Author's Note:
Hello everyone, just the usual disclaimer here... skip to the good stuff! (or dont... It's your choice, really.)
This story was inspired by R.E.D. (Retired and Extremely Dangerous) - a movie starring the Die Hard guy (Bruce Willis). So naturally this is when Ruby is retired. I do not own anything to do with R.E.D. or any other stuff connected to that. Nor do I own anything to do with RWBY, that's all Roosterteeth. This is just my idea of a sort of RWBY: After Retirement and what that would look like. Also, events taking place that seem simlar to events in RED are not because I'm just replacing the characters of RED, it's because I needed a starting point. Nothing more.
Now please enjoy RWBY RED
Patch Island, Vale - 16:12
"Hey there Penny, is Weiss in today?"
"Not today I'm afraid." Penny answered. "Should I take a message?"
"Nah, I won't bother her then. It's just that I still haven't recieved that cheque I asked about last time." She replied as she looked down at the cheque in question that sat on the table in front of her.
"Still? What has it been? Four months now?" Penny tutted as the sound of keys clicking indicated her computer lookup. "Well, that is very odd but I will send out another cheque right away. Oh, good afternoon Ms. Schnee! I do hope the meeting went well!"
"About as well as you'd expect, Penny." A third voice spoke in the distance.
"Shall I order the usual for lunch?" Penny asked as her fingers continued to type.
"No thank you. I grabbed something on the way back. I'll be in my office." Weiss said before a distant click indicated a door being unlocked.
"Yes, mam." Penny responded. "Well Ruby, I've sent another cheque out. It should arrive within two weeks."
"Thank you Penny." Ruby leaned back in her chair to look at her white ceiling. "I heard Weiss come in just now, is she busy?"
"I dare say that she is, Ruby." Penny answered honest as ever.
"Would you be able to put me through? But say it's the Office of Internal Affairs." Ruby smiled at her practical joke. "Override Six-Alpha-Four-Epsilon."
A barely audible beep sounded out over the phone. "Yes, Madame Secretary. I shall put you through right away! Please hold."
The line went dead for a few seconds as Ruby waited then a slightly flustered sounding Weiss answered.
"H-hello? Madame Secretary?" Weiss asked her voice barely giving off a sense of nervousness.
"Hello Ms. Schnee, I'm calling about last year's audit." Ruby said, adopting an accent to match the real secretary's voice.
"Of course. How may I help you?" Weiss answered quickly and once again calmly.
Ruby could barely hold in a giggle and took just a fraction of a second too long to answer. "We seem to have made a grave error with one of your deductibles."
The line was silent for a minute.
"Okay, jokes over Ruby." Weiss sighed dropping her level of formality slightly.
"Damn. Oh well. So how's it going?" Ruby smiled as she picked up the cheque from the table.
"Same as usual. There's been a slight drop in White Fang activity, so that has been nice." Weiss said, simply rehashing everything Ruby already knew from the news. "How are things in Patch?"
"You already know nothing changes here. Cardin is still running that gym and asks me every time I see him when Yang will come back. Nora's club still gets at least a few noise violations every night but since Ren's the chief she never gets in too much trouble. And I still wait for that cheque of yours to show up." Ruby said thinking of the goings on of the small city. She ripped up the cheque and tossed it into her fireplace atop glowing embers.
"I can't believe you still haven't gotten that!" Weiss exclaimed. "I should fire whoever is in charge of sending payments!"
"Don't do that. It's not like I need it anyway. I still have my investments set up the way you did them back when we were in Mystral during the Third Campaign." Ruby said.
"Alright, fine." Weiss sighed. "Anyway, how's that hobby of yours coming along?"
"Fantastic actually, I'll send you a picture some time. It's now two leaves!" Ruby cheered with a hint of sarcasm.
"Well its not like it's going to grow all at once. I started mine ten years ago." Weiss said with a slight laugh.
"Still, you'd think three weeks might actually see a slight difference." Ruby argued.
"Impatient as ever. I still cant believe you retired before the rest of us." Weiss sighed, the noise of shuffling papers temporarily echoed in the background.
"Well, you know… nobody wants to hire some old Huntress when there are plenty younger and willing to work for less." Ruby sighed. "I was the only one of us that actually stuck with that career, so I guess it's my fault for not branching out."
Weiss let out an actual laugh. "At least you're free. I'm stuck here till one of those assassins finally puts a round through my head."
"Have there been a lot of attempts since last time?" Ruby asked as she stretched and switched the ear she had the phone pressed to.
"Sixteen." Weiss answered with a yawn. "I swear, since Ozpin and Glynda left, that school has gone soft."
"You heard too then?" Ruby inquired, wondering not for the first time how Weiss managed to keep tabs on almost all of Remnant.
"Of course. Although I do understand the reasoning since a fall from that height could kill you if you're not careful. Look at Jaune, if it weren't for Pyrrha he'd never have made it past the initiation." Weiss said.
"Ah, he was fine. Anyway, not getting launched off a cliff seems a bit soft, not to mention most of these missions they go on now are more or less patrols of areas we've cleared out ages ago, like that area south of Atlas where we went in our final year. I hear they still use the same coordinates even though we cleared it out with just the four of us." Ruby said. "You'd think since Pyrrha took over things would have stayed the same."
"Well, I heard the board of directors has been playing politics with her. Apparently they tried with Ozpin, but you know how he was." Weiss laughed again.
"Yeah, probably scared the hell out of them when they tried to force him to follow their rules." Ruby laughed. In the background she heard an alarm go off and Weiss sigh in response before the beeping disappeared.
"Sorry Ruby, I have another meeting to get to. It's been nice talking to you again. Next time you're in Atlas, look me up and we'll grab a drink." Weiss said, her voice slightly rushed. "And if we can track down those other two delinquints, we can have an actual reunion!"
"Sounds like a plan!" Ruby smiled to herself. Weiss might appear cold to everyone else, but to her old teammates she was actually quite friendly after spending ten years together fighting grimm and keeping Remnant relatively peaceful.
"Okay, but I have to go. Bye." Weiss said.
"See ya." Ruby replied just before she heard a click of the line being cut. She dropped the phone from her ear and turned it off. She sighed and looked around the room.
Her house consisted of two small floors, a basement and attic. The attic was unusable since the insullation had been horrible and the winters in Patch weren't something to laugh at. The upstairs had two bedrooms, one of which was empty and unused, and a bathroom. The main floor had a small kitchen with nothing but a small counter, sink and oven below a row of cabinets that held the few dishes Ruby owned. She currently sat in the living room across from her window on a couch that could seat two, not that it had ever gotten a chance in the twenty years she'd had it. In front of her was a small, circular glass table that held her phone and a pot with a two-leafed plant inside. Just to the right of her was the fireplace she often used instead of the gas furnace since the fire left a more calming atmosphere. The fire had gone out some time ago, but the hot coals still maintained enough life to have turned the ripped cheque to ash. On the mantle above the hearth, a single framed photo stood with it's polished silver edges shining in the late afternoon light.
It wasn't the nicest home, but it was a place to sleep. Something Ruby hadn't had the luxury of having for many years throughout her life. Now that she was retired, there was nothing to do except relax and enjoy what most people would call a normal life. Being who she was, Ruby spent most of her time at home or walking around town, not necessarily doing anything, yet helping keep the peace by hunting the few grimm in Patch's forest for sport. To say the least she was currently bored enough to sit and watch her plant grow.
"Maybe I'll take a nap." Ruby mumbled to herself as she slid sideways on the couch, her face landing in the small ray of soft and warm sunlight that slowly grew as the sun set farther on the horizon. "I'll find something to do tomorrow…"
End Note:
Well, thank you for reading, and I hope you like it.
Let me know what you think by leaving a review or PMing me. I always love hearing from you readers. As always, I will only ask that any criticisms be constructive.
Again, thanks for reading, and have a nice day (and/or night)!
Update 06-23-2015: EDITS! And Chapter 2 coming VERY SOON!