Here we are at Chapter 22. Just one more chapter before the big dance. I do not ow RWBY or Genshin Impact. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 22. Enjoy.
Chapter 22: The Proposal
The dance was fast approaching, and Weiss and Yang were busy with preparations for the bash. They even brought Ren and Navia and Clorinde in for some assistance. Clorinde was getting the drapes up on the windows, Ren and Navia were setting up tables, and Yang was walking around carrying speakers three times her size like it's no big deal. She plops one down on the side just as Ruby and Ei walk in.
"Wow, it all looks awesome!" Ruby gazes in awe.
"Yes, so far, everything looks wonderful," Ei adds.
"Thanks, we're just doing the generic stuff right now. We haven't gotten everything together just yet, what with classes still going on. But, it'll be ready in time. So, you guys get your dresses all set up?" Yang asks.
Ruby cringes, "Ugh, don't remind me. Weiss took me through several different stores just to find a pair of shoes. SHOES! And worse, they're high heels!" she puffs her cheeks and pouts.
"It's a dance party, little sister. You can't go in wearing a hood and boots. All part of branching out, right," Yang teases her.
"Ugh, you sound like Dad again," Ruby complains.
"So, Ei, I heard several boys have been asking you to the dance. Anyone catch your eye?" Yang smirks.
Ei shakes her head, "Not really. While I never had any real reason to turn them down, for some reason, I felt I had to reject them. Like... they weren't the person I should be going to the dance with. It's this strange feeling in my chest, but I can't explain it,"
"Ei, oh Ei," Yang wraps an arm around her shoulders. "That just means that deep down in your heart, you know there's someone special that you want to spend the night with. Trust me, when the time is right, you'll know. Just take my advice: when that time comes, don't hesitate and just go for it,"
"I see. I'll try to bear that in mind," Ei replies, but then geta a thought. "Are you going with anyone to the dance, Yang?"
"Oh, I have one idea. But, it's a surprise," Yang gives her a wink before stepping away.
"Yang," Clorinde and Weiss walk over. "Weiss said you were going to use fog machines. Is that true?"
"Only if we have doilies," Weiss crosses her arms.
Yang sighs, "Ugh, again with the doilies,"
"Well, while you two worry about doilies, I have other matters to attend to," Clorinde says, glancing at Navia.
"What? Is something wrong with Navia?" Ruby asks.
"No, it's more like making sure no vermin try to cozy up to her. It's no secret that she's beautiful and a good person, so there have been plenty of young men trying to become her date to the dance. I've been dealing with them on a daily basis," Clorinde cracks her knuckles.
"Um, but you and Navia are going to the dance together right? Why not just tell everyone?" Ruby asks.
"We've made it known that we're going together, but some fools are simply too stupid to understand or listen. As such, I've been forced to use more serious measures to get the message across," Clorinde says.
"Must be tough. Well, I'm sure you, Navia, and everyone else will enjoy the party. It's gonna be great," Yang says.
The conversation ends after that so Yang and Weiss can continue their preparations for the party.
...
The next day, in one of Goodwitch's classes, Ei is in a sparring match against Cardin Winchester from Tem CRDL. The bully swings his mace on the ground, sending out a surge of explosions towards her. However, Ei swings her naginata; her lightning cutting through the flames. She zips over towards Cardin and gets a strike in on his back while spinning around to get a second strike in on his chest. Cardin slides back on the floor, growling. He runs in, swinging his mace at Ei's head, but the archon leans back to dodge the swing. Cardin turns and swings again, but Ei sidesteps around him. This routine goes on for a few more seconds before Ei makes a swing with her blade and knocks Cardin to the ground. As everyone watches up in the stands, Cardin's teammates watch with worry, while everyone else watches with smiles on their faces. They always enjoy seeing Cardin and his buddies getting the crap kicked out of them. As for Ei, all she feels is disappointment. For all his bluster and bravado, his skills are severely lacking. Nothing compared to the challenges she fought against before. Nothing like the warrior that defeated her and set her back on the right path.
Cardin jumps with his mace reeled back, ready to smash Ei down. Ei twirls her blade and then swings upward, sending Cardin high up into the air. She jumps up and throws a spinning axe kick to knock him down to the ground. Cardon slowly gets up, only for Ei to fall down on top of him, swinging her lightning-charged weapon down. When the dust settles, Cardin is out cold while Ei stands victorious. A bell rings as some lights come on.
"Impressive display, Miss Inazuma," Glynda walks onto the stage. "I believe you and your team will have no problem qualifying for the tournament,"
"You honor me, Professor Goodwitch," Ei bows.
"Alright, I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. I know you're all excited about the dance, but remember that you have your special missions right after, so be prepared," Glynda say to the class.
As Ei walks away, Cardin looks up and glares at her back. His eyes turn to her teammates, Nilou in particular. It is then that his frown turns into a wicked smirk.
...
Later that day, Nilou is outside on her way to find Ei. Knowing her leader, she should be in the library right now. In her hand is a single flower. After getting some confidence boosts from Candace and Dehya, Nilou has finally decided to ask Ei to the dance. She knows that if she doesn't ask her now, she'll regret it for the rest of her life.
"I have to try... I have to try...," Nilou keeps muttering to herself.
However, as soon as she gets close to the library, she stops when she spots Cardin waiting for her.
"Hey there, little miss fake freak," Cardin chuckles.
"What do you want Cardin? I don't have time for your games," Nilou shows her distaste for him.
"Now, now, I just want to talk. Why can't we be civilized?" Cardin spots the flower in her hand. "Ah, what's that, looking for some kind of confession to a secret crush? Hoping they'll take you to the dance? I highly doubt that anyone in their right mind would take someone who pretends to be an animal to the school dance,"
"That's none of your business, Cardin. If you ask me, anyone who would want to go with a racist scumbag like you would have to either be stupid, crazy, drunk, mental, or got paid off. And even if they did go with you for none of those reasons, it was out of pity," Nilou fires back.
Cardin loses his smirk, "You're pretty mouthy for a fake freak. I think we need to remind you of who's in charge here," he snaps his fingers and Nilou notices the rest of his team appear. "You see, that stuck-up bitch leader of yours made a fool of me in that last match. I want some payback, but if I try to go after her, I'll just get beat up again. So, I decided 'why not go after her little friends first'? I bet that'll teach her not to mess with us," Cardin draws his mace, as his friends draw their own weapons.
Nilou finds herself in a bad spot. Here she is, outnumbered four-to-one. Normally, that wouldn't be too much of a problem against losers like Team CRDL, but she doesn't have her blade, and she left her canteens back in her dorm room. Without any water around, she couldn't use her semblance.
"Get her, but try not to rough her up too much," Cardin eyes Nilou's body up and down. "I think we should have some fun with her afterwards. That should really get under Ei's skin,"
His words make Nilou's skin crawl. No way was she going to let them touch her, especially like that. Russel goes after her first, but Nilou twirls around his lunge and he falls onto the ground. Nilou uses this chance to make a run for it. Team CRDL gives chase, with Sky and Dove at the front. At least they're not firing shots off. That would gain other people's attention, including the school staff. Nilou enters one hall building, but finds it empty. Classes were over for the day, so pretty much everyone had gone home. Dove swings his sword at her back, but Nilou rolls under the swing and throws a spinning back kick to his stomach. Sky twirls his halberd around and swings it down on Nilou. Nilou backflips away and continues running. She keeps going but then sees Cardin up ahead, waiting for her. Nilou keeps going and just as Cardin swings his mace at her, Nilou ducks and slides between his legs, causing Cardin to hit Dove instead.
"Argh! Get her!" Cardin yells.
Nilou keeps running, intent on finding help. Or at least, putting enough distance between her and the four barbarians so she can make a call on her scroll. She runs around a corner and pulls out her scroll to dial a number. The first one she hit was Ei's.
"Come on, pick up!" Nilou pleads.
"...Nilou? What's going on!" Ei's voice comes on the other side.
"Ei, listen I need help! It's-AH!" Nilou ducks to avoid a swing from Sky's weapon; the blade imbedding into the wall.
Nilou ends up dropping her scroll, but keeps running.
"Nilou! Are you alr-," the line cuts out when Cardin stomps down on the scroll, breaking it.
Nilou comes around another corner, keeping her distance. If she can get back outside before they get her, she'll have a better chance of getting someone's attention and get some help. After running in circles for a few minutes, she comes back around to the exit and makes a break for it. However, as soon as she gets out, Russel grabs her and pins her by the arms to the wall outside.
"Gotcha!" Russel says.
Nilou growls and throws a leg up, hitting him between his legs. Russel howls in pain and lets her go as he falls to the ground. Nilou takes a breath, only to get blindsided by a swing from Cardin's mace. She falls to the ground and gets pinned by Dove and Sky.
Cardin walks up, "Well, that was a fun little chase, freakshow. But, I think we've reached the end of it. Now, it's time to claim our prize," Cardin says, but stops when he notices Nilou's flower on the ground. She had been desperately holding onto it this whole time. Cardin lifts up a foot and crushes the flower. "Well, that's one flower down. Now for the second flower to be plucked."
Nilou struggles to free herself as Cardin reaches down to her clothing.
"No, please... someone... Ei..." Nilou silently begs. Just then, a flash of purple lightning streaks by, sending all the boys flying back. Nilou sits up and spots Ei as her savior. "...Ei."
Ei kneels next to her, "Nilou, are you alright?" She carefully checks her person to see no injuries on her.
"Yes, I'm fine," Nilou says.
Ei sighs with relief, "Good. I'm glad I got here just in time. You did well to hold out so long by yourself, with no weapon or water to aid you. Now please, stay here," Ei stands and her calm expression turns full of anger now. "Cardin Winchester. I warned you about what would happen should you threaten my friends or teammates. It seems you have a short memory. Very well, then... I'll just have to make sure you never harm anyone else ever again,"
Lightning courses around her as she pulls out her blade, the Musou Isshin, from her chest. The four idiots can feel her anger envelope the whole area. Ei doesn't wait for them to make the first move. She shoots over towards them. Before they can react, she makes several super-fast strikes across all of them. She stops behind them and with a flick of her sword, the lightning explodes around them. The four boys fall to the ground, their auras spent. Putting her sword away, Ei breathes a heavy sigh and walks over towards Nilou. However, as she walks by Team CRDL, Cardin slowly gets up, glaring bloody murder at Ei's back. Ei doesn't notice as he gets on is feet and raises his mace.
"Ei!" Nilou yells.
Ei turns, just to see Cardin attack her... only for him to freeze in place. His expression shows that he's trying to move, but it's like his body won't obey his commands. Ei slowly turns back to see Nilou with her left hand raised. She lowers it, and Cardin follows back down to the ground. Only when he's back down does she stop whatever it is she's doing.
"What's going on here?" they look as Goodwitch and Ozpin approach the scene. "Miss Inazuma, explain what's going on."
"I'll tell you what's going on. That freak messed with my body, and that crazy chick blasted me and my teammates when we weren't doing anything wrong? They both should be locked up where they belong!" Cardin lies.
"I find that hard to believe, Mr. Winchester. Especially when I look at this," Ozpin pulls out his scroll and shows video of Cardin's team chasing an unarmed Nilou in the nearby hall. "So, would you care to explain to me why you were harassing Nilou?"
His scrutinizing look makes Cardin and his boys shut up real fast.
"I didn't think so. Ei, Nilou, you may return to your dorm for tonight. I'll speak with you two tomorrow morning. As for you four, I will have words with you NOW," Ozpin gives them no other choice, especially not with Goodwitch glaring at them.
With that said, Team CRDL is escorted to Ozpin's office by the two teachers. Once they're gone, Ei turns back to Nilou.
"Nilou, are you alright?" Ei kneels next to her.
"I... I'm fine, Ei. Thank you," Nilou can't look her in the eye.
"What was that back there? With what you did to Cardin?" Ei asks. Nilou doesn't looks like she wants to answer, so Ei slowly puts a hand on her arm. "Nilou, it's okay. You can trust me."
Nilou thinks for a moment, "That... was my semblance. I told you before that I can control water. That includes different sources of water. I still have issues with using water in the air, but I can use water from another source. The human body is made of 70% water, after all. So... I can use my semblance to control people's bodies; get them to move as I want. I accidentally learned I could do this when I was practicing with the theater for a show. I was manipulating some water and one of the stagehands got caught in the flow during training. He started moving with the water, but it scared him. It scared a few people. I didn't want to scare them, so I did everything I could to make sure it didn't happen again," she looks at her trembling hands. "I hate this part of my semblance. I don't like controlling people like that. If I wanted to, I could make them kill themselves with no trouble at all... and that thought frightens me. I don't want to hurt people. I just want to make them smile with my dancing... Maybe Cardin was right. Maybe I am just a freak," she starts to cry.
Ei moves without thinking and pulls Nilou into her embrace, "Don't you think that. Don't you DARE think that. Cardin was wrong about you. Look at you. You're worrying about others more than yourself. You learned to control this part of your semblance so you wouldn't hurt anyone with it. You are not a freak or a monster. You are just Nilou. Nothing more and nothing less. I too once feared my own power when I became an archon. I often wondered if I would be able to wield it properly like my sister. If I would be worthy of it. But, I eventually learned that you can't let such fears hold you back. That is an even greater sin. There is nothing wrong with you Nilou. I like you just the way you are," she says while rubbing Nilou's back.
Nilou's tears fall down her cheeks as she listens to Ei's words. To hear her say such things. To be in her warm embrace. She only dreamed about such moments, and now she was living one. She slowly returns the embrace.
"Thank you, Ei... Thank you," Nilou says through her sniffles.
"Of course," they lean back from each other. "Now, we'll need to replace your scroll after Cardin broke it. I'm sure Ozpin can help with that. But, what were you doing out here in the first place before Team CRDL attacked you?" Ei asks.
"Oh," Nilou remembers and looks over at the crushed flower she had with her. Nilou sighs and picks it up, watching as a few of its petals fall from it. "I was... looking for you, actually,"
"Me? Whatever for?" Ei cocks her head.
Nilou takes a deep breath, "I wanted to ask you, Ei, if you would... be willing to... go to the dance... with me," she presents the dead flower to her leader.
Ei was quite surprised to hear that from Nilou. She never expected her own teammate to ask her. Plenty of people have asked her by this point, but she refused them all because of that strange feeling in her chest telling her to refuse them. And yet, she doesn't get that strange feeling in her chest when Nilou asked her. If anything, she feels something different. Like something's made her lighter. It felt... nice.
"Actually, I think I would be honored to go to the dance with you Nilou," Ei accepts her proposal.
Nilou's face brightens up so much it's almost blinding, "Really?! Thank you, Ei. Thank you so much!" she tackles Ei in another hug.
All those fears dwelling inside her about being rejected by Ei were for nothing after all. Of course, it's not like she asked her to become her girlfriend. But hey, baby steps. As Nilou silently cheers at this stroke of good fortune, Ei thinks that she made the right choice.
And that's the chapter. Ei deals with the idiots and Nilou finally worked up the courage to ask her to the dance. Now all that's left is the actual dance itself. Until then, please Read and Review.