, in which true love will conquer all!"
"Exactly how?"
"You see: I know I can't trust you when it comes to things like this, so I listened to your little conversation earlier, and just after you left to find Jaune I overheard the poison plan, so I made my own little scheme. I got this doctors costume, and when I'm going to examine them, I'm going to find Pyrrha and Nora, hidden under those horrible outfits, and at first Jaune and Ren are going to be mad, but then they will forgive them because nothing serious happened and because true loves conquers everything!"
"And how are we going to pay the debt?"
"And- What?"
"I don't have a 100 lien, and there absolutely no way I can get 200!"
"But why do you say WE?"
"Because you decided to interfere! And do you really want to see the family names dragged through the dirt of not being able to pay their debts"
"But I don't have 200 lien either; I spent the last I had on this costume!"
"Well you know what we have to do then?"
"What do you mean- ohh… "
It was not with an easy mind Ruby came to her conclusion. She did not think she would have to betray herself, her values, her integrity so early in her career, but the circumstances were regrettable, bleak and with no hope for any other alternatives. If this should end well, it must be the N and P of JNPR that pays. Ruby took a big step towards the cliché hospital scene where the two belladonnas were uttering their final breath number 35.
"Hmm yes, so you are the lovingly young lasses which has suffered such a cruel fate, yes, yes, you really are some lovingly young lasses, don't you think so boys? So! What is all this about poison? Let me have a look at this"
Spoken with a little too much excitement, Ruby began her examination of the two athletes, starting with listening to the heartbeat, then the brainbeat, finishing off with carefully studying the knee beat on both legs, oh yes, the 5 liren used on the stereoscope should not go to waste
"Hmmmm, yes, hmmmmm… hmm-hmmm, yes, oh, god, yes, hmmmmmm-hm. It seems you are indeed very much poisoned"
"WHAT!?"
The two exchange students uttered a scream that could be heard all over Beacon
"Yes, such a tragedy, you are as good as death, with no hope of survival, your extraordinary career has come to a sudden end. Struck down in the prime of your time!"
"WHAAAAAT?!"
And then a scream to be heard all over Remnant
"Yes, unless, you'll be blessed by the kiss of a handsome gentleman, preferably on the lips, there is no hope for you"
The relief washing over the two girl's faces almost gave them away, thank you mysteries and creepy Dr. Ruben Roze you have indeed cured us for our anxiety
Norana turned towards Jaune
"Did you hear that my darling beloved hero. With a simple kiss from you, I can be cured!"
"What about your partner?"
"Never mind her, come here!"
Pyrrha laid with her back turned to Nora, she held out her hand, and sought Ren's. Their fingers intertwined, and her silent voice breathed a soft please. Ren swallowed hard before he bowed down, planting a soft kiss on her lips, ending with a silent prayer for this nightmare to end
Jaune was yanked down on top of Nora, his mouth was forced opened in much the same way one would open an oyster shell, here with Nora's tongue being the knife parting the teeth and sucking the inside outs with a force not even the regal champion of Minstral could rival
This happened to the cheer of both Ruby and Yang, but of all them, only Yang seemed to remember what this was all about, and what it really meant.
Proofread by Deviljho's Hatred