She leaned to the side slightly, looking over the shoulder of a man she was standing beside. She had slipped into this small mingling crowd a couple minutes ago and they never seemed to have noticed the extra hooded body standing between two friends.
"Stop that thief!"
A common cry in this day and age, she saw as someone in red took off down the street with the shop keeper running out to the middle, waving his arms in the air and shouting. Blake sighed as she stepped away from the crowd and started sprinting after the thief.
When the thief heard the sound of footsteps that had the same pace as her, she immediately dashed forward, turning to an alley before she jumped onto a pile of crates, the red cloaked girl securely tied the small sack onto her belt. She didn't need to look back to know that she was being pursued.
She ran up against the wall as high as she could then pushed off the wall to get hold of a metal bar from the opposite building. There was no time to check on who was chasing her, the sooner she gets out of the open, the sooner she could go home. A small grunt escaped her lips as she lifted herself up then climbed up the wall, using the window sills as leverage.
Blake frowned as she slowed her pace, watching the one on the hood slowly climb her way up the building with ease, years of experience evident on the thief's movements. Without much of a second thought she kicked off the wall herself reaching out to grab the lip of a window before pushing herself up before starting the a pattern that was familiar to her as well.
She got onto the rooftops, pushing her hood back at the same time, she was around here somewhere.
She turned back to see that the person that had been chasing her had followed her even up the roofs. Ruby frowned and jumped to the next building. She needed to get as much distance between them or else they cut off her hand. And she really needed her hand, for writing of course and holding things, like the apples she stole.
The cloaked girl ran across a rope line between houses, her arms held out at her sides to keep balance. Somehow she ended up in a neighborhood that was very vague to her. She'd been here, but not as much to memorize the area. It didn't matter anyway, she needed to get away. If luck was on her side, her pursuer might not know the area as well.
She didn't stop moving as she kept looking around, eventually spotting the red cloak a couple rooftops over. Quickly she broke back out into a sprint, jumping over the gap between houses and rolling through an open window excusing herself to the startled inhabitants before sprinting across and out the window on the other side and scaling up the side of the building.
A little bit closer.
"I just want to talk!" Blake found herself shouting as she picked up the pace.
"Yeah and cut off my hand!" She yelled over her shoulder.
Ruby jumped down, bending her knees slightly bent as she prepared for impact. As soon as her feet hit the ground she bent her knees completely, right arm going to her side her shoulder jerked forward as she performed a shoulder roll to prevent any injuries as much as possible and without wasting any time, climbed up the closest building. This was bad, the person seemed to be experienced at this kind of thing, but she was faster, she could probably lose her with speed.
She forced her legs to run faster, for months she hasn't been caught and today is not going to be the day she would be. She skittered to a stop upon seeing a guard up on the roof.
"Hey you!" He yelled, he knocked an arrow aimed to shoot.
Cursing under her breath Ruby climbed back down just as the arrow flew. Upon reaching the ground she looked around for any way out, which was back to the streets. She pushed away civilians in her path, hoping that her pursuer hadn't seen where she went.
She had thought for a moment she had lost her, but it did not stop her from moving. Running across a balcony railing to dodge a guard, she jumped across the street, clinging to the the crumbling stone of a building, pausing for a moment to hope it would not crumble under her weight.
The guard must have spooked her, so…
Her ears twitched when she heard the sounds of civilians complaining and yelling, it usually meant that something was going on. Did it mean that the thief had jumped down to the street level? Or was a criminal killing another man?
Still worth checking out, needless to say. A killer was more important than a thief anyway. She pulled back up onto the rooftops, out of the guard's sight, but saw the girl in red anyway. So she did take to the streets. That just made is easier for her.
Red was desperate.
Overtaking her was easier now, the rooftops lacking the crowds the streets had. So when she felt she had the opening, she leapt off, the intention of landing on Red was apparent
It was too late for her too move out of the way when she saw the growing shadow over-towering her. The next thing she knew was that she was on the ground, face down and a very heavy person behind her back. The collision caused the skin on her cheek to break and for small droplets of blood came to view and then came the stinging pain. A cry erupted from her throat as a knee dug into her back. She winced at her wounds.
"Please don't cut off my hands" She begged, panting "I'll give back the apples, just let me go."
Yang was totally going to kill her if she goes home covered in blood and handless, maybe throw in a pun or two, but still mad. Guess her luck ran out this time. Either this person was being a vigilante or they trained soldiers to outrun and outsmart thieves like her, although with skills like that, she wondered why they would be used to catch thieves than do something more important, like go spy on the enemy.
"Why would I want to do something like that over a couple lousy apples?" Blake asked. "If you promise not to bolt, I'll get off you." Blake said softly. "But if you are so keen on me harming you." There was a flash of silver on her wrist. "I can do that as well."
She slowly got of the girl at the same time. "I just want to know, why a young girl like you is running around stealing apples, and not money."
"Because I'm hungry, like every other person in the slums!" She growled, glancing nervously at the hidden blade within her sleeves. "I can't steal money, people worked hard on getting those, so I took what they won't miss. Some apples that are slightly rotten"
Fear gripped her heart, squeezing it between it's menacing fingers. It sadden her when she saw the torn end of her cloak, probably from the chase or when she had been jumped on. The person before her wore what seemed to be the most expensive clothes she had ever seen, not only that, she also had multiple weapons on her. Knives, a dagger, and a sword. It dawned on her on what she was, it glued her on the spot as the thought came to her.
She's the assassin that people talked about, the rumor she had thought that was only a lie to scare soldiers.
Blake knew that expression on the girl's face, it was fear, the same fear she usually saw when she scared bullies away after drawing her sword, when they realize she is the one the people whisper about, the one that make guards double check everything with a blade in hand.
So she stood up all the way, pulling the scarf away from her face before moving her hand back, her fingers brushing against one ear, she didn't realize her hood had fallen back during the chase.
"I'm Blake Belladonna." she said softly. "I am an assassin." she added just to confirm the girl's thoughts. "May I ask for your name?"
"Uh…Ruby" She said hesitantly. "Ruby Rose"
The smaller girl took a step back as if the assassin was going to jump on her any minute. Although the question was, what was an assassin, who targets officials and authoritative figures talking to a lowly thief like herself?
"What do you want with me anyway?" She inquired "I'm no one special"
"I do my best to stop anyone who does wrong." Blake shrugged. "Tackling thieves, scaring bullies…. killing Templars…." she trailed off for a moment looking in a different direction trying to remember something.
The realization on her face was apparent. Rose, Summer Rose. The Master Assassin who had met her untimely demise about ten years back, no one knew she had children, did they?
"Did you know a Summer Rose?" she answered softly.
The small girl stiffened at the mention of her mother. She knew her mother? Was this her business with her? Just because she knew her mother she had set out to find her?
"Yes" Ruby said sadly "That's my mother"
She stared at the ground and bit her lip. It had been years since she had seen her mother and in those years, a little bit of detail would disappear. She was gone too long and now she an barely remember what she looks like.
Blake took another step back. There wasn't an Assassin in the Brotherhood who did not know of Summer Rose.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Blake responded. "She was… a vital member to the Brotherhood."
"Brotherhood?" Ruby repeated "What's that? Some kind of cult or something? Like the Templars you mentioned earlier."
Little did she know she was going to be sucked into the world her mother had lived. She remembered the days where she rarely comes home with a smile on her face and love in her presence.
"Look, if you don't have any business with me at all. I'll take me leave."
Blake paused for a moment, running her hand through her hair at the same time. "If she did not tell you, then it is not my place to say." she said slowly as she reached for her belt and took off one of her pouches.
"Take this, and see you and your sister fed." she said softly shaking it once so Ruby could hear the coins within. "If used wisely it should see through the month."
With sluggish movement she reached out for the bag and was amazed at how much Blake had generously given her. No one in the right mind would hand her this much money. But then she looked up at Blake with wide eyes.
"Wait, what do you mean by not telling me?" Ruby asked "Did you know her? Were you acquaint with her?"
Ruby was curious to know how her mother had died and she lost hope when she reached a dead end in her search, but now she found a new lead. This girl might know what had happened to her. Yang never told her how she died and from the looks of it she didn't know either.
"Please tell me everything you know about my mom, please" Ruby begged.
"Not in the middle of the street." Blake said. "Bu I knew Summer, even if it was for a brief moment."
She looked over her shoulder quickly before pulling her hood back up. "Follow me, I know there is a safe house around here." with that she turned and started to scale up the side of a building.
Ruby followed suit with vigor. A new lead, after months she got a new lead. This was her chance to know what really happened.
"So this, brotherhood of yours." Ruby said as she jumped to the next building "It's not a cult, is it?"
"I like to believe we're not." Blake said as she leap up to grab the edge of the roof. "Our creed is a warning, not a rule." She pulled herself up to the roof, turning around to wait for Ruby.
"But there are other who might believe differently. Every Assassin has a different reason for joining the Brotherhood, sometime it might be a personal vendetta, sometimes it's to find the answers to an age old mystery."
"So you're saying my mom was an assassin" Ruby grunted as she lifted herself up on the roof and let out a loud huff. "She couldn't have, she's not the kind of person to have blood on her hands."
Yang had told her so many stories of her mother, stories that were told to her when she couldn't remember most of it when she was five years old. Her mother couldn't be some killer, she doesn't even look like a murderer.
Blake looked at Ruby.
"She was the one who pulled me off the streets." she explained as she kept moving jumping from building to building with ease created by years of practice. "That was about, twelve years ago? She was the first one to even give me a second look."
After all this time there still wasn't much love for the Faunus. People only really listened to her because of the value of clothing she wore and the number of weapons on her person.
Ruby really did try her best to keep up, Blake was more experienced to this kind of thing. Thanks to her speed, she managed to keep up with the Faunus.
"You said that people has different reasons on joining this brotherhood, what was my mom's reason?"
With a bit of difficulty, Ruby jumped onto another building, landing on the other side in a less graceful manner than her acquaintance. If her mother really was an assassin then her reasons for joining must be good, she can't join if she had deplorable reasons to join.
Blake paused for a moment before continuing her trek, this time going up the side of a bell tower. "It's hard to say, I don't think she just had one just reason. Maybe she believed in everything we stood for, maybe she was searching for something, maybe she was born into it."
"She's been gone for almost a decade, she might have told me when I was a child, but I cannot remember her exact words, it's been too long. Even then, she was not my mentor, it was another woman."
The red clad girl didn't question why they were climbing up the church's bell tower. Just like her sister she sought out answers on what had happened to their mother, but Yang had gone overboard.
"That thing on your arm" Ruby grunted as she lifted herself up "My dad has that hidden in his room, ever since he died it just lays there under the floorboards."
"The Hidden Blade is our signature tool." Blake spoke as she pulled herself up onto the roof, already looking around trying to get her bearings straight. She usually only stuck to the same safe house, even if it wasn't recommended.
"Did your father share the same activities as your mother? Or do you think maybe it was delivered to him after she passed away?"
"I wouldn't know, to be honest." Ruby admitted. "I was too young when both of them died. Mom died when I was five and dad died when I was seven"
She almost slip when she reached the top, due to her sweaty hands. But she managed to keep holding on. Ruby didn't dare look down, she knew how high they were and it would make her nauseous. She looked at the retreating sun and thought of only one thing; Yang is going to kill me for coming home late.
"Now what? Is this the safe house or something?" Ruby asked, the wined past by them in a gentle breeze
"We're about halfway there." Blake said as she crouched down slightly at the edge of the roof, her eyes just scanning the area. "I, don't use the one in this district often, but our safe houses are identified by the markings on the rooftops,
She slowly circled around the tower, looking out, it seemed that she was slightly straining herself to see.
"Unfortunately, because of my, heritage, I lack the same sense most human assassins do. So I do my best to make up for it with what traits come natural to me.
With that she was speaking of her hearing and her night vision. It was probably why she was adorned in darker colors, made her harder to see and easier to blend into the night.
She made a sound of aggravation before looking at Ruby. "Maybe… if you really are Summer Rose's daughter…" she gestured out. "Concentrate, maybe you can see what I cannot."
Ruby was hesitant at first, she doesn't know what this person was talking about. It was as if her mother had some sort of power, but never the less, she followed through with her request.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, whatever she has to do it'd better be work now even if it's the first time. After a few seconds she had opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a strange symbol a several houses away. It was some kind of flower, was it a lotus?
"W-Whoa" To say she was stunned was an understatement, she then pointed at that direction "Over there, just several houses down that way"
"So you do possess the skill." Blake said with a smile. "That is indeed what we are searching for." she looked out in the direction it still seemed like she could not see it.
"Okay." She stood back up. "Now we just have to get there."
She moved closer to the edge now, as if a single push would have her falling to her death as the Fauna looked around. "Oh, this is not going to be pretty."
"Skill? Searching for?" Ruby repeated "Blake, you got to get me out of the dark, because I'm quite confused right now"
The Faunus before her said things weren't going to be pretty. It was either a few soldiers were down at the tower, or they don't actually have a way down. Ruby stood beside the Faunus and tentatively looked down and soon regretted the decision as soon as she saw how far up they actually are. She moved back immediately, her heart pounding against her chest wildly.
"We're really up high" She quivered "How are we going to get down?!"
Blake looked at Ruby. "They call it Eagle Vision." Blake told her. "A dormant sixth sense that Human's possess. Seeing that I am not human, I don't have it." she shrugged. "I don't know how it works, I'm just told that things just seem to, glow, when it's being used. Helps them see, helps them predict."
"As for what I'm searching for." she gestured in the direction of the house. "You found it, so. We can either descend, or jump."
Hi, so this is something I made with a friend a few years ago. So I thought, why not post it you know? Cuz I think this is a fairly good story in my opinion.
I do not own RWBY nor Assassin's Creed and both are owned by their respective owners.
Leave a review! If it ain't constructive criticism, best shut up.