Weiss looked over her clothing with a critical eye, humming to herself. What to pick though? That was the question. She'd taken a few outfit choices into the bathroom with her (Weiss had set a rule down a while ago that no one was to change in front of each other. There were enough opportunities for awkward moments as it was, not even considering Ruby's age) but she was still having some difficulty deciding.
There was a bang on the door.
"Weiss come on!" Ruby's muffled voice groaned from the other side. "You've been in there for the last twenty minutes. We'll waste the whole day if you don't hurry up."
The heiress harrumphed stubbornly but did give the clothes laid out one last look. Alright, that one!
Getting dressed was a quick and nearly surgical procedure and when it was done Weiss took a moment to inspect herself in their wall mirror:
She wore a white coat, simple in design but effective in bringing out the pale blue blouse she had underneath. It was a fairly mild day so she'd decided against tights of any kind and just done a skirt that brushed her knees. Weiss had also forgone her usual heels, instead wearing pale white boots. (That also had heels on them but she was a refined individual!)
"Ready." She called, and hopped the bathroom door.
And stopped to blink at her teammate.
Blake and Yang were fine:
The Faunus was wearing, black leggings, boots as well as a dark hoodie, which Blake had assured them she only wore so that she could hide her ears in the case of troublesome racists in town. In her own words she didn't want to waste time on people who would no doubt single her out. Weiss had earlier said that they wouldn't be in such parts of town but relented all the same.
Yang's clothing selection was more… well, her.
The blonde wore a fairly tight orange shirt that did a good job at showing off her cleavage without actually showing it off. Over it was a brown leather jacket, and Yang had actually put on pants this time! In the form of slightly baggy ones. (was cargo pants the correct term to use? Weiss wasn't sure, no one had ever worn something like that back home for obvious reasons.) Yey she still managed to make it look good. The brawler hadn't changed her own footwear though they had probably been comfortable enough. A scarf of the same orange colour that she always wore completed the look.
But as stated before Weiss though what they were wearing was fine. The problem was Ruby.
"Why are you still in your combat clothes?!" Weiss cried out. Seriously, the girl had made no changes from what she was wearing. It was the same get-up she sported when fighting Grimm and terrorists.
The reaper didn't seem to realise how this was a problem.
"What?" she asked like there was nothing wrong. "this is kinda one of the only things I have to wear so-"
"No!" Weiss interrupted. "You're not going out in that," she said as she grabbed her partner by the shoulders and shoved her into the bathroom. The heiress turned back to her other teammates.
"You two go on ahead. We'll meet you after a get this dunce into something proper."
"Okay have fun," Yang said with a smile even as her sister protested. "Tuskson's book trade remember? Don't take to long ice queen. Come on kitten."
With that they two of them left, Blake grumbling quietly about the nick-name once again. Weiss let out a sigh as she shut the bathroom door with a whining Ruby inside.
Again her leader's voice was muffled by the door.
"Weiss…? You know I don't have anything else to change into right?"
The Schnee sighed but instead of letting Ruby out, reached for her own clothes. They were some of her more simple attire but they would do for Ruby.
"Here," she said as she went back to the bathroom door, opening it slightly and extending her arm out. "Put these on then."
There was a pause as she heard her teammate stop. The weight of the clothes left her arm and she nodded as she closed the door again. Faintly Weiss could here Ruby's clothes fall to the floor as she changed.
The fencer leaned against the wall with one shoulder and waited, fixing a few strands of hair behind her ear as she stood. It took some time but eventually there was a knock, and Weiss took it as a sign that her partner was ready, so she opened the door to inspect the outfit properly.
Ruby had kept her boots and cape (Although she wouldn't argue about the latter, they'd had an argument early on about wearing it with her uniform. Things had gotten pretty heated when Weiss ordered her to remove it.) for the rest it looked like she'd gotten a bit inventive:
Most of Weiss' clothes were pale colours, and from just grabbing anything she could the heiress had given Ruby a white jacket. Instead of that however Ruby had turned it inside out; and the black material was now facing outwards. It was actually a pretty good look. The rest was pretty simple: A grey skirt and tights and a shirt of the same colour.
Ruby had… actually done a pretty good job. Who knew she'd have an eye for fashion. Weiss was about to compliment it when her leader fidgeted.
"What is it?" Weiss asked curiously.
Ruby coughed a little. "It's nothing, just that uh… it's a little… small in the chest area."
Urk!
Nevermind, Weiss decided, she wasn't going to compliment her state of dress at all.
"Just come on you dunce," she huffed. "We're already late because of this."
"Okay, okay I'm going!"
…
…
The bell above the door chimed as Blake and Yang entered.
Tuksons Book Trade was usually a cosy looking place, a kind of warm welcome just by stepping in. It was no different this time, although Blake could see that there were a few boxes tucked away in the corner for some reason.
At the moment, the man himself was speaking to a customer at the counter, so the Faunus girl decided to browse a bit: there was quite a collection on the shelves even as she ventured into the more… mature section.
And then came the dreaded voice Blake had somehow forgotten.
"Oh~ I didn't know you were into that kitten."
Blake felt heat rush to her face as she spluttered a defence.
"I-it's not what it looks like!"
Really?" Yang asked with a sceptical eyebrow and shit-eating grin. "Because to me it looks like you wanna look into the porn section."
"This. Is. Literature!" Blake hissed, affronted at the accusation.
"Ha! I knew you were into this sorta stuff" she shrugged, smile unchanging. "I won't judge, fun to know my partner isn't repressed or anything."
"Why did I end up with you as a partner?!" The Faunus sighed, her voice either dripping dismay or sarcasm.
Yang didn't miss a beat either way. "Because I'm awesome!"
"Awesomely full of yourself."
"That's called confidence kitten."
"Stop with that name!"
"Ahem."
The two girls blinked at the third voice – that belonged to the owner – standing there watching them with a bemused look on his face.
Blake coughed into her fist and under her hood her ears flattened against her head.
"Tukson," she greeted. "It's good to see you again."
"You too," the big man agreed. He glanced once at the blonde. "This a friend of yours then?"
"Yes, Tukson this is Yang, she's my partner at Beacon. Yang, this is Tukson he's a friend of mine."
"Yo." The brawler greeted with a wave.
The owner smiled in return as he ushed them over to the counter.
"So you made it into Beacon then? That's good to hear, I was wondering if my favourite customer would think she had to much time on her hands not to come back."
Blake rolled her eyes. "Of course not, where else am I meant to get good reading material?"
He chuckled. "That's what I thought; speaking of which, I'm guessing you're here for the order you placed a while ago." He reached under the counter, and moments later came back with a book in hand.
"The man with four souls," he said, pushing it over the counter. "The sequel to your last order."
Blake nodded, sending him her silent thanks which she knew he would pick up on. Yang peered over her shoulder curiously.
"So? What is it you got? More of your raunchy stuff?"
"A fantasy novel actually," Blake corrected, ignoring the jab as she handed the right amount of lien over to Tukson. "It's the second book in the man with two souls series. They're great books."
"Oh," Yang said. Blake blinked in surprise as the blonde's tone changed from curious to downright disinterest.
And maybe a little bit resentful.
"Is there something wrong?"
"It's nothing," the brawler dismissed with an easy shake of her head. "I'm just not that fussed on the whole magical story type thing."
That only made Blake raise an eyebrow higher.
"I'd thought the fun-loving side of fairy tales would be something you liked Yang."
When Yang smiled again, it was a little more bitter.
"Fairy tales don't happen in real life for a reason kitten…"
Right… Blake coughed into her fist again to try and dispel the sudden awkwardness that manifested. She shouldn't have asked, once again, she didn't know the whole story between what she assumed was trouble with Yang and her sister. It was probably best to leave it as that. She saw a good escape back at the boxes stacked against the wall.
"So Tukson," she said with only a hint of desperation. "You look like your putting a few things away, stock needed to go into storage."
"Not exactly," he told her with a smile. "I'm actually planning on moving back to Vacuo."
That made the cat-girl pause.
"Really? How come?"
He looked away for a second.
"It's a number of things really… I don't know if I can-"
"Is this about White Fang stuff?" Yang interrupted, showing at the same time she was sharper than she looked in brutish fashion.
The shop owner recoiled in shock even as Blake hissed.
"Yang! You can't just ask stuff like that out loud!"
"What?" the troublesome blonde asked with a shrug. "There's nobody here to listen in, we're good."
The dark-haired girl could only sigh in annoyance.
"As you can see, Yang knows about… well, I'd call it my past if it weren't for the fact we had to deal with them recently."
"That… makes sense," Tukson allowed, glancing at the brawler suspiciously for a moment before his shoulder sagged. "Things are getting worse here Blake. With the rise of robberies and White Fang getting more active around the city…"
"You're still a part o the White Fang, aren't you?" Blake questions as she leaned on the counter eagerly. "Has there been anything going on that we should know?"
The man rolled his eyes. "You think they'd tell me? I'm not that high up on the chain of command… but… with what the high leader said yesterday."
Blake nodded in understanding.
"You saw it then?"
"Every member of the Fang did Blake," he sighed. "Honestly it probably did more harm than good. That might have been what she wanted."
"How come?" Yang asked as she rested an elbow on the wood. "Sounded to me like she was giving a message to people."
"Exactly: she giving a message to people, not just humans." He elaborated when the two girls looked at him questioningly. "There's been some… I don't know what to call it – arguments – within the White Fang. That message was basically Sienna Khan letting her people know that she's still fighting for their rights."
"More like showing them she's still calling the shots." Yang hummed. The Faunus' turned to stare at her, and when she realised they were confused she went on to explain.
"It's a tactic a lot of bosses use on their muscle," She said. "When you have people below you making it difficult for each other it's a good idea to remind everybody that they answer to you. She can't exactly show through beating people up though, since the whole things supposed to be seen as some sorta revolution, so she makes an empowering speech in front of the whole world."
She tilted her head back a little.
"Basically she shows people that she's still the boss and they take orders from her."
Blake stared at her teammate with shock.
"That… makes a lot of sense actually. For someone like Sienna, with her methods pointed towards violence this alines with what she might do." She gave the blonde a strange look. "How do you know about something like that?"
"What?" Yang grinned. " Don't think I'm the type to think about stuff like that?"
"I-I didn't say-"
"I'm kiddin' Blake," she waved off. "I have a friend that taught me a few tricks about it. He has a lot of muscle working for him but the guys aren't too smart."
Blake relaxed a bit, even if she raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"And is the person you talking about running a legitimate business?"
"Eh~"
The way Yang drew out the sound didn't fill the dark-haired girl with much confidence.
"He runs a nightclub mostly, but his main job is dealin' information, underground stuff. If you want something he probably knows where it is or who has it."
Interesting, was the first thing Blake thought, just how did Yang get to know someone like that?
She might have asked had the door not opened at that moment, the bell chiming as they heard a familiar heiresses voice.
"Honestly?" she huffed. "Being late because you had to change clothes is embarrassing enough but did you have to get distracted by everything shiny?"
"I wasn't getting distracted Weiss," Ruby shot back. "I just saw some cool weapons on people passing by and wanted to look!"
"You certainly had the attention span of one who is," Weiss snapped. "or did you think I didn't see how you fumbled to gawk at passers-by. I swear, the number of odd looks we got is enough embarrassment for a lifetime."
"But they're new!" Ruby exasperated as if it should have explained everything. When it didn't she went on.
"All the weaponsmiths are importing stuff for the Vytal Festival. People are always looking for new weapons around this time so its when they make the most lien. With so much money being spent on it this is the season that the newest upgrades come out. How can you not be excited by all of this? I mean it's awesome!"
Weiss just shook her head as she gave Ruby an annoyed look.
"You know," she said. "If you were as enthusiastic about your studies as you are with weapons I might have been impressed… instead you disappoint me."
"Gasp!"
"It doesn't work if you say gasp you dolt!"
After enjoying Weiss' suffering for a moment longer Yang finally decided to intervene with a smile and a wave.
"Hey you two, havin' fun?"
The heiress scowled, but instead of answering she marched up to Blake, pointedly ignoring Yang.
"So now that we're all here what do you propose we do first?"
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you're in a bit of a rush Ice-Queen. What gives?"
"If we are to have a fulfilling day then we need to stick to a schedule," Weiss said, putting a hand on her hips, the other raised in a lecturing pose. "that way we can get the full value out of visiting Vale today. I have all the stores we could possibly visit mapped out and-"
She was cut off when Yang burst out laughing.
"Oh that's amazing Weissy. Got the whole thing locked down right?" she stepped up beside the heiress and threw an arm around her shoulder (ignoring the way Weiss glared at the limb draped over her)
"Why don't we plan a night out together sometime? You can arrange all the best places to party at. With you payin' obviously."
Blake shook her head in bemusement, content to watch her two teammates argue back and forth. Honestly, you couldn't get entertainment like this anywhere else.
They bantered like this for a while until Yang caught Ruby at the counter.
"Excuse me," the youngest of them said to Tukson. "I'd like to purchase this please."
The Faunas male inspected the book offered to him – a thick, heavy tome of a book – and raised an eyebrow.
"Legends of Remnant huh? Not many kids you're age still read these things… are you sure you want it?"
"Yep!" she nodded happily.
Tukson watched her a second longer before relenting with a shrug and a smile.
"Far be it from me to deny a paying customer," he paused. "You are paying for this aren't you?"
"I am actually," Weiss interjected, moving next to her leader and revealing a card. "just run that through and we should be fine."
"Thank you Weiss~"
"Be quiet you dolt!"
Yang frowned. "You're not seriously interested in stuff like that, are you Rubes? You know that stuffs for little kids right?"
"So?" Ruby shrugged. "It's… something that interests me. There's nothing wrong with liking fairy tales is there?"
The brawler looked like she might say more, but thought better of it… for some reason Blake felt there might have been a stand-off otherwise.
"Okay then!" she cheered with renewed energy. "Let's go spent all Weiss' allowance."
"Hey!"
…
…
Ruby wasn't as involved in the act of shopping as her teammates might have liked.
After the bookstore however there wasn't much else she wanted in Vale. Heck, even the book she got was more so that she could help Amber with her…
She sighed inwardly.
Why was she still thinking about the Avatars?
Damn Oz, doing something like this again. It had been years ago but she'd still held him to that promise; to not endanger people just because of something they were born with.
Not like she' been with her eyes.
Even now, thinking about it brought her mother to mind…
It was… difficult.
Ruby didn't really know much about her Summer Rose.
There were memories. Hazy at best and missing at worse. There was warmth… and kindness… and other things.
Ruby had wanted to know more about her mother, so she'd asked Ozpin. Turned out that Summer had been more than a little obsessive over her own fairy tale.
It had been small things that she'd noticed at first, things that might have been passed off as coincidences in her legend.
Like the silver eyes. Yes, not much was known about them other than they seemed to be effective against magic, and the Grimm… but there was another thing.
See, in the Odyssium there weren't just single versions of myths and legends. There were originals, updated and even so-called 'modernised' interpretations.
In the original version, Dorthy had a pair of silver slippers… something that could be linked to the eyes. That alone might have been enough to maybe hint to Ruby that her mother would be interested… then there was Zwei.
An amazing dog, something normal, safe. Until you realised that Summer had gotten Zwei to be more like her Origin.
And to top it all off, she names her daughter Ruby, for the same colour as Dorthy's slippers in the newer versions.
All this together would have been strange, odd enough for someone to be concerned.
But then she went on a mission.
One that Summer knew she couldn't succeed in, but because she relied so much on her legend, on her connection to Dorthy, she thought she could kill the Wicked Witch…
Ruby didn't want that for herself.
All of this, the Avatars, Magic, her own gods be damned eyes…
Sometimes Ruby wished she could just be normal.
It was affecting her even now. Here with her teammates, it was hard not to see them as their Avatars. As people whose lives were being risked by Ozpin in something they didn't even know about.
Suffice to say Ruby was deep in thought about these things. So much so that she didn't snap out of it until her sister nudged her.
"Yo, Remnant to Ruby?"
Her head whipped around. "Huh? What is it?"
The blonde rolled her eyes. "I said; don't you think it's a little sus that ole Ice-Queen brought us to the docks when we're supposed to be shopping."
"Um… yes?" she answered uncertainly.
"You see? Ruby thinks so too! I thought it was weird that you were in a rush in this direction."
The Schnee Heiress huffed. "Don't be ridiculous! What motive would I have for leading you here!"
Blake wore a crooked smile. "Why indeed. It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that the Vacuo competition for the Vytal Festival will be arriving today here by boats, is it?"
"Not at all."
"Oh that's fine then," Yang said. "Then you don't care about that one coming off the boat now?"
"Where!?"
The blonde snickered as Weiss' span around, looking for the culprit. There wasn't one, obviously, and she scowled at Yang intensely.
"Honestly Weiss, you make it too easy sometimes."
"Why you little-"
The argument was cut off before it could begin, because Blake noticed a commotion down a street to their right.
They paused and after sharing a look went to investigate.
It was definitely a scene alright. a crime scene to be exact. There were people crowded around a dust shop with its windows smashed and the insides ransacked. Two men who looked like detectives stood in front, separated from the public by the classic yellow tape of Vale's police department.
Ruby frowned and walked up to the detectives, flowed by her team.
"What happened here?"
One of the men, who had a beard, turned to look at her. He narrowed his eyes at what at first looked like a bunch of civilians being nosy until he saw their weapons. The title of Huntress probably registered rather fast after that.
"Robbery," he said with a shrug. "happened last night, second one this week actually. I'm tellin ya, this place is getting' crazy."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Blake asked.
The detective looked her way, then noticed the ears and sighed.
"Not right now, no. Honestly the only leads we got are Roman Torchwick and the White Fang."
The Faunas blinked. "Why would the White Fang rob a dust shop in downtown Vale?"
"Beats me," he responded. "But whoever it was didn't steal any lien, just dust. The White Fangs all about that stuff recently so you know, can't cross em' off the list yet."
"I see." Blake hummed, crossing her arms as she thought to herself.
The man coughed.
"Listen kid, don't get me wrong, I ain't got no hate for the Faunus, but maybe you should uh…"
He made a gesture towards the crowd, and that was when team RWBY noticed the glares that were being sent their way.
Or more specifically, Blakes way.
Looks like Sienna's message had put people more on edge than they'd thought.
She pulled up her hoodie to cover her ears.
Yang growled beside her and the dark-haired girl could practically feel the icy looks Wiess sent back at them.
Ruby shook her head.
"Come on guys. No point in sticking around."
After a moment, the other two girls let it go and followed their leader back the way they'd come. Yang leaned with her back against the railing as the others did something similar, watching as people finally stepped off the boat.
"So whaddya think?" Yang asked. "Could it have been the White Fang?"
"It seems like it," Weiss said. "a group like them doesn't necessarily need lien, but raw dust might strike their fancy."
"I don't think so." Blake argued with a shake of her head. "Why would the risk an attack right in the middle of the city? Especially when there are easier places to get dust from."
The heiress raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"
The ex-terrorist sighed. "When I was… involved in the White Fang we needed dust for weapons, fuel, power you name it… and we needed a lot of it. If the Fang needed it they sent teams to attack mines, or warehouses, even trains." She shook her head again. "But a dust shop? It's too much risk for such a small amount of dust."
"It might have been Torchwick." Ruby agreed. "I mean that's how I ran into him before initiation… but there was something that made me think it was off."
Blake turned towards the younger girl. If Ruby had anything to get to the bottom of this she was eager to listen. "Yes? What is it?"
"It just thought it was weird for someone like Roman Torchwick to have a bullhead."
She blinked. That… that was strange.
Weiss ran with the train of thought.
"Someone like Torchwick is a master thief, yes, but they wouldn't have access to something like that without a backer. Or help of some kind."
"But if he was working with the White Fang that day shouldn't it have been all over the news?" Yang asked.
"I don't think it belonged to White Fang," Ruby answered. She was thinking now, her fingers tapping the rails methodically. "He had guys with him but none of them were Faunus as far as I could tell… and we already know what the White Fang insignia looks like. I didn't see it anywhere that night. That might mean they weren't involved at all, right Blake?"
Blake bobbed her head slowly. "The White Fang see themselves as a force of revolution. If it was them they'd want people to know that. It… it doesn't clear them but it makes it more unlikely."
"So… perhaps a third party of some sort?" Weiss broached.
"Maybe…after our run-in with them on our last mission they might be thinking of changing things up…" Ruby trailed off.
There was a pause as they thought it through. It was concerning no matter what was the truth. With so many things going on with the White Fang and robberies in Vale it was easy to feel the tension between people.
But whatever thoughts they might have spoken aloud were cut off as people from the docks began to yell out.
Ruby squinted to see to security guards chasing after someone: he was blond, tanned and had the tail of a monkey.
And it looked like he was a-
"Stop that no good stowaway!"
Yeah that.
Monkey boy seemed to take offence to that as he sat perched atop a lamppost.
"Hey! I'm not a no-good stowaway! I'm an unsatisfied, non-paying customer!"
Ruby heard Blake slap a hand against her face before she saw it. Yep, this guy really wouldn't help with the tension in Vale.
Whatever the case the two detectives from before approached him, their faces set in scowls.
"Hey punk! Get done from there right now."
The answer he got was a banana to the face.
The Faunus boy just laughed as he leapt over their heads and onto the street, heading straight for team RWBY, who were caught so unaware that he ran right past them.
But not before winking at Blake.
The girl blinked as he put distance between them.
Yang was much the same. "Did he just…?"
"I think he did." Ruby agreed. "I think that's the competition you were talking about Weiss."
"After him!" the heiress cried.
Not having to be told twice the four girls followed suit of the detectives, bobbing and weaving through the surprised crowds of people. Annoyingly it was slowing them down.
The blond culprit didn't seem to have the same problem. In fact the people parted before him. Blake scowled to herself. No doubt they thought him some sort of dangerous criminal with the police on his tail.
"… "
Yang was already infecting her.
Eventually the Faunus boy turned a corner, and Weiss sped up to catch him. Probably taking this whole thing as some sort of challenge.
She whipped around the corner.
And slammed straight into a passerby, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
The others stopped.
"Wiess are you okay?" Ruby asked.
The Schnee girl gave a groan as her response.
Blake sighed. "Well we lost them now. Hopefully the police can keep up, but I doubt it."
Again Weiss groaned as she rubbed her head. "Ugh, what hit me?"
Yang coughed into her fist.
"Um… Weiss? I think you should look down."
She did.
And realised she was mere inches away from a smiling girl's face.
"Gah!"
Weiss fell back in shock, fumbling as she grasped for her bearings. The girl still did nothing, seemingly content to lay there on the pavement. Ruby got a good look at her.
She looked their age –well, the rest of her team age anyway – with light red hair, close to Nora's hair colour if anything and was dressed in black green and grey.
Well… at least she was coordinated.
She waved from her spot. Still on the ground.
"Salutations my fellow inhabitants!"
"Um… hello?"Weiss tried. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and knocked into… are… are you going to get up?"
The girl blinked again. "Yes I am!"
She did so a second later, easily springing to her feet and brushing herself off like nothing happened. She looked at them and seemed to perk up.
"Oh! This is exciting! Ahem," she made a noise of clearing her throat. "Salutations. I am Penny. A huntress-in-training at Atlas academy."
"Atlas?" Weiss echoed, suddenly more interested. "You're here for the tournament then?"
The girl who called herself Penny nodded. "That is correct. I am here to test myself against the combatants of the other schools."
"Wait, so where's the rest of your team?" Yang asked.
"Oh, I'm here alone right now," she said. "I wished to explore Vale."
"Okay," Ruby tried. "Well, its good to hear you're interested in the city. Oh! Right, we forgot to introduce ourselves, My name is Ru-"
"Ruby Rose," Penny interrupted. "Age fifteen, accepted into beacon two years earlier on the personal decision of Headmaster Ozpin."
Team RWBY as a collective blinked as Yang frowned. "How do you-"
"It is documented in Atlas Academy's databases so that we can learn more about our opponents before battle." she quickly explained.
The blonde looked towards her snow-haired teammate for answers.
Weiss just shrugged.
"It seems reasonable. From what I know Atlas has a very militarised method of teaching. Gathering information would be a part of that."
She didn't sound completely sure.
Penny nodded. Indeed it is. However I know this more on the basis that I study under General Ironwood. I have actually been hoping to meet about-"
In a flash Ruby was in front of the girl with a hand over her mouth and a fake smile on her face. She turned to her teammates, who from their angle couldn't see the way she was practically smothering the Atlas student.
"Well I think as the leader of team RWBY I should make it my job to help her back to wherever she's staying. Why don't you three go on ahead?"
Yang looked confused. "Wait, you want us to leave you with her? While we go through Vale without you?"
Ruby shrugged, a little stiffly. "Yeah why not, I'll meet you back at the dorms if it takes to long."
Blake hummed as she looked at her scroll. "It's already getting late as it is. Are you sure you don't want one of us to come with you?"
"Uh, hello? Super awesome huntress here? I'll be fine. Besides, you gotta keep up with Weiss' schedule right?"
The heiress rolled her eyes. "Very well, if you are sure then we will go. I expect you however to be back before eight."
"Wait why do I have a curfew now?"
"Because if you don't you'd get into trouble."
"Gasp!"
"Seriously stop that already!" Weiss scowled.
"Nope!"
Yang snickered even as she led Ruby's partner and her own away.
The reaper kept her smile up a little longer, until they were out of sight before spinning around to confront the girl.
"Who are you?" she hissed. Her smile was gone and eyes steely. There was no time for friendliness now, she was in battle mode now.
"I am Penny." The girl said again, looking completely unfazed by her change in demeanour.
Ruby looked up and down the street, before pulling the girl into a side alley to speak privately.
"Don't play games with me, I know for a fact that Ironwood has been told not to have my name documented anywhere for people to see for secrecy. So either he's gone against specific orders from Oz or you're lying to me."
Penny didn't look like she was offended by the accusation in the slightest. "I did not lie," she told the silver-eyes warrior. "It is stored in the Atlas databases, just a far more private one for Ironwoods innermost trusted."
Ruby blinked, stepping back to reevaluate the cheerful girl in front of her. "And… you're one of his trusted? Then, how much do you know?"
"Yes, that would be important information. I believe we should conduct our greetings again." She stuck out her hand. "Salutations, I am Penny, a member of Ironwood personal circle. I have heard a lot about you from the General Miss Ruby Rose."
"Ah! Well," Ruby coughed, scratching the back of her head. This was a little awkward, she'd maybe assumed things before the girl could explain herself.
"Thanks, I guess. Although I haven't really met General Ironwood in person before; just over the scroll. So… you know about the… what Ozpin does?"
"I do. I was informed by the General that you are a member of Headmaster Ozpin's secret circle, and that you are his right eye."
"Yeah, that checks out." Ruby relaxed a little more. So I guess Ironwoods coming for the Vytal festival then?"
"Indeed he is. I decided that I would explore the city as much as I could before he arrived. However I also wanted to speak to you about something."
Ruby smiled. "Well fire away friend. If you want to know anything about the city I think I can help."
There it was, Ruby thought, a good way to get back on track and a way of apologising for being so forceful before. Just a few words, it was simple… but Ruby really should have seen something coming when she spoke them, because when she'd finished speaking Penny had frozen up.
And then suddenly she was right in Ruby's face.
"Do you mean that!? Are we really friends!?"
"Uh… what?"
Oh no.
…
…
Weiss' mouth was set in a frown as she walked down the streets with her two remaining teammates. She was… in thought to say the least. The heiress was presented with a peculiar puzzle.
That being her partner.
Every moment she spent with Ruby was just one oddity after another.
In almost every instance the girl was strange, or just some level of odd. Firstly, she'd somehow been accepted into Beacon early, with no prior record in any combat school across Remnant. Weiss knew enough now by seeing Ruby fight that she was skilled. Definatlyabove the level of most other Huntresses in training, but that only lead to the second wonder.
For some reason, somehow, the Headmaster had known of Ruby before, and offered her a place at Beacon. The most prestigious school in Vale, and the oldest Huntsman School in the world had offered Ruby a place.
With her questionable history before Beacon, the suspicion Weiss felt towards her leader wasn't unfounded.
However, Weiss might have been able to excuse all that, to push it all aside and see Ruby as she was – a huntress in training just like her – if it weren't for how she acted.
If the Schnee Heiress thought Ruby's circumstances were odd, then it had nothing on her action.
Ruby was… well, she was many things: loud, bubbly, bouncy if Weiss was to give a visual description. She was also so conflictingly full of energy and shy at the same time. Not to mention that even for her age Ruby acted especially childish when the mood struck her sometimes.
But that was the keyword wasn't it?
Sometimes.
Weiss had ignored it the first time, during initiation she'd just assumed that Ruby forwent her at-the-time usual lightheartedness to lead them in a desperate situation. And it was desperate, with Grimm surrounding them like a sea of black Weiss could only marvel how the youngest of them had kept her cool enough as to give them orders.
The first time… she wrote it off as just that. A desperate situation.
And… yet the more time the girl spent with her partner the more she noticed just how quickly Ruby's personality could shift.
No… not shift… change completely.
In an instant Ruby would go from that loud and cheery girl to adopting a steely calm.
It was… definitely one of the strangest things about her:
The way she became so mature and focused in an instant that it was jarring to witness. That wasn't even accounting her mannerisms.
Weiss had been raised by a businessman, with a promise of working in business and even managing one of the largest businesses in the entire world. As such she'd been schooled at an early age how to read someone's mannerisms when they spoke to you.
You couldn't identify everything, obviously. It wasn't like some kind of movie where the business genius could control an entire conversation by reading the other person, but with enough practice you could memorise their tells, what faces they made when they were angry, or pleased or something else.
She'd managed to do that for her teammates too.
Although thinking about it, it wasn't that difficult a task. Yang was an easy one, she expressed her self in a way that made sure that everyone knew how she was feeling. When she was mad her eyes went red and her hair glowed, when she was happy she wore that big, stupid grin and while Weiss had never seen the girl show any truly tear-jerking emotions she assumed they would be just as clear.
Surprisingly Blake was much the same, not in how she acted per say – she would probably never poses that intensity that her partner had - but her tells were easy to recognise all the same to Weiss. Perhaps it was because of her Faunus ears but anyone who bothered to look could see how they perked up when she was interested or flatten against her head when she viewed something negatively. It was honestly cute in its own way, but Weiss would never tell her that for the sake of her own sanity.
Ruby would have been easy: the little huntress smiled when she was happy, pouted when she was annoyed and whined when she was sad. All simple things on the surface. When looking deeper Weiss could tell what her partner was feeling by the way her mouth curled up, or how much she stared at things that required her attention. In a way easily understood Ruby acted like a typical teenager with shyness mixed in. honestly it was endearing to Weiss.
But then she switched.
And then all at once none of that was there.
It was in the morgue back in Grainsal that she first noticed it.
Weiss suppressed a shiver even thinking about it.
Back then… it hadn't been full-on. Weiss had been horrified at the state of the bodies, feeling sick and scared and like it was the most gruesome thing she'd ever seen.
It had been. But Ruby hadn't acted like it had affected her. Okay, no, that wasn't right. She had, her eyes had given her sympathy, a look that said she felt the same way but was controlling it. at the time it had been the only thing keeping her from throwing up.
But as she thought about it later, Weiss couldn't help but think how it might have been slightly… put on.
Not in the way that Ruby had lied to her, not as in not being the slightest bit of disgust for what they'd seen.
However it felt as if she had been a lot less disturbed by it than she had let on. That sat with Weiss strangely for some reason.
Then there had been their raid on that warehouse.
Ruby – a fifteen-year-old girl – had been willing to kill someone. Terrorist or no that wasn't something Weiss could even comprehend for someone their age.
There was more, every now and then there was an off-handed comment that Weiss didn't even think the girl realised she was saying. Somethings that threw Weiss off completely; her cynicism, dark humour, level tone. All things that shouldn't… wouldn't be associated with the red reaper at any other time and yet were.
She let out a sigh and massaged her temple.
Thinking about the mystery that was her partner gave her a headache at the best of times. Now though…
"Do you think it was a good idea to leave Ruby with a stranger?"
"Hm?" Yang question, not quite listening as she interlocked her hands behind her head. "Nah I think she'll be fine."
Weiss frowned. "Really? I didn't think you of all people would let your sister lead a complete stranger around the city. Especially someone as… odd as that girl."
The blonde shrugged. "Eh… you might have been right any other time but I'm not too worried. Did you see her? Penny I mean? There wasn't a single piece of muscle on her body. Dunno how she's supposed to fight in the tournament but she isn't gonna overpower Ruby anytime soon. Besides, not much I could do since my sis was the one who offered to do it. Probably would have caused some kinda scene if I argued with her."
Alright, she had to allow that at least. Weiss didn't even know why she was worried; Penny had said she was from Atlas, so she had to be at least somewhat trustworthy.
"You're right. I'm sure she's completely safe."
…
…
This was not safe.
This was stupid, this was such a stupid idea that Ruby wasn't convinced that even if nothing went wrong her uncle wouldn't call her out on just how stupid this was.
What was she even doing?
Well, she was crouched on a rooftop at the docks, during the night, overlooking dozens of dust containers alongside Penny.
It had been an off-topic conversation honestly:
After Penny had convinced herself that Ruby wanted to be her best friend she'd chattered on and on about different things they could do together. Like shopping, painting their nails talking about boys… Ruby was thankful Weiss had been her teammate.
From the looks of it she'd gotten one of the more sane huntresses-in-training that came out of Atlas.
Anyway, eventually Ruby had tried to move the conversation onto something else, and Penny took that opportunity to explain that she'd actually come into town to investigate a lead on the White Fang.
Turned out there'd been hints of a large-scale theft of dust that had been rescheduled for tonight.
The reaper knew exactly why it had been mentioned as 'rescheduled'.
Their mission had disrupted White Fang operations so close to the capital. They must have spooked them, or at least done enough damage that whoever was in charge decided it was better to speed things up a bit.
Troubling… it had only been a few days so whoever it was, was well informed. That, or they were working close to Vale.
Still, when Penny had talked her into joining her on this she didn't think they'd be squatting on a rooftop waiting for them to show up.
There was too much waiting.
She looked over at the other girl, who was lying next to her with a smile on her face. She wasn't moving though. in fact she was as still as a statue.
It didn't even look like she was breathing.
On the other hand Ruby hated things like this. The waiting. It made her uneasy. The longer you waited for an enemy to arrive the more chance there was that the whole thing was a trap. She'd learned that from experience, or maybe that was just her Uncle Qrows bad luck.
Fortunately for her, it looked like the absence of her feathered uncle meant she was having good luck, because at that moment several bullheads flew into view.
She didn't get to count them all because they opened up quickly, and White Fang poured out.
Ruby's lips pressed into a thin line.
She couldn't count that fast, but there were definitely more than a hundred of them. Too many for two huntresses of their level to take on without backup.
But that wasn't even the problem; what was the problem was the man dressed in a fine white coat and bowler hat.
Roman Torchwick.
That didn't make any sense though. Ruby bit her lip in thought.
Why on Remnant was a thief working with a terrorist organisation?
The answer wasn't coming to her., but she at least knew now that this was out of their league.
Penny seemed to agree.
"Friend Ruby," she whispered. "I believe that the best course of action would be to retreat."
"Yeah," she nodded. "We can call for some help or something when we get clear. Know what the best way out is?"
"No, but we need to be careful, thermals are picking up dozens of signatures all around us."
Thermals? What was she talking about? Ruby was about to ask when Penny suddenly sprang to her feet.
"Rub look ou-"
She didn't get any further, or if she did Ruby didn't hear her as she was met with a crushing blow to her back. With a gasp she was forced to the ground. Her face hit the concrete, with only her reflexes putting up her aura on time.
The weight didn't leave her back, and when Ruby turned her head she saw Penny was on the ground too, stunned by what looked like an electric whip. Suddenly before her eyes a person appeared out of the night.
No, not appearing, she' already been there. It was like her skin had changed colour.
She wore a leather black, sleeveless jacket and shorts, meaning that for some reason she was different from the other White Fang. When she turned her head a little more to the side Ruby managed to see the person standing on her.
The first thing she saw was the wings: big, bat-like things that spread out from his back. He wore the same outfit as the other one, with the slight difference being the higher collar and sleeves.
When he spoke his voice was deep and smooth.
"It looks like w have two humans sneaking around. That's not good," he pressed his foot harder into the arch of her back, and she had to bit back on a pained wheeze. "you should know it's rude to spy on people."
"What should we do with them Yuma? Kill them?" the girl asked, her voice was hard, filled with disgust as she glared down at them with red eyes. Hadn't they been grey just a second ago?
The man chuckled. "Calm yourself sister Ilia. The human Torchwick is leading this operation. For now we must follow orders and deliver these two to him to decide. Sister Trifa, if you would."
"Oh," she blinked. "There's another one. This one's got blue hair."
That was all Ruby could think of before a foot collided with her face.
And Ruby fell into black.
...
Well I'm back with another chapter, a little slower than I'd like but what are you going to do? the holidays are coming one and there's always things to do. Thankfully I was able to get this out before Christmas for you all.
What did you think? Characters being introduced left and right this chapter and we're almost finished with Volume on, thank goodness for that. and what's this? Ilia's here? You'll find out why soon but get ready for a fight.
By the way, this chapter was just about a thousand words more than the last one. is this a good length? If it is let me know and I'll try to keep it up.
Anyway, if you liked it be sure to follow and favourite, and if you want to share your thought be sure to Review, I always like hearing what people think.
I'll sign off for now.
Bye!