Library...
Jared is looking down at a view of a glum Ruby resting her head on her hand and staring into the distance.
"Okay, playing Splatoon 2 isn't making you feel better." Jared said, and Ruby is startled by Weiss slamming her palms on the table the silver-eyed girl is at.
"I need you to pick a tablecloth." Weiss said, smiling.
"Tablecloths?" Jared asked, when Weiss slides two squares over to him Ruby, both seeming to be similar shades of white. "While I'm getting another kill in this Turf War. I'm not good at decisions."
"Aren't they both the same?" Ruby asked, confused.
"I don't even know why I asked!" Weiss said, sighing in frustration.
"What's wrong with Ruby?" Yui asked, with Weiss walking away.
"Oh, she's thinking about Blake." Jared said, when Yang entered the room carrying a massive sound speaker on her shoulder. "I'm all for a party, but not when Ruby is upset."
"Do you think she'll get better?" Yui asked, when the sound speaker bounces Ruby and the table she's moping on again to jump in the air when she drops it on the ground. "Will she?"
"I don't know."
"So, have you picked out a dress yet?" Yang asked, brushing her hands as she approached Ruby.
"What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, don't worry; she's going." Yang said, looking over at Weiss, exasperated. "Weiss! I thought we agreed: No doilies!"
"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!" Weiss said, walking up to Yang, pointing in her face.
"And I want a bounce house and a hot tub in the courtyard!" Jared said, walking towards Weiss and Yang with Yui sitting on his shoulder. "Ooo, maybe a game room off in Professor Port's room."
"A game room in Professor Port's room? How will that work?"
"Oh, it will. Especially with the Switch and a projector."
Team RWBY and Jared are interrupted by the sound of doors opening.
"Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune asked, entering the room with Sun. "And a game room?"
"We were thinking about it…" Weiss said, walking up to Neptune, becoming sweet.
"That's pretty cool."
"You're wearing a bow tie and a tweed jacket." Yang said, looking what Jared is wearing. "How come?"
"Bow ties are cool." Jared said, happily.
"You ladies all excited for dress-up?" Sun asked, walking up to them, acting suave to Weiss.
"Pfft...yeah, right!" Ruby said, annoyed.
"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night!" Yang said, happily.
"Me, parties." Jared said, smiling. "That is something I can do. Next to fighting Grimm and seeing all of time and space."
"Ooo, you also love taking down bosses in virtual worlds." Yui said, still sitting on Jared's shoulder. "With mommy and daddy."
"What are you two wearing?" Weiss asked, looking between Sun and Neptune.
"Uuhhh...this?" Sun asked, gesturing to his current shirtless outfit.
"Ignore him for he knows not what he says." Neptune said, walking forward and holding a hand in front of Sun's face.
"Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo." Sun said, knocking Neptune's hand away. "It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."
"We know." Jared said, as he has a look of being told something extremely obvious with Yui. "It's been a long week for me. And I don't want to know more bullshit."
"Yeah, Jared's right, we noticed." Yang said, copy Ruby's, Weiss', Jared's, and Yui's looks of being told something extremely obvious.
"Soooo...what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y'know...Blake-y?" Sun asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Obviously." Weiss said, looking away and crosses her arms in disapproval.
"I still can't think of a way to change her mind." Ruby said, sadly.
"I know how to." Jared said, walking up to Yang to stick something inside her pocket. "When I say me, I mean Goldilocks. Anyway, Blake is a cat Faunus."
"Oh, what does Blake like doing?" Yui asked, looking at Ruby, Weiss, and Yang.
"Doing cat things." Yang said, now looking at everyone in the room. "Guys." Everyone looks at her as she starts walking away. "Trust me; Blake will be at the dance tomorrow."
The Faunus herself is sitting at one of the library tables with a holographic screen in front of her. She is obviously more sleep-deprived than ever, barely focusing on what she's seeing...until a small, bright red light appears on the screen. Moving up and down, Blake's eyes follow it down to her hand, then disappears entirely. She looks behind herself, obviously irritated, but no one walking among the tables is her culprit.
Turning back to the computer, she starts typing on the beeping keyboard before the laser dot appears on her hand briefly, prompting her to look around again and still find no one. The red point 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, shocked and shaken out of her more 'animal' instincts, into...
"He...lloooo!" Yang said, in a sing-song voice, waving with her left hand as she right hand is holding the laser pointer.
"What are you...?" Blake asked.
"We need to talk." Yang said, grabbing Blake's arm.
And with that, amid Blake's single cry of surprise, Yang whisks her partner out of the scene.
Bathroom...
Emerging from the steaming bathroom in nothing but a pink towel wrapped around his lower body, Ren sighs in contentedness and starts walking away, only to be stopped by Jaune suddenly appearing in front of him.
"We need to talk!" Jaune said, angrily.
And with that, amid Ren's single cry of surprise, Jaune pulls his teammate away, leaving his bottle of 'Samurai Shampoo' to spin in the air before dropping to the ground.
Team JNPR's room...
"Ren...I'm just gonna say it." Jaune said, sifting on his bed. "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 darnit, I consider you to be the brother I never had!"
Ren is still only wearing his towel and looking extremely uncomfortable, but he still nods and smiles to Jaune when he's done.
"And I...you..." Ren said, trying to be attentive from then on, but keeps glancing at his usual outfit hanging by the door.
"Which is why I wanted to get your advice on...girls."Jaune said.
"Girls?" Ren asked, sounding surprised, but he started reaching out for his clothes while Jaune is looking away.
"I just...don't know...how to...girls." Jaune said, trying to find the right words. "Um, I...I guess what I'm asking is...well, how did you and Nora...y'know…"
"Uh...uh...uh…" Ren said, putting his hand down after almost touching the green robe, but looks even more awkward now.
Nora clears her throat to get the boys' attention on her, wearing nothing but her emblazoned headphones, a 'BOOP' T-shirt, and pink lightning bolt underwear as she reads a book resting on her knees, before she laughs nervously.
"We're actually not 'together-together…'" Nora said, looking at Jaune.
"NORA, I SAID HEADPHONES ON!" Jaune said, and Nora does so quickly under her leader's command.
"Jaune, what is this all about?" Ren asked, focusing on Jaune fully.
Jaune sighs deeply before speaking.
"It's Weiss." Jaune said, obviously depressed by staring at the floor. "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-I just wish she's take me seriously, y'know? I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up."
"Then do it." Pyrrha said.
"Uh, wha?" Jaune asked, looking up to see Pyrrha in the doorway, with Ren and Nora doing the same.
"Tell her exactly what you said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines. Just...be honest." Pyrrha said, walking into the room.
"But what if I…"
"Jaune." Pyrrha said, smiling. "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."
Jaune looks up with a new confidence.
"You're right." Jaune said, standing up. "Thanks, Pyrrha!" He looks back to his bed as he goes out. "Good talk, Ren!"
Ren smiles and waves his thanks while Jaune closes the door. Upon doing so, Pyrrha becomes noticeably less cheerful as she walks over to her desk, with a concerned Nora watching her with sad eyes.
"Practice what you preach, Pyrrha." Nora said, letting out a sigh.
Classroom…
"Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath." Blake said.
Yang is sitting cross-legged on the central desk of the empty classroom they're in, orange light shining across her calm features, "I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down."
Blake is continuing to pace with arms crossed, still irritated.
"I don't have the luxury to slow down." Blake said, angrily.
"It's not a luxury; it's a necessity." Yang said.
"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 said, patting the part of the desk across from her.
Blake looks away for a moment until she relents and drapes her legs over the desk's edge, "Fine."
"Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was, like...Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then...one day she left for a mission and never came back." Yang said, looking down as she says this, and Blake looks sorry for her. "It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but...I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of...shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second. The first...was my mom." Blake looks amazed at this information as Yang keeps talking. "He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow, and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since."
"Why did she leave you?" Blake asked.
Yang sighs, then turns to the chalkboard.
"That question...why?" Yang asked, getting off the desk and walks to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk. "I didn't know an 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."
"Ooo, Yang." Jared said, entering the room with Yui sitting on his shoulder. "I've got an idea. Let's use holograms to explain your story to Blake."
"And how do you propose we do that?" Yang asked, and she started drawing on the board.
"Yui?" Jared asked, while Yui loaded up a hologram of a young Yang, with orange bows holding her brunette pigtails, looking at the photo found in a smashed picture frame. "Can this work?"
"How did you?" Blake asked, looking at Yui.
"Oh, it's a bit of augmented reality." Yui said, smiling. "It's not that hard."
"Let's get back to me telling my story, guys. Then, one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers, or maybe even my mother." Yang said.
Yui changed the holographic video to Yang walking down a long winding path through the towering trees shedding their leaves with a little creaking wagon pulled right behind her, a little sister in a crimson hood sleeping soundly inside.
"Is that Ruby?" Yui asked, looking down at the image.
"Yeah." Jared said, sadly. "It is."
"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, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna 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 said.
In the shadows of the worn-down house the siblings had arrived at, beastly red shapes glow from the darkness.
"There we were: A toddler sleeping 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, our uncle showed up just in time." Yang said, as her younger self looked petrified.
As the Beowolves leap into the air to devour their young prey, the familiar sound of a gun-scythe follows the sight of them all being cut into pieces by a caped warrior. His bird-haired silhouette fades away to present day, where Yang has just finished drawing a clockwork eye.
"My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night." Yang said.
"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…" Blake said.
"Just so you two know, I'm not really here in the same room as you. I'm still with Ruby and Weiss in the library." Jared said, disappearing with Yui. "You'll see me again later."
"I told you: I'm not telling you to stop!" Yang said, still facing the board, with her fists clenching. "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 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, what good are we?"
"You don't understand! I'm the only one who can do this!" Blake said, angrily.
"No, you don't understand!" Yang said, turning around sharply to reveal red eyes and the sound of flames. "If Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do?"
"I'd fight him!"
"You'd lose!" Yang said, pushing Blake away.
"I can stop him!" Blake said, tiredly tries to do the same to Yang, but the blonde doesn't even budge.
"You can't even stop me!"
She pushes Blake again, knocking her to land on the desk. Yang, still angry-eyed, walks toward Blake as she gets up, but then does the unexpected and embraces her in a hug, her eyes going back to their normal purple.
"I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest." Yang said, pulling back to look at her partner. "Not just for you, but for the people you care about." She steps away and starts walking past the startled Blake, who turns when she says over her shoulder. "And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance."
Yang winks down at Blake, and Blake stares at Yang as she leaves before sighing heavily and walking away, leaving the all-seeing eye on the board.
Hallway...
The white rose in Jaune's hand bounces up and down as its smiling owner walks through Beacon Academy until he stops at the entrance of a hallway with the sound of a certain voice, causing him to duck behind the columns outside.
"Neptune!" Weiss said, walking past Jaune as he peeks around the corner and goes up to Neptune.
"Oh, uh, hey, what's up?" Neptune asked.
"I know this is a little unorthodox, but...I wanted to ask you something." Weiss said, putting her hands behind her back trying to look innocent as Jaune drops his smile and recoils at the oncoming words. "Would you...like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"
While Neptune rubs the back of his head and smiles with raised eyebrows, Jaune loses all of his confidence and drops the rose on the ground before walking back from where he came from.
Ballroom...
"And perfect." Jared said, placing a large collection of white roses, one dropping outward, in a large vase. "White roses in a dance like this."
Jared looked behind himself to see Yang in a short white dress with black heels as she stands at a podium. The doors in front of her open and she flips out upon seeing who walks in.
"Ooohh, you look beautiful!" Yang said, happily.
"You look wonderful." Jared said, walking up to Ruby. "More than that, dazzling."
Ruby groans as she looks distressed in her red dress with black lace, belt, and pumps.
"Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" Ruby asked, trying to maintain her balance as she walks to the podium, much to her laughing sister's amusement.
"Yeah, I don't know." Jared said, laughing a lot. "But you do look lovely, Little Red!"
Courtyard...
Meanwhile outside, Sun is walking around and wearing a new black jacket, now closed up, with a white tie hung around his neck, which he proceeds to fight with before going inside.
"Stupid...dumb...neck trap!" Sun said, angrily.
"I knew you'd look better in a tie." Blake said.
Sun stops his struggling and stares at the dark purple dress worn by Blake, now looking like she traded her dark bags for violet eyeshadow, as she steps forward and takes him by the arm.
"Sooo, does this mean we're going...together?" Sun asked.
"Technically, though my first dance is spoken for." Blake said.
Ballroom...
Streamers are hung through glass chandeliers, pink and blue balloons are everywhere, and students in dark suits and bright dresses are stepping with each other to the music between the white-clothed tables. Blake is spun around by Yang before they curtsey to one another, and Sun comes up and takes his date's hands as Yang gestures for him to do so. She goes to hang with Ruby and Weiss in a similar white dress as Yang's, in the back of the room with Jared in his bow tie and tweed jacket, watching Blake laugh and enjoy herself before smiling at her team.
"I told you she would come." Yang said, happily.
"Mission accomplished." Weiss said.
"Soooo, what do we do now?" Ruby asked, turning to Weiss and Yang.
"Just have fun!" Yang said, proceeding to walk away and do so.
"Yeah, I will in a few." Jared said, when Weiss walked the opposite direction and leaving him and Ruby behind.
"Does that mean I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now?" Ruby asked, trying to get Yang's attention.
"Nope." Jared said, watching Ruby waddle around in her painful footwear. "You don't. I like you in that outfit."
"I know you do!" Ruby said, as Jared caught her from falling. "Stupid lady stilts!"
"Not enjoying yourself?" Ozpin asked.
"Oh, no, everything's fine!" Ruby said, surprised to see the headmaster step up by her side and Jared's, but she shakes her head and laughs. "I'm just not much of a fancy pantsy...dancey girl."
"Well, you can't spend your whole life on the battlefield, even if you may want to."
"Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately." Ruby said, crossing her arms, looking annoyed.
"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, although one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot." Ozpin said, staring out at the dancing couples.
"Or a twisted ankle." Ruby said, looking down at her own feet with Jared supporting her from falling.
"It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it's nights like these that can help keep them stronger than ever. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget."
"Which is why I chose to party and have fun. Enjoying life to the fullest." Jared said, and Ruby smiles at the words of wisdom. "I can't keep fighting Grimm here and see all of time and space in a big blue box."
"Yeah, you can't." Ruby said, turning her head at the sound of the doors opening. "Now, who is that?"
Yang is back behind the podium, and smiles at the new arrivals, "You guys are just in time!"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Mercury said, as he and Emerald step in with their ballroom best.