Shadows of War (RWBY X TITANFALL) Act 2: A Phantom Adversary

Chapter X: A Light in the Dark

Andi POV - Timeskip: Three Days

Nate: "Hey, Andi, wake up."

I groggily opened my eyes to see Nate kneeling beside me, his hand on my arm. He must've been shaking me awake.

Me: "Yeah?"

Nate: "You wanted me to wake you up around when I get up, remember?"

Me: "Oh yeah, thanks."

I got out of bed, quickly changed into shorts and a tank top, and grabbed a small duffel bag. From there, Nate (while wearing a backpack) and I exited the room and ran into Pyrrha. We say our good mornings and continue through the halls into the training area. Nate and Pyrrha went off to do their things as I went to the punching bags, plugging headphones into my scroll and playing some heavy rock.

I stood in my stance, took a few deep breaths, and started wailing on the bag. After a few minutes, I noticed Xander had just walked in wearing a black shirt, a pair of sneakers, and sweatpants. Unknowingly, I shifted my focus on him as I kept going on the bag. From snippets of looking at him, he mainly did muscle-building on both arms and legs. His armor must be heavy. With one final push, he lifted the bar, placed it on the hooks, and sat back up, sipping from his water bottle. Nate and Pyrrha walk up, and the three start chatting. Eventually, leading up to Nate and Pyrrha breaking away from him, Xander looks in my direction. He gets up and starts walking towards me. He approaches me.

Xander: "I never took you as the kind to be up the same time we do, Andrea."

Me: "Why is that? Is it because I usually sleep in until class?"

Xander: "It wouldn't be the first time that happened now, would it?"

I scoffed and cracked a slight smirk. We continued talking for a few minutes before my scroll buzzed, saying I got Nate's text. A picture of me and Xander just talking with another text under it saying: "Get a room, you two." I looked around the room to find him and Pyrrha on the sparring mat, fighting each other. I stifled a chuckle and looked at my scroll, trying to craft a witty response; even with Xander's help, we couldn't think of anything. We sighed out of defeat and walked towards the mat as I placed my scroll in my bag.

After fifteen minutes of watching Nate and Pyrrha fight each other with no winner, Xander and I moved onto the mat and stood in our stance, trying to get a read off each other... seeing who would throw the first punch. I rushed forward and threw a one-two combo; he swiped my hand away as I continued a flurry of strikes and vice versa. I dropped, swinging my leg around, Xander jumping to avoid the attack, and somehow tripped over his feet on the landing, falling as I was getting up, taking me down with him. I was on my back, and he was on top of me with both arms instinctively at both sides of my head. Once we opened our eyes to see where we landed, we inadvertently looked into each other's eyes.

I couldn't move. Not just because he was on top of me but because there was something in his icy blue orbs that made me not want to push him off or say anything. Instead, my face was heating up. Once he realized where he was, he quickly rolled off to the right and kneeled beside me.

Xander: "Are you okay, Andrea? I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"

I quickly sat up.

Me: "I-I'm fine, Xander, and it's Andi. I prefer it that way."

Xander: "I see."

We stood up and started to dust each other off.

Xander POV

What were you thinking, you absolute moron? Couldn't keep it together for five seconds and decided to fall face-first into her? Wow...

Andi and I stood back up and proceeded to dust ourselves off. I moved my hands to my pants and slowly noticed a small green-capped bottle on the mat. I picked it up and got Andi's attention to see if it was hers... her eyes went wide, and she quickly snatched the bottle from my hand and gave me a stern look.