In the dark, dank backstage room of a nightclub, all Blake Belladonna could hear was a dim applause and cheering from outside, her own ragged breathing, and the pounding of her heartbeat in her ear. She was vaguely aware of two other girls besides her, one of whom had their face illuminated by the cell phone in her hands. Weiss. Her name was Weiss. Her hair was snowy white and tied into a side ponytail, and she wore a white blouse with high heeled boots of a similar color. She bit her lower lip as she looked at the screen, her foot tapping impatiently.

The muscly, sweaty one in the yellow tank top and black shorts stretching on the other side of Blake was Yang. Yang Xiao Long, the loud, buxom blonde from whom this idea originated. She stood up and headed over to the door and tapped another figure on the shoulder, saying something in his ear.

Jaune. That's Jaune, the one in the gray t-shirt and blue jeans, spinning a pair of wooden drumsticks in his hands. Blake thought he was a total dork, a minor airhead, and totally hopeless. Why was she associating with him again?

More cheering. Yang came over and tapped her shoulder, pulling her up off the couch and putting her hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Blake? Blake. Blake!" she shouted, shaking the brunette a little.

"…h-what?" Blake said suddenly, shaking her head and blinking. "Are we on?"

"Yes, we're on. Are you ready? You good?" Yang said, looking slightly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm good. Butterflies everywhere, but I'm good." Blake said, smiling as she tied her hair into a ponytail using the black ribbon she had tied into a bow on her wrist. She tied it into a similar bow to hold her hair in place, and she walked out onto the stage behind Yang, who carried an electric guitar. It was a bright red Stratocaster with a black pick guard, and Yang handled it with great care as she walked out on stage, plugging into her amp.

Behind Blake was Weiss, carrying her dark blue Ibanez bass, idly strumming a few of the notes as she headed over to her amp, plugging in and giving the thumbs up to the sound guy as she started to test it.

Jaune was sitting at the drum set. He never brought his own, just used the one the nightclub had set up there. It looked a little old and rickety, but it was a drum set and it made thump noises, so it was good enough for their standards and use.

Blake herself headed to center stage, grabbing the black-headed microphone and making sure the cord wasn't tangled and that she had enough slack to move freely without tripping anyone up.

"You all good?" the sound tech asked.

Yang gave him a thumbs up and nodded. "We're all set. Blake, you okay?"

Blake pressed her index and middle finger to her neck. Her pulse was slamming against her fingers at a rapid pace, and she took a couple deep breaths to slow down her heart rate so she could concentrate. "I'm good."

…

Lights flared on and illuminated them, blinding Blake for a few moments. She quickly re-ran their short setlist through their head again as Yang laughed, starting her strumming immediately, the very recognizable intro to Ignorance by Paramore ringing out through her amp.

Blake closed her eyes and started tapping her feet, counting out every beat, every measure, until twelve measures had passed and the lyrics to the opening verse slipped out of her mouth, her hand darting up to grip the microphone firmly so it stayed lined up with her mouth. The steady bass line of Weiss and the beat from Jaune accompanied her initial lyrics before Yang jumped in with the rhythm guitar.

"If I'm a bad person, you don't like me, well I guess I'll make my own way. It's a circle, a mean cycle, I can't excite you anymore….where's your gavel, your jury, what's my offense this time? You're not a judge but if you're gonna judge me, well sentence me to another life…."

A sudden change of pace, and Blake was trying not to mangle the lyrics as Yang's lead/rhythm got even more intense, the two of them launching into the chorus.

"Don't wanna hear your sad songs, I don't wanna feel your pain, when you swear it's all my fault cus you know we're not the same, we're not the same, oh we're not, the same. Yeah the friends who stick together, we wrote our names in blood, but I guess you can't accept that the change is good, it's good, it's…gooood! Well you treat me just like, another stranger, well it's nice to meet you sir! I guess I'll go! I best be on my way out…., you treat me just like! Another stranger, well it's nice to meet you sir! I guess I'll go! I best be on my way out…"

Blake pulled the mic out of the stand at some point during that and started to walk over to Yang, belting the lyrics out at her and strutting up to her near the end, leaning into her and holding the microphone so they could both sing into it.

"Ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend!"

Yang laughed a little as Blake headed back to center stage, grabbing the top of the mic stand and using it to steady herself as she leaned over, staring out at the cheering crowd as she slipped into the second verse, her ponytail keeping her hair out of her face as she sang.

"And this is the best thing, that could have happened, any longer and I wouldn't have made it…it's not a war, no, it's not a rapture, I'm just a person but you can't take it! The same tricks that, that once fooled me, they won't get you anywhere…I'm not the same kid, from your memory, well now I can fend for myself…."

Launching into the second chorus, Yang crowed and started whipping her hair back and forth as her fingers moved from fret to fret with practiced ease, tossing a look at Jaune who was sweating hard, focus evident on his face as he keeps up with the fast drumbeat.

Blake was finishing up the second chorus as she moved over to Weiss, leaning against her so they were back to back as she finished up. "You treat me just like! Another stranger, well it's nice to meet you sir! I guess I'll go! I best be on my way out…"

"Ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend!" She belted out, pulling away from Weiss and strutting back towards center stage, laughing under her breath as Yang shredded on the guitar solo, on her knees and showing off to the crowd. When she was finished she hopped back onto her feet, getting her hair out of her face with a toss of her head and nodding towards Blake to finish up.

"Well you treat me just like! Another stranger well it's nice to meet you, sir! I guess I'll go, I best be on my way out! You treat me just like, another stranger well it's nice! To meet you sir! I guess I'll go, I best be on my way out."

The song ended abruptly as the crowd cheered loudly, clapping as Blake high-fived Yang, laughing happily. She immediately regretting this decision and prayed for her stinging palm. Yang takes high fives seriously. Very. Seriously.

…

They finished off their quick set with two more songs before moving backstage, sweat pouring down Blake's brow. Her heart was about to pound right out of her chest, and she swore she tasted blood in her mouth as she rushed over to the minifridge, yanking the door open and snagging a bottle of water. Cracking it open, she dumped half the contents over her head, and then rapidly gulped the rest down, gasping in relief as the ice cold liquid washed over the back of her mouth and her throat.

"That was a fantastic show, guys!" Yang said with a laugh and a smile, putting one arm around Weiss's shoulders and the other around Blake's, pulling them into a bear hug.

The two girls yelped, and Weiss started to screech, her arms flailing.

"You oaf! Get off of us!" she yelled out, slapping uselessly at Yang until the blonde let them both go.

She grinned wide for a few moments as she squeezed them a bit before letting them go, cackling a little. "You two want to come spend the night at my place? My parents are out for the weekend, so it's just me and my baby sister."

"You have…a sister?" Blake gasped, still out of breath from the show and the bear hug, panting lightly. "I didn't know that, you don't quite seem like the sister type."

Yang opened her mouth as if to object to that, then remembered that Blake and her had met only six months ago when Weiss introduced the two of them at school, and since then, Blake had seen her about three or four different kinds of drunk, disorderly, various petty criminal behaviors, and very many times where her underwear 'accidentally' ended up in the crowd. So instead she just huffed and crossed her arms.

"Yeah I have a little sister. She's really sweet, little weird though. I'll make sure she doesn't bother us."

Blake laughed a little and looked over to Weiss, shrugging. "I have no plans for tomorrow, and my parents don't really give a crap where I end up as long as I don't die."

"I….will have to call my father." Weiss muttered, bringing her cell up to her ear. After getting permission, Yang herded the two girls to her car and made the quick drive home, banging on the front door of the suburban home.

It looked pretty cozy, a two floor house that was painted a light sunflower color. The door was white, and the porch was covered by a slanted awning. Blake still dripped a little onto the wood as she used her jacket to dry herself off a little.

"Ruuuubes! I'm hooooome!" Yang yelled out as she continued to bang on the door. "Open up!"

"Don't you have a key?" Weiss hissed at Yang, wincing from the loud banging and yelling.

"I may or may not have forgot it." Yang said shortly, banging on the door again. "Ruuuu-by!"

A few more moments passed before it flung open, and the three girls were greeted to the sight of Yangs younger sister. She was about a head shorter than Blake, and a little taller than Weiss. She had black hair with red highlights, and her eyes were a striking silver. She was wearing a loose t-shirt that looked three sizes too big and a pair of sweat pants repurposed as very short shorts.

"Yaaaang, I was just about to go to…to….beeeeed." Ruby groaned, interrupting herself with a yawn. Then she blinked and noticed the other two girls. "Who're they?"

"My friends. Now let us in and make yourself scarce, I don't need you butting in on these friends too." Yang said, ruffling Ruby's hair and pushing inside the house.

"I don't butt in! I'm lonely!"

"Then make your own friends, like I told you a thousand times." Yang said with a grin.

"I'm not good at it! Why can't we just share your friends?" Ruby grumbled, crossing her arms and huffing.

Yang ruffled her sisters hair again. "Because they're my friends! Now shoo. C'mon guys, my room is this way…" she said, her voice trailing off as she led Weiss over to her room. Ruby huffed and walked over to the fridge, pulling it open and digging around in it a little.

Blake stayed behind, waiting until Yang was out of earshot before approaching Ruby, tapping her shoulder lightly. "Um…hello!" she said quickly.

"M-meep!" Ruby screeched, jumping and whirling to face Blake. "H-hi! Hello! Hi there! Um, I'm Ruby! Yang's little sister! Do you need something? Soda, water, food? A towel? You look a little wet…I'm sorry I asked! I won't pry! Yang doesn't let me talk to her friends so I don't really know what's going on her, she usually thinks I'm getting in the way so she makes me go to my room and leave her alone and-"

"Blake!" Blake said loudly, interrupting Ruby with a small smile on her face. "My name is Blake. It's nice to meet you." She said, her voice softening as she held a hand out to Ruby.

Ruby blinked and was silent for a moment before reaching out to grasp Blake's hand, shaking it lightly before pulling back. "Oh, erm, hi Blake. Um…d-did you need something? None of Yangs friends talk to me unless they need something…"

Shrugging, Blake leaned against the counter. "Nah, I'm good. I just wanted to introduce myself. I know Yang and I was rather surprised to hear she had a little sister. So I wanted to meet you. Sort of. I don't know. Was that bad?" she said, trailing off at the end and looking a bit lost.

Ruby let out a small giggle and shook her head. "Nooo! I like meeting new people! I just…I'm not good at starting the conversation, which is why I don't have many friends. Um…you play in Yang's band, right?" she asked, her demeanor getting a lot less on-edge and anxious and a lot more…Blake's only comparison was a puppy dog, as Ruby stared at her with wide eyes, a big smile, and she was fidgeting as she started to walk somewhere. As she followed her, Blake was positive that if Ruby had a tail right now, it would be wagging at full speed.

"Yeah, I'm the lead singer actually! Tonight was our first real performance, it was crazy scary, I almost puked."

"Whaaaat?" Ruby gasped, whirling around again and standing on tiptoe, putting the back of her hand on Blake's forehead and cheeks. "That's not good! Are you okay, are you sick? Do you need something to settle your stomach?"

Blake eeped slightly under her breath as Ruby touched her face, and she felt herself getting hot with a pink tint on her cheeks. "N-no! I'm okay! It was just stage fright, that's all…" she said in a small voice.

The small brunette nodded and grabbed Blake's arm. "Hey, can you come help me with something?" she asked, dragging Blake into her room and closing the door.

Yelping as she started to get dragged, Blake started to shake her head and make an excuse. "Um, I think Yang is…expecting…me…." She said, her excuse trailing off as she saw Ruby's room. "Whoa."

At the far corner of the room was Ruby's bed and dresser, but the rest of the room was almost a small recording studio. It had a desk with a PC on it, and there were microphones, guitars, both electric and acoustic, an electric synthesizer, and a drum set. It was all rather cramped in the small space, but Ruby used the space well, none of it being wasted, with plenty of adequate room to walk around.

"What is all this?!" Blake gasped, letting out a little laugh as she walked around a little. "You can play all these?"

"I taught myself, sorta. The internet taught me." Ruby said, heading over to her computer and booting it up. "The only thing I can't do well yet is sing, and I was hoping you could…well, help me. Since you sing for Yang."

Blake blushed again and found another chair near Ruby's desk to sit at, crossing her legs and wringing her hands together a little. "U-uhm, well, singing for Yang was…different. She kinda caught me in the gym shower. When I thought it was empty. She wasn't supposed to hear me sing. And, well, singing to a crowd is different, there's so much adrenaline involved and…well, singing to one person is embarrassing!"

Ruby started pouting and looking at Blake, pleading puppy dog eyes staring right at the older girl. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? I'll do anything to make it up to you, I promise!" she whined, squirming around in her seat a little.

Blushing even harder, Blake squeaked and blurted out "Fine! Okay! I can try, I guess."

Ruby clapped her hands together and squealed, smiling happily as she started to dive at Blake, catching herself and stumbling a little. "O-oh! Sorry!" she squeaked.

Shaking her head, Blake held her arms out. "You get one."

Blinking, Ruby looked confused for a moment. Then she blushed and realized that Blake knew what she just stopped herself from doing, and she quickly wrapped Blake up in a tight hug. "Thank you thank you thank you! What do we do first?" she asked excitedly, pulling away from Blake.

"Well…" Blake said, her blush still making her face beet red from Ruby's hug. "I should…probably hear your voice first. Just to gauge what you already can do on your own."

Ruby nodded and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as her foot started to tap out a beat, her fingers tapping out an accompanying rhythm on her thigh. After about 45 seconds, she started to sing.

"He's a stranger to some and a vision to none, he can never get enough, get enough of the one, for a fortune he'd quit but it's hard to admit, how it ends and begins, on his face is a map of the world…a map of the world. On his face is a map of the world…a map of the world…"

Her voice was soft and soothing, and Blake recognized the opening verse to From Yesterday by 30 Seconds to Mars. She found herself softly singing along as Ruby launched into the chorus, her voice picking up a lot of volume as she took a huge breath before starting it.

"From yeeeesterday it's coooming! From yeeesterday, the fear…. From yeeesterday, it calls him! But he doesn't want to read the message here….!"

She calmed down and cleared her throat, rubbing it slightly as her face tinted slightly pink. "So um…what did you think?" she asked quietly.

"That…that was pretty good, honestly. Really good. I'm impressed." Blake said with a big smile on her face. "You didn't wobble much, if at all, and your voice is very smooth."

Ruby smiled widely and was about to say something else when her door opened and Yang poked her head in, frowning as she started to talk.

"Blake? What're you doing in here? Is Ruby bothering you?" she asked, pushing the door open the rest of the way and stepping into the room.

"It's fine, Yang, she isn't bothering me, I'm just talking to her. I'll be with you in a sec." she said, smiling gently as she stood up, rubbing Ruby's shoulder reassuringly.

Yang huffed and retreated out the door, shutting it behind her and muttering to herself as she walked down the hallway. "Can't make her own friends, so she keeps trying to steal mine. Great. Fantastic."

Blake gave Ruby a comforting smile and pulled her phone out from her pocket. "It was really nice meeting you…Ruby, right? Do you want my number? I'd love to give you some singing lessons, if you can do something for me."

Ruby nodded and rubbed the back of her neck a little, grabbing her own phone from where it sat on her desk. "Yeah! Yeah sure, I um, huh? What would I do for you?"

"Can you teach me how to play piano? I've never learned."

"Of course I can!" Ruby said happily, handing her phone to Blake. "Here, just put your number in here and I can text you! And I'll put my number in your phone."

After the two exchanged numbers and a final quick goodbye, Blake ducked out of her room and located Yang in her room, and was greeted with a pillow to the face.

"Having fun with my sister?" Yang said, poking her tongue out at Blake.

"You didn't have to be so rude you know, she was just talking to me." Blake said with a wry smile on her face.

"Yeah, well…I've given her a thousand pep talks on making her own friends at school, but she always chickens out at the last second. I love my sister, but she always tries to butt into my business when I'm hanging with my friends."

Shaking her head, Blake, sat down on Yangs bed and idly engaged in conversation with her two friends, but couldn't get the soft voice and shy demeanor of the little sister a few rooms over out of her head.

…

Ruby was lying down on the bed, sighing and staring at the screen of her phone. The minutes ticked by until it was nearly one in the morning, and she could still hear Yang, Weiss, and Blake making noise in the next room. She eventually clicked her display off and put her phone on the bedside table, plugged into the charger. Plopping her head on the pillow, she let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. Encountering the same problem as the brunette, Ruby couldn't quite get that encouraging smile and reassuring pat on the shoulder out of her mind….