It's a Job Chapter 4- The Ties That Bind

"Yang! Yang! Where are you?"

The grounds outside of the Beacon cafeteria were chaos. Black smoke poured from the roof of the building, the interior shattered and aflame after dust bomb attacks. Vale Defence Force soldiers were shooting it out with White Fang terrorists. Grimm rampaged back and forth, indiscriminately attacking anybody they came across. The students and faculty of Beacon were stretched thin, battling to defend their school from the vicious nighttime assault by the White Fang.

"Ruby! Over here!" Yang emerged from the melee, reloading Ember Celica. "Where's Bolt and Onyx?"

"I don't know! I thought they were with you!"

Yang shook her head. "Onyx said they were coming to find you. We thought you were in the cafeteria!"

Both girls stared in horror at the wreckage of the building. "We've gotta get in there!" Ruby sprinted for the door, Yang close on her heels. She tried the handle. "It's jammed!"

"Stand back." Yang took the door handle in both hands. Flexing her semblance and putting every ounce of her enhanced strength into the effort, Yang tore one of the heavy doors bodily from its frame. A wall of acrid smoke rolled out of the building and engulfed the sisters.

Ruby woke and sat up with a start. The campfire soldered low, and the smell of wood smoke tickled her nose. She flopped back on her pillow and sighed. It had been a long time since she had had that dream.

Not long enough.

Oh well. The first hints of dawn were beginning to fill the eastern sky. Stars were fading. She may as well get up. Ruby rolled out of her sleeping bag and stiffly got to her feet. She stretched luxuriously, letting the blood flow back into her limbs. Ahh... much better. She tossed the last handfuls of the sticks Blake had gathered into the coals that remained from her fire, and filled her camping pot with water. Nothing got the day off to a good start like a cup of hot coffee.

Blake still slumbered, wrapped tightly in her blanket. Ruby picked up a pebble, and bounced it off her back.

"Hey! There's no need to throw things." Blake mumbled and rolled over. "I'm awake. Nobody could possibly sleep through all the noise you were making. Bad dream?"

Ruby gulped. "It's nothing. A side effect of nothing but apples and jerky for supper."

"I see. I'd get up, but..." Blake held out her hands, tied securely at the wrists in front of her. Ruby had bound her hand and foot the night before, not trusting her to not make a break for it in the night.

"Ok, hold still." Ruby untied Blake and helped her to her feet. "Get a good night's sleep?" Some harmless small talk should help break the awkwardness of having to untie your traveling companion.

Blake shrugged. "I know that you're new to the whole slave owner thing, but we don't get asked questions like that. This would usually be the part of the story where you start barking orders at me."

Ruby shuffled her feet uncertainly. "Ok... Why don't you feed Copper? His oats are in the large travel bag. Just dump a couple of scoops in the grass in front of him, he'll know what to do."

While Blake tended the horse, Ruby returned to her campfire. She poured the heated water into two small mugs and added instant coffee pouches. "All the comforts of home," She mused. "When Yang wakes up in four or five hours, she'll probably go stuff her face at some fine diner. It's a good thing she has the metabolism of a forest fire, or she would be joining Professor Port in the weight loss support group sessions."

By the time Blake returned, Ruby had two servings of dried meat, raisins, and sliced apples ready. "Breakfast is served! Sorry, it's the same as last night, but it beats starving. And no nutbars!"

Blake took her plate without comment and started in on the food.

"Wanna cookie?" Ruby dug in her bag and produced her stash of desserts.

Blake paused, an apple slice halfway to her mouth. "You really don't get it, do you? You are not supposed to be nice to me. You are not supposed to make me breakfast, and offer me cookies. You are supposed to make demands and hurl insults. If the horse and I fall into a river, you throw the horse a rope first."

Ruby slowly set down her coffee. "That sounds horrible. Why would I treat you like that? You've done nothing to me."

"Because I am a faunus slave and you are a human huntress. It's as simple as that."

"Well, I won't." Ruby bit into her cookie with an air of determination. "You might be a slave, but I can at least be civil to you."

Blake shrugged. "Suit yourself. As my current master, you can, of course, treat me however you like." She turned slightly away from Ruby and continued eating, clearly not interested in further conversation.

Ruby ate in awkward silence. Blake clearly expected mistreatment, and was confused by her attempts at normal interaction. Then again, Ruby considered, if someone had just used me for grimm bait maybe I would be a little wary of them too. Whatever. They had at least another day and a half together, and for whatever it was worth, Ruby had no intention of being a harsh taskmaster.

Finishing the last of her primitive breakfast, Ruby drained her coffee in a long swallow and stood up. "I'm going to see to the horse. Finish eating, then pack everything back in your blanket that we had in it yesterday. We should be ready to go in 15 minutes."

"Understood."

Copper had long ago finished his oats and was grazing at the leaves of a nearby tree. He nuzzled Ruby's hand as she came over to him, happy to see his rider again. Producing a cookie from her pocket, she let him lick it off her palm. "We're almost home, Copper. By the end of tomorrow, you'll be back in your stable and getting all the luxury treatment you deserve."

Ruby was not exaggerating this statement. Enough Hunters used horses that an industry had developed around caring for the highly trained animals while their owners were not in the field. These specialized stables provided top-flight nutritional and medical care for the mounts of Vale's finest. All for a price, of course. But Ruby wasn't worried about that. Stable fees were a small price to pay for the peace of mind of knowing that her transport/alarm system/pack animal/friend would be 100% ready whenever she needed him.

By the time Ruby had Copper saddled and loaded, Blake had the food packed and the campfire out. Ruby swung into the saddle and Blake fell in beside her, and they left their campsite behind as the sun came over the eastern horizon. Ruby calculated that they would not quite be able to reach North Bend that day. She had planned on it before, but she had to travel slower now since Blake was on foot. She didn't care though. The weather was beautiful, cool and clear, and an extra day in the saddle didn't bother her at all.

"So. What's it like? You know, being a slave?" Ruby had ridden in silence for more than an hour trying to figure out how to ask the question, and finally had come up with the courage to just say it straight out. Blake didn't reply at first, and Ruby thought the faunus might be intentionally ignoring her. Finally, her companion spoke.

"I dunno. What's it like being a huntress?"

"Oh, I enjoy it. Aside from the obvious risks, you get to see the world, meet new people, do challenging and exciting things, and the pay is all right...too..." Ruby trailed off, realizing what Blake had just done. "So pretty much the exact opposite of being a slave."

Blake nodded silently.

"Is it really that bad?"

The faunus shrugged. "After a while you get numbed to the long hours and non-stop work, the complete lack of privacy, shouted orders, and occasional beatings. There's always enough food, because hungry slaves can't work as hard. But your nutbars would be considered delicacies. The worst part is that you have no future. You wake up every morning knowing that you will live and die as nothing more than a tool of somebody else. Your family isn't really your own, and you may be separated from them at the whim of your owner."

"I thought the Faunus Indenture Code forbade separation of children from their parents?" Ruby interrupted.

Blake gave a bitter laugh. "Right. The Faunus Indenture Code. Put in place to govern the pacification of a violent race. The code only protects children until age 12, but it's never enforced. Who's going to complain?"

Ruby bit her lip uncomfortably. Blake was right. The Code was, in theory, a body of rules set fourth to regulate faunus enslavement. It was an open secret, however, that all but the most flagrant violations went unreported and unchecked.

"Is that what happened to you?" Ruby ventured.

Blake hesitated, then looked away. "It was a long time ago. I'd rather not talk about it."

Ouch. Ruby considered telling Blake that she too had lost her mother when she was little, but thought better of it. It wasn't really the same thing, and Ruby knew it. She tried a different approach.

"What did you do at your last job?"

"Farm chores. Reinhart has a huge ranching operation southeast of Rockbrook, and I spent most of my time working around his barns. He treated his cattle better than he treated his slaves."

"Is that normal?" Ruby questioned.

"Depends. If you're lucky, you'll end up as a domestic servant in a house in a larger town, or a indentured to a business or something. If you're unlucky, you'll end up in a SDC mine, being slowly worked to death until someday you can't take it anymore and they bury you in that day's waste rock."

Ruby didn't ask any more questions. She rode on in pensive silence, wondering if she could bring herself to sell Blake back into such an existence. On one hand, she was saving her from the noose. On the other, she was condemning her back to a life sentence of hard labor. Turning her loose wasn't really an option. A unaccompanied faunus without papers would be immediately arrested, and from there it would be a short trip back to the auction block, or worse. Ruby decided there was no way around it. What she had said to Blake in the forest was right, this was the best deal she was likely to get.

"I heard you mention you had a sister who is also a huntress?" Blake pulled Ruby out of her reverie.

"Half-sister. Her name is Yang. We were on the same team in Beacon, and after we got out it was only natural that we kept working together. Normally we hunt as a pair, but I was bored after our last job and thought I could pick up a quick bounty. So that didn't go as planned in the slightest, and well, here we are."

"Who else was on your team? I know enough about the academies to know that the teams always have four trainees."

Now it was Ruby's turn to hesitate before answering. "We had a brother/sister pair from Vacuo on our team. Bolt and Onyx. They were at Beacon training so that they could go home and protect their fishing village from bandits and grimm."

Ruby stopped, and Blake looked up at her quizzically. "What happened?"

"Life took them down a different road I guess. We haven't heard from them in years."

"I see." Both travellers fell into silence, lost in their own thoughts. The morning wore on. Houses came closer together now, and vehicles passed them regularly. Shortly after noon they paused in a small village to eat and rest the horse, then they were off again, heading north, towards Vale, and home.

"How far are we from North Bend?" Blake looked over at setting sun, then back at Ruby.

Ruby reined Copper in and consulted her map. "Oh, twenty-five miles or so. There's a stream not far ahead, if I read this map right. I was planning to stop there. Are you tired?"

Blake gave her an exasperated look. "Once again, you are not supposed to ask me questions like that. Slaves don't get tired. We march until you tell us to quit. It was bad enough when you made me rest while you tended the horse at lunch, but if you keep this up you'll spoil me entirely."

Ruby laughed. "I doubt that very much, but if you insist..." she stood in the stirrups and pointed down the road like the general of an army. "Forward, scum! Double-time! Nobody rests until my tent is up and the food is served!" She kicked Copper and set off down the road at a fast walk, Blake jogging behind her. Had Ruby looked back, she would have been surprised at the look on her slave's face. It wasn't a grimace of exhaustion, or a snarl of defiance from a downtrodden faunus, but a self-satisfied smile.

Another half-hour of travel brought them to the creek Ruby had spotted on the map. She had kept up a brisk pace, and Blake was breathing heavily when they stopped.

"Save your wheezing for later, slave! There's work to be done!" Ruby gestured Blake forward with a flourish.

Blake gave her an approving look. "You're getting the hang of it now. What do you want me to do first?"

Ruby looked over the area. "Looks like people have camped here before," she observed, pointing to a circle of logs in a clearing by the bridge. "Clear a spot for a campfire while I tend to Copper."

Ruby pealed the saddle and bags from her horse while Blake examined the old campsite. "There's an old stone fire ring here, but it's overgrown."

"Here, use this." Ruby tossed a small garden spade from her tool pouch to Blake.

Blake caught the tool, and set to work. "You seem to have one of everything in there. What else you got?"

"Anything I might need when I'm away from home for weeks at a time. Yang and I spend eight to nine months out of the year in field, and most of that time is far from easy resupply. Over-preparing has saved our lives more than once."

"Do you by chance have a fishing kit?"

"I've got a hook and line in my survival bag. I haven't used it in a long time, I'm not much for fishing myself. Why, do you know how to fish?"

Blake nodded. "I learned when I was little, but opportunities to fish are few and far between for a slave. There's probably stripers in the creek. If you don't mind, I'll try to catch a few for supper."

"Actually, that sounds great. I'll take Copper downstream for watering, so he doesn't disturb you. Here." Ruby set a small leather pouch on one of the logs. "Everything you need should be in here."

Ruby led the horse 40 yards downstream and tied him off to a tree with a long rope. Satisfied he had plenty of grass and water within reach, Ruby returned to the campsite. She would bring him up closer to the camp once Blake was done fishing. Blake was already stringing up her hook and line on a branch she had chopped from a nearby sapling, so Ruby turned her attention to collecting firewood.

This wasn't so bad. She wished Yang was here. It would have been nice to have one last good camp-out out with her older sister before the approaching winter turn the nights uncomfortably cold. At least Blake was here. It was nice having somebody else... No! She couldn't start thinking like that. Blake was still a job, and it was only going to make tomorrow harder if she allowed herself to start thinking of the faunus as anything more than a slave, merchandise on her way to be sold.

Blake's prediction of fish in the creek was accurate, and she proved adept at snaring them. By the time the sun set, five stripers were sizzling on a spit over Ruby's campfire.

"I may have to practice my fishing skills," Ruby commented as she tasted a morsel of the roasted fish. "This beats trail rations any day. Yang would be impressed if I could put up meals like this in the field."

"You said you spend most of the year on the trail." Blake carefully shaved meat off one of the stripers with a fillet knife. "That can't leave much time for normal life. What do you do when you're not hunting?"

Ruby shrugged. "Not much. Visit dad? He's a teacher at Signal Academy. Every so often I help out with combat classes at either Signal or Beacon. They love to have graduates come back."

"Anything... fun?" Blake probed.

"I went to an old weapons museum once?" Ruby ventured.

Blake facepalmed. "No! I mean legitimate, non-work related relaxation. Partying! That much hunting has to accumulate a sizeable pile of lien. What are you spending it on?"

"Nothing. I save it. And Yang does enough partying for both of us. She's more a the 'eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may be eaten by a ursa' type."

"All that freedom, and you still choose to pour your life into dangerous work, all the while not even enjoying what you earn. Why?"

"I can't always be a huntress. The average age a hunter quits full time fieldwork is thirty-six. That includes retirements, early deaths, and career ending injuries. Too many huntsman and huntresses leave the field only to find themselves broke and unprepared for civilian life. It's a job now, but I don't want it to become a trap later."

"So you want to settle down, have kids? A family?"

"Sure. Someday." Ruby stared into the campfire. "But I can't have that and be a huntress. It's hard to be a mom and a hunter at the same time. Doesn't end well. For anyone."

Silence fell between them, and a look of understanding slowly spread across Blake's face. "Oh. I see. I'm sorry, Ruby. How old were you?"

Ruby didn't answer right away, lost in her own memories. She flicked a fish bone into the fire and watched as it crackled and shriveled. "Three." She replied finally. "Old enough to know it hurt, but not old enough to understand. Old enough to know she was gone, but not old enough to remember when she was here. I won't do that to my children. They don't deserve it."

"Nobody does," Blake agreed.

The unstated implication of Blake's comment hung heavy in the air. Neither woman spoke, both lost their own thoughts and pasts. The fire burned lower, and Ruby abruptly stood. "I'm going to bed. We need to get an early start in the morning."

"Ruby, err.. Mistress Rose, I have a request. I know what's going to happen tomorrow, and I don't begrudge it to you. But you treated me well today, and it was nice to feel almost free. Please, don't tie me up tonight. I would like to spend one night as a normal person, even if it is just pretend."

Ruby mulled over for a second, conflicted. But her humanity won out, as she knew it would. "Ok. I trust you not to run. There's really nowhere for you to go anyway, not around here."

"Thank you." Blake sounded almost desperately grateful. "If there were more people like you in this world, maybe things would never have gotten the way they are now."

Ruby wrapped herself in her sleeping bag, and lay with her back to the fire, but sleep did not come easily to the young huntress that night.

Copper was familiar with danger. He had seen his first of the Black Ones when he was just a foal the banks of the river where he was born. Red-master had ridden him in and out of the claws of death many times. He trusted the human with his life, and she returned that trust. Copper didn't fully understand the dark shape that was descending from the shadows on it his master, but he knew, instinctively, that she was in danger.

Copper's snort of alarm snapped Ruby awake. She tried to roll out of her sleeping bag, only to have a heavy mass fall across her, and pin her arms to her side. She struggled, and got her head in the open. Blake knelt on her, squeezing Ruby's arms with her knees and raising the fillet knife overhead in both hands. Ruby jerked her head sideways as the blade fell, and her aura screamed as the point slid across the side of her neck.

"Ow! Blake! Stop! Why- Ahhhh!" Ruby cried out in pain as Blake slashed the knife across her face, tearing another chunk from her aura. Ruby felt the keen edge of the blade settle against her neck, and saw Blake lean forward, preparing to drive it through to the ground. Aura wouldn't stop that. Ruby squirmed desperately, but Blake's weight and the entangling sleeping bag were too much.

"Goodbye, huntress," Blake hissed. She shoved Ruby's chin up with the palm of one hand and started sawing at her throat with the knife.

Ruby felt her aura draining rapidly. "I'm going to die." The realization hit her with a surge of panic, but Blake had her arms pinioned against her sides, and struggle as she might, she could not break free. Her aura failed, and she felt the blade pierce her skin. For a split-second that seemed to last forever, Ruby waited for the final cut that would spill her lifeblood into the dirt of southern Vale. The cut never came.

There was a dull crack and a scream of pain. Blake was torn away, and the knife went with her. Copper loomed over Ruby, a powerful front leg raised in warning, ready to kick again. Ruby scrambled free of the sleeping bag and flipped to her feet.

"There's a good boy, Copper. Who says horseshoes don't bring good luck?"

Ruby ran a finger across the front of her neck. There was blood, but the cut was only skin deep. She was lucky. Now, back to the matter at hand. Blake was down on all fours fifteen feet away, groaning in pain and holding her side. The initial shock over, rage replaced fear on Ruby's face. She strode towards Blake.

"Why? Why'd you do it? I saved your life!"

Blake's only reply was to lunge at Ruby with a scream, slashing with the knife as she came. Ruby danced back, looking for an opening. Moonlight gleamed off the knife's honed edge as Ruby dodged attack after attack. Yang's remorseless hand-to-hand combat training was paying off now. Blake committed to a thrust, and Ruby sidestepped with blinding speed, letting the blade slip past her stomach. She struck at the Blake's elbow and tried kick her thigh, but the faunus was fast and slippery.

Blake threw a well-aimed sidekick, and the blow sent Ruby staggering backwards three steps. But Ruby was ready for the follow-up, and ducked under Blake's foot as she tried to finish her with a jumping kick. Coming up behind her opponent, Ruby drove her foot into the small of Blake's back, driving her to her knees with a gasp of pain.

Taking advantage of the opening, Ruby dashed to where she had left Cresent Rose. The scythe was gone. Of course it was. The faunus, sneaky liar that she was, would not have taken the chance of Ruby getting to her powerful weapon. Ruby smacked a closed fist into her palm with grim determination. She didn't need Crescent Rose. She was going to beat this slave into the ground the old-fashioned way.

Blake was on her feet again, but she did not rush to the attack. She circled warily, looking side-to-side as if gauging her prospects of escape. Ruby smiled viciously. "Go ahead. Run! See how far you get."

Blake clearly decided she wouldn't get far enough. Spinning the knife in her hand, she charged. Ruby had seen that coming, and had a plan. Not the most honorable plan, but a good one nonetheless. After all, fighting dirty was definitely allowed when somebody tried to stab you in your sleep. She jump back a step, putting the embers the campfire between herself and Blake. As Blake closed in, Ruby wound up and kicked the campfire as hard as she could.

The faunus shrieked and threw up her arms to protect her face as flaming coals showered over her. Ruby was on her in a flash, driving a kick into Blake's midriff. The faunus doubled over, and Ruby straightened her back up with a knee to the forehead. Blake staggered in a circle, stunned by the ringing blow.

Staying on the offensive, Ruby grabbed Blake's right arm and twisted at the wrist. The knife slipped from Blake's fingers as she gasped in pain. Ruby levered the arm back behind her opponent, and threw a sharp kick at the back of Blake's knee. The faunus fell face-first, and Ruby jumped on top of her, driving her knee into Blake's back. She reached over, and grabbed the knife. With her left hand, she grabbed one of Blake's feline ears and twisted hard, forcing her to raise her head in an attempt to relieve the pain. That was the opening Ruby needed. She pressed the knife against Blake's neck, and leaned closer.

"Stop struggling, or I'll split you open from ear to ear." She was impressed by how menacing she sounded. Blake clearly was too, for the faunus went limp underneath her.

"Fine. You win." Blake gave a humorless laugh. "I should have known. A Huntress and her horse. If it wasn't for that accursed animal, I'd be free now."

"I spared your life in the forest. I saved you from the gallows, and gave you a shot at a fresh start." Ruby's voice shook with anger. "And this is how you repay me? You try to murder me in my sleep? Give me one good reason I shouldn't cut you a second smile." Ruby twisted the ear again. "Well? I'm waiting."

"I have a son!"

Ruby paused. "What?"

"I have a son," Blake repeated with desperate intensity. "They took him from me! They took him, and I never saw him again. That's why I ran, over and over. I'll never stop! I will never stop trying to find my boy!"

Ruby snorted derisively. "Likely story. Even if I believed that, what possible good would killing me bring to you? You'd be hunted down as a murderer and be right back on death row where I found you."

Blake sighed. "See, that was the genius of the plan. I am officially dead. Riding your horse and hiding my ears with your cloak, I would have been Ruby Rose, huntress. Nobody would have been hunting for Blake, faunus criminal, because you already told everybody you had killed me. I could have traveled at will, and tracked down my boy. I'm sorry. I know you didn't deserve that. You were good to me. But you do things because it's your job, right? Well, this was mine."

Ruby hesitated, looking over at Copper as though he could provide the answer to this bizarre situation. Copper did not care. The oats had been spilled in the fight, and he was making sure none of them went to waste. Whether or not Blake's story was true was impossible to verify. And in the end, did it even make a difference? Ruby released her grip on Blake's ear and stood with an exhausted sigh.

"Stay down," she ordered the faunus. She stalked over to her luggage, her mind a hurricane of emotion. Yang would probably have killed Blake there on the ground without ever pausing to hear her story. Ruby's logical side agreed. Blake was every bit as dangerous as her criminal conviction indicated. Manipulative, deceitful, and cold-bloodedly murderous, she was a dangerous traveling companion.

But Ruby wasn't Yang. Despite the constant violence and death her job exposed her to, she fought to keep her emotions accessible, instead of burying and repressing all feeling like so many other hunters did. As she walked back over to where Blake lay, rope in hand, Ruby knew she could never bring herself to execute the faunus, no matter how much she deserved it.

"Hands."

"So... you're not going to kill me?"

"No. You're still worth a few thousand Lien on the slave market, violent tendencies notwithstanding. I'll sell you to the first trader who makes a bid." Ruby nudged Blake's wrists together with her toe, bent over, and bound her arms securely. Next, she tied her at the ankles. Blake took it without complaint or comment, but as Ruby stood up she heard the faunus sniff.

"Oh, don't try getting emotional on me. Ten minutes ago you were trying to slit my throat in my sleep. You're out of favors."

"I'll never see my son again." Blake seemed to be addressing herself more than Ruby. "They'll sell me into Vale, and who knows where from there. I'm sorry. I tried. I really tried."

Ruby turned away. Even if she could confirm Blake's story, what was she to do about it? Ruby returned to her sleeping bag, and flopped down. Well, that was one way to ruin a good night sleep. Morning was still hours away. She intended to be on the road with the sun, and in North Bend before noon. She could be in Vale before midnight, and this whole strange, difficult mess would be nothing but a footnote in the ledger. As Ruby finally drifted back into fitful sleep, her final thoughts were of Yang, hot food, and a soft bed. Home never looked so inviting.

Author's Note:

Girl Scout bonding moment ruined by cold-hearted betrayal! Seriously, if nobody's ever tried to stab you in your sleep you really don't know what you're missing.

Long story.

Anyway... thanks for reading another chapter of It's a Job. I'm going to continue regular uploads, so Fav/Follow if you like what you see.

As always, reviews are appreciated! See you next time!