Dreams Crushed

by SorrowfulReincarnation

A tragic death, that is all that it takes to change history, all it takes to shatter a dream. Ruby and Yang, orphaned, had their dream of becoming huntresses crushed by a death. Instead of going to Signal Academy, though, a much less easy-going Yang ends up helping a stranger - and thus, ends up working for him at a certain club... AU where they never went to Signal.

1. Our Dreams, Crushed

What's up, guys and gals, it's SorrowfulReincarnation, being back in the RWBY fanfiction section as an author for the first time since my one-shot "Matchmaking Madness"! Well, if you don't count the recent crossover with my "Bad Day" League of Legends Series, of course. And what is this, this is actually going to be a multi-chapter RWBY fanfiction from me? And that despite the fact that I'm working on two other stories (one for Digimon and one for Touhou)? Le gasp!

Now, before we start this, just a small heads-up: This story is set in an AU, an alternative universe, meaning that not everything will be like it is in canon (for those who don't know what that means, I didn't immediately know what AU meant when I first stumbled upon fanfictions). I've been playing with the idea of this story for quite a while now – I actually had the idea back when Volume 1 was nearing its end, but have modified it greatly since then, meaning we will see characters who were introduced in the second volume. The second volume actually gave me the ideas I needed to round this creation of mine off and find a good plot for it. So yeah, given that I've gained some free time recently, I've finally come around to actually write this. Chapter one is but a few more sentences away from you!

Now, thing is, I want to be perfectly honest with you guys and gals: This story is an experiment. An experiment as in: Can I write an actual AU that people like? That means that your feedback is requested a lot this time! What do you think of it? Do you want me to continue this, or is the idea not to your liking?

Also, while I've officially begun this story now, it means that I'll be juggling with three multi-chapter stories from now on, when I've been having problems with two last year. However, like I mentioned, I should have the time to do this now, and not neglect any of them for too long. That in return, however, means that this'll not be updated all that often – Once every two or three months. The length of each chapter should suffice to make up for that, though, I'm quite sure of that (~15-20k words a chapter, sometimes probably even more). And I'm positive that, towards the second half of this year, updates of this story will become more frequent.

But enough of that. I hope you'll be enjoying this idea of mine, which I've decided to upload now rather than in June, like it was actually planned – In honor of the late Monty Oum, I've picked up this story again, to pay my own tribute to him by expanding the fandom of his creation, by not letting it come to an end.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or it's characters. They belong to Mounty Oum and Rooster Teeth.

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Chapter 1: Our dreams, crushed

With grace and silence rivaled only by a cat, avoiding to put too much weight onto the squeaky spring near the end of it, she rose from the old and worn down couch with the ugly darkgreen pattern and the stains from dust, concrete and rubble that had rained down on it from the ceiling, as well as her own saliva from the countless nights she had spent on it over the last few years, drooling on it in her sleep. If she could, she would change it for something more comfortable any day, but she had ended up on the couch in the first place to leave the more comfortable bed of their 'home' to her younger sibling, though the small bed wasn't exactly in a better state than the couch was.

But did they have much of a choice, much of a chance to simply change something in their miserable lives? They were orphans living in an old abandoned building that was in a horrible state, the company that had been building it going bankrupt at one point before being able to finish it.

So they did that over the course of the first year, at least kind of, taking care of the unfinished bathroom and the only really habitable room first, turning latter one into their livingroom and bedroom, and later on the hallway connecting the two rooms. They never bothered to take care of more, unsure whether or not they'd even stay in the building for long. And, besides, they had shared a room ever since the younger sister had been born, anyways.

When their parents died on that fateful day a few years ago and the two of them had suddenly nowhere to go and nowhere to return to, their old house going up in flames and leaving back nothing but ashes and crushed dreams, this abandoned house had become their little sanctuary after a week of living on the street, their only belongings being what they wore on their bodies.

The first night, they had slept on the ground, curled up under the red cape her little sister always wore, using it as a blanket and sharing their warmth, with her curling around her younger sister, as if to protect her from the rough world they had been suddenly thrown into.

In one night, the night that fire consumed their house, parents and dreams, illuminating the nightly sky while also coating it in the dark clouds of smoke, everything had changed. Ripped out of their peaceful childhood and the safety, thrown into the rough world. Two simple souls, cast into the world without a hold, cast into the abyss, forced to grow up too soon.

'It takes one bad day to reduce you to lunacy', she always reminded herself. 'We escaped that just barely. Not unscraped, though.', she'd add once she'd see her sister or herself in a mirror, becoming aware of their scarred minds and very... special personalities and appearances.

She send a glance around the dark room, well aware that it was just past midnight, the moon shining in through the dirty and broken windows. Though it wasn't the most comfortable room, serving as a bedroom, a living room and a kitchen at the same time, it was their little sanctuary, and it contained everything they had managed to build up in the years since their parent's death.

With the backache she had at that moment, though, she knew that the couch they had found in a back alley, thrown out by someone, was definitely going to leave the messy room sooner or later.

A careful glance was cast towards the small bed on the far side of the room, the occupant of it still asleep to her relief, and she knew that she was good to go. So sliding off the couch and tip-toeing over to her small pile of clothes and belongings, she picked them up, slipped into her brown coat, which was at least a size too small for her, forcing her to leave it open at the front, and carefully slipped her knife, her only weapon, into the hidden pocket of the coat – actually, a rip on the inside of the left sleeve, but it served as a hiding spot for the knife.

A knife. A rusty old knife, its blade deformed by heat and fire, picked up from the remains of the house they had once lived in with their parents. Not exactly a great or amazing weapon, like the hunters and huntresses, the defenders of Vale, used.

Huntresses... She and her little sister, they had always dreamed of becoming huntresses. Of wielding amazing weapons, of using the powerful dust, of fighting the creatures of Grimm with their aura, their semblances and their weapons. Yang had been about to go to Signal Academy when it happened.

When their dreams were crushed.

All in the night of the fire.

All by the fire.

Now, they were orphans. Living in an old abandoned building instead of in a combat school. Wielding a knife instead of a powerful weapon. Fighting for survival against death of starvation instead of fighting against the Grimm.

After all, how were they supposed to fight for the people if they couldn't even fight for themselves?

Being the older one, she had picked up the one or other job, had earned some money every now and then, just enough for them to buy the most necessary things. Her most successful, and still most recent job, was that of a tattooist.

It was a crazy habit she had picked up, finding out by a mere coincidence that she was good at it. She was using herself as a test-subject, and before long, her body was covered in tattoos wherever she could reach, a snake curling up her left leg, a wyvern on her stomach, a fire tattooed onto her forearms, and, once she had taught her younger sister how to tattoo properly, a large Mistralian dragon had joined the bunch, starting at her right ankle, curling around her leg, around her midriff, spreading its wings across her back, and ending at the right side of her neck, eyes continously glaring over the edge of her collar, with her younger sister having taken care of the spots she herself couldn't reach.

Ruby, her little sister, amazed by the beauty of the tattoos, begged her sister to tattoo her too, and though the girl was still a little young, she had eventually agreed to tattoo her. If one would see her now, he'd find a dead rose on her stomach, just beneath her bellybutton, and a huge rose on her back, thorny vines running down her arms to her wrist, a single white petal shedded by the rose on her back and falling, the name of her mother, who Ruby had been quite attached to, written beneath it – Summer Rose.

But the rose, as beautiful and deadly as it looked, was at the mercy of a scythe. She had never understood why Ruby insisted on it, but she wanted a scythe tattooed onto her back, its blade resting against the stem of the rose.

It fit the goth-style her younger sister had adopted, though, she couldn't deny that.

"Where are you going, Yang?"

She flinched, then froze up, hand clenching down on the doorhandle. Speaking of her younger sister, it seemed she hadn't been as asleep as she had thought.

"For a walk, can't sleep. Need to clear my head a little." she muttered, not even bothering to turn around, knowing that Ruby would be able to read the lie right off her face.

Then again, it wasn't even a lie. She really wanted to go for a walk, needing to clear her head a little. At least, that was what she told herself. For some unexplainable reason, though, she had felt something weird over the last weeks, and this feeling kept getting worse each and every day, especially at night – She felt... Hot.

Hot, as in, from within. As if her body was heating up beyond what was healthy, for some reason, without really doing any damage to her organs or anything she touched. Whenever such a moment came, she knew she had to cool down, and what better way than to have a walk at night?

So yeah, she didn't need to clear her head, she needed to cool down. Literally.

She had her suspicions as to what the cause for this feeling was. Summer had warned her that there would be a day when they'd feel something out of the ordinary with their bodies, a feeling that would mark the beginning of the development of their semblance, which was a unique power that people with large amounts of aura had, and that hunters and huntresses would use in battle.

Summer Rose, Ruby's late mother and Yang's stepmom, had quite an amount of this aura, something that had assured her that both of her daughters would one day develop their own semblance. Ironically, Ruby was the one who inherited a larger amount of aura, or maybe just an amount that was easier to control, as she developed her semblance, the very thing that had saved their lives the night that the house burnt down, very early in her childhood – Speed.

Like, crazy speed.

Yang remembered that Ruby had some problems with it at first, the first signs being weird to her, and hard to relate to an ability – When her semblance was still developing, Ruby continually had the feeling that the time was running slower, or that she was able to reach places a lot faster than she remembered to.

But if that was the indication for Ruby's speed, then what was going to be her semblance? Heat? Fire? She had yet to develop it, had yet to gain it. But she knew one thing, no matter what kind of semblance it would be if it were indeed related to fire – She was sure that she was not the one who started the fire all those years ago.

She knew it, her semblance hadn't even shown a sign back then. What the true reason for the fire had been, though, they had yet to find out. And probably never would.

"Uh-huh. Close to 1 AM in the morning?"

Yang let out a deep sigh as she heard that and turned to her sister, who had by then left the bed and approached her, sending her an apologizing glance.

"Look, Rubes, I really need to go. I explain it some other time, just know that I'll be fine and that I won't be picking any fights or anything. I'll be gone for an hour and I'll be back in time, fine as I am right now." she told her younger sister, though not missing the skeptical frown her sister wore, despite the darkness, "I promise!"

"I won't stop you, and you know that. You're the older one, you know what to do and what not to do, and you've been through things that made me question your mortality before. I know you'll always keep your promise and be back in time." sighed Ruby back, and Yang shuddered at the tone in Ruby's voice, the most obvious scar she had received that one night – the loss of her childhood.

After falling into depressions and only pulled out of it as the two slowly began to build up a new life, Yang had been forced to watch as Ruby's childhood crumbled away bit by bit, leaving only a very few signs of her former innocence, like the love for cookies and sweets, back.

By now, her sister was far from a child, though her body mostly suggested otherwise. Ruby was not exactly tall, but not small either, more of a medium height. Sporting a side-cut, her short black hair, tipped with red, left the left side of her face exposed, while sometimes hiding her right eye – though not as often as Yang's hair, which was in a side-cut to the right with the hair on that side still long enough to reach her lower back.

Bodies covered in tattoos, haircuts that you didn't see every day in Vale, even in the more lawless and wild district their sanctuary was located in, Ruby's left ear and Yang's nose pierced – the emotional and physical scars of the sisters were far from hidden.

Speaking of scars – they hadn't gotten away that night without actually receiving scars. Yang had taken the brunt of the flames that night, carrying Ruby through the flames, fire lashing out and burning her forearms, with which she shielded her little sister, and her bare legs as she shielded her own face in the crook of Ruby's neck, holding her as if her life depended on it. For a long time after that night, Yang had covered the scars on her forearms with long sleeves and wristbands, and had worn long pants to cover the scars she had received.

And though it had hurt like hell, nearly making her cry, Yang had one day decided that she couldn't hide the scars for the rest of her life in long sleeves, and had tattooed her arms – ironically, hiding the burn scars beneath tattoos of flames, which now crawled up her arms. When she started to wear shorts, though, she had never even took it into consideration to do the same to the burn scars on her legs, though the snake tattooed onto her left leg did run across them a few times.

Ruby hadn't gotten away unscathed that night, either, though. Just when Yang thought that they had escaped that hellish nightmare, the burning house, the roof above them had collapsed, and an explosive flame that resulted from it had enveloped the front of the two for a second – it was what had caused the scars on Yang's arms, while also singing some of her and Ruby's hair, the reason they went for side-cuts later on.

The same jet of flames had hit Ruby a lot worse, though. While burning Yang's arms, permanently scarring them, the girl had never let go of her younger sister, not until Ruby's semblance, which the younger girl had used that moment to make then rush through the burning front door of their house.

Out there, Yang would discover the scars of her sister. The malformed stripe of skin on the right side of Ruby's face, running down Ruby's throat from her chin to where the collar of her onesie had been that night. And the large hole in the right side of Ruby's onesie, revealing the large patch of malformed skin, singed by the jet of flames, leaving a shapeless area of about the size of a soccer ball.

For allowing Ruby to receive such scars, for her to go through such pain, Yang had never gone past the point where she blamed herself.

But physical scars were one thing, and then, there were emotional scars, especially at such a young age, leaving their personalities crippled – Ruby's anti-social, introverted and lazy behavior, and Yang's observing, protective and yet easily irritated and sometimes violent nature.

These sisters were scarred, crushed by the death of their parents and the end of their childhood and dreams.

Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long – While not having found their place in the world after losing it, they had created their own place.

Their own place, their own pace, their own life – that was their rule.

Or at least, Yang tended to tell herself that, finding solace and strength in it.

Unable to hold back her smile, after all, she reached for her sister's head and ruffled the younger girl's hair.

"Good girl. Now go back to sleep, the night is still young, and you're too, you need your sleep. I just need to... walk. Cool off a bit." smiled Yang, pulling her hand away, especially as she saw the small glare she was receiving from her younger sister.

Rolling her eyes at Ruby, Yang turned back to the door and turned the doorknob, cringing as she was reminded off the fact that she would never have made it out of the building without waking Ruby, with how the door creaked.

She'd have to fix that if the problem with her developing semblance didn't fix itself soon enough. She didn't want to wake Ruby every night when she'd have to go for a walk to... cool down. Literally. Last night, she had actually taken a dive into the river when the heat had become unbearable.

Hopefully she didn't have to resort to that again. The heat was unbearable, but a dive into a river in the middle of late autumn wasn't exactly easy to handle, either.

Remaining in the door just long enough to watch Ruby pat through the room, bare feet hitting the concrete, partially tiled, floor with each step, a shiver went down the older sister's spine as she wondered if Ruby didn't feel cold with her bare feet.

She'd have to fix the windows some time, or cover them up like last winter. It wasn't going to get any warmer, after all. Even now, standing in the corridor just outside their room, she could feel the cold autumn breeze that haunted the building like a ghost. Well, if she'd gain control of her semblance before winter, cold wasn't going to be a problem, at least if her semblance really had something to do with heat or fire.

Letting out another small sigh, Yang closed the door behind her, leaving Ruby to herself. The younger sister was probably quite happy with some time alone now and then as well, after all, the two of them were around each other most of the time.

They were all they had, after all. No family other than each other, and no friends.

All alone. And lost in the world.

And it should all change tonight.

Even Yang had no idea of what she was about to get involved in, and how it would change their lives again.

Leaving their sanctuary behind and making her way towards downtown Vale, strolling along the riverside for a while with her hands in the pockets of her too small coat until she reached the downtown, Yang was getting lost in thought as she felt the cold breeze hit her skin and cool her down.

Her semblance, whatever it was, was getting a lot easier to handle the moment that something could counteract the heat. If she had to guess, she wouldn't even be fully able to master it without something cool to act against the heat until she unterstood her semblance, or learned how to control the heat that came with it. Even now, she already had the suspicion that her semblance wouldn't exactly be easy to control.

Summer had always warned her that semblances tended to be controlled by emotions, sometimes acting differently based on what emotion the user felt. And with the turmoil of emotions that Yang felt inside all the time, she was well aware that it'd be anything but easy for her.

Maybe that at least explained how Ruby had mastered her's so quickly – She was a ball of energy, even though she tended to use this energy a lot less nowadays. Before their parent's death, though, she had always been overexcited and rushing around, and while it maybe wasn't the most controlled of all emotions, at least it was only one, and not a mixture of all the different emotions that Yang felt all the time.

"...has confirmed their older daughter, Weiss Schnee, will be the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the largest energy..."

Yang, sending the TV behind the shop's window a mere glance, immediately drowned it out again the moment that the young girl, apparently this 'Weiss Schnee', the daughter of Remnant's largest Dust Company, the Schnee Dust Company, on it disappeared and was replaced by her father, a face Yang knew only to well and hated just as much.

To say that Yang loathed him was nowhere close enough to the truth. So maybe the man did lead the company that mined and purified the Dust that hunters and huntresses needed – that didn't mean Yang had to have any respect for him as a person.

From what she knew, he was anything but a nice person to be around. Strict and stern, not taking anything lightly or even as much as smiling at a joke, he was also looking down on the Faunus and using them as cheap workers at horrible working conditions.

Faunus – Yang had a lot of respect for them, sympathizing with the humans with animal traits and abilities. Her parents had told her to respect everyone, no matter his or her origins, appearance or traits, and so, Yang had been able to see past that which everyone looked down upon.

Instead, she found herself mesmerized by the same things that made others look down on the Faunus. Why were people saying that the humans were superior to the Faunus, anyways? How was nightvision, increased senses, strength and reflexes, and whatever other animal trait or ability a Faunus had, inferior to humans?

Maybe it was for the same reasons that humans always reacted this weird – Scared of the unknown, scared of that which they didn't understand or didn't want, scared of what they couldn't control.

Either way, Yang was anything but fond of the Schnees, the rich and snobby humans that terrorized the Faunus.

Tch, and humans wondered where radical groups like the White Fang, a once peaceful group of Faunus fighting for their rights turning criminal, came from. She could kind of understand their violent behavior – not that she was approving of it, either.

Yeah, so maybe the Faunus weren't exactly innocent in this conflict, too.

A new burst of heat shot through her body, and she knew immediately that it was due to her emotions getting out of control.

At least she knew what gave the heat a good boost now – Anger.

Clenching her fists and letting out a sigh, she knew she'd have to sit down for a while and relax, finding inner peace with herself if she truly wanted to get rid of the heat for the rest of the night. So, sending a glance around to find a place to sit down, the blonde scanned the street for a place to sit down and have some rest.

No such luck, unless she wanted to sit down on a moving car. And with the odd glances that the few people on the street at such an hour were giving her, there was no way she'd find some peace. Not out here, at least.

Well, she may have lived on the street with Ruby for only a week, but she knew the area well enough for a place to duck in and be for herself, at least for a while. So, rolling her neck and her shoulders, the blonde made a sharp turn to the right and pushed through the crowd, heading for a small alley between two buildings, one of them with a large sign spelling 'Junior's' in yellow neon lights. She had heard of the place, a club with some amazing music, a large dancefloor and, best of all, accepting both human and Faunus, and throwing those out who did discriminate others, but Yang wasn't too fond of going to clubs or anything.

Not because it wasn't her style, but because she'd have to leave Ruby, who was still underage and not allowed to enter, behind and alone. She knew Ruby was tough, but the guilt would've eaten away at Yang, so she'd never cared for anything like going to a club.

If things would've been different, though, if they had not been orphans and maybe had a little money...

A man suddenly brushed past her, leaving the club at a rather fast pace, not caring who he was running into. It wasn't anything too weird, people were coming and going, and ignorant people were anything but uncommon. That aside, the club seemed to be frequented quite a lot, it was popular if she had heard right, and even with the red hair and his tall stature, the man would've blended in.

If not for the Grimm mask he was wearing.

Yang stopped for a moment to frown, staring after the man as he pushed his way through the crowd, soon disappearing in it. Not only had he not apologized, which alone was rude, but he certainly wasn't normal. Yang, who herself wasn't 'normal', could tell that much.

Something was off about him, and it wasn't only the mask.

But as quick as he had appeared, he was gone, and Yang found herself starring into the crowd, silently wondering if he were to appear in it again. An odd person like him usually was easy to trace.

She enjoyed odd people, enjoyed seeing them, sometimes even talking to them. People who were different, like she was, and had stories to tell and things to show. He probably had an interesting one, but then again, he didn't look like the most friendly of all persons.

...It probably was the mask.

Sadly, though, he didn't reappear, even as she waited for another five minutes. Not like she had to do anything, after all, and thinking helped her to get the heat under control. But when she was finally assured he wouldn't come back, she sighed and turned back to the alley between the club and the building next to it, and without a second thought, stepped into the barely illuminated area between the two buildings.

Her eyes needed a moment to adjust to the new lighting. After all, she wasn't a Faunus with nightvision or anything as grand as that, but when they did, she found the dirty alley just as she imagined it.

Dirty and dimly lit. But at least it was cooler in there, and less crowded. Like, a lot less crowded, with her being the only person inside it. The only obstacle that prevented her from getting further into the alley, and away from the annoying people, as less as it were at this hour, was a dumpster, which she simply rounded.

At this point, she would've probably simply sat down behind the dumpster, resting her back against it, and would have closed her eyes to take a nap, something that would definitely help both the heat she had yet to get under control for the night, as well as her troubled mind.

But something drove her to go further into the alley, knowing there'd be a more comfortable spot a little further in the moment that she spotted the small back alley at the end, probably belonging to the club.

If she didn't get some peace there, she didn't know where she would. What a stupid idea of hers to go into downtown Vale in the first place, she should've stuck with following the river. Well, she hadn't thought the heat would get this annoying, but still – her fault.

So, heading for the corner and rounding it, she was more than prepared to slump down against the next wall and take a short nap, or at least get those pesky emotions and the heat in her body under control somehow.

What she certainly didn't expect, though, was to find two men in the back alley, glaring at one another.

She froze up just behind the corner, neither of them having noticed her yet, giving her the moment to take in the situation she was presented with.

An orange-haired man in a white suit and a black bowler hat, an unamused glare on his face as he pointed his cane at the other man, who was on one knee, obviously having been struck with the cane against the leg by the guy in the white suit, who Yang was sure she had seen before.

Somewhere.

The guy on his knee, despite his crouched stance, the pain still obvious on his face, seemed to be the taller one. Black-haired, bearded, wearing red-tinted glasses and a black and white outfit, Yang was sure that he fit into the club they were behind just well. But this was behind the club, and not in it.

And whatever the two guys were fighting about, the setting made it look a little shady. So shady, in fact, that Yang certainly didn't want to be pulled into it, and turned to leave again.

Just as one of the two men, who had yet to notice her, spoke up.

"Well, what is your answer now?"

Yang glanced over her shoulder again, just in time to find that it was the guy in white that had asked the question, his glare having lost the anger, now only unamused and questioning. And taunting the man on the ground before him.

"I said 'Screw it, Torchwick'. Want me to spell it? I'm not here to let you come and go and hire my men as you want, and especially not for this low of a prize." growled the other man as he rose to his full height, obviously trying to intimidate the man he had just called 'Torchwick'.

Which Yang remembered now.

Roman Torchwick, a criminal notorious for the heists he had pulled recently, robbing dust shops and warehouses alike in big fashion for reasons yet unknown. What luck she had, running into him. Sarcasm over.

The other guy didn't seem familiar, however, even as he stood at his full height now.

"Well, if they were worth every Cent, she wouldn't send me with this little budget, would she?" mused Torchwick, using his cane to prod the small suitcase near him, which obviously seemed to contain the money they were talking about.

"My men aren't trained for robberies, Torchwick. They're mercenaries, most of them aren't properly trained either, some of them are simply looking for 'easy money'. Look, more money and I'm willing to give you my better fighters. For the right amount, she'll even get the twins for that robbery. Tell her that." growled the man with the shades, adjusting them.

"And we both know she won't agree. Yes, she is fond of the twins and their impressive skill, but she knows they're anything but cheap. As for the rest of your men, she knows how valuable they are, and is willing to pay a prize based on her own view on their... uh... 'skill'." Torchwick clearly wasn't impressed by the so-called 'skill'.

"Too bad then, Roman. So we don't have a deal, you don't get any men from me for your little robberies, and she'll roast you alive. I don't care if you get punished for that, you're her little plaything, I don't work for the crazy bitch."

"Bet she'll love to hear you call her that." grumbled the criminal under his breath, hand going for the bowler hat, stopping halfway. Before the guy with the shades could react, Torchwick suddenly swung his cane at him, hitting him in the side of the head, knocking his red-tinted shades off and sending him to the ground again.

A sudden noise marked the moment that the end of Torchwick's cane opened up, a reticle unfolding from it and revealing a muzzle - something that Yang was sure would've amazed Ruby, her sister being a weapon freak - and also marked the moment that the cane's muzzle was being placed against shade-guy's temple.

And at this point, Yang knew she had to act. She didn't want to get involved, but she couldn't allow someone to kill someone else in front of her eyes – She may not have become a huntress, and wasn't a huntress-in-training like she wanted to be, but she could still not allow such a thing to happen.

Twirling around and pulling the knife out of its secret spot, Yang pushed off the ground and charged at the man that was currently the only threat, Roman Torchwick. The other guy didn't seem less suspicious either, but he didn't seem dangerous. At least he didn't have a gun.

Torchwick saw her coming in the last moment, and diving backwards, avoided being stabbed into the gut by Yang. Sadly, that meant getting right in the way of Yang's punch, which she had meant to throw right after, and it hit him in the shoulder, hard.

Roman stumbled, knocked off balance by the power of the punch, giving Yang a small opportunity, which she was not going to waste. So changing in her stance, something she had done countless times before during all the fights she had picked over the last years, she went in for another feint with the knife, which Roman fell for, and when he lifted his cane, she reached for it to wrestle it out of his grip.

"Who the hell is that?!" complained the criminal under his breath, seconds before he found himself losing against Yang's stronger grip, the cane being sent flying through the alley. He cursed, but shifted in his stance, showing that he was anything but incapable of fighting with his hands, something Yang hadn't expected, especially when he went in for an uppercut.

She blocked, twisted his right arm away, and turned on the spot, knife slashing at the height of his nose, but the criminal had seen it coming and fell back, using his chance to grab her wrist and try to twist the knife out of it.

He failed, though, when Yang kneed his gut. He doubled over, coughing as all air was forced out of his lungs, a second punch to his face sending him stumbling away from her, hitting the ground in a roll that looked as painful as it was.

Torchwick caught himself, though, and rose to his full height, revealing to her that he had managed to pick his cane up in the process. A silent curse escaped the blonde's lips, moments before she dove to the side to escape the first flare being shot from the muzzle of the hidden weapon in the cane.

"What is she, your guarddog or something? Call her back and put her on a leash, for f...!" Torchwick's command was cut short by Yang throwing her knife at him, forcing him to dodge sidewards, giving Yang another small window of an opportunity.

She went in for another punch, this one meant to come from above to knock him face-first into the ground, but Torchwick proved to learn rather quickly, taking another step back to avoid her attack and counter at the same time, his knee finding its way into the brawler's guts the moment she reached him.

And as it did, something changed. Something changed gravely.

The heat that Yang had been feeling all evening suddenly changed, heat becoming a blaze within her, a conflagration flowing through her veins like blood. It was as if, instead of taking power from her and inflicting pain, the attack had just given her even more strength, and even more anger.

The pain was washed away by the unbearable burning feeling inside her veins, and little was she aware of the fact that her eyes had just changed in color for the very first time in her life, irises turning from a light violet shade to a foreboding glowing crimson red.

Torchwick seemed to have noticed too, as when she, instead of falling sidewards in pain, glared at him, shock spread across his face. He had little time to react when the fire in Yang became even more intense, igniting her will to protect the stranger anew.

With speed she didn't know she had, she rose to her full height, both fists slamming down on Torchwick's leg, which had still been buried in her gut. The man let out a gasp of pain as his foot slammed down on the concrete, the pain making it impossible for him to stand on the leg, and instead sending him into a stumble, increasing the space between him and Yang.

The blonde let the fire spread through her again, knowing it couldn't be harmful, well aware that it was somehow connected to her semblance. Her hands balled to fists and a small smirk played on the edge of her lips, the sudden rush in power feeling... good. Right.

Letting out a sudden roar, Yang rushed forward to meet the man in the suit in a full body tackle, sending him slamming into the huge green dumpster that apparently belonged to the club, earning a new hiss of pain from him, especially as she pushed herself off him, forcing his head to slam into the lid of the dumpster with enough force for it to bend slightly, leaving a dent in the green metal.

So her semblance wasn't all about fire, but physical strength as well, she figured that out the moment she realized how easy it had become to push Torchwick around.

The criminal proved to be a lot more durable than anyone she had ever fought before during the years on the street, though, as he managed to push himself up again from the dumpster, ready to get his revenge on her for that move.

She didn't evade him when he swung his cane at her. She needed to prove something, needed to test something.

This strength had spread through her when she got hit by the knee to her stomach...

The cane slammed into her right side, sending a new wave of pain through her, momentarily cooling down the fire in her – And then, with a powerful wave, this time powerful enough that a small shockwave of heat errupted from her body, forcing Torchwick to shield his face, the heat inside her was back, and that even stronger than ever before.

Her semblance – She understood perfectly how it worked now. It caused external energy that impacted with her body to be converted to energy she had. It didn't mean she was invincible, or that she could recover by getting hit. It was more like her strength grew, gathering all strength it could from other sources and making it her own.

Now she just had to learn how to activate and deactivate her semblance.

Unable to keep the smirk away, she let it spread freely across her lips, meaning to show Torchwick just how screwed he was. He seemed to understand very well, if the shock in his eyes was any indication.

Letting the strength flow into her fists and pushing herself towards Torchwick, Yang let the heat consume her, didn't fight it anymore. It embraced her, as if to welcome her, as if to tell her she was one with it.

And with a final punch to the face, though it could as well have been the golden shockwave that errupted from her arm, the criminal was ripped right off the ground and sent flying across the back alley into the front of the dumpster, bending it completely out of shape, where he collapsed onto the ground, growling madly as he held his chin, happy that he had shielded himself with his remaining aura from the powerful punch and the impact with the dumpster, though more had been flowing into the latter to prevent himself from being bent like it.

The heat was gone that moment, and Yang silently cursed under her breath, not knowing how to summon it again. Still, at least it would mean she would finally be able to sleep. And it meant that her semblance really worked like she had suspected it to – it gathered up excessive or external energy inside her, causing the heat, but also allowing her to release it through punches, making them more powerful, or in shape of actual heat or fire.

Torchwick cursed as well, revealing to Yang that he wasn't quite as defeated as she had guessed initially, as well as proving that he could stand a lot more than she had guessed, with how he had managed to take the last hit. Especially when he suddenly started moving again. He was trained in the use of aura, she knew that much that moment, as he definitely had used it to shield himself from her attacks.

She was about to go at the man again when he rose, but a simple gesture from Roman for her to stop made her hesitate. And this time, he took the opportunity, and shot a flare right in front of her feet, forcing her to side-step, and giving him the chance to snatch the suitcase with the money, climb onto a dumpster and jump up to the fireladder above it.

"As fun as it was, I really have to go! See you around, Blondie! And you better train your dog, Xiong! I don't want her to bite down on my leg again next time the crazy bitch sends me here!" should be the last thing that Yang should hear of the criminal, moments before he vanished onto the roof of the club.

Yang continued to stare at the spot he had last been, silently wondering where the thief intended to go from the roof, but decided to go against finding out the answer to that. Instead, she remembered the other man, who had kept silent until then.

Sending a glance to where he had last been, wondering if he had used the ruckus to escape, the blonde found the black-haired man, the shades in his hands, standing right next to her, frowning down at her.

"Not bad, Blondie. Not everyone goes up against someone as skilled as Roman Torchwick and gets away with it. And with such a crazy performance as well. Just what the hell is your semblance to give him such a beating? That wasn't normal, Blondie. It was brutal."

"Happy that you enjoyed the show." she snorted, though the anger had evaporated with the heat, "How about a 'thanks for saving my life', huh?"

He let out a snigger, not even attempting to hide his amusement and obvious like for the girl's temper. He allowed a smirk to spread across his lips as he put his red shades back on, adjusting them slightly, before suddenly pointing behind him, towards a metal door that she guessed led into the club they were behind.

"Thanks for saving my life, Blondie." he retorted, partly to humor her, "How about a drink to show my appreciation?"

"You're not my type." she huffed, quick to shoot him down, placing her hands on her hips, "And quite honestly, the last thing I want is to get involved even more with someone who associates with guys like Torchwick."

With a heavy sigh, Yang took a step closer to the taller man, prodding him in the middle of the chest with a finger, and glared up at his face.

"Besides, I didn't save your sorry ass because I like you or want to get laid or anything. I did it because I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror again, knowing I allowed someone to die if I could've prevented it." she declared.

"You're quick to make assumptions, huh?" he snorted, still amused as it seemed, though there was a little glint in his eyes that could as well be interpreted as a challenge, "I said I wanted to show my appreciation. I didn't say anything about trying to get your ass anywhere you wouldn't like it to be, like in my bed."

Sending him a disbelieving frown, the brawler raised an eyebrow at him.

"Aren't guys like you all the same?"

"Allow me to prove you wrong."

He gestured to the metal door again, this time jerking his head into the direction of it as well. Yang continued to frown at him, then at the metal door to the club, from which she could hear the music loud and clear, and noticed that the bass vibrated through her feet, the metal door not even able to completely shut either out.

"Come on, Blondie, it'll be fun. You look like you could need a moment of relaxation, anyways."

She hesitated, well aware that he was trying to make it more tempting to her. Thing was, she knew he was right. She knew she had been tensed the last few days, maybe weeks even, with her semblance starting to develop. And when had even been the last time that she had a moment for herself? When she didn't have to worry about a thing, about her sister, herself, their life?

"Fine. Just one drink. I don't have much time, my little sister is home alone." she sighed, rubbing one hand over the back of her neck, the other over her side, suddenly very aware of the bruises she had received in the fight with Torchwick.

So her semblance was only able to shut the pain out for so long.

"Where are mom and dad then, Blondie?" inquired the amused man with the shades, whose name she had yet to learn, as he approached the metal door, hand fumbling with a set of keys he had pulled from his pocket, making her question why he had those.

"Dead. My lil' sis and I are orphans."

She saw him freeze up, the key he had been about to put into the lock sliding across the metal instead as he cringed. Neither of them moved for a moment, Yang didn't move from the spot, and the man didn't turn around to meet her gaze.

"Sorry." he mumbled, none of the former amusement in his voice or his face as he inserted the key into the lock after all, and turned it to open the door.

"Don't be. You didn't know." replied Yang, suddenly finding the strength to move again. She approached him from behind, then gently shoved past him, pushing the door open, allowing the loud music and the earth-shaking bass to fully envelop her.

And it was, just for a moment, for the second, as if she had come home. As if this was where she belonged, embraced by music and bass, in the middle of a party – Well, she was in a concrete corridor, but still. Maybe, in another world, where things had been different...

She turned to face her companion, giving him a small, honest smile.

"So what, you're just gonna stand there, or are you going to buy me a drink after all, casanova?" she chuckled, nodding towards the end of the corridor, from where the music came, "Now is not the time for dark thoughts, or are you telling me you want to destroy this mood?"

He seemed surprised for a moment, but then, with a huff, let his own smile return.

"Feisty, are we?" he chuckled, but nodded to her, showing her it was fine to enter. She nodded back, then stepped further into the corridor, allowing him to enter as well and close the door behind him.

"Well, I'm a man of my word, so let's get you that drink, Blondie."

"It's Yang." she shot back, and, as if she had indeed blown off some steam by beating up Torchwick, relaxed and allowed all worries to leave her mind for the moment, just like all the heat had left, the worries pushed back into the darkest corner of it to allow a smile upon her lips, "Yang Xiao Long."

"Mistralian roots, huh?" snickered the man with the shades as they began to walk towards the source of the loud music, which was at the end of the corridor, just around the corner, where the walls, the ceiling and the floor were colored black and flashing lights tinted them in red, white and yellow, "How ironic."

She turned her head to raise an eyebrow at him, and he simply grinned at her.

"Name's Hei Xiong."

Yang realized the irony of the situation simply by hearing his name, and allowed a snort to pass her lips.

"Mistralian as well then?" she inquired, and he nodded in return, another mischievous sparkle in his eyes, the red-tinted shades not even really hiding it. Why he was wearing them inside though, other than for appearance, she didn't know.

They fit him, though, she had to admit that.

She let the Mistralian man, which she now knew as Hei Xiong, take the lead, seeing as he seemed to frequent the club a lot – or at least knew the owner, as he had a key for the backdoor.

Unsurprisingly, he indeed ignored the doors to either side of them, stopping only for a moment in front of an ajar door that was labeled as "Employee's only' to frown at a door down the corridor behind it that was slightly open to mutter something under his breath that sounded like 'the twins are out already...?', and headed straight to the end of the corridor.

Rounding the corner, the scenery around them changed immediately, narrow concrete walls exchanged with a huge room with black walls, a large dance floor surrounded by glass pillars and a bar that changed color with the beat of the music, constantly changing between red, white and yellow. Much like she had heard about the club, Humans and Faunus alike were scattered throughout it, something that made Yang relax a little, glad that there were places like these, where discrimination was as good as non-present.

She was just about to get lost in the sight, basking in the light and volume that made her feel right at home, when Hei passed her vision, reminding her of his presence and her actual reason for being there. The Mistralian man exchanged a small glance with her as he passed, nodding towards the bar to their right. She nodded back, showing that she understood, and once more turned to follow him.

"So, Blondie." he began as they approached the bar, straining his voice so she could hear him over the sound of the loud beats and the music, "Whadda'ya want to drink? Name your poison."

Yang flinched immediately at the question, hoping he didn't notice her reaction. He had a point – what did she want to drink? She had never really had anything alcoholic before, save for a single sixpack of beer, which she had shared with Ruby when the two had once agreed to try alcohol at least once – Not like she would let Ruby have anything worse than beer. She didn't know many drinks, did know only a few names and even fewer things about what they tasted like.

And that left the part that she was still underage, just about to turn eightteen, completely out. But Hei didn't seem to know, or didn't seem to care, so...

"Strawberry Sunrise." Yang hastily shot back, hoping he didn't notice that she had gotten lost in thought for a moment, realizing it only herself when she found that they already stood in front of the bar, "No ice."

Hei rose an eyebrow at her, though that confused expression quickly made room for another smirk. God, that man was all about self-pleased smirks and getting beat up by criminals, was he? Somehow, though, she had to admit that she liked him. He didn't seem to be that much of a bad person, after all.

Turning to the man behind the bar, a shady guy in a black suit, with red glasses and a black hat, Hei rose two fingers, and the guy nodded. Suddenly realizing something she had forgot, Yang let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, and one of those little umbrellas."

Both the guy behind the bar and Hei stopped to send her a confused glance, though it didn't last long, and Hei sent him a glance and a nod.

"You heard the lady, Tucker. She wants a little umbrella, so put one in. And no jokes like you did with Torchwick the other day, he was about to send his crazy bitch of a boss after you when you dropped an actual umbrella into the drink." snorted Hei, not knowing that Yang had to do her best to hold back her laughter at the thought of how stupid Torchwick's face must've looked.

Yang's amusement, however, was short-lived when she spotted a few other guys by the dance floor, dressed much like the guy behind the bar (who apparently was named Tucker, according to Hei), happily chatting away and whispering something to each other while constantly pointing into the direction of the blonde and the Mistralian man. She didn't have to be a genius to know what they were whispering about, with the gestures they made about Hei being all lovey-dovey with her.

She also didn't have to be a genius to figure out that the guys in black and red, much like the DJ with the large bear-head, were involved with the club somehow, some sorts of henchmen. While their sheer number was impressing, Yang doubted that they were strong on their own.

Made her wonder how smart this 'Junior', the owner of the club, really was, with henchmen like those.

"Here's the drink, Lady."

The voice of the bartender, Tucker, pulled Yang out of her thoughts and made her turn to the bar, and with that, Hei. The blonde gently picked up her glass and rose it to her lips, shortly inhaling the scent of the liquor and enjoying it, before she finally let the glass rest against her lower lip.

"These guys over there are whispering about us. See their gestures?" muttered Yang around the drink to her companion, knowing that the movement of her lips was hidden to everyone but Hei, and maybe the bartender.

Hei merely rose an eyebrow at her, but then turned his head just a little bit so that he could glance over his shoulder without the henchmen by the dance floor noticing. He seemed to relax when he saw who Yang was talking about, though.

"Don't worry about them, Blondie. They're not the smartest of the bunch, and they're bored all the time, so let them have their fun." he grumbled, before suddenly adding something when he rose his own glass, nearly muttering it into the liquor inside, "Besides, it may be the last time they do that, and they might find a lot more boredom in the near future when they lose their jobs..."

Yang rose an eyebrow at that mysterious statement, but decided not to further question it, adding it to the list of things that spoke for Hei knowing the owner of the club, this so called 'Junior'. Seriously, who was named 'Junior' anyways? What was that, a stupid nickname he stuck with after high school? Meh, the guy was probably a douche with a name like that, either way.

"They're not exactly good fighters, either. It's their sheer number that keeps this place safe. No one really likes to violate the rules of this club if he's under constant supervision and outnumbered, or if any of these guys could call the owner." Hei suddenly turned in his seat and pointed to a small area on the other side of the dance floor, where Yang could spot three girls on a glass couch, "Or those two. People are usually more scared of those two anyways."

Though it were three girls, Yang could easily guess who he was referring to. Sitting on the couch he referred to were three girls, of which two looked nearly perfectly alike. With the same black hair (differing in length, though, the one in red had short hair while the one in white had long hair), the same height, same green eyes and pale skin, wearing strapless dresses, and long boots, two of the girls, obviously twins, differed only in the color they wore and a few details that adorned their style – red and white feathers in her hair and fur hanging over the shoulders of the twin in the red and black dress, and a white flower hairpin and a white feather scarf for the one in the white and cyan dress.

At least, those were the differences in between the twins that Yang could make out over the distance and the constantly changing lighting. Obviously, the twins had a theme going on, with one being dressed in red, and the other in white.

But yeah, those two girls were probably who Hei referred to, their outfits alone were enough to tell Yang that they were employees of the club as well. She didn't see, though, why anyone would be scared of them, like Hei suggested. If anything, the twins were rather cute.

Cute as in 'attractive' – Yang never had a problem in admitting that she was attracted to females, and if not for the death of her parents and the resulting change in her life, she might have even pursued the one or other relationship. With a girl.

Being gay had never been a problem for Yang, and neither had it been that she liked the feisty or silent types, no matter if they clashed with her own personality or not. Thing was, she never had a relationship like that before, fearing what the girls would think once they knew she was a 'homeless' orphan living with her sister in an abandoned building.

And besides, she kinda scared most girls off with her appearance or personality. And most never even got to see the real scars she had. And just like with everyone else, she would probably scare those girls off, too, if she'd go for them.

But being gay, Yang had one advantage many other girls didn't have – She could, without a restriction, enjoy the beauty of another girl.

And as such, the third girl, though her beauty was a different kind than those of the twins, didn't escape her eyes.

This girl was different. So different that Yang wondered what she was doing with the, as she could easily tell, kind of arrogant pair of twins.

The third girl, sitting on the other end of the glass couch, was dressed mostly in black and white. Her complexion was pale, nearly as pale as that of the twins on the other end of the couch, and her hair was, though wavy, just as black as that of the girls with her. But unlike them, she had bright amber eyes, seemed generally a lot more silent and reserved, constantly getting lost in the book that lay on the table before her.

And had cat ears.

Certainly a rare sight to see someone that was stuck up, like the twins were from what Yang could see in their appearance and behavior, with a Faunus, who were mostly discriminated and looked down upon, especially by the higher classes.

For something like this to be seen – this club really was amazing, after all.

"They'll probably find their match in you, though. You fight pretty amazing, Blondie. If you're good enough to beat Torchwick around by yourself, you'll definitely be on par with them." remarked Hei all of a sudden, pulling her attention back to him, just in time to find that he was about to take another sip from his drink, "Where did you learn to fight like that? Signal Academy? Beacon?"

Yang tensed up, hand clenching down onto the glass in her hand. This time, Hei didn't fail to notice the reaction, stopping his movements, glass resting against his lips unmoving as he remembered that Yang was an orphan.

This time, the mood was ruined, and both of them knew it.

The blonde set her glass down on the bar and lowered her gaze, staring down at the color-changing line that marked the edge of the bar. A low huff escaped her, a feeling of emptiness spreading through her body.

He just had to mention Signal Academy, had he? Her crushed dreams? The future she had longed so bad for, and that now seemed so far away? That was out of reach?

Both she and Ruby had eventually come to accept their situation and the end of their childhood. The death of their parents. Their crushed dreams.

And yet, hearing that from Hei, implying that she'd had what it takes to have become a huntress-in-training, hurt just as much when she first was faced with the bleak future of her and her sister.

"My sister and I..." Yang trailed off shortly to shudder as she heard the weakness in her voice, how it trembled, "We always wanted to be huntresses, but then..."

She trailed off again, leaving the rest for Hei to figure out.

"I see..." Hei's gruff voice fit with the dark mood, and yet there was something in it that comforted her, that made her face this bleak future with new strength, "Ya know... I saw that expression before. The expression of a girl that had her dreams crushed..."

This made Yang perk up, surprised by the sudden revelation of the Mistralian man. She turned her head to him, confused about his words, but the only response that she got was that he turned in his seat and gestured, to her further surprise, once more to the glass couch on the other side of the club, where the two twins now sat on their own, the Faunus that had been with them now gone.

"Them." he added, his gaze meeting that of the twin in white, which had noticed his gesture, "The first time I met them, here, in this club, the two were in your situation. Their dream of becoming huntresses crushed. Homeless, with their only belongings what little they wore, only having one another."

Hei turned his gaze to Yang, though the blonde didn't immediately reciprocate it, instead watching as the twins rose in perfect unison and began to head for them.

"Well, the things they had on them were worth a little fortune, though. Ya see, these two were born to a rich family, and meant to be the heiresses of some kind of Dust Company, though nowhere as rich as the Schnee Dust Company." Hei, still facing the club, leaned back, elbows resting on the bar as he watched the twins in question approach, "But, much like you, their dream was to become huntresses. So one day, they gathered some of their belongings, and ran away from home to fulfill their dream. And quite honestly, they had what it took to be huntresses. I mean, when you see those two fight, Blondie, you'll seriously be questioning if they have some kind of mental link or something, cause they have a fighting style that involves seamless exchange in which one of them takes the lead."

The brawler found herself amazed at this information. She had always been a little curious about identical twins and the things people said about them, and if what Hei said was true, the two girls approaching them fit right into the whole rumors about 'the connection between similar twins'.

"So why didn't they just sell their things to pay for their education at Signal? I mean, I would have done that if I had something worth a little fortune." mused Yang, watching as the twin in white finally pushed her way through the last group of people on the dance floor, with the twin in red following her.

It seemed that the red one was a little shy, with how she avoided to touch people, while her sister just pushed through them on her way. She had none of the confidence that her strong-willed sister had, that was easy to see.

"They wanted to." sighed Hei, picking his glass up again, "But their parents had influence, especially when it came to the academies in Remnant, since their company is one of main suppliers of Dust along with Mistral's Fairytale Dust Company, and the Schnee Dust Company from Atlas."

Hei turned to Yang, not taking the last sip from his drink, after all.

"You know what I mean, do ya?"

"Their parents prohibited the academies from accepting them, or else they'd no longer supply them with Dust, I suppose?" suggested Yang, confirmed in this theory when Hei gave a somber nod, "I see. So their dream of becoming huntresses, it was crushed, just like the very same dream that Ruby and I shared..."

Yang got to finish just in time, as the twins reached them that moment, marking the unspoken end to the conversation about them.

Surprisingly, though, it was the twin in red that first spoke up, staring right at Yang over the shoulder of the twin in white.

"Melanie, who is this girl?" she inquired, never once taking her eyes off the blonde with the side-cut, who made it a point to glare right back. She kind of hoped that the twin in red would get the message, but to Yang's surprise, the girl stared right back, not faltering despite her shy personality and lack of confidence.

The blonde's gaze was drawn down for a second by a movement just behind the back of the twin in white, and, just for a second, Yang spotted the hand of the twin in red resting against the back of her sister.

So that was where she gained the confidence from. She got it from being close to her sister, the closer she was, the more confidence did she gain from her.

The rumors had to be true, after all. Similar twins did share things, and these sisters shared their strength and confidence.

"I don't know, Miltia." replied the one in white eventually, before sending Hei a questioning glance, the arrogant tone in Melanie's voice sending a shiver down the brawler's spine, "So who is she?"

Hei let out an amused snort all of sudden and threw his head back to down the rest of his drink, laughing as he eventually slammed his glass down on the bar.

"What's it to you, Melanie? Jealous?" he laughed, adjusting his shades, "Don't worry, to quote her, I'm 'not her type'. So you still might have a chance."

Yang frowned at him, then at the twin in white, whose pale face suddenly began to gain some color, though whether in embarrassment or in anger, she couldn't tell. Either way, she had to do something, she was not going to just sit around and watch this unfold.

So she rose from her seat and extended a hand to the twin in white.

"Name's Yang Xiao Long." she offered, even when Melanie, the twin in white, just frowned down at her hand, "And I just happen to have saved this idiot's life here."

Both Melanie and the twin in red perked up at that, throwing cautious glances to Hei, as if to look for confirmation of Yang's words, which they found as he nodded. Their reaction to it was different than Yang had expected, though, as Melanie let out a huff and began to glare at Hei.

"I told you not to go and meet Torchwick on your own." growled the twin in white, crossing her arms in beneath her chest, and sending the Mistralian man a skeptical glare that was just as much mocking him as it was scolding him, "But no, you were all like 'I'm Junior, even Torchwick isn't as dumb as to attack me just right outside my own club'. Serves you right. You're not as invincible as you delude yourself to be."

The final piece in the puzzle found its place for Yang, as she finally learned the real connection that her acquaintance had to the club.

Hei Xiong didn't just know the club owner, 'Junior'. He was 'Junior'.

He let out a small chuckle and gestured for Tucker to bring him a new drink, which the henchman quickly agreed to. Waving his hand at Melanie, Hei closed his eyes and took his shades off with his free hand.

"I'll remember that next time." he sniggered, shaking his head, "Now what are you, Melanie? My employee or my mother? You're a mercenary, just like your sister, and pretty much all of my guys are. I pay you for being pretty and entertaining the customers, and for every successful job you do, not for telling me how I should behave."

The twin in question looked bewildered for a moment, before giving a curt nod, expression stoic as she gave Yang another glance. The Mistralian man, however, suddenly nodded to Yang, who was still trying to cope with this new information about her acquaintance.

"Besides, I got Blondie here. She saved my ass.", he extended a hand when he heard Tucker walk up to him, accepting the drink the bartender offered to him, "And kicked Torchwick's pretty good. Good enough that he held onto his hat as he took off ruining, more willing to get scolded by his crazy bitch of a boss than to be beat around by her any more."

This seemed to get a different reaction from Melanie and her twin, as Yang quickly noted, since Melanie sent her a glance and eyed her with a different emotion in her eyes – curiosity. So she had piqued the girl's interest?

Not that she minded. Melanie had piqued her interest, too. After all, Yang liked girls that knew what they wanted, and even if the twin in red looked perfectly alike (save for the colors she was wearing), unlike her twin in white, she only brought the words 'cute', 'shy' and 'innocent' to Yang's mind.

Hei, or rather, Junior, chose this moment to turn to the blonde, smirking at her as he nodded to the two girls before Yang.

"Blondie, meet Melanie and Miltiades Malachite. The two of them have been working for me ever since they showed up here at my club." he began, and the twins gave a curt nod to the blonde, Miltiades' nod much more hesistant, "You see, while I run this club, I also run a different business. I myself am an information broker. People come to me if they need to know something, and for the right price, I may provide that information, or acquire it."

He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling above for a moment, before closing his eyes again.

"But I also train mercenaries, and if someone is in need of them, he comes to me, tells me what kind of mercenary he needs, and, of course only if the price is right, I may put them in contact with the mercenary he needs. The twins here are my top mercenaries, but also act as head of security for my club." he trailed off to chuckle shortly, lifting his head again, "People don't mess with them, and if they do, they quickly find themselves face-first in the pavement."

"So that's what the fight with Torchwick was about?" inquired the blonde as she finally regained her composure, sending him a questioning frown. Junior turned his head to meet her gaze, but gave his two mercenaries a short gesture to sit down with them, which they followed without a reply, Melanie sitting down to the right of Yang, and Miltiades sitting down next to Junior.

"It was. Torchwick was sent by his crazy bitch of a boss to gather some men for a robbery on a Dust shop. Normally, she's my best customer along with the White Fang, but lately, she's lost confidence in my men, and sends her little toy Torchwick with less and less funds. Thing is, while she is my best customer, I'm not allowing her to just do as she wants, this is my business, and I'm not going to bend things for her. So I told Torchwick to screw himself and tell her I'm done making business with her." he suddenly let out a sinister laugh, something Yang definitely hadn't expected from the sympathic man, "Torchwick is screwed if he comes to her with empty hands. Ya see, his boss is a little on the punishing side, and I don't mean the naughty one. She doesn't like to be disappointed, ya know?"

"So you're telling me you're just as much as a criminal as they are?" inquired Yang, though she found herself with no ire towards the man. Even more so, she found herself surprisingly okay with it, even a little interested in the man and his business.

"I never said that." he shot back, less amused all of sudden.

"Junior's business is not illegal. Selling information isn't unusual, he doesn't acquire that information by doing illegal things himself, nor does he encourage anyone to get them for him by doing something illegal. He merely got the right contacts, you could say." added Melanie from Yang's other side all of sudden, eyes glued to the cocktail that Tucker had brought her at one point, "Also, there's nothing illegal about putting people into contact with a mercenary. Mercenaries may not be exactly the most popular kind of people to be with, but it's not an illegal or criminal profession."

Yang sent the girl in white a glance, allowing her eyes to wander a bit. Melanie was quite attractive, especially up close. And that aside, there was something about the twins that piqued Yang's interest for real. They were definitely different from normal people, part of the 'odd ones' Yang enjoyed seeing and talking to. And maybe one day, she'd learn the twins' full story, too.

And Junior, for some reason, counted right into the 'odd ones' as well.

"So the police can't do anything, huh?" inquired the blonde, this time adressing the twin in white, which gave a curt nod in reply. And as she looked up, Yang should, for the very first time, lock eyes with the more confident of the twins, and get lost in those bright green eyes.

Melanie didn't seem to be scared off by her like all the other girls she had ever found remotely interesting, so maybe, just maybe, she really had a chance with this one.

Not that the Cat-Faunus earlier that day hadn't been interesting. Though Yang hadn't really gotten a good look at her, seeing her only from afar, she had practically felt the vibe that the Faunus had been giving off, a dark and lonely one.

Now if that didn't qualify her for Yang's list of 'odd people I find interesting', then she didn't know what would.

"Well then, excuse me for mistaking your shady ass for a criminal, Junior." huffed Yang, sending the Mistralian man an amused smirk. Couldn't help but feel amused by the nickname. She rose her drink, downed it with a big gulp and shuddered at the burning feeling in her throat from the alcohol. "Won't happen again. I know better next time I save it."

She shuddered again, but the burning feeling subsided. Just like the heat earlier that night. And thinking of earlier that night, Yang knew she had to go home, knew Ruby was all alone and waiting. Worse enough, Yang had already broken the promise she had made to her little sister, had both gotten into a fight and had stayed out longer than she had told her. Not that Ruby was going to blame her for it or even say anything about it, if everything was fine Ruby was asleep already and wouldn't even notice her absence.

But it still didn't feel right to her, leaving Ruby alone. Unprotected.

So she pushed the empty glass away from her, rolled her neck and her shoulders, let out a deep sigh as she pulled her small coat tighter around her.

"Well, it's been fun!" she announced, not even sending a glance to her three new acquaintances, instead watched as Tucker reached into a small fridge under the bar to pull out a bowl of icecream – neopolitan, Yang noted silently – and brought it to a small woman that immediately caught Yang's interest as well.

Another odd one, Yang couldn't deny that. She was short, had long pink and brown hair, different colored eyes. Heterochromia. Looked gracious, a complete opposite to the blonde brute.

This club was just full of odd people, and she didn't even get to listen to a single story. A shame.

"You're leaving already?" inquired Melanie, seemed surprised at Yang's sudden intention to leave. Almost disappointed. The blonde nodded shortly, glanced towards her acquaintances.

"Yeah. Ruby is home alone, and I prefer not to leave her alone all night. She's still young." mused the blonde, grinned to Hei, "Thanks for the drink. You were right, I really needed a moment of relaxation, no matter how short it was. I've forgotten that, even as an orphan living in some shitty abandoned building, you need it every once in a while."

Yang turned around, sighed to herself. "See you around, Junior. Twins."

Before Yang even got the chance to leave, though, a hand was placed on her right shoulder. A man's hand, wide and muscular. She turned her head, looked down at the hand, followed the muscular arm, found the man's face, his eyes resting on her. Seriousness in them.

Seeing Yang's hostile glare, however, Junior slowly pulled his hand off her shoulder, rose it, showed that he meant no harm. Calmly retreating his right hand, the Mistralian man used his other hand to put his red shades back on, showed the blonde a bright smirk.

"Wait a sec, Blondie." he began, smirk growing as he sent a short glance to the twins, "I didn't return the favor yet for you saving my ass."

Yang frowned, grew skeptical. She cast a short glance towards the empty glass, the drink he had offered to her. He seemed to get the message, as he immediately rose his hands in defense.

"Hear me out, Blondie... Yang."

He was serious, Yang knew that. He had used her name, her real name, not 'Blondie'. He was going to say something, and part of her really wanted to know what it was that got him so serious. What did he mean when he said that he hadn't returned the favor yet?

"Spit it out, I don't want my lil' sis to be home alone all night." she sighed, the part that wanted to listen to her newest acquaintance getting the upper hand. So she turned to face him and the twins, noticed the confused expressions of the two blackhaired girls. Even those expressions looked alike. Nearly, at least. Melanie had her mouth closed, Miltia's lips were slightly parted.

Junior cleared his throat, smirked, knowing that he had Yang's attention. And then, he suddenly gestured for Tucker. The barkeeper spotted it, rose an eyebrow, but turned to the small woman with the heterochromia he seemed to have been chatting with and told her something. Yang assumed that it was an excuse, as he left her side as soon as she nodded. But her gaze remained glued to the blonde, even as she graciously rose a spoonful of her neopolitan icecream to her lips.

Yang shuddered a little on the inside. Something about the girl with the heterochomia was creepy and fascinating at the same time.

Junior noticed that girl, too. But his reaction was a little different, as he immediately tensed up.

"Look what the rat left behind..." he muttered, seemed displeased about the presence of the girl, but nonetheless gestured the twins to stay seated when they rose from their seats. So he still didn't want the girl that resembled her icecream so much gone.

"What's it, Boss?" inquired Tucker as he reached them, seemed to be quite confused. Junior nodded shortly, then tore away his gaze from the strange girl and focused on his barkeeper.

"Tucker, you'd recognize this lovely lady here if she were to show up in a day or so again, right?" asked Junior in return, nodded towards Yang. A short glance up and down Yang, scruntized her.

"Definitely would. Hard to forget such a bombshell, especially with such a unique order." he snickered, but only after being sure Yang wouldn't mind his comment, "Strawberry Sunrise, no ice. And one of those little umbrellas."

"Very well." huffed the Mistralian man, somewhere between amusement and seriousness, turned back to Yang, "Yang, I have an offer to make. When I see you, I'm reminded of two younger girls in search of a place in the world, with great potential. Wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

He snickered, the smirk returned to his lips as he saw the confused expression of the blonde, and the surprised faces of the blackhaired twins. Suddenly, he extended a hand towards Yang.

"Tomorrow, during the day, you grab your belongings and your little sister. If you need someone to help you get that stuff, don't hesitate to drop by and ask for that help. Once you have everything, you'll come here. There's an empty room in the back of the club, just opposite to the room that these two here occupy." he gestured to the twins, "I'm sure we can get some furniture, and that it'll be a lot more comfortable than where you currently live."

He took his shades off with his other hand, shook his extended hand a bit, as if to emphazise his point, "Come live with us."

"Wait a second!" blurted the blonde out, tried to understand, to process the offer that was made to her, saw the problem of it, "You want me and my sis to live here? With you guys, in the club? I mean, that sounds...! I don't have money to pay you!"

"That will be the least of problems." snorted the Mistralian man, laughed as he lowered his hand and put his shades back on, and picked up his drink again, "We solve it the same way I solved it with the twins here. You work for me. Bodyguard, mercenary, security like most of my guys do – Heck, you have to be good at something, and we'll find it. Something will pay the rent, and I'll pay you what remains of the wage."

He sat down, dropped into his seat in an almost ceremonial way. Confident. Smug.

"Whadda'ya say, Blondie?"

"Well...", began Yang in return, not as secure as she wished to be, her voice betraying her. The offer was good, tempting. She had come to like the place and its odd people already, Hei Xiong wasn't as bad of a person as she initially believed, the twins were cute, and the loud music and energetic atmosphere made her feel right at home.

The question was – was she right at home?

"You'll like it. You should accept his offer."

To the surprise of the others, it was Melanie who said this. She wasn't looking at the others, was looking straight ahead, but closed her eyes as she took a long sip from her colorful cocktail. Finally, she put it down and turned to look at Yang. And showed a smile. Smug and arrogant, and yet it made Yang swallow and made her legs go weak.

For an arrogant girl, she really had a powerful smile.

"It's a nice place. Strange at first, but you get used to it. And surely better than wherever you've lived before, no doubt. At least from what I've just heard." she continued to muse, "But trust me, Miltia and I were wary of this at first, too. Thought it was strange to live in a room in the back of a club. To work for a man we barely knew."

She exchanged a smile with her twin sister, then with Junior.

"The offer is tempting, but you may still be unsure about it. That's fine. I couldn't answer just now back then as well. Took us a whole day to come to a conclusion." Melanie turned to the blonde again, narrowed her eyes in amusement, "But we never regretted it. We didn't go for the whole job of a mercenary from the beginning. We trained, we worked as security and Junior's bodyguards, but eventually decided to pick up the job as mercenaries as well. And look where we are now – Miltia and I aren't only heads of security, Junior's personal bodyguards if he requires us to, but we're also currently his top mercenaries."

The amusement changed to something else, curiosity, but Yang also saw a hint of a challenge sparkling in her eyes. Melanie was up to something, something mischievous, something that caused her to feel amused, curious and challenging at the same time. But not only was Melanie challenging her, Melanie was a challenge herself.

And Yang loved challenges.

"But it seems you're quite an efficient fighter, Yang." Oh, how Yang loved the way that Melanie said her name, smooth and velvety, "Who knows, you may become the next top mercenary. You may surpass us."

Melanie rose from her seat, downed the last of her drink, Miltiades followed right after her, seemed curious about her sister's actions, yet didn't question them. After gently placing the emtpy glass right next to Yang's glass, Melanie gave Yang a last smile, but then turned to leave.

"See you around, Yang."

And gone was she, leaving with a sway to her hips that should require her to have a gun license, at least in Yang's eyes. Encouraging her to accept Junior's offer with her final words. What a woman.

"It was a pleasure to meet you." came Miltiades much more quiet farewell, a curt bow, and then she followed her sister, left as well. Leaving Yang with Hei. Leaving Yang to ponder about the offer and the white twin's encouragement.

"Well, Blondie." Junior rose, smirked at her, "I won't force you. No one will force you to make a decision. I won't be mad if you decline, even if I see this as the chance you have probably been looking for, the chance to change things. To make your life better again."

The man picked up his shades, which he had placed next to his empty glass at one point, and put them back on. He made a gesture to the barkeeper, Tucker, showed him that he could return to the usual business, while also telling him that Yang's drink was on the house.

"If you accept, you're free to drop by tomorrow with your sister and all your belongings, just like I said. The offer isn't limited, though. You don't have to come tomorrow. Should you ever decide to take up my offer, feel free to drop by. Even if it is in a year from now." Junior turned away, turned to follow the twins, "Maybe you take up my offer tomorrow, but find it isn't your thing, isn't the life you want. If that happens, then let it happen. It's important to try things, and if they don't turn out like you want, then you shouldn't fall into depressions over it. Not everything will work in your life. It is important that you tried, though. Did the best you could. Should this not be the life you want, then you're free to leave at any time."

He stopped, turned to look over his shoulder. "Trust this old black bear, Blondie. He knows a lot about shattered dreams, about life and its ways."

Yang could only stare in surprise and shock as the Mistralian man turn his head away, began to leave. Could only watch the last wave with his left hand.

"But know one thing, Yang." he exclaimed as he left, and it was as if his voice droned out all the other loud noises in the club, as if they were alone in a silent room, "I think today was fate. And I think you just entered your new home, even if you don't realize it yet. The club, however, did. The club has already come to accept you, has space that you and your sister can fill. And not only I think this is it, your place in the world."

His hand lowered. The man vanished in the crowd, mingled with it. Was gone from her sight, left her standing there, at the bar, with only her thoughts.

She had made her decision before she was out of the doors.

---

The door creaked, cold wind rushed into the room the same moment that Yang did.

She didn't care whether or not Ruby was going to wake up, Ruby had to wake up either way. She was well aware that it was in the middle of the night, was well aware that she could wait for morning to come. Only that she couldn't, her excitement and inner turmoil prevented her from doing so.

"Ruby! Rubes!"

It was silent for a moment, silent if not for the groaning of the wind. But it was when a human groan joined the wind's howls that Yang knew that Ruby was awake. Blankets were moved in the darkness of the room, the old bed creaked and groaned as the small figure on the bed shifted and turned. Yang's eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness, but she still saw how the figure rose a bit, almost too much like a zombie in the horror movies that the boys in Vale were so fond of for Yang's tastes.

"You're awfully late..." grumbled the drowsy voice of her younger sister after a glance towards the window near the bed, checking the position of the moon, "What's it, Yang?"

The blonde couldn't help but smirk into the darkness of the room when she heard the whine in her younger sister's voice. Ruby didn't like being woken up, didn't like being disturbed once she pursued her interests – Of which laziness was one of, coming right after being a nerd when it came to guns and mechanics, as well as candy. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily seperate.

"Look, Rubes, I know I said I wouldn't be out longer than an hour, and I know that I said I wouldn't get into trouble and start any fights..." Yang trailed off, let the words sink in, waited for Ruby's crooked shape to sit upright and stare at her – which in the darkness, looked kinda creepy with only her silhoutte being visible due to the moonlight falling in through the window behind her – as it meant that she had her younger sister's full attention, "To my defense, I didn't start the fight, I stepped into one to defend some guy. Was in the back alley of this popular club, Junior's."

A heavy sigh in the darkness. Ruby thought this was yet another excuse, as Yang tended to say often that the fights she got into weren't her fault, even she herself admitted that. But this time, it was different, and Ruby was just about to learn that.

"I lied earlier, I didn't go to clear my head. Well, kinda. My semblance has been developing recently, I thought it had something to do with fire, cause I felt all weird 'n hot 'n stuff." the older sister trailed off, stopped herself from giving in to the excitement of being one step closer to controlling her semblance after that night, another achievement of her nocturnal walk, "But it's not. Not entirely. Think it's something like gathering excessive energy or something, but that's not the important part!"

"You're ranting."

"I know, and you're complaining. Now be a good girl and listen, Ruby, it's about to get good!" there was no ire in the blonde's voice, merely a friendly reminder that Ruby shouldn't interrupt, "So I beat up this Torchwick guy – yes that criminal – and saved this other dude's ass. He offered me a drink in return and invited me into the club and then there was loud music, dancing humans and Faunus, these two cute twins, and then this guy whose ass I saved, Hei Xiong, turned out to be actually the owner, Junior and we talked while we sat at the bar..."

"I get it now. You're drunk."

"I'm not! Listen to me, you'll be just as excited as I am when I'm done!" Yang stepped further into the room now, walked until she was so close to Ruby that the pale moonlight no longer made her look like a dark silhouette, "I'm not even sure how we got to that topic anymore, but listen to what Junior offered me!"

She flopped down at the foot of the bed, it creaked again. Wouldn't survive throughout the next half year. It wasn't that good or comfortable to begin with.

"Just say it already so I can go back to sleep. Or gimme some cookies, I need sugar if you want me to stay up." whined the younger sibling, falling back onto the pillow. She really seemed to believe her older sister had lost it.

"He offered me a job at his club. And not only that, but he wants us to come and live there. It's how the sisters found their way to him as well. They were in a situation not quite unlike ours."

Ruby was suddenly sitting again. Was staring at her in a state that was neither completely shock or surprise or even disbelief. Yang smiled throughout the silence that followed, enjoyed it as Ruby was at loss for words for several minutes.

"Say that again."

Yang's smirk grew. Ruby wasn't quite believing her, was she?

"Junior, the owner of the club, whose ass I saved. He saw me fighting Torchwick, and thinks I might be a good addition for his security. I was talking to him about our current situation, and it reminded him of the twins. So he made me the same offer." Yang leaned back a bit, repositioned her hands so she wouldn't fall over, "He doesn't want us to live like this anymore, Ruby. Wants to offer us a chance at a better life. I mean, he may seem suspicious at first, and that he is an information broker and training mercenaries might catch you on the wrong foot, but he's actually quite a nice guy."

"It sure does sound suspicious, Yang..."

"I know, Ruby, but this might be our chance. I've been there, I've seen it, and I think this is it, Ruby." Yang tilted her head a little, smiled, "He wants us to drop by tomorrow with all our stuff if we want to accept his offer, but he said we can leave at any time if we think that we're not belonging there. So why not give it a chance? Can it be worse than this?"

Ruby seemed to grow thoughtful as she watched how Yang gestured to the room they had been living in, and was immediately reminded of the cold place, the howling wind, the unfinished state the building was in. The uncomfortable, spare furniture. The loneliness. All the bad times.

She met Yang's gaze again, only to nearly recoil at what she saw. Desperation, but also an honest easiness, her sister's face for once not distorted in worry and seriousness. Relief.

"Let's go there tomorrow, Ruby. Give it a chance, look at the place, let it convince you. Meet Junior and the twins. The people there, how accepting everyone seems, even the customers. Of course I know that moving there will bring its own new problems and challenges - the life there happens mostly at night, the business gets Junior into contact with criminals even though he's not one himself, the twins seem a little snobby and will probably need some time to grow on you - but I think we're ready to face those problems."

The older sister reached for her younger sister's hands, took them into her own and held them tightly.

"Ruby." Yang whispered, smiled, "We can live again. He's not that bad, the twins are cute and accepting even if snobby and can actually be nice, I'd have a job and we'd have a nice place to live at..."

Yang shook her sister's hands a bit, smiled in a way that Ruby had never seen her smile before since that night. Relaxed, honest, so full of glee, as if a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Ruby, I think I found our place in this world..."

---

And that's it for the first chapter! How'd ya like it so far?

Before you leave now (maybe after leaving a review? *hopeful winks*), there's one or two things I'd like to say about the content itself. I've actually begun to design this story towards the end of Volume 1, however, I've come back to change things up – including things like Yang's semblance, the apperance of a certain psychopathic (?) Volume 2 character, and some general stuff – so if anything ever seems inconsistent or too conflicting with what we know, please don't hesitate to ask. While it is an AU, I want some of the things to stay true to what we know. What I mean? More of that as we progress deeper into the story in the following chapters. Next one is set for May, as of now.

As heavily implied by this chapter, the main characters of this story will be the Rose Sisters and the Malachite Sisters. Where I'm going with this? You'll see when the third chapter comes around. Also, I've left a small hint as to WHEN this story is set in reference to the canon RWBY-timeline: This AU's timeline will be a counterpart-version of it. Certain events will take place in this as well, and I`ve left you a hint where it'll start.

But anyways, before I get too much into this, let's end my part here before it becomes a rant. Big 'Thank you!' for my Beta-Reader Time96, who put up with my shenanigans and mistakes (god, how did I end up accidentally repeating so many words in this before beta?!), and will be along for the entire ride to beta my chapters.

Also, big 'thank you' to you, my dear reader, for making it this far! Interested in more? I'll happily supply you with more, in due time.

This is SorrowfulReincarnation leaving the scene until the next chapter!

So long~

On a sidenote: I'm still without a cover for this. So, if anyone would be interested in drawing one for me, why not leave me a PM? I'd like to have a cover by chapter three or four. If I have multiple choices by then, I'll decide on one, but mention the other pictures. No work shall be left without the credit it deserves!