And here's the next chapter! I had issues figuring out what to do for the NDGO fight so I hope you like what I came up with. Also, V5 is amazing and omg this week's episode ;-;
Pyrrha ran forward, watching the other team charge at them, noticing May run towards the forest. She threw up her shield as Brawnz threw his knee forward, his spiked poleyn crashing into her shield. She shoved forward, throwing him off balance, and smacked the staff of her spear against his head. He staggered back, grunting.
She saw a flash in the tree line, and heard a sniper round fire off. She looked back to see Ren duck out of the way as the rock behind him shattered from the sniper's fire.
"Retreat!" Jaune cried, running towards the rock's in front of the mountain, his shield thrown up as he ran. Pyrrha ran after him, throwing her shield up behind her as she ran. She felt a round hit her shield, sending a jolt up her arm. The rain hit her, chilling her as she ran into the mountain biome. Ren and Nora ran in front of them, vaulting over a large rock and ducking behind it. Pyrrha leapt over the rocks, landing in between Nora and Ren, resting her back against the slick rocks. Jaune vaulted over a second later.
"What's the plan?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune peeked over the cover, ducking down as a sniper round whizzed past. "We've gotta keep moving, we can' let her pin us down."
Jaune stood up, grunting as he blocked Brawnz's claws with his shield. Nolan and Roy leapt into their cover a moment later. Pyrrha grit her teeth as Roy spun at her, swinging his serrated blades at her, raking them across her shield. She pushed forward, jabbing at him with her spear. He sidestepped her thrust, and Pyrrha charged forward, trying to make some room for her team mates to clear the area.
Ren slid to a stop, skidding in the slick grass. A sniper's shot whizzed past his head as Nolan charged at him with his cattle prod. Ren dodge one of his blow's, grunting in pain when Nolan spun and hit him in the side of his head. Ren swung his leg, Nolan ducking low and slamming his cattle prod against his knee. Ren hissed in pain, as he fell to ground, the grass soaking into his clothes, the rain falling onto his face. He saw Nolan standing over him, smirking, blue electricity arcing from the ends of the cattle prod.
"Ren!" Nora shouted, running over to him. She swung her hammer at Nolan, and he stepped out of the way, jabbing towards her gut with his prod. The electricity coursed through her, her muscles feeling like they were on fire. She smirked at him, enjoying the terror in his eyes.
"My turn." she said devilishly. She swung her hammer, slamming it into his crotch and sending him soaring through the air and crashing into one of the many rocks, shattering it. He lay there groaning, his aura crackling around him. She heard a buzzing and looked over at the scoreboard to see Nolan's picture was grayed out, his aura at 0.
She heard a sniper shot and ducked behind the nearest rock, turning her hammer into a grenade launcher. She looked up and saw Ren staggering to his feet, limping towards cover. Pyrrha was busy fighting Brawn's and Jaune was trying his best against Roy. Jaune kicked Roy away from him and spun around, pointing at the mountain top with his sword.
"Nora! Lightning!" he shouted. Nora nodded.
"Got it!" She slung her launcher across her back and ran over to the mountain side, starting to climb.
Jaune whirled towards Ren and shouted
"Ren! Distract the sniper!" A boulder next to Ren shattered as a round pierced it. Ren stared at him blankly before calmly saying
"Sure. What could go wrong."
Jaune yelped as he felt Roy's fist collide with his exposed stomach, his saw's ripping a part of his hoodie. He swung at Roy with his sword, Roy blocking the blade with his saws. Jaune yanked his sword back and stepped back, raising his shield.
Pyrrha threw her shield at Roy, the edge smashing into the side of his head. He crumpled to the floor, clutching his head, and Pyrrha brought her shield back to her side using her semblance. She ran over to him, jabbing at him with her spear. He grunted, rolling out of the way of her stabs. He leapt to his feet, launching his saws from his wrists. Pyrrha deflected one with her spear, spinning around the other and slashing at him with her spear. He danced around her spear, catching his saws as they came back to him. He charged at her, and she spun past his clumsy charge, standing behind him. She kicked forward with a grunt, sending him to the ground.
Roy grunted in pain, and sneered at her as he stood up. He turned around and ran from her, throwing his saws at Jaune. She heard an 'eep' come from him as he raised his shield just in time to block them, the recoil causing his shield to smack him in the face.
Pyrrha scowled and ran after him.
Sniper fire rained around him as he sprinted towards May. He slid beneath Pyrrha as she leapt towards Roy, stabbing at him with her spear. He rose up from the slide, running and firing at Brawnz. Brawnz ran towards him, throwing a punch with his spiked gauntlet. Ren caught the blow with the blades on his guns, before slashing at him. Brawnz parried, catching the blades again. Ren scowled, struggling to wretch his blades free, and kicked at Brawnz's sides. Brawnz grunted in pain, and Ren yanked his blades back. He fired at Brawnz's stomach, emptying the magazines of both submachine guns in seconds. He could hear Brawn yell, and a buzzing when Brawnz's aura began to crackle around him. Brawnz fell to the grass, clutching his stomach, groaning in pain.
Ren looked up at the tree line, catching May's eye. She snorted at him and took aim behind him. He looked back to see Nora nearing the top of the mountain, the rain not hindering her progress as she hastily climbed the jagged rocky mountain side. Her back was exposed.
"Nora!" he shouted.
Pyrrha skid to a halt and looked back to see why Ren was yelling at Nora. She was completely exposed to the sniper.
"Pyrrha!" She looked over at Jaune, who was struggling against Roy. He jerked his head in Nora's direction. "Shield!" She nodded, sprinting towards him, sheathing her spear, holding her shield in front of her. With a grunt Jaune shoved Roy away, ducking to the ground, throwing his shield over his head. Pyrrha leapt onto it, feeling Jaune throw her into the air at the same time she leapt from it. She curled her body behind her shield, feeling the shot indent itself in her shield.
She felt the wind get knocked out of her as she was slammed into the side of the mountain, a scream escaping her lips as she tumbled down the mountain side, the rocks biting into her as she fell.
She hit the grass groaning in pain, coughing, the rain drenching her.
Nora was breathing heavy, her hands feeling raw, when she lifted herself onto the mountain's peak. She scrambled to her feet, and unslung her hammer. She could hear the thunder booming above her, deafening, and could feel the electricity in the air. She raised her hammer, and laughed as a bolt shot down, the ends of her hair springing up as the lightning coursed through her body.
She lowered her hammer, and smirked as she turned it into her grenade launcher. She took aim, and fired, launching several grenades at the forest across from her. The grenades exploded as they landed, the trees and grass catching fire, smoke billowing into the air as the fires spread. She saw May leap down from the trees, coughing and wheezing as she ran from the fires.
"Renora!" Jaune shouted, his voice barely audible from where she stood. She looked down at Ren, catching his eye, and he nodded at her. She smirked, and readied her hammer.
Nora jumped down, cackling, her hammer raised as she fell. Roy's eyes widened in terror as she slammed her hammer down, her hammer hitting his head and slamming him into the floor. She swung her hammer as Ren kicked May towards her, letting out a laugh as her hammer slammed into May's stomach, launching her away, and into a boulder, shattering it.
A buzzer sounded, Port and Oobleck's voices echoing around them.
"And that's the match! An explosive victory for Team JNPR!" Oobleck exclaimed.
"A most impressive display by some of my favorite students. Though I think someone should check on May and Roy." Port said.
Nora smiled at the cameras and ran over to Ren, embracing him and kissing him on the cheek. He smiled at her and they waved at the cameras.
He raised the glass to his lips, the ice cool and the whiskey burning. He lowered his empty drink and motioned for the bartender to refill it. He glanced at the tv tucked away in the corner of the bar. He snorted as he watched that blonde kid wave awkwardly at the cameras, Pyrrha Nikos standing at his side. It was nice to see one of her fights again, but that girl deserved better fighters on her team. The bartender set his drink on the counter, whiskey sloshing against the brim.
"Those kid's weren't half bad. I was wondering where Pyrrha Nikos had run off to after leaving the Mistral Regionals." The bartender said, cleaning a glass.
He grunted, and sipped from his drink.
Weiss sighed as she sorted through the various junk at the stall Ruby had dragged them to. She picked up a small silver handled mirror and looked into it, checking her make up. Her reflection scowled at her, her scar disappearing.
"We need to talk," her reflection said. Weiss frowned back, and glanced around; Yang, Ruby, and that girl were all busy looking at miscellaneous junk the vendor was selling.
"We can do that later," she whispered to the mirror. Her reflection shook her head.
"No, we need to talk about this now." Her reflection said. Weiss made a sound of displeasure before looking back at her reflection, and then sighing.
"Fine. But we can't talk here." Her reflection smirked and pointed behind Weiss.
"I know a place we can talk." Weiss' face drained of color when she looked back and at the building her reflection had pointed towards; a house of mirrors. Weiss swallowed, the mirror starting to shake in her hand. "I doubt anyone else will be there, it will just be you and me."
"Ma'am?" Weiss yelped and looked back. The stall owner was looking at her, his eyebrow arched as he watched her. He pointed at the mirror in her hand. "Are you going to buy that or not?" Weiss blinked and set the mirror back down, shaking her head.
"No thank you," she said. The stall owner's tail flicked with annoyance as he walked away. Weiss looked over at her team mates, and cleared her throat. They looked over at her, and Weiss struggled to keep from looking at the amber eyes gazing at her. She focused on amethyst and silver.
"I need to go take care of something; I'll be back in time for that photo shoot. If you see Jaune and them, tell them I'll treat them later." She said curtly before turning and leaving, rubbing her wrist to keep them from seeing her hands as they shook.
Yang watched Weiss walk away, narrowing her eyes. She looked back over at Blake, noticing the longing in the girl's yellow eyes. Yang chewed on her lip before asking
"Blake, you wanna go somewhere?" Blake looked at her, her bow twitching.
"Did you have somewhere in mind?" Yang shook her head.
"I just think it would be nice for us to hang out, just the two of us." Blake cocked her head to the side.
"O-okay?" Blake set the torn book in her hand back on the stall counter and Yang started to walk away from the stall, Blake walking at her side. "What's this about?" Blake asked as they walked. Yang sidestepped a couple carrying a large plush Grimm.
"Do you…. Is Weiss still your mattä?" She asked. Blake frowned.
"Yes." She said, her voice cold. Yang nodded.
"All right. Do you want me to talk to Weiss? You don't deserve to be ignored or treated like the way Weiss is treating you." Blake shook her head.
"I knew this would happen, Yang. I've made my mistakes and I'll deal with the consequences. "
"I don't like seeing you like this. It isn't right." Blake stopped, and started to rub her arm where her emblem was hidden. She lowered her head, not looking at Yang's face.
"Yang… I've done a lot of horrible things. I've killed a lot of people, most of them employee's in Weiss' company, or Schnee family friends. I can't expect Weiss to love me back after learning about what I've done. The best I can hope for is Weiss treating me like a team mate again," she said. Yang crossed her arms.
"Blake that is not healthy, at all. You need to talk to her. You've changed, you're not like that anymore; you can't let your past drag you down like this." Blake shook her head.
"If I don't hold myself responsible for my past, who will?"
"Weiss, the police, your family." Blake laughed softly, the laugh lacking mirth.
"I can't face her." Yang took a step towards Blake, and hesitated before embracing her. Blake went stiff before she returned the hug.
"You can Blake, you can do this. I believe in you." They stayed that way for a moment before Blake broke the hug.
"Thank you, Yang." She smiled. "I'm glad I have a friend like you." Yang smiled at her, feeling a bit lighter.
"No prob, Blake." She motioned behind her with her thumb. "I saw a Mistral dessert place over there, wanna go get some mochi and taiyaki?" Blake's smile grew and she nodded.
Ruby sheathed the knife and set it back down on the stall; that was some cheap looking steel.
"So what do you guys wanna-" She looked around, confused. "Guys?" She frowned, groaning in annoyance.
"Friends ditch you too?" A familiar voice asked. Ruby looked over to see Jaune walking over to her, his hands resting in his hoodie's pockets. Ruby laughed nervously, resting her hands behind her back and kicking at nothing.
"Maybe," she said. "Where did your team run off to?"
"Nora and Pyrrha wanted to watch SLVR and NDGO's fight, and I followed Ren to a tea stall. I don't like tea, and I figured he'd have more fun by himself."
Ren inhaled, savoring the scent of the tea leaves. Mint; his favorite. He turned around with a smile.
"Jaune, what do you think of-" His brow furrowed. "Jaune?"
"Any who, wanna go do something?" Jaune asked. Ruby considered it before nodding.
They left the stall, walking around aimlessly. The smells of various Remnant food stall wafted through the air; roasted meats, delectable sweets, and the delicious smell of heart clogging traditional fairground foods. Ruby glanced over at Jaune.
"Hey Jaune."
"Yeah?" Jaune looked over at her. Ruby offered him a smile.
"You did great in that fight. You've really been getting better." Jaune blushed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Not really. If it wasn't for Pyrrha I'd have been even worse in that fight."
"Ah come on, Jaune. You don't have to put yourself down like that. You did fine. And that team attack names was pretty cool."
"You think so?"
"Yeah! Do you have one for you and Pyrrha?" Jaune nodded.
"It's arkos. It's just our names put together like renora."
"Well I like it."
They stopped in front of a stall selling a variety of plush Grimm dolls. Ruby squealed with delight at the sight of them; she had left all her plushies back home at Patch; she didn't want to hear Yang tease her about still sleeping with them. She smiled at the shop keep as she looked at the various plushies. Jaune took the spot next to her, looking at the types of Grimm. He picked up a small Beowolf plush with an adorable pirate hat.
"My little sister had a plush like this back home." He said. Ruby cocked her head to the side.
"Which one?" He laughed.
"The one right after I was born; Aurélie. She loved listening to Dijon's Hunter stories whenever she visited." Ruby smiled, watching Jaune as a nostalgic look spread over his face.
"Do you miss them?" He nodded. "Have you talked to them at all lately?" His eyes flickered away from her, and he shook his head. "Why not?" He sighed, setting the wolf back on the stall.
"I didn't really tell my family I was coming to Beacon. I just got on a train after…" His face darkened. "Anyway, I don't think my sister's would like it if I called them out of the blue." Ruby cocked an eyebrow.
"Are you kidding? They must be worried sick about you!" Jaune rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah…"
"You need to call them Jaune, I'm sure they'll be happy to see their big brother again. I know I'd love it if Yang called me after not seeing her for a while." He shrugged.
"I'll think about it." He picked up a plush Caerbannog, a squeak coming from the rabbit when he squeezed it. He smiled and held it in front of Ruby. "You think Pyrrha would like this?"
Weiss rubbed her wrists as she stared at the entrance of the house of mirrors. There weren't any employee's around, only the gloomy entrance; the mirrors inside staring back at her. She took a shaky breath, and entered.
The mirrors lined the walls, suffocating her as she slowly walked by them, her hands unsteady and her head swiveling as she looked from mirror to mirror. It was quiet aside from the clicking of her heels. She reached a corner and the reflection in the mirror facing her scowled.
"You can't keep going like this." She said. Weiss turned the corner and started to walk away. Her reflection started to keep pace alongside the mirrors next to her. "You've been treating Blake like dirt since we found out she was with the White Fang. You need to actually talk to her about this." Weiss rounded on her reflection, heels clicking as she stopped.
"And why should I do that?" Her reflection smirked, glaring at her. Weiss felt her skin crawl as those ice blue eyes stared into her soul.
"You know exactly why. You love her. You want her." Her reflection's expression twisted; her mouth hanging open, and her eyes barely open as she started to moan. Weiss' cheeks grew hot and she turned and fled down the hallway, her reflections laughter filling her ears. "You can hide it from the world Weiss, but you can't hide from me!"
"I'm not hiding! She betrayed me! She's a murderer! She's responsible for how Father treated me!" She shouted as she ran. Her reflection's smirking face took up the mirrors as she ran past them, glaring at her, the voices echoing around her.
"Yes, Blake is the sole reason why someone like Father would beat you. She's the reason why he would ignore you. She's the reason why his form of love was keeping you locked up in that house and giving you credit cards to buy whatever you wanted instead of letting you live your life." Weiss rounded a corner.
"She's still a terrorist! She still want's me and my entire family dead!" Her reflection laughed, sending a chill down Weiss' spine.
"Clearly Blake is still a part of them; that's why she nearly worked herself to death trying to hunt them down. She hates you and your family so much that she let you touch her ears, she stood up for you against her own kind, she saved you from that Faunus with the chainsaw." Her reflection's smile turned devilish. "We both know we wouldn't stop Blake if she was left alone with Father."
Weiss covered her ears, running through the hallway, trying to block out her reflection's voice.
"She's not with them anymore!"
"You know she would never hurt you!"
"You need to talk to her!"
She ran forward, and gasped; the hallway ended in a room filled with mirrors. Everywhere she looked her reflection stared back at her. She spun around, tears starting to well in her eyes, her reflection smirking at her everywhere she looked.
"Answer me this Weiss; how are we going to go on for another three years without talking to one of our team mates? Or being so curt and rude to her? Do you really think we can manage it for that long?" Weiss staggered forward, clutching her head, her head starting to throb. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling tears running down her cheeks. She fell onto her knees in front of one of the mirrors, her reflections voice haunting as the voices echoed around her. "She gave us a second chance. You need to do the same for her."
"Leave me alone!" She screamed, punching the mirror in front of her. The voices stopped, the only sound her heavy breathing. She opened her eyes to see her fist embedded in the glass, blood running down. The mirror was shattered, cracks spider webbing through the glass. Her reflection scowled at her, narrowing its eyes. Weiss pulled her fist out, trembling, gasping in pain as the blood started to run down her arm and drip onto the floor. She looked up at her reflection. Her shattered reflection crossed her arms.
"Fine, have it your way." Her reflection flickered and Weiss was left looking at herself; the terrified look on her face, her eyes red, and her make up running. Her white jacket sleeve was starting to turn crimson. She swallowed as she stood up, the world quiet. She raised her blood soaked hand, shards of glass sticking out of her knuckles, and tried to flex it, hissing in pain. She grit her teeth and pulled out the several shards of glass embedded in her skin. She whimpered as the glass was pulled out, dark blood dripping out.
Her hand throbbed as she let the blood stained glass fall to the floor. A light blue flickered around her as her aura started to repair her hand, the ripped skin painfully knitting itself back together. She flexed her hand again; it was sore and still throbbing but she could use it now. She looked around the room, and noticed the exit. She glanced at the shattered, blood stained mirror, and sighed.
The bartender whistled as they watched the tv.
"And Team NDGO secures their spot in the Doubles Round. Team SLVR didn't stand a chance against those lovely ladies."
"Indeed they didn't, Peter." He chortled and sipped from his glass.
"Those girls were something else," the bartender said. He shook his head; such amateurs. The bartender frowned at him, lowering the cup he was cleaning. "What, they didn't impress you either? The only fight you've seemed to like is the one that girl in the red cape fought in." He took a sip.
"She's the only one fighting I care about watching," he said as he lowered the glass. The bartender rolled his eyes and went back to cleaning the glass.
He felt a vibration in his pants and pulled out his scroll; it was Ozpin. He hit the text message Ozpin had sent. It was one word; Meeting. He smirked, about damn time. He stood up from his seat, swaying where he stood; the world spinning. He drained his glass and set it on the counter before pulling out some lien and throwing it onto the counter.
"Happy Vytal Festival," he slurred, stumbling out of the bar.
Blake smiled at Ruby when she saw her come up, a large plush Geist slung around her shoulders.
"Thanks for wanting to do this guys. I realized we haven't taken a group photo before and figured this would be the best place to do it." Ruby looked around, peeking around Blake's shoulder. Her brow furrowed. "Is Weiss still not back?" Blake's ear twitched beneath her bow at the sound of someone running up to them. She turned around and her eyes widened.
Weiss was running over to them, one of her sleeves stained red. Yang shoved past Blake as she went over to Weiss.
"Weiss, what the shit! Are you okay?" Yang asked, grabbing Weiss' arm and looking at her sleeve. Weiss snatched her arm back, pulling the sleeve down over her wrist.
"I'm fine, I just had an accident with some ketchup." Yang looked at her in confusion. She cocked an eyebrow, pointing at Weiss' sleeve.
"That's ketchup?" Weiss nodded. Yang stared at her skeptically before crossing her arms. "You're positive?" Weiss nodded again, though Blake noticed Weiss hesitated for a brief moment before she nodded. Yang opened her mouth and closed it, looking over Weiss. Blake looked over and saw the photographer approaching them, his camera slung around his neck. He smiled at them as he came to a stop.
"Afternoon ladies, ready for your picture?" Weiss smiled at him, hiding her stained arm behind her.
"We are." She said.
"Great! Okay get together and I'll take the photo."
Blake crossed her arms, a tentative smile on her face as she stood next to Yang in front of the camera man. Weiss stood next to Yang and Ruby next to her.
"Everyone say 'Happy Vytal Festival'!" Yang threw up an arm, and Ruby raised a V sign as they all said
"Happy Vytal Festival!" The camera clicked several times and the cameraman smiled at them as he lowered the camera.
"Nice job ladies. I'll be sending you the prints later today. Good luck in your other matches!" Blake nodded, her smile falling as the cameraman went back to his booth. Yang gave a concerned look at Weiss' arm before asking
"So what do you guys wanna do now?" Blake's ears perked up, and she titled her head; an airship? She looked up into the sky and saw an Atlesian airship soaring over them, white and blue banners with the Atlas Specialist Corps emblem imprinted upon them. She looked down from the ship and over at Weiss.
Weiss' eyes had widened, a large smile on her face. She watched the airship for a moment before starting to run after it.
"She's here." Blake heard Weiss say as she ran off. Blake looked at Ruby and Yang in confusion before chasing after Weiss.
And that's it!