Weiss Reacts to School Plays Finale!

A/N: Welcome, one and all, to the latest cut-off and halved chapter of Weiss Reacts! Yes, this is the finale! I cut it in half because I felt that the last one was getting too long. I didn't really want to write something that long partly because I felt I couldn't really live up to that kind of standard when I'm not on vacation- which I am now-, even with the time constraints given by limited Internet and generic moving nonsense, so I cut it down. Anyway, let's get this show on the road!

Anyway, after this chapter, it'll be a two-parter about One Punch Man! That's right, that show that everyone seems to like nowadays! Also, praise Mumen Rider.

I sincerely hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and please, please, please leave your ideas, comments, criticisms, suggestions, thoughts and reviews, and I really hope you guys have a GREAT day! That's how pumped I feel writing this chapter, we're putting the ending note at the beginning! Okay, now we can go on with the chapter.

DISCLAIMER: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, otherwise we would already have a Sherlock Holmes-based character. (Cinder would make the perfect Moriarty. Roman WOULD have.)

All mentioned franchises and characters belong to their respective owners.

"Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall…." Winter declared as forcefully as she could, glaring Ren- of course, Lord Capulet- in the face as hard as she could before storming off as petulantly as she could.

In short, as akin to Tybalt as an apple was akin to a mouse.

She passed Weiss and Yang. The latter was nervous; this was the first scene in which she was supposed to kiss Blake- and she was dancing with Weiss, who was supposed to be present as the incognito fairy godmother of sorts. The pair were dancing in the midst of the rest of the extras, as Lady Capulet- Pyrrha, of course- and Lord Capulet- Ren, of all people- presided over the proceedings.

"I-I regret not practising t-this first, you k-know…." Yang whispered into Weiss's ear to mask her speech. "I-I'm really a little nervous about kissing B-Blake…."
"Just relax." The heiress whispered back. "You'll be fine. Just…go through the motions, alright?"
"B-but I don't know the-"

Blake suddenly took her hand, looking her in the eye. Yang quivered slightly at her touch as the catgirl took her lightly from Weiss, continuing the dance.

"B-Blake…." The brawler whispered quickly. "I-I-"
"J-just follow my lead." Blake whispered back, calmly dancing with her across. "Say your lines, and trust me. Like I said, I'll be right by your side tonight."

She stood aside, taking Yang's hand and staring at her as lovingly as she could muster. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this."
She kissed it lightly, causing the brawler to blush slightly. "My two lips, blushing pilgrims, ready stand….t-to smooth that rough touch w-with a…..tender kiss."

Yang almost choked out her next lines. "G-Good pilgrim, you d-do wrong your h-hand too much w-which mannerly devotion s-shows in this, for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."

The catgirl almost breathed out the next line. "Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?"

"A-ay, pilgrim, lips t-they must use in p-prayer…."

"O then…." Blake whispered, almost passionately, to Yang as they resumed dancing, with the catgirl wrapping her arm around her partner's waist. "Dear saint…..let l-lips do what hands do.

They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn into despair."

"S-saints do not move, though grant f-for prayers' sake….." Yang responded, blinking and trying to look Blake in the face without turning away in embarrassment.

'O-oh dust. T-this is it. T-this is where we k-kiss!' Her cheeks reddened at the realisation.

"W-wait, Blake, I-"

"Then move not." Blake implored her as she stopped moving. "While my prayer's effect I take."

She tipped Yang over towards the back of the stage, bending over her. Yang squeaked in surprise as she closed her eyes, preparing to feel Blake's lips on her own- trying not to ponder how they tasted or felt- and-

They never came.

'Huh?'

Yang's eyes fluttered open as she saw Blake barely a hair's breadth away, their lips separated by a thin sheet of air. Golden eyes stared into deep lilac as she held her there for a moment that seemed to last for an eternity.

The brawler's eyes widened, and she blushed, and the moment was over.

"I-I-" Yang tried to look away, but Blake cupped her cheek, gently moving her face back towards her.
"T-trust me." Blake nodded at her, her own cheeks red with embarrassment. "I…..know. I-I won't kiss you, i-if you don't want to be kissed. L-let's just p-put on a show, right? For t-the audience."

"Y-yeah! O-Of course!" The brawler sounded relieved. "T-thanks, Blake. I-I…..I-I really appreciate this."

'Like I promised…..I-I won't kiss you….n-not until w-we both know what we're g-getting into.'

Blake smiled at her again, nodding before pulling them both up.

"And thus from my lips, by thine….." The catgirl whispered. "My sin is purged."

"Then h-have my lips the sin that they have t-took?" Yang hastily responded. Blake stopped them once more, bending her back again.

"Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!" She drew her face close to Yang's again, making them appear to be kissing from behind. "Give me…m-my sin again."

Siegfried, from the front, clapped. He whispered across to Taiyang, smiling.

"Young love. Is it not beautiful?"

"….those two had better not be fooling around without me knowing." The blonde man responded calmly yet firmly. "I don't care if they're in love, they're not doing-"
"Oh, save it, Xiao Long!" Lia hissed at him. "You two, be quiet. They're not even kissing! That's a bit of a jump to say they're in love from a play, anyway!"

Suddenly, however, Weiss wandered across, sprinkling fairy dust and glitter over the two as they looked at her. She looked incredibly irritated, with a side order of embarrassment.

"I am your fairy godmother." The heiress said, her tone flat and unemotional. "I have come to grant thee many well wishes, and I have come to bless your coupling with much glad tidings."

To punctuate her "blessing", she drew a cheap-looking plastic stick with a star plopped on top and tapped both Blake and Yang on the shoulders with it while unenthusiastically prancing around them.

"This was meant to be. The stars decreed it. Be blessed. Yay."

With that, Weiss stomped off stage with her wand.

'I hate everything. I. Hate. EVERYTHING.' The heiress thought, barely restraining herself from outright yelling it across the stage.

Siegfried looked over to Taiyang once more. "That was incredible acting from my Weiss, if I do say so myself!"
"….are you kidding me?" Taiyang stared at him, confused. "She looked pretty pissed to me."
"Nonsense! She was the very essence of enthusiasm!"
"I dunno, she looked like she wanted to break that thing over someone's back for putting her in that outfit…."

"Darn it all to heck, I'm down." Rook announced as dully as he could muster, as he clutched the fictional wound that Winter in her role as Tybalt had inflicted upon him. "Darn your houses, ya killed me!"
"I did not mean to….w-wound thee, sweet…..dear." Winter choked out while holding him in her arms, her face suddenly red as she remembered what came after this line. "P-Please, get up…."

Nora simply huffed, crossing her arms and looking away irritably.

"Hmph. Unprofessional…." The berserker muttered under her breath. "….no respect for the classics…..I swear I'm the only sane person around here sometimes….."

Weiss stomped onto stage once more, looking utterly infuriated.

"Oh, sweet child of summer," she uttered through clenched teeth, spreading more glittery powder over the pair while attempting not to simply tip the whole thing as to not mess up her sister. "Give him a kiss and he shall be alive and sprightly once more."

Nora looked even more irritated, seething angrily as she watched this travesty. It seemed as if she was minutes from simply stomping off stage and administering a beating to Cinder's backside- and other places too- over the 'alterations' to the script.

Winter blushed even more. 'T-this is rather….close. I've never really…..kissed a boy before, a-and…..t-this is….t-this is rather….m-my cheeks are burning up and…'

Thankfully, she wasn't the only one. Rook, too, was embarrassed by the thought.

'Darn if I'd never heard them stories 'bout true love's kiss with the princesses you kissed to wake 'em up, but…..I ain't never thought I'd be kissed by an actual princess! Well, she's technically an heiress, but….' The cowboy thought to himself. 'Maybe this ain't so….wait, what am I sayin'? Crazy talk. Quit spoutin' crazy talk.'

'I swear, if your lips touch hers, Leblanc, you die.' Weiss thought, communicating her intent through a sharp glare at the boy. 'I swear, if you touch her, you die.'

"T-then I….b-bestow upon him…..a-a spring of life." Winter uttered out, closing her eyes slowly and drawing in for the kiss. Rook flushed further as he looked up at her.

'Aw hell. I can't make her go through with this! Ma always taught me, there was a special hell for guys like that. I've got to make it easier for her.

I'm no actor and I ain't no improvisin' virtuoso, but I'll do my best to make it easy on Miss Winter here.'

Rook suddenly stopped her, pulling her close and staring at her deeply.

'…..crap. I haven't got any idea…d-dammit Rook, think! T-this can't be any worse than herdin' Ursas for the rodeo….'

Winter blinked rapidly, staring at him. "U-um….t-this isn't in the-"

"Er….um….I'm fine, dear Tybalt…..dear." The cowboy uttered rapidly as he crept to his feet as fast as he could, letting Winter have breathing space. "Y-ya don't need to be kissin' me. I'll….be fine. I've been saved by the power of love! Woo."

'…good save, cowboy.' Weiss mused, looking bemused. '…..fine.'

Winter, for her part, looked relieved. Rook nodded at her, as she muttered a silent 'Thank you' to him.

Cinder, who was witnessing the whole thing off-stage, frowned, seeming almost disappointed.

"So close!" She grumbled. "So, so close….all these people are so boring, trying to get out of being kissed.

…..time to break out the thing a little earlier than anticipated."

She called over to Ren, nodding to him. "Hey. Ren."

"Hm? Yes, Professor?"
"It's time to break out the literal big guns. The people need ships, and these people are being too boring to give 'em to us. This is not going as planned. Even the eponymous couple don't want to kiss each other." Cinder looked as grave as if she'd just told Ren that Vale had been overrun by Grimm. "You know what needs to be done."
"…ah." The gunslinger nodded, understanding. "So you want me to break it out-"
"I want you to break it out earlier than planned." The pyromancer interrupted him. "We need a happy accident. I don't care who you get to start kissing; Jaune, Pyrrha, Yang, Blake- hell, make Espresso and Fox kiss and I'll be happy with that. Just do something so we can declare this venture a success!"

"Alright." Ren whipped out a sheaf of papers resembling an instruction manual. "I'd better get reading then, don't I?"

A sudden thought crossed his mind. He blanched.

"You know…." He started. "Nora's probably going to kill me for this. She loves the classics."
"She'll understand. It's all for the shipping, my dear~" Cinder remarked as she inputted several commands into her scroll. "Now, get to working, Ren, we have ships to make and people to ship."

'Seems we'll need to be doing a little rewriting on-set. This is fine. I can work with change. I'm adaptable! Let's…..fix this.'

"Pipipi…pipi." Vivi declared, standing top of a pedestal in priest's garb- complete with an oversized necklace of beads around her oversized head- standing before Yang and Blake. "Pipiiiii pipipipi."

She extended a stubby arm to them each in turn. "Pipiiii pipipi?"

"…..yes." Blake nodded, looking towards her partner.

"Pipipi….pipipi?"

"…..yes." The brawler nodded in response. "I do."
"Pi." Vivi clapped. "Piiii pipipiii pipipi…."

Nora stood offstage, shaking her head. "This wasn't in the original-"
"Put a cap in it, Nora." Cinder retorted, huffing. "Are you or are you not in the Antic Order? Did you not swear to ship the righteous pairings and fight for true ships?"

"I swore to ship, I didn't swear to butcher a classic!" The berserker retorted. "This isn't shipping, this is butchery!"
"Excuse me? We need to ship!"

"No, classics!"
"Shipping!"
"CLASSICS!"

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, grumbling. "This isn't even…what kind of ridiculous posturing even consists of-"

Suddenly, everyone's alarms went off. Ruby looked down at her light, blinking.

"….huh? What's going on?" The reaper frowned. "Why…..I'm not even meant to be onstage for this. Weiss, do you know anything about this?"
"Not a thing." The heiress responded, looking at hers. "What's Professor Fall thinking? This wasn't part of the plan!"
Pyrrha looked at her own collar, surprised. "Hey, mine's going off too. I'm sure Lady Capulet didn't...Ren might know something about this-

Wait. Where's Ren? He was here a moment ago!"

"I smell something stupid afoot." Weiss grumbled. "….Come on. Let's get onstage. We might as well play this out."

Jaune groaned, looking down at his dress. "…you're kidding, right? What are we supposed to do?"
"I-I dunno, improvise!" Cinder turned to hiss at them. "Come on! You're needed on! Now!"
Nora looked down at her own blinking light. "…..I seriously doubt-"
"Nora Valkyrie, get on that stage immediately."
"Y-yes ma'am!" The berserker, humbled by Cinder's glare, rushed on in front of everyone else. Weiss followed her on, holding Ruby's hand as she looked at the audience.

Yang looked over to Blake, confused as to why everyone else was coming on stage. "Blakey, you know what's going on?"
"Not a clue." The catgirl whispered back. "Sudden script change?"
"Do you know anything about this?"

"The thing I was working on isn't meant to show up or another few scenes. It's not my stuff…..is it?"

Jaune looked around, thinking briefly as to what to say. "…..erm….oh. Oh! Um…..

Oooooh, erm,….my daug-I-I mean, son! How, err….dare you marry a….a Capulet?"

"A-and how d-dare you marry a Montague?" Pyrrha responded, trying to muster up her own wells of hostility in scolding Yang, trying to muster the courage to point a finger at her and failing. "Y-you know they're our enemies?"

'I can never get these hostile parts right! I-I sound too angry. How do people get so angry out of battle?'

"Well, mother, I-"

"CEASE AND DESIST IMMEDIATELY."

Suddenly, the back of the stage was torn open by a giant robot, painted blue with flame patterns, with nozzles attached to the back of the wrists and with Ren visible through the cockpit. The speech had come out of a pair of speakers mounted on the chest.

"THE BENVOLIO-TRON SIX THOUSAND HAS ARRIVED."

"…what." Weiss stared blankly at the giant robot that had just broken in on the scene. "…is that a-"

The hand swung by accident towards Pyrrha, as Ren reached across to stop it with a lever in the cockpit. "Whoops! Get out the way!"
"Wah-oof!" The spearmaiden was tackled to the floor by Jaune, as the hand swung over their heads.

"J-Jaune, what are you doing?!"
"I-I forgot you had magnetism power-"
"N-No, y-your hands! T-they're….EEEP!" Pyrrha squeaked, blushing as she covered her face, trying to hide her embarrassment. Jaune's eyes widened as he realised exactly where his hands were. He attempted to pull himself off, squeezing by accident and causing his partner to squeak again.

"O-oh Dust! I-I am so, so sorry! I-I…."

Weiss ducked underneath the sweeping hands, rolling to the sides and tearing off the fairy wings on her outfit. "Good Dust, Ren! Was this necessary?!"

"Oops. Sorry. I'm not used to piloting stuff like this." Ren calmly apologised as he managed to stop the hands from sweeping, before pressing a button on the control board.

"RELEASING APHRODISIAC GAS." The Benvolio-Tron announced, as a pink vapour began issuing from the tips of the nozzles.

Weiss glared at him briefly, before rolling over and shoving Jaune off of Pyrrha, the knight rolling aside with a grunt. "Pyrrha, I need you to go for those nozzles!"
"W-wha-"
"STOP THOSE NOZZLES OR ELSE YOU AND YOUR IDIOT BOYFRIEND'LL BE DOING MORE THAN JUST LYING ON TOP OF EACH OTHER! IN PUBLIC!"
"O-On it!" The spearmaiden wiped the thought from her mind and attempted to focus her Semblance upon the nozzles, bending them backwards into the hands of the robot with the familiar black glow.

Ruby ran over to Weiss. "I have a plan! I can get him out of that machine!"

"Then do it before we all get looped into another perverted scheme!"

"Weiss, I need you to put glyphs to stop that thing from moving! Pyrrha, keep those nozzles closed! Yang, come with me! Everyone else, get out the way!"

"Right!" The heiress nodded hastily, pointing her cheap plastic wand at the feet of the mech as black glyphs appeared underneath its feet, locking it in place.

Pyrrha moved to the side, moving the nozzles to release small wisps of vapour every so often to keep the pressure from building up too high and rupturing the pipes.

"Whatever it is you're planning, I hope you can do it quickly! The gas'll build up eventually and come out anyway!"

Everyone else stepped aside, as Yang looked to her sister.

"What's your plan?"
"Just get ready!" Ruby stepped backwards, preparing to run as rose petals swirled around her. The brawler immediately caught her intentions, nodding and folding her arms, bracing herself to receive her.

Ruby immediately sprinted towards her sister, jumping up and lifting her foot onto Yang's arm. The brawler, with a mighty yell, pushed her upwards, as the reaper somersaulted over the Benvolio-Tron and landed on top of the cockpit. Ren was pushed into the control board by the impact, landing on something.

"EJECTION INITIATED."

"You're kidding m-" Ren uttered before he was launched out of the cockpit, taking Ruby with him by accident.

"Waaaah!" The reaper screamed, hanging on to the back of the seat. "Why does this thing have an eject buttooooon?!"
And they collided with the repaired hole in the ceiling. Of course, the ejection force was not enough to break the planks, but it was enough to smack Ren hard on the head and shake the curtains and other pulley systems above the stage.

And so, as gunslinger and reaper descended earthward, so did the curtain and the other pulleys.

"Oooooh no-" Yang looked up, only to be tackled aside by Blake, who barged into her to push her down.

The catgirl called over to her. "GET DOWN!"
"Ah!" The brawler squealed as she was suddenly covered by her partner's body.

It all collapsed in an untidy mess, kicking up a ton of dust and covering the front row in it.

"P-Pyrrha!" Lia yelled as her daughter was covered by the mess, standing up immediately. "Dammit, one of you get up with me! She'd better be-"
"Oh, they're fine!" Siegfried shook it off. "They have Auras, and it was just a bunch of curtains and ropes!"

"Curtains and ropes my backside, Schnee! There will be hell to pay if my daughter's hurt!"

Taiyang bit his lip concernedly. "…..I dunno, I'm with Lia on this one. I wanna check to see if my girls are-"

As the dust cleared, the status of everyone present on stage could be seen. Taiyang sighed in relief as he saw his daughters were completely unharmed.

Most of them were similarly unharmed, although either dazed or unconscious. Pyrrha was closest to the front of the stage, having managed to pick up a prop shield and using it to prop up the ropes upon her, shielding Jaune beneath it with her. Yang and Blake were next closest, with the latter's arms wrapped around the former as she lay on top of her, groaning.

Weiss shoved the curtains off of herself, before looking down and struggling to yank her larger partner from the mess, while Winter was by her side, helping Rook to his feet. Finally, Nora managed to extricate an unconscious Ren, cooing to him softly as she carried him offstage.

Vivi scrabbled out to the front of the stage. She made a small bow.

"Piii pipipi pipiiii pi!" She declared, concluding the play, before she ran off frantically.

"…..that was…brilliant!" Siegfried declared, clapping as loudly as he could. "Bravo! Bravo!"
Lia still looked irritated. "…..tch. How could you even like that?"
"I thought that was decent, even if it ended like…..well, that." Taiyang mused. "Although I'm a bit less confident that Qrow would like it. Except for that bit Ruby did at the end.

Bravo, Ruby! Good plan!"
He- and the rest of the audience bar Pyrrha's mother- joined Siegfried in applause.

Weiss looked on in disbelief. "…..fancy that. They liked this nonsense."
"...see?" Ruby smiled. "It wasn't so bad!"
"….you wear this farce of a costume for two hours and we'll see how bad you find it."

Afterwards….

"…..wow." Weiss looked at the feedback cards posted on the wall inside the cafeteria, with reviews of the play written on them. She was thankful that she could finally ditch the fairy uniform, sighing in relief as she no longer felt the air on her exposed midriff. "…..they actually liked this farce."
"Not that bad! Like I said!" Ruby responded, hugging her to her side. "Have some pride."

"R-Ruby! Are you saying you like perverted scripts and things going stupidly wrong like that?!"
"I dunno, doing that last bit with the Benvolio-Tron was pretty fun!"
"And yet you're somehow still not in the Antic Order." Weiss sighed, shaking her head. "Good Dust, Ruby, as much as I love you…."

Most of the rest of the cast was partying in the cafeteria, mainly to get the feel of the costumes they were shoved into out of them. Ren was the sole exception, sitting at the side with an icepack taped to his head. He sighed.

"…..the things I do for shipping." The gunslinger sighed. Nora hugged him from the side, smirking.

"Hmph. Karma for trying to interfere with the classics!"
"…heh. I guess I deserved that." Ren sighed. "You're not mad?"
"….of course not, Renny~" Nora giggled, giving him a peck on the cheek. "Of course not! I can't get mad at you! Well, permanently! I was pretty mad when you took all my pancakes that one time…."

Blake simply leaned on a column nearby, watching everyone enjoy themselves. She chuckled.

"…..huh. It wasn't so bad after all." The catgirl admitted, shaking her head. "…I really do hope Yang's alright, though. All that stuff….."

'And I still haven't decided how I feel about all this…..'

"H-hey."

Blake turned around to see Yang, who was looked slightly embarrassed. Despite being the taller of the two, she seemed, in that moment, smaller than Blake.

"Hi." The catgirl smiled at her. "…..you alright, Yang?"

Yang twiddled her fingers, looking shyly away. "I…..well, actually…..I….I have to…..talk to you about something."

'T-this is it.' Blake swallowed. '…v-very well. Hopefully I know what I'm doing….'

"Yeah? What about?"
"C-can we…..talk about it in private? I-I mean…..just us two." The brawler plaintively requested. "Please?"

"Sure." Blake placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling reassuringly. "…..yeah. Let's go. Lead the way."

Yang quickly took her hand and moved towards the door, nodding to Weiss on the way.

The heiress raised an eyebrow, before tapping Ruby on the shoulder. "I need a moment. Do you mind?"
"….yeah, yeah, sure!" Ruby let her go. "See you in a bit, okay?"
"Yeah. Alright." Weiss nodded back as she trailed behind Yang and Blake.

'Finally, they'll get this thing resolved. Hopefully. It'll be hell to put up with this much longer…..'

…

Meanwhile….

Jaune moved past Ruby, turning briefly to tap her on the arm. The reaper looked up at him.

"Huh?"
"Hey. You know where Pyrrha is?" The knight inquired. "She and I were supposed to talk about something."
"Huh? Oh!" Ruby snapped her fingers. "She was looking for you too! I think she's-"
"Jaune." Pyrrha stood behind him. The knight whirled around, blinking.

"Oh! Hey! I was-"
"I was looking for you too. I know." Pyrrha nodded in response. "Let's…find somewhere private. I…..I have something I need to tell you."

"…..alright?" The knight looked concerned as he let himself be led by his partner to a side room.

When they were out of earshot, the spearmaiden looked him dead in the eyes. Jaune looked around worriedly.

"Pyrrha, is there something-"
"…you know earlier, when Professor Goodwitch called me over?" She started. Jaune nodded.

"Yeah, what about it?"
"I…..it was about a mission. I'm going in the morning." Pyrrha explained as calmly as she could. "I-it's just a routine clear-out. They're tracking a pair of Grimm trappers who've been using Grimm as attack dogs, and I was to head out there in the morning at the earliest. It's in one of the more dangerous parts of Vale, near Mountain Glenn."
"O-Oh, alright!" The knight nodded, turning towards the door. "Alright, I'll get Ren and Nora and we'll start packing-"
"You're not coming."

Jaune immediately turned back towards her, blinking. "…what?"

"…..t-they already have a full team, it's just that one of their teammates fell ill." The spearmaiden continued. "S-she got the stomach flu. T-they only needed one person. Professor Goodwitch said-"
"Well, why can't they just get someone else to do it?" The knight snapped.

"T-they were looking for someone on very short notice, a-and Professor Goodwitch couldn't find anyone but me." Pyrrha responded, before shaking her head. "L-Look, I'm sorry, but-"
"Pyrrha, you're not going alone." Jaune calmly retorted. "Look, I'm not going to just let you go alone. What if you get hurt? Or worse?"
"I'll be fine-"
"But what if you're not? What if you're not fine?!" The knight cried suddenly, grasping her hands. "Look, Pyrrha, I've seen you die once! That was enough for me! I'm not watching it happen again, alright? Never again!

I am not going to let you go this alone, not if you're going somewhere dangerous! At least let me go with you!"

"Professor Goodwitch insisted….." The spearmaiden reminded him, but Jaune wouldn't have it.

"Screw her!" He responded harshly. "Tell her that I'm not sitting here while you go off somewhere dangerous! I-I'm not going to sit here and-"
"Jaune." Pyrrha reciprocated his clasping of her hands, emerald eyes staring into deep blue. "I know. I…..that was enough for me too. But….just this once, and then I won't go anywhere without you or the team. I promise, Jaune, I won't die. I swear on everything I hold dear, I will come back.

I won't die on you. Trust me. I promise that I'll come back."

"…..d-dammit." The knight looked away. "…..I-I just…..I don't want to-"
"L-Look at me." She implored, and he did. "D-do you trust me?"

The knight closed his eyes. He exhaled briefly, taking a moment, before staring back at Pyrrha.

"…..yes." He nodded slowly. "I…..I trust you. I trust you.

Just…..please. Don't do anything that will get you killed, alright?"

"….I won't." Pyrrha nodded back, smiling as reassuringly as she could. "…..I'll bring my scroll and hook it up to yours, Ren's and Nora's. That way, you all know how I am at every moment. I might not be able to call every night, but I'll try my best.

Don't worry yourself too much over me. I won't be that far away."

"I-I won't." Jaune tried to return the smile. "…..y-you're right. I should trust you more. T-they call you the Invincible Girl, after all. Y-you'll come back. I know you will."

"…..well." Pyrrha sighed in relief. "I finally got that off my chest. Thank you, Jaune, for understanding. I'll tell the others later.

…I should probably get started packing my things. Professor Goodwitch said I'd be leaving on the earliest flight out of Beacon."

"I-I'll help you!" Jaune offered. "…b-but….uh…." He looked down at their interlocked hands.

The spearmaiden immediately pulled away, blushing. "…..o-oh. S-sorry. I-I-"
"It's fine." The knight smiled, offering her his hand. "We should get going. Your flight's in the morning, right?"
"…..yes." Pyrrha smiled back, taking his hand. "…...we should go. They'll start wondering where we are, anyway."

"Yeah. Wouldn't want that, would we?" Jaune chuckled, glad for the break in tension. "….so, about the play."
"O-oh! I actually enjoyed that! It was really fun getting to act as the protective mother of the Capulets…." Pyrrha started, as they left for the dorm, abandoning the festivities.

Meanwhile, outside….

Yang breathed in, taking the fresh air of the outside air to calm herself down. Blake waited patiently in front of her, waiting for her to speak. The brawler looked behind her partner, seeing Weiss watching from the door, giving her a curt nod to signal her support. Yang smiled back, before looking back at Blake.

"…..s-so….listen." Yang started, looking nervously around. "…..I….I've got to tell you something."

"Yes?"

"I…well, erm….." The brawler sighed, running her hands through her hair. "…..y-you know, it's hard to say something like this. I..."

"Come on." Blake smiled. "It's okay. You can say it."

"I….damn it, this is going to be hard…." Yang breathed deeply, trying to muster up the courage. "…..I…..Blake, I…."
"W-wait!" The catgirl held her hands up. "B-before you say it-"

"I-I…dammit!" Yang grasped Blake's shoulders suddenly. "I'm in love with you! You heard me, alright? I love you."

Blake stared at her for a moment, blinking.

'….it feels different, now that I've heard her say it.' The catgirl mused. 'I…..I honestly….'

"I…..I just had to get that out, alright?" Yang explained, her cheeks reddening as she backed away, clasping her cheeks in embarrassment. "Listen, I know, it might seem out of place, or k-kinda weird, but….l-look, I….I like your whole 'manliness' thing, I-I've always liked that even with all that, you're still one of the smartest people I've ever met, and you're always there for me, and-"
"Yang." Blake clasped her shoulders. "…calm down. It's okay. I get the point."

"…y-you do?" The brawler stared at her hopefully. "I…..t-then…..y-you…."

Blake sighed, shaking her head. "…..h-how do I say this? …I…"

"Y-you what?"
"I….look." The catgirl closed her eyes. "T-this is hard for me to say, and I….I mean…

Look, you've been a great partner, even if…..you've had your bad moments…..quite a bit of them."
"Y-yeah, and I've tried to get better-!"
"A-and…..I-I know. You've been a great big sister, and….I know, but….." Blake sighed. "…..I-I don't know how to put this."
"P-Put what?" Yang looked desperately at her. "Blake, please, j-just tell me the truth. D-do you….can we-"
"I-I don't know!" Blake snapped suddenly, causing the brawler to step back. "I don't know.

"…..look. I….I'm not sure about this love stuff. "

"B-Blake, we can…..we can work it out-"

"That's the thing!" The catgirl answered. "I'm not sure if we can! You're a good partner, you're possibly the most important person in my life…but I don't know i-if what I feel about you is….love, o-or-"
"T-then we can figure it out together!" The brawler implored her. "Please, Blake. I-"

"…..I'm not saying no." The catgirl calmly reminded her. "I…..I don't even know if I'm thinking straight, but…..look, Yang…I-I need some time to think. I need to…..I need to sort my feelings out. I haven't even had to think about this before, and I-I honestly didn't think I'd have to. And I think…y-you have to do the same.

I-I mean….y-you can't just do this, alright? I-I know, I've been obsessed with manliness and stuff, but….Yang, you need to think if this is what you really feel or…..you're just….

Just….."

Yang stared at her, blinking. Blake could see the beginnings of tears welling in her eyes.

'Yang, I-'

"S-so…..a-are you saying…" The brawler choked slightly. "…w-we're just….."

'I'm sorry.' Blake thought, closing her eyes. 'I-I just have to f-figure out if…..this is it.'

"…yes." Blake sighed deeply. "I-I'm saying we should just be friends. F-for now."

"…..o-oh." Yang nodded, smiling at her weakly. "I-I see. You're…..t-that's okay! I'm not mad. I'm just…..I just needed to get that out.

Really."

The brawler hugged her suddenly, pressing her partner against herself firmly. "...I-I'll respect you, whatever decision you make."

"…thanks." Blake responded, patting her softly on her back. "…L-Look, I know how hard this must be-"
"No, I'm fine." Yang responded just as quickly. "I…..I…..needed that. I really needed that. T-thanks…..Blake."

She pulled away from the hug. Blake reached out to her, but Yang just as immediately turned away, heading back into the cafeteria. Weiss's eyes followed her, and the heiress reached out to her, but the brawler seemingly shook her off, heading into the crowd.

The catgirl blinked.

She sat down on a nearby bench, looking down at her hands, closing her eyes and exhaling.

"…..I hope I….didn't hurt Yang." Blake muttered to herself, shaking her head. "I honestly hope she's fine.

She's Yang Xiao Long. She's…she's taken worse. She can take it…..right?"

…..

'…s-so. That's how it is.' Yang thought to herself, as she went out of the cafeteria, briefly noting Jaune and Pyrrha heading the opposite direction to their dorms and filing it away as unimportant. 'I see. I know it makes no sense to be mad…..i-it's fair. Right? I-I have no right to force Blake to like me.

No right. I-I shouldn't have expected it to be this easy. I-It's never easy, right? D-dammit, you've read enough romance mangas to know! E-even all those confidence lessons….s-so stop feeling so sorry for yourself!'

"…I…..I thought this would be easier." The brawler admitted to herself, rubbing her eyes as the tears that had begun to gather in them began to roll down her cheeks. "…..I-I thought…..i-it would be easier than that.

…I-I should've….I should've thought more."

She clenched her fists as she headed up to her team's dorm. "…..I-I shouldn't have been so stupid."

She staggered up the stairs, heading down the corridor and bumping herself against walls, seemingly apathetic to the small bruise on her shoulder that formed, making only a token effort to push back.

"I should've just….I should've thought that she might not feel the same way….."

She was in front of the dorm doors, unlocking them with her key.

"I-I didn't…..d-did I even…..w-was it even going to happen?"

She shucked aside her leather jacket, throwing it without a care towards the corner.

"…d-did I just…..n-no way Blake would actually like you, right? Y-you're just a perverted p-prankster, who n-nobody takes seriously! O-of course she w-wouldn't…"

By the time she got to her bed, she pushed herself into her pillows face-down, trying to pull her tears in.

"I-It should….I….n-nobody would feel sorry for me…..t-they shouldn't…b-but I…."

But no more coherent thoughts could be formed nor could coherent sentences be uttered. Emotion had gotten the better of her.

And Yang Xiao Long, the master trickster, the girl who let nothing bother her no matter what, began to cry.

END