A/N: Wow, one chapter in and I'm already blown away by the response, sometimes stories have to make multiple chapters with thousands of words on them before it gets any attention, and I am honored that on the first chapter it already has two reviews, 12 followers, and 9 favorites, I don't have any experience with popular stories, but something tells me that's a good omen. Of course, whether this gets a single more review or not, I will still be here and post my fanfic to the world, as I really believe in this story I want to tell and think it'll be good to express it in written form.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, all rights go to Rooster Teeth.

Ignis II

He felt like the wind, that was the only way he could accurately describe what he was experiencing right now, he had lost count of the time, but the sun started to set, so he knew it was well past the time school finished, while he enjoyed the feeling, he had started to panic some hours ago.

He hadn't quite thought it through when he started, but he hasn't consciously used this semblance before, and so naturally didn't know how to stop it, it dawned on him hours ago just how big his aura reserves must be.

Many people would have had their aura exhausted within the first 30 minutes of using their semblance for that long, an hour if they were masters of aura control and knew how to use their aura to the most efficient extent, the time would have been halved to 15 minutes and 30 minutes respectively in actual combat with another hunter/huntress or Grimm, or even lower if the person's aura reserves were below average.

Of course, a hunter/huntress' aura was always being passively used, but while in passive use, the aura cost is so small that the recharge process would cancel out any cost to aura reserves, but in combat or when using a semblance, the demand on aura becomes very taxing, and the recharge process simply can't keep up.

Ignis' reserves were well above average, this much was obvious, but why? His sister pretty much had the same semblance as him, and he doubt her aura reserves were as high, if he recalls his lessons correctly, all semblances were not created equal when it came to the toll it took on your aura, that's why hunters with potent and intricate semblances had to be very tactical when using their semblances, otherwise they could quickly zap their energy and the fight would end as quickly as it started.

The Petal Burst semblance was very useful in a fight and certainly very powerful when used right, but couldn't really be considered that potent or intricate, the aura reserves he had for such a semblance was overkill as far as Ignis was concerned, but he supposed he shouldn't complain.

Patch City felt different when he was in his petal form, he was aware of where he was but he kept passing by everywhere so quickly that one moment his brain registered the comic book store, and the next the arena, it was very overwhelming for his brain who had just acquired this semblance mere hours ago, to register all of this new information in mere moments.

He for a moment marveled at how his sister was able to control her speed so well, he knew she could go much faster than she usually does, but for one it would drain her aura way too quickly for that to be efficient in battle, and for another, it simply was just so hard to keep control.

Ignis hasn't even used this semblance in a battle and he knew that controlling his motion while going this fast would be next to impossible, perhaps with some intense training that would take years it would be possible, but even Ruby was not that ahead in her advancement, at least not yet anyway.

The thoughts of his sister suddenly make him remember why he was out here in the first place, he was so lost in the rush that he had repressed it from his mind, finding this a welcome distraction, but now that he remembers, his mood sours, he knew part of him was simply sad and angry at her for leaving, and while he supposed that was selfish, he had envisioned them being partners in crime as hunters, but she would soon have her own team, as would Yang.

'And you will be the black sheep, destined to live in their shadow, soon they'll forget all about you' Ignis shook that thought from his head furiously, refusing to acknowledge it, even though a part of him was starting to believe it was true.

As his mood darkened, Ignis could feel a shift, it was as if he was pulled from an alternate state, what had been a free and breathtaking experience had turned into a nightmare, when he was in his petal form he was in an alleyway, and his aura happened to run out in that instant, as he came out of his altered form his body was still going fast in mid-air, so fast he didn't have time to move out of the way of the huge dumpster that he was blazing towards.

In the last second all Ignis could do was brace for his imminent doom, he wasn't going so fast he'd die, but it would hurt. A lot.

His body collided into the side of the dumpster, in the last second his body turned as if to instinctually to guard the front of his body from harm, a loud bang was heard, but the way it amplified in the alley, you'd think a small explosion went off.

Ignis read books and watched scenes from movies and shows where the main character faced such excruciating pain that they blacked out and fell unconscious, he sincerely wished that was the case right now, he heard a sickening *pop* as he hit the dumpster, he also felt something warm along the side of his head but right now, he was distracted by something else. Pain.

He screamed like he never screamed before, he had never been in this much pain, and he hoped he'd never have to again, he was sure he'd dislocated his left shoulder, and the the left side of his head had been cut open, the dumpster he had hit was made out of steel.

He struggles to get up but winces at the pain, all he can do is crawl limply to the street and hope there was someone charitable enough to help someone who flew too close to the proverbial sun.

He finally gets to the sidewalk and looks around frantically, "Hello?! I-I really, REALLY, need some help!" he groaned in pain after speaking.

For what seemed like eternity, it seemed there was no answer, Ignis just laughed bitterly, of course not, that's just how his day has gone so far, until he heard the sound of an engine, he looked up, it was a luxury white sedan, ornately designed, the kind of car you'd see parked next to a beautiful Atlesian manor.

The back door on the right side opened, the man that got out was tall, six feet at least, he wore a white lined purple suit, purple suit pants, and white wingtip shoes, his scarf was made of white silk, he had medium length purple hair that was slicked back, the iris of his eyes were amethyst, he had a cane held in his left hand, and he wasn't alone.

The other came out of the left side, she was short, extremely short, a few inches shorter than Ignis, but older, if Ignis had to guess he'd say in late teens to early twenties, she had mint green hair in the form of a bob cut with mint green eyes to boot, the jacket she wore was green, cropped wide and broad tailed, with a chocolate brown interior, collar, and cuffs. She also had a dark brown corset that was cut and exposed at the hips, and brown pants with mint green knee high boots.

As they came upon him, the tall gentleman smiled at him in an impish way, while the much shorter girl smiled at him in a way that was genuine, or at least felt genuine, but with a hint of playfulness behind those green eyes.

"Well, well, well, look at this Minty, how the hell did you do this to yourself kid?" Ignis rose his head to the purple gentleman's direction, "S-semblance" he managed to blurt out, pain preventing him from elaborating.

"Ah" he just nodded as if that explained everything, he looked at Minty and nodded as they both went to pick him up, "Now remember kid, I'm not running a charity, we'll bring you back to my restaurant, set your shoulder back in place, sew up your head wound, but I expect payment in return"

Ignis didn't care and simply nodded, he'd dance in a tutu if it meant he'd get relief from this pain, he'd say as much if he weren't so preoccupied with his pain, they put him in the middle of the back seat, and as they both got in and sat, the purple man simply nodded to his chauffeur to signal him to drive off.

The car ride to this man's restaurant was quiet, with only the sounds of Ignis' ragged breathing, he thanked whatever gods that may exist that these two showed up when they did, he didn't think he had it in him to crawl all the way to a hospital.

As they pulled into the man's establishment, Ignis looked at the building in surprise, when the purple man said restaurant, he was expecting something a little more intimate, this was more reminiscent of the old style palazzo's that were common in Vale hundreds of years ago, in fact, it likely once was.

The architecture was in the classic Baroccque style, the outer facade was white marble, with grand columns, and a miniaturized version of a triumphal arch that served as the entrance to the restaurant itself.

Ignis would ask more questions if the pain weren't a factor, but it seemed he noticed Ignis' face and simply chuckled, "Yes, I guess I was a little modest when calling my place of business just a restaurant, it also serves as a vacation home of sorts, and luxury inn to my friends"

If Ignis were not in so much pain he'd scoff at the man's idea of a vacation home, he cursed himself for being in this state when witnessing such a great piece of history, not being able to fully enjoy such a site was a crime against culture.

He looked over at Ignis, "By the way, the name's Romeo Viola, entrepreneur and apparent rescuer of strays, and my minty fresh friend here is Minty Greene", Minty looked beyond annoyed at Romeo's way of addressing her.

She furiously typed away at her scroll and held it up for them to see, "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that? I am your partner, not an advertisement for gum!" She gave him an adorable pout and glare.

"Alright, alright, yeesh kid, I must have hit a nerve eh?" Minty's adorable pout turned into a silent snarl. So she was mute, Ignis supposed that was useful to know, but he was starting to get annoyed.

"Guys, as much as I appreciate the introductions, isn't it about time we do what we came here to do?" Romeo gave him a sheepish look, "Yeah I guess you have a point kid."

The interior of the building could only be described as a wonderland of color and beauty, bright frescoes on the walls and ceiling in pastel colors, gilded pillars, white marble statues from antiquity, ebony wood carvings in the shapes of various Grimm, exquisite chandeliers, and if he looked closely he could tell they were even accurate chandelier designs to the time period this palazzo must have been built, with proper candles and everything, there were dozens of servants roaming about, taking care of their duties.

Ignis wanted to ask so many questions right now, but he knew he had to stay focused and take priority on his injuries, nerding out can take precedence later, his aura reserves were enormous, and who knows how long it would take before his aura came back and fully recovered, he had to to deal with this pain right now rather than relying on his aura to heal him.

Thinking on it, he wasn't even sure if his aura could fully restore a shoulder that's been dislocated, he figured it was the same logic as someone with aura that had a severed limb, you couldn't grow it back, aura could do many things, but even it had it's limits, it may be able to heal you of the flu, but if you had terminal cancer, aura wouldn't be able to keep up with all the cancer cells attacking your body.

They had taken him past several rooms, and he realized that the dining area that he called his restaurant only took a quarter portion of the entire first floor, there had to be four floors in total, and all four of them must have taken up a huge amount of space. Whoever had this originally built must have had a lot of money, no doubt it was someone from the nobility of some sort, economic mobility wasn't exactly very great back then.

They finally took him to a back room, there were loads of medical supplies, and a makeshift bed. Ignis rose a brow at this, but decided it's something he could worry about later. He walked into the room and Romeo simply pointed at the bed, Ignis took the hint and went to go sit on the side. Minty came into the room and simply shared a nod with Romeo, before walking towards Ignis.

She gave him a look, as if she decided what to do first, she walked to a small container and pulled out a standard surgical suture along with a needle holder, Ignis nodded, it was the simplest task compared to a shoulder reduction, so naturally it was the first thing to do. She quickly went to task on his head, she must have been a pro at this by now, as he barely felt a thing, it wasn't even uncomfortable.

As she finished, she went to another container and pulled out a syringe and needle, and then she pulled out a bottle with some sort of liquid inside of it, he guessed it must have been a painkiller or sedative of some sort. She noticed Ignis' stare and started to type in her scroll.

"Lidocaine" It simply said, he nodded, a local anesthetic, though he was surprised that they had any, last he checked it was prescription only, he'd guess that Romeo had a prescription for it, so he supposed he should be grateful they were giving such things to him while he was in pain, she injected the needle into the bottle and extracted the liquid into the syringe, when she was finished and walked towards Ignis, she looked at his shoulder and carefully injected it.

Ignis hissed in minor pain, not expecting it to hurt that much, Minty simply gave him a look as if to say 'Quit being a baby'. Then she put her hands on his left shoulder, and in one swift motion put his shoulder back in place, the sound it made was disgusting, and this time there was discomfort, but little pain, he owed that to the lidocaine.

Romeo was observing the whole time, and as soon as she was done he spoke, "Take some time to gather yourself, and soon we'll talk at my restaurant to discuss exactly on how you wish to repay my services", Romeo left, and Minty soon followed him.

Ignis took a few minutes to fully process everything, and silently cursed himself for indebting himself to someone he didn't even know, but at the time it simply couldn't have been helped, he desperately needed assistance, and Romeo was the one who answered his pleas.

Their father always taught them to honor their debts, to never forget who was there for you when you needed help, and so would have worked to repay Romeo regardless if he demanded it or not. The problem was, he didn't know Romeo, and so was anxious to know exactly what he wanted in return.

Ignis got up with a look of determination, he wouldn't know until he sat down with the man and hashed it out with him, he was making it worse by just sitting there and coming up with the different scenarios that could have played out.

The restaurant smelled absolutely wonderful, and now that Ignis had dealt with all of his pain, he also started to feel absolutely ravenous, there was a long table near the back that he supposed Romeo used as his personal table, the seat he sat in looked as though it was his personal throne, the cushioning was covered by red velvet, as well as the back of the chair, the outer edges of the chair were gilded in gold, and below the arm rests, were two wolves on each side carved out of ebony wood and sitting as if they were holding the gilded armrests up.

Minty was to his right, they had apparently started to eat, Minty was eating Neapolitan ice cream, and it seemed Romeo favored a lamb chop dish, in the style of old traditional Vale cuisine, which was probably the main style of cuisine served here, Ignis could smell multiple things from his dish and was trying to keep himself from salivating. If he remembers right and from what he could see and smell, this dish used juniper berries, peppercorns, garlic, and sea salt, all these things were then made into a rough paste, this paste was then used in a olive oil and wine mixture, you'd also use bay leaves, and a squeeze of lemon slices, while the lamb chops marinated in this marinade for 12 hours, after that you would usually cook them on a skillet or charcoal, the latter was usually preferable. The lamb chops were on top of a bed of asparagus risotto.

Ignis blushed in embarrassment that he remembered all of that, especially for a twelve year old that was just simply strange, for as long as he could remember he's always been an ardent foodie, not that he's ever really had a chance to cook some of the more extravagant dishes he's read about or seen, as obviously his family were not aristocrats, rather he's always just dreamed from afar of being able to cook these dishes one day, perhaps this would be the day he got a taste of that.

He sat down to Romeo's right, the waiter came, and Romeo looked at Ignis in his typical impish fashion, "Well kid, what do you want? I think they may just have some ravioli in a can if you ask nicely", Romeo likely had no idea the can of worms he unleashed with that statement.

Ignis was insulted, Romeo probably thought he was some ignorant country rube, who knew nothing about food and only ate the cheapest crap that money could buy, his family may have not had all the money in the world like this guy, but they still made sure to eat well within their own means, so not only did he insult Ignis, but by extension, he insulted his family.

Ignis just smiled, he was going to have fun shattering his assumptions, he looked to the waiter, "I would appreciate first as an appetizer, pomata focâine, on the flatbread it would be great if you added olives to it, and after that perhaps some ancepator, preferably with a bigger cured meat ratio to anything else, as for the main course, nerreos pipere vitulae, I would appreciate it if you would serve said black pepper beef with a side of creamy saffron risotto, unfortunately, I'm too young for a red wine, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too much trouble to ask for a non-alcoholic spritzer to go with my meal?"

The waiter looked flabbergasted, and simply looked to Romeo who was equally shocked and at a loss for words, Minty simply smirked at Romeo as if she was pleased that he finally had his comeuppance for all of his teasing, she then looked to Ignis as if he were an adorable teddy bear.

Romeo simply grit his teeth, knowing he had eaten crow, and looked at the waiter, "Well, what are you waiting for? We don't want to be rude to our guest", the waiter simply nodded and hurriedly went to the kitchens to relay Ignis' request, while Ignis tried his best not to snicker as Romeo's face.

Romeo quickly got over this little embarrassment, and donned the face of a businessman, "So kid, before we start, we've already given you our names, care to give us yours?", Ignis paused, he supposed that was only fair, they had trust him with their names.

"Ignis. Ignis Rose", they both nodded, "Well kid, as I've said, this isn't charity, I've always lived by the rule that nothing in life is free, and we saved you from quite the predicament, so what will you give us in return?"

Ignis gave a pensive look, his whole predicament was embarrassing, the only reason he was in this situation was because he recklessly used his semblance for the first time without taking anything into account, and the result was that he didn't know when to stop, and he only stopped hours later when his huge aura reserves finally ran out, the sun was now down, and if he had to guess, it was about nine o' clock p.m. and if he knew his family, which he did, they were worried sick.

His father was very protective of all three of them, and some would say even sheltered them from the world, well besides Yang, but to be fair, she was too wild and carefree to ever be sheltered for very long, he couldn't even imagine how much pain they were all in, he was still mad at Ruby, but didn't want to see her in pain.

It made him feel worse that he was sitting here in some fancy palace, partaking in fine dining while they were likely out searching for him, but he was also very, very hungry, and he did owe this man, whom he would have tried to repay either way.

Ignis sighed, "Well, I don't have any money, and I refuse to ask my family for any help, I've put them through enough pain tonight and I don't need to see their faces to know that. I cannot repay you with money, but maybe, I could work at your estate to pay off my debt to you?"

Romeo gave a genuine grin, "Personal responsibility, gotta say, I do like that in an employee, working off your debt eh? Well, I can agree with that arrangement, for how long would you think is acceptable?"

Ignis gave this a thought, "Well, how about about for the next few weeks?", Romeo's expression became stern, "Six months, nothing less", Ignis saw what was happening now, they were in a bartering match, except instead of money, they were bartering his time.

It was at this moment, his spritzer, ancepator, and pomata focâine came out, and it smelled delicious, Ignis took a few bites of the flat bread, before turning to Romeo, "Look, my father is a very protective man, I want to repay you, and I fully plan on doing that, but he's not going to be leaving me out of his site for a bit after all this, heck, neither are my sisters, I cannot help you until they are satisfied that I will be safe, which may take a month at the very least. When that period is over, I can help you, but six months? That's a little bit much don't you think?"

Romeo seemed to have a conflicted look, but then gave him a face that was resolute, "It's the best I can do", Ignis was a bit annoyed, he was fully willing to repay him, but now he felt like his good will was being taken advantage of. He took a few pieces of the cured meat from his antipasto and nibbled on them, then gave Romeo a pointed look, "That's completely unreasonable, and you know it. Three or two months maybe, but six?"

Romeo chuckled, "What can I say, kid, my prices often come at a premium", Ignis simply scoffed, this was absolutely ridiculous, he knew he had to repay this man, but he was not budging at all on the price, but he knew if he didn't repay him at all, guilt would gnaw at Ignis until he gave in, and Romeo was taking advantage of this fact.

Ignis gave a low growl, "Fine, I'll be your indentured servant for half a year, but you must give me some time to cool things down with my family, then I can give a good cover story that I applied for some menial job, after that time is up, I don't want to see you again."

Romeo simply sat back smugly, knowing he had gotten his way, Minty gave a hearty silent laugh at the entire situation, Ignis turned his attention to his food, not wanting to even look at him, his hunger a welcome distraction, he quickly ate through the focâine, and was halfway through the ancepator when his main course came through the kitchen doors, the smell was absolutely heavenly, and he knew he would have to savor this.

Romeo had agreed to Ignis using his white sedan to go home, as the car drove off, Romeo and Minty looked on, quickly their forms changed, Romeo's purple hair had turned to bright orange, a bowler hat was placed on his head whereas before there was no headwear, his suit had turned white, his pants and shoes black, though the cane remained as it was, 'Minty's' hair turn pink and brown, her jacket white and pink, and her boots white, her eye color split between bright pink and brown.

'Romeo' looked to 'Minty', "Well Neo, I think this was certainly an interesting development", Neo looks at 'Romeo' and gives him an annoyed stare, she starts typing in her scroll, "Oh please, don't pretend like we weren't tracking this kid for a week now, this is the right kid, right Roman?"

Roman looks at her in a faux hurt way, "Oh ye of little faith, yes, that's the kid, that's Red's little brother, our "friends" have taken an interest in this entire family ever since Cinder gave a description to her "mistress", so you know our mission when it comes to this kid right?"

Neo gave a nod, but had a slight frown, "He seems like a sweet kid, it's a shame he got caught up in all of this", Roman gave her a pointed look, "Hey, don't get soft on me Neo, you of all people should know how unforgiving and unfair this world is." Neo silently snarled at being reminded of her past, "Don't you dare, you know how touchy that subject is with me! How could you even bring it up?"

Roman gave her a stern look, "Neo, I need to see you say that you are good to go with this mission", Neo gave a frown but nodded, "Fine, yes, I am good to go with this "mission", if it could even be called that"

Roman nodded, "Good", but Neo still gave him a glare, "Oh come on, don't stare at me like that, look I'm sorry for bringing it up alright? I regretted it as soon as it left my mouth" Neo simply crossed her arms and closed her eyes, if she wasn't mute, a "hmph" would have left her mouth.

Roman smiled at her, "Hey, I know what will cheer you up, how about I have the kitchen make you an ice cream sundae, with all the works?" Neo's pink eye opened, looking at him to continue, and Roman sighed, "Yes that includes extra whip cream and extra chocolate fudge", Neo rushed forward and gave him a bone crushing hug and simply looked up at him and smiled as if to say 'I forgive you', Roman just chuckled and patted her head.

Ignis had the chauffeur drop him off when his house was just up the road, he thanked him before the man simply nodded, turned around and drove off. Ignis sighed, he knew how emotional this was going to be and so braced himself.

The night breeze hit his face as he got closer to his house, he didn't know how they'd react, they may be angry at him, which he wouldn't blame them if they were, Yang in particular may be especially angry.

As he came up to the steps that lead to his house, he heard shouting, great, the last thing he wanted was for them to fight over him, he opened the front door and slowly walked to the kitchen, where they were rather loudly discussing about Ignis.

"How could you not tell him about Ruby? You know how close he is to her!" Taiyang simply closed his eyes and sighed, "Yang, we've been over this, Ruby wanted to tell him herself at school, but it was too much for her", Yang's eyes turned red, Ignis gulped, here we go, "THAT'S why it should have been YOU who told him, you're our Dad! Now we don't even know where he is and he's activated his semblance for the first time with no one around to watch him! Who knows what's happened to him! He could be dea-" "YANG!" his father's voice boomed, looking over at Ruby, Yang's eyes followed his, and Ignis stared at what they were looking at, and he had never felt so terrible in his life.

Ruby was sitting in one of the chairs at the dining table, her face in her arms on the table, and crying her eyes out, he could hear her sniffles and whimpers and he himself started to feel his eyes tear up, yes he may have preferred that she was honest with him, he may be sad and angry that she's leaving, and his trust in her may not be the same as it was, but the last thing on Remnant he ever wanted to do was to break her heart.

He had never seen her like this before, she's been sad, mad, angry even at times, but her emotional outbursts have always been tame, as if she was consciously holding the tide of emotions back, he knew she repressed a lot, but it seems his apparent disappearance had been too much for her.

Yang's eyes went back to the violet they usually are, she went to Ruby and put a hand on her shoulder, taking this as his opportunity, Ignis steps into the kitchen.

"H-hey guys" Ignis cursed himself for saying something so stupid, all eyes turned to him, he could see Ruby's face, red and tear stained, and she gasped as she saw him before crying fresh tears and laughing, she rushed towards him with her semblance, before tackling him in mid-air and landing on top of him, crying into his chest.

She stayed there for a few minutes, and he held her, knowing she needed time, he was crying too, berating himself for doing something so stupid, he could have ended up killing himself, and the last interaction he ever had with her would have been a stupid fight.

She started weakly beating her fist on his chest as she cried, "Stupid! stupid! stupid! Don't ever do anything like that again, do you understand me?! Never!", Ignis simply nodded as he cried, Ruby shook her head, "No! I need to hear you say it! Don't just nod your head! You have to promise me to never do anything so stupid again!", Ignis just smiled weakly at her.

"Your stupid and reckless little brother solemnly swears to never do anything so stupid and reckless again" Ruby laughs through her tears, and gives him one last hug before standing up, Ignis stands up himself.

He goes into the kitchen again and Yang walks up to him first, eyes full of tears, "You.. you little idiot!", she hugs him fiercely, whimpering as she held him close, "You gave us all a damn heart attack Igni" Yang roughly whispers in his ear, she stood there, hugging him as if he would vanish if she let go, Ignis eagerly hugged her back.

Then it came to face his father, he went to where he was leaning on the counter, he reluctantly looked up at his gaze, "D-dad, I'm sorr-" he was cut off as his father went down on one knee and simply hugged him.

"Igni, I'm just glad you're alright, you being gone like that, it was like reliving the day your Mom died all over again, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you or one of your sisters too, please don't ever do that to me again, okay?" His father always put on the appearance of being strong, but he could tell by his voice, he was crying.

"Oh, and by the way Ignis?" He look at his father, "You're grounded"

Ignis internally chuckled, of course, he should have known.

A/N: Welp, Ignis has come to face to face with the infamous crime duo, though he doesn't know that, as you can probably tell, I'm going for a more book smart character with Ignis, whereas his sisters are more instinct based and hunting comes naturally to them, Ignis is more of a thinker, I'm excited to showcase how this makes his approach to combat unique to some of the other characters on the show, stay tuned for next time guys!