A/N:
Hi friends, and welcome back to another chapter of RWBY: The Selection. I had some wonky technical difficulties last night (was anyone else unable to log in?), but the chapter is now able to go up, so yay!
Today, we've got a return to Nora. I know she and Ren are technically from the village of Kuroyuri on the continent of Anima, but, to my recollection, it never specified whether they were technically from Vale or Mistral, so I went her from Mistral to balance things out. We've also got some Pyrrha! The Nora-Pyrrha friendship is one of my favorite things. Well, so are all of the friendships, but I'm glad to actually have some interaction between contestants taking place.
Shoutout to PSI-Psuche for the review! Romance and Humor are the genres that probably fit this fic best, but there is some friendship, some angst, and quite a few action scenes to look forward to in the future.
Once again, please review with any questions/comments/concerns/favorite RWBY friendship (or ship, that works too).
Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Mistral
Nora would've given anything for a platter of Ren's pancakes as she walked through the Mistral Capital airport, bewildered, excited, but most certainly lost. She was a bit of a stress eater, especially when it came to syrupy treats, and she had never been on an airship before, so she was certainly stressed. For as long as she could remember, whenever Nora had been stressed, Ren had been there for her.
They had been there for each other after the attack on Kuroyuri village, and had been together ever since. Today, however, facing the maze of the Mistral Capital airport and the terrifying prospect of flying, Nora found herself utterly alone.
Things had changed after she'd been chosen for the Selection. Ren had become distant. The hugs and high-fives he had given her were few and far between already, but after the reveal of the Selection, they had stopped altogether.
"I'll drop out," Nora had threatened one day in the garden.
Ren had glared at her. "You'd better not. An opportunity like this might not come again."
"It's not fair for me to be a Huntress if you can't be one too,"
"So we'll both suffer as Sixes? That's stupid, Nora,"
She'd scoffed, and, when she'd brought it up again, Ren had put his foot down. "Nora, stop. You're not dropping out. Not on my account."
"Then stop acting so strange!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You never hug me anymore. We're not as close!" She'd narrowed her eyes at her. "I think you're jealous."
"No, I'm not," Ren had snapped. "For the last time, Nora, I'm happy for you."
"Not jealous of me. Jealous of the prince!"
He had stopped talking to her after that. No matter how much Nora had bugged him, he had given her the silent treatment every day until her flight.
Now, confronted with the possibility of leaving Mistral and never seeing Ren again, Nora wished she hadn't said that. Or at least, she wished she hadn't been too stubborn to say goodbye.
She eyed the sugary snack foods at the convenience store hungrily. Ren had offered her all of their savings to take with her to the airport, but she'd turned him down, not accepting a cent. She'd been far too angry with him. "Why couldn't he just admit that he has feelings for me?" Nora fumed. "If he did, I probably wouldn't be on my way to the Capital right now."
"That'll be three lien," the shopkeeper said to a mustached customer. The customer nodded, holding a bag of candy and tossing over the lien. Nora's stomach growled.
Whistling, she walked into the convenience store, her eye on a bag of sugary gummies. She looked around. The shopkeeper seemed to be engrossed in a magazine with Prince Jaune on the cover. Nora grabbed a bag of candy and shoved it in her jacket. Then, for good measure, she grabbed three more. Continuing to whistle, she skipped past the counter and was almost out the door when the shopkeeper stopped her. "Twelve lien," she ordered.
Nora stared at her blankly for a second. Then, she bolted.
"Hey!" the shopkeeper yelled. "Thief! Thief, come back here!"
Nora laughed maniacally as she darted through the airport. She dodged passengers, jumped over luggage, and slid in between the legs of security guards, her stolen candy grasped tight in her hands. She couldn't help it. She was hungry, and Ren was 90% of her impulse control.
Nora glanced up at the giant screens as she ran, trying to find her gate. If she could only hop on a plane right about now, she could leave the shopkeeper behind and she and her stolen candy would be safe.
"Stop that thief!" a voice behind her yelled.
She turned to face the shopkeeper, grinning, a glint in her bright, aqua eyes. "You'll never catch me alive!" she screeched, and, right as she turned around, she bumped into a tall, red-haired girl. Nora fell to the ground in a daze, her head swimming after it had collided with the girl's golden armor.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha exclaimed, flinging down to help Nora.
Nora hissed, collecting the bags of candy that had spilled from her jacket.
Pyrrha blinked, taken aback. "I'm sorry," she repeated. Her eyes widened as she looked closer at the girl who had run into her. "You're Nora Valkyrie, aren't you? You're doing the Selection!"
Nora stood up, "yeah… how do you know that?"
"I'm Pyrrha Nikos. I'm doing the Selection too." Pyrrha beamed, and Nora looked at her curiously. With her armor, spear and shield, she seemed to already be a Huntress, so Nora couldn't understand why she would bother with the Selection. "I hope we can be friends," Pyrrha exclaimed, "even though I did… knock you to the ground and make you drop all your candy."
"Thief!" the shopkeeper cried. Nora turned around and winced.
"Stop her from coming after me and we'll call it a truce,"
"Oh, um, of course," Pyrrha said. As the shopkeeper opened her mouth to cry "thief" again, Pyrrha powered up her shield and flung it at her, catching her by the dress and pinning her to a wall on the opposite side of the airport.
Nora stared at Pyrrha in disbelief. "I like you," she said.
Pyrrha beamed, using her semblance to pull her weapon back across the airport and catching it easily. "I think our gate is right around the corner,"
"Good. I've been looking for that," Nora admitted, and she skipped and hummed to the gate, chomping on candy as she went.
"So, you're from Mistral too?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly. The girl seemed easy enough to talk to, but she half-expected her newfound friend to either praise or shun her, and she wanted to be prepared no matter what.
"Yep," Nora replied. "Shion village," she continued in a singsong voice, "it's got nothing but vegetables." Nora made a face, and Pyrrha laughed.
"You know, vegetables are very important as a Huntress,"
"Yuck! Maybe this was a mistake…"
They were the last two to arrive at the gate, and two green-haired girls already stood nearby, talking to a short woman with spiky, grey hair.
"Hello," Nora sang.
The short women turned and glared at them. "You're late," she snapped.
"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said, wincing.
Nora crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not. You didn't exactly give us good instructions on how to find this place."
"Well, in my experience, the girls participating in the Selection have always been of higher…" her gaze lingered on Nora's chocolate-coated face, "caliber. Girls who knew how to find their own gate at an airport, for example, not-" Nora stuck out her tongue, and the woman gave an offended gasp.
"My apologies, General Cordovin," Pyrrha cut in before Nora could do anything else stupid.
"Finally, some recognition," the woman sniffed. "Come along girls, it's a long flight to the Capital, and I expect you not to dilly dally!"
"Jeez… I wasn't aware that signing up for a love competition meant we got drafted into the Atlesian military…" one of the green-haired girls muttered as they walked through the catwalk onto the plane. "I'm Reese by the way," she stuck out her hand.
Pyrrha clasped it happily. "Pyrrha Nikos,"
"And IIIIIIIIII'M NORA!" Nora sang.
The other green-haired girl, who had been walking in front them, chuckled softly. She turned around to face the three contestants. "I'm Emerald," she smiled, "and I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun..."