Later that day, Penny and Slayer were busy getting ready for the dance. Penny had already picked out a light green dress and was currently bouncing with excitement.

"This is going to be SO much fun!" she said, "I've never been to a dance before!"

"You really don't get out much, do you?" Slayer asked. He was still wearing his praetor armor.

"No. Like I said, my father does not let me leave Atlas much."

"Right."

"Have you ever danced before?"

"I couldn't. where I'm from we're in almost a constant state of war."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"You will be coming with me, right?" Penny asked, "I would LOVE to have a friend at the dance with me."

"Well, I am your bodyguard, so I'll definitely be going if you are."

"No, not that. I mean as a friend. I've seen some people inviting friends to dances, so I wanted to ask you."

Slayer realized what she meant: "Ya know, I was actually planning on asking you the same thing."

Penny lit up, "So, you'll come as a friend?"

"I'll still be wearing the armor, but yeah, I'll come as a friend."

Giggling, Penny ran up and hugged Slayer, "Yay! Now I have my own friend to dance with! Thank you, Slayer!"

Slayer slowly hugged back and chuckled.

"Damian." He said.

"What?" Penny asked, pulling away.

"My real name is Damian. I've never told anyone here that until now." Slayer/Damian said.

"Why not? I think it's a wonderful name."

Damian chuckled: "My mom picked it. It's not that my name is bad, it's because where I'm from, it can be dangerous giving away one's identity. However, I've come to trust you s lot since we first met. Plus, I know this might sound crazy, but I…kinda…like you."

"Well, I like you too!" Penny said.

"No, I mean LIKE like you."

Penny simply nodded: "I know. And I like you the same way too."

This caught Damian off guard: "You do?"

"Of course. You're an amazing friend, and I've come to see you as a good person too."

Damian brightened up a bit: "You think so?"

Penny smiled and nodded. Underneath the helmet, Damian smiled what was probably the first real smile of his life. For his entire life, he had been living in the darkness of the war the Sentinels, and his father, had fought. Now, here, with Penny, it seemed like there may still be a chance for him to find a light in that same darkness he thought he was trapped in, and he never felt better.

"Well," he finally said, Can you promise to keep my name a secret for right now? Please?"

Penny nodded: "You can count on me."

Damian nodded: "Well, the dance starts pretty soon. We should get down there."

"I agree." Penny said, and, taking Slayer's hand in hers, the two walked down to the ballroom.

…

Outside the ballroom, Julius and Sun were waiting outside. Julius had managed to find a dress shirt and pants that fit him decently. Julius had also found a tie, but Sun had to help him tie it since he had no idea how to.

"You sure she's gonna come?" he nervously asked Sun.

"Relax, I'm sure she'll be here," Sun said, "Any minute now."

Julius patted down his outfit and rans his fingers through his hair.

"Bro," Sun said, "That's like, the third time you've done that in the past ten minutes. You're fine."

"I just want to be sure," Julius said.

"You look good to me," said a voice behind them, and Julius and Sun turned to see Blake walk up to them, wearing a black dress that matched her hair and bow. Sun looked over to Julius, whose face was in a state of shock.

"See, I told you she'd be here." Sun said, "Now pick your jaw up off the floor."

Julius shook his head as if coming out of a trance: "What? Oh, sorry. Blake, you look amazing."

Blake smiled: "Thank you. You look pretty good too."

Sun nudged Julius with his elbow: "Go get em, buddy." He said before walking off.

Julius walked up to Blake: "What made you change your mind?"

"Yang was pretty convincing." Blake said, "I owe you an apology for how I acted to your question earlier. It was rude and unnecessary."

Julius chuckled: "Apology accepted," then, holding out his hand, "So, care to join me?"

Blake took his hand and said: "I'd love to." Before the two walked into the ballroom. Much to their surprise, Yang was at the receptionist desk. She lit up when she saw them.

"Awwwww! You two look adorable!" she said.

"Alright, alright, no need to get so worked up about it." Julius said.

"There's still space enough on the dance floor if you two want to get some dances in."

"Yang! Stop it!" Julius said, blushing. Blake rolled her eyes and smiled as the two walked past Yang and onto the dance floor.

"I don't know how to dance, if I'm being honest." Julius said.

"Here, let me help." Blake said. She held his right hand, then guided his left, metal one to her hip. Once she did that, she helped him get into the swing of things as they danced amongst the other students.

"There you go. You're getting better." Blake said.

"I think I'm actually getting the hang of this." Julius said, twirling Blake around.

Once the music stopped, Julius and Blake walked off the floor.

"Hey, you!" said a voice. Julius and Blake looked behind them to see slayer and Penny waving at them. The two walked over to them.

"Hey guys," Julius said, "Enjoying the dance?"

"I'm having a blast!" Penny said.

"I see you got yourself a date as well," Slayer said.

"It was a bit more stressful than I expected, but yeah." Julius said.

"You have a date too?" Blake asked.

Penny wrapped her arm around Slayer's, who then said: "I got her right here."

"You and Penny, huh?" Julius said, "Alright then."

Just then, they heard some of the students laughing at something. Looking to see what it was, they saw Jaune walk up to Pyrrha, but he was wearing a dress. Slayer and Julius immediately turned their heads away in unison.

"Oh, God, no! That is wrong on SOOO many levels!" Slayer said.

"Oooohhhh, that's seared into my brain now." Julius said, "Great…"

Both Blake and Penny laughed. Then the four watched as Team JNPR danced their own little routine on the floor, and were admittedly impressed. A few minutes later, something caught Blake's eye.

"Julius." Blake said.

"What is it?" Julius replied. Blake pointed to the doors, and Julius looked to see Ruby run (as best as she could in heels) out of the ballroom.

"Where's Ruby going?" Penny asked.

"Maybe she needed a break. I'm sure she'll be back." Julius said.

"Hopefully," Blake said.

"Well, we'll talk to you guys later," Slayer said, "Penny and I have been waiting for an opening on the dance floor and I think we just got one.. Have fun, you two."

"You too, guys." Julius said as Slayer led Penny to the dance floor.

"Well," Blake said, "Think we should do a few more of our own?"

"If you're up for it." Julius replied.

With that, Julius led Blake out to the floor and they danced a lot the rest of night, and also tried to avoid Yang's eavesdropping when they weren't dancing, which was harder than it seemed; Yang seemed to be everywhere.

"So, Yang told me you were her brother," Blake said, "Is that true?"

Julius sighed in frustration: "Yang, I'm going to kill you." He said to himself, then, to Blake: "I wanted to reveal that myself, but yes. Please don't tell anyone else for right now."

"Deal," Blake said.

…

Later that night as the students went off to bed, Julius, Blake, Slayer, and Penny, all went to sleep arguably happier than most. They had all been stressed out from what the events of the past few days had given them, but it seemed that spending time at the dance with the person they really liked lifted that burden temporarily, and it was a feeling that none of them wanted to forget…

Author's note: Here they are, the New Slayer's true name as well as my two OC ships: Black Cat (Julius x Blake), and Flesh and Metal ( Novus/Slayer/ Damian x Penny).