-Legend 30-

-I less than three you-

…

"...And then she was all like, 'Lance!' and the thing flew at a million miles an hour and hit me right in the face! It was awesome!"

Dove Bronzewing and Jaune Arc shared a look. "I have never heard someone so...enthused about being blown to bits by a Nova Bomb before…" Dove said.

"Learning is fun!" Nora said. "Even if it hurts like hell…"

Stood in line as they were at the OWT station, their progress was fairly slow going. Their time then spent mostly ruminating on the events of their battle royale.

"Other than me getting Schnee-capped at the start, I'm glad at least one of us did Team Mjollnir proud!" The Sunbreaker cuffed her teammate on the shoulder, Jaune barely feeling it.

"Quite," Dove said. "Congratulations on reaching the top thirty, Jaune."

Jaune nodded sideways. "Luck, mostly," he said. "Being in the right place at the right time…"

"Please! You call this luck!?"

Nora opened her scroll to the CCN app. Therein, did the three of them watch a highlight reel that featured Jaune a few minutes in. Nora scrolled to the appropriate time stamp and held the device up for them to see.

Jaune was engaged with an enemy Sunsinger. His short, suppressive bursts of auto rifle fire kept her from fully engaging her Radiance Super as he closed in. She cast a Firebolt grenade at him, but Jaune barely slowed down, his Force Barrier absorbing the brunt of the fire. On her now, did Jaune aim a powerful punch at her midsection. "Disintegrate!" And his opponent was consumed by the Void, her energy feeding Jaune's barrier further.

"Your Semblance is improving every day!" Dove said, his hand on Jaune's shoulder.

Jaune smiled, pride glowing in the gesture. "I have you guys to thank for that," he said. "And thanks to Nora's training regimen, I could probably bench five of me!"

"Hells yeah!" Her attention was then back on her scroll, as the highlights continued playing. "That Red Death girl is freakin' awesome!"

"Yeah, Ruby is pretty great," Jaune said.

"You know her?" Dove asked.

"We're acquainted," he said. The line moved a bit and they took a few steps forward. "We met on the way to the stadium at the start of the weekend. And again before the battle royale started." He laughed. "I'm just glad I didn't run into her out there!"

The three shared a laugh at this, unaware of the new entrant in their midst.

"Jaune Arc?"

Jaune turned to the call of his name and found a Ghost hovering at his eye level. "Oh, hello."

"Mr. Arc, can you be so kind as to come with me for a moment?" said the Ghost.

Jaune looked to his teammates. "May I ask why?"

The Ghost twirled her brown and pink shell.

"It's just that my Guardian would very much like a word with you," she said.

"And your Guardian is, who, exactly?" Jaune said, eyebrow raised.

"I don't wish to spoil the surprise." The little device puttered off over the crowd. "Come, come now!"

Jaune shrugged. "Guess I'll see what this is about then."

"Just hurry back," Dove said.

"Yeah, we can't hold this boat forever!" Nora added.

Jaune waved off their worries as he made through the crowd, following the trail of the Ghost.

And then along the way…

"Hey, it's that Defender from Mercury!"

There were any number of Defenders from Mercury, so Jaune wasn't immediately aware of the small group that was trying to get his attention.

There were six of them, an even split of males and females. "Hey, can we have your holograph!?"

Jaune blinked a few times. "Uh...yeah. Sure."

He zapped his holograph into five of their scrolls as the sixth member fidgeted about with hers.

Her friend whispered to her. "C'mon, now's your chance!"

The girl smiled down at her shoes as she squeaked out, "Um...Jaune…I…" and with no preamble, did she launch up on her toes and plant a lightning-quick kiss upon his cheek.

She then tore off at high speed, her friends howling in her wake.

Jaune nodded sideways, his smile forming as he resumed following the Ghost.

From nowhere in particular, did there reach a concerted rendition of Lilysteel's theme song; a group of fans reveling away the waning hours of the tournament weekend:

"And by faith

Not by sight

on silent nights I meet my Silent Knight…!"

The trail led him away from the OWT station and onto the stadium grounds again. Just across their expanse, did Jaune find himself being lead into an open-air sculpture garden. The hedges that formed the walls of this place were quite tall, the late-afternoon Sun filtering through them. Just at the end of a hedge enclose, did he find the end of the trail. The Ghost he'd been following stopped her flight as she hovered about the person that was apparently her Guardian.

Jaune stopped in his tracks, the wonder of his recognition staying his feet. "Are you…" he took a step closer. "Neo? From Team Lilysteel?"

The small lady nodded, blushing violently.

She was pretty when she did that.

Not that she wasn't plenty pretty to begin with.

Being that Jaune had only ever seen her on the screen of a Scroll, he could never truly appreciate how lovely she really was; her skin, pale and smooth; her pink and brown hair, a perfect match of her eyes, falling well past her waist...her trim and..slender waist; that flat tummy and cleavage on display.

Jaune did a double-take to his left and right. "You...wanted to talk to...me...right?"

Neo nodded again, her gloved hands wringing over each other.

"Well, I'm honored to meet you, Miss Neo. But uh, what do you want with me?"

In answer, Neo took a step forward. And then another. And now but a step away, did she look up into his eyes, she having to tilt her head back as was the prodigious height difference between them.

Jaune felt his own face coming alight as he met the lady's hetero-chromatic gaze then, full of...something that he couldn't quite identify yet.

Neo then, with her two forefingers trembling only slightly, traced a slow pattern in the air before her. In their dual wakes, was there left a trail of golden hard light, which Jaune recognized as state-of-the art Omolon holographics. But even more striking than that, was the shape Neo had formed.

A heart.

It's shape complete, did Neo gently waft the heart of light towards Jaune, it fizzling around him.

Jaune found himself unable to pull the corners of his mouth down. "Neo…" was his whisper. "Are you serious?"

Neo took the single step separating them. And then, standing on the very tippy-ist of her toes, did she wrap her arms around his neck and pull Jaune's mouth down to her own.

Jaune had kissed a few girls before-four in fact. As late as last week when that pretty girl at the station wished him luck before he left for the tournament.

But this…

This wasn't a 'good luck' kiss.

This wasn't a 'it's my first time, I hope I'm doing this right' kiss.

This was a tongue-tying, open-mouthed, 'I love you' kiss.

And even with his mouth locked with that of this beautiful woman's, Jaune could not help the smile that crossed his face.

…

"Dude...that's Raven Branwen…"

Three young men stood on the relative outskirts of a scene most peculiar.

Here in the otherwise empty openness of The Ishtar Hotel's tea garden, The Steel Witch was indeed sat upon a small carpet that she had rolled out herself. On it, her ceremonial tea set was spread before her. In her hands, was a ceramic tea mug that she took careful and measured sips from, her eyes closed lightly in a sort of meditative awareness.

"How often does she let herself be seen like this?"

"Don't know man…" The second of the young men shook his head slowly. "I know she's an older lady and all but...Traveler...she is so fuckin' hot!"

"Top-shelf milf material for damn sure," said the third of them.

"You should tell her that."

The third shook his head. "Yea...the thing is, I kinda value my life, so…"

The three of them looked on. In their state of adoring trepidation, they were unaware of the man approaching them from behind.

"Excuse me, gentlemen."

The three of them turned in frightened unison. "Holy crap! General Ironwood!"

The man offered a sardonic smile. "If you fellas could give us the room a minute…"

"Uh, yes, sir!" The three of them scrambled from Ironwood's path.

His target acquired, did Ironwood make his approach.

Given the power of her proximal sensitivity, Ironwood knew better than to assume the woman was ignoring him. But as he stood there, casting something of a shadow over her little space here, she had yet to acknowledged him. She simply remained serenely sipping her tea.

With a small breath, Ironwood settled himself down before her. His attempt at copying her ceremonial posture-sat on her knees, feet tucked under her buttocks- was quickly abandoned; his Titanic stature not affording him the subtlety to do so.

Ironwood let another small moment pass before beginning his speech. "I've been giving it some thought lately…" he began. "Which I guess is my plaintive way of saying, I've been thinking about you, lately. Mostly, what kind of woman you really are."

Raven sipped her tea.

Ironwood beheld the graceful and measured motion of the process, as well as the serenity of her near perfect stillness otherwise. He looked upon her closed eyes, set into a face stern and redoubtable, but also still somewhat placid and rounded. The perfect recipe for womanly allure.

Ironwood's gaze wandered off slightly as he spoke: "Perhaps you are the type that desires expensive trinkets? Jewelry, clothes and the like? Glimmer is no object in that regard."

Raven sipped her tea again.

"Or maybe you prefer verbal worship? For me to wax rhapsodical about how your beauty outshines even the Light of The Traveler?"

Another sip.

A single corner of Ironwood's mouth lifted in a smirk. "You know, Miss Branwen, courtship is typically a two-way street. I can't give you what you want if you don't tell me what it is."

At this, her eyes finally opened. "Fight me," she said.

Ironwood blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Raven tilted her gorgeous, dark head. "I want you to fight me." Upon seeing the question on the General's face, she elaborated: "You don't have to win, because you certainly will not. All you have to do is impress me." She set her tea mug down. "If you manage to do that, then I will indeed give myself over to your advances."

Ironwood's own head was slightly tilted now. "And...if I don't"

"Then you will never burden me with your presence again, on pain of death."

"I understand." Ironwood rose, drawing Not Forgotten as he did so. Its double action cocked back, did he point its barrel square between those striking red eyes. "Next move's yours."

Raven smiled in lopsided delight. "Traveler, I love a man with balls!"

And from her seated position, Raven planted her hands on the ground and sprung into a backwards kick-flip, knocking the hand cannon into the air. She sprung froward then, a flying knee right to Ironwood's midsection.

The man rejected her attack easily enough, catching his then falling gun out of the air. He unloaded half the chamber, but Raven had transmatted her frightening Dark Drinker into her hands by then, knocking aside the bullets.

Ironwood charged her outright, Arc energy crackling in his left fist. The Steel Witch stood firm, inviting the full frontal assault.

Arc met Void in a dire and frenzied collision. The scene then, had drawn more than a fair number of onlookers.

"Whoa, what are we seeing?"

"Is James Ironwood seriously fighting The Steel Witch!?"

The spectacle had attracted a swarm of Ghost cameras, all of them hovering over the action now.

Ironwood had abandoned his firearm and was harrying Raven with a series of Arc-charged blows from his mighty fists. The expert sword fighter met and parried these attacks, finally mounting and offensive of her own. A combination of sword strikes and powerful kicks saw Ironwood pushed back. He stepped in for another attack, but was countered with a swift shoulder barge from Raven.

She seized on her advantage, bringing Dark Drinker down in a final and devastating swipe.

But her attack was stopped dead.

The Steel Witch beheld the blade of her fabled weapon stopped upon the cybernetic hand of her opponent. Her eyebrows knitted as James offered her a sardonic and sideways nod.

He cast her weapon aside, seeing The Steel Witch disarmed. Raven, no stranger to hand-to hand conflict, launched herself in a flurry of kicks at the Titan.

James simply held his arms up- muay thai-like- as he invited the beating to his midsection. "C'mon, Witchy-poo. Hit me!"

Raven's teeth were bared as she reared back, a straight-armed punch aimed right at his face.

Ironwood caught her fist in mid-flight, holding it within his own. He caught her left hand follow-up in the same way. Raven growled as she leaned back, and launched a headbutt at his chin.

Ironwood simply absorbed this.

Both her hands caught now, did James at once pull Raven towards him, her colliding mightily with his chest. The Steel Witch looked up at her opponent then, her face flushing nearly the same shade of crimson as her eyes.

And right here, did Ironwood lean down to kiss her.

There was resistance at first; earnest, but feeble. This meager struggle soon evaporated entirely as Raven, freeing her hands from their capture, wrapped them around his neck.

James pulled her in closer, arms circled around her waist as he kissed her deeply and commandingly, Raven moaning into his throat.

And at length, was the kiss finally broken. James looked into the shining and unblinking eyes of The Steel Witch then. "So, Raven, now that we understand each other; I still have my hotel suite booked for another half a day. May I suggest we make good use of it?"

"Take me," was Raven's breathy response.

Ironwood, lifting her as easily as though she weighed noting at all, scooped the Steel Witch off her feet; her lithe body cradled in his powerful arms. Her own arms around his neck, the two transmatted from the scene in a flash of blue.

…

"Ruby Rose, can I have you holograph!"

"And Lady Schnee too! She's so cool!"

This call, and many like it, met Ruby's ears then.

Team Rosenkreuz was attempting to make their way through the crowded OWT station. Just as in the case of the team captains' arrival, their departure was just as grand a spectacle. Weiss, not an inch from Ruby's side, also saw herself harried for her attention and holograph.

"Rosenkreuz! Rosenkreuz!" The cheers from the Earth contingent filled the space.

Ruby turned to Yang, who was hovering just a ways back from the pair of them. "Yang, c'mon, you're part of Rosenkreuz too!"

One corner of Yang's mouth lifted, along with her eyebrows. "They're not cheering for me," she said, head shaking slowly. "This is your moment, Rubes, enjoy it. You too, Schnee."

Ruby and Weiss gave her dual nods of thanks as they turned back to the crowded station.

"Rosenkreuz! Rosenkreuz!"

Clear over even this, was the singular voice that cut through the space then.

"Hey, Rose! Rose!"

Hundreds of heads turned at the sound. The crowd then parted to reveal…

"Oh man, it's Lilysteel!"

The ruckus then settled into silent awe as Venus's top Guardians entered the scene.

Ruby sized them up, noting that their third member was missing.

"What the hell do they want?" Weiss muttered beside her.

Ruby half shrugged as she looked to Yoko Littner and Velvet Scarlatina approaching her. The crowd parted further as many of the onlookers primed their scrolls, training them on the confrontation developing before them.

"Something you need?" Ruby said shortly.

Yoko's bright amber eyes locked upon Ruby's own. "Yeah. There is."

The two of them stared each other down, the onlookers tensing slightly; sensing there may be just one more fight before the tournament weekend was over.

At length, did Yoko hold out her right hand. "I need you to keep doing what your doing, kid. You're building a hell of a Legend."

Ruby shook Yoko's hand, her smirk blooming into a full-tilt smile. "Thank you, Yoko," did she say. Behind them, Velvet offered a Hunter salute.

The scene broke out into applause and cheers. Ruby noticed more than a few Ghost cameras buzzing about them.

The onlookers then turned their full attentions to Lilysteel, incidentally, clearing the path to the off word transits.

"Man, it's been a crazy weekend…" Ruby said.

"It has indeed…" Weiss concurred.

Ruby looked to her partner and noticed something of a change had come over her. Her hands clasped before her, did Weiss rock back and forth on her heels; her eyes only on Ruby at random and very brief intervals. "Something the matter, Weiss?"

"Well, I was thinking…" The girl would look anywhere but at Ruby.

Ruby smiled. "C'mon, out with it."

Weiss smiled, steadying herself physically and verbally. "I was just thinking...hoping...that maybe you and I could fly home...together…"

Ruby felt her heart expand to ten times its normal size, its beats per second quadrupling.

"Um…"

'C'mon, use your words, girl. This is your chance!' Zwei said in her head.

Ruby, feeling her blush rival that of the beautiful Warlock's before her, nodded.

Weiss's smile covered all of Venus, as she called to her Ghost to bring her ship around.

…

A number of minutes from there, were the two of them safely broken of Venus's orbit and pull, cruising serenely through space.

The situation was quite familiar to Ruby; her in the back of Weiss's ship as the girl minded the flight controls. One of the key differences being, Ruby was a bit more comfortable this time. Not only in Weiss's presence as it was, but her ship was a brand new model, fresh off the factory line. And man was this seat plush!

Ruby patted the arm rests. "Well, someone upgraded."

"Ja," did Weiss say. She watched for a moment, the stars filing by as they made their way via regular propulsion, yet to jump to FTL. A few more stars and ships, traffic departing Venus, whizzed by. "Yes, I am. I will…"

Weiss said this in something of a strained whisper to no one in particular. Ruby realized fairly quickly that she was talking to her Ghost.

Righting her posture in her seat, Weiss said: "Your victory is sure to be quite the talk back home. I'm sure the parties have already started!"

Ruby blushed pridefully. "Ja," she said. "You weren't so bad yourself out there. Just imagine the welcome that's waiting for us!"

Weiss turned in her seat, appropriating Ruby as best she could. "You've been doing that lately...accenting your words."

Ruby found herself picking at a spot on her seat's armrest. "I guess…" Ruby wasn't sure she could hear herself speak over the thumping of her heart in her ears. "...you have that kind of effect on me…"

Weiss's gaze had shifted then from inquisitive to...something far more innocuous.

Absent, yet directed.

And then, at once, did she unstrap her belts.

A cumbersome second later saw her sliding into the backseat next to Ruby.

The seat here wasn't exactly what one would call...roomy. Just barely being able to squeeze into a seat made for roughly one person, saw Weiss all but smashed into Ruby's side then.

And she wasn't complaining one bit.

Maybe it was her imagination at the time, but given how she quivered so with but the smallest intake of breath, Ruby was sure she was conducting the staccato of both their heartbeats.

Automatically, it seemed, did Ruby's hand seek Weiss's own, finding it with little effort.

'Oh my Traveler...oh my Traveler...oh my Traveler...oh my Traveler...oh My Traveler…'

The only thing outpacing the quickening of blood in her ears was this singular thought.

Ruby's gaze found Weiss's. So close….

Oh so very close…

Ruby could no longer breathe through her nose; the paltry nasal passages unable to meet her demand for oxygen at the moment.

Ruby, positive at least two of her ribs had cracked given the violence of her heartbeat, leaned, ever...so...slowly...towards the blushing Warlock she was now sure she was in lo-

And she turned away.

Ruby's heart, previously occupying the whole of her body, stopped all but dead. "Weiss…" Ruby inwardly winced at the sound of her voice then; something previously hopeful, now nearly broken.

Weiss, her eyes on nothing in particular, shook her head...slowly...slowly. "This…" another slow shake of her beautiful icy head. "This is ridiculous…"

Ruby, her hand never having left Weiss's own, tightened in something of a shameless need. "But Weiss...I l-"

Weiss shook her head again. "It's just…" The girl took a steeling breath, her gaze still averted. "This posture will never do…"

And right there, in a motion that, in any existence Ruby wouldn't willingly stop, did Weiss turn and plant herself firmly in Ruby's lap, her legs on either side of Ruby's. (Cowgirl, for the laymen.)

If at all possible, Ruby felt her heart stop again somehow. Her hands, with absent automation, had fastened themselves around Weiss's waist, as the girl loomed desirably over her.

Weiss's face, Ruby was sure, was but a mirror of her own at the moment; flushed; unblinking; and but an inch away…

And right there...did Weiss lay it bare.

"Ruby...I love you."

Ruby's heart exploded into motion again. "I love you t-"

The rest of Ruby's statement was trapped forever in her mouth as Weiss met it with her own, in a kiss that was anything but reserved or experimental.

Ruby's arms wrapped around Weiss fully as she drank of the soft heat from her mouth; indeed from her whole body.

And from there, the passing minutes were lost upon the both of them.

…..

-End of Legend 30-

…

A/N:

Alright. The tournament is over. All the fluff is out of the way (well, not all of it). It's time for Team Rosenkreuz to get back to work. Things are about to change in a big way as the secrets of the Light are soon to be revealed. Rosenkreuz and Redwing are about to have their hands full...and then some.

And as ever, if you liked what you read, a favorite or follow would be greatly appreciated. If you didn't like what you read, I thank you for reading this long. See you on the other side.

-B. D. Skunkworks.