pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

I had both earbuds in in a small dust shop. I was jamming and reading a magazine about hunter weapons. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around. The man in glasses with the bowler hat in a suit gestured at his ears. I pulled my earbuds out.

"Yes?" I wondered.

"Put your hands up and give me your wallet." He threatened. He wielded a small machete gun combination and he put it in my face.

"Are you robbing me?" I wondered.

"Yes," the man nodded.

I knocked him down in a whorl of petals. I drew my blade and brought it across him. He went down easily. I approached the front of the shop. There were other men there wearing similar outfits to the man who tried to rob me. But then I took notice of a man in a white shirt with red trimmings and a cane. He was dressed differently from the other men. The shopkeeper was cowering behind the counter.

"Right," the leader muttered. "Well what are you waiting for? Get her," he ordered.

Then men came at me in a rush. I was careful not to disturb the dust. I knocked one down with the blunt edge of my instrument. I flipped and kicked one with both feet with a grunt. I rotated on my weapon. I brought it down on another and dispatched him quickly. When the men were all indisposed I smiled at the leader who frowned down at me. He spat on one of his men.

"You were worth every lien, truly you were. Well red I think we can agree this has been an eventful evening. However, I have a plane to catch." He shot at me with his cane in an enormous flare of dust. I sheltered behind my weapon.

When I looked around he was getting away through a fire escape.

I charged after him in a rush. He walked to the edge of the roof and I chased him. He shot at me once more. It was a slow moving projectile and I dodged it easily. A plane came and hovered near the roof. The man boarded it and I shot at him a couple of times with my rifle.

A woman appeared with purple and white tassels to her dress shirt. She waved her hand and the bits of roof which were shattered from the force of his gun shot leapt into the air after the plane. It slammed into it. The plane shuddered and heaved. Another woman appeared in the plane's bay doors. She gestured and the bits of roof were burnt to ash. With another gesture she summoned a pillar of fire right on top of me. The woman in purple gestured with her gun and suddenly I was moved. I felt the external force and crumpled to the roof. The plane took off into the night.

"You're a huntress!" I exclaimed to the women. "You're so cool!"

She smiled down at me then frowned. "Come with me," she beckoned in a crystal clear voice. "Tell me everything."

I did. I was eventually brought to a police station where officers had still more questions for me. I felt like I had repeated my story dozens of times.

In the interrogation room, a man walked in wearing green. He smiled at me. "You have silver eyes," he observed.

"Uh yeah. Just like my mom."

"You're very talented with your weapon, young lady. I've only seen one other scythe wielder of such skill. A dusty old man named Qrow."

"That's my uncle!" I shouted. "He trained me at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes."

"I see," he raised an eyebrow. "Young lady, do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster of Beacon academy."

"Indeed. How would you like to attend my school this coming semester?"

"But I'm too young…" I stammered off.

"Nonsense. I believe in your skills. Two years isn't so early. Most students are seventeen their first year. This is true, but I believe we have an exceptional case."

"It's my dream to go to Beacon."

"So is that a yes?" He pressed with a smile.

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

We walked beneath a giant 'welcome to vale' banner hung up in the street.

"The Vytal festival! Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss," I observed. "It's kinda weirding me out."

"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, a parade, a tournament. Oh the planning and organization which goes into an event like this is simply breathtaking."

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring," Yang folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Quiet you!" Weiss retorted.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Saturday visiting the stupid docks?" Yang demanded.

"I've heard students from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And as a representative of Beacon academy I want to be among the first to welcome them," Weiss placed an open hand over her heart with a smile.

"She wants to scope out the competition." Blake dismissed. "That way she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."

"You can't prove that," Weiss shot back.

I peeped down an alley. There were broken windows and police tape. "Woah," I breathed.

We walked up to the crime scene.

"What happened here?" Yang asked one of the officers.

"Robbery. This is the second dust shop to be hit this week. Place is turning into a jungle."

"They left all the money again," another officer pointed out.

"Who needs that much dust?" The first officer asked.

"You thinking the WhiteFang?"

"Yeah I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

"The WhiteFang?" Weiss wondered. "What a bunch of degenerates."

"What's your problem?" Blake demanded with a touch of heat.

"My problem? I just don't care for the criminally insane," Weiss shot back.

"The WhiteFang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're misled faunus. Oppressed by the system." Blake disagreed with the implication.

"Um hello?" Weiss gestured at the crime scene.

"So they're very misguided. Doesn't mean they aren't people." Blake leveled. "Doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown vale."

"Blakes got a point. Besides they never caught that torchwick I guy I ran into," I pointed out.

"What happened?" Blake wondered.

"I was browsing a dust shop and these guys came in and tried to rob the place. That's the night I met Ozpin and he invited me to Beacon after I fought them."

"That doesn't change the fact that the WhiteFang are a bunch of scum. Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal!" Weiss exclaimed.

"That's not necessarily true…" Yang trailed off.

"Hey stop that Faunus!" Someone shouted behind us. We turned around. A monkey faunus was running away from some dock workers.

"Thanks for the ride guys!" The faunus yelled at them.

"You no good stowaway!" They shouted.

"Hey! A no good stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway."

He sprinted past us. The police were after him.

"Well Weiss. You wanted to see the competition and there he goes," Yang decreed.

"Quick! We have to go after him!" Weiss decided. We ran down an ally after him and the officers. We turned a corner and Weiss ran straight into someone and fell over. "Fuck!' Weiss swore. She glanced up from her prone position. "He got away!"

"Uh Weiss?" Yang asked and pointed at the girl Weiss had bulldozed.

Weiss quickly got off her.

"Salutations!" The girl greeted from the ground with a little wave.

"Uh hi," I waved back.

"Are you okay?" Yang wondered.

"Oh I'm just wonderful. Thank you for asking," The girl said.

"Do you… want to get up?" Yang asked her.

She nodded once with a smile and said "yes!"

She got to her feet in a single smooth motion.

"I'm Ruby," I introduced myself.

"My name is Penny," the odd girl went along. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Yang," Yang followed up.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" The girl repeated.

"You already said that," Weiss pointed out.

She nodded once. "So I did!"

"Well see you later friend," I valedicted.

"Wait!" The girl called. "Am I really your friend?"

"Um…" I hesitated. I glanced at Weiss and Yang. They both minutely shook their heads. Well perhaps not so minutely. "Sure!" I decided.

"Sensational! I made a friend! We can paint our nails and try on cute clothes and talk about cute boys!"

"Is this what it was like when you met me?" I asked Weiss.

"No. She seems far more put together."

"So what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked Penny.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament," she answered at once.

"You?!" Weiss had to wonder. "You don't look the part."

"I'm ready for combat!" Penny cried with a salute.

"Wait does that mean you know that rapscallion?"

"Who?" Penny wondered.

"The filthy faunus from the boat!" Weiss cried.

"Quit calling him a rapscallion! He's a person!" Blake called out.

"Oh I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to this trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"Stop it!" Blake exclaimed.

"What? He clearly broke the law," Weiss pointed out. "Give him some time and he'll join up with the other riff raff in the white fang."

"You ignorant brat!"

"What? How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!" Weiss shouted.

"You are a judgmental little girl!" Blake leveled back.

"What in the world makes you say that!?" Weiss demanded.

"The mere fact you believe he will join a terrorist organization based on his race reveals you are just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"

"So you admit it! The Whitefang are nothing but a group of terrorists!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Blake shouted back.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"

"That's why its a problem!"

"You do realize you are defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The faunus of the whitefang are pure evil." Weiss leveled.

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin. People like you. You force the whitefang to take such drastic measures."

"People like me?!" Weiss demanded in the street. And the sun set itself in a hard flat line.

"Your discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!" Weiss shot back. Blake said nothing and glared at Weiss silently. "You want to know why I don't like the Whitefang? Why I don't trust the faunus? It's because they've been fighting my family for years. War. Bloodshed. My grandfather's company has always had a targe ton its back. Ever since I was a child I've watched family friends disappear. Board members executed. And every day my father would come home furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood."

I walked up to Weiss and tried to place a hand on her shoulder. "Weiss…" I murmured.

"No! You want to know why I disperse the white fang? Its because their a bunch of liars, cheaters, and murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake shouted back. The silence stretched for an impossible moment before Yang broke it.

"Blake?" Yang asked.

"I…" Blake hesitated. Then she vanished in a shadow.

"Blake, wait!" I shouted after her. I tried to catch up but Blake was gone. "Come back!"

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

"Blake's been missing all weekend," I murmured as we walked the streets of downtown Vale.

"Blake is a big girl. She can take care of herself."

"Weiss, she's our teammate," Yang pointed out.

"Is she? We all heard what she said."

"Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't. We still need to find her."

"I can't believe it. A member of the WhiteFang at school with us."

"I just hope she's okay…" I trailed off.

"Blake!" I called out on the street.

"Blake! Where are you?!" Yang shouted.

"Blake!" I followed up. I glanced at Weiss. "Weiss, you're not helping."

"You know who could help us? The police."

"Weiss," Yang snarled in frustration.

"It was just an idea!" Weiss protested.

"Yeah a bad one. I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to conclusions," Yang decided.

"And I think when we find her you will see I was right all along," Weiss turned her nose up.

"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today!" A girl's voice chimed in.

We all turned around. "Ah Penny where did you come from!?" I shouted.

"Hi guys," Penny waved. "What are you doing?"

"Uh…" I stammered off.

"We're looking for Blake," Yang informed her.

"Oh you mean the faunus girl." Penny realized.

"Wait, how did you know she was a faunus?" I asked.

"The cat ears?" Penny wondered back.

"What cat ears?" Yang wondered. "Blake wears a b-bow…" Yang stammered off.

"She does like fish a lot…" I muttered.

"So where is she?" Penny asked.

"We don't know," I answered with folded arms. "She's been missing since Saturday."

Penny dashed up to me with a gasp. "That's terrible. Well don't worry Ruby my friend. I won't rest until we find her."

"Ah… thanks… that's really nice of you Penny but we're okay. Aren't we guys?" I glanced at Yang and Weiss. They were gone.

"So Blake is your friend?" Penny asked me. We started making our way along the street.

"Yes Penny," I nodded exasperatedly.

"But you're mad at her?" She wondered.

"Yes well- I'm not. Weiss is."

"Is she friends with Blake?" Penny kept up.

"Yeah. That's a good question." I observed bleakly.

"Why?"

"Because she's not who we thought she was," I answered.

"What do you mean?" Penny wondered.

"I don't know what she is. SHe didn't decide to talk to us before she ran off."

"I don't have a lot of friends…" Penny trailed off. "But if I did I would want them to talk to me about stuff."

"Yeah. Me too." I agreed with barely a moment's thought.

We walked in two sided silence for a long moment. Then something exploded in the distance.

"Oh man…" I whispered. Then I took after it in a flash of petals.

When I got on the scene Roman Torchwick had the monkey faunus from the docks at the wrong end of his can-gun.

"Hey!" I called out. I got his attention. I suppose I asked for it.

"Oh hello red," Torchwick spoke. "Isn't it passed your bed time?!" He called out.

Penny walked up to me. "Ruby? Are these people your friends?" She wondered.

"Stay back Penny!" I shouted. I took my eyes off the target for a moment. That's all it took. Roman shot at me. The explosion knocked me way back and off my feet.

Penny stoad forward. "Penny stop!" I shouted.

"Don't worry Ruby. I'm combat ready." A pair of blades emerged from her body on wires. There were nine of them in total. All identical. She sprinted to the edge of the building we were on and front flipped off in a long arc.

She knocked down the first White Fang member who approached her. Followed by a second with spinning scissoring of her blades. Then she sent them after a cluster of White Fang members and knocked them all to their knees. Two more blades emerged from her body and shot back to the wall of a building. It reeled her in. When three airships came flying in and opening fire, Penny fired a massive laser from the array which sniped two of them. The third was met with her blades. They sank in and with a tug, Penny pulled the airship from the sky and it crashed in an explosion.

Roman boarded an airship and shouted to the pilot. They took off and with a heave hovered away before Penny could bring them down.

"Woah…" I breathed. "How is she doing this?"

The police got involved and had questions for us. We explained everything.

Weiss and Yang paced up to us. Me, Penny, Blake, and the faunus from the docks who introduced himself as Sun.

"Wait! Weiss it's not what you think. She doesn't wear a bow, she has cat ears and they're actually very cute." I gushed.

Blake got up and met Weiss. "Weiss, I want you to know I'm no longer associated with the White Fang and-"

"Stop," Weiss interrupted. "Do you have any idea how long we've been looking for you?" Weiss demanded. "Twelve hours." Weiss then answered herself. "And do you know what I've realized in that time?" She pressed. "I don't care. You said you weren't with them, right?"

"No. Not for years." Blake answered. "Not since-"

"Ahp!" Weiss hammered. "I don't want to hear it. I just hope the next time something this big comes up you come to us. Your team. Not some stranger." Weiss shot a look at Sun.

Blake gave her a shaky but agreeable nod. "Of course."

"Then we're square," Weiss decided.

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

-WG