Chapter 1

A/N: Welcome back, if you're a returning reader. If you're not a returning reader, welcome to you too- Wait, a second! If this is you're first time reading a chapter in Down the Rabbit Hole, you're in the wrong place! Shoo! Back to the prologue with you!

I apologize if I seemed...kinda sorta d**kish in the A/N of the prologue but I had been trying to psych my self up for a good 3-4 hours to actually press the button to publish the story prior to actually publishing it and that was after I kept putting off writing it, and then wasted time editing it, suffice it to say, I had literally zero nerves left.

I forgot to put this at the beginning of the prologue but oh well. I do not own RWBY, the plot of RWBY, or the characters within it, that's all Roosterteeth. Well, story ho! No George, I wasn't calling you.


Ruby started pulling away, and Cinder looked over at her, "Shouldn't you be asking where I need to go?"

The redhead shrugged and turned left out of the airport onto the road, "No point in waiting around the airport where anyone who knew you were coming in by plane could be lying in wait. Not to mention most unders who come into Vale and hire a driver from Junior, first go to the bar to get the lay of the figurative land from him. Then there's the fact that with the way I'm going we can reach anywhere in Vale."

Cinder nodded, and hummed in reply before turning her attention to the passing view outside of the blacked out window, "Normally you would be right that I would go and see Junior first but there's the small problem that after our conversation he's likely not in any condition to see me," She turned her attention back to Ruby and placed a hand on Ruby's forearm using the dust sewn into the cloth that crossed her palm to heat up the suit under her hand, "And remember, I hired you to drive me around and keep me safe. I did not hire you to think. I order, you obey."

Ruby pulled over to the side of the road, and turned to look at Cinder, "Did you just try to burn me? Seriously? Firstly, I was in the middle of driving at eighty miles an hour, how stupid are you?" This question seemed to ruffle Cinder, like she wasn't used to someone insulting her and conjured an image of a cat with it's fur raised in Ruby's mind. "Secondly you did not hire me to do cookies or milk, I took this job as a personal favor to Junior, I don't need your money, and I won't take any more of your schiznizz, m'kay? I will kick you out of my car, and leave you on the side of the road. Thirdly, Junior asked me to be your driver, bodyguard, and let you stay in one of my apartments while you were here. He did not ask me to be your servant, or your mindless slave, if you wanted that you should have hired a limo driver. I will do as I see fit to ensure that I complete my job to the best of my abilities. As far as I am concerned, especially since we will be sharing a living space. We are equals in this very, very temporary relationship of ours. Lastly don't try to injure me in any way whatsoever. I am trained in how to use both my aura and semblance as well as various weapons and will defend myself. This morning alone, I killed seven men. Adding your name to what is already a very long list won't bother me one bit." Ruby turned back forward to pull out again when she saw the state her jacket arm was in, "Dust and Grimm, you ruined another one of my jackets – oh look and a shirt as well – Pierce is going to murder me when I go in to get these replaced."

Ruby continued muttering to herself as she pulled out onto the road and started heading to one of her apartments. She saw Cinder return her gaze to looking out the window out of the corner of her eye. It was silent for several moments, Ruby figured Cinder was trying to cope with having someone talk back to her for probably the first time in her life, before Cinder spoke again, "You called me an under, what did you mean?"

Ruby raised her eyebrows, and turned her head slightly in Cinder's direction while keeping her eyes on the road, "Hmm?"

Cinder rolled her eyes and clenched her fist for a second before unclenching it, "You. Called me. An under. What did you mean?"

Ruby shook her head and responded, "Oh. An under is part of Junior and I's lingo. We use it to make conversation quicker. An under is someone whose business is tied mainly with the underworld. Thieves, assassins, gangs, people like you," Her eyes darted towards Cinder at that, "are all examples of unders. An over is someone who is mostly legitimate. Business owners, rich people, hunters, those kinds of things, they're all overs. What's your name by the way?"

"You don't know my name? Junior didn't tell you?"

"No, he kind of sent me to you at the last minute, and we never mention a client's name unless we're face to face with each other. I found you because you give off mad amounts of Under Vibes, and matched the description Junior gave me. By the way, what did you mean that Junior wouldn't be in any condition to help you right now? I got off the phone with him at like 3:30 and he was fine."

Cinder blithely waved her hand at Ruby before replying, "Since we'll be stuck with each other for the next little while and will likely have many dealings with each other in the future, my real name is Cinder Fall. On the topic of Junior, I told him I hated him, he said something about some other woman telling him that she hated him shortly before I did. I replied that I didn't need to know the details of his sordid love life and he – are you okay?" Ruby had started gagging as Cinder recounted her tale.

Ruby waved Cinder off and returned her full attention to the road, "Yeah, I just – I was the one that had told him that I hated him, and the idea of the two of us in a relationship is just..." Ruby shuddered. "Anyways let me guess, he said that he was going to, and I'm probably quoting him here, 'get blitzed and forget this conversation ever happened'?"

Cinder nodded, "Yeah, something like that. Now, where are you taking me?"

Ruby smiled sheepishly, "Oh! To one of my apartments. I figured since Junior's not in any shape to help, we could go to one of my places and I could try and help you, Junior may be the face of the business but I know almost as much as he does, if nothing else we could both get some more sleep."

Cinder continued staring out the window, "Mm-hmm."

Ruby sighed. You owe me Junior, like a years worth of cookies and milk, owe me.


Ruby pushed open the door to her apartment and walked through it, hanging her keys on the hook by the door as she did so. About five feet in from the door, she spun around and raised her arms gesturing at the apartment, "Well, this is it. Actually...it's not. Junior and I own this building so...the apartment under this one is my workshop, and the one above this one is a workout room. Then there are the other apartments that I have scattered around the city."

Cinder stepped in and looked around, "For someone who has several apartments, this one seems... pretty lived in."

Ruby smiled and rubbed the back of her head, slightly embarrassed but unsure why, "Well this is the one that I used to stay in all the time but somewhere around the second or third time I had someone track me down and try to kill me here, I decided that I needed to make where I slept a little more random..."

Oh no! Ruby's eyes widened and flitted from the offending article lying on the back of the couch, that her subconscious had been trying to warn her about, to Cinder, who was smirking at her, and back again. Smiling innocently, Ruby sidestepped and grabbed the bra off the back of her couch.

Trying – unsuccessfully – to hide it behind her back – one of the ends was dragging on the floor behind her, visible between her legs – Ruby started walking backwards towards her bedroom, "Sooo, you just get settled in. Your room is over there," She pointed towards a door across the apartment from hers, and next to the stairs up to Ruby's workout room, "The kitchen is over there, clearly," She pointed towards the kitchen, which was visible over the counter as she stepped into her room, "There's a bathroom in your room. Just... make yourself comfortable and I'll be right out," By this point Ruby had backed far enough into her room that only her head was sticking out the door and that only was because she was leaning over. Ruby slammed her bedroom door closed and pressed her back against it.

"Dust and Grimm, that was embarrassing." Ruby said holding her head in her hands, that was until she realized that she was also still holding her bra in her hand, and promptly threw it away from her, "Gaah!"

Shaking her head to clear it, Ruby shucked off her jacket, vest, and shirt after removing her various pieces that were within them, cufflinks, rose, pocket square, handgun and its accompanying magazines, and placed the jacket and vest on a hanger that she set in the bin designated just for destroyed clothes and her pants quickly followed, Might as well get a whole new suit, she thought to herself, it might make Pierce go a little more lenient on me...or more angry, oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Placing her shoes in the closet, Ruby selected her favorite pair of pajamas, a black tanktop with a heart on it and white pajama pants with pink dots on them, and put them on. Shaking her head once more, she padded out of her room, and back into the living room, "Sorry, Cinder. Had I known I was going to have guests here I would have made sure to clean up but last night I was sleeping in one of my safehouses on the east...side of...Vale? Cinder? Where are you?"

"I'm in my room, getting unpacked." The older woman sauntered out of her room and cocked an eyebrow at Ruby, "Getting awfully familiar, aren't we?"

Ruby looked down at herself, and then back at Cinder and shrugged, "We'll be seeing each other quite a bit and living in close quarters with one another for however long you're here. We'll probably see each other in much more compromising situations than this, not to mention, you just saw one of my bras lying over the back of the couch. I'm not sure it can get any worse."

Cinder pressed her lips together and gave – what sounded to Ruby at least – an unhappy hum in reply, "Now, you said you could help me get an idea of the current situation here in Vale?"

Ruby nodded vigorously while pointing over her shoulder and smiling, "Yeah, I can. Just let me go grab my scroll, and I'll see what I can pull up for you."

Ruby jogged into her room, grabbed her scroll, and jogged back out into the living room to find Cinder still standing where Ruby had left her. "Please sit down, no need to be a stranger. Well, I mean, you are still, kinda, sorta a stranger but there's no need for you to be uncomfortable and stand the entire time."

"And where am I expected to sit, pray tell?"

"Well on the couch of...course. Yeah, I see the problem now." Ruby looked around and saw the apartment as a stranger would for the first time. There was two doors on the wall to the right of the entrance. The closest one was a closet and the furthest one was the door to Ruby's room. Between the two rooms was an entertainment system holding a 40" television and various other electronics from game systems to an old DVD player and even a VCR. A short distance away from there was a coffee table with a couch on the side opposite the TV and entertainment system, and an armchair on the same side of the table that the wall the entrance was on. Just past Ruby's bedroom door the wall turned into a hallway that led to a bathroom. The part of the apartment across from the door in contained the kitchen and Ruby's computer/research area which also had a window overlooking the park. To the left of the door into the apartment was several mostly empty bookcases and a dining room table surrounded by six chairs. A few feet past the last bookcase was the last door to Cinder's room, and a little bit further in was the spiral staircase that led to Ruby's workshop and workout room.

None of that was an issue though, no, the issue was that the reason the bookcases were mostly empty was that the books, textbooks and various weapon, car, and technology magazines that belonged in them were scattered across every possible sitting space and flat space in the apartment but the bookcases.

Ruby quickly scurried over and cleaned off the couch, armchair and table by picking things up in large armfuls and dumping it in a pile next to whatever they were on respectively. Ruby gestured to the couch and bade Cinder to sit while Ruby sat on the stool and plugged her scroll into a port on the table, causing it to light up and create an interactive holographic projection of two files above it. One of the files was labeled Over and the other was labeled Under. Ruby selected the one labeled Under, subsequently pulling up several more files, "Alright, what are you looking for?"

"For now, I'm just looking for cheap muscle, and lots of it, and someone I can leave in charge of them and trust to make sure the job gets done."

Ruby nodded and, after navigating through several directories, pulled up several profiles. The first showed a man and a woman. Both had slightly atlesian features, with brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin, large noses, full jaws, broad shoulders, and looked alike enough to clearly be brother and sister, "First up, we have Hans and Gerda. They grew up in the capital of Atlas. They turned to a life of crime after their mother became ill and they couldn't afford her medical bills. After her death they seemed to snap, and started performing crimes full time. Their crimes tend to be as noticeable and cause as much death and destruction as they possibly can. If you don't care if they're discreet or not, and don't care about a body count, you could probably convince them to do it for free so long as you promise them plenty of violence and destruction."

Ruby pulled up the next profile, which contained a picture of a female bear faunus with green eyes and honey-blonde hair, "This is Little Bear. Junior and I know her real name, as well as several other things about her that are only available to people willing to pay an exorbitant sum. Suffice it to say, she's extremely effective, and has managed to stay off of the radar of anyone on the right side of the law. The issue with her though is that she's highly expensive to hire, and as soon as you ask her to do anything that goes against her, rather strict, moral code, or try to intimidate her in someway she'll take the money you gave her, sabotage as much of your operation as she can and disappear. And no, neither Junior nor I will help you find her if it comes to that. We both really like her as a friend and owe her more than a couple favors."

She pulled up the last profile that showed a man with orange hair and green eyes, who was wearing black eyeliner, and a black bowler hat with a red band, and smoking a cigar, "Lastly, we have Roman Torchwick. He's been a good friend to Junior and I even if I do bicker with him constantly. Professionally, I respect him. He started out with a bang, his first job was robbing the a series of five big banks all within the same day. Roman has made a habit of successfully pulling off jobs with inadequate underlings that anyone else would likely fail to complete. The police are on the lookout for him, but this is mainly because he likes to make a show of himself, and unlike Hans and Gerda he has yet to actually come close to being caught. He's an excellent planner and able to improvise well under pressure, he also comes at a reasonable price, he won't talk even if he does get caught, and his pride would never allow him to leave a job unfinished or done poorly if he can help it. There's also the added benefit that with Roman comes his shadow Neopolitan." She scrolled down and brought into view a gif of a girl with pink and brown hair and who's eyes switched between pink, brown, and white. "No one is quite sure what he did but somehow Roman gained the loyalty of the deadliest, short, and mute, sociopath in all of Vale."

Ruby yawned and stretched, "Alright I'm going to sleep now, I only got like two hours of sleep last night, and I'm tired. Give me your scroll," Cinder did so after a moment's thought, "and I'll send you the profiles that give out for free on people for hire and cheap muscle. There are more people than I showed you up for hire around the town but those are the three that I would recommend. You can keep looking over them if you want, you're welcome to sleep if you want to, or do whatever else you want around the apartment. Don't try to get on my computer, I'll know if you do, don't enter my room, and finally don't leave the apartment. Other than that you're fine, I'll probably be up at...," she checked the clock, "...around twelve, since it's just now becoming six. After I get up, we can go see Junior at his club, and anywhere else you might need to go." After doing as she said she would, Ruby stood up and slowly walked over to her bedroom door. When she reached it she looked over her shoulder at Cinder, and waved one last time at Cinder, who was looking through the files that Ruby had sent her, "G'night Cinder, or would it be good morning? On one hand I'm going to sleep, but on the other it's six in the morning – oh, you know what I meant. I'm gonna head to bed before I start rambling some more."


Ruby bolted upright, and wrinkled her nose trying to figure out what she was smelling, when her eyes widened and a cheesy grin appeared on her face. Jumping out of bed, Ruby rushed out to the living room and from there to the kitchen. Once she reached the doorway to the kitchen, she tried to lean against the doorway and appear nonchalant as she watched Cinder cooking, "So...you're cooking us breakfast?"

Cinder looked up at Ruby briefly before looking back down at where she was preparing an omelet, "No, I'm cooking my breakfast. And for your information, if you're going to try to appear nonchalant, you should really make sure you aren't still wearing your pajamas, and if you do try to do it in pajamas, make sure your top isn't ridden halfway up your stomach."

Grumbling to herself about gluttonous roommates not sharing the meals that they made with her food and her kitchen, she turned and headed back to her room. At least, she started to before she saw what Cinder had done, and stopped in her tracks. Whereas last night, every sitting place and flat spot in the apartment had been covered in haphazardly created piles of literature, now the apartment was spotless, and from what Ruby could see from where she was, all of the books and magazines were carefully organized by type of literature, whether book, texbook, or magazine, and from there into subject, and since it was that organized Ruby wouldn't be surprised if Cinder had then put them in alphabetical order.

Ruby heard Cinder step out of the kitchen and saw Cinder stop beside her out of the corner of her eye, "I was going through those files you gave me and finally got fed up being in such a...chaotic and disorganized living space that I decided to straighten everything up for you." Out of the corner of Ruby's eye she saw Cinder take a bite of her omelet.

"Disorganized?! It wasn't disorganized! It was a carefully orchestrated anarchy, where everything had it's place, and I knew where that place was! I mean, sure, sometimes I had to look for stuff, and sometimes, the void under the couch would eat something but other than that it was a perfect example of organized chaos! Now that I think about it, did you by any chance find a cat while you were cleaning? I haven't seen Mr. Snuggles since the day before yesterday."

"No, I didn't see Mr. Snuggles. Go get dressed, we have places to be."

Ruby padded off to her room, muttering about gluttonous and bossy roommates and traitorous cats that were probably mooching off of the old lady her lived two apartments below, and who she probably wouldn't see again until it wanted back in off of the fire escape.


Ruby parked her car outside of Junior's club and got out, while Cinder did the same on her side of the car. "Knowing Junior, he's probably upstairs in his apartment, nursing a massive hangover," Ruby said as the two of them entered the club. After entering Ruby headed straight to the back of the club, where the stairs up were hidden, saying hello to everyone she knew on the way there...which was just about everyone.

As she went up the stairs, Ruby made sure Cinder was still behind her, "Most people aren't allowed up here but since Junior sicced you upon me at what was almost the last minute, he can get over it."

Ruby placed her thumb on the scanner beside the door at the top of the stairs. As soon as the light on the scanner turned green, Ruby pushed open the door and strode in, "JUNIOR! MY BUDDY! MY PAL! How are you this fine afternoon!"

Junior sat up on the couch he was sitting on, clutching his head between his hands, "Please Ruby, don't be so loud."

Ruby pulled off her suit jacket and placed it on the back of one of the chairs in the living room as she headed to the kitchen, "What was that, Junior? I couldn't hear you, I might need you to SPEAK UP A LITTLE!"

"Ugh, you are a horrible person, did you know that? What are you doing here, anyways? You're supposed to be with Cinder."

Ruby returned from the kitchen with a class of seltzer water and a couple bananas to find Cinder standing beside an armchair watching her and Junior as if she was trying to solve a puzzle, "Junior, would a horrible person have just brought you a class of seltzer water and bananas to help with your hangover?"

Junior looked up slowly and gingerly took the seltzer water and bananas, "Ruby, you are quite possibly the best person I know, were you aware of that?"

"You might have told me a couple times yeah, although with the company you keep, it's not like there's much competition. And to answer your second question, I am with Cinder. She wanted to talk with you," Ruby retorted as she sat down.

"Hahaha, you're just so funny, aren't you. And what do you mean you're with Cinder, you're here..." His head snapped up and his eyes latched onto Cinder. He quickly set his class of water and bananas on the table and stood up, offering Cinder his hand to shake. That was he did so until he became unbalanced, from what Ruby assumed was him standing up too quickly and aggravating his headache.

Chuckling Ruby stood up and gently guided Junior back to the couch, "Go ahead and sit down, Cinder. Junior won't be in any condition to go anywhere anytime soon. While you two talk about whatever you need to discuss, I'm going to head to my tailor, and make a couple of other stops around town. Just give me a call when you're ready to go."

Cinder nodded and waved Ruby off while Ruby put her jacket back on, and left the apartment.


Ruby pushed open the door to Pierce and Dunhill Suits and Dresses, and walked in. She was only a few feet in when she spotted the person she was looking for and started walking towards him. Pierce wasn't a tall man but he wasn't short either, he was basically the epitome of average height. He had straight black hair gelled in a small fauxhawk , striking blue-gray eyes, and skin that had a natural tan to it. As soon as Pierce noticed her, he told his assistant to finish with the client he had and met Ruby halfway.

"Rose! It's so nice to see you again! Decided to stop in while you were in the area, eh? How are you? We really don't get together often enough. I know, you should come over to my place for dinner one night. Margaret would love to see you-" Ruby snorted, "Oh, who am I kidding? Margaret would rather rip your face off with a garden trowel than have you over for dinner."

Ruby laughed and patted him on the arm, "Only cause she knows you love me more. And...no, I'm sorry but this isn't a social call."

"What do you mean? You were only in here last week to get your yearly set of suits, was there something wrong with them? I did them myself, I didn't notice anything wrong with them," Pierce questioned. His brow was furrowed and the look on his face was enough to make Ruby feel like she'd kicked a puppy.

"Nonononono, there was nothing wrong with them. They were perfect in fact, it's just...I need a new one made including the spare suit jacket. Junior had me doing a couple jobs last night and the entire suit plus the extra jacket got ruined," Ruby said trying to console him.

Pierce nodded. As far as Ruby could tell the consolation that there wasn't anything wrong with the suits was enough to distract him from the fact that Ruby had ruined one of his suits. Part of her felt bad for making him worry like that but another was just relieved that he didn't get angry with her. Pierce preferred to take new measurements each time he made a suit or set of suits, and an angry Pierce often meant that Ruby was stabbed with needles the entire time she was being measured.


"So how did your talk with Junior go?" Ruby questioned as her and Cinder walked to the car in the early twilight light.

"A little better than expected. He gave me the same recommendations that you did. He even gave me some information on someone that I'm hunting while I'm in town for free which should shorten my stay here in Vale considerably."

"So where are we going next?"

"To pay a little thief a visit."

"Ah."


Ruby stopped outside the building, and got out of the car. She was in full professional mode now. Cinder had brought them to the Vale slums. The building they were looking at was owned by a man who had stolen a large sum of cash from Cinder's employer, and then absconded with it to Vale. It turned out that he had used the money to set up his own black market dealings. This building was his headquarters.

Junior had told Cinder the layout of the building and Cinder had in turn told Ruby. The building was an old warehouse. At two stories tall, the building had only one room on the bottom floor and the top floor consisted solely of an office in the far back left corner from the entrance of the warehouse.

Ruby heard Cinder get out of the car on the other side, and looked at her, "You know how to defend yourself, correct? Or is this going to be one of those jobs where I need to keep an eye on a client while I'm trying to protect them because they insist on throwing themselves into dangerous situations?"

"I can defend myself, yes." Cinder said, "My fighting style is mainly Dust based though, hence why I asked Junior for a bodyguard."

Ah, so you're squishy. No, Ruby shook her head, bad Ruby, focus on the job.

Cinder turned her head and gave Ruby a look, "Is there a problem?"

Ruby waved her off, "It's nothing."

The two walked side-by-side to the door when they reached it Ruby turned and looked at Cinder, "Stay behind me, but stay close as well. Got it?"

Cinder looked miffed but Ruby couldn't tell if that was because she wasn't used to being given orders or if she felt like Ruby was treating her like a moron.

Ruby stepped forward, grabbed the door handle, counted down from three with her free hand, and flung the door open. As soon as she did that she activated her Semblance and used her sped up brain processing to analyze the inside of the warehouse. The first floor contained 48 tables set up in a 6x8 grid. At each table were drugs waiting to be packaged the next day. Interspersed around the building were eight guards. Two were standing next to a pillar near the front talking, three were walking among the tables watching to make sure the workers didn't steal anything, the last three were sitting around a table in the back.

Ruby ran straight towards the two in the front when she reached them she drew her leg to her chest and lashed out, her foot connecting with his sternum, broke it, and sent him flying back into a wall. She then spun and punched the other one in the throat, crushing his windpipe. She turned and ran into the group of tables. She ran towards the guard nearest her, dodged to her left at the last moment before collision and clotheslined him. She stopped just past him, about faced, and elbowed him in the stomach. His head hit the floor, knocking him unconscious. Deactivating her Semblance, to conserve energy, Ruby stalked towards her next opponent, who was carrying a rifle. Hearing the telltale sound of a safety being switched off to her left, Ruby used her Semblance to roll forward, come up and rip the gun from her current quarry with one hand. She deactivated her Semblance, grabbed the gun barrel in both hands, swung and connected with her opponents head. As soon as the butt of the gun connected, Ruby threw herself backwards into a roll, that ended with her standing, ejected the magazine, caught it, turned her head towards the guard whose safety was off and flung the magazine at him. She watched long enough to make sure it hit him in the forehead, before turning towards the three who had been at the table in the back, only to find them dead. One had an arrow in his heart, one looked like something had sliced his carotid artery – likely the arrow embedded in the wall behind him – and the final one had made it about halfway to cover before an arrow embedded itself in the soft spot in the back of his skull.

Ruby spun around to see Cinder leaning against a pillar with no bow in sight. "That was you wasn't it?"

Cinder merely shrugged, and stood upright, "At least, Junior wasn't lying when he said you know what you're doing." Cinder gestured towards the stairs that led up to the office where they could see the man they had come for cowering through the glass.


12 days later

"Finally decided to take me up on that offer, Red?"

Ruby shuddered, and stepped to the side so Roman could step into the apartment, "No, Roman, just...just no."

Roman sauntered into the apartment, spinning his Melodic Cudgel as he did so, "Ah, Red, me think thou dost protest too much."

"Roman, remember that time you got drunk and challenged me to a fight, and I promptly kicked your butt ?"

"Hey! I was drunk! That doesn't count, and I think the word you were looking for sweetheart was ass."

"Don't make me do it again -"

"Oh, like you coul-"

"Children! Cut it out!" Cinder cut in.

"He started it!"

"She started – dammit! You beat me to it!"

Ruby stuck her tongue out at him, and Roman stuck his out in response, and then his head snapped to his right and stared at Cinder who was wearing a black shimmering dress with glowing orange dust sewn into it from her wrist up her arms, and around the top of the dress, both in the front and, Ruby knew, also in the back. He then leaned conspiratorially towards Ruby and spoke in a stage whisper, all while watching Cinder, "Red, who is that?! And why is she in your apartment?" Roman gasped, stood up straight, looked at Ruby with an expression of fake glee in his one visible eye and placed his hands over his heart, "Red, is the reason you kept turning me down because you were waiting to have a threesome?" Roman stepped forward, wrapped Ruby in a hug that pinned her arms to her side, picked her up and swung her back and forth, "You...are...the... best...friend...a guy...could have."

Ruby squirmed out of his grasp, and straightened her jacket as she spoke, "Definitely not Roman. I would..." Ruby saw Cinder's expression and body language out of the corner of her eye and quickly switched topics, "Actually, I asked you here because Cinder wanted to see you about potentially hiring you for a job."

Roman slowly turned his head and faced Cinder, "Oooh, and I just..."

"Mm-hm," Ruby hummed as she nodded, "Yes, yes you did."

Cinder smiled sweetly – making both Roman and Ruby gulp –, and then swept her arm towards the dining room table, "Please sit down, so we can get started. Before I have to burn you both alive and complete my business elsewhere."

Both gulped again, and followed Cinder to the table where she sat at one end, Roman at the other end and Ruby on the side facing the wall that held the TV and entertainment system. Roman and Cinder started talking about what Cinder wanted him to do, and Ruby tuned them out. She'd already been to five of these meetings in the past twelve days and in each of them the same thing was talked about. Cinder was looking to hire someone to lead and manage some cheap muscle. For now, she just needed them to steal as much Dust as possible without getting caught by the authorities, and store it in a secure location. Each of the people Cinder interrogated before Roman, failed for various reasons, hopefully Roman would meet Cinder's expectations because Ruby was tired of sitting in these meetings. At least with Roman, she could space out because she knew he wouldn't do anything to endanger Cinder, not when she was under Ruby's protection and not in Ruby's home.

Ruby's mind drifted to the past twelve days that Cinder had been here. After that first day, they kind of hit a rough patch. Cinder was used to controlling everything around her, and everyone being scared of her. Ruby on the other hand, refused to allow Cinder to control her, and wasn't by any means scared of her. They argued, they fought, they almost came to blows. But after a while they settled into a routine and Ruby at least began to enjoy living with Cinder, and if Cinder's gradual attitude change towards her was any indicator, so had Cinder. Ruby would wake up at six every morning either work in her workshop, or workout or train in her workout room for two hours. She would then come down and Cinder would have made breakfast. After breakfast, they would go about doing whatever they needed to do that day. Ruby actually thought that Cinder might enjoy having someone around that she couldn't intimidate and who would stand up to her. About seven days in Cinder actually started making jokes, smiling, and laughing while her and Ruby were alone. A couple days later Ruby made Cinder watch a superhero movie marathon, Cinder laid on the couch while Ruby made a pallet on the floor. And the next day in retaliation Cinder forced Ruby to accompany her to a tea house, and much to Ruby's delight she found out that she actually enjoyed Earl Grey tea. The two had met with various groups about providing muscle and Cinder had finally decided on working with the White Fang, she would get her muscle for free, and the White Fang would be able to claim credit for the attacks they were used in so long as they did exactly what they were told to do. They had also met with Hans and Gerda, as well as Little Bear and a few others. Cinder had also decided to accompany Ruby on several visits to "business partners" that Junior had needed to Ruby to see to.

"...I'll be in touch with you later. I still have some last minute negotiating to do with the White Fang, but in the meantime make do with the men that Junior has provided."

Ruby shook her head to focus herself, and then looked at Cinder, "Was he acceptable?"

Cinder nodded and started walking towards her room.

"Does that mean your business here in Vale is complete?'

"For now, go get prepared to go. I figured he would be acceptable since both you and Junior recommended him, so I went ahead and arranged to be picked up at these coordinates by a bullhead," Cinder was raising her voice to be heard from inside her room, and Ruby's scroll dinged as she received the coordinates. Cinder came out of her room carrying her duffel bag, "I've already messaged the pilot to meet me there in an hour, well come on I want to get going, and you're just sitting there."


Ruby walked into Junior's club, sat at the bar, and just rested her head on her arms. She sat there like that for a few minutes, until she heard footsteps approaching on the other side of the bar at which point she sat up and watched Junior approach with a club soda.

"Just finish dropping off Cinder?" Junior asked as he slid her the carbonated water.

"Yeah, glad to finally be off the clock for the first time in thirteen or so days. Why do you have that look on your face?"

Junior started frantically wiping down the bar with a towel, "What look? I don't have a look on my face. This is just my normal, everyday ugly mug."

"Junior."

Junior sighed, "I may or may not have already signed you up for another job tomorrow."

Ruby narrowed her eyes as Junior got noticeably more fidgety, "Doing what exactly?"

"Escorting a Schnee around town and then to a gala. Wait, why did you take my towel. Ruby, don't do it. No! Ow! Ruby that – ow! - really hurts – ow – stop chasing me!"


A/N: Well...that one turned out longer than I expected it to actually be. I just couldn't find anywhere to end it Thank you to those who favorited and followed after the first chapter. Review, comment, ask questions, throw internet feces through the bars of your cage, it's all appreciated. At the least, I can use the feces to feed George, and fertilize my imaginary garden...I'd fertilize my real one, but...everything keeps dying.

I'm not going to be able to come out with chapters every day or even every other day like I would like to but I will be trying to push out chapters as often as I can, and at the least I will make sure to post one by midnight every Saturday at the latest.

If anyone wants to beta, just throw me a PM, and I'll check you out. In the meantime if you see a typo just send me a PM or put it in a review. Thanks. Until next chapter.