AN: So I was playing Kingdom Hearts 3 again recently, and I had totally forgotten that Yen Sid straight-up said that Sora has plot armor. He said something along the lines of "whenever you are in need, magic happens". Don't really have anything to say about that, just thought it was funny.

Chapter 37

Ruby and Cinder headed to the punch bowl, the younger girl's face a bright red, both out of being tired from actually trying to dance for the first time in her life, and partly out of embarrassment.

But honestly, she was having too much fun to care.

She noticed Jaune was just kind of hanging around at the punch bowl carrying a glass, and his eyes widened when he saw her.

"Wow," he said. "You look great!"

"Thanks," Ruby said with a blush. "Cinder did most of the work."

"I can't take all the credit," Cinder said. "You needed plenty of natural beauty to pull off something like that." This only made Ruby's blush fiercer. Cinder chuckled. "I'm going to get us some snacks. Be right back," she said with a wink. Ruby nervously waved goodbye to her.

"I'm happy for you," Jaune said.

"Yeah," Ruby said with a cheerful sigh. To be honest, as embarrassed as she was to be wearing something like this qipao, there was one undeniable fact about the situation.

For the first time in her life, she genuinely felt beautiful. Then she remembered that Jaune was over here by himself.

"Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss," she said.

"Meh, it's fine," he said. "Neptune's pretty cool. I get why she went with him."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Well, come on, him and Professor Branwen are the only people I know that can pull off blue hair," he said, taking a sip of his punch.

"No, I mean Weiss came to the dance alone," Ruby said, making Jaune choke on his drink.

"What?" he asked.

"She said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys."

Jaune, growled, handing her his glass.

"Hold my punch," he said, storming off. Ruby watched him walk away, drinking out of the cup he had just handed her. She watched him storm towards Neptune, but then Pyrrha walked past him and headed up the balcony and he chose to follow her instead. She took another sip from his drink when someone walked up to him.

"You know, it should be a crime for someone as lovely as you to be over here by yourself," a male voice said. It was a tall, tan-skinned boy with black hair shaved on one side that turned gray near the tips. He winked at her. "Hi. I'm Brawnz Ni. And your name?"

Eep. Was this what it felt like to be hit on?! Why didn't Yang ever tell her it was so uncomfortable?!

"Uh, I'm Ruby," she said, offering her hand.

"What a lovely name for a lovely girl. Well, Ruby," he said taking her hand. "Would you do me the immense honor of a dance?" Instead of just shaking her hand like she had intended, he pulled it up and kissed it!

"Uh…Um…" she stuttered.

"Sorry, she came with someone," Cinder said, stepping between them. "So beat it."

"Sorry," he said, putting his hands up and backing away. "Didn't realize you swung that way."

Swung that way? What did he mean by…

Wait a minute! Did he think she was…?

She wasn't!

…Right?

"Never mind him," Cinder said. "Come on, let's head back to the dance floor."

Jaune followed Pyrrha up the stairs and onto the balcony outside. She was wearing a sleeveless red dress with a slit in the side. She honestly looked radiant.

"Hey Pyrrha," she said, causing her to turn around.

"You okay?" he asked. "I haven't seen you tonight."

"Arrived late, I'm afraid."

"Well, you look really nice."

"Thank you," she said, smiling at him.

"Your, uh, date isn't going to beat me up for saying that, is he?" Jaune asked, looking around nervously.

"I think you're safe for tonight."

"So, where is the guy?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha's head fell.

"There is no guy."

"What?"

"Nobody asked me," she explained, shaking her head sadly.

"But that's…" he said, trying to find the words to describe how ridiculous the situation sounded. "You're Pyrrha Nikos! How could nobody ask you?" Pyrrha sighed.

"I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That's what I like about you." Jaune's eyes widened when she said that. "When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess, you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me."

She gave him another sad look and walked back into the ballroom, leaving a stunned Jaune behind. He was about to chase after her, when he saw Neptune step out onto the balcony.

"Hey, uh, Jaune, right?" the blue-haired boy asked.

"Yeah," Jaune said.

"This party's pretty lame, huh?" Neptune asked. "I men, ballroom dancing. Pfft."

"Yeah," Jaune said again.

"Cute girls, though, huh?"

"Is that all you care about?" Jaune asked angrily.

"Huh?"

"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?"

"Whoa! Where's this coming from?" Neptune asked, surprised at having been confronted about this by Jaune of all people.

"How could you just turn her down like that?!" Jaune practically yelled.

"Who?!"

"Weiss!" Jaune yelled in frustration.

"I, uh.." Neptune stuttered. "It just didn't work out, you know?"

"What?" Jaune asked. "You think you're too cool? Too many options? Weiss Schnee asked you to the dance. What in the world could possibly keep you from go—"

"I can't dance!" Neptune interrupted, looking down in shame.

"…Beg your pardon?" Jaune asked.

"I can't dance, man!"

"…But you're so cool," Jaune said.

"Thank you. I try really, really hard."

"You would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than just admit that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

"That about sums it up, yeah," Neptune said.

"Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself," Jaune muttered.

"Please, don't tell anybody," Neptune pleaded. "Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours. I don't wanna get in your way."

Seriously? What did this guy take him for?

"Do you like her?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, I mean I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool," Neptune said.

"Then just go talk to her," Jaune said. "No pickup lines, no suave moves, just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go."

"Yeah, but then—" Neptune tried to argue.

"Hey!" Jaune interrupted him. "You don't have to cool all the time. "In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it." Neptune thought about it for a few seconds.

"Yeah, okay," he said.

"Go talk to her. I guarantee you'll make her night."

"Thanks," Neptune said, holding put his fist. "You're a really cool guy, Jaune."

"Alright, don't lie to my face," Jaune said as he bumped his fist with Neptune's. Neptune went back inside, and Jaune sighed.

"All right, only one thing left to do."

He had a promise to keep.

Ruby and Yang stood next to each other on the balcony, looking down at the party below them. Apparently Emerald had come to the dance alone, so Mercury and Cinder had gone to spend some time with her.

They were such great friends.

From their position above everyone, they could see Blake and Sun, and Nora and Ren dancing together. Penny was there, too, apparently, dancing with the two soldiers guarding her.

"You know?" Yang said. "I think we really needed this."

"Yeah," Ruby said. "And you did a great job planning it, too!"

"Aw, thanks!" Yang said, pulling her sister into a one-armed hug. "It wasn't all me, though. Weiss did a lot too."

Speaking of Weiss, they could see her welcoming Neptune to sit down next to her.

"Tomorrow it's back to work," Yang said.

"And the end of our house arrest," Ruby pointed out.

"About time."

"I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us," Ruby said, until the sound of laughter below them drew their attention. "Except for that."

For some reason, Pyrrha could hear the other students around erupt into uproarious laughter, and she didn't know why.

Until she turned around and saw Jaune.

He was wearing a white dress with a blue ribbon around his waist, and white sneakers.

Somehow, he pulled it off, as the dress showed off the nice muscles developing in his arms and pecs.

She had done a pretty good job with him.

"Jaune?" she asked when she saw him.

"Eh, a promise is a promise," he said. She tried to hold back her laughter, but failed. It was a good laugh, from the pit of her stomach, and it was the best laugh she'd had in a while. Leave it to Jaune to brighten up her night.

"Jaune, you didn't have to!" she said.

"Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word," he said, extending his hand to her. "Now do you wanna stand there and laugh at me, or do you wanna dance?"

Pyrrha's heart soared.

"I would love to dance," she said, taking his hand and allowing him to sweep her away.

"So, what made you change your mind?" Weiss asked Neptune. He looked at her questioningly. "You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?"

"You're looking at him," he said, gesturing towards Jaune, whom was dancing happily with Pyrrha. "You got some good friends looking out for you.

"Neo, everyone's here," Cinder said into her earpiece. She had regrouped with Mercury and Emerald, and they were relaying instructions to her under the guise of spending time as a team. She was currently dancing with Emerald, while Mercury was hanging back. "I'd say you have until midnight."

For obvious reasons, Neo couldn't answer her, so she had to relay her instructions and hope that Neo actually followed them.

Ruby stepped out for some fresh air, when she noticed a figure running across a rooftop. She narrowed her eyes, looked back at the ballroom, and ran after the figure.

She had a job to do.

When Ruby approached the CCT, she noticed the unconscious soldiers out front.

At least she hoped they were unconscious. Whoever that figure was that she had seen, they had clearly been this way. She summoned Crescent Rose and made her way inside.

Walking through the lobby, she noticed more unconscious soldiers all the way to the elevator.

There were even two bodies in the elevator itself. She was starting to get nervous.

The elevator dinged, and she stepped out into the call center, Keyblade raised.

Her heels made her stumble a bit, but she managed to keep her balance. She took a look around the call center, but couldn't see the one that had attacked the soldiers.

"Hello?" she called out, but no one answered. She stepped slowly forward into the room, when she felt someone kick her from behind. She recovered and saw who had attacked her.

It was a girl that might have even been shorter than Ruby. Her hair was multi-colored, with one half being brown, and the other half was pink with streaks of white. She had one pink eye, and one brown eye, and wore a white coat with tails and stiletto heels, and was holding an umbrella over her shoulder.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked. Instead of answering, the girl just wagged her finger at her. Ruby growled and swung her Keyblade at the girl. But the girl moved faster than she could blink, blocked her Keyblade, and kicked her in the face. The girl retaliated by swinging her umbrella, starting a sword fight between the two of them.

Ruby's heels made her stumble again, and her opponent smirked at her. Ruby growled and raised her Keyblade, but she heard the elevator ding behind her. She turned around, and saw an older man in a white suit step out. She recognized him as General Ironwood, so she felt relieved to have some backup.

At least until he pointed a gun at her.

"Freeze!" he shouted. "Drop your weapon!"

"What?" she asked, looking back to the girl. "But—"

The girl looked completely different now. Instead of her multi-colored hair, it was pure brown and pulled into a ponytail. Instead of her white tailcoat, she was now wearing an office suit and pencil skirt. Instead of her confident smirk, she looked at Ruby in fear, with her hands up.

"I said drop your weapon!" the General ordered again.

"But she's—"Ruby tried to argue, but she felt something hit her in the back, knocking her over while cables wrapped around her, trapping her arms against her sides. "No, you don't understand!" Ruby pleaded, but the general wasn't listening.

"Are you okay, miss?" he asked the woman that had just attacked her. She didn't say anything. In fact, she didn't even move. "Miss?" he asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

And then the girl's body shattered, as if it was made of glass. Ruby and the general heard the elevator ding again, and they saw the girl standing in the box in her original appearance. She stuck her tongue out at them before closing the doors.

"That was her," Ruby said to the general. He sighed in frustration, bending down to grab Ruby's arms and lift her to her feet. He fiddled with something on her back, causing the cables to loosen and freeing her arms.

"What happened here?"

AN: Ah, Ironwood. You never fail to make things worse.

So, I was going through the RWBY Wiki to see what Brawnz looked like, and I learned there that apparently three of the members of Team BRNZ were killed at the Fall of Beacon. Super depressing, and I honestly feel a little bad about making him look like a douche here, since Brawnz was one of the ones that died.

So, since Cinder was going to the dance with Ruby, she couldn't do the CCT job and had Neo do it. I figured with Neo's Semblance, she could mess with Ruby more than Cinder would have, which caused Ironwood to arrest Ruby by mistake.

So, next up, we've got the beginnings of their first missions, and I've got something interesting planned.

As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you all next time!