And now for the continuation...please read/review/enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.
"You could have gotten yourself killed, Ruby! Do you realize how bad of a situation you were in?" Weiss continued her never ending rampage of admonishing Ruby as the three girls walked home from their battle, slightly bruised and tired. "What would have happened if Blake hadn't noticed that you had left without Crescent Rose? What would you have done then?"
Ruby stared at the ground as she shuffled her feet forward, clearly embarrassed and ashamed at her forgetfulness. "I would have just kept running around them as fast as I could…" the young girl timidly said, earning a scoff from Weiss before the white haired heiress drew her breath to begin another tirade.
Yang decided that the poor girl had finally had enough and stepped in, saying, "Everything turned out ok, Weiss, so you can lay off her for a little bit."
Weiss glared at her as Ruby looked up and gave her a grateful smile. Yang placed one hand on Ruby's shoulder and gave her an encouraging grin.
"Everyone makes mistakes, baby sis! I think you were doing quite well for the situation you were in. A true improviser!"
Huffing, Weiss turned away from both of them and muttered something unintelligible under her breath as their home came into view.
"What was that, princess?" Yang asked.
Weiss turned towards her, blue eyes flashing, and angrily shouted, "The last thing we need is another improviser on this team!"
Laughing as she walked up the open the front door, Yang said, "You're right. I think that I should be the only one." She added a wink at the end just to ruffle the girl's feathers a little more.
"I wonder if Blake got called out today…" she pondered as she stepped into the house leaving a steaming heiress behind her.
As she walked towards the kitchen, she heard Ruby softly say, "I'm really sorry, Weiss," tears evident in her voice. Yang didn't hear a response from Weiss, so she quickly glanced back as she reached the kitchen, just in time to see Weiss wrap Ruby in a firm hug that was the likely most tender thing Yang had ever seen the icy girl do.
"Aww…" she said softly to herself as she turned to find Blake sitting at the kitchen table, fiddling with her new scroll.
"Aww what?" the Faunus girl asked as she tore her amber eyes away from the new piece of technology and set it carefully down on the table.
"Weiss is being all cute with my sister!" Yang whispered excitedly, in case the two girls had followed her inside by now. She didn't know why, but it made her extremely happy to see Weiss behave so cutely around Ruby. Maybe it was because then she didn't have to confront the girl about mistreating her little sister; although…on second thought, that might be kind of fun too.
She watched Blake's ears twitch slightly as a reserved smile appeared on her face, which was also just too cute for Yang. She quickly looked away as the younger couple walked into the room, now hand in hand. Weiss looked slightly uncomfortable with the attention, but didn't let go even as a faint blush crept on to her cheeks.
"So, Blake, did another call come in today?" Weiss asked as she looked anywhere but at Blake.
"Nope, all was quiet," Blake said. Maybe it was just Yang, but the Faunus girl seemed almost saddened that another monster hadn't been dropped in the city just so that she could go fight it. "But I did find your old scroll in the closet. I think that it's working now too."
"Oh, here I can make sure it's working!" Ruby said excitedly, dropping Weiss' hand as she waltzed over to look at the device. Yang immediately noticed Weiss' look of disappointment at Ruby leaving her side and sent the girl a knowing wink. Weiss' blush grew as she crossed her arms firmly over her chest and looked pointedly away from the now snickering Yang. Teasing her sister's girlfriend just never got old.
As Ruby was playing with the device, it suddenly started making beeping noises as a new message was received. A similar sound was heard from the devices of the other three girls, as they hastily checked to see what the message said.
Team RWBY,
Important development which needs to be shared with you immediately. Please call ASAP.
-O
Yang felt her excitement rise after seeing the message. A new development? Maybe they had an idea of who the person responsible for the attacks was. Even better, maybe they had an actual name of someone that Yang could personally visit and make pay for all of her lost sleep and relaxation. The looks on Weiss and Ruby's faces told her that they were thinking the exact same thing.
"Let's go see what Professor O. has!" she exclaimed as she started heading out of the kitchen towards the living room opposite the study, which housed the screen and computers they used to have "strategy meetings" with Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch.
As everyone settled into their normal chairs and sofas in front of the screen, Yang noticed that Blake was looking a little lost, just like a kid at a new school at lunch time. Yang patted the seat of the chair next to her, motioning for the girl to sit next to her as Weiss made the call into Professor Ozpin and Glynda.
The screen came to life after several short seconds, revealing an almost life-size view of their mentors.
"Hello girls," Professor Ozpin began, nodding at them as he looked around the room, eyes finally resting upon Blake.
"Oh, Miss Belladonna. It is really nice to see you back with the team again," he said happily. Maybe it was just Yang, he didn't seem at all shocked that Blake was back. Had he expected this to happen all along? She shook the thought from her head. There's no way he could have predicted this happening, not with how she had abandoned them so long ago.
"A rather…alarming…pattern has developed recently. We will play the video we have for you now."
The girls watched intently as the screen cut to what looked like footage from a security camera placed on the corner of a building, overlooking a large public square with travelers walking every which way. It looked just like any other normal space on a busy day with citizens walking to and fro, some in a great hurry while others took their time. After a few seconds, all four girls jumped in their seats as a Death Stalker suddenly appeared out of thin air in the middle of the square.
"A Death Stalker?" Ruby exclaimed as they raptly watched the scorpion-like creature. It seemed a little dazed when it first appeared on the screen, but gradually seemed to come to its senses. As civilians ran every which direction away from the giant creature, it began snapping its claws and lashing its tail out towards them. They watched for several minutes as the Grimm terrorized the area until they saw a familiar flash of red in the corner of the screen.
"Pyrrha!" Ruby exclaimed as they all exhaled in relief. Thankfully, help had arrived on the scene.
They watched as Pyrrha fired several rapid shots at the Death Stalker to draw its attention. The massive creature swung to face the girl and began charging towards her. When it got close enough, it lashed its tail down at her, just as she rolled under one of its claws, slashing up at it with the edge of her shield.
The strike seemed to do little harm as the Grimm quickly swung around to get her in its sights again. Pyrrha got off several more shots, aiming towards its eyes, before the Death Stalker struck at her with its stinger again. This time, Pyrrha didn't have the time to dodge the attack, so she threw up her shield in order to block it. The force from the strike threw the girl backwards some twenty feet; she crashed into the ground roughly and didn't immediately get back up.
Yang felt her level of concern rising greatly. Glancing nervously to her teammates, she saw Weiss with one hand covering her mouth and Ruby with her mouth hanging open, eyes wide. Blake's ears lay flat against her head and she almost looked…scared. They weren't going to watch Pyrrha bekilled, were they?
"Come on, Pyrrha…get up, get up," Yang muttered to herself as Pyrrha began to lift herself slowly to her feet, but the Death Stalker was already almost upon her. She wouldn't have time to get to safety, so she raised her shield again to block another attack from the creature, which would surely send her flying once again.
As the tail lashed out towards Pyrrha, it suddenly snapped sharply to the side as it was hit heavily by a blur of white and pink. Gun shots were now being peppered into the creature's eyes as they saw Lie Ren appear on the screen. Jaune Arc ran up to grab ahold of Pyrrha's arm, pulling her a safe distance away from the thrashing creature.
Nora appeared out of nowhere again as she landed directly on the Death Stalker's back and gave a quick salute towards Lie Ren. She deftly dodged the stinger as it came down towards her and watched as it clanged harmlessly off of the creature's own back. She grabbed ahold of the creature at the base of its tail, right where it could neither sting her nor easily throw her off. As it widely swung from side to side in an effort to dislodge her, no one could doubt that the girl was having the time of her life.
After several seconds, she finally seemed to get bored of the creature. She used her hammer and quickly swung it straight down onto the creature's back. The force of the blow temporarily flattened the creature against the ground as Nora was catapulted high up in the air. At this precise moment, Pyrrha launched her javelin with pinpoint accuracy to the flying girl, who caught it in mid-air as she began her rapid descent back to earth.
Holding the javelin tip down, Nora crashed into one of the creature's eyes at terminal velocity, forcing the javelin into the Death Stalker's head. She quickly jumped away to safety as the creature began flailing wildly for several seconds, before it finally slowed down and eventually came to a stop. The video feed stopped as Pyrrha walked up and retrieved her javelin.
"Wow," Yang began, her own adrenaline pumping from what they had just seen. "Nora sure knows how to have a good time, doesn't she?"
She grinned at her teammates, who all looked at her with varying amounts of dismay written on their faces. She couldn't help feeling slightly jealous that Nora's team allowed her to be completely crazy and no one batted an eye. If Yang were to jump onto a Death Stalker's back, Weiss would never let her hear the end of it.
Weiss added at that moment, proudly, "Pyrrha is so proficient in combat. Did you see that javelin throw?"
Yang giggled as she watched the girl swooning over Pyrrha's fighting abilities. "Jeez, Weiss, I know you have a massive crush on Pyrrha, but you could at least wait for Ruby to leave the room!"
"I do not have a…c-crush…on Pyrrha!" Weiss yelled as her face grew red. She quickly turned to Ruby in concern. "Ruby, you know I don't have a crush on her, right?" she asked pleadingly, begging Ruby to believe her.
Ruby grinned at the heiress and patted her reassuringly on the shoulder in response. Before she could answer, the four girls jumped as they heard someone clear their throat. They suddenly remembered that Professor Ozpin and Glynda were still there watching them. Ruby and Weiss flushed in embarrassment at the display they had just put on for their former teachers.
"So," Professor Ozpin began now that he had their attention again, "can you tell me what is so alarming about what we just showed you?" Yang liked how even though they had graduated long ago, he still treated them all as his pupils.
"We've only been fighting smaller Grimm so far," Weiss answered immediately, no doubt in an attempt to redeem herself. "How on earth did they get a Death Stalker into Vale without being killed themselves?"
"Good question. One for which we're still searching for an answer…" Professor Ozpin trailed off in deep thought.
"Needless to say," Glynda began when it became apparent that Professor Ozpin was too occupied with his thoughts to continue, "We believe that it's now too dangerous for any of you go into battles solo. Split yourself into pairs, so that you'll at least have one person to watch your back in case you come across a Death Stalker or Nevermore."
"Good luck to all of you. And Blake, it's good to see you back," she finished with a quick glance at the still contemplative Professor before shutting down the communication.
Yang stared at the screen as it faded back to nothing. Forming pairs…she didn't know if she was ready to be partners with Blake again so soon. She had thought that they would just be fighting solo for now, and she would only see the girl when they happened to cross paths in the house. But fighting together meant that they would be spending pretty much all day together…could she handle that proximity without falling for the girl again? Could her heart even handle that emotion anymore?
She turned hopefully to Ruby, but Weiss quickly wrapped her arms around Ruby's waist and said flatly, "Don't even think about it; Ruby's my partner."
Ruby saw the predicament Yang was in, and attempted to help her older sister by saying, "W-well…I could partner with Blake, at least for a little while…"
Weiss pulled away from Ruby as if the younger girl had slapped her. Hurt and betrayal flashed across her face as she said, "Y-you don't want to be my partner?"
Ruby waved her arms wildly in front of Weiss as she tried to backpedal out of the position she had just gotten herself in.
"N-no! Weiss, of course I want to be your partner!" she said, grabbing one of Weiss' hands in her own. "I just thought it could be a good short term solution, but I don't want to be anyone's partner but yours!" Weiss gave a small smile in return, somewhat pacified by Ruby's response.
Ruby looked at Yang apologetically as Weiss pulled her closer, protectively. Yang glared at the heiress, not quite convinced that that little display hadn't just been to get what she wanted.
"Well, looks like we're partners again…"
Yang turned towards Blake, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She briefly wondered if Blake could hear her heartbeat with her extra strength Faunus ears, before forcing a smile she didn't quite feel onto her face and replying a little too cheerfully.
"Fine, fine, I guess it makes sense to pair the best fighter with the rookie!"