A/N: The second chapter of the Dance Trilogy has arrived! 100 favorites! Holy crap! Thank you all for the overwhelming support! I'll do my best to make you guys proud!
Also, who else is excited for Volume 5 of RWBY? I sure as hell am! In case you guys are wondering (and I know that at least some of you are), I'm going to stick to the canon of RWBY as much as I can until Volume 4, which may or may not contain a completely different version of Yang's story where she leaves with Ruby (MAYBE!), and after I get Volume 5 out of the way I'll likely break away from the canon entirely, so don't be too surprised when I do. Enjoy the chapter!
*WBM growls hostily*
Aw shit, not again! *cocks assault rifle* I thought you were dead! *fighting ensues*
Edit (11/26/18): I'm not even sure why I'm even putting in these notes anymore. You all know what I'm doing.
Review Responses:
JustSomeGuy: I did draw inspiration from Qrow's weapon (because it looks badass and is wielded by a badass) but I also drew inspiration from Izuku's own personality, hence why it utilizes wind Dust, representative of his ever-interchangeable attitude towards different situations, and why it's a massive greatsword in its base form, symbolic of his dream of becoming a great hero, or in this case, a great huntsman. It's not the most sophisticated weapon design, or the deadliest, but it's efficient and it gets the job done.
Guest: I know! It's actually one of my favorite ships in HeroAca!
Glenn: The first one of your ships is gonna happen eventually, but the buildup has to be natural. Just because they're going to the dance together doesn't mean that they're 'together together' right away. The second one, while it would've been very interesting, has been shot down now that Shoto has been confirmed to already have a girlfriend. The third one is something I might give some thought to, though at this point Tenya's ship is up in the air. And as for the last one, A) While it would also be very interesting, I'm not too sure Bakugo is interested in anyone romantically at all, B) they haven't had nearly enough development, C) if I put Velvet at the dance, it would break canon. However! That isn't to say that these are bad ideas. I've already stated that I've had Bakugo x Velvet on the brain for a while now, I just have to figure out a way to give them some more development. And to actually have them get introduced to each other under different circumstances.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or My Hero Academia. They belong to Monty Oum, Kohei Horikoshi, and their respective publishing companies. Please support the official releases.
I do not own the cover image.
Chapter 15: Dance Dance Conversation
Izuku, though he was strong without the use of his powers, still struggled a bit with the giant speaker he was currently carrying over his shoulder. Yang carried its twin towards the other end of the hall, a loud thud emanating from beneath it as she set it down. Izuku was more delicate with this procedure, placing his speaker down gently with hardly a tap coming from the bottom.
Yang dusted off her hands while she approached her sister, who was brooding at one of the tables that had been set up previously. Izuku, similarly, stretched his arms above his head to remove the tenseness he'd received from helping Yang move the various heavy things around the hall. He walked with Yang to Ruby's table, though he did blush slightly as he stood beside the blonde brawler.
"So, you picked out a dress yet?" Yang asked Ruby with a suggestive look on her face. Unfortunately for her, Ruby wasn't fazed by it, and hardly seemed to acknowledge it as she answered, "What's the point of it? Blake's not going to be there."
"Oh relax. She'll be coming. And Greenie's got some nearly foolproof plans to make it happen," Yang said proudly as she brought Izuku into an affectionate side headlock, causing his blush to deepen even further.
The green haired boy managed to stutter out, "I-I-I-I wouldn't s-say t-they're f-f-foolproof," as he slowly managed to remove himself from Yang's headlock, something the blonde brawler both admired and seemed annoyed by.
"Why don't I remember any of these plans?" Ruby asked.
"You were half asleep at the time," her sister answered. Yang's attention was then drawn to Weiss, who was putting some kind of fancy tablecloth thing on the various tables. Whatever it was, Yang didn't seem to like it very much, causing her to yell, "Weiss! I thought we agreed: NO DOILIES!" Oh. So that's what they were called.
Weiss zipped over and got all up in Yang's face, and stated with her blatant and almost serious sounding tone, "If I can't have doilies, you can't have fog machines!"
Not half a second after this, the doors to the hall opened, with Sun, Neptune, Kirishima and Tokoyami coming through, the second of the former two asking, "The dance is gonna have fog machines?"
Weiss immediately dropped her cold tone, walking over to her not so secret crush and responding, "We were thinking about it," with the kindest smile she could muster, and it actually made her look kinda cute. Neptune responded to her statement with, "That sounds pretty cool."
"No duh. Fog machines are in this year, man!" Kirishima said as he raised his fist up in what could only be described as 'the coolest yet lamest manly pose ever.'
What? I'm not very good at naming things. Just roll with it.
"So, you all excited for dress up?"
"Pfft, hahaha! Yeah right!" Ruby said without a hint of hesitation in her voice.
"Laugh all you want to little sis, Greenie and I will be turning heads tomorrow," Yang said as she draped her arm over Izuku's shoulders, causing the boy to blush an even deeper shade of red.
"What are you wearing to the dance?" Weiss asked the group.
"Uh... this?" Sun gestured to his current outfit, Kirishima adding, "Same here. I hate what people consider to be fancy clothes outside of Sanus."
"Ignore them, for they know not what they say." Neptune stepped in front of the two as he said this, Tokoyami nodding along in agreement.
"Hey! Kirishima and I may have moved to Mistral, but don't forget that we grew up together in Vacuo. It's not exactly a suit and tie kind of place." Sun butted in front of Neptune as he said this.
The wolverine faunus then explained, "The closest thing we ever got to being dressed up all fancy like was during weddings, and even that's nowhere near how much you gotta be dressed for a decent party, especially in Mistral." Kirishima shuddered at the memories of being forced into a tuxedo. So damn uncomfortable.
"So... is Blake gonna come to the dance? Or is she still being all... ya know... Blakey?"
"What do you mean by 'Blakey?'" Izuku asked, not knowing what Sun was implying.
Tokoyami answered, "I believe he means 'moody, anti-social, and rather bitter towards everyone.'"
"If that is what he meant, then yes, she's still being 'Blakey.'" Weiss confirmed.
"I... wouldn't put it quite like that. But yeah, more or less," Sun reluctantly admitted, his posture hunching over slightly as he did so. He really did mean well.
"Come on guys. This is Blake we're talking about. We don't even know if Izuku's plans will work, and that's if we can even manage to surprise her." Ruby said in self-deprecating monotone.
Yang quickly tried to snap her out of that self-destructive mindset and placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, saying, "Ruby. Trust me when I say this. Blake will be at the dance tomorrow.
"Although we could use your help." The blonde brawler punctuated her sentence as she pointed towards Sun, a look of confusion settling onto his face.
(fifteen minutes later, the mess hall)
Plan #1: Talk her into going
Blake sat alone in the middle of the mess hall with at least three books and a small plate of fish related snacks laid out before her. Now at first glance, you'd simply think that she was reviewing notes from the last few classes, maybe compare them to some of the ones from the previous semester, etc. However, Izuku and co knew better than to assume that she was simply studying. From what he blazer-wearing boy could see, which was only enough to get a vague idea, the cat faunus was comparing patrol and shipment patterns for the White Fang and Torchwick's goons, to find any similarities and by contrast, any weaknesses in their patterns. The problem?
She'd been doing it for the past few days with barely any of sleep. Actually, scratch that last part, no sleep at all. Damn, how the hell does she do it?
"Okay, here's the plan-" Izuku began before he realized that Ruby, the essential player in plan number one, was already sitting down next to Blake with a trail of rose petals leading back to her earlier position, which was next to Izuku. Luckily the rose petal trail Ruby left behind whenever she used her semblance usually disintegrated itself after about a second or two, so there wasn't anything that actually lead back to them. Moving on...
Ruby was talking to Balke at such a rapid-fire pace that even Izuku, the most analytical of all the people there, couldn't keep up with her. This was further emphasized by Blake's prompt reaction to her leader's hyperactive approach, which was to quickly scoop up all her books and her plate of snacks and get the hell out of dodge.
Everyone who hadn't approached Blake, with the exception of Izuku, facepalmed at the hooded girl's antics while she awkwardly scratched the back of her head, trying to look as innocent as possible.
"Next plan," Izuku said as he crossed out the first plan of several in his notebook.
Plan #2: Have Sun ask her to the dance
"No," Blake said before Sun even asked the question.
"But-"
"I said no."
"… Okay."
Again, everyone with the exception of Sun and Izuku facepalmed at the failed procedure. Oum dammit, this was almost as hard as sitting through Port's class. Almost.
"Next plan," Izuku said as he crossed out the second in his journal.
Plan #3: Bribe her with fish
"Are you sure this is going to work, Midoriya? She hasn't taken the bait for any of the other plans so far, and I highly doubt this one is going to work." Weiss said as the Izuku, Sun, Ruby, and Yang placed various fish related foods and dishes into a very odd-looking chest. Add in the fact that it was a discount antique treasure chest that was on sale in the Vale Mall, so Izuku got it for cheap. The problem was the fact that the lock was so old it may as well not have been there to begin with.
"It's the only one I could think of before the plans started to get crazy!" Izuku said as he closed the chest and locked it as securely as he could.
"Besides, do you have a better idea?" Sun said as he ducked into the closet with the others, leaving Weiss the only person standing in her dorm. Reluctantly, she sighed and joined them in the surprisingly roomy closet.
"Wait, why didn't we just put our extra stuff in here? Then we wouldn't have had to make those death traps you call bunkbeds." Weiss pointed out before Ruby shushed her, leaving the room noiseless as Blake entered, a tired though still confused look crossing her face as the antique chest in the middle of the room caught her eye, her nose perking up at the heavy smell of fish. She skulked over to the note in front of it, which read, 'The key to this chest will be given to you at the Vytal Dance.'
Her prompt response to this was to immediately tear up the note and begin picking at the lock, and when that didn't work she started banging on it until it broke off, revealing all the fish related foods and dishes inside, which she promptly scooped up and walked out of the room with.
A few seconds later, Izuku and the others practically fell out of the closet, the only two left standing being Sun and Weiss, the former due to his heritage as a monkey faunus whilst the later simply didn't care enough about the situation to practically press her face up against the door in the hopes that it would work. The three who were on the floor then stood up and dusted themselves off, Izuku pulling out his journal and crossing out the third plan in his journal.
"Okay, this is where the plans start to get crazy. I don't even think we'll be able to set up some of these." Izuku warned the group.
"Oh, come on Greenie. It can't be that bad-" Yang stopped as she got a glimpse of the various plans he had scribbled down in his notebook. "Trap her in a closet with a bunch of dresses, bribe her with smut novels, send her there via a hole through the space-time continuum?!" Yang snapped her gaze towards Izuku. "How tired were you when you wrote these plans down?! Most of these are things that'll be technologically impossible for the next century."
"Very tired. I'm sorry," Izuku apologized with a yawn. "I guess 'tired me' thought that at least some of those would be possible."
"In theory. Extremely unlikely theory," Weiss said as she took the journal from the green haired boy, looking over his notes and finding that it was full of math related to science's worse nightmare. Quantum Physics. Enough said.
Yang then took the notebook from Weiss, flipping through it before she found the last plan before Izuku had written down before he passed out the night before, a mischievous grin crossing her face as she said to the rest of the group.
"I think I've found our foolproof plan guys!" She exclaimed as she held Izuku's journal up high, everyone but Izuku looking at her with confusion as she began to explain her interpretation of the plan.
Plan #37: Use Laser Pointers to Isolate her
Blake sat in the library at a holographic computer, looking through a few documents as well as some security footage she'd managed to collect over her various days of investigation. Her eyelids began to droop before she shook herself awake once more, now more alert what with all the plans to try and get her to the dance.
"Are you sure about this Yang? The others aren't even here anymore, so we're not going to have any back up if we mess up." Izuku said as he handed her one of the two laser pointers he'd just bought a few minutes earlier, the aforementioned blonde brawler clicking it on and off to make sure that it worked.
"That's what you're here for, Izuku. Remember, once I get her behind the shelf you need to box off her escape so that I have time to grab her. She may be tired, but she's still a freaking ninja." Yang said with a smirk on her face.
Izuku then sighed and smiled as well, replying with, "Alright. B-b-but I-I get the first d-dance." He stuttered out the last part, the unusual words leaving his mouth in a rather uncomfortable way. He really wasn't used to asking these kinds of things.
Yang seemed to catch onto what he was actually trying to say, and her smile grew ever wider. "I make no promises," was all she said as she took up her position behind her assigned bookshelf, Izuku going to a position behind Blake with his laser pointer at the ready.
Yang sent her signal with a glowing red dot on Blake's computer screen, which she quickly trailed down to the girl's hand to get her attention. The bow-wearing girl then looked around at the other students with a suspicious gaze for a few seconds before returning to her work.
Izuku then began his part of the plan, getting Blake's attention once more with his glowing red dot appearing in almost the exact same place as Yang's was just a few moments earlier. Though she tried with all her might to ignore it, her eyes simply would not leave that distracting red dot.
Izuku then moved it to the floor and made it spin in a circle, further drawing Blake's attention away from her screen. Annoyed out of her skull, she stood up and walked towards it with an angry stomp in her step, the green haired boy following her accordingly, making sure not to get to close or too far away from her. It was actually a lot harder than it looked.
She rounded the corner and walked into the section Yang was currently standing in, a singsong esque hello escaping her lips before she tried to turn tail and run, only to bump into Izuku, boxing her in with her boisterous teammate, who grabbed her by the collar and said, "We really need to talk," before dragging her off to an empty classroom with Izuku trailing behind them.
(empty classroom, five minutes later)
"I honestly don't see the point of this. I'm not going to stop, no matter what you do," Blake stated as she paced the empty classroom, a soft click coming from beneath her shoes with every step she took.
"We're not trying to stop you. But you need to slow down," Yang explained as she sat on the teacher's desk in a criss-cross position, Izuku leaning against the chalkboard in the background.
At Yang's statement, Blake suddenly stopped, and replied with, "We don't have the luxury of slowing down."
"It's not a luxury, Blake. Honestly, it's necessary at this point. You can't keep this up forever. Everyone needs rest at some point, and you're no exception to the rule," Yang stated in a kind tone, one that almost reminded him of a mother calming down a child.
"We need to stop Torchwick and Tomura. I don't see how going to some stupid dance is going to help with that."
"And we are going to stop them, Blake. But first, you need to sit down and listen to what I've got to tell you." She pat the empty part of the desk next to her, which the exhausted cat faunus reluctantly sat on as Yang began her story. It was enough to make Izuku tear up.
Yang recounted the story of the last time she saw Summer Rose. She was young, only about six years old at the time. Ruby was too little to remember, she'd only just turned four about a month earlier. Summer was essentially super mom in every sense of the word. Baker of cookies and slayer of monsters. But one day she left on a mission and never came back. Her father shut down after that, so Yang had to take care of herself and Ruby with what little she knew.
It was soon after this that she learned about her real mom, and found something that might've been a clue to her whereabouts. So, Yang set out to find her real mom with Ruby in an old red wagon. When she finally found what she was looking for, it wasn't what she thought it would be. It had turned into a Grimm nest after so many years of abandonment. The two were saved by their uncle, a man named Qrow Branwen. If he hadn't been there, they would've more than likely been slaughtered. Yang ended her story there, with a mechanical crow's eye now drawn on the board with chalk, likely Qrow's symbol.
"Yang, I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand that you're trying to help. But this is different! I'm not trying to find answers to some mystery, and I can't just-"
"I told you, I'm not telling you to stop." Her grip on the chalk in her hand tightened until she was almost crushing it. Although his base instincts told Izuku to comfort the blonde brawler, something else told him to let it lie, at least for the moment. She continued. "I still haven't stopped looking for my mom. I still want to know why she left. But I will never let that search control me.
"We'll find what we're looking for eventually Blake. But if you let this search destroy you in the process, then you're no good to anyone, least of all yourself." The aforementioned cat faunus got off of the desk as the blonde brawler finished her speech. Blake closed her eyes in frustration, opening them again with a furious statement, "You don't understand, I'm the only one who can do this!"
"No, you're not!" Izuku yelled in an uncharacteristic tone. But he wasn't concerned about that. He needed to help Blake understand that she wasn't alone against Torchwick and Tomura. "You're not the only person here who wants to stop them. My entire team would help you take them down given the chance. But if you keep going at this rate, you're going to commit Karoshi."
"What does that mean?"
"Death by overworking." Izuku sighed. "Look, if Torchwick or Tomura walked through that door at this very moment, what would you do?"
"I'd stop them-" her rebuttal was cut off when Izuku suddenly appeared in front of her, small bits a green electricity rolling off of his skin, his right index finger pointed directly at her neck. "That was one percent of Full Cowl. If you can't even stop me at that speed, you don't stand a chance against either of them. Especially not Tomura."
"But I can-" Izuku gently tapped Blake's shoulder with Full Cowl 1% still active, causing her to stumble into the desk behind her. "You'd lose," Izuku stated bluntly, concern filling his voice as he finished his tirade. "And unless you get some rest, nothing will change that."
Izuku slowly backed away with a guilty look on his face, his gaze now only monitoring his feet and the floor. Yang then walked over to her sister in arms and pulled the raven-haired faunus into a tight hug, saying, "Please, just get some rest. It'll do everyone some good. And I know Izuku was being hard on you, but he really does care. Although that wasn't quite the way I expected you to handle this." Yang said as she looked back at her date, a rather noticeable blush now adorning his face as he explained, "W-well, B-Bakugo did something similar w-when Tenya was d-d-down in the dumps, so I kinda defaulted to that andI'msorryifIhurtyourfeelingsinanyfashionIreallydidn'tmeantoIjustwantedtohelpandIdidn'treallyknownayotherwayso-"
Yang tapped him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his mumbling tirade once more as he took the subtle hint in the blonde brawler's kind gaze and shut up, his blush deepening even further. Yang then gestured towards the door as she guided Izuku out of the classroom, saying back to her teammate, "And if you do feel like coming out tomorrow night, I'll be sure to save you a dance or two. Izuku's got first dibs though."
Izuku blushed as he walked out of the classroom with the blonde brawler, with a finite feeling that Balke was going to be alright.
A/N: And that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now I do understand that this was rather short, but I promise that the last dance chapter will be twice as long at least.
There isn't a profile today. I'll make it up to you guys next time. And yes, you'll see Toshinori and some of the other teachers again soon, don't think I've forgotten about them just yet.
But I'm gonna be real with you guys for a few minutes. When I first started this, my parents had recently divorced, and I needed a way to vent. Now that this has become something more than that, I'm going to keep writing this story for all of you wonderful people who inspire me to write every day. Thank you all so much for your support!
Next Chapter: Oct 20th
Seeya in the next one!