Chapter 12: The Bomb

"It's-"

Blake walked in the door gracefully with Yang in tow.

"I brought someone here to apologize."

"Apologize for what?" Sun asked, clearly annoyed that he was apparently destined not to find out Aurora's last name.

"For calling you all 'noobs'."

"I didn't take much offense to that, really." Colton broke in.

"It's a matter of principle: Yang, Queen of Terrible Timing with Loud Noises, needs to apologize to you for a simple matter so she will apologize for something bigger in the future."

"I'm standing right behind you, you know." The person being spoken about said in a low voice to Blake.

"I'm aware." Blake hissed back. "Just tell them you're sorry and we can leave and do what you want to."

Yang's eyes lit up and, without further hesitation, apologized profusely for whatever she had done. For Team SCAR's part, they took the apology gracefully and watched as a relieved Blake led Yang back out of the room.

"I swear, if anybody stops it now.." Sun started under his breath, before speaking much louder. "So Aurora, do I need to ask you the question?"

"No, but as you know, my weapons of choice are explosives, so my name fits in with those. My last name is-"

"Come on, Yang." Blake was pulling Yang through the hallways, looking for somewhere quiet to go.

"Where are we going?"

"Anywhere we can be alone."

"Any ideas yet?"

"Nope, you got any?" Blake turned and smiled at her partner as she said it.

"Not at all." Yang smiled back.

They passed an open closet door and Blake stopped to look inside. The room was not very big, only slightly larger than a bathtub, but Blake stepped inside, pulling Yang in with her.

"Perfect." Blake said under her breath.

"And how is this perfect?" Yang asked as she pushed aside a mop.

"It's out of the way and, most importantly, it's never used."

"How do you know that?" Yang was aware of the warm body pressed up against her in the confined space.

"Did you not see the signs of disuse?"

"Uhh, what does that mean?"

Blake sighed and put her mouth to her partner's ear before speaking again.

"Just take my word for it and let's enjoy ourselves." Blake pulled her girlfriend into a deep and satisfying kiss.

"Oh don't worry, I will." Yang said as she broke the kiss, gazing into the beautiful amber orbs of her partner.

"Were you spying on me?" Ren asked a bouncy Nora.

"Nooooooooooooo." She drew it out long enough for Ren to realize she was lying, even though all he had to do was look at her aura to figure that out.

"Are you lying?"

"Maybe," She looked down at the floor, looking uncomfortable. "But I was interested in what you would say."

"Well you shouldn't go around spying on people."

"What did you mean when you said that you hadn't made any progress on 'her'?"

Ren looked away and out the window before answering, knowing he would have to tell her.

"Look, Nora, you know that we have been friends forever."

"Yes, FOREVER!"

"Well, I was thinking of taking that a bit, ah, further."

"What do you mean?"

"Um, what I'm trying to say is, I-"

The door was opened and Jaune walked in, looking very exhausted. Pyrrha walked in after him, looking only slightly more worse for wear.

"Another training session?" Nora asked excitedly, the conversation she had been having seconds ago already forgotten.

"Yes, I think we got a lot accomplished as well." Pyrrha smiled at her partner and boyfriend, who smiled back painfully.

"Easy for you to say." He said, sitting down on his bed.

"One sec guys, can I ask Nora something?" Ren cut in.

Pyrrha nodded and, as Nora turned with an expectant expression on her face, he began.

"Nora, you know how much you like the amusement park?"

"YES!"

Ren winced and continued.

"Do you want to go there Saturday?"

"YES, I WOULD LOVE TO!" She jumped around the room.

Ren stole a glance at Pyrrha and, when he got an approving nod, knew he had made the right decision.

Nora pranced her way to the bathroom to get changed for bed, and Pyrrha came to sit by Ren.

"Finally making a move?" She asked in that graceful tone of her's.

"It's now or never."

"My last name is Hirosaki." Aurora said.

"Interesting last name." Sun said thoughtfully.

"Where have I heard that before?" Krystal asked.

"Yeah, it sounds familiar." Colton added.

"There's a reason for that," Aurora started with a sad grin. "It was during one of the battles against the Grimm, the final battle for a long time, and the Huntsmen and Huntresses weren't winning. There were technicians on the battlefield, rapidly working to find a weapon that would win the battle, and eventually the war, for the Hunters. As the battle raged on, with people and monsters dying everywhere, they finally came up with a solution. The Schnee Company had recently found two massive veins of highly explosive dust, more volatile than usual, and had shipped it to the front lines."

She stopped for a second and shuttered.

"You don't have to keep going, you know." Sun said in a soft voice.

"Yes, I do," She replied, and continued the story. "The technicians had been hard at work for two weeks, and all that time finally paid off. They had constructed a massive bomb, named after two of the project's leading scientists. The call was made to detonate the bomb then and there, even though there were still Huntsmen and Huntresses fighting. There was a shout of protest from among the ranks, and there was outcry from the public, but the government was ruthless. They wanted to see the Grimm destroyed, no matter the cost. So the bomb was detonated and, when an investigation was launched a week later, there was found to be a lone survivor among the wreckage. The survivor was a two month old girl, lying in the ashes of the technician tent and wailing uncontrollably. That girl, was me."

Aurora started sobbing, just like she had years ago on the battlefield. Sun moved over to her, hugging her and letting her cry into his shoulder. He started murmuring reassuring words to her, trying to get her to calm down.

After a minute of this, Colton quietly stood up and, getting the go-ahead from Sun, led Krystal out of the room.

Before too long, the tears dried out, and Sun was left to deal with the wreck he was holding alone.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered.

"It's okay," Aurora responded, making coherent words for the first time in minutes. "It wasn't your fault, it was my parent's."

"Why them?" Sun asked, already knowing the answer.

"They were the two technicians that made the bomb."

"How did you survive?"

"My semblance is the resistivity to high explosives, that's why I use them."

"Even though-" Sun couldn't finish, thinking she had already been through too much.

"Yes," She replied, apparently not afraid of answering. "Even though it was the thing that killed my parents. It's funny, my family has always had a penchant for explosions."

She said the last part with a rueful grin, before breaking down and crying on Sun's shoulder again.

The only thing that could be heard for a while that night was the sobbing of a girl who had nothing left.

Author's Note:
Soooooo, I had trouble writing this chapter at the time. I can honestly say tears were welling in my eyes while thinking up the plot of the final section. Call me a wimp, but if someone you created goes through this much agony, you would break down too. On other news, if I offended anybody with Aurora's last name, I'm sorry. I wanted to find a name that fit in with her explosive ability, and Hirosaki fit. For any who don't know, (All three of you), Hirosaki is a reference to the two atomic bombs that the US dropped on Japan at the end of World War II. The two cities hit were Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I am deeply sorry if I offended anyone with this reference. I would like to give another shoutout to Leviticus Wilkes, and I am sure you are mildly fed up by now. But I truly think that his Second Step story is well worth a read, if you like mine, you will like his more. I would like to thank everybody for reading, and don't forget to follow, favorite, and review if you liked it. Chas1881