Chapter 1: Reluctant Alliance
Credit for cover image goes to Gabrielle Verzosa over on Artstation.
Do what we do best
"You've got spirit Red, but this is the real world!"
Roman smacked Ruby down.
Neo was dead, probably eaten by some Grimm.
He had no one left.
The one thing he had, had been taken away from him.
Neo had been his only light, his only friend.
And little Red had made that end.
"The real world is cold!"
The only thing he had now was the rage inside of him.
To make little Re-,
No, she didn't even deserve a nickname.
"The real world doesn't care about spirit!"
To make this pathetic little girl pay.
A kick to his leg. Painful, but not unexpected, so he easily caught himself.
"You want to be a hero? Then play the part and die just like every other huntsman in history!"
He hit her again, putting every last ounce of anger in his swing.
Roman Torchwick had Ruby Rose right where he wanted her.
Time to finish her off.
"As for me, I'll do what I do best. Lie, steal, cheat, and surv-"
A wall of white appeared in front of him, cutting him off from the world.
Well, that was unexpected.
He had just been swallowed by a Grimm.
It was dark, very dark.
He fumbled around, trying to find his lighter so he could see.
Then, he lurched forward as the Griffon charged at Ruby.
She kicked it over the head, and it was sent crashing into the ship.
The body of the Grimm protected him, but he was still thrown about inside of it.
The Grimm began to disintegrate, and Roman was left lying on a exploding ship.
I have to get off.
He didn't even pay attention to Ruby, who was currently jumping off the airship.
An explosion threw him backwards.
He peered over the edge of the ship.
It was going down.
He was able to stand up, barely.
It was then Roman realised he had one choice.
If he was still on the ship when it crashed, he would die, aura or no aura.
So he did the most risky thing that he had every done in his long, criminal life. Actually, probably not.
Putting a hand on his hat to make sure it didn't go flying away, he picked Melodic Cugel up.
Then, he ran towards the edge of the ship, and jumped.
Do what we do best
Trifa had to get away.
Watching Yuma being killed by Adam right before her very eyes had been traumatizing.
The day before Beacon was due to fall, he had decided that he wanted nothing to do with the White Fang, believing them to be too violent.
He had made a run for it, and the Lieutenant had tracked him down, and brought him back to Adam.
Adam had called him a disgrace to their kind, and had stabbed him in the chest.
Trifa had considered Yuma a friend, and it was terrifying.
Adam had turned into a monster. He would never have hurt a Faunus before. But that had all changed.
She suspected it was something to do with the Belladonna girl leaving.
So, she had decided to sneak away in the chaos of the battle of Beacon.
Unfortunately, Adam had noticed her.
She knew he was following her, and soon a shot to the side of her forced her to turn around.
"You aren't running away like Blake, are you Trifa?"
Her breath was coming out in short gasps.
"Don't you remember what happened to Yuma?"
She was absolutely terrified.
"You have always been a exceptional help to the White Fang."
That was a lie. He was trying to convince her to come back.
"Which is why I am going to give you a choice. You can come back with us, and help with Beacon's demise. You will be rewarded handsomely."
"Leave me alone!"
"Or, you can continue to run. I won't chase after you. I have far more important matters to attend to. But rest assured, when Beacon has fallen, we will find you. The White Fang does not take to traitors lightly."
For a moment, she allowed herself to be tempted to come back.
But that thought was quickly dismissed.
She was going to run. As cowardly as it was, she was going to run.
Turning around, she began running as fast as she could.
Adam watched her go.
"Such a shame" he said to himself.
Do what we do best
Roman landed smack bang on the floor.
Ow.
His aura had absorbed most of the fall, and he stood back up.
I need to leave. Now.
There was chaos everywhere, students were fighting the Grimm, and Atlas soldiers were also fighting.
Suddenly, the red glow on their visors went away.
Huh?
The airship had been destroyed, but surely the virus would stay?
He didn't have time to dwell on that, as a couple of students had noticed him.
"Hey, it's Roman Torchwick!"
A boy with a trumpet in his hand, and his extremely colourful teammate turned to face him.
To his left was...
Great. It's monkey boy.
But monkey boy wasn't focusing on him.
He seemed to have some kind of web wrapped around his arm.
Roman noticed Trifa running beside him, but he personally liked to call her 'Spider Girl'.
He had never talked to her much, only really when necessary.
Roman had never particularly liked the White Fang, or even Faunus in general. Some of them were alright, like Yuma. Roman had heard of his unfortunate death. Some of them were amazing, like Perry. But most of them were complete utter animals, like Adam.
Trifa... He wasn't quite sure where she fell in that. He hadn't interacted with her enough.
In fact, the only time he could remember talking to her was when she had helpfully told him that Red, Ice Queen, Kitty cat and Goldilocks were on the train.
Apparently, she had fought the Ice Queen, and lost.
Flynt Coal blew his trumpet, blasting Roman back.
Trifa's path got caught off by Sun and Neptune, and she was sent sprawling next to Roman.
They locked eyes for a second, and then they both stood up.
Sun, Neptune, Flynt, and Neon were waiting for them.
Looking behind them, there were Atlas soldiers blocking the way.
If they were going to get out of here alive, they would need to work together.
And they both knew it.
"We can't take them all on." Roman said under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear. "We need to cause a distraction, and make a break for it."
Trifa took her knife out of her pocket.
Roman looked around him, trying to find any possible distraction for him to use.
There were a few Grimm with their backs turned to them. It wasn't the best solution, but it would do.
He fired a shot next to them, causing them to turn around.
Neon skated past them, narrowly dodging a slash from Trifa's knife.
"Never miss a beat, never miss a-"
Roman grabbed her by the neck, and threw her away.
The Grimm jumped on Sun and Neptune, keeping them occupied.
The Atlas soldiers were trying to shoot them down, and Roman began ducking and weaving to dodge them.
Trifa webbed one of them up, and Roman blasted it, blowing it's head off.
He ducked underneath another shot, before he hit it in the back, and finished it up with a punch to the face.
Seeing an opening, Roman made a break for it.
The bullheads that Adam and the White Fang had arrived on were still here.
Do what we do best
Trifa followed after Roman, which she knew wasn't the best idea she had every had.
Roman wasn't exactly very popular among the Faunus.
While he didn't beat them like most would, he was known to call them harsh names.
But in reality, did she really have a choice?
She couldn't exactly go back to the White Fang.
She wasn't as infamous as Adam, so she would probably be able to blend in to modern society, but what would she do?
She had no lien, her family wouldn't take her back, and she didn't have any contacts.
But Roman probably had two of those of things.
Sticking with him was really her only option.
She didn't like it, but she had no other choice.
Do what we do best
Roman jumped onto the bullhead, and began to take off.
There were Atlas soldiers raining down fire on him, and he opened a window and poked Melodic Cugel out of it and returned fire. He was successful in taking most of them out.
The bullhead took off, and he piloted it away from Beacon.
He allowed himself a moment to relax. He had escaped.
But Neo didn't...
The whole ordeal hit him like a tidal wave of emotions.
He put the bullhead into auto-pilot, putting it on course to one of his apartments he had bought.
Then he swivelled around in his chair, and lowered his head in his hands.
She was dead. Neo was dead.
He didn't realise he was crying until the tears stung his eyes.
She had been there for him through everything.
Every robbery, every meeting, every moment of each waking hour.
She had been there.
Now she was gone.
Do what we do best
Hanging underneath a bullhead wasn't the most ordinary method of transport, but it would do for now.
Just before Roman had taken off, she had managed to web herself underneath the bullhead, and was now hanging on for dear life.
She shut her eyes, and took a breath.
Now, time to find a way in.
Like the female version of Spider Man, she crawled her way up to one of the windows, and began banging on it.
"Hey, can you let me in please?"
He didn't hear her, or he chose to ignore her.
Sighing, she shot some webs onto her legs, in case she lost her grip trying to get it open.
She took one of her hands off, and began fiddling with the latch of the window.
She couldn't get it opened though.
Holding onto it firmly, she let her other hand go free, and tried her best to open it.
Still wasn't budging.
She drew out her knife, put it in the latch, and began pulling it as hard as she could.
Then, her hand suddenly slipped and the knife went flying away, and all of a sudden she was thrown back, the webbing on her legs the only thing preventing her from falling into oblivion.
Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself back up, and was just about to try again, when she realised...
Probably would be easier to just smash it, huh?
Harnessing her aura, she punched the window.
It hurt a bit, but there was a noticeable crack.
Drawing her fist back again, she hit it again.
This time it smashed.
Tumbling through the window, she smacked right into Roman, knocking him over.
"What's the big deal?!"
Do what we do best
Neo had managed to float down safetly, narrowly avoiding being eaten by a Grimm a few times.
She had watched as the airship had crashed, praying that Roman had survived.
She had been frantically texting him for the past while.
Roman? Are you there?
Did you beat Red yet?
Roman?
The airship just crashed! Text me now!
If this is some kind of a joke, it isn't funny!
Roman, please...
Just tell me your okay...
Please...
I don't want to lose you...
But still no response.
There was still hope though. Maybe he had lost his scroll getting off. He would come and find her.
Because he always did.
Half a hour passed. Then another. He didn't come.
She gave him a hour, he would be here within a hour.
He wasn't there within a hour.
Then that must mean...
She began to sob.
Curling herself up into a ball on the ground, she wept for what felt like forever.
Her negative emotions drew a pack of Grimm to her location.
She faced them with tear stained eyes as they charged.
They took Roman...
She took her blade out of her parasol.
I'll take their lives...
...
Poor Neo. I feel terrible for her in the original.
This was originally supposed to be a Roman centric fic. But then I decided, why not throw my favourite one off character in there?
The idea for a spider Faunus is a great one.
So, this is how this is going to work.
Mainly Trifa and Roman centred, with a Neo scene every once in a while.
Unlike the show, there will be no timeskip to Vol 4. We'll be picking up right where we left off.
Adam and the White Fang are going to be the main antagonists.
Thanks for reading and have a good day!