RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC24: Break (Renora and Co.)-2

Ren and Nora arrived shortly thereafter, while Shine and Cinder were still outside.

Giving Pyrrha and Jaune a chance to warn them.

Ren took it better than they'd thought.

"But isn't it weird to have her in your house?" Nora asked.

"A little, but she seems more afraid of us than we are of her," Pyrrha said. "Come to think of it, I think she always was."

"The main thing with kids is to have fun with them," Wally was telling Jaune. "Stay in touch with your inner child."

"I was wondering more about principles and values," Jaune said.

"Hmm, I guess I do try to tell the kids to be brave," Wally said. "But I think they just need to feel important to someone. Shine's the teacher. We go together like ice cream and cake, I guess."

"I'm exhausted." Emerald had plane lag almost. "Maybe I should go--oh, but Cinder!"

"She could just stay here if she doesn't mind," Pyrrha offered tentatively. "If it's just for one day."

"That wouldn't make you uncomfortable?" Ren said.

"Ren...we slept in the same camps for two weeks, on the road, in Grimm territory, with Mind Grimm making us fight each other. Comparatively this is nothing," Pyrrha pointed out.

True.

Ren had almost forgotten those days.

The two women came back in then, and Cinder seemed calmer.

She handled Ren and Nora being there with a bit more composure than before.

She also accepted the offer to stay over because getting another place would have been impossible at this hour, at least easily. Argus was still packed; hotel rooms were scarce.

She wan't much for small talk, but with prodding she did tell them about her new job.

No one made fun of it. If anything they were amazed she was doing so well, but only Nora was tactless enough to say it was surprising out loud.

Wally quickly changed the subject.

"So, Jaune, did you really pick up guitar again?" he asked.

[Who remembers that episode?]

"Oh...yeah," Jaune said. "I just have more free time than I used to. Things have slowed down a bit at the hospital, which is a good thing. I thought I could start it up again. I mean, I know how you said not to stop pursuing creative things just because of what we've been through. It is kind of therapeutic."

"It's good," Pyrrha said. "I should get a hobby. But really, I've found an odd kind of solace in taking care of those kids."

"Solace?" Nora said. "From what? Were you sad?"

"Oh, no, not sad," Pyrrha said. "How could I be? I married the man of my dreams, and I'm doing the job I always wanted to do. I just realized that all that wasn't enough. Somehow saving people isn't the same personal contact as being there in other times. It's...chaotic and, for an only child, a bit of an adjustment for me compared to Jaune, but once I got past that, I loved it."

"So it wasn't as seamless as you made it seem," Emerald noted, sipping her tea.

"No...no, I did have a few times where I wanted to scream," Pyrrha said, though no one could picture her doing so. "But Jaune's cool headedness about it helped me rationalize that it wasn't so big a deal."

"Kids will do that if you don't have a sense of humor," Shine noted. "There are times."

"Funny, Jaune isn't normally the calm one out of the two of you," Ren observed.