Welcome one and all to another installment of 'The Darkling Thrush'!

Before we get started, I' like to thank everyone who left a review. I keep saying that I means a lot, because it actually does. It means you guys like what I'm writing and that's the aim, to produce something engaging and entertaining.

I'd like to thank EternalKing, jin0uga, Guest, Baoh joestar, ShroudViper, noone297, King Edgar and The Novice Storyteller for leaving your thoughts and reviews. Again, it really means a lot. I can't stress that enough.

And before we get started. I'd like to point out the story's rating has officially changed to 'M'. We're going to some dark places, touching on some dark subject matter that I won't directly name because I can't bring myself to actually write it. But its there, it's hinted at. And of course, because I just had to have Russel use every naughty word in the dictionary.

This chapter went through 3 rewrites. Ugh.

Anyways, more on that later. On with the chapter!

XIX

The Dance: Part 4

Music, lights, non-alcoholic beverages and armed Atlesian Guards. So this was how they threw a bash in Vale. Sitting off to the side by his lonesome, with only a plastic cup of punch to keep himself company, sat Russel as he tapped a foot along with the music.

Everybody in the whole school was there. The boys were all decked out suits and the girls in dresses. Of course there was that occasional outlier. A girl walked in wearing a suit and sneakers. A boy danced in a vibrant blouse, the kind that screamed tradition. But that was alright in Russel's eyes.

It wasn't a surprise at all when they were the first to hit the dance floor. But that's how it always went. The dance needed some people willing to break the awkward tension the hung in the air. The carefree and ecstatic are what gets a dance moving. You put someone like Russel on the dance floor and he'll just stare you to death. Russel was more the type who sat to the side and watched, as he was doing now.

He wasn't alone though. To his surprise, Russel could see Weiss, the Schnee heiress herself on the other end of the room sitting quietly. Russel didn't keep his ear out to the goings on of the social side of school, but he'd heard whispers of some blue haired exchange student who'd caught Weiss' eye. If underage gambling was legal, Russel would've put money on the two going together. But then he'd be out twenty lien.

On the other side of the room as well stood the socially awkward duo of Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose. The blonde doofus and the fifteen year old had a toast to themselves as they stood on the sidelines. Russel could only frown at the sight. Seeing Jaune there dateless meant Pyrrha hadn't found the nerve to pursue the boy. Not even in a last ditch effort to prove him wrong.

Blake seemed to be enjoying her time with some guy with a monkey tail. Russel scoffed at the sight. At least she was having a good time. The thought of revenge had crossed Russel's mind once or twice. Seeing Blake enjoy herself was almost enough to get the young Thrush out of his seat and work his magic. An eye for an eye, right? That's how the saying goes. What's one more ruined dance?

But then Russel relented. He would not be running around causing mischief tonight. Well not yet anyways. Rumor had it some fellows had managed to sneak a keg onto campus. In a little while Russel would head out behind the dorm and join the real party. Then when he had a nice buzz he'd see if he wanted to get into a little trouble.

Russel returned to his looking around, watching the goings on at the dance. He didn't have Marie-Anne's semblance powered eyes, he couldn't make out every little detail, but he could see enough from where he was sitting. He could spot Yang dancing with a large group of friends, Nora and Ren were standing by the punch bowl talking, about what was anyone's guess. Dove may be the oddest of them all, but that lip reading skill seemed most appropriate for this sort of thing.

Speaking of his hapless teammate, in the end of it all, the members of Team CRDL had all arrived alone. While Russel had intended to go stag, the others had other plans. Dove had failed miserably in asking any girl. Now he could be seen dancing by himself in the center of the dance floor. It was a sad sight. Though he was at the center of it all, Dove was as isolated as Russel. He danced alone beside, not with anyone in particular.

A glance back over at the punch bowl, Russel could see Sky attempting to strike up a conversation with Ren. Sky had tried numerous times to lock down that Ren character. Russel hadn't heard all the details, but it seemed Ren was as clueless as Jaune. He'd interpreted Sky's attempts to ask him to the dance as an extended hand of goodwill, a burying of hatchets sort of thing.

Russel searched through the crowd, but couldn't find Cardin amongst the student body. That bothered the young Thrush. Cardin was his partner, his leader within the team dynamic, but between the two they were partners, equals even. Shouldn't they be able to confide in one another? Russel just shrugged off the notion. Confiding and trust was something friends did, maybe they just weren't friends.

Cardin was entitled to his privacy, just as they all were. Russel respected that enough not to pry any more than he already did. It was jarring in a way, they're supposed to trust one another with the other's life when it came down to it. But the truth of the matter was none of them had done anything particular to earn the other's trust. If one were to recall, Russel and the others had abandoned Cardin to face an Ursa all on his own.

So Russel resigned not to worry about Cardin's affairs. Not now anyways. The dance was just a formal party with their teachers supervising. The last thing Russel wanted to be was another authority figure looming over their shoulders. A contradicting statement if taken into account that he'd been doing so all night long. Along the walls he watched like any Atlesain soldier or professor, just without the authority.

Russel's eyes wandered through the crowds of students embracing the merriment of things. It was a joyous time after all, eighty years of peace was a devil to maintain. Take pride in the fact no one's fucked up yet. That's all you can do, really. Amongst those crowds, Russel could swear he'd caught sight of a familiar red headed girl. But then when he'd look back again, having to do a double take, he'd find nothing, just the sea of students.

The music began to pick up and the hour was drawing near for Russel to pick himself up and move and see if there was any truth to those keg rumors, but then out of the blue a familiar face pulled up a chair and took a seat beside him. So Russel glanced to his side and found Mercury taking a seat beside him.

"Hey Russel." Mercury greeted with a wave. Russel returned the gesture, raising his hand slightly. "Couldn't help but notice you aren't out there dancing."

"What can I say? Dances really aren't my thing." Russel muttered as the current song ended and a dubstep rendition of 'Flaws' by Bastille played in the background. A frown found its way onto Russel's face. He was a farmboy after all. Give him pianos, trumpets and guitars any day. Dubstep to Russel sounded something akin to the tractor engine acting up.

"So, would you mind breaking it down for someone who's never been to a dance in Vale?" Mercury waved a hand at the many Beacon students dancing before them. "Is everything up to standard? Or should I be appalled?"

"The music's decent enough." Russel merely shrugged. "If anything it's a better set up than my old combat school had. Of course we had a live band, we didn't have too much high tech sound equipment to play with. But how about your perspective on things? Does this little dance meet your Haven standards?"

Mercury just laughed at the question. "I never attended a dance a Haven." He said truthfully. "Visiting and all ahead of the tournament, me and my team just missed out. But yeah, the music's not that bad. Can't sat too much about the decorations though."

"Too bland? Or not bland enough?" Russel jotted a thumb over to the pair of Atlesian guards standing guard around an orange haired girl in a simple plain dress who danced by herself. "I personally think the armed soldiers bring the whole room together."

"Ha!" Mercury slapped his knee and let out a genuine laugh. "Yeah. When you put it that way, I do detect a little Atlesian influence, yeah. Too proper."

"I've never been into this synthesized crap." Russel pointed a finger into the air and gestured at the music laying over them. "Just isn't real, you know?"

"I can see your point." Mercury nodded. "But isn't that what makes music so unique? It doesn't have to be the same. All those cords, all those melodies and angelic tones.

"You some sort of musician?" Russel spared a glance away from Mercury, having caught sight of Pyrrha's eye popping red hair whisking itself off away from view once more.

"No. My dad was firm believer in varying talents. He'd drill me every day into accomplishing a new skill." Mercury said once more truthfully. He threw in a fond tone, as if he'd missed those days of his childhood, all for show of course. Russel had proven to be more perceptive than most. It was better in the long run to speak the truth rather than get caught in a lie later on.

"Picking up a bunch of skills doesn't sound too bad. Must come in handy."

"Oh yeah, I'll subdue a Deathstalker with music. Surely that will tame the beast." Mercury said, causing the pair to burst out laughing.

"Mercury, there you are!" Russel and Mercury both looked to the left, finding a familiar green haired gal walking towards their direction. Internally, the green haired woman wanted to grab that silver haired idiot and strangle him. They were on the clock, there was no time to sit around and socialize. Ironic given the current setting. The pair had a job to do, one that would be best done on the dance floor and not on the sidelines.

"I need a dance partner." She said while sparing a glance at Russel. Back in the privacy of their dorm, Mercury could never shut up about how that guy was always catching her when she had to vent her pent up frustration. Russel didn't know it, but he'd made the list on Emerald's to kill list.

"Nice chatting with you, Russel." Mercury said kindly before standing up from his seat and meeting Emerald halfway. "Duty calls."

Russel waved bye and just watched them go. Mercury seemed nice enough, he could carry a conversation well enough, the young Thrush thought to himself. But then there was Emerald, who he presumed was Mercury's partner. Russel hadn't had the pleasure of meeting the rest of their team, but Emerald was enough to paint a good enough picture.

While the likes of Ruby wasted their time buying into Emerald's nice girl act, Russel had been privy to her true nature. She could play nice, sure, but she couldn't do so for long. That leave a vote of confidence for Mercury. Russel didn't know too many people from Mistral. Pyrrha was honest and kind. Emerald was a liar. Somewhere in between those two extremes was Mercury. The mystery was whether he leaned more towards his partner, which seemed more than likely as Russel watched them walk away.

Again, Russel found himself in need of Dove's special abilities. Whatever they were saying to one another was between them and no one else. There needn't be false faces among kindred spirits.

"The hell are you doing spending time with that guy?" Emerald asked as she and Mercury hit the dance floor.

"Damage control." Mercury said simply. "You keep slipping up and eventually that guy might put two and two together that we're not who we say we are."

"I'm going to kill him."

"Later." Mercury reassured his comrade, placing a hand on her shoulder and gestured around. "But now, we dance."

Having been sitting for quite some time, Russel decided to get up and stretch his legs. While he wouldn't partake in dancing, he'd like to see what else there was to be offered. Perhaps he'd snatch up some sort of cake or other goods. There was no harm in an after dinner snack. So Russel circled around the ballroom rather than cut through the middle. It would've taken less time no doubt, but it saved him the trouble of navigating through the numerous students engaging in the celebration.

Russel reached the punch table on a hunch but found only plastic cups and students loitering around. Deciding he'd try his luck somewhere else, Russel decided to move on. But out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Pyrrha once more.

The young Thrush stood still taking in her visage. She didn't wear one of those school provided dresses most others wore. She wore a matching red dress and heels. If compared to her normal outfit, you'd find that of the two her dress was the more conservative. But it wasn't the Invincible Girl's stunning beauty the caught Russel's eye, but it was the look of sadness on her face.

The Team CRDL boy followed Pyrrha's gaze across the room. Some blue haired boy with honest intent was dragging Jaune across the dance floor over to Weiss' side. The blue haired boy with his flashy smile instantly caught Weiss' attention. And for the first time in the night, Russel didn't ask for Dove's rather odd skill of lip reading. He didn't need to know what they were saying.

The blue haired Mistral native patted Jaune on the back and departed, leaving them alone. Jaune reached a hand out to Weiss for her to take. There was a hesitant look on Weiss' face as she stared at the hand, debating whether or not she would accept Jaune's offer. The party planner who'd sat on the sidelines was finally offered the chance to take center stage amongst the rest of them on the dance floor. It was too good an offer to refuse.

So Russel looked away from the pair of Jaune and Weiss, looking back to Pyrrha. There was a knowing look of devastation in her eyes, one that Russel had seen before. Yesterday when they'd last spoke, he'd seen it last. And now he saw it again. Normal men and women, whose hearts shatter would break into tears. But not the Invincible Girl. So Pyrrha departed, no longer wishing to watch. There was a part of Russel who wanted to catch up to her. But that was a job for a friend. That was something Russel wasn't, her friend.

Russel departed the ballroom soon after. He'd kept track of the time and his surroundings. As the hour drew closer to midnight, more and more faculty began to arrive. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to it, Russel supposed. Maybe it had something to do with what was going on in Beacon Tower, where a dark haired woman busied herself with implanting a deadly virus for a later day.

But Russel had no knowledge of such things, so he kept on walking out of the ballroom and into the open campus. His destination was clear, back to the dorms, or rather, behind the dorms. He glanced to his sides, catching sight of some other students leaving the dance too. When Russel reached the back of the dorms, he found the real party in full swing.

A keg sat in the corner with a good twenty students huddled around a fire. They all had plastic cups in hand and laughing like maniacs. There was no telling how long they'd all been at it. Their close proximity to the fire concealed any reddish features, hiding them with the glowing glare of the fire that bounced off their skin. Upon closer inspection of the gathered students, Russel couldn't help but act surprised at who was present.

All of Team DNCE was present. Marie-Anne was doing her best not to give him the stink eye, but she must've had a couple of cups already, her movements were sluggish and the impulse appeared to be too great. Beside her sad her Team Leader Danny, apparently inspecting his drink, as if he'd just received it. Nero had a pair of empty cup by his feet and a third in his hand, one that he happily chugged. And the tubby Ezekiel busied himself in conversation with his teammates, talking mostly and not caring if they paid him any attention.

After Team DNCE, there some others students Russel had seen around campus. A couple of Team STAG members, not their leader, just some of the others Russel never bothered to remember their names. They joined in the merriment and bliss provided by drink. There were a couple of second year students.

What was a rather big surprise to Russel was the sight of Pyrrha standing beside the nearby keg, getting a cup for herself Now Russel didn't blame her, in fact he pitied her. And then, not too far off from everyone sat Cardin, a cup in hand and his scroll in the other. So this was where his partner had been spending his time.

The young Thrush began to close the distance between himself and Cardin, thinking maybe he'd break the guy's concentration on whatever he was doing. But it didn't take a genius to figure out he was bombarding Velvet with a multitude of messages. Whether or not she responded was beyond him, but there was a certain lack of professionalism with the deed. Cardin was essentially interfering with an active mission. Anyone with authority would've deemed the act as treacherous and deliberate sabotage.

"What the hell are you doing here, Russel?" A forcibly gruff voice called out to Russel. The Team CRDL member sighed, recognizing the voice. Slowly Russel turned around, not at all looking forward to another inevitable bout.

Russel had never met more of a tool in his life until he met Lance Grimsby. He was tall, dark, had short hair and a permanent crease along the edges of his mouth. Needless to say he liked smiling. They had most of the same classes together, but overall, they'd never actually talked to one another, except for that one time last semester, but that hardly constituted for a conversation. More like a civil disagreement that turned uncivil.

Lance wasn't too difficult to figure out. Compared to Pyrrha's poor warped head, Lance had his personality written on his forehead in glow in the dark ink so you couldn't ignore it. A hero complex and an ego to boot, it certainly made him the most straightforward of their year. Russel recalled their first interaction, how Lance had marched up to him on the stairwell and demanded he change his ways, something about having witnessed the way Russel and the rest of Team CRDL treating Velvet poorly.

One thing led to another, Lance invaded Russel's personal space. Russel, not liking that, threw a punch and sent Lance tumbling down some stairs. Russel gets called up to Ozpin's office and next thing he knows he's waking up in Team RWBY's dorm strapped to a chair and getting the crap kicked out of him. What terrible day that was.

"I asked you a question, Russel." Lance pointed a finger at Russel in an accusing manner. Russel couldn't help but notice the slight slur in the boy's speech as well as the half empty plastic cup in his free hand.

Give his aggressive tone, it was a safe bet to assume Lance hadn't gotten over that whole pushing him down some stairs ordeal. Now it wouldn't have been much of a problem to get into a shouting match with Lance. Russel had that down in spades. Years and years of dealing with a drunk for a Father had taught him much. But usually all such incidents ended with a fist fight of some sort. That was something Russel had no problem not reliving.

So Russel's only option was to simply defuse the situation. But sadly, Russel wasn't exactly as adept with stopping a fight as he was starting one. "Heard there'd be some refreshments served behind the dorms. Thought I might come around and see if there was any truth to the rumors. And given the fact you reek of alcohol, I guess there is some truth after all." He said with a smile.

"You jackass!" Lance shouted, quickly causing everyone around to stop what they were doing and look on with curiosity. "You threw me down the stairwell! And now you think you can waltz in here and drink from my keg? You can just go straight to hell!"

"You brought the keg?" Russel asked in genuine surprise. Maybe he'd figured Lance all wrong. Bringing a keg on school property wasn't exactly the sort of thing a wishy washy hero type like him to do. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Russel broke out laughing. "You? You, a poor man's Jaune Arc, decided to break school rules by bringing alcohol on campus and serve it to minors even. Monty, I'd expect this from someone like me. But you, I don't believe it."

"Unless you aren't the man I pegged you out to be." Russel smirked as he fell back into old habits. He then glanced around, taking into account of everyone present. It then dawned on Russel as he started counting those present that number of female students outweighed the number of male students. And that was even counting the students who were funneling in.

Russel thought back to their first interaction with each other. Lance had confronted him not because of his overly liberal use of negative comments, but in fact he'd confronted him over Velvet. And then Russel's smile faded. His mocking features shifted into one that conveyed the disgust he felt. "You ain't a good man, Lance. I see it now."

"Turn out your pockets." Russel held his stare, meeting Lance's glare. "Turn 'em out now."

"I don't have to do anything you tell me to do." Lance grunted. All fell silent, waiting to see what happened next.

"Right." Russel nodded. "You're going to be a difficult one. Alright." Without warning, Russel darted forward, reaching a hand out and quickly jamming his hand into Lance's pocket. Caught off guard by the act, Lance dropped his drink, pouring its contents all over Russel. But Russel just brushed it off, after all such a thing wasn't new to him. He'd throw his get up in the laundry and take a shower later, problem solved. The issue at hand took precedence. When Russel withdrew his hand, he opened his palm to reveal a condom wrapper.

Russel held it up for everyone to see and then tossed it over his shoulder, having it land in Cardin's lap. "You're a scumbag you know that?"

Those in attendance just stared at Lance in alarm. The implication was clear as day. Lance tripped over his words in a vain attempt to defend himself from the oncoming fury of his peers. But before the first student could let out a shout in anger, Marie-Anne spoke up.

"Drop dead Russel!" Marie-Anne shouted drunkenly. "We both know you fucking planted that on Lance! This is just another one of you messed up attempts at satisfying your sick need for drama." Marie-Anne stood up and quickly addressed the rest of the students present. She pointed a finger at Russel and recanted the tale of an Oakwood Academy Prom, where she and many others had tried to get a couple like Burgundy and Ruddy back together. Only for Russel to come along as he did now and ruin everything.

"He planted it on me!" Lance shouted, having used the Marie-Anne's hijacking of the situation to come up with the most plausible explanation his buzzed mind could think of. "Get him!"

"Wait what?" Russel asked in alarm before getting cocked in the back of the head. He fell forward and landed on his hands. He attempted to get back up on his feet, only for a heel to come bashing against his cheek.

"Whoa, guys what're you doing?!" Cardin responded sluggishly. He tossed the condom wrapper into his back pocket and quickly ran to his partner's aid.

"Stay out this you racist pig." One of the Team STAG members shouted before turning and punching Cardin across the jaw, knocking him onto the floor also. "We haven't forgotten what you did to Velvet."

Cardin watched helplessly as the likes of Lance and Marie-Anne, along with every radicalized student picked Russel up and carried him away. "God dammit." Cardin muttered to himself before getting back up onto his feet and going back in search of his cup. If he was going to go and save his partner the last thing he wanted to do was do it sober. The alcohol would dull his pain as he valiantly rescued his teammate.

So then Cardin made his way over to the keg for a refill. One was intended to be one drink soon turned into two, and then three. As time passed he'd forgotten all about Russel and his plight. His vision blurred and everything a haze, Cardin stumbled his way back to his scroll. And then after that, everything went dark. The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was an adorable girlish snort and fumbling for his room key.

The angry mob then marched all the way out to the front of the school, practically crying for Russel's head. The young Thrush began to stir awake and soon found himself reacquainted with the ground. In front of Beacon Tower as well as in front of the ballroom, there stood the fifty foot flagpole the national Vale flag flapped against the wind.

Over the course of their trek there had been much discussion about what to do about Russel. And then they'd all finally settled for their current action. Before Russel knew it, he was hung upside down to the flagpole in nothing but his boxers. He'd been stripped and his clothes repurposed into makeshift bindings.

Russel just glared as he watched the angry mob depart. They were patting themselves on the back, a night's job well done. They'd gotten the bad guy now time to celebrate. That just left Russel with the task of escaping before anyone could actually see him in his indecency. But then again, maybe that was what he needed, a friendly passerby he could reach out to, a righteous soul who could find it in themselves to help him out.

"Oi! A little help here?" Russel shouted, calling out to some dark haired woman, dressed in a dark dress with dust stitched to it. The woman simply brushed off Russel's cries for help and made her way into the ballroom. Russel glared at the woman as she, like so many others left him to hang. Seeing as no one would come to his aid, Russel let out a defeated sigh and quickly set out on the arduous task of cutting himself free with his own finger nails. "Everybody's a fuckin' cunt."

So...yeah. That happened.

I remember saying I was debating turning this story into an AU. Which it technically was but now officially is. In the end Neptune got Jaune and Wiess to dance together, indirectly reaffirming Pyrrha's uncertainty.

The Russel I've spent time developing is a character who's brain is his only true weapon. This is the most overt usage of his analytical skills to date. Especially with the Lance thing which might be a bit of a stretch, but that was always something I intended for that character. Just out of the blue, some jackass to root against. Enough said.

Expect to see more of Mercury when we get to Arc 8-10. For obvious reasons. Vytal reasons.

Next time we'll get the conclusion to this arc, and there'll be some answers in regards to a certain incident in Oakwood. Anyways, It's late. Good night everyone! See you next time!