Episode 2: Chapter 1: A Time of Dancing

The Season 2 Premiere of Order of Seasons!

            “Come on Nathan! We’re going to be late!”

            “Sorry Natls, I’m just having trouble with this tie.”

            “Yang’s already outside! You don’t want to keep her waiting do you?”

            “Depends, does she have her gauntlets or no?” Suddenly there was a loud pounding on the door.

            “I don’t think that makes any difference Nathan…..”

            “Forget the tie. How do I look?”

            “Like you’re getting strangled by your collar. Unbutton the top button and you should be good.” Natalie then opened the door and revealed Yang in a flowing yellow dress.

            “Ready to go Nathan?” Yang said smiling as she looked over Nathan’s outfit.

            “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Nathan said adjusting his collar.  He offered her his arm and she walked over and accepted it happily. They then walked out and started heading down the hallway, leaving Ruby and Natalie just standing back at the door.

“So Natls, did you get a date for the dance?”

“Nah, not this year Ruby. I’m not much of a….”

“Fancy, pantsy dancey girl” the two said in union. They then fist bumped each other and laughed.

“Shall we go then Ms. Rose?”

“Let’s Ms. Grover.”

 

 

 

 

As they headed down the stairs, they met Jaune and Pyrrha at the doors, about to head outside.

            “Yang, you look great!” Pyrrha said walking over to the group.

            “Aw, thanks Pyrrha! You do too!”

            “And Ruby and Natalie! You two are looking gorgeous tonight!”

            “Yeah, I still have no idea how Weiss fights in these.” Ruby said as she tried to keep her balance.

            “Wait, those are legit heels Weiss fights in?" Natalie said extremely surprised.  "I thought they were some weird form of decoration or something!” Everybody started laughing at Natalie’s remark, and headed outside.

            “By the way, where’s everybody else Jaune?” Natalie asked walking up next to him.

            “Well, Weiss is already at the dance because she organized the event again this year and Neptune isn’t in town to dance with her, Ren and Nora are meeting us at the Ballroom, and we are supposed to meet up with everybody else at the statue.”

            “Who all are we expecting?”

            “At this point, Evan, Christy, Ty, Jacob, Brooklyn, Blake and Miles.”

            “Wait, Miles is joining us tonight? I figured he would have been all Miles-y and just gone off to practice in the amphitheater.”

            “According to Blake, she’s going to get him to the dance no matter how much he might complain.”

            “Oh, so that’s why she ran into our room and dragged him to her room on such short notice.”

            “Precisely Natls. Now let’s see if she succeeded or not.”

 

 

 

 

            “You look great tonight.”

            “Look who’s talking beautiful.” Christy smiled at Evan’s compliment and the two gave each other a quick kiss before noticing that some of the others were approaching.

            “How you two lovebirds doing?”

            “We’re doing just fantastic Ty.” Evan said shaking his hand. “And I see you brought your teammates along.”

            “Jacob, I swear if you or anybody else says we should dance together tonight, I’m going to kill them and then I’m going to kill you!” Brooklyn said, clearly annoyed that she had to wear the particular dress she was wearing.

            “Keep me off the kill list Brooklyn. You may need my assistance in the disposing of the bodies.”

            “Good point, good point.”

            “Yeah, you can see my teammates are just so pleasant to be around.” Christy said rolling her eyes.

            “They always plotting murder like this?” Evan asked.

            “Well Ty I’m sure plots murder every single day, but Jacob and Brooklyn only do it when it’s their dignity or relationship status in question.”

            “She’s not wrong about Brooklyn and Jacob, the only thing different is that I don’t plot murders, I just go out and fulfill them to a point.” Ty said with a smirk on his face.

            “Now I can see why you and Miles worked so well together before coming to this school.” They all got a chuckle out of this and noticed that some of the others were approaching.

            “Oh my gosh, Yang! You look beautiful!”

            “Thanks Christy! You look gorgeous as well!”

            “You like it? I got some help from Weiss.”

            “Yeah, I managed to get this one pretty cheap in downtown Vale last week. It helps when you helped save an entire city from a maniac.”

            “Yeah, I guess it does. And Natalie and Ruby! Oh! You look wonderful!”

            “All right, all right. Don’t patronize me Christy.” Ruby said as she attempted to keep her balance.

            “I’m not! You both look great! And you Pyrrha! That design, Honey Brand Clothes, am I right?”

            “Yeah. I’ve got some good connections back in Mistral. This was a hassle to get, don’t get me wrong, but I daresay it’s all worth it even though I only get to wear it about once or twice a year.”

            “Well it looks great nonetheless. Mine is just an old white dress my mom used to wear. I mean sure, Weiss helped give it some new life, but still.”

            “It looks great Christy! In a school where most of the dresses are white, this one has a flow and elegance to it. I’m honestly kind of envious.”

            “Thanks Pyrrha. Now then, where are Miles and Blake?”

            “Not sure” Natalie said stepping forward. “We assumed they would be here around the same time we got here.”

            “Ah! There they are!” Everybody looked where Evan was pointing, and were surprised to not just simply see Miles and Blake together, that much had become expected, but the fact that Blake wasn’t dragging Miles to the dance.

            “Well, given how much you fought against this dance all week Miles, I’m surprised to see you here honestly.” Natalie said.

            “Yeah, well I guess I had to find some kind of middle ground at some point.”

            “What kind of middle ground?”

            “That’s what this cooler is for.” Miles said as he revealed a small cooler that was sealed shut.

            “Look, I love puns as much as Nathan here, but pranks? I didn’t think you would be the guy to try and pull this off Watson.” Yang said with a concerned look on her face.

            “Pranks? What are you talking about Yang?”

            “Well, if it’s not a prank, what’s in the cooler?”

            “Ice cream” Miles opened up the cooler revealing a bunch of ice cream bars.

            “Why do you have ice cream Miles?”

            “Look, you and Nathan are going to be dancing all evening most likely, as well as a lot of other people among our number. This is for all of us who don’t have a date and are just standing around doing nothing at the dance.”

            “Says the guy who’s going with somebody?” Natalie said mockingly.

            “Look Natls,” Blake said with an annoyed tone, “both Miles and I don’t really care about the dance. But I insisted that we at least go for a little bit just so people don’t annoy us about it later on down the line.”

            “Okay, the logic you two run on makes no sense. You two are clearly dating but constantly deny it, you don’t want to dance and yet dance anyways, and you made ice cream why?”

            “Firstly, we aren’t dating.” Miles said putting down the cooler to stretch his hand.  “Secondly, this is what Blake requested as payment for her helping me make the ice cream and not blowing up the dorm kitchen, and thirdly, since you, Ruby and a few other friends of ours don’t have dates, the ice cream will make sense in time.”

            “Fine. Keep your completely confusing relationship between yourselves. Shall we go?”

            “I thought nobody was ever going to say that.”

 

 

 

 

The dance was moving along with no problems whatsoever. Weiss had convinced the faculty to let the school orchestra play the music in place of letting the Daft Punk knock offs run the music this year despite the appeals by their fans to let them DJ the event. She had Cardin and his team doing some of the lesser jobs because they were serving their “detention” for harassing Velvet again and being caught by Professor Oobleck. Keeping an eye on them all as well as helping put up the final banners was Beanie.

            “Beanie! The banner is upside down again!”

            “My bad Weiss. Cardin! Russel! Help me out with this!” Weiss simply sighed as the bullies flipped the banner to its correct position. She then noticed her friends entering and walked over to greet them.

            “I’m glad to see everybody managed to make it tonight! Even our friend Miles! And going with Blake no less!”

            “Yeah, another one of their excuses trying to dodge the fact that they’re totally dating.” Yang said with a smile.

            “So what’s the excuse this time?”

            “Apparently Blake helped Miles make ice cream or something.”

            “Ice cream?”

            “Yes Weiss." Miles said, getting tired of having to explain himself.  "As she said, we made ice cream. And if you’d like, in about an hour we will be leaving to enjoy said ice cream. Would you care to join us?”

            “I would, but I’ve got to run the dance.”

            “Very well then. Natalie? Ruby? What do you say? After an hour we blow this popsicle stand?”

            “Eh, I’ve got nothing better to do.”

            “I’m in so long as I can change into my hood beforehand.”

            “By all means. Now then,” the music started to play and all those who had already arrived started dancing with their partners. Miles then turned and bowed offering Blake a hand. “Ms. Belladonna, may I have this dance?

            “Yes, yes you may” Blake said with a smile as she accepted Miles’ hand. The two of them headed out to the dance floor and began dancing in perfect rhythm.

            “They are so in love with each other.” Natalie said as she rolled her eyes.

            “Yep” everybody said in unison. With that out of the way, Nathan and Yang took to the dance floor, as did Evan and Christy, Jaune and Pyrrha, and then Ren and Nora followed in suit having joined them moments ago. Leaving everybody without dates to awkwardly move towards the punch bowl and just stand there staring at all their friends dancing. Ruby then filled up a glass and raised it high.

            “To the socially awkward.” Everybody smiled, filled their own glasses, and drank to Ruby’s toast.

            “At least they’re all having fun.” Ty said with a smile.

            “Yeah, this night always feels good despite not having a date for the second straight year.”

            “Please. At least you made it to the dance without hiding in your own closet because you’re afraid of going out in public in a dress.” Natalie said as she started turning half invisible from embarrassment.

            “Natalie, you’ve got to learn how to overcome this fear of yours.” Jacob said re-filling his punch glass.  “The Vytal Festival re-issue is a few months from now and if your team qualifies, then you’ll be fighting in front of the entire world.”

            “Ugh, thanks for reminding me Jacob.”

            “Give the kid some space Jacob.” Brooklyn said placing her hand on Natalie’s shoulder.  “After all, she is the leader of their team. She’s handled herself in far more demanding situations.”

            “Brooklyn’s not wrong.” Ty said taking another sip. “Plus she managed to keep her head on straight when two of her teammates, one of them her brother, tried to kill each other three months ago.”

            “Yeah, that was a bit of a crazy time.” As the dance went on, the music continued to be about as bland and boring as they would have expected from Weiss’ playlist.

            “I swear, we’ve been here for almost an hour and I think I have heard the same song at least twice.” Brooklyn groaned as she slouched in one of the nearby chairs.

            “I’ll have you know that the song in question is actually a composition from one of Atlas’ most esteemed composers that hasn’t been released to the public yet!” Weiss said as she stormed over to the punch bowl group.

            “Oh, I’m Weiss. I get nice things that only I like because I’m rich.” Everybody started laughing at Brooklyn’s impression of the Ice Queen.

            “Yes well, we can’t all be fans of fine music.”

            “Eh, I’ll stick with Casey Williams." Ruby said with a smile.  "Oh yeah, that reminds me Natls, did you get the playlist of her stuff I sent you?”

            “Yeah. Me and my brother have been loving it!”

            “Sweet!”

            “Everyone’s a critic I guess.” Everybody looked up to see Miles and Blake approaching the group. “Well, I’ve paid my debt, shall we go?”

            “I’m in.” Blake said. “Anybody else want to leave this party?”

            “I think I’ll stick around for a bit longer.” Jacob said. “What about you Brooklyn?”

            “I actually think I’m going to join them. Have fun here Jacob.”

            “Well all right then. Anybody else want in or out? Ty? You in?”

            “Yeah, I guess I’ll see what you two lovebirds have got cooked up for this after party.”

            “By gosh, for the millionth time…”

            “WE AREN’T DATING!” they both said in union.

            “Yeah, keep telling yourselves that.”

 

 

 

 

As they continued to walk, it became clear what their destination was.

            “Miles, why are we going to Beacon Tower?”

            “Why else Ruby? To eat this ice cream.”

            “Why would we eat ice cream in front of Beacon Tower when we could sit out on the airship docks?”

            “Who said anything about eating ice cream in FRONT of the tower?” Ruby tilted her head in confusion at Miles’ statement.

            “Ah. We’re here. All right. Everybody, form a circle and link arms.”

            “Uh, why are we doing this?”

            “We’re doing Flight Protocol Natls.”

            “Aha. Everybody, do as Miles says.” Not understanding what was happening, everybody linked arms.

            “All right. Everybody, I can’t stress this enough. Don’t panic.”

            “Oh please,” Ty said rolling his eyes.  “With you around, there’s no reason to panic whatsoever.”

            “Save the commentary Ty, and hold on.” Then, all of a sudden they started flying straight up the side of the tower! But to all of them, it felt like they were falling. Like they had jumped off a cliff and were falling straight down instead of straight up. As they approached the top ledge of the tower, the started slowing down and then floated right onto the ledge.

            “Now then, isn’t this view much better than the one down by the airship docks?” Nobody answered him as they were still trying to catch their breath

            “Next time Miles, just tell us outright what you’re going to do please?” Brooklyn said trying to keep her balance while walking towards the center of the roof.

            “I could Brooklyn, but where’s the fun in that? Now then, who’s up for some ice cream?” As Miles said this, he opened up the cooler and handed out a bunch of light blue ice cream bars.

            “What the heck is this Miles?” Natalie asked tilting her head to the side.

            “Sea salt ice cream. Blake and I made enough for everybody to have two. And if people don’t want two, then we grabbed other ice cream bars of everybody’s favorite flavors.”

            “You made all those sea salt bars and all those other flavors Miles?”

            “Well I made the sea salt bars Natls, but everything else we just got from the convenience store here on campus.”

            “Ah. That makes sense now.”

            “Now then, would everybody care for some ice cream?” Miles started handing out a bunch of sea salt ice cream bars to everybody. As they all sat down on the edge of the tower looking out over the school, everybody began to dig in.

            “So, what does everybody think?”

            “I like it!” Ruby said with a smile as she dug in.

            “Pretty good Watson, but I think I’ll pass on seconds for tonight.” Ty said after a few bites.

            “Not bad Miles. I think I’ll have a second.” Brooklyn said.

            “It’s sweet, but kind of salty too.”

            “Natls, that’s not really an answer.”

            “It’s good. Maybe not my favorite flavor, but good nonetheless.”

            “Yeah, when Miles and I were originally making these, I honestly thought he was adding too much sea salt, but it tastes really good as far as the salty-sweet content.” Blake said with a smile.

            “What, so you’re implying that everything else is hit or miss?” Miles said with a joking grin.

            “I didn’t say that!”

            “Careful Blake, you made these just as much as I did!”

            “Yeah, but you almost burned the kitchen down before I stepped in!”

            “I would continue this FRIENDLY BANTER Blake, but I fear that if we keep talking, we are going to give the team leaders more material to work with.” Blake peeked past Miles to see that Ruby and Natalie were recording the conversation on their Scrolls, giggling while doing so.

            “So….” Blake said awkwardly as she continued to eat her ice cream. “Any idea when the other teams are supposed to get here from the other academies?”

            “No idea.” Ty said opening up one of the alternate ice cream options. “We haven’t even begun the qualification tournament here yet, so it’s a safe bet the other schools haven’t either. Besides, I’ve heard that the qualifying rounds are being recorded by hand on pen and paper to avoid any hacked-in fighters like Cinder and her team last year.”

            “Yeah. Plus this isn’t a Vytal Festival year but just a tournament to help fix some of the damage done by the attacks of last year. There aren’t going to be any fairgrounds or transfer students for a semester this time around. Heck, I’ve even heard rumors that once a team is eliminated, they’re just going to be shipped straight out of Vale and back to their own kingdom for the rest of the tournament.”

            “Well that stinks. Maybe we’ll be able to see Sun and his team while they’re in town before the tournament starts.”

            “That’s a big if Blake” Miles said taking another bite of ice cream. “They have to qualify first. As do all of us. Nothing’s been set in stone.”

            “Well I’m not planning on slacking off anytime soon.”

            “Excellent. Now then, enough dwelling on things to come. I made this ice cream so we could relax tonight, and by gosh we are going to do just that.”

            “I thought you guys were never going to shut up” Ruby said with a smile as she took another bite of ice cream. Not much else was said amongst their number that night, as they just enjoyed a cloudless moonlit sky.

 

 

 

 

            “So Neptune turned you down because he can’t dance?” Jacob asked confusingly.

            “Yep. You can see why that would be such a big deal for me.”

            “You? A dancer? I know you’re a singer, but a dancer as well?”

            “Well, my father always had this idea that “A Schnee must be the best in everything. Nothing less.”

            “Yeesh. And I thought my parents were over-bearing.” Suddenly, Jacob’s Scroll went off. “Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear.” He quickly touched the screen and silenced his phone.

            “You sure you want to shrug him off like that Jacob?”

            “I don’t really care. My parents have been trying to tell me what to do all my life. I think this time around, I’ll make my own decisions.”

            “Again, are you sure? I know what it’s like to always feel like you need to impress your parents and it can be a bit much at times, but you shouldn’t cut ties with them completely.”

            “It’s fine Weiss. This was just my father’s weekly attempt to try and convince me that I should transfer schools once the tournament is over.”

            “Transfer? Why?”

            “He has this weird idea that in order to be successful in life, I have to study all the kingdoms and how they work.”

            “Huh. My father just brought in teachers and technology from the other kingdoms to teach me at a young age. Heck, I didn’t even go to combat school. I just was trained by robots and instructors from the vast reaches of my father’s company.”

            “Well, at least your father let you do what you wished.”

            “Who said he did? When I left to attend school here at Beacon, he was furious. It took not just my good grades, but also the fact that I managed to survive the Cinder Fall incident without any major injuries. And even still, he checks in on me every so often. I might not be who he wants me to be, but I think he’s starting to understand that. It’s just going to take some time.”

            “Yeah, I just wish my parents were like that.”

            “Look Jacob, your birth family might not be so willing to help you or care about you, but look out there” Weiss said as she pointed to their dancing friends.

            “I’ve learned to care for each and every one of these people like they are my family, and they feel the same about me. I know we aren’t going to be together forever, but our bond is something that we will keep for all time.”

            “Wow. That sounded like something either Professor Ozpin would say or something Miles would say when he’s in one of his intellectual moods.”

            “Hey, I take all of that very seriously!”

            “I don’t doubt that Weiss. It’s just not something a lot of people say.”

            “Well in our line of work, we don’t do much of what most normal people do on a day to day basis.”

            “True enough. Besides, there is something I think I’ve gained here that I never could have gained if I followed the path my parents wanted me to follow.”

            “What’s that?”

            “Having all these guys as friends. Heck, I only strayed from their path because of them.”

            “Yeah. They’re good people. I’m happy I know them.”

 

 

 

 

            “He’s still not answering.”

            “Why won’t he answer? I would figure that after defeating Pyrrha, he would look to you for approval like he always had in the past.”

            “Perhaps the Nikos child did something to our son’s mindset that made him wish to stray from our control.”

            “What do you suggest we do then Peter?”

            “We need to shorten the leash. Perhaps even tighten it.”

            “Can we? I mean, we held him to the point of suffocation back when he was a child.”

            “Aurora, we held him under our thumb while he was growing up, yes. And for all intents and purposes, he should have been able to comprehend by the time he became an adult not to ignore us. However, something has happened to him that has caused him to grow a rebellious nature. Most likely, he has plans on abandoning our teachings for the sake of following his own path.”

            “Most people of that age do try to break free of their parents hold. Maybe we should let him fly free for a little longer?”

            “No. With the recovery of the Fall Maiden’s aura, Lord Mortem has begun to take steps towards gaining both Spring and Winter under his thumb as well. I fear that unless we control our son now, he may be left out to burn in the fire when the endgame begins.”

            “He wouldn’t let our son die, would he?”

            “There are several members with loved ones out there who aren’t a part of the Order, and they are all going to burn. And they are going to burn because they don’t believe in our cause. Jacob however, we can still control him. We can still manipulate him. We can still save him. So long as he joins us, there should be no problem.”

            “All right then. I guess we have a plan. But first, we should get to the meeting. Shall we go?”

            “Of course my darling.” With that said, Peter picked up his ring and walked over to the family car. The two sat down and then placed their rings into a small console.

            “WELCOME, PETER STROHL. WELCOME, AURORA STROHL. STAND BY FOR TRANSPORT TO MEETING.” As soon as the computer finished, the car started up and drove off into the night.

Author's Note

Please review, share, and enjoy!

Reviews

[Shep]

Wow, that was a breath of fresh air as the dance proceeds on with the two love birds. Now I a little confused with Jacob's parents and what they have in mind for him. I am guessing nothing good, but time will tell if they succeed. Moving onto the next chapter Please be kind and return the love.