Branded

Ambur sat alone on the wooden bench at Glade's train station as the sun began to sink below the trees, the soft breeze flowing through her hair as she stared at her hands folded in her lap. As she sat in silence, lost in thought, Mydnight watched from afar, not noticing Qrow walking up alongside him.

Bronzine was off grabbing them some dinner to go and Rosa had run to the bathroom inside the station. "Kid," he said as he elbowed Mydnight in the arm gently.

"WHA-" he exclaims as he placed his hand over his heart. "Don't do that!" he jabbed back. His heart was racing from the surprise and he began to try and focus his breathing so he could calm down. "You're gonna make me change."

"Well sorry," he let out as he scratched the back of his head, "but it looks to me like you've got bigger problems."

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked as his vision returned to his partner.

"The fact that you can't stop checking out the girl on your team that you AREN'T dating," he chuckled to himself as Mydnight's vision snapped back over to Qrow.

"What?" he asked with shock all over his face. "I am not!"

"Jeez relax kid don't work yourself up," he snickered as he patted Mydnight on the shoulder. "You don't have to hide it from me, I'm not blind. Your eyes have been glued to her all day."

"I!" he began before taking a breath. "...Have they?"

"...Have you...not noticed that? It's plain for everyone to see that you're enjoying the view." Qrow looked around as he spoke, making sure to keep a lookout for Rosa. "Do you like'r or what?"

"Well ya, of course, I like her, she's really nice."

"No," Qrow sighed as he elbowed Mydnight again, "I mean like do you like her more than that," Qrow rolled his eyes.

"Oh? Ooohhhhhh," he let out slowly as he looked back to Ambur, watching her hair flow in the light breeze. "I mean I hadn't...thought about it but...I dunno I mean...either way I'm dating Rosa..."

"Ya but do you actually...like Rosa?" Qrow asked skeptically as he raised an eyebrow.

Mydnight fell silent as he resumed watching Ambur, almost forgetting Qrow was even talking to him before he spoke up again.

"Look kid I spent way too long dating the wrong people when I was your age when the person I actually wanted to be with was right in front of me...Don't make my mistakes," he said softly before nudging Mydnight forward slightly, forcing him to lose his balance as he stumbled toward his partner. "Just go talk to her...You don't need to try and win her heart or anything just...spend time with her, that's all she really wants."

As Mydnight regained his balance he looked back over his shoulder to see Qrow shooing him toward his partner. He took a deep breath and turned back, vision once again on Ambur before he began to walk toward her. As he came closer he found that she still hadn't noticed his presence however, seeming to be captivated by the sunset.

"He-Hey," he finally let out nervously as her attention moved to him. "You uh...you okay?"

"Hm?" She responded quietly before giving him a small smile. "Ya, I'm good just...watching the sunset while we wait. How about you?"

"I'm uh...I'm okay I guess...as far as I know anyway. Mind if I uh.." he said softly as he pointed to the vacant seat beside her.

Ambur couldn't believe what she was seeing. Mydnight actually seemed nervous around her for once, not to mention that he seemed to be showing interest in conversing with her on his own terms for the first time in months. "Ya sure," she smiled up to him before looking back toward the sun.

"Thanks..." he sighed out in some relief as he took the seat next to her. "Thanks by the way."

"For what?" She asked without looking at him.

"For having my back today I...I know I'm not exactly fighting as well as I could be I'm just..."

"Distracted?" She asked as she finished his sentence. As she said this she looked back to him, across the small space as their eyes locked.

"Yee...yeah I guess that's the word for it..."

"You know uh...Mydnight..." She began as she looked down to her lap before he saw her shoulders sink as she sighed heavily. "I don't think your girlfriend is gonna appreciate it when she comes back and you and I are talking alone like this..." She said softly, almost too softly for a human to have heard.

Mydnight could tell that those weren't words that Ambur had wanted to come out of her mouth, that she was hiding something from him. "...Yeah, she probably won't," he said in return before he smiled and turned his attention back to the sun. "She'll live though."

Ambur looked back up to him with a bit of surprise on her face, not being able to believe the words coming out of the wolf's mouth. "Aren't you afraid of what she will say?"

"Not...really no. Look I know she isn't..." he said before looking over his shoulder to make sure she still hadn't come back yet. "The nicest person...of all time."

"...Mydnight?" Ambur asks as she raised an eyebrow. "She's a complete bitch twenty-four seven."

"...Ya I know she is..."

"Doesn't that bother you...at all?"

"Of course it does I just...didn't really realize it when I was in the haze...the more you bring me out of it the more I wonder how I managed to get myself involved with someone like her instead of-" he began to say before cutting himself off, shocked at the words spilling out of his own mouth.

"...Instead of...what?" Ambur blushed.

"S-someone...else," he answered as he began to hide his own feelings as well. "Literally anybody else," he said with a fake smile and a small laugh.

Ambur couldn't help but smile. She could tell that he was hiding something too but neither of them really wanted to press the matter just yet. She was happy though, very much so after hearing Mydnight finally confess that he couldn't stand Rosa. "So if it bothers you so much then...why not stand up to her about it or...leave her?" She suggested, not trying to sound too invested in the latter option.

"Well I...I've been thinking...about that kinda stuff and I mean...you're right I should at least stand up to it and maybe see if she can change if she knows I don't like that about her but...something tells me this relationship wasn't built to last...you know?"

"Well," Ambur said, trying as hard as she could to control the muscles in her face to prevent herself from smiling. "...We all kind of...feel the same way about you guys too so...I don't think you need me to answer that question..."

"Ya...I know it's uh...not hard to tell. Nor is it hard to understand...she treats all of you like garbage and I'm..." he began before looking into Ambur's bright red eyes again. "I'm really sorry that I've stood by and done nothing about it."

Ambur couldn't help herself anymore. Her cheeks tightened as a smile stretched across her lips and her cheeks began to flush bright pink as his words flowed through her mind. "I mean...she is your first girlfriend, after all, right? Everyone needs some practice I guess." Of course, Ambur didn't truly believe that. If she did then she wouldn't have put so much effort into impressing Mydnight as she had never dated anyone either.

"Hah...Ya I guess," he sighed as they both looked back to the sun.

"Well you know if...if you ever need some time away from her or...need someone to talk to about this kind of stuff then I...I'm here for you okay?"

Mydnight looked back into her eyes as she too looked back to him. "I know you are," he smiled as she watched the sunshine on his face and hair, it's image reflected in his golden eyes.

"Hey!" They heard, ripping them out of the moment, both looking behind Mydnight to find Rosa walking up to them with a scowl across her face. "Back off my man, Barbie," she shouted as Ambur rolled her eyes. She prepared herself for the assault of Rosa's harmful words, only to be caught by surprise when Mydnight stood up and faced her, leaning down slightly to get into Rosa's face.

"Stop calling her names already!" He yelled as Rosa froze, never having seen Mydnight get angry like this. His ears twitched and his tail had puffed up slightly as his voice filled with anger as he tried to control his temper. "Stop treating her like crap and stop treating me like you own me. I'm not your pet. I went over to talk to her, I sat down next to her and that doesn't give you the right to insult her. She's my partner Rosa and our team leader. Get used to it already," he said as he grit his teeth and turned away from her, walking away from the group and over to the platform's handrails which overlooked the train tracks.

Rosa was stunned. Everyone was in fact. She couldn't believe that Mydnight had raised his voice at her and as she stood there fuming she couldn't help but look down to where Ambur sat on the bench. Eventually, all Rosaria could do was to grunt and huff until she walked away, heading to the other end of the platform to be alone without a word.

As she moved, however, Ambur spotted Bronzine, who had been standing behind her for the entire lashing with an incredible grin on his face, clearly holding back laughter as he held their large take-out boxes in his hands. Ambur looked over and found Qrow in very much the same state as Bronzine was and she couldn't help but smile as well. She hadn't taken Mydnight to be joking but he had certainly surprised her with his rebuttal to his overzealous girlfriend's comments.

"Did that really just happen?" Bronzine laughed out as Ambur tried to stifle her own laughter.

/

Ambur, Bronzine, Qrow, and Mydnight all sat together in a booth of their train car eating the take-out meals Bronzine had fetched for them. Rosa, still upset, had elected to spend the journey in the sleeper coach rather than with them but they sure didn't mind. Mydnight did feel bad about how hard he had exploded on her but he did accept that she had had it coming.

At first, he had sat in silence as his three companions chatted amongst themselves but eventually they had been able to cheer him up enough to the point where he had joined in their conversation. "Guess this takes staying 'in the dog house' to a new level huh?" He said softly with a smirk as the group began to laugh.

"Ya I would say so," Bronzine finally was able to get out. "Man It's nice to have you back..."

"Ya sorry about...everything really. I'm sorry for absolutely everything I have done since the first day of school...I've been a really shitty friend..."

"As long as you know that and you fix it," Bronzine shrugged. "I'm not gonna tell you that you're wrong because you're not," he laughed as Mydnight nodded his head in agreement.

"That's fair."

"Well it's not...entirely your fault," Ambur tried to reason before she realized that she couldn't explain why with Bronzine present. "But we are very glad to have you back."

Mydnight's gaze fell upon her as he opened his mouth to speak before his lips shut once again, holding his question back as he pulled out his scroll. As the group continued to finish up their meals Ambur felt her scroll vibrate in her tight jean pocket. As she pulled the device out she found a message waiting for her from Mydnight, giving him a questioning glance across the table before opening the message.

'Do you think we could...work with the wolf again tomorrow?' It read.

As she read it Mydnight could see a small smile creep across his partner's lips before she looked back up to him and nodded her head in agreement.

'Thank You,' he mouthed to her.

As the hours flew by the crew eventually found themselves arriving at the Vale station and filing out of the train, Rosa still clearly fuming about what had happened earlier that day. She still walked beside Mydnight however, seemingly determined to not let this one spat end their time together. As the group walked closer to the school Qrow stopped, "You kids get back to the school safe okay? I already sent Oz my report. See ya 'round," he smiled as he turned down the street headed for home.

"Thank you again," Ambur smiled at him before he went, leading her team back to the shuttle bay to catch a flight home.

As the group arrived on campus and walked up the stairs toward their dorm room Ambur shot a text to Olivier. As she received one back she spoke up, "I'm gonna catch up with Liv and see how their mission went." The group then stopped outside their door as Ambur stopped outside of Liv's. "I think that went pretty well, all things considered. You all fought well and it seemed like we could actually do pretty well fighting together. But I need you guys to-" she started before being cut off by Rosa.

"Show up to team exercises ya sure whatever we will be there..." Rosa groaned as she opened their door and walked into their room, the boys giving Ambur a surprised look.

"Well, that's...something?" Mydnight shrugged, not sure how to react to her outburst.

"I'll take it," Ambur sighed and shrugged before pointing her finger at her partner. "You should yell at her more often," she smirked as Bronzine laughed his way into their room. "I'll uh...see you tomorrow huh? Just...text me after class I guess?" She blushed.

"Ya I uh...I'll let you know," he said with a thumbs up and walked into their room and shut the door behind him. Ambur let out an enormous sigh of relief before knocking on Liv's door.

"Come in," she heard from her friend before she turned the handle and walked inside, closing the door and leaning back on it as she folded her hands over her midriff. "That bad huh?" Liv said with a frown.

"No it uh...was actually really...really great," Ambur smiled before standing up straight again and walking over, taking a seat next to Liv. "Am I interrupting?" She asked as she waved hello to Hunter, Caroline and Gretchen. The team was all sitting on their beds looking inward as if in a team meeting.

"No no you're fine," Gretchen answered before Liv spoke again.

"Just wrapping up talking about today," she smiled to the Amazon. "What happened with you guys that was so good?"

Ambur's smile beamed brightly as she lay back on Liv's bed with her hands behind her head. "Mydnight yelled at Rosa and I think it was the best moment of my entire life."

"What?! Really?" Liv asked excitedly as she turned to face her friend, looking down and finding Ambur staring up at the ceiling.

"Really really. The two of us were talking...kind of privately and she came up with her bad attitude and he just...stood up and actually took care of it," she blushed, unable to relax her face as her smiles continued to brighten the mood.

"That's amazing!" Caroline said, clapping her hands together once.

"Good for him," Hunter added as he pulled his scroll out of his pocket and lay back onto his bed.

"For real. I can't believe he had it in him," Liv said sarcastically. "About time. So you guys got along well? You and Mydnight?"

"Ya, we...we really did. Finally got to talk to him and...well Qrow seems to think that Mydnight can't...that he's uhhh..." she said softly before her voice trailed off, unsure of how to finish her statement without getting her own hopes up.

"Uhhhh what?" Liv asks.

"Ooh, that...that Mydnight and Rosa aren't really made to last...his words not mine."

"Well, I certainly hope not. That boy would have to be a complete moron to stay with her. Did they not break up today?"

"No, they didn't..." Ambur sulked. After a moment though her smile returned to her lips. "But I think...they will...someday."

"And you'll be there?" Liv asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I...I will be I think. You should have seen him. He was staring at me all day Liv. Qrow even told me as much. He couldn't keep his eyes off of me."

Liv was silent for a few moments before she laid back on her bed as well, looking up to the ceiling with her hands folded on her stomach. "Well...I hope you get everything you're looking for with him...sooner or later," she said softly, prompting Ambur to look over to her, finding her friend looking up to the ceiling.

"Thank you," she smiled before she reached over and grabbed on to Liv's hand, seeing her friend exhale with a smile and a small blush crept across Liv's face to match Ambur's.

/

'Hey, where did you wanna meet anyway?' Ambur typed into her scroll before sending the message to Mydnight. She walked through the halls on her own, toward their dorm room so she could change into something more comfortable before the two headed out.

'I guess I'll meet you in our room, the other two have plans right after class.' As she read the message her face began to get hot and her heart fluttered as it always did whenever she found herself alone in their bedroom with him. It didn't often happen and Ambur always found it hard to get anything done when she was alone with him.

'Alright,' she texted back. Upon arrival she found that he was not there yet and decided she should try to get changed quickly, dropping her book bag onto her bed and skipping quickly over to their closet. Rifling through it quickly, she settled on an outfit and began to undress as fast as she could. Getting out of their school uniforms wasn't the easiest thing to do and it often took her a little extra time to do so due to her semblance.

She had always needed to be careful with her clothing, making sure to never tug too hard on anything she wore for fear of tearing it up by accident. As she pulled her underwear up and began to put her bra on however she heard the doorknob turning and reflexively tensed up, unsure of what to do as the door opened and shut. She watched Mydnight enter the room and toss his bag to his bed before stopping dead in his tracks when he finally found Ambur staring right back at him.

"Hey-uhhhhh," he began before trailing off. Her hands were behind her back in an effort to clasp her bra, and subsequently, it looked as if she were extenuating her bust.

Her face became redder as she found Mydnight's gaze upon her, his eyes darting back and forth between her eyes and the rest of her body. "Uhhhhhh," she mimicked, unsure of how to react before she took a step back and finished clasping her bra.

"Sorrrryy," he said before shaking his head violently and turning away from her. "You don't normally change in here I didn't expect you to be...exposed," he said, Ambur able to tell that the sight had affected him.

"No it's uh...it's my fault I'm sorry," she replied before quickly pulling her shirt on and began to wrestle with her pants, trying to get them up and over her waist. "I probably shouldn't have taken the chance since you're a...well you're in a relationship and your...problems you talked about controlling yourself..." She said before putting her hands up and shaking her head. "N-not that I think you look at me that way or anything I just mean! That...erm..." she spluttered as her mind went blank. "You know what...forget I said anything..."

"No, it's...fine. I did tell you that A big part of the thing about dating Rosa was for...the sex so that's a fair thing to be worried about." As he stood from the bed and went to retrieve his own casual clothing Ambur sat on her bed, looking away from her partner as she sulked, regretting her decisions thus far in the conversation. "Besides don't be so hard on yourself," he smirked to himself as he changed. "Any guy would have a hard time saying he didn't look at you that way."

"Well...thank you," she blushed as she turned around, finding him buttoning his pants. Her vision became rested upon his abdomen as he turned toward her and grabbed a shirt from his bed before pulling it over his head. "Could say the same about you," she smirked, trying not to be too bold.

"Hmm?" he hummed, not having fully heard what she had said as he struggled to get his shirt on straight.

"Nothing," she sighed. "Nothing just...thanks...sorry if you ever looked at me that way I wouldn't want to...make you uncomfortable or...agitate you or anything like that."

"Hah," he laughed before retrieving his belongings from the pockets of his uniform. "Well up until now I've been in too much of a fog to really see how much you've changed so no harm done. Besides I think Rosa would have more to say about it than I would if something were to ever...happen be-" he began before slowly trailing off, realizing what he was saying, finding Ambur staring back at him with her cheeks as red as he had ever seen them.

The pair was silent for what felt like an eternity before Mydnight finally broke the awkward silence. "I'm...sorry. That was a really bad thing to say wasn't it..."

"...Do you really not like her?" Ambur asked as she looked to the floor. "Like...romantically?"

"...Ya not...really but...for now anyway I...kind of need her...you know? I know it's...REALLY horrible and...I may be using her but...until I can see clearly and can control myself I need someone like her to...deal with me."

"Well...what if you didn't need her...what if you...had...," she began, not sure what she was saying. "I don't know. Nevermind," she said before clearing her throat and standing. "Come on let's go..." she said again before heading for the door, Mydnight following silently behind her.

/

As the pair reached their destination Ambur gave Mydnight a skeptical look, "Signal Academy? That's where we are going?"

"Well ya I uh...asked Qrow about it and I figure that we should probably have someone around just in case one of us gets hurt ya know?"

"Okay but like...aren't other teachers gonna be here or students?"

"Nah, you know no students bunk here, plus its way after anyone would have had to stay after class. We should be fine," he concluded as they headed inside the school and met Qrow in the gymnasium.

"Thanks for coming Qrow," Mydnight sighed as he and Ambur went out to the center of the wide-open room. Qrow waved to the pair as he watched from the bleachers, watching the pair intently. "You ready?" he asked as he looked into Ambur's eyes. She gave him a nod.

"Ya I'm good," she said softly as she placed her hands on either side of Mydnight's face, gently rubbing her thumbs across his cheeks. He closed his eyes and began to lean into her touch. Mydnight wasn't really an animal of course but he could not deny that Ambur had a way of relaxing him as if he really were one. As darkness began to pour off of him Ambur could feel his form begin to twist as she usually did, fur growing out of his face as it changed shape.

As the smoke cleared she found the horse-sized wolf standing on all fours before her, his eyes still closed as he enjoyed her touch. Ambur had grown to love these moments of peace with Mydnight. It was the closest she ever got to feel with him. She liked to listen to him breathing and watch his fluffy ears slump down as he relaxed. This was how they had started every exercise thus far, trying to make it so that the wolf version of Mydnight had someone familiar to him every time he woke up. Sometimes he had become a little restless, and the first time he had even growled at her before realizing who she was and what she meant to him.

This time would be much different, however. It started slow but Ambur could feel Mydnight becoming restless, but not the kind of restless she was used to. Usually, if he began to stir it was because he felt uncomfortable in the situation. This time however he felt what Ambur could only describe as playful. As his golden eyes opened up she began to scratch underneath his chin. A gentle smile made its way across her lips as the massive wolf's tongue began to hang out of his mouth as he began to pant slightly.

However as he began to get more into her touch she could see his front paws tapping on the floor as his butt got low to the ground, as if about to sit. But as he did, his paws came up and, clearly were aimed for her shoulders. Ambur couldn't believe what she was seeing and was so stunned that all she could do was laugh at how happy Mydnight looked for once.

This, however, was her mistake. As his paws came above her head and started their descent back toward her shoulders, she failed to notice that Mydnight's aim was significantly off with his left front paw. The pair hadn't practiced anything close to this level of affection, as Ambur had never witnessed Mydnight act this way. So she had no reason to suspect that the fog could affect his mind enough to blur his own motions.

Qrow was out of his seat almost before it happened but as he outstretched his hand and drew in a breath to call Ambur's name it was already too late.

Mydnight's right most claw on his left paw came down Ambur's face, tearing through her right eyebrow and her eyelid. The act of slowly recoiling backward was all that would eventually save her from losing the eye entirely, as his claw tore through mere millimeters of her eyeball and continued down, slicing through the first few centimeters of her cheek as she fell backward. Mydnight fell forward with her and caught himself on the floor, standing above her as she screamed and her hands flew up to her eye before the word finally left Qrow's lips.

"Ambur!"