Hello! I'm here with a new chapter, starring Ao Guang as worst wingman—with a surprise cameo from one of Cinder's associates.

33. Paranoia

Pitch dark. The only sound was of their breathing as they lay in their sleeping bags, side by side. Nora hummed quietly, and grinned when Ren hummed back.

"I missed doing this," she whispered. "Like when we were kids."

"We didn't usually have a tent back then."

"Tents just block out the stars anyway." Nora perked up a little. "Can we—"

"The tent stays up. I'd rather be dry for a while."

"Oh. Sorry."

He turned his head, and she saw a slight smile on his face. "That was a joke, Nora."

She whacked his arm. "It's not funny."

"...No. It wasn't."

Nora shifted onto her side, eyes straining to make out more than his outline. It was... they'd been in danger plenty of times before, but always together. "I wish I was there."

"Mm."

"Did you wish I was there?"

"You're asking if I wished you were trapped underwater with me, about to get eaten by a killer Grimm?"

"Yeah."

"...A little. Mostly I wished that I'd made different choices."

She wished it wasn't so hard to see his face. "Which choices?"

"A lot of them." He let all his breath out in a huff. "You remember when we met?"

"Nope! Totally forgot the most important day of my life. Of course I remember, dummy."

That was definitely a smile. "Well... I regret how I acted that morning. I hate to think that I almost blended into a sea of faces. Just one more person who wanted to help, but didn't."

"You're not still feeling guilty about that, are you?"

"I try not to. I don't want to wallow in it, I want to remember..."

"Remember what?"

"Something my father told me, afterward."

Nora went very still. She'd heard about Ren's parents over the years, but only in bits and pieces. He didn't like to talk about them, and what he remembered was fragmented. She didn't remember much of anything about hers.

"He told me that I needed to learn to take action. That standing there and letting something happen was as bad as participating."

"If you're trying to say you're a bad person, I might have to fight you." Nora waved a fist menacingly. "A thumb war... to the death!"

"It's not that. I've been trying to follow his advice... but recently I realized that I'd fallen into the same bad habit of freezing. Of being so afraid of the possible consequences of my actions that I don't take any action at all."

All of a sudden, Nora could sort of relate—talking felt really dangerous right about now. "Actions, like...?"

Ren got so quiet that for a second she was afraid he'd fallen asleep—and if he did she was definitely tickling him awake, he'd asked her not to do that anymore but this was an emergency! When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and sheepish. "Like... asking to kiss you?"

She let out a small, involuntary shriek of delight, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "Nora!" Ren waved a hand frantically, his voice still pitched to a whisper. "The others!"

Her eyes went wide. "Oh no, what if I woke Pyrrha up?!" They waited in dead silence. Then, something tapped against the outside of the tent. Cringing, Nora unzipped it, already halfway through an apology.

Ao Guang blinked at her. He licked her face and pushed his head further inside, sniffing Ren. "Gud?" he asked, staring at them in concern.

Nora was really glad it was too dark to see her face. "We're okay, Guang. Go back to sleep." He sneezed once, directly on Ren, and then retreated.

Dead silence. Slowly, Ren looked down at his shirt—which was now slightly damp. "That... could have gone better."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. You're important to me, and I'd never want to endanger our friendship over this. I just wanted to tell you, even though I know you probably don't think of me like—"

"Dummy," she said fondly, and kissed him.

Jeering crowds pressed in around the ring—shouting and waving money in the air. They hurled insults at a lumbering earth dragon as it shrank away from its opponent's claws until, in desperation, it snapped at the larger water dragon. A few flecks of blood hit the rubber mat underneath them.

The cries of delight and dismay that went up echoed off high cinderblock walls. A group of three turned away from their lost bets in disgust and called for the bartender. Another pair hugged one another, laughing and clapping each other on the back. A lone woman handed a stack of lien cards to her neighbor and shouted, "That little fucker better win, now!"

Flickering fluorescent lights illuminated little islands in the massive space. The pit itself was washed in white, with stark black shadows writhing underneath the two dragons that wrestled one another behind thick metal bars. There was another bright spot around the bar, and more scattered throughout the converted warehouse. But in between them, shadows grew thick in the windowless room. One corner was almost pitch dark. A hooded figure sat at a table, both their hands clenched into fists. Watching.

On the opposite side of the warehouse, the door swung open, letting in the dim yellow light of streetlamps. "Ladies! Gentlemen!" The voice carried all the way to the dark corner. "Have I got the specimen for you!"

The hooded figure stood up sharply. That... had not been the plan.

Several seconds passed, and the action around the pit ground to a halt as everyone turned to stare at the interloper. Even the dragons paused, once the crowd stopped riling them up. Roman Torchwick tipped his hat to the room at large. "I'd like you all to meet the future of pit fighting! The spectacle of spectacles!"

Neo wasn't sure what the hell he thought he was playing at—he was supposed to make a distraction, but this hadn't been what she'd had in mind. Still, she did recognize the signal when she saw it. She slipped away from the darkened corner, making for a door marked employees only. And, just as she twisted the handle...

"That's right! The ultimate fighting edge! This dragon... is invisible!"

She paused. Then she tugged the door open and ducked inside, resigning herself to getting the job done much faster than usual. There was a hallway, dimly lit. Two doors. Neo pressed her ear to the first and heard hissing and clanging behind it. The other was silent. One was probably cages, the other...

A desk, a chair, and a computer. Papers everywhere. She flicked through them, careful to leave everything exactly where it had been. Nothing, nothing, nothing... and then she picked up a pizza delivery menu and found a little cup with a set of keys inside.

Neo took two pictures—one with the papers hiding them, and one without. Then she turned on her heel and walked back the way she'd come. She slipped back into the main room, getting a few more snapshots of the layout as she went, and...

"—really don't believe me, just watch!" Roman waved a hand towards the pit. "Your two against my one. We'll see who comes out on top."

"There's no fucking dragon!" someone shouted—screamed, really—at the kind of pitch and volume that told Neo it was not the first time this had been pointed out to him.

"Of course there is, Phyllis just pet him. Didn't you, Phyllis?"

"My name's not—"

"See? They can fly, breathe underwater, melt steel, and move mountains! What's a little invisibility compared to that?"

Neo rolled her eyes and sent him a quick text—Done. The moment he felt it, his speech stalled slightly. "Well," he said, backing towards the exit. "If you're all going to act like this, I'll take my incredible business opportunity elsewhere. Good day!" And he turned on his heel with righteous indignation, making a show out of holding the huge metal door open long enough for an invisible dragon to walk through.

Roman was radiating smugness when they met up again outside. "You said I couldn't do it."

"You're an idiot," she signed.

"No, no, an idiot would have tried to make up a believable lie. Think about it—who's going to think that was a ploy?"

Neo flicked his hat and watched him scramble to readjust it. "You're just lucky I can search a room in under three minutes."

"Yeah, well." He spread his hands. "It got a little dicey at the end there, but I did it! More than a dozen fighting pits, and I never used the same lie twice!"

"Do you want me to steal you a trophy?"

"That's so sweet..." He smirked. "But in this case, greatness is its own reward."

Neo rolled her eyes and sent out the last photographs. Then she slid her scroll into her pocket and glanced briefly over her shoulder at the seedy fighting pit they'd just left. Her eyes narrowed. Whatever Cinder was planning, it better end with all these places on fire.

"Ang..." Phoenix's eyes were half lidded as she tilted her head to give Yang better access. She'd learned that right under her chin was her favorite spot to be scratched—funny, since Fang would probably snap at her if she tried the same thing on him.

Phoenix purred softly and licked her cheek. "Lo."

"Hi to you, too."

Fang touched noses with the older dragon, rumbling a greeting.

They stood there a few minutes, Yang quietly petting Phoenix. Then, reluctantly, she drew her head back. "Go," she said.

Already? She bit down on the word. Phoenix might've been Raven's better half—her much, much better half—but they were still bonded. And lately, whenever the dragon was with her, it meant that she wasn't with her rider. Yang couldn't, didn't, need her.

But instead of leaving, the dragon lingered and said, "Com."

"No." Yang folded her arms. She knew why Phoenix had done it, but she was still a little irritated about the last time she'd forced her and Raven to talk.

Phoenix winced. "Nno. Com. Rae talk... all."

"All—oh." Yang grinned apologetically. "You mean she's making an announcement?"

A nod. "Ssin."

"Finally." Fang roared agreement and tugged at her sleeve. "Hey, quit it! I'm going, you don't have to ruin my shirt."

Yang was one of the last to gather in the center of camp. Phoenix slunk around to her usual spot behind her rider, her ears flicking in chagrin when Raven raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm sure you've all guessed what this is about, so I'll be brief. We've finally gotten the green light from Cinder and her people—it's time to make our move on Shade.

"Pack your things. We move out in the morning."

"May."

She looked up from her essay to see Nolan brandishing a finger at her. "What?"

"We're going out. As a team."

"No." She very pointedly went back to writing.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Nolan," Brawnz drawled, "let me do it." He sat next to May and put a hand on her shoulder. She tensed. "You... need to get the hell out of this room. It's been almost a week, May."

She shrugged him off. "I don't want to."

"You mean you think there's a ninja hit squad hunting you," Nolan said.

Brawnz aimed a kick at him. "Dude, shut up and stop helping!"

"Someone was following me, I told you!"

"There was no one there!" Nolan groaned in frustration, putting a palm to his forehead. "Literally no one. The one time in a whole month we get to hang out in town and you made us go back early because you were scared of your own shadow!"

"What he's trying to say," said Brawnz, "is that you've been a bit of a paranoid wreck lately."

May shoved him off her bed. "Go without me, then!"

"Maybe we will," Nolan snapped. "Bathroom's mine first." He slammed the door behind him.

"Whatever." Brawnz opened the door to their dorm room and paused. "I've got to talk to Kieran. When I get back, we're going."

May gritted her teeth and glared at her paper. She felt the mattress next to her depress slightly, and winced. Maybe if she didn't look at him, he wouldn't say anything.

"May?"

"I'm not going." She still didn't glance up from her essay.

"You don't have to, but... have you gone outside at all since last week?"

"I've gone to class."

Roy didn't say anything. May had basically made his point for him.

"There was someone following me."

"...What happened at Beacon really got to you, huh?"

Her head snapped around. "I don't—"

"I'm worried too, but hiding away like this isn't healthy."

"You don't believe me either."

"I believe you thought you saw something." May glared at him. "Look... if it is a stalker or something, you'll have all three of us with you." He paused. "Besides, don't you have a gun?"

"What—I can't just carry that around in town! And besides, it's..." A sniper rifle. Awful for close range. "...It's not that great for self defense anyway."

Roy shrugged. "So we'll bring pepper spray."

May couldn't really argue with that. Or rather, she didn't dare. How was she supposed to insist that someone was following her without explaining why they'd have a motive? So she followed the three boys onto the bus and sat there, her hands clenched tight in her lap, jumping at every sound. One of the other passengers kept sneaking glances at her—but then when she was caught, she blushed and smiled a little, and May relaxed. Until she wondered if that was the sort of thing an assassin might do to deflect suspicion...

Nolan and Brawnz kept shooting irritated glances her way. Roy sat in the aisle seat next to her when she asked, and kept an eye out for suspicious characters, and even tried to hide the obvious fact that he was only humoring her.

All went relatively well at first. They got into Vacuo proper and wandered around, and Nolan and Roy each picked up a few bags on the way. Brawnz offered her a chocolate covered scorpion. After a full minute of explaining to him why that was absolutely disgusting she gave in and tried it, and pretended to gag and retch despite the fact that it wasn't all that bad.

Then she glanced to the left and froze. A flash of purple fabric, disappearing around a corner. Brawnz snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Hey! You okay?"

"Fine." The scorpion dropped to the ground, forgotten.

May tried to laugh along with the others, but there were so many people around. Every time one of them jostled her, she tried to get a look at their face—was this the one that kept following her? She stayed between Roy and Nolan, with Brawnz in front of her, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds.

Another flash of purple. It was buried somewhere in the crowd, and even when she stared after it, she couldn't find it again. Could never get a good enough look. Her head spun. There were a thousand eyes all around her, boring into her, they could see what she'd—

Her shoulder hit something solid, which turned out to be Nolan. He reached out to steady her. "May? What's wrong?"

"I'm going back." She pulled her beanie further over her hair, wishing it could hide her face. "This was a bad idea."

"Did you see something again?" Nolan asked. "May, seriously, it's okay. There's nobody out there."

"Can we please just go back to Shade? I... I need to see Flurry."

Nolan and Brawnz looked at one another. Brawnz made a frustrated noise and pressed a hand to his forehead. "We're only like a mile from the bus stop May, can't you just—?"

When Nolan saw the look on her face he groaned and said, "Fine, but can you at least stick it out for another hour? There's some stuff I really need to buy."

"I'll go," Roy offered. "I don't need anything right now. We'll meet you back at the dorm."

May tensed. Wandering around with only one teammate was better than being alone, but not by all that much. But what were her options, really? She couldn't handle another hour of this. "Fine," she mumbled.

The way back was worse. So many noises jumped out of the crowd—vendors hawking their merchandise, haggling, an argument almost a hundred feet away that almost came to blows. May's head kept jerking back and forth, bird-like, her hand in her pocket clutching the canister of pepper spray. Roy might have been joking about that, but she'd brought it anyway.

"I'll watch the left," Roy said. "At least until we're on the bus."

For several minutes she kept glancing at him, making sure he was really watching and not just saying that so she'd calm down a little. But he kept his eyes moving, and slowly she let herself turn most of her attention to her right side.

Most... but not enough that she didn't notice the flash of purple encroaching on them. But by the time she caught the figure approaching, they were only feet away. A cane tapped against the ground, and it was hunched over with age. The violet cloak over its head came all the way down to its ankles.

May shrieked and shoved Roy hard to one side. He tripped and hit the ground, and she went stumbling backwards. And, in the space where she'd just been, the tip of a gigantic scorpion's tail struck thin air.

People pressed in all around. More potential assassins. The figure poised itself to attack again, and in her panic May shot the pepper spray blindly under the hood. It screamed, reeling back. The tail whipped around behind it to catch its balance. A circle of onlookers formed around them. It dove into the crowd, tail disappearing without a trace under the cloak. Seconds later, it was gone.

Eyes. Hundreds of eyes, all staring at them. The figure had run off to the east. May went in the opposite direction, shoving her way between onlookers. More footsteps pounded along behind her. Blind panic drove her to duck down side-streets at random, desperate to lose her pursuer.

"May!"

She skidded to a stop. Behind her, Roy leaned against a lamppost, panting. "Minute to... breathe... please..."

"No." She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him behind her, watching everyone around her with wild eyes.

"May... what the hell?"

"I told you! I told you, and you didn't believe me!"

"But—what the fuck? Why?!"

On impulse, she pulled him to the side, into a narrow alleyway. "I... I..." She chanced a look at his face, feeling strangely steadied by the panic in it. "I killed Ozpin!" she blurted, and looked around again. No one there.

Roy stared at her. His mouth fell slightly open, and he made a strange croaking sound. "You... what?"

"I didn't—" She hugged both arms around her stomach. "I didn't want to! Someone called me, they knew about—about Flurry, and my rifle, and I—he would have gone to the pits, I couldn't just—"

Shock turned to horror. "You're serious."

"You think I'd joke about that? I heard... I heard Ragnar, when he..." Her voice broke. "I can't... I didn't have a choice, I swear!"

Roy drew her into a hug, her forehead resting on his chest. "Okay," he said shakily. "Okay... I believe you. I know you wouldn't want to."

"I think... whoever it was that called me, I think they're trying to tie up loose ends."

"So the scorpion faunus... shit." He took few deep breaths. She could feel his chest rising and falling. "Okay. First thing's first, we need to get back to Shade. Whoever it was, they never tried to follow you there. Then... if you have to go out, we'll make sure all four of us are together—"

May pulled away from him. "You can't tell them!"

"I wasn't going to—"

"You can't! Nolan's been trying to prove the council didn't do it for ages, he'd never keep it secret. And Brawnz would... he'd..."

"May." Hands on her shoulders. "I'm not going to tell anyone. Ever. Okay?"

"Okay..."

"But... are you sure? That the council wasn't behind it?"

She nodded. "Yeah. They have their own snipers, why would they need me?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But it doesn't matter right now. What matters is that we're going back on that bus, and we're getting to Shade. Then we don't leave again unless we've got all four of us, and our dragons. Okay?"

"Yeah. Okay."

"Good." He tugged on her beanie to straighten it. "And... May? It's not your fault."

He was so earnest, she could almost believe him.