Chapter 19: Getting The Band Back Together (Part One)
Hey friend, it's your pal, The Draigg! I'm striking back with another installment of this story! By now, you should know that I don't own RWBY, since Monty Oum does. Or, pretty much anything else I mention. I wouldn't do a good job if I did, anyway. So, let's get to reading, shall we?
Ruby was rolling on her heels when she knocked on Team JNPR's door. It was currently eleven thirty in the morning. However, to her, it felt like the day had just begun. This was the first step to starting the music show back up again! Or, one of the steps. The other team members had split up to help recruit other people, so that they could get the help they needed.
The plan was that Weiss would get Velvet and then both of them would head over to the Administration Office, in order to secure a location. Blake wheeled off the still paralyzed Yang in a desk chair over to the Band Club, in order to convince them to lend some music equipment. If all of them were to pull their goals of, then nothing could stop them!
Jaune swung open the door. Seeing Ruby standing there, with her ear to ear grin, he couldn't help but feel some déjà vu. He was sure this happened before. Putting on his best helpful smile, he spoke to Ruby.
"Heya, Ruby. What do you need?", he asked. Ruby, not missing a beat, took this as an invitation to waltz into the room. She moved past Jaune without answering his question. All he could do was turn around in confusion.
Spinning around on her heel, Ruby struck a dramatic pose. She thought she looked all cool, with one of her arms cocked back, and the other one holding her hand in front of her face, her palm facing her.
Ren and Nora had been arguing what to get for lunch, with Pyrrha listening in as a mediator when Ruby walked in. When she struck her pose, they stopped, confused. She probably had another of her announcements to make. Whatever it was, her pose was making it hard for her to take seriously.
"Oh, to what do owe the pleasure?", Ren snarked. He was having a rough day so far, with Nora pestering him that melted ice cream with gummy bears was a soup. Why couldn't they just get miso, like he suggested?
Dropping the pose, Ruby folded her arms. "I've got some news! We're redoing the musical, and we need your help!". With that being said, Ruby then pulled some crumpled papers out of her pockets. She threw them onto the table they were seated at.
Un-crumpling the papers, Team JNPR saw that these were Ruby's handwritten notes. They looked at her, wanting an explanation.
"Those are my plans! We're gonna put it together, and it'll be AWESOME!", Ruby said, cheering her own idea on.
Scanning over the papers, Ren noted, "This… seems more like a concert than a musical…".
"Yeah.", Jaune agreed. "What exactly are you shooting for?", he asked.
"I figured that the songs could tell a better story than we EVER could. Have you ever read Blake's writing?", Ruby asked hypothetically. She didn't really expect a response.
Ren's pupil's dilated at the mention of Blake's writing. Even though he could remember little of it, he could remember enough for him to start shivering uncontrollably. Why was it always the quite, stoic ones that were the biggest perverts around?
"All she wants is pain… All she NEEDS is pain…", Ren muttered to himself as he started to rock in his chair. In response, Nora hugged him and started whispering soothing noises in his ear.
Seeing the look on Ruby's face, Pyrrha explained to her, "Ren actually DID read some of her writing.". The color drained from Ruby's face.
"Which chapter?", she asked, trembling in her boots.
"Twelve… TWELVE!", recalled Ren. Ruby put a hand on his shoulder. Now she felt really bad for triggering Ren.
"I'm SO sorry!", apologized Ruby. Then, she added, "Don't worry, I've been there before, too.". That wasn't a pleasant memory.
All Ruby wanted to do was order some new boot laces online. Unfortunately, her scroll's battery was drained, so it was charging. Looking for online access, she spied Blake's laptop. She probably wouldn't mind if she just used the internet. Sitting at the desk, she opened the laptop. For some reason, the word processor was still open. Curious, she started to scroll down.
That was easily one of the worst decisions she had or will ever make.
If what she saw could be put into a single word, then the fan fiction she was reading was nothing but pain. Even if she understood little of what she was reading, she understood enough to start retching violently. She wished that she could un-see that one scene with the obese evil minister and the ant colony.
When the others had gotten back from getting pizza from the cafeteria, they never expected to see Ruby writhing on the ground, clawing at her arms. Her sleeves were starting to shred.
"OH GODS! THEY'RE UNDER MY SKIN! MOMMY! MOMMY! HELP ME! AAAHHHHHHH!", she was screaming. A frantic look was in her eyes, as if the infinite abyss leered at her and threatened to swallow her whole.
Blake, realizing that her laptop was open, dropped the pizza and slammed down the screen. An embarrassed blush crossed her face. Looking sheepish, she turned to the others.
"I guess it happened to her too.", Blake realized out loud.
At that thought, Yang tried to stop herself from vomiting by holding her mouth. It wasn't working. Her bile was pouring between her fingers.
Weiss took it even worse. She fainted face first into the pizza on the floor. Although she now had a tasty face, that didn't help with the fact that horrible, horrible repressed memories were starting to flow through her head.
To quickly go over Weiss' discovery, the chapter she had first read involved sexual torture on an undead slave girl with a live snake. Who the hell got turned on by venom loaded snake bites?! But, that's a story for a different time. Hopefully never.
Now Blake had to deal with a hysterical Ruby, a vomiting Yang, and an unconscious Weiss. She just didn't get it. Her fan fiction couldn't be THAT bad, right?
Right?
Shaking the memory out of her head, Ruby tried to get back on the subject.
"So, do ya think you can help us?", she asked. That got her weird looks. Clearly, this wasn't the time. But, she wouldn't take no for an answer. She stood her ground. That was troublesome for a number of reasons. Ren was starting to act erratic. He was trying to get himself out of Nora's grasp and un-holster his guns.
Seeing that Ruby demanded a response, Pyrrha answered quickly. "Sure, of course. But, do you think you can leave? We need to help Ren right now.". She shoved Ruby out of the door and locked it behind her. "No, put down the gun, Ren!", was Pyrrha's muffled plea behind the door. Just as the latch clicked, Ren broke free.
Ruby was glad that the plan was a success on her end. Happily, she skipped over to her room to wait for the others. She didn't notice the commotion coming for Team JNPR's room. If she paid attention, she would have heard Ren fire his StormFlowers wildly, and beg for death as they were pried from his hands.
Being Ren was nothing but an existence of pain.
Now that the musical was cancelled, Velvet had little to do with her club time now. So, she was relaxing at her desk, reading one of her favorite manga. It was the latest chapter of Mahou Shojo Yuki-chan. Just as she started to read the page where Yuki-chan makes a wish to the Witches' Guild for her secret crush to notice her, a knock sounded against the door. Marking her page, Velvet answered the door. To her surprise, Weiss was standing there, looking determined about something..
"W-weiss? What are you doing here?", asked Velvet. She wasn't looking forward to facing her. After all, Velvet had a part in getting the play cancelled. Maybe she was here to get revenge! She came to kill her! Terrified, she held her manga in front of her like a shield.
"AHHH! Protect me, Yuki-chan!", she cried. Velvet's eyes were closed. She was ready to be frozen, or burned, or gravity warped, or whatever else Weiss could do to her.
Weiss raised her eyebrow. What was her deal? Did she think that she would hurt her? She pushed the book down so she could talk to Velvet. When she did that, Velvet whimpered and dove behind her desk. Her hiding wasn't very good, since her rabbit ears were still poking over the top. Giving a huff of frustration, Weiss walked over to a chair and sat down.
"Velvet, I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'm her to offer you a job. Now please, come out from behind the desk.", Weiss ordered. This was starting to get absurd. How can a huntress in training be so scared all the time?
After a minute, Velvet shakily got up and sat in her desk chair. Smoothing her jacket, she said, "S-sorry, W-w-weiss. What c-can I d-do for you-u?". She was still slightly convinced that Weiss would hurt her. She kept on shaking in her seat.
"Look, Ruby wants to start another concert or musical or whatever. We want you to come back on board. She figured that you could use your club connections to assist us.", explained Weiss.
"O-ohhh.", Velvet realized. She felt a little more relaxed now. Ruby wants to do another show? Perfect! She must be a true lover of the arts!
"Weiss, I would be m-more than glad to help! Just let me know when and what, and I'll do it!", Velvet offered.
"Great.", Weiss said. "Now let's go.". She moved towards the door. Velvet looked surprised.
"What? Right now?", she asked.
"Of course. We need to go to the Administration Office to get clearance again.", droned on Weiss, as if she should know that already.
Velvet really didn't want to go back to that office. Ever since she cancelled that play, the secretary in charge of clubs was annoyed that she had wasted her time. Her reputation just kept on falling over there. However, she felt that she needed to do this for her friends. She couldn't let them down again!
Standing up and adjusting her skirt, Velvet steeled her resolve. "Okay, let's g-go.", she declared. She marched past Weiss towards the office. Weiss followed her.
It was only natural that the Administration Office of Beacon Academy would be bustling with workers. Files needed to be filed, copies needed to be copied, coffee needed to be brewed, and the creatures of Grimm that Professor Port kept on smuggling in and breeding needed to be killed.
The secretary of club activities, Ms. Muffet, wasn't in the mood to deal with anybody today. She had enough work on her hands as is. She needed to type up club expenses, file attendance reports, and try to justify her job performance after Team CRDL had stolen several projectors from the AV Club and played hardcore gay pornography on the side of the dormitories last month. Technically, those projectors were her responsibility. It wasn't so hard to believe that the young, dark blond haired secretary would be so jaded after only working here for two years.
So, when Velvet Scarlatina came up to her desk with another student she didn't recognize, she just took a heavy swig from her coffee mug. Damn, she could really use some booze right about now. She groaned when Velvet sat in front of her.
"What do you want now, Scarlatina?", she asked. She didn't get paid enough to deal with her crappy performance. That disaster of a play two months ago had nearly cost her job, since she was the one to approve it.
Velvet was nervously clenching her hands when she said: "I… I want to request another chance at renting out the theater again. Please, could you just do that for me?". She smiled weakly, hoping that her request would be heard.
Ms. Muffet just glared at her. After a minute of awkward silence, she replied, "No.". She went right back to working on her computer.
Weiss was shocked at the secretary's blunt answer and dismissal. What was her deal?
"Please,", Weiss begged, "We're pleading with you. Just give us another chance!".
Ms. Muffet sighed and turned her attention to Weiss. "Look, missy. I just can't do that, even if I wanted too. There's a month long period of time before reservations are open again. So, even if I wanted to help your little concert, there's no way I could. Now, please leave. I've got more pressing work to do.".
Weiss' face turned red with anger. "Fine, we don't need you, you jerk! Come on Velvet, let's go!". She turned around to stomp away. Suddenly, she whipped back around and pointed a finger at Ms. Muffet.
"You're the worst secretary! EVER!", she accused. Scowling, she shoved the doors open and marched out of the office.
Following Weiss' lead, Velvet stood up suddenly and said, "Yeah!". She blew a raspberry at Ms. Muffet. Ms. Muffet couldn't care less.
Velvet then followed Weiss out of the office. Ms. Muffet wondered why she had turned down that job at the remedial school in Vale. Then, Velvet poked her head back into the office.
She looked sheepish and her eyes couldn't meet her gaze. "Sorry…", she apologized. Then she quietly closed the door. Ms. Muffet could only roll her eyes at what she had witnessed.
Walking back to the dormitories, Weiss was still venting her frustration, with Velvet acting as an anger sponge.
"—So mean! I hope she loses her job! Who denies students a chance to expand their minds?! Meanies and jerks, that's who! She's nothing but a meanie!". Weiss turned around in the direction of the offices.
"MEANIE!", she yelled. All she managed to do was scare some birds out of their nest. Velvet sighed in defeat.
"Well, we could always try something else…", Velvet thought out loud. She really wanted to not disappoint her friends again.
"Like where? We can't rent out another building big enough! Where could we even go?!", Weiss spat out, frustrated.
Then, a thought clicked in Velvet's head. "Wait… who said we needed to use a building?". Both of them stopped in their tracks.
"Velvet… that's good! Why didn't I think of that!", Weiss exclaimed. "Come on, I've got an idea!". Weiss then summoned a glyph and launched herself far down the walkway.
Velvet was shocked at how quick Weiss had moved. She started to run after her.
"Hey! Wait for me!", she cried after Weiss.
Weiss by now was about a quarter of a mile way, heading towards the fields near the gardens. Yes, that could work! It was big enough! Plus, they had all the room they would ever need! It was brilliant!
Now the dream of a music show was starting to come closer to reality again!
There, another section done! I hope you liked it! Also, thanks for sending in your reviews. Keep up the good work, fellow readers! This is The Draigg, signing off like the last time.