Chapter fourteen: Not victory, nor loss, but living.

(a/n- I looked all around the internet and, when that failed, straight up went to the episode and played it in slow motion, but I just couldn't find May's height… Well based on how Nora looks slightly taller when she's smashing team BRNZ out of the arena, but she's also raising up on one foot, we'll just say that the two are roughly the same height. Anyway, on with the story.)

"I can't believe that worked." I thought as I stepped off the plane, immediately dashing over to the nearest trashcan. When we'd gotten on the plane, I thought almost for sure someone would recognize May, or at the very least ask what she was doing. Though, luck really did seem to be on our side. We'd touched down in Vale without a hitch. Frankly, I was surprised we weren't shot at... again. "Are you okay?" I heard May ask. When I looked up from the trash can, I just smiled back at her and nodded. I stood, smoothing out my trench coat as I heard Blake speaking. "He's always like this. He doesn't have a very strong stomach." she said, smirking slightly at me. I could've argued, but really I didn't have a grounds to. I mean, she was right, I was terrible in the air. She knew it, I knew it, Ren knew it, and now May knew it to.

Ren walked over, placing a hand on my shoulder before he raised an eyebrow, subtly gesturing to May. "We will, we need to get Neo." I said, whispering so that Blake and May wouldn't hear it. I wasn't all that worried if they found out what we planned, but I didn't want them to know regardless, just in case. Make it seem like a coincidence in case something went wrong. I stood up straight, nodding towards Blake and May. "Right, let's get going." I said, reaching down and grabbing my backpack, as well as the bear May was previously stuffed in. Ren had, as I'd told him he'd have to, sewn it back together so that we could give it to Ton-Ton as a present. Despite it being a prison of sorts, me and Ren didn't want to deal with the guilt Ton-Ton would no doubt make us feel.

The three of us walked out of the airport, dashing over to Ren's car as May and Blake got in the back seat. I sit down, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a cigar. One thing I'd not forgotten to do was get another box of cigars. Twenty-four of them to be exact. Course I only had three in my pocket at the moment. I flicked on my lighter before I looked over at Ren. He sighed, lowering the top on his car as he started driving down the street, heading for the familiar redlight district. Of course, the second we took a turn that lead to the seedy part of Vale, Blake spoke up. "I thought we were taking her to Coco. Coco's off that way." she said, jerking a thumb behind us. I nodded, letting out a puff of smoke as Ren turned the corner.

"We have to get Neo remember? I'd rather not leave her with Nora longer than necessary." I said. It wasn't a complete lie, I saw the way Nora was looking at and talking about Neo, she found her cute and adorable. That was never good. Hopefully Neo wouldn't be in more trauma and, most importantly, still in one piece. Blake nodded, but her eyes told a different story. She didn't believe my reason. Of course, she didn't elaborate on it, just leaned over and looked out at the world around us. I did as well, seeing the people walking along the streets and just going on with their day zooming past as we neared our destination.

In ten minutes, we were at the same spot outside the hotel Rexford, right where we'd parked earlier to drop Neo off. May even decided to speak up, "This place seems… unnerving." she said, reaching down at her hip, likely hoping to find a gun or something. Unfortunately for her, she didn't have one on her. I just nodded, "Welcome to the redlight district, one of our friends is here. We need to get someone else before we can drop you off." I said, looking back at May. She just nodded as we got out, me opening the door for the two women just like last time. Blake was still eyeing me with a suspicious gaze, she knew something was up. We walked back through the alley, Ren going first like last time. The guy didn't even shout this time, he just saw Ren and opened the gate. Simple as that. "The boss is in her apartment with her new toy." he said. This set the alarm bells off in my head, new toy? He didn't mean Neo right?

Ren sighed, "Not again Nora…" he muttered, walking towards a nearby door. We followed, walking in behind him. It opened into what looked to be a pretty normal apartment building, with a table, chairs, and a kitchen off to the left. There were also two doors. One of them I guessed led to the bathroom, the other, the one that had the word 'BOOP' painted in bright pink letters on it, likely led to the bedroom. "Nora?" Ren said, loud enough that if she were anywhere in the small apartment, she would hear it. The door to the bedroom opened, as expected, and there was Nora. Oddly enough, she only had a towel wrapped around her, one hand holding onto it with the other holding her revolver. She looked over at us, smiling at Ren… but then her eyes widened as she saw May. The gun slipped out of her hands,

BANG!

"WOAH!" I yelled, jumping back and pulling Blake with me to keep us from getting hit by the bullet. I looked over, seeing a hole in the wall. May and Nora just stood there, both staring at one another, as if unbelieving. "Nora…" May said, blinking a few times as she wiped at her eyes. I could've sworn I saw tears forming on them. Nora didn't say anything, she just smiled before she rushed over, wrapping her arms around her. "May…" she said, squeezing May to her as, and I could just barely believe it myself, I saw a tear drip from Nora's eye. I looked away a moment later, not wanting to interrupt the tearful reunion. "Umm, Nora? You're towel." Blake said, having no such qualms as myself. Nora suddenly got a stupefied expression on her face as she pulled back, looking down to see the towel at her feet. Then she just shrugged, kicking the towel over at Ren.

Ren, who was just enjoying the view until that point, simply grabbed it, tossing it into the hamper in the bedroom from where he was. Nora walked over to the bedroom, smiling back at May. "I'll be out in a second." she said, right before walking in and shutting the door. Blake looked over at me, then at Ren, "Before you ask, yeah, Nora does that a lot." Ren said. Then Blake looked at me, and I just nodded in confirmation. Blake seemed almost stupefied at the simple idea. "She walks around naked… in front of both of you, all the time?" she asked, likely still trying to grasp what, to me and Ren, was a simple fact. We both nodded in unison, "Blake, Nora's a lot of things. A drinker, crazy, a murderer, crazy, a marksman, crazy, a flirt, crazy, and straight up shameless… am I forgetting something Ren?"

"Crazy?"

"Yeah, crazy." I said. Blake slowly nodded, taking in all the new information about the woman that we'd trusted care of Neo with… so I could completely understand why she was looking at us like we'd just killed a puppy in front of her. "She's all those things… but you left a child with her?" she asked. May walked over, shaking her head as she placed a hand on Blake's shoulder. May was just smiling at her, "Nora's good with kids, don't worry… at least she was last time I saw her." she said, rubbing a hand behind her head somewhat sheepishly. I raised an eyebrow at this. At one point in her life, Nora was good with kids? The same one that I, at one point, had suspected of stealing babies and throwing them into blenders (a crack theory if I'd ever had one)? I suppose that many drugs can change even a saint into the insanity incarnate.

Though when Nora walked back in, dressed as always, with Neo at her side, I wasn't all that surprised when I saw that Neo was wearing a sloth costume. It was actually hard to see her face, and if the fact that she kept running into tables and walls was anything to go by, it wasn't easy for her to see either. I walked over, grabbing her hand and pulling back on the sloth head. She looked up, both of her eyes pale pink as she smiled up at me. "Hey Neo." I said, smiling down at her as I shut my eyes for a second. "Hi Jaune!" I froze, my eyes flashing back open as I saw Neo just standing there, smiling at me like before. Was that… was that her? "What?" she asked, tilting her head and holding up her sloth hand, seemingly scratching at her chin. (a/n- Jaune's reaction will probably be everyone's if we ever see Neo talk come to think of it.)

"You can talk?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow as he walked over. Nora, ever the wise-ass, decided to comment on that. "Yeah, real trick is getting her to shut up." she said, her voice laced with sarcasm. Though, there was no venom in it, and Neo just giggled. I honestly wasn't sure if it was the same girl anymore. She just seemed so… different than before. Neo held up her arms, smiling up at me. I took a guess at what the gesture meant, having grown up with a few younger kids myself, and quickly picked her up. She smiled, moving around to where she was riding on my back, her arms wrapping around my neck as I unconsciously grabbed her legs to keep her from falling. She just laid her head on my shoulder, smiling at everyone. "Glad to see you're opening up a little." I said, smiling over at her.

She nodded, just laying her head down on my shoulder and almost nuzzling into it. I heard Nora, of all people, giggle at this, "I think she likes you Jaune." she said. I shrugged, walking over and standing behind the couch, as Nora was sitting in one of the chairs. Ren sat in the other chair next to Nora, while Blake and May sat on the couch. "Nora… I honestly thought I'd never see you again." May said, smiling at Nora as she had been for awhile now. Nora returned it, reaching over to the coffee table and pulling out a drawer and two glasses, both of which had diamond patterns on the glass.

"Beer?"

"Pussies drink beer. Khan's drink rum."

Nora laughed, reaching into the drawer and pulling out a bottle. I didn't really know much about liquor, other than I was only good for a whiskey or two, but I knew well enough the liquor that Nora drank was much stronger than anything you'd find in a bar. "Khan special… aww, you remembered!" May said, smiling at Nora as she grabbed a glass. Nora grabbed the other before she shrugged, almost swishing a bit of her drink out of the glass as she poured for both of them. "Khan's special was your favorite, hey, it was my favorite too remember!" Nora said, holding forward her glass. May nodded, clinking her glass together with Nora's as the two sipped at their glasses, May coming up coughing while Nora just set it down.

"Lost your spirit?"

"Shut up!"

Me and Ren both froze at that. Nora had literally ripped people in half for simply saying hi to her the wrong way. Or looking at her funny… or just because she felt like it. For May to tell her to shut up? Oh she was dead. But then, something miraculous happened. Nora laughed. She just… laughed. Then she looked up at the slightly red faced May, giving her that same smile she'd had on most of the time. "It's good to have you back sis." she said. The second she said this me and Ren both looked at one another. I mouthed the word 'sisters' to him, my face confused. He just shrugged, equally as confused. May's last name was Zedong, Nora's was Valkyrie… unless May had changed her name. "How come you never told me you had a sister Nora?" Ren asked, turning over to face his girlfriend.

Nora looked over, smirking at her taller boyfriend. "I've told you about her a hundred times… then again you were normally high, drunk, both, or it was right after we had sex… sometimes I think it was all four." she said, causing Ren to have a rather uncharacteristic blush on his face. Blake and May had one as well but, that was just since they didn't hang out with Ren or Nora very often. The two had basically no filters, and would happily talk about sex, drugs, violence, or really anything for that matter. I mean for crying out loud the two had openly asked me, me of all people, how to 'spice it up' in the bedroom… I wasn't sure whether to be happy, offended, or just run for my life.

"And no, we're not really sisters. We had different parents… at least I think we did. Did we?" she asked, looking over at her friend/sister. Nora opened her mouth, looking like she was going to answer some obvious question, but then she slowly frowned, rubbing her chin with her hand and looking at the ceiling, her mouth moving over to the left in a quizzical expression. "I… don't know. I always figured my mom and dad only had me… course they did die when I was born so… Ah who cares! You're the closest thing to a sister I've ever had, that's good enough!" she said, raising her glass again. May did the same, the two sipping at their rum. Nora looked at May, a strange spark in her eye that I'd never seen before. I'd only seen it once, in my little sister when she asked me to read her a bedtime story. "You remember the story about the Khan special?" Nora asked. May chuckled, giving her a look that said 'You're kidding right?'

"The Khan special was created when the Khan's were first starting out, almost forty years ago. It was made by the first high leader, before the one the bloody rose took out… the one I…" she stopped, looking down at the table as I saw her fingertips turn white on the glass. She was clutching it with so much strength I was surprised it didn't break. Nora frowned, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder with a gentleness I didn't even know she possessed. "Hey, don't blame yourself. No one's ever outshot the bloody rose, you know it isn't your fault, so stop punishing yourself. They did enough of that already…" Nora said, frowning as I saw her gently moving her hand over May's left eye, moving down and cupping her face. I saw May shut her eyes, reaching up her hand and placing it on Nora's right, holding both their hands to her face. She let out a sigh, seemingly leaning into their hands, before she looked up.

"The Khan special was made for two things. One was for victory, when you managed to pull something off that you shouldn't have, or maybe something else. The other… was for defeat. When you fail so horribly, you can't stand it, and it drives you literally to drink." she said, opening her right eye and looking at the glass in her hand. She set the glass down on the table, staring at it seemingly longingly. I saw her eye start shining as a tear made it's way down her face. "Never… I've never drank it for victory. I always lose… I always have…" she said, her voice suddenly becoming distant. Nora surprised May, Ren, me, Blake, Neo, and maybe even herself, when she leaned down, wrapping her arms around May and patting her back comfortingly.

"Then consider this your first victory drink." she said, jumping back with that usual Nora energy I was used to. She thrust the glass into May's hand, and grabbed her own, still standing up. May looked up, wiping away at the tears in her eyes. "What're you-" "Upupup! No talkie! Just listenie!" Nora said, waving a single finger in the air in front of May. When May didn't respond, Nora went right on talking. "Sure, you didn't save our leader. So what? You escaped from the bloody rose. THE bloody rose! You're the only person in history that's ever gotten away from her! You won May… just by being alive, you won. If that's still losing, well then FUCK winning! You're LIVING!" Nora yelled, her enthusiasm seeming to get to May, who smiled up at her taller friend. May stood up, smiling at Nora.

"We aren't drinking for victory May. We aren't drinking for losing either. We're drinking for life! To being alive!" Nora said, thrusting her glass out. May let out a little chuckle as she grabbed her own glass, clinking it together with Nora's. "To life." she echoed, then the two downed what was left in their glasses. May came up sputtering, but she still smiled, even when Nora was patting her on the back to help her recover from the drinking, she still smiled. After a few minutes, Nora looked back at the rest of us. Then she smiled, reaching down and grabbing a few glasses. "Well, everybody! To being alive!" she yelled, holding up her own glass as she filled it with the Khan's special again. Neo jumped off of me, walking over to the kitchen and reaching up, grabbing what looked to be her own glass, filled with some brown liquid, assumingly apple juice.

I didn't wait for Nora to pour my glass, I just walked outside. I heard the door shut behind me as I leaned back, feeling the cold brick wall through my coat and shirt. I let out a breath, seeing it fogging up in front of me. "Nearing winter…" I muttered, reaching into my pocket. Of course, it didn't matter to me all that much. I'd just add a layer beneath my coat if it got cold enough. Worst case scenario I could always get out my winter coat. "Not much for parties huh?" I heard a familiar voice ask as the door shut again. I looked over, seeing Blake's familiar figure walk over, standing right next to me, putting herself between me and the doorway. I shrugged, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a cigar. "Yeah, you?" I asked.

She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out, to my surprise, a cigar the same brand as mine. "Nope. Two's company…" she left it hanging, "Three's a crowd." I finished, smiling over at her. She smiled back, reaching into her other pocket and pulling out a lighter. "I don't see you smoke that often. Celebrating with them?" I asked, smiling at her as I set my cigar between my lips, quickly lighting it. When I looked over again, she was smiling back, looking right at me with those sparkling amber eyes. "Guess so. Care to light me?" she asked, stepping closer, to the point I could feel her warmth on my arm. I leaned over as she placed the cigar in her mouth. I touched my cigar to hers, lighting it up. "Really need to get you a better lighter." I said, getting a little giggle out of her. I nearly froze when I felt her lean her head on my shoulder, still smoking her cigar.

I grabbed mine, letting out a puff before I held it towards her. "To life?" I said, almost like a question as I imitated what they were doing inside. I could still hear the muffled noises of their revelry from inside. She giggled, taking out her own cigar and touching it to mine as their smoke streams intertwined. "To life." she echoed. I pulled my cigar back, setting it between my lips again as I just stood, Blake on my shoulder, in content silence. After awhile, I looked down, seeing that her left hand was actually near my right, being as I was smoking with my left for once. I let out puff and let my hand brush against hers. She didn't speak, but I felt it, the softness of her hand. I wrapped my own in hers and, when I looked over, I saw her face was tinted pink, just like mine felt. When I looked up again, I saw something else, a snowflake. The first one of the year, falling right towards us.

I just smiled, letting out a puff as I saw the snowflake seemingly get captured in it. I felt Blake move her hand, going for the bolder move of wrapping it around my waist, rather than just holding my hand. I took her up on it, moving my hand up and wrapping it around her shoulder, pulling her closer. When I looked down, she just smiled up at me, her face tinged even brighter. We both let out a puff of smoke, watching the two clouds entwine and dance in the new falling snow. For the first time in awhile, I stopped thinking. I stopped thinking about my cases, about Beacon, about Yang, Ruby, Jasmine, Maria, the Arc clan, all of it. There was only one thing on my mind. The here and now. Me, and Blake. I shut my eyes, enjoying Blake's warmth contrasting to the cold of the brick and air, and for the first time in awhile, I felt at peace. Calm. Happy. Then I grabbed my cigar, taking it out and letting a puff before gently moving it up in the air, as if toasting the world.

"To life."