Chapter 49: Prep time
The following day, I was now thinking of what the headmaster and Miss Goodwitch had offered me to do. Did I like what they told me? No, if anything I'd rather be in jail right now. But thankfully, they at least could do me those two favors.
Even though, they were asking a lot from me.
Flashback to Yesterday
"Um, Why do you ask?" I asked them as I see now the headmaster motioned me to sit back down. Honestly, he could have just told me this when I was close to him and not dragged this on, but whatever.
As I take my seat back down I see him motion to Miss Goodwitch for her tablet. On queue, she placed it right in front of me and showed me the layout of what I assumed was the ballroom.
"Soooo, what am I looking at here?" I asked and saw the headmaster point at a specific place in the ballroom.
"By this layout itself, you can clearly see that this spot is the most available in the whole room. It is near the back of the ballroom and a person can set up some equipment to be able to broadcast all throughout the room."
"Okay, but let me ask again." I look back at the man not wanting to know why this is. "Why are you showing me this?"
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"I believe we both know 'why' I am showing you this." The headmaster leans back into his chair and takes a sip of his drink. Meanwhile, Miss Goodwitch stands there rubbing her face in annoyance by the man's antics.
I on the other hand began to think of my options in this. One I can do this and deal with no punishment in my future, which sounds good but it will cost me my pride. Or two deny him and suffer from the consequences of my actions and maybe get expelled from this place.
Leaning back into the chair, I just rub my face as well hatting my options now. 'Sigh... Maybe I can work something out with him. But I do have one question in mind.'
"What's the catch?" The headmaster looks at me confused by this.
"What do you mean?"
"There is always a catch here. So, I want to know what it is."
"I can guarantee you that there is no catch here Mister Sapphire, just know that we need someone with the talent to play music." Okay, that sounded one hundred percent BS. So I turned to Miss Goodwitch and asked.
"What's his catch?" To my surprise, she answers me.
"He wants to save Lien for some personal expenses." She answered me without remorse, and I looked back at the headmaster who was sipping off his cup.
"Really?"
"Quite. So, I believe a deal is in order here. Given the fact that we don't want anything to leak out here." This Guy really is blackmailing me into agreeing to his stupid plan, isn't he?
Sigh... Wait! Why the fuck am I the only one in trouble for this BS!
"I better not be the only one doing all of this." He shakes his head at this and smiles.
"Of course not, another team will be helping with setting up the ballroom as well." Oh, god please tell me it's not. "We will assign Team RWBY to help out. Originally it was going to be Team CFVY. However, their mission has taken a bit more time to finish." I hope they are okay. "So, what do you say to this?"
I close my eyes and think, I mean shit this seems easy enough, but I get the feeling I might hate it. So, let's see if I can get something out of this.
"Five favors." I tell him and he looks at me confused by it.
"No, I can do you one and that will be it." He answers but I don't let up.
"Four?"
"No, I believe you might not have a say in this Mister Sap-" I quickly cut him off.
"Three. Cause what you are asking for is something personal from me. And I rather not be in a spot where my songs are on the line. These are important to me, and I rather deal with punishment than let someone try to take them from me and sell them off." I said to him determined to not let anything bad happened to these songs of mine. Seeing that I was not going to budge He looks at Miss Goodwicth and she nods her head at him.
"We will do two favors and that will be it. No more and I will guarantee that no one takes your songs. I can promise you that."
I cross my arms at him and think about it, if he can keep his word with this then I guess I can deal with two favors. I mean shit I was expecting him to go lower but at least I got two.
"Fine... But just so you know I have the choice of what songs I play. No one else will have a say in this."
"That is-" I saw that he was about to agree to it, but it was Miss Goodwitch who stepped forward.
"That will not be allowed, Mister Sapphire. Your songs have to meet the standards of the school dance. We do not want just any song to play out." She tells me as she gives me a stern look.
"So what, you are going to review the songs that I was going to play at the dance?"
"Actually, that sounds like a great Idea." We both turned to the headmaster and saw him smile at this. "Why not have Glynda here listen to your songs and she can review them for the upcoming event. I'm sure she will be delighted to have the time to review them.
"Sir. I do not have the time to-." Glynda gets cut off by the headmaster deciding this against her.
"Excellent. You may start after school. Now Mister Sapphire, about these favors of yours." He turns back to me ignoring Miss Goodwitch's upset look on him.
Flashback ends
After that, I was forced to review all of the songs that would be allowed at the dance. Some of them I was upset about not being able to play but others I was more than happy to have in the playlist. For the most part, the songs will mostly be classical instrumentals but after ten I was allowed to play my other options. So, I guess that was a good sign for me. Now all I need to do is, deal with the setup they handed me and see what I was working with.
But that's for tomorrow.
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Man, Pyrrha is really kicking Cardin's team's ass right now.
Currently, we were all sitting in combat class as for some reason Pyrrha requested to fight all of Team CRDL. No idea what that was about, but her request was granted by Miss Goodwitch. I asked the others why she wanted to fight them, but Jaune and Ren didn't have a clue. Nora might have, but she didn't tell me what it was.
Looking at the fight we saw Pyrrha come down from above trying to hit Cardin, who quickly rolled out of the way and Dove quickly stepped in to attack her. Pyrrha sees him go for an attack but sweeps his legs and moves onto Sky who also goes to attack her. The more the fight goes on the more I realize that there was no way she was taking it easy on them.
An indication of that was seeing Pyrrha jump in the air and land on the back of Sky, quickly removing him from the fight. As the other three tried to rush at her. Pyrrha just charges at Russel and slams her shield on his stomach sending him back and went to attack Dove. Blocking his attacks Pyrrha kicks him in the face with a spin kick and sends him back away from her. Cardin tries to attack her but she rolls to the side avoiding his mace that creates a small crater in the ring.
As the three of them tried to land a single hit on Pyrrha, she eventually began to take the upper hand in the fight and removed each member from the fight. Starting with Russel who gets taken out by Pyrrha when she throws her shield at him and smacks him with her javelin on the side of the head, making him go down with ease. Dove was the next person out as she pushed him back next to Cardin and got taken out by his own teammate... Cardin was the last one, but the way she dealt with him was. Well, in my opinion, was one of the best ones.
Pyrrha sends him in the air with one of her attacks and jumps after him, attacking him in the process. She then uses her shield to launch herself towards him and goes for a FUCKING POWERBOMB on the man. Crashing down to the ring, creating a small crater in the process, while also kicking him one last time that almost looked like a flash kick that I do. The buzzer rang and the massacre was over.
"That was Awesome!" From my side, I heard Nora scream out loud. The fact of the matter was that she was right, that was way awesome. I think this was one of my favorite things to see. How easily Pyrrha had taken down the whole team by herself and how she didn't look winded by it. No wonder she's the best out of all of us.
"Seth?" I heard Nora call to me, and I answered.
"Yeah?"
"Are you good?" She asked me and I looked at her confused by the question.
"Yeah? Why do you ask?"
"You haven't taken your eyes off the match. Also, your face is red." Her smile beams even more.
"Huh?" I said as I touched my face and looked away from her. Looking down at the ring below I see that Miss Goodwitch was talking with Pyrrha, congratulating her on the fight, she then turns to us.
"All right. Now I know it's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match, any volunteers?" She asked the class but no one wanted to top that fight. "Miss Belladonna?" Miss Goodwitch asked for Blake and I turned to look at her.
Man, she looks way worse than before. I have no idea what has happened to her for the past few days now, but she looks tired and sick from what I'm seeing. As Miss Goodwitch was asking her to fight I just went back to focus on the others, but right before I was. I heard a voice that I didn't want to hear from.
"I'll do it." From a cross from us, I saw the boy with grey hair raise his hand up, wanting to fight. You know I think I hate that Miss Goodwitch made this class bigger than it already was. Cause now I had to see those guys again.
"Mercury is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent." Before Miss Goodwitch could search for one, Mercury interfered again.
"Actually, I want to fight her." He quickly points at Pyrrha. And my stomach drops. I began to rub my head, as I pictured them fighting against each other, and out of instinct, I yelled out.
"Dick Move Bro!" I quickly covered my mouth and tried to look away from everyone turning towards me. 'God damn it, Me.'
"Mister Sapphire!" I turned to Miss Goodwitch who looked upset with my words. "If you have time to run your mouth, then you have the time to fight. In the ring, now."
"Can't I just-" I tried to apologize but she was not having any of it.
"Now!" She orders me to get in the ring and I just curse inside my head at this shit luck that I had. I sadly get up from my seat and move toward the locker room. Meanwhile, Mercury just narrows his eyes at Seth and also begins to walk towards the locker room as well.
Inside I just grab my weapon and begin to put on my gloves. 'Damn it, me and my big mouth, I swear the amount of trouble I get in without even trying is just so much for me.'
"Hey." I heard behind me and turned to see Mercury standing there. It freaked me out more, cause I didn't even hear him walk behind me. Something was already off.
"Hey... Sorry about that, I just really don't know when to shut my mouth." I tell him as I keep an eye on him seeing that he is ready, but what I didn't find was his weapon.
"Hey, no problem. Really wanted to fight her but I guess you will do." Wow, I don't think he wanted to sound like a dick but he really did.
"Yeah... Anyway, let's get this over with." I said to him as I walked past him but before I did, I felt him grab my arm. Out of instinct I quickly removed my arm from him and looked back at him.
"Woah! My bad dude. Look I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry." That sounded fake. "We must have gotten off on the wrong foot here, So let's try to be at least nice to each other." Yep, sounded fake to me.
Looking at him closely I can tell we are about the same height, him being a little bit taller than me. His eyes were... Silver? Fuck maybe grey. But what I hated the most about this, was that we almost looked the same with clothes.
"Sure, let's." Over my dead body. "Sorry about our first meeting. I was just tired and sick."
"Hey, no problem. I guess it's not easy being blind. So I get that being sick all the time gets to you."
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I Fucking hate this guy.
"I'm not blind. I can see pretty well." I walk away from him and out of the locker room.
'And I can clearly see bullshit as well.'
Stepping inside the ring I began to stretch and tried to focus on the fight that was about to happen. Wait a minute... If he's here then.
I raised my head and looked around looking for his teammates. I wasn't able to find Mint around but I did find that girl with green hair. She was sitting behind Ruby's team and that got me to rub my head some more.
Hearing Miss Goodwitch speak I began to focus on my opponent who was just standing there waiting for the match to start. Once Miss Goodwitch was done talking, I reached for my weapon and flipped it to a tonfa. Ready to start, meanwhile Mercury just raised his fist up and got into a battle stance.
'No weapon?' I thought to myself but I didn't let my guard down.
As the buzzer rang we both stood our ground waiting for one of us to begin. Seeing as both of us had the same idea Mercury went in first.
Quickly running at Seth, Mercury spins around and sends a kick towards Seth's face. But Seth raises his weapon to block his attack. Seeing an opening Seth drops to the floor and sweeps Mercury's legs making him fall to the ground. As Mercury fell to the ground, he quickly backed away getting some distance from Seth.
Seeing Mercury backflip away from him, Seth looks down at his leg and looks at it confused for a second.
'What was that feeling?' Seth thought to himself as he looked back at Mercury just standing there looking back at him.
Not wanting to wait, Seth quickly takes aim with his weapon and fires a few shots towards Mercury, seeing this Mercury begins to run towards the side trying to avoid the upcoming fire.
As Mercury continues to get close to Seth, he sends another kick towards his upper body making Seth block his attacks. With each kick that Mercury sends Seth retaliates with more blocks and when he sees an opening Seth sends a counter kick toward Mercury's body making him slide back a bit.
Mercury looks towards Seth and gives a nod at him. "Hm."
While Seth just shrugs back at him. "Meh."
Mercury once again rushes Seth but this time he jumps towards him and sends more kicks his way. The amount of kicks he was sending was a mixture of high and low ones that was making Seth back away from him more and more as the fight went on. Needing to get some room, Seth quickly blocked his next high kick while firing his weapon making him spin and send another kick Mercury's way. However, Mercury saw this and raised his other leg towards Seth's side, and with no time he raised his arm to quickly block it with his wrist.
Seth's eyes widened at the block and fired once more. But once again Mercury was ready and sent another kick to his other side and was able to kick his weapon, making Seth's weapon launch off the ring.
With a triumphant smirk, Mercury looked back at Seth who was holding his wrist and rubbing it.
'Those kicks of his are not normal at all.' Seth thought to himself as he continued to look down at Mercury's legs.
Without hesitation, Mercury sends a roundhouse kick toward Seth making him lean backward, dodging his kick. But Mercury once more sends more kicks toward Seth connecting to his body and sending him toward the ground in pain.
'Ow, his kicks are fucking hurting.' Grabbing ahold of his side Seth tried to get up but took a knee instead. Looking upwards he sees Mercury just smile at him and that got Seth to narrow his eyes at him. Getting back up Seth rushes him and goes on the offensive.
As Seth got close to Mercury, he began his onslaught of kicks as well, trying to one-up his opponent. To Mercury's surprise, he began to back away as well trying to get an opening to his opponent.
As Both contestants continued to fight, Seth began to stop blocking Mercury's kicks and started dodging them instead. Now getting more and more hurt with each one he blocks. Mercury on the other hand began to attack Seth more seeing as he stopped blocking his attacks. And with a swift motion, he delivers a strong kick toward Seth's face making him go down.
"Hmp. Guess it's over." Mercury said out loud wondering if the professor was going to end the match.
As Seth lay on the ground he began to contemplate on what to do now. 'The more he kicks the more they start to hurt. 'What the hell are his boots made of?' Looking towards him, he sees him standing there and motions with his hand to come get him. Angry at this, he began to get back up but suddenly he heard his team yell out to him. Mostly one that he wasn't expecting.
"Seth. you need to calm yourself!" Turning to the voice he saw Ren yell at him. "You are letting anger get the better of you." That made Seth's eyes widen and began to think.
'He's right... What am I doing here? I'm trying to one-up him with kicks and not throwing punches at him.' Looking at his opponent he sees him bored of waiting and puts his hands in his pockets. Angry at that, I closed my eyes and began to relax myself.
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'Sigh... Okay, let's fight.' Getting back up Seth cracks his knuckles and raises his hand over his heart.
"Round two." He tells him as he taps his heart.
STREET FIGHTER V: Ed Theme
Removing my Sunglasses, I throw them to the side and rush at him.
Rushing towards Mercury, his eyes go wide at the sudden speed towards him. Getting ready to send a kick towards Seth. Seth dodges it and throws a punch toward Mercury's side, catching him off guard. Trying to retaliate Mercury began to throw more kicks at Seth, with each one going unsuccessful in connecting.
Seth on the other hand kept on avoiding each attempt of Mercury's kicks and countered each miss with his fist. To the point, that Mercury started to block his attacks with his own hands. Blocking another kick from him, Seth spun around and connected another punch toward the side of his head making him stumble back.
Not liking the situation of the fight at hand, Mercury quickly raised his leg up towards Seth and a loud bang echoed the room.
Seth hearing it, raised his hands up and blocked a projectile that came his way. 'His shoes are a weapon!' Sending more projectiles toward Seth, he began dodging trying to get close to his opponent again.
As both got close to each other Mercury retaliated and continued his onslaught of attacks with Seth now blocking more and avoiding less. Getting to the point that he just blocked more and ignored the numbness in his arms.
Mercury started to notice something was going on, as he began to hear Seth talk.
"Take these two fists and swing em' back in your direction"
'Is he... Singing?' He thought to himself, noticing something was going on around his opponent's arms. Wanting to know more, the next punch that Seth went for, he let him connect it, sending him a few steps back. Finally, noticing what was going on. With a smirk, he turned to the professor and was going to call the match but Seth was once again on him.
With each attempt to back away, Seth was on him not allowing him to breathe, so he sent more combos of kicks trying to get distance from him. Wanting to end this match he once more raised his foot towards Seth's face, hoping for him to back away. As he shot point blank at him, Seth moved his head to the side avoiding the shot and threw a punch towards Mercury's face.
"You ringing for the champ, then I'm the one who get the call"
As Mercury landed on his back away from Seth, he got back up and was going to call the match, but he heard his opponent continue to sing.
"So let me tell you a li'l something about this life. You can commit to the game and you can commit to fight"
Mercury looked at his opponent noticing the wind was beginning to pick up around him.
"But the thing is that with every passing of the night. Nobody actually makes it out of this world alive"
He then turned to the stands and saw that Emeral was also looking back at him. She then nods her head at him.
"So what you gotta do is put your powers to the test. Time is passing so you better spend your time the best"
Turning back to his opponent he raises his fist up getting ready for what's to come next.
"So who you gonna be when the reaper come knockin'. Actions speak louder than words so stop talkin'"
Once more Seth rushes his opponent, wind infusing with his fist and legs. As he got close he saw Mercury raise his fist up to block his punches, so he moved to his side and connected multiple punches to his side, back, and front. With each one going faster and faster. Soon he stops in front of him and delivers a solid punch to his face. Sending him back towards the edge of the ring.
"So get back and just get out my way"
Seeing Mercury get sent back, I looked toward our Aura bars and saw that we were both below forty percent. With a smile and turned back to him and saw him struggling to get back up.
"Get up! Final round!" I tell him as I begin to feel more and more hype with the help of the song.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!"
I was about to go and rush him again seeing as he was already up but from across the ring, I heard him yell out.
"I forfeit."
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'Oh, that rage quitting bitch!' I stopped in my tracks and looked at him confused by it. "That's it? We still have aura." I said to him as I tapped my heart to stop the song.
I see him look at me and shrugs back. "What's the point? I wanted to have a fight with another person, so I just dealt with you. Clearly, we are leagues apart here."
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"You bitch." I said in a low voice.
As Miss Goodwitch calls the match, Mercury begins to leave the ring. The bell rang and everyone began to leave the area.
"That is all for today. And remember that the dance is this weekend, but you all have your first mission on Monday." Miss Goodwitch reminded everyone as they began to leave. "I will not accept any excuses."
I stay behind and keep looking back at Mercury as I see him walk out of the building. Focusing my attention on his legs.
Looking down at my arms, I still feel the numbness of each strike that he was delivering. 'Those kicks were not normal at all. I should know, Mom really made me take some back then. But his were different. Maybe his weapon? But they still felt weird.' As I continue to think my train of thought is interrupted by someone smacking my back and I wince from the pain.
"Ow! Why?" I turned to the person who was just smiling back at me.
"What? Just happy that our team got another win today!" Nora said as she went back and stood next to the rest of our team. There I see them all waiting for me to get my stuff so we can leave. I nod at them and went to grab my weapon first. After grabbing it I turn saw Pyrrha standing behind me and saw that she had my sunglasses on her.
With a smile, I thanked her and was about to take them, but she moved her hand away from me.
"Huh?" I looked at her confused by her and saw that she was waiting for something. "What?"
"Aren't you going to explain yourself?" She asked and I still looked at her confused by it.
"About?"
"Why were you getting angry during the fight." Seeing that she wanted an answer I just shrug back at her.
"Meh, what can I say, people just don't like each other. I mean I experienced that a lot back then. So I finally get it." Her face said that she didn't like my answer but reluctantly she accepted it. She hands me my sunglasses back and I put them on ready to finally leave.
As we finally left the building we saw in the distance that Team RWBY and SSSN we close to each other. So we decided to go and find out what was up. Getting close to them we saw that Blake began to walk off leaving Sun behind with a sad and now depressed look on his face.
"What happened?" Jaune asked now getting close to the two groups.
"Well, Sun was asking Blake if she wanted to go to the dance this Sunday. However, looks like that didn't go too well." Scarlet informed us as he looked back at his leader.
"Sigh... Told him not to try too hard. But I guess this was to be expected." Now Sage added on, seeing Neptune walk up behind his friend trying to counsel him.
"Anyway we will see you guys later, will see if we can assure him." With that, the other two members of SSSN team left and went to cheer their leader up.
"Oof Rejected that must be harsh." Nora added seeing now that Team RWBY was left with us.
"Meh, I mean she didn't say anything Worse." Yang added on.
"I'm worried about Blake. She has been like this for the past week, and she hasn't been better." Ruby said looking in the direction of where Blake went.
"I'm sure she will be fine Ruby, she just needs time." Jaune said to her fellow leader trying to cheer her up.
"Anyway, are you guys ready for this Sunday?" Yang asked trying to move past the negativity. "The big dance is coming up, I'm sure you all have plans to attend."
"I'm forced to go either way. So I don't have much of a choice here." I said and everyone turned to me.
"Oh right, you're the DJ of the dance. Any chance you will be playing any 'spicy' songs?" Yang said as she drew close to me.
"Sadly all the songs that I wanted to play were off-limits. You can thank Miss Goodwitch for that. But I do have some on hand that are not too..." I said as I began to step back from Yang getting close. "Excessive."
"Oh, nice."
"But that will be after ten. For most of the event, it will be classical ballroom songs."
"Boo!" Nora and Yang added on.
"Well, it will at least be tolerable for the beginning of the event." Weiss said as she turned around and began to walk away from us.
"Don't forget we got to start with preparations tomorrow." I quickly reminded her as she was walking away. Soon the rest of team RWBY said goodbye to us and went to follow behind her.
"So anyone else have plans for the day?" Ren turned to us and asked. No one said anything and we all began to head back to our dorms trying to enjoy the rest of the day.
"Hey, Seth." I looked at Jaune and saw him waving at me to get close.
"What's up?" I asked not knowing this was a mistake.
"I need your help with something." He said to me knowing I was going to regret this decision.
"Sure man, what's up."
"Okay, Jaune. Run that by me again." I said to him as I was sitting on my bed. Looking back at him, as he was standing infront of me with a guitar in his hand.
"Can you teach me how to play one of your songs?" He asked hopeful.
"Ughhh..."
"I know you don't like to share your songs and all but can you do me a favor here."
"I..."
"I promise to not use them in any way to get money from them."
"Thank you for that, but..."
"I just want to know how to play one song with my guitar."
"Jaune, I..."
"Please man! Teach me."
"Jaune..."
"Please this is important. You will be doing me a huge favor here."
"Jaune." I asked again but he wasn't hearing it.
"Just one-"
'JAUNE!" He goes quiet and looks at me in silence. Soon the others as well look towards me.
I cough a bit but I continue. "I..." Well, here we go. "I... Don't know how to play an instrument."
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"What?" Jaune wasn't the only one who asked this.
"Yeah... Don't know how to play one." I said now rubbing the back of my head.
The room goes silent but seeing their reaction really made me wonder what their thought process was.
"But you have your songs. How do you not know how to play an instrument."
"I never learned. I mean yeah I play music. So I never thought of learning how to play an instrument." I tell them as I lean back into my bed. "To be fair, I just never thought I needed the skill to learn one."
Jaune goes quiet and puts his head down in defeat by this. Like a sad puppy giving up on life.
"Sigh... But I will help you with this." He raises his head again.
"Really?" I nod at him.
"Yeah, why not? This could be a good learning experience for me as well." I get up from my bed and grab a hold of my scroll. "So why do you need to learn from this again?"
"I want to play a song for Weiss, so I can ask her to the dance this weekend." He said with confidence, almost like the one he had back on the first day I met him.
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"Can I back out from this?"
"Nope."
'Son of a...' I turned to the others and saw that they were not paying attention to us anymore. Almost like they knew I turned to them for help.
"Sigh... Give me that." I took away his guitar and began to look up 'How to play guitar.' After a minute I turn to him.
"The fuck is an, 'A chord'?" I asked Jaune and now it was his turn to slam his hand over his face.
"This might have been a mistake." Jaune said as we began our journey of learning how to play guitar.
After a few hours of this, Jaune was ready to do his part and ask Weiss. I had to question him a bunch of times if he really wanted to do this, and each time he said yes. So I just kept on pressuring him if he was sure.
Eventually, we were now in front of Team RWBY's door and I was standing right next to him.
"Remind me again why I am here?" I asked him and he turned to me.
"Moral support."
"That doesn't make sense." He just shushes me and turns to face the door. I on the other hand lean to the side and watch him get himself ready to play. But right before he knocks, Team RWBY's door opens, and out walks Blake. She looks at Jaune and then at me. She then narrows her eyes at me and I just look away from her, not wanting to start something here. Blake soon walks past us and begins to leave.
"Are you two upset with each other?"
"Focus on your own stuff Jaune. Not anyone else's." I reminded him trying not to bring this up again.
He nods his head and knocks at the door.
The door opens once again, and he begins to play. "Weiss~!"
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The door once again closes and I just shake my head at him.
"Maybe we should have worked on your singing first." I told him and he looked at me upset with what I just said. He then once again knocks at the door pleading Weiss to open it again.
"Oh, come on... Open the door... I promise not to sing." He pleads to the room.
"That's a lie!" I yell out praying that she doesn't open it and ignoring Jaune's glare.
Sadly the door opens once more and he continues. "I lied~!" Jaune sang.
"Why would you open the door!" I said now sticking my head to them but it was pushed to the side again by Jaune.
"Weiss Schnee~! Will you accompany me~! To the dance on..."
"Sunday." I whisper to him.
"Sunday~!" As he finishes strumming his guitar, he waits for Weiss's answer.
"Are you done?" Weiss asked.
"Yes?"
"No." With that Weiss closed the door in Jaune's face and I walked up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, you tried." I see him look down at the floor and to make matters worse, I remind him of one thing. "Don't forget you got training with Pyrrha tonight."
"Aw! Come on!" He wines at me and I keep tapping his back to assure him. But then the door opened once again, but this time it was Yang who was at the door.
"So... Are you going to play one too shades?" She looked at me expecting me to play a song. I turn to Jaune who is already down by the sudden rejection and grab his guitar from him.
"Don't expect too much from me." I stum the strings once and I begin.
Gerudo Valley - Zelda Ocarina of Time
As I focused all my attention on the instrument, I didn't notice that everyone was looking at me with shock in their faces. Ruby was vibing with the song on hand. Weiss looked surprised that she was listening intensely to me play. Yang had her eyes widened and mouth open the whole time. Soon the door behind us opened and the rest of my team also were surprised by the song that was playing. Nora was happy to hear it. Ren was also surprised by the song, also the fact that I didn't know how to play an instrument a few hours ago. And Pyrrha was red-faced the whole time.
By the time I was finished, I looked up and saw that I was the center of attention to everyone.
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"Ehe... Sorry." I said rubbing the back of my head.
"Are you kidding me? You said you didn't know how to play!" I turned to Jaune who was angry and upset with my revelation now. Hell, even I was as well.
"And Finally, Seth Sapphire." Emerald said towards Cinder who was sitting on a bed.
"Who?"
"That kid that we met when we first got here. You know the one with White eyes."
"Ah, yes the blind one."
"He's not blind at all. From what I could tell he can see. Still looks like a freak, but can still see." Mercury said as he lay down on the floor.
"Hm, didn't I say to get information on the Nikos person?"
"I tried too. But when I requested to fight, he got involved. So, I was forced to face off with him."
"And?"
"From what I could tell, he doesn't like me."
"I like him already." Emeral said earning a glare from Mercury.
"But, His Semblance is a strange one."
That got the attention of Cinder. "Do tell?"
"His Semblance is Wind."
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"Really?" Cinder questions this.
"Yep, but the way he uses it is strange. He needs to sing for it to start going." Emeral informed her.
"During the start, he didn't use it at all. But it was at the end that he started to sing. So that activated it and by what I can tell it goes on his arms and legs." As Mercury finished explaining to Cinder.
Cinder was beginning to think of what that could mean.
"But that still doesn't answer one question." She turns to Emerald. "Where does the music come from?"
"Meh, must be a music player on his clothes. I mean you can clearly see a big play button on him. Looks so dumb."
"Whatever the case is. It's not important." Cinder said to her team. "Ignore him. He doesn't matter. I'm sure he will be someone else's problem."
The following morning I woke up early and headed down to the ballroom where the Dance was going to happen. For the most part, all the equipment was here and looked to be functional for school equipment. I still question why not have someone else to play tomorrow night but hey, he wants to save a few bucks. God these labor laws should have him by the neck if they find out about this.
The worst part is. I'm not getting paid for any of this.
Taking my scroll out I began to fiddle a bit and try to connect it with the speakers and see if they are responding perfectly. The good sign in all of this was, that it worked. Still haven't found the bad sign, but here's hoping everything goes well.
"I swear why have the school password be the name of the school? Sigh... Well, at least I can still use it later on." Dealing with a few problems, I began to move some of the speakers to more suitable places. The more room we have the more people can dance around. Hopefully, no one bumps into them.
"Yo Shades! You here." Raising my head towards the front door I see Yang, Ruby, and Weiss walk into the ballroom.
"Sup guys. You three ready."
"Blake is not here by the way." Ruby commented but I just ignored it.
"Anyway, you guys can decorate however you want. Just be wary of the speakers and equipment. We don't want to cause an explosion here." I said to them as I focused on both Ruby and Weiss.
"What does that mean?" Weiss asked me, but I just dropped my head back down to the speakers, ignoring her question.
We spent the rest of the morning setting things up and by now we were nearly done with the place. I was surprise by this. I was expecting to be finished by night, but I guess we all did our part in this. So go team.
"Sapphire!" I heard my name being called out and I rolled out from under a table and saw Weiss standing in front of me.
"Yeah?" I asked and saw her show me two pieces of paper in front of me. "What?"
"Pick a tablecloth." I saw her look at me with anticipation that I looked around the room and saw Ruby sitting at a table just shrugging at me. With that, I motioned to Weiss to hand me both of them and began to feel the texture of both cloth. After a good two minutes, I handed them back and told her the one on the left was better.
For this, she seemed so pleased by my response that she thanked me and moved on. Ruby then got up from her seat and stood next to me.
"Did you really know the difference between the two?" She looked at me surprised by that.
I just shook my head 'No', and got up from the floor. "Hell no, I just pretended I knew something and just picked one. Didn't want to start a war with her on the subject. Guess I chose the right one." Ruby then laughs at that and I turn to her. Saw her a little bit happier than before.
"What's up?" I asked hoping she would answer. She then looks at me and goes back to her normal self.
"Sigh... Blake." She said and I didn't want to listen by then.
"Ah, I see. Well, don't let it bother you too much Ruby. Just let her be."
"Don't you care Seth?" She questioned me and I just looked away from her. "We spent so much time together not a few weeks back and we were having fun, but now you two haven't even spoken to each other."
"Sigh... Ruby... We just." I didn't know what to say to her that made it sound like an ass response so I just put it into simple words. "She said some things. I said some things. It's just complicated."
"Was it about your mom?" I just continue to look away from her and wish someone would come into this conversation. Thankfully someone did.
"Don't worry about Blake Ruby, she will be going to the dance." Yang told her sister bringing her hopes up. However, her attention went to Weiss as she saw her put down doilies at a table. "Weiss I thought we agreed! no doilies."
"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machine." Weiss said to Yang as she got close to her.
"If you two don't stop. You both won't get anything." I said to them but both quickly came close to me trying to intimidate me.
And it worked. I quickly backed away from the two and was about to head back to my setup. But suddenly the doors of the room opened and in came both Sun and Neptune.
"Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune asked and Weiss's attitude quickly changed. Telling him they were thinking about it.
"You ladies all excited for dress up?" Sun told the rest of the girls in a laughing matter and Yang quickly responded.
"Laugh all you want, I'll be turning heads tomorrow night." Yang informed him but turned to me, sending a wink my way. I just rolled my eyes at her, smiling at her enthusiasm.
As they continued to talk, Sun brought up Blake in this and what was her opinion on all of this. While her team had mixed reactions to her, I just didn't care too much. Ruby wanted her to go, but Weiss looked like she didn't care too much. And Yang... Well, she assured us that she would be here for tomorrow.
"Guys. Trust me, Blake will be at the dance tomorrow." With that, she began to walk toward the doors.
"Don't try too hard. God forbid she comes and actually has a good time." I told her and her only response to that was one that I didn't like.
"Just for that, I'll make sure you two have a dance tomorrow."
"Yang please don't." She doesn't respond and leaves the room. "God damn it Yang." I go back to the setup and continue to mess around with it. After another good hour, I was finally finished with everything and was ready to go.
"Well, everything is ready for tomorrow." I said to myself as I saw Both Sun and Neptune still there talking to Weiss and Ruby. I move towards and hear them talking among each other.
"Okay, guys. Everything is ready to go."
"All done?" Ruby asked and I nodded at her.
"Yep, just have to wait for tomorrow. Anyway, I'm going back to my room. Too tired for anything else." I waved to them and began to walk out. "See you guys."
"Hey Seth, question for you." I heard Sun call my name and turn to him.
"Yeah?"
"Are you asking anyone to the dance?"
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"Ugh... Not really, I mean I will be working and making sure that there is no problem with the equipment. So I really didn't think too much of that." I told him and saw him nod at me he then turned his back towards me and I saw him cheer to himself. "What?"
"Ignore him, he knows not what he does." Neptune steps in trying to shift the focus to him. "Aren't you going with Pyrrha?"
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I turn away from him and just shrug back "I think she might have someone already. You know how popular she is." He nods at that and I turn once more, leaving the room.
As I began to walk back to my room I began to think of what Sun had told me. 'Did I want to ask someone to the dance? I mean shit only a few people come to mind. But with this whole thing with my songs on the line, I won't have time for the person. Then again I am not the best person when it comes to this whole asking someone, I did it once. Not doing that again.' As I entered the main building to our dorms I began to go up the stairs to go to my room. 'I mean who would I ask? I can ask Penny. But with the whole General problem, we have been keeping our friendship a secret for now. I could ask Reese. But she might be going with Bolin. Arslan... She might punch me. Nora? Nah she is for sure going with Ren... Man, I really need more friends... Wait what about Mint... But I haven't seen her since the beginning of the week, I have no idea where she went. Can't ask the others as well since we all will be working as well.' I stop my train of thought as I reach my dorm room.
"Oh well, I guess shit happens." I opened the door and I was met with Ren and Jaune sitting next to each other... And for some reason Ren was naked... And Nora was sitting in front of them watching them...
"Seth perfect timing man. I need your help." Jaune looked at me with a hopeful expression on his face.
I gently began to step backward and close the door. I then began to walk away from my room and decided to go for a walk.
However, I was grabbed from my shoulder and saw Jaune looking back at me. "we need to talk." I then get dragged back towards the room.
"Ren, Seth. I'm just gonna come out and say it. You two are some of my best friends. These past few months, I feel like we've really bonded. Even though Ren you don't say much and Seth... You say way too much. But darn it I consider you two the brothers I never had." As Jaune finished talking, Me and Ren both Sat awkwardly next to each other trying to make sense of everything that Jaune was telling us. To be fair it was sweet, but on the other hand, Why was Ren in a towel?
"And I you." "That's very sweet of you Jaune."
"Which is why, I wanted to get you guys' advice on... Girls." Jaune asked us and I looked back at him confused.
"Girls?" Both Ren and I said in unison. I looked towards Ren and saw him reach for his clothes. As Jaune continued to form words about the subject I began to wonder why I was here.
"I guess what I'm asking is... How did you and Nora." Jaune asked but Ren quickly focused his attention back to Jaune and soon we heard Nora cough toward us.
Nora simply laughs awkwardly at him trying to assure to him they were just friends. And not 'together together.'
"Nora I said headphones on!" "Wait Nora what are you listening too?" I quickly asked her, but she put her headphones back on. Shaking my head at her I just turned back to Jaune who was staring at me.
"What?"
"What about you and Pyrrha?"
"Ugh... Same as those two." I simply said to him.
"Jaune what is this all about?" Ren questioned him and I thanked Ren for it.
"It's Weiss. I'm completely head over heels for her and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold but she's also incredible." Debatable. " She's smart and graceful." Questionable. "And talented, I mean have you heard her sing?" That was something that actually scared me... Cause I knew her song all too well.
"I just wish she took me seriously, you know. I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up."
"Ah. The old school crush." I said to him and to my surprise everyone turned to me. "I know that feeling Jaune."
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"You do?" "You Do?" "Really?!" They each told me and I just nod my head at them.
"Yep, everyone has crushes. Some they accept and others they don't."
"So you know what I mean right Seth."
I shrug back at him. "I mean... Kind off. Let's just say I had a few crushes back then, but they weren't exactly... Good." I tell him as I rub the back of my head.
"What do you mean?" "Yeah, what do you mean." Jaune and Nora both asked and I felt a little bit embarrassed from this.
"I mean, my first crush was back in the fourth grade. And I had two other small ones last year. So, let's just say they didn't turn out so good for me."
"Oh, now I really want to know." Nora said as she took out her headphones and sat up straigh looking at me. "Come on Seth spill."
"Well, like I said first crush. Fourth grade. Didn't turn out the way I wanted it to go. Then again I wasn't the most popular person to talk to back then."
"What happend?"
"Well... I asked her if she wanted to hang out after school and she rejected... Harshly."
"Harshly? What did she say?" Ren asked.
"Well, you know the old saying. 'The worst she can say is no'?" They all nod at this. "Well she told me and I quote. 'You will be a waste of my time.' End quote. After that, I got into so many fights that I got expelled.
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"Harsh." Nora said to me and I just nodded at that. I then turn to Jaune. "You're lucky Weiss hasn't told you that... yet." I then see Jaune gulp in fear.
"Wait what about the other two?" Ren asked and now I was sweating a bit.
"Oh, ugh... Well, they were people... Ehe." I tried to move past this, but we soon heard the door open, and in walked Pyrrha with a smile on her face.
"Oh no please Seth do continue." She said with a sweet voice that could kill.
"I kind of don't want to now."
"Oh, why is that?"
"Reasons."
"Was it Fiona?" She asked and I just shook my head at that. "Was it Joanna?" I shook my head again. Worried now. "Was it-" Before she could continue I just nodded my head in defeat.
"Really?"
"I did. Like I said it was a small one."
"What is he talking about?" Ren asked and Pyrrha just shook her head.
"Nothing. That is a secret I will keep." I thank her for that. "But I am seeing a pattern here with your crushes Seth." I heard her tone in an annoyed one, and I just rubbed my head.
"Wait what about the last one?" Nora asked and everyone turned to me waiting for an answer.
"There a reason they were short ones." I said rubbing my arm.
"I can't remember you talking about someone else. Now I am really curious." Pyrrha said as she looked at me for answers. I then felt pressured by everyone just staring at me.
"It was... Back in the facility..." Pyrrha thought for a second, but then her eyes widened.
"You don't mean." I just nod my head at her.
"Like I said, it was 'Very' short."
"Who was it?" Jaune asked but Pyrrha kept quiet.
"Do you really want to know?" I see them all nod at me.
I lean back into the wall and just take a deep breath. "I had a crush on a Terrorist."
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The look in everyone's eyes said it all. But hey that's what I get for having crushes... Man, I am really not the best when it comes to this type of feeling. I then felt someone place their hand on my shoulder and saw that it was Nora of all people.
"I understand." I looked at her confused by this. "If evil, why hot right?" She asked and I for some reason nodded at her. Hoping we could move past this.
"Anyway, Jaune so my point in all of this is..." "Wait there was a point?" "My point is! It's just a crush, there are many more in the future. So don't let this one bring you down." I tell him but he still seems down about it.
"You know what, do it." This time it was Pyrrha who spoke up.
"What?"
"Tell her exactly what you just said. No ridiculous schemes, no pickup lines. Just be honest."
"but what if-."
"Jaune. You can't get it wrong if it's the truth." I then see Pyrrha look towards me. "Just be yourself."
I smiled at this and saw Jaune standing up agreeing with Pyrrha. "You're right. Thanks, Pyrrha. Good talk Ren and Seth." With that Jaune leaves the room and we all wave at him.
If he gets that chance he better take it and go for the home run... Hopefully, Weiss doesn't go too harsh on him.
"Seth." I turned to Pyrrha and saw her standing in front of me.
"Yeah?"
"Can we talk, in private?"
Omake: Miss Goodwitch's patients
"Very well Mister Sapphire I hope I don't need to remind you that the music that will be played at the dance this Sunday must be up to school standards. So that means there will be no cursing, no relations to drugs or alcohol, and no sexual messages with them. Are we clear?" Miss Goodwitch asked taking this as seriously as she could.
She decided to bring me to her office where she will be inspecting the song choices that I wanted to use. I agree to the terms and was hoping this would be a piece of cake. So I started off with a simpler one. One to assure her that my songs were nice.
How bad could it be?
Dancin' in the moonlight
Gazing at the stars so bright
Seeing Miss Goodwitch with a neutral expression really made me question if she was enjoying the song at all. She then writes something down on her pad and tells me that she will accept this song. So it was a good sign I guess.
Baby are you down down down down down, down, down
Miss Goodwitch continued to write more notes on her pad and she proceeded to accept another song. I was beginning to feel a little bit confident that I took a risk and played something risky.
Just dance, gonna be okay, da-da-doo-doot-n
Miss Goodwitch just narrows her eyes, but reluctantly she agrees to the song. Not taking a risk I play something calm.
I'm never gonna dance again, guilty feet have got no rhythm
"Did the song have to start off like that Mister Sapphire?" I heard her ask me and I just shrug at her.
"What can I say, it sets the mood." She looks at me confused by it but she agrees to it.
But I'll be stumbling away
Slowly learning that life is okay
"I'm surprised. I was expecting more... Alternative songs from you. But what I have heard so far they are mostly tame."
"You want me to play something with a more upbeat?"
"I feel like I am going to regret this."
"You will." I answer her.
You spin me right 'round, baby, right 'round
Like a record, baby, right 'round, 'round, 'round
Miss Goodwitch looked at me confused as I began to also lipsync with the song.
Hey Macarena, ay!
"No."
"What!?"
"Not this one."
"But this one has a nice dance to it!"
"No Mister Sapphire." She argued and I was going to argue back.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M
"No."
"Oh Bull Shit!"
"Language."
"But this one has an easy dance!"
It's raining men, hallelujah
"I will allow this one." I looked at Miss Goodwitch surprised by it and I put my foot down.
"No."
"Huh?"
"Nope. I want one that is not allowed or else I won't play this one." She narrows her eyes at me and I put my foot down.
Eh~ Sexy Lady
"What is he even saying?"
"To be fair, I also have no idea what he is saying."
"Then I will not allow songs that I can't understand the words."
"Welp, there goes half of this list!" I said angrily to myself.
boom boom boom i want you in my room
"Mister Sapphire!"
"Worth it!" I said laughing at her reaction.
Cha-La Head-Cha-La
"Are you okay? Mister Sapphire." I heard Miss Goodwitch ask as I wiped away some tears.
"Yeah... Just sad for some reason." I knew in my heart that something sad had just happened.
After hours of listening, it was already nighttime, and Miss Goodwitch finally let me see the list of songs that I was allowed to play on Sunday. Not going to lie some of them I was sad about but others I was happy with. I said farewell to her as I left to go back to my room.
As Glynda was left in her office she began to work on some papers for tomorrow's meeting, as she was working, she began to repeat a song that she liked.
"No, not I, I will survive Oh as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive" Realizing what she was doing she just smiled at herself.
'I guess your songs aren't too distracting.' She thought to herself as she picked up a field with the name 'Seth Sapphire.' on it and placed it inside her desk.
As I made it back to my dorm room, I just gave out a yawn of how tired I was. I just couldn't wait to lay on my bed and rest for the rest of the night. Opening my door I was greeted by my team all Standing in front of me with their backs turned and Ren yelling at them.
"It's kick-step, kick-step, body-roll! Is not rocket science! IT'S KICK-STEP, KICK-STEP, BODY-ROLL!" Ren told the team as I saw Pyrrha looking away in shame.
"Gah, I can't work like this." Jaune had enough and tried to leave but Ren told him that they still needed him other stuff. Jaune argued but Ren insulted him by calling him Fat.
Nora just began to cry over everyone's arguing and I just backed away from the door trying to be unseen by them.
"Seth stay there, I need you to help with them." Ren told me but I just continued to back away from this. "Seth!" There I just booked it out of the room. "You can't escape!"
"I know my rights!"
"Team JNPRS rules! You have no rights, get back here you F-." Ren chased after Seth determined to have him help with the rest.
A/N: To my fans... We get there, when we get there! (Originally we were going for mid V3) But we can start working on it now... I guess.
Anyway, thank you for reading and we will see you all next time! (The big 50... Damn) We come so far... Shit we are not even done, are we? (Nope) Hopefully the next volume comes out before we get there... (Fingers crossed)