“Ruby!”

“Akelarre!”

The two crashed together with an ‘oomph’ that soon turned into a cascade of wild giggles as they clutched onto each other for balance. Akelarre grinned down at Ruby, then placed a hand on each shoulder to push her back so she could inspect her date for the evening. “Ooh, you’re so cute in that!” she said.

Ruby’s face lit up, but the huge grin she wore did wonders to distract from the blush. “You were there when I bought this dress,” she said.

“Yup, I was,” Akelarre agreed. “And yet you managed to make it look even better since!”

“Akelarre, stop,” Ruby said as she fluttered her hands at Akelarre. “It’s embarrassing.’

“Hmph, am I supposed to pretend that I’m not the luckiest princess here because my date is the prettiest?” Akelarre felt her own cheeks warming up, and the butterflies in her tummy were refusing to obey her commands to calm down.

“Akelarre!” Ruby protested.

“God, you two are so sappy,” Weiss said.

Akelarre turned and took in all the people around them. Yang was grinning widely next to an expressionless Blake, Weiss was standing with her arms crossed, though one arm was lower than the other so that Penny could hook a hand around its crook. Cinder and Neo were standing not too far behind, both looking around at the students still filing into the ballroom.

“Sorry about that, I had to remind Ruby that she’s the best,” Akelarre said, it made Ruby’s face light up again. Getting her to blush was growing to be her favourite game. “So, are we just going to hang out over here all night? Because I’d be okay with that.”

“Oh, I have drawn up an itinerary based on popular media tropes drawn from hundreds of dance scenes in books and movies,’ Penny said from her spot next to Weiss. Her eyes flickered for a moment and when she next started talking it was as if she was reading off a list.

“Step one: Meet Weiss and hold her hand. Accomplished!

Step two: Obtain refreshments for Weiss and attempt small talk. Pending.

Step three: Dance with Weiss. Pending.

Step four: After repeating steps two and three for a period approximating two hours, exit the building and move to a romantic location. Pending.

Step five: declare undying love to Weiss and-slash-or ask for her hand in marriage. Pending.”

Weiss, contrary to Akelarre’s expectations, didn’t start stuttering or blushing. She pressed a hand to her face and then shook her head. “No Penny. That itinerary isn’t suitable for Ruby and Akelarre. Or us for that matter. There are flaws with it that we can address later.”

“I see,” Penny said. “Would it be suitable for friend-Blake and friend-Yang?”

“Sure, why not,” Weiss said.

“H-hey now,” Yang protested. “Back up a minute there.”

“The Xiao-Long-Rose family really has a thing for royalty, huh?” Blake asked, her lips twitching up at the corner in a smug smile that was trying really hard to burst past her emotionless facade.

There were twin cries of “Blake!” from Ruby and Yang and a round of laughter from the others. Akelarre pulled Ruby closer by her side and gestured towards the Ballroom. “Should we go in?” she asked. “I haven’t eaten anything and now I’m starving.”

“Ah, I didn’t eat either,” Ruby said. “I was way too nervous.”

Akelarre started walking over, Ruby still tucked up against her side like a comfortable warm limpet. “Nervous? Why?”

“Ah, well, it’s my first dance and I don’t really know how to dance and I was just worried because I was worried I guess.”

Akelarre snorted. “Now you’re just being silly.”

“Nu-uh, Yang said it was my right as a hormonal mess of a teenager to be nervous about dances. And she was probably right this time.”

Akelarre chuckled. “This time, huh?”

“Oh yeah. You should have seen her getting ready for tonight. She was all twitchy and nervous and scared. It was kinda cute. Or it would have been if her shower didn’t take two hours. Blake was ready to skewer her by the time she came out.” Ruby shook her head. “I had to borrow team JNPR’s shower. They have two boys, so they didn’t need it as much.”

“Hair care is important though,” Akelarre said before running her fingers through Ruby’s hair.

Ruby pouted. “You’re just like Yang. My hair always looks like I had a fight with my pillow and lost.”

“Have you tried growing it out?” she asked as they reached the doors to the ballroom.

Ruby nodded. “Do you have any idea how many little moving parts Crescent Rose has? Long hair is a bad idea.” Her voice got louder and louder as she had to compensate for the music in the room. The bass alone was making the floor shiver rhythmically. The dance floor was currently filled with couples bouncing around with more enthusiasm than skill, though a few actually looked like they knew what they were doing.

All along the walls were chairs and some round tables where groups of friends were sitting down and screaming over the music while nursing drinks. It took Akelarre’s smaller bugs ten seconds to find the first spiked drink and a few students surreptitiously passing a bottle back and forth under a table.

“Drinks first!” she declared as she pulled Ruby towards the back, her friends all kind of followed after them like a group of lost and confused ducklings.

Yang shot ahead, dragging Blake with her so that she could arrive at the punch bowl first. “I was going to tell you a joke,” she told Blake. “But there’s no punchline.”

“Oh Yang,” Ruby sighed too low for anyone else to hear. “She’ll never get Blake with that kind of joke.”

Akelarre shrugged and pretended not to notice that flat look on Blake’s face as she found some plastic cups and began filling them. “Maybe if she’s persistent Blake will give in in a, uh, decade or two.”

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Ruby giggled as she accepted her cup. She hesitated for a second, then looped an arm in Akelarre’s, and dragged her away from their friends. The others were too busy getting drinks and picking snacks to really follow, though Neo and Cinder were still keeping an eye on them.

“Hey, Akelarre,” Ruby said. “Can we talk about harems and stuff?”

“Ah, I mean, yeah, sure.” She swallowed, a pit suddenly opening up in her stomach.

“It’s not fair that you haven’t let me have fun with the other girls. I barely spoke to Neo at all and Velvet’s all confused and nervous. Next time you need to invite all of us together, okay?”

“Okay?” Akelarre said. She wasn’t exactly sure what she should have been saying or how to react to Ruby’s openness on the subject, but she tried to take it all in stride. “So, now what?” she asked.

“I think we’re supposed to dance,” Ruby said. They both eyed the dance floor where people were bouncing around like lunatics to music that was only growing louder. “But uh, if you don’t want to that’s fine.”

“I don’t mind at all. But if you don’t feel like it’s okay,” Akelarre said.

They stared at each other and then broke out into a fit of giggles that had them bumping shoulders and standing a little closer so that they could watch all the students making fools of themselves on the dancefloor.

Weiss in particular seemed less than enthused with Penny’s dancing, even though she was bobbing and waving her arms to the beat. Meanwhile, Blake and Yang actually looked like they were having fun near the chaotic centre of the floor right next to where Velvet and Coco were boogieing down.

“Should we get more to drink?” Ruby asked as she stared into her empty cup.

Akelarre shook her head. “Neo spiked it already,” she said. She had a few Grimmsects, clean ones, dip a feeler or two into the punch to taste. Grimm couldn’t get drunk, but they could taste well enough. “Best not to.”

“Aww, but dad never lets me drink anything.”

Akelarre snorted and bumped into Ruby again. “I already look like a bad influence, don’t make it worse by actually getting drunk around me.”

“I won’t!” Ruby said.

Akelarre smiled down at her and ruffled her hair, much to her protest. Then her bugs sensed a single person step into the room and her good humour faded a little.

Ozpin was framed by the doorway, his silhouette thin and emaciated in the dim lighting. Still, she could sense his eyes locked onto her. They stared at each other from across the ballroom before he looked away and dove into the crowd.

“Are you going to have to run?” Ruby asked. “We... well, I did want to try to dance at least once tonight, but if you have to go, it’s okay.”

Akelarre brought her smile back, but it felt off. Still she grabbed Ruby in a sidelong hug and rubbed her cheek on her head. “It’s fine. We’ll be fine.”

“He’s coming this way,” Cinder said as she approached. She looked out of place in the crowd. Not because she wasn’t stunning or anything, but because her expression didn’t fit the otherwise festive occasion.

“Let him come,” Akelarre said. She pushed Ruby towards Neo who was standing a step behind Cinder. “Ruby, do you mind keeping Neo company? She gets lonely if no one talks to her.”

Neo pouted, but it melted into a shit eating grin when Ruby beamed at her.

“Don’t steal her first dance, okay? It’s supposed to be mine and I’ll be really jealous if you dance together first,” Akelarre said.

Neo shrugged and began pulling Ruby towards the buffet table, making a beeline for the display filled with small bowls of ice cream.

“Are you sure this is wise?” Cinder asked. She was standing with a drink in one hand and facing out of one of the windows along the wall. To anyone looking from elsewhere it might have looked like she was just a student taking a break from all the dancing.

“No,” she admitted. “But I’d rather bite the bullet now rather than wait around and fret. There’s only so much Ozma can do to us in the end. Knowing what he wants might not be all that bad.”

“I’ll be near,” Cinder said.

Akelarre nodded, then turned to face the headmaster.

Ozpin moved with the assurance of someone that knew that others would move out of his way, and to be fair, no one was bumping into the headmaster on purpose. They probably assumed he was acting as a chaperon of sorts. Which, if it was a chaperon’s duty to make sure that nothing too complicated happened to their charges, then he did fit the bill.

He paused a few steps away and adjusted his glasses where they perched on the end of his nose. “Miss Akelarre?”

“Ozma.”

“I was hoping that we could talk,” he said.

She tilted her head to one side, hair cascading down to frame her face. “Just talk?” she asked.

He nodded. “Just talk. I read your... mother’s letter. I don’t want to fight, not here, not now.”

She looked past him and to all the students having the time of their lives. "... No, I'm busy."

Ozpin shifted. "It's about the fate of the world."

Her attention snapped back to him. "The world's not going to end before the dance finishes, will it?"

"No, I suppose not."

Akelarre's shoulders slumped. "Oh, thank Mom, I was afraid the world really was ending. I hate it when that happens."

"Does it... happen often?" he asked with an appropriate amount of hesitation.

"You'd be surprised. It's exhausting." She nodded. “Okay fine, come, we can talk outside.”