Hi again. Ugh... Sorry, I didn't realize I uploaded the wrong chapter. If you already reviewed for this chapter, thanks for pointing it out for me and sorry you can't leave your thoughts on the real chapted.
Chapter 12 here for all of ya! I continue to receive amazing support and it makes me work harder to get the next chapter done. More people are starting to send suggestions, which I love and even if you point out a mistake I made, I'm glad because it makes it easier to fix it.
So here the real chapter. Read away!
Yang growled in frustration as she continued to fire shot after shot at the snow before her. However, whenever the snow melted and gave way, it was replaced by another pile. "Hold. On. Guys. I'm. Going. To. Break. Through," Yang grunted out each word between blows.
Behind her, Ruby was scouting the surrounding area, looking for anyone that could help them. Ren had his arms wrapped around Nora, who was sobbing uncontrollably. "I didn't mean to. I panicked and now they're all trapped under the mountain!"
"It's alright Nora. We'll get them out," Ren tried to console her.
Nora threw her face into Ren's chest "But I ignored Jaune and he won't be my friend anymore!"
"Jaune's not going to stop being your friend. This will blow over and we'll be back at Beacon so that we can play that 2v2 game you wanted."
"But I have to be on your team and you suck!" Nora continued to cry.
Yang could hear Ren sigh and call out to her. "How's it coming?"
Yang breathed heavily as she replied. "Not good. There's too much snow for me to melt."
With a flash of rose petals, Ruby reunited with the rest of them. "And there's no one but us around here. We'll have to go back to town for help."
"But they're going to die if we leave," Nora sniffled.
"I think they're fine. They ran into that cave before the avalanche hit them. Let's go back to the village for some help," Ren smiled to his friend.
Inside the cave, the remaining students were not doing any better. "Great! This is just great. I knew I should've packed more fire dust," Weiss complained as she paced back and forth.
"We shouldn't waste our energy if we're going to be trapped in here," Blake tried to calm her down.
"Blake's right. We might be stuck for a while, so we should get our remaining supplies organized." Jaune announced. "Pyrrha, did you finish sorting through the bags?"
"Yes. From what is salvageable, we have enough food and water to sustain the four of us for two day, six lanterns and two sleeping bags," Pyrrha responded.
Jaune frowned. "That's not as much as I was hoping for. Anyways, we should rest for now. We just faced a pack a Beowolves and being tired won't help us think."
Blake and Pyrrha nodded in agreement, but Weiss frowned. "We only have two sleeping bags. What's your idea about that one?"
Jaune blushed, although his face was already red from the cold. "Two of you will have to double up. I don't mind facing the cold for the night."
Pyrrha got visibly angry at his answer. "Jaune, this is no time for you to be a gentleman. This is survival and it will do nobody any good if you die of Hypothermia. We can share a sleeping bag."
Jaune shrunk under Pyrrha's scolding and nodded. Weiss shivered. "Can we light one of the lanterns? It feels like it's getting colder in here."
Pyrrha was about to do as Weiss asked when Jaune stopped her. "We need to conserve them. If the cold gets unbearable during the night, then we can, but we'll have to suck it up for now."
Pyrrha was impressed with Jaune's logic and take charge attitude. She was also pleased that she was able to spend the night cuddling up to him. Pyrrha was confident their friends would rescue them in time and decided to try to enjoy the moment. She set up the sleeping bag while Blake did the same with the other. Weiss approached the Faunus with an unsure look. "Um, Blake?"
The bookworm turned around. "Yes?"
"I know we're going to share a sleeping, er, together, but can you not say anything to Ruby?"
Blake rolled her eyes and smiled. "Sure."
The four soon settled into their arrangements for the night. Jaune and Pyrrha tried to refrain from too much contact within the small sleeping bag, much to the latter's disappointment. However, as the night carried on, the temperature continued to drop and the young Spartan found herself pressed up against her companion. "Um… Pyrrha?" Jaune caught her attention with a nervous voice.
"Hmm?" Pyrrha shivered.
"Uh… What's ya doin?"
Pyrrha broke from her half-sleep daze to understand Jaune's question. She realized that at some point, she must of rolled over and started spooning the blonde boy.
Her face flush, Pyrrha quickly let go and shifted in the bag. "S-sorry Jaune. It's really cold in here. I must of done it without thinking."
"Uh, yeah, of course. Maybe we should light a lantern." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck and reached for the backpack.
"Thank dust!" Weiss sat up shivering. "It's freezing! Colder than any other night."
"We had specially made, heat insulated tents every other night," Blake commented.
Jaune placed the lantern between the two sleeping bags and returned to his position next to Pyrrha. The heat provided by the lamp was minimal, but it did relieve the students a bit.
Further into the night, Weiss sat up again scowling. "This isn't going to work. I can't be the only one who feels as if their body temperature is going to hit absolute zero."
The other three, who also had difficulties sleeping, agreed. "But what else can we do?" Pyrrha asked.
Blake avoided eye contact with the others as she spoke. "Well, there is one survival tactic for when it comes to freezing conditions… but no one here is going to like it…"
Weiss shivered again and growled. "I don't care, anything to warm up."
"I don't know…" Blake trailed off.
"Blake, please. We're getting desperate," Jaune pleaded.
Blake sighed. "Fine. When faced with dangerously cold conditions, one is supposed to remove all clothing and huddle together with another who has done the same and share body heat."
Weiss stared slack jawed at her teammate. Pyrrha refused to even look Jaune's way, her blush covered by the existing red caused by the cold. Jaune sat there for a moment before it dawned on him what Blake just said. With a look a realization and embarrassment, he buried himself back into the sleeping bag. "Well goodnight guys. I'm getting pretty tired."
"But what about staying warm?" Blake inquired with a bit of a smirk at the poor boys expense.
Jaune responded with a nervous laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm fine. No need to resort to drastic measures."
"Jaune, if you're uncomfortable with it, I won't make you do it and I'll suffer the cold as well," Pyrrha said sweetly.
Jaune's movement stopped while Blake and Weiss stared at the red head in shock. "Is she guilt tripping him?" Weiss whispered to the Faunus.
"I think so. I didn't think she could be that cruel," Blake whispered back.
"I-I mean, you don't need to be cold too," Jaune stuttered, Pyrrha's trick clearly working.
"No, no, no. There's no way I'd be able to fit into the same bag as the other two and I wouldn't want to put you in that position," Pyrrha continued.
"Maybe it wouldn't be as bad if we only, um, stripped to our underwear…"
"Well if You're okay with it," Pyrrha smirked in victory.
"I-I think I c-can survive."
Blake shot a knowing a look at Pyrrha, who only shrugged and shifted into the sleeping bag to remove her clothing. The Faunus then looked over to Weiss, who looked uneasy herself. "Let's do what they're doing. We won't be doing anything," Blake tried to comfort her.
"I suppose it won't be that bad," Weiss responded as she mimicked Pyrrha's actions.
"Besides, I wouldn't want to wonder into territory that Ruby's already claimed," Blake snickered.
"Stop hanging around Yang!" Weiss shouted from inside the blanket.
Jaune removed his removed his armor and clothes, all the coldness replaced by his burning embarrassment. When he finished, he froze in place for Pyrrha glomped him from behind and got as close as she could to his body. "Blake was right. This is much warmer," she whispered.
The red on Jaune's face became ten shades darker and he squirmed in her grip. "Let's get to sleep so we can work on getting out in the morning."
"Before we go to sleep," Weiss interrupted, "do we all agree to never speak of this to anyone? Especially Yang?"
"Agreed." The other three responded simultaneously.
Eventually sleep came and the four woke up the next morning. Jaune got dressed quicker than humanly possible and stood facing the cavern wall so the girls could do the same. "You're evil," Blake whispered to Pyrrha with a smirk.
"What!? We were only trying to survive," Pyrrha replied, having difficulty hiding her own smile.
"Well were going to have to get out of here soon or we're going to have to repeat that experience again tonight," Weiss grunted as she finished putting on her combat skirt.
"We still have some supplies. We can last a couple more nights," Pyrrha commented.
The three girls head's snapped to Jaune, who was yelling at the top of his lungs and charging at the caved in entrance with his shield out first. "Jaune, wait!" Pyrrha shouted after him.
Jaune collided into the wall of snow, his aura flaring so high that it created a blinding flash. Tons of snow exploded away from the cave entrance, the kinetic energy blasting the cave entrance clear. The others stared, incapable of believing of what just transpired. Weiss suddenly frowned. "Why didn't you do that in the first place!?"
Jaune laughed nervously. "I didn't think I could. I guess I was spurred on by the fact that no one wanted to repeat last night.
Without another word, the survivors packed their equipment and started the long walk down the mountain. Pyrrha trailed at the back with a gloomy demeanour. Jaune had no idea what impact his words had on her. He doesn't find me attractive. Even if he was embarrassed, even Jaune wouldn't lie about wanting to sleep with a half-naked woman. I guess there is no hope. These thoughts continued for hours until they found the other Beacon students, who were bringing the villages rescue squad.
After Yang's bone crushing hugs, Nora's nearly endless stream of apologies, Ruby's doting all over Weiss and the story (leaving a few details out) of their experience; they walked back to the ship for the ride back to Beacon. "Are you sure you're not mad?" Nora leaned on the seat that Jaune was sitting on.
"I'm not mad, Nora. You were just trying to help. Just be more careful, ok?" Jaune smiled back at her.
Nora hugged him tightly with an "ok" before returning to her seat next to Ren. Ren was watching Pyrrha, who sat by herself with a glum expression. He could tell that the four avalanche victims were hiding something, but he couldn't figure out what… that is, until Weiss broke down and told Ruby everything, apologizing with every word. Of course Ruby forgave her without question, but everyone else on board heard the story. As Yang moved to go profusely tease her sister and her sister's girlfriend, Ren pieced together what was causing Pyrrha's mood. From what he knew about Pyrrha's attempts to gain Jaune's attention and what he thought Jaune's reaction would be, Ren knew he would have to do something before his team fell apart. He decided that when he was alone with Pyrrha, he was going to tell her what Jaune told him, even if it meant breaking Jaune's trust.
Next Chapter: Huntress