Is this an update? Yes it is.

Am I sleep deprived? Yes I am.

What is this? I don't even know.

What hotel you ask? Trivago.

Lol, y'all love me. Just remember that when you read this.

Saw Spider Man: Far From Home the other day, loved it. Also, WHO ELSE IS PUMPED FOR THE STEVEN UNIVERSE MOVIE?! And to my fellow RWBY fans, have you seen the season 7 poster yet???? 😍

Anyways, that's enough from me, enjoy!!

~xx Avanni Cinders

YOU'RE 23 IN THIS BTW

"I always knew I'd take a bullet for you." Valt Aoi whispered, pain ebbing through his chest and into his upper ribs.

"Valt," you cried his name, clenching the material of his vest and feeling hopeless as the sticky red stained the material and clung to your hands, coating them in the shade of crimson that could be deadly. A sense of hopelessness began to curl and breathe within you. It wasn't meant to be like this, none of it was supposed to happen, he wasn't meant to go out this way. You'd heard the shot and barely had time to panic before Valt was slamming into you and shoving you to the ground. You'd already lost Shu almost an hour ago, and now with your boyfriend hit, you were all that remained. You yourself had shot down Daigo fairly early on, but Wakiya and Rantaro were still out there, and one of them had just gotten to Valt.

"Valt, I can't do this without you." You begged him quietly, knowing that it was useless. The red down his front said it all, he couldn't get back up and keep going even if he wanted to. You wanted to shout your frustration, but if either of the other boys heard you, they'd know where to find you and you couldn't take them head on, not by yourself.

"Avenge me Y/n." Was all he said before his eyes fluttered shut and he let out a heavy breath. You closed your own eyes momentarily and tried to calm the anxiety in your chest. Valt was down, and Shu was long gone, you were all that was left and Wakiya and Rantaro would be after you. Normally, you wouldn't be fazed by going up against a team up of the two blonds, not when they argued and clashed as much as they did, but God did they love to win and that brought them together so you knew you'd need to be on the lookout if you wanted to avenge your teammates and emerge victorious.

You left Valt behind in the clearing and bounded off into the treeline so you'd be afforded some cover. You'd already retrieved your prize, it was tucked securely into your belt, all you had to do now was make it back into the confines of your own territory and not only would you be safe, you'd be the winner as well. The foliage of twigs, leaves and pinecones crunched under your running feet. You knew that they might very well hear the racket you were making, but you were desperate, and when you heard running water you could practically taste the victory.

Your lungs were burning at this point, you'd already been running for hours, and navigating your way through the dense forest while remaining under the radar was no easy feat by any means whatsoever. You'd left Valt far behind. You kind of felt bad for doing that, but what other choice did you have? Besides, he understood, just like you would have had the positions been reversed. Sometimes, sacrifices needed to be made on the way to achieving a much larger and more desirable goal. The sight of the river that marked the boundary between territories finally came into sight and you gave a cry of relief. A new sort of desperation fueled you, and suddenly your burning muscles were working over time as your legs pumped furiously and you practically flew over the terrain.

You were so close, the end was right before you. Your prize flaped in the breeze behind you, and the heavy weight of your gun jolted against your leg. It probably would have been smarter to have it in your hands, but it felt better to sprint with your arms unburdened.

The river was maybe twelve metres in front of you by now, and you covered a rough metre with every long stride you took. All you had to do was get through the running waters and you'd be safe. All you had to do was make it just that little bit further and the loss of your best friend and your boyfriend respectively wouldn't be in vain. Twelve metres were cut down into ten, and then eight, then six, you could have crossed the rapidly closing distance in a single leap, but you didn't, and that was your mistake.

A loud shot rang out from somewhere behind you. A rush of adrenaline spiked through you and your heart thumped wildly in your chest at the sound of that near deafening noise. Your brain barely had time to process the sound before something small slammed into your back, throwing you off your rhythm so that you fell to the ground.

"Oh." Was the only thing you said, when Wakiya's boots entered your field of vision. You looked up to see the feral grin he wore, and you still found it in yourself to fix him with one of your most venomous glare even as you felt the stickiness beginning to glue your shirt to your skin.

"Bastard." You swore, infuriated by his smirking response. He shook his head and tutted at you in obviously feigned disapproval.

"Language."

"You shot Shu and my boyfriend." You spat, getting your arms under you and forcing yourself up off the forest floor.

"All's fair in love and war Y/n," he shrugged, stooping to snatch the fabric from your belt. You wanted to catch him and pull it back to you, after everything you'd gone through and lost to get it, giving it up like this just didn't seem right. "You got Daigo after all."

The scathing retort ready on your tongue was stolen by the shout of triumph that drew both your and Wakiya's attention. Rantaro thundered through the trees, emerging from their cover and bolting for the river border. He didn't slow down for even a second, not when he closed in or even when he saw Wakiya standing over you. All you could do was press yourself up and watch, tears in your eyes as Rantaro pulled the blue material from his belt and splashed through the ankle deep river, the prize held triumphantly over his head, flapping in the wind. You knew it was all over when he made it to the bank and ran up onto the land, shouting and hollering. Wakiya abandoned you and met him, they did that bro-hug thing that all guys seem to do, leaving all pretenses behind in their sheer and utter delight at their victory.

You stood slowly, still feeling the pain from where you had been shot. You moved your gun out of the way so you could properly feel your back, wincing as your fingers brushed over the tender sore flesh, coming away coated in that deep red. The blonds came over to you, identical grins of victory decorating their faces.

"How does it feel to lose it all Y/n?" Rantaro taunted, waving the blue fabric in front of your face. For a moment you were tempted to grab it from him and hold it over his face until he stopped kicking. in the spirit of good-natured vengeance and all that.

You growled, but were stopped from responding as something crashed through the forest around you, closing in on your location. More than one something actually, three somethings, all eager to learn who had come out on top. They appeared almost at the same time, Shu was first, shortly followed by Valt and Daigo. All three boys had shed their vests and weaponry, and taken the time to clean up a bit before hearing the bell to say that it was over and one team had finally won.

"Y/n! Did you– damn!" Valt exclaimed, skidding to a halt beside you when he noticed that you were all gathered on the wrong side of the boundary and it was Wakiya and Rantaro who were in a good mood. It was the closest he'd ever come to swearing, but you didn't have it in you to reprimand him at that point, you were too busy deciding on whether or not you should be feeling happy for your friends or disheartened by your loss.

"Great job guys," Daigo congratulated his two own teammates, seperating from Valt and Shu to stand with them instead. He might have gotten out early on, but he had still technically won alongside his friends, considering the teams you were all on.

You began pulling off your vest, unclipping the straps at your waist and tugging it up over your head. Your boys followed along with you, Rantaro and Wakiya doing the same as they got rid of the now unnecessary layers they'd needed to put on in the beginning.

"We've finally beaten your seven win streak L/n," Wakiya reminded you, still unable to get over his hard earned win.

"Lucky shot," you threw back at him, arching a skeptical brow. Wakiya merely rolled his eyes at you, knowing that you didn't mean anything by it and were just messing around with him.

"You got her good," Valt remarked when he noticed the rapidly purpling skin on your waist as your shirt rode up slightly. It was still smeared with red, but it was already starting to dry as a result of the Summer's heat and had started flaking off.

"I'll live," you huffed, jumping the fence that outlined the forest and landing on the other side. Each of the males accompanying you did the same, and together you headed up the hill to the cool shade of the shed where you'd return your loaned gear, mark down the win and shower off the dirt and the grime that was clinging to your skin and clothing as a result of your monthly annual adventure.

Ever since the whole Red Eye situation with Shu had gone down almost two years ago now, yourself alongside your fellow members of the original Beigoma Academy BeyClub had started doing montly activities together in order to make sure you all stayed close and kept in touch. It was month three and your turn to choose, when you had introduced the six boys to the joys of paintball. It quickly became a favourite and now, along with whatever else you were doing, no matter what, all of you would meet up for a game of paintball. Ken hadn't quite taken to it like the others had, so he normally chose to sit out, but he'd always be waiting once the grudge match had been settled for another month and go out to dinner and a movie with the rest of you.

Paintball was something you'd gotten into during your year twelve camp at highschool, and was something you absolutely loved. Back then, the rest of the BeyClub had all chosen to go rock climbing instead, and so none of them had ever found out what you found so fun about running about a forest and shooting other people with pellets of paint until you'd dragged them along and made them try it. The competitive nature of the sport and your friends ensured a fierce rivalry between you, and now, eleven games after your first, you still stuck to the original teams and kept a constant score going of the winners and who had the most victories under their belt.

So far, you and the blue team with Valt and Shu were in the lead, heading with a total of eight games, whereas this was the red team's fourth win since you'd manage to begin a consecutive stream of victories. Wakiya, Daigo and Rantaro had always given it their all, but they hadn't been able to pull a win over you until that day. You were happy for them, obviously, but naturally, you were also sore from losing. Sore from that, and that shot Wakiya had nailed you with, which had to have been at close range for it to be still aching with a dull and persistent throb.

"You okay?"

You smiled at your boyfriend who waited beside you while standing in line with the others to sign off on the game and return your loaned equipment. He was looking at you with concerned brown eyes, the same eyes that still managed to make your heart race and your stomach fill with butterflies even after your seven years of dating. You wouldn't be dating for much longer you knew, Valt was awful at keeoing secrets and hiding things, and you'd always had the ability to read him like an open book. You'd gone into one of his drawers in your shared bedroom at your apartment together to put away some of the washing you'd folded for him when you'd come across a black velvet box. You'd been unable to help yourself and peeked inside, only to have your breath stolen by the beautiful engagement ring you saw. After a long cry and some serious excited freaking out, you'd hurriedly composed yourself and took care to put the ring back exactly where you had found it. You hadn't mentioned it to Valt, knowing that he would do things in his own time, but you could scarcely wait for him to reveal it properly to you.

"I'm fine." You promised him, leaning into his side and resting your head on his shoulder. He'd already returned his things and taken a quick shower after you'd left him in the clearing, and you could smell the lingering scent of the body wash he always packed along in a toiletry bag when coming to a paint ball match, something that all of you had taken to doing. "Just wondering how long we're going to have to listen to this for."

Valt laughed when he followed your line of sight to where Rantaro was regaling a patient Ken with tales of his 'conquest,' and where Wakiya could be seen and heard bragging about the victory to Shu and Daigo. "Probably all night."

"That's fine," you said, sighing happily when Valt's arm wrapped itself around your waist, uncaring of the paint and dirt he was probably getting on himself in the process. "We let everyone know about it when we win, but you know Wakiya, he'll be dedicating songs to his greatness by this time next week, mark my words."

"Doesn't he usually pay people to do that for him anyway?" Valt asked and you snorted, buring your face into his shoulder at how right his words were. Wakiya had come along way from how spoiled he was back when you were all in your teens, hell, all of you had grown in some way, but Wakiya would always be Wakiya, which also meant an ego so large you were surprised he could get himself out the door on some occasions.

"I was afraid I'd almost lost you back there," you joked once you'd gotten yourself back under control, referring to his dramatic 'death' scene back in the clearing. It was amazing in all honesty, that the man had never taken drama as a student, as he surely would have aced the class and been one of the top students.

"You'll never lose me m'lady." Valt declared dramatically, and before you knew it, he had swept you into his arms and lifted you off your feet, your vest and paint ball gun dropping to the floor as you wrapped your arms around his neck and he pulled you down into a sweet kiss.

Hehehe, idk, I love making y'all think I murdered Valt. One day imma actually kill him or something and you'll be reading along not at all worried, then you'll get to the end, freak out and die a little when you can't find 'the rest.'

Night guys xx

P.S.  Excuse any spelling errors, it's 12:34AM where I am and I'm running low on sleep.