Prologue
Ruby Rose ran. She had been spotted and had to get away from the guards to avoid getting captured. She had been on a mission to assassinate one of the templar commanders in town in order to draw out bigger fish. She had chosen a spot for the shot well and had fired exactly when needed. But sadly for her, there were guardsmen in the building and she had to make her escape through the roofs. She had succeeded on her mission, but now, she had to get back to the hideout. She heard commands from behind.
"Halt! Stop right there!". As she had no intention to listen she heard shots fired at her. Followed by command to aim and fire. Shot rang in the air as she speeded up, jumping from roof to roof just like she had been taught by her mentors.
She had been an assassin for around a year now. But what had caused this young woman to choose life like this? Life of secrets and hiding. Life of death and running. Answer to that question was, pure chance. Had she not taken a few wrong turns at night, she would have stayed in school. She would have eventually married and settled in like it was expected of women in society. But there were also personal reasons. She wanted to find her sister, who had left school before Ruby herself had attended. And she couldn't move freely as a good little woman. She needed to be able to go where she wanted. She needed to be the hero of her own story. Free to choose.
Chapter 1.
Beginning of the journey
Small things can change the course of history. They can also change the lives of those who will eventually change history themselves. As it was with Ruby Rose. Before becoming an Assassin, protector of peace and free will of the people, she was a regular girl. Attending to girlschool named Signal in her hometown. Same school her sister Yang had attended before running away. Ruby had always wondered why Yang had done that. She had sent home one letter before vanishing completely. Ruby missed her sister deeply,and she desired to go looking for Yang, but didn't want to worry her father, who was widowed due to the disappearance of his second wife, Summer Rose, Ruby's mother. Coming from a "questionable family" had put her in the crosshairs of many teachers and fellow students. But Ruby kept up a good face, performing well in class and staying mostly out of trouble.
One evening girls had been allowed to go outside of the school grounds to have fun and socialize. Ruby went to watch military school and its boys training with her secret passion, weapons. Something that a proper woman would not pay any mind to. But Ruby was different. Even her eyes weren't regular as they were silver.
Ruby was returning back to school as she knew the consequences of being late. As she wandered back to school, she eventually noticed she had taken a wrong turn and had gotten in the wrong alley, leading to a dead end. As she was about to turn, she saw that her return was blocked by two men, dressed in ragged clothes, smirking meanly.
"My my. What do we have here?",a man with a beard asked.
"Looks like a girl who has lost her way", said another one as they approached Ruby. She backed towards a wall.
"Let me pass. I don't want any trouble", she said, trying to sound tough.
"Oh, neither do we little girl", said the bearded man.
"We can even help you. You just have to be good to us, and we will happily escort you wherever you wish", said the second man. They were blocking the alley from Ruby and she couldn't run. She felt cold sweat on her forehead as fear crept to her. As men were about four meters away from her, something happened.
Man dressed in a green jacket and hood landed between them and quickly stood up.
"I believe you two have had your fun. Leave the girl before things get ugly",the man said. He sounded young, but didn't seem to be afraid even a little. Men laughed.
"Oh, so the little girl has some masked protector?", the bearded man said and they drew out knives.
"Guess we better show you how to talk to you betters kid", said another man. Hooded man didn't flinch. He gestured to men to come at him. So they did. They charged and tried to stab the man, who guided their knives aside. He then spinned and kicked the bearded man to the head, sending him flying to the wall. He then grabbed him and threw back at the direction they had approached Ruby. Second one attacked again, but the hooded man quickly disarmed him with a few hits to different parts of his arm. Then he grabbed the man's right arm and twisted it hard, breaking it with a disgusting sound. As the man cried in pain, the hooded man pushed him to the wall and brought his left arm closer to his throat. His sleeve had rolled little, revealing something that looked like a gauntlet to Ruby, who had only watched in a mix of awe and horror. She then spotted small blades pressing against the shoulder and throat of the harasser. Ruby thought that man had kept them hidden in his sleeves.
"Now listen closely you piece of shit. I suggest you and your partner either leave this city, or at least stop harassing innocent ladies. Now get lost with that friend of yours", the hooded man said and after scratching harassers cheek with blade pushed him to his partner, whom he dragged away mumbling in fear.
Hooded man looked after them until he was sure they were gone and then turned towards Ruby. He took off his hood and scarf that had covered his face. He was just a young man. Barely older than Ruby, or at least not much older. He had short brown hair and gray eyes. He wasn't much taller than Ruby either. Maybe the same height as Yang had been when Ruby had last seen her. He walked towards Ruby with a gentle smile.
"Are you all right miss?", he asked and Ruby only nodded, not yet being sure she should speak. His voice had an odd accent to it. His speech sounded a little stiff.
"Good. Allow me to escort you to safety ,miss. There might be other questionable characters on the move", the young man said, offering his right hand to Ruby, who shyly took it. They walk out of the alley to the main street.
"Sorry for not introducing myself earlier, miss. Constantine Alders, at your service", he said. He had some elegance that gave Ruby the idea that he must be from an upper class family.
"I am Ruby. Ruby Rose...and thanks for saving me", Ruby said smiling shyly to her rescuer. He smiled.
"Ruby Rose. Nice name. You are going to Signal, aren't you?",he said.
"Yes, how did you guess?",Ruby asked.
"Your dress. I have only seen such worn by girls at that school. And my cousin used to go there", Constantine said as they approached the school gates that were only 100 meters away now.
"I will leave you here, Miss Rose. I hope we will meet again", he said and winked after bowing and kissing her hand, making Ruby blush. He then took off, leaving Ruby alone in her thoughts.
It had been a few days after Ruby had been saved by the mysterious young man. There was something about him that wouldn't leave her mind. What were those odd blades she had seen him use? And the way he had fought, it wasn't any way she had seen soldiers or police fight. Ruby wanted to meet him again, but wasn't sure how. She still remembered his last name, Alders. Maybe it would lead her somewhere. She headed to her room, which she had all to herself.
Ruby began her search for this man asking around town about the name Alders. To her disappointment not many seemed to know about them. Only things she heard that there was a known former Atlasian general of that name. Ruby looked into it and found out that their family was well known servants of Atlas. Probably second most well known after the Schnee family. Ruby found photos of the older family members with mentions of the General, now retired, Elec Alders having twelve children, who mostly had families of their own. So the task of finding one boy this way would be a very difficult task. Ruby returned the books she had borrowed to the library. As she headed back to the school, she saw a hooded man walking in the streets among the people. The Hood she spotted looked exactly like the one her savior had worn, as well as his coat. Deep green. She quickly headed towards him, trying to catch him, as he moved seamlessly in the sea of people.
Ruby cursed the long hem of her outfit. If she didn't lift it with both hands, she'd step on it. She barely kept up with the hooded person, who was seemingly heading for market street.
"What would he be looking for in there?"Ruby thought to herself and ran. Person did seem to be walking away from something. Had he spotted her? But why would he run away from her? She kept tailing the man, until she saw him go to one of the side alleys of the market street. Ruby didn't hesitate and followed. To her surprise, when she looked in there, she saw a dead end. Just brickwalls, with few windows so high on this very upright wall, that it seemed impossible to climb them. But Ruby saw the footprints on the soft ground leading to the wall. She was so confused. She was so sure it had been him. She turned and looked at the marketplace. She hadn't been there in what felt like eternity. She looked at the stands kept by different kinds of people. Smells of the procuts, the sound of people bartering and chatting. It was a nice change for life in the girlschool. She walked through the street. At the end of it she saw how some people were harassing a few faunus who were selling handmade items. And the people harassing seemed to be some sort of business men or officials as they had armed guards with them. Six of them, each wearing black clothes under cuirass made of the best metal and holding both rifles and swords.
As she was about to leave, she saw him again, a green hooded man. She ran towards him, accidentally bumping into one of the well dressed men, who looked at her angrily.
"Get lost girl", he said and pushed her away. Ruby stumbled and looked at the man. He wore a long blue coat as did his partner. Both had good, expensive looking clothes and symbol of white snowflake on their clothes.
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to…",Ruby said apologetically and tried to continue her chase. But she looked at the faunus in their ragged clothes. Old man and woman, both with dog ears.
"Why are you harassing these people?", Ruby asked, getting an odd boost of confidence to stand tall before these men. They scoffed and looked at her as if she was mental.
"If you must know, these faunus refuse to cooperate with us in our search for the culprit that has stolen the property of Schnee Dust Company. Person was recognized as a faunus, so we are looking everywhere for them!", the man said angrily.
"We told him that we don't know anything! But they won't listen! Just like any human working for the Schnee, they act like they own the world",old man faunus said and got hit with a rifle butt, throwing him against his sales table. Woman cried and rushed to his side as goons began going through their stuff.
"You have no right to do that!", Ruby said but was pulled back by one of the goons.
"You better get going if you know what's good for you", said another officer. Ruby looked around to see why people didn't do anything. Most just watched, or turned a blind eye on what they saw. But then she saw him again. Man dressed in green approached. Blue scarf covering his face again. He silently walked to the man holding Ruby and hit him hard on the chin. Second goon looked at him and tried to hit him with his rifle, but got a well placed kick onto his nuts, followed by one on the head. Schnee officers looked stunned at this as their goons aimed their rifles at the hooded man, who quickly closed space between them and pushed rifle pipes to aim up, just in time for them to fire. Hooded man then pulled one rifle from the hands of the goon, only to swing it and knock out the man previously holding it, throwing him on the two officers. Hooded man moved smoothly and with ease took down the rest of the goons, before marching to two officers who hadn't been able to get away. Hooded man pulled both up by their collars and quietly said something to them. He then let go of the man he held with his right hand and pulled something out of the neck of the left man. Ruby saw it was a red cross like medallion. Hooded man then knocked them out too before getting up and walking to Ruby, then taking her arm to his own.
"Walk with me. Quietly", he whispered and they walked away, through a crowd that had begun to move again after the fight was done.
Man led Ruby to a building that looked abandoned, taking her up the stairs to the roof, where he finally let go of her hand to pull the mask off his face.
"We meet again, Miss Rose," Constantine said with a gentle smile. Ruby nodded.
"Yeah. I wanted to see you again…",Ruby said, feeling a little awkward. She wasn't at all sure how to handle this situation. Constantine looked at her.
"You…have silver eyes", he said as if he had just realized something.
"Yeah, what of it?"ruby asked, confused. Constantine looked at her thoroughly. Scanning her from head to toes. He then looked around, as if making sure they were alone.
"Well miss Rose, me and people like me…",Constantine began, but was interrupted by Ruby.
"Who are you? Or what are you? Your fighting style is not very common. And why do you hide knives in your sleeves?",Ruby asked.
"Well, I can't tell you everything yet. And maybe not at all. But what I can tell you now, is that me and people like me have been looking for someone like you. People with silver eyes are quite rare, and…extraordinary in other ways. Ways that would help humanity a lot", Constantine said with a serious face, his gentle smile vanishing as he spoke. Ruby was confused. She had never felt extraordinary or special in any way. Of course her father had always encouraged her and called her his 'special little girl', but she didn't think much of it.
"If you are looking for special people, I don't think I am what you are looking for. I am…just a regular young girl", she said looking down. Constantine smiled again and put his left hand on her shoulder, making her lift her head.
"If you are willing to trust me, and let me tell about you to my colleagues, I promise we will reveal to you everything about you. Even things that you never could have dreamt of", Constantine said. Ruby looked at him. He had those kind, maybe little cold eyes she had only seen on her uncle Qrow, who she had seen last Christmas.
"If I accept, what will happen?",Ruby asked.
"If you do, I will show you a whole new side to the world. And maybe something you are looking for, but just don't know it yet",Constantine said. Ruby thought about this. This could potentially be something she had been looking for. A chance to get away from the suffocating atmosphere of the Signal. She felt that the words of Constantine had lit fire in her heart. She smiled and nodded.
"Very well. I accept. When can you tell me everything? And how can I find you? It was pure coincidence that I found you today",she said. Constantine flashed her a wide smile.
"Don't you worry, Miss Rose. If my mentor finds my knowledge interesting, we will come find you", Constantine said and handed Ruby a small piece of silver. It looked like an arrow.
"Hold onto this. I will ask for it when we come to see you", Constantine said, putting his mask and hood back on and ran towards the edge of the roof and jumped, running away, leaving confused Ruby alone on the roof.