Is this real life?
Or is it all just a dream…
"She's not conscious. Yang, we should lie her down." The blonde didn't pay any attention to Blake, or the rest of the world, the same way she had since getting the chance to hold Ruby while the other three finished off the Grimm. She cradled her sister in her arms, her mind shut-off from the world as she pressed Ruby close to her body. In her mind, all the promises she made to Summer Rose about protecting the younger girl spun, and she knew that she could have lost her sister there and then.
"She's been slipping in and out of consciousness since I found her. Please tell me you brought a car, so we can get her back to Beacon." Noir shifted his gaze from the three arrivals, but none of them spoke. He bit back a curse as his face reddened. "Don't tell me you brought the Mad Cat out here. Please don't tell me that."
"We had no choice!" Sun burst. "The two people with cars are going away. Weiss doesn't trust me, and Langford…"
"Langford's car isn't drivable." Noir finished. He exhaled with a single sharp breath to release some of his frustration. "Fine." He knelt down beside Yang. Despite the snow on her bare legs, she remained oblivious to his presence. As gently as he could, he lifted her head, so she was staring into his sunglasses.
"Yang, lie her down. She'll be fine, I promise." Yang nodded, and slowly stretched her sister out atop her cloak. Noir slid his phone out of a pocket in his jeans, and in seconds, he was in contact with Professor Ozpin. It wasn't preferable, but there was no other option.
"Professor, we've got a Huntress down in the Snowy Forest, possibly critical wounds." Pause. "Ok, I'll turn on an emergency signal for them, how long?" Pause. "Understood. Thank you." As he hung up, Yang tore her gaze away from her sister.
"How long until they get here?" Noir fiddled with his scroll, and turned on the emergency broadcast functions. Yang clenched her fists. "I said, how long?"
Noir finally found his voice. "Half an hour. They're prepping an emergency Bullhead now." Yang breathed a sigh of relief, and Noir seemed to loosen up. It didn't last. In an instant, the blonde was on her feet, flames rippling around her body as she glared at the cat faunus.
"So, Noir. Was there a reason that you didn't call me when you started following my sister?" The teen stood his ground in the face of Yang's semblance. His hands twitched slightly, but he shoved them into his pockets.
"I didn't want you to screw up, ok? Not everyone has a chance like that. If you knew, then I bet you would have blazed in, fists flying." He shifted, and gestured towards the numerous carcasses nearby. "You did anyway, with perfect timing. But, if you did it earlier, then she would never have let her emotions go, and her next action might have been worse." Yang was silent, but the flames died back. One hand dove into a pocket in her skirt, and she threw her motorcycle keys to Sun.
"If you scratch Bumblebee, I will make sure you never have kids." Even stunned as he was, the monkey still managed to catch the flying metal object. "I'm going with her. And I'm staying with her." The three faunus nodded, all understanding there was no point pushing her when she was like this.
"Me, too. My helmet should fit you, Noir. Team RWBY should stick together for a while." Blake gave Sun a quick peck on the cheek as she walked over to sit by Ruby. Then, she noticed the bandages around the girl's arm. "Noir, are those…"
"They're clean, Blake. Might have been around my arms, but I haven't been bleeding recently." She didn't look convinced, but there was nothing she could say to his explanation as the two boys headed off. As they walked, she could have sworn that Sun asked if they should take the 'long way back'. She sighed. There wasn't much she could do about his old habits except hope they died off. Both girls sat in silence, the only sounds to hear the distant roars of Grimm deep in the woods. From time to time, Ruby mumbled and twitched. The smell of blood seeping from the girl was intense enough for Blake to look a little bit sick, even as she laid her leather jacket over her wounded friend for more warmth. Finally, she couldn't take it.
"Yang, I get it. You're angry."
"You don't say." The blonde's knuckles where white as she clenched her fists. Blake could see the slight tensing in the girl's jaw. Unafraid, she continued.
"You're angry and scared. I get that. But if you could blame anyone, blame whatever it was that ambushed your sister. Don't blame Noir, or Ruby. Neither of them knew what was going to happen." Yang's eyes were hard, but the black-haired girl could see tears quite obviously run down the girl's face.
"I blame myself, Blake. I spoke with her before she ran away, and she didn't say anything. All she said was that she was embarrassed about that incident with Jaune and Pyrrha. And, in my attempt to cheer her up, I told her we would have beautiful families, beautiful lives." Yang's fists tightened even further. "I should have noticed that she wasn't acting like herself and tried to help her." With that, the silent sobbing returned, and the girl buried her head in her arms. A faint murmur rose from her throat. "I'm a horrible sister. I promised to protect her, and I failed."
Blake moved closer, and managed to wrap her arm around the girl in support. There was nothing she could say. In a way, this was what Yang needed – a chance to release the pent-up emotion in her heart. In the distance, the faunus could hear the familiar sound of jet engines, but she remained silent even as the Bullhead made its appearance on the horizon. The time for talking could wait. For now, all she could do was support.
The two motorbikes sat side-by-side outside the small coffee shop. One golden yellow, the other black and blue. Sun and Noir sat at a table nearby. The monkey held a banana muffin in one hand, and a coffee in the other, while the cat preferred a steak sandwich he'd bought from a nearby café to make up for his lack of breakfast.
"Ok, so I can keep Tira off your back when we get to Beacon, I need to check your arms." Sun stated. Noir sighed, but he pulled off his denim jacket, which he slung over the back of his chair. He glared daggers at the monkey, but he still removed the black leather and steel bracers from his forearms. By rolling his arms, he revealed what Sun was looking for. Two bands of metal ran down the back of each arm from wrist to elbow. The metal had a few small bloodstains on it, but they seemed dry and clean otherwise. Noir smirked.
"Want me to take the bands off, too?" The young faunus pinched the end at his left wrist, but Sun shook his head.
"No need." Noir nodded once as he bit into his sandwich, and the two ate in silence for a few moments. Finally, Sun spoke up. "What happened out there? I don't think any of us were expecting to see you with Ruby tied to your back." The cat kept his mouth shut for a few moments as he planned his response and strapped his bracers back on.
"I don't know for sure," he finally said. "There was Beowolves nearby, and I was distracted by keeping them away from her. Next chance I got to look, she was unconscious. Wasn't a Grimm, just judging by the cut on her arm. It was too clean." Sun frowned. The idea of people waiting for Hunters in the forests as ambushes wasn't pleasant. He took another rather large bite of his muffin and composed himself.
"Yang was right, Noir. You should have called her, not Blake and me. It was her sister you were trying to protect, and when it came to reaching you through the Grimm, she did most of the work." The cat faunus hissed, and pulled off his sunglasses to glare at Sun properly. His yellow irises and slit pupils gave away his feline heritage more than the faintly visible ears on his head. Sun wasn't fazed by the display. "Who was it you were trying to protect? Ruby, or both of them?"
"Both of them. And my reasons for wanting to do so are mine alone to know. That's in the past, and this is the present. In other words, drop it." Sun sighed. Noir wasn't a circular thinker, but when it came to his history, it wasn't the smartest place to poke around.
"If you're sure. I mean, why'd you give your sword a girl's name, anyway?" Noir's glare got even darker, and he dropped the subject. Instead, he went back to the muffin. He felt Noir look away, and snuck a glance to spy the other faunus staring at the sky, his sandwich long-gone.
"It's just… I don't want anything bad to happen to Yang, ok?"
Sun sighed. "Now who's bringing it up?" The monkey polished off the last of the coffee in his travel mug, then turned back to the motorbikes.
"Bet I beat you back to Beacon." The cat's challenge was just what Sun was waiting to her. He grabbed his helmet and smirked.
"Please. Yang's Bumblebee is far better than your Mad Cat. Loser buys winner and his girlfriend lunch tomorrow?" he retorted.
"Only if that means I get two lunches, since I'm going to win." Noir responded.
The monkey just laughed. "Dream on."
This was as close to perfect as she could feel, Weiss reasoned. A day spent not in the field, or at Beacon, but at home after a hard day of negotiations. The room was white, with her expansive bed waiting for her. She was dressed in her favourite dress, a bracelet around her wrist, pink ribbon tied into her hair. And yet something wasn't right. There was something missing. It wasn't her scented candles, which wafted the scent of vanilla through the room. It wasn't the freshly baked brownies on the table, which were just the way she liked them – still warm, fresh out of the oven. It wasn't the lack of people, with Langford crashed out in the sitting room watching a movie while sprawled out over the couch. Or was it? The heiress had grown used to having quiet mornings and evenings, but her days were normally spent with her teammates, her friends. Not with Langford and a bunch of workers. She looked down at the bracelet, and smiled. A gift from friends.
For her eighteenth birthday two months ago, Ruby and Yang had organized a girl's night. At first, she had been expecting something ridiculous and boy-like, something like laser tag or go-karts. Instead, Yang had somehow gotten tickets for one of her favourite bands, and before the concert, they were booked into a restaurant that all the girls agreed was perfect for afternoon tea – a marble and gold café with chocolate the specialty. She couldn't remember the last time she'd enjoyed a night so much, even if Nora and Ruby had tried to drink straight from the chocolate fountain. And, at the end of the night, after she'd seen all the other presents, her teammates revealed the best part – even with all they'd spent, the three of them had pooled their money to buy her a bracelet. At first, she'd been upset at the simple silver chain bracelet, but when she'd pulled it from the box, she noticed that each girl had gone and bought a charm and stuck it on there. Yang chose a teddy bear, a subtle joke at the bonding the two had done while trapped by a giant Ursa. Blake chose a book, for obvious reasons, while Ruby's choice had astonished her. A shard of silver shaped perfectly into a replica of her rapier. The girl had been embarrassed, and constantly refused to admit where she'd gotten it, but the secret was spoiled by Yang out of the girl's earshot – Ruby had made it herself. After all, the elder sister reasoned, eighteen was a major age, and Ruby had wanted a unique present, so when they decided to get her the charm bracelet, the girl had spent her own money buying a small chunk of silver, then shaped it into the shape of her friend's weapon in fine-detail, working with metal as-small as some of the springs inside Crescent Rose. Since that night, Weiss had added a few charms to it, but it was those three that were the most important to her. Especially the rapier.
"Hey, Weiss. Wanna watch the movie with me?" The girl's head swung around to face Langford, an acidic remark on her lips, but she stopped. Instead, she gave a faint half-smile.
"Maybe later." Part of her wondered why she'd said that. She didn't like Langford all that much, even when they were kids. Something about his bulk and sexist attitude irked her. But, when he returned her smile, it seemed worthwhile to give him a chance. Then he opened his mouth again. "So, rough day, huh? Why don't we spend the night relaxing together?" She groaned.
"Forget it, Langford. Not happening." He just grinned and ran a hand through his curly brown hair.
"It'll happen eventually, Weiss. I've got that animal magnetism, draws the girls in and makes 'em go wild."
"You? You're stocky, sexist, and seem to live on a diet of sugar and fat. What kind of girl would go crazy over that?" The dark-skinned teen snorted.
"I'll have you know that I'm big-boned with dense muscles. It's not fat. As for my diet, you think your friend Ruby eats any better? The girl probably survives on a diet of cookies!" Weiss blushed in annoyance. How dare he compare himself to Ruby? What similarities did they have? He was dark, sexist and obnoxious. She was pale, accepting and beautiful. Weiss stopped, and checked her thoughts again. Yes, she'd just thought of Ruby as beautiful. It seemed fitting, but she wasn't going to give any hints to the pest of a sniper in the next room.
"So what if she does? At least she exercises, not to mention she doesn't snigger when people talk about aural examinations."
"Heh, I'll give you an oral examination." The heiress rolled her eyes at the horrendous pun, and turned away from the man as she headed for the plate of brownies on her dresser.
"Thank you for proving my point, Langford. I'm just saying; she's much better company than you are."
"D'aww, you like her." Weiss's eyes widened in anger. She stopped as if frozen. In a single, slow movement, she turned to face the obnoxious teenager.
"Sapphire Langford, what the hell did you just say?" At first, he was stunned. Not many people called him by his first name. He hated it. 'Sapphire' was a girl's name, and there was nobody in his eyes more masculine than himself. Then he realized just what he'd done, and a sly grin split across his face.
"Why, nothing, Miss Schnee. Unless you mean the fact I implied you have a romantic interest in another female member of your team. That explains why you aren't affected by my natural charm, like most other girls." Weiss's back was completely straight. Her eyes shot frozen blades at him. She turned, her body conveying all the natural grace of a snow leopard, and she strutted towards him to stand in the hallway, directly before the bulky sniper.
"Say that again. Just one more time."
"I said, you're a lesb-" Her hand moved faster than his eyes could track. One second, nothing. The next second, he was doubled over in agony. His hands flew to his nose, and he felt blood dripping. "I ting youb jus brogen my dose!" he spluttered. Weiss had a cold, predatory smile on her face as she looked at him.
"No, I'm not. See, plenty of boys are better company than you. Most girls are as well. Ruby was an example that you brought up. Your comments are sexist, and I can't believe you'd jump to that conclusion!" Of course, her mind was a whirl of emotions. Satisfaction with the slap she'd given him for overstepping his boundaries. Then there was a nagging voice in her head trying to say that she'd only done it because he was right, but she silenced it. She'd had crushes on plenty of boys before. She'd just pay more attention to her emotions to see the truth in that idea. Then, she noticed the moaning he was making, and the drips of blood hitting the carpet. She was no doctor, but he needed help. One hand was around his back, and she was guiding him towards the kitchen before she could even comprehend what she was doing. She helped him into a chair, and pressed a button on the intercom as she rushed into the freezer for an ice-pack.
"I need someone to clean a blood splatter in the hallway outside my room, and someone with first aid training to come to the kitchen straight away."
"Yes, Miss Schnee. It shall be done." She sighed as she handed the quivering male the ice for his nose. Unlike emotions and perverts, at least the house staff could be counted on to do the right thing.
A/N: Whelp, that's out of the way. Sorry about the day break, I was starting on my quest to make a Jaune cosplay, and that meant tracking down foam for his armor. Not to mention my proofreader was distracted. As I promised, though, I'll still be posting as often as I can for you guys.
Sorry about the lack of information into Noir's backstory, by the way. At first I was going to throw the entire thing up on here, but after subsequent reads, and a few points by my proofreader, I decided to save it. You've been given a few hints, though, including one that ties into the names of his swords. How soon shall you find out? That depends.
The most fun part to write was, funnily enough, Weiss. She's a very sensual character, so easy to describe what she's seeing, smelling, feeling. (Well, if people request me to write Weiss one-shots, I'll know where they got the idea from). So, what happens when I put her into a situation where she's confronted? BREAK HIS NOSE! Langford's another fun character, mostly because despite being a bit of a prick and incredibly dirty-minded, he's a kind guy. Just watch for the subtle slips of Pink in her scenes, up until I get plans in motion that may either make-or-break the ship.
Anyway, should have the next chapter in the next day or so, and a forum up on here for you to ask the cast questions about what's going on, or for hints about what's coming up. Would use a Tumblr, but I can't draw and that'd take too much effort. So, until next time, enjoy.