I've returned peeps! And I'll apologize if this chapter seems a little bad; I finished it at 4:13 a.m. and I didn't sleep a wink. Oh yeah, UnknownChild, I'm not sure if that's a threat or whatnot...but please don't kill me. I do plan on making a sequel after this. Oops, did I let that slip? Anyway, enjoy!

"I choose Ruby Rose."

I widened my eyes in surprise. Blinking, I processed the information as Herald's finger was pointed squarely at my girlfriend sitting next to me. Slowly turning to face her, I could see a calm, yet confident look on Ruby's face as she slowly stood up.

"Wait, Ruby!"

I reached out and grabbed her hand, catching her attention.

"I'll be fine, Del," she said back, albeit quietly. I almost couldn't hear her. Blinking again, I let my grip slip as she made her way down to the arena. I couldn't help but have a bad feeling about what was about to go down.

Ruby hummed a familiar tune to herself as she walked around campus, trying to find her elusive sister, Yang. Despite having several distinct features, Yang was surprisingly sly as Ruby would usually spend most of her days looking for the fiery blonde. However, the first blonde she ran into wasn't Yang. It was Herald.

"Ruby," said girl had said to her.

Ruby cocked her head in confusion, ready to greet her cheerfully as ever until Herald suddenly said, "…You really don't suit Delta…."

Stopping what she was about to say, Ruby processed the information as Herald gave her a sly smirk and said, "I mean, just look at you! What kind of guy likes silver eyes? Or that stupid short cut hair? Or even those small things you call breasts?"

Ruby's chest suddenly grew hot and heavy at the remarks. She could feel her eyes beginning to water up as she slowly began backing away from the other girl. Herald smirked; her tactics were working.

"I mean," Herald continued, "Please; Delta would be much better off with someone who could actually physically match him!"

"Th-that's not true!"

Ruby began firing back.

"D-Delta cares about me more than anything! He doesn't care about that corny stuff!"

"Pfft, yeah right," Herald shot back, "You should see him around me! He practically can't keep his eyes off of me!"

Ruby felt her face grow hot. It was true that Delta was around Team ERTH a lot. But what he had always told her was that he would need to confirm stuff with Echo. Now that she thought about it, he was going to their room an awful lot lately. So much that what Herald was saying seemed almost too true. However, Ruby denied it.

"Th-that's not…true!"

"Oh yeah?"

"It's not! It can't be!"

"Then let's make a bet then."

"Huh?"

"Next week in our practice duels, if you win, you get to keep him. However, if I win…."

"Then you'll break up with him."

The words echoed through Ruby's mind as she entered the ring, facing her opponent. Herald smirked as she pulled out her weapons; gauntlets with blades protruding out of the sides that she called "Southern Gale."

Crescent Rose unfolded into scythe form as Ruby took her stance, loading up her basic ammunition as the two girls took their stances.

"Are you ready?"

The two nodded.

"Then…BEGIN!"

With a gunshot, Ruby fired out of her stance, petals in her wake as she swung her scythe right at Herald, who easily parried the attack, aiming for Ruby with her other gauntlet. Ruby once again fired another round, getting around the blade, but then suddenly found herself blown backwards by what seemed like a huge gale.

With a grunt, Ruby scrapped along the ground painfully, finally jamming the blade of her scythe into the metal ground and regaining her footing. Gritting her teeth, she looked up at the plaxen blond, who was smiling triumphantly at what she had just did as she took her stance once again.

"So she can control wind as well," Ruby thought to herself, her tactical mind ever observant, "But it's not like Wind's where he can condense it. She creates gales after every swing."

Gritting her teeth, Ruby once again fired another round, charging in to test her choices.

I watched on nervously. I didn't tell her, but Ruby was really…well, how do I put it…out of it. She had been for the past week. Why she had been, I wasn't really sure, although I knew it had something to do with Herald. In fact, if Herald thinks that I like her, I don't. Do I give her credit for being pretty? Yeah. But she's not in my taste in the least. The only reason why I was going to Team ERTH's room nowadays was to deliver messages from Sierra to Echo, and vice versa. Don't ask me why I'm the messenger, I just am.

"Ruby's kinda out of it, don't you think?"

I looked at Sierra, who motioned towards the arena. I turned back to face it, seeing Ruby charging in more recklessly than she normally would.

"Jeez," I muttered, "Calm down, Rubes."

"Gyah!"

Ruby quickly regained her balance, panting in exhaustion as Herald asked, "What's wrong? Tired already?"

"Hehe," Ruby smirked, annoyed, "As IF!"

Firing another round, Ruby's scythe blade met Herald's gauntlet as she finally landed a kick to the plaxen blonde's gut. Herald let out a gawking sound, doubling over slightly as Ruby withdrew Crescent Rose into gun form, firing a round right at the other girl, sending her flying backwards. Grinning, she changed Crescent Rose back to scythe form as Herald, rising from a cloud of dust, gave a hoot of surprise and said, "Not bad…that actually hurt a bit!"

Gritting her teeth again, Ruby pointed Crescent Rose backwards as Herald reset her position, swinging at midair. Ruby raised an eyebrow in confusion, then gawked as she was suddenly hit with what seemed like condensed air. She grimaced, her mind thrown into confusion.

"Wait, what!? How!? She shouldn't be able to condense air!"

Looking up, Ruby saw the now towering figure of Herald standing before her as the plaxen blonde said, "Surprised?"

It was then that Ruby noticed the slight swirling of aura around Herald's gauntlets. Widening her eyes in shock, Ruby attempted to get away, only to be blasted by another wind cut as her aura depleted even lower than what it was at. Crawling back to her feet, Ruby could feel the energy sapping out of her with her aura as she eyed down Herald, who was grinning ever so confidently.

"Wanna give up?"

Shaking her head, Ruby picked up Crescent Rose once again, holding it up as she prepared for a last stand. She wasn't about to give up Delta. And if she was, she wasn't about to without a fight.

"Khh…," Ruby spat, finally yelling as she charged the blonde. Herald grinned, throwing yet another air blast at Ruby. This time, however, Ruby slowed down her approach. Albeit barely, she could see the distorted line speeding towards her after years of practicing with her semblance. Carefully calculating the trajectory, she angled Crescent Rose downwards, firing a round at the last moment as she streaked over the blast, her target right in her crosshairs. Herald's eyes widened in fear as she raised a gauntlet up, ready to slash Ruby down.

"Here Ruby."

Ruby blinked in surprise, taking a small box as Delta scratched the back of his head, nervous of his girlfriend's reaction to her gift. Ripping the wrapping apart, Ruby quickly took note of the "To" and "From" tag on it, catching her attention even more as she quickly took note of the velvety feel of the box.

"I hope he didn't buy anything expensive,"she thought to herself as she opened the box, gasping at what was inside.

"Like it?"

Inside was a chain necklace with a locket on it.

Blinking in surprise at the gift, she opened the locket, seeing a picture of them both when they were younger, Delta with his glasses, as well as her with her cheeky smile, both on one side, then the picture of them kissing that Sierra and Yang had swiped from them. Blushing, she found herself holding it against her chest as Delta continued watching her expectantly.

"…I love it, Del," she stated, unable to hide a guilty smile of happiness.

"TIME!"

I noticed Ruby's eyes widening in fear. I knew why as well. Her momentum at which she was flying at Herald at was too great. Herald's eyes widened as well; she couldn't stop her swing. Stopping a swing midway was basically like trying to stop yourself mid jump.

Standing up, I could faintly hear Sierra yell at me to stop. I didn't care. Ruby's life was in danger. But I didn't have anything I could synch to. Unless….

A loud "CLANG" filled the air, as well as the snapping of fragile chains as Ruby scrapped along the ground painfully, shutting her eyes. Crescent Rose scrapped along the ground several feet away as the class watched in awe. Delta, with a broken chain in one hand and his sword in his other hand holding back Herald's gauntlet blade, breathed heavily as Glynda Goodwitch stated, "Oh my, are you alright, Ms. Rose!?"

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, feeling her face heat up as a broken strand of chain fell from her hair as she sat up. She could feel her eyes begin to water as she felt her heart shatter, knowing that she had lost the fight. Her heart slowly began to shatter as she could hear Herald say, "D…Del…ta…?"

Footsteps followed as she looked to her left, seeing Delta's extended hand.

"Hey," he asked, "You alright?"

Ruby blinked, trying to maintain her composure as she croaked, "I…I'm alright…!"

Delta blinked in response. He wasn't believing it. He knew she was lying.

Turning back to Herald, he shot her a good look, then turned and picked Ruby up in a bridal carry, causing the class to woot in surprise he said, "I'm taking her to the nurse."