"Thank god, that was the longest night of my life!" Weiss shouted with a relieved look on her face, the group had destroyed the Nevermore chasing them with ease, and they had taken refuge against the side of the cliff that they would soon have to climb if they wanted to truly pass the test. Now they just had to wait a little longer, before they could climb the cliff and actually become students at Beacon... passing their tests and attaining their places with pride.
They had lasted a full night in a forest of hostile Grimm, and a never recorded species of Grimm, with nothing but what they had become prepared for... which had been a few hours of fighting at most... not over 24 hours of it.
They were all pretty much dead tired, and Nora was still unconscious from the bloodloss... but Haru had torn the leg off his pants and used it to stop the flow of blood so that was good.
Not to mention he had also cleansed her wound, so it was unlikely to get infected.
"Hey... I just want to say sorry for surprising you when I... saw that stuff." Jaune whispered to her, and she gave him a hard look.
"You have to stay 4 feet away from me at all times... do that, and everything is good between us. You were following orders from a person vastly superior to you... I won't apologize for slapping you though, you surprised me." Weiss said with a huff as she crossed her arms over her tiny bust. Haru wanted to laugh, and Yang was chuckling as she compared the two to a young couple having a fight.
"Whipsh." Yang said as she made the whipping motion.
"Agreed, he is whipped already." Blake said with a light look towards her partner, who was catching her breath... considering that unlike others she and Haru had a 40 and 50 pound weapon that they were forced to run with. She had the 40 pound scythe-sniper, and he had the 50 pound one... They were mostly hollow, so they didn't weigh as much as they looked like they did. Either of them were strong enough to swing their weapons with a single arm, but they lost power to their strikes when they used one hand.
"You guys... joke a lot." Ren commented as he leaned against Haru for support, who looked rather annoyed with this fact.
He wasn't doing the best either, he had done the most fighting out of the group, and at the moment he was the most injured and exhausted. He couldn't afford to keep blowing through his stamina like this, but he was too good for his own good... he couldn't reject a person that needed help.
"Yeah, and you weigh a lot more than you look." Haru commented as he pushed Ren off of him, and leaned up against the side of the cliff. Yang leaned up next to him, while Pyrrha leaned against his other side and gave Yang a look. It wasn't even a negative look, it was a curious one as to WHY she was taking such a defensive position over her brother. Yang looked like she could go into bodyguard mode at any moment now, and frankly, Pyrrha found that disrespectful to Haru.
Haru was her rival, she knew his strengths... and weaknesses... but mostly his strengths better than others.
He was strong, but at the moment he looked like he was going to pass out at any second. He had taken some heavy damage saving their asses from the Floramander, and having Ren lean on him for support for a while did not help him.
Helping people... that was his fatal flaw. He couldn't resist saving people, working to help others, or using his own body to take damage for people that needed a shield.
"Are you okay little bro?" Yang asked in concern as she looked at Haru, and he nodded.
"I'm good... I'm... not good." Haru said as groaned and wanted to hold his ribs, but he knew at this point even so much as TOUCHING his ribs might send him into pain overload and knock his ass out.
"Can you stand?" Yang asked him quietly, and Haru wobbled on his feet, and he used his sister's shoulders to keep him standing. Haru looked at her with a wince, and she tenderly wrapped an arm around his back and kept him steady.
"Honestly... I think I'm gonna pass out soon." Haru told her, knowing his own limits well enough to know that he had exceeded them. It wasn't even pathetic at this point, he had saved some asses while his ribs had been broken. He had lasted most of the time with only a few minutes sleep at the most, and he had been the root cause of his friends actually surviving to this point.
Blake twitched when she heard that, being able to hear their low tones that they were using with her sensitive ears.
Yang looked at Haru with both concern and care, she gripped her fist, before she swiftly punched him in the gut. Haru's eyes widened, before he passed out cold do to... both her and Pyrrha's punches. Yang glared at Pyrrha, and Pyrrha looked surprised at the glare.
"What, I was just saving him from more suffering by knocking him out... you did it too." Pyrrha reminded Yang, who sighed and rubbed the side of her head in annoyance. Pyrrha had a point, and she knew it. It was that point why she couldn't stay angry at Pyrrha this time. She passed Haru off to Pyrrha, who looked surprised at the show of trust that Yang was placing in her to carry Haru.
"Haru!" Ruby shouted in concern when she saw his unconscious state.
"Don't worry, he just passed out from exhaustion. Pyrrha here will carry him, so that we can defend him." Yang assured her little sister with a small smile on her face. Ruby nodded in understanding, and sighed in relief.
Pyrrha blinked, and then she gave Yang a deadpan stare.
That... made a lot of sense. Yang didn't trust her in the slightest to defend Haru, instead, she was getting Pyrrha out of the way so that she could defend him.
"Is he okay?" Weiss asked when she noticed what had happened, while Jaune wisely kept his mouth shut about how Haru had been knocked out by Pyrrha and Yang... which he had noticed despite them doing so when they thought nobody was looking. He didn't have a death wish, and he didn't want to deal with a pissed off Haru when he woke up either.
"His ribs are broken, and he is in a lot of pain... so Yang knocked him out." Pyrrha admitted, and Yang turned around and gave her a look. Pyrrha smirked a little as well, despite being a generally good person... she could still hold a grudge and get revenge. She was the first to admit that she was not perfect, and that she wouldn't try and hold a grudge long... but if Yang wanted to play the game this way, then she could play the same game.
She didn't want the skills that even Haru complimented to be spat on by his own sister.
"Grow up, both of you." Blake told them with a frown on her face.
She could see what was happening between Yang and Pyrrha, and she was upset that they were doing this NOW of all times. Danger might not be seen present, but Haru proved to her that in the woods danger was always around, waiting to strike.
Pyrrha had a crush on Haru, rather obviously and how he hadn't noticed it himself proved that he was ignorant to women's feelings. Pyrrha wanted to help, but Yang was making it hard, and then Pyrrha was getting back at Yang with backhanded words.
Yang was super possessive and protective of him, and she didn't trust Haru to other women... and Pyrrha seemed to sense this, and her respect for Haru was making her take his side without understanding Yang's side.
"Kitty has some claws." Yang said with a grin at Blake, who blinked at Yang with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" Blake asked, not sure what she should think of that.
"She was making a joke about your cat ears." Jaune said as he pointed up to the cat ears that were showing on top of her head.
"I thought they were kind of cute... like kitty ears." Ruby admitted, and Blake touched the top of her head with her eyes widening when she felt it.
She had no bow on.
She had been revealed as a Faunus, on her first day... not even her first day. This was just a test, and she had still had her race discovered. Her eyes widened and she looked around, before she slowly realized something... Haru already knew about her secret... and he didn't hate her. Then she realized that NOBODY in the group had once looked at her with disgust, or hated her for what she was.
Not even Weiss.
Not even Weiss SCHNEE seemed to hate her for her heritage.
Weiss seemed to notice her stare, before she frowned at her.
"Don't give me that look, I am mistrustful of Faunus yes... but the only Faunus I dislike are those that break the laws like the White Fang. I have no real hate towards Faunus." Weiss stated with her tone suggesting that she was sick and tired of the stereotype that as a Schnee she MUST hate all Faunus that walk Remnant.
She disliked the White Fang, a Faunus group, for good reason... but did she hate every single Faunus out there? No, of course she didn't... she didn't TRUST Faunus all that much, but she didn't trust people that she just met in general.
"Why didn't anyone say anything before now?" Blake asked as she looked around for her bow, only to find that it had slid back so that it was closer to the back of her head. She moved it back into its proper place, and everyone just sort of shrugged or didn't look like it was that big of a deal.
It really wasn't to any of them.
"Haru is an avid supporter of Faunus rights, and I love my little brother. I'm not going to hate a Faunus for being different." Yang told Blake, even if he wasn't her brother she found the way people treated Faunus as completely horrible.
"You were worried for nothing." Ruby told her, and it would seem that Blake understood her... that and she was WAY too exhausted to run away from the group at this point. She didn't have it in her, she was tired and hungry. She couldn't run at the moment even if it was for her life, so the best she could hope for was that they didn't suddenly turn on her.
Blake looked at Haru for a moment, a twinkle in her eye.
He had something to do with this, she knew it. She would have felt her bow slip off of her ears if it had been the woods... he had done something to reveal her secret in a way that she didn't notice. She was thankful, but she was going to get her answer to the question of him having any involvement or not.
She didn't know if she wanted to thank him, or claw him in the face.
Thank him, Yang would kill her if she clawed him in the face.
"Well, at least we only have another hour or so before the test is over... and the sun is out... What could go wrong?" Jaune asked with a smile on his face.
"Rule Number 5." Pyrrha commented to Jaune, fully aware of what rule Jaune had JUST broken. Everyone waited around for something bad to happen, and they were pleasantly surprised when nothing bad happened.
Then they heard growling, it was high pitched and they could hear something moving closer.
Then a blur shot out of the woods and towards them.
Right at Haru and Pyrrha.
"Haru!"