Author's Notes

Hey everybody thank you all for making it this far into my story. I really do appreciate it. The attention I have received in the three days of my story being public has been incredible. So thank you all and don't feel afraid to follow or write a review. Trust me a good review can make my day.

Back to the point at hand. I need to say a few things before the story continues any farther. So here's my list of things to know.

I: First of all I know that somebody will comment about this eventually so I'm providing an answer now as opposed to causing any confusion. Cobalt v. Roman. I will refer to Roman as both names but you will see times when I switch between the two. My rule for this is that if Roman is undercover at the moment then he will be referred to as Cobalt. If not then his normal name will be mentioned. An easy way to tell this is if Roman is dressed as "Cobalt" then he will be referred to as Cobalt. If he is dressed in his normal outfit full of swagger then he will be called Roman. If this rule ever changes I will update you all on that before it happens.

II: Second order of business: Ao3. I'm working on it. Before the end of the week I will have my account ready and this story running on there as well.

III: Do you remember the M rating I gave this series for Violence and Language? Yeah this chapter has that. No there is no smut of any kind if that's what you're thinking. Trust me when I say this story will never have smut. By violence I mean that there is some character death as well as blood and gore. If any of you are squeamish around blood like I can be sometimes then this is your last warning. This chapter contains minor amounts of blood and gore. Other chapters will include more but I will always give warnings on those specific chapters.

IV: This will interest most of you. My updating schedule. Here's my progress with my story. I am currently wrapping up chapter 24 and this is now the third month I've spent writing my story. I have a plan. Now since this is my first week of going public I'm really excited to get this started off. That combined with the fact that my first seven chapters are easily the shortest of my story means that for the rest of this week I will be updating one chapter a day. On Friday, March 25 2016 I will be switching to a system where I will post one chapter a week. You can expect a new chapter posted between 10:30 and 11:30pm EST on Fridays to become a regular thing for the foreseeable future. I have a Tumblr account to which I will post updates. The name is (you guessed it) italiantorchwick.

Without further delay, enjoy Chapter 3: The Dream.

Chapter 3:

The Dream

Roman ran through the halls of Beacon as explosions and flames flew everywhere. Ignoring the likely permanent ear damage he was suffering he was looking for any survivors. Entering the burning cafeteria with debris strewn across the room he saw team RWBY severely injured and about to pass out with Cinder, Mercury and Emerald standing above them about to deal the final blow. Screaming "NO!" Roman raised Melodic Cudgel and fired, not at team RWBY but at Cinder and her two minions. Jumping back to avoid the shot Cinder said to Mercury and Emerald "You two take care of him."

Roman charged towards the two with total disregard for his own safety. He wasn't able to get one attack off before having to go on the defensive though. All the while through the fight Roman was firing his cane towards wherever Cinder was to prevent her from dealing even one attack on team RWBY. Swinging his cane around as fast as he could both in front of him and behind him to parry their attacks gave him a moment of déjà vu with his fight with the kitten and monkey boy. Returning to the present Roman was able to slide forward underneath Mercury's legs as Mercury raised one up to kick him. Roman grabbed the Mercury's remaining foot on the ground with his handle of Melodic Cudgel and knocked him down face first. In a flash Roman got back up and was able to shoot Mercury in the back of the head right before having to parry Emerald's attack of her revolver sickle. Acknowledging Emerald's eyes full of rage Roman saw that the blade he parried was embedded half an inch into Melodic Cudgel. "That must be one ticked off woman" he thought. Stretching the bounds of his flexibility as well as the seams of his pants Roman jumped around like an over-caffeinated cricket trying to avoid those deadly chained blades of Emerald's. Roman then used his cane to grab onto the blade she threw at him and pulled on the chain attached to it that Emerald was holding. The force lunged her forward and as she fell he landed his cane underneath her chin and fired. With Emerald and Mercury out of the way he gave his full attention to Cinder. Sitting on a piece of conveniently placed debris, Roman held out his arms is sarcastical annoyance. "Come on Cinder can't we just have a civilized conversation, gentlemen to witch?"

"You abandoned that when you betrayed us." Replied Cinder.

"Oh please you know i always follow whatever path is best for me in the end. Surprise surprise unlike your little dogs over there now being wormfood I for one am not willing to lay down my life for your sake."

"Then you shall join them. May you burn in hell."

"The same to you my dear." Said Roman as he flipped her the middle finger.

Throwing that one sickle blade that was still embedded into Melodic Cudgel into the air Roman charged at Cinder attacking in every way, shape, or form. Projectiles, grapples, melee, nothing got past her defenses. Cinder's overconfident eyes provoking him to do a rather risky lunge Roman shot forward but his feet were knocked out under him. While he was falling she grabbed his neck and held him up in the air. She glared at him with a confident smile. "You know that disobeying your superiors is bad for your health right. All your time spent in the underworld should have taught you that." Cinder said as she began choking him. Just as he was about to black out she relieved the pressure on his neck and dropped him. Landing on his knees gasping for breath he looked up to see Cinder's eyes wide open in shock. They both looked down to her stomach where they could see blood start to ooze out along with the tip of a green blade, Emerald's blade, jutting out of her. Her eyes turning to that of pure hatred she grasped out for Roman's neck and seemed to mutter something just before she coughed up blood all over Roman and fell to the ground. Behind her was a traumatized Ruby still holding the blade soaked in blood with horror. Roman ran up to her and hugged her while tears were falling from his eyes. "Ruby? Are you alright? Are you injured? Is your team alright? What do yo…."

That is all Ruby heard as she drowned out everything around her. All that there was in the room was Cinder's corpse and herself. Cinder's corpse. Cinder's corpse. That was all she could focus on. She could hear the voices of her friends and family all whispering despicable things in her ears. "You're a murderer." "You're supposed to protect people, not kill them." "You're not worthy of being called a huntress." "Look at the blood on your hands. You will have that for the rest of your life." "Ruby…. Ruby…. RUBY!"

Jolting back to reality she saw Roman's face in front of her's with a level of sincerity she didn't know was possible from any human, let alone a psychological criminal such as himself.

"It's not your fault." He told her. "You had no choice but to do it. If you hadn't she would have killed me then killed you and your team. It is alright you're safe now."

"I-I-I…. killed…. her." Replied Ruby her bloodshot eyes open wide never looking away from the direction of Cinder's body.

"I know but you had no choice. It wasn't your fault." Replied Roman now looking at her directly in the eyes holding her face so she would look into his. "Listen to me Ruby. It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. You're a big girl, you can get through this. Remember, you drink milk." He said finally getting a small smirk out of her.

"I-I thought you had left us. Left me." Said Ruby as she began to grasp onto him for dear life and started balling her eyes out.

"Ruby I want you to know that I will never leave you. It doesn't matter how hard it is or how long it takes I will always come rescue you and those you care about. I love you Ruby." He said as he leaned in to kiss her. Just as she began to feel her lips grazing his she muttered just loud enough for Roman to hear.

"I love you too."