Hello everyone we are back with another chapter in our hero's journey, we are back on the main story path so sit back and enjoy the show. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and its associates, as always my characters are my own.
Carmine could feel an extreme warmth engulfing his left side, trying to turn away from it was difficult as it seemed to have attached itself to him. Slowing becoming more awake he tried with a little more force to release himself from the heat that was starting to become uncomfortable, his actions only caused the heat to spread further across his chest. Slowly opening his eyes he turned to see what he was stuck on, his left eye was still in darkness causing him confusion. Turning toward the warmth brought out a sigh then moan, "Oh Carmine….we can't do this….Lev could be watching…..you're right, we are dating…..ok you can have your way with me…only cause your so hot…zzz." Carmine went from half-asleep to fully awake in seconds after hearing Delilah sleep talk.
As his brain booted itself up it began to throb profusely as the events from the previous night slowly filtered through his head. Looking at his current situation he could see that Delilah had entangled herself in his appendages, her legs had a lock on his left leg and his arm was trapped underneath her body as she had an arm coiled around his chest. She had snuggled her head into the crook of his neck as her ears flicked with each breath smacking him in the nose. Being extra careful he slowly lifted her arm off his chest while maneuvering his other arm out from underneath her, when she tossed in her sleep he quickly shimmied out and placed his pillow where he was as she had rolled back over trying to get a hold of him. As she locked her arms around the pillow he got up stretching, taking a look at the room he saw empty liquor bottles, beer bottles, left over food, and general mess everywhere he looked. Scratching his head he sighed as he stepped over Nora who had Ren in a more crushing version of what he had to escape from, entering the bathroom he washed his face as he heard some of the others get up.
Blake, Levina, and Ren were the next to wake up, Carmine had to help Ren with Nora as her grip on him tightened every time he moved. Pyrrha was sleeping with a firm grip on Jaune's arm, Delilah had not moved much since he gave her his pillow. Yang was lightly snoring next to Omar who was curled up into a ball, as Carmine went to fix the blanket when he saw Omar trembling. Leaning closer he could hear him almost crying, "please….stop….it…hurts…..please…..i'm….sorry…..please…..it….hurts…..please…..stop….i...promise…..please…..not…..the…..knife…..please….not…..the…..cables…please….zzz." worried he might be having a nightmare Carmine lightly shook him, "hey Omar it's ok, you're," Carmine never got to finish as Omar bolted up slamming his head into Carmine's face. As Carmine reeled back Omar screamed as he put both hands on his throat putting his considerable strength into the grip. Everyone bolted up then as Blake and Ren tried to get Omar off of Carmine, activating his semblance he tried to force Omar's hands off his throat to try to calm him down. Nora and Pyrrha awoke and grabbed hold of his arms pulling them sideways as Carmine put a hand on Omar's chest pushing him back. When the grip loosened up enough he shouted, "OMAR IT'S ME CARMINE! YOU'RE AT SCHOOL, YOU'RE SAFE!"
Carmine saw Omar's eyes slowly come back into focus as he put a hand in his forehead, "Omar, it's fine, you're at school, no one here is hurting you." Omar's grip completely loosened as he blinked a few time, everyone leaned him back as he rubbed his eyes. Yang who had gotten up went over kneeling next to Omar as he wrapped his arms around her taking deep panicked breaths, slowly rubbing his back she repeated the same thing Carmine had said as Carmine got up rubbing his neck. Delilah had woken up seeing her partner strangling her boyfriend, as she was about to demand an answer Carmine stopped her pulling her to the side, "hey, it's fine, I'm ok. He was having a nightmare and I tried to wake him up." Delilah slowly placing a hand on Carmine's neck huffed, "really, he wasn't trying to kill you?" Carmine looking over to Yang holding Omar answered, "I don't think it was me he was trying to kill."
Omar apologized to everyone profusely about what had happened, Carmine told him to take a shower to clear his head as everyone gathered around him asking what had happened. Delilah trying not to be to biased asked, "Ok so what exactly happened to cause Omar to try and choke the life out of you?" Carmine sighed leaning against his bedpost, "he was trembling and talking in his sleep, it sounded like a nightmare so I tried to wake him up." Pyrrha asked, "What was he saying?" Carmine crossing his arms tried to decipher the mumbled talk he heard, "he was in pain, asking someone to stop. The last bit before I woke him up mentioned a knife and some cables, whatever that means." Levina felt dread wash over her as she turned to the shower remembering what Donna had told her that night in the hospital. Carmine saw Levina look pale, "hey Lev do you know something?" Levina quickly turned back shaking her head with a wide look, "Nope, nothing at all." As Carmine studied her face more he could see her start to sweat, as he was about to press further the bathroom door opened as Omar exited the shower quickly. Grabbing a shirt, pair of jeans, and a change of underwear he grabbed his scroll and the keys, "heading into town, be back later." Yang was about to go with when Ren stopped her, "it might be best if he had some time to himself right now." Yang nodded sighing in agreement as Carmine continued to study Levina. When everyone went back to their own rooms Delilah helped Carmine clean up the room, Levina had gone to the hanger to hang out with Myrtle like she had promised.
Yang and Blake had gotten more than an ear full from both Ruby and Weiss, Ruby was worried sick since they had not been asleep in the room when she woke up like she expected. Blake received an extra scolding since she was to make sure Yang did not get to crazy, hearing about the dance off and the heavy celebratory drinking after did not help Blake's case. "Yang you promised not to go crazy with the drinking, Blake you were supposed to watch her." Yang winced and the loud voice that Ruby was using as she sat on her heels, "I'm sorry sis but the other girl was trash talking Delilah, and I wasn't going to let that slide." Ruby huffed as she stood over Yang, "I know, I'm glad it didn't get violent."
The morning turned to night as Carmine, Levina and Delilah were sitting in the room. Looking at the clock Delilah wondered, "It's getting pretty late, is he on his way back?" Vigil displayed a pin on Donna's club indicating his scroll had not moved since he flew the plane into town, Vigil could not connect any calls or send any texts as the message he received back stated that Omar wanted to be left alone. Carmine changed into his pajamas, "hey Del it's fine, I'm sure he'll be in class tomorrow let's just get some sleep." Delilah nodded as she went to the bathroom to change, Levina had made her way back some time later.
In the morning Carmine and the girls got ready for class, the first class was with professor Port for Grimm studies. Sitting in the back they took notes and waited for the class to be over, Omar had still not entered the classroom yet. After two of professor Port's epic stories the team went to the next class which would take the remainder of the school day, Professor Peach who taught Field Studies was having the class collect tree sap samples for an experiment. The professor was a shapely woman who had as some of the more crass students called it, 'curves in all the right places.' She had peach colored hair that ended at the mid back, sapphire blue eyes that hid behind her black rimmed glasses, and her lab coat that she refused to take off no matter the occasion. The students were allowed to wear their battle clothes and carry their weapons since they were heading into Forever Fall, "now students I want to you listen to Miss Goodwitch's instruction while out in the field, she is a very experienced huntress. You will be collecting tree sap samples from in the forest, I need a volunteer to carry the jars for the class." Cardin pushed Jaune forward catching the Professor's attention, "thank you Mr. Arc for volunteering. Now class off you go." The class filed out of the room and headed toward the landing pads, the forest was about ten minutes away in Bullhead so there were three Bullheads waiting for them.
Team RWBY was in a different Bullhead from Carmine's since Jaune had to carry the jars of glass and other equipment for the trip. Looking at the others it was only his team Jaune's and Glynda with the equipment, he didn't see Omar before they left for the forest. Seeing Jaune look shrunken into himself Carmine slowly eased his way to stand next to him, "Hey Jaune, how's it going?" "Fine, fine. I don't see Omar anywhere, is he on another Bullhead?" Carmine shrugged, "maybe, I haven't seen him all day. But I have seen Cardin messing around with you, Jaune I'm serious if there is something bothering you just tell me. We have an AI that can hack pretty much anything, Levina who's basically a master cat burglar, Spiderwoman, and a walking arsenal. So if there's anything you wanna say I'm always ready to listen." Jaune nodded rubbing the back of his neck as the Bullhead began to land in a clearing.
The students exited the planes huddling around Glynda, Carmine helped Jaune take out the equipment and noticed a lone box in the back that was buzzing. Reaching for the box Carmine asked, "Hey Jaune what's this box for?" Jaune putting the last box of jars down turned to see what Carmine was pointing at when he saw it was the box of Rapierwasps that Cardin had him collect. Panicking Jaune jumped over Carmine shielding the box, "it's fine I got it, thanks for the help!" retracting his hand Carmine nodded bewildered, "Ok, if you need help carrying all of this just ask." Jaune nodded frantically with a panicked look on his face, "Ok, ok, got it, no problem." Carmine walked back to his team as Glynda reminded everyone of the dangers of the forest, "Now class I want you to remember that this forest is not only teeming with wildlife but also with Grimm. You must be on your guard when collecting the tree sap, and should any of you encounter a Grimm find me immediately. We have had reports of an alpha Ursa roaming these woods, you are not to engage is that understood?" the class nodded as they walked over to Jaune picking up a jar.
As the class walked behind Glynda Ruby ended up trailing behind as she would stop to watch the leaves fall, someone ended up bumping into her during one of her stops. Turning around apologizing she saw who it was, "I'm sorry…OMAR!" putting a finger up to his lips he shushed Ruby, "hey keep it down, the Ursa's gonna attack the class if you're shouting." Ruby nodded, "sorry, hey I heard you attacked Carmine in your sleep yesterday, are you ok?" he nodded as he guided Ruby back to walking, "yeah, just a nightmare…a really bad nightmare." Ruby looking concerned grabbed his hand, "don't worry you have Yang and me and your team, we're all here for you." Omar smiled patting Ruby's head as they reached Glynda.
"Ok class here is where you will split up and gather your samples, again if you encounter any Grimm find me immediately understood?" the class nodded as they dispersed, Carmine and the girls followed Pyrrha, Ren and Nora as Ruby and her team went off in a different direction. Taking a look around Omar began to wonder off when he saw an interesting aura at the edge of his vision, looking around to make sure he could slip away unnoticed he walked toward the aura.
As he got closer he could see more detail begin to form, it was a woman of slender build, what perplexed him most was that the aura she emanated looked as if it had a chain attached to it trailing off further then what he could currently see. As he got closer he called out, "Magnolia?" Magnolia stepped out from behind the tree, "it is good to see you young master, and it pleases me to see you in good health. Were you able to recover from your wounds efficiently?" flexing his left hand he nodded, "the stiffness is pretty much gone and my last checkup showed no lingering damage." Magnolia put her hand to her chest bowing slightly, "wonderful young master." Taking a step forward Omar took a breath before asking, "Magnolia why are you here?" Magnolia turned away, "I am here to escort you to your uncle." Omar shook his head, "no, I mean how is it that you're alive? The last time I saw you was when you and Mavis went out to fight a Grimm, you died on that mission, Mavis confirmed it herself." Magnolia smiled, "that can be explained if you would please follow me." Omar nodded as Magnolia led him further into the forest.
Carmine walked next to Pyrrha, "hey can I talk to you?" Pyrrha nodded as they reached a small clearing, "what is it Carmine?" "Pyrrha I'm sorry for bringing this up but, we know Jaune faked his transcript to be accepted into Beacon." Pyrrha went pale white, "wwwwhhhat are you talking about, Jaune got in the same way everyone else did." Carmine gave her a look, "Pyrrha we know, we actually tried to help him out by switching his fake papers with real ones." Pyrrha took a step back looking between him and his team, "is that why you caused such a commotion that night?" Carmine nodded which caused Pyrrha to grow a sour look, "Argh, that boy is so dense, I'm sorry Carmine that you and your team are being punished." Carmine smirked laughing, "it's fine, though if Glynda gets any worse with these punishments we might not make it to graduation." Pyrrha sighed loudly and she sunk her shoulders, "I will be sure to have a very long talk with him about all of this when we get back, he will be apologizing to all of you later tonight." Carmine laughed again as their group spread out picking trees to get samples from, Jaune and Cardin with his team were lying in wait on the ridge above.