Out of the Ashes

The Game Begins

"Aw man!" You yelled in exasperation, planting your face against the table. "Weiss, I said attack, not stay back! You were supposed to attack Yang's nevermore with your Archers, not hide in the forest!" Weiss scoffed, turning to you, "Well sorry! I'm not an expert player, you know!"

Yang laughed, pushing the small plastic pieces that were Weiss' Archers off of the game board. "Expert or not Weiss, I'll still kick your ass!"Weiss sucked in a breath of air, her head snapping back in anger. "Excuse me?! You looked at my entire deck you cheat! Why, I bet that if you didn't look I'd win by a landslide." Yang chuckled, cracking her knuckles, "Yeah? Then I'd beat the title of 'Winner' out of you!" Ruby held her hands up between Weiss and Yang, laughing nervously. "Guys, let's not fight. The librarian will yell at us for being loud...again..."

You rolled your eyes, turning your attention to Blake, who was staring down at the table. "Blake, it's your turn." Blake jumped, scattering her cards all over the ground. "Wuh?! Oh..um...Sorry, what am I doing again?" Yang chuckled, "You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant."

"Hey guys!" Jaune exclaimed from behind Weiss, nearly startling you out of your seat. "Hey, watch it!" Weiss yelled at Jaune, after secretly glancing over at you to make sure you were okay. Jaune laughed sheepishly, "Heh, sorry...can I play with you?" 

Ruby clicked her tongue, "Sorry Jaune, we already have four players." Jaune whined, pointing at you. "But (Y/n)'s playing..." You gasped, dramatically laying a hand over your chest. "I am NOT playing! I'm Weiss' strategist." You wrapped your arms protectively around Weiss' waist, rubbing your warm cheek against Weiss' cold one.

Weiss gasped quietly, pushing you away as a crimson red blush spread up to the tips of her ears. When she finally regained her calm composure, she cleared her throat.         

"S-so yeah, we don't need you, Jaune." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, his smile faltering slightly. "Aww come on Weiss, can't you just let me play a turn for you?" Weiss leaned away from Jaune, scrunching up her face in disgust. "I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!"

Jaune grumbled, "Why not?! You've trusted me with way more important information! Don't forget, you're the one who told us that Blake is secretly a Fau-" "Fun loving person, whom we all admire and respect!" Pyrrha interrupted, quickly running over and covering Jaune's mouth.

Your POV

I grinned at Pyrrha, "Nice save, Nikos." "Thank you, (Y/n)." Pyrrha smiled back, making my heart jump slightly.

"Sup losers." Sun waved, walking up to Blake's side. "Oh, hey Sun." Ruby mumbled, sorting through her card deck. "I-is Sage here?" I whispered out, hiding behind my ears, "Nah, sorry. But I did bring someone."

Sun looked back as Neptune stepped out from behind a bookshelf. "Uhm, I might be wrong, but aren't libraries for reading?" Neptune gestured at the board game splayed out on the table. "Thank you!" Ren yelled out from behind me, stirring Nora to snort a quiet, "Pancakes!" before falling back asleep.

"Shut up, don't be a nerd." Sun chuckled, punching Neptune on the shoulder. "Hey! Intellectual!" Neptune crossed his arms, dramatically turning away from Sun. "So Neptune, where are you from?" Weiss crossed her arms, feigning a smile.

"Haven, and I don't believe I've caught your name, Snow Angel~" Weiss raised her eyebrows, looking over at me as a cry for help. "Uhm, I'm Weiss." "Yeah, and Weiss is MINE." I growled out at Neptune, hugging Weiss against my side and earning shocked looks from everyone at the table.

Neptune held his hands up, smiling nervously, "H-hey, no need to get mad, I didn't know you two were together." "They're not together." Ruby crossed her arms, her face void of emotion, "Yeah, (Y/n) isn't even into girls." Yang sighed, turning to stare out of the window with a disappointed look plastered over her face, while Pyrrha and Blake just shook their heads solemnly.

"W-what the hell does that mean?!" I stuttered out, looking at the stone cold faces of the various girls around me. "It doesn't mean anything. It's a fact, right?" Ruby muttered, turning to look me in the eye. "Well...maybe...I was going to get married to the son of one of the members of the high council...but I left for Beacon...and I never really had any feelings for him beyond close friendship."

The room's mood darkened almost immediately, "So, what you mean to tell us is that you have a fiancé back at your home?" Yang stared at me angrily, her eyes burning bright red. "You shouldn't leave someone who loves you like that!" Yang slammed her fist on the table, silencing everybody and making me flinch.

"Yang..." Ruby looked over at her sister, worry lines creasing her childish face. "No, Ruby!" Yang grabbed the collar of my tunic and pulled me out of my chair to her face level. "How could you do something like that to someone?! Don't you know what that does to their pride?!"

I opened my mouth to speak, but decided to rip Yang's hands off of my tunic instead. "I didn't leave him. He died fighting when my village was destroyed two years ago by the White Fang." Both team RWBY and team JNPR gasped in shock, "(Y/n)...I didn't know, I...I'm so-"

*Slap*

Yang's head flung to the side, as quiet gasps and murmurs rang out from different areas of the library. "Shut up Yang.." I lowered my hand, nearly collapsing back into my chair. "Just shut up."

Blake looked over at me, "(Y/n) (L/n)...(L/n)? You lived on the Savannah of Anima?" I nodded, avoiding eye contact with Yang, who was still standing and holding her cheek with a shocked look plastered over her face.

"Yeah, we were a big tribe of lion Faunus." Blake gasped and covered her mouth, starting to look like she was going to vomit. "Blake are you okay?" Weiss patted a frozen Blake on the shoulder.

"Adam." Blake pointed at me, "Adam Taurus is the one who destroyed your home." I gasped, "Your 'mentor' killed my entire family?! Why didn't you stop him?!" I yelled at Blake in a sudden rage. "Wait...were you with him? Did you take part in this?" Blake looked down at the ribbons wrapped around her hand. "No, I wasn't on board with the idea of threatening a smaller village just because they'd stopped trading with us. Adam said he just went to talk about the trade dispute, but your Leader...your father...had gotten violent and he had no choice but to..."

I stood up in anger, my tail flicking rapidly, "(Y/n)...If only I had stopped him." Blake looked up at me, a lost, guilty expression on her face. "It's my fault you lost your home..."

Sun clapped his hands together in attempt to lighten the mood, earning himself a deadly glare from me. "H-hey...Blake, I didn't take you for a board game playing type." Blake glared at her hands, yet again "Yeah, well, I think I'm done playing." Blake set her cards down, standing up and pushing Sun out of the way as she headed out of the library. "Blake.." I whispered out, following Sun as he jogged out after Blake.