No Such Thing as Destiny

Chapter Three

Learning the Steps

In a world of Huntsmen and Huntresses, it was easy to feel obsolete as a humble police officer, but Officer Krieg had a job to do, and what he lacked in flair he made up for in dependability.

"Just a few more questions, and I'll let you kids go." And they were kids, ten of them. Students from Beacon, mostly likely. "How did you run into Torchwick?" Torchwick, still on ice, was being loaded into a Bullhead. No handcuffs, but he'd be fine until he melted, and there was a full Huntsmen on board because Vale didn't trust the common police officer to do much besides wear the uniform and do paperwork.

"We got lucky," one of them said. She had long black hair, yellow eyes, and a bow. "We were just in the right place at the right time." That was always a lie, but he didn't expect transparency. He wrote down on his scroll the words, "Meddling kids."

One of the others, a girl in a red cape, sniggered. "Time." Inside joke?

"Well, on behalf of Vale, I'd like to thank you for doing your civic duty."

Red Cape sniggered again. "Duty."

Officer Krieg ignored her. "I imagine he was responsible for the wanton destruction on the highway."

"Yup," a monkey Faunus said. He had blond hair and his shirt was unbuttoned. "Totally him. We had nothing to do with it."

Officer Krieg doubted it. Huntsmen, even amateur Huntsmen, could catch a crook, but very few of them worried about collateral damage. He decided not to press the issue.

"Did he say anything that could hint at how he obtained an Atlesian Paladin?" Remnant was enjoying a time of peace, but that didn't stop people from feeling nervous about inviting a foreign armada into their borders, and Lieutenant Mandolin would want to know how a wanted criminal got his hands on Atlas military property.

"No," Red Cape said. "But he did say that he had a secret base in the southwest."

"Southeast," Black Hair said.

"Really?" Red Cape said.

"Yes, Ruby, I was the one there."

"Right. It's in the southeast in an abandoned city, underground in the caves. There's a train full of bombs that he's planning on using to make a way for Grimm into the city."

Judging by the looks of Red Cape's friends–Ruby's friends–this was news to them as well. "And Torchwick told you all of this?"

"He was, um, monologuing," Ruby said. "A lot. Seriously, he does not shut up."

Officer Krieg jotted down a few notes. They were hiding plenty, he knew, but Vale turned a blind eye to vigilantism as long as it got results. "Was there anything else?"

"Yeah," Blonde Monkey said. "So, is there a reward for this guy or something?"

A boy with blue hair elbowed him. "Dude, don't be lame."

"I wasn't being lame, I was just asking."

"Dude, really."

Officer Krieg made a final note before closing his scroll. "I'll look into it."

WWW

Running into Torchwick the first time at the Dust shop was what got Ruby enrolled in Beacon in the first place. That night long ago changed her life forever. Capturing him changed, well, nothing. She continued taking classes, getting ready for the Vytal Festival, and doing all the things she was doing already.

Although she did get mentioned in the Vale police beat. She cut it out of the newspaper and was going to frame it when she had time. Or at least laminate it. Okay, she was going to take a picture of it before she forgot. Not only was it a capture of a wanted criminal, it was the first success at changing the future, proof that destiny could be changed.

Unfortunately, she found out in class a few days later, she wasn't the only one changing things.

It started out with a friendly sparring match between Pyrrha and all four members of Team CRDL. Pyrrha fought alone, unbowed, and unbroken. She was not the strongest student at the academy, not the fastest, and not even the most dangerous. Not compared to the woman who killed her. But there was not one amongst them who could come close to comprehending her mastery of war.

She crushed CRDL with sheer, unrelenting perfection. There was more skill in any single one of her movements than in any single one of her opponents. She moved like a shadow and struck like a storm, and by the time she slammed Cardin face-first into the floor, they still hadn't landed a hit on her without her consent.

"And that's the match," Professor Goodwitch said. She sounded approving, but not excessively impressed. Ruby guessed that after becoming a full Huntress, being able to beat up a team of first-year students wasn't that great. "Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the Tournament."

"Thank you, Professor."

"Alright, I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?"

Everyone went silent and avoided eye contact with the teacher. No one wanted to reveal all their tricks before it really mattered. Ruby considered volunteering–her scythe didn't depend on secrecy–but she had been in the limelight a lot recently, and she wanted to give someone else a turn.

"I'll do it," Mercury said. Exchange students like him weren't required to attend classes at Beacon, but they were welcome. At least, until they turned out to be super villains trying to destroy everything, but until then, they were "guests." He sounded bored, like he was volunteering on a whim, but Ruby knew better. It was all part of his evil plan for world domination. Or maybe he really was just bored and wanted to fight someone. She could relate to that.

"Mercury, is it?" Professor Goodwitch said, scanning her scroll. "Very well. Let's find you an opponent."

"Actually," Mercury said, "I want to fight … her." Ruby looked up and saw his finger pointing right at her.

She blinked. "Huh?" She couldn't remember all the details of her first run through this week, but she never fought Mercury until the end of the Tournament. It had been the day after Yang had been disqualified for breaking his leg when Ruby found him walking around, perfectly fine.

"I would advise against that," Professor Goodwitch said. "Why don't we find you someone more suitable."

"Wait," Ruby said. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Professor Goodwitch shot her a glance, mildly annoyed at the interruption. "According to his transcripts, Mercury here excels at close-ranged combat, while you, Miss Rose, are better equipped for long-ranged fighting."

"So, are you saying that he can't win, or I can't win?"

"I am saying that you would be at a disadvantage in one-on-one combat."

One-on-one. As long as she had her team with her, she couldn't lose. She took her role as team leader seriously, and ever since she got the position, all her thoughts and daydreams revolved around how to make the four of them work together as a single unit, but she hadn't been able to win a one-on-one fight since.

"Crescent Rose is a scythe, too," she said. "That's really what most people notice first."

Professor looked at her with exasperation. "Are you saying that you want to fight him?"

Ruby looked at Mercury, and he looked back so smugly it should have been criminal. He was smug back then, too, when he was stalling her just long enough for Penny to die. The only time he wasn't smug was when Yang broke his leg, and even then it was a trick, a lie that turned countless people against her. Ruby didn't have Crescent Rose with her when she fought him that day, but she did now.

Did she want to fight him? "Yes."

Professor Goodwitch shrugged. "Well, experience is the best teacher, even if she is the harshest. Come on down, you two."

Mercury jumped down into the arena and smiled at her as though he had already won. We'll see. Ruby dropped into the arena too and unfolded her scythe.

"Break a leg, Sis!" Yang called down.

I'm planning on it.

"Begin!"

Ruby shot a gravity round behind her, launching herself forward with the recoil. She'd always said that she was a different person when she was fighting, and that was true. In any other setting she could trip over her own two feet or any two words, but as soon as the fight started, she was a red blur, a whirlwind of rose petals. When she fought, she didn't just wield Crescent Rose–Crescent Rose wielded her.

Mercury backed away, dodging her attacks one step at a time. He stayed close–he was, after all, a close range fighter, so the moment she exposed a weakness he needed to be nearby to exploit it. He struck, hitting the side of her blade with his foot, upsetting her rhythm. He followed up with a second kick, but Ruby fired again, shooting herself backwards.

He was fast. Not as fast as she was, not when she used her Semblance at least, but still fast. A contest of speed wasn't a sure win, and neither was melee. Well, Professor Goodwitch had said that he wasn't that good at ranged-attacks, so all that was left was to kite him.

She pointed her sniper rifle at him and fired again and again. He dodged and closed the distance, going back and forth in a zigzag pattern. Ruby shot herself backwards and kept firing. She even managed to hit him a few times, but it wasn't enough. He shot himself into the air and nearly landed on top of her. Right, because his boots were also guns.

Ruby shot herself back, and the fight became more a matter of keeping away from him than fighting back–until he fired a shot not behind him, but at her. She stumbled backwards as her Aura absorbed the blow, and before she could regain her footing he was practically on top of her. He grabbed onto the haft of her scythe, and kicked it out of her hands.

Her friends on the stands groaned as though she had already lost, and even Ruby had to admit she was at a disadvantage. She depended on her weapon, and she didn't have any unarmed combat training like Yang did.

"Wow," Mercury said. "This actually is as heavy as it looks. A bit unwieldy if you ask me." He held the scythe–clutched her Crescent Rose in his filthy, bloodstained hands–and smiled.

"Well," Professor Goodwitch said. "It looks like the match goes to–"

"I'm not done yet!" Ruby said. Weapon or no weapon, her Aura wasn't depleted, and she wasn't going to give up a moment sooner.

The professor sighed. "Suit yourself."

Mercury smirked. "Alright then, Little Red. Show me what your last resort looks like."

Ruby glared at him–and disappeared in a burst of rose petals. Mercury reacted quickly and tried to closeline her with a kick. Again. In their first fight, his reflexes had caught her by surprise, but to her, he was a rerun of a show that had barely been worth watching the first time. She ducked under his leg, and the wind from her passing knocked him backwards, and for the first time since the match began, he lost his footing.

Without Crescent Rose, she couldn't break her momentum until she reached the edge of the arena, but at the speed she was going, it didn't matter. She jumped off the wall and, maintaining her Semblance, darted back. Mercury, already off balance, was lifted off the ground by the slipstream. The third time around, she grabbed Crescent Rose out of his hands. The fourth time she passed him, she spun the scythe and hit him square in the chest.

Her Semblance took more out of her than she ever let on, and she'd never gone this fast for this long. She'd never needed to. But Mercury had shamed Yang in front of thousands, and he'd helped kill Penny. If there was anything she had the strength left for, it was this.

Someone shouted something, but it wasn't important. She tuned out everything except the fight. Her world had only one other person in it, and he was already twisting in the air to recover his equilibrium.

Not this time.

He was fast, but Ruby was faster. She was always faster. Her scythe was an extension of her soul, but her speed, her Semblance, was her soul itself. Other Huntsmen and Huntresses had endurance and power, but when Ruby ran, she could make the world stop. She could make it change. In another world, another future, Yang lay on the ground, her arm ending in a crudely wrapped stump, but …

Not this time. She was going to change things. She was going to change everything.

She darted behind Mercury, the blade of her scythe catching the inside of his knee. Mercury's other foot kicked backwards, right at her, but he might as well have been moving through tar.

Ruby didn't know how much Aura her opponent had left, but she knew she couldn't keep up her speed much longer. She fired a gravity round to make her strike count for as much as she could make it–and Crescent Rose came free.

What? Had he somehow maneuvered … no. His leg had come off entirely, severed as cleanly as a bubble bath. She slowed and skidded to a stop, her knees feeling like jelly and her everything feeling drained like never before, but she had won.

Then the world snapped back to reality, and suddenly winning was not the only thing that mattered. Mercury hit the ground in pieces. Despite his injuries, he did not scream. His eyes were wide in shock, but not pain. She heard a dull clank of metal against stone as his ruined prosthetic landed beside him, bolts spilling out from the impact.

All around the two of them, rose petals drifted to the floor, so many it looked like the sky rained blood.

And there was Professor Goodwitch, glaring at her , and Ruby realized that she had been the one who had been speaking. The crowd above looked down in a stunned stupor until Yang broke the silence.

"It looks like someone's been drinking a lot of milk."

WWW

Ruby sat in Professor Goodwitch's office, trying not to fidget. She wasn't succeeding. It would have been a lot easier if the professor had been a bit less livid.

"What is wrong with you, girl?" she said, pacing. "Do you not understand the point of a sparring match? You do not maim your opponent in a sparring match!"

"Well, he can get that repaired, right?" After the fight, Emerald gathered up the pieces of Mercury's mechanical leg and helped him back to their room.

"Yes. Fortunately Mercury will suffer no long term consequences, having already lost that leg once. But tell me, Ruby, did you know that?"

"Um …" She knew that he had been able to walk a day after his leg had been broken, but at the time, she only thought that he had pretended to be hurt instead of having a robotic limb. "Not really?"

"No," Professor Goodwitch said as she sat down. "No, I did not think so. Still, I have decided not to expel you."

Ruby blinked, unaware that expulsion had even been on the table. "Oh. Um, thanks?"

"You will, however, be banned from the Vytal Festival Tournament."

Ruby's head jerked up. "What? You can't do that!"

Professor Goodwitch looked at her, her face devoid of emotion. "You do not think before you act, Miss Rose, and seldom bother to do so afterwards. I urge you to consider thinking now."

Ruby sank into her chair as far as she could. "Okay, you can, but still … I'll stop talking now."

Professor Goodwitch shot her with a flat stare and a merciless wave of silence. The silence taunted her, tormented her, screamed at her–for about five seconds. "The Vytal Festival is an opportunity for the different Huntsman Academies to meet in a friendly competition, and each participant is a representative. When you win, you win for Beacon. When you lose, you lose for Beacon. And when you deliberately maim and injure your opponent? You declare war. Do you understand, Miss Rose?"

Ruby bit her lip, knowing that she was a few careless words away from putting expulsion back on the table, and she was not going to get expelled from Beacon at a younger age than most people got accepted. "Is there anything I can do to make you change your mind?"

Professor Goodwitch sighed. "You don't get second chances, Miss Rose. No one does. It's time you learned that."

But she was wrong. Ruby knew it wouldn't do her any good to say it, but Professor Goodwitch was wrong. Ruby was living her second chance, and if she managed to save Penny and Pyrrha and prevent the attack on Beacon, then she'd consider it a win no matter what else happened.

Still, how was she going to tell her team?

WWW

"I'm going to just do it all at once and just say it, you know? Rip off the bandaid and all that. No stalling, no dancing around the issue, just the cold, hard facts."

"Right," Weiss said, sitting at her desk. All four members of Team RWBY were in their dormroom. "Because the alternative would be long and tedious."

"I'm serious," Ruby said. "You mean a lot to me, you all do, and it wouldn't be right for me, after all we've been through, to keep this from you guys."

"Are you coming out of the closet?" Yang asked. "It's okay, sis, we already know."

"No, I got kicked out of the Vytal Tournament," she said. "Wait, why did you think that–"

"You what?" Weiss shrieked. "How did that happen?"

"Well, Professor Goodwitch dragged me into her office and suddenly I was banned."

"She banned you? I thought you were just going to get detention for a few years."

Ruby grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess she takes this sort of thing real seriously."

"To be fair," Yang said, sitting on the floor leaning against her bed, "your fight with whatshisname was seriously hardcore and not suitable for children."

Weiss turned on her. "This isn't a joke, Yang, this is serious."

"Yeah, you're right," Yang said. "Kids would have gotten a huge kick out of that, unlike that Haven guy who got his kicks cut off."

Weiss glowered at her. "Okay, first of all, not funny. Second of all, his name is Mercury. If we're going to dismember him, we ought to do him the courtesy of dismembering him by name. Third of all, and most importantly, not funny."

Yang chuckled. "Yeah, I'll take your advice on humor after you crack a joke, Ice Queen. But seriously, Ruby, what is going on?"

Ruby swallowed. "That is what happened. I got kicked out."

"Uh-huh, yeah, very funny. Weiss fell for it, I laughed, and Blake … Blaked. But for real this time, what's up?"

"That … is what's up. Professor Goodwitch said that I'm not allowed to be in the Vytal Tournament."

"No she didn't," Yang said. "No she didn't!" She stood up. "Aargh! Who does she think she is, that she can just throw you out like this?" She looked around the room for something that wasn't too fragile for her to hit, and ended up pounding her fist into her palm.

"It's a circus act," Blake said, lying on her bed. "The whole Vytal Festival is. It's a chance for people to buy overpriced souvenirs, watch amateur fights, and eat overpriced popcorn, and then they go home and do the same thing next year. It's a waste of time."

"It is not!" Weiss protested. "It was supposed to be a chance to show our friends and … and other friends how much we've learned here! I was going to prove that I didn't make a mistake coming here, not that I'm on Team Delinquent!"

Ruby winced. Weiss had been so excited when Winter had shown up to watch the tournament, and while Ruby remembered that, this timeline's Weiss would never get that chance. Saving the future, one screw up at a time.

Yang shook her head. "No. No way. I am not giving up just yet. When you have a problem and hitting it doesn't work, you just have to hit it harder. Only the first round needs all four members, so all we need to do is hope we get matched against a team that kicks three-fourths as much butt as we do, and that's, what, ninety percent of them, right?"

"Wow," Weiss said. "Arrogant much?"

"This coming from you?"

"Yes, this coming from me. I am merely confident."

"And I am merely content that our first match will actually be a challenge instead of a curbstomp, so thanks, Ruby, for taking the fall for the team to make things interesting."

Ruby looked up and let herself smile. "What can I say? I'm a natural."

"So it's settled then," Yang said.

"Not quite," Blake said, sitting up. "There's one more thing. I want to know what really happened in that match. That wasn't you. You're not usually that violent."

Ruby frowned. "What are you talking about? I'm plenty violent!"

"No," Blake said. "Usually when you fight, you're just playing. It's a game you're good at, but it's still a game to you. Today against Mercury, you wanted to hurt him. I've never seen you like that before."

That was true. Ruby had killed plenty of Grimm before, but she couldn't bring herself to hate them. They were monsters, and without monsters, what was the point of becoming a Huntress? Roman Torchwick was a challenge for her, something to test her skills against, but fighting him had never been as personal for her as it had been for Blake.

But Torchwick had always been honest about who he was instead of pretending to be a friend, and he had never killed someone Ruby cared about. She remembered Mercury stopping her, smirking at her, stalling her while Penny died. That had been his game, to kill her friends and destroy her home … and Ruby was done playing.

"He's evil," Ruby said. "His whole team is."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You can't be so judgemental about people you've never met before."

"Do you let that high horse stay in your glass house with you?" Yang asked. "Or does it have a glass barn too?"

"I have met him!" Ruby protested. "In the future–"

"Oh, no."

"In the future, they get Yang disqualified, hack the robot army, unleash Grimm into the city, and … and you're all giving me that look again."

That look was a mixture of annoyance, frustration, and avoiding eye contact which Ruby had been seeing more and more.

Weiss sighed. "So, does anyone else want to do it, or am I stuck being the bad guy again?"

"We do call you Ice Queen for a reason," Yang said.

"Fine, fine. Ruby, stop it."

"But I'm not–"

"Stop. It. You need to get you head out of the clouds and back in the present. You're not from the future, you're just stupid, and this game, delusion, I don't know what it is, it has already gotten us in enough trouble. You need to cut it out before you screw up anything else."

WWW

"She's going to screw up something else, isn't she?"

"What, after that compassionate and encouraging talk you gave her?" Yang said. "You know, the one that did absolutely nothing?"

"I wouldn't say it did nothing," Blake said. "Now she will no longer come to us if she needs help. So, progress. Yay."

It was the next morning, and Ruby was in the shower, leaving the rest of the team free to …

"So we've been reduced to talking about her behind her back now," Weiss said.

Yang shook her head. "No. No we're not."

"We kind of are," Blake said.

"No, we're doing the exact opposite. We're plotting an intervention for her behind her back. That's totally different and totally okay. Because if she's not going to come to us for help, we'll have to bring the help to her, whether she knows about it or not."

"Okay, fine," Weiss said. "So, Yang, you know her best. What do you think is the best way to get her to accept psychiatric help?"

Yang gave her a flat look. "Weiss, remember when we spent that one weekend looking for Blake and you wanted to just turn her into the police?"

Blake looked up. "Wait, what?"

"Not my proudest moment, so thank you for bringing it up every chance you get."

"And remember how you felt like such a jerk when you realized what a big jerk you had been the whole time?"

"Is there a point to this?"

"Well, this is your chance to do the exact opposite!" Yang said. "Besides, we're her friends. We're far more qualified to help Ruby out of her whatever than any shrink."

"I don't think that's true," Weiss said. "But for the sake of brevity, let's skip the part where I futilely try to convince you otherwise and go straight to the part where I give into whatever you have in place of a plan."

"Perfect!" The shower was still going. Ruby usually took fast showers, unless she was upset about something. "So I was making up some psychobabble last night while I was falling asleep, and I had an idea. Why is Ruby so obsessed with the future? Because the present is boring. It's tedious, it's dull, midterms are coming up, the present sucks. The future is where it's at! In the future, we're all full Huntresses, saving the world and punching evil in the face."

"I got the impression she was dreading the future," Blake said.

Yang shrugged. "Same thing. Anyway, if we want her to stop thinking about the future, then we need to make present worth focusing on. Any ideas?"

"Well, there's the Tournament coming up," Weiss said. "But I don't think that will help. More immediately, there's the dance. Ruby likes formal dances, doesn't she?"

Yang started laughing. "Wait, are you serious? I don't think she's ever been to one. Last time Signal had one, she was too busy upgrading her scythe."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "That is so her. Still, all we need to do is get her to focus on the dance instead of getting expelled, and we've saved the present. She does know how to dance, doesn't she?"

"I'm going to have to assume she doesn't."

"Yes, well, she did blow me up when we first met. I imagine she'd be a disaster on the dance floor. A blood bath if she went in stilettos. I assume making her able to feign civility and refinement is my job, then?"

Yang shrugged. "I sure don't want to do it."

Weiss sighed. "Fine. Other than that, all that remains is getting her a date, because I foresee her hiding behind the punch bowl all night until she finds a way to get into trouble."

"Sounds about right," Yang agreed. "So, who do we know who's single? There's Jaune. He's nice."

Weiss made a face. "Ruby may be uncoordinated, clumsy, and socially incompetent, but she can do way better than him."

"Ren? Are he and Nora officially a couple yet, or are they still unofficially a couple?"

"Either way, they're still a couple."

"Who else do we know? Team CRDL, but they're …"

"Four options worse than Jaune."

Yang looked at Blake. "I'm guessing Sun is already going with someone, right?"

Blake looked away. "He might not."

"And I might become a butterfly." Yang snapped her fingers. "How about his teammate? Neptune. He seems … blue-haired."

"You know what," Weiss said quickly. "We're overthinking this. Why don't we just set her up with Jaune?"

"I thought you said–"

"I say a lot of things! Jaune's fine!"

WWW

"Jaune!" Yang called out after class. "We need to talk."

He followed her out into the hall, or rather she grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him into the hall as though he were a pencil she had found lying on a desk. His teammates did nothing to help, though Nora gave him a thumbs up.

"Okay, what is it?"

"Word on the street is that you're totally single, and desperate to change that by Sunday. I'm here to help."

Jaune hesitated, unsure about how much to read into that. He decided to play it safe and read as little as possible, though even that little was dangerous. He had asked Ren for advice on girls earlier instead of his two female teammates, because asking a girl for advice on girls was like asking a Beowolf advice on how to not get eaten.

"I was planning on asking out Weiss," he said.

"You already did that. She said no."

"I was planning on asking again? Hey, you know her better than I do. Is there a way I could ask her that would get her to say yes?" Pyrrha had suggested that he be honest and sincere as he could, which would work with someone as honest and sincere as Pyrrha, but Weiss might prefer something more stylistic.

"That's easy. Just be someone else."

"Right! Um, can I do that? I don't think I can do that."

"You can't, but you can ask someone else," Yang said. She grinned. "And that's where I come in."

"You think I should ask you?" Jaune didn't know if he should have felt thrilled or terrified.

She burst out laughing. "Oh man, that's–ha ha–that's a good one."

"Yeah, that was a joke," Jaune said. "You know, break the tension."

Her laughter died down. Eventually. "Right. Where was I? Oh yeah. Why don't you ask out Ruby? She doesn't have a date yet either, and you two know each other, so you've got that going for you."

"Ruby?" He had never considered her. She was cute alright, but she seemed more like the sort of girl who would enjoy long walks through the woods at night slaughtering Grimm rather than go to a dance.

"Unless you think you can do better." There was an edge to her voice, just beneath her smile.

"No! Not that. I'm just surprised that, uh, that you'd be okay with me asking her out."

She scoffed. "That's okay. You're harmless."

"I'm … harmless?"

She nodded. "Completely harmless."

"I wouldn't say completely. You could argue mostly harmless, but–"

"Semantics shemantics. Now, me, Weiss, and Blake–well, mostly me and Weiss because Blake thinks that this is really dumb–we're scheming this whole thing, so do exactly what we tell you, and Ruby will fall right into your arms."

WWW

Ruby looked down at her feet, realizing that she had lost control of her life. It was ironic, really. Her friends wanted to get her head out of the clouds and keep her feet grounded firmly in reality, and their solution? To put her in stupid lady stilts so her feet were several inches off the ground at all times. Brilliant.

"Now," Weiss said, walking down the hall at her side. "The secret to becoming accustomed to heels is grace, poise, and practice. You don't have any of the first two, so we'll just have to cram in as much of the third as we can."

Ruby took a step and wobbled. The wobble started in her feet, shook her knees, went up to her hips, hit her shoulders–causing her to lash out at anything she could grab onto ("Ow! Watch it!")–and ended with her head. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Good question," Weiss said. "No."

"Oh." Weiss had, for reasons only she understood, taken it upon herself to turn Ruby into a lady in time for the dance. Ruby had told her that she wasn't interested, and Weiss had asked her what that had to do with anything, and suddenly they were here, walking down the hall in high heels. "So, is there a point to this?"

"Two, actually," Weiss said. "So be careful not to step on anyone's feet."

Ruby gasped. "Wait, is Yang involved in this?"

Weiss looked away quickly. "No! I … I made that pun up myself."

"Oh my gosh, she is!" She'd recognize her sister's signature comedy anywhere, and Yang had stabbed her right in the back with high heeled shoes. "Is this some elaborate scheme to–to fancy dance me? Is Blake involved?"

"As if we could get Blake to help us out with anything that didn't involve getting us into trouble! Um, if there was anything to involve her with. Also, you're being paranoid, Ruby. We're your friends, so you should trust us more."

"Yeah, but–"

"Also, have you noticed that staircase?"

Ruby looked at the staircase that had been there her entire stay at Beacon. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's a trust fall. It's a great trust building exercise."

Ruby frowned. "I think a trust fall is–"

"Good luck!"

"What?"

Weiss shoved her. If Ruby had been wearing her boots, she would have just shoved her back, but in heels she could barely walk in, she fell, rolled, and crashed her way to the bottom, cursing Weiss' name with every step.

"I–hate–umph–you–"

"I got you!" Jaune's voice. Where had he come from?

"Omp!"

"I–don't–got–"

"–ow–so–"

"–you!"

"–much!"

She ran out of steps and stopped at the bottom, tangled up with Jaune like a two-person pretzel.

"Ow," she said.

"Ow," he agreed.

"My landing strategy needs work." She should have activated her semblance. That would have … either solved things for her, or made them a whole lot worse.

"I need to work on my rescue strategy," he said. He shifted. "Hey, Ruby, are you wearing knives on your shoes?"

"Yup."

"Why are you wearing knives on your shoes? You nearly killed me."

"Weiss tried to kill me."

"Did she try to kill me too?"

"No. I think you were just collateral damage."

"Dang it. Just when I was starting to think she cared. Hey, could you get off of me?"

"Nope. Could you get off of me?"

Jaune shifted again. "How are we on top of each other? We look like M. C. Escher tried to teach jiu jitsu."

"I know what some of those words mean," Ruby said. "Okay, here's the plan. You try to roll that way, I'll slither this way, and hopefully something will happen." They made a few lurching motions, trying not to kick the other too hard in the face, and finally they broke apart. "See? Piece of cake."

"The cake tastes like pain and awkwardness."

"That's what adventure tastes like." Ruby considered trying to stand up, but decided not to push her luck and ended up sitting on the floor with her back to a wall. "So, what's up with you? Are you dreading the dance this Sunday as much as I am?"

"Oh, uh, you haven't gotten a date yet either?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I figure I'll just hide out behind the punch bowl until I get the chance to beat up bad guys." That was what she had done last time. She hadn't realized it at the time, but that was her first interaction with Cinder. Well, she'd be ready for her this time. Somehow.

"That's one thing you could do," Jaune said. "Though it's funny that you brought it up, because I was wondering if maybe, this Sunday–"

"Yeah, sure, totally."

He hesitated. "Really? Huh, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Thanks, Ruby."

"No problem." She tried to push herself to her feet by backing against the wall, but she only got a few inches before falling back down. "And good luck. I think you two would be really good together."

He blinked. "What? You two? Me and who?"

"Um, wasn't that what you were asking?"

"I don't think so. What were you answering?"

"If you should ask out Pyrrha. That wasn't what you were asking?" Though now that she thought of it, why would Jaune ask her about asking out Pyrrha? There had to be plenty of people more qualified.

"No, I was asking … and I can't ask out Pyrrha Nikos!"

"Why not? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing's wrong with her," he said. "That's what's wrong with her."

Ruby nodded. "Oh, I get it it. Because um, what?"

"Okay, I can explain. See, Pyrrha is up here." He held a hand up in the air. "And me? I'm down here." He held his other hand closer to the floor. "See?"

Ruby looked at the two hands. "No, I think you have it backwards."

"What?"

"Yeah. I remember whenever you two are standing next to each other, you're actually a little bit taller than her." Pyrrha was one of the tallest girls in the school, but Jaune had a few inches on her.

"What? No, no, I'm not talking about height, I'm talking about, um, social standing. Yeah, that. She's a good friend and I like her a lot, but she is too far of my league for me to ask her out."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "Explain."

"Seriously? Okay, how should I put this? See, everyone in the school has a social standing, popularity level, or whatever you want to call it based off of how cool they are, how many friends they have, that sort of thing. It's kind of like a competition, because if you end up going out with someone of the same level, you've passed, if you end up with someone better than you, you've won, and if you get stuck with someone lower than you, then you've lost."

Ruby frowned. "That's dumb."

"Well, I don't make the rules, but–"

"No, seriously. That's dumb. Really, really dumb. So if you're at the bottom of this, this thing, then–"

"Then you're pretty much going to die alone, yeah."

"And if you're at the top …"

"Like Pyrrha."

"Then …

"Then you're going to need to fend guys off with a stick."

"And no matter who you've ended up with, you've lost."

"Um …"

"It's like saying that you can't fight those Beowolves, because they're too easy for you. You have to stick with the Ursai, and only the Ursai, and don't even think about going near that Nevermore, because it's too much for you."

"To be fair, I don't think I could handle a Nevermore by myself, but you're oversimplifying this."

"How could I make this any simpler than it already is? Your team has two boys and two girls. That's a problem that solves itself."

"Okay, this is not how I planned this conversation, but–"

Ruby frowned. "Who plans conversations?"

"A lot of people, but let's say that I did ask Pyrrha to the dance. Do you know what would happen?"

Ruby thought about that. "She'd say yes?"

"Exactly. You see the problem, don't you?"

"Um …"

"Of course you don't."

"Nope."

"She wouldn't say yes because she likes me, she'd say yes because she feels sorry for me."

"She feels sorry for you?"

Jaune gave her a flat look. "If I tried to ask her out, I guarantee you that she would."

"Huh. So, who is she going with then?"

He shrugged. "Beats me. She's gorgeous, kind, got her face on a cereal box, and is stronger than most graduates. I bet half the school wants to ask her out–not half the boys, half the school–so she's welcome to take her pick."

Ruby frowned. "I'm not sure about that. I mean, you know, her knees."

"Her … knees?"

Ruby nodded. "She has bee's knees."

"Bee's knees?"

"Yup. I had those when I first got here, and it was horrible."

"Oh, bee's knees. I … I didn't know people still used that phrase. You were the bee's knees?"

"Uh-huh. Way too many joints, and even now when I talk to someone new, the first thing they say is, 'Aren't you a little young to be going to Beacon?' And the second thing is always, 'You got admitted early? That is so neat!'" She made a zombie face. "But you know who doesn't think I have bee's knees? My friends, because your friends are always normal no matter how weird they are."

"Huh. So … you don't think anyone's going to ask her?"

"For her autograph? Sure. To dance? Well, if Ren's going with Nora, and you're … being you, probably not."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Wow. I … I never thought about it like that." He stood up. "Good luck finding someone for Sunday."

"Thanks, but I'm planning on just going by myself and catching someone there."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure there's a nice boy waiting for you."

She grinned. "Actually, I'm hoping for a bad girl."

He blinked. "Oh? Oh! Okay then. Um, good for you."

She nodded. "Yup. She's a supervillain."

"Huh?"

"And I'm gonna beat her up!"

He opened his mouth and closed it a few times. "You know what, I'm sure that makes sense in some sort of context, so you … you keep on being you. I need to go think about what you said. Earlier, not what you said just now."

"'Kay, but first, could you give me a hand up? Heels manage to turn everything into an obstacle course without any of the fun stuff."

He pulled her to her feet. "Yeah, the secret is to step toe-heel instead of heel-toe. In some ways it's easier to walk backwards."

She stared at him. "How would you know that?"

He looked away quickly. "I don't need to answer that question! I, uh, I need to go. Right now. Good talk." He started walking away.

"Wait, hold on! There's one more thing I forgot. If you're not sure about asking her out, put on a dress first."

"Oh, ha ha."

"I'm serious! Last time at the dance, you were wearing a suit and tie like normal, right?"

He gave her a flat look. "In your other future?"

She was getting tired of seeing that expression whenever she brought up her Cassandraific predictions. "Yes, in my other future. Anyway, you were dressed normal, then you left, came back in a dress for some reason, and spent the rest of the night dancing with Pyrrha."

He stared at her, wide eyed. "What?"

Ruby shrugged. "I never did ask you why, but Pyrrha seemed happy, so it must have worked."

His mouth hung open. "So, you're telling me that Pyrrha went to the dance alone, and I wore a dress."

"Yup. That about covers it."

"That's weird, because I was just telling her the other night that if she couldn't … then I would … oh my gosh, you really are from the future!"

"That's what I've been telling everyone!"

WWW

A/n And that's chapter three. Just a disclaimer, everything I know about walking in high heels comes from a single episode of the Simpsons, to take Jaune's advice with a grain of salt. I also don't know a whole lot about dating, so you should probably take Ruby's advice with the appropriate condiments as well.

I probably should stop juggling five stories at once and focus on one or two until I finish them off or ready to abandon them for good, but I'm really just a horrible person completely oblivious to his own limitations, and I have no intention of wising up anytime soon.

Thank you everyone who left a review, you're all wonderful people. And thank you Magery for editing. You're and extra wonderful person. And everyone who has read without reviewing, well, you're still okay.