Main theme: Can't Trust Anybody Now by Jeff Williams
Arc Theme: Deep Stone Crypt from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
Theme: Buried Secrets from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack


"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Are we friends?"

Ruby looked up to Jaune, raising a brow in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean... We've only known each other for a... For what? A few hours, right? And we only met each other thanks to your Winry friend in a weapons shop-"

"Which is the best place to meet, by the way," Ruby added.

"Er, sure, but, like... Are we friends? Like, really friends? Because I don't- All we've done so far is talk to each other as you educate me about things that I'm supposed to know about."

"To which I think that I've done a pretty good job," Ruby smiled, confident in herself for once. She liked to think that she was smarter than most in certain areas, especially in weapons and Huntsman affairs, and she at least knew quite a bit in other subjects as well.

She wasn't just a proclaimed progeny in fighting back in Signal Academy: She had the smarts to go along with it. She had been able to construct and wield Crescent Rose all by herself (Albeit with training and oversight from Uncle Qrow, of course), Displaying her mechanical skills and adaptable mind at the same time (Much to the cost of her own social standing in the school, though). It had been enough to get her into the top ten best students in her year, much to the consternation of her own peers...

She didn't like to think on those days, and those people. It wasn't nice to think over.

Jaune smiled to her and nodded, "Yeah, you did a good job with that, so thanks-"

"Yay," Ruby smiled back.

"-But, like... I don't know," he continued, "I mean, are we friends? Are we friends now? I've never really- I'm new to this whole friendship thing. I mean, I'm rusty to it. I don't really know what I'm doing at all..."

Ruby let out a slight giggle, "I... I'm the same way. In making friends, I mean," she nodded to him slowly, before looking in front of herself, and to the sky.

The sun was red and resting, beginning to slip over the horizon as the sky darkened into blackness, letting loose the twinkling stars and the shattered silver sky, cracked and broken like a bauble, reflecting the last rays of sunlight onto the world itself as it lingered in the sky like a lantern in the dark streets below, giving as little light to the world below as it could.

The streets of Vale were darkened by the incoming night, casting long shadows onto the ground below as the hardlight streetlamps shone a glowing blue hue across the buildings around them, giving artificial life to the city as the pathways became more lonely and desolate, the civilians and partygoers and fancy-dressed people retreating to their homes to rest and slumber the silent night away, as the lights of the buildings around them began to turn on and off, and the curtains and blinds began to close to keep the secrets of the world within them from the people of the world outside.

Ruby and Jaune did not retreat into the comfort of their homes, however. Not yet, at least. There was one more place that Ruby wanted to go to.

But getting back on track, as their feet tip-tapped against the pavement beneath them- Ruby taking more steps than Jaune as his longer legs helped him to stride further than her with each individual step- The red and black-haired girl picked up from where they left off, "Do you... Would you like to be, you know, friends?"

Jaune looked down at her, "Hm?"

"Do you want to be friends?"

Jaune looked away for a few seconds- Taking a moment to wince and put a hand to the side of his head. A tick that she had learnt off from being with him for the last few hours- Before smiling and saying, "Yeah, I would... I would like that."

Ruby stopped in place, making Jaune pause in place a few steps ahead and look back at her, before the smaller, younger girl asked, "Really?"

Jaune nodded, "Mmhm. My mum always says, 'Strangers are just friends that you haven't met yet'."

"...That... That really depends on the strangers, you know," Ruby replied, "I mean... They might not all be friendly."

"Well... I- Um, I guess I just need to meet them to find that out, you know," Jaune replied, a little less sure of himself than he seemed to want to be as he rubbed the back of his head in flushed embarrassment.

Ruby paused, before letting out a puff of air and smiling, "Well then, I'd like to be less strangers, and more friends," she extended a hand out to him, "What do you say then, Jaune? Do you want to be friends, or strangers?"

There was a long pause from Jaune, looking down to the hand being presented towards him, before smiling and taking it into his own.

"I would like to be friends, yeah."

Ruby smiled, "Great!" and then removed herself from Jaune's grasp, flipped herself around, marched past Jaune, and forwards down the road once more, "Now come on then, new friends! Let's go go go! We haven't got much time!"

Jaune paused in confusion, before feeling Ruby clamp her hand around his own and-

"Woah!"

-Began to drag him along behind her.

"Hey- Ow! Hey! Ruby, where are we going? Where are you- Where are you taking me?"

"To From Dust Till Dawn, of course!"

"...Is that a codename?"

"Nope, but it'd be a pretty good one," Ruby answered as they both approached and began to round a corner, "It's actually a dust store- One of the best in Vale- But it also stores some of the best weapon magazines in Vale, where they post articles about all sorts of weapons, from snipers to short swords!"

Jaune seemed to slightly perk up at the mention of swords (Well, he was a sword user after all. That would make sense), And he seemed to open up to the idea of going there as Ruby continued to pull him around the corner, "It should be just around... There it is!"

Ruby pointed to a plain-looking shop in the middle of the street, with its front coloured in alternating shades of beige against the grey monochrome buildings to its sides, with clear windows that showed the display cases of rainbow-coloured dust within, and flower cases underneath it, blooming white petals and yellow buds. To the side of the ornate wooden and glass door was a green sign, displaying the same plain calligraphy that was shown above the store itself: From Dust Till Dawn.

All in all, pretty plain looking. Not exactly noticeable, but Ruby liked it anyways.

"Yeah, there it is," Ruby said as she pulled Jaune closer to the store, "One of the best dust stores in Vale, and with some of the best weapon magazines in the city! I should know, you know?"

"Er, no, I don't know."

"Well, you should know!" Ruby bopped him on the nose.

"Ow."

"S'what you get," Ruby hmphed as she brought him to the door, "Yeah, anyways, one of the best dust stories in Vale. I come here all the time for dust, and the shopkeeper who owns this place is a really cool guy," there was a long pause, before Ruby tapped her finger to her chin, and said, "You know, he actually knows a lot of places in Vale... Like, a lot of places... Huh."

She then shook her head, and-

"Enough talk! Let's go!"

-Pulled him inside.


"Everything's moving into place."

"They're inside?"

"And Roman Torchwick and his goons are inbound. They're walking down the street right now."

"Order your men to get into position. It's time to get this show on the road."

"Sure thing."


{DING DING}

As they entered, Jaune took a moment to look around for a moment, before pulling his attention away from the task.

The store inside was as plain as it was outside, with greyish blue walls and wooden display cabinets, so Jaune didn't pay them much mind as Ruby pulled him to the back of the store, where the magazines were shelved in neat orders, each one with varying topics and headlines colouring them in pastel rainbow colours. But Ruby didn't pay them much mind either as she and Jaune got down onto their knees and picked up one of the magazines on the shelf, simply titled-

"'Weapon magazine'?" Jaune raised an eyebrow at its title, "Seriously?"

"Hey, it's a really good magazine!" Ruby argued back as she opened it in her hands, and began to read the articles and entries about all sorts of weapons and the like within it. She didn't send another retort back to him, so he just shrugged, and picked up a magazine about swords (He didn't look at the name) From the shelf.

Opening it up, he tilted his head underneath his white cloak to the side, and frowned.

He had no idea what any of these people and articles were talking about.

Seriously, there were all sorts of names for swords in here, and all sorts of names and details on all of those same swords. Zweihanders? Jians? Sparthas and Xiphos'?

He had no idea what any of these names and terms meant at all.

Ugh, he was really going to need to read up on a lot of this stuff when he got into Beacon. He had a lot of catching up to do.

"That magazine is for longsword users."

Jaune looked at Ruby, "Huh?"

She gestured to the sword- Crocea Mors- At his belt, "Your sword. It's a short-sword, and the magazine that you're holding is a longsword."

"Oh," Jaune turned the magazine cover towards himself, and read the title: Longswords Monthly, "Oh."

Ruby giggled in turn, before looking down to his sword once more, "What's it called?"

"Hm?"

Ruby placed the magazine in her hands back onto the shelf, and looked at him, "Your sword. What's it called?"

"Oh," he hummed, moving to pull out Crocea Mors from its sheath, before pausing, "Is that- I mean, is that allowed? For us to show off weapons in public? I mean, we're not official Huntsmen-"

"Huntresses."

"I'm not a- Whatever, let's just go with Hunters. More gender neutral. Anyways, we're not official Hunters yet, are we? What if we get in trouble for showing off our weapons in public, where we could hurt someone with them?"

Ruby tapped her chin once more, "Good point," before pointing to Crocea Mors, "But it's sheathed, right? It's in its sheath. The only threat it is now is just a blunt object, and you're not looking to smack anyone with it, are you? So, really, you're not putting anyone in danger by showing it to someone."

Jaune blinked, "...Good point," he parroted to her, before unclipping the sword from one of his belts, and balanced it on his knees, "It's called Crocea Mors."

"Ooh, Crocea Mors?" Ruby parroted, "You mean Yellow Death?"

DEATH

DEATH

DEATH

DEATH

DEATH

DEATH

DEATH

DEATH

Jaune winced, before looking up to her and blinking, "Huh? Oh yeah, that's what it means in old Valerian," he patted the white and gold sheath with a spare hand, "The sheath is actually the sword's shield?"

Ruby gasped, and her eyes sparkled as she waved her hands in front of her, "So it's mecha-shift?! It's a mecha-shift weapon?!"

"Wha- I-I guess so," Jaune felt a little intimidated by the younger girl's sudden outburst, but didn't say so as he tilted himself to the side- Slightly away from her- And patted his sword once more, "The shield collapses into the sheath, and can still carry the sword in it."

"What else does it do?!"

Jaune looked to Ruby, "What?"

"What else does it do?!"

"I... I mean, since it's smaller, it's easier to carry around. I can clip it onto my belt, and... Yeah."

"Huh?" it was Ruby's turn to tilt her head, "But... Wouldn't it weigh the same?"

Er- Yeah," Jaune nodded awkwardly, "Yeah, it- It does."

"Wait, Jaune, that's just a fact about it, not what it does! What else does your weapon do?!"

"Why are you so..." Jaune started, but stopped as he remembered how defensive about the title of Weapon Magazine she got. She just really liked weapons, then. He then began to answer her question, "Well, I mean, it can stab things."

"And?!"

"...It can... Block attacks."

"...And?"

"...It can stab things."

STAB

Stop it.

"Jaune, I thought you said that your weapon was mecha-shift?! Can it-"

"You said that it was mecha-shift."

NICE

Ruby's face flushed a bright red, "I- Yeah, well, does your sword not have any other functions? Does it at least have a gun in it?!"

Jaune just stared at her in confusion, "...No," he eyes the sheathed sword on his lap, "Should it?"

"Well, no, not necessarily, but, like... Almost all the weapons that I've seen in my life have been mecha-shift with a gun attachment in it. It's just- It's just what I'm used to."

"Oh..." Jaune seemed nervous now, "Well, I mean, I can... I can look into getting a gun or something built into it, but it's a really old sword. My family's- My Grandfather used it to fight in the Great War. I don't know what the others in my family would say if I added a gun into it, but-"

"Oh, no! Jaune, don't force yourself to change it!" Ruby amended herself with, "Don't- If it's that important to your family, then don't change it! Not without their permission at least. Don't feel pressured to change it just because of everyone else."

"Well, I don't know... Maybe I should."

"Jaune, don't feel pressured to changing your weapon, especially when it's already so important to you," Ruby patted him on the shoulder, "Don't feel like you have to change it just because of the trends of other people."

"...Are you sure?"

"Mmhm," Ruby nodded, "Besides, I like it. It's good to see that someone has an appreciation for the classics."

CLASSICS

CLASSICS

CLASSICS

CLASSICS

"...Yeah," Jaune looked to the side as he put his sword away and rubbed his fingers on one hand together, "...The classics."

Ruby looked like she wanted to say something, reaching for the weapon at the back of her waist, underneath her cape- Probably to show it off- Before deciding against it, and looking back to the magazines on the shelves, her face scrunched up with... Jaune didn't know. He couldn't tell what emotions were going through her mind. Her face seemed to steel and harden to hide away the feelings behind herself.

That would be something that he would have to take note of for the future.

"...Sorry."

Ruby blinked, and looked up to him, "About what?"

Jaune looked to her, "For bringing the mood down."

"Huh? Oh, no, it's fine. Really. You don't need to worry about that."

"..."

This was it. He knew that it wasn't his place to ask about it, but he refused to let it hang over their heads any longer.

"...Hey Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"...About your-"

{DING DING}

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?"

Both Ruby and Jaune jumped in place, and looked behind themselves, towards the entrance and counter, to see-

DANGER

DANGER

DANGER

DANGER

DANGER

DANGER

DANGER

DANGER

A ginger-haired, green-eyed man with eyeliner, a cigar, and a red, white, and black cane, wearing a black and red bowler hat with a white coat, black trousers and shoes, with a grey scarf around his neck, and black gloves with buckled sleeves in them, walked towards the counter, followed by a group of men in black suits and hats, red ties and sunglasses (Sunglasses? Who wears sunglasses indoors?), And wielding red swords, axes, and handguns, as one of them stepped forward, and-

{KER-CLICK}

-Pointed his gun at the shopkeeper.

Oh crap.

The shopkeeper raised his hands into the air, and in a panic, stuttered out, "P-please! Just take my Lien and leave!"

"Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, calm down, we're not here for your money," the flashy-dressed man retorted with, before turning to the black-dressed man next to him, "Grab the Dust."

Jaune blinked, Oh crap, this is a robbery, isn't it?

"Get down!" Ruby hissed to him as she grabbed him by the hood, and-

"Yow!"

-Pulled him behind the shelves, out of sight from the men nearby.

"Ah, that was awkward," Jaune muttered to himself as he looked to Ruby.

The girl quickly cut off anything that he was about to say though, as she put a finger to his lips, and whispered, "Be quiet! Shush!" before peeking her head over the side of the shelf they were hiding behind, and said to him, "That's Roman Torchwick! I think he's robbing the place!"

Jaune blinked, and then took a peek around the shop, to see the various men in black suits and red ties breaking open dust containers and display cabinets with glassy-

{SHATTER}

-Draining the contents within with syringe-like cylinders, and placing them all into briefcases and placing them on the ground, readying to take them away later.

Robbing the place? These guys? No way.

That was sarcasm.

Jaune was still learning.

"We need to do something!" Ruby urgently whispered to him, breaking him out of his thoughts as the sounds of the men breaking apart the cabinets and display cases began to grow closer and closer.

GET OUT

GET OUT

GET OUT

GET OUT

Hitting the side of his head and scanning their surrounding, Jaune spotted a door to the back of the shot, and pointed his finger to it, "See the door over there?" Ruby nodded to him, "If we're quick, we can sneak out of here before they spot us-"

"Wait, what?" Ruby retorted to him, reaching for the weapon behind her back as she said, "Jaune, they have the shopkeeper hostage! We have to do something!"

Jaune looked at her incredulously, "What?! Ruby, what are you talking about?! There are- What? Less than a dozen? There are less than a dozen people there, and four of us! What are we supposed to-"

"We can take them!"

"What!?" he narrowly hissed back.

She grabbed the weapon to her back and quickly drew it to her lap, revealing it to be a-

Oh god she had been carrying a giant gun with her this entire time.

-Blocky, probably custom rifle-looking gun with a fat body, thin lower section, stock, scope, and coloured almost completely red with black accents covering it.

With one hand on its grip and trigger, and her other on a handle to its side, she turned her eyes to him, and quietly said, "We can fight these guys, and-"

"Ruby, what?!" Jaune hissed back, "Ruby, there's a ton of them, and there're only two of us!"

"What, you think we can't do it?"

"Ruby, I don't doubt that you'll win this fight, but I'm just worried that I won't be alive to see it happen."

"Why's that? You're training to be a Huntsman, aren't you? You've got some fighting skills under your belt?"

That comment hit him a lot more than he would've liked it to, but he couldn't deny it. Instead, he just looked at her, and decided to come clean.

"Ruby, I-"

{TAP}

Something pressed itself against the back of his head.

The muzzle of a gun.

"Well well well," a suave voice called out, "What do we have here? A couple of little kiddies in dress up, up past their bedtime."

Jaune turned his head around, to see the man with the bowler hat and the white coat- 'Roman Torchwick', perhaps, considering how he was the only one of the bad guys in the store dressed somewhat differently- Standing over the both of them, pointing his cane at his head, a smug grin across his face as he popped a lit cigar into his mouth.

"Best throw your weapons down and put your hands in the air," Roman said to them, "Make it easier for yourselves."

Around Ruby and Jaune, three of his minions in black suits and red ties gathered, and pointed the weapons in their hands- A sword, an axe, and a handgun- At the both of them, indicating for the two to drop their weapons and put their hands into the air.

Outside, a black van parked in front of the shop.

But, in the intense stress of the situation, all that Jaune could do was dumbly look down the cane that Roman was pointing at him, and equally-dumbly snarked, "Ah yes, the cane... The most intimidating weapon ever crafted by man."

A reticle flipped up from the tip of the cane, a trigger popped out of the handle, and Roman's finger flexed around it.

Jaune put his hands into the air, "Okay, now I'm a little intimidated."

"I'm not," Ruby said as she tightened her grip on the rifle in her hands, and retorted, "You want to walk away from this, Roman? You tell your boys to stand down."

Jaune whirled his head to glare at her, "Ruby..."

"Trust me, Jaune."

"No, I think your boyfriend's got a point, Little Red," Roman's smug grin intensified as he pointed his apparent cane-gun to her, "I know that my goons might be all worthless idiots-"

One of those goons looked to his boss, "Hey..."

"-But we've still got numbers on our side, and I didn't become a master thief by sitting around and doing nothing. You might want to start revaluating your options."

Ruby smiled, "You might want to start revaluating yours."

"Ruby-" Jaune began, but was cut off.

"Heh, you're pretty snarky for a kid."

"I get it from my uncle."

"Oh, well I'm sure that he's as much of a bastard as you."

Ruby bristled at that, and moved to get up, but Jaune stopped her by roughing clamping his hand on her shoulder, "Ruby!" he hissed to her.

She frowned at him, "Jaune, we can take them."

"You can! I can't!"

She looked confused, "Why is-"

"Okay, now I'm just getting annoyed," Roman said as he pulled a flip on the back of his cane- The safety of his weapon- And then aimed it back to Jaune's head, "Tell you what: Let's end this little lover's quarrel between you two high school sweethearts, and do something to, shall we say-"

He pressed his cane's barrel against Jaune's head.

"-Make the point."

Jaune quailed, and Ruby noticed this as she looked up to Roman and narrowed her eyes, "You don't have to do that."

"...You're right... I don't have to-"

Roman smiled.

"-But I really want to."

His finger pulled on the trigger.

Heat built up at the end of Roman's weapon.

Jaune's eyes widened in horror.

Ruby moved to push him out of the way.

And then-

NO!

{BANG}

It all happened so fast.

The green bolt of light pierced through the windows in the front of the shop, angled downwards, indicating that the bullet had been fired from the rooftop of a building nearby. Whizzing through the air, the bullet smashed into the side of Roman's temple, and-

{SPLATTER}

Roman's head exploded outwards, bursting like a balloon, spraying shards of bone and blood and brain matter across the shelves and the people surrounding him. His eyes leapt out of their sockets and disintegrated into bloody mush, patches of skin intermingling with fragments of his skull and coated in blood and ichor, and the contents within his head spilled outwards like red wine from a shattered glass cup. Blood and gore splattered across Ruby, Jaune, and the men around him as his bowler hat dropped and rolled on the floor, his white coat staining red from the torrents of blood that poured from his headless stump.

All of Roman's head above his jaw disintegrated, scattering across the area around him in a spray of red as his lower jaw hung loose, sagging downwards, dislocated from the blast, whilst sinew and tendons dangled like bloody roots, dripping blood onto himself and the ground.

Outside, the black van opened up, and outwards spilt four individuals, all dressed in black armour with green visors, and all armed with carbines and repeating rifles.

Roman's body took a single step forwards, as if it were some last second action- Some last gesture of life from a puppet that had just had its strings cut- Before it gave up, and collapsed to the floor, spilling blood onto the floor as it twitched one last time, and then fell still for good.

Ruby screamed.

Jaune screamed.

Roman's goons screamed.

And then-


"Execute."


-Everything went to hell.

The four men in black armour outside raised their guns and-

DOWN!

DOWN!

DOWN!

DOWN!

DOWN!

DOWN!

DOWN!

DOWN!

"DOWN!"

Jaune was barely able to pull Ruby to the ground and shield her with his body before the bullets started flying.

{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}

{BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM}

{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}

{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}

Red streaks of light and fire shot through the store, shattering the windows into powder and fragments, and riddling everything else with bullet holes and battle damage. Everyone who was still standing was killed almost immediately, with the bodies of the goons dropping like lifeless dolls to the floor, their bones shattered and bent this way and another, parts of their heads and chunks of their flesh missing from smoking wounds as they stared at the ceiling above them with wide, dead eyes and slacked jaws, their weapons scattered uselessly on the floor, and their matching sets of clothes dyeing red underneath the pools of blood that began to grow underneath them.

The shopkeeper was shot to death almost instantly, his body torn apart by the shower of bullets as they tore apart his flesh and bones, and leaving him a barely recognisable mess of flesh and bone and gore to slide to the floor and leave a bloody mark against the wall.

And still the bullets did not stop.

The store was filled with smoke and detritus as the armoured men continued to throw round after round into the dust store, breaking apart the shelves and shattering glass and splintering wood as the walls began to crumble and crumple underneath the abuse being thrown at them. Some bullets impacted with the dust on display, igniting some of it into fires that filled the air with tar-coloured smoke, whilst one bullet slammed into a broken cabinet of fire dust and-

{BOOM}

-Set it off into a small explosion, filling the far corner of the room with angry fire as it continued to bellow smoke out of the shop.

And still the bullets did not stop.

Ruby screamed and cried into Jaune as he shielded her with his body against the torrents of rounds being thrown at them. Luckily they were to the floor, so none of them (At least according to Jaune's knowledge) Hit either of them, otherwise they wouldn't be breathing anymore. But that didn't stop the lights of the bullets from blinding them or the smoke from choking them or the harsh sounds from threatening to burst their eardrums and make their ears bleed or even the heat of the fires nearby from blistering their skin and cooking them in its fiery touch.

But Jaune didn't let go of Ruby. He kept her cradled in his arms and facing away from the incoming rounds, his body shielding her smaller frame, ready to protect her from any stray round that might strike and kill him, but not her.

He wouldn't allow it.

He wouldn't allow her to come to harm.

He'd already made that mistake once, with someone else.

He wouldn't do it again.

The bullets just kept coming in, flinging red strings of light into the From Dust Till Dawn shop, tearing down its walls, crippling its foundations, destroying its cabinets and stands, and replacing it all with fire and smoke and fresh death.

And then, finally, the bullets stopped.

A moment passed, as did the ringing in Jaune's ears as they automatically began to readjust themselves. Through the flicking and flickering of the flames, and the cracking of glass and drywall around them, he could hear the screams of fear and horror of the people in their homes nearby, peering out between blinds and through windows at the carnage outside, the faraway cries of police sirens, the barking of dogs woken up from their slumber...

And the panicked sobs of one Ruby Rose in his arms.

It was then that the adrenaline finally began to wear off, and Jaune noticed the body of one of Roman's men slumped over him, pooling blood onto his body and staining him red.

Jaune panicked and cried out in horror at the sight, trying his best not to puke as he pushed it off of him and onto the floor with a sickeningly wet-

{THUD}

-Before looking down to Ruby as she stayed clinging to him in a panic.

They were both covered in blood, but all from other people's. Ruby had been stained even more red than she already had been by the blood that had been pooling out of the dead Roman Torchwick, colouring her a wet crimson as she whimpered in fear, her eyes wet with blood and sweat and tears, and growing grimier as they were covered in smoke and squaller.

Beginning to feel choked from all the smoke still in the air, Jaune moved to pull Ruby up and quickly get them out through the backdoor of the shop, and to safety, but-

{CRACK}

{CRACKLE}

-Froze in panic at the sounds of crunching grass behind him.

The four armoured men had made their way inside the shop.

Preparing to fire upon them, the men raised their weapons, but stopped in brief surprise, as did Jaune (Though that might've been because of the shock more than anything), As Ruby removed herself from his protective grip, pulled up her weapon, aimed it at one of the four armoured men with fresh tears in her eyes, streaking channels through the grime of her cheeks as she, in some strange of adrenaline-induced panic, went to pull the trigger and-

{BANG}

-Another green bolt of light flew down from one of the buildings above and-

{CRUNCH}

-Impacted directly with her weapon, breaking it into pieces and turning it into a sparking mess, sending the remains of it flying out of Ruby's hands, and-

{CLATTER}

-Breaking apart even more as it fell and clattered against the floor.

Ruby just stared at her weapon for a long moment, and then back to the armed and armoured men at the front of the shop as they toppled over broken shelves and ruined display cabinets. Outside, both she and Jaune could barely see the sniper, his black armour not standing out at all against the equally black night sky above.

"...Run."

Jaune looked at Ruby, "What was that?"

RUN!

RUN!

RUN!

RUN!

RUN!

RUN!

RUN!

RUN!

"RUN!"

Ruby grabbed Jaune by his arm, and quickly pulled up one of the now-bloodied handguns off of the floor as shoving it into Jaune, and then grabbing another one and-

{BAM BAM BAM BAM}

-Let loose four rounds from its magazine, forcing the armoured men before them both to duck to cover and allowing both her and Jaune to escape through the back entrance of the shop, and to possible escape from this horrid place.

"After them!" one of the men shouted out loud, and soon, all of were chasing after both Jaune and Ruby, firing red bullets at them both as they continued to run through the alleyways and empty streets of the city, trying to find some place for safety and shelter as the sniper on the rooftops, and the people that worked for him, followed only a few steps behind.

The dawn had given way to dusk, and two bloodied children had been released into the wild, with those seeking their deaths in hot pursuit.

(And beyond their sight, a dark-skinned girl with green hair and red eyes watched on, bit her lip, and then followed shortly after them.)


Reviewer response time:

Xealchim: Hey, these spirits aren't getting paid overtime, cut them some slack.

Dumbass0: Thank you for the kind words! Yeah, I'm glad that the Emerald part is too your liking. I've definitely learnt a lot from my first draft, so I'm going to start trying to implement these changes as soon as I can, with this arc in particular.


Well, there's not much I can say to that, other than Neo is not going to be happy in the slightest.

No long A.N. for this chapter, because it is very late today, and I would like to go to bed please, so with all of that said and done, leave a review, follow and favourite, and I shall see you all next time!

Titanmaster117 out!