Light Outshining the Darkness ( Blake Belladonna x Reader)

Chapter 42

-Your Pov-

Looking around at your dorm, and the people who have become your team, a smile appears on your face. It seems like so long ago that the dorm had only been awkward silence, the occasional small talk, and the four of you speaking with each other for only moments at a time before you ran out of things to say to each other. But now though, it seems different. Maybe it was the mission that all of you went on with each other, and how things had been life and death, and you had to rely on each other, but you can all speak with each other more openly now, which is the important thing about it. It feels like a team, and like a group of friends.

You had always been a person who looked for the good in the world, and in people. Your mother had always told you and Adam when you had been younger that the things you looked for in the world were going to be the things you found, and the advice had stuck with you ever since. It was always easier for you to be happy, and to look at the bright side. Being an optimist wasn't about not seeing the bad in the world. It was about seeing it, learning from it and working to make it even slightly better. Doubting and being a cynic had never been you.

And yet, there had been a time when you had been forced to be a cynic. When you had left the White Fang, it had been hell. You could never shake the feeling that someone or something was looking right over your shoulder, trailing you at all times. Sometimes you had been correct, and it really had been a White Fang search party trying to bring you back, and other times it had been nothing other than paranoia and nerves getting the better of you.

But for that time, you had never been able to take people at their word, or at their handshake. You had looked for every sign that someone was lying, had been looking for every sign that you were going to be betrayed, and in their every word, you had tried to find a way it might have been a deception. It had been hard, but sometimes it meant the difference between living and dying, so you had done it. When you got to Beacon, it hadn't been like that at all. It had been relaxing, like you were finally home, or somewhere save. Like the people around you really were the people they said they were, and it was such a good feeling.

" So then, he asked me to the dance with him, and then I said yes. Well, I didn't manage to say anything. I just blushed, and then I nodded. He held out his hand for a handshake, but I went to fist bump him. It was awkward, but it was nice. I'm glad he asked me," Valora says with a smile, and a blush, as she finishes telling Silver and Karma the story of how Jaune had asked her to the dance, and the two of them give her a smile.

" Wow. That is awkward," says Silver with a friendliness, much happier. After some time with all of you, he seems to have warmed up to you all, and feels more at ease to be who he really is, someone friendly and supportive as can possibly be. " It was much the same way when I asked Pyrrha to the dance with me. For all of the galas we've been to, none of them had been romantic in nature. It took us some time to be able to understand the other, we were so nervous."

" Honestly, I hadn't planned on going. I haven't made myself too many friends in my time here at Beacon, which is fine with me. I have the three of you, and that's all I truly need. But, Sun insisted. He said that he feels like he owes me for saving his life, and he wants to take me to the dance to do so. It seems like it was just an excuse to get to dance with me, but I suppose it's a start," Karma says, which makes you smile. You've always been good at reading people, and you can tell that deep down, the idea of going to the dance with Sun is something exciting to her, something new.

" I'm going with Blake," you tell them, and then all of them give their own playful teasing, saying sarcastically how they never could have seen it coming, or listing other people you could have gone to the dance with, doing it with a certain playfulness. Maybe it's you reaching, wanting to have a family again, especially after how you knew that soon you were going to have to fight with Adam, but just being able to joke with them like this, it felt like it was truly family.

The four of you all make it back to your own activities, which for you had been reading an old book, a childhood favorite of you, Adam and Blake. Orb hovers in your mind, and then you give him a soft smile, though he has a serious look on his face the entire time, which makes you sigh a little bit. " We're in the endgame now (y/n). All the main pieces are on the board. Myself, Zero and Belial, and our hosts. Enjoy this time you have with your friends, and with your loved ones, but get ready for the coming battle."

" I know Orb. I know. The time is going to come when we have to fight. And when the time comes, we meet them head on and defend who we care about. But until then, I'm not going to stress over it. I'm going to enjoy this time I have with my family and with my loved ones. I'm going to remind myself what I have to protect."

" Good. I hope you do enjoy this time you have with them all. You won't have it forever. I just couldn't bear to lose another host," he says simply, kindly, and then you nod at him, not knowing what, if anything to say in response.

You think of everything he's telling you, which makes you give a small nod, and also a smile. Even if everything is happening fast, it feels right. Even the enemies in your way don't seem like a bad thing. Beating them means making the world safer, and it means getting to be able to be with Blake. The future seems closer, and brighter than ever, and the thought makes you smile.