Chapter 23
Ruby sat at a table, thinking about Blake and how she has been acting. She was worried about her teammate because of her obsession to find answers. She was pulled from her thoughts by Weiss who slammed two pieces of table cloth in front of her.
"I need you to pick a table cloth." The heiress said showing the samples to Ruby. The silver eyed girl looked at the identical pieces then back at Weiss.
"Aren't they both the same?" she asked.
"Grr! I don't even know why I asked!"
Weiss then walked away with the samples in her hand. Ruby then went back to thinking about Blake. Behind her Yang placed a speaker her height on the floor. Dusting off her hands, the blonde brawler stood next to her little sister.
"So, have you picked out a dress yet?" she asked.
"What's the point?" Ruby replied, "Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?"
"Oh, don't worry." Theodore's voice said next to them. Both sisters looked to see him finish another row of chairs. He then walked over to them. "She's going. Clair will see to that."
"Hey Boss!" Argent called. All three looked to see him carrying a speaker, the same size as Yang's, with one hand. "Where do you want this?"
"Put it on the left side of the stage." Theodore answered. The silver haired axe wielder did as he was told and placed the speaker down, close to the stage. Hearing a whistle, Argent turned to see Yang waving at him.
"Hey, Argent!" she called, "Can you come over here please?"
He nodded and walked over to where Yang, Ruby, and Theodore were.
"What is it Yang?" he asked.
"Can you please flex your muscles on one of your arms?" she said with puppy dog eyes, "I want to see how hard they are."
"If you insist."
Argent then stretched his left arm all the way out and flex his bicep. Yang walked over to him and touched the muscle. She started to run her hands all over his beefy arm.
"Why does he call you boss?" Ruby asked Theodore.
"He just thinks it's appropriate since we work together." He replied.
"Mama like." Yang said while running her hands on his shoulder.
"I'm glad you like that I keep myself fit Yang," Argent interjected, "but shouldn't we finish decorating the place?"
"Awww. You're no fun." Yang playfully said, but her attitude went from joking to annoyance when she turned around. "Weiss! I thought we agreed. No Doylies!"
"If I don't get Doylies, you don't get fog machines!" the heiress said getting in Yang's face. Their disagreement was interrupted when they heard the doors open and close. Turning to the source, everyone saw Sun and Neptune walk into the hall.
"Your dance is going to have fog machines?" Neptune asked.
"We were thinking about it." Weiss answered.
"That's pretty cool."
"You ladies all excited for dress up?" Sun asked.
"Pfft. Yeah right." Ruby said.
"Laugh all you want." Yang retorted, "I'll be turning heads tomorrow night."
"What are you two wearing?" Weiss asked Sun and Neptune.
"Uhhhh this." Sun said while pointing to what he was wearing now.
"Ignore him," Neptune said, "for he knows not what he says."
"Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vaccuo. It's not exactly a shirt and tie kind of place."
"Yeah, we've noticed." Argent said looking unimpressed as well as the rest of the group.
"So, uh, what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, you know…Blakey?"
"Obviously." Weiss replied.
"I still can't think of a way to change her mind." Ruby said.
"Guys." Theodore intervened, "I already told you. Blake will be at the dance. Clair will see to that."
"Speaking of Clair, Boss," Argent said reaching behind his back, "he wanted me to give you these to hold onto."
He placed something on the table where Ruby was sitting, and everyone was surprised to see Clair's gauntlets in front of them.
"He left his gauntlets?" Theodore asked, "Why?"
"Clair believed that he could be less intimidating in talking to Blake without have his Claws of Death on him."
"Good point." Theodore then opened his trench coat and slipped the gauntlets into one of his pockets. Sun, Neptune, and Weiss had surprised looks on their faces. Theodore looked at them and just padded his coat.
"Inter dimensional pockets. Bigger on the inside." He said and started to walk away. He then heard a scream and turned around to see Yang with her gauntlets, Ember Celia, activated. She was pointing them at one of the flower pots with balloons attached.
"What's wrong?!" he asked.
"I saw a flying woman!" Yang said, "She just merged with the flower pot!"
"That's impossible Yang!" Weiss retorted.
"Flying woman merge with- "Theodore stopped mid-sentence and walked to the flower pot. "I told you to stay in the dorm!"
Everyone thought Theodore went crazy but were shocked to see that Yang was right in saying what she saw. A flying woman emerged from the flower pot. She had blue eyes and black hair that reached to her back and looked to be 5'8". She wore a suit identical to the one Theodore wore when he did his magic show. She was floating a few feet off the ground.
"I came looking for you because you were taking forever." She said, "Also I wanted to see how you were getting along with your friends."
"Seriously?" he asked, "You could've told me before I came here to hang up decorations."
"Uh, Theodore," Ruby said with some fear in her voice, "Who is that?"
"Yeah, and how do you know her?!" Yang demanded.
"Excuse me, don't you think…wait a second." The woman said and flew to the five frightened students, "You all can see me?"
"Uh, yeah." Sun replied in a scared manner.
"Theodore how can they see me? I thought only your team could."
"They were exposed to some powerful magic when one of them messed with my spell book." Theodore said looking directly at Sun.
"Theodore who or what is she?!" Weiss asked. Theodore just sighed and gestured to the woman.
"Everyone, meet my mom," he announced, "or her ghost at least. Zatanna Zatara Constantine."
All five students looked at Zatanna then back at Theodore both out of surprise and looking for a resemblance.
Now that I see her closely, Ruby thought to herself. She does have the same color of hair and eyes as he does.
"Your m-m-mom?" Sun stuttered.
"Her g-g-ghost?!" Neptune asked while shaking in his boots.
"Uh, yeah." Theodore replied in a matter of fact tone.
"I'm gonna go get some air." Sun said and ran full speed out of the hall.
"Yeah, me too." Neptune added, following his partner.
"Should've known that was going to happen." Zatanna said while watching the boys run away. "They were probably taught that there are no such things as ghosts."
"Yeah, probably." Theodore said. The three girls just looked at them in shock. Their friend, Vale's Hometown Hero, was talking to what he claimed was his mother's ghost. Weiss then looked to Argent and was more surprised to see he was not shocked.
"How come your not surprised?" she asked.
"Because I could already see her for quite some time." He answered.
"What?!"
"When you work with Theodore as long as I have, you tend to start seeing the things he sees. By the way, she's right behind you."
The heiress turned around to see Zatanna a few inches from her face. This caused her to shriek and jump a few feet back. The ghost just floated towards where she had landed, right next to Ruby and Yang.
"So, you are three members of the famous Team RWBY my son has been telling me so much about." She said with a smile.
"Um…yeah." Yang replied finally relaxing and smiling, "We are. I'm Yang Xiao Long. This is Weiss Schnee and sitting on the chair is my little sister-"
"Ruby Rose." Zatanna interrupted and floated towards the silver eyed girl.
"How did you know?" Ruby asked.
"Theodore told me about you." The ghost replied, "How much of a good leader you are, how well you work with your teammates, how optimistic you are and that you were his first friend here."
"Really?"
"Mm-hm. I'm so happy my Little Magician found someone special to go to the dance with."
"MOM!" Theodore exclaimed out of shock and embarrassment after hearing what his mother had said, "I HAVEN'T EVEN ASKED HER YET!"
He put his hands over his mouth after realizing what he just said. Looking towards the group, they all had different reactions. Zatanna had one of shock realizing what she just revealed. Argent was trying not to laugh at what he heard. Weiss had a smile on her face, possibly already knowing he was going to ask her partner to the dance. Ruby face was as red as her cape. Yang on the other hand, looked like she was about to explode. Her face supported a scowl, her eyes were red, and her hair was glowing like it was on fire. She cocked her gauntlets which got surprised looks from everyone.
"Run." She said to Theodore.
"With pleasure." He replied, fear laced in his voice, and ran out the door. Once it had closed behind him, Yang let out an angry shout and chased after him.
"I'll go make sure she doesn't kill him." Argent said and ran out of the hall as well.
"She we also make sure that Theodore doesn't get hurt?" Ruby asked Weiss.
"Absolutely!" the heiress replied and both students, followed by Zatanna, ran in the direction Theodore, Yang, and Argent went.
Blake was in the library, doing research on one of the computers. She looked as if she could fall asleep at any moment but refused to. She was typing in some words when a red dot appeared on the screen. Watching move around, it went onto her hand and then vanished. Looking behind her, Blake tried to find the source of the laser light. She couldn't see anyone doing it though and continued her research.
Right as she began to type again, the red dot appeared again on her hand. Looking behind her, she once again tried to find the source. No one looked to be sitting anywhere close to her. All the students in the library were either on a computer or reading books. Blake turned back to the computer to find the red dot, moving around on the screen again. She let out a groan of anger and slammed her fists on the desk. She then got out of the chair she was sitting in and stood up to look for the source. She saw the red dot on the floor moving away from her and decided to follow it.
I don't have time for this! She thought to herself, If this is Cardin's idea of a joke, he's going to learn not to bother me the hard way!
Blake followed the red dot to an isle between two book shelves. She stopped when she saw a pair of black boots. She immediately recognized them and looked up to see Clair with a laser pen in his hand. He then turned it off and put it in his pocket.
"Afternoon." He said.
"What're are you…?"
"We need to talk." Clair then grabbed Blake by her wrist and dragged her out of the library.
Ren walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and clean. He let out a sigh of relief and started walked towards where his clothes were (he had only a towel wrapped around his waist) before he was stopped by Jaune.
"We need to talk." The blond-haired knight said before pulled Ren to one of the beds, making him drop his bottle of Samurai Shampoo in the process. When they sat of one of the beds though, they heard a groan. Standing up Jaune looked under the bed to see Theodore.
"What are you doing under there?" he asked.
"Hiding from Yang." The young sorcerer replied in a whispering tone.
"Well, she's not here, so why don't you come out from under the bed and sit up here? You look uncomfortable and I was hoping to talk to both you and Ren."
Theodore crawled out from under and stood up. While fixing his coat though, he was shocked to see Ren in only a bath towel. Removing his coat, Theodore waved it around Ren replacing his towel with his normal attire, making him fully dressed.
"Thank you." Ren said with a smile.
"You're welcome." Theodore replied while putting his coat back on. He then sat on Jaune's left while Ren was sitting on Jaune's right. "You wanted to talk to us about something?"
"Ren, Theodore…" Jaune started, "I'm just going to come out and say it. You guys are two of my best friends. These past few months I feel like we've really bonded, even you don't say much Ren. I mean you're really quiet, while Theodore will gladly have a conversation with anyone. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you personally, but DARN IT! I CONSIDER BOTH YOU AND THEODORE THE BROTHERS I NEVER HAD!"
"I'm…honored." Theodore replied.
"And I you." Ren said.
"Which is why I wanted to get both of your advice on…girls." Jaune continued.
"Girls?" Theodore and Ren asked at the same time.
"I just…" Jaune hesitated, "Don't know…how to…girls. Um, I, uhh. I'm guess what I'm asking is…well…Theodore, how do you get girls to fawn over you so easily, and Ren, how did you and Nora…well…you know."
"I'm sorry, what?!" Theodore exclaimed.
"Uh, uh, uh…" Ren staggered surprised. All three boys then heard someone clear their throat. They looked to see Nora on her bed, sitting up while reading a book, she was wearing a black t-shirt with the word BOOP on it. The last O had a hammer on it. She was also wearing pink shorts with lighting bolt on them. Around her neck were pink headphones which had music playing out of them.
"Heh, heh, heh." She laughed in an embarrassed manner before speaking. "We're not actually… together, together."
"NORA! I SAID HEADPHONES ON!" Jaune exclaimed, to which the she placed her accessory back on her head, covering her ears and blocking out the conversation.
"Jaune, what is this all about?" Ren asked.
"Ok, first off, I don't like when the girls fawn over me. It gets annoying and to be honest, it's kind of creepy. Second, answer Ren's question."
Jaune let out a sigh before answering.
"It's Pyrrha." He said, "I'm completely head over heels for her and…I don't even have the courage to ask her out to the dance. I'm mean she's incredible. She's strong, smart, and beautiful. While I'm…almost an average guy. I bet there are so many other guys asking her to the dance as we speak. I don't even know if she'd want to go with me."
Jaune felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Theodore with a comforting smile on his face.
"Dude, you've got more courage than you let on." He said, "You came to Beacon knowing you might get thrown out. You saved mine and Cardin's lives in the Emerald Forest. Most importantly though, you kept my secret from being known to all of Remnant. I don't know about you, but I think that from all that you definitely have the courage to ask Pyrrha out to the dance."
"Would she even accept me though?"
"Why not ask her yourself?"
Jaune gave Theodore a confused look after hearing what he just said. The young sorcerer gestured to the door and the knight saw the girl he was talking about standing right there. Jaune supported a surprised look on his face while also worrying about one thing.
"H-how much of that did you hear?" Jaune asked Pyrrha nervously.
"The part where you admitted how you felt up to Theodore telling you how much courage you have." She replied, "Which is also true, Jaune. You have so much courage that you don't see yet."
Hearing those words from his partner made Jaune a little more confident. Turning back to Theodore, he saw his friend gesture to Pyrrha with a smile on his face. Jaune took in a deep breath and then exhaled.
"It's now or never." He said to himself then stood up and walked to Pyrrha he was standing right in front of her. He then summoned all the courage he had and asked her the question he had been wanting to ask for a while. "Pyrrha…would you…do the me the honors of…coming to the dance…with me…as my partner?"
Five seconds passed before Pyrrha responded.
"Of course, I would Jaune." She said with a smile on her face. "You don't know how long I've wanted to hear you ask that."
Hearing that put a smile on Jaune's face. Seeing that everything was cleared up, Theodore stoop up from the bed and made his way towards the door. Checking that the coast was clear, he walked out and was about to leave when Jaune called him.
"Theodore." The knight asked, "Why are you hiding from Yang?"
"It's a little complicated." Theodore replied while turning to face Jaune. He was about to go on when he heard footsteps. Turning to his left he saw Yang standing at the end of the hallway, her eyes still read, hair dancing with flames, and gauntlets at the ready.
"CONSTANTINE!" she shouted and dashed towards him. Theodore ran the other way and top speed hoping to lose her. Team JNPR watched as Yang chased down the hallway and out of sight. They then heard another set of foot steps and looked to see Argent running in the same direction. Hearing another set of footsteps, they saw Ruby and Weiss going in that direction as well.
"We should probably follow them," Jaune said to his team, "and make sure Yang doesn't hurt Theodore badly, while also finding out what's going on."
His whole team nodded in agreement. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren went after them while Nora changed into her usual attire. It took her five seconds to change and three seconds to catch up to them.
Theodore had thought he had lost Yang in the courtyard and was catching his breath in the combat classroom. He was wrong. Hearing the doors slam open he saw Yang standing there, ready to pounce.
"Yang, please." Theodore pleaded, "I really don't want to have an unnecessary fight."
"Too bad," she growled back, "because this is going to HURT!"
With that said she leapt towards Theodore. Weiss, Ruby, Argent, and Team JNPR caught up just in time to see Yang flying towards the young sorcerer. What they didn't expect though was to see the blond brawler miss her target and slam face first into the wall. After three seconds of just staying in place there like a cartoon, she fell to the floor on her back. She started to get up and everyone feared for Theodore's safety they were surprised, however, too see Yang dusting herself off in a calm state. When she opened her eyes though, everyone got a shock.
Instead of the normal iliac color when she was calm or the red when she was angry, her eyes were blue. When she looked at Theodore, she spoke to him in a calm voice.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" Yang asked which got a surprised look from everyone. The tone of her voice held a more mature tone to it.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Theodore replied, "What do you think?"
"This girl has strong arms and strong legs. For a minute I thought I was taking control of Kara."
"Good to know." Without warning, Theodore punched Yang in the left arm with an angry look on his face. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! DO YOU WANT ME TO GET SENT TO THE INFIMARY OR AN EARLY GRAVE?!"
"First off, don't yell at your mother!" Yang replied, "Second, don't hit your mother! Third, how was I supposed to know she would react like that?!"
"I specifically remember telling you about Yang's temper!"
"Um, Yang." Ruby called, "Why are you saying all those weird things?"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry, darling." Yang replied, looking at Ruby. Everyone was shocked to see Zatanna exit Yang's body. The blond brawler collapsed onto her hands and knees but quickly recovered. She stood up with her eyes their normal color with a confused look on her face.
"What just happened?!" she asked Theodore.
"My mom just possessed you." He replied.
"Your mom?!" Team JNPR asked. Seeing the new addition to the crowd, Theodore introduced them to his mom. At the mention of her being a ghost, Jaune fainted. Luckily, Argent caught him before he could hit the floor.
"Why was Yang trying to pulverize Theodore?" Pyrrha asked Weiss.
"Because his mom revealed that he wanted to go to the dance with Ruby." Weiss answered which caused Ruby to blush.
"OHHH! THAT IS SO ADORABLE!" Nora exclaimed.
"Just when were you going to tell me this Theodore?!" Yang asked him in an angry tone.
"When we were done decorating." He replied, "I was hoping to ask your permission to take her to the dance first."
"My permission?"
"I couldn't ask your dad since he's not here."
"Good point." Yang then grabbed Theodore by the collar of his trench coat and pulled him out of the classroom and to the dorms.
"I hope the meeting goes well." Ren said while watching the two leave.
"Clair, if you're going to tell me to stop you may as well just save your breath." Blake said to the tiger Faunus. Both were in a different classroom, away from everyone else. While Blake was pacing around Clair was sitting on the desk, crossed legged while watching her.
"I don't want you to stop." He replied in a calm voice, "I want you to slow down."
"We don't…have the luxury to slow down." Blake said back, halting her pace while looking at him.
"It's not a luxury. It's a necessity."
"The necessity is stopping Torchwick!"
"And we're going to, but first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say."
"Fine." Blake sat down in front of him on the same desk.
"I never told anyone about my past. Not even Theodore." He started, "You're going to be the first."
"Your…past?" she asked.
"Yeah. I came from what you might call a strange family. I didn't know my mother's occupation other than she could fight. She was a tiger Faunus. My father…he was a human sailor, commanding his own ship."
"Your father was human?!" Blake interrupted with surprise on her face.
"Yeah." Clair said with a sad smile. "I'm what you might call a…half breed. Anyway, while traveling the seas he met my mother on one of his voyages. You know how the story goes, they fell in love, got married and had me. Not only was I their son, but proof that humans and Faunus could coexist in harmony. Being half though had its downsides. I was feared and hated by both races. The only love that I got was from my parents. Sadly, there was no happily ever after for either of them. When I was nine years old, my father was killed in a hate crime because he married a Faunus. My mother retaliated in the most brutal way. She killed them, with her bare hands."
"I'm so sorry." Blake said in a sad voice, "It must have been very hard on you."
"It was. It was also hard on my mother too. Fearing for my safety she took me to a remote village, hidden in the forests of Mistral. She left me there with a foster family, hoping I would be safe and loved. I never saw her again."
"Were you?" Blake asked.
"Was I what?" Clair replied.
"Were you accepted and loved?"
"I was. Turns out, the couple were also human and Faunus, but the other way around. Not only was I accepted by them but also by the whole village."
"What was it called?"
"Shambala." Hearing this got a look of surprise from Blake.
"I've heard of that village! Humans and Faunus were coexisting peacefully…until a wildfire broke out and destroyed-Clair I don't understand what this has to do with me! "
"Because in a way you and I a similar. We never stopped when devoted to do something, except mine wasn't for answers. It was for vengeance."
"Vengeance?" Clair got off the desk and looked away from Blake, staring at the chalk board. Blake stood up as well and noticed that he wasn't wearing his gauntlets.
"Tell me, Blake." He said after ten seconds of silence. "Do you know what it's like…to lose…everything?"
"No."
"A wildfire didn't destroy Shambala."
"What do you mean?"
"Five years ago, four years after being accepted into the village and making lots of friends, we got a visit…from the White Fang."
"What?!"
"Adam was leading the group. They all had weapons and looked as if they were preparing for an attack. I didn't know what was going on, but my foster father told me to stay inside the house. I watched from the window as he went outside to face Adam. He said there was no need for violence and that both races could coexist in peace and happiness. Adam answered him…by cutting him down. I was horrified by what I saw. My foster mother told me to run and being so scared I did as I was told, not expecting to see something so horrific, it would haunt for the rest of my life. I looked back to see my village being destroyed, my friends being killed. Young, old, women, children, human, and Faunus. He killed them all. He killed them just to hide the fact that both races could live together without bloodshed. I lost everything that night to the White Fang. To this day, I can still smell the smoke and hear their screams."
Blake had a horrified look on her face. She knew that Adam used extreme measures, but never that extreme. She saw him as an extremist, but never a monster.
"Clair…" she sputtered out, "I…how could…I didn't know he did such a thing."
"I guessed that you didn't." The tiger Faunus replied, "You look like the person who only kills if deemed absolutely necessary. Adam probably hid the information from you, fearing that you would leave the minute you learned of the genocide he committed. I attacked the White Fang for five years straight hoping to draw Adam out of hiding. During that time, I didn't notice that I had become like him…a monster."
"I'm so sorry for what happened to you," Blake said while wiping away the tears that were threatening to come out, "and I understand now why you hate the White Fang so much and 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- "
"I told you! I'm not telling you to stop!" Clair interrupted with his fists clenched. "I haven't. I still want Adam to pay for what he did. Though, instead of revenge, I was taught by Theodore Constantine to want justice in four simple words. A part of me wants to see Adam behind bars while I still struggle with the idea of killing him. Either way, I won't let either of those impulses 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?"
"You don't understand!" Blake said with an angry look, "I'm the only one who can do this!"
"No!" Clair said, turning to Blake with an angry look of his own, "You don't understand that you're not the only one in this. That and you're past the point of exhaustion! Tell me, if Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do?!"
"I'd fight him!"
"You'd lose!" Clair said while giving Blake a small shove, causing her to support herself on the desk. She recovered and tried to push Clair but couldn't put any strength into it because of her current condition.
"I could stop him!" she said.
"YOU CAN'T EVEN STOP ME!" The tiger Faunus said and shoved her onto the desk. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF HOW YOUR TEAMMATES AND FRIENDS FEEL RIGHT NOW?! HOW WORRIED THEY ARE ABOUT YOU?!"
At the mention of her team and friends Blake looked up at him with anger on her face. It quickly turned to surprise, however, when she saw something. There were tears in Clair's eyes. She thought it must have been from talking about his home, Shambala, and the sadness coming back again. She stood up to comfort him but didn't expect him to hug her.
"I'm not asking you to stop." he said in a calmer voice, "I'm asking you as one of Faunus blood and a friend. Please, get some rest. Not just for you, but for the people you care about. Also, if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance."
Saying that, he let go and walked away. Blake watched him walk around the desk as he wiped the tears from his eyes. As he made his way up the steps though, something clicked in her mind, something she needed to know.
"Clair!" she called causing the tiger Faunus to stop and look at her. "What were the four words that Theodore said to you that made you change your ways?"
"His exact words were, 'There's been enough killing.'" He said and exited the classroom. Blake let out a sigh and exited the classroom.
Yang was at the entrance of the hall, waiting for guests so that she could sign them in. She was dressed in a white, sleeveless dress that reached to her knees. Argent was standing right next to her, wearing a silver tuxedo with green outlines. He had also combed his hair to make himself look more presentable.
"When will your sister get here?" he asked.
"Theodore is supposed to bring her." Yang answered. On cue, both saw Ruby and Theodore walk through the door. The blonde's face went from surprise to excitement at seeing her sister. She started jumping up and down while saying "Oh! You look beautiful!"
Ruby walked in on shaky legs with Theodore right behind her. She wore a red and dark grey, sleeveless dress, with a bow on her left side, that reached half way to her knees, complete with dark grey leggings and black high heeled shoes. That was the reason she was shaking, because she felt off balance. Theodore wore a black tuxedo with white outlines. He was standing behind Ruby to make sure she didn't fall.
"Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" Ruby asked before almost stumbling. Theodore decide to stand next to her and offered his arm for support. The silver eyed student gladly grabbed his arm and leaned on him for support. Yang was laughing while Argent was recording the whole thing with his scroll. Theodore shot him a look that said, 'If you post it, you'll be in trouble.'
Outside Sun was walking with Clair on his left. The monkey Faunus didn't look any different expect for his black short sleeved, V-cut shirt with a light blue tie with it. The tiger Faunus wore a tuxedo that was black with orange outlines.
"Stupid, dumb, neck trap." Sun said stopping in his tracks to fix his tie. Clair stopped as well and turned to help his companion with his tie. Just as he finished though, they both heard a voice that was addressed to Sun.
"I knew you'd look better in a tie." It said. Looking towards the source, both boys saw Blake standing a few feet from them. She wore a black, short sleeved dress that reached to her knees. Complete with her usual bow on her head, she looked stunning. Clair smiled at seeing that she was rested and smiling. He smiled even more when she walked up to Sun and wrapped her left around his right arm. Both started to walk to the dance with Clair on Blake's right.
"So, does this mean we're going…together?" Sun asked hopefully.
"Technically," Blake answered then looked to Clair, "but my first dance is spoken for."
Everyone was enjoying themselves at the dance. Most students were dancing with one another and some were just enjoying the company of talking with each other. Blake had just finished her dance with Clair and both took a bow. She was surprised that he could dance, considering that most of his life was composed of battles. Pushing those thoughts aside, she started to dance with Sun and was enjoying every moment, laughing in the process. She looked to were Clair was standing and saw her teammates along with Theodore watching with smiles of their own. She flashed a look to Clair that said, 'Thank you.'
"You were right when you said she would come." Yang said to the Theodore.
"Yes, he was." Clair said.
"Mission accomplished." Weiss said, who was dressed in a grey and white, sleeveless drees that reached halfway down her thighs.
"So…what do we do now?" Ruby asked.
"Is that a trick question?" Theodore said.
"Just have fun!" Yang said and everyone except Theodore walked away from to do their own thing.
"Does that mean I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now?!" Ruby asked but was answered with silence even from Theodore. "Stupid, lady stilts."
"Don't say that." Theodore said, "To me, you look amazing."
"You think so?" Ruby asked with a blush.
"Think so? I know so."
"Not enjoying yourselves?" The familiar voice of Ozpin asked Ruby. Both students looked to see the headmaster standing behind them.
"Oh! No, heh heh, everything's fine." Ruby replied, "I'm just not much of a fancy, pansy…dancy girl."
"What of you, Mr. Constantine?" The headmaster asked the young sorcerer.
"I did magic acts with my mom since I was eight." Theodore replied, "I don't mind parties. I just don't like being crowded."
"Well, you can't spend your entire lives on the battle fields, even if you may want to."
"Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately." Ruby replied with a sour look.
"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, although, one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot."
"Or a twisted ankle."
"It's not everyday 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 keep them stronger than ever. Nights like these dare ones we'll never forget."
"On that note," Theodore said, standing in front of Ruby and holding out his right hand to her, "Ruby Rose, would you like to dance with me?"
"Me? Dance?" Ruby said while blushing, "I-I-I-I'm sorry, Theodore. I really don't know how."
"It's okay. I've got steel toed shoes, so that even if you step on my foot, I'll be all right."
Hearing that almost caused Ruby to laugh. She held it in though and placed her left hand in his with a smile. Both then walked to the dance floor and started to dance. Argent was watching from the entrance until her heard the door open. Turning he saw Emerald and Mercury walk in. The thief was wearing a green and black sleeveless dress that reached to her knees while the assassin wore a black tuxedo with orange outlines.
"You guys are just in time." Argent said with a smile while trying the hold the hostilely inside. He didn't trust them or their leader at all and was worried that they would try something on a night such as this.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Mercury said with a smile.
AN: Hey, everyone. School has been a real hassle, but I was able to finish and post another chapter. Thank you for your continued support and patience. Sentinel Prime, out!