Dance with Destiny
All of Beacon was excited. Notes were being passed, whispers and rumors spreading like wildfire, all of them good natured for once. Posters were up everywhere, exclaiming the news that had all of Beacon buzzing.
Beacon's Annual Hope Dance
Saturday Night
6-10pm.
Main Ballroom
All Beacon students are invited to come and asked to dress in formal attire.
People were desperate to make preparations. Rent their outfit for the night, get a date, prepare for the date, among a dozen other things. But overall, everyone was happy for the dance. Except, that is, for Bryce.
"I'm sorry, but no." Bryce shook his head to yet another girl who had asked him out to the dance. She was a shy girl in class and didn't talk a lot, but being the only one of his friends in the Advanced Grimm studies (with a weird but dedicated teacher named Aizawa), he'd been nice and friendly with her as she sat next to him.
Bryce felt bad at the heartbroken expression she wore. "O-oh. Okay." Bryce could already see the self-doubt rising up in her, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Hey," Bryce put a hand on her shoulder. "Prin, look at me." She did, very slowly, holding back her tears as best she could. "It's not because of your looks or because you're shy. You look amazing, honestly, and your personality is amazing. Any guy would be lucky to go out with you." Bryce smiled at her, encouragingly.
"R-really?" Prin looked up at him nervously. "You're not just saying that?"
"If you don't believe me, ask Corrin when you get the chance. I'm sure he'll tell you much the same. So will Melody and Dexen."
"Thanks." She said. "Can I ask a different question?"
"Sure."
"Are you going to go to the dance at all? You said you weren't going with anyone before I asked you. So why?"
Bryce hesitated at that question. "Well… It's a bit more private. But let's say it would hurt."
Prim's head dipped again. "Oh. Okay."
An idea popped into Bryce's head. "Tell you what, if you save me a dance, I'll dance with you."
Prin brightened. "Really?"
Bryce nodded. "Promise." Then Bryce laughed as he remembered something. "That is if your date will let me."
"But I don't have one. That's why I asked you." Prin's head tilted to the side. Bryce just grinned.
"I wouldn't worry about that, Prin. Trust me on that." Bryce waved as he walked off. "See you in AG later."
"Bye, Bryce!"
As Bryce rounded a corner, his face fell for a more sullen expression. He let out a long sigh as he slouched slightly. It'd been a long few days. Prin was one of fifteen people that had asked him so far, though she was the only one he could say was sincere. She felt comfortable asking him because he was her friend. The other people had been looking to get something out of him, or a piece of him on two very disturbing occasions. He didn't want the dance to come. He wished they hadn't announced one in the first place.
"Dang, Bryce." Yang appeared at Bryce's side grinning like a mad man as she threw an arm around his shoulder. "And here I thought Jaune was the lady-killer, but you're just knocking 'em down left and right."
"Yang. I'd appreciate it if you not phrase it like that." Bryce said as he lifted Yang's arm off of his shoulder.
"That's cool." Her smile faltered a little, but she kept moving ahead. "So what's up with you not going with anyone to the dance? You waiting on a special someone?"
Bryce didn't answer. He just kept walking.
"Um… Bryce?"
"I'm going to the training rooms to practice with Alpha. I'll see you guys in Combat Class." Bryce waved, not even looking back as he gunned it for the training rooms. Yang just looked at him incredulously as he disappeared.
"Geez. What's gotten into him? First he's moody while setting up for the dance with us, then he turns downs every offer he gets to go to the dance with someone. What gives?"
Yang felt a hand hit the back of her head, hard. As she turned to protest she saw Weiss glaring at her with a disappointed Blake and a confused Ruby standing next to her.
"Ow! What was that for?" Yang rubbed her head as she looked to Weiss for an explanation.
"I'm confused here too. What'd she say that was bad this time?" Ruby asked Weiss.
Weiss looked to Ruby, then back to Yang. "Do you have no empathy, Yang? Or common sense for that matter?"
"What, I can't ask him questions?"
"Not the way you did," Blake answered. "Are you seriously blind to what's going on Yang?"
"I'm confused here too, guys. What's wrong with Bryce now?" Ruby asked again.
"First, we expected you to be confused, not Yang. She should know better. Second, Bryce is in pain." Weiss answered matter-of-factly.
"Pain? What do you mean, pain? I thought he was cleared for Combat?" The crimsonette asked innocently.
"No!" Weiss shouted, stomping her foot. "Emotional pain. The dance is causing him emotional pain!"
Now Ruby and Yang were really confused. "Okay, I'm missing something here, because I'm not getting it. How is the dance causing him emotional pain?"
Blake groaned as she face palmed while Weiss blew out some steam. Literally.
"Yang, do I need to spell it out for you?" Weiss asked incredulously.
"He misses Natalie." The four girls jumped at the voice of Professor Ozpin right behind them. They turned to see the headmaster standing there, cane in one hand, coffee mug in the other.
"H-hey Professor Ozpin." Ruby said. "We didn't see you there."
"Oh, I know." Ozpin smiled as he took another drink from his coffee mug. "But it is fairly obvious to those of us that have gotten to know Bryce that this dance is reminding him of the distance between him and Natalie. And it hurts more than he wishes to talk about."
"Can we do anything to help him?" Ruby asked hopefully. Ozpin just smiled.
"Make sure he goes to the dance. While it may hurt, I'm sure good things will come from it. This dance is supposed to represent hope, peace, and give people time to have fun." Ozpin turned to leave. "Even if they don't expect it to be at first."
Ozpin left team RWBY, heading towards the teacher's lounge, leaving the four of them to stare at him in wonder.
"Does anyone else feel like he knows something we don't?"
…
Bryce was breathing heavily as he blocked another blow from the training bot. The robot wielded a large Greatsword and tried to use the weapon's size to its advantage to push Bryce to the ground, but Bryce withstood it fairly easily before pushing it back and jabbing at its chest. The robot spun past the attack before making a sweeping strike towards Bryce. Bryce jumped over the blade and used Alpha's grappling feature to pull himself back to the ground to dodge another attack aimed to hit him while he was in mid-air.
Bryce spun rather quickly and kicked the robot's head. It's programming kicked in and it acted stunned and even stumbled as a normal human opponent would from the strength of such a blow. As it staggered, Bryce caught its arm before pulling it forward, stabbing Alpha straight through its chest. The robot's sensors blinked multiple times before it fell limp.
Seeing he'd broken it, he sighed in frustration, tossing it to the side. It landed in the growing pile of training droids he'd destroyed. He'd been at it for an hour, but nothing was able to relieve any of the pain. He wasn't feeling pushed enough. He needed something much more challenging.
Bryce walked over to the console and started looking through the options. Maybe he should fight a full team. That might provide a more useful challenge. Even with him limiting himself to his aura alone, the power boost he'd received from Nekro had made him dramatically stronger. Aura was enough for him to feel like he was boosted on creation energy, and his natural strength was ridiculous. Even so, he hoped these bots would last longer than five minutes.
"We all know that won't happen. Your growth rate is too high for these mere training droids. You've faced much more dangerous opponents at much younger ages than the students here at Beacon."
'I know, Alpha. But I could use just about anything right now. Weak or not.'
"They're not gonna satisfy. It'd take weeks before they'd finally become a real challenge. And that's without you regaining any of your aura and refraining from using any of your energies during that time." Nekro said. "Face it Bryce, you're too strong compared to this world. At home, it'd be different, but here. I think we can safely say you're one of, if not the, strongest person on Remnant."
"I'd save those kind of thoughts for after we defeat that Salem woman. We have no idea how strong she is, and I believe it wise we not find that out through experience any time soon."
'Fair.' Bryce sat down, taking a drink of water from the bottle he'd brought with him. 'What do you two suggest then? We don't exactly have any other ways to train."
Instead of verbally responding to Bryce, Alpha his spectral body. Instead of a nice suit, he wore armor, and welded a lookalike of the blade his main unit resided in. Alpha tossed the real blade to Bryce.
"The first rule is that you are not allowed to use your creation energy or destruction energy. The second is we go till one of us is at 10 percent. Does that seem fair?"
"Sounds perfect," Bryce smiled as he spun his sword in his hand. Bouncing on his feet, Bryce entered his stance, drawing his Desert Eagle and flicking its blade into the forward position. Alpha simply moved into a fencing stance. There was a brief few moments of tension before the two burst into action. Though Alpha's weapon was spectral, the two blades sparked as they clanged against each other. There was no struggle for power as they slid their blades off one another and began a deadly dance of blades.
Bryce was pushing himself to the limit to fight Alpha. Alpha was smarter, faster, and by nature of being an AI, less likely (read: not going) to get tired. So he had to win quickly. He held the strength advantage and the creativity advantage. So this was winnable, and he'd done it before. But those occasions were very few and far inbetween.
Bryce dashed at Alpha, blade pulled back for an attack. Alpha simply ducked to the side past the blow and turned aside a bullet fired at the same time. Bryce always liked to make his opponents choose between one attack or another. It was a good way to trap them into taking damage they normally wouldn't have to. But for someone like Alpha, both attacks could be prevented from landing. Before Bryce could turn around, Alpha kicked him into the wall at the end of the arena.
It was a couple seconds before Bryce got out of the wall, but besides some dust from the wall, he was perfectly fine. Bryce tightened his grip on his sword as he glared the AI down.
"You've gotten predictable since last time. Don't."
Bryce grinned at Alpha. "Alright. Guess I'll have to get that back as I beat you."
Alpha snorted at the comment. "Well, hope was never a bad trait to have, even if a bit naive."
…
Jaune looked at the scene before him in shock. He'd come to the training rooms to get advice from Bryce, but as soon as he got there, he found what looked like a war zone. The bleachers were destroyed, the walls of the arena were reduced to rubble, and Bryce was in the middle of a rather intense and almost impossible to see fight with Alpha. They were jumping and flying around the arena as they hit one another with heavy attacks. It was terrifying to see how far ahead Bryce was compared to him, as he had no doubt he could last thirty seconds.
Jaune watched silently from near the door as Bryce was sent tumbling across the floor before crashing into a pile of bleachers. His aura flashed deep blue with black streaks before it faded again, remaining intact.
"That's below 10 percent. I win." Alpha commented as he walked over to Bryce, helping him stand from the rubble. Bryce leaned over, resting a little on his knees, taking deep breaths.
"Ha, good *huff* for you *huff*, Alpha. Geez, I forgot *huff* how hard training *huff* with you is." Bryce said, as he formed a water bottle in his hand and gulped it down.
"Woah." Jaune said in awe. Bryce and Alpha turned to look at the stiff Huntsman in training. "That… was insane."
"Oh, sup Jaune. How long were you there?" Bryce asked.
"Five minutes or so. Holy cow you are on another level." Jaune continued to stare in awe. Bryce chuckled, waving his hand and exerting a lot of creation energy. Over a ten second period, Bryce repaired the entirety of the arena, restoring it to peak condition.
"I've been at this for thirteen years, Jaune. I've had a lot of time to practice, we've talked about this."
"Still, that was ridiculous."
"It is not something you are entirely beyond, yourself Jaune," Alpha's comment surprised Jaune.
"Really?"
"Indeed. Your Aura is quite large, and given time, I imagine it will only get larger. And, if you train your creation energy properly, you'll eventually be able to reach a point above any Huntsman or Huntress in this Academy, student or teacher."
The idea blew Jaune's mind. He could be strong enough to beat anyone in the academy? There's no way. But why would they lie about this? They wouldn't. Woah… Maybe he could do it.
"On a different note, what's up?" Bryce asked as he wiped the sweat off of his head with a towel before sitting down on one of the bleachers next to Jaune. "You obviously came to talk about something."
It was then Jaune was reminded why he'd come here in the first place. He laughed sheepishly as he sat down next to Bryce.
"Yeah, um. I got a question. About…" Jaune looked toward the door of the arena, and leaned forward a little to be further out of sight of anyone who might come in.
"The door has the lock I designed on it. Unless it's team RWBY Pyrrha, Ren, or Nora, no one's not getting in."
"Oh. Cool. A-anyway, I have a question A-about… Pyrrha actually."
Bryce raised an eyebrow. He looked Jaune up and down for a moment before saying, "Go on."
"W-well, it may just be me, but ever since we started training my creation energy, I've started to notice certain things."
"Like what?" Bryce said slowly.
"L-like she's always blushing whenever I compliment her, she always comes to me for help with War Strategies and Tactics, even though I'm sure she understands it. And she has a habit of touching me. Never in a weird way, but, um, sh-she'll rub my back when I'm down or not feeling well or put her hand on my shoulder, pushing me lightly when I'm teasing her, leaning against me when she's tired after training." Jaune hesitated, looking to Bryce and not seeing a physical reaction yet. Nevertheless, he'd come this far, might as well say it all.
"The thing that's got me really curious right now is she asked if I was going to ask Weiss to the dance. When she asked, she sounded almost depressed. W-when I told her no, she was ecstatic. A-and I may be reading into this too much, but…" Jaune stopped again, before grabbing Bryce's shoulders." D-does Pyrrha like me?"
For a long moment, Bryce just stared at Jaune and Jaune worried he had been reading into it. Then, Bryce started laughing. A lot. He fell back a bit, leaning against the concrete wall behind him, his laugh echoing across the arena.
"Bryce? You're scaring me here."
Bryce didn't respond to Jaune. Instead, he pulled out his scroll and entered the text app. Pulling up a conversation labeled 'Arkos,' Bryce typed a couple words that Jaune read.
Alien: He's not dense! He took the hint!
"W-wait, you mean-" Jaune now felt Bryce grab his shoulders, and looked to see him grinning widely.
"You, my friend, have made my day. Simple answer. Dude, she has been crushing on you since day ONE."
"Really. A-are you sure?" The resident knight asked.
"One-hundred percent. Jaune, it's been so obvious, everyone thought you would never notice."
"But I didn't. Up until training with you and Pyrrha recently, that is."
"And that is what I was banking on." Bryce said. "Creation energy raises one's natural awareness and intelligence, making it easier for you to sense things in the world around you. The better you can sense the world around you, the easier it is for you to use it. And that applies to people and their actions and emotions as well."
"Oh… Ooooooohhhhhh my goodness Pyrrha likes me." It was at this point Jaune had a mental breakdown. "What am I supposed to do? Should I ask her out? What if I don't, will that hurt her? But what if I do and it all goes wrong? What if we're all wrong and she doesn't like me? What if-"
*Slap*
Jaune stopped rambling the moment Bryce hit him across the cheek. Before he could say anything, Bryce started shaking him." Get ahold of yourself, soldier. You cannot freak out at a time like this."
"O-o-okay.* Jaune said deliriously.
"Good. Now, do you like Pyrrha?"
"Well, yeah? What's not to like. She's beautiful, she's smart, she's strong, she has a cute laugh, she's cute when she's mad-" Jaune cut himself off as he realized what he was saying. "I've fallen head over heels for her haven't I?"
"Oh, you've done much more than that, my good sir. You've fallen head over heels down the stairs for her." Bryce laughed as Jaune's feelings became apparent to him. "Now, she likes you, and you like her, there's really only one solution."
"And that would be?"
"Ask her out. Invite her to be your date to the dance. See where things go from there. Be natural, be yourself, and show her that you like her." Bryce said. "Jaune, the thing that's probably eating at Pyrrha the most is the worry you don't like her back. For a while, you were pretty invested in getting Weiss to date you and that hurt."
"Yeah, well, it's fairly clear Weiss isn't interested in going out with me." Jaune muttered. "Enough slammed doors and you take the hint."
Bryce didn't comment on the fact Jaune hadn't noticed up until the appearance of his creation energy. "Well Pyrrha doesn't realize that yet. In that sense, she's as dense as you. So help her see. Show her that you do like her. And make it special."
Jaune thought about it for a long moment. He really did want Pyrrha to feel like she was special. Because she was. She was absolutely amazing, and he wanted to show her that. And show her he had finally picked up what she'd been throwing in his face.
Jaune stood up quickly, the determination clearly displayed on his face. He turned to leave the arena.
"Thanks for the advice. Sorry to leave so suddenly but it seems I have some plans to make," Jaune grinned, "And someone to ask out."
"Knock 'em dead, Arc." Bryce called out as Jaune left the arena. He chuckled a little bit more as Jaune disappeared, the door locking back in place behind him. He looked down at his scroll to see a ton of messages in the 'Arkos' group chat.
BBombshell: No way, seriously? Lady killer finally noticed?
SlothLover40k: Way to go fearless leader!
FashionPolice911: Wow. I didn't expect that to happen. What tipped him off finally?
RoseyReaper: Oooooh, finally. I've been waiting for this day for forever.
SunTooStrong: Way to go, Jauney boy. Man, the dance is gonna be awesome.
Poseidon: Wait, I thought you guys told me he liked Weiss?
BruteForceSix: Yeah, but he was being an idiot. Took him long enough, geez.
WeissSchnee: Thank heavens. I don't think I could've taken it much longer.
*BBombshell set WeissSchnee's nickname to IceQueen*
IceQueen: Yang!
BBombshell: You deserved it. And as Admiral of this Ship, you are not allowed to change it.
Bryce smiled at his friends' antics. He was glad to see them all in such a good mood. After all the drama and near death experiences, it was good to have time to relax and have fun. Bryce's smile faltered as he remembered his friends back home. And then he was reminded why he'd come to Train in the first place. To forget about Natalie not being here for this dance.
"Bryce."
Bryce turned his attention to Nekro, or rather, directed his thoughts his direction.
'Yeah?'
"I know this isn't what you want to hear right now, but I feel it best to forget about Natalie."
Bryce felt a small bit of anger spike up in his heart. 'There is no way in-'
"Hear us out, Bryce." Alpha cut Bryce short. "We know it hurts right now. And we aren't saying you should go to the dance with someone and forget Natalie completely. But this is a time in which you should relax as well and have fun. We know right now it hurts more than normal, but it'd be better for your health in the long run.'
'I'm fine, Alpha, Nekro.'
"Bull. I can directly feel your emotions and Alpha knows you too well, and we can both see and feel the pain in your heart right now. You need to destress, and reminding yourself again and again that Natalie isn't here is ruining your mental state."
'I'll be fine. It won't get to me that much.'
Bryce moved to start heading out of the arena, but a loud, ear piercing scream echoed throughout his mind. Fear paralyzed him and he fell limp to the ground, twitching and spasming as his body lost motor control. Terrifying images ran through his mind for a full minute, memories and falsified memories. When he finally gained control of himself, he began to slowly push himself up, shakily.
'What was that? Was that a Nekropsychi?' Bryce asked as he stumbled forward, still trying to regain full motor control over his body.
"No. That was from me."
Now Bryce felt even more justified in his anger. 'And why on Septon did you do that? Thought it'd be funny to-"
".013 seconds."
Bryce paused at Alpha's interruption. Something unsettled him about that number.
"It took .013 seconds for Nekro's psychic scream to overcome your mind. Your mental resistance and strength is faltering right now. Normally, it should take anywhere between ten to fifteen seconds for you to lose control to a psychic scream, and that's on a bad day.'
Bryce could see the point before it was said but wanted to ignore it the best he could. 'So? We're staying in these Deities' balance, I don't need to worry about it right now.'
"That is not the point we are making and you know it. You're mental resistance isn't the only thing that's off."
"Current Reaction time - .15, Average Reaction Time- .05. Current Max Speed - Mach 10, Average Max Speed - Mach 30. Current Max Strength Output - Three hundred thousand pounds of force, Average Maximum Strength Output - One million pounds of force. Need I continue, because it doesn't stop there."
Bryce fell back against the wall and looked to the ceiling, a distressed look on his face. "It's really gotten that bad?" The silence from the two voices in his head was telling. "Dang it. That's not enough to even last a minute against dad."
"That's what we're trying to tell you. This stress, this pain is putting a mental lock on your capabilities. Alpha and I had hoped a duel with him would relieve it, but it was obvious it didn't. With the growth you've had these last few months, it should be more of a fifty-fifty chance you can win in a duel against Alpha. But that was completely one-sided."
"Well… How do I get past this? I don't want to just forget her. And I won't betray her by going with someone else. What should I do?"
"First, stop worrying about her. She's a big girl, she can handle herself. She's kicked your butt enough times for you to know that."
"Point taken."
"The second is just have fun. You do have friends here, so enjoy their company. Lose yourself in their friendship for a little while. Worry about yourself and your family later. For now, they're probably safer than you are."
"With Dad's defenses? Yeah, I feel sorry for the idiots who attack the house at this point." Bryce chuckled a little before sighing. "Okay. I'll give it a shot. I really do need to be at peak condition. Better safe than sorry."
"That's good. Keep that mindset." Alpha said. "Now go have fun."
"With the friends I have here? Shouldn't be too hard. You remember the foodfight?"
"I choose not to remember that incident. The blatant breaking of the laws of physics took too much of my processing to figure out."
"I rather enjoyed it. The chaos was quite entertaining."
"You're Chaotic by nature. Of course you would find it entertaining."
"And you're an AI, yet so was Sigma and Church. Your point?"
"Can you two not do this right now. I'm trying to relieve stress, not add more.
"Sorry."
…
Jaune sat, staring at the sunset on the top of their dorm building. He had always enjoyed sunsets. They set him at ease, and reminded him of simpler times. Hiking with his family in the mountains near his hometown, watching the sunset from his dad's shoulders, getting a fire ready to cook smores. Peaceful times. And right now, he needed a little bit of that, especially with what he was planning.
He heard the sound of the door to the roof clicking open and he took a deep breath. Looking back, he saw Pyrrha walking onto the roof, smiling softly at him.
"Hello Jaune. Sorry I'm later than normal, I originally went to the arenas before I noticed you wanted to practice up here."
"Well, it's where we did before Bryce stepped in and helped us out. I figured it might be nice to go back to where this all started for today."
"Hmm." Pyrrha smiled at Jaune, and looked towards the collage of colors on the horizon. "Wow. That is a beautiful sight." She moved to sit next to Jaune, setting herself down inches away from him. Jaune could feel the distance between them and it felt weird. Yet, he wasn't uncomfortable with it. It was a welcome feeling, having her so close to him.
"Yeah. I've alway found comfort in the Sunset. My grandpa always taught me there's a lot we can learn from the sunset."
"Really?" Pyrrha said, looking to Jaune inquisitive. "And what lessons did he say you could learn from a sunset."
"Well, there were a couple things. All of them were really cheesy, but as a kid they sounded super insightful."
Pyrrha giggled. "I'm sure of that. Many things my parents said when I was little sounded wise, but now I look at them and they don't hold the weight they used to."
"Yeah. A couple of the things he said was 'The beauty of the moment is always in the end.' 'Life likes to save the best things for after a hard day's work.' A dozen other things like that."
Pyrrha looked at Jaune, a soft smile on her face. "Jaune." Jaune couldn't help but notice how breathtaking she looked when she smiled, especially with the sunset as a backdrop. He gulped, nerves starting to get to him before his determination bubbled up once again, giving him the courage to continue.
"But the one that always stuck out to me was when I was with my grandpa for a summer and we'd met one of his old friends in town. Someone started yelling at Grandpa's friend for something he'd done a really long time ago and they got into an argument. Grandpa left before they finished. As we were headed back to his house, he pointed at the Sun and said, 'Jaune, you see how the sun's settin' right now?' Of course I could see it, you'd have to be blind not to see it." Jaune smiled as he remembered that day with fondness.
"And then he told me something I'll never forget. He said, 'When a man makes a change and becomes a better person, think of it like a sunset and then a sunrise. The old person they were disappears, and a new one rises in their place. And every time it happens, it's beautiful to see.'"
"That's very inspirational, Jaune." Pyrrha said, turning towards him. "But I can feel something is off. What are you trying to tell me Jaune? You were ecstatic to train in the arenas, so there must be a reason you wanted to come up on the roof today."
Jaune looked away, trying to make sure he said everything just right, just as he planned. Before he could get out a word, he felt Pyrrha's hand on his own. Looking her in the eyes, he could feel the warmth coming from them and comfort flooded him. Forget the Plan. He just needed to be himself.
"Pyrrha. I feel like I need to apologize." Pyrrha moved to say something, but Jaune put the hand Pyrrha wasn't holding up to stop her. "Pyrrha, I'm sorry I've been so blind for the past while. I'm sorry I've missed so many things you've tried to tell me, I'm sorry I haven't been able to be who you needed me to be, I'm sorry I don't always tell you what's bothering me." Jaune let out a sigh. "But most of all, I'm sorry I never noticed your feelings for me."
Pyrrha's mouth fell a little and she stiffened slightly. Not wanting to let his courage slip away, Jaune continued. "I'd been so blinded by Weiss for no reason that I completely sidestepped your feelings for me, and as your partner, I apologize. But as an Arc, I feel I have to do something more. For me, I have to do something more, to show you how I feel."
Pyrrha was quiet as Jaune held out his left hand and his creation energy pooled into it. She watched in awe as Jaune began to form the energy into an object. In his hands, he held a bouquet of roses, with a small note in the middle of it, which said 'To the invincible girl who stole my heart.'
"Pyrrha Nikos, as today sets on the old Jaune Arc, I formally ask if you will be my date to the dance." Jaune spoke with as much confidence as he could as he looked into her eyes the entire time. Pyrrha was slow to move or react. She took the roses in her hand and read the note. She looked between Jaune and the bouquet in utter shock. Jaune began to worry he had said something wrong and went to apologize when he suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around him. As his mind caught up with reality, he saw Pyrrha hugging him tightly, tears in her eyes, giving him the biggest smile he'd ever seen in his life. And his heart soared at the sight of it.
"Yes. Yes, Jaune I'll go to the dance with you." Pyrrha beamed, her own heart singing. She'd always dreamed and hoped a moment like this was possible. She thanked whatever Deity above had helped this moment happen. She felt so happy, it was impossible to describe.
As the two of them fell into a peaceful quiet, simply enjoying one another's warmth, neither of them noticed a scroll near the end of the building slowly recede along the wall. Inside team CRDL's room, Sky slid back into the room, grinning. Cardin looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You get the video?" Sky just grinned and held up his scroll, a six second clip of Pyrrha hugging Jaune tightly after him giving her the flowers, before he hugged her back and they smiled at each other. It was a bit blurry, as Sky's scroll wasn't anything fancy, but it was undoubtedly the two of them, the sunset adding a nice backdrop.
"Good job, Sky. This is why you're Recon." Cardin grinned as he looked at the picture. "Now we have the proof to collect on a lot of bets." Cardin began laughing as he handed the scroll back to his Sky and looked to the entirety of his team. "We just got some very large pockets with that one, boys."
Team CRDL cheered. It was going to be a good week.
It wasn't ten minutes later nearly one hundred people around the school received the picture and a simple message.
BruteForceSix: You lose. Cough it up.
…
The next day…
Natalie was anxious. She wasn't sure how much longer she could wait. Knowing where Bryce was and being told to wait was driving her crazy, but she had a feeling it was for the best. Or at least she hoped so. This Ozpin guy had better have a good reason for making her wait.
It was nearly noon, and she wanted to bolt already. The bullhead she was supposed to take wouldn't be here till one o'clock. This last hour before she could finally leave felt more like torture than the previous twelve days did. She'd been studying Remnant during that time, as well as helping Tai around the house and at the school he worked at. She'd learned a lot in that time and felt confident in her ability to pass herself off as being from Remnant. Of course she'd refrained from creating a backstory yet, as she had no idea what Bryce had told everyone, and with her being his girlfriend, it would be so much easier to have her story match his. Less red flags would be raised.
Natalie tried to pass the time by playing games on the scroll Tai had graciously bought for her, but none of them took her mind off of the coming event. And the one with the birds and pigs didn't really make any sense to her. Why on earth would they use a slingshot. The pigs obviously had weapons, just use those, it'd be a whole lot easier.
"How you holding up?" Tai asked as he walked into the room, a towel around his neck, sweat covering his forehead. Obviously he'd been out exercising.
"This hour is taking forever to pass." Natalie whined, dropping her scroll to the couch. "I can't wait much longer or I may go crazy."
Tai laughed. "Well, it's not gonna go any faster if you keep sitting there. How about we walk down to the landing pad, rather than taking the car. Maybe that'll speed things up for you.
"Anything sounds good right now," Natalie said. She stood up from the couch and walked with Tai towards the door, ready to leave.
"Hold your horses, I gotta get changed first." Tai said, grinning. "You're just as impatient as my daughter."
Natalie groaned as she leaned her head against the front door. "And you're as slow as a snail moving through molasses. What's your point?"
Tai laughed even more as he headed up the stairs to his room. "Nothing. Just making an observation."
It took Tai five minutes to change before he came out and the two of them started walking towards town and the landing pad.
"So. What are you gonna do when you see Bryce again?" Tai asked. "You sounded pretty devastated about his disappearance from what you told me. Are you going to get him back for that? "
Natalie smiled softly. "No. While if it were some other situations I might, I don't think I could here. It hurt a lot while he was gone, but knowing him, it hurt him a lot too. He's always been steadfast and loyal, even when he didn't need to be." Natalie smiled as a memory came to mind. "I remember one time that our class was playing war games and he was chosen by the team that hadn't picked me. He told them no, and when the teacher tried to get him to go on the other team, he told her 'I'll betray them if I do. I trust her a whole lot more than I do any of them.'"
Tai snorted. "He's got spunk, I'll give him that. How'd they take that?"
"From then on, it was always an unspoken rule for all teams that if you picked one of us, you picked both of us. And with both of us being natural athletes, my talent for espionage and close combat, and Bryce being a ridiculously good shot and dangerous with a sword, we were generally one of the first few chosen."
"Oh, look at that. You must be a humble couple."
Natalie just hummed. "Pride in your work isn't a bad thing. It's when you determine yourself above others because of that pride it becomes a bad thing. I simply know from fact we were better than all of the class at the time."
Tai just shook his head. "So what made you fall for him? From my standpoint, you're pretty lovesick, so you must love him a lot."
Natalie thought about that question for a moment, looking up to the sky. "Honestly? It wasn't really falling in love, it just kind of… Happened. We met when we were pretty young, around ten or eleven years old. My dad was a member of the head council and Bryce's dad was a head researcher for a project that the council was working with and we both just went with our dad's a lot. To keep from boredom, we started to hang out, and we eventually became best friends. As time went on, we grew to see each other as more than best friends and started dating after we turned sixteen."
Tai chuckled lightly at that. It reminded him so much of his relationship with Summer, except for the dating right at sixteen and actually recognizing his feelings early on.
"So if not get back at him for being gone, what are you going to do when you see him?"
Natalie had to think about that for a moment before she answered, rather slowly. "I'm not… I'm not sure yet. Hug him, kiss him, punch him, laugh, cry, something in between all of those?" Natalie let out a sigh of exasperation. "I'm not sure, honestly. All I know is I really want to see him."
Tai nodded. "I can understand that all too well." They walked for another minute in silence before Natalie spoke.
"So what was your wife like? I didn't see any pictures of her around the house, but I may have just missed them. Was she nice, fun, mean, bossy?"
Tai took in a deep breath. It'd been a long time since he talked about Summer or Raven. Though for two entirely separate reasons.
"I've had two wives, believe it or not." Natalie blinked in surprise. "My first wife was a woman named Raven. She was gorgeous and strong, but silent and reserved in almost all her relationships. We had a kid, my oldest, Yang. But not too long after Yang was born, she just up and disappeared. I don't know why, at least not specifically, but it hurt a lot. I had so hoped and dreamed of building a family, and it already felt like it was in shambles, barely a few weeks in."
"Then, I married my best friend, Summer. Honestly, we should've gotten together long before Raven and I did, but we simply didn't. We were nervous at the time. But after Raven left, that changed completely. She became my rock, helping me be okay through the grief and pain, and after a little while, we got married."
"What was she like?"
Tai laughed. "Summer was the kindest, happiest person you'd ever hope to meet. She saw the good in everyone, it's why she became a huntress. She wanted to do good, and she was dedicated to that. She loved people for who they were and helped as best she could, everywhere she went. She loved having fun, was always laughing or smiling about something, and had a terrible habit of stealing food from you when you weren't looking. Especially cookies."
Natalie laughed at that. "Seems she had good taste."
"That she did. Sadly, she died on a mission to save a town from a loose psychopath that she'd thrown in jail previously. Stopped the guy, but she died in the process." Tai's expression became forlorn and longing for a moment before he shook it away.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Natalie said, looking at the ground. There was a long pause before Natalie said, "You know, I feel I can relate in a small piece. We thought Bryce had died, like I told you before. When that happened, it felt like my world fell apart. I felt like I had lost my entire reason to live. The only reason I got back up was because I felt that he was still alive. But what about for you? What helped you get back up and keep going."
Tai took a deep breath at the question. He looked slowly at the trees and beautiful fauna around them as they walked, trying to find the words to describe his feelings.
"I think what's helped me stay going is my girls." He smiled. "Yang and Ruby are the reason I can still wake up every morning. I love them so much, and my desire to help them kept me from falling apart. Even though it'd felt like I lost my rock, I hadn't lost my world yet. I still had them, and I had to be their rock if they were going to grow up to be strong. So I did… with a little help and encouragement from a friend." Tai smiled softly at the memory of Qrow 'helping' him after Summer's death.
Natalie didn't say anything after that. Her thoughts were filled with what she would've done if Bryce wasn't still alive. Unlike Tai, she didn't have a reason after that to keep going, except to live on in his name, and even that would have been hard to do. She admired the strength and resolve the blond man had to keep going after everything seemed to fall apart for him.
"On a lighter note, what are some of the funniest times you've shared with Bryce?" Tai asked. More than willing to take a new path in the conversation and brighten the mood, Natalie smiled and took a second to think of an answer.
*Oh there are a lot of fun stories I can share." Natalie said as she began to tell Tai a couple funny and embarrassing stories about her and Bryce.
They traded stories for another forty minutes as they walked to the outskirts of town. Since Salus was a small town besides the junior combat school, there was no bullport except for on campus, and to keep this a little bit more secluded and secret, they'd decided to err on the side of caution and land in an open and more secluded spot away from town that was big enough for a Bullhead to land. As they got closer to the arranged meeting point, they could hear the sound of the vehicle landing before they actually saw the large aircraft. They turned a corner and could see a couple well armed men standing around a bullhead, with a well-dressed woman with blond hair waiting patiently by the doors.
"Well, there's Ms. Goodwitch." Tai said, holding back a smile as they approached.
"You know her?"
"Yeah, we went to school at Beacon at the same time."
"Cool." Natalie said as she approached the older woman. Ms. Goodwitch called out to Natalie as she and Tai approached.
"Ms. Viewman, I suppose?"
"That's me. It is a pleasure to meet you." Natalie responded with a curt smile.
"The pleasure is mine. I just hope that you are more calm and collected then your boyfriend. He's created quite a stir as of recently. Of which I've been having to repair around the other schools and with the Councils."
Natalie sighed at that news. "Yeah, that sounds like him. He has a habit of just doing and not really checking to see what he hits on his way out, unless it's a person."
"Oh, believe me, he's done exactly that. Not a single person has been left hurt because of him, but heaven forbid the policies, new press, public praising or condemning, among a million other problems. I'd think he was related to that insufferable Qrow if I didn't know his origin."
"Crow?" Natalie was confused what birds had to do with the conversation all of the sudden.
"Not crow, Qrow. He's a good friend of mine and my daughter's uncle. He has a nasty habit of making a ruckus and bad luck wherever he goes."
"Well, that partly sounds like Bryce." Natalie agreed.
"Yes. We can discuss more about Bryce and your stay at Beacon on the flight there, for now, we'll need to get moving."
"Sure thing." Natalie moved to get on the bullhead when Tai grabbed her arm. Looking back, Tai handed her a circular package.
"When you see Ruby and Yang, tell them I love them and give them this for me, will you?" Natalie just smiled at Tai before taking the package from him
"Not a problem, Tai. Thanks for housing me."
"Thanks for keeping me company. It's been a while since I had someone besides myself in the house."
Natalie nodded and got into the bullhead. The doors closed as the guards and then Ms. Goodwitch followed, who gave Tai a brief nod before she got on, and began to take off quickly to head to Beacon academy. Tai watched the aircraft leave without saying a word, his ears used to the thunderous sound of the engines lifting the large, metal rig off the ground. As the bullhead began to disappear, Tai let out a small sigh. It would take some getting used to being alone again. He'd really missed having someone else in the house.
The dance had begun without a hitch. All the preparations team RWBY had made were enough for things to continue cleanly and without a problem. The dance had been going on for two hours, and while team RWBY had been worried about Bryce, he'd been interacting as best he could. He'd been involved in every group dance and even saved a few dances for some of his friends, such as Prin (who was asked by Corrin, as Bryce knew she would be), Yang (at her insistence), among a few other people he knew.
One of the biggest things that had happened was when Jaune and Pyrrha walked in together, hand in hand. It was a funny scene to see so many shocked and horrified people at the mere thought of the two being together, yet neither of them cared one bit. And most people stopped caring when Jaune showed quite clearly that for what he lacked on the battlefield, he was probably the best dancer in all of Beacon, no questions asked.
Now, he stumbled back over to the punch table, having had his foot stepped on by novice dancer's one too many times for one night as team JNPR displayed their amazingly well synced dance routine. Heaven only knew how long it'd taken Jaune to get the team to memorize the routine. As Bryce neared the edge of the Ballroom, he saw Ruby standing right next to the punch table, idly spinning the liquid out of boredom. Ruby nodded to him as he approached.
"Sup."
"Nothing much. Just trying to heal the pain in my feet."
"Huh. Wish you could do the same for me." Ruby groaned, pouting down the heels she wore on her feet. "Stupid lady stilts. How does Weiss even fight in these things?"
"I asked that question a long time ago."
"Any answer?"
"Not a single idea. I think she was born with heels on her feet."
Ruby laughed at the joke, giving Bryce a high five for it. When she finally regained control of herself, she said "So… joining me at the single's table, huh?"
"Well, I'm not exactly single, but my date isn't here it seems, so yeah. I'd say I'm joining you at the singles table." Ruby could obviously see the pain in his eyes as he told the joke, but it disappeared quickly.
"Are you feeling okay?" Ruby asked as she handed Bryce a cup filled with punch. Bryce took the drink and gulped it down before giving an answer.
"I've had better days. I always went with Natalie to these sorts of things, so it still hurts a bit. But I'm doing better than I thought I would."
Ruby nodded. "Neat." They stood in silence for a minute or two, just watching people dance. "So… What do you think of the dance so far?"
Bryce looked around at the large amount of students, all dancing and having fun, a few couples making out in the corners as was normal for every dance where teenagers were present.
"It's good. With all the craziness recently, we've needed something like this. Especially with that 'first mission' thing coming up soon."
"I'm glad you can understand a small piece of my reasoning, Mr. Anderson." Professor Ozpin's voice caught the two by surprise, and turned to see the headmaster walking up to them, holding a cup of coffee. As per normal, of course.
"Hey Professor." Bryce said, nodding. Ozpin smiled softly at the two.
"Hi Professor Ozpin. What are you doing here?"
"This dance is run by the school, is it not?" Ozpin replied. "I feel it good that I be here to see how my students are doing. Days like these are few and far in between, yet they are so vital for our sanity and for my students' grades."
Bryce chuckled while Ruby groaned, agreeing with that thought.
"Professor?" Ruby began, looking from her drink to the dance floor. "(Insert question from the TV show here)?"
Before Bryce could hear Ozpin's response to the question, he began to walk off, feeling it would be best for Ruby to have a private moment to talk with Professor Ozpin. He wanted to have a moment to himself to think. The cheering, laughing, and the music was too much for him to gather his thoughts, and he wanted to take a moment to breathe. He didn't get very far before somebody stopped him.
"Planning on leaving already?" Bryce turned to see an older woman with black hair and a red dress walking towards him, a curious look on her face. He was pretty sure he'd seen her in Combat class with Ruby's friend, Emerald.
"Cinder, right?" Cinder nodded, a sly smirk on her face.
"It's nice to know the star of Beacon knows who I am." She said as she drew closer. Bryce was already beginning to feel uncomfortable. He was getting the same sort of vibes he got from the two other girls who'd asked him to the dance previously.
"Emerald speaks of you rather highly." Bryce said dryly. "I hate to be rude, but do you need something?"
"Nothing in particular." Cinder said, trying to look non-threatening as she drew closer. In Bryce's eyes, she failed. The closer she got, the more eerie and dangerous her tone got. "I simply want to get to know you better."
"Bryce, run creation energy through your eyes." Nekro's voice cut through the worry and distraction in Bryce's mind. "Something is trying to deceive your vision."
Bryce acted on the advice quickly. Very quickly, the feeling of invasion and worry began to disappear. For some reason, Cinder was not as close as he thought she was. Secondly, her expression was much less sinister or leering. He didn't quite understand what had begun to try to trick him, or who, but he knew he could find that out if he stalled.
"Look, Cinder, I am done for the day. I've been trying to be happy and interact with everyone, but it hurts to be here. If you want to talk, we can talk in combat class tomorrow. Today, I'm headed to be on my own."
Bryce turned once again to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"Now, there's nothing wrong with a little time to get to know a fellow student." Cinder began to lean closer to Bryce, uncomfortably so. "That doesn't need to be done here in the Ballroom."
"Oh, she just stepped over a boundary she will wish she'd never crossed."
"Keep calm, Bryce, don't react poorly."
"We both know that is impossible at this point."
Bryce whirled around and pushed Cinder away. The force nearly sent her into a nearby wall, Bryce barely remembering to limit his own strength. "There are certain things that are okay. That is absolutely not one of them." Cinder could feel the overwhelming power emanating from Bryce, and despite this being what she wanted, the fearful presence that came off of him was far more terrifying than she could have expected.
Many in the back of the Ballroom began to turn at feeling the heavy pressure coming from the angry teen. Bryce didn't care one bit, and his mind was consumed by the rage he felt at that violation.
"I don't know you, and from what you've shown me you are like, I don't care to. There are lines you don't cross with people, and yet you somehow crossed every single one." Bryce said sharply. "I am not looking for such advances, I did not ask for them, nor will I want them. There is only one person who I love, who I would want to share time with, and guess what." Bryce's eyes narrowed. "And you are not her."
Bryce turned to leave a final time, but he didn't get far before yet another thing interrupted him.
"I should hope that's not her, I'd feel pretty hurt if I got replaced that quickly." Bryce's entire being froze and his mind came to a dead halt. All his anger and the powerful energy that radiated from him stopped in a moment's notice. Looking to where the voice came from, he saw a figure he had thought he would never see again. A beautiful girl, hair pulled back into a ponytail, still dressed in her military uniform, holding back her own tears as she stood at the entrance to the Ballroom. There stood Natalie Viewman, the most amazing girl he'd ever met.
"Natalie?" Bryce didn't trust himself to speak. Tears built up in his own eyes as he looked at the girl he loved the most within all the multiverse.
"Hey, Bryce." Natalie wiped her own eyes, trying to keep from sobbing. "L-long time no see."
He doubted this moment was real, even with the creation energy running through his mind.
"She's real, Bryce. I'm not sure, but that truly is Natalie."
"Menos Archon, how is she here."
'I don't care.' Bryce smiled. Before he could take another step forward, Natalie crashed into him and they fell to the floor. Neither of them said anything. Bryce just hugged her close as they cried, months of pain and separation, sorrow and grief falling away with their tears.
"I've missed you." Bryce said softly, kissing her forehead.
"Idiot." She laughed through the tears. "We thought you were dead. Everyone did." She rested her head on his shoulder, nestling in closer as she did so. "Don't ever do that again."
"I promise I won't." Bryce said, holding Natalie as tightly as she could. Neither cared for the whispers or pictures being taken around them. They simply enjoyed the time they had. They had a lot of catching up to do.
Cinder walked off, both frustrated and intrigued. Yet another piece had entered the board. Even though her plans to cause an uproar with Bryce had failed, at least in the way she intended, this could be beneficial. It possibly meant someone that could be used to manipulate the troublesome teen. However, it could also mean a new danger to worry about. Only time would tell.
As Cinder walked, Emerald and Mercury quickly appeared by her side.
"How did it go?" Cinder asked Mercury, who was still grinning from his most recent assignment.
"Piece of cake. It's been a while since I got to do something fun. Actually, I'd say Tucson's was the last time I did anything remotely close."
"So the virus was planted then?"
"Oh yes." Mercury grinned. "The next time anyone uses the CCT, we'll have access to every computer in Vale, and if we're lucky, everything in Beacon as well."
"Good to hear." Cinder nodded. "At least one mission tonight was successful."
Emerald looked down, guilt showing clearly on her face. "Cinder, I'm sorry. I tried, really, I-"
"No need to apologize, Emerald." Cinder smiled softly. "We knew we were taking on a tough opponent. While our mistress understands his powers, we do not. But we learned a valuable thing today." Cinder looked down to her scroll, where dozens of photos and videos of the confrontation and Natalie's appearance began to flood different social media pages. "He does in fact have a weakness. And as you very well know, Mercury."
"One man's weakness is another man's blackmail." Mercury finished.