Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Midnight in Vale. It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it? With the calm crickets chirping, somehow surviving in the largely populated city, it’s an understatement, to say the least. The city, quiet and peaceful at night as the streets are empty. It’s nice to be awake and experience the quiet night. That’s why the old shopkeep of From Dust Till Dawn liked to be open at night. Not only would he get a few more customers but he got to experience the silent shop and silent city.

At least it was until a young man with orange-red hair over his right eye, left from the shopkeeper's perspective, a bowler hat, green eye(s) that reflect the green flag of Vale surrounded by Eyeliner to make a small wing, a grey scarf tied into an ascot, a white overcoat that obviously had been freshly cleaned and was inlaid with the color crimson. In his hand was a cane, the handle white, the shaft off black.

He walked up to the counter with a smile. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?” He said with a grin. “Or even a shop at all! It’s like people don’t think emergencies happen at night!” He exclaimed in frustration.

“Emergencies?” The shopkeeper asked with a raised brow.

“Well, you see,” The teen started to explain, “My friend decided to use all my makeup on a dog, and when I say dog, I do mean dog. She put my eyeshadow on a Pug. It was actually impressive until I realized she used every single thing I had for it. So now I’m here because I have a thing in a few days and so…” He said before gaining a smirk. “Where’s your makeup aisle?” The shopkeep smiled and pointed near the back of the shop. The teen smiled and went near the back while grabbing a small basket.

The boy walked to the back and looked at the many kinds of makeup. He grabbed a small circular container. “Oooh, I’ve heard this was good but I couldn’t ever find it before.” He muttered with shocked eyes before he gained a small smirk as he put it into his basket. “Thanks, Neo.” He muttered before looking back to the shelves. “Oooh.” He said before grabbing eyeliner pens of various colors. He looked around a bit more, grabbing eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, foundation, etc. That is until he left the aisle only to come face to face with a gun. The orange headed teen looked past the gun to see a man with black hair, red glasses, and a full black suit minus the red tie.

“Put your hands in the air.” The man demanded as the teen just stood.

“What?” The teen asked.

“Put your hands in the air.” The man demanded again.

“Are you robbing me?” He asked.

“Yeah!” The man said in annoyance.

“You should be farther back.”

“What?”

“You should be farther back so that I can’t do this!” The teen said before using the cane to smack the gun to the side as he dropped the basket. His hand then flipped the cane to grab it on the shaft and smacked the handle into the man’s head. The shaft stayed against the man’s head as the handle shot off to the window, hooking onto the railing separating customers from the window. As that happened, the teen grabbed onto the man’s tie and jumped up, putting his feet onto the man’s chest. The cane started pulling back to the grappling hook at high speed shooting the man towards it. As they flew, the teen saw a dozen other guys in the same suits following the orders of some red-cloaked figure. The man flew out the window and the teen kicked off, landing in the middle of the road in front of the shop. The cloaked figure looked at him quizzically, their head slightly tilted. They turned to the rest of the goons with a start, as if realizing they hadn’t said anything.

“Oh! Um… Get… him.” Their high voice said, likely a woman. With that, the goons charged out towards him. As they ran towards him, he readied his stance and waited. Waited. Waited.

Act!

He spun his cane into the jaw into the gut of another, before shooting the hook around the neck of one and swung him around, slamming him into the others before loosing him towards the storefront, landing just in front of the woman in the red cloak.

“Well. Um… Great job guys…” She said nervously. “You’ll uh… You-You’ll get him next time!” She said, trying to encourage the defeated goons. The sound of sirens started to grow closer. She looked towards the teen. “Well, I’d hate to cut this short but sadly, I have to go.” She said. The teen scoffed, as he leaned on his cane, his other hand in his back pocket.

“Come on! Maybe if I bring you in, I’ll get extra credit.” He joked.

“How old are you?”

“You act as if you don’t know me. I’m the one and only Roman Torchwick, Hunter Extraordinaire… In-Training.” He said quickly adding on the “In-Training”. The cloaked woman looked at him for a moment or two as he smirked confidently.

“Who?” She said, tilting her head. Just like that, his confident demeanor fell as he slouched and spoke again.
“It’s Ro-... Roman. Roman Torch-” He sighed. “Torchwick. I’m a… hun… Hunter… In… Training…” He said, slightly disappointed, as he started shuffling from his pose to a more hunched position as he fiddled with his cane.

“Well, Roman,” She spoke once more, “It’s been… fun, I guess. But it’s time for me to go.” She smiled before reaching behind her back and pulling out her weapon, which quickly unfurled into a large scythe which she pointed at Roman. Just under her hood, her eyes were cast in shadow, but he could see her smirk clear as day. He then noticed the barrel at the end of the scythe, just as a large bullet shot out towards him as he jumped back as it collided with the pavement, exploding in a large flame, cutting him off from the store. He saw, past the flames, the woman smile at him…

And then, she melted into rose petals, leaving a trail towards a nearby building. Gunshots let out and he saw her fly over the top of the building. Smiling, Roman aimed at the roof, loosing the hook as it soared to the top of and hooked onto a sign, just under the edge of the roof. It swiftly pulled him up towards the roof before unhooking, sending him up and over the edge before landing about twenty feet ahead of the woman, her stopping in her run out of surprise.

“C’mon Red!” He said with a smile. “You’re gonna have to work harder than that to get rid of me!” He announced.

“Persistent.” She noted with a smirk.

“Like a tree anchored in the dirt.” He said, gripping his cane, ready to fight.

“Well,” Red said before reeling back her scythe, ready to sprint into action. “Timber!” She announced, launching herself forward as Roman did the same. She swung as he slid down under the blade, hooking the cane around her leg. He lifted it up and unhooked her leg as she fell forward. He slashed at her back, as much as a cane can slash, only to find air as she bolted forward a few feet, leaving rose petals in her wake. She quickly bolted back, a trail of rose petals following as she swung her blade. He brought his cane up to block and he felt the blade scratch into the cane shaft before it caught and took him up from his feet, through the air, into the ground about 10 feet away. Groaning as he looked back up, he saw a Bullhead rise from behind Red who stood at the edge. She gingerly stepped upon it as he stood up and charged towards her, aiming the cane at her as a small reticle pops up from the end of it and he fired. It rose just in time to miss the shot as it continued soaring, puncturing the forehead of a smiling SDC HR worker plastered on a billboard.

“Eh,” Roman said, “Close enough.” He broke into a run towards the edge as the Bullhead raised out of his reach. He skidded to a stop in front of the ledge as he looked up to Red.

“Goodbye Roman!” She called out as she dropped a red rose which fell down, drifting right into his open hand. “Maybe next time!” He watched with a smile as the Bullhead’s door slid shut and flew off. His fingers grasped the rose’s stem lightly as he brought it to his nose.

“Freshly picked…” He said with a smile. He pulled out his scroll and tapped a few icons before bringing it to his ear. “Hey Neo… I think I found a rival…” He said. He waited a moment before bringing his hand to his face. “Yeah, I-I know you’re mute, I’ve known you for about ten years, I don’t know why I called, bye.” He said progressively getting faster as his face grew red from embarrassment before hanging and grumbling at himself. He turned around to become face to chest with a woman. He looked up at her in her green eyes.

“You’re coming with me, young man.”

“Uh…” He said, completely caught off guard. “Stranger Danger?”

__________________________

Roman sat alone in the interrogation chamber with a sour look on his face. As he waited for the Light-blonde woman with green eyes to finish talking.

“With a pat on the back…” She said as she paused for a moment. “And a slap on the wrist.” She said, swinging her riding crop onto his hand. He pulled it back with wide eyes as he winced and shook his hand. “But someone wishes to speak with you…” She said before moving to the side as a man with a dark green suit walked. He had spectacles perched atop his nose, seemingly only for the aesthetic as well as silver hair. He pulled the chair out from the other side of the table and sat down silently. They both looked at each other in silence as Roman looked the man over.

“Where’d you get the suit? Anthony’s on twenty-fifth and sixth?” He asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

“No, Henry’s on ninth and tenth.”

“Really?” Roman said, confusion on his face and in his voice. “I thought Henry’s couldn’t afford to use cotton.”

“You’re thinking of the one on sixteenth street.”

“Ah. Wait, he’s got, like, a line of ‘em?”

“No, it’s just a common name.”

“True, I suppose. I’ll have to check out the one on ninth and tenth.”

“I suppose, you shall.” The two were quiet for a moment before Roman spoke once more.

“I want my lawyer and my phone call. That is, if I’m being charged with something. You can’t make me stay here if I’m not.”

“Of course, we just want to talk, Mister Torchwick.” The man in green said. Roman shuffled in his chair a bit coming out to be a bit taller as he smiled a small bit. “You applied to Beacon a few months ago, you were accepted and invited to join initiation, but…” He paused for a moment. “You declined. Why might that be?” He asked as Roman shuffled again, making himself smaller and he frowned.

“I’m not sure that’s any of your business.” The boy said coldly.

“I’m the headmaster of Beacon Academy, I would believe this would count as my business.” The man said, with a simple smile as he stared into the eye of Roman, who in turn, scoffed a bit and sighed.

“Fine. It’s my friend. She won’t be able to go and… I can’t leave her. She’ll have no one if I do and I just… I can’t.” He said, looking down a bit in embarrassment. Slowly, the headmaster nodded.

“Now, tell me,” The man started. “Is this friend of yours in your line of work as well?” Roman raised an eyebrow at that in confusion, before the man continued. “Huntress to be?” At that, Roman laughed a bit.

“She’s trained, she’s slightly better than me, but since she’s, well, not the easiest to communicate with, nobody would let her into any of the training academies.” Seeing the slightly tilted head of the headmaster, he explained. “She’s mute, you see, and people don’t really want to spend enough time to understand her.” At this, the man nodded.

“Well, if she’s every bit as good as you say she is, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind coming to initiation with you.” He said as he stood up from his chair. “I’m sure she’ll be quite the fine Huntsman when she graduates.” He said, turning to the exit, starting to leave. Roman quickly stood up from his chair.

“Wait, you’re saying she can..?” Roman asked, shocked.

“Of course,” Ozpin said with a hidden smile. “You’re free to go.” And with that, he and the woman left. Roman waited for a moment before running home.

He had news to tell.

Chapter Text

Deep in the Forever Fall Forest, lies a predator, lying in wait. Waiting for her prey to arrive, for the chase to begin. The distant echo of their prey seemed like a bell, ringing for them to come and take. Standing up and giving only a nod to her partner, they began to prepare.
_________________________________

A sound of gunfire was hurtful to Adam’s ears. It was the first time he’d actually been in a fight that wasn’t training. Wilt and Blush trembled in his hands as adrenaline and fear pumped through him. He looked to his right. There stood Ghira, a tall man with dark hair, a beard, as well as an impressive amount of chest hair, trying to negotiate, his hands up, a calm face that caused the fear and adrenaline to slow and disapparate. He was doing everything right.

That still wasn’t enough for the humans shooting at them, as a bullet struck his shoulder, the momentum bringing him to the ground.

“I got the cat bastard!” A human yelled out. Those words echoed throughout Adam's mind as he looked down at his weapons through the Grimm mask of his. The yells of anger and racist slurs and fear fell mute to him as his hands steadied and he was suddenly overly aware of his horns. Pumping aura down to his legs, Adam flipped over the car he had his back to, Wilt quickly unfurling as he slashed away bullets coming his way. Two by the trees, three in the front. Quickly sheathing Wilt into Blush, he aimed blush at the man in the middle of the three, pressing a button which caused Wilt to shoot out pommel first into the man’s nose, knocking him out. He slid between the closest of the three’s legs, holding Blush behind his head. As Blush connected with the man’s shins, Adam raised it, causing the man to flip as Adam reached up, getting to his feet and grabbing the blade and slamming the pommel into the forehead of the one flipped behind him. The others quickly began to fire at the threat, the bullets bouncing off of Wilt’s blade as Adam slashed them away. Adam broke his defense, quickly bolting toward the third by the front as he sheathed Wilt into Blush once more, sliding behind the man while putting Blush against the neck of the man before he spun and tossed him into one of the two, knocking them out. He slashed froward with Blush, firing Wilt spinning in a way that it pins their weapon into the tree. The woman who had held the weapon stared in shock and fear.

“Run.” Adam said coldly. With that, the woman scampered off. Adam walked to his weapon and regained it, turning back to The White Fang’s Caravan to see a nearly unconscious member of the human ambush aiming a weapon at Ghira, their leader. Adam’s eyes widening he quickly ran forward, trying desperately to intercept the man, to stop him.

But Adam was too late. The man fired and a bullet found its way through Ghira’s chest. Quickly after, Wilt was unsheathed from Blush, as Adam slashed off the man’s hand. The man screamed in pain, clutching his bloody stump. Adam ran towards Ghira, sliding up next to him quickly. Abandoning Wilt and Blush to his sides, Adam put his shaking hands over Ghira’s wound.

“Fuck…” Trembled Adam. “Fuck, I’m… I’m so sorry… I-”
“It’s alright.” Ghira said with a weak smile.

“I could’ve stopped it if I…” Adam stopped, the rest of his statement going unsaid. The two both knew what Adam’s semblance could do. He could cut through aura in but a moment, bisecting a Huntsman from their lower torso with ease.

“Maybe, but you’d have-” Ghira coughed up blood before continuing. “You’d have ended someone’s life… That thing… It sticks with you…” He looked away from Adam towards the sky. “I don’t want you to… To know what that’s like… To have to live with it.” Ghira said with pain in his voice. “ Tell Kali… I’m sorry… and that I love her…” Adam nodded as tears well up in his eyes as Ghira shifted his head towards Adam. “Take off the mask… please.” Hesitantly, Adam nodded and pulled off the mask, revealing his eyes, one blue, the other faded grey due to SDC branded over it.

“Get a medic!” Someone yelled as the caravan moved around them. They are a moment of quiet in a loud, angry world that cares not for them.

“Promise me, you’ll take care of Blake.” Ghira asked. Adam slowly started to nod. “Please… Say it.” Ghira pleaded. Adam nodded firmly.

“I promise.” He said tears brewing in his eyes. “I’ll take care of her.” With that, Ghira smiled and turned his head back towards the sky.

“Good… good…” Ghira said as he stared at the blue sky and his eyes went cold. Adam’s head fell as he cried, flinching at the sound of the man’s screaming was shut off with the sound of a gunshot.
_________________________________

The beast waited as the train came closer to their position. The two sat in silence as they waited for the train to go under them, a snake lying in wait. The train turned round the bend, right under their hiding place and the beast leaped on top of it. Hesitating for a moment, her partner, Adam Taurus, lept out after her. The beast quickly cut open a hole into the hood of the final train car, she turned to Adam, her eyes obstructed by the bone mask of the White Fang under the rule of Sienna Khan.

“Come on.” She said, gesturing to the hole before jumping in herself. With another moment of hesitation, he carefully followed inside. The train car was dark, a light or two, but other than that, they needed their night vision that most Faunus had. As the two went along, silent, Taurus put his hand through his hair. It was longer but it was useful. Allowed him to go into the world relatively unscathed from humans. He could even cover his horns with about an hour of time with them while still covering the…

The two got into the next train car quietly, as they saw two guards talking lazily next to two, shut off automated bots, AK-130s.

“Dude, it’s not a pyramid scheme. It’s a funnel system!” One of the guards said with a smile as he showed a piece of paper that had the funnel system on it, fully labeled. The other guard, not convinced, but still smiling, took the paper, turned it upside down and showed it to the first guard. The first guard looked at it, silent for a few seconds before speaking simply. “Oh.”

Adam turned his head away, trying not to laugh at the moment. And that’s when he realized his partner, Blake Belladonna was not beside him. He looked back towards the two guards, just as she pounced off the shipping containers, pushing her cleaver like sheathe through the skull of one of the guards, before pulling the blade from the sheath and jamming the sword through the neck of the other. Dead before they had a chance. She pulled the blade out with a flicker and brought it to the inside of the elbow, using it to wipe off the blood. The black cloth soaked it up and it was unnoticeable.

“Thanks for the help.” Blake said with a teasing smirk as Adam walked over.

“You didn’t need it.” Adam replied, and while he wasn't necessarily lying, she didn’t need any help, the real reason he stayed was that he didn’t like killing, even going out of his way to not do it. While that may seem like a normal thing, Adam had a way of being the odd one out. Blake killed anyone in her way. She didn’t care if they had children at home or not, she just killed whoever was in the way. Adam would normally not dispute these actions, seeing that while grizzly, they were necessary. Sort of. They could be countered with actions but they usually had a time limit, so he could see the reasoning. He still didn’t like it though.

“True.” Blake gave in, before turning back towards the entrance to the next car, the bag on her back shuffling with the momentum. Blake went into the next car with Adam coming after. It was the moments in-between, where the two talked and teased each other that brought Blake back. She wasn’t a beast or a murderer, she was Blake. They were the reasons he stayed. Despite everything the other members of the White Fang would say.

Despite everything she would say.
_________________________________

It had been a year since Ghira died. Blake had changed. She was angrier, prone to violence.

But she was still his Blake.

After the latest mission when he let some hostages go because they had a child, Blake had some words. So did he.

“What were you thinking?!”

“That this is wrong Blake!”

“It needs to be done!”

“There are other ways!” Adam said before Blake picked up a glass from the desk she stood behind and threw it at his head. Adam managed to dodge it, causing it to shatter against the door. Looking at the glass with wide eyes, he turned back towards a seething Blake.

“We tried other ways. My dad is dead because they didn’t give a shit.”

“Blake-” Adam tried to talk but Blake talked over him.

“No, you don’t get to talk. I trusted you to do this. I trusted you to trust me. And you spat in my face.”

“Blake… Those were only a few people. We had the moral high ground-” Blake interrupted, shutting him down before he had a chance to explain.

“Moral high ground? That’s just another way for them to keep us underneath their boot! We weren’t actually getting anywhere!” She walked around the desk towards him. “The ‘moral high ground’ got you that brand on your eye! And you think we should go back!? You’re a slave, Adam! That’s all you are to them, and apparently, you’re fine with that! A slave to be thrown into the mines until they are filled with the dead!” She said, jutting her finger towards him until it was right in his face. She poked the SDC brand with her finger. “This is proof.” She said, her voice calm after the rage she had. “It’s proof that you are their slave unless you do something about it. Not a person. Not a man. A slave.”

Adam was silent for a moment. He swallowed air.

“I’m sorry.” He said, her finger lowering from the brand on his face. “I’m sorry.”
_________________________________

The reasons he stayed…

They were amazing. There was no other way to call it. They managed to get to the train car right before the buffer between Cargo and the Passenger’s Quarter. They had managed to sneak past the bots and get to their local data Hardrive cluster, shutting them down until the two decided to turn them on.

Heading toward’s the door separating the two train cars, along with revealing the pin and locks keeping the two together, it took a moment to realize Blake wasn’t following. Instead, he saw her placing her bag upon the ground, opening it up to reveal a bomb.

“Blake, what the hell is that?!”

“I knew you’d be like this.” Blake replied simply, not giving any explanation.

“Like what?”

“Uppity,” She said, arming the bomb. “You always get like this when something needs to be done.”

“Blake, we have the cargo, we can cut the train car and go.”

“We will. We just also have to send a message.”

“A message, what are you talking about?”

“To be feared.” Blake said, standing up from the bomb as it began to beep. Adam looked between the bomb and Blake with wide eyes.

“... No.” Adam finally said. Blake looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” Blake asked, thinking this was some joke she didn’t understand. “This is a thing that is necessary. We don’t have a choice in the matter.”

“There is always a choice.” Adam said, walking towards her, tearing his mask off. He took her hands in his. “We can’t do this. It’s wrong. We can’t let them make us monsters.” He said. Blake paused for a moment before retreating in stunned silence.

“I was right. You are a slave to them.” Blake said, shocked.

“No, this is wrong. If they do this to us, it’s wrong and evil, but if we do it to them, it’s necessary? For the greater good?”

“All is fair in love and war, Adam.”

“What happens after the war, when you’re tried for war crimes?! This was supposed to be a protest group! Now, we’re terrorists!”

“We’re revolutionaries!”

“Revolutionaries don’t compromise their morality!”

“You’re just a slave to them, they don’t care about you! They just want you to obey!”

“I can’t let this happen.”

“I can’t let you stop me.”

The two looked at each other for a moment before Adam groaned and walked towards the next cabin door. Rubbing his face he leaned against the door. Why was it always so hard? He put his head against the door as his mind raced in thought. What to do, what to do. He looked up into the window, seeing through the transparent reflection of himself, as he looked at the next car, right before a passenger car. Adam sighed quietly.

Quickly, Adam’s right hand went to his blade, Wilt, as his left slid open the door. Hands pushed his back, an attempt to stop him, which only pushed him forward to the platform on the next car right before the door. His right blade slashed out and cut the locks and pins keeping the two train cars together. He crashed into the door before he got situated. He put his blade back into his sheathe, Blush, before turning to the other car to see a seething Blake. She put her hand out as the cars drifted apart, hers losing speed.

“Come on, we need to fix this.” Blake said. Adam stood there, legs stiff. They were getting further apart. “Come on, we need to go!” She growled out, shaking her hand about as a way to get his attention. Adam braced his legs for a jump. But they were too far apart. Letting out a growl, Blake… The Beast spat out. “You’re betraying me?! You son of a bitch! It’s your fault Ghira died, you son of a bitch!” She raved. She was getting quieter and quieter as the distance between them furthered and eventually, she was gone. In that moment, the only sound was the train.

In the next, he was on his knees, leaning against the wall and the railing, crying.

Chapter Text

The mansion was cold in atmosphere and temperature. It always was. The walls were white, colorless, more akin to a Psych Ward than a Home. Whitley Schnee had always hated it, along with his sister Weiss. His oldest sister, Winter, seemed to thrive in it though, or, at least, she was better at hiding it than he was. Both his sisters were. He wasn’t one to easily hide his emotions, despite his efforts. At least, not to his sisters. They could always tell. He could fool people who his father brought to see him for an arranged marriage to better the company, He could fool the servants that worked in the mansion, hell, he could even fool his father occasionally. But, his sisters knew. They knew he wanted to be a Huntsman.

When the white came to be too much for Whitley, he went back to his room. The color was a breath of fresh air compared to the stark halls of the mansion. Along the walls were posters and album covers of various bands. His favorite cover was a simple black with a white paint hand gripping a red heart-shaped grenade, the color bleeding down into the black. The poster's placement’s had been parted in a way that left room for a mural, which Whitley had used well, in his own opinion. In that space was the symbol of the Schnee family, wreathed in spray-painted flames. The symbol is painted to have cracks in it, a snowflake fractured.

The bed itself was a menagerie of color and patterns, none matching another, yet all flowing together smoothly. Slumped underneath the blankets and covers lay the sleeping form of Whitley Schnee. He didn’t wake when his alarm rang. He didn’t wake when his second alarm rang. He didn’t wake when his door creaked open. He didn’t wake at the footsteps walking up to his form. He did wake at the splash of cold water against his face. He jutted up starkly as his assailant pulled the bottle of water away. Wiping the water from his face and eyes, he saw his assailant. Weiss Schnee, his sister.

“Get a shower, get dressed, prepare for our spar.” Weiss said, her face straight.

“I thought that was at eight.” Whitley said, bleary eyes and sleepy. Weiss gave a small smirk.

“It was. It’s now ten o’clock.” She said, receiving a small “oh” before she pushed him out of bed. “Take a shower, and we’ll head over to the sparring area.” She said, before walking out of the room, leaving him to himself. After a quick shower, Whitley was dressed in his white clothes, with a blue vest. The sleeves rolled up, revealing a tattoo in the shape of two birds, circling together. Weiss had the same, hidden behind cloth on her shoulder. “Now what, pray tell, took so long you had to miss the spar?” She asked as the two walked beside each other, carrying similar cases which housed their weapons.

“I had to sleep. I was up early last night, working on something. A secret project.” Whitley said with a smile. “All it needs now is to be made and delivered.” He said with a smile before checking his scroll. “It’s almost here.” He said with a smile as the two entered the sparring room. The two unlatched their cases and grabbed their rapiers. Her’s was Myrtenaster, silver in color. His was Eiskalt, silver in color as well.

“What is it?” Weiss asked as the two got into their starting positions.

“It’s a new weapon. Wanted to reach out more, you know?” He said with a smile.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“Me too.” He said with a smile.

And then the two bolted towards each other.
______________________________________

Three weeks later Whitley was practicing in the sparring room against automated robots. On his wrists were strong leather bracers, with long holsters for vials of dust, along with a long chain attached to both. He whipped one around towards an automaton off to his left while the other went snapped towards one off to his right. The two wrapped around the legs of their target, before he spun around, picking them up off their feet as the one in front of him, off about 40 feet began to fire at him. As the chains spun around, the bullets locked in between the links of the chains, stopping in place. He brought the two robots above him as a black glyph formed under him, enhancing his strength as he brought the two upon the one in front of him, turning the three automatons into scrap metal. He whipped his chains out of the scrap pile, causing the bullets to fly out into the walls. Whitley smiled as he lightly panted.

“Good,” Winter said, standing on the sidelines with Weiss beside her. He turned towards her with a smile as she was straight-faced. “But you could be better.” She said as his smile fell, still there, just smaller, quieter.

“It’s good for only a month.” Weiss supplied, bolstering Whitley’s smile as she smiled at how fast he had grown.

“I suppose.” Winter said, a small smile tugging at her cheeks before she turned to Weiss. “Now, Weiss. How are you combat wise? Keeping to schedule? You’ll be heading to Vacuo for business and I won’t be there to defend you.” She said as Whitley walked towards them, wrapping the chains around the leather bracers.

“I’m fine. I just wish I knew what to expect.” She said, rubbing her temples in annoyance.

“It’s probably some arranged marriage bullshhhhhhhhhhtuff.” Whitley said, shrinking under Winter’s glare. Only for both to be cut off at the giggles of their sister Weiss. They turned to her as she wiped laughter tears from her eyes. Soon enough, they were all laughing together, a family.

“You know,” Weiss started as they calmed down. “I know we don’t say this enough…”

“But thank you.”
______________________________________

Just like every other day of his life, Whitley woke up, took a shower, got dressed, and took his weapons to the sparring area. He practiced, got some advice from Winter while she was here, before heading back to his room. Like every Tuesday, he snuck out of the mansion, heading into the city, dressed in black jeans, a t-shirt and a dark blue jean vest with two birds painted onto the back, both blue and symmetrical flying back to back.

Like every Tuesday, he snuck back into his unlit room.

But then the lights came on as he entered. Standing by his door with a face hiding any emotion was Winter. Wincing from the bright light, Whitley’s eyes soon relaxed and adapted to the light.

“Hey Winter.” Whitley said, sitting on his bed as he began to take his sneakers off.

“We need to talk.” Winter said, walking forward towards him.

“Do we really gotta do this?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Whitley, It’s-”

“And we’re doing this!” He said, exasperated at the situation, as he tossed his shoes into the corner.

“It’s about Weiss!” Winter snapped out, causing Whitley to freeze in place. He turned to Winter, a look of confusion.

“What about her? If it is those weird marriage meetings, she can get out of them on her own.” He said, confused.

“She’s…” Winter started. “... Her convoy was attacked. Her body hasn’t been found.” Whitley hadn’t moved as he processed this information.

“N-No, She… She was strong, she survived. She’s out there.” Whitley said, absolutely positive of this, stating it as fact.

“Whitley…” Winter said, sitting next to him on his bed. She wrapped an arm around him and hugged him. They both needed the comfort. They both needed the warmth.

The mansion was colder than usual.
______________________________________

Whitley watched in silence as they lowered Weiss’ empty casket into her grave. It’s been 9 months since her disappearance and their mom just… gave up. And so they buried an empty box in the ground, wrote Weiss’ name on it, and called it a tragedy and moved on.

Not Whitley.

He knows she’s out there, fighting her way home. She has to be.

The moment they were all home Jacque brought Whitley to his office. It was full of pictures of himself. There were no pictures of his family, his children, not even one of his wife. Jacque sat behind the desk while Whitley stood in front of it.

“Weiss was going to be the heir. But due to her death-”

“She’s alive.” Whitley spat out, causing Jacque to glare at the boy.

“Due to her ‘Disappearance,’ you shall have to take her place.”

“What?” Whitley said, his shock evident as his eyes widened.

“You have not been prepared for you to be in that position so you will have to leave your ‘huntsman studies’ for the training you’ll need to receive.” He said, before turning to some papers. Whitley was frozen in shock as he registered what happened.

“... No.” Whitley said as if it were obvious. Jacque froze for a moment in surprise before putting the papers down and standing up, walking around the desk.

“Excuse me?” The father said.

“I said n-” Whitley started before Jacque’s open palm collided with his face. Whitley stumbled a moment before he turned towards Jacque, forcing any tears away, holding them back.

“Are we clear?”

“Clear that you’re a fool.” Whitley said before Jacque slapped him again.

“You were saying?” Jacque asked again. Forcing back tears, Whitley began to speak.

“You’re completely overlooking how it would look.” Whitley said, his voice cracking and shaky. “The sister was taken away by monsters. And so the brother learns to fight the monsters. To make it so no-one else feels that pain. You can’t buy that kind of advertising.” He said as he turned his head back towards Jacque. The father was quiet before a small smile appeared on his face.

“Maybe you aren’t so useless after all.” Jacque said before going back behind the desk. “You may keep training. I will test you to see if you are worth it and if you aren’t, then you aren’t much worth my time. That will be all.” He said. Whitley was still for a moment before he nodded and went to the door. Once he left the office, he went towards his room, only to slump to the floor halfway there, crying. He thought back to that office.

Whitley’s heart felt cold there.
______________________________________

“Well, Whitley. Are you prepared?” Jacque asked over the PA system with no amount of care or worry in his voice. If anything, Whitley would say Jacque was annoyed with him more than anything else. Biting back a growl of anger, Whitley nodded.

The ground shook as the giant suit of armor walked out of the darkness from the large open door, akin to a hanger bay. The suit of armor was easily 40-50 feet tall.

“Meet the Armor Gigas. A Grimm possessing a massive suit of armor. Good luck.” Jacques said, his voice revealing how insincere his statement was. Whitley growled in response before he started moving around the colossal warrior. The large warrior raised its large blade over its head before slamming it into the ground.

Seeing his moment, Whitley jumped forward onto the blade, careful not to cut his shoes on its edge as he ran up the sword. Right as the suit of armor began to pull, Whitley jumped onto the wrist area of the Armor Gigas as a light blue glyph of the Schnee logo, surrounded by a ring of birds, paired and flying back to back. As he jumped off, the wrist joint was surrounded by light blue ice. He jumped up, clambering onto the elbow joint. Two red glyphs, went under his feet as he jumped up higher, to the shoulder of the armored beast. The red glyphs shot powerful flames, melting the joint into one single metal sheet before the glyphs faded out of existence. Whitley looked back at the arm he climbed up, smiling at how it held stiff, its joints stuck in place. He smiled at his handiwork.

He almost didn’t notice the other hand heading towards him.

Almost.

His arm whipped out, hooking around the Armor Gigas’ helmet before he jumped off swinging around its back to the front of the beasts “Face.” Landing on the hand that slammed just where he was, he quickly unhooked the chain, whipping it back into place around his forearm. Looking back to the top of the Helmet, at around the forehead area, there was a Grimm mask.

“Gotcha!” He muttered with a smile before jumping up, an ice blue glyph giving him some boost, as well as freezing the colossal suit of armor’s hand to its own shoulder, before he used black glyphs to keep his momentum as he pulled out his blade, Eiskalt, and with a leap, he slammed the blade into the Grimm mask. It roared in an inhuman screech, which seemed fitting. The cylinder on the blade rotated to fire dust and soon enough, the entire vial was empty and the suit was leaking flames. As the suit of armor twisted in fury, Whitley pushed the blade further into the mask. The suit of armor began to fall and this time, Whitley didn’t notice the flames melting the ice keeping the arm in place. He didn’t notice the arm swatting him off until it was too late. He did notice the blade slicing up at him as they both fell and he was unable to stop it.
The suit of armor crashed into the floor, releasing all the flame kept inside.

In the center, surrounded by flame, was Whitley, with a scar going down his left eye. He made his way to the exit, finding himself face to face with his father. The two held eye contact for a moment or two, Jacque being cold and uncaring, with Whitley openly glaring back as he felt his mouth begin to fill with blood due to an injury during his fall. Finally, Jacque sighed.

“I suppose that will have to do.” He said, before holding his hand out for a handshake. Whitley, still running and anger and adrenaline, slapped the hand away. Jacque glared at that. “I’ll let it go this once. But I will not allow a second time.” He said, putting his hands behind his back. Whitley turned, spat blood onto the pristine white floor. He turned back and smiled.

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” He said with a smile as his father’s scowl deepened. His father turned to a nearby maid.

“Clean that up.” He said before walking off towards his office. Whitley smirked as the man walked off before he leaned against the wall, slumping down against the floor. His smirk shifted to a smile.

For the first time since he could remember…

His heart felt warm.

Chapter Text

Walking down the street was a short young woman, with brown, pink and white hair. In her hand was an umbrella, which she used as a sort of walking stick as she went. One of her eyes was a brown color, hazel, while the other was a lighter pink. In her ears were two cords going down to her scroll, connecting halfway down. She walked with a pep in her step, less walking down the street and more dancing her way to her destination. She mouthed the words as she walked down the street. She got to the entrance with little spin and the song ended.

Perfect Timing.

Quickly shutting off her music, she walked in, disregarding the sleeping bouncer. The club was quiet, it opened in about an hour, and the only people there were employees. The man behind the bar, Hei Xiong, also known as Junior, was a large man wearing a dress shirt with a black vest and a red tie. He looked up from the glass he was polishing and set it down with a sigh.

“Is Tommy asleep again? Tell him to wake his dumb ass up.” He said before turning back to the young woman. “ Listen, lady, you gotta get outta here. We’re not open yet.” He said as he continued polishing the glass. The young woman kept heading towards him at the bar though. “Lady, I can’t serve you.” He said. She made a few gestures with her hand that he didn’t understand. This must have shown on his face as she rolled her eyes in annoyance and pulled out her scroll, pulling out the headphones from it. She typed into it and the scroll began to talk in an automated voice that seemed chipper, almost human.

“My name is Neo. I am looking for someone.” The automated voice said as Neo placed a picture of a woman with red eyes and long black hair. “I know you are an information dealer. I have Lien.” Junior picked up the photo and looked at the picture. He looked from the picture to Neo.

“This lady got a name?”

“Raven. Raven Branwen.”
__________________________________________

Neo was 14 years old. She was inside the Branwen Tribe camp, walking along with her sword on her waist. She had been summoned to the training ground for a test of worth. Her against another. The loser would be punished severely. She arrived with her sword sheathed on her hip. Raven stood at the entrance of the arena. Next to her was, seemingly, a shorter, blonde version of Raven.

“Neo. Meet your opponent,” Raven said gesturing to the young blonde woman. “Her name is Yang. Good luck, blondie.” Raven said, before walking off towards a seat off to the side of the fighting area.

“Nice to meet you, Yang,” Neo said with a confident smile on her face. “I sincerely hope this fight will be a challenge.” Neo said. Yang scowled more, her eyes angry and red. Yang walked off silently, causing Neo to raise a brow. “Was it something I said?” She called out with a small smile on her face, masking her worries. She was on alright terms with everyone she had fought. It was all friendly bouts, even if the loser was punished. But they’d always known it was necessary. They always ended up stronger. They fought until Aura dropped and then they called it off. Couldn’t afford to risk injury.

Neo took her place on one side of the arena.

“You ready?” She asked, a smile on her face.

“Let’s get this over with!” Yang said, brandishing her gauntlets before rushing forward. Neo smiled and brandished her blade.

“If you say so, Blondie!”
__________________________________________

“Raven Branwen huh?” Junior said looking at the photo Neo had taken around 3 years ago. The last time she had seen her. The man set down the photo, taking the hundred lien under it. “I haven’t seen her before, but I've heard of her once, around 10 years ago, from some drunkard, so take it with a grain of salt. She walked out on her family a long time ago, coming up on 18 years. Trained at Beacon Academy, was top of her class when it came to fighting, less so on actual classwork. Which means that whatever you want to do this bitch, you gotta be good.” He said. Neo rose a brow and the scroll spoke in that chipper robotic tone.

“I am, or at least I will be. How do you remember all that off the top of your head?” The scroll asked as Neo typed into it. Junior smiled and tapped his temple.

“I’ll give ya this one for free. Got a damn near perfect memory. Anything that I see or hear, I remember.” Junior said. Neo nodded and smiled, thanking him for the information. As she walked towards the exit, he spoke up. “If it’s not too much to ask,” He started, polishing a whiskey glass as he did so. “Why do you want to find her? Want to know I'm not tossing you to the wolves.” Neo paused as she thought back to when she was still in Raven’s tribe.
__________________________________________

Yang was quiet. It was clear to Neo that she didn’t want to be here. Neo walked towards her as Yang training, her fists slamming into a wooden training dummy, with two stiff arms off to the side.

“Everything alright?” Neo asked as she got closer. Yang froze for a moment before turning to her.

“What do you want?” Yang asked, turning back to the wooden dummy. He fists cracked into the dummy’s body and arms in a fashion that favored efficiency, to defeat her enemies as fast as possible. Yang had been here for about 6 months and she only seemed to get more and more frustrated as time went on.

“I just want to help.” Neo said simply.

“Then shut up.” Yang said. Neo sighed and was about to go when Raven called out to them.

“Ah! You’re both here!” Raven’s voice called out with a smile. The two turned to the bandit tribe leader. Raven had an unnerving smile on her face, the smile of a predator locked onto their prey. Yang glared at the sight of the woman, as Neo stood up higher a little bit. “Yang, you’ve been waiting for this a while. Your final test. You fail, and you stay for a few more years as I train you up to an acceptable level. You requested this and I expect you to fail. Neo, on the off chance that she succeeds and you fail, know this. If you lose, you will not be welcome in the tribe.” Raven smiled as Neo paled in shock. “Now, go to your starting positions.”
The two got to their starting positions and stared each other down. Raven waited to start as she watched the two wait for the start.

“Begin!”
__________________________________________

“It’s personal.” The scroll said for Neo, dodging the question Junior asked. He shrugged and set the glass down.

“I suppose that ain’t my business. But I’m curious… Is that the Penny?” He asked. Neo paused for a moment before tapping a button on her scroll.

“Salutations! I am the Particular Enigmatic Neutral Notation Electronic, but you can call me Penny! I’m currently in the use of one Neo Politan. Due to an injury, I am necessary for Neo to Communicate with others. Please keep this in mind during any evacuation plans or-” The scroll finished abruptly with a press of a button from Neo. “The speech goes on for a bit longer than I’d like.” The scroll said as Neo typed into it.

“How’d you get a hold of an Atlesian Military R&D prototype?” He asked with a shocked smile. Neo replied with a smirk of her own.

“I have my ways.”

“I’m sure you do. Have a good day, Ms. Politan.” He said with a nod of his head. She nodded back and walked back towards the door. Once she got out, she looked up towards the night sky in the broken moonlight.

Ring Ring

Ring Ring

Picking up the call from her scroll, she put it up to her ear.

“Hey Neo!” Roman said from the other side. “Remember when I said I kinda sorta didn’t get accepted to Beacon?” Raising a brow, she waited for him to continue. “Well, that kinda sorta maybe was a lie.” Rubbing her forehead in frustration, she waited again. “But good news, I am gonna go and you’re going with me?” He said, his pitch rising as if expecting her to yell at him. “I kinda sorta maybe perhaps told the headmaster about you after Ikindagotarrested and-” Excuse Me, Neo wanted to yell, but she hadn’t managed to integrate Penny into the phone feature just yet. “He said that you’d be welcome to come and so, yeah…” He paused waiting for her to talk. “Right… you’re… mute.” He said, coming to that realization for the second time that day. “I-I’m just… I’ll meet you at the apartment okay?” He said before hanging up immediately. Neo held there for a moment and sighed. She put her headphones in, started her music, and walked to the apartment.
__________________________________________

“Begin!”

Yang launched forwards using her gauntlets and in a few second she was upon the unwavering Neo. With one heavy swing, her fist connected with Neo’s cheek…

And Neo shattered like Glass. She turned to the side just in time to see Neo slash across her chest, her aura making sure nothing cut, but the pain was still there. Yang dodged the next slash, and managed to get a couple hits in against Neo’s side as she over extended. Neo quickly slashed back and as Yang dodged, Neo Jumped backwards, creating a lull in the fight.

“Good job so far Yang,” Neo said with a smile. “But can you keep it up?” She said with a smile. Yang scowled at her.

“You should shut the hell up.” Yang said before jumping forward, launching another fist towards the gut. Neo dodged out of the way but Yang swung around her leg, sweeping Neo off her feet. Neo quickly maneuvered her body to collide her knee with Yang’s temple, knocking the brawler to the dirt as Neo landed onto her knees. As Yang got up, Neo pushed her back down with her foot.

“Do you yield?” Neo asked. WIth a growl, Yang pushed up from the ground to her feet and grabbed Neo foot as she had begun to fall off balance.

“Never!” Yang yelled as she swung her over her head, slamming Neo into the ground. Yang smiled at the groan coming from the girl.

“Good…” Raven muttered under her breath as a man walked up beside her. Her right hand man when it came to training Yang.

“But not good enough?” The man asked. Raven nodded as the two watched Yang and Neo fight.

“They’re both strong, but Yang is Stronger.”

“Neo is more agile. Sometimes, that’s the key to life and death.”

“No guarantee which of them will succeed.” The man surmised as the Yang and Neo fought. The two were facing each other on opposite sides of the arena. Both panting as Neo smiled.

“You’re good. Not good enough though. Maybe next time.” Neo said as Yang shot forward, yelling an angry scream. Neo dodged the right hook Yang tried. Both were down to their last bits of aura.

“You’re getting on my last nerve!” Yang said, her hair catching flame, her eyes red. She swung wide, with Neo lazily dodging. Yang smirked at the opening, quickly sending a jab to Neo’s throat. Neo’s eyes widened as she pushed herself back. The cocking of a shotgun, sounded her defeat like a church bell. The gauntlet fired directly into Neo’s throat, shredding the flesh. Neo flew backwards in response, toppling over herself as she grabbed her bleeding neck. Yang stood victorious. Raven walked over to the two with a smile.

“Good. Could be better.” She looked to the Man beside her. “Take Neo to the medic. Use as little as you can to make her stable, and put her outside the gates.” She said as Neo’s vision began to fade. “She’s of no use to us as it turns out.” And with that, Neo fell unconscious. She would not get proper treatment. This would cause, in the end, the use of her vocal cords inoperable. She would never speak again. She wandered from the bandit camp in Mistral all the way to the kingdom of Vale ending up on the streets of the city of Vale. As she sat upon the seat available at one of the cities homeless shelters she sat and ate alone, never speaking, always vacant or reading. That is until she met Roman.

“Hey!” A voice exclaimed as the person sat next to them. She looked over in confusion to see a person only a year or two older than her. He was wearing a ratty red hoodie and blue jeans. He had a black eye and still had a bright smile. One that she unconsiously smiled back to. “I’m Roman. You?” She was quiet for a moment before she pulled out a small book and ripped out a piece of paper.

“My name is Neo.”

Roman smiled at the name. “Neo huh? That’s a nice name.”

And a friendship was born.

Chapter Text

Roman stood right up next to the window as the airship flew through the sky. Beside him stood his friend of 2 years, Neo in her usual outfit and a scarf around her neck.. He turned to Neo.

“Isn’t that just the most beautiful view?” He asked with eyes wide. Neo smiled and nodded before Roman turned back to the view. “Man… I can tell you one thing Neo. This is gonna be great!” He said turning back, starting to walk towards the exit in preparation for when they land, only for a boy around his height, and probably age, wearing a hoodie and jeans with blonde hair, to push past him, stumbling towards the trash can, emptying his stomach into it. Roman’s mood soured at that as he turned his nose at the stench and the noise. He turned to Neo and was briefly thankful that she shared his disgust. The two quickly pushed past the crowd away from him and found a television currently displaying the news. On it was the familiar blonde hair of Lisa Lavender. Next to her was a picture from a security camera. Red, the thief he fought two days ago. Her smirk was the only thing visible to the camera.

“Renowned thief, Ruby Rose, is still at large despite the confrontation two nights ago, when she evaded capture from a Huntress and a huntsman-in-training. No official comment has been issued from the Huntress or the police yet as the manhunt for this thief continues. She remains wanted in Vale and Atlas.” The reporter calmly said before it changed abruptly to Glynda Goodwitch, the woman who brought Roman to the Police Department. He quickly rolled his eyes as he wondered about Ruby Rose. The woman was skilled but to be wanted by both Atlas and Vale and evade capture? Maybe she usually hides out in Vacuo. If they were to find her, they have no want to arrest her, and they also don’t have an extradition treaty with either Vale or Atlas. But why would she be in Vale? And if she were renowned, why would she be robbing a dust shop? That’s something petty thugs do, not renowned thieves. It didn’t make sense.

What was she doing?
________________________

Ruby woke up with a terrible headache as she sat up in bed, she saw a woman twice her age lying unconscious next to her. On the woman’s ring finger was a gold band with a small diamond on it. Letting out a sigh of an emotion that she didn’t quite know the name of, she summarily got out of bed and started getting decent, quickly putting on pants and a bra. As she did this the woman woke up. Slowly, she sat up, using the sheets to cover herself.

“Well, that was certainly fun…” Ruby said, rubbing her eyes. The woman behind her let out a small giggle.

“It certainly was.” Ruby heard the woman, Linda, stand up and walk over to her. Linda’s arms wrapped around her waist, leaning into her muscled back.

“Yeah yeah, Look, Listen Linda,” She paused for a moment. “Listen Linda… Look Listen Linda. That’s fun to say. “ She shook her head. “ Sorry. Linda, you need to leave.”

“Wh-”

“I have to go and you have a husband.” Ruby interrupted as Linda began to get dressed.

“I-” Linda began to speak but the shock was still getting to her at the suddenness of it all. “R-Right, and work, I’m almost late…” She said, looking at the watch she was putting on. She straightened out her blouse before turning to Ruby, who was standing next to the door. She walked over and averted her eyes from Ruby. Ruby gave a small smirk at that. She stopped at the door as Ruby opened it, her eyes still on Linda. “Will we ever meet again?” Linda asked, looking up to the silver eyes of Ruby Rose. Ruby smiled, leaned down to the slightly shorter Linda and kissed her. Linda easily leaned into her and was found wanting once Ruby leaned back.

“Of course, my little flower...” She said with a smile. “Now aren’t you late for work?” She said with a head tilt. Linda’s eyes widened at the statement.

“Oh right!” Linda said before hurrying out the door, passing the taller Blonde woman in the hall, who was wearing sunglasses, a large trench coat, jeans, and a dress shirt with the top two buttons unbuttoned, and she had a cigarette in her mouth. Ruby’s eyes strayed from Linda’s legs to the blonde, and she slightly scowled.

“Yang, you look like an asshole, take those glasses off,” Ruby said as Yang walked towards her with a small smirk, acquiescing as she took off the glasses. “And put out that cigarette, No smoking in this building.” Ruby said heading towards the coffee maker in her apartment. Yang entered and closed the door behind her as Ruby poured herself some coffee. “What do you want?” Yang gasped as she put her hand to her chest in feigned offense.

“Dear sister!” She said in an exaggerated voice. “Why couldn’t I simply want to meet with my sister?”

“Yang…” Ruby growled, her brows furrowing. Yang held her hands in the air.

“Fine, Fine. This is about the job.” Yang said in her normal voice. Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes, grabbing a black t-shirt from a concert she went to a few odd years back and pulling it over her head.

“Yang, I’m fine. It was nothing.”

“You almost got caught.”

“Almost is my middle name.”

“You don’t have a middle name.”

“Which is why it can be whatever I want.”

“Ruby, you need to be careful, you have to stop the robberies.”

“I can’t do that Yang.”

“Why not?” Yang asked as she stood up and walked over to Ruby who started to chug the coffee. “I can’t find a reason, no matter where I look, so tell me the reason!” Yang said. Ruby finished the coffee and slammed the mug down. Ruby turned around to Yang.

“Why can’t you trust me Yang?!” Ruby exclaimed, with Yang stepping back with shock as Ruby began growing a tidal wave of words. “When we started this we made an agreement, you’re the muscle and I’m the brains. When we almost got arrested because you couldn’t cut it, you went to your mom and I was fine with that, I could lay low, I’m fast, I can take care of myself. When you came back three gods damned years later, I welcomed you back into the fold. You are the muscle, Yang, which means that you don’t need to know everything. All you need to know is who to punch.” Ruby said, backing Yang back onto her seat on the couch. “You want to know the shit I have to deal with? Fine. The police have been ramping up their manhunt, more than half the cops in my pocket have been fired and arrested, the deal with the Mistralian mafia went south because one of them was an undercover huntsman working with the cops, and yes, a huntress came to stop the robbery, but that is the least of my worries when Atlas and Vale want to use me as their own personal punching bag!” Ruby exclaimed, panting by the end. She stepped back from a wide-eyed Yang who stayed silent as Ruby sighed and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palm. “I got to go make sure the warehouses are coming along alright, I’ll um… I’ll see you later.” She walked to the door and grabbed the red leather jacket hanging off of a coat rack and grabbed a black hat next to it. “I… I’m sorry.” Ruby said before walking out the door. Yang was alone in the apartment and she let out a soft sigh.

“Me too.”
________________________

The airship transport to Beacon carefully docked at Beacon’s personal docks and once the doors opened the students filed out swiftly, Each one of the new recruits high on astonishment and wonder at the campus, with older classmen, begrudgingly pushing through to try and get to their dorms after visiting family. Roman and Neo were part of the former, walking out with shock and awe on their face walking around, simply spinning in place at points to get all the view available. Unfortunately, this left Roman to not easily perceive the large stack of white luggage stacked onto a trolley as he walked backward. Roman tripped backwards into the luggage, causing it to crash onto the ground as the people around quickly moved out of the way making a clearing in the crowd.

A person around Neo’s age moved into view, looking surprised and exasperated.

“Hey, could you… get off of my stuff?” The boy said. He had white hair and light blue eyes, with a scar over his left eye. He was in a white dress shirt with a light blue vest over it. Roman groaned and began to slowly stand up from the ground surrounded by luggage, a few busted open revealing neatly placed vials of Dust. The boy walked over picked up a few vials that fell out swiftly checking for any cracks and breaks in the seals. “It all seems fine. That’s good.” The boy said putting them back in their place, ignoring Roman.

“Not even gonna ask if I’m okay?” Roman muttered under his breath, dusting off his coat. The boy seemed to hear him however as the boy looked up to him quickly.

“Huh?” The boy asked and after half a second, he continued with his eyes widened in surprise. “Oh! Right, I was just a little preoccupied with the highly combustible material.” He said, shaking a vial up to show as reference. Roman and Neo stared at the boy with the same expression, a raised eyebrow of confusion with the head tilted a little bit. “You’re alright though, right?” Roman sighed in annoyance. “I’m just glad none of the vials got broken. It would have been some chain reaction.” He said as he finished placing the vials back in their place. He turned to the two with a cocky smile. “Anyway, Hi. I’m-”

“Whitley Schnee. Heir to the SDC, the biggest Dust provider in Remnant.” Another person said, walking up to the pile of now closed luggage. He had a black headband going over his left eye and his right was blue, and his hair was dark red. He wore black pants, a black dress shirt and a black suit jacket over that.

“So that’s why he looked like he was moving his whole family to Beacon.” Roman muttered, luring a silent laugh from Neo.

“I guess you’ve heard of it.” Whitley joked with a small slightly nervous, slightly disappointed laugh.

“The same company who underpays it’s Faunus workers and left the Faunus to die in one their mines that collapsed.” The man said, his voice staying even with just a hint of rage. Whitley’s head lowered as he sighed and raised his shoulders as he brought his arms back to the trolley, with everything back on it, as if attempting to reset himself.

“Well, it was nice meeting you.” He said sarcastically with a small smirk on his face and Roman could tell it was a completely fake smile. Before He could say anything, Whitley had walked off, his trolley in tow. Roman turned to the man who had walked up in black and came to find him walking off too. His upper back on his suit jacket had white and red calligraphy on the back of some language Roman didn’t know. Roman sighed and kneeled down to the ground, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.

“Ughhhhhh… Not even two minutes in and that happened. Is it too late to leave?” Roman asked through his hands. Neo’s foot colliding with his ribs was more than enough of an answer. “Ow!” He yelped, falling to the ground. “I shouldn’t have gotten you those steel toe boots.” Neo smiled and waved a hand at him. Ah, You love me. He always had a way of understanding her gestures. He noticed a person around his age walking over to the two. He had a mop of blonde hair, blue eyes and was wearing a hoodie with some armor over it and jeans. He got close and held a hand out with a smile.

“Need a ha-”

“You’re the guy who puked on the ship!” Roman interrupted. The man who puked on the ship sighed.
________________________

Ruby was looking over a clipboard at an empty space on a shelf. Grabbing a black-suited goon of the group of two following by her side by his red tie, she pulled him close, staring directly into his eyes.

“Jeremy,” She growled. “Who signed out this crate?” She “asked” with a killer look in her eye. After a moment of fear, Jeremy pushed through and looked through a clipboard of his own.

“N-Nobody.” He said. Ruby tightened the tie around his neck. “N-Nobody signed it out! Honest!” He said, holding the clipboard out to her. She let go of the tie and grabbed the clipboard.

“Just as I thought. We have a traitor.” She said handing the clipboard back.

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” A female voice that filled Ruby with an emotion that felt like a mixture of dread and anger and annoyance.

“Tell no one of this. Now go.” She said and the two goons left swiftly. Ruby turned to see Cinder Fall.

Cinder Fucking Fall.

To her sides were two of her lackeys whose names Ruby forgot out of spite. Cinder was wearing the same red dress as she always wore when she visited.

“Cinder, to what do I owe the pleasure.”

“I came to apologize. These two were sent here to obtain some Dust from you, as is our agreement. When they told me that they had grabbed it, I asked if they had signed it out. It didn’t as they turned out.” She said with a small smile. Ruby sighed.

“Of course, how could I forget Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass.” She said, rubbing her eyes out if irritation.

“That’s not our-” The silver-haired one started before CInder held up a single glass dagger, shutting him up.

“It was a mistake that could’ve been avoided, so I apologize for them.”

“That’s great and all, but if it were just a little later an innocent man would be dead.”

“You’re all criminals.” The silver one said.

“Innocent in this matter.” Ruby said, crossing her arms. “Which means that more than an apology is warranted.”

“Oh, Ruby.” CInder said, her voice filled with condescension that just made Ruby even more annoyed. “This was merely a courtesy. Since you asked though, I recently met a new friend.” She said, pulling out her scroll. She turned it towards Ruby whose heart sank.

It was a photo of Linda. She was sitting at her desk, talking to some client over the phone. She was serious here, focused on getting the job done. The contrast of the sleepy, smiling, and content one she knew when she would fall asleep at her house and this one was mind-boggling, but it was still adorable to her.

“She’s cute right?” Cinder said, turning the scroll back to herself. “It would certainly be a shame if something were to happen to her.”

“Don’t touch her.” Ruby growled out.

“Stay in line and I won’t have to.” Cinder said, handing the scroll to the green-haired one. “I assume we are in accord?” She asked as Ruby fumed in front of her in silence. “Good.” She said, walking past her towards the exit. “I’ll be in touch.”
________________________

“My name is Jaune.” Said the man who puked on the ship. Neo rolled her eyes as she listened to the two men talk.

“Well, it’s very memorable moment, a strong first impression, Mr. Puke boy.” Roman said with a smirk.

“Now you’re just doing this on purpose.”

“That… is… true…” Roman rubbed his eyes in slight embarrassment. “I tried to come up with something smart and witty and my brain just turned off for a bit.” Neo let out a quick exhalation through her nose. “Oh, I’m glad to amuse you, my queen.” Roman said, holding a hand to his chest in faux betrayal. Jaune was meanwhile, very confused, a state admittedly not foreign to him.

“I feel like I’m missing something.” He blurts aloud, immediately wishing the world would open up and swallow him as the two turned to him. He did not mean to say it that loud. Roman turned to Neo who nodded to him, who nodded back before turning back to Jaune.

“Neo here is mute.” Roman said, his tone as sharp a blade.

“Oh!” Jaune said, surprised before using his hands to make familiar motions to Neo and Roman.

Sign Language.

“Is this better?” Jaune signed.

“You know sign language?” Neo asked, using the sign language she had learned with Roman.

“It was useful when my sisters and I needed to get our stories straight without our parents hearing. A lot of stories there.” Jaune said with a smile.

“Not to interrupt but, where are we… going?”

“I… Don’t know.”
_______________________

Ruby sat alone in her apartment. It was quiet and empty, darkening at the setting sun. Her mind was racing with the threat from Cinder. Her leg tapped with the rhythmic beat Jazz solo, erratic and ever changing. The tapping went from her foot to her leg to her fingers to both legs to her hands and back again. That is until finally, the door opened and Ruby looked up and saw her.

Linda.

She was saying words but they didn’t register. Her footsteps brought order to her mind and the the erratic, chaotic ensamble came to a quiet still at the new beat. A breath before the big show. Calm before the storm. The storm came and Linda’s words quieted as Ruby stepped forward towards her and their lips connected. The brass soared and and the beat ran, steady and full as Ruby’s hands explored Linda’s body, coming to the familiar place as Linda jumped and wrapped them around Ruby’s torso, like a familiar chord. The piano laid underlying tones in the music of themselves as Ruby laid Linda onto the bed, quickly crawling over her.

Who cared about Cinder?

Ruby can deal with that tomorrow. Right now…

She crawled back to Linda’s lower body.

Right now, she had a job to do.

And boy, did she love her job.
______________________________________

Roman sat in the Ballroom with a frown on his face.

“Anyone who thought we would get a good night's sleep on an uncomfortable, hard wooden floor, should be stabbed.” Roman grumbled under his breath. He had been trying to sleep for the past few hours and had only a few wispings of unconsciousness, bringing a total sum of likely an hour, hour and a half. Grumbling, he stood up, grabbing a large black bag as he did so and walked towards the exit, leaving Neo behind, who was busy having the best sleep she’d had in a while. Heading into the bathroom, he went to one of the sinks, washing and scrubbing off the day old makeup from his face. Once he was sure the make up was off, he dried his face before pulling out a puff brush and a tin of foundation. He had to look his best after all. And so he began his work.

Whitley Schnee walked in as Roman finished applying the last of his face, the wings of his eyeliner. Roman turned and saw Whitley with a frown and messy white hair and simply smiled.

“I assume the floor wasn’t very kind to you, my lord.” Roman mocked. Whitley sighed as he went over to the sink next to him.

“I miss privilege.” Whitley said with a tired smirk. Roman let out a swift laugh in return. “How about you? Was the floor mean to you too?” Roman smiled in reply and placed a hand lightly on his chest.

“Me? Oh, I was born for Luxury.” Roman said with a smile. “The comfort, the fluff, the relaxation!” Whitley could swear Roman had a twinkle in his eye. “Ah, but that's off in the future.” Roman said, slightly downtrodden.

“Listen,” Whitley started with a kind smile. “If you make it in… I’ll give you some of my softer blankets.” Roman’s eyes widened.

“R-Really?” Roman asked, and Whitley nodded quietly. “Th… Thanks…” Roman said with a smile.

“No problem.” Whitley said with a shrug.

“I should probably go get changed.” Roman said, grabbing his black bag.

“I should probably go get my clothes.” Whitley said, moving away from the sink towards the exit. “Have a good day!” He said before leaving Roman in the empty room. Roman’s smile twisted into a grin.

“Sucker.”
_______________________________
Roman leaned against the locker next to Neo’s waiting for her to finish putting her bags away.

“I swear that boy is such an easy target. If we weren’t… Huntressmen? Huntstresses? Hunts? That last one doesn’t work.” Roman said, looking down to his feet in confusion. Neo shut her locker and glanced at the man with a single raised eyebrow. None of those work. Roman rolled his eyes. “Oh shush you.” Neo gave a wry grin and Roman growled. “You know what I meant!” He said before walking off, towards the initiation.

Adam opened his locker as they passed, placing his bag inside and pulling out Wilt and Blush. He looked them over with a calm eye, with just a slight shake of his hands that he quickly steeled away.

“You always get like this when something needs to be done.”

Push it down. Lock it away, for future consideration.

Adam attached his sword to his hip in time for the locker next to him to open. The man who put it in was easily recognizable, the Heir to the SDC; Whitley Schnee. The heir saw him next to him and, for some unforeseeable reason to Adam, began speaking to him.

“We didn’t get off on the right foot, did we?” Whitley asked. Adam was silent in response. “I think we did at least. So I'd like to start over.” Whitley said, strapping a rapier with a Dust cylinder in the hilt to his hip. He turned to Adam and stuck out his hand. “Hello. My name is Whitley Schnee. Yours?” He asked. Adam looked to the hand and back to the man who put it forward.

“Adam. Adam Rachat.” Adam Taurus lied, before walking away from Whitley, leaving the heir with his hand to the air, which slowly lowered as he sighed. Whitley turned back to the locker and saw his chain gauntlets sitting there, ready to be put to use. A vision of Weiss and him fighting Grimm side by side came to his mind. She had the sword in her hand and he was wielding his own chain gauntlets. They had wide smiles on their face as they fought. Whitley shut the locker closed, leaving the gauntlets to grow dust.
___________________________________________

Roman stood next to Neo in the line, on the metal plates assigned to them. They were all in a line, but much fewer than the amount of people in the ballroom. Roman assumed there were many different tests in different areas and Roman and Neo managed to get this one. Roman looked to the right and saw that it was Whitley Schnee. He was calm, cool, and had steady breathing, much to the contrast of Roman who was visibly nervous, the consistent tapping of his feet in a rapid beat to his consistent messing with his collar, as well as the rapid breathing that kept bubbling up to nervous and excited laughter.

Whitley himself, however, felt a kinship with this nervous wreck next to him. Personally, Whitley was just as nervous, the only thing currently keeping him grounded was currently the task he currently put himself up to; Mentally counting the rapid taps of the red head’s foot since he stood upon the metal plating they were assigned to. He was currently at 368, 369- The voice of Headmaster Ozpin brought him from the counting.

“For years, you have been training to become warriors.” Ozpin said, causing the students-to-be to turn to the man. “Today, your abilities will be evaluated out in the Emerald Forest.” He said, before Ms. Goodwitch diverged to a seperate line of thinking.

“I know many of you have heard many rumors about the assignments of teams.” Gylnda started. Strangely enough Whitley had not heard such rumors. Not a single rumor at all. Strange. “Well, allow us to to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today.” Glynda finished, causing Adam, about 3 people to the right of Whitley, to growl in annoyance.

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to to be paired with someone whom you work well with.” Ozpin said, before taking a sip of the coffee in his mug. Was that what the ballroom floor was for? Finding out who you worked well with? No one had approached him though? Was he supposed to approach? What would Weiss have done? Probably already found the perfect partner and formulated a full plan to get them. “That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.” Whitley’s eyes widened more than he would’ve like and looked to both sides of him, seeing students panicking and Adam pinching the bridge of his nose in frustrations to his right, and the red head with the cane and the umbrella woman with him looking at each other before simultaneously pulling out sunglasses and putting them on.

Clever.

“After you’ve partnered up, head to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way.” Ozpin said, his voice cold, commanding acknowledgement. “Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you will die.” He paused, seemingly for dramatic effect. “You will be monitored and graded on your perform during the initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair shall choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing and graded appropriately. Any questions?” He asked, taking a moment to sip from his mug.

“Y-Yeah, um Sir?” A blonde next to Adam asked, meekly raising his hand.

“Good. Take your positions.” Ozpin said, ignoring the young man.

“Um… Sir? I’ve uh… Got a question. What exactly do you… mean by landing? Will you be dropping us off or something?” The blonde asked.

“No, you will be falling.” Ozpin said, his face static in its indifference. This statement only seemed to exacerbate the blondes fears, multiplied by the fact that Neo just got launched up into the sky.

“Oh, so you like, handed out parachutes or something and I like, missed that, right?” The blonde asked as more and more students began to get launched off.

“No, you will be using your own landing strategy.” Ozpin said, taking another stoic sip of his coffee. Adam himself smiled at the blonde.

“Want to switch spots with me?” Adam asked the nervous blonde boy. “I’d love to see you shoot off like an it’s a cartoon.” He said before Adam himself shot off. The blonde swallowed in nervousness and turned back to Ozpin.

“Quick unrelated question, ummm… what exactly is a landing stra-“ The blonde started before getting shot off into the forest, screaming the whole way. Ozpin mask broke into a sadistic smile before he took a sip from his mug and gave out a long, satisfied sigh.

“I love my job.”

Chapter Text

Roman flew through the air at high speeds, his hair whipping behind him as he held his hat in his hand. He held out his cane, reaching the hook out. It hooked onto a strong branch and he looped around it a few times, slowing down his momentum, before unhooking from the branch, causing him to flip in the air and landed on the branch like a feather. Roman put his Hat on and looked around, looking for any sign of Neo, absentmindedly unbuttoning the top two buttons of his coat and dress shirt, his ascot off in his locker, not because it was hot out in forest, but because he simply loved occasionally letting some skin show. Off in the distance, he saw Neo lazily floating down, using her umbrella to control her descent. With a smile, Roman held the cane by the middle as he looked around at his current landing.

“Damn, I’m good.” He said, right before the branch he stood on snapped and there was nothing but air underneath his feet. He fell, reaching for anything to hook onto, nothing suitable in sight before he collided with a heavy branch and bounced off, only to hit another branch and bounce off until he hit solid earth ground. With a groan, he moved from his face down position to simply sitting on the grassy grounds, his hat absent from his head, falling down through the winds.

“Karma.” Was all Roman said, calmly sitting there. He looked to the ground in front of him, where the broken remnants of the sunglasses lay. “Well,” He began as he picked up part of the broken glasses. “You get what you pay for.” He said remembering the 2 Lien cost of the glasses. “Or, what you don’t pay for, I suppose.” He said, now remembering how he had stolen them. With a sigh, he tossed the broken remnant of sunglasses. The familiar weight of his hat weighed on him as it softly landed on his head. “Thank you.” He said, before steadying it on his head and standing. “Gotta find Neo.” He said, quickly heading in the direction he saw Neo heading towards.
_________________________

Slowly, Neo floated into the middle of a clearing in the forest. Looking around, the shadows loomed larger than normally, though Neo assumed that to be the glasses. Looking around further she looked for any sort of intuition for which direction Roman would be. Unlikely but not impossible, and so she looked. That is until she hear a growling behind her. Quickly turning, she saw herself face to face with an Ursa Minor. With barely enough time to react, it’s large paw swatted at her causing her form to shatter like glass.

Her semblance brought her away from the beast, but her sunglasses fell to the ground in front of the Grimm, which the beast stepped on as it began it’s offense. Rushing forward, she began attacking, hitting at the joints of the beast causing it to buckle, every attack it gave getting dodged or smacked away, and as the beast fell slightly, The handle of the umbrella slid out to reveal a small rapier like sword which she quickly pushed through the side of the beasts head, causing it to still and slowly turn to dust.

Turning around she saw another Grimm entering the clearing.

Another one?

The Grimm reared up onto it’s back feet and began to roar, until it abruptly stopped. Neo slightly tilted her head and watched as the Grimm turned to dust as it fell, revealing a man with black clothes and a headband over his left eye, as he put his red katana back into its sheath. The two were looking at each other, locking eyes.

Damn it. Sorry Roman.

“Hello. My name is Adam.” The man asked. Neo stayed silent. He walked over to her and looked around the clearing before pointing North. “I think I saw a sort of structure that way. I think maybe we should check it out.” Neo gave a short nod. Adam simply nodded back and began leading the way.
____________________________________
Roman was not having a good day.

Neo may have told him he’s being dramatic, but she’s not here and the lone Beowolf across the clearing from him seemed to agree, so he’s got that going for him.

Oh right. The Grimm.

“Listen friend,” Roman began speaking to the Grimm. “I’ve not been having a good day and clearly,” He said as the beast was lowly growling. “You’ve not been having a great day either so maybe, just maybe, if we sit down and talk, we can solve this problem peacefully, eh?” Roman said, spreading his arms out with a small smirk on his face.

The beast howled, piercing the clearing with noise as it called for its brethren.

“That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that we’re going to have a productive dialogue Greg.” Roman told the beast before it charged forward. “Well, alright then Greg. Let’s tambo!” He said, getting into a battle stance. He paused for a moment before groaning. “Tango or Samba, Roman, stick to one!” He said, rolling to the side as Greg charged past him. “At least only Greg heard me. And you’re not gonna tell anyone, right?”

“WRAAGGGHHH!” Greg roared as he swiped at Roman who rolled backwards.

“I love you too Greg. But alas,” Roman said, rolling past Greg under another claw of the Beowulf. “Our love was never meant to be!” He said in an exaggerated and mocking fashion before raising his cane and firing two blasts into the chest and shoulder of the beowulf, causing it to stumble backwards as more Grimm came into clearing. “Oh… Is this a family reunion? Never had one of those. Heard good things.” He said as his mind went into overdrive.

‘Come on Roman, think. You’ve gotten out of worse scraps than this. You can get through this. God, I could really use some help now, Lady Luck.’ Roman thought as he watched the Beowulves surround him. A rustle behind caught his ears, along with the sound of metal slashing into Grimm as a person slid into formation behind.

“Need a hand?” Asked the man, who Roman recognized as Whitley Schnee. Rich guy who promised Roman soft blankets. It may be easier to get a hold of them than he thought.

“Might as well.” Roman said with calm cockiness, his face truly showing how nervous he was. How thankful he was that they were back to back. “Besides fights are more fun when you have someone to share them with.”

“Don’t you suppose you had a plan?” Whitley asked, hoping for a yes.

“Yes.” Roman said, giving Whitley a flash of hope. “Well, No.” Roman continued, dashing that hope away. “Well, kind of. It was just ‘survive’ before but, hey, now I have you!”

“And now you have a plan.”

“Yeah. Survive.”

“Great. That’s a plan I can get behind.” Whitley growled as he got into a stance.

“ Three o’clocks got less numbers,” Roman suddenly said. Whitley looked and sure enough, there was a gap in enemy ranks. “You brought a lot of Dust with you, do you have a few Fire Crystals?”

“No, I do have a few vials though.” Whitley said, pulling out three vials from a small bag on his side and passing them behind them to Roman who swiftly grabbed them, putting his cane around his arm. The grimm growled as they began to charge.

“TIme to Run!” Roman said, grabbing Whitley’s hand and swiftly running towards the gap. A quick slide under their legs caused the two to pass unharmed. Roman tossed the vials behind them as he ran and grabbed his can fire blindly behind him once, confident in the fact that Lady Luck was on his side.

The shot from his cane flew perfectly into one the vials, causing a chain reaction of a wall of fire, burning the route behind them cutting them off from the Beowulves and giving the two time to escape.
____________________________

Adam and Neo stalked through the woods in silence, quietly heading continuously north. Soon enough they pushed through into a large clearing with a small circular stone temple, whose walls had long since deteriorated and fallen, leaving only the stone framing to remind passersby that it ever existed. The two shared a glance and headed toward the temple. Soon enough they entered and found a series of columns rising from the ground to about waist height, for Adam at least.. All of them had empty stand’s except for two. Both columns, on opposite sides of the temple, had marble stone statues of a knight from the game of chess. Picking one up, Adam looked to Neo.

“You have a place to hold this?” Adam asked, not wanting to have to carry it all the way back. Neo quickly walked over and grabbed it, flipped it over to reveal a carabiner welded into the relic, which she quickly strapped to one of Adam’s belt loops. “How did I not see that?” Adam muttered under his breath, to which Neo replied with a simple shrug. “Well, we have the relic. Now, we just have to get back. I would’ve thought initiation would be harder.” Adam said with a small smirk on his face.

“Go go go go go go!”

Adam turned to the noise to see two men running in from the west, stumbling out of the forest they quickly ran into the small temple and once they were close, Adam recognized the one with white hair as a Whitley Schnee.

“Hey Neo.” The redheaded one said, lightly panting. Neo replied with a simple nod as Adam turned to face his shorter partner.

“So that’s your name.” Adam said, receiving a nod in return. “Well, that’s a good name.” He said before turning to the newcomers. “You,” He said, pointing at the white haired boy, “I know.” He turned to the Schnee’s red haired partner. “You, I don’t. My name is Adam Rachat.” Adam lied. “Your name is..?”

“Me?” The redhead asked. “My name is Roman Torchwick. I’m-”

“Okay, why were you running?” Adam interrupted with a question.

“O-okay, well, you see, we kinda sorta maybe had a run in with some Grimm that-”

“In no fault of our own!” Whitley quickly added, which Roman jumped upon.

“Yes, no fault of our own!”

“A series of rather unfortunate events.”

“So unfortunate.”

“Terribly unlucky events.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say unlucky.”

“We started a forest fire.”

“They happen, it’s a natural cycle of life and death in the woods!”

“That sort of thing is usually a controlled fire done by professionals.” Adam interjected.

“Well it was the only way to get away from that horde of Grimm!” Roman exclaimed in his defense.

“I’m sorry, what?” Adam asked.

“But they’re still chasing us!” Whitley said before his face blanched.

“From a wide distance! The only way they’d catch up is if we stood around for a bit simply arguing and oh my goodness.” Roman said as his face blanched too.

“What are you talking about?” Adam asked sternly, his voice growling.

“Well, we kinda, sorta, maybe-” Roman started.

“Completely accidentally.” Whitley interjected.

“Complete accident, and through no real fault of our own, kinda, maybe, sorta, led a large horde of Grimm to this location.” Roman finished, his sentence capped off by a howl from the east. The group turned to see a single beowulf emerge from the forest. “Hey, it’s Greg!” Roman said with a small smile. More Grimm emerged as they began to charge towards the temple. “I don’t think Greg likes me anymore.” He said before turning to the group. “Alright Gang, any ideas?” Roman asked.

“Running worked well before.” Whitley quickly supplied, grabbing the other Relic of the same kind and strapping it to his belt loop.

“All in favor, say Aye!” He said before Neo kicked him in the shin. “Ow! Right! Let’s just go!” He said before the gang took their leave and started running back to the cliff to the north.
________________________________________________

After a few minutes of running, the four came upon an old stone bridge with large columns on either side in various sizes, symmetrical on either side. Roman skidded to a stop when he saw the bridge with a manic smile on his face.

“Oh this is great! I have a plan!” Roman said, looking to Whitley as the rest of the group stopped ahead of him on the bridge. “How much fire dust do you have and what quality?” He asked.

“Around 3 vials. Finest quality.” Whitley replied, reaching into the small bag on his hip.

“I’ll take it but it’s not quite enough. How about some lightning?” Roman added, taking the three vials.

“6 Vials.”

“I just need 2.” Roman said as he grasped the two extra vials. “Neo,” He said, turning to the small woman. “I need a knife.” He said and in just a few moments Neo had four large knives for Roman to choose from. Roman took one and Neo put them back in their respective places. “Now I need you three to hold them off while I do my thing.”

“What thing would that be?” Adam asked confused.

“I’m gonna make a bomb.”

“What?”

“We blow the bridge, the Grimm can’t get to us without finding another way across and we have time to escape.” Roman said, turning back to Adam as he continued to walk backward. “Hold them off so I can get this done safely.” Roman told the group, and off went Whitley and Neo. Adam held for a moment, simply watching Roman before he turned back to Whitley and Neo.

“It’s a different situation Adam.” He muttered to himself before heading off with the others. “Schnee.” Adam said, his voice while not full of malice, had no kindness in it as he took his place between Whitley and Neo

“Rachat.” Schnee said, his voice containing a friendly camaraderie that brought memories of The White Fang. Kinder ones. Then… worse ones. But that was behind him.

“Any thoughts on who goes where?” Adam asked. “I’m more of a front line guy. Not much distance work.”

“I can stay in the back. My glyphs can let me bring up defenses where they break through you guys.” Whitley said, watching as the horde began to fill out from the wood. “How ‘bout you Neo?” Whitley said, the two turning to look to the girl, only to find empty space, before looking back to the horde to see Neo running straight in to fight.

“Huh.” Both Whitley and Adam said at the same time. “Well then,” Whitley continued. “Go after her. She’s your partner after all.” He said with a friendly smile. With a roll of his eyes, Adam charged forward as well, with Whitley staying back to make sure none got through.
________________________________

If one took a cursory look at the teams who graduated initiation, you would be able to tell that some had more issue than others. Team CRDNL, when they walked onto the stage, they looked untouched, clean. Team JNPR, however, were more rugged and their clothes were scuffed up a bit.

When Roman Torchwick, Neo Politan, Whitley Schnee, and Adam Rachat were sent up however, their struggle and misfortune were as evident as a slap in the face. Roman had black soot stained into his clothes and wiped away from his face, his hair stained with soot and his hat in his hand, completely unharmed. Adam was the most unharmed, himself only being scuffed up and wrinkled. Whitley and Neo took the worst of it however, still dripping water as they walked onto the stage.
“Well,” Ozpin started as he looked over the four initiates. “It looks like you’ve had quite the adventure.” Three quarters of the initiates all looked over to Roman.

“You could say something like that.” Whitley said with a small smile.

“Roman Torchwick, Adam Rachat, Whitley Schnee, and Neo Politan. I name you four Team TRWN, Led by Roman Torchwick.

“You’re kidding me right?” Roman said as his eyes went wide. He zoned out for a bit as he began to realize his newfound responsibilities, only to be interrupted by a sharp pain in his side. Looking down, he saw that Neo had jus punched in the side with a small smile on her face.

“Congratulations, Captain. You deserve it.” Her smile seemed to say.

“Do I?” He pondered under his breath as Neo guided him off the stage along with the rest of his team.

His team. That’ll take some getting used to.

His team. His team.

The team that was specifically his.

That team.

…

“I’m gonna get you all killed aren’t I?”
______________________________

Ruby Rose walked down the street in the middle of the night, her sister, Yang, just a bit behind her to her left. Ruby wore dark dress pants, a dark red button up with, the top two buttons left unbuttoned completely for style, along with dark dress shoes and dark red gloves, which came to an elegant ensemble. Yang had a more rough and tumble look, with jeans, boots, a white dress shirt with the top button unbuttoned, showing just the head of what seemed to be a large tattoo of a golden dragon, and her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. The two saw, headed to an empty warehouse. Once inside, they found it’s shelves empty, leaving a simple way to the center. Quickly making their way to the center, they found two groups.

One had Cinder Fall, and her two adopted cronies, Emergency and Mercenary. At least, that was the closest to their names Ruby allowed herself to remember. The two had no charm to fill a thimble, let alone a person. Macaroni couldn’t find himself to be anyone but a thirteen year old edgelord who thinks it’s cool to draw guns in the margins of his notes. Embellisher was slightly better, making up the lion’s share of charm from the two. That, however, comes from no interesting personality traits, and rather her need to be seen in a good light by Cinder, likely due to her own… Yearnings.

Cinder looked as attractive as she always had and with a quick glance to Yang, Ruby saw her gaze fixed upon the woman's legs. A quick elbow to the ribs fixed that and Ruby turned to the third party.

A black haired, cat eared faunus woman with a black outfit, with white highlights over it. She had a Grimm mask over her eyes and what seemed to be a small squadron of the white fang behind her, likely an elite guard.

“Well well well, Look what the cat dragged in.” Yang said with a small smile as she looked to the White Fang woman in charge, earning nothing but a snarl from the black haired faunas, glares from the White Fang behind the one in charge as well as Ruby and silence. “Jeez, tough crowd.” Yang said, pulling at the collar of her shirt as she laughed nervously.

“Please excuse my colleague,” Ruby said, easily slipping into the invisible Triangle of Cinder, the White Fang leader, and finally herself. “She has an…” She paused as she came up with the right words, pulling down on her gloves, ignoring the incessant thumping of her own heart, caused partially by meeting someone new and more being the fact that she was massively outnumbered here. “...Imprudent tendency to her humor. I apologize on her behalf for any offense caused.” She said, putting her hand over her heart, feeling it’s thump-thump thump-thump against her palm. “I would not wish to upset a potential business partner.” Ruby said, a slight edge to her voice, aimed solely at Yang.

“Not potential. Already Existing.” Cinder said, bringing everyone’s attention from Ruby and Yang to herself, something Yang was more than happy for. Cinder looked to the White Fang leader. “Blake Belladonna, Meet Ruby Rose,” She said, gesturing to the woman in question, who bowed in response, causing Yang to shuffle in surprise and awkwardly bow as well. “The best thief in the business and the only thief who’s a woman of her word.” Ruby smiled at the compliment as she rose from the bow, though it didn’t help calm the beating of her heart. “She’s also the woman who’s been providing you with the Dust you’ve been using for the White Fang.” The fact that that was the only statement that seemed to make Blake react was only slightly bruising Ruby’s ego. Cinder turned to Ruby Rose, now gesturing to Blake.

“Ruby Rose, Meet Blake Belladonna. Leader of the Vale branch of The White Fang,” That explains the guards. “The person who you’ve been stealing Dust for.” Blake didn’t seem shaken, and gave only a single nod in acknowledgement.

“Now, don’t get me wrong I’m all for making new friends,” Ruby lied. “But why are we meeting? Wouldn't it make more sense for us to not meet? Plausible Deniability and all?”

“The reward’s of you three working together will outweigh the risks.”
“You three? You mean Me, Ruby, and the Racist over there?” Blake asked, pointing at Yang.

“No. Come on out Werkzeug.” CInder said, and jumping down from the rafters was a woman with short white hair and a full black face mask with dark glass obscuring their eyes. “Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the best assassin in the world.”

“How do you know that?” Blake asked. Cinder simply smiled.

“Because I made her kill the others.” Cinder said. “And now she’s at your services. Free of charge.” She said. Ruby’s eyes kept coming back to Blake’s smile as Cinder said that. Practically a snarl, a beast finding an easy way to kill prey. “I feel like today marks a wonderful start to a wonderful new partnership.” Cinder said, looking to Ruby. “Don’t you agree Rose?” She asked, but Ruby could tell by the smile, she wasn’t asking, not really. Ruby’s mind went back to Linda, and Cinder’s threat.

Her choice was clear.

“I do.”

Chapter Text

Ruby loomed over her, a small smile on her face.

“Linda Linda Linda…” She said, dragging a finger down Linda’s face as she pinned her to the bed. “You’ve been quite the naughty girl haven’t you?” Linda smiled in response.

“Maybe.” Linda replied with a smile. Ruby’s smile widened.

“Tsk tsk, Wrong answer… Looks like I’ll have to punish you.” She said with a smile, leaning down into Linda’s neck, her hand pushing up under her dress.

Knock Knock Knock!

Ruby and Linda both sat up in shock looking towards the front door.

“Maybe it’s a door to door salesman.” Linda said.

Knock Knock Knock!

“Rubes, it’s me! Open Up!” Yelled a voice from outside the apartment, muffled.

“Shit, that’s Yang. She won’t stop until I let her in.” Ruby said, getting up from the bed heading to the door. “What do you want Yang?” Ruby growled as she flung the door open. Standing there against the doorframe was Yang herself, drinking iced coffee, holding another for Ruby herself.

“Geez Rubes, what’s up with the attitude? You’re like a smaller, more annoying Emerald.” Yang said, waving the second iced coffee to Ruby.

“Yang.”

“Fine, alright. I’m here because we need to talk business.” Yang said, walking in. She set her extra iced coffee on a table as she sat down on one side of the table.

“What’s going on?” Linda asked, walking out of the bedroom.

“I’m sorry but I’ll have to take a rain check.” Ruby said, grabbing the iced coffee Yang brought, quickly putting it into Linda’s hands. “Something came up, I’m sorry.”

“Are you… Serious?” Linda asked as Ruby led her out of the apartment.

“I have to do this, I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you.” Ruby said, as Linda sighed.

“You bet you will.” With that, Linda had left. Ruby shut the door to her apartment and walked back over to Yang, quickly snatching the Iced Coffee away from Yang, taking it for her own.

“Hey!”

“You interrupted me, so this is your payment for my time. What do you mean by business?” Ruby asked, taking a seat on the other side of the table from Yang, steadily drinking from the Iced Coffee.

“Fine. Cinder contacted me.”

“Fucking what!?” Ruby said, slamming a hand onto the table.

“She said you weren’t answering. Told me to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“There’s a dust shipment coming to the docks in around a month. It’ll be delivered one day, shipped to the dust shops the next. She wants us to get to it first.” Yang said, bringing her feet up onto the table.

“Don’t put your shoes on my table, it’s bad manners.”

“What? We’re criminals, who cares?”

“I care, just get them off the table!”

“Fine!” Yang begrudgingly took her feet down. “Listen, she wants you to use the new guy. Workzoog.”

“Werkzeug.” Ruby corrected.

“Right, but anyway, she wants you to use them, get more comfortable with them, you know.”

“She does know I’m a thief right? I don’t have many uses for a killer for hire.” Ruby asked, putting her face against the table in annoyance. Yang reached over and grabbed the iced coffee Ruby had taken.

“Well, some time with the white haired murder meister is what the doctor ordered.” Yang paused for a second, sipping her coffee. “Unrelated, do you have any apples?”

______________________________

“We have frozen apples.” Roman said, poking his head out from the fridge in Team TRWN’s dorm room to look at Jaune Arc, currently nursing a black eye.

“Frozen apples? Why do you have frozen apples?” Jaune asked, looking as confused as he could without hurting himself.

“We have other things…”

“Then why were frozen apples your first suggestion? Are they chopped up apple slices or just whole apples?”

“They’re sliced, you want one?”

“I do!” Yelled Nora, a red headed student wearing grey sweatpants and hoodie, from atop the shoulders of Whitley as he stumbled around the walls of the room.

“Please get off me.” Whitley pleaded.

“To the refrigerator, my steed!” Nora yelled, pointing in the direction of Roman.

“Ren, help.” Whitley said, looking over to Ren, a black haired student with a pink strip in it wearing a green yukata and black leggings, and also one of the only two people who were actually studying, only joined by Adam.

“Nora, get off him please.” Ren asked, not even looking up from his book about the Biological Implications of Grimm.

“Ugh! Fine!” Nora conceded before lurching forward, causing Whitley and her to fall to the floor. Nora quickly springed back up and grabbed into the fridge, pushing Roman’s head to the side as he managed to wrestle out a package of Peas.

“Jeez Nora.” Roman said, before heading to Jaune who was sitting on Roman’s bed. “Here kid, for your eye.” He said, tossing the peas to Jaune before sitting next to the blonde.

“We’re the same age.” He said, putting the frozen peas to his black eye, hissing at the touch.

“Yeah, but i’m not the one with a black eye.” Roman paused for a moment as he watched Jaune slump and grumble under his breath. “Come on, Jaune. You’re getting better with every fight!”

“I’m still losing.”

“Yeah, but we’ve all lost fights, right guys?” Roman asked the others.

“Well...” Went Pyrrha Niikos, the only one wearing her school uniform, sitting on the floor next to Jaune.

“You don’t count, you made a reputation and a living out of not doing that, okay.”

“We’re the top teams in the first years, most of us have only lost to each other.” Adam added, not even looking up from his book about the many applications of aura, both theoretical and practical.

“Okay, so maybe they’re not the best example. I’ve lost fights too okay.” Roman said. “You’re getting better, okay Jaune?” Roman said.

“Yeah, fine.” Jaune said as he stood up, but Roman had a feeling that he was simply saying that to force an end to the conversation. “I’m gonna get drinks, anyone want anything?” He said as he walked to the door, looking over to Neo as she quickly gave her order in sign language.

“I would like maple syrup!” Nora said, as she ate the bag of frozen apples.

“Nora and I would like some water.” Ren said, once again not looking up from his book. Nora pouted.

“I would like a diet coke with a lemon wedge in it.” Roman said with a smile.

“Weird. Anyone else?” Jaune asked.

“Water.” Adam said simply, focused on his studies.

“I’ll have what Roman’s having.” Whitley said as he rubbed his shoulder from his fall.

“That’s quite a lot, would you like help?” Pyrrha asked, standing up to join Jaune.

“Sure, c’mon Pyr.” Jaune said, walking out of the room with Pyrrha following behind.

“So,” Roman spoke up after a few moments of silence. “Those two are adorable together, right?” He asked. He was faced with mass agreement.

_________________________________________

Pyrrha and Jaune walked through the halls to the nearest vending machine in silence.

“So…” Pyrrha said to break the silence. “About training.”

“Pyr, not now, okay?” Jaune said as they arrived at the vending machine. He was about to pull out some money when Pyrrha simply waved her hand and the coils that kept the items in place moved and soon enough their drinks fell to where they could grab it. “Wh- What?”

“My semblance, Polarity.”

“So… you can mess with… poles?” Jaune asked as he grabbed the drinks, handing some to Pyrrha.

“Jaune… You’re a very smart leader… But you’re an idiot.”

“Hey!”

“I have control over metals via magnetism.”

“Oh… Cool.” He looked to the drinks in their hands. “Crimes!” He said before heading back to the dorm room. Pyrrha lightly giggled at the silly nature of her partner and watched as he headed back. She quickly followed Jaune and became in tandem with him.

“I really think you should let me train you Jaune.”

“Pyr…”

“Jaune, you could really benefit from having a trainer.”

“Pyr, can we please just not?”

“Jaune, you need to admit that you need help with this! Nobody’s perfect-” Before Pyrrha could finished, Jaune whirled towards her.

“But you are Pyrrha! You're perfect. You’re the invincible girl, apparently, and you know what you’re doing! I don’t!” He burst out waving a water and a diet coke around to gesticulate with

“Jaune, you do. You earned your place here a-”

“No, I didn’t!” He interrupted again.

“Wh-what?”

“I lied, okay?! Are you happy now? I admit it, I lied and cheated my way into Beacon. I faked some transcripts and I lied!” He paused as he panted. “I lied. I have no combat experience. I never trained under a huntsman or in a combat school.” He let out a small laugh, the same laugh you would have if a best friend died under ironic circumstances. “I stole my sword from my parents. It was just hanging on the wall, gathering dust, like a skeleton in the closet. Hidden away in a room nobody uses.” The two were silent in the hall as tension grew,

“Jaune…” Pyrrha said about to reach over and hold onto his shoulder before Jaune started walking towards the dorm. “Jaune!” She said as she rushed after him. But soon enough, they were already at the dorm and Jaune was handing out drinks.

“Here, Roman,” Jaune said, handing him a coke as Roman laid down on the bed. “No lemons were in the machine so none for you.” 

“Ah well.” Roman said, as he cracked open the can. Jaune immediately lied down and began a conversation with Roman. Pyrrha sighed and began to hand out the rest of drinks.

They’d talk about it later.

__________________________________

Later.

She was always put off till later. She knew that her… well, she didn’t quite know what the two of them were. She knew she was a busy woman, but whenever she was rushed out of the door was just…

It hurts.

Linda was currently standing outside of Ruby’s apartment, consistently aware of the folder in her bag. She quickly rapped her knuckles against the door and waited for the door to open. After a few moments, Ruby opened the door, shocked to see Linda. “Linda? What are you doing here?” She said, opening the door further for her to enter which she did. Setting her bag on the living room, she turned to Ruby, silhouetted by the window she stood in front of..

“What are we?” Linda asked straight out.

“What?”

“What are we?” Linda asked again and Ruby slowly walked over, reaching for Linda’s hands. Ruby’s hands were rough and covered in calluses, rough and firm, yet they were soft and gentle, always.

“What do you want to be?” Ruby quietly asked in the dim light of the setting sun, bleeding in through the windows, a steady orange glow and warmth that always reminded her of Ruby in the morning sleeping and cuddled around her... Linda hadn’t realized how long the paperwork had taken to be drafted up, she'd started around midday.

“More than what we are.” Linda whispered as she looked into Ruby’s silver eyes, lovely and unique and beautiful, glistening in sunset light. More beautiful than Linda had ever thought she herself could be. Ruby had on many occasions refuted that claim, stating that her soul was ugly, tarred and scarred by too much. Linda always had always disagreed and soon enough Ruby would take the disagreement to the bedroom to settle it. It was never settled for long.

“More than what we are, huh?” Ruby spoke softly, gently pushing forward before pressing her forehead against the top of Linda’s head. “I’d like that.”

“So would I.”

“So… dates? Dinners?” Ruby said with a small smile hidden in Linda’s hair, yet evident in her voice. Linda quietly laughed.

“Of course. You’d best be paying.” Linda said, pulling away just to see Ruby’s face again.

“Of course… You’re my little flower after all.” Ruby said with a smile, before leaning down and kissing her, silhouetted by the sunsets dark purple sunset as it faded to orange near the horizon.

She’ll deliver the divorce papers tomorrow.

______________________________________

The clangs of metal colliding with the automated training dummies filled the room. Jaune was training, and soon enough, he felt it bash into his armor and send him to the floor.

“Sparring Finished. Trainee, defeated.”

“Yeah, Yeah, Rub it in.” Jaune said as he stood back up from the floor.

“Y’know, throwing yourself into a brick wall without any instructors kinda sucks.” Roman’s voice let out and Jaune quickly turned to see Roman leaning against the door frame.

“What do you mean?”

 “I mean that I know what it’s like to not be very good.” Roman said as he pushed off the door frame. He began walking down, spinning his cane around his wrist. “I’ve had Melody for seven years. Most huntsmen have been training for their weapons and had them since they were seven or something but, I’m different.” He said, tossing his cane to his other hand as he came closer to Jaune.

“What do you mean?” Jaune asked, heading towards a bench on the sidelines.

“Tell me Jaune, how rich is your family?” Roman asked, as Jaune sat down on the bench. Jaune paused for a moment in surprise.

“I don’t know. We had to get a pretty big house because of the amount of us.” Jaune said as Roman sat down next to him.

“I heard, seven sisters, huh?”

“Yeah… It’s a lot to deal with.”

“I wish i had that problem.”

“What?” Jaune looked over at Roman to see him staring down towards his feet, yet he was staring far beyond his feet, as if through the floor. He had a sad smile on his face.

“Too much family to deal with.”

“What do you mean?”

“... I never knew my parents. Raised in an orphanage.” He looked over Jaune to look him in the eye. “I never had a parent that was a huntsman to teach me. I barely had time to even train.” He gave out a small laugh. “I was too busy stealing bread. I have theft down to a science.” He said,  a small smile on has face. He waved his hand, as if to say that he was getting back to the point. “I started actually training at ten. Late for your average huntsman, but I’m anything but average.” Roman said with a cocksure smile, and Jaune could see as Roman began to put back on the mask that he almost always had on, one that he hadn’t realized was there before the unveiling. Roman hesitated before continuing. “He helped me get to a place where I was able to be properly trained by Neo when I met her. I had spent so much time using bad footwork and I kept falling into the same shoddy lines of attack that took an equal amount of time unlearning  as too to learn that behavior. He was great.” He said with a sad smile across his face.

“... What happened to him?” Jaune asked, but he was afraid he already knew the answer.

“Got a job to clear out some Grimm in some town. Never came back.” The two knew what that meant. It was a hazard of the Job. “Never even had the chance to say goodbye. He left a note at the usual spot and like that, I never saw him again.” Roman said, his voice starting to crack as he looked down towards the floor. Quickly sniffing, Roman stood up, making a point to keep his face away from Jaune’s sight.

“So, That’s enough i’ve got things to see, people to do!” Roman said, trying to sound as confident as he could with a voice as shaky as his at the moment. “Bye!” He said, quickly heading out of the training halls. Jaune was quiet as he sat on the bench, alone. Quietly, he pulled out his scroll and went to the text logs with Pyrrha. They hadn’t spoken till their argument that evening. He just looked at the logs for a while before typing up a message.

I’m sorry for how I acted today. I would like it if you could train me. You were right. I do need the help.

He looked at the typed out text and simply read it over and over a few times. He stood up and walked to the training hall doors, slowly shutting them, leaving him alone in the closed room. He walked back to the bench where his sword and shield sat. He looked back down at his scroll, reading the message once more.

He sent it.

With a sigh, releasing his tension, he put in a few numbers in his scroll, as he began to make a call. He sat down on the floor next to the bench as he listened to the ringing. It clicked as the call was answered and the screen popped up. Jaune heard a small gasp as they saw who had called. Jaune sighed with resignation.

“Hey… Mom.”

______________________

Yang sat on the edge of a building, her feet dangling down the edge. She was looking at the night sky, watching the few stars that were out in the city. She took a swig from the bottle of whiskey, gracefully hanging from between her fingers, a five story drop to the concrete ground.

Yang leans forwards and begins to fly up headfirst towards the concrete sky, flying faster and faster towards the solid grey. It gets closer and closer until-

Yang brought the cigarette in her other hand up to her lips and took a large puff before blowing it out through the midnight air.

“Those’ll kill you y’know?” Yang heard from behind her. She recognized the voice as Emerald, Cinder’s lackey, so she didn’t turn around, simply breathing in another puff. Emerald sat down next to her. Yang turned to look at her and blew the smoke in her face.

“What do you want?” Yang said, looking back over the city. The city was lit up, more alive than at any time of the day. The lights from the buildings and cars were reminiscent of when she would look up at the stars back home in Patch.

“Daddy!”

 

“What is wrong with you Tai?”

 

“I’m doing what I have to Qrow!”

Yang shook her head. The past is in the past. No need to dig it back up.

“Oh, I just decided I wanted to talk to someone without any brains.” Emerald said, looking out over the city. Yang could tell that she couldn’t get it. Some people just don’t get Vale. They see the city, but that’s all it is to them. Just a city.

Vale is more than a city. It’s a lifeline. Not in the way the people in charge would tell you, that it's a bastion of hope against the Grimm, that life outside the wall is a death sentence. No, they don’t get it either. They could never get it. You either get it or you don’t. And Emerald? She doesn’t.

“Emerald, do me a favor?” Yang said, getting off from the ledge, tossing the cigarette out off the ledge before walking towards the door to lead them down into the building. She opened the door, holding it open. “Either you can stay up here and go fuck yourself, or you can follow and let me do it.” She said, causing Emerald to stiffen as her cheeks began to warm up. “Five.” Yang said and Emerald quickly got off the ledge and went over. Once she got close to the door, Yang grabbed onto Emerald’s chin, squeezing her cheeks together. “Say thank you.” Yang said. Emerald was silent, looking into Yang’s eyes with a silent challenge. Yang smiled. “Naughty Girl.” Yang said, shifting her grasp to Emerald’s hair before dragging her along towards Yang’s apartment.

______________________________

Werkzeug walked through the apartment silently. It noted the lack of personal touch. The apartment seemed like it was supposed to be a temporary set up, only used for a week or two at most. But the tool knew the truth. It knew this apartment had long since eclipsed it’s intended time of occupancy. Werkzeug quietly followed the trail of clothes to the bedroom.

The door opened silently and Werkzeug walked over to the side of the bed it’s two sleeping occupant’s were facing. Kneeling down, It was face to face with the two sleeping women. Looking to the face of the woman cradling the smaller of the two, Werkzeug saw the sleeping face of one Ruby Rose.

Walking around, to the other side of the bed, Werkzeug put a note down on the bedside table and went out of the bedroom, silently closing it shut behind her. Ruby Rose and Linda Leman slept on, unaware of the infiltration.

The note was laid bare to be read without having to be picked up. It read simply: I’m no mere Killer for Hire. Signed, Werkzeug.

Chapter Text

It was a calm day in the small town of Ravenwood. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and Ella Sky, a woman with short brown hair covered by a straw hat, golden amber colored eyes, and jean overalls, was working in the garden, tending to her Fianc é’s favorite flowers; Marigolds.  Ella felt someone hug her from behind, resting their chin on her shoulder.

“They match your eyes.” Said Ella’s wife, Kendra Fall.

“I know.” Ella said, giggling at the tickle of her beloved’s breath on her neck. “You always say that.”

“Well that’s why they’re my favorite.” Kendra said with a smile before giving a light kiss in the crook of Ella’s neck. “They remind me of you.” Ella’s smile widened at that, her eyes closed as she relished in the quiet peace of the two of them in the garden. Suddenly, she heard a siren be let out. The Grimm siren. It was only used when a horde was on the way. Ella tried to sit up to run to her weapons to try to help, but Kendra’s embrace kept her in place.

“Kendra, what are you doing? I need to help, I know I retired but it’s a horde!”

“You won’t save them.” Kendra said quietly.

“Kendra, what are you talking about, Let go!”

“You can’t save them.”

“Kendra stop!”

“You were supposed to protect me, Ella.”

“Kendra, please, you’re not making sense!” Ella said with tears in her eyes.

“The garden’s destroyed already, do you really want me to be gone too?” Kendra asked and just then Ella realized that the garden had been ransacked, her house aflame. The flowers were charred and trampled, the fences were knocked over and slashed open, the smell of blood stuck in the air.

“H-How?” Ella asked before finally being let go of by Kendra. Ella shot forward and looked back to see Kendra standing there, her face matted and her hands covered in blood, yet she was smiling like nothing was wrong. “Are you okay?” Ella asked in shock.

“No. I’ll never be okay. You left me alone and now I’m gone.” Kendra said, before letting out a small laugh. “You always said I shouldn't keep everything bottled up. Well, I guess it’s time to spill my guts.” Kendra said, before a beowulf claw skewered through her gut. Ella’s eyes widened and reached out for her, shouting.

“No!” Cinder yelled out, lurching up from her slumber in one quick movement, one arm outstretched to save someone that wasn’t there. Panting, Cinder spent a moment with her arm still outstretched before twisting it so her palm faced the ceiling. A small fire ball erupted in her hand, quietly crackling in the air. She closed hand into a fist, extinguishing it. Looking over to the clock, she saw it  was five in the morning. Might as well get to work, she supposed.

Besides, she knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep anyway.

Yang woke up slowly, quietly lumbering up out of her empty bed. Emerald had left earlier, heading back to whatever apartment she had to sleep in. She headed over to her apartment’s window and opened it for as fresh of a breath of air she could in Vale. She looked out over the city to see a small black bird on her apartment’s fire escape. A crow. She grabbed a nearby bottle of beer and threw it at the bird, causing it to fly off and the bottle to shatter.

She learned early in her life to never trust a Crow.

“What did you get for question 22?” Roman asked before falling face first into his bed. The rest of the team followed him into the dorm room with the same exhausted tone.

“I got 42.” Whitley said, sitting down, tired after Oobleck’s pop quiz. Hearing that, Roman popped up with a smile.

“Me too! Adam?” He said, looking over to Adam and his terrible haircut.

“Forty-two.” Was all Adam said as he pulled a water bottle from the fridge.

“Yes! We all got the same answer!” Roman said with a smile.

“What about Neo?” Whitley said, looking over to the lady in question.

“I cheated off you Whitley!” Said the peppy voice of P.E.N.N.E. or Penny, the artificial voice for Neo.

“You cheated off of me?” Whitley said, indignant of the fact. “You could have told me, I’d have made it easier.”

“Well, it was already really easy.” Neo typed into Penny. Whitley gave a small, slightly disappointed “Oh” in response and soon enough the room was filled with thick awkward tension.

“Oh my god, I’m bored!” Roman said, standing up with anger in his eyes. “This is a school where you become a Huntsman! We’ve all seen the movies, even the fleshy ones, and they’re all more fun than this! We need to do something exciting!”

“Like what? Stop a terrorist group?” Whitley asked, sarcastically. Adam, in response, choked on his water. “You okay Adam?” Whitley asked after a few moments of coughing.

“Wrong hole.” Adam croaked out in between coughs.

“That’s what she said!” Said Penny as Neo silently laughed.

“I certainly hope it’s not.” Roman said.

“That’s what he said?” Whitley asked.

“Absolutely not.”

“ That’s what he said!” Penny said through the scroll as Neo continued laughing, getting a soft glare from Roman.

“You guys are terrible friends.” Adam said, finally getting air in his throat as he stopped his coughing fit.

“You guys are terrible friends, Title of your sex tape.” Penny (therefore Neo) and Roman said at the same time before high fiving.

“What the fuck is this?” Ruby growled out as she tossed a note to the feet of Werkzeug, who was sat in the central are of the dust warehouse, sharpening her daggers. She stopped and looked down at it before quietly looking back up to Ruby, her black mask obscuring all emotions. “Is this some kind of threat?!” Werkzeug tilted their head in confusion. “Come on! Answer me!” Ruby demanded. Werkzeug simply pulled down the collar of her black turtleneck, showing pale white skin and a deep scar horizontally along her throat. “O-Oh.” Ruby said, the anger dying in her throat. Werkzeug picked up the note and pulled out a pen, scratching out a quick note before handing it back to Ruby.

“This was something necessary.” Was what it read. Ruby raised an eyebrow and looked to Werkzeug.

“Are you talking about the scar or the stalking?” Ruby asked. Werkzeug simply shrugged. Ruby gave out a small laugh at that. “Well okay then, fuck you. Don’t you ever fucking try that shit again.” Ruby said, before storming off to plan the docks heist. Werkzeug watched her leave before looking back to her blades and continuing to sharpen them.

Adam groaned against the Library table, his book about the study of Dust laid out across the table.

“You okay buddy?” Whitley said from across the table. Adam pushed his body up and looked over to him.

“This is stupid, and dumb, and I don’t understand it, and I want to stab someone.” Adam growled out as he glared at the textbook.

“Me too.” Went Penny, as one of Neo’s automatic responses.

“That seems rather violent.” Jaune said, leaning back in his chair to look at Adam, turning away from the board game his team were playing.

“That sounds like you’re volunteering.” Adam said, glaring at the man.

“That sounds like it’s my turn.” Jaune said, going back to his team’s game, despite it still being Nora’s turn.

“What’s giving you trouble?” Whitley said, crossing around the desk to sit next to Adam.

“It’s talking about Dust mixtures which just doesn’t make sense!”

“Well, it's a very complicated process and these textbooks have a tendency to make it even more so. But it’s easier to see it like this.” Whitley said as he began to explain passionately and in great detail about Dust Mixing, Adam listening intently. Jaune looked over to Neo as she watched Team JNPR’s game.

“Hey, where’s Roman? Shouldn’t he be with you guys?” Jaune asked as Ren began his turn.

“He went to some Team Leader training thing. Said he was assigned to learn from a second year, Coco Adel. They’re meeting this week.”

“That’s weird. I was given the same thing but it was last week. Odd.”

Roman sat across from Coco Adel, leader of Team CVFY, in the dormitory break room. She wore a brown sweater with a dark colored corset over it, a brash choice, but it worked on her nonetheless. She had a scarf of similar color to her sweater around her neck, and hanging off said scarf were a pair of black sunglasses. Atop her head was a dark brown beret, her light brown hair billowing underneath. Roman had to admit, before her, he didn’t think an outfit consisting of brown and similar colours could work, and yet, here she is.

Her dark brown eyes were looking over him, and Roman knew that while he mentally went over her outfit, she was doing the same to him.

“White? That must be hard, it stains so easy.” Coco said, a small smile on her face as her eyes returned to his. He returned a smile of his own as he replied.

“I’m just lucky. Never had to deal with it all that much. When I have, it’s never been difficult.”

“Oh, so you’ve never gotten dirty?”

“Not with my clothes on.” Roman said with his trademark cheeky smile. Coco laughed it off, taking a sip of her coffee, never taking her eyes away from his.

“But that’s half the fun.” Coco said slyly, reciprocating the smile. Roman broke eye contact, laughing as he did so. “There we go.” She said with a smile. “Took longer than I expected.” Coco said, her smile widening.

“That’s not usually a problem.” Roman said, realizing the connotations as he spoke. “I meant with words! I’m… usually more quick on my feet.” Roman said as he remembered his encounter with Ruby Rose. “Usually.”

“A shining endorsement.”

“I have my moments.” Roman said with a smile.

“You certainly do.” Coco said with a smile, standing up from the couch, setting her drink on the table between them. “Sometimes I can hardly help myself. Roman, before we do this, I have to tell you, I am in a polyamorous relationship. Does that make you uncomfortable?” She asked, walking around the table towards him.

“No, not at all. Why?” He asked.

“Good.” Was all Coco said before pouncing onto him, pushing him down onto the couch. Their lips crashed together as Coco pinned him down, straddling him as she kept his hands above his head. She pulled away from the kiss, bring her hand to his shirt as she began to unbutton it off of him. Roman’s thoughts pulled away from the encounter he found himself in, realizing that the two were in a public dormitory breakroom, causing him to say one thing before it all fell away as his attention was brought back to Coco.

“We’re terrible dormmates.”

“And that’s!” Whitley said, writing  down the end of a dust equation onto Adam’s homework sheet. “How you find Dust Isotope 392!” He said, setting the pencil down. “Got all that?” He asked before turning to Adam, only to find Adam sleeping, face flat against the table. His mouth was slightly open, causing drool to pool on the table. “Oh… Guess not.” Whitley mumbled, grabbing his scroll and checking the time, realizing he had been talking about Dust for nearly 2 hours.

“Guess I got a little rambly.” He said with a small smile. “This reminds me of when I was younger. My sister, Winter, she would go on long winded speeches ‘ about the importance of form ’ and ‘ to always be prepared ’, you know, that bullshit.” He said, doing a bad imitation of his eldest sister. “One time, me and my other sister, Weiss, snuck out of the lesson during her speech to go to this arcade. We spent the whole day there. When we got back,” Whitley let out a laugh. “She tried scolding us but we were so happy with this big teddy bear that it didn’t matter. That bear was huge, like twice my size. Huge.” Whitley paused for a moment, his smile faltering. “Weiss loved that thing.” He said quietly. He looked over at Adam, and he felt his smile slowly grow back onto his face. He reached over to gently push the hair out of Adam’s face, but when he touched the hair, Adam woke up.

Adam reacted… badly.

Adam slapped the hand away, frantically backing away, his eyes wide. The two locked eyes for a moment before he turned and ran.

Whitley did not follow.

No one can know. They can’t know. They can never know. If they ever find out they’ll hate you, they’ll hate you, they’ll hurt you.

A sob choked out of Adam as he leaned against the bathroom sink. It tingles, a sensation that consistently reminded him it was there. He brought his left hand to the brand on his face, his fingernails pushing against his skin, threatening to push through. The eye itself was practically unusable.

They can’t know, they can’t know, they can’t, they can’t.

Adam fell to his knees, his hand falling from his brand. His floodgates opened and he was broken.

“ You’re nothing but a slave to them. ”

If they know, they’ll hurt him. If they know, they’ll leave him.

“ If you were good enough, Ghira would still be alive. ”

Stop it, Stop it.

“ It’s your fault he’s dead. ”

That’s not fair, That’s not fair.

“ It’s your fault he’s not still alive. His blood is on your hands and if you weren’t such a coward, you’d kill yourself before any more lives are on your conscience. ”

No, I don’t want to, I don’t-

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and Adam swung over and looked over to see Neo looking at him, eyes wide in surprise, yet full of empathy. That’s when Adam realized he could (kinda) see her with both eyes. His left eye was uncovered. He quickly tried to cover it but before he could she slammed into him, embracing him. He was quiet for a moment before the tears broke through and he broke down, wetting her shoulder with tears.

She stayed with him like that until he was done. He pulled away from her, turning his head so she wouldn’t see. She brought him to the opposite wall from the sinks and leaned against the wall, bringing him next to her. She began pulling at the scarf around her neck, taking it off, revealing the deep scar tissue of multiple tears at the flesh, like buckshot. Adam looked into Neo’s eyes, and they understood. They stayed there for a long time. Two broken people, standing in silent solidarity with each other.

The two sat on one of the couches in dorm breakroom, sweaty and in silence.

…

…

“So…” Roman began.

“So…” Coco continued.

…

…

“That was…”

“Really good.”

“Thank you, you were also… really… good.”

“... Thank you.”

“You’re… welcome?” A ping came from Roman’s scroll. Roman quickly grabbed it and checked it. “It would seem that my partner is having a crisis of some sort. He’s really worried” He looked over to Coco. “Okay, look. I really enjoyed this. I really enjoy talking to you, you’re really cool and amazing,” He said as he stood up and began getting dressed. “But I really should go talk to him, and I’d love to do this again or maybe a date, or a picnic or something nice and cute, because you’re great and deserve great things and i’m rambling aren’t I, sorry, it’s something that i do when I get worried and he’s a good friend and i really hope this doesn’t paint a bad picture of me, I really do want to continue this and-” Coco reached over and grabbed the waistband of his pants, pulling him into her and pushed her lips into his, shutting him up. After a few moments she pulled away.

“Shut up. And go help your partner. After all, that’s what team leaders do.” She said, pushing him away. He nodded and quickly finished getting himself somewhat presentable while Coco began to get dressed, and then ran off to his partner.

Roman entered the dorm room to find Whitley, bundled in soft white blankets, lying down on his bed. His face was the only thing visible, the rest of him covered.

“I think I messed up.” Whitley said as Roman closed the door behind him. “I messed up and he’s going to hate me.” Roman slowly went over and sat down on the bed near Whitley’s waist.

“Who?” Roman asked gently.

“Adam.” Whitley said.

“Why would he hate you?” Roman asked, and Whitley began to explain what happened, how he tried to brush the hair out of his face and Adam woke up and ran and that it’s all his fault and- “Hey hey hey… breath in.” Roman said, breathing in himself so that Whitley would imitate him, which he did. “Breath out.” Roman said, exhaling after a moment, with Whitley imitating soon after. “He doesn’t hate you. You surprised him and from what you described, stumbled onto something he doesn’t want to show you. Next time you see him, apologize, and let him tell you in time, okay?” Roman asked. Whitley nodded, his breathing now steady. Whitley paused and sniffed the air.

“What’s that smell?” He asked, causing Roman’s eyes to widen.

“It’s probably nothing, anyway, I have things to do.” Roman said as he backed into the bathroom, shutting the door as he entered it. Whitley looked at the bathroom door with a raised brow in confusion.

“Huh. Weird.”

Cinder Fall stood on top of the roof, a glass of wine in one hand and a folder in another as she looked out over the skyline. Behind her, Werkzeug jumped down from an adjoining building, it’s fall turning to a silent roll.

“Werkzeug. You can do better than that.” Cinder said, turning around to the black-clad, mask wearing Werkzeug. “Blake has a job for you.” She said, handing the folder over to them. It opened the folder and skimmed over it quickly. “I suggest you get it done quickly.” Cinder said, before walking past her, back into the building. Werkzeug flipped open and looked at the photo attached, seeing a darkskineed woman with black hair, a red bindi on her forehead, and golden yellow eyes. Next to the photo was a name.

Sienna Khan.

High Leader of The White Fang

Chapter Text

Werkzeug was in it’s small room, a delicacy that Cinder allowed her to sleep there instead of a cage. Looking over it’s closet, it pulled out a white outfit, a far reach from it’s usual outfit, but it would work for her goal. It was a white Atlesian Specialist outfit. It would work for Blake and that is the job. Werkzeug set it down and began folding it into a black briefcase, along with multiple knives. On top, it put the folder entailing the job and a bag full of leaves before shutting the briefcase.

It had work to do.

For the first time in their tenure at Beacon, The Team TRWN dorm room was quiet. All four were in the room, but none spoke, the tension thick in the air. It was a new day, the events of yesterday behind them, but yet it haunted them in this moment.

“I’m sorry.” Whitley said, breaking through the tension. Everyone turns to look at him as he continues. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done what I did. I just… I need you to know I’m sorry. If… If you want to talk about it, I’m here. If you don’t, I understand, I’m just… sorry…” Whitley finished. Adam stood silent, staring at Whitley. Slowly, Adam nodded.

“I…” Adam began, but found himself faltering. “I forgive you… You didn’t know. But…” He paused. “I’m not gonna talk about it. Not now at least.” Adam said before turning away, finishing the work he was doing and then heading out the door.

The flight from Vale to Mistral was a nice one to most. To Werkzeug, however, it was different. A flight is not nearly as nice when you’re a stowaway, stuck in between crates. A flight is a flight, however, and a flight without a papertrail is even better.

The aircraft shook with turbulence and a small box fell down onto Werkzeug’s head, clattering to the floor next to it.

Just because it was good for it’s job didn’t mean it had to like it.

Classes were awkward.

Usually he would crack jokes in the middle of lectures to his team, but Whitley was… unresponsive, in a state. He was unmasked, stuck in his own head about what happened. That was a problem that, unfortunately, he couldn’t solve. Not with a joke at least. Neo was on his other side, who was usually fun to bounce bits off of. However, she was currently busy with Adam, helping him cope with his business, something Roman wouldn’t insert himself in. This all ended up leaving himself with nobody to joke with.

That, however, would mean listening to Port’s lecture, and Roman has a reputation to uphold, and it was close to the end of the school day, so of course he couldn’t.

To Roman’s luck, a message blinked up on his scroll. It was from Coco.

Coco: Remember what you said yesterday, about a date?

Roman smiled before, typing out a response.

Roman: Vaguely. More exciting memories fill my mind when I think of yesterday

Coco: Think harder, and maybe you’ll get a reward

Roman: I do love rewards. I remember, why?

Coco: Well, I’d say that now is a good time. Meet me at the courtyard

Roman: See you soon

Roman looked back up and saw that nobody was paying attention. Either to the teacher, or their surroundings, and the door was ajar, a perfect opportunity, especially with Port having his back to the class. Nobody noticed as Roman quietly got up. Nobody noticed as Roman headed to the door. Nobody noticed as he left.

Roman sat down on the bench next to Coco Adel, both out of their school uniforms and in their own preferred outfits, each with a smile one only gets when skipping class.

“So, what is the plan?” Roman asked as he brought his feet up and sat criss-cross on the bench, looking up at a nearby tree. “Where’re we going?” He elaborated, perhaps unnecessarily, lightly tapping his shoulder against hers. 

“You’re the one who suggested a date yesterday. It’s on you.” Coco said with a smile on her face. Roman simply laughed at that.

“I suppose you’re right.” Roman said before looking back up at the sky. After a moment he unhooked his legs from each other before hopping up in front of Coco, holding a hand out for her to hold, leaning on his cane as she used it to stand. “I know a place.” He said with a smile.

The hotel room was small and ratty, the unnatural light coming from the bare fluorescent light turning it into an even more sickly pale tone. The walls and ceiling were stained and moldy. the bed looked as if there were someone supposed to clean it, they were long since dead and nobody bothered to fill the position. Walking into the room and closing the door behind them, Werkzeug headed into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. They went down to one knee, setting her case in front of them pulling it open. Reaching in, they pulled out some plastic sheeting and laid it inside the bath. 

Tomorrow would be a good day. It’s predicted to be nice and sunny, a perfect view of the sky. A good day for Sienna Khan to die.

“Hey where’s Roman?” Whitley said to Neo and Adam as he put his stuff away at the end of class. Adam paused from putting his stuff away to looking around, also just now realizing their leaders absence.

“Huh. I don’t know. Neo?” Adam asked, hoping for their leader’s partner knew. She nonchalantly put out some hand signs Adam clearly understood. “What do you mean he left?” More hand signs. “Half an hour ago? He just left in the middle of class?!” Adam asked, to which Neo nodded, a motion Whitley could understand.

“How did we miss that?” Whitley asked in confusion. Neo began making more hand signals before sighing and simply pulling out her scroll.

“I distracted Adam and You are an unobservant buffoon.” The excited voice of Penny came out, tone not matching the words.

“Hey!”

Coco and Roman found themselves in front of The Club, a night club run by an information dealer by the name of Junior. It was a den of thieves and mobsters, which was likely why Roman felt so at home there.

“This is a great place.” Roman said taking in every nook and edge of Coco’s face as she looked at the neon sign telling the name

“Oh really?” Coco asked. “How did you learn about this place?”

“I know the owner.” Roman said. It wasn’t completely false. First time he found out about this place, he was on the run from a man who wanted him dead when he ran into Junior, who managed to get the guy off his back. Roman came around to return the favor in whatever way he could and the two hit it off like a rival nightclub on fire

“Mr. Popular, huh?.” Coco said as they entered through the doors, revealing the classy, for a nightclub, inside. Black and white colors weighted through the entirety of the club, making the red accents of the architecture and the bouncers and waitresses pop even more. The two walked to a booth at the side wall, lucky to find one that was empty with this crowd, though Roman was a little disappointed they couldn’t get a corner booth. As they saw down, his eyes dragged over the crowd, recognizing a few old friends, a few old enemies, and a few old business partners.

That’s when Roman saw he was being watched. From the second floor landing stood a woman in a dark red dress with gold accents and dark black hair, and golden eyes, ever watching him from her vantage point, lightly swirling her glass of wine. Next to her was a woman with long blonde hair and purple eyes, wearing a tan duster andblack gloves with subtle padding built into them on the knuckles. He locked eyes with the one in the dress who simply smiled and waved. An old acquaintance perhaps? Always a possibility.

There’s always a need for a small kid in crime, be it either their small fingers for lockpicks or bombs, or the way that most people rarely ever question a poor round-faced homeless kid to see if he’s a drug runner. That’s the main way how a lot of kids stayed alive when they had no other options. Like models and actors, their face is often the most important part of their job. It was something that, even after he was too old for the jobs he used to do, he still practiced on.

Roman used it as he smiled up at the lady, lightly waving back, the perfect image of friendliness, the only sign of nervousness being his hand rubbing his knee, something he thought he had done with years ago.

“There he is. The kid who went up against Ruby.” Yang said, her eyes flicking to red, watching from up above Roman.

“He won’t talk.” The one with black hair said simply.

“How do you know that?” Yang asked, looking to Cinder now.

“He’s a street urchin.” Cinder said. “He scanned the room the moment he entered, which is admittedly something they teach in combat schools before entering the major huntsman academies. However, prior to applying to Beacon, Roman Torchwick did not exist.” This caused Yang to do a double take between Roman and Her.

“What do you mean?”

“No records, not even so much as a birth certificate.” Cinder explained. “It’s another point towards street urchin. There’s also his manipulation of others around him. There’s no underselling the power of a smile. From what bugs we have in Beacon, he’s managed to paint himself short, less of a threat than he is. That, my dear, is at the heart of every grift and con in the book. You trick the mark into thinking they understand the situation in its entirety.” Cinder now looked over to Yang. “With that in mind, he won’t talk. He knows what it’s like to be on the other side of the law, and he understands how important it is to be anonymous in the eyes of the law, and how far people will go to protect it.”

“How do you know that?

“Oh Yang… Why do you think he uses a cane?”

The sun was shining. The birds were singing. There wasn’t a cloud in sight.

It was all in all a perfect day to die.

It wasn’t perfect for a murder, which was unfortunate. The sun would cause the body to decay, there would be more people outside taking advantage of the weather.

That wouldn’t stop Werkzeug though. They focused more on making their victims last moment nice, as nice as being murdered can be anyway.

But in this case, perception matters more than comfort.

They sat silently on the rafters above Khan’s Throne, looking at her scroll, clad in the Atlesian Specialist Uniform she had brought. The cameras had been easy to hack through, at least to what they expected.

There’s her next appointment coming up the Hall. It’s time.

Werkzeug dropped from the rafters onto Khan’s chest, coming down to her from an angle, knocking the throne backwards onto the floor. Pulling out a small knife, Atlesian Military Standard, they brought it down as fast as they could. Khan’s aura sparked in defense as she tried to push them off.

Normally by now, her aura would be fine, but due to the poison Werkzeug put in her morning tea that had taken its intended effect, by now it was a little over halfway to broken. Khan managed to push Them off, sending Werkzeug a few feet back as she checked her mental clock

22 seconds until the appointment arrives. Not now.

Khan got up in time to dodge a slash and then another from her attacker. Giving her enough time to pull her weapon as she jumped back. She slashed her chain weapon forward, attempting to wrap it around her attacker, who dodged out of the way and tossed a throwing knife towards her, which landed in one of the chain links, pinning it to the floor. Werkzeug pull three more from the lining of her coat and threw those into other links into the chain, pinning the weapon to the wooden flooring. Sienna Khan growled and pulled out a knife from behind her.

Every professional has a back up.

Sienna rushed forward towards Werkzeug when her appointment showed up. Right on cue.

Werkzeug rushed towards the incoming Sienna, slipping out the Atlesian Military Standard-Issue Knife from her coat lining as she ran, before sliding beneath Sienna’s slash, grabbing her target's leg as she did so. With the grip on her leg keeping it still, Sienna Khan fell forward, slamming into the floor with a loud bang and a shatter of Aura. Quickly, Werkzeug turned and grabbed her hair, pulling Sienna’s head up, revealing her neck. WIth one strong fluid motion, flesh met steel, blood met air and then wooden floor, and Sienna met her end.

The appointment was still there, standing in shock and fear. In his hand, a scroll recording what was in front of him. A knife thrown in his direction, and he was gone. By the time he came back with White Fang, The Assassin was gone.