Here's chapter 98, everyone.
Weiss' hair was a mess, as she and Ruby ended up having a small comedical spat, so she stomped over to Yang, glaring daggers at the blonde brawler. "I. Will. End. You." Yang blinked a few times, taking note of Weiss' messed up hair.
"Huh, didn't think Rubes would pull on your hair… Uh, you okay?" Yang asked, as Weiss was breathing heavily in anger.
"She jumped on me and started questioning why I motorboated you… She managed to accidentally pulled off my tiara, you jerk!" Weiss' hair was let down at that point, and she kept her death stare on the blonde girl.
Yang chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "S-Sorry, Weiss… I was just trying to cheer her up is all."
That instantly snapped Weiss out of her anger. "Cheer her up? What do you mean?" She looked back where Ruby was, hoping her girlfriend wasn't trying to keep anything from her.
"Oh, uh, well that Nel chick. When she kicked you in the stomach, you saw how pissed off she was." Yang reminded, and Weiss did notice that. "It was bugging her, so I just wanted to try and help her keep her mind off it."
Weiss sighed. "Well you didn't need to say I motorboated you... Which didn't even happen!" The white haired teen blushed, and Yang chuckled a little. "Ugh… Oaf, though I guess that would keep her from being overly worried."
"Girlfriend gets kicked in the stomach, can't say I blame her for being upset. Maybe you should go talk to her though. Y'know, without her thinking you were all up in my chest." Yang winked.
"You're annoying… You know that?" Weiss deadpanned.
Yang let out a light smile and leaned her hand over, patting Weiss on the head. "Just doing my job of making sure you guys aren't so moody all the time."
Weiss swatted her hand away and rolled her eyes. "Uh huh, sure, that's the reason for trying to torment me… But still, I suppose I should thank you for cheering her up. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll speak with her on my own terms, thank you very much."
"Good luck, Ice Wolf." Yang gave her a thumbs up, and Weiss groaned, turning on her boot to walk over to her girlfriend, while Yang was still smiling, only for her to sigh a bit after lowering her hand. "Still wish I had what you two have."
She began walking back over to one of the other destroyed houses, feeling like she should do something to occupy her time, but as she looked up at the night sky, she wondered if they should even be up at this point.
Instead of choosing to work, Yang made her way back to the others. "Hey, you guys thinking we should maybe set up camp, or even head back to the airship? It's pretty late after all."
Nora and Ren looked a bit happier, since the group had decided to fix up the village. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. The airship would be best, since I don't believe we brought camping equipment with us." Ren reminded.
"Sleeping in an airship is fine with me!" Nora said in her returned chipper voice. "Oh, and… Thank you guys for fixing up Kuroyuri. Ruby told us it was Jaune's idea, but you guys did pitch in too."
Yang grinned. "No problem. We'll still help out tomorrow too."
Nora smiled and squeezed Ren's hand, but then she gasped, seeing Nel walking out of the house she had slept in, and she was rubbing her back a few times. "You kids still here? Sheesh, what are you even here for anyways?"
Ren spoke up to answer. "We came here to pay respects, and our friends wanted to help fix the village up a bit, so we'll still be here for a bit longer."
Nel didn't like the sound of that, as she looked up, searching for a certain bird. She sighed when she didn't see it, and shook her head. "You kids are just gonna get in the way. Honestly, this place is rubble, so what's the point in fixing it now?"
Yang crossed her arms, not liking how she was trying to step on their attempts. "You say we'd get in the way, but we're not gonna, so look, just relax already okay."
The woman turned to look at Yang, and she raised an eyebrow as she looked her up and down. "Uh huh, well you can say you won't get in the way all you want, but when the time comes and you're still here-."
"What exactly are you even doing here?" Blake suddenly asked, as she walked over, having listened in the whole time.
Nel glanced over her shoulder, noticing the girl walking over. "I feel like telling you would basically make you get in the way, just like I said you kids would if you don't leave soon."
"We've been over this before," Blake reminded. "Whatever you and your group is doing here has nothing to do with us, so what makes this place so special to you."
"Set up is nice to keep when you got it locked down, so leaving this spot would put more work on me and the people I work with." Nel explained, and she glanced over at Ren and Nora. "You said you wanted to pay respects… Well, I'm sorry if we shouldn't be here, but for the time being, we gotta use this place to our advantage."
Nora growled a little. "Use this place? Do you have any idea how many people were killed here?"
"No, but sometimes you gotta let the past go, kid. Especially when more dangers can and will show up to take more lives away," Nel looked around. "Just like how this place was taken."
"If you're not leaving this place, then why tell us to leave?" Ren asked, not letting her words phaze him.
"Well, one is so that you kids won't get in the way, and two… Is because in the end, you're kids. Teenagers. Getting caught up in something that could take your life, it isn't exactly good for my conscience if the worst ends up happening." Nel explained.
Yang spoke up after that. "We're all from Beacon Academy, training to be huntresses and huntsmen, so we'll be out there risking our lives."
The way she spoke was more out of pride, showing Nel she didn't scare easily. "Hunters… You know, you'll find out one day that Grimm aren't the worst threat out there." She said as she spotted the bird, so she whistled to it.
As the hawk heard her whistle, it flew down and landed on her shoulder. "If you're talking about people, we know the kinds of danger they too can bring." Blake said, mostly because of the White Fang.
"Maybe so, but think about how you all are being trained to kill Grimm… Are you willing to kill people too, just to defend yourselves?" Nel's question was an uneasy kind, as the four around her tensed up.
Blake herself had her fair share of fighting people, but killing was something else entirely.
"I can tell by your silence, that you'd all probably hesitate. And that's why people are a bigger threat than the Grimm can be sometimes." Nel turned around, as the bird leaned next to her ear. After a few moments, she looked towards a certain direction.
Yang and Blake paid close attention to that, and they both realized that was the direction Weiss and Ruby were. Blake figured that from when she walked over and saw Ruby speaking with Weiss, and Yang knew from seeing Weiss heading off to find Ruby.
"Are you kids gonna listen to my warnings or not…" Nel asked, a little quieter, but enough for them to still hear.
"Not until you tell us the real reason why we should." Yang responded.
Nel sighed and looked to the bird. The hawk flew up and landed on a building, as it looked at the group. Blake, Yang, Ren and Nora looked up at it in return, wondering what is was even doing.
"You four wish to know more about us?"
All four of them gasped, hearing a voice in their head as Nel chuckled a bit. "Yeah, he's a little annoying when he suddenly pops in your head like that, huh?" The four Beacon students stared at the woman in shock, as the bird continued to speak.
"Don't be afraid, this is simply my semblance."
"What? You?" Nora pointed at Nel, who shook her head a few times, and she pointed up at the bir, and all four gave her unconvinced looks.
"Haha, you kids should know that animals have aura too." Nel reminded, and while that much was true, an animal with a semblance, and one that could talk was not something they believed was possible, well, except for the one person they all knew.
Yang's eyes widened. "Wait, is he like Weiss?"
Nel let out a grin. "If you mean the white haired girl, then in a way he is. Torn, you wanna show them, or stay like that? Oh, and stick to not using your semblance."
The hawk sighed. "I would rather not, but seeing as these kids are familiar with this form of power, then I suppose it won't hurt."
Nora blinked a few times. "Y'know… Seeing Weiss talking when she's a wolf makes this not as mind blowing to me… But man, that bird is talking to us."
Nel rolled her eyes. "Good job on pointing out the obvious there."
Torn shook his head a few times. "Nel, leave them be. You know as well as I do, that not many know of us. Honestly, this kind of reaction is much more welcoming than what we've had to deal with before."
"Any reaction is better than the kind where bullets end up flying at us, you old bird." Nel deadpanned.
"Hey!" Yang yelled, getting their attention. "What in the hell are you two even talking about? Seriously, I've been pretty patient with you," She pointed at Nel. "So just spill it already."
Torn spoke up before Nel could retort with something that would make the blonde angrier. "Your friend, she is…" He decided in that moment not to reveal it. "Is similar to what Nel and myself are. We are shape shifters, animals that have the power to become human."
The four Beacon students felt like they heard that wrong. "Wait, don't you mean humans that can become animals?" Nora tried correcting.
Nel had a smug grin on her face. "Nope. He meant exactly what he said."
"What you're saying is impossible." Blake remarked. "Animals have no such power. They may have aura, but it-."
"Aura is a source of energy, at least for your semblances. Think for a second. What happens if an animal is able to tap into that source of energy?" Nel questioned.
The thought was still very hard to believe, and Ren spoke up. "From the time it takes to really master using aura, semblances are manifested, but here you are telling us this… Man can use a semblance to speak with us through our minds."
"That's the kicker, we didn't manifest a semblance to become human. Honestly, it still kinda confuses me… One day I'm in a forest, living the same boring life, waiting to be killed by something bigger than me… Then the next moment I'm on two feet, feeling more alive than ever." Nel explained.
Yang took a step back, thinking more about Weiss. "Hold on… So… You were just some animal in the forest? But… But look at you? You're talking like a person, walking, standing… How can-."
"You got a pet?" Nel's question was a curveball, and Yang hesitated for a moment before she nodded. "Think about how a pet eventually learns when its name is called, or when you tell it that's food is ready."
"They learn…" Blake finished for her, and the revelation was dawning on the four.
"We learned… We eventually accepted the gift of being human. Joining you all in the world, as best we could, but… Some people don't exactly like that." Nel clenched her fist.
Torn spoke up at that point. "The Relentless… A group of hunters that dedicate their lives to killing our kind."
The group was silent for a bit, and Yang stomped over to Nel, grabbing her by the shirt collar, but the woman was unfazed, while Blake, Nora and Ren were surprised by Yang's action.
"You're lying…" Yang said in a darker tone than she'd usually use, as Nel sighed, shaking her head a few times. "I don't give a damn what you say. You're implying that one of my best friends that I've known for years is an animal?"
Nel's eyes widened, and she slowly closed them, since Yang had figured it out before the others. "I guess you know then, huh?"
"I don't know a damn thing because you're lying," Yang shoved her against one of the houses. "She's not a damn animal. So don't ever fucking imply that, or I'll-."
"Yang?" Weiss' voice made everyone except Nel turn, as she was standing a bit away with Ruby in hand. "What's going on?"
Sorry for ending it there. Anyways, now the others are suspicious/in denial in Yang's case. Not much else to say here, so hope the next chapter will be worth the wait for how this one ended.
To JJ- Yeah I needed more interactions with Winter and one of the shifters. Now that she's more involved, you'll get to see more of the reason as to why I have her becoming more of a key part to this story. Obviously she was gonna play some part before, but now I know what I want her to really get to do.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 98. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 99.