The sound of the crowd talking and cheering could be heard even from where Blake was sitting, which was outside of the gray-painted building, doing what she loved most and what she would never get tired of doing; reading.

The rest of her bandmates were inside, no doubt preparing themselves even when they still had some time before the show began, or at least, Neptune and Weiss would.

Sun would be chatting to people. They could be one of his fans or the janitors working in the building, there was nowhere in-between.

Weiss would definitely be reading the lyrics of the songs, no doubt trying to memorized them all, being the perfectionist she was.

Neptune would probably still be checking his outfit, looking for any wrinkles even though he'd ironed it at least twice.

While she more than just enjoyed their company, she also really enjoyed this book. This might be the fourth time she'd read it, but to her, a book was a book.

She definitely wasn't scared to perform in Vale, one of the biggest cities in all of Remnant with hundreds of audience for the first time.

Her feline ears twitched every now and then at the sound of the many people inside the building. She wished she could read in a more private area, but she knew that if she stray too far from the stage, she would get an earful from both her manager and Weiss.

Mostly Weiss.

Because of both the loud audience and her extra pair of ears, the girl was having a hard time trying to read. She had to squint her eyes, bring her book close to her face (close as in inches away), and she had to read every single word to fully understand the meaning.

And even with those she still wasn't able to properly get immersed into the story like she would usually.

She tried to ignore them.

She tried to ignore the loud cheers full of excitement and joy the fans of the band - her band - made. She was flattered by how positive the general audience had reacted to their overall performance from social media, but currently, she just… wanted to read. No, she wasn't scared, she was just in the middle of a really good book.

She tried to ignore the fact that time would never stop moving forward, and whether she liked it or not, she would have to face that crowd and give them what they wanted.

She tried to ignore the heart of hers, pounding not in the way a calm person's would, believing that she was calm and collected, like always. Not anxious. Not terrified. Peaceful.

As she flipped her page despite not knowing what the story was about anymore, she tried to ignore her weak and clammy hands that were filled with sweat.

She tried to ignore the possibilities of her failing in her first big concert.

Like her bass pick dropping off of her hand.

Or accidentally playing the wrong note, thus, ruining the entire song.

Or suddenly having a heart-attack in the middle of the concert.

Or falling down from the stage in front of thousands of people who no doubt filmed it, and they would no doubt put it in every social media, thus, ruining her life by making her a meme, her family disowning her and having to life on the stre-

The metal door was ruthlessly opened, its loud sound jolting her into standing up, partly because she was right next to it, but mainly because she knew who it would be.

Weiss Schnee revealed herself like a phantom; all white. Her hair was tied onto it's unusual off-sided ponytail. Her clothes were white tank-top, light blue blouse, darker blue skirt, white leggings, and white boots.

It was a contrast to Blake's outfit, which was a simple black t-shirt with a dark purple vest, completed with a black leggings with purple stripes, and a black boots.

Stormy blue eyes met fearful amber ones.

"Blake!" She pointed her index finger towards the taller girl, narrowing her eyes. "What are you doing out here?"

The faunus resisted the powerful urge to take a step back. It was times like these were she simply wondered: How the hell could someone so short be so scary?

"Err… reading?" Blue eyes widened instantly.

"Fifteen minutes before the show?!" The heiress shrieked so hard one might've thought she was a pterodactyl.

"...Yes?" Blake could only say, cringing both internally and externally, putting a sheepish smile that screamed 'Please don't kill me.'

The shorter girl clapped her two hands together and closed her eyes, taking a deep, hard breath. Blake could've sworn she saw steam coming out of the girl's red face, but chose not to say anything about it in fears of making the girl even more furious.

No one wanted to see a furious Weiss.

"Why?" was the only thing that came out of her mouth, leaving no room for argument or escape.

Amber eyes looked to her side, wanting not to answer that question - not with the truth. "It's… a really good book?" she provided lamely.

One perfectly-trimmed eyebrow rose. Blake internally cursed herself. Of course Weiss would know that she was lying, they'd been friends for what felt like forever.

"You're a really bad liar, you know that?" Weiss retorted, voice suddenly soft, lacking any spite. Blake's eyes locked themselves onto the ground. She heard the sound of high-heels coming towards her, knowing that the girl was approaching her.

Slender index finger touched her chin, forcing her to look forward into her eyes.

Weiss looked deeply into Blake's eyes. And in those blue eyes, she could see many emotions the heiress was trying to hide. She might be able to fool the public by acting so proper and stoic all the time - she was called the 'Ice Queen' for a reason - but she wasn't able to truly hide her emotions, not from showing them through her eyes.

"Blake. We have been practising this song for the last month, now. I know nothing bad will happen. I know the audience will love it. And I know all of us will perform perfectly."

It was straight-forward. It was blunt. But it was what she needed.

With a shaky breath, she said, "You're right."

With a smile the heiress tried to hide, she rolled her eyes. "Of course, I am."

The faunus pulled her into a loose, gentle hug. At first, the heiress froze at the contact, and it was very understandable concerning where she was raised. But after a few seconds, she slowly melted into it.

Carefully, Blake let go of her. "Thanks, Weiss," was the only thing she said, making sure she was wearing a comforting smile for her friend.

"Y-you're welcome," the heiress replied a little forcedly. Now that Blake took a closer look at her, she could see how red her face was. It was adorable, to say the least. "N-now," she said, dusting off the invincible dust from her skirt. "Let's go inside."

"Alright," Blake replied to the poor girl with a smile.

Weiss didn't have time to return that smile, because she was already inside moments later.

Blake chuckled at her friend's antiques. Weiss may act as if she was confident, graceful, professional. And she really was to a certain extent, but the faunus could tell that today, she was just as nervous as the other members, if not, more.

And she had a good reason to be.

Ever since their band gained more recognition - and of course, more fans as well, they'd been working hard to perform more and more. It took them months to get where they were today, and they didn't want their show to be a complete flop.

This was genuinely their first actual real and big concert.

Before she set foot into the building's floor, she felt a buzz coming from her pocket jeans. Knowing it came from her phone, she turned it on. Her mouth curled into a genuine smile when she realised who had sent her a message.

Blake loved their admirers, each and every one. And every week, she'd get up to five messages - usually DMs - from them saying that they loved her.

The faunus had read every single one of these messages, and would always respond to them.

But one day, someone with a private account named YangXL had sent her a DM that was very different from all the other ones.

Usually, her admirers would always texted her simply, about one paragraph long, at least.

So of course Blake would be very shocked to read the ten paragraph long message praising not just the band's performance, but her performance specifically. It was full of explanation about why she was better than most bass players and why her style worked so well with the songs the band usually played.

Blake was very touched.

She felt it was a sin not to respond to such a heartwarming message.

She messaged about how happy this person's message made her feel, and thanked them, and overall, just chatted to them.

Not even hours later, this person already responded.

And that was how this… whatever this relationship Blake had with Yang, formed.

They never really chatted much. And when they did, Yang never asked any personal informations from her, and she made sure to do the same.

Neither of them mentioned any full names, or what schools they attend to, or any addresses.

Blake silently thanked the person for never trying to invade her privacy.

They usually talked at least once a week, and even then, it wasn't very long. It consisted of mostly Yang praising Blake for her performance or one of them recommending a song for the other to listen to.

The girl could easily tell that this Yang was a very excitable person. She could imagine that this girl had a very contagious smile, and was the life of the party.

Sort of the opposite of who she was, which more than once made her wonder why Yang liked her so much.

And recently, she was a little nervous when finding out that Yang would be watching her perform live for the first time.

The text Yang had sent her confirmed that she was in the building.

Damn, this place's really crowded, but can't wait to see u up there! U're gunna do great~ :D xp

The thought of seeing Yang in one of the crowds excited her, even though she didn't know what the girl even looked like. And she was nervous that she'd disappoint the girl as well.

After typing in her response, Blake walked in to meet her band minutes before the show begun, thinking that maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to meet this girl.

Blake tuned her bass, the deep sound sending a small vibration into her chest. She had already made sure two times before that every string wasn't off-noted, but it was better safe than sorry.

She would've read something if not for the fact that Weiss had snatched her novel, her back-up novel which she kept in her purse, and her phone; knowing that she downloaded a few literatures there too, saying that Blake needed to focus.

Curse Weiss and her high intelligence, her mind spoke.

She felt a touch on her shoulder. Turning her head to that direction, she found one of her bestest and truest friends. The definition of earnest itself, Sun.

"Hey, don't worry, you got this."

It took her a second before his words finally sunk in, realising what they meant. It took her another second before she realised she was brooding.

As gently as possible, she put the bass away and leaned into her chair, hoping it would ease him. She said after taking a deep breath, "Yeah… yeah, you're right. Thanks."

He flashed her his infamous, contagious grin. "I'm glad."

Blake examined her friend, truly examined him. He wore a black unbuttoned shirt that revealed the abs that many fans loved - more than he himself, a simple jeans and boots, with a touch of rope tied around his head.

Out of all the members of their band, he always wore the simplest outfits. He requested it since the beginning, saying that he wouldn't be able to play the drums properly if he was too busy worrying about his expensive shirt getting ripped off.

At first, everyone was a little hesitant, especially Weiss. But after time passed, they started to understand his reasons better and just accepted his wishes.

After all, the crowd wasn't here to judge his style of clothing.

They were here to judge his style of playing the drums.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked back, knowing that although he did always appear to seem cheerful on the outside, his face and his emotions were often the complete opposite.

The cat faunus had learnt how to read his body language and what they mean. His emotions were often shown in his tail movements. And currently, they were swishing back and forth rapidly, meaning that he was stressed.

Before she could do anything about it, she heard a very sharp intake of breath.

Looking towards the source of the sound, her fears were confirmed when he saw him, standing on shaking legs, one hand gripping the chair while the other on his chest, trembling, letting out shallow breaths.

Neptune was having another anxiety attack.

"Nep!" Sun was the first to call out for him, them having been close friends even before forming this band.

Weiss, who had been listening to music all this time, immediately put away her earphones and phone and walked towards the poor boy.

"No." Her voice was commanding and stern. Sun would've lashed out or got offended if he didn't know what she was going to do. "Let me handle this," was the only thing she said to the monkey faunus.

But even when he trusted Weiss, Blake could clearly see that he was distressed. She was too. But she knew that there was nothing they could do now.

She tugged his shirt, forcing him to look down at her. "He's going to be okay, Weiss knows what she's doing." She made sure to wear a smile that always comforted him.

And so, uneasily, he sat back down, having to do nothing but watch helplessly, seeing his friend suffer from the attack. It was hard for both of them. But it was even harder for Weiss and Neptune, the former having to calm him down and be patient with his tremors, the latter having to endure such an attack in the first place.

Weiss gently pushed him back down to his seat. When he did, she sat down next to him, forcing their faces to meet each other.

"W-weiss, I-I'm s-sorry f-f-f-" He was cut off by her slender pale finger in his mouth.

"Neptune," she whispered, her light blue eyes locking with his dark blue ones. "Don't worry about a thing, okay? Just focus on me, don't listen to anything but my voice, alright?"

Like she'd done many times before, Weiss put his hands on her chest, and took deep and gentle breaths, coaxing him to follow her. Every so often, she would say things to him, like crack some jokes, or tell him that everything would be just fine; anything that would distract him.

Slowly, he began to shake less and less. His breathing started to slow, and Blake could see even from where she was that he was visibly relaxing.

After a few agonizingly long minutes, he was calm. He still was frightened, but he was more in-control than before.

"Thanks, Weiss," he said, flashing her his small, honest smile. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Weiss couldn't help but smirk. "Dead, definitely." Her dry joke caused them all to break down into giggles.

A cough emerged. They realised that their manager, Glynda Goodwitch, had arrived, wearing a professional-looking business suit.

It fits her, Blake thought genuinely.

Before saying anything else, the woman looked at the blue-haired boy and asked purely out of concern, "How are you feeling, Neptune?" referring to his condition.

Weiss gripped his shoulder and looked at him warily. He took that hand and squeezed it before flashing the manager a look of great determination. "I'm… I'm good. Don't worry about me, I can manage."

The woman looked at him with those calculating green eyes before sighing in relentment, knowing she couldn't argue with him now. "Alright then."

She re-adjusted her glasses before saying in a much more commanding (some might consider motherly) tone. "Everyone, I've brought you all each one water bottle. Bring it with you to the show and drink it at least three times during it, especially you, Weiss."

The lead singer flinched at her tone and quickly and pridefully answered, "Yes, Ma'am."

Glynda nodded at her before focusing her attention at each and every one of the team.

"Sun," she started. "Did you bring the brand new drumsticks?"

"Yep!" He grinned, saluting playfully at her. "I brought two, just in case." He chuckled nervously, knowing that sometimes, when he performed, he might hit the percussions too hard that it caused the sticks to broke.

With a hint of smile, she said, "Good." Then her eyes travelled onto the only other male member of the group. "Neptune," she called. The boy simply looked at her nervously. "If it's that bad, tell Weiss, understood?" It was an order, not a request. She waited for him to nod before adding, "And also, have you brought your keytar?"

With that question he grinned. "Arion is lock-and-loaded," he stated, looking at his familiar blue instrument, laid in-between one of the speakers, already plugged in and ready to be played.

"Blake."

The mentioned girl looked at her, only saying, "Yes?"

"Did you make sure to tune-in your bass?" asked the woman.

"Yes, more than once," she said without missing a beat.

Glynda smiled proudly, causing her to blush. "I knew you would," she said.

Their manager and caretaker then took a step forward, encouraging them all to form a small circle. They all complied.

After all, it was a big day for her too.

"The only difference with this show than the rest is the larger audience, that's all. I want you all to know that I'm proud of you regardless of what you'll do once you're in the stage. I know you'll do great. Just do your best, do what you practised, and everything will be fine."

Weiss, on the behalf of her team, nodded with furrowed brows and thin lips. "We'll do our best." Everyone couldn't miss hearing the tremble in her voice. The fear in it.

"I should get going now," Glynda said after some time, looking at her watch, "but I'll be watching you and waiting for you when you get back." After seeing them nod, she left.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer's voice boomed all around the building through the speakers attached to it, creating an echo that caused Blake to release a shaky breath. "This is the moment you've all been waiting for!"

The audience's reaction was very noticeable. Their usual murmurs stopped and was replaced by cheerings and screamings.

It was hard for Blake to believe that all of those people were excited for them.

Out of instinct, Blake's hand found itself holding Weiss's own.

Weiss flinched at the contact at first, but after knowing who was holding her hand, she tightened her grip around it and looked at Blake with a smile.

"The group consisting of the most diverse members that works together so well!"

A small portion of the audience started chanting their band's name. Blake wouldn't be able to hear it if not for her sensitive hearing.

Sun grabbed her hand. When she turned her head to look at him, she found that he was grabbing Neptune's hand as well.

They were all joining their hands together, waiting for their cue to finally perform.

"With Sun Wukong, the fittest drummer there is!" Sun grinned at that description, intentionally flexing his abs for the other members to see, knowing they'd be impressed.

No one was impressed.

"Blake, the mysterious and secretive bassist!" Blake rolled her eyes at that, but couldn't help but let out a smirk when she saw the way the others smiled at her jokingly.

"Neptune, the casanova!" Neptune blinked once before raising his eyebrow, looking at Weiss in question, not knowing what that meant and how he should respond to that.

Weiss just mouthed, "I'll tell you when we're done."

"And no one can forget the biggest star of them all!" Weiss flinched at that. The other noticed, and Blake held her hand tighter with a frown, wanting to comfort the small girl in some way, familiar with what was happening in her mind.

"The heiress of the biggest company in the world, the princess with the voice of an angel, the gem among stones, the lead singer of the band, Weiss Schnee!"

The crowd cheered the loudest at her name, then, the chanting grew larger and larger.

Blake couldn't believe what she was hearing. What they were chanting. Honestly, she couldn't believe any of this was happening.

Goosebumps invaded her body.

"Everyone…"

The audience were now all in-synch, chanting the name of their band. It was fierce. It was loud. It was filled with excitement.

"Let's all welcome…"

"This is it," Weiss said. "Remember what Glynda said. We will be great."

"Yeah!" Sun shouted in glee. "Of course we would! Nothing's gonna stop us from blowing their minds!"

Neptune grinned unnaturally, a clear indicator that he was very anxious. "Just be calm, always remember that anything can go wrong at any second so we should never let our guards down."

The atmosphere became tense at his words, Blake decided to rescue it by concluding, "Let's just have fun, okay?"

A hum of nods was her reply.

Weiss took another deep breath and said, "Let's go," as she started walking towards the stage.

Blake, as well as the rest of them, decided to trust their unofficial leader and lead singer and followed her, even without knowing how she knew when was the right time to appear.

Seconds before they were on stage, they heard the announcer spoke those three words.

The name of the band.

The name of her band.

"Hunters and Huntresses!"

Here goes everything, she thought, stepping into the stage.

"Ho… ly… shit..." came the words from Sun's mouth, separated only by his panting breaths.

Out of all of them, he was - understandably - the most exhausted. It was clear from his body language. His arms and tail had to be dragged, each of his footsteps were slow and weak, and his entire body was practically showered with sweat.

Even currently, when his gray ones found a plastic chair, he surrendered into it, head first.

"Don't forget to change your clothes," Glynda Goodwitch, who was, as promised, there when they were finished, scolded him.

"Need…" He panted. "...water… to… live…" Blake chuckled at his dramatism, their manager, however, responded by rolling her eyes, although with a ghost of a smile.

"You all performed wonderfully," she stated, eyeing each and every one of them respectably. "Well done."

However, while Sun was the most exhausted, that didn't mean that the rest wasn't exhausted at all.

"T-thanks, Miss Goodwitch," Weiss brought herself to reply. Now that Blake looked at her closely, she could see just how flushed the heiress was and how she struggled to look proper and polite.

Struggled.

"And Neptune," the mentioned boy just mumbled words that even Blake couldn't hear, not bothering to speak coherently. "I'm glad nothing happened." He raised his thumb at her before collapsing onto the chair.

After a few more heartfelt words, Glynda left them alone to rest, but not before sternly saying, "Don't go anywhere, especially you, Sun."

Blake dabbed the sweat off of her face using the towel provided by their caring manager. She took a few sips of water here and there, careful not to take too many in case she choked on it.

The concert, while very successful, still drained all of her energy. Her right hand hurt from touching the metal strings even after all this time she'd used the instrument.

Her face was caked with sweat. Her hands and knees were trembling. Her breath was still faster than normal.

She, in the simplest terms, felt like crap.

Suddenly, Glynda came back. "Blake," she called out. The girl looked at her, too tired to say anything, merely raising a simple eyebrow in acknowledgement. "There's someone outside who'd like to meet you."

The girl frowned immediately, wondering who that person was. But she was also too tired to ask any questions, so in her mind, it was better to see this person for herself. "Um… O-okay."

Standing up sluggishly, she started thinking if it was an old friend.

But, then again, she never had that many friends to begin with, and none of them were in Vale, as far as she knew.

She started to walk, the gear in her head spinning as she started guessing who this person might be.

The more important question is, why would Miss Goodwitch allowed them to come and see me? Her detective-like mind asked.

Glynda Goodwitch had always been very protective of them all, like a mother would to it's cub. She was always strict when it comes to meeting fans, and she would never, ever allow any fans to even get a glimpse of the band especially after they'd perform.

But all of that information just grew more and more of her curiosity. Thankfully, before that curiosity could kill her, she was already outside, in the supposed place where this person was.

Outside of their room was a large hallway. And the only person there was a blonde girl who was leaning her back towards the wall, playing with her phone.

There was still quite a bit of a distance between them, so Blake was having a hard time actually seeing the girl or any of her features.

It didn't help that there was only one lamp in this large hallway, and that one light was excruciatingly dim.

The dark-haired girl decided to close their distance by walking towards the girl. And more and more, she could make out the girl's features.

She could tell even from afar that the girl's hair looked very good, but now that she was up close, she could make out just how wild, yet, amazing that yellow mane was. It almost appeared to be glowing.

Her clothes were simply a yellow shirt with a flame emblem on the side, complimented by a brown jeans. Yet somehow, she made it really good, almost as if she was a model wearing outfit that costed hundreds of dollars.

Blake knew, even before she could fully saw her face, that this girl was pretty.

And she was having a hard time comprehending that this girl wanted to meet someone like her.

The girl finally noticed her, and leaned away from the wall, putting her phone back onto her pocket.

She had the most stunningly beautiful eyes Blake had ever seen.

The blonde's lips formed into a grin - which Blake thought was illegally cute - and her eyes shimmered with excitement when she said, "Blake! You were amazing up there! I knew you were gonna look and sound better live!"

The faunus blinked. Then she frowned. Then her eyes widened. Then her jaw dropped. Then she performed a sharp intake of breath, otherwise known as gasping.

"YANG?!"

Author's Notes : Hi everyone, welcome to my version of The Band AU! I know, I know, not very original… I think… but, anyways, if you didn't know, I stopped writing Humans and Demons, and moved onto this.

This story will have a plot, but it will mostly be filled with fluff, at least, for the first few chapters.

The first few chapters will be world-building, character-building, and relationship-building. I want the characters to be three-dimensional. I want them to feel real. And I want the readers to care about them.

The main ship is, obviously, Bumblebee, but the ship Whiterose will be included as well.

And, no, before you ask, there won't be any love triangles, not between Sun, Yang, and Blake, nor Neptune, Weiss, and Ruby.

No. That's overdone, and I'm honestly sick and tired of it.

Also, 'Hunters and Huntresses'… original, right? Yeah, I liked it tho.

I genuinely enjoy writing this. I also like the idea of Yang being a fan of Blake instead of the other way around, it's always been fun for me to put these characters into unusual roles without changing their personality traits.

So, I hope you enjoyed this fic. I'll hopefully be able to upload every week, especially since I made a rule not to write a chapter that's over 5000 words.