Author's Note: this story is a part of the RWBY Superhero Universe, and more especifically, a sequel to Ruby Rose: The Red Huntress. That story is not a necessary read before you get into this one, but it adds a lot. For more info on the RSU, check my profile. And with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this first chapter!
Being able to look at the sky at night and see the stars was something that, until a few months ago, Ruby hadn't known she needed. Patch wasn't the most polluted of cities, but there was always a little dust keeping her from seeing how bright the night could be. Now… now she realized what she had been missing. It was nice. Very relaxing.
Perfect for before a hunt.
"Agent Rose, I realize this might sound a little odd, considering you are… well, you," Commander Goodwitch's voice buzzed through her earpiece. "But could you move faster? We are running late."
"Hmm?" Ruby blinked, realizing that she had stopped walking somewhere along the way. "Sorry. I'm almost there."
"Well, the Grimm are already there, so that is little comfort. Really, Ruby, if you want to be taken seriously as an agent, you must learn to control your-"
Ruby sighed, tuning her supervisor out for a moment. She understood Glynda was only looking out for her, and she was grateful for that, but sometimes the commander worried too much over too little. It wasn't as if Ruby had ever screwed up a mission before!
…Well, there was that one time when she mistook a bulldozer for a Grimm and caused some hefty property damage. The owner had been very upset. Glynda even more.
That was beside the point, though. She was a superhero, with a codename and a cape and everything else. Ruby could look out for herself.
"Uh, I'm sorry, Miss Goodwitch – I think – Grrr –" Ruby hissed, trying to imitate the sound of static to the best of her abilities. "We're breaking out! Shhrrr!"
"Ruby." It wasn't difficult to imagine the look on Glynda's face. "Honestly. You are an agent of Beacon. You cannot seriously be trying to deceive me with such-"
"Oh, no! It's a tunnel suddenly! Whoosh! It's sucking me in! Aah!" Ruby yelled quietly. "Tell my family I love them!"
Ruby turned off the earpiece for good.
"Nailed it."
She walked onward, quickening her steps a bit. Annoying or not, Commander Goodwitch had a point. Ruby couldn't risk the Grimm straying from their point of emergence and hurting some poor clueless person. It wasn't that far from town, after all.
Before she reached the spot, Ruby stopped and did a quick look of her surroundings, making sure no one had followed her. Once she was satisfied, she turned and walked on to the edge of the empty construction site and kneed on the loose gravel.
There they were. A small pack of Beowolves. She could see five from where she was, but there could be others hidden behind the vehicles the construction crew had left there for the night.
Keeping silent, Ruby stood up, grabbed Crescent Rose from her belt, and unfolded it. Her lips parted in a little smile. She just couldn't help it. This was what she had been born-
Behind her, an unexpected noise. Gravel. Boots. A low buzzing of electricity.
Ruby spun around and swung her scythe.
YANG XIAO LONG
CHASING ROSE
Yang pulled over by the side of the road and hopped off her motorcycle. She took off her helmet and put it down on the seat, then patted it lovingly.
"Don't cry, Bumblebee," she whispered. "I'll be back soon."
She turned and jogged over to the safety rails by the cliffside, ignoring the looks the other sightseers and tourists were giving her. Who were them to judge the love a woman felt for her motorcycle? They just didn't understand.
The Azure Falls, one of Vale's most popular landmarks, and now that she was here to see it in person, Yang could understand why that was. Watching the multiple streams cascade down from the mountains, joining together halfway to the lake below, steam spreading through the air… It was simply amazing.
She took in the sight for a while more, then took out her cellphone and turned around, framing herself with the Falls behind her. She smiled and took the photo.
"Hey. Looking good!" Yang nodded appreciatively.
"Thanks!" A man chimed beside her, also posing for a photo.
"Uh, I was talking to… Nevermind," Yang flashed him a thumbs-up. "Keep working out!"
Alright, maybe she was talking to herself too much. But could anyone blame her? It had been weeks since she had had a real conversation with anyone - phone calls with family didn't count. It was only natural she would turn to herself for company. Yang did consider herself a pretty good conversationalist.
She looked down at her phone, considering who to send the photo to. Dad, of course. He seemed to be enjoying traveling vicariously through her. Some of her friends from Signal. Oh, and Ruby.
"Hmm."
Ruby hadn't viewed the photos she had sent over the last couple days, and her messages inquiring about where she was and if she was doing alright had also been ignored. Maybe Ruby had grown tired of her constant worrying? They had made an agreement about Ruby keeping her informed at all times, what with the Grimm slaying she was doing under Beacon now. But maybe Yang had been a little too overbearing…
Yeah, that was probably it. Hopefully Yang would hear from her sooner rather than later.
She sent out the photo and turned off her phone, then went back to Bumblebee. "Heya, sweetie," she put on her helmet and hoped on. "Kept my promise. Let's hit the road."
After the Azure Falls, Yang's next stop would be a little rural town in southern Vale, which went by the name of… Townsburg. When Dad had told her about it, she had thought he was pulling her leg, but a quick internet search proved he wasn't lying. Townsburg.
According to him, Townsburg served the best traditional crepe in the world. He had a very particular taste for crepe, one of his many oddities, so Yang was willing to trust him on that, and she was very eager to eat something not on the menu of a roadside restaurant. Besides, she would pass by the town anyway, so she saw no reason not to make a quick stop there.
It was a two-hour drive from the Azure Falls, but with the traffic being so light, she figured she could make it in an hour and a half. She would have done so, but twenty minutes from there, something put a hold on that plan.
A car pulled over beside her, matching her speed. Yang waved at it. She had discovered people were surprisingly friendly on the road. She had even exchanged some tips about places to go and things to do. Unfortunately, that wasn't one of those experiences, but she realized that all too late as the window at the passenger side of the car rolled down, revealing two guys close to her age, both wearing very telling grins on their faces.
"Hey, hot stuff!" The passenger yelled, leaning towards the outside of the car. "Where are you headed?"
She held back a groan. Maybe if she was short with them, they would move on? "Places."
"I'm just asking so we know where to meet up with you!" He widened his smile, no doubt trying to be charming. It had the opposite effect.
"Oh, okay," Yang rolled her eyes. Time to ramp it up. "I'm driving off the cliffside, then. Wanna bet who hits bottom first?"
"Hey, we're just having fun!" The driver joined in. "Why you gotta be this way?"
"Guys, I'll give you a tip for life," Yang raised a finger. "If you wanna try picking up girls on the road… don't. No one's that desperate," she winked. "Except you two, apparently."
It was a pleasure for her to watch as their playful attitude crumbled to bits, their faces scrunching up with anger.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't dress like you're desperate!"
"Yeah! By the way, nice airbags! Where did you have them installed?"
Yang grinded her teeth and turned her head completely to glare at them, preparing an appropriate response to shut them up for good. She opened her mouth-
And suddenly hit the concrete, losing her grip on Bumblebee. She rolled on the ground, hitting her head several times, until she came to a complete stop. Groaning, she got on her knees and looked up.
Bumblebee was a little ways ahead of her, having barely stopped before falling off the cliffside. It didn't look broken, and there was no smoke coming out of it or anything, but still…
The car stopped and the two guys ran over to her. "Oh, crap! Is she-" They slid to a halt at the same time, staring at her with wide eyes.
"She's… uh…" The driver swallowed dry. "You're not hurt…?"
Yang got up, clenching her fists. She could feel power coursing through her body, enough to dish out some irreversible damage on the two idiots. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, though, keeping her cool.
"Yeah, I'm not hurt," she cracked her neck. "Obviously."
"How?" The driver shook his head in astonishment. "You crashed at, like, a hundred per hour…"
"I got lucky," she stepped close to him. "Think you can be that lucky too, jerk?"
"W-wait. We're very sorry!" His friend intervened. "We can, uh, put your bike on the trunk and drive you to the next town. N-no funny business."
"No, thank you," Yang scoffed. "I'm still not that desperate."
She stared them down, not saying another word, until they turned tail and got back on their car. As soon as they were gone, Yang shouted and kicked the ground, knocking off a chunk of concrete from the road. She hissed, realizing that wasn't a very nice thing to do. Hopefully that hole wouldn't cause another accident to someone else.
She walked over to Bumblebee and lifted it. She revved up the engine. As she had imagined, it didn't sound too good. It definitely wasn't safe to drive.
"Oh, my baby… You're the biggest victim here," she muttered sadly. "Come on. Let's get you to a doctor."
Thankfully, she managed to hitch a ride with a traveling family shortly after the accident. They drove her to Townsburg – the kids had a blast hearing that name – and dropped her off there, the parents even offering her some money for repairs. Yang tried to refuse, but they insisted so much she was forced to take it. She took that as proof that she was right about the traveling spirit, even if some people didn't adhere to it. Yang was all about finding the bright side in everything.
After a little searching and asking around, Yang found the local mechanic. It was a home business, run from his garage. The man seemed busy working on a rundown car, but when he noticed her approaching with Bumblebee, he stepped away from his work to talk to her.
"Hello, miss," he said, looking at her motorcycle. "Looks like some damage happened there. You take a tumble?"
"Kind of," Yang replied. "I got out unscathed."
"I can see. You must have some wicked reflexes," he chuckled. "Anyways, my name's Earl. I take it you want me to take a closer look on your ride, fix up whatever's needed?"
"Yep, that's it," Yang said. "How long do you think it will take? I'm travelling around right now, so I would like to get back on the road as fast as possible."
"Hard to tell. Could be a day or two, a couple more depending on how bad the damage is," Earl scratched his chin thoughtfully. "'Course, if you want me to work fast, it's gonna be a bit pricier. You see, I already have a lot on my table. Adding to that, well…"
"Don't worry about it. I'm willing to pay whatever price, as long as it's fair."
"Okay, then. Let me take your contact information, then we can see about the rest."
They exchanged the necessary information, then Earl told her about a local inn she could stay in while she waited for the repairs to be done. Yang thanked him, then moved on.
It took almost no time at all for her father to answer the phone, which made her think that either the media was right about people being addicted to their phones, or that he might be enjoying travelling vigorously through her a little too much.
"Hey, if it's not one of my favorite daughters!"
"Hi, Dad." Yang smiled. Her day had taken a sour turn, but just hearing his voice did wonders to restore her spirit.
"Where are you calling from?" He asked. "I thought you had just stopped at the Falls?"
"Yeah, I'm in… Townsburg, right now," Yang couldn't help but pause at that name. Really. Townsburg? "I kind of… crashed Bumblebee a little."
"You did what?!" Yang winced at his sudden, if not predictable, rise in volume and distanced the phone from her ear. "Are you hurt?"
"No, Dad, I'm fine. I wasn't going that fast," she said, coming up with a lie on the spot. "I was enjoying the scenery. Maybe for too long. I got distracted, and then, bam."
"I told you to be careful," Taiyang sighed. "Well you should find a mechanic and get it fixed fast if you wanna get back on the road."
"Already done. It's gonna take three days. Aaand… two hundred and fifty Lien."
This time she was ready for his loud response. She waited a few seconds before putting the phone back on her ear.
"-but I suppose I can afford that. I mean, I don't actually need that exclusive starfish-shaped clock. I already have two of them. Yeah, I would like a third, to put in the kitchen, but we all have to make sacrifices-"
"Dad, stop. You're not gonna pay for me," Yang declared. "This trip is all about me becoming a responsible, independent adult, so I'm gonna own up to my mistake and pay the price myself."
"Uh, yeah, I'm proud you're handling this so maturely, but… I never realized the trip was about adulthood and all that stuff." Taiyang said dubiously.
"That's because I just made that up," Yang admitted. "Anyway. It's settled, I'm paying. You can indulge your weird obsession with starfish-shaped stuff."
"I'm telling you, it's genius design!"
"Sure, Dad," Yang rolled her eyes. "Oh, have you heard from Ruby lately? I think she's fed up with me checking on her all the time, so now she's ignoring me."
Instead of a straight-forward answer, she only heard some movement and – if she wasn't imagining things – a whisper from another person. Yang frowned, wondering what her father was up to now.
"Dad, you still there?" She called after a while.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was actually checking my messages," he finally replied. "And, yep, Ruby texted me a couple hours ago. She's still out there on her Beacon missions. Seems like your theory is correct."
"Hmm. That's a relief." Yang paused. She was still suspicious, but she figured pushing him wouldn't amount to anything. He had kept his previous life as a Beacon agent a secret for eighteen years, after all. "Well, I'm just gonna wait for Bumblebee to get fixed and then I'll get back on the road. Should be home in a month or so!"
"Can't wait for it! Have fun, sweetheart."
"I will. Bye, Dad."
Yang ended the call and laid down on her rented bed, staring at the ceiling.
She had to be overthinking things. If something had happened to Ruby, her father wouldn't hide it from her. Unless… He knew very well how protective she was of her sister. He might have thought sharing the news with her would cause her to cross half the country just to find Ruby – which, she had to admit, was a spot-on assumption.
Grumbling under her breath, Yang picked her phone up again and quickly sent a text to Ruby.
Heya. Sorry for the mama bear routine. Call me?
She sighed.
Aren't vacations supposed to be relaxing?
Over the next days, Yang tried to keep her mind off Ruby and her father's weirdness, by exploring Townsburg and its immediate surroundings. It was a small town, but she found that there were actually some pretty interesting spots to find if one searched hard enough.
There was, of course, the crepe place she had been told about, and the food turned out to live up to her father's word. But what interested her more was the forest to the west of town. It was filled with trees bigger than any she had ever seen before, and there was wildlife everywhere she looked. It reminded her of home.
When the forest ended, Yang was met with a steep wall of rock that led up to a range of mountains, their peaks so high they appeared to touch the sky. She wondered if people climbed here often… and then she decided that, if they didn't, she would be the first one to.
Make your own fun wherever you are, was her motto.
She started slowly, taking careful hold of rocks that protruded from the wall and pulling herself up from there. Yang had never gone rock climbing before, but she figured it couldn't be too hard. She imagined the trickiest part was having the strength and stamina to make your way to the top, but that was not a problem for her at all.
In a matter of minutes, she was already halfway to the top. She stopped for a moment to take a breath and plot out her the rest of the climb. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of looking down. She had gone so far she was now level with the top of the trees!
"Oookay," Yang said, pressing herself to the wall. "Don't worry. You're practically invulnerable. Practically. And it's not like the climb's getting any harder from here."
She nodded and reached for the next rock to hold on to. She started to pull herself upward, only to realize too late that she had made a fatal mistake – she had put too much strength in her grip, and the rock was giving way and breaking off the wall. Yang let go and searched frantically for another holding point, and then her feet gave way too.
Yang plummeted down, screaming so much she would have died from embarrassment, were it not for the more pressing situation she was in. She watched the top of the mountain grow farther and farther, until she hit the ground.
It hurt.
Yang raised her head to look at the mountains. It was almost as if they were taunting her, challenging her to try and fail again. Huffing, she jumped to her feet and ran to the wall, violet eyes turned red.
She leaped, made impact with the wall, and buried her fingers into the rock. Grunting angrily, she let her body go limp, then pulled with all her might, letting go of the rock. She went flying upward five times the distance she had been making before, only to grab onto the wall again.
Yang repeated the motion again and again, not caring at all as parts of the wall started to give around and below her. All she could see was the top, and she wouldn't stop until she got there.
Finally, she gave one last impulse and soared by the edge of the mountain. Yang landed loudly, the ground shattering beneath her feet. Not wasting a moment, she screamed at the top of her lungs and kicked a rock off the mountain.
A couple minutes passed before her eyes returned to violet.
"Well, that was a thing."
She sat down and breathed in and out, waiting for the adrenaline to settle down. It had been a long time since she had used her Semblance to such an extent. It was for the best, of course, she didn't want everyone knowing she was some kind of superhuman, but she couldn't lie and say it wasn't the best feeling the world for her.
As good as it felt, though, these moments were always followed by self-doubt of confusion. That might be the bigger reason for her secrecy. If she was invulnerable and could lift fifty times her weight without breaking a sweat, what did that make of her future? She had been able to ignore that for her entire life, but now she was an adult. She had to make a choice.
"This is not what I am on vacation for." She said bitterly, casting those thoughts aside. Leave the worrying for when she was back home.
Yang stood up and looked at the mountains. She couldn't be sure, but it looked like the smallest one would take ten times the time to climb than the first. She knew it was unlikely she would get hurt, but…
"Eh. It's probably too cold up there anyway," she said. "Yep. That's why I'm not going. I am not scared."
She looked around suspiciously.
"I really have to stop talking to myself."
At last the third day came about, and with it news that her motorcycle was ready to go. Yang ate a quick breakfast at the inn, paid for her stay, then went out, eager to get her vacation back on track.
When she got to the mechanic's house, she was surprised to find Bumblebee parked on the sidewalk, instead of being inside his garage. Yang looked around confusedly. She still had to pay for the repairs, but Earl was nowhere to be seen.
She started to make her way to the garage, but before she got there, Earl stepped out, wiping some grease off his forehead. "Hey, kid! You showed up fast, huh?"
"Like I said, I really wanna hit the road again," Yang said, taking out her wallet. "So, two hundred and fifty lien?"
"Yes?" He frowned. "It's already paid for. I thought you knew?"
"Paid for?" Yang repeated. "By whom?"
"Who do you think, pipsqueak?"
Yang turned to look over her shoulder, her eyes widening. There he was, leaning on Bumblebee as if his presence was the most expected thing in the world. His little smile and red eyes made her both happy and exasperated, as always.
"Uncle Qrow?" She said, walking over to him. "What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on my favorite blonde," he shrugged. "And bailing her out of a pricey debt because she doesn't know how to drive straight."
"It was a very stressful situation!" Yang punched him in the shoulder, but he only smiled bigger. "How did you even know I was here?"
"I was with your father when you called him," Qrow explained. "I was delivering bad news, as is customary."
Yang felt her stomach drop. Bad news, of course. She could already imagine what they were about.
"Your sister has been missing for a week," he said. "The last Beacon heard from her, she was taking care of a Grimm surge at some small town up north. Communications were cut, and there was no sign of where she'd gone."
"Oh. That, uh…" Yang tried to speak, but her voice was failing her. "That sucks."
"Yes, that does suck indeed," Qrow agreed. "We're fairly sure she's alive. We only need to find her, and since the regular Beacon agents have failed to do that, the job falls to me now," he looked away, grimacing. "It should have been that way from the start."
Yang looked at Bumblebee. She couldn't stomach the thought of continuing her traveling now that she knew Ruby was missing. The only thing she wanted to do now was find her.
Her father had been right to keep the truth from her.
She looked up at her uncle again. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He raised an eyebrow. "You're coming along on the job."
"I am?"
He just stared at her. She met his gaze in silence for a while... and then her eyes went red.
"I am."
Hell hath no fury like Mama Bear Yang.
So, hello ya'll! Again. Or not again, in case you're new to this whole RSU thing. (man, this is only going to get more confusing the more time passes)
I know I said in the author's note in the beginning that this is a sequel to Red Huntress, but that's not one hundred percent true. This will be a Yang story from beginning to end. I won't be picking up any loose threads from Red Huntress that don't involve Yang in some way. It's like a spiritual sequel in a way, I suppose.
And if I haven't made the timeline clear enough in the chapter itself, this story takes place shortly after Red Huntress. Yang's still on her road trip and Ruby is - ooh, I can't tell you that, now can I? Hehehe. You're gonna have to find out for yourselves.
Anyway, this first chapter was a little slow, but I hope you guys enjoyed it regardless of that. Things will be picking up quickly from now on.
-Zeroan
