So I originally planned to post this chapter later on in the week, and maybe over the weekend, but because I have nothing better to do right now, I decided to just get the story up and running. I don't have a schedule set up for the future, but I also know where I want to go with the story, so updates should be pretty frequent.

Anyway, thank you to anyone who read, followed, favorited, or reviewed the story, I really appreciate it. Without further adieu, let's check out what Blake and Ruby are up to. Hey, that rhymes!


After her nightmare, Ruby wasn't sure how she wanted to act around her friends. She could tell them what happened and get their help, or she could stay silent and melt back into her regular schedule. Deciding not to bring it up, Ruby spent the day acting like herself. "Blake!" she asked the girl, catching her in the hallway between classes, "I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me and my sister Yang and our friend Weiss!"

Blake looked sleep deprived, but it seemed that was just her constant mood. "Weiss, as in Weiss Schnee?" Blake asked with a hint of malice.

"Yeah! She's great," Ruby exclaimed, completely oblivious to Blake's undertone.

Shaking her head, Blake turned away from Ruby and spoke over her shoulder, "I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to mingle with your friends."

"Why?" Ruby asked Blake's retreating form.

Blake mumbled to herself, "So many reasons."

Ruby deflated as Blake walked away, but Weiss quickly came to her rescue. "Ruby, why are you moping around in the hallway when we have lunch period to get to?"

"Sorry," Ruby squeaked and followed Weiss, who took a moment to look in the direction Blake had gone, before scowling silently.

Meeting up with Yang in the cafeteria, Ruby and Weiss were greeted with a loud "Heyaaa!" from Yang.

"Yes, hello to you too, brute," Weiss huffed. Ruby just giggled and stretched in her sweatshirt. As Weiss and Yang started to bicker about something unimportant, Ruby pulled at the threads of her worn down red sweatshirt nervously. Blake had acted so strangely when Ruby had asked to sit with her. Did Blake not like her and Ruby had been getting the wrong message?

A voice interrupted her thoughts. "You okay, Rubes?" Yang asked her sister.

"Hm?" Ruby mumbled, looking up from her untouched sandwich. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine, totally fine."

"And I'm Weiss," Yang mocked, eliciting a "hey" from the heiress. "What's up?"

Ruby shifted uncomfortably. "Well that new student needed my help finding her classes yesterday-"

"Oooh, do we need to call in Jaune for some love advice?" Yang laughed, wiggling her eyebrows.

Ruby blushed bright red and hid her face. "It wasn't like that Yang! And Jaune's too oblivious to give love advice anyway. She needed help so I helped her. She was really nice to me and said she'd like to get to know me more. Well not really, she said she hoped to see me around. But I asked to sit with her today at lunch and she shot me down."

Weiss let out a little hurmph and told Ruby, "If she doesn't want to be around you, then she's missing out on a great friend."

"Ah Weiss!" The sisters fawned.

"Oh shut up!"


Blake felt bad for shooting Ruby down. The girl was a little too hyperactive for Blake's quiet nature, but she was nice and a good relief from Blake's real world problems. It almost broke Blake's heart hearing that the faunus was friends with a Schnee. Poor girl was probably used and didn't even know it.

And relationship wise, Blake did not want to get involved with any of Ruby's friends. Sure, they'd probably be useful outlets too, but all of them would just result in gossip and teenagers being teenagers. If Blake could work up the courage to confront the wolf faunus on the White Fang topic, then she could stop thinking about Ruby.

It wasn't even that Blake disliked Ruby, she actually found the girl quite adorable, but bringing someone that innocent into an ongoing war was something Blake couldn't bring herself to do. Until Blake could talk to Ruby about her real goals, she would just play a nice friend and keep herself hidden behind the pages of a book.


The figure was out on the prowl once again, this time a smooth mask covering their face from nose to eyebrows, revealing striking amber eyes. Atop their head sat a pair of cat ears, sleek and black as night, almost unnoticeable along with the stark black catsuit.

Following a man on the almost completely bare streets was child's play, and soon the figure could pick up the man's conversation. "Look, I told you I haven't got anything yet… Yes she's on her way out, I heard… I got in contact with the mutts, they seem willing to partner up… I'll let him know… yes, sir, I'll keep you updated sir." The man put away his phone and mumbled, "He's unbearable. Least the pay is good."

The figure jumped off the roof and landed behind the man as he turned into an alleyway. He heard the impact on the ground and turned to face the masked figure. "What do you want? 'Nother one of them mutts?"

Slashing at the man with their concealed blade, the figure pushed him against the wall. "Tell me," the figure spoke in a low, feminine voice, "who were you talking to?"

"I'm not telling you anything!" The man yelled.

The masked woman pushed her blade closer to his neck, a thick scent of poison starting to reek through the air. "You tell me, our you die."

"He sent me to work with the White Fang-"

"The White Fang?" the figure's interest suddenly shifted. "What do you know about the White Fang," she demanded.

The man started, "I've been working with this faunus named Adam-"

"Adam!" The woman pulled away from the man momentarily and thought out her next questions carefully. "What is he-"

"Not important to you!" The man yelled before pulling out a thick knife. The masked figure reacted quickly, knocking the knife out of his hand and shoving her blade deep into his gut, poison soon flowing into his open veins. He gagged and fell limp against her body. A loud gasp echoed from the entrance to the alley.


Ruby had been unable to sleep after her recent nightmares, so she convinced Yang to let her go out to her favorite book store, From Dusk 'Till Dawn, since Taiyang was spending a night out with Qrow.

After browsing some books and magazines, Ruby decided to buy a book that piqued her interest, Team BLAK, a story about four girls working together to slay monsters and defeat their evil headmaster.

As she was walking home and fantasizing about her new book, a yell came from a nearby alleyway. Ruby went to investigate the alleyway and gasped at the sight. A man lay dying against a masked figure who held a blade lodged in the man's stomach as his body convulsed despite his state. "Dirty faunus," she heard him mutter as his eyes flicked between the figure and Ruby.

Ruby dropped her book, trying to get her body to run, but she was stuck in place. The figure pulled out the blade, and the wolf noticed it was tipped with black, a telltale sign it was covered in poison. The figure approached Ruby's frozen form, and Ruby couldn't help but whimper as her body refused to turn and run.

By the time the figure was right in front of Ruby, she could tell it was clearly a woman much taller than herself, and a cat faunus. "Please," Ruby whimpered, scared for her life. Was this faunus part of the White Fang?

The blade found itself millimeters away from Ruby's neck, the bitter smell putrid in her nose. "You say nothing." The familiar voice should have struck a chord in Ruby, but she was too terrified to notice anything but the blade. Ruby nodded furiously, almost cutting herself on the blade in her haste. "Good."

And the masked woman was gone, leaving Ruby to finally regain control of her legs. She sprinted home as fast as she could, disturbing Yang as she ran through the door.

"Everything fine at the bookstore, Rubes?" Yang asked, peeking her head out of her room.

Ruby gave Yang a large, fake smile. "Yup, same as every time!"

"Then where's your book?"


Adam stood in front of a map of the Vale District. They could be anywhere, and he had no clues. Slamming his fists on a nearby table, Adam let out a scream of frustration. A White Fang grunt walked through the doors and hesitantly called, "Sir?"

"What is it?" Adam seethed.

The grunt walked farther into the room and stood at attention. "We may have a lead on both your cases."

Suddenly much more interested, Adam took a step towards the grunt. "Explain."

"Well that human who came to work with us, he was found dead earlier tonight. Killed by a blade wound to the stomach and nightshade poison."

Adam smirked under his mask. Only one person worked like that.

"And in front of the killing there was a new book on the floor, and the receipt had the name Rose on it."

A laugh echoed through the room. "Both my flowers coming back to me. What a change of events."

The grunt took another awkward step. "There's more. That human's employer is sending one of his special agents. He said he's happy to provide us unlimited resources, the only thing he wants in return is Rose." Adam huffed in thought. Rose was a great resource to him, but what that human's employer was offering could be worth more.

"I suppose that can work. When will this agent be here?"

The grunt froze. "Uh, soon?"

Adam smiled and let out a little chuckle.

"This is going to be great."


So that was a thing. We got a little peek at Adam and what's going on with the White Fang. Also, there's this mysterious employer that obviously will have nothing to do with the plot. It'll probably seem like things are heating up very quickly, but I have a lot of action planned and I don't want to wait to get to chapter 20 for the important stuff to happen.

On another note, I included the Team BLAK thing, because I thought it was cool how the voice actresses for Team RWBY (Lindsay, Kara, Arryn, and Barbara) spell out Team BLAK (Barbara, Lindsay, Arryn, Kara). I was thinking maybe writing a story about that, but I'm not sure yet. Anyway, enough of the fangirling.

Next chapter will come out soon hopefully, and we'll get to see how Ruby reacts to this mysterious figure. Okay, let's be real, we all know who it is.