Warning: Graphic Violence
Cinder was getting restless, and she'd be a fool if she wasn't getting scared. It had been a long time since she last heard from her boss, the woman who picked her up when she had nothing, been nothing. Salem was the epitome of power. While Ozpin thoroughly defeated Cinder without so much as a sweat, Salem was still far scarier. They both scared her senseless. Cinder would never admit that aloud.
She cast her eyes towards Emerald and Mercury. They both looked restless, but on different levels. She couldn't stay in the same spot any longer. If she didn't start doing something soon, she would have nothing to show for her extended absence. Especially not now when the White Fang were doing a clean sweep of the academies, and succeeding.
Cinder knew she couldn't waste another moment. She was their leader.
"Emerald, Mercury, we're heading out." She announced, gathering her belongings and weapons. Emerald hurriedly gathered her stuff. Mercury, however, stared at her while leaning against the wall. His eyes quietly assessed her every move, closely watching her for something.
"Where to, leader?" He asked, and Cinder mentally scolded herself. Mercury hadn't taken so much as a day to himself since they'd met. He was smart, but he hated staying still more than anything. His patience must've been close to being spent.
"To find the maidens, of course. We've had a… minor set back." She said in her usual confident voice. A leader never gave too much away. Especially when they took orders from people above. Salem never gave her too many details outside the objective; she hardly gave her full objectives.
Emerald was ready as she looked between Mercury and her. "Are we ready?" She asked. Mercury nodded, and picked up a bag that had been next to the door. Why did he already have a packed bag? She never saw him pack it, and in their two room place, she'd thought she'd notice.
You know he's always living as if he's prepared to start over at any time. Cinder ignored the mishaps in her observation, and nodded as well. She needed to get her head back into her job.
Ruby looked around the cities that weren't as extravagant as they had once been pre-fall of Beacon. She wasn't so naive as to believe that nothing would change; she just hadn't expected for things to change so… drastically. Ruby followed Jaune a little closer.
Jaune navigated the streets better than she would've figured. Streets like these could only lead to trouble.
They turned the corner to a dirtier alleyway when Ruby saw a man bleeding on the ground. She prepared to help the man when Jaune grabbed her back. The movement was done so smoothly, no one would have noticed them deviating from their original path. Jaune brought her ear close to his mouth, hot air chilling against his cold words.
"You shouldn't trust everyone you see. Look at the blood on his coat. I assure you, it's not his." She would've remained frozen if Jaune didn't gently pull her along. Ruby couldn't comprehend what could've happened to her if Jaune hadn't been there. Yang would've have trusted the ploy. But she was curiously confused. How did Jaune know those things? Had he fallen for something like that? Ruby could only realize that this was another part of Jaune she didn't understand.
Jaune went into a building that looked like a bar. He flashed a smile that immediately made her heart sink. That fake smile was the one she had come to know as Jaune's. She felt so numb; she could only follow with a blank face.
Had anything been real? Was it her fault that he couldn't even be himself in front of Ren and Nora? She felt like even more of a failure. Did he even consider them friends anymore?
Jaune sauntered up to a shady looking man who hid his face into a hoody and hat on the hood. Jaune spoke -he must've -but it was too quiet for Ruby to catch anything either had said. Were they friends? How did Jaune know this person?
"And your friend?" The man's dead voice asked. There wasn't any intonation. Ruby's heart beat increased at the sudden uneasiness. She didn't trust this man. "Of course." Jaune said with a humorless laugh.
The other man simply nodded. "This way."
Ruby followed, her heart pounding, as they entered a room. The room was too small for her Crescent Rose to be of use. Her fear only increased as two guys with guns sat as bodyguards. Jaune grabbed her hand and led her to a couch. The other man sat, and Jaune followed his example.
"You want intel on the White Fang and Haven, right?" The man said, only adding in slight amusement to his voice, which unnerved Ruby even more.
Jaune simply nodded. "How much do you know, and for what amount?"
"So honest. Your business, that is. Fortunately for you, I know a lot about both. The cost is what we discussed earlier. Of course, it's whenever you're available." The man said in a leading voice as Jaune just nodded. "I will do it as soon as you tell me of the White Fang and Haven."
"Very well, then. The White Fang are targeting more academies since Beacon. Nobody knows which ones, not even the leaders of White Fang. Some are saying Atlas, some say Signal. My guess is that it could be both. The White Fang have tremendously increased in attendance. This is bad for everyone. Haven, however, has closed their borders from everyone. They're getting rid of every faunus and any suspicious looking people. The laws of Haven have become stricter with every day that passes. If you want entry there, you're out of luck. Academy leaders can't even buy their way inside. They never could after the fiasco with Beacon."
Ruby could only sit and process the information. If the White Fang are attacking any and every academy, then there was no way to stop them. She had to think harder. Of every academy, Atlas would need to go next. Atlas was similar to Beacon. Cinder couldn't pass it up, but now Haven was a wild card. Uncle Qrow had said she would be there, but had she gotten there in time? If so, how could Jaune, Ren, Nora, and she prevent Haven's fall?
Jaune nodded, apparently done thinking. "Thank you."
"No," the man said, shaking his head, "I should be thanking you for what you'll do for me. You'll be doing this neighborhood, and everywhere near, a huge favor."
"It'll be my pleasure. Let's go. I'll come back when I'm done." Ruby immediately stood.
When they left, the uneasiness subsided. Ruby turned to Jaune. "What are we doing for… um… what was his name?"
Jaune shook his head. "I guess I should at least tell you that. Sorry, Ruby. I've been terrible. There's an aristocrat that that man needs taken down."
She frowned. "What do you mean? Is the aristocrat evil?
Jaune shrugged. "He's an aristocrat that's eating plenty and living happily. To the people here, that's enough."
"Why us?"
Jaune shrugged again. "This is the cost for saving everyone, Ruby. That man is connected with all the information we need. With his approval we could grab info anywhere. All over the kingdoms. All we have to do is kill this aristocrat, and bring back his ring."
Ruby felt sick. "Jaune, no. This… this isn't right."
He simply nodded in agreement. "But we can find Cinder and end this. We can stop the White Fang from killing like they did at Beacon. Do you even know how many childrendied? Were slaughtered by robots and enemies? This is the price to pay for revenge." Jaune leaned away from Ruby with a faraway look in his eyes. "My grandfather was a huntsmen. He used to tell me stories about how he watched his friends die left and right. I asked why he never sought revenge, and he simply said 'when you look for revenge, you dig two graves'."
Jaune turned her to look at him. "You know who those graves are for. I've dug mine. Do you truly want this?" Did she want to watch her friend fall into that nightmare? Alone? She nodded. "We'll stop this. And if this is a way, then… we'll do it." They've killed before, only this time she'll be fully aware of the price of murder.
RWBY^RWBY^RWBY
They waited until night before going into the aristocrat's home, like monsters. Ruby watched a man put his two children to sleep, watched him kiss his wife goodnight. All the while, doubt in her resolve stabbed at her. This man no, tis was a husband and father -would be killed for the sake of revenge. She felt disgusting.
Jaune walked quietly through the house. Ruby took the lead, solidifying her resolve. She was his partner, not a spectator. A smooth jazz song played from a tablet, creating a twistedly calm atmosphere.
"Are you the one who kills me?" A resigned voice whispered and Ruby stilled. No! I was quiet! "I take it Kasper sent you." He didn't turn around to confront her. "If you're going to kill me… at least do it quietly. My family doesn't need to hear this."
Ruby couldn't now. This man must've known all day that he'd be killed. She felt sick all over again. Jaune walked behind the man, closed the man's eyes, and snapped his neck. The crack resonated throughout the mansion along to the song's climax.
Ruby ran to the bathroom and emptied the contents of her stomach.
Weiss arrived at Ruby and Yang's house. She knew Ruby had left, but maybe their father could tell her something. She killed a lot of grimm during her trip. How could this many grimm surface everywhere so suddenly?
Before she could knock on the door, a dog tackled her to the ground. She laughed. Before, it would've bothered her, but now it was relief to have some form of normality. Zwei had tackled each member of team RWBY collectively. The adorable dog must've been at Yang's side until now.
"Zwei? Zwei!" A masculine voice called, and Zwei took off around side of the house. "What's the matter, buddy?" The blonde man appeared from around the house looking every bit like Yang, minus the eyes. He simply blinked at her, and she blushed realizing that she had just stared.
"My name is Weiss-"
"Weiss? Ruby and Yang's friend from Beacon?" He asked and smiled when she nodded.
"Yes, I was only recently able to leave, and I wanted to check on Yang. I heard that Ruby left, but I've no idea where she might be. Could you, maybe, help me?" His smile became a bitter smile.
"I feel awful. You came all this way for nothing. Perhaps we should go inside. I'll explain in there."
Weiss frowned as she walked inside, only to hear that Ruby and Yang were both missing for almost a week now. Qrow was supposed to be finding them, but Weiss knew the silence was deafening. It drove in the fear that one or both of them might be dead already.
"R-Ruby was going to Haven? But I think there aren't any boats going to or from there anymore. Something must be up, but I'm not sure. They might meet up near the coast. I should hurry." They both had had a huge headstart.
Taiyang stood with her. "I should go with you-"
"Oh no, I'll be fine."
He sighed. "You know, us parents might feel overbearing, but you as a child are the only reason we parents can feel calm. I know your father, Weiss. You should at least let him know you're alive every so often."
Guilt pricked at her. The fear she must've felt must be tripled for Taiyang. She had done the same thing Ruby and Yang had done. She couldn't even imagine the trouble Winter must be in. She nodded, she owed her father at least this. "I'll be sure to do so soon."
He smiled. "You should head to Beacon Academy. That's where Qrow would usually turn up. If the girls get stuck, they might go there as well."
"Thank you so much." Weiss wasted no time going to Beacon. She needed to hurry, and maybe she'd see Yang and Ruby safe together.
Yang woke from her trance-like sleep. She remembered finding an abandoned town with canned food: peaches, sweet corn, ravioli. She forced herself to only eat one can from the handful she'd found. She rationed the water into a full week. If she was careful, she'd be fine.
The bed had bugs and Yang felt her pride die away. Her clothes had been worn for days straight, and her hair was matted. She must've looked rabid. If she closed her eyes, she could easily pretend this was huntress training.
"Yeah; they train one-arm losers to become huntsmen. Face it. You look as pathetic as you are." Of course her imagination of Raven's voice added it's two cents. Yang was still too tired to care what it said.
She heard someone's voice, and her entire body and senses went on alert. "Look around for supplies." A female voice commanded.
"Wh-what if they refuse to give up their stuff? Or they're huntsmen?"
"Tell them we're the White Fang, and then you kill them." The woman finished, obviously annoyed.
Yang mentally cursed her luck, which has been as frequent as her peace of mind. She would either run, and keep trying to find somewhere to sleep, or kill them. Around her baby sister, she resisted the urge to go all-out and protect what was hers, but it was a kill or be killed world now. She wished she had at least brought Zwei or left to get a prosthetic arm.
"Classic Yang, regretting things when it's too late to change anything."
"Shut up." Yang hissed, and took several calming breaths as she scouted out the three White Fang members. She would need one of them for questioning. How do I even do that? A twisted idea formed, and she took action.
Yang waited until they were separated. She followed the man that hadn't said anything, and waited for him to enter an abandoned corner store. Stalking an unaware target was much simpler than fighting grimm. The grimm always knew where you were. She entered the building quietly, missing the glass on the floor. The man went through each aisle, and Yang crept behind him only to bury her sword into the back of his neck.
The man immediately crumbled to the ground choking. Warm blood coated her hands, and she felt disgusted. No matter how many times she did this, a piece of her died as well. She could justify herself by saying they'd kill others who might've be defenseless, but she'd killed someone all the same.
Yang hurried along to locate the next target who she found in a clothing store. Yang did a mental happy dance. She hadn't even seen the store, and it didn't even look ravaged like the rest of the town. She could nab something once this was over, if she lived.
The man admired a t-shirt, reading the caption "think twice before crossing the road". Yang dropped down behind him, which startled him into dropping his shirt. She cut the back of his ankle, watching him fall to the ground. He released a deafening scream. She stabbed the man's hands, making him unable to grab a weapon.
"Michael!" The woman yelled frantically as Michael whimpered. Yang grabbed his gun and aimed at the entrance where the woman had called from. The woman turned the corner only to catch a bullet through her head. Her head snapped back, and she fell to the ground loudly.
Yang hadn't realized that her heart was pounding hard in her chest, so hard if felt like it would stop altogether. She glanced down at her hands, noticing how steady it was. Yang heard the man cough hard, and she spun around picking up her sword.
"Why were you here?"
"I'm-I'm n-n-not-" He stuttered through chattering teeth. He was most likely going into shock.
"I can either finish you off quickly, or make this much worse. Why were you here?"
He didn't think, he just answered. "S-sup-plies."
"Why are you in the White Fang?" Maybe if she knew, she'd be able to know something about that guy who cut her arm off.
"F-forced." His eyelids shut as he violently coughed. His body seized while Yang just stared horrified. His body convulsed and Yang just ran back to her bug infested apartment and canned food. The room that started to make some sense.
These people… they were forced into the White Fang? She'd killed them because they she had no other choice. Either way, they would've died, but her stomach threatened to lurch. She tightened her fist, prepared to hit something if it deviated the thought of throwing up hard earned food.
Usually, she only knocked people unconscious, refusing to end a life if she didn't have to, but she'd mercilessly killed these people. Even worse was her sporadic heart beat and steady hand. Her equilibrium was like before, her accuracy had increased, and those biology and anatomy lessons seemed pay off in a bittersweet way.
"Moron. A huntress is someone willing to risk their own life to protect others. That includes killing or being killed. If you aren't prepared to do that, then you should just go back to Taiyang and be pitied."
The fake Raven was right. She'd killed before; granted that had been for Beacon, for the citizens of Vale. This had been different. This was for survival, and it felt wrong. Her, a pathetic one-arm girl who ran away from home on an impulse, meant more than those three?
She couldn't even cry; it felt like an insult to cry when she'd taken their lives instead of crying. They were forced to be warriors, but they were warriors all the same. Something inside of Yang felt reformed. Inside, she felt like this would be the last time she cried over someone she killed.
Neptune and Sun had taken down a White Fang facility with the help of four other faunus. The rule was to capture and not kill. After questioning, which was more like having a normal conversation, they'd both found out that most recruitments post-fall of Beacon had been forced to join. Their family was being used as leverage. Every person they'd captured could lose their family.
Sun walked to an office room, and Neptune followed knowing that they desperately needed a plan and fast. He sat down and sighed heavily. "What should we do?"
"Get their families back."
"But how? The White Fang aren't a group of pushovers, and if all the people there are like the ones here, they would never voluntarily join us. We need something more than what the White Fang can offer. Keeping their families alive is a hell of a leverage."
It was more than what they could offer. Joining them could do more bad than good. "We took down a facility and saved some people, right? Maybe if we keep doing that, we can keep getting people back. White Fang needs to be destroyed either way, and attacking their numbers like this makes them lose their leverage."
Sun nodded. "We'll tell the other what's going to be happening, and what needs to be done, but we have nowhere to safely put these people."
Neptune sighed at the speed bump in the road to the faunus liberation. He patted Sun's shoulder. "We'll think of something."
They heard a loud clatter along with shouts. They both jumped up to see what was happening. Neptune was frozen when he saw who had made the ruckus; it was Blake. She looked almost feral with large bags under her eyes. He felt sorry for her. How long had she been like this?
"Blake…" Sun whispered longingly, then his eyes hardened. "Everyone, please calm down. She's with us. Please," Sun gestured to Blake, "follow me."
She seemed to snap out of whatever trance she'd been in. When they got into the room, everything seemed to sour even more.
"Why are you here?" Sun asked suspiciously. Neptune desperately wanted to tell Sun to change his tone, in case he scared Blake off, but anything he said would make things worse.
"What does that mean?" She snapped, picking up on the tone and not appreciating it.
"It means exactly what it sounded like. What were you doing here?" He demanded, sitting behind the desk completely straight faced. Blake scoffed. "Running from the White Fang. Or can I not be wherever I want to? And why are you here? This is a White Fang facility."
"I know that quite well, Belladonna. I just find it odd that you're running from the White Fang by going -knowingly, it seems -to a White Fang facility."
She scoffed in disbelief. "I don't need this. I don't need to be interrogated; especially not from you. If you must know, I've been fighting the White Fang."
Sun leaned back in his chair, and began speaking clinically. "I did need to know that. Neptune and I are leaders of this group here. We're taking down the White Fang and liberating everyone from their captivity. Our group is called Reticio."
Neptune couldn't lie to himself, he was also curious of Blake, but as the conversation progressed he felt reassured. She would definitely join them. This is exactly what she wanted all along. She understood that the White Fang needed to be stopped after all the monstrosities they've committed.
Instead of feeling reassured, her face contorted in disdain. "What? So this is just the White Fang with a different name and less power? Don't be an idiot. The White Fang are too strong, and you could never-"
"That's more than enough, Belladonna. These people need someone to protect them. They need a pillar to believe in-" Sun said angrily.
"And you think that you're it? I can't believe this! I can't seem to get away from power hungry men-"
Neptune had had more than enough as well. "Leave. We're just doing what you were too much of a coward to do. We're doing what the White Fang failed to do. If you're not going to join or help, you will leave."
Blake looked frustrated. "You don't understand. The White Fang is too strong!"
"Then we'll die protecting these people. Bye, Blake. I can't even say it was pleasant to see you." Sun said without any emotion in his voice.
Before she could open her mouth, Neptune cut her off, feeling a resolve he didn't know he needed against his girlfriend's best friend. "Go." He was so sure Blake would join them, but this… this was a side of her he didn't like at all.
She shook her head, and turned towards the window, jumping without one backward glance. It reminded Neptune of how she'd vanished last time, running without so much as a thought to the people who cared for her.
Neptune turned to Sun who had his head in his hands. There was nothing Neptune could say to make Sun feel better, to make the pain of Blake's words disappear. She'd opened a can of something that should've stay untouched. "We should talk about our people." Sun murmured. Neptune sighed. Pretending this didn't hurt or matter wouldn't make it disappear. He didn't need to deal with all of this now, but he did need to face it. They were leaders now; not normal teenagers. People's lives rode on their decisions, so all decisions would be thought out and paid attention to. "Yes, we should, but you need to breathe. Just breathe." Disappointment was a bitter pill to swallow.