Prologue 2
Five years ago...
Ruby ducked under Roman's strike and lashed a leg out to try and off-balance her mentor. He leapt over her leg and Ruby shifted to a crouch to spring at him. He braced himself and grabbed Ruby's arm to throw her away. Ruby barely managed to right herself mid-air and land on all fours. Roman was already running at Ruby and he seemed to try and go for the pin. Ruby jumped back and dashed to the side before leaping off a wall and rocketing towards Roman, who leaned out of the way. Ruby reached an arm out and snagged his hat. Roman's eyes narrowed in rage as he released a short shout of anger. Ruby smirked and landed on the wall before kicking off and running at him. An arm grabbed her and slammed her to the floor as a foot was placed on her back.
Neo rang the bell and put a tally mark next to Roman's name. The tally for the sparring was Ruby with 6 wins and Roman with 8 wins. Ruby handed Roman's hat back to him, and he grumbled while dusting it off. Neo stood up from the stool and signed to the duo 'That's a wrap!' She gave a clap, smiling 'So Roman wins again by just a small margin.'
Ruby sighed and Neo pat her shoulder. 'You'rke getting much better. Weapons is next.' A grin split the mute's face. Ruby stretched her arms above her, and nodded to the woman.
"This'll be interesting, as per usual!" Roman piped up and ruffled Ruby's hair "Good luck with your bruises!" He laughed and walked to Neo's stool and swapped the side that had his name to read "Neo" instead. Neo picked up Hush, and Ruby walked to the other side of the warehouse to her weapon.
Sleek red and black metal caught in the fluorescent lighting as she lifted it. Dark Glory was a handsome weapon, each peice was crafted with good quality materials. It appeared to be a single long knife, about the length from her shoulder to her wrist from pommel to blade tip. It could break apart into two seperate knives, slightly smaller then the full Dark Glory. Each one's hilt had a chamber that could fire up to four bullets with a total amout of Ruby being able to fire 8 bullets. The hilt and pommel was black, a glassbreaker on the hilt. The crossguard was a dark red and the blade was a dull grey, nearly an almost blackish color.
"Ahem! Any minute now ladies!" Roman drawled. Ruby gave an annoyed huff and grabbed the leg sheathes that held small dust-infused throwing knives. She strapped them on and checked her reflection in the blade. Her hair was longer, now having to be tied back with a hairtie.
Now she walked to the middle of the wherehouse to where Neo waited. She bowed her head and Ruby returned the sign of respect.
"Ready," Roman told them. Ruby's hand tightened on Dark Glory.
"Set," Neo smiled, eye colors swapping as she narrowed them in focus.
"Begin!" Neo was fast to launch at Ruby, who broke apart Dark Glory to block a swipe from Hush. Neo was a quick fighter, and no movements with the mute was ever wasted. Ruby always had to think on her toes if she ever was to even touch her - which it in itself was hard.
Ducking under a thrust, Ruby lashed Dark Glory at Neo and merged the knives together to grab a throwing knife. Neo took note of the movement, and Ruby was ready to follow up as she threw the burn Dust knife that exploded on impact, Ruby flew through the smoke to find Hush had been opened. She kicked off of the parosol to get distance and broke Dark Glory apart and flew a few shots to either side of Neo to keep the mute moving. Neo was moving alright — right at Ruby with lightning speed. Ruby took a risk and when Neo thrust at Ruby, she jumped onto the folded Hush and used it to gain momentum. Neo turned up to Ruby, and Ruby saw to her satisfaction, surprise and pride flash in quick sucession on the woman's face. Ruby landed and Neo rolled out of the way. Ruby struck out with Dark Glory, only to be parried by Hush. Neo leaned out of the way, eyes challenging Ruby without words.
Ruby was panting lightly as she watched Neo slowly approah her. Then Ruby watched her muscles coil and tensed her own to meet Neo as the two shot at one another in unison. Neo loved combat, "an intimate dance where death is the stakes" the mute had once called it. Ruby couldn't agree more. Now she made an 'x' with the blades of Dark Glory to block a thrust from Neo. Neo frowned and when Ruby went for a thrust of her own, Neo shattered. Ruby whipped around to see a fist come her way. Ruby's head snapped to the side as her aura tanked the blow. Neo's hand went on Ruby's side as the woman tried to go for the pin.
No! Ruby thought as she gave a desperate gasp. Suddenly, Neo seemed to freeze for a second as Ruby ran out of harm's way. Running behind Neo, Ruby wondered why the mute had yet to move and kicked Neo down and pinned her. Neo's head whipped around as Roman yelled "What?!"
Ruby let Neo up as an astonished Roman gave Ruby a tally mark. 1-0. Neo walked behind Ruby and to Ruby's shock, plucked a rose petal from the ground with wide eyes.
'You just unlocked your semblance' Neo announced.
Ruby was shocked. "I... did? What happened?" She questioned.
"All of a sudden you were cloaked in rose petals and you moved behind Neo and pinned her. The moment you had her pinned, the effect vanished. It wasn't even normal movement, Ruby." Roman explained.
'What happened for you?' Neo asked.
"I was panicking, you were about to pin me. Then you just stopped completely and I moved to pin you." Ruby informed Neo.
Roman looked to Neo "Do you want to go against her again?" He asked. Neo nodded
'I want to see if we can replicate that again. Ruby, try and activate it again.' Neo told them.
Ruby and Neo bowed, and Ruby tried to focus to remember the raw panic of almost losing. Nothing happened as she ran at Neo. She landed a blow, but Neo shattered. Suddenly, Neo was behind Ruby and thrusting with Hush straight for Ruby. Ruby barely moved out of the way in time. Neo wasn't sparring like normal, she was sparring to trigger panic in Ruby with fast and unpredictable movements. Ruby swiped at Neo again who shattered again and Ruby looked behind her, but Neo was already flying at her.
No, no, no! Ruby's mind screamed and time stopped, she ran out of the way and then time resumed with Neo on the opposide side of the warehouse. Neo gave a smile and a small nod of approval before hurling herself again at Ruby. Ruby checked Dark Glory - five bullets left. She shot two of them at Neo, making the woman open Hush to deflect one and ducked under a second one. Ruby ran to meet Neo in a shower of sparks. Ruby ducked and tried to sweep a leg under Neo, which the mute jumped over and did a backflip to distance herself only to run at Ruby again. They clashed again and again, one retreating and the other pursuing before they met again to repeat the cycle.
At last, Ruby felt time stop as she rushed at a slow moving Neo and she pinned her to the ground.
"Ruby 2, Neo nil!" Roman declared as Ruby helped Neo up.
Neo dusted herself off, 'Again.' She commanded. Ruby was happy to comply.
=
"Qrow, have you found out anything?" Ozpin asked, fingers steepled as he watched the huntsman.
Qrow Branwen raked his fingers through his hair and mumbled, "Nothing, Oz. There's been no damn trace of her anywhere." He informed the headmaster. Ozpin hummed and sipped from his mug. "Look," Qrow gave a heavy sigh "I'm not going to rest until I find her."
Ozpin nodded, arms folding calmly on the desk as he looked at Qrow from over his pince-nez. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Qrow." He agreed with the man. "But," he added "You need to spend time with your neice as well. Yang is hurting as much as Tai and you. Take a break, just for a few months, and be with Yang."
Qrow seemed to deflate, "I'm sorry." He sighed.
"Don't be sorry, Qrow." Ozpin told Qrow "Take a break, go see Yang. Then later you can go back to looking for Ruby."
The huntsman nodded, "Alright, I will." He agreed.
Ozpin smiled "Thank you, Qrow. That will be all." He said. Qrow gave a weak smile in return.
"No, thank you, Oz." Qrow turned and walked back to the elevator. Hitting the button, he felt the descent begin and put his hands behnd his head.
He transformed and started flapping, angling towards Patch. When he arrived, he saw Yang laying in the grass staring at the clouds. Shifting back in the treelines, he walked to Yang. "Hey Firecracker." He greeted.
His neice was silent, and Qrow sat down next to her. Summoning his courage, the man spoke again. "How are ya doing?"
Again, silence met his words. Now Qrow sighed in defeat. He stood up again, and walked to the house.
Tai's head jerked up from the papers her was grading, pen freezing in his hand. "Qrow? Have you found her?" He asked, hope in his eyes. Qrow sucked in a breath.
"No. Oz wanted me to come home — to spend time with Yang and take a break." Qrow told Tai, who looked crushed.
"Oh..." The man sighed.
"Tai, I'm sorry. I looked nearly everywhere. There's no trace of her." Qrow walked to his teammate and put a hand on his shoulder. To his surprise it was shaking. Looking to Taiyang's face, he saw tears in his eyes as the teacher started crying.
Unsure what to do, Qrow pat his shoulder and Tai gave a shuddering inhale before releasing a sob. "I miss her..." he cried. "We were so damn stupid! We neglected to care for her and she ran away! This is my fault!" He yelled "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"
Qrow hesistated, "Tai, its not just your fault. Its mine too. Its in the past now - nothing we can do about it but look forward. Ruby might not be here now, but we need to focus on Yang. She lost her sibling and her stepmother in such a short span — she's all screwed up because of it." He told Tai, who gave a heavy sigh before sobbing again.
"I know... I'm such a bad fucking father." He admitted. Qrow sighed, sitting on the couch next to Tai.
"No, you just needed time to yourself. I did too. I'm just as guilty as you are, but we need to stop kicking ourselves in the balls about it. Lets suck it up, for Yang's sake, and care for her instead of moping around like a bunch of depressed assholes." Qrow told Tai, who looked at him and gave a weak laugh.
"Jeez, Summer rubbed off on you more then you'll probably admit. That sounds like what she'd say to us." He told Qrow, who gave a small chuckle himself.
"Not sure if its a good or bad thing." He wondered jokingly. Tai gave a more genuine laugh and smiled, seeming just a bit brighter then it was before.
A/N: So that's prologue 2. I'll say that Yang is going to be a tad different in the story. She lost her mother, then her mother-figure, and her half-sister so far in life. She'll be a bit clingy because she doesn't want to lose anyone else. Thank you everyone for the reviews. I didn't go with Crescent Rose, nor did I ever think of it because I already knew what I wanted for her weapon. But I did take some of your ideas for her semblance. As seen, she describes time as "stopping" but in reality they just are moving really slow to Ruby. I wasn't crying in the Tai scene! I swear!
Thank you everyone for the support, I appreciate it so much!
Feel free to drop a review for any questions or suggestions, I'll read and appreciate every last one of them. If you have questions, I'll answer them at the end of the next chapter!