ARC II

On my Signal

"Hazel Ackerman,"
"Here"
"Aaron Bell."
"Here"
"Kiro Beccim"

After two weeks at Signal, roll call had become just so much background noise to Ruby. She listened with half an ear while doodling in her notebook.

"Walta Black."
"Here"

Ever since her success building Somber Thorn (the hold-your-hand step-by-step designs her starter kit came with aside) Ruby had been trying to make more complicated weapons. Granted, she couldn't make anything at school until her second year, with its mandatory shop class. But until then she was more than able to draw.

"Robin Red"

Mechashift was… really, really, complicated, and so was the engineering and… math… behind it. Along with math in general. Some days, pre-algebra made Ruby's head spin, and it was only due to the constant assistance from Cinder and Blake that Ruby was passing the class at all.

"Ruby Rose."

"Here." Ruby chirped. She finished one last detail on her diagram before sliding her notebook into her desk and pulling out last night's homework.

First class of the day was History.

In Ruby's opinion it was completely meh, as were many of her classes. She guessed that came from being home schooled for nearly a year, and being able to do everything on her own time. Even though she had started out behind kids her age when Cinder had found her, Ruby had managed to almost catch up with the rest of her class at Signal by the time she showed up for her first day.

It was because Cinder focused on the material she needed to know to advance, like math, spelling, and reading. Ruby hadn't done anything related to history in almost two years.

"Everyone," Mrs. Knott said. "Please pass your homework up to the front of the room."

Ruby's desk was in the front row, far away from both Yang (who she was slowly rebuilding her relationship with) and Blake (who was likewise separated from the rest of the faunus kids). Ruby turned around in her seat as the girl behind her passed the stack of papers up.

She let go of them right before Ruby could get a good grip on them, letting them spiral to the floor.

"Ruby!" The older girl admonished. "Don't go dropping everyone's homework!"

"Is something wrong girls?" Mrs. Nott asked.

Ruby sighed, sliding out of her chair. "No ma'am."

She ignored the other girl's smirk as she gathered up all of the homework sheets, then handed them to the teacher without any further fuss. Really, she didn't understand how stuff like that was supposed to affect her.

The snickers of her classmates were what really hurt.

"Quite down class." Mrs. Knott said as she turned to the blackboard. She quickly wrote a few lines of notes. "Today we'll be learning about a very important topic: the founding of Vacuo. The kindom of Vacuo was originally known as Castle Vacuo, part of a much larger kingdom called Valerein. That kingdom began to fracture in the year one thirty five, when the Grimm first started to appear…"

The sound of note-taking filled the room.

After history came math, which Ruby struggled through valiantly, in the name of all the weapons she might build in the future. Then they that Ruby's all-time favorite class, Conditioning and Combat Training (CCT).

CCT took place outside, or in one of the large studios with padded floors and racks of light weights. Ruby's classroom had a floor to ceiling mirror that dominated one of the walls.

CCT was fun. And Ruby very much enjoyed the break from the classroom monotony, even if she didn't understand why the teachers wouldn't let her use her semblance during runs.

But there was one thing that Ruby had been looking forward to since the first day of class. The teacher, a retired hunter with more grey than black left in his hair, walked into the room five minutes before the start of class proper. She could barely contain her excitement as he looked over the class and said:

"Sparing practice."

There were permission slips to be handed in, which Ruby did with glee, and some simple sparring pads to be handed out, which Ruby was too small for, but that was fine. She didn't plan on getting hit anyway.

Only about a quarter of the class would be participating in practice at the moment. The last thing the teachers wanted was for kids who weren't quite ready to hurt themselves. The rest of the class would be stuck watching until they had their own auras gradually opened up for them throughout the course of the first semester.

"Those of you who have already discovered your semblance, please refrain from using it during these spars." The instructor looked pointedly at Blake, Ruby, and Yang.

Ruby pouted.

"The purpose of sparring is to allow you to use the techniques learned in 'lecture'. More importantly, it is to force you to use those techniques in a live setting. So remember, while I expect each of you to perform to the best of your ability, this is simply practice, not a competition." The ex-hunter planted his hands on his hips as his eyes swept across the room. "This is also a live combat exercise, and so you are expected to obey all the rules of sparing etiquette while you are in the ring. Any rule breaking… and you'll end up in detention faster than you can say 'Vytal' understood?"

A wave of serious nods rippled throughout the room.

All of the kids participating today, with the notable exception of Blake, were the children of hunters and huntresses. Even if they had playful streaks on their own time, or were outright hell raisers in any other setting, they understood the danger of combat.

Perhaps they understood it too well.

"First up, Blake Belladonna and Marc Greeleaf,"

"Good luck Blake~!" Ruby whispered. Blake shot back a quick smile before she made her way to the center of the room.

Opposite her stood a human boy, a few inches taller and at least five pounds heavier than Blake.

The instructor flipped a switch, and a decently sized ring embedded in the floor pads lit up, delineating the boundaries of the spar.

"The match is over when one of you is pushed out of the ring, or when I say it's over." He said.

"Begin."

Blake took two quick steps forward and opened with a low kick, forcing Marc to take a step back. She pressed after him with a swift series of punches and kicks, forcing him to retreat or making him stumble whenever he tried to block.

"Gah!" Marc hopped back once more as Blake's fist caught him in the stomach, and Blake dropped her stance. Marc looked at her in surprise before glancing down at his feet. "Oh…"

"The spar goes to Miss Belladonna" The instructor said. Marc continued to stare at the ring, which he had stepped across without even noticing. "Excellent working taking the initiative."

Blake nodded. "Thank you, sir."

Marc shot her a dirty glare as he slipped back into the crowd.

The ex-hunter turned to face the rest of the class. "Let this be an example for all of you. Combat isn't going to slow down like a teacher will so you can take down notes, or figure out the answer to a question! The purpose of this class is to get all of you used to the speed and of combat, so that you don't have to pause to think about throwing a punch and just do it." He paused for a moment, making sure his point was impressed upon the class. "Alright. Next up is…"

The next two boys were both clearly not used to fighting. They circled each other warily, probing and pulling their blows at the last second, until the instructor told them to stop. He spent a few moments given them pointers, before moving on.

It had been slow enough that Ruby had started to yawn.

Then Yang stepped up and bulldozed her opponent out of the ring, literally tackling them across the line. Then, when the instructor asked what she was thinking, she pointed out how the other girls head had crossed the edge of the ring before her.

"Atta girl." He said, clapping Yang on the shoulder. "It's good to know your strengths, but I don't think it'll kill you to learn some finesse before the end of next week eh?"

"Yes sir!" Yang grinned toothily as the other girl climbed back to her feet, rubbing a bruised stomach.

Ruby's match, likewise, was nothing much to speak about. Her opponent had nothing on Emerald.

She felt the glares of some of her classmates as she skipped back over to her friends. But forget them, she just took down a girl three years older than her who probably had more private tutors than button on her hoity-toity pea coat! And boy did it feel good. Ruby bet that girl wouldn't be laughing at her again any time soon.

Maybe school wouldn't be so terrible after all.

"School is the worst thing ever, of all time!"

Yang plopped down next to Ruby on the bench. "What's wrong Rubes?"

"Everything!"

Yang rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "That sounds… pretty bad?" Despite her… somewhat renewed relationship with her younger sister, Yang still didn't know where she stood with Ruby. Some days they got along like they'd never been apart.

And some days Ruby's abandonment complex came along and kicked Yang in the teeth.

Ruby pouted more and looked away. Yang sighed; today was going to be one of the bad days apparently.

"It's nothing." Ruby said.

"Sooo…" Yang glanced over at Blake, who shrugged apologetically. With no help from the cavalry, Yang continued on bravely into the howling dark… "Is it nothing or everything?"

Rube turned and glared at Yang. "What if it's something?"

… and promptly failed at the first encounter.

"Aww c'mon Rubes, don't be like that!" but Ruby had already turned back to her meal, scarfing down her second helping cafeteria food, before exiting the lunch room.

Yang slumped.

Blake closed her book and picked up her own tray. "She's just upset because of the bullying."

"Someone's been bully my little sister?!" And that was another scorch mark that the janitor would have to clean up…

Blake rolled her eyes. "And you wonder why she doesn't tell you these things…"

"Huh?" The inferno of righteous-sibling-protection was extinguished. "What else doesn't she tell me?!" Blake just left the table and started walking. "Blake… Blake! Wait up…! What else isn't Ruby telling me?"

"Just… leave well enough alone will you?" Blake shot back. "The last thing she needs right now is you pushing her on top of everyone else."

And with that Blake ducked into her next classroom.

Unfortunately, Yang's next class was all the way on the other side of the building, so she didn't have time to stop and bother the resident cat faunus about her sister any longer.

She let out a defeated sigh as she joined the flood of kids in the hallway. "Leave well enough alone, she says." Yang muttered angrily. Well it certainly wasn't well enough for her, "Dumb little-sister-stealing cat…"

An arm clapped down around Yang's shoulders. "Faunus kids giving you trouble too?" A voice asked. Yang looked up.

"Uumm…" She glanced away from the older girl who had picked up on her off color remark. "Not really…"

The girl just grinned. "Uh-huh. Listen, Yang right?" Yang rolled her eyes, like there were any other girls in her year with boy-length blond hair and violet eyes. "I've heard from my cuz that you're pretty good in the sparring ring right?"

"Yeah…?"

"Great!" The girl let her go. "Come to room 305 after classes are done okay? Won't take five minutes!" Then the rush of students swept them both apart. Yang quickly found her feet again, and made her way to her next class with plenty of time to spare, but the older girl's words wouldn't.

And she hadn't even gotten a name…

Yang sighed to herself as she willed the clock to tick by faster. Between her worries about Ruby and that other girl, she'd already completely lost the thread of the class topic, and was just waiting for classes to end for the day so she could at least solve one of those problems.

She reached up to toy with a lock of her hair, something she could waste hours of class time doing, only for her fingers to brush against her cheek instead.

Yeah… I cut it short. Yang sighed again. She tended to forget her new haircut every time she spaced out.

It had taken her years to grow her hair out to the middle of her shoulders. And even if it had been ratty after spending a year and a half on the streets, that hadn't been anything a quick trim and a few extra doses of shampoo couldn't fix.

When Yang was younger, younger even than Ruby was right now, she'd dreamed of growing her hair out down to her waist, just like her mother used to have.

The Grimm had torn it up something nasty, but that wasn't the reason why it was so short. She'd gone to the barber and gotten her locks evened out, firmly intent on growing her hair back to its previous length and beyond. Then she went and saw Ruby at that book store…

"You spent more time looking after your hair than you did me!"

Things had happened.

It still hurt to remember that, even if that horrible vicious fight had opened the doorway to forgiveness.

Ruby was never one to hold a grudge. Even if she still couldn't forget how Yang had abandoned her, she didn't really wanted to hurt Yang for it.

Or at least Yang hoped Ruby didn't

They both cried over Yang's hair the next time they met up.

"I would give up anything to have you back! See?"

Because her hair was just another thing the two of them had lost. Something else that couldn't be regained, not really. She ran her hand over her short hair one last time, missing the feeling of weight that used to come with such a gesture.

Shaking herself out of her melancholy, Yang tried to focus on the teacher one last time. Hopefully, she could distracter herself from the meeting at the end of the day. But when the final bell rang, she was out of the door like a rocket, racing up the stairs to the third floor.

Only Ruby herself could have done it faster.

Unfortunately, in her hast to get to the classroom, she beat the older girl there. Actually, the class had barely let out by the time she opened the door, and Yang was forced to step back and wait for all the older students to exit.

Finally, she got into the room as the teacher left, sparing her an odd glance, and Yang sat down at one of the desks.

About a minute and a half later the girl arrived, along with two other students a year or so above yang. A boy and another girl. They all seemed rather surprised that Yang was already there.

"You're pretty fast ain't cha?" The older girl said with a grin. She walked up to Yang and held out her hand. After a moment Yang shook it. "I'm Amber. And these two goons are Coral and Hue Lang."

"Hey…" Yang eyed the other two. "So… why'd you wanna talk to me anyway?"

Amber grinned. "Just looking out for a fellow human, ya'know?" She said. "Looked like you were having some trouble with that Faunus girl, and I was wondering if there was any way I could help."

"What?" Yang shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that." She looked at the three older students one last time. "Um, thanks for watching out for me, but I really should go…"

Amber shrugged.

"Don't feel like you have to leave just yet." Coral said with a nice smile. "The two of us are actually here because we're all in the same club, Amber is just our friend. She doesn't like seeing students getting picked on."

Or is it that she doesn't like when Faunus kids pick on normal kids…

Yang shrugged, shifting her shoulders back and forth. "I have somewhere to be. I only came because Amber said it would be quick."

"Nonsense!" Amber said, clapping Yang on the back. "Our club is right up your alley."

Hue gave a wry smirk. "Amber, if the girl has to go she has to go." He opened the door for her. "Please forgive our over exuberant friend. She means well, just doesn't know how to show it sometimes."

Amber pouted at him, crossing her arms.

"Well…" Yang looked around the room, "What's the club?"

"Sparring Club of course!" Amber said. "Why do you think I said that I heard you were good at sparing?"

"Huh." Yang shrugged. "I just thought you were making conversation or something."

"Blaspheme! I never just make conversation." Amber shot back. "Interested in staying then? Like I said you seem like the perfect candidate for Sparring Club."

"Sorry." Yang said with a small smile. "I actually do have to go soon. But it sounds fun, when do you guys meet?"

"Every day of course." Coral said. "Since it doesn't start right after school, all of our friends meet up here, and then we go to the sparring room together to meet up with the rest of the club." She frowned at the door. "A few more should be showing up soon… but in either case you're more than welcome to join us."

Hue and Amber nodded. After a moment Yang shrugged and grinned. "Sure, I'll be back up here tomorrow."

"Great!"

Ruby was surprised when Cinder's chauffeur pulled up next to her when she was a block away from school.

She didn't know how the man did it, but whenever Cinder needed Ruby, her chauffeur found her within minutes. There was one time that she forgot her scroll at the penthouse (it was an accident! Honest!) and he still managed to track her down, even though Ruby was wandering through the docks at the time.

Shrugging to herself, she pulled open the back door and slipped inside. The car pulled smoothly away from the curb as Ruby settled into her seat, dropping her school bag on the floor.

"So what's up?" She asked the driver.

"Miss Fall requested that you be brought to her after school, Miss. Something about practical experience." He smiled kindly in the mirror. "I believe she simply wishes for your presence, now that school has stolen so much of your time from her."

Ruby grinned happily. Possessive Cinder was always much more open to tacklehugs, which were Ruby's preferred form of greeting.

"Your gear, along with Somber Thorn, are in the compartment in front of you, Miss." The driver said. "I was told to inform you to be ready upon arrival."

"Okiedokie!"

With a nod, the chauffer rolled the screen up, so that Ruby could get changed in peace.

The first time she had to do this, she was nervous that someone would catch sight of her through the windows. After the first few trips she realized that all of the windows were actually solid black one way glass, but it was still a bit odd to change in the back of a car.

She was getting used to it.

Ruby's 'combat gear' consisted of a light grey long sleeved shirt. It had lining on the inside, making it more durable, but also heavier, than it appeared. She also wore running flats, along with a short skirt and matching leggings.

Somber Thorn sat in a sheath at her right side, partially hidden in the folds of her skirt, while being easy to draw all the same. Sadly, she had to take off her cloak and leave it in the limousine, something about it being 'too distinctive', Cinder had said.

The limo dropped Ruby off by a warehouse at the docks. Cinder and Emerald were already waiting inside, looking over a map. Cinder has on a skintight black suit and domino mask, though Ruby thought the mask wasn't really concealing enough.

It didn't even obscure the color of her eyes!

Cinder looked up with a smile, "There you are, little gem." She said. "We were just getting ready to begin."

Ruby walked up to the table, torn between excitement and anxiety. "Sooo… what are we going to be doing?"

"You two," She points at Emerald and Ruby, "Are going to be raiding a warehouse owned some two bit thugs." She said. "I'll be dealing with any reinforcements they call in. If the two of you are smart you shouldn't have any trouble."

Ruby and Emerald shared a glance.

"No back up…?" Emerald asked.

"Of course not," Cinder smirked lightly. "You're my little girls after all." There was a poignant paused. "Everything you need to know is on the map."

She faded out of sight before the two glanced back at her.

Ruby moved up to look at the map. The warehouse had two entrances, front and back, and several small notes in the margin detailed the number of guards and the type of equipment they were likely to have.

Nothing worse than swords and dust pistols by the looks of it, also there weren't likely to be any faunus in attendance.

"Think we should split up?" Emerald asked.

Ruby shook her head. "Cinder said we had to be smart about it…"

"True, we're both good, but they're still gonna be armed, and if they're any good we're going to have trouble taking them down silently."

"So let's stick together and try and pick them off!"

Emerald cocked an eyebrow. "That could work… but we'd have to do it without making a single mistatke!"

Ruby grinned, "You can count on me!"

A/N: And I'm back from the dead!

So, I'm going to do my best to get back on a regular update schedule now. However, I've started working on another project as well.

Not sure how well I'll manage, and sorry about the short chapter (it was either this much or wait another day at least). But some important things have happened.

More action to come in the next chapter! And I try my hand at writing extended action sequences once more!

Don't forget to follow favorite review!

Also, I have two pictures of Yang with short hair, but hates outside links, so any suggestions on where I should post them to share?