I do not own RWBY

"Are you sure I look okay," Ruby asked tugging on her now choppy shoulder-length hair. Looking in the mirror it was strange to see canon Ruby's hairstyle on her body. Sure, she'd asked for this but somehow it felt strange, not wrong just strange to see anything other than long hair. The red tips were more pronounced than ever as they tickled her neck. She didn't mind the hairstyle, and it was mainly for necessity. Letting her hair get in the way when they went to Mt. Glen would have been a bad idea.

Blake rolled her eyes as she heard the younger girl ask the question for the third time. It had been amusing the first time but now she was just annoyed at the repeated question. Grabbing Ruby's hand, she stopped the girl from tugging on her hair, like she'd been doing for the last hour. It was cute that Ruby was so insecure about her hair, but Ruby still had to get dressed.

"It looks fine," she assured for the third time and gestured to the box waiting on Ruby's bed. She herself was already dressed for the dance and waiting on her leader to stop panicking. Yanking her leader toward the bed where her dress was located Blake almost shoved the younger girl toward it as she said, "now get ready we only have an hour left until we have to go."

Ruby pouted as Blake rushed to take her spot in the mirror. Laying a hand on the box holding her dress she couldn't help but feel nervous; this was her first dance in either lifetime. Nic hadn't allowed them to look in the box before they left his shop stating that he had no desire to see her freak out. His words had honestly not filled her with confidence but there was nothing she could do about it now. Opening the box, she was pleasantly surprised to see the red fabric.

Catching sight of the envelope on top of the dress she stilled for a moment before picking it up slowly. Her name was written in red ink in the form of her father's chicken scratch writing. Briefly hearing the door open and shut as Blake rushed off to meet Sun, she opened the envelope. Pulling out the letter she wanted to cry as she read over the words.

Hey kid,

I know you're most likely dreading going to a school dance, I know I was. It was worse for me since Tai kept trying to get me into a dress. Anyway, I wanted my favorite niece to look amazing tonight, so I went ahead and paid our grumpy smith to make the dress look even better than it was supposed to. It didn't take much convincing to be honest.

Now I know you don't have a date tonight, and before you accuse me of spying on you, I'll remind you that I watched you grow up. I'd bet my flask that you got every single person around you a date before even thinking about yourself. Kid, you're habit of mothering people isn't half as good as you try to pretend it is. You should take better care of yourself.

Anyway, that's the end of my lecture. I enclosed a little accessory for you to wear tonight. Think of it was a right of passage for the Branwen tribe as my favorite niece you get to wear it. Now as your uncle I'm ordering you to go and have fun. Dance with as many guys or girls as you want and come home a little drunk; just don't dance with any terrorists.

Love Qrow

Ps. Don't tell Tai about the getting drunk part. Please!

Cardin fixed his green tie for the seventh time and looked around for Ruby. The reaper hadn't told him she would be arriving late so her not showing up was causing him to worry. The amused expression on Russel's face as he watched the door was also distracting but he could do nothing more than shift and hope everything would be okay. Did Ruby even have a date? He'd been so worried about how to ask out Russel that he'd forgotten to make sure that she would have someone to dance with. Taking the glass of punch that his date held out to him, he felt the urge to go off and find her.

It was Yang's excited squeal that finally caused him to relax; Ruby had arrived. Watching the blonde bounce in place he rolled his eyes before turning his attention to the dark-haired girl who wore an indulgent smile. For a moment he was stunned to see her in a dress; she'd never actually worn one around him before. Her confident expression seemed to radiate as she twirled in place for her sister's inspection.

Ruby wore a dark red halter style dress that reached her knees although he couldn't see any dust lining, he was willing to bet it was there. A slit up the right side showed her dagger and the black leggings she wore under the dress, of course, she wouldn't go anywhere without a weapon. On her feet were dark silver heeled shoes that he was willing to bet were reinforced with steel just so that she had another weapon. The biggest change though was her hair; the once long hair was cut and had red ends, but the accessory was the biggest surprise. Hanging from her hair was a black crow's feather that faded to red.

"So what do you think," she asked twirling for her big sister who beamed down at her.

"You look amazing Ruby," Yang said softly as she reached out to touch the feather hanging in the younger girl's hair.

"It's from Qrow," she said when she noticed the curiosity in her sister's eyes. Catching sight of Weiss trying and failing to look insignificant she giggled. The heiress would never be able to go unnoticed. Shooing her sister in the direction of the white-haired girl she said, "go dance with Weiss before she feels abandoned."

Rolling her eyes as her sister took off to join her date, Ruby glanced around the ballroom easily noticing the eyes on her, including Mercury and Emeralds. Winking at the two disguised criminals, she walked toward Cardin and Russel. The green-haired boy rolled his eyes in her direction but did nothing to dissuade her as she stalked toward them.

"I like your hair better now," Cardin stated once she was in hearing range. The reaper brightened offering him a smile as Russel huffed.

"Red looks good on you," the boy said mostly to be polite.

"Thanks guys."

It was honestly surprising that Russel would give her any kind of compliment, but she supposed he might be a tsundere. She already knew he felt threatened by her relationship to Cardin. It was cute how defensive he was around her, although she doubted, he thought the same. Seeing Cardin shift slightly she tilted her head as he offered her his hand and asked for a dance. She only accepted after Russel gave a tiny nod of approval.

Ruby smiled as Cardin led her out onto the dance floor, dancing with her best friend was something she could enjoy. The smile on his face had replaced his usual smirk and she was happy he was having fun, all the energy she'd put into pushing him and Russel together would have been wasted if he wasn't. Her teammates were happily dancing with their dates making tonight perfect. Her father might be right about her choice to look after herself last, but she didn't think that was a bad thing. She liked seeing the people she cared about happy. There was nothing wrong with that.

She could have fun tonight, even if that bitter feeling in her chest wouldn't go away. All she had to do was dance with her friends and keep a smile on her face; it wasn't hard. Catching sight of Jaune leading Pyrrha around the dance floor, she tightened her grip on Cardin's hand.

"It's okay to be jealous," Cardin said regaining her attention. She might be good at hiding her emotions, but he could feel them.

"I'm not," she said softly.

There was a warning in her tone that he knew he should listen to but he didn't want to. Besides he'd always been good at pushing people's buttons and Ruby was no different. Ignoring the sharp glare, she sent him, he frowned down at her even as they moved through the steps of the dance perfectly. He'd be leaving for Atlas soon and he needed to know that she wouldn't kill herself by pretending that everything was fine.

"Ruby… I'm an empath remember," he reminded her with a gentle tone. From the way, her grip on him tightened she hadn't forgotten that fact. Sighing, because of course, Ruby would rather hide her emotions than confront them, he said, "it's okay t- "

"Leave it alone Cardin," she hissed causing his jaw to slam shut. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath as she plastered a smile on her face.

The rest of their dance was spent in silence. He didn't know how to talk to her without getting snapped at and she didn't want to admit to being wrong. It was true that she felt a little jealousy at the happy couples dancing around them, but she didn't want it to matter. She was happy for her friends, whatever else she felt shouldn't matter. Besides her dad had told her to have fun.

Breaking away from Cardin as the dance ended, she offered him a small apologetic smile. She hadn't meant to snap at him, she'd just wanted him to stop talking. For a moment he seemed to hesitate before rolling his eyes with a smirk. Patting her on the shoulder he headed off toward Russel as she moved toward Blake. The faunus was the only one of her teammates who wasn't currently dancing. Instead the feline was laughing at something that Sun had said.

Unlike usual, her teammate's faunus trait was on full display. The black cat ears tilted in her direction as she approached causing Ruby to smirk. It was nice to see her teammate showing her trait rather than trying to hide it. Of course, the lack of a bow might be due to Ruby hiding it but she would never admit to that. She would return the bow once the dance was over.

Meeting her teammate's golden eyes with her own she raised an eyebrow at the feline. She was glad that Blake was having fun, even more so because she was sure Sun was having a good time as well. The blonde was like an eager to please child, but most of all he did genuinely care about her teammate. With Sun she was vaguely sure that Blake could be happy.

"Hey Ruby," Neptune greeted the second she got within range. Grinning at him she offered a small nod as Sun pulled Blake right back out onto the dance floor.

Smirking slightly Ruby was mildly surprised when Neptune asked her to dance; from what she remembered the blue-haired boy couldn't dance. Taking a moment to look at his face she noticed the almost terrified expression following his words. It was obvious that he was asking only to be polite. She doubted he would survive the embarrassment if she actually took him up on the offer. Lucky for him, she had no desire to make him embarrass himself for her own amusement.

"No thanks, I think I'll just wander over to the punch bowl for a moment," she said. Much to her amusement the moment she said the words he looked as if she'd saved his life. Chuckling to herself she moved away from the blue-haired boy.

Passing by her sister who was trying to teach Weiss how to dance as if she was in a dance club, she raised an eyebrow at the indulgent expression on the heiress's face. It was nice to see Weiss come out of her shell, she hoped that Yang didn't manage to mess up their relationship. Not only would that hurt her plans, but she was looking forward to having Weiss as a sister; eventually. Making it to the punch bowl she gave a small wave at the antisocial people awkwardly hovering around it.

Most of them were visiting students or those that had been dragged to the dance by their teammates. In another life she would have been one of them, but this dance was a chance to have fun. Pouring a glass of punch, she wondered vaguely if Cinder was heading toward the CCT yet. She'd been chancing glances out the door every so often, but she hadn't noticed the woman. In truth she couldn't wait to start a fight with Cinder, it would be interesting to see how she held up against a Maiden. Even if she only had half the power.

"Did your date abandon you," Mercury asked gaining her attention.

He was leading Emerald over to the punch bowl, probably to get a drink. Moving out of the green-haired girl's way, Ruby noticed the curious yet guarded expression on her face. It made sense that the girl would be wary of her, after all, Emerald was the only one out of the three that she'd never met. Taking a sip from her glass she took a second to think over what she should say before deciding to go with honesty. It wasn't as if they could use her lack of a date against her.

"Never had one," she said keeping a smile on her face.

Mercury blinked in shock. How did the most amusing person he'd ever met not have a date? Glancing at Emerald he noticed the resignation on her face as she came to the same conclusion that he did. Her partner was just to kind sometimes; and they accused her of being the soft one. Both Cinder and Mercury had a habit of showing care to those they grew fond of.

"Damn, that sucks," he muttered. Reaching up to scratch at his neck, he frowned. He didn't like seeing his favorite sparring standing here alone. Turning to Emerald he said, "Hey Em, I'm going to dance with little red."

"Do what you want," the girl said. She sounded annoyed as she took a sip of her punch. Wrinkling her nose almost instantly afterward, she threw an annoyed glance at the punch bowl.

"Well, care to join me," Mercury asked the smaller girl.

For a moment she simply stared at his hand in confusion. Why would Mercury ask her to dance? It wasn't as if her being alone affected him in any way. Was he simply trying to be nice? Staring at the hand he held out to her, she tightened her grip on her drink before raising it to her lips and downing it in a single motion. It was nice to know that Yang hadn't gotten around to spiking the punch bowl yet.

"How embarrassed would you be if I said no," she asked once she'd laid her glass on the table.

"Enough to make our next sparring match very uncomfortable," he said. The glint in his eyes told her that she would regret refusing after he'd so graciously offered to dance with her.

Laughing at the expression on his face, she took his hand and allowed him to pull her out onto the dance floor as a slow song started playing. From the unamused glare he sent at a speaker, he didn't approve of the song choice. It was obvious that he hadn't even considered the next dance being a slow dance. She hadn't expected it either.

It might've been better if she called off their dance completely, but when she started to move away from him his arms closed around her waist. Feeling her body freeze she met his eyes only to see stubborn determination. He had started this, and he would finish it, even if he did feel Emerald burning a hole into his back with her gaze. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she was going to tattle to Cinder the second the woman returned.

"Yeah, let's suffer together," he mumbled trying to ignore his partner. Ruby let out a very unladylike snort as she brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders.

"It could be worse," she said. Letting him take the lead she felt mildly embarrassed when he chuckled at her response.

Although dancing with him was strange Ruby still found herself able to smile. This was the proof she needed that Mercury wasn't heartless; unless he was trying to seduce her, but she doubted that was the case. To their knowledge she wasn't even a threat. It was easy for just a moment to let herself be happy, despite the darkness she knew was coming, she couldn't bring herself to be worried. She felt safe; well as safe as one could be while dancing with an assassin. In her mind it might be a guarantee that as long as she never became an enemy to him, she might not have anything to fear from him. As the song ended the two stepped off the dance floor and she spotted Penny standing alone under guard. She did owe the android a dance. Plus she was sure that Mercury would start to tease her and she really didn't want to deal with that.

"I'm going to say high to a friend," she told him and waited until he released her hand to walk over to Penny.

The girl's green eyes widened when she saw her friend and an innocent smile appeared on her face. Penny was all innocence wrapped up in a cute package. Feeling protective of the ginger girl she glanced at Penny's guards who shifted slightly away from her. It was the same two that she'd stolen Penny away from last time and it was obvious that they still remembered her.

"Salutations, Ruby," Penny stated pulling Ruby into a hug. Returning the hug, she was amused by the fact it was Penny initiating the action. Briefly she considered tickling the other girl but decided against it; she would always have time to tease Penny latter. The reaper pulled away before grabbing both the girl's hands and trying to pull her out onto the dance floor. It would have been a lot easier if Penny wasn't made of metal.

"Come on let's dance," she said brightly.

Nodding eagerly Penny followed the other girl out onto the dance floor as the song turned more upbeat.

Hey guys, so this is part one of the dance. The Fight with Cinder will be in part too. What did you think of Ruby's attitude toward the dance? Thanks for the support for my original story too.

Also: Loopedchimp1617, I have two original stories that I'm currently working on. One is about a group of five teens being trapped in another world with video game elements and the other is a fantasy story with vampires, werewolves, and a two-decade-old plot. It will most likely be the second one since I've almost finished the first few chapters of it.

Anyway, stay safe and have a good day.

-Shyla