Sera the amnesiac grunted with exertion while she carried an enormous speaker over her shoulder. She liked to think that she's gotten fairly physically strong over the course of the school year after all the time she's spent in the gym. Her body certainly reflected her effort. She was toned and felt powerful, but under the weight of the speaker she was carrying, she couldn't help but feel weak while her arms and legs turned to jelly over the course of just walking across the room.
"Why are these things so heavy?" she said through gritted teeth. She set it down heavily, trying not to lose her grip, then recoiled at the resounding boom it made when it hit the floor.
"Are you kidding?" Yang said. She carried an identical speaker with ease, walking casually as if the weight was nothing to her. She set the speaker down with a wide grin, and the impact made the nearby tables and chairs jump into the air. "Look at these things! They're huge!"
"And how many more do we need to move?" Sera panted.
Yang glanced over her shoulder at the pile of humongous speakers that they needed to place around the ballroom. "…'Bout a few."
The amnesiac dropped her head and sighed. "Let's get this over with."
Team RWBY was now in charge of decorating for the Vytal Festival Ball, and of course, Sera volunteered to help as well. Well, more like Yang had dragged her to the ballroom against her will. Team CFVY was originally in charge of decorating, but since they still haven't returned from their mission, Ozpin elected someone else to do it.
Sera was actually a little worried about CFVY. She knew that they were a year or two ahead of her, meaning they'd be powerful huntsmen, but they were supposed to be back a week ago. Sera hadn't met the other members of the senior team, but she knew Velvet Scarlatina. They've only met a handful of times, but it was enough for Sera to consider her a friend.
Weiss was trying to decide between seven different shades of white that were basically the exact same color, and Ruby just sat at a table with her head down. Blake was nowhere to be found, which was why Ruby was in such a sour mood.
The fight with Roman had only worsened Blake's general attitude. She started staying out even later and looked worse every time Sera saw her. The others weren't too fond of the Faunus's actions, either.
"Ruby, which one of these do you like more?" Weiss held two pieces of cloth in front of the younger girl.
"…They're the same," Ruby deadpanned.
Weiss scoffed. "They are not! Sera!" she stomped over to where the purple-eyed girl was carrying. Sera raised an eyebrow while the heiress approached. "Which of these are better? The cream or the eggshell?"
"Eggshell," Sera said, trying to hide her smile. She agreed with Ruby, both colors were the same. But it was just easier to act like she knew what she was talking about.
"Hm," Weiss's lip curled. "Cream it is." Then she walked off, back to where her pile of decorating items.
"Wha-?" Sera dropped her speaker. "What the hell was the point of asking, then?!"
Weiss didn't even answer, she just kept walking. Sera grumbled to herself and strained to pick the speaker back up before carrying it to a spot on the floor. Almost immediately, she heard Yang and Weiss start arguing over fog machines and doilies or something dumb like that, and the amnesiac just rolled her eyes.
She carried several more speakers before the two girls' arguing finally got to her. She hurried over to the two of them with her fists clenched. "Will you two shut up? We're supposed to be decorating, and you're arguing over doilies?!"
"She's the one who wants to use doilies!" Yang pointed at the heiress.
"She wants to use fog machines! It'll completely throw off the mood of the dance!" Weiss countered.
"Who cares?" Sera stamped her foot. "Use them both! Use neither of them! Why does it matter?"
"Clearly, you don't know the first thing about formal decoration," Weiss crossed her arms.
"This isn't exactly one of your fancy-schmancy rich-people dinners, Weiss," Yang said.
"That doesn't mean that it doesn't have to be up to my standards!"
"It's never going to meet your standards, Ice Queen!" the blond pointed at her.
"Enough!" Sera interrupted them again.
"She was right, anyway," Weiss shrugged.
"Zip it!" she jabbed a finger in her face. "You, go pick out your doilies. You!" she pointed at Yang, causing the blond to blink uncertainly. "Go finish moving those speakers, then you can mess with the fog machines. Maybe if you two mind, you can both do what you want."
The two girls blinked at her.
"Fine," Weiss said, then turned away.
"Yeah, thanks, Mom," Yang said mockingly, but with a hint of a smile. Then the blond headed for the remainder of the speakers.
Sera sighed and watched her teammates separate.
"Discourse among the girls of team RWBY?" a voice asked, and the amnesiac looked over to see Sun and Neptune approaching her.
"Not really," she put her hands on her hips. "Their arguing was just ticking me off."
"That's sort of what 'discourse' means," Sun said.
She shrugged. "Eh. Everything's fine."
"So, where's Blake?" the monkey Faunus asked.
"Still being, you know."
"Blake-y?" he asked.
"Yup," Sera replied, emphasizing the P in the word.
"Figures," Sun crossed his arms.
"Well," she clasped her hands together. "I'm going to see if I can cheer Ruby up. You two can do whatever you want, just don't break anything."
"Sure," Neptune nodded, then the huntress strolled over to take a seat beside her team leader. When she looked back, she saw Sun going to help Yang carry speakers, and Neptune went to talk to Weiss.
"So," she rested her chin on her open palm. "What's got you so down, huh? Is it 'cause you don't want to go to the dance alone?"
Ruby picked her head up with a small smile on the edge of her mouth. "Nope. I'd rather go alone, actually."
Sera shrugged. "Yeah, same. Who cares if you don't have a date, right?"
"I wish you could tell Yang that, she won't leave me alone about it," she sighed.
"But that's not the real reason why you're over here moping, is it?"
"No," her shoulders sagged. "It's Blake."
"I figured," the amnesiac said. "But why are you so worried about it? She's… working some stuff out."
"Because we're supposed to be here as a team," Ruby grumbled. "What's the point in coming if we're not all there?"
"I'm sure everything will be okay," she patted the younger girl on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about it," someone said, and they looked up to see Yang grinning down at them.
"Oh yeah? Why's that, Blondie?" Sera asked.
"Because she's going to be at the dance," she grinned.
"She said that?" Ruby asked.
"Well, no, but don't worry! She will come," Yang said with determination.
Ruby slumped down again and let her head fall to the table. Apparently, she didn't have too much faith in her older sister. Yang raised an eyebrow and looked at Ruby for a moment, then turned and walked towards the exit.
"She will be here," Yang stated.
"See? Yang's got this, Rubes," Sera patted her shoulder again.
"Ugh," the silver-eyed girl groaned.
She smirked and leaned back in her seat. Then an image of dark fog flashed through her mind, and her relaxed expression hardened. She sat up and left the table, walking away from Ruby at a quick and steady pace.
"Sera? Where're you going?" Ruby picked her head up.
"Uh, I need to go do something."
"Like what?" the scythe-wielder blinked. But it was too late, Sera was already out of the door and out of earshot.
"What's her problem?" Weiss asked.
"No idea," Ruby said.
"Well, now we're down three people for decorating," the heiress crossed her arms stiffly.
"At least we have Sun and Neptune," she shrugged.
Redness tinted Weiss's cheeks when she looked over at the blue-haired boy struggling to even lift a speaker. "You're right about that."
"Okay, let's get this all over with," the silver-eyed girl said.
. . .
Sera was laying spread-eagle on the floor of team JNPR's room, staring at the ceiling and watching the fan go round and round. Her coattail laid outwards from her so it appeared that she'd just fallen straight onto her back. It was no coincidence, though, because that's exactly what she'd done.
"Hm," her lip curled while she stared upwards. Her team had probably noticed that she's been acting a little off today. Then again, she might be overthinking things.
Whenever Sera dreamed, it was never just a normal dream. She was always just a bodiless entity floating through fog in pure darkness. The only time she'd dreamt something different was when that mysterious woman visited her and told her her "real" name.
However, last night, she visited her again.
She was just floating through the fog like usual, trying to think of things that would occupy her mind until she awoke. She thought of the latest episodes of Red vs. Blue, the music she's been getting into, and her latest training regimens.
Then she felt a presence fill her subconscious, the darkness on the horizon and the fog she floated through suddenly had a crimson tint to them. She'd only felt it once before, and she wasn't excited that it had returned.
Weirdly enough, she suddenly found that she was no longer floating through the fog but standing in it. She looked down at her bare hands and flexed her fingers before tightening them into fists. She was in her usual clothes and white coat, which she was thankful for. Couldn't exactly talk to an ominous voice naked, could she?
"Ah, Kassandra," the voice of the woman said with an eerie calmness. "I see that your training is coming along excellently. You're becoming stronger. But not strong enough, yet."
"What the hell do you care? And what's that even supposed to mean?" she yelled into the darkness.
"My dear, your training is the only thing that matters for you," she laughed. "After all, you are a huntress, aren't you?"
"I am, and I'm going to kick your ass when I find out what you are!" she clenched her jaw.
"Such bravado," the voice mused. "I wonder if it'll be enough, Kassandra."
"Speaking of that!" she turned in a circle, eyeing every spot of the darkness to see if she could find any hint the voice's owner. "How do I even know you're telling the truth about that name? What if I don't give a damn about what you have to say?"
"Whether you believe me or not is entirely up to you, child," the voice said. "You can hate me and train to fight me all you want, but can you protect the ones you love?"
That made the huntress falter. "What?"
"Get stronger, little huntress, and you may have a chance," she said. Then a sinister laughter filled her head, and she sat bolt upright in bed.
The mental playback of the dream left her uncertain of what she should do. Of course, she should tell Ozpin about it, but she didn't want to at the moment. Sera still watched the ceiling fan spin, her violet eyes moving in small circles.
'Can you protect the ones you love?' the voice had said.
The huntress's jaw tightened. Something was coming. She didn't know when, or how, or why, but something was coming for her. And she had to be ready for it.
Then the door to the room slammed open, and she immediately sat up. All four members of team JNPR walked into the dorm and looked down at her with uncertain eyes.
"Sera?" Jaune said.
"Were you… laying on the floor?" Nora asked.
"…No."
"You're still on the floor," Pyrrha raised an eyebrow.
She shrugged half-heartedly, then climbed to her feet and dusted herself off. "So, what's up?"
"We were just coming back from class," Jaune said, he and his team still watching her with slightly confused eyes.
"Cool, cool," she adjusted her coat. "So, how're you guys feeling about that dance routine?"
"Pretty good, actually," Jaune said.
"How are you feeling about your part?" Nora crossed her arms.
When Sera had asked the team to help her, they asked her for a favor as well. JNPR was planning a group dance routine to really make an impression at the dance, but when she tried to help with it, one vital detail was discovered: Sera cannot dance.
She tried, but no matter how good her footwork and composure were in a fight, those skills could not be applied to dance. So, as a solution to keep their deal intact, she thought of something else she could do.
"Oh, it's going great," she responded, looking over at her new equipment in the corner. She's had a few weeks to practice her act, which even then, was not a lot of time to master what she was trying to do. It takes months or even years to become an adept at it, and when she wasn't training or doing her schoolwork, she was practicing. She didn't want to spoil the surprise, so only JNPR knew about it.
"Good! Is it fun?" the hammer-wielder asked.
"Oho, yeah," she grinned. "Can't wait to put on a show."
"Have you figured out what you'll start with first?" Jaune asked.
"Not yet," she shrugged. "But I have some ideas."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Nora asked.
Sera just grinned. "Can't spoil the surprise now, can I?"
"Aw, come on," the hammer wielder whined.
"Speaking of which," the huntress said. "I need to go practice."
"As do we," Ren said rather urgently. A pang of anxiety flashed across Pyrrha's features, and Sera couldn't blame her. During their dance practice, Ren could be a little… testy. Surprisingly, Pyrrha was the one having the most trouble learning the steps, and Ren was quick to get onto her. It was probably the most emotion they'd ever seen him show, and Sera was just glad that she'd found a way out of learning the dance.
"Well, I'll leave you guys alone then! Good luck, Pyrrha!" Sera grabbed her things and dashed out of the room before she could see Pyrrha's eyes pleading, "help me."
"Okay…" Sera put the strap of her gear onto her shoulder. "Better get to it," she smiled in anticipation of what she had planned.
. . .
"This isn't good, Ozpin," Ironwood paced in front of the headmaster's desk. "Reports indicate that her forces are closing in, and Qrow is saying the same thing. We need to lock down the city of Vale, now."
"We can't," Ozpin said. "Doing so would cause a panic, and panic attracts Grimm. Cancelling the Vytal Festival would cause discourse, and discourse attracts Grimm. We can't do anything except wait and if something happens, hope that we'll be ready."
"There is no 'if' when it comes to this, Oz. Only when. And when she comes, we might as well kiss the kingdom goodbye," the general said.
"Unless we stop her," Ozpin said.
"And how do you plan on doing that? With your students? None of them are ready for this level of combat."
"That may be true, but those students might just end up being our last line of defense, James," the headmaster said.
"We can't just sit here!" Ironwood clenched his fists.
"We have to!" Ozpin stood. "If there was another solution, I would've done it! So, for now, all we can do is wait."
Ironwood clasped his hands behind his back and sighed. "…I don't like this. Any of it."
"Neither do I, James. The city is already on edge with your fleet in the sky, I don't want to make the situation any worse. We must bide our time," he said, sitting at his desk and interlacing his fingers.
"What can we do in the meantime?" the general asked.
"Keep on guard. And don't do anything rash."
"Of course, that much is obvious," Ironwood said.
"Be a headmaster," Ozpin instructed. "Your students will need you, too."
Ironwood nodded stiffly and turned away, heading for the door. Before he turned the knob, he clenched his jaw. "That girl with the amnesia… are you still keeping an eye on her?"
Ozpin clenched his hands tighter. "Goodbye, James."
The general smirked at the much older man and exited the office, leaving Ozpin alone. The gray-haired man sighed heavily and tapped on his holo-keyboard until a video popped up on his screen. The footage showed Sera Calypso in a sparring match against Yang Xiao Long. The two girls grinned at each other while they fought, but Ozpin didn't care about the fight—he was looking for something else.
After a few more seconds of the video, he saw it. Yang had delivered a particularly strong punch to the purple-eyed girl's jaw, and just for a second, he found what he was looking for. Ozpin paused the video and wound it back, frame by frame, until he got to the instant that she'd been punched. He zoomed in the video, and the headmaster's eyes widened when he'd seen that Sera's irises had flashed red.
"Hm," the headmaster's brow furrowed. '…Well,' he thought. 'This just got much more interesting…'
. . .
Sera was coming back from the gym when she saw a familiar group of colorful girls walking down the hall. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were heading towards the dorm building when she stepped out of the locker room. She'd just showered to get all the stink and sweat off of her and was now in her usual clothes, and truth be told, she was feeling pretty good about herself.
The huntress may have started out having a bad day because of the dream, but after a day full of productivity, she couldn't help but grin. She helped decorate the ballroom, practiced for her performance during the dance for a few hours, trained with her sword and shotgun, then finally hit the gym to finish it off nicely.
She shook her head to fling any remaining water out of her hair and fixed it as best as she could with her hands before going after her team.
"Hey!" she called, and the three girls turned around.
"Sera!" Ruby said.
When she caught up to them, the white-haired girl smiled. "What's up?"
"Just heading back to the room," Yang pointed. "We got most of the decorating done, so we figured we could call it for the day."
"I mean, yeah," she said. "That room is big, but it'll look great when the dance rolls around. Speaking of which," the huntress rocked on her heels. "I need to ask Weiss something."
Their jaws dropped and Weiss's cheeks colored. "Wha-what?" she said.
"What's the problem?" Sera looked between the three girls, oblivious to what she might've implied.
"Are you going to ask Weiss to the dance?" Yang asked, shocked.
"What!" Sera demanded, her cheeks tinting red. "No! I just have a question!"
"Whew, that's a relief," Ruby said. "For a minute I thought this was about to get really awkward."
"It already is," Weiss said.
"Oh," the silver-eyed girl said.
"Anyways," Sera interrupted. "Weiss?"
"Fine," the heiress rolled her eyes, then followed Sera down the hallway. Once they were out of earshot, Yang leaned over to her younger sister.
"Yeah, she's totally going to ask her to the dance."
"That'd be so weird," Ruby murmured.
"Why? It's not unusual for girls to date, you know. Even I—" Yang said.
"Ew! No! That's not what I mean," she rolled her eyes. "I mean Sera and Weiss. They hate each other."
"Oh. Right," Yang blinked. "Huh, yeah. That'd be weird."
Sera and Weiss turned a corner and got out of view before the amnesiac looked at her teammate.
"All right, what do you want?" Weiss asked.
"I have a favor to ask," she said, and the heiress raised her eyebrow. "So, I hear you happen to be pretty talented singer…"
Once she was finished explaining what she wanted Weiss to do, the Schnee heiress just gaped at her, aghast at what the purple-eyed huntress had in store for the school dance.
"Are you kidding?!" she said. "You want to use my singing for that?"
"I mean, yeah."
"Absolutely not!"
"But it'd be so cool though!" Sera whined. "Imagine it!"
"I am imagining!" Weiss turned away.
"Weiss, just trust me. You'll be the talk of the whole country! Even more famous than you already are! But maybe since you'll be doing that, it could win you some points with people that are, y'know, our age."
"…I'm listening," she turned her head to look at her out of the corner of her eye.
Sera grinned. "Neptune would think you're very cool if you help me out. As cool as he is, you know he'd be into this."
Redness tinted her cheeks. After a moment of consideration, she sighed. "I'll do it."
The amnesiac grinned wider. "Then we better start practicing! We only have a week until the dance, and it's going to be so. Freaking. Awesome!"
"I'm already regretting this," Weiss sighed heavily.
"Come on!" she grabbed Weiss hand and hauled her towards the room she uses for practice.
"Wait!" the heiress exclaimed, but Sera wasn't listening. She just smiled while dragging the blue-eyed girl behind her. She could already envision just how the night of the dance would go, and she could hardly wait.
