Chapter Ten: Little Stories

Wanted to take a chapter to show little things that happen between all the characters, stuff that doesn't fit into a mainline chapter but I feel they are important pieces of the dynamic. So here is a bunch of fluff that's so sweet and just hinting at the spiciness to come.

(Weiss pov)

Being woken in the middle of the night by Ryker's constant whimpering was starting to become an all too often occurrence. I knew he didn't mean to wake us up, that he had no control over his night terrors, but it was still annoying all the same.

"He's having them again? That's the third time this week." Ruby whispered in her bunk above me.

"Whose turn is it?" Blake asked sleepily.

"I got the one last night, and you got the one on Monday, so that means it's Weiss.'" Ruby replied.

"Ugh fine, this is ridiculous." I groaned rolling out of my bed. I trudge to Ryker's bed, our ashen-haired teammate pressing himself into the wall, his entire body stiff as small noises of distress escape him. "You're lucky you're my teammate."

I lifted the covers of his bed and slowly slid into it with him, his body warm as I slowly pulled him to me. The moment I touched him he stiffened but slowly relaxed as I pulled him against my chest. "You're ok. You're not alone, it's just a bad dream." I whisper.

It didn't take long for Ryker to settle down, the noises of distress slowly but surely dying down. Eventually, his breathing evened out and I was able to relax as well. It was in quiet moments like this that I could appreciate my pissy teammate. He was always wound so tight, and always looked like he was trying to figure out what the 'right' thing to do or say was. His mood swings were so varied and more often than not I swear he legitimately hated me, but then there were moments like this. Moments like when he hugged me after he hurt my feelings. The thought of the incident with him walking in on me changing after my shower brought a blush to my face. The stupid jerk had the gall to stare at me completely naked, only shutting the door when I shouted at him to get out. Stupid perv!

I knew I was pretty, and I knew that plenty of boys looked at me with impure thoughts and desires. My father had warned me about them constantly, always telling me that boys wanted one thing and one thing only from women and that it was my duty as a Schnee to stay chaste. That my virginity was meant to be given to the man my father would one day have me marry.

My gut curled at the thought. There were many perks to having the Schnee name. Money, respect, status, but the freedom to choose who you love was not one of them. It was my duty to further the Schnee name and to become an asset to the company. That included me marrying someone who could help the company grow even further.

It didn't matter if I had never found men to be appealing, that the thought of being intimate with a man made me want to curl up in a ball and die. Lesbian, is the term that fits me. The term that I could never admit to because it was not a Schnee's place to admit to or participate in degeneracy like homosexuality. 'Leave it to the rabble, Schee's are respectable.' These are the words uttered by my father to me. I had never told him my thoughts on women, never dared to bring up my preferences. The topic was just one of many things my father had drilled into me as he groomed me to be the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. There would be no coming out for Weiss Schnee.

Even still, with the knowledge that I preferred women, and that men in general disgusted me in the intimate sense. Why did I like Rykers gaze? Why did I like his touch even more?

When he walked in on me, I was horrified. Not horrified in the same way as I would be if say Ren had walked in on me. No, I was horrified at the burning in my core from being naked in the same room as Ryker. It made no sense, Ryker was a boy, and yet he was not repulsive to me in that line of thought. That intimate line of thought. It had me questioning if I wasn't attracted to guys, or if I had never met the right one.

Either way, it didn't matter, that line of thought could never be more than just that, a thought. After all, who I fell in love with was never my choice, right?

(Ruby pov)

I collapse in Weiss' bed, my bed too much of a hassle to get into right now. I just hope Weiss didn't find out. Classes today had been rough, Oobleck's homework was tough, I had to fight Pyrrha in combat class, and I still needed to go into town to get more Dust. I had been running low for a few days now but never felt like I had the time to go into town. I was always working on helping Ryker with something, or spending time with Weiss, Blake, and Yang's team. I never had any time to myself anymore. This whole team leader thing was harder than I had thought it would be.

"You know if Weiss catches you laying in her bed she's going to go full Ice Queen mode," Blake spoke, her voice making me jump. When did she enter the room? I looked at her, the tall raven-haired girl giving me a small smile as she stood at the edge of Weiss' bed.

"But it's so comfy, and my bed is so far away," I whined getting a chuckle out of Blake.

"It is? Let me see." I let out an eep as Blake collapsed into the bed with me, her arm now laying across my stomach as we both sprawled out on Weiss' bed, me on my back and Blake on her belly. Blake turned her head to look at me, her eyes amber eyes looking at me with mischief. "You are right Ruby, Weiss' bed is comfy. I wonder what her secret is?"

"Blake! Weiss is going to be so mad if she finds us both in her bed." I whisper shout, my fear seemingly funny to Blake. Blake looked like she was gonna respond but the door to our dorm opened, both of us freezing as Ryker walked into the room, our teammate freezing like a deer in headlights as he saw us sprawled out on Weiss' bed.

"Hi," Ryker spoke slowly as he shut the dorm room door.

"Hi." Blake and I chime back.

"So what are you doing?" Ryker asked as he walked to his bed and placed his scroll on his nightstand, before quickly stripping his academy vest off leaving him in his pink hoodie.

"Ruby says that Weiss' bed is super comfy and that it's better than all of our beds," Blake spoke.

"That's not true, I just said it was comfy."

Ryker looked at us both for a moment, before he got an evil glint in his eye. "Ryker no! Weiss is going to get so mad!" I beg before he too flopped into the bed on the other side of me, his arm lying across me as well. I blush as Ryker turns his head to look at us, a smirk on his lips.

"You're right Ruby, this bed is super comfy."

I whine, my body trying to squirm out of my teammate's grasp before Weiss came and saw all of us in her bed. She was going to be- "What are you doing in my bed?" Weiss' voice cut through the air, all of us freezing as we turned to look at the door to the room, Weiss was standing in the doorway, the vein in her forehead throbbing as she looked at us.

"Weiss, it's not what it looks like. I just tripped and fell into your bed, and then Blake and Ryker held me hostage and wouldn't let me get up, even though I told them that you would be mad. I swear I woul-" I ramble before Blake put her hand over my mouth.

"Ruby was telling us about how comfy your bed was," Blake spoke.

"And we wanted to see if it was true." Ryker grinned.

"So you degenerates all jump into my bed?" Weiss scoffed walking over to the edge of the bed.

"It is very-ugh Ruby gross!" Blake complained as she ripped her hand away from my mouth, her palm now wet with my saliva.

"I'm sorry Weiss!" I whine as I renew my efforts to squirm out of the bed, Ryker and Blake struggling to hold me down.

"You know Weiss, the bed definitely feels like it could fit one more." Ryker teased.

"One mor-I don't know what you are thinking, but that is not going to happen. I will not be galavanting with all three of my teammates in my own be-ahhhhhhh!" Weiss yelped as Ryker rolled onto his side hooked a leg behind Weiss' knee and pulled her into the bed. Weiss yelped as she crashed on top of me, our noses pressed against each other as we both blushed at the proximity.

Ryker and Blake snicker as I let out a squeak. "Weiss." I breathe.

"Y-yeah?"

"Your hand is on my boob." My voice was so quiet, yet the moment I said the words Weiss' face went from pink to crimson, my partner letting out a bird-like squawk as she moved her hand away, only succeeding at pressing us close together, as Weiss was now fully laid out on top of me.

"Let me up, this is most improper." Weiss squeaked.

"Nah, it's Team RSBR cuddle time. That includes you, Schnee." Ryker chuckled, Blake, humming in agreement.

Weiss squirmed but soon stopped when she realized that she was just further pressing herself into me, our legs tangled, her chest on mine. She eventually gave up and just relaxed, laying her head next to mine. "You are all degenerates."

"Yeah, but we are your degenerates." Blake chimed in getting a groan out of Weiss.

"Your bed really is comfy, how do you get it so soft?" I whisper.

"I wash my sheets every other day like a respectable person" Weiss scoffs.

Ryker burst out laughing at the answer. "You are insane."

"I'm not insane I am hygienic."

"Just because we only wash our sheets once a week does not make us less hygienic." Blake rolled her eyes.

"Obviously not, if you think my bed is so much better." Weiss snips.

"Maybe we like it so much more because it reminds us of you." Weiss stiffens at my comment.

"Don't say stupid things like that," Weiss whines, burying her head deeper into the crook of my neck.

"You know, I don't think any of the other teams lay in bed cuddling," Blake speaks getting a chuckle out of Ryker.

"That's cause they aren't as cool as us. Besides I'd rather not think about Cardin and his team cuddling in their bed." Our lone male teammate shivers, his comment getting all of us to shiver with disgust.

"Thanks for that image." Weiss groans.

"No problem Heiress."

We all lay in Weiss' bed, none of us really talking much but just enjoying the moment. It was nice, moments like these make being the team leader worth it. I guess I could go get my Dust tomorrow, it's not like I absolutely needed it right this moment. I was content to lay here, in a pile with my teammates forever. However, my body wasn't.

"Weiss."

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"I need to pee."

(Ozpin pov)

Glynda looked at me with the same frustrated look she had been giving me the entire semester. Her brow wrinkled, nostrils flared, with the nastiest scowl on her face. Said frustrated look was for the exact same thing we had been arguing about since the beginning of the school year.

Ryker Thorne.

Glynda had been against his joining from the very beginning, Rykers declining mental and physical health has only bolstered her opinion that Ryker didn't need to be a huntsman but instead needed therapy and to be placed with a new guardian.

The last part was tricky, with only a little research, Ryker's transcripts, as well as a text from Qrow about a mysterious kid he had run into in Mantle, had led me to easily find out exactly who Ryker Thorne was. A boy who had been made an orphan twice through abandonment as well as his adoptive mother Maria Thorne's death. It was a gruesome tail, his mother coined a hero by the very company she worked for. A woman who fought off dozens of White Fang members assaulting the Schnee office headquarters in the heart of Atlas. She had saved countless lives, and in turn, lost her life when the building collapsed from the fire that had been set in the lower levels of the building.

It was tragic, only made more tragic when I discovered the arrest warrant for Ryker stating he had skipped town while the investigation of the attack was still taking place. The boy had made himself a fugitive.

Taking legal custody of Ryker would send alerts to those looking for him on where he was, as it was I had kept Ryker Thorne's enrollment close to my chest. On paper Ryker Thorne didn't go to Beacon, instead, Emmet Cole was enrolled. It was a flimsy defense for the young man. If anyone were to even take a cursory glance at Emmet Cole's academic records then Ryker's camouflage would be destroyed. However, it was paramount to keep Ryker Thorne at Beacon. The young man had done something I thought impossible for a semblance. Something I thought only possible through powerful magic the likes of which I had not seen for lifetimes.

Ryker Thorne was a powerful piece on the board, and I had to make sure that he was firmly on my side. He could not be allowed to be taken by Her.

"Ozpin, he needs more help than just his teammates," Glynda spoke breaking the silence.

I nod taking a slow sip of my tea. "It is to my understanding that in the three weeks since we gave Team RSBR the assignment of helping Mr. Thorne, he gained four pounds."

"You know that's not enough!"

"What I know Glynda is that we said he had a month to show signs of improvement, not what that improvement was. The fact is that Mr. Thorne is gaining weight, just because he is not healing as fast as you would like does not change the fact that Mr. Thorne is doing what we asked."

Glynda slammed her hands on my desk. "Ryker needs more. Ms. Rose, Ms. Xaio-Long, Ms. Belladonna, and even Ms. Schnee have all talked to me in private about other issues. Ryker has near-nightly night terrors, he also breaks down crying randomly and has days where he is incapable of talking. He is among the lowest ranked in combat class, and more often than not loses because of his over-reliance on a semblance you value over an entire team's mental and in Ryker's case physical health."

"None of these sound like reasons for Mr. Thorne to stop being a student at Beacon. Instead, it sounds like he needs therapy, medication, and more training, all things that can be found within Beacon." Glynda threw her hands up, a shout of frustration escaping her lips as she turned away from me.

"You are going to get him killed, and in the process, you will scar three promising huntresses. All to horde power that's not even yours but Rykers."

"Mr. Thorne-"

"Ryker! Ozpin say his name if you are so determined to use him."

"Ryker," I slowly say, the name tasting bitter on my tongue. "Is too dangerous to let fall into Her hands. This is something we have been over Glynda."

Glynda rolled her eyes, our conversation going in circles. "Do you even know why Ryker is here? Why Ryker Thorne, a young man who was on the path to studying law in Atlas decided out of nowhere that he needed to become a Huntsman?"

"I would presume so he could get his aura strong enough to go back and save his mother from her untimely death."

Glynda looked at me with disgust, something I can't quite recall if she had ever done before now. "So you know he will try and leave if he gets strong enough."

"Yes, and because of that we must keep a close eye on Ryker and monitor the growth of his aura. Thankfully Ryker's health problems have severely stunted the growth he would have had since the start of the semester. Now we will be able to monitor his growth and it won't be so quick that we won't have time to bring him to our side."

Without a word Glynda walked away, our conversation having come to an end. I sighed as she refused to even look at me as the elevator door closed. I took a sip of my tea, hoping it would help ease the guilt my very soul felt.

When you were a man in my position, sometimes you had to make choices that would haunt you. I feared that keeping Ryker Thorne would be one of them. When the stakes are as high as they are, I could ill afford to let a piece on the table go without trying to scratch and claw for it. I knew that She was doing the same, and thus I couldn't let my conscious stop me from grabbing the most powerful pieces that I could. A boy that could reset the clock, and give us more chances at winning was a piece I could never let go without a fight.

One day, I hope they will understand that the world will understand the difficult choices I had to make to keep them safe.

It was my obligation, my duty, my curse.

(Nora pov)

"So, when do you think Ryker is gonna come out as trans?" I ask, my question making Ren choke on his tea.

Ren spluttered and coughed, covering his mouth with his hand as he tried to work the tea out of his lungs. "What are you talking about?" He replied, his voice somehow retaining his monotone cadence.

"Oh come on Ren," I whine flopping backwards onto the carpet. "You heard her in the cafeteria, she basically said she wanted to be a girl. Cis people don't say things like that."

"Ryker had never even heard about trans people, I don't think it's fair to gauge her gender based on her reaction."

"You just called her 'her'" I tease.

Ren paused for a moment, a small blush on his face from being called out. "Yes, that is my mistake. What I am trying to say is that even if Ryker is trans like you think, we should still respect his current pronouns and not try to push him to transitioning. That is something he must decide to do if he is trans."

"So you do think he's trans?"

"I think that it is not our place to discuss."

I groan, I hated when Ren got like this. Such a party pooper. "Fine… Five lien says Rykers a trans girl."

Ren stayed quiet for a moment. "Five lien says that Ryker is cis."

"Deal!"

(Ryker pov)

I wheeze as my face hits the floor of the training arena Pyrrha and Yang had brought me to. "You're monsters, insane, sadistic monsters!" I pant as I try to get oxygen into my lungs. My entire body was screaming at me to never move again, that I was now meant to lay on this floor for the rest of my existence.

"Ryker we still have twenty more minutes for training, get up," Yang said prodding me with her foot.

"No!" I cry out as I feel her easily lift me from the ground and set me on my feet. "Yang no more, I can't do anymore."

I whimper as she moves my body back into the boxing stance that she had been teaching me, my hands shaking as she closes them into fists for me. Ever since Yang and Pyrrha had offered to train me my life had turned into the sensation of pain. Every other day they would drag me kicking and screaming to a training arena and spend two to four hours teaching me to fight. It was brutal, my knuckles were constantly bruised, I had welts and bruises all over my body, and I always went to bed whimpering like a beaten puppy. My teammates were traitors, on the days I tried to avoid training they would always rat out my hiding places to Yang and Pyrrha. What's worse is I had yet to land a single blow on either of them. It had been like this for the past few weeks and I genuinely felt like I was at the end of my rope.

Yet, no matter how many times I told them I was done, that I was a lost cause and to give up on me, Yang and Pyrrha persisted.

"Come on Ryker you can do this. It's easy, you just have to hit me and not get hit." Yang snickered.

"You have been saying that for two hours now, and every time I try you punch me in the face." I hiss.

"I mean, it would be easy, if you just did it instead of whining like a baby." The yellow-haired bombshell goaded.

I growled, the sound absolutely feral. I rushed her, throwing a jab that she easily stepped back from. I pressed her, throwing out jab after jab to test my range as she danced around my fist. In a split second I felt my fist brush her hair, the moment it did I rocketed my right fist forward, throwing out my cross-punch. Yang ducked under, finally taking a step towards me as I grunted in pain at the feeling of her fist jamming into my ribs on the right side. I stepped back leaning my head back just in time to avoid the uppercut she had thrown.

"C'mon Ryker, stop trying to hit me, and hit me." Yang taunted as she went on the offensive. Her fists flew faster and faster as I ducked and weaved around her punches, a few just barely glancing me.

"I can't Yang, I can't hit you." I bit back

"You can't because you aren't trying." Yang taunted as one punch landed hard across my chin, my aura threatening to break if I didn't stop taking damage right this moment. "How are you going to fight Grimm let alone Cardin if you can't even land a single punch?"

I snapped, screaming in rage as I ducked a jab, my leg shooting out as I kicked the side of her knee as hard as I could, Yang buckling to her knees with a shout of surprise as I planted my leg and brought my knee forward slamming it into the blondes face sending her ragdolling several feet away from me.

I gasped, in shock at what I had just done. I rushed to Yang's side. "Yang I'm so sorry, I can't believe I did that. I'm sorry I just got so angry, but it's not an excuse. I swear I will-" I ramble before two hands clap my face Yang is looking at me with stars in her eyes.

"Ryker, you hit me."

"I know and I'm so sorry." I start before she claps my face again.

"Ryker. You. Hit. Me."

"But I cheated. I kicked you when we were boxing." I stutter.

"Ryker," Yang spoke firmly.

I hesitate, Yang looking at me like a stern teacher. "I hit you?" I guessed, Yang, nodding letting me know I said the right thing, and then it hit me. "I hit you. I hit you!"

I laugh launching myself at Yang, wrapping her up in a hug. "I did it. I finally did it. I hit one of you!" I cheer as Yang laughs hugging me back.

"You know what that means?" Yang asked as I finally broke away from the hug.

"What?" I ask.

Yang grinned, and suddenly my victory didn't feel like a victory. "It means me and Pyrrha can start your next level of training, and we can stop holding back as much."

"Noooooooooooooo." I cried in despair as my training sessions were now going to get so much harder.