I do not own RWBY

Hours after the end of their sparing match, Ruby was still buzzing with energy. She'd never thought fighting Adam would be so much fun, he had been able to keep up with her easily; very easily. It was obvious that he was stronger than she was. There was no way she would be able to bet him in a straight fight but he hadn't seen her use her scythe either. If they turned out to be enemies then she might be able to get the drop on him. Humming she tossed away the towel she'd been using to dry her hair before falling back onto her bed.

Glancing over at her still packed bag, she groaned. Of course, she would have to unpack; it wasn't as if she'd been able to bring Ciel on this training trip. It was annoying that she had to leave her Ciel behind. If her options were either finally unpacking or doing literally anything else she would choose the second. Bouncing up, she quickly escaped her room leaving the annoying backed bag behind in the hopes it would vanish by the time she returned. Given that it was midnight she didn't really expect anyone else to be awake when she entered the kitchen so finding Adam sitting at the table with a cup of tea was a shock.

Almost skipping toward him she tilted her head when he glanced up from the files in front of him. He was still wearing his mask causing her curiosity to spike; what color were his eyes? She hoped they weren't gold, far too many faunus had golden eyes. Offering him a smirk that didn't reach her eyes she wondered if he knew she'd sent Cardin after Blake at Beacon or that she'd fought Viper. On that note, she actually wanted to fight Viper again, he'd been a fun opponent although she would rather they didn't use poison next time.

"There's tea," he said. Following his gesture toward the pot of tea on the counter, she softened. Letting the smirk fade she let it be replaced by a small smile as she moved to grab a cup.

If he noticed the change in her expression he didn't bother to acknowledge it instead he turned his attention back to the files. He was obviously a good leader if he spent this much time working; it was no wonder Cinder had recruited him for the attack on Beacon. If she was looking to attack a school of Hunters then she would pick someone like him too. Not to mention he was so good at fighting; the urge to ask for a rematch was almost overwhelming but she ignored it. They both needed time to recover before sparring.

Sitting down beside him, she glanced at the papers without bothering to hide her curiosity. He didn't have the same dangerous aura that he'd had when they sparred but she doubted it was hidden too far beneath the surface. Placing her cup on the table, far enough away that it wouldn't spill all over his files, she slowly pulled a piece of paper toward her. Jolting when his hand slammed down on the paper, the reaper pouted.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Is that why you sent Viper?"

Thank the gods she'd managed to avoid saying something stupid. At least this wasn't the same as talking to Roman; after the airship incident, she'd been a little worried her mouth had a mind of its own. Pushing the thoughts from her mind she was a little surprised to see the small smirk that crossed his lips. She really wanted to see if it reached his eyes.

"It was only fair after you sent your pawn after me."

Holy hell his voice was nice when he purred. The smugness in his tone was something that she most likely shouldn't have been attracted too but she was. Stupid teenage hormones, why couldn't she be attracted to someone like Jaune instead of someone likely to hurt her. First Roman then Neo and Cinder, now Adam was added to that list too. Was if the idea of danger that attracted her to them in the first place or was there something wrong with her; at least she hadn't turned into a mumbling wreck yet. She knew it was only a matter of time until she lost control of her tongue.

"Cardin isn't a pawn, he's my friend, besides I wasn't about to let you steal my kitten," she said. The teasing tone she used was mostly so she didn't fall apart thinking about Blake. It still hurt to acknowledge that the faunus would've let her die.

"Were they able to fix his eye," he asked with enough genuine curiosity that she didn't want to stab him.

"He's taken great amusement in picking out eyepatches that make him look intimidating."

Adam nodded in understanding. He didn't bother to ask if the man was angry about losing his eye nor did he do something as foolish as apologize. They both knew any sort of apology would be nothing but a lie. Cardin had told her to give Adam a chance, that was what she was doing, yet if he tried to apologize that would make the faunus someone she could never work with. It was nice to know he wasn't someone that turned his back on his choices easily.

"I watched your fight with Viper," he said instead of taunting her about Cardin. He could still feel the sensation of the man's semblance tearing through his mental walls and bringing him to his knees. Shoving the memory away he said, "you're reckless."

"I was having fun," she argued. There was no doubt that he was right; when she lost herself in a good fight she got reckless. It wasn't as though Viper was trying to kill her, so he wasn't really a threat. He hadn't angered her enough to make her lose her cool either so there was no reason for her to try and kill him.

"I doubt being stabbed was fun."

The dryness in his voice was enough to make her laugh despite the pain that flashed in her eyes. Trying to make her amusement hide the truth, she offered him a cocky smirk that never reached her silver eyes. What was the point in letting herself fall apart when she could push on and get stronger instead? There was no way she would ever shatter when she still had people who needed her although the urge to kill Ilia was something she doubted would go away any time soon.

"What's life without pain?"

Peaceful, although neither of them were willing to live a life of peace. Sighing he gave up; he doubted that the injury had left any permanent damage if she was joking about it. Then again the reaper was hard to read, it wasn't as if she'd come with an instruction manual. Her silver eyes were guarded again, a fact he wasn't comfortable with, so he did the only thing that he could think to make her open up again. He decided to offer her just a little bit of his trust, after all, she was a fellow student of Raven's and they would need to work together during the hunt. Picking up a stack of folders on the mission he'd been assigned by Sienna, he passed them over to the girl.

Brightening almost instantly she opened the file only to freeze. Eyes sharpening she frowned at the reports of missing children staring back at her. Apparently, there were a lot of missing faunus children in Mistral and the White Fang was trying to find them. Glancing at Adam she noticed the tension in his shoulders before shrugging; it wasn't like she was meaning to sleep tonight anyway.

(Roman)

Mistral was nice, that was what he wanted to say but between running a bar and looking into ways to take over the government he was running on less than three hours of sleep. The old law book Neo had found for him was enough to give him hope. Just because they'd decided to side with Ruby didn't mean he was about to let her do all the work. He was the man who'd taken over the Vale criminal network in less than four years how hard could a Kingdom be. part of him wondered if Mistral was just the first of the Kingdoms Ruby would take over or if she would be satisfied with just one.

In truth he was starting to think burning this Kingdom to the ground might be a mercy. Vale was vanilla, they were the most peaceful. Atlas was formality wrapped in technology and topped with military might. Vacuo was wild indulgence where only the strong, crazy, survived. Mistral was different in both good and bad ways.

On one hand, this city was so soaked in corruption that he could do whatever the hell he wanted with no one to stop him. Every cop in the Kingdom was owned by either the council or criminals; even Headmaster Lionheart's hands were dirty. The White Fang was a huge influence in the city although everyone liked to pretend they weren't, yet they didn't hold enough power to take over completely. He was willing to bet the only reason there wasn't blood on the streets was due to the rising issue of Huntsmen and Huntresses vanishing on missions.

The announcements from both Lionheart and the council were nothing worth listening to; neither of them were willing to admit that humanities protectors had vanished. What did interest him was the guilt on Lionheart's face during those press conferences. Most people would say that he felt responsible as Haven's Headmaster, but Roman wasn't going to believe that. If the man really felt that guilt then he would be out there trying to find out what happened instead he simmered in his office trying to placate the people. His disbelief of Lionheart was why he sent Neo to find out what the man was hiding; Haven security is laughable.

Apparently, Lionheart had been giving the locations and mission parameters of every Huntsman and Huntress in the Kingdom to someone. He was willing to bet that someone had killed them; there was no doubt that they were dead. If grimm decided to invade the entire Kingdom would be destroyed. Lionheart was either a fool or he was being manipulated; it was most likely both. Neo had also found out the council was on the verge of panicking and abandoning the city.

If that wasn't bad enough faunus children in the city were going missing leading to both the White Fang and police to scramble. Of course, the nobility didn't care since they were safe, he almost had the urge to rob them blind just so they felt threatened. From the reports from Miss Malachite, there was a budding slave auction that no one could pin down. Roman almost wished he'd stayed in Vale at least there he had his own information network. Poor Neo was ready to kill him if he woke her up for a late-night trip to the Spiders again.

At least he had good news too, according to the book; the Rose family was actually Mistral nobility. Ruby was Mistral nobility despite not having been born in the Kingdom. Not only did that give her family in the form of one old man who hadn't left his house in twenty years but also a claim to the Mistral throne. Apparently, anyone of noble blood who earned a spot on the council could be elected as the new monarch by the other members or if they were the only remaining council member during a time of war.

He now had confirmation that Ruby's entire bloodline was insane especially from the mission reports Neo had borrowed from the records office. There was also an unspoken rule amongst the nobility to never cross a Rose, he doubted the nobles would last long once Ruby arrived. It was likely that the law had been forgotten about or there was a fool somewhere hoping to exploit it. Too bad Roman wanted to see what Ruby would do if she actually got the power she desired. Gathering blackmail on the council was becoming his new goal.

Or he could kill the council and bathe in their blood making himself the new king of Mistral. Blinking at the thought he glanced at the coffee cup sitting on his desk and wondered if someone had drugged him; being king was far too much work.

He really needed a nap…

(Ruby)

Dancing around the kitchen of Raven's cabin, Ruby paid only half attention to the meeting behind her. It was annoying to learn she was the only one even slightly capable of cooking; Dakota apparently could burn water and Vernal was only good when cooking with a campfire. That left her in charge of making breakfast which turned out to be pancakes since she was too lazy to put in much effort. Nora would've been very happy with her choice.

Their target was the Nuckleve, a grimm with the appearance of a horse and rider. It was apparently capable of calling on other grimm to aid it in battle too. The Tribe had been tracking it for over a month now as it rampaged through village after village; Raven had decided it was past time that they deal with the grimm. If half the information about the creature was true then the battle would be interesting at the very least. She couldn't wait to see just how strong the grimm was; hopefully, it was more fun to fight than a normal beowolf or ursa.

"Given the amount of grimm that can show up, we should try and kill it quickly," Adam announced. He'd taken over the planning of their attack while Raven watched. The odd look of pride in her gaze was lost on none of them.

"Last sighting was near Kuroyuri."

Placing a plate in front of Vernal she offered the brunet a smirk that caused the girl to bristle. Twisting out of reach before the older girl could catch her, she moved back to grab everyone else's food. Darling Vernal wasn't a morning person, so Ruby would take every opportunity to tease her into oblivion; it was probably more fun than it should've been.

"It'll take two weeks to reach that area," Dakota announced after only glancing at the map for a moment. The amusement in his tone was almost tangible when Vernal bit viciously into a pancake only to melt; of course, she stiffened and growled milliseconds later in hopes none of them would notice.

"So road trip," Ruby asked. Sitting down between Adam and Vernal she smiled sweetly at the brunet who only simmered. If it was between huffing and puffing at the reaper or eating then there really was no choice at all.

"Sounds fun."

"Killing everything in a four-mile radius would sound fun to you."

Adam's words were not meant to make anyone normal laugh, but the three around him were far from normal. Sighing as even his teacher smiled he briefly wondered if Viper was taking care of his people while he was on vacation. It wasn't as if they could set the base on fire or anything at most they would play card games and pretend that work hadn't been invented yet. Maybe calling later to check-in was a good idea.


Hi guys, sorry this took so long I got sick. Anyway, what did you guys think of this chapter? I tried to set up some Mistral stuff since most of the side story for this arc will be in Atlas. Pyrrha will be waking up soon.

- have a good day and stay safe

-Shyla