A/N: Slowly chugging along, at my own pace.

When Riot rewrote the Darkin lore to tie them in with Shurima, the Void, and the Aspects, Aatrox and Varus got short stories, comics, and videos to bring them into the new status quo. All Rhaast currently has is… one passing mention in the Zed comic. At least, that's all I can find of him. What's up with that?

We'll get to Ruby's many backstories in time. Why she's alone, how she met Rhaast, what she did in Vale to earn her reputation. Just, not now.

Will Neo's POV section be too confusing? Read on and let me know if it's too much of a thinker.


Roman Torchwick was not a betting man. Through all his years as a criminal, a thief, and as the kingpin of Vale's criminal underground, not once did he ever bite off more than he could chew. It was how he had managed to survive for as long as he had; by planning ahead, being careful, and always cutting and running when things got too hairy. No matter what job it was.

"…And that's how I found myself back in Vale. Pretty crazy, huh, Roman?"

So this time, all he has to do is run a con on a crazed psychopath before she catches on and disposes of him. No pressure!

"Roman? Hellooo? Remnant to Torchwick?"

He blinked, the world came back into focus, and suddenly he found a tiny hand and accompanying rose bracelet waving in front of his face. Right, right. The job. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand while batting away Ruby's with the other. The bar stool he sat on swiveled slightly from the motion.

"You're killing me here, Red. Not that it isn't good to see you, but your timing really couldn't be worse."

"How so?" Ruby tilted her head to the side, and behind her Neo followed suit, much to his chagrin.

"Right, well." He coughed and clasped his hands together, trying to find the right words. "You… probably don't know, since you just arrived yesterday, but Cinder's been making moves in Vale's underground for quite some time now, amassing a power base for gods knows what. You wanna get to her? It won't be as simple as a basic hit-and-run. You'd have better luck waiting for her to step out of town."

It wasn't like he was obligated to warn her or anything. No, it was just a bit of honor among thieves, that's all! Plus, if he could dissuade her from pursuing Cinder for now, she wouldn't have to find out about his involvement in the entire mess. He preferred his head attached to his shoulders, thank you very much.

His plan seemed to have worked, as Ruby looked deep in thought, wringing her hands together as she considered his words. But really, that should have been the first indication that something was about to go horribly wrong.

Roman's eyes widened in a panic as he watched Neo, his supposed partner-in-crime, tap Ruby on the shoulder, and hand her a message on her Scroll. The traitorous little shit grinned gleefully as silver eyes darted across the tablet, no doubt reading of the correspondence Cinder had sent them two weeks prior.

"Oh, Roman. Why didn't you tell me?" Ruby said, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head in a little pout that would have been absolutely adorable if he wasn't too busy fearing for his life. "What? Did you think I'd be mad at you or something?"

"Something like that." His hand darted out to steal away the Scroll from her, but was met with stubborn resistance.

"Well, I'm not mad. I'm not!" She insisted. "So why'd you do it? Why'd you join up with Cinder?"

A smile was on her face, but her eyes told a different story: 'Explain yourself, or suffer the consequences'.

"Look, Red. She didn't exactly give me a choice. You saw how strong she is; either I join her, or die. Sound familiar?"

Ruby gasped. "Roman Torchwick! Are you implying that I force people to do my bidding under the threat of death? How could you?"

Neo giggled silently beside her, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

"Red. That's literally the only thing you do. Proponents and propagators of anti-Faunus racism either change their ways or die." He sighed. "But Cinder's different."

"How so?"

"Well first of all, we know nothing about her. And I mean that literally. It's been three months since she's debuted in Vale, and Junior and the rest of them still have no clue who she is."

"In Vale?" Ruby said, noticing his phrasing.

"Which brings me to my next point. Despite the fact that no one knows her, she somehow has…resources. Supplies that go missing, only to end up in her hands without a trail. Intel that should be wrapped tightly under lock and key, she tosses out and around like it's in the Sunday newspaper." He took a deep breath before continuing. "And…then there's the help. Five weeks ago, one of the old families tried challenging her. They disappeared. And somehow, a gang from Mistral was ready to move in and fill the power vacuum immediately, before any of the rest of us even learned that the Kaolin's bit the Dust."

In spite of all of this, Ruby just grinned. "Good. Those racist assholes were irredeemable, anyways."

Roman finally managed to wrench the Scroll out of her hands. "Ruby, this is serious! I mean—don't get me wrong—you're plenty threatening, sure, but at least you have standards. Cinder's clearly operating on a different level than the rest of us. She's after something huge, and she'll burn down anyone who gets in her way. Anyone." He finished with extra emphasis.

"So you'll sell out your fellow criminal just to save your own skin?"

"…Yes?" Did she hit her head on the way in or something?

She shrugged. "Fair enough. Where's Junior? I gotta talk to him."

"Right here." The club owner suddenly popped into view from behind the counter, sliding Ruby a coffee. "I have to agree with Torchwick on this one, Red. Cinder's bad news."

"She sure is." She said nonchalantly. "Can I use your back-backroom? Rhaast and I need to do some scheming."

"Wait, wait, wait." Roman interrupted. "You're going to ignore everything I just said?"

She stared blankly at him. "…Yes? Did you hit your head on the way in or something?"

Neo tapped the red reaper on the shoulder, holding up an illusory sign that read: 'Can I join?'.

"What? No, and no! Neo, darling, we are not double-crossing Cinder!"

Infuriatingly, the two girls smirked at him, perfectly in sync. "Oooh, I gotcha. So you're definitely not betraying her."

"Right." Wait, hold on…

"Okay, got it. No need to announce it to the world, Roman. Message received loud and clear. Absolutely no backstabbing will be taking place in this city, no siree!"

"No, you fools!" Roman shouted at the top of his lungs. "We're not doing that! We're not even thinking of doing any of that!"

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Ruby cheered, before grabbing Neo's hand. "C'mon Neo, to the back-backroom!"

Junior tossed them the key, before refilling his drink. "Sorry, Torchwick. Looks like you definitely won't be turning traitor anytime soon."

"Shut up." He hissed. "I don't want a word of this conversation leaking to Cinder!"

The club owner just grunted in acknowledgement, and Roman downed his drink vindictively. Gods, he needed to get out of here…


Neo was happy. How could she not be? Her bestest friend in the whole wide world was back in Vale! Sure, there was Roman, but they were partners. That was different! Plus, Roman made some seriously stupid decisions from time to time. Like siding with Cinder over Ruby.

That didn't preclude her from staying with him, mind you. She'd follow him all the way to the Grimmlands if he ever decided Vale was too small for him. They were partners! Still, it was nice to hear a different voice from time to time. Variety was the spice of life, and all that.

And here they were, in Junior's private room; thumb strings, tacks, and sketch paper at the ready. Alone, together. Just her, Ruby, and the demonic voice whispering in her friend's ear. She didn't want to brag or anything, but neither Roman nor Junior ever claimed to hear the passenger riding along in Ruby's head. Clearly, that just meant Neo understood her friend more than anyone else!

"I'll need to pay the old families a visit. Minus the Kaolin's, of course." Her friend rambled, pacing back and forth within the confines of the meeting room. "Need to know where their allegiances lie. Oh, and I guess I should also check if anyone other than Cinder has made a move in the past two years. I'll introduce myself to them second. Gah, it'll take forever to cover the entire underground!"

'Kill them.'

"Oh, sure." She scoffed. "It would be easier that way. If I knew how!"

Silly Ruby. Did she forget how to murder people while in the White Fang?

"What? C'mon Neo, who do you think I am? Anyways, first I should reconnect with Vale. Get reestablished, find a place to stay, hire a few goons, maybe smuggle a few weapons in. I can't combat Cinder's forces alone, now can I?"

That was true, wasn't it? Ruby had just arrived, alone, and all of her old hideouts were repurposed or taken over. Maybe her friend could stay at her and Roman's? Actually, on second thought, it wouldn't be good for their cover if anyone spotted Ruby near them.

"Agreed. Make sure you disguise yourself on the way out, Neo. The longer Cinder remains in the dark, the better it is for us."

'Kill her.'

"I am considering it! We'll go loud as a last resort. Although, we could delegate a little. Not to the police, no, but maybe if we tipped off some local Hunters? The clandestine ones know not to shake things up too much. If Cinder really is running most of the underground, then that means every little incident will cascade back to her."

Oooh, guerrilla tactics? Count her in!

"Of course." Ruby agreed. "We'll double-up on the sabotage. My shadow magic and your Semblance, so no one knows it's us. Frame it on the good Hunters of Vale. Do we have a timetable?"

Neo considered the question briefly. Cinder was very tight-lipped on her plan, and usually only ordered Roman to steal Dust and deliver it to her, upon which it disappeared into the void forever. The past few days had shown no signs of change, and her recent failure to recruit the White Fang was probably a setback too.

"Good point. We'll rely on Roman to give us updates, and continue hitting gangs and supply lines in the meantime. She has to get frustrated and slip up eventually, as long as we keep stalling her plans."

Neo licked her lips in anticipation. Knowing Ruby, she'd always target the racists first. Torturing them was always always fun!

"No, Neo." Her friend said patiently. "No torture. Not this time."

'Why not?'

"I knew you would say that…" She sighed. "But that would immediately give away the fact that it's us. And impartial hits will still hurt them all the same."

Darn. And she was looking forward to hunting with her best pal, too!

"I know, I know. Okay, so to recap, step one: gather information, step two: use that information to sabotage Cinder's forces, step three: kill her. Did I miss anything?"

Neo wracked her brain for any holes in Ruby's plan. The thing about working alone and in small groups—which was what she preferred over Cinder's way of doing things—was that there was much more freedom in case something went wrong. If they were unlucky and unable to scrounge up anything on the families, they still had the option of killing them. If they couldn't intercept the flow of supplies going to Cinder's organization, then they could just kill the suppliers. And if Cinder found out who was sabotaging her, she'd come after them, and…well, first they'd probably run, but then they'd assassinate her later!

"Neo." Ruby deadpanned. "That's what I meant when I said, 'go loud as a last resort'. Ideally we'll handle this without attracting the attention of every last Hunter in Vale. So save the murdering for the ones that truly deserve it."

Fine. She conceded that her friend may have a point.

"Anyways." Ruby's eyes grew softer. "How have you been?"

Her? Same old, same old, of course.

"I can tell. You're still wearing that face, even when it's just the two of us."

Hahaha, her friend was so wacky. What face?

Ruby's expression tightened. "Don't play dumb with me, Neo. You know I don't like it when you hide yourself behind your Semblance."

Ugh. Ruby just didn't get it. Everyone already knew her by this face! She and Roman would lose all respect if they found out!

"A weak justification. I thought you didn't care what others thought of you?"

On the inside. Her actions and morals were beyond reproach. But on the outside? By dropping her Semblance, she'd only be opening herself up to base insults and worthless rhetoric about the inferiority of the Faunus. She'd get nothing out of it!

Ruby looked sad, and that made her sad. "You'd get a chance to be yourself. But I get it. Lie, cheat, steal, and survive, right?"

Ah. So she did get it. Good. She'd spent more time alive with this face than her other, and she wasn't about to change now.

Her fellow Faunus rolled her eyes. "Fine. So, same old, same old, huh? I bet you and Roman have pulled off some crazy heists in these last two years. Tell me about them."

Neo grinned.


"And another thing! We should have gutted that man like a fish for even thinking of betraying us."

"You say that every time we talk to Roman." Ruby let out a yawn, blinking in surprise as the first rays of dawn shone over the horizon. Guess she spent a little too much time catching up with Neo.

Still, she had one last stop to make before she could crash for a few hours, which was why she was currently approaching a series of innocuous warehouses deep within the maze-like industrial district of Vale. Fortunately for them, law enforcement was far more lax in this part of town, and the odds of people reporting suspicious figures moving about at this hour were about as low as the odds of the police actually acting on that information. It was a place, as Roman so elegantly called it, where 'dumb cops' gathered. Though calling them that was a bit redundant in her opinion.

Heh. Good ol' Vale.

It didn't take her long to spot the warehouse she was looking for. While the windows on all the buildings here were provided for by the same Valean glass company, her comrades had retrofitted a single pane in their hideout to fit their needs. It was tinted just a shade darker than the normal windows, and behind it sat an inconspicuous stack of crates. To the naked eye, the view wouldn't look any different from its counterpart the next building over, unless, of course, you had night vision and knew exactly what to look for.

As she passed by said window on her way to the electronic lock, she took a quick glance in. Scrawled on the corner of one of the crates was the code for today's password. A sketch of a wyvern on the left, fighting a Huntsman on the right, so that would be…

"One-hundred and seven thousand, eight hundred and eight."

"Why the hell would you say it like that?" Ruby said as she punched in the sequence.

"Because I'm bored. All we've done for the past twelve hours is walk around and plan." Rhaast spat out the last word like it was venom. "Here's the plan: kill all who stand in our way and then some!"

"And this," She replied, carefully closing the door behind her. "This is why you're not in charge."

"Yet."

The interior of the warehouse, to no one's surprise, was also packed with boxes and crates of miscellaneous goods. A front, obviously, but enough to ward off the casual inspection. Plus, the place was a little less suspicious anyways, since the White Fang currently had no active operations in Vale. As such, there was only a single member occupying the building at this time of day, and thankfully it was exactly who she was looking for.

Exiting the front loaded cargo maze, she found the man she was looking for hunched over a table, tapping away at a computer. He was likely relaying messages or setting up meetings with new recruits.

"Did we ever find out what kind of Faunus he is?"

"Not now." She whispered before raising her voice. "Amadeus!"

At her call, the man stiffened, before powering down the monitor and standing to face her. He was a goliath of a man, easily towering over her frame despite the slouch he wore from what were presumably hours in front of the screen. Ruby stifled a giggle at his outfit; a simple t-shirt and shorts that looked a bit tight for someone of his musculature. He even rolled up his sleeves to show off the entire tattoo on his left arm.

"Ruby. Why are you here? I thought our main operations were taking place in Mistral." The lieutenant said in a low, gravelly voice. "And I thought I told you to call me Bane."

"Oh, come on. Who exactly is going to overhear us? X-Ray and Vav? Or maybe Feral?" She laughed, gesturing to an opened crate overflowing with action figures behind them. "And you're right. The gang's all still in Mistral."

Bane's stern expression tightened. "Then I'll say it again. Why. Are. You. Here?"

"Don't tell him about Blake. If anyone swoops in and properly does your job for you Adam will have you back in Mistral before you know it." Rhaast urged. "We'll miss our chance to kill Cinder!"

"I'm on a little… side mission." She said after a small pause. "I'm sure you've heard of the recent shifts in power in Vale's underground?"

He relaxed, and turned back to his desk. "What the humans do outside of the law is of no concern to us."

"It is if they're going to steal our Dust."

"From what I've gathered, they're attacking stores and warehouses. Not suppliers." He countered, as the computer's display flickered back to life. "Anything that makes it to this kingdom has already served the White Fang. As far as I'm concerned, this is Vale's problem."

"For now. But something tells me they aren't going to stop there. Call it a gut feeling."

"This gut feeling wouldn't happen to wear a bowler hat, would it?" He sighed. "And besides, if you really were here to help the White Fang, Adam would have informed me of your arrival."

"Your lying needs work. Perhaps there is some merit to keeping Roman alive after all…"

She held up her hands in defeat. "Fine, fine, you got me. But I still think this is important. Plus, you still haven't heard what I want from you yet."

"And that is…?"

"I need a few members to move some things. Evidence, weapons, supplies, you know the drill." She made a show of counting on her fingers. "Nothing life-threatening, of course. It's just that I can't be everywhere at once. In Mistral I can pull rank to get what I want, most of the time, but here in Vale? Not so much."

He paused, grabbing an elongated metal chest from under the table. "Junior already turned you down?"

"Yep."

Suddenly, the chest came flying towards her, sliding across the floor with a tooth-grinding screech as it spun to a stop at her feet. With a kick, the latch popped open, and Ruby's eyes widened in excitement as she picked up the contents inside.

"A chainsaw!? Oh, oh, let me guess: it turns into a railgun!"

"No."

"Okay…how about a bazooka?"

"No."

"A, uh, nail gun?"

"Hold on, I've got this. No!"

"It doesn't turn into anything." Bane explained. "Not yet."

Realization dawned on her, and she stopped looking for the mekashift button that wasn't there. "Quid pro quo, huh?"

He nodded. "Until I receive actual orders from Adam or Sienna, I'm just going to assume this is just another instance of you going rogue. So here's the deal. You finally put that brain of yours to use upgrading our weapons, and I'll let you pick from the Valean branch's finest full-time members."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, I haven't really had the time to hone my craft lately. Rhaast nearly cut my arm off the last time I tried to weld a sniper scope to him." Ruby said, scratching at the nape of her neck. "That was a few months ago, and we've been really busy since."

"You can't improve upon perfection!"

"The last above-board smithy that would serve us got poached by the Atlesian military two months ago. And you of all people should know how hard it is to get a real weapon illegally. Unfortunately, you're the best we've got."

"Fair enough." She said, gingerly laying the chainsaw back in its case. "Oh, in that case I'll need spare parts and the proper tools to modify this thing. And, also a permanent base of operations. I, uh, can't be seen with Torchwick now unless it's confrontational. I'm fighting Cinder, he isn't not betraying her; you know the deal."

"Pick one. The White Fang is not a charity organization."

"Fiiine. I guess I can fit grand theft into my busy, busy schedule."

With a grunt of acknowledgement, Bane produced a wallet from out of nowhere and tossed it to her, before turning back to the computer. "Fake ID, address, keys and a bit of Lien; they're all in there." He grumbled. "Disguise for the ID is in a hidden compartment under the drawer in the bedroom. In case the cops come knocking."

"Will that really hold up? I mean, I knew the cops were bad around here but…"

"It won't, under a bit of scrutiny. So try to keep your business away from there. And from the Fang. Until anything changes, I don't want to see you back here without a weapon for me. Period."

Ruby scooped up the wallet and the weapons case, slipping the former into the latter and slinging them over her back. "Okay, okay, I get it. Whatever happened to camaraderie between fellow White Fang members?"

"I respect you, Rose." Bane said, a bit of acidity slipping into his voice. "But your reputation hasn't exactly made it easier for the Faunus in Vale. And not everyone here agrees with your…methods."

What? "Okay, one: the general public doesn't even know who I am. So that only applies to the criminal underground. And B: my methods work. Or do I need to remind you of how this place looked two years ago?"

"I'm just saying. There's a reason Adam and Sienna are the face of the White Fang, and not you. There's a reason you're not the leader. Now, is that all?"

Ruby bit back an insult and just smiled. "Yeah. See you around, Amadeus."

She stalked out of the warehouse, trying very hard not to stomp holes into the concrete.

"Such disrespect. Unfitting for one worthy of my power."

"Acts of vandalism and theft against local Faunus businesses are down by 43% compared to two years ago. Hate crimes committed by human supremacists have almost vanished! And don't even get me started on Faunus trafficking!" She cited angrily. "I'm making a difference. I'm helping. Why don't they see that?"

"They still see you as just a child." Rhaast lamented. "Perhaps they need a reminder? A repeat performance from two years ago?"

"Perhaps…" She echoed tonelessly.

The world needed her. The Faunus needed her. She'd prove it to them. Her way.


3 - End


Extras III

Champion Spotlight: Weiss Schnee, the Ice Queen

Passive - Glyphs

Weiss periodically stores a glyph charge, up to a maximum of {X}/{X}/{X}/{X} charges at level 1/{X}/{X}/{X}. Weiss uses these charges instead of mana for her abilities, though they are still gated by cooldown. Every time Weiss lands a basic attack, she reduces the cooldown of the next charge by {X} seconds.

Q - Glyph: Dust

(Active): Weiss fires a Dust blast in the target direction that explodes on the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage in an area and triggering a bonus effect based on where Weiss was standing at the time of cast.

Brush: Roots the target for {X} seconds. Vines burst outward in a circle from the center, applying the same root to any nearby enemy.

River: Creates an icy field that lasts {X} seconds, applying a {X}% to enemies that walk over it. After the duration, the field explodes, dealing additional damage.

Terrain: Deals {X}% of the target's max health as bonus damage and cripples enemies by {X}%.

W - Glyph: Barrier

(Active): Weiss summons a vertical glyph at the target location perpendicular to her, creating impassable terrain and knocking all units away from it. The barrier lingers for {X} seconds, and intercepts all incoming hostile projectiles from champions up to a maximum of {X} before breaking. Moving near this glyph temporarily grants Weiss {X} bonus armor and magic resist.

E - Glyph: Time Dilation

(Active): Weiss summons a glyph on the ground at the target location that lingers for {X} seconds, granting Weiss and her allies {X}% bonus attack speed for {X} seconds upon stepping onto the glyph. If Weiss casts Glyph: Time Dilation over any preexisting glyph, she instead heals for {X}% of her missing health and dashes to the glyph.

R - Glyph: Summon

(Passive): Upon learning this ability, whenever Weiss scores a takedown on an enemy champion, she gains a summoning charge of that champion. Weiss can manually select a champion to be her active summon, though if she has no charges it will automatically default to the next charge she receives.

(Active): Weiss consumes the summoning charge and a glyph charge to summon a copy of the selected champion at the target location. The next basic ability Weiss uses will instead be casted through her summon. Summons deal reduced damage, are unstoppable, and will disappear shortly after using their ability, leaving behind a glyph that lasts {X} seconds.