A/N: Wow, 60 followers already! I want to thank you for supporting me and my story for about three months! It's been a challenge to start, but reading your reviews and seeing the reception has made me more confident in myself, as well improving my skills in writing! I've been looking to use ANs to communicate more. As always, constructive criticism is appreciated, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter.
The squeal of the train breaks reverberates through the cabin as Blake signals to the girl in red to get ready. She gets up and approaches the exit, gesturing to her new companion to move quickly and stay close. She would need to: the car's proximity to the engine would meant that the police would be swarming it in a matter of moments. There was little room for error.
Blake and the girl enter the next car quickly as the train completely stops. The sounds of shouting and boots are heard as Blake opens another car door. Only a few more cars towards the one she separated the rest of the train from, then all that's left is escaping the train yard and getting to Beacon.
Reaching the last car, Blake quickly gestures to the red girl to get down. She only sees a lone cop taking a smoke break while watching something on his scroll, peering from a crate. To Blake's guess, there are probably dozens of cops here, probably even some SWAT if they're unlucky.
She hears the girl asking something in her language quietly. Blake turns to see her escort looking over the box, before turning to her. She asks another question before she makes a gesture of a choke…hold.
"Wait, I thought you were supposed to be some weird fantasy princess, how do you know that?"
The girl says something again before she starts to stand up.
"W-wait! Don't do that, you're going to get us caught!" She drags the girl back down, the cop ahead is still focused on his scroll.
Blake pulls out a Lien cent, and shows it to the girl, who tilts her head in confusion. Blake then threw the coin near the officer, the noise of which managed to grab his attention as he put down his scroll to investigate. Meanwhile, the sound of the cops on the train gets closer.
As soon as the cop began walking to the cent, Blake grabbed the girl, and the two moved quickly towards the outside. She can hear the car that was behind them being searched right as they bolted to the outside.
"Ah sweet! It's my lucky day!"
She can't believe that the coin trick she saw in a video game works in real life. Right when they reached sunlight, the red girl yelped in pain. Blake manages to drag her into a corner where they wouldn't be seen, but sheets the girl clutching her eyes in pain, before putting a hood on.
Of course, she's dealing with a vampire, no wonder she looks so outdated. Though she guesses this is one of those "sparkling vampires" from that popular book she heard recently.
"Hey, who's there!"
Blake's worst fears are coming to reality, of course, the cop will hear the girls yelp. At least she looks like she would be able to see, but with her normal hand covering her eyes.
She drags the girl towards a train car and jumps. Blake seriously considered ditching the girl, but to her surprise, the girl easily jumps up onto the car and follows Blake as she moves from car to car.
"I got a possible 10-63, requests for backup, and possible air surveillance." The cop said into his radio as he and the other cops searching the train started pursuing Blake and her escort.
Blake watches as the girl easily maneuvers from car to car. Despite being huge and carrying a large sack, she is not only easily catching up with Blake but the way she moves. Someone that big should be moving like they're well…large. This girl however moves with such unnatural elegance and grace that befits her clothes, as if she has been both trained extensively by someone and that her height isn't a hindrance. Maybe she's a huntress to some obscure nocturnal tribe in Eastern Mistral or Northern Vacuo. Doesn't explain the clothes, which resemble Valean.
Weird, tall, and possibly sparkly vampires, if someone told her this would have happened in her plan yesterday, she would have laughed at it. Blake's ears perked up, and she instantly recognized the sound. She stopped and jumped down, before opening a train car door. The red girl looked confused as Blake gestures to her inside before she hops in. Blake closes the door to a point it appeared shut on the outside, leaving only a tiny slit for her to view.
A few moments later, the tell-tale humming of a bullhead engine is heard directly on top of them. The girl covers her ears, complaining about the loud sound in her unknown language. This adds more to Blake's theory that she is from an obscure tribe in an isolated part of Vacuo or Mistral, given how she read that there are barely any known human settlements in those regions. A small hidden kingdom can develop its language and customs outside of the four kingdoms, or a freak accident involving 2 kingdoms' colonization fleets landing there and fusing cultures.
The bullhead then faded away, but not before she heard incoming footsteps.
"Did you see them?"
"No, AirWatch missed them. Buggers must be hiding underneath the cars."
"Well…do we know what they look like?"
"Well if they managed to hide from a bullhead before it even came, I'm guessing one of them is either a Faunus or just has really good hearing. The other was wearing a red cloak or something similar. Jimmy didn't quite get a good view on them."
"Anything else?"
"Well, he also said that the one with the red cloak was huge. Like tall."
"How the hell did we manage to lose a tall red-cloaked person in a trainyard?!"
"Beats me… Yeah, this area of the trainyard is clear. Moving to another zone."
Blake waited a while to make sure they were alone before opening the train car door. She gestures to the girl to follow her again. They were at the end of the yard, with a simple barbed wire fence in the way. Jumping over the fence, Blake led the girl into an alleyway, judging by the buildings around them, they were in the industrial district of Vale. Not bad, it would be easy to slip away from the cops but would make getting to Beacon difficult.
Blake stops and listens to see if they are still being pursued. After a period of silence, she takes a deep breath. They managed to escape the cops somehow. Looking at the girl, she's not covering her eyes anymore, guess she can see well in the dark without issue. The thought of her being a Faunus entered Blake's mind, but she sees that there aren't any distinct features that a Faunus would possess.
She gave a thumbs up to the girl, who responded happily and, she could only guess, said thanks in her language while bowing. Probably Eastern Valean/Mistrali hybrid then.
Blake knows she has to leave this girl to become a huntress, but she literally can't read the language here. In fact, how did someone like her manage to get into Vale? Doesn't matter, Blake supposed this is the universe's way of guiding her to becoming a huntress, helping those in need and all that.
Blake supposes she can give this girl Lien, and let her know about maps so she can at least know her place around the city. She looks away to give the girl some Lien to pay for say food or transportation, only to see the girl was offering her either a gift or payment. A single, well-crafted coin with a diamond gem embedded in the middle.
That coin was worth way more than what Blake was giving, and she was just giving it away to her. Either she's Schnee-level rich or just unaware of the amount of cash she's giving to an ex-White Fang member. Blake happily takes the coin, while the girl looks at the Lein strangely, before bowing in acceptance.
Blake gestures to her the concepts of maps, to which she easily understood and nodded in understanding. The two waved goodbye as Blake walks down the alleyway and the girl towards the light. With this amount of Lien, maybe she can convince the professors at Beacon to let this girl in, after all, it's a huntress's goal to help those in need.
Ruby was bouncing with glee, she made a friend! A first lightborn friend on the surface, and it's a mutant too! The moonsilver coin that she gave was the lowest amount for Ruby, but remember what that librarian said about diamonds, well she just made what her mother would call a "connection" by giving that. Granted she was probably a runaway like her instead of a noble or merchant, but it's the thought that counts.
Exiting the alleyway, she looks around to see how…rugged the entire area is. No no, not rugged. Industrial, like the entire area, was controlled by the artisans guild back in Twilight. Large, grey buildings with black roping, strange metal beasts moving back and forth, and Lightborn walking around. If this is the artisanal section of the city, then she wonders what the market or governmental core of this city would look like!
She should do what that lightborn mutant told her and find a map. Walking down the street she sees that there are a lot more mutant lightborn than there are proper lightborn. Strange since her studies taught her that on the surface the lightborn enslaved their mutant brethren, and during her grandmother's war, used them as last-ditch cannon fodder when assaulting lightborn cities.
To see lightborn mutants walking about without being in shackles, or tribes deep within the wilderness of the surface, suggests to Ruby that there was probably an emancipation movement that was either occurring or had occurred in the past. Perhaps when she returns home she can ask Huginn or Muninn.
After a few minutes of walking, Ruby is starting to get annoyed. Besides the fact that the environment around her slightly blends, she can't find a single map. There's also the fact that people kept staring at her. Expected given how seeing their clothing, she's a rarity among the workers here.
Turning a corner, Ruby sees a mutant notice her, and quickly duck into a building. As she walks down, she sees people quickly enter their homes, and the street empties. Soon after, a gang of mutant workers emerges from multiple points. They're armed with pipes, wrenches, hammers, and more, Ruby notices that compared to the lightborn. The mutant lightborn appear much poorer than their counterparts. They block Ruby's path.
"Well well well what do we have here? A fancy little rich girl that decided to do some "hunting" on us, and in the day too. You must be stupid to think you can bash a few Faunus heads and get away with it."
Ruby tilts her head in confusion, which only makes the lead mutant angry.
"You hear me, you pompous rich bastard! We're tired of you kids attacking Faunus, destroying our shops, and getting away with it because you're rich and human! So we're going to start teaching a lesson, starting with you!"
"Zut, are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's just a tall dumb rich girl. We can even break her arm so she can show to her fellow rich friends that we're not going to take their abuse any longer."
The lead mutant charges Ruby with his hammer. However, this man was sloppy, with poor posture, and improper movement. Sam would have a field day teaching this man how to fight.
Ruby thought about how to deal with this situation. She can't speak to calm them down, she doesn't even know why she's being attacked. Perhaps in the wrong place at the wrong time? Huginn mentioned how sometimes they had to rush missions due to some lightborn coming in at the wrong time.
She could just fight them like the bandits on top of Luna Naturae, but she and her new friend were being chased by a group, perhaps the law keepers of this city. Terrorizing them would be effective, but would create unnecessary attention.
She dodges the incoming strike from the mutant, which galvanized his gang, or neighbors? It's hard to tell. Perhaps brandishing her weapon would be enough to dissuade them.
She dodges another strike and moves back. The gang intended to surround her and presumably beat her to a bloody pulp. Ruby then took out Crescent Rose and slammed the scythe blade on the ground.
The crowd of people moved back in fear, and that feeling from yesterday hits Ruby again, though this time is stronger. The way they stare at Ruby in fear, the slowly increasing beat of their hearts. Their increasing breaths in anticipation. She shook her head to let loose of this feeling and it has for the most part gone away.
"Gods! She's a bloody huntress! Look man we mean no harm! Seriously! We're just tired of rich kids attacking us!"
The lead mutant is on the ground cowering. A prime opportunity for Ruby, she gestures that she can't speak nor "hear" the crowd and that she needs help.
"Wh-what is she saying? Anyone?"
"Uhh, she's mute and deaf. Probably why she never spoke when we came out to attack her, she also needs help."
"How do you know that?"
"I know someone who has a similar situation to her. It's too expensive for us to get an ADA so we communicate with gestures and sign language."
Some people took a deep breath and started to walk away, glad that they wouldn't have to fight Ruby. The other mutant walks up to Ruby and signs to her, before seeing that Ruby doesn't know sign language and uses gestures instead to ask what she needed.
Ruby is happy to see another person being able to communicate with her before she performs the same gestures the runaway girl in black showed her in the alleyway. The man digs into his pocket and takes out a strange, small object with unfurls to have a larger glass pane in the middle.
"What."
He shows Ruby a map of the area, alongside a red path on the strange object that leads to a location, perhaps a map of the whole city? She can remember the path that was shown to her, she was trained well by her mother after all. What grabbed her interest was the strange device that the man was holding. Granted her Crescent Rose can furl and unfurl, but that was a masterpiece of a weapon that took several years and her mother's guidance to create.
Yet this mutant lightborn was casually carrying an object that was capable of doing such a feat. She doesn't know whenever to feel impressed or slightly insulted by such a thing.
Doesn't matter, this man helped diffuse the situation between the people there and her and helped her find her way to a proper map of the city. She went into her sack and drew out a moonsilver diamond coin. She gifted the coin to the man, before bowing and walking away.
The man stared at the coin Ruby gave him, before pocketing it. He can afford that ADA, and perhaps some benefits for his family with the Lien he could get pawning this off.
Getting to the location was relatively easy for Ruby. What she didn't expect however was the location to be a raised platform above, connected to a bridge that seems to stretch on towards parts unknown. Walking up a staircase, she sees a couple of metal boxes, one of them containing food. In front of them is what appears to be a platform, the entrance of which is a rather low barrier.
Stepping over the barrier, she enters the platform properly and sees scattered amounts of lightborn. They're either daydreaming, chatting, or focused on strange objects in their hand. She walks closer to the edge and immediately steps back in fear. On the floor were metal ladders, the same ladders that harbor the metal taijitu.
Were these lightborn mad?! They're going to get themselves killed if they stay here! Suddenly a jingle played out, and the lightborn stood attentive, some of them getting up from their seats.
Ruby then hears rumbling from the distance, and she moves as far away from the platform as she could. These lightborn can throw away their lives as far as she knew, she's not risking her life nor her legs again.
A metal taijitu appears in the distance, however unlike the one that Ruby faced out in the wild. This one is slimmer, sleeker, and advanced-looking. Instead of barreling through towards the lightborn or Ruby, it instead decides to slow down, making a complete stop at the platform and letting out a hiss.
Doors on the taijitu opened, and an announcement was heard across the platform as lightborn began entering the taijitu. Ruby realizes that she looked even more ridiculous over the fact she was being scared by what the lightborn considers mundane. She chuckles nervously, before following the lightborn onto the taijitu to appear less ridiculous than she already was.
Having to duck her head, she notices that this is rather…cramp compared to the first taijitu out in the wilderness. She took a seat by a window, and another announcement was heard in the taijitu, before a beep was heard and the doors closed.
Ruby wonders about the time, but she believes that it should be noon. Her thoughts trail back to her mother, and how she would be reacting to her disappearance. Her first-time experience on the surface has been awe-inspiring, but also dangerous.
As she moves to her unknown destination, a small seed of doubt sprouts in Ruby's mind.
Lusus jolts up from her bed. Ever since the incident, the nightmares she had suppressed for so long are once again returning. All because her daughter accidentally pressed one too many buttons to trigger a flashback with that accursed arbiter.
She sighs. The only noise in her bedroom was a recently commissioned experimental clock, based on designs from the kingdom of peace. A curious device it was, to be able to tell time without the use of the sun or false moon's light.
She sees that it's noon, before falling back to her bed. Moon above she just wants to sleep for a few more hours, but her duties won't wait for anyone, and it wouldn't quell the rumors that are now spreading. Besides, she completely discarded the Legalist system after the Azure Scarf Rebellion.
She chuckles as she puts on her prosthetic and starts getting changed. By discarding that incredibly old system her people are experiencing what the surface calls a renaissance. Granted it took an attempted coup, a mass rebellion, and several centuries of change but the results showed themselves.
She paused, what she thought about had caused a deluge of questions. She sighed before leaving her room. She can meditate on that in the shrine. Right now she needs to mend relations with her daughter.
As always the Lunar Palace is always busy with servants and seers around. Though there is an uneasy feeling without Ruby's jovial personality running around. Gods, she was so energetic when she was little. How she managed to make it to the top of the castle at the age of 6 still befuddles her.
She approaches Ruby's door, seeing her uneaten breakfast on the ground raised a few questions but she ignored it. She knocked on Ruby's door…No response. She knocked again…No response.
"Ruby? It's thy mother. I wanted to talk…and apologize for what I've done."
No response.
Lusus's hand moves towards the door handle, only to find that it was unlocked. Opening the door slowly, she felt a gentle breeze hit her as she saw…no one.
The room was empty.
A wave of panic rushes Lusus as she enters the room and looks around, thinking that this was some sort of prank that Ruby was playing on her.
Until she saw the letter on Ruby's desk. She opens it and reads the contents.
"Mother."
"If thou art reading this letter. Then it means that I have left the castle for camping. Thy actions at the banquet have been not only uncouth but completely out of line from the mother that raised me. To show such extreme fear from a race that doesn't even know of thy existence, and have that fear force you to strike thy childe. I need some time to think, to be alone in the woods with my mind. I'll return when I have decided to prove myself right in thy eyes."
"Ruby Lusus, Dusk Princess."
A single tear falls onto the letter as Lusus sighs. She's relieved that Ruby was willing to talk after a certain point in time, but she still hates herself for losing control. She'll send a messenger to Amaterasu, asking her to meet with Ruby in her stead when she has the time.
"Or in her introspection. She will discover something that you wanted to be buried. No matter what."
She looked up at hearing the voice. Yet she sees no one. It's starting to happen again.
"Anything?"
A shadowblade asked an old man who just left the room. He's wearing a distinguished and ornate silver armor set without the helmet. A red and green ribbon is attached to his left arm, and his face is scarred. Though it does not hamper his appearance or capabilities
"He is beating every interrogation technique that I know of, including ones used during the Azure Scarf Rebellion. I got to say though, despite our… misgivings. You shadowblades are exceptionally well trained, I see now why the queen prefers to have you manage the surface instead of my ranger corps."
"Thy compliment is appreciated, Commander Ares."
The two turn to see a distinguished noble entering the room. Despite his more casual appearance, he still commands an air of power and respect. He has shining blue eyes like a blue moon on the surface and white and blue hair. A stark contrast to his sister.
"Lunar Raven Muninn."
"My lord."
"At ease gentlemen. Thou do not have to worry in my presence."
"My lord. Work on retrieving the exchanged lightborn currency and arresting those involved with the traitor has been progressing. The lightborn currency shall be put to better use by the end of the week."
"Although I can't say for the traitor. I know greed is one of the cardinal vices, but usually, people who fall for it tend to be."
"Cowardly? Weak-willed? The type of people who claim that their skills are superior to the queen, but get folded like a lightborn fistfighting a beringel?"
"Exactly. You train your men well. I'll give you that, but now it's creating a potential extinction-level crisis that needs to be rectified."
"Not to worry gentlemen." Munnin pulled out a letter and held it with his fingers. "The queen has sought to make sure he'll talk."
The two of them walk to the window and watch as Munnin enters the interrogation room. The traitor shadowblade was surprised at Munnin's appearance, but he quickly assumed a tired and apathetic face.
"For a man who sold his kin for paltry lightborn currency…thou art exceptionally calm, especially given thou know thy punishment for this transgression."
The shadowblade continues to remain silent, on his face were bruises and marks from the more "coercive" interrogations. Munnin sees that he's young, only a few centuries old. Of course, someone young would value money more than their life, unless they're that snowflake in the kingdom of machine.
"I know thee would think that remaining silent would hasten thy fate. But believe me, we are working to uncover your associates and organization. Thou may have abused the trust of my sister, but thou have wrought wrath similar to the rage of the blood queen."
The shadowblade let out an unamused sigh. He probably has heard this conversation from Ares or one of his blades before. Maybe he should invoke more, fear-inspiring imagery before using his trump card.
"My…sister wanted to lead your interrogation."
The traitor's eyes slightly widen, there is a slight expression of fear on them. Munnin smiled inwardly as he continued, though changing his tone to match the threat.
"It was…very difficult to convince her to take a break, relax from the stress and embarrassment you caused her. She was very…descriptive and flowery with her plans for you. I do believe that she's planning to personally see to your fate at the moment, I do believe that you'll know what I am talking about. Given you served under her. I, of course, can prevent her from reaching you. All you have to do is cooperate."
The traitor's face slowly starts to emote, with fear. It's obvious he's considering his options on how to respond. The most logical solution would be to give in, especially since holding would result in Amaterasu getting "creative".
The traitor however calmed down, and he gave a smug grin to the Lunar Raven.
"I can handle whatever hell you royalist dogs can throw at me. By the time you pinpoint the whereabouts of our location, we'll already be gone along with the Lien, and the nice moon silver from the collectors. Same thing for our "collaborators" on the surface."
He leans forward towards Munnin's face.
"You. Are. Wasting. Your. Time."
He proceeded to spit on Munnin's clothes and lean back with a smile on his face. Munnin didn't say or show anything, but there was a sharp drop in temperature in the room.
Munnin sighed before unveiling the letter, placing it on the table and sliding it to the traitor.
"The queen has personally sought to make sure that you speak."
The smile instantly disappeared from the traitor's face, and he instantly started to worry.
"I have read the contents of the letter myself. I can just tell you, but I feel that it would be better for you to read it yourself."
He frantically opened the letter and began reading its contents.
"No. Nonononono!"
"Please, calm down. It is not as bad as you think it is."
"Calm down? Calm down?! That bitch is giving me a moon-cursed Timeless Redemption! I already cosigned my fate to forced labor or death, but a Timeless Redemption?! You gotta kill me! There's no way I'm being consigned to that fate!"
"Please calm down. You and I both know that Timeless Redemption is widely speculated. Even I don't know what exactly occurs during these Timeless Redemptions."
There was a tense silence between the two as the traitor began to hyperventilate. Munnin waited for the man to start breaking down emotionally before taking a deep breath.
"Listen, while you may be consigned to what you consider a fate worse than death. I can offer you a way out."
The traitor stops and looks at Munnin with a hopeful gaze.
"As her raven, my word holds very high sway among the queen. I can get you assigned to death, or if you're lucky, forced labor for a millennium. Maybe even with parole after 500 years, 300 with good behavior. But I can't do that if you continue to be quiet about your dealings and your collaborators. I need names, locations, and insight. Help me, and I can help you."
The traitor took a moment to consider the offer. Munnin tensely waited for his answer, and he dealt a pretty good hand. A small part of him wishes the queen would disclose what occurs in these Timeless Repemptions, mainly so it would dispel the rumors around it. The traitor took a sigh before looking at Munnin straight in his eyes.
"The relics were sold to a criminal organization in the lightborn city of Alexandria. They're based in a warehouse near the major lighthouse. We never made direct contact, but they said they'll move the relics to a man named Roman Torchwick. I do not know where he is located. As for my group, the main headquarters is in some ruins northeast of Twilight, their city location is a cellar near the Hanging Gardens. That's…Everything I know."
Munnin smiled at the prospect of the knowledge he gained from the traitor.
"Thank you for your cooperation…I'll make sure that the queen will change your sentence to something less "horrific" in your eyes. May the shattered moon have mercy upon you."
The taijitu slowed to a stop and Ruby stepped out once the doors began to open. She appreciates the idea of these taijitus being used for transportation, but gods are they small inside. She stretches a bit before departing the platform to see exactly where she is in the city.
The view she got wasn't the one she expected. Instead of the tall grey buildings like she saw before, there are smaller, more homely buildings with shops strewn about. This area overall looks richer than the one she left from.
Perhaps a market district or this area is the governmental center or upper-class zone? The metal beasts she's seeing do appear to be smaller than the ones she saw earlier, and the lightborn here are wearing brighter and more wealthy clothing than the lightborn mutants.
Looking to her left, she sees a group of lightborn huddled around a large, bright blue object before leaving it. Walking to it, Ruby is baffled at what she is seeing. There is a map, alongside other knowledge and pictures that she can't discern. But that wasn't the focus.
The object appeared to be made from some sort of weird blue light. She touches it, and it feels completely solid, yet it appears as if it could dissipate at any moment, and is slightly transparent. She sees multiple pillars and flag banners that are made of the same material.
Just how advanced are the lightborn compared to Yggdrasil?
Doesn't matter. Ruby sees that she's in the central district of the city, and then her stomach growls.
Right, she never had a proper chance to rest and repair. She should check for any bruising inflicted by that taijitu out in the wilderness. Her guess as to why she's not collapsing on the ground was due in part to her training. She should eat right now, she could go sit on some stairs or a bench and eat some travel food…or.
She took out the lightborn currency the mutant gave her, and she set off to find some street food or a restaurant. She can easily remember her way back to this place. How hard could it be?
It's starting to turn night, and Ruby is completely lost.
The lightborn food she bought from some vendors was amazing. She knows that despite being royalty, her mother would occasionally sneak out and acquire food from the vendors in Twilight, or have a servant acquire them for her. It was also surprisingly cheap too…she thinks. Despite this, she had zero ideas how lightborn currency works.
The idea of her mother being stealthy despite dwarfing even the eldest of the Duskborn made Ruby chuckle.
Right, she may be lost for now. But she has a full stomach and a slight desire for something sweet. She will find her way back to that weird blue light object and formulate a plan from there. She also noticed that people are staring at her, though she doesn't mind. They couldn't even see her face properly thanks to her hood.
It's now night, and Ruby wants to strangle the architect of this city. How do you even make 10 identical buildings from back to back?! In the industrial area and Twilight, each building she saw had tiny unique details that let you know where exactly you were going. From the pots being outside a house or shop to the pipes on the wall to certain flags or banners being hung by the door. It was easy to know your way in both those areas.
Here…here she feels like she can walk in any direction and somehow arrive in the same spot she started in. This is infuriating! She groans in frustration. With the accrued sunlight gone, she can see relatively well without having to cover her eyes with shade to even look at something. At least in an alleyway, she replenished the time limit on Light Masquerade. Just ahead of her is what she believes to be a small, quaint little shop.
She would question why it's open at night, but she desperately needs a map and a place to rest.
Walking closer to the shop, she sees that it's a dust shop. That's a relief, she needs to refill on her gravity and singularity dust rounds given that she used them all to travel.
Entering the shop, she sees that it is surprisingly empty, save for the shopkeeper that noticed her. Dust shops in Twilight were always packed, whether it was mothers buying fire dust for their homes, kids playing around with crystals, or mages looking to augment their elemental manipulation with dust clothing or staves.
She sees that the old shopkeeper has strange eyes that make him look like he's closing them on purpose, yet he is still able to see her. It reminded her of the blindfolds some of the more religious duskborn would wear to mimic her mother during the early years of the Second Era. She noticed that the old shopkeeper is probably the only one that didn't stare at her for her clothing or size.
She gestures towards the dust and sees some versions she does not know about. She taps on the glass directly above the gravity dust, and then on the water dust. Tsunami dust has been one of the more fun corrupted dust. Finally, she taps into the teal dust, a variant that she has no clue about its purpose. The shopkeeper nodded and in a flash disappears and reappears with a bag containing all three dust types. She took out the lightborn currency and paid for it.
Her eyes glance towards the bags of dust, and the dust in glass cylinders, she can buy in bulk for ammo crafting later. Her eyes then glance to the section containing what looks like pamphlets in the back of the shop. Walking over, she took out one…and was amazed at how detailed they were. Vibrant pictures of military arms, automata, and trinkets.
She sat down and continue to read the pamphlet, she can afford to spend time reading after all.
Roman took a puff of his cigar, eying his next target which is down the street. The Dust To Dawn shop. Honestly, it surprised him that it's open at this time, though that usually brings more trouble than it's worth.
The boys that he bought from Xiong catch up to him, and he gestures to them to follow him to the shop, with the crowd of people moving back in fear of the gang of sharply dressed men and their handsome leader. He would take a moment to bask in his self-appreciation but his mood has been in the dumps lately.
Ever since Greedy Jackass made that idiotic statement to force Jimmy James into sending a force to Vale. Fire Bitch had him and Neo pulls off Vytal-level gymnastics to keep up with the demand of dust she needs for her spooky and mysterious plans. He would complain about being worked to the bone more than usual to keep her happy, but honestly, he prefers her brooding and being mysteriously evil in some weird part of the city than threatening to make him into a Roman roast.
Alright, you know the deal by now. Go in, grab the dust, get out, and smooth talk anyone that's still in there to compliance. Hopefully, those weird trinkets he sold would be enough to cover anything that requires Lien to remove. Or if the worst occurs, activate Plan Vacuo and make a new life in the deserts with Neo.
He opens the door, and as expected there is a person there. Oh wait he recognizes this guy, he owns that ice cream shop that Neo always likes to eat at. He gotta say, he has some amazing work ethic to own multiple shops by himself. Sorry, but business is business, though he'll pay extra to cover the damages. He taps his cigar to discard the ash and crosses his arms
"Do you know have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?"
"Please! Just take my Lien and leave!"
"Shshshhh, calm down we're not here for your money." He looks at one of the goons. "Grab the dust."
Xiong's goons have been working well for the most part. The sound of powder dust being loaded into canisters fills his ears as one of the goons placed a container on the desktop.
"Crystals. Burn. Uncut."
He takes one of the fire dust crystals and thinks to himself while he smokes. He heard that they were making some form of edible dust back in Atlas, and it will carry some power of the elements. It would be made for rich folk, but also for sweets like candy and ice cream. Gods, he can't imagine what would happen if Neo eats a multi-elemental dust ice cream.
He hears one of the henchmen talk at someone at the back. He walks toward them and continues to threaten them. It's probably nothing to worry about. Then he hears what he think is gibberish before said aforementioned henchman gets thrown at the wall.
He gestures for the other henchman to deal with the issue. The poor sod only had a chance to say "freeze" before he and the person are launched into the window and out on the street.
Looking out the window, Roman sees what he can only describe as some sort of giant, weird, out-of-date, rich, amputated baby-faced noble wearing red-black noble clothing, and wielding what is got to be the richest, ornate-looking white prosthetic arm he has ever seen in his life. And of course, she's wielding a huntress weapon that looks as rich as her.
Hoo boy, this is gonna suck. Why can't he have normal criminal shenanigans like the good old days?
Ruby slammed Crescent Rose to the ground and dared the robbers to attack her. The sharply dressed man stared at her, before muttering something and gesturing his men to attack her. Ruby waited until they were all out, waiting to see if any of them have ranged weaponry. She dodges an easily telegraph attacked and punished the attacker with a hard kick to the face.
The third goon emerges and started shooting at Ruby. She moves quickly with Crescent Rose before smacking him with the scythe. The final goon charges Ruby and she switches to katana to deflect the incoming attacks. She blocks the final slash with her moonstone arm before grabbing the goon's face and slamming him to the ground. She looked towards the leader of the gang, who is immaculately well dressed she must say, with a smug grin on her face.
"You were worth every cent, truly you were." He said towards the down goons as he shifts his attention towards Ruby.
"Well Royal Red, I think we can say that this has been an eventful evening." He crushes some weird thing that was in his mouth with his cane. He then points his cane at Ruby, who proceeded to laugh at him.
"Laugh all you want, but I'm afraid this is where we part ways." A projectile was fired from the cane, surprising Ruby. She only had time to block as she was thrown back from the explosion.
Getting up quickly, she pats down any flames that might have occurred from the explosion, before looking for that criminal in anger. She sees him climbing a ladder and fires a shot. It lands close to him and pieces one of the rails, this only causes him to move faster.
Ruby quickly gives chase, using the recoil to propel herself onto the roof, and lands on her feet.
"Hey!"
"Persistent…"
She was about to move in for an attack, but she hears strange humming ahead. Suddenly, a metal nevermore appeared in front of Ruby and blinded her with a bright light. She dropped her weapon and screamed in pain while covering her eyes.
"End of the line Red!"
She heard the criminal scream something, but even if she could understand him, the loud droning of the metal nevermore makes it hard to hear. And she's busy focusing on the fact that her eyes feel like they're on fire. She hears something clattering on the floor, and before she can react a second shot is fired.
An explosion is heard but instead feeling nothing as she slowly dies. Ruby felt the light disappear, and slowly open her eyes to see a woman protecting her using a magic sigil. The woman tilted her head before launching magic projectiles at the metal nevermore. While she would watch the fight, Ruby takes the opportunity to go through her sack to reload and bring out another corrupted dust round.
The sounds of the fight rage above her, glancing up she sees the metal nevermore being pelted with icicles from a storm cloud above it. Where did that even come from in the first place? Looking back into her sack, gods she needs to organize it again because she can't find that dust round.
She hears an explosion, looking up again she sees a pillar of building material being launched toward the nevermore, and oh great. He has his own Amaterasu. She looks back down to find that accursed dust round, she's missing a fight of a lifetime and only because the gods decided to screw her with an unorganized sack.
An explosion is heard just as Ruby finds what she was looking for. She puts away her sack and switches Crescent Rose to gun form and began firing at the metal nevermore, before switching targets on the false Amaterasu. She easily blocks the bullets she fired, surprising Ruby. But she had brought out that special dust round for just an occasion.
"Even the tallest of trees fall to the might of the gale!"
Ruby fires the gale dust round. The unknown individual tries to block it, but she was blown back by the intense wind. It even moved the metal nevermore. However, she quickly reappeared and a bright light emerged from presumably her hands. Ruby was dragged back by an unknown force as the fake Amaterasu fires an intense heat ray toward Ruby's original location.
She and the unknown savior watch as the metal nevermore closes its door and flies off into the distance. Ruby takes a moment to process what just happened, before making eye contact with her battle partner…wait.
She sees that her partner has green eyes, glasses, and yellow hair, but that's not what worries Ruby. Her clothes are bright and flashy, there's a hole in the top part of her shirt, and she's wearing a cape and is wielding a weird leather whip. Her eyes widen as her savior-turned-opponent changed her demeanor.
"Flashborn!"
She tried running away, but an unseen force is keeping her in place. Ruby starts to panic and tries turning to strike the flashborn, but she's completely immobile.
"You have a lot of explaining to do"
Amaterasu yawns, she just woke up from her nap to see it's already night. The whole day has what she considers to be boring. She should be out there, making that traitor pay, and yet her brother ordered her to stay at home for the day. She may be bigger than him by 10 inches at 9'6", yet he's the eldest sibling.
She sighs, before putting on a yukata. Since it's the night she can join in on the nightly activities at game parlors or taverns. Either that or enjoy the somber ambiance of a city at rest.
Exiting her manor, she picks a direction and walks. Calmly enjoying the serenity of a quiet Twilight. Such solitude is why Ruby went off camping in the woods, she'll look for her tomorrow and relay her mother's words. Another thought went to Amaterasu's tails. Sure suppressing half of them made her work easier to perform, but she feels constricted and slightly off-balance with only three. Maybe it was a bad idea to do such a thing, if she remembers right, the mutant lightborn take great pride in their animal traits.
She then accidentally bumps into a drunk. The drunk stumbles to the ground, before slowly getting up and walking away. Guess she can find the source and get wasted for fun. She follows the path behind the drunk and slowly hears music in the distance. Following the source, she sees a house party, with several people on the ground blackout drunk. Perfect.
Entering the house, she hears someone badly playing the violin along with a flute, most people are asleep, though at the center of the party was a librarian. In his hand was a 1357 vintage. A missing 1357 vintage, mostly empty too. Amaterasu walks over to the librarian and grabs the bottle.
"That's an interesting choice of wine you have there librarian, could you enlighten me on how you got it."
The librarian lazily look up towards Amaterasu and smiled. He's so drunk he doesn't even recognize the Solar Raven.
"Ah…that's a fun story! It all… started when my pay was docked."
Amaterasu smiled at the prospect of an easy conviction since he was essentially confessing everything to her.
15 minutes later, she ran out of the librarian's home, her breath shaky and her heart racing. She even tripped on the way down. She has to know, she has to check. No way Ruby is that idiotic!
"Ruby…Ruby!"
"She's a threat!"
"She's an opportunity."
"She attacked multiple police officers and sent many of them to the hospital with broken bones."
"They were trying to take away her sack and weapon, which she has shown to covet immensely."
"Ozpin, you can't be serious about meeting this girl! She's an enigma. Unknown. She speaks with a language unknowable to the databases, her clothes match no historical fashion trend. Most of all, she's a complete nobody! No medical records, no birth certificate, jobs, education, etc. She by all accounts does not exist."
"True, but this is also the same person that Miss Belladonna tried to bribe us to admit to Beacon. Though she is aggressive to us, the truth of the matter is that she's a lost little girl that somehow managed to find her way into a world completely foreign to her home. If she even has a home that is, I do somewhat agree that this person may have originated from either Northern Vacuo or Eastern Mistral."
Ozpin picks up a tray of cookies. And began walking towards the interrogation room.
"Which is why, as protectors of humanity. We must bridge the connection between the kingdoms and foster unity between all of Remnant. Wherever they may be Atlesian elites, or uncontacted technologically stagnate princesses from inhospitable lands."
Glynda sighed as she and Ozpin enters the room and comes face to face with who Belladonna called "Princess Red".
The girl shows immediate hostility towards the two, especially glaring at Glynda. Ozpin now sees the prosthetic that was mentioned in the report, and it was immaculate as Glynda described it was. The fact that she showed it out in the open with no care expresses a level of bravery in the girl. Bravery backed up with martial arts skills.
Ozpin places the tray of cookies in front of the girl and sits down in front of her. He gestures to her to try out the cookies. The girl glares at Ozpin, but glances at the cookies. She does this several times before she hesitantly grabs one, sniffs it, and biting it.
Her expression changes to a more jovial one as she starts wolfing down the cookies. Ozpin smiles as Glynda coughs to get her attention and plays the video she had to come up with to bypass the lingual barrier on her scroll.
The video was a simple one, using pictures it explains the girl's situation to her, mainly that she's a nobody and is about to be arrested and sent off to prison for her numerous crimes. As expected, she started to panic and was about to fight her way out until Ozpin manages to get her to calm down and continue watching the video.
The video then went on to show Ozpin and his position at the Beacon Academy, and that if she joins the academy, the crimes would not only be forgiven. But she would receive a place to stay, education, training, training on how to speak the languages of the kingdoms, and a purpose.
The video ends, and the mysterious royal appears to be in deep thought. Contemplating her next move. Then she stood up, only to hit her head on the light and mutter something in her language. Hunching over she extends her hand for a handshake, which Ozpin received.
"Now, before I leave. I do believe formal introductions are required."
Ozpin points to himself.
"Oz~pin~." He said in a way compared to teaching a child, normally it would be insulting, but he trusts this girl to at least understand his name.
"Oz~...pi~..?"
Now that is an accent and she got his name wrong. Which of course would make sense, she can't speak Valean or any other language they know. He then pointed towards Ruby, gesturing for her name.
She thinks about it before her face lights up. She takes out what looks like an emblem in the form of a focused, burning rose, but it's made for a royal with red, white, and black embroidery on it, it also has gemstones on it.
The girl pointed to her eyes, her silver eyes. Her whole appearance is out there that he didn't notice her silver eyes. This girl is indeed an enigma. She then pointed to her emblem. She does this several times to establish her name.
"Silver Rose..."
Ozpin takes a moment to process that name, before disposing of that thought. That last name is common in Vale anyway.
"Well, Miss Rose. Today has been an interesting day, but I am glad to have you as my student. I'll see you tomorrow."
Yang sighed to herself. 12 years. 12 long years since that fateful day. It's been a rough life, but despite the despair. She promised to make her dad happy, find her mother, and a pipe dream but it doesn't hurt to try, to find her stolen sister or at least the bastard that took her. And then beat that bastard until its helmet face is nothing but dust under Ember Celica.
She gazes out the window. From high above is sure is a beaut, but staring out to space bores Yang. There's the news about that Torchwick guy, but she has Zwei to relay the news back to her. Plus she's never been a news person. She then sees a tall, red-black noble girl with her face glued to the window.
"Time to make a friend."
She walks over to the girl and leans on the window.
"It's a beauty, right? You can never get a view like this back at Patch."
The girl stops staring at the window, and Yang stepped back. Woah, that's a crazy sense of deja vu. She kinda looks like Summer. No that can't be right, doppelgangers exist. She's probably just one of them. The girl looked around awkwardly before.
"I uh, I can't speak your language. I apologize for my limitation."
"What."
She got super awkward before she gestures for her mouth to be closed by a zipper. Oh~, she can't speak. Well, she can but only in some weird Vacuan dialect. The girl looks back towards the window in shame.
"Hey, no need to feel bad about your limitation." She grabs the girl which startles her. "If you managed to get all the way to Beacon, then the sky's the limit for you!"
The girl giggles and smiles. The screen behind them then changes from the news to an announcement from the teachers. She should probably pay attention, but she instead started pointing out landmarks in Vale and exaggerating them with gestures. It's clear that this is the girl's first time on an airship.
Soon, Beacon appears in view, and she's astonished at how amazing it looks from afar. Great job Yang! You're making your first friend at Beacon! Probably should tell dad or Qrow later once they establish teams. The girl left the window and went to go help some scraggly blond kid in armor.
Oooh, she knows that look. A devilish smile appears on Yang's face and she began counting down. Three…two…one…and vomit boy does his namesake over the strange noble girl's boots. She squeals in disgust as Yang begins to laugh before she punts Vomit boy across the room. She finishes laughing before going off to help the girl cleans her boots, and then go help Vomit boy.
This is going to be a unique first year at Beacon.
"The criminal organization has been effectively quashed. It's clear that they were expecting the traitor to remain silent and take his secrets to his grave. They haven't even begun to burn evidence against them. We also found multiple stolen First Era relics in their hideouts, most likely planned to be sold among the Lightborn."
"I thank thee, Commander Ares, for thou commitment to serving Yggdrasil and keeping her people-."
Amaterasu bursts through the throne room, in her a map. She looks like she discovered a horrific secret.
"Hu-Amaterasu! What's is the matter?!"
"R-Ruby…She's…"
A beowolf lazily sleeps in the white forest, like many of its kind it has fought and been culled by the duskborn to keep populations low. It then suddenly woke up, it feels it, an intense amount of it, and it was in the direction of the White Palace. It knows that its brethren are heading towards this source and immediately bolts towards it.
Soon after, a loud, horrific, despairing wail echoed throughout the White Forest.