"I am terribly sorry about this," the king said. "This was supposed to be a nice little festivity for the students, and I've gone and ruined it, haven't I?"
What did someone say in situations like this? He had definitely thrown a wrench into things, there was no mistaking that. Going so far as to say he ruined it felt a bit extreme. Though, getting to enjoy the comparative quiet and peacefulness of the outdoors was definitely a step up from being in the dance hall. Ruby probably would've gone out on her own eventually, but the king definitely expedited the process.
"No, not exactly. It was just… unexpected? It isn't everyday a girl like me gets to talk to a guy like you. And it's even weirder if you ask for me. But, uh, thanks for that. You know, offering to take me outside and everything. It's nice not being around so many people."
"Of course." He looked down at the thing he had taken from Clover. He had called it 'Kingfisher'. Ruby took a step forward, trying to get a closer look at it. She couldn't quite tell what it was supposed to be, collapsed the way it was. "Miss Rose?"
"Yes?" The king looked up at Ruby, and she took a quick step back. She was worried it would look weird if he noticed she was closer to him all of a sudden, but seeing her jump back like that probably just made her look even worse.
"Do call me 'Neil'. You aren't my subordinate, so you're not beholden to any stuffy rules about respect and hierarchy. Besides, with how close we are in age, titles can feel quite unnatural, don't you think?"
"I-I can try. Might take a little getting used to though, Your M- N-Neil."
"I saw you looking earlier." He seemed much happier, hearing her say his name like that. He waved Kingfisher and it unfolded. The next thing Ruby knew, he was holding a fishing pole. "This is Kingfisher in all its glory!"
"A fishing rod? He fights with this?"
"Better for incapacitation and detainment than killing, Clover tells me. A huntsman he may be, but he doesn't have to deal with Grimm often." Gently waving it around he added, "It's similar enough to a sword, in its general shape and feeling. If I have to, I can keep myself safe with this."
It made sense, Ruby thought. Not everything in combat was about killing your opponent dead. Especially as a huntsman. Ruby had learned about times when huntsmen have had to cooperate with law enforcement to capture suspects of crimes. Sometimes they lean a little too much into their training and the investigation ends prematurely. She wanted to get a closer look at it, but getting too close probably would've been inappropriate. Even if she really did want to see if the hook could come out of the pole like on a regular fishing rod.
The king's head whipped towards a row of buildings.
"Is something wrong?" Ruby asked.
"I thought I saw something…"
Ruby looked towards the buildings and scanned the rooftops. At first, she saw nothing in the blackness of the night. Then she saw a small flash of white, and it was moving. That was odd.
"No, I think I see it. Is that… a person?" Ruby asked.
"Up for a bit of investigation?" Asked the king.
"Are you sure? I'll see if I can find my Scroll so I can get Crescent Rose…"
"There's no time. We'll lose track of them if we have to wait." He started walking, and Ruby had to start moving to keep up. His fingers were covered in rings, but he took them off and held out his hand. They looked very intricate and extremely expensive. It felt wrong for Ruby to be holding them. "These rings are engraved with Dust. Use them to fight, if you absolutely have to. Fire, electricity, ice, gravity, and hard-light."
"Let me take point, then." Ruby sped ahead of him, putting the rings on her left hand. "If you absolutely have to, run to get help and I'll hold them off."
They followed the movement of that white patch the best that they could, and it led them to Beacon Tower. Guards had been posted outside, but they were lying by the door. Ruby ran to one of them and checked for a pulse. It had been a few months since she first learned to do this, but she was glad to know she had completely forgotten how. They were both just unconscious. Ruby and the king sat them up against the wall of the tower. If someone happened to pass by, they'd see them and be able to help. Whoever had done that to them was inside of the tower, though.
Ruby felt a bit weird about leading the king inside, and with nothing but some rings to defend herself with. Weiss was the Dust expert, not her. It couldn't have been that hard to use, right? Just channel her Aura to her hand, and the rings would take care of the rest. She'd seen Yang do it plenty of times. The elevator was working just fine. The king pulled out his Scroll and held it up to the operating panel.
"What're you doing… Neil?"
"Security override." His Scroll beeped and he shoved it back in his pocket. "What was the last floor this elevator visited?"
"This elevator last visited the Operations Room."
"Take us there, then."
"Right away."
The elevator began to move, and Ruby saw the floor display continue to tick up. She held her left hand in front of herself, ready for whatever might happen when the doors finally opened. Fire, electricity, and ice were easy enough for her to understand. Gravity and hard-light, though? She had heard of them before, but barely knew what they could do. When the door opened, Ruby gingerly stepped out. There was nothing to be seen in the room, and no sounds could be heard. Just a lot of desks and monitors.
"There's nothing here," Ruby said.
"No. Someone's been here," Neil whispered. He pointed at one of the monitors. Its power button was slowly blinking. "It's only just been put into sleep mode. Ready the hard-light. It'll be good for a shield."
The two slowly walked forward, looking through the rows, but Ruby didn't see anything. That flash of white must've been someone's skin, but she didn't see anything of the sort now. Where had they gone?
Ruby heard a few quick footfalls behind them and turned. She saw a woman in a black catsuit and a mask dashing towards the elevator. Their eyes met, and she twirled. The air was filled with sparkling colored particles, and Ruby held up her hand. She channeled her Aura into the hard-light ring as the particles formed into icicle spears and shot at the two. Hexagonal panels of light appeared before them and the spears shattered against the shield.
Ruby stepped forward, channeling her Aura into the fire ring, sending fireballs hurtling towards the woman. With another wave of her arm, more Dust filled the air before the woman, and blasts of wind dispersed the flames, and then shot forward towards Ruby and Neil. She could just sit and make shields the entire night, but her Aura was bound to run out eventually, and then they'd be sitting ducks. Ruby steeled herself then grabbed Neil's arm and pointed her left hand towards the ground. She activated the gravity ring. Nothing happened. Ruby threw her hand into the air and activated it again, and then the two shot up. Though, it felt more like they were falling up. Ruby reoriented herself and aimed her hand at the woman again.
The woman rolled out of the way of Ruby's fireballs as Neil broke away from her. When his hand left hers, he started falling towards the ground again. Just as she came out of her roll, Neil was on her, striking at her with Kingfisher as if it were some sort of longsword rather than a fishing rod. She was quick on her feet, but Ruby was surprised to see how agile Neil was. She was clearly years older than him, and bigger and stronger, but at such close quarters, nothing she did connected with Neil.
Ruby couldn't quite take a shot, not with the two of them so close. She couldn't risk hitting Neil. Now that she knew how gravity worked, though, maybe she could do something to catch this intruder off guard. Ruby started sprinting at the two.
"Sorry, Neil!"
Ruby patted his back with her right hand and pointed her left at the ceiling. The two of them fell upwards, but Ruby sent herself falling back down just as suddenly. Neil drifted up in the air for just a second longer, but that was all she needed. The woman's eyes followed him up, but when she focused on Ruby again, she saw an inferno. At point blank range, Ruby channeled more of her Aura into the fire ring than she had for any of the other rings, engulfing the intruder in flames. Ruby could've sworn she heard the faint crackling of static, but the woman wouldn't come out of that without some burns. She wouldn't be able to fight through that pain, right?
The elevator dinged behind them as Neil landed on his feet.
"What is going on in here?!"
Ruby spun on her heels to see a man come out of the elevator. He had been at the palace, too, standing right by Neil. He must've been the uncle that was mentioned earlier. The woman with him looked an awful lot like Weiss. Ruby had seen pictures of Weiss's family before, but none of them were especially recent. Even then, she could recognize her as Winter Schnee, the eldest child.
Neil ignored his uncle and turned to Ruby. She turned around, but the woman was nowhere to be found. She had expected her to be writhing on the ground in pain. What had happened? Where was she?
"I asked the two of you a question!"
"S-someone broke into the tower…" Ruby said, still looking at the empty spot on the floor. It was the king's idea to go outside without his bodyguards, and it was his idea to look into some mysterious person hopping along the rooftops. Even if Ruby mentioned either of those things, there was no way she wasn't getting out of this without being in a lot of trouble, was there?
"So you just charged in without a second thought? That was absolutely idiotic!" He rounded on Ruby, and she didn't have much choice but to look at him now. The fire in his eyes threatened to burn her with just a single glance. "You're supposed to be a huntress, and you thought it was a good idea to bring a civilian with you?!"
"Leave her, uncle," Neil said, "This was all my idea. I'd have gone in alone, if I had to, no matter what anyone else had to say about it. You should be thanking her for backing me up."
"I'd be thanking her if she dragged you back to the dance, kicking and screaming!"
"Well, Your Highness, that just sounds like something that would upset you just as much," Winter said.
"Exactly. So what would you have had Ruby done? Manhandle me, or support me?"
He looked at Ruby, then took a deep breath. When he exhaled, the look in his eyes softened considerably.
"I apologize for my nephew. Thank you for bearing with his foolishness." He looked at the scorch marks on the ground. "Now, what happened here, exactly? What compelled the two of you?"
"S-someone broke into the tower," Ruby repeated. "We don't know what for. We came in, saw one of the computers was on, then she attacked us. I was trying to burn her, to slow her down, but she disappeared…"
"Schnee, did you notice anything? When we came in?"
"While you were yelling at the children? I assure you, sir, if I noticed any sort of movement, I'd have acted immediately."
Winter was still standing by the elevator, so it wasn't like anyone would be able to sneak past her and head down that way. Neil's uncle began walking around, trying to notice anything out of place. He stopped by one of the computers. It was the same one Neil had pointed out. He woke it up and started poking around a bit. Ruby didn't dare move. Not now. She still felt a bit guilty, after being scolded like that.
"It doesn't look like anything's been tampered with… As far as I can tell, this computer was turned on, and that was it."
"I'll call for a network specialist to inspect it immediately, sir," Winter announced.
"Thank you, Schnee. Now, back to the two of you." Ruby stiffened when he turned. "You really should be more mindful, Neil. I was none too pleased to see Clover and Harriet goofing off, only to find out it was because you ordered it. Now you run into danger with little more than a teenage girl as backup. That recklessness doesn't befit a king. I admire your initiative, but this is too dangerous for someone like you." He then turned to Ruby. "And you. For being at the whims of a precocious little boy, it seems you've handled yourself quite admirably. I didn't miss that he called you by your first name. If he's alright being that familiar with you, you shouldn't be afraid to be more forceful with him if he's being foolish. Both in regards to him, and in general. As a huntress, you should know when to put your foot down, if people are trying to do something dangerous and stupid, no matter their station."
"Ye-yessir…" Ruby squeaked.
"I'm staying until the perimeter can be secured. There's always a chance whoever you saw is still around. Schnee, I'm trusting you to escort them back to the dance safely. When you're there, find Clover and Harriet, then go get that specialist you mentioned."
"Your wish is my command, Your Highness. Your Majesty, Miss Rose, if you'd follow me."
When the elevator began to descend, Ruby was exhausted. She had a feeling that the dance was going to wear her out, but she definitely wasn't expecting any of this.
"Of all the ways I thought I'd meet the leader of my little sister's team," Winter said on the way down, "this was definitely not anywhere near the top of the list."
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. Tonight was anything but typical." She glanced over at Ruby. "I see you're still wearing His Majesty's rings."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Ruby took them off as fast as she could and handed them back to Neil. "Thanks. They were really useful."
"I was hoping to perhaps enjoy this dance, at least a little bit, but I suppose the time for that has passed," Winter said. "Some other day soon, though, I'd like to speak to you a bit more. You, Weiss, and the rest of your team."
"Y-yeah!" Ruby said, "I'd like that too!"
When Ruby was back, she knew that she'd collapse into the first chair she could find. She wasn't quite sure if she'd need someone to drag her back to her room, but getting carried back in this dress like a doll probably would've made it hard to get a good night's sleep because of the sheer embarrassment of it all. At the very least, unless she was sworn to secrecy later, she had a good story to share with the others.
Mercury and Cinder dropped into the bushes behind the dance venue. Mercury pulled off a ski mask and patted down the dark gray double breasted vest he was wearing. It had gotten slightly singed when he warped in to get Cinder out.
"So what the hell happened?" The ski mask disappeared, teleported away to some random point on campus they had come across in their reconnaissance.
"The guards were easy enough to get past. Then the Ironwood boy himself walks in." Cinder tossed the mask into the air, and it dissipated into red hot ashes, scattering in the wind. She then ran her hand down her body, and as she did, the catsuit she was wearing became the sleek charcoal black dress she had gone to the dance in. "Ruby was with him too."
"Ruby, Ruby…oh, her? You sure you're alright? You looked pretty out of it when we met her, so I doubt fighting her was any better."
"She didn't really fight me, just some random burglar or enemy spy. Now, Mercury, why did you drop us in the bushes?"
"What? Did you want me to drop us right in the middle of the dance floor instead?"
"Well, no, but…" Cinder crossed her arms and scowled at him. "With what you said earlier, it'll look like we just had a little moonlit rendezvous when we actually go back to Emerald."
"Yeah, I didn't think that far ahead…" Mercury turned from her, but Cinder saw him blush all the same. "It was just a coincidence, alright?!"
"Whatever you say. Let's get back inside. I owe Emerald a dance." She heard Mercury gasp as she walked past him. "And you too, if you want one that badly."
Cinder walked out of the bushes, but stopped herself short when she turned the corner of the building they were behind. Mercury bumped into her. She had almost bumped into someone herself. Cinder recognized that face well.
"Sorry about that," she said.
"Oh, it's alright!" Pyrrha said. She glanced past the two into the bushes. "It's good to see you again. …Mercury, is it?"
"You remember me; I'm flattered. What's up? Couldn't deal with all the people?"
"I'm looking for someone. A friend went on a walk, but I think she might've gotten a little lost. Teenage girl, about this tall. Black hair and silver eyes. Have you seen someone like that?"
"I…" Cinder could afford to be a little helpful, right? It wasn't like the campus was empty. People would've seen the two of them before they actually arrived at the Tower, and it wasn't like anyone would be able to prove or disprove the fact that Cinder was outside at the time. "Think I saw her with a boy. They were walking near Beacon Tower, if I'm not wrong."
"Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening!" Pyrrha ran off, and the two of them continued on their way.
"So, did you actually complete the mission?" Mercury asked.
"Watts is in. Now he can start picking away at Vale's cybersecurity. He even thinks he can crack the Atlas VPNs. We only need to sit and wait until everyone else arrives."
Ruby, Neil, and Winter exited Beacon Tower, and started on their way back to the dance, though it didn't take long for them to get interrupted.
"Your Majesty!"
"Ruby!"
All of RWBY, JNPR, Neil's bodyguards, and Penny ran over to the two of them and Winter. Ruby was stunned to see all of them descend upon them like that.
"Guys? Wh-what's up? You seem sort of scared…" Ruby asked.
"Well, the prince got really upset when he heard the king went on a walk with you," Weiss said. "He kind of made a big deal about finding him, and you, since you were together, and all."
"I knew he'd be pissed," Harriet said.
"And you told on me, just like you promised?"
"In a heartbeat." Harriet walked over to Neil along with Clover, and picked Neil up by his arms. "If I had the clearance, you'd be so grounded right now!"
"Well, at least he's safe, right?" Clover asked, taking Kingfisher back. "I'm sorry to say, Your Majesty, but your evening is over. We're heading back to the palace. Penny, I'll be back to get you later, so be sure to behave."
"Aye aye, captain!" Penny saluted as the three of them trotted off.
"What even happened, Ruby?" Yang asked. "I didn't think it was all that big a deal, if you just went on a walk, but why were you in Beacon Tower?"
"Um, well…" Ruby looked back at Winter. "Wouldn't that be classified, or something?"
"As soon as I'm gone, you'd probably just tell them anyway, so you may as well. I have a report to make, so I'll leave you all here. Weiss, I'll be seeing you later."
Ruby told them all about what had happened. They all just listened to her in silence. Once she was done, Yang stepped forward and asked, "What color was her hair, Ruby?"
"Her hair? Black, I'm pretty sure. The only part of her that wasn't black was her face."
"One of the women Torchwick goes around with has black hair. It's one hell of a stretch, but think that might've been her?" Yang asked.
"I certainly hope not. That would mean someone affiliated with the White Fang has infiltrated Beacon Campus." Pyrrha said.
"Outside of pointing out the potential connection to Prince James, I don't think there's much more we can do, though," Ren said. "Or… maybe Professor Ozpin would be better. Military presence on campus would probably end rather poorly."
"We have a party to get back to, and we'll probably see him there, right? Let's head back!" Nora exclaimed. She ran to Ruby and grabbed one of her hands. "I haven't seen you all night! We have to have a little fun together!"
"I-it's fine, Nora, really…! I think I might be sort of partied out for the night…"
Penny followed Nora's lead and grabbed Ruby's other hand. "It'll be fun, Ruby! And I'm excited to get to know your friends better!"
Ruby wanted to object, but she couldn't refuse Penny. Penny didn't really know the others, after all. She briefly met Weiss, Blake, and Yang, and had at least seen Sun at the docks, but she didn't know anyone from JNPR. She was ready to just go back to her room and collapse onto her bed, but tonight was supposed to be a night of festivities. To end it after only having seen Weiss and Yang out of all of her friends would feel like a waste. The freshmen were supposed to be going on training missions after the weekend, and while a small bit of Ruby nagged at her that she'd regret exerting herself like this, if it meant making the others happy, it was worth that temporary exhaustion.