This next chapter will be quite a bit of fun for me. Let's continue where we left off.
Chapter cover: Ruby and Issia dancing with each other.
Ch.21- Sniper in the wing.
The dance continues to go off smoothly, with everyone chatting, having some drinks, and dancing; even Goodwitch decided to have a dance with Ironwood (for whatever reason, I'll never know). At one table, me and Ruby are hiding out by the punch bowl, drinks in hand, as Ruby is just not used to this kind of situation. A moment later, Jaune, in his own tux, approaches us with a drink in his hand.
"I see you two are hiding out at the punch bowl, too," Jaune says, leaning over to Ruby.
"Yep," Ruby replies, popping the "p".
"Hm-hm," I hum in agreement.
Jaune closes his eyes, "To the socially awkward," he jokes, gesturing for us to touch our cups together, to which Ruby giggles while I hum as we clink our cups together.
"Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss," Ruby says.
"Anyone could have seen that train wreck coming," I mutter, to which Ruby elbows me in the side.
"Meh, it's fine; Neptune's pretty "cool". I get why she went with him." Jaune says.
"Excuse me?" I ask in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asks as well.
"Well, come on, not many people can off Blue hair," Jaune says.
"No, I mean, Weiss came to the dance alone," Ruby points out.
Jaune coughs down his drink and wipes his mouth with his sleeve, "Uh, what?" he asks, shocked, and then looks to Weiss who is busy trying to fix a flower that is falling in one of the flower vases in the ballroom and failing.
"Yeah, she said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys," Ruby explains.
Weiss then looks over to see Blake, Sun, and Neptune talking and laughing at something Neptune said. This makes Jaune growl in slight anger a bit.
"Hold. My. Punch," Jaune says, handing his drink to Ruby and starts walking to where Neptune is. After he walks away, Ruby takes a sip out of his drink that he handed to her.
"You did not just drink Jaune's drink, did you?" I ask to make what I just saw was correct.
Meanwhile, Jaune is walking through the crowd of people in the ballroom, brushing them aside if needed as he gets closer to Neptune, but stops when Pyrrha walks by him, wearing her signature headdress, but also a long red sleeveless dress that has a slit down the right side and wraps around her neck, exposing her back, and black pumps. He sees her walking up some stairs, looking a little sad, and thinks for a moment before deciding to follow her. He finds her standing in an outside balcony, resting an arm against the stone railing at the edge with several potted-pants situated around it.
"Hey, Pyrrha," Jaune greets her.
"Hello, Jaune," Pyrrha greets back, but without her usual vigor. "…You okay? I haven't seen you tonight," Jaune asks as he walks up to her.
"Arrived late, I'm afraid," Pyrrha replies, turning back to the railing.
"Well, you look really nice," Jaune compliments her.
"Thank you," Pyrrha replies.
Jaune puts his hands behind his back, "Your, uh, date isn't gonna beat me up for saying that, is he?" Jaune asks.
"I think you're safe for tonight," Pyrrha says. "He still hasn't figured it out yet."
"So, where is the guy?" Jaune asks, clasping his hands together as he looks around.
Pyrrha turns to him, "…There is no guy," Pyrrha admits, a frown on her face.
"Heh, w-what?" Jaune asks, baffled at this.
"Nobody asked me," Pyrrha continues.
"But that's…Eh, you're PYRRHA NIKOS, how could nobody ask you?" Jaune asks.
"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 that 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. 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 just saw me for me," Pyrrha says before she turns around and walks away, still wearing a sad expression on her face.
Jaune looks down for a moment before turning, "Uh, w-wait-," he begins but stops when Neptune walks onto the balcony.
"Hey, uh, Jaune right?" Neptune greets him, wearing the same kind of black tux as him, but with gold lining, a gold bowtie, and his signature goggles on his head.
Jaune sighs, "Yeah," he says, looking away.
"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing, psst," Neptune says.
"Yeah," Jaune reluctantly says, turning away from him.
"Cute girls though, huh?" Neptune says.
Jaune growls, getting angry before turning to him, "Is that ALL you think about?" Jaune asks, having had enough of Neptune's behavior.
"Huh?" Neptune asks.
"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?" Jaune practically interrogates him.
"Woah! Where's this coming from?" Neptune asks, raising his hands in defense.
"How could you just turn her down like that?" Jaune continues. "Wait, w-who?" Neptune asks, still confused
"WEISS!" Jaune blurts out.
Neptune rubs his head, "I, uh, it uh, it just didn't work out, you know," Neptune says.
"What, you think you're too cool? Too many other options? Weiss Schnee asked YOU to the dance. What in the world could possibly keep you from goin-," Jaune begins.
"I can't dance," Neptune interrupts him, turning his head away in shame.
"Beg your pardon?" Jaune asks, both shocked and confused.
"I can't dance, man!" Neptune admits more clearly.
"But, you're…so…cool," Jaune gestures to Neptune.
Neptune looks back to him, "Thank you, I try really, really hard," Neptune replies.
"…You would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than…just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?" Jaune questions him.
"That about sums it up, yeah," Neptune confesses.
"Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself," Jaune says, turning away from him.
"Please don't tell anybody. Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours. I don't want to get in your way," Neptune says.
"Tempting…but I know I'm not the guy she wanted to go to the dance with. So…" Jaune thinks before turning back around to Neptune and sighs and leans against the railing.
"Do you like her?" he asks.
"Yeah, I mean, I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool," Neptune answers.
"Then just go…talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves. Just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go," Jaune advises him, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, but-," Neptune begins, raising a finger.
"Hey, you DON'T have to look cool ALL the time. In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it," Jaune interrupts him.
"…Yeah, okay," Neptune agrees.
"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night," Jaune suggests.
"Thanks. You're a really cool guy, Jaune," Neptune says and walks up to fist bump him.
"Alright, don't lie to my face," Jaune says, but fist bumps him back and then watches as Neptune walks away. Jaune then sighs, "Alright, only one thing left to do," Jaune says, smiling as he makes his leave, but stops when Issia walks up onto the balcony. "Issia, what are you doing here?" he asks.
"Listening in on your pep talk with Neptune. That, and I needed some fresh air, and to get away from some of the other boys here who wanted to dance with me. I don't dance," I say. I then walk up to Jaune and place a hand on his left shoulder. "Good job with Neptune. And good luck with Pyrrha. I know she's waiting for you," I say, being supportive.
"Thanks, Issia," Jaune replies before leaving while I walk up to the railing.
Looking back inside the dance I see everyone enjoying the dance including Penny… I turn back around so quickly that I hear my neck pop. What, no, how did Penny know about this dance, since the last time we talked was when me and Ruby were investigating the White fang.
I approach Penny, ignoring the two Atlus soldiers standing next to her. She's wearing a long-sleeved green dress, "Hey Penny." I make myself known to Penny.
"Hello there Issia." It seems that Penny has been working on not being so weird.
"Hey Penny, how did you know about the dance?" I ask the question on my mind.
"Ironwood brought me along," Penny replies. "Issia didn't you come to the dance with somebody?" She asks.
I shake my head, "No, I decided to go alone since Ruby didn't get asked." I hear everyone laughing for some reason and turn around to see why. Jaune is no longer wearing his tux, but rather a white strapless dress with a blue ribbon wrapped around his waist, thigh-high light stocking, and his regular shoes.
I can't help but laugh at Jaune for such an outfit. Pyrrha starts laughing at Jaune, feeling happy for the first time tonight.
"…Jaune, you didn't have to," she says, regaining control of herself.
"Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word. Now do you wanna stand there and laugh at me, or do you wanna dance?" he asks, offering a hand to her as a more upbeat tune begins.
Pyrrha takes his hand, "I would LOVE to dance," she says.
Jaune then pulls her close to him, much to her surprise but liking, and they start dancing as they pass by Ren and Nora.
Nora looks at Ren, "Ren. This. Is. HAPPENING!" She yells in excitement.
"Wait. What is happening?" Ren asks, not understanding her before Nora pulls him with her to the dance floor.
The members of Team JNPR start dancing to the music, with Jaune and Pyrrha upfront while Ren and Nora are behind them. They step, spin, and move their arms to the rhythm, while the other students in the room all cheer and clap at their performance.
The members of Team KEPL can't help but look on in shock and slight awe at the scene.
"Gotta admit, that kid's got balls for pulling off this stunt. Jaune's got my respect for that," Khazhak says while his teammates just nod in agreement as they continue watching.
At one point, the group separates and Jaune is seen twirling Pyrrha under his arm.
"I had no idea you were a dancer," she says as they keep dancing.
"Yeah, well, these things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters," Jaune replies before dipping Pyrrha and then spinning her again and then follows her.
Meanwhile, Neptune is busy talking with Weiss.
"So, what made you change your mind?" Weiss asks.
"Huh?" Neptune replies.
"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?" she asks again.
"…You're looking at him," Neptune says, gesturing to Jaune who is still dancing with Pyrrha. "You've got some good friends looking out for you," he says, and they just watch the dancing continue, with smiles on their faces.
As the couples continue their dancing, Indigo and Neo watch over them from the second-floor balcony.
"It appears all the dancers have partners," Indigo says.
"How long do I have?" Cinder asks from their communicator.
"We should probably be home by midnight to be safe," Emerald suggests.
"I'll keep my eye on the clock," Cinder says, her right hand on her ear, waiting outside the ballroom.
Meanwhile, Ruby is standing around, feeling out of place, and decides to walk out the main entrance for some fresh air. While walking, she sees Cinder running along the dorm rooftops beyond her. Cinder is wearing a sleeveless black jacket, long gloves, stiletto heel boots, a black glass mask, and several straps of containers of powered dust lined across her pants. Ruby watches as she jumps across a few rooftops, getting suspicious, and goes to follow her. However, I take notice of this as well and decides to follow.
Meanwhile, Cinder is approaching the CCT tower not too far away. As she stealthy moves closer, she sees one Atlas soldier guarding the front entrance. She moves to another position, gaining his attention. As he slowly walks forward to see what is going on, Cinder sneaks up behind him and deals a karate chop on his head, knocking him out with a goofy smile on his face. She catches him and drags his body behind some bushes before moving inside. When she leisurely walks in, she takes note of four guards in the main room. One notices her.
"Excuse me, no one's allowed in this area," he says as he reaches for his pistol. "Stop!" he orders.
Cinder rushes at him as he pulls out his pistol and aims it at her. He shoots, but Cinder runs by the bullets as they hit the ground, grabs his arm and punches him in the face with her left arm. She then looks behind her to see a second guard running at her with a sword drawn. He back kicks him away before kicking at the first guard's right leg, making him kneel, and then flips over him before throwing him to the railing on the steps.
The two other guards by the terminals jump over the steps and run at Cinder. The designs on Cinder's gloves and boots glow as she spins, conjuring up flames that dissipate and are replaced with two black blades in her hands. She swings her swords at one guard, blocking his sword and landing a strike, before doing the same thing to the other guard, and then leg sweeps him off his feet. The third guard makes three swings at her, but she blocks them, and then tries to kick her legs, but gets blocked again. She then elbows him in the face before double punching him back and finishes him off with a front flip downward kick. She looks around a moment before she moves to the elevator. Two guards await inside the elevator.
"Hey man, do you know the Wi-Fi password?" one guard asks the other.
"It's 'Beacon,' but replace the 'e' with a '3' and add a pound symbol to the end," he answers.
The elevator doors open and the get spooked when they see Cinder standing in front of them. One guard looks behind her to see the other guards laying on the ground unconscious. Cinder just smiles and calmly walks into the elevator in between the two guards as the door closes and fighting sounds can be heard behind them.
Outside the CCT, Ruby walks up and looks around. She gasps when she sees the unconscious guard in the bushes. Ruby pulls out her scroll and hits a few buttons, and a moment later, her rocket-propelled locker shows up, crashing into the ground behind her. It opens up to reveal her weapon, Crescent Rose, inside. Back inside the CCT, the elevator stops at the communications room. The elevator doors open to show Cinder with her scroll and the two guards on the floor, unconscious.
"Hm, that's handy," she says before walking inside.
She walks up and sits at the terminal at the reception desk, and starts typing something onto the terminal. While on the terminal, she gets a call on her communicator.
"A party guest is leaving," Emerald says from the other end.
Cinder sighs, "Which one?" she asks.
"…Ironwood," Indigo whispers as she and Neo are dancing back at the dance.
They look to see Ironwood leaving with Ozpin seeing him off.
"I guess the general's had enough fun for one night," Emerald says while Cinder uploads something onto the terminal, showing a symbol in the form of a queen chess piece.
"Should we intervene?" she asks.
Suddenly, all the terminals in the room light up with the queen chess piece symbol on them.
Cinder smile, "No…we're done here," she says and goes to leave until she hears the elevator doors about to open and hides behind the reception desk.
Out of the elevator comes Ruby, with her sniper-scythe fully extended. She walks into the room, looking around for anyone.
"Hello?" she calls out before she trips on her pumps, still having trouble walking in them. She then continues looking. "Is anyone there? Hello?" she calls out again.
Cinder then decides to stand up and reveal herself, but she keeps her mask on to hide her identity.
"Excuse me. You know, it's not a masquerade party. So why don't you take off that-," she starts.
However, Cinder interrupts her by pulling out one of her containers, swinging it in front of her as the dust inside comes out and hardens into floating glass spikes. She waves her right hand, causing them to shoot towards Ruby. Ruby spins her scythe as a shield, blocking them before she sticks the blade into the floor and starts firing off some shots at
Cinder. Cinder's clothes glow again as she blocks the shots with her left palm and then spins her body while forming her swords again. Ruby then pulls out her scythe and points it behind her, pulling the trigger, and propelling her into the air above Cinder. Cinder backflips out of the way as Ruby slams her scythe into the floor. Next, Cinder jumps into the air, combining her swords into a bow and conjures up three arrows, all pointed at Ruby. She fires them, but before they can hit Ruby, I summon my bow and fire my own arrows to counter them and explode in midair.
"Hey, I'm the only bowmen at this school," I say to the woman and notice she has the same eyes as Cinder. I grab two arrows and fire them, revealing them to be tied together.
The woman jumps out of the way. I rush in and slash at the woman using the sharp parts of my bow. The woman evades my swings before she collides her blades against me and we hold our ground.
I move out the way so Ruby has a clean shot.
The woman blocks the shots with her swords and then just looks up and smiles at them. However, the elevator doors open again and all three look back to see Ironwood show up. Ironwood notices us, and I grunt to see that the woman has already escaped when we were distracted.
"What is going on here?" Ironwood asks.
Me and Ruby deactivate our weapons, "That's what I'd like to know," I mutter, not noticing the queen chess piece appear on one of the computer screens for a quick second.
Writer: And that's where we end things off, for now, I'll keep this short. It's time for the adults to show up.
Until next time.