Prologue

"Neo!"

Roman Torchwick cried out in horror as he watched his partner be swept out into the wind, gliding off the flagship and into the Grimm infested skies.

Roman stared in worry as he watched her glide down, her small figure eventually disappearing into the darkness, leaving nothing to see. He knew Neo was tough, but he wasn't sure if she could survive with the Grimm flying everywhere around her, he could only hope that she was okay.

Be safe, Neo...

"I don't care what you say..."

The words of Red brought his attention back to the situation at hand.

Red straightened herself as she looked at him with an unwavering conviction, something that he absolutely loathed. Even though she was just a Huntress-in-training, she has consistently been a pain in his side and managed to ruin several of his plans.

He was getting sick and tired of her naïve justice popping up everywhere he went, being a pain in the ass for him as he had to explain to Cinder why he kept failing, and ruining his reputation of being a criminal mastermind and staining his usefulness in front of that fiery woman.

He did not have any plans on being 'replaced' any time soon.

"We will stop them, and I will stop you. Bet on that!" Red shouted in determination, her eyes taking on a new gleam as she disappearing into a cloud of roses, rapidly advancing towards him without her blasted scythe.

Roman wasn't having it anymore. She has ruined too many of his plans and operations, and she had just sent Neo flying off the ship, and once again ruined another operation; an operation that he couldn't fail at all. With all of his past mistakes plus this new one? Cinder would have his body in ash before he could even try to explain himself.

He couldn't show the little girl any mercy at all, finally having to end her life here if he wanted to save any sort of face, something he has held back on so far, as he had never seen the need to go so far to end the little girl's life yet before.

A mistake he wasn't gonna make anymore.

Red advanced in on him as she ran along in a zigzag pattern trying to confuse him and make him lose his focus on her; a plan that would have worked on anyone her age.

But Roman wasn't some teenager who had just left puberty.

Roman's eyes followed Red's movements as he gripped the shaft of Melodic Cudgel as he tracked her movements, waiting for the perfect moment to shoot.

There!

Roman brought the muzzle up, firing a dust round, sending a bright red flare towards her as she attacked with her own sloppy punch. But that wasn't Roman's complete plan as he quickly flipped his cane, wrapping the handle around the flare as he swung, sending out a red crescent moon of dust towards the girl, knocking her back. She unfortunately landed on her feet as she flipped in the air.

With a scowl, he quickly advanced onto her as she lifted her head, just in time for her chin to be met with an uppercut with his cane, sending her up into the air. Roman than brought the muzzle of his cane up to her torso, firing a dust round point mercilessly right into her stomach and launching her backwards onto the ground.

"You got spirit, Red! But, this is the real world!" Roman shouted as he thrust his cane forward, forcing Red to fall onto the ground just as she tried getting back up. This girl... He was gonna have a talk with her before he ended her pathetic life. Teach her what life really is.

Cruel and unfair.

"The real world is cold!" Roman shouted again, beating Red into the ground with his cane, her leg barely managing to block it.

"The real world doesn't care about spirit!" Roman shouted once more at the girl, the anger and irritation that he has been holding back for the past few days finally getting let out as he hit her again with Melodic Cudgel. Oh how cathartic it was in an almost twisted way.

Unfortunately, in his relief of beating her down, Red caught him off-guard when he went in for another strike, kicking his legs beneath him and knocking him down, his body being dragged by the strong winds before he managed to get a hold of himself.

Red swiftly got back onto her feet, eyeing Roman who knelt on the ground. The kick hurt even with aura, but it wasn't enough to take him down at all. It was like taking a glass of water from a tub of aura.

"You wanna be a hero?" Roman angrily asked her, taking heavy breaths as he did so, slowly standing back up. His irritation and ire growing the longer he fought against her.

"Then play the part and die like every other huntsman in history!" He shouted once more and swung his cane like a bat, knocking Red back down.

Is this all you are without your scythe, Red?

He eyed her small form on the ground, her breathing signaling she was tired.

He hated people like her. He hated people who would have such a naïve view of justice, wanting to play hero and save everyone like a knight in old fairy-tales. This wasn't a fantasy world where everything played out correctly, and to the whims of an innocent child much less. This was the real world. The world where nothing was fair.

"As for me, I'll do what I do best," Roman said as he walked slowly over to her, grasping his cane tightly in his hands, watching her get back up again, angering him even more. It was time to end this little story of theirs.

"Lie. Steal. Cheat. And survive!" Roman shouted, swinging his can once more at her, only to hit nothing.

Everything around him turned into darkness as he was swallowed up by a griffon Grimm, his negative emotions finally attracting the surrounding Grimm to attack him.

Ruby Rose could only watch in surprise and horror as she watched the infamous criminal, Roman Torchwick, be swallowed whole by the Grimm, leaving no original sign that he was ever there except a single item.

A hat that was already flowing down into the darkness of the night.

o – o – o – o – o

"Ugh… goddammit, where the hell am I?"

In an abandoned building in Japan, a young man laid sprawled onto the ground, dazed as he clutched as the sides of his chest in clear pain.

Roman swept his hair to the side as he tried to recall what the hell happened.

The last thing he remembered was fighting Red on top of the General's flagship, only for everything to suddenly disappear. He didn't know what happened after, but guessing that he wasn't on the airship anymore, much less that he didn't have anything to break his fall from falling off from that height, meant he was dead, right?

Only... to be instantly proven wrong by the horrible smell of his surroundings.

Roman gagged at the smell, as he stared at the broken ceiling above him, the surrounding walls just barely in his vision telling him he was in an old abandoned building of sorts.

"I'm not dead yet, am I? Because if I am, the afterlife doesn't look so bad right now. Much better than this... this smell... whatever the hell it is..." Roman glowered.

Roman slowly got up from his unsightly position as he examined his surroundings more closely, nearly falling back down as he felt his sides wanting to tear him apart from the pain.

Pushing past the pain, he finally got into a crouch and saw his surroundings clearly, barely visible from the light that came down from the rafters and the huge hole above him in the ceiling.

Did I... fall through that?

He confirmed his surroundings to be an abandoned building. Most likely a factory or warehouse. The building was worn down due to lack of any management and use; parts of the roof had already caved in other places, letting bits of sunlight pass through.

Roman grimaced as he clutched his chest again in pain, this time noticing his cane, Melodic Cudgel, on the ground beside him. He gingerly picked up his cane as he examined it, making sure there weren't any dents or scratches on it; luckily there weren't any other than a minor scratch on the paint of the muzzle.

Roman then examined his body, checking his condition; he had already noticed his aura was broken as soon as felt the lack of energy flowing through him like normal. Other than that, he had several scratches in some places, as well as whatever internal injury was hurting his insides so much.

His clothes similarly didn't come out unscathed. They were ruffled and littered with tears, hell, he even thought it didn't match his size anymore, making him look almost like a bum.

A revolting comparison.

Roman shook his head as he spat on the ground as he looked at himself in disgust, his fashionable clothes were now in tatters.

Hell, he couldn't even find his hat anywhere, a shame.

Guess I'm alive after all, though I still don't know how I got in here... Just what in the hell even happened up there? Roman thought as he finally stood up, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his sides.

The mystery of how he got there only grew more as he closely examined more of his surroundings, only leading to confuse him. The writing on the walls...

What is that?

He didn't recognize the language of the barely legible and aged writing on the walls.

"Cough!"

Roman coughed hard as he doubled over, pain spreading throughout his whole torso.

"Cough! Cough!"

Roman brought his hand up to his mouth, only to notice blood dripping from his lips.

"Shit…" Roman muttered, his condition was worse than he thought; he needed to get himself to the back-alley doctor quickly. Hell, even a regular doctor looked good as at least he wouldn't die.

He won't survive for more than a few hours if he's internally bleeding, especially if it's from a major organ, and he can't rely on his aura to come back any time soon to heal him. He doubted if aura can even heal this big an injury.

I need to contact Neo…

Roman quickly racked his brain on what to do. He didn't know where he was right now and he couldn't rely on Cinder nor her lackeys. The fire bitch would probably kill him after she learned he didn't completely finish his job.

As for Neo...

He still didn't know if she escaped that hell hole of Grimm.

Roman used Melodic Cudgel as a crutch as he searched for his scroll in his pocket; he needed to contact Neo to see if she was alright as well, and to possibly pick him up from the abandoned building before he passed out from the pain and his injuries.

Roman took out his scroll and quickly found Neo's number, only to find out there was no signal at all, shocking him a little.

"Shit… where the hell am I?" Roman muttered grimly as he stared at the scroll. He was in deep trouble if his scroll couldn't get a signal. Scrolls worked anywhere in almost all the kingdoms, unless you counted Atlas and went into the middle of nowhere in a blizzard. But considering he wasn't dead from the cold right now, he knew this wasn't the situation.

Roman pocketed his scroll angrily and with a new sense of panic as he searched the building for any doors leading out; he needed to find out where he was.

He was not gonna die in the middle of nowhere, much less in an abandoned building goddammit!

As Roman finally found a door that led outside, he pushed hard onto it, only to find it to not budge an inch at all.

"Door's stuck," Roman scowled, before trying to kick the door down to no avail as well, his foot feeling sore from kicking a metal door without his aura to support him.

This was going to be a lot more annoying than he thought.

Roman took a few steps back, bringing the muzzle of Melodic Cudgel up to the door.

Bang!

The door flew off its hinges as it was blasted open, crashing down onto the ground and picking up dust as it let the evening sunset pass through the doorway.

Roman walked out of the building, coughing up dust as he examined his surroundings, only to get stunned at what he saw.

It was the ocean.

"What the… the ocean?" Roman murmured.

Where was he? Seeing the ocean here only led to more questions popping up in his mind to where he really was. The coast of Vale was far away from Beacon academy. So how did he end up so far out?

Roman turned his head to examine the rest of his surroundings, finding he was on higher level than the beach. On his level, trash were littered everywhere. Literal mountains of trash and junk were spread across the land, while the beach was close to bare of any, to none at all.

This wasn't Vale.

Vale, in all its pathetic glory, did not put their trash in the coast, much less even having this much trash as well.

I'm not even sure Vale has a beach...

"Just where in Remnant am I?" Roman spoke aloud solemnly, not asking anyone in particular, hoped for an answer nevertheless.

Thoughts passed rapidly through his head as he looked at the mountains of trash, walking around it. He was nowhere near the coast of Vale, nor was he near any of the coasts of the other kingdoms. He wasn't buried in snow, nor was he in sand and roasted by the heat. And even Mistral at least took care of their ports better than this.

He's fled the law by hiding in all the other kingdoms, but he has never seen such a view in all of his life.

"Cough! Cough!"

Roman hunched over as another coughing fit came over him, filling his entire body in pain. This time the fit was worse than earlier; blood leaked from Roman's lips as he wiped his mouth.

Dammit… at this rate I'll die if I don't get any help. Roman mulled to himself as he straightened his body, and forced himself to move forward, using his cane with an actual purpose of a cane. He didn't know where he was anymore, and his condition was a lot worse than he expected. Even if he had to go to a hospital, it would be worth it even if it meant getting arrested, he'd rather live than die. Getting out of prison can wait after.

Roman stumbled forward past the mountains of trash as he held himself together, trying not to stop or fall down from the pain inflicting his body at the moment. His grip on Melodic Cudgel tightened with every yard he travelled, searching for any sign of human life.

Hell, he even wanted to shout for help as pathetic it would have looked like... but at this point, he thought he'd only make his condition worse if he tried to.

He could now only hope to pass by anyone.

He walked in silence for several minutes. The only sound being the sound of the waves hitting the shore as well as Melodic Cudgel rhythmically hitting the ground, all the while his hope falling away with every second.

As Roman walked past the mountains of trash, he felt his body get heavier and heavier. His condition was gradually getting worse, making him stumble every now and then as he walked.

His vision eventually started to fade, dark dots flickering across his eyes. But he kept pressing forward, pushing his body to the limits, face paling, as he stumbled forward holding onto his cane as the last crutch to keep on going.

"..."

Thump

Roman's body fell forward onto the ground, his face shadowed from the sun by his hair. He couldn't move anymore; his breathing was hurried and low. Blood leaked from his lips as he felt his consciousness fading away.

"Cough, cough… is this how I die?" Roman muttered to himself solemnly in all but a whisper as he stared at the nearby ocean.

"All alone by myself in the middle of trash… haha… how ironic," Roman chuckled, though it seemed to be more self-deprecating.

Roman laid there, all of his energy exhausted; his chest felt heavy as he thought about his current situation and how ironic it was now.

"So, this is where all my work got me… back to square one, beaten and alone." Roman said to himself, slowly losing consciousness. Oh, how life liked to go in circles.

He thought to himself of how he lived all his life at the moment. Almost like seeing his life flash in his eyes, making Roman internally scoff at it. He saw memories of his life living as a petty thief in Mistral – to meeting Neo – to becoming one the greatest thieves in Vale the city would see.

"Lie, steal, cheat… and survive…" Roman murmured as he remembered the last thing he said to the girl; ironic as she did the opposite of what he did, and actually won.

The girl lived a good life, and he was given a shit one. But he made up with it and pushed on, only to fall back to where he was again.

He thought over of what he said to her. Those were the rules he lived by; those were the rules that kept him alive. But here he was, dying, and her? Her naïve justice actually won at the end of the day.

Was I wrong? Roman thought to himself.

Was he wrong for what he did to survive in this cold and unforgiving world? He didn't think so, but doubt started to appear in his mind as he laid there, dead tired, and losing hope.

Now that I think of it, I never knew little Red's name. Roman internally chuckled, slowly losing his anger at the girl as he thought of how he failed. He never did learn her name; never did need a reason to know.

Fair play, Red. Fair play...

Roman finally closed his eyes, he wasn't ready to die yet, but he had nothing left to save him, letting exhaustion finally take him.

He lost. There was nothing else he could do.

He just hoped he got a better hand of cards in the next life.

"I wonder how Neo's doing…" Roman whispered to himself, letting himself finally fall unconscious; a small smile hung on his face.

o – o – o – o – o

"Hey, All Might! There's something over here!"

"Hm? What is it Young Midoriya?"

"Ah! It's a body!"

"What?!"

A/N: Fixed up every chapter up to 8, and fixed up any plot holes I noticed and some grammar mistakes. Next update will be a new chapter.