Prologue 4
3 years ago...
Ruby drew her cloak closer to herself, reaching into her pocket she withdrew a black calling card with a few scattered rose petals on it surrounding the word Red on it.
She placed it inside the now empty safe and Neo nodded in approval. The mute was holding a bag with their wares stolen from this house. "Let's get going." Ruby told Neo, and they headed to the bedroom window. Ruby held Dark Glory in a reverse grip and slammed the glassbreaker on the window and it shattered. They both smiled and leapt out. Ruby grabbed Neo's hand and activated her semblance. They hit the ground and started running back home.
Drei barked on the other side of the door as Neo fiddled with the keys before giving up and picking it instead. "We're home!!" Ruby yelled, and Drei ran into her full force - nearly knocking her over in the process. "Hello my little baby boy! How are you?!" Ruby asked as Drei's tail whipped back and forth like a metronome. He ran to Ruby's room and came barreling back moments later with a toy rope and held it expectantly while looking at Neo, who engaged him in tug-of-war.
Ruby took the bag and dumped the contents on the floor. A bunch of lien cards, jewlery, and small electronics fell out as Ruby began to sort them.
Drei padded to Ruby's side and sat next to her with a huff before licking her ear. "Drei!!" Ruby shreiked, head jerking away as Drei kept moving to her.
There was a snapping of fingers as Neo saved Ruby from her fate of being licked by Drei. The dog ran at Neo and the mute seemed to regret her choice as she signed at Ruby to help her. Ruby shrugged. "You wanted this." She told Neo, who glared at her.
Ruby continued to sort the things until everything was catagorized. Neo walked behind her 'I'll take it to the pawn shop tonight' she signed and Ruby nodded.
It had been a year since her first heist, an unassuming shop where she took the shopkeeper's lien. From there, Roman and Neo built her confidence with store robberies and eventually she graduated to home robberies. A few months ago, she got a gift from her mentors - her own calling cards. Now Ruby always left one wherever she went after robbing a place. And in return she made a name of herself.
Turning on her Scroll, Ruby plugged in her headphones and put them on. Turning on her music, Ruby went to her room and grabbed her book to keep reading.
Roman was away on his own business, leaving the girls on their own. He'd be back in a few days, but Ruby and Neo wanted to suprise him by getting several robberies in.
Taking her headphones out for a moment, she heard the chatter of the television as Neo watched the news. She took The Theif and The Butcher and walked out to sit by the mute and listen in.
"Home break-ins and robberies have experianced a spike in activity in the recent months. Several houses have been broken into, and a calling card left behind by a criminal who is calling themselves "Red". Security footage has not been recovered, as this criminal seems to evade all attenpts to record them." The screen turned into a photo of Ruby's calling card as Lisa Lavender continued speaking. "Police are working hard to try and capture and identify Red. If you have any information on this criminal, please contact the Vale Police Department." Ruby smiled as a number flashed on the screen. "Now, the Vale Council seat race has been picking up, along with candidate Alba Hollows denying any dealings with the criminal underworld to get her the funds for her campaign against candidate Birch Windward - who is a prominant figure in this election." Ruby rolled her eyes, and Neo scratched behind Drei's ears as the news anchor switched to an interview with the aforementioned candidate. Neo picked up the remote and switched the channel to a movie.
Ruby raised an eyebrow "Love More Than Likely? Really Neo?" She asked the mute as the hero galloped towards the maiden who had her back turned to the single beowolf creeping behind her. She sighed, slouching down into the couch "The trailer was so misleading! They showed him fighting a whole hoard - not a single Beowolf!" She exclaimed. Neo rolled her eyes and made a hushing motion.
"My hero!" The maiden cheered as the beowolf dissapeared in terrible CG effects.
"Uuugh! That's the worst special effects ever! Not to mention they had a budget of like, twenty five cents!" Ruby whined as the hero went in for a sappy kiss. Neo's eyes narrowed in irritation.
'You'd want to watch Try Hard 2: Try Harderer. Now THAT'S a movie with a shitty storyline and they spent all their budget on explosion effects.' The mute rebuked.
"Sappy virgin." Ruby muttered, and suddenly Neo pinned her on the ground with an arm behind her back. Neo leered at the girl, who yelped in pain. Drei barked, ears lowering as his tail tucked. "Ok! Ow! Ok! You win - ow, ow! I'm sorry Neo! Ow!" Ruby cried and Neo let her up.
'Don't ever call me that again.' Neo crossed her arms 'As punishment - you have to watch the whole thing with me now.' She informed Ruby, who gave a wail.
"Noooo! This isn't even a sixteenth of a way through the film! Oh my god Neo! Please no!" Ruby pleaded. Neo grabbed Hush and Ruby immediatly shut up. Drei jumped up on the couch between the two girls and watched the movie with great attentiveness. When the main character, Jim - if Ruby remembered correctly - kissed the maiden whose name Ruby could never remember for the life of her, Drei's tail thumped as he gave a doggy smile at the screen. "Oh God above — you too, Drei?" Ruby sighed and threw her arms in the air in hopeless defeat.
An agonizing two hours, twenty seven minutes and forty three seconds later, the screen faded to the words "The End" and Ruby sprung to her feet, desperate to get out of the room before Neo started her rant on how "good" of a movie that Love More Than Likely was. She slammed her bedroom door shut and collapsed onto her bed.
Ruby pointed Dark Glory at the store owner. "Well? We don't have all day, sir." She drawled on.
The man laughed "You're the famous Red?" He asked, and laughed even harder. Ruby's grip tightened on the handle.
"Hold your tongue, or I'll remove it." Ruby told him. The man kept laughing, now wheezing for breath.
"You can't be serious! A twelve year old is Red?!" He slammed the table with a hand in his fit of laughter. Ruby gritted her teeth and sighed.
Not what I wanted, but I guess I should do it anyway. She thought and used her semblance to impale his chest with one of Dark Glory, the other slashing across his throat. Blood sprayed forth from his neck like water from a hose. His laughter started choking as he clutched his throat and his breath rattled. "That's what you get." Ruby told the shopkeeper, whose eyes were wide in pain. "Can't let people know anything about me." She walked to the register and took the lien before placing her card in the register.
Turning back to the shopkeep, Ruby stared in his eyes, watching as they were filled with terror and the light faded. She ripped the blade in his chest out and wiped the blood off on his shirt.
Giving a final glance, Ruby walked out of the shop and Neo waited. "Come on, Roman's waiting." She told Neo, throwing the mute the small sack of lien cards. Neo threw up an illusion around them and they walked to the car where Roman waited.
"Good haul?" He asked. Neo shrugged and climbed into the passanger side before starting to count the cards. Roman's hand reached for the radio dial and Neo's slapped it away. "Hey!" Roman exclaimed and Neo glared. "Why do you hate Achieve Man so much?" He asked. Neo tilted her head, eyes swapping colors before she turned her attention bacm to the lien. "Fine. No music." Roman glared.
A/N:
Yeah an even shorter chapter. Basically there's not too much more that's important. We'll be skipping to the present now because the next two years are the same. If you want a breif summary of what happens: Ruby Neo and Roman rob stuff and that's about it.