A/N: Here's the next chapter. In case some of you missed my author note edit last chapter the gang is in their second year. I also realized that Sun and Neptune would probably not be in Vale but back in Mistral. So I made small a reason for them to be there. I was having a hard time with this one, surprisingly it ended up being long than expected. I hope you enjoy.


Nighttime Investigation

Blake watched as Ruby worked on Crescent Rose while she sat at the top of her bed. Professor Goodwitch had stopped by their room earlier in the morning returning the red hooded girl's weapon after only a day in the hands of Detective Pyrrhus. It didn't take them long to find out why. The headline of the news told them of another White Fang massacre had happened last night and Ruby again had an alibi. Blake could tell that their leader wasn't taking the news well and was trying to use working on her weapon as a way of distraction, her excuse being that she wanted to make sure everything was still in working order after being out of her hands, but it wasn't working. The distant look in her silver eyes told the Faunus that she was too distracted by recent events.

"Ruby," Yang said with a sigh from the bed above the black haired girl, "just stop. You're not going to stop thinking about it, so just stop." Ruby had been working on the same part for the last fifteen minutes. The dual-colored haired girl let out her own sigh before she retracted her scythe and set it aside.

"I'm sorry, guys." Ruby said in a defeated voice. "I just- I just can't get it out of my head. This guy- I don't understand why he is killing so many people for me."

"Ruby," Weiss said from below her, "don't start blaming yourself over this. This guy is just a nut. And we are going to stop him."

"Yeah, but we don't know anything." Their lead said quietly.

"Well, it is Friday." Yang said with a bit sprit in her voice. "We could start running around Vale and looking for clues."

"Where would we even start?" The white haired girl asked. "It's not like we have any clues to follow."

I know where to look. Blake thought but held her tongue knowing they wouldn't like her idea.

"I got someone I can ask." Yang said. "He's a bit shady, but he has some reliable information. Then there are the crime scenes that can be checked out."

"The police won't let us anywhere near them." Ruby stated, once again she was being rather quiet.

"Who said we had to ask?" Blake stated which got a look of scrutiny from Weiss. "Besides who says they still have the scenes closed off."

"So it's settled then." The enthusiastic blonde said. "We're going for a night on the down." Ruby didn't seem as enthused but she did gained a determined look in her eyes. Blake just hoped that their search would produce some kind of result. Despite Ruby being the target of this madman, she couldn't help feel, despite her cut ties, that the attacks on the White Fang were personal to her.


Ruby couldn't help but pace back and forth as she, her sister and Weiss waited for Blake to show up in the courtyard; her thoughts going over what had been happening over the past couple of days. Who was behind all of this? Why were they going after the White Fang in particular? Why were they being so brutal? But the one thing that was at the forefront of her mind; the one thing that bothered her the most. Why her?

Why did this man choose her for his affection? What had made him switch from just love letters and roses; to adding bloodshed? What had made him think she would want any of this? What had made her so special for all of this madness? For the past two days she had been asking herself these questions and she hoped tonight she would get some answers.

"What's taking her so long?" Weiss broke the silence that had been hanging over them clearly annoyed by Blake's tardiness. The White haired girl was sitting on a bench in her SnowPea clothing her foot taping on the ground continuously. "I thought she of all people would want to get to the bottom of this considering this nut is targeting the White Fang."

"Would you calm done, Weiss?" Yang said from the tree she was laying against with her hands behind her head wearing her Hunter outfit. "Just give her a few more minutes. It's only like… What time is it?"

"It's eight-thirty." The heiress said still clearly annoyed. "We've been waiting for half an hour." As if waiting for her cue.

"Sorry I'm late, guys." Blake said. "I had a couple of things I had to get." Ruby turned greet her friend but was surprised to see what she had brought with her.

"What took you so-," Weiss started to say as she got up from her seat and turned to scold the black haired girl but her blue eyes widened in surprise, "Neptune?" The blue haired boy standing behind to Blake's left gave her a friendly wave. And to Blake's right-

"Well hello to you too, Ice Queen." Sun said earning him a glare from Weiss. "Blake filled us in on what was going on so we figured that we would come and help."

"Don't you two have to return to Mistral?" Yang asked as she walked over from her tree.

"It's still a holiday over there." Neptune said. "We'll still be in town for a couple of days"

"It's good to see you two." Ruby said with a smile. "Thank you for helping us."

"So we can split into three times then." Yang pointed out. "So how should we go, Ruby?"

"Let's see," the dual colored haired girl thought, "how about Blake and Sun," knowing those two had worked well together before, "Weiss and Neptune," she saw the white haired girl's twitch, Ruby figured her partner would want to work with the blue haired boy, "and Yang and me."

"Sounds good to me." Blake said.

"Alright then!" Yang said enthusiastically. "Ruby and I will go meet my contact and you guys go check the crime scenes." They all agreed and went their separate ways.

Ruby followed her sister to where the blonde stored her bike. Usually the hooded girl enjoyed the rides Yang took her on but her thoughts drifted back to the situation. Whoever this contact of Yang's was, she hoped they would give them some useful information. Her only concern was wondering why Yang described the man as shady.

Her red cape flapped through the wind as they raced through the streets on Bumblebee. As per usual her sister was acting like a speed demon. They seemed to be heading deeper into Vale. It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination, a building with turned off neon signs.

"This place looks closed Yang." Ruby said as she took off her red helmet and got off the bike.

"He doesn't open up until late at night." Yang said as she got off.

"This looks like a night club." She observed the dark building.

"Well it is." Her sister said with no hesitation.

"How many times have you been here?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"A few." Yang said as she walked towards the entrance.

"Why do I feel dad wouldn't approve?" The younger sister couldn't help but point out.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." The older sister pointed out.

"Yang." Ruby scolded.

"Calm done sis," Yang held up her hands, "I haven't done anything that dad would really be upset over. Now come on and let me do the talking."

The blonde walked into the building and Ruby had no choice but to follow. As they walked down the hallway the dual colored haired girl could hear the pounding music beat in her ears. When they made it into the club her silver eyes where briefly blinded by the flashing lights. Once she regained her sight she saw that the club was rather large, with a dance floor in the middle and a bar off to the side. She couldn't help but notice all of the men in black suits with red ties looking directly at them.

"Hey, boys!" Yang yelled. "Did you miss me?" Ruby could tell that they weren't happy to see her sister. Some of them her glaring, others looked like they were about ready to run in the other direction; all of them had their hands hovering over a weapon of some kind.

"How do you know this guy that we are meeting again?" The young girl couldn't help but ask nervously.

"Blonde, what are you doing here?" A very large muscular man with a beard came walking up to them. He was staring curiously at Yang. Then his eyes fell on her. "And who's the kid?"

"Oh, just a friend." Her sister's presentation of her made Ruby curious but she didn't say anything. "As for why I am here, I have some questions for you, Junior."

"I guessed as much." The man turned around and directed them to follow him to the bar. As they got near the bar the hooded girl noticed a couple of twin women in extravagant dresses watching them closely. One in a white dress and the other in a red dress. "So what do you want to know?"

"Has anyone been asking about the White Fang lately?" Yang appeared to want to get straight to the point. "In particular base locations."

"Funny thing you should ask." Junior said. "Some kid came in last week and asked for that very information. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the recent massacres now would it?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." The older sister said. The club gave both them a questionable look. "So what did you tell him?"

"Just some possible locations of White Fang hideouts." The bearded man said off handily.

"Did he ask anything else?" Yang asked. "Anything that seemed out of the ordinary?" The club owner seemed to think about it for a moment.

"I actually recall him being here a month ago actually."

"I remember that as well." The red dress twin spoke up for the first time.

"You thought he was cute and tried to make a move on him." The white dressed pointed out with a laugh.

"But he wouldn't shut up about some girl named Ruby." The red sister said with announce. This caused said girl to tense up. "He went on and on about how beautiful she was. That she was like blossoming rose. And he was destined to be with her"

"He asked me to find some information on this Ruby Rose girl." Junior said. This made the sliver eyed girl's eyes widen. "Said to come back the next day and I would have something for him." In the blink of an eye Ruby saw the man being yanked across the counter before being slammed up against it by her very angry sister and every weapon in the room other than her own was now pointed at the blonde.

"What did you tell him?" Yang yelled her violet eyes turning red.

"Just that she was some sixteen year old in her second year at Beacon." Junior had given his answer very quickly. "And that she is the leader of her team. And a Schnee is on her team. And her older sister as well. And some other girl."

"What else?" Her sister seemed to be getting angrier as she pulled him closer. Ruby wanted to say something to calm Yang down, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Nothing else, I swear." The man was beginning to sweat. "That was all I found out."

"What does he look like?" The blonde demanded.

"I don't know; he wore a black hood covering his face." Junior was giving his answers faster. "Just the other week he had a weapon, a large scythe actually. I don't know anything else." Yang shoved him back into the counter before letting him go.

"Let's go," her sister said, "we're done here." Ruby quickly followed her fuming sister. She couldn't help but notice that every weapon seemed to follow them. She hoped that Yang would never have to return here again.


The two of them stood on the roof on the other side of the street across from the Vale Police Station watching as several officers were leaving heading home for the night leaving everything to the nightshift. They had been waiting for there to be as very few officers as possible before making their move. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her partner in crime fidgeting.

"Would you stop being so nervous, Sun?" Blake stated annoyingly. "Everything is going to be fine."

"Fine?" The blond haired boy said with a bit of announces himself. "You want to break into a police station of all places. That's a bit different then a gang hideout."

"They have all the clues to this guy that is after Ruby." The black haired girl reasoned. "I don't know about Yang's so called 'contact' but I doubt that the crime scenes have anything left for us to use. So the police station is our only for sure lead."

"Always sunshine and daisies with you isn't it?" Sun said sarcastically. "Why can't we have more normal dates?"

"I didn't hear you complain the other night." The Faunus girl couldn't help but smile a little at seeing the blush burn into the boy's face.

"Well… I… Ah… I mean." Sun tripping over his words made him looked a little cute to Blake.

"Come on." Blake said to end is misery and started to jump across roofs to the station. She had gone over the building blue prints and found the best way to get to the evidence room would be through the air vents which just happened to be big enough for her and Sun to crawl though. She remembered noting that it was a poor design flaw for that very reason.

Once they made it to the station's roof they entered through the ventilation system. As quietly as they could the crawled their way through to avoid detection. Blake took the lead taking the necessary turns she remembered to get to the evidence room. Eventually they made it over the room, to their luck no one was inside. Lifting the vent cover the black haired girl dropped down closely followed by Sun.

"So what are we looking for?" He asked while looking at the many boxes on various shelves.

"Look for anything dated in the past couple of days." She answered him. "Anything that may stick out about the case." The two began their search and luckily the most recent cases were up front. And when Blake found a couple of boxes with the right dates on them she saw that they had already named the case Black Rose. She grabbed both boxes off the shelf they were on and set them down on a table before calling Sun over.

As they looked through the boxes it became clear that the killer wasn't leaving much evidence of himself behind other than the letters and black roses for Ruby. The only thing that the police could use from him was the kind of weapon he used, which didn't seem to be much help. So she turned to what had belonged to the White Fang. She started with a series of papers that appeared to be a manifest of supplies that had arrived and left the particular hideout from dust rounds and weapons to mechanical tools. While looking through it something caught her eye. Something that the police had made note of. A single item only called The Sphere had been noted of arrival but had never left. But the police noted that it was missing from the scene. The vague description of the item concerned her.

"Hey, Sun. Do you have a manifest in your box?" She saw him dig around and pulled out what she was looking for and handed it over to her. She looked through it seeing that there were far more items from the first incident then the second one and not all the items had been accounted for yet. But a number of dust filled canisters were missing. The only conclusion was that the murder had taken them. What she wanted to know was why. Was this obsession with Ruby a ruse for something else?

A sound coming from the door almost made Blake jump. She and Sun quickly put the various items they had pulled out back into their respected boxes and placed them back on the shelf they came from. They then quickly went to the back of the room and hid behind one of the other shelves just as the door opened and Detective Pyrrhus came in.

The red haired man walked over to the boxes they had just been looking through and pulled one of them partly out and opened it. He paused as he looked into it. Then he began looking across the room. Blake had thought they had just been caught for sure. To her relief Pyrrhus returned his attention to the items within the box. He was pulling out one of the manifest when someone else came.

"Sir, there was an incident that may be connected to the case." The man said to which the Detective gave a sigh.

"Another White Fang hideout?" He asked the frustration clear in his voice.

"No, Sir. It was a civilian this time and he is still alive." This got Blake's attention. Someone who had seen the man and lived; this would give them an excellent lead. And the Detective seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Where is he now?"

"He was taken to the infirmary at Beacon. His injuries were severe and he needed medical attention. His girlfriend is being brought in for questioning." The two left the room after that leaving Blake and Sun alone.

"That was too close." Sun said while letting out a breath. "I think we should get out of here. I don't think we are going to find anything else."

She agreed and they quietly got back into the vent and began their way back to the roof. When she was passing one of the vent covers the sound of footsteps made you stop to avoid making any noise that would give them away. She looked to see an officer escorting a young girl down the hallway. Blake was in shock at the sight. The girl had a distraught look in her eyes. Her hair was in dismay. Her dress stained with blood. But what shocked Blake the most was who it was.

Weiss


One hour earlier.

"Well that was a waste of time." Weiss said annoyed by their predicament. "They completely cleaned the place out."

"Well it was the second attack." Neptune said. "They probably wanted to make sure they got everything to get something that can help them catch this guy,"

The white haired girl couldn't help but be frustrated. She had been really hoping to find something on this creep. Part of her felt bad that she had seen the letters and flowers that had been arriving for the past month for Ruby as adorable. Now she really wanted to catch him before something bad happened to her partner.

"Now what do we do?" She asked the blue haired boy.

"Well… we could meet up with one of the others." Neptune suggested.

"Guess we have nothing else to do." Weiss said as she pulled out her scroll but just before she went to her contacts a brief moment of movement across the street caught her attention. Her companion seemed to of notice as well as he tensed up. "Did you-?"

"Yeah." The blue haired boy said quietly. The two of them stood silently waiting for any sign of further movement. Weiss didn't know how long they had waited but it felt like it had been hours. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Someone or something was nearby and she couldn't help but tighten her grip on Myrtenaster.

And then she saw it. It looked like a shadow. It jumped out from behind a dumpster down the street and was making a run for an alleyway. Weiss quickly gave chase after the figure hoping to catch them. She heard Neptune running behind her. As they ran down the alleyway they came to a fork. She quickly decided to go left and told Neptune to go right; he did so with some reluctance.

The white haired girl came to an open area between buildings and stopped when she heard some noise. She quickly pulled out her rapier and turned to the source of the noise. Some trash cans were rattling against each other. She slowly walked over, her heart pounding in her chest as she drew closer. A cat jumped out from behind them causing her to jump a good foot into the air. The animal scurried away as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. Weiss couldn't help but laugh at herself.

"All of that over a stupid-" She started to say but stopped when she heard several loud bangs in the air. Her heart drop because of the direction the disturbance came from. "Neptune."

She quickly turned around and ran back the direction she had come from. She didn't know how long it took her to get there but when she rounded a corner she saw the dark figure entering another alleyway across the street from the one she was in. She ran after them only to trip over something on the ground and fall on top of it. That something let out a painful moan. She quickly pushed herself to see what it was and her silver eyes widened in horror at the sight. An unconscious cut up bloodied blue haired boy.

"Neptune!" Weiss screamed. She was having a hard time thinking straight at that point. The white haired girl tried to recall her training for such a situation but the sight of the boy that had melted her frozen heat, as Yang hand once put it, being all bloodied had caused her mind to freeze. She had already dropped Myrtenaster due to her shacking hands. With those shaky hands Weiss tried to do something about the large cuts on Neptune's body. But her mind wouldn't let her think of anything that would help. Instead she grabbed her scroll and started pressing buttons to get emergency help. "Everything- Everything is going to be okay Neptune. I'm- I'm going to get you some help. Everything is going to be okay."


Weiss sat nervously in the conference room that the officer that had picked her up from the scene took her to. She had calmed down greatly upon hearing that that Neptune's injuries had not been as bad as she had thought. They had just been deep cuts, nothing vital and been hit. But now she was going to have to answer questions, like why they were out so late, who was the attacker, and why she in particular had been involved. And the detective that had been asking her all of this was Pyrrhus. She made up some of her answers knowing that the red haired man would be angered by the fact that she and her teammates were looking into the case.

"You boyfriend regained conscious after being taken to Beacon." Pyrrhus had pointed out to her which raised her mood. "He was able to give a small description of the man that attacked him."

"Good." She said with a little venom. "I hope you catch the bastard."

"Funny thing is that your friend said he wore a black hood cape," the red haired man paused for a moment, "and wielded a scythe. The same kind of weapon that the man obsessed with your leader may be wielding. Funny coincidence don't you think, Ms. Schnee." She didn't know how to answer to that. Luckily she was saved by the woman that walked into the room.

"Ms. Goodwitch." Pyrrhus greeted the light blonde haired woman. "How is the boy doing?"

"He is resting comfortably." The Professor said which brought Weiss her own comfort.

"I suppose you're here for your student." The Detective asked to which Glynda nodded. The green eyed man sent her a suspicious look before dismissing her. Weiss was glad to finally leave, she really wanted to get out of her blood stained clothes and check on Neptune; hopefully visiting hours were still going on.


A/N: I hoped you enjoyed. As always feed back is appreciated.