Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks

Leona's POV

"I need you to pick a table cloth." Weiss told Ruby, slamming two little cuts on the table.

"They look the same." she said.

"I don't even know why I asked." Weiss groaned.

"Neither do we." I laughed "Who cares so long as it works."

"You have no sense of style Jungle Girl." She told me.

"Haa…who cares if Blake's not coming." Ruby sighed.

"You can have fun without her, besides I'm sure she'll come around for a bit." I shrugged "She's stubborn like that."

"No dollies!" Yang groaned arguing with Weiss over the set up.

"If I don't get these you don't get the fog machine."

"Fog Machine?" Ruby and I looked at each other.

"I have a feeling this dance is going to get out of hand." I shook my head.

"Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune asked as he and Sun just let themselves in.

"How rude, you should knock." I growled.

"We were thinking about it." Weiss said dropping her argument.

"She's spineless with that man." I snarled.

"Some people get like that with people they like." Ruby shrugged.

"I suppose." I nodded back.

"Everyone excited to play dress up?" Sun asked.

"No."

"Yeah right." Ruby and I scoffed.

"Laugh all you want but I'll be turning heads." Yang smirked.

"What will you two be wearing?" Weiss asked the boys.

"This." Sun pointed to himself "I'm not exactly a shirt and tie kinda guy."

"So we've noticed." Yang said flatly.

"So what's Blake think of all this?" he asked.

"She's being…Blake." I shrugged.

"I still can't figure out how to change her mind." Ruby frowned.

"Just trust me Blake will be there." Yang told us "Stop worrying so much."

"You keep saying that." I shook my head "But you've yet to convince her."

A Day Later

"Stupid shoes…stupid dress." I grumbled a bit.

"Hmm…I think it looks nice." Ruby told me.

"Oh." I looked back at hers "Uh…yours too then."

"You're not very good at this whole compliment thing are you?" she laughed.

"No not really." I sighed a bit.

"But yeah, I hate wearing this stuff too." She said as we approached the hall "But it's for one night and Yang is hosting so I'll suck it up."

"I suppose I can do the same." I sighed brushing my hair back

Ruby was in a red sleeveless dress while I was wearing a longer auburn one that had sleeves down to the wrist and little ring things you slid over your finger to cover the hands, it was a little much for me but given my stature it was one of the only ones in the store that fit. Ruby was just in a dress though she did have bracelet like jewelry on that I believed she was using to hide the cuts I made to her wrists.

"Wow!" Yang clapped as we entered "You tow look amazing."

"Ugh, how does Weiss fight in this?" Ruby played with her hem.

"I agree." I shivered "I want to go change, I feel like I'm being started at by men."

"That's usually a good thing." Yang laughed.

We hung around the dance for a while, Ruby danced with me for a little bit mostly just for fun. Yang was right after all, Blake showed up and started to enjoy herself, I wasn't sure what she said but I felt happy that she came.

"Yang have you seen Ruby?" I asked looking around "She went to get a drink and I haven't seen her yet."

"Hmm, I think she might have left, I'm not sure." Yang told me "She said her feet hurt so she might have gone to get some different shoes. Why feeling lonely without your date?"

"Not really." I shrugged.

"Why is Ruby not a good date or something, what are you saying about my little sister!" she half yelled at me.

"Uhh?" I was confused.

"I'm just messing with you." She smiled "I'm glad you took Ruby though, it's no fun going without a date…but."

"But what?" I asked.

"You and Ruby sure have been spending a lot of time alone together." She gave me a bit of a serious look "Sneaking off, talking in whispers, is there something going on between you two?"

I shrugged "Not that I know of."

"Alright." She nodded a bit "I don't care what choices Ruby makes about her own love life, guy, girl, animal…okay maybe not that last one. But what I do care about is that she picks someone good, it doesn't matter who they are if they break my sister heart…I'll break them got it."

I smirked a bit "Noted, but as I said there's nothing presently going on between Ruby and I, just friends."

"Alright this conversation is getting way too heavy." Yang laughed walking off "See ya."

Yang walked away and I leaned on a pillar, if we were being frank in my village Ruby would be the type of girl others would clamor for, a real maiden who could chose her lover as she saw fit…and I would probably by right there fighting for her too. I don't know iff Ruby actually has those sorts of feelings, but I'm content with where we are now.

"Hmm." I saw a hand enter my vision "Oh, you're asking to dance?"

I looked up and saw a man, he was shorter than me by a bit, had soft features, blue eyes, brown hair tied up in one of those manbuns. He was wearing a suit that made it hard to get a read on his body type.

"Sorry." I looked away "I don't dance with men, especially puny ones like you."

"Hmm." He smirked a bit and spoke in a very hushed tone, his voice almost sounded forced "For me?"

"You?" I was confused.

I looked down at the girlish boy, his eyes flashed two colors for a moment.

"Neo?" I gasped "How did you-?"

"Shush." She whispered with a finger to her lips "Just…dance."

Confused and aggravated I took her hand and let her lead me onto the floor for a slow dance, I wanted to kick her ass, to beat the answers out of her, my blood boiled and my grip tightened…but I knew how much this dance met to Yang and Weiss, they had worked so hard, everyone had been so stressed recently they needed this break. Despite my nature I swallowed my fighting spirit and listened.

"Be…careful." Neo said in a rasped voice "It's…not…safe."

"Neo." I looked down "Your voice?"

She loosened her tie and showed a large scar like burn across her lower neck.

"Neo what happened to you, how did you get that…how did you get here?" I asked.

"Another…time." She wheezed a bit "Leona…trust…no one…"

"Neo I don't understand." I was getting more frustrated.

"This world…isn't like the jungle." She kissed my cheek "Please…be…safe. May…Mother Nature…guide you."

"Neo!" I tried to grab her wrist as she left, only for the air to shatter and her to vanish into thin air, no one else having ever known she'd been here.

AN

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.

Obviously, I'm making Neo a character more intertwined with Leona's story, in order to best do that she needs to be able to talk a little bit. It'll be explained later why she doesn't talk much.

Till Next Time!