Hey y'all, I'm back. So, judging by the non reviews, I hit the nail on the head with Ironwood then? Anyway, please don't hate me for the end of this chapter. Enjoy.

"She what!?"

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. The nurse rubbed her ear and repeated, "She overused her semblance, so her aura is very low right now. She'll have to stay here for a few days."

You've got to be shitting me.

I turned to Hotel, who looked like he was battling his thoughts. I guess he really was because he was the one who had suggested it along with Yang. Lima walked over to her, giving an experimental sniff, then kissing her forehead.

Huh. Why does she do that?

"…I'll be…alright…."

Hotel raised his head as I turned my attention to our leader, who was smiling at us as she continued, "Sorry guys…I…pushed it…a bit…."

"…No apologies…rest…," Lima said, putting her palm on Sierra's forehead.

As we walked out of the hospital wing, I looked up, seeing team RWBY standing there.

"I'm sorry," Weiss immediately said, "I…asked her to show me her semblance and had her do it repeatedly."

"Don't apologize," Hotel interjected, "she took responsibility for her actions."

I shot a questioning glance at Hotel, who answered, "She knew the limits of her semblance."

Unfortunately, I have to agree.

"…Sorry for breaking up the sad silence, but I believe Lima wanted to go training with me," Blake suddenly cut in.

Whoa. That caught my attention. I turned to face Lima, who nodded. Since when did you start training with people that aren't part of our team?

"…Really?"

The girl nodded again, saying, "…really…."

I smiled. At least she's making friends outside of our team.

"Alright," I said, "don't get hurt now, partner."

With that, two faunus girls left.

Weiss glanced away, then asked, "…can I…talk to Sierra?"

"Sure, go ahead," I replied as she entered the room behind us. That left me, Hotel, Ruby, and Yang. Who had an evil smirk on her face. Suddenly, Yang walked over, wrapping her arms around his left arm, saying, "You, are coming with me."

So now just me and Ruby.

"So is she gonna be okay?"

I glanced at her, smiled, and said, "Yeah. She's just gonna have to stay in there for a while."

Ruby let out what sounded like a sigh of relief and said, "Thank goodness."

"You held your own out there."

Ruby's face of relief suddenly turned into that of question as I motioned for her to follow me.

As we made our way down the empty halls, I repeated, "You held your own out there."

"So did you," she replied. I smiled and replied, "But I heard you almost got killed by a Deathstalker in the Emerald Forest."

She cringed and said, "Please don't remind me of that incident."

I laughed, opening the doors as we reached the exit of the hospital building.

Wow, already evening, eh?

I looked at Ruby, who appeared to be in a trance as I felt a blast of heat in my chest. My breath hitched momentarily at the sight of her smiling with the wind in her face, blowing her bangs back. I suddenly found myself captivated by her. Her pale complexion. Her dark red hair. Her silver irises.

"Umm…Delta?"

I snapped back to reality as she stared at me and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"N-no no! I was…thinking about things."

"What things?"

…shit. What the hell do I tell her?

I thought about it for a bit, then said, "About how Lima is training with someone outside of our team-!"

"Liar."

…okay, that's just unfair.

Ruby suddenly got up into my grill, smiling as she said, "I see you haven't changed from back when we were in Signal."

"And I also see that you still can't fight without Crescent Rose," I shot back. Ruby opened her mouth, but then growled and said, "…fine, you win…."

Suddenly, she put her head on my shoulder. Out of pure instinct, I wrapped my arms around her, getting a gasp of surprise from her as she stiffened up, then relaxed. I'd be the first to admit; I didn't want to let go of her. The burning sensation in my chest intensified as I took in the scent of her hair.

…strawberry….

I grinned sheepishly as she suddenly snuggled closer, wrapping her arms around me.

"…Rubes…."

"…hmm…?"

"I…I was…thinking that…."

"Yes?"

"I…really…"

Suddenly, my gut feeling told me that there were eyes on us. I nudged her, suddenly hearing her squeal, as well as stiffen up as I felt her arms release their grip on me. I turned around, seeing Yang and Hotel standing behind us, both of them smiling sheepishly.

"Whoa," Yang said, "things sure are getting hot here, aren't they Hotel?"

"I…can't really disagree," he said, shrugging.

If only he wasn't my teammate, I would've had Alternate Echo cut his head clean off.

"So Hotel."

"What's up?"

"What'd Yang wanna talk to you about?"

"…why?"

"Well, she did call you 'babe' at the tunnels."

"…so she did, huh…?"

Several moments earlier…

Hotel sat on the desk in an empty classroom with Yang circling him. Her smirk was not present as Hotel asked, "…so why am I here again?"

"Well," Yang said, "you're upset, aren't you?"

"Upset? What makes you think I'm upset?"

Yang shot a look at him, causing him to shiver, then sigh as he said, "It's just…*sigh*…I think I made her push herself."

"Sierra?"

He nodded as he said, "She's…been forced to use her abilities far past their limits before at our old school."

"How so?"

"Well," he continued, "the old combat instructors were so impressed with her that they made her use her semblance for extended amounts of time. There were times where she wouldn't be able to even stand because her aura was so weak."

"So then," Yang asked, "why do you think you made her bedridden?"

"Because," Hotel explained, "I told her not to be hesitant."

Yang blinked in surprise, chuckled, then leaned against him and said, "No, I think you did the right thing."

Looking up from his feet, he looked into Yang's bright purple irises as she said, "I'm not the leader of team RWBY, but Ruby's made several sacrifices in the past years. Sierra knew what she was getting herself into. It was her will to protect those that she loves that she did what she did. It's not your fault, Hotel."

"Yang-."

Yang suddenly put her fingers on his lips, stopping him as she said, "You don't need to say anything, babe."

Suddenly, he pulled her into a hug, catching her off-guard as he said, "Thanks, anyway."

Yang returned the embrace, closing her eyes. It was then that she noticed how big he was.

"6'…2" probably," she thought to herself. Sure, she was taller than most of the other girls at Beacon, but Hotel was a giant compared to most of the guys that weren't named Cardin Winchester.

"Hey, Hotel."

Hotel suddenly realized he had hugged her, quickly pulling away and apologizing. Only to be hit with a curveball as Yang pulled him by the collar of his shirt, kissing him. His eyes widened in surprise as she pulled away with a smirk on her face, saying, "Hehe, your big, you know that?"