Fucking Challos, ever since I introduced him to Vindictus it's all we've been doing. Don't worry progress is still being made, and chapter 7 is almost done, but fuck man. Take a breather, I know it's spring break for you, but take a nap!

"Alright that should do it Miss Rose. Try not to put any weight on your leg for the next week or so. Come back when you feel better, and I'll see if you can get back in field."

"Thank doctor Arneke."

"Also make sure you don't put any stress on your other leg either. It's not broken, but I wouldn't recommend testing it."

I nodded, grabbing my crutch and standing up from the small table I was sitting on. He opened the door for me while I limped out into the tiny waiting room. Jaune was sitting in one of the four chairs making random string figures. He grabbed one with his teeth and pulled back into what was called a 'lawn mower.' Finally noticing me standing there he walked over and offered to carry me. I said I was fine, but he insisted that he walk me home.

"I forgot to ask; what's even in here?" He asked holding up my cloak.

"Bones."

"Bones?" Not fully sure if he even heard right.

"Well, when I was in the tunnels a women helped me get out. I just thought they deserved to be laid to rest somewhere and not just left in the tunnels."

"So a dead person helped you out of the tunnels?" He asked suspiciously, thinking there must have been more to it.

"Eh, well...", Ok, maybe that sounds crazier than I originally thought, "Yes."

"I didn't know you still believed in ghosts."

"I didn't, but I saw her, and others. Lots of people are trapped down there."

"Alright, no need to get all defensive."

"Actually, thank you. You reminded me I need to talk to Mr. Torchwick."

I stopped on my heel and turned the other way. Jaune took a moment to realize and shouted after me.

"Wait, shouldn't we head home? I'm sure your dad will be waiting when he gets back."

"You already had Ozpin send a courier out to find mine and yours, it'll be fine."

I ignored his complaints while hobbling toward the first apartment building. I walked in with no hassle and knocked at door 102.

"Who is it?"

"It's Red."

"Red? Who… Oh! Coming."

After a moment I heard the deadbolt click and the metal plate opened up. Mr. Roman stood there, He was in his normal white suit with the black bowler hat. He had a cheap cigarette in his mouth, instead of one of his fine cigars I knew he liked to smoke.

"So Red, what can I help you with? Need some bullets exchanged? I think I got a couple of .50 cal around here somewhere."

"Actually, I wanted to ask you about Mountain Glenn."

He stopped in his tracks. I hoped I hadn't said something to make him mad as he leaned down with a very stern look on his face. His gaze pushed on me, making me feel even smaller. I took half a step back, and couldn't help but gulp down my nerves. It felt like he was choking me with just his eyes. My throat felt tight, and my head felt like it was being pressed down. His eyes broke from me, and flashed over to Jaune.

He looked at him for a moment before telling both of us to come in. We walked into his two room apartment. Miss Neo must have been out as I didn't see any sign of her. There was a futon couch along the back wall with a small table in front of it. Atop it were numerous maps of the metros and the city in a large unorganized pile. the walls were hidden behind large metal boxes filled with varying amounts of ammunition. Mr. Torchwick was easily the richest person in Central. I actually wonder why he didn't just buy one of the houses near the end of the terminal, which were much nicer.

"Alright Red," He started, while collecting two fold chairs for us to sit on, "What do you want to know about Mountain Glenn?"

"I wanted to know what you were doing with that group of faunus."

I guess he didn't want to hear me say that, as a moment later his cane had hit me dead in the chest, knocking me over. Jaune stood in an attempt to defend me, but was whacked across the head, causing him to fall on his face. The tall man walked over and stepped on Jaune's back, just hard enough to keep him from getting up while he pointed his cane at me. The end of it made a small 'pop' sound as it flipped up into a crosshair, pointed directly at me.

"Alright Red, tell me who told you about Mountain Glenn. That was years before you were even born."

"No one!" I said in a panicked voice.

His cane lowered from me and was pointed at the back of Jaune's head.

"Who tattled!" He asked me roughly, clearly not in the mood for games.

"No one, I was walking through the southern tunnels and I just saw these shadow people walking around and talking," He took the cane away from Jaune's head, but kept his finger on the trigger, "One of them was a crowd of faunus gathered around, while another guy introduced you; you weren't a shadow though so I was just curious."

He looked me dead in the eye for what felt like eternity. Finally he flipped the cane around and used it to hook Jaune by the collar of of his hoodie; lifting him off the ground. Once he was standing Mr. Torchwick gave him a quick brush off, knocking away a little dust that grabbed on while he was on the floor. His face was still serious, but he helped me up too. He fixed the chairs then told us to take a seat while he reached behind the futon, pulling out a leather case.

"Alright so what did you want to know?" He muttered while popping it open and scouring through it's contents.

"Umm, well anything you want to say." At this point in time, I didn't care anymore I just didn't want to make him mad. He wasn't a hunter, but he certainly knew how to fight.

"Alright I'll give you the short version." He took a long drag, finishing his cigarette before throwing it in a dish.

"So this was a few years before you were born, when we still lived on the surface. As I'm sure your dad or any other adults have told you, I don't exactly have a squeaky clean record."

"When we lived on the surface I was working for a woman named 'Cinder' and her two cronies." He reached into his case and a moment later presented us with two pictures; one of a boy with grey hair, and a girl with green, "They approached me with a offer that 'I couldn't refuse.' Looking back at it though I wish I had."

"What did they want?" Jaune asked, cutting him off.

"Let me tell the story. Then you can ask your questions!" He replied slightly agitated.

Jaune muttered an apology, before letting him continue.

"As I was saying, Cinder made me an offer, asking me if I wanted to be rich. Naturally I was sceptical. I was already a renowned criminal at the time so thought she was a undercover cop or something trying to play me into a trap.

She said all I had to do was help her with her goal. I asked what that entailed, but she only said, I had to just steal dust till she said we had enough. I asked from where, and she said it didn't matter. I asked if she wanted to know who I was stealing it from, she said she didn't care. I asked how she wanted to stay in contact, she said she would find me.

If she was a cop, she had rather unorthodox methods. I still didn't like taking a chance, so I called up a few people that owed me some favors. I purposely planned a sloppy robbery to try and get her to play her hand early. She didn't take it, and the robbery went off without a hitch.

She came to me and basically gave me a pat on the back before saying they would need MUCH more. I made another attempt, this time hiring some goons from an old associate of mine. I had asked her to help me with this robbery as it was closest to the police and Signal. She agreed to help, by being our get away driver. Again, I planned a sloppy robbery to try and get her to pull her hand, with a backup driver so I could escape when the police arrived early.

Somehow we got away without a hitch, except for some hunter in training who was in the store at the time. We easily beat him off and escaped, no harm done but a black eye and a slight bang on his forehead." He pulled out another picture; it was a kid, about my age with red hair and grey eyes, with a solid red hoodie on.

"At this point I gave up the idea she was a cop, since if she was she could have literally delivered us to law enforcement. After that I did a few solo jobs, a few that were close calls, and one where I almost got my head blown off by a shopkeeper who wasn't having it. Finally, she introduced me to some of her associates, including the two brats I showed you and the leaders of the White Fang." He went to digging through all the papers, probably looking for another picture.

He stopped when I raised my hand to ask a question. He paused and let me go ahead.

"What's the White Fang?"

"Well Red they were a faunus rights group. Originally very passive, they eventually started taking more… 'direct' means to get their way. You see, before we fled into the metros and became one big happy family; faunus were disrespected and mistreated. They were a group devoted to getting them on an equal playing field as humans, but eventually they got a new top dog who wanted more than equality." He found what he was looking for and showed me a newspaper clip out of what I guess was the leaders of the White Fang being arrested.

I lowered my hand, now understanding what they were. He took a moment to light another cigarette, before continuing the story.

"I didn't know at the time, but apparently she had told them that their goals aligned, so in exchange for their help she would give them the means to fulfill their goal. We shook hands, and I he was an ass. We parted, both thinking the other was the worst kind of scum, and despised the idea of having to lower ourselves to the other's level.

It was an upgrade though, White Fang members were more obedient than the regular goons I worked with, and they were from a finer cloth when it came to skillsets. By the end of the month I had stolen the major take of the city's dust supply.

If I was smart, I would've just jumped ship and sold the dust while the price was good and escape was still possible; but we criminal scum have something called, 'professional's integrity'. Basically, you don't stab people in the back, they won't do the same to you; if you do though, you'll quickly find the world is very literally against you.

Next, after collecting up all the dust was phase two as she called it. In short, she wanted people to start doubting their leaders ability to protect them. One of those things was the Mountain Glenn case, where I had a train ride full speed into a barricade while using large explosives to blow hole in the tunnel for grimm to crawl through. The grimm broke into the city and caused havoc. A lot of people were killed, and more were badly hurt." Again he pulled out a photo that showed a huge hole in a street with Grimm running into the city.

"It didn't stop there, more and more things that weakened the kingdom. Each worse than the one before. They wouldn't tell me what their plans were, but at that time I was starting to piece things together myself. Finally I started building myself a door, and got out of there as quickly as I could. I ratted them out to the council and Ozpin. They warned the other kingdoms, and exchange for me helping to clean up the mess they would clear my record of all current charges. So it was a good deal for me at the time.

I won't bore you with the details after, but basically I was off on what I thought Cinder's plan was, and in my attempt to stop it, made it backfire on both of us; and here we are today. Living nice and snug underground with Grimm separated from us by only a few inches of steel and a three man guard detail at any time."

Seeing he had stopped for good, Jaune spoke up again, "What about the other kingdoms?"

"I guess she had people like me working for her in the other kingdoms doing the same thing. She just planned to have all the big players concentrated in Vale so it was easier to keep track of all of them."

The door opened behind us, and we turned to see Miss Neo walking through the door. She smiled when she saw us, then turned to Roman.

"Is it really that time already? Sorry kiddies, going to have to cut this short."

The suited man stood and walked into the side room while Neo followed him in. Me and Jaune shared a look and a shrug.

"That means it's time for you to leave." Leaning out from the door frame to deliver his point more bluntly.

Jaune put our chairs back along the wall while I limped my way toward the door. I told Jaune I was going home, but asked if he would like to join us for dinner. He said no unfortunately, so we departed in different directions.

On my way home I noticed the pathway was a little emptier than normal. Old Mr. Green wasn't in his regular spot either. He was a quiet man, very nice and good at telling jokes, who lived in a small makeshift shack between two of the buildings. He always sat in front of his alley normally asking for some extra food. I was always happy to give him some spare bullets; rations are very small and he's too old to do anything that could pay for more.

I limped down the alley toward the small shack in the very back. It was very humble, only being a few pieces of steel sheeting nailed together on a wood frame. I knocked on the side, calling for Mr. Green. When he didn't respond I moved the curtain that separated the inside from out. Oddly it was empty, not because he wasn't there, but because the cushion he slept on and all his belongings were gone. I looked around the alley now with a more attentive eye, looking for his stuff, but couldn't find anything. After one last look to see if there was a note or anything that he might have left for people to find. Finding nothing I left the empty shack; hoping that he simply decided to move somewhere else.

I arrived at our house after a few minutes of limping through the city. Inside Yang had her fingers woven together while holding her face in her hands. Her knees bounced with worry as she was probably worried sick at where I had been. Uncle Qrow sat next to her eating soup. The sound of the door alerted them to my arrival.

"See? You worry too much."

"RUBY!" Yang ran straight towards me, getting up so fast that she almost tripped over Uncle Qrow's legs.

I didn't even have a chance because of her need of a hug, and my broken leg. Before I could move, she grabbed me into a massive bear hug that threatened to break my ribs.

"Yang- breathing- can't!" I struggled to say under the immense pressure of her hug. She didn't let up though, slowly spinning me in a circle instead.

"Yang, I think you should let her down." She didn't seem to hear him though.

My vision started to go black from the lack of oxygen. Yang didn't let up though, and instead she started speaking into my hair as she hugged me. I think she was saying things along the line of "I'll never let anything happen to you ever again." Which in a way was ironic, since she seemed to be trying to kill me with love. I felt the the strain on my muscles lossesn, but the pain of being crushed didn't disapear.

:::::

I felt a strange feeling in my injured foot. It hurt, but was also kind of soothing. I realized my eyes were closed, and opened them to see Yang with a worried look on her face as she massaged my foot. I was laying on the couch while Yang sat under my legs. Looking around, dad and uncle were around the table, cooking something in the crockpot.

"I'm so glad you're ok!"

My attention was pulled back to Yang who was squeezing me again. Though with less lethal force. She seemed to have learned her lesson from the first time though, and let go a moment later.

"Hey there sleepy head, dinner is almost done." Qrow called from the table.

I got up from the couch with a little help from Yang to go to the table. I didn't have my combat vest or helmet on anymore, and guessed someone had striped me. Yang handed back my crutch and I stood while dad walked over and pulled me into a hug.

"So glad you're alright. If it wasn't for Jaune, I probably would have killed his Dad when I heard you got seperated and he left you." Dad called from the table meeting me halfway to pull me into his own hug.

"Hey Rubes, what's in here anyways?" Yang asked while holding up the cloth bag my cloak was tied in.

"Bones."

"Bones?" All of them with the same reaction Jaune had.

"I found them in the southern sector before I found Jaune. I just thought they looked so lonely, abandoned in the dark. So I brought them back." That sounded far less crazy.

Dad and Qrow shared a look with each other when I mentioned where I found them.

"Well, we still have a few minutes, why don't we go bury them before we eat?" We all agreed, and walked out the door to our yard. Well if you could call an empty patch of along the side of our house a yard.

Our neighbour Mr. Bark was kind enough to lend us a shovel to make a small hole. It wasn't a proper grave, but it would be better then just out in the middle of the tunnel. I opened my cloak to reveal the aged fabric underneath.

I heard Dad and Qrow shifting behind me when I opened it. With the greatest of care I moved cloth away and folded it up nicely before placing the bones orderly on top of it. Once in the small hole I reached for the shovel, only for dad to pull it away first.

"How about you girls go inside and wash up? I'll finish this."

"Tai..." Uncle interjected.

"It's alright, it'll only take me a moment. I think I have the ideal marker for it too." He nodded and guided the confused Yang and me back inside.

We sat around the table waiting for the last of dinner to finish. The smell of the meat was intoxicating, since it had no doubt having been cooking since just after we left. Uncle checked to see if it was done, and sure enough my stomach growled at the sight of the meat slipping off the bone back into the pot.

Dinner turned out to be very quiet. Dad took much longer then I would have thought to bury the bones. I was almost done eating by the time dad finished. He didn't stop to sit down though, instead running through the open floor living room, to the small hall that had our bedrooms on opposite sides. He disappeared into his room and the sound of shifting furniture started sounding through the house. Yang asked for me what was up, but uncle only responded with silence. Looking at his eyes though, it would seem he didn't even hear her. Yang waved her hand in front of him, but still he didn't come too.

Letting out a yawn and finished my last bite of dinner before resolving to head to bed. I walked past dad me, a backsword in his hand. Well the blade at least. There was no hilt or hand guard, or anything other than the red blade with a white trim along the edge. Dad didn't seem to notice me staring at the blade as he walked back out the door. I had never seen the blade before, but for some reason my mind tingled, like I should have known what it was.

So Ruby is going to be out of commission for the next in story week or so. So I'm going to use this excuse to build the world and characters. Also a person asked, yes Weiss is planned to be in the story, but not for a while. Need to work on Blake too, I've noticed all my stories Blake is given only token mention. The reason is because I find her a boring character (sorry, but I do) so since the White Fang was before her time, I'm going to make a point of making her more interesting (in my mind at least).

/u/Challos edited, /u/madgamer2k7 made the thumbnail, so thank you both of you.

Review+Follow; end of chapter pandering.