Akashic

Chapter 127 - Ball 3/4

"Well, you don't even know her name and she's already invited you" Ashe began to speak to him, hovering in front of his body so as to stop others from seeing, "What you gonna choose? Leave her hanging, or have some 'stress relief'?" she asked, "I'd go for the stress relief, she was kind enough to not force you like the three muska-teers out there did"

"Musk…ateers… holy crap you are getting worse at this, my god Ashe, you're turning into another Yang" Arthur began to rub his temple, "But I can't do it Ashe, I'm here for Weiss, I can't just jump on a woman I barely even know, I don't even know her name" he told her.

"Why not? She seemed very kind and serious about her job, even kind enough to not force you into the room, even giving you her number for some more fun later" Ashe really wasn't helping.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder, it's like you're trying to set me up with every girl I meet, are you bored?" he asked.

"Not my fault, there's not a lot going on in here, and doing my best to act as you're little love guide is about the most fun thing I can do as a living floating book" she answered.

Taking a deep breath Arthur let out a sigh as he stepped towards the room, opening the door and entering, the woman in her black lingerie standing next to a desk where she had what looked to be her clothing hanging, turning to Arthur she let out a smile.

"So, you do want a little stress relief" she began to take large, slow strides towards Arthur, a sultry smile on her face, yet, somehow she looked sad.

"Actually, no" Arthur said, halting her steps confusion filling her face, "I don't want to string you along, I don't want you waiting in here for me when I won't actually do anything with you, it just irritates me even thinking about leaving you or anyone for that, just waiting for someone that might show up" Her smile brightened as the sadness seemed to disappear as she began to laugh.

"Well, thank you Arthur, that is very sweet of you, I'm actually quiet new to this but I've seen other men just leave the others alone and they end up waiting for an hour or two. So thank you" she said, walking up to Arthur and digging in his vest pocket and pulling out the card she'd put her name and number on, quickly tearing it up and throwing it into the bin before walking to her desk and pulling out a new blank card and writing on it, placing it back in Arthur's pocket.

He chuckled and said, "That wasn't you're number was it?"

"Oh, good lord no, that was my uncles number, I give it to every man that tries to hook up with me at a bar or in public" she laughed, "Oh, I wish I could see their faces when they called him" as she laughed her scroll began to vibrate, "Crap I forgot!" she yelped and quickly ran to her desk and began to get dressed.

As she pulled her shirt on she looked to Arthur, "My offer still stands" she winked to him and continued to get dressed, quickly pulling on her pants and sneakers before running up to Arthur, giving him a short kiss on the cheek, "That's for being so sweet, see you again stranger!" she shouted as she ran out of the room and left the building through the backstage exit.

"Sweet girl" Ashe said appearing next to him again as he also left the room.

"She is, I'm just worried about why she looked so sad when I entered the room" Arthur mumbled to her.

"By the by Arthur, you do realize you were a massive hypocrite right?" Ashe asked, "I mean, talk about leading someone on, you let Willow do her whole mouth to mouth thing and she happily offers you her body and you just leave her hanging" Arthur really couldn't refute her statement.

"I know, Ashe… I know…" he sighed and hegan to rub the back of his head

"Arthur!" as he stepped out of the room he once again felt something run into him, that being Weiss once again repeating her actions from a few days earlier.

"Hey Weiss" he smiled and began to gently pat her head to calm her as she seemed to be trembling after her lengthy separation from each other, "You doing okay?" he asked.

"Yes… I'm, I'm just still nervous around strangers" she mumbled as she pushed her head into his c.h.e.s.t.

"Ma'am! Please be careful! You're going to ruin the make-up! And sir, please keep you're hands off her hair, it took us hours to get it right!" What Arthur assumed was one of her make-up artists and hair dressers said, running over to them and pulling Weiss away from Arthur to make sure that all their work wouldn't need to be repeated.

"Please be careful, we don't have enough time to repeat this" the make-up artis complained as she checked her hair for any damages from Arthur. Seeing nothing was wrong she turned to Arthur, "Please keep you're hands to yourself, we have spent much too long making her presentable for the stage" she grumbled and walked off.

"She… was kind" Arthur sarcastically said.

"They are all like that" Weiss calmed down enough that she returned to her regular attitude which she had regained over the last few days of rest, albeit still extremely nervous when alone with strangers and people she didn't trust.

Arthur soon saw her squint and let out a sigh, "Arthur, you have lipstick on your cheek" she said getting a raised eyes and realization from Arthur as he put his hand to his cheek and felt the oily red lipstick from the woman.

"Right thanks" he muttered as he pulled out the same cloth he had used to wipe off the three musk-ateers saliva from his finger, using the edge of the handkerchief to wipe the kiss mark off.

"So you accepted their offer then?" she questioned, judgment and slight, very slight irritation in her voice.

"Oh, no, I actually refused, I didn't want to string her along so I just told her I wasn't interested, I just don't like the idea of her waiting in there for me when I had no intention of ever doing anything with her" He told her as she let out a small sigh of relief.

"Be careful, it's not a secret that at these events the woman are required to attempt to sleep with the men after leading them off stage" She began to explain to him.

"They are required?" He let out a tired sigh when he heard that, he had guessed something along the lines earlier when he'd noticed how both the woman acted to him and to Pit.

"Yes, it's a disgusting scheme, the women here, if they can get pregnant will be forced by their employers to force the father of the child into paying some large lump sum for child care where the employers get the majority of the lien" she sighed.

"And if the women don't agree to force the fathers into paying they can get fined or even arrested, it is a truly vile part of these events" she explained, disgust on her face.

"You know, I'm really not liking Atlas that much any more" He grumbled

"You begin to get used to it, even with these disgusting schemes Atlas is still a nice city if you can just look past these aspects of it" Weiss sighed, her eyes wandering to the host who was waving at her, standing next to the stage entrance, his face slightly green as he held his fat stomach, looking like he was about ready to run to the bathroom again.

"I don't think I can get used to it" Arthur sighed, also seeing the host who was urging Weiss to hurry up, the music beginning to come to a crescendo before coming to a sudden stop, only the sound of the strings and drums slowly disappearing, "You up now? I thought that was later tonight?"

"I was, but the act before me was unable to show, so I'm going out earlier to fill their spot" she explained, strangely nervous at having to go up on stage, which was unusual for the prominent singer she was, having performed many other live performances before.

"Weiss, look at me" he said getting her to turn to him, "I will be on the floor, as close to the stage as possible, if you get nervous just look to me and know I am here" he smiled, "I will be here for you, that was my entire reason for coming here Weiss" she could feel a small smile forming on her lips, and if it weren't for the make-up Arthur probably would have noticed the light flush on her cheeks.

"Thank you, Arthur" she gave him a smile.

[Ladies and Gentlemen, it my p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and honour to say that our next act is from someone very special] They heard the host announce to the crowd, Arthur giving Weiss's shoulder a tight squeeze, as he repeated that he would be here for her, before leaving the backstage area to get to the stage.

Weiss took a deep breath, her heart beating furiously after Arthur's departure taking small steps towards the stage entrance. [Performing 'It's my turn', Weiss Schnee!] the hall went silent as all eyes turned to the stage as Weiss slowly walked to the centre of the stage.

Weiss began to look around the hall, soon letting out a sigh of relief when she saw Arthur pushing his way to the area in front of the stage, yet as she continued to look around the hall she couldn't help but shiver.

"My daughter got a new toy, she plays with it every day now… honestly, it's going to break some day now and have to be replaced…" she softly heard a woman's voice say from somewhere in the hall, her mind flashing as she re-imagined herself hanging from the ceiling, and Aster's words.

"Look at her body, she seems like a fun toy to play with…" she could feel the lecherous gazes of men fall on her as well as one man's voice that went unheard by the others.

"Let's string her up and break her" echoes began to resound in her head as she heard the lecherous laughter of men and woman in the hall, her breathing began to intensify as her heart began to rapidly beat, her eyes trembling at every word she heard.

"Weiss!" but even through the echoes of voices that weren't there, she could still distinguish Arthur, as his voice broke the illusion her mind concocted as she looked to Arthur and saw him mouth, 'I am here'

"She's losing her touch" Arthur and Weiss heard the familiar voice of Honey as she walked up to Arthur, Amoretti and Heather surrounding him once again.

"Yeah! What are you so scared of sing! That's all your good for anyway!" Amoretti chuckled as whispers began to resound through the hall at Weiss's silence, and seemingly scared demeanour.

"Little miss princess lost her voice?" Heather mocked as she turned to Arthur and grabbed his arm, forcing it between her beasts, "Just come with us, leave the little coward alone" she said, her hand once again trailing down to Arthur's crotch.

"Get off of me before you piss me off" Arthur growled as he grabbed Heather's hand and threw her back, falling onto her b.u.t.t, his hair turning black along with his eyes as he turned to Honey, "I came here for Weiss, not a bunch of slags that can't keep their legs shut"

Honey squinted, not intimidated by his anger, a smile forming on her face as she began to walk away, "Come girls, we can play later, father's already agreed anyways" she said and began to walk away, a cruel grin forming on her face.

Weiss's nervousness only seeming to rise at their words, the whispering intensifying as more people began to doubt her, her gaze soon falling onto her father who had fury on his face as he mouthed to her, 'Sing'.

But just then she also saw the door to the hall open as two figures walked in, her mother and sister, who looked to her, both with smiles on their faces, Winter still wearing her military uniform while Willow wore a long, slit t.h.i.g.h blue dress with the same red brooch now hanging from a chain aoround her neck, her hair tied into a bun with a silver and blue sapphire hair piece in, as well as a white bluebell, from her ears, hung two long blue diamond shaped earrings.

Winter walked to the side of the hall, away from the crowd as she was used to, letting her take account as to every person who could be a threat within the room, Arthur being the main threat in her eyes, still not fully trusting him.

And Willow who also began to walk through the hall towards the stage where Arthur was standing. Jacques seeing this only felt more anger as he marched to Willow and grabbed her wrist, "Where do you think you're going, you are not supposed to even be here" he whispered to her, not wanting to alert anyone whilst giving small smiles to those who had noticed his actions to show nothing was wrong.

Willow looked down at her wrist, her eyes squinting as she said, "Release me, Jacques, I am here to listen to my daughter sing in person, not to be a trophy for you to sell yourself" Willow pulled her hand from Jacques grasp, "Never touch me again Jacques, as far as I'm concerned you are not my husband, only a thief who stole my name" she said and ignored him, walking to the stage.

Some of the people around them having heard her words began to whisper with each other, Jacques quickly looking around at them, "Ahahahaha" he chuckled, "She just likes to play with me, she doesn't really mean it" he said trying to accomplish some form of damage control.

Weiss seeing her mother and sister were there began to calm down even more, especially when Willow took her spot next to Arthur, who had also noticed their entrance as he mouthed to her one more time, 'We, are all here for you'

Finally she could feel herself calm down as she shut her eyes and took a deep breath, this being the sign for the music to start, yet as they started Weiss raised her hands to the orc.h.e.s.tra behind her and said, "No music", confusing the orc.h.e.s.tra but complying none the less.

looking over the hall with renewed confidence, Weiss gave one last smile to Arthur, Willow and Winter, "Do any of you even know what I went through?" she asked.

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Alternate Chapter names: [Atlas, where most businesses have a disgusting underbelly]

Words: 2,730

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Polls

Next World (Runs until the end of the RWBY storyline)