A Harsh Reality Ch. 12: A Fighting Chance

I fucked up... I had to write the last chapter so many times, that I repeated information from the other one. My apologies to everyone, but I won't take the chapter down. Suffer through it, I hope that this one can make up for it. And a question that was asked, none of the images that Ruby has drawn on my story exists as far as I know. It's just me spending a long time thinking "what would look cool even though I can't draw?"

Team RWBY woke to the harsh sound of an unwelcome alarm. All of them had slept very peacefully, especially Blake. Yang's warmth and comfort helped her sleep very well. Now that the idea was in her mind, she wouldn't mind faking any form of angst to keep it going longer. She was never in more understanding of why her younger leader was always a big proponent of sleeping with her sister. She looked over at the bathroom, and saw that Weiss had already made her move. Next time heiress, she thought. Blake just opened up her book, and then realized something.

"What's our class today?" She asked in an offhand manner.

"Sparring," Yang replied quickly. She checked around the mechanics of Ember Celica, making sure that everything worked the way it should. It's perfect, she thought. Ruby's affection for weapons rubbed off on the older girl, giving her a lot of pride in Ember Celica. She looked over at the bathroom, and realized how perfect that sparring on this day might be. She might get a chance for a show of force with the girl dating her sister. Yang cracked her knuckles in anticipation of what might be.

As soon as the door to the bathroom opened up, Blake entered inside. Yang and Ruby both growled angrily, and then grumbled to themselves. It was going to come down to a sister on sister showdown. One spot left in the bathroom. Ruby was faster then Yang, but Yang was more aggressive then Ruby. They both kept their eyes on the door, and their knees were bent to sprint.

"You two are ridiculous," Weiss said.

"I'm your girlfriend," Ruby argued. "You should be rooting for me!"

"I'll pass." The door to the bathroom opened up at the end of Weiss' sentence, and the two girls were off. Ruby's semblance gave her the boost she needed, and she managed to crash in just before her sister. Yang trailed in behind her, but it was pointless. Ruby had made it in first, therefor meaning that she got the chance to get ready third as apposed to fourth.

"Dammit," Yang grumbled.

"That's payback for giving me one of your bottles," Ruby argued.

"Which you took in the first place."

"Yang, I swear-."

"Can you two please just get ready?!" Weiss yelled out.

"Fine!" They both called out. Ruby kicked Yang out, and started to get ready.

Forty Minutes Later

It may of have been forty minutes, but Ruby was only responsible for losing five of those. Yang had only just gotten out, with her team in a panic mode.

"We need to get going," Weiss said, practically dragging the brawler out of the bathroom.

"Hang on," Yang said, determined to annoy her teammate as much as possible. She grabbed Ember Celica, and then faced her team. "Okay, now I'm ready to go." The other three sprinted out, and Yang just watched them go. Perhaps she had taken her attempt at annoying Weiss a little too far.

Sparring Class: Glynda Goodwitch

Team RWBY ran into the class, and took their seats next to JNPR. They briefly greeted them, and heard their teacher begin to welcome them back.

"Hello class," Professor Goodwitch greeted. "And welcome to another year of sparring. This class is one of the few that is mandatory for all students to take. Now, it has been a long summer and I'm relatively sure that most of you didn't get in any fights. So let us begin with a team that I know is not going to be as rusty. RWBY, I believe some inner team battles are in order." All of team RWBY looked over at each other, and went to take the stage. "I have the matchups picked already," Goodwitch continued. "Ms. Rose and Ms. Belladonna, will you both please take the floor?" Ruby looked over at Blake hesitantly. She didn't necessarily want to fight her teammate, but Blake should provide a fun fight.

If she had a different personality, or maybe if it was told to her, she would of have looked at her fight in a similar light as Yang. By now, it was pretty well understood that Yang and Blake were together. But Ruby wasn't as protective/territorial over Yang as Yang was of Ruby. Regardless, Ruby figured that the two alien fighting styles would create an interesting matchup. She activated Crescent Rose, and let it spring to life. Blake raised up Gambol Shroud in it's cleaver form, figuring that the extra width of the weapon would even out her chances.

"Begin!" Goodwitch yelled out. She backed away from the fight, and watched as the two girls circled each other. Blake was very patient. Her cat instincts gave her the patience for her pray to come at her first. Ruby knew that, especially after working with the girl for a year. She was determined not to break first.

Unfortunately, Ruby's patience only lasted so long. She fired off a round from Rose, and launched herself into the air. She fired off another round, and propelled herself directly at Blake. Blake shadow'd herself into the air just as Crescent Rose hit where she was, and swung around Shroud at the girl's back. Ruby fired off another round to get herself out of the way, and silently cursed herself for forgetting about Blake's semblance.

Blake decided to become the aggressor, and ran in at Ruby. She swung around her blade, but it was stopped quickly by the much longer blade of Crescent Rose. She fired off a round, twisting around Gambol Shroud awkwardly in Blake's hands. She was only just able to hold onto the weapon, but it came at a price. Blake knew that something was sprained in her wrist, forcing her to dedicate a small portion of aura to the injury. Ruby wasted no time noticing her slight hesitation, understanding that Blake's sword hand had been injured. Something that Ruby knew to take advantage of.

She swung around Crescent Rose in a series of overhead strikes, and Blake was successful in dodging most of them. The attacks that she did have to dedicate a block to took a toll on her wrist, forcing her aura down. Ruby may of have been impulsive, but she was very combat intelligent. She knew that she didn't have to seriously injure Blake, or score a decisive blow, all she had to do was get the girl's aura into the red. It would only a few more strikes to end a fight that had become one sided.

Blake knew that she was running out of options, and decided to play one of her tricks. She switched around Gambol Shroud to it's ribbon form, and threw it to hook the shaft of the massive scythe. She fired off several rounds, and Ruby was struggling to keep it in her hands. Ruby knew that if she were to fire off a round, the larger and more powerful caliber would throw Blake off her course. Ruby decided that was the best course of action, and tried to do just that. Blake lost her already injured grip on Gambol Shroud, and Ruby raised up Crescent Rose to her throat.

"That's the match," Goodwitch yelled out, ensuring that Ruby didn't get caught up in the moment. "A swing in the favor of you Ms. Rose. Ms. Belladonna, it appears that you suffered some form of injury." Blake just nodded in response, trying to heal up her wrist with her aura. "You will receive medical attention for that." A medic lead Blake off of the floor, and Ruby followed along in a concerned manner. She didn't think that Blake's wrist was hurt as badly as it looked at that moment. "On to the next fight," Goodwitch called out. "Ms. Schnee and Ms. Xiao Long, please take the floor." Weiss and Yang walked on, and Yang was grinning from ear to ear.

Now was going to be her chance. She could show Weiss what exactly to expect if she did anything to hurt her baby sister, which was something that Yang feared greatly. After all, Weiss and Ruby weren't exactly all warm and fuzzy to start off their relations. Which gave Yang, what she felt to be, probable cause to be concerned. She activated Ember Celica, and watched as Weiss drew Myrtenaster.

"Begin!" Goodwitch called out. Yang wasted no time in firing off two rounds behind her, and launching herself straight at Weiss. Weiss simply raised up a glyph, and the brawler was forced to fire off two more rounds to get away from it. She landed, and saw that Myrtenaster was already within inches of her. Yang fired off two more rounds, and deflected the blade with her elbow. It left a cut, but it didn't bother Yang. She quickly fired off two more rounds, and nailed Myrtenaster, sending it from Weiss' grasp.

Weiss backed away from Yang, and lifted up her hand. She left a glyph between them, and ran over to her sword. Yang fired off two rounds to send herself over it, and was coming close to Weiss. Weiss quickly raised a glyph between her and Yang, blocking any attempts from Yang at attacking her. She quickly picked up her sword, and lowered down the glyph. Yang had her in a bad place. She needed a way out. She quickly flipped around her dial, and readied her sword in a traditional stance.

Yang wasted no more time, and ran forward at the heiress. Weiss quickly swung around her sword to stop the girls fists, and a small trail of ice was visible behind the blade. It collided with Ember Celica, and froze Yang's hands in place. Yang quickly activated her semblance, and melted off the ice. She fired off two more rounds to launch her body into Weiss, and knocked her to the ground. Yang picked up Weiss, and brought them face to face.

"Okay, that's enough," Goodwitch yelled out, running to break the two girls apart. "Ms. Xiao Long, not a decisive win, but a win. You exerted a lot more aura then what might of have been necessary." Yang just kept a close eye on Weiss, her message having been sent. "With that, class is dismissed. Both of those fights took a long time, especially given the fact that we had to end a little earlier then normal." Most of the students had stopped paying attention, and everyone just left to get to the cafeteria.

Goodwitch watched all of them leave, and felt a presence come out from behind her.

"They fought well," a male voice said. "It's encouraging for the future."

"Only slightly," Goodwitch replied. "They still have a long way to go."

"Which is why we use them sparingly. Have some faith Glynda, I pushed her ahead two years for a reason. You must remember Summer."

"Of course I remember Summer. She was excellent, until she exerted herself too much."

"Which is why we're here to guide them, and not her."

Beacon Cafeteria

RWBY joined up with JNPR, and sat down at their normal table. Blake was constantly flexing around her wrist, making sure that every bit of it was healed from spraining it earlier. As soon as they sat down, Ruby laid on her apology.

"I'm really sorry Blake," she started immediately. "I didn't realize that your wrist was really that injured."

"Yes you did," Blake replied in a very nonchalant fashion. "We were in combat, you saw a weakness to expose, and you exposed it. I don't blame you." Ruby seemed relieved that her teammate had completely forgiven her.

"So those were fights," Jaune said immediately. "I mean, they were good fights."

"Yup," Yang replied cheerfully. "Score one for the sisters, zero for the partners."

"You won't let us live this down, will you?" Weiss asked.

"Not if you forget my promises," Yang shot back. Weiss raised up her hands defensively, unsure if she wanted to others to know what Yang was talking about.

"What'ya mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not my place to say," Yang added in. She would of have gladly spilled if her sister wasn't involved. Since she was, that meant that Yang had to keep quiet.

"Now I want to knoooow," Nora begged. Weiss looked over at Ruby, the words she would of have said evident in her eyes. It's really up to you right now.

"Me and Weiss arrrrrrreee," Ruby tried. "I mean, we're..."

"I'll help out the dunce," Weiss finally said. "Together, dating, girlfriends." Jaune dead stopped eating, Pyrrha and Nora looked on in surprise, and Ren just seemed completely unbothered by this statement.

"So, you're boooth..." Jaune tried, unable to really make an intelligent statement off of the recent information.

"So you're both gay?" Nora tried, being incredibly blunt about the same statement that Jaune had tried to sneak around.

"No, Nora," Weiss said, her tone implying how annoyed she was. "I just decided to date another girl, and Ruby wanted to too!"

"You could of just been curious," Nora replied offhandedly. Weiss sighed at the girl, and just resumed eating. Then, she realized something.

"No comment Ren?" Weiss asked. "Nothing? No reaction at all?" Ren took another bite of his noodles, and then looked over at the heiress.

"I knew," he said simply. Weiss made a mental note to herself to never underestimate the knowledge of her quiet friend. "I also know that there is more." Yang and Blake looked over at him suspiciously, which invoked a slight mouth twitch from him. So he had guessed correctly.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not my place," Ren replied, taking another bite from his noodles. He went silent, and just waited for anyone else to say something. Yang was struggling not to crack under his silent stare. Blake saw this, and decided to bail her partner out.

"Yes, me and Yang are together as well," Blake explained. Jaune practically choked on his drink, and looked over at both of them.

"WHAT?!" He asked a little louder then he intended too. Team RWBY smiled at his outburst. "I mean," he started again, calming down slightly. "I thought that Yang said she'd been with guys before. So wouldn't this be-?" Jaune stopped, realizing that he might be treading down the wrong path.

"You are clueless, you know that?" Yang asked. Jaune nodded soberly. "You ever heard of someone being bi-sexual?" Jaune shook his head. "It means someone likes both genders. That would describe me and Blakey."

"Ohhhh," Jaune said, realizing how dumb he had been. "Well, I'm happy for you guys." Pyrrha grumbled, and tossed over some lien to Nora, who was just grinning ear to ear.

"Whtspwhr," Ruby said through a mouthful of food.

"Chew," Weiss ordered. Ruby chewed all of her food slowly. "Swallow." Ruby gave a large gulp. "Now you can talk."

"What's up with her?" Ruby tried again.

"Me and Nora had a bet," Pyrrha said sadly. "Whether or not Blake and Yang would get together."

"And I won!" Nora exclaimed. She took out half of the lien, and gave it to Ren.

"You-!" Pyrrha stuttered. "You son of a bitch!"

"WE won," Nora corrected.

"No wonder I lost," Pyrrha grumbled. "I should of known that Ren was helping her." Everyone laughed, and continued on with their food.

End: Sorry for the late update. I was in a lot of pain/discomfort from my medical issues {I've mentioned them in Child of Grimm} today so it made focusing on this chapter more difficult. I fucked up with the A/N that I fucked up on a while ago, cause I had wanted to see if anyone could create {draw or animate} a Drunk Ruby in similar style to Drunk Burnie {cause the image is funny in my mind}. Also, I'm going to skip ahead to the winter break, unless there is a lot of people against it. Other questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.