An erratic posting schedule? Yep, I'm back in full force. Anyway, here is Chapter 4 and it is one that I've been excited to build towards since the first chapter. I hope you all enjoy that. Don't forget my previous announcement of the 9DoL coming up April 22nd-30th. Open for all to add art, write fics, etc. I plan to write some cute stuff for our favorite couple of dorks as well.

Dragon lord Syed 101 – people will go through hurdles when they are in love; no matter how painful the lady-stilt.

Guest – I've actually never seen this movie, strangely enough.

0akarigan0 – Lol, yes the idea of heels is a frightening one indeed.

Tenofprime – You think good 'ol Uncle Qrow might have something to say?

Nain Tarlow – Yes, Jaune in heels is right up there with Jaune in a dress, you cannot escape it.

Astray-Tech – To be fair, I don't think anyone is winning due to Jaune's thickhead.

I know my last post didn't save the tumblr post because… FFN. But if anyone wants the link to the tumblr page, etc. for Lancaster content or the Lancaster discord, please shoot me a PM. Enjoy!

GodRealm

Italicized – Inner Thoughts

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Who Asked for Your Advice?

Chapter 4: Hell on Heels

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"Piggyback completed." Jaune commented as he approached the dorm room of Team RWBY while carrying Ruby herself on his back.

"That's funny," She remarked with a playful smile. "this hallway does look familiar, but not as familiar as my actual bedroom.

After almost having his cover blown back in the Beacon school hallways, Jaune opted to take the short redhead's offer without much of a fight. Honestly, he might have even offered it anyway considering how the girl was struggling to even stand by the time he had even found her after classes had concluded. He didn't mind being helpful towards one of the few good friends that he had, even if this particularly friend was extorting him for as much as she could.

"You're really not letting me off easy, huh?" Jaune asked with a sigh as he looked over his shoulder at the girl.

His answer? Ruby dangling her keys in front of the boy's face to the room before them with a continued grin.

Jaune took the keys from the girl as she held them there, knowing full-well his mission was not yet complete, before beginning to walk towards the door. He inserted they key into the door and turned it, all the while feeling Ruby kick her feet in the air. He shook his head and hummed to himself as he heard the door unlock. She is having fun. He thought to himself.

Once the door was unlocked, he grabbed the knob and twisted it before opening. After that, Jaune used his foot to open the door completely and entered. The room as dark, with the curtains obscuring any sunlight from entering the room. He looked back at Ruby once more, her silver eyes twinkling in the darkness. Before he could ask anything, he was greeted by Ruby pointing to the far side of the room.

"This ride isn't over until I get to my bed."

To be fair, Jaune knew it was coming. Ruby had dragged him this far, so it only made sense she would probably want him to carry her over to the bed as well. He knew her a little too well sometimes when he gave it consideration.

None the less, he did as he was commanded, lest he be tortured by Yang for the remainder of their time in Beacon. Jaune flipped the light switch on near the doorway to give him a direct path. The last thing he needed was to take a tumble with Ruby on his back. The room was surprisingly orderly; nothing like what he remembered it being during their freshmen days when Ruby would have Zwei's dog toys scattered on the floor, or Blake's books would riddle their desks and beds.

It was a welcomed surprise knowing he wouldn't have to dodge landmines on the floor and didn't have to put their lives at risk as he approached the bed.

"You climbing into your bed or going for Weiss's?" He asked as he came to a stop.

"I'll take Weiss's bed. I don't feel like climbing into my own." Ruby replied.

After receiving his answer, Jaune knelt down to the floor so Ruby could be able to transition easier, something she appreciated. Jaune turned to face Blake's bed across from them, making the job even easier for Ruby as she merely fell back onto Weiss's bed, making sure to let out a rather pleased sigh of content as if she had just worked the whole day, something Jaune noticed and grunted to himself quietly about.

Once Ruby was off his back, Jaune rose to his feet once more, stretching his back out after the rather lengthy trek through the dorms to reach their destination. He had more than just a few eyes on him as well when it came to giving the girl a ride. He couldn't NOT overhear the whispers and chatter of the passing students and even a few of the teachers; something that just made him feel even more awkward.

What about Ruby on the other hand? Well, she seemed to have dozed off after about 2-3 of being carried. There's something to be said about being too comfortable being held closely to someone, and for Ruby, it was snoring. Snoring and drooling, actually—neither of which helped Jaune's situation. He had considered fixing the salivation issue by carrying Ruby in front of him, but he figured carrying her "bridal style" might raise a few more eyebrows and make the affair slightly more difficult.

His shoulder would just have to suffer in slobber until she awoke, which she did once they entered the student dorm area and had already been seen by multiple people. How convenient for me. He could only think as his cheeks felt warm recalling the situation.

"You okay, Jaune? Ruby asked from the bed. "You've been stretching for a while."

"Oh—" Jaune replied, realizing he was daydreaming. "Yeah… I just—" He turned to meet Ruby's inquisitive face.

"Just what?"

"You're... a little heavy, that's all." Jaune replied with a nervous chuckle.

"…What?"

Smooth.

"Yeah, you know… Just a little heavier that I would have thought is all."

Jaune didn't want to have Ruby feel self-conscious by telling her the story she so conveniently slept through and he was already going to have to deal with later from some of the other guys from their grade. The last thing she needed was for people to insinuate that she was being carried around and possibly in a relationship with someone like him. The Ruby Rose with Jaune Arc? Ha! What a laugh that truly was.

While Jaune contemplated such an irregularity and saving Ruby from said embarrassment, nothing could save him from the kick to the shin he was about to receive from the short girl. It's something that would once again send him back to reality.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Ow! Ow! Ouchie!"

What Ruby forgot was that her feet had clearly become inflamed inside the heels she had opted to wear around the school all day and the kick to Jaune… Well, it didn't feel too good to her cramped toes inside the footwear.

She gripped her foot with painful tears and Jaune caught himself on the post to Blake and Yang's bed, gripping at his leg with his free hand.

"W-What was that for?!" Jaune asked in distress.

"You made me hurt my foot!"

"Then you shouldn't have kicked me! Again, why did you do it?!"

"Because! You-"

"I what?!"

Ruby glared at the boy after sitting up in bed, her face red with frustration and embarrassment. Did he really have to ask a question like that? Dis she really expect him to answer? While it was clear to her that she had feelings for the boy, it was because of those feelings, that this comment burned her up as bad as it did.

"Do you see that stick against the wall over?" Ruby questioned as she pointed over towards her closet.

Jaune was confused by the comment, still waiting on his answer. He nonetheless looked over and noticed it as requested by Ruby. "Isn't that Zwei's fetch stick?" He inquired. "Yeah, I see it. Why?"

"Bring it over here so I can smack you again."

"What?!" Jaune replied distressed once ore. "Ruby, I don't know where this violence is coming from all of a sudden, but I—"

"Is that a no?" She asked.

Jaune noticed the tone in the girl's voice at this time. Ruby normally had an upbeat and positive attitude, he was growing weary between the glare and the attitude she was offering him now. Growing up in a household with all sisters, he learned very early in life that even if you didn't do anything—or rather, didn't think you did anything wrong and a woman was upset, it was better to own up.

That being said, there was another thing he learned when the time for owning up and apologies has passed. It was the option that was going off in his head like an alarm.

"Well, it's been fun, Rubes! But, uhh, I have to get ready for the dance!" He finally answered, meanwhile making his way to the door while the girl kept her eyes glued to him. "Bye!"

With speed that could rival Ruby's semblance, Jaune opened the door and sprinted across the hallway into his own dorm room, fleeing the terrifying five-foot-two-inch girl.

Ruby watched as the door to her room slammed shut and the blonde disappeared in hurry, leaving her alone. She sighed as she decided to lie back in bed, crossing her arms behind her head. She knew the boy didn't mean any harm for the comment, but she wasn't about to just let him get away with it either. It was kind of fun making him sweat too like earlier.

Ruby chuckled to herself before letting out a yawn. She turned to the clock on the wall and noticed the time. After a long and rather exhausting day, she figured she had earned herself a short nap; something like that looked doable and still would leave her time to get ready. Weiss opted to retrieve her dress for her after class had ended, so all she needed to do was her makeup which could wait for now.

She retrieved her scroll from her pocket and set an alarm, leaving her time to get ready. Blake and Yang would most likely return soon as well, but she set one regardless, just to be sure. She yawned once more as she contemplated moving to her own bunk, rather than Weiss's, but she realized that involved getting up before rolling over and snatching the blanket and curling up. For now, she would sleep and late, she would pop that hip like never before.

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Ruby cursed mentally as she hobbled down the dormitory hallway. While the nap was invigorating and comfortable, it had cost her too much. Ruby had never been a light sleeper. The only one she knew that could sleep deeper than her was her own half-sister, Yang, but even then it was debatable. This time though, it was going to cost her.

While she did indeed, wake up to her alarm after setting it, she soon realized she had "more" time to sleep, figuring that Weiss and the other's hadn't returned yet and she figured they would wake her up before they got ready for the dance tonight. What she had failed to realize is that they had actually returned earlier and attempted to wake her up, much to no avail. Weiss even tried rolling her off her bed, but Ruby was too gone.

After that, the rest of WBY decided to leave her note for when she decided to wake up. It wasn't much, but it did indicate that they were going to be getting ready over at JNPR's room after Ren and Jaune had been re-located to change elsewhere, much to their attempted argument. So, after awaking and realizing that no one was around and that she had not been woken up, panic had set it.

The other issue was her heels. Much like Jaune had warned her, being the heel connoisseur that he was, about leaving her feet in too long, they had indeed blown up to the point of being severely uncomfortable. Such was the problem with being too tired to kick them off before falling asleep. She had to pry the heels off with Zwei's fetch stick—something she was grateful no one was around to see. That being said, it ate at her remaining time.

She rushed to the bathroom and showered quickly, making sure she was as clean as possible before applying perfume. She had raided Weiss's stash per say, and applied a conservative amount. Next, she applied her makeup. She figured this was the easiest route for now- her hair being a lost cause for any decent style with the time she had left. She figured if she did a good enough job with her makeup, then her hair wouldn't be too much of an issue.

Once she finished that, it was time to put on the dress. She grabbed it from the hanger on the dormitory door where Weiss had left it, she imagined. She looked it over once, smiling as she admired the dress once more. It was as nice as she had imagined and was ready to finally put it to good use. After zipping it, she knew there was one more obstacle before she could head to the dance. She looked down at the heels that had destroyed her ankles, nay, her entire feet with a fierce look of determination. The footwear was indeed evil; worse than any Grimm she had fought to date. She was mildly convinced she wasn't going to be able to slip her feet back in, but she wasn't going to defeated… not now. She had come too far for that, and so, she would do this.

With a few minutes of prying with Zwei's stick once more, she had finally—but painfully, managed to squeeze her reddened feet back into the heels. A terrible start to her night, but she would recover… hopefully.

Ruby exited the dorms and made her way towards the dance after reading the message left for her from her traitorous teammates. She understood that Weiss would be heading in early to help with setting up certain decorations after she volunteered to lead the dance preparations for the senior class, but the other two were definitely traitors. It was one thing for them to get ready in another room, but totally different for them to leave without her without trying to wake her again. She would have her revenge… after her plan!

"Finally!" She exclaimed, making her way towards the entrance of the dance being hosted in the cafeteria.

She sighed in relief at making it as she once again looked towards her scroll. The dance was about half over, but she still had plenty of time to impress Jaune with her dress and hip-pop. Speaking of which…

Ruby stopped before the front doors, scanning the area for anyone else. After seeing that she was alone, she wanted to try her move one last time!

"Okay, here goes nothing!"

With one quick motion, she stepped and popped her hip, pulling it off flawlessly! She squealed with elation as she had finally pulled it off. Turns out the nap was good for a nice reset, and maybe even her feet blowing up in the heels, as painful as it was. Now she was going to—

SNAP.

"What was that s—"

Before she could finish asking herself the question, she found herself flailing her arms and gripping onto the handle of the front door, losing all balance. She looked towards the sound in confusion and found something that she had not prepared for. A broken heel.

"…This isn't happening."

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"Yep, it's broken." Yang spoke as she attempted to look at her sister's heel as they sat at their table.

"You're a genius, Yang." Ruby commented, sarcasm evident in her voice as she rolled her eyes.

"Sorry Rubes, but I don't think this is fixable. Even if we had some glue or something, it wouldn't sit long enough to dry by the end of the night, let alone for you to walk around in at the dance." Yang replied, ignoring her sister's tone.

Ruby rag-dolled against the chair she was sitting in, discontent written on her face. She exhaled once and stared at the ceiling, unsure on what to do next. Never had she thought all this hip-popping would eventually break the heel as it had a few minutes earlier. This night was not going as it was supposed to, that was for sure.

So why didn't she just dance without shoes? Well, unfortunately, her feet had blown up too much. The inflammation and stress of being squeezed into the shoes had progressed so much; she was going to have a fun time getting out of them. She was trapped in a hell of her own creation now.

"Well, this was all pointless." She whispered to herself.

"You say something, Ruby?" Yang asked. "I can't hear you over the loud music!"

Ruby pulled her feet away from Yang and stood up before heading towards the refreshments station. "No, nothing at all, big sis."

Yang blinked a few times as her sister hobbled away, waving her off. She was muddled with different thoughts as she saw the disappointment on her sister's face. What was going on with Ruby? And why was she so upset over heels of all things? She rubbed her chin as she kept her eyes glued to the girl while she poured herself a drink. Her mischievous nosiness was growing by the second and she was going to figure this out, even if it meant she had to miss a few daces with her partner.

Ruby had her curiosity when she saw how excited she was for the dance, but now… she had her attention.

Ruby took a swig of the punch in her cup in an attempt to calm herself down, as if it had the ability to do so. She re-filled her plastic cup once more before taking another large sip. All the stress of this night was getting to her along with the pain. At this point, she wasn't sure if she was in the right state of mind to talk to Jaune with these growing irritations, let alone make a confession of love to him. Besides, where was she going to do it? The loud dance floor? Yeah, that would go over swimmingly. For now, she would re-group and—

"Hey Ruby!"

Ruby coughed loudly, immediately recognizing the voice of the blonde boy. She turned to see him, meanwhile choking on the punch she had just swallowed. He had snuck up on her far too many times recently, and it was becoming annoying.

As she was about to speak, she took notice of his formal wear. He wore a suit similar to their freshmen dance, the only difference being a light pink tie. Other than that, he was noticeably taller and with a new hairstyle. Also, was that cologne? It sure smelled like—never mind. She looked him over as quickly as possible, trying not to stare for obvious reasons.

"Hey Jaune," She managed with a smile. "you look pretty good."

"Thanks. You look pretty… well pretty."

Smooth.

Ruby hid her smile behind her hand, giggling to herself. It wasn't the best compliment, but it made her feel warm with embarrassment enough that she had to look away.

"Thank you." She returned.

The silence grew for a few moments amongst the two, neither opting to say a word to the other. Ruby found herself whistling while she gawked around the dance floor, noticing friends and other students having a good time. To be honest, she didn't really want to, let alone know how to dance. That being said, if he managed to ask her, she wouldn't be able to say no.

Ruby's legs wobbled slightly, the pain now making its way up her knees once more from her ankles. One thing was for sure, it was flats from now on. No heels at any dance, ever. Flats only. She attempted to ignore it, stiffening her muscles to compensate for the uneven stepping she was now doing. It was something that even Jaune had noticed.

"You okay there?" He inquired.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, for one, your heel is broken. Other than that? Your legs look like jell-o after you poke it with a fork."

Ruby rubbed her head as she felt an awkward giggle come up again. "That noticeable, huh?"

"Just a tad." He finished while sipping his own drink. "Like I said earlier, once your feet swell, it's a problem. Hopefully your legs don't take too much damage."

"I sure hope not, I've grown attached to them!"

Jaune blinked at the girl several times over as she answered with the comment. Her face was redder than her feet with mortification after realizing that she had just made a pun that was so cringe, her father would have cried tears of joy had he seen it. Awesome. So glad I said that. Good one, brain. She chided herself mentally.

"Oh, I get it! Because they're your legs! Not bad!" Jaune replied to her pun. "It must be a family thing that you guys are so good with—"

"No, it isn't and no, we are not!" She defended with a stern voice. Some things she was willing to take, but what he was about to say, was not one of them.

"Okay, okay." He laughed at her response. "Say, isn't this familiar to you?"

"What, the dance?"

"Well, yeah, the dance. But here we are again standing next to the punch bowl and not out there."

Ruby thought it over for a moment, recalling their initial dance at Beacon. She had been a team leader for a short while and wanted to actually miss the dance all together, but with the rest of her friends going, she had little choice. She didn't recall how the night ended, tripped faulty alarms or something… it didn't matter. All that did matter was that her and Jaune were close even hen.

Ruby smiled again, looking towards the taller boy once more as he stared down at her.

"To the socially awkward?" She asked, raising her plastic cup towards him.

"Always." He answered, meeting her cup for a typical cheer as their cups make contact.

"HEADS UP!"

"Heads wh—"

Before either could react, Ruby felt the force of something, or rather someone, plow into her. This caused her to lose her balance, and fall into the blonde knight. She saw it all in slow-motion as she hurdled into him, his face white as a ghost as her full force collided with his chest. They tumbled to the ground and laid there for a minute before Ruby forced herself off of him.

She looked back and found Sun Wukong leaning against the refreshment table as the punch trickled onto him. She looked back to Jaune who was seemingly dazed by the event before he gripped at his face.

"My eyes!" He yelped.

"Y-Your eyes?"

"I think there is punch in them! I can't see!"

Ruby moved to help the boy up as Weiss made her way over to the scene of the incident.

"What happened here?!" She demanded as the rest of the music that was playing had finally died down. "Who destroyed the punch station along with the ice sculptures I worked on?"

Ruby looked towards Weiss before pointing at Sun who was now trying to make himself scarce by crawling into the crowd. She narrowed her eyes at the Faunus as he offered her a weak smile in return. Ruby also glared at the boy, who was now responsible for ruining the one tender moment she was having since she arrived at the dance.

Sun remained frozen for a few moments as many other eyes latched onto him. He didn't mean to cause any trouble; he just wanted to bust a move. He didn't realize it would involve busting up the one drink station at the dance.

"Anything to say before you get a pounding?" Weiss asked.

"…Neptune dared me?" Sun attempted.

"What?!" The blue-haired boy yelled from within the crowd.

"Well, I'd love to stay but I've monkeyed around enough. See ya!"

And with that, Sun took off out the doors as a group of not-so-happy students decided to give chase. Ruby looked on as the crow grew and the yelling of "Cut off his tail!" was chanted, quickly outlasting the loudness of the music once it returned. She then overheard Weiss once more, looking over to see her pulling at Neptune's cheek as he swore he had "nothing to do with it."

Ruby couldn't help but try and put the pieces of all this together in her mind.

"Sorry Jaune, I didn't mean to—"

That's when she made another discovery; the boy had wandered off between being blind and the other chaos taking place. She scanned the room and saw him on the far-side of the cafeteria, away from the large crowd of people that were attempting to skin Sun alive. She made a step towards him and found another interesting finding. Her other heel had broken off.

This is not happening.

While one would figure it would even out better than to have only one broken heel, Ruby found that it wasn't as clean of a break as the other was, and now she was trapped within a pair of broken heels, with swollen ankles. A nightmare she could never conceive.

She stepped towards him, and found herself stumbling under her new footing. It was as if she was truly walking on stilts now, trying to keep her balance. She stepped once more and once more found herself about to tip forward and careen to the ground before catching herself against the auditorium wall. What kind of awful thing did she do in a previous life to deserve this? She looked towards Jaune who was bumping into tables, making his way towards the doors leading to the back exit.

Ruby attempted to call out to him, but with the music back in full-swing and the mob still attempting to catch Sun, there was no way she was going to get his attention. She debated her semblance, but figured unless she crashed into him, she would just lose her balance once she came out of it, causing more of a concern. There wasn't much option, she was going to have to walk these stilts towards him and attempt to catch up with him.

Meanwhile, Jaune banged into another chair, causing himself to let out a grunt as he rubbed his sore shin… the same one Ruby was so kind to kick earlier on.

"Damn it!" He cried. "I can't see anything! The music is too loud! This is bad."

Of all the rotten luck, why did he have to get hit in the eyes with fruit punch? He went from one nice moment he was sharing with Ruby, and now he was feeling his way, unsuccessfully mind you, across an auditorium of tables and chairs that he was getting a little too acquainted to.

"How could this get any worse?"

That's when he heard his name. He wasn't sure from where, or by whom, but he was sure he heard his name being called. He spun in all directions, attempting to find the source of the call. He was disoriented from the music, and without his vision, he wasn't much else but helpless. That's when he made out a shadow in one of the directions. He rubbed his eyes multiple times, but he wasn't able to make out more than just a dark outlining of a person.

He couldn't tell who they were, but they were approaching him quickly and almost in a menacing fashion by their movements. That's when it made sense to him.

He wasn't much for fighting right now, someone was calling out his name knowing he was in distress, and now someone was lurching towards him…

Cardin.

Jaune gulped as he turned the other way, not wanting the tall Winchester boy to catch up to him. He wasn't about to fall prey now to the boy after what he presumed was his latest prank. No, not this Jaune Arc!

In a flash and lightning speed, Jaune ran with all the strength and energy he could muster towards the opposite direction, banging into people and tables before making it to the dance floor. Once there, he shoved by the crowds he could and made it to the auditorium wall. He turned back once more, his vision slowly becoming more bearable. But that shadow was there still, moving towards him in a pattern he couldn't recognize.

Maybe he's utilizing a new attack formation on me? This is bad!

With the last of his power, Jaune moved along the walls before he found a door handle. He pulled it open and sprinted through the door and made his way onto the school grounds and disappearing into the night, meanwhile the fire alarm sounded throughout the building.

Ruby collapsed onto a table near the door Jaune had escaped out of and watched onwards as the bell continued to sound. She could feel the twitch in her eye as she tried to figure out what in the hell just happened.

Professor Port pulled the door shut and flipped a switch on the wall as he tried to figure out why the young boy needed to get out of the building so quickly. He chalked it up as too much food before shrugging it off and returning to the teacher's table.

Ruby allowed herself to slide into one of the chairs at the table she was at. She didn't have the stamina at this point to go searching for Jaune on the grounds, nor the ability by how her trapped feet were moving for her. This day was one she would remember for a very long time. The day Ruby Rose was defeated and de-feeted by heels. The plan she and Weiss had worked on was now dead on arrival.

Ruby held her head between her arms as she leaned onto the table. "How could this get any worse?" She posed to herself.

Unfortunately for her, she would have that question answered by another voice. One that was posed by a pair of purple eyes behind her at this very moment.

"Oh, little sister~" Yang sang from behind Ruby.

Ruby felt a chill ride up her spine as she registered the voice. Slowly, she turned her head to see the eye and grin of Yang Xiao-Long, her older sister, lurching behind her. She reeked of mischief as far as Ruby could tell, and much like Jaune was moments ago, she was now helpless as her feet could no longer carry her any further.

"I saw the whole thing." Yang snickered evilly. "And you have some explaining to do~"

I hate dances.

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And that will close out the Weiss Schnee Arc of attempting to woo Jaune. I'm not sure how long these arcs will be in terms of chapter length and could very well range from one to four chapters. We will see. In any case, I hope you enjoyed and have a great day!

- GodRealm