Last Huntress - Chapter 19

-I'm A Traveler That Has Lost The Stars-

The back tire of the black and purple motorcycle skidded a few inches as it came to a stop, parallel to the side of a building. Blake dropped the kickstand, waiting a moment for Ruby to dismount before she slipped off the bike as well. Even in the space of time it took for her to pocket the key and turn around, she still had to jog a few feet to catch up to the younger Faunus.

She had seen many sides to this new Ruby in the short time since they had reunited, but the purpose in each step of the wolf-girl was new, and she couldn't deny that it gave her a bit of satisfaction to see such a thing. She hadn't worried that the other woman's spirit had been broken, no, but she remembered the Ruby that had displayed a heart so genuine it was heartbreaking in and of itself to find that same person so muted. So numb to the world.

It had taken her some time to accept she was dealing with a different woman, and even more to realize the traces of that bright girl beneath the scarred soul she walked alongside. As she cast an appraising glance sideways to the other Faunus, Blake tried not to smile at the determined line set into the wolf-girl's lips. "This is it. Where she said she was hiding."

Ruby had stopped at the corner of the building, looking over the crowd of people gathered outside the doors of the club Yang had sent them to in pursuit of Auburn. All were Humans, chatting in hushed tones of worry, looking to the plume of smoke rising from the center of Vale. Many tapped away at scrolls, checking their social feeds for news of what had happened, and it was then that the whispers reached the fine hearing of her wolven ears.

"-said that it could be another Breach."

"She has no idea what she's talking about, they would warn us if Grimm were pouring into the city."

"Are you sure? They didn't last time.."

She sucked in a long breath, rocking back on her heels as she nervously glanced from the Humans to the smoke, wondering how it must of felt to be on the other side of the city that day. She couldn't imagine watching the cliff walls slowly crumble, the fires spread while aircraft sped to drop off whatever Hunters were available, even the students.

"And you were useless to protect them. Just like you won't be able to protect Auburn now."

Ruby's eyes closed, and she placed a gloved palm against the structure she was standing by. That voice, her voice. The snide confidence in its tone, the self-assured way it gently urged her toward oblivion, she hadn't heard it in weeks. It rattled through her skull, taunting and belittling until fingers closed over her shoulder, causing her to look over.

Blake stared back at her, a questioning sense of worry in the taller woman's eyes. Shaking her head, she brushed the hand from her shoulder and continued towards the door of the club. With her hood up, she didn't even get a first glance from the crowd, all of them too focused to really care about her. Reaching to grasp the handle, she pulled the door open and stepped inside, her other hand resting on the grip of her pistol.

The steady beep of a heart monitor greeted Weiss on her journey back to consciousness, coupled with the dulled bliss of what she assumed was painkillers coursing through her system. It felt nice, all that numbness. A reprieve. She slowly opened her eyes, both eyelids feeling heavy as she scanned the glowing stripes of blue that adorned an otherwise sterile white ceiling.

It was blinding, but enough for her to gather a sense of familiarity at the surroundings. It was easy to recognize the patient clinic in the labs just below her own office, and as she shifted beneath the light cloth sheet that covered her form, she heard the clearing of a throat near the bed. Her gaze shifted to find a woman wearing a lab coat, and brown hair cut just short of her shoulders. With a groan, Weiss closed her eyes and laid back. "Dr. Amber."

"Ms. Schnee." The woman flipped a chart closed as she took a seat next to the bed, brown eyes filled with concern as she tapped her fingers against the back of the chart. Weiss didn't need to see her to feel the worry radiating off the good doctor. "You gave us all quite a scare when your assistant brought you in."

That brought her eyes open again, accepting the searing sensation as she trained her gaze upon the brunette. "How is Penny?"

"Unharmed." Relief pushed through the muted feelings swirling within her, and a sigh escaped her as she gave a slow nod. "Her Aura protected her fully from the explosion, as yours would have, were it not so.." The doctor's tapping ceased for a moment as the search for the correct word took a moment. "Overtaxed."

With a weary and accepting mindset, Weiss began her attempt to rise up to a sitting position again. "Nonetheless, I have to get to work immediately. I need to find out-" The sheet draped over her fell away to reveal the white underwear that she had been placed in, and the stump of her right arm, which caused her to suck in a surprised breath. The veins near the end of it had been black and sickly looking for years, a sight she had become accustomed to. But now the poisoned lines that stood out against her porcelain skin crawled up her arm and crested the shoulder, reaching out towards her neck as if they sought to strangle the life from her.

There was a clatter of the fallen chart as the doctor rose to her feet, placing a hand against Weiss' back while the other held her wrist, attempting to help her up. "As I was about to inform you.. Your condition has worsened significantly."

Moving the ruined arm as much as she could to get a decent look over what remained of the limb, Weiss had to take a second to force her mouth to close, and her bubbling emotions to simmer down. "H..How?"

Amber seemed content that she could hold herself up, as the doctor let go and took a step back. "As you are aware, the venom of the Grimm is an insidious and vile substance. One that we have held back with Aura, medicine, and not a small amount of luck." Shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, the other woman took a second to collect herself before speaking again. "With the damage you sustained today, your Aura became drained, and the venom seems to have taken advantage of the opening. It is why I advised against utilizing your abilities unless absolutely necessary."

Weiss thought back to the ceremony, to the businessman she had threatened. It had been so pointless of her to use her power in such a way, a waste of the shield that was quite literally holding back her death. She had known better, had let her emotions get the best of her. It had been stupid. Childish. A relic of the young woman she had once been, of a past where she had dared to be a hero.

A reminder of the price extracted for being such a fool.

Biting the inside of her lip as she fought to center herself, she spoke through gritted teeth with a burgeoning anger boiling up in her chest. "Will it continue to spread?"

The doctor had turned away, collecting a fresh collared shirt and pair of pants to dress her, and looked back to answer. "For now, your Aura has recovered and is once again holding back any progression of the venom." Amber returned to the bedside, setting the clothes down on the mattress. "But I would recommend that you take absolutely no risks that could result in taxing its energy. Did you suffer any effects when your Aura failed down there? Any physical or mental symptoms?"

Weiss retreated inward, frowning as she recalled what she had seen. "Memories, or.. Nightmares?" She shook her head, attempting to dispel the memories of what she had seen. "It was more vivid than it has ever been before, it felt as though my arm was being torn apart all over again."

"I see. If you have any trouble sleeping, please let me know. We'll manage what we can for the time being. You'll likely be in more pain now, for which we will adjust your medication accordingly. As for the future.." Amber flashed a warm smile at her, an attempt to calm and reassure her, Weiss assumed. Or perhaps to appear hopeful. "We will monitor it and hope that our luck holds, while I continue to look for a cure."

Blake kept close to Ruby's side as they walked through the winding maze that was a throng of dancing, sweaty bodies. Even in the middle of the day, with an explosion that was felt throughout the city, this club was packed far beyond its capacity. It was often that she would lean into the young wolf-girl at her side, using an arm to shove off a Human that got a little too close for comfort in their feverishly oblivious dancing.

The thunderous and repetitive bass of the music took only a few seconds for her to conclude that Torchwick's club was considerably more subtle in its style than this establishment, with its multitude of rapidly flashing colored lights and the haze of odor that hung in the air. It was disorientating for her, with the volume of the music and the way the crowd moved, and she was certain she would be lost if not for Ruby. The younger Faunus held a certainty to the way she moved, a telling statement that she had been here before.

After what seemed like ages, a smaller hand reached back and clasped her own, and Blake was pulled through the gaps in a crowd until she found herself heading through a narrow doorway disguised as a wall. Relief was immediate when it closed behind them, the fur on her ears laying flat once again as the ringing ache set into her head. Silver eyes peeked back at her for a split second, and those fingers squeezed around hers before the hand slipped free, and its owner proceeded down the winding staircase they had entered.

It wasn't too far down when they came to an opening. Before it sat a wide room of brightly lit black tile, with a desk set before them. Behind it stood a woman around their age, a few inches shorter than Ruby. She wore a dark jacket over a white shirt, a black crescent moon set on the chest of the fabric. With stark white hair and light brown skin, the girl looked up to stare at them through the tea-tinted lenses of a pair of rimless sunglasses. The slight movement beneath a black beanie as they approached told Blake that she was a Faunus, but it only held her attention for half a breath.

What truly drew her gaze was by far the most obvious of details, hard to miss at a glance. The girl's sunkissed features were marked with several thin scars. Years old by now, they were dark in color, with only utter chaos to their pattern. Two on her right cheek, one on the other cheek traveling in an opposite diagonal to the younger woman's jawline, another on the bridge of her nose. With even more smaller ones that she picked up at second pass, it was a mess that was only a few scars short to give the wolf-girl at her side a run for her money.

While Blake studied the other woman, the eyes behind those tinted lenses snapped over to Ruby as the younger Faunus removed her hood, and the girl behind the desk stood up straighter before speaking. "She wasn't kidding, it is you." There was a pause as a longer examination of them passed by. "You look like you've been through some shit, heard you were dead."

"Almost was. Sable, Blake." Ruby pointed to her with a thumb during the introduction, glancing between them with a small measure of trepidation to her movements. "Is she back there?"

"She is. Locked her in the back office myself, no one in or out of there since." Sable paused to get a key from behind the desk, then waved at them both to follow her. Blake hesitated a step or two behind Ruby, her hand resting upon the grip of her pistol as she watched the double doors on the opposite side of the room be opened.

She wasn't sure what she expected past the trap she feared was about to be sprung, but whatever she had in mind wasn't what was then revealed. The music that greeted her was much more subdued than up above, its beat slow and pulsating, the percussion joined by a rolling wave of notes and instruments that could only be described as passionate. The interior was low lit, much of it covered in black light with none of the gaudy flashing that had nearly given her a headache from the club they had walked through.

Circular booths lined the walls on either side of the room, while the back wall was a series of black doors. The center was a dance floor where only gyrating silhouettes could be made out, and only then by the glowing tattoos upon the bodies moving against one another to the slow beat. It wasn't the smell of stale sweat that met her nose this time, but it was a scent that Blake was familiar with. Sex was on the air down here, and the implications of just what Ruby knew about this place caused an eyebrow to raise as the wolf-girl glanced back to give her a lingering look that firmly said 'later'.

It was when they were led along the edge of the dance floor, and Blake was studying a couple she identified only by the glowing crimson of the tattoos that traced their contours, that she discovered the most surprising detail of this underground club. "Is this..?" She stopped and did a quick once over of the room to be sure that many of the patrons were staring at them, before settling her gaze on Ruby.

"A Denhouse? Yup." The younger Faunus had stopped as well, prompting Sable to slow and look back at them with a confused expression. Their movements were watched and scrutinized. Not with any malicious intent, of course, but quite the opposite. There was an air of hunger about the way eyes from the dim lit places followed the three of them, and a sense of strangeness to many of the figures bearing ears or tails. Some of them even bore both ears and tails, while most of them looked to be feline from what Blake could tell. "Where the rich rebellious youth come to show off their imitations and fulfill a few kinks."

"..Oh." Blake knew of such places, but had always given them a wide berth. Though there was nothing too noticeable about the cybernetic organs that shifted and twitched, it still raised the hairs on the back of her neck and bristled the fur of her ears. Rich playboys and girls playing at being Faunus. The very idea was insulting, but the execution was unsettlingly lifelike.

"I figured Auburn worked at a place like this, before Torchwick caught her." Ruby and Sable exchanged a look before the young wolf-girl snickered and reached out to lightly touch her forearm. "Try not to hurt anyone, okay?"

Shaking her head as she scoffed at the notion, she pulled herself free from the soft grasp and gestured pointedly for their guide to continue. "I'm fine, let's just get this done."

Weiss settled her hand upon the edge of her desk, taking in a deep breath as she felt beads of sweat slowly meander down her back underneath the dark cloth of the collared shirt she wore. Her long white hair was still braided with the wrappings of black cloth, albeit now a bit disheveled from the events of the day, and her appearance in the reflection of the surface of her desk looked only slightly better than she felt.

A strong grip wrapped about her waist and held her upright, guiding her around the desk and sinking her slowly in the chair. Her redheaded assistant stared at her with a worried expression, but Penny did not hold her silence long. "Are you.. Sure you shouldn't be resting?"

Weiss felt the twitch of a small smile form as she glanced over, but the grim task ahead of her dampened it, and she settled for a slow shake of her head. "I am fine, Penny. We need to look through our records, find out who had access to the build site for the memorial."

Just like that, the other woman snapped back to a professional position, pulling up a scroll tablet she had set upon the desk. "I have already compiled the list of names of those who attended the ceremony, and those who.." The redhead struggled to find the correct words for a moment. "Who did not make it. There are a few dozen survivors, ourselves included. I can certainly have those records searched as well. But may I ask, Ms. Schnee, why?"

Tapping her fingers over the interface of her desk, Weiss brought up both the lists. She tried to keep to the cold hard facts, comparing the names with a stoic expression. But there was no stopping the tug of grief as she saw the familiar names of the construction workers she had met a half dozen times. Good, honest people who had contributed so much to the project to honor their fallen loved ones.

Her fingers tightened into a fist as the lists scrolled by slowly. "Because that explosion came from below. Whoever placed it there has been planning to do this for months.." Thoughts raced to try and come up with a logical answer to who might have done this, and what could have motivated them. Each attempt only reached a conclusion of confusion and sorrow. "I don't understand what someone could hope to gain by slaughtering innocents, and destroying a monument to one of Vale's darkest days. I can't imagine even the gangsters in the city would be so monstrous, except for.."

"Roman Torchwick?" Penny was staring at her over the edge of the tablet, her assistant's inflection betraying a hint of curiosity.

"He is fond of explosives, but it is always to some end, some gain." Weiss dropped her gaze to the screen on the desk. "..I don't see a gain here."

"Perhaps, Ms, Schnee, you were the target?" The redheaded woman took a step forward, lowering the tablet and bending down to speak in a more hushed tone. "You always say that your efforts to secure Remnant at all costs have earned you more than a little bit of ire from powerful people. What if one of them saw a chance to rid themselves of you, and was willing to murder all those people to do so?"

It was a dark thought, and as Weiss opened her mouth to respond that none of her business rivals were evil, she paused. Self-serving, perhaps, but none of the few remaining titans of industry that competed with her were so reckless. They would understand that her company would remain even if she were gone, that the market would still soldier on. "Who? Who benefits from this?"

Her question was rhetorical, one spoken in a pondering tone as she tapped the screen for it to resume scrolling down. She racked her brain for any clue, any inclination that someone would plot her death. It wouldn't benefit Remnant. She had secured borders years ahead of schedule, and the plans now in place to increase defenses would even further make their cities impervious to the Grimm. Her rivals wouldn't benefit, her company would still hold monopoly on several stages of the economy. Torchwick had made no inclination to come after her in all these years, and with so many public functions she had attended, surely there would have been time to orchestrate an attack much earlier.

Weiss was in the middle of developing her own headache when a name on the survivors list stood out to her.

Councilor Umber.

The man who had introduced her for her speech. She remembered seeing him leave shortly before her incident with Mr. Vex.

Her hand shook as a sudden shock of chill traveled down her spine, and she was forced to set her palm flat against the glass surface of her screen in order to steady herself. The movement drew Penny's gaze, the other woman having been as engrossed in thought as she was, with one eyebrow quirked upwards. "Ms. Schnee?"

The Council.

They had chafed under the power she wielded for years now, attempting to treat her like an honorary member who held no sway, even when her's was the only vote that truly mattered. She could readily admit that she had swung her influence around like a club at times, but to try to kill her? To slaughter the innocent families of those who had lost their lives in the Breach?

Power was only worth so much loss to those who believed their position had been usurped. Her father had threatened similar things when he caught wind of her taking the company from him a share at a time. To burn down the world she hoped to save just to stop her. She shivered in her seat, truly alarmed at the feeling of vulnerability that wormed its way into her heart in this moment of realization. She should have expected this, should have planned for them to grow tired of her eventually.

She had been so focused on the threat of the Grimm.

It was in this moment of fear, this breakdown of how she perceived the world, that Weiss fell back on the only structure that came readily to her. The lessons of her childhood, the endless sermons of business from her father. She could almost hear his voice, that self-assured tone that commanded all to listen to him, telling her that when one is set on their heels, it is important to get in front of the enemy.

"Penny." Her voice shook, causing her to take a deep breath to center herself before continuing. When she spoke again, her voice was as cold as steel. "Please inform the doctor downstairs to file her report that I remain in critical condition, and that the outlook is not good." She held up her hand to stop the question that was already forming on the confused woman's lips. "While I am indisposed, you will assume my daily duties with the company. No one aside from you and Dr. Amber is to know the truth, not even Commander Ironwood."

"But, Ms. Sch-"

"Do this quickly, Ms. Polendina. I believe I know who attempted to kill me, but for the time being, they must believe that they have taken me out of the fight." She fixed the standing woman with a hard stare. "Do you understand, Penny?"

"Y-yes ma'am. I'll go down to Dr. Amber right away." Collecting the tablet she had set down, the redhead moved towards the office door with a brisk pace.

"Send her up when you have finished speaking to her, and make sure that the clinic portion of the labs in locked down. No one in but yourself and Dr. Amber." Weiss watched as her words were acknowledged with a hasty nod in her direction before her assistant disappeared through the doors. She let out a shaky breath, releasing her commanding posture to allow the racing pulse of her fear to take over. She shivered where she stood, and not from the weakness still coursing through her.

"Secure office." The room immediately darkened as the windows tinted to near black, and the lights dimmed to a lower setting. Weiss turned to look out over Vale, the image of the city now heavily obscured from her sight. It didn't matter, because she was not focusing on what she was seeing.

She was embroiled in her thoughts. Her ruse with her injuries would buy her time, perhaps make the Council think they were free to make their next move. Time to figure out what it was they were truly after, to gather an understanding of just who could be trusted. The plans to the monument hadn't exactly been confidential information, but to plant such a device so deep below a location she had personally chosen, the leak would have had to had come from within her own company.

Weiss grit her teeth and reached over to grip the stump of her right arm as it began to burn with a newfound ache, and her thoughts turned to what her next step would be. Options were short, and allies were painfully few.

Ruby kept her eyes straight ahead while they followed Sable, ignoring the whispers and lingering stares from patrons of the Denhouse not currently occupied. The scent of sweat and sex was heavy on the air in here, as it had been during her last 'visit', and the pulse of slow-beating dance music that followed wave of black light tiles on the ceilings enriched the dark atmosphere of the club.

Their guide reached a black door and stopped, pulling out a set of keys and fiddling with the ring for a moment before finding the correct one. Once inside the small hallway through the door, the sounds and smells of the club outside were suddenly muted, and Sable turned to look back at them. "Wait here, I'll get her."

Disappearing through the door at the other end of the hall, the other Faunus left them both alone, and Ruby did her best to seem quite interested in the black and white pattern of the wallpaper. She could feel the anticipation hanging over the two of them in the seconds leading up to the first question, and silently hoped that Blake would choose not to ask them. "So, you've been here before?"

Closing her eyes, she took a long moment to search for an answer that didn't seem as pathetic as her past truly felt. Nothing came to mind. Turning back to face Blake with a meek expression, she shrugged helplessly. "Look, things haven't exactly been easy in my line of work, these last four years. Places like this are a good way to make a lot of lien fast if you're the real deal." She swat a couple of fingers across the tip of one of her wolf ears to indicate what she meant.

The cat-girl looked a little surprised by the information, but then shook her head. "I'm not.. One to judge, Ruby. I just didn't expect it, is all." Stepping forward, Blake reached out and took both of her hands, moving in close. "I'm not proud of what I've done either, and I understand. It's just.. A Denhouse?"

Ruby couldn't help but share in the smirk that was beaming down at her from the taller Faunus, and let out a chuckle. "Some of these people aren't that bad, once you really get to talk to them." Shaking her head, she let out a sigh and leaned her forehead down against Blake's shoulder. "Though it doesn't really help the cause of Faunus Rights when most of the people for it also like to dress up like us and fuck us.."

Blake's hands had slid down to her waist, holding her in a comfortable stance as they waited, but the silence that had settled over them was uneasy, and it took a second for Ruby to realize why. The White Fang had once been a force for peace and equality, a long time ago. Blake had also once fought for those ideals, and the few months spent at Beacon had been an attempt to further that goal. Until she had been chased off by fear and misunderstanding.

With an audible gulp, Ruby's mind raced for something, anything, to fill that heavy silence in that hallway. The air in the whole place felt thick, bearing down upon her as she now used the older Faunus' shoulder to hide from the awkward sensations. Only one thing came to mind, a conversation from earlier that day, and she blurted it out without any hesitation.

"Things ended really bad between Weiss and I."

Blake started a bit, having been enjoying the quiet and the way Ruby's ears had been tickling the underside of her chin. It had been almost peaceful, like the morning after they had gone to bed together in the penthouse. The sudden admission was a shock, drawing her back so that she could look down at the silver eyes that were turning up to her with a healthy dose of fear visible in their depths. There were a dozen solid answers for such a statement, things a decent potential partner would say to let the other know that it was okay to talk about past relationships. Instead, all Blake managed was a embarrassing falter. "I.. H-huh?"

She could see now the panic in those pools of argent, the perfect replication of the cybernetic implant making it so she wouldn't know which was which if she hadn't seen it placed in there herself. Ruby looked as surprised as she was by the words, but still continued. "She hated me at the end. She told me she wanted me to suffer."

Recovering a bit, she took the younger Faunus in a more gentle hold. "From what I remember, Weiss tended to speak without thinking when she was upset, and she had a real knack for targeting your weakest point. I'm sure she didn't actually mean that."

The wolf-girl shook her head, and that small opening through the guarded shell that had been opened for Blake began to close as Ruby looked away. But she wasn't ready to end this new conversation quite so easily, and reached up to pull the other Faunus' gaze back to her's. "I'm certain that if you had grown so close as to be together, she couldn't have been that bitter towards you."

A smile. Small and carrying a touch of sadness to it, with a hint of knowing. "You would hate me too, if you knew."

"I wouldn't." She spoke in a serious tone, her eyes hard as she stepped closer to the younger Faunus. Pressing Ruby back up against the nearby wall, she leaned down to capture the wolf-girl's lips in her own for a brief kiss, pouring every inch of passion she could muster into it. It had only been a few short weeks, and Ruby had found a way into her heart. As friends or more, she couldn't imagine the woman before her being someone she could despise enough to wish suffering upon her. She pulled back with a softer expression on her face, running her thumb over the jaw of the wolf-girl as she spoke. "I wouldn't, Ruby.."

"You don't even know." The words were spoken in such a bitter tone that it stunned Blake, so much so that Ruby slipped out from beneath her without any resistance as the door Sable had disappeared into opened, admitting the Faunus who had guided them back here, and another of similar height.

Dressed in a heavy coat that went down to her knees, the fox-girl who had helped both of them within Torchwick's club stepped out of the office. The coat was obviously made for someone much bigger than her, and was draped over the slender shoulders of the Faunus. Beneath it lay the tight, mesh leotard marked with the jack-o'-lantern symbol of The Gentlemen. Ruby was moving to greet Auburn when she paused, cocking her head to the side in confusion. "Blake.. Said you made it out of the club."

The fox ears were laid back as the girl looked up at them, and then Ruby's eyes focused on the more important details. There was a dark, ugly bruise of purple coloring that surrounded one of the young Faunus' eyes, the swelling nearly keeping the organ beneath it covered. A cut tore through both lips, on the mend but obviously still deep. Dried blood trailed from both nostrils down her face, and the trails through the dirt and grime on the girl's cheeks were accompanied by fresh tears.

Ruby was stunned, but the other Faunus was not. Auburn moved forward and Ruby found herself wrapped up in arms again, though this time she did not hesitate to return the hug. Coarse and muffled from being spoke into her shirt, the fox-girl's words reached her ears. "I'm glad you're alive!"

With a palm pressed firmly against the small of the other Faunus' back, she carefully extracted herself over the next few seconds to be able to look over Auburn's form more fully. Her examination proved what she had suspected, as bruises lay all over the girl's form, with some cuts accompanying the horrific ensemble of pain. Anger at Torchwick, that simmering heat just below the surface, could not be contained as it roared to life. She hadn't felt this furious since the moment she had looked up at the glass viewing box from the bottom of The Pit, but as she opened her mouth to speak, a hand touched upon her shoulder.

Blake stepped forward, and drew Auburn's attention by speaking in a calm that Ruby could not have currently managed. "How did you get away?"

"I-I was in a cell for.. For a while?" The fox-girl's eyes closed shut as she tried to concentrate on her memories, but her words continued, broken up by soft sobs. "It was h-hard to tell, t-they didn't keep a schedule. They didn't ask any q-questions, either.." Ruby shook as she stepped back and let the older Faunus take over, watching Blake pull Auburn into a comforting embrace, grinding her teeth together as anger turned to rage. "B-but they left the cage open after a beating, and I snuck out to where I h-had left the scroll I took.."

Blake glanced back at Ruby, and the fury in those beautiful silver eyes caught her breath for a single heartbeat before the shared understanding passed between them, and the wolf-girl pulled the revolver from her hip, cocking back the hammer. Turning back to the shivering and half-starved fox Faunus, she spoke softly. "We'll get you out of here and somewhere safe. Okay?"

A nod was all she needed, before she shifted her focus to Sable, who stood by the door with hands shoved into her pockets. The beanie twitched as the stranger gave her an awkward look, seeming much more lost on how to handle the state that Auburn was in than they were. Tilting her head towards the door they had entered from, Blake's command was heeded even as it was spoke. "Lead the way."

Ruby kept close to Blake's side as they entered the Denhouse's main chamber again, holding her pistol at the ready as she scanned the floor, and summarily cursed the poor lighting in the room. It was hard enough to make out the people she was standing right next to, and everything past a few feet was a dark silhouette.

Shoving past a couple who were tongue deep in each other's mouths, there was a slight discrepancy on the dance floor that pinged on the very edge of her senses, and made the fur of her lupine ears stand up. The very base of her instincts coiled as they found a threat, drawing her gaze through the crowd until it settled on a dark shape moving through the crowd just a few feet away.

It looked like just another silhouette of a dancer, until she looked to the head of the form. Her right hand shot back to stop Blake from moving forward, and her left extended to point the revolver in the direction of the woman milling through the crowd. She waited only long enough to confirm that there were no animal characteristics present on the dark shape. No ears, no tail, and as the light flashed overhead, she noted the finely tailored suit with a dark red collared shirt beneath the jacket. It was a target she could have hit blind drunk, and as the crack of the gunshot rang out, it was not the sound that caused panic to ripple through the club.

It was the spray of blood and brain matter, lit up by a wave of black light, that began the chorus of screaming and patrons making a mad dash for the exit. She surged with the mass of bodies, keeping her fingers lightly grazing over either Blake or Auburn as she guided them forward, eyes sweeping over the mass for anyone working against the grain.

She found one more, a tall man with a tattoo on the side of his face. She recognized him as one of the men who had escorted her through the 'Jack o' Hearts' up to see Torchwick, and there was an unsettling bit of regret in the back of her thoughts as she squeezed the trigger and watched his body drop. That sliver of conscience was whisked away by a tide of fury that suddenly recalled the memories of what she had been subjected to in The Gentlemen's domain.

It was a melee of shoulders and elbows in the small hallway that led back up to the main club, a fight she easily got the upper hand in as she had two others working with her to clear a path. Pushing through onto the loud, flashing dance floor of the club that functioned as a cover for the Denhouse below, she could already spot more than a handful of Torchwick's men, and had but a few brief moments to come up with her next bad idea to get them out of this alive.

Flicking open the cylinder on her pistol, she deftly retrieved a single bullet from her belt and loaded it into place, spinning the gun back into one piece and aiming upwards. The shot she fired exploded into the fire the moment it left the barrel, lit aflame by the Dust packed into the round. It smashed the sprinkler head she had aimed at to pieces and generated a small cloud of smoke that drew the eyes of their assailants, and she held her breath to see if her aim had been true.

A second later, dozens of other sprinklers scattered about the ceiling began to spray out water in all directions, the building's fire suppression system successfully fooled into thinking there was a fire. She felt soaked through in seconds, and continued to lead the small band of Faunus forward. Not towards the exit though, instead leading them behind the now empty bar, where she pulled Sable down into a crouching position close enough that the other woman could hear her clearly. "Keep Auburn safe here. Blake and I will clear a path!"

She flicked her gaze over the shoulder of the woman she was speaking to, and locked eyes with two glowing amber orbs, which dipped for but a moment in a nod. Black hair clung to pale skin as Blake stared back at her, and formed the smallest of confident smiles as the young Faunus they had come to rescue was handed off to the club hostess.

Blake drew the pistol from her holster, and slowly slid her katana from its sheath across her back, watching as the brunette wolf-girl quickly reloaded the revolver with two rounds. There was only a brief glance, but then they were both in motion. She wasn't sure who landed on their feet first, but their shots shattered through the roar of the sprinklers at the same time, drawing the looks of the dozen or so thugs left behind to eliminate them.

She wasn't the marksman that Ruby was, but Blake dropped two with her first volley of shots, and winged the third in the arm as he took aim at the wolf-girl fighting on the opposite side of the club. Ducking beneath a table, she pushed her back into it to flip it over, using it as cover as she squeezed off a few more wild shots to drive back the gangsters.

Several holes were punched through the thin metal of her barricade as she took a moment to steady herself and take in a breath, pushing her out sooner than she had intended. Still sliding the fresh magazine into her gun, she quickly slammed the grip of the pistol against her thigh and readied the blade in her hand as she neared the first Gentlemen.

A young human woman with wide green eyes looked surprised to find her close so quickly as she spun and drove the tip of her katana through her enemy's back, piercing the blade out through the chest. She ducked behind her victim, letting the body catch a bullet or two before kicking it off her sword. Several more rounds slammed into her Aura, draining off large amounts of the purple energy as it worked hard to compensate for the force of the attacks.

Unable to retaliate without putting herself in an even worse position, Blake dove for the nearby staircase, using the slick surface to slide off the edge and land on the hard club floor with enough speed to knock the breath from her lungs. Groaning as she dropped her katana to push strands of wet hair out of her vision, she pressed her back to the marble of her new cover as she took in a deep inhale to begin her recovery, and silently hoped that Ruby's assault on the gangsters had gone better.

Within seconds after her boots had touched the club floor and sunk into the inch or so of water, the six chambers of her revolver were empty. Four thugs lay on the ground dead or dying, another running in a panic to try and claw the burning Dust round from her stomach, and a sixth with his gun hand pinned to the far wall by a thick coat of ice. A quick count told her that only three more remained, but they had trained their guns upon Blake, who had drawn most of the fire by the time Ruby slid beneath a nearby table.

But they didn't occupy her attention, for in the center of the club, standing atop the corpse of an unfortunate civilian who had tried to clumsily exit over her diminutive form, was Neo. The small psychopath twirled the slim umbrella in her hands with a cocky grin that drove an even greater flood of anger through Ruby's blood.

With a scream of rage, she charged out from under her cover. Flipping the pistol to catch it by the barrel, she bore down on Torchwick's assassin with both the blunt end of her gun and the black blade she had drawn. Blade's edge met the sharp thin spike protruding from the front of Neo's weapon, and a duck avoided a clumsy blow from the makeshift club.

She felt the handle of the umbrella hook over her left hand and be twisted, disarming her by forcing the revolver spinning away, and the stiletto stabbed out at her. It gashed along the shielding of her Aura, generating a shower of red sparks as she took the blow by stepping into it. She thrust her forehead down and forward, feeling the vicious crunch of connection that smashed the smaller woman into the water.

There were no feelings of trepidation, no whispered voice in her mind that warned of what sleep she would lose over the ending of this one life. There was only the satisfaction she derived from the way those pink and brown eyes had suddenly turned white when they saw her bearing down with the sword Torchwick had so graciously provided her.

She kneeled down on the other woman's stomach, stopping Neo even as the mute tried to scurry out of her range, and drew back her downward strike. She then heard a cry from across the room, an unfamiliar sound emanating from a familiar source, and she saw Blake tangled in the three remaining thugs, arms held behind her back.

With a smooth rotation in her palm, she righted her sword and lunged off of her previous quarry, throwing the blade towards the male human who was lining up a knife with Blake's now undefended stomach. It sank into his back with unerring accuracy, and the moment sank into Ruby's thoughts just quick enough for small hands to grip either side of her head, pulling at her lupine ears. Her gaze snapped back to two mismatched eyes filled with murderous intent, as the small woman she had been about to end now had the advantage as she cringed as wolf ears were used as leverage.

Neo threw her head against a nearby table, smashing it into the metal once, then twice, and on the third final time was when Ruby caught the telltale shimmer of red Aura just before her vision exploded into a series of white hot dots that slowly were being consumed by darkness. She didn't register the way her ears were released, or the way her body crumpled to the ground in her disorientation.

She fought against the soft lull of unconsciousness, her gloved palms slipping in the inch or so of water as her panting and pained breaths caused her to inhale some of the liquid. Before she could even get a knee underneath her, her abdomen exploded into searing agony as a boot connected to it. The strike came again and again, each time hitting true as she heard the ragged, furious breaths of the mute as Neo took her rage out on her limp body.

Ruby wasn't sure how many hits she took, the speed of the kicks only slowing once her attacker had grown tired, leaving her on the hard and wet club floor, clutching at her stomach as she tried to rise up and mount some form of defense. Her efforts were sundered by a boot being driven into her abdomen once more, causing a sudden sense of nausea to overwhelm her as her recent injuries seemed to not be completely healed. A flash of intense agony, so very reminiscent of a Beowolf's claws entering her stomach, and she vomited as she pitched forward into the water.

Unconsciousness would not be denied this time, as her arms that had supported her in getting up went slack and a hand on the back of her head ensured that the return trip to the floor was quick and brutal. There was a loud crack that reverberated in her skull, a flash of white hot pain, and then blackness.

Having made a severe miscalculation of how close her targets had come as she rose from behind the staircase, Blake found herself weaponless, both arms held behind her by two burly thugs in soaked suits. She wrenched and tore at their gold to no avail, amber colored eyes wide and wild as they fixated on the knife the third attacker had produced and was moving to stab her with.

That is, until his chest suddenly sprouting a black blade with a spray of blood that covered all three of them and stunned the two holding her just long enough for her to slip her wrists through their holds and activate her semblance. As clumsy fingers grabbed at insubstantial illusion, she rolled forward and ripped Ruby's sword from the dying gangster's back. Keeping low, she dropped to a knee and led with a wide swipe behind her as she spun.

The water that was sent in an arc with the speed of her strike was colored a vibrant red, and twin cries of pain sounded out over the din of the sprinkler system raining down on them as those who had been holding her dropped to their knees with deep gashes cutting through the soft flesh of their legs. She was allowed a brief reprieve, long enough to collect her pistol from where it had fallen and finish off the last two of Torchwick's hit squad with two well placed rounds.

Her attire was soaked through and sticking to her skin as her chest rose and fell with panting breaths, and she turned to see how Ruby has fared in the fight. The fading echoes of her gunshots seemed to have spooked their last opponent, as all Blake caught a glimpse of was the flavored white tails of jacket scurrying out the door. She took a step towards the exit of the club before realizing what her quick sweep of the room had missed.

Her grip on the black sword Ruby had thrown loosened, causing a clatter as she sprinted across the room, dodging upended tables and bloodsoaked bodies before sliding onto her knees next to the motionless form of the wolf-girl she had last seen with the upper hand in the fight. "Ruby!"

As she pulled the limp form out of the water and into her lap, there was a sputter that cleared the younger Faunus' airway of liquid and then the opening of two argent eyes that glanced about with no small measure of confusion in them. Even a few seconds of unconsciousness had left her companion disoriented, and so the wolf-girl mumbled out a hoarse whisper of, "..Blake?"

Pressing a hand to the scarred cheek of the brunette, she gave a short nod and allowed a small smile to reach her lips, having feared the worst upon seeing Ruby face down in the water. "Still here, thanks to you."

"Don't mention it.." A gloved hand gently gripped her forearm, lingering for a moment longer than was necessary before the wolf Faunus began to haul herself up. Helping as best she could, Blake took note of the way the younger woman cringed and flinched with each movement of her core. Despite the obvious pain and effort expended, they reached a point where Ruby was steady on her feet, and one lupine ear swiveled to the grunts of a man attempting to free his arm from a block of ice that stuck him to a wall.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, there lingered a teasing suspicion that a full blown shootout was the exact opposite that Pyrrha had in mind when she had given her another chance. But to Ruby, there was only the fury that Torchwick had sent a genuine hit squad after a beaten and frightened girl, and that fury didn't care that she was dragging a gangster out into a street crowded with the former occupants of the club. It didn't take a moment to worry about ramifications, or witnesses.

The rage gave her a shock of adrenaline that let her drag the thug by his collar and slam him into the pavement outside of the Denhouse club, ignoring his cries of pain as fingers closed in a tight grip about his neck. "I need you to tell your boss something for me." Her voice was a low hiss, quiet enough to carry with it all the threat she needed. "Tell Roman that I am coming for him, that I will tear down his pathetic little empire and make him watch as I end his disgusting little mute pet."

Wide, fear-filled eyes stared up at her, the disheveled hair slick and sticking in several directions as the thug's hat had been displaced during the dragging. He gulped once, unable to do much more with her choking off his air supply, and gave a frantic nod up towards her. Satisfied, Ruby eased up and switched her handholds back to both sides of the man's collar, picking him up off the ground a few inches before slamming him back down. "Good boy.. Now run, before you join your friends."

She hauled him up by the sodden edges of his ruined suit and pushed him into the first few steps, glaring at his back as he stumbled off into the crowd. Her breathing came in short gasps as she felt the adrenaline begin to ebb away, and her ears twitched and swiveled to the new sounds. The commotion in the club had drawn attention, and already there was a growing throng of people, some who had escaped from the club and others who had come to see what was going on, and the street had settled into an eerie silence as they stared at her. Then came the whispers, a slow build of noise that only her wolf ears could catch clearly.

"Is that.. Ruby Rose?"

"Didn't she die in the Pit?"

"Should we call the police?!"

"Ruby!"

Her name was called in a low hiss as she stared at the onlookers with a sudden fear as they all watched her, very aware of how exposed she was in this position. It drew her eyes to the source, a soaked through Faunus with feline ears laid flat against the top of her head, and beckoning her towards the nearby alley. She wasted no time in following, the conversations behind her growing in quantity and volume as she disappeared around the corner. She caught a waiting hand in her own and allowed herself to be led on in her meandering state, stumbling a few times but keeping pace easily enough.

The voice in her head was back.

"Now you've shown your true colors. Now you'll be hunted."

She didn't realize that she had stopped, no longer being led as Blake had caught sight of the expression on her features and was softly calling her name.

"No less than you deserve."

Her chest ached, a different pain than the bruising that was forming over her stomach from Neo's kicks, a crushing sensation like someone had laid an anvil atop her.

"Don't act like you weren't already a murde-"

The voice, the ache in her heart, her growing withdrawal from the world, they had never been so cleanly shattered than now, when her awareness suddenly surged back into her senses and there were warm lips pressed against her own. The kiss demanded her attention, drawing all thoughts to it as her hands quickly settled on the waist of the older Faunus.

A few faltering steps had her back against the wall of the alleyway, the fire left by the previous excitement of the fight igniting again into an all too different flame. It was a kiss she had known well when she was in Beacon. A passion-fueled affirmation of life, and a way to wean off the effects of what had gripped her when she saw the faces of those who had gathered outside the club. Horror, judgment, distrust.

Things Blake did not think she deserved, as the older girl slowly pulled away with a breathy moan. Brilliant gold met shining silver as Ruby's eyes opened and they locked eyes, and those lips that had just been busy distracting her from her own thoughts opened again. "We are not broken."

She remembered those words, from the conversation in their designated training room, back in the penthouse, and gave a slow nod back to the other Faunus. She hadn't believe them then, and it was hard not to dismiss them now. But in this moment, with Blake so close to her, she could tell herself that lie. She could buy into the deception that she was not just pieces of shattered glass haphazardly put back into place. Her cheeks felt warm as hands slid down to grasp her own before pulling her from the wall and continuing away from the crowd. "Auburn?"

"Just up here, Sable took her while I came back for you.." They rounded the corner of the back of the club, finding a sleek black car waiting for them, its engine already purring as Ruby took the door to the backseat, sliding in to find a shivering Auburn waiting there. The fox-girl was a mess. Soaked, bruised, and bloodied, as her gaze snapped between her and the other woman in the car.

"Well then.. Thanks for that, Rose." Sable spoke with dripping sarcasm as she leaned on the door and poked her head in through the open window, taking a moment to make sure Auburn was settled before her eyes locked on Ruby. "It's always trouble when you're around."

"Believe me, I know." Ruby's own tone was one of weariness, the act of sitting down allowing the pulsating rush from the fighting to ebb away, leaving her with the pain that her most recent beatdown had left her with. The sound of a door closing announced Blake entering the driver's seat, and as Sable tapped the side of the car and backed away, she gave a short nod to the other Faunus, enough to show appreciation for the other's help.

There was a snap of the shifter being pushed into place, and they pulled out of the small employee parking lot. Small hands closed about her bicep, drawing her gaze as she found the fox-girl staring at her. Despite an attempt to maintain composure, Ruby could see that tiny waver in Auburn's bottom lip, and it tugged at her enough that she reached over and draped an arm about the other Faunus' shoulders. Her offer was accepted, and the younger woman sank onto her chest, holding tight to her.

They were soaked from the sprinklers, bloodied from the ordeal, but there was a comfort in the way she felt the beat of Auburn's heart against her. She laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes to revel in that pulse. It reminded her of simpler, more heroic times. Of years ago when she had dreamed of changing the world, of saving people. The pain of her fight with Neo, the explosion that had rocked the city only hours ago, every worry melted away with these thoughts. A whisper, almost imperceptible above the sound of the wind rushing by the open window, reached her lupine set of ears as her tired mind teetered on the edge of sleep. "Thank you."

In the front seat, brushing a hand back through her wet bangs to get them out of her eyes, Blake glanced at the rear view mirror and was treated to a rare sight. Ruby's features were pulled back into a small, contented smile. It was adorned in scars of combat, troubled by lines of hardship, and it was nothing short of radiant to her. When Blake returned her focus to the road, the expression had become mirrored on her own lips.

Author's Note: Whatever I had planned for this story to be, it is so not that idea now that I have no idea what it really is. But, hopefully it is enjoyable. I'm sorry for yet another long wait between chapters. It is likely riddled with mistakes or continuity errors, and utterly nonsense, so I do ask your forgiveness for that! For months I have worked on a setting guide for my D&D campaign, and it was a nightmare to get fully done. I've also really been in a rut, which a dear friend helped pull me out of. So, I hope you'll forgive my tardiness, if anyone is still actively following this story. Also, Sable was originally going to be a canon character, but it's my shoutout to a friend using her OC. Her health took a hit in the last week, and I'm hoping this'll put a smile on her face.

That dear friend is also the wonderful and talented Noxypep, who finished the last batch of a commission for this fic, and it is amazing! I've added a link to the art of Yang and Velvet in this AU to my profile, I definitely recommend you check it out, and Nox's Tumblr for more of their excellent art. Thank you for everyone who messaged me wishing me well, or left a review. Yes, it was a flashback mingling with reality. Yeah, Cinder is definitely a wildcard in this story. And Unjax, thank you for the very kind words, I'm glad you've gone from Beta to enjoying this story! As always, thank you all for reading, and please drop a review with your thoughts, I would love to hear what you have to say! -Fox