Ch. 34 The night of the dance
"RUBY! How's my favourite sister doing!"
"For your information, Yang, my feet are killing me! And I'm your only sister."
"That I know of. And hello to you too Jaune, thanks for dragging my sister to the dance!"
"I'd like to think the dragging is mutual."
This earned Jaune a not so subtle elbow jab to the ribs from Ruby. This in turn earned her a smirk from Yang.
"Well, I guess I'll leave you two to your little date. Enjoy the night!"
=O=O=O=
"Blake! You're here! "
"And I'm already regretting it. I can't believe you convinced me to go with you."
"Oh don't be like that. It'll be fun!"
As the two arrived at the entrance, they were met with Yang's deadpan glare. Well, Sun was.
"Hello Blake. You look lovely tonight. Sun, what are you wearing?"
"What? I've got a tie…"
Both girls present had to actively resist the urge to hit the fashion-blind man.
"Sun, you can't just slap a tie on your normal outfit and call it a day. At least button up your shirt."
"And hide this body from the world? You'll never make me!"
With that he grabbed Blake by the arm and ran inside in a mocking disregard for authority. Blake could tell though, that he was careful with her.
He didn't actually pull on her arm, but instead nudged her in the right direction and let her follow his lead.
Blake hated to admit it, but his antics were kinda fun.
"Come on, let's find the others."
As she started pulling him towards where her team was, Sun grinned at Blake. It was nice to see her letting her guard down. He didn't know the specifics of what happened, but what mattered was that she was having fun now.
"Sure!"
=O=O=O=
Emerald dragged Mercury towards another group. Cinder had given them a mission, and she would do her best to complete it flawlessly.
Mercury was acting like he normally did. If it wasn't combat he just didn't care, but since Cinder needed them to be seen all over the place, Emerald would take it upon her shoulders to make sure they would be.
As luck would have it, they stumbled upon the group with Neo and her boytoy in it.
Neo, currently in her Mint disguise, was pretty much glued to Cardin, while the man talked loudly over the music.
"Hey Mint, Cardin."
"Hmmm? Oh, let me introduce you. These are Mints' teammates, Emerald and Mercury, and these guys are Jaune and Ruby of team RNJR."
"Hi!"
Ruby was making an effort to act sociable. Sure, she kept to the sidelines mostly, but she was talking to people she knew and making polite conversation with new people.
"Good to make your acquaintance."
Emerald was likewise making an effort outside of her comfort zone. Being surrounded by trained huntsmen could be a death sentence for the thief and speaking to people like them was akin to putting her hand in a beartrap.
Jaune, being possibly the most sociable of the bunch, extended a hand to the up until now silent Mercury. But as soon as the handshake was reciprocated he felt his stomach lurch as if he sat in a landing Bullhead.
"Likewise…" he managed to get out of himself before he let go of his hand.
As the feeling receded Jaune pushed the feeling out of his mind. There was something seriously wrong with the young man's aura and he would bring it up with Ruby later. But he wasn't about to ruin a night they both looked forward to.
=O=O=O=
Sky sat next to Pyrrha and Yang. He had initially planned to get a date for the event, but when his two single teammates had been tasked with planning the dance his plans fell apart quicker than he could say "just as friends and teammates".
On the brighter side he didn't have to risk them rejecting him and embarrassing himself. He still remembered witnessing Neptune asking Yang out, it wasn't a pretty sight.
Oh Yang wasn't violent, not after Cardin forced her to sit through professor Port's lecture. That didn't mean she didn't hurt the handsome man. Apparently Yang could crush a man's heart without ripping it out of his chest.
Sky shuddered at the memory as he caught a glimpse of the blue haired man across the room. One of the girls from team NDGO asked him out and he agreed, though considering how her teammates were chewing him out right now, that didn't go too well either.
"Hey Pyrrha, care for a dance?"
"Huh?" Pyrrha's confused exclamation mirrored Sky's confusion since it wasn't him who asked, it was Yang.
"Well, considering mister "Fearless leader" over here won't ask either of us, I figured we might as well dance together."
When Pyrrha looked at him he decided to be the bigger man and admit his shortcomings to himself.
"Don't look at me. You two have fun, I'm going to find someone else to talk to in the meantime."
Pyrrha smiled at him, before turning back to Yang.
"That would be grand."
As the two left for the dance floor a fast paced song (one of Yang's picks no doubt) came on.
Sky just sighed to himself before deciding on his next course of action "Guess I'll go talk with Neptune. Misery loves company doesn't it…."
=O=O=O=
Ruby had enough of the dance. She halfway contemplated just calling it a night, but there was one thing that was stopping her. She hasn't worked up the courage to dance with Jaune. He suggested it back when they first arrived and she chickened out. Unfortunately it might be too late now. Her feet were killing her.
"Jaune, can we go sit outside? These stupid lady stilts feel like they'll give me blisters even through my aura."
"Actually Ruby, I may have something to help with that."
"Unless it's another pair of shoes I'm not interested."
Jaune smiled at that.
"Fair warning they'll be a bit big on you. Come on, let me show you."
He took her hand and led her outside to one of the benches.
"Wait really? You've got another pair of shoes?"
"They are also knives."
"Of course they are… So?"
"Cultri Pedum."
Jaune reached into the air in front of him and took hold of a pair of shoes. A pair of red and white converse style sneakers to be exact.
"Those look comfy. Gimme!"
Ruby wasted no time kicking off the despised lady stilts and wiggled her toes at Jaune.
"So you want to put them on for you?"
Ruby blew a raspberry at that. "Pfff, we're on a date, that means you get to treat me like a princess."
Jaune shrugged his shoulders. He was pretty sure the princesses in the stories his sisters used to read to him would be used to wearing high heels in the first place.
"Well then, princess Rose. These are Cultri Pedum, or Knives of the feet in the common tongue. Your left first. And please don't take off my fingers with the piston extended blades."
"Ooh, how does that work?"
"You push the big toe up to extend…"
Before Jaune could finish the sentence a blade shot out from the tip of the sneaker, nearly slicing into Jaunes finger.
"Princess… what did I just say about my fingers?" deadpanned Jaune.
Ruby at least had the decency to look bashful. Though whether that was because of shame or because of being called princess Ruby would never tell.
"Sorry…"
"Push back down and put the knife away please."
"… So, why did you make these? I thought you were making simpler things."
"Well, these are a sort of prototype, and a test as to how much of these I have to actually make for my semblance to work with them since they're not all metal. I built the blades obviously, they are mostly the same as the Occultus Ferrum, the rubber soles I took from the original sneakers but I actually had to cut the cloth and stitch them together by hand. Had to rip out the stitches from the sewing machine and put them together a second time."
By the time Jaune finished speaking he was tightening the shoelaces. The sneakers were a little oversized for Ruby, but with the shoelaces tightly tied they fit decently well.
Ruby joyfully stood up and took a single step before stopping.
"Oh that feels weeeird."
"Yeah, the sole is completely rigid due to the blade. It takes a bit of getting used to."
"Eh, beats those stupid lady stilts. Still can't believe Yang talked me into wearing those."
"Well then princess Rose, now that you have appropriate footwear, would you grace me with a dance?"
Ruby stopped herself from rejecting the idea again. She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a second before coming to the decision to come clean.
"Jaune, I don't really know… how."
"I can teach you if you want?"
"Can you?"
"Remember, seven sisters. I knew how to dance before I was ten. Dance partners were hard to come by apparently."
"Right, of course you can."
"So long as you don't stab me in the foot."
Jaune spoke in jest, but when Ruby thought about it, well… the possibility was not zero. So she vowed to herself to be extra careful and took Jaune's offered hand.
As they walked back inside they passed by general Ironwood speaking to professor Goodwitch. The general simply gave them a nod, but professor Goodwitch actually seemed to catch on to Ruby's shoe situation and gave Jaune an amused look.
Jaune was pretty sure that if he tried to tell about it nobody would believe him. There weren't many who'd think Goodwitch capable of laughing at anything the student's did. Then again, after that one time a food fight broke out in the cafeteria, Jaune could sympathise.
=O=O=O=
When Cinder returned to the ballroom, she deftly took over for Emerald as Mercury's dance partner.
"So everything went smooth on your end?"
"Quite smooth. Left before they noticed anything amiss. You?"
"Emerald made sure you were seen with us."
As he finished his report soldiers in Atlesian uniforms entered the room. Mercury couldn't help but to put on an amused smirk. Their confused expressions and searching gazes sliding right off of them making it plainly obvious they had no idea who they should be searching for.
"Excellent."
=O=O=O=
Ruby danced with Jaune. She wasn't very sure in her steps and was pretty certain she stepped on his foot several times, but she was having fun. Jaune was a great dancer and a great dance teacher.
Though as they brushed past the guy that was introduced to them as Mercury earlier in the night, she noticed Jaune frowning at the contact.
"Something the matter?"
"Nothing important right now, I'll tell you tomorrow."
Jaune once again pushed his worries aside for now, though when he came into contact with the pair he felt sick again. It was stronger than before too, which led him to believe there was something seriously wrong with the guy.
But that wasn't something he needed to concern himself with right now. Tonight was about Ruby and the time they would spend together.
=O=O=O=
When Jaune and Ruby got called to the headmaster's office the next day, they were mostly just confused. When they entered the office to find not only the headmaster, but general Ironwood and Winter Schnee as well, their confusion only intensified.
"Ah, miss Rose, mister Arc, please take a seat." greeted the headmaster.
As they both got seated, it was difficult to ignore the hard stare they were getting from the general. Neither spoke up, their nerves getting the better of them.
"I'm sure you are both curious as to why you're here. Unfortunately due to circumstances you're not cleared to know about at this time, we need to know the full circumstances of you leaving and then returning to yesterday's event."
The general spoke in a stern manner, though it somehow lacked the edge they expected from him.
"Well, me and Jaune spent all our time at the dance together. Because of my sister forcing me to wear high heels I was complaining about my feet hurting. Jaune offered me a different pair of shoes so we went to sit on a bench outside for a while. We returned a few minutes later and passed by you and professor Goodwitch."
The general nodded before answering.
"Yes, your passing by me is a part of the reason why I called you here. Am I to understand that you already had a pair of shoes prepared for the occasion?"
"No, sir. I had stored the shoes with my semblance."
"I see. Why did you leave the ballroom then?"
"That's because I don't wish to advertise my semblance. Especially with the Vytal festival coming up."
"One last thing. Could you demonstrate your semblance for the record?"
"Um, sure? Cultri Pedum."
Jaune had brought forth the same pair of shoes from yesterday and presented them to the general. The general slumped his shoulders and sighed.
"Indeed. Those are the same shoes Glynda pointed out to me yesterday. I had hoped you had returned to the dorms to retrieve them and had seen something that might help us in the investigation. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. Thank you for your time and I apologise for interrupting your morning."
"Will that be all?" asked Ruby.
"Yes, miss Rose that will be all. You may both go and enjoy your day."
After both students walked out the general turned to Ozpin.
"Well there goes our only lead on those knocked out soldiers."
"Yes, I rather hoped they might have seen something. I was operating under the impression that mister Arc's semblance only worked with weapons. It would seem he had either managed to overcome this restriction, or more likely those shoes were a kind of weapon."
"Yes, well that doesn't help us here."
"My apologies James. I know I was initially against your appointment as lead of security for the festival, but it would seem the situation is more dire than we expected."
"There's a good chance the culprit tampered with something at the CCT, but the soldiers doing a sweep of the systems have found nothing so far. Even so, the potential damage that shutting down the CCT at the right time could cause…"
"Still I must urge you to at least try and be discreet. If the general public gets panicked, there's no telling how much damage the Grimm could cause."
"The citizens will feel safer with us patrolling, surely."
"Perhaps if you were a Valean force. As things stand, I'm afraid that may not be the case."
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
I was told this chapter feels too long by my beta reader. I disagree.
As you might have noticed, we're speeding up on our way to the big finale of the Beacon arc, so hold onto your hats and enjoy the ride.
Anyway i hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 35 The broken