Author's Note: Well then, seems like people like where this story is going, so don't worry about me stopping anytime soon for no apparent reason. I will be also changing and making up some facts in this fic for simplicity sake and also a more in-depth story, such as Neo's age. Helpful advice and criticism is appreciated, and hate will be used for marshmallows.

Warning: This story will contain violence, offensive language, death and other mature themes. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THESE THEMES. You have been warned.

Roman hurried to his small apartment on the West side of Vale in the industrial area, taking his time not to be seen with the little girl in his arms should people be mistaken and think he kidnapped the infant. Quickly diving behind a wall as a small group of teens, Huntsman and Huntresses in training by the look of them, walked past, he did his best to look inconspicuous.

Looking at his scroll, he selected his contacts list looking for the young woman he was sharing his apartment with. Finding her name, he quickly texted her as the trainees walked past, aimlessly chatting with each other. 'Neo, are you awake?'. A few moments pasted as he waited for a response before getting one, '0.o'. Roman sighed in annoyance, he had spent the last 5 months with the 8 year old mute and she still insisted on not responding with words. Roman looked around briefly, making sure the trainees had pasted before replying, 'I need you to do me a favour, get me some child clothes, age 2-3, and some food suitable for the same age.'. The mute's response was received almost as soon as he sent his strange request, '0.0 ?' Roman face palmed before replying, 'It's hard to explain, just do it and I'll get you some of your ice cream tomorrow OK?'. ':)' is what he got in response, but he knew that meant Neo was going to do it.

An hour later, Roman arrived at the apartment he called home. It was a run-down place, not exactly very exquisite but what could a part-time crook that dropped out of his third year at Beacon and had no family left do? Walking up the stairs to the top floor of the place where his apartment was a hassle as elevator was always busted and the stairs annoying made, so that it took an unnecessarily longer time than at most structures as they went out more than needed.

Grabbing his scroll from his jeans pocket, he inserted it into the lock, before opening the door and stepping inside. Taking off the bowler hat he had owned since he stole it years ago, he placed it on a rack and stepped into the "main room". This room was basically a kitchen and lounge room in one area, with 3 doors leading into two bedrooms and the bathroom.

Roman sat down on the sofa in the lounge room, sighing heavily at the small red bundle in his arms. Close examination reveals that the little girl is wearing some miniature version of what her dead mother was wearing, except it is black in colour and the red bundle of cloth is actually a cape with a hood. The girl also has the same deep, dark red hair that's almost black it the roots. The child's eyes however are a striking silver, which puzzles Roman as to how exactly one would come to have such a strange eye colour that you wouldn't see every day.

With a tired look around, Roman notices that Neo hasn't gotten back yet. Yawning to himself, he lies down on the couch with the infant on his chest and drifts off to sleep.

|/|

Yang didn't understand why her Dad was so concerned. She had woken up that morning to the sound of him hitting something and after going down stairs to see what was wrong, Yang saw her dad with his head on the kitchen table, shaking slightly, before picking up his scroll and pressing a few buttons. Yang decided to walk up to him, "Daddy? What's wrong?" she asked innocently. Tai turned to face his eldest daughter with a distraught appearance. "Yang, have you seen Summer? I don't have her scroll's new number." he asks Yang, his voice sounding like he had spent a while without sleep. Yang shook her head in confusion. Was Summer late or did something happen to her? Unlike some children her age, Yang understood that Summer hunted monsters and knew it was dangerous, so had Summer been hurt in that hunt she went on?

It was later that evening that they had gotten the call. The call from a man called Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon academy and a senior Huntsman that Yang had met with her family before. Why he had called them, Yang would have never guessed.

Ozpin sighed quietly as he called Tai. He really didn't want to be the bringer of bad news to a family that he is good friends but as he was a close friend and a senior Huntsman, it was his duty to tell them what happened. Ozpin waited for Tai to pick up, knowing that he would be destroying the poor man's heart, but not having the choice of not telling him. "Um who is this?" a small girl with quite long blond hair answered. Ozpin smiled at Yang, "Hello Yang, my name is Ozpin, can I speak with you and your father?".

Yang looked behind her before saying quietly, "Dad is being weird, he thinks something happened to Summer.". Ozpin feels a lump in his throat as the little girl tells him this, and as he is about to go and ask if he can talk to Tai, the girl shouts, "Dad! A guy called Oz pin is on the scroll! He wants to talk with you!".

Tai looked up at what Yang had said to him. He got up and walked over to Yang, who handed him his scroll. "Oz, did you find something on what happened to Summer?" Tai asks desperately. He watches as Oz sighs softly before saying, "At 9PM last night, Summer was seen coming off a Bullhead and met with a tall man who led her to a bookstore that I occasional meet her at when she's in Vale. 20 minutes after she entered the store, a man across the street claimed to have seen a woman in a white cloak run out of the store and down an alley." Oz pauses briefly before continuing. "Forensics discovered blood at the scene that was linked to Summer Rose. After following the blood trail that police specialists tracked, Summer was found behind a nightclub some distance away. Unfortunately," Ozpin pauses once again before sighing and saying, "Summer Rose had been attacked and died sometime this morning."

A moment passes before Ozpin continues. "Security footage of the alley from the nightclub shows two men coming up to her shortly before she died and appeared to be making sure she had died or was close to it. One of them picked up what appeared to be a small infant in a red cape and looked like he was going to kill her too but was instead left to die with Summer." Ozpin notices Tai has tears forming in his eyes and Yang is also trying not to cry herself. Giving them a few moments to themselves. "If you want me to continue or stop, I'm willing to finish another ti..". "No," Tai says suddenly, "Tell me what has happened to Ruby". Even though he has spent most Ruby childhood either doing jobs for Ozpin or teaching at Signal, he still cared for his daughter.

"For some reason the footage from the camera cut out. All I can tell you is that your daughter Ruby was no longer there and has kidnapped or taken and due to the lack of any evidence, it is unlikely that she might be found again...I'm so very sorry Tai."

|/|

Roman woke up to the sound of his apartment door opening. Being a light sleeper, the criminal had little trouble adjusting to the lights that were turned on. "Well Neo did you get what I needed?" Neo walked in and sat down on the chair opposite of Roman, nodding her head tiredly. "Let me guess, people insisting on taking their time and questioning why you need these?" Neo, nodding her head again, looked over at him with an expression clearly saying, 'why did I need to get this?', to which Roman yawned and said, "Well you know that nightclub I went to?" A nod," Yeah well I managed to get the money but there was an...issue, as I tried to leave." Roman picks up the little girl sleeping next to him gently. "I found this little lady's mother dead in the alley behind the joint." Neo, being from a cruel tribe she claimed to have been raised in, looked a little confused, as if to say, 'why did you bring her here then?'.

Sighing at his 8 year old 'friend', Roman grabbed the scroll he had taken and turned it on. Spending the next few minutes to try and work out who exactly it's former owner was and the name of the little girl now in his care. It didn't take long for him to realise that the scroll must have been new as it lacked many personal things. All Roman could find was a name and a picture of the little girl with her mother. Torchwick found it rather funny and ironic that the girl's name was Ruby Rose given her appearance but that was beside the point. Looking down at the girl, Roman couldn't help but feel sorry for her, with no one else he knows could look after here.

No one except him, Roman Torchwick, a Huntsman drop out and crook.

Looking up, he notices Neo pouting at him, "Yes Neo?" Neo points at Ruby with a frown, her question clear. "Well this scroll doesn't exactly have much on it, other than the girl's name and an image of the mother and her. Judging by how she had been left there, little Ruby here doesn't have any family and you know how bad the orphanage system is."

Neo actually shudders at the thought of how bad that system is. "So, I reckon we can look after her, after all, she's only little, shouldn't be too hard eh?" Roman logically reasons. Neo looks at Roman, then at Ruby, and then Roman again before silently sighing and nods her head in agreement.

Roman grabs Ruby and puts her on his leg gently. The little girl looks up at the man with an inquisitive look and a tilt of her head before saying quietly, "Where Mummy?" Roman can only look at her, thinking about how to explain this to her, before saying, "She...had to go somewhere...and she won't be able to come back."

The little girl can only look confused at what the man had said. "But..." Ruby says before mumbling something unintelligible. Roman looks at her dejected look, "Don't worry, me and Neo here will look after you now." He points over at a now sleeping Neo, who's lying on the chair with her leggings on one arm and her head on another.

"We are your family now ok?"

"Ok"

|/|

On a patch of land on the island of Patch (pun intended), a young Yang Xiao Long watches as her dad end the call with that 'oz pin' guy and starts crying at the loss of his wife and daughter. Yang too is crying, her adoptive mother Summer, gone, her younger sister Ruby, who she didn't honestly spend much time with, gone. Their entire life had flip over in the course of one conversation.

Author's Note: I'd just like mention that this is my first fic, so while chapters are somewhat short now, I will eventually make them longer as I get better at this and improve my style of writing. Also in case anyone was wondering, Roman is somewhat OOC as this is before he changes into the criminal mastermind we know in the show, and such is less cruel and rude. Neo is a little different too and will be seen as this stories version of Yang to Ruby. But two main changes I think I should point out is that in this story, Yang wasn't as close to Ruby as she is in the show as I'd like to think she got closer to her since she was basically raising her alone. Also, Tai, for the purpose of this story's plot, had been unable to spend much time with a young Ruby, hence why Ruby doesn't mention either of them to her adoptive father, she was never that close to them and were basically forgotten about.

For now, I'll be doing daily updates or at least every second day.