Glad to be back, and I love the fact that many more new people are joining. Last chapter I didn't get as many reviews as I usually so this will be short. This is from Alduin "Are emerald and mercury going to turn bad or are they going to stay good and is sarge coming back

Sincerely alduin"

Thanks alduin, now I've stated how they'll remain good for the while and Sarge will return.

Now onto the chapter.

[Continuing the dance]

The dance continued as scheduled as the many students conversed, danced and so forth. Even the staff had enjoyed their time of peace, telling stories of their adventures. Even the famous General Ironwood tried his luck in asking Glynda Goodwitch for a dance.

Despite the social gathering, there were a few of those who were not involved. Their area of choice, the punch bowl; members of the non social club consisted of Ruby, Lopez and Church for the meantime.

Jaune walked towards them to stand besides them, "I see you're all hiding at the punch bowl too."

"Yup/Sí/Uh-huh." The three answered.

Jaune raised his cup in the air, "To the socially awkward." Earning a cheers with the rest of the punch bowl team.

"Hey brother, sorry about the whole Weiss thing." Church said, attempting to comfort Jaune.

"Meh, it's fine. Neptune's pretty cool." Jaune replied, "I get why she went with him."

It was then Ruby stared at the two in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Well, come on. Not many people can pull off blue hair." Jaune explained.

Ruby then shook her head again, "No, I mean Weiss came to the dance alone."

The sudden comment made Jaune gag on his drink as Church simply pulled away from his sip. Jaune needed a better understanding, "Uh, what?"

"This drink taste off to anyone else?" Church asked as he took another sip.

"Weiss said, 'she had too much to focus on to worry about boys.'" Ruby elaborated as she gestured to Weiss focusing on a table center of white roses.

As Jaune saw Weiss struggle to keep a falling flower up right, he tracked her glance at Neptune. The one who had broken her heart was laughing and telling a joke as though he were innocent. Jaune was now set on a mission to give Neptune a piece of his mind, "Hold my punch." Jaune demanded as Church grabbed it and handed it to Ruby, who took a sip of his drink.

Church nodded to Lopez as he followed after Jaune, kneeling down to grab something from his ankle.

Now in full concentration, he walked like a slow moving storm ready to strike with purpose. Pushing through the crowd and aimed at Neptune seemingly nothing could shift his course. Until at the moment he was a few yards away, Pyrrah Nikos came into his view as she was going up towards the balcony outside.

[On the balcony]

Pyrrah stood alone as the cool crisp night air was paired with the crickets chirping in the distance. She was alone, until a knight arrived behind her, "Hey Pyrrah." Jaune announced himself.

"Hello Jaune," Pyrrah greeted back.

After a few seconds of awkward silence Jaune spoke again, "You okay? I haven't seen you tonight."

"Arrived late I'm afraid."

"Well you look really nice." Jaune complimented.

"Thank you."

Worried about what he said, he began to wonder about the repercussions, "Your uh date isn't going to beat me up for saying that, are they?"

"I think you're safe for tonight." Pyrrah reassured Jaune.

"So where is the lucky person?"

Pyrrah took a quick minute to breathe before continuing, "There's no one." She answered.

"What?"

"Nobody asked me." She explained.

In disbelief, Jaune needed to make sure he was hearing correctly, "But that's... you're Pyrrah Nikos. How could nobody ask you?"

"I've been blessed... with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise. But when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes I'm too good for them; That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That what I like about you." Pyrrah admitted, "When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess... you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me." With that said Pyrrah left Jaune to look out into the distance and think about her words.

After a few silent seconds Jaune turned to call after her, but to come face to face with Church. The slightly larger man brought him back to his original spot, "Easy partner, look Jaune you got to know tha-"

"Hey, uh... Jaune, right?" The blue haired charmer known as Neptune interrupted.

Church walked back to the the door while Jaune answered, "Yeah."

"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing: Pbbfff." Neptune remarked.

"Yeah." Jaune hesitantly agreed.

Neptune then added another thought that ticked Jaune and Church off, "Cute girls though, huh?"

"Is that all you think about?" Jaune grunted.

"Huh?"

"D-do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?" Jaune questioned Neptune.

"Whoa. Where's this coming from?" Neptune asked in self-defense.

"How could you turn her down like that?" Jaune asked.

"Wait, w-who?"

"Weiss!"

"I uh...it uh..." Neptune started to explain, "It just didn't work out. Y'know?"

Jaune, who was still pissed, continued his rant, "What?! You think you're too cool? Too many other options? Weiss Schnee asked you to the dance, What in the world could possibly keep you from go-"

"I can't dance." Neptune finally admitted.

"Beg your pardon?"

"I can't dance, man."

Shocked, Jaune no longer felt irritated, "But you're...so...cool."

"Thank you. I try really, really hard."

"You would rather break a girl's heart, and go to a dance alone, than... just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

"That about sums it up, yeah."

"Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself."

"Please don't tell anybody." Neptune pleaded, "Look, if you want Weiss she's all yours; I don't wanna get in your way."

Jaune turned back at Neptune, "Do you like her?"

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool."

"Then just go talk to her. No pickup lines. No suave moves." Jaune glanced over to Church who was nodding in approval, "Just the honest to goodness you."

"Yeah but that isn't-"

"Hey, you don't have to look cool all the time. In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it."

"Yeah. Okay." Neptune agreed.

"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night."

"Thanks, you're a really cool guy Jaune."

"Alright, don't lie to my face." Jaune said as he joined Neptune in a hug.

Neptune turned to Church and beckoned him forth, "Sorry, not a hugger."

"Oh it's hugging time, get in here." Neptune demanded. As he brought Church into a nice squeeze a click was heard, "Is there a gun pointed at my j-?"

"There's a gun pointed at your junk." Church replied.

Neptune backed away as Church placed his smaller 32 snubnose in his inside jacket pocket Jaune stared at Church wide eyed, "You brought a gun?"

"Yeah." Church answered without blinking an eye.

"Please say that is your only weapon tonight." Neptune said.

"No."

"Is that your only gun?" Jaune questioned.

"No."

Sighing in defeat, Jaune accepted it, "Okay Neptune, I'll see you inside. I got something I need to do."

"Need a hand?" Church asked.

"No, no, no. This is something I must do alone."

[Back Inside The Party]

Donut had rejoined Yang at the top of the balcony with Doc and Ruby joining in. The usual pairs were having their fun, Tucker was grabbing some more drinks for him and Yang. As they glanced down at the scene they felt a new sense of accomplishment.

"Y'know, I we really needed this." Yang admitted as they saw everyone down below conversing, dancing. In groups, by themselves or with partners; all had found their fun tonight.

"Yeah, and you did a great job planning it, too." Ruby acknowledged.

"Aww thanks, it wasn't all me though. Weiss did a lot too." Yang said as the group saw a certain Snow White get a blue haired prince charming, "Tomorrow it's back to work."

"Well, I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown us." Ruby chirped back, until laughter from below made theme look down, "Except for that."

As one figure endured the laughter of fellow students, foreign students, and staff alike he made his way through the crowd. The laughs were between stiffled chuckles and full on burst outs, they continued until the 'he' made his way to Pyrrah Nikos.

"Jaune?" Pyrrah asked as she was confused as to what she was seeing.

"Eh, a promise is a promise." Jaune explained, referring to the promise he kept with her about wearing a dress.

For a while Pyrrah held in her laughter, but soon failed as she too laughed at his appearance, "Jaune you didn't have to."

"Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word. Now do you want to stand there and laugh at me, or do you wanna dance." He asked as the music came on.

"I... would love to dance." Pyrrah answered as Jaune took her by the hand.

Nora saw the scene and realized what was going on, "Ren; This. Is. Happening!"

"Wait. What is happening?" A confused Ren asked.

Team JNPR then gave the entire ballroom the best ever dance performance ever. Their moves were in synced with each other, almost as though they had weeks of rehearsal even though they seemingly came up with it on the spot.

As their dance came apart Pyrrah had Jaune all to herself, "I had no idea you were a dancer!"

"Yeah, well these things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters." Jaune elaborated.

Somewhere nearby Weiss was asking Neptune for an answer, "So, what made you change your mind?"

"Huh?" Neptune wondered.

"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?"

Neptune looked to the man in the dress, "You're looking at him. You've got some good friends looking out for you."

[Above the dance floor]

"Looks like all the dancers have partners." Kiss said as she spoke into her earpiece, hidden by her hair.

"How long do I have?" Cinder asked.

"My bedtime starts at 12:15, so we should probably get home by midnight." Darius Pill sarcastically answered.

Setting her watch Cinder acknowledged, "I'm on the clock."

Now running across the rooftops, Cinder was rushing to the CCT for her mission. She did not know a pair of eyes caught onto her.

As the CCT the first guard did his usual patrol, walking back and forth. Looking left, right and in front, he failed to see the strongest woman behind him as she whacked him on the back of his head. With guard unconscious, Cinder dragged his body into hiding and proceeded forth with her mission.

As she entered the main hall four guards became aware of her presence as their eyes followed her movements. One of the guards found it in themselves to speak up, "Excuse me, ma'am? This area is off limits to the public. I'm gonna have to ask you... to vacate... the area..."

Cinder hadn't backed down, instead she grew a cocky smirk. Now feeling threatened the Atlesian guard aimed his gun at her. Quicker than the bullets she rushed the gunman, first three shots were dodged as she ducked the bullets. Now in front of the shooter, she put his shooting arm in a lock, as one of his partners tried to jump on her she fired the gun incapacitating the charger. Now dancing with the gunner she used her left elbow to snap his arm in half. As he screamed in pain she used her heel to bash his head to the floor. The last two rushed her with batons as well, so she returned with the same charge as she pulled two sabers from seemingly thin air.

As the doors to the elevator opened Cinder had already dispatched the other two that tried to attack. As she entered the elevator she looked in the reflective panels of the elevator, "Damn." She said realizing part of her hair was getting messy. As she tried to fix it then one on the right side of the elevator behind her. In a second she spun around with a roundhouse kick knocking both of them to the left wall. In a single strike she took down two opponents at once, then continued to fix that one annoying strand.

Now on her desired floor, she walked over to all of the panels and selected one at random.

"Heads up, we have a party pooper." Darius joked through the earpiece.

"Who is it?" Cinder questioned as she let her device do her work.

"Tall, white and Ironwood." Darius answered as he continued his dance with Kiss.

Kiss sighed, "General had all his fun already. Need us to run interception?"

Cinder was now on an even tighter clock as she connected to all the screens in the room, "No. We're done here." Cinder answered as she was about to leave until the elevator arrived at her floor.

Out came one of the party guest, she assumed because of the frilly, red and black dress, "Hello?" Little Red called out. She stumbled forward as her shoes appeared to have been uncomfortable, "Is anyone there? Hello?"

Realizing she'd have to come out to run sooner than later, as Cinder rose she turned to face the new challenger, "Excuse me. Y'know, it's not a masquerade party, so why don't you take off that-" The young Ruby Rose demanded until the masked femme fatale pulled out a small canister like device and made crystal shards appear in front of her.

As she fired them off Ruby had spun her Crescent Rose, blocking those shards. As the crystals shattered against her weapon Ruby took aim and fired back at the main target. Cinder received those shots as she stopped them in the palm of her hand and converted all that dust into her two sabers. Ruby saw this as a chance to close the distance as she charged forward in an attempt to cut Cinder. Cinder had already planned ahead as she changed her sabers into a bowl and fired off three powerful arrows at Ruby. Barely escaping those hits, Ruby backed away.

As Cinder saw herself winning, Ironwood himself had finally arrived as he appeared from the elevator. Smiling, Ruby turned from Ironwood to the masked figure only to find out that she had disappeared. One moment a fight unlike any other, the next gone.

[Back to Cinder at the Party]

"Guys, I need a dance partner, now!" Cinder demanded as she changed outfits quick.

"Where are you coming from?" Darius asked as he danced with Kiss.

"Far back entrance." Cinder said as she pushed through the doors to see Ivan raiding the desert table and Pill with Kiss too far away. As she began to walk through the crowd she covered her face. With her view obstructed she could've bumped into anyone at all, but luck was either smiling at her or flipping her the bird.

In front of her was the handsome, well dressed Church, in front of him was the beautiful and stunning, "Tex."

"Leo." Cinder/Tex called back.

Before they could be awkward with each other, another song came on. Finishing his last sip of his drink in his hand he gathered his confidence, "May I have this dance?"

"Of course." Tex smiled as they assumed their position.

As they begun Church couldn't help but make small talk, "So how's your night been?"

"A little more... exciting than expected." Cinder replied.

"Well... it is a party." Church said as he grabbed two cups of the drinks going around, "To... moments like these."

"Cheers." Tex smiled as he and Church both took their sips. Getting a taste gave each of them a strange vibe.

"It ain't just me right, this tastes off?" Church quizzed.

"You're right, something is strange." Tex/Cinder agreed.

"Hold on," Church said as he pulled his friend Grif from his dance to explain the drink, "Grif, what's up with the drinks?"

Grif examined the drinks, "Oh, these are Blue Margaritas."

"Well, that explains the fruity taste." Church said as he licked his lips.

Tex took another swig herself, "Wish I would've known that earlier, first time I tasted, I was expecting punch."

"Tell me about it. My first drink gave me strange vibes." Church added.

"Wait, how many of those have you both had?" Grif questioned.

"Two." They both answered.

"Shit, I should've warned you. Those are creepers." Grif stated.

"The hell does that mean?" Cinder asked, letting her true nature show.

"It means the effects of the alcohol creep up on you, when you least expect them-"

[Next Morning]

Cinder woke up with a tired expression as she lazily got up to check the time. She still had two hours before she needed to get ready. So she fluffed her pillow to go back-up to sleep.

Only, it wasn't her pillow. It was the arm of Church, the cowboy. Moments like these require one word: "Fuck."

[End of Chapter]

Okay before I go, I wanted to wish everyone luck during these troubling times and say that I love all of you followers/favoriters and so forth. Next time we see Mission Briefings.

Until then, Churchisalive signing off.