"What happened here?" Ironwood asked Ruby and Y/N

"It's a long story..." Ruby said before shaking her head and starting a flashback.

=====================

"I see you're hiding at the punch bowl too." Jaune said with a slight frown

"Yep." Ruby popped the P and sighed

Jaune raised his glass "To the socially awkward." Ruby giggled and they clinked glasses.

"Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss."

"Meh, it's fine. Neptune's pretty "cool". I get why she went with him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, come on, not many people can pull off blue hair." Jaune began to drink his punch.

"No, I mean, Weiss came to the dance alone." Jaune choked on his drink in surprise. Once he he recovered he turned to Ruby "Uh, what?"

Weiss Schnee meanwhile was trying desperately to coax life out of a wilting white rose. When she failed, she looks visibly upset.

"Yeah, she said that she had too much to focus on to worry about boys." Laughter drew Weiss' attention to Sun Wukong, Blake Belladonna, Y/N and Neptune Vasilias as the latter entertained the others with some impressions and other silly faces. Jaune, who was observing as well, became visibly perturbed. "Hold my punch..." he said with a low growl as he handed Ruby his glass and no sooner than he vanished from sight, Ruby decided to drink from his cup.

As Jaune made his way across the room, shoving other students aside (some of which were not even in his path), he stopped short and watched as Pyrrha Nikos passed by. He watched her walk glumly up the stairs and seemed to have a change of heart.

Jaune followed Pyrrha to a balcony as and he approached behind her.  "Hey, Pyrrha." He said. Pyrrha turned around to face him. "Hello, Jaune."

"You okay? I haven't seen you around"

"Arrived late, I'm afraid."

"Well, you look really nice." Jaune complimented

Pyrrha raised her hand near her mouth before she moved it back down.

"Your, uh, date isn't going to beat me up for saying that, is he?"

"I think you're safe for tonight."

"So, where is the guy?" Jaune asked

Pyrrha's head sank in melancholy. "There is no guy...."

Jaune chuffed nervously. "What?"

Pyrrha shook her head glumly "Nobody asked me."

"But that's...You're Pyrrha Nikos! H-How could nobody ask you?"

Pyrrha turned toward the balcony "I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place."

She turned back to Jaune "Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That's what I like about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess, you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me."

Pyrrha looked at Jaune and then walked away while Jaune simply stared in astonishment. Jaune: W-Wai-!" Jaune watched as Pyrrha turned a corner. Neptune had appeared on the balcony, gesturing toward Jaune.

"Hey, uh, Jaune, right?"

=============================

  Yang leant on a handrail overlooking the festivities from a second tier as Ruby approached and leant on the rail with her. "You know? I think we really needed this." Yang said with a small smile.

Below her, Blake and Y/N were slow dancing while Ren and Nora appear to be Waltzing.

Penny Polendina was dancing alone, thanks to two Atlas Soldiers.

Ruby smiled "Yeah, and you did a great job planning it too!"

Yang smiled as she reached over to Ruby "Aw, thanks!" She began crushing Ruby in a one-arm hug as Ruby flailed frantically to escape. "It wasn't all me, though. Weiss did a lot too." Ruby stopped struggling and looks down at Weiss. Neptune approached and rubbed his neck nervously. Weiss invited him to sit with her.

Yang chuffed "Tomorrow it's back to work."

"I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us." sudden fits of laughter and giggles drawed their attention below. Pyrrha turned around to see... "Jaune?"

Jaune was now wearing a white dress with a blue ribbon. "Eh, a promise is a promise."

Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai meanwhile seemed to be observing the students from the next tier. "It appears all the dancers have partners." Emerald noted

Cinder was heard from an earpiece "How long do I have?"

Mercury smirked "You should probably be home by midnight, to be safe." He said before Emerald glared "I do not want another single reference from you for the rest of the night, you understand?"

Cinder Fall meanwhile was somewhere outside, holding her fingers to her ear. She shook her head "I'll keep my eye on the clock."

Ruby, having made her way to the exit, walked out of the dance and into the night air. She watched a figure running along the rooftops and turned to Y/N who had just walked out, wiping something from his cheek. "What the.." Y/N saw the figure and looked at Ruby, he pulled the gauntlet from his pocket and put it on before he and Ruby then moved to pursue.