Strength


Two days had passed since their little incident with Cardin, and it was as if it had never happened. Classes went on, Weiss didn't mention the truth about Ruby's cape, Cardin wouldn't so much as look at Team RWBY, and Velvet had even started talking openly with him again. All in all, life was good... all except for one thing.

Not a single message from Blake.

Were he not at lunch, Adam would have thrown his blasted Scroll. Maybe there was something wrong with it: he hadn't attempted to connect to anyone beyond Beacon's borders and personal network, so perhaps that was the issue? No, he'd overheard Yang and Ruby talking about texts and calls from their father before. It couldn't be that. It'd been months! Months without a word.

Could she have simply died? Lost at sea or at land from Grimm? Adam thrust those thoughts from his mind and, daring not to spend a single second longer on them or the thought of being left alone, snapped his Scroll shut.

At least his internal struggle was not noticed: the three girls were busy chatting with Nora and Pyrrha. From what he could gather, their 'leader', Jaune, had started vanishing throughout the day. From the similarities to Ruby's own problem, there were more than a few suspicions that it was that rat, Cardin. Wounded and furious, it seemed he hadn't ceased his bullying. Instead, he simply found an even weaker target with more passive friends.

And so the cycle went on. Velvet may have been right, after all.

Adam sighed and went back to his meal.

His mind was so focused on Velvet and Blake both that he didn't notice Nora pointing into the air until it was too late. Adam's eyes flicked up only soon enough to see Jaune sail that last foot through the air and crash into their table hard enough to flip it over, sending food and drink scattering across both Jaune and the two unfortunate enough to be on the other side of the table.

Those two were Adam and Yang.

Adam was satisfied, at least, when Cardin strolled up to the carnage only to briefly stumble when he felt the cold fury coming from the other side of the table. Was Velvet potentially correct about perpetuating a cycle of hatred? Perhaps. Was that going to stop him from flaying Cardin alive? Oh, most certainly not.

He had just begun to stand when, to his surprise, it was Ruby who slid between Cardin and Jaune. Though the cafeteria was full of noise from excited mutters to conversation to the rest of Jaune's team checking him over, not a word was shared between Ruby and Cardin. Ruby did not advance, only standing tall in her silent defense of Jaune. Cardin's eyes bounced from her to the two who had beat him across the table, then fell back down to Jaune. He took a step back, but when his eyes caught sight of the crowd, he stopped.

Now, it was his reputation on the line. Like a cornered animal, he bared his teeth and clenched his fist.

Ruby stood her ground. "Leave him alone," she said.

Like pulling the pin from a grenade, Cardin's desperate rage spiked. His aura rose, as did his hand.

"It's been rather lively in here as of late, wouldn't you think?" That was a voice that froze almost every student in their tracks. Professor Goodwitch marched through the cafeteria and right towards their group, an absolutely murderous intent behind her gaze. Ruby was left waving her hands and speaking rapid-fire to try and get herself as far from the situation as possible, but Cardin did his best to stare Goodwitch down... without actually trying to be obvious doing so, of course.

Goodwitch's eyes scanned over the two of them. A snap of her riding crop silenced Ruby with a squeak. "I see that you've become quite fond of the power Huntresses and Huntsmen hold. So too, however, do they have responsibilities, such as knowing when and where to use it." With barely a twitch of her crop, the table and remains of their lunches pulled themselves upright and whole.

Weiss calmly pushed her plate away from her.

"This isn't the first time I have seen trouble surrounding you, Mister Winchester." Goodwitch glared down the taller boy, leaving him forcing a nervous excuse for a cocky smile. "But... since this is Miss Rose's first offense, I will make this a learning experience."

Ruby blinked and raised a hand, ready to mention how she hadn't even done anything... but a mere glance from the steely-eyed professor left her quiet again.

"If you two are so secure in your abilities..." Goodwitch smiled a cold, terrible smile.


Oh no, no, no, no, this isn't what she wanted at all! Ruby squirmed and looked around the stands of the arena she now stood in. It was Saturday! No one had classes, which meant that when Professor Goodwitch announced a special sparring match between her and Cardin, it wasn't just half the cafeteria showing up to watch the bloodbath, it was about three periods' worth of students! The place was more packed than it had ever been, and Ruby was right in the middle of it, trembling like a small dog.

Standing tall in his full armor, Cardin was saying something to her, but Ruby couldn't even hear it over the chatter coming from every direction. This was one of the biggest crowds she'd ever seen! She couldn't perform like this! That was a titanium-bladed heavy mace with a focused red Dust core amplifying each impact, even a non-mechashifting weapon like that could knock her out in one blow!

"Oi!" Cardin shouted at her.

How come she had to fight when Jaune was getting thrown around? Was he even in the audience? Oh no, Cardin was glaring at her really intensely, she might lose and then she'd never be able to show her face in the Academy! It'd be even worse than if the pictures got out! Oh no, what if he released that too?!

"Hey!"

Oooh, she just wanted to go to her room, she wanted to watch cute videos about puppies and kittens and that one silly husky that sounded like it was talking—

"I can hear you!" Cardin shouted over the roar of the audience. Ruby locked up: was she saying all of that? Her eyes darted nervously about the crowd for any tells, but they were far away and it was dark and she couldn't see anything and what if they were laughing at her and—


"I didn't think it'd be that bad," Weiss muttered in a shocked daze at just how far gone Ruby was.

Adam laid back in his seat, rubbing his temples. "This is going to be a disaster."

Yang had other thoughts: "Come on, Ruby! Put him in the dirt! Knock him out in one hit, you can do it! Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!" With Yang's natural charisma, it was no challenge at all to have half of the arena cheering her name, even if the other half started up a call for Cardin. The calls had reached their peak when the lights around the stands cut out and the buzzer rang.

Showtime.


Cardin leaped forward with explosive force, but he was magnitudes slower than Ruby: in a rush of rose petals, she was gone. Rather than attack, though, she hid at the edge of the arena, trying to block out the crowd by peering down her scope and firing at her foe. She might not have been able to see their faces, but she could see the blue lights of Scrolls and blinking reds of recording. This is why she didn't even like mock battles! She'd just pick someone mediocre and hide until it was her turn!

"Really? You're just gonna run away!" Each shot was slammed away by Cardin's heavy mace as he strode towards her. A walk turned to a jog to a sprint as he rushed Ruby yet again.

"N-no! It's being tactical!" Ruby tried to shout as she ducked beneath a swing and forced herself to stand her ground. Cardin's slow blows were heavy enough to throw up plumes of dust and fire with every strike, but not a single one could catch Ruby with little more than the shockwave. Even so, none of his blows were countered. For all the flair and twirls of Ruby's scythe, not once was its deadly blade aimed at him.

As Ruby abruptly shifted her stance and shoved Cardin back with a wide, almost clumsy—but certainly still dangerous—swing of her scythe, Weiss knitted her brow. "What is she doing down there?" she asked, her voice barely audible to Adam under Yang's cheering.

Adam frowned. Ruby parried a swing with a spin of her scythe, sending Cardin stumbling back. He could see her eyes searching him over. Her gaze paused at his legs for a fraction of a second. Cardin's stance was poor and unstable... yet Ruby did not capitalize, instead firing her rifle to keep him off balance. A sweep of his legs could've ended the match before it began. He knew it. Ruby knew it.

He narrowed his eyes.

"She's hesitating."


Ruby jumped back from a ball of flame, only to squeak when she bumped into the cold metal wall of the arena. There was nowhere else to go, now. Nowhere to run. Cardin looked amused as he stalked forward: dodging would just get her walloped by the shockwaves and he knew it. Unfortunately, so did she. Ruby gulped.

"You know, I don't even know why you were so mad in the first place. I just saw how bad Jaune screwed up in initiation!" Cardin made yet another unsuccessful strike, but it was one that forced Ruby to swipe it away with Crescent Rose. "I wanted to help him with his landing strategies!"

A flip of a switch and her scythe's blade flipped up, pointing out at Cardin as a true polearm. With the range and speed advantage, Cardin couldn't get close. Every slash and stab got her a couple inches more away from the wall. But it wasn't enough: Cardin wasn't just an average freshman, she couldn't chip him down like she could half of the people in her class. He had just as much strength and just as much aura... which meant she'd have to take risks eventually.

More chances to screw it up, right in front her team and everyone else too! Her eyes flicked over towards the dark stands, right where she knew her team was watching her.

"Why don't ya give him an example!" Her attention was snatched back to the fight just in time for her to roll out of the way of a wave of flame.

Right into the path of Cardin's next swing upwards.

The world churned and blurred as Ruby flew up to within feet of the ceiling. She caught glimpses of her aura flaring across her entire body from the strain of a direct hit to the face. Her ears rang, yet she could still hear the shouts and roar of the crowd. This sucked. This really sucked. Her team was probably just embarrassed about her, right now.

"Come on, Ruby, is that cape for show!" Weiss' voice called out as she dropped back down. Here comes the insults. "You're our leader! You're better than this!"

Huh? The surprise shocked Ruby out of her funk just long enough for her to see Cardin readying to bat her clear into the stands. A shot from Crescent Rose sent her flying off to the side, and another had her sliding behind Cardin faster than he could react. Unbalanced from hitting nothing but air, he was easy pickings for a slash that knocked him on his rear.

Did she just hear that right? Her eyes searched out in the crowd for where her team was, completely ignoring Cardin getting back up. Ruby swore she even heard Weiss cheering for her, now.

"Ignore the crowd, Ruby!" Adam shouted. "You want to be a Huntress, right? Then crush him! Team RWAY runs from no one!"

Ruby's grip around Crescent Rose tightened. You know what, she thought, they were right! What was she so worried about? Who cared about what the crowd thought, she had her team at her back!

Cardin rushed her, pushing his aura to his limits to try to match Ruby at the least in the speed of his swings. He was finally taking her seriously, but unfortunately for him, it was far too late to do so. In twirls of red and bursts of gunfire, Ruby deflected each and every swing of his mace with her scythe, weaving through his clumsy blows to land ones of her own across him. When he raised his weapon high for a frustrated, final blow and left himself open, there was no hesitation.

Ruby turned away from Cardin, brought Crescent Rose behind her and slammed the haft of Crescent Rose into his side. It wasn't enough to budge him, but Cardin froze anyway. The blade was behind him, scraping up right where his armor ended. Ruby glanced over her shoulder to see the realization dawning on Cardin's face, and the anger it brought rushing with it.

She didn't give him the chance to do anything about it, though.

With a grin, she pulled the trigger and backflipped over Cardin as he was thrown forward. The buzzer sounded as he struck the ground.

Normally, she hated judging gazes and praises alike... but, as the crowd erupted in cheers and she happily waved to her team, Ruby actually thought it felt pretty darn good.


This place was changing him, Adam thought. Yet, he didn't know if that was truly a bad thing, even as he found himself cheering like a fresh recruit when that buzzer sounded.


Roman Torchwick whistled as his loyal, ice cream-colored associate laid out the bills for the month. Heating and electricity had gone clean through the roof from the richest folk—like himself—to the poor. Dust prices were rising across the board to the highest they'd ever been in years, shops were closing their doors for good, the government even stepped in to begin rationing, not that the Huntsmen and Huntresses would ever notice with their priorities. Even Beacon would be sheltered from the news. Just like he planned.

Laughing his way up to the window of his apartment that sat atop the highest skyscraper he could find, Torchwick lit himself a fine cigar. The bills wouldn't bother him a bit, but, he wondered: what would the little ants down there think of one class of citizens getting Dust to waste freely outside the Kingdom while they starve inside it? Well, considering that river of flame and dark figures rioting through the street beneath him, not too highly was the answer.

"Neo, I think this is my finest work, if I do say so myself." His partner stood atop a chair to get a better view of the rioting below them. She turned to him with an amused look.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, I know: 'remember, you are only a man'." The Schnee Dust Company had ordered an emergency shipment of Dust to be sent to Vale: entire freighters' worth, normally impossible due to just how big a target they would be, and he was going to steal it. All of it. He'd be stronger than any king, councilman, Huntsman or Headmaster out there. Most importantly, he'd still be a man.

Not a monster, like those thugs without moral or class. Not an animal, like the White Fang that had only grown more violent since that 'Captain Almond' took charge. Not whatever his boss truly was.

A man. Greater than all.

"Ring up Cinder. Tell her we got almost everything lined up: we're letting the first freighter go. After the false sense of security, we're taking out the second." Neo nodded to her boss with an evil grin and vanished in a rush of light.

Torchwick took a long drag from his cigar.

"Two months, Vale. Make 'em count."


A/N: Short, I'll admit, but it's more of a wrap-up than anything else.