Ch. 18 4/5ths? And 2 for 1?

Alabast woke up to something in his arms and something breathing on his chest. When he opened his eyes he saw his black hair mixed with red. Then he remembers the previous night. First it was his talk with Blake, then it was him confessing to Pyrrha. He felt the void fill up a bit. He felt truly happy for the first time in a really long time...if he had ever felt this happy. He buried his face into Pyrrhas hair more and closed his eyes.

He held her in his arms, and enjoyed her weight and warmth.

"Alabast?" A quiet and tired voice reaches his ears. Pyrrha wakes up and stretches a bit, as much as she can while being held. Alabast felt her muscles that are not visible. They hide just beneath her pale skin.

"Yes Pyrrha?" He says

"What time is it?"

Alabast uses his semblance to move his scroll to his face as he moves his head up.

"It's a little after 7" Alabast then puts his head back on the bed and moves it to the top Pyrrhas head.

"What time is our class this morning" Pyrrha asks.

"I'm not sure" Alabast lifts his head up and looks to the other side of the room and sees Nora's bed empty. He looks over to Ren's bed. He sees Nora big spooning Ren as they peacefully sleep.

Alabast makes his scroll move towards Nora and Ren and takes a few pictures. The ones that look the best are the ones from the ceiling. He makes his scroll come back towards himself. He shows Pyrrha who laughs a little.

"Send these to me please" Pyrrha hugs him and puts her head back against his chest and hears his heartbeat. It's calm and consistent. It's relaxing to listen to.

Alabast checks his phone and sees that class is in an hour.

"Class is at 8. You should go get changed first" Alabast doesn't want to move but knows he has to.

"Alright, thank you" Pyrrha is released from his hold and gets up. But before she walks away she bends down and kisses Alabast on his right cheek. "Good morning Ashy"

"Morning Ember" Alabast smiles lightly at Pyrrha, who's hair isn't in a ponytail like usual and goes down her front over her shoulders.

Pyrrha walks away after returning the smile. She likes seeing Alabast smile genuinely since it's rare. Most of the time when he actually smiles it's a smirk. But even that's rare.

Alabast sits up and rubs his eyes. He yawns and stretched his muscles as he stands up. He looks over to his teammates that might have advanced their relationship. He assumes so since they are spooning but you never know. He waits a few minutes and gets his class materials together. Before Pyrrha exits the bathroom Alabast sits back on his bed.

He makes a tendril out of darkness near Ren and Nora and taps their shoulders.

Nora wakes up and realizes that she is big spooning Ren and crushes him in a bear hug while she is blushing heavily. Ren woke up after being tapped on the shoulder but truly woke up after being crushed. "Nor….a! Let…go! Cant...breathe!"

Nora doesn't let him go but stops squeezing him. Ren feels the oxygen return to his lungs and breathes deeply.

"Good morning you two" Alabast looks at them.

"Waaaahhh!" Nora falls off the bed and lands with a thud. She was startled by the sudden voice that intruded on her daily recharge of her 'Ren-ergy'. This pun was Yang approved.

"You ok Nora?" Ren looks over the side of the bed. He knows she is fine but still asks out of courtesy.

"Yeah, just got spooked a little" Nora laughs as she continues to blush.

Pyrrha walks out of the bathroom changed into her school uniform and Nora takes the chance to disappear and takes her things into the bathroom. She closes the door behind her.

"I was going to say 'Next'. Good morning Ren" Pyrrha awkwardly says.

Ren just nods to Pyrrha in response. She goes to her desk to get the class materials organized.

"Did you enjoy your night big bear?"

"Did you Little Spoon?"

Ren knows he isn't gonna live that one down for a while. "Touché Alabast, Touché"

Alabast is glad to get him back.

Nora eventually exits and is back to normal she tags Ren in to use the bathroom next and goes over to Pyrrha and shows her the pictures she took.

"Look at this one! It's so amazingly adorable! You two are so cute in this one too!"

"Can you send me this one?" Pyrrha is blushing slightly as she looks at the photos.

"Sure! I'll send them into the group chat later also!"

Alabast sends Pyrrha the photos he took of Nora and Ren. Now it's Pyrrhas job to give Nora a taste of her own medicine.

After Ren gets out Alabast goes in and finishes up quickly.

Exiting the bathroom he goes to his bed and puts his shoes on just in time as someone knocks on their door.

He gets up and opens the door to reveal team RWBY.

"Hey team ANVL! Ready for class?" Ruby shouts.

"It's still too early to be shouting like that Ruby" Weiss has her face in her palm as she shakes her head.

"I've got to burn my energy before we get to class! Or else I'll be way too bored and energetic in the class!" Ruby turns towards Weiss and informs her.

"Good morning" Alabast says and smiles slightly.

"Did something good happen Ash? You seem significantly happier this morning" Yang asks, suspicious if something good happened last night. Blake came back a little out of it and went right to bed without picking up her book. But this morning Blake seemed back to normal so she was confused. And now Alabast is smiling, and so early in the morning at that.

Blake couldn't tell if she should be happy or sad that Alabast is in a good mood after last night. She just kept silent.

"I'm in a better mood than usual today. And I'll explain after class is over" Alabast goes and grabs the books and papers for the class and walks out the door with Pyrrha next to him.

Alabast lead the group to class next to Pyrrha while the others talked. It was mostly team RWBY trying to get some information from Nora but she was tight lipped and said they would figure it out after class.

It was just a boring class of Grimm studies and other subjects. They had lunch and had to go back to class.

Class finally wrapped up around 5.

They decided to have an early dinner and then go back to the dorms. Nothing much happened at the cafeteria except for them discussing the homework for the class and a few other random things.

When they got back to the dorms Alabast stopped team RWBY. "Can we talk in your dorm room?" He asked in his usual neutral tone.

"Yeah!" Ruby opens the door and let's everyone inside.

Nora and Ren go to their dorm room while Pyrrha follows after Alabast.

They go to their common room and the others take a seat across from Alabast. Pyrrha is standing next to him with her hands behind her back.

Alabast looks at the girls before him and gets a little nervous. But he quickly throws that feeling out the window.

"I've been thinking if I want to have a relationship with someone" He sees them listening intently. "I found my answer last night. I decided that I want to be with all of you. But I want to hear if you want to be with me. It's weird thinking of having multiple partners b-"

"Don't you mean 'mates' there, Ashy?" Yang says suggestively.

"Fine, I didn't think of having multiple 'mates' in the past. But now that I have the opportunity I won't shy away from it. I'm deadly serious about this. So I want to hear if you are ok with this. I have some form of romantic feelings for all of you already and I've realized that and come to terms with it"

"Well, why not. I'm more interested in you the more we hang out. And you're…hot. So I'm willing to give it a try" Yang says trying to not be embarrassed.

"This will work out if we all decide on this and don't tip toe our way around each other. I'm serious about this. I see a future where we all are together" Alabast crosses his arms and looks into Yangs eyes to show he means business.

"Well…If you put it like that. Then yeah. I like you Alabast and I want to spend my life with you. And they say the more the merrier!"

"I like you too Yang. Even with your puns"

"Hey! They're great! And you better, because they're part of my package!"

"I'll be sure to be thorough when I go through that package then" Alabast says as a glint appears in his eye.

"You better be" Yang blushes and sits back in her chair and crosses her leg over the other.

"I'll go next!" Ruby declares after a few seconds of silence.

She blushes and looks to Alabast. "I may be younger than everyone but that doesn't stop me from being leader of my team. And it doesn't stop me from risking my life to defeat the creatures of Grimm and being a huntress. This honestly feels like a dream since I've arrived at Beacon. And I feel that part of that dream would have you and I together Alabast. I want to see everyone be happy and find their love. And I think I've found mine"

"I don't care if you're two years younger. If you're going to be risking your life alongside us then that's what matters I'll do my best to turn your dream into a reality Ruby Rose. I know we can" Alabast smiles gently to Ruby. She really does act like a kid and an adult at the same time. Ruby blushes and hides her face below her eyes with her cape, but doesn't put her hood on.

"Weiss? I know that you ma-" Alabast expects some resistance with her.

"I can speak for myself!" She sits up straight and puts her hands in her lap. "All my life I was told that I should have higher standards than others. My father told me that I have to find a worthy heir for the company. But my mother said that I should find true love. I came to Beacon to become a huntress, not to find love"

"I se-" Alabast was sad about her decision and he might be able to conivince her in the future but was cut off.

"I'm not finished yet!" Weiss opens her eyes and looks to Alabast. "I didn't come her to find love. But it found me, in the most unexpected way I might say. I had my prejudice against the Faunus and I still might. But Alabast, you've changed me and how I see the world. And you've slowly made your way into my world so fast, I didn't even notice. I realized it last night after I woke up and remembered how you…saved me"

"Weiss, I want to always be part of your world. I don't care what your father says. You don't need to be an heiress to be special. You're beautiful, intelligent, and strong. That's all you. And I want to see your life and where we will go together. And as much as I help you, you also help me Weiss Schnee"

Weiss smiles and slightly tilts her head. Her blush contrasts completely against her pale skin and white hair that's tied into a pony tail. Her light blue eyes gaze into Alabast's deep red eye, since his other eye is still covered with his hair.

After looking at Weiss for a few more seconds he brings his gaze to Blake. He doesn't know what to expect with her. Nothing at all.

"Alabast…..After we talked last night I thought about a lot of things. I am still stuck on Adam. But I'm trying to move on. I don't know how I feel about you right now. You're great, but I need some more time to sort out my feelings" Blake has a conflicted look on her face as she looks at the ground.

"I don't mind waiting a bit longer…Just don't keep me waiting too long. I'll be here when you are ready" Alabast still has his small smile.

"Adam?" Ruby's wonders quietly.

"Ex?" Yang thinks of who the mystery guy could be.

"Wait, what about Pyrrha?" Ruby points out and everyone looks to Pyrrha who took as step back once Alabast addressed the girls individually.

"Oh, we already talked last night. She's-" Alabast gets cut off.

"I'm gonna enjoy this relationship just as much as the rest of us. And Blake, I hope you figure out your answer sooner rather than later" Pyrrha sends a warm smile towards Blake who sends a small smile back as thanks.

Then it's just awkward silence.

"Sooooo, how far did you two go?" Yang asks and shows everyone a photo of Alabast and Pyrrha sleeping in each others arms.

"We just went to sleep Yang" Alabast casually says.

"So you guys didn't do anything?"

"Alabast just held me as we fell asleep. That was it" Pyrrha blushes and looks at the floor.

"Nothing?" Yang gets a smug smirk.

"Yeah, and why does that seem to please you so much Yang?" Alabast says looking at the sitting bombshell.

Yang stands up and walks towards Alabast. "Oh, no reason". She stands in front of Alabast.

She looks up at him and he looks down at her. He is 6'6" while she is 5'8". Nearly a foot difference in height. Yang quickly grabs his collar and yanks him down. Alabast wasn't expecting this so he was forced to bend down but not fall. Yang seals his lips with her own for a few seconds before separating.

Alabast looks into Yang's light purple, lilac, eyes. "No reason?"

"Maybe there was a reason" She let's go of his collar.

"Yang! No fair, that's cheating!" Ruby complains as she jumps to her feet and points at her sister. Yang turns around and smirks. She crosses her arms below her breasts as she slightly raises her chin.

"You're just jealous I was first!"

"Maybe…" Ruby lowers her arm as she kinda is disappointed.

"There are still plenty of firsts" Alabast says as he stands back up and fixes his collar. Then he gets a bad feeling about what he had just said. He realizes he had just caused a race, and while he would come in first. It would be a long marathon.

He looked around the room and saw the girls glaring at Alabast.

"There are other firsts…." Ruby said as sparkles appeared in her eyes. "And technically I was the first one to fall asleep with him. And then it was Yang. Followed by Pyrrha. That means that Weiss is the last to sleep with Alabast!" Ruby turns to point at the people as she says their names. She points at Weiss.

"Don't call it sleeping with him!" She gets to her feet.

"Why not? That's what it is!" Ruby doesn't understand why she shouldn't say it. Innocence is bliss.

"So innocent" Blake says.

"Oh yeah, and what about Blake?! She hasn't fallen asleep with Alabast yet!" Weiss tries to change the subject so they don't have to explain it to Ruby.

"For the time being Blake doesn't count! She hasn't officially joined us!" Ruby shoots back.

"I haven't decided anything yet!" Blake defends herself.

"I saw the way you reacted to Yang kissing Alabast~. You'll join us soon enough. You can't resist this~" Ruby disappears in a cloud of rose pedals and reappears next to Alabast. She points out his tail, his ears, his hair, his height, and then she lifts his shirt up to reveal his abs. "I mean just look" She runs her hand down his abs. "They're just like a washboard"

Alabast forces his shirt down knocking Ruby's hand away that was feeling up his abdomen.

"You'll come around because that was only his body! Not including how adorable he is!"

"I prefer handsome"

The girls just look at him and mentally say 'adorable AND cute'.

"Where even we're we?" Alabast tries to get away from the topic.

"Oh yeah! We were talking about how Weiss is the last person to sleep with you!" Ruby remembers the previous topic.

"Ruby!" Weiss complains again.

"Weiss, get your dirty mind out of the gutter" Yang says tauntingly.

"I….bu…I don't have my mind in a gutter! It's Ruby that is saying indecent things!" Weiss points towards Ruby.

"I can help you get your mind out of that gutter" Alabast says as he walks to her and lifts her chin up with his index finger and leans forward. "That is, if you want me to"

Weiss furiously blushes. Her entire face and tips of her ears are a shade of red. It really contrasts with her hair and eyes. She swallows her saliva before answering. "Yes….please"

"Alright. Close your eyes"

"What?"

"Just close your eyes my Princess" Alabast says as he leans closer to Weiss.

She closes her eyes and her heart beats rapidly in anticipation. Then she feels his finger leave her chin so she opens her eyes.

Alabast just puts his finger on her forehead.

"Don't look so disappointed Princess. What did you think I was going to do?" Alabast smirks at how Weiss looked. But she quickly grew angry.

"Alabast! You….You!!"

Alabast puts his right palm against her left cheek and uses his thumb to move over her scar under her left eye. "We're you expecting something like this?"

Alabast moves forwards and gives Weiss a kiss on the lips. He closed his eyes while Weiss went wide eyed for a second before closing her own and also grabbing his face but with bothe her hands.

"No fair! Now Weiss also got to kiss Ashy before me" Ruby said.

Pyrrha went next to Ruby and out a hand on her shoulder. "Get in line" She joked.

Ruby moved between Alabast and Pyrrha and puffed her chest out in victory. She thought Pyrrha meant it literally and it was cute and funny.

"Hahaha" Yang was losing it and Ohrrha laughed into her fist to try and stifle her laughter.

Alabast finally breaks the kiss with Weiss. "How's your dirty mind now?" He asks.

"I think it still needs help" Weiss says with a heavy breath.

"Let's clear it up a bit more then" Alabast kisses her again.

Blake just watched Alabast and Weiss in surprise. She has no idea what's going on and it really seems to be like a scene from her "Ninjas of Love" romance book.

Alabast breaks the kiss of and moves back a bit. "I can help you whenever you need it, my Princess"

"How come Weiss gets called Princess while I'm Blondie!" Yang complains, and it is a valid reason.

Alabast stands up and takes his hand off of Weiss's face. He turns around to Yang and sees that she is pouting.

"Fair enough. I have been thinking of a better nickname for you Yang. How about Saph or Saphy, short for Yellow Sapphire"

"Saph….Saphy….." Yang thinks about it for a few seconds. "That's a new one. I like it!" She gives him a thumbs up.

Alabast nods to Yang.

"Ok! My turn!" Ruby tries to jump and kiss Alabast. Keyword try.

Alabast grabbed her by the shoulders while she jumped up and held her out so her feet couldn't touch the ground.

"What do you think you're doing Little Red?" Alabast looks into her silver eyes. She blushes more and almost matches the tips of her hair.

"I…was going to try and kiss you….." Ruby tries to hide her face but couldn't since she wasn't able to really move.

"You can't really just kiss a person randomly for the first time"

"But Yang did!" Ruby says since that's exactly what her sister did. She just walked up to Alabast and yanked him forward and kissed him.

"Well….that was different. It works because it was Yang. It's hard to explain. There has to be a mood that leads up to the kiss. And you shouldn't kiss just to get ahead of someone. It has to mean something" Alabast looks around the room with his eyes not moving his head. He was trying to explain it but couldn't do it well.

"Wait, so what was the mood for Yangs kiss?"

Alabast looks over to Yang and he only gets a thumbs up and a smile. Very useful and helpful.

"It….Was that we had just finished confessing. And…ah, because Yangs charm is different from yours Ruby. That's it. You and Yang have different personalities. So since you are different people you have different ways to set the mood. You give off the innocent girl vibe Ruby, so you trying to force the kiss just seems too weird. So you need to find your own way"

Yang closes her eyes and nods. She's surprised that Alabast was able to weasel his way out of it.

"And it doesn't have to be today. It can be anytime in the future. Don't rush it because it should be special, alright?" Alabast sets her down.

"How will I know when it's the right time?" Ruby asks

"You'll know when it's time. You'll just know"

Ruby goes into thought for some time.

Alabast sits down on the couch in the middle. Weiss sits next to Alabast and he wraps his arm around her shoulder and she puts her head on his shoulder. It was a little awkward but they didn't bother with it. Pyrrha moved to his other side and did the same. Pyrrha ended up with his tail in her lap.

Ruby snapped out of her thoughts and saw Alabast sitting with Weiss and Pyrrha. Then she got an idea. She walked up to Alabast and turned around. She then sat on his lap.

"Ruby….what are you doing?" Alabast asks trying to summon all his willpower to ignore the feeling on his lap. Luckily he doesn't lack willpower.

She just leans her back against his chest and looks up at his face. Her eyes widen slightly as she sees some of his left side. "Just claimed a seat"

"You're playing a dangerous game Little Red" Alabast warns her.

"What's a dangerous game?" It seems she forgot about a certain fact about a males body.

"You'll find out much later Ruby. Maybe you'll remember when you read one of Blake's books she's always reading.

"Ok" She moves her head back to a normal resting position and gets comfy.

Alabast gripped Pyrrha's and Weiss's shoulders lightly to try and stop something from growing. He has to close his eyes and focus on something else.

"Darn" Yang snaps her fingers. She wasn't quick enough to grab a spot. So she went and sat next to Blake. Her and Blake started an awkward conversation but it got better over time.

Alabast, Weiss, Pyrrha and Ruby talked for a while. It was mostly Alabast giving short answers. He was feeling tired and had already talked enough for a few days.

Alabast falls asleep and the back of his head rests against the back of the couch as he looks at the ceiling. The girls continue talking.

Ruby felt something hard grow beneath her. Her body stiffened at the feeling. She looked up an back and saw Alabast was still sleeping. Then she realized what the 'Dangerous Game' was. She blushes hard and goes silent.

Yang looks over at the others after a while of pleasant conversation with Blake. She then notices Alabast's hair.

"Hey, did his hair change?" Yang wonders out loud. The others look at his hair except Ruby. She's trying to sort out what she's feeling.

"You're right. The light gray has gone up an inch. Do you think it has to do with why he suddenly fell asleep?" Pyrrha runs her fingers through the hair on his face.

Blanke and Yang get up and go behind the couch and look down at Alabast. He has a peaceful sleeping face with his mouth slightly open revealing his canines.

"Some of his scars are also gone. Like completely. The oldest and deepest are still there. But the newer and shallower are gone almost completely. What do you think is going on?" Blake moves his hair off his face fully revealing it. Everyone can see it except Ruby. But she hears the others talking. They all see the scars on his face. Mainly the scar beneath his right eye and the severely scarred skin around his left eye and on his forehead.

They all are surprised to see that some scars just disappeared.

"His hair used to be pure white when he was younger. But it apparently changed on its own. So if it's changing back now, what does that mean?" Blake tries to figure it out. "Do you think it's based on his emotions. Black and white being two factors. His semblance is darkness. But what if it's something else or if he has another?"

"Two semblances? I'd say it's more likely that his semblance has hidden abilities" Weiss can't believe a person that has two semblances. Because that would mean two souls.

They kept talking about what the cause could be and what if he had another semblance or more hidden aspects to his already versatile semblance. Alabast had the possibility of becoming even stronger if they were right.

Blake thought about her book. The one she read before initiation. It was about one body with two souls. This was very serious, but she couldn't help but think Alabast knew something about this.

As Alabast was sleeping he was having a dream. It wasn't a nightmare but it was weird. He was looking at a giant black orb that had mist around it falling off. It gave off a very eerie vibe. And opposite of it was a small bright white light. Alabast didn't think it had a shape, but it was maybe the size of a basketball or tennis ball. The light made it hard to look at.

The darkness was trying to snuff out the light. While the light was trying to push back the darkness. Alabast felt a connection to them both. Like they were a part of him, sort of similar to his tail. He's able to influence them but can't completely control them without concentration and focus.

Then he woke up.