"So" Ozpin was glancing around the pages of the neat report that Rizzer had delivered yesterday, he had called the young student in question the day after to check on him "are you sure that this is everything that happened? According to Miss Amethyst you went to face Roman Torchwick on your own and found you unconscious later, in the ground, is there a reason for you to omit this part?" He looked at Rizzer.

The huntsman-in-training who weared the colors of Beacon gave a short but clear nod. "I was quickly overpowered soon after I made it up, tried to arrest the Torchwick individual using the standard police procedure, it didn't work, although that was kind of expected." Ozpin shook his head with a chuckle. "Soon after Torchwick and a female henchmen of his got the upper hand and I got thrown off the Bullhead" he ended up, a firm tone on his words. Glynda hummed in thought from behind Ozpin.

"This female you speak of, did she had a semblance that allowed her to manipulate fire in some kind of way?" She asked, Ozpin's eyes perked up his way. Riz swallowed.

"No, Miss Goodwitch. She had used some kind of...illusion of sorts, creating a copy of her made out of glass or something like that, I'm still not sure about it, it was rather confusing." He concluded.

"Well, I gave you until yesterday to deliver a detailed report, perhaps next time you might want to add everything, okay?" Ozpin smiled, an eyebrow lifted his way.

The student nodded, nervous. "I'll be sure to keep it in mind"

"You seem to be out of your element today, Mister Azure, yesterday I sensed some...uncertainty that is not normal from you too, is something wrong that I should be concerned with?" The headmaster asked, damn he was good. Riz put up his best smile and shook his head.

"Having a little bit of team issues, nothing important. I will have to talk it through with Kai-...with the leader of the team when she gets back tomorrow." He corrected himself, still feeling weird for even saying her name. His mind still replaying what he saw yesterday.

"I see" The headmaster said intertwining his fingers, he got up from his chair and grabbed his cane. "Well don't let yourself be carried away by negative thoughts, today is Sunday and tonight is the dance, allow yourself a moment of peace on this eventful night." The man placed a hand on his student's shoulder.

Riz looked at Ozpin's eyes, his sincere smile. He took a deep breath and nodded, a small but genuine grin showing up. "Thank you, Professor. I'll be sure to enjoy this night the best I can"

"That's great to hear, now go. Lunch will start soon and I believe you have a compromise with team RWBY." Riz's eyes widened by this statement, remembering that he had promised to help with the decorations.

"Y-yeah...right. I'll be going now." He quickly got up and entered the elevator, hitting the ground floor button. "And professor."

Ozpin's face turned his way.

"Thank you." Riz said with a more relieved tone of voice, Ozpin nodded with a gentle smile as the doors closed in front of him.

...

With the night of dance slowly approaching Team RWBY had a lot of ground to cover, much work for just four people, three if you counted Blake out of the ecuation as she proved to be overly obssesed with the White Fang, they needed help so they asked their most recent friends for it.

The three members of team KRTR who remained in the school had agreed wholeheartedly and began to work ASAP as they were all busy with the arrangements, Yang and Treynor were moving the tables and the big speakers around the hall with barely no effort whatsoever. Weiss and Irina were in charge of the decorations, a job they were pretty much happy to do. However the other two remaining individuals were dispersed, their thoughts scattered, of course Riz would never let anyone know this as per usual he would drown himself in solitary work in order to keep his mind busy. He was currently hanging the roof decorations, balloons, ribbons and such. His jets humming silently as he carefully tied the ballons in every support of the roof.

While everything happened Ruby just sat on a lonely chair on a lonely table, letting out lonely sigh every so often. She didn't noticed Weiss approaching as she put out two small pieces of grey cloth in front of her with a smile, Ruby perked up her eyes at the white-haired girl.

"I need you to pick a table cloth" the heiress said.

Ruby looked at the two pieces and then at her partner, an eyebrow slightly up. "Aren't both the same?"

Weiss let out a tired sigh and squeezed both pieces in her hands, looking at Ruby with an offended expression. "I don't even know why I asked."

"Oh don't listen to her, Ruby, they practically are the same" Irina perked up her head from behind a column as she brought a box full of flowers and small but beatiful decorated vases.

Treynor arrived with a ginourmous speaker on his hands, he set it down carefully with a "hmpf" he inspected his surroundings only for his head to shook slightly. "Weiss what did Yang said about doilies?"

"Ugh" Yang said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere "again with the doilies Weiss?"

The heiress zoomed in close on her blonde teammate "If I don't get doilies you don't get fog machines!"

"Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" A new voice said and everybody turned their heads, except for Rizzer who was anything but invested in the conversation. Neptune and Sun approached the students.

"We were thinking about it!" Weiss said with excitement taking a step foward to Neptune who was the one that had previously talked. Treynor and Irina glanced at each other as they chuckled silently.

"That's pretty cool" he said.

"You ladies all excited for dress up?" Sun asked clicking the finger guns.

Ruby rolled her eyes with a "pft yeah right."

"Laugh all you want" the blonde crossed her arms with a sly smile. "I'll be turning heads tomorrow night" her eyes drifted towards a certain flying someone. "Specially someone's head" she said more loud, only to be ignored. Yang chewed her lip.

The other two teammembers of KRTR did their best to ignore this interaction. Weiss just rolled her eyes

"What are you two wearing?" Weiss said looking back at the two males from team SSSN

Sun frowned, seemingly offended "uh, this?" He pointed at the open shirt that revealed his naked chest.

Irina coughed "poor taste" she coughed again, Treynor smirked as he gently elbowed the side of his teammate.

Neptune raised a hand infront of his faunus friend "Ignore him, for he knows not what he says"

Sun got infront of his friend once again "hey I may have moved to Mistral but I grew up in Vacuo, it's not exactly a shirt and tie kind of place."

"Yeah, we noticed." Yang said both her eyes along with their entire teammates looking rather tired from this.

"Well I know I'll be sparkling tonight, if you catch my meaning~" Irina said with a twirl and a giggle.

Treynor looked unamused. "Again Rina? You did this last year too"

"And the results shall remain the same, my dear Treynor" the second year girl said as she latched onto his teammates arm, ignoring the blush that grew on his face as he diverted his eyes.

"What about flying-guy?" Sun asked pointing at Rizzer who was hanging decorations and had not taken any kind of interest nor attention in the conversation.

"Good question" Treynor said, as he turned his head to his teammate up in the roof. "Ey, Riz!"

He didn't listen, too much in his mind, from that angle they couldn't see his face, couldn't see his muttering as his mind replayed yesterdays events.

"And you sure this is the place, no?" He asked his virtual companion as he walked towards the hotel in the more central zone of the city.

"This is what Kairi's scroll indicates, her GPS is located at the entrance, you should be able to see her."

And see Kairi indeed he did, body pressed against a wall and lips meeting another girls of he had never seen before.

was she a random person? Or someone who traveled all the way back from Mistral? A childhood friend? A lover who she had been seeing for a while behind his back? A lot of questions that made his heart skip far to many beats as his feet began moving on his own, backwards.

Before he knew he had turned around and began walking the other direction, towards the transport station to Beacon.

"Riz? You are going the opposite direction" the A.I pointed out the obvious. "Is something wrong? Did you see Kairi?"

His mind could only process a single sentence "yeah...yeah I saw her."

"RIZ!"

He turned around too quickly, his jets loosing stability as he flailed in the air violently.

"Wooa!" He said with a grunt, he did a swift backroll in the air, recovering himself in a graceful manner. Everyone else looking scared, Yang and Irina already behind where he was arms wide open in case he had met the ground, thankfully he didn't.

"You uh...you okay there dude?" Sun asked, concern in his voice.

"Yeah, you usually don't lose your cool in the air like that" Treynor raised an eyebrow "something the matter?"

Riz blinked twice, looking at how everyone from down there was looking at him with worried expressions, he just chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about something else" with  press a button on his wrist he descended, almost touching the ground, hovering above it.

"You seem to be doing a lot of that lately"

"What was the question?" Riz said, ignoring Ruby's comment.

"Clothing, Riz. What're you going to wear on the dance?" Irina asked, grabbing her teammate's hand and making him land his feet. The jets deactivating.

"Oh" he carried one hand above his head, grabbing a hidden lock of orange hair over the left side of the forehead, the others just realizing the existance of such feature as he usually kept his frontal hair loose while the back was tied, not this time...he didn't even gave himself the proper time to look himself in the mirror, faint shades of black beneath his eyes. He intertwined his finger with the lock of autumn orange, leaving it to cover his left eye. "I have some formal things to wear"

"You're not wearing the same outfit from last year, I'm telling you right now." Irina frowned as he scolded the young student who laughed in response.

"No, no. I have something that Ki- Kairi picked for me. Won't say what though, you wouldn't like the spoilers."

"Better be good, then." Yang said as he approached his dance partner. "Not to good tho, don't want you stealing the glances." A smile cracking.

"Don't worry, sunflower. The spotlight'll be all yours" he said as a smirk touched his lips earning a deep blush from the blonde girl. Both of them stared at each other for a moment, earning cringe eyes from everyone around them.

"Ahem" Treynor managed to fake a cough.

"So, uh, what does Blake think of all this?" Sun asked with worry in his eyes. "She's still being all y'know...Blakey?"

"Obviously" Weiss crossed her arms.

"I still can't think of a way to change her mind" Ruby said slouching in her seat.

"Maybe when she sees all the effort were putting into this she'll come around" Irina put her hands on her hips with a tiny smile.

"Guys, trust me, Blake will be at the dance" Yang said, confidence overflowing her words as she smirked.

A blip made Riz grab his scroll, his eyes looking at the message from his virtual companion. "I require your assesment regarding Torchwick's aircraft destination" Finally something to chew on he thought as he pocketed the device. "You guys think you can finish things here?" He glanced at his teammates.

Treynor looked at Irina and then at Rizzer. "Why?" Eyebrow raised.

"Work to be done" was the only thing he said as his jets raised him slightly above the ground once more, not really wanting to walk.

"Oh, c'mon you said you wanted to help too!" Irina said with a pout as she tilted her head to the side. "Are you okay? You've been acting odd since yesterday."

"Yeah, We've all noticed and we don't even known each other for long." Yang crossed her arms at the flying student.

Riz pursed his lips as he looked at everyone, he shooked his head and raised his thumb up. "Nope, just want to finish some things from school, also prepare my stuff for the dance." He partially lied. "Don't worry guys, everything's fine." He hovered to the exit as he waved his goodbyes without even looking at his fellow classmates.

There was a brief silence.

"Sooo...everything okay?" Neptune asked as he looked at the upperclassmen, especially Irina who just sighed.

"Let's just put it like this." The shorter blonde explained. "When Riz says everything's fine what he truly means is 'everything's certainly not fine but I just don't want to deal with it nor want to talk about it until I eventually get it out of the way'"

"That doesn't sound...healthy" Yang said with a sad tone.

"We should know, we live with him" Treynor sighed. "Kairi usually is the one that deals with him but...yeah" he looked at his teammate at his side "think I should talk to him? Knock some sense into him?"

"No way!" Irina rapidly shook her head as she crossed her arms "Port still gives you two the bad look since the last time you tried to 'knock some sense into him'" she put up her hands making air quotes.

"So that's why professor Port's classroom had a big hole through the chalkboard four months ago." Ruby concluded, making everyone perk their eyes towards Treynor who just cringed with a fake laugh.

"Yeah, we argued a lot that day. Kiri's scolding was nothing compared to the professors. My ear still stings." He shivered at the memory.

"I'll talk to him, if there's something bothering him he'll tell me." Irina nodded slightly.

"You sure about it Rina?" Treynor inmediately regretted opening his mouth as he received a piercing glare from her teammate. "Okay, sure. Jeez."

"Perfect!" Irina cupped her hands happily, earning some scared looks from the other boys and giggles from the girls.

...

"I'm here, Vis." He said, unstrapping Windbreaker from his chest and leaving it on top of the workbench, he approached his desk and clicked the mouse.

"Welcome back"

"You said you needed me."

"Yes" the computer said, a display of the map of vale showing up. "I have been trying to calculate the trajectory of the ship you boarded the day of the battle with the mech."

"Any problem?" He asked, scratching his nose.

"As of now there are five posible destinations where the aircraft could've been headed to. However I am unable to pinpoint any further due to the lack of further information."

Vis added five traced lines, all beginning from the point where the bullhead had originally picked Roman and the Neo girl, two of the end marks ended in plain terrain. "What about these two? Nothing here, so what makes them special?"

"I have calculated that these two points in the quadrant four are excellent to set up a camp, if the White Fang are indeed in force in the place then it is very likely that they need plenty of space to operate as well as a base of operations."

"Plausible..." He hummed "but still with the Atlas military here in Vale you'd guess their ships might spot any rare activity around the outskirts of Vale, not to talk about the Grimm lurking around."

There was a moment of silence, both placemarks were deleted from the screen. "That leaves us with three other options" the machine said.

Riz chewed his lip contemplating the three marks on the map, the three of them being old settlements. "Hmm Lower Cairn. Wasn't CVFY assigned to this one?"

"Yes, the settlement was under the attack of grimm, hence the call from help and their ongoing mission."

"Scratch it out, if CVFY encountered the White Fang they would've likely be here already to report to Ozpin or called for back up." Riz concluded.

"Acknowledged." The Lower Cairn mark was gone.

"So this leaves us with..." Riz traced his fingers to the screen he came across Mountain Glenn, he bit his tongue. "Cross refferences with Mountain Glenn, Vis."

"What should I be looking for?" The machine asked.

"It's somewhat near, does it have direct way into the city?"

"As a matter of fact yes it does." That made Riz clench his teeth.

"Sometimes I just hate to be right. Elaborate, please."

"Many history logs, some of them written by professor Bartholomew Oobleck describe the city in detail with a wide cave system along. As the city expanded the settlers, along with the help from the main city decided to build a subway tunnel that connected both as a means of transportation both of resources and civillians, converging directly into the residential district, however during the fall of Mountain Glenn the council of the city decided it was best to shut the tunnel of and shut the line with the settlement in fear that Grimm might appear in the district with the higher concentration of civilians"

"Oh god..." Riz's face paled at what he was hearing. "They cut off their lifeline, basically murdered all those people" he said, feeling sick on the inside.

"It was the best course of action to prevent further aggravation. The numbers of grimm proved to be unremarkable high at that time and it posed a potential threat to the kingdom as a whole."

"I-I know but-...there should've been evacuation rounds, rescue missions, extermination campaings you don't just go there and flick off the light of hundreds of people like this" Riz clicked his fingers, his anger rising.

"There were missions regarding the rescue of civilians and the extermination of Grimm, Riz. Most of them unsucessful. Sealing off the tunnel proved to be more efficient than continue to risk the lives of the limited number of huntsmen and huntresses available" against that logic he couldn't argue, the A.I. was right and there was not way to deny it.

"Right..." Riz hanged his head, closing his eyes for a moment. "Sorry, didn't mean to get mad at you. You weren't even there, me either it's just..."

"I understand your indignation towards the matter but we have another concern at hand so I suggest we press onto it." The machine said, shrugging off Riz's previous behaviour.

"Yeah, right...so, they got a way to get to the city directly, even if they have to blow up a barricade or two they could just ram through it with a train perhaps, they got deep caves and an underground city to do as they please, with the military ships never knowing in the first place and the grimm are not that many." He concluded, he squinted his eyes as he massaged the bridge of his nose. "Seems we got ourselves a hideout." Riz pulled out the knife from his sheath and threw it to a map that was hanging back pinned to a wooden board besides the desk, the knife hitting the forgotten settlement in the mountains and burying itself into the wood.

"We got the target, should I relay this information to Headmaster Ozpin?" The machine asked.

"No, I'll first tell the girls about it. Maybe It'll actually stop Blake from acting like a mad woman. I'll tell Ozpin myself later, not like he can't do much about it today either unless he intends to leave this matter to Atlas."

"Unlikely, Professor Ozpin appears reluctant on the use of the aid provided by General Ironwood and his Atlesian fleet, probably by the fact that one of their mechs was hijacked by Torchwick"

Riz chuckled at the thought. "Yeah, guess he doesn't want the general to go around loosing his toys all over the kingdom...again. Heh dumb Atlas."

"You know you're from Atlas too, right?" He heard the soft voice of his teammate entering the hangar. He was quick to shut the screen out and stand straight as he looked at her.

"Rina, w-what's wrong?" He asked, evading the comment that had taken him by surprise. "You don't usually come here unless something's going-"

"Just stop there, will you?" She asked, with an upset tone.

Riz's eyes widened as he froze in his spot and nodded.

"We've known each other for a while, now haven't we?" She said taking a seat on the couch and patting the place at her side, prompting him to join her.

He obliged, remaining silent at her side for a while. "You were the first one that I met...back in the first day, I remember you looking nervous as all hell" he said, eyes looking at the ground but a small smile. "I think that you were talking at yourself when I first saw you. You said 'I'm not-"

"'I'm not gonna make it past this week, am I?'" The blonde quoted herself as she grabbed his teammate hand.

"Ye-heah..." He chuckled. "Then I approached you, said that there was nothing to worry about and that I'd keep you safe"

"My knight in shining armor." Irina squeezed his hand, grinning.

"I was just trying to say something cool so you wouldn't cry or fell off your feet...didn't think we would actually meet each other first."

"Yes" she nodded, the memory still fresh into her mind. "The ursa I remember. I screamed like a four year old...you dispatched it so quick... like it was nothing."

"I think I was just excited to try out Hornet for the first time with a real grimm" a chuckle, then a sigh.

"We've been through so much together, you and I leaving Kairi and Treynor out...what's going on with you?" She now was using both hands to grab his own. Irina looked worried but also sad. "I'm not like everyone else, Riz...where the others see conflict I see something else...I see pain." Her touch was like silk that caressed the skin of his cheek.

This didn't make him nervous, all the contrary it calmed him...she was like a caring mother, like the older one he had back in Vale. Irina was her best friend in the entire world. And just as any mother there was no fooling her. He closed his eyes.

"I don't think I'm gonna go the dance."

"Why?" She asked, her motherly tone never leaving her voice. "Did Yang is too much for you? I mean I know she's kind of flirty with you and maybe Kairi wouldn't like that but she's not here right now so-"

"Rina...Yesterday I saw Kairi cheating on me with another girl." There it was, he said it. He finally had the courage not only to say it to someone else but also to himself, to wake up from his sleep and realize what had happened. So far he was in denial, not anymore.

Irina didn't say anything for a moment, did not react, did not kept her mouth open in surprise nor did she scream "WHAT" like any other person would, her face remained emotionless for seconds, taking in what he had say, what he had confessed. She heard small sobs growing into more loud sobs rapidly turning into crying, she reacted as she placed her hand on his nape and brought his head against her chest. "I see" was the only single thing she said to him as she intertwined her fingers with his soft grey hair. "I see"

...

Yang twirled Blake in the spot and they both bowed at each other, finishing their dance, the blonde stepped back letting the monkey faunus to take over were she lefted. Yang walked around the floor until she made it to where her other two teammates were, she took her place at Ruby's side with a smirk.
The three of them watched as their cat-like friend enjoyed he night with her partner.

"Told you she would come" Yang said cockily. She scanned the room, quickly finding Jaune alone, Pyrrha in another part of the floor looking down, Nora and Ren, Irina and Treynor dancing as Irina wore a sparkling golden dress with a large bow on the waist and a golden plastic flower hanging from the shoulder, you'd never guess it was made of plastic though due to the unhealthy amounts of glitter splattering out of the thing and into Treynor's suit everytime they turned around.

There was only one person she couldn't see, the only person she hoped to see was the one missing. She cursed under her breath.

"Mission accomplished" Weiss said crossing her arms.

"What do we do now?" Ruby looked at the two of them, face filled with preoccupation due to the lack of an objective.

"Just have fun!" Yang said turning around as she tried to leave them.

"So where's Rizzer?" Weiss question made the blonde stop in her spot.

Yang clenched her fist but quickly released her anger with a sigh. "I don't know, maybe he didn't felt comfortable enough" serves me right, I knew he had a girlfriend and still pressed him she thought looking at the entrance door, a fleeting hope quickly vanishing, she turned around to see Weiss and faked the best smile she could as she shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well, can't win 'em all"

Then against all odds the door opened, her head turning inmediately with expectation and anxiety. Her lips curving into a smile as relief washed over her, her cheeks flushing almost instantly and in deep color at his looks. 

His hair was straightened, the back part that was the largest was tied into a neat bun and secured with a hair pin, the shades of black that were under his eyes gone earlier were gone, the art of makeup, Irina's doing, Yang was sure. His suit was the best part, shoulders up and the back straight for a fine dark blue outfit of pants, bow tie and tuxedo jacket that combined with his blue eyes. On the wrists rested a pair of cufflinks with the shape of a pair of wings and on his chest pocket there was a white rose, it's thorned stem protected by a white handkerchief made of fine silk.

He stroded through the floor earning glances from the girls around and glares from the males who's dates would stare at him, he payed his mind to none as he approached the three girls. "Ladies." He said with a smile.

Weiss and even Ruby blushed a little. "Hey Riz" the younger one said "Looking...good!" She gave a thumbs up.

"Really?" The upperclassmen chuckled as he stretched his back a little "I think I went too far with this...Rina's idea though"

"Everything I said about Irina's sense of fashion I take it back" Weiss nodded her head with a grin. "You indeed look dashing."

"You say that to her, the only thing I did was put the suit on. Heheh." He shook his head, then he felt a hand grabbing his, he stopped talking and looked at Yang her lillac eyes contemplating him, his strand of orange hair hanging from his left side.

She was on a daze, struggling to talk. "You...made it..." Was the only thing she muttered, some part of her was hoping he wouldn't hear that, but he did. His ears were really keen.

"Course I did" he looked at her with a calm reassuring smile. "I did made a promise after all"

She shook her head, still in disbelief. "I wouldn't have minded...you being with Kairi I didn't-"

He shushed her, putting a finger into her lips. "Kairi's certainly one thing today, not here. We on the other hand." He smirked as he held his hand and bowed like a gentleman. "Let's make it the best night we can."

Yang's mind was going from racing to full on hyperdrive mode as she grabbed his hand and letted herself be carried away from her friends and into the floor. Her feet moving on her own as her hands locked in his collar, she felt a hand grabbing her waist as he commanded their steps, his moves were bold, aggresive, she liked this, this wasn't the usual calm Riz she was used to see, this was the daring Riz she had met during the fight against Torchwick's mech, the same Riz she saw beating down Treynor in the arena, a part of him that only slipped through violence only this time there was none of that, just two teenagers enjoying each others moves with the sound of music. He was talking? Oh god he was talking! She was so focused in how he moved that she never payed any attention.

"-gotta say I owe her for this" was the only thing he said that she managed to catch.

"Sorry, I got lost myself there for a moment." She shook her head, embarrasment plastered all over her face, Riz stiffled a laugh. "I-It's not funny" she shouted in a whisper as she tried to stomp his foot only for him to remove it at the right moment.

"Okay, okay, my bad. I was saying that I owe my mother for the dancing lessons, turned out to be pretty useful" his eyes slightly closed in a calm expression.

"Maybe I'll thank her too for it, I was honestly prepared to get step on the whole night." She said with a smirk.

"My, my. You wouldn't dare think of me as a bad dancer. I hail from Atlas after all me lady, dancing 'round each other and chasing piles of money which to wipe our aristocratic bottoms with is our way of living" he said with condescendant and arrogant voice.

She pftt then bursted with vivid laughs, some of the other students turning their heads to the couple. Riz chuckled as he shook his head at his impression of an Atlas aristocrat, scanning the room he found Trey and Rina dancing together both with a smile on their faces as they looked back at him, he showed them a toothy grin and winked an eyes at their way. Meanwhile Yang was still struggle to contain herself for laughing any further.

"Please, god, no more. I don't think I'll be able to survive this night if you keep talking like that" she giggled once more "Also Weiss will kill you"

"Hahahah, fine, fine. Not make Yang laugh or else she'll pop like a bubble, got it." He said, provoking Yang into another giggle again, he let out a laugh of his own as he guided her through a twirl. Their hands met back together.

"Never imagined you'd look so good on a suit" she commented.

"Better cherish this moment, you're the only reason I'm wearing this thing tonight."

"Not fond of suits?" She raised an eyebrown.

"Let's just say that my average number of times that I wear a tuxedo during a year is zero...and I like to keep it that way" he said, using a hand to loosen up the bow tie a little. "Damn thing stings."

Another giggle crossed her lips as she helped him a bit "You overdid it, the bow was too much" she said with a smile.

"Still you're enjoying it as all hell" he answered smugly. Her cheeks reddening.

"Y-yeah..." She whispered, placing her hands in the back of his neck and resting her head on his chest. "I am daydreaming right now..."

Upon hearing this he couldn't help but sight as he held Yang in a protective manner, running his hand through her silk golden hair, he caught a small whiff of a sweet but potent perfume, he was just glad he remembered to put on a fragance as well.

They remained like this for a while until he spotted Professor Ozpin talking with the General Ironwood, his eyes perking up his way, the young student swallowed. He turned and his eyes met Blaked who was dancing with Sun, he held up his thumb up behind Yang's back and the cat faunus stretched her arm behind Sun's back as well hitting a perfect high five with Rizzer.

Riz and Yang eventually separated themselves so they could sociallize with the rest of the guests. He spotted Ruby all alone as the blond dude he recognized as Jaune left her his cup of punch as stroded looking quite pissed.
He approached Ruby who looked rather depressed as he grabbed a cup and helped himself some juicy-yet-far-too-sweet drink. "Sucks to suck huh?" He asked, earning an elbow from the little girl "ow"

"Serves you right, for almost making my sister look like an idiot" she grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Oh come on, like I was going to ditch her."

"She really likes you, y'know?" She said, not looking at him as her eyes were gazing at her blonde older sister. Riz did the same, staring as she laughed along with Sun and Blake. He let out a sigh.

"I know..."

"Then you have to do something about it"

"Me? Wha- I don't-" His words and sentences began crossing each other not being able to form a single sentence, Ruby kept talking, more serious.

"I know that Kairi is your girlfriend, Yang knows it too...and still she goes as far to do this, you as well playing along and don't get me wrong I love my sister and I love watching her how happy she is right now but tomorrow is going to be a whole different story, this love tale you're making her believe today is gonna crumble tomorrow and I'm going to be the one who gives her a shoulder to cry on, so on behalf of the team I suggest you take it down a couple of notches." She looked at Riz with an upset look on her face, Riz hiding his expression. "Unlike you she doesn't have a lover to go back to-"

"What if I told you that Kairi and I are no longer a thing." He said bluntly, his eyes fixed on the people dancing, the couples kissing, the memory flowing back into his brain.

Ruby's eyes widened, her mouth agape as the only thing she said was "oh..."

"Yeah"

"Did she...I mean did you two-"

"Saw her kissing someone else yesterday, quite passionately actually"

Ruby cringed at the mental image, she bit her lip. "I'm sorry"

"Don't be" he said, gulping down his punch with an sigh. "Not your fault either way."

"B-but still I-"

"Doesn't matter" he cut her off as she saw him shaking his head "let's just enjoy the rest of the night" he said that despite having his own ruined by the image of his memory, his heart clutching, he glanced around the couples once more as some of them were deep in kissing, he could hear their lips melting together, he found it disgusting as he shut his eyes closed for a moment. He grabbed something from his pocket and gave it to Ruby.

She took it, a piece of paper neatly folded. "What's this?"

"Torchwick's whereabouts. You're going to have your training missions tomorrow, just pick a mission near that spot and you'll be on the money."

Ruby unfolded the paper "Quadrant 9, Mt.Glenn, look out for ground openings" her eyes widening with surpise as she grabbed Riz's wrist. "Wait why are you-"

"Giving this to you instead of Ozpin make's it your problem now, I just...don't want to be sent out on a mission with Kairi tomorrow." He said, not looking at her. Carefully yanking his wrist out of her grip. His feet began moving towards the exit, Yang was too distracted to notice, so was Irina and Treynor, Ruby tried to catch him but the high heels made her tumble.

"Riz wait!" She pleaded, feeling deep regret by the words she had said. He was a good person, the kind of person she'd wish her sister was with, he never intended to play any games with her and just now she realized.

He paid no mind to Ruby's words as he unbuttoned his tuxedo and left the party with a sour taste of punch in his tongue.

Ozpin took this as a chance to have a talk with Ruby "Not enjoying yourself?" He said looking at the girl who did her best to hide everything that just happened and just coughed.

"Oh, no. Heheh! Everything's fine I'm just not much of a fancy, pansy, dancy girl." She gestured using her hands with a sad look.

"Well you can't spend your entire life on the battlefield." Ozpin hummed "even if you may want to"

"Yeah that lesson's been going around a lot lately" Ruby crossed her arms with a annoyed huff.

The headmaster's lips perked into a small smile. "If you think about it fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked" he then chuckled "although one wrong move in the ballroom nearly leads to a swollen foot."

"Or a twisted ankle" Ruby commented.

"It's not everyday that friend get to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds." Ozpin's words making Ruby think about the recent events, the most recent thought about Riz and Kairi separating, she swallowed. "But it's nights like these that can help them keep stronger than ever" her eyes drifting towards Yang who seemed to be looking for his partner. "Nights like this we'll never forget."

That did it. Ruby breaked into a jog even with her heels. "Thank you professor!" She said with a smile as she ran towards her older sister. "Yang, Yang!"

"No problem, Ruby" Ozpin said with a gentle smile.

The brawler's eyes drifted towards the red shadow that approached her as she smiled "Ruby!" She walked towards her "Hey have you seen Riz? I don't think I-" she stopped when Ruby grabbed her shoulders with a tight grip.

"That's the thing!"

"Thing?" Yang tilted her head to the side with confussion. "What thing?"

"Riz! You gotta talk to him!" She practically yelled, Yang's eyes slowling opened up like pancakes.

"R-Ruby I-I can't just go there and-" her face reddening in multiple shades. Her voice cracking. The blonde girl licked her lips trying to cope with the anxiety but she was interrupted when Ruby shaked her shoulders.

"I know what you think, and I know you know that everyone knows by now so believe me when I tell you that I know what I'm talking about"

"Ruby you're not making any sense, what the hell are you trying to say?" Yang was loosing her cool now, as she stared at the serious face of her sister.

"I'm trying to tell you that if you ever wanted a chance this is it! Believe me, this is the only shot you're gonna get!" Ruby said, her eyes spitting fire as she squeezed the shoulders of her older sister.

Yang didn't question any further, didn't say anything. She released herself from her sisters grip and breaked into a full sprint, ignoring the fact that her white dress might get lifted by the wind, ignoring the pain from the heels.

Irina was astounded by her speed as she approached Ruby from the side. "I thought you were the faster sister"

Ruby giggled at the comment, looking at Irina with a smile. "I am, this only happens every once in a while"

"What did you say to her?" That question made Ruby chew on her lip, Irina's eyes were full of compassion, no harm was coming from her so she figured it was safe to tell her.

"I told her it was her...only chance." Ruby said with a sigh "ugh, I hope I made the right choice. This might make or break your team"

Irina took a moment but understood what was happening, she embraced Ruby with both arms. "It's okay, I also believe it's for the best."

The redheads eyes perked up, meeting Irina's. "Really think so?"

"Matter of fact I do..." She nodded. "Riz and Kairi never were...a hundred percent compatible."

"See what you mean" Ruby noticed Irina's efforts as the girl would grab her arms and carried her into a slow dance, Ruby just rolled her eyes and attempted to follow her steps the best that she could. "Still you think your team will be okay after this?"

"A storm might challenge their minds for a while...but will eventually settle down like any other storm that's destined to turn into a harmless white cloud on the horizon"

Ruby was taken back by that, looking at Irina with a weird expression "where did you learn that?"

"Oh I read it on a smut novel, Ninjas of Love!" Irina said, Blake's bow perking their way.

"Oh no..." Ruby said as she watched Blake rapidly approaching with stars in her eyes. "Not good..."

...

The blonde searched everywhere around the courtyard, looking the flying boy she thought about something pretty obvious as she head for the hangars, she opened the door on the one that belonged to him only to discover that the lights were off, not a whisper to be heard either.

"He was in the dance a second ago he couldn't have gone to sleep so quickly" The quiet was interrupted by the sound of a lone gunshot, coming from the outside. She got jumpy, realizing she wasn't wearing her weapons, oh well, her fists would do.
She walked around to the back of the hangar trying to be as sneaky as humanly possible due to the fact she was wearing heels.

There he was, with his tuxedo lying at his side wearing only his white shirt "The fuck I'm even doing right now..." He asked himself, looking at his sidearm in his hand as he sat on the corner of the floating platform, his legs hanging. He had two bottles of amber content, presumably beer, he was downing a third and when he finished he threw it into the Emerald Forest. "Getting cheated and cheating back, I must be mentally ill" His right eye flashing green as he fired his pistol, a single shell clinking into the ground, shattering the bottle midair. "Two outta two" he whispered as his hand searched for the another bottle, only to grab someone elses hand.

"Think you had enough for the night" Yang said earning a small chuckle from his dance partner.

"Treynor and I do this all the time on missions, nothing to worry about" He said, letting go of Yang's hand as he tried to find another uncapped bottle.

The blonde sighed and grabbed his wrist "I mean it. I really wouldn't like seeing the guy I like turning into a drunkard like my uncle."

His eyes perked up, eyebrow raised "Your uncle?"

"Qrow Branwen"

"Wait, were talking about the huntsman Qrow, right?" He asked, surprised. Yang looked at him "guy's your uncle?"

"Y-yeah, why?"

"Oh god..." He massaged the bridge of his nose as he put the weapon at his side. "He and my mom were a...thing"

Yang's eyes open wide as she stared at him "Bullshit"

"Wish to god it was" his desire to drop himself from the cliff only getting stronger. Yang began to laugh without control as his face was reddening. "That's not even the worst part! The worst part is that I-..." He couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence.

"Oh no! Now you ARE shitting" She said in disbelief as he looked at his embarrassed expression she couldn't help herself but to grab a bottle, uncap it and began to chug on it, a large gulp as she stared at him once more. "Did you saw them do the-"

"Yes, I saw them midsex yes, please don't talk more. I had to go to the therapist cuz of that shit" He groaned as he tried to delete the mental image burned into his brain. Yang felt lucky that she didn't met his mother yet, she would've felt worse probably.

After lots of groaning and reminiscing the two of them sat together fairly close to each other sharing a single bottle of beer. "It was your uncle who got me into combat training y'know?"

"Really?" She asked with curiousity.

"Mmhhm" he nodded, fiddling with the bottle. "Mom was good, but she was a soldier at the end...never knew how to build a weapon herself, never knew how to fight grimm like huntsmen do whereas your uncle helped covering those parts...training was shit, sure, and it didn't compare to the fact that I had to hear their moaning in the nights" Yang pfftt'd "but his lessons stayed, just like moms. My weapon's a combination of both, the militaristic perks of a rifle along with the boldness of a huntsmen melee."

"I'm glad that you lived through it" Yang said as she lifted the bottle into her lips, swallowing a little of the stinging drink and the passing it back to Riz.

"Sometimes I wonder how I managed in the first place." He grabbed the bottle, not looking at the girl at his side.

"From what you told Weiss and me you lived through worse." He didn't say anything, Yang cursed herself mentally "Sorry I didn't-"

"It's okay..." He shook his head. "It was the hand that I got dealt and I had to do the best that I could...no matter how shitty."

She only grabbed his hand in response, feeling guilty.

"But...sometimes I can't help to go back, y'know?"

"How so?" She looked at his face, she noticed the melancholy in his voice.

"It's not everyday but the thought always lingers, the question...who? Who was I?"

"You said that the only thing that you knew about your past was your surname, Azure. Did your step-mother named you Rizzer?"

He shook his head, her face filling with confussion.

"It's a name I came up with...she was the one that got me out the day that the SpecOps raided the place, she was the first human being that didn't treat me like a fucking monster" he tried to drink from the bottle but upon realizing it was empty he just left it at his side. He remembered the girl with brown hair and corrected himself. "The second one, actually...but yeah...when she got me out she placed me on an ambulance, we went together to my first visit to the doctor and then she asked me my name"

She swallowed, listening with all the attention in the world.

"The only thing I could think about was the thing those monsters would call me after I managed to win in the pit...after I ended someone else's life...Little Ripper they screamed, Ripper, Ripper, Ripper..." He closed his eyes as he felt a burning pain into his soul, a soft moan escaped as Yang held him more close. "And at some point I think that's what I said or tried to say to her, maybe I mispelled it or maybe she misheard me or...or maybe she had heard me perfectly and just decided to out something else but in anyway that's how I came to be who I am today...Rizzer. A weird name for a kid with no past whatsoever asides from being a murderer."

Yang clutched his arm, holding him as he fighted the tears.

"A-and...right up until today I still have nightmares about it...about those days, can't forget them...so I thought...'maybe if I find out who I truly was, get rid o-of this stupid name...maybe that way I'll get some closure, ma-maybe that way the nightmares will end'" he drowned a sob.

There was silence aside from the sobs and sniffs as Riz tried not to break.

"Ruby is only my half-sister" she said, earning his attention as she gave him a small sad smile and wiped the tears on his cheeks using her fingers. "My mother, my real mother abandoned me soon after I was born...Ruby's mom took care of me but one day she went on a mission and never came back as well...she was flagged as K.I.A eventually"

Riz had no words, he looked at Yang with sad eyes. The blonde was trying her best to fight her own tears now.

"Wanna know the most fucked up thing about it? Is that Ruby's mother was the best person ever, hell until she dissapeared I never knew she wasn't even my own mom because my real mother was a piece of shit so fucking big that she left her husband and her daughter alone for god knows what!" She yelled, finally snapping. Her cries breaking out of her mouth as she clutched Riz's arm in desperation.

Rizzer was astounded for a moment, not knowing how to react...but he understood her feelings, the feeling of abandonment, of loneliness. He was quite familiar with them. He turned his body to face Yang and embraced her fully, she shifted and took a seat into Riz's lap as she cried her heart out into his chest. His hand softly massaging his back.

"We are just a pair of broken people aren't we?" He asked silently in her ear, the only thing that he earned in response was a small nod of approval from the blonde as she continued her breakdown, hidden in his chest.

Yang suddenly lifted her head, showing her teared up face to Riz, the makeup was ruined as trails of black paint ran down across her cheeks due to the water still falling from her eyes. She was a mess...a mess that kissed him, with passion and desperation as she sobbed in the middle of her sad display of love.

Maybe it was the pity, or the shared abandonment issues, perhaps the fact that they both had a really shitty childhood or perhaps she was just too damn pretty, that she was pouring her heart in desperation for someone- for him to grasp...maybe it was all of those things the reason he decided to play along with her, as he kissed her back, surrounding her waist with his left hand and using his right one to press her nape against his lips even more.

Her hands on his chest, clutching his shirt as he let himself slowly fall against the concrete floor with a soft thud, she didn't care that they were out in the open as she kicked back the remaining bottle out of the edge in a desperate attempt to remove her heels.

His hair becoming more loose as he deepened the kiss, a growing sensation, a warmness he never had felt before, a feeling of mutual understanding as he reciprocated every move of Yang with his own. Amidst the kiss she whispered. "Riz...I think I'm falling for you"

He opened his eyes to see her, her hair wasn't purple, it was bright yellow, her eyes weren't brown, they were lilac. She wasn't Kairi, she was Yang and "I feel the same, Yang" was his response, she felt her smile through the kiss as they continued to make out.