"It's so boooooring." Nora complained. She and Ren were walking back to their dorm from supper. They were only two days into the break and Nora was already bored out of her mind.

"It's relaxing." Ren quietly replied.

"No. It's boring."

"We could go home if you think it's that bad."

"Ok, it's not that boring." She perked up. "At least Jaune and Pyrrha are here, too. And Ruby's team! And a few other innocent bystanders." she added with a mischievous grin.

Ren let a grin slip past his usual deadpan. Thought they each loved their families, they preferred to stay away from home. Like Nora said, they had some good friends here, whereas back home, the odd pair didn't fit in. Ren's impassive expression returned at the memory of the social pressures they both felt growing up.

An excited gasp from the short redhead drew him out of his thoughts. Nora must have an idea.

"Hey, Ren, are Jaune and Pyrrha going to be training all night like they did last night, and the night before?"

"I believe that was their plan." Their two teammates were training well into each night now that they didn't need to worry about waking up on time for class.

"That means we'll have the whole room to ourselves!"

"Yes."

"Let's build a fort! And then we could have a pillow fight. Or, no!" she gasped in excitement. "A mattress fight! Let's have a mattress fight!"

"Yes to the fort, maybe on the pillow fight, no to the mattress fight."

"Aww, you're no fun. Pleeease?"

"No, Nora. The last thing I need is a problem with my mattress."

"But you sleep too much! Screwing up the mattress might be a good thing. "

"I sleep too much because I'm tired."

"But you sleep, like, eighteen hours a day."

"Twelve."

Ren held the door to their dorm open for Nora and followed her inside. By the time the door clicked shut, Nora had already begun shifting the furniture around. Ren was content to sit back and watch Nora's imagination run wild, ready to lend a hand here and there when she would inevitably need a third or fourth.

Ren had forgotten about the maple syrup the team kept hidden from Nora under Pyrrha's bed. As soon as Nora moved the bed, she forgot about her plans for the fort and snatched up the bottle.

"Put it back, Nora." Ren ordered.

"But I just want a little."

"That's what you always say. Now put it down."

A mischievous grin stretched across her face. "You can't make me." She flipped open the cap and took a swig of the sweet syrup.

"Famous last words." He leapt at her, aiming to grab the bottle.

With a giggle, she stepped out of the way, tripped Ren, and jumped on top of one of the beds. After taking another quick sip, she dangled the bottle in her fingers, smiling at Ren with a drip of syrup oozing from the corner of her mouth.

"You're toying with me?" He said with a half grin as he pushed himself off the floor where Nora had stood only a moment ago and dusted himself off. "Nora, you know you shouldn't have too much of that. Remember what happened last time?"

"Not really," she said cupping her chin in her hand, "but I do remember it was way more fun than a mattress fight."

"For you perhaps. You booby trapped the entire campus. If Ozpin hadn't been so impressed, you would have been suspended for a month."

"I don't remember any of that."

"What do you remember?"

"Putting pink dye in your soap. You looked so cute! Even Cardin thought so."

Narrowing his eyes, he remembered that incident. He had to scrub with sandpaper for a week to get that to wash out. "I'll give you one more chance. Hand it over."

"Oh, okay." Her shoulders drooped as she reached the bottle towards Ren.

Ren cocked his head and squinted at her. Nora never gave up that easily. He cautiously stepped forward and reached for the bottle, only to watch it disappear as Nora bounced away, laughing like a small child.

"Can't catch me!" she jeered as she somersaulted from bed to bed.

With his arms crossed, Ren watched her from where he stood, and waited. She bounced from one bed to the next, off the wall and back to the bed again, giggling the whole time and sneaking more sips here and there, splattering syrup everywhere. When she tried to flip over him, Ren reached up and grabbed her by the ankle. He used her momentum and slammed her into the bed next to him, the impact making her lose her grip on the contraband. A part of him thought he was being too rough, the other part reminded him that this was Nora.

He smugly smiled at her. "You were saying?"

"Aww," she complained, looking not at Ren, but at the bottle that was now out of her reach. "I only got to finish half of it."

"Only?" He echoed, maintaining a tight grip on her squirming ankle. "What a shame. Hey!" He exclaimed as a pillow bounced off his face, startling him into letting her ankle go.

With the force of a freight train, Nora tackled him to the ground and the two tumbled across the floor until Ren found himself trapped in a bear hug. She cupped her right hand around her left fist and crushed it into his sternum, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

"Like my new bear hug?" she taunted. "I thought of this during Anatomy class last week."

"Stop, Nora!" he wheezed. "I can't breathe!" She was too strong. There was no way he could out muscle her, but he tried nonetheless.

"I'll let you go if you let me have the rest." She sang in his ear.

"No, gah! No, it's not good for you. You've had enough!" He felt her grip get even tighter, he desperately tried to draw a breath, but couldn't inhale more than a sip of air.

"You know what else isn't good for you?" She laughed impishly. "Not getting enough air."

Ren felt his extremities start to tingle. After a few more moments, his vision faded and his body went limp. Nora immediately released him when he passed out.

"Oops, uh Ren?" her voice wavered. She nervously poked at him. "I-I didn't mean it, you were supposed to give up before that happened."

"Gotcha!" Ren snapped as he grabbed her wrist with blurred speed, eliciting an 'eep' from the startled girl. Before she could react, he pulled her to the floor, jumped on her back, crossed her wrists behind her, then forced them as close to her neck as they would stretch.

"What?! You're a faker! Faker, faker, faker, that's cheating! Cheapskate!"

He indulged in a rare, evil laugh. It was fun to be the villain sometimes. "Sounds like someone's a sore loser."

"That wasn't fair, I want a do over!" She strained to free her arms, but Ren knew that the only way she was getting loose was if he let her.

"Nope. You're staying right here until your sugar rush is over."

"Meanie." she huffed. "You're hurting me."

"If you hadn't almost strangled me, I might feel bad." He didn't like to do this to her for that reason, but this time, she definitely deserved it. Still, he did feel a little guilty.

"I'm sorry! I said I didn't mean it!"

He leaned forward so he could speak in her ear. "If you promise never to do that to me again, I'll let you go."

"Promise!"

He let go of her wrists and got off her back, snatching up the syrup bottle before she had a chance to grab it.

"Yay!" she exclaimed, stretching out her arms. "Aww," her shoulders slumped when she saw Ren had confiscated the syrup.

"Did you think I was going to let you have it after all that?" He flipped the cap shut, trying not to get his hands sticky. Feeling a sudden unease, he looked over his shoulder at Nora, "Why are you looking at me like that?" He found himself in the crosshairs of her fiendish stare and wild smile.

"Round two!" She yelled as she lunged after him, or rather, the bottle of syrup.

He sidestepped her frantic assault and jumped back to dodge her next swipe. He had to get rid of the syrup before she tired him out and managed to drink the rest. He was not willing to be responsible for the next Nora disaster, but he got hit with another pillow, distracting him long enough for Nora to trample him, grab the syrup, and run out of the room laughing like a maniac.

With a growl of aggravation, Ren got up, brushed himself off, and shot after her, and in moments the distance between the two closed. Nora may have been the stronger of the two, but Ren was faster, though he wasn't fast enough to see her toss the empty syrup bottle over her shoulder until it hit him right between the eyes. "Ouch, hey!" While he was distracted, Nora whirled around. 'Oh shit.' He thought, but he didn't have time to react. "Nora, wait, stop! Don't!" BAM! Nora tackled him at full speed.

Taking off down the hall, she sang, "You can't catch me! You can't catch me!"

He got up off the floor and ran after her. He wasn't mad at her. After all, she was only playing around, but he needed to catch her before this got out of hand. He chased her into the stairwell and rushed up to the next floor. At the very last step, Nora jumped out in front of him, saying "Boop." as she tapped his nose.

Startled by her sudden appearance, he slipped and he fell head over heels back down the stairs, crashing to the landing and bumping his head against the wall. Groaning, he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head while he shook off his daze, glaring at the impish redhead laughing at him from the top step.

"Uh, oh." she exclaimed when she saw him get up. He ran back up the stairs and tried to grab her, but she bolted a moment too soon, cackling maniacally.

Refusing to let her out of his sight, Ren ran after her. He shook his head in amusement as he watched her attempt a wall jump, only to fall flat on her face, giggling the entire time. He tackled her and they once again tumbled across the floor.

'Crap. . .' Ren looked up at Nora, who had him pinned beneath her. 'I should know better by now.' Her eyes narrowed and a Cheshire grin stretched from ear to ear.

"No, Nora, Stop!" He shrieked in an uncharacteristic falsetto between bouts of uncontrollable laughter as she tickled him without mercy. He tried to push her off, but it was impossible to find the strength between involuntary spasms. His lungs seized when she pecked him on the temple before taking off, leaving giddy laughter in her wake.

He shook himself out of the flustered shock of the unexpected kiss. He weakly tried to get up, gasping for breath between remedial laughter, but he was too shaky from sensory overload and collapsed back on the floor.

"What just happened?" he moaned.

Minutes later, he stumbled into the common room. Ruby and Weiss were sitting on the sofa, drinking coffee and exchanging notes. Both were in their pajamas. They looked up to see a much disheveled Ren collapse in a chair next to them.

"Ruby. Weiss. I need your help." He said between breaths. He felt like he had been in a train wreck. "It's Nora," he gasped.

Ruby didn't seem to care that she had a half-eaten cookie in her mouth, she spoke anyway. "Yeah, we know. We heard you and Nora fooling around in the hallway."

"We weren't fooling around."

"Yes you were," Weiss corrected. "You were chasing her through the whole dorm and you wound up getting tickled senseless. How is that not fooling around?" She and Ruby won this round. "I also want to add that you shriek like a little girl." She quipped.

Ren felt warmth flush his cheeks as he winced and sank further into the chair, "You saw the whole thing?"

"Yup," they chorused.

"You know, Ren," Ruby said, as she got up and made her way to the coffee pot. "That's not the brightest way to get a date."

"That's not what-"

"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed him.

He groaned.

Ruby poured herself another mug of coffee, adding cream and five sugars. "So, why do you need our help?" Ruby returned to the couch, set her coffee down next to a half-eaten box of cookies on the side table, then turned to face Ren and Weiss.

"Yeah," Weiss added, "she too much for you to handle?"

'Why do women have to be so vicious?' He couldn't help but ponder. "You two are enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Well," Weiss continued, "it's a hell of a lot more entertaining to watch you fumble over your girl troubles than it is to sit here and work on Port's assignment."

Ren didn't like how matter-of-factly that sounded. "Are you going to help me or not?" He was ready to give up before they found any more amusement at his expense.

"Sure," Ruby said. "What do we need to do?"

"We need to catch her before she gets herself into trouble."

"Ren, I already told you-"

"No, Ruby, that's not what this is about!" He wasn't going to let her go there again. "She. . . she drank all the maple syrup."

"Are you kidding?" Weiss moaned. "Please tell me you're joking! That's what's going on?"

Ruby giggled, "Sounds like Nora's sugar high again." She reached for her coffee.

"Yes, sugar high and on the loose." Ren added. "We need to make sure she doesn't do anything too crazy and hurt someone. . . or herself."

"Uhh, hey, guys," Ruby's voice wavered. "My coffee mug is empty. . . I could have sworn I just filled it."

"Ruby," a look of dread crept across Weiss' face. "Wasn't there a box of cookies there a second ago?"

Ren jumped up out of his seat and surveyed the room. A trail of crumbs led to the east wing. Without a word, he took off, following the trail with Ruby and Weiss in close pursuit. He heard heavy footsteps racing away from them. The footsteps paused. Ren had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

They raced around the corner, and were greeted by one of Nora's explosives heading straight at them. Ren dove face down onto the floor, and Ruby and Weiss ducked back around the corner. They managed to dodge the assault, despite the close quarters, but were showered with falling debris from the blast.

When the smoke cleared, they saw Nora at the end of the hall with Magnhild pointed at them, staring down the trio with a menacing scowl. She wasn't laughing anymore. In a matter of mere minutes, she had gone from relatively stable to disturbingly volatile. It was frightening.

"Nora," Ren said, slowly getting back to his feet so as not to startle her. "Nora it's okay. We're here to help you." The way she was staring at him made him uneasy. "Please," he took a deep breath and an uneasy step forward, "Please try to relax, and-"

"Why won't you leave me alone!" she roared as she shot another grenade at the trio opposing her.

Ren rushed forward and absorbed the impact with his aura, but the force of the shockwave threw him on his back. Turning Magnhild into hammer form, the crazed huntress before him swung full force at the floor beneath her and disappeared in the rubble.

"Nora!" Ren got up and tried to run after her, but something held him back. He looked over his shoulder to see that Weiss had him by the collar of his green tailcoat.

"Ren, this is bad." She said, letting go of his collar. "She's had so much sugar she can't even control herself."

Ruby added, "We need to get the others and put a plan together. Chasing her like this isn't going to work. She's even worse than the last time this happened."

He looked at the girls, then back toward the massive hole in the floor. "All right." He sighed, and the trio hurried back towards their rooms.