Project 3:

Tale of the Two Hunters

Searching, part III

… Ruby Rose of Patch …

The sun rose slowly above the Azura plains. With it, came the intense and regular pain of one Ruby Rose. Her teeth grit and her patience were tested by yet another morning. As the first rays of the early morning sunlight found their way onto her body the all too familiar sharp pains began. Ruby simply took it all. For twenty minutes, she counted up then down to one hundred in three different languages until it passed. Like every other day it did. Or almost did. Today it lingered. Just a touch of pain sat on her neck though rather than the dagger tipped load of the last twenty minutes. Eighth of Aquamarine.

The hunter rolled out of her hide and fur sleeping bag and began the careful art she had perfect over the years of hiding her various weapons on her body. Said weapons lay carefully organized under her cloak right next to where she slept, between the two were her steel and thick leather plates that protected her. She slipped those on and in first. At first glance, and every other one afterwards, one would never see them. You'd only think they were there when a blade deflected off them with the distinct ring of metallic or a was absorbed by the hard leather. The look on Jaune's face the first night they camped out and she had taken out the dozen or so plates was priceless.

Then the look on his face when he counted the number of weapons she kept on her tiny body. That one was even better. She never saw a man so dumbfounded. She almost forgot that while she was twenty she still looked like she was sixteen at best. Being five foot two and having the deadliest pair of puppy dog eyes threw even the hardest veteran off. Except for her dad of course. That old drunk was only beaten by her sharp anger. An attribute she inherited from him later in her training. One she wished she didn't pick up. It was becoming a bad habit. Anger made you do stupid things.

With a yawn, Ruby lazily reached for the final weapon in her arsenal, but instead her hand found cool, damp grass. Ruby's heart skipped a beat. She frantically looked around in search of the short sword that had yet to be concealed on her person. Her eyes darted around the campsite until they rested on a certain blond knight, who was examining the sword in his hands. At once, Ruby's silver eyes narrowed to a point that could kill faster than any of her weapons; didn't he have any idea how important that short sword was to her? Of all the weapons he could have snatched under her nose, he had to pick the last remaining sword of Summer Rose.

Ruby stood and stalked over to her prey. She was about to say something when blue eyes locked onto her. Those sapphire orbs were back by red. Behind them she could see a year's worth of heartache and pain. Something was swimming behind them. An untampered passion. Her sharp silver eyes quickly dulled and mellowed. Her anger checked. Her guilty conscious brought forth. A bad habit for sure. She remembered how she had acted just last night. How quickly she had succumbed to her anger. How disappointed her mother would've been in her. "I'm so sorry." She whispered it so softly, the young hunter doubt her charge would hear it.

Jaune was looking the blade over. It was so clean, so well taken care of, the young man could see himself in it. Well, as well as anyone could with a blade infused with silver and dust. "I tried to sleep last night. I really did. I couldn't though. I couldn't stop thinking about what we saw at that town. What I saw especially." Ruby frowned but nodded her head that she was listening. "It was all so gruesome. We only saw what happened in that Inn though. We didn't get a look at the rest." He shook his head. "I don't want to either." The young knight lapsed back into silence for a while. Ruby didn't dare break it though. "What you did haunted me the most." He sighed before looking back at her. Locking eyes again. "I don't hate you for it. I just… I didn't expect it. It's hard. I see you, and I think of one of my younger sisters. I could never imagine seeing one of those balls of sunshine so easy killing a man. Especially one who looked so defenseless. It's so easy to forget you're a trained killer." Ruby flinched at that word. At being called a killer. Jaune saw this and his expression softened. "I didn't mean it like-"

"No," Ruby cut him off. "I am." She looked at the ground for a moment before returning her gaze to his sapphire orbs. They looked as sullen as she felt. "I'm trained to track, hunt down, and kill. Sometimes swiftly, sometimes slowly, but always with complete lethality." She bit her lip. "I chose to kill last night. Maybe it was because that's what I trained ten years to do. Maybe because it's all I know how to do… but I made that chose. You're right." Her voice hitched as lose tears began to break free from their silver prisons.

"Ruby, don't, no," Jaune tried. He wasn't sure what to say.

"We could have helped him. All I know how to do though is kill, to protect by killing more. I didn't know what else to do. I was so blinded by my rage, and I… I was trained to see more in a situation, but all I could see was my target, and it needed to die. I just, I don't know right now, Jaune. I'm so sorry." By this point she was fully crying now. She collapsed down onto her knees and her face fell into her hands. I'm a hunter. I hunt.

Jaune kneeled beside her, placing the silver blade carefully onto the ground next to them. "Hush now," he whispered. "We've both been through a lot." He wrapped his arms around her in a well-practiced manner. Ruby guessed it could only be from having so many sisters. "We just need some time, and we just need to get away from here."

"We can't run from things like this, Jaune," she said, her voice hitched on every second word.

"We're not running, but we can't do anything more for this. We'll report back to that Baron or whatever he is and let him know what happened to his village." He sighed and tightened his embrace for a moment. "If you think there's more to this wolf threat, we should go after them. We don't want this happening again. That much I can certainly agree on." Ruby just nodded her head.

The pair stayed like for a few moments. Jaune doing what he could to comfort his friends. Ruby taking that comfort without question. Internally she felt herself struggling with her own remorse. On one hand, she felt terrible about causing Jaune, her friend, so much pain. On the other, she didn't. It was not only her job, but her calling. She knew what had happened last night in her head. She knew how she felt about it all. She knew she could only blame anger so much.

After a moment longer the crimson hunter squirmed out of Jaune's brotherly lock. "I'll send a message back to the Lord Fellintine," she chewed her thoughts over for a moment, considering last night. "And one back to Beacon about the situation here." She grabbed her mother's blade and looked up to see a rather puzzled Jaune Arc of Gemini staring at her. "What?" She asked, coking her head to the side with one brow raised.

"How are you going to send a message back?" Jaune asked. "We'd have to head back to Brook, and I don't remember seeing a couriers' office."

Ruby blinked twice. "You only did combat courses and lessons while you were at Beacon, didn't you?" Jaune nodded. "Of course, I'm sorry. I forget that it's outside of what you've been taught, or probably would've been. I'm going to use a message spell to send them."

"A what now?"

"With a little dust and some paper I'll make a magical message that will travel directly to the person I desire them to go to."

Jaune blinked, he was considering this utterly new information to him. "Couldn't we have used that to message the heiress we're supposed to be rescuing?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, it only works if I've met the person. I'm not a mage by any means, so I'm limited in what I can do. Sorry, Jaune." She pulled at some of the grass she was kneeling on. "Though I imagine that must've been how she told her family or the people at Beacon about her situation. If she knows anything about magic she probably could pull that spell together out of nothing."

"Why can't you do that?" Jaune asked. He was strapping his sword to his waist and adjusting his scabbard.

"I have no naturally born magic in me, none that I know of, and I didn't train to get any either." In truth Ruby knew she had at least a little, but it was useless to her. It didn't help her hunt and any spell that would was beyond her meager abilities.

"What about Aura, isn't that magic? We're all born with Aura."

Ruby knew she wasn't the expert on this, but she was his teacher right now. He had questions, she'd try and answer. Plus, they were getting them off what happened last night. "Aura is our soul, Jaune. It's the physical manifestation of that. Aura can be used to do great things, like speed up our healing, or even heal others, but it's different from magic like casting fire or raising the dead." The pair finished packing their camp and she continued. "Look at it like this, your soul protects you, and you alone. It heals you, it's your life force. Magic, for the sake of casting fire or whatever crazy thing a mage would want to do, comes from a different source, a different well of power. It comes from the natural magic of the world. It's been called a lot of things, magicka, mana, force, so on. We all have a soul, which is amplified by our training and willpower, but not everyone is born with the ability to harness magic. Aura is personal, magic is universal."

Jaune silently and patiently absorbed every word she was saying. Ruby swore she saw him jotting down some notes as she spoke.

The pair set off, heading East still. Further towards East Gate. Ruby hoped they'd find something there. She wrote and sent off her first message to Lord Fellintine. She wrote one out to her father as well. He'd let Ozpin or someone at Beacon know the Brook parish needed help… or he'd get drunk. Most likely both. The crimson hunter started a third. One of many she had written before, but paused halfway through. There's no way Yang would respond to this now. She never had before. She held the incomplete message out before her. Finally, her hand came up and finished it. It was sent as well.

… Yang Xiao Long of Patch …

Last night that cat faunus had returned exactly on the dot. She had handed Yang a letter detailing where to meet with her the next day. She hadn't sad anything, but by the contents of the letter Yang had guessed there was more to her situation than the raven-haired woman would've been able to gather in an hour. Or she just needed time to see if I'd run or to set up a trap for me. Yang shrugged the thought away as well as literally shrugging. She didn't fear a fight, and while the woman seemed tight lipped and secretive, she didn't seem like the type to sell someone out. Yang didn't know if werewolves were worth anything, but East Gate was a massive and sprawling city. She was sure someone would want her hide if she wasn't careful.

Following the written instructions to the letter the blond-haired brawler made her way through the twists and turns of buildings and streets. The roads in this section of the city seemed to be always packed. Yang only noticed them thin out when horses came through, often with men and woman dressed in plate mail and other expensive looking armor her cousin would drool over. No one seemed keen on getting trampled to death. Four or five times Yang almost saw just that happen. No one around seemed to care though. They all just continued their lives uninterrupted.

Yang's heart began to race. She thought of how the people might react with a few hundred pounds of muscle and fur bearing down on them. Chasing them down, they'd have nowhere to run. She could even see a few of these people being pushed down so the others could escape. That would leave them right in front of here, easy prey, ready to be-

The blond shook her head clear. That's not me. She wouldn't let that become her.

Eventually the busy streets of the merchant district gave way too much quieter ones. The cobble stone pathway here was uneven and moss and grass or weeds grew up between stones. Tall multistory apartment buildings blocked her clear view of the sky she still had on the much wider roads down in the merchant district. Soon enough these opened again onto an open walkway that appeared to have a ravine run through it. A quick inspection and Yang realized it was a river. Whether it was man made or not she couldn't tell, but it winded down and straight through this section of the city. She wondered where else it ran through the city. This gave the district a water fairing atmosphere to it, even though East Gate was a hundred miles, if not twice or thrice that, from the sea.

The brawler felt much safer here, away from the massive throngs of people. Here only a couple dozen were in her sights at a time, well spread out going about their lives. Some running and shopping at smiths, tailors, butchers, shops of all kinds, built under the homes. It had an oddly quaint feeling even though she knew she was still in the middle of the third largest city in the Kingdom of Vale.

A hard left into an alley and Yang was at the end of her incredibly detailed instructions.

The ringing of something metal crashing to the ground behind her put the brawler on high alert. She spun around on one heel and raised her fists. Steel gauntlets raised and ready for whatever threat appeared. At least whatever threat she could block with her forearms or beat into submission.

Her amethyst eyes met the cool and unnerved smirk of a man with grey eyes and equally as dull hair. He was dressed in unassuming black and grey tunic and trousers which he managed to make look all too sharp. Yang quickly noted areas on his person that looked a little too thick for his frame. Hidden plates or weapons. The most obvious area was his greaves. From just below the knees down she could make out the obvious signs plate armored boots. Where his pants cut off at the ankle she could see fine metal cover the sides and toes of his black leather boots. Her eyes returned to his smirking face. She felt a strange tinge in herself. She wasn't so sure if she admired that shit eating smile or wanted to beat it off his face. She did hope to find out though.

They stood in silence for an elongated time. She stood with her fists raised and legs set apart, ready to pounce on her potential assailant. He stood across from her, looking relaxed with his hands hooked on his pockets, his eyes carefully roaming the blonde brawler. He didn't move to attack her but he made sure well to be blocking his end of the alley so she couldn't escape.

"You look lost, pup," he said at last. His voice was confident and he spoke with no accent. He wasn't timid, but he wasn't hostile either. He kept his posture in check and his voice betrayed no emotion. Yang almost considered it condescending. That was mostly because he was completely wrong and it was extremely off putting that he was corning her in an alley right at her destination.

"Well tall, handsome, and apparently dumb, I'm right where I'm supposed to be," Yang said back with a cheeky smile. Her fighting stance betrayed her plastic cheer. "And you are right where I'd like you to be." She took a few measured steps towards him, eying him for any movements. She expected an attack but received none. "Who are you?" She asked when he didn't rise to her bait. She stopped with just two steps between them.

"Black, Mercury Black," he said. His shit eating smirk never left. "And you are a lost pup stepping in my territory." Without further warning he spun around giving Yang no time to react. One steel plated shin came up and struck the blonde square in the side of the head. The blonde toppled to the side but caught herself short of falling. She spat crimson before locking eyes with Mercury. "Tell me why you're here, pup," he demanded. His smirk gone, replaced with a disappointed scowl. "I don't like fresh blood. They bring trouble I don't need."

Yang only saw red. Mostly figuratively, but her vision was also slightly hazed from the blow to the head. She snarled at him briefly before lunging. Mercury's eyes went wide with surprise for just a moment as Yang unleashed a torrent of jabs and hooks at her prey. He moved just as fast as her though, easily matching her attacks with side steps, dodges, and the occasional block when he brought his greaves up to counter swing.

"This is going to be a long day, pup," he said as he put her on the defensive with a series of kicks that cut under her defense.

"Stop calling me that," Yang snarled.

Before their short-lived brawl could go any further a quick hand yanked back the blonde from behind. Yang spun to strike this new assailant but instead found herself face to face with glowing amber eyes which were narrowed to a slit. The slight frown just below them told Yang she was in some sort of trouble. However, the overwhelming sent of a feline and the unnerving fact that she somehow knew exactly how to differentiate that distracted her from the same angry feline holding her in place by the shoulders.

"Hi there," Yang said for lack of anything substantial.

"Hello," the woman said flatly.

"I made it," Yang continued. She figured letting herself shoot out obvious statements was better than silence.

"Did you have trouble getting here?" the black feline asked.

Yang shook her head. "Your instructions were purrfect."

The woman blinked twice and opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. She instead looked to Mercury, who was now leaning against the opposite wall of the alley. "Mercury, why are you attacking my clients?" Her tone betrayed no emotion. If Yang didn't know any better, which she would admit she didn't, she'd say this was considered a regular event by their expressions and tone.

"You know how I am," he said with a shrug. "I like to test out the new recruits for the pack myself."

Recruits? The scene suddenly felt offset. Like she was in a completely different recruit from the other two sharing the stage. Pack? Words were slowly connecting in her mind. She hoped that first blow didn't concuss her. The other woman interrupted her thoughts before she made a solid connection.

"Whatever, go find a corner to sit in or something, Mercury. This one's not here for your kind of help." Blake took Yang by the hand and dragged her inside, releasing her grip once they were through the doorway. Yang noted Mercury coming in behind them and latching the door. "Follow me," she said to the blonde. "My name is Blake."

The brawler found herself lead up through the building to its fourth floor. The brief glimpse of the bottom floor showed her what appeared to be a functional alchemy shop of sorts, or so Yang assumed, she didn't know anything about the sorts and just hoped her guess was correct from the masses of bottles and meticulously separated ingredients she saw. The second floor was much the same as the third, which was to say they both were living quarters. She guessed there was a few rooms and it looked like the second level had a decent sized kitchen on it. She wondered just how many people could live her, and did. Mercury had come in with them so she figured it was very possible he either worked here- which she doubted- or he stayed here. The top floor was much simpler; it opened up to a decent sized open study with dozens of stacks of dozens of books and tomes. The paper knowledge filled most every corner or surface. The only other room on the level was a master bedroom that Blake quickly shut the door to upon leading Yang up.

The faunus motioned Yang to take a seat on one of two chairs against the opposite side of the room. A desk which Blake sat down at was periductular to her, straight across from the Faunus was a large and the only visible window on the floor which looked out to the open river street below.

Yang fidgeted in her seat. Blake had sat and quickly begun rifling through a large and dusty tome on her desk without saying a word. While she had become accustomed to the silence of travelling alone, the brawler wasn't comfortable with silent company. Whenever she was around people seemed to liven up and it became a party of sorts. Of course, Yang also know that was mostly because she kept her time in civilization to Inns or places where she could fight. Those kinds of places always had a loud atmosphere that suffocated you with noise. The silence of this however, that was a silent strangulation on the blonde's nerves. She had to speak. "So, you mentioned you could help me with my condition." Straight to the point, nice Yang.

The feline woman simply nodded at first. A painful moment for Yang that Blake didn't seem to notice passed before she spoke. "Actually, you approached me and assumed I could." She flipped past a few dozen pages in her tome.

Sudden dread filled the blonde brawler. It must've poured out onto her facial expressions as well as Blake seemed to notice and gave her a raised brow. "Which I can." That calmed the brawler. Slightly. She had been attacked by an apparent friend of the faunus just outside after all. "As well as Mercury, he's an expert on the matter, in a manner of speaking," Blake said flatly. Yang's mood dropped again. She didn't hate Mercury, just that her only experience with the man was his charmingly annoying smirk and a short brawl.

Yang must've been staring, as when she refocused herself Blake was eyeing her curiously. One brow was raised and her amber eyes were locked onto Yang's amethyst ones. She noted how in the dimly lit study the raven-haired woman's eyes tended to glow ever so slightly. "I uhh, I…" she stuttered out, not actually having anything prepared to say.

Blake just gave her a knowing smirk. She had been caught staring. "Alright, before we get going on this, I need you to answer some questions."

"Sure," Yang said nodding slowly.

"Sharing your name would be a great place to start."

Yang flushed a light hue of crimson. Hadn't I already introduced myself? At the Inn I thought… No? Dust it all to hades. "I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long."

Blake had the smallest hint of a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. "Alright, Yang-Yang," she said in obvious mock. "How long have you been turning?"

… Weiss Schnee of Weissenberg …

The ivory haired heiress felt light, like she was resting on a cloud or floating in a pool. She didn't feel much else. Nothing felt rough or soft, dry or damp. Her body simply told her she was floating, on… nothing. It was like being suspended in a void. At least that's what her groggy and dazed mind told her. She tried pushing through the muck that was her dulled senses but her mind refused to clear. She'd reach out, or she thought she was, and there'd be nothing to grab or feel. She tried to take a deep breath, but her lungs were already full. She tried to exhale but there was nothing to release. Panic. Alarms began going off inside her head. Something finally clicked. Her mind sent out a swarm of warnings to the rest of her brain when the all-consuming sensation of suffocation began to surface.

The heiress let out a shrill cry of terror as she bolted up. She barely felt the cold surface beneath her as her mind lazily exited the miasma of that awful, void filled sleep. Her body was in flight and then flight some more mode. She curled in on herself on the cold stone as her mind raced faster to catch up. She was in full panic mode. Her normally checked emotions ran wild. She tried stomping down on the storm going on inside her head but the conflict between the alarms her mind had set off and the reality of her being very much alive and well was too much.

For the first time in what the heiress supposed was years, she very openly wept. She kept her eyes screwed shut tight and began to shake her head back and forth. Sudden memories began to light up in the back of her head. She remembered she was a prisoner of sorts. She'd been such for weeks now. It'd been an almost pleasant if not torturously boring isolation. Then someone began visiting her. They only came twice now though. Who… the vampire. Weiss's emotional turmoil doubled over as she remembered what happened just yesterday. The meditation followed very quickly by her overwhelming her infiltrating her own aura of magic.

Then she… Weiss's hand drifted to her neck. She bit her lip at the sudden bite of pain. It burns. She wished she could forget it all, but she knew that was childish even through her tears and current condition. She pressed her hand down gingerly on the site of her assault. It was warm, unpleasantly so. It was like Cinder last a residual piece of her presence there. She tried to think of possibilities, her lack of knowledge on vampires causing her to come up short. Maybe it's what kept me in that Oum awful sleep. Julia have mercy on me.

Weiss cringed with how sore her body was. She tried straightening herself but it turned out to be a constant battle. The heiress didn't know anything about the effects of having one's blood drunk from, but she assumed it was either this or it was caused by whatever residual spell Cinder left. She wished this on no one. Since that woman was a sorceress as well, Weiss theorized it could be a possibility it's caused by that as well. "Fire dust," Weiss exclaimed in pain. She righted herself into a kneeling position on the floor. Memories of yesterday still very fresh in her head she entered her meditative position. Kneeling, head bowed slightly, palms face up resting on her legs. She released her Aura.

Or tried to. The ivory haired sorceress was immediately met with resistance. Nothing necessarily stopping her from tapping her Aura or her magic reserves, but rather whenever she tried a sharp burning sensation from her neck flooded her with pain. Gritting her teeth momentarily before setting her jaw, Weiss refused to be denied by another mad-woman's attempt to stop her. Slow her, maybe, but she wouldn't be stopped.

For what felt like an hour, or two, Weiss continually tried to push her Aura our, even in the smallest of doses. Every time she was met with the same result. She only stopped when one of the wardens- who was looking rather sullen and afraid, though Weiss didn't comment- brought her lunch. Furthering her suspicion, he didn't say a word to her. Normally they at least had the curtesy to insult her or spit in her cell at the least. Curious.

Lunch vanquished for another day, Weiss continued. When she was instantly met with the same result she decided it was time to change tactics. She obviously hadn't been wearing down the spell at all, much to her dismay and rather crushing to her hopes. Instead she tried something else. Instead of trying to project her power outwards, she brought it inwards.

The air in the room began to steadily dry and rise in temperature. While under normal conditions her Aura caused her surroundings to chill and frost over, the exact inverse was happening. Weiss was immediately relieved at the lack of pain, unfortunately she knew she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. It was a very draining task to pull magical energy one didn't already possess into their bodies. Weiss knew her limits. She felt that limit drawing near. She also felt a shift in the residual magic Cinder had left behind. It was being consumed by her drawing of magic.

Weiss felt herself begin to chill. Shivers began to run up her spine incessantly. She knew she was immune to most of the cold, but she also knew that was only because she pushed it away, it was only because of the passive nature of her Aura. When she began to feel her muscles lock up and her heart even slow, she knew she had enough. With one surge, she let it all out.

To her time seemed to freeze. Though she knew it wasn't time freezing, but everything around her. Her small cell instantly covered itself in ice. The stone bricks were frozen through, the bunk, the ceiling, the iron bars. Even one very unlucky warden who was walking past as she surged. A very devious smirk found its way onto her face. She prodded her neck for any more pain, both physically with her hand, and magically with small bursts of her Aura. One annoying obstacle was out of her way.

Standing the frost sorceress examined the thoroughly frozen warden outside her cell. Sufficiently pleased with the results when she peaked down the hall as far as she could see- seeing that she had managed to reach into the guards' room as well- Weiss tested the door to her cell. The lock broke with the least amount of leverage. Mentally she noted to thank Cinder if she ever saw her again.

Smirk well in place Winter side stepped the man outside her cell. He wasn't going anywhere. Inside the guard room she was equally pleased with the results. Three very much frozen and unmoving wardens. "Well this has been a lovely experience gentlemen, trust me you've been wonderful, but unfortunately I must be going. My father is no doubt worried sick I wasn't home before ten."

She turned face first and tripped over what she swore was ice cream. The heiress scrambled to catch her balance and caught herself on a familiar white jacket. She looked up into curious emerald eyes. A cigar puffed just below them. "Hello there, heiress," he said. His voice only betraying a slight hint of annoyance. The rest seemed to be complete amusement. "You aren't too bright, are you?" He said dryly. A sudden swing from his cane and she found herself face first on the ground. Rolling over she saw the ice cream she tripped on was actually another woman. One who had an adorable pout on and a mean glare aimed towards Weiss.

"Mister Torchwick, it is a pleasure to see you again," Weiss said. She considered jumping up and gutting him with ice, but realized that would only result in her being flattening back down with that surprisingly thick cane of his.

He sighed and the ice cream colored girl rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, I do apologize for not visiting more often. Cinder is rather…" he paused to find the right word. "specific… that she be the only one who sees you. Aside from a few wardens of course." He stepped over the body of one of the unmoving wardens. "Which is why I do apologize for this. I understand first hand that vampires are not fun to deal with." He passed her a knowing wink before nodding to Neo.

The last thing Weiss saw was a flash of white from her heeled boot coming down on her face. This time the sleep was rather comfortable at least. She felt like she was being shifted onto a bed of sorts rather than being suspended in a void. It was… pleasant.

… Sun Wukong of Haven …

Sometimes Sun considered his targets too easy. Especially when he was working with Blake. The alchemist -slash part time arsonist- was the quietest sneak he had ever come across. She never made a sound. It was a shame she wasted her talents with the people she worked for. Though he supposed his weren't always used to their fullest working for Torchwick. Still, freelance thievery was never a job someone had to set up for you. Freelance goods acquisition was just one of the many talents Sun found himself a professional at.

When his marks had no idea they were about to be robbed blind, that gave him a feeling of accomplishment he reveled in. He didn't feel smug about it though. No one liked being robbed, and he knew how it felt to be on the other foot. He didn't feel good from fooling some poor sap, he felt good from knowing it was his own skills. He chose his targets based on skill. Anyone could hit an easy mark, a poor snobby kid in the streets of East Gate or Vale with too much of 'papa's coin' on them for their own good. That was a fun job because those kids were asses. They required no skill though.

When he took on that heiress job for roman, that had required skill. Both he and Blake working in tandem to draw her away, rob her, exhaust her, and ultimately get her caught. He almost felt bad for putting her through all that. Then again, the Schnee family wasn't known for being overly generous to the faunus of Atlas. Oh well, one poor soul lost in the mix.

Today though his marks were even higher up on the skill check list he had going. A sorcerer was one thing. Today he was going after a knight and his companion. Sun was bubbling over with excitement. Stealing the blade right off a knight was easily in his top five for crazy theft ideas. Crocea Mors also happened to be a very expensive and valuable sword to the right collector. He would remember to give his contact in Brook a generous tip. Last he had heard the sword was locked up in House Arc's estate in Gemini. Sun didn't believe his luck, and certainly hadn't, until he caught site of the blade itself.

Just a few dozen meters from him, carelessly walking beneath the long line of trees below him was an Arc himself, carrying that wonderfully expensive blade. The Azura plains spread out for miles in any direction, but all the major roads and routes had thick lines of trees near them. Werther this was coincidence or by man's own design simply depended on how far away you were from a town of village. Many of the Barron's that lorded over the counties within the kingdom's borders did this as it would be easy to protect a route with cover. Others simply because they didn't want their carriages trotting along in the sun. For Sun, it didn't matter, it's purpose for him was that it made it all too easy for the agile faunus to stalk his marks.

The blond Arc would be trouble if he couldn't sweep the sword away from him, but he didn't doubt his abilities to handle the man one on one. Sun was an accomplished fighter as well after all. The only factor he wasn't sure of was that little girl in red walking along with him. He wasn't sure at all who she was. She wasn't an Arc, that was for sure, they were all blond and had striking blue eyes. This girl had unusual scarlet hair and he swore eyes as silver as any blade he had seen. She didn't appear armed at all though, he figured at most she had a dagger or knife for self-defense. She was traveling with a knight, an apprentice knight judging by his age, but one none the less, so he most likely her protection.

"Oh, this is going to be easy," he said to himself, hoping a few trees ahead of them so he could get a quick jump on them. Once they reached a thick patch of woods he'd swipe that blade and whatever coin they had.

A/N: Sooo sorry about the random hiatus between chapters. I'm very critical of my own writing, so I tend not to be happy with it very often. (Surprising with how low quality I let Burning Red be, eh smut.) Anyway, I'm going to try and get the next chapter out sooner rather than later, hopefully out in four days.

So surprise Sun at the end.

Reviews:

The Grimm Reqper, you've got a lot of good question's i'm going to answer here.

1) Yeah Blake's an alchemist here as well, that's her primary skill, though she's an excellent thief as well, and that all will make more sense as we look into Yang's upcoming path.

2) As for Weiss turning, in this verse, Vampire's more or less control who they turn. You can contract the blood born version of the disease through contact with Vampire's (battle through their magic, weapons, whatever have you), however, a skilled vampire such as Cinder or any one of them, can control whether they spread it when feeding on another. An unskilled vampire could spread it on accident or may not be successful when doing it on purpose. Both Vampirism and Lycanthropy can be spread through consumption living blood of one who has those conditions here.

3) The idea here is that that man saw Yang before she turned, as she was in the village for two weeks before the slaughter, and he saw her afterwards since he survived. So he knows it's her.

Post Notes: Please feel free to review, I love answering questions and I really like to know what you all love and hate, it gives me an idea of how I'm letting my message get across. SO please review, message me, or some third option!

-Hotel Juliet