RWBY: Revenant
Chapter 22: Before - The Day of the Dance
"Come on out, Ursus! We gotta see how the tux looks on you!" Sagitari said as the three others waited outside.
"G-give me a moment. I'm still healing from my wounds, after all," he replied from the bathroom.
It had been a solid three weeks since the fight had occurred. All of them, excluding Liu, required a full week of hospitalization, the prospect of which frightened Sagitari. With enough prodding, however, she consented and soldiered through seven days of no exercise or training. Despite the wounds, that did not give them an excuse for skipping class. In fact, that only made the situation worse. They would have been expelled, if it wasn't for Ozpin jumping in for their sake. Liu saw the man as an enigma, but at least he knew the guy was on their side.
Ursus finally came out from the bathroom, wearing the tux he got from the formal dress store they all went to. Despite his size, the clothing fit him perfectly and the color of the tie really went well with his hair.
"Wow!" Sagitari said with her thumbs up. She was wearing a red dress with a rather short skirt that made Liu blush.
"That's not too shabby," Orphiucha agreed. She had on the black dress Liu saw before. This time, however, she had a white scarf alongside it, matching her hair.
Liu himself was wearing traditional Mistral wear, not too different from what he had seen Ren wear, only red and meant for formal occasions. "The tux looks nice, man," he nodded. He still felt somewhat regretful that he wasn't going with Sagitari, but any sort of bitterness or anger had finally subsided.
Ursus nodded back. "T-thanks, guys," he said meekly.
"I know! Let's take a picture!" Sagitari suggested. Without anyone's consent, she pulled everyone together and raised her scroll in the air, preparing for a selfie. While she had a big smile, everyone else awkwardly tried to show their teeth. They felt thankful, then, when the scroll ran out of battery.
"Aw, man! I just charged it this morning," she complained.
"It's fine," Orphiucha waved her hand, "Come on, let's go to the dance already."
Sagitari pouted. "Okay."
The night was going just about how Liu expected it to go. Him standing by the punch bowl, tapping his foot to the music while sipping on his drink as Sagitari and Ursus danced. He assumed Orphiucha was dancing with Sun Wukong as well. He must be the only one without a dance, then.
Liu sighed. So be it. It was his own fault for not asking anyone else, anyways.
Uncomfortable standing in one area, Liu proceeded to throw his plastic cup away and move around. One thing that caught his eye was the balcony of the dance room. He decided he could use fresh air, so he moved towards the stairs and climbed up the spiral staircase. Once up, he looked out from his elevated position and saw Sagitari pulling Ursus along in her dance. The guy looked tired, but his big body refused to give up yet. It made Liu both root for him and slowly grow thankful that he wasn't dancing with the girl.
Eventually, he made his way around the second floor, towards the balcony where he opened the door. Upon exiting, the sound of the music subsided to a muffled thumping while the sounds of the night took precedence. There were a few other people standing in the rather large balcony, but it was far less crowded than inside. Mostly, the people consisted of romantic pairs, either talking, hugging, or awkwardly kissing.
Well, one person sat alone on a bench in the corner. A familiar person: Orphiucha.
"Orphiucha?" Liu asked as he came towards her. The familiar girl shot her snake eyes up in surprise, though seeing Liu reverted her expression to the same as usual.
"Oh, it's just you," she stated bluntly.
Liu sat down beside her. "It's a surprise you're out here!"
"Well, I just wanted some fresh air."
"Same here. That, and the fact that there isn't much to do in there."
"Yeah? Well if you asked Sagitari in time, you'd be having a bit more fun."
"I dunno… seeing her dancing in there kinda made me glad I'm not with her," Liu joked. "Anyways, how's the dance going with Sun?"
Orphiucha turned her eyes away. "It's going… well."
"Oh, really? Where is he now?"
Orphiucha smirked. "He's just getting some…" With that, she froze and quickly gave up the act. "Oh, it's just you anyways. To tell you the truth, I'm not here with him," she said sadly.
Liu tilted his head. "You didn't ask either?"
Orphiucha shook her head. "No, he already asked someone before I tried to ask him. I guess I can't really judge you now, considering I was late myself."
Liu couldn't help but feel bad for his teammate, but he had no idea on how comfort her. The twinkle in his eye indicated such a movement, which made Orphiucha recoil and pull her emotional shell back up.
"Hey! Don't look at me like that! I don't need your pity."
Liu shook his head. "I-it's not pity! I just feel bad for you."
"That's the same thing!"
"W-well, what do you want me to do? Say 'It happens to the best of us?' Tell you there are better fish in the sea? Of course I feel bad for you, but I feel bad because you're my friend!"
Orphiucha blushed a bit, but sighed. "Sorry. I always do this. I always act so tense around you and the others when I should be a bit calmer. It's not right to you, so I'm sorry."
"An apology? From Orphiucha? Wow, today must be-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Orphiucha clamped her hand on his mouth. "Not. A. Single. Word."
Liu slowly nodded, at which the faunus girl removed her hand. The two then kept a silence between one another as they watched the stars and listened to the muffled music from inside. Both were rejects, sitting together as they wallowed in self-pity. That being said, the company of another reject wasn't the worst thing in the world. Indeed, the two were content knowing the other didn't get what they wanted either, accompanied by a lesser, selfish guilt. But, did Liu want to stay like this?
No, Liu wanted something better. He wanted to be better friends with Orphiucha. He wanted to stop feeling like a loser. He wanted to be in there, and he knew Orphiucha wanted to do the same. With a quick stretch, he stood back up and looked around as he held his hand out to a confused Orphiucha.
"Well, my lady, shall we dance?"
Ursus sat down, trying desperately to recover from the dance that he was sure originated from Hell. He could feel some of his sore ribs start to wiggle a bit. It stunned him how Sagitari also managed to not only dislocated one, but two of his shoulders, which she responded to with a simple, yet incredibly painful, relocation. In a panic, he managed to sneak off the dance floor as Sagitari went to the bathroom, and now he had a few minutes before the woman would arrive yet again. So, he took the time to catch his breath and watch the students who were on the dance floor. A group of four students, presumably from the same team, took control of the dance floor for a bit, but the other students slowly filed back and started dancing to some slower songs.
And, surprisingly, a couple of students were on the floor as well: Liu and Orphiucha. A slow waltz was playing, which the two danced really well to. Orphiucha, as dominant as usual, took the lead, while Liu followed, despite the height difference. It seemed to work perfectly, and soon a slow swirl of black and red took their place, moving along the ¾ time signature of the song. Seeing the two, both of whom didn't find someone to dance with before, made Ursus smile.
Seeing Sagitari come out of the bathroom, though, returned his frown.
"You're a good dancer," Liu complimented Orphiucha as they moved on the dance floor. One, two, three. One, two, three. The movement of the song played in his head as he moved around with the girl.
Orphiucha grinned. "You're not too bad yourself." She kept the pace, but Liu was a master at dancing himself. In fact, he loved it and did it multiple times with his sister back home for fun, so this kind of dancing was easy to him.
"Where did you learn to dance?" Liu jump-started conversation as they moved.
"I was taught as a young kid by my mother," Orphiucha finally opened up about her past, "She was a hard worker who provided manual labor in dust mines. Despite that, she always enjoyed things like classical music or dance, which she made me practice. I used to hate it, but now I think it wasn't absolutely terrible."
"My family was a big fan of that as well, specifically dance."
Orphiucha nodded and, again with surprise from Liu, asked a personal question, "How many are in your family?"
"Alongside my mother and father, I have an older brother and sister. Of course, you know my dad is a high-ranking general, but my mom is a math professor at one of the universities in Mistral. My brother is a full-fledged doctor, and my sister owns her own clothing shop in town."
"Sounds pretty diverse."
"Yeah, but that's what I like about my family. Anyways, how about you?"
Orphiucha bobbed her head a little while they danced. "Well, I have my mother."
"And your… father?"
Orphiucha shook her head. "I don't like to talk about him."
As they danced, Liu looked up and around at the people who were dancing. There were so many colors from so many suits and dresses. That being said, one caught his eye: white hair. It was Weiss, the Schnee next in line. Liu had never talked to her, but seeing her hair made him think…
Suddenly, his eyes widened and he looked down at Orphiucha. "Your father… can't be Weiss Schnee's father, right?"
Orphiucha looked at him weirdly, then suddenly broke into a laugh. "Me? A Schnee? Just the thought of that…"
Once again, her laughter reverberated throughout the dance hall, getting everyone's attention.
Liu looked around at the stares and gritted his teeth. "Okay, okay! I understand that it was a weird question. It's just… your hair looks like Weiss' hair color."
Orphiucha calmed down and nodded. "Well… you may not be too far off," she muttered.
"What was that?"
Orphiucha shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's keep dancing."
"Hey! Y'all are dancing?!" Sagitari burst through the groups of people and stood beside them with a limp Ursus. His pale face was a cause of concern for Liu, who swore he saw Ursus' soul leaving its body.
Orphiucha nodded. "That's right," she said before looking at Liu, then back to Sagitari, "Hey Tari, do you want to switch dance partners?"
Before Sagitari could even respond and a hint of hope revealed itself in Ursus' eye, Liu put his hand up. "It's fine! I'm enjoying my dance with Orph."
Sagitari tilted her head. "If that's what you want, then okay. But we can always switch when you two want to!"
With that, she pulled the near-corpse back to another part of the dance floor and started her violent ritual Sagitari assumed was dancing.
Orphiucha raised her eyebrow at Liu and asked, "Why did you decline? Don't you like Sagitari?"
Liu nodded. "Yeah, but looking at Ursus… I think it would be safer not to. Besides, I'm enjoying this dance with you."
That unintentional sentence made Orphiucha freeze intensely before blushing like crazy. "You know, you called me 'Orph' when Sagitari came by. The only people who have called me that are Sagitari and my mom."
Liu jolt back. "Oh! S-sorry! I didn't mean to! I heard Sagitari say it a few times, so I guess I just said it unconsciously!"
"I… I'm fine with it."
"You are?" Liu stopped cowering, only to have his hands gripped harder by a blushing Orphiucha.
"Shut up! L-let's dance some more!"
Before Liu could say anything, he was suddenly forced back into Orphiucha's dancing rhythm.
Liu and Orphiucha were standing outside, getting fresh air after the dance had come to an end. Both were sweaty, but being dance lovers, their enjoyment overcame the discomfort that came from being tired.
"That was fun," Orphiucha muttered as she caught some of her breath.
"Yeah… I thought so, too," Liu replied, his hands on his knees.
With no time to rest, Sagitari jumped out from the open door and landed between the two, giving them a scare. "Well, fancy seeing you two here!"
"Tari!" Orphiucha complained at the shock, "Where's Ursus?"
"Here," a weak voice said from the big doors. The same, tall team partner slowly wobbled out the door. He luckily seemed to have regained enough strength to walk on his own. Upon seeing Liu, he groaned, "Come on, Liu! Why'd you have to leave me with her?"
Liu held his hands up. "Hey! Look at my scrawny body! If she did that to you, imagine how I'd turn out!"
Sagitari playfully rolled her eyes. "I don't think you can really say that anymore, Liu! After all, you did stop a giant robot!"
"I was only lucky!"
Orphiucha chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I guess you are pretty weak."
"Hey, Orph! Cut it out," Liu grumbled.
"Anyways," Sagitari cut in, "You guys want to go somewhere?"
Liu never felt so homesick seeing the stars in the sky. Away from the lights of the dorms or the city, everything was so clearly visible in the backdrop behind the broken moon. It was a reminder of the beauty that always existed above them all.
"You know," he said, "I bet my family sees the same stars."
"It wouldn't be now, though," Ursus corrected, "It should be around day in Mistral."
"I know that. But when night happens, they'll see these stars, too."
The four managed to sneak onto one of the roofs of the school buildings, where the lights had all been shut off. According to Sagitari, she had found this place while exploring the school, and it definitely wasn't lacking. The floor was a little rough like gravel, but their team leader brought blankets, as if she had prepared for this before the dance even. She even brought drinks for them to sip on while watching the sky.
"I love the night sky," Sagitari said before drinking some of her soda.
"So many stars. It's a reminder of how small our world is," Orphiucha slowly spoke.
"We may be a small world, but it's our world," Liu continued, "Man, I miss home."
Ursus patted his back.
Sagitari, perhaps in an attempt to cheer him up or just by coincidence, took out a box. "Aw, come on! Look, Liu, maybe this will cheer you up!" She then passed the box over to him.
Liu hesitantly took it from Sagitari. "What's this?" he asked as he observed it.
"Oh come on, silly! Open it!"
Liu fought against the staples and tape that kept the box enclosed. Once he finally got it undone, he opened the package to find…
A scarf.
Liu picked up the scarf from the box and felt it. It was a metal, albeit springy, scarf, but it was a scarf. Nothing more, nothing less. It was pretty long, around 3 feet or so, but he assumed it could stretch far longer with how much he could stretch it out.
"Thanks?" he said hesitantly to Sagitari. "I suppose it is getting colder, huh?"
Sagitari laughed. "It's not for wearing, silly! It's your new weapon!"
"My… new weapon?"
"Of course!" Sagitari exclaimed, "When I saw that you could move the mech without it turned on, I came to realize that you can move metal with your semblance, especially if it's different pieces of metal touching one another. Look closer at the scarf!"
Liu turned on his scroll's flashlight and looked again to find that the scarf was, in fact, made up of hundreds of rings of metal that could stretch. "Whoa! Then, does that mean I can control it?"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Orphiucha said, "Use your semblance."
Liu nodded and closed his eyes. He reached into his electrical center and, as he had done with the mech, expanded the electricity towards the scarf. In the presence of metal nearby, his semblance automatically moved towards the object in a fit of attraction. Upon making contact with the metal, however, the scarf shot to life and started flying out of control.
Orphiucha, Sagitari, and Ursus took cover as the scarf thrashed everywhere it could.
"Shut the damn thing off!" Ursus yelled as he took cover at a distance. As much as he could try, Liu could not fully manipulate the object. Any push or pull he exerted on the scarf made it jump around even more wildly. With a grunt and a final pull, he shot the electricity back into his center, extinguishing any life out of the scarf.
"Okay," Sagitari said as she dubiously walked back, "That didn't go as planned."
"Sorry!" Liu said in his guilt, "I tried to move it, but it wouldn't listen to me."
Orphiucha's viper eyes gave a disapproving look to Liu, though she made no response.
However, Sagitari laughed to lighten the mood. "No, don't worry, Liu! That scarf is perfect for you! Think of it: It's the weapon only you can wield! You just need a bit more practice."
"But it messed up like all the other weapons I've tried."
Sagitari shook her head. "The last few were because of skill or because they just didn't work for you. This one is simply because you haven't used your semblance enough. Think of it like this: The mech you fought had three joints each limb, which meant four pieces of metal touching one another. On the other hand, this scarf is made up of hundreds of pieces of metal! It doesn't even compare!"
Liu slowly nodded. "Then that means it's just a bit harder to use, huh?"
"Yep!"
Orphiucha chuckled. "I think I'll pass helping you out with this. I don't want to get hurt. But, I am interested in seeing the end result."
Ursus nodded without a word, in his old, non-verbal fashion.
Liu smiled at his team and nodded back. "Then I'll use it. Thanks, Sagitari."
Sagitari gave him a big thumbs-up. "Don't mention it! And also…"
In a sudden jolt, the team leader grabbed Orphiucha's scroll. "It's time for a team picture!"
"Hey! Lay off my scroll," Orphiucha yelled as she dashed towards Sagitari.
In a dexterous set of movements, Sagitari pulled the attacking faunus into her left arm, grabbed Liu's elbow with her right, and jumped with the two just in front of the towering Ursus. Before anyone could react, the girl said "Cheese," as she brought up Orphiucha's scroll and snapped a group selfie. The flash blinded everyone.
"Hey! What was that for?" Liu asked as he rubbed his eyes. His eyesight slowly returned to a scene of Sagitari pushing back Orphiucha with one arm while she stared at the picture.
"This came out really good!" Sagitari cheered. She aimed the scroll towards the three others to reveal a photo of the three of them with surprise on their faces while Sagitari had a cheek-to-cheek grin. The silly photo gave Liu and Ursus a chuckle, while Orphiucha snatched back the scroll with a scowl.
"That wasn't funny," Orphiucha muttered.
Sagitari laughed as she put her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Oh, come on, Orph! We needed a group picture, and your scroll was the best option!"
"Best option? What does that even mean?"
"It means that…"
Liu grinned as he listened to his team members argue playfully. Angry as she may seem, Liu knew Orphiucha didn't hate being around Sagitari. Liu put the scarf around his neck and looked up at the stars. Sure, he was a bit homesick, but being with his friends took the edge off of the sadness he felt. Being with the people he liked changed his view on the world. It wasn't big. It was small. His family was so close, with only one phone call away.
His family was so close. They were right here, all along.
(Author's Note: I have returned from the Rivers of Hades! Ha ha, but seriously, it's good to be back! Sorry for being gone for two months, but... you know how it be. My job is kinda sucky, so I don't have much motivation a lot of the time. Fortunately, I got a good break, so I'm recharged. Hopefully, before I finish my contract, I can finish Revenant, but we'll see. Anyways, favorite, follow, do whatever you wish. I hope you enjoy this series, and God bless!)
