Week 1: Friendly Enemies
Freedom. So close, yet so far.
Was it honestly something beyond his reach? Was the concept of freedom too much for Roman Torchwick to even hope for?
Okay, that might've been a bit too melodramatic, but someone's gotta do it, right? After all, there weren't any of those White Fang mutts around to wax poetic about their social status or whatever it was they rambled on about, and Roman needed something to take his mind off of the stupid mess that had been the past few... hours? A quick check at a nearby window told the criminal that it was already late afternoon, bordering on the evening.
Just great. He had wasted most of the day dealing with that dungeon business.
Well, it technically wasn't a waste, since he had still managed to glean some information about how this world worked, not to mention the sudden influx of resources. Roman's little expedition had proven that Dungeons were an intrinsic part of the world's economy, as the thief's efforts in the Hall of Trials had rewarded him with a pile of random equipment, not unlike the bargain bin stock that was on display in the Merchant's Guild. From longswords and leather armour to unreasonable amounts of walnut bread, the dungeon had been a surprising source of finished goods.
However, those trinkets paled in comparison to the other defining feature of the dungeon: Power Crystals. Even now, the thief was no closer to understanding how they worked... but Roman was, at the very least, certain that they did work. He felt the subtle shift in the dungeon when he slogged through it the first time, and the second excursion with Red gave the thief plenty of time to examine the phenomenon second hand. Not that he could figure it out, beyond 'magical strengthening crystal things', but what do you expect from him? He's a crime lord, not a scientist.
Free items and magic gems aside, the weirdest part of his excursion was how... accessible everything was. You'd think he'd have gotten used to the lack of common sense in this silly world, given its almost-nonexistent crime rate and constantly-chipper locals. Yet, the thief was still surprised that something as extensive as these dungeons were readily available to whoever wanted to waltz right in.
From what he could tell, the Hall of Trials was apparently the only one that had direct oversight, as the rest of the world's dungeons were open to any adventurer who wanted to kill themselves in them. All you needed was some token affiliation with the Adventurer's Guild, and you were free to plunder those monster-filled holes in the ground. And when he said 'token', he meant 'token', since someone like him was capable of joining in with only a nominal fee.
Overall, it was a very generous system, and one that instantly brought suspicion to the thief; Life was neither noble nor fair, so there had to be something else to all this. Perhaps there was something else in place, and the Adventurer's Guild was only being used as a front of some kind? Thought really, something as simply as that seemed far too complex for this world.
Roman turned away from his thoughts, his eyes shifting back to the room, half-expecting to see someone confront him for his usage of the dungeon to levy some sort of fee or something. But, instead of some representative from the hypothetical shadow group, all the suited criminal saw in the room was the lazy guard from earlier... In fact, the only notable thing Roman could see was that guard, seated on a chair and reading away some book, with the rest of the room completely devoid of activity.
No sign of Tinkerbell anywhere, and neither of the two brats seemed to be around either, given the lack of ear-grating voices. Interesting. Perhaps this was an opportunity for the criminal to-
"Finally finished?"
An interruption. Of course.
Roman threw a glance towards the voice's source, only to find that the aforementioned guard had finally taken notice of him... Well, as much notice as you'd expect from someone slouched over some sort of book. Still, to the man's credit, the guard did look up from his reading material when he had addressed the thief, which was far more professionalism than Torchwick had really expected from him.
"Now that you mention it, the idea of running through that waste of time again is appealing, but I think I've had my fair share of headaches for today. I'll just let some other snot-nosed brat get themselves murdered by killer jam and ugly faunus instead." The thief's tone never once wavered from his signature sarcastic enthusiasm, a tone that earned Roman a noncommittal from the lazy guard. "Thanks, though."
"Sure, whatever." And just like that, the guard returned to his illustrious task of wasting time or something. At least, that's what Roman assumed, since that's what his first thoughts would've been had he stumbled on one of his mooks doing that on duty. Really, this entire world seemed to have a severe lack of work ethic. Roman probably would've been appalled by it, if it weren't for fact that it worked in his favour, and that it wasn't his problem.
Speaking of things that weren't his problem, it seemed like the annoying fairy and the two brats were out of his hair for now. Of course, he was certain that that would change the moment he returned to the shop, especially since the fairy seemed to go out of her way to annoy the thief. Heck, she probably hired Red just because of Roman's reaction to the girl, and Roman was all but certain that the little floating nightlight had planned to dump that little headache on him the moment he returned.
Which was why he didn't plan on heading back yet.
Torchwick still had his plans to push forward, and despite his extended dungeon session, there was enough time for him to visit the Merchant's Guild before he had to return to the shop. Not that he had a specific time to return or anything, but he didn't feel like giving the fairy some undue stress by staying out unannounced for an indeterminate amount of time.
Oh, who was he kidding?
With that out of the way, Roman stepped out of the room, returning to the main reception area to find it similarly devoid of activity. There were barely any people here, let alone adventurers, and the only people of note that Roman could see was the receptionist and that one seedy kid with the sword and shield. You know, the one that the midget merchant had befriended for whatever reason, though looking at him again, Roman couldn't help but think of the kid as more of a vagabond than a poster child for adventure.
Oh well. Either way, it wasn't the thief's problem, and without giving it another thought, Roman stepped out of the Adventurer's guild.
"Oh, you're done! So where are we going now?"
Only to be greeted by Red. Again.
Goddamnit.
"But Tear said we're supposed to head back to the shop once we finished my adventurer trial, remember?"
Of course Roman remembered. Whether he cared or not was a different issue entirely, though the thief was quite certain that he was being pretty clear on the matter. Yet, for whatever reason, Red decided to stick along and follow anyways, even thought this was none of her business. Heck, he wasn't sure why the beacon brat was walking alongside him in the first place, since she had made it clear she wanted to return to the shop.
Well, people like her were easy to deal with. Rather than try to guess at her motives, Roman chose to some something much simpler, and much more likely to produce some form of an answer: asking the stupid kid directly.
"So why are following me again?"
Roman raised an eyebrow to accentuate his question, almost making a show of his exaggerated motions. If Red noticed it, however, she didn't show it, as the girl seemed to pay him no mind, choosing to settle her gaze to the cobblestone road instead. She was lost in thought—that much, Roman could tell—which only served to heighten his curiosity on the matter. After all, from what he knew, Red was hardly the thinker of her little group.
Then again, her little group consisted of that White Fang maniac, the maniac who blew up Junior's bar, the Schnee ice queen maniac, and the scythe-wielding maniac herself... Huh. Was being unhinged a requirement for being a huntsman these days?
"I guess..." After the brief bout of silence, Red's voice chimed up once more, hesitant and unsteady as she tried to pick her words. "I guess it's because you're the only thing... familiar?"
That was surprising. Roman blinked at that statement, at a genuine loss for words as he tried to process that inane reason. Yet, no amount of mental gymnastics could help him see the girl's position, and the thief could only stare back at the little teenager in confusion.
"Really? That's your big reason?" Well, stare back and actively question her, of course. "You're following me to who-knows-where because I'm familiar to you? Remnant to Red, I'm Roman Torchwick, remember? Master criminal extraordinaire? Is that ringing any bells?"
He wasn't sure if he was offended or not. Surely, this was a new low in his career, right? He went from being a master of his trade, to being some stupid underling of Cinder, to the a glorified rancher that had to babysit the White Fang. And now, he was so unimposing that a suicidal wannabe-hero-in-training considered him trustworthy?
No. This was ridiculous. He wouldn't accept this.
"In case you forgot, I orchestrated the whole Breach thing. Stole enough dust to fund the White Fang? Robbed some old guy for his store, and nearly killed your kitty cat friend? Heck, I nearly killed all of you with a giant robot, which I also stole. Does any of this sound familiar?" Roman's voice was steady as he articulated each point, his gaze not shifting away from the kid as he began listing all the reasons why she was utterly insane for following him. "Why would you even entertain the idea of following along with whatever I'm doing?"
And yet, rather than doubt, Roman could see a sort of conviction form on Red's face, her gaze shifting up to meet his own, her silver eyes staring straight into him. There was a hint of defiance in her expression, a familiar sight to Torchwick, though it was accompanied far less hostility than what he was used to. In its place was probably some misguided misunderstanding, and as the girl began to speak out, Roman regretted asking his question.
"... Because that's not all you've done."
The statement was quiet at first, but Roman didn't miss the sickening tone that the brat carried in her voice. However, as far deluded as her first words were, it was her next declaration that really annoyed the thief.
"Because you've also tried to do so much more here, when you could've done worse. Instead of being a thief and hurting people, you're helping out at a shop..." Roman mentally sighed as Red began rehashing all the misunderstandings she had learned of the thief. Just how could she be so wrong about things? And yet, she prattled on. "You're helping out someone who was... abandoned. A stranger you didn't really know, who had nothing left."
Roman's eye twitched.
Okay, exactly how long did the two brats talk? Because this was steadily going from misunderstanding to outright slander. He wasn't helping out the kid from the goodness of his heaer, he was forced to help, and that was just because he had no damned idea how some people in this world could be so freakishly strong at the time. Things were different now that he actually had some idea of how this place worked. Sure, he'd still have to maintain his cover and probably play babysitter for the merchant kid, but that didn't mean he was helping.
Yet, Red was dragging his criminal name through the mud at this point. If anyone heard her drivel, he'd lose all chance of establishing himself in this city's criminal underground... assuming it existed in the first place. Either way, he'd have to clear this up, so rather than let her continue spouting out her delusions, the thief spoke up.
"Now wait just a minu-"
"Upupup! I'm not done yet!"
Red brought up her hand, a single finger held up as she tried to quiet Roman. The thief reacted as expected, his eye twitching more intensely as he stood at stunned silence for a split second. Did she really just do that? To him? This was getting ridiculous at this point; who in their right mind would do that, especially to a criminal of his calib-
"You also helped me come up with a plan to find my team."
And of course she interrupted him again, throwing up another painful misunderstanding. Was she really this dense? He did nothing of the sort, since the beacon brat had jumped to that conclusion all by herself. Just like this train of thought, really. Was there even a point in trying to protest? Heck, it was worth trying, right? Torchwick spoke out once more, his voice firm as he tried to clear up her delusions. "No, Red, I didn't. That was just you misunderstan-"
"And you try not to draw attention to it either. You try to hide all the good things you do, but you still do them anyways."
Okay, this was a lost cause. The child in the red hood was officially incapable of seeing simple logic. There was no changing her mind, so Roman stopped trying. Instead, there were more important things for him to deal with: actual criminal-worthy things. He still had a legitimate business to topple, after all.
Now where the hell was the Merchant's guild again? Ah, that way.
"That's why I think you're a good pers-Hey! Where are you going?"
Unfortunately, ridding himself of the Red headache was easier said than done, especially when she does that stupid flower-petal thing with her cape. Sure, it was unwieldy in combat, and he could see it telegraphed a mile away, but her weird technique was still adequate when it came to closing the distance.
Which meant that, try as he might, he couldn't feasibly ditch the teenage without being overt about his attempts. And if he was overt, there was a chance that the stupid fairy would catch wind of his plans. Well, catch more wind of his plans? Is that how the saying goes? Regardless, that meant he had to babysit little red riding hood, which was certainly not a task he was wanted to waste any effort on.
So.. What was the best way to keep a hyperactive immature kid entertained?
"Hey Roman?"
Ah, yes. Facepalms. The perfect answer.
Roman pulled his hand away from his face, letting out a sigh before turning back to the kid. As always, she had this sickeningly innocent look on her face, staring back up at him, as though she didn't understand why he had just applied his hand to his face.
"Hey Red? This familiarity thing of yours has got to stop." He didn't even feel like taunting her at this point. Why would he? He's still stupefied that she's transitioned to referring to him by name on a casual level. Hell, weren't they mortal enemies or something? Why the hell is she acting so buddy-buddy now? "In case you forgot, we're supposed to be enemies, remember? So stop it already."
"Nope." And of course, she plays the spoiled brat card.
Kind of like Neo, really... Well, okay, not at all, since Neo was far more annoying to deal with. Still, Red could give Torchwick's miniature partner-in-crime a run for her money in the headache department. Both of them seemed to completely disregard convention, and both of them seems to go out of their way to be contrary; it was only the fact that Red was doing it unconsciously that made it worse. Still, Roman ignored that little thought as he turned back to the girl, intent on addressing her little outburst.
"Yeah, no. I'm gonna have to veto your nope."
"Oh yeah?" And without missing a beat, the girl spoke up once more, her voice playfully defiant, grating on Torchwick's waning patience. "Well, I veto your veto! So there!"
This was stupid. A thought that seemed to be popping up in his mind far more often lately... And unfortunately for the suited criminal, he couldn't afford those thoughts. After all, he had something important that he actually had to do. Something more important than entertaining this annoyance at least, since he was supposed to go to the Merchant's Guild to negotiate stuff.
But how exactly was he supposed to do that under these circumstances? Really, his only choice was to stop caring at this point. So he did.
"Just... What the hell do you want, Red?"
"I just wanted to ask, since you skipped over this the last time I brought it up, but..." Once again, Red looked up at the thief, staring at the Rogue with equal parts hesitation and expectation in her eyes. "How exactly did you end up here?"
... You know what? Sure, he'll tell the damn story. Maybe it'll keep her quiet for the rest of their little walk to the guild hall.
A/N: Apologies for the lack of updates during the past week. Academia occurred. However, my schedule should be back to manageable levels from now on.
