Tracking a single person through a snowstorm is hard, even for an experienced tracker. Tracking a person through a snowstorm almost thirty minutes after their tracks have been blanketed in fresh power is nigh impossible.

Yet Orson managed to track Weiss, the white-haired vampire he and Ruby were pursuing, over the entire uncharted, snow-blanketed Drangor mountain range.

They trekked over ancient, forgotten peaks, mountains and vistas that had been lost to time and human memory. The things they saw were awe-inspiring, terrifying in their majesty and might. Massive waterfalls that plummeted thousands of feet, creating a rumble that drowned out any sound for miles, a sound you could feel in your very bones. Mountain peaks that defied comprehension, jutting up into the clouds like jagged spears and disappearing into the cold blue of the upper stratosphere. Strange, twisted beasts. Elk with antlers bigger than their bodies. Bears with glowing purple stripes and claws dripping with acid. Mountain goats with membranes of thin skin under their legs that they spread out to glide short distances. Mountain lions that could change their skin to match their surroundings.

This land was old, very old, and very, very untamed.

They rarely stopped for sleep or rest. The nights were cold. Fire wasn't allowed: it could alert their vampiric prey. Orson didn't think Weiss knew she was being followed yet. Ruby always took the majority of the watch, staring into the darkness and simply remembering Yang. Her heart ached alone in the cold and dark. When the sun rose enough for Orson to resume his tracking, he did so, and Ruby simply followed along in an only half-aware state. The rage was still there, burning like a hot bed of coals in her heart, but it was starting to subside, starting to cool. And she was starting to forget why she was even chasing Weiss in the first place. It was as if the very cold of the mountains was chilling her anger, her lust for revenge. But she wouldn't let it. She wouldn't let that fire die. Not yet.

Without that anger, what did she have to live for? What did she have to drive her to put on foot in front of the other?

They were settling in to sleep on their fourth night when Orson spoke to her. It was the first time he'd said a word since they set out that wasn't a warning or an instruction.

"Ruby."

She looked up. His pale face was outlined by the last remnants of the setting sun. The snow-drenched forest around them was deep and foreboding.

"Yeah?"

"Are you still set on this course of action? To kill this vampire, this girl?"

Ruby looked down at her scythe, which she held across her lap. "Yeah. I guess."

"You know what happened to that village was not her fault. She even protested against it, you heard her as well as I did. She lost her father, and she seems lost and scared."

Ruby frowned. "She does?"

"If you paid attention, you could tell that much of her path is wandering and random. That is why we haven't caught her yet. Even I cannot predict where she will go next. The only reason that could possibly be is because she does not know where she will go next. And that is also why she has not stopped to rest for any long period of time. She is still running. And yes, vampires do need rest."

Ruby shrugged and poked at the frosted ground with a nearby stick. "Yeah. Well even so, she's a vampire, and I have to kill her before she kills anyone else. It's them or her, you know? I'm just glad these mountains are so empty." Her eyes went hard and narrow. "She hasn't had a chance to murder anyone yet."

Orson was silent for a moment before replying."She said something back then about not killing innocents."

"She's the daughter of a vampire lord," Ruby scoffed, her breath misting in the air. "She's dangerous to whoever's around her. And she's a ghostwalker. And she's hungry. There's no doubt she'll feed on the first human she finds." Ruby snapped the stick in her fist. "We just have to find her first."

Orson said nothing. He stared at the horizon, his frost-covered beard making him look like he'd been a denizen of these mountains for years.

"You should get some sleep," Ruby continued. "We need to move hard again tomorrow."

He only nodded.

Ruby looked down at her scythe again. The magnesium-lined steel blade glinted in the dusk. Shadows played on the haft; heavy oak with carvings of wolves and ravens over a steel core. There was a hinge in middle of the shaft, so that she could fold the haft in two and then fold the blade in over that, easily enough for it to fit in her pack. Crescent Rose, she called it. Carving and creating it had been one of the proudest moments in her life. Yang had bragged about it to her friends for weeks. Yang.

Ruby looked up at the stars beginning to appear in the blue velvet of the night and let out a weary sigh.


Three days later, Orson spoke again.

They were on top of a rocky, jagged ridgeline, partially covered in snow-dusted evergreen trees. The sun was low on the horizon, purple and orange and red. Sunset threatened them with uncertainty and death. A pack of starving wolves had attacked them last night. Luckily, their starvation made them weak and hunger-crazed. She and Orson had been lucky enough to escape with only a few shallow scratches.

She wasn't fighting like she used to. During that fight with the vampire lord she had been so alive, so fueled with rage and loss... but now that fuel was gone. In its place was emptiness and silence.

Orson broke it. "Her movements aren't random anymore. She knows where she is going. I know where she is going."

Ruby had been gazing out at the forest below, hopelessly scanning for a glimpse of moving white hair in the forest. The ocean glimmered just on the farthest edge of the horizon. She jumped, startled. "Huh?"

"She is heading for Oribor."

Ruby frowned and looked back out at the horizon, trying to look like she hadn't been taken by surprise. Her face glowed. "The giant port-city? Why would she head there?"

"Aside from it being the closest city to here – and therefore the closest place for her to blend in and hide – there would probably be men there she could hire to find out what happened at the castle."

Ruby thought for a moment. "You're right. She wouldn't go back on her own, because she knows we might be waiting for that. But she'd still want to know what happened to her father."

Orson nodded. "And men starving for coin are never in short supply in Oribor. You could learn that from staying there an hour. I myself have been 'blessed' with months of experience."

"Great," Ruby grunted. "If it was this hard tracking her though this mountain range, how the hell are we supposed to find her in that cess-pool of a city?"

"Just flash some coin and ask if anyone's seen a girl with white hair. It shouldn't be difficult."

"Unless she goes underground," Ruby muttered.

They stood there in the silence for a few minutes. The wind howled past them like a lonely phantom. Ruby leaned up against a tree and watched the stars come out in the purple-black sky overhead. Orson produced a pipe and started smoking. Then he spoke again.

"There is another thing."

Ruby looked at him. "Yeah? What is it?"

"I will track her to Oribor, just in case she doubles back or goes around it somehow. But after we reach that city, I must leave you."

Ruby paused. Orson had been her constant companion over the past few days. He wasn't much of a talker, but his steady presence reassured her. Especially when her thoughts turned to Yang. The possibility of his absence was... disconcerting.

"I have a family," he continued, his voice a gentle whisper. "And I know you need my help, but they will be wondering where I am. I don't want my wife worrying over me. She knows what I do for coin. I try to worry her as little as possible. And as much as you need my help, Ruby, I honestly value my family over you."

Ruby smirked. "Yeah, no big deal really. I'd do the same. Or I would have, if Yang was still..." she looked down at the ground. "Yeah. If Yang was still here."

He flashed her a gentle smile. "Like I said, I'll track her to Oribor, if she truly does make her way there. But after that, I'll split ways with you. I know you can handle yourself on your own. You'll find her."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I will."

"Just remember to not judge her too harshly. She's scared and alone, and she might be even more so in Oribor. Something tells me that girl has not had much contact with the human world, or humans in general. You might end up saving her life there instead of taking it.

"Pfft, yeah right," Ruby scoffed. "If anything I'd just let her die. Saves me the trouble, right?"

Orson frowned at her. "Enough death has come of all this. I hunt vampires that prey on humans to protect the innocent, but this girl, there is something different about her. Perhaps she does not need to die."

The rage in Ruby's heart flared like a bonfire. "Yeah, and Yang didn't need to die either. But she did. And I'm not gonna take any chances with this vampire. She'd have no trouble finding victims in Oribor. The city guard would probably just overlook the murders anyway, like they always do."

Orson looked sidelong at her. "You know of Oribor?"

"Not much. Yang only took me there once. But we stayed long enough for me to get a good feel of it. It's not a nice place."

"Now there's an understatement if I ever heard one," he replied. "Even so Ruby, try to keep an open mind. This girl may be a murderer, or she may not. I've learned enough in my lifetime to know not to judge a person too quickly. Perhaps you will learn the same.

Ruby frowned, but said nothing. Orson propped himself up against a tree, wrapped his blanket around himself, and closed his eyes. The glow from his pipe cast faint shadows on his weather-beaten face. Ruby let out a heavy sigh into the dusk. She looked up at the stars, mapped the constellations in her head, and thought of Yang. Yang was the one that had shown her those constellations.


Oribor, almost a week later. Smoke. Smog. The smell of unwashed bodies and unwashed fish. The shouting of dock-hands, the ringing of bells, the occasional screams from dark alleyways that no one even bothered to turn their head towards. The hustle and bustle of a thriving and vibrant port city in the midst of political upheaval. And Ruby and Orson were right in the midst of it, moving towards a tavern that Orson had a friend in.

"I still hate this place," Ruby grumbled, adjusting the shoulder-strap of her pack. "When Baron Fronz was in power back when I was here last time I thought that it was bad, but this new democracy thing they've got going on now seems even worse."

"The new government doesn't have the power they need to keep the populace under control," Orson replied to her as they moved through the crowd. She could barely make out what he was saying. "And it's showing."

Anyone Ruby bumped shoulders with – which was inevitable in a crowd this size – shot her a mean look. Some shouted at her. She glared back at them all. Ruby was about to start pushing people out of her way when a woman a few feet in front of her stumbled – or was tripped – and fell into the main roadway. A heavy wagon wheel crushed her skull like an overripe melon as soon as she hit the ground. The wagon didn't slow or stop. No one cried out. No one even spared the woman more than a passing glance. Ruby's mouth gaped open. Orson grabbed her by the hood of her cloak and dragged her away. The city guardsman moving towards the woman – presumably to clear her body from the main thoroughfare – only laughed.

Orson pushed her up against the nearest wall.

Ruby motioned frantically. "What the hell was tha-"

Orson covered her mouth with his hand. His eyes bored into hers. "Listen to me Ruby Rose. This is Oribor. This sort of thing happens often. It will happen again. And unless you want to mark yourself as an outsider and alert every thief and murderer nearby about the possibility of easy prey from outside the city, I would advise you go along with everyone else and pretend it didn't happen. Do you understand?"

Ruby glared at him. Hot tears formed in the corners of her eyes. But after a moment she shut her eyes and nodded her head.

"Good. Now let's move. We're not far from our destination."

Ruby wiped her eyes, grit her teeth, and carried on.

Their destination turned out to be an old, run-down tavern on the edge of the docks, painted a fresh coat of bright red that couldn't hide the leaning walls or shattered, repaired, then shattered-again windows. A hanging sign by the front door proudly displayed the name Apple Bottom.

"Apple Bottom?" Ruby questioned, still angry at the world.

"Long story," Orson replied. "Suffice to to say the owner is not fond of apples, nor anything round and red at all."

"What else is round and red besides apples?"

Orson grunted with what could have been laughter. "You'd be surprised."

They weren't there long. Which was fantastic as far as Ruby was concerned, because the smell inside was worse than without. Orson spend a few moments speaking to the barkeep – and owner, apparently – while Ruby kept watch by the door. He returned with a wry grin.

"We're in luck," he muttered.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Luck? In this city?"

"Strange, I know. But Saul, the barkeep, is an old friend of mine. I only had to empty a quarter of my coin purse before he 'remembered' that he had seen a girl with white hair just a few hours earlier."

Ruby's heart started beating fast. "Just like that? Where is she?"

"An inn down this street a ways, by the name of the Gilded Bronco. Not half bad of a place too, as far as inns in this city go."

"Then let's go get her!" Ruby hissed.

Orson placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ruby. I would advise you to wait. We registered at the city gates yes, but it will be several days before our registrations are officially recognized. Bureaucracy moves slow here. If you murder Weiss in a place like the Bronco, and the city guard catches you as an unregistered alien, you'll be marched to the gallows without a second thought."

Ruby bit her lip and frowned. "Well I just won't get caught then, right? I mean what good is it gonna do me if I get caught even after my registration is recognized?"

"Well you'll get a trial, for one," Orson answered. "And if you pass the judge enough coin, you might get away with a self-defense charge. But like I said, if you're not registered, they won't even read you your crimes before they slip the noose around your neck. And Ruby. I have to go now. I can't risk getting caught up in this place."

Ruby's frown deepened. "Yeah. Yeah I know. Your family and all. It's fine. I got it from here."

Orson gave her a concerned look. "Remember what I said. Do not judge her too quickly. See if there is some way you can make peace with her first." His eyes were honest. "Because what happens if you kill her Ruby? What happens when that rage in your heart goes out, and all you have left is the cold and emptiness inside? No, far better you make peace with it and let it die on its own. Maybe something else can fill the void inside you then."

Ruby huffed a breath. "Yeah. Okay. I'll talk to her first," she lied. She adjusted the pack on her shoulder and tried to look brave.

Orson smiled for the first time she had ever seen. Then he turned and disappeared into the crowd without a word or a backwards glance.


Several hours later, Ruby made her way down the crowded, torch-lit streets of Oribor, weaving in and out of the mass of people with much more ease than earlier. She had always been a fast learner. She moved with purpose and intent, swimming upstream against the current of people moving away from the docks as the markets closed for the night.

Oribor was different at night. More dangerous. More menacing. The shadows between buildings seemed darker and deeper. The harsh glares of the people she passed seemed more murderous than loathsome. More guards were out, true, but they looked just as murderous and loathsome as the rest. And she knew she still wasn't registered in the city's entries. But that wouldn't stop her. She couldn't wait any longer. The rage in her soul cried out for blood.

She realized in the back of her head that she probably looked as murderous as any hardened criminal in the city.

A three-story building looking slightly less decrepit than its neighbors stood out across the street ahead. The Gilded Bronco. And it actually was gilded, although the golden ornamentation was most certainly fake.

She stood across the street for a few minutes, trying to look busy and doing her best to get a feel for the place. Three stories, and no way up or down from the third story but inside, or a long drop on the outside.

Her mind swirled as the crowd swirled around her. Was Orson right? Did she actually need to kill this vampire? What about Yang? What would she want? Would she want vengeance, or peace?

Ruby grit her teeth as memories of her sister flooded her mind. Her laugh. Her smile. Her warm, strong embrace. Things she would never feel or hear or see again. Something, somewhere in the back of her head, was telling her that Yang would want peace after her death. She ignored it.

She was just about to step across the street when she saw her. Her heart stopped. Everything in that moment seemed to focus in on the person exiting the Gilded Bronco. Weiss. The vampire. Stepping out into the cold night, taking several quick steps to a nearby side alley, and then disappearing into it.

Ruby kicked herself into gear and followed, dodging around the carts in the street and ignoring the shouts and curses of those she narrowly avoided. She reached the corner of the alleyway that the white-haired girl had vanished down. Glancing around the corner, she could see several shadowy figures standing in the half-light spilling into the darkness. They were talking, but she couldn't make anything out.

She cursed and looked around, then up. It would seem luck was, after all, on her side. There was a short ledge, maybe a foot wide, that ran along the outside of the second story of the Gilded Bronco. She looked around, found no one immediately suspicious in the crowd, pulled her heavy brown cloak over her head, and jumped up. Her leather-gloved hands held purchase just long enough for her to scrabble and pull herself up, before leaning down into a crouch and creeping into the alleyway proper. Out of the light now, she moved closer and closer down to the shadowy figures in the middle of the alley. It was strewn with broken barrels and shattered crates, detritus and trash and things that smelled like something she'd be better off not knowing about.

Her padded boots made little to no noise on the cobblestone as she crept closer and closer. She could make out voices now. And as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could make out the figures. There were four of them. A short one with a slim figure and white hair that stood out in the dark. Weiss. Another slim figure, but taller. A woman? And two broad, heavyset men.

One of the men was speaking. "I dunno lady, how much coin you got on you right now?"

"Enough." Weiss' voice. "Enough to pay you for what I require. We could have talked about this in the open you know, I'm not asking for anything illegal. Simply an escort."

"Yeah?" A softer voice, the woman. "Well how do we know exactly what we're gonna be escorting? Sure it's not something you'd rather keep hidden?"

"No. You'll be escorting me. There's a location up in the Drangor mountains I'll need you to escort me to, because only I know how to get there. It's been... something happened to it, and if I show up there first, the people there will have my head. So it's simple. I lead you there, you scout it out and find if there's anyone still there, and report back to me. And then I pay you. That should be easy enough for you to understand, right?"

The woman chuckled. "Yeah, we understand. So no drugs or valuables or anything like that you need escorted, just you, and you've got all the coin that you're planning on paying us on you right now?"

"Yes," Weiss huffed. "I've said that before, what part don't you understand? Will you help me or not?"

Ruby couldn't help but feel sorry for the vampire in that moment. Orson had been right. She must have been raised in that castle. She had no idea how the world actually worked. But there was nothing she could do for her now. And anyway, as a vampire, she deserved what was obviously going to happen next. Didn't she?

"Yeah, we understand all right," the woman replied. "We understand perfectly."

The two men grabbed Weiss before she could react. One clamped a hand over her mouth. The sounds of scuffling and struggling filled the alley. Ruby's heart pounded, and for some reason she wanted nothing more than to go down there and help. But she stayed put. She stayed put as she saw the unmistakable gleam of steel flash in the dark, heard the wet thump of it driving into soft flesh. The woman chuckled and pulled the knife out, then plunged it back in again. And again. And again. Weiss squealed through the man's hand the first time, but not the second or third or fourth. Her struggles stopped after the third.

"Drop her," the woman muttered. The two men did so. Weiss – or what had been Weiss – dropped to the dirty, grimy stone of the alley without a sound. Ruby's heart sank into her chest. She didn't like the feeling. Shouldn't she be happy? Her prey was dead.

The two men searched her body, shoving their hands into her shirt and pants with grim laughter. Ruby grit her teeth as she was forced to watch. It seemed more and more wrong with every passing moment. The alleyway then filled with the clink and clatter of gold on silver. One of the men held up a jingling purse.

"Got it," he muttered. He opened it and started counting. "Yowch, this bitch wasn't kidding. She could have paid us pretty damn well for simple escort duty."

"All the money and none of the work. A pretty good day, wouldn't you say?" the woman replied.

The men stood up and the three figures started to move towards the light, passing right under Ruby's crouching form.

"We just gonna leave her there?" one of the men said.

"Yeah, why not?" the other one replied. "The guards'll find her and just dump her body. They won't waste their time looking for whoever did her in."

"And if they do," the woman chimed in, "we definitely have enough to just pay them off."

The first man grunted. "Yeah, I guess so. C'mon then, let's spend some of this coin on drinks before it gets too late. Don't want to get my kids worried, you know?"

Their voices trailed off as they disappeared into the street and melted into the crowd, just three more nameless figures in the morass.

Ruby let out a heavy breath she didn't know she had been holding. She dropped down from the ledge with a soft thwump. The streets ahead and behind her were lit and busy and full of noise. The alley was dark and quiet. It would have been nice, if not for the mess and the smell. She quickly made her way over to Weiss' sprawled out form, leaned down, and checked her pulse.

She didn't even need to. The vampire's eyes were wide open and dead, ice-blue and lifeless as they stared up into the night she had died on. The whole front of her shirt was stained with a heavy pool of blood. It was running down onto the ground.

Ruby frowned. She didn't feel any happier. She didn't feel any better. If anything she felt... sadder somehow. She couldn't put her finger on why. Maybe this girl hadn't deserved to die like all the rest of her kind. Maybe Orson had been right. She would never know now.

She said a quick prayer, closed Weiss' eyes, and stepped away before melding back into the street and then the crowd, just another nameless figure in the morass.


The beer in Oribor tasted terrible. Ruby learned that quickly.

She was sitting in the dark corner of a smoky tavern a few days later, trying to figure out what to do and where to go next when she decided to try some of the local brew, and quickly learned that fact.

"What do they use for hops, sewage waste?" she growled, then took another long gulp. At least it burned good.

The tavern she was in didn't have quite as many broken windows and squeaking rats in the walls as the rest, but it seemed the beer here was just as bad as everywhere else. Still, it helped her think.

She didn't know what came next. Back home to her village, to Tenebrous? She hadn't been there for a while, but she should at least see to Yang's old house. Unless it had already been broken into and looted. Matter of fact, it most likely already had been broken into and looted. So what now? Somewhere new? Maybe a journey across the sea? Oribor was the best place for that. Say what you would about the city itself, but the sailors knew their trade.

In this kind of situation, Yang would have told her to listen to her heart. But therein lay the problem. Her heart was empty and cold, devoid of direction. It didn't know where to go or what to do either.

So she sat there, drank more of that terrible beer, and let her mind drift off into the smoke and noise.

And then she heard something.

"Yeah, a weird girl with white hair. Plus the other two guys."

She had to make an effort not to look in the direction of the conversation. Instead, she turned her head casually and glanced around. Two males. Traders, by their looks. Their clothes weren't as ragged as everyone else's.

"Yeah? What's she up there for?" the second man asked. His voice was deep.

"Dunno," the first replied. His voice was higher, almost whiny. It made him sound untrustworthy. "I know the two men are getting the noose for managing to get caught stealing in front of the city guard, but I'm not sure about the girl. I didn't manage to hear what she was up there for. Probably an illegal or something."

"Well that sucks for her, if she didn't end up doing anything wrong. White hair you said?"

Whiny-voice nodded.

"Strange. Can't say I've ever seen anyone with white hair. And this is a big city. Maybe one of those western races living up in the mountains that we never hear about? I heard they're some strange folk."

"Maybe she's a vampire," whiny-voice said, after a long few seconds of relative silence.

Ruby's heart nearly stopped. How could it be Weiss? She had seen her die, smelled the blood, listened to the stillness of her heart herself!

"A vampire?" deep-voice scoffed. "Yeah, sure. I mean maybe, who knows what color hair they have."

"Mostly brown," whiny-voice answered.

"Brown? How do you know?"

"I seen one once. Stowaway running from somewhere. He had brown hair."

"Doesn't mean they all mostly have brown hair," deep-voice mumbled. "Just because you saw one doesn't mean you've seen 'em all."

"Yeah, well whatever," whiny-voice continued. "All I know is they're due for hanging at four. But of course it'll end up being five, with the way the guard drags their ass."

"You know they just like a crowd. They like to make examples."

"Yeah, and I bet some of the sick bastards in the crowd just like to watch them squirm."

Ruby had heard enough. Whether it was Weiss or not, she had to be sure. She stood casually, picked up and then shouldered her pack. She approached the two traders, avoiding waitresses and other tables in the way. She reached their table, and both of them stared up at her in suspicion.

"Hey guys," she started. "I couldn't help but hear you talking about a hanging? It's my first time in this city," she lied, "and I would really like to see what they're all about. Do you know where it's taking place?"

They were silent for several moments. Then whiny-voice answered. "Yeah, Pound Square, just down the street a few blocks. You can't miss it. It's the one with the big gallows in the middle," he sneered.

Ruby simply smiled. "Thanks. You guys are the best."

As she turned and walked away, she heard whiny-voice mutter: "Sick bastard," under his breath.


Judging by the giant clock tower overlooking Pound Square, it was only three in the afternoon. And yet the square was already packed, full of people crowding and jostling for a better view of the gallows. They were empty so far. Nothing but a raised wooden platform with three nooses dangling from an upper beam. The sun was bright and stung her eyes, so she retreated into the shadows of the nearby buildings bordering the square, dropped her pack, and sat down to wait.

And wait. And wait. She bade her time by polishing her scythe and carving random figures out of a few sticks she had brought along.

It was around four-thirty when a commotion stirred her from her thoughts. The crowd around the gallows was shifting and murmuring. Heads began to appear behind the gallows, walking up the stairs onto the wooden platform.

Six guards in steel plate armor and a mixture of swords and axes. Between them, three figures in brown cloaks, with brown sack-cloth hoods covering their heads. Their hands were bound behind their backs. Two had broad figures. Males. One was smaller, shorter, thinner. Definitely a female. The skin showing on her legs and arms was pale. Could it be Weiss? Ruby watched with baited breath.

The three figures were marched – or shoved – by the guards to their spots under their respective nooses. Two guards stood on either edge. One stood at the front. One stood behind each prisoner. A guard with red feathers decorating his shoulder plates – presumably a sergeant – walked up the platform and stood by the lever that would release the trapdoors under the prisoners feet. The crowd cheered. He raised his hands and bellowed with laughter. The crowd cheered louder. Ruby felt a little sick. Did these people really enjoy the death of other human beings so much? Even a vampire didn't deserve such a humiliating death.

Sometimes, Ruby caught herself thinking, humans really could be as bad as vampires. All vampires were monsters, true, but sometimes humans were just as bad. It was despicable.

The guard chief motioned for silence. After a few seconds, the crowd quieted.

"People of Oribor!" His voice was loud and deep, a baritone with impressive range. Ruby could easily hear him from the other side of the square. She walked closer anyway, slipping through the crowd so she could get a better look at the prisoners.

The guard sergeant continued. "These three degenerates standing before you have been tried and convicted of horrible crimes! As such, they are to be put to death! Let them be an example to you all!"

Crows and ravens cawed and swirled overhead as the guard sergeant nodded to his men. The hood was pulled off the first prisoner. He blinked and shook his head at the sudden light. His eyes were wide and full of terror. The crowd booed. Several threw things at him.

"Madrigal Schoust!" the guard sergeant shouted. "You have been convicted of the crime of thievery and deceit, and for stealing the food that would keep others alive in these dark times, the punishment for your crime is your own death. Justice to Oribor."

He said nothing. He bowed his head, shut his eyes, and started shaking. Maybe he was praying to whatever god he served.

The second guard pulled the hood off of his prisoner. The man blinked and looked around, much like the first. His eyes too, were wide with fear and terror.

"Arnold Kramer! You have been convicted of the crimes of thievery, deceit, and intent to murder!"

"That's not true!" Arnold started shouting. "I didn't do any of that, the Baron framed me and I told the judge and he was-"

The sergeant motioned with his hand. The guard behind Arnold shoved a strip of cloth into Arnold's mouth and tied it behind his head. Arnold continued shouting anyway, but it was muffled and indecipherable behind the gag. The crowd booed. One of them threw a shoe that hit Arnold in the head. Ruby almost felt like throwing up. She knew there wasn't anything she could do for these men, but this felt wrong.

"For your crimes against Oribor, for attempting to take the life of another, you will have your own life taken from you. Justice to Oribor."

The guard sergeant nodded towards the third guard. Ruby's pulse quickened. The hood was pulled off of the third prisoner. Waist-length, alabaster-white hair, shining in the sun. Ice-blue eyes. A sharp, attractive face. Weiss.

Ruby's heart stopped. How? How could it be her? She had seen, no, watched her die. There had been no mistaking it. Weiss had been dead.

"People of Oribor," the sergeant started. "I have a special treat for you all today! Something we have not had the pleasure of removing from our world for a long time!"

He turned and pointed at Weiss. She glared back.

"Weiss Schnee! I name you vampire!"

The crowd broke out in a frenzy. Shoes and vegetables were thrown. Weiss simply glared at the crowd, standing still and unflinching as she endured their abuse.

"Proof! We want proof!" someone shouted.

The guard behind Weiss stepped forward and pulled her lips apart. Her teeth were pointed and sharp. The crowd screamed louder. One of them attempted to climb up onto the platform with a knife, but the guard standing at the edge put a boot in the man's face and sent him back into the crowd with a spray of blood.

"Calm! I demand calm!" the sergeant shouted. "I will have order!"

The crowd did not quiet for almost a minute. But eventually, they did. One last shoe was thrown at Weiss, hitting her in the stomach. She grunted, but otherwise did not move or appear fazed. Her glare was undaunted and unbroken. She looked proud, regal even, in the shining sun. And for some reason, up there in front of the screaming crowd that wanted her blood, tied up and humiliated and about to die for certain this time, Ruby's heart went out to her. It was a strange sensation.

"Weiss Schnee," the guard sergeant started, "for the crimes of deceit, the murder of several innocents of Oribor, entering the city without registering, and being a vampire," he said the word with poison, "you have been sentenced to a rightful death. Justice to Oribor."

The crowd cheered once more. Ruby felt anxious. Agitated. Like she should move, do something, help these people. But she didn't know what to do. She needed Weiss dead anyway, right? Didn't the sergeant say she had killed innocents? If a stabbing didn't do it, then a hanging would for sure. She knew vampires well enough to know they needed air just like any human. And they died just as much as a human did when you broke their necks. She knew that for certain. She had done it herself.

"Citizens of Oribor!" the sergeant called. "These villains and criminals, and their crimes, have been named, and their sentences decreed! Death by hanging!"

The crowd cheered and yelled. The black birds overhead seemed to caw and crow along with them. The guard sergeant put his hand on the lever. The crowd quieted. Even the birds went silent. In that busy, crowded, packed to bursting city square in the middle of Oribor, there was silence. The two men at the gallows hung their heads in resignation. Arnold was crying. Weiss was the same as she had been. Her glare hadn't faded one bit. Ruby knew that if she could, Weiss would kill every single person in that square. And Ruby understood the feeling. She sympathized with her.

The sergeant drew a deep breath, then spoke with an undertaker's voice. "Justice to Oribor."

He pulled the lever. The floors went out underneath the three prisoners. They dropped a few feet then jerked to a halt, the nooses around their necks pulled taut. They struggled involuntarily, even Weiss. Their legs kicked and jerked. The sounds of their gasps and final breaths filled the too-hot air.

Arnold went first. Then Weiss. Then Madrigal. One by one, their struggles ceased. Their eyes, full of fear and terror – even Weiss' – went lifeless and glassy. Ruby flashed back to the alley. This was the second time she had seen Weiss' eyes like that. Ruby's heart, for some strange reason, plummeted to the bottom of her stomach.

Weiss was dead. This time for certain.

But just like before, there was no surge of revenge-fueled satisfaction or happiness. Yang was still just as dead. And Weiss' death, for sure this time, still wasn't making her feel any better about it. Her heart was just as empty and vacant as before.

The guard sergeant raised his hand. The crowd cheered. The edges started to disperse as the spectacle ended and people went back to their day. People started moving out of the square. Ruby moved further in, towards the gallows. She had to get a closer look at Weiss.

The last remnants of the crowd were leaving, even the guards, when Ruby finally got to the hanging platform. There was only one guard left, standing by the stairs. He looked at her pointedly, his hand on the hilt of his sword. He had the look of a vulture, pointed nose and all. It was unnerving.

"Can I help you with something?" he said.

"Um, yeah. I was just wondering, I'm new to Oribor and- and I'm trying to learn more about the city, so I was just wondering what you guys do with the bodies of these criminals?"

The guard raised his eyebrow. "That's a weird question to ask. Nothing special anyway, we just leave 'em here for a few days, then take them to the grave-pit at the north side outskirts of the city and toss 'em in with the rest of the bodies. They got mass burial pyres burning there all day and night. It might be a week or so, but they'll get their turn at being burned. Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Ruby sheepishly replied. "Like I said, I'm just trying to learn more about the city. Stuff like how you guys handle your dead interests me."

"Suuure," the guard drawled. "You ain't one of them necrophiliac loonies, are you? Those freaks that're attracted to dead people?"

Ruby blanched. "Ew, gross, what the hell no! I was just curious."

The guard smirked. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway I gotta get back to the guard house, my shift is over and I need a nap. Stay safe and all that. Don't let this city kill you like it did them." He jerked his thumb at the hanging bodies.

"Yeah, thanks sir. Sorry for bothering you."

He nodded, turned away, and was a few feet out of the square when Ruby suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, sir!" she called.

He turned, looking slightly aggravated. "Yeah?"

"Uh, that vampire, Weiss. The guard chief guy said she killed a few people. Who did she murder?"

The guard laughed. "Heh, probably no one. We just pinned some unrelated murders that happened recently on her. But hey, she's a vampire, right? She's probably got victims around here anyway, we just haven't found them yet. Now I really gotta go. Seeya."

He turned and walked away.

Ruby frowned. So Weiss hadn't even killed anyone here. She had been framed. She had simply been running and trying to find her way back to the castle in the mountains, to her father. She turned and looked up at Weiss' motionless, bound form, swinging gently back and forth from the noose. Her eyes were open in frozen fear.

Ruby's frown deepened. Weiss didn't deserve this. A day like this, hanging out in the open for everyone to see, then a trip to the burial pits for a nameless cremation? It didn't sit right with her. As far as she knew, Orson was right. Weiss was probably the one good vampire she had ever met. Good enough that she deserved, at the very least, a proper burial. Ruby only knew how to give burials like they did in Tenebrous, with a few words of benediction and a short prayer, but it would have to be good enough. And even with all that aside, something in her heart simply couldn't just leave Weiss hanging like that, on display for the city to see. Maybe it was because she was her last link to Yang. Maybe it was because she had been framed. Hell, maybe it was just because she had a pretty face.

Either way, Ruby found a bench at the edge of the square, set her pack down, sat, and waited for nightfall.


Night came slowly.

Ruby would have preferred to rest her head and drift into a shallow sleep, but she didn't dare let that happen. Not in Oribor. So instead she sat, twiddled her thumbs, polished her scythe, and waited. She managed to only think about Yang once.

The clock read one twenty-seven at night before she deemed the streets empty enough for her to carry out her mission. Guard patrols roved by occasionally, but they had not disturbed her so far. There were other beggars in the square too, sleeping out on the streets, in the cold blowing in from the docks and the sea.

She stood, slowly, and stretched out her limbs. A breeze blew by her, rank with the smell of fish. She wrinkled her nose.

"I hate this place," she muttered.

She replaced the cloth wrapping over the blade of her scythe, folded it, put it into her pack, and then picked her pack up. Casually, she made her way over to the gallows, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. The other beggars didn't seem interested. And there were no guards to be seen.

She climbed up atop the wooden platform and made her way over to Weiss. She said a quick benediction over the other two men, hopefully commending their souls to a less cruel afterlife. She reached Weiss, and for a second simply stared at her. She was dead as dead could be. Her throat was bruised and purple. Her eyes were as lifeless as a doll's. And yet still, she somehow remained entrancing, albeit in a very morbid way. Beauty in death, as they said. She didn't look like such a monster right then.

She lifted Weiss' not-so-surprisingly light body with one arm around the vampire's waist and undid the noose with the other. She had been expecting to carry Weiss over her shoulder, but the girl was even lighter than she had considered. She could carry her bridal style very easily. She really only even needed one arm. And the girl was already stiff, thankfully, and not limp.

She hopped down from the gallows platform, stumbling a step before recovering her balance. An owl hooted at her from atop the clock-tower. She looked around again, made sure no one was watching her. One of the beggars was. She reached in her pocket and tossed him a coin, then put her finger over her lips and winked. He raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

She flexed her shoulders, pulled Weiss' limp body closer to her chest, and started the long walk out of Oribor.

She got five steps before she realized that if a guard stopped her and asked her what she was doing with a body, she would have no way to explain herself. She frowned and looked around. An idea popped into her head, something Yang would definitely have done.

She walked back over to the beggar she had tipped. "Excuse me sir, but you wouldn't happen to have a beer bottle, would you?"

He blinked and frowned, the expression almost lost in his scraggly grey beard. "Well I might. That depends miss. What do you want it for?"

"Oh, you know, just stuff. I can pay you for it."

He was silent for several moments, then pulled a beer bottle from the bundle of belongings by his feet. He popped the cap with his teeth and downed the entire bottle in less than five seconds. He burped, then proffered the bottle to her.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Ruby said. She held out three more coins. "Here. Is that enough?"

He shrugged. "Enough to buy three more beers, so yeah I'd say so."

She grinned and took the bottle. He grinned and took the coins.

Ruby set Weiss down on the ground. She took the bottle, pried open Weiss' stiff fingers, and then closed them around the handle of it. After that she opened her pack, removed a piece of cloth, and then tied it tightly around Weiss' head like a hood. It hid her white hair from view, in the same way a regular peasant woman would wrap her head for work. Then she turned, thanked the beggar, picked Weiss up, and made her way out of the square and into the street.

"Be safe out there!" the beggar called as she left.

She wasn't stopped by the guards once. All they saw was a stumbling girl carrying a passed-out drunk woman clutching an empty bottle in her hand. Apparently, it was a common sight in Oribor.

The streets weren't very empty either. She saw supply caravans, guard patrols, packs of menacing-looking men, and other drunkards too. And they didn't look to be pretending.

The guard at the side gate she had come in to the city from stopped her. She held out a few coins and told him her name.

He grinned at the coins, flipped through his book of names, and nodded. "Yeap, Ruby Rose. You just carrying your friend there back home? She looks pretty gone."

"Yeah," Ruby laughed. "I'd say she's had enough for one night. We don't live very far, so I'll be fine."

"Alright, well you be safe out there then."

Ruby nodded. "Thanks. I will."

And with that she exited Oribor, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She started walking.

The countryside was riddled with run-down cottages, sparsely lit by lamps, and she already liked it a hundred times more than Oribor. Mainly because it didn't reek of fish and garbage. The air was much cleaner, and much colder.

The moon was high and bright overhead, as big as she had ever seen it. She was tempted to see if Weiss' hair shone in the moonlight too, but didn't want to risk uncovering her distinctive white locks. So she simply continued down the wide, dusty road. The wind howled and blew in from the sea and swirled whorls of dust around her.

She walked what she judged to be two miles before stopping. She glanced around discreetly, trying to see if anyone was following or watching her. The night, thankfully, was clear, and she didn't have too much trouble seeing.

Nothing. Only her. The wind howled, and she shivered. She moved off the road into a nearby stand of trees, pushed through it, and came out the other end. A small dip in the ground in between three small hills seemed to be the perfect spot. She sighed and gently set Weiss' body down. She pulled a small shovel out of her pack. She always kept one with her. Nothing was handier for building shelters out of dirt or snow. The edge was even sharpened so that she could cut branches with it. No dirty work like that would ever despoil her Crescent Rose, if she had any say about it.

She sank the shovel into the soft earth, smiled at her good fortune, and started digging a grave.

Minutes passed. She worked and sweated, huffed heavy breaths and kept digging. It felt good, after those days in Oribor with no exercise. She liked how her muscles burned. It only meant they would be stronger the next day. The wind howled and blew the whole time like an angry spirit. Almost as if it had a voice.

She heaved the last shovelful of dirt out of the grave, stepped inside just to make sure it was deep enough, then climbed back out, satisfied with her work. She set the shovel down and slowly walked over to where she had left Weiss, propped up against the side of one of the small hills.

She knelt down in front of her. "Well Weiss, this is where it ends for you," she muttered. "No way you're coming back from a hanging. Surviving the stabbing was impressive, I gotta give you that. You've gotta show me how that's done someday. But for now, farewell. If you go to the same place as Yang, say hi to her for me. And tell her I love her."

She reached forward to pick the dead vampire up. Her hands touched Weiss' shoulders.

Weiss' eyes snapped open.


Sorry for the inactivity. I stopped writing for a while, but now I'm back into it and really feeling it again. I'm really excited to write the rest of this story. Oh and for all you fags on the internet hate site 4channel's /u/ board calling me "based sangheilitat," thank you. I never really knew becoming based was one of my life goals until it happend. #TYBG

Drop a review if you liked it. Tell me how you liked Oribor. I love feedback.

Oh, and cover image done by Moekumo. Thanks pet.