Chapter 1: Yang Xiao Long
The wind in her hair died down as she slowed before stopping completely. Bumblebee's engine purred under her before Yang turned it off and pocketed the key as usual.
The blonde inhaled the night smells of downtown Vale City as she walked, stretching. She'd be leaving for Beacon in a few weeks from now, and wanted to live things up a bit before she left. But before that, she needed to stock up on ammunition.
Yang walked leisurely, arms folded behind her head as she looked around at the darkened streets. Not many shops were open this late - but she already knew that From Dust Til' Dawn was at least. Yang kept walking until she saw faint light come from a shop up ahead: the front windows of From Dust Til' Dawn.
Ting! The bell rang as Yang pushed the doors open. "Hello?" The elderly shopkeeper croaked. Yang flashed him a smile. "How may I help you, miss?" He asked.
"Do you have ammo belts for my gauntlets?" Yang asked, taking out a belt from the left gauntlet. The shopkeep inspected it before nodding.
"I think I have something for you, miss. Its in the back. I'll get it." He told Yang who gave him a thumbs up.
"Great! I'll be right here waiting!" She chirped.
As she waited she got bored and poked around, and found some magizine about weapons. Flipping through, suddenly the door opened and the bell tinged again.
"Drei, secure the perimeter." A man's voice ordered as Yang heard the shopkeep re-enter. "Ah, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?"
There was a brisk tapping of claws as something trotted through the store, revealled to be a doberman when it turned a corner to pace down Yang's aisle. The dog stopped before staring Yang down and giving a single bark.
"Dammit. We're not alone?" The man called. Another bark. "You two, go check it out. The rest of you, grab the Dust."
Now two men in black suits with red machetes were stalking down the aisle as the dog trotted throughout the rest of the secure. A few seconds later two barks filled the air. "Good. Drei, to me!"
Unfortunatly, Yang had to deal with the men now. "Hands up." One told Yang, who smiled.
"Is this a robbery?" She asked.
"What does it look like? Of course!" The other told her. Yang smiled and engaged Ember Celica, making both men's heads move to look at the gauntlets.
"Ohh." Yang said, and ran at the first man before punching him back into a wall. The second charged at her and she spun around and punched him, enging Ember Celica as a gunshot filled the shop. The man flew back through a window and Yang followed. Turning behind her, the other men and a man in a white coat followed, alongside the dog.
"Well? Get her!" The man commanded. As the men charged, the dog looked to Roman, tail whipping the air. "Not tonight, boy. I promised you weren't going into combat. They'll kill me and feed my pieces to the Grimm if they find out I let you engage an armed civillian." He told the dog who sat down, ears lowering.
Yang had no problem defeating the men, and she found herself having to throw a new ammo belt in - her last two.
"You were worth every cent, truly you all were." He muttered. "Drei, rendevous point." He then commanded, and the dog picked up a run and vanished down a street. "Well, Blondie. Its certainly been an eventful evening. I believe this is where we part ways!" He raised his cane, the bottom flipping open to form a crosshairs for him to aim at Yang with. She started running at him and he fired, Yang used recoil from a sudeways shot of Ember Celica to evade the blast and pursue the man up a ladder up onto a building.
To her surprise the dog was waiting for the man as a bullhead pulled up. "End of the line!" He yelled and threw a burn Dust crystal Yang's way. Yang flinched and when the smoke cleared the dog was waiting.
"Drei!" An all too familiar voice from Yang's past called, "To me!" The dog took a flying leap and landed in the bullhead. Yang thought she caught a glance of a red cloak and tried to yell to her sister.
"Ruby!" But the bullhead closed and swiftly started flying away. "Ruby!" Yang yelled again, running to the edge of the building. She teetered for a moment and adrenaline fogged her mind. Yang didn't even think and flung herself off of the building. She was airborne and used shots from Ember Celica to get a hold onto the back of the bullhead.
As if she was expected all along, the bullhead's doors opened and suddenly Yang's grip on the bullhead weakened as the surface under her heated up rapidly. Yang couldn't even scream as her hands slipped and she was plummeting. Her hands were red and obviously burned. Yang saw the bullhead's doors close again and she felt her descent slow drastically as a purple glow envelloped her.
Landing safely, she saw none other than Glynda Goodwitch striding to her, riding crop in hands. "Do you realize that what you've done is foolish, headstrong and practically suicidal?" The huntress demanded. Yang shrunk.
"I'm sorry..." She muttered.
"I doubt you'd even have survived that fall with aura. You are very lucky, miss Xiao Long." The woman glanced at Yang with a critical eye. "Even luckier that I saw what you did and caught you." She added.
"Thank you." Yang told her.
"Let's get you back to your bike and see you get home." Goodwitch said, leading the way back to the shop. The shopkeeper was waiting with a large box, that upon opening revealled to be filled to the brim with ammo for Ember Celica.
"Thank you, miss." The man pressed the box to her hands "You get a discount on it."
Yang flashed a smile "No, thank you sir."
"Jesus, the nerve of that chick! First she shows up at that fucking club and then she shows up to try and thwart a robbery?! Un-fucking-believable! Ruby, Neo, why the hell do I have such shitty luck!" Roman ranted. Neo and Ruby stayed silent through his tirade and let the man burn himself out. "Who the hell tries to cling onto a bullhead mid-flight? Maybe they're not wrong with the "dumb blondes" trope - she seems like the textbook definition of it!"
Neo started ticking off on her fingers. '5, 4, 3, 2, 1... and'. Ruby smirked as Roman gave a giant sigh before collapsing into his favorite armchair.
"Uuuuugh." He groaned theatrically, "Whenever we try to live our lives, lying, cheating, stealing and surviving - something just has to screw it up!" He exclaimed. Ruby and Neo shared a look.
"Well we still thwarted Yang. She failed, we succeeded. Let's put tonight behind us." Ruby said - and then immedatly wished she never opened her mouth.
Roman's eyes widened as he stood up and strode until he stood right infront of Ruby. "Who?" He stared down the girl, green eyes hard.
Ruby gulped and cast a paniked glance Neo's way. The mute only crossed her arms and gave Ruby a look that told her "you're on your own now. I can't help you because you did this to yourself."
"Ruby, answer my question." Roman growled, grabbing her shoulders.
Ruby bowed her head. She was cornered, screwed, doomed, all those words. "I said "You thwarted Yang". I know that girl's name." Ruby said. Roman opened his mouth to ask another obvious question that Ruby nipped in the butt. "I know her from before I knew you. She's... my sister." She flinched when Roman's jaw went slack as he tried to comprehend what Ruby said.
While he was in his stupor, Ruby ducked out of his grasp and stood next to Neo, who gave her a "really?" look.
Roman gave a deep inhale and withdrew a cigar from his pocket. Lighting it, he took a long drag on it and was silent as he put his lighter back. Ruby was tense as she waited for the inevitable.
"Well this fucks up everything." Was all he said. Ruby bowed her head and Roman took another drag. "She was probably looking for you, kid."
"I know she was." Ruby mumbled, still with her head down.
"Well Ruby? What will we do about this now?" He prompted, causing the girl to look up.
"...What?" She asked quietly. Roman took the cigar away from his mouth.
"I asked you "What will we do about this now?" What are we going to do? She's your sister." Roman informed Ruby.
She remained silent, and Roman continued. "That is unless... you're having doubts." Ruby looked at the floor again, "You know you made a promise all those years ago to us. You can't exactly go back to Patch and your sister. Imagine how difficult it'll be to explain "Hey Yang, its me! I was a criminal, theif and murderer for the last six years! I'm ready to come back and be your little sister!" Your pops will have to deal with the fact that his little girl is the infamous Red. Just think long and hard about that information, Ruby." He stopped speaking and took a third drag on the cigar before waiting paitently for her to answer.
Ruby glanced at Neo, who looked at her impassivly. The multi-colored woman didn't say anything or sign. There was nothing for her to tell Ruby. She was on her own in her choice. The silence that filled the apartment was broken by a yawn from Drei, who watched the trio with his dark eyes.
"I wouldn't leave you guys." Ruby finally spoke, voice low. "Yang won't be a threat - she's going to Beacon in a few weeks, and then she'll be out of our way for the next four years."
Roman nodded and dragged on his cigar. "And what about after Yang graduates? A fully fledged huntress after you may be quite the problem." Ruby was silent now.
"We'll think of something." Was all Ruby replied with.
"Alright." Roman told her. "Neo, can we go to our room? I need to speak to you in private about something."
Neo nodded and the two criminals walked off to their shared bedroom. Ruby gave a sigh under her breath and Drei whined to gain her attention. The girl looked at him, and the doberman walked to Ruby's door before turning around and looking at her, waiting for her to follow him back to her room. He stood there, eyes gleaming.
Ruby caved and followed him, pushing open the door and closing it behind them.
Out of habit, she went to the foot of her bed and sat in her bean bag chair. Drei walked to her side, and sat facing Ruby.
Silence reigned once again, and Ruby let her mind drift...
Thunder roared in the sky, a flash of lightning arcing and lighting up the black clouds above Ruby. Yang was standing in front of her.
"Well Red. You've certainly made your choice." Romans's voice drifted from behind Ruby. She spun around to see Neo leaning on a wall for support, blood seeping from between her fingers that clutched her stomach. Ruby turned around at Yang to suddenly see she was battered and bloody too. She whipped around, now Roman as well was injured. Blood trickled down his face from above his hat.
"Ruby, come on." Yang offered a hand.
"No!" Ruby cried out. Suddenly Yang raised both her fists.
"Ruby. We're going home." Yang told her firmly.
Ruby suddenly felt a slender hand grab her other arm. Neo looked pleadingly at her. Yang yanked Ruby's arm and Neo staggared forward. When the mute lifted her head, fury was in her eyes.
Before Ruby could comprehend, Neo moved with Hush in her hands. She flinched and felt a breeze as Neo moved past her before a cry of pain split the air moments before thunder boomed overhead once again. She turned to see Neo having impaled Yang through the upper chest with Hush's blade. Blood dripped down her sister's chest as she choked on blood. Yang fell to the ground, but not before a final gunshot rang through the air. There was a thud and Ruby turned again to see Roman fall to the ground.
"No..." Was all Ruby could say. Anguish filled her as tears blurred her vision. She turned one more time to see Yang fall backwards, and Neo turned around to stare Ruby in the eyes. Lightning illuminated the mute's face as the light from her eyes vanished and she fell forward.
"Neo!" Ruby cried, "No!" She wailed. There was a whining and Ruby saw Drei nudging Roman's lifeless body. The doberman looked up at Ruby and started barking. "Drei!" Ruby called, trying to move but her legs refused to do her bidding.
The doberman barked at Ruby, and Ruby could feel hate in the dog's eyes as he stood over Roman - before springing at Ruby. He pinned her, hot breath in her face as he barked again and again. His face was so close she could smell his breath as his nose pressed against her cheek, barks dying down to him only whining.
She opened her eyes to find Drei standing over her, nose on her cheek as he licked her.
"It was just a dream..." she whispered. But as she thought about it - that dream could one day turn real. It had felt so real.
Drei could sense her anxiety and placed a paw on her lap. She stroked his head and tried to put the thought out of her mind by grabbing Violet's Garden and starting to read.
A/N
: This may be the last chapter for a little bit. I need to try and think of how the story will go from here for Yang's perspective. I was planning an OC to take Ruby's place, but if any of you have a better idea for Yang's teammates then please leave a review.
For those of you scared I'll convert Ruby and make her go back to Yang, Tai and Qrow. Pfft, God no. I've seen way too many good stories get ruined that way. Its boring and that's why when I do evil characters, they will not go good (as far as I am concerned at this point of time.) but rest assured, Ruby is not going to be on the good side.
Thanks for reading and stay healthy!