New Territory

The kingdom of Vale was not a quiet one. Day or night, the streets bustled with activity, from civilians to huntsmen, people of all ilk traveled here, and, well, Emerald Sustrai would be lying if she said she didn't appreciate the diversity. A quick slip through the main square had left her with the contents of twenty different wallets before twilight, all from equally amusing people with equally amusing reactions to realizing that someone had taken their money. It was nice to know that the trip over from Vacuo hadn't left her rusty. Emerald wandered the streets a little longer, taking in the sights curiously before spotting the Vale Museum just on the edge of downtown.

She smirked at the clearly lacking population near the building, and with only a moment more of consideration, she jaywalked across the empty street and began climbing the steps to the public monument. She had never been one for history, but…sometimes the myths that normal civilians believed in gave way to the most amusing…and most profitable artifacts in the underground. A gentle summer breeze swept against her just before she cleared the entrance, and she passed a small family of patrons as one of the security guards approached her.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but the museum closes in five minutes. We close early on Sundays," the guard spoke nervously, causing Emerald to smile and feign something that resembled polite sincerity.

"Oh, well…would it be alright if I used the bathroom real quick? I really, really have to go," she gave the guard her best set of Bambi eyes and watched him wither slowly.

"A-Alright, just be quick, okay? The curator doesn't like it if I let people in after the admissions desk closes."

"Of course! Thanks a lot, I'll be out of here before you know it," Emerald punctuated her little act with a light jog towards the restrooms, smirking as she turned the corner. She had no need to overstay her welcome, yet…breaking the rules made the trip all a little more interesting. So she waited, out of sight for a few good minutes before coming out and sending a hallucination towards the lone guard by the front desk, and while her illusion made its way for the exit, she slipped into the closed exhibits unnoticed.

Emerald folded her arms back behind her head, scanning the contents of the exhibits for anything that might catch some interest on the black market until her eyes fell upon a lone stand sitting in the center of the exhibit's second room. It had a single, intricately engraved blade on it—a scimitar, if she remembered rightly, with a leather bound hilt and a single crimson tassel hanging off the end. The girl's smirk widened—sure, it was risky, but if she could find a buyer, the payoff would make it more than worth the effort.

So she waited once more, letting the museum close around her, and eventually, the lights went out room by room with a series of loud clacks, and the nervous guard she had met at the entrance started his first round of the night. Slipping into the shadows at the edge of the first exhibit had been a breeze, coming out of the shadows once she was in the clear had proven a mistake rather quickly, for she made it no farther than two steps into the second room before two large, gloved hands came around her mouth and her waist and pulled her back into the second room.

"I thought we agreed that you were staying home this time."

Emerald's eyes widened as she heard a man's voice against her left ear, before her expression hardened into a glare and she struggled against him, managing to elbow her attacker in the stomach before swerving around to face him, her hands hovering over her revolvers. The man coughed a little as one of his hands guarded his stomach, and soon his face had risen to meet hers. They stood there in silence for a few moments, studying each other with cautious expressions, before he stepped forward and spoke again.

"Huh. So I guess you aren't Neo then. I was wondering how you'd managed to reach my shoulders."

"Who are you?" Emerald hissed threateningly as her hands curled around her weapons.

"I could ask you the same thing, doll face," the man noted as his one visible eye wandered her frame.

"D-Doll face?" Emerald repeated in disbelief, her eyes widening as she backed away, and unsheathed her guns, pointing them directly at the redhead. "I asked you a question."

"You could always try to be respectful and introduce yourself first. The least you could do if you're gonna put me at gunpoint right away."

She growled a bit, her brow furrowed menacingly before she spat out an answer. "Emerald. Now answer my question before I fill you with bullets."

"Roman Torchwick, at your service. Now, would you mind explaining to me why a foreigner has their eyes on my job?"

Emerald stared at the man in shock as he leaned on his cane and smiled at her mockingly. "You're at gunpoint, you're not the one who asks the questions."

"Sweetheart, we both know that you can't fire those without alerting the guard and triggering an alarm. Not to mention that I can dodge to my left or right and you still have a zero percent chance of doing any actual damage in the first shot."

"What do you—"

"Aura, kid. Need I say more?"

She let out a soft groan before lowering her guns. "Great. So you won't die quickly."

"Aw, does that put a damper on things for you? I am sooo sorry. Why don't you sit back and leave the stealing to the professionals, hm?"

Emerald rolled her eyes at that. "Right, like you can really call yourself a—what?!" She gasped as her eyes returned to the man—or rather, where he had been—and she swerved on her heels in search of him. "What the hell?!" Emerald stomped forward into the second exhibition, a soft pout gracing her features as she scanned the room for "Torchwick". Weird name, she noted briefly as she considered his disappearance. He certainly didn't seem like the type of person that was hard to miss. Even if his orange hair hadn't been bright enough to stand out in the shadows, he had styled his bangs rather uniquely over his right eye, and he had been wearing white—honestly, of all the colors a thief could wear…

Emerald let out a soft huff as she took another step towards the artifact, minding any security that surrounded the scimitar before she heard a soft click to her left. She swerved towards the sound immediately, her eyes narrowed as she searched the empty hall for signs of Torchwick, only to sigh a moment later in defeat before turning to the now empty pedestal of the scimitar. Her eyes widened again in shock as she stepped away. "What in the…"

"So. You were saying?"

She jolted as Roman's voice sprung up to her right, and her gaze swung towards him as he leaned towards her, a mocking smirk playing on his lips as he pulled the scimitar out from behind his back. "How did you—"

"I'm a professional, doll face," he replied simply before strolling back through the first hall. "Better luck next time."

"H-Hey!" Emerald started forward to keep up. "That's my steal!"

"Oh? How do you figure?"

"I saw it first!"

"Please, doll face. I've put at least a week of planning into this heist, I guarantee that you didn't see it first. Especially since you still have your travel pack on you. You literally just got into town, didn't you?"

She growled again, but didn't answer, and he chuckled before a soft gasp sprung up behind them. They both turned to see the anxious night watch, who had apparently heard the sound of their bickering from the third hall. Roman let out a soft sigh as he shifted slightly and raised his cane up towards the guard.

"And here I was hoping not to have any…accidents," he sighed, but before he could make another move, Emerald had recognized his intentions and had taken the liberty of sneaking up behind the guard and knocking him out. She studied the end of his cane cautiously, recognizing the gun-scope after a few moments. Weird place to conceal a weapon, she thought. Was anything normal about this guy? Roman tilted his head and offered her an indifferent expression in response. "I had that under control, you know."

"Leaving a body behind would make authorities more eager to find us."

"And contrary to that, a corpse wouldn't be able to tell those same authorities what I look like. I'm safer if I kill him."

"No," Emerald replied firmly, "He'll be out for a few hours, and by then, we'll be long gone. I doubt he'll be able to give them an accurate idea of what we looked like."

Roman sighed and lowered his cane, "Alright then. Not like I have to worry much if they know it's me…see you around, doll face." He walked a little further out of the exhibit before stalling again and turning back to grace her with an impish grin. "Oh, and welcome to Vale."

Emerald's glare hardened on Torchwick's back until after he'd disappeared from view, and after a few moments of silent aggravation, she turned back to the exhibit and looked for another prize. On one hand, she hoped that she'd never be unfortunate enough to meet Roman Torchwick ever again, but…

She had the sinking feeling that this would be far from their last encounter.

oooOOOooo

Gemthief trash Peeves reporting in…yeah…I fell into this idea hard. So the basic of the basic to this AU is that instead of being whichever kingdom she was in (Vacuo, in this story) and meeting Cinder, Emerald decided to move to Vale for unspecified reasons –cough- because I am trash –cough-. So…pre-RWBY, by…I wanna say two years? The timeframes aren't entirely hashed out. Special thanks to tumblr user emeraldpickpocket for letting me borrow a few of their headcanons, they are awesome, and ver nice, many thanks for this.

So

Gemthief trash Peeves out until next chapter