Ruby sighed miserably as she walks down the halls of the school to make it to the ballroom that will house the party.
And if anything, she should be happy but because of Blake refusing to go the young huntress has been gloomy about the whole thing.
"Why the long face?" a male voice asked her.
Stopping in her tracks Ruby turns her head to see that it was Mercury who was giving her a small smile.
"Oh, Hey, Mercury. It's nothing." She stated.
"Then why do you look like someone just told you that they took the last cookie?" he asked teasingly.
The huntress gives him an unamused look and then scoffed at the very idea of someone thinking that they have the privilege of taking the last cookie. "Please, I always get the last cookie and if someone that isn't Alfred takes it. Then they're getting a bloody nose."
And that comment made the silver haired boy laugh. "Well, well, looks like little red has claws."
Ruby smirks. "Of course, I do. If I didn't then putting up with Damian would be a challenged."
"Your teammate a handful?" Mercury assumed.
"You have no idea. But he's taken great strides into improving his attitude."
"I see. But going back to my question, what's really wrong?" he asked genuinely curious.
Ruby thought it over for a moment before she sighed, "It's my teammate Blake. She doesn't want to go to the dance." She stated.
"And you wanted to ask her?" Mercury questioned.
The red hooded girl looked at Mercury in shock, "What? no!" she said a little too quickly.
"I mean there's nothing wrong with Blake. It's just she has been obsessing over her studies recently to the point that we're worried about her health and so we tried to convince her to take a break and just enjoy the dance, but she refused." Ruby explained.
The silver haired boy winces at that, "Yikes. Sounds rough."
"Yeah."
The silver haired boy then smirks, "Speaking of the dance, I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to it?" he offered charmingly and flashed a cliché twinkle teeth smile.
Ruby looked at the transfer student in shock for a moment. "Me? why me?" she asked in confusion.
"Well you seem like a cool girl, a cute one at that." Mercury said flirtishly.
Ruby gives him an awkward smile. "Sorry but I have a boyfriend."
Mercury looked at her in surprise for a moment before his face went neutral. "Oh well. At least I gave it a shot." He stated playfully.
"Anyway, I should get going. It was nice talking to you. Maybe we can do it again sometime." Mercury stated and took his leave.
"Yeah." Ruby replied softly for a moment.
And as she watches him walk away, she still can't shake the feeling of uneasiness that she gets from him but at the same time she wonders if she's just being paranoid about the silver haired boys' team or about him at least.
The Huntress then sighs as she decides to think about it later and starts to fast walk the rest of the way to the ballroom.
"There you are, what took you so long?" Weiss questioned.
"Nothing. I just got distracted." Ruby said as she sits down at one of the tables and continued to sulk a little more about their problem with Blake.
Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes as she went back to organizing the dance with the others.
"You know sulking isn't going to change Blake's mind." Damian stated.
Ruby groans and turns her head away from him, "I know, but that doesn't mean I still can't feel bad for it." she replied.
"Besides, Blake needs to relax I know that she wants to protect people but honestly she won't be able to do that for our first official mission." Ruby stated.
"True, it would be hard for her to be useful if she can't even hold her eyes open for very long." Damian said agreeing with her.
And before they could continue their conversation Weiss had placed two small pieces of gray fabric that was cut into squares on the table. "I need you to pick a tablecloth." She stated and slightly slide them forward.
Ruby looks down at the squares in confusion since the two tablecloths were basically the same color with the only difference was that one was one shade lighter than the other.
She then glances at Damian who shared her look of disbelief before she looked at Weiss, "Weiss, either go with silver or white because frankly having tablecloth suggestions with the only difference being that one is one shade lighter than the other is stupid." She stated bluntly.
"It is not!" the heiress proclaimed.
"Weiss, they're nearly the same color to the point that anyone would mistake them for being the same color." Ruby stated.
"She's right." Damian agreed.
Weiss sighed as she takes the fabric and walks away.
Ruby sighed as she went back to sulking and was not even phased when Yang had loudly slammed one of the giant speakers onto the floor which made the ground shake.
"So, have you picked out a dress yet?" Yang asked.
"What's the point, who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going."
"Oh, don't worry. She's going." Yang said smugly.
"Sounds like you have a plan." Damian assumed.
Yang shrugged her shoulders as her smirk widens. "Because I do."
She then looked away to see what Weiss was doing and frowned. "Weiss, I thought we agreed no doilies!" she exclaimed.
Weiss frowns at her teammate in frustration as she marches over and points a finger at her. "If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines."
"That's ok. I can just ask Ruby to supply the fog machines, you aren't the only rich kid in our team." Yang smugly reminded the heiress.
Which of course made said heiress's mood turned sour since she knows that her blonde teammate is right.
Suddenly they hear the door open and when they turned their heads they were met with Neptune and Sun.
"Your dance is gonna have fog machines." Neptune said amused.
Weiss smiled happily at the blue haired boy and walks over to him. "We were thinking about it." she said and looked at him bashfully.
"That's pretty cool." Neptune stated.
"You ladies excited for dress up?" Sun questioned.
Ruby scoffed at that, "Yeah right."
"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night." Yang stated.
Ruby looks at her adoptive sister with a frown, "Yang, your dress is extremely plain and is also a rip off on Weiss's color scheme."
"Hey! I make white look good!" The blonde stated.
"Anyway, what are you two wearing?" Weiss asked.
"Uh, this." Sun said like it was obvious.
Neptune then moves a few steps forward and holds his hand in front of his friend's face. "Ignore him, for he knows not what he says."
Sun rolled his eyes as he pushed his friend's hand out of the way. "Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt and tie kinda place."
Which made everyone give him a look at that obvious statement. "Yeah, we noticed." Yang proclaimed.
Sun then frowns and rubs the back of his head, "So, uh...what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, ya know...Blake-y." he asked.
"Obviously." Weiss stated as she crossed her arms and looks away from him.
"I still can't think of a way to change her mind." Ruby stated.
"Guys. Trust me. Blake will be at the dance tomorrow." Yang stated and took her leave.
"Ok then. I guess we can go back to organizing." Weiss stated.
"Yeah." Damian muttered as he went back to work. "Might want to get rid of the doilies though." He added.
"The Doilies are fine! they will bring some more elegance to the party!"
"This is a party for teenagers, not a socialite event. Besides, how elegant do you want this party to be? You already made Ruby buy that large dual 6 tier chocolate fountain that's going to spew out both regular chocolate and white chocolate."
"And frankly, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen with the amount of white and gray you're trying to incorporate into the decorations." He added.
"He has a point, having chocolate with doilies doesn't seem a like a good mix." Neptune stated.
Weiss sighed in annoyance knowing that he's right. "Fine...no doilies." She reluctantly stated.
"Well, we better go. It was nice talking to you girls." Neptune stated and with that the two boys took their leave.
"Speaking of food, Ruby, did you get The Nourriture Élégante to cater for the event." Weiss inquired.
"I did go meet them like you ask. But I didn't hire them." Ruby stated.
"What why not?!" the heiress exclaimed.
"Because, when I got to the place the staff were rude to me just because of my outfit, then the manager then said, and I quote." She then clears her throat and then speaks in a refined British manner, "I don't know why you are here but all I do know is that the next thing you will be doing is walking out of that door, this establishment is a place of elegance and high class and as such we don't let in the common riff raff like yourself."
The huntress scoffed angrily, sometimes she hates the fact that she has to keep it a secret that she's rich because at that moment all the huntress wanted to do was flex her wealth on those pompous medium-wage bastards.
"WHAT?!" Damian said in a low tone as his rage started to consume him over the fact that some...plebeians had the audacity to say that to his beloved and were shallow minded enough to judge her because of her attire. They should be grateful that she even decided to grace them with her presence!
Ruby sighed and pats her boyfriends' arm, "It's alright Damian." She reassured.
"How?! they insulted you!" the boy wonder exclaimed angrily.
"Because I let it slip about my experience with the restaurant to my uncle Oliver and he's a famous chef and food critic." Ruby stated smugly.
"I thought your family only takes jobs that cover, military, huntsmen, medical, scientific, business and political fields?" Weiss stated.
"We do. But that doesn't mean that it's the life for everyone." Ruby said shrugging her shoulders.
She then lets out a cute giggle and smiled brightly at her partner, "Besides, becoming a personal chef to people of high society like your father for example or even a politician has its...rewards."
Both Weiss and Damian gasped in shock and their jaws dropped to the floor.
"Holy shit!" Damian exclaimed a second later and covers his mouth as he takes in just how devious his beloved's family is.
And that fact scares him, no matter how many times he thinks that he knows everything about her family he soon discovers something else about them that makes them even more terrifyingly powerful than the last time.
No wonder his grandfather wanted him to marry Ruby. Her family really is an underground empire.
And Weiss was not fairing any better as she becomes terrified at the sheer grip that her partner's family has on the world and that the world doesn't even notice.
"Anyway, and they were about to kick me out, but after I showed them proof that I was friends with you they were quick to change their tune. But the damage was done, I called them out on their bullshit and basically told them that I would make sure that you never order food from their restaurant ever again."
"Then who did you get?" Weiss asked.
"I asked my friend Dolce to cater for the event. Her family owns a café here in Vale and they were more than happy to oblige." Ruby stated.
Weiss sighed, "Fine, if you think they will do a good job then I will have to take your word for it." she stated.
"Now let us go back to what we were doing. This dance has to be perfect." Weiss stated.
"Still thinking about your dream dance with Neptune I see." Damian stated.
He then gives the heiress a curious look. "Speaking of which have you even ask him yet?" he asked.
"That is none of your concern." Weiss huffed.
"All I'm saying that you should ask him before it's too late. He's a self-proclaimed lady's man and so it would be best if you ask him before someone else does."
Weiss frowns at that statement knowing that he is right. "Please, like anyone could get to him before me. Just you watch, I can guarantee that Neptune will be my date to the dance." She said proudly.
And with that she went back to work.
Meanwhile with Blake...
Blake sighs as she tried to stay focus on her holographic screen as she sits quietly in the library and looked obviously more sleep-deprived than ever.
But then a small, bright red dot appears on the screen. Moving up and down, Blake's eyes follow it down to her hand, but it then disappears entirely. She looks behind herself with an irritated look, but she couldn't find the culprit, so she goes back to what she was doing.
She starts typing on her keyboard before the laser dot appears on her hand briefly, prompting her to look around again and still find no one. The red dot then shows up on the screen, moving around in circles until Blake scowls and pounds her fists on the table.
She stands up from her chair and finds the light on the floor, following it blindly through shelves of books until both the dot and its pursuer turn the corner, only for Blake to bump into Yang.
"Hello~" she said cheerfully.
"What are you—" "We need to talk." Yang said cutting her partner off as she grabs her by the arm and whisks her away to another location.
Which turned out to be an empty classroom.
Blake sighed in frustration as she walks back and forth. "Yang. If you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well just save your breath." She said to her partner who was sitting crossed legged on the teacher's desk.
"I don't want you to stop. I want you to slow down." Yang stated.
"We don't have the luxury to slow down." Blake replied.
"It's not a luxury. It's a necessity." The blonde proclaimed.
Stopping in her tracks Blake glares at her partner, "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." Yang stated and pats the desk as a way to ask her to sit down.
"Fine." Blake said as she sits down.
"Ruby and I grew up in Patch. An island just off the coast of Vale. Our parents were huntsman. 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 smiled happily as she remembers all the memories she has of Summer. "Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters." Yang then frowns as she thinks about that faithful day. "And then, one day she left for a mission and never came back."
"It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but I still think she was still too young to really get what was going on, ya know? And my dad just kinda...shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. And at the time I was made to believe that Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second...the first was my mom."
Blake eyes widen at that, "He wouldn't tell me everything. But I learned the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow and that she left me with him just after I was born. No one had seen her since."
"Why did she leave?" Blake asked.
Yang sighs at that question that she has been trying to find the answer to herself. "That question...why." She said as she gets off the table and walks over to the chalk board.
"I didn't know the answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anyone I could about what they knew about her." Yang stated as she grabs a piece of chalk and begins to draw on the board.
"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 dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises and 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."
Yang grits her teeth as the feeling of regret coursed through her body again. "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 have been served on a silver platter. But as luck would have it, Qrow had showed up just in time."
"My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night." She stated as she put the finishing touches on her drawing which was a drawing of Qrow's symbol.
"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, I'm not telling you to stop. I haven't." Yang said cutting her partner off.
"To this day I still want to know what happened to my mother, and why she left me. But I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process then what good are, we?"
Blake looks down at the ground in annoyance before she looked back at her partner. "You don't understand! I'm the only one that can do this!"
Yang grits her teeth and then turns around with her eyes burning red with rage. "No, you don't understand! If Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do!?" Yang asked hypothetically.
"I'd fight him!" Blake exclaimed.
"You'd lose!" Yang replied and to prove her point she lightly pushed Blake to show how weak she is right now.
And Blake tried to push her back but in her current state the push didn't even phase the blonde brawler. "I can stop him!"
"You can't even stop me!" Yang proclaimed and pushed Blake again but this time a little harder.
Which resulted in Blake falling onto the table.
Yang then sighs as she calms down and walks slowly to her partner who was getting off the table.
And when she did, the blonde hugged her tightly. "I'm not asking you to stop. Just please...get some rest. Not just for you but the people you care about." She stated.
And with that she let go of the cat Faunus and started to walk away.
"And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance." She said teasingly and winked and continued to walk away.
"Yang wait!"
The blonde stops in her tracks and looked at her partner curiously. "There is still something I don't understand. What did you mean when you said that you were made to believe that Summer wasn't the first love your dad lost?" Blake asked.
Yang sighed at that, "It's simple really. Summer was not actually my stepmother or in a relationship with my dad. I just assumed that they were together since Summer was the only thing I had to a mother figure." She admitted.
"But recently I found out that Qrow is in fact Summer's actual husband and thus Ruby's biological father...but after Summer died, He gave Ruby to my dad to watch over her and they then made a deal that both me and Rubes would grow up to think that we were half-sisters until they thought we were ready to know the truth."
"But why? Yes, he wanted to protect her, but lying about who her father is seems a bit much." Blake stated.
"I think he did it because he didn't want Ruby to go through life having a father that was always away on missions. Not to mention he has...self-esteem issues because of his semblance being Bad Luck. And without Summer, who was his rock. He didn't think that he could watch over Ruby properly."
"Anyway. I should get back helping Weiss." And with that Yang finally left the room.
Looking down at the ground Blake sighs as she decides to leave as well.