Chp. 43: Homecoming Pt. 1
Beacon Academy, Vale
Ballroom
December 15, 2020
It has been over a month since the mission in Atlas. When General Ironwood found out about Hera's involvement in Basil's escape out of Atlas, he was furious, while the others weren't that surprised, none more so than Jacob. When Professor Ozpin learned of Hera's crime aidding with her brother's escape, he quickly convinced Ironwood to release Hera over to his custody and let him deal with her punishment. Ironwood was reluctant to comply and released Hera into Ozpin's care, but on the condition that Hera is not only not ever allowed to come back to Atlas, but must also pay a heavy fine. Ozpin had placed Hera on house arrest for four weeks and was given a threat of expulsion, letting her know that she was on thin ice. She was also banned from participating in the upcoming Beacon Homecoming Dance.
Speaking of which, coming up in the next day was the Beacon Homecoming Dance. Team CFVY, and Weiss, Yang, Britney, Rebecca, Kendra, and Azumi are all in the ballroom decorating and making preparations for the Homecoming Dance tomorrow night.
"Hey, Britney," Weiss spoke.
Britney turns around to see Weiss holding two squares of cloth, both seemingly to be similar shades of white.
"I need you to pick a tablecloth," Weiss said.
Britney looks at both squares just as Rebecca came up next to Britney and looked at the two squares in Weiss' hands.
"Aren't they both the same color?" Rebecca asked.
"Seriously! They're two different shades!" Weiss scoffed.
Britney rolled her eyes and pointed at the cloth in Weiss' right hand "That one."
"Exactly what I thought! Perfect choice!" Weiss said.
Weiss walks away as Rebecca turns her head at her partner.
"Can you really tell the difference between them?" Rebecca asked.
"Nope, I just guessed," Britney answered with a shrug.
"So I'm guessing Jacob already asked you out?" Rebecca asked.
"Yep. He did," Britney answered.
"I still need to ask Ilia out. Hopefully she'll say yes," Rebecca said.
"Yeah, 'cause you still owe her for the treatment she gave you back in Menagerie," Britney said with a smirk.
"Shut up!" Rebecca shouted with red cheeks.
As Velvet and Coco were setting up streamers on the walls, Yang and Yatsuhashi were carrying sound speakers over their shoulders with Azumi supervising them. Velvet and Coco bounced up into the air when Yang dropped the speaker on the floor. They bounced once more when Yatsuhashi dropped his speaker to the floor like Yang.
"Careful with those speakers you two! I don't want something bad to happen to them!" Azumi said.
"Sorry," Yatsu said.
"Hey Yang, how's Ruby been doing? You know. After..." Velvet trailed off.
"After her assault back in Atlas, or after going through Volume 9?" Yang asked.
"Both," Coco answered.
"She's recovering okay after Volume 9. But after her sexual assault however, she still had nightmares about it, and we've been trying our best to help her. Our dad showed up here once we had returned. He would not stop checking up on us after all of that. Calling us on our Scroll was almost constant now," Yang answered.
And right on que, Yang's Scroll started to vibrate. She pulled out her Scroll and sighed in annoyance upon seeing that it was Taiyang calling her. She answered the call and placed her Scroll on her ear.
"Hello, dad... Dad, again we're fine! This is the twentieth time you've called today!" Yang said as she started walking away.
Coco turns her head to Blake as she approaches.
"Whatever happened to Ruby's attackers?," Coco asked.
"Hera's brother escaped from Atlas and we don't know where he is now," Blake answered. "As for the others, General Ironwood took care of them."
Blake pulls out her Scroll and taps on an icon. She presents the Scroll to Coco and Velvet as the Scroll plays a video of the three boys tied to posts. Standing several feet away from them was General Ironwood with a line of Atlas soldiers standing next to him aiming their guns at the three boys.
"Fire!" Ironwood shouted.
The soldiers fired off their guns at the three boys. Ironwood walks up to one of the boys as he pulls out Due Process. He shoots the boy in the head and walks up to the second boy and fires another shot into his head, then walks up to the last boy and fires his third shot in the last boy's head. Blake pauses the video as Coco and Velvet look up at the cat Faunus.
"They got what was coming to them," Coco said.
"Yeah, they did," Blake said with a nod.
"I heard Yang asked you out to homecoming," Velvet said.
"Yeah, she did. I said yes," Blake said.
"So did you call Sun and tell him Bumbleby is now a thing?" Coco asked.
"Not yet, but I will," Blake answered.
"I can imagine his reaction when he finds out about it. Hope he doesn't take it too hard," Velvet said.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Blake said.
Library
Meanwhile inside the library, Emerald and Ilia were sitting at a table each of them reading a book. A moment later, Rebecca walks up to the table, catching Ilia and Emerald's attention.
"Hey, girls," Rebecca greeted.
"Hey Rebecca," Emerald waved.
"Hi," Ilia said.
"I have a question to ask you, Ilia," Rebecca said.
"Yeah?" Ilia asked.
"Do you wish to... go to the homecoming dance with me?" Rebecca asked.
Ilia gains a surprised look on her face as her spots turn pink.
"Yes!" Ilia squeaked out in a nervous tone.
"Great! I'll meet you back at your dorm room tomorrow," Rebecca said.
Rebecca turns around and walks away as Ilia watches her leave.
"So what are you gonna wear at homecoming?" Emerald asked with a teasing smirk on her face.
"Shut up!" Ilia said.
"Hey there, Emerald," a new voice spoke.
The two girls turned their heads to see Watson with a small bucay of flowers.
"I just came here looking for you and, uh, wanted to... you know... ask you out to the dance tomorrow night," Watson said.
Emerald stared blankly at Watson for a moment. He quickly spoke again.
"It's fine if you don't want to. I thought that a nice, pretty girl like you should be alone. And I wanted to make you happy. And-" Emerald cut him off and spoke.
"Watson... I'd love to."
Watson sees Emerald smile as she then grabs the flowers out of his hands. She stood up from her seat and leaned in close to Watson.
"And also.. thank you," Emerald said before pecking Watson's cheek with a kiss.
Watson's face turns red as he turns around and walks away without saying a word. Ilia turns her head to face Emerald.
"Anything you're wearing to homecoming?" Ilia asked with a smirk of her own.
"I'll just wear the same thing from the Beacon Dance," Emerald answered.
"But seriously, you actually want to go to the dance with him? Why?" Ilia asked.
"Out of all the backlash I've received in Beacon, He was one of the few people that defended me, and actually nice to me. I should repay him somehow," Emerald said.
Team RWBY's Dorm Room
Later inside Team RWBY's dorm room, Weiss was cleaning her dress for the dance with a lint roller, and Blake and Yang were looking through a list, while Ruby was sitting on her bed. Yang turns her head up to Ruby on her makeshift bunk bed.
"Ruby, are you doing okay up there?" Yang asked.
"Huh? Yeah... sure," Ruby answered, looking zoned out.
Blake and Weiss turn their heads up at their team leader, looking a little worried.
"Ruby, can you come down here for a moment?" Weiss asked.
Without saying a word, Ruby slid off of her bed and down to her team below.
"Ruby, do you even want to go to the Homecoming Dance?" Blake asked.
"I... I don't even know," Ruby answered.
Yang wraps her arm around her sister.
"Ruby... if you don't want to go... then you don't have to," Yang said.
"I know it won't be as fun without you there, but you still haven't mentally recovered from your attack back in Atlas," Weiss said.
"Your well being is more important than some stupid dance. And we want to make sure that you are okay," Blake said.
Ruby looked down to the floor for a moment, and then looked back up to her team.
"Guys, I want to go to the dance," Ruby said.
"Are you sure?" Yang asked.
"Yes," Ruby answered.
"Well, if you need us, go ahead and talk to us. We're always available for you," Weiss said.
The team then gets into a group hug. Ruby's mouth slowly curls up into a small smile.
"Thanks you guys," Ruby said.
Courtyard
December 16, 2020
It was tomorrow at night, and out in the courtyard Ricky, Weiss, Mercury, Rebecca, Ilia, Jesse, and Jacket, and Team JNPR were walking towards the ballroom for the Homecoming Dance.
Weiss is wearing a short, white, sleeveless dress with cutouts on both sides of her waist. The yoke of the dress is translucent mesh and she also wears white pumps.
Pyrrha is wearing a turtleneck sleeveless red dress with her back exposed.
Nora is wearing a pink strapless dress with a white skirt. Notably, the seam joining the two sections tapers to a point, which gives the top part of her dress a resemblance to a pink heart-shape.
Ilia is wearing a magenta dress that reached down to the floor. It has wrapped off-the-shoulder sleeves and thin shoulder straps. She also wears a pair of white pumps.
Rebecca is wearing a short, sleeveless blue dress with a thick matching sash wrapped around her waist. She also wore a pair of black stockings and pumps.
Jaune, Ren, Ricky, Mercury, Jesse, and Jacket all wore their Beacon uniforms.
"Where's Watson?" Ren asked.
"He's waiting for Emerald to get ready," Mercury answered.
"Watson asked her out yesterday," Ilia added.
"Ruby, Blake, and Yang are already at the dance," Weiss said.
"Jacob and Robert are both waiting for Britney and Kendra to get ready. Kelly and Allen are just following them behind. They'll all catch up," Rebecca added.
"Hey guys!" the sound of Liberty's voice called out.
Everyone turned to see Liberty, Rin, and Ronin approaching the group.
Liberty is wearing a black formal gown with a slit on the right side, and matching long black gloves and high heels.
Rin is wearing a long, light blue, backless Chinese Turquoise dress with purple flowers and leaves, and straps tied around her neck keeping it up, and purple high heel boots.
Ronin was wearing his Beacon uniform like the other boys.
"I see Hera's not with you guys," Pyrrha said.
"She was not allowed to come. Professor Ozpin's orders," Rin said.
"She helped her brother escape Atlas. Right," Jaune said.
"We also have gotten so fed up with her that the three of us are considering putting an R.O.R. on her," Ronin said.
"R.O.R.?" Nora asked.
"Request of Removal, Nora," Ren answered.
"It means they want to kick Hera out of their team," Jesse said.
"Let's be honest, she is nothing but trouble for us," Ronin said.
"She's trouble for all of us," Jacket said.
"Enough about Karen though. Let's just enjoy the night," Rebecca said.
They all then continued to make their way to the Homecoming Dance.
Dorm Building
Meanwhile inside the dorm building, Jacob, Kelly, Allen, and Robert were all out in the hallway, waiting for Britney and Rebecca to come out of their dorm room.
Kelly is wearing a short, light blue dress with a white sash wrapped around her waist, a pair of long, white gloves, and a pair of white pumps.
Jacob, Allen, and Robert were all wearing their Beacon uniforms.
"How long are they gonna take in there?" Jacob asked.
"Probably putting on makeup or something," Robert said.
"They just probably want to look their best for the dance. For you both. I know I would," Kelly said.
The door opens and out comes Kendra and Britney in their dresses.
Kendra wore a yellow, short, long sleeved, v-neck dress with a small slit on the left side of her skirt. She also wears a pair of matching heels.
Britney was wearing a long, strapless dark red dress with two leg slits on her dress, a matching sash wrapped around her waist, and matching pumps.
Jacob and Robert stared at their girlfriends for a moment before Jacob broke the silence and spoke.
"You look amazing, Britney," he said.
"The same goes to you too, Kendra," Robert said.
"Thanks, you guys," Britney said.
"We thought you'd like 'em," Kendra said.
"With all that out of the way, let's catch up with the others," Kelly said.
"Yeah, we don't want to miss out on too much of the fun that will be happening there," Britney said.
Jacob, Robert, Kelly, Britney, and Kendra start to make their way to the Homecoming Dance.
Author's Note: All the boys are basically wearing their Beacon uniforms to the dance with the exception for vests underneath and bow ties. Just like the Beacon Dance in Volume 2.