Ruby emerged from the bottom of the sewer with great relish, sucking in deep gulps of fresh air the moment she landed on the surface. As she turned her attention to her surroundings, she noted with awe a neat garden aligned with baskets of beautiful flowers and well-trimmed grasses. Huge trees were planted and nurtured at certain sweet spots of the huge land, and the little heaven was abuzz with lively chirps singing into her ears like a lullaby. The young girl had spent most of her life traversing between northern regions, and between industrialized ruins and horrific wastelands she seldom got the chance to appreciate lush greenery, much less one that looked like a fairy land right out of the books. All but forgotten about the terrible stink that wrinkled her nose along the way, the young girl strutted left and right, up and down all over the place with child-like excitement sparkling in her eyes.

The secret path Yang had offered to guide her through was apparently the city's complex underground sewer system. On hindsight it was an obvious choice: unlike most cities, Jiu Xu was built atop the remains of an ancient ruin, and since they were usable the original underground networks were left mostly untouched. Over many years it had grown into a great metropolis; thus naturally demanding a better, larger sewage system to accommodate the influx of people, but as a result the sewers also became as convoluted as a labyrinth. Both old and new tiles mingled together to form an impossible maze too huge to even map properly, coupled with mountain loads of shit and countless ghost stories, it became a place where only the foolhardy or needy would adventure. The Xiao Long family, kingpin of the metropolis, was of course the latter one.

As Ruby continued to gawk at the surroundings, an unusually quiet Yang pulled herself out of the manhole, closed the entrance and stared at her new companion with a chagrin look on her face. The ancient sewers were massive, and the one that passed down this little garden was at least twenty feet away from the ground surface. Normally, Yang would send an encrypted radio signal for her underlings to drop a chain ladder for her to climb when she came by this way. On the other hand, Ruby Rose defied common sense and leaped out of the hole like a rocket the moment the seal was cleared. She did not propel herself using her weapon; she did not even grab the ceiling and cleared twenty feet of height with graceful ease. The feat was a burst of strength born of her strong leg muscles and Aura, and even though she was small in stature, the girl had a lot of both.

"Big sis, I know you're not a show off, but it's best to keep your skills, well, toned down around here. Not even Ren could do that without a run up, you know?" Yang soothed her shocked underling – the poor thing nearly got slammed in the nose by Ruby's sudden appearance – with a few kind words before patting her away.

"Oh, I'm sorry – can you stop calling me that already? It's embarrassing!" Ruby complained while feeling suddenly aware of own her appearance. The blonde woman simply gave her a devious grin as the duo began trekking down a small path of flat stones and said,

"But my great elder sister, you're the bee's knees! You've beaten me so thoroughly in a duel that it is only appropriate that I acknowledge you as my better! Everyone should!"

"Stop, what are you doing – ah, ahahaha," the young girl suddenly noticed that there were a lot more black suited people closing in; mostly to greet Yang but not forgetting to spare a curious look towards her, "Anyway, I'm just a normal girl with normal knees and am absolutely nothing special so just please just call me Ruby already!"

"Oh big sis! Even though you took me down in a second, even though I couldn't move a finger throughout the entire fight, you still insist that you're nothing special. You are the most humble person I've ever met!" Yang exclaimed while bowing full ninety again and again dramatically at her general direction. The curious stares suddenly turned into malevolent ones, and Ruby barely maintained enough self-control not to strangle a certain someone by the neck. Think work, Ruby. Don't let the hateful stares of a thousand people wanting to rip you apart for humiliating their respected senior bother you! Y-yep! Ignoring Yang, the young girl spun towards the cobble path leading towards a huge mansion before walking off rigidly like a robot. The blonde laughed quietly as she signaled at her underlings to fall back to their posts before chasing after her back.

The short walk to the mansion was thankfully quiet, but it surprised Ruby that they took five minutes to reach the front door. The mansion was much bigger than she'd anticipated, and it was easily five times the size than any of those luxurious bungalows she'd seen at the countryside. As they stepped onto the porch – it was practically an open hall at this point – they reached a gold plated, ten meters tall double door carved with intricate Eastern dragons design and countless blessed symbols. A total of five stone pillars surrounded them to support the giant roof above them, which was also extravagantly decorated with dragon heads and mini red lanterns. Even the walls were intricately designed, with round jade symbols and stone shaped paintings and colorful windows covering much of its white space. At this point Ruby was so overwhelmed by the unfamiliar surroundings she did not even react to Yang pinching her cheeks from the side. It took the click of a scroll to finally wake her up,

"Oh. Yang, I have a question."

"Hmm? What is it, big sis?" the blonde quickly hid her scroll with quite the punch-inducing grin, But Ruby's focus was still on the building as she pointed at a strange sight,

"The pillars – why are they blank? I mean your house looks wonderful! Really! Everything except these stones…"

Indeed, in direct contrast to the rest of the building, the surface of these five pillars was curiously void of any decoration whatsoever. Yang looked surprised at her insight as she explained,

"Do you know about our culture? As you can see our mansion is decorated with countless symbols, from dragon's head to gold color to feng shui so on and so on. There are commonly known as the embodiment of wealth, power, good luck and prosperity, so of course we'd like to put it up as many as possible."

She then pointed at the five stone pillars, "However, people can lose sight of themselves when they have too much of a good thing, and these five pillars are here to serve as a reminder. They may be commonplace and uninspiring, but without their support this whole front portion of the building would definitely collapse to the ground. They're here to serve as a reminder that no matter how great our clan became, no matter how much blessings we were granted, we should never forget our roots as a human. That only through hard work and endurance we can make this prosperity last for a very long time."

"… Wow. That was deeper than I thought," Ruby nodded as she pressed a finger at the pillars, feeling their smooth texture underneath her skin, "For all your looks you actually know your stuff."

Yang feigned a look of mock hurt as she walked towards the double doors, "I'm hurt, sis! Which part of me look illiterate to you? Besides, you should never judge a person on first impression!"

"Really? Who's the one who want to smash a cute girl's teeth on first meeting?"

"Uh…" That got Yang good as she absentmindedly pushed a switch against the wall, causing the double doors to groan open, "On hindsight, when there's a maniac running around in the city killing left and right, people tend to get a little anxious, right?"

But Ruby wasn't paying attention to her. The moment the metal doors opened a sizable two shadows abruptly dashed out right towards her, and in less than a second she found a pair of knives pressing against her throat and the biggest hammer she had ever seen stuck before her eyes. Ruby briefly wondered if her nightmare had suddenly come to life, except that even in her head the hammer wasn't this huge. Hmm… is that a grenade launcher this thing's attached to?

"So are we breaking her legs first, or go straight for the head!?" the hammer wielder said in a cheery tone.

"Wow, wow guys, cool your horses! This girl here is my acquaintance," Yang immediately stepped in front of the trippy girl while pushing away the hammer. She then looked backwards at the person behind Ruby and said, "Like seriously, stop. How many times do I have to tell you this is not the best way to welcome our guests?"

"You never informed us, so we only know her as a stranger who came through our secret passage without permission," a calm, male voice rang out from behind Ruby's ears, "I formally apologize for our rudeness, young Miss. But you'll have to leave your weapons behind before you can proceed."

Yang looked like she wanted to say more, but Ruby interrupted suddenly, "The name's Ruby, and I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Lie Ren. My weapon is my life, so please let me have her. I swear I won't bring harm to anyone."

The young man flicked a surprised eyebrow at Yang before he replied, "I see that Yang placed great trust in you to tell you our names. However rules are rules, and I am in no position to disobey them. Nora, if you'd please."

"Ren, I don't think that's a –"

Abruptly the blonde stopped herself before a wicked grin floated upon her lips, and at the same time Nora too gave a surprised yelp. Somehow Ruby had maneuvered her gun to press its muzzle directly against Ren's groin, and with an obvious click of the hammer she knew without looking that the man's face had turned a shade paler. But he remained calm. Ruby was impressed that other than the initial spike of his heartbeat, she could feel no other disorder from his body, "This isn't wise, miss Ruby. You are trading away your life."

"Interesting. Wanna bet? I bet I can shoot you and get away before you can do anything," Ruby declared with such confidence that even Nora looked hesitant. But Ren himself was no coward as he spoke as emotionless as ever,

"Maybe you can kill me, but that will make you our enemy. The price of angering the Xiao Long family is very –"

"Okay, enough with the threats, both of you," Yang wriggled her fingers at a reluctant Nora before turning towards Ren, "I brought her here. I will vouch for her integrity."

Ren shot an unusually intense glare towards Yang before replying, "Yang, forgive me for saying this, but the last 'guest' you brought in wasn't exactly a model citizen."

For a second Yang's eyes blinked red as a cold, murderous intent burst out of her torso, but before Ruby could express her surprise the blonde gave a quiet sigh and it disappeared as quickly as it came,

"Ren, I know I'm not the most honorable person around, but I swear to you she can be trusted. Besides, who cares if she tries anything funny? Da is around. He'll rip her apart so fast she'll need tapes to know how she died."

"Hey! I will have you know that I am a very good Huntress!" Ruby exclaimed indignantly.

Yang rolled her eyes deliberately before turning towards Ren. For a moment they stared unblinkingly at each other until finally, Lie Ren heaved a huge sigh and dropped his arms. Relinquished from the pressure, Ruby rubbed her aching shoulders while giving her captor – a greed clad man with black hair and sharp pink eyes – a dangerous glare, but the next instant Yang slapped the back of the girl's head in warning before laughing boisterously,

"That's settled! Now, are we going to go in or what? Sun's wasting!"

Ren briefly glanced at Yang's direction before looking away, "Right. Nora, you can stop holding that hammer over Miss Ruby. Yang, please do you best to give us a warning the next time you break the rules, and… I'm sorry. For bringing that up."

There it was again, the hint of sorrow warping the blonde's face, but Yang quickly dismissed it with a laughter, "It's fine, it's fine! Like ugh, you really need to get out man; all these formalities are giving me the creeps!"

"The clan will fall within the day if I don't watch over you and Nora. Now then, I believe that we've wasted enough time. Let's go."

With that, Ren calmly took the lead and walked straight into the mansion. Nora puckered her lips dissatisfiedly at the anti-climatic ending, but after a simple shrug later she too trailed after Ren with springs beneath her steps. Ruby and Yang quickly did the same, and as Yang cheekily stuck a tongue at the duo before she gave Ruby a smile, "Well then. That was a little dangerous, dontcha think so sis?"

"It will be dangerous for you if you hit my head again," the red cloaked girl puffed her cheeks and looked away with crossed arms, but it was obviously just a front. The blonde laughed at her childish antic and said,

"Hahaha! Strictly speaking this is your own fault. I've never seen anyone talking so boldly with a knife to their throat; Ren really would kill you even if he has to lose his balls in the process, you know?"

The black-haired Guardian in front of them stumbled immediately, but to his credit he stood back up and continued as if he hadn't heard anything. Yang cackled wickedly at scoring a blow, but to her side Ruby said seriously,

"He will not. I told you earlier, didn't I? I can take you all on except your father. Do you really think I'll let him come this close, if I'm not a hundred percent sure he can't harm me?"

All this time Nora was running circles around Ren like a satellite, but at Ruby's declaration her attention fell completely onto the arrogant girl. Ren quickly grabbed his impulsive companion by the arm before she could try anything crazy, but even he turned to shower Ruby with a wary, almost challenging look before turning his attention back to the front. Meanwhile, Yang Xiao Long was panicking. She had no idea how the girl managed to turn a reasonably amiable atmosphere into a powder keg in less than a minute. Is she stupid or something!? Grabbing the petite girl by the shoulders, she whispered furiously into her ears,

"Stop provoking them! Do you seriously not want to meet my Da?"

"But I was only telling the truth…"

"Maybe you are. But in this case the 'truth' is going to piss people off so much that you'll never achieve your goal! Is it worth it? No? Then shut it, okay!?"

"… Sorry."

The rest of the journey progressed in uncomfortable, but thankfully eventless silence.

"Wow."

Ruby could not suppress a gasp of awe as she looked all around the interior of the various rooms and pathways she passed through. While she would be exaggerating if she said that she had not seen this kind of luxury, but compared to the Xiao Long family they were like piss in a pot. The floor was made of smooth, polished marble which was cool to touch and helped lowered the interior temperature down to a soothing level. The walls – all military grade reinforced steel and concrete, with certain places welded together by the hardest Dust in the world – were hung with a near endless amount of portraits and paintings, and Ruby actually recognized some of them to be incredibly famous arts she had only seen in old books. Along the way, they've even passed through a room filled with stone carvings and statues, and while most of them seemed to be DIY, again Ruby recognized a couple of super famous and super expensive sculptures that had her shudder in awe just walking past them. It was a nerve wracking experience to say the least; the young girl could not fathom how the servants could clean this every day without the fear of breaking them.

At this point, out of pure curiosity Ruby could not help but ask Yang exactly what kind of business they conducted to be this rich, but the blonde woman simply smiled enigmatically and did not answer. Ruby didn't mind it one bit; they were all just people who did what they had to do.

"Here we are. Please wait a second while I inform the Master. Nora, please don't play with that vase."

"Alright Ren! Heeheehee!"

Before she realized, they've arrived at a single room hidden at the end of the hallway to the right of the massive exhibition hall. It was relatively small but cozy, with rows of gold embroidered chairs surrounding a large oval table at the center of the room. At the end of the table was a seat obviously larger than the rest, and it looked to be carved out of heavy stone with two dragon heads framing the top side of the chair. Obviously this this was a meeting room of sorts. As Yang pulled a seat for the gang, Ruby looked towards the far end of the corner to spot another room with its door half-open. A simple wooden plate hung off the metallic handle, and although she did not recognize the strange characters Ruby was willing to bet that they meant the name of the master of this household, Taiyang.

With a quick knock Lie Ren entered right away while leaving Ruby and the others to stew at their seats. Ruby didn't mind it; considering who she was meeting she counted herself lucky to even get an audience. She didn't know Taiyang, but she did know about the Wild Dragon of Vytal, said to be the most ferocious Huntsman whose destructive power was said to be unmatched by anyone across Remnant. She would do well not to anger her host, and Ruby settled herself for a long wait as Yang cheerfully brought them a few cans of soda to make time pass easier.

However, the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes dragged into hours, and never the patient woman to begin with Yang Xiao Long finally couldn't take it anymore and jumped on her feet, "What the hell is taking them so long? They should've called us a long ago! That's it, I'm going in!"

To Ruby's surprise, Nora blocked the blonde's path with a casual smile on her face, "I'm afraid not! No one enter Master Taiyang's room without permission, remember?"

"Are you serious? It's been three hours! Three. Hours! A little more than that and we can have dinner already!"

Ruby glanced at the orange-haired Guardian momentarily, noting once again that Nora Valkyrie was one of the strangest people she had seen in her life. Just a moment ago she had run around as hyperactive as a six years old, and now she is suddenly the loyal guard who brook no offense. It was especially jarring when she recalled their first meeting, when the girl had threatened her with her gigantic hammer with barely restrained blood lust. Even her outfit was kind of strange: Nora wore a collared black vest that ended at her waist, and beneath it were two layers of clothing, colored red and light blue respectively. She also wore a white, sleeveless top with an open heart shape just below her neck, and a detached sleeve on each arm. Finally, the girl sported a pink skirt that ended at mid-thigh and pink white shoes with pink laces. Ruby was sure the outfit was meant to give a cute and endearing impression, but it was like watching a bull strutting about in a pink-and-white dress. Very jarring.

"I can wait, Yang. Let's not trouble Master Taiyang until he's ready," Ruby tried to appease the increasingly aggravated woman to no avail. The blonde began stomping in a circle as loudly as she could while saying,

"You don't know him, big sis. I'm pretty sure he's working on some boring as hell documents, and sometimes he would work on them all the way until midnight. I am not going to waste the entire day waiting when there are better things to do!" Yang tried walking into her Da's room again, but again Nora easily kept her rooted in place with a simple grab of the wrist. Yang stared exasperatedly at her companion until suddenly, something clicked inside her head,

"Hey wait a second I'm the Master's daughter, dammit! Why can't I go in?" Yang exclaimed.

"So? You know there's no special privilege in our group! Equal status to everyone!" Nora chirped in without missing a heartbeat.

"But you let Ren in!"

"He has to report to Master Taiyang! You're just there to burn shit u – I mean, cause trouble." Ruby accidentally spit out her fourth glass of juice and quickly turned away to hide her laughter, pretending not to notice the pointed scowl on Yang's face,

"Okay, so if I promise that I won't make any trouble and that I just want to ah, report, can I go in then?"

"Hmm..." the orange head looked deep in thought as the eyebrows on her head knitted tighter and tighter. Just when Yang thought she'd finally convinced her pal, Nora broke into a most wonderful smile and said, "Nope!"

"Aarrrggghhhh!" Yang exploded into flames, turned to look at Ruby who looked to the other side of the room because she didn't want to get involved, got even angrier before finally growling in a deadly tone, "That's it, on the count of three, if you don't let go I'm gonna punch you so hard that you'll –"

"– do nothing of that sort. We do not punish our kin for upholding the rules of our clan. You on the other hand, daughter, seem to be in need of a lesson."

Abruptly the two women stopped scuffling, and everyone's attention was drawn towards the fearsome who had emerged from the room, with Ren following his footsteps right after with a respectful bow. There was no doubt that this six feet tall blonde-haired giant of a man clad in black traditional clothes Taiyang Xiao Long, lord and hero of this metropolis. His presence alone rivaled some of the strongest fighters she knew, and despite knowing the Wild Dragon of Vytal to be a man of great power her imagination still fell short of the reality before her. Suddenly she realized something chilling: Yang's right. If he decides to become an enemy, I might not make out of this place alive. The young girl instinctively sought out her weapon for comfort, but she quickly let go and forced herself to have a blank but suitably professional expression.

Yang obviously wasn't feeling nearly as much pressure as Ruby was as she strode up towards her father until their distance between them became uncomfortably close, "There you are, Da! What the hell took you so long? We've been waiting here for three hours!"

"Work," Taiyang replied flatly, "A task that you just don't seem to get its importance. One that you'll have to do eventually, if the Xiao Long clan is to continue its great fortune."

"Never! They're all stupid stuff anyway!" Yang replied cheerfully while being intentionally oblivious to the fact that she had just indirectly called her father stupid. Ruby wiped away a cold sweat on the woman's behalf, "Anyway, now that you're here we can finally talk about business. And by that I mean this cute little red here called Ruby Rose!"

All the sudden the entire hall quietened as if encased in ice, and before Ruby knew it she had jumped all the way back to the furthest edge of the room with her rifle blocking stiffly before her. Everyone but Taiyang was shell shocked by the sudden turn of events, and even as the young girl realized that she had made a terrible mistake, she simply could not put her gun away in the face of this unbelievable killing intent threatening to choke her where she stood. Demons be damned, she couldn't even move a single step!

Yang was the quickest to realize what transpired as she acted to stop her father, "Da, what are you doing!? She's a – Aghh!"

"That is my question, daughter," Taiyang said mildly even as the immense pressure expanded not just onto Ruby, but also everyone else in the room. Nora looked furious as she struggled against the unexpected pressure, only to slip on her feet and knock her head on the floor. Lie Ren's face was ghostly pale as he knelt on one knee, shivering like a ship battered on all sides by the great sea. Yang was the only one other than her who managed to remain upright, "I thought you'd have learned from past experience. Do you have any idea who you've just brought through our front door?"

"This has nothing to do with Lily!" Yang shouted in irritation. Who? To her great surprise, Yang actually managed to resist the pressure better than her, as the blonde stepped right between her and her father with a determined look on her face, "And Ruby is not a threat to us! She is my friend, so you stop this right now!"

"Your friend? I have no idea you have friends among The Order, Yang," Ruby's eyes widened in shock – how does he know? – "Not familiar with the term? I guess I should be thankful then, because god help us if you've come across them and haven't bothered to enlighten me," the old man stared at her with cruel red eyes, and it took all her willpower not to bolt for the exit, "So let me ask you again: Is she really your friend?"

Ruby thought that she was done for then, but once again Yang stood up for her like a blade that cut right through the darkness, "Of course she is. Sure I don't know where she comes from and who she's affiliated with, but if I'm the type to dig every dirty shit behind every person I've met I would've left this place a long time ago. So she's dangerous. Who cares? We're just as bad! At the very least, she isn't the kind of person who will stab us the moment we turn our backs. I trust her, so I brought her here." Ruby couldn't see it from her position, but the Yang's eyes had turned completely crimson, "Or are you saying you don't trust me?"

They held each other's glare for a second. Then two. Then ten seconds went by before finally, Taiyang sighed in resignation before releasing his battle pressure. Immediately vertigo struck Ruby as she leaned heavily against the wall, holding up wobbly knees and feeling an embarrassing amount of relief, but at least she was doing better than Yang, who for all her bravado collapsed on her back like a pin that just got smashed by a bowling ball.

"Forgive my rudeness, Miss Ruby," Taiyang walked towards the nearest corner and sat down on a stone chair. He then motioned her to take the seat beside him, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she complied, "But I had to test you. Unfortunately, I don't have the best relationship with your… kind. I apologize if I've offended you."

"Oh, don't mind me. They were never a social group to begin with." Ruby replied wryly as she rubbed her own hands to get some feeling back to them. Now that she could think, she realized that no normal Huntsman could've reacted like she did against Taiyang's Aura pressure; certainly not one of her age, which was the main reason she gave her identity away, "Before you say anything, I want you to know that I'm no longer with them. There is something I have to do no matter what, and The Order disagrees with me. So I ran away."

The shine in Taiyang's eyes glowed brighter with interest, "Ran away? I wouldn't think it possible, although you have proven to be quite the fighter."

"I was lucky. I was on a year long solo extermination mission at some of the coldest places of the North, so..."

Taiyang followed every word with obvious attention, but then he frowned deeply when he saw Yang still lying on the floor, but creeping closer with her fingers trying to listen in. The old man abruptly grabbed hold of a vase on the closest shelf and flung it at his daughter, causing the latter to yelp and leap to her feet. Ooh, she caught the cactus with her bare hands, that must've really hurt, "What the hell Da! – Ow ow ouch!"

"Daughter, this is private business," Taiyang said sternly even as Ruby marveled at their 'astounding' father and daughter relationship, "And since you never showed any interest in them before, I'm sure you would rather be somewhere else."

Yang, in complete contrast to her seriousness before, complained like a child who just had her cookie stolen, "But Da, I'm the one who brought her here! And I want to know more about to Ruby too; it's totally unfair that you get to know things even though you're the one threatening her from the beginning! Cheater! Asshole! Fuckface!"

Is he really your father, Yang? The veins on Taiyang's forehead bulged dangerously, and Ruby quickly interjected before Yang could derail the subject any further, "It's okay, Master Taiyang, she can stay here if she wants. Erm, the same goes to Ren and Nora," she motioned at the duo who was standing guard at the far corner of the room. The duo looked surprised at the unexpected offer, and before Ren could decline Nora had already bounced towards Ruby with an incredibly excited look on her face, "Can we really? Really? Really! That's so kind of you Ruby thank you!"

"Just call me Taiyang. Nora, move away, you're scaring our guest. Also, are you really sure?" the master asked with a mix of concern and curiosity, "I thought that you would like to remain anonymous."

"Well, yes, that would be best," Ruby paused a little before looking at a surprised Yang, "But I owe it to Yang to tell her the truth – or at least, some of it – about myself. She helped me a lot even though I was just a stranger. This is the least I can do to repay her generosity."

Yang held herself high and grinned as proudly as a peacock, even though Ruby spotted a red tint on her cheeks, "Hah! That's right! I know you're a good girl from the beginning, Ruby!"

Suddenly the young girl felt like teasing her a little, "… You were going to punch me when we first met though."

"That was, uh," Yang stuttered at the unexpected jab. Normally she would return the favor in a heartbeat, but everyone was staring at her like she was a psychopathic murderer, "What the hell, it was just a mistake!"

"No need to show off, we already know you're an idiot," Taiyang sighed tiredly.

"Agreed."

"No objections there."

"Yay!"

"Hey!"

"So," Taiyang took a sip from his cup of tea. Lie Ren was surprisingly an amazing tea brewer, "Now that we've settled ourselves, shall we begin?"

"Yes," Ruby nodded as she took a taste from her own, and then another. The long jǐng chá – translates literally to 'Dragon Well Tea' – was so exquisite that she had to physically restrain herself from taking another sip, "Let me start by introducing myself again. I am Ruby, Ruby Rose. Please call me Ruby. And I... am a former Executioner of a covert organization called The Order."

There was only silence. Except for Taiyang no one knew what an Executioner was, and Lie Ren had clamped a hand over his noisy friend's mouth so she couldn't interrupt,

"For as long as I could remember, I've lived and trained under The Order's roof. I have no memories of my parents, and I do not even know if they're still alive – it doesn't matter," Ruby shrugged carelessly at the sympathetic coos from Nora and Yang; as far as she's concerned there was only one person whom she would acknowledge as her true parent, "At any rate, I was brought up to know only two things in my life: secrecy, and Demons. By the way, Demons are a higher, intelligent existence of Grimm, in case some of you are unaware.

The first one is obvious. The Order strives first and foremost to keep their existence a secret, because they are essentially an independent organization that operates completely outside the boundaries of the law. As far as the world is concerned they never existed. As forgotten ghosts that no one will ever know or remember, the Executioners live and die for only one purpose, and that is to exterminate every Demon in the world."

Ruby waited. Sure enough, Nora resolutely peeled Ren's hand away from her mouth – not that the guy stood a chance in the first place when she really tried – and chirped in her two cents,

"Ruby!"

"Miss Ruby, Nora," Ren sighed.

"Whatever!" Nora continued to stare at Ruby with a childlike smile, "Ruby, I'm the not the most intellectual person to talk about this, certainly not even close to Ren's level, but! I thought Demons don't exist, or at least not since the Grimm War, right?"

"They do," Ruby shook her head firmly to emphasis the point, "They have always been here, and they are terrifying monsters you never want to face in your life. The Order's entire existence was created to combat these thingsand keep them forever away from the realms of men, but unfortunately, even that purpose seemed to have changed as of late," Ruby said bitterly.

"Er, Ruby," Yang raised a hand, "How strong are these 'Demons' exactly?"

"Let's see. What's the hardest Grimm you've fought so far?"

"Er, a Rank B 'Giant' Deathstalker. Accidentally disturbed it while I was exploring a nearby cave," the young woman scratched her head with slight embarrassment, "Since I was alone, it's less 'fighting' and a lot more 'running away like hell' though."

Ruby nodded with a smile, "That sounds about right. Yeah, the weakest Demon is about the same level as your Deathstalker."

"… You're kidding."

"I wish," her face darkened a little as she unconsciously tapped Crescent Rose, "Let's take a Rank F 'Mini' Creep-type Demon for example. It has the same form and shape as a normal Creep, except that it has 3 legs instead of 2 and blood red shells. Its attack pattern is a zig zag dive mid-air – don't ask me how the physics work; I've only learned how to kill them – through a Huntsman's chest, and it can bite with power equivalent to a Deathstalker's pincers. The common Huntsmen would get crushed alongside their weapons without ever knowing what hit them, and just like a normal Creep they don't hunt alone," Ruby saw everyone but Taiyang's face paled at the thought of facing such a monster, and nodded grimly, "I think you get now the kind of danger we're talking about."

"Er, Ruby, if I may, how old are you again?" Yang asked suddenly.

The young girl scratched her head at the unexpected question, but she answered honestly, "Fifteen."

"And how long have you been with The Order?"

"Since I was five. Got caught when I pick-pocketed the wrong person," the young girl smiled with a mix of self-derision and fondness for the old memory, "I started hunting Demons since I was nine. Those were the days."

To her complete surprise, Yang suddenly slammed a loud fist onto the table with an absolutely furious look on her face. Taiyang frowned at the loud ring resulting from her metal gauntlets coming in contact with the marble table, but Yang was too angry to give notice, "You're telling me that you fought these – these monsters since you were nine years old? Order my ass, what the fuck is wrong with your organization?"

Abruptly Ruby understood why Yang was so angry. While most Huntsmen and Huntresses were trained at a very young age, they usually weren't put to test against a real Grimm until the age of eleven with supervision, and even then their fiercest opponent was either a Rank F 'Small' Beowolf or Ursa. The notion of pitting these kids against a Grimm that could rip full grown adults like wet paper was certainly outlandish… but only to the common society.

In fact Ruby's first kill was a Rank E Beowolf-type Deviant, but she saw no reason to tell Yang and rile her up further, "Yang, please, it's not as bad as it sounded. Besides I survived, didn't I? In fact, from what I've seen so far I'm actually quite worried about the general Huntsman's combat strength. Here's a question: how long do you think the best Huntsmen team in Jiu Xu will take to kill that Deathstalker of yours?"

"Team QRTZ (Quartz)? In a flash of course! Teal can solo it down without even moving a finger!" Yang brightened visibly at the mention of her home team.

"On average how old are they?"

"Around twenty five."

"And how long do you think it'll take you to kill that Deathstalker? Well okay, you, Ren and Nora as a team."

"Er..." the blonde turned to look at Ren who was shaking his head, while ignoring Nora's excited 'half a flash!' comment, "I guess twenty minutes… maybe? I really can't say because that's the only 'Giant' type Grimm I've ever seen in my life. The hunting grounds here are pretty low level."

"And that's a problem. Don't you see? Give or take, the average age of a Huntsman barely qualified to call themselves 'passable' is 20 years old. When does a Grimm learn to kill people? The moment they're born. How long can they live? Forever, or as far as humans can remember anyway. And how many Grimm are out there? You'll never get a straight answer from any government, but the proper answer is 'infinite'. And this without accounting for the threat a Demon represents."

Ruby sipped her tea before saying with the utmost seriousness, "I have heard recently about the propaganda boasting that we are at an unprecedented time of peace. That is bullshit. Every time someone dies, our numbers decline. Every time a Huntsman dies, their life and the lives of the people they fail to protect goes with them. Despite technological advancement mankind is inching ever so slowly towards destruction, and if it isn't hard enough already those things, those Demons are lurking out there, just waiting for appropriate moment to strike. Of course, there aren't many of them – we would've already been wiped off the planet otherwise – but they exist, and as long as they do people will die.

I for one, am very glad that I am trained at a very young age. That means I'm now strong enough to face those things, strong enough to kill them before they kill me." Ruby said darkly, not noticing the worry etched on Yang's features, "I have no desire to sit around and wait for my doom. If there's anyone who's going to be the reaper, it will be me who holds the scythe. No matter how many they numbered, no matter how powerful they are, let them all come – I'll kill them all."

Ruby did not realize that she was trembling. In fact, when she finally came to her entire body was drenched in cold sweat. Her fingers nearly slipped when she tried to calm herself down with a sip of tea. This was the second time she ever confessed to anyone about herself.

"I believe that would be enough background stories for now, Ruby," Taiyang suddenly spoke, his tone both strong and soothing to the heart, "You are here, for a reason. How can I help you?"

"Yes," Ruby said with soft gratitude, "That's right. As I've mentioned before, I left the Order because there are things that I must accomplish, and I came here because an acquaintance told me that you have the information I need," she shivered involuntarily at lingering thoughts of the past, "Please – do you know about the Lost Altar? Can you tell me where to find it?"

The old man froze, his composure all but gone as he wore a look of utter shock and disbelief. For a second Ruby thought that Taiyang might attack her – in fact his body language said that he was all but poised to strike – but before long, amidst the alarmed looks around them, the old man heaved a long, terrible sigh and set his teacup onto the table.

Yang moved closer with worry on her face and asked tactfully, "Hey Da, are you okay? Do you need to take a break?"

"I'm fine," Taiyang waved a hand impatiently, although he seemed gladdened by his daughter's concerns, "Who told you about that? That's not a secret a girl like you should ever know about, unless –" his eyes suddenly burned with an intensity that startled Ruby, and when he spoke there was a note of near wonder, "I am a fool. Of course – Ruby Rose. And you look so much like her when she's younger; it's just been so long – Will you happen to be her child, my dear…?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean no I – I'm just her apprentice!" Ruby shook her hands frantically while feeling her entire face turning beef red with panic, "I mean, she asked me if I want to, you know, and I said yes because, because – what was I thinking!? I can't possibly deserve the honor anyway; I should change it right now, I –"

"Relax, Ruby, the name suits you well. It suits you very well, so take a deep breath – come, I'll pour you some more tea – and relax, okay?" Taiyang smiled widely and patted the young girl softly at the back as Ruby slowly but surely calmed her racing heart down. She never thought she'd meet another one of her Master's acquaintance. This must be a most unusual gesture from the stern man, because Yang's eyes were as wide as saucers, and Ren had to wrestle Nora to the ground just to shut her up, "I must say that I had never expected to hear anything about her again, much less meeting her daughter – that woman has always been so enigmatic and secretive."

"I'm sorry, Master Taiyang, but do you know my master… well?" Ruby asked curiously. Her master had always been quiet about her past, and no matter how many times asked the woman about her past adventures, she would just give her an enigmatic smile and leaked nothing at all. However, Taiyang seemed to know a great deal about her mentor, and she felt incredibly curious about their relationship.

"I suppose you can say that, yes. We've used to travel together in the past, riding on an airship and flying all over the continent!" Taiyang laughed heartily while slapping a big hand onto her back; his pretense of politeness completely changed into friendliness. For a second, Ruby thought she could see the young man Taiyang might have been in the past, "Those were good times, really! In fact, if it wasn't for that Ozpin I would've made her my woman too! Hahahaha!"

Ruby froze like a statue. Yang, being the daughter saw it coming from miles away as she covered her face and moaned in a low note of despair, "Daaaaaaaaaa…"

"Oh, sorry, that was incredibly rude of me," Taiyang coughed into his hands while trying to keep some semblance of professionalism, even though in Ruby's head the man's image had already shattered into a million pieces, "So, how's she doing nowadays? The only person in the gang I'm still in contact with is Ozpin, and even that the bastard is too busy to chat lately."

He didn't know, Ruby realized while feeling a sense of cold dread, even as her voice became choked at the center of her throat, should I tell him? Obviously he'll be happier if he doesn't know about it. Maybe I should just lie and pretend that everything's okay. And yet… is this really the right thing to do? He's master's companion, he… he deserved to know.

Her breathing hitched, her eyes suddenly blinked on and off like someone was playing with the lights. Not here. Stop. She tried to control her heartbeat, but it was racing so fast. So fast, "I…" Taiyang's initial joyful look was slowly replaced by doubt even as the girl tried yet again to speak something, anything at all, "She's…"

"Da, are we really going to talk about another woman in mother's favorite hall?" Yang's voice rang like a gong through the heavens, seemingly realized that whatever news Ruby had was not a good one and interrupted the talk just in time. Her eyesight suddenly returned to normal again, and the wave of relief that followed after felt almost too good to be true, "In fact, aren't we getting sidetracked here? It's gonna take a whole goddamn week if you talk about those dusty old stories no one cares about, so let's get down to business already!"

"Hey, my adventures were absolutely glorious, you useless daughter!" Taiyang snapped instinctively as the grinning blonde stuck a tongue at him before shooting Ruby a secret wink. The young girl gave a near imperceptible nod, wishing there was a better way to tell Yang exactly how grateful she was. Taiyang turned to look at Ruby dubiously again, but this time the young girl felt well enough to return a smile before saying,

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen my Master in a while. You know how she is."

None of her words are lies, so Taiyang couldn't see anything wrong with her words. Finally he answered, "Bah, that woman. Always running across the globe trying to save the world. But I guess we can talk about her some other time." He drained his tea cup in one go, gave a smack of the lips before finally turning serious,

"Now then. About the Lost Altar, you're in luck. I happen to know its current location, and although it's a little tight I believe you have enough time to make it there before the next cycle. You know about the 5 years cycle, do you?"

Ruby nodded, "Yes I do. It's almost four years, so the next one will be seven months from now, am I right?"

Taiyang gave her an appraising look, "Yes. Let's see. You can take an airship if you want to reach there fast, but the last hundred miles stretch must be trekked on foot. Don't want to draw any unnecessary attention to it."

"Don't worry, I'll walk all the way. From what you've shown me I don't think it'll take too long; five months give or take," the young girl yawned into her mouth and looked at the golden clock hanging above the ceiling – it's eight at night, and since she had gotten what she came for she really shouldn't delay her host any further, "I thank you greatly for your help, Master Taiyang. I won't betray your trust."

"For Rose, this is nothing. You are her daughter, and I would do anything for her – well, almost everything, considering that I owe my life to her," Taiyang rolled his eyes at Yang's scathing glare before smiling benevolently at the red haired girl, "Now then, I believe it's past time for dinner. Will you care to join us? I hope you're not in too much of a hurry."

"Well… I'm not sure if I should stay. The Order might've caught wind of me," Ruby replied hesitantly, but Taiyang gave her a confident smile as he said not without a hint of steel under his voice,

"Don't worry, those maniacs won't dare to enter to my dominion. I've taught them a lesson long ago they won't soon forget."

At the same time, Yang too came over and slung a friendly arm over her shoulders while saying, "You can trust Da on this! Our men won't breathe a word about the guests who visits this house, so you don't need to worry about anyone leaking your presence here. Also, it's just one night! C'mon, don't be a spoilsport!"

"I… well, okay, I accept, I guess – Wuaahhh?"

Out of nowhere, Nora Valkyrie had leaped over her seat into the air to crash onto the duo like a heavy rock. Even Master Taiyang himself had to move a few steps out of the way as Lie Ren, in a rare moment of panic, completely lost his composure, "Nora, what in the name of flying pancakes are you doing? Get off our guest this instant!"

"He doesn't give one shit about me, does he," A flattened, groaning Yang muttered under her breath as she shoved unsuccessfully at the weight behind her back, "Get off me, dammit! It hurts!"

"But I'm just so happy that Ruby's eating with us!" Nora exclaimed cheerfully, "Besides, I've been holding back for so long and I can't even sneak a snack and I was just so hungry that that I absolutely needed to do something crazy! And so I thought, why don't I welcome our new friend with my super epic uber awesome Dive of the Vikingress! Wait, is Vikingress an actual word? Screw it!"

"Get. The hell. Off," Yang growled menacingly, "And you Da, stop grinning at the sideline and bloody help us already!"

"Us? I only see you though," Taiyang said mildly, "If you're talking about Ruby, she's standing right behind you. I'm constantly amazed at how oblivious you are, daughter."

"Wha –? Ruby!" It was only then that Yang realized that the young girl had somehow slipped away just before Nora had crashed down on them, and right now she was scratching her head with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry," she said meekly, "My instincts took over."

Yang could only screech, "You traitor!"

"Enough. Nora, you can get up now, we shouldn't delay in preparing dinner just for that stupid daughter of mine, now, should we?" Taiyang began walking towards the left hallway without even bothering to react towards Yang's murderous glare, "Ren, I trust you to oversee the kitchen as usual?"

"Yes, Master," Lie Ren bowed respectfully at the retreating figure before taking after the man. Then he turned back suddenly with a sigh before pulling Nora by the arm and said, "C'mon Nora, you heard what Master Taiyang said. The faster we get the food ready, the faster we get to eat."

"Okay!" The hyperactive woman finally let herself be pulled into an upright position before following right behind Lie Ren. Ruby found herself unable to fathom the relationship the Xiao Long family shared. Even now she couldn't fathom whether Yang is in good terms with her father, or they hate each other's guts. Neither seemed like the right answer. Speaking of which, did Ren really just said 'flying pancakes'?

Yang huffed to herself irritably as she stood up and patted away at her butt, "I swear, someday I'll leave this bloody house and be free of this nonsense. And you! How dare you escape! If I die we die together! That's what friends are for right?"

"Hahaha, I think that's slightly different than the notion of 'friend' I had in mind," Ruby laughed deadpanning, "Also, I'd rather be a traitor than to be squashed under Nora. Sorry not sorry."

"That is not how you apologize! Arghh!" Yang literally exploded in angry flames as her eyes colored over completely into vivid red. At the beginning it had been slightly alarming, but now it was like watching a life-sized firework. So cool!

"Well, shall we go… somewhere until they call us for dinner?" Ruby pretended she hadn't heard the blonde's outburst and exited the room. Yang caught up with her with an annoyed sigh,

"Haah… fine, I guess I'll tour you around the house a little. This should've been Ren's job, dammit." Yang finally gave up on bursting her own artery. Then, she remembered something, "Hey, Ruby? You're talking about this Lost Altar's location, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"I didn't see him pass anything to you. Are you going to collect them after dinner? Or did he send it to your scroll?"

"What are you talking about? He already gave me the information," Ruby answered with a questioning mark on her face, but Yang looked even more confused than her,

"Huh? When? I don't remember the old fool giving you anything at all! Not even verbal hints!"

"Ah," Ruby suddenly realized what Yang was talking about, "I see what you mean. Actually, he just –"

Suddenly Ruby stopped talking, and her face was scrunched up in a weird frown as if listening to something, even though there was no one around. After a good ten seconds she finally glanced at the now utterly confounded Yang before apologizing, "Sorry Yang, I can't tell you. It's best if you just forget about this."

"Wha – You can't just leave me hanging like that! Why the sudden change of mind?"

"Let's just say that I'd like to avoid trouble," Ruby patted a hand onto her friend's back sympathetically, a sentiment which the blonde woman seemed completely unable to share right now, "And I have been given warning not to actively seek for them. That is an advice that I am inclined to listen."

Yang growled menacingly as she attained sudden enlightenment, and it was then Ruby realized that she really, really, really needed to start lying better in the future. Or at the very least, learn how to sew her own mouth completely shut when the time called, "Oh. Oh. It's that old fool again, isn't it? I don't know how he did it but I knew he did it and you sure as hell don't need to listen to him, like, he's the shameless pervert who almost slept with your master! C'mon, big sis!"

"… You're just as bad as your father…"

It would seem that even if she doesn't try to find trouble, trouble just wouldn't stop finding her. For the rest of their little tour, Ruby could only listen with a grimace to the woman's non-stop complaints until finally, Lie Ren came to her rescue.