Team
RWBY, except for Blake, were in Beacon’s main hall setting up for the dance.
Ruby had helped for a little while, but her concern for Blake had derailed her
good intentions and she landed at one of the tables, elbows on tabletop and
head in hands. Suddenly, Weiss slammed down two samples in front of her. “I
need you to pick a tablecloth.”
Ruby
looked at the grey squares before her and made a face. “Aren’t they both the
same?”
Weiss
groaned. “I don’t know why I even asked.”
Ruby
sighed and went back to feeling sorry for Blake.
Yang
walked by and dropped a speaker bigger than herself near Ruby. “So, have you
picked out a dress yet?”
“What’s
the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn’t going?”
“Oh,
don’t worry. She’s going.” Yang sounded awfully sure. She looked up to see what
Weiss was doing. “Weiss! I thought we agreed! No doilies!”
“If I
don’t get doilies, you don’t get fog machines.”
“Your
dance is going to have fog machines?”
The
girls turned and saw Neptune and Sun.
“We
were thinking about it,” said Weiss pleasantly to Neptune.
Somewhere
in the back of Yang’s mind, she thought if Neptune wanted fog machines with
no doilies, I bet he could get them.
“That’s
pretty cool.”
Sun
asked, “You ladies all excited for dress-up?”
“Pft.
Yeah, right,” said Ruby.
“Laugh
all you want,” said Yang. “I’ll be turning heads tomorrow night.”
“What
are you two wearing?” asked Weiss.
“Uh…
this!” said Sun, pointing at his usual threads.
“Ignore
him,” said Neptune. “For he knows not what he says.”
“Hey!
I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It’s not exactly a
shirt-and-tie kind of place.”
“Yeah,”
said Yang. “We noticed.” Sun’s beach bum look had gotten old with her real
fast. About the same time she learned that he took an interest in Blake.
“So,
uh… what does Blake think of all this? Is she still being all… you know,
Blake-y?”
“Obviously,”
said Weiss.
“I
still can’t think of a way to change her mind,” said Ruby.
“Guys,”
began Yang, “trust me. Blake will be
at the dance tomorrow.” Without expounding further, Yang decided it was time to
enact Operation Laser Cat.
***
While
everyone in the school, including her team, was entrenched with the dance,
Blake was by herself in the library at one of the computers still looking for
information on Torchwick and the White Fang. She had decided to dig in all the
familiar, illicit spots online where the Fang talked about their plans, but
things were different this time. They had covered their tracks well. Too well.
That worried Blake because the Fang had always been a little sloppy and left a
trail. Whatever they were up to must have been pretty serious.
Suddenly,
a red dot showed on her monitor. It danced in a circle, bobbed up and down, and
even shot down to her hand. Blake looked around, irritated, but didn’t see
anyone who might have done it. She turned back to the computer.
The
laser dot appeared again on her hand. Blake shot a nasty look behind her. But
still she couldn’t find anything. She turned back again.
For a
third time, the laser showed up. It moved back and forth and performed figure
eights.
Blake
growled. Yes, she got it. She was a cat, but this was stupid. And besides, no
one should have known. Therefore, someone was just messing with her. Well,
she’d fix their wagon. But as she got up to take care of business, she noticed
the dot on the ground. She tried to stomp on it just to make herself feel
better, but it was too fast.
After
a few seconds of trying to stomp it though, Blake realized that she was being
led by the dot. She decided that she would let it lead her just until she found
out who was doing it. Then she’d make that person pay. But as she rounded a
bookshelf, her view was filled with tan and yellow.
“Hello!”
sang Yang.
“What’re
you—?!”
“We
need to talk.” Yang grabbed Blake and led her somewhere where they could be
alone. That somewhere turned out to be an empty lecture hall. Yang made herself
comfortable, sitting cross legged on the professor’s desk. She invited Blake to
join her, but Blake refused, deciding to pace instead.
“Yang,
if you’re going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath.”
“I
don’t want you to stop. I want you to slow down.”
“We
don’t have the luxury to slow down.”
“It’s
not a luxury. It’s a necessity.”
Blake
was even more irritated. “The necessity
is stopping Torchwick.”
“And
we’re going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to
say.”
Blake
really didn’t want to. She wanted to leave. But Yang was her closest friend.
For the sake of friendship, she should at least hear her out. Plus, Yang was
incredibly strong. If Blake refused too much, Yang would make her listen. So
Blake perched lightly on the desk. “Fine.”
“Something
you may not know is that Ruby and I grew up on Patch. An island just off the
coast of Vale. Our parents were huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom
would take on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose. And she
was like, super mom,” Yang said with a smile. “Baker of cookies and slayer of
giant monsters. But then, one day she left for a mission and never came back.
“It
was tough. Ruby was real torn up, but I think she was too young to really get
what was going on, y’know. But my dad, he just kind of shut down. It wasn’t
long before I learned why. Summer wasn’t the first love he’d lost, she was the
second. The first… was my mom.”
Blake
gave a small start. She remembered back to when she had first met Ruby and
Yang. She remembered how queer she had thought it that they were sisters. One,
tall and blonde, the other, short and red-headed. But if they were actually half sisters, that would explain it.
Yang
continued. “He wouldn’t tell me everything. But I had learned that the two of
them had been on a team together with Summer and my uncle Qrow. And that she
had left me with him just after I was born. No one had seen her since.”
Blake
was hooked now. “Why did she leave you?”
Yang
sighed. She stood and began drawing a strange symbol on the chalkboard. “That
question. ‘Why?’ I didn’t know the answer, but I was determined to find out. It
was all I thought about. I would ask anybody I could what they knew about her.
“Then,
one day, I found something; what I thought was a clue that could lead me to
answers. Or maybe even my mother. I waited for my dad to leave the house, put
Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must’ve walked for hours. I had cuts and
bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.
“When
we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn’t care. I had made it.
And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes. There we were: a toddler asleep in
the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We
might as well been served on a silver platter. But, as luck would have it, our
uncle showed up just in time.” Yang couldn’t stop the regret from building up
in her voice. “My stubbornness should’ve gotten us killed that night.”
Blake
stood. “Yang… I’m sorry that happened to you. And I understand what you’re
trying to tell me but this is different. I’m not a child, and this isn’t just a
search for answers. I can’t just—!”
“I
told you!” said Yang. “I’m not telling you to stop. I haven’t. To this day I
still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me. But I will
never allow that search to control me. We’re going to find the answers we’re
looking for, Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process, then what’s the
point?”
“You
don’t understand! I’m the only one who can do this!”
“No,
you don’t understand!” Yang’s eyes flashed red. “If Roman Torchwick walked
through that door, what would you do?!”
“I’d
fight him!”
“You’d
lose!” said Yang, pushing Blake.
Blake
took a step back, needing to catch her balance. “I can stop him!” she said,
trying to push Yang back.
“You
can’t even stop me!” Yang pushed again.
Blake
actually fell this time. She looked hurt, but she stood back up. She had a
retort, but when Yang approached her, she recoiled, preparing for the worst.
But the shove never came. Instead, Yang had embraced her.
“I’m not
asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest. Not just for you, but for the
people you care about and who care about you.” Yang started to walk away. But
she had one last thought. “And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I’ll save
you a dance,” she said with a wink.
Blake
was shocked. Not just with how much Yang’s concern had touched her, but also
from how much her strength had degraded in the time she had spent looking for
answers. Perhaps she could do with a break after all.
***
Elsewhere
in Beacon, specifically, Team JNPR’s dorm, Ren was just coming out of the
bathroom having had a relaxing shower. He sighed contently as he exited
carrying his favorite scent of Samurai Shampoo. When suddenly, Jaune approached
and grabbed him by the wrist. “We need to talk!”
Jaune
sat Ren down next to him on a bed. Ren was still in his towel with his clothes
hung up nearby, but Ren’s decency was no never mind to Jaune.
“Ren…
I’m just gonna come out and say it: you are one of my best friends. These past
few months, I feel like we’ve really bonded. Even though you don’t say much. I
mean, you’re really quiet. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know that much about
you personally. But darn it! I consider you to be the brother I never had!”
“And I
you,” replied Ren. He looked at his clothes and started to reach for them.
“Which
is why I wanted to get your advice on… girls.”
Ren
stopped. “Girls?”
“I
just… don’t know… how to… girls. Um, I guess what I’m asking is, well, how did
you and Nora… you know?”
Ren
suddenly looked really nervous and started to stammer.
Then
they heard a dainty throat clearing. Nora laughed nervously from the next bed.
“We’re not actually together-together.”
“Nora!
I said headphones on!”
Ren
had had enough of the situation; he was getting cold. “Jaune, what is this all
about?”
Jaune
sighed. “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. She’s smart and
graceful and talented. I mean, have you heard her sing? I just wish she’d take
me seriously. I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up.”
“Then
do it,” said a new voice.
“Wha?”
Pyrrha
walked in. “Tell her exactly what you’ve 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.” Pyrrha smiled gently.
Jaune
took a minute, but then nodded. “You’re right. Thanks, Pyrrha. Good talk, Ren,”
he said, running out.
But
after Jaune left, Pyrrha seemed sad and walked off to the corner by herself.
Nora
sighed. “Practice what you preach, Pyrrha.”
Pyrrha
gripped the back of a chair. She squeezed until her knuckles turned white. She
wanted to follow her own advice. Jaune meant a lot to her. She remembered a
time when she was cold and alone in the dark. It was empty in her life and
while from the outside it looked so bright, nothing felt right to her. Her
world was like a sky with no sun, like a night that had no day. Her heart was
eclipsed by the dark, but then something changed.
She
saw a little ray of light come through, just the tiniest sparks that came into
view, and then, Jaune made her hope again.
But if
Weiss was what Jaune really wanted, she’d swallow her pride, time after time,
because he was worth it all.
***
Bolstered
by Pyrrha’s advice, Jaune happily and proudly went off to tell Weiss all the
great things he felt for her and to ask her to the dance. He even found a
flower stall on campus and purchased a single white rose—it cost him all the
money he had.
He had
heard Weiss was helping to set up for the dance and he went off to the main
hall. But when he got there, he saw Weiss run up to Neptune. “Neptune!”
“Oh.
Uh, hey. What’s up?”
“I
know this is a little… unorthodox,” she said, fidgeting, “but I wanted to ask
you something. Would you like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?”
Jaune
was disappointed. Crushed. He finally saw that he wasn’t what Weiss wanted.
Neptune was. If that was so, then there wasn’t anything he could about it.
He dropped the rose
and walked off to be alone. He was gone for some time.
******************
Keep writing, my friends.
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