Disclaimer: See last chapter.

A Weiss Dress

Ruby glared at the white dress, the first of three dozen, dozen!, that she's about to be forced to try on.

Yang had messaged her earlier that day, telling her that while Team PABY was forced to actually orchestrate the dance, that meant that Ruby was going to come if only to see all of Yang's hard work.

Ruby was extremely hesitant, if only because A, she still didn't have a dress and to be honest probably wouldn't like any of them, and B, she still had work the next day. Granted, she'd probably be able to get some sleep, but considering that the essential 'king and queen of Menagerie' came into her shop while she was sleeping, she was...hesitant about doing that again. And yes, she knew that Menagerie didn't have kings or queens but it was a close thing!

But no, since Yang wasn't able to get her to pick out a dress, or worse, high heels, she had sent a friend. Specifically a friend who...honestly Ruby was wondering how this came about.

The white haired beauty was just that; beautiful. And she made everything she wore shine just by being near them with that ethereal glow of hers. Especially now that Ruby knew it was with only a light amount of makeup, and not nearly as much sweat or anger as Weiss Schnee usually was.

Her team was...well, Ruby had hired them more than once. Most of the time it was just Ren and Nora, trying to make some quick money before Nora spent it all on groceries. Ruby didn't blame her, she knew that not every meal was a winner, so it was almost always good to have more choice.

The last team mate, Cyril...something, Ruby didn't know his name, was usually off horsing around with some other team. When he wasn't being dragged somewhere by Weiss. And when he wasn't around, Weiss was...well, if now was any indication, much better off without him.

For one, she wasn't nearly as angry without him around. And she was...relaxed! Which Ruby knew wasn't a bad sign. For Weiss, at least. For Ruby, it was the start of only pain.

"There we go, that should be enough for now," Weiss said, throwing another possible dress that Ruby definitely couldn't see herself in on top of the already large pile.

"I don't think any of these are me!"

"That's why you're trying them on," Weiss explained as if she didn't already know that. Ruby sighed. This was going to be an utter disaster, because of course it was! She was Ruby Rose, a weaponsmith! She was supposed to be in the forest for two years fighting the endless Grimm horde while waiting for her Beacon invitation! Actually no, her job was in the forge making the weapons that were going to be used by those fighting the endless Grimm hordes in the forest for years on end...

Or actually, no, by now it'd only be a year and a half, and also by now she'd long have been accepted back to Signal and Patch. And for some reason all of her Signal teachers were giving her zeroes for participation! She was in Vale!

She felt Weiss push her forward, carefully guiding her through the stacks of various clothes that were far too opulent for her. And she didn't even have Crescent Rose with her...The changing room was a bit too small for her liking, although fortunately Weiss had taken about half the stack from her hands and stayed outside of the changing room.

"You remember the order, right? Go in that order," Weiss commanded, looking down at her scroll for a moment or two.

Ruby gave a soft whine before she locked the door. "It's okay, Ruby, you can do this. This isn't much different than trying to find fighting clothes."

"It's very different Ruby," Weiss' voice came through. "Do you think your sister would call us even? She got me out of a few detentions."

"I'm fairly certain you got the short end of that stick," Ruby muttered as she mirthlessly got changed. The first one was...an orange dress with black highlights. It was a good Halloween dress, and assuming that she won the lottery she might have barely been able to afford it. It reached down to her shins, and kind of fluttered whenever she moved.

She opened the door immediately for Weiss to give her a look over, before shaking her head and pushing her back in. "Nope, next one. That one needs more up top, and unless you have a stack of push up bras that Yang doesn't know about-"

Which she didn't. She had no need for that kind of thing, besides things like that only got in the way of forging. Or smithing. Or fighting. Or fighting Grimm. Or fighting Yang...now that was a thing she could get behind...

The second one was a pink dress with a purple ribbon that cycled down her toes. "I don't like this one," Ruby announced as she opened the door.

"Hm...yeah, I agree. Off it goes."

Ruby sighed. And this was only one of the shops. Apparently Weiss was a usual customer at three of these far too rich for the normal folk shops!? "Vale doesn't have the best selection, unfortunately. If we were at Atlas, we'd have much more to come by."

That thought pained Ruby more than she expected it would. But she obliged, and changed yet again. She had no idea of the actual order that Weiss had picked them up in, but considering that the white haired girl wasn't commenting on the seemingly random order, so had she.

It didn't help that Ruby's mood had been brought down by the knowledge that Weiss was doing this as a favor to Yang because she had...taken the fall for some detentions. "So...how do you know Yang?" Ruby asked after the fifth...or maybe sixth, she'd long track so far.

"We're at Beacon," Weiss said, her tone implying that Ruby wasn't the smartest for forgetting that.

"I know that! I mean how do you Yang well enough to help her sister find a dress for a dance she doesn't want to go to?"

"Oh. We had the same Initiation. What did Ozpin call them, sister teams? It was random luck that we weren't paired together already."

"Is it true that Ozpin sent you flying off a cliff into the forest, or were Yang and Blake just pulling my chain?" Ruby asked. That was one part that she'd never quite gotten over. It seemed rather reckless.

"No, he did," Weiss disagreed. "It was to check our landing strategies, or so he said. I think it was because Arc didn't know how and Ozpin didn't want to be responsible for him."

"Jaune? He's not bad, anymore."

"Training with Pyrrha Nikos for any amount of time goes a long way to making a competent warrior out of anyone," Weiss said. "But imagine what she could have done if she'd had a competent partner."

"Probably the same," Ruby responded instantly. "Jaune has dedication, more than anything. He may have started lower, and I've never seen you fight, but he's starting to pull his own weight now."

"And how do you know that?"

"Detention training exercise. Five versus five with Ms. Goodwitch and Un...and another licensed Huntsman there," Ruby said. She wasn't sure if it was common knowledge that Qrow was her uncle, or even if Qrow was a notable name. It'd been notable for her, obviously, but for Weiss? No idea.

"Oh is that why they closed the courtyard for a few hours? I'm surprised he lasted that long."

"I'm not," Ruby answered. "And besides, you would still have Blake and Yang there. A team is more than just a set of partners."

"Oh I know. Trust me, I know. Nora likes to always go off and do her own thing, and Cyril's always lazing around if it's not about some kind of journal. He wanted to even start a newspaper for Beacon at one time!"

"That doesn't sound like a bad thing."

Weiss gave a small huff. "It's not, but if he put even a shred of an effort he puts into that into his schoolwork he'd be on par with me. Or at least Ren, I suppose."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence, only punctuated by the subtle cursing and jabbing from Ruby as she tried on different dresses. Most of them instantly went into the 'no' pile, and even a few that looked halfway decent didn't look good on her. And while she wasn't vain, she didn't even have a date. Why would she be even going to this thing!?

Oh right, Yang was forcing her. Maybe it wasn't too late to just run off into the forest...

"That one's not bad," Weiss said as Ruby opened the door. It was a long red one that ended just below her knees, showing only a small portion of her back and shoulders. It was, as Yang or someone far more sensible would put it, 'tasteful'.

It was also red, which was more than a minor plus.

"Hmm...yeah, that one could work. Turn around," Weiss commanded. Ruby felt a large sigh of relief go through her; that meant they were almost done! And she could go back to doing what she wanted to do! "That works on you. Alright, let's put that in the 'likely' category," Weiss said. "It's over here," she said, pointing to a small chair with nothing on it. The chair next to that one had dresses stuffed all the way up.

"I'm guessing that's the 'no' category?"

"No, those are the clothes you still need to try on after you get done with your current set," Weiss said.

"How many detentions did you get out of to owe this much to Yang!?"

"Only a few. Most of them started by Nora," Weiss complained again. "But of course, she also made sure that they didn't go on my record. It evens out."

"I...don't see how that evens out. In the slightest," Ruby commented. "You're basically taking her sister out for clothes."

"I'm not buying these for you. That was way out," Weiss responded. Oh, that made a lot more sense. "But I figure a few hours clothes shopping couldn't hurt anyone. I don't need to start getting ready for the dance until around lunchtime."

"Who...who are you going with?" Ruby asked. She doubted she'd recognize the name, but any amount of conversation was better than going back into the changing room and maybe if she managed to drag it out long enough Weiss would realize it was a lost cause and Ruby could just head back to the shop because it would be after lunch and-

"Neptune Vasilias. He's...-"

"The blue haired one that's on suspension because his friend Sun was fighting a mech and he knew it and didn't tell anyone?"

Weiss stared at her. "How do you know that? That was classified!"

"Because I was there," Ruby said. "I'm surprised their even letting him go to the dance. Especially because the Vytal Festival is...what, a week from now?"

"Starts in two weeks."

Right, that's when it starts for the students. For her, it starts in a week and a half. She already had her booth picked out but it meant she'd have to close the shop. She'd have to find some assistants or something, but who could she trust!? Zwei.

She could trust Zwei to do it! She'd already done it once, when she was hashing out the contracts with Perry and his friend. She'd even gotten a few extra good reviews because of the adorable pupper!

That was also how she found out Vale even had a place people could leave reviews at.

"Are you paying attention? Come on, we need to be done by lunchtime."

Ruby blinked, before she nodded hurriedly, if only to conform to whatever it was that Weiss was expecting. "Right, sorry!" she muttered, heading back into the dressing room.

She still had more than half the pile to go, and she still wasn't looking forward to going, but Yang had helped set it up, or rather finish whatever team CVFY had been doing.

That meant it could either be a disaster or the best party ever, with no in-between. Ruby sighed. For Yang, she would do it. Just as she knew Yang would do for her.

The Dance

Ruby took a deep breath, trying to calm her raging heart. Here she was, on the steps of Beacon, with a small party already going on inside. Everything was dressed up to the nines, and there wasn't a single thing...

That she felt comfortable being up here. If it wasn't for the people behind her, forming a small line, she would have already used her Semblance to go back to the Bullheads, tell them something went wrong with the shop, nothing was wrong at the shop she just didn't want to be here, and then...not be here.

She was also dressed in a far too nice dress that she was most definitely not comfortable in. Fortunately, she didn't have heels on, she managed to negotiate out of that, at least. No, flats were more than enough.

Especially because she wanted to wear her combat boots, but apparently 'boots were inappropriate'. Hence more reason to wear them, but...blargh, Yang was in charge of this. Team PABY was in charge of this, and she had to show up to support them. Which meant that, no, the boots were out. She was already frustrated by having to leave Crescent Rose back at the shop, but Zwei did need a weapon if something went wrong.

On the other hand, did Zwei know how to wield Crescent Rose? That was a good question actually, she should check that at some point...

"Next," Yang's voice called out bored. Ruby leaned over a little bit to see over the people in front of her, some guy with a mohawk who looked vaguely familiar. Yang was at the front of the doors, in her hands was a checklist and while she looked nice, a simple white dress that fit the 'formal' occasion better than Ruby thought it would, she had that glare of her eyes that showed the boredom underneath. She glanced up, eyes on the guy and girl in front of her, checking them off on the list before motioning them forward.

Yang's eyes lit up magnificently the instant they spotted Ruby. "Ruby! You came! Darn, I owe Jaune two hundred lien now, I swore you would've found some reason to bow out," Yang joked, a giant grin on her face. "What do you think, eh, eh!?" she said, pulling Ruby in tight and showing her all the decorations from throughout the past...however long it was that Yang was working on this. It wasn't instant, Ruby knew that much.

The Beacon Hall was decked out actually, with small lights that highlighted the formal atmosphere. It was mostly purple, surprisingly, and a dull light that was really only pronounced much further in. The entrance way had a simple banner on it saying, "Beacon Vytal Ball", hanging gently over the entrance. "It looks good! And I was trying, but you gave so much...so I finally said I'll come," Ruby said. "Seriously, you told Weiss to take me dress shopping. That was either the most cruel thing you've ever done, or one of the most surprising."

Yang grinned. "Why not both? She told me that you found something good, and you did!" she said. "Sorry for the hangup folks!" Yang called out as a few people grumbled. "Sister talk going on!" she answered as one of them shouted out 'why!?'.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "It's fine, Yang. What time do you get off front door?" she asked. "And you never did tell me if anyone asked you. Or if you asked someone. Come on, which is it! Spit it out, who'd you ask!?" Ruby asked, leaning forward. Yang's grin fell only a bit, before it came back looking a bit more plastic, a bit more fake.

"You'll just have to find out!" Yang answered. She marked a check box on the clipboard. "Go on in, troublemaker. And try to stay away from the punch, I don't want to imagine a drunk Ruby," she said.

Why was there alcohol at this event? Actually, that was a silly question. It was one of Yang's parties, of course there was alcohol. The real question was, as Ruby looked over the floor to see Ms. Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin standing there keeping watch over everything, why wasn't anything being done about it!?

The inside was surprisingly tactful, actually. There was a large dance floor with subtle calming music being played by a DJ at a small desk. On the floor were dozens of people, most of whom Ruby didn't recognize. She did see Blake and Sun, surprisingly, dancing together and looking like they were having a good time. Across the floor was a large table with the punch, probably some of Yang's Punchtastic Pun Punch, if she had any ideas. There were also appetizers and other foodstuffs, most of it being fairly simple staples. That looked like it had Pyrrha's hands all over it, if Ruby knew the girl right.

On the other side were a few doors that led to the outside balconies, and on the opposite side were a long line of chairs set up in simple circles, allowing people the chance to sit down and gossip while eating or resting their legs from dancing. Most people that Ruby saw were already in their own unique circles, either standing around or sitting down somewhere, talking and laughing.

A small shine from the top balcony brought Ruby's attention upstairs to see a grey haired man looking bored over the party. Mercury, Ruby recognized vaguely. She wondered how his legs were treating him after she'd cleaned them out that one time, but then the green haired girl she'd met at the same time tapped him on the shoulder. Well, that was one easy out taken away.

She tried hard to not activate her Semblance as she hurried over to the foodstuffs and punch. There were actually two punch bowls, one marked with an exclamation mark that said it was for those over age already. That's what Yang meant when she said to stay away from the punch...the second one was much lower, looking like it had actually had drinks taken out of it. Ruby grabbed a cup and carefully ladled it in, before going around and checking out the food.

"Checking out the punch, or avoiding all the people?" she heard Jaune's voice ask suddenly. She wheeled around, and the blonde man was right there, standing tall and looking actually kind of nice in that suit of his.

"Both, really. Mostly avoiding," Ruby admitted. "You come alone too? Seems like Blake's the only one with a date," she joked.

Jaune looked over the floor, and Ruby followed his eyes to see the two faunus laughing as Sun did a handstand, using his tail and feet as his head and arms. "I tried to ask Weiss. It didn't go well," he said quietly. "I'm surprised Yang didn't get asked though. And I have no idea who Pyrrha's coming with. She hasn't been on the dance floor."

"Ouch. That can't be easy," Ruby said politely. Although really, Weiss and Jaune? She couldn't see it. Weiss was a looker, sure, but she was so very...uptight. That was a good way of putting it, she was uptight about a lot of things, and it didn't endear to Ruby all that much. But if Jaune wanted to go after her, that was for him to do.

That was a good question though. Where was Pyrrha? She saw Jaune, obviously, Yang was working the front, and Blake was dancing in the middle with Sun. Ren and Nora she could also see on the other side of the floor, Ren looking altogether uncomfortable with how close Nora was to him. Ruby wasn't sure why, but again, she tried to stay out of drama. And a dance like this? Nothing but drama.

Like the shouting on one of the balconies, with...was that Cardin? No, it was the brother...wait, no that was Cardin. Chewing out...someone. "Are you security or something, or should someone be getting that?" Ruby asked Jaune as they both looked to the shouting. Jaune shook his head.

"No, Atlas has a bunch of personnel here. You can see a few watching Penny over there," Jaune said, pointing to another corner. Penny stood there in a small green dress, dancing in such a way that Ruby would call it cute. She looked beyond awkward flanked by the two Atlas guards as she was, yet still intent on having a good time. Ruby watched as one of the guards came by and walking Winchester and his date off of the floor and probably outside.

A tall girl with brilliant red hair walked past them clad in a blood red dress that put Ruby's to shame. Ruby took a few moments to piece who it was in her mind. It was much harder without the omnipresent armor or Mio at her side. "Gottagobye!" Ruby said as she followed her outside onto one of the balconies. Jaune gave a small hum, apparently not having noticed who exactly had walked right in front of him.

The air was a lot cooler outside than inside, although that wasn't saying much, and it wasn't as if Ruby really noticed it. "You alright Pyrrha?" she asked as she walked up to the red haired girl.

Pyrrha gave a small hum of acknowledgement. "Hi Ruby. Enjoying the dance so far?" she asked, ignoring Ruby's question entirely. "I'm surprised to see you up here. Yang was telling everyone that you wouldn't show."

"Yeah apparently she and Jaune had a bet going that I wouldn't show up. Not that I blame them. I wouldn't have showed up if I came up with a good excuse," Ruby admitted. "Want some punch?" she asked, holding up the untouched cup. Pyrrha blinked, before she smiled softly and grabbed it.

"It's not Yang's punch, is it?" Pyrrha asked with a mild glare. Ruby shook her head, and Pyrrha took a small sip. "Thanks, Ruby. It's...been an eventful few days," she said lightly.

"You mean since the paladin mech?"

"Yes. Detention's not too bad actually, and I was glad to work on the dance for it. But it's...I'm used to never getting in trouble, and now it seems I'm in hot water every few days."

"That's called the Yang Effect, it's fairly measurable. It says the less likely you are to get in trouble on your own, the more trouble you get into. The inverse isn't true though, you only end up in more trouble," Ruby said sagely.

Pyrrha let out a soft giggle. "The Yang Effect, huh? I'll have to tell her that one."

"How come you're out here all alone? It can't be for the same reason as me."

"And what would that be?"

"Running to get away from people. And I saw a friend out here," Ruby smiled. Pyrrha gave another hum of acknowledgement.

"No one asked me," Pyrrha said after a long moment. "Not a single person. And it makes me think...am I so untouchable to these people? They called me the Invincible Girl in Mistral, because nothing would ever hit me."

Ruby instantly recalled a time when she had hit Pyrrha, in the back of the knee using Crescent Rose. Sure it was a lucky shot, but she'd proven that Pyrrha was invincible no more. And she'd also gotten punched in the face by Yang, Blake had gotten her hands a few times, Jaune hadn't landed any but also wasn't expected to...Ms. Goodwitch helped with most of those, but it was proof of concept if anything. "I'm pretty sure we proved that wrong."

"Well yes, but I would hope so. It's why I came to Beacon. I wanted to start over, to be someone new. And yet...here I am. Still untouchable..." she said, muttering off into the distance before she looked to see Ruby's knowing look, "mostly."

"Well, then want to go in there and prove them all wrong? That you're not untouchable, you're not invincible, you're Pyrrha Nikos?" Ruby asked, her eyes lighting up as an idea came to her.

"Oh, and what's your plan?"

"...Did I ever tell you how I was expelled from Signal?" Ruby grinned. She could see the look of apprehension on Pyrrha's face before the mischievous side started to come out, and Ruby cheered internally.

Am I mean? Probably. Also, Pyrrha's name is not well-liked by my spellchecker.

Until Next Time!