Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY

This chapter consists of three separate stories, or vignettes. They are separated by line breaks.

Chapter 14: Days at Beacon, Part 2

Explosive Tendencies, Past and Present

8 Years Ago

"Tai?"

"Yes, Summer?"

"Being a parent means going through many different kinds of trials. These trials will test you like nothing else, but it will all be worth it in the end."

"Yes, I absolutely agree with you."

"Okay, so on a related note…WHY IS THERE A GIANT HOLE IN OUR HOUSE?!"

The two parents were standing in front of their house, having just returned from an errand in town. They had believed that it would be fine to leave their children alone for the short time they would be gone; they were old enough now to stay out of trouble for an hour or two.

The large hole in the front of their house, right where the living room was, proved that assumption wrong. The windows had been completely smashed and glass littered the outside but remarkably the flower beds just below it were undisturbed. The edges of the hole were scorched and blackened but there was no signs of a lingering fire, so whatever had happened had been from a single quick event. It had to have been some time since, as they hadn't heard anything on their way back to the house.

Being both Huntsmen and parents to very…unique children had given Taiyang and Summer strong instincts in how to read a situation and ascertain any and all danger. The lack of any other damage to the buildings, no claw marks, or paw-prints around the area, let them know there were no Grimm around. Any burglar would have just gone through the window instead of blowing it up, so that possibility was out, leaving only one conclusion.

The pair calmly opened the front door and entered the living room, noticing that all the furniture had been moved against the far wall. There was some scorch marks on the floor and ceiling near the hole but none of the furniture, indicating they had been moved beforehand.

Tai examined the charred edges of the hole.

"Burn Dust, mixed with some Wind. A fairly small but directed explosion. Not something your average Dust vial or round would do. You need to be very smart and have great grasp of Dust chemistry to pull something like this off."

The two veteran warriors looked at each other as the only possible culprit came to mind.

"WEISS!"

The young, white haired girl popped out from behind the moved couch where she had been hiding and looked at her parents nervously.

"Mother, Father. I didn't hear you come in…I…oh, someone blew a hole in the wall. What irresponsible bast- ne'er do well would do such a-"

Weiss's vain attempt to avoid the blame ended as both her parents gestured sharply to the spot right in front to them. Weiss obeyed and quickly walked forward to stand in front of them, eyes downcast all the while. The two adults simply looked at their daughter for a long moment.

"…Well?" Summer finally asked.

"It's society's fault! I'm young and impressionable! Video games made me do it!" Weiss shouted, still trying to ward off the blame.

Her parents sighed. Their daughter was a bright and honest girl, but still irresponsible in many ways, like all children. Poor excuses, especially that last one, was simply something they had to deal with when raising such wilful young ones.

"Weiss, you know you're not suppose to use Dust in the house." Taiyang chided. "You did a very bad thing and you're going into time-out now."

"NO!" Weiss shouted back indigently. "The Law Code of Vale clearly states that arbitrary judgements and sentencing are prohibited. I demand to be tried by a jury of my peers!"

Weiss pointed towards the couch and, right on cue, the heads of the three other Xiao Long children popped out from where they had been hiding.

"Weiss did it" they said in unison, shamelessly tattling on their sister.

The guilty girl gasped in shock before falling to her knees. "Betrayed by my own sisters…"

Tai quirked a small smile as he picked up his daughter and carried her into the kitchen, placing her on a stool in the corner.

"Okay Weiss, no more Dust experiments for a while now. I want you to think about what you've done as you sit in time-out."

"…how long?" Weiss asked, arms crossed and pouting fiercely.

"30 minutes."

"15." she countered.

"30." Taiyang repeated.

"20."

"25."

"Deal." Weiss said before turning to face the wall and brood.

Taiyang moved away and it took him a moment to realize what had happened. He could only sigh deeply before returning to the living room. Summer and the kids were already starting to clean up the mess on the floor. It wasn't that bad, and it wouldn't take him long at all to fix it up like new.

The main issue was that even though Weiss knew better, she just couldn't help herself when it came mixing new types of Dust together. No matter how dangerous, or how many times she was warned, she was always ready to try something new with Dust, just to see what happened. All in the name of Science, as she always claimed.

The one saving grace was, while they didn't try to stop her, her sisters didn't try to encourage her either, simply going along for the ride in most cases. He could only shudder at the idea of someone else having the same passion for Dust explosions as Weiss and joining in with her experiments.

If that ever happened, he didn't know if anything would be left standing.

Present Day

It was Free Period at Beacon and Teams RWBY and JNPR were, as usual, hanging out together. They were missing two of their members but that wasn't stopping them from having a good time simply chatting amongst themselves in one of Beacon's classrooms.

Their discussion about the recently announced X-Ray and Vav movie adaptation was cut short by a loud booming sound that shook the entire building and knocked most of them to the ground. A moment later, something crashed right through the far wall, flew across the room, and smashed into the other wall, embedding itself there. Bits of rubble and dust filled the room, and it took several moments for it to clear and for the students to see what had happened.

The object was sticking form the wall horizontally at around eye level and it took several more moments for the group to realize it was a person. A girl to be exact, judging from the skirt, with their head stuck in the wall after crashing into the room. Looking closer, they looked familiar…

The door to the classroom opened with a crash and a new figure entered the room. They were completely covered, head to toe, in black soot that fell softly to the floor behind them as they cheerful jaunted into the room. It was only when the group saw the off-centre ponytail did realization dawn on them.

"Good work Nora!" Weiss exclaimed joyfully, removing her goggled to reveal her bright eyes, the only part of her not covered in soot. She pulled out a handkerchief and started to wipe her face while tapping the side of her coat, activating the Dust inside which started to remove much of the soot.

"Through our impeccable scientific method, we can safely conclude that we used way too much Burn Dust." Weiss continued conversationally, moving towards the wall-embedded Nora. "A few minor adjustments may be needed, but I say that our experiment is a complete success."

It took the young genius to realize that with her head in the wall, Nora was unable to reply, so she grabbed her friend by the legs and yanked her free with one strong pull, setting her down next to her.

The Valkyrie was stood completely still for a second before shaking her head, causing bits of rubble and soot to fall off her.

"Yes, indeed" she said, adding to the conversation as if nothing odd had happened. "We will need to reduce the quantity of Burn used to better control the reaction."

"I agree. Would a 5% reduction be sufficient do you think?"

"My dear Doctor Weiss, we needn't be so conservative. A 2% reduction would be fine for our next experiments."

"I agree Doctor Nora. We must be bold in our pursue of science."

The two Dust manipulators smiled at each other before heading towards the door and back to Beacon's Dust Labs. They only got a couple of steps before their teammates, barring Pyrrha, dog-piled on top of them.

"Weiss! You've been told over and over not to blow stuff up without full permission and supervision." Blake scolded her twin, grabbing her arms and pinning her to the ground alongside Yang and Ruby. A growl of anger was all she got in return, so she just rolled her eyes and focused on containing her Dust-obsessed sibling.

"Nora, you promised both the faculty at Bonfire, and the city officials, that you wouldn't do any kind of Dust experiments without full permission and warning." Ren chided his partner, remember back to their Combat School days.

"Come on Ren. It's not that bad; the building is still standing, and the fire alarms haven't even gone off." Nora's excuses were weak in the face of her crashing through several walls on her unplanned flight from the Dust Labs, which were on the other side of the building, to this room.

Weiss managed to slip from her sisters' grasp, getting to her feet and bolting for the door.

"Nothing can stop the march of SCIENCE!"

The open door suddenly slammed shut and Weiss ended up running into it face first, falling back to the ground. She noticed the faint black outline about the metal parts of the door and looked to the side, seeing Pyrrha standing with her hand out-stretched.

"I'm…I'm sorry." She said meekly.

The white Xiao Long could only reach out to the door as her sisters fell on her.

"SCIENCE!" She cried as her siblings started to fully restrain her, her chance for more experiments now lost.

Later

Glynda Goodwitch was no stranger to destruction and devastation, but it was usually on the front lines of the constant battle against the Grimm, not in the middle of Beacon Academy. There had been plenty of mishaps involving students and Dust during and before her tenure at the school, but this might be strangest yet.

The multiple holes in the walls of the building and classrooms from Nora's unplanned flight were easy enough for her to fix up but the Dust Labs themselves were another story. The storage room where the Dust was stored was, thankfully, untouched or the whole building may have gone up, but the main lab was trashed. A full half of the space was covered in soot and scorch marks, with only an outline against the wall in the shape of a particular member of Team RWBY being the only clean spot. Desks, chairs, and equipment were in burnt pieces, where there was enough of it left to see. A large hole marked the far wall, the first victim of Miss Valkyrie's wall smashing journey.

The most interesting thing was that the walls of this room were triple reinforced to prevent such things from happening in the first place. Not only did Nora smash through them completely, but she also had enough force and velocity to continue through multiple other walls and rooms until ending up in the classroom her teammates happened to be it.

The cause of all this was the mixture the two had been working on, a combination of Burn and Wind Dust that created a very focused explosion. The reaction had been greater than the pair had anticipated and had gone off at the wrong time and direction, but it was an impressive accomplishment, nonetheless.

The damage was less praiseworthy and would normally have resulted in a serious reprimand if not for the other members of Team RWBY and JNPR. The six teenagers had already begun to clean up the mess their teammates had caused by the time Goodwitch had arrived, without having to be asked first. It was actually a little surprising to see such good work ethic in first years and while she said nothing, she was very pleased with them.

The two instigators of all this were currently outside the Labs, tied up to chairs with gags in their mouths. Around their necks were make-shift signs that read 'Science Experiments are Good but making explosive mixtures without telling anyone is Bad".

An odd and quite humiliating punishment to be sure but fitting for these students in a way. After thinking it over for a moment, Goodwitch decided that it was punishment enough. As long as they help clean up their mess later and promised not to do anymore Dust experiments without faculty oversight, then she wouldn't give them any official detention.

Professor Ozpin was always telling her to be a little more lenient on the students after all.

If the two wannabe Dust experts were relieved at getting of so lightly, then obviously couldn't show it. Nora had the decency to look a little ashamed but that might have been that it was getting close to dinner time and she was starting to get hungry.

Weiss on the other hand, just sat still, glaring ahead with a fierce intensity. She had long stop trying to break her bonds and was instead planning her next move. The boundaries of a small-minded society can never stop the onward march of progress and science, so she was confident that she would have her day; and what an explosion filled day it would be.

Genius was truly unappreciated in its own time.

Of Dented Shields and Open Hearts

The sounds of fighting filled the Mass Combat room, a gymnasium-sized arena meant for large exercises between multiple teams. Right now, about a dozen circles had been place on the main floor, smaller areas where two members from each team were sparring with one another. These weren't intense battles, but instead fairly simple sparring matches to help develop fighting techniques and aid teams in getting familiar with each other fighting styles. Professor Goodwitch and a couple assistants circulated around the room, watching each of these small battles and giving advice, analysis and encouragement as needed.

The Deputy Headmistress was walking by the area being used by Team RWBY just as the match between Blake and Weiss ended. The timer limit had expired, so it was a draw between the two siblings, who were breathing heavily. Weiss had been using Combat class to take out her frustration of her now restricted Dust access. While she wasn't angry at her sisters per say, and sparred with them as she usually did, she was taking this as an opportunity to relive her anger by hitting things, as Sky Lark learned to his misfortune yesterday.

Still, she accepted a bottle of water from Ruby with a smile, and laughed at a joke from Blake, so it was clear that she was fine. Next to them was Nora and Pyrrha, watching their respective partners sparring in the adjacent circle. Jaune was holding his own but he just couldn't get a solid hit on Ren, who was slowly wearing his blonde teammate down.

"Okay, let's get start! Come on Yang, let's go." Ruby was practically hopping up and down, eager at the chance to use her beloved weapon.

"Actually, I was thinking we do something a little different." The eldest Xiao Long responded, taking off her gauntlets and setting them down. "I was thinking that we do this hand-to-hand, no weapons."

"WHAT? Come on Yang, that's not fair." Ruby whined.

"But it is a good suggestion" Goodwitch commented, making her presence known. "The time may come where you don't have your weapon and need to use your wits and fists to survive."

"But I'm complete garbage; I'm just not cut out for hand-to-hand combat." Ruby protested, not wanting to miss a chance to use Crescent Rose.

"You can't improve if you don't practice it and these sparring matches are the perfect avenue to try different approaches. Now Miss Rose, put your weapon away and get ready to spar with Miss Yang." Goodwitch's voice had the air of finality and Rose could only pout adorably as she put her scythe away and got into the circle with Yang.

Both girls faced each other, hands in a standard fighting position and Goodwitch personally gave the signal to begin. Ruby rushed forward in a swirl of rose petals and those outside of the Xiao Long family watching learned that Ruby apparently had a different definition of what being 'garbage' meant.

Her opening barrage of blows were well aimed, putting her big sister on the defensive. The smaller girl used her size and speed to her advantage to dodge Yang's counter blows, getting several body-blows in the process.

Ruby ducked under a wide swing and used the top of her head to hit Yang's chin, stunning her briefly. The young leader then flipped herself into a handstand, grabbed Yang's head with both feet and threw her with a perfectly executed Hurricanrana.

Goodwitch had to raise an eyebrow at all this. While it was true that Ruby wasn't as proficient in marital arts as Yang or some of the other students who focused on it, but it was still impressive. Training with Yang and her father Taiyang for most of her life had given her some skills in this field.

Yang rose slowly, her back to Ruby and the young Huntress took the opportunity, throwing herself into her punch. At the last moment, Yang tilted her head to the side, the blow missing her and those watching saw the confident smirk appear on the blonde's face.

Yang grabbed Ruby by the arm and threw her to the ground, quickly pinning her to the ground with her greater weight. After a few moments of helpless struggling, Goodwitch called the match for Yang.

"That was a good effort Miss Rose, but it goes without saying that you shouldn't get overconfident just because you got a few good hits in. Always be aware of what could happen and plan accordingly" Goodwitch's words had little effect on Ruby, who merely pouted again as she exited the circle, grabbed her weapon and cradled it in her arms.

Her sisters, Yang included, immediately began trying to cheer up their baby sister and Professor Goodwitch decided to hold back any comments she may have held about Yang's conduct. Having access to her file and performance records from Signal, it was clear that Yang's strange approach to this fight was so she could defeat Ruby in a way that would cause her the least amount of pain. Indeed, if anything was injured in this spar, it was Ruby's pride.

When it came to protecting her sisters, Yang's determination was so strong as to borderline fanatical but in regard to fighting against them, even in a simple sparring match, she held back. It wasn't obvious, as her sisters would have made an issue of it, and from what she heard from Qrow those girls could be rough with each other, but the truth was that Yang did her best not to hurt her sisters. Now, this wasn't a bad thing by itself and was even quite admirable, but it could become a problem in the future.

The buzzer sounding brought Goodwitch's attention away from RWBY and towards JNPR's arena, where Jaune had lost due to depleted Aura. The blonde knight fell to one knee, breathing heavily as his equally exhausted opponent helped him to his feet.

"You've made some great strides, but you still have a ways to go. While you possess a great amount of Aura and stamina, you are too wasteful with your movements and attacks. You must learn to be more efficient with how you expend your energy." Goodwitch's words cut straight to the point, not cushioning her critique but not being harsh either.

"Yes…Professor." Jaune replied through deep gulps of air. With Ren's help, he exited the circle and sat down next to his teammates.

"Very good. Miss Nikos, Miss Valkyrie? I believe it is your turn." Goodwitch gestured towards the sparring circle. Nora and Pyrrha nodded and, after seeing their partners were okay and retrieving their weapons, they entered the arena.

Most of the other spars stopped as students noticed that Pyrrha Nikos was about to fight and the whole class gathered to watch. This was a frequent thing, as seeing the great Champion of Mistral was a spectacle in of itself. Goodwitch wished the other students would focus on their own spars and had half a mind to yell at them but she knew it was pointless. With such a highly regarded fighter on display, none of them would really focus on their own work, so she let them spectate; she could use Pyrrha's performance to help give some lessons afterwards.

The two female members of JNPR faced off against each other and at Goodwitch's signal, they began the sparring match. Nora rushed forward with a powerful swing of her hammer, with Pyrrha ducking underneath and countering with her sword.

The match continued like that for the first minute, of Nora relentlessly striking while Pyrrha gracefully dodged. It was always like this, and while Nora wasn't doing bad at all, it was clear that Pyrrha was dominating the match.

"Man, Pyrrha is really amazing." A watching student commented.

"Amazing to look at too." His partner respond under his breath. Nora, whose senses grew sharper as her power trickled in during combat, heard them and tightened her grip slightly.

"Nikos is so graceful and elegant" a female student gossip with her neighbor.

"I know, she's making Nora look like a clueless brute."

Nora gritted her teeth and renewed her attack. She knew that Pyrrha was better than her, a better student and could even admit that she was prettier than her. That still didn't make hearing such things easier; she was doing her best here and a little recognition wouldn't be too selfish to ask.

When compared to Pyrrha though, it might as well be. Her teammate was like a shining star, so bright and wonderful that everyone else paled in comparison. She was like a celebrity, but she wasn't arrogant or demeaning to others; she was always kind and polite to everyone. She was smart, talented beyond believe and very attractive to boot; making it small wonder why she was so popular.

Normally, Nora would be fine with having someone taking the spotlight off of her but ever since Jaune found out about her real grades and offered to help her open up, things had changed. While she hadn't really told Jaune anything more since then, the whole episode made her realize how tired she was of hiding her potential, of pretending to be less then she really was. She still believed that it was necessity to protect herself and other, but it was getting more grating how people judged, assumed, and dismissed her.

She also couldn't help but feel envious of Pyrrha. While it was clear that she had some major issues she was keeping in, it was known that she came from a very notable and wealthy family. She had parents, which was already more then Nora had, and she certainly had enough money to have whatever she wanted. Nora doubted that she ever had to do without, that she had to go to sleep hungry and cold.

Pyrrha was born with everything while Nora was born cursed; a monster destined to be alone. Pyrrha had all the love and adoration from her flock of fans while Nora only had Ren, which was its own set of difficulties.

Nora gritted her teeth, trying to rid her mind of those thoughts while still focusing on the fight. It was absolutely unfair to Pyrrha, who had done nothing wrong at all. She was just a little frustrated with everything going on, which was no reason to take in out on others, even in her own mind.

A swing from Nora's hammer was countered by a shield bash from Pyrrha, who followed up with a spinning aimed against the large weapon and almost knocking it out of Nora's grasps. Magnhild swung wide and Nora held tight with her right hand, intending to spin fully around and attack Pyrrha again.

The Mistral Champion had other plans, using her Semblance to try and knock Nora's weapon fully out of her hands and end the fight. Her use was not easily noticeable but still far more overt than she normally use it; the previous spars with RWBY and the fact that she had already revealed her Semblance to her friends convincing her that using it more openly and forcefully was okay.

Nora almost lost her grip on Magnhild but her hand grasped the shaft of her weapon tightly, her feet skidding backwards a bit from the magnetic forced pushing on the metal weapon pulled her arm back. She didn't lose her weapon, but Magnhild wasn't the only metal object being affected by Pyrrha's Semblance. Pyrrha had made a small miscalculation, with her Semblance targeting a slightly larger area then needed and thus also hitting the bracelet on Nora's arm as well.

No one noticed right away as the one of the bracelets that Nora always wore suddenly came off and flew out of the arena, landing beyond the crowd of students with a soft metallic clink.

Nora noticed the change, as her true powers expectantly flowed into her body, increasing her strength immensely. More importantly, her power affected her mind, latching on and enhancing the primary thought and forcing all else away. At the docks, that had been the rid the area of the Whitefang that had hurt Jaune, with extremely destructive results.

Here, it was the negative thoughts she had towards Pyrrha, mixed with her desire to win this fight.

"Stupid bitch." Nora gritted her teeth in anger as the world seemed to slow down to a crawl. "Always smiling on the outside while sneering at me on the inside. I had to crawl in the gutter to survive while this bitch had everything handed to her on a silver platter!"

Nora grasped her hammer with both hands as her unwanted envy towards Pyrrha was transformed into raging hatred. She dash forward, so fast that she was just a blur to everyone and was in front of Pyrrha before she had time to do more then raise her shield. Ren and Goodwitch noticed the change but were too slow to stop the match before Nora swung her hammer.

"I want Pyrrha…and everyone else who look down at me…to just GO AWAY!"

Nora's hammer contacted the bronze shield and Pyrrha, 4-time Champion of Mistral, undefeated in every battle and believed by all to be the best of her generation, was sent flying across the large room. She went over the head of the spectators and slammed into the far wall, which crumble under the impact, and she continued right on through.

A moment of silence filled room, broken only by pieces of falling masonry and the distant rumble of Pyrrha's continuing flight.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried getting to his feet, dashing as fast as he could out towards the main doors. Ren and Team RWBY were hot on his heels, rushing to help their friend. Goodwitch shouted for calm and for someone to get the school nurse to the stunned crowed of students, many of whom were also heading for the door while others milled around in confusion.

Nora was still standing in the sparring circle, her face paling as the rational part of her mind reasserted itself.

"No…I…I didn't mean it; I didn't mean it!"

Memories, both of recent events and from years ago, flashed before her eyes and she wanted to cry and throw up all at once. She instead ran out of the room, still unnaturally fast, before Goodwitch could stop her. She needed to make sure Pyrrha was okay, that she hadn't killed someone she cared about…again.

Pyrrha had been blasted through several walls and rooms, mostly storage and supply closets, before ended up in the far wall of an empty classroom. It was almost like a parody of Nora's earlier wall smashing flight, though Pyrrha had fallen to the ground amid the ruins of the wall.

Jaune reached her first, falling to her side as the red flickers of her Aura faded, completely spent from protecting her.

"Pyrrha! Talk to me! Are you okay?" The leader of JNPR knelt down beside his partner, unsure if lifting her up was wise. Ren, RWBY, Nora and finally Professor Goodwitch entered the room and Headmistress was about to issue instructions when Pyrrha started to move.

"Did…did…" The dazed red head stuttered out, lifting her head, and looking around with unfocused eyes.

"Did anyone catch the license plate number of the freight train that hit me? I'm pretty sure it was going over the speed limit."

That bizarre question took everyone back.

"Ummm…Pyrrha. You were in a spar and took a bad hit. Does it hurt anywhere in particular?" Jaune asked hesitantly, worried that she might have seriously injured her head.

"This…the Mass Combat looks different for some reason…" Pyrrha's words came out a bit slurred, her eyes still unfocused.

"Well…" Weiss started, "We're not Mass Combat room anymore. We're actually a couple of rooms away since you kind of went flying through the walls."

"Oh…so I was knocked out of the room…out of the ring…" Pyrrha was almost talking to herself before she turned to look in the general direction of her friends. "Remind me, getting knocked out of the ring counts as a loss, right?"

The group was taken back by this line of questions and her friends exchanged looks with each other, unsure what this was about.

"Yeah…those are the rules." Ruby answered cautiously, thinking it was a good idea to keep Pyrrha talking.

"Oh…okay…so I lost. I lost…I lost…I lost…" Pyrrha's voice grew faint as she repeated the words like a mantra, her eyes gazing listlessly at the ceiling.

"Guys, we need to get Pyrrha to the infirmary, now." Jaune said, taking charge. "It looks like she hit her head pretty bad, so we shouldn't just carry her. We need something to use as a stretcher or-"

He was cut off as Pyrrha's voice suddenly started to rise.

"I lost, I lost… I LOST!"

In an instant, she leapt to her feet, looking around the room with focused eyes, finding what she wanted at the other end of the room, standing apart from everyone as if afraid to get too close.

"NORA!"

Pyrrha began marching towards her, eyes never leaving her stunned teammate's face.

Her friends were confused by the turn of events and unsure of what to do. Professor Goodwitch had a good idea and drew her riding crop, preparing to use her Semblance.

While it was clear from the reports and her own demeanor that Pyrrha disliked being placed on a pedestal as the undefeated Champion, the fact remained that being an invincible icon had been a large part of who she was. To have that suddenly shattered in such an unexpected manner would be devastating and there was no telling how she would react.

Goodwtich readied herself to use her Semblance to restrain the red-haired girl if she lashed out in anger. She had to make sure not to be too forceful, or Pyrrha might up end up more injured than she was already.

"Nora…" Pyrrha stopped an arms length away. "You…are…" The red head was visibly shaking. Her friend were worried by this and everyone was ready to step forward to stop her.

Everyone except Nora, who stood still, accept whatever Pyrrha said or did as nothing less then what she deserved. She was a monster after all…she was…

"AMAZING!" Pyrrha shouted at the top of her lungs, smile bright and eyes gleaming as she looked at the very stunned Nora. Everyone else stopped in their tracks and even Goodwitch tiled her head slightly in confusion.

"That was incredible! I thought I had you but then you were like ZOOM! And then BOOM! Then it was like SWOOSH and CRASH and it was…it was amazing!" Pyrrha swung her right arm around for emphasis, her left staying strangely still.

The whole thing was strange, as not even her teammates had even seen her this openly joyful and exuberant before. She always expressed her happiness in a much more quiet and reserved way; she was acting like a completely different person.

"Oh man, you have got to show me how you did that!" Pyrrha continued, not seeming to realize the situation or that there was anyone else beside her and Nora. "I definitely need to up my training. We should train together more often; we could go on a morning jog through downtown. When the weather's just right, it came be an amazing experience. We could get breakfast afterwards; I saw a new pancake house opening last time I went shopping. I was actually checking out the dress store next-door to it, thinking of getting a dress for the dance coming up. Oh, the dance, do you want to go with me?"

The words spilled out in a torrent and Nora, who usually talked fast herself, had trouble keeping up. The only thing she got immediately was how happy Pyrrha was.

"You're…you're not mad?" She hesitantly asked.

"What? No! Of course not, this is the best day ever!"

For Pyrrha, that was the honest truth. She, the Unbeatable Champion, had lost…and the world hadn't ended. For all the pressure that was place on her to never lose, part of her had begun to earnestly believe that something momentous and terrible would happen if she ever did lose.

Now that it had finally happened, it was like an immense weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She didn't feel anger or resentment at all, just relief. Her parents were wrong about this, what else were they wrong about? The world they had painted to her seemed so harsh and cruel, and she would bring nothing but hardship on herself and other if she ever faltered. The moment had finally come, and it went just as quickly, with nothing terrible happening; at least not to the degree her mind had conjured up. She felt free now, like she was in a whole new world, where everything was new and exciting and simply better than it was before.

And it was all thanks to Nora; her wonderful, cheerful, amazing, absolutely gorgeous teammate. Only now did she realize just how great of a person she was, and she promised herself to get closer to her in the future.

For a long moment, Pyrrha just looked at Nora, smiling brightly at the still stunned Valkyrie. Eventually, her face turned to one of confusion as she looked down at her left arm. While her right arm had been swinging around for emphasis, the left had been hanging limply at her side. Her shield was still attached to it, the bronze surface marred by a huge dent in the centre and the Niko Family Crest had been completely shorned away.

Pyrrha moved her left shoulder, her arm swing slightly.

"Ouch…that's odd." She stated simply before turning back to Nora. "I guess that's a problem we'll deal with later." She flashed a brief smile before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she began to fall backwards as unconsciousness took her.

Everyone jumped forward to try and catch her, but it was Professor Goodwitch who saved her, her Semblance catching her before she hit the ground and levitating her limp body in the air.

"Okay Students. I do believe it's time we took Miss Nikos to the Infirmary. Mr. Arc, Miss Xiao Long…Yang, you two accompany me and make sure Miss Nikos doesn't fall. Miss Rose, Mr. Ren, please go to the infirmary ahead of us and make sure they are informed and ready. Blake, please return to the class and inform the students that the remaining lesson is canceled, and they are to return to their dorms. Weiss, go to the Headmaster's office and inform him of the situation."

The veteran Huntresses' commands were straight and to the point. She spared a look towards Nora, who she had deliberately not given any instructions to, before walking out of the room with the unconscious Pyrrha floating behind her. The rest of the group hurried out of the room to their assigned tasks, leaving Nora all by herself.

For several minutes, the young Huntress-in-training just stood their, her mind and emotions swirling with confusion. Finally, she slowly made her way to the infirmary, deciding to at least make sure Pyrrha was alright after all this.

A few hours later

Nora leaned on the railing of Beacon's roof as the sun began to set. She buried her head into her hands and let out a loud groan. For someone who claimed to be the best on breaking the legs of her enemies, she was proving better at breaking the arms of her friends.

Pyrrha's Aura had done an amazing job of protecting her from serious or permanent harm; a mild concussion and a clean break in her left arm was, in all honesty, pretty light given what had happened. She was sleeping peacefully in the Infirmary, with the Nurse assuring them that she should be up in a day or two, with her arm in a cast for about a week.

All in all, she would back to normal in no time at all, so there was nothing to really worry about.

It didn't make Nora feel any better about it. She had lost control and hurt her friend, again. She had a simple task, don't lose control of her powers, and hurt other people. Simple, but she had already failed three times since coming to Beacon and they weren't even through the first semester of the first year. She was beginning to believe that she would never truly control this power, that she would ever be anything more then a monster…

The sky was beginning to turn a bright red and as Nora looked up at it, her mind turned back to her teammate and the other set of emotions she was feeling. Pyrrha hadn't looked at her with anger or fear but with joy and even desire. Her entire focus had been on Nora, as if there was nothing else in the world that mattered besides her. To have someone so respected, so talented, so beautiful, looking at her with such intensity made Nora feel things she had never felt before.

She felted wanted…she felt desired.

Nora had never really looked at other girls before; she never really looked at guys either, preferring to stay distant from everyone except Ren, who made it very clear that they didn't want anyone looking at their body. Jaune's perchance for taking off his shirt while training had lit a fire inside of her and she was finally starting to realize the physical attractiveness of others.

Now, her thoughts were dominated by her female teammate, who she could now fully appreciate just how drop-dead gorgeous and sexy she was. Those large breasts, strong legs, toned muscles, and that wonderful smile were making her head spin now, where before they had been simple facts she had absently noted.

On top of that, the most popular and desirable girl in the whole school had asked her to the dance. Sure, she properly didn't really mean it as her head wasn't fully on straight after that hit, but it still meant something that she had said it at all and showed no hesitation about asking out a girl. She may have seen a glimpse of the real Pyrrha today, the one buried under all that polite restraint.

A confusing mess of emotions to deal with and which she had no idea how to deal with. She did know that having Pyrrha look at her like that, and say those things, made her feel warm inside. It wasn't a bad feeling by any means and felt the same to how Jaune had made her feel that day he found out about her grades and opened up to her.

Did that mean she was…

"Miss Valkyrie!"

The hard voice made Nora jump and turn to see Professor Goodwitch approaching from the open doorway behind her. She stopped just before the young student and the seemed to hesitant, as if she wanted to say something, before extending her hand and offering something to Nora.

It was a bracelet, Nora's limiter. She looked down at her wrist to that it was still missing. Shock filled her as she realized that she had her Limiter off for hours; she had never had one off for that long since she got them.

She hesitantly reached out and took it, gazing at it with an unreadable expression.

Goodwitch opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. What could she say? 'Be more careful', 'Be mindful', 'Don't let it happen again'? This was a girl who knew all that already, and the dreadful consequences first-hand. She couldn't make her trials any easier and she refused to make them harder, which left her and the rest of the Beacon teachers at a loss as how to help her.

For now, all she could do was give a small nod and walk away, hoping that something could be done to truly help this young woman escape from the past and embrace a better future.

Nora stood alone for several minutes, staring at the jeweled bracelet in her hand. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it was gone for so long. Focusing, she could feel her power flowing just as strongly as when it first came off during the spar, but it wasn't flood through her in a torrent. Instead, it was just humming under the surface, calm almost, and certainly not influencing her thoughts or actions.

How could that be? She did regain lucidity after the initial explosion of power but she always either scrambled to get her limiters back on or was overwhelmed by the power and lost consciousness. She had never dared to try leaving one off for an extended period of time; she would lose control again if her emotions flared up for any reason.

This time…this time she had been completely focused on Pyrrha. There was the obvious concern for her safety but there was also these warm feelings she was causing as well. She had been focusing so much on these feelings, on Pyrrha, that she had honestly forgot about her powers. Could that be the key to controlling this accused power?

Nora couldn't come up with a definitive answer at the moment, so she just put the bracelet back on, gave the setting sun one last look before heading back to her dorm. She needed to let Jaune and Ren know she was okay and start preparing a suitable apology for Pyrrha.

Still, she had the faint feeling that something good had come out of this, that she might be able to find the answer to controlling her power, of making it so she could be more then what she had believed she was. It may be just false hope, but she was really beginning to feel that she could make her future brighter than she originally felt she could.

Maybe, with the help of others, she could be more then a monster.

Boy Troubles

Team RWBY filed into their dorm, mentally fatigued from Professor Peach's class, and planning to simply rest and lounge around until dinner. Afterwards, they planned to watch some movies in the common room with JNPR. That was pretty much all Pyrrha could do with them until she got the cast off.

It was remarkable that she got off with just a broken arm after all that. It was almost as remarkable as her reaction to it all; she completely forgave Nora and held not even a shred of ill-will towards her. In fact, she had immediately asked Nora to spar with her again and tried to get out of her bed and back to the Combat Room.

They successfully dissuaded her and soon she returned her polite and reserved self. There were some changes they had noticed; Pyrrha seemed to walk with an extra bounce in her step and she kept giving Nora these warm smiles, making the normally excitable girl oddly flustered.

It was clear that things were okay with their fellow team for the moment, so they decided to not worry and enjoy their time together.

Ruby immediately jumped up to her bunk, laying down on her stomach while pulling out the latest issue of Camp Camp from under her pillow and began reading, pulling her headphones over one of her ears. Reading comics while listening to music was a favorite past-time of hers and she sometimes lose hours of time. She made sure to leave one ear open in case her sisters needed to talk to her.

A sudden beep from Blake's scroll made the girl stop looking through her bookshelf for something to read and she pulled out the device, quickly reading through the text.

'Its Sun. He wants to know if I would like to go out for tea with him this weekend."

"Urgh, what is that vagabond still doing in Vale? Its still a couple of weeks until the transfer students officially arrive." Weiss's voice was laced with disdain. While the monkey-boy had proven himself by helping Blake during the fight at the docks, but she still wasn't okay with him.

This wasn't due to him being a Faunus, of course, but just that a rough looking boy trying to get close to her twin was a big 'No'. She had tolerated her dating guys on Patch, but only just and she knew all of them beforehand.

"He told me he's staying with some relatives in the city. He's got family all over the world; apparently his 'clan' has spread pretty far and wide. He also somehow got official permission from Haven Academy to be here early." Blake ended with a shrug, not sure how he managed that.

"Still, it's pretty obvious that drinking tea is the last thing on his mind. He's probably hoping to get some 'cake', instead" Yang said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Blake rolled her eyes. "Well, that's not on the menu. He's a nice guy but I'm not interested in dating anyone right now."

"Well, make sure he knows that and doesn't think about trying anything." Weiss growled, already reviving her plan to use his tail to make a belt if he even thought about anything lewd about her twin.

"What are you going to do?" Blake replied with a laugh, "You going to threaten and scare him away like my last boyfriend?"

Weiss gave a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play innocent with me. I know you threaten him; why else would he just suddenly break up with me?" Blake crossed her arms as she looked at her sister. "Sure, it wasn't serious and since I was going to Beacon and he wasn't, so it was going to have to end, but he did it first; looking scared to death all the while."

"Same thing with my last boyfriend." Yang spoke up. "He just up and dumped out of the blue. Sure, it was just a fun little fling, but he still walked away from me. I mean looked at me…Seriously, look at me."

Yang waved hands up and down in front of her and Weiss and Blake looked at her before giving an agreeing nod. Yang was a fine catch by any definition and even if it were just for short fling, any guy would be crazy to just give it up.

"I bet you cornered them in a dark alley around midnight and threaten them to break up with us or you would cut their balls off her something?" Blake pointed an accusatory finger at Weiss.

"I didn't!" Weiss protested. "I mean, I may have thought about it, but I didn't anything to them, I swear!"

"Yeah…sure you didn't…" Yang said, clearly not believing her.

All the while, Ruby had been listening to the conversation and, unseen to her sisters, a small smile had formed on her face.

They were wrong with the guess that it had been midnight; she wasn't allowed out that late, but it had been pretty dark and cloudy, nonetheless. She had unlocked her Semblance a short while ago and could get from the house to town and back again fast enough that no one noticed she had been gone. Giving an acceptable excuse that she would be in her room tinkering with her newly-build scythe, she sneaked out of house wearing a black cloak and mask and raced to town.

Finding the two boys wasn't any trouble at all, as she had mapped out where they were most likely to be at this time and on this particular day. They were on opposite ends of town, but with her speed and stealth learned from Blake, it was no problem at all to find them and corner them in an isolated alley with no one to notice.

It was a simple affair after that. Ambushing them from behind, placing her blade against their crotches and…instructing them that ending their relationship with the Xiao Long Sister was in their best interests. Those boys may have been Combat School trainees but a surprise attack in the dark while unarmed was beyond them.

Their relationships with the respective Xiao Long Sister was on the downturn, so it wasn't a hard instruction to follow but it was the voice of their assailant, in how it was said, that made it clear they would lose more then their balls if they refused. The fear they felt was unrivaled by anything else in their short lives and as soon as possible, they broke up with girlfriends and kept their distance from then on out.

Now, a short female wearing a cloak, wielding a scythe, and connected to the Xiao Long Family? It wouldn't take long to realize who it was but by the time they did, there wasn't anything they could do. Besides, convincing the Xiao Long Sisters that their precious little sister had threatened them was an impossible task, so they just let it go.

They didn't want to know what Ruby would do to them if they pushed them.

Ruby herself was happy with everything, as she didn't hate those boys; they were nice guys and didn't want to cause undue harm. The issue was…they simply weren't good enough. These were her sisters…her Yang and her Blake…they deserved the absolute best and Ruby wouldn't let them settle for anything less.

Sun seemed like a good guy and she hoped he would be friendly and respectful but if he tried to overstep his bounds, then she would just have to educated him.

First would be breaking all his fingers…then his toes…then his ribs…and then each of the vertebrae in his spine one by one until he finally understood.

Blake was hers…Yang was hers…Weiss was hers…that was a universal law of the universe, akin to gravity. Everyone should know that and if they didn't, she would gladly educate them.

Ruby turned from the comic and looked over at her sisters, argue in the middle of the room. A clear, powerful thought passed through her mind.

Mine…All Mine…

Ruby turned back to her comic, chuckling at the scene of the page.

"Those crazy kids" she thought to herself, fully relaxing into the comic and the music, all while her sisters argued amongst themselves about events they didn't fully understand.

Her sisters…

That it for this set of stories. Planning one more set and then we'll get into Volume 2. Taking longer than I originally planned but I want to layout the groundwork with the characters before rapidly getting into the events of Volume 2 and 3.

The first story is a funny idea I had near the beginning of the story, of Weiss and Nora blowing themselves up in a comedic fashion. The scene itself is inspired from Muppet Treasure Island. It may clash somewhat with the more serious story afterward, but I still think its both fun and important to have these moments of comedy.

The second story sets up Nora and Pyrrha to develop feelings for each other. The JNPR relationship is more then just Jaune hooking up with the other three; Each member of JNPR will fall equally in love with the other three. Jaune is setting things in motion by being so open-hearted compared to the others, but the others are forming their own connections. Pyrrha is more reserved in this story then in canon, due to the expectation placed on her. Losing the fight lifted that weight and we got a glimpse of a different Pyrrha, one far more open and cheerful. Pyrrha's development in this story will be getting out from the shadow of her family with the help of her friends.

It's enough to say that I plan for Pyrrha to survive the events of Volume 3, though there will be consequences for her.

The last story reinforces just how possessive Ruby is of her sisters, how much she care about them and how much of herself is based around having them as her siblings. It's not completely good and later events will definitely have a serious impact on her because of it.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review or PM to tell me what you think.