The rain came down in waves, slamming down on the world and causing a roar so loud it could be mistaken for thunder. The clouds were almost black, stealing all the light out of the sky, only to be illuminated by the sudden flashes of lightning that lit up the world with a short burst of blue.
Roland looked out his window, finding an ironic peace in the chaos of the storm. He liked thunder and lighting, it fascinated him and made him feel a little bit safer than normal. The boy had no idea why the dangers comforted him, but he had accepted it a long while ago.
Unfortunately, Elisabeth, who sat on the couch wrapped in Roland's cloak with her head covered, hated thunder and lightning more than anything else in the world. When another ear-splitting boom resonated from the sky Elisabeth nearly fell of the couch she jumped so bad, wishing the storm would pass.
"You really hate this stuff, huh?" Roland walked over and joined her on the couch, wrapping an arm around the girl.
"I just don't like how much noise it makes…" Elisabeth's faunas ears rang each time the thunder clapped, and now they were pressed tightly against the top of her head.
"Well, that's all it is, just noise. And besides, it'll be gone soon, I'm sure."
"Ugh, but that doesn't make it any better now. Can this situation get any worse?"
As if on cue, the lights in the apartment flickered a few times, then faded, plugging the two into darkness. "Of all the things you could have said, what in the world made you think putting those words together in a sentence was a good idea?" Roland had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing as Elisabeth groaned.
"I hate everything."
"Hey, looks like a little bit of me is rubbing off on you."
"I wouldn't be surprised, we do live together now."
It had been a few weeks since they had made the decision, and so far it was going fairly well. Elisabeth's parents had taken a bit of convincing, but after they met Roland plenty of times they had agreed.
The apartment had provided more than enough space for two, and Roland enjoyed the company. He got lonely very easily, and boredom was also a constant problem. Television never managed to keep his attention for long and he could only play so many games on his laptop before he felt the need to do something else.
"Well, I guess now we have to sit and wait for the power to come back." Roland's eyes were already starting to adjust, and he knew that Elisabeth had gifted night vision due to being a faunas. Still, the girl had never liked the dark all that much, and always prefered to be in a lit room.
"Don't you have candles, or a flashlight, or something?"
"What? Why would I have those?"
"Because everyone has something like that in their house!"
"Why would people keep those things? They'd be useless."
"Not everyone has the eyes of a raccoon you know."
"Oh yeah… Well, people should learn to adapt faster."
"I hate you so much."
"You love me."
"I know…"
"Blaaaaaaake."
"Yang, stop."
"But Blaaaaaaaaaake."
"Yang, no."
"But I'm boooooooored."
"I'm trying to read."
"You've been reading for hours!"
"It's been thirty minutes."
"Thirty minutes of nothing to do! Can't we watch tv or something?"
"How would we do that without any power?"
"There has to be something to do though."
"There is. It's called reading."
"But reading is boring!"
"Only to you Yang, only to you." The faunas attempted to return to her book, finding it slightly harder to read due to the small amount of light that the candle provided.
Yang on the other hand felt like she was going to lose her mind. There was literally nothing to do, and it seemed like Blake had no intention to put down her book any time soon. Yang considered using her semblance to burn the stack of paper and gain her partner's attention, but quickly decided the consequences were not worth it. But still, with the power out and Blake occupied, Yang was left with no entertainment.
It was times like these when Yang wished they were still at Beacon. At least then there was always something to do, even during storms like this one. Ever since Yang and Blake had gotten their own place the brawler found herself constantly plagued by boredom. Perhaps sharing a room with three other people wasn't as bad as Yang had originally felt it was.
"I wonder what sis and the princess are up to."
"It's heiress, actually."
"Blake I swear to god I will light you on fire."
"Weiss, there's nothing to do." Ruby was laying on her back next to her partner, staring at the ceiling and occasionally blowing her bangs out of her face.
"Ruby, I'm trying to focus." Weiss stared at the textbook in her lap. Secretly, she had been unable to focus all day, having to read the pages multiple times before she understood what they were saying. Now Ruby's constant pestering only made it worse.
"Come on, you've been reading that textbook all day, can't we do something else?"
"There isn't exactly all that much to do. The power's out and its raining pretty hard."
"We could still do something. Maybe go see a movie, I dunno. Something besides sitting here for hours."
"I am not driving in this weather. Drivers in Vale are terrible enough as is, I hate to think about how horrible they are when conditions are like this."
Ruby let out a moan and rolled over onto her stomach, burying her face in the soft sheets of the bed. The girl let out a muffled cry, hoping it would help in some way, then rolled over again, hoping she could at least keep a conversation with Weiss going.
Unfortunately, Ruby didn't see where exactly she was laying on the bed, and ended up rolling right off the side and hitting the wooden floor before she even knew what had happened.
"Ouchie…" The younger girl rubbed the back of her head and sat up, looking at Weiss, who was doing her best to not laugh.
"Dunce."
Far on the other side of Vale, the streets laid empty and quiet as water slowly built up, growing higher and higher, until it seemed like the city was slowly turning into on big lake.
"Haven't seen a storm like this for years…" Roman lit a cigarette, staring out the window and spinning his cane in his hand.
"Oh, is the boss a scared of a little water?" Emerald lounged on a set of boxes, staring up at the blank ceiling and letting her mind wonder.
"Shut it kid. Be glad you're able to stay here, otherwise you'd be the scared one."
"Scared of what exactly? Not like you can do anything to us." Mercury was tinkering with his boots, trying to find a way to pass the time.
"I wouldn't have to do anything to you. If anyone out there finds out that you two aren't as innocent as you're trying to be, then the problems start."
"And who could get to us? We've go Cinder, remember?" Emerald knew they were walking on thin ice with this plan, but it was the only thing they had. Getting into Beacon was hard enough, but pretending to be friends with all the students was killing her.
"You got a lot to learn kid. We're tools to Cinder, so stop acting like she's family. Once this plan is done we all go our separate ways. If you're thinking of sticking around, forget about it." Roman had seen the way Emerald looked at Cinder. Like a puppy following its owner around, Emerald saw Cinder as some kind of role model.
"Maybe you are, but us two mean more to Cinder than that, you'll see soon enough. And besides, we can handle ourselves."
"I doubt that." Roman laughed. "There are kids at Beacon who could rip you to shreds with a hand behind their back."
"Really? The kids at Beacon? Those bunch of rich kids couldn't tell a sword from a dagger, I doubt half of them can even shoot a gun accurately."
"Then you haven't been paying attention. You've been in Vale for half a year now, I had assumed you would have learned something."
"I learned that roughly ten kids at that school can actually fight, the rest are useless."
"There are more than that. You think RWBY and JNPR are all there is?"
"Well who else could there be? I sure didn't see anyone else worth noting. What about you Mercury?"
"Nah, they all looked pretty bland to me." The silver haired boy set his boots aside, leaning back on the shelf he was sitting on and resting his hands behind his head.
"So tell me, if you know so much, what do you think happened to the White Fang?" Roman started walking around, letting out clouds of smoke as he went.
"Cinder told us not to worry about that. That the White Fang were no longer needed." Emerald eyed the man suspiciously.
"Oh here we go. Cinder said this, Cinder said that, we should blindly believe everything Cinder says because there's no way she could, oh, I don't know, lie to us?"
"Well what did happen to the White Fang then?"
"What do you think? They got taken down by a group from Beacon. Operation after operation, and soon enough that pillar of smoke coming from the forest was the remains of the White Fang base."
"You expect me to believe that two teams from Beacon took down the entire White Fang."
"They weren't alone. Ozpin has got himself an ace up his sleeve."
"What do you mean an ace? Some kind of special weapon?"
"Man, Cinder didn't tell you anything either, did she?"
"Only as much as she told you."
Roman laughed a little and rubbed his forehead. "Kid, this goes way beyond you and me. Cinder is doing this because she has some kind of ancient grudge match going with one of those kids a Beacon."
"Well which one? That Ruby girl?"
"No no, someone much worse. You ever see a kid walking around in all black, probably had a hood up?"
Emerald searched her memory, the description seeming vaguely familiar. "I think I saw someone like that… But he never did anything, just sat in the back and never talked."
"Well guess what kiddo, he's the reason we're doing all this. Cinder wants him dead."
"Why would she waste her time on someone like him?"
"You really didn't pay attention, did you? That kid has a very, very special semblance, one that you probably don't even know about. And when that semblance gets used, it is very bad for all the people in the area."
"Then why doesn't Cinder just kill him?"
"Beats me." Roman shrugged. "All I know is that she wants him dead, and apparently we need a whole lotta dust to do that."
"Well, I still trust Cinder." Emerald crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back and letting her eyes drift shut. "She wouldn't betray us."
"If you think that then you're a bigger idiot than I first thought. But by all means, keep acting like Cinder will keep you alive after this is all over."
"Even if she does betray us, it means you'll be dead too." Mercury finally decided to give his input, knowing that Emerald was far too stubborn to be persuaded.
"Yes. Yes it does." Roman tossed his cigar away and let out one final puff of smoke.
"So what are you gonna do about it?" Mercury had never been exactly thrilled to be working with Cinder. Something about that woman felt off, making Mercury feel uneasy in her presence.
"I don't know yet. We still have a while to go, and that means she still needs us. So for now, we listen to her and act like we have no idea what's going on. When the time comes, I'll be ready. I don't know if I can say the same for you two."
"Don't worry about us. We'll be fine." Emerald didn't believe a single word Roman said.
"Oh, believe me, I don't. I'm just saying, when she puts you two in her sights, don't expect me to take the shot for you."
"Never did, never will."