Town of Vale, New York
From Dusk till Dawn lived up to its name. At this late hour, it was one of the only shops in the area still open. Joe Doe wondered what good it could do him, since he only had one year, he felt a little more exhausted by work than the previous one, and told himself that he would do better to take it easy by shortening the hours, or even stopping altogether.
But there he was, he still needed a roof over his head, so he hung on, waiting for the day when he could draw the curtain, and spend his time drinking tea and reading. He turned to the girl in gothic clothing who was reading a magazine in the back of the store. He didn't normally liked it, but Ruby Rose was a regular customer, and he could give her that. If she followed her usual ways, she would have left in an hour anyway.
A chime rang, indicating that new customers had entered. Joe turned towards the entrance, preparing his usual greeting, but the words died in his throat when he saw the newcomers.
A dozen men in black suits, red glasses and hats. Everything screamed about them screamed "gangsters". A man in a white coat walked in front of them, obviously the leader. Before Joe could make a move, one of the men in a suit jerked a gun from his belt and pointed it between his eyes.
His throat dried up, and he found himself unable to speak.
"Okay, old man, there's no reason for this to go wrong." Said the man in the white coat. Joe felt like he'd seen it before, but he couldn't remember where.
"You act as if nothing happened, and there is no reason why you or your store should suffer. You'll just be out of merchandise for a while!"
The other men had already started moving, emptying his reserves of Dust. The helplessness was excruciating, but it was nothing compared to the fear of dying.
"Hey kid, what are you doing?" suddenly shouted one of the thugs.
Oh no, Ruby! What were they going to do to her ?
The bandit who had approached the girl gave a loud hiss of pain and flew through the store like a tennis ball, hitting two of his associates like bowling pins, and all three of them were thrown outside, taking the door with them. The rest of the gang rushed towards them, shocked to the point that they dropped their loot where they stood, letting the fuel spill onto the ground.
Ruby ran after them. Seeing the damaged door, she turned to Joe.
"Sorry, Mr. Doe !".
The next moment, she was out, giving him no time to respond. Against all logic, Joe decided to look at what was happening outside through the window.
The criminals took out swords and charged at Ruby, who literally jumped on the nearest man, hitting him in the chest. He fell to the ground and slid backwards, Ruby standing on top of him. The other criminals surrounded her, and all attacked at the same time. They had no cohesion, but numbers were in their favor.
Ruby grabbed something from behind her back, and it unfolded in an instant, with a chorus of metallic clanks. She moved her hands, and her weapon, blurred by the speed, made a circle around her, which stopped the bandits. Three of them fell to the ground, stunned.
Ruby jumped at least five meters in the air, and landed a little further away with agility. Her weapon was now visible : a scythe, red and black, massive and complex, larger than it's owner. The six remaining criminals backed away, intimidated.
"Are you done playing?" said a ironic voice from behind.
They charged again. Ruby outpaced them and hit the first one in the head with the tail end of her weapon, causing him to collapse to the ground. The second launched a saber strike, but she was again faster, and knocked him out in turn with the flat of the blade. The third was no more lucky, and received a tail strike to the chin. She swept the fourth's legs away as he tried to attack her in a blind spot, and he fell heavily. The last two attempted an offensive, and Ruby neutralized them with a blow from the flat of the blade for one and a blow from the heel for the other.
The whole thing had lasted a minute at most. Joe was impressed. He didn't think a simple Signal student was capable of that.
The bandit leader did not share his enthusiasm.
"Well, you were worth every penny, really." He said, looking at one of the men on the ground. He looked up at Ruby.
"I think we can say that it was an evening full of emotions, Red, but unfortunately, it's time to draw the curtain."
He pointed his cane at Ruby and a ball of fire erupted from his weapon. The girl dodged with a jump, the projectile exploded on the ground, and the man took the opportunity to escape, climbing onto a roof via a ladder.
Ruby jumped and landed on the roof. She found the bandit in front of a strange, futuristic-looking flying vehicle. Oh !, no way !
"Stop!" she shouted, pointing the barrel of her weapon, integrated into the shaft, at the man.
"And persistent to boot !".
He turned around and threw a red crystal at the girl's face in the same movement, before shooting it with his cane. Ruby didn't have time to react.
But the explosion did not hit her. A woman, who appeared out of nowhere, had intervened just in time, protecting her with purple energy runes. She made a gesture, and arrows of the same appearance as the runes, flew at the thug, who had taken the opportunity to flee. They exploded on the flying vehicle, knocking it out of balance, but without doing any real damage.
A female figure, whose face was hidden by the darkness, exchanged places with the man in the white coat. She held out her hand in front of her, and a large incendiary projectile erupted from it. The woman who had protected Ruby dispersed the attack with her runes, stoic. The figure raised her arm.
Anticipating the technique, her opponent jumped to the side. Just in time : a massive column of fire burst forth where she had been standing a moment before.
Ruby, who had lost nothing of the exchange, came to her senses. She aimed her gun at the figure and fired several times. But the mysterious woman stopped the bullets with her bare hand, impassive. She waved her arm and several fiery circles appeared on the roof under the feet of Ruby and the woman who had helped her. She glanced at the young girl and waved her arm. Ruby found herself thrown backwards, as if pushed by a mysterious force. The woman herself jumped to the side, dodging the explosions caused by the spell. They looked up at the ship : it had disappeared, and the two bandits with it.
Ruby turned to the woman. She was tall, blonde, and wore glasses. In a white blouse and black skirt, she looked strict and professional. The girl didn't know who she was, but she knew what she was.
"You are a huntress!" she affirmed in a voice full of admiration.
" CAN I HAVE AN AUTOGRAPH ?" she shouted, stars and hope in her eyes.
…
Instead, she found herself in a room with no lights or windows, while the huntress, Glynda Goodwitch, as she had introduced herself, lectured her:
"I hope you are well aware of the seriousness of your actions. Putting yourself in danger like that was completely irresponsible of you. If it were up to me, I'd send you home with a pat on the back and slap on the wrist !".
She whipped her crop on the table in front of Ruby, startling the girl. But the latter felt anger rising within her. There's no way she's going to let this happen.
"They started it ! And I couldn't let them steal Mr. Doe like that !".
Glynda sighed, as if she expected this answer.
"Someone wants to talk to you. He will decide your fate".
The only door of the room opened, and a man entered. Tall with silver hair, he wore a pair of small round glasses, and a black jacket over a dark green shirt. It made him look like an old-time English gentleman. He held a cup of coffee in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other.
He walked to the table, and placed the pastries in front of Ruby, before sitting in silence across from her.
The young girl took one hesitantly, a little surprised, before biting into it. Chocolate chips, her favorite. The plate was soon empty and Ruby felt much better.
- "Ruby Rose". he said. "I was told about your exploits this evening. I see that the teachers at the Signal Academy trained you well."
Ruby blushed a little at the compliment, rubbing the back of her head.
"Well, it's a professor in particular. My uncle Qrow".
"That's what I thought. He is the only other person I know who uses this weapon as well. And tell me, what do you plan to do once you graduate from Signal ?".
"Join Beacon Academy." she replied without hesitation. "My big sister is going to go there this year, and being a huntress has always been my dream, so…".
"Why do you want to become a huntress so much ?".
"Because they are heroes! I mean, police officers protect people too, but hunters and heroes…. Their lives are so much more romantic, and exciting, and, and…..!".
"Do you know who I am ?"interrupted the man.
Ruby immediately calmed down.
"You are Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon".
Ozpin gave a small smile.
"How much do you want to come to my school ?".
Ruby sighed.
"More than anything".
"In that case, it's decided. I can't refuse the wish of such a brilliant girl. We will send you the registration details, and you will be able to return this year. This way you'll join your sister, right ?".
Ruby's eyes grew so large, they were threatening to pop out of their sockets.
"YOU ARE SERIOUS ?" she screamed. She corrected herself the next moment, looking guilty.
"Obviously. Why don't I give you a chance ?".
"Oh thanksyouthanksyouthanksyouthanksyou….."
"It's all natural. You should go home, your family must be worried, right ?".
Ruby's face twisted into a mask of horror. How was she going to explain this to her father ? She would be punished for the rest of her life, and she wouldn't be able to go to Beacon !
"I'm sure they'll understand, don't worry about it." Ozpin added, seeing the girl's reaction.
Ruby nodded in agreement, stood up, walked out of the room, and sped through the police station like a red and black star.
Once the girl was gone, Glynda couldn't hold back the words that burned her tongue.
"Are you sure about this, professor ?".
"Come on, Glynda, don't you want to see what this young girl is capable of ?".
"She is naive and reckless".
"So it's up to us to help her grow".
Glynda was clearly not convinced, but she said nothing more.
….
The saber and the rapier collided, letting out an unpleasant noise of metal and white sparks.
Weiss Schnee tried to slide her blade over her opponent's, but Winter beat her to it, and deflected her sword to the side with force, before thrusting.
Weiss narrowly dodged the blow, her heart racing, and activated the barrel of her weapon. The blade of her sword turned yellow, but Winter released her hold on Weiss' rapier, and avoided being electrocuted.
Winter chained a slashing blow, a horizontal blow and a thrust at blinding speed, and Weiss struggled to defend herself. Suddenly, as Winter continued her assault, Weiss shot backwards, as if gravity had stopped affecting her.
A snowflake symbol, black as ink, appeared beneath Winter's feet, and she found herself propelled towards her sister. The latter made the same symbol appear, and she jumped into the air, avoiding WInter's charge.
Winter made another symbol appear, and jumped to meet Weiss. She protected herself with her sword, but Winter's thrust still sent her flying against one of the walls of the training room. She fell to the ground.
Winter created a new symbol in midair, and dove at Weiss with the speed of a bullet. A snowflake symbol, pure white this time, appeared on the wall, and Weiss found herself drawn to it.
Winter hit the ground, shattering the marble of the room from the floor, and turned to her sister. She propelled itself using a black symbol, but Winter effortlessly parried her slashing strike before responding with a thrust.
But Weiss suddenly flew towards the ground and passed under her sister's arm. Weiss cocked a thrust and the tip of her sword touched her sister's outstretched arm, at the same time that Winter had drawn her second sword, the blade of which almost touched Weiss's neck. They didn't know how long they stayed like that, caught in their own world.
"Congratulations, Weiss" said a voice a few meters from the two sisters.
The two sisters suddenly came to life, surprised, before turning towards the third person. She was a woman in her forties, with long, snow-white hair. She looked so much like Weiss and Winter that anyone would have understood at first glance that she could only be their mother.
Winter didn't dare look Willow in the eyes. Her face was closed and her eyes were preoccupied.
"Isn't what you said, Winter? That she had to hit you or make you use your second weapon. So, do you have no more objections ?".
Winter didn't answer right away.
"No. No, I have no objection, Weiss. I'll let you go to Beacon".
Weiss nodded shyly, and a little awkwardly.
"Thank you, Winter".
Willow looked at her two daughters one after the other. Gods, they can be complicated sometimes. She paused for a moment on Winter. You still don't understand why she chose Beacon and not Atlas, right ?
"You two should rest," Willow said. "Weiss, we will take care of your registration tomorrow."
"Okay mother" replied the young girl.
….
The young girl was fleeing through the forest, jumping from tree to tree. She went to the right for a kilometer, then veered sharply to the left. She continued in that direction until she lost her breath, stopped for a few seconds to recover, then returned to where her gaze rested. She had no idea how much time had passed when the city appeared on the horizon.
Perfect. He would have a hard time finding her there. She jumped to the ground with ease, tied a ribbon around her head and walked quietly to the concrete edge, trying to appear innocuous.
She wandered aimlessly through the streets for a long time. She finally calmed down, and jumped to the top of a building with agility, to think. She had to hide. But where ? A place with a lot of people, which would allow her to blend in with the crowd. Secure, of course. A place where Adam wouldn't think to look for her. She gave a sarcastic smile. No place in the world matched these criteria. Wait a second… No. It was a stupid idea, one that would get her into every trouble imaginable. She tried to think of something else, to no avail.
Need money. You know where to find it. If they know I'm a faunus... You can hide it.
She sighed. Despite the fear that knotted her stomach, she made her decision. First step, money. The Red Fang hideout she was thinking of was on the other side of town. She jumped from roof to roof, having regained her confidence.
The journey was long and marked with several breaks, because she needed to conserve her energy, but she finally arrived not far from the abandoned building that served as a hideout for terrorists in this part of the city.
The young girl stared at him, motionless and crouching. What she did in the next few minutes would decide her fate. She had to be sure of herself. She thought of the look of pure horror on Adam's face when she ran away, and her heart sank. But another memory comes to her : "Why would you want me to worry about the guards?" the words resonated through her bones, and she shivered.
She jumped through one of the many holes in the wall and landed in an empty room. The smells of dust and mold hit her like a fist, and she frowned. She had to do it as quickly as possible.
Normally, there should be around ten people in the building. Two or three of them were guarding the stolen money at all times, taking turns every two hours. Avoiding the fight was therefore impossible. But there was a good chance that they were all minions, so they wouldn't be a problem for her. The best she could do was look for a room with the scent of several people, make a surprise attack so they couldn't raise the alarm, and leave her with the loot.
She walked down the hallway, sniffing the air in hopes of finding a trail. She found something : three smells, faint but noticeable, one floor down. She ran on tiptoe, without making the slightest sound.
She reached a staircase, jumped onto a wall, leaned on it, and dove onto the lower landing, still as silent as ever. She landed with a smooth roll. Getting up, she sniffed again. The smell was stronger, obviously. Fourth room from the back, on the left. Perfect.
She walked towards the corridor, and she froze : one of the Red Fangs was facing her, also paralyzed by surprise. There was a long pause, then the man opened his mouth :
"Belladona ?, what are you…."
Blake didn't respond : she gave her weapon it's pistol shape, and fired three times, hitting him in the chest. He collapsed silently.
He should still be alive thanks to the protection of his Aura, but he wouldn't bother her anymore. Blake no longer had a choice : she started running towards the room where the money was, her hand on her gun. Two other men came out of the room she had spotted.
The one on the left took out a machine gun, the one on the right one a dussack, the weapons used by all the Red Fangs' minions. Blake immediately stepped out of the line of fire of the first and brought out the curved blade of a wakizashi within her pistol, while the man on the right charged like a bull. When he got within range, he cocked a broad slash. The blade touched Blake's shoulder, and she disappeared before his eyes.
He didn't have time to wonder what was happening before a searing pain exploded in his ribs.
He looked down : Blake had reappeared, in an almost crouching posture, her saber in her right hand. The dirty little…. He was about to fire another shot when his head was thrown violently to the right, and his brain drowned in pain.
As he fell, he saw the girl's left arm, which held a broad-bladed sword, similar to that of a cleaver. She attacked me in the blind spot, he understood, as his eyes closed against his will.
Having a clear field, the second red fang fired. Useless : Blake deflected the bullets with her swords while continuing to advance. Her opponent continued to fire stupidly for a few seconds, before running out of ammo. He reached to his belt for a magazine, but Blake was already on him: she kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious and propelling him against the door, tearing it from its hinges.
Blake grabbed him with one hand and stuck to him, improvising a shield.
Good for her : two other men were waiting inside, their machine guns pointing on the entrance. Seeing their colleague suddenly appear, they hesitated to shoot. Blake took the opportunity to return her weapon to its pistol form, and fired from cover, killing them both without giving them a chance to retaliate.
She let the minion she was grabbing fall to the ground, and stood up. Two duffel bags sat on a table. Blake looked inside : at least $60,000 in total. Exactly what she needed to last a few months at Beacon. Falsifying papers wouldn't be a problem. And even being discovered by the authorities was preferable to being found by Adam.
…
"So we agree for ten thousand ?" Roman Torchwick said in a sickeningly sweet tone. It was not a question.
"Deal" his interlocutor grunted through his teeth. He didn't even bother to try to hide his frustration.
Roman smiled like a cat and held out his hand. Hei looked at it for a second before shaking it. Hard. Roman's smile widened, and he stood up.
"Always nice doing business with you, Junior".
Hei didn't answer, gritting his teeth even tighter, if that was possible.
Roman turned his back on him to leave the club, twirling his cane, calmly.
Hei tried to calm down. Destroying his own club would do him nothing good. Perhaps he would send his men to collect some money from the neighborhood vendors. "For their protection". Yes. It would help ease his nerves.
He got up from the table and went down to the club. He needed a drink. Or ten. He pushed his way through the crowd to the counter. Another person was already there, but he didn't pay attention to them.
Without him having to say anything, the bartender turned around to grab a bottle and a glass. He turned to the person waiting. It was a girl, blonde, with a long mane of hair that went down to the small of her back. She was young. Too much for Hei's liking. Miners attracted trouble. And the cops. Or worse, hunters and heroes. He moved closer to her. Hopefully it would be easy to get her out.
"Hey kid, aren't you a little young to be hanging out in a bar?", he said in the most aggressive tone possible.
The girl slowly turned around to face him.
"And you, aren't you a little too old to be called Junior ?" she retorted with a mocking smile.
It's just a kid, she doesn't know what she's talking about he said to himself while trying to calm down. Well, hell no. There was no way he was going to let a little bedwetter look down on him like that.
He pointed at her with the fingers of his right hand. "Listen to me carefully, kid, you better talk to me in a different tone, if you don't want….arrrgh !".
The "kid" had grabbed the index finger of his outstretched hand, and used this grip to twist his entire arm.
"First of all, you call me "miss", not "kid", right ?" She tightened her grip on his arm.
"Okay…..okay….okay" Hei uttered with difficulty.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his men were watching the scene without moving. Damn, that was so humiliating. The blonde also seemed to have noticed it.
"Second, if you give me what I want to know, I'll leave you alone".
She took out her scroll, and brought up the image of a person in a red and black kimono, whose face was covered by a large white mask, almost a helmet, which evoked grimms. Despite this, we could easily guess that the person was a woman. Hei felt like he had seen her before, but he couldn't remember where.
"They say you know everything about everyone. Do you know where I can find this person ?"
Now was not the time to be dishonest.
"No, I swear, let me go now !".
The kid pouted in disappointment, lowered her head, then glared at Hei. The latter's feet suddenly left the ground and he was thrown to the side before smashing a table.
He got up, surrounded by his men. The kid threw it into the scene like nothing. Okay, playtime over.
"Teach her a lesson !", he spat hatefully, arming himself with his bazooka bat.
The two dozen men began moving, various bladed weapons in their hands. Damn, she was going to regret this.
If Hei had been more attentive, he would have noticed that the "blondie" was smiling widely.
The young girl put herself in a boxing stance, while her metal gauntlets came to life. She rushed towards the group of thugs, still smiling. She fired a direct shot at the first man, and the sound of a shotgun round rang out in the room. The shot hit him in the chest, and he collapsed, alive but out of combat. The young girl repeated the gesture for the second man, then the third, and the fourth.
She had downed about fifteen of them when one of them came close enough to swing an ax. She smashed the shaft of the weapon with a backhand of her left arm, hit him with a jab to the liver, and finished him off with a kick to the temple, which made him spin on his axis and drive into the marble like a stake, head first.
A new thug was heading straight for her, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw that a second one was trying to attack in her blind spot. The priority target. She violently thrust her elbow into his plexus to neutralize him, and fired a bullet into the stomach of the man in front of her, who collapsed, defeated. She spun, and side-kicked the man behind her. She hit him right in the plexus and knocked him out instantly.
The rest of the gang still formed a circle around her, but they were hesitant to move forward. Then, Junior emerged from the crowd, brandishing his weapon high above his head, roaring like an animal.
The young girl jumped up to meet him. She delivered three quick blows to the head, which broke her opponent's momentum. The perfect opening. She delivered an avalanche of blows, without pause: a kick in the back of the knee to weaken his support, a hook to the head, followed by an elbow strike, first with the right arm, then with the left, a uppercut to the liver, two direct shots to the plexus, another uppercut to the chin….
Hei backed away from the assault, trying to protect himself with his bat.
The young girl suddenly stopped, took support on her right leg and jumped, spinning around. Hei took the opportunity to try to hit her with a bat, but fatigue and pain made him slow and clumsy.
The girl's left leg passed in front of him without touching him, and for a moment, Hei thought he had won, but the blonde girl's right leg smashed his bat into countless pieces of metal.
The blow was so violent that the thug felt it throughout his body, and a pain in his arms made him think that his elbow joints were dislocated.
At this point, when the blonde knocked him to the ground with a sweeping kick, before crushing his face, he was almost relieved to be unconscious.
The remaining henchmen looked at the scene, dumbfounded. The girl turned towards them, and they instinctively took several steps back, pressing against each other.
A mocking smile bloomed on the blonde's face, and she quietly walked towards the entrance of the club with her back to them.
Once outside, the young girl sighed as she got on her motorcycle. Another trail that led nowhere. She was starting to wonder if she would ever get there. No. She had to find her. Understanding why. It didn't matter how long it would take.
By the last breath of the fourth winds blow Better raise your ears The sound of hooves knocks at your door
She grabbed her scroll and answered, then a familiar voice made her eardrums ring.
"Yang ! IAMGOINGTOBEACONWITHYOU…."
"Rubes?" Yang said, incredulous. "Calm down, what are you talking about?"
"I will go to Beacon with you"
"What ? How come ? What happened ?".
"I was in From Dusk Till Down, and then a bunch of bandits tried to rob it, and we fought, and a huntress found me, and Professor Ozpin let me in with two years in advance !".
Yang felt a burst of pride and smiled widely.
"But that's great Ruby !, I'm proud of you ! Where are you ?"
"At the corner of fifth and sixth".
"I'm coming to pick you up, we're going to celebrate! Tonight a sleepless night !"
Before her sister could protest, Yang hung up and took off down the road, ecstatic with joy. Ruby would be with her at Beacon ! It was the best thing that could have happened to both of them. She'd have someone to count on, and Ruby was too good to waste around Signal for two more years anyway. Yes, they would be together, and would demolish anything that got in their way.
Yang Xiao Long rushed through the streets of Vale, adrenaline pulsing through her veins.