Neo's ring. How does Red have Neo's ring? Red's face glistened in the low light. Her eyes bright with fear, she struggled to pull her shaking hand out of Roman's grip, but he wouldn't let go of her so easily. Wait a second—she lost this after Junior's club was destroyed…or maybe while it was being destroyed. Roman's face softened as he took a closer look at her expression. She seemed particularly interested in his scar, but she was probably concerned more with the fact that he wasn't letting go.

Whatever the case, he understood what this meant: Neo only came in contact with her after shit went down in the club, which means he had to have given her the ring then. Neo trusts Red. And Roman is going to need a lot of help getting out of here alive.

He reluctantly loosened his grip on her wrist, and she eagerly slipped it out, cradling it in the bosom of her chest. Roman pushed himself off the ground for two seconds. Ruby followed, but he froze when he heard the clanking of metal on the carpet.

"Move, now!" He hooked his arm under her armpit and dragged her behind the table. Barely on her feet, she stumbled back and fell on her back. Roman dove on top of her and pushed her head into his chest. An explosion lashed at his back, reversing any healing that those burns had done in the past few days.

The pain made the moment last longer, but he knew that it was shorter than a second. He lifted himself up only a little before he realized he wouldn't have the strength to do it. Red's face got too bright. Everything got too bright. He felt like vomiting, and his blood ran all the way down his chest, his arm, and onto Red's clothes.

Red noticed and slid out from under him. Roman would have collapsed if Red hadn't grabbed him from behind and helped him to his knees. Roman turned to look over his shoulder. Red was unwrapping her scarf from her neck with frantic, jerky movements. When it came away from her throat, she approached him and started to wrap it around his shoulder.

"There's no exit wound," Red muttered.

"Shrapnel," Roman drawled, his mouth hardly moving to form consonants.

"Can you stand?" she asked.

Roman nodded and moved to shift his weight off of his feet, but when he moved, he felt himself falling toward the floor. Red immediately pulled him back up, but he knew what this meant for the both of them. Wait, why is Red helping him in the first place? Roman's head lulled back to look up at Red. She already looked like she was coming up with a plan. She wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled him to his feet.

"What are you doing?" said Roman.

Red said nothing in response to his question, trying to manage his body on her shoulders. "I can't carry your weight on my own, so I need to keep you conscious. Tell me about yourself."

"A grenade just went off, and that's what you want me to do." Roman stumbled forward in an attempt to keep up with Red's slow pace. He was covered with his own sweat. A drop trickled down his temple.

"I just need you to make it out that door. That's it. So just focus on that and let me worry about the rest."

Roman adjusted himself so his weight was on her back. She held both of his arms out in front of him, gripping tightly to keep them from slipping.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked. Even with her support, Roman was finding it hard to take a step forward. Black spots were appearing in his vision, and the pain in his shoulder and his leg was starting to numb.

"I'm not going to tell you in here."

"No…fair." Roman's breathing got heavier. "I don't have…the time…to wait."

"Please, stay with me," she pleaded. Roman dropped his weight on Red completely. He couldn't see anything anymore.

"Wake up! Help! Help!" Footsteps. "He passed out—I got him out as soon as possible…"

"Can you hear me? Oh my God, is he ever going to wake up?"

"No. I'm not leaving."


Roman inhaled sharply. His headache was the most pervasive thing in his perception right now. He reached up to touch his head, noticing that his skin felt abnormally warm. He hissed when he tried to sit up, flashes of pain shooting up his arm.

He was immediately pushed down. Whatever was blocking the sunlight moved, and morning light poured into his eyes. Whose place is this? Roman has windows in his room, but not a wall of them. His eyes adjusted and listed themselves upward.

"Red," he mumbled.

"Stay down. You need rest," she said.

When Red looked back at him, her cheeks heated up, and her eyes brightened. His eyes narrowed. Her back suddenly straightened, and Roman imagined a lightbulb over her head.

"You need pain meds," she realized.

"No, stop," he muttered. She didn't listen. She kept sorting through a plastic box on the nightstand filled with gauze, waterproof tape, and other shit you could find in a first aid kit.

"Stop," he reaffirmed, a little more sternly this time. She looked back at him with a sympathetic look.

"You're in pain." She found what she was looking for in a syringe. Probably not a first aid kit, then.

She pulled off the cap and flipped over his arm, exposing his inner arm.

"I said stop!" Roman grabbed her wrist with his other good arm and faced her with a cold stare.

Red seemed confused. "Aren't you hurt?"

"No pain desensitizers. None. I don't care if Neo told you to do that."

Red placed that cap back on the syringe and set it aside. Roman let the tension out of his face and rolled onto his side. "Don't you have school or something?"

"I'm ditching."

Roman flopped onto his back. "Just go. I don't need a babysitter."

Red looked at her hands as her fingers laced together. She wouldn't meet his eyes. "That's not why I'm here."

What the hell is she doing here, then? "Then why are you—"

"You're too important," she whispered.

"What?" It occurred to Roman to joke about what she was saying, but he couldn't quite believe what he'd heard himself.

"You heard me." Red turned to face him. "You are too important. And you're hurt. So swallow your pride and just let me do this." Red picked up the drugs she set aside and repositioned his arm.

"No, wait," he breathed. "I—" Roman paused. If he tried to tell her anything but the truth, she'd take it as him trying not to appear weak. Fuck. "I can't have it." He spoke low, barely heard.

"Why not?" Ruby asked. She seemed genuinely concerned but expectant of some sort of lie.

Roman turned the other way. "I'm an addict."

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know."

"Yeah." Roman looked at her hands, awkwardly holding the medication in her hands.

"It's just that…I can't tell."

"Look, we don't have to talk about it, okay?" Roman tried to sit up.

Red pushed him back down to the mattress. "Then what do you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that I'm being held as your captive audience?" He sat up again. Red pushed him back down.

"You need rest."

"No, I need to use the bathroom. How long was I out for again?"

Red glanced out the window. "All right."

Roman rolled off the bed. "So where is it?" The view from the window suggested that they were in an expensive neighborhood. He knew this building.

Red turned in surprise. "What? Isn't this your place?"

He shook his head. "No. I'll have to talk to Neo."

"She left earlier this morning to take care of business. I asked, but she didn't give me an answer."

"Good." Roman got to his feet. "So what do you want?"

"What do you mean?" asked Red.

"I shot at you. Twice. You can't honestly believe that I'm just going to trust you after everything that's happened. Seriously, what assurances do you have that I'm not going to grab my gun and shoot you?"

Red pondered for a moment before answering. "I don't know."

"Then what are you expecting? Money? Intel? Oh God, don't tell me that you wanna—"

Red's face flushed. "No! That's not—no, I would never—I wouldn't even consider—"

"Got it. I won't take it personally."

Red nodded.

"I want to know." Roman leaned against the doorframe. He didn't exactly realize until now that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Know what?" Red tried to keep her focus on his face.

"Why you saved my life," he stated flatly.

"That's a secret." Red stood up and made her way to the door.

Roman stepped in her way. "I'm not letting you leave until you tell me."

"I owed you, and I paid you back." She stepped to his side, but Roman grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the room.

"What's the hurry? You're not rushing to get to first period, so you have plenty of time to tell me exactly why you decided to risk your life to save mine."

Red stepped back as Roman stepped forward until she tripped over the rug and fell backwards. Roman kneeled at her side. She gripped the rug in balled fists.

"Relax, I'm not holding a gun to your head."

"You don't want to hear it." Her voice shook, but the tone remained steady.

"Yes, I do. Just tell me. I'm not going to make you regret it." Roman tried to make himself sound sincere, but it just sounded strained.

She took a deep breath. "I can't."

Roman set his jaw and looked out the window. The sun had already come up, illuminating certain sides of the city but casting shadows much longer than the buildings they came from. He stood up. "Then I think it's time for you to go."


Yeah, that took a heck of a while. Oh, by the way, this is headcanon heavy. (duh) RWBY Volume 3 recently came out, not that I have to tell any of you that, but I'm gonna let you know right now that I will not accomodate ANY canon material incorporated after Volume 2. It's honestly just too much work, and I know that the moment that this requires a substantial amount of my time and energy (or more than it already does) is the moment I know I won't finish this thing. And I'm gonna finish this thing. Just watch me, you fuckers, I'm going all the way...in more ways than one. ;)