Broken Apart Ch. 14: Arrival
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Roman looked at the images that Distrio had brought him with satisfaction. The New Faunus Rights group were a pain to deal with. They had risen after the White Fang had fallen, and from the ashes of the corrupt group they had gained more power then the White Fang could ever hope to achieve. Now almost all of them were dealt with. There was still the matter with the cat Faunus formerly from RWBY, and her friends had all survived. Not to mention about a dozen others who were away on mission. But if they were really an issue, Distrio would already have been dispatched to deal with things.
Perhaps the best news was that his force had suffered minimal loss. Only three? Three was more then acceptable. He had kept the major pieces, and that was all that really mattered.
"Two steps forward, one step back," Roman said happily.
"But that's not good enough, Roman," a voice said from behind him. Roman leaned his head back slightly, and noticed his female compatriot just behind him.
"But when that one step back weeds out three of our weaker fighters, I think that's more then acceptable," Roman responded.
"Fair enough," Cinder replied as she easily circled around to where Roman's front. "But, when you've been given the gift that I have, you'd know that acceptable isn't acceptable anymore."
"Gift?" Roman asked.
"Prison," Cinder replied happily. "I was imprisoned for so long, and it gave me time to think. One by one I watched people in my cellblock be taken away to be executed. Every time I knew I was coming up sooner. 'Only 40 to go,' I would tell myself. 'Now only 15, 10,' so on and so forth until you freed me. That was when I realized that they all did something wrong. An error costs you your life in our game, Roman." Cinder turned around and started to walk away.
"I intend to play for keeps this time," Cinder yelled out. "I don't intend to bullshit anything. Tell Distrio to watch over the Schnee's palace, or whatever it's called. I want to know what we're up against."
"Done," Roman muttered. Something about Cinder had definitely changed. Her whole attitude had become more aggressive, and her style had become more aimed towards death. At first, it was playing to conquer. But now, she wasn't just playing for keeps, she was playing for blood. If Cinder wanted to play for blood, then Roman had to do so as well. Not that he minded of course.
Schnee Manor
Ruby set aside her scroll, and felt herself start to doze off. Her and Weiss had been at it for hours, trying to give the proper division of labor for when everyone would arrive. Ruby was completely satisfied with herself and her plans. While this satisfaction did nothing to stop her fears, Ruby at least could rest a little easier knowing that there was nothing that she could do to fill out the needs any better.
Before she could sleep, and hand rested on top of her forehead. At first it was comforting and warm, but then it quickly turned cold. Ruby shot awake, and looked over to see Weiss smiling smugly.
"Better have a good reason for this one, princess," Ruby whined. "I was gonna nap!"
"The hunters are here," Weiss said calmly. "I simply thought that our leader would like to be informed of this."
"This is your house," Ruby grumbled.
"But, you are the leader of the Ember Sisters, no? And I think we all know who's in charge here." Ruby just grabbed her scroll and mumbled all the way over to the front door.
She opened it up, and saw a familiar face waiting on her.
"The Red Reaper," George Wash said happily.
"Wash," Ruby replied. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you right now."
"Likewise," Wash said. Ruby stepped aside, and gestured for him to walk in. The hunter leader nodded, and stepped inside.
Ruby yelled out for everyone to head downstairs, and looked at the large group that had come with Wash. There was at least 50 hunters and huntresses outside, making Ruby very excited. She had even more then what she had originally hoped for. All of them were setting some things up before entering into the house.
After a few moments, everyone was inside and the group staying at the Schnee's came out to greet them. Tauran, Lyria, and Blake's eyes were red from crying while Sun's eyes were hazy from alcohol.
"Alright," Ruby muttered. "Guys, this is George Wash. He is a hunter leader who is very good at their job. Wash, these are my friends."
"The Frozen Fencer, Attentive Assassin, and Burning Brute," Wash said instantly. "Along with Tauran Brownfur, Lyria Spots, and Sun Wukong. Quite the all star cast you have here, Ruby."
"All star huh?" Sun asked drunkenly. "I should be flattered." He hiccuped, and Wash raised his eyebrow questioningly.
"He drank away the knowledge that the NFR died," Ruby explained quietly. Wash nodded, and then waited on the next word. "Oh, right. Weiss, can you show them to where they'll be staying?"
"Why me?" Weiss asked.
"Because I don't know where it'd be..." Ruby said softly. Weiss groaned, and waved her hand at the hunters.
"Follow me," Weiss said. "We have plenty of rooms for all of you." Wash watched as his hunters left the area, and he just walked over to the couch. He put down his bag next to it, and jumped into it. Ruby walked over to him, and looked over his features carefully.
"Why take the couch?" Ruby asked. "There are plenty of beds."
"I'm an old hunter," Wash said. "Sleeping in a bed would feel wrong." He continued to adjust, but noticed that Ruby was still staring at him. He let out a heavy sigh, and looked over at her.
"Do you know how long I've been in the field?" He asked. Ruby shook her head. "Over forty years post-Beacon. That's a very long time, Ruby. That's one of the longest. When you are in our field for this long, your body wears down. It becomes more about technique then anything else, thus my choice of weaponry coming into play."
"There are things that come into play while out in the field that translate into what you do on a daily basis," he continued. "I sleep 3/4's of the night because I'm always convinced that I'll wake up. I check behind me in random intervals because I'm always making sure I have no tails. I also sleep on the couch, because the last time I slept in a bed I never got any sleep. Ruby, I hope that you live long enough to see my age and that you are doing what you love then. I don't know if it'll be a huntress, but I certainly hope you make it this far. If you are still a huntress, this'll make sense." Wash adjusted himself a little bit more, and Ruby just left him be.
What did she want to do? All she had ever imagined was finishing out her life as a huntress, but one thing was clear. Weiss and Blake had chosen different paths, and while they were miserable did they have the right idea? Should Ruby live out the later half of her life as another profession?
She shook the thoughts from her mind, and sighed. She had more important things to focus on at that moment. One of them was finding a way to make sure that her, Yang, and everyone else lived long enough to make that decision.
Ruby sent off the troop assignments to everyone there, and picked up Crescent Rose. She strapped it to her back, and walked outside.
She wasn't alone for long. She felt a presence sit next to her, and looked over to see a familiar Faunus.
"Hey Blake," Ruby said casually.
"Hey Ruby," Blake replied. She was quiet for a moment, but then spoke up again. "Everyone's here."
"Yup," Ruby replied happily. "I have so much more to work with now. Why'd you come here?" Blake sighed, and put her arm around Ruby.
"I just wanted to say that I believe in you," Blake said calmly. "If anyone can take down Torchwick and Cinder, along with everyone else, it'd be from your mind."
"Thanks Blake," Ruby said. She hooked her arm around Blake as well, but felt that something was off. "What-?"
"Ruby," Blake continued. "After all of this is done, I intend to be alive. I actually hope that all of us will be alive. But if that happens, I'll have no where else to go. A new New Faunus Rights group would be a ways away, meaning that hunters and whatnot would have to pick up the slack. I'll need something to do in the meantime. Ruby, could I join up with you and Yang?"
"Of course," Ruby said. "Our home is there if you need a place to stay. As soon as the NFR is back up, we'll let you go without a problem."
"Actually," Blake said. "Even when the NFR is back up, I could do more good with you guys." Ruby's eyes became hopeful, and Blake just sighed. "Could we make it a three woman team?"
"Absolutely!" Ruby said happily. "As long as you want to stay, you can stay. Yang and I have got your back." Blake smiled, and kept staring off into the distance. It took the entirety of the NFR getting killed off for Blake to realize a few things.
The first of which was how unprepared they were for anything. The NFR was just a camp in the middle of an open field. There were light patrols at best. Attacking that camp would have been easy to do. Blake was lucky she wasn't there the one time that it did get attacked.
The second related to the first. The NFR had done nothing. It consisted of mostly average Faunus that were unable to make it anywhere else. Blake was one of the few really good operatives that they had, and yet she was never really used. Not for the reasons of there being better agents, it was because change couldn't happen with them. Change could happen elsewhere, meaning that Blake's one logical reason for why she should stay out of her old team was flawed. There was nothing stopping her from coming back.
Nearby
Distrio looked down his scope carefully, and counted out the people in the rooms. Plus 54 hunters for them meant more issues for his employers. But the skill level of the 54 had yet to be determined. So that meant how easy the pickings would be were going to be difficult.
But pickings were pickings, and he could deal with it either way.
End: Shorter chapter, deal with it. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.
