Welcome to the seventh chapter of Bloodbound! Enjoy!

Dawns at Beacon Academy were beautiful, there was no denying it. Rays of splendid gold mixed with a sky shot through with rosy pink, bold red, and gentle purples. The soft wind rustling the leaves of the surrounding wilderness, the brightness of Forever Fall and the Emerald Forest all intermingling with the faint tang of the distant ocean.

It almost made waking up with the sun worth it, though Neo wouldn't mind just a few more minutes of blessed rest, and if Crimson's feeble groans were anything to go by, he was in concurrence. But given the failures of the other night, the thwarted assassination attempt of Blake Belladonna, Ruby had thought it best that they get in the mindset of productivity so that when they received their next assignment, they wouldn't give Cinder a reason to pull their spines out of their mouths.

Or that was how Ruby put it when she woke them all up just as the first light of the sun was shining over the horizon. Frankly, Neo didn't think that waking up at dawn every morning would make them anything but tired.

"Come on, Team RSNC!" Ruby was full of eagerness this morning, zipping around from place to place until the dorm room was filled with drifting rose petals, ready to seize the day. "The whole day is ahead of-OOF!"

Ruby's proclamation was cut short when Crimson threw a pillow at her head before burrowing back under the covers like some nocturnal, giant rodent. After a moment, his voice came drifting out, muffled by blankets and grogginess.

"Shhh, no one talks until I can stand the sight of sunshine."

Throwing the pillow back at the lump, which only replied with a dismal groan, Ruby continued with her morning speech.

"Anyways, we got a busy day ahead of us. First, school here and I got a text from Roman this morning saying that Cinder wants all of us to meet her this evening, we'll get the location when school's over."

The lump on the bed groaned again, sounding very much like the living dead, before speaking.

"Why should I get out of bed when all I have to look forward to is schoolwork, people, and my maybe-execution by the hands of Fall?"

"If you didn't want to run the risk of being killed, then you shouldn't have failed the assignment," Neo spoke from by the window, her head turned away from the gleaming dawn. "On the topic of your catastrophe, why DID you fail? Aren't you supposed to be good at your job?"

Crimson breached the blankets like an angry whale, looking very awake now that his ability had just been called into question. "I am very good at my job, thank you very much! It's not my fault that Faunus have better senses than humans!"

"Belladonna's a Faunus?" Ruby asked before narrowing her eyes. "Which reminds me, how on Remnant do you know so much about her and her 'lovely family'?"

Crimson shifted on his bed, head tipping back as if trying to recall memories of years past. "Right, I promised I would tell you, didn't I? Well, about three years, I was hired to kill Ghira Belladonna and his family. Ghira Belladonna being the chieftain of Menagerie and leader of the White Fang pre-mass insanity. Long story short, I failed, miserably. The first and only time I have ever done so." Crimson shrugged. "After my upper body was healed, I started to gather as much information on the Belladonna family as I could, so the next time I get them as a target, I can kill them." Skyler and Neo watched with slightly-worried eyes at the way Crimson's hands curled into claws. Ruby, however, had another issue pressing against her mind.

"Okay, so wait, you're telling me this is the second time you tried to assassinate a Belladonna and you've failed both times?"

"I have bad luck when it comes to Faunus, okay?!" All of Crimson's manic rage dissipated back into defensive ranting. "They keep noticing me and I have no idea why, no idea at all!" And with that he leaped to his feet and barged into the bathroom, after a minute he came back out and snatched up the bag contained the Beacon uniform from where it hung next to the dorm room door. "There is no guarantee that I'll ever wear this, but shut up in advance."

He closed the bathroom door, still looking vexed. After a moment, Ruby turned to the rest of her team.

"Wow…assassins are kinda overrated."

"Oh, like you street-shankers are so much better!" Crimson's voice was muffled by the door, but offense was still raging out of it. Ruby's mouth gaped open in angry disbelief. Street-Shanker?!

"Bite me, freelancer!"

"Bite me first!"

"Well, now we're both just kinky!"

Skyler groaned miserably as his mind, which was much filthier than he had previously thought, began churning up the unwanted mental images. Neo, on the other hand, just watched the growing confrontation with interest, idly wondering when the physical violence would break out.

Blake Belladonna was not having a good morning.

It was only to be expected really, having survived an assassination attempt made by the hands of the White Fang, the people she once called family, the ones she used to trust with her life. And there they were, trying to end it.

But that was only part of the reason why Blake was not enjoying her morning, a large part, admittedly, but still only part. The other reason was that, ever since last night, her hard-kept secrets were now dangerously close to coming to light.

"Blake…." Ebon Winters, her partner's friend and the person who seemed intent on finding out the truth, began for the umpteenth time. Blake felt her already frayed patience stretch on its last legs and her teeth ground together in an effort not to snap at the other girl. As it was, Blake stopped Ebon's sentence from forming any further.

"For the last time, Ebon, the assassin was not after me! You heard Headmaster Ozpin, the assassin was most likely after Weiss!" A lie on both counts, the assassin was definitely after her, and Ozpin knew that as well, but her plea to keep her past a secret still held his tongue.

Ebon, however, simply raised her eyebrow, not believing anything that was just said. "The assassin who I saw fighting you was after Weiss? Your beds are on opposite sides of the room, Blake. What happened, did he get lost?"

Blake opened her mouth to retort, but a sudden banging on the bathroom door interrupted the argument.

"Ebon, I don't know why you followed Blake into the bathroom, but you guys have been in there forever! So, stop doing whatever weirdness you two are up to and give someone else an opportunity to get in! My hair needs washing!"

"Hang on a minute, Yang," Ebon called back before refocusing her attention on Blake, an unyielding intent in her black eyes. In a much quieter voice, she began speaking. "I know you have secrets and that they're obviously huge and you do not want to share them, but when they start bringing assassins into our dorm room, I think it's time to stop hiding things from the people who only want to help you."

Blake couldn't hold in the snort of disbelief at the words. Oh yes, I'm sure Weiss SCHNEE would be thrilled to know who she is sharing a dorm room with. I'm sorry, Ebon, but no. She turned to the door, pausing with her hand on the knob to reply to the other girl.

"I'll protect Weiss from any other attempts on her life, I hope you'll have my back."

She heard a frustrated sigh behind her before Ebon spoke.

"You're a part of my team, Blake, I'll always have your back. I just wish I had your trust."

Blake left the bathroom, stepping aside for an eager Yang, without a replying. Her thoughts churning like a storm-tossed sea and her heart heavy with dread. I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready to tell them who I am.

"-and please, stop being lewd. My brain can't take it anymore." Skyler pleaded as Team RSNC left the dorm room in mixed spirts. Mixed because Skyler felt unclean, Ruby felt victorious, Neo felt proud of Ruby's victory, and Crimson felt pain as he nursed the black eye caused by his face's sudden introduction with the edge of the bathroom sink. He did not expect Neo jumping into his fight to aid her crush.

Cheating Syndicate members, always ganging up on me.

"No promises there, my friend," Ruby said as she skipped down the empty hall, the noises of habitation still coming from some of the other dorm rooms. "I may not know some things, but I'm not exactly a saint. And Neo and Crimson make landfills look clean in comparison."

"Yes, I am well aware of that fact." Skyler crossed his arms moodily and looked out of the windows they passed, both admiring the view and trying to cleanse his mind of any lasting taint caused by the fight that involved both graphicness and punches. "This team makes me feel dirty."

Ruby rolled her eyes and once again turned her attention to Crimson and his odd choice of dress for the day. He had put on his school uniform (After untucking the shirt and throwing the tie away), but what really stood out was what wasn't there.

Crimson had not done up his hair into the deathhawk he had been practically clinging to ever since Ruby first saw him. The crimson hair just hung loosely around the side of his head, free of products. He hadn't explained why and Ruby did not have anything else better to do except wonder over the reason for the lack of alternative hairstyles.

Well…there was Neo in her school uniform, but those thoughts confused Ruby, so she didn't dwell on them too much. Plus, it made her chest feel really warm for some reason.

Shaking away that line of thinking, Ruby focused back on the present, walking to the wonderful scents of the dining hall with the morning unfolding in its glory outside. Her team sharing the hallway with only a few other students and teams.

Of course, the only other first-year team was Team CRDL, casting them dirty looks from across the hall. Ruby could not spot a single trace of Teams EWBY or JNPR anywhere. Not even as she entered the dining hall.

Not surprising though, EWBY had a disguised Crimson Shard break into their room and try to knife one of them and JNPR has Nora in it, so who KNOWS what they're up to.

Ruby finally shrugged away the thought and began piling strawberries onto her plate. I'm sure they'll show up eventually.

"A true Hunter is never late! They are either always exactly on time or two weeks early! The Grimm don't care about decorating dorm rooms; they just desire to eat people!"

Ruby impressed by Professor Peter Port's tongue lashing. His class, Grimm Studies, had started before Teams EWBY and JNPR came barreling in, and if Nora's famished look was anything to go by, they did not even have time for breakfast.

Why is it that the CRIMINALS are more punctual than the actual students? Ruby thought as the two teams took their place in the row below her, thoroughly chastised by the professor.

"Now, pending any other interruption, let us continue with the lecture." Port paused for a moment, his mustache downwards in what the students assumed to be a frown. "Where was I? Ah, yes! When I was a strapping lad in the prime of my youth, I-"

"Do you think that his mustache is sentient?" Crimson whispered, leaning forward on his elbows. "I mean, look at that thing! It has to be alive."

"…of course, the innkeeper was less thrilled about the state of my bedroom, but I smoothed it over by-"

"Maybe it is some sort of hairy parasite and has taken over the professor's body," Neo suggested as she leaned back in her seat, not even bothering paying attention to the lecture.

"…the wolves came soon after and the forest was filled with the sounds of canine combat!"

"Did you just insinuate that we are being taught by demonic facial hair?" Skyler frowned at the thought, admitting it would make sense why Port was talking about cabbage-smelling old people and his own so-called glorious exploits.

"Excuse me," A hissing voice issued from below where Team RSNC sat. Looking down, Ruby saw an angry Weiss Schnee glaring at them with narrowed glacier-blue eyes.

"I am trying to listen and I cannot do that with your ridiculous chatter in my ear."

"We are talking about very important matters like mustaches, so gladly remove yourself from our conversation," Crimson said grandly, staring down his nose like an aristocrat. The Schnee was not amused, but before she could respond with even more venom, her partner spoke up from beside her.

"Oh, come on, Weiss. It's not like anyone can pay attention in this class. I mean, we're talking right now and Port is completely oblivious." Ebon gestured to the professor who was still going on with his tale. "So, loosen up, relax, grab a cat nap."

Ruby didn't miss the way Blake's shoulders tensed at the other's words. Well then, I wonder what kind of Faunus YOU are, Belladonna. Maybe that bow isn't all for show after all.

"I will not sleep in class!" Weiss looked she had been slapped, her voice loud with offense. "Of all the disrespectful-"

"Miss Schnee, perhaps you would like to give a demonstration of the lecture, seeing that you are so restless."

Weiss's mouth snapped shut and she turned with wide eyes to see Professor Port staring at her expectedly, the hint of disapproval tainting the air around him. Weiss was about to leap to her own defense when unbidden and unwanted memories rose up like bile in her head, memories filled with the lesson to always obey, no matter what. She bowed her head and stood up.

"Yes, sir."

Unbeknownst to Weiss as she made her way towards the professor, a pair of crimson eyes watched her thoughtfully.

So, the entire family has THAT issue? Man, who would have thought that the Schnee kids of all people shared my luck with fathers? The Crimson Shard from three years ago certainly didn't, but that was before he got himself a pen pal!

I wonder how he's do-oh, Moustache Man just unleashed a Grimm. Crimson then got a look at the monster below and he made a distressed, high-pitch noise that caused his team to look at him in surprise. OH GODS, IT'S A PIG! I FREAKING HATE PIGS! SOMEBODY KILL IT!

Luckily, Weiss was down there with her sword drawn, her stance strong, and her teammates yelling out encouragement.

"Go Weiss!" That was Yang Xiao Long, enthusiastic and eager.

"Fight well!" Blake Belladonna was actually cracking a smile as she waved a small flag with her team name emblazoned upon it.

"Yeah, kick porky's ass!" Ebon cheered only to be met with a fierce glare from her icy partner.

"Quiet, Ebon! I don't need your crash language while I'm trying to focus!"

Ruby shifted in her sight at the harsh tone in the heiress's voice and nudged Skyler. "Never mind the Crimson-Neo partnership, that partnership right there takes the award for worse pairing ever."

Skyler looked at her for a minute before turning to the other two members of his team and their conversation.

"Neo, the pig is still alive. Go help get rid of it!"

"Get off the floor, Shard, and shut up. I'm trying to watch Schnee avoid becoming Grimm food!"

Skyler turned back to Ruby. "Worse, yes. Weirdest, definitely not."

"GAH" The sudden sound of Weiss's cry drew their attention again and they looked down to see the Grimm, a Boarbatusk if Ruby was remembering her soulless monsters correctly, barreling down the Schnee with a loud squeal.

"Weiss, go for the belly!" Ebon called out helpfully. "The soft bits! The soft bits!"

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss all but screeched in return, but in exchange for her loss of focus, her sword was ripped from her grasp. Leaving her weaponless against the sharp tusk and ruthlessness of the monstrous swine. Port seemed ecstatic.

"Oh-ho, now what will you do without your weapon?"

"Weiss!" Ebon tried again. "There is no armor on its belly, go stick something sharp into it!"

"WILL YOU STOP TALKING!" Weiss dove for her weapon as the Grimm started spinning like a devilish top and hurled itself forward towards the student. But Weiss was still a huntress-in-training and as soon as she grasped her sword, a glyph appeared in front of the spinning Grimm, stopping it dead in its tracks.

It was soon just dead as Weiss activate more glyphs to aide her in driving her blade into the monster's soft belly. As she stood panting, Port started clapping in celebration of the kill.

"Bravo, bravo! Truly remarkable, Miss Schnee! But I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

The heiress nodded stiffly before storming out of the room, Ebon hurrying to catch up and stuff papers back into her school back as she called out to her partner.

"Weiss! Weiss, hey, wait!"

Team RSNC watched them go and Crimson shook his head.

"Sheesh, not even one week in and the drama is already off the charts." He watched the doorway for a minute, not really seeing the students filing out of it, before shrugging. "Meh, I'm sure those two will work it out. That, or they'll kill each other. That would be entertaining!"

Neo leveled a hard look at her partner. "Keep risking our cover with your big, unfiltered, mouth and I'll rip off your hands and strangle you to death with them."

"Ah, I remember when Skyler threatened to do that when we first met, sweat memories, am I right?"

Ruby clapped her hands to regain the two's attention. "Neo, stop threaten to kill people, you're also right. Crimson, shut up."

"Jerk."

"Whatever." The team leader turned back to Skyler. "So, what's our next class?"

"No idea, but I hope it's 'How to get through Beacon Academy without losing your Sanity 101'." He paused and then reconsidered. "That, or world history, I heard Beacon's history professor is fantastic."

Crimson crossed his arms and looked skeptical. "Does he release the animated corpses of historical figures for his students to fight?"

"Um…no?"

"Well, then learning about dead people and their mistakes just got a whole lot less interesting. The least the professor could have done is take a page out of Port's book. No more pigs, though." Crimson shuddered. "I freakin' hate pigs. They're creepy."

Skyler looked like he wanted to respond, thought better of it, and just pushed past the strange thing that was his teammate with his eyes screwed shut. "Let's just go to class, please, and keep the weird nonsense and pig-phobia to a minimal."

"That was singly the most arduous, annoying, and school-filled day of my life." Crimson groaned as he face-planted into his bed, his legs hanging off of the end as the rest of his team bustled around him, looking incredibly unsympathetic. The glare of the setting sun filtering through the window.

"Get up, Crimson, we have a meeting with Cinder. I got the location and Roman said we should leave immediately. Apparently, she's in a mood." Ruby emphasized the last word as a warning to why Cinder Fall might be upset and who it might just be to get the full brunt of her wrath.

The assassin groaned but slowly slid off the bed like some sort of lazy serpent, rising to his feet and making his way to where he stashed his bag by the bathroom door, mumbling something about being too tired to put up with meeting the 'new boss'. Ruby choose not to say, once again, that Cinder was not their new boss.

As soon as Crimson was out of the bathroom, hair still loose around his head and trench coat back its proper place around his body, Team RSNC strolled out the door like they were just normal teenagers out for a night on Vale and down to the air docks where they would either be taken to just another underworld meeting or to their messy demise.

Frankly, Ruby had no idea.

xXx

The meeting place was a dilapidated apartment complex that had seen better days approximately seventy years ago, Ruby and her team stuck out like a sore thumb as they stood in front of the near-ruin, looking for a sign of a trap. But all was quiet under a light-polluted night sky and Ruby knew that standing outside was not going to make the meeting go any faster.

"Alright, let's go." Ruby strode forward, pushing aside the doors that lead into the front lobby and hearing them crash to the floor behind her.

"I do not think this building is up to code," Crimson said as he nudged the broken door with his boot. "Place is practically a death trap waiting to happen."

"It is remarkable how accurate that statement is." A male voice said from deeper within the shadows and two figures appeared out of the gloom.

"Mercury and Emerald." Ruby raised a single eyebrow. "What are you doing out? Aren't you two supposed to lurk threateningly behind your boss?"

Emerald sneered, her red eyes bright with contempt. "Big words coming from a wetboy."

"You're awfully mouthy for a henchman." Ruby felt her eyes narrowed as she and the rival criminal attempted to stare each other down before Mercury's scoff cut through the tension.

"Rose, do you really think insulting us is a good idea given your current situation?"

"Children, do stop fighting." A voice that Ruby instantly recognized cut through the gloom. "We are here for a reason."

Slow footsteps sounded and, out of the shadows like some sort of wraith, stepped Cinder Fall, dressed like she was out for a night among the rich and powerful and not meeting criminals in some termite-infested devastation.

From the corner of her eye, Ruby saw Neo trying to resist the urge to spit. Concern for the smaller girl's wellbeing, however, made Ruby cut in before temptation proves to be too strong.

"Where's Roman? He said this was some sort of meeting, why isn't he here?" She held her arms ready at her side, in case Cinder's answer proved to be dangerous for them all.

"I'm afraid Roman will not be making it; a job came up suddenly that simply had to be done." Cinder took her normal place between Mercury and Emerald, a smile on her lips. "But you're in luck, this meeting does not require his presence."

Cinder strode forward, causing Ruby's hand to twitch almost unwittingly towards her weapon sling. It didn't help when Cinder stopped right in front of her, her eyes full of amusement and the hints something much darker lurking amidst the gold of the irises. Ruby felt adrenaline began to surge through her veins and her hand inched closer to Crescent Rose.

Trust was low tonight, and suspicion was so prevalent one could practically smell it.

"Why are we here, Cinder." Ruby stared into the taller woman's eyes, not giving ground to intimidation and fear. Beside her, Neo gripped the handle of her parasol, mismatched eyes glaring at Cinder.

"Don't play stupid, Ruby." The darker emotion was growing in Cinder's eyes. "You know why I brought your team here, you failed. Your first assignment and you failed."

"So what?" Neo couldn't hold back her anger anymore. "We failed to kill some ex-Fanger, big deal! That does not mean you can drag us all here and threaten us! Threaten Ruby!"

"That 'ex-Fanger' as you so eloquently put it was the past lover of Adam Taurus." Cinder's smile looked like it was about to melt off. "Her death at the hands of Beacon, better yet if she was revealed to be a Faunus, would have ensured that fanatic's part of the plan." Cinder leaned forward, closer to the two girls. "I don't like leaving things to chance, that was the reason I sent you on this assignment."

"But that's not the point." Cinder's smile flickered back to life, and she cupped Ruby's check in one hand, ignoring Neo's growl. "Tonight is going to be very informative for us all."

Standing tall again, Cinder looked at the four members of Team RSNC and pursed her lips.

"I am not, however, without mercy. Though you as the leader still take a part of the blame, Ruby, you are not the one who truly deserves to suffer."

She began walking down the line of RSNC members, passing Neo. "Neither are you."

Golden eyes glanced at Skyler as the clink of glass heels filled the old building. "Nor you."

Finally, Cinder stood still in front of Crimson Shard, who gazed back with wide eyes, as he was a deer faced with a hungry panther. Cinder looked at him and her smile turned cruel.

"So you are the assassin Crimson Shard, the one who failed to kill the Belladonna girl."

"I-" Crimson closed his eyes and shallowed, when he looked back into Cinder's eyes, he was more steady. "I told you already, things went wrong and I did the best thing possible in the situation. This wasn't a big operation though, I heard your reason, Belladonna not dying shouldn't stop whatever you have planned."

Cinder did not appear to be paying attention, she was looking thoughtfully at the floor and tapping her index finger against her chin.

"You did the best thing possible." She murmured. "The best thing possible being running away?"

"It beats dying," Crimson replied, shifting in place. Cinder nodded absently.

"I hope to change your mind on that." And with a snap of her fingers, glyphs of fire burned into existence up and down the assassin's body. With a cry of pain and shock, Crimson dropped to his knees, hands clawing at his own skin as the marks of infernos rapidly ate away at his aura, hungry for his flesh.

"Leave him alone!" Neo's face transformed into a twisted mask of fury and she leaped at the taller woman only to be stopped when a gleaming blade of obsidian suddenly appeared in Cinder's hand, its razor-point resting upon Neo's throat.

"This is a punishment," Cinder spoke as if there was not a boy gasping with frantic breaths at her feet. "Not an execution, your friend will live." As if to prove her point, Cinder snapped her fingers again and the glyphs vanished, leaving the scent of burnt leather behind.

The blade still in hand, she knelt down and pinched Crimson's chin in-between her thumb and forefinger, lifting his head so that their eyes met. Cinder's curious and wondering while Crimson looked back with fear and, more strangely, denial.

"I-I'm sorry!" Crimson gasped out as he looked at Cinder. "I won't make you ma-" He cut himself off and took a shudderingly breath. "I won't fail again, I promise."

Cinder smiled faintly. "Let's hope you are a man of your word."

She left him on the floor as she rose back to her feet, twirling her blade idly in her hand as she gazed upon the other three members of RSNC, who gazed back with wary and hateful eyes. Cinder looked at them in silence for a moment longer before speaking.

"You do not fail again, understood? Or this…" She gestured to the still shaking Crimson. "Will seem like child's play." She smiled at Ruby's stiff nod. "Good. Now, run along, it's nearly past Beacon's curfew."

Skyler and Neo helped Crimson to his feet, his eyes still lost and unseeing of the present, and with Ruby taking up the rear (Her silver eyes still boring into Cinder and her lackeys), they quickly left the rotting building and disappeared back into the streets of Vale.

Cinder watched them go, her smile still on her face. Let the games began, Ruby. Let's see how far you are willing to go.

xXx

Five hours later, Team RSNC's dorm room…

Ruby awoke to a strange sound.

Rolling over, she looked in confusion across the darkened room, seeing the sleeping forms of Neo in the bed next to her and Skyler right beyond her, his gentle snores loud enough to almost mask the unfamiliar noise.

But what's- Ruby felt herself go still as her eyes looked at Crimson's bed. It was empty. Where's Crimson?

Looking around the dorm room, Ruby could not see any tell-tale glow of light, but the bathroom door was firmly shut, something Ruby didn't remember it being when she went to bed. Her curiosity burning bright, Ruby crawled out from under her covers.

Her feet touching the thin carpet, Ruby silently crept across the space separating her bed from the bathroom door and pressed her eye to the wooden surface. What she heard made her breath catch in her throat.

It was Crimson…

…and he was crying.

Everything in this chapter that is weird and unexplained will not be for long. Well, it might still be a little weird, but at least it will make sense. Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read this and I'll see you in the next chapter!

Next update: 2/10/2019