A/N: I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I had little to no time to actually type this. Just a heads up, Summer Rose will be mentioned in this chapter. If you want to know what I am talking about if I refer to certain things about her, use the following links to give yourself a mental image. REMOVE THE SPACES FOR THE LINKS TO WORK. (goo. gl/ Cyllao) & (goo. gl/ EAXGDa) The picture of Summer that I have in my head is a combination of the weapons in the first link, and the outfit in the second link. Credit goes to the artists' for their work.

Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 11: even against all

Soap never needed much sleep. Sarah...was a different story. She liked her sleep.

Deciding to let her sleep, he left his room to get some coffee ready. The kitchen was located on the other side of the church, past the room that team RWBY was occupying. With his coffee cup now in his possession, he left the kitchen to go to the sanctuary.

As part of his morning routine after Soap had his coffee, he would practice his guitar for a little bit then go to the garage and tinker with his weapons and/or cars. This morning, however, would be a little different.

Now in the sanctuary with his guitar, he practiced while he waited for his shadow to show itself.

"You know, for a near shadow, you aren't all that stealthy." Soap said to seemingly no one when he turned around.

Blake stepped out from the shadows with a surprised look on her face. She opened her mouth to ask how he had heard her when he spoke. "I may not be a fanus, but I share a bond with Sarah, who is a fanus. Because of this, I have far better sight and hearing than a normal human being. But my sight and hearing is nothing compared to you, Sam, or Sarah." He said.

Blake thought about this for a second and shrugged, it made sense, but she still had a question, "How long did you know that I was following you?"

"Ever since I left the kitchen. You took your time following me into here though." He said as he put his guitar down on its stand and took a sip of coffee. He motioned for her to come join him where he sat. When she did, Soap handed her a second mug of coffee. Soap had a feeling that someone would be joining him this morning, so he brought a second mug with him. "So...What are you doing up at this hour?" He asked as she took a long sip from the mug Soap had given her.

"I have questions." She said.

"I figured as much. What about?"

"Yesterday, Sarah told me and Yang about your past and you were right; it did explain why you trust faunas more than your own race." She paused for a moment before continuing.

She thought back to her time in the White Fang. She knew that the assassins of the White Fang often prepared beforehand to ensure that their emotions and morals wouldn't get in the way of a kill.

"The way Sarah sealed herself off from her emotions though. Her voice lacking emotion and giving off an aura of neutrality... you don't learn that from a normal Huntress lifestyle. You learn that from experience. specifically as a killer. Which makes me wonder, what did she do before you met her?" She asked.

"What's the first thing that you remember?" Soap asked as he leaned forward.

Blake was surprised. She really didn't expect the question.

To be honest though, she didn't remember much of anything before she joined the White Fang so she shook her head.

Soap sighed before he began. "The first thing that Sarah can remember is waking up in an orphanage at the age of five with her aura unlocked and a name. To this day, we still have no idea how. She has no recollection of how she got there or any family that might have put her there. Her name, Sarah Kirtsov, was the only thing she could remember.

"She spent five years in that orphanage. Five years of making friends and fighting anybody that was willing in order to train. Doing so, she gained major control over her semblance and aura. The orphanage in question was non-biased and gave shelter to humans and faunus alike. Around the time she turned ten, the White Fang attacked the orphanage."

"What happened?" Blake asked.

"I'll give you the short version. She snapped when she saw what the White Fang were doing to her friends. In her moments of rage, the entire White Fang force was wiped out. In the process, she lost two people very dear to and damaged her body." Soap said.

"How did she damage her body?" Blake asked.

"When she snapped, her overflow of emotions stained her hair and changed her eye color from baby blue to what it is now." Soap answered.

"What was the White Fang doing to her friends?"

"They dowsed them in burn dust and ignited it burning her friends alive."

Blake was visibly shaken. "What did she do after that?" She asked, her voice slightly shaking.

"She became a mercenary; becoming the world's youngest and most feared mercenary in the process. For the next six years she did this; then when she was 16, she decided to leave everything behind and bought a one-way ticket to Vacuo. That's when I first ran into her, literally. I made her miss her airship. So I did the only thing I could think of, I gave her two choices. Leave to Vacuo and be set for life in regards to lien, however, her past would forever haunt her." Soap said.

"What was the other choice you gave her?" Blake asked.

"Stay here and start over. A new life, a new name, and a new direction. She...well...You can see what she chose. Jumping ahead; she unlocked my aura and we fell in love. We have been together ever since." Soap said, finishing his story. "Does that answer your question?" He asked.

"One of them, Yes. My other question regards you. How did survive after..." She thought about her word choices. Since his past was a fragile subject, she would have to pick them carefully. "...after the events that happened when you were five?"

"I found that I was extraordinarily gifted when it comes to technology. So, I hacked into other people's bank accounts and made their money, my money. In doing so, I became the world's youngest millionaire. Then I bought this place, an old abandoned building that is the last remaining symbol of a way of life that is now long dead, and turned it into a home." Soap said.

"What happened to it?" Blake asked. "The way of life that you mentioned."

"The religion, died when my village was burnt to the ground. I was the last of its followers." He responded.

"Was?" Blake said now more curious than ever.

"Yes, was." He said.

"You don't anymore?" Blake asked.

"I don't know...Part of me still believes, part of me doesn't, and yet another part of me that is caught right in the middle. I've seen things in my life that I can't explain, things that can only be explained by the things that I once believed, and even then I'm still skeptical." He said with a sigh.

"You still haven't given me a straight answer, Soap." Blake said.

He thought for a second, "And to be honest, you probably never will." He said, knowing that that wouldn't be enough to stem her curiosity. However, he had an idea. "Instead of me explaining to you what my parents believed in; I have a better idea." Soap said standing up. He walked over to a weird-looking table that was placed in the center of the stage and grabbed an old, brown leather-bound book. It was obvious that the book was extremely old, but the symbol that was embroidered on the front that made Blake intrigued as to what it would contain. On the front of the book was a cross, the same shape that was above the stage and all over the church. It was also the same shape that she had seen on the necklaces of Soap's team. "I know how much you love books. So instead of me taking hours to explain it, this book will explain everything from the basis of my morals to the reasons as to why I think and act the way I do. I will warn you though, there are things in there that you will not understand, but please understand that the wordings and comparisons are from centuries ago. However if you do have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer them."

He handed her the book and looked at his watch, "You should probably start heading back to your room, the rest of your team should be up soon." He said standing up. He offered a hand to help her up, which she accepted. "When Ruby wakes up, tell that I want to talk to her." Soap said, starting towards the door.

"Where should I tell her to find you?" She asked before he left.

"Tell her to come find me in the garage."

Walking to the garage, Ruby wondered what Soap wanted to talk to her about.

Opening the door to the garage she saw a car up on stilts with its hood propped up, however, she didn't see the person that had done so. 'Blake said that he was in the garage, right?' She thought to herself. Not seeing any other course of action, she entered the garage, shutting the door behind her. As she neared the car, she heard the sound of someone working on something and saw what looked to be a pair of legs sticking out from under the car.

"Soap?" She asked.

He looked out from under the car to see who was calling him. "Hey Ruby, perfect timing. You mind giving me a hand real quick?" He asked.

"Sure. What do you need?"

"I need you to hold the timing belt in place while I put the alternator back." He said.

Once they had done so, Soap adjusted the idle speed on the engine then stepped back with a satisfied look on his face. He turned to Ruby and tossed her the keys. "Start er up. Let's see if the adjustments I made work the way I want them to."

Ruby caught the keys and got into the driver's seat, put the keys in the ignition and turned them. With a roar the car purred to life. After a few seconds of listening, Soap was satisfied. He motioned for her to turn the engine off and she did so.

"Work the way you want it to?" She asked.

"Yep."

After a few seconds of quiet, Ruby broke the silence, "As much as I don't mind; I know you didn't just call me down here for me to help out with your car. You wanted to talk to me?" he asked.

"That I did." he said. He paused, "Tell me, Ruby. Before you met me a couple of days ago, have you ever seen me before?" Soap asked while he was putting his tools away. He grabbed his disguise device as it would prove to be useful later.

She took a good look at him and thought for a second. She shook her head, "I have no recollection of ever meeting you before. So no, I have never seen you before. Why do you ask?"

"Because I seem to recall a couple of times that we have met before Beacon. In fact, we had entire conversations together." he said. Ruby looked confused. "Perhaps this will look familiar." he said turning on the device in his hand.

When he turned his disguise on, a couple of things happened. Soap's height dropped eight inches, his hair had a more brown hue to it than it's normal pure white. His hair also no longer had its signature red stripe, he did however still have the black stripe in his hair. His silver-brown eyes now had slightly more silver in them, and the scars that usually took up a large portion of his face were no longer present but the one on his chin and the one above his left eye remained. All in all, he looked to be 11 or 12 years old.

His clothing also changed. His usual light grey-white cloak was now bright red resembling that of Ruby's. His insignia was no longer on his cloak, in fact, there was nothing on his cloak except the color red. His red v-neck t-shirt was now white and also now bore his insignia. His swords were also gone and were replaced with what looked to be a high-caliber, possibly .50, handgun strapped to his right side with several extra clips strapped to his belt.

Ruby immediately knew who the person standing before her was. He was her mother's best friend. Upon seeing how much he had changed over the years, Ruby's face saddened, "What happened to you Soapie?" she asked as she threw him into a hug. "I thought you were dead all these years." she said with tears streaming down her face.

Soap just hugged her and let her cry her tears, as he reached out for Sarah through their bond.

'Sarah, You up?' He asked.

'Yeah. I'm up.'

'Good. I need you to grab some things from my desk. One is a broken insignia that looks like a piece of Ruby's insignia. The other thing is the blueprints to Summer's weapon. The blueprint should be titled "Thorn & Petal". Do you mind bringing them to the garage?'

'You talking to Ruby?' She asked. She previously knew of Soap's plan to inform Ruby of his identity.

'Yep. Put the blueprints in a drawer at the work bench and hold onto the insignia piece for now, but don't let her see it until I say.'

'Got it. On my way.'

Sarah appeared in front of the work bench on the other side of the room and placed the blueprints in one of the drawers and she managed to do so without being seen by Ruby. Now she waited for them to make their way to her.

"I haven't seen you since before mom died. Why did you leave without telling us?" Ruby asked Soap, who was still hugging her.

"There's a reason for that." Soap said looking down in shame. "I was with Summer when she died. I did everything I could to save her, but back then I didn't have an aura, all I had was my Deagle and my fighting skills. If I had the skills that I do now back then, Summer would still be with us today." Soap said turning off his disguise. "Before she died, she made me promise her something." Ruby's sobs had slowed to sniffling at this point and looked up when she heard him say this. "She made me promise that I would protect you, since she no longer could. After that, she was gone and there was nothing more I could do. So I called an old friend to bury her." Soap said releasing Ruby from her hug. He started walking towards the work bench and motioned for her to follow him. "Before she died though, she gave me somethings to give to you when I deemed that you were old enough." He reached the work bench and stopped. He turned so that he could see both Sarah and Ruby. "Sarah is currently holding the first of those items." He nodded to Sarah. She brought her arm from behind her and gave Ruby the insignia piece.

Ruby nearly fell to her knees when she saw what Sarah was holding. "Mom's sigil!" she exclaimed. Ruby took the sigil and looked it over in her hands. She flipped it over and looked at back to see 'S.R.' scratched into the back. "What happened to the rest of it?"

"It was destroyed when I fought off Summer's attacker." Soap said. "Ruby, do you remember what color her cloak was?" She asked.

"White..." She said looking at the color of his own cloak.

He realized what she was looking at and connected the dots as to why her voice trailed off when she answered. "Don't worry. This isn't her's." He said quickly, pointing to his cloak. Ruby looked relieved. "Summer was like a mother to me. So as one of the last things that I could do to honor her, I changed the color of my cloak to match her's." he said. "However, look above the work bench behind you."

Ruby turned around and looked. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "Mom's cloak!" She yelled, jumping up to grab it.

Soap smiled, "The last thing that I have to give you is in the top drawer of the bench."

She opened the drawer. Inside were some blueprints to a weapon named 'Thorn & Petal'. Ruby was confused. Why was Soap giving her blueprints? Unless...

"Summer told me where she hid the blueprints for her weapon. She said that you would probably like to look at these." Soap said. "I can't tell you why, but if you decide to build those, do not build the handles."

Ruby was confused.

"Why am I saying if? I know that you will build those swords. After you finish, come find me." Soap said.

"Uhh...OK." Ruby said as she walked to the other side of the garage to another work bench and got to work.

"Hey Ruby," Soap yelled out. She turned around to look at him. "Breakfast is in 10 minutes. Don't miss it."

She nodded and started working.

A/N: No R.P. section here today. It's just normal SoapiestAuto780 today.

I have to admit that I am saddened by a lack of reviews and follows for my story. Any reviews I get, bad or good, motivate me to write more and get stuff out faster. I'm always open to suggestions for this story and I will gladly answer any questions or confusion that you might have about the story or any characters, so don't be afraid to ask.

I also feel like some people might have some confusion on my OCs. I hope that this will clear that up:

SOAP: Soap is me, I'm not kidding either. If you met me IRL, I act pretty much exactly the same as Soap does in the story; granted that I don't have a tragic back story or a semblance, but he's as close as an OC character will get. Because of this, I plan on using a first person view later on down the line. Originally he was extremely OP compared to what he is now. He originally had an shit-ton more aura and his original weapon was essentially a combination of Blake, Ruby, and Sun's weapons. However after some considerable rethinking of the weapon, I arrived a the weapons he has now. The Deagle came around from a need for a long-range weapon for him, along with a need to explain why he was able to fight with the level of skill that he does. His original semblance also extremely OP, it was the ability to create anything that he wanted to at will. He was basically a God.

SARAH: She is based off of no one and is entirely my design. I came up with her after I started doing drafts for this story and came to the conclusion that Soap was lonely, thus Sarah was born. I originally had her weapons to be two large-ass batons that could combine into a bow and arrow, her semblance was the same though. I came up with her current weapons after I thought about what weapon she could possible make with materials that you would find in the basement of an old orphanage.

DRAKE: Drake was a character that I came up with when I saw the need for an actual team for Soap. I came up with his personality on my own, but his appearance and telecommunication semblance is based off of two characters from another fanfiction that I read that I combined to make one person. The weapons are of my own idea though.

SAM: Sam... Huh. To be honest, I have no clue who or what I based her off of. I guess a little bit of Ruby in regards to her weapon and age, and a little bit of Weiss in regards to her back story. I came up with her semblance because I saw a need for her to be able to fly and glide for extremely long periods of time. I came up with her as a companion for Drake and to complete Soap's Team.

I hope this clears up some potential confusion.