[||||=LEVEL 54= ||||]
The days coming up to the dance were about as I expected. Chaotic, filled with anxiety, and a LOT of awkwardness as gawky teenagers asked other gawky teenagers out. I also saw a few nasty rejections between partners, which was sure to be messy for their teams.
Yang and Weiss ended up planning the dance as in canon, though Yang's team had been press-ganged into setting up the decorations, which surprised nobody. Their place as Yang's bitches was well established throughout the school, not that anybody teased them for it. With Yang training them they were no pushovers. Yang was just scary when she put her mind to it, much like her mother.
As expected, Ruby was going alone, though with Jaune as a friend to hang out with. Yang was going with Sky, one of her teammates. Blake was going alone, Weiss was going with someone I didn't know, and beyond that I barely noticed Ren and Nora going as friends.
Of course, I was going with Pyrrha, who had put the same amount of focus into preparing for the dance as she would an important fight. That is to say, she was almost single mindedly focused on preparing. If it wasn't for Ruby having her back she would have missed a sizable amount of schoolwork in just how determined she was. I was of the opinion that it was a little unhealthy to be focusing so much on me, but I had no clue how to handle Pyrrha's feelings. The best I could do was awkwardly avoid encouraging or discouraging her, which I wasn't even sure was the right decision in the first place.
If there was one thing I was sure of it was that I was distancing myself from Cinder. I had banned the use of lust in our emotional sparring sessions and greatly reduced the amount of training sessions we had. She seemed to take the hint, though I got the sense that she was frustrated at something, however, I didn't think it was me. I almost asked Salem if she knew why Cinder was trying to seduce me but held off at the last moment. Asking for advice on your romantic life was for friends, and while Salem and I were far from enemies, I wouldn't call us friends. More like pseudo-allies who drink tea and chat often.
It crept up on me quickly, the dance. I was debating the pros and cons of pranking myself from a past time period before I got void when I realized that the dance was tomorrow. I decided to prank myself later and slid through the void into my dorm room.
"The dance is tomorrow!" Ruby yelled at me the moment I appeared. I winced.
"Yes, I just realized that," I said neutrally.
"Pyrrha's freaking out!"
"She's been doing that for the past… week?"
"Two!"
"It's probably not that bad." Ruby pointed towards the bathroom.
"She's been in there for three hours modeling different dresses with her dusty stuff! She was in there for five yesterday! Just… I dunno, do boyfriend things!" Before I could open my mouth Ruby's motormouth barreled onwards. "I know you're not her boyfriend! Just hug her!" I closed my mouth and looked between the door and Ruby's glare and decided to walk towards the bathroom.
I seamlessly phased through the door to hear a shriek from Pyrrha and a swirl of iron as she cloaked herself in the dust in a crude imitation of a towel. It didn't leave much to the imagination.
"Abyss! Get out!" she yelped, an atomic blush on her face.
"If I wanted to see people naked I just sense the space they occupy under their clothes. It gives an uncomfortably good picture," I said casually, hoping to downplay the fact. Despite already knowing this Pyrrha's blush intensified. "Now what's wrong?"
"I… has anyone ever told you that being able to see everyone naked is a little creepy?" I stared at Pyrrha and she gave up on changing the subject.
"I'm nervous," she nearly whispered. I raised an eyebrow.
"You're scared of going to the dance or dancing with me?"
"The second," Pyrrha said bashfully. I rolled my eyes.
"Don't worry about it. I don't know how to dance anyways," I said uncaringly. Privately I felt a flash of nervousness at not knowing how to dance and still going to a dance, but Pyrrha looking at me blankly was worth it.
"You… how do you not know how to dance?" she said in confusion.
"I never learned," I said simply. "I can fix an airship, pickpocket nearly anyone, trade punches with living legends, sing a decent tenor, read lips, and make nearly anything out of metal. But I've never danced before. As much as I can do I never claimed to have a normal set of skills." Pyrrha seemed to understand and nodded in agreement.
"I guess I learned a lot of weird stuff too," she said quietly. "Not many girls learned how to shoot when they were eight."
"True," I smirked playfully. "Ruby learned when she was about seven."
"That's not what I mean!"
"Everyone in Beacon is a little weird, Pyrrha. We're not exactly children. Children run at the sight of grimm, you see. You're not expected to get everything right in the dance because nobody here really knows what's right in the first place. This isn't a fight. It's not a competition. You don't have to prove anything to anyone. Just wear a dress and have fun. I know that I'll just be wearing a suit and bowtie."
Pyrrha gave me a complicated look. I didn't know exactly what to do so I sighed and took Ruby's advice and stepped forward. Pyrrha squeaked as I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her, her arms wrapping around me by reflex.
"Just have fun," I said quietly. Pyrrha didn't react to me until I pulled away and glanced down.
"Oh," I said a little dumbly. The shock of hugging apparently broke Pyrrha's concentration over her semblance, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination.
"Get out!" she yelped in a high pitched voice.
"Right," I said a little quickly. I blinked through the bathroom door back into the team's room, where I was immediately assaulted by Ruby.
"How'd it go?" she asked conspiratorially.
"Off, Ruby," I muttered, pushing her away.
"Ohmygosh it went awesomely didn't it!" she babbled excitedly. She must have seen something on my face because she cackled and clapped her hands together.
"She was naked!"
"Ruby!" I exclaimed with Pyrrha, who was apparently listening in. Ruby just laughed harder for some reason.
[|||| =+= ||||]
"I'm putting ten on them kissing!"
"I've got fifty on the two sleeping together. You put your bets with Jaune, right?"
"Ruby, but they're running the same rack. And those are long odds, man."
"It's good to have hope."
"He apparently just wants to be friends with her, though. I doubt he'll cave just like that and I doubt that Pyrrha wants to have that kind of relationship."
"Hope, man. Hope."
"Just remember, they can't know that everybody's watching."
"Yeah, yeah. Mavros spaces out half the day and Nikos only has a few friends. I think we're okay."
"Yeah… did you know that the headmaster has money on them too?"
"Really?"
[|||| =+= ||||]
The day of the dance we had a half day of school, meaning no combat class. I actually attended for once and people could tell. Professor Oobleck actually commented on how attentive I was being. I was also fairly bored for most of the day, but I had fun in dust studies. I ended up discussing the possibility of a space program with the professor and ended up getting her really excited about how possible it was with the advent of Nature's Bounty and its energy producing crops.
Finally when classes ended for the day I got dragged into the typical rush around my team.
"Jaune you can't go to the dance with armour on!" Ruby cried. Her dress was a fairly simple crimson one with dense mesh around her upper body and neck. She almost wore fishnet stockings but decided for normal ones instead.
"I always wear armour!" Jaune protested. His grey suit with gold trim was squeezed under his light armour, which was a white breastplate not unlike what he wore in canon.
"Wearing armour under your school uniform is only okay if nobody notices! People will notice you wearing armour over your suit!"
"I'm not going without armour," Jaune said stubbornly.
"Yes you are! And with your aura you're the most durable person in school if not the planet!"
"One moment feeding a bad habit is worth ten moments nurturing a good one!"
"Then wear your armour for ten days after the school dance!"
"That's not-"
"Nope!" ruby interrupted and immediately she used her semblance to dash forwards and poke Jaune's chestplate. Not half a second later she flew out the window, Jaune's chestplate missing.
"Hey!" Jaune yelled. Everyone in the room was silent for a moment before Ruby flew back in smirking.
"It's gone!" she said cheerfully. Jaune glared at her and she nearly skipped towards her bed and flopped down on it.
"So should we go now?" I asked Pyrrha, who was sitting next to me on the couch, calmly.
"Let's," Pyrrha agreed. The two of us slipped out of the room quietly while Ruby and Jaune were arguing the merits of wearing armour everywhere.
Before I left the room I heard something about Ruby carrying weapons everywhere and decided not to ask.
It only took a moment for Pyrrha and I to arrive. The dance looked interesting, at least. Weiss and Yang meshed together weirdly, compromising on some things and clashing on others to make something that could be called chaotic if it wasn't for the students.
The dance hadn't gotten full swing yet but there were other students piling in from what I could see and the music was slowly being turned up. As huntsmen and huntresses everybody had some sort of style they wanted brought to the table, which when viewing the whole student body made a soupy mess of styles and colors. Some girls were even wearing suits, though Coco took the cake with an almost military looking suit that was somehow feminine. Doubtlessly she pulled some sort of fashion trick to look that way.
"Come on, Weiss wanted our opinions on the dance," Pyrrha said, pulling me gently along. I sped up and kept pace with her, not wanting to be led around. We worked our way through the crowd, some people throwing their arms in the air, some sticking close to their friends or date talking, and some others quietly sipping a drink or eating a snack while soaking in the atmosphere. In a quiet space around the wall, though, Weiss and Yang were hanging around the poor student managing the music.
"Turn it up!" Yang encouraged.
"It's fine as is!" Weiss argued. "Any more and people won't be able to hear each other."
"They can yell," Yang said dismissively. The student hesitantly touched the knob that I assumed was volume for the music.
"This is not a rave!" The student pulled his hand away, clearly uncertain of what to do.
"Everything's so low-energy! Crank it up! Get some arms moving and hunky guys sweaty!"
"Maybe when more people arrive you can turn the music up a little more," I suggested. The student gave me a thankful look as Weiss and Yang turned to me.
"Abyss! Good of you to be here!" Weiss plastered on a smile that was half convincing, though that she was still a little flush from arguing with Yang ruined it.
"Abyss! I've got a very important question for you." I looked to Yang curiously. "Can you do light shows?" Weiss gave up on her smile and glared frostily at Yang.
"Did you even hear my suggestion?" I asked.
"I wouldn't have if our resident DJ would…" Yang trailed off as she noticed that the student had fled while the two girls were distracted.
"So what do you think of the dance?" Weiss changed subject.
"It's very nice, Weiss. You and Yang did an excellent job with the decorations," Pyrrha said, drawing attention to herself.
"Thank you, Pyrrha," Weiss said with an honest smile.
"I like that it's a bit chaotic. It matches what everyone in the audience is doing pretty well." I glanced at the crowd to glimpse Ruby and Jaune entering and Blake lurking around the edges of the crowd alone.
"That was… completely intentional," Weiss replied unconvincingly.
"Yup! Totally meant for that effect!" Yang agreed.
"Right," I said skeptically. I looked again at Blake and decided to talk to her later. For now, though, I looked at Pyrrha. "Want to dance?" She smiled and took my hand, leading me to the dance floor. I looked at how the other students were dancing and put my hands around Pyrrha's hips, while she put hers around my shoulders.
"So how do we dance?" she whispered.
"Just don't step on anyone's toes, especially not your o-" Pyrrha stepped on her own toes and nearly fell over. I caught her and pulled her back to a stable position with a completely blank face. Her face turned red and she couldn't meet my eyes. We were both utterly silent for a few seconds.
"So just don't do exactly what you just did," I said tonelessly. Pyrrha snorted and hid her face for a moment before looking at me with a wide grin on her face.
"Okay so this is rather fun," she admitted before leaning forwards and kissing me on the cheek, though it was close to my lips. I blinked in surprise while Pyrrha looked away bashfully. I shook my head and we continued dancing.
Eventually, after a few comedical situations and getting the hang of dancing through a few different types of songs Pyrrha and I split up, Pyrrha to talk to Ruby and Jaune who were lurking by the punch stands and myself to Blake, who was blending in even better than they were.
"Hello Blake," I said conversationally as I approached her.
"Hello Abyss," she responded. She glanced over at somebody in the crowd before meeting my eyes.
"We haven't talked much. How have you been?"
"I've been… well," she said carefully. I felt like she was dancing around something.
"You haven't done anything recently?" Blake looked a little hesitant as I grew suspicious that she was up to something.
"Nothing… criminal." Had I not known her for a few years I would have missed her hide her flinch. I scowled at her and she sighed defeatedly. "I'm investigating the White Fang," she admitted quietly. I stilled the air around us to hide our conversation.
"Of course," I groaned. Canon why do you haunt me?
"They're up to something. Something shady," she insisted, "I've been visiting safehouses, checking in on a few trusted friends. There have been supplies missing, people assigned on falsified projects, and recruiting has picked up! Something's stirring in Vale and I think it's bad."
"What have you found?" I groaned, expecting the worst.
"Adam's the ringleader, I know that. He's doing something outside the city." Blake looked tense. "I… I want you to help. Please."
"And you didn't approach me before because…"
"You've been busy with team troubles. Your team hasn't gone as smoothly as mine." Blake paused for a moment. "Also, I wasn't sure if you were involved or not," she said almost embarrassed. I internally scoffed at her. I was literally the person behind the entire thing.
"And your future plans?" I asked patiently.
"I want to bring this to Sienna," I winced. That would be bad for me. It could be handled if I applied some pressure on her to forgive Adam, but that had consequences. So did throwing him under the bus. If my plans with Cinder were derailed it would be an irritating setback to my 'discrediting Ozpin' plot. I had to nip this in the bud.
"And you're sure Sienna can actually stop Adam?" I asked. Blake opened her mouth but I spoke over her. "Sienna does large scale things. The direction the White Fang takes, the opening of new branches, and managing the reputation of the faunus worldwide. Some missing members and supplies are below her paygrade and any actions she took would have to travel down the chain before anything would be done. Any orders would likely be intercepted and have countermeasures enacted" I explained. Blake seemed to be agreeing with me somewhat but wasn't convinced. It was time to go for her weakness.
"You should finish this yourself," I proposed. "You're one of the best infiltrators out there and the best informed as well. Besides, there's the chance that you're seeing a covert operation that the Fang is doing and not a criminal element." Blake seemed to consider it and I could see that it appealed to her. Not just because it painted the White Fang she believed in as good people but also because she got to run off on her own.
"I don't know what to do next," she said pointedly.
"If there's an operation outside of Vale happening, the Fang is going to need supplies shipped out. See where supplies are being shipped to. They have to keep records somewhere. See who falsifies them. They'll probably know where the supplies are going, which is where the base of operations will likely be," I suggested. Blake thought about that for a moment.
"I could get a ride that way too," she agreed.
"Take your team with you just in case," I told her, "You're good but can you take an entire White Fang camp by yourself?" Blake nodded in agreement.
"I'll bring them with me then. Thank you for the advice, Abyss." I smiled at her and she smiled appreciatively at me back before turning away and disappearing into the crowd.
She was so screwed. I'll give Adam a heads up after the dance and loan him Neo and a few good bandits to run security.
For the rest of the night I danced with Pyrrha, Weiss, Ruby, a dozen random girls, and even got shoved together with Jaune once, though I suspected that that was a prank of some sort.
[|||| =+= ||||]
'Blake is suspicious that something's going on. Get some backup. Pick out a few lieutenants from the gang if you have to. I've told Roman to give you Neo on loan.'
'Understood. Security will be tripled at the operating site. Roman has informed me of the reinforcements available.'
'Be aware that this is Blake and possibly her entire team. They're dangerous but Blake is reckless and despite their talent the team is still green. You can use her.'
'A hostage situation?'
'A way to send a message if need be. Don't kill any of the four.'
'While I seek a more aggressive approach for the White Fang I wouldn't go that far with schoolchildren. I will contact you with the mission results tomorrow, though I suspect that you will see them on the news.'
[|||| =+= ||||]
I woke up slowly.
"ABYSS WAKE UP THERE'S MISSIONS TODAY!"
Ruby did not, and was somehow already dressed. I blinked a few times feeling her hands on my shoulder and rolled over on my side. Or tried to, anyways. I got a face full of red hair a moment later and spluttered a little before sitting up. Of course, Pyrrha was in my bed half clothed.
For just a moment I panicked before remembering that I hadn't gotten drunk for once and she sure wasn't in my bed before I went to sleep. She was still at the dance. So she must have snuck into my bed.
"Oh! Um, am I interrupting something?" Ruby asked, sounding awkward.
"You're not interrupting anything." I swung out of bed and gently removed Pyrrha's hand from my wrist before stepping towards the bathroom.
"Aww…" I looked curiously at Ruby for a moment, wondering why she was so disappointed, but got distracted when I saw Ruby's bed in the corner of my eye. It looked perfectly unruffled, almost like nobody slept in it.
A glance showed that Jaune's bed was VERY messy indeed.
"Oh, heh… I… see you noticed that." Ruby blushed.
"I see I'm interrupting something," I muttered. I ignored Ruby's protests as I made my way to the shower. I could already tell that it would be a long day.
----------------------------------------------------------and done here is the end of RWBY and remanent arc for Abyss. From here on out Abyss will be traveling the multiverse and remnant scenes will be scarcely written
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