Dance arc. I know, just bear with it.
"Mhmm… yeah… shit, how long?" Night had fallen once again on Beacon and Team STRQ were once again unwinding in their dorm. Qrow and Taiyang were busy with schoolwork, Raven was reading some of Summer's comics, and Summer herself was sitting on the dresser looking out the window talking with Coco on her scroll. "I see. Well, not much you can do I guess. No, nothing of the sort, it's been quiet. Yeah, I understand. Stay safe." Raven looked up from her comic as Summer hung up and tossed her scroll onto the shelf next to her.
"Bad news?" she asked.
"Their mission's been delayed and they won't be getting back today." Summer settled against the window edge and looked out at the moon. "So much for a two day mission huh?"
"That kind of thing happens," Taiyang said looking up from his textbook, "especially if it involves Grimm. Those things are everywhere nowadays, more than usual."
"I wonder if our 'friends' are responsible for that," Qrow said idly.
"It doesn't matter if they're ultimately responsible for it or not, we'll deal with it," Summer said and moved legs to rest on the floor, "but right now we have to worry about the home front. I'm still worried about Torchwick and the White Fang."
"That seems easy enough a problem to solve," Raven said rolling onto her back and opening up her comic again, "just go to his new 'operation' with as many bombs as we can carry and blow it up. It should be easy enough." Qrow couldn't help but shake his head at his sister's suggestion.
"I don't think so," he said and got up to stretch, "We don't exactly have clear evidence that it even exists aside from vague wording. That's not enough to justify a mission."
"Not to mention that the Fang as a whole is a threat to the entire kingdom," Taiyang added, "which means we'd need to convince the Council as well."
"We need hard evidence before we can do anything. It's not like we can just steal a Bullhead again and just go there, not even Ozpin would be able to protect us then." Summer sighed as hopped off the dresser and crossed her arms, "but we'll find it. For now, let's just relax and try to-"
A knock on the door interrupted Summer's musings and, after sharing a look with Taiyang and Qrow, went over to the door. There was another knock just as Summer opened the door and stepped back as Penny missed her follow-up knocks and swung her fist in the air. "Oh, the door's open. Salutations Summer!"
Summer blinked and slowly returned the wave. "Uh, hi Penny," she said, her eyes flickering for a moment to Penny's repaired palms, "you're looking better."
"Very! May I come in?" Summer stepped aside to let Penny into the room, shaking her head slightly at how she skipped in, and shut the door as Penny saluted the rest of the room. "Salutations everyone, I hope you are doing well today."
"Just fine, thank you," Raven answered and turned a page. A second later Penny pressed her cheek against Raven's, very much not noticing the scowl on her face at the invasion of her personal space.
"What are you reading?"
"…a comic about dragons and elves."
"Is it good?"
"I wouldn't be reading it if it wasn't."
"Penny, why are you here?" Summer asked. Penny immediately straightened up, to Raven's relief, and nodded before she around the room and shuffled closer to Summer. When she was close enough, Penny leaned in with a serious expression and held a hand up to block her mouth.
"I got what you wanted," she whispered.
"What… I wanted?"
"Yeah, what you wanted. From when you helped me on Friday." Penny searched through a pocket off her dress and took out a small chip and held it out to Summer.
"I… you know I was being sarcastic about that right?" Summer asked as she took the chip.
"What does sarcastic mean?" Penny asked, tilting her head. Summer stared at her for a moment before she sighed and rubbed her eyes.
"I should have known you'd say that. There's a lot you have to learn Penny and I suppose sarcasm is a good starting point." Summer walked past Penny and sat on the dresser before picking up her scroll and inserting the chip, "But first, let's see what this is all about."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll like it!" Penny said excitedly and turned to the others, smiling at them while swaying side to side. "So… what else have you all done today?"
"Fuck all," Raven answered flatly.
"You certainly seem a lot more friendly after the other day," Taiyang said scratching his head.
"Oh, that's because of Mr. Ironwood! He said I can talk to you all as long as it doesn't 'interfere or reveal any secrets of the Kingdom of Atlas.' I don't know what it means, but it should be easy." Taiyang and Qrow stared at her for a moment before turning to Summer.
"Can you translate that Sum?"
"What can you share, Penny?" Summer asked looking up from her scroll. Penny turned to Summer and tapped her chin lightly for a second.
"Mr. Ironwood wasn't specific, but I would think common knowledge between us is ok. Which… I think is everything?"
"What about you specifically?"
"I don't mind sharing. You already know after all."
"Only if you're alright with it." Penny nodded again and Summer looked at her teammates while pointing at Penny. "Ok, so long story short, Penny there is actually an android that can project Aura created by Atlas. And she was able to kick so much ass at the docks last month is because she was also partially made to fight the Generals. There's also some other stuff related to her I'm not really sure how to explain, but the Generals is the highest she knows." The room was quiet for a moment as Taiyang and Qrow stared at Penny until Raven lowered her comic and sat up to look incredulously at Summer.
"Are you serious?" She asked. Summer nodded before going back to her scroll and Penny nodded when Raven looked at her. "I knew you were weird from minute one, but I didn't think 'actual robot' would be the explanation." Raven lay back down and opened her comic again and added, "That explains quite a bit actually."
"Well I think it's cool," Taiyang said giving a thumbs up to Penny, "I can officially brag that I have a robot buddy. Well, if it wasn't a secret that is."
"Sounds like fun. What was the first battle of the Great War again?" Qrow asked and started skimming his books. Penny blinked twice as she looked at Taiyang, Qrow, and Raven in turn.
"You're taking this… really well," Penny said slowly before smiling widely and bouncing giddily, "That is so cool! Summer was right that you're good with secrets." She then zipped over to Taiyang and pressed her cheek against his, "And I would love to be your buddy!" Taiyang gave her a side look before gently patting Penny on the head with her giving a few happy laughs.
"What the fuck is all of this!?" Summer shouted suddenly and stood up, her eyes wide as she stared at her scroll.
"What is it?" Raven asked.
"This is data from the SDC database!"
"Didn't you already have that?"
"No, I got a few documents. This is all of it!" Raven blinked to herself before throwing her comic away and jumped over to look over Summer's shoulder.
"It's what?"
"I mean, look at this!" Summer moved her scroll so Raven could see better while leaning against her with her arm on her shoulder, "Mine locations, Dust output, stock projections, there's all kinds of stuff that isn't publicly available by any means!" The girls looked at Penny, nervously scratching her cheek on Taiyang's bed, and Summer held her scroll up and asked, "Where did you get all of this?"
"It was… just lying around?" Penny offered and hiccupped. She then gave a large grin that slowly faltered under Summer's stare.
"Um…?" Qrow droned out.
"She hiccups when she lies," Summer answered.
"That's so weird," Raven said and sighed, "but that's par for the course for her I suppose." Penny fell under an array of stares again as she rubbed her left arm before finally sighing and muttered something. "What was that?"
"I hacked it!" Penny said much louder and hopped off the bed, "I hacked into the Schnee Dust Company's database and took the data you wanted!" Penny clasped her hands together and held them up pleadingly. "Please don't tell Mr. Ironwood I did that, I'd get in so much trouble!"
"I would think that would be the least of your problems," Qrow said flatly.
"You hacked the SDC?" Taiyang asked scratching his head, "I would think they would have top notch security."
"They do, second most secure network in Atlas, beaten only by the military themselves," Penny answered and crossed her arms. "And I must say it earned that distinction! Every bit of information is stored on separate servers, each with its own unique encryption key. All randomly generated of course, so I had to prepare several different 2.048 X 10^92 bit encryption keys for every one and-"
"Penny, nobody here understands what you're saying," Summer interrupted and motioned around the room so Penny could see the confused looks on everyone's faces. "Just say that you used a virus or something and we'll believe you."
"But… viruses don't have anything to do with hacking," Penny replied.
"Just say it. What matters is that you did it, not how."
"Um… ok? I… used a virus to… get in. It had… skulls?"
"Perfect Penny, we appreciate your help. Now where's the Dust shipments in this?" Penny zipped next to her and quickly started tapping on the scroll. After a moment the documents were pulled up and Penny flashed Summer a cheerful smile before looking back at the scroll as Summer scrolled through it. "Now, let's see what we got." There was a knock on the door and Summer sighed loudly, "Who could that be?"
"I'll get it! I always wanted to do this." Penny pumped her hands excitedly in front of her as she walked to the door and opened it to be met with a loud strum of a guitar and a cacophonous shriek.
"SUUUUM- Oh!" Jaune took a step back, all of his momentum gone at the sight of Penny. Not at all the best time to let innate awkwardness take hold, standing in a hallway holding a guitar. "…Hello?"
"Salutations!" Penny responded with a salute, ignoring Summer's lamentation of 'Oh my fucking god, no.' "Are you another one of Summer's friends?"
"Um… yes."
"Did I ruin something for you? Should I close the door so you can try again?"
"Yes, that would be-"
"No, don't do that!" Summer shouted and gave Raven her scroll. "Keep looking through that," she said before she walked over to the door where Penny stepped out of the way, "What do you want Jaune?"
"Oh, right!" Jaune cleared his throat and strummed his guitar again.
"Don't sing! Just say it."
"Uh… ok," Jaune said, again thrown off guard, and lowered the guitar so the body was on the floor and he leaned on the neck like a cane. He cleared his throat again before asking, "So, um… you know the… dance on Sunday?"
"The Beacon Dance, I know it. What about it?"
"Uh, right! So… do you want to go… with me?" Jaune grinned at Summer as she stared at him for a few moments.
"…No," Summer finally said and shut the door, barely caring for the shocked look on his face before she turned around to walk over to Raven.
"Wow, and you guys call me cold," Raven said with a chuckle.
"It's ridiculous!" Summer said, almost shouting and very angry, as she stopped next to Raven and looked outside the window crossing her arms. "Romance, dances, puppy crushes, I don't have time for this bullshit when the kingdom is being targeted like this! I have to focus on what's important."
"What's in this closet?" Penny asked.
"It's my weapons closet. Don't touch it, you'll make a mess."
"Ok!"
"You know, maybe Vomit Boy has a point," Qrow said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, "maybe you should go there and relax a little. Stressing out over this shit isn't going to help anyone, as I'm sure you remember."
"I guess, but it still gets on my nerves," Summer replied and turned around in time to see Taiyang dash across the room to stop Penny from disobeying Summer's orders and try to open the closet. "Though I suppose there are other things to stress about."
"That's the spirit!" Raven said and lightly punched Summer, "And hey, I got something else that might make you feel better." Raven held out Summer's scroll and pressed the screen to project a hologram in the air that caught everyone's attention. On it was a map of Remnant with several areas of the four kingdoms colored to varying degrees. "So this is the projection for SDC's Dust shipments for all the kingdoms in the last year. Pretty good all around, I'm sure you all agree."
"Oooh," Penny said with practically sparkling eyes while everyone else nodded.
"Right, and this," Raven tapped the screen again that changed the colors on the map, with Vale in particular changing to a bright red, "is their projections for Dust robberies in that same time. Guess which was hit the most?"
"Why Vale? If this is mostly the White Fang's doing, then why isn't it more prevalent elsewhere? Mistral would have a bigger presence, so why not there?" There was a knock on the door that made Summer roll her eyes. "Go away!"
"Who knows? But take a look at this," Raven tapped the screen again to change the graph again to show Vale by itself with several areas colored differently. "According to this, the southeast of Vale has been hit the worst from these robberies."
"The same place our 'friend' with the stupid bowler hat set up shop," Taiyang added with a nod.
"Excuse me," Penny said, pushing under Taiyang's arm and held her own up, "but if this is the White Fang stealing all of this Dust, why are they working with the Generals?"
"Hierophant was apparently using the image of an old deity on Menagerie to get in with the White Fang, but that seems too simple for how extensive this looks. Whatever the reason, it can't be anything good," Qrow answered and looked at Summer, "this should be enough to get the ball rolling against them, right?" Another knock and it was Qrow's turn to roll his eyes. "No one's home!"
"It would be, if it wasn't acquired in such a…" Summer paused to glance at Penny, "gray manner. If Ozpin or, god forbid, Ironwood finds out how we got a hold of this it will cause a lot of problems all around. We need to figure a way around that if we're going to move against them."
"So… it was useful?" Penny asked with a smile.
"Very, we just need to figure out how to apply it. I'm gonna copy a few of these just in case." Summer took her scroll from Raven and started copying files while those knocks continued. Through gritted teeth Summer muttered, "Goddammit, just fuck off Jaune! Take a fucking hint!"
"Want me to knock him out?" Raven asked.
"No, that's fine. And done." Summer ejected the chip, shut her scroll, and held the chip out to Penny. "Delete everything on that, crush the chip, whatever. Just make sure no one knows you had that."
"Understood!" Penny said and took the chip.
"And you didn't leave any traces with your hacking, did you?"
"Please." Penny rolled her eyes and, to Summer's wide-eyed shock, actually smirked until she saw Summer's look and quickly switched to panic and wildly waved her arms around. "No! No is what I meant by that! No trails at all!"
"…Good to know." Summer gave a small smile and added, "I guess we don't have to teach you that much about sarcasm after all Penny." That put a smile back on Penny's face again, though Summer's dropped at another knock and she yelled her anger out. "Goddammit Jaune, GO AWAY! I'M GOING TO BREAK THAT FUCKING GUITAR OVER YOUR HEAD FOR PISSING ME OFF!" Summer stomped over to the door as the knocking continued and threw it open, only for any of her prepared lashing to sputter out when she saw who was on the other side. "P-Professor Goodwitch?"
"Teenage trouble, Summer Rose?" Glynda asked in her usual manner, though Summer could have sworn there was the slightest hint of amusement on Glynda's face.
"No, I mean, maybe? It's nothing to worry about."
"Hello there!" Summer jumped a little when Penny peeked out from behind her to look at Glynda with her usual cheer. Glynda herself simply looked Penny up and down with a quirked eyebrow as she waved at her.
"And you are?" Glynda asked.
"My name is Penny. I'm one of Summer's friends!" Glynda looked at Summer, who simply nodded in response, and Glynda looked back at Penny and crossed her arms.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Penny. I need to talk to Summer and her team alone, will that be a problem?"
"Not at all, we're done talking and just about to send Penny on her way," Summer said and put her arm around Penny's shoulders to guide her out into the hall and past Glynda. Along the way Summer whispered into Penny's ear, "Remember what we talked about, ok?" Penny nodded and started skipping away when Summer released her, taking a moment to look back and wave at her before turning the corner and disappearing from view.
"She seems energetic," Glynda commented.
"Yes she is. It's… rather exhausting," Summer said and walked back into the dorm while waving for Glynda to follow. Glynda shut the door behind her and looked over all of STRQ as Summer sat on the dresser and watched Glynda, only then noticing the folder in Glynda's hands. "So what did you want to talk to us about?"
"You're all aware of the dance coming up on Sunday, I assume?" Glynda asked as she started pacing slowly.
"Yeah, what about it?" Raven asked, absently brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"The team that volunteered to set up the dance has become unable to do so. Team CFVY, I'm sure you know?"
"Yeah, I got off the phone with Coco a little while ago," Summer said and rubbed an arm, "She said she was going to be delayed, but I didn't think it was enough to affect the dance."
"Unfortunately we're on a tight schedule, so that delay is putting us in a bit of a bind. As such, we have no choice but to rely on Team CFVY's fallback option."
"Yeah, but how exactly is that our problem?" Raven asked.
"It's 'your problem' because Team CFVY named you their fallbacks." Glynda walked forward and held the folder out to Summer, which she took carefully. "That is everything that they prepared for the dance, so it should be of some use to you."
"Hold on a second, what is that shit!?"
"Yeah, I didn't hear anything about that!" Qrow added standing up from his bed, "when the hell was that decided!?" His question was answered by a loud, awkward laughter from Summer that lasted a few moments longer than necessary and ended with her loudly clearing her throat before opening the folder and shoving her face right into it. Everyone save Glynda stared at Summer in disapproval and Qrow asked, "Sum, what did you do?"
"Nothing!" Summer replied and lowered the folder and closed it to lightly scratch one of its corners against her temple. "I just talked to Coco before she left on her mission and we… sort of came to a verbal agreement."
"Village evacuation huh? I've been seeing a lot of those pop up on the job board lately."
"Yup, and this one came with an emergency distress, urgent label, the whole works." Coco lightly adjusted her sunglasses and looked back at her team following her and added, "so they're sending us to help."
"That's a good idea all things considered," Summer said with a nod and patted Coco's shoulder and smiled, "Don't worry, you all got this."
"We know, but thanks for the vote of confidence."
"I'm still a little worried about the dance," Velvet said from her spot at the back of the group, "Are you sure we'll have enough time to do both this mission and the dance?"
'I forgot about that,' Fox said mentally for the group.
"I don't see why not," Coco said with a shrug, "It might be cutting it a little close, but I think we can pull it off."
"And if we can't?" Yatsuhashi asked. Coco was quiet for a few moments before she looked at Summer when she cleared her throat.
"You all have been working your asses off and risking your lives helping my team out, so the least I can do is help you out." Coco stared at Summer for a moment before tilting her glasses down slightly and gave a small smirk.
"I'll hold you to that Sum. That means I have to make a call before we go."
"And if you do need the help, just let us know."
"Trust me, you'll know."
"I think this is what she was talking about."
"Goddammit, I'm going to kill her," Raven growled out and clenched her fists at her side, "why does this shit have to fall on our lap right now?"
"Yeah, I actually want to go to the dance," Taiyang said, "you know, get dressed up and have fun!"
"Not to mention everything else we have to do," Qrow added, "we just don't have time for this."
"Maybe we can foist it on some other sucker?" Raven asked and got only a glare from Summer. Anything she would have said however was halted by Glynda roughly stomping her foot, the clacking loud enough to echo loudly through the dorm room.
"That's enough!" she said sternly as she looked over Team STRQ, "It's already been decided and there's no use trying to get out of it."
"But-"
"No buts! It's even more important for this dance to go off without a hitch with the current climate. With the Vytal Festival being held here, it's not just Beacon who will see your efforts, but all the kingdoms." Glynda started walking toward Raven, who backed up nervously until she hit the bookshelf with Glynda still leering over her, "And I'm sure I don't have to explain how anything that reflects on Beacon poorly would in turn reflect poorly on all of you."
"Uh…"
"We understand professor," Summer said, getting Glynda's attention away from Raven as she started skimming through the folder, "and it seems Coco was really good at detailing specifics for this. We'll take care of it."
"I hope you can," Glynda said and stood up straight, "and one last thing: everything has to be ready by the day before the dance. Hopefully that won't be too much of a hindrance."
"We'll manage."
"We'll see. In any case, Professor Ozpin and I will be checking in on you to check on your progress and provide aid if necessary." Glynda turned and walked to the door, where she rested her hand on the knob before turning back to the students. "That will be all for now. Good night." With that she left the room, the door closing softly behind her, and the members of Team STRQ waited a few more moments to make sure she was really gone before breathing out a sigh of relief.
"Fucking goddamn iron bitch," Raven muttered.
"You might want to be careful, I always feel like Goodwitch can hear those kinds of things everywhere," Qrow cautioned, though Raven simply shook her head in annoyance and pushed off the shelf.
"Why do we always have to get screwed over by stuff like this? Just once I would like our life to go nice and smooth for a while without bullshit like this happening."
"I'm with you there, but there's no point in getting upset about it now," Summer said, opening the folder again to read the contents more thoroughly. Taiyang moved over to lean against her shoulder and read alongside her as she ran a finger down a page. "I don't think it'll be too tough to put all of this together. This is really detailed."
"I'm not too surprised," Taiyang said and tapped the page, "this looks like Velvet's handwriting. Leave it to her to be so detail oriented."
"Even so, how do they expect the four of us to put together a whole dance in five days?" Qrow asked. "Especially with… you know," Qrow paused and gestured at himself, which Raven and Taiyang silently nodded at.
"It won't be just us," Summer answered as she closed the folder and tossed it on the shelf behind her, "I'll go recruiting for some help tomorrow and we'll all work hard to pull it off. It'll be great."
"And who exactly will you be 'recruiting?" Raven asked as Summer moved to gather her pajamas, "JNPR? MRGD? Oh please god, don't let it be MRGD!"
"Of course not, I got someone else in mind." Summer pulled out some pajamas and moved to the bathroom, "We got some favors owed to us after all. I say it's time to cash them in." She disappeared into the bathroom without noticing the look on Raven's face, her eyes dangerously narrow as she looked at her brother.
"Oh no, don't tell me she means-!"
"Team RWBY, reporting for duty!" Ruby shouted happily and gave a salute with Yang following suit. Weiss settled for simply standing prim and proper while Blake looked distracted by something or another. This was mostly in contrast to Team STRQ, most of whom were sitting at one of the many tables that had been brought into the dance hall. Ruby ran her eyes over them, with Taiyang asleep, Qrow staring blankly ahead, and Raven groaning into her hands with Summer standing and leaning back against the table. "Are we interrupting something?"
"No, they just don't want to be here," Summer answered with a light shake of her head and pushed off the table and looked between Ruby and Yang. "At ease girls," Summer waited a moment for both girls to settle before continuing, "now thank you all for coming. I hope you're all ready to pay us back for the other day."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked nonchalantly only to get a stern glare from Summer that got her waving her arms in a panic. "Joking, I was joking of course! You know me… big jokester." Ruby laughed nervously which only caused Raven to groan louder into her hands.
"I can fucking believe you actually meant them," she muttered.
"Quiet Raven," Summer said and shook her head, "I'll get right to the point. You owe us and we're in a bit of a bind. On Sunday we will be holding a dance which all the students from the four kingdoms will be attending. As of now my team is in charge of putting all together before Saturday, and you lucky first years get to help us with that."
"What?" Yang asked.
"We're setting up a dance?" Weiss asked.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" Summer asked tilting an eyebrow at Weiss.
"Not at all. I helped plan plenty of parties and dances at the Schnee Manor." Weiss straightened up a little more and smiled a little wider as she added, "If anything I'm quite excited by this. The time constraint adds an extra challenge to it all." Weiss laughed a little at that and looked at her teammates as they gave her an odd look. "What?"
"At least one of us is looking forward to this," Qrow muttered from his seat.
"You will too Qrow, mark my words," Summer said before she slammed a fist onto the table to wake up Taiyang, who shot up in his seat saying incoherent things. "Well Weiss, since you have experience with all of this, you're going to be helping me with overall planning." She glanced over at Ruby giving her puppy dog eyes and sighed. "And I guess Ruby can help as well when she's not doing something else."
"Yes! I'm a helper!" Ruby cheered and held her arms over her head, which got an eye roll from Weiss.
"What about us?" Yang asked and gestured between her and Blake.
"You're a strong girl, so you'll be helping Raven and Tai move the large stuff around. Speakers, tables, that kind of stuff." Summer crossed her arms and looked back at Raven, "Think you can handle that Rae?"
"I don't have to use my brain? Sure thing," Raven said and stood up from the table. She walked around it and grabbed Taiyang's collar while muttering, "Come on stupid," as she did. Yang cracked her knuckles and smiled as she followed them to the side of the hall.
"And Blake can… Blake?" Summer tilted her head when she noticed Blake wasn't paying attention, instead staring at the ground while grasping one of her arms. She didn't respond even when Summer walked over and bent a little to look into her eyes. It was only when Summer snapped her fingers several times that she snapped out of her fugue and realized where she was.
"Huh, what?"
"Are you ok? You've been out of it ever since you got here. Is something wrong? Do you even know where you are?"
"Um… I…" Blake stopped when Weiss put a hand on Blake's shoulder.
"She's been having trouble sleeping lately," Weiss explained as she glanced over to Blake and squeezed her shoulder a little, "We've been working on it, but I guess there were some lasting effects."
"Really? Can you not work?" Summer asked.
"No, I'm alright," Blake said and carefully shrugged off Weiss' hand, "and I have been sleeping better lately. It's… something else that's been bothering me, but I won't let it distract me."
"If you say so. Think you can get up there?" Summer pointed up at the second floor balconies and the rafters running along the roof more specifically. Blake took it all in for a moment before she nodded.
"Easily."
"Good, then you're in charge of hanging decorations from up there. They should be up there, somewhere. Qrow, you're helping her out!"
"Gotcha," Qrow said, standing up and sauntering over to Blake and Weiss scratching the back of his head while Summer led Ruby away to look over the whole hall.
"So… where do we start?" Blake asked looking up at the rafters and followed Qrow's finger as he pointed up at them.
"I think going one rafter at a time end to end should be good enough, no one's going to be looking up anyway," Qrow explained and pointed at Blake, "You get on that and I'll go take a nap somewhere." Weiss and Blake were so stunned by that that they only reacted once Qrow started to walk away.
"Really, you're doing that instead of actually helping?"
"This is helping you. This way you won't get a broken neck. Later." Qrow gave a small wave as he walked away, ignoring the glares both girls were leveling at his back. Blake groaned her irritation out and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I can't believe him!" Weiss said with a small stomp of her foot and shook her head as Qrow disappeared behind a column before she stepped in front of Blake to get her attention. "If you need help at all, just shout and I'll be up there."
"I appreciate it, but I think I can handle it. If I do I'll let you know, but for now you should focus on what you can do." Blake grabbed her forearm and gave Weiss a small smile as she added, "And thanks, really."
"No trouble at all," Weiss replied with a wave of her hand before she looked up at the rafters tapping her chin. After a moment she nodded and said, "I think pink would work best up there," and walked away to join Summer. Blake watched her for a moment and pressed her hand to her forehead as she took a deep breath.
'What was that? I've been feeling weird ever since…' Blake shook the thought away and sighed before she started toward the stairs up. 'Just ignore it, it's nothing, it'll pass. Just focus on your job.' She walked a few steps up the stairs and jumped up to and over the railing when it was close enough. There she found a small cardboard box full of streamers, grabbed a fistful of them, and started hanging them up.
She was barely at it for a few minutes when Qrow came up to join her and started haphazardly hanging up decorations as well. He also sent Blake into a laughing fit when she saw the bright red hand mark on his cheek, though he didn't see fit to explain that.
"Try moving it over this way! It might work better that way!"
Taiyang grumbled under his breath as he readjusted his grip on the massive speaker and started moving with Yang. Most of the general decorating had been taken care of by the time they had to wrap up the previous night, so while most of them focused on finishing up decorating some had split off to get started on setting up the speakers that would be used by the band that would be playing for the dance. Such a task would require not just an eye for detail, but an ability to properly 'supervise' others doing the actual work of lifting them into place.
Raven was not that person.
"No no, you already went past it! Go back the other way!" Yang growled and leaned back to take the load as they started walking the speaker back the way they came. They only got a few feet when Raven shouted, "No, now you went past it again! You know what, just put it back where you found it!"
"That's it! Hold this!" Taiyang shouted and let go of the speaker.
"What? Whoa whoa!" Yang cried as she was suddenly taking more weight than she was prepared for and started stumbling backwards wildly. This went unnoticed by Taiyang as he marched over to the edge of the stage and knelt down to look at Raven.
"Do you even know what you're doing here or are you just shouting orders to sound important?" Taiyang asked annoyed as he glared at Raven, which was returned in equal force, "Because I have to tell you it really is getting on my nerves."
"Guys?"
"You can't blame me for trying to be in charge," Raven said as she crossed her arms, "Summer does it all the time and all she does is yell orders at us. If she can do so can I."
"I'm going off the stage!"
"Everyone has problems, but that's not one of mine!"
"What's going on down there!?" Summer shouted and got the attention of Raven and Taiyang to where she was leaning up on the balcony. "Will you two stop arguing and get back to work! We're running out of time and that stage isn't going to set itself up! The DJ booth isn't even set up!"
"We're getting to that!" Raven shouted back, "We're just waiting on Qrow to get back with our stuff!" She then looked back at Taiyang and shook her head, "See what I mean? It's all she does. It's easy!"
"Raven, you know I can still hear you right? And I also heard what you said a minute ago?"
"Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?" Raven stared up at Summer for a moment until Summer jumped on the railing and took a moment to judge where Yang was before looking back at Raven. "Oh no she isn't thinking of-"
Summer leapt off the railing onto the speaker Yang was carrying, causing the blonde to stumble a little under the sudden extra weight, and then leaped right for Raven with a shout and knocked her to the ground where the two started to fight it out.
"Hey, break it up!" Taiyang shouted and hopped off the stage to attempt to separate his teammates, not noticing or caring that Yang continued to stumble around with the speaker. She almost hit Weiss with the speaker, but the heiress was nimble enough to dance around it and continue on her way to the table where Ruby was sitting forlornly.
"Ruby, there you are," Weiss said and set down two pieces of cloth onto the table and slid them toward Ruby, "which one of these looks better?"
Ruby looked between the two for a moment before answering, "They're both the same though."
"Ugh, that's what Summer said! And she wears white too! Why do I even bother asking? Where's Blake?"
"Still getting stuff with Qrow."
"Fine, then I'll wait to ask her." Weiss grabbed the cloth and walked away with a roll of her eyes, leaving Ruby behind to rest her arms on the table while Yang finally got the speaker under control and set it down with a loud thud next to Ruby's table and stood up with a sigh.
"Good job Yang, it's perfect right there!" Summer shouted and gave a thumbs up to Yang just before Raven grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her down. "Ow, don't grab my hair bitch!"
"Yeah, sure it is," Yang muttered and walked over to Ruby while dusting off her hands. "At least this isn't going as bad as I thought it could, right Ruby? Um… Ruby?" Ruby didn't respond even when Yang leaned over to wave her hand in front of her face. After a second of failing to catch her attention Yang sighed and tugged on Ruby's arm to snap her out. "Hey, what's got you so down sis?"
"Huh, am I looking down?" Ruby asked.
"Oh yeah, very down." Ruby blinked once before going back to leaning into her arms and looked away from Yang. "Oh, I think I get what this is about. That was a long time ago, so why be down about it?"
"I know it was, but big occasions always remind me of…" Ruby sat up and rustled her hair with a groan, "Gah, you know what I mean! Maybe I should just lift something, maybe that'll get my mind off of that."
"You can help me string them up by their ankles," Yang offered jerking a thumb back to Raven and Summer still fighting on the ground with Taiyang trying his hardest to pull the latter off, "They managed to sufficiently annoy me with the speaker."
"Nah, it's not nearly as fun as you would think. Not enough screaming. Besides, low key remember?"
"Yeah, I know. Still, one can dream." The front doors opened right then and Qrow walked in with his hands in his pockets. His entrance was enough to stall the ongoing cat fight enough for Taiyang to pull Summer off of Raven and drag her a few feet away.
"Hey, we're back," Qrow yelled just as a trolley with a few boxes stacked on it rolled in pushed by Blake. "Oh, are we piling on Raven? Why didn't you call me for that?"
"Don't you even think about it!" Raven shouted angrily.
"No, we're done with that as long as Raven learned her lesson." Raven glared at Summer as she wiggled out of Taiyang's grip and dusted herself off before she walked over to Qrow. "So did you get all of it?"
"Yeah, and it was difficult to get all this together," Qrow answered and pointed behind him as Blake walked around her trolley and rolled her eyes as a second trolley came in behind her. "There was a lot of it though, so I picked up some additional help."
"Hey guys!" Sun called peeking around the boxes on the trolley and waved at the group, "you all look like you're having fun!"
"This thing…" Neptune gasped out as he moved around the other side breathing heavily, "is really heavy. What's in this thing?"
"Music stuff," Qrow answered, "amplifiers and drum stuff. Things like that."
"That would… explain a lot."
"All these things are instruments?" Ruby asked and looked at Summer as she nodded, "where did you get them?"
"They're our old instruments from the Battle of the Bands last year," Summer explained, "we brought them here for the sound test later. I hope they still work." Ruby quirked an eyebrow at Summer as she walked over to a guitar case and opened it to reveal a six string electric guitar, solid black in color. "Yeah, it looks alright. I'll have to test it later."
"Rock music huh? Sounds fun," Yang said with a smile until she looked away and scowled at Weiss. "Hey Weiss! I said no doilies!"
"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!" Weiss returned.
"You have fog machines?" Neptune asked.
"Oh my god, we're not starting this again!" Summer said rubbing her face with one hand before looking at both Yang and Weiss. "We're not having either because it's dumb! Now knock it off!" Summer then pointed at the speaker Yang had set down and added, "I changed my mind about that, move it again Yang."
"Move it where?" Yang asked and opened her arms to gesture around the hall.
"I'll let you know when I've decided. Until then, just keep moving it." Yang growled in annoyance as she walked to the speaker and bent over to lift it up. While she was doing that Summer looked between Sun and Neptune and asked, "So how did you two end up here?"
"Well we were just hanging around," Sun started.
"Some of us literally hanging around," Neptune interjected.
"Right, and we saw Blake and Qrow pushing these big things around." Sun hit a box on the trolley next to him twice before continuing, "so naturally we offered to help them out. Qrow dumped his load on us, and that's how we're here." Summer looked at Qrow flatly, the boy offering nothing except a cough, and Blake cleared her throat to get Summer's attention.
"In Qrow's defense, he asked them nicely to take the trolley from him," She said moving her hands behind her back.
"Sure he did," Summer said and shook her head before pointing at Sun and Neptune, "In any case, you two are here now so I might as well put you both to work. Sun, you can help Yang and Taiyang move those speakers. Do you think you can handle that?"
"Sure, I like lifting stuff. How do you think I got these bad boys?" Sun asked and pointed at his exposed abs.
"…Crunches?"
"…You just don't get it. I'm gonna go." Sun slumped over and walked past Summer, Blake, and Qrow to where Yang was carrying the massive speaker.
"Well that works. As for you," Summer turned to Neptune, who flashed her a twinkling smile, and stared for a moment before asking, "What can you do?"
"Well… anything you need me to, milady," Neptune replied with a wink, which only got a flat stare from Summer before she pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh.
"Just… go help Weiss or something and shut the fuck up, ok?"
"Can do!"
"Come on Ruby, let's go do… something, I don't know. My back is killing me."
"Yes'm," Ruby said and followed Summer as she walked away from Neptune, leaving the blue-haired teen to approach Weiss while Blake started looking through some of the boxes on the trolley with Qrow.
"So what are we supposed to be doing?" She asked.
"Let's just start by getting this crap over to the stage and out of the way," Qrow said as he moved to one of the trolley's push bars. "Do you have the other one?"
"Yeah, I'll get it." Blake pulled out a set of drum sticks and quirked an eyebrow at them. "Who plays drums?"
"I do."
"Oh… that actually makes a lot of sense." Blake gripped the sticks in both of her hands and started rolling them over each other as she looked over at the girl who somehow managed to occupy her thoughts for the last few days.
Weiss was focusing on the two pieces of cloth she had been passing around trying to get opinions on as they lay on a table when Neptune stopped at her side and looked between them and her. "I think… this one looks good," he said and tapped the one on the right.
"Finally, an actual opinion!" Weiss said and looked at Neptune, "Thank you very much."
"It's no problem. So do you need any more help? That's apparently my task today."
"Oh, you're helping? In that case, we need to get enough tablecloths for every table in the hall." Neptune slowly looked around the hall at all the tables and felt a bit of dread creep into him. "Yes, every single one." Neptune looked back at Weiss as she lifted the scraps of cloth up and looked at both of them thoughtfully. "Now that I'm looking at it, maybe the other one is better."
"How about this! Let's see what we have in terms of tablecloth and go from there!" Neptune grabbed Weiss' shoulders, spun her so her back was to him, and started pushing her with her heels sliding along the floor. "Come on, just point me in the right direction!"
"Well ok, but you don't have to push me." While Neptune continued to push Weiss away, Blake was suddenly overcome by a deep anger. She growled lowly as she glared at Neptune while she gripped the drumsticks tightly and bent them until they broke in a small shower of splinters.
"Goddamn! What the hell was that for!?" Qrow's voice broke Blake out of her anger. She looked down at the splinters of wood in her hands and then at Qrow very much close to panicking.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to… I'll get you new ones, I swear!" Blake's attempts to appease only made Qrow laugh and, thankfully, wave them off with a smirk.
"Relax, I know myself enough to know how things work. For example," Qrow started digging through the box Blake had found the drumsticks in and pulled out a box of them after a second of rummaging, "always carry plenty of spares. You can have these."
"Um…" Blake said as she took the box of drumsticks, "I don't really-"
"It's fine," Qrow interrupted with a wave as he moved to grab the trolley's push bars, "I have more where that came from. Besides, you look like you could blow off some anger."
'…Well, he's not wrong,' Blake thought as Qrow pushed the trolley away. After a moment of staring at the box Blake sat down cross-legged, opened the box, and started breaking drumsticks in half two at a time. Like Qrow had said, she was starting to feel better the more sticks she destroyed. 'Now if only I could understand why I'm so angry!'
"I just feel like I'm going about this all wrong. I mean, I thought girls liked confidence and romantic gestures, but every time I tried it just blew up in my face. One time literally, but I don't think the kitchen was burned that badly." Jaune sighed and shook his head at the memory, especially the lecture that Professor Goodwitch had given him afterwards, and leaned against the wall. "You think it would be easy to ask a girl out to a dance, you know?" Jaune looked at the girl he was talking to and waited a moment as she stared at him.
"I… don't know what you're talking about?" She finally asked, her freckled face very concerned as her eyes darted around.
"Oh. Wait, do I even know you? Why am I talking to you?" Jaune asked and pushed off the wall.
"I like to think I'm a good listener," she replied, crossing her arms behind her back.
"Well, I'll give you that. Do you have an idea for me to do?"
"I'm no good with romance. I think you need a second opinion, maybe from someone with experience?" Jaune thought over her words for a moment before nodding.
"You're right, and I know just the person to ask. Thanks a lot… miss."
"It's Penny. We met the other night when you tried to play guitar, remember?"
"…I would like if you didn't remind me of that, please," Jaune said while putting his face in his hands, hoping he would melt at that very moment.
"Ok." A beeping came from Penny's pocket and she took out her scroll to check the message. "I have to go now, but it was nice talking to you, friend of Summer." Penny bowed and ran away from Jaune, the boy watching her until she disappeared around a corner.
"What a nice girl," Jaune commented with a nod and started to walk away when he saw Summer on the path ahead reading a book. Jaune smiled and called out, "Hey, Summer!" Summer perked up and looked at Jaune, rolling her eyes with a small scowl when she saw him, and closed her book as he approached her. "How are you doing-?"
"SUMMER!" Nora shouted appearing out of nowhere between Jaune and Summer, causing the two to scream and jump back with Summer falling onto her butt. She had barely settled when Nora jumped onto her lap and grabbed her shoulders, her eyes filling with tears. "How could you do this to us!?"
"W-what?" Summer asked, her apprehension growing as Nora gripped her shoulders tighter.
"I thought we had something special! You taught us all kinds of cool tricks, we went on little adventures, we killed a giant scorpion together!" Nora started shaking Summer wildly, "I thought we were your favorite underclassmen, but the second a new model shows up you replace us!? Where did it all go wrong!" Nora then planted her face in Summer's chest as she started crying in an exaggerated fashion. A flabbergasted Summer stared at the top of Nora's head with narrowed eyes before flicking them up to Jaune, who could only shrug silently.
"That's enough Nora," Jaune said as he wrapped his arms around Nora's midsection and plucked her off of Summer with an audible 'pop' and set her to the side. "You're bothering Summer."
'Oh the irony is as thick as molasses,' Summer thought as she stood up and started brushing off her cloak.
"But Jaune, you don't understand!" Nora cried as she looked at Jaune, her fists balled up tightly in front of her, "Summer has been putting together a party with those RWBY girls and we weren't invited to help! Like, at all!"
"Relax Nora, I'm sure there's a good reason for that," Jaune said and looked at Summer as she started to pick up her fallen book, "right?"
"Oh yeah, plenty of reasons," Summer said, keeping her annoyances at the blonde down, "but the biggest is the most practical. This isn't any party we're planning, it's the Beacon Dance. A very important dance, especially now since we're hosting the Vytal Festival and people from every kingdom will be watching us and judging everything we do." Summer tilted her head as she stared at Jaune, his face flat, "Would you put yourself in any position to oversee something so important?"
"Absolutely not," Jaune answered, shaking his head, which got a surprised look from Nora, "it'd be a miracle if I didn't blow up the dance hall."
"Exactly. Plus RWBY owed us big time, so we cashed in." Summer hugged her book to her chest and added, "I'm just glad we're almost done. We had to pull an all-nighter to get everything done and, fingers crossed, we may finally be done with only a sound test left. And with a day to spare and get ready too."
"So… you are going?" Jaune asked hopefully.
"With as much work as I put into this whole thing, I might as well," Summer shrugged and lowered her book as she rubbed her chin with her free hand. "Actually, you guys might be able to help with something after all. Follow me."
"OK!" Nora said, all of her tears gone, and she and Jaune started following Summer. Nora took out her scroll and said, "Maybe we should call Pyrrha and Ren? They'd love to help too."
"Why not? The more the merrier." Jaune and Nora shared a look and Jaune took out his own scroll and they called their respective partners. The calls lasted a couple of minutes and afterwards the trio were silent as they made their way to the Dance hall. Once there they entered through the front doors, passing by Blake and Sun in the middle of their own conversation.
"So, this whole dance thing is kind of lame right?" Sun said and crossed his arms behind his head as he glanced at Blake.
"I guess," Blake answered, running a hand up one of her bandaged arms while staring down at the ground.
"Yeah." Sun chuckled a little and kicked the ground a little, Blake not giving an indication she noticed. "So… you planning on going anyway?"
"I don't know." Some approaching voices caught Blake's attention and she looked up to see Weiss walking to them talking with Pyrrha while Ren followed behind them silently. The heiress looked away briefly to wave and smile at Blake. Blake returned both and watched the group walk past her into the hall, wincing a little afterwards and grabbing her chest lightly as an unfortunately familiar feeling gripped her. 'Again? What is this?'
"But if you were to go," Sun said and got an annoyed look at Blake, though he only smiled at her, "you would ask someone to go with you right?" Blake glared at him for a moment before pushing off the wall.
"No," she answered and walked into the hall. Sun followed after her with a smirk and twirled around as he walked in to admire the decorations hung up around the hall. On the stage the members of Team STRQ along with Ruby and Yang were setting up the last of the speakers along with a set of instruments. Raven, sitting at the edge of the stage, glanced up at the small crowd before going back to lightly playing her electric guitar.
"Gotta admit, we did a good job with all of this," Sun said and let out a low whistle while looking around.
"Why are you bragging?" Blake asked as she stopped next to Ren, "You only helped us last night."
"Yeah," Neptune said suddenly appearing from behind Sun, "and we worked all night! We only got two hours of sleep you know."
"We all only got two hours of sleep," Weiss said and leaned around Pyrrha to look at Neptune.
"Exactly! You know how we feel then!" Neptune stifled a yawn as he got out from behind Sun and looked at the stage as Ruby hopped off the stage while Yang tapped Raven's shoulder and started speaking to her. Neptune rubbed his chin, lightly elbowed Sun, and said, "You know, I think those fog machines really would tie the whole thing together."
"WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT!?" Summer shouted and glowered at the small crowd, especially Neptune as he nervously hid behind Ren and Nora. After a moment Summer rolled her eyes and went back to helping Qrow set up his drums.
"So, did she say what she needed our help with?" Pyrrha asked while pointing at the stage, "because it seems like everything is done."
"It mostly is," Jaune answered and rested a fist on his hip, "they just need to make sure everything sounds right. I figured it would be fun."
"Free concert!" Nora cheered, holding her fists over her head, and looked at Ren with a wide smile.
"I will pay the utmost attention to this," Ren said simply and crossed his arms behind his back. Weiss and Blake looked at him and then each other before shrugging. Ruby suddenly appeared next to Blake in a flurry of roses smiling widely and bouncing on her heels.
"I can't believe that they have actual instruments that they can play! It's so cool!" Ruby bounced a little more as she pointed at Summer and Taiyang as they looked over an electric guitar and bass respectively.
"And they used them in an actual battle of the bands too!" Jaune added excitedly with a grin, "I bet they totally destroyed the competition too." After a moment of silence Jaune hung his head and asked, "They mean 'battle' very literally, don't they?"
"Probably. Raven keeps checking her guitar neck," Pyrrha answered.
"What, you mean most battle of the bands don't end in an all-out brawl?" Nora asked, which only drew gazed from everyone except Ren. Pyrrha and Jaune then looked at him and watched as he slowly shook his head.
"No, Nora, it usually doesn't," Pyrrha said and got a small nod of understanding from Nora. They then looked at Yang as she slowly walked over to them with her head hung sadly. "Um… are you ok?"
"They kicked me off the stage," Yang answered and straightened her posture enough to look at everyone semi-properly. "By the way, they said they're almost ready to start. So get ready to… I don't know, listen or whatever."
"Being able to provide proper criticism of music is more than 'just listening'," Weiss said as she crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze at Yang, "how they play their instruments, how they sing, how both mix and judging all of it and seeking improvement, it takes a keen ear and intricate knowledge. All of which I'm sure you don't have."
"Well you got me there," Yang replied with a shrug, "I don't listen to music." Yang smirked at Weiss when the heiress shook her head in disapproval.
"I swear, I will turn you into a woman of culture even if it kills me."
"Heh, I'd like to see you try." Yang crossed her arms and looked over the group before stopping and quirking an eyebrow at Neptune peeking between Ren and Nora.
"Is it safe to come out?" he asked and, after getting a nod from Nora, moved out to stand behind Sun and Blake. "I have to be careful, she has crazy hearing! So… dumb question, but do you guys know if they can actually play those? I don't want to sit through amateurish playing, you know?"
"Yes, we can play," Summer said into a microphone on the stage, her voice echoing through the hall. Neptune hid behind Sun and Blake, who both lightly shook their heads, and peeked around his teammate at Summer idly holding her guitar. "And we can hear you so well because you're loud and barely ten feet away. Seriously, think!"
"Right, I got it!" Neptune shouted holding a thumbs up over Sun's shoulder, "Just ignore me and forget I said anything!"
"Trust me, that's easy." Summer rolled her eyes as she walked away from the microphone and took her cloak off with her free hand. She tossed it to the side of the stage and hung her guitar sling around her neck as she approached her team. "So are you all more or less ready?"
Taiyang gave Summer a thumbs up and answered, "Yup."
"I wouldn't be surprised if something was wrong, or one of them was a bomb," Qrow said glancing back at his drums and tapped a stick against his shoulder, "Other than that, I think it's all ok."
"I can't believe this thing is still straight," Raven said running a hand up her guitar's neck, "Yatsuhashi was so sturdy I was sure I dented it a little. This thing is strong!"
"Stop acting surprised," Summer said and pointed at Taiyang, "Tai, good job. And Qrow, if you're not sure about it then make sure! It's a drum set, not a Giga-Dust bomb!"
"It might as well be," Qrow muttered and walked around his set to check his drums. Qrow had barely knelt down behind the drums when he asked, "So what exactly are we playing for this?"
"Better question, why didn't we just use our scrolls to test it?" Raven asked, "we didn't have to drag this crap out here for this." That got her a flat look from both Summer and Taiyang that bore into her for a few moments until she lowered her head with a sigh. "Yeah, I wanted to play too."
"That's what I thought. It's not good to lie Raven," Taiyang said and turned to Summer, "So what are we going to play Sum? I don't think we have that much time before Goodwitch comes to check on us."
"Let's not worry about that, she'll be checking in regardless." Summer rubbed her chin in thought before smiling and snapping her fingers. "I got it! Huddle up, do you guys remember…?" The three standing members huddled up while Qrow poked his head above the drums to listen in on the discussion. After a few moments they separated and nodded to each other. "Do you think we can do that?"
"Sure, just give me a second to remember the chords and turn the amps on," Raven said and walked away to her amps while testing the strings.
"Same for me, but it's not like I have much to do anyway," Taiyang said lifting up his bass and walking to take care of his own business. Summer looked at Qrow as he stood up fully and shrugged.
"I think everything is ok, but I wouldn't mind a second opinion," Qrow said pointing at the drums. Summer silently moved the guitar behind her back and walked around the set to inspect them. While they went about checking their equipment the rest of the group soon went back to their own individual conversations. All save for Ruby who crossed her arms and watched Summer as she worked. Not even Yang hugging her from behind could hardly snap her out of it.
"So, feeling better now that we're almost done with this?" Yang asked as she placed her head on Ruby's shoulder.
"Not really, since we're probably going to end up going to the dance anyway," Ruby said with a sigh, "and we're going to have to, aren't we?"
"Why not, it'll be fun." Yang then glanced at the group to her left, particularly Blake, and leaned in to whisper into Ruby's ear when she was sure they weren't paying attention to them. "Plus, you know the kids will need all the help they can get. They don't have the best track record after all."
"I suppose. I'm still not looking forward to it," Ruby whispered back and sighed again before glancing over to Blake and quirked an eyebrow at her. "By the way, what's up with her?" Yang followed Ruby's gaze to Blake. She watched her rub her arms for a bit before she shrugged as much as she could while still hugging Ruby.
"I don't know. She's been like that for a few days now. Not my problem."
"That's true. Whatever." Ruby and Yang looked back at the stage, neither of them noticed Weiss giving them a curious look before looking at Blake. Then a crackling filled the air coming from the speakers and everybody turned to the stage to see STRQ in position, Summer at the forefront with Taiyang and Raven behind her to her right and left respectively and Qrow seated at the drums.
"Alright everyone," Summer said into the microphone, "I think we got everything more or less set up. First we're going to do a quick test to make sure all the speakers set up around the hall work, and then we'll play our song. Sound good?" The question was answered with a round of applause and cheers from everyone save Blake, which was enough for Summer to get started on the test.
She turned all but one of the speakers off and had Raven play a chord, gradually cycling through the speakers until she confirmed all of them were working and turned them all back on. She and Taiyang then tested their instruments to make sure they were coming through the speakers and smiled back at Qrow and gave him a thumbs up.
"On your mark Qrow!" she called. Qrow looked at Raven and Taiyang, got a nod from both of them, and started clacking his sticks together in the standard drummer countdown.
Clack!
Summer turned back to her microphone and gave it a quick tap, sending a small bit of static through the speakers.
Clack!
She took a deep breath, going over the lyrics in her head one last time. It'd be a little difficult since she would be pulling double duty as rhythm guitarist, but she's gone through harder challenges before. She can handle this.
Clack clack clack clack!
The crowd watched as Summer started singing, though they were all probably surprised at what kind of song they decided to play.
"GET UP TO ROCK! GET UP TO BURN! STAND UP WITH PRIDE THAT BURNS FOR YOUR DESIRE!~"
As the metal music filled the hall Blake looked up and, for probably the first time in the day, really started to pay attention to her surroundings.
"You know Professor, you don't need to check on them yourself."
"True enough," Ozpin said and glanced at Glynda as they walked through the campus, the sky already alight with the colors of dusk. He chuckled lightly to himself as he looked ahead to the Dance Hall. "But I would like to see all the same. The fruits of labor fulfilled are always sweet to see, as it were."
"Be that as it may, you still don't have to," Glynda said before giving a small roll of her eyes and crossing her arms. "But I also know that I can't stop you. I just hope they're getting close to finished. They are cutting it close."
"Have a little faith Glynda, I'm sure they realize how important the situation is. And any slack can be picked up easily." Ozpin and Glynda were now in front of the Dance Hall and heard loud music inside. Ozpin opened the door in time to see Raven finishing a middle of a guitar solo, staring very intently at her guitar. "Well, I see they got the sound working properly," Ozpin said and stopped a ways behind the group watching the show.
"So it would seem," Glynda replied crossing her arms and looking around the hall, "but at least they seem to be done for the most part."
"We'll ask them when they have a moment," Ozpin said and folded up his cane and watched as the song started to wrap up.
"You must have heard it go!" Summer sang, her face practically pressed against her mic, "Don't be afraid to look yourself in the eye! Big Blast Sonic, that's my heartbeat in you!" The last few notes echoed through the hall as STRQ finished the song and their audience started applauding and cheering for them, with Ozpin giving his own polite applause in addition. When the noise started fading Summer waved while bouncing a little.
"Professors! Hold on, I'll be right over!" she called before she took off her guitar and gently set it down. Everyone except Blake turned back to look at Ozpin and Glynda, who nodded at them, and watched as Summer took a running leap off the stage and Blinked over to them. She landed in a roll and darted over to them with a small salute. "Good evening professors."
"Good evening. You seem to be enjoying yourself Summer," Ozpin said and gestured around the hall. Summer followed his gaze and nodded as she clasped her hands behind her back.
"Well, we got everything else done, so we figured we might as well have fun while we finished the last one. Is it too much?"
"No, it's alright. It looks like you got most of the important business taken care of, which will make the staff's job of setting the event up easier."
"What do you mean the sta- you know what, I don't care," Summer said with a sigh, "Let's just make sure that Raven never finds out about that." Summer, Ozpin, and Glynda looked back at Raven as she played a simple melody on her guitar that filled the hall.
"She won't," Glynda said and glanced at Ozpin, "we should let the staff know they can move their jobs here."
"Does that mean we have to drag our stuff back out? We only just got them set up."
"Now I didn't say that," Ozpin replied with his usual grin, "why not reward yourselves a little for your hard work?"
"That's good," Ruby said, having snuck out of Yang's arms to stand next to Summer, "I was actually starting to like the show. You have a great singing voice, Summer."
"Heh, thanks I guess." Summer looked away in embarrassment and scratched her cheek, not noticing Ozpin stare at Ruby as she did so. He took in the girl intently, like he did every time he happened across a member of RWBY in the last few days, before shaking the feeling away and glancing at Glynda.
"I'm not too keen on concerts, so if you'll excuse me," she said with a small shake of her head and turned to leave the hall.
"Is she always like that?" Yang asked out loud as she rested her arms on Ruby's head, getting a growl from the smaller girl that was promptly ignored. "Because that can't possibly be healthy if she's like that all the time."
"I'm not one to talk about that, but her work ethic is a great help in times like these," Ozpin said and looked past Yang as she smirked at him.
"Makes sense. Everyone needs a hard-ass."
"Hey, Summer?"
"Oh my god, what Jaune?" Summer asked while rubbing her eyes.
"I think something is wrong with Blake."
"…What?" Summer looked back and saw what Jaune meant. Blake was just standing there stiff as a board and not reacting to anything, even as Jaune, Sun, and Neptune stood in front of her. "Oh, I see what you mean. Is she ok?"
"I… think she's breathing," Neptune replied and Sun waved a hand in front of the girl's face, which didn't even get a blink in response.
"Blake?" Weiss asked as she moved to get a better look at her partner.
"She's right…" Blake said, barely a whisper.
"Ok, she's alive," Sun said happily.
"But what was that she-" Pyrrha started to say only to be interrupted by the center of attention.
"She's RIGHT!" Blake shouted loud enough to shock everyone and send the boys backward, Jaune tripping and falling onto his butt, and drew the attention of Taiyang, Qrow, and Raven on the stage. "I can't believe I never figured it out before, but what she said makes total sense!"
"It… does?" Nora asked and looked at Ren, who only shrugged at her and returned her look of confusion. "Wait, what does?"
"I was the problem! I was trying to shut away my emotions and feelings because I didn't want to get hurt again! But hurt and pleasure are two sides of the same coin, and living without them is not a life worth living! God, I've been so blind until now and it just makes sense!" Blake stomped her foot down hard onto the floor, clenched her hands hard into fists, and looked up at the ceiling with a fierce look.
"Well no more, do you hear me! I will be true to myself! I won't be afraid to listen to my heart, I will look myself in the eye! I will get a date to the dance, even if I have to die from embarrassment to do it! And I'll never let some bitch tell me what to do ever again! Do you hear me!?"
"Hell yeah, you go girl!" Sun's cheers brought Blake back to reality and she looked down at Sun grinning as wide as ever giving her double thumbs-up. And then at Neptune smiling at her, Jaune on the ground, and then she started to slowly spin around the room to look at everyone looking at her until she stopped and stared at Weiss. In those brief seconds where their eyes met and Weiss didn't show any outward emotion, Blake's face heated up and horror gripped her as she realized what she just did.
And then she screamed. Loudly.
"AAAAAAAAARGH! WHY DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD!?" she shouted while hugging herself tightly, her fingers digging into her upper arms, and she ran. Very briefly a clone was left behind where she stood before vanishing and Ozpin felt something whiz past him as fast as a bullet. Blake tackled the doors open and ran as fast as she could away from the Dance Hall. 'Oh please let everyone think that was a joke!' she thought as she did so.
No such luck, as evidenced by Raven's raucous laughter from the stage.
"Well… that just happened," Yang said and felt Ruby nod under her arms. The two of them then looked at Ozpin as he started laughing good naturedly and lifted his glasses up a little to wipe at his eyes as his laughter slowed.
"Oh, to be a teenager again," he said with one last chuckle, "I envy the simplicity of those kinds of problems."
"Well I'm rooting for her," Weiss said with a proud smile and clasped her hands in front of her.
"Agreed," Summer said and started walking back to the stage, stepping around Jaune still sitting on the floor lost in thought.
'You know, she does have a point.'
No I didn't need Blake to have this realization because of a Guilty Gear song, but I found it amusing.
