"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not cheating!"
The sound of shouting and frustration echoed through a home. It was suburban, a nice neighborhood with not much going on. The kind of place you could raise kids and never worry if they stay out after dark. If you lose a pet, the neighbors would inform you right away. A comfortable place for people to settle down.
The kind of place domestic disturbance explodes. The underbelly of such a place is rife with trouble and strife, as exampled by this display. A house wife in tears telling her husband she did not in fact cheat.
Whether she did or not, is not the question. The threatening look he gave her was answer enough that it didn't matter, only punishment did.
"Don't you ever- EVER betray my trust again!"
The bearded man let out in a growl, demanding and dominant. The woman in turn only nodded her head with wet tears and a fresh pink mark on her cheek.
The sight left disgust in her mouth.
Seeing these sights from a scope did not deter her from finding these people the scum of society.
Back to the scene, the woman was now weeping softly when there was a soft whizzing sound and glass shattering. She jumped, expecting to see her husband had broken something- instead he stood eerily still and made no movement. The closer the woman got she grew more concerned, calling out for her husband.
When she finally got close enough she would see a hole in his suit and a red liquid spreading through it and staining the clothes as he finally fell backwards in dramatic fashion.
In his front stood a bullet wound, and she fell to her knees crying.
It was alright, though. She wouldn't have to suffer alone. Loyal to him to an end, a cycle of suffering- and she was to end it for a simple payment.
Perhaps it was un-empathetic, perhaps it was cruel. But to her it was all she knew, and a job was simply a job. She had watched them for weeks and knew the wife would follow her husband despite the abuse, stuck in that cycle. It was a mercy if anything.
Ruby Rose blew the smoke off her sniper, getting down from the vantage point on top of a vacant house in the middle of the woods with only a brief line of sight available.
She was an assassin and she had done her job. That was all there was to it.
The Bloody Rose. The Red Reaper. She had many names, none of them even slightly associated with her real name other than coincidence. The job of an assassin is to not be noticed after all.
The stone cold stare from just taking a life was paramount to her job. None can afford to show empathy or guilt, you have a job to do and you get it done. Nothing would ever come between her and a job...nothing. It's why she was the best assassin there was. It was why Yang was no longer in the picture.
After all. She was a murderer. Who could care about her?
"Papa! I want up!"
Jaune Arc, a man in his late 20's with long blonde hair tied into a wolf tail and a scratchy beard of stubble went down on one knee to look his daughter in her eyes. Her eyes were a brilliant Emerald, and his a deep blue.
"What do we say, Amber?" He chastised his daughter jokingly. She had rolled her eyes in turn.
"Please Papa?" She asked a bit more politely, putting her hands behind her back. Amber had turned 8 years old recently, and still hadn't grown out of the habit of asking her father to carry her everywhere. Maybe he spoiled her just a tiiiiny bit...
"Good girl for using your manners" He praised her. For the 8 years he's raised her, 6 alone, he always knew her to be a polite girl that always tried her best and minded her manners. She was a dream when she was in a good mood. Of course when she's in a bad mood it turned into a 3 hour screaming match from her end until he caved and gave her what she wanted.
He just didn't have the heart to say no. She was all he had left.
He naturally picked her up, she yawned and leaned her head on his shoulder- seemingly exhausted from walking to the shops today. He lived a bit far off from any main town and as such he always made big trips to the store to stockpile groceries for a month or so. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to buy his 'dream' home of a cozy cabin in the woods.
But back then he wasn't exactly thinking about longevity, he was young and in love. He was barely twenty when he blew his savings on that home. It wasn't long before he moved in that...
"Papa?" His daughter brought him out of his thoughts, a good thing too- his daughter had seen the moments he was too weak to keep up the facade. Never again...
"What is it sweetpea?" He looked to her emerald eyes shining brightly, before pointing behind them.
He turned to see a woman, black hair with a red tip near the front- brilliant Silver eyes and what seemed to be a rather extravagant dress.
"Is she an angel?"
The woman in question chuckled at this, and walked closer to the pair. She gave the girl a wink. "A guardian angel" She said in a joking tone. Jaune gave a small chuckle too, looking to the woman.
"Sorry about that, this girl says what's on her mind."
She'd chuckle at that, giving a warm look and pressing a finger to the small girls nose- to which Amber giggled too. "It's fine, it's not every day you get called an angel by a beautiful little girl"
The compliment made Amber bury her face into her fathers neck, trying and failing to hide the blush. She was an earnest little one.
"She takes after her mother" He said absent minded-ly. The girl in question despite her age was exhausted, and seemed to nod off rather quickly.
"Thank you for that, she's a real handful when she's tired. Jaune Arc" He sat the girl down on the bench they were sitting at, giving the woman her full attention.
"Ruby Rose" She responded with a kind and nurturing smile. She seemed like the kind of person you'd trust with your child at a daycare or something similar.
"That is some dress, did you just get back from a party or something?"
In reality, Ruby had put on the dress as it was the only change of clothes she had secured just in case someone recognized her clothing from the job- it was unlikely but always best to be prepared. Never look the same before and after a job.
"Yeah, something like that. How about you? Bringing your daughter into town?"
"Ah- I was planning on doing the grocery shopping but I kinda have my hands full after she insisted on coming along. Kinda turned into a daddy daughter day."
Something about that pulled on her heart strings.
Assassins were supposed to be cold hearted, but part of that is putting on a facade- she was so used to putting on a fake smiling face and hiding the sadistic side of her day to day activities...it became hard to differentiate them sometimes. She needed to appear as a friendly sweet girl for her persona. However, she would be a liar if she said there wasn't...something there.
Family.
It was a sore subject for the woman. She had rid herself of her family years ago. What was it like to grow up with a father that loved you and didn't train you to compete with your sister for the job of a killer?
Maybe it was a mistake, she wanted to appear as a sweet helpful girl- but that didn't mean she had to get involved.
...So why did her mouth move before her mind could tell her not to?
"Would you like some help? My date kinda ditched me so...I want an excuse to walk around and look pretty. I could also use a ride." It wasn't a complete lie. She had no plans to get back to her apartment today, rather she was planning on staying at a hotel for the night. Would it really kill her to have one moment of just...pretending to be a normal girl for once?
It very well could. That's why she hated herself for continuing regardless.
"Well, I wouldn't say no to an extra pair of hands. A ride seems like a fair trade." Jaune nodded at the offer. He was very outgoing and friendly, Nora and Ren could tell you that. They have countless stories of him wondering into parties he wasn't invited to by getting the directions wrong and coming out with a list of new best friends. "Besides, I don't think you'll need help with the looking pretty part." He said in a friendly tone, trying not to give off an air of flirtatious tone.
She was beautiful, but he'd never make moves on her. He hadn't made moves on anyone in a long time. Pyrrha was true love, and he doubted he'd find anyone like that again.
He swooped up his daughter in his arms, walking down the street to a corner market with the woman he had just met.
"So, I'm an author by trade. How about you?" He had picked up writing out his frustrations and feelings after Pyrrha, and had become somewhat successful- he was living from the royalties from his best seller and had been content to take care of his girl in peace. He wasn't well recognized, he used a pen name and he was quite thankful for that. The last thing he needed was his name and face associated with the best seller about grief regarding his late wife.
"A secretary, kind of boring to be honest." It wasn't a complete lie. In fact she was a secretary in name, but the Schnee Dining Company was not in fact a regular business. One might know it for the cheap tv dinners and various grocery products lined in supermarkets, in reality it was a front for an assassin business. They had deep ties to the underground and that was where she had been hired.
"Ah, I knew a few in my time. There was this really nice secretary at this housing agency- she practically picked out the house for me and Amber! I always wanted to have a little cabin in the woods."
"Hopefully it was nothing like the movie."
"Ha, no underground facilities that I know of. One of my favorite movies though!"
The way the blonde man spoke was something resembling childish glee- like he had never quite grown out of his interests and still relished in them. It was...staggering to see for someone like her- who's childhood was beat out of her for habits more befitting an assassin.
It made her jealous, yet wanting to protect that innocence. Wanting him to have nothing to do with her real work.
On the job she could detach herself, but seeing this innocent man with his child talk so openly...it was hard to ignore.
"So, your daughter. Is the mother..."
"Gone" He answered briefly. Despite the smile, the tone was clearly one of not wanting to talk about it more- yet he obeyed her curiosity out of curtsy. "A fair time now. It's just me and the little angle." He almost instinctively reached out for the girls hair to ruffle- before allowing the girl to rest.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." She didn't quite remember how to comfort people. Comfort was something she was never allowed. She'd learned early to deal with loss as a matter of fact- an inevitability. But there was an image in her mind- of someone she did feel pain towards losing. A soft smile and a white cloak, similar silver eyes- and just like that it was gone.
It almost burned- flickered in the echoes of her charred heart.
"It's alright. Maybe I'll give you the full story someday" There was still a subtle hint of melancholy from that statement, but the man quickly followed it up with a chuckle and a playful smirk. "Gotta keep some mystery about myself, ladies love that stuff right?" He clearly didn't mean any flirtatious tone, nor would she of picked it up if he did.
"I suppose. Should we get a move on? That party left me rather tired." Not a complete lie. Even the simplest of jobs require rest. She had no job coming up soon after this- but sometimes Weiss likes to surprise her with assignments as she's one of the most capable talents.
"Ah- sounds good. Sorry to take up your time like that"
"It's quite alright" She answered politely but honestly. She enjoyed talking with him- seeing an innocent life just...living despite everything that happened. The kind of personality and life she longed to have. Maybe it was selfish, to want to experience more- to imagine what life could be. There was no danger as long as she was not noticed in any outfit she also wore around him and used the time sparingly.
It wouldn't be for long. Just a bit more- for curiosity's sake.
And...something about that smile she couldn't quite place on what effect it had, but it definitely was not normal.
She could think about it later. For now- they had somewhere to be.
She had gotten the groceries back- their house was every bit as sentimental and homely as she imagined. Pictures of his daughter's various achievements- learning the piano and her birthday parties. Some photos had another couple in them- a raven haired man and a red headed girl- more so orange to be precise. She never really understood why that was considered a redhead- especially compared to the actual red haired person in some photos. She had the same colour eyes and hair as Amber, and she realized- that was the mother.
...She looked familiar.
She knows she did not kill her- she remembered every single one of her kills- that's why it was infuriating she couldn't place the face. She knew she knew it- but from where?
The thoughts chased her into the night. Frustration at not being able to place the face, curiosity at this man and his inner most habits and ways to deal with what he's been through- the couple she saw and how much they knew him- and why she longed to be in a photo smiling as they did.
..Smiling.
She was smiling.
How long had it been since she smiled? The memories failed to come- there was no reason to smile in her line of work.
Had she been smiling since meeting Jaune?
Something about him was just...different. The innocence and good will- the way his stuble looked in the sunlight. It was like if her father were a better man- a more attractive man.
Was that it? She had no issues keeping those feelings in check before, perhaps it was because he appealed to that lost girl somewhere deep down that wanted nothing more than to be a normal girl with normal knees.
Whatever it was...she let those thoughts consume her and enter her dreams.
Seeing his face wasn't so bad. It was a guilty pleasure.
One that would end bloody yet blooming.