It was Christmas at Beacon.

Well, that wasn't technically true. It was December 12th at Beacon.

Nonetheless, the spirt of the holiday had long since invaded the hallways and classrooms of the esteemed Huntsman Academy. Let it never be said that Huntsmen were a dour lot. No sooner had Halloween passed the school by – a holiday which had, itself, been ripe with decorations and festive activities – than the Christmas decorations had come out to play. There seemed to be no room in Beacon's schedule for any type of Thanksgiving celebration, save for a few days off classes. But as far as Christmas was concerned, there was not a hallway in the school undecorated.

The eaves of the ceilings all had long strings of greenery, complete with bright spots of cherry red where bright berries had been allowed to remain. The Main Hall had no less than twelve, fully decorated Christmas trees in it, arranged at equidistant points along the walls. Every classroom likewise had a decorated tree within it – even dour Glynda was not allowed to Scrooge her way out of the Christmas season. Lights ran along the length of most of the exterior walls, no doubt hiking the Academy's electric bill to untold heights, and even some of the regular trees outside had been tastefully decorated with overlarge ornaments and lights. There didn't seem to be a single inch of the Academy that had not been transformed into a winter wonderland. Even the Brave Huntsman statue that sat in front of the building now had several, hand-sewn Santa Claus hats resting happily atop their heads.

Blake had heard a rumor that Ozpin himself had a soft spot for the holiday, and it was not hard to find the truth in that. The Christmas cheer had even found its way into the school's holiday policy. Starting today, Beacon was officially beginning its prolonged Christmas break. Goodwitch had passed around a sign-up sheet on the first of December, requesting any and all students who were planning on staying at Beacon to sign it. Those who didn't – the vast majority of the student body by far – would be free to return home for the duration of the break. Beacon would not demand their presence again for three-and-a-half weeks on January 6th.

Three-and-a-half-weeks was an absurdly long time to be away from school, Blake thought, but she seemed to be in the minority. If Christmas had been a talking point before, the excitement for the holiday had reached a crescendo when Ozpin had announced the Christmas schedule over breakfast that same morning of the first. It seemed that practically the entire student body was returning home, eager to run into the arms of their parents and regale them with tails of their first semester at Beacon. Her own team had positively exploded with excitement. Yang and Ruby both had spent hours after the announcement talking her and Weiss's ears off about their father and their home. It would have been – and in fact had been – cute if it weren't for how incessant it had been. A few days into their nostalgia-induced stupor, Ruby had been beside herself at the injustice of her and Weiss' Christmas plans. They had both signed up to stay at Beacon. Weiss' relationship with her father was strained to say the least, and Blake…had no home to return to. Ruby had extended immediate invitations to them both that had come across more as a militant demand. Backed up by Yang's own enthusiasm, it had been difficult to say no. Weiss had gone to Goodwitch later that same day to inform her that she would be leaving the school for the holiday. As for Blake?

Amber eyes peered silently over the top of her book, subtly enough to go unnoticed by the oblivious and blunt members of her team. Weiss may have cottoned on to the action, but she was too preoccupied with her last-minute checklist. Why she thought she needed to bring along her extra Dust supply, Blake didn't know, but she had become rather defensive when the topic was last broached. Yang currently only had eyes for Ruby as she used her overstuffed suitcase as a makeshift seat, her eyes filled with a mixture of wonder and annoyance as she watched her sister haphazardly force her belongings into a suitcase much too small for the job. Ruby had caught Blake's eye as well. She had not taken Blake's refusal to attend the Xiao Long-Rose Christmas well and had spent the last nine days attempting a mixture of ordering and begging to get her to change her mind. Blake had, she was fairly certain, even caught Ruby trying to hypnotize her while she slept one night.

Blake returned her eyes swiftly to her book, not even bothering to pretend to read it as Ruby pressed her entire weight down onto the lid of her suitcase, finally managing to close it with a soft, strained click. If Blake had to guess, it would explode with the force of a Dust ignition when Ruby eventually got around to unclasping it, but at least that would be in the confines of her own, private room and not their shared dorm room. Ruby gave a little huff of exertion, going so far as to reach up and wipe away nonexistent sweat as she did. Blake thought that a touch overdramatic, but it was Ruby she was talking about.

As if on cue, Blake felt the pressure of hopeful, silver eyes land on her. Her fingers tightened around the edges of her book. She didn't want to spend Christmas with her Team, but nor did she want to again disappoint Ruby by telling her no. Her leader really was too adorable for her own good.

"Blake." Ruby's voice was tiny and resigned. Oh God, Blake moaned internally. She's doing this on purpose. She has to be!

Blake closed her eyes lightly, sighing through her nose as she quietly closed her book, using her finger to hold her place. "Yes, Ruby?" she asked as monotonously as possible, unable to help the small smile that twitched at the corners of her lips. Damn you! she cursed. Stupid, cute, adorable leader!

Ruby, her eyes looking everywhere but at her, idly poked her index fingers together in a show of nervousness. "You do know you can come with us, right? I-I told Dad to expect four people."

Of course, you did, Blake deadpanned.

"Uh, you didn't even ask Dad before inviting them," Yang piped up, raising a single finger. "I told Dad to expect four people."

"Hush, that's besides the point!" Ruby hissed.

Sensing the beginnings of an old, familiar sisterly argument, Blake spoke. "You should have only told him three," she said, passing her eyes over the both of them. Whoever it was that had actually told him the number of guests to expect, she was positive that they had both wanted her to attend. "You were very kind to offer, though."

Ruby twitched lightly, her eyes seeming to flit over her face and back again, as if she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to look at Blake. Seemingly, she came to a conclusion and took a breath. "No one should be alone on Christmas, Blake."

Blake kept her face straight even as something tweaked in her heart. She resolutely kept her eyes on Ruby's own, refusing to let them wander to the top drawer of her dresser. She would be fine. She was always fine. Being alone at Christmas was hardly the greatest hardship she'd ever had to face. She forced a smile onto her face that, if Yang's expression was to be believed, fooled no one. Or, perhaps it just didn't fool Yang. She could live with that. It was Ruby she had to put the mask on for anyway. "I won't be alone," she insisted with faux happiness. "Plenty of people are staying for the holiday. And I have my books to catch up on!"

Even Weiss rolled her eyes at that one, something Blake was very grateful Ruby didn't see. Blake was, in fact, very grateful that Weiss and Yang were both being as silent as they were on the matter. If the two of them had voiced support for Blake coming with them, Blake didn't think anything would stop Ruby from drugging her and smuggling her onto the bullhead in her suitcase. As it was, Blake felt there was a fair enough possibility of that happening anyway.

Ruby was still trying. "There's room at the house. You can bunk with Yang!"

Blake shook her head, but it was a fond gesture, complete with a happy smile. "I know, Ruby."

"Dad wouldn't mind at all!"

"I know, Ruby," Blake stressed, reaching out with both hands to grasp at the younger girl's shoulders reassuringly. "It'll be okay. I'll be okay."

"I could express-mail Zwei to you!" she suggested bouncily, no small amount of hope in her voice. "He'd be here by tomorrow night!"

"Please don't." Blake squeezed the younger girl's shoulders for emphasis.

"Ruby, we need to go," Weiss stated imperiously, her eyes on her scroll. Blake could see the time reflected backwards through the clear screen – 11:38. The bullheads were set to depart at twelve o'clock on the dot.

Yang nodded. "Yeah, if we don't hurry up, none of us are going anywhere for Christmas."

Seeing the fresh light of a devious idea begin to shine in Ruby's eyes, Blake pulled the girl into a tight hug. She narrowed her eyes lightly at Yang behind Ruby's back, to which the blonde stuck out her tongue in retort. She had known exactly what she'd done. "Thank you for the offer, Ruby," she whispered softly, squeezing her leader tightly for good measure. She pulled back to look her in the eye. "But I'll be okay. It'll be nice. I'll enjoy the quiet."

"We're quiet!" Ruby defended.

"I'm pretty sure Ren filed a noise complaint about Yang's snoring last week," Blake snorted.

"That was him!?" Yang exclaimed, her eyes flickering red.

Ruby winced at her tone, and Blake smiled. "You'd better get her out of here," the cat Faunus whispered, nudging Ruby lightly, "before she starts another food fight."

Ruby smiled back at her, but it was melancholic. The shorter girl pulled her into another tight hug. "Merry Christmas, Blake," Ruby whispered into her neck.

"Merry Christmas, Ruby."

The two girls separated. Weiss and Yang both came up to give her their own hugs, both whispering "Merry Christmas" as they did. Blake responded in kind to the both of them and watched as they left the room with a small smile on her face. Only when the door had closed and she was positive that Ruby could no longer see her, did Blake allow the smile to fall away. She closed her eyes, scrunching them a bit tighter than necessary as she ran a hand down her face.

"It's nice that she cares," she told the empty air, "but it makes it hard."

Her eyes wandered, landing briefly on her top drawer and holding there for a long moment. "Oh, shut up," she rolled her eyes at it before passing into the bathroom. A long, hot bath would wash away the day's worries.

"You know I can stay here, right?"

Nora released a long, deep groan from her bed. She was hanging half off it, her head lolling just a few inches above the floor as her fingers traced idle patterns through the carpet. She'd been there for some time now, weathering Pyrrha's apparent refusal to go home. A lasting imprint of her abstract drawings now graced the carpet. From a certain angle, they may have resembled some form of smiling cat, but the three standing members of Team JNPR could only make out vague, abstract squiggles. Jaune and Ren caught each other's eyes, sharing a brief glance as they smiled amusedly at each other.

Jaune glanced at the clock. It was December 12th, 11:49 A.M. The majority of Team JNPR had been looking forward to this date for three weeks now, albeit for very different reasons than the rest of the school was. Pyrrha had decided to spend the holidays at home as a matter of course, hardly giving it a second thought. It hadn't been until the rest of her team signed Glynda's attendance sheet with the same amount of flippancy that she had begun to second guess her decision to leave.

Nearly two weeks later, the rest of Team JNPR had heard almost every single variation of the phrase, "I don't have to go home for Christmas."

It was beginning to drive them all a bit insane, and when you were teammates with Nora Valkyrie – who was already a touch insane to begin with – that made for a delightfully stressful cocktail of frayed nerves and ticking clocks. Even now, literally ten minutes before the scheduled departure of her Bullhead, Pyrrha was hesitating beside the door, trying one last time to ensure that her Team actually was okay with her leaving.

For the first time that almost any of them could remember, their invincible teammate was not wearing her combat gear – pajamas notwithstanding. That wasn't exactly surprising. Life as a Huntsman or Huntress was demanding, sudden work. One never knew when the job would come calling, and it was better to always be prepared. It was why most Huntsmen and Huntresses designed their uniforms to be as comfortable and easy as possible, despite the obvious defensive drawbacks of such an arrangement. Pyrrha's uniform could never be described as comfortable. The tight corset no doubt constricted a bit too much to ever properly allow relaxation, the metal-capped boots were probably monstrously heavy after a long day of fighting or running and the revealing ensemble probably bought more than its share of uncomfortable stares.

Still, Jaune thought, it is her uniform. Maybe that's why she looks so uncomfortable when she's out of it. Pyrrha had dressed down for the occasion – or dressed up depending on your perspective – dawning 'civvie' clothes. The red scarf covered a fair portion of her chin, and the waist-length brown coat seemed to dwarf her, hiding her lean muscles beneath a layer of happy warmth. Capped off by a brown beanie and a tight pair of denim pants complete with furry boots, she looked downright cozy. Were it not for the harassed look on her face.

She was chewing her lip and flitting her eyes and twiddling her thumbs, seemingly desperate to broadcast her nerves to anyone willing to see or hear them. And hear them they had.

Nora, never a patient girl to begin with, could be forgiven for her shortened temper. "We know," she moaned with a hearty roll of her cyan eyes. She slid from the bed in a fit of exasperation, pooling onto the carpet like a puddle of red-haired, brightly colored water. Pyrrha blanched at the girl's response.

Seeing this, Ren spared Nora a single glance, a raised eyebrow betraying his amusement before proceeding to do what he was best at – Nora damage control. "What Nora is trying to say," he turned his attention to Pyrrha, "is that we think you should go home."

Nora pointed viciously at Ren from the floor, but her other arm was covering her eyes and so she actually ended up pointing at the wall five feet away from him. "Yes! That! Go! Leave!"

Jaune smiled brightly. "She means that we're sure your family is going to love seeing you again."

"The clock is ticking!" Nora cried.

"And we know that you want to see your family again," Ren translated easily.

"You're gonna miss the Bullhead! Hurry up!" Beacon's Bullheads were privately owned and not exceptionally strict about departure times, but it wouldn't do to be overly late. They would leave without them.

"And we'd hate to be the reason the Nikos family doesn't get to spend Christmas together," Jaune finished amiably.

Pyrrha tugged lightly at the end of her scarf. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" all three of them stressed, Ren and Jaune both sporting happy, helpful smiles.

"Now, hurry up," Ren encouraged. "The Bullhead leaves in ten minutes. You don't want to be late."

Pyrrha sighed. "You're right. Of course you're right. Thank you all for being so understanding!" She raised a shining smile to them.

"Alright, alright!" Nora rushed her, raising up her torso as she did. "We know we're awesome. Come on, a quick group hug! And then Ren will help you take your bags to the Bullhead."

"I will?" Ren sputtered. He caught Nora's eye. "I will!"

Team JNPR came together, fours sets of arms wrapping tight around each other. Nora squeezed them all tight enough to loosen bones. Their laughter followed Pyrrha and Ren out the door as they set off at a fair pace towards Beacon's dock. Ren would return in roughly twenty minutes, no doubt pausing to enjoy a brief stint of quiet before returning to the chaos of his dorm. For Pyrrha, it would be almost a month before they saw her again – the longest by far any member of the Team had been away from them since Initiation – but Jaune couldn't find it in himself to mind. He had meant what he said. Christmas was a time for family. He would never willingly get in the way of that.

And, if his eyes happened to glance over the top drawer of his dresser for a moment before flashing guiltily in the opposite direction, Nora had the good grace not to mention it.

A/N: Welcome, welcome to YeeeCawww's first Multi-Chapter fic! Please ignore the screams of fear, that's just me. Now, to begin. Yes, this is a Christmas fic. Yes, I am aware it is February. No, I do not feel any guilt about this whatsoever. Christmas cheer can and should be enjoyed all year long. I have outlined this story to completion – for the most part – and I can tell you that it will be twelve chapters long. No points for catching that reference but yes points for catching the RWBY Chibi reference in this chapter.

And, by God this chapter. It gave me conniptions! I could not get the characters to figure out what they wanted to do! Especially JNPR! I wanted to have this chapter done and posted three days ago, but I could not figure out how to get the characters to work with me. I'm still not entirely happy with how it turned out, but at this point I feel I just have to suck it up and give it a try. We'll see how it shakes out. Please review with your thoughts! And Merry Not-Christmas!