She only remembered bits of that night, being woken with urgency by her uncle, a burning palace, the screams of her parents from the throne room as her uncle sped her to safety. For Ruby Rose, the decade since that night had been a decade of training, constantly, to save her sister from the clutches of the Tyrant Dong Zhou, who had declared himself 'Regent' of the Xiao Long Dynasty. Her uncle had kept her in hiding with a good friend of the Royal Family, Liu Bei was her distant cousin, and had been hiding her deep in the forests of the Shandong province during her training.
After she finished changing from her pajamas into her normal outfit, she sighed and rubbed the tiredness from her eyes, taking her scythe and strapping it to her back, placing her sword in it's sheath at her side as well. She left her small hut and headed towards Liu Bei's cabin, her guardian was already outside, practicing his fighting skills on a wooden training dummy.
"Morning Liu." She said, seeming cheerful despite her just waking up. Liu glanced back from the dummy and smiled at her.
"Morning Princess." He said, teasing her, knowing full well how much she hated the title. When Ruby shot him a look of disgust, he merely grinned and muttered a half-hearted apology. "We actually won't be doing any training today, I have to go get supplies from the market in Donglai, and I'd like you to come with me."
Ruby's eyes lit up at the prospect of visiting the city, as she didn't receive many opportunities to leave their hideout, as the Tyrant's spies were everywhere. "Really? Finally." She said excitedly, walking over to retrieve both their horses. Liu followed her and they both mounted their steeds, heading down the path off the mountain, and towards the rich port city of Donglai.
Weiss Schnee was always a bit of a spoiled sheltered brat, not that it was entirely her fault, being the heiress of the richest family in China was bound to do that to anyone. Whenever she entered the market district of Donglai, every merchant their begged for her patronage, knowing she could afford to purchase every stand in the market and then some. But it wasn't really the market itself that interested her today, but rather the meeting her father had planned. He had decided to drag her along, without explaining the reason why, but she knew better than to argue with her father, so she merely kept to herself, silent as she walked by his side.
Jacques Schnee was a hard man, but to have built himself up from nothing, it was certain to make anyone into a shrewd plotter. Today would be an important day in the history of the Chinese Empire, and he was certain that beyond his money, and beyond his family name, he would at least be remembered for this, the restoration of a Dynasty. He almost couldn't keep himself from grinning as he saw the man he had been looking for.
Leaning up against the wall of one of the market buildings, was a tall skinny man with jet black hair, a scythe on his back, keeping to himself, and flipping a coin around as he waited, Jacques approached, and greeted him. "Qrow."
Qrow Branwen looked up, taking his focus off the coin as he caught it from the air. "Jacques." He said, keeping his neutral expression. "Sun Jian and Ghira Belladonna should be here soon, we'll have to wait for them."
Jacques had to keep himself from rolling his eyes, thinking better of it. "I'm the richest man in China, I'm certain I could hire enough men to do this job, instead of relying on a bunch of blood crazed assassin's and gangsters." He thought to himself, but kept silent instead of speaking his thoughts aloud.
Weiss listened to this man and her father speak with great interest. "The Belladonnas?" She questioned quietly to herself, she had heard her sister Winter speak of them before, famous for their stealth, and even more infamous for their many contracts killing several Chinese nobles and other targets. She shuddered in fear subconsciously as she thought of meeting whatever horrible creature could slit people's throats in their sleep like that, especially when it was commonly people like herself.
Yang Xiao Long had been a fiery child, filled with a mix of rage and passion, she was doted on by her father, but mostly ignored by her mother, something that only managed to exacerbate her rage. But that was then, and now she was a shell of her former self, under the Tyrant's constant abuse, she was merely a puppet Empress to rubber stamp and 'legalize' his brutal regime. She could barely find a reason to get out of bed anymore, most mornings her servants had to quite literally pull her from her bed, and dress her as if she was a corpse. This morning she decided to spare them the effort for once, getting out of bed herself and dressing in her royal regalia, placing her crown on her head and waiting for the Tyrant to come into her bedroom, likely wanting her to meet with his cronies, or sign and rubber stamp another of his decrees. It didn't take long for her premonition to become reality.
Dong Zhuo opened the door without knocking, strolling in like it was nothing, ignorant of the horrid disrespect he was showing the Monarch of China. "Good morning." He said in a sarcastic tone, waiting for her to bow before him. Yang stood up and shuffled forward a bit, before getting on her knees.
"Good Morning, glorious regent." She said in such a neutral way that it could almost be called robotic, if the people of this time period knew about robots. Dong Zhuo stepped forward and punched her in the stomach as hard as he could. "That's for all the shit I received from your father during his reign." Yang flinched and doubled over as he hit her, it was nothing she wasn't used to by this point, she merely stayed silent and waited for his next move.
"Get your stamp and pen." He said, calmly, holding out a piece of paper, Yang barely even bothered to read it before she signed her royal monogram on the paper, and stamped the symbol of her Dynasty next to it.
"Very good pet, now, we have a meeting in the throne room shortly, don't be late." He said with a grin, before exiting her bedroom in the same disrespectful manner by which he had entered.
Yang took a deep breath and sighed. "Just another day." She whispered to herself, silently cursing Dong Zhuo.
Blake Belladonna moved silently along the rooftops, keeping pace with her father Ghira Belladonna, and her 'uncle' Sun Jian, down on the road, she was to be there lookout as they made there way to the market of the city of Donglai, apparently the Schnees were hosting an important meeting, and rather than assassinating a distant family member of theirs, the Belladonnas were to play nice with the Schnees for once, the thought disgusted Blake, playing nice with the richest family in China, trading kindnesses with the people who borderline enslaved the peasants of China, abusing them for their own advancement while they sat in their palaces dining on great food and fine wine. Blake had found great satisfaction in ending their lives when she received Schnee family members as targets. But for now, she sat back and kept quiet, her father's judgement hadn't failed them before, and she prayed it wouldn't fail them now.
Ghira Belladonna was a jovial man, kind to the peasantry and very friendly to any and all that he met, of course, very few of those people knew that at night, he snuck into the houses of his targets, and murdered them in their sleep. He had been conversing with his 'brother' Sun Jian quietly as they made their way through the crowds, normally he would be focused on keeping an eye out for any threats, but he knew his daughter was watching them from above, and that they were safe in her capable hands.
Sun Jian could've spotted any Schnee from a mile away, their snow white hair was hard to miss, it seems that Jacques brought his daughter, Sun Jian laughed internally, he had certainly brought her just in case he and the Belladonnas decided to try and murder him, as if having his little girl there would make them show mercy to either of them. But, for once, no matter how much he wanted to, he has promised Qrow that this meeting would be kept peaceful, for the future of the Xiao Long Dynasty.
Ghira took the lead as they approached "Qrow, it is nice to see you again." He said, shaking the raven-haired man's hand, he turned to Jacques and gave him a neutral look. "Schnee." He said starkly, Jacques merely scoffed and ignored his disrespect. Blake decided to jump down between them all at that moment, scaring both the Schnees, she glared daggers at Jacques before glancing at Weiss, giving her a small smile, one that hid the implication of 'I could totally murder you.'
Qrow's grin was unmistakable, but he quickly switched back to a serious face as he began speaking. "China is in turmoil, my sister has been missing for 15 years, my brother-in-law is dead, and his second wife hasn't been seen since the torching of the old Imperial Capital, my niece has been held by the Tyrant ever since, and the Xiao Long Dynasty has been lead to ruin by Dong Zhuo." Jacques, Ghira and Sun Jian nodded in agreement, something had to be done about Dong Zhuo. Qrow continued "With my expertise as the former head Imperial General, and with the stealth and skill of the Xi'an assassins, and the financial backing of the Schnees, the Council to Restore the Xiao Long Dynasty is born, here today."
Author's note: So, for those who have no idea where this setting and some of these characters come from, this is basically a RWBY adaptation of the ancient Chinese Novel and Historical Period Romance of the Three Kingdoms, more will be explained as we go. Ages are the same as they are in RWBY canon at the start of the series. I hope you all enjoy this and are along for the ride! I'm really trying to gauge if this idea will have any interest in it at all, so please leave your likes, favorites and reviews to let me know I should make some more chapters!