RWBY: Light Extinguished

Chapter 10

oxoxoxo

If Thatch thought that last night was bad, he had no idea what he would face today.

When Maria and Alison got back from wherever they had been, Thatch had asked them to keep their voices down and bring up Team RWBY as well as Sun and Neptune on scroll video call. Once the two teams were assembled, Thatch pulled out the papers he had taken from the captured APC and presented them before the others. "We know from Roman's speech at the White Fang meeting that Blake and Sun infiltrated that the White Fang has operations in the southeast of Vale." Maria began. "We don't know what those operations are, however, and another problem has presented itself. When we took the White Fang's truck, we found a map marking off an island in the northeast, an island that so far none of us have been able to find on any map."

"That seems like a lot of stuff we don't know." Said Blake. "Do we really know anything?"

"As of recently, we do." Said Maria. "Thatch and Alsion went back to where we stashed the APC earlier and they found something. Thatch, if you will?"

The renegade nodded and picked up the papers. "We know the White Fang sometimes communicate and receive orders through dead drops, leaving notes in a hidden location. You can't trace where the letter came from if it is found by someone else. What we found seems to be a dead drop letter giving orders to the unit we attacked."

"Really?" Weiss asked. "What does it say?"

"I was getting to that." Thatch replied as he began reading the letter. "Commander Leon," He read. "You and your men are to report to the island marked on the map given to you in the last message I sent you. Once there, you will report to a man by the name of Derek Blanch, an accomplice of mine in my operation. You and your men will be under his command until further notice. Just remember, The Abyss does not exist, and the map sent to you is one of the few that marks its location. Keep it close and away from prying eyes." Thatch read. "There's no signature, might be from Torchwick."

"I don't know." Said Sun "Torchwick has never really been the subtle type, at least not as long as I've known about him."

"He's got a point," Thatch said. "Especially since that guy's fashion sense makes Francois and Neptune seem subtle in comparison."

Francois and Neptune both shot glares at the renegade, but Ruby looked like she was lost in thought. "Something wrong Ruby?" Yang asked, concerned about her sister.

"Huh?" Ruby said, coming out of her own thoughts. "Oh, sorry. It's just, where have we heard that name before?"

"Torchwick?" Francois asked.

"No, the one in the letter. Blanch. Where have we heard that one before?"

Maria scratched her chin. Ruby was right, she had heard that name before, the only question was where she had heard it. She frowned. "I don't know..." She muttered. "It's getting late though, let's get some sleep and think about it with fresh heads in the morning."

"We shouldn't give up on it." Said Blake, obviously frustrated. "This is important, guys, and we need to investigate."

"And we will, Blake, but later." Said Maria. "Trust me, it does no one any good to work too hard on not enough sleep. We'll continue in the morning, especially since tomorrow is a Friday, so after that we'll have the whole weekend to search."

Blake looked like she was going to say more when a look from her teammates silenced whatever it was she was going to say. "Fine." She growled. "But we start looking again tomorrow."

With that, the cat faunus ended the call, Sun and Neptune following her example after a quick goodnight. Maria let out a sigh as the call to Team RWBY ended. She pulled out a scroll and began typing a message. "What are you doing?" Asked Alison.

"Sending a message to Yang," Maria explained. "I'll ask her to keep an eye on Blake for her own sake. After all," she paused, looking down in guilt. "I know what it's like to be too focused on payback."

Alison, not wanting to see her leader like this, stepped forward and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We already forgave you for that. Besides, we have other things we need to talk about."

Maria sighed. "You're right." She said, turning to face the boys. "We need to talk. You two remember Ben?"

"How could we forget?" Thatch snarled. "Our former field commander who never led us into a single successful battle in his entire career."

"What about him?" Francois inquired.

"There's no easy way to say this," Maria began "but he'll be returning to our team." The boys' jaws hit the floor. Maria and Alison couldn't blame their disbelief. Thatch had been right, Ben didn't have the best track record with them in terms of both attitude or leadership. "Just let me try and explain." Maria said as she tried to calm the boys down.

"Very well," Francois said, folding his arms. "Explain."

Maria sighed. "He's not going to hold any sort of leadership position, he'll be answering to my orders just like you. He's been recruited through something called the Legion Protocol, meaning that until he has a team of his own, he'll be fighting on our team."

"After everything he did to us, you're just going to welcome him back?" Thatch asked, incredulous.

"Most of what he did was because he believed our loyalty was owed to him for the simple virtue of his leadership." Alison said softly. "Maybe having him as a comrade will be easier."

"Give him a chance." Maria said. "Worst case scenario, the Legion Protocol can be revoked."

Even by the next morning, Thatch was still uncomfortable with the decision to let Ben back on the team, especially after how he treated them. That, however, was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment. Classes had ended for the day, and since it was a Friday, he was now free for the weekend, the upcoming dance included. That said, however, Francois seemed determined to make his life miserable, having brought him out to an empty classroom and telling him to 'just wait.' And so he waited, leaning up against a wall, thinking of the fresh hell he'd drop Francois into after this was over, maybe a vision of watching all his family's money burn while he was dressed in sackcloth and his hair fell out...

His thoughts were soon interrupted as the classroom doors opened again. "It's about time, Noble Boy," Thatch said as he turned to the door. "I was just thinking about you... what is she doing here?"

Indeed, Francois had not arrived alone. Standing with him, and looking none too pleased with him, was Weiss Schnee, her arms folded as she looked in between the two boys, as though silently deciding which one she would stab first when this was over.

"She's going to help us solve your little problem." Francois explained.

"And why, pray tell, did you pick me for this?" Weiss hissed, glaring pointedly at the nobleman.

Francois shrugged. "Well, you were the only girl I knew I could trust with this. Yang is obviously no option, and since Ruby would just tell her sister first thing, that's also out of the question. Blake was also out of the question, seeing as she is... not one for such... activities. Nora is also not an option since she's... Nora, and can you imagine what Maria would say if she saw us doing this with Pyrrha?"

"Then why not ask Maria?" Weiss demanded.

"There is too much chance of her telling Alison about this, and the point of the plan is to keep Thatch's inability to dance properly from her."

"Tell the whole school, why don't you?" Thatch growled.

Weiss rolled her eyes. This was seriously what was keeping Thatch from asking Alison to the dance? If someone didn't ask her for the same reason... who knew the mighty future huntsmen could be such cowards. "You seriously can't dance?"

"I know how to move to music and I picked up a couple moves during my time on airships." Thatch admitted. "Trouble is, this is proper dancing with a girl I actually care about. I've danced in shanties with barmaids, but this is completely different."

"Now you see my plan." Francois said. "I want to make this rude skyfaring criminal-" Thatch growled audibly. "Into a proper gentleman for one night."

Weiss rubbed her temples. "Ugh, fine, I'll help. But you owe me one..." She hissed at Francois.

oxoxoxo

When class ended, Ben approached Maria and Alison, Thatch and Francois having left on what they had called 'personal business.' "So," he asked. "How did they take me joining your team again?"

Maria sighed. "About as well as can be expected. You weren't exactly respectful to them and the boys seem to remember that."Maria turned to see that Alison had subtly positioned herself behind her. And they're not the only one. Maria thought to herself.

"They're not even going to give me a chance?" Ben asked.

Maria scratched her chin in thought. "There might be one way." She mused. "Go to the dance tomorrow night. You go, they see you there, they know that not only do you actually know how to have fun but you're also a human being on their level, making you a lot more approachable than the high and mighty field commander you tried to be." When Ben gave her a confused look, Maria returned it. "What? You have a better idea?"

The soldier shook his head. "No, it's just that... I never figured you for much of a partier."

Maria shrugged. "I'm not, but it's always a good idea to spend time with your teammates. It builds and strengthens relations when you do. After all, people like leaders and comrades they can relate to, and what's more relatable than the desire for socialization." Ben looked at her like she'd grown a second head, and a quick glance behind her at Alison told her she had a similar expression on her face. "What?"

"You're going to the dance?" Ben asked, wondering if this was the same girl who had so thoroughly ripped him apart after he had led her team to defeat.

"Is that so hard to believe?" Maria asked.

"You didn't even go to game night with Team RWBY last semester." Alison pointed out. "And you're going to the Beacon Dance?"

"Game night was a different story." Maria replied with a shrug. "Besides, I do enjoy the occasional party."

Alison's jaw hit the floor. This was the girl so obsessed with beating her rival that she tried to have someone expelled, charged an entire horde of Grimm on her own after they interrupted her walk, and scared the wits out of pretty much any guy who ever spoke to her, and now she was admitting she liked parties?

"Trust me," Maria continued "The leader who spends time with their troops is much more respected than the one off to the sidelines the whole time. Heck, even JULIA is going."

Ben gave her an odd look. "Who's Julia?"

Maria rolled her eyes at the thought. "Just my oh so superior and amazing older sister who just happens to be a the youngest Atlesian General currently working who has an entire legion of specialized troops under her command despite the fact that the kingdoms of Vale are currently in a time of peace and the world should be more focused on defending against the Grimm and less on building an army to make war on each other DAMMIT!"

There was a moment of silence where Alison and Ben just blinked as they looked at the angry centurion. "Uh, are you alright?" Ben said after a few seconds.

Maria took a deep breath and spoke again. "I'm fine, just an argument I had with my family before I came here. In any case, my point is that if a hardass like my sister can come out to the dance, then is it really so surprising that I want to?"

Alison and Ben just shrugged. "I guess I'll go then." Ben said. "I'll see you two then." With that, the massive soldier lumbered off. He had a dress uniform to clean.

The two girls watched as Ben left before turning and walking towards their dorms. Alison turned to Maria. "You weren't serious about Julia going to the dance, were you?"

"Oh, I'm very serious." Maria replied. "We were taught back in Mistral to always attend army functions to raise the morale of the troops."

"Oh..." Alison said softly. "Maybe I'll just stay-"

"Nope, you're coming out with us."

"But-"

"That's an order, Alison." Maria said, holding up a hand to show her authority.

"That's an abuse of power..." Alison muttered.

"Alison, my bitchy sister is no reason to not go to the dance." Maria assured her. "She'll likely stay with the Atlesian students and soldiers and not bother you. Besides, this is a good chance to get out and have fun, unwind a bit before we have to go back to hunting Torchwick and the White Fang again."

Alison sighed. "Alright." She muttered. "But I'm staying with you though."

Maria put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be right there if you need me." She said. The Centurion smiled a somewhat cheeky grin for a fraction of a second. "I don't think you'll want to be with me the whole night though. After all, you'll probably want to dance with Thatch at some point."

"Maria!" Alison hissed, her face turning red as her robes.

The Centurion smirked and kept walking. "You can deny it all you like, but I know it's true."

Alison, having realized she had stopped walking, soon caught up to her partner. "Is it that obvious? I don't think I ever said anything to you..."

"You didn't." Maria confirmed. "Well, you did now, but not before." Alison's face turned an even deeper shade of red at her words. "You do spend a lot of time looking at him when you think no one can see you."

"..." Alison didn't respond.

Maria put a hand on her shoulder. "I won't say anything, don't worry."

"Thanks..." the artist muttered.

"So it's settled." The leader confirmed. "You're coming with us to the dance and that's an order."

Alison smiled. "Fine... But that's still an abuse of your power."

Maria shrugged. "I don't think I've abused it so far, maybe I'm entitled to it on something this small."

"I don't know about her," Said a new voice, slick and cool "But I'd let you abuse your power on me as much as you want."

The girls turned to the source of the voice, a blue haired young man in a blue armoured leather jacket with a seemingly permanent cocky grin on his face. "I'm sorry," Maria said, already annoyed with this boy. "Do I know you?"

"The name's Indigo Aesir." He said, holding out a hand for her to shake.

Maria folded her arms and frowned at him, clearly unimpressed.

"I'm one of the exchange students from Vacuo."

"Still not ringing any bells." Maria replied.

"I was the sniper and leader of my team when they beat hers." He said, pointing at Alison, the artist looking somewhere between annoyed and nervous.

"Oh, right, that was you, wasn't it?" Maria said, a small smile growing on her face.

"I thought that might jog your memory." Indigo said, holding out his hand again. "And what is your name, armoured angel?"

Maria took his hand and gave it a rough squeeze, the sniper wincing in pain as she did. "Maria Gaia." She replied "Her team's leader."

Indigo soon realized exactly what he had done wrong here. "You know, I never said there was anything wrong with her team or anyone on it..." Indigo said, chuckling nervously as he noticed Maria had not only not released his hand, but her look was also growing more sour with each moment. "I was just saying that we managed to beat them."

"Well, that's one way to put it." Maria said. "Another way is to say that you beat a team without its leader." She grinned slightly as she got an idea. "Maybe you'd like to try taking on their leader, see how you fare against her. After all, you are the leader of your team."

In a surprising turn of events, Indigo gripped Maria's hand and pulled her closer. "Alright, but if I win, you accompany me to the dance tomorrow."

Maria gave him a look that would reduce most men to stuttered apologies, but Indigo still wore that same smirk. "Alright," Maria agreed "But if you lose, then you have to ask the girl on your team." Indigo paled for a second, and Maria could guess why. Having watched the battle between this team and hers, she knew that the only girl on their team was a vicious dust mage, the kind of person to blast a man point blank with fire (as she did with Ben). "Do you accept?"

Indigo seemed to consider the matter for a moment. His face, however, soon sported that cocky grin again. "You're on, miss Gaia. I do hope you have a blue dress to match my suit."

Maria's own expression mirrored his for a second as she responded. "I'd be more worried about how you're going to get a dress for your teammate at this point."

oxoxoxo

Thatch spun Weiss under his arm and caught her by the waist as the song they had been dancing to drew to a close. From the sidelines, Francois clapped for them. "Not bad at all mon ami." He said without an ounce of sarcasm. "I think you're ready to ask her."

"Thanks, both of you." Thatch said, slightly out of breath. He was tired both physically from the dancing, and mentally from having to look at Weiss' permanent scowl and hope she didn't decide to stab him mid dance. "Weiss, thanks to you especially. I owe you one."

"Oh, don't worry," Weiss said, not tired in the least. "You didn't even step on my feet once, so I won't hold this against you. Though, your partner will be paying me back for this." She said, glaring at the nobleman.

"I won't even ask." Thatch replied. "Either way, I have somewhere to be. I'll see you both later."

With that, the renegade turned and ran out of the room, neither Weiss nor Francois knowing where he had run off to. Thoroughly confused, both of them walked out into the hallway. "You think he's actually going to do it?" Weiss asked.

"He will." Francois replied. "He's too proud to back down from a challenge, especially one this simple."

"You have a point." The heiress said. "But seriously, he was going to pass up asking her because he couldn't dance?"

"Mon dieu," Said Francois with a chuckle. "Who does that?"

Even Weiss had to giggle at that thought. That giggle, however, turned into a hiss as another student bumped into her while running down the hall. "Watch where you're going!" She snapped.

"Sorry," The student hurriedly said.

"What exactly is going on?" Francois asked as the student turned and ran back down the hall.

"There's a duel staring! Maria Gaia is taking on one of the exchange students from Vacuo!"

With that, the student turned and ran again. Francois faced Weiss. "Care for some entertainment?"

The heiress shrugged and the two of them jogged off in pursuit of the student who ran to the fight.

oxoxoxo

On two sides of the elongated field stood the two combatants. Maria had donned her full armour and helmet and had just loaded the gun in Imperator, while on the other side of the field, Indigo slammed a clip of ammunition into Jormungander and flicked a switch along the side that made it light up for a second, deactivating it soon after.

From the sidelines, Alison watched as her leader prepared for battle. "Well, " said a familiar voice from behind her. "This is certainly exciting." Alison turned to see that it was Francois who had spoken, the nobleman approaching with the heiress Weiss Schnee. "What happened here."

The artist rolled her eyes and pointed to the blue haired boy on the battlefield. "That's Indigo Aesir, ths sniper from that teams match we lost. He tried to ask Maria out."

"Oh dear." Francois lamented. "I do hope she didn't humiliate him too much in the hallway."

Alison shook her head. "No, just challenged him and brought him down here."

Weiss snorted. "This should be over quickly."

"Don't be so sure." Francois replied. "Remember, Maria might be a tough fighter, but she's been off her feet for weeks now, and I saw what this Indigo guy's rifle can do. When he charged it up, one shot blew apart a wall."

"True." Alison confirmed. "But let's not forget how strong Maria's shield is."

"Not sure if it'll be enough to stand against Indigo though." Said a new voice. The Beacon students turned to see that the source of the voice was a black haired wolf faunus in a black tank top with a battleaxe strapped to his back. "That rifle of his is pretty accurate."

"Uh, who are you?" Weiss demanded.

"Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners?" The wolf boy said, offering a hand to the heiress. "Noctus Lupin, Indigo's partner."

"Weiss Schnee." The heiress replied, taking the wolf's hand tentatively.

"We've met." Said Francois.

"You're not still sore about that match we won, are you?" Noctus quipped.

"Well, let's just say that now that we have our leader back, we should have a rematch some time." The nobleman offered.

"Interesting offer." Noctus muttered. He looked from one end of the field to the other, as Maria and Indigo were both staring each other down before one made the first move. The wolf grinned. "Excuse me, miss Gaia?"

"Little busy at the moment." Maria growled back, not taking her eyes off her opponent.

"I won't take up too much of your time, I just thought you should know that Indigo's semblance is phase vision, so he can look through any solid object he wants. Meaning that while he's been looking at you, he wasn't just waiting for you to move."

Maria's eyes widened and her face went red in embarrassment. The new expression she bore shocked Indigo for a moment, the sniper lowering his rifle in confusion. Then he made the connection. Noctus standing next to her side, the expression on her face that was slowly getting angrier. "Oh no..." He muttered.

With a roar of rage and a face red with anger, Maria charged Indigo, the sniper's eyes widening as she did.

oxoxoxo

Thatch walked into his team's dorm, a long box held under his arm, and found something rather surprising: it was completely empty. Maria never really enforced a strict curfew or anything, but seeing as the clock on his bedside table said it was eight o'clock, he thought the others might be back by now. He shrugged. "Probably be back soon." He muttered, placing the box under his bed.

That box's contents had been worked on for the past two days at Beacon's forges with the help of the exchange student Onyx Blanch. That guy really knew what he was doing when it came to forging, especially when it came to making things work with dust crystals. With his help, he'd managed to forge something a bit special. Now he only needed the recipient to arrive. Thatch shrugged. "Might as well go for a walk, maybe they'll be here when I get back... and maybe I'll stop talking to myself..." With that, the renegade shook his head and walked out into the hallway.

As he walked, his thoughts strayed to a multitude of different subjects. First and foremost was obviously the White Fang. They were up to something, and that contact of theirs in the northeast still sounded familiar from somewhere, but no matter how hard he tried and how much it frustrated him, he just couldn't put a name to a face. If he had time, he'd probably go out for some combat practice if he had time. Hitting things did, after all, help him concentrate...

"NORA I SAID HEADPHONES ON!"

Well that was surprising. The shout seemed to come from down the hall, and the voice was easily recognizable as Jaune Arc. "What is he doing this time?" Thatch muttered to himself. Walking in the direction of Team JNPR's dorm, he saw something odd on arrival. Pyrrha was standing outside the slightly opened door, a look of sadness, no, worse than that, of resignation on her face. "Pyrrha, what's going on?" Thatch quietly asked.

"Oh, Thatch." Pyrrha said, somewhat surprised. "It's nothing, just... team things..."

"The look on your face says otherwise." The renegade replied. "And don't even try hiding that like your fearless leader does. What's going on?"

Pyrrha sighed. "It's my fearless leader." She said softly. Before Thatch could ask what she meant, he caught the conversation Jaune was having with Ren inside the dorm, the blonde knight confessing his feelings for Weiss, the words just falling out of his mouth. That's when it hit him.

Pyrrha had fallen for the loveable idiot knight, but he was too caught up in another girl to realize it. "I want him to realize how I feel for him," Pyrrha continued. "But at the same time, I want him to be happy with the one he wants."

"Look, I know I'm not the best person to be giving advice about this, but maybe you should just tell him. Maybe he feels the same."

Pyrrha sighed. "I'll handle it, just... don't get involved, okay."

Thatch nodded. "I'd better go before I say something stupid." He said, turning to leave.

Pyrrha watched him walk away. He was lucky. The girl he wanted also wanted him, someone just needed to say something. She sighed. Now if only she could say the right words to the one she wanted.

If Thatch had heard her thoughts, he would have walked right back around and shoved her into her room, telling her and Jaune to talk, with his semblance if necessary. However, he lacked the ability to hear the thoughts of others, so he simply kept walking. His aimless walking eventually brought him out to the roof, the swordsman looking off the roof over Beacon's grounds. It seemed like an eternity had passed since he had arrived here, and how much he had changed since he had arrived here. Before coming to Beacon he would never have thought himself as the type of guy to work on a team, attend a dance, or fall head over heels for a girl he had just met. And yet, here he was. Funny how things turned out.

"There you are." Said a new voice from behind the renegade. Thatch turned to see that Alison had come onto the roof behind him. "Maria was wondering where you were."

Thatch smirked. "I suppose I never did say where I was going, did I?"

Alison mimicked his look. "No, you didn't."

"Was our fearless leader worried about me? I'm touched." The renegade said with a slight chuckle, the thought of Maria Gaia frantically searching for him amusing him. "Where were you three, by the way? I got back to the dorm and none of you were there."

Alison rolled her eyes and smirked. "We tried to message you on your scroll, but you haven't answered anything. And as for where we were, one of the exchange students tried to ask Maria to the dance. She said no, and he challenged her."

"How did that go?" Thatch asked, already knowing the answer.

Alison bit her lip. "Well..."

oxoxoxo

Noctus roared with laughter as Indigo groaned in pain. "What did you tell her?" The sniper demanded.

The wolf managed to calm himself down enough to talk, though the new black eye that indigo sported was making that rather difficult. "I just mentioned what your semblance was."

Indigo hung his head. "Why? Why why why would you do that?"

"Don't you have something else to worry about?" Noctus asked, elbowing him in the side. "Like your new date for the dance?"

Indigo's eyes shot open. "Oh no... I forgot about that..."

oxoxoxo

"He should be fine." Alison quickly said.

Thatch shrugged. "You'll have to tell me about that fight later. Can't believe I missed Maria's first fight back on her feet." He said, sounding genuinely disappointed at the end. He'd seen her in combat before and was looking forward to seeing it again.

"She'll be in more fights. After all, she has class time to make up." Alison said.

"I suppose so." Thatch said, gesturing to the door back into the dorms. "Anyway, shall I walk you back to the room?"

Alison nodded, stepping forward to open the door. Thatch walked inside, and she closely followed beside him. "So where did you disappear to after class?" she asked.

"I'll talk to you about that when we get back to the dorm." Thatch said simply. "I have something for you when we get there."

"Really?" Alison asked. "What?"

"What? You want me to spoil the surprise?" Thatch chuckled. "We're almost there anyway." This was true, as Alison could see their room from here, and the two soon stood in front of their door. "Wait here." Thatch instructed. "I'll be right back." With that, he disappeared into the room. For a brief moment, Alison rolled her eyes, believing this was a prank, he had run inside and had now locked her out.

That thought was soon broken, as the renegade emerged from the dorm room, a long box under his arm. She could hear what she swore was laughter coming from inside from both Francois and Maria, Thatch turning and shooting one final glare into the room before slamming the door. "I hate those two sometimes..." He muttered.

"What about me?" Alison asked, giggling a little.

"Oh, I could never hate you." Thatch assured her with mock seriousness. "Anyway, this is for you." Thatch said handing her the box.

Alison took off the lid and pulled out the box's contents. The box contained a long, thin sword, a jian if she remembered correctly. The blade was immaculate, just under three feet in length and polished to a shine, running down to a handle covered in red stained leather with a bright blue dust crystal embedded in the hilt. "Wow." She said simply.

"I thought about making you something like this after the team battle when your zhua was frozen to the ground." Thatch explained. "I started working on it soon after that, and this is the final result. What do you think?"

Alison was silent as she looked over the blade and the sheathe that was included with it, a red leather piece, decorated with her symbol in brass. "I love it." She whispered.

"Glad to hear it." Thatch said. "There are some things I can't forge, but lucky for us, I'm good with swords." He said, patting the two cutlasses at his hips. "The ladies here are proof of that."

Alison giggled. "They can take some punishment. Didn't you say you stuck them in a rock wall the day of the initiation?"

"They survived that, so that one should be able to deal with a couple Grimm or criminals."

"Thanks Thatch, really." Alison said, blushing slightly. She hesitated for a second before she awkwardly stepped forward and put her arms around Thatch's neck, pulling back just as quickly.

"Anytime." Thatch said with a smile. "So, what're you going to call it? It needs a name."

Alison looked down at her blade. Elegant, well made, in her hands precise. It needed a name that encompassed that. "I don't know yet." She admitted, sheathing the sword. "But as soon as I choose one, you'll be the first to know."

"I feel honoured." Thatch said with a smirk. "Glad you like it."

"I just have one question:" Alison added. "Why give this to me out here?"

"Well, I'm not going to lie, I did have a bit of an ulterior motive. I was wondering..." Thatch begain, steeling himself and mentally smacking himself. He'd leapt onto the back of a Goliath Widow on his second day here, why was talking to this one girl so bloody difficult? "Would you... do you want to go to the dance with me?" He blurted out, mentally smacking himself again, while resisting the urge to do so for real. 'That was pathetic! She's going to laugh and walk away you pathetic-'

"Yes." Alison said, cutting off his inner insults. "Yes, I will."

Thatch blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes." Alison repeated, face slightly red form embarrassment. "I was actually hoping you'd ask me."

"Well, that makes this a lot easier." Thatch said. "So I'll see you tomorrow night?"

"Well, you'll see me tonight too, we do share a room with two other teammates." Alison said, giggling.

"Oh, right." Thatch muttered, scratching the back of his head and gesturing to the door. "After you?" Alison mimicked his usual cocky smirk and opened the door, revealing Francois and Maria standing directly on the other side, ears having been pressed against the door. Thatch gave the two of them a deadpan look. "Okay, I expected this from you," He said pointing at Francois "But not from you, fearless leader."

Maria stood up to her full height, and though shorter than the renegade, still managed to look down to him. "I wanted to make sure you treated my partner right. The last thing we need is for you to hurt her, especially since it'll make my injuries from the Nevermore look tame in comparison." She said, putting just enough malice into her words to make sure he knew she was serious. "You're not going to hurt her, right?" She said, pointing an accusing finger into his chest and glaring right into his eyes, her blood red orbs meeting his brown ones.

Thatch stood up straight and audibly gulped before snapping a salute. "No ma'am!" He vowed.

Maria smirked and stepped back. "Good. We get the bathroom first tonight. Alison, let's go."

The artist smiled back at the renegade before following her partner into the bathroom. Thatch turned to Francois. "Did Coco do something like that when you started going out with Velvet?"

Francois chuckled. "Not once. I guess you were just unlucky that she turned out to be Alison's partner."