"The Fox has entered the henhouse? What's that even supposed to mean?" Jaune asked, walking around the bar counter.

"It means that it's started," Israfil said, crossing her arms as she spun on the bar chair. Her violet eyes held no mirth within them, her expression completely serious.

Jaune looked at her with an unnerved look on his face when she said that. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he sat down on one of the bar stools.

"So what am I even supposed to do? All you've done is given me a cryptic warnings left and write ever since we met. The first time, all you told me was to be prepared for the future and I had no idea what I had to be prepared for," he said.

The blonde goddess sighed.

"I admit… that one was a bit too vague but this time, this warning is real," Israfil said.

"Are you going to tell me what it even means?" Jaune asked, placing his head on his chin.

"Of course not, where would the fun in that be? I believe you to be capable of figuring everything out on your own," she said.

"Really? What you just described sounded like the difference between life and death!" he exclaimed.

"Well, then you have to work hard. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you but… I'm bending a few rules just to get this message to you," Israfil said with a serious look on her face.

"Rules?"

"A complicated set of rules set by my older siblings when they created the world and everything in it. One of them was that Gods cannot interfere as they please in the lives of mortals," she said.

"So you're breaking the rules to give me this really vague warning," Jaune said.

"Hey, remember who you're talking to," Israfil said.

Jaune's eyes widened as his mouth clamped shut. He just realized that his tone could have been perceived as rude by a God.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's alright. But… be vigilant and keep a look out for now. This is all I can give you… I've already bent the rule enough," she said.

"Nevertheless, thank you for your help," Jaune said.

"Now, don't you have a dance to get ready for?"

"Huh?" Jaune tilted his head.

"JAUNE!"

Jaune shot out of bed, his arms outstretched. His brain, still groggy from sleep and coming out of a dream he barely any recollection of, began to process what was happening around looked around and saw Ren standing next to him with an odd look on his face. Not caring about his appearance or lack thereof, Jaune yawned.

"Good morning, Ren… what time is it?" Jaune asked.

"Well, it's a day before prom and you and Pyrrha need to go get your suits. Not to mention that… we still need to perfect that dance routine we collectively planned as a group. Did you forget about that? Did you also forget how you said you were going to…"

"Okay, okay… just let me get ready. Hey, where did Pyrrha and the girls go?" he asked, as he noticed that he was alone this morning. Nora and Alice's beds were also empty.

"The three went ahead of us to the cafeteria. I told them that I'd be the one to wake you up. That must have been some dream you were having. I had to yell in your ear to wake you up," Ren said, straightening the tie of his uniform.

"Yeah… I don't actually remember what I…," a voice, an echo made its way into Jaune's head.

The fox has entered the henhouse…

"Jaune?"

"Huh?"

"You spaced out there for a second," Ren said.

"Oh, I did?" he asked.

"Are you alright?" Ren asked, looking at his team leader with worry in his eyes.

"Yeah, still a bit tired," he said.

"Well, a shower will snap you awake," Ren said.

Jaune nodded and entered the bathroom.

It was just like any other day at Beacon Academy. Classes came and went. Port lectured and the students fell asleep while Doctor Oobleck managed to lose the class once more as he spoke faster than even a supercomputer could process information. In Combat Class, there was nothing interesting going on, which was surprising to say the least. The fights were to be expected. Team RWBY wiping the floor with every fighter that each member was assigned to.

Speaking of which, Team RWBY was placed in charge of planning Beacon's dance. Velvet's team, Team CFVY as Jaune learned, was currently out on an extended mission and wouldn't make it back in time to be at the dance.

"Just one more day til the Dance," Jaune said.

Pyrrha smiled as the five walked down the hallway.

"At least everyone seems to get the hint that Pyrrha is taken and no one wants to go for Nora because of…," Alice glanced at her "No offense by the way."

"None taken! Even if someone asks me, I'll only take Renny to the dance," Nora said, putting her arm around Ren's neck. The poor boy wheezed and called for help.

"But seriously, since I'm Jaune's sister, everyone assumes that I'll say yes like him," Alice said.

"Is that why you've been using Jaune as repellant?" Pyrrha asked.

His sister had been sticking closer to him the entire week. It had started when the dance drew near. People asking each other to the dance and his sister was no stranger to this. She was a girl after all and the men of Beacon seemed desperate and… in Jaune's opinion, horny enough, to go after a pure maiden such as his sister. Alice seemed to have noticed this almost immediately and began using her older twin as boy repellant, which he happily agreed to. And the rest of the team helped. No one in the school could withstand the full force of a combined glare from Team JNPAR as the A hid behind all the JNPR of the team.

"Well, for the most part, but twin bonding is crucial to many opposite gender twinships!" Alice said.

"Well, Jaune and I need to go pick up our suits for tomorrow," Ren said.

"And we need to go pick up our dresses," Pyrrha added "Why don't we all go into Vale together?"

"Yeah that sounds like a great idea," Alice said.

"You guys go on ahead and wait at the landing pads. I need… to you know," Jaune points his thumb towards the men's restroom. The others nodded and went ahead as Jaune ran in and locked himself in a stall.

After much deliberation, she had decided to do it. Ever since he got back, he was all she could think about. She was mad. Mad at Pyrrha for keeping his survival a secret. Mad at Pyrrha for not inviting her over to Domremy but it wasn't her fault since Alice practically hated her entire team but what was she to do. Ruby had gotten over it of course, after a cookie and some milk but ever since he got back, she couldn't hold it in forever. After all, she saw him every day. She might as well come out and say it.

Ruby stalked the halls of Beacon after watching Team JNPAR leave Combat Class. Of course, she should be at the Multipurpose Room helping her sister and Weiss with decorations but if Blake didn't have to be there, then she as team leader didn't have to show up either. So this is where she found herself now, waiting. Outside of the men's restroom for Jaune.

"Okay okay okay, this is going to be easy. I mean, if the women in Blake's books are able to get any guy they want, then I should be able to at least get Jaune to go to the dance with me… and I'll go from there," Ruby muttered to herself.

Her mind had never had to be girly before. After all, she was all fighting Grimm and weapons, not… swooning over boys and nail polish. She was never really the girly type of girl. No, her sister referred to her as an Action Girl.

Ruby jumped when she heard the door open behind her. Cursing herself for being startled, Ruby turned around to see… Professor Port coming out of the restroom. She sighed in annoyance, catching her teacher's attention.

"Is there something wrong Miss Rose?" the older man asked as he gave her an inquisitive look.

"No no, I'm just waiting for someone and I thought you were them," she said, looking down.

"I see. Well, I'll be heading to my office if you need anything. Remember, just because the dance is tomorrow doesn't mean you can slack off on that essay on the biology of Grimm," Port said, before leaving.

Ruby nodded halfheartedly as she watched Port walk down the hall.

"Huh, I didn't even start that yet," a voice said.

Ruby turned around and jumped when she saw Jaune. He looked at her oddly. She internally cursed herself for even doing that twice. She made a mental note to ask her sister and her teammates for training in presence sensing.

"Something wrong?" Jaune asked. He was getting kind of unnerved. Ruby had been staring at him for at least a minute now.

"Huh?"

"You've been staring at me for a while now," he said.

"Oh, I have? Sorry, um… this is a bit awkward for me," Ruby said.

"Yeah, I gotta go," Jaune said as he hurriedly walked past her.

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

Ruby fidgeted as she gripped the hem of her uniform's skirt. Her heart was beating a million miles per second and Ruby felt that it would jump out of her chest at any moment now. Her face was growing hot as she found the courage to look him in the eye. Was this spur of the moment? She thought so… but she knew that she wouldn't get another chance like this. She needed to stake her claim now. She needed to build a bridge while there was still a bridge to be built and what better way to do that than to go to a dance with him.

"What is it?" Jaune asked, tilting his head slightly. He guessed this wasn't as bad as talking to Weiss or Yang. Out of the three, Ruby was the one he actually saw becoming friends with again. But then again, she did leave him to his fate so he was still a bit iffy on that.

"W- Will…," she stuttered.

"Will?"

"Umm… uhhh," Ruby was getting more and more nervous by the second.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go to the dance together!?" she blurted out.

"Oh…," Jaune was shocked. Ruby had just asked him to go to the dance with her. While he was somewhat flattered that a girl came up and asked him, he never expected it to be Ruby. Now, he was at a loss for what to say. He was already going with Pyrrha but he didn't want to hurt Ruby's feelings. After a moment of careful deliberation, Jaune made his decision. He would let her down… gently. At least, he hoped it was.

"I'm sorry, Ruby. I can't go with you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"O- Oh… I see," Ruby stood there, turning her gaze to the floor. "Is there a reason… why? Is it because of…?"

"P- Partly but… I'm already going with Pyrrha. I asked her to the dance a few days ago," Jaune said.

"Oh… I see. Well, I guess I'll see you at the dance," Ruby said, trying to keep her cheerful facade up. What did she expect? That he'd say yes? She turned around to leave when she heard him speak.

"Ruby… for what it's worth, I'm sorry I couldn't accompany you to the dance. I know that we aren't on the best of terms right now and I thought that this was a really sweet gesture to try and become friends again but… I'm sorry," he said.

Ruby felt a tear streak down her face before walking away without saying a word.

"Wow, I knew that there were going to be a lot of people here but I didn't know that it would be this packed," Jaune said as he and his team waited in a queue. At the front, they spotted Yang Xiao Long checking her scroll for the guest list of everyone who had bought a ticket to attend the dance.

"Yeah… your bow is all messed up," Pyrrha said as she straightened his gold bowtie. Jaune nodded as he remained still.

This outfit that he wore to the dance was rather stylish and sleek. It made him look noble like a knight attending the debutante of the lady he had sworn himself to. His outfit consisted of a tux. His tuxedo jacket was white with gold embroidered into the ends of his sleeves. The lapels were also gold alongside Jaune's bowtie. His undershirt was a white button-up with a golden vest. He wore black trousers and black oxfords that hugged his feet. All in all, this outfit cost Jaune several months' worth of allowances.

"How's it look?" Jaune asked.

"Not bad… oh, how do I look?" Pyrrha asked as she did a small twirl.

Jaune gulped. Pyrrha looked extremely beautiful in her dress. The color matched her hair and brought out her eyes. The dress accentuated all of Pyrrha's curves in just the right manner that it made the other men and some women in the line drool. There was a slit in one of its sides, showing off her long legs as well as her circlet and her red heels which had bronze accents at the tip.

"You look great… no one in this ballroom looks better than you," he said.

Pyrrha blushed and smiled, before hugging his arm.

"You two are going to give me diabetes with all your flirting," Alice said. Her dress was the same color as Jaune's tux. A simple off the shoulder, pleated white dress with golden accents at the hem, making it glitter like the night sky. Her hair was braided like normal but she had traded her usual white lace headband for a royal blue band that had a small star embroidered on it.

"We're not that bad are we?" Jaune asked.

"You are," Ren said as Nora straightened his emerald green bowtie.

"Next… oh! Team JNPAR," Yang said as they reached the front.

"Let's see," Yang said as she typed in their team name into her scroll. The team waited patiently before Yang gave them a thumbs-up and walked inside. As they passed her, Yang locked eyes with Jaune before she returned to her task.

The twins had been to dances before and so had Pyrrha. However, for Ren and Nora, who had been living on the move since they were kids, they had never been to anything like this before. Heard of it from the mouths of errant children, sure, but to go to one themselves, it was a first for them.

"REN! Look! Punch!" Nora said as she ran off to the refreshments table.

"I'll go make sure she doesn't destroy anything," Ren said as he followed after her.

The sound of music blared through the speakers as Remnant's most popular songs were played at max volume. Songs like This Will Be The Day and Mirror Mirror echoed as students from all the schools danced and had fun. The remaining members of Team JNPAR sat and chatted for a while as guests came in and the songs changed faster than Oobleck could talk.

Alice stood off to the side and exchanged brief glances with her twin brother. Jaune smiled in appreciation as he grabbed Pyrrha and moved to the dance floor. Alice, taking the hint, walked over to where the DJ was and hopped onto the stage.

"Hey, can I?" Alice asked.

"If you have a request, take it up with that scroll," the DJ said, nodding to the scroll that students were typing their song requests on.

"Yeah, no," Alice said. She shoved him out of the way and looked for the most romantic song she could find on the list.

She locked eyes with Jaune who she sent a thumbs up. A tune to slow dance for couples began playing almost immediately as the people on the dance floor cleared out to allow for the couples to dance.

"This is nice," Pyrrha said as she and Jaune swayed around on the dance floor. The feeling of his warmth passing onto her was heavenly and divine. She savored this feeling.

"Yeah, it feels like we're the only people on the floor," Jaune said, whispering into her ear. The feeling of his hot breath tickling her skin sent shivers crawling down her spine.

"This… doesn't feel real, almost like I'm in a dream," she said.

"Well if this is a dream, I don't ever want to wake up. I just want to stay in this moment forever," Jaune said.

"They look like they're having fun," Yang said as she and Ruby watched from the balcony. She had switched out with another student for logging guests a while back.

Ruby nodded wordlessly, watching with burning envy in her eyes as Jaune and Pyrrha danced.

"Is everything alright? You've been trying to kill Pyrrha with that stare ever since the dance started," Yang said.

"No, I'm fine, I need to go. I'm not feeling well," Ruby said as she walked away from the balcony.

Yang sighed. She knew that asking Jaune was a bad idea but whenever Ruby got something into her head, she would go through with it no matter how bad of an idea it was.

Ruby suppressed her urge to breakdown. Perhaps because it was her first rejection and the fact that it was Jaune that made her feel this way. Feelings of resentment flowed through her body. Hatred for her sister and Weiss for tormenting Jaune. Hatred for the students of Beacon. Hatred for Pyrrha for being there for him. It should've been her that comforted Jaune. And most importantly, hatred for herself. Hatred for her lack of strength to go against what her sister and the others were doing to him.

As she lamented in all her mistakes, Ruby noticed someone. A woman wearing a mask sneaking out of the dance room towards…

"Huh?" she muttered. She hastily wiped the tears she felt forming and ran after her.

The slow dance ended with Jaune and Pyrrha finishing their dance. The two returned to the table where they saw Alice, Ren, and Nora clapping lightly. The two bowed jokingly and sat down.

"Tonight's been great!" Jaune said as he looped his arm around Pyrrha's waist. She giggled as she leaned into his embrace.

"I can say, you two look really happy," Alice said.

"So this is him?"

They all turned to see Blake walking over with a blonde monkey Faunus. He grinned devilishly at them, especially the female members.

"Sun, cut it out," Blake said. "Can we sit?"

"Sure," Ren said.

The two smiled gratefully as they pulled out two chairs and sat down.

"So, we never introduced ourselves, my name is Jaune and this is Pyrrha. The blonde girl that looks like me is my sister, Alice, and the orange sitting next to the man with black and pink hair is Nora and the one next to her is Ren," Jaune said.

"Right. You already know who I am thanks to Blake but I'm Sun. I'm from Haven Academy," he said. He blinked as he registered the number of names that Jaune had just introduced.

"Wait, you're a team of five?" Sun asked.

"Yeah, we're a unique situation," Alice said.

"I see, I see. What's that like? Having an extra teammate?" he asked.

"Well, it's fun. We have someone to play peacemaker whenever there's an argument and it'll make missions easier when we finally get to go on them," Ren said.

"We also have a better way of cheating since Jaune and Alice are twins and they can mentally communicate answers to each o- OW!"

Alice glared at Nora as she dug her heel into Nora's foot.

"Twin telepathy huh?" Sun asked.

"Don't listen to her. She's high on her own dopamine half the time," Alice said, smiling.

Sun chuckled as the group continued to talk. Team JNPAR soon learned after listening to Sun's rather long anecdotes that he was similar to Ruby in a way. Well, not completely. Sun entered Haven when he was 17 like the other students and he didn't have silver eyes. The similarity between them started and ended at two points. They were both team leaders and they had teams who were named after them. For Sun, it was Team SSSN.

"Speaking of teams, Blake, where's the rest of your team?" Sun asked.

"I don't know… I didn't want to go to this dance but I came for them…," And Jaune, she mentally added.

"I think I see that Weiss girl. She's over there trying to get Neptune's attention I think" Sun said as he pointed. The others followed his finger and saw Weiss talking to a boy with blue hair.

"And Yang is…"

"Here."

Blake and the others turned to see Yang walking up to them with a worried look on her face.

"Yang? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Ruby. She left to go back to our dorm but she's not answering her scroll," Yang said.

"And you think I know where she went?"

"No, I just need your help to go look for her," Yang said.

"Hmmm, fine. I'll help. Sun, can you stay here with them while I help Yang," she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Sun said.

Cinder darted across the rooftops of Beacon. She smiled inwardly. This was far easier than she had anticipated. With the teachers and students distracted by the dance, she wouldn't need to worry about being overly careful with how she moved.

Cinder landed nearly soundlessly behind some shrubbery. Her golden eyes scanned the front of the CCT.

"5… 6, 7, 8 guards," she whispered, "The rest must be inside…"

Using her aura, Cinder boosted her speed as she became a dark blur that shot across the courtyard. Her speed was far too great for the guards to perceive. Cinder ran and hid behind a pillar, seeing that there was a guard at the door. The guard waved as a patrol walked past him into the building.

As soon as the guard turned and the patrol left, Cinder appeared behind the guard and delivered a chop to his neck, knocking him out. Before the others could notice, Cinder dragged the body off and hid him behind some of the potted plants.

Smiling, Cinder walked through the front door and into the building, all the while never knowing that a certain silver-eyed girl was tailing her.

Jaune and Pyrrha sat with smiles on their faces as they watched Sun try (and fail) to flirt with Alice. The girl, as the boy realized, shared many of the same personality traits with Jaune including his… somewhat subtle challenging nature.

Pyrrha giggled. She went to pick up her glass when she saw it was empty.

"Hey, wanna go take a walk around campus and get away from here?" Jaune asked.

"What about everyone else?" she asked.

Jaune smiled and pointed to Alice burying Sun's face in cake while Nora and Ren were nowhere to be seen.

"Where did they…?"

Pyrrha pointed her thumb to the dance floor where Jaune saw Nora dancing with Ren. He smiled. Those two should really get together already.

"Come on," Pyrrha said.

The two snuck out of the ballroom and began walking around outside. The calm breeze of the night sky blew past them, causing Pyrrha to shiver. Jaune glanced over to her and took his jacket off. He wrapped it around her, causing her to look at him.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine. Besides, I'm wearing a long-sleeved dress-shirt under this," Jaune said.

"Thanks, Jaune," she said.

"This is a nice night," Jaune said.

"Yeah, the dance was fun but it was too packed and crowded. I never really liked large gatherings. I preferred small ones," she admitted.

"The Festival of Israfil was a pretty large gathering," Jaune remarked.

"Yeah, but it had that… nostalgic feel to it that I enjoyed. It made me feel like I was at home you know," she said, "I enjoyed it far more than I did whenever I went to a ball or something…"

"Yeah, I can get how it can you can't enjoy something like that. I can't imagine having to deal with all those people trying to get to know you just because you're the champion," he said.

"It was horrible, to be honest. Everyone had a fake face on. No one had any real personality. It's like they were hiding from the rest of the world," she said.

"Well, some people at Beacon do that too," Jaune said.

"Like you?"

"Like me… during the early days of Beacon," he said. "Maybe if I'd been sincere and upfront, none of this would've happened…"

"Well, if none of this happened, you would still be pining after Weiss," Pyrrha joked.

"I told you… I stopped liking her after she rejected me for the fiftieth time," he said.

Pyrrha smiled at his words. She was about to say something when she saw a streak across the sky.

"Is that a…?"

"Is that a what?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha pointed at the white streak across the sky that landed behind a couple of the campus buildings. The two glanced at each other before running to find out what it was. When they got there, they saw Ruby taking Crescent Rose from what was her weapons locker. The streak of light that Pyrrha saw must have been Ruby's locker.

"Ruby?" Jaune called out.

"Huh? Jaune? Pyrrha? What are you guys doing here? Isn't the dance still happening?" Ruby asked, surprised by their presence.

"Er, yes, we just went to get some fresh air is all," Pyrrha said.

"Ruby? Why do you have Crescent Rose?" Jaune asked.

"Someone snuck into the CCT and took out the guards! Look!" Ruby said, pointing to the unconscious soldier.

"What? We should go call for help!" Jaune said.

"We don't have time. Whoever did this might get away," Ruby said. She paid no heed to their calls as she ran through the door.

Jaune sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Come on," Pyrrha said.

"What? Wait, we're going after her?" he asked.

"Of course. We're not going to let Ruby face this alone," Pyrrha said.

"What about our weapons?" Jaune asked as he ran after her.

"It'll take too long for them to get here. Let's go," she said.

Cinder hummed in satisfaction as she walked out of the elevator. The guards inside were knocked unconscious as she pocketed a scroll that she had stolen from one of them.

Cinder walked down the rows of terminals, marveling at the fact that no one was inside the server room. She guessed that there would at least be a few people inside but it seems that the festivities caused them to become lax with their security. Whatever the reason may be, she didn't care. It meant less work for her to do.

Cinder walked up to the main terminal and sat down in front of the screen. She pulled something out of her pocket. A small black flash drive with a Queen Chess Piece symbol on it. Cinder plugged it into the USB port and began to type.

Watts can do something good for once. At least I don't have to guess the password to this thing, Cinder thought as she saw the password cracker that Watts had placed into the flash drive unlock the screen.

Once she was logged in, Cinder began injecting what she came here for. Strings of code appeared on the screen when she received a call.

"What is it? I'm busy," Cinder said.

"One of the party guests just left the room," Emerald said.

Cinder stiffened for a moment. Her golden eyes narrowed as the reflection of code on the computer screen appeared in her eyes.

"Who?" she asked.

"Ironwood," Emerald said.

"I guess the general has had enough fun for one night," she heard Mercury remark.

"Do you want us to take care of it?" Emerald asked.

Cinder looked up and saw that the download was eighty-eight percent complete. Only a few more minutes before it would be done and she could go.

"No. We're done here," Cinder said. A satisfied smirk appeared on her face as the icon of a queen piece appeared on her screen. On every terminal screen behind her, the same icon appeared before flickering and the screen returned to normal.

Cinder dusted herself off and was about to leave when the sound of the elevator arriving caught her attention. She quickly ducked behind one of the computers as the door opened.

"I'm just saying… we should've called for help," Jaune said as they walked out. He and Pyrrha were on high alert due to them not being armed.

Ruby was cocked her scythe, preparing for anything to come out.

"And I said, that we won't get the back-up in time," Ruby argued.

"Can you two just focus?" Pyrrha said.

Jaune was about to nod when he noticed something off. His eyes flickered violet for a few moments before looking around the room. This energy. It felt… strange. It was nothing like aura. It felt more like…

"Someone's here," Jaune said.

Behind the terminal, Cinder narrowed her eyes. How did he know? She cursed inwardly as she decided to walk out.

"Look," Jaune said, narrowing his eyes. This woman. She was the source of this strange feeling. This strange energy that he sensed. It was coming from her but for some reason, it felt… wrong.

"Hey, you know this isn't a masquerade ball right?" Ruby asked.

Cinder remained silent as she pulled out a vial of dust from her pocket. She opened it and the dust crystals materialized in front of her. Jaune's eyes widened as he was barely able to project a barrier in front of Ruby to block the crystals.

Jaune lowered the barrier as Ruby fired several rounds from Crescent Rose.

Cinder raised her hand and blocked the bullets, forming small subtle aura shields. She performed a backward spin, summoning fire as she formed her weapons. A pair of jet-black dual blades that she aptly named Midnight.

"Ruby wait!" Pyrrha said as the smaller girl used the ricochet of her weapon to dash towards Cinder.

Ruby raised Crescent Rose above her head and brought it down for an overhead slash. Cinder flipped out of the way, easily avoiding her. She jammed the hilts of her weapon together, forming a bow as she created arrows with her semblance, superheating the surrounding metal debris.

She fired them at Jaune, Ruby, and Pyrrha. Jaune creates a small black ball and fires it at one of the arrows, causing it to explode while the others hit the ground, causing them to slide back. Ruby dug Crescent Rose's blade into the ground to halt her movement.

"Who are you?" Jaune asked as he eyed the masked Cinder.

"...," Cinder remained silent and looked behind them when the elevator door opened.

The three became confused and looked behind them as the elevator door opened. Ironwood looked at them oddly before spotting the state of the room.

Ruby smiled and turned to make a snappy remark at her foe when she noticed that she wasn't there anymore.

"What happened here?" Ironwood said as he ran inside.

"T- There was a woman here!" Ruby said.

"Woman? What did she look like?" he asked.

"We… didn't see her face. She was wearing a mask. The only features we were able to make out was that she had yellow eyes and black hair," Jaune said.

Ironwood grunted as he pulled out his scroll. He tapped a few buttons before speaking.

"Do a full sweep of the school. We had a breach in the CCT," Ironwood said.

"Um… uh," Jaune said.

"General Ironwood. Is there anything we can do to help?" Pyrrha asked.

"What? No… not at the moment. You three. Go back to the dance. We'll call you when we need you," Ironwood said.

The three nodded and left the room.

"What are you up to?" Ironwood said as he faced the screens.

For a split second, a large black queen piece appeared on the screen before flickering away.

Sorry for the late upload but college has been keeping me busy. I promise that I'll keep trying to get my stories out by their new schedules. Okay, I know you all wanted it but I'm sorry for not putting in the Team JNPR dance from the show. I needed Jaune to see Cinder in this chapter to reveal that little tidbit just now. It'll make Cinder's life much harder knowing that he can... sense her. I especially hoped you like the small fluff scenes at the beginning. Trust me, I had to rewrite some of those words multiple times. And I know it may seem like Ruby's interaction with Jaune at the beginning was forced but... as a character in the earlier volumes, Ruby was impulsive so I felt that it felt her personality to just do that out of the blue. At least, for me it made sense. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter. Please leave a review. It really helps and be prepared for something next chapter or... maybe not the next but the one after that.