Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest.
A lone figure cloaked in red hood walked down the back alley of the streets, shrouded by the shadows of the buildings under the silvery full moon light. The figure took its time to slowly pace through the alley, stopping just as more figures emerged from the shadows.
The newcomers had already positioned themselves to completely surround the first figure. A slight chuckle was heard.
"Well, what do we have here?" A distinctive gruff voice of a man said as the surrounding figures began to close in onto their target. "A lone person walking down the shady part of the town." A knife was flashed out from the pocket of what seemed to be the leader of the group. "Didn't anyone tell you to be careful around here? Especially it's at the dark of the night."
"Oh yes." A high-pitched voice sounded from the lone figure, clearly a young-aged female. "I've heard almost everything about this part of the town." The figure pulled back her hood slightly, revealing the beautiful face of a young woman.
"Oh? A girl? And a pretty one at that." The leader smirked, knowing that he had scored big time. "How about this? In an apology of scaring such a young pretty lady like you, we'd like to escort you out of this part of the town." His smirked turned lecherous. "And have some fun at the mean time?"
The woman gave a smirk, but gave no reply as she raised her left hand. "Zwei." Her voice echoed softly from her lips. Her raised hand then gave a click between the fingers. "Time to feed."
"Feed?" The leader's expression twisted into confusion just as the sound a deep growl and a muffled gurgle exploded from his left. "Wh-What?!" He turned to see that one of his goon was gone, a bloodied mess having taken the latter's spot.
"Mister..." The woman slowly approached the leader. Another growl, and flesh being ripped apart echoed from her back this time. "Has it ever occurred to you, that maybe I am the one luring you all along?"
"What...What the hell is going on?!" The leader took a step back, fear began to creep into his very being. Something was out there. Something extremely dangerous. He looked around to find three more bloodied spots taking place of his missing goons. "What the hell is that?!"
The woman sighed. "Zwei." She spoke out seemingly to the shadow itself. "How many times have I told you. Don't leave a mess of your meal."
"What the fu-...!" The leader had his breath cut off by a heavy kick into the stomach, throwing him all the way into the wall at his left.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The woman clicked her tongue slowly, waving her index finger in a scolding manner at the downed man. "You should know better than producing an outburst of profanities in front of a lady." A slight smile grazed the woman's lips.
"Who..." The leader coughed, slowly gaining his breath. "Who in the fucking hell are you?"
"Ruby Rose." The woman pulled a large block from behind her waist, which slowly unfolded itself into a scythe. The gleam from the moonlight revealed blood-red components on the transformed weapon. "Or you can simply call me, Red Riding Hood."
The man barely had time to scream, as the last thing he watched was the complete lack of sanity in those pair of silver eyes and the black blade of the Grim Reaper's instrument descending upon himself.
White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test.
"Weiss Schnee." A deep booming voice rang out within the courtroom. "Accused and proven guilty with charges of human trafficking, illegal biochemical researches, inhumane experiments on human subjects, and several crimes which defy human morals." The lawyer who was reading the charges glared at the accused behind the bars, who retained a neutral expression throughout the readings. "Weiss Schnee, what do you have to say for yourself?"
The neutral expression soon broke into a light-hearted smile, as the accused turned to the judge of the room. "What's the difference between lying and speaking the truth?"
The response to the loaded question was an uproar from the audiences in the courtroom. "Orders! Orders!" The judge slammed his gravel against the sounding block on his bench. Having quietening the spectators, he turned to the smiling woman. "Weiss Schnee. Do you plea guilty?"
"Why do I even have to deny what I've done?" Weiss chuckled softly, as if the charges were nothing to her. "After all, I take pride in my deeds." This created another uproar from the spectators.
"Orders! Orders!" The judge repeated the action with a higher volume of yelling. He then returned his glare at the witty woman. "Weiss Schnee, I take it that you plea guilty."
"Yes." It was a curt and nonchalant reply.
"I shall ask again. What do you have to say for yourself?" It was not a question.
"Is that really a question you should ask me?" Weiss took the effort to actually sigh in exasperation. "But if you must insist, Your Honour, I do have something to say."
"And that will be?" The judge raised an eyebrow.
"Boom." A ghost of whisper escaped Weiss' lips.
An explosion blew the windows inwards, forcing the screaming occupants to scurry for covers. Weiss took this chance to kick at the back of the knee of the guard at her right, forcing the man into a kneeling position. This was soon followed by a hard left knee into his face which broke his nose and knocked him unconscious.
Weiss then jumped and spin in the air, throwing out a reversed hook kick into the back of the second guard's head and sent his face crashing into the steel bars. The guard slowly slumped onto the ground, out cold.
"That was disappointing." Weiss sighed as she crouched down at one of the fallen guards, frisking through the belt until she found the keys to unlock the cuffs on her wrists. A couple of quick clicks and the cuffs dropped onto the floor.
"Freeze!" Weiss glanced over her shoulder to see several armed personnels already had their weapons trained at herself. "Put your hands where we can see them!" One of the personnels yelled.
"Are...you sure?" Weiss slowly raised her hands, turning around to face the guards.
"I said freeze!"
"Alright, alright." Weiss turned fully and stopped, her hands raised beside her head. "Like you've said, Freeze." Glyphs appeared on the ground beneath the guards in a sudden, immediately followed with massive spikes if ice erupting from the said glyphs.
Another explosion rocked the courtroom, which then softened into glass cracking and was accompanied with a breeze of icy mist floating from the door of the room.
There was a pregnant pause of silence, when the door leading into the courtroom burst open. Weiss Schnee retracted her arms and straightened the black necktie which contrasted with her pale dress suit and features. She turned back to admire her masterpiece with a slight smile.
"Maybe you should have chosen your words carefully, my dear sirs." She gave a flick through the edge of her snowy hair and strolled through the evacuated and empty hallway. "After all, one should never ask Frostbite to freeze." A ghost of chuckle escaped from the one and only Weiss Schnee.
The interior of the room was completely covered with ice. Most of the bodies were encased deep with the frozen grave, whereas some more unfortunate ones have the tip of the icy spikes skewered through their torso. Slowly but surely, the ice were dye in red. Blood red of the life fluids leaking from their victims.
Black the beast descends from shadows.
"Bartend." A raven-haired woman exquisitely dressed in an uneven dress sashayed towards the bar counter, catching the attention of the bartender.
"How may I help you today, Miss?" The bartender, a Chinese descent with a set of black crew-cut hair and goatee gave a casual grin to his customer.
"One Mimosa." The woman returned the smile. "And possibly a Gin along the way."
"One Mimosa for a young beauty like you." The bartender bowed in a gentlemanly way, and went to work on the cocktail. "And may I assume the Gin is for someone else?"
"Why yes." The woman took the pleasure of striking a conversation with the bartender. After all, the man had some charm on himself. "I do have a companion who is on his way here."
"I see." The bartender placed the glass of the ordered beverage on the desk before the woman. "Shall I wait for your companion to arrive before serving the Gin?"
"Of course." The woman gave a good-natured smile. "Thank you very much, Bartend."
"Call me Junior." The bartender left with a smile, likely went to serve other customers.
The woman lifted the glass to her lips, savouring the sweet mixture of liquor and citrus swirling on her tongue. A few moments passed in the soft beats of the music within the club until the woman felt a presence approaching her from behind.
"Taurus." The woman spat the name without turning to face the newcomer. "You're late."
"You have to forgive me, Belladonna." A smooth male voice replied as the newcomer took a seat beside the woman. "Bartend." He called for the person in question. "I believe that this lady has ordered my drink for me."
"So you must be the one." Junior approached the counter, a glass of Gin already in his hand. "Here's your Gin, sir. Please, enjoy." He then left the two alone to tend to other customers.
Taurus nodded with a smile and returned his gaze to Belladonna. "It's rare for you to call me out of nowhere." He took a sip on his drink. "What is it that you need?"
"Remember the latest heist that I skipped out?" Belladonna continued savouring her mixture, her expression uncaring. "It seems that things has gotten a little too loud."
"And you're worried because...?" Taurus raised an eyebrow.
"Not only the police is after us now." Belladonna deadpanned with an gaze turned to Taurus.
"What do you mean?" Taurus fully shifted to face Belladonna, his expression solemn.
"White Fang is sniffing around as well."
"What?" Taurus snarled, turning back to his drink. "As if they aren't enough of an annoyance."
"This is all I have to say." Belladonna finished her drink and stood from her seat. "Be careful out there, Adam."
"You too, Blake." Taurus finished his drink as well and left a tip for both his and Belladonna's drink, standing from his seat and disappearing among the dancing crowd.
Belladonna knew as soon as she stepped out of the club. She knew she was already be tailed the moment she started walking down the streets to her hideout.
Glancing over she shoulder slightly, Belladonna caught sight of several figures dashing into the shadows, as if to hide from something. Breathing out a deep sigh, the woman took a sharp turn to her left and slithered among the crowd who still wandered well into the night.
Turning around once she felt that she had hidden well into the crowd, Belladonna saw several heads stood out of place, turning wildly as if they were searching for something. Or rather, someone.
Belladonna began to take several strides towards one of her stalkers, pulling a thick needle from the thigh strap on her right thigh. In a swift movement that confused all but the most trained eyes, she drove the needle deep into the chest of the tall male. The strike buried the needle into the flesh all the way to the base, piercing through the heart of the helpless victim.
The man choked and staggered forward, unknowing that the woman that bumped into him turned out to be his target-turn-killer. He felt the strength of his body fading away and slumped heavily onto the ground, choking on the blood that flowed out from his mouth.
It took more than a few moments for someone on the street to realise that a murder took place among themselves. A scream followed sent everyone in the vicinity into panic. The other followers who stalked Belladonna were sent into confusion to see one of their fellow members killed in the middle of the street. They turned to one another and with a shocked nod of the heads, took off into the night.
The escape was short-lived when the members took a turn into the alley, hiding to hopefully catch their breath.
"What...What was that?" One of the escapees panted, leaning on a squat against the wall.
"I don't know man." Another person shook his head. "Jacob...Jacob just died! Without us seeing anything!"
"So it has to be her?" The third person's voice was already laced with fear.
"I don't know!"
"You don't know jack shit!"
"Shut the fuck up!"
"Don't be so dramatic." A distinctively female voice stopped the three men on their tracks. They slowly turned their eyes to the source of the voice, as a figure walked out of the shadow in a slow carefree manner. Blake Belladonna stood in front of the remainder of the people who stalked her earlier in the night.
"Midnight...Marionette..." A fearful mumble was heard from one of the three man.
"That's me." Blake smirked at the distinctive title. "Or what almost everyone know me as." She then showed a provocative gesture at the men. "Aren't you supposed to do something, members of the White Fang?"
"Get...Get her!" Irrational thoughts overrode the fear within the men. They had thought that being superior in numbers allow them a much higher chance of winning.
It all happened within seconds. One moment the three thugs were charging at the woman, the next two of them were on the ground. One had a stake stabbed deep into his throat, gurgling and drowning in his own blood. The other had a rusted pole driven deep in from the back of his skull.
The third man was kneeling on the ground struggling against the hold Blake had applied on his neck. Having hooked the back of her right knee against the man's neck, Blake gave a light twist of her own hips. The cracking sound of the vertebrae snapping in places brought music to the woman's ears.
Satisfied with her work, Blake released the limp corpse from the hold and allowed it to slump heavily onto the ground. She face the three corpses on the ground, licking her lips sensually.
"I can never get bored of this trill." A satisfied sigh escaped her lips as she sashayed into the shadows within the alley. "Maybe I should go and find the White Fang themselves."
Yellow beauty burns gold.
"And we have on my right, the five times defending champion..." The emcee gestured with his right arm. "The merciless fighter who makes sure that his opponents die from broken bones all over their bodies, CAE-SAAAAAR!" The roaring cheer from the audiences shook the entire concrete ring dug several feet into the ground.
The gate that was pointed at opened up with a loud creak, as a hulking muscled man wearing a pair of fighters pants knuckled gloves strolled out from the opening. The crowd began to chant his name over and over again. The fighter pounded his fists together and gave a loud roar of approval to the audiences.
"And now we have on my left, the upcoming challenger bought in and trained by one of our sponsors..." The emcee gestured to his left. "Even though she's a woman, she has fell down and rise back up again, only to hit much harder than before, BLAZIIIING PHOENIIIIIX!"
The similar enthusiasm was heard from the crowd as they chanted the name of the second fighter. The gate lifted creakily just as a young female body walked though. Scantily-clad in a bright yellow tank-top, a pair of black shorts, a pair of brown boots over a pair of black thigh-high sock, and finally a pair of gloved hands flexing within the leather fabric.
The woman walked over to the centre of the caged ring, the emotion in her lilac eyes neutral as she stopped just a few feet short from her opponent.
"Alright, you guys know the rules." The emcee stood in between the two fighters. "Nobody stops, until one of you draw your last breath."
Caesar grunted in acknowledgement whereas Phoenix gave a slight nod. "Good, and now we shall begin!" The emcee barely had time to duck as a fist flew right by his face, from Caesar to Phoenix.
Phoenix dodged to the side at the last moment, taking the advantage of the opening created by her opponent to deliver a left hook to Caesar's ribs. The large man grunted as he recoiled slightly from the punch, sliding back a few step to create breathing room.
Instead of pressing the attack, Phoenix only stood at the place of her first score, her fists lowered.
[Yang.] An alluring voice echoed within her head. [You can let go now.]
"Yes, Mistress." Phoenix's eyes snapped up to glare at Caesar, the irises fading from lilac to burning red.
Caesar barely blink when the woman suddenly appeared right in front of him, a fist already pulled back. He did not even have the time to raise his arms before the fist slammed into his chest with the force of a speeding truck, enough to throw him back into the wall behind him.
Coughing, Caesar shook the spot from his head, only to feel a booted heel slamming into his chest again. This time, there was a collective sound of bone breaking accompanied with stabs of pain coursing through his entire chest.
Phoenix lifted her foot and stomp down again, choosing the left knee as the target and caving in the entire kneecap. Caesar roared in pain as his left leg was rendered useless in an instant.
The next minutes were spent with Phoenix dropping heavy punches and stomped over and over onto the crippled body of her opponent. The audience went from cheering over the pounding to shocked gasp as the woman repeatedly destroyed the supposed 'champion' of the fight.
"Alright! Enough! Enough!" The emcee ran over to Phoenix, several other people running forward to pull the berserk woman off the mauled body. "He's dead." The emcee had placed a hand on the body's neck, feeling no pulse. "We have a winner! Phoenix is now the Champion!" The uproar of cheer was less than in the beginning, but was still enough to rattle the caged ring.
Phoenix did not even bother to greet the cheering audience as she returned to the gate where she emerged from, disappearing into the shadow.
"Well done, my little sun." Phoenix stopped on her track along the hallway, shivering slightly as a pair of feminine hands enveloped her from behind, pulling her into a soft embrace. "You can relax now."
"Yes, Mistress Fall." Phoenix's eye faded back to lilac as she slumped backwards into the arms of the older woman behind her. Soon, light snoring was heard from the slumbering younger woman.
Mistress Fall gave a light chuckle as she lifted Phoenix in her arms, bridal style, and strolled down the hallway.
"Sleep well, Yang Xiao Long." The older woman smirked, despite knowing that no one was watching. "After all, you have much to do."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. I'll appreciate reviews.