Alright, here we go again. Been splitting my time between this, and two other chapters for different stories, and it's been a bit of a clusterfuck. Doing the best that I can here, but sometimes time just isn't on your side.
What a masterful segue into our next chapter! I want to take this time to address a couple reviews and PM's I've gotten; I don't believe I specified that Yang loves Jaune yet. To be clear, she doesn't, she is attracted to him physically and for his character, but it isn't love yet. There is a very clear difference between the two, however given Yang's actions, I can see why people would think that. However, I have tried, intentionally so, to point out that while Pyrrha is madly in love with Jaune, Yang only likes Jaune enough for her to consider him a potential partner. I can't speak for other people, so perhaps this is how normal people operate (I can't really tell, I have great difficulty reading people), but I don't immediately fall in love with someone who I would consider dating. Instead, I'm just attracted to the person, and am willing to see how it goes when we are a couple rather than simply friends. That's been more along the lines of what I've been trying to convey.
But hey, no one ever said I was an amazing writer. Anyone who does probably also has a bridge to sell you.
Yang and Jaune were immediately met by a very angry looking Pyrrha as soon as they got off the Bullhead. Jaune, happy that, for once, his airsickness didn't get the best of him, grinned when he saw his partner but froze when he saw that she was ready for a fight; indeed, the champion had her weapons with her and looked ready to use them at the earliest opportunity. "Oh, uh...hey Pyrrha! What's going on?" Jaune asked, completely oblivious to the anger radiating off of her as she glared at the busty blonde beside him.
Yang, however, frowned and, seemingly to make a point, looped an arm around Jaune's shoulders. "What's up P-Money?" Yang asked innocently, challenging the amazon to try something. Coughing slightly, presumably to try and get herself together, Pyrrha sent a very fragile smile to Jaune, like any second she would lose any semblance of calm and snap.
"Oh, nothing really Jaune. I was just wondering if I could spar with Yang before we turned in for the night." Pyrrha's voice was flat, without any of her usual cheer, and when he felt Yang tense up beside him, Jaune tried to step in.
"Can't it wait for tomorrow Pyr? We've got combat class tomorrow, and I'm sure you guys can spar against each other again if you ask Goodwitch. We are both kind of tired and-" Jaune was cut off as Yang kissed his cheek before being patted on his back.
"It's fine, Love Machine. I am always up for a good fight anyway; I'll be back in a bit, just don't start hitting on the other ladies while I'm gone." She winked to let him know she was joking before leaning in to kiss the knight, which he reciprocated. Yang stepped away from Jaune, hefting her bag and grinned at Pyrrha; if she was being honest, she had been expecting, and looking forward, to a brawl over Jaune. There was no way Pyrrha was going to just accept defeat, but dammit, Yang would force her to if that's what it took. Jaune shifted awkwardly when Pyrrha looked at him weirdly before she turned around swiftly and strode to the training hall, Yang following confidently behind, leaving him alone and worried for what was going to happen.
Sighing, Jaune adjusted his own bag before looking towards the dorms. However his attention was swiftly drawn to the distancing forms of his partner and girlfriend. He just couldn't shake the sinking feeling that tonight was going to go to hell very "Ruby has been put to shame" level's of fast.
Training Hall
The two rivals entered the sparing room, Yang having stopped by the lockers to grab her gauntlets and store her bag on the way, and Yang stepped into the ring after adding herself to the round, so the system could monitor her Aura, while Pyrrha set up the arena. Yang started stretching in an attempt to loosen up, despite knowing she would almost certainly lose; this was still Pyrrha, number one in all of Beacon, and her body still ached from the fun she and Jaune got up to. 'That reminds me, we need to find an empty classroom.' Yang thought to herself as Pyrrha approached, her weapon and shield at the ready, and Yang activated her gauntlets before settling into a ready position. "So, before we start, why can't this wait until tomorrow?" Yang inquired, noting how, despite her discipline, Pyrrha seemed about ready to act. Usually it was Yang that leapt in first, but it seemed the red head was fully intent on taking that role.
"Because you took what was mine." Pyrrha snapped at her before her weapon transformed into it's rifle state, which she then proceeded to use to immediately take shots at the blonde. Yang, surprised at both Pyrrha's words and actions, ducked into a roll, moving under the first volley. Trying to stay on the move, Yang continued to simultaneously close the distance and evade as many bullets as she could, taking more than a couple regardless, when Pyrrha's onslaught of rounds ended. Growling in annoyance, Yang changed her momentum and charged at the other woman when a lull in the gunfire occurred.
Throwing a punch, which was predictably blocked by Pyrrha's shield, Yang followed it up with a sudden kick to Pyrrha's midsection that sent her to the floor a couple feet away, winded. "How exactly was Jaune yours, girl? I already explained why I made my move." Yang let off a couple dust rounds from her gauntlets to get Pyrrha on the defensive. As the amazon rose from the floor and took off, returning each shot Yang fired with one of her own, Yang continued speaking. "You had your damn chances Pyrrha, I told you! I don't care if you are the one who trained Jaune, you don't get the monopoly on him!"
That just seemed to incense Pyrrha, and she transformed her weapon into it's blade state as she threw her shield towards Yang. Even as Yang almost dismissively knocked the shield aside, Pyrrha closed the distance between the two, swinging her sword upward while her shield flew back to her. Yang neatly sidestepped the swing, only to take a shield bash to the back of the head as Pyrrha spun, backhanding the blonde and sending her to the floor. Immediately, Pyrrha jabbed downward, only for Yang to roll out of the way and send out another blast into Pyrrha's body. Despite the shot itself draining a significant portion of her Aura, due to the sheer proximity between the two, Pyrrha dropped her shield and grabbed her sword with both hands, putting the weight of her body behind it as she fell onto the blonde.
Lilac eyes widening, Yang brought up her forearms and blocked her opponents arms, causing a deadlock between the two as Pyrrha tried in vain to push down onto the brawler. "I should have the right to be with him! I turned him into what he is now, you have no right to profit from my hard work!" She spat as she pulled back her arms slightly only to attempt to stab Yang again, meeting the same results as before. Yang scowled and struggled under the amazon, noting how her knee was pressed against her stomach, almost effectively preventing her from moving much.
"Seriously?! The right?! Your hard work?! I don't recall you being the one who couldn't defend themselves before coming to Beacon! You helped him, yeah, but it was Jaune that put in the effort to actually improve, you selfish bitch! Don't act like no one else would have helped him!" Yang grabbed one of Pyrrha's wrists and squeezed hard while twisting the hand away before headbutting her away. Pyrrha fell backwards, only for Yang to get up and straddle her prone form, when she began slamming her fists down onto Pyrrha. "I know for a fact Ruby would have leapt at the chance to help a friend get better, I would have too! Instead you just assumed that earned you his attention, and when it didn't, you refused to do anything! You didn't act at all, I decided to, and he said yes! I risked my friendship with him for it, and it worked!"
Suddenly, Pyrrha brought her hands up, as if to defend from the blows, and Yang couldn't move her fists, as if something was holding them in place. Without warning, Yang was flung off of the champion and landed roughly on the floor of the arena as Pyrrha rose from the floor, a hand outstretched in Yang's direction. As she retrieved her sword, turning it into a rifle again, Yang tried to get up, only to find her arms were practically stuck to the floor. Pyrrha stalked over to her, bringing her rifle to bear when she stood over the prone fighter. "I waited." Pyrrha let off a shot, and Yang braced herself; even with Aura, the impact wasn't going to be nice at that close of a range. "I waited for so long for him to notice how much I loved him." Another shot, only for Yang to struggle harder as she felt her Aura drop even more. She had assumed at the start they were fighting with standard sparring rules, the fighting ended when one of them entered the red, but it didn't seem like Pyrrha cared at this point. "Instead, he kept following Weiss like a puppy, practically begging for any attention when I was right there beside him, more than happy to give him the attention that Weiss wouldn't."
Glaring up at her, Yang scoffed. "Then why didn't you just do it? That's what I did, and I got two days of absolute bliss from it." Even in this situation, Yang still could attack, even if they were admittedly cheap shots. Speaking of shots, her words gave her another round from Pyrrha.
"Because he needed to ask me first! Jaune needed the confidence from asking someone out and them saying yes! I would not have hesitated for a single instant; but no, he had to choose you! What makes you so damn important to him over me?!" Pyrrha yelled, and Yang stopped struggling when she realized what Pyrrha's issue was. Well one of her issues, the girl had a proverbial hard on for her boyfriend it seemed; it would have surprised Yang if Pyrrha fantasized about him constantly, she was that into the guy.
Sighing, Yang went slack and closed her eyes. "You never realized, huh? Can't say I blame you when no one else did." She muttered, and she felt a stillness creep into the air between them.
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha's voice was quiet, almost mute, with fear.
"Why Jaune never thought of you as a potential romance option. Why he never so much as looked your way." Indeed, Yang had asked him that when they were eating earlier that night.
"So, I got a question for you." Yang spoke up suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two as they were eating their burgers. Looking up from his food, Jaune tilted his head curiously, and Yang pictured him having floppy dog ears, like a Faunus. Deciding the image of her boyfriend like that to be absolutely adorable, she continued. "Aside from Weiss, has there been any other girl you thought about getting together with before me?" Laughing at the horrified and red face Jaune conjured, she waved her hand in an attempt to dismiss his knee jerk reaction. "Calm down lover, it's a simple question. I won't mind who they are, as long as you don't sneak around with other women behind my back." She sent a warning glare with that last sentence, although really, that wasn't giving Jaune enough credit. No less than four other hot girls had come in since they had started eating, Jaune's gaze never wandered. Neptune, he most certainly was not.
Swallowing nervously, Jaune took a sip from his soda before he looked down. "Well...a couple I guess. None really seriously, it was just a 'this girl is hot' or 'this girl is pretty nice, maybe we could go out' but I never really pursued them." A scoff from Yang brought his attention up to see a 'you don't say' look. Obvious, perhaps, but Jaune was going to try and be honest with her. "I thought about Blake one or twice, but I don't really know her that well. Velvet too, but Coco scares me, and Yatsuhashi would probably snap me in half." Picking up a fry, Jaune popped it into his mouth before continuing, Yang's attention firmly on him. "There was also you, but I kind of thought you were out of my league, more so than Weiss was, so I never entertained those thoughts."
"You aren't just saying that because we slept together, are you, boy toy?" Yang smirked as Jaune shook his head fervently, and she placed a hand on his to settle him. Once he calmed down enough, Yang decided to pop the question that had been stewing in her mind for some time. "What about...I don't know, Pyrrha?" Jaune's expression turned into one of confusion.
"What? No, why?" Yang looked at him, dumbfounded at the 'well obviously' tone in his voice. Why? How about because that girl is absolutely Nora and Ruby on twelve shots of espresso levels of crazy into him. Yang shrugged and Jaune sighed before answering.
"He thinks of you like a sister, Pyrrha." Yang could practically hear the crash as Pyrrha's reality broke, but she did hear her drop her rifle. Opening her eyes, she saw the amazon standing motionless, her mouth slightly agape as she tried to process those words. "He never looked at you like a romantic option, Pyrrha. Not once."
"B-But...how? Why?" Pyrrha slumped to the floor as her legs refused to support her any longer. "After everything I did, he only thinks of me like a sister?" She muttered softly, staring into the middle distance. Testing on lifting her arms, Yang realized that she wasn't being held down any longer and slowly sat up, sending a look at the Aura readings for the two young women. Pyrrha was well into the yellow, but Yang's...
'Damn, girl. One more shot, and you would have been SOL.' Yang thought to herself. Her Aura was so low, that it was practically gone. It wouldn't have held up for another hit of any kind. Returning her attention to the girl beside her, Yang spoke again, this time her voice was softer and more quiet. The time for being brash and in your face was over. "It was because of everything you did, Pyrrha. You trained him, you helped him with his schoolwork, you were always looking out for him. According to him, all of his sisters were the same way, and he put it down to you caring for a member of your team, your family." Yang stood up with those words. "Sorry P-Money, but that's just...how he thinks of you. Caught me by surprise too, but looking back on it, it makes sense with how he acted around you."
Pyrrha slowly wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold and Yang could see tears starting to fall from the champion's face to the floor below. "All this time...how do you treat someone you love then? Aren't you supposed to help them with whatever troubles them?" Pyrrha muttered to the air, and Yang doubted she was expecting a response.
Yet, she took pity on the heart-broken girl before her. "Not all the time." Pyrrha's gaze shot up, her face stained with tears as her eyes were beginning to become bloodshot. "Personally...I don't think forcing your help onto them is the right thing to do, if you like someone. Let them know you're there, sure, support them, and sure as hell be ready to catch them if they fall, but don't force it, especially if you two aren't already in a committed relationship. But forcing your help onto someone is almost assuredly a good way for them to hate you for not letting them grow on their own first." Pyrrha's expression morphed into one of horror and Yang quickly continued. "He doesn't hate you, I promise. I'm just saying how I look at things."
"But...what do I do? I can't face him, not after this..."
Yang frowned and folded her arms. "Pyrrha, we both know Jaune. That dunce couldn't hate someone to save his life, and you know what? I'm pretty sure that extends to you, even if you tell him what happened here. As far I'm concerned though, this can, and should, stay between us. No one else needs to get involved, yeah?" A few seconds passed before Pyrrha nodded silently, and Yang extended a hand towards her. "C'mon girl, you shouldn't be in a heap like this." Pyrrha slowly reached up and took the offered hand, and Yang hauled the girl to her feet. "Let's head back, Pyrrha. I'm pretty sure the others are going to be worried for us." Pyrrha shook her head slowly and unsteadily walked over to a nearby bench, and all but slumped down onto it, practically lifeless.
"No..." Yang winced at how hollow her voice sounded. "I'm going to...stay here and collect myself a bit. You go, Yang. I'll be along shortly." Despite being told to leave, she hung around for a moment before deciding to listen to Pyrrha's words and silently gripped the girl's shoulder before exiting the room, leaving the champion alone. To her surprise, however, the corridor was not empty, for Jaune was there, his luggage bag conspicuously absent looking worried. Seeing Yang come out, Jaune shot up from the wall to attention.
"Yang! Are you okay?" Yang took a step back, she wasn't expecting him to be here. She recovered quickly and smiled brightly.
"Damn straight I'm okay lover. Why wouldn't I be? Actually, better question, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with our teams?" Yang raised an eyebrow and Jaune coughed, his cheeks coloring slightly.
"Well...I was for a bit. But Nora kind of mentioned how Pyrrha looked ready to murder, and Ren backed her up and told me to find you guys before anything happened." Jaune looked back up and gave Yang a once over before looking into her eyes. "Did anything happen? Is Pyrrha okay?"
Yang had to bite her tongue as she tried to think of what to say. After a moment of silence, Yang sighed and came up to her knight, wrapping him into a tight hug as she buried her face into his neck. "We got a little rowdy, handsome, nothing to worry about. Pyrrha got the worst of it though..." Even though she muttered that last part, Jaune pulled back in surprise, his eyes wide.
"You beat Pyrrha?" Okay, ow, that was her pride he just wounded. Sure, Pyrrha was the number one student in combat class, but damn, did he have to sound so surprised? A little faith, please.
Yang sighed and pulled him back into a hug. "No, you big idiot. I didn't. No one can beat her in a fight." She spoke with affection before pulling away and slapping him on the butt, causing him to jump. 'I did beat her in probably the worst way possible, though.' It was definitely a good thing they didn't wait until tomorrow, otherwise it would have been so much worse. Yang turned from her boyfriend and made her way towards the locker room. "I gotta get my stuff, don't wait up." She called back, only for her words to be completely ignored as Jaune came up beside her, his hand finding hers rather quickly. She squeezed his hand softly, and the two proceeded to walk down the corridor in companionable silence.
Despite her calm, however, Yang couldn't stop thinking about Pyrrha and the state she was currently in. Sighing as the two entered the locker room, Yang whispered under her breath, "Dammit, am I turning into my mother?" Would she willingly ruin other people's chances at happiness if it meant she got to be the victor? She sure as hell hoped not; she didn't want to even entertain the thought of leaving Jaune at any point. Looking at the knight, who had apparently taken the opportunity to look at his own sword and shield while he was in the room, Yang smiled. 'No. No I am not. I might just tie myself to Jaune's bed if that happens.' An intriguing thought, and perhaps one she would do at some point in the future simply because. Deciding she needed a reminder for what she was going to lose if she turned into Raven, Yang grabbed Jaune from behind, spun him around suddenly, and pressed her lips against his in a loving kiss, trying to convey her affections for him. Pyrrha might have loved him beyond all shadow of a doubt, but Yang couldn't claim that she did, not yet at least. As Jaune reciprocated her actions, leaning down to grip her thighs, Yang squealed into the kiss as Jaune lifted her up, and she locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as they both deepened their kiss.
It didn't matter if Pyrrha was in the same building, and could very well walk in on them. It didn't matter if anyone walked in on them. Hell, it didn't matter if Vale itself was being attacked by Grimm again. What did matter, was that Yang Xiao-Long was in Jaune Arc's arms, and she was absolutely not planning on leaving, or giving up her place for any reason. 'Sorry Pyrrha,' Yang thought as she felt Jaune's hands start exploring her body again, moaning into their kiss as she pushed her tongue into his mouth once more, 'But he's mine. And dragon's don't share.'
No they really don't, do they Yang? Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed, and I do apologize for the fight scene. I don't do action very well, and trying to fight dialogue between the two while also conveying what was happening in the fight was a little tricky.
Now I have a feeling I'm gonna ruffle some feathers with how Yang responded to Pyrrha, how Pyrrha lost her cool, and the way the fight ended. But honestly, wouldn't you? It's not hard for me to imagine someone losing their temper and going off the rails just a wee bit, especially in a fight. And honestly, I'm surprised I haven't seen more people even consider that Jaune would look at Pyrrha has a sibling, rather than a potential love interest. He has seven sisters, so Jaune was probably exposed to a lot of behavior that was similar to Pyrrha's from them alone. And yes, I'm speaking from experience, I have accidentally categorized girls as "more like a sister" from their behavior towards me, only to find out some time later that they were trying to hit on me. Am I the only one? Am I just a mutant?
Probably the last one. Anyway, that's gonna be all from me, and I think I've got one more chapter in store for this before I put it to rest, and that one will, in all probability, have Yang confess her actual love for Jaune. I just gotta work on it.
Still Praising the Sun,
Umbreonwriter