Chapter Fourteen: A Good Person

As predicted, the dark rolling clouds had finally opened up, the cacophonous drumbeat of rain now filling the long halls of Hatra. Ruby strolled along, doing her best to avoid the water overflowing from the edges of buildings and catwalks. It was something that Ruby knew to be a pointless exercise; unable to convince herself otherwise as she was splashed by cold water. The woman's only saving grace was the excellent protection the buildings gave her from the howling wind.

Hatra could rarely be described as a pleasant place. This sentiment increased exponentially in the rain, the narrow passages and cat walks becoming even more treacherous when wet. In the last month Ruby had heard of at least three people slipping and falling to their deaths. Common sense told her that her aura would surely prevent her from death or even serious injury. It was the other part of her that demanded she be fearful; the animal part of the mind, screaming at her to be afraid of the long fall into the dark below. The part of her mind that Ruby had spent years teaching herself to suppress, to bury, to conquer. Even so, thoughts of such a slip were deeply unsettling.

Ruby had found it surprising how even after a year she could find it difficult to navigate Hatra at times. It might perhaps have been easier if Sadun could ever be bothered to spend money on some goddamn light bulbs. The old incandescent bulbs lay dead or flickering along walls and ceilings where they had been poorly installed to begin with. The poor lighting exacerbated as every wet surface reflected the dim glow of the lights.

Ruby let out a sigh of relief when she finally arrived at the building she was looking for; quickly stepping off the catwalks and into the protective hallways. She stalked down the hallways, taking note of the passing room numbers, realizing she needed to ascend a few floors. In retrospect, Ruby couldn't help but laugh at the people who called cities like Atlas and Vale concrete jungles. Those people had clearly never been to Hatra.

The interior of the building reflected the poorly maintained appearance that consumed Hatra. There had once been carpet on the floors, now completely worn through. The old paint, at one time white, now almost cream colored and peeling from the walls. Bits and pieces of the tiled ceiling lay strewn about the halls, from years of disrepair and rot. Despite the horrific appearance of the place, Ruby knew that Sadun kept the maintenance up where it really mattered. She had no doubt that there was almost no risk of electric fires, the sprinkler systems checked religiously, and the plumbing was maintained in a near immaculate state.

Stopping a few floors up, Ruby finally found her quarry. '7251, I wonder if she remembers me?'

Ruby pondered, listening at the door for a moment before she knocked. As she stood there, the sounds of soft sobbing became apparent through the thin door. A crying teenager was certainly the last thing that Ruby wanted to deal with right now, but duty demanded otherwise.

Pulling back her fist, Ruby pounded on the door, the cheap wood rattling on it's hinges. The sobbing abruptly stopped, a panicked silence clearly communicated through the door.

"Fuck off!" came the shrill voice of the girl through the door.

Ruby let out a deep sigh, already feeling the headache beginning, "Ella, it's me, Ruby. I need you to open the door," she spoke softly hoping Ella would listen.

"I said, fuck off!" the reply, everything that Ruby was expecting.

'Guess we're playing bad cop today,' Ruby thought, not willing to spend all day coaxing the girl out, "Ella, hun, I'd really like you to open the door," Ruby continued to speak softly, trying to sound comforting, "If not, I'll kick the fucking thing down, and shoot you until you tell me what I want again."

There was silence for only a moment, "Shit!" the telltale panicked sound of the gir rushing to the door. Ruby heard the door chain sliding open, the deadbolt clicking as it was unlocked. The door was thrown open, the teenaged girl standing there glaring at her. Her eyes were puffy and red, makeup running in streaks where she had clearly left it on the night before, "The hell do you want, peacekeeper?"

Ruby grinned at the sardonic nickname that many had taken to calling her. She still wasn't sure if it originated from her rough beginnings in the city, or from the odd jobs she ran for the Wardens. She had carved a strange niche for herself in the year she had spent in the city. She did odd jobs for the Wardens, things that most of them were incapable or at times unwilling to do. However, she had refused to officially join the Wardens despite numerous offers and requests from them. Haziq had even made it clear once that Sadun wanted her to join as one of his lieutenants.

They were all offers that Ruby had refused of course. She valued her freedom far more than being tied to yet another manipulative asshole. The silly title offered to her meant nothing, even if it came with a generous pay raise.

Ruby pushed her way into the room, caring little for the courtesy she should probably show the girl. Looking around, the apartment was everything that one would expect, a pigsty that is. The girl had a few small rooms; kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom. Clothes, trash, and assorted junk lay strewn over every possible surface. It was clear that if there was anything damning here, it would be a true endeavour to find it.

"I'm sorry about Abdul," Ruby told the girl, meaning it more than Ella likely knew, "But, you know why I'm here. Once I get the answers I need I'll be gone."

"No you aren't, asshole," Ella spat with as much venom in her voice as possible, storming into the apartment after Ruby. The girl glared at her as if she believed her gaze alone could hurt Ruby, "If you were sorry, you'd be out there looking for the bastard that killed him. You wouldn't be here, harrassing me."

Ruby glowered down at the shorter girl, "That's exactly why I'm here, and I hope for your sake that I'm wasting my time."

"Fuck you! You think I did it?" the grieving girl stepping closer to ruby.

"Did it? No, it wouldn't have been you. Someone sold him out though, and it's a damn short list, Ella," Ruby watched the younger girl's body language closely, reaching out with her aura to try and feel any fluctuations in the girl's soul that would give away a lie.

One of the many tricks Ruby had learned from the old woman. It was unlikely to work on someone who had their aura unlocked, but on a normal person like Ella it had a good chance of success. Like any lie detector though it was far from perfect. If a person believed their own lie strongly enough then it would be useless. It was something that was unusually common in Hatra, either through drugs or pure psychosis.

"Why the hell would I sell him out?" Ella demanded, "Abdul was like a god to me! He was my everything!"

Ruby rolled her eyes at the melodrama, wondering if she would have been like Ella had she lived a more normal life. Minus the crippling drug addiction, as was clear by the track marks on the girl's arms, "Sorry if I don't give much weight to the moral fiber of anyone in Hatra, let alone a drug addict."

Ella cocked back her arm to slap Ruby, furious at the jab.

"You really wanna try?" Ruby grinned, watching the girl lower her arm, "Look Ella, I need a clear answer. Either you were involved in some way, or you have an idea of who would be."

"I didn't sell my boyfriend out for some fucking drugs you bitch!" Ella sneered, "Fuck, no one sold Abdul out. He was probably just mugged or some shit."

Nothing, not even a ripple in her soul,"This is Hatra, no one regardless of how high or crazy would be stupid enough to touch Sadun's nephew," Ruby paused letting the statement sink in, "It's clear enough that this wasn't a random killing Ella. Someone knows something."

Ella stifled a sob, trying to keep her emotions in check. "You really think…." her voice cracked, as she turned away from Ruby, "Oh god, Abdul."

Ruby leaned down and gently put her hand on Ella's shoulder, "I know this is hard Ella, but I'm going to find out who did this. I know you can help me."

Ella nodded, eyes defocusing momentarily as she thought, "Haziq...no, too loyal not stupid enough," another long pause followed as if Ella was terrified of what she might say next, "Jinsa."

Ruby recalled the other name on the list, silently relieved that Ella had drawn the same conclusion about Haziq as her, "I've heard the name. Him and Abdul were friends, right?"

Ella snorted, "Friends! It might look that way if you were naive enough….if you were Abdul."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "What's that mean?"

Ella looked around for a second, trying to compose herself, "They looked like friends, even got along great most of the time, but no...no. Jinsa hated Abdul. Abdul just couldn't see it, wouldn't see it. I told the idiot."

Ruby remained silent, waiting for Ella to continue explaining, "Jinsa started hanging around Abdul a couple years ago. Everything seemed great to begin with, but Jinsa was always getting Abdul in shit. No matter how bad it got, Abdul just let it go. Until a couple months ago."

"What happened? Abdul got into trouble all the time, I don't remember hearing anything out of the ordinary though," Ruby pushed.

"You wouldn't have, almost no one did," Ella answered, her tone becoming gravely serious, "Jinsa is a Warden, but nothing is ever good enough for him, he always wants more. A couple months ago it got really bad. Jinsa came to Abdul one day, all excited and shit. He said had met someone.." Ella trailed off, walking over to the living room and sitting down.

"A mistrali?" Ruby questioned, recalling the bullet.

Ella raised an eyebrow, "I... I don't know. He didn't say, or I didn't listen. He said that they could get rich. That he met someone who could buy slaves from them."

Ruby's body stiffened at this, "Slaves? There's no slavery in the kingdoms. What slaves?"

"Not officially but...well the Schnees in Atlas always need Faunus for their mines," Ella said venomously, disgusted by her own words, "He said we could take people from Hatra. People no one would miss, which is most of the city."

Ruby instantly thought of Ferrah, her stomach twisting, and a wave of nausea coming over her, "What happened?"

"Don't look at me like that! We might not be saints, but we're not... we're not like that. You've been here long enough to know that," Ella appalled at Ruby's tone.

Ruby knew she was right, the thought still sickening, "I know, Ella."

Ella took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, "Abdul was furious...furious. I've never seen him like that. They fought, and I mean actually fought. Abdul beat Jinsa, tossed him out of his apartment," she stopped for a moment, collecting her thoughts, "Jinsa eventually apologised, but things were different after that. Him and Abdul, they were always tense after that."

Ruby felt that she had heard enough, she couldn't be certain yet, but things didn't look good for Jinsa, "I have his address, but if he's involved he might not be there. Is there anyone else he might go?"

Ella wrapped her arms around herself, and nodded, "Yeah...yeah, he's got a place in the eastern block. I think me and Abdul were the only ones who knew anything about it."

"Is there any chance he might flee the city?" Ruby questioned, hoping she wouldn't be too late. The trek across the desert alone was a death sentence alone, but caravans came and went almost constantly if one could afford passage.

"He absolutely would, but Sadun has the whole city locked down. No one comes or goes, not until he finds who did this," Ella said smugly, "Give me your paper, I'll write down the directions for his other place."

That was certainly news to Ruby. Sadun hadn't mentioned locking the city down, but it came as little surprise. Once she had the second address, Ruby turned to leave hoping to wrap the whole affair up before the end of the day.

"Ruby!" Ella shouted as the woman reached the doorway, "Make them pay, please."

"I will," Ruby said gravely, completely unaware of just how true her words were.

She wasted no time making her way across the steel superstructure, the rain having abated for the moment. Her mind still raced at the thought of someone grabbing people off the streets of Hatra, selling the into slavery, "Bastards," Ruby mumbled under her breath.

Her steady gait brought her to Jinsa's apartment in short order. Ruby didn't give a single thought to knocking, kicking the door in and splintering the frame of the door. Down the hall, Ruby could see multiple residents peak their heads out their doors at the loud crashing sound, only to duck back inside and lock their doors.

The sight that greeted her was one of chaos. The apartment appeared to have been completely sacked, or it did at first glance. Ruby strolled into the apartment, finding no sign of Jinsa. Upon closer inspection she began to see a pattern to the chaos.

'No actual signs of a struggle, doesn't look like anyone actually ransacked the place either,' Ruby figured that Jinsa had likely trashed the place himself. Likely hoping that if someone came looking for him they would think him just another victim.

She didn't care to look any further, already given a good idea of where to look for Jinsa. Ruby left the room, and made for the exit of the building. The woman found herself wishing that the city had some sort of public transit. Her jobs rarely brought her running back and forth between every corner of the city, but it was always infuriating when it did.

With no intention of killing the man, Ruby stopped at one of the Warden offices on her way to the eastern block. She had no desire to waste her time dragging the man all the way back to the nearest Warden office, and figured she might as well let them deal with the man once she was finished.

One might expect the eastern block to be a different beast during the day; that expectation would be very wrong. The eastern block managed to somehow avoid any ray of sunshine regardless of the time of day. The blaring music, the vagrants drunk or high stumbling through the streets, the smell of urine and vomit, all seemed to be permanent fixtures here. Unpleasant was certainly one word for it, but Ruby preferred revolting.

If all that wasn't enough, the eastern block also managed to be the single most confusing part of the city. Unlike most parts of the city, where catwalks and passages had been installed carefully over the years to ease travel, no care was given to such things here. One might find themselves following twisting passages that lead to nowhere, or having to pass through multiple apartments to get to the opposite side of a building. Ruby had even heard rumour that there were parts of the city in the eastern block, that through endless renovation, had been completely lost; hidden behind countless walls. She had little doubt that those rumours were true. If not for the careful directions written by Ella, Ruby would have doubtlessly never found Jinsa's hideout.

She hated it here. Ruby certainly couldn't say that she loved Hatra to begin with. However, here was an amalgamation of every problem in the city taken to the extreme and crammed into a single corner of Hatra. Ruby had once asked Haziq why Sadun allowed the eastern block to exist as it did.

The explanation made some sense, or as much as something in this city could make sense. Sadun knew well enough that no one could ever truly control Hatra. No matter how many people you had working for you, it was too much. There were too many dark corners, too many ways to carve out your own secret chunk of the place. It was part of the reason Vacuo's government had all but abandoned Hatra. So Sadun allowed the eastern block to continue as a sort of compromise. It was a way to give the truly degenerate of the city what they wanted, while he maintained a small modicum of control in their vile little corner.

Of course any money that exchanged hands there had a cut that went to the Wardens, and they maintained a single office out of necessity. That was the extent of their control in the eastern block. There the Wardens tolerated any behavior short of murder, things that would get you beaten or thrown into the desert if done anywhere else in the city.

Ruby's last trip here had been a few months prior. Sadun had sent her here investigating rumours of a strange cult that had been abducting people off the street. To Ruby's dismay, the rumours had been more accurate than anyone at first thought. She had spent an entire week in the eastern block, trying to track down leads. They had even tried to abduct her twice, her would be kidnappers both committing suicide when they realized how outclassed they were. Eventually she managed to find them through pure happenstance.

She had eventually overheard someone talking about a part of the block that stank of putrid rotting meat. After hours spent trying to navigate the maze-like structure, she managed to stumble upon their hideout. The cultists in question had been grimm worshipping, drugged out mad men. In their drug induced delirium they had given themselves the idea that they could become grimm. So they had begun acting like grimm, believing that they would eventually transform. The whole ordeal made Ruby sick to even think about.

They had finally arrived at Jinsa's hideout, as Ruby's thoughts ran their course. The place was accessed through the bathroom of a derelict apartment, missing most of its wall and opening out to the sky.

"You lot hang back, I'll go in and deal with him. Once I'm done you lot can take him away," Ruby ordered the men, her voice hushed, as she drew her pistol.

Pulling her leg back, readying her aura, Ruby kicked in the second door that day. Weapon forward, Ruby exploded through the doorway, immediately spotting the man hurrying to lift himself off the floor, a gun in his hand. Before he could get a single foot underneath himself Ruby put four rubber rounds in his gut. The sound of gunfire near deafening in the enclosed space, as the man grunted out in pain. Jinsa fell backward clenching his abdomen, unable to speak or scream for the lack of air in his lungs.

Ruby steadily walked over to the man, weapon still drawn down on him. As she got closer, Ruby stomped down on the man's hand hard enough to break it before kicking his pistol across the room.

"They're rubber rounds, but at this distance they'll blast right through your fucking skull. Do you understand?" The fury was evident in Ruby's voice. She didn't know much about the man, but she knew enough to decide he wasn't worth any kind of mercy.

Jinsa simply nodded and grunted as he writhed on the ground, clearly still reeling from the sudden attack.

"You're the bastard that sold out Abdul right?" Ruby demanded, already noting that no one else was in the room.

Another grunt and nod of approval, tears in his eyes now.

"Where's your partner? I know you worked with someone else," she prayed the Wardens outside were watching their backs, lest his accomplice return amidst the chaos.

"I don't know," the man wheezed out, his lungs finally drawing some air again.

Ruby flipped, her pistol in her hand, leaning down and striking him across the face with it. Jinsa's blood and teeth flying across the floor as Ruby held back little of her strength, "I asked you where, asshole!"

Jinsa cried out in pain and confusion, "I don't know, she said she would meet me here! I waited all night!" another groan as Jinsa writhed in pain, "Please don't hurt me again."

"What were you planning? You're gonna tell me everything right now," she believed the an well enough to know he wasn't lying. It didn't surprise her that a rat like Jinsa had been played and abandoned.

"It was supposed to look like mugging, I swear! I... I...I just wanted to make some money!" he croaked out, seeing Ruby reel her arm back for another strike, "Wait! Wait, please. She had me store this stuff here! Some chemicals or some shit! I don't know!"

Ruby looked up, just now taking note of the empty storage drums amidst the room. There were six four fifty five gallon drums sitting in one corner of the room.

NH4NO3

For some reason the label on the barrels seemed vaguely familiar to Ruby, but she couldn't remember why. It was then that Ruby noticed the smell in the room, ammonia. In a rush everything came together in her head.

'Sadun has the whole city locked down'

'What's that weird smell?'

'It smells like amoana!'

'You should have left that damn boy where he was!'

"No," she turned, forgetting entirely about the man at her feet, about the Wardens outside the room, about the dead nephew. The world melted away, time seemingly slowed, and for the first time in over a year, Ruby Rose activated her semblance. An explosion of rose petals filled the room, the Wardens knocked over by a sudden burst of air, the deafening sound of an explosion bursting the eardrums of everyone present. Just like that the woman vanished.

Ruby bolted down the narrow passage, smashing through anyone in her path. She dumped more of her aura into her semblance than she ever had in the past. Ruby felt every muscle in her body strain to handle the sheer speed, not caring for any injury she might sustain. She could feel concrete crack, and steel catwalk shatter under her feet as she wound through Hatra's narrow passages.

Ruby could feel the tears pulling at her eyes, lungs struggling to suck in air, 'No, no, please no!'

She pleaded in her mind to any god that would listen.

Ruby grew ever closer to the wide open ballroom that housed the market. She was so close she could see it, could hear the busy sounds of it all, "I'll make it, just a few more seco…"

Even with enhanced speed, Ruby didn't have time to process what happened. Knocked out of her semblance, and thrown flying backwards despite her unbelievable forward momentum. Ruby felt her aura strain to protect her as the incredible wave of heat and force washed over her. After getting frown some dozens of meters through the air, Ruby hit the ground ragdolling across the floor beneath her.

To her great astonishment, her aura had just barely managed to hang on, Ruby agonizingly forcing herself to her feet. As she stood, Ruby looked up at the ballroom in front of her. Her mind was still racing trying to figure out what happened, when all her thoughts seemed to stop. There was no ballroom in front of her, instead lay a crater of debris, flame licking at spots among the rubble.

In that single moment an orchestra of screams began; screams of pain, of despair, of fear. These happened all at once in Hatra, and in Ruby herself, though strangely enough she couldn't bring herself to make a single noise. Ruby stumbled forward, arms hanging loose at her sides, eyes wide. She continued dragging herself into the ballroom, into the midst of that death and destruction.

"F...F...Ferrah...Jen?" the names came as barely a whisper to her lips. She climbed over the rubble, paying no heed to the flames she walked through. Ruby continued until she was where Jen's stall was supposed to be. Leaning down, Ruby began throwing great chunks of rubble aside, digging through the destruction.

The sensible part of Ruby's mind told her how pointless it was; how foolish she was being. Ruby wasn't listening, wasn't thinking. It didn't matter how pointless the act was, how miniscule the chance of anyone living; nor did it matter the risk she was putting herself in. All that mattered in that moment was that instinctively, Ruby knew that her heart couldn't go through this again. It knew that if she didn't, by some god sent miracle, find the girls alive and well, she would never recover.

So she dug, and scraped, and clawed. She dug, and she scraped, and she clawed. Again, and again, and again, until her hands bled, her hair and face caked in thick soot; she dug, and scraped, and clawed.

After what felt like hours, Ruby pulled aside another piece of debris, and for whatever reason it felt like her mind just stopped. It was as if she went blind, her heart refusing to accept what her eyes saw. Even so, it could only last but a single moment. A single moment, before reality crashed into her, the sight of a silver bracelet with a rose emblem forever burning itself into her heart.

Ruby crashed to her knees, trembling as she delicately scooped up the cheap little bracelet. Gently, as if it were the most precious thing she had ever held, Ruby cradled the bracelet to her chest, tears finally slipping from her eyes. As she kneeled there, tears falling to the rubble, a scream sounded from deep inside of her. It was not a scream of pain, or of fear, nor was it a scream of loss. It was the sound of something deep and guttural, permanently and irrevocably, breaking.


In the long years to come, many historians would write that the impetus was irrelevant. They would claim that whatever had driven the Protector General, as she would come to be hailed and reviled as, was far from the crux of what should be taken away from her tale. Those who knew her, knew those men to be fools. For those unfortunate few who had a glimpse into her heart, they knew all too well; that this was the moment that foretold the future of all of Remnant.


It was impossible to tell how long she sat there on her knees amongst the smouldering rubble. For Ruby, it didn't matter. It seemed as if that moment encompassed but a single second, yet felt like it spanned eternity. The delicate piece of jewelry clutched so desperately in her hands, seemed as if salt water to a man trapped at sea. It was the raft and the ocean all at once. She couldn't dare to stop holding it, even though it felt as if it were tearing her apart. Even so, she knew that if she let it go she would be torn apart all the same.

Eventually, as all things must, the moment ended. A tender hand placed itself upon her shoulder, "Ruby," the name came to her like the wind. It felt so tangible, but if she were to try and grasp it it would disappear, completely ephemeral.

Unfocused silver eyes drifted up, seeing the kind face staring down at her. Ruby's mind the mess that it was took a long second before it could put a name to the face, Haziq.

"Ruby, you can't stay here," he spoke softly, as if he believed that if he were to speak too loudly, his words alone would break the woman. That ship had already sailed. It was only now that Ruby noticed the tears falling from his eyes, "The ceiling might give way at any moment. We have to go."

Ruby only nodded, knowing he was right. She stood, and for the first time, fully took in the scene around her.

"My fault," the words fell from her lips unbidden, yet she knew them to be true. Knew she could have stopped it.

"It's not, Ruby. You can't carry the weight of this. It isn't right," Haziq continued to speak softly, his hand still on Ruby's shoulder.

His words made sense, but even so Ruby's mind ran through all the things she could have done differently. All the seemingly pointless things that could have gotten her here in time.

'I should have just opened the damn letter when I got up.'

'I shouldn't have wasted time going to Haziq's apartment,'

'I shouldn't have wasted time going to the market. Jinsa likely knew where the explosives were.'

'I should have just….'

'You should have left that damn boy where he was!'

Ruby knew that she needed to focus her mind on something, anything. That was it. Rage.

She delicately slipped the bracelet into her pocket, and vanished, rose petals filling the destruction ridden ballroom. Ruby didn't allow herself to stop, didn't allow herself to think; she couldn't. If she stopped now, for even a second, she knew she'd never be able to take another step. So she found herself back at her apartment, not caring to unlock the door, Ruby knocked it off its hinges as she barreled in with her semblance.

Without a moment's hesitation, Ruby reached down and picked up the cold silver instrument from where it lay on her workstation. Moving only through muscle memory, she loaded the weapon's first ever magazine into it. She did not stop to rejoice at what she might have otherwise considered a somewhat momentous occasion. She just moved, slotting a red dust crystal into the weapon. She picked up a few more of both magazines and crystals before shoving them in her pockets.

With another activation of her semblance, Ruby was gone again. Moving faster than any human could keep track of, she made a beeline for the rooftop.

'She knew!'

Ruby's mind raged at the thought, 'She knew the whole goddamn time!'

Ruby knew the way from pure instinct at this point, the trip taking less than a minute. For the second time that day, she found herself out standing under that cold dark sky. Ruby saw the old woman standing there on the roof's edge, not having moved since Ruby left her that morning.

"Finally," the woman smirked, the undisguised mirth cutting through the chill air.

Enraged, Ruby moved, not letting herself talk nor think. She twisted the dial on her weapon's haft, turning the bottom portion into a buttstock, Ruby shouldered the weapon and squeezed the trigger. The cacophonous crack echoed across the roofs, a black mass sprouting in front of the woman and stopping Ruby's bullet.

Undeterred, Ruby held the second trigger on her weapon, firing again, again, again, the bullets now exploding on contact with the black mass in front of the woman. Despite the barrage that would leave only a puddle of a normal person, the woman stood there impassive, not a single hair out of place.

"Are you quite done?" the arrogant voice raising Ruby's blood yet again.

"I'll kill you!" Ruby loaded another magazine, spinning the dial again. The folded haft folding back out, forming a handle, a thin elegant blade eight inches deep running the rest of the length.

Ruby saw a sudden burst of dark light appear in front of the woman, and activated her semblance and dodged to the side before chagrin forward. She saw beams of dark light running past her, thankful she moved in time.

Now a single foot from the woman, blade raised high, Ruby activated her semblance again as another flash of light appeared in front of her. Before she had even slowed down, now to the side of the woman, Ruby slashed her blade down, stopping against another black mass. The struggle went on like this for a mere second filled with more than dozen such clashes. Ruby used her semblance again, appearing in front of the woman the ominous light already there.

Ruby found herself taken off her feet and thrown back across the roof, pain tearing through her body, before the beams of light vanished.

"This is pointless, Ruby," the woman sneered, having not moved an inch from where she had been standing on the roof.

"You knew!" activating her semblance before she was even on her feet, she shot back toward the woman, spinning the dial on her weapon again. Ruby held the weapon up as if to slash at the woman again, seeing the black mass appear, she turned feeling her weapon complete its final transformation. Ruby spun the weapon over her head, the curved blade of scythe going around the barrier and lodging in the woman's chest.

Ruby grinned, certain in her victory.

"Are you finished?" the cold voice spoke from opposite the weapon, unbothered by the length of steel buried in her chest.

Ruby's eyes went wide, her blood ran cold, instinctively knowing that something was very wrong. Another flash of light and Ruby was blown back across the roof, her weapon still clutched in her hand. She looked up and saw the woman in front of her seemingly melt. Her once tanned skin turned ivory, her normal clothes transforming into a black and red dress. Beneath her ivory skin her veins turned a vicious crimson, seemingly crawling their way to the surface of her skin, and her eyes all too familiar.

"What the fuck?" the exclamation slipped from Ruby's mouth, unable to say anything else.

"I believe it's about time we had a talk, Ruby," the corners of the woman's mouth turned up further, creating the most disgusting smile Ruby had ever seen.

Ruby planted the end of her scythe in the roof between herself and the monster in front of her, as she reached into her jacket. Ruby pulled out a handful of assorted dust crystals, pulling one of her favorite tricks. She threw the handful of crystals at the woman across from her, and squeezed both triggers.

"Just! Fucking! Die!" Ruby punctuated each shot with an inaudible exclamation, pushing all of her aura to shield the front of her body. Something she had learned from the monster that she now tried to kill. The explosion of dust tore the rooftop apart, a massive cloud of dust filling the space in front of her, her aura crackling at the force exerted on it.

Ruby sat on her knee, panting, waiting for the dust to clear. She was certain that no one could survive that explosion, not even her. As the dust blew away, carried off by the cold breeze, it became clear that the opposite haf of the roof was gone; the floors below now visible. Ruby had not even the wherewithal to spare for anyone else in the building.

Then she saw it. What had been the woman only a moment earlier was now a grotesque black mass floating in place. The shape looked like a modern art sculpture viewed through a kaleidoscope. Then, all at once the thing begane to writhe and pull back in on itself returning to the form of the same monster.

Ruby's eyes went wide, multiple beams of light appearing and pinning her against the rooftop. She screamed in pain, clutching at her body. Her now abandoned weapon sat next to her.

"That. Is. Enough," the monster spoke, Ruby unable to respond as she was wracked by pain, "I expected you to be angry, but I also expected you to be better than this."

She effortlessly floated over to Ruby, her feet planting on what little remained of the roof, "We were supposed to have a conversation, but I suppose that instead I will talk, and you will listen."

Despite the strange beams of light pinning her down, and sending pain coursing through her body, Ruby chose to muster all the fortitude she could manage, "Guess...you don't..know everything...after all"

The beams intensified, causing Ruby to scream, "After all you have been through you still remain a child. How….disappointing."

It took everything Ruby had now just to glare up at the woman.

"What do you even have to be so angry about?" the vile words barely reaching Ruby's ears, "You're angry that they died? You're angry that I didn't tell you, didn't save them myself?" she let a silence hang in the air for a moment, "I warned you Ruby Rose, but you chose not to listen. You have already thought about all the things you did wrong that brought you here. What you did, not me!"

She leaned down now, closer to Ruby, "Do you believe me some fortune teller, girl?" silence again, as if she expected Ruby to answer, "No. I can not see the future. I have merely had to live a thousand of your lifetimes, and thousand times again. I see what will be, because it has already happened so many times. Time and time again I have watched fools just like you run headlong into the darkness, making the same mistakes!

Ruby grunted in pain, still trying to think of a way out of the situation.

"This whole escapade is nothing more than a monument to your own failures. You came here to escape, to run away from everything that you screwed, and from everything that you had become," the sinister woman continued to rant, the lances of energy still keeping ruby pinned to the ground, "Do you know what the job of a Warden is? Most people think it's to keep the prisoners locked up, but that wouldn't be further from the truth. No, there's walls for that, locks, alarms, cells, guards. A Warden's job is to keep the peace."

The dark clad woman suddenly released the painful hold she had on Ruby, the girl left gasping and writhing on the ground, "Your mistakes are your walls, your lies and secrets your guards."

The woman continued to stare down at Ruby as she tried to recover, the girl still unable to respond, "I came to free you from all of that. To liberate you Ruby, you're just too scared to leave your prison."

"I'm...not..scared of...you," Ruby panted out between ragged gasps.

"No, I don't think there is anything in this world that scares you, except for the consequences of your decisions, your mistakes," the woman's face turned almost compassionate, "Don't you see? You don't have to be scared anymore. Let me guide you. Let me carry that burden for you."

Ruby glowered at the monster above her, "You think...I would...ever forgive you."

The woman rolled her eyes and threw her hands up, "Forgive? Who cares about that. You don't have to forgive me, just forget about the dead baggage! Do you have any idea how many Ferrahs and Jens I've seen die pointless, meaningless, inconsequential deaths? More than your mind can fathom!"

"Fuck you," Ruby said finally cathcing her breath, now noticing that the woman had positioned herself between Ruby and her weapon.

The woman only looked at Ruby disappointingly, "They don't deserve your protection, your care. You are so much better than that common rabble down there, and you still…have so much potential. Come with me Ruby. Let me show you," she leaned down once more, holding her hand out for Ruby.

Ruby saw how pointless it had been fighting her. She knew her weapons couldn't hurt the woman. Even with all the woman had taught her about controlling her aura it had been pointless. Ruby reached up and grabbed the woman's hand.

The woman smiled victoriously, "You've made the right decision. How does it feel?"

Despite all the time spent training with the woman, all the secrets of aura control she had learned, there had always been one thing that she had refused to teach Ruby. Always dodgin around it, or playing stupid. It was something that Ruby had only managed to begin teaching herself in the last couple months.

The woman pulled Ruby up, their faces now only inches apart, "It feels fucking great," her eyes exploded with silver light. Ruby had no idea what to expect. For all she knew it would be a futile gesture of defiance, sealing her death. At best she hoped it would be enough distraction for her to get some distance.

The woman screamed, clutching at her face, backpedaling. Ruby pulled the pistol from where it rested in her waistband. Rubber bullets or not, she wasn't going to waste this chance. Ruby emptied the remaining twelve rounds into the woman's head and chest, preparing to use her semblance. However, to her astonishment the rubber bullets tore through the woman like paper mache.

Blinding pain. In her shock, Ruby hadn't noticed the flash of light off to her side, finding herself pinned to the ground again, 'That was a stupid mistake,' Ruby thought through the pain.

"Pointless, girl. You only cause yourself more suffering," the voice came now broken, and retching, "However your sheer defiance continues to impress me. You just need to learn to point it in the right direction."

Ruby looked up, astounded to find that the woman's body wasn't repairing itself. No, that was wrong. It was, but slowly. It was a small victory, but one that Ruby would take, "Guess that's, uuggghhh, why you wouldn't teach me that one."

The half of the woman's face that remained swelled at Ruby, "Indeed. I see you still aren't ready to free yourself. That's okay. I have lived for eons. I've nothing but patience. The next time we meet, and we will, I assure you, you shall take my hand. You will beg for it," the woman began to dissolve into darkness, the beams of light disappearing.

"Who are you?" Ruby demanded, free from the binding pain once again.

"I, am Salem," as she disappeared, a grin crossed her face, "A final gift to demonstrate my goodwill. She escaped to the west. She'll get picked up by an aircraft soon, but if you hurry you may still catch her."

With that the woman was gone, and Ruby was left panting on the cement roof. Her eyes went wide at the parting statement. She spent a second trying to decide if it had been a lie. She knew though, as much as she despised that thing, she had no reason to lie to Ruby.

Collecting herself, her body still screaming in pain, Ruby peeled herself from the rooftop and collected her weapon. Ruby walked to the edge of the roof, collapsing her weapon back down to its sword form, she looked west. Going after her in Ruby's drained state was foolhardy, and perhaps suicidal. Ruby didn't give this fact any thought. She hadn't grabbed the sling she had built for her weapon, so she would have no choice but to continue holding it in her hand.

Ruby activated her semblance, stepping off the roof. She flew out across the open space between the roof and the sand covered desert floor, moving at a blistering speed. The sun had finally begun to pee through the clouds above, the sand now glowing brilliantly in the midday sun. Soon she approached the ground, pushed down with her aura, and triggered another burst of her semblance.

It was painful, to say the least, but she hadn't broken her legs. Ruby continued to push her semblance, blasting west across the desert looking for any speck that might give away her quarry. After a few minutes, Ruby finally spotted what she was looking for. A few hundred meters ahead, a dark speck could be seen cresting a dune, clearly in a hurry.

Ruby pushed hard, holding her weapon flat in front of her. She was within a hundred meters of the woman as she reached the top of the dune. Ruby knew she was in a poor state, so she had to make sure the other woman ended up just poorly off. Lining up with the woman, Ruby braced herself for the impact that she knew was coming.

She had never been good at estimating her speed, but she knew her speed was greater than what any bullhead was capable of. A heartbeat leter, and Ruby smashed into the woman with a sickening thud, her weapon held flat in front of her. She grinned at the tell-tale flash of the woman's aura breaking. The impact sent both women flying uncontrolled down the far side of the dune. Ruby, at least somewhat prepared, dug her free hand into the sand in an attempt to arrest her fall. She managed to come to a stop, bruised and battered, half-way down the dune.

Looking down the dune, head still spinning, Ruby saw that the other woman hadn't fared as well. She watched her rag-doll down the dune, coming to a stop at the bottom of the dune. If she had been a normal person, Ruby would be worried that they were dead, but this woman had her aura unlocked. She was willing to stake her money that the woman was a huntress. Ruby pushed her weapon into the sand behind her, sliding down the dune, coarse sand filling her shoes.

As she neared the bottom of the dune, Ruby saw the woman stagger to her feet, clearly disoriented. Ruby's well honed instincts told her that she should immediately disable the woman, but her anger told her otherwise. She wanted the woman to be afraid, wanted her to hurt. Most of all, she wanted the woman to have the hope of getting rescued by the inbound bullhead, only so she could crush it at the last minute. Ruby's lips twisted up into a vicious grin.

The woman pulled a knife from the sheath on her hip, a red dust crystal clearly visible in the pommel. Finally the woman looked up, now noticing Ruby, as she regained her bearings.


Vessa felt like she had been hit by a train. She struggled to her feet trying to regain her bearings, instinctively pulling her weapon from it's sheath. If she had been hit by a grimm then it would do little good. She'd left her usual mace behind in favor of something more subtle for the mission.

Vessa forced herself to look up at the dune and find what hit her. A woman, clad in torn clothes and covered in soot and dirt. In one hand she held a massive sword, the same color as her eyes. The woman was sliding down the dune, assisted by her weapon.

Vessa didn't know much about the woman, only that she ran odd jobs for the Wardens. She was unimportant to the politics of the thing, so Vessa had neglected to look into her. It was something that she was now regretting, as every instinct in Vessa's body told her that this woman was a huntress. That wasn't right though. Aside from a few disgraced and retired nobodies there weren't supposed to be any hunters in Hatra.

Hatra pulled her scroll out of her pocket, the thing was miraculously intact, 'Four minutes. I just have to hold out for four minutes,' easier said than done. Her aura was little more than a drop after that impact, though judging by the state of the woman above her, they might be even in that regard. Still, she figured it might be best to avoid this fight. Vessa knew the look on the woman's face, arrogance. She could take advantage of that. Though she didn't look it Vessa had graduated at the top of her class, well ahead of peers.

Regardless, she would play to her strengths first, people. People came easy to her, it was how she had manipulated that man child to give up Abdul. She'd get her to talk, the woman doubtlessly thought Vessa as fleeing on foot to Vacuo, unaware of the bullhead a short way waya.

"Who the hell are you?" Vessa demanded, trying to appear just as arrogant as her counterpart.

"My name, is Ruby Rose, and I'm going to make you suffer," Vessa had never before make mere words sound so terrifying. The words didn't come as a boast or a taunt, but as if they were as fact as the cold steel in the woman's hand.

Vessa quickly punched the name into her scroll, a rapid search beginning going through the Atlas Military's Database of hunters. Vessa, was thankful the woman had the easiest spelled name in existence, "Oh, really? How do you plan to do that?" her scroll chimed indicating that the search completed.

"I'm going to wait," the words came as Vessa looked down at her scroll. All the blood drained from her face, there was something very wrong.

TOP SECRET / SCI

Ruby Rose

-Rogue Huntress

-Presumed dead

-Threat Level: REDACTED

-Operational History:

- REDACTED

- REDACTED

- REDACTED

- REDACTED

- REDACTED

-General Information:

- If spotted do no approach

- DO NOT ENGAGE

- Exception: Contact must be authorized via REDACTED

- Report any information immediately

- Should be considered highly lethal

Vessa looked up, mouth agape. The woman in front of her matched the picture on her scroll perfectly. Vessa had worked for the covert division of Atlas Ace Ops for seven years, she had never seen anything like this. How was it even possible? The girl hardly looked old enough to be a huntress, "Wait for what?"

"For your ride to show up," the woman let silence punctuate the sentence, "Then, I'm going to break you."


Whatever the woman saw on her scroll had clearly upset her. Ruby hoped there wasn't a problem with her ride. That would certainly ruin her fun, "There's not a problem is there? I do hope your flight wasn't delayed."

As it turned out, it wasn't. Ruby suddenly heard the low roar of bullhead engines, and the woman charged. She pressed a switch on her blade, and a tongue of fire spewed out past the edge of the knife. Ruby held her ground until the woman's blade of fire was close enough for the heat to singe at her eyebrows. She pulled on the final dregs of her aura, activating her semblance once again, simultaneously transforming her weapon to it's full size. Ruby stepped past the woman, scythe spinning across Ruby's torso in a low arc, severing the tendons in the woman's arms. Another flick of her scythe and the woman was on her knees, achilles tendons sliced through.

Ruby watched the bullhead fly in low over dunes, chuckling as soon as she saw it. Most people would take it for a standard hauler, it's typical design nothing unusual though. Ruby however, was familiar with this specific model. She recognized the well disguised signs of it's anything but standard equipment. Glaring up at it, Ruby held the blade of her scythe across the woman's neck. The aircraft hesitated for only a moment, as it circled, before turning and pulling away.

"So you work for Ironwood, huh?" venom in the question, clearly showing that Ruby already knew the answer, "You and I are going to have a very long talk."

"Just kill me now and don't waste your time," Vessa spat in reply.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you beg for death before we're finished," Ruby reached down and grabbed the woman's bleeding ankle, eliciting an agonizing scream from her, and began dragging her across the desert.

A couple of torturous hours later Ruby arrived back at the threshold of Hatra, greeted by more than a dozen Warden goons. Clearly, the lapse in security that had allowed the woman to escape had been addressed. Looking up, Ruby could see the smoke rolling out of the city; had seen it for her entire trek back. A grim reminder of the day's event.

One of the goons approached her, a serious expression across his face, "Well done miss Ruby, we'll take her from here."

"Get out of my way," the order cold and laced with steel, causing the goons to flinch. They hadn't expected to have any issues.

"Miss Ruby, our orders are to bring her to Sadun if you return with," the goona tried to explain, hoping Ruby was just confused.

"You can ask the cold steel of my blade just how much I care about your orders," Ruby pulled up her weapon that she had carried along in her other hand.

The goons' faces paled, hands shaking as they reached for their weapons.

"Are you lot stupid or suicidal!" the gruff voice barked from behind the goons.

Looking past them, Ruby saw Sadun marching out of the dark alleyway of Hatra. Not the man she had met only that morning, but Sadun. Gone was the fake cane, and the gentle voice. His clothes that had been immaculate and simple just that morning, now torn and soot covered, a pistol sticking out of his waistband. Ruby had only met the man twice before, but she had no doubt that the man she saw now was the true Sadun. He was the man that had been buried and hidden away for years.

"Boss! You shouldn't be out here! You need to go," Crack!

Sadun had pulled his pistol and shot the man in the gut, he collapsed screaming. Ruby didn't flinch, somehow relieved to see the man's true colors, "Anybody else want to take a crack at telling me what the hell I should do? Get his dumb ass taken care of," he commanded, the rest of his men frozen, "Go!" the men springing into action to carry the wounded goon off.

Sadun approached Ruby, both dark and glowering, "So this is the bitch?"

"Yea," Ruby kept her answer simple, waiting to see what Sadun would do.

"You can take her to the heart, feel free to have first crack at her. Just leave her alive for us, yea?" The last statement both an order and question.

"Death is a mercy, she won't get any from me," she answered, continuing to drag the woman, who had become delirious during their long trek.

Thirty minutes later Ruby sat across from the woman. Vessa, Ruby had learned, was her name. She sate strapped to a metal chair in the center of what one might politely refer to as a torture room. It had taken Sadun's men little time to get her to come around, clearly experienced with this.

"Do you have any idea how much I've trained to resist torture? The pain's only physical, you won't break me," the woman smiled smugly at Ruby.

When Ruby had arrived at the Heart she had, much to their surprise, asked only for a syringe and an elastic band. She glowered at the woman, as she put the needle in her own arm not answering, eliciting a confused look from Vessa. Ruby withdrew a minute amount of blood infusing her aura into it.

'Are you then? A good person?"

'I guess not, Ferrah.'

AN: So this chapter took me all fuckin day to write, I'll proably spend the next few days editing and fixing this chapter and the last two, because once again, I have to be up for work in four hours. This chapter was probably one of the most difficult I've ever written. Originally this and the last 2 chapters were gonna be one, but it just flowed too weird. Based off past reviews, this chapter will certainly be hit or miss, but I'd really appreciate any feedback. Regardless, this was planned since the beginning, and was ultimately necessary to drive the plot forward. Here's hoping the site doesn't break my formatting again when I post.