I'm alive! Sorry for the long wait but my workload has been piling up plus I wasn't really in the mood to write after that debacle that was the last chapter. I also had an idea for another RWBY story and I wanted to know if you all would read it. It would be a RWBY and D-Grayman crossover set in the D-Grayman universe, the idea is that the Earl tricks either Yang or Ruby to summon the other as an Akuma (any fan of D-Grayman would know what that means :(... ) and either breaks free from the Earl's control (if innocent can work with a Noah then why not an Akuma?) or is forced to work for him. If I do make it however I would need your support and suggestions as right now I only have the bare bones of a possible story, I could probably release the first chapter within a week to let you guys get a feel for the story before going all out. Anyway let me know what you guys think and as always thanks for the support.
I don't own RWBY even though it's a steal and I could make a killing...and some other mercenary pun I can't think of right now...enjoy.
The reaper stood on the rooftop overlooking the sleeping city, her enhanced vision making the darkened night appear as bright as day as she searched for her prey. It had been hunting in her territory for too long and had already killed several people but now the hunter was about to become the hunted. Seeing motion below her the reaper saw a fearful blonde walking down the empty streets, constantly scanning for threats. Making sure the girl left the area safely the reaper then turned her attention to the others, who were in position and waiting for the ambush.
Seeing they were ready she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as a loud bellow echoed across the quiet streets, sending animals scurrying to cover while the others got ready for a fight. The silence was maddening as they waited and waited but nothing happened, causing everyone to get a bit restless as they remembered what would happen if they failed.
"Come on where are you?" muttered the reaper as she approached the roof's edge, looking for a sign and only to growl in frustration.
"YOU COWARD SHOW YOURSELF! THIS IS MY HOME! MY TERRITORY! YOU CALL YOURSELF A HUNTER BUT YOU ARE NOTHING BUT WEAK PREY! DON'T LIKE IT THEN COME AND PROVE ME WRONG!" she bellowed before letting out another roar, much louder and fiercer then the first.
There was a brief moment of silence that was soon broken by an angry roar in response that brought a smile to the reaper's face as she saw something rapidly approaching her, "I see you heard me."
"Ruby? Ruby wake up! We have a doctor's appointment!" cried a familiar voice as Red felt herself being shaken awake.
Groaning she opened her eyes to see an annoyed Yang swinging Fort Ruby as its ropes began to loosen, causing the reaper to instantly leap off the bed unless it fell under her weight. She then glared at the blonde who simply smiled and shrugged before pointing to the bathroom and throwing Red her clothes. Grumbling the reaper headed into the bathroom to get changed and sighed as she got ready for another series of early morning medical tests. It had been a week since she recovered from her rampage and ever since Ozpin had been making her have daily checkups to ensure it didn't happen again, needless to say even though she understood the necessity of the tests she still hated it.
"Stupid tattoos, refusing to fade," she grumbled, catching her reflection in the mirror.
While all the other traits had faded over time like her eyes and hair, the tattoos stubbornly remained and not only that but they were still working. The poor doctor had nearly called security when they started glowing due to Red losing her temper during one of her many checkups. So far aside from glowing when she got mad the runes hadn't done anything else but Red had long since given up on the hope that they'd disappear, in fact she suspected the real reason for these continued tests was to see what effects it had on her.
Following Yang to the infirmary Red sighed as she prepared for more tests, all the while not giving her recent dream anything more than a passing notice. She'd been having many like that since the week started and had long since gotten used to the strangeness of them.
General Ironwood looked around at the scene before him with disdain, eventually crossing the police tape and heading into the crime scene. He grimaced slightly at the torn up remains of a body in front of him and turned to the alley's blood splattered surroundings, noting the blood trail leading from the street and up the wall.
"What have we got?" he asked the nearest officer with a tired sigh.
"Sir! The victim's name is Ashley Grey, a tiger Faunus that recently moved here from one of the outlying settlements. Like the other six her body was hidden on the roof before the wind blew it down into this alley where it was then discovered. She had been torn to shreds by sharp objects and the cause of death was a bite to the jugular, everything points to the classic signs of a Grimm attack," informed the officer.
"Time of death?" replied the general.
"Again it's been estimated to be between 12 and 3 two nights ago, the same as the others," answered the man.
"So we're looking for a nocturnal Grimm that not only escaped the purge during the Breach but is extremely intelligent and skilled enough to hide the body after a kill," mused the general in a worried tone. "Search the area! This is the first time we've found a body near the place of death, the Grimm must have left some trace behind, hair samples, a broken tooth, anything to help us identify what we're dealing with here."
The surrounding officers all nodded and the forensic teams began to search the area while the general and the other officers left so they didn't containment the area. However as Ironwood was waiting he noticed something odd, a woman he had seen walk past the area not ten minutes ago was back. He frowned as he watched her walk into a nearby café and take a seat, his frowned deepened as he noticed her movements. They were far too efficient, too disciplined and far too military.
"Do either of you to have a plastic bag?" he asked the two officers surrounding him.
They just gave him a confused look before handing him an empty plastic bag which he took before gesturing them to follow him. As they walked past the woman Ironwood popped the bag, making a loud crack right next to her. His gaze narrowed as he saw her instinctively reach for her waist, exactly where a sidearm would be kept. With his suspicion confirmed the general approached the table with his escort before sitting down in the chair opposite her.
"I hope you don't mind if I sit here do you miss…" prompted Ironwood.
"Mary. Mary Sue. And who might you be sir?" replied 'Mary', who to her credit didn't show any signs of worry at the two police surrounding her.
"Ah aren't you well mannered, my name is James Ironwood it's a pleasure to meet you," smiled the general.
"Likewise but I'm afraid that seat is reserved for my boyfriend," said the woman with an apologetic tone.
Ironwood's smile simply grew, "really? What's his name?" he tested.
"John. John Smith," answered the woman without hesitation.
"You both have such interesting names as well as an odd accent. Clearly not from Atlas, or Vale for that matter. Tell me what kingdom did grow up in?" he queried.
"Outside the kingdoms, our home wasn't that great so we moved to the city," she replied with a shrug.
"Tell me 'Mary' did you ever receive military training?" continued the general.
The woman just frowned, "no why do you asked?"
"Well you see once you join the military some of the instincts from your training are impossible to break. Your every movement is for maximum effect and efficiency, you radiate an aura of discipline that is near impossible for another solider not to pick up on," informed Ironwood.
"I wouldn't know," replied 'Mary.'
"Of course but did you know? When an unexpected stimulus activates the flight or fight response, soldiers will often reach for their side arm even when they are unarmed. It is instinctive behaviour that is drilled into recruits from day one and is near impossible to break," he smiled holding up the burst plastic bag.
"Now 'Mary' I would like to know what you are doing spying on a crime scene and please stop reaching for the knife you have so cleverly concealed in your skirt," ordered the general as his smirk dropped and the two officers moved to restrain the woman.
Unfortunately the general never got an answer to his question as the minute the officers tried to restrain her she flipped the table in his face before grabbing one of the officers arms and sending him crashing to the ground. The other quickly reached for his side arm only to have a knife thrown into his arm, causing him to drop the gun and cry out in pain. Not waiting for either Ironwood or the other officer to recover the woman sprinted down the streets with the general growling as he sprung to his feet, following close behind. Only to see a car pull up beside 'Mary' to which she jumped in and the vehicle began speeding down the highway.
Realizing the chase was lost Ironwood put out an alert for the vehicle on the police scanners before heading back to the crime scene where he found the wounded officer being treated by his counterparts. The general looked at the knife that had been placed in an evidence bag and frowned as he made out two words engraved into the blade; 'Semper Vigilans.'
"General we found something at the crime scene that you're going to want to see," informed one of the forensic teams.
"Good at least something's gone right today," replied Ironwood as he followed the man and stopped in shock at the sight that greeted him.
Carved into the very pavement below them he saw five jagged claw marks clearly caused by the Grimm and his eyes widened as he recognized the markings. Shaking his head and giving another tired sigh the general turned to the officer.
"Inform the Vale council that we know what we're dealing with and that we now have a suspect for the murders. Also prepare my Bullhead I have to get to Beacon immediately," he ordered the officer.
As the officer ran off Ironwood sighed, "sorry Oz but this for the best."
Red groaned as she rubbed her arms that were still itching from all the recent blood tests and silently cursed Yang for ditching her at the infirmary but stopped as she heard two familiar voices. Following them she saw Sun and Neptune surrounded by a crowd of students from every school and began working her way through the crowd, trying to figure out what was going on.
"The guy was bleeding on the ground with a large chunk of his leg bitten off and was being chocked by the beast. We couldn't just leave him and in that instant we knew what we had to do," exclaimed Neptune.
Sun the stepped forward to take over the story, "so with no regard for our own safety Neptune and I charged in and WHAM! I slammed my staff into its head and sent it flying through a nearby wall, causing it to collapse while Neptune helped the guy up."
Red just stopped and frowned as hazy memories from her rampage began to surface before she grabbed her scroll and dialled two numbers. As her trademark smile grew on her face Red hung up and walked up to the two members SSSN's makeshift stage, completely unnoticed as everyone was focused on their story.
"But then the dust cleared and the beast walked out, its wounds appearing to be nothing but an annoyance to it. We both just stood there watching it while it did likewise, giving us a hateful glare before it grew armour," said Sun as he turned to his teammate and paled as he caught sight of a red glowing reaper smiling at him.
Misinterpreting his friend's pause Neptune spoke up, "suddenly it leaps into the air towards us, missing us by inches and crushing the ground beneath its feet. It must have had the strength of ten men, no ten Ursi! Right Sun?"
The blue haired boy turned to his friend and frowned as he saw the monkey Faunus' pale form staring at something before hearing a chilling voice from behind him, "oh no don't stop now the story's just getting interesting."
Swallowing fearfully Neptune slowly turned around and saw the fuming reaper look into the crowd before giving them an worryingly innocent smile as she approached, "now what are you two doing?"
The two boys shrunk under her glare as they tried to look for a way out, only to remember the crowd watching them. It certainly wouldn't do their reputations any favours if they ran from a 15 year old girl with this many people watching them, they could already hear the jokes being made at their expense.
"We were just telling the students about the…err…creature that attacked during the Breach incident," explained the monkey Faunus, only to sweat as Red's grin grew wider.
"Oh really? You mean the creature that we were told not to talk about under any circumstances by both Ozpin and Ironwood? Now what on earth could have been so important that you two would disobey the Headmasters of two academies?" she pondered in an innocent tone.
Before either of the two could answer a voice from the crowd spoke up, "is it true Ruby? Did it really have the strength of ten Ursi?"
Red paused as she tried to piece together her hazy memories, "hmm…more like 20," she announced.
"Wait if it was so powerful how did you all take it out?" asked another skeptical student.
"Oh we didn't, it took Port and Goodwitch to finally bring it down by throwing a car at it and tying it up in chains. These two idiots were knocked unconscious shortly after they rescued that injured guy," explained Red.
"Hey! We nearly died and I have the scars to prove it," argued Neptune as he unbuttoned his shirt and showed them all a long scar running across his chest.
"They're so brave," gushed a female member of the crowd.
The two members of SSSN grinned and high fived each other before turning back to Red, "that's why we disobeyed them," said a smiling Sun.
"Oh? And what do Blake and Weiss think of this?" asked the reaper with raised eyebrows.
"Well they don't actually know about this," admitted Neptune before they both froze as they realized what he'd said.
"But you wouldn't tell them would you?" asked a frantic Sun.
"Well I never did payback you guys for tricking me into that bet with Yang but I'm feeling generous, tell you what give me ten lien each and I swear I won't tell them," promised Red as she held out her hand.
"You're evil incarnate," grumbled Neptune as they both gave her the money.
Red just grinned at them, "when you hang around Roman long enough you tend to pick up some of his tricks. Besides you two had it coming, right Blake? Weiss?"
"Sun!" "Neptune!" growled the two members of RWBY as they emerged from the crowd and surrounded the two boys.
"Blake, Weiss, what are you two doing here? Aren't you supposed to be studying in the library?" greeted a fearful Neptune.
"Oh I called them here, after all I didn't want them to miss out on this riveting story," explained Red to the horrified duo as she cheerfully pocketed the money.
"Sun, Neptune, we need to have a little chat with you," hissed Blake as she and Weiss drew their weapons.
The two boys paled and immediately bolted for the nearest exit with the two members of RWBY following close behind, "bye guys have fun in the dog house, come back when you understand what a secret is," waved Red innocently as two male cries of pain echoed from the main hall.
"Ruby Rose please report to the Headmaster's office immediately," announced the PA system, causing Red to frown before heading off.
"General you're making a mistake, just look at her tests. She isn't showing anymore signs of Feral transition then I am," growled Goodwitch.
"I have seen the tests and that is the only reason I am doing this instead of eliminating her outright," replied Ironwood.
Glynda just glared at him, "she is our student you have no right to-"
"I have every right Glynda, the council has given me permission to do as I see fit to ensure the Vytal festival is safe for everyone. That includes jurisdiction over Beacon students," interrupted the general.
"This is madness, Headmaster please talk some sense into him," begged Goodwitch as they all turned to Ozpin.
The man just put down his mug and looked up to his friend with sad eyes, "James, she's just a girl. A child. She has suffered enough as it is."
The general's eyes softened, "I know Ozpin. Believe me I know but I must put forth the safety of our people ahead of Miss Rose's desires."
"Qrow and Taiyang will find out, you can't hide this from them," warned the headmaster.
"Then we both better start digging our graves then shouldn't we, after all I'm not the only one who kept secrets from them," replied Ironwood.
"James, please don't do this," begged Ozpin.
Ironwood just shook his head, "I can't, these orders come from not only me but the Vale and Atlas councils as well. They wanted her to be eliminated and this was the only compromise I could make, it's either this or the firing squad."
Ozpin just gave a defeated sigh as he pressed a button on his desk, "I need Ruby Rose in my office immediately."
"You're making the right decision Ozpin," assured the general.
"An innocent soul, no matter how strong it might be, can only take so much abuse before it breaks. Pray that you are not the one to do so General," warned the headmaster coldly as the door opened.
"You wanted to see me Headmaster?" asked Ruby as she walked in only to be restrained by two of Ironwood's guards.
"Ruby I'm sorry," apologized the headmaster as she struggled in the guards grasp, her tattoos starting to glow.
"Ruby Rose you are hereby under arrest for the suspected murder of Ashley Grey and six others. You will be detained until further notice or proven innocent," announced the General before nodding to the guards whom dragged the shocked reaper out of the room.
"She's innocent General, you're making a mistake," said Ozpin.
"I pray that you are right, for her sake," replied Ironwood as he left the room.
"Headmaster are you alright?" asked Glynda as she watched him look down at his mug in sadness.
"Glynda contact Qrow and Taiyang, tell them I have something important to discuss," he sighed.
"Of course Headmaster," replied Glynda.
Well there we go hopefully that was a better quality then the last chapter, anyway feel free to PM or review what you think of the other story idea.