Big Issues
AN: Alright folks, it may be a month later than I had hoped but we finally have Ruby's birthday chapter! So let's have some fun!
Celebration!
It's been two days since the revelation from Roman about how he survived and became the new host for Ozpin. Unfortunately, many of the groups were too busy healing, helping others heal, or assisting in some capacity to clean up the city, mostly at Haven since they were so close. That also meant that they could give the inspectors a rundown of their fights on site, helping to explain much of the damages.
That didn't mean that they didn't find ways to prepare for something else, that being Ruby's birthday party. There were two others from the Menagerie Militia who shared the day as well, turning that into a happy coincidence.
It would be a party that would bring friends and family together and bring back some cheer to a city that desperately needed it after recent events.
—-
Neo was enjoying her time off. Fighting the White Fang had been good to alleviate some of her stress. Telling Lil' Miss Malachite what she saw had proven to be the right call, allowing the information broker to funnel some funds to the rebuilding efforts to gain favor with much of the city.
The woman played a shrewd game and did it well. There was little that happened in Mistral without Spider learning of it and those seeking information would need to go to her or try on their own. It didn't matter who it was asking for her services, from the beggars to the Emperor, she'd treat them all the same and they'd have to pay up one way or another.
Spider was involved in every level of Mistral and had its own enforcers. Some of which participated in defending Mistral from the attacks, many are in the rebuilding efforts.
For those like Neo, she was rewarded with some vacation time and treated to a few luxuries, mostly in the form of food. And Lil' Miss was still looking into her request to find certain people. At present, they were trying to confirm that they had found the right ones.
The girl silently giggles as she relaxes in her tub filled with hot water and bubbles, complete with a yellow rubber ducky floating through the mass. And that didn't include the part that she was eating a large bowl of ice cream as she soaked her cares away.
—-
Roman sulked on the couch and pretty much had been there since he was grilled and chewed out by James and Glynda. While both had accepted that he was now the host of Ozpin… eventually, they had made it quite clear that Roman would be watched very closely.
It made an interesting sight as the house was decorated for the party to come, streamers and balloons hanging around, Nora and Ren painting a sign, Anya and Talon were assisted by Raven in the kitchen to prepare the food and drink for the evening. Jaune, Pyrrha, Itazura, and Ilia were setting up tents outside as Denko and Vernal hooked up lights and speakers for music.
Teams SSSN and ABRN had gone out and served as runners to get supplies. They were the ones who had gotten the decorations and had been going to stores for ingredients since they knew Mistral best.
The other houses were busy as well, preparing their own party which would merge with the birthdays. However, it was also to celebrate the victory over the White Fang and commemorate those who were lost. Word spread throughout Mistral and the locals were quick to whip up their own gatherings.
As for Team RWBY…
"So… you and Sun are together now?" Ruby asks her wayward teammate as they sat in a restaurant, the girl ignorant as to what is going on elsewhere.
Said cat blushed as she looked away. "Yeah."
"About time, with how you two were back at Beacon, you were all but official." Weiss smirks as she crossed her arms, trying to ignore the slight pang of pain in her waist.
If anything, that made Blake turn even redder. "Were… were we really that bad?"
"I wouldn't say bad. Quite adorable really."
"And just when did you two make it official?" Yang's grin was almost predatory.
"I…I-I don't know… it just kind of… happened." She was beginning to match her friends cloak in color.
"Oh? Did anything 'Special' happen?" The blonde leaned in closer.
At that question, Blake went beet red and steam was wafting out of all four of her ears as she recalled that night with Sun. How she took things to rather… kinky levels that she'd only read in her books. Not that they didn't have their moments of more tame but no less passionate nights, but they did keep things interesting.
"Oh! I think they did it!" Yang cheers with arms over her head, Weiss mimicking her with a small woop.
Ruby was no less happy and cheered with her sister and best friend, though it was somewhat subdued by the realization of just what they were cheering about. "Ew."
"Oh grow up Ruby. It's a fact of life." Weiss pokes her friends well padded ribs.
"I don't need to know those details!" The younger girl loudly declared as she covers her ears as the others laugh- Yang and Weiss laughed as Blake got her blushing under control.
A waitress came by for their orders, the girls keeping things light but satisfying.
"I need to use the restroom." Blake suddenly says and slips out of the booth where she was on the end next to Weiss.
Just as she disappeared through the door, Yang got up and followed, muttering to Ruby about her need to go from her side.
Inside, Blake found that she was alone and checked her makeup in the mirror, not bothering to put any on for the past week or so due to the fighting and fallout.
"Done already?" Yang asks as she spots the Faunus by the mirror as soon as she walks in.
"Oh! I ummm… just needed a moment."
Yang does a quick look around and finds that they were alone. "We need to talk."
"A-about what?" She had a good idea of what the topic was.
"About what you did before you left." Was the blunt answer.
"I… I thought we talked that out." Blake was looking rather meek, trying to look anywhere but at Yang, more specifically at her right arm.
"We did but I couldn't really say too much before you were gone."
"But we said we are sisters." Amber eyes began to well with tears.
"And I'm not taking that back." Lilac eyes stared at the cat.
"What?" Blake's waterworks paused in her confusion.
"This." Yang states as she delivers a quick jab with her right hand into the soft gut of her sister, driving the air from her lungs with an "Oof!" But getting her breath back had to wait as she was wrapped in a tight hug.
"That was for trying to run away again. If you had gotten away and left us all behind like you tried to, there's no way I would have been so nice."
Blake recalled how upset Yang had gotten when she had told her of her family life before the dance. How she had been so obsessed with finding answers as to why she had been abandoned. The tears in her eyes from being abandoned at all. The search that had nearly killed both herself and Ruby.
All about a woman that Yang had never known.
And for Blake to abandon her team, after months of building trust through living together and relying on each other in missions that put their lives at risk. To just leave her friends bloody and wounded in the wake of a tragedy…
It would have been the ultimate betrayal of trust. One that would have marred any rekindling of their friendship for the rest of their lives.
"But your arm…"
"Yeah… this." Yang pulled back and lifted her right arm.
"I'm sorry."
"Well… it would have been nice to know about the asshole before running into him."
"I'm sorry."
"Probably could have avoided this."
"I'm sorry."
"Say sorry again and I'll hit you."
"I'm sorry-ah!" True to her word, Yang hit her. It was a fairly gentle slap to the head but given the metal fingers meeting skull, it hurt more. Plus Blake was too caught up in her pity to catch what was said before the slap.
"I told you." Yang didn't have any remorse, having given fair warning and it helped to relieve the final bits of stress from the last year about Blake. "Now let's get back out there, they're waiting for us."
Blake watched as the blonde left before turning back to the mirror and flinched as her makeup had run. Quickly she fixed it up, glad that she didn't wear much to start with. But the entire time she did so, she couldn't shake the feeling that she should make up for what she did. Yang may have said she was better now but she was sure there was more below the surface and the others she'd need to deal with as well.
"It may be a while until my guilt is gone." She says to herself in the mirror before heading towards the door. "But I can start making up for it now." Her thoughts turned to Yang's arm and the pain that must have been associated with what happened to it even though she was sure that the doctors had reattached the limb that night.
Outside the door, Yang needed to take a few deep breaths before heading back to the table. What she had just said to Blake was hard and had been building for a year. But between wanting to be the bigger person as the team mom, not just because she was taller and has a larger waistline, and many talks with Denko, Iris, and even Doctor Hemo back on Patch combined with her time with her own mother… she knew that she couldn't hold a grudge.
Too much.
It's not like she had any interest in Blake as a romantic partner and they had very little in common besides their chosen careers. And having such betrayals of trust already strained their friendship. Going that way would be a level of masochism that she'd rather not think about.
What she did know is that while she was upset that Blake had tried to run from everything, she also knew a good chunk of why she tried and understood. It wasn't something that she would do herself but given Blake's history of running from her problems… Yang could only hope that the cat's time with her family and Sun rubbed off on her the right way.
"Hehe, Rub off with Sun… I'm sure she did." The muttered joke lifted her spirits enough that she didn't have to force a smile on her way back to the table.
"Hey! Just in time!" Ruby cheered as Blake sat down as the food came out.
Weiss however, spotted the pale pink mark on her stomach, one that looked to be the size of a fist. It didn't take much thought to realize that it had been Yang, considering that the blonde looked relieved once she had come back. She just hoped that the tension was gone.
For now, Weiss had a steak to eat as did Yang. Ruby had ordered grilled chicken and Blake has fish.
—-
"Got everything ready?" Taiyang asks as he watches Raven decorate a cake. One of several really just to be sure that there was enough to go around.
The woman gave him a look that was unclear. "I'm not used to this sort of thing." She gestures to the cakes that were covered in icing of different colors.
"But you're doing a good job of it." He tells her with a smile. One that made her cheeks flush.
"Are you sure you should be in here?" She deflects.
"Ah, tables are in position, chairs in place, the works." He boasts. "Just waiting on the food and birthday girl."
"Any idea when the girls will be back? They went out for an early lunch so they could catch up."
"Yang said she'll do what she can to keep them away at least until four." Tai shrugs.
"That means we have two hours left!" Talon walks by with a large tray of marinated chicken ready to be baked, setting it on the table for the moment. She withdrew her scroll from her pocket and called the house next door. "Kali, how are we looking over there?"
"This house will be smelling like fish for weeks!" That was not the response anyone was really expecting. "Salads are ready and we have tons of fish and shrimp going."
"Good to hear! We got two hours to finish!"
"Then I'm glad my little girl isn't here or she'd eat everything. Trust me, she did that when she was little, thought she'd pop with how full she was."
"Alright. See you later." Talon hangs up on the laughing cat before calling up the other house. "Amelia? How are you?"
"I had no idea there were so many ways to cook beef and pork! This is amazing!" The pufferfish Faunus was clearly excited.
Talon felt a drop of sweat roll down her neck from nerves. "And they are all going to be ready on time? We have two hours left."
"Oh, no need to worry! We have everything going smoothly!"
"I hope so. See you later."
Another call was made to another house where drinks were being chilled and made along with other fruit related snacks and desserts. No problems there either beyond considering that they counted themselves lucky to have gotten what they needed before the stores and stands were sold out. Few people knew that the bulk of the funds were coming from one of Ozpin's bank accounts for this party. And with how much was being spent, much of Mistral were celebrating using his money too.
—-
"Think we got enough?" Sun asks as he carries a large bag of flour on his shoulder. It was the largest bag available and was proving to be quite the load.
"I think so." Neptune huffs as he had a bag of sugar of similar weight.
Bolin couldn't shrug as he had his staff across his shoulders to help him carry the jugs of frying oil. "We finished everything on our list."
"At least this should be the last run." Nadir agrees, with him, Sage, and Scarlet carrying large backpacks full of other items.
"So… did I miss anything good here while I was gone?" The monkey asks, Arslan and Reese merging with the group. The blonde held a large basket on her shoulder while the green haired girl let her hoverboard do the lifting for her and simply guided it along.
"Definitely not school." Reese didn't seem too bothered about that, given that she was often the first in any class… namely history, to nod off. "We've pretty much been doing a lot of field work fighting Grimm."
"Been fighting almost nonstop for months, can't argue with the results." Sage boasts and flexes his muscles, showing off the definition had returned to what it was before the Issue. Perhaps a bit more defined and Scarlet didn't seem to be complaining given that he was eyeing up the taller man.
"But what about you, man? There's gotta be something interesting while you were gone." Nadir asks.
"What? I just helped my girlfriend get home to her family safely, helped them build up a Huntsman Academy of their own, and fight off the White Fang a couple times."
"Modest much?" Bolin laughs at the downplaying of his accomplishments.
"Whatever." The golden furred tail smacked the other man 'by accident'.
"Hey, Sun?"
"Yeah Neptune?"
"Think that will scar your tail?" The blue haired man points to the bandages.
"Scar? Nah. Blake says the hair is already starting to grow back, it just looks prettier to keep it wrapped for now." He dismisses easily before jabbing a thumb at his chest. "Now if you wanna see a scar…"
"What the hell hit you?!" Reese freaked out, drawing attention to the group.
Sun frowned a bit as he released the collar of his shirt to cover the scar on his chest. "Got stabbed and electrocuted a while back."
"Dude! You could have died from that!" Neptune was aghast, being the resident electrocutor.
Sun shrugs as best he could under the weight of his load. "I was told that they had to restart my heart."
"Damn." Scarlet was the only one to speak upon hearing that.
"How did your girl react to that?" Bolin had to ask.
"Well… she was there when it happened. From what I heard, besides during the surgery to close me up, she was by my side the whole time." It was obvious that it was a bittersweet memory.
"Did you catch whoever it was who did that to you?" Sage's tone demanded that there was retribution.
That made Sun laugh nervously, trying to look at the homes they were passing to see how they were decorating or had something good cooking.
"Wait, they got away?" Arslan was surprised.
"Not exactly…"
"Go on, you can tell us." Nadir insists, adjusting his load.
"It was… Ilia who did this to me."
"Wait, that cute girl did that to you?" Neptune was shocked. Nearly everyone else was getting angry as well, even though that same girl had fought against the White Fang with them.
"Hey, hey, hey! Hold up!" Sun stopped and turned around to look them all in the eyes. "Don't go off on her!"
"Dude! She nearly killed you!" Sage argued.
"Yeah, she did and it sucked." Sun freely admitted. "The thing is, she only did that because she had to."
That made them pause and calm down, waiting for an explanation.
"Look, she was playing a double agent for us. She pretended to be spying on us for the White Fang while spying on them for us. Even used her position to sabotage their weapons when they attacked Menagerie. Without her… we probably wouldn't be having this talk."
"And she stabbed you… why?" Arslan was curious.
Sun let out a sigh, glad that there weren't too many people around at the moment. "She let herself get caught trying to steal intel on us, led us on a chase through town. Keep in mind that me and Blake had no idea she was playing double agent. When we caught up to her, we fought and she stabbed me." He paused as he remembered the pain. "And apparently the leaders for the invasion were watching and what she did to me made them confident that she was on their side."
"Wow… talk about being committed and making hard choices." Bolin gasps.
"Yeah, and as you saw, she's with us. Got in a few good hits on the asshole here." Sun reminds them.
It was a stark reminder that not everything was clearly defined as black and white, many things were simply shades of grey.
"C'mon, we have a party to get to." Reese declares with a fist in the air.
"Yeah!" The others agree before they hustle back to the houses.
—-
It was nearing the scheduled time for the party as RWBY were heading back to the houses after spending some time visiting stores and buying a few things. Of course, they came across a few places with 'No Faunus' signs on their doors, those were avoided as soon as they were seen, given no more attention after that beyond Yang giving a rude gesture to each one. It was a surprise when Weiss joined her in the gestures by the second such store, though they did so behind Ruby so she wouldn't see and Blake appreciated the acts.
It hadn't taken them long to each gather a few items each and had fun doing so like when Yang joked with a bright pink scarf for Jaune. The sight of the blonde wearing it and clashing with the much darker colors of her clothes and armor brought the three to a giggling fit.
"Oh, Yang! I haven't laughed so hard since I found out he wears a Pumpkin Pete hoodie!"
"He what?!" Weiss asks as she turns to her friend.
"I know! We never saw it before because of his old armor! Haha!"
Yang joined her sister in laughing at their friend, even Weiss giggled.
"Umm… who's Pumpkin Pete?" Blake asks, though it was her ignorance that made the others laugh harder.
A few shops later…
"Think Raven would like this?" Ruby holds up an item to her sister.
"Maybe." The blonde comments. "I'm still working on getting to really know her."
"Think I should try something else?"
"You know, most people on their birthday get presents, not give them."
"Yang!" Ruby whines. "It's been so long since we've been together and things are starting to settle down."
"Well… yeah."
"Do you think we'll be going home after this?" The cloaked girl looks up when a hand pats her shoulder.
"Maybe. Goodwitch did say she's gonna have Beacon open for the new year and we're practically enrolled there now for classes." Yang pulls her sister in for a light hug.
"It's just… everything that we did to get here, walking across Anima, getting the records about Cinder… it just seems like a waste now that the Towers are working again.
"Maybe…" Yang agreed partly. "But we had no way to know that they were really being fixed or Haven being attacked. And don't forget about all the people we helped along the way."
Ruby perked up a bit from that. "And someone had to do it, right?"
"Yep! Now cheer up! It's your birthday and we're spending it together!"
Over with Blake and Weiss…
"Oh these are so cute!" The latter squeals as she found a large selection of plushies. There were all sorts of animals from birds to pigs, fish, lobsters to whales, dogs and lizards, even several Grimm varieties that were FAR less terrifying than their base inspirations. Naturally, the Grimm ones were to help reduce fear of them in children and thus mitigating the fear that drew in the creatures, even if a little, but that was the practical side beyond some people just wanting the plushie because of how they looked.
"Yeah, they are." Blake smiles as she looks at the shelves.
"Ah-ha! These are so you!" Weiss digs into the plushies and pulls out a black cat and a golden monkey.
"Really Weiss?" The Faunus couldn't help but to be amused at the sight, even as the heiress made the plushies kiss and snuggle.
But two could play at that game.
Soon she was holding a rather fluffy looking white owl and a black wolf. Then she pitched her voice. "It's not a dress, it's a combat skirt!" She changed her voice slightly. "Yeah!" And the plushies did their equivalent of a high five.
But she had successfully made Weiss stop everything but laughing. "Haha! That was good! Haha! Ah!" Her hand flew to her side where she had been stabbed, the fits of laughter making the still healing and sensitive flesh ache a bit.
Blake quickly dropped her plushies to help her friend. "Are you alright?"
"I-I'm okay… I think. I just need to watch what I do for a bit more."
"Is it bad?"
"I'll be fine. Jaune saved my life and the doctors finished up."
"Should… should we ask Jaune to boost your aura to help you heal faster?"
"Last time he did that I wound up losing weight to fix up what was damaged. I will need a new wardrobe if I have to go through that again."
Blake blinked a few times. "You're concerned about your clothes?"
"Well… the last ones were tailored to me and now they are stained with blood. I'm just glad to have this spare." Weiss gestures to her current outfit. "Still odd to have a little extra room on my hips." She emphasizes by pinching at some of the extra fabric.
"Well, the dress looks good on you."
"Thank you. I've gotten quite fond of this style… though after what happened, maybe I should try adding some armor."
"Really? I don't take you for the type for armor."
"Perhaps, but even Yang started using some and you know how tough she is."
Blake could only nod, though her mind flashed back to a year ago when the blonde in question was cut down in a single attack by Adam. And he wasn't even trying then.
"Still, that's why we are still students. If we were still in school we'd have two more years to complete." Weiss reminds the girl she considers a sister.
That did bring a smile to Blake's face. "And who knows how much trouble we would have caused if we were still at Beacon."
Weiss' smile turned teasing. "Buuuuuut, if you didn't go home with Sun, do you think you two would be a couple? Or would we have had to put up with a lot of late night calls?"
Once again, Blake's facial capillaries were strained as her face flushed bright red. "Weiss!" The cat whines as her ears press themselves to her skull.
"Hey, I'm just having a little fun. We're all enthusiastic that you two hooked up but it's not like I can tease Yang about her and Denko, she has no shame about talking about what they've done in the bedroom."
"She talks about it?"
"Not too often, thankfully, but just don't try to bring it up too much. She used that as a way to get a few digs in on Raven on our way here but it was only once Taiyang came did we learn that they were keeping that quiet from him." She kept her voice low knowing the cat's sensitive ears would hear her clearly.
"Are… are they on good terms? When she told me about her back at Beacon she was pretty upset just thinking about her."
"It was rough but they are getting better. Still a bit of tension here and there." Weiss shrugs. "Definitely better than dealing with my father. Mother… I had to meet in secret."
Blake's eyes widened at that. "Was… was it your dad?"
Weiss suddenly became much colder, to the point where the air temperature seemed to drop. "Let's just say that I've made sure that I've never seen him in person since I first left for Beacon and the next time I do… I may need your help to not stab him in the leg."
"I… I'm guessing that there's a lot I need to catch up on with you." Blake admits. At the same time, she wasn't sure if she would WANT to restrain Weiss if she was going to do that, her old White Fang allegiance practically screaming to help with that if it should happen.
"I'll tell you later." Weiss let up as the sisters bounded over once they spotted the plushies.
"Oh! Those are so cute! Just like the real ones!" Yang and Ruby were in sync as they spotted the cat and monkey in Weiss' hands yet.
—-
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUBY!"
The girl was shocked walking into the house where those who were focused on her particular celebration were located.
"Dad!" The girl shouts as the man slid a party hat on her head, though the elastic band snapped her face a bit.
"Hey! It's not every day when your daughter turns seventeen!" He defends himself, much to the laughter of everyone else.
"You didn't go this far for Yang!"
"Maybe, but we didn't have this many people around or so many friends of yours!" Tai laughs as he pulls his youngest in for a hug, receiving one in return, and Yang added to the embrace with one of her own.
"I smell fish."
The statement broke the mood, causing the family to look back at Blake who stood at the door and eyes wide and searching while drooling a little, the sight making them laugh even harder than before.
BANG BANG BANG "Alright, we have plenty of food for everyone!" Talon calls out holding a pot and wooden spoon that she had used. "Come and load up your plates! We have more outside!"
"Birthday girl gets first dibs!" Itazura shouts, prompting a wave of laughter as the guests make room for Ruby to pass to the basement door where Talon stood.
"We're eating down there?" The cloaked girl asks the cooking Huntress.
"Well yeah! There's no room up here and everything is prepped down there so you can go outside to eat." Talon gives her a cheeky grin before waving her down the stairs. "Come on, birthday girl's family too!"
Tai and Yang walk over, the former grabbing Raven from the crowd as the latter takes Denko, who had Itazura… who had Ilia by the hand. The odd procession drew more laughs from the others and Talon waved Weiss and Blake over as well, motioning for them to follow.
"This is so good!" The birthday girl says as she stuffs more food into her mouth.
To put things nicely, if she thought that Hestia's buffet back home had a lot of food and a broad selection, it looked more like a sample compared to the spread today. So she tried to get a sample of everything on her plate all at once and quickly found that two plates weren't enough. Weiss did much of the same while Yang loaded up on less variety but larger helpings of the chicken and beef and pork with plenty of potatoes and other veggies on the side. Blake… tested the strength of the plate as it was piled high with seafood, Sun swooping in to guide her away before the situation escalated to critical levels, balancing his own plate as he did.
"Happy birthday!" Reese greets the girl as she passes, her own plate bare of meat but full of vegetables and noodles. The subject could only wave since her mouth was full, leaving the chubby skater girl to laugh as she joined her team at a nearby table.
By chance , Jaune, Denko, and Sun wound up sitting side by side at the table, leading to Yang to start giggling.
"What's so funny?" Denko asks before taking a bite of his barbecue chicken.
"Haha! You three!"
"What about us?" Jaune looks over at the laughing blonde.
"Oh, I see it now." Weiss adds with her own grin. "How did we not see it before?"
"Dunno." Yang's body shook as she stopped eating to pull out her scroll.
"What's going on?" Sun had been occupied by Blake next to him trying to steal the little bit of seafood off his own plate since she had torn through her pile already.
"Hmm?" Ruby looks up with a bunch of noodles hanging from her lips.
"Hehehe, they look like they could be brothers!" Yang cackles as she takes a picture of the three blue-eyed blondes across from her.
Said 'brothers' blinked and looked at each other before acting in disbelief in their own ways. Sun grasping the sides of his head and covered his ears in the process, Denko covered his eyes with a hand, and Jaune hid his mouth with his hands to not show his shock.
The three of them doing that together only made the two girls across from them laugh harder as Yang made sure to get more pictures.
"Cheer up, Jaune." Pyrrha elbows her boyfriend lightly. "You have to admit that it's rather amusing."
Nora has been watching and listening with wide eyes from next to Yang. "Oh! MY! GOSH! Are you really long lost brothers?!"
"Umm… I'm an orphan from somewhere around Anima." Denko points out.
"I grew up with a caravan in Vacuo." Sun adds.
"I come from a town south of Vale, Vin de L'Arc-en-ciel." Jaune informs them.
"See Nora, they are from all over the world, they can't be brothers." Ren tries to calm his best friend, a hand on her shoulder keeping her from bouncing too much in her excitement.
"But what if their dad traveled and had very potent- mmmph!" Ren had grabbed a cupcake from her plate and shoved it in her open mouth.
"Let's not go there." He warns her, leaving the girl to chew and swallow on her own.
Of course, Yang had caught everything with her scroll and was barely able to hold it steady enough for the camera to stay in focus through her laughing. And Ruby attempted to drown out the thought by stuffing more noodles in her mouth, letting her focus shift to her food.
"Hey Jaune?"
"What is it Weiss?"
"It's just… I recognize the name of your hometown. The wines that come from there are very good."
"Oh, thanks. You have no idea how hard it is to keep everything running and the crops safe so we can have the best to make it." The young Arc admits with a shrug.
"Wait!" Sun jumps into the conversation, first pointing at Weiss. "You drink?"
The heiress' eyes widened at being called out, settling for being slightly embarrassed. "Not until I was fifteen and even then it was only small samples." She pinched her fingers to demonstrate how small her samples had been. "I haven't had more than a glass with my meals since I found what I enjoyed and even then I haven't had any since I left for Beacon."
"Better than Uncle Qrow then." Ruby gives her a smile.
"C'mon Ruby. You know he prefers whiskey." Yang grins cheekily as she nudges her sister.
The man in question was standing off to the side, about as far away as possible to eat his meal in peace. For those who knew him, they knew that he was simply staying out of the way and hoping for the best when it came to his Misfortune. Far too many potential targets if he'd be in the middle of things.
"Second!" Sun points at Jaune. "You know how to make wine?"
The young man looked a bit sheepish. "Hehe, a bit. Dad and Mom didn't let us actually make it really… just helped bring things from one place to another so we'd learn on the job from the bottom up." He shrugs. "Maybe if I had stayed home I'd be learning the details of making it."
"Learn a little more about you every day." Pyrrha laughs, soon joined by the others.
The laughter stopped as a large shadow loomed over the blonde dominated side of the table.
—-
"Everything going well?" Kali and Sienna wandered over to where Raven was standing.
"Hm? Oh, I'm just not the sort who really enjoys parties. It's a bit… much for me." Raven shrugs, though she was donned in casual clothes for the occasion; a deep red shirt with sleeves that stopped just past the elbow, black shorts, knee high red stockings under tall black boots, complete with a black waist cincher and her usual red bandanna now being used to tie her hair back into a ponytail.
"That I can understand." Sienna didn't hesitate to agree.
"But you did help prepare for the party, I hope you at least take the time to enjoy the results of your efforts." Kali kindly advised.
"That I am." Raven takes a forkful of spiced and grilled beef and savored the flavors.
"Gotta say, those cakes do look good." The tiger compliments. The dessert table was almost groaning under the weight of its contents, much like the other tables had with the various meats, fish, pasta, fruits, and vegetables. At least those had their loads eased thanks to the several dozen people filling their plates.
"Thanks. But you should give the credit to the Eaglewing sisters, they really know what they are doing in the kitchen."
"And they were able to organize everyone and split up the menu so we could all focus. Even worked out a budget for the whole thing." Kali giggles.
"If they can whip this up in just a few days, I can only imagine what they'd do with a proper restaurant." Sienna smiles. "If they do, I'll be there."
"I don't think it's a matter of IF but WHEN they have a place of their own." Raven corrects, recalling the conversations of the girls growing up in a restaurant owned by their mother.
—-
"I hope there's room for one more?" A deep voice asks from behind the Faunus couple, both of them suddenly sitting up straight in surprise.
"Mmhmm!"
"Mhmmhm?"
The voice laughed as the two of them tried to speak with their mouths full. "Haha, I'm glad to see you two looking well and together." A large hand clapped down on Sun's shoulder.
Gulp. "Ghira? What are you doing here?!"
"Dad?!" The helping (pile) of fish was seemingly forgotten thanks to the arrival of one Ghira Belladonna, the man smiling fondly at his daughter.
"Still can't control yourself around seafood, I see." He laughs. "How many is that now?"
"Umm… third, I think." Her ears folded down as she blushed.
Ghira shook his head a little before focusing on Sun. "Just make sure she doesn't overdo it. She'll stuff herself to bursting if she isn't stopped."
"Hehehe, maybe we should put the fish behind a narrower door?" The monkey suggests nervously.
That did make the big man scratch at his beard. "That's not a bad idea. Maybe a little renovation is needed at home."
"Dad!"
"Haha! I'm only joking around… a little." He waved off her embarrassment as he looked over the assembled young Huntsmen and Huntresses, noting that the ones that Sun had shown him pictures of as his team were sitting at the next table over with some others. And those sitting with his daughter… "So, you are the sisters of my daughter who she spoke so highly of?"
"Umm… hi?" Ruby squeaks out, rather intimidated by his sheer size.
"Pleased to meet you, sir." Weiss greets politely with a small bow of her head.
Yang stared at the man in front of her, at least until she blurted out. "Wow, I feel petty."
"Yang!" Both girls on her right yell.
"What?! Look at him!" The blonde points at Ghira with her right arm. "He got his arm blown off a month ago and he's here acting like nothing happened! I spent months moping around even before my arm was too far gone!" She disconnected her arm for emphasis.
That did shut up the other girls and Blake wound up wearing an expression that was hard to read, a mix of pride in her father and intense shame that Yang had been hurt as she did.
Still, Ghira walked around the table to Yang. "You may have 'moped around' but you got out of that slump rather than letting your loss define you. I've known many over the years who have never risen above and it hurt them and those they cared about.
For me… between seeing what happens on both sides of a problem like that and being a much older man, I put the wellbeing of my family and people above myself and strive to make their lives better. Admittedly, my position does grant me many favors but that is a result of my diligence to help others."
"So you simply found yourself too busy to worry about losing your arm?" Yang asks, summarizing his little speech.
"Haha! To put it bluntly, yes." Ghira couldn't help but to laugh at her words or compare her to Sun weeks ago when he was assisting with his paperwork on Menagerie. "I assume that you have loved ones who helped you as well?"
"Uh, yeah. Denko is the best boyfriend I could have asked for, been through my toughest moments with me thick or thin. And Dad was there too." She reached across to hold his hand… even if the reach meant that she had to reach with her prosthetic to cover the distance. There were a few grins at the not so subtle joke but a few sighs at the love the couple shared.
His bearded face nearly split from his smile. "Ah, much like how those two are then." He gestured to Blake and Sun who blushed at the attention. "They've been through many trials and have gotten through them thanks to their bonds."
"Hehehe. Thank you, sir." Sun laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head with one hand even as the other was occupied holding Blake's under the table.
"Hmm… how many happy couples do we have now?" Ghira looks around at the two tables with the younger generation, watching as Yang lifts her hands and Denko's, Sun raised his still holding Blake's, Jaune and Pyrrha followed suit to lift their hands and lock them. At the other table, Itazura and Ilia held their hands high, as did Scarlet and Sage.
"My, that's quite a few of you! Congratulations!"
It was a bit hard to miss that Nora and Ren had squirmed and blushed at the question, glancing at each other and making many who saw that roll their eyes.
"Now… I should get moving and find Kali… she doesn't know I'm here and I doubt she approves that I left home." Ghira tells them all in a low voice.
But the many eyes focused on something behind him made the large panther flinch.
"You were supposed to stay home and heal!" Sure enough, Kali Belladonna was right behind him and looking quite cross.
"Ah, dear! I was just coming to look for you!"
"Don't you give me that! Do the doctors even know you left Menagerie?!" The cat woman scolds her much larger husband and grabs his ear, dragging him away as she lectured him the whole time.
"Okay… that was unexpected." Nora states after watching the 'show'.
"Yeah." Weiss drawls. Almost in unanimous agreement, both tables shrug and return to their meals.
—-
"Happy birthday to you!" Many in the crowd sang before Ruby blew out the seventeen candles on the large cake in front of her. A cake that was decorated mostly in roses on top of white icing.
"And many more!" Tai, Yang, Weiss, and Sun added on together, much to the amusement of others.
But it was Raven who got to cut the first slice and hand it to the birthday girl. Inside the woman, she was battling emotions. She tried to maintain her usual stoic expression but she felt regrets from never having done this before- except when Taiyang and Summer introduced the tradition to her and Qrow when they started at Beacon. The missed opportunities to do this with Yang, resigning herself to only watching from afar, in secret, and only occasionally. And to do this for the daughter of her lost friend…
"You're crying."
She had stepped back after serving Ruby to let the others cut off their own slices and stood next to Taiyang who noticed. Quickly she used her sleeve to wipe away the drop trailing down her cheek.
"No I'm not."
"No need to try the tough girl act with me." He counters, keeping his eyes on his daughters as they squeal in delight from tasting the cake with their friends.
"You know I'm not used to this sort of thing." She mutters as she crosses her arms.
"Doesn't mean that you can't get involved more." Tai shrugs. "The girls are giving you a chance to be a mother, a real mother."
"And you?"
"Part of me had cursed you years ago when you left." His words made her eyes widen in shock, knowing that the man was one who rarely lashed out in anger but then she was filled with guilt because she had been the cause. "Part of me had held out hope that you'd come back." The guilt was nearly overwhelming now. "And part of this right now is giving you a chance of my own, especially after what you had done with Vernal."
That was the final straw as she grabbed the man and led him into the nearest house, and cried into his chest once they had a wall between them and the party.
For his part, Taiyang just let her work it out of her system and rubbed her back, getting the feeling that this may be a common occurrence as her walls came down.
—-
There was music and dancing, a few gifts were given, and bellies were stuffed. Team RWBY sat at a table to rest a little and Kali joined them as Ghira spoke to Sienna.
"Hey Kali?"
"Yes Yang?"
The blonde looked briefly apprehensive before asking. "I was wondering, don't take this the wrong way, but I would have thought you'd be more insistent on having grandkids."
"YANG!" Blake blushed bright red as she yelled from the end of the table.
Though for her part, Kali took it gracefully and waved off the concern with a smile. "It's not a problem, Blake and Sun will have them when they're ready."
With those words, Blake calmed considerably, taking a drink from her cup of tea. "Thanks Mom." The other three girls smiled at the vote of confidence the mother had for her daughter.
"Of course." Kali adds with a widening smile. "With how much they practice, they'll have one sooner or later!"
The reaction was immediate- Blake spraying a mouthful of tea across the table and all over the younger girls as Kali laughed.
"You can't tell me I'm not wrong!" The mother cackles, too busy in her mirth to help the girls clean themselves up with napkins.
—-
By the time the party ended, empty stomachs were what many wished for but didn't have. The food was too good and plentiful to not stuff as much into the participants as they could hold… a few pushing their absolute limits. And a few who went beyond, mostly for those who were drinking a bit too much and resulted in the emptiest of stomachs.
Throughout the rest of Mistral, individual parties wrapped up at different times, the vast majority of the kingdom taking a break from everything just to have a night to forget their worries and celebrate the lives of those who were lost in the most recent events.
"Ugh… no more." Weiss groans as she lay back on the couch and holds her stomach, which is looking much rounder than normal and her belt hanging loose to remove as much resistance as possible.
"That… was soooo good." Ruby sat next to the heiress. To be more specific, she was laid out across the couch using Weiss' very plush lap as a pillow.
She too was clutching her belly and rubbing the soft orb through her shirt, belt long left undone. The hefty girl was in an odd combination of a sugar high and food coma, barely awake but the soft warmth under her head was definitely helping to tip the scales in favor of sleep, especially when she snuggled up to the warm belly.
"Was it a good birthday?" Weiss asks, her right hand drifting from her stomach to run the fingers through her friend's hair.
"The best." Ruby mutters with a smile before belching, some relief coming to her stuffed gut and missing Weiss fanning her hand in front of her face.
"Hehe, glad it was, Sis." Yang grins. Her already large and round belly is even more so now, packed full enough that it was taught as a drum and skin faintly pink from the stress the contents put on her. "I hope it helps to make up for last year."
Denko rubbed the tight orb, channeling a touch of his semblance to ease the pressure. "Ha, you haven't eaten this much in months. At least last time you weren't as hard because of all the padding."
"You loved that padding." The girl grins.
He simply shrugs in agreement. "That was just a bonus on top of you."
"I hear that." Sun chimes in from the chair he sat in, almost hidden under Blake as she dozed on his shoulder and her legs over the armrest. He kept his arms around her waist as his tail lazily trailed over her belly.
"Fish…" The full cat murmurs. She had single handedly been responsible for much of the seafood disappearing, not she ate all of it since there was far too much but she put a good dent in it. Definitely full enough that her gut stayed round in her position instead of folding on itself as it normally would.
"How is she still thinking about eating?" Jaune asks, he and Pyrrha were leaning back against Ruby and Weiss' couch.
Pyrrha shugs. "No idea, I just know that I'm going to need a day or two before I can fit in my armor again."
The Spartan's thick hourglass shape wasn't as defined as it had been at the start of the party, her waistline doing a very good job of trying to match her hips and bust thanks to how much she ate… and her appetite was never small.
"I'm sure you'll be fine." The knight tried to pull her a bit closer by the waist, wincing as his own gut protested the effort to pull her weight.
"Ha, you may want to hold off on your armor too." She pokes his own full belly with a finger.
SSSNNNNOOOORRRREEEE!
Heads turned to find Ren pinned under a deeply sleeping Nora. As full as she is, her packed stomach lay across his as she rested her head on his chest, arm draped over him, and a thick leg over his own.
"Don't mind me, this isn't new." The ninja didn't bother opening his eyes. He had eaten the least of the group but that still was plenty for a normal person.
There was a light round of laughter from the others about that.
"Are you sure they're not together-together?" Ilia whispers to Itazura as they cuddled under a blanket against the wall.
"I think they've been close friends for so long that they're afraid to change that." The fox tells her quietly before looking at another couple and raising her voice a bit to be heard. "Maybe they'll be like someone else who just took the plunge to get it over with."
A touch of pink came across Ren's face at that; Yang didn't boast but she wasn't exactly quiet about how her and Denko made things official. It wasn't conventional by any means but they had been close friends for so long it seemed to be the next natural step.
But he couldn't figure for the life of him if he'd ever go through with something like that, though he could expect that Nora might try… leading to a potential middle ground and they'd take their time getting to that level of intimacy.
And just like that he realized that he was thinking about that sort of thing with Nora, though their current position certainly helped that line of thought along. And he realized that he didn't mind too much. It was just the path to get there.
Bolin, Reese, Arslan, and Nadir sat along a wall as a team, with Sage and Scarlet under their own blanket.
"Heck, we were on a mission with those two when they hooked up." Reese comments as she jabs a thumb at the boys.
"Hey, we were in a tight spot and Neptune was separated from us, busy with you guys." Scarlet defends. "Wound up saying stuff that sparked our relationship once things were under control."
"And haven't regretted it yet!" Sage chimes in, throwing an arm over Scarlet's shoulders.
"What do you mean 'yet'?"
"Meh, I'll keep that as a possibility." The larger man smirks. "Just in case you screw something up."
"What about you two?" Nadir addresses the fox and chameleon.
Immediately, Ilia turned pink as her spots and hair went red. "It's… a bit hard to explain. Not everything is something I'm proud of."
That had the attention of everyone conscious in the room. "Go on." Bolin insisted as he waited patiently.
"Weeeellll…. Okay." Itazura grins as she teased out her answer. "It happened back on Menagerie…"
If there was one thing a certain fox was good at, it was finding trouble. The next thing was causing trouble just as easily.
And following Ilia as she snuck around seemed to be as good a way to pass the time as any. The girl was quiet and often brooding, her past being a good reason.
It did seem a bit odd that she was going to the White Fang headquarters on the island but perhaps Sienna needed something from there.
It hadn't been that long since the fox and chameleon had their talk about their past traumas, coming to an understanding of sorts. At least Ilia didn't have physical scars to show for it.
Sneaking around the building, she found the Albain brothers speaking to a trio of kneeling figures. A subtle adjustment to her ears made them extra sensitive to sounds so she could listen in.
Trifa would be scouting out the academy and tower under construction, another guy, Yuma, was going to tell more about preparing for an attack on the island, the brothers were only biding their time to let the workers do their jobs before taking it for themselves. And Ilia… was spying on the Belladonna home from the inside.
Itazura soon made sure that Ilia found her, 'inviting' her for a walk around the construction site for a little time together. The graffiti had been great with them working together on it and signing it as Color Trick had been a nice touch.
They were often together, eating meals, training, or assisting with the construction of Sirius Academy and they had fun doing so.
But the confrontation in the control room of the CCT on Menagerie changed many things. What had started as an innocent conversation turned into an interrogation with Ilia having to answer for her actions telling the White Fang about the plans made by Sienna and Ghira.
And with little option left combined with their friendship, Ilia divulged everything. Everything that she had told the Albain brothers, everything she had told Adam before all of this began, everything she knew of the White Fang's plans,everything about her frustrations with Blake…
And there they created a plan. One that was very dangerous but necessary.
A plan that drew them even closer.
Ilia knew where the weapons were being stashed around Kuo Kuana as she was the one to sneak them to the sleeper agents. That knowledge was used to replace the ammunition with glitter, rendering them useless, with the ones to use them none the wiser.
The hardest part was securing the absolute trust of the brothers. Ensuring that Ilia would be caught in the act in Ghira's office by several witnesses had been the easy part. The hardest had been getting away and having to fight Blake and Sun, the latter being stabbed by her so she could get away as Blake focused on her lover.
Hiding away in the White Fang building had been torturous for Ilia, knowing that she had thrown away any chance to be with her long-time secret crush, learning that Sun had nearly died because of her, and she was THE most wanted person on Menagerie with everyone looking for her.
Her only solace was that Itazura had given her a spare scroll to be lost and the fox had gotten herself in charge of going through it for information. And that same fox would talk to her regularly to ease the pain of loneliness when they weren't out prepping for Adam's arrival.
They had many talks during that time and when the night of the invasion came, Ilia put herself on the line to stop the White Fang, even having one of the guns put to her head and the man pulled the trigger. The surprise on his face was worth the glitter in her hair for the rest of the week.
Things between Ilia and the rest of Kuo Kuana were tense at first, but with the testimony from the dozens of witnesses that were held hostage in the school being spread around, that tension was eased up considerably. As for Blake and Sun… they got their revenge on her for the pain she caused- a few pinches that left bright red welts and a spar against each of them that left her a bit battered.
At least that first night with Itazura really helped them relieve their stress. Not that they were really intimate but they did fool around; a lot of tickling, some groping, and a fair amount of kissing.
But by the end of that, they were fairly sure that they weren't simply a fling and were rather interested in seeing where they would go together.
The training for and fighting with the White Fang did hamper things a fair deal but with nights like this, it made their time together even more special.
"Oh wow!" Reese was in awe. "That's a lot like some of the spy novels I've read!"
"Are those different from the other smut you read?" Arslan quips.
"You don't have any room to talk, I've seen 'Ninjas of Love' in your bags." Bolin teases.
Then the team began a heated debate over their preferred reading material, much to the amusement of the others.
"You know, I'm half tempted to wake up Blake so she can jump in." Sun shrugs, prompting a round of laughter from the others.
"It was filth!" Ruby argued, having read more than a few passages of the novel she found in her dorm at Beacon. Granted, she had hit Blake with the book declaringing it to be filth but had still taken it for further reading. That book may have been her first real jump into puberty but she had yet to admit to herself that she had feelings for anyone or desired any of the acts that he had read about.
Only time would tell how long that would last.
AN: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! The arc is slowly coming to a close with one or two more left that will end on a generally happy note. Hopefully I'll get those done quicker than I did with this chapter. But we got to see many tensions put to rest, some insight being spread among friends, lots and lots of food being made and devoured, and many congratulations being given. Even a bit of an expansion on how our resident Color Trick ship got started, if some of you hadn't been able to pick up on that over the past few months it was building up.
Plus I had a little fun with the blonde boys mimicking the Three Monkeys as they realize that they look as though they could be family.
As a reminder, I'll restart working on Small Issues next month, the prequel to this series, as well as getting the next arc prepared for posting next year in Larger Issues. No idea if the next segment is going to reach close to 100 chapters as Big Issues has, I only know that I estimate Small Issues to be about thirty.
I'll see you all next time or in one of the other parts of this series! Reviews are welcome!