I wanted to do something separate for Valentine's Day, and it might not still be Valentine's for some of you but… it still is for me, so it counts! Haha, anyway, I own absolutely nothing but I hope you enjoy!

The Red Strings

"Nora, it's time to wake up! You can't stay up there all day!"

Unknown to her mother, the seven year old girl was already awake, staring in confusion at her hand, waving it around in the air. There was this peculiar red string tied around her pinky, but she couldn't feel it… and it looked almost like it was glowing. But that would be weird, because she shouldn't see something glowing in the middle of the morning!

Nora reached for the string and tugged it gently, feeling only the slightest bit of resistance. But that was weird too, because let's face it, the string was going outside of her bedroom and there should have been something tugging on it!

"I'm coming!" Nora called back, temporarily forgetting about the weird string. It was Valentine's Day, and her mom would make heart-shaped pancakes, and her dad would bring home chocolate, and Ren was supposed to come over! Everything was going to be awesome!

"There's the sleepyhead!" Nora felt the hand ruffling her hair and grabbed onto the arm it was attached to, squealing loudly as she was lifted up into the air effortlessly.

"Mom! Look what Dad can do!" Nora kicked her feet in the air to demonstrate how high she was being lifted, even though it was obvious to anyone who looked.

"I see, I see," The woman smiled at her overly excited daughter, flipping a pancake carefully on the pan. "Don't get her too excited dear; we want her sitting down for breakfast, not bouncing off the walls."

"I can eat and bounce!" Nora protested when her feet hit the floor, bouncing on her toes instead of the walls.

"Here, like this," Her parents were ignoring her, but Nora knew they weren't really ignoring her. They always got all lovey-dovey and gushy around each other, especially on Valentine's Day. Or on that day when they'd leave Nora at Ren's house and go out all fancy for dinner. "If you flip it like this…"

"You'll end up sticking the pancake to the roof." Nora glanced up, but her luck wasn't in… there was no pancake up there.

"Could we do that?" The girl asked, earning herself a grin from her father and a disapproving eye roll from her mother.

"See what you've caused?" The words were softened when her mother flipped the pancake, only a small part of it missing the pan. "This'll be yours Nora, as long as you set the table."

"Got it!" Nora dashed for the plates, looking for the one she wanted most. It was a present from Ren, and was gigantic and great for syrup! "I got the plates, and cups so I get a pancake now! Huh?"

Nora held her plate up, her head tilted to the side. She hadn't seen that earlier… when did her parents tie strings around their fingers? And why were theirs so short? Nora's was still really long, as if it was going outside!

Wait… did it just grow?

Nora stared as the string linking her parents stretched further so they could move to the table, pancakes steaming on plates. She had a pretty active imagination, but she was sure this was beyond that! Why would she have imagined strange red strings tying people together?

And where was hers going? It didn't feel like a bad thing, but it was a mystery, and she had to solve it!

"Um… I'm not hungry! I'm going to find Ren! Save me a pancake!" Nora didn't wait for an answer, though in most normal cases, her parents didn't make a big fuss about their daughter rushing out of the house at strange hours. Their town wasn't so dangerous; people still left their doors unlocked at night and Nora often came home after dark.

Dashing out of the house, Nora kept an eye on the string on her pinky, pausing every so often to take a deep breath. Maybe she should have grabbed a pancake before she left… but she wouldn't have been able to enjoy it so much without solving this mystery!

It seemed like hours –but was really only fifteen minutes- when the string began to look like it was shortening. Nora beamed at her hand, wondering if what she was looking for was almost there. Maybe it would be something totally awesome and she could show it off and…

"Nora?"

The girl glanced up from her finger, beaming cheerfully at the sight in front of her. "Ren! Hi!"

"I thought we were meeting at your house?" Ren blinked at his friend, a bag held in his hands carefully.

"Oh, yeah, but I had to find something! See, I have this really weird string attached to my finger, and my parents had one too, but theirs were attached to each other! But mine's not attached to… oh hey!" Nora glanced down at her hand, pleased to see that the string was much shorter now. In fact, she could see the end of it now…

Attached to Ren's hand.

"It's on you! Okay, that makes sense!" And to her, it did. After all, who else would she be connected to? Ren was her favorite person in the whole wide world, besides her mom and dad, so where else would the string lead? How could she have missed it?

Nora beamed at Ren cheerfully, turning back around to walk with him. "Now that that's solved, we can totally go have pancakes! Mom made some really good ones this morning!"

()~~()~~()~~()~~()

At sixteen, Nora regarded Valentine's Day as a welcome break from the normal repetition of normal life. All the boring humdrum from daily life changed in the weeks leading up to that day, making things a little different… more exciting.

She didn't get obsessed over getting presents, because Ren was always going to give her something after all. He always got her chocolate, and Nora always made him some cheesy card and a handmade present. And her group of friends always got her at least a little bit of something, even if it was just a small candy. So that was never a worry for her!

Plus, she wasn't overly obsessed with romance. It didn't seem like that big of a deal to her… everyone was always talking about finding someone to spend their lives with, but Nora already had that. Maybe they weren't like… together-together, but wasn't that connection good enough? Why ruin any of that with any of that romance stuff?

Not like she hadn't questioned what it would be like, but that was totally natural. What else would you do if you grew up with an attractive boy near you all the time? Besides, growing up, Nora had asked Ren to be her first kiss, and first dance, and all the other important firsts… there was no one else important enough to share those with!

So, for Nora, watching everyone else freak out over Valentine's Day was more amusing than actually being a part of it. But for once, she was very very interested in what Pyrrha was looking at.

"So… what's all this about red strings of fate? 'Cause it sounds kind of weird!" Nora tried to hide her interest, rubbing at her pinky absently. She'd forgotten about that weird Valentine's Day all those years ago, and she hadn't wondered about it since. It had just been settled that the string led to Ren, and Nora hadn't questioned it past that.

But maybe she should have, because this was getting to be a very well-known legend, and if anyone else found about the string she'd seen years ago, they might have to explain about the 'just friends' thing a lot more…

"It just says that two destined partners are supposed to be bound by a red string," Pyrrha leaned the book towards her partner absently. Nora knew her teammate enough to know that the other girl was seriously considering this, at least a little bit, to be truthful. "But do they mean romantically, or as battle partners? And how would the string work? Would it…"

"Pyrrha! It's a romantic legend! Don't take it so seriously! Besides, I can totally see some magical string tying you and Jaune together, and then you can use that string to drag him towards you because he's never going to make the first move!" Nora laughed at her friend's discomfort, dashing off as Pyrrha turned as red as a tomato.

As soon as she was out of sight, Nora leaned up against the wall, rubbing at her pinky absently. Maybe she was just remembering wrong… or she had been a child with an all-too active imagination. She must have heard about the red strings somewhere before and imagined it all…

Or maybe it was real and…

No, that was crazy. But she might as well play along with it for Pyrrha's sake… she was pretty sure that she had some red thread in her sewing kit.

Nora could totally tie some connecting Jaune and Pyrrha tonight!

Her plans set, Nora grinned. It might not be real, or maybe it was, but at the end of the day… Nora rubbed her pinky one last time before running off, imagining where a red string around it would lead her.

She had no way of knowing that halfway across the school, Ren was rubbing his pinky as well, waiting for the girl he knew would always be with him.

Does anyone else just look down at their hands, hoping to find some red string just hanging there and leading you to your soulmate? No? Just me? I know it would be too easy, but… it was too cute of an idea to resist! I do hope that you guys enjoyed, and I will see you guys in the next story!