She stepped into the ballroom, heels clicking against the marble. Spotlights followed her, turning on as she approached the center of the room. A solitary singer was waiting for her there, her own gown of silver glittering as she swayed from side to side. Her back was turned as the song played.

She sang a slow, sorrowful song about a girl locked within a cage of her own design. It crested as she tried to withdraw and build it up even more, only to end before anything about her life resolved.

"Hello, Yang." The singer turned toward her, more dolled up than Yang had ever seen her.

"Hey, Weiss." Yang stepped up and wrapped her arms around her. It had been months.

"Yang," Weiss kissed her lightly. "Just so you know, this is a dream."

"What're you talking about?" Yang squeezed her harder. "If this was a dream you wouldn't be wearing that much dress and the music would be way different."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "You're asleep, I sent you a dream so that we could speak."

Yang glanced back and forth. The music had started up again. It was a… classical piece that she was sure she'd heard somewhere before. All of the couples surrounding them stepped toward each other and started to dance.

"Come on. "Weiss held a hand to the side, clearly waiting for Yang to grab it.

"I don't know how to dance like this." Yang didn't.

"Sure you do, this is a dream after all." Weiss smiled at her, earrings glittering in the light.

"Don't blame me when I catch your toes." Yang took her hand and started moving.

It was easy to catch the beat. One... two... three… two, two, three, three, two, three, four, two, three: Yang tapped the beat in her mind as the dance began.

She started with a slow turn, keeping Weiss close as they rotated around in place. A second rotation brought a smile to her face as her feet moved on their own and they stepped to the outside of the floor, following behind the others.

Yang stepped and spun, twirling Weiss like a fairy princess. Again and again they glided across the floor, slipping past their friends as they moved. Yang could make out all of them there. Jaune and Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, Pyrrha and… some girl Yang didn't know…

"Wait a minute." Yang snapped her head back and forth. There were two Noras… And now that she was paying attention, two Rens... along with three Pyrrhas.

"It's a dream, anything is possible." Weiss nodded her head to the corner where Ruby was dancing with… her scythe… and somehow managed to be spun around by it.

"Right, but-" Yang twirled Weiss again, interrupting the spin with a hand on her lower back. "Why this?"

Weiss smiled and the action froze, the colors began fading to grey. They were alone. "There's going to be a dance at Beacon soon; I thought that you would've wanted to go."

"I mean… yeah, but I don't think this is the sort of dancing you'd see there." Yang shook her head. "For one, there's no way Ruby'd be able to do that in heels… or even without them."

"Probably not, but I thought that you'd never had a chance to dance like that before." Weiss sat down, a chair materializing from thin air behind her. As she leaned forward, a table appeared as well. The music and dancers finished, fading away and leaving only the silver table behind. Moments later a chair for Yang appeared.

Yang kicked the chair out and sat on it backwards, her dress shifting into her hunter outfit. "So, what else is there? You wouldn't do all of this just to dance with me."

Weiss let her head fall slightly, face changing from the softly smiling mask to utter exhaustion. "Do you have any idea how long it's been since I did anything remotely resembling fun? Months, literal months of nothing, but work."

"Weiss…" Yang held a hand towards her.

In an instant, the mask was back up. "I didn't send you this message to make you sad, even if having both you and Blake around would make me feel better. I sent it to give you an experience you wouldn't otherwise have and warn you."

"What's going on?" If something was getting to Weiss, of all people, that much, it had to be big.

"I'm not sure how much you've paid attention to the news. Frankly, I wouldn't blame you for ignoring it completely, but there have been a lot of changes thanks to Ruby." Weiss folded her hands in front of her, eyes shining as the mist behind her shifted. "The most significant of them is that the Atlas military was called in to help Vale with their Anathema problem while Vale's Hunters are incapable of fighting."

Yang slowly nodded, stomach falling to the ground. She knew Atlas was around, she'd been attacked by them often enough, and that Hunters all around Vale were cursed in some way, but not that Ruby was the cause. Though… as soon as Weiss said that, it made sense. Who else would be able to pull something like that off? But… "But… Ruby wouldn't do something like that."

"Wouldn't you if it meant helping her?"

"Of course I would!" Yang pounded on the table. "But, I'm a bad person. Ruby isn't."

"And Ruby wanted to make sure they didn't kill you."

Yang didn't really know what to say to that.

"She's being hunted by everyone because of how much she cares." The symbols of the kingdoms appeared behind Weiss, slowly rotating. "She hasn't been caught due to what I have to assume is a stroke of luck."

"That's… good." She didn't know what else she could say.

"Which brings me to the reason I'm sending you everything right now." The image changed to a map of the region they were in. Ruby's symbol appeared on it, trailing behind Yang's own. "I've been tracking Ruby as best I can. While I don't know how far away she is right now, she's close."

Yang gulped. She… what the hell was she going to say to Ruby.

"Yang, there's something very important that I need you to do until she finds you."

She nodded.

"Keep yourself under control and do not, under any circumstances, get your body taken over by Tialeth." Weiss' voice was ice. "I don't know how Ruby's changed since she left, but I can't imagine her reacting well to you losing control of your body. That is, quite literally, one of the most common theories about the nature of the Anathema."

"Shouldn't be too hard." It wasn't like she wanted to lose control of her body like that and it hadn't even happened since she learned how to do first aid. "Anything else?"

"Please keep yourself as safe as possible." Weiss reached across the table and grabbed Yang's hand. "I know it may be hard to believe, but there are more people at Beacon who care about you than just me and we're trying to make it possible for both you and Blake to come back."

"I- I never dreamed that…"

"I know. I didn't either, but that's Ruby's influence for you."

"What do you mean?"

"It will make more sense in person, when I can actually answer complicated questions."

Yang sat still for a moment. "But... you've been answering mine-"

"Yang." Weiss cut her off. "This conversation is a dream. I'm not going to know anything you're thinking right now."

"I… But… But I'm saying things." If this was all Weiss guessing how she'd react, that'd be really creepy.

"I created this dream for you. It isn't a two-way method of communication." Weiss conjured a computer screen. "Think of it as a video email where I hired an actor to play your part and then inserted your consciousness in her body via sympathetic connections."

Yep, really, really creepy and… "Sympa-what?"

"I had to make a message for you and then forge a connection between it and your soul so it would be delivered."

"How?"

"I burned one of your socks." Weiss smirked. "That was the fuel for the spell and your ownership of it hadn't faded."

"Jerk." Yang made a face… or, Weiss made her make a face… Even if it was exactly the face she would make in this situation. "Now you need to send me another to make it even."

"Oh, I'm planning to. There's a lot more that I need to let you and Blake know."

"You sent Blake one?"

"Of course."

"What was it?"

"You'll need to ask her, but"- Weiss snapped and the mist behind her started moving -"let's do something fun before you wake up."

A race track appeared, Bumblebee's engine purring underneath Yang. Weiss was on a similar bike… which didn't actually resemble any motorcycle Yang was familiar with. But, if this was all Weiss, then maybe she just made something cool.

"Ready?" Weiss smiled at her.

Yang revved her engine.

The racing lights started counting down.

Red… Yellow… Green…

Yang-

-slammed face first into the ground.

She pushed herself back up, flipping to her feet with her fists raised at… her bed… that she'd just fallen out of... Missing out on what would probably have been an awesome race and… Was the shower running?

"Blake?" She called out, stepping into the bathroom. Her partner was showering, without any mist.

"Yang?" Blake gasped.

"What're you…" Yang stuck her hand under the water, ice cold. "Why?"

"I need to not be... distracted while we're shopping."

"Did… did you just have a weird dream directed by Weiss too?"

Blake slowly nodded, cheeks bright red.

"Ohh, what did she do?" Yang smiled and chuckled.

"N-Nothing."

"That's not a nothing face."

"She… Told me some of what's happening and…"

"And?"

"And then she recreated the opening scene from one of my books…"

"Ohhh," Yang rubbed her hands together. "Which one?"

"I'm not telling you." Blake mumbled through her teeth.

"The Ninja one?"

"No!" Blake shouted, cheeks flaring. "There was just kissing!"

Yang nodded, smiling as smugly as she could.

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Blake's ears were all the way down.

"I dunno, I kinda feel left out now. I didn't get a sexy dream."

"Yang."

"Okay, okay.." Yang stepped back and grabbed her brush. She needed to take baby steps with Blake's level of comfort. "Did she tell you anything we need to do before the dinner?"

"Not really. I'd be able to handle it, but…" Blake shrugged. "Coming out to Carmen comes first. Ruby probably won't find us tonight, so we can figure out what to say to her afterward."

"Yeah." Yang nodded, brushing her hair. What could they even say to her? 'We haven't been trying to hurt people? We know about a big scary Grimm thing? There's a Grimm cult we're hunting?' All of those sounded ridiculous.

They needed to do this right, with both Carmen and Ruby.

"Hey, hey, you need to try this." Yang bumped into Blake and forced a glass of wine into her hands. Somehow, she hadn't stained the fancy red dress she rented. "It's amazing!"

Blake rolled her eyes, but took the glass. After swirling it around a couple of times, people always did that in movies even though she didn't know why, she took a sip… and barely resisted the urge to grimace.

"Good, right?" Yang's eyes were so bright they were almost on fire.

"It's.. something?" Blake choked the overly… bitter? … sour? … She really wasn't sure what to describe it as except that it left her feeling like she needed to drink two glasses of water.

"You don't like it?" Yang pouted.

"It's…" Blake quickly downed the rest of the glass, resisting the urge to cough. "It's tolerable."

Yang sighed. "And here I thought it was super sweet and delicious."

"Yang, you…" Blake really didn't know what to say to that. "What type of wine was it?"

"I don't know what Mistral wine names mean." Yang looked at her glass. "A dryish red?"

Blake sighed. "I'll find something else to drink."

She turned back to the dance floor as she made her way to the far end of the warehouse where the bar was set up. The happy couple had been dancing out there since the reception started. So had Carmen. She and her husband had been the second couple on the floor, only stopping to grab water.

Blake smiled at them. It was nice to be around such happy people, even if it made her own plans more difficult. Carmen, as the one who officiated the wedding, had been so busy that Blake hadn't managed to get a word in.

When she finally reached the bar, it was covered in full wine glasses.

"Not your thing?" The bartender must've noticed her grimacing.

"Not really. It's too..." Blake shrugged. Even after going out with Yang many times, she had no idea how to describe alcohol. "Do you have anything… smoother? Is that the right word?"

"Got a favorite flavor?"

"Uhh… Chocolate? Cream… Both?" Blake grabbed one of the glasses of water and swirled the taste of the wine away.

"Coming right up." He pulled out a few bottles, spinning them as he poured something.

Blake drank the entire glass, glaring at the wind.

The bartender chuckled. "It's an acquired taste, unlike this beauty."

Blake sipped the milky brown drink. It was chocolate flavored with a hint of almond. "Much better."

"You're here with the redheaded goat Faunus, right?" He nodded toward Yang, who'd managed to get herself into a drinking contest with a man literally twice her current size.

"Yeah."

"Watch out for her. She's on her tenth that I've seen… eleventh now."

Blake didn't need to worry about that small of an amount. "Thanks you letting me know. I'll-"

The sound of shattering glass cut her off.

The room went silent. Blake slowly turned to the source of the crash.

A man had fallen, bringing a table down with him. He slowly lifted it off of himself, chest covered in tomato sauce.

After a few moments, someone started laughing. Then the rest joined in. Blake couldn't help laughing herself, though a smile crept in when Carmen broke away from the dance to help him.

Blake focused on her ears.

"Don't you worry. I have an extras in the back." Carmen pulled the man up, whispering to him.

Blake started following behind her as she lead him away. She pulsed a thought to Yang. 'Carmen's going into the back. Coming to grab you.'

'Okay.' Yang was in the middle of chugging a bottle of wine when Blake arrived.

She tapped her partner on the shoulder. "Come on. You've had enough."

Yang held up a finger, finishing off the bottle as quickly as she could.

"Come now. Let the girl have her fun. It is..." The man took an exaggerated drink, smiling in a way that sent shivers down Blake's spine. "A good day to drink."

"We're going." Blake looped her arm through Yang's and pulled her away.

"Aww, okay." Yang tossed the bottle onto a table and pointed at the man. "I'll be back to beat you later."

"I'll be waiting."

A moment later, Blake growled. "Yang, what was that?"

"Dude saw how much I could drink and challenged me to a drinking contest."

"And you said yes."

"Yep."

Blake took a deep breath and sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

"Don't worry, your plan is great."

Blake smiled and listened. She could make out exactly where Carmen was from the awkward laughter. The man had his new shirt and Carmen was urging him to hurry back to the party.

"Hey." Yang waved as they stepped into the room. "Carmen, can we… talk to you for a bit?"

"Of course." Carmen smiled, waving the man off. "Do you want to sit?"

"I think that would be for the best." Blake nodded, closing the door behind her. She focused on the sounds outside. They were alone.

Carmen pulled a pair of folding chair out for them. "What do you want to talk about?"

"We're…" Blake started, not able to meet her eyes. "Not exactly who we said we were."

Carmen nodded, smiling softly.

"You aren't surprised?" Yang sat down, staring at the wall.

"Girls, the two of you appeared seemingly from nowhere, having traveled through the wilderness, with more money than many people see in a month." Carmen kept smiling. "I had you pegged for either wealthy runaways or criminals from the first night."

She was… technically not wrong. Blake had stolen a lot over the past few months. "Why weren't you worried?"

Carmen took a deep breath. "Because many of the Silver Lady's followers come from such a life. I would say that more than half of us have run afoul of the law at some point."

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

"Gotcha." Yang still couldn't meet Carmen's eyes.

Blake grabbed her partner's hand and squeezed.

"I imagine that something serious must have happened if you're coming to me now," Carmen said softly, with a bit of stress on the final word.

"Yeah, something big has happened and we need your help." Yang squeezed back, now looking at her lap. "We came to this city because we were trying to track someone down."

"And you think I might know them?"

Yang paused for a moment. "Yeah… His name's Tyrian and he's a member of the… He's called 'the Speaker of Darkness'."

"I've heard of a Tyrian, but not that title."

"They're… a creepy Grimm cult that wanted me to help them destroy Vale." Yang clenched her free fist. "So… I took out the group I found and, well, kinda of want to find the rest of them to put a stop to whatever they're doing."

"That sounds awfully dangerous."

Yang waved the warning off. "We'll be fine. Just let me know where to find him."

"I cannot in good conscience do that."

"Why not?"

"While I had thought the two of you may be Academy dropouts, someone threatening Vale isn't a matter that you should be playing around with, " Carmen raised her voice slightly.

"What?"

"That's for the Guilds or Vale's Hunters as a whole to handle. Not two girls who are far too young for such a risk. Any information that you can give them would be-"

"We'll. Be. Fine." Yang finally looked at Carmen. "I've already killed like twenty of them."

"Yang." Blake cut Carmen off. "I think there's something you should explain."

Carmen frowned at them.

"Okay… So… yeah, there is." Yang rubbed the side of her neck. "There's really no problem with any of that because I'm… actually… Yang Xiao-Long."

The frown turned into the glare.

"You know, like, the new goddess tha-"

"Don't make jokes like that," Carmen snapped.

"I-" Yang froze. "Why would I joke about that? Why would anyone joke about that?"

"There are many people who seek power above all else and will take any amount they can, even if it is just duping a young girl," Carmen said so bitterly it made Blake finch.

"But… Who in their right mind would pretend to be Anathema? That's… stupid and..." Yang rubbed her temples. After taking a deep breath, she got back to normal. "Anyway, I'm not lying."

"Then I hope you'll forgive me if I ask for proof." Carmen folded her hands on her lap, fingers so tense her knuckles whitened. Blake listened for the real meaning. 'Please, be real. I've been disappointed so many times.'

"Umm…" Yang held a hand out and ignited it with green flames. "Poof."

Carmen squinted, not able to look directly at the flames. "That could easily be your Semblance."

"Uhh… help?" Yang awkwardly grinned at Blake.

Blake tapped her partner's forehead.

"But then I'll have to sit back here for an hour." Yang whined. Blake gave her a cold stare. "Okay fine."

After another breath, swords of green fire erupted on Yang's brow. "Believe me no-"

Carmen dropped to one knee. "I'm sorry that I doubted you, my Lady, but… You must understand, we've been lied to so many times."

"Uhh…" Yang looked like a deer caught in headlights. "You… you don't… It's no problem, I just… Can you tell me who he is now?"

"Of course." Carmen bowed her head again. "I'll introduce you to Violet immediately. She's the one who knows of him."

"Thanks?" Yang half smiled. "Just, stop bowing please."

Blake squeezed her hand. All of a suddenly very aware of how warm Yang was. Was it the fire?

Carmen began standing up, then went back down. "My Lady, if I may ask a boon of you."

"Sure, if you stop calling me that. It's just Yang."

"I'm sorry, that's too irreverent."

"Uhh-" Yang made a couple of noises, sending her thoughts to Blake. 'Help me make her stop!'

'Umm… Give her a title that makes her closer to you?' Blake shrugged. She couldn't think of anything good to say. It was really a question for someone like Weiss. 'Like High Priestess or something? Then it'd be less improper?'

'I… I really don't think that's a good idea and I don't know why.' Yang groaned. "Okay, what's the favor?"

"Iris and Grey"- the bride and groom -"are both very devout followers of Lady Luna and were some of the first to ask about including yourself in our regular ceremonies."

"Okay."

"It would mean the world to them if you were to bless their marriage."

"Uhh… Isn't the ceremony over? You married them an hour ago."

"Does that matter?" Carmen raised her head.

"I don't know?" Yang looked at Blake again. "Does it?"

Blake shrugged. "It's your cult."

"I-" Yang stammered. "Can we keep it quiet? Like, just the five of us?"

"You don't wish for everyone to know?" Carmen asked very slowly. "It would bring a lot of happiness to their lives."

"I don't… not yet." Yang shouted at Blake mentally. 'Help!'

After a moment, Blake coughed to draw attention. "If everyone knew, it's more likely that someone would let the secret slip to a Hunter."

Carmen nodded. "Of course. I understand, Lady Blake."

Blake shuddered. Being called that did feel really weird.

"I'll… Figure out how to get them here without revealing too much." Carmen stood up, bowing her head to each of them in turn.

As soon as she left, Yang grabbed the straps on Blake's dress and pulled her close. "What am I going to do now?"

"Be god like?" Blake grinned, trying to hold herself together. The room had gotten really hot, probably thanks to Yang's fire.

"But I don't know…" Yang squinted at her. "Are you alright?"

Blake fanned herself, trying to keep her eyes from drifting down. Yang's dress was really nice looking. "Just, really warm."

"Sorry, I figured fire would make it more obvious."

Blake shrugged, sitting down. "Can you bless people? Ruby could, right?"

"I… don't kn-" Yang looked up. "Shut up you stupid demon!"

"Yang?"

"It wanted me to brand them like Adam."

Blake shivered again. "Please don't."

"Of course not! I-" Yang cut herself off, looking back towards the main room. "Someone's Aura just did something."

Blake took a deep breath and focused on her hearing. "That's so gross!" A little kid said as people were gasped.

An older man awkwardly chuckled, "I think you've had a little too much."

"No, I'm," the man slurred. "I'ma grood."

"I think someone got too drunk and threw up."

"Urgh…"

She could also hear three sets of footsteps coming towards them. Blake wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "You ready? It's showtime."