We're back with another RWBY story. This is based off a prompt from PotterLAW2016. We hope you enjoy this.
Ruby was being escorted by Ironwood down the hallway. This had been around the time where Roman Torchwick was taken into custody to talk but only received snarky remarks. Right when Ironwood was about to give up on his interrogation, Roman said he would only talk to Ruby Rose. So that brings us to our current situation.
Roman sat quietly in the interrogation room. Ruby looked at him through the one way glass and looked toward Ironwood, "Did he tell you why he would only talk to me?"
"No but I can only assume why." Ironwood responded. Ruby looked for Ironwood to continue but he hesitated, "He knows you have silver eyes."
"Wait what?" Ruby asked but Ironwood said it was too much to explain so instead she walked into the room where Roman was playing with his fingers.
"Little Red! They did listen to me after all!" Roman stood up and performed a silly bow. Ruby looked at him skeptically and sat down. Roman smiled, sat down, and looked in a different direction, "I bet you are wondering what's really going on aren't you? And you would probably not trust me for the life of you."
"No I wouldn't trust you. You just let Grimm attack an innocent city full of people." Ruby spat. "Anything you say probably won't matter so I don't know why they are having an interrogation. Why would we trust you?"
"You remind me of her." Roman practically whispered.
"Who? Now what are you talking about?" Ruby asked nearly done with the conversation before it started.
"Anything I say now you probably won't care to believe anyway so why would I continue?" Roman looked at her as though she could see right through him. "Little red, I used to know your mom, Summer Rose. This was because of Salem. Don't worry I'll explain Salem later if you want. I didn't know what was going to happen next but it did. I still blame myself but I couldn't quit just yet. Your mother was an extraordinary person and because of her I'm doing exactly what she asked me to do."
Ruby looked at him trying to understand what he was doing. Was he making up some crazy stuff off the top of his head now? She squinted at him but decided to play along like an investigator. "Okay…? So let's say I believe you, you are still stuck here with your little story no matter what. Where do you think this story is going?"
"It's not where it's going, it's where it has been." Roman stated, "You are about to repeat the same mistake your mother pulled. We don't need this story to be repeated again. I'll explain to you what happened and then the story can change. That's where it can go."
Ruby crossed her arms and shook her head, "Fine then, explain."
Roman gave a lighthearted smile, "Sure thing Ms. Rose."
"Ozpin, I can't shake the feeling that he's telling Ms. Rose the truth." Glynda said to the man deep in thought on his chair.
"Glynda I know why you have your suspicions but something still feels wrong here." Ozpin sipped his hot cocoa.
Glynda nodded knowing what Ozpin was getting at. Why would Torchwick not say something sooner if this information was so important? Of course Roman had already claimed he could not speak to anyone until he was in custody because someone will be curious of where his loyalty really lies. Being caught was a part of Salem's plan but her plan did not include telling Ruby what had really happened to her mother and how she can take Salem down. Roman had some reasons as to what his side of the story was and why he is only one of Salem's many tools. Roman claimed he wants more than what's in front of him but also he wants to fulfill a promise. A promise he made to Summer Rose.
"It's really hard to trust someone during a war but Summer Rose was someone to inspire. Who is to say he didn't make his so called 'promise'?" Glynda stated and then a door open and the two's attention moved over to Qrow who just entered the room.
"Qrow? I never received a message saying that you were coming." Ozpin looked at him skeptically.
Qrow took a sip of his flask, "I know but I found out the ginger talked to Ruby. Now it's important that I'm here."
"Why is it important?" Glynda asked raising a brow.
"Because I can tell you his story is true. Sadly I can't tell you if he's telling the truth that he wants to help." Qrow shrugged.
"He just helped with an attack on innocent people." Glynda mumbled.
"At least he did admit to working with Salem." Ozpin added.
"What choice does he really have at this point?" Glynda asked.
"He could have kept his mouth shut." Qrow stated. "And need I remind you that if what he's saying is true, we could lose Beacon."
The room took a silent pause. Whatever Roman had stated could debate not only Beacon but all of Vale for all they knew.
"Well we can't do anything without proof and we can't get proof if they know we are looking for proof." Glynda pointed out.
"We have a bird. I think we can get proof." Ozpin smiled. It was time to make the perfect plan.
"Uncle Qrow? Can someone please explain what is really going on here?" Ruby asked to the room with adults. Ironwood, Glynda, Ozpin, and Qrow all turned and looked at Ruby when she walked into the room.
Qrow smiled, "You are gonna have to sit down for this sweetheart."
Questions and explanations were quickly thrown around the room. Qrow almost looked sad when he claimed Roman's story was true about Summer. Ruby took everything in but was still trying to figure something out. Why would Salem want to do any of this? There always has to be a reason for everything a person does, whether they like to admit to it or not. Unless Salem had destroyed her own soul, leaving them in their position they are in now. If Salem did destroy her soul, why did she do it? Ruby just couldn't seem to figure it out.
Qrow looked at his niece knowing she was too deep in thought to get all the parts of the plans down in memory just yet. Ironwood was not even to the halfway point of what was to happen when Qrow cut him off, "How about we continue this tomorrow. I think we need to let all of the hidden truths settle in before we continue with our crazy ideas. There is plenty of time before the tournament so we don't have to worry so soon."
Ruby went to argue but even Ozpin pitched in, "There are also more to our strategies we should work on before we tell you anymore of your roll Ms. Rose."
"But what about Torchwick? Why can't I help you plan?" Ruby asked not ready to give up on saving the world in one day.
"There is still too much you don't know yet that we can cover tomorrow. If we need to, we can also make this a regular thing of having at least one of us to let you in on information until the time comes. We don't want to raise too much suspicion otherwise we won't be able to catch all of Salem's pawns." Glynda concluded for the meeting of that day. "And please Ms. Rose, I know your friends will want to know every detail of what we just said, but I hope you know that if you involve them, they might die. There are too many risk. If they ask you why you are here today, tell them we told you it had to do with last Saturday's lunch surprise."
"I had nothing to do with that!" Ruby defended.
Qrow laughed, "We are not that stupid. But seriously Ruby, we will tell your friends at another time. Let's wait till we know all of who we are up against so we know how to us everyone properly when the fighting starts. If there is Fanus involved we can definitely use Blake's help and so forth. Please wait till we tell you to say anything, okay?"
"Okay…" Ruby lowered her eyes.
"No, I need you to promise. I'm not about to watch anyone die because someone couldn't keep their mouth shut again." Qrow snapped and had Ruby's attention head on.
She quietly agreed and promised. She went back to her dorm after that and kept her promise. It couldn't hurt to wait so long as everyone will find out soon enough but also with enough time before people started to do anything without actually keeping up with the plans Ironwood and Ozpin made. Qrow and Glynda did their best to keep a lookout and passed along messages to Ruby. At one point they decided it was time to sneak Ruby to see Torchwick to see how much more information she could get out of him. He agreed to answer all of her questions. There were moments when things would get too personal and Ironwood agreed he would let Roman and Ruby talk in private without any video cameras on. Stories Ruby could ever dream of to hear about her mother were brought up and she quickly realized there was more to Roman Torchwick that meets the eye. He even told her about his little crush on Neo, the umbrella girl. Maybe Roman was someone you could trust. When things got closer to the tournament is where things were about to change.
It was finally time that Ruby could bring her friends into the equation. Each person took it differently. Of course the bias toward trusting Roman Torchwick still stood but it was agreed to keep him in prison even though his information was proving to be correct. When Ruby asked him about serving his time he said he felt he deserved it for all the horrible things that have happened over the years. When Ruby told the group she was on Torchwich's side of nearly split the group in half. Ruby wasn't giving up that easy. She gave her reasons and left it at that. No one would argue with her though. She may have been one of the youngest of the group but they knew she wasn't stupid and her reasons had more than one meaning.
Ruby told Qrow she wouldn't know what to do if her friends gave up on her ideas so quickly without at least listening to them. Qrow seemed to look back at his old memories and told her she should feel fortunate for everything she has. Ruby is proud that her uncle can be more than just a drunk when it comes to advice.
Once everyone learned who and what was going on in the plan, there was no arguing. It had had to work out. It had to.
*weeks before when Ruby occasionally seen Roman.*
"Roman, why do you wear eyeliner?" Ruby asked.
Roman chuckled, "It's my signature look! Your mom used to tell me stories of how good guys have a clean and fancy look to them. How a hero could have a sauve physique that made the ladies swoon and a face so handsome nobody could resist them." Roman almost looked sad for a moment. "Of course she was trying to make me feel better over something and I can't remember what it is now. Being an orphan really put a toll on things you know? Good thing people like her were there to look out for you when you need it most."
"She really did take care of you…" Ruby mumbled and the room went quiet for a moment. "I know you said you were afraid but you still could have saved her. You could have fought back."
"That's the thing Red," Roman looked Ruby in the eye, "She told me not to. I've already told you half of what she said. The part of looking over you. But none of us were strong enough to face her. Sure we could have fought back together but it wouldn't work. We needed more people, stronger people, but also a better plan. She knew that she would have to sacrifice herself so that later we could have a better plan and win against Salem. That's why I'm turning to you now. You and your friends are strong, you have the protectors of the Remnant at your side, and a surprise attack that will surely win over that crazy woman. That's what we were waiting for. That's why she wasn't afraid to go…"
Ruby sat at the conference table with a shocked expression. Roman couldn't look at her anymore, he started to cry and wanted none of that on camera. Roman quietly said, "I believe we are going to win this time. We have to."
Ruby didn't say it out loud but she agreed.
Ironwood introduced Penny over a live broadcast to show she was a friendly robot who could, in the future, help from having so many Huntsmen and Huntresses die in Grimm battles. People loved Penny. Now she didn't have to hide who she was. Thanks to Roman letting everyone know that they planned to use Penny as words against them. Every little thing Cinder was going to use against them they turned into something hopeful instead.
Now was the chance they had to take Cinder by surprise.
Everything happened too fast. Everyone had their separate battles and Ruby was supposed to be with Qrow to attack Cinder but now Qrow was giving in to Cinder.
"You will leave her alone if I go with you to Salem?" Qrow asked.
Cinder smiled, "Of course. She will be happy to see you again."
"Qrow…" Ruby cried under her breath. "Don't…"
"I have to sweetheart." Qrow said but in an instant Roman Torchwick had appeared pulling chains on Qrow.
"Finally arrived my lady." Roman kneeled to Cinder. He turned to Ruby, "Ready for this?"
"I don't want to fight you!" Ruby shouted over the roaring wind. She would have never expected this betrayal. He had been everything to her. Now, now he was bowing to the enemy.
"I'm sorry Ruby but I have to!" Roman shouted as he rushed forward with his cane. Just then Neo cuffed Cinder and knocked her out cold. Roman froze mid-action to untie Qrow.
"Do you think we can hold her for now?" Qrpw asked.
"No.." Roman mumbled.
"Fine." Qrow stabbed Cinder.
Roman looked shocked but shook it off, "Or do that… Okay…"
"I'm not wasting my time interrogating a deadly killer when I already know everything she does. And besides, we need a new Fall Maiden." Qrow stated.
"Well it might go back to your friend Amber first and we just have to hope her last thoughts are on someone good." Roman said.
"Right. We should go check that out now." Qrow said.
Now the story will be different now that the Queen had lost her precious pawn.