Chapter 8: What it means to be young
Nova had thoroughly wedged himself and his team into the entanglement of Beacon Academy and its lifestyle no longer was he paranoid or afraid that their secrets would be discovered, that he and his sister were really the last two dragons, that they had unstable powers that could potentially go out of control if they used it carelessly. In this entire time, there were very few occasions where his power to manipulate heat itself acted out, the only instances were those minor flares when he felt his emotion spiking. He purposely used it in the fight against Pyrrha to deal damage but he couldn't just display it, anything more than minor manipulation of temperature would prove dangerous. Sapphire hadn't been experiencing any difficulty, in fact, her power was probably the most stable to have ever manifested, perhaps because it was unique.
As a child, he remembered the stories his father told him, about the older Aspects, there hadn't been a single Aspect in several generations. Aegis gene usually manifested in some alteration of a natural element, his family had Aspects who could control fire itself, similar to the Fall Maiden, at least most of them did. There was one recorded who could use lava, apparently the child of an Earth and Fire Aspect, and one who could manipulate gaseous chemicals, a child of an Air and Earth Aspect. The chemical manipulator was said to be the most unstable, he was the reason for the disappearance of the earth and air Aspects.
Nova's power was different, he could manipulate heat, as far as he knew that was the limit of it, but unlike fire, his heat was instant and could skyrocket air temperature to unearthly levels. On the surface not the most unstable, but for some reason, he could never control it. It was volatile and dangerous as if it were on a broken pipe that was hastily repaired, use it too much and it would explode.
Luna's power was by far the most peculiar, his father said it was the first of its kind, a unique evolution. Even she wasn't sure how it worked, all she could do right now was 'telekinetically' move objects, at least that's how it looked to him. He forbade her from practicing it to avoid any unwanted outbursts but there had never been any, at least as far as he knew. Sometimes, it would feel like she was hiding things from him, but to him, it was a sign she was becoming her own person, so he had to respect that. These thoughts would wander their way into his head ever so often as he sat under this one tree in Beacon's courtyard.
Every night Nova would be spotted out in the courtyard, under that same tree, practicing his swordsmanship and scythe mastery, dressed in his guise as Alexandrite. Occasionally a certain red hooded team leader would be seen sitting on the grass with him, watching as he trained, talking and smiling fondly, exchanging stories of their days, their team, enjoying their time as teenagers, something Alex hadn't really been able to do until now.
One such night was this one.
"Alexandrite, can I ask you something?" Ruby leaned against the trunk of the oak tree, her hood down as she was intensely polishing and maintaining Crescent Rose.
"You just did." he chuckled once he saw her 'seriously?' face. "Ruby, you know I'll tell you anything you need to know…within my ability to answer, that is," the male team leader said as he spun Asura in his hands, the scythe cutting clean through the air, a crisp humming sound from the vibrating blade, and the rush of wind in the leaves were the only other sounds.
"It's kinda personal…not about like your past or anything but you know in general I guess," her nervousness was quite apparent.
"Yeah shoot your shot," he morphed Asura and sheathed it before taking up a seat next to his friend, his black hoodie and matching tracks were pressed against his form in the slight breeze, the colors of he wore stood near monochrome while those heterochromatic of his eyes shining admits the black.
"Okay you don't have to answer this but, do you know what it feels like to well like someone...as in more than a friend?" her face was red and she wouldn't meet his eyes. The question caught the young teen off guard, how the hell should he respond? He just looked up as if the branches of the tree held the meaning of life, a strange bubbling erupted inside of him, unsure of how to even begin to answer the question.
Deciding to just go for it, he answered with the first things that came to his mind. "Um, well…. I guess when you're with them, you could spend hours talking about nothing in particular and it'd be the most interesting thing in the world to you. Everything they do, their quirks, their expressions, all of it becomes endearing. Your heart starts beating really fast when you're with them and you can't get them out of your head." He realized with a brief shock, that the words he spoke hit so close to home that it was directly on the mark. He had accidentally described how he felt towards the adorable girl sitting mere inches from him without directly telling her. Saying those words out loud, for the first time, it felt like he had just confirmed to himself that he was indeed, crushing on her...hard.
She looked at him wide-eyed, he was afraid for a second he had given himself away. She turned her head and blushed once again, still not responding.
He gulped, his anxiety rising, telling him to back off, not to make things awkward but he went straight in and tried playing it cool. "If you're asking me this you must have someone you like right? More than a friend?" his voice wasn't shaky, a good sign.
"W-whaa! N-No um.. well yeah but they don't know I like them," she stuttered and began fiddling with Crescent Rose again. Alex felt himself die a little on the inside, she liked someone?
"What about you? Got anyone you like?" she tried to redirect attention. He felt almost sad, a sickening feeling in his stomach, she said she liked someone but they didn't know she liked them. It could be anyone, he shouldn't get his hopes up that it might be him.
"M-me? Um, y-yeah…." You he wanted to say but kept the last word to himself. He mentally cursed his cowardice. He was one word away from possibly ruining one of the best friendships he's ever had.
An awkward pause fell between the two.
"I know it's not my place but, are you going to tell anyone that you're a..." she gestured to the top of his head. His eyes followed her finger realizing. "Oh... Maybe one day…when…" he stopped himself from finishing that. He wanted to say One day when I catch the man responsible for ruining my life.
She wouldn't let that last part go, "One day when?"
He was caught red-handed, "Umm…. One day when Sapphire and I are safe to reveal ourselves, yeah that's it," he opted for the cheesiest way out.
She just hummed in response, "I still don't know what you look like under there, all I saw was your hair and horns. You might as well tell me everything now." she teased.
Alex flicked her forehead playfully, "You can't get it out of me that easily Red." he chuckled.
Silence fell on the two once more, this time comfortable and calming. Ruby had been slowly nodding off, the atmosphere between them was just too comfortable.
"Hey Ruby we should head back…" he turned to see the young leader and fallen asleep on his shoulder with a soft thud as she landed. She is really cute when she sleeps he couldn't help but think. Sighing to himself, not wanting to wake the angel that was on his shoulder he gently scooped her in his arms bridal style and carried her back to her dorm. Glancing around to make sure no one was around, he slung Crescent Rose in its compact form around his back and launched himself up the tree, near team RWBY's room window, which was almost always open at this hour because Blake was a late sleeper.
He gingerly climbed into the room carefully trying not to wake anyone. Glancing around to see if Blake was inside, before walking carefully to Ruby's bed and placing tucking in the sleeping girl.
"Look who finally came up," A quiet feminine voice spoke as he was about to leave. His head whipped around almost inhumanely to see Blake in the shadows of her bed, where he could have sworn, she wasn't before. "Um I can explain?" he was at a loss. Blake beckoned him outside.
"Don't worry I won't tell Weiss you two were out late together," she giggled.
"Ugh it's not like that…we were just hanging out and it got late and she fell asleep so I brought her here," he was flustered, he silently thanked the darkness of the night for hiding his shame.
"Mhm, and I don't have cat ears, listen Alexandrite, you should REALLY ask her out," Blake's words were unexpected.
"It's not that I don't want to but, she doesn't like me like that I think, she said she has someone she likes…. Besides, I'm not…my life is…it's dangerous for her to get that involved with me," he solemnly said.
"What type of reasoning is that Alexandrite I can tell, you like her, you should at least let her know, even if she doesn't reciprocate it'll make you feel better. Besides, did she say that it wasn't you that she liked?" Blake reasoned, folding her arms, her amber cat eyes glowing the dark. Alexandrite seemed to ponder over it, "Blake It's not like I don't want to tell her but, I have my reasons," he was tired.
"Yeah the same reasons you can scale a tree that is nearly two stories and the same reason you hide your face," she said. His eyes widened, "How do you…"
"How do I know you're a Faunus? Easy, I used to be a member of the White Fang, there are telltale signs of a Faunus trying to hide their identity, albeit you're the most well-hidden one I've met but nevertheless, I'm a ninja, an actual ninja so I can tell." She was frank. "Your skills are a dead giveaway, your style of fighting doesn't use the deception of tricks that the those trained as shinobi use, yet you claim to be one. You're ultra-sensitive to sound, sight and smell and emotion. And your addiction to fish, perhaps one of the Faunus kinds most notable traits."
"Really? My food preferences to?" He raised his eyebrow and rolled his eyes.
"Yes well, there may be an innumerable amount of species of Faunus that like fish that much but the fact is, your attraction to the food is inhuman." She concluded.
"Yeah, Sapphire and I are Faunus, but the reasons we hide aren't because of our race, it's because of who I am, if certain people knew that my sister and I were alive and who we really were, they would stop at nothing to end us, so we hide ourselves in plain sight," Alexandrite said.
"I'm not sure if I have the right to say this but, you know you can trust us, right? At least Yang, Ruby and me, even Weiss." Blake's eyes were ridden with concern for the young leader and his burden. She knew all too well what it was like to run from her past.
Alexandrite nodded, "I know Blake it's just...".
"It's just you're worried for us I get it, just know, we can handle our fair share of fights, and you are our friend, you may not want to drag us into your problems but one day we will make it ours to, whether you like it or not. Who're you running from anyway?" She had a fire in her eyes that Alexandrite couldn't ignore.
"The White Fang." His answer was short but impactful. Blake's eyes were like saucers, she hadn't expected him to answer, "But you must know that I..."
"Used to be one of them? That doesn't matter, Blake. Just as you said, I do trust you. You're running from them too."
The two were silent for a moment, well this is as good a time as any Alex thought. "You know, you remind me a lot of someone I once knew," he said garnering her attention.
Her ears perked up, "Huh?"
"It's nothing, hey... what's your last name again?" he asked, her face was perplexed but she answered anyway, "Belladonna"
Alex had to suppress his laughter, of course. He should've seen it when he saw her cat ears. Blake Belladonna, he could excuse it for the fact that he hadn't seen her in nine years but when the evidence was spitting in his face he just had to acknowledge it. She was his childhood friend, though they weren't very close, they did play together and attend the same combat school so of course, she would recognize his sword style.
"Why did you need to know my last name?" She asked but instead of replying, he disappeared into the night with only the faint words of, "Good talk, see you in the morning."
The next day was quite the buzz, Team ASHN and RWBY were spending their time in the city, Yang wanted to show Hex and Sapphire where she goes for girl R&R, whatever that meant.
Nitro had some business to sort out with a local dust shop, apparently, he placed an order in three days ago and hadn't heard a word since. Thus leaving Alexandrite, Ruby, Weiss to themselves, seeing that Blake chose to stay home and read.
"Hey guys," Weiss spoke trying to get the attention of the two team leaders. Ruby walked in front of Weiss, side by side with Alexandrite, the two were talking non-stop, something about how the rotational axis on a foldable scythe needed a certain level of torque or something. They kept turning back to ask her opinion for various topics but she was no weapon enthusiast, eventually, she stopped trying to answer and gave in to exasperation.
"GUYS!" the heiress yelled once more, the two teens turned around to see the slightly peeved Schnee, "Um, I'll be heading out, Neptune asked me to meet him for lunch," she twirled her thumbs, feeling slightly embarrassed having said it out loud. She and Neptune had hit it off since they first met, she was playing hard to get having a trailing blue-haired boy in tow.
"Oookay? I guess we'll be seeing you?" Alexandrite was a little sad, he really wanted to talk to Weiss, at least get to know her more, afterall his sister was quite attached to the heiress. "Yeah, later bestie!" Ruby waved as she watched Weiss leave.
Suddenly it dawned on Alexandrite that he was alone with the girl he admired most, the air seemed to spontaneously increase in temperature and his self-awareness shot up tenfold. It wouldn't have been that bad had he not realized he was thoroughly crushing on her. The young girl, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to it. The two continued walking and for some strange reason, Ruby ended up leading the conversations, the male leader's brain having shut down.
Meanwhile, behind some nearby bushes, the SHN and WBY members of the two teams were gathered, apparently, all those excuses to not be with the two leaders were all well-crafted lies.
"Okay operation 'Clueless' is a go!" Yang whisper shouted. The members lurked in the shadows, watching the two teens go about their merry way when Ruby wasn't looking Alexandrite could be seen staring at her, and vice versa. It was almost infuriating the way these two danced around each other without getting anywhere.
"Remind me again what this plan is?" Nitro asked rather annoyed. Everyone just looked at him, "Duh, we need to get Ruby and Alex to confess, phase one was getting them alone, phase two is causing some cliche intimate moments to happen." Yang explained.
"Are you sure forcing the situations is a good idea?" Sapphire asked trying to be the voice of reason. "Seems to me they might be able to just handle things on their own..."
The two leaders had entered a relatively crowded street, Yang looked at Nitro, "Ok you're up!" she slapped a bowler hat and sunglasses on the red-haired teen and shoved him, where did she even get them?
He passed by the two leaders on the street, ducking his head he pushed Alexandrite causing him to stumble before hustling away. Alexandrite was caught by the young Rose, the two chest to chest, a welcome reversal to the usually cliche scene.
Alexandrite couldn't look away from her eyes, once they met it was like a steel trap he could not escape. The world seemed to zone out for the two as they suddenly became lost in their own bubble. All was going according to plan until a passer-by accidentally stepped on Alexandrite's foot causing him to yelp in pain and flinch away from Ruby.
The girl in question burst out laughing at her friend's misfortune causing him to groan in embarrassment, once the pain subsided they returned on their walk. "Hey Ruby do you wanna grab something to eat, I'm kinda starving," he asked the young scythe wielder.
"Yeah sure I could go for a bite, plus anything to get out of this," she gestured to the area by spinning her finger in a circle gesturing to the increasingly busy sidewalk. It was amazing how many people flocked to Vale for the Vytal Festival.
The two made their way to a nearby café, a rather unusual place, with dark brown walls and gothic style windows, it looked like something out of one of those Larry Cotter movies Alex had watched as a kid. The vines wrapping around the black iron arches just accented it's allure. Inside was rather cozy, with a definitive cream and chocolate colour palette, especially the table at which they sat, complete with pull out chairs and gothic patterned table cloth.
"Are we gonna follow them? This wasn't part of the plan" Sapphire asked as the two disappeared into the building. "Nah I think my boy's got it this time, screw the plan let's just observe," Nitro said proudly. Hex shook her head at his manly bravado. Despite this the six of them found themselves staring out of the corner of a large café window at the two leaders inside.
"I can't hear what they're saying!" Yang yelled only to be shushed by the rest of her friends.
Inside, Alexandrite was chatting with Ruby over some old childhood memories, "And then, the water ended up all over the floor!" Alexandrite reminisced. Ruby burst out laughing, "You're kidding! I swear this kind of stuff only happens to you!" she wiped a tear from her eye from laughing too hard. "It's funny now but at the time I was screaming in pain from the burns!" he returned.
A comfortable silence fell over the two as they ate their meals. It's now or never he thought.
"Hey Ruby?" the young girl turned to him. "Hm?" she had a mouthful of cookies. He couldn't help but find her stuffed face endearing. Mentally slapping himself out of his stupor he followed up, "So the Vytal Dance is coming up…." He was nervous, "And um, I was wondering if you had a date for it?" he finally asked.
The young rose blushed and swallowed, with her face beet red she replied, "Uh n-no, I d-didn't even know we were s-supposed to get dates," it was her turn to be nervous.
"Oh…" Alexandrite trailed, steeling his resolve he finally asked, "Well… if you…you know don't have one…. doyouwanttogowithme?" he finished barely able to get the words out. It was at that exact time however a large bird slammed directly into the window that was next to the two causing a loud noise and incidentally startling Ruby. The bird, oblivious to its disruption, shook itself off and flew away. The unseen observers below were just as startled.
"Aww was that a bird? The poor thing… You know bird's can't see glass." Ruby lamented. "I'm sorry were you saying something?" she turned to Alexandrite clearly having not heard a single word that was said.
Of course this happened…just my luck… "I was asking if you would like to go to the dance... with me." Alexandrite tried again, gaining more confidence. *WHIRRRRR* As the words left his mouth however, it was at that moment one of the cafeteria staff chose to start up the blender, which was deafening enough to drown out his words.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Ruby yelled over the blender noise. Alex just groaned in frustration and rubbed his temples, instantly deflating his confidence. Once the noise was over he just waved his hands, "I was saying... I'm hyped for the dance." he said cursing his bad luck.
"Yeah me to, not sure why people get all dressed up, seems impractical to me," she said not noticing his look of dejection.
The sudden awareness of her environment once more alerted her to the pairs of eyes that watched them through a store window. These guys I swear…..
She nudged Alexandrite, the boy turned and raised an eyebrow at the hooded girl. "Wassup?" he questioned only to be dragged closer, she pretended not to look at him and whispered "Pretend like you see nothing but look outside the window right now,". Losing all sense of depression before, he curiously looked outside.
Alexandrite glanced briefly toward the window only to spot an all too familiar yellow top of hair and white. She pretended not to notice and finished up her meal. She smiled as an idea popped into her head, if they wanted to see something interesting then…
She put a napkin to her mouth and whispered to Alexandrite, "I see em, wanna do something fun to get em back for spying on us?".
Alexandrite tried hard to suppress his grin but the mischievous glint in his eyes were apparent as ever. "Oh you know it."
Ruby took his hand in hers, the contact causing both teens to blush, "Follow my lead," she said.
She dragged him out from the table, not before paying their bill, towards the back entrance of the café.
Yang strained her head seeing the two leave, she pushed down onto Nitro's head causing the boy to yell out, "Gah blondie what are you doing?!" the red-headed boy grunted.
Yang released the pressure on him, "They got up and left but I don't know where they went,".
Blake, knowing what could potentially arise quietly slipped away leaving the rest of her friends to suffer whatever wrath the leaders would bring upon them.
"Well they have to leave the store at some point come on let's stake out the entrance," Hex said beckoning them to follow. Weiss and Sapphire shared wary looks before following her.
Alexandrite and Ruby left through the backdoor and climbed the fire escape on the small building landing themselves on a small iron ledge overlooking the entrance. Just below them hid Yang and gang in the bushes scoping out the front entrance as predicted. The busy patrons bustling in and out of the building paid no attention to the two teens, not giving them away. Ruby snickered and pulled out two small vials of purple dust. Alexandrite raised his eye brow, "Is that what I think it is?".
"Yep, sticky dust, stole it from Weiss' stash this morning before we left, don't tell her though!" she quickly piped. Alexandrite smiled, "Wouldn't even dream of it," he raised his hand in the form of a pledge.
"So do you wanna do the honors?" she said handing him the vials.
"OH DO I?!" he unclipped Asura from his belt in scythe mode, clamping one end to the grate of the fire escape and using it like a hook he lowered himself stealthily above the group. With immense upper body strength he held himself on the scythe pole and uncapped the vials, taking extreme care not to lose balance. He dumped the contents onto the team, making sure NOT to get any on Yang's hair, he wanted a prank not a death sentence.
Once he was done he lightly tapped Nitro's shoulder. "Hey guys, who're you lookin for?".
The teens slowly turned around all simultaneously shocked.
Ruby gave them a two-fingered salute before pulling Asura with Alexandrite attached upward onto the fire escape. "See yah later, good luck getting that out of your clothes," Ruby yelled as she used her semblance and dashed off with Alexandrite.
"What are they talking abo-" Sapphire's question died in her throat as she moved only to have every inch of her restricted by sticky purple goop. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Weiss shrieked. Nitro and Hex just burst out laughing knowing they deserved it while Yang was furiously checking her hair to make sure none got on.
"BAHAHHAHA!" Alexandrite was cackling madly as he and Ruby finally managed to get far enough away from their friends. They were at Beacon's courtyard after taking an airship back, Ruby leaning on Alexandrite's left shoulder out of exhaustion, she used her semblance longer than she was used to. She tried stepping on her own but immediately tripped up only to be caught by him.
"Hey Rubes you good?" he said steadying the young girl. She turned to look up at him and he could swear the world around him had stopped. Tired as she was those gorgeous silver eyes staring into his own, looking past the wig, behind the mask, he felt her gaze could see him, the real him. He couldn't hide who he was with her.
"I'm just not accustomed to using my semblance this much that's all," she said, staring intently into his eyes. They captured her, if she was honest, feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her up she could feel his biceps stiffen under the tension and by no means was that unwelcome. It wasn't a fleeting attraction, she knew for sure now, she was crushing hard on this boy and fast. She didn't know if it was love but what she did know was that right here and now she would kill to taste the lips that hid behind the mask.
Instinctively, as if they both thought the same thing they drew closer, her hands gently cupping the side of his face, however the moment she touched the edge of his mask, Alexandrite snapped out of his daze. He quickly stopped her and reeled back sharply.
"AH! Sorry! I am so sorry ohmigosh," Ruby frantically apologized realizing the gravity of what she was about to do. Alexandrite blushed in embarrassment, "Ah no no it was just instinct and um…."
"AHEM!" A feminine voice coughed loudly behind them. The two teens flustered and beet red turned around to see Goodwitch looking at them with folded arms and raised eyebrow. "Not to break up whatever love fest is happening here but no PDAs on school grounds!" she said quite irritated.
They sprung apart, "Ah it's not like- Well I mean- NO we aren't," the two teens said simultaneously, further cementing the teacher's hunch. "Mhm, right, well once it's understood," she huffed and walked off.
"Phew dodged a bullet there aye Ruby?" Alexandrite said wiping a sweat from his brow. The girl didn't answer.
"Uh Ruby?" Alexandrite turned around to see the young leader frozen solid, "WAH!" he exclaimed in shock.
Her eyes moved frantically behind the frozen eyes pointing to her right, he glanced seeing a very angry looking Weiss and Yang, "Ah hey guys fancy meeting you here, you know me and Ruby were just about to leave….." he was about to prance away with the Rubycicle when Yang grabbed him by the shoulders, a wide, terrifying smile on her face. He paled, "Please don't hurt me I made sure not to get any on your hair I swear!" Alexandrite was terrified.
"Oh I got nothin on you, Weiss already dragged off Ruby, you, on the other hand, have something much worse than a Schnee Heiress to worry about," the blonde said, her tone menacing.
What could be worse than Yang?
"Hello, beloved brother, I believe we have some things to address," a sickeningly sweet voice came from behind him. Stricken stiff he turned around to see Sapphire smiling with her staff drawn. His blood ran cold. "You get a 5-second head start," she said. Taking his queue Alexandrite bolted away.
That night Alexandrite's screams could be heard across the hall….
Hex stood, her back leaning against the wall of the gym. Sweat dripping off of her flawless dark skin, she had just finished benching a set of a hundred and sixty pounds. She was casually stretching out against the wall, a rippling set of finely crafted abs lined her midriff and her gracefully toned muscles were now in full view since she was wearing a crop top and fitted gym shorts, displaying an impressive amount of skin. Yang stood there marveling at the display before her, having just come in for a workout herself, this was the first time she'd seen Hex wearing something other than a jacket and jeans, to say she was surprised by the tech wizard's body was an understatement.
"Impressive," A female voice said with a whistle.
Hex's head whipped around to see Yang standing against the entrance to the gym, wearing a tank top and shorts, the display caused Hex to blush. Noticing this Yang smirked, "Like what you see?".
Hex wanted to deny it but she couldn't. Yang was packing, as she bent down to pick up some of the weights, her abs flexed showing off their toned lines. Hex couldn't help but stare.
"Shut up! I just got done with those so you can use them," the purplette pointed to the weight plates. Yang just raised an eyebrow at her friend's sudden bashfulness. It was late at night so they were the only ones in the gym. Yang usually didn't do late-night training but she hadn't gotten the chance all day with the escapade down in Vale, so this was the first time she was seeing Hex here.
"Yeah those are nice, but I was hoping for something more, physical." She said waltzing up to the girl. Hex turned slightly red at the boldness of Yang, the two of them were close, they were friends for sure, but they'd been playfully flirting with one another since day one. Hex chalked it up to just their personalities but she was starting to believe maybe it wasn't all just a rouse in her mind.
"Like what?" She said now pressed against the gym wall, Yang's right arm pressing against the concrete just above her shoulder.
"A sparring match, no weapons, just fists. I've never seen you fight outside that time we took down the bot, I wanna see how good you are." Yang relinquished her position allowing Hex to stand up normally.
"S-sure, I gotta warn you, I'm a better tech wiz than I am at fisticuffs," Hex said as she grabbed her towel and walked to the boxing ring. It was standard size with blue ropes, usually used for practice by the students, the ring wasn't anything impressive.
"Mhm whatever you say, but after I watched you fight the first time against Cardin, then when we fought that robot, I'd say you're pretty skilled. What gets me the most right now, is that you're in peak physical performance despite being a technological maniac."
"Yeah well, just because I can reverse engineer an aircraft in using spare parts from my garage, doesn't mean I can't throw a car or two if the need arises. Gotta break stereotypes you know?" Hex returned smiling and placing a strand of hair behind her ear. Yang couldn't help but stare momentarily, the girl before her was astoundingly gorgeous and she lived to break societal standards? It was like the heavens were sending signs,
Yang and Hex walked in on opposite sides, both sporting boxing gloves.
"Ready?" Yang said with a 'bring it on' gesture. She hopped up and down on both legs like an actual boxer, warming up.
"Ready!" Hex yelled, and as she called it out both fighters rushed at each other.
Yang threw a straight left but Hex was quick to react, ducking to the right and countering with a solid uppercut. Yang barely dodged, not expecting the speed the young tech master had in store, she quickly recovered and sent two rights and a left in quick succession. Hex blocked the two rights but was unprepared for the fast left that followed just after, causing her to take the blow to the arm throwing her off balance.
"Nice shot, but it'll be the last," Hex said with a smile, thoroughly enjoying their little sparring match.
Yang just smirked and rushed forward but Hex read the move like an open book and sidestepped it. She then proceeded to layer Yang with a barrage of punches that sent the blonde sprawling into the rope.
Yang got up and wiped the corner of her mouth, "Seriously, for a girl that claims to not be proficient in hand to hand, you got some moves," she said panting.
"When your little brother is a hypersonic boxer, you tend to learn to react quickly," She said referring to Nitro.
"Yeah you're fast, I'll give you that, but your punches lack well….punch!" Yang said before charging at her again, this time instead of rushing forward, quickly feinted right and then swung left catching Hex off guard again. A nonstop barrage of punches laid out until Hex took a solid uppercut and went face-first into the mat.
"OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY?" Yang said frantically rushing over to the girl. She had forgotten her semblance would activate unconsciously, and the damage she took was dealt to Hex. Yang cradled the purple haired girl in her lap.
Hex groggily opened her eyes, her head was spinning and she felt like she got hit by a train. "Ugh… shit that fucking hurt…" She said looking up at the blonde. Hazel met violet and the two just stared at each other. "So pretty…" Hex said hazily as she stared into Yang's eyes, she was slightly disoriented from the blow.
"Huh?!" Yang said with a severe blush, sputtering. Hex realized she said that out loud.
"UH! I MEANT YOUR HAIR IS PRETTY! LIKE YOUR EYES! I MEAN YOU ARE PRETTY! I MEAN Ah fuck-" She tried and failed to justify herself.
Yang just laughed, a gentle smile gracing her lips; her face was a bit red but she managed to get a coherent sentence out. "You got a date for the dance?"
Hex just turned red, "N-no…." she responded realizing where this was going.
"Do you want to be mine?" Yang asked hesitantly.
"Yes." Hex replied a little too quickly. "As in date for the dance! Um yeah, that's what you meant right?" Her leader may be one of the greatest examples of a human being, but she would not be a coward when it came to romance. Every fiber in her body said yes and she refused to deny it.
Yang was confused for a second before realizing the double meaning, "Y-Yeah…. U-unless… you know…" She said accepting just how attracted to the purple tech wiz she was.
"W-we can give it a shot…" Hex said nervously.
And that was the beginning of Violet Dynamite.
This chapter was probably one of my favourites to write, just because I'm a sucker for all the mushy stuff. It's a nice break before I smash the heavy content later. Get ready for the next arc in the story starting next chapter.
