Over 100 Followers! A shout out to all of the people who have been reading, following, and favoriting this story. I didn't think it would get this popular, but thanks you guys. Well, time to get underway. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 19. Enjoy.
Chapter 19: Matchmaker – Part 1
A week had passed since Velvet's confession to Ruby, and things have been relatively normal since then. Classes went by without much going on. However, every now and then, Velvet started to notice the other members of Team RVWBY acting a little differently. Ruby was fine, however the others, not so much. The other three would glance at her sometimes with expressions that showed they were deep in thought. The most came from Yang. A few times, Velvet had asked what was her issue, but Yang would just play it off. Knowing she wouldn't get a straight answer from her, Velvet let it go, but kept her eyes peeled, feeling something was up. The other issue was how Blake was starting to keep more and more to herself than usual, which was starting to irritate her, but she decided to give her some space for now and confront her about it as a team when the time came.
Currently, the three members of Team RVWBY were in their dorm, while Ruby was away at the forge, and Velvet was off training.
"Jeez, I didn't think it would be this hard to keep things secret from Velvet. I think she's on to us," Yang says as she lays on her bunk, swinging her legs off the side.
"Well, what did you expect? She's a skilled warrior who's probably seen more action than we all have combined. Of course she's going to notice something's off. We've all done almost everything below stalking her for Oum's sake," Weiss says while studying on her bunk.
Yang sighs, "Blake, what do you think?" Yang asks, but gets no answer. "Blake? Blake!" she yells, finally getting her attention.
Blake regains focus from her notes, "W-what is it?" she asks.
"What do you think we should do about Velvet and Ruby? We have to get them together, or else my matchmaking plan will be ruined," Yang whines.
Blake groans, "Why should we? I don't quite see how that's any of our business," Blake retorts.
"Well, I'm doing this just to get Yang off my back, and I will not suffer through this by myself. So deal with it," Weiss says.
Blake sighs, "Fine. Well, I guess one idea would be to get them in an environment that would set the mood. I would think dinner under the moonlight would be nice, but that may be pushing it too fast for right now," Blake says.
"Yeah, I think we should save that for later. For now, perhaps we should try getting those two alone sometimes and let them build off from what progress they've made so far. They seem to be doing alright without our help, if finding them snuggled together on the same bed is any indication," Weiss reasons.
"Great, well now that I've done my part for today, I'm leaving. I'll be in the library," Blake says and quickly leaves the room before the other two can stop her.
"Blake, wait…Ugh, guess it's just us for now," Yang says.
"She's been doing that a lot lately," Weiss notes.
"Yeah, I've noticed. We'll figure that out later. So, got any ideas on how we can get Ruby and Velvet alone together?" Yang asks.
"Well, saying that we have to leave when they show up too many times will make them suspicious, though Velvet already is at this point. We need to be tactful about this…," Weiss muses.
…
Velvet had just finished her training session and was on her way back to her dorm. However, she decided to get some fresh air along the way and went to the courtyard for a walk. When she gets there, she notices several Atlas airships flying by followed by three larger airships landing at the landing pads at the front of the school.
"What the Hell is going on now?" she wonders.
Stepping out of one airship, she sees a man whose poster says he's in charge. The man is wearing a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red tie, white pants, gray boots, and a white glove on his right hand. His hair is black, with some areas being silver, while his eyebrows are black. He has what appears to be a strip of silver metal above his right eyebrow. Velvet watches as he walks towards Beacon Tower, but then stops when he notices her gazing at him. Velvet decides to continue on her way at that point and walks by the man, however…
"Excuse me," he calls out to her.
Velvet glances back at him, "Yes?" she says.
"Is your headmaster in his office right now? I'm here to see him," he says as he walks to her.
"For what? To say that you're gonna take over the school?" she replies.
The man looks stunned slightly at her comment, "Now what would make you think that?" he asks.
"I only see this many military ships and troops in two kinds of situations. Either at a military base, which this school is not, or for some kind of occupation. So which is it?" she asks as she turns to face him, hand on her hip.
The man clears his throat, "I apologize if that's the idea you get from seeing my troops, but that is not why they are here. They're here to provide extra security for the Vytal Festival that's coming up later this year. It's the most important event of the year, and I want it to run smoothly, as does everyone else," he says.
"Run smoothly? Sounds like you're afraid something's going to happen," Velvet replies.
"Now I doubt anything will happen, but you know what they say, 'better to be safe than sorry'. Allow me to introduce myself. I am General James Ironwood, General of the Atlas military and headmaster of the huntsman school, Atlas Academy," he says, offering his hand to her for a handshake.
Velvet glances at his hand, but decides to humor him, and shakes it, "Velvet Crowe. If you're still wondering, Professor Ozpin should still be in his office right now," she replies.
"Are you a third year here? You look about that, age-wise," he asks.
"First-year actually," she corrects him.
"Oh, I see…You…were held back then?" he asks.
"No, had some family trouble to deal with back home before I could actually start my training here. That's all there is to it," she corrects him again.
"I see. My apologies. Well then, I'm sure you have things to do, so I'll take my leave. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Crowe," he says with a bow and leaves.
Velvet grunts after he leaves and goes on her way, "That guy…He reminds me of…Artorius," Velvet muses while narrowing her eyes.
Meanwhile, Ironwood was having his own thoughts about Velvet, "Velvet Crowe…Something doesn't seem quite right with her. I'll ask Ozpin about it when I see him," he thinks.
…
Velvet returns to her dorm, but before she enters she finds Ruby on her way back from the forge.
"Hey, Ruby," she greets her.
"Hey, Velvet. Done with your training?" she asks as they walk to the door of their dorm.
"Yeah, want to explain to me why the Atlas military is here?" she asks.
"Oh, yeah, I heard about that. Beats me. Probably nothing to worry about," she says as they enter the dorm. "Hey guys," she says.
"Hello," Weiss and Yang reply.
"Hey, where's Blake?" Ruby asked.
"Went to the library. Again," Yang replies with a wave of her hand.
"She's been doing that quite a bit lately, don't you think?" Velvet says as she sits on her bed.
"Yeah. But enough about that, you guys up for some team bonding time?" Yang suggests with a goofy smile.
"I'm cool with it. How about you, Velvet?" Ruby asks.
"Fine by me, I guess," she replies.
"Weiss, you game?" Yang asks.
"As long as it isn't something ridiculous," Weiss replies.
"Oh, don't worry, it may not be the most exciting idea, but I bet we can fix that," Yang replies.
…
A few minutes later, all members of Team RVWBY are found sitting at one of the tables in the library, with Team JNPR sitting at another table behind them reading some books…Well, Ren and Pyrrha are reading, Nora is dreaming about pancakes, and Jaune is trying to read a comic book until Pyrrha confiscates it from him. On their table is the board game, World of Remnant. However, because only four people could play at a time, Velvet offered to sit out and play the winner, watching them play while she reads a book. They managed to find Blake in the library and got her to join in (more like forced her to play), and so now each member have their cards out and their forces in play.
"Hm, alright. Hm, oh, alright," Ruby utters, strategizing before playing. "Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!" Ruby shouts.
"Bring it on!" Yang replies, pumping her left fist.
"I deploy…the Atlesian Air Fleet!" Ruby yells, raising the card high in the playfully gasps, hand on her chest. "Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your wolf directly," Ruby says, the starts making flying plane sounds and explosions while moving her hands like a plane.
Yang playfully gasps again, "You fiend!" she says, pointing at Ruby.
Ruby then has her head leveled with the table," And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only last one turn," Ruby says, smiling before losing that smile when Yang starts chuckling.
Yang has her chin in her left hand while she pulls out a card with her right hand, "Pretty sneaky, sis, but you just activated my trap card!" Yang says, revealing a card with a Nevermore on it, making Ruby gasp.
"Giant Nevermore!" Yang yells, slamming her fist on the table, shaking the pieces. "If I roll a 7 or higher, fail feathers will slice your fleet in two," Yang explains.
"BUT, if you roll a 6 or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces!" Ruby counters.
"That's just a chance I'm willing to take," Yang replies, keeping her confident smile and then rolls the dice. "Hah!" she exclaims, getting what she needed.
Ruby screams, "My fearless soldiers!" she cries.
"Eh, most of them were probably androids," Yang says.
"Goodbye my friends. You will be avenged," Ruby says to her lost fleet.
"Not until I draw my rewards, which are double this round thanks to the Mistral trade route," Yang points out.
"Bah!" Ruby groans.
"Oh, and what's this? The Smugglers of Winpath. Okay, looks like I'm taking two cards from your hand," Yang says.
"Have you no heart! Nooooo," Ruby cries, waterfall tears flowing down from her eyes as she lays her head down on the table in defeat.
Velvet pats her head, "I'm sure you'll get her in the next one…Maybe," she says, which only makes Ruby cry a little harder.
"Well Weiss, it's your turn," Yang says, turning to Weiss.
"I have…absolutely no idea what's going on," she confesses, still confused at the game.
Yang slides over, wrapping her left arm around Weiss, shoulders, "Look, it's easy. You're playing as Vacuo, which means all Vacuo based cards come with a bonus," Yang explains.
"That sounds dumb," Weiss replies.
Yang starts sorting through Weiss' cards, "See, you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge, Oh, Oh! Resourceful Raider! See, now you can take Ruby's discard air fleet," Yang begins, making Ruby cry even more. "And put it in YOUR hand," Yang says.
"Okay," Weiss says, starting to understand.
"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom. Just know, that I will not forget this declaration of war," Yang warns her before sliding back.
"And that means?" Weiss asks.
"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant," Ruby says before crying a waterfall again.
Hearing this, Weiss starts laughing evilly and stands up while thunder and lightning can be heard, "Yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces. Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms-," Weiss says, sounding villainous for a moment.
"Trap card," Yang deadpans, showing Weiss a card.
"Huh?" Weiss goes jawstruck.
Yang then moves pieces around, taking away Weiss' game pieces, "Your armies have been destroyed," Yang calmly says as she defeats Weiss.
Weiss immediately starts crying like Ruby, "I hate this game of emotions we play!" she wales as she sits down.
Ruby then jumps on her lap and wraps her arms around her, "Stay strong Weiss, we'll make it through this together!" she cries.
"Shut up! Don't touch me!" Weiss replies, but wraps her arms around Ruby in a hug anyway as they both continue to cry in defeat.
"You're enjoying this a little too much, aren't you?" Velvet asks Yang dryly.
Yang rests her hands behind her head, "Maybe," she replies.
Velvet looks at Blake, "Alright Blake, you're up," she says.
Blake regains focus on the fight, "Huh, what? Sorry, what am I doing?" she asks.
"You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant," Yang explains as Weiss and Ruby stop crying, having smiles on their faces again.
"Right…" Blake says, looks at her cards.
"Hey, can I play?" Jaune asks as he walks to their table.
Yang and Weiss suddenly go wide-eyed at this and Weiss quickly stands up, "Nope, this is for Team RVWBY members only. Now go back to your comic books," she says as she pushes him away, making Ruby and Velvet raise an eyebrow in confusion. Weiss then gets back in her seat. "Now then, where were we?" she asks.
"Actually, I think I have to-," she begins until…
"Sup, losers," they hear behind them and look back to see Sun and another boy with him.
This young man has tan skin, dark blue eyes and messy light blue hair that is shaved on the sides and in the back. He is wearing a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket with a wide, upturned, black collar and a pair of gray jeans with black padding strapped to the sides, with the back of his jacket showing a silver reticle. He is also wearing black shoes fastened with straps instead of laces. He also has on black fingerless gloves and a pair of yellow-tinted goggles worn on his head.
"Hey Sun," Ruby greets him.
"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Velvet…Ice Queen," Sun says, the last one at Weiss.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Weiss says, annoyed.
"I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend," Sun motions to Neptune.
"Uh, aren't libraries for reading?" Neptune asks, talking about their game being held in the library.
"THANK YOU!" Ren and Velvet yell, hands in the air.
"Pancakes!" Nora shouts, suddenly waking up from her dream and lifting her head.
"Shut up. Don't be a nerd," Sun criticizes Neptune.
"Geh-geh-geh-geh! Intellectual, okay? Thank you," Neptune corrects him. "I'm Neptune," he introduces himself.
"And you're from where, exactly?" Velvet asks, arms crossed.
"Haven," he replies and struts over to Velvet, "And I don't believe I caught your name…Beautiful," he says coolly.
However, his answer is Velvet's gauntlet blade coming out and just an inch from his throat.
"Say that again, and it'll be the last word you ever speak," she warns him, eyes narrowed.
Neptune laughs nervously, pulling his collar, "Heh-heh-heh, my apologies," he says and regains his composure as he then tries again with Weiss. "Well I believe we haven't properly met, Snow Angel," he says suavely.
"Really, first you hit on my teammate, right in front of me, and when that fails, you come right on to me," Weiss thinks as she stares at him dryly. "I'm Weiss, but don't press your luck," she replies as she stands up. "Well, I have to go. Yang, you owe me a study session. Let's go," she says as she grabs Yang and pulls her away.
"Aw, come on!" Yang cries as she's pulled away.
Blake sighs, "Well I think I'm done too. I'll see you guys later," Blake says as she leaves too.
Everyone watches them leave.
"Women," Nora says, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, I'll see you guys later. Come on, Neptune. Better luck next time," he says and leaves.
"See you around," Neptune says, waving at them as he follows Sun.
The members of Team JNPR follow a minute later.
Ruby was about to get up until she gets a message on her scroll. She pulls it out to see that it's a message from Yang. The message says, 'I feel bad about leaving and giving Velvet a chance to play. Play a one-on-one game with her before you leave. She's waited long enough'. Ruby thinks about it and decides it was a good idea.
"Come on Velvet. You were owed a game. How about you and me play on-on-one before we head back? We still got some time," she offers.
Velvet shrugs her shoulders and sits down across from Ruby as they reset all the pieces on the board and shuffle the cards. Meanwhile, behind one of the book shelves behind Velvet, Yang and Weiss glance through the openings in the bookshelves with the books.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Yang asks.
"Of course, what we first have to do is get them alone more often and let them bond more. Once they do little more of that, we can then move on to getting some real progress. Just don't forget about your part of the deal," Weiss reminds her.
"Yeah, yeah. I won't. Don't worry," Yang replies.
However, a loud cry occurs and they look back to see Ruby hanging her head on the table, crying like before, while Velvet wipes her hands in victory. Ruby's forces are decimated, while hers are only halfway gone.
"Looks like I win," Velvet says.
"My soldiers. They're all gone again," she cries dramatically.
Yang turns to Weiss, "What the Hell? This game was supposed to last longer than that! How are they supposed to bond if they go through it that quickly?! She quietly gasps.
"I don't know. As our leader, I thought she would've lasted longer than that. She did fine in our last game," Weis retorts.
"Jeez, I'm almost glad I didn't play Velvet then," Yang mutters before she looks back to find Ruby cleaning up the board game…and no Velvet in sight. "Where did Velvet go?" she wonders.
"Hmm, good question," they hear behind them and quickly turn around to find Velvet staring at them with an unamused glare, arms crossed.
"Heh-heh-heh, oh look at the time," Yang says and grabs Weiss before she races out of the library.
"What is with those two lately?" she wonders.
…
Later that night, Blake sits on her bed, knees huddles up to her face, thinking about the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. A few minutes later, Yang and Weiss show up, a little out of breath. Blake then gets up to leave, but as soon as she's about to open the door, it opens up to reveal Velvet and Ruby.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere. We need to talk," Velvet says.
"She's right," Weiss says, getting their attention. "Lately, you've been quiet, antisocial, and moody," Weiss notes.
"Um, have you met Blake?" Yang jokes as Ruby and Velvet stand beside her.
"Which I get is kind of your 'thing.' But, you've been doing it more than usual, which quite frankly, is unacceptable. You made a promise to me, to ALL of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong…So Blake Belladonna, WHAT IS WRONG?!" Weiss ask, suddenly balancing herself on a chair, making Ruby and Yang hunch over with their jaws dropped at the scene and surprising Blake, while Velvet just watches with an eyebrow raised.
Weiss rethinks her position for a moment before quickly putting the chair back at a desk and then rejoining her teammates.
"…I just…I don't understand how everyone can be so calm," Blake confesses.
"You're still thinking about Torchwick?" Ruby knowingly asks while Yang rests an arm on Ruby's bed.
"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it. Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it," Blake says.
"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it," Yang tries to reassure her.
"Well, I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do," Blake replies.
Ruby, Weiss, Velvet, and Yang look at each other for a moment before Weiss speaks.
"Okay, between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, surviving in the wild during travelling, and fighting for freedom, I'm SURE the four of you think you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ner-do-wells," Weiss says.
"Uh, who?" Ruby asks, confused on Weiss' last words.
"But let me once again be the voice of reason. We're STUDENTS. We're not ready to handle this sort of situation," Weiss points out.
"Speak for yourself," Velvet says, crossing her arms.
"We're NOT ready!" Weiss exclaims.
"And we may never BE ready! Our enemies aren't just gonna sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, SOMEWHERE planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's coming. Whether we're ready…or not," Blake voices her concerns.
Ruby calms them down, "Okay…All in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses to single-handedly bring down a corrupt conspiring against the kingdom of Vale…Say 'aye," Ruby declares.
Yang pumps her left fist, "Yes! I love it when you're feisty," she says, pointing at Blake.
"Well, I guess it could be fun," Weiss adds.
"I'm game," Velvet says, hand on her hip.
"None of you said 'aye," Ruby pouts.
"Alright then. We're in this together," Blake says.
"Okay then, let's hatch a plan," Ruby announces.
"Yeah!" Yang says, pointing her hands in gun signs at her.
Ruby then gasps, "I left my board game in the library," she says as realization sets in.
"We're doomed," Weiss says, shaking her head in her hand.
"There's our fearless leader," Velvet sarcastically adds, rolling her eyes. "I'll go get it," she says and walks out of the room.
However, as she walks down the hallway, she walks by three students wearing Haven Academy uniforms. Two girls, one with green hair and red eyes, the other with black hair and eyes that glow like fire. The third is a boy with gray hair who winks at her, making her groan. However, when she eyes the girl with the fire-like eyes, she gets a sense of dread coming from her.
"Hi, there, we're visiting from Haven for the festival. You wouldn't happen to know where the dorms for exchange students are located, would you?" she asks.
Velvet narrows her eyes at them, but decides to answer, "They're east of here. You're in the wrong area," she says.
"Thank you. I'm Cinder by the way. Maybe we'll see you around," she says and they leave.
As she watches them leave, Velvet can't help but feel on edge when looking at Cinder for reasons unknown.
And that's the chapter. Hope it went well for you guys. Will Yang's matchmaking plan succeed before Velvet figures it out? More of that in the future. Until next time, please Read and Review.