Hello, everyone reading this! WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of "Sideline: Another Story" and the 20th chapter total for this story. During the last chapter, a few familiar faces showed up when Sunset and Azalea went out shopping with some of the others. After getting what they needed for Sunday evening, the Beacon Dance is now here! We'll see how Fragment Hunter enjoys their night before they begin shadowing Huntsmen on missions the next day. However, it also seems like some uninvited guests are showing up to the dance. Will this be a problem?
Shall we dance?
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
The only things I own are my Original Characters
Sunday night came for Fragment Hunter and the group of teenagers was getting ready for the Beacon Dance. "This is going to be a fun night," Silver said as he fixed up his jacket. He, Slate, and Rua were all wearing tuxedos with either a colored trim on their jackets or a colored shirt underneath. Slate's tux had a silver trim, Slate had a viridian green shirt underneath his jacket, and Rua had a jacket that matched her hair color. "Especially since you've got a date," Silver said as he lightly elbowed Slate.
"It's not the first I've had with her," Slate reminded as he removed his hat and chose to put it back in his room. Running his hands through his hair, Slate sighed as he waited for the girls to finish getting ready. Soon, Azalea was the first to walk out of Team SAFR's dorm room in the same little black dress she wore when she went out with Slate. "H-hey, Azalea," Slate greeted as he saw the Faunus girl and noticed that she had applied makeup just like when the two went out together.
"Hi, Slate," Azalea replied as her cheeks began to turn pink. "The girls will be out in a bit, so we should probably just head out to the ballroom."
"Sounds like a good idea," Rua agreed. "Besides, I want to hear what Vinyl as for a music selection when she takes over the DJ booth."
As the four teenagers headed for the ballroom, they saw several students all gussied up in suits and dresses as they headed for the ballroom themselves. As they walked along their way, they soon saw Blake Belladonna in a purple dress walking to the dance with Sun Wukong in a tie and black jacket. "I see somebody finally managed to talk some sense into Blake about getting some sleep," Azalea remarked as she saw the two smiling as they walked past.
When they continued their way to the ballroom, the four members of Fragment Hunter noticed Oren Maxwell and Raduga White accompanying their blonde teammate, Lucy. While Lucy wore a gold-colored dress, the boys wore tuxedos in their own styles. Maxwell's tux was a typical black color and he wore gloves to conceal his robotic hand while completing the professional look, but Raduga's outfit was more of a snowy white color that matched his hair. "Hey, guys," Raduga greeted with a friendly smile. "You going by yourselves?"
"Nah, the other girls are going to meet up in a bit," Silver said before he got a message on his Scroll. "Looks like they're done getting ready and are coming here right now. We'll meet up with them. You three go on in without us." Maxwell saluted the four members of Fragment Hunter and complimented their appearances before he and his teammates entered the ballroom to be greeted by Yang Xiao Long in a white hatlerneck dress. "Man, she's gorgeous," Silver commented on Yang before returning his focus to the others.
After a minute or two of waiting, the remaining members of Fragment Hunter had arrived and began to show off their outfits. Sunset wore a short, purple and turquoise-colored dress with a black trim. Celadon wore an elegant and sparkly dress in a light emerald green that stopped just under her knees, had applied peach lip gloss for the occasion, and even wore a peach-colored necklace to go with her dress. Rebecca wore a long black dress that reached her calves, had a red sash that went from her shoulder to her hip, and the dress also had silver sparkles along the skirt. "Well? How do we look," Celadon asked as she did a few flirty poses.
"Pretty great," Silver said as he eyed the girls of Team SAFR. As he turned his head to check out the others he saw that Layla had decided to wear a red halterneck dress with matching pumps and a statement necklace instead of her bracelets, however, she still kept her headpiece and earrings on. Cereza wore a short, multicolored, holographic dress that had a motif that was similar to her moon and butterfly emblem. "So are you two," Silver remarked.
"You look so pretty, Layla," Azalea exclaimed as she hugged her friend. As the two smiled and laughed, Silver and Rua looked at what their teammates wore for the dance. Lapis wore a long mermaid-like dress that reached her ankles, was cyan in color, and had a silver scale design. Vixen wore a short, asymmetrical, satin dress that ended at her thigh on one side while the other side stopped at her knee. The reddish-orange color of Vixen's dress reminded everyone of the hair color of an old spy show's main heroine.
"Shall we go in," Cereza rhetorically asked with a smile as she adjusted her glasses.
When the group entered the ballroom, Yang greeted them happily. "Hey, guys! You all look amazing! Especially you, Azalea. I wouldn't expect you to wear something like that dress."
"Well... Let's just say that I've had a little encouragement before," Azalea replied.
"Vinyl's already helping the DJ's we already got, so she'll take over for them when they need a break," Yang mentioned. "Let's all have some fun tonight," the blonde beauty declared as she pumped a fist in the air. Fragment Hunter all agreed on that and went into the ballroom before separating to do their own thing.
As the dance got into full swing, the students and faculty all enjoyed their evening. The students and teachers all talked about a variety of things while others danced with their partners. While she was enjoying the night when with the others, Azalea was still feeling understandably nervous when the others left her side. She would've been with Slate all night, but he had to leave to when he received a call from his family and wanted to talk with them in a quieter location. As for the rest of Fragment Hunter, Azalea watched as Silver tried to flirt with every cute blonde he saw while Celadon and Vixen did the same with any boys they met. The rest of the members of her group were either dancing or hanging out with other students while she decided to wait by herself near the punch bowl when nobody was near it. Having a sip of punch for herself, Azalea didn't notice that somebody had walked up to her until they spoke. "I thought that you came with a date, Sugarcube. Why are you being a wallflower and hiding by the punch bowl?"
Turning to see the familiar voice, Azalea saw that it was her mother and that Ivy was wearing a white halterneck dress that fell down to her calves and revealed plenty of cleavage. "You're looking amazing as always, Mom," Azalea said. "But, are you trying to give everyone here a reason to take a cold shower later on purpose?"
"Peeerhaaaps," Ivy drawled before laughing to herself. "It works well with your father," the older Faunus remarked in order to mess with her daughter.
"Please don't make me ruin my dress, Mom. I like it a lot," Azalea pleaded.
"You still haven't answered my question, my little wallflower," Ivy mentioned.
"Slate's family called to talk about a few things and the others are all having fun without me. This is just too different from the festivals in Mirabelle and Nashihana," Azalea answered. "I'm just not comfortable being around everyone here because I don't know them all that well."
Ivy listened to her daughter's worries and soon hugged Azalea. "It's alright, Sugarcube. Baby steps. Just do what you feel comfortable doing," Ivy told her. "However, you could always try dancing with somebody different. Everyone here seems to be on their best behavior."
"I'm sure they would with somebody like that watching over them," Azalea stated dryly as she pointed to Terracotta in his regular attire looking around at the dance as a chaperone and keeping an eye out for troublemaking students. "On the bright side, I haven't seen my old bullies around all night."
"They're probably scared of your father like they always have been," Ivy surmised. "Either way, you should try stepping out of your comfort zone just a tad. You always deal with vicious Grimm around home and during classes here, so just talking to somebody should be much easier than that." With one last piece of advice for the night, Ivy went off to stay by Terracotta's side while Azalea thought over what her mother said.
While she was lost in her thoughts, somebody else approached her and extended a hand to her. "Shall we dance, my beautiful flower," a smooth male voice asked. Looking at the newcomer, Azalea saw that he was a Raccoon Faunus that wore a blue-trimmed tuxedo with a blue shirt, had black and gray hair, and brown eyes. He looked familiar, but Azalea couldn't place where she had seen him. He did look old enough to be an older student from one of the other Academies, but Azalea wasn't sure. "Well? Would you like to," the Faunus male asked again.
"Umm... Well... I already have a date," Azalea hesitantly explained to the mysterious boy.
"It's only a dance, cutie. I'm not asking for a kiss on the lips," he stated. "No matter how beautiful they are with that color of lipstick." Azalea began to blush at the Faunus' flirting, but she heard him speak again. "Just one dance. If somebody asks to cut in, I'll let them. Is that okay?" For some reason, Azalea couldn't say no to the boy because of his polite charm and silently nodded. "Thank you, Miss. I'll be sure to keep my hands where they should be."
As the Raccoon Faunus guided Azalea to the dance floor, the boy threw a Lien card wrapped in a note toward the DJ booth with precision and skill. When the two masked DJs left to take a break, Vinyl took over and saw the card land right in front of her. Reading the note on the card, she nodded to herself and selected a song suitable for a tango. As the song was being chosen, Azalea and the Raccoon Faunus were ready to dance before somebody tapped the boy on the shoulder. "May I cut in," Sunset asked as she looked at the male in suspicion.
"I thought that I would dance with this lovely flower for a little first," the boy said as he gestured to Azalea. "But if you insist, my fiery-haired beauty." As he still held Azalea's hand, the male kissed it gently before letting her go on her way. "Enchante, gorgeous. Say hello to your lovely cousin that I saw you talking with earlier for me."
When the male switched dance partners, Sunset took him by the hand and activated her Semblance. Seeing memories of three boys growing up on the streets, she soon saw them grow up into very familiar-looking thieves before one of the memories was of the Raccoon Faunus facing off against herself. The most recent memory that Sunset managed to see was of the male she touched looking at Slate and Azalea leaving toward Beacon as he stood on a rooftop and used his cane to get to the next roof. When she stopped using her Semblance, Sunset looked the Faunus boy in the eyes just as the song began to play. As they danced together, Sunset spoke to the male about a few things. "The woman Azalea was talking to earlier was her mother, not a cousin. You understand that, Sombra?"
Realizing that the girl he was dancing with had figured out who he was, the Raccoon Faunus just smiled. "To be fair, she did look young for her age. Have they been mistaken for sisters before," Smoke Shadow asked and Sunset replied by nodding. "So, I take it that you were protecting your friend?"
"I saw you talking with her and I got suspicious. Sorry if I don't trust a thief like yourself," Sunset remarked as Smoke spun her during one of the dance steps. "What are you up to now?"
"Can't a guy just enjoy the sights with the Vytal Festival coming up soon," Sombra said. Sunset glared at him while he dipped her. "I swear that I'm not up to anything major. If I was, I wouldn't be here dancing with cute girls such as yourself and Azalea."
As they continued the dance, Sunset thought of what he said and she just had the feeling that he was telling the truth. In fact, Sunset felt that he was being honest in the same way that she sensed the emotions of others with her Semblance. "You know, I actually believe you for some reason, Sombra," Sunset said as the two continued their graceful dance.
"I'm glad that you could understand, my wildfire," Smoke said with a smile. "So, are you still single?"
"Don't push your luck, you thief. You better be glad that the sword you stole was returned to its rightful owners," Sunset remarked.
"It wasn't really that fun going against the security in that place anyway," Smoke mentioned. "They could've used some extra equipment."
"Is the thrill of the heist all that you get out of this line of work," Sunset asked as the song was nearing its conclusion.
"Sometimes it is, sometimes it's all the coin I can get, and sometimes... it's about the pretty girls that I meet along the way," Sombra said as he ended the dance with one final spin into a dip. Everyone who watched the dance applauded at how amazing Sunset and Smoke were before he helped the girl to her feet. "I'll be seeing you when our paths cross again, my passionate flame," Smoke declared as he walked away.
Seeing the phantom thief starting to leave through the crowd, Sunset tried to chase after him. However, she soon realized that he was likely using his Semblance to phase through the crowd while she had to move the others out of her way. When she saw Smoke Shadow reach the emergency exit and no sound went off, her guess of his 'Phantasm' ability was correct. "Dammit," Sunset muttered before Slate walked in her direction.
"Yeah, I heard you, sis. Okay, bye," Slate told the person his Scroll before hanging up and pocketing the device. "Well, that's typical of my parents. At least I've had experience with this sort of thing," he said to himself. "Hey, Sunset. When did you get the flower in your hair?"
"What," Sunset asked as she looked at Slate and felt around her head to find a blue rose in her hair and one of Smoke Shadow's calling cards attached to the stem. "That sly devil," she muttered as she took the card in one hand and crushed it in her grip before placing the flower back behind her right ear.
While everyone was enjoying their night, Silver was feeling a little upset with himself as he leaned against a wall near the ballroom's upper balcony. "Why is it that I'm striking out with every blonde I meet," the Wolf Faunus asked himself.
"Perhaps you're trying too hard," a melodious female voice suggested from just out of Silver's view.
"Nah, that's not it," Silver dismissed before turning to see who spoke to him. When he saw the girl, he was speechless and couldn't stop gawking at the beauty in front of him as she stood on the balcony. She was 5'5" with a fair-skinned and fit hourglass figure that reminded Silver of Yang Xiao Long and Azalea. The girl had golden blonde hair that reached the nape of her neck, sapphire blue eyes, and was easily identifiable as a Faunus because of the feathery wings on her back. She wore a backless white halterneck dress that was the same style as Yang's, but this girl's dress had a gold trim and a blue sash around her waist similar to the dress that Azalea was wearing. To complete her look, she wore a pair of white pumps with a gold trim and blue lipstick.
"Hey, are you still here," the angelic-looking Faunus asked Silver and snapped him out of his daze.
Silver slapped himself to see if he was dreaming or not because he didn't believe that a girl like the one he was looking at was real. When he saw that he wasn't dreaming, he shook his head to clear his thoughts before he spoke. "Y-yeah! I'm still here," Silver said with slightly pink cheeks. "So, I haven't seen you around before. Where are you from?"
"Well, my parents came from Atlas, but I was born in a village called 'Mirabelle'. Ever heard of it, handsome," the girl said as she walked up to Silver.
"Y-y-yeah. A friend of mine and her parents are actually from there. They should be in the ballroom. Just look for the massive Bull Faunus that looks like he could make his shirts explode by flexing or the really sexy Cow Faunus with huge, beautiful breasts. And I probably shouldn't have said that last part out loud," Silver told the girl before he realized that he said something stupid.
"Is she really that hot," the winged Faunus asked for confirmation.
"I'm pretty sure that everyone in the ballroom would describe Ivy as either a 'queen', 'goddess', or 'goddess queen' if you asked them," Silver answered.
"I'll take your word for it," the girl said with a knowing smile. "Since I don't really know my way around here like you probably do, mind being my escort?"
"S-sure! I'd be happy to," Silver replied quickly before he guided the Faunus into the ballroom. To his surprise, she held onto his arm and walked by his side. As they continued into the ballroom, they saw several couples dancing together before reaching the punch bowl just as Slate and Azalea left. "You want something to drink?"
"I'd love some punch," the winged Faunus said. Soon, Silver handed the girl her drink and they watched the dancers. "Are those two waltzing," the blonde asked as she pointed toward Ren and Nora. "Because it doesn't look like it to me."
"Hmm? Oh yeah, Nora's just like that," Silver said when he saw what his 'date' was point toward.
"Maybe I could ask the DJ to put on another kind of waltz," the girl muttered loud enough for Silver to hear.
Seeing that Vinyl was still in the DJ booth and that Slate was approaching Azalea on the dance floor, Silver thought of something. "The DJ up there is actually my friend, so I can try to get a request in for you," he told the winged girl.
"Thank you," the girl said before Silver went to talk with Vinyl.
"Hey, Vinyl," Silver called out to the blue-haired DJ. "I want to make a request for somebody," he explained before typing out what he wanted on his Scroll and showing her. As Vinyl read it, she gave a thumbs-up and prepared the next song just before the other two DJs came back to take over for Vinyl.
When Silver returned to the Faunus girl, he explained what he said to Vinyl. "Well, that's sweet of you to help your friends," the blonde commented. "Let's see how it goes." Soon, a red spotlight shined down on Slate and Azalea to everyone's surprise. While the light's appearance puzzled the two, they soon saw it was Vinyl controlling the spotlight's position and waved to them. When the music started playing, Slate took the lead and danced to the waltz with Azalea. While the song and light made everything seem magical to both the dancers and the audience, the Faunus girl was more focused on who was dancing. "Is that really her," she muttered to herself.
When the song ended, everyone applauded Slate and Azalea's dance before they left the dance floor to sit down. Azalea sighed heavily in relief because of the sudden focus on her and Slate. "I can't believe that Vinyl did that just for us," Azalea said.
"Yeah. I bet that one of the others wanted her to do that," Slate surmised.
"I bet. So, what did your family call you about," Azalea asked.
"Turns out they're moving... again," Slate explained. "It's nothing new to me because we kept moving around the desert when I was younger, but now they're actually leaving the Vacuo territories for good."
"Really? Where are they going," Azalea asked in curiosity.
"I don't know. My sister just said that she'd be in Vale by the time of the Vytal Festival, so I'm at least going to meet up with her then," Slate mentioned. "They'll probably have more information to share with me by then."
"Wow... I know that coming here was tough enough for me," Azalea said. "I didn't have anybody, but your sister at least has you."
"On the bright side, you'll get to meet her sooner than I thought," Slate remarked with a smile.
As Slate and Azalea smiled at each other, somebody caught their attention when they approached them. "Azalea?! Is that really you," the winged Faunus girl that accompanied Silver called out to Azalea.
"Bianca!? Are you really here," Azalea asked in reply.
"Yeah, it's me," the girl exclaimed before hugging Azalea tightly and kissing her cheek to leave a blue lipstick mark. When the two separated, the boys were gawking at what they saw. "It's been months! I can't believe this is really you," the blonde said while looking at Azalea in her dress. "You really fill that dress out well. You've got the perfect body for it."
"Can somebody please explain what's going on here," Sunset asked as she and the rest of Fragment Hunter approached Slate and the three Faunus.
When all twelve members of Fragment Hunter were on the balcony, Azalea spoke to her friends as she wiped away the lipstick on her cheek. "Everyone, I want you to meet Bianca Coloratura. She's my childhood friend from Mirabelle. She also had a crush on me when we were 15."
"Guilty as charged," Bianca said. "Just so you know, I am bisexual. I'm interested both boys and girls," she stated and gave a flirty wink. Upon hearing Bianca, Vinyl and Silver looked at her before turning back each other. Both of them tried to get closer to Bianca, but they kept shoving each other out of the way while doing so.
"Okay, I remember seeing you in Azalea's memories when I used my Semblance on her, but that isn't the only thing I remember you from," Sunset declared. "You seem so familiar."
Bianca only giggled and decided to take the conversation back down to the ballroom. "I could tell you later, but I just want to enjoy the night with my best friend and get to know her new friends," Bianca said as she hugged Azalea. "Especially the cool blue-haired chick and the handsome Wolf Faunus. Vinyl and Silver, was it?"
"SHE'S MINE! I GET TO TRY AND ASK HER OUT FIRST," Vinyl and Silver both shouted as they attempted to shove each other out of the way.
"I'd say that we just leave them be, Darling," Celadon suggested as she turned to Bianca. "Still, where have we heard of you besides from Azalea?"
"The better question is, 'Why is that guy in a dress'," Bianca said between giggles as she pointed down to the dance floor. Confused by what she meant, the members of Fragment Hunter all looked down at the front entrance to the ballroom to find that Jaune Arc, who had come to the dance in a tuxedo earlier, was now wearing a strapless white dress with a blue ribbon. Upon seeing the boy, Fragment Hunter began to laugh like the rest of the students down on the dance floor as Jaune made his way toward his teammate, Pyrrha Nikos.
"Wh-what?! Why," Lapis exclaimed as she laughed out loud.
"I don- I don't... I don't know," Celadon said between her snickering.
"Did hehehehehe lose a bet or something," Slate asked as he kept laughing.
"I could find out if you guys want," Sunset managed to say when she stopped laughing so much.
Focusing her Semblance in Jaune's direction, Sunset was able to hear his current thoughts. "I can't believe that Pyrrha didn't have a date because everyone thought she was too good for them. Well, I said that if she didn't go with anybody, I would wear a dress. And an Arc never goes back on his word."
"Okay. Looks like he made a promise to Pyrrha that if she didn't have a date, he'd wear a dress," Sunset told everyone.
"Oh my god, that's just too funny and so sweet at the same time," Bianca said. "Come on. Let's go see her reaction to this." When the teenagers reached the main floor of the ballroom, they watched as Pyrrha laughed at Jaune keeping his promise to her before he took her by the hand to dance. Soon, Nora and Ren joined them as a song familiar to most of Fragment Hunter played. "But baby, it's time to make up your mind~ I think that tonight is when our stars align~ Honey, it's time to leave the doubt behind~ Take my hand 'cause you and I are gonna shine~" To most of their surprise and shock, Bianca sang to the song perfectly and Fragment Hunter realized where they had heard of Bianca Coloratura before.
"How come I didn't figure it out earlier," Sunset exclaimed. "We cover so many of your songs during band practice!"
"So, you finally figured it out," Bianca asked the others with a knowing smile.
"Of course! You're the Angel of Anima," Slate practically shouted. "My little sister is such a huge fan of yours, Bianca!"
"Wait, so you actually made it big," Azalea asked her friend.
"Yup. A while after you left for Beacon, I went to Atlas to make it as a singer and it worked out really well," Bianca explained. "I've actually got a show before the Vytal Festival. If you guys want to ever stop by, take this and it'll let you talk to my manager." Reaching into her dress, Bianca pulled out a card that had an emblem depicting an angel-winged heart with a musical note in the center and gave it to Silver. "I need to get going so he doesn't know I snuck out to come here, but I hope that I can see you all again. Especially you, Silver," Bianca said to Fragment Hunter before whispering the last part to the Wolf Faunus and kissing his cheek to leave a blue lipstick mark on his face. "See you later, Fragment Hunter."
While Bianca left for the balcony to fly back to her penthouse, everyone either said their farewells to Bianca or watched Silver spout gibberish and wobble around like a drunken fool as he held onto the card Bianca gave him. "At least he's doing better than Slate did when Azalea did that to him," Rua commented with a smirk. At Rua's mention of that night, Azalea and Slate briefly looked at each other before blushing deeply at the memory.
"Come on, everybody! The night's still young and it isn't even midnight yet," Celadon reminded. "Let's enjoy ourselves before we start shadowing Huntsmen on Monday." At the girl's declaration, the rest of Fragment Hunter went to dance and talk the night away after moving Silver to a place where he could lie down. The evening went on and everyone enjoyed their time without any worries, but that would soon change.
And with this chapter done, we are now formally introduced to Azalea's childhood friend and successful singer, Bianca Coloratura. If you want some extra information about her, here's what I can share now. I wanted to make her a singer character that could be voiced by Casey Lee Williams, the girl who tends to sing the songs in the RWBY Soundtracks that have female vocals, which would be the songs that Bianca is known for in the setting (especially with "This Will Be The Day" in the first episode playing on Ruby's headphones and Nora having "Shine" on her Scroll during Volume 5). She's specifically a Dove Faunus if you wanted to know that detail. And this isn't going to be the last we see of Bianca.
Aside from her, we also have an appearance by the first Original Character Antagonist of the story, "Sombra" Smoke Shadow, the Phantom Thief. I thought that with the Beacon Dance happening and his inspiration of Sly Cooper infiltrating a dance party in the second game, he could flirt with the two rookie Huntresses that caught his attention before dancing a tango with them. For his dance with Sunset, the music would be from "Sly 2: Band of Thieves" during the second level's heist where Sly Cooper dances with Carmelita Fox as a distraction while the choreography is similar to that minigame/scene.
For the waltz between Slate and Azalea under the red spotlight, I want you to listen to the "Blood Moon Waltz" from "Star Vs The Forces of Evil" for the mood. I love that song and thought it would work with any of my Original Character couples.
I hope that you enjoyed the chapter because after I complete a few updates for "Go Go RWBY Rangers", I'm going to get into Fragment Hunter dealing with their first shadowing assignments as well as their involvement during "Breach".
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out!