45

Chapter 45Chapter Text

Chapter Forty

She stepped, then stepped again, and again, and again, then she twirled on the spot, arms reaching out to keep her balance before dipping her knees down into a crouch and stepping again.

Akelarre frowned. That hadn't worked as she wished. She would try again!

She took a deep breath, stood taller, then stepped, stepped, stepped, started to twirl, tripped over her own feet, then regained her balance while also trying to crouch. Once she was done wobbling, she stepped again.

Turning with her arms still in the proper position, she looked over to see Neo stuffed in a cushion-covered sofa, a hand over her face with only one eye peeking out from between her fingers. "At least I'm getting better?" Akelarre said. "I am getting better, right?"

Neo raised the hand not covering her face, then wobbled it around in a so-so gesture.

"Do you think I'll be ready for the ball?" she asked.

Neo's smile was wooden as she nodded.

The pair were tucked in a corner of Junior's Club, occupying part of the dance floor that was quite empty as early in the day as it was. Neo had stolen all the cushions from the other couches and built a fluffy mound on which she plopped herself to watch Akelarre flop around like a particularly energetic fish that had been yanked out of its comforting waters. The tiny girl was only partially visible from within the pile.

"Well, how about you show me again, then?" Akelarre asked.

Neo rolled her eyes and wiggled off of her cushion throne. She bounced over to the dancefloor, then wiggled on the spot to unlimber her limbs.

Akelarre watched as Neo raised her arms then started waltzing around with the grace and lithe motions of someone with years of practice under their belt. She was at the level of skill where she made all the moves look easy, every twirl and dip and motion of the arms completely natural.

Akelarre wouldn't admit it to anyone that asked, but watching Neo dance was a whole lot of fun, because when Neo danced, she danced.

With a final twirl and step, Neo let her arms drop to her hips and tilted her head to the side. She perked an eyebrow.

Akelarre sighed. "Okay, fine."

She raised her arms again, then stepped, stepped, then started ringing.

She paused, then patted her cargo pant's pockets until she found her scroll. "Hello, Akelarre, benevolent-ish Princess of Grimm speaking."

"Hey Akelarre!" Ruby's chirpy voice shouted into the scroll. "It's me! I'm calling because me and the girls, and I guess Jaune too, were sort of worried about you after yesterday. There was supposed to be a big fight in the middle of Vale and they're saying it was your fault but I don't believe them. Also your posters look nothing like you at all it's really silly."

Akelarre blinked. "Posters?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, Goodwitch put up all these posters of someone that kinda sorta looks like you, if you squint. They're asking for information and telling people not to approach you because you're a big scary criminal. But Yang said it's okay, you're not really an actual big scary criminal so we can totally still hang out because if anyone can convince you not to sink us under a grimm tsunami it's going to be me." She giggled. "At least, that's what Yang said."

"Huh, I hope that won't be a problem with the dance?"

"What? Pfft, no. Never," Ruby said. "Nothing's bad's going to happen, I'm sure of it!"

Akelarre hummed in agreement. "I'm sure. I was actually just about to head out with Neo to buy a proper dress. It's that or head back home to get one but mom is kinda old fashioned and she'd want to take pictures."

"Oh, dad wants us to send pictures too. Well, he asked for mugshots of any boys we bring with us, but you're a girl, so it's probably okay." Ruby paused for a breath. "Hey, I need to go dress shopping too. Did you want to go together?"

"I wouldn--"

"Oh, and now Yang wants to come. And Weiss is ranting about how we couldn't pick out something pretty if we tried. And Blake... Okay, I think Blake wants to stay here, she's hissing at me."

Akelarre held back a giggle. "Alright. I'm at the Club. You know the one. If you guys hurry we can meet up in a bit before heading out. Oh, and bring one of those posters."

"Okay! See you soon!"

And just like that, the line went dead. Akelarre looked away from her scroll to see Neo watching her with one eyebrow perked. "Ah, I hope you don't mind the others coming along?" she asked.

Neo made a so-so gesture with one hand, then tapped at her cheek while looking out of the corner of her eye. She raised one finger.

"On one condition?" Akelarre guessed.

Neo nodded, then made a show of licking the air and wiggling her tongue out of her mouth..

"You... want ice cream?"

The shorter girl blinked, then shrugged as if to say 'sure, or that'

"I-I'm sure we can work something out."

***

Ruby vibrated. It wasn't a figure of speech to describe how excited she was. Not that she wasn't plenty excited. She was, quite literally, vibrating on the spot.

Across from her, Yang was wearing the smile of an indulgent older sibling as she sat squeezed up next to Blake who was focusing very hard on her book. That meant, of course, that the last member of team RWBY was plopped right next to a Ruby who was vibrating so fast that she was scattering flower petals all over them both.

"I swear, if the Bullhead falls apart because you couldn't sit still for three whole minutes I will use you for my landing strategy. As a cushion," Weiss said.

Ruby shut her mouth with a click and kept the wobbles locked in tight against her chest.

That lasted all of thirty seconds before, red faced, the wiggles escaped as a burst of excited giggles and even more vibrating, like a puppy on a sugar rush.

Weiss's brows were twitching and she looked ready to smack some calm into her partner when Yang intervened. "Oh, let her go, Weiss. She's just nervous about meeting her girlfriend." The last word was spoken with so much meaning and inflection that even someone as thick as Jaune might have caught on to it. "And here I thought you weren't supposed to see the dress until the big night."

"We're not getting married!" Ruby shouted.

The bullhead dipped a little as the pilot looked over their shoulder.

"We're not," Ruby protested. "It's just a big dance with all of my friends and Akelarre. And if Akelarre's my girlfriend, does that mean Blake's yours?"

"I'm not," Blake replied with the speed of an arrow going through someone's heart.

Yang clutched at her chest. "Blake, my heart's not a ball of yarn. You can't claw at it like that. Are you just going to play with me before leaving me in the litter box?"

The cat faunus looked up from her book for just long enough to lock eyes with Yang. "Please die."

"My other two disfunctional teammates besides," Weiss said as she looked away from Blake and Yang as if ignoring a lost cause. "What are you hoping to accomplish by visiting Akelarre today?"

"Accomplish?" Ruby repeated. "We're going dress shopping. I thought you knew."

"Yes, that much is obvious, but there must be a purpose behind that."

"...fun?"

"Fun is not a purpose," Weiss sniffed.

"Oh boy. Don't take dating advice from the Schnee," Yang said. "She wouldn't know how to date someone if her daddy didn't arrange it and a contract wasn't signed in triplicate beforehand."

"I'll have you know that I am perfectly aware of how dating works," Weiss huffed.

All three girls looked at her. And the pilot.

"Theoretically," she added.

"Right," Ruby said. "So, this isn't even a date. It's just us buying the cutest dresses and getting Akelarre to pay for them."

Weiss squawked as if someone had stepped on her toes. "Ruby Rose! You can't get her to pay. Don't you have your own money? Or are you turning into some… some sort of gold digging hussy?!"

"I'm not!" Ruby shot back, her face reddening as she did. "But Akelarre wouldn't mind. And I need every lien I have to make Crescent Rose better. She's been asking for even more modifications lately."

"So, is getting more toys for your weapon more important than the ball for you? Important enough that you'd beg for lien from the very girl you're going to dance with?" Weiss said. "How is that fair?"

"Well, it's not Akelarre's lien, it's her mom's, and her mom is literally the queen of all that is evil. So by spending it on pretty dresses and weapon mods, I'm actually helping Remnant."

Weiss opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked away for a moment as if deep in thought, then tried to speak only to fail. Then, with a cough to clear her throat, she looked across the aisle towards Blake. "How would you like a Schnee credit card?"

Blake perked one eyebrow up. "Are you trying to bribe your way out of all the guilt your family has accrued over decades of malpractice?"

"No," Weiss said. "I'm telling you that my card is linked to the same account as Jacques Schnee and that we could buy the prettiest dresses on credit then make him pay interest on them."

Blake blinked. "Well, when you put it that way. It's like doing Faunuskind a favour really."

The Bullhead shifted a little, then landed with a thump. "We've arrived, ladies," the pilot called back over their shoulder.

Team RWBY thanked the pilot and shuffled out of the craft and onto one of the landing pads near the city centre. Vale was busy, people zipping to and fro under the early afternoon sun, many of them with a sense of urgency but others taking their time and enjoying the day.

Ruby started to move when someone tugged at her cape and stopped her short. "Oh no," Yang said, "if you think we'll let you run ahead of us to spend more alone time with Akelarre you have another thing coming, lovely little sister of mine."

"But Yang," Ruby started.

"No butts," Yang said. "No boobs either, dad said so. Not even any kissing."

Ruby cringed in time with her other teammates. "That was bad, Yang."

"That's how you know it was a good pun," Yang said as she visibly revelled in their pain. "Now let's get going. If we allow you to get there early enough to start on the puppy dog treatment, no butts might become a little butts."

"No Yang. Just no."

Team RWBY started moving as a group towards the docks and the seedier parts of town, none of them all that concerned about the shady people eyeing them or the way some people got greedy glints in their eyes at the sight of four well dressed young ladies. The truth of the matter was that they were huntsmen, and that made them as invincible as their youth made them think they were.

Ruby took the lead, of course, because she was the leader and she wanted to get there the most. That's why she was the first one to see the person blocking their path.

The girl stood in the middle of the sidewalks, arms crossed and a scowl firmly in place as she eyed them all. Her long coat moved despite the lack of wind, and her fedora, which was squished atop orange hair, sat at an angle that cast a deep shadow over her eyes.

"Penny?"

"Hello, potential enemy Ruby, potential enemy Blake, potential enemy Yang and... and onetime potential-marriage-material Weiss. I have been betrayed and I think it is high time we talk about it."

***

Dun dun duun!!

Okay, so, the Patreons voted for Princess this month, so it'll be the story I'm focused on until the end of January! Expect a whole lore more Akelarre-y goodness.