23

   Chapter 23: V2C10: A Night to Remember

A/N: There's an important misconception that I need to clear up which is why I'm talking here instead of just at the end: This Shirou is not from the  Fate route. While it's true that Shirou fell in love with Saber and that usually means that Saber lets go of her wish, that development didn't happen until almost the very end of the Fate route. Before such a thing could happen for this Saber, she was corrupted by the Greater Grail and became Saber Alter. As such, she's not in Avalon but still on that bloody hill after the Battle of Camlann. This fact was mentioned in the previous chapter. More after this chapter.

Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

Emiya Shirou swallowed nervously as he adjusted the tie of his rented tuxedo. It was the long-anticipated night of the Beacon dance and Shirou was currently standing about a block away from the Royal Veronica Hall trying not to freak out. Ruby had accepted his apology for taking so long to get back to her and had been thrilled when he agreed to go out with her. While Shirou was glad to see her so happy, he still couldn't get completely past the feeling of betrayal even after his conversation with Ren and Jaune. He was determined to not ruin her night, though, even if it didn't work out in the end.

This determination didn't stop him from delaying the inevitable as long as possible, though. Instead of traveling on the airship with Ruby, Shirou made an excuse about having difficulties with his tuxedo and told her that he'd meet her there. It was also why he was loitering near the Cross Continental Transit tower. Still, he couldn't put it off forever and he had already made Ruby wait long enough so he took a deep breath, pushed down his anxieties, and made his way to what was sure to be his doom.

OoOoOoO

Yang Xiao Long stood behind a podium near the entrance of the Royal Veronica Hall as she went over the guest list. Being the physically strongest and most personable member of Team RWBY, she was chosen to pull double duty as both the greeter and the bouncer should uninvited guests arrive (even though General Ironwood had a few guards posted throughout the area and most of Beacon's staff was present). While a bit bummed that she wouldn't be able to start partying right away, Yang accepted the job without complaint.

The Royal Veronica Hall was a pretty nice place, Yang had to admit as she idly looked around the room. It had been built by some famous queen or another a long time ago to serve as an embassy to other nations. Over the years, the embassies ended up changing to other buildings in better locations so the Royal Veronica Hall was renovated and repurposed into a building where all kinds of events were hosted. It wouldn't usually host something as basic as Beacon's school dance but the owners had been magnanimous when they made their offer, stating that Vale's future protectors from the Grimm should be allowed to enjoy some luxury on behalf of the people.

"Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" Ruby Rose asked as she awkwardly approached her older sister. In place of her usual attire, Ruby was wearing a short, red, sleeveless dress with a thick black sash around the waist and black trim along the bottom. The bodice of the dress was split vertically to the sash and laced with black lacing. The yoke of the dress was translucent mesh with an opaque collar and hem as well as opaque lines connecting the collar to her shoulders. To go along with it were black stockings and pumps, the latter of which she was currently complaining about.

"You get used to them," Yang reassured her as she suppressed a laugh. As for herself, Yang was dressed fairly simply in a short, yellow, halter neck dress with a pale gray hem and white pumps.

"So… Is he here yet?" Ruby asked as she leaned against the podium for support.

"Not yet but don't worry. He'll show up. If he doesn't, I'll kick his ass," Yang said.

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that!" Ruby said quickly. "If he doesn't, I'll just—" Whatever Ruby was about to say was cut off as they heard the door opening. Ruby spun around to face it, her face lighting up, only to have her smile dim slightly when Blake Belladonna walked in.

For the dance, Blake chose to wear a short, purple, asymmetrical halter neck dress that was split up the right side and had a black collar. Translucent black mesh covered her shoulders, decolletage, and back and decorative black swirls covered the left side of the dress and continued up the left strap. The outfit was completed with black pumps and a teal bow hiding her cat ears in place of her usual black one.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in!" Yang said, earning a half glare from Blake. "There are still a couple more guests who haven't shown up yet but I'll be right with you when they do."

"Take your time," Blake said with a slight smile. "I'm a little thirsty anyway."

"Refreshments are in the back on the left," Yang said, thumbing over her shoulder toward them. Blake gave an appreciative nod before walking off. "Try not to have too much fun without me!" she called out to her partner only to receive a slightly dismissive wave.

"Told ya she'd come," Yang said to Ruby with a slight chuckle and a smug grin.

"You and Blake are here together?" Ruby asked as she peered over her sister's shoulder to their teammate before the latter got swallowed up by the crowd.

"Yep!"

"It's great that you got her to go with you as her friend."

"I'm not too sure about that," Yang admitted, her smile becoming a tad uncertain.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"Well, she never got back to me with her answer if we were just going as friends or as a couple."

"I didn't know you had feelings for Blake!"

"I kinda do," Yang said as she rubbed at her nose. "Blake's one of the most interesting people I've ever met and I really want to support her more than just about anything. The only problem is that I still don't know too much about her and she's always trying to keep her distance. Even if she's not as bad as she used to be."

"So, you want to go on a date with her in order to learn more about her? People do that?"

"Of course. They do it all the time. Blind dates wouldn't be a thing if they didn't. Besides, you don't know that much about Shirou and yet you're going on a date with him, aren't you?"

"I suppose," Ruby said as she started fiddling with her fingers, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

There was a brief lull in the conversation that was soon broken by the sound of the door opening. "Sorry I'm late," a familiar voice said. "I've never worn a tuxedo before."

"Shirou!" Ruby cried out as she turned around. She quickly made her way to him only to trip over her pumps. She would have fallen if Shirou hadn't grabbed her arm. "Sorry about that," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"It's alright. I have to say, you certainly look beautiful tonight," Shirou said with a nervous smile.

Ruby's giggle was somewhere between bashful and nervous. "Thanks. You look, um, rather handsome yourself."

"Awwwww! My baby sister's all grown up and off on her first date!" Yang gushed causing Ruby to cry out her sister's name in dismay even as her face turned red. Even Shirou was slightly flushed.

"Well then," Shirou said after clearing his throat before holding out his arm. "Shall we?"

Ruby smiled at him and took the offered arm. Yang smiled joyously as she watched the pair walk by but spoke in a soft whisper that Shirou could just barely hear as they passed. "Hurt her and I break you."

"Noted," Shirou said with a nervous gulp before making his way to the dance floor.

Yang watched the couple go, practically beaming with pride, before turning her attention back to the guest list. With Shirou's arrival, there were only three people unaccounted for left and, as luck would have it, the door soon swung open to herald their arrival.

"You guys are just in time!" Yang greeted them as she marked them off of the guest list.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," the male said as Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and Cinder Fall arrived at the dance.

OoOoOoO

Jaune laughed alongside Pyrrha as the latter finished up recounting an incident from her childhood. "I can't believe your dad bought that!" Jaune said as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"I know! I thought for sure I was going to be in trouble!" Pyrrha remarked as she caught her breath. While Jaune was dressed in a fairly simple tuxedo (as were most of the boys), Pyrrha was wearing a turtleneck sleeveless red dress that left her back exposed.

The couple had only been at the dance for not even ten minutes but it was already shaping up to be the single greatest night of Pyrrha's life. They had taken to the dance floor pretty much first thing and Pyrrha quickly discovered that Jaune was an amazing dancer (apparently, one learns a lot when one has seven sisters). He was actually far better at it than Pyrrha was and dancing had been a favorite hobby of hers ever since she was a little girl (one of the few her parents let her have since the skills there could be applied to combat). She was actually learning a few things from him which had been a refreshing change of pace. After a couple songs, they decided to take a break where they almost immediately started swapping silly stories from their childhoods.

"Thanks for taking me to the dance, Jaune. I'm having a wonderful time," Pyrrha said once they had calmed down.

"Really? That's great! I'm honestly just thankful that you even agreed to go with me. No doubt lots of other guys asked you."

"Actually, you were the only one who asked," Pyrrha admitted as she looked away somewhat sadly.

"Wait, what? But you're Pyrrha Nikos! Guys should have been tripping over themselves to ask you out!"

"I'm glad that you think I'm so desirable but that's the problem. I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place." Pyrrha sighed deeply and took a drink from the cup of punch in her hand before continuing.

"Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people." Pyrrha smiled beautifully at Jaune. "That's what I love about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime."

Jaune stood there for a moment, speechless as he absorbed what he had just been told. "Well, if I'm being honest," Jaune began after he found his voice, "I'm one of those people. You're such an amazing person, Pyrrha, that, even now, I feel like I'll never be good enough for you. But a friend of mine once gave me a great piece of advice. He said that even if you are better than me at basically everything, I can still be there for you and support you. That I should reach out to you and that you'd reach back without resenting me for holding you back. So, I did. And I'm really glad that I listened to him because getting closer to you has been the single greatest thing I've ever done in my life."

Pyrrha's smile was threatened to split her face as she used a handkerchief to wipe away the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes. "I'm glad that you did, too." She then giggled before adding, "It seems that you and I owe Shirou for a lot."

Jaune chuckled as he rubbed at the back of his head, "Yeah, I guess it's pretty obvious who that friend was."

"Still," Pyrrha said before putting her drink down and wrapping her arms around Jaune in a fierce hug, "thank you for reaching out to me. No matter what happens going forward, I'll always be thankful that you're a part of my life."

Jaune said nothing as he returned the hug and took the moment to bury his nose in her hair, the rest of the world falling away around them. After an unknown amount of time, the world came back as the music changed to something upbeat. Jaune pulled away slightly, keeping his hands on Pyrrha's elbows while hers rested on his chest. "So, you ready for another dance?" he asked with a smile on his lips.

Pyrrha beamed at him, "Always."

As the two took to the dance floor, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren watched them pass by. "This. Is. Happening! Let's go, Ren!" Nora said.

"Wait, what's happening?" Ren's question was ignored as Nora pulled him onto the dance floor, his cup of punch clattering to the ground.

What followed was a four-man synchronized dance that would go down in the school's history as one of the greatest moments at the yearly dance ever.

OoOoOoO

Ruby laughed nervously as she and Shirou stood awkwardly off to one side, drinks in hand. After Shirou had arrived, there had been some attempts at dancing but not only could neither of them dance, Ruby was still too awkward in her heels to do so even if she could. The attempt had resulted in both of them ending up with bruised feet (which, thankfully, their Auras took care of) and more than a fair share of awkwardness. With the primary form of entertainment out of the question, that just left standing around talking which ended up going nowhere; Ruby was far too nervous and Shirou was busy wracking his brain for topics of conversation that wouldn't inevitably lead to talk about their pasts.

Thankfully, before the awkwardness could reach critical mass, Team JNPR put on their performance which gave them something to talk about. "That was very impressive," Shirou said after their performance was over.

"Yeah. I can't imagine being able to dance like that. I wonder how much time it took them to learn that?" Ruby replied, her voice slightly strained as she tried to force conversation.

"I don't know. It must have taken quite a while, though."

"Yeah," Ruby said with another nervous giggle. Silence fell between them once more as Ruby started to rock on the balls of her feet and Shirou started to look around. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife and Ruby felt like she was about to suffocate if she stayed there any longer. "Hey, I'm, uh, gonna go get some air. You, uh, wanna come with?" she asked more out of politeness than any real desire.

As dense as he could be sometimes, Shirou picked up on this. "No, I think I'll go refill my drink. I'll… see you in a little bit?" he asked with a slight shrug, having no idea how to handle the situation.

"Um, yeah. I'll see you in a bit," Ruby replied before making her way outside. Once the door was closed behind her, Ruby leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She barely had time to start gathering her thoughts before she heard the door open again.

"Is everything alright?" Weiss Schnee asked as she joined her partner. Not having a date, Weiss decided to dress simply in a short, white, sleeveless dress with cutouts on both sides of her waist. The yoke of the dress was a translucent mesh and she was also wearing white pumps.

"No, not really," Ruby admitted with a sigh as she slumped against the wall.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that… This night really hasn't been going well. Dancing was a disaster and I don't know what to say to him and he doesn't say anything and when we did talk, it was so forced!" Ruby took a few steps away from the wall and started pacing, wildly gesticulating as she went on. "I really wanted this night to be special and have as much fun as Jaune and Pyrrha seem to be having but I just don't know what to do! We're just standing around, drinking punch, and not talking to each other! If things get any more awkward between us, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna die from embarrassment!"

Weiss hummed for a moment as she pondered her partner's plight. "Why not tell him about something from your past? Something funny that happened with your family," she suggested.

"I thought about that but Shirou's such a private person! If I told him something like that about me, he'd feel compelled to tell me something similar and I don't want to pressure him into doing anything!"

"Then what about the future? Talk about what you plan on doing after graduating."

"Honestly, I don't really have any plans," Ruby admitted with a bashful smile as she stopped her pacing. Weiss simply rolled her eyes even as she smiled fondly at the younger girl. "I just plan on being a Huntress and fighting Grimm and saving people."

"There's nothing wrong with that but it's something you should probably put some thought into. Figure out where you want to live, if there's anything specific you want to accomplish, things like that."

"Yeah, I probably should. But that doesn't help me right now! Uhg! I should have thought about this before now!"

"Shirou is every bit to blame for this," Weiss quickly said, having noticed the downward spiral her friend's thoughts were starting to take. "If he wasn't going to put forth effort into making sure you enjoyed yourself tonight, he shouldn't have accepted your invitation."

"But we were such good friends! I've never had problems talking to him or being around him before!"

"You also never tried to date him before. Sometimes things like this just don't work out, Ruby. You two are good friends and that's it. There's nothing wrong with that. You're allowed to just be friends. There's no need to try and make it something that it's not."

Ruby sighed as her shoulders slumped, "I guess. I just wish things didn't end up this way, you know?"

Weiss smiled in sympathy as she stepped closer to her partner and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know. No one wants things they were looking forward to to go badly."

Ruby returned Weiss' smile before pulling the heiress into a tender hug. "Thanks, Weiss. You really are a great friend."

Weiss returned the hug as her smile became that much fuller. "Any time, Ruby." The pair stayed that way for a long moment before Weiss almost reluctantly pulled away. "I'm going to head inside before I freeze to death out here. You want to come with? I've got a table tucked away in a corner."

"No thanks," Ruby said with a shake of her head. "I think I'm going to stay out here for a bit longer."

"Alright. Try not to stay out here too long."

"I won't. Thanks again, Weiss."

"Any time, Ruby."

Ruby leaned back against the wall and sighed, her breath coming out in a puff of vapor in the cold winter air. After that talk, she felt slightly empty but in a good way. She really admired her partner's ability to make her feel better. Her only regret was that there wasn't really anything she could do in return. If Ruby was doing a good job as a leader, it was only because she had Weiss backing her up.

As Ruby pondered this, her thoughts were interrupted by movement on the other side of the street. What was an oddly garbed person doing by sneaking into the CCT tower?

OoOoOoO

Blake and Yang swayed slowly in each other's arms as the gentle music played on. They had been pretty silent for most of the night so far, only sharing the most basic of words, but Blake had declined any offer to part ways so Yang counted it as a victory. Still, she couldn't help but be worried. Aside from Team JNPR's epic dance routine, Blake had been almost despondent the entire time.

"Hey, are you okay?" Yang whispered into her partner's cat ear. Blake's bow twitched in response.

"I'm— I'll be fine," Blake replied as she pulled Yang's warm body a bit closer.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? You've been trembling in my arms all night."

"I— I just— I just don't know how to handle this. How to handle us."

"What's there to handle? If you like being with me in whatever way then be with me. It's that simple."

"But it's not!" Blake grimaced as her voice got a bit louder than intended. In response, Yang slowly led Blake as they danced to a more secluded spot.

"It's not that simple," Blake repeated once they had more privacy. "There's so much about me that you don't know."

"Yeah, so? There's a lot about me that you don't know, either. But I don't really care too much about that stuff right now. If you want to tell me stuff, you can tell me whenever you're ready but, right now, I like being with you so I want to keep being with you."

"But if you do, you'll get hurt," Blake said, pulling back slightly so she could look into Yang's lavender eyes. "I have so much blood on my hands. I've done so many horrible things. How could you ever want to be with a monster like me?"

Yang smiled gently as she cupped Blake's cheek in her hand and used her thumb to brush away a stray tear, "I'm gonna be a Huntress, Blake. I'll end up being hurt if I'm with you or not. And I don't care about who you were or what you did in the past. All that matters to me is who you are and what you're doing right now. You're not a monster, Blake. You're my best friend and I love you."

Blake's tears started to flow freely as her composure threatened to completely crumble, "Yang, I—"

Yang gently shushed her as she placed a finger on her partner's lips. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay." With that, Yang slowly leaned in until her lips pressed against her partner's, taking a moment to savor that sweet and slightly salty taste, before pulling back and pulling her into an embrace.

Surprised by the kiss as she was, Blake had instinctively returned it for a brief moment before Yang pulled away before clinging to her partner fiercely. She was happy beyond words that someone actually loved her but why did her tears still hurt?

OoOoOoO

"Do you, um, want to dance with me?" some random guy asked. Cinder Fall simply smiled enigmatically without moving from her spot at the table while Mercury Black answered for her.

"She's with us, scumbag. Get lost," he said with a dismissive wave. The man was taken aback before growling at Mercury. Since Cinder didn't seem to be interested in talking, he decided to ask the third person at the table.

"Well, what about you?"

Emerald Sustrai beamed at him before saying "I'd love to" in a chipper voice.

As the two walked off and started to dance, Mercury said, "Damn, Em. That's cold."

Emerald looked on as the man made an utter fool of himself by dancing with absolutely no one. "He had it coming, the annoying prick. Uhg, I can't wait for this party to be over so we can get out of here."

"What are you talking about?" Mercury asked as he leaned back in his chair until the front legs came off the ground. "I think this party's pretty great and I haven't even spiked the punch yet. Whoever did the decorating's got a real sense of style."

"Uhg. Of course you'd think that," Emerald said as she rested her head on one hand and watched the party. "Well, would you look at that. Ironwood is leaving the party," she observed a bit more loudly than usual.

"Guess the General's had enough fun for one night. Should we intervene?" Mercury asked Cinder. After a moment of silence, Cinder shook her head. "Well, alright then. Let's just try and wrap this up before midnight, alright?"

OoOoOoO

Shirou sighed as he leaned against the railing of the balcony. It was pretty cold out tonight but the cool air was helpful in counteracting his boiling brain. The night had been an absolute disaster and he honestly wouldn't blame Ruby if she decided she never wanted to speak to him again. It should have been a fun, eventful night that she would never forget but instead they had spent nearly half an hour doing absolutely nothing. Shirou couldn't recall ever feeling so awkward in all his life and he couldn't imagine what Ruby must have been feeling.

Shirou's thoughts were interrupted by the door behind him opening. There were a few footsteps and a satisfied groan as the person stretched before taking the spot next to Shirou and speaking.

"Pretty great night, huh?" Jaune said as he stared out over the reservoir, the broken moon reflected in its smooth surface.

"You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself. I'm surprised you actually left Pyrrha's side," Shirou remarked as he eyed his friend.

"She had to use the restroom so I decided to take the chance to get some air," Jaune revealed. "But yeah, this night has been amazing. I've never had so much fun in all my life. What about you? How are things going with Ruby?" Shirou's response was to sigh deeply and hang his head. "That bad, huh?" Jaune asked with a sympathetic smile.

"It's just so… awkward. Neither of us can dance and I can't think of anything appropriate to talk about that won't lead to… things I'd rather not talk about."

"What do you mean 'appropriate'? Just talk about whatever, dude. One thing I very quickly learned tonight is that it might be a special night but treating it as special when talking is the last thing you want to do."

"Even so, this night is supposed to be special. It's supposed to be fun and unforgettable. All I've successfully done is make it boring and something she'd probably rather forget ever happened."

"Hey, that happens. You win some, you lose some. At least, that's what my dad always said. So what if things didn't turn out amazing? You guys gave it a shot and it didn't work out. Now you just go back to being friends and move on with your lives."

"Even if things didn't work out, I still should have been able to show her a good time and let her have fun rather than ruining the night for her."

At this, Jaune gave his friend a very concerned look as he turned to have him. "Hey, Shirou, buddy, I know you've got this hero complex and all but you know that you're not responsible for our happiness, right?"

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked as he faced Jaune in return, looking slightly annoyed by the hero complex remark.

"I mean that you're only responsible for your own happiness. It's great that you want to help us out so much but you've gotta look after yourself first. If you can't even make yourself happy then you can't make anyone else happy. Hell, that's probably why this night's gone so poorly for you. You were so focused on trying to make Ruby happy that things got awkward."

Shirou half glared at the insinuation, "Do you mean to tell me that you haven't been focused on making Pyrrha happy?"

"I mean, kinda?" Jaune admitted with a shrug. "I was super focused on that at first but then Pyrrha got me to calm down and be myself. So, I've pretty much just been talking about whatever comes to mind and saying what I really feel and mean. Pyrrha said that she l-loves me for that so that's what I've been doing and it's worked out great so far."

Shirou looked pensive as he turned back around to stare out into the reservoir. He was quiet for a long moment but, before he could speak, he was interrupted by the door opening once more.

"There you are. Oh! I'm sorry! Am I interrupting something?" Pyrrha said as she stepped outside.

"No, not really," Jaune said as he pushed off of the railing and gave Shirou a few pats on the back before walking off. "Good luck, buddy," he said in parting before shutting the door behind him.

Shirou sighed before staring up at the shattered moon. Things had gone pretty horribly for whatever reason but at least Ruby's night couldn't get any worse.

OoOoOoO

Ruby grunted in pain as she was thrown through one of the windows on top of Vale's CCT tower. She quickly hooked Crescent Rose around the metal divider between the windows, using her Aura to blunt the cutting edge, before swinging around and back into the room.

What was supposed to have been a curious little detour quickly turned dangerous when Ruby found the unconscious forms of two guards outside of the Tower. A quick signal to her rocket locker to get her weapon later and she found herself going in and then up the Tower as she noticed the other elevator already in use.

After she got to the top, Ruby kicked off her pumps, the cold floor preferable to potentially losing her balance in a fight, and cautiously made her way inside. "Hello? Is anyone there? Hello?" she called as she looked around the room and waited for her eyes to adjust to the near-total darkness.

Then she saw a figure emerge from the darkness. It was a woman, that much was certain, but her black, sleeveless bodysuit and facemask made it hard to distinguish any notable features other than her long, black hair. Silhouetted as she was, the figure looked vaguely familiar to Ruby but she didn't have time to try and place the memory.

"Excuse me? You know, it's not a masquerade party so why don't you take off that—!" Ruby was interrupted by the woman hurling shards of ice from a container of ice Dust at her. Ruby quickly sidestepped it but the left her open for the woman to bodycheck her and then hurl her out the window.

Once back inside, Ruby charged the woman and slashed at her with Crescent Rose. The woman was fast enough to jump backwards out of the way but not fast enough to dodge the bullet that was fired as the barrel passed her by. Using the combined momentum of the swing and the gunshot, Ruby turned the attack into a spin as she recoil-jumped toward the woman. Ruby let out a scream as she brought Crescent Rose down on her but the woman simply held out her hands and blocked the attack with two hastily summoned swords made from fire Dust, her elbow-length gloves and pants glowing red as she did so.

Ruby was completely unperturbed by this development, already being intimately familiar with fighting someone who could do that, so she almost immediately fired off another round and used the recoil to assist her in pulling Crescent Rose back, breaking the woman's guard. Ruby then flipped her weapon around, readying herself to slam the spear-like end into her, when the woman growled and glared at her. Ruby froze as she was hit at once with the full intensity of the woman's killing intent. While she was able to quickly shake it off thanks to her training with Shirou, the split-second pause was all it took for the woman to recover enough to leap backwards out of the attack's range. She even backflipped as soon as she touched the ground to avoid the followup swing while also not being in line of the gun.

While still in the air, the woman's arms and legs glowed again as her twin swords took the shape of a black bow and three arrows. Ruby immediately backpedaled and was forced to avert her eyes as the arrows exploded on contact, the floor caving in slightly at the point of impact.

With some distance now between them, Ruby opened fire on her and suppressed a frustrated growl as the woman casually blocked her shots with her free hand, even though that action made her fully remember where she saw the woman before. After a couple of shots, Ruby quickly changed target and fired at a hanging light positioned directly above the woman. The woman looked up and managed to dodge to the side in time but was just a hair too slow as Ruby charged her and used Crescent Rose to tear her bow away from her before balancing on its head and sending a strong kick into her chest.

As the woman stumbled back, Ruby twirled Crescent Rose into a ready position and made to charge again the sound of the elevator opening made her pause as the room was suddenly with light.

"Everyone freeze!" General Ironwood said as he entered the room with his massive revolver drawn. While glad he was here, Ruby didn't so much as spare him a passing glance as she kept her gaze solely on the enemy. "You're under arrest for assault and trespassing!" Ironwood said as he moved closer (Ruby really hoped he was talking only to the other woman).

The woman growled as she looked between Ruby and Ironwood. After a second, her clothing flared up as she expended all of the fire Dust stored within to create a massive wall of fire between herself and the other two. Ruby was forced to turn away from the intense heat and light but Ironwood calmly kept walking forward, incredibly loud shots ringing out as he fired off his revolver at the fleeing target.

When the fire died down, Ruby turned her attention back to the scene only to see Ironwood looking out the broken window and down the side of the building, a scowl on his face. After a second, he pulled out his Scroll and called in the woman's details and last known direction as Ruby transformed Crescent Rose and let it hang at her side. After he was finished, Ironwood faced Ruby and said the words that made her gulp in apprehension:

"You've got a lot of explaining to do."

OoOoOoO

Cinder Fall sat quietly at her table, sipping at a cup of spiked punch, as Emerald and Mercury chattered away in front of her.

"Geez, she's almost late. Do you think she's okay?" Mercury asked as he ceased his rocking on the chair, letting the front legs fall back on the ground with a loud "thud."

"Of course she's okay. Nothing these buffoons can throw at her could even phase her," Emerald reassured him despite looking slightly nervous herself. Before their conversation could continue, Cinder looked off into the distance before nodding and leaving the table, the other two looking on in interest. After a few minutes, Cinder returned.

"So, how'd it go?" Mercury asked once his boss sat down.

Cinder hummed before answering, "A little more exciting than expected."

"Should we be worried?"

"Hardly. They'll be scratching their heads long after we finish what we came here for."

"So, then, what now?"

"Enjoy the rest of the night. After all, it is a party."

A/N: This chapter is a really important one for a lot of reasons. It's a major event that was heavily setup in canon and had a significant impact on the course of the characters' lives. Not only is that still true here, it also perfectly demonstrates the result of the numerous changes that happened because of Shirou's presence. Every single difference, with the exception of the change in venue, is a result of Shirou's presence.

I had a number of people complain to me after the last chapter about how Shirou fell in love with Ruby. What I don't get is what made those people think that when the exact opposite is stated in the story. Shirou is not in love with Ruby. The only person he's in love with is Saber. He simply agreed to go to the dance with her because they might end up having a good time. That's it.

To make things perfectly clear, the Cinder that was as the dance and silent was actually Neo. If the heroes had even a modicum of intelligence in canon, Cinder would have been ousted immediately as she was someone who was supposed to be there but didn't show up until after the break-in. That would place her right at the top of the list of suspects but everyone in RWBY is some degree of stupid, especially at this point (and even in Volume 7, Clover), so yeah.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a comment if you did or didn't and I'll see you next week as we start gearing up for the finale!