Holiday Heroine(RWBY X OC)

Chapter 8

"Come on, Nichole, you can do it!" 

"Ha!" Nichole swung down her sword and the man sidestepped it.

"Don't leave yourself open, child!" her opponent held his blade up to her neck. 

Nichole felt the blade digging into her neck a little. If he forced it down further, she would've gotten her head cut off.

"That's enough, Yule!" someone else called.

A woman rushed to Nichole's side and cleaned up the small cut from her neck. The alcohol stung a little but it was temporary.

Yule walked off to the side while eyeing Nichole with malice. She looked away but still felt the waves of anger from him.

"You're too soft on her, Hollie!" Yule barked. "She wouldn't become an exceptional huntress!"

"Don't say that!"

Yule stomped over, each step making him angrier than the last. "Just yesterday, some of the villagers saw more Grimm by the river! Not to mention that the temperature's dropping and we have to worry about that!"

"Yule, just calm down." Hollie tried to reach out to her husband but he moved away. 

"No! It's..it's..." he couldn't say the words but Nichole knew what he wanted to say. 

Yule glanced at his student and sighed. "I'm sorry, Nichole."

Nichole dropped her head a little. "It's okay, I'm sorry too. Father."

The coldness in the last statement made Yule shiver. 

"Come on, Nichole. Let's get you washed up for dinner." Hollie smiled softly, redirecting the child to their house. 

As she was walking away, the child glanced back at her father who had a hand over his eyes. It was hard to tell whether he was stressed out or sad, but she chose the former. 

Why? Why can't I make my dad proud?

"Why..." Nichole muttered, gripping her sword tightly.

An older Nichole jolted out of her chair. She nearly stumbled over if it wasn't for her weapon propping her up. She rubbed her eyes and felt something wet on her cheek. 

That's weird, was I crying? Nichole thought, drying her face with her hand. 

She looked around the room, noticing that her teammates were still asleep. She counted them but there was one missing.

"Wait, where's---"

"Good morning, Nichole!"

"Ah!"

Nichole gripped the hilt of her sword tightly as Lilac tried to loom over her. "Jeez, kid! You can't be sneaking up on people all the time!" she growled.

"I'm sorry but I can't help it!" Lilac grinned. "It's so fun!"

You won't be saying that when you get seriously injured or killed because of that.

"Anywho, what's the plan for today?" the purple huntress asked with stars in her eyes.

"Uh?" Nichole rubbed her head, trying to recount yesterday's events. All she remembered was that they were walking around some desolate village, finding the Grimm nest. But they were supposed to find something else that would lead them there. What was it?

"Ugh, can you two keep it down? People are trying to sleep." Crystal said groggily. 

"No can do. We have a mission to complete." Nichole informed. "Same goes for everyone else. It's time to get up!"