man, i've been gone a while. it can't've been too long, though...
*goes onto Ren's Dare*
"last updated September 4th"
holY SHI-
Updated 5/29 to accomodate for plot changes in next chapter. :)
Yang's Arc P. 7: Prep for the Finale, drum-roll please!
They were still walking to the amusement park when Ren stopped walking. "Oh."
"Oh?" Yang, not catching on, stopped after she noticed that a certain green-clad huntsman wasn't on her left-hand side. She looked at him, a question in her eyes. "Oh, what?"
He didn't even look at Yang when he spoke.
"She's in trouble."
"Nora?" He didn't respond. "How can you tell? Don't tell me you guys have some sort of mental connection, too."
A small frown slighted his face. "No, but there is a suspiciously pink cloud of smoke coming from that direction," and gestured in said direction.
Looking to where Ren was directing her, she expected a tiny, wafting, wispy cloud.
Lilac eyes widened as she instead gazed upon what looked to be a mushroom made of pink cotton candy.
"Oh."
At an abandoned cotton candy factory...
"PYRRHA, YOU'VE GOTTA BELIEVE ME! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"
A mane of red hair shook left and right as she just sighed, the scroll almost emanating Pyrrha's aura; it was comforting, gentle, and just a bit irritated by the situation. "Nora..."
She redirected her attention to Jaune, standing behind the Mistralian champion with a facepalm propped up on an arm going across his chest. "JAUNE! C'MON! You know me! Little ol' Nora couldn't hurt a fly! Certainly not rampage through a cotton candy factory! Right?"
After a few more seconds of silence, the scroll spoke up. "... Officer, uh...?"
The civilian police officer looked at the video on the scroll, tired eyes meeting fresh sky-blue. "The name's Valentine."
"Uh, Officer Valentine, could..." The voice on the scroll swallowed. "Could I speak to you in private, please? It's about the person you've got detained right now?"
"THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT!" Struggling a bit more against the three sets of cuffs on her hands and six other officers holding onto her arms and legs, the officer looked at the scroll.
"You're hunters, aren't you."
The officer saw the teen purse his lips. "Yeah. How'd you tell?"
"Well, for one, it took three officers to put the cuffs on her, and two more pairs to keep them on." Valentine's eyes went to the compact hammer that the sugar-powered orangette nearly blew away his whole squad with, its new home a wrecked conveyor belt that was now doubling as a table. "And the second thing that gave it away? The big... hammer... grenade... thing," trailing off for a lack of words.
Jaune awkwardly scratched the back of his head, blond hair falling over his eyes slightly as he looked down.
The officer looked back at him. "So you know her?"
"She's on our team."
The officer rose an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Oum. You've got it rough, don't you-"
"I CAN HEAR YOU!" shouted Nora. She struggled with the officers again, nearly moving a step before getting piled upon by an additional three.
"Nora, just... please," Jaune begged, "let us handle this. I think you've done enough for today."
The orangette visibly relaxed a little bit, all nine officers grabbing onto her breathing a sigh of relief as they could finally slightly relinquish their grip on the surprisingly strong teen.
"Okay..." She trailed off in a defeated voice, the same voice that Jaune and Pyrrha would hear her speak in when Ren forced her to complete her homework.
Taking a deep breath in and letting it out, the officer let a chuckle out, getting the attention of everyone in the room.
"You kids go to Beacon?"
Pyrrha answered for the three of them. "Yes, we do, and I do apologize for our teammate's actions. We're coming down there rig-"
"No, no, no need for that." He waved his hands. "No need for you to come down. It's a long ride anyway." Both Jaune and Pyrrha looked at the officer, eyebrows furrowed and heads tilted through the screen on the scroll.
"Why?" they asked at the same time.
"We'll bring her to you." He cleared his throat. "I will have to report this to your headmaster, though, young miss." Nora looked at the officer. Blowing a puff of air through the corner of her mouth, she then looked at the scroll. Jaune and Pyrrha were both looking at her, silently imploring her to go gently into the night.
"Oh, alright..."
A nod of his head and the officers let go of her, although reluctantly, eyes still tracking her warily as she walked her way to the Vale PD van.
The officer looked back at the scroll. "Protocol dictates that hunters and huntresses in training are to be sent to Beacon in the case of misdemeanors. That'll include this occasion. You'll be getting her within the hour, so is there anything I should know before cramming her into a vehicle?"
Jaune spoke up first, almost hurriedly. "Make sure she doesn't get her hands on any sugar, please."
"And again, we're very, very sorry for this. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again." Pyrrha, ever the diplomat, bowed her head slightly.
"Oh, and please don't taser her," Jaune finished.
The man tilted his head. "Why?"
"Long story short, her semblance acts like a massive battery waiting to be charged. So just... don't let it happen." He paused. "For everybody's sake, you know?"
The policeman nodded. "Alright." Looking over, he gave a thumbs up, and they heard the sound of an automobile speeding away to what was likely the closest airlift pad. Redirecting his attention back to the two teens, he gave a slight tip of his faded blue PD cap. "I'll be seeing you in a bit."
"Right."
"Yes, thank you, Officer."
Pressing the button to terminate the call, Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other.
"You know when we had that chat last night about whether we should've checked on Nora or not?"
"Yes, I do, Jaune."
"I think we should have checked on her."
Pyrrha sighed. "Yes, we should have. But, no use now..." Walking over to the restroom to change out of her dorm room attire, she kept talking. "I guess that's why we need Ren here, isn't it? To control Nora."
"Yeah, it's like that Yin-Yang stuff he always talks about. Balancing out different forces..."
Jaune was met with the sound of the bathroom door shutting, leaving him alone in the four-person bedroom. Looking down at his scroll, he checked the time.
He thought: Oum Ren. When are you going be back?
Back with Ren and Yang...
"So, what do you want to do about it?"
"Well, hopefully, Jaune and Pyrrha have been contacted of her situation."
"Right... but hey, on the bright side, she won't be spending the night in a jail cell!"
"Correct. The protocol is that hunters and huntresses-in-training- wait." He looked at Yang. "How did you know that?"
She gave a smile. "I have a few family relatives who might've hit the town on occasion when they were still young and preppy."
He rose an eyebrow. "Are one of these family members a certain Tai-Yang?"
"Maybe."
"Well, it's all but certain that the fiery blood inside you must be hereditary."
"I take that as a compliment, thank you very much!" flipping her hair as she said so. "But still, you think she'll be okay?"
"Getting in trouble with the police is not at the top of my concerns. What I am worried about is whether or not there will be a dorm to return to tonight."
"Why's that?"
He jumped at the opportunity to educate a fellow teen. "Are you familiar with the concept of opposites, and how they balance? Yin and Yang?"
"I know one of them," she cracked. "Get it? Because one of them's named... Yang..." She trailed off as Ren just shook his head and kept walking.
"It's the proposition that there are two forces. Strong and gentle, light and dark, warmth and cold. They are complementary to one another, and without the other, one runs rampant."
"So what you're saying is that you're gentle, dark, and cold? Huh."
"Those are but a few pairings with Yin and Yang," ignoring the jab. "But you understand the concept?"
"Yeah, without her inhibitor, you, she goes crazy like Ruby on a cookie high."
He blinked. "A what?"
"Cookie-high." She said it like it was nothing. "You know, when someone eats a lot of sugar, it's a sugar high?" He nodded. "So, when Rubes has too many cookies, it's a cookie high."
"Due to the excessive amounts of... what?"
"I don't know what the specific ingredient is. I never really tested it that much... but what I do know is that it doesn't work with raisin cookies." Yang made a blech noise. "I didn't like raisins either, so that was okay."
Ren blinked.
"I see," he said with a lack of a better response. They walked in silence for a few more seconds, Ren striding easily while Yang had her hands behind her head, walking without a care in the world.
"So, why wouldn't Jaune or Pyrrha be able to handle her?"
"Although we've all been team members for months, I've known Nora for many, many years now. Jaune and Pyrrha could do in the short term, but Nora tends to have quite the streaks when left unattended." He pursed his lips. "In other words, if she doesn't have something to do while I'm not there, she tends to get incredibly hyperactive."
"Right. So what did she do when you just... weren't around?"
"We haven't parted since we've met," he said. Ren noticed Yang growing a smirk on her face, and he gave a small sigh. "It's simply for comfort."
"Yeah, don't worry Ren. I can understand; you cling to her like family."
Like family? he repeated to himself.
He nodded as a response but stopped talking as they kept walking. Yang gave an audible sigh as she looked up at the sky, the shattered moon of Remnant making itself more and more prominent as the minutes drifted past them.
A few minutes later...
After the conversation about Nora's hyperactivity, Ren asked about Ruby's sleep habits. Comparing them with Nora's, he found interesting similarities in bedtimes and late-night binges of video games.
"Did you coax her to fall asleep using pancakes and copious amounts of maple syrup as a bribe?" she asked, grinning at him.
"No." She looked at him, clearly interested. "It was a combination of honey, a spoon, and a lie that the honey was in actuality horse tranquilizer."
Yang's mouth went ajar. "What? Are you serious?" She started laughing as Ren nodded, looking at her briefly before they reached another intersection. The nightlife was coming alive at this time, with restaurants and nightclubs now opening their doors to the customers that roamed the metropolis of downtown Vale. The ocean and the docks came to light with the fading, flashing lights of schooners and bright greens on moorings that signified safe harbor, and crowds began forming at intersections and crossings.
"I am entirely serious. It worked well. She went to sleep within the minute and she was none the wiser when she woke."
She was still chuckling when she looked back at him, Ren himself looking slightly amused. "Why horse tranquilizer? Couldn't you just use... you know, the regular stuff?"
"I would, but sadly Nora does not qualify as, 'regular stuff'."
"Gotcha."
The pedestrian light turned green, and the pair walked with the general crowd, weaving their way through a few people who were still looking down at their scrolls, not paying attention to what was directly in front of them. Reaching the other side, Yang looked around.
"It's been too long since I've hit the town... I could stay here all night if I wanted to!" She looked at Ren, his expression that of someone who did not agree with something recently said. "Don't worry, I know that you need to get back to your queen. And besides, I've gotta get to the bus pad too. Gotta greet Rubes and Weiss-Queen."
He nodded. "Of course," taking a left and seeing the familiar sight of the park's front gate once more.
Once they got close enough, they heard a voice shout out from the booths. "Ah! Welcome back you two!"
Yellow bracelet-bound wrists waved. "Hello again!" Walking up to the stand once more, Ren following behind, she produced her pass in her hand. "You remember us?"
"Yeah. Helps for remembering all those kids that try to sneak in." Taking the pass, she gave them a quick scan and tore off a sensor that signified the ticket could no longer be used past this day. She motioned with his head. "Go on ahead, you two. Remember, park closes at eleven!" she said, handing back the passes.
Stuffing it back into her pocket, she gave her two thumbs-ups. "Got it! Thanks!"
Ren gave a minute smile and nodded to the man as they walked through the turnstile. Once they made it through, they were greeted with a far more illuminated park than the one that they left in the afternoon. From a distance, they were able to see the highest of coasters, but the walls around the grounds prevented them from seeing ground level up until they got into the park.
The ground itself was illuminated with arrows painted in florescent colors, each leading towards a specific part of the park. The stalls were now equipped with pizza, hot dogs, and churros as seating area was set up to cater to the plentiful crowds during the late-night rush. People were already starting to sit down, either resting from the day they've already or the night that lied ahead. All of the rides were now up and running- much to Yang's audible joy and Ren's silent ire. Signs with flashy letters showed off the name of the sky-high rides as carts soared about on dust-colored railings, the carts themselves leaving trails of light behind them as they sped across the night sky. Crowds of people were still milling about, but the park was large enough to accommodate; a world-wide acclaimed amusement park has to maintain profits and happiness levels somehow.
"Wow. This looks..."
"Impressive," Ren finished for her. He spied yet another ride that looked as if it were dunked in florescent light. "I wonder how much dust it cost to illuminate all these rides."
"Lots, probably. I'll ask Weiss 'bout it when she gets back tonight."
Ren looked at her, turning his head faster than he usually did. "When are they coming home again?"
"Midnight? I dunno." She grinned. "Plenty of time, right?"
Midnight. Wasn't that later than what she previously told me? He dismissed the thought, guessing that Yang was likely not paying attention to him the first time he asked. In that case, I still have four hours, maximum.
Yang looked at him, arms away from her body as she motioned. "C'mon, flower-boy!" She said it loud enough that other people heard it, but he didn't care about the smiles he was getting from the civilians.
As he subconsciously adjusted his sleeve, he shook his head. "Coming, Yang."
Smiling in satisfaction, she turned around and slowed her pace a bit. Once she heard the signature footsteps of Ren- quiet and paced as if each move was calculated- she looked over her shoulder.
"C'mon! I don't have all night with you, so hurry up."
"In a way, you do," he mumbled.
The crowd they weaved through was sizable, filled with all manners of Faunus and humans of varying ages. Children were pulling their parents along by the hand as they ran with their pointer finger extended at a cotton candy stand or another kid-sized ride, and teenagers the age of the two Beacon students were walking in groups, some pairs hand in hand, enjoying the spectacular show of lights that the amusement park provided. They just kept walking, Ren loosely following behind Yang as she simply walked where she wanted. After all, she had no real destination in her mind except for finding something fun to do.
"You may now disembark. Please check all belongings..."
"Well," Yang said over the intercom as she unbuckled herself, "that was fun, wasn't it Ren?"
Himself already unbuckled, he was dusting off some invisible specks of dust off of his tunic. "It was enjoyable, yes."
"... have a nice rest of your day!" said the automated intercom, finishing as the next group of roller-coaster riders ambled to their seats on the newly vacated cars. Ren and Yang walked out of the crowd, Yang walking in the direction of the park's edge, an edge shared with the ocean that gave resting visitors and thrill seekers a clear view of the blue waters.
Ren didn't mind the silence. He knew, however, that silence wasn't the norm for Yang, and looked as she began to slow her pace. Before he could ask what was wrong, Ren heard a sigh.
Stopping, she turned around to looked at the view of dust that illuminated the night. "This is nice, isn't it?" He looked at her as she said the words while looking not at him, but up at the lights that filled her vision.
He looked up as well but kept his silence.
"If only I could see this every night. All I've got is Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, but..." she trailed off. Giving herself a smile, she continued. "It still feels like more enough with them, you know?"
Another slight pause.
Returning the eye contact, she spotted a bench and motioned for him to come with. As they walked, Ren formulated a reply in his head.
More than enough, he thought. A team is everything to an individual, and you can't have the team without the individual.
The two of them taking a seat on the bench located right next to a ramen station, Ren spoke. "Yes, having a team is nice. Teammates stand by each other, and they would do anything to help you."
"Right?" She nodded her head. "I knew you would get it, flower-boy."
The two of them sat in silence for a while, both of them watching the crowd and the lights above them.
"It's weird how our teams are everything to us now. How we've gotten along so well after how we started. I didn't even get a chance to start missing home before I started arguing with Weiss," she joked.
"I suppose that is why we trust Ozpin," Ren replied. "He knows how teaming works, and ensured that we would work to our fullest capacity with the right people."
"Or maybe he just got lucky." Ren gave her a skeptical look, and she chuckled. "Oh, come on. Did you not hear us fighting right across the hall a few months back when Weiss was still being the ice-cold ice queen?"
Ren thought back, and now clearly remembered. "I do remember. But all is well now between you all, right?"
"Yeah. Blake and Weiss have made up, and Rubes even made a little team attack for them. I go shopping with Weiss, and Weiss reads with Blake sometimes." Yang made a thinking noise, a neutral hm. "Did you guys have any problems when you first met Pyrrha and Jaune?"
"No. Our biggest issue was communication mid-combat." Ren looked around, noticing the moonlight's reflection on the water. "And of course, making sure that Nora didn't raid our community pantry every morning. That was primarily my job."
She chuckled. "Yeah, so no actual fighting?"
"Not us, no."
"Did you ever fight with Nora?"
The question caught him off guard. "Fight? With Nora?" he repeated.
"I mean, I've argued with Ruby," she explained. "It just happens with family, so I thought you two would have your moments too, you know?"
Ren thought back the years before Beacon, when they attended prep schools and lived in their own, small house. "We have had a few, occasional arguments, yes. But they only served to strengthen our relationship as time went on."
"Same here. It's funny how, when you think about it, we argued about such stupid things." Yang went back to arguments with Ruby about cookies, adding weapon mods to her scale model of what would eventually become Crescent Rose, and whether or not their drunkard of an uncle was a good influence or not.
Ren thought of debates over syrup limitations, bedtimes, and homework. "However unremarkable in topic, though, they did get rather heated," he said, half to himself and half to Yang. Shouting was not unheard of when it came to arguments, as Ren had to learn how to stand his ground against Nora's attempts to whittle down his will to force her to do homework.
"Yeah, they did, didn't they." Yang remembered how she had to fend off Ruby's puppy eyes and semblance when she tried to get the cookie jar from Yang's reach. However much they shouted at each other, they always ended the day with something like a game of tag or a pillow fight. The winners, respectively, were Ruby and Yang, but it didn't matter to them. They went to bed happy and content with what they had: family.
Another shared minute in silence. Both Ren and Yang, although neither of them could read minds, knew that they were both reminiscing. They let it continue, uninterrupted. Coming across fond memories in the presence of another who could respect the silence- the nostalgia of memories- was rare to come across.
It lasted for about thirty seconds before Yang broke it.
Out of nowhere, she jumped up. It startled Ren- he was in the throes of remembering another argument over whether or not Nora could add a syrup dispenser on Magnhild when Yang burst with energy.
"Oh my Oum, Ren, I almost forgot!"
She looked alarmed, almost panicked as she stood and put her hands atop of her head, fingers interlaced as she looked at him.
"What's wrong? Did you lose something?" He looked at her pockets and could see the spare change from their shopping spree midday. She didn't seem to be missing any clothing accessories either.
"No, I almost forgot the last, final attraction of the day! I wasn't supposed to bring you here!"
He blinked, mind immediately racing to how she could be so forgetful of her schedule. "What? How could you forge-"
Yang turned to the ramen stand next to them and slammed down two five lien cards. "Two servings, one extra spicy and one regular to go!"
The old man behind the counter nodded and as Yang turned her head to look at Ren, apparently oblivious she interrupted him. "I was thinking about the nightlife so much that I forgot about our stunning, real nightlife finale!" Ren still looked skeptical. "It's not a Yang Xiao-Long day if we don't go there," she added.
At the moment, Ren was still confused. "How can you forget your main attraction?" he finished.
The man bringing up the two servings of ramen in two to-go boxes and chopsticks taped to the side, Yang thanked the man and grabbed Ren by the sleeve cuff, pulling him off the bench and shoving his serving of ramen, the regular flavor, into his chest as she relinquished her grip and motioned with her head to follow her.
Yang then took off to a surprisingly fast sprint, and Ren was left with a confused look on his face and a box of hot ramen in his chest as he wondered just where they were going. Sighing, he called after her.
"Yang, wait!"
Back at Beacon...
"I swear, it wasn't me, Lacy."
"It wasn't you?"
"It wasn't me, please, please believe me. Why would"
She flipped the page.
"I ever do something like that?" the sentence finished.
"Because you're a liar, that's why." Talking mainly to herself, Blake glanced over at her scroll. It said it was already seven o'clock, and Blake swiped at the lock screen, finding her way to her messaging app- only to find it empty again.
I guess Weiss and Ruby are still en route, Blake thought to herself. But nothing from Yang either?
Restless, she turned off her scroll again, having repeated the same cycle of turning on her scroll only to find it empty and devoid of any contact with the rest of her team. The scroll originally acting as the only light source in the room, the dorm was once again mired in the mixture of the setting sun and rising moon. Looking back at her book, the cat Faunus frowned.
It's so quiet without them here, she thought. Usually, Ruby would be either playing games on her scroll or listening to music so loudly that it leaked from her headphones. At the same time, Weiss would either be shouting at Ruby and Yang to quiet down as she attempted to finish her homework on Aural displacement. Yang would be trying to do something to irritate Weiss... Or me.
She never thought she would miss the noise- after all, they usually made so much noise it wakes her up at unholy hours at night- but such quiet made it feel lonely again.
It's just like when I was with the Fang, she thought. Lonely, with some trees to keep me company and Taurus to keep me in check. She leaned over and swung her legs out, looking at the door. Her book still clutched in her right hand, she brought it onto her lap and fiddled with the silk bookmark that she got from the festival yesterday.
"I wonder what JNPR's doing," she mumbled. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were never very loud across the hall except for some nights when Blake awoke to hear one of three team members- Ren, Jaune, or Pyrrha- attempting to calm down a hyped-up Nora. They never made too much noise otherwise, though- and she guessed that Ren was the reason why Nora hadn't torn down the dorm room, building, and Beacon's entire campus yet.
So what do they even do in their free time? Pyrrha has Jaune running ragged, that's for sure. Are they training right now?
Pursing her lips, she decided to find out. The huntress needed something to do and, strangely enough, she was seeking out voices instead of embracing their absence.
Call me domesticated, she joked to herself as she stepped into the middle of the room and stretched. After hearing several satisfactory cricks, she tied her bow and grabbed her scroll, tucking it into her pocket and placing her book on her dresser.
"See you later," she said to the book as she broke eye-contact with the cover page, "A Learned Memory," and walked towards the door. Taking a step into the hallway, she took a glance around. All of the dorms were quiet, some with their lights out already. Sunday nights were certainly quieter than Saturdays: even though they were at a school for killing Grimm, they were still at a school, and students oft found themselves in dire need of sleep after the weekend they had.
Taking a few steps, she knocked on Team JNPR's door.
No response.
She knocked again.
"Hello? Pyrrha? Jaune?" she asked.
Still nothing.
They must be training then, she thought. Blake knew that the two wouldn't be sleeping yet- from what Nora and Ren have told her, they train often.
Blake was just beginning to mull over the decision of whether or not it was worth the effort to climb to the roof before she heard Jaune's voice further down the hallway.
"You have to be more careful, Nora. If you can't go outside without creating a zone of mass destruction in Vale, I'm going to have Ren babysit you at all times."
"Awhhh, but Ren's no fun!"
"Nora, how concerned do you think Ren would be if he heard that you got in trouble?" Blake recognized the three voices instantly and looked in their direction as they got closer. "You know better."
Blake heard no response from Nora, instead seeing them turn the corner. Making eye-contact, Jaune and Pyrrha gave her a tired smile and wave, Nora looking as dejected as she sounded.
"Hey, Blake," Jaune waved. "What're you doing out at this time?"
"I was actually looking for you two," she replied. Blake gave a closer look to Nora. "So what happened to you three?"
"Nora had a night out on the town," Pyrrha said.
Blake immediately thought back to how Ren described Nora without his supervision.
He said something about not watching the news this weekend. I guess this is what he meant.
"What happened?"
"She destroyed an old factory. It was already broken down anyway, so nobody was hurt," Jaune said, stopping in front of their dorm. "Man, I really admire Ren's ability to hold onto you, Nora."
She looked at him. "You're not going to tell him, are you?"
He looked at Blake. "Sure." Nora immediately perked up. "If you promise to change the terms of his dare."
Nora nodded, her eager reaction coming through in desperation. "Yeah, of course, sure!"
"Blake and Yang came over last night to tell us that Ruby and Weiss were off on..." he trailed off.
"A partner mission," Blake finished for him, silently praising Jaune for his concern over Ren's wellbeing. "Because of that, Ren will not be able to complete this deal you have with him. So can he do it next week?"
Nora, now looking perfectly fine, struck a pose. Making a check mark with her hands, she stroked her chin and began to think out loud.
"Well, I suppose. It's only fair." Then, she turned around and got face-to-face with Jaune. Even though she was more than a head shorter than him, he was still startled, and backed up while she looked up at him with dangerously mischevious eyes. His back hitting the wall, she jabbed a finger into his chest. "As long as you promise that Ren never hears of what I did."
Blake watched this whole process go down and contemplated whether or not she should tell Nora that Ren already knew his partner was going to create chaos in Vale.
Nobody got hurt, she thought. So, I guess I can keep quiet.
"We won't say anything to Ren," Pyrrha promised. "I'm sure he already knows, though."
Nora frowned, looking away from Jaune and giving him room to breathe. "Yeah, he will won't he. He always knows when I did something I wasn't supposed to."
The orangette's rapid changes in mood, from dejected, regular, then introspective, made Blake wonder to herself if Nora really was just a pure ball of energy.
She and Ren are always next to each other. At the lunch table, in training simulations, probably in bed.
Blake shook her head.
Separate beds. Separate beds, Blake. Those two must have gone through hell to be that close.
"I'm sure Ren won't be that mad at you, Nora." Jaune fiddled with the doorknob to their dorm. "Besides, I don't think Ren's capable of anger," he joked. Pyrrha and Nora both chuckled slightly, Blake barely smiling.
"I'll let you guys get some sleep, then," Blake said.
Nodding, Jaune slid his scroll through a card sensor, and the locking mechanism clicked open. Stepping into the room, Nora was the last to enter.
"Hey, Nora?" Blake said. She turned around, and looked at Blake with fresh eyes.
"Yeah, Blake?"
"Just to let you know, Ren spent his day with me yesterday. He's currently off with Yang right now, and he will be coming back for the rest of the week until next weekend."
Nora nodded. "Rightio. That sounds okay!" Turning around, Blake kept talking.
"You know, Ren's more tolerable than I thought." Nora stopped by the door for a moment. "You're lucky to have him, and your team as such good friends."
The orangette looked over her shoulder, turning slightly with her hands behind her back. She gave Blake a wide smile, and ran.
Directly at Blake.
She didn't even have time before Nora bear-tackled her onto the ground, engulfing her in a surprisingly strong hug.
"Thanks, Blake," she mumbled into Blake's chest.
The cat Faunus tried to look down, to no avail. Her chin making contact with the top of Nora's head, she couldn't help but feel as if she was led into a carefully planned trap by Nora. Then she heard footsteps, one pair lighter than the other, running towards the entrance. Her vision almost obscured by Nora's stray hair, Jaune and Pyrrha looked confused- after a few more seconds, to Blake's confusion, they started laughing.
"Hey Blake? Why's Nora sleeping on you?"
She blinked. "Sleeping?"
"SNNNNRRRRRRRRRR."
Jaune and Pyrrha kept laughing, much to Blake's ire as she tried to shove off the orangette.
"She must be tired," Pyrrha smiled. Grabbing Nora from her sides, she rolled her over onto the floor, allowing Blake to finally breathe. Nora was clearly in dream-land, mouth ajar. "Jaune, come and help me."
He nodded, and the two grabbed Nora and brought her arms over their shoulders. Blake, now leaning against the wall to catch her breath, noticed that while Pyrrha had no issues shouldering the weight, Jaune's knees nearly buckled initially.
"Well, have a good night, Blake. I'm afraid Nora won't be able to welcome back Ruby but give her our regards!" Pyrrha said.
Still slightly out of breath, she choked out an, "okay," before the three members of JNPR closed the door behind them.
"This is what I get for leaving my room," she said to herself.
The decision was then promptly made to go back into her room.
Grabbing her scroll- after she checked it for any damage from the hug, fall onto the ground, or both- she slid it through the sensor and entered. The familiar smell wafted into her nose, of Weiss' dust chambers, Ruby's weapon oil, Yang's hair spray, and Blake's own books. Grabbing her book that she left on the cabinet, she tossed her scroll onto the bed and fell backward onto her pillow. Closing her eyes for a moment, she grabbed her book, felt for the silk bookmark, and opened it to the page she left off on.
"Yes, I believe you could lie. Because you're a dishonest man, Veys. Because you've got the history."
"Please, just give me another chance."
"I'm sorry. But-"
Back with Ren and Yang
"I refuse. Tell me why I must go with you."
"Because it's the terms of the dare! You have to come with me."
"I do not wish for bodily harm."
"Oh, relax. You're not going to get beat up out of all the people in there. You've got me on your side!" she said with her two thumbs pointed at herself.
"That is exactly what I'm afraid of, Yang."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Even if someone wanted to fight us, we could take them."
"Not if you were intoxicated and they actually knew what they were doing."
"Well, now you're just self-deprecating yourself, flower-boy." Strutting over to the entrance, pounding music already vibrating in his chest through the black doors, he swore to himself.
Oum.
"Come on, Ren!"
Oum, why.
The bouncer took one looked at her, and Yang winked.
"Hey there, mister. Mind letting me and my friend in?"
The 'mister,' on closer inspection, was a bear Faunus. Bearing true to his animal trait, he was massive- standing nearly seven feet tall- and bore ears that twitched at every noise. He was already snarling when Yang walked up to him.
"You again." He got closer, leaning over while Yang was unfazed, smiling into the menacing sneer. "You make trouble again and I'll be the one to mess you up, blondie," he growled.
"Sheesh, get a breath mint, guy." She pushed him away by the nose and turned around. "C'mon, Ren."
Looking around, he saw that the line stretched for quite a whiles, with people of all sorts already exclaiming their displeasure at how a blonde and some strangely-clothed male could skip them all.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Yeah, why can they skip!"
"That's not fair, man!"
"Who are you guys, anyway?"
Ren walked a bit faster towards Yang as the bouncer opened the door. Immediately, he was hit with the violent fragrance of energy. The music got louder, the lights brighter.
Oum, please, why.
"We get in because we're cooler than you all," Yang teased. "See you inside, everyone!" Grabbing Ren by the arm, she pulled him inside.
The last view of the outside world he saw was the slit of moon-lit sky between the doors as they shut. The last thing he heard from the outside world was the complaints from the people outside who were waiting for hours just to get in.
His head was filled with the music of the night.
His sight was taken by the neon lights and strobes washing over the crowd.
His breath was taken, too, but mainly by how screwed he was.
Then, the words he dreaded. Loudly, somehow ringing over the drowning cacophony of the chamber, Yang's voice rang true.
"C'mon, Ren!"
He could only stare in disbelief at what lay ahead of him, a brand new world that he or Nora had never even stepped foot into.
"Let's party!"
Outside the doors, after they shut, the Faunus turned on his scroll.
"Hey, I think I just saw that yellow-haired girl."
The response was immediate. "Really? You're sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. You're sure that it's the yellow-haired one you want?"
"Yes, it is."
"She's not alone," the bear Faunus said warily. "I could smell the scent of Beacon on him, too."
"Hm. Well, this doesn't change the plan, Bozo."
The Faunus looked around. "If you say so. Just make it quick, alright? You girls and Junior owe me big time if this works," he muttered.
"Relax, Bozo..."
"... Of course, it'll work," finished the other voice.
"Got it." His finger hovering over the end call button, he looked around. "Thank you for your business, ladies. Tell Junior I send him my best."
"Sure."
Call Ended.
Took me a good half-year to write this chapter. School, ya dig?
Anyhoo, if the poor-quality teasing wasn't enough, there will be Ren and Yang in their final scene next chapter before intermission: going into the few things Ren truly dreads other than that weird-ass, creepy-ass, screaming-ass, head-ass that was in Vol. 4 and did the do to his village, his dad, and probably anything else within a 100 mile radius of that god-awful Grimm.
So, stay tuned everyone. Hopefully, it won't be another six months until I post another chapter.
much love, much love~
P.S: Yes, I did put in a motherfucking JoJo's reference. pls forgib, for eye am a wib.
updated as of 5/29: I've added a new portion at the end. it'll lead far more smoothly into the events in the upcoming chapter!