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Act II

Scene 29

Bone White

Thankyou TehUnoMan and AngelWolf101 for your help, really appreciate it.


Saturday, October 22nd

8:00 pm

Weiss pov

After hearing the door shut behind him, I glanced up from my scroll.

"How is she?" I asked, both worried and annoyed with her.

"Well, physically, she's fine" Ren began with a sigh, dark bags under his eyes.

"Mentally, however, she's still shaken up."

"Do we know what happened?" I continued.

Ren shook his head silently.

"Nora says she was…electrocuted." He said, his face scrunching up in a confused frown.

"Electrocuted?" I muttered. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Her semblance, the ability to absorb electricity and turn it into power, would negate that, right?" I asked Ren. He would know better than I.

"Correct." He sighed.

"You saw for yourself, all getting struck by lightning did was supercharge her. I've known her since we were kids, and she's never been hurt by electricity. In fact, she usually just gets excited by thunderstorms." He added.

"She'd run out into the rain and dance, hoping to get struck by lightning, actually. And it usually ended up happening, to her joy. Whenever it did, she usually acted like she was on a sugar rush." He said with a wistful smile.

"That explains a lot," I muttered with a frown.

It wasn't serious, though. It was nice to see Ren actually smile again, considering how concerned he had been over his childhood friend.

"But…" I began, pursing my lips in thought.

"How did she even know what it felt like to be electrocuted?" I asked, the thought occurring to me.

"That's…" Ren sighed,

"…a good question, actually." He said, raking his hand through his long black hair.

"I asked her myself, and she just says she knew. Doesn't really seem to know how, and really doesn't care." He explained.

"Still, the way she described it to me, it does sound like she was electrocuted, or at least shocked."

"Which should be impossible." I supplied.

"Yes."

I sighed deeply.

I was glad Nora was ok. As much as my partner drove me up a wall, she didn't mean anything bad by it, that's just how she was.

And…honestly, I never wanted to see the way she looked after the incident with Lilith again.

Another part of me was actually, as much as I'm ashamed to say it, pleased. Nora did this to herself by acting far out of line of what was appropriate. She had molested a little girl, and gotten burned for it. She had no one to blame for it but herself. Seeing how she wasn't actually physically injured, I couldn't get too mad at Blake or Lilith for the retaliation either.

Maybe this will teach her to be less chaotic I thought.

Shaking the darker thoughts from my mind, I looked back up at Ren.

"How is she taking this?" I asked, knowing that he knew her best.

"She'll recover." He said.

"I'm not sure if this will really have an impact on her in the long run. She's been through a lot, and bounced back before." He told me, "But…"

"I don't think she's going to get over Lilith." He scowled.

"Really?" I questioned.

"Lilith shook her up really badly. When I mentioned her name, she practically begged me to keep Lilith away from her, and to tell her that she's sorry." He explained.

"That does sound rather out of character for her." I frowned.

"Honestly, I'm worried about how she'll react if she does see Lilith again," Ren admitted

"Do you think Nora would get violent?" I asked, worried about Nora's self-control and inviting more retaliation upon herself.

"I'm worried that she would have a nervous breakdown," Ren replied, startling me.

"Really?" I recoiled.

"Nora is terrified of Lilith," Ren stated.

"And I don't blame her." He sighed, reclining in the chair he sat in.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because she did something to Nora that should be impossible. She hurt her with something that should have been her greatest strength." He explained.

"It's like the nightmares all over again for her." He added

"That's a chilling thought," I muttered, suppressing a shiver.

"How's Yang?" He asked me, switching topics.

"She fine," I said flippantly,

"When I told her what happened with Nora, she seemed concerned, but distracted." I elaborated.

"Distracted?" He asked.

"Probably with all the new clothes she got," I answered.

Ren frowned, which I responded with a helpless shrug.

Ren let out a resigned breath, and switched the topics again.

"So when should we be getting our new Dragon weave outfits?" he asked.

"As I said, it should arrive in time for the camping trip. Likely the weekend before we head out.

"Good." He breathed out.

Feeling the conversation dying, I decided to recline in my chair and return to my scroll, looking over the news reports of the demise of the White Wolf at the hands of Watchmen.

Well, at least I got to talk with Blake's team. I thought, going over what all didn't go to shit.

And Blake seems like a nice girl I added.

Adorable, even, thinking about her reaction to the tuna I bought her, suppressing a chuckle.

And then there was Pyrrha. I thought, biting my lip.

Now that was dangerous.


Sunday, October 23

10:45 AM

Aveline pov

"Do we really have to go to church?" Jaune whined in the seat beside me as I started to take us away from the academy. Contrary to popular belief, there was actually a road path from the school to the city, it was just heavily monitored, even if that wasn't obvious.

Since I had my Hunter License, was an Alumni of the school, and not an officially listed rogue Hunter, I could get in and out without being hassled by the automated systems. If I stuck around, however, I might get a less than pleasant welcome from the teachers who remembered me.

Granted, the welcome would be more disappointed talks and looks than violence, but either way, I didn't feel like dealing with it.

"Really, Jaune?" I questioned, giving him a look as I drove down the switchbacks back to Vale.

"Well, going to church just sounds so boring." He said.

Turning my disapproving look into a mild glare, he decided to reassess his statement.

"Er, I mean, it's been forever since I've seen you, sis. Why not spend it doing something fun and important instead of wasting the day?"

I rolled my eyes at his terrible lying skills as I used my skills in Aural Sensing to guide my driving in lieu of my eyes.

Still, he might have a point. As important as taking him back to church was in my mind, there were some more pressing concerns.

"Ok." I relented. "We don't have to go to church."

"Yes!" Jaune cheered, prompting a glance from me.

"Uh, I mean, darn." He insincerely corrected.

"Well, there's always next week." I sighed loudly, knowing full well he could hear me.

"Wait what?" He questioned, pulled from his thoughts of victory.

"Oh, you heard me," I smirked.

The resulting groan brought out a laugh from me, finding humor Jaune's terrible planning skills after all these years, not to mention how easy he was to screw with.

Oh, Jaune, it's been too long


"So….why are we here?" Jaune asked, standing in the field with Crocea Mors in casual dress.

"Well, I believe it's because of the God-Creator's will, and perhaps even his boredom-" I began to spew philosophy in response.

"That's not what I meant." Jaune interrupted with a frown.

"Well, you didn't want to go to church. I have to get your education in somehow." I smirked.

Jaune looked away and grumbled about never being able to get one over on me.

"So." I began, pulling him from his thoughts, "You're wondering why I brought you out here."

"Yes?" Jaune said cautiously, worried by the look on my face.

"Training," I announced simply.

"Training?" He questioned.

I answered him with a nod as I rested my hand on the pommel of Manum Pallentis.

"Does this mean you're going to teach me how to make chains out of light!" He exclaimed, his eyes wide with naïve hope, and I swear to the God-Creator, they were sparkling.

Sparkling

"No."

And like that, all his hopes were crushed as he hung his head in disappointment. I suppressed another smirk at how much fun it was to screw with my little brother.

I can't believe I almost forgot about this.

"No, what I did the other day was far beyond anything you should be capable of right now. You said you only activated your Aura only a few weeks ago, right?" I asked.

"Um, yeah?" Jaune said, confusion evident in his face, not seeing where I was going with.

"Which means you haven't had nearly enough time to get skilled at controlling your aura. And that's if you had a normal person's aura. As I said yesterday, ours is thicker, denser, and as a result, it's harder to get a handle on at first." I explained.

"Oh…right." Jaune realized

Ah yes. I thought, suppressing a grimace The infamous Arc density.

This is going to take some time

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I brought myself back on topic.

"But, since you brought it up, let's start there," I said.

"What?"

"With aura."

"Oh."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I began to realize I truly had my work cut out for me.

"Alright, let's start with flaring your aura," I said, getting the ball rolling.

"Uh…how do I do that," Jaune replied, obviously lost.

"Good question," I said with a nod.

"Flaring your aura is the foundation upon which all aural techniques are based on. There are a lot of ways to do it, and a lot of ways in which you can make your aura flare" I lectured.

"First, there's meditation. By meditating and reaching deep within yourself, you can slowly push it out in a more slow and controlled method."

"So we're doing that?" Jaune grimaced, not looking forward to meditating.

"Yes and no," I answered.

"Huh?"

"We will be doing that over all-out training sessions. Eventually, at least. Meditating lets you get a good feel for you aura, which is important for control. At the same time, using that would take way too long for you to get your first real grip on your aura." I explained.

"So…what are we doing?" Jaune asked, confusion all over his adorably scrunched up face.

"The faster, more intense method," I said.

"Which is?" Jaune asked.

I grinned

He paled.

Then, I poured aura into my legs, kicking them back, and surging across the ground in between us. I stopped just before him, crossing the distance in less time than his untrained brain could even process my first movement, and shoved my palm into his gut. His aura reacted to the impact, spreading around his abdomen in an attempt to catch and cushion my blow.

Just as I had planned.

The instant his aura came out to block my hand, I poured my own aura out of my palm and into his. Normally, this would be a bit trickier to do. However, since we were closely related, our aura was very similar. That also had a large bit to do with the Arc family Aura in general, since aura between family this closely related isn't a universal fact of the world, more of a consistent trend with some outliers.

It also helped that the Arc family Aura was thicker, letting me get a better grip on it.

So, I flowed my aura out into his, intertwining them. Since he had absolutely no control over his, at all, it should have been pretty easy.

And it was, but…

There was something in there, resisting me. Not actively, more like a stubborn rock that didn't want to move than a bear resisting attempts to contain it. Since it wasn't actively resisting, I just chalked it up to his aura still being recently awakened and being unusually strong.

Still, compared to me and my mastery over it, it wasn't even a challenge to hijack his aura.

Though, hijack might not be the right word.

More like…giving it a helping hand.

So, with access to his aura, I gave it that little push, and flared it for him.

All this, from kickoff to flaring his aura, took less than a quarter of a second.

"Uff!" Jaune cried has he was flung back onto the ground.

"Owe" He groaned, rubbing his sore chest. Despite just being a palm thrust, and his dense aura blocking it, and me holding back…I still pack quite a punch.

"What was that for?" He whined.

Rolling my eyes, I gestured back to him, "That."

"Huh?" He said, looking down.

"Whoa" he blinked

His whole body was glowing with the soft white light of his aura.

"How did you do that?" He said, looking back up at me in awe.

"Basically, I triggered your aura's defense, then reached in, grabbed hold, and pulled it out." I simplified. It wasn't entirely accurate, but it was the essence of what I did.

"So this is what having my aura flared is like." He said, still marveling over his own glowing hands.

"Yup." I smiled, "How does it feel?"

"Tingly." He answered.

"Yeah, it'll do that." I shrugged.

"So…what now?" Jaune asked after a minute of processing his new state.

"Now…" I began, drawing Manum Pallentis from my belt.

"Now we put it to the test." I said with a smile, allowing my aura to flow through the conductive fingers of the rod. Once it was soaked in my aura, I took hold of it.

The fingers flexed and twitched, before falling completely under my command. They extend out in harmony, before curling on themselves, forming a ribbed ball at the end of the black hilt. And just like that, my rod had become a mace.

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Jaune gulped.

"Oh come now, Jaune." I smiled widely at him.

"We're just going to have some good ol wholesome family fun."


Later

"I thought you loved me." Jaune complained in the car.

"It's called tough love." I retorted.

"It's called abuse."

"Ah, come on, you don't mean that. We had fun!" I grinned.

"You had fun. I got thrown through a tree." He flatly responded.

"Actually it was two." I corrected.

"I don't remember two trees," Jaune said in confusion.

"Oh." I blinked

"That's bad."

Jaune scowled at me, to which I helplessly responded with a guilty chuckle.

"What was that even for, anyway?" He asked.

"Well, I needed to get a baseline for where you are now, before I know how to get you to improve," I answered.

"Oh." Jaune said simply, "How was I."

I cringed as I sucked in air through my teeth.

"That bad, huh?" Jaune said dejectedly.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad." I admitted.

"So I got beat up by my big sister for nothing?" He asked.

"Not for nothing. Now I know I need to start from scratch." I placated him.

"That sounds really bad."

"It's not that bad, I mean, that's where I started from."

At that, he perked up, gaining a measure of hope.

"Then again, I was about…11…when I started." I murmured, mostly to myself.

Which, unfortunately, caused him to wilt.

"Hey, cheer up, Jaune!" I said, trying to get him out of his depressive slump.

"Even if you're shit now, you got a lot of potential." I complimented.

"Thanks?" Jaune said, not sure how to take it.

"You're welcome." I responded.

"Still doesn't get over the fact that it feels like you broke me." Jaune complained.

"It's not that bad." I dismissed.

"My everything hurts." He whined.

"That means it's working."

"You're a terrible sister."

"Psh, I'm your favorite sister."

"I have a lot of options."

"And most of them wanted to put you in a dress."

"That…is true."

"And the others wanted to pair you with a girl in a nice dress."

Then I paused in thought.

"Except for Elise. She wanted to find a nice guy for you." I commented.

At that, Jaune shivered.

"Never again." He muttered, his face pale in horror.

I grimaced, what had I missed in these past years?

And do I actually want to know.

"So, am I your favorite sister or what?" I asked

"I don't know, Belle's pretty nice." Jaune commented.

"Would Ice Cream change your mind?" I offered.

"I'm not a child anymore, Aveline, you can't just bribe me with ice cream." Jaune pouted.

"Not even Napoleon?" I said in exaggerated surprise.

"Its Neapolitan!" Jaune cried indignantly.

"Meh, same thing." I said with a dismissive shrug.

"It is not! Neapolitan is the perfect blend of the classic flavors of ice cream, it has no equal!" He preached.

"Huh." I said simply, "Well then, I guess it's too bad you don't want me to get you the glory of it, then. Sounds nice."

"Whoa, hold on, lets not be hasty." Jaune said, backtracking.

"But Jaune, I thought you said you were too old for ice cream?" I said innocently.

"No, I said I was too old to be bribed by it." He explained,

"But…I might be willing to have some ice cream with my big sister I haven't seen in 8 years." Jaune put forward.

"I think I can do that." I said with a smile.

And so, a few minutes later, we found ourselves at the Stone Cold Creamery that near the police station. I had been there quite a few times myself. Hell, the shop was actually started by a retired officer who was wounded on duty, and is run by his family.

Lt. Gaunt may have been a hardass, but Creator's hand could he make ice cream.

I actually stopped to chat with him for a few minutes while Jaune took our ice cream and found a seat.

So it was too my surprise when I saw him sitting a table, with a girl hanging over him, her face inches from his as she stared into his eyes.

She held a pale umbrella in one gloved hand, using to balance herself with, and had strange brown and pink hair. She was wearing a white and pink jacket over dark pants and a dark blouse with a very complimentary neckline. Considering how she was leaning over him, he was getting quite the show.

A fact that filled me with burning rage.

That harlot! I internally fumed, Seducing his naive, innocent, and pure soul!

My hand twitched dangerously as it hovered over the hilt of Manum Pallentis. It was only by reciting that murder was a crime, and more importantly, a sin, that I managed to stay my hand.

Jaune, for his part, was staring at her wide eyed with a slack jaw. Expressions that only seemed to be enhanced as the girl slowly dipped a finger into his ice cream, carving out a nice piece through all three sections. She brought the ice cream carrying finger to her mouth, before slowly sticking inside, and sensuously pulling it out.

Narrowing my eyes, I marched my way over to them as my aura unconsciously flared, intent on pulling Jaune from the corrupting influence of the seductress before him. Before I reached them, however, the girl pulled back from Jaune, flashed him a smile, and skipped down the street, umbrella resting over her shoulder without a word.

Finally reaching Jaune, I looked down at him with a stern, disapproving expression.

"Who was that?" I questioned intensely, feeling the urge to break something, or more accuratly, someone.

Jaune didn't reply, his eyes glossed over, still in a daze.

"Jaune?" I said, snapping my finger in front of him

"Huh?" He said, pulling from his trance.

"Oh, I, uh, I don't know." He said, his face scrunching up in confusion.

"Hmm" I hummed in thought.

"My ice cream!" He exclaimed, pulling me from my thoughts.

I looked back down at him and saw that his precious Neapolitan ice cream was gone, cone and all.

That girl had slipped right out of his hands.

My instincts blaring, my eyes snapped upwards, searching the crowds for her.

But she was gone.

I narrowed my eyes further.

I have a bad feeling about her. I thought suspiciously

Though, weather that was because she was a harlot that was seducing my little brother and stole his ice cream, or because of something else, I wasn't sure yet.

Still, she was nowhere in sight, and if she was half as good as I thought she might be, she was long gone by now.

I sighed, realizing there wasn't much I could do now.

"Don't worry, I'll get you a new one." I said, trying to placate him.

As I walked back to the counter, I frowned, my thoughts turning back to the strange girl. Something about her unnerved me, and I didn't like it. So, I decided that when I got back to the precinct I would look her up in the database. Shouldn't be too hard. After all…

How many girls have pink and brown eyes?


Friday, October 28

7:00 PM

Goodwitch pov

Maybe I should come back later? I hesitated, standing before the door to her room.

I say her room, but in reality, it was more so the unused garage that Ruby had moved her bed into after one too many all nighters inside. She had all but planted her flag in the unused space, since I never put the car I had in there, not that I really used my car much in the first place either.

So, slowly but surely, she had set up shop there. Taking all sorts of things in there where her more...disrupting...experiments would be isolated from the rest of the house, as well as keeping the noise to a minimum.

But...over the past couple days, ever since she had returned from her shopping trip, she had been more withdrawn than normal. She had shut herself inside here to toil away in her workshop. I only saw her in the morning when I took her to Beacon, when I took her back, and during my time instructing her on dust. As soon as we were done, she just went back inside.

To be perfectly honest with myself, I hadn't actually noticed this until Thursday.

I knew something was...off...but I couldn't for the life of me tell what. Some part of me considered asking her teammates, but I didn't actually know them too well on a personal level, and another part of me felt like that would be a breach of trust with Ruby.

After hearing the near ever present roaring of the machinery at work die down, I solidified my resolve, and knocked on the door.

There was a pause, the air seemed to hold it's breath, then I heard the sound of something metal clattering onto something solid.

The knob on the door twisted, and I was greeted with the sight of Ruby in her standard dark attire covering every inch of her scarred skin, whilst her crimson cape was draped over her shoulders.

"Aunt Glynda?" She said quizzically, looking up at me with those inquisitive hollow silver eyes.

"Hello Ruby." I greeted with a nervous smile of a unsure teenager, and not one of the 38 year old woman I was.

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." I answered honestly.

At the tilt of her head, I decided to continue.

"I haven't had too much time to see you this week, and I wanted to see how you were doing." I continued.

She continued to look at me with that curious look, as if me coming in to ask about her was so weird. The entire time making me feel like I was doing something horribly wrong, and just making a fool of myself. This feeling of being deep in uncharted territory was something I felt an uncomfortably large amount of times during my time with Ruby. After all, despite nearly a decade as a teacher and headmistress of this school, caring for a child in such a personal way is a new, and frankly worrying, experience for me.

Sensing that the conversation was dying, I felt the urge to just apologize and leave. I fought against, straining my mind and grasping at anything I could do to get a foothold here.

"So…" I began, attempting to resist the urge to fidget under her unblinking gaze, and failing, "What have you been working on in here?"

When I saw her eyes brighten up and widen ever so slightly, I had succeeded.

" Do you actually want to know?" She asked in that quiet and flat voice, with just the barest hint of caution and hope in her tone.

"Yes, I'm very interested to know what you've been up to." I said.

While...not exactly a lie, it wasn't my original purpose for coming her, still, it was a way in. Besides, I actually was curious as to what she had been doing.

"Well…" She trailed off, looking back into the room behind her, "If you're sure."

"I'm sure" I affirmed.

"Ok." She said, turning leading me into her room.

Stepping foot inside, I realized I hadn't actually been in here for a while, not since it last actually looked like garage. Now, it looked more like her own personal workshop. Not nearly as high-quality as the forge at the school, but more than enough for the "tinkering" she always seemed to do.

"So, do you remember the Thorn?" She began as she walked over to a desk.

"Yes, that was the...gun...you made before initiation." I said, still hesitant to use the word "gun" to describe the thing she had made. Still, i tried not to insult it, Ruby seemed quite proud and defensive about it.

"Yes, it was." She began. "And it's garbage."

Or not I thought, pausing briefly in surprise at her reaction.

"It's not that bad, is it?" I asked, genuinely curious. I didn't use guns, never had, and as such my knowledge about them was rather...limited.

"Oh, it is. Frankly, I'm ashamed to say that I made it in the first place."

"I mean, look at it." She all but exclaimed, holding up the gun in her hand.

"It's little more than a pipe and some bullets!"

"Isn't that what all guns are?" I asked before I could shut my mouth.

The absolutely withering look Ruby gave me made me wish I had.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

I blushed sheepishly at that, feeling slightly embarrassed by my ignorance on the subject that Ruby was so passionate about.

And passionate she was, this was the most expressive I'd seen her be in quite a while. And it wasn't faked, as it often was. Being the one who was teaching her who to blend in and act like a normal person, I could tell when she was just pretending to care.

"In any case," She continued, looking back at the Thorn, "This is garbage."

"First off, it's not very accurate. The iron sights I gave it aren't great, and the alignment is off. Plus, the ergonomics are terrible, it does not fit in my hand well at all, and the weight of it makes it hard to accurately hold in one hand with my strength."

"Then there's the recoil, which is monstrous considering it uses a .65 caliber bullet. The weight, while heavy, isn't nearly enough to offset it, and the recoil is absolutely punishing."

I blinked.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Basically I can't hit a target with this thing accurately beyond about...30 yards, and every time I fire it, I fracture my arm in 3 places." She explained for me.

Oh, ok I thought, getting the problem now.

Wait a minute I thought, latching onto something she had said.

"Wait, using this gun fractures your arm?" I frowned sternly at her.

"It heals in about 30 minutes." She murmured in protest, glancing away from me.

"I'm starting to think you enjoy hurting yourself." I commented with a glower, not like how much pain and torment Ruby put herself through.

"Well, that's why it's bad." Ruby defended "And why I needed to replace it."

"Ok." I nodded slowly, agreeing with her on that, at least.

"So that's why I made the Thorn Mark VI" She announced.

"The Thorn Mark VI?" I said, questioning the name.

"What's wrong with it?" Ruby questioned with a tilt of her head.

"It's just...calling it Mark VI seems...unusual." I explained.

"But that's what I did for the Rose Mark V. Besides, it's organized." She added with a confused look.

"The Rose Mark V?' I questioned, confused myself.

"Yeah, I showed you it, I told you about how it was made of hunter grade materials to make it stronger, and added the pike at the top and bottom, fixed some kinks and smoothed out the compacting system, and…" she began, before letting out a deep sigh

"You weren't paying attention, were you?" She said dejectedly.

I felt a sharp pang of guilt as I looked at her disappointed face, one of the few emotions she never seemed to have any trouble expressing, made even worse because I honestly couldn't remember Ruby talking about a "Rose Mark IV", just vague plans about an upgraded version of her scythe. I hadn't realized she had finished it, and made two more.

"I'm sorry, Ruby, I've just been so busy recently." I apologized, trying to defend myself.

"I get it." She sighed, "You have an incredibly busy job whose hours don't end when you get home."

"You don't need to blame yourself, you're only human, after all, you can't do everything." She added.

As comforting as her acceptance of this was, it was somewhat undermined by the implications of her calling me "only human". Ruby, despite my efforts, still didn't see herself as human. Most worryingly of all, it didn't even sound like she wanted to be human. And it wasn't like she thought she was a faunus, in fact she didn't consider the two races seriously different, at least psychologically and culturally. Then again, considering how her father treated her, it's not surprising that she wouldn't want to be associated with that monster.

At the same time, however, her surprising maturity was welcome. Many times, things that would have riled up or depressed many of my other students, all several years older than her, Ruby met with a calm, level head, and understanding approach. Though, she could come off as condescending on occasion.

"Thank you for understanding." I said, giving her a small smile.

"So, what makes this Thorn Mark V so different?" I asked.

"It's the Mark VI." She corrected.

"Right."

"But, in a word, everything."

"Everything?"

"Well, everything save for the core concept of being a powerful revolver. Beyond that, nothing is the same."

"Ok…" I said slowly, trying to wrap my head around how that meant it could be different at all.

"So first off, I lowered the caliber down to just .50. After using it against Grimm, I realized that .65 was overkill. The amount of recoil it produced wasn't worth the results, and all in all played a big part in how unwieldy it was. Plus, the recoil forced it to have a painfully slow fire rate, lest I injure myself more severely." She began.

"Since recoil was such a big problem before, I did what I could to implement recoil dampening. This included lowering the barrel so that it fires the bottom most round in the chamber, as opposed to the topmost, so the gun doesn't want to flip as much. The gun also weighs about the same, but the weight's distributed better so it's more stable."

At this point I was nodding my head, while not actual comprehending most of what she was saying.

"I also implemented a sealed chamber system, which seals the chamber each time I pull the trigger. While it means I have to load each round individually, it does make it so the bullets fly faster and more accurately, as less gas escapes from the gap in the chamber most revolvers have."

"It also means it can be silenced." She smirked as she finally got to the desk holding the gun in question.

"And here it is." She said, presenting it to me.

"...Ruby…" I paused, carefully picking my words.

"Why is it glowing green?" I asked.

I decided not to go with my kneejerk reaction and ask her why the gun looked evil.

Because it was both. The gun looked predatory. Sleek lines ending in sharp corners, a very geometric design. On top of that was a winding pattern of glowing green Dust inlayed into it.

"It's wind Dust." She answered

"That I understand. But, why?" I asked, unable to figure out why she would put dust in the gun itself and not the bullets.

"Well, it's all based on a theory. This is actually something of a proof of concept for me" She explained.

"And the theory is?"

"Ok, so you told me about how you could sort of "enchant" weapons by infusing it with dust, and how inlaying it with dust would produce specific effects depending on how you did it. That made me think about what all you could do through inlaying. Then I thought about what I could do with wind dust, and if I could use it to control all airflow with inlaying for a gun." She continued.

"So basically, I wanted to try and see if I could inlay wind Dust into a gun so that it would be silenced, instead of applying a silencer to it." She simplified.

I blinked

"That's fairly ambitious, considering we just started lessons on Dust a few weeks ago." I admitted.

"I've realized that. All I've actually been able to make them do is glow." She said with a slight furrowing of her brow and pursing of her lips.

I hesitated, considering whether I really wanted to do this.

No.

I wanted to do this, the question was, could I? After all, I didn't want to get her hopes up, only to get in too deep with no way out. To be honest, I hadn't actually done anything like this before. Still…

"I...could help." I offered tentatively.

"You can?" Ruby asked with slight tilt and raised brow.

"I am something of an expert on Wind Dust," I began with a hint of pride.

"No, I mean, you would have time?" She corrected.

I blinked

"Well I…" I began

"Because I tend to work all through the night on this stuff. I don't need to sleep as often, remember? Since I haven't been straining myself, I've been going four or five days without sleep. I doubt a human like you would be able to keep up without consequence." She explained.

And there's that dehumanization again I internally sighed. Still, she had a point.

I had seen first-hand that Ruby really didn't need that much sleep, and considering my duties, and general stress levels, I needed what little sleep I could get. Trying to keep up with her nocturnal abilities would be nothing short of foolish madness.

"True…" I began

At the ever so slight slump in her posture, I decided to quickly finish.

"But, that doesn't mean I can't help." I said, an action which cause her to give me her undivided attention.

"I'm already helping you with numerous things, as much as I can in my free time. And I'm guessing you've been using the time at night to work on this project. Correct?"

She nodded her head slowly in affirmation.

"Then instead of constantly looking over your shoulder while you work on them all night, I can simply switch our topic of instruction during the day to this." I explained to her.

Honestly, it wasn't really too hard of a solution to figure out, the issue was, this seemed more like a personal project, I'm not sure if she would want me to intrude on it.

And just as I thought, she paused to think about it for a moment, considering her options.

"I...suppose that would work." She said somewhat hesitantly.

But…? I silently added, knowing there was more.

"But I don't really want to miss out on the other lessons. I...enjoyed them." She admitted, glancing away from me.

As much as it warmed my heart to hear her openly admit she enjoyed our lessons, I still wanted to shake my head at her childish perspective, even if it was a bit warranted.

"Yes, well, unfortunately Ruby, we are just human. " I said with smirk, "We can't do everything in an instant, and we can't get everything we want."

She sighed deeply, her shoulders sagging in resignation, "I suppose you have a point."

"So?" I asked, wondering what her ultimate decision on this was.

"...I'd like to work on the Rose and Thorn." She finally decided after a moment of thought.

"The Rose too?" I wondered out loud.

"Yes." She affirmed with a nod, looking back up at me with those hollow silver eyes, filled with hidden and tentative layer of excitement, of all things.

"Ever since you told me about your college who could conjure storms with his staff, I've wondered what I could do if I attempted the same with Rose." She explained.

My eyes widened at that idea of hers. Not that it wasn't viable, far from it if Meryl was any proof, but more so what it meant. As much as I had hoped about her wanting to become a Dust mage, this was the first step she had shown in actually applying it, instead of just learning it.

"Well, I'd be happy to help." I said , still a little stunned, and perhaps more giddy than woman my age should have any right to be.

And I was rewarded with another slight upturn of her lips.

Unfortunately, this was when my subconscious chose to remind me of why I was really here.

"Ruby." I began, getting her attention again, "I've also noticed that you've seemed a bit...down...recently."

Ruby seemed to stop for a moment, all emotion draining from her face as it returned to a porcelain mask. In that breathless moment, I fearfully wondered if I had gone too far as the blood froze in my veins.

Then, she spoke.

"...The shopping trip Blake took us on incidentally brought up some bad memories." She finally said in an empty voice.

"Did….did something happen with your sister?" I asked, knowing full well that her team ran into Ms. Schnee's, and I had been afraid that that was the cause.

"No." She shook her head. "It wasn't her fault."

"I even got to see her again, not that she knows." She said, a small sad smile growing on her face.

"She looked happy." She said wistfully, "I wish I could still make her smile like that."

"But," She added with a frown, "She felt troubled by something, her soul felt like it was in turmoil."

"I'm worried about her." She admitted.

I frowned as well. Ruby's thoughts. I had learned that Ruby's Aural sense was, frankly, scary in strength and definition. It was so well defined that she tended to use it more than her actual eyes, which is why she didn't always look to people when she talked to them, because she didn't need to in order to direct her focus to them. But it didn't become truly frightening until it came to actual people.

When it came to them, she could sense their very soul, and describe in such a way that it almost seemed like it was a tangible thing she could touch, as opposed to the more wispy and vague sense that most people got.

I trusted Ruby, and if she said that she felt turmoil in Yang's soul, then I believed that was cause for concern.

Thankfully, Dr. Enyo will be doing those mandatory psych evaluations in a week. She should be able to garner some insight from that.

Still…

"If that's not what's bothering you, then what is?" I asked

"…While we were out shopping, we ran into Jaune's eldest sister, Aveline." She said after a tentative moment.

Aveline? I thought, surprised

I remembered her, a very bright young student, one many considered a prodigy. Top of her class, charismatic, caring, and determined. She was the best leader any team could ask for. But for some reason she dropped off the map.

I can't remember why, though I thought with a frown.

"It turns out she's a detective in the VCPD." Ruby added.

Ah…that would do it I thought, suppressing a grimace.

Shortly after graduating and getting her hunter license, she went into the police academy. She actually told her team she was going to become a Watchmen.

An action that felt like a slap in the face. Here we had a prodigious young woman from an old lineage of prominent hunters, and she was throwing it all away to join the enemy.

It may seem harsh to outsiders, but most hunters, myself included, didn't exactly view Watchmen in the best light. Still don't, really. While I'm not going to go out of my way to kill or undermine Lt. Niflheim, I still don't trust him. The Watchmen were put together for one reason, and train only to do one thing, after all.

Kill us.

The Hunters

The defenders of mankind for generations, and yet they were born of paranoia and fear, made to counter and fight us instead of using their talents to defend humanity against Grimm as they should.

But…ruby said she was a detective, not a watchman I realized, pulling myself from those rather poisonous thoughts.

Still a waste of her talents, in my opinion, even if it was a more…respectable…role in society than her colleges.

Still, I'm not sure what meeting with Aveline Arc would have to with anything, other than being Jaune's older…sister…

Oh….

"So they…reunited?" I supplied cautiously, having a feeling of where this was going.

"Yeah." She nodded, "Apparently they hadn't seen each other in 8 years"

"And it reminded you of Yang?" I guessed.

"It made me wonder if that could ever happen with me and Yang." Ruby clarified with downcast eyes.

"It's been years since we've had a relationship like that. Even after I came back, it was never the same. It didn't feel like I was her little sister anymore." She confessed.

"And it just made me wonder if I ever would again." She sighed.

"Well," I began, "the first step would involve talking to her."

"You're going to have to reveal yourself to her sometime. When were you planning on doing that?" I asked.

"I don't know." Ruby admitted, biting her lip. "But I'm afraid that dad got to her, that she hates me too."

"I want to reveal things to her under my terms, when I determine everything. It has to go just right, or else I could lose her forever." She explained.

I bit my lip, knowing that, as much as I might not like it, she had a point.

"I'll help you anyway I can." I offered.

"And…if it doesn't go as well as your were hoping." I began, biting my lip as a broached a worrying idea,

"Just know that I'll always be there for you." I said to her.

She looked up at me, blinking in surprise at my declaration.

"..Thank you." She finally said.

"You're more than welcome." I smiled.

"But was there anything else?" I asked.

"Oh." Ruby perked up, remembering something.

"Nora molested me."

I blinked, my mind unable to process the words that came out of her mouth.

Then, it did.

"What?!"


Sunday, October 30

11:30 PM

Torchwick pov

"So Mila, what's with the hubbub around here?" I asked, curious, and not having much else to do. "You guys killed the White Wolf, after all, right?"

"I'm not telling you." She frowned

"You sure about that?" I inquired.

"Yes, and nothing you say or do can change your mind." She firmly declared, turning from me.

"Well, if you insist on giving me nothing to do…" I began with a sly smile.

When I saw the slightest twitch in her, I knew she could see where this was going.

"Knock Knock." I began

"Oh please no." I heard her whisper over her breath.

"Come on Mila, this is team effort! We have to work together!" I responded with exuberant cheer.

"Why me?" She whispered again.

"Knock Knock." I repeated.

"Come on Mila, Knock Knock." I continued.

"I'm not doing it, Roman." She asserted

I knew she would

"Well I'm not going to stop until you do." I answered with a smile.

"Please shut up." She whined.

"You'll have to shoot me."

"I'll do it." She warned, turning to me with a stern frown, one hand resting on the pistol holstered by her side.

"No you won't." I grinned

"Are you sure about that?" She said, her eyes narrowing.

In response, my grin grew into one of my blindingly bright and beatific smiles of complete and utter confidence as I looked her straight in the eyes.

We stayed like that, for a while. Stuck in our little starring contest. Then, finally, she deflated, and gave in.

"Fine."

I knew she would.

"Knock Knock." I began again.

"Who's there," She said in a defeated voice.

"Etch." I answered, grinning widely at her.

"Etch who." She responded, her resigned acceptance turning to confusion.

"Bless you." I said, barely able to hold in the mad laughter in anticipation of her reaction.

She froze for a second, as she usually does when she tries to figure out what the hell we just said. Then, I saw that little spark in her eye that told me she got it.

"Ugh." She moaned, sounding physically pained by it as usual

"Roman, why?" She cringed

"Well, I mean, you don't give me my smokes, you don't tell me what's going on. You're not exactly giving me a lot of options here." I explained with a shrug.

"Are you saying this is my fault?" She questioned with a downright adorable glare.

"You said it, not me." I grinned innocently.

Her brow began to twitch violently as she continued to glare at me in that pathetic kicked puppy sort of way.

I'm always amazed at how much fun this is. I thought with a smile.

"I hate you." She groaned, massaging her temples with closed eyes.

Feeling that I had gotten her to loosen up enough, I decided to press the advantage.

"So, can you at least tell me why I'm still locked up here?" I asked.

"Because you're guilty?" She said in a voice that practically screamed "duh", the unspoken question of where I was going with this hanging in the air.

"That, I get. What I don't get is why I'm still in jail, and why I haven't gone to trial or prison, or anything like that." I asked, "Are you guys just going to leave me in here for the rest of my life?"

"Oh, that." She said, her face grimacing in disgust.

"Well…it's politics." She sighed.

"Oh." I said, surprised.

That actually explained everything.

"You see, the kingdom of Atlas really wants to try you for the many crimes you committed there, as do some of the other kingdoms, but Atlas is the biggest pusher. At the same time, however, Vale is saying they should be the ones to try you, considering the damage you've done here a bit more recently." She explained.

"I see." I sighed.

Considering how much of a mess kingdom politics could be when it involved something that wasn't some unifying danger or something, then I could be here for quite a while.

"Lovely." I said with a pained smile. "At this rate, I'll spend more time in a jail cell then prison."

"What, excited to go to prison?" She smirked.

"Well, in prison I'd actually get to move around and do things. I mean, sure, this little place is fairly cozy, but I'm literally dying of boredom." I answered.

"And that's cruel and unusual punishment, by the way." I remarked with a pointed look.

"How do you know you won't be executed?" She suggested.

"Oh, because despite being a genius criminal mastermind the likes of which the world hasn't seen before, I'm not that bad." I said, "It's not like I'm some kind of depraved serial killer, or a pedophile child rapist and killer."

"Trust me when I say this, Mila, there are far worse in the darkness of the world." I said as I looked in her eyes, trying to impress upon her the seriousness of my words.

She nodded slowly and warily. I could see she had accepted them, but the sudden seriousness of myself had caught her off guard, not mention how ominous I was being.

Doesn't make it any less true I thought cynically.

Then I heard a beeping sound coming from her.

Surprised and confused, she pulled out her scroll and looked at it.

"Huh." She said

"What is it?" I asked, now thoroughly curious.

"Apparently the chief wants to see me for something, and Officer Rosientoter is going to take my place." She said, looking at her scroll.

"Aren't you supposed to, like, relieve each other in person?" I asked, having seen them do this many times before.

"Yeah…" She trailed off

She gave me a pointed look of suspicion, for rather obvious reasons.

"Don't look at me, I have no idea what's going on," I said, raising my hands up in surrender, actually telling the truth, for once.

"Hmm." She hummed in thought for a moment

"Alright, well, have fun without me." She said, walking off with a wave.

"Oh, great." I sarcastically said to no one.

"Now I literally have nothing to do."

So, I sat there, leaning up against the wall, just waiting and thinking.

Maybe this is part of cinder's plan to get me out? I considered.

Honestly, I had sort of given up hope for her getting me out of here. It had been about 3 months, if she hadn't done it yet, she wasn't going to. I can see why she wouldn't, however. This police station was a literal fortress, filled with cops, and a Watchmen squad. Getting in and out cleanly would be…difficult.

If I were her, I'd wait until I was being transported, then strike there. Unfortunately, since politics had gotten involved, that might be a while.

Who knows? Maybe it's really nothing?

No sooner had I thought that, than did I hear the sounds of boots clapping against the concrete floor.

"Jack!" I said cheerily, recognizing the cadence of his step.

"How ya been?" I greeted with a smile before I even saw him. "The fiancé been treating you good? Having some nice kinky fun in the bedroom?"

"No need to be shy, why don't you give me all the dirty-" I began, before cutting myself off in shock.

"…details…" I trailed off absentmindedly.

Sure enough, Jack was the one who turned the corner. Same watchmen armor, same short dirty blonde hair, same weapons, same gear, same everything.

Except…

…For the blood pouring from his eyes, ears, and nose. His eyes were bloodshot, thick, crimson, tears streaming down his face in rivers from every orifice.

"Jack?" I gulped.

He didn't respond, instead, he marched forward, before stopping in front of my cell. His eyes were blank, bloodshot, and distant, staring far off beyond me.

"Jack? You're freaking me out." I said, getting very unsettled by what was happening.

Then, I heard it.

A distant, barely even there, sanity crumbling, buzzing.

The lights in the hall and my cell flickered.

A chill came into the air.

A feeling of inexplicable but profound wrongness began to fill me, as it pervaded the air around me.

I knew this feeling.

I had felt it before.

And I knew it could only mean one thing.

Sure enough, like a wraith slipping out of the darkness, she slipped around the corner of my cell.

A small girl, looking barely 12 years old, wearing black boots, long dark pants, a black turtleneck sweatshirt, and a tattered blood red cape with a hood thrown over her head. Shoulder length black and crimson locks spilled out from the edges of the hood, and alabaster white skin like a porcelain doll's peaked out from her chin and hands.

She stopped several feet from Jack, and slowly turned to me. She looked at me with those hollow silver eyes of hers with what I can only describe as bored interest.

It was her.

The girl that put me in here.

With her in my presence, all semblance of vengeance fled my mind, in place of pure, primal, fear born from the mysteries of her existence.

"Red." I greeted with a nervous chuckle.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, more rhetorically than anything else.

She looked at me inquisitively, like I was a particularly interesting bug, and tilted her head as she considered my question.

"I…" She began, her voice barely a whisper in the dead air, but still clearly audible.

"I…am here to tie up loose ends." She answered.

No sooner had she said this, then did she reach into her cloak to her side, and from it, she drew a long, large, sinister looking, black revolver.

"Whoa! Red, calm down, no need to get drastic!" I said, panic rising in me.

With this cell draining my aura, there was no way I would be able to do anything about getting shot. I was helpless and defenseless to her whims.

She raised her hand cannon in the air, taking aim with it.

"Red, we can talk about!"

She pulled back the hammer using her thumb with an audible click

"Jack!" I said, hoping beyond hope that he would snap out of it.

But instead, he continued to stand there, his bloodshot eyes seeing nothing.

I turned back to her just in time to see her pale finger squeeze the trigger.

BANG


All was quiet that last Monday morning in October, when the dawn had yet to come and the night still ruled. Fall had come into full session, the air was turning cool, and the leaves were changing. All were asleep at the witching hour, the sounds of the city at their quietest as a relative peace descended over everything.

Then

In a flash

It was gone

The ground shook, the earth trembled, and the sky burned.

People woke from their homes, and turned to the tv to find comfort in knowledge. Instead, they heard this.

"Just moments ago, the West Vale City Police department was demolished in a massive chain of explosions. First responders are at the scene right now, but no word yet on the casualties."

"At this moment, we can't say one way or another whether this was an accident, but it is believed that this was an attack by the terrorist organization, the White Fang"