[Author's Note: I didn't intend for this to surpass, like, 500 words max. It reached 3,363. WELP.]

RWBYDUB

- - A-side

"That was a good session, Weiss. You put lots of passion in, that's for sure."

Weiss looked up from where she was carefully putting her music sheets into her folder, sliding each carefully away to make sure they stayed pristine and the corners didn't fold. Her teacher, Miss Weber, was lowering the lid to the piano carefully, before smiling to the teenager.

"Your father mentioned getting you to do a performance for the next big dinner he's having. Do you have any song in mind?"

Weiss hadn't heard anything about it. "Oh. No, not yet."

The music room became silent again, the large space seeming eerie after Weiss' singing had filled it for a while. It was a very large room, but very empty, featuring only the piano. The walls and floor were all a pristine white and clear of clutter, the southern wall was curved into a bay and consisting mostly of only large windows at least twice Weiss' short size. The glass door in the centre of the wall that led into the massive back garden was wide open to let fresh air in, the summer sun making the room bright, and somewhere outside softly rang wind chimes. It was one of the more beautiful days of the year, that was for certain. Trust Weiss to spend it inside singing.

Once Weiss was packed up to return her music to her room, Miss Weber placed a hand gently on the girl's shoulder just before Weiss could silently slip out into the hallway.

"You have a good voice, Weiss. If you'd ever like to get it heard, I'd be more than willing to find some people who'd love to work with you. A career in music, in singing, is always available."

Miss Weber's voice was kind, eyes dark yet alight with hope, but Weiss only made a small smile and gently shrugged her off.

"I'll think about it. It's… it's mostly only a hobby, of course."

The light died in Miss Weber's eyes, but she kept her composure, nodding and stepping away.

"Yes, of course. See you next week, Weiss."

Weiss exited the room into the hallway, closing it behind her without a sound. The hallway was empty, light and clean, but as Weiss turned off to the right to make her way to her room, heavy footsteps were approaching from some other nearby corridor. Hurrying a little, Weiss wondering idly if she could reach the stairs before she was intercepte-

As she turned a corner to the left, she was blocked by a figure far wider and taller than she. Dressed in white and blue, his suit as immaculate as the rest of the mansion, Weiss' father looked down with visible surprise as he took his daughter's shoulders to stop her barreling into him, stopping her in her tracks.

"Weiss! I was just about to come find you."

"And I you." Weiss lied, stepping back once her father let her go. Hugging the folder close to her, Weiss found sudden interest in an old painting that hung from the wall just behind her father. "I finished for today. Miss Weber said it was a good session."

"I heard, actually. Some of those notes managed to reach my office. I was just going to tell you about the dinner we're having next week. I was wondering if you'd do us the honour of performing before dinner? It would give them quite a treat."

Perhaps as a child Weiss would have been eager to do so - to perform for some of the biggest CEO's in Vale, if not all of Vytal? A dream, once.

Nowadays, not so much.

Weiss hid a cringe, squeezing her folder until it began to bend. "Uh, I'll… think about it. I'd like to write something of my own if I can. It's been a while since I've written anything." Lies, lies, lies. The folder she held was bursting with songs she'd penned. Still, her father simply nodded, either not noticing or simply ignoring the tightness in her voice.

"Of course." He added nothing more, so Weiss bobbed her head and slipped past him, trying not to dash for the stairs, until her father's voice called after her.

"But Weiss?" She froze, turning her head just a little. Her father watched her, arms now crossed, eyes a little harder.

"I'd like for you to be there and sing. These are some very important people, and impressing them is important."

Trying not to obviously glance around the hallway to eye the expensive paintings, nor comment on the ancient, massive mansion and the acres of land it stood on being more than enough to impress, Weiss bobbed her head once more, and then walked briskly along the corridor and away from the looming figure of her father.

Once she passed a few doors down, her father's footsteps leading him away to somewhere else, Weiss stopped before another white, closet-like door. Pulling it open led to a tiny staircase wide enough only for one, and Weiss shut the door behind and slipped away upstairs, thankful for the countless hidden passages making her invisible.

Once she appeared upstairs, her bedroom was just beside the door to the stairs, so once the door was shut and stairs hidden from anyone who didn't know the mansion, Weiss opened her bedroom door - white, again, but with her name on a little plaque to differentiate her door from Winter's across the corridor. Winter's bedroom was silent, the twin having gone off to some trip abroad to 'broaden her horizons', and Weiss was glad for it. It made the place quieter, for sure.

Weiss' bedroom was quiet too, once the teenager entered. Just like most of her family the place was neat, desk organised, several bookcases ordered carefully, bed made and her own window wide open, the juliet balcony painted silver. Weiss placed her folder on her shelf above her desk, and then sat at het desk and opened her laptop, minimising several windows set to news pages before opening up VideoMe and typing in with rapid keystrokes 'ROSEBUD - Happier Days'.

When she found ROSEBUD's official page link, she opened it up and then slid on her headphones, resting back in her chair and heading back to the news headlines, bobbing her head to the deep, bass-driven beat that began, before soft lyrics began to start up as her eyes scanned an article headed with 'Faunus Demonstration in Downtown Vale Results in 3 Arrested'.

You and I, happier days… You and I, sunnier days…

"You and I, you and I…" Weiss sang softly, under her breath, the lyrics fading away to be replaced by bass once more, the beat of drums building up and taking the forefront of the song. If Weiss had a proper subwoofer the floor would be shaken, but she had to deal with just what her headphone could handle, the drums really speeding up now as the singer's voice returned, the time between lines now less.

"You and I, happier days, you and I, sunnier days. You and I, you and I, you and I in those happier days." Weiss let her voice pick up, the slightly shaky voice of the singer replaced by her more powerful notes, bringing forth the sorrowful notes, the bass and drums falling silent on those last notes before they returned even louder, the slow song suddenly booming in her ears, and Weiss rolled her chair back, bouncing in her seat as the song reached its peak…

"Jesus, what was I thinking?!"

Ruby took her headphones off and let them fall hard on her desk, slumping down across her desk. 'Happier Days' played on VideoMe, underlined with thousands of comments, but Ruby wasn't reading a single one. Instead, she paused the video and groaned again, Yang popping her head through the open bedroom door.

"What is it, Rubes?" Yang entered the room and carefully moved around several articles of dumped clothing, knocking her knee into a wobbly shelving unit by Ruby's wide desk and grabbing a figurine that fell from the top. Ruby didn't even look up at her, rubbing her face against the cheap wood, wishing she could grind her face into non-existence.

"You won't get it - you love this song."

"Happier Days? Hell yes I love it!" Yang slapped a hand on Ruby's shoulder and cringed as Ruby's face was pushed further into the desk, the keyboard jumping a little out of of place. "It's one of your best, Rubes, for sure."

Ruby moved her head just enough to stare dead-eyed at her exuberant sister, groaning again.

"It's so boring. It's literally four minutes of the same beat and my awful singing."

"Hey, you can- Oh my God we are not having this conversation again. You sing great! And wasn't my drum beat good enough for you?" Yang looked wounded, and Ruby sat up at once, rolling her chair back and cursing when a discarded bottle crunched beneath the wheels.

"It's was good! It was really, really good, but I didn't do anything with it! And now it has like, five thousand views and it's just really bad Yang-"

Yang leaned over the desk and squinted at the page. True to her word, the video had five thousand views, as well as a huge list of comments ranging from 'Man, this track was so awesome!' or 'sounds like that other song by cinder fall lmao', but Yang noticed the upload date and nearly choked.

"It's got five thousand views and you uploaded this like two days ago?! What the Hell, Ruby, that's so fast!"

Ruby's grey eyes blinked owlishly, but then she slumped back in her chair. "Yeah, well it only means I embarrassed myself faster than usual. Dammit, I shouldn't have uploaded it…"

As Ruby looked back at the monitor, Yang gaped and tried to find words to explain that hot damn Ruby you got five thousand views in two days like some sort of celebrity do you not understand what the actual hell? but after a few seconds of making odd choked sounds, the older teenager made a face and shrugged.

"Well, it seems five thousand viewers disagree with you there, but okay." Turning on her heel, Yang dodged over some old socks and swung out of the room without another word, feet thudding down the hallway.

Leaning back again, Ruby looked about her room. It was in its usual state of a complete disaster - she needed to do her laundry, half her clothes scattered about the room where most had fallen off the top of the pile and been kicked about, and a mixture of books, trash and hundreds of cables formed quite the trap. She'd learned where to place to feet as to not end up on the floor with the rest of it, but for the most part she hadn't a damn clue where the carpet had gone. Her walls were a similar affair, if only with posters - games, bands, books, movies… if it was in her interests and had sold a poster at any time, chances were it was pinned to her wall, hiding the bright red paint in a myriad of colours. Ruby wished some of her favourite musicians on VideoMe also sold posters to fill in the walls with more obscure names. She sold her own so at least that need was fulfilled with her own fans, but other musicians seemed less eager with their own merchandise.

Although right now Ruby wanted nothing more than for all of ROSEBUD's fans to magically forget 'Happier Days' had ever happened. Sure, her fans seemed to like it, but she could have done so much better, so much more, if only she hadn't uploaded it at three in the morning…

With a sigh, Ruby tugged at her shirt and scooted closer to her desk, bringing up her music software. Maybe if she finished another song she'd been working on, they'd focus on that more and 'Happier Days' could fade into obscurity. Or maybe she could do her own remix, or something.

I'd be down to do a remix of this track. It has lots of potential.

Blake sat in their bedroom, listening 'Happier Days' once more. It was a good track and could've easily made Blake's playlist for work, but Blake also heard enough opportunity that their cursor was hanging over their audio software, wavering with indecision. Launching into a new project hadn't been in their plans, but Blake felt the need to at least play around with the song and ignoring it wasn't something they did often.

Two hours. If I make something that starts sounding halfway decent then I'll run with it.

Resigning themselves to this fate, Blake opened up their software and headed back to the internet, looking in the video description for a link to pay or download the song. There was one - a free download to boot. Heading to the page, Blake heard a knock on their door and grunted wordlessly as they worked.

"Blake?" Velvet's voice was soft through the door. "Coco and I are heading out for a bit!"

Blake made another grunt as the file began to download, and they cursed at the slow speed. It always slowed down about the afternoon, especially on weekends.

"I'll see you later!" Their flatmate called once more, and then there was shuffling about for a bit before the front door opened and closed, the flat turning silent.

Watching the download bar slowly fill, Blake rubbed at their eyes. The room was dark, the light turned off and curtains drawn. They'd been that way when Blake had rolled out of bed and they hadn't seen a need to change it, even if Velvet fretted over a vitamin D deficiency or something. Perhaps it didn't help that the walls, floor and almost all of Blake's furniture was dark - whether paint, carpet or wood - but they couldn't afford to change any of it around, so what they'd had as a moody pre-teenager had come with them as a moody teenager. Not that Blake minded overall. Perhaps it was what encouraged their music to take on generally deeper, darker tones.

The download pinged with confirmation of its end, and Blake was quick in opening it up for editing. They weren't sure which direction to take it, not totally, not yet, but firstly they were all about ripping those vocals out and giving them a bit of separate editing. Then, maybe add in something new? Blake could imagine it with piano when the bass and drums dropped off, if they removed the vocals… and whilst the bassline was good, Blake could shift the whole feel if it were edited, if not outright replaced. Eyeing up the double bass in the corner, Blake looked over the song. So much potential…

Grabbing their headphones, Blake started their work.

- - B-side

As Weiss looked out the windows of the music room, Miss Weber approached and looked also. The day was clear again, the temperature rising, and with a careful choice of words Miss Weber spoke.

"So, how did the performance at dinner go?"

Weiss didn't say anything, browsing through her phone as she thought, and then shrugged.

"I think the guests liked it, but I think my father would have liked it more if it hadn't been my own song."

Miss Weber nodded once, watching a bird flit into the thick branches of the old oak that grew at the end of the garden. "I see. I'm sure it was very good - your music tends to be excellent. Same time next week?"

Weiss didn't move for a while after Miss Weber had packed up and left, instead opting to sit at the piano and browse her phone, mind thinking mostly of the dinner.

"Weiss, was that really the best you could do?"

"They seemed to like it."

"I've heard you do much better. Maybe next time, hm?"

Gritting her teeth, Weiss opened the VideoMe app and scrolled through the 'Most Popular'. It had been a few weeks since 'Happier Days' had stood on top, but now it had disappeared into the abyss-

Except that it had returned. Slightly differently, for sure, but it had returned. 'Happier Days (Tapetum Lucidum Remix)'. Weiss wasn't sure she believed her eyes.

It didn't take long for her to run to her room, slamming the door tightly shut and heading for her laptop, opening VideoMe faster than she'd ever done before and finding the 'Most Popular' list again. The video had remained, uploaded by the Tapetum Lucidum themselves, who was also one of Weiss favourite artists. Their remixes were nothing to sniff at. Weiss didn't even bother with her headphones, opting to play it through the speakers.

When the last notes of the remix ended, when Weiss sat braced in her chair, there was only one thing to say.

"I'm honestly offended at this talent."

Ruby looked to Yang, eyes so wide they were starting to brim with tears.

"I know, right?! Oh man, oh man, I can't believe Tapetum Lucidum remixed my shitty song! And they made it so much better, holy shit, oh man I can die happy now. Jesus Christ I'm dead, Yang, I'm dead."

Ignoring her sister's hysterics, Yang looked at the video once more. There it was, on Tapetum Ludicdum's page like any other regular upload. Even Yang, who personally preferred her more band-oriented music than the EDM and drum'n'bass Ruby liked, knew who they were. TL had remixed many a song, bringing out depths unknown to the most shallow of tracks, or managing to change genres like an art. They were also known for having back-and-forths with creators, remixing a song before the creator remixed it back, and then they would remix it again until the end result was similar but also entirely different. TL were talented, dangerously so. And they'd remixed Ruby's song in a matter of weeks into something so amazing even Yang was having trouble expressing her awe.

"Damn, Ruby! Lookachu, suddenly playing with the big boys!"

Ruby was bouncing around the room, flitting around so fast Yang could miss her movements in a blink. She'd started at the desk, then was rolling across her bed, making trash angels on the floor and then back to her computer again, scrolling the comments and reading the description with glee.

"Look what they wrote Yang look what they wrote."

Indeed, beneath the video was a short, sweet message:

'The original version of this was pretty cool to listen to, so like most of my favourite songs I wanted to give it a bit of my own flair and play around with it. Hope you enjoy this remix.'

It was a very simple comment, one Yang didn't think sounded too excited, but if you looked at Ruby it may as well have said 'This is now my all time favourite song and this remix is a personal, direct gift to ROSEBUD. I love you.' Still, if Yang had had her music commented on my one of her favourite artists, then she'd probably be just as excited too.

"Feel differently about 'Happier Days' now?" Yang couldn't help but ask with a sly smile, and Ruby stopped bouncing.

"Well… okay, maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought but it's still not one of my better ones. Happy?"

Yang shrugged, and then leaned over Ruby again, listening as Ruby played the song once more.

"If you are, Rubes."

- - Bonus Track

As Blake scrolled through the comments, they paused for a second and scrolled back up. Suddenly a new comment had popped up, garnering enough thumbs up to pin it to the top.

'ROSEBUD: oh man thanks for remixing my song! its so cool and im glad you liked it ;u;'

Gulping down a hot mouthful of tea, Blake laughed loudly enough that they could hear Velvet asking 'what are they laughing at now?' from their kitchen. Leaning forwards, they opened a new private message to ROSEBUD and titled it 'Wanna collab sometime?'

Blake had a new project in mind.