An Emerald in the Rough
A.N.: Hello all! My first RWBY fanfic is here! I won't say much other than that this idea has been on my mind for days and I just had to write it. Please leave positive feedback for me, it would be greatly appreciated. BTW, Emerald is my favorite character so that also inspired this fic. The universe is supposed to be more realistic than RWBY universe so be aware that there won't be dust, magic, semblances, anything like that but will still relate to some canons in the show.
Rated T: For drug use and mature themes, might change in the future.
All rights and characters of RWBY belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. I do not claim any of the material besides my originality.
Enjoy!
Plot: Emerald is a 22 year old living in a run-down apartment with her 4-year old daughter. She steals and works for the wrong people in order to make money and put food on the table. One day she is face to face with the drug Lord, Cinder Fall, who offers her a job that could benefit Emerald with money, shelter, and food. She accepts the invitation and works under the woman. She soon meets Cinder's right-hand man, Mercury Black, who though sarcastic keeps an eye out for Emerald. How will the young woman's life unfold?
Chapter 1: Just Another Day
"Where did she go?"
"I don't see her!"
"Well find that bitch dammit!"
Footsteps could be heard emerging from a dark alley. The slight splash from the puddles beneath their feet could be heard amongst their quick breaths. A woman was on the run, away from those voices, clad in black, a hoodie covering most of her face. She appeared skinny, few strands of mint green hair peeking out at each sway of her body.
She was clever enough to make sharp turns at each passage she crossed, hoping that the men would lose her trail.
This wasn't her first time doing this, in fact, she had done it multiple times. She was thief. A very skilled one at that. This is how she made a living in the cold streets of Vale City. A city of good sights, booming tourism, and bright lights. Though, despite what the magazines say, Vale isn't as great as it seemed. Behind it's nice facade was its dark nooks and cranny's. The side of downtown vale that wasn't pretty. In fact, downtown is home to some of the shadiest neighborhoods in all of Remnant. A particular part of this can be seen as this mystery woman ran through the streets. After what seemed like forever, she arrived at yet another alley, only this time she approached a white door that stuck out of one of the buildings. The woman knocked in a particular rhythm, awaiting an answer while catching her breath. After a few moments a slit opened near the top and a pair of bright green eyes greeted her. The woman observed the alley before speaking to the person.
"I have the stuff Junior sent me for," she said quietly but sternly. The pair of eyes blinked once before opening the door. In front of the thief was a young woman with short black hair, adorning a slim black dress that ended just above the knee with a slit goin down the sides. Accents of red jewelry decorated her body and red heels sat on her feet. Said woman motioned for the thief to come in and she complied. The black haired girl proceeded to lead her down a hall, loud music could be heard on the other side of the wall. They headed down another hall where glass windows replaced the cement walls. Through them was the view of a nightclub, red lights lighting up the dark room. A bar was bustling with customers and people danced to the music on the glowing floor. She was led upstairs, reaching a large black door. The girl opened it and waited for the thief to enter the dark room. Inside was a suite, red couches in the middle of the room, a small bar to the right and a hot tub to the left. On one of the couches a man was seated, laying back against the cushions, two women at his sides, all having a laugh as they sipped on cocktails. The man was wearing a black suit with a red tie. He had short black hair that led to a neatly trimmed beard. Sunglasses sat on his eyes as he played with the cigar in his mouth. One of the girls next to him, on his right, looked just like the girl that had brought her there instead she had longer black hair and a white dress with cyan accents. Her twin. This girl looked up to see both her lookalike and the hooded woman standing before the couches, her smile fading into a frown upon looking at the green haired girl. She put her mouth to the gloating man's ear and whispered something that caused him to shut up and look up at the two before him.
He looked the thief up and down and grinned, taking out his cigar, "Ah Emerald, always good to see your beautiful face!"
Emerald was her name, and quite fittingly so. She reached a caramel hand to her hood and pulled it off revealing her face in full. The 22 year old had a youthful, round face with unusually lively, red eyes. Her hair was cut short, just above her shoulders with a straight fringe and bangs atop her forehead cut in a triangular style. 2 longer strands extended from the back and were tucked into her sweater.
"Please spare me of the sweet talk Junior, I got the drugs you wanted," She unzipped her sweatshirt pulling out a few brown wrapped packages, each a little under the size of a DVD case, from pockets that lined the inside. She walked towards the couch Junior was sitting on and tossed the bundles on the coffee table. Junior lifted his shades and gave an impressed look, "So you did," he replied sitting up, the two girls backing off.
Emerald zipped her sweatshirt back up, feeling the chill that grazed her skin as she only wore a white tank top underneath, and crossed her arms. Junior took a knife suddenly from his pocket and tore through one of the brown bundles, a white powdery substance flying out and dusting the table. He hummed a tune as he did so and studied the substance, rubbing it between his fingers. Emerald looked at him impatiently as she awaited her reward. Junior smiled again and looked back up into Emerald's red irises, "You know what you gotta do."
Emerald sighed and motioned her way back towards Junior. He poured a bit of the substance out onto the black marble and created a line of it with his knife. Emerald complied and kneeled in front of the table in front of the white streak. She gave a Junior a not-so-friendly look as he handed her a straw, before putting the end to the drug, and in one quick movement she snorted it up. She snorted again to keep everything in and wiped the residue off her nose. A small burn flared in her nasal cavity as the drug passed through.
"Good girl, now we wait a sec to see if it kills ya," Junior chuckled as he watched Emerald stand. She had to admit, she hated this part of the job. Not only was she checking each time for a bad batch but at anytime it could be spiked with something deadly. Other than this, it didn't help that she was starting to get an addiction to the shit as she did this nearly every week.
After a few minutes Emerald could feel the high coming on, a small sense of euphoric bliss. She knew it was a sign that it was good so she nodded at her boss, "It's alright." She inhaled through her nose again feeling it start to get slightly stuffy. Junior clasped his hands together, "Excellent! I'll give you your pay than sweetheart. And I just want to let you know you have a little hustling job tomorrow night so be sure to get here on time so that my girls can doll you up."
Emerald nodded. This was how she made a living so there was barely room to complain. Besides, it was for her daughters sake. Jade was all she had, and she would anything to make sure her daughter lived a fulfilled life. The 22-year-old was soon handed a wad of bills by her boss, "Here is your pay, as always, nice job doll." Emerald accepted the money and gave him another nod at least before a scowl replaced her face after feeling a hand grab her rear. She turned and gave him a look that promised death.
"Hey don't be like that Emmie, you know, you are always welcome to accompany me in my suite's lovely bed," he laughed smugly.
"Not in a million years," Emerald replied swiftly turning on her heel and heading toward the exit. Junior snorted at her retort and went back to his ladies, "Say, would you girls like to join me in the jacuzzi?"
Soon Emerald was back in the chilly streets of Vale, causing her to grasp her sweatshirt tightly. The effects of the cocaine lingered in her brain which made it seem even colder than before. The lights seemed brighter, the cars seemed louder, it was all starting to make her more irritable. Glancing at the half moon in the sky she couldn't help but think that this was just another day in her life. She was used to being in the shady parts of the city and doing the sleaziest of jobs. Hell, she was born to two drug addict parents, both very young and both very careless of their daughters well being. Emerald shook her head of all these thoughts that raced into her head. It was just her and Jade in this world, and nobody else to give two fucks about them. As messed up as this was, she was used to it.
The young woman finally made it home, a rundown 3 story apartment complex. She lived next to drug dealers, ex-cons, prostitutes, you name it. A gunshot seemed as likely to happen as a bird chirping in the morning. It wasn't at all the ideal place to raise a child, and Emerald hated herself for that. There was never a day that went by where Emerald imagined herself leaving the ghetto, putting Jade in school, maybe even putting herself in school, but she never had enough money to do all that.
She opened the apartment door, avoiding a passed out man on the steps. Upon entering, she was hit with a blast of scents ranging from cigarettes to vomit, it always made her nose twist up. She proceeded to climb the stairs to the third floor and made it to her room, number 30. She pulled out her keys and opened the creaky door to the interior. The room was quite small. A small living room, kitchen, patio, one bedroom, one bathroom. It wasn't perfect but she had to live somehow. Emerald laid her keys on the kitchen counter making eye contact with a pot on the stove. Some kind of stew. She took note to get some later and went into the living room to find a girl laying on her old brown sofa asleep. Emerald shook her awake, "Leah, hey, I'm back." The teenage girl awoke, blinking a few times as she adjusted to the sight of Emerald's face, "Oh Miss Sustrai, you're back home...Jade knocked out at like 9."
Emerald smiled at the girl, "Good to know. You know I appreciate what you do for me very much."
The younger girl laughed slightly, "It's never a biggie, besides this is the same kind of shit I have to deal with next door, no escaping the violence...my mom often worries about me though." She shrugged, her messy dark locks a mess on the top of her head. She rubbed the sleep from her gold eyes as she stood up gathering her things.
Emerald put a kind arm around her shoulder, "Well tell your mom I say hi and that I am very grateful that you are such great friends with Jade and that you're the only sitter I would ever want." Both laughed as they approached the door. Emerald took out her money, and counted a few bills in her fingers, "Here you are missy, you make sure to get your mom something nice with that, maybe even take that girl that you've been eyeballing out to eat."
Leah peered at the bills she received in shock, "B-But Miss Sustrai….this must be a mistake, this is more than you've ever given me! I c-can't-"
Emerald cut her off with a warm smile, "Believe me I was planning on giving you this much. Go have fun, not a lot of kids get to do that around here."
Leah's face brightened and she gave Emerald a tight hug, "Oh you are the coolest! Thank you so much!"
Emerald returned the teen's hug feeling good inside, "Hey, think of me as your big sister or something, besides Christmas is coming up soon, I got to give back." Leah gave her one last smile before nodding, "Alrighty then! I'll be back tomorrow night as usual!"
The green-haired woman crossed her arms and nodded back, "You got it down Leah, see ya tomorrow kid." She tousled her short brown locks and saw her out of the room. A long sigh escaped her lips and she stretched her arms over her head. Just another night for her. She headed down the hall to her room, slowly opening the door to the dark room to see Jade curled up in the bed sheets of her queen bed sound asleep. Emerald couldn't help but smile as she went and sat at her daughter's feet and began putting her short strands of dark green hair behind her ear. Her daughter was her life and she wouldn't do anything to change that. A spitting image of Emerald, though with deep green hair rather than mint and a slightly lighter complexion. She didn't want Jade to grow up like she did and to not be loved. She would be the mother that she wished she had and no one was going to stop her. She bowed her head to plant a kiss on her temple.
"I love you baby, don't you forget that…" She whispered going back to caressing her child's hair, a lone tear going down her left cheek.
"I love you…"
Hope you guys enjoyed that! Let me know if you need any clarifying or if you have constructive criticism. I will be writing chapter 2 soon, I know this was on the shorter end but I want people to get a feel for it and get some feedback. Again, positive reviews please!
Love you guys!
-Tati