I thought this chapter came out rather well. I enjoyed typing it and I hope you guys enjoy reading it! I'll try to type more, but with my schedule it may prove to be difficult at times, but I'll do what I can! Enjoy!

Chapter 14: Another Late Night

"Hey guys, I'm back," Lance said as he entered his dorm.

"Hey Lance," Ruby said.

"I wasn't too long, was I?" Lance asked.

"Not at all," Blake said.

"Glad to hear it," Lance said as he leaned against the wall. He didn't really have a place to sit at the moment, so leaning against the wall was good enough for him.

"So what was that about?" Weiss asked.

"Well, I don't know if I should talk about it… I think it's a personal thing," Lance responded.

"Personal?" Weiss said raising an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, I guess. I don't know how else to put it," He said shrugging.

"So was that Sora you said you were meeting?" Yang asked.

"Yeah. It's nice that I'm seeing more of him after all this time," Lance said.

"So what's he like? I remember you talking about him a little bit, but I don't remember you telling any details," Blake said.

"Well, he's a kind guy, but like I said before, he can be energetic and not totally level headed, I guess I would say. We used to play together all the time and we were best friends back in Vacuo. We even went to the same school. He was just a class below me. But anyways, he was a little bit of a trouble maker. He was definitely the class clown. I had to help him with homework on multiple occasions, but he was pretty good about it," Lance said. Describing his old friend brought back memories of his child hood that he enjoyed. He was happy to talk about it.

"He seems like an interesting character," Blake said.

"Heh… he was, definitely. My folks didn't really approve of him, but at the same time, at least he wasn't really a bad person," Lance said.

"He sounds to me like trouble," Weiss said.

Lance just chuckled a bit at how predictable she was. He knew she wouldn't approve of him. At least not right away.

"What's so funny?" Weiss said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Heheh, it's nothing," Lance said.

Lance felt his fatigue kicking back in and decided to pull out his scroll and check the time. It was later than Lance thought.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm very tired," Lance said putting his scroll away.

"I'm a little tired too," Ruby said. Lance figured that she would be as well.

"You guys going to bed?" Yang asked.

"I think I might," Lance said stretching.

"Ok, sounds good," She said.

Lance made his way to the bathroom and started to get ready for bed. When he was done getting ready, he got in his cot and went to sleep.

Lance awoke to the sound of something tapping on glass. He sat up in his cot and looked out the window. It looked like someone was out there. The figure in the window waved at Lance when he noticed him get up. "Am I dreaming?" Lance thought. He got up and went to the window to get a closer look at the figure. When he got close enough, he noticed it was Sora hanging on the building and tapping on the glass. He waved again when Lance noticed him.

Lance cracked open the window to talk to his friend.

"What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is? I have classes tomorrow," Lance whispered.

"Hey, I need to talk to you," Sora said.

"How did you even find my dorm?" Lance asked.

Sora just looked past Lance and saw his team mates.

"No way! You're bunking with FOUR girls!" Sora whispered.

"Look now's not the time. If you want to talk, lets at least talk on the roof," Lance said.

"Gotcha! Meet ya there," Sora said hopping off somewhere out of view.

Lance let out a sigh before getting ready and heading outside. Lance got on his normal attire and brought his sword, for good measure. He didn't really know why he brought it. It was more of a habit to take it along with him. He made his way back to the roof and met up with Sora, who was already waiting for him.

"Also, I felt bad for waking you up, so I got you this," Sora said tossing Lance a soda.

"Thanks," Lance said, catching the soda. Lance opened the soda and took a sip. He didn't think caffeine really affected him, but whether it did or didn't Lance tried to make himself think that it helped him.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Lance asked.

"It's about that meeting I had with Sonia," Sora said with a somewhat serious tone in his voice, throwing Lance off a bit.

"Did it go well?" Lance asked.

"Not really," He said.

"What happened?"

"Well, she came to me and we talked a bit, but she was relatively straight to the point..." Sora said looking at the ground. Lance was pretty confused, but he had an idea…

Lance went up and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, man," He said.

"What? No, I mean yeah it sucks, but it's not what you think," Sora said.

"Huh?" Lance said confused. Sora stepped back, causing Lance to release his grip on his shoulder.

"Let me explain… Basically you know I'm a merc and so is Sonia, and that we worked together. I didn't tell you the reason why we had to split… Long story short, I made some people angry and now they want me, well… dead," Sora said.

"They want you dead? Who wants you dead?" Lance asked

"Some guy named, Roman. He's all over the news and stuff, I'm sure you've heard of him," He said.

"Roman? Roman Torchwick?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, that's his name. Basically I pissed him off and now he wants me dead," Sora said. "But that still doesn't answer why Sonia and I had to split… I was worried he would come after her so I had to leave. I told her and she wasn't happy about it, but she begrudgingly agreed… So we left and I ran here… apparently though, he found out about Sonia, and soon enough, thugs started showing up and tried to attack her. She came here to warn me that they found out about me being here too, and that he sent some people out for us… So there you have it…" Sora said.

Lance was a little surprised that he was in this deep.

"Geez…" Lance said, astonished.

"So I came here wondering if you could… maybe, help me out," He said.

"I'll do what I can," Lance said.

"I knew you'd help! Because, I really need it right now," Sora said.

Lance wasn't totally happy about having another late night, but his friend needed help.

"Let's head out," Sora said.

"Yeah, let's go," Lance said.

They made it to the edge of town and towards the emerald forest.

"Uhm, Sora?" Lance said.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Where is it that we're going?" Lance asked.

"To a safe house that I set up back in the day," Sora said.

"Oh, ok," Lance said.

They both made their way through the forest. Lance didn't really know where Sora was going, but he trusted him, and in case, he was paying attention to the route that they took. It wasn't too long before they came across a building which Lance assumed was the safe house.

"Is that it?" He asked.

"Yup," Sora said making his way towards it. Lance noticed some people who were dressed in similar attire to the goons he fought when he ran into Roman. They were also armed with the same blades and a few had some guns. Lance grabbed the collar of Sora's shirt, and pulled him back into the tree line. "Wait," Lance whispered. He then pointed to the goons.

"Crap… How did they get here?" He said.

Lance put a hand on his sword. He quickly evaluated his opponents. It seemed like there were at least four guys with guns and nine with those swords. Lance put a hand on his sword getting ready to fight, but before he could make the first move, Sora already had his weapons ready and lunged at the first guy he saw.

The person in question was kicked in the head and was sent flying into the building with a loud thud. This alerted the others and they all got ready for a fight too. Lance then emerged from the tree line in a run towards one of the goons with a gun who was taking aim at his friend. He sliced the gun in two before charging his aura into his fist and punched the goon in the stomach, while also releasing the aura giving his punch that extra power, causing the thug to fly through the tree line. Lance then saw a guy running up with a blade raised behind him. Lance quickly spun around and parried the man's attack. The thug recoiled back leaving himself open for an attack. Lance took a horizontal slash at the goon and he was knocked on his back.

Sonia then ran out of the safe house with her weapon drawn. Her weapon was a one edged blade that also looked like it was a gun as well. She then charged at one of the goons. Lance was distracted by the arrival of Sonia that he didn't notice one of the men taking aim at him. He turned and saw the man aiming at him, but before the guy could pull the trigger. Yang emerged from the tree line and punched him straight in the jaw and he was sent flying.

"Yang? What are you doing here?" He yelled over to her.

"Now isn't the time!" Yang said punching another guy.

Lance just nodded and found his next target. It was down to only two more thugs that needed to be taken care of. Lance saw Sora sprint at one, but the man was ready for him. He swung down with his sword, but Sora predicted his attack and managed to step out of the way. It happened so fast that it was just a blur. Sora then swiped at the goon with his claw-like weapon causing the goon to recoil in pain. He kept on the assault by taking another two swipes at the thug. He then finished him off with a roundhouse kick to the face.

Sonia then rushed at the other goon and jumped in the air, with her blade raised above her head. She brought it down with such power that it broke the man's defense and he was taken out in a single blow. Sonia then sheathed her weapon on her back.

After all the chaos, the conscious of the thugs grabbed the incapacitated and ran.

"I don't think this place is very safe now," Lance said sheathing his sword.

"Hah, you think?" Sonia said sarcastically.

"Also, what're you doing here, Yang?" Lance asked turning to Yang.

"Well I heard you get up and saw that you left. So I quickly got ready and followed you guys," She said.

"Well, since you're here, this is Sora. Sora this is Yang. She's one of my team mates," Lance said introducing the two.

"Hey, like he said I'm Sora," He said putting his weapons away as well.

"Hey, Sora," Yang said.

"Who are all these people you're bringing to the hideout?" Sonia said

"Well, Lance is a friend, you know that, and Yang, is a friend of Lance's, so she's cool," Sora said. "By the way, is she one of the girls you were talking about?" Sora whispered to Lance also pulling him aside.

Lance's face immediately went red. "Can it wait?" He said.

Sora just had a grin on his face and shot Lance a look that implied that Yang was in fact one of the girls he was talking about.

"What're you guys whispering about over there?" Yang asked

"Uh, nothing!" Lance said immediately turning around and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Smooth," Sora whispered to him.

"Shut it," Lance whispered back.

"Ooookay," Yang said. "So what is this place? You said it was a hideout?" She asked.

"Well it was supposed to be, but I guess it's not so hidden now," Sonia said.

"Let's get inside quick. I would like to leave, but I have some things I need to get and we should talk ASAP," Sora said heading for the door of the structure. Sonia, Lance, and Yang followed. Lance knew a little bit about the situation, but still was curious about the details. Hopefully soon, Lance would find out.