Chapter 24

Everyone was enjoying themselves at the dance. Some students were either dancing or having conversations with one another. Even the professors were enjoying themselves. Port was laughing at something that Oobleck had told him, either a funny recollection or just a plain joke. Ozpin and Glynda were just watching in Ironwood showed up and asked the combat instructor to dance with him, which she accepted. Ruby and Theodore were on the dance floor trying to dance. The silver eyed student was having trouble and was mostly stepping on the young sorcerer's feet. Surprisingly, he didn't once shout out or even flinch.

His steel toed shoes really work. Ruby thought to herself. She then looked back up to Theodore and saw something she didn't expect. Though he was smiling there were tears in his eyes.

"Theodore, are you okay?" she asked with concern.

"I'm fine Ruby." Theodore replied, "Why wouldn't I be? Why are looking at me with surprise? Is there something on my face?"

"Well…it looks like your crying."

Hearing that caused look of surprise to show up on Theodore's face. Removing his left hand from Ruby's waist, he wiped at his eyes and saw that she was telling the truth. There were tears on his hands. Looking around the room, Theodore saw for the split second the room shift from a ballroom to a theater and back again. Looking back at Ruby he saw that she had a worried look on her face. Letting go of her he walked to a window and saw why. Tears were streaming down his face.

"Theodore, what's wrong?" Ruby asked, appearing behind him with a worried look.

"I'm sorry, Ruby." Theodore said without looking at her, "I-I-I need some air."

Saying that, Theodore made his ways towards the doors leaving Ruby alone near the drinks. She poured herself a drink while wondering what was wrong with her friend. He had given sad looks before, but never shed any tears. She was pulled from her thoughts when Jaune appeared right next to her, who was dressed in a black tuxedo with red outlines, and a drink in his hand.

"I see you're hiding at the punch bowl too." He said.

"Yup." Ruby replied, adding a pop to the end of the word.

"To the socially awkward." Both clanged their cups together in a cheers motion.

"How's your night with Pyrrha?" Ruby asked.

"It's great, so far." Jaune replied. "She needed to go the restroom, so I came here for a drink while waiting for her to come back. I got to say, Neptune is pretty cool. I can see why Weiss went with him instead of Titian."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I saw Weiss asking Neptune to the dance after hearing that Titian was turned down by her. I mean, come on. How many people can pull off blue hair? That and he's not a hardened soldier."

"No, I mean…Weiss came to the dance alone."

Jaune was in the middle of drinking his punch and hearing what Ruby said nearly made him cough it up.

"Uh, what?!" Jaune asked. He then looked to see Weiss trying to make a flower stand up straight but failing.

"Yeah, she said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys." Ruby said. Jaune then saw Weiss look in the direction of laughter with a sad look on her face. Blake and Sun were laughing at something that Neptune was telling them. After he was done, he started laughing as well. This caused Jaune to support an angry look on his face.

"Hold my punch." He said to Ruby without looking at her and handed her his drink. Once she had taken it, he started walking towards where Neptune was. Seeing that she was doing nothing at the moment, Ruby decided to go find Theodore and see what was wrong, so she put down the glass and followed where the young sorcerer was last seen.

Jaune was making his way through the crowd, gently pushing past anyone near him. When he got past a few more people though, he saw Pyrrha walk past him. Continuing to watch her, Jaune saw her go up the stairs and onto the balcony. Thinking that something was wrong, he decided to deal with Neptune later and went after Pyrrha. He saw her on the balcony looking up to the clear night sky, where the stars were shining brightly. To Jaune, Pyrrha looked beautiful in her red sleeveless dress that reached to her feet.

"Hey, Pyrrha." Jaune said, walking up to her right.

"Hello, Jaune." Pyrrha replied with a smile.

"Are you okay? You didn't come and find me after you got out."

"Sorry. I just wanted some air. It's a little crowded down in the ballroom."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." There was five seconds of silence before the blond knight spoke again. "Pyrrha, I wanted to ask. How many guys asked you to the dance before I did?"

"None." Pyrrha replied turning to Jaune.

"Heh…What?" Jaune said, thinking at first it was a joke before seeing that she was serious.

"Nobody asked me."

"But that's-eh-you're Pyrrha Nikos! H-How could nobody ask you?!"

"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. 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."

"You're sort of forgetting that Theodore was part of it as well." That caused Pyrrha to chuckle.

"You're right. He was part of it was well, but you were the one who summoned the courage to ask me. He didn't urge you or cast a bravery spell on you. You just asked from your own heart." Pyrrha walked up to Jaune and placed a hand on his cheek. "Thank you Jaune, for seeing me…for me. Not as in my celebrity way, but as in a normal person."

Pyrrha then let go of Jaune's cheek and started to walk back to the dance floor. The blond knight just stood there for five seconds with a smile on his face while blushing at the same time. Before he could join Pyrrha on the dance floor though, he saw the person he was going to have a serious conversation with standing a few feet away from him.

"Hey!" Neptune said, "Jaune, right?"

"Yeah." Jaune replied in a quiet tone.

"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing. Pfft."

"Yeah."

"Cute girls though, huh?"

That last comment made Jaune let out an angry growl.

"Is that all you think about?" Jaune asked Neptune in an angry tone.

"Huh?" Neptune replied.

"D-Do you even care, about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?"

"Woah! Where's this coming from?"

"How could you just turn her down like that?!"

"Wait! W-Who?!"

"Weiss!"

"I uhhh…it uhhhh…it just didn't work out, you know."

"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- "

"Can't dance." That answer caught Jaune off guard.

"Beg your pardon?" the blond knight asked, wanting to clarify what he just heard.

"I can't dance, man." Neptune replied, while looking away, embarrassed.

"But, you're…so cool." That caused the blue haired boy to look back at Jaune.

"Thank you. I try really, really hard."

"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?"

"That about sums it up. Yeah."

"Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself."

"Please, don't tell anybody. Also, there's another reason why I didn't accept her invite."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show you. Follow me."

On a second story overlooking the ballroom, Yang and Argent watched as everyone enjoyed themselves.

"You know," Yang said, "I think we really needed this."

Down below, both could see Blake and Sun dancing with one another in rhythm to the music, while Ren struggled to keep up with Nora. Even Penny was dancing with her bodyguards close by.

"Yeah," Argent replied, "and you did a great job of planning it too."

"Thanks, big guy! It wasn't all me though. You and your team did a lot too. So, you want to dance?"

"I'm supposed to ask that, but sure. Let's go."

Both then walked down to the dance floor and started to dance. On a far end of the room, Titian was looking around for someone. He was dressed in his uniform which had long sleeved and white with red outlines. His pants were the same color, complete with black dress shoes. On the upper left side of his uniform were a series of badges and medals. On both of his sleeves were stripes that showed his chain of command. On the right side of his uniform was his last name. Continuing to look around, he saw a certain heiress sitting by herself. Titian decided to speak with her and see what's wrong, so he walked up to her until he was a few inches in front of her.

"Miss Schnee," he addressed causing Weiss to look up at him, "are you here alone?"

Weiss didn't answer him immediately, just stared at him in his uniform. She blushed when she realized what she was doing and looked away.

"Yes." She replied, "I chose to come alone."

"I thought you'd be here with Neptune. He didn't invite you?"

"No, I asked him. He just…turned me down."

"He did what?!" Weiss looked up to see a shocked look on Titian's face which then turned to anger. "That ignorant, self-centered little-I'll hurt him so bad, he'll go to a school that will teach him manners."

Titian then took a few breaths to calm himself. The heiress stared at him surprised of his reaction. She expected him to immediately march off and find Neptune but was impressed at his restraint and attempts to calm himself down. Once he had done that, she was even more surprised to see him support a smile and offer his hand to her.

"Since we're both here," he said, "would you like to dance?"

Weiss wanted to say 'no' at first but seeing as how he was willing to dance with her even after she rejected his invitation to come to the dance with him, she smiled took his hand, stood up and followed him to the dance floor. Both started to dance to the music and Weiss was surprised that he was actually able to keep in rhythm.

"Who taught you how to dance?" She asked out of fascination and curiosity.

"My mom." Titian replied with a sad smile.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin the moment."

"No, it's okay. You didn't know."

Wanting to change the subject, Weiss saw the stripes on his sleeves and decided to ask him about them.

"What do the stripes stand for?" she asked. Titian no longer had a sad look to his smile at hearing her question.

"The stripes show the chain of command I represent." He answered. "In this case, they show the rank of commander."

"So, you worked for the commander?"

"No. I was the commander."

"Really?!"

"Yes. The only two officers that I answered to would be the general and captain."

"Your father and someone else?"

"Yes."

"What was your captain like?" That caused five seconds of silence and Titian's face morphed to one of contempt.

"That is one thing I won't speak about." He said in an angry tone.

"Do you…hate your father?" Weiss asked cautiously. The rouge soldier looked to her in surprise.

"No, I don't hate him." Titian replied, "I just don't trust him. The person I truly hate…is my captain."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah."

Weiss seeing that the subject was uncomfortable to talk about, Weiss again changed it to the medals that hung on his uniform.

"What do the medals stand for?" She asked. Again, Titian's face perked up.

"Most of them are for action beyond the line of duty." He replied, "Two of them though are for saving lives and courage."

"That's amazing."

"I'm glad you think so."

Both then just settled to dance in silence with smiles on their faces. Above them, Jaune and Neptune watched as both the heiress and the soldier dancing together.

"This is why I turned her down." Neptune said.

"I don't understand." Jaune replied.

"Titian's been fighting his whole life with no time for anything outside of the army. He didn't even have time to go to parties and dance with girls. The army always took up his time for everything. When I heard that Weiss turned him down, I was pretty mad. He finally had some time for something other than the army and she slammed the door in his face. So, by turning her down, I hoped that Titian would have a chance to finally dance with someone, other than a practice robot."

"Wow. I didn't look at it that way."

"Most people don't, but hey. If he gets to have fun tonight, it's worth it."

"You're a better person than I took you for, Neptune."

"Eh, it's okay. Gotta look out for all of our friends, right?"

"Right."

Both boys did a fist bump before heading back down to the dance floor. The music then changed to a more upbeat tone and everyone started to dance. On the upper floor, Mercury and Emerald were watching from above with smirks on their faces.

"It appears all the dancers have partners." Emerald said, talking into a COMM link.

"How long do I have?" the voice of Cinder asked.

"We should probably be home by midnight to be safe." Mercury answered.

"I'll keep my eye on the clock."

Ruby decided to look outside to find Theodore. Hopefully, he didn't leave the school and head into the city. Exiting the ballroom, Ruby looked to her left and saw Theodore kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down his face and onto the pavement. She rushed to his side, knelt down on the pavement and placed her hands on his shoulder's hoping to get his attention.

"Theodore," Ruby said with concern, "please, tell me what's wrong."

Theodore looked to Ruby with the tears still streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry, Ruby." He said, while wiping away the tears, "I'm supposed to be having fun with you and everyone else, but…the crowd, the room, the lights, the music, it brought back a…painful memory."

"What memory?"

"It's probably best if I just show you. I warn you though, there are some things that would disturb you and side effects."

Kneeling in front of Ruby, the young sorcerer placed his right hand on the silver eyed girl's forehead while placing his left on his own. He then spoke something in a different language unknown to Ruby.

"Memoria de uno anno elapse."

Ruby watched as the scenery around them shifted and changed around them. What had once been outside of the ballroom became the inside of a theater. It was full of people with smiles and anticipation on their faces. The silver eyed girl was amazed at what she saw and looked to Theodore who had a smile on his face.

"Memory spell." He said, "Took a while to learn."

Both then heard a puff and looked to see two pillars of smoke on stage. The smoke cleared to show a living Zatanna, smiling to the crowd, and a sixteen-year-old Theodore standing next to her. Both were waving to the crowd who was cheering.

"GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE!" Zatanna addressed the crowd, "FOR THE GRAND FINALE OF THE THEATER'S SHOW, I WILL MAKE MY ASSISTANT/SON, THEODORE, FLOAT IN MID-AIR WHILE ALSO MAKE FIREWORKS EXPLODE AROUND HIM!"

The magician then turned to her son and shouted some words.

"TAOLF DNA EDOLPXE!"

Everyone watched as Theodore floated in mid-air, thirty feet about the stage. Fireworks then started exploded around him without causing him the slightest bit of harm. The fireworks went on for a whole minute before stopping completely and Theodore floated down. Once he had touched the ground everyone started to clap. Both mother and son took a bow to everyone. Ruby was clapping after seeing the display with a smile on her face. It shifted to curiosity when she saw Zatanna look up to the balcony and her face showed shock. Ruby followed her line of sight and saw a sniper with his gun aimed at something. Looking she saw that the rifle was aimed at Theodore.

"NO!" Zatanna shouted and pushed Theodore out of the line of fire, only to be shot herself in the chest and fell to the ground. Suddenly, the cheering went to screaming and happiness changed to fear. Up in the balcony, some men tackled the sniper, pinned him down and took his weapon from him. On the stage, Theodore was cradling his mother head on his lap.

"SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Theodore shouted then looked to his mother. "Mom, stay with me. Come on! Stay with me!"

Zatanna just looked at her son with a smile on her face. She placed her right hand on his left cheek.

"Are you…alright…my Little…Magician?" She asked in between breaths.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Theodore replied with tears in his eyes.

"I'm…so happy…to know."

Seeing that her son was alright, Zatanna closed her eyes and breathed her last breath. Theodore had a look of shock on his face and placed his index and middle finger on the side of his mother's neck, hoping to find a pulse. To his despair though, he didn't find one. His mother was dead. She died in his arms and he was powerless to do anything. He didn't even know any healing magic. He lowered his head to her chest and started to cry. Unknown to him, though, his magic started to act on its own. One minute there was a bright light and the next there was darkness.

Ruby fell to her hands and knees on the pavement where she was before. She figured that the memory had ended, and the spell stopped. What she couldn't figure out, though, was why she was crying. Tears were running down her face like a river whose dam had broken open. Seeing her predicament, Theodore pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve, knelt to her level and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Why…am I…crying…all of the…sudden?" Ruby asked in between sobs.

"The side effect of the spell is that you feel my emotions. My sadness being at the top." Theodore said while continuing to dry her tears. Out of the blue, Ruby hugged him, with her tears wetting his tuxedo. The young sorcerer gently hugged her back. After almost half a minute of crying, the silver eyed student calmed down enough to look up at Theodore. She wiped away the last of her tears before speaking to him.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." She said.

"No. I'm the one who should be apologizing." Theodore stated, "I was supposed to be having fun with you at the party. Instead, your crying and not smiling. Yang's going to keep her end of the threat for sure."

"What was her threat?"

"Her exact words were, 'If you, in any way, make my sister cry, I will personally punch you straight to the moon.'"

Hearing that caused Ruby to burst out laughing. Seeing her laugh brought a smile to Theodore's face. The silver eyed student let out a few more chuckles before finally stopping, still smiling.

"We'll keep this between us." She said to Theodore who nodded in agreement. Standing up to leave, she had a look of surprise on her face and pointed towards the buildings behind him. "Is that normal?"

Theodore followed Ruby's finger to see an unknown finger jumping from building to building, away from the school.

"No, it's not." Theodore answered, "Come on."

Ruby and Theodore raced to follow were the figure was going. They lost her on the third building when he/she jumped over the roof. Ruby was worried they wouldn't be able to find the person, until Theodore grabbed her hand and started to lead her. They winded up at the CCT Tower which didn't make any sense to either of them, until the saw a guard on the ground, not moving.

"Is…he…" Ruby didn't finish, fearing the worst. Theodore ran to where the guard was, knelt down, and placed two fingers on his throat. Finding a pulse, he stood up and ran back to Ruby.

"He's unconscious but alive." Theodore said, "We should head inside and find the person who did this."

"Not without my precious." Ruby said and tapped something on her scroll. A few seconds later, her locker came flying from the school. It crashed to the ground and then opened up, revealing Crescent Rose.

"You're right. There's going to be a fight." Theodore said and clapped his hands together. His sword appeared in front of him, floating in midair. He grabbed it and gave it a few twirls. "Come on. Let's find the intruder."

Infiltrating the CCT was child's play for Cinder. The guards went down like dominos, so easily that a ten-year-old could do it. She was hoping for more of a challenge. Dressed in a suit that had some glass and a mask, she made her way to the top floor. Seeing the master computer in front of her, she walked up to it and took a seat. Placing her scroll inside of a slot, she started to type. While doing so, she got a call from her subordinates.

"A party guest is leaving." Emerald said through her COMM.

Cinder let out an aggravated sigh.

"Which one?" She asked.

"Ironwood." Emerald replied.

"I guess the general has had enough fun for one night." Mercury said through his COMM, "Should we intervene?"

Just as he had finished asking, Cinder had completed uploading whatever she had on her scroll. A queen chess piece showed up her screen and everyone other one in room.

"No." she answered with an evil smile, "We're done here."

Standing up from the chair and retrieving her scroll, she was about to head to the elevator when she heard the elevator come up, signaling that someone was coming. She ducked behind one of the desks, hoping that whoever it was would leave after finding nothing.

Ruby and Theodore had reached the top floor. When the doors opened, they both stepped out with their weapons at the ready.

"Hello?" Ruby called out, not getting answer. She stumbled and would have fallen if Theodore had not caught her. Ruby looked down angerly at her shoes, the cause of the problem. She had half a mind to remove them but decided against it. Both her and Theodore then continued to slowly walk more into the room.

"Is anyone there?" Ruby again called out and, again, received no answer. "Hello?"

"We know you're here!" Theodore said getting a surprised look from Ruby, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

The figure then stepped from her hiding place and stepped in front of the two students, staying at least a few feet away from them. Theodore placed both his hands on the hilt of his sword. Even with different clothes and a mask, he knew who the person standing in front of him and Ruby was.

Cinder. He said in his mind.

"Excuse me," Ruby said calmly but was on her guard when she saw how serious Theodore was, "you know it's not a masquerade party. So, why don't you take off that- "

She didn't get to finish as Cinder pulled out a cylinder and waved it in front of her. Something came out of it and formed into spear heads, floating in midair. She then threw her right hand forward and the spear heads launched towards the students.

"RUBY! LOOK OUT!" Theodore shouted and swatted away the spear heads coming for him. Ruby did the same and then stabbed her scythe into the ground. With her weapon steady, she started shooting at Cinder who merely blocked them with her left hand. Ruby noticed that her eyes and the things on her legs and hands glowed while she was attacking and defending.

Is she using magic? Ruby thought to herself. She that her bullets weren't doing any harm she stopped. Cinder then spun around, taking a step back and swords formed in her hands. Both Ruby and Theodore charged at her, swinging their weapons, hoping to hit her. Sadly, they missed their target as she jumped backwards. While still in midair, Cinder formed a bow with three arrows, all ready to fly. She let go watching as they flew to their targets. She wasn't expecting Theodore to get in front of Ruby and raise his left hand out in front of him and she certainly wasn't ready for what happened next.

"REFLECTUNT!" Theodore shouted and out of the blue, the arrows turned around, flew into the ceiling and exploded. Both Cinder and Ruby looked to the young sorcerer in surprise. When the explosion had died down, Theodore walked towards Cinder, stopped within a few feet of her, twirled his sword around a few times, held the hilt with both hands and took an offensive stance for battle.

Cinder was originally against the idea for anymore opposition, but seeing Theodore use his magic and deflect her attack made her want to stay and fight. She wanted to fight him. She wanted to see what he could do. This was a perfect opportunity for her to learn his strengths and weaknesses. She was shocked though when she saw his eyes turn from ocean blue to fiery yellow.

Ruby couldn't see his eyes, but she was equally shocked when she saw his symbol appear in bright yellow on the back of his tuxedo. Theodore was about to say something when he heard the elevator. The surprise caused his eyes to revert to their natural color and the symbol to disappear. Looking back to the elevator, both students saw General Ironwood inside of it. Judging the look on his face, he was aware of what was going on. Ruby looked back to where Cinder was, with a smile on her face, only for it to turn into a frown seeing she was gone. Theodore had an angry look on his face, also noticing the intruder's absence.

"BOLLOCKS!" he shouted while throwing his sword to the ground. Cinder had escaped from him, again.

That was certainly fun. Cinder thought to herself as she changed from her suit to a black, sparkling gown that reached to her feet. She also had gloves that reached halfway past her elbows. Walking into the ballroom, she looked for her two subordinates. She found them dancing together in the center of the ballroom. Walking up to them, she stopped right behind Emerald and tapped her on the shoulder. Both stopped dancing as they looked to Cinder.

"May I cut in?" she asked.

"Of course." Emerald answered, walking away from Mercury. Cinder then started to dance with the grey-haired assassin.

"And how's your night been?" Mercury asked.

"Hmm. A little more…exciting than expected." Cinder answered.

"Should we be worried?"

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

"So then, what now?"

"Enjoy the rest of the night. After all, it is a party."

AN: Hey, everyone! New chapter uploaded. Thank you for your continued support and patience. Hope to update again soon. Sentinel Prime, out.