Beacon Academy: Combat Class, Auditorium Stage

Another class full of entertaining sparring matches is currently taking place, and while every match will not be down to the wire, they teach important lessons to the winners and losers, who always have something different to take away from each match they participate in. Currently ongoing is a four on one match but this one does not feature the 'one man team' for he is watching in the stands alongside team RWBY. It's Pyrrha Nikos from team JNPR, who is taking on the entirety of team CRDL with no restrictions or rules, all four of the bullies who have quieted down as of late after being humbled multiple times are attacking Pyrrha at once. This proves to still not be a close match as Pyrrha handles her own rather well, never taking a single clean strike. The fight is near its end stages and having already incapacitated Sky Lark, the job isn't quite over yet as Pyrrha dodges an attack from Cardin Winchester, who leaps in to smash her skull with his mace, 'The Executioner' and opens fire with her weapon 'Miló' in its semi automatic rifle form, but Russel jumps it to defend Cardin, deflecting every shot with his extended daggers, 'Shortwings'. He charges at Pyrrha, with Russel jumping into the air and performing impressive somersaults, three to be exact. However, the finishing move to these somersaults is a double footed kick attack, which is easily blocked by Pyrrha with her shield. Russel and his teammate, Dove Bronzewing proceed to attack Pyrrha together, showing perfect coordination through their ability to avoid hitting one another while taking turns with individual strikes and interchanging to keep Pyrrha guessing. The already famous students falls back but has no issue parrying every blow with her shield 'Akoúo̱'. Cardin runs up to her while he has a chance to sneak attack her, but Pyrrha opens fire again, this time however, Cardin deflects the bullets with his own weapon. He charges at her only to be met with a flying knee to the chin, which stuns Cardin and sends him down to one knee. Russel leaps over Cardin for his own surprise attack, but Pyrrha dodges every slash from the boy's extended daggers before she hits him with her shield, throwing it like a discus, it collides with Russel's head and sends him to the ground. Dove swiftly moves in after Russel is knocked to the ground and effectively out for the count. After a brief back and forth that ends in Pyrrha deflecting many sword swipes from Dove's weapon 'Hallshott' a sword-revolver, he fires at her with the revolver feature, but she is able to bulldoze through every shot using her shield. Although Dove is able to retreat and avoid her shield bash, he gets knocked out by his own leader Cardin, who swings wildly in frustration before moving in for another sequence. Cardin smashes his mace into the ground, lighting a direct path towards Pyrrha on fire, but she backflips out of the way gracefully. Despite having gone easy on his teammates, Pyrrha frowns and in a flash she's behind Cardin, with her weapon Miló in its sword state, she slashes him twice in the back, dashes in front of him and with a mighty slash she knocks Cardin into the air and then leaps after him. She slashes him three times with one vertical across the chest and two horizontally across the midsection, the bully gets away from her because of her own strikes pushing him away. Pyrrha flips over mid air to position herself to push off her own shield for extra speed, she finds herself behind Cardin, touching backs with him, Miló is now in its javelin form for length as she holds it with both arms and brings it over her head, tucking it under Cardin's chin. The huntsman and huntress soon start falling but they pick up speed when Pyrrha violently pulls on her javelin, forcing themselves to spin, with Cardin being thrown and landing directly on his back and flipping over to his stomach from the impact and speed at which he falls. To rub salt in the wounds, Pyrrha kicks Cardin in the face when she backflips again, making him flip over one last time. Cardin, seemingly not getting enough of a beating, rises to his knees, holding his midsection and breathing heavily when...

"And that's the match." Glynda Goodwitch speaks when the lights come back on and team CRDL is spared from any further damage at Pyrrha's hands

"L-lucky shot." Cardin groans as he slumps over and then falls on his side. "I w-will... get you... next time!"

"Well done, Miss Nikos." Glynda taps away at her tablet. "You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

"Thank you, professor." Pyrrha smiles and takes a bow. "It would truly be an honor to represent Beacon on the biggest stage. I..."

Pyrrha continues to speak with the Professor who runs the class, fixes up their practice arena, and offers tips, advice, or reality checks to students who are defeated while offering praise and uplifting words to those. Meanwhile in the stands, team JNPR, RWBY, and Link watch with happiness as their friend picks up a flawless victory over the most despised first year team in Beacon

"That sure was something." Yang snickers. "It must be nice to not have to fight her any time soon. Fingers crossed that we don't draw her in the tournament either."

"Except we could even right now!" Ruby gasps in worry. "Any one of us could get called on to fight Pyrrha during the next class and we'd be toast."

"Those are amazing words of confidence, leader..." Weiss frowns. "Do you have any shame?"

"S-sorry." Ruby chuckles. "She's just so good and really fun to watch."

"Fair enough, Pyrrha is the most touted rookie huntsman expected to compete at the Vytal Festival, us here at Beacon are getting a sample as to what we're going to see in the coming months." Weiss smirks due to all the knowledge she has on the JNPR huntress. "In fact, maybe we should volunteer to face off with Pyrrha. In order to become stronger we need to face stronger competition and I don't know about you guys but... Facing dangerous criminals and grimm is not how I want to get stronger."

"We normally always disagree on everything." Link mumbles. "But that is very true, it's going to be so much watching all of you fight truly, wouldn't you agree Blake?"

"..." Blake does not respond to Link or anyone from her team, instead her eyes are glued to a notebook resting on her lap

"Blake." Link taps her on the shoulder with a light tap of his index finger. "Blaaaakeeee... Hello, are you there?"

"H-huh?!" Blake looks up from her book, clearly tired. "S-sorry, what did you say?"

"Never mind that. Are you okay?" Link asked. "You had so much energy the day we all went on our investigation of... you know who."

"Hmm...?" Blake yawns, "I'm fine, yeah I'm okay." She then digs her face back into her book. "I know how good Pyrrha is, there's no need to watch. And yeah, I thought doing what we did would help clear up what happened at the docks at the end of last semester, but instead we just got asked more questions than answers found."

"I understand what you're saying completely. Now, are you sure you're okay? Researching and being passionate is great, but you look like you haven't slept in days" Link asks again, which bothers Blake to the point of almost snapping at him. "You know if-!"

"Listen-!" Blake looks up from her book to stare directly right at Link, who is still smiling and being a kind and caring friend, "O-oh..." She sighs and shakes her, feeling terrible at what she almost did, this was real concern, not the fake or sarcastic laughter that Yang usually tries

"I'm all ears Blake." Link said, pointing at his abnormal ears. "What's on your mind? I know we aren't the closest of friends but you can tell me anything that's on your mind."

"Hm..." Blake sighs, she reaches for the top of her head and feels her bow, touching her abnormal ears too. "It's a lot to me but it's also a whole bunch of nothing to you. You wouldn't understand."

"That may be so, but I can try to understand you." Link places his hand on Blake's shoulder and gives her a soft squeeze. "I'm never going to say I know what you've been through or know about your struggles. But what I can say is I'm all ears and someone you can rely on."

"W-what?" Blake frowns. "You're really saying all of that to me? But you don't even know me? How could you freely throw around words like th-!"

"You're right again." Link mumbles. "I don't know you at all. For all I know you could be just like ninety percent of people I've come across who use me or turn me away. But I don't get that from you at all, you're nice and sweet, but you're also hurting on the inside, a lot. I want to get to know you Blake. You're my friend and whenever I see my friends upset or hurt, it upsets me..." He whispers. "And I'm pretty sure I know what's making you upset. One more time, what's on your mind?"

"Okay Mr. persistent." Blake weakly smiles. "My mind is kind of on the dance. Everyone is excited for it but... I haven't even told my team about my decision regarding the dance, I don't want to go. Another thing, I don't understand why they care so much about the dance. My team saw it with their own eyes too. Roman Torchwick is basically leading the White Fang and he has his hands on Atlas technology? None of it makes any sense."

"I don't know how to answer that question Blake. The White Fang who opposes humans is now serving one... it does make no sense like you said. Regarding the dance however..." Link raises an eyebrow. "It's simple, don't go. You don't have to go to the dance. Especially if you have more important things to take care of. Whether it's you going into town and beating up some bad guys or spending your time doing research and taking notes." He nods at her. "I'm not going to tell you what to do either, neither should Yang, Weiss, Ruby, Sun, or anybody really. Nobody can or should tell you what to do, not me. The only person you should listen to... Is you, Blake. You are your own person and you're going to do what you feel you feel is best for you. I, on the other hand, will be fully supportive of whatever it is you decide to focus on."

"Thank you, I really like that answer, actually." Blake's eyes widen as she slowly nods. "I think right now I just need some quiet time to myself..." She yawns loudly, "I need to focus." Her attention return to her book

"I can respect that." Link nods. "Proceed with your notes then."

"Thanks for understanding..." Blake looks at her notebook for only a few seconds before she turns back to face Link again, needing to ask one more thing. "So if I never need help, can I come to you? You really mean that?"

"Sure thing..." Link smiles. "I promise you can."

"..." Blake does not say anything but does smile warmly

"Hmph!" Weiss whips her head to the left, away from Blake and Link. The Schnee heiress is clearly upset at Blake agreeing to chose help from someone who Weiss considers more of a 'stranger' to Blake over her own team

"Is something wrong?" Link turns to Weiss

"N-no!" Weiss shakes her head. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"Weiss, let's not play dumb." He laughs. "I know you were eavesdropping on our conversation."

"I did no such thing! How dare you-!"

"Miss Schnee. Mister Link. Miss Belladonna."

Professor Goodwich speaks loudly, her voice is heard throughout the entire room, whereas before she was clearly being tuned out by Link, Blake, and Weiss. The three huntsman and huntresses jump when hearing her voice and the conversation between Link and Weiss comes to an end

"Did the three of you hear a single word I said to Miss Nikos and the rest of the class?" The annoyed professor glares at the three students

"No ma'am." Weiss lowers her head in shame. "I'm so sorry."

"I did not, no. I apologize." Link looks away in embarrassment

"..." Blake's eyes widen again, the cat faunus promptly shuts her book looks straight ahead

"That's what I thought. I complimented Miss Nikos and said that it will be a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match. Then I asked for volunteers but now I have three people in mind as a first choice." Glynda eyes the three of them before setting her sights on Blake. "Alright then, Miss Belladonna. I've noticed that you have been rather docile for the past few classes, when last semester you had no issues being alert and willing to step forward for a match. Why don't you-!"

(Great... Blake is too exhausted to fight anybody.) Link turns his head to glare at Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black who are now attending classes as Haven students. (Especially if Glynda pits Blake against either of THOSE two, she could get seriously hurt.)

"I'll do it!"

These three words are spoken by Link... and Mercury, they both coincidentally raise their hands at the same time. Both huntsmen keep their hands raised too, determined to be selected by Glynda

"At last some eager volunteers." Glynda speaks with amusement, but no smile is present. "Mister Link..." She looks at him, "We know how skilled you are and you continue to improve every single time we see you in action." The professor turns to take a better look at the exchange student. "But we have never seen you before, have we... Mercury, is it?"

"Mhm." Mercury nods. "I like to keep to myself but I feel outgoing today, I'm looking for a test."

"Very well, let's find you an opponent." Glynda's attention turns to her tablet. "Link, you can wait until the next time we have class together to volunteer."

"Wait!" Link stands up and points directly at Mercury. "Let me fight him then."

"W-what?!" Emerald blurts out. "You can't make the matches yourself."

"But that fight would be so cool!" Ruby cheers and looks at Emerald with stars in her eyes. "Trust me, Link is so good and I'm sure your friend is too, this is gonna be so much fun!"

"Hmm..." Glynda looks at both of them and ponders on her next decision. "The decision is up to Mercury, he volunteered after all."

"Thank you for that privilege. I'd much rather face..." Mercury rubs his chin as if he really had no clue before pointing at Pyrrha. "Her."

"M-me?" Pyrrha raises an eyebrow

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished her match, against four people nonetheless." Glynda shakes her head. "I recommend you choose another opponent."

"N-no, it's fine!" Pyrrha nods and looks directly at Mercury. "I'd be happy to oblige."

"Good." Mercury nods and looks back at Link. "Sorry, I know you want to test yourself against me Mr. 'one man team' but I'd much prefer fighting someone who is above the level of a novice."

"What did you say?" Link frowns at a smiling Mercury. "We don't need to step foot on the stage to make this fight happen."

"Stop pestering my teammate." Emerald rolls her eyes. "He wants to fight her, not you. Let it be."

"Grrr." Link balls up his hands into fists. (This 'innocent new student' act they're putting on is seriously going to drive me insane. But I can't exactly lash out and go at them with everything I have... then it's me who is the bad guy, the egotistical one person team bullying students.)

"Ignore them." Blake mumbles and grabs onto Link's forearm. "I'm sure they're only messing around, Ruby bumped into them the other day and said they were nice."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. No point in getting riled up." Link shrugs and sits back down, Blake's touch calms him down enough to not notice the cat faunus getting near him to speak without being overheard by anybody

"Thanks." Blake whispers weakly. "I know you volunteered to cover for me, I appreciate that."

"Of course, it was my pleasure." Link grins. "Although, I should be thanking you now for stopping me from getting in trouble."

Blake returns to her notebook whilst Mercury quickly gets down to the stage, very eager to test Pyrrha's skills. His 'teammate' Emerald watches with a fake smile plastered on her face as Ruby turns to her and offers genuine smiles in support of her friend.

Mercury charges and strikes first with a powerful spinning side kick, but Pyrrha lunges forward and meets him in the middle, she blocks it with her shield, and sweeps his plant leg with her sword. He falls but swiftly kicks his legs into the air, spins on his hands, and does a double handspring. Pyrrha runs forward to attack, but Mercury strikes first with a double spinning wheel kick, but again the huntress is ready and blocks the first kick with her and the second kick with her shield, before turning around and blocking a further barrage of roundhouse kicks with her shield. Pyrrha ends this sequence by pushing forward and ramming her shield into Mercury's chest, pushing him back far enough to give themselves breathing room, the latter appears impressed and smirks. Following this, he leaps into the air and brings his foot down on Pyrrha's shield with an axe kick, the attack is blocked but does send her sliding backwards, effectively avoiding the next four spinning kicks, a low leg sweep, round house, switch kick, and a spinning back kick. Mercury wastes no time rushing at Pyrrha while she is crouched with her shield in front of her. She flips her sword and brings it against her shield, the same blocking technique she taught Jaune, intended to add extra weight and stability by using another weapon to help the defensive weapon. Mercury jumps and lands three consecutive low bicycle kicks on her shield. Before Pyrrha can make a move, Mercury throws four consecutive jumping roundhouse kicks, switching from hitting her shield, forearm, shield, and forearm again. The two huntsmen cancel each other out, the last block forces Pyrrha to let go over her sword to really block the strongest kick Mercury has thrown the entire fight. The two spin, Pyrrha regains control of her sword, it collides with one of Mercury's boots with a nasty scrape as he's setting up another crafty kick, but when they spin again and Pyrrha raises his sword to block an intended jumping spinning heel kick aimed for her head, Mercury adjusts and instead kicks the sword out of her hand. Both Pyrrha and Mercury watch as the weapon is driven into the floor, the latter triumphantly smirks at Pyrrha before rapidly spinning and finally seeming like he's going to land a spinning heel kick. However, Pyrrha slyly activates her semblance 'Polarity' while her hand is about an inch away from his boot, she tweaks the boot and sends it a little higher up, which makes Mercury spin off balance, to the watching students it appears he put too much power in the kick and missed. The action continues as Pyrrha is the one pushing the pace of the fight and charging toward him, shield first. Mercury picks up his right leg, puts his foot on Pyrrha's shield, hops up onto it with both feet and fires a bullet to blast himself away, eventually landing in a kneeling position. The unharmed girl continues to charge at him, this time sword first. However...

"I forfeit..." Mercury shrugs his shoulders and leaves him defenseless

"Huh?" Pyrrha continues running and nearly falls over as she comes to a complete stop too fast. "You what?"

"That's right, I forfeit. I know it's embarrassing to give up." He smirks. "But there's no winning this fight, you blocked everything I threw at you and knowing how skilled you are, you likely remember all my moves by now so there's nothing more I can surprise you with... so I forfeit."

"Just like that?" Pyrrha raises an eyebrow. "You... don't even want to try?"

"What's the point?" The nonchalant huntsman shrugs again. "You're a world renowned fighter. We're obviously leagues apart. I figured I may as well save your time so you can preserve your strength and energy."

"In that case. Pyrrha Nikos is the winner of the match... again." Glynda walks forward and taps away at her tabled, getting in between Mercury and Pyrrha

Mercury smugly nods. Pyrrha is now beginning to get annoyed with a disappointed look on her face and places her left hand on her hip in disapproval. The tapping that Glynda does is soon revealed to be the aura display for Pyrrha and Mercury being adjusted as Mercury's is changed from green to red indicating his loss

"Next time, you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." Glynda says sarcastically

"I'll be sure to do that." Mercury disrespectfully turns his back and walks away without acknowledging the real huntress

"Well that was lame!" Link sarcastically shouts, because he knows deep down that Mercury is much stronger than what was displayed. "What a waste of Pyrrha's time."

"Be quiet!" Weiss crosses her arms. "A fight is a fight and it was still entertaining."

Suddenly an alarm sounds twice which jolts Blake awake and signals everyone else that class is officially over

"That is all for today. Now remember, the dance is this weekend so I hope all enjoy yourselves but don't do anything irrational or tire yourselves out completely. You all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses..."

Glynda continues to speak but most of the students are making their way out of the classroom already. Link falls behind with team RWBY in order to get closer look at Emerald and maybe even get in some choice words

"What do you want?" Emerald frowns. "Don't even look my way let alone talk to me."

"Oh don't you worry about that, nobody wants to look or talk to you besides your 'team from Haven' isn't that right? I can observe the new students if I want, let's call it scouting the competition." Link smiles. "I'll be sure to keep a close eye on you, all of you to be exact."

"Whatever." She rolls her eyes. "Don't you have somewhere to be with all your little friends?"

"We got a problem here?" Mercury scoffs as he shows up out of nowhere, cracking his knuckles menacingly. "We're just innocent students attending class, like you."

"No, there is no problem... unless you want there to be one? Maybe we can settle the score this time?" Link grimaces when thinking of the past

"Oh trust me." Mercury frowns. "You don't even-!"

"Link! Let's go, we're all going for a walk around the front of the school." Blake is behind the one person team and grabbing at his elbow in no time, her sudden appearance shuts Mercury up and forces a smile out of Emerald

"Yeah Link, can't leave your girlfriend hanging now would you?" Mercury chuckles

"Excuse me?!" Blake frowns. "I thought Ruby said you guys were nice, but perhaps she was wrong."

"He's kidding!" Emerald punches Mercury in the ribs with force. "That's just Merc, sometimes he doesn't know where to draw the line."

"Ow!" Mercury recoils and holds his midsection. "Y-yeah my bad, I'll retire that joke."

"Right." Blake rolls her away and walks away, dragging Link with her

"Thanks for another save." Link nods

"Don't mention it."

Blake nods and multitasks by dragging Link and looking at her notebook at the same time, the rest of her team is not that far ahead of them, still discussing the fight between Pyrrha and Mercury

Later that day: Beacon Academy Dormitories, Link's dorm

"That was fun." Link speaks out to himself. "Although, it doesn't feel quite the same without team CFVY, I hope they return from their mission very soon. It's been long enough and they should have been back already."

Knock! knock! knock!

"Ah!" Link jumps at the sound of the loud sudden knock, "Who is it?" He cups his ear but hears nothing in return. "Hello?"

Link removes his hat and throws it on his desk as his first action to change out of his regular clothing and into some nightly attire. However, before he does anything else, he walks over to the door and opens it

"Heyyy!" Jaune happily waves, he's in a chipper mood and has an unfamiliar strap going across his chest. "Whoa is your hair always like that? I figured the hat was to hide messy hair but, you should wear it less if it's like that naturally."

"Thank you?" Link chuckles. "I had no idea you knew much about hair, because I certainly do not. Can I help you though? I don't believe I told you and Pyrrha that I wasn't joining you guys tonight but if you insist then I can."

"Of course I know about hair, if I didn't my seven sisters would slap me silly." Jaune chuckles. "Yes, I did come here to ask if you could join us for sparring, that is one of the reasons I came here." He nods. "Pyrrha told me to be more direct with asking you myself rather than her asking you. Besides the sparring, I want you to have my back."

"Have your back? Is Cardin messing with you again?" Link frowns. "I can deal with him myself and force him to apologize if he made you cry-!"

"No no no!" Jaune shakes his head. "Nothing to do with Cardin. Here follow me, we're taking a quick detour to team RWBY's dorm."

"Why? Also, you guys are directly across from each other, you didn't come all the way here for me."

"Because my best options were you and Ren. If things go wrong you'll speak up for me, won't you?" Jaune asks

"Yes I'll speak for you." Link nods slowly. "Shall we go then?"

"LET'S DO THIS!" Jaune turns around and it's revealed the strap going from his chest to his back is connected to an acoustic guitar

(Oh no, he did say we were going to team RWBY's dorm too...)

One short trip later sees Jaune and Link down the hallway leading up to the dorms of team JNPR and RWBY, but rather than an empty hallway, they see Blake exiting her team's dorm and making her mood clear when she slams the door on her way out

"Blake?" Link calls out. "Are you okay?"

"No. I'm going to the library..." Blake shakes her head and walks past the two blonde huntsmen

"What's wrong?" Link turns to reach for her. "We can-!"

"Leave me alone!" Blake turns to snap at Link. "All I want is for someone to not get on my nerves today."

"Blake?" Link turns his head, with confusion and concern in his eyes. "I'm not trying to get on your nerves. I'm asking if you're okay? Did something happen?"

"...Sorry." Blake mumbles but her frown persists. "My team really got on my nerves. You were there... Sun asked me to the dance. I told him no and that I wasn't interested. I thought he of all people would understand why people like him and I shouldn't worry about a stupid dance when we have more important things to deal with."

"Yeah I remember that interaction." Link nods but deep down he feels bad for Sun, considering the rejection was more brutal than Blake made it seem. "So now they're suggesting you should go to the dance and unwind?" The boy rubs his chin. "Am I on track there?"

"Precisely." Blake sighs. "Sorry for yelling at you, if you want to talk or help me then meet me at the library later tonight. I need to be alone right now, okay?"

"Yeah sure thing. I will see you tonight at the library." Link nods. "Goodluck Blake."

"Thank you. See you later." Blake turns around and marches off

"Do you know what's up with her? She's more down than usual." Jaune asks. "Did someone hurt her or is she not doing well in class?"

"It's too complicated to compress it down to one minute, it was supposed to be strictly team RWBY business but Sun, Neptune, and I got involved." Link sighs and watches Blake walk away as they approach Team RWBY's dorm. "No further explanation needed. Don't you have something to do right now?"

"Right!" Jaune sighs nervously as he walks up to the door, ready to knock any second now

"Jaune, are you sure about this?" Link asks. "You haven't exactly told me what you're going to do but you don't show any interest in Ruby, Blake, or Yang, which leaves Weiss and you have a guitar... Plus, you're already late for your private training with Pyrrha."

"I'm going to ask Weiss to the dance obviously." Jaune speaks with confidence. "My mom always told me that girls love guys who can sing. Along with confidence and good looks which I believe I have. Besides, Pyrrha doesn't care if I'm late, as long as I show up."

"Are you sure your mom told you that?" Link sighs. (Jaune's mom sounds like a really nice lady but also like someone who protected him a little too much.)

"That's right." Jaune nods

"But this is Weiss we're talking about." Link shakes his head. "You're just wasting your time, not that Weiss isn't attractive but she's already rejected you so many times, you can find somebody else."

"I could find 'somebody else' but 'somebody else' isn't THE Weiss Schnee, she's one of a kind! You wait and see! This is the one that secures me the jackpot." Jaune smiles

"If you say so, prove me wrong Jaune." Link suddenly runs in front of Jaune, laughs in a jokingly maniacal way before he pounds once on the door with his fist and retreats sideways. "Let's see it!"

"What the-?! Link!" Jaune jumps with fright as the door opens

"Yes?" Weiss opens the door and her eyes widen when she sees only Jaune, who swings the guitar over his shoulder and clears his throat

"Ummm..." Jaune chuckles as he plays the guitar confidently with good skills on the instrument too. "Weeeiiisssssssssss!" He proudly sings, then follows up with a wink. This results in the door being slammed in his face

"Very smooth." Link snickers. "Just kidding, it actually wasn't too bad."

"Oh come on..." Jaune knocks on the door three times, "Please." He then knocks again. "Open the dooooor..."

No response...

"I promise not to sing." Jaune mumbles

"He's lying!" Link calls out

But little does he know that it's his voice that makes Weiss open the door again, rather than Jaune's 'promise' to not sing

"I liiieeed!" Jaune smiles and winks as he begins to play the guitar again

"This is so bad." Link facepalms. (Please ask her to the dance already and take your no with dignity Jaune.)

"Weiss Schhhhneeeee!" Jaune strums and sings. "Will you accompany me! To the daaaanceeee! Onnnn..." He turns to Link for some assistance

"Uhhh." Link looks at Weiss with confusion as he cannot remember the date of the dance, but Glynda's words that the dance is the day before their first mission on Monday gives him the answer. "Sunday."

"Suuunday." Jaune turns back to focus all his attention on Weiss again, showing off a suave look in the process

"..." Ruby and Yang stare in shock at the display

"Are you done?" Weiss asks

"..." Jaune looks around nervously before looking back at Weiss. "Yes?"

"Then no." Weiss shivers with disgust and shuts the door again

"Brilliant. Whenever she seems like a nice girl, she does stuff like this..."

"I can hear you!" Weiss stomps and yells

"..." Link chuckles at her anger. "I know!" He turns to Jaune and whispers. "How does she have friends again?"

"Because she's Weiss Schnee obviously!" Jaune exclaims

"Yes she is, but that doesn't answer the question." Link rolls his eyes but continues to laugh. "We could've been working on your improvement with Pyrrha or if I wanted to train with someone else I could be working on my speed with Ren or Ruby but instead you dragged me here to fail... again."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jaune chuckles nervously. "What should I do now?"

"Oh no don't be sorry, it was very entertaining." Link nods and walks away, dragging Jaune by his hoodie. "What we need to do is get to the rooftop as soon as possible, Pyrrha is waiting for you and frankly me too, since I assume you didn't tell her about this little stunt with Weiss BUT did tell her you were coming to get me. Forget about Weiss, let's go and train with Pyrrha, okay? Are you committed to this?"

"O-of course, I can't let Pyrrha down." Jaune sighs

Beacon Academy: Dormitories Rooftop

After approximately fifteen minutes in which five of those minutes were spent by Jaune procrastinating about why he was rejected by Weiss Schnee, another five were spent getting to the rooftop, the final five minutes were Jaune, stressing the need to warm up before he has to spar both Link and Pyrrha. After quick one minute sessions with Link and Pyrrha separately a handful of times, where the strong rookie huntsman and huntress interchange to give Jaune a new fighting style and keep him on edge to strike or defend when needed. At one point, they decide to even spar Jaune in an unfair two on one, to make up for the disadvantage he's in, Pyrrha opts for only javelin strikes, while Link implements a bouncing style to his stance, significantly adding more power but also slowing down his sword swing. Minutes soon turn into an hour and Link finds himself sitting down and catching his breath, watching carefully as Jaune and Pyrrha spar for what seems to be the last time today

"Come on Jaune! You can do this!" Link calls out and claps to show support. "You too Pyrrha, don't go easy on him!"

"Hmph!"

Jaune nods but Pyrrha does not reply, clearly showing one is more focused than the other. Jaune pushes forward with his sword 'Crocea Mors' over his head and brings his sword down lightly, Pyrrha blocks efficiently with her sword in both hands, her shield is behind her back and completely put away. Jaune pulls back and swings horizontally to his left aiming for Pyrrha's head, only for this strike to be blocked too. Another horizontal strike to the head but going to the right doesn't fair much luck either as Pyrrha does an amazing job at blocking. A third sword swing is directed at her midsection and yet again it's blocked. Four frustrating sword swings later, Jaune brings his sword over his head once again and brings it down with all his power. Pyrrha holds her sword sideways and blocks again, but this time struggles to hold off Jaune's strike, the blonde boy has only one advantage over Pyrrha, strength, and plenty of it. He began to push her sword back into her with a confident smile on his face

"Hmm..." Pyrrha grins

The talented huntress, realizing that she is about to lose an exchange, reverts back to what she knows best about Jaune, his footwork that still needs improvement. She suddenly crouches down, ending the test of strength abruptly, which also throws Jaune off balance. Lastly, she spins while low to the ground and easily sweeps his legs out from under him, sending Jaune crashing back first to the ground

"Of course..." Jaune groans. "I need to start doing more squats."

"It's not about leg strength Jaune. Your issue is your leg placement and footwork." Pyrrha laughs angelically. "Well done nonetheless! Your swordplay has improved immensely."

"She's right, Jaune. That was very good, from both of you, might I add." Link claps lightly

"Thank you." Pyrrha nods, then walks over and helps Jaune up. "You've taught me so much about myself as a person, helping you train... It's the least I can do to help you Jaune. "

"I couldn't have done it without ya..." Jaune smiles

"Hm?" Link feels his scroll shaking, he quickly picks it up, it's Blake calling. "Oh, it's Blake."

"Blake?" Pyrrha turns her head

"Yes, she's calling me. I said I was going to meet her later at the library."

"Maybe she needs you now?" Jaune wonders

"Perhaps. I'm going to answer this if you guys don't mind?" Link glances at both of them

"Take all the time you need." Pyrrha nods. "I can give Jaune advice on tonight's session on my behalf and yours."

"That sounds great, advice from you probably comes out better than anything I could ever say." Link chuckles, stands up and walks away a couple of steps before answering. "Hi Blake."

"Thanks for everything!" Blake blurts out. "I'm sorry I was mean earlier." She mumbles now and her words are very slurred

"Don't apologize to me." Link speaks warmly. "Apologize to Sun. He got the worst of it."

"He did." Blake sighs, "W-will do..." She yawns seconds later before suddenly there was a slam on her end of the call

"Blake? Blake?!" Link calls out but it's only silence on the other end of the call before he ends it himself, "Crap." He walks back over to Jaune and Pyrrha, who are near the end of their conversation about their sparring session

"So, are you ready to move on to Aura?" Pyrrha asks with excitement in her voice

"I'm actually thinking maybe we just skip Aura for tonight?" Jaune rubs his head, trying to put off aura training. "I might go on a jog or something."

"Come onnn." Pyrrha playfully nudges his shoulder. "I know you get frustrated, but you must keep trying. I'm sure you'll discover your Semblance any day now."

"That's not it. It's just..." Jaune sighs. "It's dumb."

"What is it?" She walks up to Jaune and places her hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, you know you can tell me anything that's on your mind. You're my leader who I trust very much and more than that, you're my dear friend."

"Okay then. It's... About Weiss. I asked her to the dance and she shot me down." He giggles. "Big surprise though, right? I don't know what's wrong with me to believe that I ever had a chance with someone like her. Realistically, it's no big surprise that she shot me down huh?"

"Well..." Pyrrha sighs. "It's okay Jaune. You'll pick yourself up and bounce back from this. Weiss is only one girl and I believe the saying goes there's plenty of fish in the sea. r-right?"

"Easy for you to say." Jaune scoffs. "You're such an amazing person and huntress, I'm sure you've probably got mountains of guys stepping all over each other just to get a chance to ask you out."

"Heh... you'd be surprised." Pyrrha's eyes well up but she lowers her head to prevent Jaune from seeing her this way

"Oh please, if you don't get a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress. Hehe. Fat chance." Jaune waves and walks off

"..." Pyrrha says nothing and continues looking at the ground

"That was rough to watch, but you know..." Link speaks up, thinking of a way to raise her spirits. "I always thought you were invincible."

"Well I-!"

"Until I figured your little polarity trick out a while ago." Link grabs his sword as fast as he can before taking a mighty swing at Pyrrha

"...!" Pyrrha's hands glow with her black aura as Link's sword is redirected towards the sky

"Gah!" Link chuckles, unable to bring down his sword, even with all his strength. "See, this is why you always keep your guard up, especially when you have secrets to hide."

"Secrets?" Pyrrha smiles, raises an eyebrow and releases her control of Link's sword

"Yeah." Link promptly sheathes his weapon, "I'm not clueless like some people... I know love and affection is what's messing with you right now. And I see how you act differently around Jaune." He chuckles

"Well I..." Pyrrha blushes and can't think of anything to help herself deny or deflect; instead she decides to add on to their ongoing banter. "I see how you act around Ruby."

"No no no, this is not about me. Coco said the same about me and Velvet, so I'll say the same thing to you that I said to her. I don't see anything happening in the near future." Link speaks calmly. "They're both really sweet, cool and funny despite each of their individual quirks... but they're my friends and I'm happy to keep it that way for the time being."

"You never know, things might change." Pyrrha's smile widens even further as she places a hand on Link's shoulder. "No matter what changes in the near or distant future, I hope we're all happier for it."

"I couldn't agree any more." Link nods and closes the distance, giving her a soft hug. "Blake isn't doing so well so I probably have to go very soon, sorry for ditching you on such short notice."

"Oh no, do not be sorry, I'm sure she needs you more than I do." Pyrrha hugs Link back and softly pats his back

"Goodnight Pyrrha." Link backs away and smiles at her again

"Goodnight Link." Pyrrha nods. "See you tomorrow."

"Definitely."

The one person team slowly walks away from Pyrrha to not give her any bad ideas regarding his departure. However, as soon as he's back inside the building, he breaks out into a full sprint as he races to get to the library as fast as possible. Now that he knows where the library is without being given the wrong directions and running, he gets there in about five minutes

"Wow is this place dead... which should not be surprising to me, it's late at night and students usually are all out of here when the sun starts setting." Link chuckles at his own stupidity. The library is completely dark, except for one computer monitor, which was dim and faded. He whistles and approaches the dimmed monitor, there's somebody sitting in front of it, she wears a familiar attire, has a familiar scent, and a specific black bow, "Well well... wouldn't ya know it? She finally went to sleep. But this won't last long, she passed out from exhaustion. She'll be up in no time and go right back to doing the same." Link smiles and pieces together that the loud slam from their brief call earlier was Blake's head against a desk, "That desk isn't much of a pillow either... I know Blake would want to stay here so she can get right back to work but, I'm taking matters into my own hands." He turns off the monitor and picks Blake up, cradling her like a princess and slowly carrying her out of the library

Beacon Academy Dormitories: Team RWBY's dorm

"Hmm..."

Link considers the difficult decision he must take next as he stands in front of the door, but doesn't to bring Blake into a hostile environment being Weiss who will yell at her for overexerting herself with all the research she's been looking into as of late

"...Boo!" Ruby lets out a whisper as she sneaks up on Link and lightly taps him on the shoulder, "Hi!"

"W-what the-!" Link jumps, shakes his head and almost jumps again when he sees Ruby in her pajamas. "Either I'm very tired or I've lost a step, people never used to sneak up on me like that. What's up, Ruby?" He whispers

"Here's the situation... Weiss, Yang, and I really want Blake to go to the dance but she wasn't very receptive and left which made Weiss really angry. I couldn't bear it, so Yang distracted her long enough for me to be able to sneak out as well, but I stayed out too long. SOOO, Weiss is ready to scold, lecture, and scream at both Blake and I... or in other words, please help us Link or else we won't hear the end of this tonight. Pleaseee..." Ruby smiles sweetly

"Sure I'll help you guys, I already have Blake in my arms anyway. There's my dorm, you guys can share my bed and I can crash on the floor."

"W-what? No!" Ruby shakes her head. "Help us but don't suffer in the process, please."

"Hm, fair enough." Link mumbles and takes a look at Blake. "I think I know where we can put her tonight."

Seconds later, Link takes off and Ruby follows without asking any questions and after a not so quick trip towards the exchange students dorms, the huntsman, huntress, and a passed out Blake are in front of a 'mysterious' dorm

"Where are we exactly?" Ruby carefully knocks on the door, then leans over to whisper at Link. "You do know these are the dormitories for the exchange students, right?"

"I know and we just made two new friends from Haven recently, remember?" Link smiles

"It's a little late at night to be bothering-!" Sun jumps in shock when he sees Link with extended arms, holding Blake to him. "BLAKE?!"

"Shhhhh!" Link frowns. "This little lady has been up for who knows how long, do not ruin the little sleep she's already going to get."

"Hey Sun." Ruby waves

"O-okay, sorry dude. Hey Ruby." Sun sighs. "What brings you here?"

"Weiss." Link chuckles. "She's mad at Blake... and Ruby."

"Gotcha." Sun smirks. "The ice queen might rampage so they're going to hide out for the night and live to see another day."

"Correct, do you and your team mind if Blake spends the night here? I'm sure one of you four can be gentlemen and give up their bed for a night... riiight?"

"You want her to sleep in my dorm?" Sun nervously says as Blake as in his sights, but also feels resentment because she's in the arms of another person

"You nailed it, we want you to let Blake spend the night here. Trust me, nobody wants to hear Weiss go on a rant right now and these two already have to endure it tomorrow." Link points to Blake and Ruby, then peaks his head inside but only sees Sun and Neptune. "Where is the rest of your team?"

"Not here yet my friend." Neptune speaks, he lies in bed and stares at the ceiling

"Basically what he said." Sun nods. "We have two extra beds right now and our other teammates haven't arrived yet from Haven. They decided to finish the semester over there and they're going to come over when the Vytal Festival is around the corner."

"How convenient, well thanks Sun. Here you go, be careful with her." Link nods and gently hands Blake over. "Thanks Neptune also."

"You're welcome." Neptune throws his arm in the air and waves

"Yeah no problem." Sun nods, carefully takes Blake to the farthest bed away from himself and Neptune, then walks back to the door, "Blake looks like she's putting herself through a lot, I want to help in any way I can, if this is a start then I'm glad to play a part."

"We appreciate this a lot and don't worry." Link gestures towards Ruby. "Blake has a great team and amazing friends, we will ALL help her."

"Yeahhhh!" Ruby throws up a fist in a cheery mood. "That's the spirit, we're going to get her to go to this dance too... I don't know but, it's a work in progress."

Sun doesn't respond as he remembers how Blake rudely and publicly rejected his offer to accompany him to the dance earlier in the day, but still maintains a smile when waving goodbye to Link and Ruby, then promptly closes the door. The latter huntsman and huntress begin their walk back to the Beacon student dormitories

"Well..." Link turns to Ruby and thinks of the first thing in his mind to start a conversation. "Nice pajamas."

"Thanks." Ruby grins, "Niceee, everyday clothing you always wear. I don't know what your pajamas look like but ummm..." She looks at herself up and down and then back at Link. "I was wondering..."

"What's up?" Link keeps his sights directly on the leader of team RWBY

"There's no way I can sneak into my dorm without Weiss noticing and team JNPR's dorm is packed... Do you think maybe I can-!" Ruby stopped herself again

"You want to stay with me tonight. Don't you?" The blonde boy smiles

"..." Ruby says nothing for a few seconds but her corresponding giggles answer the question

"I only have one bed, I can sleep on the floor." Link mumbles in agreement to Ruby staying over as they reach his dorm relatively quickly, their short conversation takes up more of the trip than they thought, "Alright then." He clears his throat, unlocks his door, then opens his dorm. "Make yourself comfortable."

"Wow... it looks so cool." Ruby walks in and instantly notices new additions to Link's dorm such as weapons in frames up on the walls, along with paintings as well

"I figured there's so much empty space, may as well decorate a bit, right?" Link smiles as he heads into the closet

"Where ya going?" Ruby asks as she makes herself comfortable and sits on the right side of the bed. "Wow and your bed is basically ours but twice the length, luckyyy."

"I'll be out in a minute." Link makes quick work of his clothes and changes from his tunic to a black shirt and black sweatpants, "These aren't quite pajamas but as long as I'm comfortable, right?" He emerges with a smile plastered on his face

"Right on, now come on and get to bed, you look really tired too." Ruby gets even more comfortable under the sheets and with two pillows under her head, she pats the open space on the bed next to her with a grin. "You haven't done anything to deserve sleeping on a rough cold floor. Besides, this is your dorm and your bed anyway."

"If you say so, I will not pass up the offer." Link walks over to the left side of the bed, sits down momentarily, yawns, then adjusts under the sheets and nearly falls asleep instantly

"Thanks Weiss, your irrational anger got me and Blake another place to sleep. While I'm not too sure how Blake would feel about where she's sleeping, I like where I'm at." Ruby grins. "I sure feel bad for my dear sister."

"Someone had to make the sacrifice." Link chuckles. "Maybe next time it'll be you or Blake dealing with angry Weiss while the other two have a good night of rest somewhere else."

The two friends laugh at Weiss' catty nature and that is their last conversation for the night. Minutes pass and seemingly neither of the two friends can go to sleep, but the person affected more is Ruby, due to the thought of being 'close' with Link while they sleep in the same bed makes her heart race. Moments later, her heart accelerates to full speed when she feels Link's arms wrap around her waist, holding her gently and pulling her appropriately closer

"H-huh?!" Ruby shakes nervously and looks down to her waist despite knowing it could only one person who is grabbing her right now

Link presses up against her, his front to her back. Ruby feels his warmth against her pajamas and soon, his warmth makes her body heat up from embarrassment, shyness, and nerves

"W-well I did tell myself I'd probably get cold." Ruby blushes as her smile grows wider, she slowly turns herself over so that she's back first against the mattress. She does this mainly to turn her head and face Link, who is fast asleep, "Goodnight Link, sweet dreams." Her smile soon fades as she feels comfortable falling asleep now. "Why... Why is he like this? He's so different from other boys who just give me the creeps. I said boys would be on my avoid list when attending Beacon... But why is Link so different?"

Ruby sighs and stares at Link, who sleeps peacefully with his arms around her. She wants to wake him up and say something, she wants to act and wrap her arms around him, but ultimately her racing thoughts come to an end when she continues to stare right at her friend, eventually the young huntress dozes off peacefully and in the comforting arms of a good friend

(9/26/17) Edited: Minor details