Heart to Heart

Chapter 58 Rumor Mill

-Atlas Academy-

Breakfast that morning turned out to be a lively thing Blake noticed. Yang and Jaune came in arm in arm as the two seemed a bit closer than normal. She also noticed Nora and Ren walking in holding hands giving each other little looks. Even Oscar and Ruby she noticed the two while closer kept blushing slightly or looking away shyly sometimes.

The only one not effected was Weiss.

Blake leaned over to the woman on her right to whisper, "Is it me or does everyone else seem more chipper than usual?"

Weiss looked around and tilted her head, now that her friend said this, she did notice a slight change. Yang and Jaune were a bit more playful as he put down a plate of just finished bacon. Nora kept giving Ren bedroom eyes as he worked in the small kitchen helping to make her pancakes.

"I guess so," Weiss nodded starting to feel a little left out. Sure, her relationship with Flynt was nice but they hadn't really gotten past much the dating phase. They were taking things slow since both were very busy, but they tried to make time for each other. She wasn't sure how she felt about him though, yes, she liked him but how deep her feelings ran she had no idea. Their relationship was too fresh to really call it much more than dating.

Ruby had been looking on her scroll just for something to do, she was actually trying to take her mind off this morning with Oscar. Why did her mind kept going back to that? She couldn't wait for a mission, as long as it wasn't convoy duty then she would have nothing but time to think and she didn't want-wait a minute.

She blinked as she was scrolling through the news and saw something about Weiss. Reading the article her eyes widened. "Uh Weiss…did you know you made the news?"

"I what!?" Weiss who was sitting next to her grabbed the scroll and looked at it. She read it quickly and moaned as she face palmed.

"What is it?" Blake asked as Weiss showed it to Blake and Yang who looked over Blake's shoulder. When Yang saw it, she burst out laughing.

Schnee Heiress with Faunus Lover

"WHAT!?" Blake couldn't believe the title of the article. "We just went together as friends!"

"Friends with benefits by the looks of it," Yang joked getting a glare from her partner.

"I honestly should have expected this," Weiss moaned as she handed the scroll back to Ruby. "Damn tabloids will run anything, I swear you can't do anything without them twisting something to sell more articles."

"So, this is normal?" Oscar tentatively asked.

"Any little thing I did could be twisted into a story growing up, or anything my family did." Weiss sighed it was a part of her life she did not miss.

"It's a good thing Sun can't see this or else he would start to question where we stand," Blake mournfully said. She missed the monkey Faunus a lot, they had gotten so close before they had to split up. Seeing all the couples here didn't help but if the network was still up this most likely would have been social news sent to all corners of the globe.

What would her parents think if they saw this? Sure, they would accept her live choice (although she was sure her mother would want grand kids to spoil at some point) but how would the rest of the world think of HER of all people with a Schnee? Her parents literally created the White Fang, she grown up protesting for her people's rights and against exploitation. How would everyone in the mostly defunct group feel about her?

What if the news got her name and put two and two together about her parents? Great, she could see the headlines now, 'Schnee dating terrorist daughter' would be way too easy for some Atlas news agencies to use.

She wasn't sure how much of the White Fang was left after Adam tore apart the leadership and the mass arrests at Haven but there still had to be some hardliners still out there. They most likely would think of her as a race traitor or something.

Weiss' eyes went huge as she suddenly thought of what Flynt might think if he saw the article. "I need to make a call, I'll be right back." She quickly got up and took out her own scroll hoping she could catch Flynt and explain things.

"What's going on?" Jaune came back into the room with more food with Ren.

"Apparently Blake and Weiss are a couple-Ow!" Yang winced when Blake kicked her.

"What?" Both boys asked at the same time.

"It's nothing," Blake blushed. "It's just a stupid article that says we're a couple because we were seen together at the party last night."

"Ohhh," Jaune nodded and placed the last of the food on the table taking his spot next to Yang. She beamed at him as Jaune set the last plates of food on the table he had along with Ren.

"It's so nice to have a boyfriend that knows how to cook," Yang stated getting some bacon. "I mean I know how but it's not as good."

"Well to be fair dad did most of the cooking," Ruby commented.

"I know but I feel I should learn a bit more, can't let Jaune do all my cooking, it wouldn't be fair." She stated.

"Well, everyone in the household growing up had to learn," Jaune shrugged. "If you really want, I could show you a few things I learned."

"Oh, that sounds nice, maybe next time we get some free time," Yang bit into some toast as she thought about how busy they got. "I swear after Atlas I want a vacation, we've been working nonstop and I feel the burnout coming on."

"That would be nice," Blake sighed. Granted they were being paid for their Huntress work, but every single day was starting to weigh on them.

"I say we find someplace warm and just relax for a week," Yang sighed thinking about just being on a nice warn beach with everyone having fun. She could see her and Jaune putting on sunscreen on each other, some nice swimming, BBQ at night on the sand. Not here freezing her butt off most days.

"I could go for that," Jaune nodded. "Maybe even get in some fishing and cook it?"

Blake salivated at the thought of fresh fish from the ocean to eat.

"Oh, maybe we can find a place with jet skies or something?" Nora perked up.

"Are we all on a mission to beat Salem though?" Ruby asked.

"She's been around for like forever," Nora waved it off. "I don't think a few weeks will end the world."

"I don't see how we can beat her, but I also don't see how she can instantly win either," Blake sighed at the thought of it all. "Unless she unleashes the largest hoard of Grimm the world has ever seen at every kingdom at once."

Even with the CCT network down another kingdom falling would get around, maybe not as fast but it would and people did have a way of putting aside their differences for survival.

Weiss walked back into the room as everyone looked and saw she was a bit more relaxed coming in than she had leaving.

"Everything straightened out?" Yang asked her.

Weiss nodded. "Yes, he hadn't even seen the article yet but I just wanted to assure him to the actual facts behind it if he did later."

"Too bad," Yang grinned. "I bet he was wondering if you were two timing him with another girl."

"I would never!" Weiss was insulted by the idea of it.

"Or two timing or with a girl part?" Yang raised her eyebrow.

"Never the first and I never really thought of another girl before," Weiss shrugged taking a chair.

"Huh, wonder if he saw that first if he thought he might have gotten a shot at a threesome or something," Yang shrugged.

"Please, stop." Weiss sighed. "I prefer my relationships to be one on one, I don't know how that would even work and I'm not that type for it."

"Yeah, I'm perfectly happy with just the one woman I have in my life," Jaune stated looking over at Yang. "When you get that special someone nothing else matters but them."

"Aww, you're so sweat," She smiled as she lightly kissed him.

Ruby smiled at her sister, it was so much nicer now. Both she and Jaune had been in so much pain after Beacon but together they had found a way to not only heal but something else growing from it. They weren't the only ones either as she cast a look to Nora and Ren as the two seemed a bit closer now. Ren was smiling a bit more as little looks passed between them.

She wasn't sure what happened on their date last night but apparently something good happened. Her eyes traveled to Oscar as their eyes locked and both blushed before looking at their food. She felt her face heating up again and she wished she could be more like Yang. She seemed to at ease with Jaune, while she was just full of nerves all the time. When did this feeling end and she could just relax?

That's the moment the door opened as Qrow walked in, still in the clothing he wore last night and said clothing looking like they had spent the night on the floor, which they had.

"Oh, good I didn't miss breakfast." He stated picking out a spot as he started to gather up some food.

"Uncle Qrow where have you been and why are you still in those clothes?" Ruby asked him innocently.

"Oh, I know," Yang grinned. "Time for the walk of shame Uncle?"

"I have nothing to be ashamed about," He spoke up waving it off and he didn't feel shame at all. Last night had been the most fun he had in months. He was actually looking forward to sneaking in to see her again.

"Ewww," Ruby made a face. "I really didn't need that in my brain today."

"Hey, a man has needs kid," Qrow told her grabbing some toast.

Yang winced at that, "Oh come on Uncle Qrow we really don't need to know about your love life."

"You said you ran into a friend last night." Ruby then spoke up accusing him of lying to her on her scroll call to him, now she was understanding why it was audio only.

The man shrugged. "I lied, so what? Did you want me to say? Oh, hey Kid, I ran into this hot woman and we're going to spend the night having sex."

Yang winced again not wanting to picture her uncle with some random woman, or anything really. It was like picturing her dad with her mom. A kid doesn't want that mental picture of their parents like that in their head, and she was seriously getting close to losing her appetite.

"No! Oh god it's in my brain, gross-gross-gross," Ruby winced and then paused as she got still. "Uncle…when I called you…"

"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to," He shrugged.

"I don't think I'm hungry anymore," Ruby sulked feeling put off her food.

The morning briefing hadn't yet started but everyone was there. Marrow was in his usual spot just waiting for the General to start up and maybe for Jaune to bring him a morning cup of coffee as they got into the habit.

Then two forms started to loom over him, one was the larger form of Elm and the other the smaller one of Harriet. He suddenly had a bad feeling as the two women had him pinned down in his seat.

"So," Harriet said with her arms crossed.

"So what?" Marrow asked her to look between the two.

"So, what happened after the party with Winter?" Elm asked next grinning with her large arms crossed.

"Wha-nothing happen!" He panicked, why where they asking about that?

"Well, when we got back you two were nowhere in sight." Harriet grinned at him. "Don't tell me she took you back to her quarters?"

Marrow's eyes widened, did they think he slept with her? Granted they all got personal quarters, it was one of the perks to being a Specialist, but that hadn't happened. "I just walked her to her door!"

He had simply got out with her, and she had slipped her arm into his as they made their way inside. He remembered feeling a bit nervous about how close they were. The smell of her perfume was strong with his Faunus senses. They had talked a little on the elevator ride up and he walked her to her room.

She had thanked him for the night, and they had parted. Nothing had happened!

"So, no good night kiss?" Elm grinned.

"No!" Marrow did blush at the thought of Winter kissing him. Yes, she was a very attractive woman, especially that night. With that little makeup and that dress with her hair loose like that-whoa don't go there. This woman was technically his superior, it had to be against the Regulations. But she did smell really nice.

"Well, that's a disappointment," Harriett sighed. "Looks like we owe Clover some cash."

"Damn it," Elm snapped her fingers. "I was hoping to win."

"Wait, you guys bet on what would happen?" Marrow asked them both not sure how to feel about it.

"We were bored on watch duty," Elm shrugged. "And things were getting interesting, too bad it would have made for some entertaining gossip. Office romances and all that."

"Couldn't you just do that with Ruby and her friends?" Marrow sighed his tail falling limp.

"Not as fun as someone we work with," Harriet shrugged. "Anyway, you should check out the news on you."

"News?"

"Oh yeah the press is having a field day with Winter and her sister showing up with Faunus dates to the party," Elm laughed.

Marrow pulled out his scroll as he checked the news outlets and there, he found it. There was a picture of him and Winter arriving at the party. He groaned this could complicate things at work.

"Uh, this a bad time for your coffee?" Jaune asked seeing Marrow between the two female members of the Ace Ops. It had kind of become a thing over the course of being here that Jaune tended to get their coffee together as they usually sat next to each other during the briefings for the day.

"Yes, please!" Marrow was desperate for a way out of this conversation with his two coworkers. He eagerly took the cup and took a sip, he didn't even care how hot it was, it just gave him an excuse not to say anything.

"Well, I think our fun is over," Harriett sighed as Elm nodded. Both women guessed there had been nothing going on after all as they made to their own seats.

"Do I want to know what was going on?" Jaune asked him as he sat down next to him as usual.

"No," the slightly older man sighed. "Just a misunderstanding about something."

"Ah, say no more," Juane knew a lot about misunderstandings. Plus, he also knew what it was like to get ganged up on by girls given how many sisters he had growing up.

Marrow was silent as he thought about something. "I know we're not as close as you are with your friends, but can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing."

"You ever think about what it's like to ask someone out whose, let's say above you?" He sill couldn't believe that Winter has asked him out for that party. The worst part was he didn't know why she had done it, did she really have a thing for him or was he missing something? Jaune was around a lot of women and was dating Yang so maybe he could get some advice.

"Oh yeah," Jaune thought of how he used to go after Weiss and how much of a failure that was. Or how he hadn't noticed Pyrrha's feelings for him until it was too late. It was a combination of those that allowed him to find something with Yang who he had to admit intimidated him back in Beacon.

"I actually used to try and get Weiss to go out with me." He saw Marrow choke on his coffee a bit. "You, okay?"

"Yeah-yeah, just give me a minute," Marrow couldn't believe the irony of this given he went after the younger sister of the woman he had just had a date with.

"Didn't work out, I think I just went about it too strong and ended up annoying her."

"So, if you have gone about, it more low key it might have worked?"

Jaune thought about it. "Maybe? It's hard to say, I should have tried to be friends with her first, get to know her and make her more comfortable with me. There was another girl, she was the strongest, one of the pretties girls I knew. She made me a better Hunstman…and I never noticed how she felt until it was too late."

Marrow could see and feel the sorrow in his eyes and voice, he guessed something bad had to have happened so he wouldn't push it.

"With Yang, well we were already friends first and both of us, well we weren't in a good spot in either of our lives. We sort of bonded over our pain and one thing slowly led to another." Jaune shrugged. "I guess the thing is, how does this person feel about you now?"

"I…don't actually know, she's kind of hard to read," Marrow mulled it over he really didn't know Winter all that much outside of work.

"All I can say is maybe try and get to know her then, nothing too much just talk and see how things go."

Marrow thought it over, it sounded like a good place to start, and he really could use the time to get to know her better and figure out what she wanted. Was it a just a one-off thing or was she hoping for more? Why she asked him out? Was she expecting more? So many questions and not enough answers.

"Thanks," Marrow told him. "You gave me something to think about."

"Well glad to help out anyway I can," Jaune smiled at him.

The briefings were the usually, they did go over last night a little but since nothing out of the ordinary had happened it turned out that Ironwood was just being overly cautious. The assignments for the day were sent out as everyone got ready.

Jaune was adjusting his weapon when Yang tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Well good lucky today Jaune," Yang told him.

"Yeah, at least we didn't get stuck with convoy duty," Jaune joked knowing that was still the most boring job every day of making sure the parts went to the dome being retrofitted for space.

"Don't' remind me!" Ruby said as she passed by with a depressed look as she had drawn the short straw it seemed today.

"Sorry sis, at least you won't have to do it for a bit after," Yang called out to her and then back to Jaune. "Well, I'll see you for launch? I think Blake might join us as she said she came across this nice little place she wanted to show me."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Jaune had to admit that it would be nice to relax with the two of them.

Yang leaned up to give him a small kiss as she leaned to his ear to whisper. "Love you."

He smiled hugging her close to whisper he loved her back. Yang smiled as she enjoyed the hug even if it was for a moment before going to join Blake for their patrol this time around.

"So, what is going on?" Blake asked when the two were alone.

"What?" Yang asked confused.

"All this morning you've been glowing and looking very happy," Blake commented.

"Oh, that." Yang fiddled with a lock of her hair, a sign Blake knew when Yang was actually nervous about something. "I finally said it."

"Said what?"

There was a pause as Yang said in a lowered voice. "That I loved him."

Blake's eyes widened a bit in surprise but soon had a warmth to them. "That's good to hear, I know you said you were having issues with it. What happened?"

Yang sighed thinking back to last night. "Well after the party as we got back to our room I decided that we should celebrate in our own way and-"

Blake cut her off. "You don't need to go into that much detail."

"Oh, please I've seen the books you read, what Jaune and I do are tame compared for some of the more spicey stuff in them." Blake blushed and looked away crossing her arms. Yang grinned as she decided to skip the good part. "Anyways, we got to talking and after what he told me I had to try."

"It's kind of personal so I won't go into it," she told Blake seeing her questioning look.

"You'll go into your sex life but not this?" Blake said flatly.

Yang shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a complicated woman. Anyways I can say it, but it still freaks me out a little."

"Oh?"

"Yes, because now this thing I got with Jaune, this relationship is fully real now. I've never been in a relationship this deep before and it's kind of scary. Sure, it's warm and loving and I can't see myself with someone else now but it's still scary because what if I lose this? What if something happens and all the good things that have happened go away?"

"It can happen," Blake nodded. "But that's the risk we take."

"That way you took so long with Sun?" Yang questioned.

Blake thought about it. "After what happened with my last relationship, I wasn't ready for another. Even if Sun is the total opposite and has been a good friend to me, despite how annoying he can get."

They didn't have to say the name 'Adam' given they both knew about him. The man that took Yang's arm and gave Blake that scare on her stomach. Yang felt the phantom pain in her arm every time she thought of him. She was glad his body was rotting somewhere in the wilds where they left him.

"Well Sun seems to be head over heels for you. He followed you all the way home after all."

"Yeah he did," At the time Blake was annoyed he had but looking back she was glad he had come. Given what happened she might not have been able to stop the White Fang plans that had happened or get Illia to see what she was doing was wrong. Spending so much time with him she started to miss his presence. His sunny disposition was totally different than her own, like the sun and the moon but maybe that's why they seemed to work. They completed what the other was lacking.

Yang could see the look on Blake's face as she was obviously thinking of the monkey Faunus. She reached out and gently grabbed her friend's hand. "Hey just think of all the stories you can tell each other when we're finally done here and we can go see him."

She smirked a little. "Knowing him, he most likely got into a lot of trouble."

"Like we're any different?" Yang asked.

-Apartment Complex-

It was early morning and Cinder was looking over the footage from Neo's scroll that she got from last night. It clearly showed Ruby and her team (minus two) with General Ironwood. There were a few recordings that the three of them were watching on the large monitor in the living room. Adam's mechanical fist would clench forcefully every time Yand and Blake were on the screen.

Cinder however was making mental notes of a few things. Ospin's new host, that young boy she didn't know the name of, and Ruby seemed pretty close. Something she could use later if the opportunity arose. She was surprised the sister was with Pyrrha's old partner the one that had such fury in his eyes the last time they met.

The video ended with them going into the Atlas Academy building.

She leaned back taking stock. "They didn't have the relic with them, so I suppose the other two were keeping it safe. So it's in the tower, that's good to know."

Neo typed something on her scroll to show her.

'Are we assaulting the tower?' her screen read while Neo looked with a questioning expression.

"Not yet," Cinder shook her head. "That place is a literal fortress and we don't know the layout just yet."

"You have a plan?" Adam asked looking at the paused image of everyone getting out of the vehicles.

"We'll need information on where the Relic is and where they are being kept." Cinder's mind was already going through various ways into the tower. She looked to Neo, "Think you can sneak in and do some reconnaissance?"

Neo rolled her eyes clearing insulted by the question, she managed to sneak onto an Atlas warship with heightened security to get to Roman. This would be easy, she just needed to lift someone's car going out and take their form, then once she was inside just keep changing appearances. She had done this so many times casing a place for Roman back in the day.

She missed those days, when it was just the two of them against the world and damn anyone that got in their way.

Cinder looked at the footage again, they would need to know more about the layout of the building and what they were doing in there. Maybe they could attack them in small groups? That was an idea, get them alone and isolated was an option. There were also other things she needed to learn, such as where the vault was and the Winter Maiden.

If she could kill the Maiden and get her powers, then she could not only gain more strength she could gain access to another Relic. If she could bring both to Salem it would go a long way to restoring her position by her side. Thinking of Salem also made her think of Watts, if he was here than she could be on her way here too.

She wasn't sure what his plan was but knowing him, whatever it was, it would most likely already be in motion. They couldn't afford to stay idle for too long because she was in a race now and there was no second place in this race.

TBC…