A/N: This is in the LAVA timeline somewhere. Side note, this isn't random. My birthdays today and I had been working on this instead of the actual story. I'm scum, I know. Either way I hope you like this nice lighthearted chapter, enjoy!B-Day
Lance didn't so much as walk the halls as he wandered them, looking for anything that interested him as he did so. He was alone for now. His team had told him they had to go get something important in town. In his defense he had asked if they wanted him to come but they politely said no and that it would waste his time. Hearing that, he made the decision to stay.
Then when he tried to go hang with his girlfriend, Yang. She had ditched him too, as did her team. That hurt him a bit but Yang was a free spirit, not much he could do to make her stay, in fact he had always said that to himself.
He pushed that thought aside as he stumbled across Team JNPR, who were all heading to the Beacon landing pads. He waved them down and sent friendly smiles that hid his loneliness. "Hey guys. What's up?"
He could usually count on them or at the very least, Jaune, to hangout with him. Him and Jaune were pretty close, not as close as someone on his team or Ruby's, but still high up there. Lance looked at his friends and saw looks of horror. Especially on Jaune's face.
"Lance... What uhh... What are you doing here?" Jaune had earned himself a confused look after his question. Nora face palmed after hearing the scraggly knight. "Umm, I go to school here?" Lance's answer made Jaune nod with wide eyes and breath heavily. If Lance didn't know any better he would say he was scared right now.
The more composed of the team, Ren, stepped up and spoke, "Hello Lance, we would love to talk with you," Lance's face lit up at the prospect of them hanging out, "but we can't, we have several important tasks in Vale that require our attendance. We will have to talk some other time."
Lance sighed in defeat and crossed his arms. He wasn't mad, he hardly ever was, but this did upset him. Why was no one staying with him today?
"That's cool... I'll see you guys later then?" Ren simply nodded to the question and walked away. As they all passed by Pyrrha rested a hand on his shoulder for reassurance then left once again, leaving Lance alone. He sighed and began his trek through Beacon once more.
There was no one else to talk with anymore... He didn't have anymore friends after that, all of them were gone to handle errands that were no doubt paramount if they had shunned him for it. Lance decided to go to one place to relax and relieve stress. The shooting range.
A smile tugged at his lips, he loved having a reason to fire Fides. It was his bread and butter, if the world ended now he wouldn't care as long as he could fire his weapon one last time... Or be in Yang's arms, but the second option was a given. Lance's fated sword that held his worst and best intentions was light in his sheath. Worst when he was attacking, best when he was defending Vale from Grimm, or evil people.
Lance entered the gun range and saw few people were already there running weapon checks or just doing maintenance. Lance nodded to a few recognizable faces but ultimately kept walking to the booth farthest away from everyone.
He pulled his blade from his sheath and let it rasp the inside of it. He pressed a button near the grip and the shaft of the blade segmented and created an angled L shape that fit to his shoulder perfectly. The Blades slid back and the barrel slid forward at the tip of the blade, one segment of the blade pushed upwards and his itself, allowing Lance a place to hold for stability purposes. When Lance was comfortable he let his weapon sing an orchestra of bullets at the target downrange that was shaped like a Beowulf.
He had probably destroyed dozens of those fake Grimm. And it did make him feel slightly better about his current situation. As he fired a round he idly wondered what every could possibly be doing at that everyone moment that meant they couldn't hangout.
"Hmm. You missed." The words didn't scare him as bad as him missing did. Lance turned his head only to see Ozpin standing there with his classic mug in one hand and his cane in the other. It was an almost familial sight. Ozpin's soft smile that almost called for you to confess to him your strife. Lance set his weapon down and faced Ozpin.
"Hello sir, is there anything I can help you with?" Ozpin smiled and shook his head as he walked next to him and eyed Lance's sword over. "It is my job to help the students Mr. Kobolt." Ozpin's tone was filled with amusement as he ran a finger down Lance's weapon, had it been anyone else, they would have caught an earful about not touching his personal belongings.
"Lance... What troubles you? Shouldn't you be happy today?" Ozpin questioned as he faced the knight. Ozpin's amusement was gone and was replaced with concern. Lance sighed and looked to his feet.
"I'm alone today. All of my friends and team have went to Vale to find something, leaving me here. I would have went with my team but they told me it would be boring."
Ozpin looked at Lance for a moment with confusion, then stowed it away and smirked as he sipped his mug, "You have absolutely no idea why they are gone?" Lance nodded and smiled, happy that Ozpin at least understood him.
Ozpin smiled even more as he began to walk away, "Lance, you will find out soon enough why everyone you care for is gone. Also, take a break, even a huntsman remembers to do that."
Lance didn't understand what that meant in the slightest. Lance hadn't overworked himself, at least he didn't think he did, there had been a few late night arguments but it was usually over him needing sleep and him refusing so he could study.
Maybe that's why they aren't here. Had he finally made them mad and so they decided they didn't want to chill with him. That didn't fit with Amara, but Arthur and Vik...
By this point Ozpin had left Lance to his own devices. Lance sighed in despair and slid his sword into his sheath as he walked out and to his room.
On his way there he saw a stain on the foot and stopped to examine it. It was soaked into the floor and a deep red color, like blood. He knelt down and placed a finger on it and was shocked for it to be dried into the carpet. The carpet was matted in this area from the red substance. It looked faded, like someone had tried to clean it up quickly, hoping no one would notice.
Lance's mind was sending red flags everywhere.
Was this his past coming back to haunt him? Someone who worked with Garnet? A Collector? His questions would never be answered but another did surface.
Who's blood is this?
The question left Lance in a panic. He stood up and jogged off to his room, only to stop a few feet away...
The door was wide open and the lights were off.
Lance let his hand fall to his hilt and steadied his breathing. He was alone in this hall. His team was out, same for RWBY and JNPR. He would have to face this unknown enemy alone.
He edged to the door and pressed it open a little more, meeting the light filter in around him. It had gotten dark outside so the room was considerably harder to see in. He walked inside slowly and did his best to spot out any inconsistencies, but nothing stuck out. Once he was fully in the room, the door slammed shut.
And his blade rasped against the sheath as it came out. Whoever touched him was doomed to catch his ire. And when he felt the hand touch his shoulder. He didn't hesitate to push the body back and place the sword where assumed a neck would be.
"Damnit Lance! Every time!" The voice was so very familiar. It sounded amused and angered all in one. Almost confusing Lance just from hearing it. This was Vik. Lance pulled his blade away and then the lights flicked on.
"SURPRISE!" Lance jumped from the loud shouts and pulled his blade up out of reflex. He blinked for a moment so his eyes could adjust. When they did, he saw so many eyes looking back at him.
"Lance?... are you okay?" Rosey asked with a small smile and crossed arms. "Yeah... You good?" Yang questioned with a teasing grin as she walked up to him and made Lance look down at her.
"I know you didn't tell me, and I don't even think you remembered but... Happy birthday." He felt her place a hand on his which was still grasping Fides tightly. She took Lance's sword and shield and placed it on the far side of the room.
He was still confused as to what exactly was going on. Was it really his birthday? Did they get it confused with someone else's? He didn't remember it being today. Lance guessed Weiss and Amara noticed his confusion.
"Lance, you do know that today is your birthday, don't you?" Weiss asked as she stood next to him. "Don't tell me you forgot." Amara said with a dry smile. Lance could only look at the two before the cat faunas spoke.
"He doesn't know." Blake said flatly from a book she had her nose in. Lance would have refuted any allegations that he didn't know, but the look Ruby and Rosey was giving suggested they were not impressed. The former looked shocked that someone wouldn't know their own birthday while the latter was mildly disappointed.
"How could you forget?! That's the day you get to celebrate you being born!" Ruby cried out as she latched onto one of Lance's arms. "I agree with the kid." Rosey said from Lance's bed, her legs crossed over another and her arms crossed as well. Her pink eyes digging into his soul.
Arthur showed up on Lance's left and slung an arm around his shoulder, "We tried to tell him to take a break but he's stubborn. He fought us every step of the way." Lance glowered at his older brother and pushed him away.
"I find it hard to believe that you didn't know what we were up to. None of us are the best at keeping secrets. I had to promise enough pancakes to fill our room." Ren deadpanned. "Sure did, thanks Renny!"
On Lance's left, where Arthur had been was a new warmth that wrapped around his arm. Something soft pressed against his arm. There were two of them, both seemed to have a steady heartbeat. When he looked down all he saw was lilac eyes blinking and looking into his. "Hey Lance. I know you told me to not worry about it and that you wouldn't care either way but this is for you." Her words echoed in his mind. For him? The banners slung haphazardly from one side of his room to another. Two teams in his room along with his own all conversing amongst each other. His aunt sitting in his bed watching him with a faint smile. Suggesting that she was proud of him. He could only smile and look down to Yang who had been bitting her lip in anticipation for what he would say.
"You did all of this?" Was his question of choice. "She did. She came to the diner and sat everyone down and explained what was going on. She said that they could leave, but they would all get a parting gift that no one wanted." Rosey seemed to shiver then she looked back to Lance. "You got a good one."
Those words never rang more true in his life. He looked down to Yang and smiled brightly before he pulled her into a deep kiss that got a few whistles around the room. Lance pulled away from her and noticed that she had deep red cheeks and was breathing rather heavily
"Thank you Yang. Thank you so much." Lance hugged her tighter than he had ever hugged her before. He had pinned her arms to her side as he did so. "Y-Your welcome." He let her go and realized that the woman he saw as his mother was right thee the whole time. Lance glanced over to her and saw the blush on her cheeks and the hand over her mouth.
"You kissed her? You started it?" Lance rolled his eyes and looked back to Yang who had gotten over her shock and licked her lips. In his mind, that was an invite for another. The twin looked lips and drowned out the noises of Vik or Ruby gagging and held tightly to each other before pulling away.
Yang's hand slid off his cheek and smirked, "You're getting good at that." Lance snickered and let her go from his to light embrace. "I had an amazing teacher."
"If you two kiss like that again, I will be expecting grand kids." Rosey informed, her own smirked very evident. Lance blushed profusely and even Yang's cheeks had a slight red tint.
"Come on let's sing for him!" Ruby called out from over by Vik. At that moment Jaune came out of the room's kitchen with a sheepish smile. In his arms was a cake that had red frosting on top and blue swirled into it. The cake seemed squashed though.
"Nora... Well, Nora really wanted to eat your cake and we had to try and pry her off me when I was holding it but..." A rock wouldn't need more info than that. Nora had affinity to anything with cake in the title. In that moment Nora burst back in the room and had a plate stacked full of pancakes with a candle sticking out of the center.
"I took some of our pancake reserves for ya! Its not a cake cake, but it cake in there!" Nora handed Lance the plate of perfectly cooked pancakes that had Ren written all over it.
Lance held the cake with shaky hands and a lowered head. He sniffled and smiled over to Yang. "I love you." She waved a hand dismissively and kissed his cheek lightly. "And we love you. Now everybody!"
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." Lance could only look around the room in shock. He was sure no one had ever burst into song for him, let alone a whole room full of people. But there he was. A roomful of people singing happy birthday to him. It was an amazing feeling to him, it wasn't weird, or awkward, but amazing. If the warmness in his heart was anything to go by, he felt happy. These people cared about him. They would be there for him, and for this, he'd be there for them.
Just like the picture of him and his real mom with a bow on the frame would be next to his bed for him when everyone left. A gift from Rosey to him. Easily the best present he had ever gotten.