37

Their home was a quaint place. They had expected some sort of mansion in the middle of the woods with how much money Yang had to spare or a crater-filled hellscape that was left after years of abuse from Ruby. Instead they saw a normal two storey wooden house.

As per everyone's agreement Blake was pretty much forbidden to wear her bow for as long as they were staying. Weiss and Pyrrha were both enjoying the remote island. As they have guessed it was small enough that the people who had recognised them could be counted on one hand. Most of the attention was instead focused on Yang and especially Ruby. Apparently she had become a bit of a local celebrity with her acceptance into Beacon two years early. She managed to talk to her former teachers without much problem but when her classmates showed up, each with a handful of questions she made a run for it.

Blake and Pyrrha were given the guest room, Weiss was supposed to stay with them but she didn't even see the place before dropping her bags in Yang's room. At that point they started to wonder whether Ruby was just very oblivious or actually in denial about these kinds of things.

/

The normalcy wasn't meant to stay.

"Come on! Don't tell me that you can only stay undefeated when you are on the ground!"

Pyrrha's brow twichted. She was still only learning how to fly properly and instead of being helpful or at least not being a bitch, Weiss had a brilliant idea that they should have a race. And Ruby only egged them on. As of right now, their small leader had marked out a course around the island and both Pyrrha and Weiss had to agree that if Ruby was to participate as well then the race would be utterly meaningless.

The competition went alright. Pyrrha could barely keep up when it came to speed but her smaller frame allowed for greater maneuverability. It wasn't saying much, considering she was against a giant nevermore but she was willing to take any advantage she could get. She probably would be able to cut corners even more but she really didn't want to test her stomach's limits.

Meanwhile, in the forest below them a different match was taking place. Calling it a battle would be a stretch for it more resembled a game of hide and seek.

"C'mere kitty kitty." Yang called into the woods before blasting a shadow that she thought had moved.

If I hear another cat thing one more time… Blake sneaked behind her and tried to make a jump attack. An arc of flames appeared with one swing of her new weapon. It wasn't her weapon yet, Ruby insisted that it was still in an experimental phase but so far it worked fine.

It was also a katana, longer than the Gambol Shroud and significantly thicker. It was also hollow with plenty of small openings on the sides of the blade. The inside of the sword was filled with whatever dust Blake was feeling like using, currently a small amount of fire dust.

All in all… Yang was held responsible for setting yet another forest on fire.

-BBW-

"Welcome to Vale, James." Ozpin greeted his long-time friend with a smile.

"Hello Oz." General Ironwood greeted back and took a look over Beacon's highest office. "Glynda." He inclined his head towards the third person in the room. "It's been too long."

"General." As always, a rather cold reception. Pity.

"How is she?" He didn't want to waste time with pleasantries, especially when they had a crisis on their hands.

Ozpin's smile was replaced with a frown in an instant. "She is stable. At least for now."

He didn't want to be the one to say it, but it was the time to rip off the bandage. "Do you have a successor..?" He looked straight at Oz, if only so that he didn't have to deal with the glare Glynda was giving him.

"Yes, I have one person in mind, as well as a few other candidates." Oz evenly answered. Glynda gave him a questioning glance. She wasn't aware that he had already picked the next Fall maiden. "Shortly after the break ends, I intend to approach Pyrrha Nikos."

"She is a freshman, Oz." Ironwood objected. "I doubt she will handle it well. And don't start with her career. We both know that our battle is very different from the ones she is used to."

"And yet she showed herself splendidly during the little… intervention at the docks."

"Even a fresh recruit can deliver under a skilled commander. I've read the report. Yes, she did good but it wasn't extraordinary. If anything, Miss Rose and Miss Schnee did the most work."

"You condone what she did against the White Fang?!" Glynda hotly asked him.

"They are terrorists." He cordially replied. "And knowing her personal history with the group, it's praiseworthy that she was able to restrain herself."

"Ehm…If we could go back to the main topic." Ozpin stopped the budding argument. "As I said, I have other candidates, and while I believe Miss Nikos would be a good choice I'm willing to listen. Now, before Miss Nikos I intended to approach Velvet Scarlatina."

James took a second to remember who Oz was talking about. He did keep a general knowledge about the promising students but he was also a leader of an army. "She is too soft." He finally spoke. "If her mission was to simply hide the power then there wouldn't be any problem but I think we can all agree that it's no longer an option."

Ozpin released a sigh. At least he stopped trying to convince them to make Winter into the Fall. She was already arranged as Frea's successor anyway. "On another note. Have your people found anything on the things Tai and your specialists found?"

"Sadly, not much." James admitted. "We were able to find their origins but payment and delivery were done anonymously. The most important equipment we have been looking for is still unaccounted for. I've sent them to Vale's shore to look for more clues."

-BBW-

Pyrrha was enjoying some evening downtime in the living room. She really needed some rest after spending another day practicing with Ruby's crazy invention. And apparently what she was making for her wasn't even that outlandish compared to whatever Yang showed Weiss who spent the rest of the day on the verge of aneurysm.

Ruby had run off to her lab once again, most likely to spend a night there as well. Yang and Weiss had locked themselves in their room and Blake… Blake was rummaging through the kitchen only to come out with a bottle of rum.

"What?" She asked Pyrrha after noticing her gaze.

"Oh where do I start? The underage drinking or stealing?" She sarcastically asked.

"We are legal adults, you know?" Blake said and passed her a glass. "And Yang let me take it. She said that the more we use the less her alcoholic uncle will waste." She took a sip and slightly cringed at the taste. "Besides, it's her fault anyway…"

"How exactly?" Pyrrha asked, eying the glass with suspicion.

Blake pointed to her extra ears. Pyrrha didn't understand, so she explained properly. "I have enhanced senses. The walls here aren't that thick and Yang and Weiss are loud. Very loud."

Pyrrha slightly blushed at the memory of when she herself had to listen to their activities and picked up her glass. She was a bit surprised that they had something of good quality here. "Yeah…at least you don't share a room with them."

Blake suggestively smirked. "And that is the problem for you? If I remember correctly, I had to rescue you after your failed attempt at peeping in the bathroom on the very first day."

Pyrrha choked on her own spit. "What?! It wasn't like that! Brothers, Blake, why do you bring that up…"

"And I have more!" She laughed. "I have a video of you going face first into the dirt from this morning alone."

"... still better than Weiss." She quietly murmured and sipped from the glass. At least she didn't bring down the small shed by crashing into it. "You are just being jealous of what they have."

"Probably…" Blake begrudgingly admitted. "Dammit, she said that I should just go out with Ruby to see how it goes and…"

"Well, we had some fun. It wasn't romantic at all but I did enjoy it. Also, you run away near the end."

"I may have neglected some other things and needed to do damage control." She dodged the unspoken question of why she left.

They sat for a while in a comfortable silence.

"You know," Pyrrha spoke up. "I have always thought that when I find the one person I'm interested in it would be easy. Like in the fairy tales. We would look each other in the eyes and know that we were meant for eachother." She took a large gulp. "What a complete bull!"

Blake softly laughed. "Wait. Are you saying that you haven't been in any relationship before?"

Pyrrha huffed and turned away. "It's not exactly easy to be in one when you are either training or participating in the tournament." She lamented. "Most people were either too scared to approach me or my management team kept them away."

"Sorry to hear that." Blake halfheartedly apologized. "Well, I do have some experience." She bragged.

"Of being in one or just chasing after someone?" Pyrrha teasingly asked, not knowing how close to the truth she was. After Blake heavily frowned and didn't give an answer she burst out laughing. "Oh gods! Experience you say? You are just a perv who can't get any and spends all her time in the books fantasizing!" She continued to laugh.

"At least I'm trying! What have you been doing all this time except from prancing around the arena?" She accusingly pointed at Pyrrha.

"Trying what? Learn how to kiss from a book? I doubt it works like that!"

"Are you saying that I don't know how to?!"

"Yep!" She quipped back. She didn't know if it was because of the drinking but she was really enjoying this friendly teasing. And for once she wasn't the target!

Blake sat silently, her ears twitching in indignation when suddenly she leapt over to Pyrrha.

What?! She felt something soft on her lips. She tried to speak in protest but when she tried to open her mouth Blake's tongue went inside.

Blake ended the kiss as fast as it started and with an audible smack separated herself from Pyrrha who was looking at her with mouth still open. "I know what I'm doing so come on, laugh it up! Well, do so after you can think straight again." She gloated with a proud smirk. She couldn't beat her in a fight but it did feel great to see her so utterly caught off guard.

Pyrrha took another second for her mind to reboot, take all of it in and rise to the challenge.

"That's it! You are going down!"

Some glass was broken and clothes were torn.

-BBW-

…so if I put the rotating parts here, no it needs to be smaller…or just keep it outside? Shoulder-mounted…automate the reloading, hmm. Ruby mused as she flew directly into the second floor. She needed Yang's help with the dustsuit, now that Weiss apparently also wanted one. Would take quite a while… I have to make something quick as a placeholder…

"Yang! Are you here?" Ruby burst into her sister's room.

"Dammit Ruby! Learn to knock already!" Weiss angrily berated her for interrupting her beauty sleep.

Ruby just stood frozen and stared at her teammate. In her sister's room. In Yang's bed. "Eeeeehhh?"

Yang tiredly shifted under the blanket. "Can it wait at least *yawn* for an hour or two?"

"Oh get out. It's already morning so we might be productive." Weiss ordered Yang with a mock frown, stood up from the bed and walked over to the still confused Ruby.

"..."

"I know you are not the most… social person," Weiss calmly started. "So I will explain it in a way that you would understand." Even if you should have got the message a long time ago… "Yang and I are dating. Meaning all the stuff like romantic dates, intimacy etc. I know that the two of you are close and that neither of you care for normal human decency but please, at least try to keep it in mind when I'm around."

Ruby dumbly nodded and proceeded to slowly retreat out of the room, still staring at Weiss without blinking.

"Congratulations, you broke my sister." Yang intoned as she sat up.

Weiss could only sigh. "Go take a shower and see what she actually wanted."

"What about taking one together?"

No way we will fit in there. Besides there is only one. Yang takes forever on her own, if we both go, the rest will probably riot.

/

Pyrrha woke up alone on the couch in the living room. The headache was manageable but she would prefer a worse one if it meant not remembering what happened the evening prior. She didn't know if it was alcohol, frustration or something clicking but her and Blake's fight had transitioned into a very aggressive make-out session with both of them trying to one-up one another in intimate skills. Pulled and even slightly torn clothes, a few scratches, a bright red handprint on Blake's behind and some bruises were the results.

So Blake cleaned up the mess… When she looked around the room, all of the glass that was broken in the process was gone and furniture was placed roughly at the right spots. Strange thing that she was nowhere to be seen. Well… not really. She wouldn't mind going out to have some time for herself.

Figures that shower was occupied… Pyrrha stood in front of the bathroom door. She had met Weiss in the kitchen but thankfully she either didn't notice or didn't want to comment on the state she was in. Ruby was probably still in her lab… then why was the sound of angry footsteps coming out of her room?

"Ruby? Are you here?" She peeked inside the room.

Ruby stopped mid-step and sharply turned. "Did you know?!" She fully turned towards her and angrily pouted.

"About what?" What happened this time? She was completely lost.

"About Yang and Weiss!"

"Yeah?" So Ruby finally noticed… maybe there is still some hope. "They have been a couple for some time already."

"Then why didn't they tell me?!"

"They… weren't exactly hiding it." Pyrrha honestly didn't know what got Ruby so upset over the situation. "It was rather obvious, they spent a lot of time together, they slept in one bed after you and Yang burned one down…"

Ruby groaned and threw herself on the bed. "How didn't I notice it?! And my own sister didn't tell me!" She, probably, mock-cried. Pyrrha was about to console her but Ruby continued. "What else did I miss? Oh my gods, Ren and Nora are definitely a thing! And, and…uh, Ilia has been a bit weird recently and…"

Pyrrha continued to listen to Ruby's ramblings, slowly getting more and more angrier over the fact that Ruby apparently noticed every single minute detail in behavior, clothing style and fighting patterns about her fellow students except the ones that were the closest and the most important.

It may have been due to the hangover and accompanying headache but…

To hell with this!

"I like you! And I have been trying to ask you out for almost a month!"

-BBW-

*riiiing*

"One moment please." Winter stopped their slow walk around the scorched crater and pulled out her scroll. To her surprise it was her sister, who was calling her. While she wouldn't tolerate anybody picking up civil calls during a mission, Tai was technically the leader. And he couldn't care less. They didn't even have anything important to report anyway.

"Hello Weiss." She opened the video call. Her eyes immediately narrowed. From the room she was seeing behind Weiss, she definitely wasn't at Beacon. "Why are you calling me?" And she absolutely didn't forget the little comment at the end of their last call.

"Hello Winter, I hope I'm not interrupting." Weiss uneasily replied. "Well, I wanted to ask for a favor."

Winter shot a glance towards her companions, Tai already started unpacking, treating the whole trip as a fun affair and every pause amounted to a picnic. She didn't want to be racist but… Marrow was waaay too good with Tai's dog, the two of them were probably running somewhere around the place. Why can't that little dribbling fluffy mut just stay in her la- in one place! "Maybe if you tell me why you aren't at Beacon right now I will consider it."

Weiss blinked at the response but then waved her off. "I intended to stay at Beacon but my Yang and Ruby's house was close by so we decided for a change in scenery."

In the moments it took Winter to remember who her sister was talking about, Tai marched over and joined their conversation. "I hope the house is still standing."

Both sisters were a bit taken aback by this intrusion but neither commented, Winter because it was her superior and Weiss because she already had gotten used to this kind of behavior. "Ehm… and you are?" Weiss didn't know who the man was but she could easily see way too many similarities between him and Yang.

"Taiyang Xiao Long, Yang and Ruby's father and the actual owner of the house." He introduced himself with an easygoing smile.

"A pleasure to meet you, sir." Weiss evenly replied, despite the small panic evident on her face.

"None of this 'sir' nonsense. You are their friend and teammate, so you are an honorary family." What was this with the Atlesians… he wasn't that old dammit! "I was serious about the house still standing." He added.

"Are you implying that my sister is a delinquent?" Winter shot him a sharp glare.

"Of course not, but I do know my two little girls." He shortly laughed at her protective reaction.

Weiss stayed quiet but when he looked back at her and she realized that there was no escape she threw Yang under the bus. "Yang set the forest on fire."

"What?" Winter exclaimed.

Tai only chuckled. "Again? Did you at least put it down?"

"Of course, sir." Holy… the facial expression was genetic. "I mean-"

"Just call me Tai." He waved her off before she could say something embarrassing. For him, that is. If he was ever called Mr. Xiao Long again… "Anything else?"

"Well… the shed is in pieces…"

"What? What is so wrong with it? I know that the roof was a bit damaged but I hoped that the girls would leave it alone…" At least none of the walls in the main house were broken…yet. "What happened?"

"Weiss?" Winter joined back, seeing her sister go quiet and start to blush slightly. "What. Happened."

"...into it."

"Weiss. Speak up."

After taking a deep breath she replied properly. "I crashed a nevermore into it."

Winter stared at her with wide eyes while Tai burst out laughing.

"What the-" A red cloud passed behind Weiss.

*crash* "Yang! Emergency sister meeting!" came the young voice from some place out of the camera's vision.

"So you set a forest on fire, flattened the shed and broke at least one door." Tai summarized. "Still better than Yang's puberty." He shrugged. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you but I better get going. I think I wasn't exactly invited into this conversation. Say hi to the girls."

"Huh… small world." Weiss spoke up after Tai was some distance away.

"Quite." Winter agreed. She would have to ask the man some more questions. Or maybe not, he spoke of his family quite often. "I'm still not sure about the people you surround yourself with."

Weiss rolled her eyes, a small smirk playing on her lips. "I would call them to introduce themselves but as you heard, they are having 'an emergency'."

Winter frowned slightly at her sister's attitude. She was glad that she was breaking out of the cage their 'father' put her into but it was a bit too sudden. "What favor did you want to ask me about?"

Weiss pouted. "The business can wait. I wanted to catch up first."

"I'm still on a mission, Weiss. I can't just tell you what we have been doing."

"Hmm, you do realize that I can ask Yang or Ruby to call their father and all the secrecy will become obsolete."

Winter shoulders slumped. "Probably. But still. We will talk properly when I'm done but right now I still have work to do."

"Very well." There was a small amount of disappointment in her voice but at least her sister confirmed that she would have some time for her. "As for the favor… Do you have any contacts on people in the supply department?"

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Not on my scroll but I can easily get those. Why?"

"I'm planning on getting a new weapon, well, a weapon upgrade. Something like that. I still have to iron out the details and see the full schematics but I want to be ready."

"And you need military quality because..?"

"From what I saw and understood, neither Beacon or standart suppliers will live up to the expectation. I could probably find something appropriate within the company but then I would need to speak with him."

"Fine…" Winter relented. "But! I want to see whatever you are getting as well. I will not let you go into a fight with military hardware duct-taped together and being called a weapon."

/

/

/