Big Issues
AN: Just as a warning, there will be some things here that some may find disturbing. Others may notice a certain familiarity to another franchise with a certain character and her actions. There may be part of a dream that pushes the limits of some as well, but it's just a dream.
Merendinoemiliano- don't worry about going to extremes that you pointed out in your last review, this is the closest we'll get to that by a wide margin and even then it's only a dream. There's no plans at all to get the girls to that point in this story.
On with the story!
Dream or Reality?
A young boy around the age of six found himself being slapped once again. His blonde hair dirtied to appear brown, his clothes were too large and falling apart, full of holes and stained. His skin is caked with dirt aside from the streaks on his cheeks where tears ran.
Unfortunately, this was nothing new. The owner of the orphanage, Honorhall, was an elderly woman who made sure that those in her care were taken care of at the bare minimum of what could be the definition of what that could mean. The kids were given a roof over their heads, clothes, food and water. But like the care they received, everything was at the bare minimum. With the exception of the beatings and other punishments that she would dole out, that was always excessive by any standard but her own. It was sadly common to find her beating one of the children.
This was one of those cases.
"I told you before! When you fold my clothes, all of the folds must be crisp!" She didn't use her hand to hit him this time. Instead, she used her cane to whack his right leg hard enough to make him fall to the floor with a whimper. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" A jab from the cane turned his head towards her.
"Isn't that better?" Her voice had gone sickly sweet, even as she twisted her cane into his head, making him glad that the sheer amount of dirt on his body helped the stick to slide rather than gripping his skin. He was forced to nod by the end of cane. "Good, now get out of here until I call for you!" There was one last push from her cane into his head before she released the pressure, he didn't hesitate to run away.
This was a part of life for anyone who wasn't an adult at the orphanage. Few of those under the 'care' of Grelod ever stuck around long enough to be considered an adult, most of them running away once they worked up the strength and courage to brave the woods around the orphanage and the Grimm that resided within. Most was the key word, there were a few kids that simply vanished without a trace.
Yet the boy, like some of the older children, had taken to bonding with the younger ones. For him, it was a fox faunus. She'd already suffered a lot and he found himself doing what he could to help her. According to the other girl who'd come with her, bandits had attacked their village and killed their families. The faunus had been captured and tortured for fighting back, even biting one of the bandits' ears. Their response was to remove hers, turning the sides of her head into masses of scar tissue and rendering her deaf to all but the loudest sounds. Her speech was stunted as a result as she couldn't hear herself talk.
A few weeks later found the boy being hauled by the wrist through the orphanage by Grelod. She was mad over a vase being broken and he had taken the blame for the younger girl. His wrist was released only to allow him to tumble down a flight of stairs into the basement.
He barely had time to try rising to his knees when she kicks him down the next flight. "Miserable little bastards, the lot of you!" Grelod screams at the boy but ensuring that the other children could hear her. "Once again I find myself having to punish one of you!"
Any reasonable person would have found that what she does normally would go beyond what anyone would call punishment and go straight to abuse. But the only people here were Grelod and the dozen children under her roof. Anyone from the outside would have to set an appointment with her to even see the children and the food was always delivered through a small door in the perimeter wall. The only adults the children ever saw beyond the old crone were the occasional Huntsmen and Huntresses who passed by on patrols.
In the basement, Grelod drags the boy across the filthy floor, the one place that she never let the children clean just for situations like this, the faded, older trails from others crossed the room without any real pattern. Despite her age, he was still small enough that she could throw him into a small room the size of a closet. This was one of her worst punishments, guaranteed to draw things out as long as she felt they needed.
His wrists and ankles were clasped in manacles attached to chains from the ceiling and floor respectively, and with a nearby crank wheel, Grelod tightens the chains to suspend him off the floor. Immediately, he began to struggle again without any success beyond bringing a smile to the crone's face.
"Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn't rattle those chains too much, something bad might happen." Her tone was sickly sweet, the same one that was reserved for when she relished in their pain. It never failed to scare those on the receiving end of her 'honeyed' words. She flips a small switch nearby and a shock runs down the chain and into the boy, causing him to scream out in pain. The shock continued until he stopped moving, hanging limply in the chains aside from the occasional twitches from muscle spasms.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Her 'sweet' voice cuts through the small room once more, feeling more like an executioner's axe than teasing, especially when she jabbed her cane into the boy's stomach with enough force to engage the shocks again and making him cough and sputter trying to get air back into his lungs.
The door slammed shut, trapping him in darkness with nothing but the pain to keep him company. Occasionally he found that the sparks would jump across the chains and briefly light up the room. Sadly, that was the best entertainment he had for the time he was there.
He had no idea how long he was there, only knowing that Grelod found her entertainment in having the little fox bring him food and water and watching the girl silently weeping at the sight of the boy taking the punishment that was meant for her. His only break from his suspension was when the witch would release his wrists, always sure that she wouldn't lower him to the floor first so he'd fall into his own filth, too weak to move until she shackled him again.
Once again, he had no idea how much time had passed in his dark room with nothing but pain. His wrists and ankles were already scarred by the metal cuffs, the smell of his own blood had long ago been overpowered by his waste, though there was a lot less than one would expect without factoring in his starvation and age.
But now he wasn't alone. Not just physically, but also in pain. His door was opened just so he could watch as Grelod beat the fox girl with her cane as she screeched about a broken cup and the girl 'refusing' to apologize.
"Stop." He wheezes, his throat too dry and tired to do much more than a whisper. No one could hear him over the beatings.
"Stop it!" He rattles his chains, receiving the shocks again and causing him to scream almost silently.
Grelod heard the chains and the electrocution happening, grabbing her 'charges' face with her hand and forcing her to watch him. "See that, you filthy beast? That's what happens to everyone you care for. All they know is pain" She chuckles as the tears ran over her hand, tickling her wrinkled skin. "You just need to remember that this is all your fault. Your miserable existence as such a damned creature is proof of that." She cackles.
The boy thrashed more, trying to get to the girl, willing to do anything to keep her safe; that's why he was here in the first place. The shocks meant little to him anymore as his voice returned to him.
"Don't hurt her!" He yells, truly catching the witch's attention.
"Ah… the little troublemaker has his voice again. But you asking me NOT to hurt her… you haven't seen pain yet." She dropped the faunus and walked over to a cabinet and opening it to reveal a number of tools. Not one of them could be said to be used for home repairs, not even the hammer. She turned around with a pair of large shears in hand.
"How about we remove this stain to Remnant… one piece at a time." She slowly walks back to the girl who struggled to crawl. "Let's start with that unsightly tail of yours. Make you look more like a human." The shears snipped a few times, the dim light in the basement catching the sharpened steel in bright flashes.
Grelod kicks the girl in the ribs, punting her into the doorway where the boy still struggles. She could barely start to curl in on herself from the pain when a foot slammed into her back, pushing the air from her lungs and ensuring that she couldn't move. The oversized scissors opened and moved towards the tail slowly, the woman savoring the tension and fear.
"I won't let you hurt her!" The boy yells, Grelod turned to taunt him with a disturbing smile when the room exploded with a burst of light and noise. When it was over, Grelod had been thrown across the room and slumped against the wall. The girl was frozen in shock and pain, still in the doorway of the torture room. As for the boy, the chains maintained their hold on him, sparks flickering over the links and his body.
One of the older kids eventually crept down the stairs to find the three of them like that. They called for the others to come and see that Grelod was beaten. What they found was that she hadn't been killed, but unconscious. They took all of the lien and keys from her pockets and dragged her over to the torture room, removing the boy from the chains and locking Grelod's ankles in instead and slamming the door shut.
The kids used the keys to unlock the kitchen and raid the food stores after taking the two upstairs to rest in beds. The boy was too weak to eat on his own for the first two days. Thankfully for them all, Grelod's room had a very large tub where the witch would soak and relax, for the kids it might as well have been a small pool that they crammed themselves in to clean up.
Apparently, one of the older kids felt it was best to treat the witch as she did them, though they couldn't bring it on themselves to beat her. So they settled foe simply dropping some food and drink in her new room every so often, never bothering to say anything to her while she would screech curses and threats.
After the boy and girl had recovered enough to walk around again, the older kids had devised a plan to leave this horrible place. Knowing of the Grimm outside of the walls, they took up arms of whatever they could find. The blonde boy having an impromptu spear made of a broom handle with a large kitchen knife tied to the end and the little fox had a pair of smaller knives.
While the 'weapons' in reality would do little to any Grimm that they may encounter, the did have the effect of bolstering the courage of those wielding them enough to trek through the forest along the road and carrying anything they 'owned and borrowed' along with food. A little over a dozen children, the oldest at twelve years old and the youngest at three, all wearing an assortment of dirty and mismatching clothes as they made their way to the nearest town with hopes that it might be Mistral.
It turned out that they were still in the middle of nowhere, even in the nearest town. Despite doing their best to stick together, some of the group had found families willing to take them in within the week. The rest of them snuck onto airships that visited the town to deliver food and other supplies and take the goods from the village to other settlements and Mistral. The boy and the fox found themselves separated from the others thanks to that.
They found themselves traveling from town to town to city over the course of the next year, doing anything they needed to survive. Theft, they found required timing over anything else. They found that it was always best to travel light, carrying only the essentials- food, an extra set of clothes, weapons, and some lien they had obtained through various means whether it was through simple work or actually stealing it. They eventually found themselves in the city of Vale.
The boy watched as a man walked down the sidewalk with two young girls by his side. He could smell the scent of alcohol on the man and the girls were talking, making him look between the two of them constantly, giving extra attention to the younger one. An easy mark. A little more watching and he knew exactly where the man kept his wallet when he bought a piece of candy for the girls.
Five minutes later, he ran into the man with the little fox chasing him for the doll in his hands. The slight confusion created by the small scuffle gave the boy enough time to lift the wallet and tuck it into his own pocket while the man was distracted. The other two girls were simply standing by the side, positioned where they couldn't actually see him clearly. The man had somehow taken the doll from the boy and handed it to the fox and sent them on their way, telling them to behave themselves.
In an alley not too far away, the boy and fox opened the wallet and began counting the lien cards inside. The guy was loaded! There was more in this wallet than anything they had scraped together since they left Grelod's, combined. Already they began planning what they were going to spend the money on, a few good meals were a good start and maybe some new clothes as the ones they were wearing were not just getting a bit on the smaller side but were stained and full of holes.
"Not bad kid, almost didn't notice." A rough voice compliment's from nearby. A pair of heads turned to the end of the alleyway where the man and the girls stood watching them. The girls seemed confused as to what was happening. The man studied the homeless pair carefully taking note of their conditions, the ratty little backpacks that held their meager belongings.
"Tell ya what kids, give me back my wallet and I'll treat ya to a decent meal."
The offer was tempting to the pair, and it didn't help that they were caught. But their empty stomachs needed filling. "No tricks? No police?" The boy asks.
"The police aren't worth the hassle and paperwork." The man easily responds. The girls by his side looking between them, wondering how this would play out.
The boy helps the fox to her feet and grabs their bags. "Public place." Was his demand.
"Don't worry, I know a decent place for kids like you." He holds his hand out as the boy approached, wallet in hand.
"If this is a trick, you will be hurt." The boy warns, fingering the hilt of a knife on his hip.
"I have my nieces her as witnesses, no tricks." The boy drops the wallet into the man's hand who looks at it for a moment. He waves his fingers a little. "And the lien." The boy twitched as he was caught and had to produce the cards from his pocket.
A ten-minute walk had the five of them inside a chain restaurant for some fast food. The girls with the man were content with a simple kid's meal for each of them and the man ordered three burgers with fries and drink for himself, he was surprised that the two brats he'd picked up ordered the same as him. They were determined to get something out of him.
They had no issues with the food, the boy and fox kept their mouths too full to talk until a break in the ravenous eating allowed for some proper introductions. "So, what are your names? I'm Qrow Branwen and these are my nieces, Yang and Ruby."
"Denko and Itazura." The boy answers around a fry.
"Doesn't she talk?" the older girl, Yang, asks.
The boy looks at her, judging if she was expressing simple curiosity or something much worse. It seemed to be the former. "She can't hear." A slight breeze from an opening door blew her untamed hair back enough for the family to see the scar around where her left ear would normally be.
"Oh." Was Yang's response to the sight of the injury. Ruby looked scared, not at the fox girl but at the old wound itself. Qrow had the positioning and sharp eyes to see that it was the same on both sides, finding himself having to keep his anger under control and failing to notice that he'd crushed a few fries in his hand to mush.
Their meal was silent for a while, but there wasn't even a fry left on their trays beyond the small pile of mashed potatoes from Qrow. It was as they were leaving that Qrow finally spoke up again.
"Hey kids." He sighed as he tried to gather his thoughts. "If I can arrange it, would you like a place to live? I teach at a school back on the island of Patch, not too far from here. I should be able to find you a place to call home."
The boy's eyes went wide at the offer before narrowing and staring hard at the man. But he had no reason to not trust him. Yet. He turned to the fox and used a sign language they had developed to explain the offer.
"You want them to live with us?" Yang asks, seemingly hopeful.
"I don't think your dad could handle two more kids in his house. Maybe for a day or two until I try to get some favors done."
"No orphanage."
"Honestly, I don't think Patch has any. Does that help?"
"We'll see." The look that Qrow gave him seemed to be one of respect, something that he wasn't used to seeing from adults. Then again, the boy wondered if the man noticed that a few of his lien cards hadn't been returned.
An hour later the five of them were on the ferry to Patch. The trip was a short one, the boat only taking half an hour to cross the relatively shallow waters to the island. From there they began walking through the port town, crossing from seaside to inner town to a scattering of homes before the forests of the island took over everything except for the few roads that blazed their ways through the trees. They kept walking for a while until an uphill climb opened up to a large field with a log cabin at the top.
"We're home!" Yang and Ruby cheered, bringing a smile to Qrow's lips.
"Don't worry about it for tonight." The man looks down at the dirty pair as the sisters ran for the front door. The boy looked up at him with one hand holding the fox. "You'll get at least one good night here while I get some things sorted out. You can get cleaned up, an actual good meal in you tonight and breakfast in the morning. Don't forget a good place to sleep."
"Are you sure?" Denko asks, skeptical of the man's hospitality so far. Itazura watching them carefully.
"Tai is a good guy, never had a problem with kids. You two, he should have no problem with… so long as you give him no problems." He warns the kids just in time to watch as Ruby and Yang pulled their father out the door by his hands and pointing at them.
Introductions were made, the dirty kids had a bath that allowed them to use real soap and shampoo, given new clothes (Denko and Yang were about the same size and he was allowed to pick something to wear from her clothes and the same with Itazura and Ruby) while theirs were being washed, and followed that up with a decent meal of spaghetti and meatballs with salad. Their bed may have been little more than the couch for the night but with pillows and blankets they had the best sleep that they could remember.
The next morning, Denko woke to hear Qrow on his scroll.
"Yeah Oz, they weren't in the best shape and I can tell they went through a lot." "You didn't see the scars on his wrists, something really went bad for him." "The girl is even worse; you saw what's left of her ears?" "C'mon! All I'm asking is that you back me up a bit with this. Those kids will run away the moment you try to put them in an orphanage." "No, I am not offering to adopt them. My nieces are bad enough as they are." "Just lean on the old man at Signal and I should be able to take care of the rest." "Yeah, I'm sure Tai doesn't want to keep the kids here more than needed, he's just gotten back on his feet after… you know." "These kids are independent; they'll need their space. That's why I want to give them that but somewhere we can keep an eye on them to make sure they're doing alright." "Maybe you could help me call in a favor or two with Atlas for the girl." "Of course, I still have my problems with those pricks up there! But I do know that they are the best ones to help with something like this" "Really? Thanks." "Oh! And by the way, I'm pretty sure the boy has his aura unlocked." "Yeah, I'm not sure about the girl. Maybe, maybe not." "I know what I'm doin' Oz." "Uh-huh… alright. Talk to you later."
"Who was that?" Denko asks, startling the Huntsman.
"Ozpin, he's the Headmaster of Beacon Academy and an old friend of mine."
"He must be old if you're colling him old."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I'm not that old!"
The next day Qrow, Taiyang, Yang, and Ruby took Denko and Itazura down to Signal Academy where there was a large shed in the one corner of the grounds. Opening the door, they could see that it was mostly empty but clean with a pair of beds in one corner, a dresser at the end of each bed, a square table with four chairs, and a quickly set up 'kitchen' that consisted of a deep plastic sink, a microwave, a small refrigerator and freezer.
"It's not much kids, but it's yours to live in. All you have to do to keep it is go to school here and help out with the janitor for an hour during the school days. Since Qrow and I work here and Yang and Ruby go here for their own classes, we'll be able to check in on you and make sure you two are doing alright." Tai announces. The four kids stare in shock for a bit before Yang and Ruby ran inside to check out everything while Denko led Itazura around, not used to such kindness.
Classes at Signal had several divisions within the campus. The Elementary classes were attended by all of the islands kids and that was set closest to the entrance of the complex. Next to that was the building for the middle schoolers where some of the students could have the option to take classes that would prepare them for the combat division that Signal was most well known for. Those who made it to high school had the choice to go to the civilian classes or the combat classes, either way there was still plenty of overlap in the subjects taught thus making the combat classes more akin to electives for the students. Of course, there was always the option available for those who found the combat classes too difficult to transfer to the civilian classes. The buildings were set up to ensure that there were as many walls as possible between the elementary building and the combat class buildings, which included several free-standing walls 'just in case'.
The work the two kids had to do wasn't hard at all, mostly just assisting with little things like sweeping or helping to pick up garbage that missed the trash cans. But it did help them learn the layout of the school. They had a teacher making time to assist them with learning things to catch them up to other students, Itazura's ear problems causing most of the delays.
Then came the day for the little fox to get her ears fixed. The two of them stayed with the Xiao Long-Rose home when the doctor came by to perform check ups before sending the information to the creator of her new ears. The next week, Itazura was in Vale's hospital with her brother and the Xiao Long-Rose family… minus Qrow who said he had business to attend to but wished them luck all the same.
By the end of the week, Itazura could hear for the first time in years, crying that she could finally hear her brothers voice and her two best friends. There was a bit of a steep learning curve for the girl to learn to speak again… and sometimes her brother wished that she was mute again.
The two of them entered Signal's Combat School two years ahead of Yang, despite Itazura and Yang being the same age, the siblings were known as a package deal. Needless to say, it didn't sit well with the hot-tempered blonde but her training with her uncle and Dad at home allowed for the three of them to have some fun spars when visiting each other's homes.
Denko woke to find himself with a cold sweat. He knew he'd have that dream again after Yang had brought up their childhoods. Still, nothing really prepared him for reliving those times again. At least this time the memories had moved on to the better times rather than keeping him locked in the orphanage as that bitch had done physically. He rubbed his wrists, feeling the faded scars from the shackles and the phantom pain.
He looked up at his bed to see a mass of blonde hair cascading over the side along with Yang's belly hanging out from under her shirt, the blanket bundled over her waist, chest moving as she breathed. It had been her who gave him a pair of simple sweatbands for his wrists to help cover the scars to help keep others from staring at them. A good reason why he normally wore his arm guards, not just because they offered protection and more. Same with his legs.
Once again, he found himself restless, something he found himself used to when having to deal with a dream like that. Knowing that it was just a dream yet it was reality years ago. He lay back down and made himself comfortable on the floor once more, soon enough drifting back into slumber listening to the sound of his friends breathing.
Yang woke up from her nap, the familiar feeling of hunger being her alarm that made her lift her head from her pillow. This wasn't anything new as she went through this every morning. The rising sun warmed her body as it shone through her window helped her wake up, she never really was a morning person after all. But there was no leaving her bed for her. Not just because there was no bed in the familiar room, she grew up in at home anymore, but because she was her own bed now.
There had yet to be a cure for whatever made her keep gaining weight, the exercise and training at Beacon had kept the worst of it at bay but eventually it proved to be too much and she was forced to stay home. It didn't help much when she found climbing the stairs a workout in themselves, or when she got herself stuck in her own doorway, her decreased activity made the weight pile on that much faster and she outgrew her single bed. Then that was removed aside from the mattress and blankets to prevent her from laying on the floor all the time, she was almost completely incapable of leaving her room at that point. And the fat kept coming.
Her face was now simply round, no longer having much of a definable chin. Her chest was probably among the largest on Remnant, each of them as large as a beachball and her top helped to keep them as round as possible thanks to that support. Her arms were large enough that her upper arms were thicker than her original hip and bust measurements combined and they flowed over her elbows to lower arms the size of turkeys. It may have been out of habit, but she kept a pair of fake Ember Celica on her wrists- not that the real ones sitting on a nearby shelf would do any good for her sitting on a nearby shelf, there would be no way for her to slip them on her pudgy wrists in their collapsed form, not to mention activating them would only make the backs dig into her flesh.
Her ass rose high into the sky, still round and perky despite being the size of beanbag chairs, was far from the largest part of her while still requiring a double door to push that part of her through. For whatever reason, maybe nostalgia, she still wore her jacket and skirts- each of them would have been like a blanket to the old her. She even wore her boots and socks like she used to, though her boots were no longer leather anymore and her legs could barely move anymore.
But it was her belly that took the prize of what was largest with her by far. Large enough to serve as a mattress for the once Huntress in training, it was enough to keep her hands and feet from touching the ground, nearly reaching her ankles as she lay there while also reaching far enough ahead of the massive girl to prop up her breasts so they never touched the ground either while lifting them to the perfect level for Yang to use her girls as a pillow. A large, warm, and marshmallow soft pillow that she could feel everything that touched them.
Needless to say, she wasn't going anywhere on her own and if she was, she'd need a flatbed truck to haul her around.
Then the door opened and a cart loaded with breakfast foods rolled in, pushed in by a faceless man. Nothing new there, she knew this dream inside and out having had it many times since the weight began piling on in the real world.
"Ready for breakfast?" he asks, lifting a plate of waffles, already cut into bite sized pieces, covered in syrup and topped with strawberries.
"You know me too well." She answers with a smile, patting her stomach and making herself jiggle all over from the action. Three plates of food and two glasses of orange juice later and Yang's hunger had subsided. There was still plenty of food on the cart, the man knew that she'd be hungry soon enough.
But for Yang, details that never existed in the dream before came into existence. The generic male form slowly shifted to a familiar form as he fed her. As the usual belly rub went on, his hands began to change from soft to slightly rough and firm. When he came back to her front to feed her again, his hair had grown and colored to a short, spikey mess of blonde. Another plate of food later, mostly fruit, he began to brush her hair as he sat on her extremely soft back.
It was when he came back to feed her again that she finally saw who it was. Why was it Denko who was taking care of her like this?
"Nothing wrong with eating what you want."
"You're not the one blowing up like a balloon full of lard." A squeeze from his hands cut her off.
"Like I said before, do you think that matters to me? You're you, even if there's a lot more of you now and maybe more in the future, but that's all that really matters."
Her hands find his on her stomach and holds them tightly. "Thanks." She thinks back to their conversation in the park. "You really don't mind if I grow into some immobile blob who's only a threat to a buffet and chairs?"
He shakes her belly a bit. "If you get that big, I'll know where to keep coming back to whenever I can."
Her arms reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him in enveloping his body with her own. "Thank you." She cries onto his shoulder. That was when she noticed that he was only wearing a pair of boxers and thoughts raced through her mind.
"Think you could do me a favor?" She asks him, mildly amused that this was farther than any dream had gone, they had never gone past a belly rub.
"What is it?"
"Will you spank me?" She asks shyly, wiggling her exposed ass suggestively, her skirts doing little to cover it.
A short time later he'd climbed her belly and sat on her thick legs and gave her a light smack, he watched as her skin rippled from the impact and heard her gasp. "Again!" Smack. "Harder!" Smack. "I want you in me!" Her legs shift a little to the sides.
Ruby rolled over in her sleep and woke up just as she was about to go over the edge in time to catch herself. After that shocking way to wake up and she calmed herself with a reminder that she'd fallen out of bed before with no problem before. But the rude awakening made her see that Yang and Blake had yet to return. The faint light of the morning sun was a good indicator of the time and it made her worry.
The light breathing from beneath her let the girl know that she wasn't alone in the room, something that set her mind at ease a bit. The rotund team leader rolled off the bed to land on her feet, somehow not disturbing Weiss. Something that Ruby had noticed along with her friend needing a new night gown to keep her covered.
Ruby did a quick look in the dark room around her sisters and friends' beds for anything that might give her a hint of where they might have gone. Yet she came up with nothing beyond some of Yang's clothes that were tossed on her bed.
"Oh… where are they?" She wines quietly to herself as she pulls the covers of Yang's bed over herself, letting the familiar scents of her sister sooth her to sleep. It would have to do for now.
Blake woke once more, feeling refreshed, far more than she did before. But what woke her up was how she was sleeping, finding herself draped over Sun using his chest as a pillow and one of his arms around her waist, her left leg between his. The blanket was wrapped around them both yet.
But what got her shocked the most was the fact that he was awake and watching her. "Sleep well?" He asks with a soft smile.
The cat girl blushed hard enough to rival Ruby's cloak and could only silently nod. She felt him remove his arm from her, giving her the ability to get up. One that she didn't take as she felt warm, comfortable, and safe… something that she missed.
"If it helps you feel any better, our scrolls are back." Sun tells her as he points towards the door where the pair of communication devises lay, just out of reach of his outstretched tail. Clearly, he didn't want to disturb her sleep.
"Oh…" She extracts herself from him and wraps the blanket around her shoulders to preserve the heat against the cool air in the room. Once he was free, Sun grabbed the scrolls and gave hers back and they both opened them to check for missed calls and messages.
The first thing they saw were a slew of missed calls from their teammates. Sun had seven from Neptune alone and one from Sage and Scarlet. Blake was worse as she had a dozen or more from Ruby, a handful from Weiss, even one from Jaune… likely hoping to get through to her if she was ignoring her team.
Then they found something that made them both blush brightly and look at each other embarrassed. They both had a picture of the two of them sleeping together, likely taken not long ago before Sun had woken up.
"Um… it does look pretty good." Sun chuckles before ensuring that it was saved in plain view of Blake.
"Y-yeah…" She couldn't help but look fondly at the image before saving it. She had to stop looking at it for now as it kept bringing certain scenes from her books to mind and she didn't need that kind of distraction.
"Think the door will open now?" Sun asks, trying to change the subject. He walked over and found that the door easily opened, somewhat surprised since it was locked all night.
"I think that's your answer." Blake giggles at his shocked face. She pulls the blanket off her shoulders and allowing the cool air to really wake her up before she walked over to the corner where the cooler sat to pick it up.
"Uh…oh." She turned to look back at Sun to see him purposely looking away from her and trying to whistle and failing. That was when she noticed that she was bent over with her rear facing him. She didn't mean to do that but at the same time she appreciated his… discretion and attempt to not objectify her.
With the cooler in hand so they had a small snack and drink to start the day before breakfast was served, they left their temporary prison with smiles. They were glad that it was still early, most students would still be in bed and so they had the long walk back to the dorms to enjoy each other's presence.
"I guess we could both use a shower after that." Sun comments as they approached the Beacon student dorms.
"Yes, we do. It was a bit dusty in there." Blake responds, watching as her date for the night grew nervous.
"Well… um, I guess I'll see you tonight?" He scratches the back of his head as his tail swung back and forth with nerves.
"I'll be there." She giggles, he was trying so hard.
He brightened up at the confirmation of their date. It may not be an official date but going to the dance together was close enough for him to be extremely happy. If the smile on her lips was anything to go by, she was looking forward to it too. "I'll meet you here at six?"
Blake nods, her bow twitching. "Sure, that will be fine."
He scratches the back of his head again. "Okay then. I'll make sure I'm ready for you and whatever happens tonight."
"Thank you, Sun." Blake felt happier than she could remember being for years, not even being with him had brought this feeling so far. It might just be because of how genuine the Vacuous boy is with everything.
"So, um… do you want to get breakfast together then? After we get cleaned up, that is. We'll still have a few hours to get ready and deal with our friends."
Her eyes widened a little at the offer. "I'd like that." She checks her scroll for the time and saw that it was nearly seven. "Meet you there at eight?"
"Sure, that's plenty of time. I'll see you then." He gives her a small wave before leaving for his own dorm.
"Bye." Blake waves back and watches him walk away, his tail swaying happily. Though the appendage drew her eyes a bit lower than she should have let them wander.
"Ruby, I'm sure they are fine. They're big girls, they can take care of themselves." Weiss was getting annoyed by her team leaders worrying and the fact that she was starting to say things that could be misconstrued as puns didn't make her feel any better. In fact, the anxiety was getting to her as well, reminding her far too much of when she and Blake had their argument last semester that resulted in the other girl running away for the weekend.
"I can't help it. That's my sister and friend missing, not just my teammates! I don't like not knowing how I can help them or even where they are!" The girl was clutching onto Yang's pillow like a lifeline as she sat in her sisters' bed.
"Have you tried calling them yet this morning?" Weiss asks, trying to keep a rising headache down. The younger girls' wide eyes darting to her own desk were enough of an answer for the heiress. "Fine, I'll call Blake again and hopefully she'll answer this time." She rolls her eyes at her leader as she speed-dials for Blake.
The familiar ring of the outgoing call was briefly overwhelmed by the sound of the dorm's door opening and the jingle of an incoming call. Weiss stood dumbfounded as Blake walked in looking at her scroll for the caller ID before her eyes met with the one who was calling her. The scrolls were quickly forgotten in favor of face-to-face communication.
Then face-to-face communication seemed to get another meaning as a burst of petals tackled Blake to the floor as Ruby held her tightly and mumbling incoherently about missing her and being a failure of a leader and such.
"Ruby, I'm fine. You can let go of me now." Despite herself, Blake was still in a good mood.
"No! I thought you ran away again!" The young girl cries into her chest.
"I didn't even leave the campus last night."
That gained the attention of the other two girls. "If you didn't leave the campus, why didn't you come back last night?" Weiss asks as Ruby sits up but refusing to let the faunus up. Her eyebrow raised when she saw Blake blush bright red.
"I… ah…" Her eyes found a spot on the wall to look at. "Spent the night locked in a room with Sun." She says quietly.
Weiss covers her face with a hand, "Do I even want to know how you got into that situation?" Ruby looked excited to hear the story.
"Ruby, Can I get up? I need to get a shower before I meet with Sun for breakfast."
"Wait! Does that mean you're going to the dance with him?" Ruby was back in her face.
Blake pushes the younger girl away. "Yes, Ruby. I'm going with him. I just needed… some different outlooks to see how much I was hurting those closest to me." She gave the two other girls a fond smile to let them know that they were on that list.
Anya woke up thanks to the sound of snoring. Nothing unusual since Denko snored often enough, her sister did on occasion, but she and Itazura were the quiet ones unless they were sick. But she would swear that there was someone else snoring away in the room. Sitting up in her bed she saw that the faunus' bed was empty, she normally was the first to rise anyway, Talon was still sleeping quietly on her bed. But it was Denko's bed that gave her pause- there was a much larger and curvier lump on the bed than what was supposed to be there.
She walked across the room for a better look and found her team leader bundled up on the floor and it was Yang in his bed. She raised an eyebrow at the sleeping arrangement and the part of when they came in the room was a mystery to her. She was a light sleeper since she unlocked her semblance and normally could tell when someone came close. Maybe she was deeper in sleep than normal last night.
But it was her footsteps that woke up her leader, he looked at her and gave a look that told her to not bother him. So, she shrugged and went to get ready for the day, she wanted to get some training in before the dance… not that she really wanted to be there in the first place but it would be the easiest way to get something for dinner and maybe she'll have some amusement at the other students stumbling around or something like that.
Denko stared at the ceiling, taking stock of his life once more when he heard the bed above him shift and Yang rolled close to the edge. He could see her peaceful sleeping face and the little tuft of hair over her face being blown by her breathing and he smiled. "Not a bad way to wake up in the morning."
Yang snorted a bit in her sleep, causing him to smile in amusement as she blew the hair away from her nose. "Snu snu." She mutters.
'Huh? She talks in her sleep?' He thinks to himself, missing that she started rolling once more and fell off the bed until she landed front first on him, his face buried in her chest as her chin clacked against his skull.
Instantly, Yang was awake and holding her face from the pain as Denko did the same with the top of his head where she impacted, though if he was cursing from the pain, it was muffled by her chest over his face.
Now he couldn't decide if this was a good or bad way to wake up in the morning. Maybe next time there would be less skull impact.
AN: Now if anyone wants to complain about how I portrayed the orphanage, please keep in mind that I borrowed many of the elements including the Matrons name and the orphanage building itself from Skyrim. Honorhall Orphanage run by Grelod the Kind, known for preventing the kids in her care from being adopted and beating them. Where shackles can be found in a closet and nobody has a nice thing to say about her anywhere. Even the kids celebrate when she dies.
There is also real world inspiration for how the orphanage is portrayed as well. Two examples that come to mind are an orphanage in Scotland where inspectors found an unregistered septic tank attached to the building a couple years ago. When they opened it up to inspect it, they found dozens of the skeletons of children of various ages from infant to teenagers. The other example is of 'Mother Terresa' and her 'clinics' and charities'. That's being too kind as there are plenty of videos of patients being chained to beds, needles being reused and medicine being administered by non-medical staff. And that's just scratching the tip of the iceberg from a woman who declared that 'suffering gives glory to god".
Yes, I'm aware that using those examples might offend plenty of people but they are clear displays that those who are supposed to help others may not be doing so to actually help anyone but get their kicks from harming those who come to them for help. Do keep in mind that the depravities committed by Teressa and her staff under her orders were well known and documented before the catholic church made her a saint. It should be noted that conditions improved in her 'clinics' almost immediately after her death, so there was some good news.
But next time we'll be getting to the dance! There will be food, drink, dancing, girls in their dresses, boys in their suits, and a choice selection of music! As always, there is some artwork that I commissioned for Big Issues on my DA page. I'm saving some art for the next chapter. Cover art for this story is by ekusupanshon on DA.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the 'Death by Snu Snu'. Reviews are welcome.