A/N: And now we will test my ability to see how much can I ramble on while juggling so many characters at once.
Ren: I thought you tested that when you had the team CFVY chapter. That had way more people in it than this.
Warning...well not really. As always this is fic is some parts crack/ some parts...you get the idea from the other chapters and occasional 4th wall breaking.
I do NOT own RWBY or it's characters, Monty Oum and RoosterTeeth Productions do.
Ah Dustmas, the time of year where everyone was in the spirit of giving, the fellow man was able to help one another, and good tidings to all.
And apparently now the surroundings were very...black with a light blinking in the top right saying 'rec' in red.
"So how do I hold this thing?"
"Oh my god, who gave Fox the video camera?"
"Wasn' me."
"Not it!"
"I don't care, but it's hilarious."
"Here, give me that."
From then the sounds of movement made it to the microphone and after just a bit, the screen finally flickered white before adjusting to the face of Ren with a red Santa hat on staring back blankly at it.
"I think you broke it..."
"No I didn't." Ren shot back.
"With your face."
"...very funny Scarlet." The newest additions to Ren's trouble making crew was now the already trouble making crew of the transfer students, Team SSSN. Ren was finding Scarlet's humor to be near on par with his own. They must have been the one to sort of keep their team in line. That was when his eyes looked to the left, just off screen behind Ren was the darker skinned male of the group with various tattoos around his neck and pectorals sitting in the background.
Or maybe it was their calmer team member Sage.
'Doesn't look like I should make him angry on a bad day.'
But so far, he was acting like a real sport. Guiding Fox around whenever Ren would try to make his senpai look bad because he was bad. Now he was just as bad as Coco in tormenting him. Anyway, cleaning up Sun when he would messily eat his food, Comforting Scarlet when someone would forget to use the neutral pronouns for their gender.
He was almost like their team mom.
Neptune had maybe like an inch over Sage but he was bigger than the rest of his comrades.
"For all intents and purposes, I will be holding the camera."
"What is this? Action news crew or something?" Sun interjected. They had never been apart of Ren's misadventures with his video camera.
"In a way, yes. But it's Dustmas time now so I'm sending a video back home to the family." Just a light smile graced his face at the thought.
"Didn't you do this once before and Pyrrha almost maimed you?" Came the voice of Jaune from the corner, veering his camera tot he blond that was trying to set up a festive tree. Ren thought for a moment while the others eyes landed back on him.
"He's not wrong." He shrugged. Everyone else shook it off as a light threat.
"You don't understand, she's a force to be reckoned with." Fox now coming back from the land of the silent, Ren faced the camera back around the blind mans' way. Fox was wrapped in green and gold decorations that usually you would throw around the tree for extra glitter. A giggling Scarlet was the perpetrator of him being covered neck to toe. It looked like Fox was trying to focus his eyes on something ahead of him before he figured out what it was.
"You're filming me aren't you?"
"Most definitely. Besides we all know you lied about your 'sight'."
"Eh, I wanted to see how far I could get with it."
"Wait, he can actually see?!" A slightly scared Scarlet next to him looked back and forth like he wasn't the culprit for wrapping Fox up.
"No, but I can just sense that you are there. I can't tell your movements and gestures of what you're doing."
"So in a sense, you can kick out a footrest and he'll still trip over it." Ren answered politely.
"Like you made me do yesterday." Dryly answering his friend back.
"Look, I'm not saying you should let yourself being blind be a disability-"
"It is a disability." Reminding the blunt lotus warrior once again.
Sighing into the camera's microphone. "I'm just saying knowing it's me, you should expect this by now." Ending on a shot with Scarlet, still trying to put a star on top of Fox's head.
"Oh yeah just because I can sense people totally let's me get away with things. Anyway-" Getting up, he shook off all of Scarlet's hard work that was put into wrapping him in decoration to the floor like it was nothing.
"What're you losers doing today?" Everyone took mock offense to that as a collective gasp rang out. Scarlet now sad their decorations had fallen off the model.
"Besides terrorizing the animals in their festive mood?" Ren went back to national geographic profiling.
"Wait, you told me about this before." The camera closing in on Fox's face. The camera finally focused in on his target.
"The mischievous fox, known for being a trickster, and crafty at best, contemplates on how to go about his daily duties before hibernation."
"He's doing it again." Jaune added from the background. He warned them this might happen. As of right now the combined efforts of Team SSSN and the J and R of Team JNPR and the F of Team CFVY, basically, the boys, were tasked with decorating the common room in Dustmas decorations. Everyone had pulled their share, in the midst Ren constantly pranking Fox, he dug out his favored video camera from his last exploits.
"Jaune, you're ruining the fun." Making the camera pan to the blond with assorted glitter adorning his hair. "Anyway what are the 6 of you doing at school for Dustmas no less. Shouldn't you be at home for break?" might as well inquire about his 6 new victims while time allowed. It looked like Jaune would be the first to answer.
"Really? Go back home with 7...much older than me sisters who constantly play pranks? No thanks."
'Valid answer, if I had any siblings I would relate.' The camera moved over to the still standing Fox, no one told hi there was a camera pointed at him until Scarlet so discreetly whispered to him 'go dude'.
"Me? Go home to family? Ha." And that was it, that one single hollow laugh from his voice that Ren knew now for the confirmed 3rd time...they were just alike. But then again not everyone had that sense of humor like they knew and everyone else just looked to Fox with a look of wary. The screen veered off to the now sort of fuming Scarlet lazing about on the couch Fox previously occupied with their arms crossed. The lone eye that wasn't hidden by the part of red hair glared over to the camera.
"Problem child. End of story." Well that response was thick.
"You're not a problem child." A low voice came from the other side of the room. The screen changed directions quickly enough to show Sage, busy at boxing up unnecessary items they didn't need. "Your family just doesn't...understand you."
'I have a feeling this just got serious in like 2 seconds flat.'
"Bah, I need somthin' to make me happy, like this!" Not wanting to miss the action the blur of the camera switching back to a scene of Scarlet toppling Neptune over from the high ladder he was perched on fall over onto Jaune. Causing both noodle boys to wail helplessly colliding into each other.
"Now tha's funny!" Showing a bit of an evil yet laughing glare at their work.
'And we're back to normal.' Taking the spotlight away from the laughing red-head, Sun was jolly with a happy smile on his face with his tail wrapped around a small ball ornament, moving it to place on the tree. Noticing the lens now in his direction, he stuck his tongue out in retaliation.
"Eh, my friends are all here, they stayed behind, I stayed behind. 'Sides, I think Team RWBY stayed here as well."
"Well, we are all aspiring Huntsmen, we need to be ready for anything." Sage added after his leader. Ren moved his camera's focus over to Sage now who was the last to answer. It was a tense, few moments while golden eyes just stared blankly back at the lens pointed at him. Ren finally moved his head away from the camera to look at Sage himself with the same look. "Not going answer me are you?"
"I think you know the answer already."
'This guy's good. Level-headed, always calm and in control.'
"Anyway," This time it was Fox now making his way towards the exit. "We need to be heading out soon don't we? The girls and the rest of my team will be here. While you guys figure that out, I'm going to the restroom."
"Don' let the Dustmas ghost girl get ya!" Scarlet offered. This saying had Jaune off to the side intrigued to know more. Fox muttered something about 'you're crazy' and continued off.
"So, what's this about Dustmas ghost girl?" Jaune asked out of curiosity from recovering his fall down on Neptune. Everyone just haaaad to look at Jaune with a horrified face of not knowing this Dustmas/Halloween tragic tale. Ren saw it fit to focus in on Jaune from everyone's flabbergasted looks.
"W-what?" It was obvious Jaune didn't really know much about anything in this world, seeing as he didn't even know about Aura or semblances.
'It's like his family kept him sheltered for 17 years of his life. Do they not want him to know anything about the world? Is it because they've been trying so hard to have a son and after 7 daughters or how ever he was born into that line that they want to protect him.'
'I'm thinking waaaaaayyyy to hard on one guy's life. Back to reality.'
"Ever heard of a story where a girl was slighted out of Dustmas every year because of one boy that wouldn't leave her alone?" Sun spoke up, helping his blunette friend out. "She wasn't like other kids and only ever wanted one thing, friendship. Yet the other kids didn't like her for some odd reason."
"It's because she was mute." Scarlet finally breaking Sun's story off so they could tell the rest. "She didn' have any parents or no one to take care of 'er. Not nobody suspected she was livin' all by herself and managin' school at that."
"But wait," Now it was Jaune's turn to speak. "Wouldn't the teachers have you know like stuck up for her and figured out she wasn't able to talk?" Now everyone was just huddled together in a circle, gossiping about the Dustmas ghost.
"Nah," Scarlet let him know. "She was selectively mute, spoke to the teacher's an' all that but all quiet like, barely a whisper. Even they had a hard time understandin' her. So one boy though' she was some stuck up brat who was too good for everyone else.
"She uh, she didn't make friends like she wanted to and started to majorly dislike the guy. Like to the point of hate." Neptune explained. She only wanted friends and kindly wished to Santa every year for just a small sign of hope that maybe someone liked her." His voice low and sad.
"One year her bitterness towards the boy finally sank in and she...passed away." Sage added, now that the tone in the room had died down.
'This turned from Dustmas all the way back to Halloween real quick.' Ren thought. To think one little girls' anger could keep her- hey wait a minute.
"What does this have to do with Dustmas?" He thought he would put out there. He was all for horror and stuff but Halloween was already past them.
"Well, the saying goes since it was this one guy that accosted her, every year now near this time, a guy who has been wrongfully picking on someone would wind up...missing." Sun added spookily with a flash of hand waving in the air. Neptune flicked his partner on the back of the head using such hand gestures.
"Buuuut, it's just a myth, no worries right?" The leader of team JNPR spoke up, nervously laughing.
'No Jaune, you shouldn't be nervously laughing that's-'
As the clumsy blond nervously laughed, the lights' flickered ominously.
'...That's...always the follow-up to something bad happening.'
"So, should we have warned Fox about that?"
"Nah he's fine, who we should really worry about is Mr. Oblivious over here." View switched to Jaune cutting from everyone then back to Ren.
"Who me?!" Asking incredulously. Oh the love-life of said blond was the talk amongst the group anytime, anywhere.
"So Jaune, do you think rebuffing a woman's interest in you is considered bad?"
Navigating the halls was a small success. Now that Fox's true eyesight had been revealed, he could indeed sense people if they had enough presence. But the same was still said for anything without aura, he could not see it and it would present itself as an obstacle.
But seeing as no one was present, he was in the clear. After doing his business, he relied on his own intuition to try to navigate back to the room. The scarred man strode with hands in his pockets. But he could definitely feel...something following him. Since he couldn't see behind himself, he turned quickly to face the intruder.
The presence was...faint but it was most definitely there. As much as he could look around, his dusk white pupils tried to search out the source.
"I...know you're there."
"..!"
There it was, the slight flare in someone's being. So someone was here, and tailing him. A slight misstep and someone's heel resounded in the hallway.
"Stop."
By now the mystery person was able to tell whomever they were following, was clearly blind. The man looking dead on at his target but gave no sign that he could actually see them. He still looked rather lost to be honest. When the on edge man heard a step come closer to him, he stepped backwards himself. By now, Fox had concluded that, whoever this was, the step they gave off sounded like a heel of sorts on a boot. And they made no move to attack him yet. This was a woman, a young one at that.
The young woman now knowing the young man was indeed blind, made careful steps towards him, hoping he wouldn't retract. Slowly to one of his idle hands, she lightly touched his fingers with her gloved hand. At first, he flinched from the contact. But relaxed when he felt her just keep both of her hands atop his. Fox didn't know what to feel in this moment.
"I'm guessing you...don't want to tell me your name?" He was still unsure of where to look but she was a considerable deal shorter than him, so he put his line of sight downwards. When he got no response, he felt the hands give him a slight squeeze, as if trying to convey something.
"Or...you can't at all." Finally connecting 2 and 2. She must have. been a lost student and seeing as there was no one around, she needed directions elsewhere. But not being able to talk...
"As you can probably tell, I cannot see." The evidence clear when the girl tried to wave her hand in front of his face. "I guess, we're, both just as bad at finding things." Now that he had thought about it, turning around and being so focused on her, he lost his way back to where the rest of his friends were, cursing under his breathe.
So wrapped up in his own mind, he barely felt the tug on his left hand from where the girl pulled. She had led him to a wall and placed his hand upon it. After a few seconds she took her own fingers to curl all of his fingers except for the pointer back into his palm.
'She's trying to word something to me.'
Slowly his own finger moved across the wall from the direction she was willing his hand to go. Making extra sure to note the spaces in between each letter. Fox at some point, was not blind, though he was most of his life, he had not forgotten what actual written letters felt like from muscle memory.
"N...e, e right? And...o. Neo...Neo, am I right?" Giving the newfound name a sound to it.
She seemed a bit excited, raising his hand up and down in a yes manner. "Well uh, Neo, do you know where the common room is? I sort of lost my way." Fox admitted he hated when he got lost because he was blind. He always made sure to give note to his surroundings.
"...!" Once again he felt a tug on his hand, hers locked with his own as the 2 walked in silence to his destination.
"Well that was fun embarrassing Jaune to no end." Ren spoke to the camera. But seriously, what was taking everyone else? He had gotten bored after the initial tormenting of Jaune and his luck with girls in search of better prey.
Namely back to his own room. He did remember he needed to tell Pyrrha to hurry up with whatever else she was doing so this party could be underway.
They could only keep Jaune occupied with eggnog for so long.
"Guys I dun wanna drink anymo-"
"Nonsense Jauney! Ya need ta relax and jus' enjoy yourself! 'Sides, you seem to spout less nonsense when you're not in the right mind." A happy Scarlet obliging the bumbling blond with more eggnog down his throat. "Hold 'em tighter Sage!" The fiery red-head demanded.
"I'm still questioning why we're doing this." But his expression betrayed one of not caring. Holding the blond in a full-nelson as per his partner's orders.
"You question this now after we've stuffed him with 3 glasses?" Neptune laughed at the red and green duo.
"...Good point."
"Sun, w-what are you doing?" Neptune asked the monkey faunus while they were trying to position themselves in an angle with his scroll in front of Scarlet choking Jaune with eggnog down his throat while Sage held him. Once he had it right, he snapped a shot and saved it, going back to Neptune.
"You know, Scrollchat, sent it to Yang with the headline 'You should be here now!'." Neptune simply rolled his eyes over when a light 'ding' went off. Sun went to check his phone and Yang had sent something back. Sun's face lit up like a Dustmas tree itself. Curious, his blue-haired partner snuck a peek over on his phone.
On it was Yang obviously posing for the camera off to the side with a very flustered Blake in what would be a female Santa's outfit that fit, very well. The caption read 'Nah, YOU should be here.'
"Boosh?"
"Boosh."
However they were doing was up to Ren's imagination. He knew he couldn't leave the combined efforts of team SSSN and Jaune together.
'Leave them alone long enough and they might form a K-POP group with Jaune's mad dance moves.'
Yawning a bit to himself, the camera wobbled with every step back to his room. Maybe Pyrrha would still be studying, extra cramming you know?
'She would be studying at a time where we can goof off and have fu-'
He never got to finish his thought when he unlocked the door to team JNPR's room with his scroll and it opened slowly to the vision before his camera.
Team JNPR's bed room layout consisted of the beds lined up and separated 2 and 2 by a small desk near the windows. And if you entered the room, you could see whoever it was on the bed.
Currently, the strong, Spartan warrior, lay on her stomach with feet up in the air. And a familiar garb that certainly didn't belong to her wrapped around her neck. She looked in happiness and bliss with eyes closed in joy.
'Must zoom in...'
She seemed so at peace even when she raised a small part of the yellow scarf up to her nose to lightly sniff it. Pyrrha exhaled a delighted sigh.
The faint sound of a electronic click and flash invaded her privacy as her eyes shot open. Dread filled her as soon a she spied Ren with that cursed video camera and his own scroll in his other hand, the culprit of the flash. For moments they just stared at each other with Ren looking blank as ever and Pyrrha's eyes growing ever more creased.
It was in that moment, Lie Ren knew he fucked up.
"I fucked up." Announcing his own mistake.
'Must send to Nora post haste!"
Making a mad dash out of the doorway and down the hall, Pyrrha hot on his heels with Jaune's own scarf back safe in it's place.
Somehow the trained warrior expertly hit save on his phone for later usage. And he knew why she was chasing him. It wasn't because of a few weeks ago nooooo, this was because-
'I just took a picture of her with her crush's scarf, if that isn't incriminating evidence.' Now clearly running for his life. And she was giving him no quarter.
'Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap.'
Speeding down the halls with Dustmas cheer and a malevolent woman hot on his tail wasn't on his list on how this little party was supposed to go. Barely making it around a corner to the hall where the common room was.
'If I can just make it there, maybe some of them can help hold her off, or you know, just throw Jaune at her.'
He could see a light nearby from one of the rooms on the left. Making headway in, he dived head first into the room, or he thought so.
Once he dived in, the bright vision before him shattered like glass and he was in the dark, in a very cramped place. Crashing into various objects that scattered along the floor. Him groaning was the sign that he of course was alright but it still hurt either way.
"What the-" His thoughts were cut off from when his own magenta eyes met a pair of bi-colored ones. And from then came the most unmanly shriek ever to leave his mouth. Trying as much as possible to meld with the wall opposite the person in front of him.
"Oh, I see you've met Neo." Came the low, gravely voice of the man he knew as Fox. Looking as baffled as ever, Ren saw him come into view just outside the door from he assumed now was the utility closet. Fox walked slowly but deliberately now that he stood in the doorway of Ren's escape. Knowing the amazon was on his tail, he held up a cautious hand to signal her to stop.
"W-w-what is this, Fox?" Ren questioned, still not making himself any less un-plastered from the wall. Something was definitely up.
'But first, this Neo person he just introduced me.' Silently thanking Fox for stopping Pyrrha for him, his realization came at a price when the door closed in his face, separating him from the outside. A wild grin on the dark skinned male outside.
"Oh you know, payback."
'ding'
That was the familiar sound of the door locking. "H-hey wait." Pyrrha now beside Fox, understood his motives as to stopping her. She smiled gratefully to her upperclassman.
"Ren won't be bothering anyone for a while. Looks like he'll be missing the Dustmas party."
'Oh that's just low dude. But wait minute, won't he be also locking up he-' When Ren went to look for the girl that was inside this close same as he was, she was gone and appeared, albeit shorter next to Fox, her head barely peaking over the see-through window of the door. A small parasol in her like a cane, she looked up to the now baffled man behind the doorway.
"Ren has been a...bad boy this year, so why not make him feel as much." Fox grinned, aiming it towards Pyrrha. "I heard the commotion of you 2 coming down the hall and told my friend as such to 'trap' Ren here. He'll be missing the party where I'm sure a lot of 'debauchery' will happen. Caught on camera moments he would love to sell to the student body for a profit."
'He knows how to press all the right buttons.' Knowing that his camera having been damaged in the fall was now inoperable. But his saving grace had to be remembering his scroll on his person, shooting back a smile to pat hiself down for his device, it quickly turned to dread upon not finding it.
'Where is it?! I just know I had it-' A light tapping on the glass alerted him to look up. There through the glass was his phone in that weird tri-colored hair girls' hands was his scroll. The first reason why he shrieked upon seeing her was that she was in his personal space but now that he was just a bit acquainted with her, he could almost make the comparison of her being the ghost girl of Dustmas, she fit mostly everything!
"I'm sure Neo here will keep you excellent company. It is the start of a new year soon, why not give Pyrrha here a break for once." Seeing his job done, he motioned for Pyrrha to follow him, away from the now trapped man behind a utility closet and mute girl standing watch over him. "have fun Ren!" Oh Ren could just hear the sarcasm in Pyrrha's voice.
'He thinks he can just keep me here? There are no locks on these doors, I just have to press the unlock button and be on my way.'
Seeing the simple touch pad to go out, he pushed it, waiting for it to confirm in seconds.
'dong'
Now expecting to go out-
'ding'
'What?" He questioned aloud. Looking down since he had more height over the girl, she had her gloved hand on the button outside of the door.
'Well isn't this great.'
She seemed to notice his energy deplete and smirked back at him.
'dong'
'ding'
'dong'
'ding'
"Come on just-"
'dong'
'ding'
"I just really-"
'dong'
'ding'
'dong'
'ding'
'dong'
'din-'
'do-'
Now the button pressing was getting really rapid.
"Come on!"
2 hours hours later...where the party went off without a hitch and the combined powers of Team RWBY, JNP(R), CFVY, and SSSN had merriment to their hearts content. Pyrrha finally managed to talk to Jaune properly (without any meddlings) but him being full of eggnog actually slightly boosted his confidence to hold a conversation with her and even snag her under the Mistletoe. Nora totally did get that on her scroll, so did Yang...and collectively everyone who's been trying to set this up. Weiss and Sage actually struck up conversation a while ago about various dust usages in combat; Sage's own weapon , the emblem on the back of his coat allowing him to use dust in various stances depending on the crystal.
Scarlet was busy with Ruby, they both were somehow still messing with the tree with an excited Ruby atop the giant Yatsuhashi's shoulders and Scarlet handing her ornaments. Nora excitedly waving over Ruby to come and get the deliciously sweet gingerbread house before it was gone. When she scrambled off to get down, Scarlet got excited and took over Ruby's spot atop the silent mans' shoulders. While a still flustered Blake from being convinced by Yang to come to said party in a revealing Dustmas get-up, was busy being coaxed out by Coco and Velvet.
"Dude, Ren actually went missing, do you think-"
"Naahh, that story is just made up, Sun."
"But Nep' he hasn't come back yet."
"Oh just let Ren do whatever he pleases, he's in good hands, I promise." Fox interrupted to assure them.
They weren't so sure of themselves if they should even trust that.
Meanwhile...
'di-'
'don-'
'ding'
'dong'
'di-''do-'
'di-'
'do-'
'ding'
"DAMMIT!"
A/N: OMG am I done?
Ren: You are done.
A/n: Oh thank merciful Oum. If there are any spelling errors, they will be fixed in the actual day time. I did say I was putting out a Christmas chapter, though if it doesn't seem so 'Christmassy' blame extreme overworkedness. That and that feeling when you have fanfics, and while writing a chapter for one fanfic, you get stumped but you really want to write for the other. Funny ting is, there were 2 versions of this I had, the other idea has long since been scrapped.
And yes, Neo made an appearance. Will it be her last? Who knows, but this time around she was here to help Fox and torment poor Ren. And yes, we all know the other 2 SS's of team SSSN have yet to actually speak and wholly appear. And for some reason, I like the idea of Weiss and Sage connecting, me seeing Sage as a dust-user, it may be engrained from his arm attachment to his coat. My theory anyway. If you don't have any idea to what I'm talking about, think Snow from Final Fantasy XIII.
I cannot say when the next chapter will be but I do hope everyone has a Happy Holidays. I released this days before Christmas mainly because of hectic holiday work week and family gatherings will be had.
Now, back to work on "The Cowardly Lion." That should be updated within the week. It's one of my more serious stories.
Ren: As always, the Author would like to thank you for your continued support of this fan-based fiction. Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and Review if you have time.
A/N: I do appreciate them all!
Sincerely,
Raiken