Chasing Robbers at Dinnertime

The summer twilight was truly beautiful in Pennsylvania. It was a great time to relax, wind down, eat dinner…or perhaps pursue the trail of a bank robber out to Valley Forge. Yang drove across the winding road a few miles under the speed limit while Ruby kept her eyes trained on the low lit forest outside, looking for any sign of the car they'd seen driving out of outer Philadelphia.

"Hey, Ruby, not to say that I don't like catching bad guys with you, but why exactly are we following this guy out here? We lost him ages ago, and it's not like we're getting any closer."

"I know they mentioned a forest, okay?"

"We live in Pennsylvania. Remember grade school history? The name literally means 'Penn's forest'."

"They went out towards the north highway, and I'm pretty sure we both know that the closest thing to a forest out here is Valley Forge Park," Ruby stated simply.

"Right. And you're sure you remember what the car looked like?"

"Positive. I also have a picture on my phone if I need to refresh my memory."

"Okay…we've only been out on summer vacation for four hours at best, why are we already getting into trouble?"

"Because it's fun."

"Alright, you win."

"And this guy needs to be stopped and the cops can't follow him."

"…Let's stick with fun as our reason, okay?"

"Fine…"

Ruby continued scanning the landscape as it grew dark, until she managed to spot the car in a driveway off the side of Valley Forge road. "There!" Ruby shouted, and Yang jolted a bit before swerving into the driveway next to it.

"Jeez, someone's excited," Yang mumbled as she put her vehicle in park and stepped out after the already loose Ruby, who was practically bouncing around the car, flashlight in hand as she searched for any sign of its driver or the money that used to be in the back seat. "Are you sure this is the right car?"

"The decorations all look the same," Ruby replied as peered into the driver's side window.

"You know, most people that nearly become a hostage don't follow the bad guys afterwards."

"C'mon, Yang, do you really think I was afraid of this guy?"

Yang shrugged. "Just saying. What about the license plate?"

Ruby trotted to the back of the car and pulled out her phone, quickly comparing the license plates and shaking her head. "No, it's different."

"So…it's not the same car then."

"They could have changed it."

"Why would they take the time?"

"Because they didn't know anyone was tailing them?"

"Well we were several minutes behind them."

"It probably would have only taken a few minutes to switch back."

"So they changed the license plate and decided to duck down in a government owned building for the night?"

"I don't think so…that guy said something about going through a forest…" Ruby pointed her flashlight past the car and tilted her head as she noticed a tiny path into the woods behind the house. "He continued on foot." Ruby rose to her feet and started towards the path followed shortly by a now laughing Yang. Ruby shushed her softly before giving a short signal to have them split up. Her sister gave a slow nod before moving down a different path. Ruby sighed and tread as softly as she could through the leafy area, keeping her flashlight trained down so that she wouldn't alert the thief to her presence, after a few moments she heard voices nearby and she sped up just a little to catch up until she saw the dimly lit figures of…two young men walking beneath the hill she was on. Funny, she only remembered one.

"I really didn't think you'd pull it off, you know."

"I told you, Perry, I had the whole thing planned, start to finish."

Ruby frowned as she hid behind one of the thicker tree trunks—that second voice definitely belonged to the robber. She highly doubted that anyone else could sound that arrogant in one small sentence. Ruby peered out from the tree and moved to the next one, glancing out once again to see if she could get a good look at the two boys. One of them was a little shorter, his frame seemed scrawnier and from the back his hair seemed to be dyed a shade of green. The other's hair was such a brilliant shade of orange that it would've been impossible to think he was anything other than a redhead. Ruby waited for them to speak again—the robber had been smart enough to wear a ski mask, so she wouldn't know which boy it was until she watched them speak.

"So what are you going to use it for?" The green haired teen spoke up, and Ruby mentally noted that he was the one that the robber had called "Perry".

"Plane tickets, for starters," the boy responded carelessly, "I wanna get out of here."

"Where do ya wanna go?"

Ruby's brow furrowed and she ducked down behind the next tree. All that money just to get out of here? That made no sense! Ruby got out her phone and began to text Yang.

[Yang, I found him]

[He's on the north end]

[I'll send you a pic]

Ruby turned off her flashlight and stuffed it into her pocket before peering out from behind the tree and positioning her phone for a quick shot. Ruby pressed the button quickly, but after a split second of recognition, her blood nearly ran cold. The flash was still on from earlier. Ruby fumbled to cover up the light before the boys could see it, but it was too late. It had gone off square on them. Perry was the first to turn around, and as Ruby rose to her feet, the redhead turned in confusion, and they made eye contact. Crap. He'd seen her. The redhead started towards her as she tried to run back the way she'd came, but sadly she'd entirely forgotten that her sister had forced her into heels for their night out and she lost her balance on a tree root only a few paces away.

The short moment before she fell seemed to go in slow motion as Ruby prayed that she wouldn't fall into the miniature ravine to her right. Prayed that she'd fall to her left and still have a small chance of getting away. Sadly, luck hadn't been on Ruby's side all night, and she fell to her right just before the redhead had gotten close enough to catch her. And everything went black.

oooOOOooo

Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in and BEFORE you make the immediate assumption, Ruby did not die. Now, if you've read my first Rosewick fanfiction, Still Dreaming, then you'll probably have a few questions about this one. I did mention on more than one occasion that I don't actually like the kidnap-Ruby plot, on a general basis, and that is for two reasons. One, for such a plot to canon to both character designs, Ruby would have to be in a situation that forced her to be significantly weaker than Roman, and Roman would have to be forced into a situation where taking Ruby as a hostage of sorts was the only option he could think of. Two, it is far far too easy to slip and write abuse or non con in a kidnap-Ruby fic. With that said, this is a kidnap-Ruby title, the only kidnap-Ruby title that I will ever write, promise.

So the basics of how this works…it's a modern AU, obviously set in south eastern Pennsylvania (because frankly it's the geographical location I know best), and only select characters are present. As keeping in-line with the AU, the faunus are now represented by the minorities local to their region, which you'll see more of later on. That's about all for now. Follow, fave or review if you like, I'll update when I have the time. Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter.