In no way am I connected to Rooster Teeth.

Taiyang was beyond furious.

He was used to annoyance and aggravation. Those things happened when you had kids and currently having four rambunctious teenagers would cause a few irritations. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Bringing harm to his family, intentionally or unintentionally, is always going to be a trigger for his anger.

And this was very deliberate.

/

General James Ironwood knew he had been walking a fine line the past few days. He knew he had passed it when Qrow showed up. It hadn't occurred to him how much his informant was watched and he had expected him to hide it much better.

Qrow Branwen, he could handle.

When Taiyang Xiao Long appeared, he swallowed.

I may have made more of a miscalculation than I thought.

"Mr Xiao Long. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Pleasure? Right now, I want answers about what has been happening between you and my son."

Taiyang had always been an easy going man. James had never heard this tone of fury before. He knew that Taiyang was very protective of his family, but Black and Sustrai weren't his family. However, that was not a wise point to start with, especially when he was this angry.

"I need answers to important questions. Mercury Black worked for Cinder Fall and so he is the most likely to have the answers."

"No, Emerald would as she worked for her longer. Or is it because she's the new Spring Maiden that you can't threaten her the same way you can with Mercury? Is it because Emerald knows you can't kill her and Mercury knows you would kill him?"

"I would do no such thing."

"That's not what you say to him and I can prove it. I'm not going to let you ruin his life."

"I am doing no such thing." He needed answers and he needed leverage to ensure Black was giving him the right ones. He was ready to carry out his threat and, as Black was cooperating, he had nothing to fear.

What does he mean? He can prove it?

That did worry James a little. Taiyang was not one for making bluffs. He wasn't one for making threats either, but it would appear that he hadn't realised that Black was genuinely cared about. James thought he was only tolerated. He recalled when Ruby and Black were questioned the morning after the dance, specifically when Ruby's hand slid into his. He had thought that was for her comfort, not for his.

"Try me. I dare you. The hours he spends with you, he could have told you his entire life story. Enough is enough. Leave him alone!"

James would normally call him by his first name. Taiyang would most likely hit him if he did. "Mr Xiao Long, there is too much at risk. I cannot-"

"You were not invited to Vale Ironwood and you were certainly not invited to interrogate and threaten my son. One more step out of line and I'll make sure that you are never trusted in this inner circle or the general public again."

"You cannot back up that bluff."

The cheerful grin that Taiyang responded with removed any doubt from James' mind. He did have back up for that threat.

"Mercury is not stupid, Ironwood. He knows what he wants and he wants us. He has taken steps to ensure it stays that way, even if it means he has to separate from us in the short term." The glare appeared. "I will take great delight in paying back the man that has caused all of my family so much strife recently."

Black and Sustrai did had the protection of the Xiao Long and Branwen family.

Then there was only one thing James could do at the moment.

"I apologize Mr Xiao Long. I will not do so again."

Taiyang said nothing as he turned on his heel and stomped out of the office.

When he did, James found he could breathe again.

/

Tai hadn't noticed there wasn't anything wrong over the past few days. Mercury didn't like large crowds and the noise level in the colosseum would give him a migraine very quickly. These childish matches would also really test his patience. That he even stepped in there for most of his friends' matches was a pure sign of his loyalty. It made the fact that he had no idea how Burgundy defeated Ice (ICCE) in the doubles round very jarring.

However, the first worry had been when Qrow showed up on Saturday night with Mercury's scroll, absolutely livid. Listening to that had told Taiyang exactly what the problem was. Halfway through the first recording, he received a message from Emerald.

Mercury himself had shown up at midnight at the flat the two were staying at, soaking wet from the storm, and asked for a room for the night.

"We had a fight and I'm not going to make them choose."

He hadn't explained more than that. Tai had just asked if he wanted to share and if so, who with. Mercury chose on his own and left early Sunday morning, not even saying 'good morning'. He would have had breakfast with Tai and/or Qrow normally.

Unless it wasn't just Ruby and Emerald he was avoiding.

Muzzling Ironwood had taken all of five minutes.

Tai had thought finding Mercury to tell him that he was fine would be that simple. The stage was the first stop as it was the finals for their singing competition tonight. It turned out he had an argument with Jaune (which had apparently never happened before) and left, though Blake and Weiss said he had sent them when they showed up earlier than expected.

Yang hadn't seen him.

Qrow hadn't seen him.

Emerald and Ruby hadn't seen him and they weren't going to be chasing him around to talk to him. Mercury may have been thinking and acting long term, but that didn't change the fact he was hurting the girls short term.

Tai sighed.

Okay, he had (reluctantly) come to terms with the three way relationship. Given the unusual background of Mercury and Emerald (and Ruby was not like many teenage girls), they wouldn't have most of the arguments others had. Jealousy for example. However, it didn't mean they didn't have disagreements. Theirs were just more unusual. After all, most relationships did not have to worry about the leader of one Kingdom threatening one of them. Especially as a few wrong moves could result in death.

The thing Emerald was furious about was that Mercury said he was giving them that choice, but acted as if he wanted them to choose something in particular. Right at the beginning, Emerald would have preferred to go on the run with Mercury than go to Ruby's house without him.

The thing Ruby was furious about was that Mercury had fallen back into the mind-set that he was expendable and that he was worth less than anyone in the family.

Mercury was fighting to stay with them and not wind up dead. He was also trying to push them into choosing the family rather than him if they had to.

This whole situation was a nightmare.

Qrow still had Mercury's scroll, so they couldn't just call him. When searching in crow form, Qrow saw him grab lunch from a take away before meeting with the ten that made it to the semi-finals. He waited, but Mercury didn't come out the front door.

Either he knew that he was being followed, suspected it or was just paranoid.

Damn Ironwood. He wasn't acting like this a few days ago.

He arranged for someone else to cover for him backstage during the singing competition and never showed up, despite the fact his friend Nyall was in the finals. There was no sign of him for the entire time, even when Nyall won.

Then Mercury didn't come back to the flat at all Sunday night nor to his dorm room.

Taiyang waited until 5am before accepting this. Skipping his night of sleep, Tai went looking for him. He was going to be grounded for life if he deliberately chose to sleep rough.

Ten minutes later, he received a message from Ozpin. He had caught Mercury at the stage dismantling the audio and, before he could slip off again, had told him to check on something in the colosseum. With a note of thanks, Tai headed there.

Finally.

Mercury must have heard him. He merely slid the box back to where it was and waited. He wasn't going to turn around. "Hey Taiyang."

"You are remarkably difficult to find." However, Tai hadn't spent the past two days fighting for him to fight with him now. Emerald and Ruby were going to do that for him. He just rested a hand on his shoulder. Mercury tensed up. He hadn't done that for so long. [Don't worry about Ironwood. I've handled it.]

[Thanks.] That didn't really cheer him up. After all, he had to do most of the work. Other than the words, Tai wasn't able to get anything from him.

[What are you doing?]

[Security.]

Of course you are.

[When are you going to bed?]

Mercury didn't answer immediately. He was at the point that answering truthfully like Taiyang wanted him to was going to get him into a lot of trouble. And he couldn't lie. [Eventually.]

[And when are you going to talk to the girls?]

[Eventually. Thursday. The tournament's finished on Wednesday, so Thursday.]

Tai nodded slightly. He thought Thursday was a bit late, but it would be worse if he tried to force it. It was going to be a very nasty break up if things went south. [What was your argument about?]

Rather than tell him, Mercury showed him. One moment, Tai was in the stadium. The next, he was in some sort of cove. What he sensed of Mercury's emotions was irritation, annoyance and slight regret.

[I could have handled it better.]

[You could have,] Tai agreed as the arena returned to his senses. Thursday made a lot more sense as the tournament seemed to be part of the argument. [You could have handled it worse.] He could have lost his temper completely. [But you're going to need to approach them this time.] He didn't seem enthusiastic about that. [First though, you're going to get some sleep.]

Mercury was even less enthusiastic about that. However, he knew which battles were not worth fighting because he had no chance of winning. Instead, he let out a low growl.

"Fine, but we are not stopping at the dorms."

"That's fine."

[And would you send Ruby a message to knock it off?]

[What do you mean?]

Mercury turned around and leaned against the wall. Tai kept his hand in place. [I don't know how she's doing it but…I can sense where she is but she's doing something to that. Sometimes it's like a tug, sometimes a push and sometimes it's just…I don't know. A shake. Tell her to cut it out.]

That was worrying. [Are you sure it's not telling you she's in danger?]

[I know what that feels like. No, I'm sure she's doing this on purpose. I don't know how and right now, I want to sleep.]

Mercury's scroll was still with Qrow, so he couldn't just call her himself. Maybe she was deliberately annoying him to get him to talk to them. If so, it seemed to be working. Still, if they could do that, then maybe they would be able to call for help with it. Their danger sense only seemed to work if one of them was dying or unconscious.

Let them work it out.

This time, Taiyang stayed awake until dawn and sent Mercury back to bed when he tried to get up. Leaving Qrow to babysit him, it was six in the morning when he finally went to bed himself.

Only to get up five hours later and realise the kid still hadn't taken his scroll, despite the fact it had been left in such an obvious place there was no way he missed it. He wanted to make sure his insurance was in place, even if that meant they couldn't check on him.

These kids were going to be the death of him.

"Welcome to the one on one finals!"

Ruby Rose. Blake Belladonna. Rio Keen. Yatsuhashi Daichi. Sun Wukong. Iris Greenfield. Orion Shard. Cole Bankman.

Two first years. Two second years. Four fourth years.

Oh yeah. Yang was looking forward to this.

There hadn't been much of a discussion who to send through to the doubles round. Em and Merc would flatten anyone they faced and could have done when Yang first met them. But that wasn't what they wanted. Besides, Mercury was getting very irritated at the lack of challenge. The professors were sorting out a schedule for next year for him to spar with them, including Professor Ozpin. Emerald was rather laid back about the whole thing. Throughout the year, both Yang and Ruby had lost to some of their classmates. They wanted to know where they were now from when they started.

Ruby in the finals showed how much they had improved. Team Apricot may have been first years, but Team Rainbow were second years and, by how they defeated Team Jump, they were more experienced than the other second years Yang had seen.

Ruby wanted to go through to see how she fared on her own.

This stage was very different. There were no extra biomes; only centre stage. There was no room to hide and very little room to run.

Just a good old fashioned one on one.

The first good old fashioned one on one was Cole Bankman from Haven against Yatsuhashi Daichi from Beacon.

Cole's weapon was interesting. It had the handle of a sword, but the blade widened quickly and, rather than a pointy end, there was a semi-circle gap instead. It would be difficult to stab someone with that, though not impossible.

Whatever the reason for his odd choice, it meant that they were treated to an excellent sword fight.

Ruby once commented a lot of people had some sort of blade variant. The styles certainly varied and they always changed into different things.

The clanking of metal against metal sang throughout the arena. Unlike the previous matches, the crowd were silent. Most were on the edge of their seats.

Mercury had once said a fight was determined by three things: skill, experience and luck. Those three things made Uncle Qrow one of the best Huntsmen on Remnant (misfortune Semblance that robbed them of much of their time together). Cole had two years of Beacon education over Yatsuhashi, but Yang didn't know what had happened over those years or what happened before Beacon.

Unfortunately, Yatsuhashi did lose, but he put up a very impressive fight. When he was knocked to 14 aura, Cole had been on 34. A result to be proud of.

"And after an honourable duel, Cole Bankman of Haven is victorious!"

The cheering was deafening, almost as if they were making up for their mutually agreed silence. The applause continued for the few minutes it took for them to check damage to the arena and during the entire time the randomizer was spinning.

Next up: Ruby Rose vs Orion Shard.

Good luck Ruby. Go get 'em!

Yang could hear a few of the whispers nearby. A first year against a fourth year? She exchanged a smile with Emerald. If Orion was expecting an easy ride, he was going to be very surprised.

Within seconds, Ruby had knocked off 20 of his aura without suffering a scratch and that was before she started using her Semblance. It certainly made Orion shape up. However, other than almost two years of education and experience over the other first years save BRN, Ruby had another advantage.

She had sparred with Mercury when he wielded a knife.

Granted, Orion had two, but Yang didn't think he was as good as Merc was. Then again, she hadn't met anyone even near their age as good as Merc was.

With weapons at least. He had a lot to learn about relationships. As much as she wanted to knock all three of their heads together, Yang did have to let them sort it out. In her opinion, this was a several hour long argument chat. No doubt Merc was somewhere in the audience, even though he wasn't with them.

Why can't they have normal problems? Though it is a good thing that they're not insecure about each other…

Having a scythe, Ruby was able to keep at a large enough distance that the knives couldn't reach. It also made sure the one time Orion got an excellent hit, she wasn't knocked off. A sniper rifle helped even more.

Even if there were pistols built into the hilts of the knives. Yang had no idea how. She would ask Ruby later; that should cheer her up.

Although Merc was the one she liked to speak technobabble with…Just like Emerald liked talking biobabble with him…

Ruby was still mentally a year lower than Orion. Still, Yang was sure he had had an easier life than some of the others and Ruby had been sparring with Mercury and Emerald. They pulled their punches a lot, but she had learned quickly. She may not be as strong or experienced as a fourth year, but they had specifically taught her how to take on more dangerous opponents.

Even if their logic was for her to stun them so she could run…

Yang did hope that Ruby wouldn't come across anyone who needed 'Emery Rules' for quite a while yet. As this was Ruby, it may be a futile wish.

Now Orion had hit his stride. Ruby had gone from dominating the match to struggling. On top of that, Orion had started to use his Semblance. Yang wasn't entirely sure how to describe it, but it almost seemed like he was pulling the stage itself apart. She had no idea how he was doing that; he was just crouched down with a hand on the floor.

Just as well it was Ruby up there and not Yang. Yang couldn't change direction mid-air. It was now 20 aura and 22 aura, with neither able to get a proper shot off.

Rather than keep fighting him with Crescent Rose, Ruby caught Orion in her petals after another mid-air change and dropped him on the actual floor. The arena snapped back to normal as Orion recognised he was beaten.

"And in an incredible upset, Ruby Rose of Beacon is victorious!"

Yang was on her feet, along with all their friends. If she lost her voice, she would not care. Well, she would only care so she could cheer again tomorrow. Nearly everyone was on their feet, no matter where they were from.

Ruby was practically glowing as she bounced up and down in joy.

That's the way Ruby! Way to go!

Again, the cheering continued until the next match was decided. It took Sun a moment to notice that he was next. Blake wished him luck. He waved it off and bowed to her.

Match 3 of 4 tonight was Sun Wukong vs Iris Greenfield.

Sun had nunchuck staff. Iris had two of some sort of long whip thing. Yang made a mental note to quiz Merc later.

Iris had remarkable control over both individually. She could aim one way and manipulate it carefully, but do something completely different with the second at the same time. Sun was quick, but both whips had a long reach and moved almost like they were alive.

Sun used the staff to catch one whip and one of his Semblance clones took the hit for another. The second Semblance clone made a very good dent into Iris' aura.

The second time he tried it, Iris didn't fall for it. Somehow, the whip arced around the yellow clone and smacked into Sun, who lost focus and fell victim to the second whip.

That wasn't the last time those whip things did that. It was like Sun was fighting three people rather than just one. In fact, Yang was very sure what those whips were doing was impossible. Maybe that something to do with Iris' Semblance; her aura was lower than it should be for one hit. 78.

Sun wasn't doing so well. His constant Semblance use and the many hits had his aura at 27.

Changing his attack, Sun separated the staff and aimed for long range, trying to stay away from the danger.

So far, the whips had only arced around an obstacle.

This time, it literally dodged around the bullets and swipes, moving together to smack Sun off his feet, then again when he was in the air. He twisted to dodge, but the result was the same: he was out.

It was the shortest match, but it was also the most confusing. Yang had seen all the matches so far and Iris had never used her weapons like that.

"In complete defiance of every law of physics, Iris Greenfield wins!"

It was a few seconds before the applause came and that was only because the crowd were trying to figure out what just happened.

This left Blake Belladonna against Rio Keen.

Rio was interesting. Yang hadn't seen him around very much (only in previous matches) and he hadn't been in any of the other competitions going on the past few weeks. He had some very fancy gauntlets, almost animalistic and they were claw like on the end. Underneath were very casual clothes; grey jeans and a long shirt. Appropriate weapons. Instead of punching and kicking, he swiped the way an animal would.

Blake managed well, adapting quickly to his strikes. She used the sheath and blade separately; blocking with one and jabbing with the other. She also alternated, so he couldn't just block the one hitting him.

Then it turned out he could teleport.

Hang on. Teleport? Remarkably unfair. And that long shirt must be a nightmare to iron.

Blake had a Semblance too. In this situation, it was very helpful. The copy could take the hit so Blake could strike back. Even when he attacked from behind, Blake could still respond quickly.

Aura from both was dropping rapidly and it was remarkably difficult to follow the action. They were way too fast.

The only question was which would hit the red first.

Come on Blake…

This was definitely the fastest paced of the four matches. It was also the most evenly matched when it came to use of Semblances. In fact, it was the most evenly matched. With the other three, there was a sense of who would win from near the beginning unless something was done.

24:31

23:25

19:18

Yes!

"What a way to wrap up the night! Blake Belladonna of Beacon is the winner!"

All in all, an excellent night.

Romantic problems aside.

Weiss was in a good mood. She may not have made it to the finals, but watching a lot of these matches showed that it didn't mean she was a poor combatant. It merely meant it wasn't her day. No one had expected a first year team to get much farther than the first round and, technically, the two teams that did weren't first years.

It seemed that only her father was disappointed, but Weiss didn't care. He couldn't pull her from Beacon without her consent unless there was a very strong health or family problem. Even if he tried, Winter had promised to discuss it with Professor Ozpin before he allowed Weiss out of his care.

Weiss had planned to go out with the other eleven for a very late meal.

Finding Yang outside what she thought was a spare room confused her. "Yang?"

Yang put a finger to her lips and pointed to the room. Weiss rolled her eyes at the obvious eavesdropping and approached quietly. After a moment, Yang typed out something on her scroll and showed it to her.

'Go on. We'll catch up'

Weiss shrugged and pointed to the room, mouthing: 'who?'

When Yang held up three fingers, Weiss understood: Ruby, Emerald and Mercury. Again, Weiss shrugged. Yang deleted the last note on her scroll and typed out one word: 'arguing'.

Now Weiss was very curious.

Eavesdropping was usually below her, but in this case she was going to make an exception. She tiptoed to the door. She didn't even need to press an ear against the obstacle.

Ruby: "That's not what he said and you know it!"

Mercury: "That's what he meant and you know it."

Emerald: "This is going in circles. If you don't want this anymore Mercury, then just say it."

Mercury: "What the hell makes you think that? So I'm alone a little more. Doesn't mean I'm done with this."

Emerald: "Could have fooled me."

Weiss held back a groan. She had never liked overhearing arguments and this one was no exception. Still, she was supposed to be dining with all three of them soon, so she needed to know how to respond to whatever was happening.

There was a brief silence.

Ruby: "Mercury, I get that you've got things to do. But what exactly are we supposed to think?…Well, there you go."

Emerald: "You need to let this go Mercury. It's not our problem anymore."

Mercury: "You might be happy being a first year student Emerald, but that's not what I am. So I've work to do that you don't. Simple as that."

Weiss frowned and glanced at Yang. She mouthed: 'later'. Nodding once in acknowledgement, she listened.

…

Ruby: "Then maybe…maybe we need to…step back. For a little while."

Yang went as still as a statue.

Weiss looked at her. Yang was speechless. That had never happened before.

…

Mercury: "Do you agree Emerald?"

…

Emerald: "Yeah. For a little while."

Mercury: "Okay then."

Yang backed away from the door. Still silent. Weiss followed her example. She had no idea what to say either.

Mercury appeared. He didn't seem to care they overheard.

"Mercury…" Yang had no idea what to say.

He zipped his jacket up fully. "If they want the gift back Yang, just message Qrow okay? He'll let me know and get it to them. Keep an eye on them, alright?"

Dumbly, Yang nodded. Then she tried again. "They care Merc."

"I know. I haven't been a good boyfriend to them recently. Or friend at all actually. See you at dinner." He walked down the hallway, soon vanishing from sight.

Weiss bit her lip. She glanced back at Yang, who was obviously torn between following Mercury and going in to see the others. Weiss nudged her and pointed to her scroll. Yang blinked, before she understood and messaged Qrow and her Dad. Then she headed to see the girls.

Ruby was curled up on a crate. Emerald was leaning on a different one. They weren't angry. In fact, Ruby looked like she was about to cry.

"Yang. I-We…"

"Sometimes things don't work out," Yang commented. No blame anywhere. "Give it until the end of the school year." A week's time. "Then you can talk properly."

"Thursday might be better," Emerald muttered. "Can't deal with it tomorrow."

"Yeah."

Weiss was missing something here.

"He said if you wanted your gift back-"

"No," Emerald immediately cut in. Ruby shook her head at supersonic speed. "It's his. It-This is just an argument. One we'll talk through later in the week."

What is so special about Wednesday, other than being the last day of the Vytal Festival Tournament?

The three were okay at the late dinner. Ruby and Emerald sat away from each other, Yang and Mercury. They were perfectly friendly, but didn't make eye contact. No one brought anything up.

Even Weiss could see they still really cared about each other. This separation, even from Weiss' point of view, wasn't going to be good for them.

Weiss was almost jealous. Her parents weren't anything like this. She couldn't deny she was sad about this temporary break.

Nyall could have applied for Haven. He would have needed to go through very vigorous training to catch up the year before and he wanted more time with Melody. If he was honest, he wasn't ready for 24 hour constant work, being far too relaxed. He was happier to go the slower route and apply a year late. Quite a few did that, including his friend Silvo. He stayed in Mistral.

It was one thing to read about the ragtag group that made up Melody's friends. It was another thing entirely to actually meet them. These twelve (including Zephyr, who had dropped out and hadn't been seen for a while) were well liked even by the older years.

In fact, a part of Nyall regretted not applying to Beacon for next year.

Vale was pretty good and had plenty to offer, from the little kids to the grandparents. Most of it was for teenagers and a little older, so they were never bored.

I wonder if this city or Beacon was built first.

Mostly, Nyall had been out with Melody, with some of her friends or SSSN. He had been out with a few others, but those were the main ones.

If all Combat Schools were like this, which Sun claimed they were but maybe not as much depended on who was attending, then Nyall was really looking forward to starting.

Especially if he got the chance to fight in the Amity Colosseum. This thing was an amazing piece of architecture.

It was Tuesday today. The final fight was on Wednesday. He was going home on Saturday, as he was needed with his parents next week. His sister did have the decency to wait until he got back before going on holiday with her friends and the last time they left their parents, they were an argument away from a very ill thought out divorce.

Two hot-headed people that often spoke before they thought could be disastrous and losing his little brother to a Grimm attack four years previous had only escalated things.

Nyall was old enough and mature enough to manage if he had to make it on his own. His sister was only 15 and she was still very immature, the kind to spend her money on clothes if she was hundreds of lien in debt. He wasn't close to his parents, but he was close with Ivy. When she grew up and left, his parents could focus on themselves.

He was sure they were going to get a divorce the minute they could. The spark just wasn't there anymore and he wasn't going to push.

Of course, Ivy's wish of being a doctor (and having the grades for it), might extend that for longer than they would like.

There were only two fights tonight. There was only going to be one fight tomorrow.

Nyall was fine with that.

The first fight of the night was Blake vs Iris. The last fight of the night was Ruby vs Cole.

Pity. I was hoping to see Ruby and Blake fight. At least Blake has a chance to get revenge for her boyfriend's loss. If she can get past the impossible snake like things.

Blake didn't seem to have much of a problem with the snake like things. She was too quick for it and if Iris was doing something, which Nyall would put money on she was, then she couldn't make them move fast enough to hit Blake.

The thing about these matches was that they can sometimes be repetitive. Iris was trying loads of different forms of attack, but Blake dodged each one. The very few she couldn't, which were random, always hit her clone before it hit her.

Sun's strategy. He hadn't been quick enough to pull it off, but Blake was.

On top of that, it was able to go through her clone, so rebound didn't happen. That must be difficult to adapt to.

Blake merely used Sun's strategy for success. There was no coup de grace, no special move. It was just chipping away and dodging until Iris was eliminated.

That was one first year in the final. Had that ever happened before?

"Not bad at all," Nyall commented to Jaune, his voice a little louder than he was used to because of the applause.

"That's the way it's done," Jaune replied happily.

Ruby had a much harder time of it. A scythe was not an easy weapon to use against a sword. There was also the fact that Cole, unlike Orion, took her seriously from the very beginning. He went in close, but remained cautious.

Cole wasn't used to fighting a scythe (though to be fair, Nyall hadn't seen anyone other than Ruby use a scythe). Ruby seemed to be struggling with using a scythe against a sword, especially one as oddly shaped as that.

The oddly shaped sword was also used a slightly different way. Cole kept twisting it in the few times the points made it past Ruby's defences. Maybe he was trying to disarm her. She just kept flipping her scythe to stop him.

Still, the constant clashes and lack of proper hits made it drag on a little. That didn't make it any the less interesting to watch. In fact, it made it more difficult to guess who was going to win.

In Nyall's opinion, that was the most important thing.

It was still a great and pleasant surprise when Ruby managed to strike out a win.

"That is it for the semi-finals! For the first time in this tournament history, the finals tomorrow will be between two first years! Who says older is better?"

Nyall grinned. He just knew.

Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a show.

AN: My original plan was to have the Vytal Festival tournament last a lot longer. The problem was that there was far too much filler that I didn't like in there, so I cut a little and reorganised quite a bit. Much of that missing part is now on a oneshot folder on my computer that I am considering posting it merely so I can find the incidents I am looking for much easier. It has a lot of things cut from the previous two fics as well, so it is getting difficult to find the stuff I'm looking for.

The next update may be a little slower so sorry if it is. Thank you for reading.