Hi guys! Thanks for all the support!
Yeah, so in the reviews Karvost pointed out that Roman was eaten by a Griffon, not a Nevermore, so I'll go back and fix that.
A little clarification - This next chapter takes place before and just after Cinder's attack on Haven. As I have assumed that team RWBY were on the Argus Limited for about a day or less before they were attacked, that means they leave Mistral about a month after the Battle of Haven (assuming Cinder's scenes are not occurring 2 weeks after RWBY is already in Atlas), and since they are shown to decide on Argus at least the day after the attack, this means they needed a reason to not jump on the first train to Argus. And yes, I know this contradicts Qrow's statement in V6:C1 that it had been 'two weeks' since Haven but come on, the show's sense of timing and continuity is wonky even at its best. If you want to get a clear and solid timeline to work from, you have to throw some things out!
If you can't tell, I've stressed a lot over this.
Also, as Ruby is 16 during V5 and 17 at the start of V6, this all means that her birthday occurred in that one month they were in Mistral post-Haven. As there is no mention of this during either Volume, it is assumable that it occurs as far away from either event as possible, meaning two weeks after V5 and two weeks before V6. This puts V5 into Late September/Early October. I can work with this.
Without further ado, I give you chapter two.
To Steal from the Cookie Jar
A Rosewick Story
Chapter 2 - Resurrection
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[A year later]
Ah, Mistral never changes.
Roman walked along the dirty street, looking around himself casually. He could see the marks of the Spiders everywhere, and as little as he could afford to look worried, he also couldn't afford to be recognised. He'd managed it this far; he wouldn't give Cinder any reason to look for him.
Neo had learned well from him – had barely left a trail, her travels invisible to proper authorities.
Roman was not the proper authorities.
Therefore, what little he could garner had made a trail and that trail had led him here. He just had to find her next move – or better yet find her. If he had to risk discovery to find her? So be it.
He had to find her.
He hurried along, speeding up as he turned into an alley. Most of his contacts were gone, but perhaps he could use somebody else's. He just needed to contact them first. Unfortunately, the only person he felt he could trust (other that Neo) had been outside of his reach.
Until now.
He walked into an inn, noticing eyes on him. He pulled up his hood and walked over to the bar.
"What can I do for ya?"
The cheery bartender smiled from behind the counter, but there was a strained quality to it – perhaps he thought Roman was some criminal, considering the local area.
Roman smiled inwardly. The guy was kind of right.
"I need a room." He spoke quietly and little, hoping nobody nearby would recognise his voice. He had been louder before, so the quiet probably helped a lot.
"Sure thing." He began to list room prices, and Roman picked the cheapest one. He was low on money at the moment, having switched to cheap cigarettes to facilitate his habit. How the mighty have fallen.
"Anything else?"
"I'm looking for an Isaac Randol. Lawyer. Heard the name?"
"Maybe. What's he look like?"
"Brown hair, orange eyes. Mid-length hair. Rings a bell?"
The bartender looked thoughtful, then checked his books.
"Isaac, Isaac… Ah! Isaac A. Randol, he's got a room here."
"Can I go up to him?"
The bartender opened his mouth, but closed it quickly, looking him up and down.
"I'm sorry, but I need to call up to him first. I can't have people walking up to peoples rooms – I'm sure you understand."
"Sure."
He walked over to a dusty holographic panel, punching in some numbers. He looked at Roman expectantly.
"What's your name, sir?"
Roman took a moment to think. A name? He quickly chose the one he might know. Who knew annoying nicknames could be handy?
"Matchstick. Tell him it's a friend of Crimson."
"Right." The man went back to the panel, talking through the mouthpiece at somebody. Soon he returned to Roman.
"You can go up now. Room 2."
"Thanks."
Roman went through the side door and up the stairs. He came to a door with the number 2 on it and knocked. It opened to reveal a pair of squinted eyes.
"Matchstick, right?"
"What I'm going with, yes."
The man looked him up and down before allowing him entry. In the centre of the room, a glowing console sat. As Roman passed into its sight, 'Isaac' called out to it.
"He's here, boss."
"Thank you Isaac." The screen fuzzed and hissed, before an image appeared on it. Gold eyes, Red hair and fox ears greeted him.
"Hi kid."
"Matchy, is that you?" The boy on the other side squinted into whatever screen he was looking at, strange accent prominent in his voice, before his eyes widened. "Holy… where in Remnant have you been? We thought you were dead!"
"Hiding. After I survived, I knew my employers would want me dead anyway. So if people think I'm dead, I'd like to keep it that way."
"Smart. But how the hell did you survive? What happened?"
"Eaten by a grimm. Semblance saved me."
"Semblance?"
"Yeah, what a way to find out your semblance, eh? Still, I need your help."
"Sure! I can get Lilac out to you in an hour if you-"
"Not yet. I'm looking for Neo."
"Oh." Crimson searched his desk for documents. "Well, considering you're in Mistral, we're on the same page. The trail has gone cold, so either Neo has evaded both you and my spies…"
"Or she's still here in Mistral."
"Exactly! Speaking of, why are you only speaking to me now? I had men in Vale."
"Isaac was the only name I could remember, and my scroll was lost in the fall."
"Ah. Where are you staying?"
"Here, further up."
"Right. Well, you find Neo and call me, then I'll send Lilac in to pick you up. You can tell me of your adventures in person. And don't talk to Isaac again; you might blow his cover."
"I take it that isn't just a request?"
"I'll make you a request when you are back to running a major gang. Right now, I'm the kingpin in this relationship."
Roman laughed, plugging in his scroll to receive the contact details. He left Isaac's room shortly after, heading upstairs to check his own room out.
Having allies again was the best feeling in the world.
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"Well at least now we know what it is. And we'll be sure to keep it safe!"
Everyone nodded as Ruby finished, smiling at Ozpin earnestly. His 'condition' of being inside Oscar's body had been hard to get used to, but she could finally see where the distinction between the two lay. Ozpin smiled back.
"Hold on, aren't we glossing over how we actually get to Argus?" Jaune held up a finger in question.
Qrow sighed. "Well, after what happened at Haven the council has temporarily closed the train lines. The Argus Limited is moving out in about four weeks."
"A month!?" Nora slammed her head against the floor, which she had gone back to lying on. "We're gonna be stuck here for a month!?" She whined, curling up onto her side.
"Nora…" Ren knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
"Well if we're going to be stuck here for a month, we need food. How about we eat out tonight? To celebrate?" Yang laid back against the sofa, sliding down it comically.
"Sure. Hey! I know just the place. Saw it while I was looking for huntsmen earlier." Qrow got up, before wobbling and sitting back down. Perhaps drinking before and after breakfast wasn't the best idea.
"Are you sure?" Blake looked over a map that Qrow had pointed at, poking the location on its surface. "This is pretty deep into the low town."
"True, but it has the best noodles in town. I mean, nothing beats A Simple Wok, but this place comes pretty close!"
"I dunno…"
"Hey, don't worry!" Yang leaned over. "We're huntresses. If anything happens, we can take it. In fact," a sly grin formed on Yang's face, "They might even serve tuna~"
Blake looked at her and sighed exasperatedly. "Alright…"
"So there we go! Dinner in the low town. You okay with that, Rubes?"
Ruby blinked. She had been separated from her team so long that she forgot she was the leader, so the idea of saying something hadn't even crossed her mind.
"Oh, uh… Sounds good!" She nodded when Yang looked concerned.
"You okay Ruby?"
"Oh, I'm fine! I'm fine! It's…" The room was silent now, everyone appraising her anew. There was something different about her; she was quieter than she had been at Beacon, quieter that she had been after Beacon! She seemed preoccupied, worryingly so.
"Ruby?" Weiss looked at her earnestly, worried about her partner.
"It's just…" Ruby slumped, letting out a sigh. "We're all back together again. Team RWBY, Team JNR, Uncle Qrow – even Ozpin! But…" She looked at her feet. "But I can't help but remember that some of us aren't here."
"Oh Ruby…" Jaune leaned forward. "That isn't your fault."
"Sorry Jaune, but it kind of is. When we lost Penny, I caught Mercury walking around and realised she was in danger. If I had been faster, I could have saved her!"
"Ruby, you couldn't-"
"And then, with Pyrrha, I knew she was in danger. You warned us! If I had been faster, I could have saved her too! I watched her die!"
"Ruby, you can't-"
"Even Torchwick!" The outburst silenced the room. "Roman was our enemy, but I could have – I should have – warned him! I could see the Nevermore. I could have saved him! But now they're all dead, and we're all that's left!" Ruby finished, breathing deeply. Tears teased at her eyes.
"Ruby…" It was Qrow talking now, walking over to her. "I know what it's like to blame yourself. Especially when people you care about get hurt."
Yang hugged her from the side, but the robotic arm was uncomfortably cold against Ruby's chest.
She bore it.
"But look where I am now – where we all are now. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, so look at the positives, okay? And well, wishing you could have saved Torchwick says more good about you than anything else. It's not your fault, understand?"
Ruby sniffed, looking down. Silence reigned for a second.
"You know…" Ruby sniffed, looking up. "It's kinda weird…"
Everyone looked at each other. Jaune took the bait.
"What is?"
Ruby smiled sadly. "The universe seems to hate redheads."
Nora gasped suddenly, leaping up and grabbing Ren by the shoulders. "Ren! Ruby and me are in danger!"
"Yes Nora…"
"It's 'Ruby and I'."
"Shush, Ice Queen."
"Hey!"
Nora shook Ren. "You need to make us armour!"
"Yes, Nora…"
"Out of pancakes!"
"Yes Nora…"
As Nora led Ren out of the room, Yang took Ruby's hand.
"We should go plan the route! Come, Ruby, Weiss! Planning awaits!"
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Wait, what about me?"
"You too, Blake! Let's go!"
Yang dragged Ruby away, who, despite her protests, had a smile on her face.
/-/
Roman took a drag from his cigarette as he walked down the street aimlessly. Almost a week, and no leads still! And, to top it off, Cinder's little gang had attacked Haven the night before; the city was on lockdown for at least a month.
Roman had a bad feeling about this.
Still, his body demanded he find a place to eat; the food at the inn had been lacklustre the past few days, and the stress of looking for Neo made him hungry.
He looked calmly back and forth before pulling up his hood and mixing with the crowd. It would not do to be noticed so early after all. With what Cinder had done? He would get 100 years at least. He wasn't going to risk it.
Even so, he perked when he saw a shop nearby, still open. The paint of the store's name and logo were long faded, and probably out of date anyway. The restaurant appeared to sell noodles; that would probably do it for him. Nothing could compare to A Simple Wok, though. He smiled as he remembered Neo's nickname for him after they had gone there together, early on into his career.
Ha. 'Ramen' Torchwick.
His train of thought was interrupted, however, when the door to the place opened, releasing a crowd of teenagers. They were strikingly colourful, drawing attention from across the street.
Roman's eyes widened as he saw them, ducking into an alley. Surely that wasn't them. Why would they be in Mistral? No, of course they would be in Mistral, fighting Cinder. It was what they did.
He heard their voices coming closer, entering the alley after him. Had they seen him? No, they would be quieter than that otherwise. All he had to do was keep his head down and-
"Oof!"
Roman fell back as somebody walked into him, his hood falling back.
"Oh gods, I'm sorry! Are you okay- huh?"
The girl who had walked into him stopped, eyes widening in confusion and alarm. Roman looked up at them cautiously.
Ruby Rose stared back at him, and she looked stunning.
"Torchwick?"
"Uh…"
The girls surrounding her pulled her back a little, readying their weapons eagerly.
"So…" He chuckled nervously, eyes flitting across them. "How have you ladies been doing?"
They growled menacingly.
"'Cause I've been doing… fine?"
The blonde one flew forwards, planting her fist into his skull.
Gods damnit.
Still not telling you what semblance it is! Wait till next week to see.
Yes, I did use my own characters for that one. They will star in another story I have yet to publish or write, and I have had to change a few things about them for this AU-ish situation, but they won't appear very much at all, so just think of them as 'criminal friends of Roman who are from Atlas' and leave it at that. Also, Crimson's 'strange accent' sounds Scottish. Just so ya know.
I don't want to look at the story from other people's viewpoints too often, as Roman is the protagonist here, but Ruby's scene was necessary setup. This might happen a few other times with other characters as well, just to give a decent idea of what is going down, but again. Roman is the protagonist here.
So yeah. I fudged a lot of temporal technicalities to facilitate this meeting for Roman. He had better not screw this up.
Next Chapter:
Roman has been captured by team RWBY, and he needs to convince them of his innocence/trustworthiness if he wants to see Neo again!
What will RWBY do with Roman? What is Roman's semblance? Where is Neo hiding?
And where is that god damn hat?
Find out next time. Adios!