Hello there! Sorry for the super long period of nothing, but for the time being I'm back, so… yay?

Yeah, I got nothing. Moving on!


"Stop!"

With all the grace of a small boy tripping over his new hoverboard, Ruby Rose landed on her butt and proceeded to catch her breath. Her instructor, who was somewhat winded as well, leaned against a tree and muttered a series of curse words in a foreign language.

"S-so?" Ruby panted. "How was that?"

"Better," Sapphire replied. "But you're still relying on your Semblance too much. You have the tendency to use it whenever you get nervous or when you panic. Not a good habit to be having."

"B-but if I just stand there, I'm a sitting duck," Ruby protested.

"That's why you don't panic," Sapphire explained. "Counter or back away, but don't do anything to reveal your Semblance. Once your opponent even sees it, they'll be on the alert for it."

"Are you sure it'll work?" Ruby asked. "I mean, Blake once told me hers didn't really faze Torchwick even though she had sprung it on him suddenly, and it didn't… well… seem to work on you either…"

"Right. That," Sapphire muttered. "For one thing, while I don't know about Torchwick, I'm an experienced fighter. At least more so against humans – or Faunus, I guess," he added under his breath, "than the average Huntsman or Huntress. We tend to be more cautious during combat due to often being outnumbered, and even if she did use a clone she never left our line of sight, so it was easier for us to adapt. That's where you come in.

"Your Semblance can allow you to instantly attack a person's blind spot," he went on, tapping the nape of his neck. "Like here. If you time it right, you'll catch your opponent off-guard and be able to finish them right away. It's a one-off, since any attempts after that would be thwarted by your enemy due to knowing your intention and means. That's why you need to watch the timing. Got it?"

Well, it's a one-off because you're supposed to kill the opponent, but whatever, he finished in his head.

"Um…" Ruby mumbled. "Sapphire pinched the bridge of his nose. This was why he was not a lecturer at Beacon.

"Pick the right moment, speed up behind them, slice the neck," he stated.

"… How will I know the timing?" Ruby asked. She was clearly bothered by the notion of slashing someone's neck, but Sapphire let it slide; everyone had to start somewhere after all. "And what if they're protected by their Aura?"

"Not bad," Sapphire nodded. "As far as timing is concerned, it's when your opponent can react to your moves without delay. When it feels like they can predict your moves, that's when they've become accustomed to your movements and current speed. That's when the sudden burst of speed makes them unable to react to you immediately. As for Aura, most people will apply it to their blind spots, but since your weapon type and fighting style rely on momentum, with your speed it shouldn't be difficult to break through. Even if it doesn't, it'll be a clean hit that can send them flying and make them dazed. A win-win."

"O-kay…" Ruby said, dragging out the 'o'. Sapphire had a habit of going on and on, and she was not one for asking him to repeat or clarify.

"Besides," Sapphire added. "I modified the blade a little so it could hack through Aura, so there's that."

"Um…" Ruby furrowed her brow. "You did what to my scythe?"

"I strengthened the blade," Sapphire shrugged, neglecting to mention that the actual method was illegal in nature. "But, more importantly…"

He stopped speaking at that point, instead trudging over to Ruby and bending down. With his face just inches away from a very confused Ruby, he went on with a fierce look in his eyes:

"This is something you need to know," he said. "This weapon – Crescent Rose – is something that can now take the lives of people. Do you understand what that means?"

Ruby did not respond, but the look in her eyes told him she had heard every word.

"It means that one swing from you can rob someone of everything they once had," he said. "A well-timed blow, and a family could lose a member. One simple slash, and it could mean one less person would walk this Remnant. A simple, meaningless thing called 'victory' is acquired at the cost of a part of your soul – and it'll never come back because you've committed the greatest taboo of taking a life. You'll have tainted your humanity with the blood of people just like you. Are you alright with that?"

Silence. For a few slow, tense seconds, blue met silver as Ruby returned his gaze. He did not look away, and (surprisingly enough) neither did she. When he thought he had seen something click in her eyes, Sapphire opened his mouth to speak, but Ruby beat him to it.

"I'll do it."

No hesitation. No wavering. No fear. Her answer was so clear Sapphire was actually taken aback. He briefly wondered if he had been seeing things – at least until he saw the slightest of unease reflected in her irises.

"Why?" he asked. It was not so much questioning her determination, but rather one asking for the reason for her acceptance.

"I… trust you," Ruby replied. "And I want to understand what you're going through."

"… What's there to understand?" Sapphire asked dismissively. "I've killed. I've committed the sins no person should, and I'm training you to do the same. I'm a killer. There's nothing in me for you to trust, and there's nothing you can understand."

There was, and always will be a difference between killers and Hunters.

"You're-"

"You didn't kill Yang."

Sapphire froze.

"… What?"

"Blake told us about it," Ruby explained. "She told us about how you fought to save Yang, and how you tried to keep your Semblance under control. With your experience and abilities, you could easily have killed Yang. But you didn't."

"That's not-"

"Even when you were obsessed with killing Blake, you didn't finish her off in your fight."

"That's… I… That's not it. It doesn't change the fact that-"

"You didn't kill me when you lost control of your Semblance either."

Sapphire said nothing; at this point, there was already nothing left for him to say.

He had sunk deep into oceans of blood, letting it engulf him in the screams of his victims. He had gotten far too used to the act of killing – of taking a life – that his body no longer shook whenever he fought. He no longer flinched whenever he killed.

And yet, he was unable to refute her words.

She was undoubtedly just a child. She was a kid who probably aspired to be a hero or something equally unrealistic. She had no idea what it meant to kill, to fight against other people instead of monsters. She did not know what it meant to be a monster herself. Maybe that was why he admired her. Maybe her innocence was just that dazzling.

Maybe he still carried with him a fragment of hope within the pitch-black miasma of his soul.

He remembered the small house and its cold, concrete floors. He recalled the nights he spent embraced by his sister's warmth, seeking comfort from her gentle words. Back then, he had been nothing more than an ordinary child, unable and unwilling to understand the harshness of reality. Back then, he too had been a naïve little kid like Ruby.

How did they end up so different?

"Sapphire?" Ruby asked.

"Ah, yeah," Sapphire coughed. "Anyway. Rose. Your-"

"Ruby."

"… What?"

"Ruby," she repeated. "Call me Ruby. You call everyone else by their name, just not me."

"'Blake' is just shorter than 'Belladonna', 'Weiss' is because she has a sister, and I don't call blondie by her name," Sapphire replied in perfect deadpan. It was so bad Ruby did not even point out that he had outright lied about Yang.

"… You totally rehearsed that, didn't you." She said. She did not even have to make it a question.

"… Yes, I did," Sapphire admitted.

"So when're you gonna call me 'Ruby' like everyone else?"

"Maybe one of these days," Sapphire replied dismissively. "When you become someone who can kick my ass, perhaps."


He stared ahead, his mind lost in its own world while his hands tinkered with his weapon. He had already gotten used to the motions he had to make when maintaining Daybreak and Duskfall, so he hardly bothered to concentrate. Instead, he just let his fingers go through the motions they had become accustomed to.

Nothing felt right. Even though everything was as it should be, and even though there was no room for doubt, Sapphire found himself questioning everything that was currently happening.

In the short few days he had been here, he had seen quite a bit. Not nearly enough to know the situation inside-out – he had Torchwick to thank for that – but enough to give him a rough idea.

In essence, this place was a den of criminals. Thieves. Murderers. People who worked for money, or something equally pointless. They were, in short, people like Sapphire. They were akin to mercenaries, but they were mostly grunts who had, on an individual level, about enough skill to piss off a Grimm and that was it. They were hired labour. Disposable pawns. Nothing special about them.

And yet, he could not help but want to burn them – along with their hidey-hole – to the ground.

He could not explain it. He understood that they were like him, right down to being paid guns who could be thrown aside without consideration. They were killers and liars, just like he had been, like he was, but he could not find himself able to ignore that.

These people were murderers. Robbers. And so they had to die. Since when had he started to think like that?

Something's wrong, he thought. Something's definitely wrong.

Sapphire had, every now and then, entertained the thought of regret. He had, on the nights he sprang out of his bed drenched in sweat, wanted to run away from it all. But he had never once abhorred another person for doing what he had. He had never questioned others for committing the crimes he had once committed. But now, that lack of concern was replaced by a distinct sense of repulsion. Ever since he had found his sister, the nagging feeling gnawing at the back of his head simply refused to go away.

He had been fighting all this while out of hate, out of grief. Now that his sister – the reason for all that despair – was alive, what was he fighting for?

"What's with the face?"

The familiar voice which he had, until recently, longed to hear broke his train of thought. Without changing the solemn look on his face, Sapphire turned to look at his sister who, despite having a small smile on her face, looked pretty annoyed.

"Don't like it here?" she asked, her tone bearing a semblance of curiosity. There was something about her tone that bothered him, but Sapphire ignored it.

"Oh no, I love it here," he replied, sarcasm lacing his plastic smile. "There's nothing I like better than to be around murderers and thieves."

No retort came. Cinder either did not know what to say, or knew there was a punch-line and was waiting for it. Unperturbed, Sapphire went on.

"I had a dream the other night," he said. "A dream about when we were kids. I'd talk about the nightmares I had of mom and dad dying, and you'd comfort me somehow. And I'd always calm down, too. It was like magic."

Cinder froze. Sapphire, however, did not notice that detail. Instead, he hummed a soft tune.

"I used to think the song was sad," he said. "I wanted to believe like any other kid that heroes wouldn't die. But now, I realize that a part of me is hoping for the opposite. Odd, isn't it? I used to look up to heroes so much… And now I'm wishing they would just disappear.

"I guess that's normal and all, considering we're the villains now," he finished, staring straight into Cinder's eyes.

"W-what are you-" Cinder stammered.

"I know what the good are for, sis," Sapphire interjected. "I've used similar stuff before. Hard to justify having those things around, not to mention the Dust…"

"Not that," Cinder said sharply. There was something in her eyes now; something akin to panic. "You… how do you know those things? About the nightmares and that song…"

"What're you talking about?" Sapphire asked. "Of course I know. It was the only part of my life where I had a family. How could I possibly forget?"

For a split moment, the face Cinder was looking at changed. For that brief instant, that face which had looked like that of a fierce beast became… human. The moment he said those words, Sapphire Fall's expression had become that of a person's. That of a little boy whom Cinder knew very well.

"But… no…" Cinder muttered. "You can't be… You can't…"

Sapphire opened his mouth to speak, but the rumbling of a distant explosion cut him off. The resulting alarm did not exactly help with the conversation either.

"Well, I guess this is it," he sighed. "This is the part where the heroes storm the stronghold and the villains fall."

"What did you-"

"Run away, sis," Sapphire said. "I can't let you keep doing this thing you're doing anymore, but I won't let you rot away in a cell either. So run. And for crying out loud, do something safer. Hunt Grimm or be a teacher or something. I dunno."

Once more rendered speechless, Cinder Fall simply stared. The young man before her was simply someone she had brainwashed into believing that he was Sapphire, and nothing more. There was no way he could have had those memories unless he had somehow gotten them from Cinder herself. That, or…

It can't be. It just can't…

"But, well, I won't be seeing which option you take," Sapphire said with a bitter smile on his face. "We'll be parting ways here."

"… What are you talking about?"

"The heroes still need a villain to crush, sis," he replied calmly. "And I figured if I'm going to pay for what I've been doing up till now, I might as well choose them as my way to go. Now that I know you're alive, retribution is the only option left.

I'm a dead man anyway.

In all honesty, he would have been happier with Cinder by his side. He would have wanted to have a family again, and to regain the warmth he had lost all those years ago. But he could no longer wish for that. For a man who no longer valued his own life, Sapphire Fall had nothing left after losing the despair that had been keeping him alive.

As he was right now, Sapphire Fall no longer had a reason to fight anymore.

"See ya, big sis Cinderella," he said.

Nothing more was said, and nothing more was heard. Throwing himself into the crowd of goons and making for the intruders (even if he already knew who they were), Sapphire went completely silent. Right now, he had nothing more to say, and nothing left to think about.

The hideout had no chance. With the loss of backup from the Black Fang due to Adam's death, there was no way Torchwick's men would be able to defend this place long enough to move all the stuff to another location. This was checkmate, and anyone rushing towards the invaders right now was only heading to their own doom.

Dammit, he chided himself in his head. I'm thinking too much again.

But all that no longer mattered. At the end of the road littered with the bodies of countless unconscious goons, he found a familiar face. It was such a familiar face, in fact, that he stopped thinking altogether.

Cloaked in red and dazzlingly graceful, the petite warrior before him gave the weapon in her hands a cheerful twirl. Even amidst this scene of violence, she was an unmistakable beacon of innocence. Truly, in that moment, she looked… beautiful.

"Rose," Sapphire said, a strange, nostalgic feeling coursing through his body as he did. Inexplicably, he was actually relieved to see the red reaper before him just then. "Nice to see you again."

"Hey Saph," Ruby replied happily, as though they were friends meeting again after a period of absence. As though nothing was wrong. "How've you been?"

"Hoarding dangerous explosives and aiding criminals," Sapphire deadpanned. "And about to get my comeuppance. You?"

"Here to bring you back," she replied. She actually sounded serious. "You're attached to our team, you know; Ozpin will scold us if you just ran off."

"You'll have to drag this corpse all the way back to Beacon," Sapphire pointed out. "Will be tough."

"I'm not-" Ruby began.

"Enough," Sapphire cut across her. "I came here, and I'm letting the criminals escape even after seeing what they did. There's already no turning back for me, Rose. I let her get away."

"But you didn't let her continue making that mistake," Ruby assured him.

Silence. Blue met silver, and in the absence of words, conveyed what each side had to say.

"I guess there's no helping it, is there?" Ruby asked, pointing her beloved Crescent Rose at Sapphire. "I guess I'll have to fight you then."

"I have no intention to fight, Rose," Sapphire reminded her.

"It's the only way I can understand you."

"… What?"

"I'm still a rookie Huntress, so I can't say I know what you're going through," Ruby replied. "But at the very least, if I want to help you, I figured I had to see things from your perspective. See things the way you see them. Fight with my life on the line like you have. It's the only way I can save you."

"… As usual, you're a complete mystery," Sapphire said, activating Daybreak and Duskfall. He had no idea why he decided to humor her in the end, but there was something in her eyes that allowed for no arguments. She was surprisingly stubborn when it came to things like that. "But I suppose that's what Ozpin saw in you, Ruby."

"You called me 'Ruby'," Ruby pointed out.

"… So I did," Sapphire replied, getting into a fighting stance. "This will be a fight to kill after all. One of us won't walk this Remnant ever again after this. It only makes sense to be polite."

"Are you sure you're not just shy?" Ruby asked, flashing him a cheeky smile.

"You're picking up all the wrong things from Yang," Sapphire sighed, but he too managed a slight smile.

A slight smile which faded almost immediately when Ruby closed in.