Ruby Rose stared intently at the two pieces of tablecloth laid before her. According to the instructions Weiss had left the pieces of cloth were supposed to be different colors, but they looked exactly the same to Ruby. After nearly thirty minutes of trying to find the seemingly non-existent differences she gave up.

"Why do I have to do this anyway?" she groaned, slumping down in her chair.

"Don't be so negative, sis. Weiss will be back in a little while."

Yang walked by carrying a rather large speaker. When she set it down on the ground, the loud impact made both her sister and the table she was sitting at hop a couple of centimeters in the air.

Ruby let out a disgruntled sigh. The preparations for the annual Beacon academy dance were in their final stretch So far the streamers, the balloons, and the sound stage had been set up. All that remained were the lighting and table decorations. Yang was in charge of the former, while the latter had been thrust upon a very reluctant Ruby.

Normally Weiss would be the one in charge of the décor – in fact she insisted on it – but right now here priorities were elsewhere. Namely with her brother.

"I don't see what the big deal is. If Natsu doesn't want to go, she shouldn't force him." Ruby grumbled. While she did believed in her own words, she mostly didn't want Natsu to go because he felt the same way she did about the dance. Namely that it was a waste of time.

"Yeah, but she just wants him to have a little fun for a change." Yang argued. "As soon as he was let out of the hospital he went to go train with his team. Can't say I blame him, but he should slow down a bit. Same thing goes for Blake."

Ruby sank in her seat and frowned. She had almost forgot that Blake still refused to go to the dance, or rather she was trying not to think about it.

Yang smiled. "Don't worry too much. We just have to make sure that this dance is so good that both of them will be tearing down the door to get in."

Ruby's growing frown showed that she didn't share in her sister's confidence. She looked back at the list of instructions.

"Have you picked out a dress yet?"

Ruby scoffed. "No. What's the point if Blake and Natsu aren't going?"

"I told you not to worry about that didn't I? They'll come."

"If you say so." Ruby squinted her eyes at the list. "What's a 'doily'?"

"What?!" Yang snatched the paper from her sister and looked over it. "Argh! I told Weiss no doilies!"

"She left a note about that." Ruby pointed out.

Yang looked further down the list and saw an asterisk at the bottom of the paper. The sentence next to it read: "If Yang has a problem with my doilies then tell her she will not have her fog machines."

Yang crumpled up the paper in anger and threw it back on the table.

"Hey! I need that!" Ruby shouted as she tried to un-crumple the list.

"She is so unfair!"

The door opened and in walked Sun and Neptune.

"Your dance is going to have fog machines?" the bluenette asked, having overheard Yang's outburst.

"Looks like it." Ruby said.

"Cool."

"You girls all excited for dress up?" Sun asked with a teasing smirk.

"As if." Ruby scoffed.

"Says you." Her sister argued. "I'll be turning heads tomorrow night."

"Don't you mean 'Natsu's' head?" Ruby countered.

Yang answered with a playful grin. "If it he looks too I can't stop him. What about you guys? What are you wearing?"

Sun appeared offended by the question. "This." He presented his current/normal outfit. Neptune quickly stepped in front of him.

"Ignore him. For he knows not what he says."

"Hey I may live in Mistral but I grew up in Vacuo." Sun defended. "Not exactly a fancy dress kind of place."

"We noticed." Yang deadpanned. Normally she wouldn't mind getting an up close and personal view of a man's abs, but she had seen Sun's so much - virtually every day - that the novelty of his body had long since worn off.

"Where's Weiss?" Sun asked. "I thought she'd be all over this dance stuff."

"She's busy trying to convince Natsu to come to the dance." Ruby answered.

"Oh…so what about Blake? What does she think of all this? She still being all…'Blakey'?"

"Yeah." Ruby sighed. "I've tried everything but I don't know if anything will change her mind."

"Just leave it to me." Yang declared. "She'll be at the dance tomorrow. Count on it." With that she walked out of the ballroom.

The winds were unusually high in the forest of Forever Fall. This was not due to anything natural. In fact the cause of these rather violent winds was Mercury Black.

While on his back, the cocky young man continually spun himself around with his legs in the air. Shooting dust rounds from his boots with every rotation, he created a vortex that swirled around both him and Emerald.

Natsu stood his ground away from the swirling winds.

Today was a battle day.

Since Team CMSN's training sessions began their time had been divided between "battle" days and "reflection" days. Battle days were just as described, Natsu would spar with Emerald and Mercury. Reflection days were a little more...initimate. They usually consisted of Natsu and Cinder spending one on one time together where she taught the pinkette how to control his inner fire.

This usually consisted of him thinking about the previous day, mediation, and Natsu learning Cinder's philosophy on the element of fire. As she explained to him, fire was a "natural element that was a catalyst for both death and rebirth". She described it as a "necessary evil" that was fierce when let go unchecked, but could be just as dangerous when controlled as well. Natsu didn't have the first clue what she meant - to him fire was just something to destroy stuff - but he did find a certain truth in her words. She wasn't that bad of a teacher.

When the dust rounds Mercury conjured started to fly out of the vortex, Natsu darted out of the way. Narrowly avoiding the blasts he dashed forward, but was quickly cut off by Emerald. She slashed at him with her sickles, but Natsu managed to block with Black Summer before they could cut him. He smirked at his teammate.

"You're not playing around today."

Emerald returned his smirk with her own. "I told you. Next time I was going to shoot."

Natsu's eyes widened when his nose twitched. No scent!

Emerald faded and Natsu heard the cocking of gun behind him. He moved his head to the left, watching as a bullet whizzed by his head. When he whipped around he saw Emerald's true body.

"I can't believe I fell for that again." Natsu groaned.

As Cinder watched Natsu battle her subordinates from atop the hill, she found herself slightly amazed. Despite only being released from the hospital a few hours ago, Natsu was performing at the same level he had before he entered. In fact, he was performing better.

Mercury and Emerald had extensive experience battling as a team due to their service under Cinder, but even so Natsu managed to keep them on their toes for a majority of the fight. In some cases he even managed to outmaneuver them.

"Amazing." Cinder uttered.

"Excuse me."

Cinder looked over her shoulder to the tree behind her. Standing there – somewhat impatiently – was Weiss.

"Good morning, Weiss." Cinder greeted with a smile.

"Good morning."

The Schnee heiress stood next to Cinder and looked down the hill at the fight.

"I assume you are here to see Natsu?" Cinder asked.

"I am. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. He is your brother. Though I can't imagine he would be pleased with you spying on our team's 'secret' training."

"If he has an issue with me being here he can tell me himself."

Cinder chuckled lightly. "Of course."

Weiss had been noticeably distrustful of Cinder for quite a while. The way she asked about Natsu's power months ago rubbed the over-protective heiress the wrong way. In fact all of his teammates made her uneasy. They was too much she didn't know about them. Showing up whenever they wanted with little to no explanation as to where they were or what they were doing. It was clear to the snow-haired student that they were very suspicious individuals.

Weiss had yet to share these concerns with her team. For some reason they liked Team CMSN. Yang got along well enough with Emerald and Mercury, and Cinder's conversations with Ruby usually carried an air of friendliness about them. Blake really didn't think much of them, but then again that was Blake with most everyone.

Perhaps I'm worrying. Weiss thought as she stared at Cinder. If Natsu trusts them that should be good enough, but I still can't help this feeling of unease in my stomach.

"Oh." Cinder said. "It looks like Natsu may be in a bit of trouble."

Weiss looked back down the hill and her eyes widened. Natsu was being held by Emerald, her kusarigama blade against his neck - with its chain holding his arm behind his back - as Mercury closed in for the finishing blow.

Weiss started to move, but Cinder held out her arm to stop her.

"What are you doing?" Weiss demanded. "That is more than than enough! They could kill him!"

"No. They won't. Just stay back."

Weiss wasn't having it. "Unhand me, you-"When she grabbed Cinder's arm, the dark haired young woman glared at her.

"I said stay back." Her right eye started to flash.

Weiss' spine stiffened. Cinder's gaze had paralyzed her completely. Unable to speak, she slowly backed away. When she was a couple of paces back, Cinder's eyes stopped glowing and she smiled.

"Thank you. Now just watch and see what happens."

Weiss looked hesitantly over the hill to the fight.

"I wouldn't move too much if I were you." Emerald smirked. "My hand might slip."

Natsu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He started to build energy in his body, which in turn caused his body temperature to rise. When he was hot enough, he grabbed Emerald's forearm.

"Agh!" the burning from his touch shot through her arm and she let him go.

The pinkette smirked. "Too hot for ya?"

"You-"Emerald dashed at him with her sickles at the ready. Mercury did the same from the opposite end of the battlefield.

Natsu sidestepped Emerald and she ran past him. She quickly turned around and extended her sickles back into kusarigama. The chained blades cut towards Natsu just as Mercury ran past her.

The gray-topped young man kicked at Natsu, but the pinkette swept his leg. Mercury's leg lifted in the air when he fell, the chains of Emerald's weapons wrapping around his ankle, effectively snatching them from her hands. Finally Natsu threw his fist back, hitting the real Emerald – who was once again behind him – in the face and knocking her down.

"Impressive." Cinder praised.

Even Weiss couldn't help but be amazed at her brother's skill. He had gotten much better.

"That's enough for today!"

"What?!" Natsu whined when he watched Cinder walk down the hill. "Why? I barely broke a sweat. I can keep going."

"Yeah." Emerald said roughly as she Mercury stood up. "So can we."

"Let's start over." Mercury insisted, his eyes narrowed in anger.

"No." Cinder refused. Her commanding tone shook Emerald and Mercury to their senses. "Natsu was just released from the hospital. It won't do him any good if he goes back before one day has passed now will it?"

"No." Mercury and Emerald muttered.

"I'm fine, Cinder." Natsu insisted. "You don't have to baby me."

"I'm not. I am just concerned about your well-being. We won't be able to function well in the tournament as a team if our leader is out of commission before it starts."

Natsu couldn't argue with this logic. He felt fine, but who knows if what happened to his body after the battle with Torchwick had any lingering side-effects. He reluctantly took Cinder's advice.

"Alright."

"Thank you for indulging me. Also you have a visitor." Cinder pointed to the top of the hill.

"Visitor?" Natsu looked to where Cinder pointed and spotted his sister standing at the top of the hill. "Weiss? What are you doing here?" Natsu ran up to her, his team watching him leave.

"I could have taken him if you let me go all out." Mercury said.

"Save your pride, Mercury." Cinder said. "Even at your best he would still have bested you. He was simply better than you." She looked to Emerald. "Both of you."

The mint haired girl bowed her head in shame. "Forgive me, Cinder."

"There's nothing to forgive. This is a lesson. No matter how powerful you think you are…there is always someone better. The real question you should be asking is: how much better is he than you are?' Now come. It's time we begin our preparations for the dance."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Alright."

"What is this I'm hearing about you not attending the dance?" Weiss interrogated.

Natsu sighed. "Not you too." If he had a dollar for every time his sister used that accusatory glare, he wouldn't even need the Schnee fortune.

"Yes 'me too'. Why aren't you going?"

"You I know hate that kind of stuff. They're so boring and the suits are all tight and choke my neck. They'll be another one next year right? I'll just go to that."

Weiss sighed. "That's not the point, Natsu. Right now this is a chance for us to finally unwind from all the craziness that's been going on lately."

"I was doing that just fine down there." he pointed to the bottom of the hill.

"I don't think doing the thing that put you in the hospital in the first place counts as 'unwinding'."

"It is to me." Natsu argued. "Wait a minute, who told you I wasn't going to the dance anyway?"

"Pyrrha. I caught up with her on my way back to the hospital the other day. She told me about the conversation you two shared. Why did you reject her?"

Natsu was confused. "Reject her? No I didn't. She told me she didn't even know if she was going to the dance."

Weiss shook her head. "How can you be so dense?"

This confused Natsu even more.

"She said she 'didn't know' because she wants to go with you!"

Natsu's eyes widened. "Why?"

"Pyrrha likes you, Natsu." Weiss revealed. "She has for a long time."

"What? No she doesn't." Natsu denied.

"Have you honestly not noticed the way she looks at you or the way she smiles when the two of you speak to each other? I'm surprised you didn't figure it out much sooner. You like her too don't you?"

Natsu was caught off-guard. He didn't know how to answer his sister. It was true he felt somewhat happier when he was around Pyrrha. He also enjoyed talking to her, but he wasn't sure if this meant that he had any special feelings for her. Though he did realize he thought of her even when she wasn't around. It was a new feeling for him.

"I…um…I don't know." he finally answered.

"'ll have Emily fit a tuxedo for you when you start to figure it out, but you'd better not take too long. She might be gone by then."

Weiss started to walk off, but stopped before passing the tree. "One more thing. Be careful around that Cinder girl. I…get a bad feeling from her."

As Natsu watched his sister leave he thought about her final words.

Watch out for Cinder? Why?

When he looked down the hill he noticed that his team was gone.

Blake's eyes feverishly scanned over the reports on her computer screen. She had been in library since daybreak – almost immediately arriving after leaving the hospital. Part of her was angry that Natsu had let her sleep for so long, but another part of her was grateful. Despite her bravado Blake knew she needed some form of rest. Unfortunately those few hours Natsu granted her weren't enough. She was still running on fumes.

Her fingers starting to go numb from typing, Blake found a strange relief in the form of a small red light shining on her screen. Realizing that someone was using a laser pointer to get her attention, Blake turned around but found wvery other student in the library working on their own assignments, and were paying her little to no attention.

Confused and agitated, Blake returned to her work. The light returned as soon as she started typing again. It started bouncing around the screen, quickly turning the Faunus' curiosity to anger. Blake slammed her hands on the table and stood up from her chair. When she saw the light on the ground she started to follow it.

Being a cat-type Faunus, Blake was completely aware of her animal sides easy to distract nature, but this didn't stop her quest to find the owner of the light. In fact it only made her more determined – and angry.

The light cut around a pillar and Blake finally came face to face with the culprit, Yang Xiao Long.

"Hello~!" The blonde sang. Clearly she wanted to be found out.

Blake was confused once again. "What are you-"

"We need to talk." Yang grabbed Blake's wrist and whisked her out of the library.

Lie Ren had seen a lot of odd things in his young life: Grimm, a boy with pink hair that could light himself on fire, Nora, but all of those paled in comparison to the situation he found himself in right now.

After taking his nightly shower, Ren was suddenly approached by Jaune. With only the very vague sentence of "we need to talk." The leader of Team JNPR yanked him into their team's room before he could even get dressed.

Now with nothing but a towel covering his lower body, Ren awkwardly sat next to a despondent Jaune. To make matters even more uncomfortable, Nora sat on the bed across from them with headphones on to distract her from their conversation – this was also Jaune's doing.

Why is it always me? He lamented.

"I'm just going to come right out and say it." he heard Jaune say to him. "You are one of my best friends. These past few months I feel like you and I have really bonded. Sure you don't say much, and to be honest I don't know all that much about you, but that doesn't change the fact that I think of you as the brother I never had!"

"And I you." Ren responded.

"That's why I wanted to get your thoughts on…girls."

"Girls?" Ren repeated Jaune's words half out of curiosity and half just so there was no dead air between them. He glanced over to his clothes hanging on the closet door next to the bed. So close but yet so far. Slowly he reached for them, praying that he still could retain some of his dignity when this was over.

"Yeah…girls." Jaune started to fumble over his words. "I…um…girls. Well…uh…I want to know…how did you and Nora…you know..."

Ren pulled back his hand. "What?"

The boys heard the girl in question clearing her throat and looked her way. Her headphones were around her neck now and she had a very noticeable blush on her cheeks.

"Actually…Ren and I aren't TOGETHER together." She clarified with a nervous laugh.

"Nora, I said headphones on!" Jaune ordered.

"Eep!" Nora swiftly put the headphones back on her ears.

"Jaune, what is this really about?" Ren finally asked.

Jaune sighed. The jig was up. "It's Weiss. I'm completely crazy for her, but she won't even give me the time of day. She's cold, but she's incredible too." He started to smile. "She's smart, graceful, and super talented. I mean have you heard her sing? She's amazing. I just wish she'd take me a little more seriously, you know? I just want to tell her how I feel without messing it up."

"Then do it."

Just then Pyrrha walked into the room.

"Tell her how exactly you feel." She said to Jaune. "Everything you just said now. No over the top schemes. No pick-up lines. Just...be honest."

Jaune was still hesitant. "But what if-"

"Jaune." She smiled. "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."

After a few seconds, Jaune smiled with renewed confidence. "You're right. Thanks, Pyrrha. Good talk, Ren." Jaune happily walked out of the room, Ren awkwardly waving him goodbye.

Once Jaune departed, Pyrrha's smile started to fade to a frown and she shuffled over to the desk in the corner. It felt good to help her friend, but her words were more for her own benefit than his. She still had yet to tell Natsu how she felt. In all honesty she was afraid to.

What if he turned her down? She had never dealt with rejection before. It was a scary thought. Would she feel the same feelings of doubt that Jaune did about Weiss? There was also the matter of her not fully knowing how Natsu felt about her either. There were times where she felt they were in sync, but the next instant it all would fade away and be left to chance. It was frustrating.

Is this how it feels to have feelings for someone?

Nora noticed her friend's plight and shook her head.

"Practice what you preach, Pyrrha."

"If you're going to tell me to stop, you might as well save your breath."

"I don't want you to stop. I'm just saying you should slow down."

Yang brought a very unwilling Blake to an empty stadium classroom on the other side of campus. Sitting patiently on the desk with her legs crossed, Yang watched Blake impatiently pace back and forth.

"We don't have the luxury to slow down." Blake reiterated through clenched teeth.

Yang shook her head. "Not a luxury. A necessity."

"The 'necessity' is stopping Torchwick."

"And we will, but first sit down and let me tell you a story." Yang patted the empty space in front of her.

Blake rolled her eyes and acquiecsed to the blonde's request. "Fine."

Yang gave her an appreciative smile and began. "Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island not far off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, while our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose." Yang smiled softly at the thought of her. "She was like Super Mom. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. We didn't have much, but we were happy enough. Then one day, Mom went on a mission…and never came back."

Blake's hardened stare started to soften.

"Things got tough after that. Ruby took it hard, but I still don't think she was old enough to really get what was going on at the time. Dad on the other hand, he just…shut down for a while. Didn't take long for me to know why. Turns out Summer wasn't the first love he'd lost...that was my mom."

Blake's widened eyes gave away her shock. She had no idea that Yang and Ruby were only half-sisters.

"He didn't tell me everything, but I found out that they used to be on a team with Summer and our uncle Qrow. She left me with him not long after I was born. No one's seen her since."

"Why did she leave?" Blake knew that her question was a bit insensitive, but it was the only thing she could say at the moment. Yang didn't seem offended by it.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Yang turned to the chalkboard and hopped from the desk. "I don't know why she left, but I was hell-bent on finding out. After a while it was the only thing I thought about. I would ask anyone who would listen to tell me about her."

Yang grabbed a piece of chalk and started to draw on the board. She had no picture in particular in her mind, she was just guiding her hand however.

"One day I found something that I thought would lead me to her, or least a reason why she left. When Dad left for work I loaded Ruby into a wagon and followed the trail. I don't know how long or how far I walked. I had cuts and bruises. My body was aching all over, but I didn't care. I was determined to find answers.

The trail ended at a worn down cabin in the middle of some dark woods. By the time we got there I could barely stand, but I was so sure that I'd finally found what I was searching for that the pain didn't matter. That's when I saw them."

Yang closed her eyes and thought back to that day.

"Those burning red eyes, the horrible grunts of beasts hungry for their next meal. That was the first time I ever saw Grimm. We were completely out of our league. A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to call for help. We might as well have been gift wrapped for them. When they lunged at us I was sure we were dead, but luckily Uncle Qrow was there to save us. If it weren't for him, we would have died that night. And it would have been all my fault."

"I'm sorry that happened to you." Blake sympathized. "I understand what you're trying to say. I really do, but this is different. I'm not a child, and this more than just a search for answers, this is-"

"I told you. I don't want you to stop." Yang repeated with a bit more force. "I haven't. Even now I still want to know what happened to my mother. I want to know why she left me, but I won't let those questions control me. We'll find what we're looking for, Blake, but if we break ourselves down in the process then what's the point?"

"You don't understand!" Blake snapped. "I'm the only one that can do this!"

"No! You don't understand!" Yang whipped around, her purple eyes now red. "If Torchwick walked through that door right now what would you do?!"

"I'd fight him!" Blake argued.

"And you'd lose!" Yang shoved Blake against the desk.

"I'd stop him!" Blake attempted to shove Yang back, but she was much too weak from lack of food and sleep.

"You can't even stop me!" Yang pushed Blake again. When Blake got up a second time, Yang hugged her close. "Please. You don't have to stop. Just get some rest." She let Blake go. "Not just for you, but for the people you care about."

Yang left Blake and starting walking up the stairs towards the door, but stopped when she was halfway up. She then looked over her shoulder to her friend.

"If you decide to come out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance." Yang winked before finally walking out of the room.

Blake sighed in contentment and walked out of the door on the ground floor. Upon entering the hallway, she was surprised to see Natsu walking by.

"Hey, Blake, what's up? You look exhausted." He greeted. Judging by his demeanor Blake assumed that he didn't hear anything that she and Yang talked about.

Blake felt herself grin. "I am. Really tired. I think I'm going to go to my room and get some rest."

Natsu smiled. Blake looked like she was finally starting to see reason. "Well I was heading back that way. Want me to come with you?"

Blake nodded, her grin widening to a soft smile. "Yes. I'd appreciate that."

The two started towards the dorms.

"So…you going to the dance?" Natsu asked.

"I'm not sure."

Natsu scratched the back of his head. "Yeah I'm still on the fence too."

"I heard Pyrrha asked you, and you turned her down."

"That's not what happened." Natsu defended. "Besides she didn't ask me…at least not directly." he blushed.

Blake chuckled.

"I think you should go." Natsu said. "You could use the break."

"Same can be said for you." the Faunus countered.

"I guess you're right. So how about we both go?" He compromised with a wide smile. "It might end up being pretty fun."

Blake nodded in agreement, her smile slowly growing as well. "Maybe."

Jaune walked through the school courtyard with a white tulip in his hand, a bright smile on his face, and a confident spring in his step. After about an hour or so of mental preparation, he finally found the right words to ask Weiss to the dance.

Alright, Jaune. Just be cool. Be yourself…or be cool. Yeah that option works better. It's just like Pyrrha said, just say all the stuff you said before. No schemes. No pick-up lines just-

"Neptune!"

When Jaune heard Weiss' soft voice he quickly darted behind the nearest building. He peeked around the corner, watching as the object of his affection strolled up to the blue-haired boy from Mistral.

"What are they talking about?" Jaune stuck his head out further so he could hear the pair's conversation.

"Hey, what's up?" Neptune asked Weiss.

"I know this is a tad unorthodox…" She started to blush, twisting the point of her shoe into the ground. "But I was wondering…would you like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"

Those ten words cut through Jaune's heart like the claws of a Beowolf. In the back of his mind he felt that this would happen, but he hoped that he would be wrong for once.

Dejected and forlorn, Jaune dropped his tulip on the ground and walked away into the night with his head down.

The next day came and went fairly quickly. Once night fell, the long awaited dance had gotten underway. Yang stood at the check in podium in front of the door clad in a yellow, lace halter dress. She filled out the dress rather nicely, and just as she foretold she turned many a head of the male student body - even some of the females glanced her way.

The door opened and in walked a very uncomfortable Ruby. Her dress - a short deep red number topped with a black mesh that covered her upper chest area and spilt the red part of the dress down to the black sash around her waist - was little less outstanding than her elder sister's but it was still too much for the bubbly young girl to bear.

She could barely keep upright as she awkwardly stumbled to the podium in her black pumps.

"Can we ask Weiss how she fights in these things?" she asked her sister.

Yang couldn't help but giggle at her sister's plight.

Just outside the ballroom, Sun Wukong was still fidgeting around with his "formal" wear - a black version of his normal shirt and a gray tie. Neptune tried his hardest to get his friend to wear something more presentable, but Sun wasn't having it. This was as high maintenance as he would go…and even this he felt was pushing it.

He stopped walking to mess with his tie for the umpteenth time. "Stupid…dumb…neck trap!"

"I knew you'd look better in a tie."

Sun looked over his shoulder, and found himself captivated by the image of Blake Belladonna. She sported a dark purple dress with a slit up her left leg, and black mesh covering both her shoulders and the small opening just above her breasts. The faunus boy was speechless.

Blake took note of his silence as a compliment. She walked over to him, hooked his arm, and started walking to the ballroom.

"So does this mean we're going…together?" Sun asked.

Blake grinned. "Technically, but my first dance is already spoken for."

The dance was in full swing. All over couples were dancing to the beat of the band's soothing songs. This included Yang and Blake. As promised the blonde saved her friend a dance if she attended. Once finished the two separated and bowed, thanking the other for the dance. Yang then stepped aside, allowing Sun to finally dance with his date, before joining Ruby and Weiss near the punch bowl. When they heard Blake's joyous laughter, they knew they had made the right decision.

"Told you she'd come." Yang said to the pair with a cocky grin.

"Mission accomplished." Weiss stated.

"Wait. Where's Natsu?" Ruby asked.

Weiss' eyes went wide in shock. "You mean he's not here?"

"Nope. I haven't seen him."

"Me either." Yang spoke up.

"I can't believe him!" Weiss fumed. She stormed off, muttering obscenities under her breath about her brother's absence.

"So what do we do now?" Ruby asked her sister.

Yang shrugged. "I'm sure Natsu'll show up eventually. For now just have fun." She walked off, leaving her little sister alone, confused, and slightly unnerved.

"Does that mean I can change back into my hood now?!" Ruby shouted, but Yang was already out of earshot. Disgruntled the leader of Team RWBY faced the dancefloor and looked down at her shoes. "Stupid lady stilts."

"Not enjoying yourself?"

Professor Ozpin appeared next to Ruby.

"Oh. No. it's not that." The girl nervously answered. "Everything's fine. I'm just not the fancy-pancy dancey type."

"You can't spend your entire life on the battlefield, Ms. Rose. No matter how much you may want to."

Ruby crossed her arms in frustration. "Yeah. I've been hearing that a lot lately."

The Headmaster directed the young girl's eyes back to the couples on the floor.

"When you truly think about it, dancing and fighting are not all that different. Both require two partners interlocked with each other." He snorted. "Though one wrong move on the dancefloor only leads to a swollen foot."

"Or a twisted ankle." Ruby meekly added, once again looking down at her shoes.

"It's not every day that friends are allowed to come together like this." Professor Ozpin said. "Time has a way of testing our bonds, but nights like these have a hand in keeping them stronger than ever."

Ruby looked around the ballroom at her friends. Sun and Blake were still dancing, Yang returned to greeting people at the door, and even Weiss managed to hold her anger long enough to have a conversation with someone.

"Nights like these are one's we will never forget." He finished.

Ruby smiled at this. Professor Ozpin's words proved true to an extent. Everyone was enjoying themselves and in the end that was all that really mattered to her. Ruby heard the locks of the door clicking and watched as Emerald and Mercury entered.

Emerald wore a dark green sleeveless dress, while Mercury donned a black tuxedo with gold trim and a gold bowtie.

"You guys are just in time." Yang said with a smile.

Mercury smirked. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Natsu ran as fast as he could through the streets of Vale. His open tuxedo jacket flapping in the wind, the pinkette made a mad dash for the airship that would take him to Beacon.

"I'm so late! Weiss is going to kill me!"

New chapter is up! On a sidenote I just watched all of Vol. 3 for the first time a couple of days ago, and wow. Lots of game-changing stuff happening in that volume. While watching I was forming ideas at the same time. So even though we're in Vol. 2 right now (closing in on the end) I already have all of Volume 3 plotted. Hooray for foresight.

As always leave a comment/review letting me know what you think. Thanks for reading!