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Chapter cover: Team Demi getting ready for the dance.
Ch.20- Beacon dance
It's a day before the dance, Ersa and Medi are helping Team RWBY get the ballroom ready for the dance. Medi is currently clinging to the side of the building using her magic to keep her in place, while Ersa is tossing her sister curtains. Ruby, on the other hand, is just sitting down at a table sulking over something, Weiss suddenly places two tablecloths in front of her, both the same color of a shade of gray.
"I need you to pick a tablecloth," Weiss says, pushing them to Ruby.
Ruby looks at them, "Aren't they both the same?" Ruby asks causing Weiss to sigh.
"I don't even know why I asked," Weiss says, crumpling up one of the tablecloths before leaving.
Ruby lays her head on the table as Yang walks over, carrying a giant speaker as big as her like a pillow. She places the speaker down, causing the table and seat Ruby is on to bounce up for a moment. Yang wipes her hands as she walks up to Ruby.
"So, have you picked a dress yet?" Yang asks her little sister.
"What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?" Ruby replies solemnly.
"Oh, don't worry. She's going." Yang says, before turning to Weiss. "Weiss. I thought we agree! No doilies!" Yang says.
Weiss gets in Yang's face, "If I don't doilies, you don't get fog machines." Weiss retorts.
Ersa walks up carrying the same speaker Yang had earlier in each of her arms, not bothered by the weight at all, "Come on Weiss, a fog machine is much cooler than doilies."
"Weiss, Yang, your definitions of dance is much different from mine." Ersa gives her opinions on their ideas.
Just then, a door and Sun and Neptune walk in.
"Your dance is gonna have a fog machine?" Neptune asks.
Weiss walks up to him, hands held in front of her, "We were thinking about it." She says sweetly.
Neptune points to her, "That's pretty cool." He says.
"You ladies all excited for dress up?" Sun playfully asks as he walks, making Weiss slouch and frown at his presence.
"Pfft, yeah right." Ruby scoffs.
"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night." Yang says confidence fills her voice as she crosses her arms.
"Okay...what are you two wearing?" Weiss asks the boys.
"Uh, this." Sun motions to his usual attire.
Neptune puts a hand in front of Sun's face, "Ignore him for he knows not what he says." He playfully says.
Sun slides past Nepture, "Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place." Sun says.
"Yeah, we've noticed." Yang and Medi say in sync.
Sun rubs the back of his head, "Soooo... what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y' know...Blake-y?" Sun asks.
"Obviously," Weiss says, crossing her arms.
"I still can't think of a way to change her mind," Ruby says.
"Guys..." Yang says, walking in front of them. "Trust me; Blake will be at the dance tomorrow." Yang proclaims as she walks away.
"I'll make sure of it," Ersa says to herself.
Blake is in the library, working on one of the computer stations as she continues her search on what the White Fang and Torchwick are planning. As she is working, Blake sees a red dot appear on her screen. The red dot moves along the screen, her eyes following it, and eventually falls onto her right hand. She moves her hand, and it disappears, before she looks back to find the culprit, but sees no one who could have done it. Feeling slightly irritated, Blake turns back to her screen and continues researching, only to see the red dot appear on her right hand again. Blake looks back again, but doesn't see who's doing it, and turns back around. A second later, the same red dot appears on her screen again and starts moving across the screen. She watches it for a moment before she gets angry and pounds her fists onto the table. She stands up and turns around, angry, but then sees the red dot on the ground in front of her. Blake begins following the red dot, trying to step on it as a sell and continues following it until it turns around a bookshelf in front of her. She follows it around the bookshelf until she looks up to see Yang holding a red light pointer at her, a big smile on her face, spooking Blake.
"Hello~!" Yang sings to her.
"What are you-" Blake begins, but Yang grabs her left arm.
"We need to talk," Yang replies, before pulling Blake away with her.
Yang takes Blake into one of the lecture rooms, sitting cross-legged on the front desk while Blake remains standing.
"Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well just save your breath," Blake says as she walks by, arms crossed
"I don't want you to stop. I want you to slow down," Yang corrects her.
"We don't have the luxury to slow down," Blake replies, scowling.
"It's not a luxury, it's a necessity," Yang says.
"The NECESSITY is stopping Torchwick," Blake says, dropping her arms and looking at Yang.
"And we're going to, but first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say," Yang says, patting a spot on the front desk.
Blake thinks for a moment before she sits on the desk, "Fine," she reluctantly says.
"Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island just off the coast of Vale. Our parents were huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom would take on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose. And she was like…super mom. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then…one day she left for a mission and never came back. It was tough. Ruby was really torn up but…I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, you know. And my dad just kind of…shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why…Summer wasn't the first love he'd lost…she was the second. The first…was my mom," Yang solemnly confesses, shocking Blake a little bit. "He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow and that she left me with him just after I was born. No one had seen her since," Yang says, feeling a little down at the memory.
"Why did she leave you?" Blake asks, getting a little curious.
Yang sighs, "That question…Why?" Yang says before standing off the desk and walking up to the chalkboard. "I didn't know the answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anybody I could what they knew about her," Yang continues, picking up a piece of chalk and starts drawing something on the board. "Then one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers. Or maybe even my mother. I waited for dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon and headed out. I must have walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care. I had made it…And then I saw them, those burning red eyes. There we were, a toddler asleep in the back of a wagon, and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter…But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time…My stubbornness should have gotten us killed that night," Yang ends her story, putting the chalk piece down.
Blake stand up, "Yang…I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different. I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers! I can't just-," Blake begins.
"I told you, I'm not telling you to stop. I haven't. To this day, I still wanna know what happened to my mother and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Blake, but if we destroy ourselves in the process, then what good are we?" Yang says.
Blake then gets irritated, "You don't UNDERSTAND, I'm the only one that can do this!" Blake continues to not listen to her.
Yang was about to argue back, but someone else beat her to it.
"YOU ARE SUCH A SELFISH IDIOT!" Someone yells.
Yang and Blake turn around to find Ersa walking towards them, looking absolutely livid.
"Ersa?! What are you doing here?" Yang asks, shocked at her being here.
"I'm here to get Blake to stop being an idiot that doesn't care about her teammates," Ersa answers, still angry.
"What are you talking about? Of course, I care about them. I just don't want them to tell me to stop." Blake retorts.
Ersa stabs her left arm with the knife she's been holding this whole time before firing back, "Then why are you making choices that will lead them to their deaths?! You're making the same mistakes we made in the past!" Ersa yells, pointing at Blake, ignoring the knife in her arm.
"Ersa your arm!" Blake tries to have Ersa focus on her arm, but she isn't budging instead, she lifts her arm to show them that she isn't bleeding.
"Listen, I just recently told about this by my brother." Ersa removes the knife before continuing where she left off. "I'm not like anyone here at school, I'm not a human, I'm not a Fanus… I'm an ogre with a prosthetic arm." Ersa confesses.
"Ersa, I'm sorry that happened to you, but I still don't understand what you're getting at. Why can't you guys understand that we can't just sit back and wait?! I have to stop Torchwick before it's too late!" Blake says before he can continue.
"That what I was about to get to, fighting before you're ready is the best way to get yourself killed." Ersa grabs a chair and sits down. "Me and my sisters come from a line of powerful warriors, and our mom and dad are no exception. At times they would come home exhausted from battle, we saw them as so cool. One day, we hatched a plan to show them that we were strong too, we decided to hunt a Demon Realm boar, imagine a Boarbatusk but three times stronger and doesn't have a weak point." Ersa describes the beast before lowering her head.
"Ersa you're losing me. How are a single boar and Roman and the White Fang hell-bent on trying to destroy humanity similar?" Blake asks Ersa on the point she's trying to make.
"What I'm trying to say, is that you're not ready in the slightest. And you're at the risk of bringing everyone down with you if you keep going at this rate!" Ersa begins to raise her voice.
"I'm not doing that! You still don't understand. Why is this so difficult for you?!" Blake shouts back.
Ersa slams her hand down on the table, making it bend to its limits, this makes Blake shut up and look shocked alongside Yang, "Blake on that day, we all nearly died. All we thought about was how proud mom and dad would be when we showed them our prize. We never thought of that boar would tear through us."
Flashback
"Mom and Dad are going to be so proud when we bring that boar home," Ersa tells her sisters.
"Yeah, hey this is the spot where I found that boar," Medi replies.
The girls are hiding in some bushes, observing a boar that looks to how successfully fought off a couple of hunters based on the scars on its body.
"Alright girls on the count of three." Deandra counts down using her fingers. "One...two...three!" The girls jump out from their hiding spot and ambush the boar, Medi, and Ersa pins the beast down, while Deandra and Issia try to weaken the beast.
The boar throws Medi and Ersa off and send them in opposite directions, feeling threatened the boar goes on the attack. It charges at the other sisters, Deandra and Issia take flight but Issia isn't quick enough and the boar manages to grab her foot.
"Issia!" Deandra goes to help her twin but the beast is dragging her across the ground, faster than she can fly. The beast lets go of Issia by tossing her into a tree, spine first.
The boar stares down at Issia and preparing to charge, seeing this, Deandra steps in and grabs the boar's horns to keep it in place, "Issia, get out of here." Deandra tells her sister to move out the way, but Issia isn't moving.
"My spine is messed up Deandra, I can't move," Issia states that she's down. Seeing no choice Deandra tries to push the boar away but is being overpowered.
"Back off my sisters!" Medi shouts while jumping on the back of the boar and stabbing it with her knife. That ticks off the boar so much that it starts bucking wildly, impaling Deandra's leg with its horn before knocking her away then rolling over itself to squash Medi under its weight. Medi is trampled and her right eye is cut from the boar's fur, the boar stops and backs off a bit.
"Why did it stop?" Medi questions while holding her eye, the boar open its mouth, "Shit, it's trying to eat me." Medi is unable to stop her demise due to her injuries.
"We overestimate ourselves, we're going to die. Someone save us." Medi pleas in her final moment, just as the boar is in range to chomp down on Medi.
"AHHHH!" Ersa steps in to stop the boar at the cost of her entire left arm up to her shoulder.
"ERSA!" Medi still sees Ersa fighting while missing an arm, leaving her blood on the ground, the boar prepares to take the other arm but stops for no reason. It's revealed that the boar was decapitated by none other than their brother, Lisce.
Present
"Oh god Ersa, how did you guys cope after the event?" Yang asks Ersa how her sisters are still doing so well after the events.
"That the thing, we didn't," Ersa replies. "After the fight was over, we all suffered permanent injuries, Mom and Dad had our memories of the event wiped. I only told about this recently when Lisce was over, I'm the only one of us who knows. But listen, Blake, I saw you were heading down a terrible road, I want you to know that you don't have to work alone, there are people who are willing to help you." Ersa points at Yang.
Blake is left speechless, Yang puts a hand on her shoulders, "Blake, I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest. Not just for you, but for the people you care about," Yang says, releasing her and starts walking away up the stairs in the room. "And if you feel like coming out tomorrow…" Yang begins before turning to Blake. "…I'll save you a dance," Yang says, winking at Blake before leaving.
"I would take her up on that if I were you," Ersa says before leaving as well.
Blake looks on for a moment before sighing and leaving the room through a different way, passing by Yang's chalk drawing of what looks like a crow symbol with a circular gear piece in the center.
The next night
The dance is here and the ballroom is full of energy as students are gathered in the ballroom, all dressed in formal attire for the dance. There are tables with punch and some food, curtains hanging over the windows, streamers hanging from the chandeliers, balloons pinned to the sides of the walls, music playing, people dancing together, seats arranged on the sides of the ballroom. All-in-all, the ballroom is splendidly prepared for the occasion. Meanwhile, Yang stands at a podium in front of the main entrance to greet the guests, wearing a white dress going down to just above her knees, with gray edging at the bottom, and straps that wrap around her neck, showing a little cleavage, and white pumps. She looks over at Weiss, who is wearing a white dress that goes down to above her knees, with two holes at the sides that expose her hips, and an upper section that is a black mesh, just above her chest and on the straps going down to her upper back, and white pumps as well.
"We did a great job," Medi notes standing next to Yang, who gives a fistbump in total agreement. Medi is wearing a dark green dress similar to Yang except that her dress is hugging her body much more showing off her body for the boys to see.
"Medi, you don't have to hang around me," Yang says Medi is free to enjoy herself.
"It's fine, it's fine." Medi waves away Yang's concern before pointing forward.
Issia and Ruby walk into the ballroom, Ruby is wearing a short red, sleeveless dress, with a thick black sash around the waist and black edging at the bottom. The dress reaches about halfway down her upper leg. At the chest, the dress splits vertically down the middle, and each half covers both of her breasts. Across the vertical split is a black crisscrossing ribbon. The fabric covering her upper chest, shoulder, and upper back appears to be a black mesh. The collar is of the dress is black, and from midway up each sleeve, a thin black line of fabric extends up to the front middle of the collar. Along with the dress, she is wearing transparent black pantyhose and a pair of black pumps.
Issia, on the other hand, went all out as she even has makeup and dark eyeliner on, as for her outfit, Issia is wearing a dark purple dress with some cleavage showing, because when Issia was making her dress she forgot to measure her own chest, with the same pumps Ruby is wearing.
Yang and Medi see them and have big smiles on their faces, "Oh, you look beautiful!" Yang bounces in joy at her sister.
Ruby groans and rubs her head, "Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" Ruby asks, gesturing to the pumps as she starts having trouble walking, much to her laughing sister's amusement.
"You get used to it," Issia adds but Ruby isn't having any of it.
Outside the ballroom, Sun is walking to the building, still wearing his pants, shoes, and red vambraces, but is now wearing a black buttoned-up short-sleeved dress shirt with a high collar, and a blue tie around his neck over a necklace.
"Stupid, dumb neck trap," Sun groans as he tries to adjust the tie. Ersa fixes Sun's tie for him.
"I know this is making you uncomfortable Sun, but just stick with it," Ersa comments before continuing, "There, better?"
"I'm still a little bothered, but it will do. By the way, your dress looks great Ersa." Sun comments on Ersa's dress, which consists of a light gray, sleeveless dress, reaching all the way down her legs. The dress is showing a decent amount of cleavage, and she is wearing gray heels.
"I knew you'd look better in a tie," A voice says behind them.
Sun and Ersa turn around to see Blake. Blake is wearing a short-sleeved purple dress that goes to above her knees, with a slit down the right side, showing her leg. Around her waist is a black belt. The dress has two straps that go up to a black collar around her neck, slowing a little cleavage. Her upper chest, upper back, and shoulders are covered in a black mesh, and she is wearing a purple bow that covers her ears instead of her usual black one.
"I could say quite the same." Ersa retorts before linking arms with Sun.
"No hard feelings Blake?" Ersa asks Blake if she's ok that Sun is taking Ersa to the dance instead of her.
"No, my first dance is spoken for, so we're good," Blake says that she's fine.
"Alright then, see you inside." Ersa and Sun head for the ballroom.
Inside, everyone is enjoying themselves, including Blake as she took up Yang's previous offer for dance, having Yang spin her around before they bow to one another. Yang then motions for Sun to take over and he starts dancing with Blake while Yang walks away. Yang walks up to Ruby, Weiss, and Medi as they look on at Blake dancing with Sun, laughing at something he said before looking back at them, smiling.
"I told you she would come," Yang says.
"Mission accomplished," Weiss adds.
"So…what do we do now?" Ruby asks, looking at them.
"Just have fun," Yang says before she, Weiss, and Medi leave Issia and Ruby to themselves and Ruby watches them go.
"Does that mean that I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now?" Ruby pleads. "Stupid lady stilts," Ruby complains about her pumps as she still has trouble walking in them.
"Come on Ruby, the night still young." Issia bumps Ruby in the side, almost making her lose balance.
"Not enjoying yourselves?" They hear a voice and see Professor Ozpin walk up beside Ruby's left side.
"Oh, no, haha. Everything's fine. I'm just not much of a…fancy-pancy, dancy girl," Ruby replies.
"Well, you can't spend your entire life on the battlefield, even if you may want to," Ozpin says.
"Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately," Ruby says, crossing her arms.
"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners, interlocked, heh. Although, one wrong move on the ballroom merely lead to a swollen foot," Ozpin says.
"Or a twisted ankle," Ruby mutters, looking at her feet.
"It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it's nights like these that can help make them stronger than ever. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget," Ozpin explains to them as they watch everyone else enjoying the night.
Ruby and Issia smile at this.
"Well, I'll leave you two to enjoy yourselves. Have a nice night," Ozpin says before walking behind them to go somewhere else.
"Is it me or does Ozpin, let off more than he knows?" Issia asks Ruby once Ozpin is out of earshot.
"You guys are just in time," Yang says from the podium as she looks at the new guests.
The two new guest turns out to be Indigo and a dark-haired girl with violet eyes. Indigo is wearing a black tuxedo with green lines on the edges of the jacket and shoulders, along with a gray vest, a white buttoned-up dress shirt, a gold bowtie, and black dress shoes. Meanwhile, the girl is wearing a white sleeveless dress, but pink under her chest, and going down to above her knees, and brown pumps.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, I hope you'll let my girlfriend in?" Indigo says, smiling alongside her girlfriend.
Yang sweeps her arm forwards, "Come on in."
Writer: And that's where we end things for now. Yep, I have a few surprises in store for next time, also the chapter after next I'll going deeper with the Holdback sisters. So stick around for the next one.
Also for those reading in the future, I have patron set up so donate if you want. Later's.