Disclaimer: No. Not now either.

Just One Date

Volume 3

By: athrunzala

Chapter 2: A Long day

"Don't worry! We'll be back in no time!"

Jaune was highly optimistic about their assignment. And he was reassuring Ruby that they'd be fine, despite their assignment being one that would leave them in the wilderness with a great deal of powerful Grimm. He was almost certain that his team could handle it.

"It's not the mission, I'm worried about. It is you and Pyrrha being safe."

The blonde looked over at his girlfriend, and rubbed his head.

"I have…. No idea what you're talking about. Gotta go!"

He waved and jumped into the airship. As it took off, he looked back at his friends standing on the pad. Feeling slightly bad, he looked over at Pyrrha who shot him a quick smile. Even though they had been together for over a year, he was still in awe of her.

As they reached their travel speed, the doors on the outside of the ship closed, allowing them to go over their mission.

"We're going to be heading to the outskirts for a patrol mission." The swordsman said, his face serious. "However, should we encounter Grimm, we are allowed to use deadly force."

Nora pounded a fist into her open palm. "Let the leg breaking begin!"

As they neared their target, a green light lit up, followed by a timer that began counting down from 10. Once it reached Zero, they would be at their landing zone and would have mere moments to disembark and offload their supplies and equipment.

They all gathered what they could onto their backs in preparation. Everything else would be held in their hands. This, of course, meant that Jaune and Ren would end up carrying a little more, as Pyrrha's shield couldn't be removed from her arm while traveling. This was not something that they minded, though.

As the counter neared zero, they could feel the craft descending, bringing them ever closer to their target.

"Everybody be on your guard. There are more Grim here than we have previously encountered."

Pyrrha's warning was not without merit. When they had taken on the mission, it was listed as Search and Destroy. Even though she was confident that they could handle it, she didn't want them taking any unnecessary risks. Immediately upon touchdown, they exited and began their trek to the village.

"So, Ren," Jaune questioned. "What do we know about this village, anyway?"

"They sent the request for aid roughly 48 hours ago. Large Grim. Very dangerous, apparently. As for the village, it isn't very large. Sparsely populated. And nobody there has an effective weapon that we know of."

As they drew nearer to their destination, a young woman approached them, waving her hands as she did.

"You came! You actually came!"

As she uttered this, she made a bee-line for Ren, latching on to the Huntsman at his waist. This caused the rest of his team to stop in their tracks and turn their attention to him. However, Ren was equally confused.

"Maia?"

The girl looked up from where she had buried her face in his chest. As she let go, she stood up. She was around 5'8", with blonde hair that ran down to around her waist. She had purple eyes, not in a shade that was far different from Ren's own Magenta eyes. She wore a flowing shirt in a matching shade, with black pants and brown combat boots.

"Yes?"

"I told you before, and I'll say it again: No."

"But… But…" Her face contorted into a pout as she stammered. "You don't have a choice, remember?" She then shifted her face into a smirk, causing Ren to become slightly unnerved.

They resumed their travel, with their new companion hanging around Ren like a fly around rotting flesh. Pyrrha, in a move far from her normally cautious self, asked the burning question.

"What is this all about?"

Before their team mate could answer, however, Maia opened her mouth.

"He's my fiancé!"

As she finished her interruption, everybody turned their heads to look at her. Pyrrha was slightly taken aback by this news.

"I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken."

Maia immediately stomped over to the famous fighter, fire burning in her eyes.

"No. I'm not. And he doesn't get a say in this, you… you…"

Ren's hand saw that she would not finish that sentence, as he had clasped it firmly over her mouth. He then said one thing.

"Let's go to the village. We can talk more there."

His three team mates then nodded and they all resumed their travel. However, Nora's shoulders were drooped, and she looked as though she had just lost a family member. Upon arrival, they headed for their hotel, where they would be staying for the night.

While not like the hotels in Vale, it was still nice. The wooden floor of the lobby sounded with each step they took. The walls helped to echo the sound, but gave the building a wonderful acoustic appeal. Of course, this was tainted by one individual using it to amplify her whining.

"But… you… CAN'T!"

"Maia, we are heading out very early in the morning. I can't go out on the town like we used to. Besides, I am working right now. I'm not here on a civil visit."

Ren's protest was not unfounded. They wanted to get an early start so that they could get to the location where the last Grim attack was reported to have happened. Of course, this still managed to upset Maia.

"Fine. Whatever. But she," the blonde woman shot a look in Nora's direction, "can't be in the same building as you."

Ren's eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me?"

This caused his companions to look up at him.

"You heard me, Lie Ren. That… that… hussie does not stay in the same building as you!"

"We're partners. And team mates. We need to all be in the same place."

"I don't care about that! And you just need to get used to it!"

"No."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha, who, up to now, were busy making sure Nora didn't go berserk in the lobby both looked back at Ren as their jaws dropped open. They had never heard him say no to anybody before. However, they had to recover quickly as the situation escalated. Maia was not going to take the refusal sitting down.

"Listen here, Ren," the disdain in her voice was highly noticeable. "She's a no good…"

"Stop it."

"…self-righteous…"

"Maia, quit."

"…full of herself, egotistical, hyper-active, worthless…."

As the insults continued to fly, Pyrrha took initiative, leading Nora outside, as the shorter woman was visibly deflating at the words that were aimed at her. Jaune headed over to stand beside Ren.

"…WHORE! I will not have her anywhere near you!"

"Get out."

Ren's words were quiet, and he was shaking, almost as if he was fighting to keep some inner monster in check. However, it was blatantly obvious where this was going.

"What was that?"

"You heard me. Get. Out."

The martial artist was still looking down at the floor.

"But…"

As she started to protest, he shot his head up to bring his face into view.

"No, Maia. We. Are. Done. We were through years ago. And you know that full well. Why can't you get that through your thick skull?"

"Ren, listen…"

"No. YOU listen."

It was clear from his face, contorted in anger, that he had heard enough and was not going to let her go on in her delusion.

"It was you who decided that I was going to marry you. You decided that I wasn't allowed to follow my dream. And I know that you got the message that we were through."

"But I'm looking out for you!"

"No! No you aren't, Maia! You are the one being a spoiled brat here! You just called my partner, my friend, everything but human!"

Jaune reached out a hand to place it on his team mate's shoulder.

"Ren…"

"Not now, Jaune. This needs to be said."

He then returned his attention to Maia.

"And if you ask me, that makes you a terrible individual. One that I wouldn't even waste a single breath on past this conversation. I want nothing to do with you. Now, Maia," the contempt was obvious in his voice. "Get out of my sight, and never come near me again."

He then turned his back and headed over to the counter to check them in. Maia, meanwhile, had turned around, and was looking for where Nora had gone to. Deciding that she was not inside, she headed towards the door.

Outside, Pyrrha was doing her best to calm an understandably pissed off Nora Valkyrie.

"I still wanna break her legs!"

"Nora, I understand that. But it won't help matters at all."

No sooner had those words passed her lips, than Maia burs through the doors. As she caught sight of the two women, she narrowed her eyes and shot one last round of vitriol at Nora.

"I hope you're happy, bitch!"

She then stomped off down the street in a fit.

The self-proclaimed Queen of the Castle would have taken off after her, presumably to break her legs, had it not been for two things. The first was that Pyrrha was holding her back. The second was Jaune walking out onto the veranda and seeing them.

"We're all checked in," he said, rubbing his short blonde hair slightly nervously.

"Do you think that she will be back?"

"I… don't think so, Pyrrha. Ren really ripped into her after you left."

He then held the door open so his team mates could re-enter the hotel. As they crossed the lobby, they were slightly confused by the hotel staff who were giving them a thumbs-up. They then met up with Ren by the elevator.

"I'll explain up in the room."

They entered and headed up to the third floor. During their ascent, Ren looked over at Nora.

"Nora, I…"

"Ren, not right now."

With those words, an uneasy quiet fell over the group. A quiet that would grip them until they reached their rooms and entered the first of the two adjoining temporary residences.

"So, I guess I have some explaining to do."

Ren's face was genuinely worried, and Nora sitting dejectedly on the bed didn't help any.

"Maia and I. We used to be a couple. Years ago. Yes. We were engaged. My mother called it off when she realized that we would only manage to make each other miserable."

"Lemme guess: somebody didn't get that memo?"

"Not exactly, Jaune. She refuses to believe that anybody would ever do something like that to her. You saw how she reacted to me telling her off in the lobby. In any case, she was the only one who was against me being a Hunter. After the message was delivered, I left for one of the academies, and met Nora. We began looking out for each other and have been inseparable ever since."

He then sat down next to Nora and placed a hand on hers. As she looked over, he could tell for certain that she was upset.

"Come with me? I want to talk to you alone."

He then stood up and she followed him, rising slowly to her feet. They then walked through the door into the adjoining room and closed it, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha in silence.

"That was… unexpected."

"Yes, Jaune. It was highly unusual."

"You should have seen Ren! He totally tore into her!"

"Jaune, I know. You told me. I think that we should move forward from here. Let's get to bed. We have to leave early in the morning."

The pair then changed into sleepwear and climbed into one of the two beds in the room, holding each other close.

In the next room, Ren was deep in conversation with Nora.

"I still think I should have broken her legs."

Ren smiled. It was that attitude that had caused him to become close to the orange-haired woman in the first place. Sure, it meant that she would take some risks that weren't always necessary, but he wouldn't change her for the world. She turned to Ren, her eyes searching.

"Why didn't you mention her before?"

"Nobody asked. And, to be honest, I actually thought that she would have given up by now."

"She obviously hasn't."

"I noticed. I'm sorry."

Nora smiled slightly and moved to sit down next to her partner. Her rear planted on the bed, she leaned her head towards him, resting it on her shoulder. This caused him to look over at her.

"Are you alright?"

"I don't know. Ren?"

"Yes?"

"Can I just stay like this?"

The taller male smiled. He hated to see her upset.

"Sure. Just know that we are leaving early in the morning."

"Mmhmm."

"So we should consider sleeping."

The two then leaned back and their backs made contact with the soft mattress. Ren then made a move that took Nora slightly by surprise. He moved his arm to wrap it around her.

"Stay with me?"

Nora didn't say anything. She simply snuggled in closer, placing one of her arms over his torso. She was asleep within moments. Ren smiled and closed his eyes. Neither one would wake until the next morning.

To Be Continued…

Alright. Here is the thing: Maia is a throw away character. She has no bearing on the over-all story other than expanding on Ren's past a little, and she is meant to be hated. She was made to create some drama. And I feel that she did just that.

Additionally, this was meant to end kinda fluffy. It should pick up again in the next chapter.