Chapter 3: Minutes to Midnight

The huntsmen sat quietly, and peacefully around the fountain; some lounging on the bench, others on the ground.

"This is nice," Jaune said, popping a fry into his mouth. "This feels right."

"We don't eat in the cafeteria anymore," Daria muttered. "If we eat together, we eat out here."

A chorus of agreements echoed out over their heads, and as soon as the silence was broken, it resumed, only the quiet sounds of the students eating and the trickling of the fountain.

Nora, though, swiftly looked back and forth between her friends, biting her lip, shaking with energy, shimmying to and fro. "...Guys." She whispered.

Lance was the first to look up, worry and confusion washing over him as he took the huntress in. "Nora, you-"

"THE DANCE!" She yelled out, throwing her head back with the call.

Rainier stared at her, shying away slightly. "...Are you quite alright?"

"The daaance…" She whispered, looking absolutely ecstatic.

Weiss sighed. "Don't remind me, we still haven't even finished preparing for it."

"We still need the speakers, the table, something to put punch in, and a permit to block off the streets around Beacon, although I don't think we're going to manage that last one," Yang said. "But if people don't start coughing up the stuff we're renting, I'm going to start taking knee caps."

"Oh, hon, you don't have the time for that." Oracle said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, but it makes me feel better to say it out loud."

Nora's smile dropped, a pout claiming her face, arms crossing angrily over her chest. "You guys are no fun. Ren, they're no fun."

The ninja simply hummed in response, not taking his eyes from his food, munching happily away.

"Wait..." Nash said quietly, face falling. "What dance?"

All eyes turned to the boy. Daria leaned towards him. "The dance? The big dance- we're celebrating the Vytal Festival coming up?"

"The Vytal who-wuh now?"

"The- The Vytal Festival, Nash! We applied for the tournament."

"Oooh!"

"Aha!" Lance said, pointing towards the leader. "You are applying for the tournament."

"Lance," Rainier said, giving his friend a glance. "I am on her team."

"Yeah, fair enough."

"I think the better question... are you applying?"

Oracle let out a laugh. "Applied and were accepted! We're already in, y'all!"

Rainier's face began to split into a satisfied smile, before he schooled it back into cool indifference, his eyes flitting over to Shinai brightly, before drawing himself back into the conversation. "Excellent."

"Oh, yeah, so are we." Ruby said, finally tuning into the conversation.

"As are we," Pyrrha hummed, tending dutifully to her meal. "I'm very happy to hear that we'll all be fighting!"

"Wait," Daria said. "You guys already got accepted?" An uncertain chorus of affirmatives murmured back to her. "Bull! I haven't heard anything from Oz!"

"It will come," Rainier said. "We'll irritate him until he gives in. That appears to be our group's special ability."

"Yeah!" Nash said, raising a fist in the air. "Wait."

"Never change, my friend."

"So the dance coming up, we've got the holiday missions in a couple of weeks, we've got finals before too long- then the festival starts, and we'll finally make it to the tournament!" Yang said, listing off on her fingers. "Gods, I love second semester."

"I'm sorry?" Blake spat, shooting to her feet. "Have we just forgotten about the White Fang?"

"Blake I didn't-"

"No! You're all just going on like everything's fine! Everything's not fine! They're still out there, they're still plotting- to hell with school, and the dance, and the tournament!"

"Tell me, do you think that dying at the hands of your brothers and sisters will somehow redeem you?" Rainier asked, reclining casually, eyes closed.

"And who are you to tell me that?" She hissed. "I am fighting to right my wrongs, to do something about it."

"Yes, but, counter-point, do you really think it is physically possible for one girl to take down an international terrorist organization, hm? I hadn't thought that you were suicidal as well as foolish."

Blake shot to her feet, staring down at him. "At least I am I fighting! You can sit there and say that it won't make a difference, but that complacency is what lead to us falling this far in the first place! You pretending like it isn't worth fighting for doesn't make you pragmatic, it makes you a coward. You're no better than they are."

Rainier let out a harsh bark of a laugh, finally turning his attention to her. "Oh, no better than they are, well then answer me this, Belladonna; how many people have you, personally, killed-"

She grabbed her tray, dark eyes boring into his furiously, scowling, her hands trembling with anger. She turned and stormed off without another word, shaking with rage as she took off down the concrete path, never once giving her friends another look.

The Vacuoan simply raised a hand to wave at her as she went, none too concerned with her, or their friends shocked and primarily angry reactions; until a hand lashed out, gripping his wrist tightly, his gaze whipping around in surprise.

Yang stood above him, tightly gripping his arm, bearing down on the faunus, her eyes red, and her hair glowing. "If you ever talk to her like that again, I will rip your skeleton out of your asshole, am I understood?"

Rainier leaned away from her, eyebrows furrowed, trying in vain to rip his captured limb free. He gave a small, hesitant nod.

"Am. I. Understood?"

"Yes, yes, you're understood." He hissed back.

She roughly released his limb, snarling as she gathered up her own food, taking off after her partner, her pace quickened to catch up with her. Rainier watched the two huntresses go, rubbing the throbbing pain away from his arm

"Why are you such a dick?" Lance asked, giving his friend an unimpressed look.

The faunus turned back to his friends, his face falling as he took in their disapproving expressions. "I... I don't like the White Fang. What more does there need to be?"

Weiss crossed her arms, staring coldly at him. "For once I agree with Lance; nothing she has done could warrant that."

"Oh? Truly? Tell me, are any of you aware of the crimes that her old friends have committed? They're quite numerous."

"Actually, I am very well aware. They've warred against my family since as far back as I can remember, and I've seen first hand the depths they can go to; but that's not Blake. I'm disappointed that you can't separate her past with her present."

"Isn't her trying to make it better enough?" Ruby asked, face twisting pleadingly. "She's a good person-"

"Is she?" Rainier asked, giving his friends a once over, before rising to his feet. "I'll beg to differ. Anyone that bore that red flag is the farthest thing from a good person I can fathom." He turned to walk away, his meal left behind; his shoulders slumped, hands in his pockets.

The fountain faded back into silence.

Lance leaned back, letting out a groan. "You guys are all so melodramatic, I swear to the gods."

"Oh yeah?" Oracle asked, pushing her sunglasses down to perch on her nose. "Mr. Mysterious Patch. Mr. Mysterious Meetings with Ozpin."

"Oracle, you're going to be the death of me."

"Wait, wait," Jaune said, giving his fellow swordsman a confused look. "What sorta secret meetings with Ozpin?"

Pyrrha nodded, leaning towards him. "I have to agree; you can't simply leave us hanging like that."

Lance looked between his expectant friends- Ulysses even pulling an earbud loose, an eyebrow raised. "...Fine, fine! Alright, you happy, Oracle? I'll spill."

"I am riveted, hon."

He let out a groan, rolling his eyes, looking to the sky. "...Fine. Before I came to Beacon I spent a stretch of time as a... mercenary."

They all looked to him in various states of confusion. Pyrrha frowned. "As in a-"

"Sellsword, yeah, yeah. Ran with a group of people out west. No, I didn't do anything illegal. It wasn't that big of a deal, it was just super boring. I spent a lot of time travelling, and setting up camps. That's about it. It's nothing to get excited about. You guys satisfied?"

"I get the pretty strong feeling that you're lying." Daria said quietly, looking down to her food, not remotely convinced.

"You would," He said. "Really. I mean it. No biggie. I've got probably one of the least interesting stories out of all of us. Most interesting thing that's ever happened to me was my stepmom kicking me out of the house. We all good?"

"You're just full of disappointments, Zaffre." Oracle muttered, sourly turning back to her meal.

"I'm glad that I could assist, you don't know how happy that actually makes me."

Shinai continued to stare off after Rainier, eyebrows furrowing. Daria turned to him, catching the look. "...You okay, Shinai?"

The samurai broke from his thoughts, turning back to the huntress. "...Watch him."

"What? Why?"

"...Simply a gut feeling."

She stared at him in confusion for a moment, slowly opening her mouth to retort-

"-Daria here has actually had quite an interesting tale!" Pyrrha said, her face affirming that she had caught the entire interaction between the two leaders. "Remember our first day at Sanctum?"

That drew the smaller Mistrali back into the conversation, groaning. "Pyrrha, please, don't."

"It was our first spar of the year!"

Shinai looked away from his teens as the champion eagerly dove into her story, smiling pleasantly as she went. He turned a darkly suspicious gaze back the way the faunus had gone, distractedly returning to his meal.

Blake held her journal tightly in front of her, heavy, dark lidded eyes struggling to remain open as she continued her exhausted march down the hallway, her shoulders hunched, lost in her own thoughts, gaze locked forwards, but not really seeing. She turned the corner- and bashed directly into something, nearly taken off of her feet, her journal flying from her grasp.

There was a whir of movement, a hand latching onto her wrist, another catching the book out of the air. She took a moment for her shock to fade, looking to the individual.

Rainier stared at the journal in his other hand for a moment, eyebrow cocked, before turning down to the other faunus. His bemusement faded- and he let go of the girl, letting her fall back to the linoleum.

"Hey!" She spat as she landed hard, glaring up at him, pushing herself up.

His face, ice cold, didn't change as he gave the book another book, nonchalantly extending it out to her. She scowled as she reached out to take it- and he pulled it back out of range. His expression twisted slightly, a hint of concern filling him. "...You look like shit."

Her scowl didn't drop as she ripped the journal from his grip. "Don't give me your pity."

"It seems pity is all I have left to give you."

"What do you want from me?"

He looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment, shrugging. "Unless your semblance allows you to go back in time to not be a part of a dangerous, violent terrorist organization, I'm afraid that there's little that I want that you can give me."

"We weren't always like this!" She hissed, getting into his face. "Before our leader stepped down, we fought for what was right! We cared! We fought, and protested, and picketed for our rights! And what have you wolves done in Vacuo, huh? You don't care about our people, and don't pretend like you do!"

He held a finger up to her. "...My people are the Vacuoans, whether or not they are faunus or human. Simply having a tail like mine, or ears like yours does not make us kin. And, whilst you are still on your high horse, the moment your people took their first life, did you leave? The moment your brothers and sisters became killers, did you desert them?" She went silent, fury fading slightly. "...I didn't think so, Belladonna..."

Her snarl reclaimed her face, pushing past him to storm away without a word.

"Adam Taurus."

She froze, her eyes widening in shock, a shot of cold flowing through her body. "...What?" She slowly turned towards the other faunus.

"You know him then."

"I... yes. I did."

"Do you know what he did?"

Blake's eyes drifted from him. "I... I'm not... I don't-"

"-Five years ago, mere months after your leader stepped down and Sienna Khan took his place, he came west to Vacuo with a group of his finest and most loyal men..."

"...And he was the only one who came back." She muttered.

"So you do know the story! Splendid. Did he tell you what he did while he was licking his wounds, hm? Did he confide in you the dark, bloody details of that mission?"

"I... no. He didn't."

"Don't claim that your Fang have ever been heroes. If you knew what that vile bastard had done... you'd give up on them without a moment of hesitation," The two faunus stared off for a quiet moment, before he began to back away, gesturing a finger at her, face filled with icy hate. "...I may not hate you, but I do hate who you were. You can run all you wish, Belladonna, but escaping from shadows is much... much harder than you believe it is." He disappeared around the corner, leaving Blake standing in the hallway alone.

She stared after him, eyes filled with regret... before her face began to fill with defiance and determination, golden eyes going hard, turning to storm away.

"SHUT UP AND DAAANCE!" Nora cried out, grabbing Ren's hand and dragging him into the middle of the dance floor, the ninja giving Lance one last terrified look before disappearing into the throng. The blonde swordsman snorted, before taking a swig of his drink, gargling it before swallowing.

The ballroom bustled with activity, spilling out into the dark night beyond, lights flashing energetically; the grand hall was filled to the brim with students representing all four Kingdoms, comingling quite efficiently, most of the ground floor dedicated to dancing, a DJ placed at the front of the stage who was conversely switching back and forth between enjoying his job, and cowering under Weiss' furious glares.

"Oh, that's not right." Lance muttered as he gave said offending drink a sour look. Then proceeded to almost drop his cup as Oracle rather roughly bumped his hip with hers, a grin splitting her face. He looked her up and down for a moment, taking in her well-dressed appearance, before downturning his lips, unimpressed, looking back out into the crowd.

"Oh come on," She said, smile dropping. "It's the one time I'd let you get away with being... you and not a single compliment?"

"Nope."

"You're such an ass," He snickered as they both turned back to the dance floor, after a moment, she gave him a suspicious look. "And where the hell is your date?"

"Don't got one." He said flatly, taking another drink of punch.

"Oh shut up."

"That one's not a lie."

"Really?" She asked. "You. Don't got a date. What, already piss off the whole female populace? Come on, every school is here- there's gotta be someone who doesn't know who you are."

"I waited too long," He muttered back with a shrug. "Sides- dances aren't my thing anyways."

"I... yeah. I could see that."

"Alright," He shot back, looking down at her with a cocked eyebrow. "Where's your date then."

"Oh, he's..." She trailed off, face souring. "Thought he was cute. Turned out to be an ass."

"Like, 'you're such an asshole!'? Or, 'Lance gotta go knock someone's teeth in, asshole'?"

She gave him a small chuckle. "I dealt with 'im already. Remind me not to date sketchy Mistrali guys."

"Oh, come on, Team SSSN aren't that bad."

The gunslinger burst out into laughter, doubling over, before wiping a stray tear from her eye. "Where was that bite when we used to chirp?"

"I told you; I only save my best material for a worthy challenge."

"And... SSSN are worthy challenges."

"Nah. But it sounded good."

They shared a sigh, before she nudged him again. "Alright. I'm gonna go find someone to bother. Stop standin' here, you're gonna ruin your reputation." With a smack to the chest, she sauntered off, peering around the crowd for other friends.

Lance watched her go for a minute, before downing his drink. He grimaced at the punch again, before tossing the empty cup to the side. "You're not wrong!"

With that, he cocked his head to the side, popping his neck, and grinned widely, marching out into the crowd.

Weiss rushed to and fro, pale eyes irritated as she readjusted streamers and banners, barked at the DJ, and continually refilled the punch bowl- even as she weaved, and pushed around dancers, music filling the air in Beacon's ballroom as the dance raged in full swing. She stormed forwards- then skid to a stop, back-tracking and turning irritated eyes to Daria. "And where is Rainier?!"

The leader of DRGN pulled at the black fabric of her jacket uncomfortably. "Uh… excellent question." The Team DRGN leader let out a breath she had been holding in, slumping, pulling at her sleeves in discomfort.

The Atlesian stared at her friend, before frowning. "I haven't seen him... but, when he gets here, you tell him that..." She trailed off at the look on the other girl's face. "...What's wrong?"

"I haven't seen him in, like, five hours."

"Oh."

"...Yeah."

The heiress mulled the thought over for a moment, before pushing Daria forwards. "Well, don't just stand here! Go, have fun- I demand it."

The diminutive huntress gave her friend a small smile as she stormed off, shaking her head. "Sure. Me. Have fun. At a dance," She sighed. "Gods, Gail, you lucky girl."

Shinai hummed to himself, leaning against the second floor's bannister, staring down at the other teens below, a glass of water in hand and a slightly bored, if not bemused expression tinting his face.

"Caped Opossum!" A very familiar voice called, rousing him from his silent musing. He turned curious purple eyes to the side where Nash was waiting, bouncing and buzzing very visibly.

"I'm sorry?" The samurai muttered, the familiar name stirring rather intense feelings of distaste.

The diminutive boy jumped onto the bannister, taking a seat, nodding. "You look like Waylon Branson, the Caped Opossum. When he's not a superhero, he's a billionaire playboy philanthropist, and goes to all sorts of things like this. You look just like 'im."

Shinai gave a short chuckle. "...Enjoying the dance?"

The boy shrugged. "I dunno."

"And why not."

"I kinda just wanna sit but girls keep comin' up to me askin' me to dance. I'm too cute."

The samurai looked over the rather distracted boy for a moment, before shaking his head. "Is that truly a weakness?"

"I dunno. I just wanna sit and drink punch. Why aren't you down there?"

Shinai only gave him a silent look for a long few moments. Nash stared right back, curious expression not waning once. After a moment, the older huntsman sighed. "I don't enjoy these things."

"Then why come?"

"My team wanted me to."

"You're a cool cat, Mr. Kyani."

The samurai turned slightly narrowed eyes to the boy, before giving a more genuine chuckle.

"Wha?" Nash asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Nothing. Something just struck me."

"Kay, cool-" The boy's eyes widened as the song changed. "OM GODS, THIS IS MY JAM- BYE, MR. KYANI!" The boy dropped off of the bannister to the floor below, charging into the fray, leaving Shinai standing above, slightly bewildered.

"Children." He said, shaking his head with a small smile.

Daria uncomfortably stumbled forwards, struggling in her heels as she searched for her date. As she passed by the punch table, though, she came to a stop, looking over to where Ruby and Jaune were standing quietly, looking rather forlorn.

"Oh. Hey Daria." The former said quietly.

"Hi." The latter muttered, sipping at his punch.

She sighed and stopped next to them, leaning down to rub comfortingly at her heels. "You guys haven't seen Rainier, have you?" A chorus of nos greeted her. She sighed. "Awesome. What are you two doing?"

"Oh." Ruby started again.

"You know." He continued.

"Being introverts."

"Wanna join?"

Daria stared at them for a moment, before groaning. "Gods I wish. If I don't find Rainier, keep a spot warm for me."

"Can do." Ruby said, mustering as much energy as she could

The shorter huntress sighed and continued to trudge on, hope waning as the dance continued into the night. She skirted around the edge of the dance floor, peering in at the dancing crowd with a frown, searching for Rainier to no avail.

Finally, she came to a stop, eyes darkening as her disappointment slowly faded to anger, teeth gritting together before storming off elsewhere, hands gripped into white-knuckled fists at her side, furiously blinking away welling tears.

"You mind?" Lance called out, getting Oracle to jump in shock, turning from Yang and some of her other friends with wide, green eyes.

"What? Mind what?" She asked, voice filled with disbelief.

He extended a hand to her. "I'm not great at dancing, but..."

She blinked, staring at the offered limb. "Zaffre, are you... asking me to dance?"

"Cats and dogs are living together, Rainier's not a dick, the gods have returned, lots of miracles are happening tonight."

The gunslinger put a hand to her chest, giving him a coy look. "I'll have you know, I have a very high standard of dancing partners."

"Fair- counter point, it won't be the first time I've stepped on your toes."

"Fair!" She laughed, taking his hand. "Fine. Don't get handsy though, I will beat your ass."

"Hey, a promise is a promise."

Almost on cue, the music slowed to a more lethargic song, getting Oracle to sigh as the duo came together, slow dancing contently. After a moment, Lance sighed. "Hey, O?"

"Yeah?" She asked quietly, voice almost sleepily comfortable.

"You look good."

"Thanks, hon. You don't look like you just woke up and decided your bath robe was all you needed for the day."

"Man, I just can't win with you."

"That'd be too easy."

The duo lapsed back into silence. The swordsman looked up- to where Yang was staring with a beaming grin, lilac eyes sparkling with mischief. She gave him two thumbs up, getting him to give her a stern, sour look, mouthing 'no!' repeatedly at her.

"Cin, we've got a problem." Vegas Gold said into his communicator, looking out over the campus.

"What problem?" Cinder purred back through his earpiece, though her voice dripped with venom and dared him to tell her a problem.

"The faunus- the wolf one- never went into the dance."

"And?"

"And I don't know where he is. AKA, that could be a problem."

"I'm not afraid of one little huntsman, Goldie."

"Nah, but how about a few hundred?"

"Then find him."

"Ha. Good luck with that. This place is huge, and he's not in their room. Do you see him in there?"

"In the midst of all of these brats? I don't think so. Find him."

Rainier hit the ground hard, sliding across the tile below, exhausted gaze turning to the ceiling, his form drenched in sweat. He took a moment to reclaim his breath, slowly pushing himself into a seated position. "Time." He huskily called out.

There was a pleasant beep. "Last round; 38 Seconds. Best time; 36 seconds," A bright, electronic voice called, echoing across the otherwise empty room. His face pulled into a furious scowl. "Would you like to go again?"

He turned down to the ground, breathing heavily for a moment. "...Faster. You have to be faster," He turned darkly determined eyes back to the training room. "Go again."

Dozens of blue, humanoid holograms appeared, trailing lazily over the tiles below in pre-set routes. He looked between each of them quickly as three beeps slowly called out over him.

"Begin."

He blurred forwards towards the closet target, lashing out with a vicious kick.

Shinai sighed as he stared out at Beacon from the ballroom's balcony, enjoying the cool air and the blissful quiet.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

He turned at the voice; Pyrrha was standing in the doorway, dressed in a glimmering red, sleeveless dress, looking abashed.

"It's fine." Shinai said, turning back to the night sky.

"Enjoying the dance?" She asked politely.

He grunted noncommittally, before turning back to her. The warrior looked… alone.

"Are you alright?" He finally asked, quietly.

She jumped with a start at the question, green eyes locked onto the samurai. "I- I, no, no, no, I'm fine."

His purple eyes boring into her told her he didn't believe it. She sighed and opened her mouth to say something.

"Pyrrha?"

Both warriors turned to the staircase leading up to the balcony as Jaune stepped out, looking concerned.

The huntress sighed sadly. "Hello, Jaune."

The blonde walked towards them. "You okay? I haven't seen you tonight."

Pyrrha sent a quick look to Shinai. "Arrived late, I'm afraid."

"Well, you look really nice."

She turned on a dime to him, green eyes opening wide, hand shooting to her mouth. After a moment, she schooled her face back into nonchalance, hand dropping. "Thank you."

Jaune's eyes, however, shot to Shinai and he winced. "You're, uh… not going to beat me up for that, are you?"

The samurai stared in confusion for a moment, before making a noise of understanding. "I think you're safe for tonight."

He chuckled nervously, sticking his hands into his pockets as he turned back to Pyrrha. "Shinai Kyani, huh? Heh heh, quite a, uh, catch."

The huntress' eyes widened again as she turned to the aforementioned swordsman, who had turned back to Beacon, stepping out of the conversation. "Oh. We're not here together."

"Oh! So, where's the guy then?"

"There is no guy."

The balcony went quiet as Jaune choked on his spit. "What?!"

Pyrrha's head dropped. "Nobody asked me."

"But that's…" Jaune gestured vaguely at her. "You're Pyrrha Nikos! How could nobody ask you?!"

Pyrrha sighed, leaning against the railing, giving Shinai a brief glance. The samurai caught it, and turned to leave, giving the other huntsman a solitary nod as he passed.

"I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That's what I like about you,"

Jaune's eyes widened, mouth falling to gape at her in surprise, even as she continued on. "When we met- you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess, you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who saw me for me..."

She trailed off sadly, and gave him one last, long look before turning to leave after the samurai.

"How ya doin', sis?" Yang asked Daria as she walked up to her. "Ah, jeez."

The aforementioned brunette was leaning against the wall, half-drank cup of punch in her hand, face cast in shadow.

"What happened?" The blonde huntress asked, leaning against the wall next to her.

Daria sighed before responding in little more than a mutter, "Rainier never showed."

Yang stared at her for a few moments before slowly beginning to tremble, eyes turning red. "Ooh, I'm going to-"

"Stop. Please. I don't care."

"Come on, you do. Do you-"

"What? Oh, no. It's just, that… he's my best friend. I figured he'd be the last person to flake out on me."

Yang continued to stare at her crestfallen friend- before extending her arm. "Come on."

Daria stared at the offered limb for a few moments, blinking owlishly, a dark blush slowly crossing her cheeks. "Uh-

"We're going to go dance."

"Oh... yeah... um..."

"And drink loooots of punch and talk about how much Rainier sucks. How's that sound?"

Daria continued to stare at Yang before a smile slowly claimed her face, taking the blonde's arm. "That… sounds like fun."

"Oh! Jaune put a dress on, it's going to be so funny! And have you seen Lance and Oracle? They're the absolute frickin' cutest."

"Hey, Cin. I got the wolf." Vegas said, leaning back from his vantage point overlooking the campus.

"Where? What's he doing?" Cinder called back.

"Outer edges of the campus. Looks like he's just now heading to the dance. And... like he's been training his ass off. That is interesting."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Because there might just be something in it. Because these kids have been making a huge deal of this dance for a while now. Didn't expect him of all of them to ditch to train. Vacuoans are fascinating."

"…Perhaps. Keep an eye out, the dance is secured. I'm heading out."

"Of course. Don't have too much fun."

Rainier sighed, wiping the still pouring sweat from his face with a sigh, brushing his arms to stay off the sudden drop in temperature of the outside world. He swallowed hard, pale eyes dark with exhaustion. "Here's to hope." He muttered as he neared the ballroom, trying his Scroll again, calling Daria- to no avail, the line immediately going dead. He shook his head, a touch of regret filling his face, continuing his solemn, exhausted march-

Bang bang bang.

The faunus screeched to a halt, claws of his silver leg scratching against the concrete and sending sparks into the air, turning on his heel at the ever familiar sounds of gunfire. He looked back and forth between the ballroom and Beacon Tower, mind shifting back and forth between them.

He groaned, taking off at a dead sprint towards the CCT tower, his vest dropped to the ground.

Ruby stumbled into the tower's communication room, heels wiggling under her uncertainly, clutching Crescent Rose tight to her chest. "Hello?" She called out, looking around the dark room with a frown. "Is anyone in here?"

There was a beat of silence- before a woman rose from behind one of the consoles, dressed in black, a mask pressed to her face, glowing ember-like eyes looking over the huntress interestedly.

"Excuse me?" Ruby asked, her stance lowering, scythe slowly. "You know, it's not a masquerade party, so why don't you take off that-"

The woman dashed forwards with considerable speed, snatching several glowing blue canisters from her belt, aura pumping into them before she hurled them forwards. Before they could impact, a blur of silver dashed into the room, gunshots ringing out, crashing into the grenades in the air, ice shards flying to cover the trio.

Rainier frowned as he stared between the two women. "Do we know her?"

"No!" Ruby shot back.

"Good." He dashed towards her; a step to slow, missing as she leapt up and out of the range of his kick, heeled boots touching down onto the table of one of the computers, taking off again with a smooth spin, a bow and arrow forming out of crystals held in her hands, a smirk appearing on her face before she fired.

The faunus went wide-eyed as the arrow flew towards him; and was quickly slashed through by Ruby's scythe, the dark shards of the missile falling uselessly to the floor. The woman's bow separated into two glowing orange blades, landing in a crouch as she stared at the two students, the combatants tensing, muscles coiling as they prepared to reenter the fray.

"What is going on in here?!"

The trio's attention shifted back towards the elevator in various states of surprise: standing in the doorway, large pistol drawn, was a tall, stocky man, older, dressed in a regal white, blue, and red suit, hard blue eyes shifting around the room before them.

"General Ironwood?" Ruby asked in surprise as the Atlesian slowly stepped into the tower, eyebrows furrowed.

Rainier's face twisted in a snarl as he turned back on his heel, Wolf's Claws digging into the metal floor, preparing to lunge forwards

The woman was gone.

Cinder stepped into the ballroom, dressed in a lavish black dress, two Atlesian guards following a few moments after her into the crowded room, confused. She reached forwards, and tapped on a green-clad girl's shoulder. "Mind if I cut in?"

Emerald turned to her in surprise, before nodding, gesturing to her dancing partner. "Of course."

Cinder stepped forwards, locking hands with Mercenary, the assassin's face twisted in smug understanding. "And how's your night been going?" He asked, curiously.

"Mm… a little more… exciting than expected."

"Should we be worried?"

"Hardly. They'll be scratching their heads long after we finished what we came here for."

"So, what now?"

"Enjoy the rest of your night. After all, it is a party. That goes for you too, Goldie. Enjoy. Tomorrow… it's back to work."

Rainier and Ruby looked around in shock and confusion. "Where..." The latter began.

"What happened?" Ironwood asked sternly, giving the room an analytical once-over.

"Where the hell did she go?" The faunus hissed as he stormed forwards, looking intently around each of the terminals. He slowed to a stop as a screen glowed intently before him; the lone activated monitor in the room, its contents otherwise blank. "...General?"

Before the Atlesian could respond, chimes began ringing out through the tower, as the clock struck midnight.