Chapter 28: Intermission

He activated his Semblance, for he was getting close to the arena. He crept forward slowly. While he might be invisible, he could still alert others by noise. He took great caution as he moved over the cobblestones like a wraith. He paused and looked around. A few random pedestrians, a competing team, and a huge group of people walking from the stadium. He quickly identified Blake in the group and set out to follow. A memory was trying to surface, but he held it back. He was sure he recognized someone else in the group, but he was not sure in the slightest. He dropped back a bit so he wouldn't be heard and contacted Vayla.

"Secret Vayla, come in."

"Read you, Alpha Two."

"Can you compile a list of everyone in the group of friends that Blake surrounds herself with?"

"I can, but- What's this?" Vayla asked as an image popped up on her screen.

"A picture of everyone here, I might know someone here."

"Why would you think that?"

"I just know, get me that list."

He cut the link and sped up to regain the distance he had lost. He had the sudden urge to go up and try to blend in with them, but he knew it would never work. He mentally berated himself for even thinking such a thing. He was an assassin, and not a very joyous one anymore. He remembered the years before he had met Vayla. He had been a very nice and happy boy then, but now everything had changed. First, his brother had abandoned him and his mother and left them to die. Then Vayla had appeared when he was weakest, as if she had been waiting forever. Now, he was just a grim and taciturn sixteen year old assassin.

"I've got the list, transferring it to your equipment now." Vayla came in over the radio.

"Copy, thanks."

He continued following for the moment but his attention was suddenly distracted by the list appearing on the screen that was attached to the back of his crossbow. He quickly scanned the list and stopped on one name. He glanced up to make sure he wasn't imagining things. He picked out the one that he had recognized and looked back at the screen. He knew that one, and he knew that he might have to make sure that he didn't bring harm to it. He started to feel the effects of his aura running low and he veered off into the trees, not noticed by anybody.

"I still can't believe we did that." Krystal exclaimed as they made it to their destination.

"I agree." Aurora replied with a slight smile.

Sun swiped the card and they all stepped into their hotel room for the night. It was very spacious and it had two double beds in the middle. There was a TV on the wall across from them and a minibar next to the doorway. As everyone piled in, they noted the very clean bathroom, complete with shower, bath, toilet, and two sinks. The room had the smell of fresh roses and the walls were colored to match the scent, a warm shade of lightish red.

"This is a place I could get used to." Colton immediately flopped down onto one of the beds and sighed happily.

"Make yourselves at home, we have this place for a few days." Sun smiled and quickly excused himself to the bathroom.

Aurora watched him leave and she turned her attention to the minibar. It had wine racks, beer taps, and a giant fridge complete with every kind of soft drink imaginable.

"Hey Sun!" She called.

"Yeah?" Came the reply from the bathroom.

"Can we drink the stuff in the fridge?"

"Sure! It's on the academy!"

Aurora, satisfied, turned her attention back to the numerous options available to her. She picked out a Mountain Dew Voltage and turned to everyone else.

"What kind of drinks do you guys want?"

"Beer!" Krystal yelled before bursting out laughing.

"I'll take a Mountain Dew Code Red." Sun called from the bathroom.

"Give me a Diet Coke." Colton said.

"No beer? Fine, give me a regular Coke. How do you drink Diet anyway?" Krystal asked Colton.

"I'm used to it." Colton replied as he caught the two Cokes and handed the regular to Krystal.

Aurora tossed Sun his Mountain Dew as he came out of the bathroom and they flopped down on their bed together. Sun picked up the TV remote and turned it on.

"Check ESsPeN, see if any of us made it." Colton suggested as he finally reclined back on the bed he shared with Krystal.

The four watched as highlights of the first round flashed up on screen in ten second intervals. With so many matches taking place, it was hard to dedicate much time to each. The only match that got more time was the CELS vs. CPSL fight, which got a good minute of screen time. At the end of the show, the updated tournament bracket was shown and the announcer started going down a list of matches for the next day.

"For the first side: RWBY vs. HEAT. BOLT vs. SCAR. RAIN vs. TANK. CYCL vs. FYLS. For the second side: RAGE vs. RPGS. KAPA vs. THTA. CELS vs. DARK. CASL vs. FAIL. Good luck to all of the teams competing in the second round. Thank you for watching, and good night."

Sun shut off the TV and glanced at the clock. It read 12:38 AM and he looked at Colton and Krystal, who were fast asleep in each other's arms. He turned off the light beside him and hugged the sleeping Aurora he had in his arms. He could faintly hear a ruckus coming from the direction of JNPR's room but he decided he didn't want to know what was going on. Even with the noise, it didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

Blake woke up the next morning to a weird sense of deja vu. Her vision consisted of one color: Yellow. She was trying to figure out where she had seen this situation before when the yellow blob moved slightly. Blake looked around Yang to see the clock, she fell back with a sigh as she realized she wouldn't be able to see over the mane of hair Yang had.

"Wake up." Blake whispered as she shook Yang's shoulder.

"But mom, it's Saturday. Just let me sleep." Yang mumbled back.

This stopped Blake cold as she tried to refrain from laughing.

"That is the most cliche thing to say in this situation." As Blake finished her sentence, she shoved Yang off the bed and quickly pounced.

Yang woke up to Blake's kiss gracing her lips and decided that today would be a good day.

"Good morning beautiful." She said with a smile.

"Good morning, today's a big day, you know." Blake replied, making no effort to lift herself off of Yang.

"How is it any different than yesterday?" Yang asked.

"Because I have something special planned if we beat HEAT." Blake pecked Yang again and finally rolled off.

Yang smiled as she thought about how much Blake had changed since the creation of RWBY. Blake had become more secure with her feelings and was generally more outgoing. Sure it was only with a few select people, but that still was more than before. Yang's pondering was interrupted as she realized that she had been staring at Blake for an extended time.

"Done looking?" Blake was smiling with her eyebrow raised to the moon.

"Uh, yeah." Yang quickly averted her eyes and hurried off to change into her battle gear.

Blake rolled her eyes and, still smiling, started to make breakfast for the rest of them in the kitchenette. She looked around the room and saw Weiss and Ruby snuggled up in their bed still.

'Gonna have to wake them up soon.' She thought. 'But I don't want to interrupt them.'

The issue resolved itself when Ruby's keen nose smelled the pancakes that were cooking on the skillet.

"Something smells good." She commented as she tried to rouse the sleeping bundle in her arms.

"Decided to make breakfast this morning for us." Blake replied as she poured more batter into the pan. "How did you two sleep?"

"Great." Weiss answered, rubbing her eyes.

"That's good, we'll need our rest for-" Blake was cut off by the loud sound of Yang slamming the bathroom door.

"That smell is amazing!" She rushed into the kitchenette and gave Blake a quick hug before grabbing one of the pancakes from the plate.

"You know what's better than the smell?" Blake moved closer to Yang as she asked the question.

"What?" Yang asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

"The taste." Blake leaned in for a passionate kiss and Yang responded enthusiastically.

"You guys done? We want to be able to grab a pancake." Weiss said with a grin on her face.

"Go ahead." Yang made an exaggerated gesture of moving away from the pancake plate.

"This will be a good day." Blake rolled her eyes and continued with the pancakes.

The four teams met up an hour later at the arena. RWBY looked determined and ready for the fight, BOLT and SCAR were chatting about their chances of beating each other, Nora and Ren were talking excitedly about something, and Pyrrha was constantly glancing over at Jaune. He still hadn't recovered from the fun they had had last night.

'The look on his face is priceless.' She thought with a smile.

Indeed, Jaune was pretty shaken up by the night he and Pyrrha had enjoyed. Just thinking about it brought a blush to his face, which was probably why Pyrrha was looking at him so much.

"You guys sure you're ready?" Sun asked Blake as they arrived at the arena.

"Of course!" Yang barged in and responded.

"We're fine." Blake smiled and gave Sun a hug.

RWBY walked off to the entrance for competitors, taking the complaints from Yang about Blake hugging Sun with them. Sun looked back at the remaining hunters and led them up into the stands to watch.

Author's Note:
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