The two sisters stared intently at each other, the cold night air being swept away by the heat of the fire.
"Ruby? Why would you do this? Did you, did you really kill Blake?" Yang was trying her best to hold herself together, slowly taking one step at a time towards her younger sister, bending her knees to seem smaller, less frightening.
Ruby started to sob, her bloodlust and frustration easing, and as she was realizing her surroundings she began to panic. "Did I do this?" She thought to herself as her eyes darted between the two bodies, realizing quickly that she was holding Blake by her neck. "Shit! I did this, oh god I did this!" Her thoughts quickly began to be overrun with this thought. "No… Get away…" She finally said before dropping the body with a loud, wet smacking sound onto the concrete.
"Oh no, Ruby! Please don't run! We can still fix this, we might be able to help you!" Yang started to walk faster, fearing her sister make a break for it.
"Yang, get away from me." Ruby continued to back away, loading Crescent Rose and folding it down to sniper form. Yang then jumped forward to grab Ruby, but to no avail, the rose petals falling around her told Yang what had happened, she had no possible way of catching up to Ruby's immense speed, but she had to try.
"Ruby! I'm coming!" She yelled and then jumped from box to box before reaching the same window and seeing Ruby in the distance. She was aiming her rifle back at Yang.
"Get away from me! I'm a monster!" Ruby said before daring to fire a warning shot at her sister. But as the bullet was about to hit, Yang put her hand up, the metal bands constricted in that arm and shot ice out that formed a shield, completely nullifying the shot.
"Holy hell! Ozpin wasn't lying about this new uniform." Yang thought, jumping down and following her sister, but Ruby was already outpacing her. The suit's bands tightened around Yang's legs, flame spewing from them and launching her forward and into the air towards Ruby. When Yang landed, she brought the momentum into a punch that Ruby easily parried, throwing her aside with no effort.
Yang threw shot after shot at Ruby, using her Ember Celica to keep her distance as Ruby extended Crescent Rose's scythe, cutting the shot's in half. Yang ran out of ammunition and resorted to blocking Ruby's scarily close bands tightened all at once and the suit glowing white around them as Yang gained in immeasurable amount of endurance to absorb the slashes.
"Ruby! Calm down! I'm here to help, it doesn't have to be like th-" The glow suddenly stopped and the bands expanded to release the spent cartridges.
"I said leave me alone!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs before hitting hang in the side with such force that she launched her into a wall and broke right through. Yang slumped on the floor unconscious. The warehouse behind them exploded as Ruby simply vanished, leaving only her signature rose petals behind.
Team JNPR decided that the best way to find Roman was to split up between the discussed locations and find which one he was most likely going to. Jaune in particular was standing outside a rather average looking one when he got a message on his scroll.
'Roman was last seen coming from an exploding warehouse according to the police, warning, I heard Ozpin say that he may have seriously maimed Ruby, we don't know what's going on yet with that.' Said the message sent by Pyrrha. But just when Jaune thought things couldn't get any worse, he saw Roman walk into the bar through his translucent screen.
"Gotch'ya"
Jaune followed into the establishment and saw Roman slouch over the bar. Jaune sat at one of the less crowded tables and then waited for the orange haired man to get up and walk to the bathroom, him following in pursuit. As Roman entered, he simply walked over to the sink and splashed some water on his face, hardly noticing the blonde boy walk in and lock the door until suddenly, when he put his face down, a sickeningly loud thwack was heard as Jaune smashed Roman's head over the faucet and the marble sink. Grabbing him by the throat and slammed him against the linoleum tiled wall, he readied his interrogation.
"What did you do with Ruby you sick monster!?" Jaune attempted to interrogate him, holding the man up with both hands. But in reply, all Roman did was laugh. "What are you laughing at?" Jaune said, starting to worry. Roman then coughed onto Jaune, making Jaune let go of him, dropping him onto his rear.
Roman laughed again, "Ha! You folks just don't get it do you?" He then got up, dusted himself off and got ready to walk out, grabbing his cane from its place leaning on the sink.
"You're not going anywhere until you answer me." Jaune demanded, stepping in his way.
"Speak for yourself kid. I give you credit, you caught me by surprise, but that's just it, a surprise only works once." Roman replied with venom in his voice.
"I don't care about that. Just tell me what you did with Ruby?" Jaune drew his sword now, expecting a fight.
"I didn't do shit to Ruby; the little angel went berserk last time I saw her, she killed my old boss, almost killed me, and I just ran. I ran for the city, and figured that when everything died down and I could no longer feel my face, that it would all be over and I could enjoy the night without much issue, maybe come back later and see if she was still alive." Roman, under all the bruises, the bleeding and the burn marks, was tensing up, but not from danger. The tenseness he felt was actually from the tidal wave of emotions running through his body right now. The pain, the loss, the shock, the exhilaration, the desperation.
The guilt.
He needed to find an outlet for it all, and if this little boy kept pushing him then it might be the last time the kid would get the chance as far as he was concerned.
"Why… Why should I believe you?" Jaune said, starting to doubt his actions.
"Fine, don't believe me, hell if I care." Roman walked next to Jaune, the boy shivering as the cold blooded criminal walked towards him and whispered into his ear, "Your hesitation will be your downfall." And then walked out of the restroom, leaving the boy in shock and confusion.
Back at Beacon, Yang had just arrived in the infirmary and Ozpin had immediately ordered a diagnostic test of her suit while she was resting.
"The cartridges needed fine tuning all right, their far to Dust consuming, and the flame jets need more power behind them. Are you taking note of this Goodwitch?" Ozpin said to his secretary instructor.
"Yes Sir, right away. But in the time in between-"
"Yes, I need you to assign posts directly to the adjustment of the student body to the new uniforms, the faster we can mobilize them, the faster we can eliminate any means of competition." Ozpin finished.
"Yes sir. Law is order, order is peace as you say." Goodwitch then sat on the arm of his chair and took his drink out of his hand.
"Goodwitch, what are you doing?" Ozpin looked at her and said.
Goodwitch then took off his glasses, "What I should have done a long time ago…" Then kissed the older man.
Ruby sat on the rooftops of Vale, watching her former school and home.
"I'm so sorry everyone, I failed you, all of you…" She said and then looked at what looked like an old couch someone didn't want to throw out and a T.V. flickering on and off somewhere near it. After a couple moments of contemplation, she decided to sleep there for the night, but as she thought to herself about her night, she noticed something strange.
'One body was found in the midst of the fiery landscape of the Delphi Dock Warehouse, it seems that it had been used for quite some time as a stationing location for local drug run-' Came from the T.V., Ruby looking at it in shock.
"I… Neither of them could have lived through that inferno, how could they…" She muttered to herself.
"Cinder."
Weiss sat in Beacon's infirmary wing, patiently awaiting her teammate to become conscious. Yang had begun to stir, and finally woke up.
"Where am I?" Yang said as she sat up in what looked like a bed, the only thing covering her being bandages over her stomach, chest, and right bicep.
"In the infirmary, for the second time this month." Weiss answered from the bedside.
"Weiss, Blake is..." Yang began, but couldn't finish, she instead grabbed her friend and pulled her in, proceeding to let out some very needed sobbing, but by the time Yang started to think coherent thoughts Weiss put a hand on her shoulder, "I know this is tough and all, I'm feeling the pressure too and am already doing things to fix this." she a couple moments later, lifted Yang's head so that they were looking into each other's eyes, "And at least we have each other… Right?"
Yang looked at the normally obnoxious girl, and for a moment, saw the maturity of the women she so claimed to be, and as she felt her tears dry for a moment, simply lifted herself until she closed the gap between them and their lips locked.
And then Weiss thought, "Why did we need the world to fall apart to realize such simple things?"
AN: I want to note as Vol. 2 is coming out soon, that this story and it's plot were planned out before even the trailer had been released, and I apologize that certain things may not be canon. Please, remember to favorite, follow and review. The more you guys talk, the better this story will get. I want to ask a question; What should happen to Nora? Answer it in the review.