A/N:

Hello friends and welcome back to RWBY: The Selection!

Here is the second and final of the two chapters going up tonight, so I hope y'all enjoy! Nora is probably the most-fun character to write, and I normally jam to "Boop" when I do, so it's always a good time :):) Once again, please review with any thoughts, comments, questions, reactions, date ideas, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Without further ado, enjoy!

Chapter 66: Nora

Ren had always told her that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, so when Nora Valkyrie's one-on-one date invitation was for a "breakfast fit for a princess," she struggled to contain her excitement. It wasn't so much the date with Jaune that had Nora so enthusiastic. He was funny and nice, sure, and she liked crushing the others with him in the board game, but it was more the idea of a hearty, nutritious, and (hopefully) sugar-filled breakfast that had Nora bounding down the stairs in her pajamas.

"Jaune!" she cried in a sing-song voice, throwing open the doors to the palace kitchen where Jaune's invitation had asked her to meet him.

Jaune looked up from a bowl he was stirring. He had flour on his face that turned to powder when he smiled. "Lady Nora,"

"I have come to come to collect payment on the breakfast that you owe me for using my glorious Vacuo to crush everyone in Remnant," Nora said with a grin.

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "You left me with one city, no Grimm, and no army."

Nora cracked her knuckles.

"But breakfast nonetheless!" Jaune continued. "Luckily for you, we have access to the finest ingredients in the kingdom," Jaune gestured to the plethora of toppings in front of him. There were strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, peanut butter, and, of course, syrup. "I figured we could make breakfast together and then eat it outside?"

He looked nervous, and Nora wasn't sure why. He was such a lady killer that he had thirteen official girlfriends. Breakfast and conversation couldn't possibly be that hard. "Sound awesome," Nora grinned, "can we hit stuff with hammers after?"

"Uh… yeah, sure."

"Cool," Nora beamed. She picked up the bag of sugar and dumped it into Jaune's bowl, causing him to screech and pull the bowl away. "So, what are we making?" she asked, unfazed. The sun was shining. The kitchen smelled like syrup. It was going to be a good day.

Jaune picked up a whisk and handed it to Nora. "Well, I was thinking maybe pancakes?"

Nora grabbed the whisk, a maniacal glint in her eye. "It's like you can read my mind."

As it turned out, neither Jaune nor Nora had any idea how to properly make pancakes. Jaune, who had been raised largely on the food of royal chefs and didn't know how to make so much as a bowl of Ramen by himself, had managed to get every eggshell in the batter, and Nora, who had always relied on Ren for cooking, added triple the required sugar.

"I don't get it," said Jaune as they stared at the burnt, shell-filled, sugary monstrosity that he had frantically come off the fryer when it started smoking. "I thought that'd be a lot easier."

"It probably tastes better than it looks," Nora said with a shrug. She picked up a fork and dug in, only to spit burnt sugary eggshells out seconds later. It did not, in fact, taste better than it looked.

"Maybe we should try again?" Jaune suggested as Nora took a long gulp of water. Before now, Nora had never eaten a bad pancake. Now she could say, with total certainty, that she had. "I guess I'm not really good at cooking…"

"Neither am I," Nora admitted. "I'm better at eating."

Jaune laughed. "You wrote such a compelling love poem for pancakes in your essay. Where are those pancakes?"

"Kuroyuri," Nora shrugged. That was all she felt like saying on the matter.

"I had no idea that Kuroyuri had the finest pancake chef in all of Remnant…"

"I wouldn't say the finest," Nora said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Sometimes, he's very stupid and stubborn and doesn't talk about his feelings."

Jaune blinked, taken aback. "The… chef?"

"Yes!" Nora exclaimed. Then, she remembered who she was talking to, and who she was talking about. Most times, Nora didn't care about consequences, but the threat of a death penalty for being caught in another relationship was real.

"Ridiculous," thought Nora, "Ren and I were never together-together, so why do I even care? They can't kill me for a relationship that never happened."

"Nora?"

She didn't realize her eyes were wet until she heard Jaune's voice. Hastily, she rubbed them with a baking mitt. "I'm not hungry anymore. Let's go hit stuff with hammers!"

Jaune looked concerned, but he followed her nonetheless. They spent the rest of the date wandering the forest, looking for Grimm to hit with hammers (or, in Jaune's case, a sword). It was fun, and Nora fulfilled her daily dose of near-death experiences, but the thought of Ren kept popping up in her memory. His fighting style, his pancakes, his small, stubborn smile and his stupid, stubborn face.

When Jaune left to go for the Capital Report, Nora felt her eyes sting again. She wondered if Ren watched the weekly Selection updates, and then figured he probably didn't. Something about that realization made her sad. She wondered if she'd ever have his pancakes again.