Ch. 28

A/N: Sup huntsmen and huntresses?

"Don't just sup them, you just went on a like, 6 month long disappearance … idiot."

"Shut up Shade, I had a lot to do."

"You don't have a life, stop lying."

Pouts. "Shut up."

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry about the super long hiatus I had. To be completely truthful, I hadn't planned to take such a long break. Yes, I did plan for a shorter break, maybe a month or so… but obviously it didn't go to plan. I also must admit, I kind of lost inspiration to write this story and a couple months ago, to write at all. But a couple weeks ago, I told myself: "Just start writing this story again and we'll see how it goes." And, well, I still don't have the same inspiration and motivation as I did when I first started, but I am a little bit more into it now. Again, I do apologize to any readers who have been waiting for the next chapter, which I must admit, I suspect is very little or none, but if there are any, I am very sorry. I am going to start making this more of a priority and get a chapter out at least once a month, hopefully every week or two. Also, I actually had a few chapters that I am going to post before posting this. I truly did not know I hadn't even uploaded these chapters, so I guess some extra chapters for you guys. If you couldn't tell by this Author's Note, I discovered this after writing this whole chapter so yeah. Sorry again.

Now, on to the story. I do have these final chapters of The Romance Tower planned out, for once. Yes, this story will be ending soon. To give you a basic outline, the next few chapters will be where Romance in "The Romance Tower" comes in. It'll be dates between many ships mentioned in this fanfic, with full chapters focusing on main ships and some side stuff for other ones like Flower Power and Arkos. (Actually, I may just start a short one-shot collection spin off series of these dates. Would make it easier on me. I'll think about it.) The ones after that will be Shade, Liz, Ozpin, and, later on, Hunter training the hunstmen and huntresses of Beacon to fight the demons. This will probably be shorter and probably be a little bit funny again. After that, it will be the major fight between the demons and Beacon. After that, it shall end with an announcement. I truly don't know if I've mentioned my future writing plans on here before but I hope I didn't. I want it to be a surprise.

So that's all I have to say except please enjoy and tell me how I do on making these next few chapters 100% romance. Please enjoy.

Hunter stands in front of the mirror in his team's dorm bathroom, straightening his tie barely an inch to his left. His black suit fits perfectly across his body, accenting the dark blue tie against the white buttoned shirt underneath. His normally dirty black pants have been cleaned ten times over and ironed twice that number, making sure that they were perfect. He adjusts his wrists one last time before taking a full look in the mirror. I hope I didn't overdress. He thinks as he hears a knock from outside. "Coming!" He fixes his hair one last time, even though he had already done that 100 times and nothing was out of place, and nervously exits the bathroom.

As soon as he opens the door and sees the aphrodite-level of beauty on the other side, he must stop his jaw from dropping past his knees. "Um, hi." Emerald says, obviously attempting to get his attention. He had been staring quite intently and hadn't said anything for a few moments.

"Oh," He blushes and comes back to reality. "hi. Y-You look stunning." He says, now both blushing rather intensely.

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself."

"Thanks." They stand there for a moment, neither really knowing what to say now. Neither had ever been on a real date before and the fluttering in their stomachs became more and more prominent to both of them. "So," Hunter finally breaks the awkward silence. "shall we go?"

"Yes." They walk to the airship, both wanting to reach for the other's hand but never acting on it, too nervous to make such a move… until he hears a telepathic whisper.

"Hold her fucking hand."

"Shade?"

"Yes you dumb fuck. Now hold her hand."

"What if she doesn't-"

"I swear to God, if you don't hold her hand right now, Imma shoot this 15-ton railgun straight at your head."

"Where did you-"

"Did I say you could ask questions? Don't worry about it."

"Where are you?"

"Like I said, don't worry about it."

When the two finally make it outside, Emerald taps Hunter's arm. "Hunter?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is Shade above us with a huge gun?"

Hunter looks up and sees a huge gun pointed straight at him, A smiling Shade at the controls. A blue light begins to emit from the barrel and slowly becomes bigger. Hunter stares at him in shock for a few seconds before realizing that he should do what Shade asks. Hunter quickly grabs Emerald's hand and hopes that Shade sees it.

A few seconds later, the blue ball dims and disappears entirely. "Good boy." Shade says before flying off.

Hunter breathes out a sigh of relief. He really didn't feel like having his suit ruined.

Emerald then coughs to get his attention. He turns to her in slight confusion. She nods at their hands, a slight blush now present on her cheeks.

He looks away, immediately blushing a bright red. "Oh, sorry." He attempts to take his hand back… but finds that he can't. He looks at their hands and feels Emerald's grip tighten. He lifts his brown eyes to look into red and sees a mischievous smile on her face.

"So, where are we going?" She asks innocently.

Hunter stares in shock for a couple seconds before smiling and playing along. "That, you'll have to wait and see."

They both laugh and continue to talk on their way to the airship, much more comfortable than they were before.

Meanwhile…

Shade flies through the sky holding his railgun, looking like a murder of crows to the naked eye. "While I'm glad he did hold her hand… I really wanted to try this thing out." He sighs in disappointment and continues to fly before spotting what looks to be an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean. His eyes widen and brighten as he looks to the powerful gun on his shoulder, then back at the island. "Hmm." He hums in indecisiveness. After a second or two of thinking, his lips twist into a toothy smile, grinning like a madman.

He begins flipping switches and pushing buttons as the railgun powers up again, a blue light travelling through the sides and barrel. He begins to aim it directly at the island, still smiling and with one last button… ZIIIIIING!... BOOOOM! A blue beam shoots out of the front of the gun and hits the island within 1 second, resulting in a large explosion and debris flying everywhere. The island is gone. Shade is thrown backwards by the force and when he recovers, his hair is a total mess, his eyes are wide, and his mouth is hanging open. He then smiles wide and looks at the gun with admiration and love.

"SHAAAADE!" A female voice shouts out.

"Oh God no." Shade quickly hides the destructive weapon in his shadow dimension and attempts to get back before she gets here.

"What did you do?" Too late. And so, the smacks and screams of Shade were heard all throughout the night.

Vale; Commercial District

The two young students of Beacon walked through the nearly dead streets of Vale, illuminated by lamp posts as they went, their two arms still linked; though, Hunter was leading as he knew where to go. At this moment, Emerald got curious… again. "So, you gonna tell where we're going?"

Hunter smirked. "Have patience, young one." This was responded to with a slap to the arm. "Ow!"

"You do know I'm older than you, right?" She smirked back.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, there it is." He points with his unlinked arm to a rather fancy-looking restaurant. It's golden lights inside illuminated many older men in business suits with their wives in sparkling dresses, meant to let everyone know that they were rich.

"There?" She points to it. "No way, it's gotta be super expensive."

"Oh yeah, it's definitely expensive." He smirks once more upon her shocked expression.

"You have the lien for this place?"

He shrugs. "I never really spent much in my life. A lot in my savings."

"I can't ask you to spend that much on me."

"Good thing you're not asking then." He wears a full, joyous grin and begins to practically drag her. "Now come on, let's go eat some expensive stuff."

As they enter, every single eye is on them. Anyone under 40 has probably never entered this intimidating palace of a restaurant… and here comes a 17 year old in a rented tuxedo with his date. "I hate when people stare at me." She looks up at Hunter and he quite simply looks at them all, a dangerous daring in his eyes. As his eyes pass each of the rich browns, greens, and blues, they look away, intimidated by the fire in his brown orbs.

He then leads Emerald to a lone table and pulls out her chair for her to sit and then pushes her back in, like a true gentleman. He sits down and, for the first time since they arrived in Vale, shows his nervousness.

Emerald reaches across the table and covers his hand. "Hey, it's alright. Relax."

He visibly calms down, no longer tense and professional but relaxed like he always is. He nods. "Thank you." They smile at each other and patiently wait for their waiter to arrive after taking a quick look through the menu… which takes a while.

Anger begins to build within Hunter. "I know we're younger but I can pay for this, despite what the others in this place may believe."

After nearly three minutes of waiting, a skinny, older, butler-looking waiter comes to their table. "Hello, my name is Henry and I will be your waiter for today. "He sounds snobby too." Although he is annoyed, Hunter gets on his best behavior and gives the man a full smile. "Hello there. Um, I was wondering if perhaps we could have-"

"If I may interrupt sir," He says with an attitude, as if they are below him. "but who are you two?"

"Why does it matter?" Hunter snaps back.

"Well, you two do not seem to be the… proper consumers that we serve." He pauses, trying to think of a more "delicate" way of putting it.

"And what does that even mean?" Hunter now glared at Henry, very irritated.

"I meant nothing by it sir, I just mean to say that-"

"Hey Emerald?" Hunter rudely interrupts the man. "You wanna get out of here?"

She grins widely. "Yeah." Hunter grabs her hand and they run out of the restaurant and into the night of Vale, smiling with each other. "Whoo, I really needed to get out of there."

"I could tell. I think you were about to do to him what you did to Adam." They laugh.

Then Hunter stops and realizes something. "So, um, where are we going now?"

She smiles and begins to lead him through the streets. "I know a place."

Hunter follows her curiously, but without question. She suddenly stops and Hunter barely stops himself from bumping into her. "What's up?"

"Here we are." She points to a small, hole in the wall club, named: Sang's Palace.

"What is this place?" He asks.

"It's a club." She responds. "I used to always go here if I needed to get a drink, relax and let loose, or just get away from Cinder." She reminisces about all the times she went here for that last reason.

"Then let's go in." He starts to walk towards it but Emerald stops him.

"Whoa, are you sure?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't exactly see you as the… club type."

"And I'm sure the first time you saw me, you didn't think of me as someone who fought demons when I was younger, did ya?"

"You… have a point."

"Exactly, now let's go." He smiles and pulls her inside, opening the door to the club.

As he enters, he's hit with multiple scents and his brain goes into overdrive trying to identify everything he hears, smells, and sees. Loud, pop music plays throughout the club, already making Hunter start to tap his foot to the beat. He smells all types of booze and alcohol. He sees bright, colored, rays bouncing throughout the room, lighting up the crowd dancing on the dance floor. "...Cool." Hunter simply responds.

Emerald can't help but laugh a little bit at that. "Come on, let's get on the dance floor." She practically drags him out into the middle of the crowd and try to dance… but their "formal clothes" are restricting them from doing so. Finally, Emerald gets annoyed and rips the bottom of her dress, allowing her more flexibility. "There we go."

Hunter laughs and starts to dance much more vigorously, showing off some dance moves that others can't help but laugh at. He doesn't care though. "I'm having fun with Emerald, so I'm good."

"Alright everybody, how y'all doin' today?!"

A man with a mic comes up on stage, asking a question to which the audience responds with: "WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!" including Hunter and Emerald.

"Cool, cool. Alright, so I came up here tonight to ask, as always… are y'all ready for some karaoke?!" Again the crowd yells and hollers in response. "Good, so who's gonna start us off tonight?" Everybody in the whole entire club is waiting for some brave man or woman to raise their hand… but it never comes. "Ah come on, let go of your fears and let's have some fun!"

Hunter debates within himself before raising his hand high, to which the crowd responds with clapping and yelling. "I cannot believe I am about to do this."

Emerald looks at him in shock and confusion as he walks up on stage.

"Oooh, we got a big man in a suit comin' up here, alright alright. So tell us, what's your name?"

"Hunter." He responds through the mic.

"Alright, so we got Hunter up here, the first one to start off karaoke night. What song you gonna sing first, Hunter?"

"Um." "Well shit, I didn't really think about that." Then a song comes to mind. "It's a surprise."

"Alrighty then, well everybody, please enjoy Hunter's surprise song." He gets off the stage and waits off to the side.

Hunter tells the band which song to play and gets himself prepared. "It's been awhile since I've done anything like this."

As the music starts, other people immediately get into it, already cheering before Hunter even sings a single word.

"First things first"

"I'ma say all the words inside my head"

"I'm fired up and tired of the way that things have been oh!"

The band behind Hunter joins in.

"Ooooooooh"

"The way that things have been oh!"

"Ooooooooh"

"Second things second

"Don't you tell what you think that I can be"

"I'm that one at the sail, the master of my sea oh!"

"Ooooooooh"

"The master of my sea oh!"

"Ooooooooh"

"I was broken from a young age"

"Taking my soul into the masses"

"Write down my poems for the few that looked to me, took to me, shook to me, feeling me singing from heartache, from the pain, take up my message from the veins"

"Speaking my lesson from the brain"

"Seeing the beauty through the…"

The music stops for a second before coming back with a drop.

"Pain!"

Hunter yells out, letting go of his nervousness and letting it all out. Emerald, again, looks at him in shock from his passion, but smiles after a second and starts singing in the crowd with the rest.

"You made me a, you made me a believer, believer"

"Pain!"

"You break me down, you build me up, believer, believer"

"Paaaain"

"I let the bullets fly, oh let them raaaain"

"My luck, my love, my God, they came from…"

"Pain!"

"You made me a, you made me a believer, believer"

Now, Hunter is wearing his confident smirk, obviously happy with the crowd's reaction.

"Third things third"

"Send a prayer to the ones up above"

"All the hate that you've heard has turned your spirit to a dove oh!"

"Ooooooooh"

"Your spirit up above oh!"

"Ooooooooh"

"I was choking in the crowd"

"Living my brain up in the cloud"

"Falling like ashes to the ground"

"Hoping my feelings, they would drown"

"But they never did, ever lived, ebbing and flowing, inhibited limited till it broke up and rained down"

"It rained down like…"

Every single person in the building joins in.

"Pain!"

"You made me a, you made me a believer, believer"

"Pain!"

"You break me down, you build me up, believer, believer."

"Paaaain"

"I let the bullets fly, oh let them raaaain"

"My luck, my love, my God, they came from…"

"Pain!"

"You made me a, you made me a believer, believer"

"Last things last"

"By the grace of the fire and the flames"

"You're the face of the future, the blood in my veins oh!"

"Ooooooooh"

"The blood in my veins oh!"

"Ooooooooh"

"But they never did, ever lived, ebbing and flowing, inhibited, limited till it broke up and it rained down"

"It rained down like…"

By now, people passing by on the street, rich and poor alike, entered and joined the crowd, to the point of almost overflowing the club.

"Pain!"

"You made me a, you made me a believer, believer"

"Pain!"

"You break me down, you build me up, believer, believer"

"Paaaain"

"I let the bullets fly, oh let them raaaain"

"My luck, my love, my God, they came from…"

The crowd nearly shakes the building with their combined force.

"Pain!"

"You made me a, you made me a believer, believer"

With that, the entire crowd whistles and shouts at Hunter, obviously pleased with his performance. The man with the mic comes back on stage with an extra bounce in his step. "Whoo! That was amazing, don't y'all agree?"

"WHOOOOOOO!" The crowd responds with even more vigor than when the man first got on stage.

Hunter is grinning wide the whole time. "That was… awesome!"

"So Hunter, what do you have to say after that performance?" He holds the mic to Hunter, allowing him speak into it.

"That was an absolutely amazing experience. I mean, just, thank you all so much and I definitely had some fun. How about you guys?!"

Again, the crowd explodes in agreement.

"Alright, great job Hunter and we all hope to see you here again." Hunter nods and walks off the stage, many people congratulating him and giving him pats on the back… but he's not interested in that.

Through the people, he sees the green he's come to admire and pushes through the crowd to get to Emerald. When he finally gets there, they kinda stare at each other, Hunter unsure of what to say. "So, what'd you think?" He nervously questions.
She grabs his left hand with her right and raises her left hand to his cheek. They slowly close the distance and when their lips touch, it feels like fireworks going off in every nerve of his body. "Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh…" His brain went into a continuous loop of stuttering and unsuccessful attempts at computation. Luckily, his body reacted and not his brain so the kiss went smoothly.

The kiss lasted for half a minute before they separated, both flushed and a little shocked that it actually just took place. "So… I'm gonna take that as a yes, you liked the song." They both laugh and slowly dance to their own beat among the crowd.

Neither wanted this moment to end.

A/N: And there's the first chapter of my return to The Romance Tower. Hope you all enjoyed it, I certainly did. I actually really like writing straight up romance. It becomes very cute when you're not thinking about the demons that are coming to kill them all.

Also, I do not own the lyrics to the song Believer by Imagine Dragons that were used by Hunter in this chapter. As I said, it is called Believer and belongs to Imagine Dragons. I have no intention of copyright infringement. "REPEAT, I HAVE NO INTENTION OF-"

Smack!

"Ow!"

"Shut up, they get it."

"Why are you so mean Shade?"

"You wanna see mean?" Hides. "That's what I thought"

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed, and have an amazing day.

H.G. AKA GalaxyExplorer74