Chapter ten: Mission begins

(Onyx's POV, two weeks later)

Onyx and Ruby were in the forges, looking over their plans for a broadsword that would shift into an uzi, when their Scrolls buzzed at the same time, they both received texts summoning them to Ozpin's office. Reluctantly, the two weaponsmiths rolled up the plans and stowed them in Ruby's bag, which she used to carry blueprints and materials when she planned on making something.

"I wonder what Ozpin wants the two of us for?" Onyx wondered.

"Don't know, if it was just me, I'd think that he wanted to talk about something related to Team RWBY, but that doesn't make sense with you there, and it can't be something to do with RWBY and VOAJ together, because if it was, then Violet would have gotten the call, not you." Ruby was deep in thought for a few seconds, before shrugging and saying. "Oh, well, it looks like the only way we can find out is if we go see."

With that, Ruby grabbed Onyx's hand and they headed off to the Headmaster's office.

(Ozpin's POV)

Professor Ozpin watched as Onyx Blanch and Ruby Rose walked out of the elevator into his office, their clothing told him where they'd been when he'd sent them the texts requesting their presence, the boy was dressed in gray cargo pants, a black tank top undershirt, and black sneakers, a pair of welding goggles peeked out of his black hair, the girl was dressed in ratty old jeans, red sneakers, and a dark red longsleeve shirt, the clothes that they always wore when they were working on one of their frequent forging projects, the analytical professor also took note of their demeanor, Onyx's piercing blue eyes were slightly narrowed as he looked a Ozpin, he was trying to figure out why they had been called here, by contrast, Ruby's silver eyes were wide and fascinated, taking in the office, which neither teen had seen before, Ozpin felt a spark of amusement as the young girl's hand unconsciously reached towards her companion's, though she stopped herself and pulled her hand away when her index finger touched the back of Onyx's hand.

When the couple was standing in front of the headmaster's desk, he spoke to them for the first time.

"I'm sure you both are wondering why I've called the two of you here, it's simple: I am going to give the two of you a mission." Ozpin smiled slightly as both of his students' faces changed from curiosity to shock.

"Why us? Not only are we on separate teams, we're first year students, shouldn't we be getting our first mission at the start of the Vytal Festival?" Onyx asked.

"Normally yes, those would be legitimate questions, however, the reason I've asked the two of you to take the mission is because the goal is to find information on one Derek Blanch." Ruby yelped in surprise, but Onyx's expression turned as dark as his name.

"How do you know that name?" The teen demanded.

"My boy, I'm the Headmaster of this school for a very good reason, and there is very little I don't know about my students." Ozpin calmly took a sip of his coffee.

"What's the mission Professor?" Ruby asked, suddenly all business.

"One of my informants in a nearby village claims to have seen a man matching Derek's description meeting Roman Torchwick in the back of a bar my contact owns two days ago, they're both already gone, but they left behind several low class thugs and a minor lieutenant of Torchwick's to accomplish some task, yours is to find out what they are attempting to do, and stop them from accomplishing their goal."

"When do we leave?" Onyx asked.

"Immediately after you've prepared for the trip, I have a Dustcopter waiting for you at the landing area, good luck to the both of you."

(Ruby's POV)

Ruby was worried about her boyfriend, on the elevator ride down from Ozpin's office, Onyx was totally silent, deep in thought, and they weren't good thoughts either, he was thinking about his parents' deaths, Ruby knew him, she also knew that the best way to snap him out of dark thoughts was to remind him that he wasn't alone, so the young reaper wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, after a few seconds Ruby's efforts were rewarded by Onyx's arms enfolding her in his own warm embrace, he was back.

When the elevator doors opened they let go of each other and headed to their Dorms to pack.

(Onyx's POV)

Onyx waited for Ruby on the landing platform, he was dressed in his combat clothes, Rise and Fall were retracted on his wrists, a duffel bag was at his feet.

"Hey, Onyx!" Ruby dashed over, red cloak flapping behind her, she too was dressed for battle, in her black and red combat dress, Crescent Rose in its inactive form clipped to her back, she held a pair of red suitcases as she ran, Onyx couldn't help but smile at the sight of his girlfriend, just looking at her brightened his day, and being apart from her, even if it was just in separate dorms that were right down the hall from each other, put a cold lump in the pit of his stomach that vanished the instant he was near her again.

When Ruby stopped in front of him, Onyx was treated to the pure, innocent smile that never failed to make his heartbeat accelerate, though this one was a bit sheepish. "Sorry I kept you waiting."

Onyx returned the smile. "You were preparing for a mission, I would have been more worried if you got here before me without having done any preparation than if you come a few minutes after me with everything you need. Come on, it's time to go."

They boarded the Dustcopter and sat down, they put on the headsets the pilot passed back to them.

"Alright, you two, my name is Wolf, and I will be your pilot for this flight, it's two hours to the village by air, so make yourselves comfortable, Professor Ozpin told me that your mission will probably take multiple days, so when you need to be picked up, just call my Scroll number, I'm sending it to your Scrolls now." The pilot's voice came over the headsets. Sure enough their Scrolls buzzed, showing an ID number, the message was one word: Wolf. They added the pilot's number to their contact lists and Ruby thanked him.

"No problem Kid, good luck on your mission."

They landed outside the town of Vorse, and got out of the chopper with a quick thank you to the pilot. The meeting with the contact wasn't until tomorrow, so Onyx and Ruby decided to explore the town, learn their way around the place, maybe ask some question of the locals.

(Ruby's POV)

Ruby's heart was beating extra fast, she was on a mission, alone, with Onyx, Ozpin had granted her the two strongest desires she had, she was on a mission, and she had alone time with her boyfriend, sure, she was aware that they had a job to do, and that they likely wouldn't have any romantic moments, but she didn't care, this was their job now, and the fact that they could do that job together was enough for her.

(Unknown POV)

The watcher was careful not to look directly at the boy and girl he was following, if what the boy's uncle had said was true, he had a powerful sensory Semblance, and as such his aura's sensory enhancements would be stronger than normal, heck, his natural senses would probably be sharper too, if he felt the watcher staring at him the watcher's cover would be blown, and he couldn't allow that to happen, his life was depending on his ability to trail the teens undetected, and he was very good at what he did.

(Onyx's POV)

Onyx became aware that they were being watched as he leaned against a wall while Ruby munched obliviously on a plate sized cookie they'd bought after Ruby had used her puppy dog eyes on Onyx, it had taken exactly three seconds for the big, teary silver eyes and quivering lower lip to erode his willpower, no human expression should hold that much power, or be that freaking adorable, Onyx thought idly as he kept his eyes on his girlfriend, using his peripheral vision to try to spot their stalker, a short, slim man with stringy brown hair under a dark blue cap, wearing a green t-shirt and faded jeans, tilted his head slightly and his eyes flickered in their general direction, as he leaned against a wall on the other side of the street, and further down it, apparently reading a book, though Onyx noticed his eyes were moving in an erratic fashion, rather than straight left to right, he was only pretending to read, every once in a while the stalker's eyes flicked over in their general direction, never directly at either of them, smart Onyx thought if he'd looked at either of us directly we would have felt it, but he's just keeping us in his range of vision, like I'm doing to him right now a slight upward twitch of his lips was the only sign of his satisfaction at having spotted the stalker.

"C'mere Rubes." Onyx held his arms out for a hug, which Ruby immediately gave him, her head against his chest, Ruby whispered. "What is it?" Onyx had never called Ruby anything other than Ruby, or if he was being playful, Miss Rose, so Onyx knew that changing that during a mission would be enough of a signal that he had something to say without alerting anyone around them, Onyx bent down and kissed the top of her head, before whispering into her hair.

"Don't react to this... We're being watched, there's a man about twelve feet away, brown hair green shirt, reading a book, he's been looking at us in a way that would prevent us from sensing his presence, fortunately, he's underestimated me, he's within my Semblance range, and I've been feeling his presence for a while, but I just now spotted him, he doesn't seem armed, we could take him and try to get something out of him, but we'd need to catch him off guard, and that probably won't be easy, he looks like the cautious type, so we need a strategy."

Ruby smiled up at him, and said, cheerfully, as if he'd just suggested they go get something to eat. "Got ya, leave the place to me, we both know that if you tried to find somewhere, it would be a disaster." Translation: Leave the plan to me, and be ready for trouble. Onyx smiled down at his Rose.

"Of course." They both wrapped an arm around the other's waist and began walking down the street again.

(Watcher's POV)

The Watcher dropped his book and removed his cap, then he opened the mail tube he'd stolen to use as storage, the tubes were wonders of modern science, they started out the size of a drinking straw, but they could expand to the size of a tennis ball tube, and they could hold items that really shouldn't fit in such a confined space without damaging them in the slightest, he'd once had a friend receive a live cat in a mail tube and the creature had actually fallen asleep in the tube and had come out without even a scratch, the Watcher pulled a ratty greatcoat out of his mail tube and pulled it on, then he took out a tiny packet of glittery white Dust which he poured a little of into his hand before activating it with his aura and tossing it over his head, a few vague sparkles later and his facial features were slightly different, his nose was longer, his cheekbones lower, his jaw a little squarer, his hair got an orange tint, and got a little more grey in it, the packet contained illusion Dust, his features hadn't actually changed, they just looked like they did. The Watcher took off after his targets, they were heading in the direction he'd been told to expect them to go, until they suddenly cut down a side street, panicking slightly, the Watcher turned down the road, to only find the boy, his blue eyes glittering with amusement as he pointed silently at something behind the Watcher, dumbly, the man turned to see a cloud of rose petals and the metal shaft of a scythe before it slammed into his head and knocked him unconscious.

(Onyx's POV)

Onyx looked down at the unremarkable man lying unconscious at his feet, once he'd been knocked out, his features had dissolved and became about as bland as it was naturally possible to be, his short brown hair was stringy and limp, his face was so average that it was ridiculous, he had no identifying marks, other than the large bruise on his forehead from Crescent Rose's shaft, he wasn't handsome, or ugly, or anything other than unremarkable, Onyx shook himself from his examination of the stalker's face, picked the man up and slung him over his broad shoulder.

"Nice job Ruby." Onyx congratulated, the girl bowed dramatically and said in an equally dramatic voice.

"One does one's best." Before breaking into giggles at her own silliness, the duo carried the unconscious man all the way to their hotel, which had been paid for by Beacon, one room, two beds, they used the stalker's packet of illusion Dust to make the unconscious man look like a large piece of luggage, they'd been provided with temporary credentials so proving who they were to the hotel clerk wasn't very hard, once in their room, they searched the man thoroughly, and Ruby supplied a pair of handcuffs to secure their prisoner to a pipe in the bathroom.

"Do I even want to know where you got the handcuffs?" Onyx asked cautiously.

"Yang had them in her sock drawer."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"I don't know, I was pretty surprised, I mean, who keeps handcuffs in a sock drawer?" Ruby asked, genuinely confused. Onyx blinked at her for a few seconds, then he burst out laughing, he kept howling with merriment until he ran out of breath, then he took two deep, calming breaths.

"Sometimes I forget how innocent you can be, Ruby, those handcuffs were meant for more... recreational purposes."

Ruby blinked, thought about it, then turned bright red. "Oh..." Her voice went quiet and embarrassed, then she went and handcuffed the stalker to a thick pipe, and washed her hands thoroughly in the sink muttering something about "Yang Cooties" Onyx tried very hard not to laugh again, he succeeded, barely.

(Watcher's POV)

Watcher woke up to see the little red cloaked girl sitting on a stool across from him, her partner was nowhere to be found, both of Watcher's hands had been handcuffed, and the chain hooked on a pipe, when the girl saw that he was awake she called out the door of what Watcher realized was a hotel bathroom. "Onyx, he's awake!"

(Onyx's POV)

Onyx walked into the bathroom.

"Ruby, could you please wait outside, I'm going to be doing some stuff that I really don't want you to see, so could you please keep watch, just in case?" Ruby looked like she was about to argue, but took one look into his eyes and decided to just do as he asked. Once Ruby was out of the bathroom, Onyx pulled a small device from his pocket, and placed it next to the sink.

"What's your name?" Onyx asked.

"Davin Greengrass."

"Do you know what this is, Davin?" The black haired brawler asked casually as he switched the device on, his voice sounded slightly off in his ears. The man shook his head.

"It's a noise canceller, the louder the sound, the more muffled it is, you could scream your lungs out, and Ruby wouldn't hear it from the other side of that door." Onyx informed the stalker, again keeping his voice casual.

"I made it myself, you know, first time I used it, I set off a bunch of fireworks in my history teacher's office... do you know how weird it was to watch silent fireworks in an enclosed space? Pretty weird. Now, I don't really want to see what a silent screaming man looks like, so... are you going to tell me what I want to know, or will I have to be more persuasive?"

"You're just a kid, you don't have the gu..." The rest of his sentence was in perfect silence, as the noise canceller did it's job, muffling the scream that tried to tear out of the stalker's throat, as Onyx delivered an aura enhanced stomp to the man's left knee, shattering the joint.

"Do I need to ask again, or are you convinced that I do infact have the guts to do this?"

"Screw you."

"Wrong answer Davin." Onyx broke the other knee, then he kicked the man in the gut, hard, but without aura, he wasn't trying to kill him after all, again the noise canceller did it's job well, until Davin started to cough, which wasn't quite loud enough to get caught by the canceller.

"Sit up." Onyx demanded coldly, when the man wasn't quite fast enough, Onyx punched him in the face. "Sit up." He repeated, this time, the man sat up, using the wall to support himself.

"I'm getting impatient, Davin, so unless you want me to get creative, you'd better answer my questions."

Davin looked scared, Onyx had learned that in interrogation the subject could always come up with something worse than what you are actually capable of, he also knew that a calm exterior during torture was far more intimidating than shouting, besides, the noise canceller would muffle any sound louder than normal speaking volume.

They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, terrified pale green orbs met eyes like chips of blue ice that held no kindness, no mercy, and no remorse, Davin broke.

"I'll talk, please, don't hurt me anymore!"

"Good, now, Roman Torchwick and Derek Blanch met in this town not so long ago, correct?"

The frantic man nodded eagerly. "Yes, Torchwick brought a bunch of goons, then he and Blanch left town, before they did, your Uncle told me to keep an eye out for you and your girl, I don't know how he knew you would be coming."

"Not important, we already knew that Torchwick and Blanch weren't in town, what we want to know about is what they left the goons behind for, who their lieutenant is, and how many there are, and you will tell us, Davin."

"I-I don't know all the details, just that they're looking for some kind of rare Dust in the countryside, there are about eighty guys out there, spread out, and they're led by this complete freak who calls himself Ragnarok, carries a big-ass sword, I don't know what it does exactly, but but it definitely has at least one other form."

"Good Davin, this is all good information, now, is there anything else,?"

"Are you going to let me go?"

"Probably not, but don't worry, we won't kill you, we'll just hand you over to Beacon's Witness Protection program, for witnesses in Human Hunting cases, they can keep you safe, unlike the police, whom Torchwick or my Uncle could just bribe out of the way, or in Derek's case, bypass entirely by Astral Projecting directly into your cell, and you know what they'd do to you if they got you."

Davin turned as green as his last name, it was clear that he knew exactly what they would do, and it was very far from pretty, Onyx switched off the sound canceller.

"If you promise not to escape, we can leave you here while we go, and before that, Ruby! Get in here!" Davin passed out as Ruby opened the door and stopped when she saw the broken man on the bathroom floor.

"Onyx... What did you do?!"

"I tortured him for information, he wouldn't talk unless I did, his injuries are too extensive for me to heal on my own, so I need your help, can you do that?"

Ruby looked into Onyx's eyes and she shuddered at what she saw there, Onyx's whole world turned cold, and he could actually feel his heart break, he had scared her off after only two weeks, there was no way she could love this part of him, the cold, merciless part that had grown in him ever since his parents' deaths, the part of him that could never stop until he'd gotten bloody revenge for the murder that had stolen his innocence, and left him alone. But now, he was truly alone, without Ruby he only had one purpose for living, and after he accomplished it he would be empty, dead, even if his mind and body still worked.

"Just help me heal him, then you can get Wolf to take you back to Beacon, tell the others that I'm sorry." Onyx's voice came out lifeless and dull as he turned to the man he'd probably crippled for life, and, with a blaze of furious grey energy, began to attempt to repair the damage he'd caused, until a small fist crashed into the side of his head, it was enough for him to turn his attention to Ruby, who, rather than being disgusted was furious.

"Jerk! How could you think that I would just abandon you like that?! How the hell do you get the right to decide that you can just walk away from your friends? Your team? Me?!"

Onyx looked up at Ruby from his place on his knees, a painful mixture of fear, hope, and confusion burned like lava in his gut.

"Y-you, don't hate me?"

"No, I don't hate you, dummy, I could never hate you, never."

"But you don't love me anymore."

(Ruby's POV)

Ruby was horrified, she'd seen Onyx fight, he killed Grimm with a simple, practical brutality that not even Yang could match, and he hardly showed more mercy to his fellow classmates in sparring, always finishing his fights swiftly and brutally, but this was torture, her sweet, caring boyfriend had tortured a man less than eight feet away from her, while she'd stood guard outside. Unfortunately, Onyx saw her horror, and the light in his eyes, already dimmed from the moral struggle he must have been waging in his head, died completely, leaving his face lifeless, broken, and haunted, then he turned to the unconscious man and spoke, his voice nearly broke her heart, it was as empty of life as his expression.

"Just help me heal him, then you can get Wolf to take you back to Beacon, tell the others that I'm sorry."

Suddenly Ruby's horror and pain turned into rage, how dare he abandon his friends, abandon her! No, he was going to get a piece of her mind for being so stupid and selfish.

"Jerk! How could you think that I would just abandon you like that?! How the hell do you get the right to decide that you can just walk away from your friends? Your team? Me?!"

Her outburst had a definite effect on Onyx, the black haired brawler looked up at the red and black themed reaper, his eyes shining with a desperate hope, mixed with fear and confusion to create a blend of emotions that nearly made Ruby cry just to see them.

"Y-you don't hate me?" Onyx's voice was like that of a young boy asking if Santa was real, he wanted a yes, but he still believed that the answer was no. Ruby's rage died away in the face of that cracked, almost childlike hope. Acting on instinct, she she knelt on Onyx's knees and pulled him into a comforting hug, her arms around his chest, and her head on his shoulder.

"No, I don't hate you, dummy, I could never hate you, never."

The broken note worked it's way back into his voice.

"But you don't love me anymore, you can't." Ruby raised her head so that they were face to face, and not quite eye to eye.

"Why can't I? You know my past, you know that I want revenge on the Grimm just as much as you do on your Uncle, I know why you did what you did, I won't lie, the idea of you torturing another person, even a bad guy, horrifies me, but I can accept that as part of who you are, your life is consumed by your hatred for your Uncle, and to be honest it sometimes makes me feel as if there's no room for me in your world, but I do love you, so much so that it hurts when you are hurting and one of your smiles can light up my entire day."

"I don't deserve you."

"Well then its a good thing that it's not your decision to make, we have to make it together, and I'm not letting you go, do you understand?" Ruby retorted with a playful grin.

A smile began forming on Onyx's face that set his amazing, sky blue eyes burning with azure fire, and started a bonfire in her belly of attraction and nerves with a healthy dose of love added in.

"So... Are you going to help me heal him, or just stay in my lap forever, because I'm good with either option right about now." Ruby laughed, but blushed, and chewed her bottom lip.

"You really need to stop doing that, it's not healthy." Onyx told her.

Ruby stopped, then she put her hands on his chest and said. "I think I'll do both." Then she began to radiate dark red energy that she poured into Onyx's own reserves, and Onyx used the spare energy to heal Davin, until both his legs were functional and and he was asleep, rather than unconscious. Ruby was exhausted, Onyx was too, but Ruby was literally falling asleep on his shoulder, gently, Onyx picked Ruby up and carried her bridal style to the nearest bed, where he laid her down and removed her boots for her, she just barely managed a soft "goodnight" when she dropped almost immediately to sleep, Onyx managed to struggle out of his own boots, shrug off his jacket, and pull his shirt off before dropping onto the other bed, and falling asleep, his body, mind and soul completely exhausted by the events of the past hour and a half.

(Author's Note: This chapter explores a darker side of Onyx, in many ways Onyx is like Ruby, but unlike her, he isn't naïve, he isn't innocent, and he can be cruel if he believes it to be necessary, that part of him will by no means go away, ever, it's part of the character, and that isn't going to change, though it will always be tempered by his basically good soul and of course, Ruby.)