Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Red, White, Black and Yellow
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 client left. Every year, he felt a little more exhausted by work than the previous one, and thought that he should take it easy by reducing his hours, or even stopping altogether.
But he still needed a roof over his head, so he held on, waiting for the day he could finally quit, 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 usually didn't like customers doing that, but Ruby Rose was a regular, so he allowed it. If she followed her usual schedule, she would leave in an hour anyway.
The bell rang, indicating that new customers had entered the shop. Joe turned towards the door, 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 about them screamed “gangsters”. A man in a white coat walked to him, obviously the leader. Before Joe could make a move or say a word, one of the men jerked a gun from his belt and pointed it at the center of Joe’s forehead.
Joe’s throat dried up, and he found himself unable to speak.
- “Okay, grandpa, there’s no reason for this to go wrong.” Said the man in the white coat. Joe felt like he'd seen him before, but he couldn't remember where.
- “You act like nothing happened, and there is no reason 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 Dust supplies. The helplessness was excruciating, but it was nothing compared to the fear of dying.
- “Hey kid, what are you doing?” one of the thugs suddenly shouted.
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, hit 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, letting the Dust spill onto the ground.
Ruby ran after them. Seeing the door ripped off its hinges, 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 the girl, and attacked all at once. They had no cohesion, but numbers were in their favor.
Ruby grabbed something from behind her back, and unfolded it in an instant in a chorus of metallic clanks. She twisted her hands, and her weapon, blurred by the speed, circled around her, stopping 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. Her weapon was now visible: a scythe, red and black, massive and complex, larger than its owner. The six remaining criminals backed away, intimidated.
- “Are you done playing?” said an ironic voice from behind them.
They charged again. But Ruby was faster, and hit the first one in the head, causing him to collapse to the ground. The second threw a diagonal strike, but Ruby was once again faster and knocked him out with the flat of her blade. The third was no more lucky, and received a heel strike to the chin. She swept the fourth guy's legs away as he tried to attack her in a blind spot, and he fell heavily to the ground. The last two attempted an attack, but Ruby knocked them with the flat of her blade for one and a heel strike 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 man in a white coat 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 eventful evening, petite rouge, but unfortunately it’s time to end the show.”
He pointed his cane at Ruby and a fireball 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.
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 at that!” the bandit shouted.
He turned around and threw a red crystal at the girl's face, before shooting on it with his cane. Ruby didn't have time to react.
But the explosion did not reach her. A woman, who had appeared out of nowhere, had protected her with purple energy runes. She made a gesture, and arrows flew at the thug, who had taken the opportunity to flee in the ship. They exploded on it, knocking it out of balance, but without doing any real damage.
A female figure, whose face was hidden by the darkness, appeared from the still opened door. She raised 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 bursted where she had been a moment before.
Ruby, who had been watching the shoot out, 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 and glowing circles appeared on the roof under the feet of Ruby and the woman who had saved her.
The woman 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 criminals with it.
Ruby turned to the woman. She was tall, blonde, and wore glasses. She wore a white blouse and a black skirt, and looked very strict and professional. The girl didn't know who she was, but she knew what she was.
- “You are a huntress!” Ruby 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 gravity 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 a strike on the knuckles!”
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 herself talk down.
- “They started it! And I couldn’t let them steal from Mr. Doe like that!”.
Glynda sighed, as if expecting this answer.
- “Someone wants to talk to you. He is the one who will decide your fate”.
The room’s only door 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, which 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 favorites. The plate was soon empty and Ruby felt much better.
- “Ruby Rose”. he said. “I was told about your exploits. I see that the teachers at the Signal Academy taught you well.”
Ruby blushed a little at the compliment, rubbing the back of her head.
- “Well, it’s a particular professor. My uncle Qrow”.
- “That’s what I thought. His influences on your fighting style are quite visible after all. 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 starting this year, and being a huntress or a hero has always been my dream, so…”
- “Why do you want it 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 badly do you want to go to my school?”.
Ruby sighed.
- “More than anything in the world”.
- “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 start this year. That way you’ll join your sister, right?”.
Ruby's eyes grew so large they were threatening to pop out of their sockets.
- “ARE YOU SERIOUS?” she screamed. She blinked, then looked guilty.
- "Obviously. Why shouldn’t I give you a chance?”.
- “Oh thanksthanksthanksthanks…..”
- “It’s only natural. You should go home, your family must be worried, right?”
Ruby's face turned 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 return 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 question that burned her tongue.
- “Are you sure of yourself, headmaster?”
- “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 else.
……….
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 trusting with her saber.
Weiss narrowly dodged the blow, her heart racing, and spinned the barrel of her weapon. The blade of her sword turned yellow, but Winter released her pressure on Weiss' rapier, and avoided being shocked by the lightning.
Winter chained a diagonal strike, a horizontal strike and a thrust at blinding speed, and Weiss struggled to parry the blows. 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 propelled herself towards her sister. Weiss made the same symbol appear beneath her, and she jumped into the air, avoiding Winter's charge.
Winter made another symbol appear, and jumped to Weiss. Weiss protected herself with her sword, but Winter's thrust still sent her flying against one the training room’s walls. 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 floor, and turned to her sister. Weiss propelled herself using a black symbol, but Winter effortlessly deflected her diagonal strike before countering with a thrust.
But Weiss suddenly dropped to the ground and slipped 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, Winter had drawn her other sword, its blade almost touching 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 feet 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 was their mother.
Winter didn't dare look in Willow’s eyes. Her face was impassive, but her eyes looked worried.
- “It is not what you said, Winter? That she had to hit you or make you use your second sword ? So, do you have any more objections?”
Winter didn't answer right away.
- "No. No, I have no objection. Weiss, I’ll let you go to Beacon”.
Weiss shyly nodded, and seemed a little awkward.
- “Thank you, Winter.”
Willow looked at her two daughters. Gods, they can be so complicated sometimes. She looked at Winter a bit longer. You still don't understand why she chose Beacon and not Atlas, don’t you?
- “You two should rest,” Willow said. “Weiss, we will take care of your registration tomorrow.”
- “Okay, mother” replied the young woman.
…….
The young girl was fleeing through the forest, jumping from tree to tree. She went to the right for several yards, then veered sharply to the left. She continued in that direction until she lost her breath, stopped for a few seconds to recover, then ran again. 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 aimlessly wandered the streets for a long time. She finally calmed down, and jumped to the top of a building with agility. She needed to think.
She had to hide.
But where? A place with a lot of people, which would allow her to blend in the crowd. Secure, of course. A place where Adam wouldn't think to look for her.
An ironic smile formed itself on her face. 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.
I 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 weighed on her, she made her decision. First step, money. The Red Fang hideout she was thinking of was on the other side of the town. She jumped from roof to roof, her confidence back.
The journey was long and Blake took several breaks, she needed to keep her energy, but she finally arrived not far from the abandoned building that served as a hideout for the Red Fangs in this city.
The young girl stared at it, motionless. What she would do in the next few minutes would decide her fate. She had to be certain. She thought of the look of pure horror on Adam's face when she ran away, and her heart sank. But another memory came to her : “Why would you want me to worry about the guards?” the words resonated through her very core, and she shivered.
She jumped through one of the many holes in the wall in front of her 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 guarded the stolen money at all times, changing every two hours. Avoiding the fight was therefore impossible. But there was a good chance that they were all henchmen, 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 give the alarm, and leave with her 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 tiptoes, 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 on the left. Perfect.
She walked towards the corridor, and suddenly 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 answer: she gave her weapon its 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 had an assault rifle, the one on the right one a dussack, the weapons used by all the Red Fangs' henchmen. Blake immediately stepped out of the line of fire of the first and brought out the curved blade of a wakizashi from her pistol, while the man on the right charged like a bull. When he got within range, he threw a wide 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 sharp pain exploded in his ribs.
He looked down: Blake had reappeared, in an almost crouched posture, her sword in her right hand. The dirty little…. He was about to attack again 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 off.
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 into 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 herself a shield.
Good for her: two other men were waiting inside, their machine guns pointing to the entrance. Seeing their colleague suddenly appear, they hesitated to shoot. Blake took the opportunity to turn her weapon to its pistol form, and fired from her cover, knocking them both without giving them a chance to fight back.
She let the henchman she was grabbing fall to the ground, and stood up. There were two bags sitting on a table. Blake looked inside: at least $60,000 in total. Exactly what she needed to stay 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 wasn't a question.
- “Done” his interlocutor grunted through his teeth. He didn't even 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.
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 merchants. “For their protection”. Yes. It would help him blow off some steam.
He got up from the table and went down to the bar. 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 Hei having to say something, the bartender turned around to grab a bottle and a glass. He turned to the person waiting. A girl, blonde, with a tailbone mane of hair. She was young. Too much for Hei’s liking. Minors 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.
She is just a kid , she doesn't know what she's talking about he said to himself while trying to calm down. Oh well, screw it. There was no way a little minx was going to look down on him like that.
He pointed at her with the fingers of his right hand. “Listen to me carefully, kid, you better mind your tone, if you don’t want….arrrgh!”.
The “kid” had grabbed the index finger of his outstretched hand, and used the grip to twist his entire arm.
- “First of all, you call me “miss”, not “kid”, got it?” 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 humiliating. The blonde also seemed to have noticed it.
- “Second, if you give me what I want, 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, it was easy to 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?”
It was not the time to be dishonest.
- “No, I swear, now let me go!”
The kid pouted in disappointment, lowered her head, then glared at Hei. The man'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 had thrown him into the stage like nothing. Okay, playtime over.
- “Teach her a lesson!”, he hatefully spat, 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 “kid” was smiling widely.
The young girl put herself into a boxing guard, 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 rang out in the room. The shot hit the man in the chest, and he collapsed, alive but out of combat. The young girl repeated the maneuver for the second man, then the third, and the fourth.
She had brought down about fifteen people 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 straight punch to the liver, and finished him off with a kick to the temple, which made him spin on his axis and drove him into the floor 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 his 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, put her weight on her right leg and jumped, spinning around. Hei took the opportunity to try to hit her with a bat, but tiredness 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'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 sharp 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 sweep kick, before crushing his face, he was almost relieved to be unconscious.
The remaining henchmen looked at them, dumbfounded. The girl turned towards them, and they instinctively took several steps back, pushing 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 succeed. No . She had to find her. To understand why. No matter how long it will 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 the call. Then a familiar voice made her eardrums ring.
- “Yang ! IAMGONNAGOTOBEACONWITHYOU.”
- “Rubes?” Yang said, incredulous. “Calm down, what are you talking about?”
- “I can 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 awesome 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 is a sleepless night!”
Before her sister could protest, Yang hung up and took off down the road, ecstatic. 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 rely on, and Ruby was too good to stall in Signal for two more years anyway. Yes, they would be together, and would beat down anything that got in their way.
Yang Xiao Long rushed through the streets of Vale, adrenaline pulsing through her veins.