Old Habits

Liv looked down to her watch as she sat in the head master's office, sighing as she sunk deeper into the uncomfortable chair, awaiting her audience with him. As he grew later and later still her vision fell to the floor, getting lost in the ever-spinning gears and cogs beneath its glass surface. It was an easy sight to space out to and soon her mind began to wander.

'Why did you need to call me here tonight of all nights Oz come on,' she thought, growing more and more impatient. 'I'm already late for the dance and you're making me more and more so.'

After a few minutes, she rose from her chair and walked to the edge of the room, looking out the massive window over the city of Vale, finding her attention settling on the shattered moon high in the night sky. "What am I even doing here...why just me?" She breathed aloud, her hot breath fogging a few inches of the glass in front of her.

She was already dressed for the dance at least, so she could run right over to it afterward. Her vision fell to her new heels she had picked up with Ambur at the mall a few weeks back, glad she finally had a chance to wear them.

She had had every intention of fighting in them but missions had been slow lately, neither team getting much in the way of work. She could understand how Ozpin would want to ease Ambur and Mydnight back into combat slowly after what they had been through, but why her team?

She knew she was missing a team member but it's not as if it was a fresh wound. Her partner had left them over a year ago at this point. Not to mention that Olivier was more than perfectly healed from her accident at this point and she had proven time and time again that her new spine worked perfectly. Her hand unconsciously ran down her back, feeling the rigid metal embedded into her body before she shook her head and took herself out of the daze. Getting to this point, where she was comfortable with the device being visible to her classmates hadn't been an easy road but she had finally gotten to the point where she was no longer conscious of the device.

"I do miss you though," she breathed out quietly, her breath fogging up the glass a little in front of her. Her thoughts lingered on Gretchen now, as was natural considering her situation. She had lost her right before the Vytal festival two years ago and now that they were in the preliminary stages of the next festival her thoughts seemed to gravitate toward her fallen partner more and more lately. "Wish you were here," she let out with a small smile.

Eventually, she shook her head and tried to shoo the thoughts away, letting her mind go back to focusing on whatever came into her sight first. As her vision fell to the floor in front of her she was reminded of her outfit. The heels were silver, going nicely with her usual attire of white skinny jeans and her white tank top. The straps were very thin and they were open-toed with a long thin heel propping her up.

Of course when she'd had her accident at nineteen and had her spine replaced it dashed any hopes that she would ever grow taller again. She felt a shiver go through her body as she wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her upper arms up and down as she shook away the thoughts of waking up paralyzed in the hospital.

Finally, she heard the elevator ding as it reached the professor's office and as it did she turned to see him walking out of the opening door. She put on a smile and was about to greet him when something else caught her eye coming out of the elevator behind him.

The smile ran away from her lips quickly as the figure's long hot pink hair came into sight, her jaw dropping as her heart too sank in her chest. Before long her shock turned to rage however, her fists balled up as she gritted her teeth, trying to hold her emotions in.

"Olivier please," Ozpin said calmly as a smirk ran across the lips of the other girl. "Don't do anything rash."

"What is she doing here?" Liv growled out.

"That is what I've called you here to discuss tonight," he sighed before sitting down in his chair. "Please sit," he gestured to the chair she had sat in earlier while awaiting his arrival.

"Start...talking," Liv said slowly with anger in her voice, ignoring his offer as the pink-haired girl began to laugh.

"Awh look, short stack is gonna blow a fuse," she mused as she walked over and sat in the chair instead.

"Please," Ozpin begged as his attention flipped to the pink-haired girl. "Let me handle this."

"Handle what Oz!?" Liv raised her voice.

Ozpin sighed loudly as he rubbed his temples, seeing there was no other way to ease Liv into the conversation. "You...are receiving a new teammate Olivier."

/

"Man where is she," Ambur sighed before raising her cup to her lips, taking a long sip from her beer. She and Mydnight were leaned back into the railing of the balcony. The party had already gone on for an hour and neither of them had seen or heard from Olivier a single time. They had even tried texting her and got no response. "I know she didn't have a date but really? Not showing up at all? It's not even that kind of dance, it's not like she needed to be here with someone. She could have just hung out with us," Ambur breathed solemnly as she overlooked the solid crowd of young adults in the massive foyer of the bunkhouse.

"Look I'm sure she'll be here," Mydnight said as he reached out and rubbed his partner's arm up and down. "She probably just got held up is all."

"I hope so..." She sighed as she moved over into his grasp. After a moment she leaned out over the balcony, watching everyone dance. Mydnight threaded his arms under her own, looking over her shoulder before pecking her on the cheek and taking a sip of his own drink.

She responded with a short "hmph," and a smile drew over her lips. "What happened to not drinking tonight wolf-boy?"

"I said AS MUCH," he smirked back as she looked over to him, "Not none."

"You haven't been drinking very much at all since I got home now that I'm thinking about it," she began as she saw his vision fall from her to the crowd below them, his smirk changing to a more vacant expression. "What's up with that? You okay?"

"Ya I'm good I just..." he began, trying to come up with an excuse that wouldn't phase her, "I just thought I should slow down..."

Ambur was quiet for a few moments before nodding her head. She could tell something was bothering him, that there was more to the story but she could easily tell he wished not to talk about it. "Well..." she finally let out with a soft smile before planting a quick kiss on his cheek, "nice to see that you can let loose and have some fun tonight."

"Hah," he chuckled as he looked over to her, "Ya sure."

As the music came and went the two of them found themselves simply staring out over the crowd and finding themselves lost in each other's warmth, neither one wanting to move and spoil the moment. Even as their drinks emptied they stayed there, lingering in each other's company.

"I love you ya know..." Ambur admitted as if it had been some kind of secret. The two had been together for nearly two years at this point and each of them was well aware of their love for the other, but the words often went unsaid.

Ambur had been awake the first time that Rosa had told Mydnight that she loved him and she'd heard the way he had reacted. She'd also talked to him right after and the words he'd said still burned in the back of her mind. She wanted him to know that he was loved but she often found it hard to say to him for fear that he wouldn't say it back.

Mydnight exhaled swiftly through his nose as a smile crept back over his lips, looking over to find his girlfriend staring back at him with one of the softer smiles he had seen on her face in years. As always her wonderful white hair was styled over her right eye, her splendid red left eye looking deep into his old golden orbs.

"I Love you too," he breathed out before they brought their lips together. After several seconds they were interrupted by the sound of whistling. They looked back down over the crowd, both spotting Yang and Ruby hooting and hollering in approval of their mentors' gesture.

Both of the older students couldn't help but smile and laugh as they waved down to little Red and the Firecracker. "I'll still never understand how those two ended up in the same house with the same dad," Ambur mused as she rested her chin in her open palm, resting her elbow on the banister.

"Pretty crazy ya..." Mydnight played along. He knew exactly how it had happened but never bothered to tell Ambur. It wasn't his business to spread so he didn't. As his mind began to dwell on this, however, his thoughts shifted to those of Ruby's uncle.

As the smile ran from his face he seemed to space out, a frown extending over his lips.

'You're gonna go far kid,' he heard the older man's voice ring out in his head.

He shook the voice from his head, Ambur taking notice of the sudden movement and looking to him, only to find that he had put a smile back on his face. "You want another drink? I'll go fetch?" He asked.

"Ya sure hon, you know what I like," she smiled before pecking his cheek gently. He stood up and let her go, taking their glasses and heading back to their dorm room.

Ruby watched as he left the railing before her attention returned to Yang. The pair had been dancing alone for several minutes now, their partners had gone off to find drinks.

"They are soooo cute," Yang swooned as she continued to dance around with Ruby.

"Ya, they are. Hard to believe that Weiss didn't like them," Ruby giggled out.

"Ice Queen doesn't like anyone," she chuckled. "But it certainly did take her a long time to accept those two. Where the hell did they get off too anyway it's been forever?" she huffed as her thoughts too returned to Blake and Weiss.

"I don't know actually. Wanna go look for them?"

"Ya come on," Yang smiled as she took Ruby's hand and led her out of the crowd. "You two seem to be getting along well too huh?"

Ruby's face flushed as her thoughts strayed to her girlfriend. "Ya, she's been a lot better lately."

"Huh," she questioned as she looked down at her sister before chuckling, "Oh no I meant you and Mydnight."

"Oh!," Ruby recoiled in surprise. "Ya, it's been awesome! He's so nice and easy to talk to. You'd never know if you didn't try." As her mind strayed back to the wolfman she couldn't help but smile. She was still surprised by how well the two of them had hit it off. She had actually never made a friend so easily as she had with Mydnight before. It was to the point where she was actually suspicious of him at first since he accepted her so quickly. It seemed like he had wanted to train her just as bad as she had wanted him to. Eventually, she had chalked it up to the fact that their weapons were so similar and there were no other people around school who used scythes. After a while, though she had gotten the feeling that he had already known about her since before she arrived at Beacon.

The thoughts had gradually subsided though as their friendship grew and they continued to get along so well. Even Weiss had begun to accept that there was Faunus like Blake ad Mydnight who really were perfectly nice, and it had really opened a gateway for the Ice Queen to start reforming herself.

"Well he does look pretty intimidating and like he doesn't want to talk to anybody. But ya Ambur says the same things about him whenever I ask."

"How have you two been doing," Ruby mimicked.

"Great! She's taught me a lot and it's nice to have a sparring partner other than dad," Yang rolled her eyes with a smile. It was true to be sure, sparring with someone different for once had taught Yang a lot. Ambur moved in a completely different way than her dad did. While Tai was very acrobatic in his fighting, using his momentum to create stronger and more consistent blows, Ambur was far more blunt. She didn't have to chain together attacks or keep her momentum up to create incredibly powerful blows. Nor did she have to dodge Yang's attacks, simply opting to parry them which Yang wasn't used to at all. She had very quickly taught Yang that training against a single person for your entire life really wasn't a great way to learn how to handle diverse situations.

As the two made it to the edge of the crowd they spotted Blake and Weiss talking to Sun and Neptune at the punch bowl before heading in their direction.

"No wonder they got held up," Yang grumbled out as her eyes narrowed to annoyed slits, her younger counterpart mimicking the motion. Yang took a deep breath in through her nose and tried to calm herself as the sisters approached the other four students but Ruby was far too annoyed to hide it.

"There you guys are," Yang said with a fake smile on her lips, catching their attention. "Leavin' us hangin' on the dance floor huh?"

Blake was the first to answer, clearly being startled by her partner's words, easily able to hear Yang's undertone of jealousy. "Ye-yeah sorry about that we just ran into Sun and Neptune and got sidetracked," she gave a forced smile back as she took a step away from the boys and put her arm around Yang, handing her a glass of punch.

"Not a problem," Yang waved her hand dismissively before accepting the cup from Blake and taking a long drink, glancing over at Sun to see him rubbing the back of his neck nervously. 'Ya take the hint,' she thought to herself before looking away from him. She had become more and more annoyed with Sun lately, clearly catching him and Blake talking alone on more than one occasion, even able to overhear him ask Blake to the Vytal Ball back before Sun had learned the girls were dating.

Ruby, however, was far less bold in her attempt to get Weiss' attention. Though as she slowly walked up to her girlfriend Weiss wisened up and turned back to the table and began to fill Ruby a cup. As she turned back to Neptune and Ruby she handed the younger girl the glass and even went so far as to peck Ruby on the cheek in full view of Neptune and their teammates. Ruby was so surprised she nearly dropped the cup in fact and she clamored to keep it in her hands without spilling. Weiss began to laugh, "You alright?"

"Ya I'm..." She said softly as she looked back across into her partner's eyes, "I'm fine sorry I just...didn't expect that," she smiled as her cheeks grew redder. Ruby had to assume that if Weiss was now willing to show affection to her in front of other people than she must well and truly be hers at this point. It did make her wonder what she was doing talking to Neptune though if her intentions were strictly platonic with the blue-haired boy. "So what have you guys been talkin' about?"

"Oh, just school stuff. Neptune and Sun were telling us about how they've been adjusting to their temporary lives at Beacon before the festival." Weiss answered as she reached across and took hold of Ruby's free hand.

Again Ruby was shocked, and all the voices around her began to simply pass right through her as all she could do was stare at Weiss and smile. She would nod her head occasionally in agreement at the end of her partner's sentences. 'Man she really is trying,' she thought to herself.

/

As Mydnight reached his bedroom he found several of his classmates lingering around the room with drinks in hand, having to push his way past the crowd just to get to the cooler that Ambur had stashed inside. They weren't really his friends after all. Well, some of them could be considered friends but he knew that they were using their room strictly because it was available. As he mixed his cup full of rum and dark soda he heard familiar voices.

"Mydnight!" His ears perked up as he turned his head to find Caroline and Hunter standing in the doorway.

"Hey guys," he laughed lightly, now beginning to feel the alcohol set in. "Need a drink?"

"Ya of course," she responded as she reached in and began fixing her and her boyfriend's drink. As Mydnight finished pouring Ambur a new cup of beer he turned to leave.

"Well, I'll see you guys back at the party huh? Gotta get this to the boss," he smiled.

"Hah ya sure. Don't wanna keep her waiting."

"Never," he laughed as he headed back out into the hallway. As he found himself back in the railed hallway that overlooked the foyer he turned the corner and found her, right where he had left her. As he approached he could tell she was looking down at something in particular. "Hey," he said lightly, grabbing her attention and handing her her drink.

"Thanks, Hon," she smiled as she kissed him quickly before focusing back on what she had been staring at.

"What are you lookin at?"

"Ruby and Yang seem to be a bit jealous," she laughed as she pointed to the six younger students.

As Mydnight's eyes fell upon them he sighed and wiped his face in his free hand. "They don't have a reason to be. Just because Weiss has a little crush on Neptune doesn't mean she's gonna leave Ruby for him." He then paused for a minute before talking again. "Well...I could see Sun with Blake, to be honest."

"Hey," Ambur said as she lightly punched his arm and he recoils. "That's awful."

"Look I didn't say I want them to break up I'm just saying that they'd be good for each other," he shrugged as he began to drink again.

"Ya I guess," Ambur sighed as she rested her chin back on her hands. As they finished off their drinks they heard the beat pick up, their DJ changing the song as they saw Yang drag Blake toward the dance floor. As Ambur watched her mood perked up as she grabbed Mydnight's hand and yanked him toward the staircase. "Come on let's dance," she smiled out giddily.

As she dragged him he felt himself slipping into a deeper haze, unable to argue with her brilliant idea. "Anything for you," he chuckled, rolling his eyes as the couple stumbled down the stairs and out onto the dance floor.