Hello again! So, yeah, I'm like SUPER LATE with this chapter. I blame many things. Writer's block, school, inspiration for other stories but not this one, the release of the RWBY Volume 2 Soundtrack (BTW, HOLY SHIT! Love, love LOVE the soundtrack, especially "Boop" and "Dream Come True" . Jeff and Casey are shipping Arkos and SlothFlower so hard, they should work for FedEx!) and just general chaos. But, I managed to pull together, and basically bring this story to a point in this chapter. I'll do one more chapter to close it out (which will probably come later this week) which will wrap up the story completely. After that, I'll do a piece for this month's /r/RWBY Fanfiction MonCon over on the RWBY subreddit, and then I'll turn my attention back to my new RWBY/Halo crossover, RWBY: A New Breed of SPARTAN. I really hope you like what I have in store! As always, read, like, hate, criticize, share, and LOVE! Thanks again!

PS: I've been told the correct name for the RenxNora ship is SlothFlower, not Renora, so I'll do my best to refer to it correctly from now on.

Michael was screwed.

One thing, I asked those fucking idiots to do one thing, he thought to himself, as he scrambled between the booths, checking for that freaky girl with the hammer and her green clad friend.

Now Ray and Gavin were out of commission. Michael looked at the one bag of Lien he managed to snag before he took off. It held several thousand, easy. A decent enough take, he thought, if only I can make it out of here…

He looked ahead. He had made it to the front of the carnival. Patrons continued to stream out, but Michael didn't see either of the two Beacon freaks. He sighed as he began to walk towards the exit. Looks like I'm home free…

Two people stepped in front of Michael. One was an athletic red-hair girl holding a length of pole, the other was a lanky blonde-haired boy holding a wooden sword.

"We'll give you one chance to surrender quietly." The girl said, brandishing the pole in her hands like a spear. "Put down the rifle and whatever you stole, and we won't hurt you."

Michael didn't recognize the blonde kid, but even he knew who the redhead was. Michael had placed illegal bets on the Mistral Regional Tournament before, so he knew exactly who four time champion Pyrrha Nikos was. He also knew where she now attended school.

"DAMN BEACON FREAKS!" Michael howled, as he lifted his rifle and opened fire at Pyrrha. The Amazon spun the pole in her hand and blocked the rounds with ease. Michael screamed in frustration and took the small hatchet off his belt. He chucked it at the blonde kid, but didn't wait to see if it would connect. Michael turned and took off into the maze of booths, desperate to find a way out. The pole that Pyrrha was holding whizzed past him, the sharp point embedding into a wooden support beam. "Fuck this!" he cried, as he took off.

Jaune deflected the hatchet with ease. He looked up to find the thug fleeing into the forest of booths. He saw Pyrrha chuck her makeshift spear after him, but he managed to dodge it, running deeper into the carnival. "Dust, I missed him!" Pyrrha groused, a humorless smile tugging her lips.

Jaune was preparing to give chase when he saw Nora and Ren running towards them. "Did ya get him?" Nora cried, bounding up to her team leader.

Jaune shook his head. "No, he fled deeper into the carnival. Pyrrha and I are going to go after him. Can you and Ren stay here and guard the exit?"

Nora raised her hand to her forehead in a mock salute. "YES SIR, FEARLESS LEADER!" she crowed. Ren rolled his eyes with a smile.

Jaune nodded, and turned as he and Pyrrha took off after the thug. Pyrrha paused to wrench the pole out of the wood beam as she passed.

Nora sighed happily as she turned to Ren. He's so handsome, she thought, her face relaxing into a dreamy state. Yet I can't just say the words. Every time I want to say "I love you", I either chicken out or say some other nonsense, like "Boop" or something… The black-haired lotus boy looked back and smiled. Ren noticed the lines of thought wrinkled on Nora's face. "Something on your mind, Nora?"

Nora snapped out of her thoughts. Well, right now might be the best time. "Ren, what do you think of me?

Ren stuttered for a second, taken aback by the apparent suddenness of Nora's question. "Uh, uh, what do you mean?"

Nora turned to Ren, her face all serious now. "I mean, how do you feel about me? I mean, we've been together for soooo long, and while I always say we're not , you know, 'together-together', but in my mind I always kinda thought we could be 'together-together'. I mean, I always thought you were handsome, and, well, I don't know, I always hoped you thought I was pretty in return…" Nora started to ramble. Ren put his finger up to Nora's lips, effectively silencing her.

"Nora, I've loved you ever since we were young. Every day we've been friends I always thought myself to be one of the luckiest boys in Remnant to have someone as energetic and pretty as you by my side. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with."

Nora's heart soared. "D-do you really mean it, Ren? You want to be 'together-together?"

Ren moved in. Time seemed to slow as he took Nora in his arms. "Yes, Nora. I want us to be together-together."

And he proved it by pulling Nora into a deep kiss.

What seemed like eons but in reality was only seconds, they broke apart. Nora, her face flushed with color, giggled and hugged Ren tight. "I love you, Lie Ren," she whispered.

Ren smiled down at her and returned the hug. "And I love you too, Nora Valkyrie."

The two stood in each other's arms for a few more seconds. Ren raised his head and looked around. "Uh, Nora?

"Yes, Ren?" Nora replied, still snuggled close to Ren.

"We should probably return our attention to the task at hand."

"Oh. Yeah. Right." Nora gasped and pulled away from Ren, hefting her borrowed hammer. Well, now that the trivial stuff is out of the way, she thought as she glanced admiringly at Ren one more time, its back to business.

Jaune peeked into a booth to find it empty. He sighed explosively. This creep had to be hiding here somewhere. Unfortunately, the now empty carnival provided plenty of place for someone to stay hidden.

Jaune looked over at Pyrrha, who was clearing another booth. She looked back and shook her head.

"This is hopeless," Jaune said, as he proceeded to move further down the row of booths. "This guy's just gonna stay under wraps until we either leave or pass him up. Searching each booth is gonna take a while-"

A sound of metal crashing sounded from a food stand a few hundred feet away. Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and grinned. They moved towards the sound, hunters converging on prey.

DUST FUCKING DAMN IT! Michael thought to himself. He had taken cover in an abandoned kebab stand, hoping that the two do-gooders would pass him up. But his foot accidentally knocked over a stack of pans, which basically was like ringing the dinner bell. He looked around for something, anything, which he could use to his advantage. His eyes settled on a gas tank set against the far wall. Michael's eyes flared. He kicked the valve on the tank and gas started to hiss out.

Jaune and Pyrrha approached the kebab shack. Jaune motioned for Pyrrha to circle around to the rear of the shack, while he moved to the front. She nodded, and began to creep along the wall.

Jaune got closer to the shack, and was almost to the window when a blur in a black suit jumped out. Jaune began to turn to engage the thug, but stopped when he noticed a strong smell of sulfur. He looked into the shack and saw the broken gas tank.

"So long, freaks!" Michael yelled, as he produced a lighter from his pocket. He flicked it open and chucked it towards the stand. He turned and dove into a nearby booth.

"PYRRHA, LOOK OUT!" Jaune had time to yell a warning to his partner, who managed to activate her Aura just before the shack detonated in a ball of concussive fire. Even though both Jaune and Pyrrha were protected, the blast sent them flying away.

Michael emerged from cover. He saw Pyrrha lying prone on the ground, knocked down but still intact. Damn, what does it take to finish these guys, his mind screamed. Michael reached into his suit pocket. He only had one more card to play in this fight. He produced a fist sized Burn Dust crystal, enough concentrated energy to incinerate a hundred-yard swath of carnival. He grinned, as Pyrrha looked at him, recognized what was in his hand, and visibly flinched in fear.

"Let's see you dodge this, you Beacon freak!" Michael hissed. He threw the crystal towards the still prone Pyrrha, and took careful aim with his rifle.

Jaune emerged from the booth the blast had flung into. His mind raced and slowed as he processed the situation. Pyrrha was down and vulnerable. That thug was about to detonate a dust crystal. Unacceptable.

Jaune felt himself surge with Aura as he sprinted over to his partner.

The sequence of events that followed seemed to play out one frame at a time. Michael fired a round from his rifle. The bullet flew in the air on an intersect path to the Dust crystal. Pyrrha curled into a ball, flaring what Aura she had left to try to protect herself from the inevitable blast. Suddenly, a blonde-headed blur appeared in between Pyrrha and the crystal. With a mighty yell, Jaune surged his Aura, and a white flash of energy appeared, as the bullet connected with the falling crystal, triggering a roaring detonation.

Nora and Ren felt the concussive blast all the way from the front entrance where they stood. Ren looked and saw a cloud of red smoke billow in the distance. "Jaune and Pyrrha are in trouble," he cried. Ren took off towards his teammates, Nora right behind him.

Michael picked himself off the ground, brushing himself clear of dust and rubble. The blast was larger than he had expected. He was lucky he didn't catch the full force of it. Well, at least I finally beat those freaks, he thought, as the dust began to settle.

Michael frowned. There appeared to be shadows in the dust cloud. He strained his vision, trying to make out the shapes. His eyes widened in horror. "OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

Pyrrha, who had shut her eyes before the blast, opened them to find herself and Jaune encased in a glowing half-sphere of white Aura. Jaune stood, unfazed by the result of the Dust explosion. He stared at Michael, rage in his eyes.

Michael stepped back in fear. "W-wha…w-who ARE you?" he stammered.

Jaune advanced on Michael, wooden sword clenched in his fist. "My name is Jaune Arc. I'm a Huntsman in training at Beacon Academy. I'm the leader of Team JNPR. And you," Jaune added, as his body began to flare white, "just messed with the wrong team."

Jaune let out a battle cry as he charged Michael, blazing white energy surging through his body.

Michael screamed as he unloaded the remaining rounds in his rifle, but they did nothing to faze Jaune. He held the rifle up in front of him in a feeble attempt to block Jaune's strike. Jaune channeled his Aura into the wooden blade, and glowed white-hot as it came down in a devastating blow. The blade neatly bisected Michael's rifle, and the force of the strike sent Michael flying backwards, crashing through five booths.

And landing at the feet of an orange-haired, hammer wielding Valkyrie.

"OOH, REN, THIS IS THE GUY!" Nora screeched. "OOH, CAN I BREAK HIS LEGS?"

"I don't see why not" Ren replied, moving to her side.

"NOPE!" Michael screamed, crab walking backwards, desperate to get away from the crazy girl. But he was far too late.

The hammer descended as a symphony of cracking bones and screams of pure agony echoed across the carnival.

Jaune dropped his sword and rushed to Pyrrha's side. "Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down next to his teammate.

Pyrrha groaned as she rolled on her side. She looked at Jaune. "Yes, I think I'm fine." She smiled. "I see you've discovered your Semblance."

Jaune nodded, the worry on his face replaced with relief. "All thanks to our training together."

Pyrrha stared at Jaune's handsome face. "Y-you saved my life," she stammered, a slight blush on her face.

Jaune was blushing a little himself. "Ah, well, you know, you're, ah, worth saving."

He helped Pyrrha to her feet. Jaune realized that he and Pyrrha were very close to each other. They shared a look, emerald eyes meeting sapphire ones. Their faces grew closer…

"JUST KISS HER, YOU IDIOT!"

"Nora!"

Jaune and Pyrrha jumped in shock. They turned and saw Nora and Ren watching the two. Ren smiled. "Sorry about that. But Nora has a point. Just do it already!"

Jaune looked back at Pyrrha. She raised an eyebrow, emerald eyes sparkling, in a look that said one thing: now or never.

Jaune dipped Pyrrha and mashed his lips against hers in a passionate embrace that was long, long overdue.

Finally, they both thought, as they enjoyed the moment.

"Uh, guys?"

Jaune and Pyrrha broke apart, slightly irritated. "Can it wait, Ren? Kinda busy here…" Jaune said, as Pyrrha let out a small giggle.

Ren pointed behind them. "I was just thinking we might have some explaining to do…"

Jaune and Pyrrha turned to see carnival security rushing towards them, weapons at the ready.

"Oh, right." Jaune said, hand behind his head in embarrassment, as the guards demanded that they drop their weapons. "That."