Published: 7/8/2018

Edited: 7/25/2018

I in no way own RWBY nor am I affiliated with RoosterTeeth.

This is a work of fanfiction written purely for the fun of it, and which I derive no monetary gains from. Plez sooport de officer's relish.

Volume 01, Chapter 02.

Exams Are Easy

Gage looked around at the plain brick walls that were universal to nearly each hallway of Torch Academy as he waited on the young secretary before him to move forward with processing his application for the entrance exams. The walls, while plain, were still adorned with pictures regularly. Graduated huntsmen and women, previous teachers and headmasters, and even just pictures of everyday scenes at the school. If not for how wide and long the corridors were and the lack of a fireplace, it would almost be homey.

"Alright Mr. Enfield, just one last signature here and you'll be all clear to enter and wait with the rest of the students for the exam. Good luck!" A secretary said with a chipper smile, drawing Gage's attention back to what he was doing. He took the form and signed the last blank spot in his registration forms. He thanked her softly as he stood up and returned the bundle to her.

'Impressive.' She was very good at maintaining her positive attitude despite how many people she'd no doubt had to deal with already today. Yet here Gage was, still silently fuming over one encounter.

'No, don't think about it. Be grateful she woke you up, don't bother her again and everything will be fine.' Gage took a deep breath and began regulating his breathing, eyes shut as he calmed his nerves. Aside from that small hiccup, everything was going perfectly well today and he was more than prepared to deal with the exams on his own terms. With any luck, he'd manage to impress someone at the physical exams who would be more interested in his talent as a Dust mage than in he himself. 'Well, that shouldn't be too hard.'

Unbeknownst to him however a pair of amber-colored eyes kept shooting him glares from nearby, their owner plotting his downfall as he basked in his "foolproof" plan.

Torch Primary Combat School. Located in the heart of Vale, it acts as the only primary combat school within the city proper and since founding has had significant ties with Beacon Academy. The two academies work jointly to create a curriculum that prepares students specifically for Beacon's initiation exams and the rigors they will face after.

Yet, the primary and secondary schools have very little in common despite their strong ties. Where Beacon focuses on taking its time in producing the best possible hunters, gradually ramping up the challenge for students and keeping them all on the same course plan throughout their four years of schooling, Torch focuses on bringing students up to an acceptable level to be able to pass Beacon's Alternative Qualification Exams.

Less than half of students attending Torch finish a full four years in the school and earn the certificate that guarantees students the opportunity to attend the initiation exam of any secondary academy on Remnant.

Torch serves a crucial and unique role among the primary combat schools of the Kingdom of Vale, as it provides the most flexible curriculum amongst Vale's primary schools. Everything is specifically tailored to the individual students needs, even going so far as to bring up students late to starting huntsman training up to an acceptable level of competence.

Having done his own reading on the subject, Gage was confident that there were only three other primary combat schools that offered a similar flexible curriculum. All three of them were in Vacuo. Gage really adored what the kingdoms lack of governmental oversight sometimes lead to.

Along with a host of student grants, housing opportunities and its centralized location had made the modest school Vale's primary source of Beacon applicants. Be they poor, late to the race or experienced but with no formal training, the Torch lights the way forward for all.

Yet despite all this, Torch has never had the same reputation as Signal or Flare, with their focused curriculums and supposed tendency to put out high-grade huntsman.

Regardless, the school plays a key role in the kingdom's defense and has significant historical importance. The fight to get the school built in the city center was led by concerned huntsmen lobbying against Vale's city council, and proved a pivotal turning point in land-distribution laws within Vale. Most people would call this boring, but proper and fair land-distribution was very important to the kingdoms continued prosperity.

And yet, not a single one of these history questions asked a single question related to Torch! Gage was livid. While the first half of his exam had at least required he think about how to answer the questions put before him- as trivial a question as "what is aura?" was- the second half had all proven to be multiple-choice questions.

The math and science questions had at least caused him to pause a beat. If he'd had to actually write out the answers to the math he'd have suffered. Gods, how he hated math. Building block of civilization or not. But to make the history questions so trivially easy? Abhorrent. What neophytes was this exam intended for?

Well, Gage already knew the answer to that question. He had studied for this after all. While secondary combat schools like Beacon had their initiation exams copyrighted and it was illegal to sell or distribute books or information regarding them, the same was not try of primary combat schools. This was allowed so that students could deliberately reach a base-line level of competency to be able to pass them.

Rather than make the exams as difficult as possible to deny students entry outright when they fail, they would instead check out what students had performed best on a given year. Both the academic and physical exams were easy enough to get good grades on overall, but that hardly meant anything. The process by which students passed the Alternative Qualification Exams were in impressing the professors who observed and tested you. This served two purposes, both allowing Beacon to pick and choose students who had great potential but weren't great yet, as well as to admit enough students on a given year if there was a drought of actual talent.

Not that all this knowledge abated his anger much. Gage continued scowling as he flew through the remaining history questions with ease.

What is he so angry about? Blake quirked her brow as she glanced at her target again from her ideal observation location- one row back, three seats to the left. Perfect angle for viewing his expressions without his notice. And he certainly was being expressive.

Blake could hear Gage furiously penciling in answer after answer on his exam sheet, seemingly frustrated with the questions. She couldn't quite identify why that was however, given that he didn't seem to find the questions themselves difficult. On the contrary, he seemed... annoyed that it was too easy?

Looking more and more like he was born to be an academic rather than a hunter. Blake had already come to the conclusion that he likely fit into category two of the types of students she'd observed participating in the entrance exam. Those with limited personal funds and being late to train as hunters, but who had, some way or other, taken catching up very seriously.

She'd managed to get a fair deal of information on Gage from her observations thus far. Fortunately, the exams were easy enough that even if she hadn't been in a school for six years, she was more than smart enough to sweep through the exams questions. Blake had always prided herself on her intelligence, and it was gratifying to see that it held up even in a school environment.

Now... how to explain my reasons for becoming a huntress and my future goals. Without mentioning the White Fang...

Gage stared down at the essay before him intently, pausing his pencil and scanning over everything he'd written to be sure he was satisfied. The section of paper was filled with his messy handwriting, written as small as he could manage, each line of writing rose and fell like an uneven tide as he erred in keeping his writing straight. He could likely have finished already, but... He had a personal vendetta to finish this section as thoroughly as possible.

Just because he regarded his past as empty and hollow, that did not mean there was no meaning to be found in the absence of his achievements. He himself was testament to the fact that failure often paved the way to real, lasting success.

Besides, writing this all out was vindicating. There was no reason to rush so he could go take a break and wait around. Reminiscing on just how far he'd come was calming.

Gage focused his eyes on a specific section. "Failing Torch's initiation exams caused me to fall into a depression for nigh on half a year. But eventually I worked through it and realized that while I'd failed, there was a reason why: I was unprepared. Once I realized that, the solution was simple. I needed to prepare for the problems that I would encounter. It would take some time, a little bit of actual training, and a whole heaping of creativity and practice. But my goal of becoming a huntsman was technically closer than ever before..."

It had been four years ago since he'd failed those exams. The thought sobered him. He'd gone into the exam underprepared, with only a short sword with three Dust cylinders and his own very lackluster physical abilities. While he was very skilled with Dust, he fell short in every other area.

At first, he was distraught and thought his dream was over before it had even started. What few friends he had, all aspiring huntsmen, ended up leaving him behind. Though it was more his fault than any fault of theirs. The ones who tried to stick with him had been driven away by his perpetual negativity. The others who had left on their own had better things to preoccupy themselves with. They were going to be training to be huntsman. They had no time for his moping...

Gage languished in his misery. He realized just how much of an idiot he could be- was, and always would be. He had known easily twice as much about Dust, aura and the grimm that any of his fellow 'trainees' had known. But his physical ability was easily only half of theirs. His knowledge, converted to mere trivia in the face of his inability to make use of it.

He spent over half a year in his depression. His family had noticed, of course they had. They didn't approve of his desire to be a huntsman, but that didn't mean they were happy to see him so destroyed over the matter.

It was only at his fathers insistence that he work part-time at a Dust shop that things had started to turn around. Gage had never gotten along with his father well, but he still admired how hard-working the man was, especially compared to himself. This was one of the few acts of consideration from him he truly appreciated. So he focused on doing his best in his new part-time job, and when the shop owner discovered his desire to become a huntsman and his aptitude for Dust, he'd offered him low-grade Dust sold only in bulk to companies.

The opportunity was more of a boon than Gage had known at the time, and he was immensely grateful for it. Low-grade Dust wasn't terribly useful in battle, but it made for an excellent chance to practice with Dust in a controlled environment at a fraction of the cost of higher-grade Dust.

With that as a kick-start, Gage renewed his efforts to become a huntsman. He spent several years practicing and refining his technique with Dust and bringing himself up to at least a tolerable level physically.

He had put off entering into Beacon when he turned seventeen, deciding that he wasn't quite ready yet. Instead he applied to Torch and was accepted on the grounds of, 'Significant self-improvement shown without the aid of a mentor, especially in applicants noteworthy aptitude for and creativity with Dust.' Torch had been useful for finally gauging his growth and helped with shoring up his numerous weaknesses.

For most of the year, he had practiced with Dust mostly by himself. He used it sparingly while sparring, to spare his wallet of too much suffering. He wasn't made of Dust, for Oum's sake!

As a result, he'd failed to win a single sparring match all year. A fact that hadn't gone unnoticed by the student body, who regarded him as an anomaly; something to be pitied or looked down upon.

That was fine though. They didn't understand, nor could they be expected to understand, the ignorant fools. Today, he wasn't going to hold back on the physical exam though. Just as he'd put his practice time to good use by focusing on his weaknesses, now he would put his lien to good use and impress observers with his strengths. Besides, seeing the shocked look on Cardin Winchester's face would be oh-so-sweet...

He hoped someone would take a picture of it. That would be amusing.

Gage noticed he was grinning widely and paused; he had gotten distracted with stroking his ego. It wasn't like he had an audience to do so for either, he noted as he nervously looked around the room at the students quickly departing. Geh, I don't want to be last just because I let my head get lost in the clouds... again...

Focusing on the second essay, Gage stared at the question a few moments. "Future goals," it asked him for. He tilted his head in thought, before smiling as an idea struck him. Putting down his pencil, he exchanged it for a pen.

Using a pen when answering an exam question was always a poor idea, as there was no erasing it. Wielding a pen to answer this question however would drive his point. With bravado and confidence filling him, he scratched out three words in large text as his response.

Surely after how candid he was answering the other question, they would indulge him this half-serious joke?

Probably not, He laughed internally. Someone is definitely gonna be surprised when they reach the last page.

It was lunch hour now, and Blake Belladonna sat alone in the large cafeteria that was open to all the entrance examinees. Like any other busy cafeteria, the noise in the cafeteria was constant and she had to make an effort to resist her ears twitching and twisting every time a group of students started laughing. Still, it seemed not all the students had come to eat here, small blessing that it was.

Evidently some students had left campus in order to eat at one of the restaurants nearby. An advantage of having your school in the middle of the commercial heart of Vale, she supposed.

The food was fairly good for being mass-produced, and Blake bit down on her tuna-fish sandwich with pickles. Having fish on the menu certainly helped to improve her mood.

She was once again observing her target, who it now seemed was in significantly improved spirits. Even though it took him so long to finish his exam? Another oddity. He sat alone just like her, but seemed perfectly content with this as he speared some more noodles from his plate while reading from a magazine laying down upon the table. She'd briefly glimpsed the title, "Recent History and Archaeology Discoveries." Blake frowned, a little annoyed that he just kept reinforcing the stereotype.

That stereotype had been the most she'd managed to figure out despite her curiosity. No one had spoken with him yet, so aside from how expressive he was when spending time by himself, she had no real insights into his personality or why he'd rebuffed her offer of alliance before she could even propose it.

She had hit a roadblock. At this rate, none of her observations would be of any use...

Blake was broken from her thoughts as a figure sat down beside her. Startled, she quickly turned to ascertain the new threat, only to be met with light blue cat-like eyes that were almost a mirror of her own. Her face was framed by straight, deep purple hair that seemed to glow where the light struck off it and went down to her shoulders. A white bow was elaborately tied into her hair on the back of her head, two tufts coming up that almost resembled cat ears, and she wore two braids on each side of the bow.

The girl smiled with a soft, knowing smile as she kept eye contact with Blake even as the black-haired girls eyes continued to look over her, waiting patiently for her all the while.

Blake noted her facial features were, like most huntresses in training, beautiful, with a dainty nose and full rosy lips. She was extremely pale, with long slender limbs. Her clothing consisted of a well-fitted purple jacket with six buttons arranged down the front, and tight white-colored jeans concealed her legs all the way down to her purple boots. From her skirt extended a purple cat tail, which flitted back and forth with obvious amusement.

The purple-haired girl was...

"A faunus?" Blake murmured aloud, blinking and widening her eyes when she realized she'd actually vocalized her thoughts. The mysterious purple-haired faunus giggled softly, her eyes twinkling with amusement. Blake was flustered for a few moments.

Blake tried to clear the feeling by putting a hand to her mouth and clearing her throat. "Excuse me... can I help you?" She asked with trepidation, still taken off guard by the girl and wary of her intentions.

The mystery faunus put a hand to her mouth and gasped in realization, "Oh, I'm sorry! It's just that I thought Gage had managed to offend yet another person." She smiled with concern before offering her hand. "Iris."

Nonplussed, Blake automatically took the hand without thinking. "Blake. So..." It took a moment for her to process what Iris had stated as her reason for being here. Armed with that information, she hazarded a guess. "You're here to apologize for him?"

Iris's smile eased and she nodded. "Yes. He can be quite abrasive at times, as I'm sure you've found out. You were staring at him quite angrily."

To her credit, Blake didn't show any visible reaction to this, her gaze kept steadily on Iris's. Her cheeks however reddened slightly. "I was just curious," She deadpanned.

Iris nodded understandingly. "He is very strange, I agree."

Blake was being thrown off by Iris's behavior. She agreed she was here to apologize, but that didn't seem to be all based on her behavior so far. Still, this seemed like a good chance to learn more about Gage if she indeed knew him. "So. You know him?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say we're good friends," Iris said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"Then... Could you tell me a little about him? As way of apologizing." She added calculatingly.

"Hmm." Iris made a show of putting a finger to her chin and looking skywards. "Maybe, if you can tell me why you're interested." Her expression took on a teasing note to it.

Blake considered the offer for a few moments, but her curiosity ultimately made the decision for her. "Deal."

"Alright... Why don't you tell me how you met? I haven't seen you around before, so you must be here for the exams." Iris relaxed and took to picking at her almost-forgotten plate of food while waiting.

"Yes. I saw him sleeping outside on a bench. Since no one else was going to wake him, I decided to help. We introduced ourselves, then he made to leave after letting me know that you need a partner for the physical exams. He seemed alright, so I asked him if he had anyone in mind already. He angrily said no and left." Iris's expression shifted from bemused to contemplative as Blake told her story.

Blake frowned. She was still confused, and even a little hurt. She was used to being the one ending conversations suddenly and walking away. She'd done so a few times when dealing with White Fang members who were overly friendly with her. Being on the receiving end of being rejected, not for her race, but for reasons she couldn't discern?

It stung more than she realized. Perhaps that was why she was so fixated on this?

She knew she would get over it if she had a few days, but the situation was still fresh in her mind. It didn't help that Blake hadn't done any reading since, an act which often let her unwind mentally. To de-stress.

Blake glanced again at the girl who claimed she was his friend, eyes widening as she realized something strange.

"Are you teaming with him?" She asked suddenly.

Iris unpursed her lips as she had been thinking about how to respond to Blake's story without betraying his trust, even though he would forgive her. She blinked and tilted her head quizzically before registering why Blake was asking. "Oh! Actually, I'm not here for the exam. I'll be graduating next year, and while I'm old enough to take the Alternative Qualification Exam and pass, I thought I might as well be thorough and finish my last year."

"I see." Blake trailed off, eyes wandering back to Gage, who was still focused on his magazine, before turning back to Iris with a new thought. "Are you two...?"

Iris bit her lip to hold back a sudden wave of laughter, her shoulders shaking mirthfully before she regained her self-control and wiped her eyes. "N-No... We aren't dating. Although I was considering implying it to tease. I can't keep the act up though...!" Iris suddenly put a hand to mouth to restrain the giggle fit that overcame her.

Blake felt her left eye twitch, any semblance of mysteriousness that the purple-haired faunus had evaporating with her laughter. She didn't quite know how to respond to the strange situation, but thankfully Iris soon was in control of herself.

"Actually, Gage and I are cousins."

Blake's eyes widened noticeably, her gaze going to the girls faunus trait before her head swiveled quickly over to Gage. She repeated this motion back and forth twice more before meeting Iris's eyes again. "Huh? But...?"

Iris glanced up at Blake's bow knowingly before speaking. "Well, it's not as though one can't hide their trait." Blake's eyes widened and Iris's grin taking on a teasing note. "But Gage isn't a faunus."

This is getting to be a lot to take in... And this sounds like a very private matter. She closed her eyes and sighed tiredly. She could think about this later. "That's interesting, but I won't intrude. Can we get back on topic?"

Iris gave a nod, content that Blake wouldn't pursue the matter further.

"Why did he react so strongly to my question?" That was the question she'd been trying to figure out. Maybe she could lay this to rest if she got an answer.

Iris nodded seriously and faced Blake. "Gage was trying drive you away, so you wouldn't be disappointed or hurt by him later." Blake raised an eyebrow, internally scoffing at the notion that he could hurt someone that badly. "Weird, right? But he's disappointed a lot of people in the past. I can't tell the details, but he makes a conscious effort to avoid making friends now." Iris smiled faintly for a moment. "I'm guessing you made a... good impression on him. Even though he says he doesn't want friends, that does not make it true. So he tries to make people dislike him first. Does that make sense?"

Blake mulled over the explanation, her gaze naturally wandering to the young man they were discussing. He just so happened to be looking their way with an unreadable expression, his eyes fixated on Blake. When he noticed her looking back, he jumped slightly in his seat and made an obvious show of returning to his magazine while picking at his mostly-empty plate. Despite herself, she smiled a bit at the sight.

"It does." Blake said quietly. She furrowed her brow, unsure what to say next and brushed her hair back from the side of her head as she focused her thoughts. She had gotten lucky when Iris chose to speak with her. It told her enough about Gage as a person to know that, as unfriendly as he could be, he still had a considerate side to him. Nor would he irritate her by saying something racist in passing, if his faunus cousin's willingness to go out on a limb for him was anything to go by.

But with her curiosity having been partially satisfied and her newfound understanding for the teen, she was having second thoughts. There was no actual need for her to team up with him. It had only come about from her... temporary fixation upon the mystery he presented. Now that she was thinking properly, wouldn't it be easier for both of them if she left him to his own devices?

"If you're uncertain about teaming with my cousin, why don't I help you out?" Iris suddenly said, staring fixedly at Blake with that ever-mysterious, faintly amused smile. "I could talk to him for you."

Not for the first time, Blake was taken by surprise by the purple cat faunus. "Do you always meddle like this?" She murmured. This entire situation was perplexing, and Iris had controlled the flow of the conversation the entire way. Blake had hardly gotten in a word or even had to explain herself.

Iris almost broke into giggles again. "It's been a pleasure talking with you Blake," she said abruptly as she stood and grabbed her tray of half-touched food. "I'll be sure that Gage comes your way with an apology."

"Iriiiis... please? I said I'm sorry. What more do you want?" Gage whined pathetically.

"..." But he was only met with more silence.

Ten minutes. For ten minutes straight, Iris had kept silent and worked her way through her meal while Gage made numerous attempts to try and speak with her after she'd sat down across from him. At most she would gaze at him reprovingly when he would finish saying anything.

None of it worked! Apologizing. Explaining himself. Attempts at small talk. Talking about the exam. Complaining that she was being quiet had gotten him an especially strong glare, at which point Gage had almost given up.

Uggggh. Definitely angry. If I'd known that Blake was going to watch me so much that Iris would notice, I'd have tried to be more discreet. He really didn't know where she got the older sister persona from. She was an only child after all, and until last year, they hadn't seen each other in almost five years. The only reasonable conclusion he could come to was that it was instinctual in some way.

His cousin had changed a lot since they knew each other when they were younger. Before they had come into contact with each other again, Gage had always imagined that she would stay demure and quiet. While there were hints of that now and again, it usually came about when she was incorrect or messed up in some small way.

That happened every so often, but only because she was so confident in her assumptions. Assumptions that were often extrapolated from some small grain of information.

"Look, Iris. You shouldn't be so angry, she's not romantically interested in me, nor were the last three girls. It was only that one time..."

Extrapolations like assuming that because a guy and a girl were behaving strangely around each other it meant they were clearly into each other but unwilling to admit it! Really now. She would get embarrassed whenever she realized she was mistaken with her assumptions, but for some reason she was adamant when it came to those girls.

Iris closed one eye and gave him a questioning glance while holding up the last bite of her sandwich.

"Yes, it was only the one. The others were just angry, same as with Blake."

Iris rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Ugh. Okay, fine, believe what you will, I've already done a point-by-point breakdown to prove two of them weren't interested in me. And the last one had been picking a fight with me. Totally not a sign that she was interested in me."

Gage let out a long sigh and rubbed his forehead. He didn't really want Iris to remain angry with him, she was one of the few people who he felt comfortable with because she didn't- usually- wordlessly expect him to understand what was wrong and solve it himself. She was the only person he could comfortably talk about his concerns with, without being worried he'd drive her away with his negativity.

Really, he was fortunate to have met her again when he entered Torch last year. He appreciated her candor and encouragement that came sans an empty platitudes.

'Fine... She's made it clear she is angry and wants me to figure out what it is I have to do to make it up to her. I suppose I can use the old tinker and tink about this.' She was angry at him specifically because this was part of a recurring pattern of him sabotaging what Iris saw as potential relationships. What had she said last time he'd done so?

"Right. She told me that apologizing to her wouldn't patch things up with the person I'd hurt..."

"Alright, I understand now Iris." Gage sat up straight, his expression significantly sobered. Iris glanced at him, saw his expresion and put down her fork properly, watching him with an unreadable expression as she waited.

"I will apologize properly to Blake for my behavior, later. It was... inappropriate of me, and I know I shouldn't have done it."

Iris blinked, her gaze remaining fixed on his. "And? How will you make it up to her?"

He sighed, closing his eyes and murmured listlessly, "I'll ask her to be my partner for the physical exam."

Iris's expression immediately brightened as she beamed with pride. "Good," she responded simply, resuming her meal.

Gage was seriously tempted to shoot back, tell her he didn't intend to be friends with Blake... but knew that saying as much was pointless. She already knew he'd be against the idea. All Iris really expected of him was to be on good behavior.

Saying anything rude now would just be banal self-indulgence. He'd just have to make an effort to... not get infatuated with her. Accursed hormones.

"So Iris, why are you here today? Class is out, it's a weekend and the Alternative Initiation Exams are going on." Gage asked placidly, playing with his fork by standing it up using one finger on the end.

"Oh, well, don't tell anyone, but... I came to watch the exams and to sneak a meal." Iris winked at him playfully, to which Gage sighed.

"I don't... think that's against the rules, but it certainly sounds suspect." He narrowed his eyes on her and pursed his lips before asking, "You're bored, aren't you?"

"Very." She said with a completely straight smile.

Explains a lot. Gage's head drooped forward in exasperation.

A/N: And that's the second chapter! I actually started working on this almost immediately after I posted the first. I'd really like to get through this prologue section quickly, so that everyone who stops in has a chance to see there's enough reading material to really bit into.

This chapter underwent a lot more changes mid-writing than the first one did. The entire cafeteria scene was nowhere in my script and came about naturally, aside from one hiccup that had me stop writing for half a day. I hadn't even planned to incorporate Iris into this story so early. When I realized a nameless character I was going to make use of as an exposition dump (I freely but regretfully admit to this.) could be better performed by Iris, who I already had designed but had ignored the idea of her being a Torch student despite that she's in-training.

I tried to keep things moving along while continuing to hint at Gage's character in concrete ways. I don't have the privilege of being able to read my writing with a fresh mind, so there's bound to be some oversights in pacing, but I strive to make a reason for why a scene occurs. In particular, Gage furiously monologuing about Torch Academy. Yes, he is a huge history nerd, and this will become a constant for him.

This chapter included a good deal more character interaction, as facilitated by Iris, who I hope you thought was an interesting character. Her character is fairly easy to establish, although she has plenty of backstory of her own and isn't a simple girl by any means.

Regarding Blake though... I'm trying to do my best to characterize some of her traits that aren't "reads romance novels and doesn't talk much." She still doesn't say much, but that is intentional and I tried to make it so what she says is to-the-point. She uses advanced vocabulary, and when she isn't specifically prepared for something gets easily thrown for a loop. She's also prone to getting fixated on something that annoys her if she doesn't have something to help reset her mind. I'm happy with it, but still worried it might seem a bit OOC. Still, I have my justifications and will stand by them.

Lastly, while I know my own monologue style bled through to both Blake and Gage, our PoV characters for this chapter, I tried to leave distinct ways of talking in their mind. Gage occasionally shouting in his mind, and Blake using phrases like 'targets' mentally over something as innocuous as school drama.

And because I know it's cliche to have a male main character who has a lot of gals develop crushes on them and I couldn't find a good time to say this, but Iris was actually wrong about most of those crushes too. She's just adamant because it'd be embarrassing to admit otherwise.

This chapter was meant to be longer, but I noticed that this was a really good point to end the chapter at and the length was satisfactory, so without further ado- Here you are! Next chapter, expect explosions.

-YearsLate