Chapter 5: Sighting

Cinder Fall knew she had been destined for greatness. She had been promised the Fall Maiden's power — and nearly got it as well! But fate had its way of screwing it up.

Life was always there and interested in packing a few surprises for her. And that's how she found out that Roman Torchwick was the boss of the criminal named Red. She had heard tales of the girl, and seen the news reports. But seeing Red in person was... underwhelming.

She had been expecting a killer, someone who looked ready to murder the whole club they had been in if given the command. But no. She was faced with a small girl who couldn't be any older than fifteen.

And to top off the small mountain of shell-shocking revelations about the Vale renowned criminal: she had silver eyes. Not grey eyes. Silver.

How shitty could her luck get?

"Ma'am?" Emerald asked, snapping Cinder out of her thoughts.

"Yes, Emerald?" Cinder asked.

"She's wondering if you finally had a stroke after staring at the wall for the past half an hour." Mercury flippantly informed her. Cinder shot the boy a glare, and he raised his hands in surrender. "What? I'm just saying things as it is." He told Cinder.

"No. I'm just... thinking. Red is valuable to Roman, and I see her worth myself... But Salem doesn't know of Red having silver eyes. If we take her out, we may lose Roman's support..." She mused aloud.

"I don't know. That girl with the umbrella seemed creepy." Mercury shrugged.

"She's also a highly skilled fighter that puts Roman and Red to shame in combat from what I hear. Neopolitan... Such a unique person. Apparently she's close to Red. If we harm the girl, Neopolitan will come after us - Roman too." Cinder replied.

"What about their dog?" Emerald piped up. "The informat mentioned it."

"They have a dog?" Mercury asked, crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes. I gathered a few reports from people who have worked with Red and Roman. They all say its not a dumb animal. Some swore it understood what they were saying, and Red talks to it like its a human. Apparently is has its aura unlocked, and is a competant guard dog. They use it as a scout and it's bite is far worse than its bark." Cinder relayed the information.

"Interesting..." Mercury muttered, obviously not actually caring. "What breed?"

"Doberman." Cinder replied.

"Why not a pomeranian? Sounds like something Red or the silent girl would like better." Mercury asked.

"The dog belongs to Red." Emerald told him before Cinder had to herself. "I don't think we should get on its bad side either."

Cinder nodded. "Neopolitan and Red are close with the dog. If we try to harm it — they may withdraw support."

"Well," Mercury rocked back in his chair "What are we gonna do, boss?"

Cinder regarded the silver haired boy calmly. "We'll take all these factors into account for our final plan." She told him.

=

Yang awoke on her own to see Blake and Ilia enter the dorm room. The team leader cast a glance at the still asleep Weiss before meeting Yang's gaze.

"Morning!" Yang chirped, springing out of bed. Blake nodded a greeting as she approached her.

"Perhaps one of us should wake... Weiss up." Ilia suggested softly — and Yang noticed how the girl hesistated before saying the blonde's partner's name.

"Sure!" Yang agreed and walked to Weiss's bed. "Rise and shine, sleepy head!" She declared, snagging the pillow from her own bed and throwing it at Weiss.

The heiress jerked awake with a scream as ice blue eyes swept across the room. "What on Remnant are you DOING?" Weiss demanded upon seeing Yang's smirk.

"Waking you up?" Yang asked innocently and crossed her arms. Weiss huffed.

"Well I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't use your brutish ways. A pillow to the face isn't the best way to be woken up." Yang's partner told her.

Yang rolled her eyes at this. "Sure. Duly noted, Princess." She replied. Weiss sighed and got out of bed.

"Alright fearless leader, what's the first order of business?" Ilia asked her partner. Yang watched Blake's golden eyes flick across the room.

"Unpacking." The noirette decided after a moment.

It was a while before everything was in place... Except for the beds.

"How about bunk beds?" Yang suggested. Weiss scowled at her as Blake seemed to take it into consideration. Ilia was silent, her eyes sweeping around the room.

"No! Its dangerous!" Weiss declared. Blake raised a placating hand the heiress's direction.

"It'll be efficient." Their leader decided.

"Well - but - lets put it to a vote!" Weiss demanded.

"Alright," Yang drawled. "All in favor of bunk beds raise your hand!"

Blake, Ilia and her own hand shot up. Weiss quipped "I thought Blake was team leader." To which Yang poked a finger at her nose.

"And Blakey isn't complaining, is she?" Yang asked rhetorically. Weiss fumed. "All opposed?" Weiss threw both her arms in the air with a flustered face. "Seems that we're getting bunk beds!" Yang cheered.

Blake and Ilia used Blake's books to prop up the second bed. Weiss and Yang remained, debating.

"Oh come on, Weiss! Its rope. It'll be fine!" Yang told her. Weiss shook her head before lifting her chin defiantly.

"It'll fray over time and than snap — I don't want to become a bed sandwhich with a blonde on top of it all!" Weiss retorted. "We'll be here for four years! That rope won't stay that way forever!" She added.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Chill out, Weiss. Nothing's gonna happen!" When all Weiss did was roll her eyes in response, Yang gave a look to Blake. "Fearless leader o' ours, guide us and tell Weiss why she's being stupid!" She asked.

Ilia rolled her eyes and elbowed Blake's ribcage — their team leader had buried her nose in a book. The nudge from her partner eliceted a soft "Oh?" From Blake as her head shot up.

"Can you tell Yang her idea is stupid? Rope isn't enough to support both a bed and Yang!" Weiss told Blake.

The noirette sighed and put a bookmark in her book before putting it aside. But before their team leader could speak, Ilia cleared her throat.

"Guys, we should go." The girl suggested, "Class is starting in a few minutes." Her words caused them all to cast a glance to the alarm clock.

"Oh crap!" Yang declared. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Let's get going." The heiress suggested, and led the charge out of the dorm in order to get to class on time.

Ruby relaxed at the park. Drei was chasing someone else's dog and Neo was nearby, just picking dandelions.

Reaching into the bag again, she threw small pieces of bread and bread crumbs to the birds as they flocked to ger feet.

Her Scroll buzzed — Roman.

Hey kiddo, Psycho Bitch wants a meeting in ten. Can you and Neo get your asses over at our usual place before she sears me like a rotisserie chicken and feeds me to Drei?

Ruby snickered and stood up. "Hey, we gotta go. Our boss wants us at the office in ten or his manager's gonna roast him." She told Neo when she reached her. The mute nodded and Ruby called Drei to her with a whistle.

Walking back to the bench she had been sitting on — Ruby and Neo saw to their ire a young black haired girl was looking through Ruby's bag.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled and ran at the girl, who grabbed the bag and started running. Drei snarled and Ruby grinned. "Take her down!" She declared to the doberman, who charged ahead and slammed into the girl - pinning her easily as Ruby retreived her bag.

'Maybe learn to not take so long to take what you need next time.' Neo signed with a smile as she scratched Drei's ears. The doberman smiled and Ruby looked through her stuff before telling him he could get off the girl.

"You're lucky we have places to be!" Ruby grumbled and threw the rest of her bag's contents to the ground for the birds. Several pigeons and small finches flocked to the spot immediatly, but than a large crow scattered them all to take the crumbs for itself.

The two girls and dog didn't pay much attention to that though, even when the crow picked its head up and stared at Ruby with dull crimson eyes.

I'm too drunk for this... Was the thought Qrow had. It was possibly the only time he ever had this particular thought pop into his brain.

Maybe the alcohol was screwing his brain up, making him hear his niece's voice even when she had been gone for years.

"Qrow?" Tai called. His friend walked Qrow's way.

"Oooh," Qrow slurred slightly "Hey Tai." The blonde man looked him up and down.

Taiyang Xiao Long suddenly sighed. "You turned into a bird again and ate crumbs from pedestrians, didn't you?" He asked. Qrow couldn't help but laugh.

"How... how can you tell?" Qrow asked between bouts of laugher as he banged his fist on the table. His chair leg buckled under him when he leaned back in his chair and sent him sprawling — causing the drunken man to laugh even more. "God damn, Tai!" He exclaimed and laughed even more, rolling on the ground. His teammate sighed.

"Qrow. Alcohol and your semblance don't mix." He explained. Qrow sat up and grinned.

"Jeez mr. Buzzkill. You sure are acting a whole lot like my sister!" He raised his hands up mockingly. "I hope I didn't offend ya!" Qrow cackled and rolled on the ground.

Taiyang sighed again, and walked away. "Talk to me when your sober!" He called over his shoulder.

Qrow could only grin. "Mayybe I will.." he drawled.

That was all he remembered before waking up again the next day with the headache of the century.

A/N:

I'm SO sorry about the formatting in the Yang/Beacon scene. I can't get the mistake to go away with everything being center aligned. I've tried and tried fixing it over and over but its persistant as hell. I apologize heavily for it, and I'll see if there's a way to prevent it in future chapters.