Crushed

Yang

I stand at the door greeting people as they arrive at the dance. Blake, surprisingly, took a really long time to get ready, and hasn't shown up yet. I don't doubt that she will, and I can't wait to see how stunning she'll look. I'm wearing a simple white dress for the formal part of the dance, but I'm gonna change into something more… me later. Ruby and Weiss enter arm in arm, both looking happy to be together. Weiss is wearing a white dress, similar to mine, except it turns translucent a bit below the neckline. Ruby's opted for a red and black dress which splits from the stomach and upwards, but is held together by some string. Or shoelaces. This is Ruby we're talking about, I wouldn't be surprised if her dress does have shoelaces in it. She's also wearing high heels, which she doesn't seem to be able to walk in. I smile at the sight, before deciding to be cheeky.

"So, you two finally figured it out, did you?" I ask them with a wink. "Enjoy yourselves."

Weiss facepalms, before shaking her head and stating she's not gonna let me annoy her tonight. I decide I'm not gonna ruin anything for my sister, and silently pledge to leave them be for the whole evening. After a while, I see Jaune enter, in a suit and tie. He's holding Pyrrha's hand and looking pretty pleased with himself. Pyrrha looks like she can't quite believe it's happening. I feign surprise, and tell them to have fun.

Sometime later, it seems as though everyone in Beacon has arrived, except for Blake. I briefly wonder if she's changed her mind, but then the door opens. Blake is standing there, and my jaw drops. She looks absolutely gorgeous. I'd thought it'd be me turning heads later when I get into my other outfit, but now I'll be shocked if anyone even notices me. I'm momentarily speechless.

"Blake, you look amazing. I'd go so far as to say you look… Purr-fect," I tell her when I can talk again. She rolls her eyes, before smiling and pulling me in for a passionate kiss.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she says when she pulls away.

"Wanna go dance? I don't feel like waiting for anyone else to arrive," I ask, offering her my hand. She nods and takes it, so I pull her gently to the dance floor. We enjoy ourselves for a while, and I realize the current song is ending. I decide to surprise Blake, and twirl her around, then lower her somewhat and go for a dip kiss.

I'm feeling hot at this point, so I decide to get some punch. Blake accompanies me, and I still can't get over how good she looks tonight.

Apparently, she caught me staring. "What?" she asks, smiling.

"You're just so damn beautiful," I answer, and she blushes. Before I can say anything else, I spot Ruby's face through the crowd. She's dancing with Weiss, and looking at me with a look that says "what do I do now?". She's too far away to hear me, so I gesture at her partner and then kiss Blake. She seems to catch my meaning, because she gulps. I don't see anything else, as another couple moves into my line of sight. It doesn't take long for me to figure out what happened though, because I hear Nora's voice seconds later.

"OMIGOD YOU GUYS TOO?! YOU'RE ADORABLE!" Everyone stops what they're doing and stares, including the musicians onstage. I catch sight of Ruby again, whose face matched her dress in terms of colour, and there's a huge smile on her face. I've only seen her smile like that twice before: once when she got accepted to Beacon, and once when she got an ungodly amount of cookies at a birthday party when she was younger. Good on ya, Ruby. I'm proud of you, I think, smiling at my sister.

"You looked like that after you kissed me for the first time, honey, so I hope you're not planning to tease her about it," my girlfriend tells me.

"No, Blake, I'm not. And there's no way I looked like that."

"Sure you didn't," Blake says, smiling. I suggest going for some fresh air, so we head to the roof. As we reach the door of the dance hall, Jaune and Pyrrha walk through it, both looking slightly out of breath. I give them a knowing wink, and they both turn the colour of Pyrrha's hair. Blake and I get to the roof, and have a great view of Vale while sitting together in the moonlight. This is much more romantic than any dance. I don't even wanna go back. I open my mouth to suggest it, but get interrupted by an explosion in the city.

"What the fuck was that?!" I yell. From where we are, we can also the dance hall, and from the view through the windows I see everyone proceeding as normal. Why did I insist on those giant speakers? I mentally scold myself. No one in there heard a thing. I look at Blake, and we have a silent conversation. We run to our room to get our normal clothes on and grab our weapons, before heading to Vale to investigate the explosion. During this time, we decided we didn't have time to alert everyone else to what was going on, so we have no backup if anything happens.

When we get to the site of the explosion, we stop dead in our tracks. There's an Atlesian Paladin with the White Fang logo painted on it, shooting everything in sight. Vale has no military, so there's only the police and us who can do anything. As I ponder this, a huge amount of White Fang soldiers swarm out of a building behind the Paladin. One of them spots us, and tells everyone else to attack. Well, we're fucked. Beside me, Blake unsheathes Gambol Shroud and prepares for battle. "Yang, this is kill or be killed. If we worry about keeping these guys alive while fighting them, we will die," she tells me. I don't like it, but I nod. I activate Ember Celica, determined to protect as many civilians as I can. I figure I'll have the best chance of survival if I charge them, because they won't fire their guns if they might hit each other. At least, I hope they won't. With that thought in mind, I run at the enemy, using a blast from my gauntlets to propel me faster. The first guy doesn't even know what hit him, as my fist hits his face with the force of a bullet. After that, the soldiers unsheathe various melee weapons, including swords, machetes, even a hammer. I let my reflexes take over, giving no thought to my movements. The only thing I do think about is the Paladin, which can probably fire precisely enough to hit me and miss all the White Fang soldiers. Ducking and rolling around countless attacks, I viciously punch and kick anyone in my way as I head towards the Paladin, intending to let it hit me and activate my Semblance. Blake seems to realize this, as she jumps off a shadow clone and takes out the targeting cameras on the mech with a series of precise slashes. She then jumps back into the fray, covering me as I challenge the pilot of the mech to hit me. This is gonna hurt, I think. But what are my other options? As the Paladin's fist pulls back, Blake looks at me as if to say "are you sure?". I nod, and brace myself. The metal fist comes towards me, and time slows down. I'm suddenly aware of everything happening around me. There are fires burning all over the place, and several broken Grimm masks lying around. My clothes are cut up, but nothing is revealed so it doesn't bother me. After an eternity, the Paladin finally hits me.

Fuck! That really hurt! I think, before noticing that I'm now embedded in the wall of a building. I feel energy coursing through my body, and almost pity my enemies.

"That's one down!" yells the leader of the soldiers, right before I jump down in front of him.

"Oh yeah?" I ask, grabbing him and throwing him at the Paladin. He hits it with such force the cabin is dented. It stops completely, and I figure the controls were damaged and don't work anymore. In true Yang fashion, I decide to end the fight in style. I leap in the air, twist, and come down with my fist aiming at the ground. As it connects, I fire Ember Celica, creating a shockwave that instantly knocks out everyone within fifty feet. Except for Blake, who knew what I was gonna do when she saw me jump, so she leapt into the air and avoided the shockwave. I hear a metallic clatter, and look around to see that the Atlesian Paladin fell apart from my attack, and the pilot is alive, trying to surrender. I march over to him, and he starts visibly shaking in fear.

"Who sent you?" I demand, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"T-Torchwick! H-h-he got us the Paladins and the weapons, and told us to create a diversion in the city!"

"Diversion for what?" I snarl at him.

"The other attack. On Beacon," he replies, smiling when he sees the look on my face. I punch him, and I don't even know if he survives.

By now, the police finally show up, with a force that may have been able to stop the White Fang. They stop when they see a destroyed street, the shattered façade of a building, the remains of a state-of-the-art war machine, the dead or unconscious bodies of terrorists and two teenage girls, one of whom probably looks pissed. I don't know though, because I can't see myself right now.

"You may want to clean up," I tell them, before Blake and I head back to Beacon in a flat sprint. The sight that meets us on arrival makes my heart stop.