Crimson plopped down on his bed with a sigh, tugging the tie on his uniform to loosen it. Class had just ended for the day, and despite the upcoming Vytal Festival, the work load had not eased up at all. Melanie sat beside Crimson, not looking near as exhausted as him.

"So...nobody seems to have noticed our excursion." Melanie said.

Crimson chuckled. "That's a good thing. As long as things stay quiet, it means the police are trying to hide what they have...not that it matters, Alabaster will have reported back to Carl."

"Hey, regardless of anything else, we saved all those people. You can feel good about that." She insisted.

"Yeah, we did...but..." He looked down. "We had to lie about it. We had to sneak around, we had to break the rules..."

Melanie raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"The rules are there for reasons, Mel. If we have to break them, doesn't that make us just as bad?" Crimson asked.

"No, it doesn't." Melanie said. "Yeah, the rules are there for reasons, but then assholes like Carl and Alabaster manipulate them for their own purposes...fighting evil is never the wrong thing to do, hotshot. Rules aren't perfect, sometimes you can't always trust them...you just have to trust yourself."

Crimson smiled. "Thanks."

"Now are we gonna celebrate or what?" Melanie asked.

"Celebrate?" Crimson questioned.

She nodded. "Those two are still studying, but you deserve to enjoy yourself a little. You helped a lot of people. It was your idea to go to Kane, when the plan didn't work you were the one to adapt, and you managed to hold back that explosion."

"You really think I deserve a reward?" Crimson gave a skeptical glance.

"Yeah." She said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely gonna get payback for making me drive...but, it was a little fun."

Crimson grinned. "Alright, got any ideas?"

Melanie cupped her chin for a moment. "Well, we haven't had dinner yet...how about we ditch sparring and go eat out?"

"I can get behind that." Crimson agreed.


The two sat in a street corner cafe, snacking on chili fries, and drinking coffee that it was probably way too late to be having. Melanie looked out at the sky. The sunset had given it a purple hue, save for the deep red of the horizon.

"Yeah, I needed this." Crimson said. "Feels like it's been forever since I just...relaxed and enjoyed the moment."

Melanie shrugged. "Things have actually been calmer for me since enrolling at Beacon...I guess, growing up like I did, I learned to enjoy what I could, or those moments would slip away from me."

Crimson looked at her for a moment. "So, on the topic of celebrations and all that...the Vytal Festival's coming up."

"Yeah, lots of fighting...except this time we don't have to worry about dying." Melanie observed.

"That's true." Crimson chuckled. "But I wasn't just talking about the tournament. There's also the ball coming up."

"What, are you suggesting we should spike the punch bowl?" Melanie sipped on her coffee to hide a grin.

Crimson shook his head. "No, I just...was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

Melanie did a spit take, coughing for a moment. "What?!"

"I, uh...wanted to go with you." Crimson repeated nervously.

"I..." Melanie blinked, before looking away. "Crimson, I...I'm not going."

"You're not going? Why?" Crimson asked.

She sighed. "Do I really seem like the party scene to you?"

"I...I just..." Crimson paused. "It's not about the party...it's about you."

Melanie stood and shook her head. "Don't take it personally...I have my reasons for being guarded...trust me, you're better off finding someone else."

With that, Melanie walked out, leaving Crimson in the cafe. He didn't try to follow, not knowing if it would make things worse...he just sat there, not knowing what do.