The roads were made of a black tarmac. Shards of ceramic littered the ground, glittering in the light of Remnant's broken moon. Rising on either side of the road were rustic lamp posts, their dull yellow light just barely reaching the ground. A sobbing man's voice echoed throughout the street.
"No, no, no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"
Then a single loud smack followed by a thump. A scrawny bull Faunus cowered on the ground, his blue shirt drenched with a combination of coffee and sweat. Above him towered a human police officer. Broad-chested, muscled, and angry, he cut an intimidating figure. Coffee similarly stained his uniform, but, unlike the Faunus, his expression was that of rage. The cop's partner, standing farther back, wore a grimace.
"Didn't mean to!?" the cop roared. "What were you doing running anyway? I bet you robbed a place, you filthy animal. Is that all your kind can do?" He kicked the Faunus in the stomach, and his victim curled into a fetal position. The partner shuffled uncomfortably but didn't move to intervene. Instead, he took a step back, looked away, and folded his arms across his chest.
The citizens of Vale still up and walking the streets at this late an hour didn't pay much attention to the scene: a few leered at the Faunus, fewer hid their uncomfortable expressions, most were indifferent. A small girl in a red cloak did none of those things. Ruby Rose inserted herself between the police officer and the Faunus.
"Stop!" she shouted. The cop's follow up kick stopped midair.
"What are you doing?" he asked in a low tone, setting his foot back on solid ground. "You're interfering with official police business, kid. Beat it."
"What about this is official!?" Ruby yelled. The man glared. Behind her, the Faunus she was protecting crawled back a few feet. His back impacted a glass storefront with a twang.
"I was just about to book this scum for assault, suspicion of illicit activity, loitering…" The man continued listing off charges as Ruby's expression hardened. The cop's partner, smaller in stature, stepped forward and spoke. His voice was higher pitched, and a bit shaken.
"Just get out of here, Ma'am. There is no point in - "
"No." Ruby's eyes flared in anger.
"Do you want to be arrested for obstruction of justice, kid?" the larger cop asked. "Because you're about to be."
"Justice!?" Ruby's fists clenched. Her hands unconsciously moved closer to Crescent Rose, hidden on her back. "This isn't justice." The larger cop's face twitched, and his eyes narrowed angrily. Ruby didn't back down. She had seen scarier expressions on Yang.
"My patience has run out, kid. Move aside."
"Or?"
"You'll be arrested."
"Try me," Ruby said defiantly. The man guffawed. His deep laugh echoed throughout the street, where the sobs of his Faunus victim — now silent and in shock — once occupied. His expression abruptly shifted from amusement to anger. He reached for a pistol on his belt. Ruby's eyes widened. The other cop leapt into action and grabbed his partner's shoulder.
"Woah, woah, Jade! What the hell are you doing?" The cop's right hand stopped above his holster's clasp. He turned to his partner.
"C'mon Rookie, this kid'll run at the first sign of a threat," he whispered. Then he shoved his partner's hand aside and pulled the gun from its holster. The barrel remained pointed down, carefully aimed away from Ruby. He stared straight in her eyes.
"Beat it, kid."
Ruby smiled at him. A full set of white teeth sparkled in his face.
"You've made a mistake," she said simply. The cop's eyes flared angrily and he raised his gun. Before he could even react, he was staring down the barrel of a fifty caliber sniper rifle. He saw something in Ruby's eyes, magnified by the scope, that made him take a step back.
The rookie darted for his gun.
"Stop," Ruby commanded. The rookie's hands stopped short of his pistol grip, and his eyes flooded with terror. Guilt rushed through Ruby at the younger cop's expression. The man she was aiming at registered that flash of weakness and grinned. He began laughing once again.
"You couldn't pull the trigger. You don't have the guts," he accused before raising his gun. This time he didn't have any qualms about pointing it right at Ruby.
"No, but I could," a calm voice interrupted. All four pairs of eyes turned to the new arrival. Clad in green and with his trademark silver cane, Headmaster Ozpin stood a few meters away with a grim expression adorning his face. "I would suggest you not point a gun at one of my students."
The larger cop's eyes widened and he stepped back, his pistol immediately lowering. The rookie's hand dropped from his holstered weapon. Ruby's rifle remained leveled.
"You too, Miss Rose." Ruby reluctantly lowered Crescent Rose. The larger cop immediately butted in.
"My apologies, I hadn't realized - "
"Enough." Ozpin's single command shut him up in an instant. "I don't need to hear any excuses." His eyes swept over Ruby and the two police officers before locking back onto the larger cop. "If you leave now I will forget this happened."
"What of the faun-"
"Now," Ozpin repeated. The cop shot a glare at the Faunus.
"Of course." He roughly grabbed his partner, turned him around, and dragged him down the street. Ozpin watched the pair walk away and turn the street corner before his eyes shifted to Ruby. She met his gaze without flinching.
"I should have expected you'd be exactly like your mother," Ozpin said with a sigh. Ruby's mouth gaped. She hadn't expected that response.
"I- uh," Ruby babbled. Ozpin turned away from his student and walked to the bull Faunus, now awkwardly standing up. He wore a grimace on his face. Ozpin offered the man a card. The Faunus looked at it and glanced back at Ozpin. He didn't move to grab it. Ruby stood off to the side, observing the exchange.
"Hand it to the medical staff at Frostwood and explain it's from Ozpin. They should - "
The Faunus batted away Ozpin's hand. "I don't need help from the likes of you, Ozpin" The man spoke the name as if it were a curse. He clutched his stomach and groaned, turning away from the man he had scorned.
"Naturally," Ozpin replied, expression unchanged. His arm lowered, and he tucked the card back into his jacket.
The Faunus's attention shifted to Ruby. "Thanks...Rose, was it?"
"Ruby Rose," she replied quietly.
"Ruby Rose, huh?" The man replied thoughtfully. "Thank you," he repeated. "Could use more people like you on this blasted planet." He began walking away, hunched over.
"Are, are you sure you don't need more help?" Ruby asked uncertainly to his retreating form. The man choked back a laugh and stopped.
"You've done plenty tonight," he said without looking back. When Ruby didn't respond he resumed his slow pace. Her gaze followed the man's back as he limped out of sight, a look of worry etched on her face. Ruby jumped when a hand clasped her shoulder.
"That was foolish," Ozpin said firmly. Ruby twirled around. Her headmaster's hand fell from her shoulder.
"Foolish!?" she shouted. "Those, those...big...stupid…" she struggled to find the words, "jerks were beating him! That has to be illegal!"
"Plenty of illegal things happen in Vale every day," Ozpin replied.
"And plenty of people die from Grimm every year! Do you expect me to do nothing about that either?"
"Those are two problems of a very different nature, Miss Rose." Ozpin sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The action pushed up his glasses. "This would best be discussed in a different setting."
He walked in the opposite direction the Faunus went and beckoned for his student to follow. Ruby reluctantly gave pursuit with an angry huff.
[-O-O-O-]
"The world isn't composed of heroes and villains, Ruby," Ozpin said before taking a sip from his coffee.
The student-teacher pair was sitting in some hole in the wall dinner that the headmaster frequented. The atmosphere fit Ozpin well, Ruby concluded. The red booth seats were worn and patched with duct tape in some places, stains littered the white linoleum tile floors, and the building reeked of ground coffee. The place seemed as weary and caffeine fueled as Ozpin.
Ruby stared down at her own drink — cream and five sugars — and watched as the liquid swirled round and round. She took a while to respond. "I know." A waitress, the only one working this late in the night, stopped by the table with a pot full of black coffee.
"More coffee?" She asked Ozpin, motioning to his nearly empty mug.
"Yes please," Ozpin responded with a smile as he placed his mug on the table. An unspoken word seemed to pass between them. She refilled his cup and darted behind the counter, before walking into a back room. The door closed behind her.
"You don't - I'm not that naive," Ruby added, still staring down at her coffee without taking a sip.
"Are you sure? You seemed quite willing to play the hero of the hour."
Ruby seethed.
"A man was being beaten in the street!" she shouted. "It wasn't about being a hero!"
"Stopping every thug with authority isn't going to change - "
"What am I supposed to do!? Ignore it?" A few seconds of silence followed Ruby's declaration before Ozpin spoke.
"By stepping in then, you close opportunities for you to engender change in the future. What could you have accomplished in a prison cell? If you had gotten in a fight, well, I think we both know how that could have ended. You need to exercise patience, Ruby. And restraint."
"I can't just do nothing! Not when every second that passes more people turn to the White Fang to protect them." Ozpin paused, quickly realizing this conversation was about more than he had first thought.
"We can't stop people from making mistakes, from turning to the wrong things."
Ruby's mind flashed back to her conversations with Blake.
"The wrong things?" she started out quiet. "The only thing! Do you think these people can turn to anything else? The choice to turn to the White Fang is forced on them by bigots like that cop!" Ruby shouted.
"They made their decision themselves. Nobody can make it for them."
"But that doesn't make any difference when they're left dying in a collapsed train tunnel surrounded by Grimm because they thought they followed the right people." Tears gathered in Ruby's eyes, and her voice shook. "Thought they were going to save themselves, save their families, save their species!" Ruby's fist collided with the table. A loud bang echoed throughout the empty cafe. She forced herself to her feet.
"One mistake doesn't make somebody a bad person." Ruby added, Blake's guilty expression — as well as her own, the one she stared at in the mirror every night — clear in her mind, before picking up Crescent Rose and marching towards the door. Ozpin's eyes didn't move from his coffee as Ruby left. The entry bell jingled, and the door slammed shut behind her.
[-O-O-O-]
"Miss Rose showed up past curfew yesterday," Glynda said, swiping through Academy records on her scroll. She was sitting on a chair in Ozpin's office, the sounds of a clock filtering into the room from above. Ozpin stared mutely at a blank screen on his desk.
"Expel it from the records," he responded after a few seconds of delay.
"Sir?" Glynda turned to Ozpin, eyes alight with curiosity.
"Just do it, Glynda." Ozpin rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No questions asked, please."
"Of course, Sir." she responded.
Author's Notes: Per usual feel free to be as harsh in reviews as you like. I appreciate constructive criticism greatly. If you're concerned about my other RWBY story, I'm working on a prequel that I want to publish at the same time as the last chapter of "This Nightmare...", so it may take a little while longer.