Chapter 41: Chapter 41
"Alright everyone, calm yourselves." Port stroked his beard, pulling out many different folded pieces of paper. "The results have already been randomly chosen. You will each come up and take the paper with your name on it. Inside is the name of another student! Whoever is chosen will become your partner for the next two weeks! You must find time to set aside to get to know them and learn to cooperate together."
Weiss immediately raised her hand. "Will this affect our grades?"
"Excellent question Ms. Schnee! And the answer is yes! Which is why you must strive your very utmost to truly connect with your chosen partner! Why don't you come up and be the first to see your partner?"
Weiss stood up walking to the front of the room. Taking a deep breath, she took the folded paper with her name on it. 'Come on...' she thought, wishing fervently with her eyes closed as she unfolded it. 'Pyrrha...Pyrrha...' However, when she opened her eyes, her expression became deadpan. "Russel Thrush..."
Some of the students gave Weiss sympathetic looks, however, there were a few chuckles from CRDL.
"Hah, you got the rich girl Russel." Sky said, elbowing his teammate. Russel didn't seem to mind, smirking down at his new partner from his seat. Weiss for her part lifelessly made her way back to her seat without another word.
"Excellent!" Port said, enthusiastically rubbing his hands together. "Who's next?" This time no one responded, most of them were a lot less enthusiastic after the first drawing. "Come now, no need to be shy." the professor laughed. "You, Ms. Nikos, why don't you go next?"
"Me? "Pyrrha gestured to herself for a moment before standing up. "Very well." Moving over to Port's desk, she hesitated before reaching and grabbing her paper. The rest of the class quiet to see who she had drawn. "Jaune Arc." the redhead murmured, reading the name aloud. Jaune looked up after hearing his name called. Seeing Pyrrha at the front of the class looking at him, he gave a weak smile before looking away once more.
The other students were called up one by one to draw their papers.
"Blake Belladonna." Nora's face lit up as she went back to her seat. "Oh we are gonna have the BEST time together! We can have a sleepover! Imagine it, staying up late, pillow fights and SO much girl talk!"
Blake's face seemed to wither at this, just barely managing to force a smile. "Yay..."
As per Nathaniel's meddling, a decent chunk of pairings in the class were because of him. Jacey was paired with Ruby in his efforts to try and help her overcome her doubts about being a leader. Pyrrha was paired with Jaune in hopes that would bring them closer together and fix the changed timeline. Sophie was paired with Cardin so that the fiery girl would learn what a REAL bad teammate was like and see how much better she had it with Pyrrha. And Nora was paired with a non-CRDL member as per her request. The rest however were ones he was too late to change.
Aero looked down at the paper in his hands. "Raelin Greene." The girl known as Pyrrha and her teammates turned to look at a girl sitting next to them with short muted grayish-brown hair. He smiled at her, walking back to her seat. "Nice to meet you, I'm Aero Cairn. I hope we can get along well together."
However, despite his efforts, this Raelin merely stared at him without uttering a single word. Sensing the atmosphere was starting to become awkward, Pyrrha spoke up. "Well, I'm afraid Raelin doesn't speak much. In fact, she hasn't spoken a single word to any of us since the exam. But I'm sure she's happy to see you..."
********************************
.
.
********************************
Once again, back in my house, and once again, back in this world. Sitting down on my blanket, I looked around the room which I knew quite well. This place was my oasis in the desert. Somewhere that was supposed to make me feel at ease and comfortable after a long and tiring day. Like it was somehow disconnected from the rest of the world. I've lived and slept in this room for a long time now. Despite that, I had only been gone for a month, and now it felt slightly foreign. I sighed before falling back onto the bed.
"I wonder if Aero feels the same way as I do right now." Who am I kidding? He's probably thrilled to be back home." I should be too, part of me was homesick after spending all that time away. "Aero probably wants to see his mom again, thinking she'd be worried sick about him." Speaking of being worried sick, I also had someone worrying about me in my world too. "Ugh..." I couldn't just ignore Cameron forever, I'd have to talk with him eventually...
I reached out my hand in front of Cameron's door to knock, but couldn't. My hand hovered in the air by the door silently as I went back and forth on what to do. Part of me wanted to just get it over with already. The other part of me wanted to simply turn around and leave. To sit in silence with each other and hope the problem solved itself. But that was the easy way out. No. It was the cowardly way out. I think...I think if I never went to Remnant, I might have done that. That's why I can't falter now.
Knock knock
There was silence on the other side of the door. No response.
"Oh no you don't."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
I rapped my knuckles again on the door, this time harder than before. "Cameron! I know you're in there! Now hurry up and say something!"
There was a sigh on the other side of the door. "Come in..."
Taking a deep breath, I gripped the doorknob and turned it stepping into the room and stopping in the doorway. Cameron's room looked a little like an office mashed together with a bedroom. Against the wall was a white countertop with drawers. The space between them had been removed to allow a chair to be put there making a makeshift desk with a lamp. There was a large group of shelves in the back with books and files stuffed into it. A ceiling fan hung overhead creating a gentle breeze with the window open. And on the bed sat Cameron wearing a resigned expression.
"Are you going to come in or not?" he muttered.
"To be honest, I'm still kinda working up the nerve." Despite my earlier bravado, I wasn't exactly as confident as I wanted to believe. By the looks of it, he wasn't exactly thrilled either. We both knew what this about, and neither of us were eager to talk about it.
Cameron chuckled, gesturing to the chair by the desk. "Let me guess, this is about what we talked about last time."
"Yeah..." I said, rubbing the back of my head.
"Figured."
"Listen...Cameron, I..." I paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
"Oh?"
"To be honest, I hadn't really been thinking about your feelings this entire time. I disappear to god knows where without warning, and you're left to just pick up the pieces. That can't have been easy or fun to deal with."
My roommate nodded. "You're damn right it wasn't, I was freaking out for the longest time. I didn't know what happened to you, or even if I'd ever see you again. On top of that, when you came back, I was so relieved for your safety. So glad to have you back, while you were so nonchalant about the whole thing."
"I know...I'm sorry."
Cameron sighed, shaking his head. "That said...I'm sorry too."
"Eh? For what?"
"For not listening to you. Honestly what you said back then, about wanting to go back was just nuts. Frankly, even after some time to cool down and rationalize it, I still don't get it. But...well, obviously this means a lot to you and I didn't even hear you out. Crazy as it might be, I guess I should have at least listened to what you had to say."
"That would have been nice, yes. But I can hardly blame you, you were scared."
"I still AM scared."
"What?" I tilted my head in confusion. Why would he still be scared?
"You don't get it?" he asked raising a brow. "Don't forget, you disappeared without reason or warning, and then came back without reason or warning. How do I know it won't happen again, that you won't just up and disappear? How do I know it won't happen right now, this very minute? The next day? Next year? Next week? You and I know absolutely nothing about why this is happening."
"I...hadn't thought about it like that." He's right. From his position, I can see why he'd be so worried. Honestly, I'm lucky I want to go back. Because if I hated it in Remnant, I would be terrified, knowing any moment I could be snatched away from the home I love, and there would be nothing I could do about it.
Sitting there quietly, the two of us couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. "Truce?" I asked opening my arms.
"Nathan..." Cameron made an awkward expression, "Don't do this..."
"Truce?" I opened my arms wider, stepping closer to him, an ever-growing grin spreading across my face.
"We're good alright?!"
"Truce?" At this point my arms had opened so wide, I was practically T-posing, only a single step away from him.
Cameron sighed with a resigned look, opening his arms.
"Alright! Truce." I stepped in wrapping my arms around him as he reluctantly did the same. "Was that so hard?"
"Yes."
I couldn't help but laugh as Cameron gingerly pulled himself from the hug. "Alright alright, it's late, so I need to get to go to bed, enough mushy stuff. And you've got work tomorrow, so I suggest you do the same."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
EternalEden
EternalEden Remember kids, always T-pose to assert your dominance whenever necessary.
Don't forget to comment, vote, and all that good stuff. A motivated writer is a frequent writer.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone