Chapter 5: Unity

Nora lay back on her bed and stared at nothing, her face tugged into a scowl.

Last night had been… stressful.

"Pyrrha… was that…?"

"I'm sorry." A voice that shook so hard it was hardly familiar anymore, entwined with equal parts nausea and dread. "I… don't think we can s-stop it anymore. Oh gods, I felt like a spectator inside my own head…"

…

"We have to tell Ozpin. We can't handle this on our own!"

"NO!" She was angry, so angry it sparked under her skin, sizzling nerve endings. "Jaune, this is our business. Pyrrha's business. He's the one who forced her into this to begin with! We don't owe him our trust, and he sure hasn't earned it with all his 'mneh mneh greater good' shit-baloney!"

Then, a hand on her shoulder. The faint touch of calm, drawing her down, grounding the lightning.

"Enough, both of you. You're right, Nora. This is Pyrrha's decision to make. Not Jaune's. And not yours either."

…

A voice in the dark, after all the arguing, worrying, and general stress had worn them out and driven them to an early sleep.

"I want to tell team RWBY everything. Not just about… her, but the rest of it to. I… I want them to know what the stakes are. What we're all up against. They deserve to know."

…

And then they'd woken up, and she'd been there. The girl who wasn't Pyrrha.

"Good morning to you too."

Nora sighed, kicking her legs frustratedly against the mattress. This wasn't fair. Not to team JNPR, but especially not to Pyrrha. She's just wanted to be treated like a normal girl, and now she'd never get to be normal again, all because a certain stupid old man decided to coerce a bunch of kids into taking care of his problems!

It all made Nora want to hit something. Hard.

The faint scent of heaven drew her out of her ruminations. Sounds spilled from the kitchen, the clink and clatter of measuring cups and pans, Ren working his beautiful magic. It was familiar, grounding, and Nora sighed, the anger ebbing away a bit. Today was just another morning, after all.

Even if they were about to read four of their friends in on one of the biggest, scariest secrets in the world, and nothing at all was fair.

With a huff, Nora glanced around for something else to distract her, and quickly found her mark.

Jaune sat on the end of the same bed Nora'd laid out on (it was his, not that she discriminated much when it came to floppin'). He was still staring at his scroll, one hand mussing his shaggy hair as the other hovered over the send button like it might bite his finger off.

Nora had to suppress a giggle, even though the moment weighed on her too. For someone so good at coming up with big plans, their glorious leader sure did get stuck on the small stuff when it came to his friends.

Impulsively, she sat up and scooted a little closer, before hugging him from behind, threading her arms under his. He was surprisingly muscly considering the kinda guy he'd been when she met him, but some of his noodly energy still remained. She liked it, to be honest.

Jaune jumped halfway out of his skin at the contact. "N-Nora?" Then, he noticed the hands under his arms darting towards his scroll, and quickly lifted it over his head. "Nora, knock it off!"

"You worry too much," Nora shot back hypocritically, turning the hug into an actual hug for a sec before sitting back with her arms crossed. He glared at her, and she stuck her tongue out to match.

Jaune broke first, shoulders falling with a tired sigh. "I just… I'm not sure this is a good idea. They're not ready for this. I know you don't trust him, but I still think we should tell Ozpin that we're bringing them in."

"We had this exact conversation half an hour ago!" Ren's dry voice called from the kitchen. "And yesterday!"

"Mhm!" Nora beamed. She imagined herself hi-fiving her boyfriend. "Plus, it's ultimately Pyrrha's decision, right? She's the one with the big secret." She let a little sharpness flicker into her smile. "Fuck what Ozpin thinks! If he doesn't like who Pyrrha tells her story to? She crossed her arms, petulantly puffing up her cheeks. "Well, maybe I don't like that he's got two intact kneecaps."

Jaune chuckled faintly. "Please don't kneecap the headmaster," he sighed. Still, he was smiling and he looked a little steadier at least, so Nora counted it as a win.

He shifted back to his scroll, screwed up his face, and sent the message out into the world. A split-second later, Nora's scroll buzzed.

Team RRAYNNBW Groupchat

10:12 A.M.

NoodleBoy: Hey guys! About that thing. We're ready to talk about it, if you're up to it. We're in our dorm.

Nora rolled her eyes. It didn't have to be quite so serious, and besides, Jaune was missing the most important part. She corrected the oversight:

ForkInTheMicrowave: we got RENCAAAAAKES!

The response was immediate.

GunscytheGirl: O-O
GunscytheGirl: RENCAKES!
BigYang: hell yeah
BigYang: ran into pyr at the gym. gotta drop like 40 books off at our dorm for secret reasons. well see u in like 30 seconds

Nora's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then she shrugged. "Well, that'll save time."

"Guess so," Jaune responded, sounding uncertain.

And then Nora discovered something magical.

WeissCream: Ruby, Blake, and myself will be along shortly as well. Ruby first, if the petals in my hair are any indication.
ForkInTheMicrowave: awesome! also OMG WEISS YOUR NAME
NinjaOfLove69: Such is life.
ForkInTheMicrowave: OMGGGGGGGG WHAT HAPPENED

Nora nearly fell off the bed laughing, utterly ignoring the nonplussed look Jaune was shooting her way. "WEISS CREAM!" she shouted.

"Is… it really that funny?" Jaune glanced between her and the screen, his smirk belying his straight-man attitude. "I mean it's just a pun."

"JAUNE." Nora shot to her feet, grabbing his shoulders as she struggled to convey to him the full scale of the situation. "Jaune, that's Weiss!"

"…Yeah? I mean, I got that —"

"When have you ever heard Weiss make a pun like that!?"

Jaune blinked. "I… I guess never? I dunno. It's…" he flushed "a little risqué for her."

"EXACTLY." Nora pounded her fist into her palm. "And Blake's never changed her screen name once in the whole time we've known her. One of them could just be a coincidence, but both at once? Something happened!"

Jaune appeared nonplussed by her flawless logic. "…Like what?"

"I don't know!" Nora giggled. "But if I had to guess…" She pondered for a hot second. "Blake and Weiss are dating!"

You could have paved a driveway with the stare Jaune gave her. "Nora, Blake's been with Yang since last year, and Ruby and Weiss got together yesterday." He shook his head. "No way."

They were stopped from further intelligent discourse by the sound of the door opening. "We heard yelling," Pyrrha said, peering at the two of them curiously. "Is everything alright?"

"PYRRHA!" Nora shot to her feet. "Is Yang with you?"

"Nope," Yang said, walking through the door behind Pyrrha. "Yang is in Atlas on a fishing trip."

"Oh nooooo!" Nora slumped to her knees in mock horror. "Then, I can't ask her why her teammates both changed their screen names at the same time even though that's super unlikely and highly suspicious!"

Yang's eyebrows shot up, and she cracked a wicked grin. "Yeah, gee, that sure is a mystery, ain't it? Wonder how that happened?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "C'mon Yang . Nothing weird happened last night, right? They just decided to change their names, because that's a normal thing that people do sometimes. Seriously, it's really easy! Nora managed to change mine yesterday without even unlocking my phone," his eyes narrowed, "…somehow."

Yang shrugged nonchalantly, shooting a wink at Nora, who was bouncing up and down with raw excitement. "Dunno. Yang's in Atlas. Guess you'll just have to ask Weiss and Blake when they get here. But first. "

Yang stepped out of the doorframe, and started tapping her foot.

"Any… second… now…"

"…rennnnnncaaAAAA AAKES!"

Yang nodded resolutely, and snapped her hand out just as a crimson blur rushed into the room. "Yoink!"

"AUGHALBHAGHALA!" Ruby flailed, petals splaying every which way as she tried to figure out what had stopped her pursuit. After a moment, she fell limp, hanging from her shirt collar like a naughty kitten. "Yaaaaaaaaang!"

"No disturbing the chef, sis."

"Thank you!" Ren called from the kitchen.

"Hey Ruby," Jaune waved, looking thoroughly nonplussed with all the silliness.

Ruby smiled, waving from where Yang was still holding her a solid six inches above the floor. "Hi Jaune!"

"RUBY!" Nora bolted up to her, grinning ear-to-ear. "You're in Vale! What happened to Blake and Weiss last night!"

Ruby blinked. Her cheeks pinked. "Uh, well, that's, um. Yes! That is. Um?"

Yang winked. "You gonna tell them, sis?"

"Why don't you do it?" Ruby hissed, glancing back at Nora with a frantic grin. "Um, well, I, that's. You see…"

Jaune's eyes bugged out as it struck him that yes, there actually was some kind of secret behind all of this. Off to the side, Pyrrha chuckled into her hand. "Yang already told me," she said, offering Ruby a shining smile. "Congratulations, to all of you."

Ruby managed to go even redder. "Aw, shucks, thanks Pyrrha!"

Nora glanced between them all, her grin growing more and more. "Oh my gods," she tittered. "Wait, wait, no way. You guys didn't. "

"Who did what?" Blake asked, stepping through the doorway.

"Indeed." Weiss followed half a step behind. "We could hear you hollering halfway across the building, Nora. Good morning by the way."

They were holding hands.

Nora couldn't take it anymore, and all of the energy exploded out of her at once. "ALL OF YOU ARE DATING!" she declared.

Silence reigned, all eyes on her. The expressions ranged widely. From amusement from Yang and Pyrrha, to surprise and confusion from Blake and Weiss, to outright flustered embarrassment from Ruby, down to shock and dawning horror from Jaune.

"Nora!" he hissed, shooting a pointed pair of glances at Ruby and Yang. "Too far!"

"Oh, sorry!" Nora clapped a hand to her mouth. "I didn't mean, uh, sorry!" she fidgeted. "But, it's just, you changed your screen names and I—"

Weiss held up a hand, the free one. " How ." she said. "Wait, no, Yang, did you—?"

"Nope." Yang grinned. "Wasn't Rubes either."

"That's… terrifying," Blake muttered, staring at Nora like she'd never seen her before. "And, just because we changed our screen names?"

"Yeah," Ruby wiggled out of Yang's grasp, landing on the floor in a dignified crouch. "I think Nora's just an actual genius?"

Nora's mouth dropped open. "What. Wait, you actually…"

"Minus one axis!" Ruby protested from behind the hands she'd used to hide her face. "But uh. Yes."

Nora pumped a fist in victory. "WHOOP! NORA WINS!"

Jaune squinted, like he'd just seen something on the horizon and wasn't quite sure if it was the mast of a ship or a the world's driest sand dune. "How did…" Then, he shook his head. "Y'know what? I'm not even going to try." He looked up, smiling at the four girls. "Congrats, guys! When did this happen?"

"Last night," Yang shrugged. "It's how we got them to change their screen names."

Jaune's eyes bugged out again, his capacity for speech thoroughly obliterated. Ren saved him from having to try by poking his head out of the kitchen.

"Congratulations," he said. "Are there any toppings or fillings each of you would prefer?"

Yang thumbed her chin. "Brown sugar?"

Weiss smiled politely. "Blueberries if you don't mind."

Blake shrugged. "Chef's choice?"

"Strawberries!" Ruby cheered. "And banana slices! Please? Thank you!"

Ren squinted as if locking this all into his head, before nodding slowly. "As you like it," he said, and ducked back into the kitchen. "If you'd like plain pancakes to start with, the first batch are done. Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora—"

He didn't need to give any more instruction. Nora was off like a gunshot, and Ruby was close behind. Jaune and Pyrrha followed shortly, while the rest of team RWBY elected to try patience.

Ren was already back in his groove, two pans on the burners to keep production at full speed. He'd set plates out for each of them, stacked three-high with their personalized pancakes. Nora snagged hers immediately—gazing hungrily at the ocean of syrup they were marinating in. Ren had learned her ways long ago—the others had plates, but her pancakes were sitting in a pasta bowl. She giggled, a little flutter in her chest as she leaned in to give the boy a quick smooch on the cheek before zipping off to give him space again.

She sat down on Jaune and Pyrrha's bed, smirking at Weiss, Blake, and Yang all sitting conspicuously close together on her and Ren's.

Things were still unfair. The world was still a big, mean, scary place. But at least somewhere, somehow, something seemed to have gone right for once.

The others, sans-Ren, returned from the kitchen shortly after her. Ruby came bearing a plate full of plain pancakes and a bottle of syrup, along with a quartet of forks which she enthusiastically offered to her teammates. Yang took the opportunity to get a big syrupy corner for herself, while Weiss settled for a smaller portion.

Blake just held up her hands when Ruby offered her a utensil of her own. "I'm fine," she said. "The plate's not big enough for all of us, I'll wait for Ren to finish."

Ruby tilted her head. "Oh," she said. Then, with a motion that was almost too fast to follow, she quickly and delicately cut out a little slice. "You sure?" she said, holding it up.

"Positive." Blake smiled affectionately.

"Even if—" Ruby held the fork out, up to Blake's lips.

Blake's stared blankly at the small triangle of fluffy goodness. "Um," she said.

"Shmoove, Rubes," Yang chuckled through her mouthful.

Weiss elbowed her. "Manners, lout," she teased.

"Oh donf starf wif me," Yang said, turning to face Weiss. "I will kiff you on the mouf."

Weiss gave Yang an appraising stare. "You don't want that," she said.

Yang took a second to ponder that, then swallowed her food decisively. "Yeah, not really. Ew. Pancakes are great though."

Nora giggled, unable to contain herself any longer. "You guys are cute."

It earned her a bemused look from Weiss, a grin from Yang, and an embarrassed giggle from Ruby. Blake just raised an eyebrow, and as if taking it as a challenge, leaned forward to nip the pancake off Ruby's fork. She chewed, swallowed, and said, "Thank you."

Nora giggled harder, sparks popping off in her heart as she wiggled with sheer excitement. "Okay okay okay but HOW DID THIS HAPPEN."

"Nora…" Jaune started, then paused. "Y'know what? No, actually, I'm really, really curious too. I know we didn't see each other for most of the day, but uh… how did this happen?"

"We went for a double date." Yang shrugged. "It went really well."

Blake suppressed a snort of laughter. "She's not wrong. Things were a little more complicated than that, though."

"Turns out we've all had crushes on each other for a while," Ruby said, smiling cheekily as she plopped herself down between Blake and Weiss. "So anyway we started flirting, and it kiiiinda got out of hand, and then I got emotional and said a silly thing that wasn't actually a big deal I guess but with all the pressure it like, shattered the glass ceiling? Except, we didn't get cut by the shards so that's not the best metaphor maybe ANYWAY then we had a big talk about our feelings and stuff and I guess we're all girlfriends now."

"Wait, Ruby, you started it?" Nora let out a delighted gasp, looking on her rosy friend with newfound respect. "Wow! Who knew you'd turn out to be such a player!"

Ruby flushed, and Yang got a distinctly murdery look in her eyes for a hot second.

Then, Ruby giggled. "Well, y'know," she tittered. "I mean, two days ago I was freaking out because I thought Weiss would hate me if I asked her out. So, I'm doing great right now, honestly."

Ren emerged, carrying the next tray of pancakes. "You do seem to have moved very quickly," he noted, setting the tray down on the nightstand and passing out the plates to their respective owners. "Be careful with one another."

"We will," Weiss nodded firmly, taking her plate with a resolute smile. She made to set it in her lap, but abruptly stopped herself as a head landed there instead.

She shot a ruffled scowl down at Ruby, who had apparently decided that horizontal was her new favorite axis. "You almost got syrup in your cute hair! Be more careful."

Ruby stuck out her tongue. "Nyeh!"

" Plus , I can't eat my pancakes like this," Weiss deadpanned. "And neither can you."

Ruby shrugged, a motion that rumpled Weiss's skirt a little. "Guess we'll just starve."

Disbelief took over Weiss's face. Blake let out a choked laugh through her pancake.

Yang… didn't respond. She wasn't looking at her teammates at all, a frown on her face. "Pyrrha?" she said, gently. "You ok?"

"Mm." Pyrrha mumbled. She hadn't touched her pancakes. "Sorry, I'm just… thinking about things."

Jaune had an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her to him gently. "It's okay if you aren't ready to talk about it," he said, softly enough that Team RWBY probably couldn't hear the specific words.

Still, it drew their attention. Ruby sat up, and Weiss set her plate on her lap, leaving it be for now.

Nora felt herself growing antsy, and felt Ren's hand on hers as well, steadying her. The quiet hum of his semblance touched her—not working on her yet, but present, just across the line between their auras. Ready to help, the moment she needed it.

She scooted up to Pyrrha's shoulder, letting that spooky fuzziness arc across her skin to reach the taller girl. "We're all here for you," she said, trying to make sure every ounce of sincerity in her heart made it into those words.

Pyrrha nodded, and shot a shy smile across the aisle. "Sorry, I didn't mean to change the subject."

"It's okay!" Ruby insisted, leaning forward, hands on her knees. "It's why we're here. If there's anything we can do, we wanna help. So like… whenever you're ready."

The rest of the team nodded. It filled Nora's chest with warmth, and seemed to steady Pyrrha a little too.

There was a long moment, then, where they sat in silence as Pyrrha gathered her words. Touching her, with Ren's semblance linking them all faintly, Nora could feel the faintest rhythm coursing through her aura. It was an odd side-effect of Ren's power—she could only sorta tell what the patterns meant, but apparently Ren could use it to read someone's surface emotions. If he knew them well, at least.

Pyrrha's patterns were fuzzy and frantic at the moment. Which… was kinda understandable, really.

"Before I tell you this…" Pyrrha started, looking up through her bangs, her eyes wide and serious. "You should know that this is bigger than me. Bigger than all eight of us. Bigger than Beacon. " She swallowed, and a little twang shot through her aura. "Knowing about it may even put your lives in danger. I just want to make that explicit before I start."

Team RWBY looked at each other in shock. A nonverbal conversation took place, a chorus of check-ins and confirmations flying between them too fast for their friends to parse out.

After a moment, Ruby turned her silver eyes on Pyrrha. "We're your friends," she said. "Whatever this is, however big it is… you're already dealing with it, right?"

Pyrrha nodded.

"Then we wanna help." Ruby said, firm and final.

"Alright." Pyrrha shut her eyes, taking one last moment to collect herself. Her hand drifted, and with a faint giggle Nora took it, squeezing it in solidarity. The pattern of Pyrrha's soul pulsed hard for a second, and then softened, slowed, into a firm and steady rhythm.

Nora sighed, finding her own relief in the sensation. Without thinking, she let her head drift down to Pyrrha's shoulder, smiling as she felt Ren slide in close beside her, felt the faint echo as Jaune took Pyrrha's other hand and joined their little circuit. If she noticed the odd and/or knowing looks team RWBY was shooting her way, she didn't acknowledge them. It wasn't like they had any right to judge.

Yeah, things were still unfair but with all of them united, all of them working together… maybe everything really would be okay?

Pyrrha took a deep breath. "Then… I'll start from the very beginning," she said. She smiled, looked up again, and her eyes flashed bright.

"What's your favorite fairy tale?"

A/N:

Whooop! A shorter chapter than the last two but a fun one I hope! Tune in soon for an explanation, and for the divergence point for this whole AU!

Thanks to FriendofYggdrasil, Sgt. Chrysalis, and SeventeenFables for being excellent betas as always! And special thanks to ickyickyvic (on twitter) for letting me dramatic-read the chapters to him before I post! It is a weird but unbelievably useful exercise, and it's only right that he gets credit too!

Thanks for reading, and see yins again soon!