Vol 2 Ch 10: May I have this dance?

Azerra bolted upright, her mind reeling. It couldn't be true… could it? This was far to good to be true. Her head couldn't slow down, the implications of what this meant! It worked! She rushed to get dressed and raced out the door, minding her head on the low stone ceiling as she rapidly ascended the steps that led to the surface.

The very concept of how time worked… Or at least didn't work was enough to shake the very idea of temporal science to its core! She knew not to even begin to try and unravel that question, human minds are not equipped to try and grasp the idea of time in any other way than its nice linear path but this…

Also, this must be the first-time successful contact had been made in such a fashion, otherwise she must have had access to one of the others memories by now… Oh this was too good! She needed to find Ryan, he's going to be insufferable when he finds out he was right, but this is too good to pass up!

She sprinted through the halls of Shade academy, scanning every face she glided past as she went, she needed to find them as soon as possible. She shot into the dining hall shoving the large doors as she went. As she was sprinting down the rows of tables, she caught a glimpse of Harry waving her over and she skidded to a stop behind them as they all turned to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Well someone got out of the right side of bed this morning," Ryan said smiling at her, "What's made you so happy."

Azerra could only stop and beam at her teammates "So… What's your favourite ice cream flavour?"

Alden's eyes snapped open. Did that just? His mind raced back through his memories, trying to see if his dreams had simply made it up, but he could clearly recall the dream, clear yet slightly fuzzy, more like a memory than a dream. It was real…

Alden had to resist the urge to jump and scream in his relation, but that would wake his team…

He suddenly noticed the curtains were wide open and sunlight beamed through the window. All the rest of the beds in the room was vacant yet well kept. There was also a small note left on his desk.

Alden.

Just so you know we went to have breakfast and help out with the final preparations with the ball this evening- Don't groan at that it'll be fun! Stop rolling your eyes! As you've seemed to be getting good information during the nights, I'd thought it best not to wake you, sorry of it was a bad one.

Depending on when you read this, we'll most likely be in the canteen, the ball room or outside by the fountain come find us!

Maya

Alden smiled at the note, she was getting far too good at predicting his reactions. He crumpled the paper and through it in the bin and hurried to get dressed. He would quickly get a bite to eat and go in search for the others, boy did he have news for them!

He rushed into the bathroom and jumped into the shower whilst turning it on. He immediately sidestepped the rush of scalding water, making sure to turn the temperature down, Aegan liked it way to hot for his taste. He let his mind wonder as he stood back under the stream. He felt anxious, he knew the rest of team felt the same way. For a few days they had known about a kidnapped girl being held hostage but for those same days they'd been powerless to do anything about it, they have to wait for their mission to get anywhere near where they thought she was being held. But it still didn't feel right, going shopping and to the ball when the poor girl must be scared out of her wits.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He was right before; they couldn't do anything about it now. But they would be able to tomorrow, it gave him a small modicum of hope.

The cafeteria was much more lively than usual. Everyone was talking about the dance this evening. Some where obviously excited, other where… obviously not. He was waiting in line to grab something when he heard his name being called from behind him. Alden turned to see the most recent members to his alarmingly rapidly growing list of friends.

"Hey Alden" Sun said as he and Neptune joined him at the back of the line. "Do you know where the ladies and Aegan went? We saw them talking this morning but then disappeared before we knew what they were doing."

"I'm fairly certain they went to the ballroom to do some last checks. I'm going in search for them anyway after this." He said, nodding towards the food on display.

"Well in that case we'll wait for you if you want the company?" Neptune asked.

"Sure." Alden said and turned to the items on display. He grabbed a sandwich and an apple, things he normally wouldn't accept as a breakfast, but this was important, and he needed something portable. They walked off past the tables and headed for the large doors.

"So, what's MANA trying to get for their mission?" Sun asked him as they approached the door.

"We're thinking village defence." Alden said as he opened the door, "Just something out of the city as neither Nite nor Maya have really left it before. How about you?"

"We're planning on getting in with the junior detectives" Neptune said, "For the exact opposite reason for you, we want to see the city when nothing is… exploding, or on fire, or being shot through, or just a pile of rubble, or slag, or…"

"Yeah, he gets it Neptune," Sun interrupted. Alden just laughed.

"He has a point though, hang around team RWBY for long enough and something is bound to explode… even if it's Ruby's enthusiasm." Sun and Neptune laughed at his joke.

"Though MANA's had it's fair share of weirdness hasn't it?" Neptune asked.

"Yep," Alden replied, "Which is why I wouldn't count on everything being normal even without us. Junior detectives you say? You'll probably end up with a massive conspiracy or a Grimm invasion of the kingdom."

"Geez, thanks for filling us with confidence." Neptune sarcastically replied.

They opened the doors to the ballroom to be met by chaos. Several teams who had opted to help out were bustling about calling to one another with lists of supplies and what to put where. They looked up to see Weiss standing on the balcony wielding a megaphone, shouting orders to the volunteers.

To his right, working at one of the tables he could see his team, and next to them was the rest of the team RWBY, hell even Blake had turned up today.

"Is that…?" Sun began to ask.

"Yep," Alden replied.

"How is that possible? There's no way she suddenly changed her mind like this."

"Yang." Alden said.

"What?"

"Yang persuaded her."

"I know she was going to try. I just didn't think she'd be able to do it."

Alden laughed and shook his head and walked towards them. Maya was the first to see him and she smiled and waved him over. As he approached, he saw they were working on some incredibly fiddly looking tags design to lock the tablecloth sections together.

"Morning." Aegan said as he approached. "Care to join the torture room?"

"Aegan I can hear you!" Weiss' voice boomed over the noise of the other teams from above them.

"You're just proving my point!" He called back.

"I need to talk to you guys for a second." Alden said once Sun and Neptune had distracted the rest of their friends.

"What is it?" Maya asked.

Alden smiled; he wouldn't be able to hold it back anyway. "Azerra's favourite is Chocolate, and Ryan and the rest of team AREH prefers vanilla."

Aegan blinked at him, "What?"

Maya's mouth opened in shock, "No…"

Alden nodded and his smile got wider "Yep, it works!"

Nite looked confused, "I'm feeling Aegan and I are missing out on something, what's going on?"

Alden looked at her, "You know a few nights ago, when we were with Furla she talked about people who had come before us, like Azerra, the one I keep getting dreams of?" Nite nodded slowly. "We can talk through those, she knows us, she's seen what happened in forever fall and now we've learnt how to leave messages across them, we can talk to them."

"Then… this changes everything!" She said as her face exploded into a smile, "If they've already gone through this then we can learn all about this stuff, before it happens!"

"Yes, in the terminology of the universe, this does technically count as cheating." Alden replied. "But either way it gives a huge advantage, I for one have many questions I need to ask her."

Alden vigorously rubbed his hair with a towel as he got out of the shower for the second time that day. He quickly got dressed and walked back into their room, currently empty as Nite and Aegan had gone down to get something to eat before the ball tonight and he could hear the shower running in the girl's bathroom.

He looked out the window down at the courtyard below at the large crowds of students milling about, some were running about doing final checks and getting ready, others were already dressed for the occasion for when they were allowed into the ballroom.

Three knocks sounded on their door, eyebrows lowering in confusion he walked over to reveal Yang, out of her usual leather jacket and in a pearl white dress. Looking very annoyed and her hair had exploded on her head, in all directions making her look like a very agitated porcupine. He failed to hold in his snigger and his lips curled up at the sight

"Don't. Even. Start." Yang warned him with a hairbrush.

"I'm not." He replied smiling. "Come in, let's get you sorted."

With a huff Yang reluctantly followed him into the room and sat on the edge of his bed. Alden walked up to her and took the hairbrush out of her hands and got on his knees behind her on the bed. He grabbed the first lock of her hair and very carefully brushed it down, paying attention not to tug on it too much.

"So how did you manage this?" He asked as he started to get the back of her hair into a somewhat reasonable fashion.

"I might have gone a bit over the top with the shampoo." She grumbled.

"A bit?" Alden snarked.

"Hey- OW!" She yelped as she turned to glare at him but caused the brush to tug on her hair.

"Well, don't move your head then, I'm working on it."

"I hate you…"

"Love you too Yang, now turn your head to the right a bit." She followed his instruction and Alden carried on working in silence.

Soon the quiet was shattered by a mocking gasp to their right. "I don't believe my eyes!" Maya cried as she emerged from the bathroom, "Someone touching Yang's hair not being beaten to a pulp? What crazy world have I woken up into?"

Yang smiled but flipped Maya a rude finger gesture. Maya just laughed and opened the door to her wardrobe and pulled out the bag that contained her dress as Alden worked on the other side of Yang's head.

The door opened to reveal Nite and Aegan enter the room, they stopped as they entered.

"Am I imagining this?" Aegan asked.

"I don't think so…" Nite replied staring in awe at Yang, who huffed and shrugged.

"Why is everyone making a big deal out of this?" She sighed.

"Because among the list of the last people and creatures to touch your hair, I'm the only one that's still alive or hasn't visited the hospital." Alden replied and began trying to tame her fringe.

"You're going to visit it in a minute." She warned staring up at him through the knotted ends of her fringe. Alden simply tsked.

"Then who would be able to sort this out for you? I'm trying to be nice here."

"I'm going to wait until your done-

"Now that's just rude." Alden interrupted.

Yang groaned but was met with light hearted laughter.

"There we go. I think that's good." Alden said as he opened the back part of Yang's hairbrush, revealing a mirror and showed it to her. Yang examined his work before smiling and nodding.

"That's great, thanks Alden."

"Anytime, now go on, you need to get down there and open it up." Yang happily hummed.

"That I do, oh it's gonna be so much fun! You guys better get down there quick, I won't tolerate unpunctuality!"

"Damn that was a big word for you!" Alden laughed and ducked under her flying hairbrush.

"Alden. Cirq! I swear if you-

"The ballroom needs opening." Alden interrupted smiling. He picked up her hairbrush and handed it back to her, "I won't even try and delay if you don't try and hit me again."

Her eyebrows lowered at him. "Fine, you better."

"I will, pinky promise."

"You are such a child." Yang called as she walked off.

"Bye!" They all called down the hallway. As Yang turned and headed down the stairs Alden suddenly noticed that all his teams eyes were on him.

"What?" he asked.

"How are you still alive!?" Aegan said his mouth dropping to the floor. "No one can do that and live unharmed to tell the tale."

Alden laughed as he walked to his wardrobe to pull out his suit. "You're right, I'm the only one that can, she won't let her dad near it.

Maya watched as his smile dropped and a flicker of sadness passed over his eyes. "It's a… long story." He dismissed and turned to opened he bag and laid the contents carefully on his bed.

Alden and Aegan walked into the ballroom a few minutes later to give the girls the room to get changed. It was packed full of people, some walking about, but most stayed in medium to large groups; filling the room full of unintelligible gibberish as all their voices mixed into one constant sound. Yang smiled and waved from her position at a podium and waved them over.

"I'm actually surprised you turned up on time." Yang smiled.

"I made you a promise, didn't I?" Alden said, almost cowering against the podium Yang was standing behind, nervously looking at all the people around him, talking and laughing and gods he did not know what he was supposed to be doing.

"Hey Aegan!" Someone called from a nearby crowd, Alden recognised them as Sam, one of Aegan's old friends back from Pharos academy, "Come here a sec!"

Aegan looked at him, "I'll be back in a minute" and walked off to talk with the group. Alden was becoming more grateful by the second that ang was still there. As he turned he saw her smirking at him.

"What?"

"You look so lost!" She laughed. Alden shook his head but smiled.

"It's just a bit… overwhelming."

Yang smiled and nodded. "Don't worry, I get it. I was making fun of your face, not you."

The doors clicked over open again to reveal Ruby slowly waddled her way into the room.

Yang started jumping up and down. "Ooooh! You look Beautiful!"

"Urghhh hurgghh." Ruby groaned as she took a few wobbly steps forward. "Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these!?" She took a step forward and had to spread her arms out to keep her balance. Yang just covered her mouth with her hand and giggled softly as Ruby approached them. Alden shook his head but smiled as Ruby took another step and started to lose her balance and fall. Alden quickly reached out and held her shoulder and gently pushed her back on her feet. He looked over his shoulder.

"Good sistership Yang." He said shaking his head. Yang replied by simply bursting out into laughter.

"Y-y-y you look like a drunk Chicke- ha ha ah!" Yang tried to say but couldn't hold her laughter back.

"This isn't funny!" Ruby scowled.

"Well, I want to know why you didn't dump the high heals and come in something… flatter?" Alden asked.

"Because I told her it would go well with her dress. And I'm right!"

"At the expense of her walking, you knew this would happen."

"Nooooooooo, of couuuuurrse I didn't!" She scratched the back of her neck, "Well, maybe a little, but I wasn't really focusing on that part."

"Oh come on Yang look at her!" Alden said as he gestured to Ruby who tried to walk again but stumbled.

"Yeah this had become more of a problem than I thought it would be…"

"Go help her. I'll try and cover your list for you."

"Fiiiine." Yang said and stepped away from her podium.

Alden walked up and examined the list, it was simple enough, a tick if someone turns up, a tick if they leave. But…

"Hey Yang?" Alden called.

"What?" She replied as she held Ruby up so she could get used to walking.

"Why do you need one these things anyway? It's not like we're incapable of walking about our own academy."

"I don't know, but Professor Goodwitch told me we have to have one so…" She shrugged again. They heard the door click open and again, and Yang produced a low wolf-whistle. "Damn, I know how to pick em'"

Alden looked up to see Nite and Maya walk into the ballroom. Nite had let her hair down, out of its usual braid and it hung around her upper back. She was wearing a dark green dress which went to just below her knees and slit open by her elbows, revealing all her upper forearm. Alden turned to Yang, "See I told you, she looks fine, why did you make such a fuss?" Yang groaned and facepalmed. Alden laughed and turned back to the door.

Maya had tied her hair back into a bun on the back of her hair with a braided strand that ran up one side which flickered out at the end. As she walked past one of the lights by the door it shined to the point where one could easily mistake her head to be on fire. She was wearing a light blue sleeveless dress that cut off at her knees. She was wearing a matching colour pair of soft soled flats so that she couldn't be heard over the noise of people talking and… and he was staring… he really needed to stop.

He forced his eyes back down and quickly crossed their names off the list. He noticed Aegan walking back over and greeting Nite, but they were out of earshot.

"You look… Highly uncomfortable." Maya noted from in front of him. Alden smile but shrugged.

"Meh, you know me and these types of events. I promise to try to not embarrass you though… but I can't make any promises."

Maya smiled and laughed, "If it helps, ignore everyone else, you're just having a night out with friends, makes it feel a lot less… claustrophobic." Alden nodded.

"Yeah, Ok. I can do that." He said and Yang released him from the podium and Maya gestured to the side of the room. As they walked Alden noted something different about Maya. "Why have you hidden your tail?"

"What?" Maya asked, looking away slightly.

"You've tucked your tail in… why?"

"I'm not "Hiding it" I'm just…"

"Why have you suddenly become self-conscious about it?" Alden interrupted.

"I haven't!" She said sternly but slightly blushed. Alden stood with his arms crossed and blinked, clearly not convinced. She sighed and shook her head, then looked away. "As you know, I normally go to these kinds of events with my family. Most of them… don't… appreciate who I am exactly. It's just become easier to not let anyone see it." She said looking down nervously and sat on one of the chairs, crossing one leg over the other. Alden sighed and sat down next to her.

"Are we at one of those events now?"

"No…"

"Are with your friends?"

"Yes…"

"Have they ever judged you for having an incredibly strong tail that has made me realise I'm strangely ticklish to fur?" Maya gave out a small laugh and cracked a smile.

"No."

"So, there's no reason to hide. Come on. Tail out. Now." Alden said as he flicked her on the shoulder.

"Fine…" She sighed and Alden saw her dress move about at the bottom before her tail slipped out of a small hidden slit at the back of her dress. Her tail wrapped protectively around her back. "Why do you care anyway?"

Alden looked at her slightly hurt. "Maya, you're one of my best friends. That means I like you." He said and absentmindedly curled a finger through the fur of her tail, gently unfurling a small knot that had formed as she pushed it through the slit of the dress. "All of you… and everything that makes you that." He held her gaze but tried not to portray the little spark of joy he felt at the realisation that she didn't flinch away this time.

Maya sighed and looked down at her lap. "I'm sorry." She said quietly, "It just became a habit after I was a kid around the wealthier people at those events, they always looked down on me, so it became easier to just disappear." She clenched her eyes together, she looked hurt. Alden felt one of his fists clench at the thought of who or what could make her so self-conscious, she was never like this.

"Hey, hey." Alden said turning to face her. "I'm not blaming you. Humans are horrible people, we're nasty, bullies and struggle to accept anything different to our way… You're not wrong. But… some of us try not to be that so please… try, trust us more than your fear of what could be OK?" He placed a tentative hand over hers to which she flipped it over and gently squeezed.

Maya slowly looked back to him and nodded. "Ok," and her tail fell to rest in a small heap on the seat. Alden smiled.

"Thank you." He said before looking back out into the room. Making up his mind he stood, turned round and offered his hand down to her. "Come on, wanna' dance?" Maya looked up at him confused.

"I thought you didn't know how to?" Alden smiled and shrugged.

"I don't, but we've been so good at improvising lately… how hard can it be?" Maya smiled and sighed through her nose and took his hand allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.

"Alright, come on, I'll teach you." She said and led him toward the dance floor.

"You do not know how relived I am to hear you say that, I was not trusting my improvisation ability at all." Alden said huffing. Maya laughed.

"It's not that bad." She said and held him to a stop. Alden looked nervously to the side where Yang and Ruby were leaning up against, the podium and watching them, obviously entertained at the prospect. "Ignore them." Maya instructed, "just focus on me." She reached out and grabbed his left hand and held it up and she put her other hand on his shoulder. "Right, now put your other hand on my waist." She told him.

Suddenly incredibly unsure of what he was doing he gingerly followed her instructions. She smiled but rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not made of glass Alden." Alden blushed and strengthened his grip.

"Right, sorry."

"Stop apologising, you haven't done this before." She scolded and gently tugged him to the left. "We'll just do the simple stuff for now, until you get an idea for the rhythm." Alden nodded and let himself get pulled about before picking up on the timing and his feet began moving with more purpose, keeping step with her. Maya smiled at him. "See you're getting the hang of it!" They did a few more twists and turns before Maya's tail wrapped out around him and prodded him at the bottom of his back. "Try and keeps some tension here, it makes it easier to rebalance when we change direction." Alden tried and sure enough he felt like he was no longer fighting to keep upright in the spins.

"Ok, yeah, that's better." He said. He then proceeded to forget to move his other foot and tripped. He gasped slightly as he had to quick step to stay on his feet. "I'm fine." He said quickly He looked down to see Maya trying and failing to hold her smile to herself.

"Please, restrain your worry to my health, it makes me nervous." He said sarcastically rolling his eyes. This time Maya did laugh and jokingly headbutted his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but the look on your face! You were like: ahhhhhh! Noooo! Whyyyyy? Oh, I'm fine! Rejoice!" She mocked. Alden huffed but smiled, happy to see his friend acting happier again after the rocky start to the evening. He let go of her and deliberately moved his foot in between hers, loving the look of shock on her face as she tumbled over. On the way down he reached out and clasped his hand in hers and gently pulled her back on her feet whilst spinning her around before returning to their original position and he behaved like he hadn't done anything.

Maya just stared at him but soon a smile crept over her face as one of her eyebrows raised. "Those were some smooth moves." She complimented. "Are you sure you're not a dancer?"

"I have a great teacher." He replied. She raised her eyebrows again.

"I don't think it's me." She said as she stepped back causing his arm to rise and she spun before drifting off to the side and twirling behind his back before meeting him back in the middle. "You're a natural!"

He wasn't really sure if he was. It definitely was easier because it was her. Strangely he was relying on battle instincts. He could tell by the direction of her legs and feet which way she was going, and by the direction of her torso and what her tail was doing he could tell which way she would turn. But instead of the fleeced hood fluttering in the wind and a blazing sword or glaive in her hand, she was in a dress. Alden admitted that even though he certainly didn't mind the change it was strange seeing her like this. Strange being like this. Because normally he would have stayed well away from an event like this, he would have hated every second of it. But as they stood in between each other's legs and had to twist out to the side to avoid tripping up on each other before spinning round and going back the way they came. Alden realised he was enjoying himself, even with the overconfident glint in Maya's eyes.

"Oh, when I tell your family you're secretly a great dancer…" Maya told him as they drew closer, grinning from ear to ear. In response Alden tipped her over again, causing her to glide round but he held her steady and looked down at her.

"Don't. You. Dare." He said as she kicked her self-back up towards him, clinging close to his shoulder.

"What? Afraid they may have something to say?" She smirked close to his ear. Alden had to fight the blush rising in his cheeks at the thought.

"No. I'm afraid they wouldn't stop having something to say." He replied lifting his hand up for her to twirl underneath as she skidded out before pushing back in.

"But. To me… that doesn't sound too bad." She grinned and pulled, causing them to sidestep out of the way of a dancing pair nearby.

"You are, quite literally… the worst person I have ever met." Alden grumbled pulling her back out the way of another pair. She laughed at his comment and stepped to the side and linked her arm with his, stepping forward to turn them to the side.

"You wound me!" She said grinning, spinning round and linking her other arm, turning them the other way. "Do you honestly think I would do that?" She added, winking. They unlinked their arms and resumed their original position.

"Knowing you? Absolutely." Alden retorted as they curved round.

"Nah, I wouldn't." Maya said but then started grinning impishly "I'm just going to hold it for later." Alden tilted his head back and groaned. Maya laughed and Alden noted the way her eyes flashed in the light overhead.

"You scared of me Alden?" She asked, stepping one foot between his to get closer to his face in a challenge. He stepped to the side and pulled her arm round so her back was against his chest and her leaned his head down near her shoulder.

"Nah… Mary is scarier if you make her lose her bookmark." He said. His head, however, was occupied with the memory back on Patch. When the Grimm had her. With her teeth bared and hands clawed and her tail not portraying any of her emotion. The idea of having to fight Maya for real was far, far scarier… But a little lie wouldn't hurt.

Maya shivered as his breath ghosted over her shoulder and the tip of her tail flickered. She knew he didn't do that deliberately; the boy was far too oblivious for that. She pushed off him and spun around so they were facing each other and brought their conjoined hands up so they were trapped between their shoulders, their closeness providing some privacy.

"I wanted to ask you something." She said as their dance slowed down with the music.

"Shoot." He answered.

"How come Yang lets you touch her hair?" She asked quietly as they drifted around. She felt his chest expand and rapidly retract as he sighed.

"When we were young, there were only two people who could properly brush her hair without tugging on it." Alden said and Maya noticed his eyes darkening with a sad hollowness. "Me and her stepmum. When she died… Ruby and her dad tried to help but she said it always reminded her of her mum, I was the only one who did it before so I am the only one she accepts." He shook his head and looked back at her, "Sorry… Summer was like a second mum to me… it hurts to think of her."

"I'm sorry I asked." Maya said, slightly hanging her head.

"No, it's fine." He said and sighed, "I wish you could have met her. She would have loved you, and the others."

"Yeah?" She asked quietly as they twisted out the way again of another pair. He nodded and smiled.

"She would come back from a mission and grab Mary and me on her way home, the moment she got home she would say hi to everyone and then start to make the best cookies you could ever taste. Yang and I still get caught up for hours talking about her." He said with a small smile on his face.

They danced on quietly for a minute before Maya looked back up. "So… how close are you and Yang?" She asked, immediately regretting the question. Alden's eyes glanced down.

"What do you mean?" He asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Do you… you know…?" She said as she and bit her tongue to stop embarrassing herself any more.

"Oh… oh…" Alden said as he caught on. He shook his head. "No, not anymore." Maya raised an eyebrow in a question. Alden jokingly huffed. "I did like her… for a long time, up to about a year or two ago."

"What happened?" She asked, gently pulling them back as they neared the edge of the dance floor.

"I started to notice it at a end of year party back at signal, we went together but I started noticing that was the time she started… you know… really looking at people. But… it wasn't at me. Or any other guy for that matter." Maya's eyebrows shot up.

"She's a…" She didn't finish her sentence, but Alden cottoned on and nodded.

"Yeah, she is… Those please don't tell anyone else that, or I will be stabbed to death… and I would probably deserve it to."

"Not a soul." She reassured as they slowed as the music came to an end. They disentangled from each other and stood apart. Maya had to ignore the stupid tingling feeling in her hand.

As they left the dance floor and headed for the stairs up to the balcony level Alden's head was in turmoil, either dancing took more out of him than he thought, which considering his desired occupation was unlikely… or his heart running about on overdrive inside his chest meant he enjoyed that a bit too much. They climbed up the stairs and passed one of the many drinks stands surrounding the room. Maya grabbed one of the cups and Alden followed suit, not really paying attention to what he was doing. They took a seat at one of the tables lining the edge and looked down at the people below.

Alden took a sip of his drink and immediately recoiled at the sour kick it had. "eeeaaahh." He said rubbing his tongue, "That's nasty." He looked up to see Maya snickering at him. He crossed his arms and sent an agitated glance her way. She answered by sticking her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and returned looking down through the railing.

He looked up again when he noticed Maya was scratching the back of her head. Growling in irritation she pulled at the large band that was holding her hair up and swished her head side to side like a wet dog as her hair tumbled down her back. Alden came to the weird realisation he had never seen her with her hair down before. It dropped down to roughly her shoulder blades, most over the back of her shoulders but a sizeable amount dropped down the front too. The braid that went along the side of her bun had curled around her ear and her fringe that was normally tied up had dropped so it partially covered one of her eyes.

Alden blinked and forced his eyes away again, mentally slapping himself around the face. He was drawn out again when he heard laughter, lots of it.

"What is going on down there?" Maya asked standing to look over the railing.

"I don't know- oh." Alden said joining her looking over. He wasn't quite sure if his eyes were working properly. Jaune was talking to Pyrrha in a dress.

"Umm… what?" Maya said bringing her hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

"Okay there was definitely a joke we've missed out on." Alden said staring disbelievingly as all of team JNPR suddenly dominated the dancefloor as the music picked up. The pair of them just stood in wonderment.

"I didn't even know Ren could dance like that…" Maya said, "just… what?" Alden agreed, it really didn't make any sense whatsoever. After spending a few minutes watching in awe of the spectacle before Alden pushed away from the railing.

"Do you want to go and find the others?" He asked, Maya slowly nodded and pushed away and followed him. They found Nite and Aegan on the lower level standing by the tables. "Hi guys." Alden said as they approached.

"Hi!" Nite said waving. She turned to Aegan and they smiled at each other before turning back. "How's your evening been?"

Alden paused... "Weird" he managed to reply, which he thought was a pretty accurate assumption.

"I bet." Aegan said grinning at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alden said frowning.

"Well, you told us you weren't any good at dancing." Nite said pointedly smirking at him.

"I didn't think I was." He said.

"Well everyone knows that's not the case anymore." Aegan said looking over their shoulders. Alden and Maya turned to see Yang talking to some students from another academy, but she very unsubtly winked and flashed them a thumbs up. They turned back with their cheeks burning.

Nite's eyebrows lowered as she looked back at Yang. "Those people give me the creeps." She said referring to the people Yang as talking too.

"Why's that?" Alden asked. Nite held open her palm and her Aura shaped into a small pale grey orb.

"Their… dull… It might just be interference from everyone else, but I can't feel them, I can even feel Yang." She said, the orb shimmered to become a bright green.

"That's… weird." Maya said frowning, "But, if Yang likes them, I guess they must be Okay?"

"Maybe…" Nite said but she didn't look convinced.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. Yang offered to dance with him and ended up teasing him all the way through. He talked to Ruby and Weiss for a while before retiring back up to the balcony and calmly watching the dancing crowds below. He was enjoying the solitude amongst the chaos, having to stifle a few yawns as being with just so many people had sapped all his remaining energy.

His ears twitched behind him when her heard someone come to stand beside him. His eyes twitched and widened slightly when he saw Professor Ozpin resting on his cane looking over the railing with him. He turned back waiting from him to say something, but his eyes snapped back.

The cane.

He had seen it before… where had he seen it before? Suddenly felt a painful rush shoot from the top of his brain down his spine and he winced. Ozpin cocked his head to look at him but didn't say anything. Alden's eyes began to burn and he pushed his palms into them in the hopes to dull the pain. His heartbeat accelerated and he started feeling sick.

He was standing back in the old farmhouse, the dark blades shimmering around his wrists looking down at the cooling body beneath him, the same cane slowly rolling out of their opening hand. There was a bright flash and he was suddenly standing in a large dark hall. He looked out one of the huge arched windows in between the huge pillars to see clouds but they were a sickly purple colour and flashing with red lightning… that was definitely not normal.

He heard a voice- smooth as silk, yet so rough it felt like sandpaper was trying to ram it's way though his ears. His hands raced to cover his ears in a desperate attempt to at least muffle it.

"So… Finally, you return to me…" It said Alden recognised it as female but it didn't seem to be originating from anywhere except inside his head. "It's been too long…" HE couldn't pin why but the voice made his blood run cold in fear. This had to be a dream, then only way it could be explained. But in his dreams his unconsciousness provided him some protection, he felt like he was just observing. But here… no Alden was awake alright. The voice spoke up again, and Alden felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

"Welcome back… Welcome Home…"