Persistent (Rosewick)

Run from the Shadows

"So where is she?" Penny asked.

"We don't know. She's been missing since Friday," I replied.

Penny gasped and ran up to me,"That's terrible! Well don't you worry Ruby my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

I smiled awkwardly,"Uh, that's really nice of you Penny, but we're-we're okay. Really. Right, guys?" I turned around only to find my other two teammates gone. A tumbleweed blew past us.

"It sure is windy today!" Penny pointed out.

Time Skip

It was already well into the evening, and Penny and I still hadn't seen any sign of Blake. A loud explosion echoed through the air suddenly as plumes of black smoke shot into the sky. It was coming from the docking bay.

"Oh no..." I muttered as Penny and I raced towards the docks. We landed on top of a roof and I unsheathed my weapon, only to spot Roman pointing the end of his cane at the Monkey Faunus we had encountered earlier. Anger flared up instantly.

"Hey!" I yelled towards him, slamming my weapon into the ground.

Roman's POV

Oh fuck why. My mark flared up painfully right as I heard Ruby's angry voice.

"Oh hello Red!" I smirked at her and waved even though the pain intensified in my shoulder,"Isn't it past your bedtime?"

As she turned to the girl she arrived with, I gritted my teeth and winced. I'm so sorry Red. I aimed my cane towards her and fired a shot, the explosive flare detonating on the ground in front of her and flinging her back. The other girl jumped down soon after and began decimating the White Fang soldiers. I ground my teeth together and began running towards the airship I arrived in.

"These kids just keep getting weirder!" I growled as I used my cane handle to pull the bullhead's door down. I flew off with no Dust stolen and only two out of the five ships intact. Cinder was going to kill me, and I wouldn't put it past her to do it literally.

Ruby's POV

About a half hour later, the police had arrived. We were interviewed before getting let go, Penny, Blake, Sun and I sitting on crates waiting for Weiss and Yang. As the two approached, I hurried towards Weiss.

"Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..." I trailed off as she completely ignored me and stopped in front of Blake.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"

"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?" she paused,"Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided...I don't care."

"You don't care?" Blake looked at her in surprise.

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Upupupupupup! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." she glanced over to Sun, "Someone else."

Yang and I grinned at her in delight as Blake wiped a tear from her eye. "Of course," she nodded. Weiss nodded and smiled as well.

Happily, I jumped up screaming and waving my arms,"Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"

We all gathered together before Weiss pointed at Sun accusingly,"I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about you!" He laughed nervously in response.

The five of us made our way back to Beacon. As we made it into Beacon's grounds, an explosive pain erupted from my mark, instantly making me black out.

Time Skip

"Ughh," I groaned in pain as I came back to my senses,"What happened?"

"Oh my Oum Ruby you need to stop doing that," Yang hugged me tightly. I shakily sat up, finding myself on the cold hard ground. Weiss suddenly cried out, and fell to her knees, nails digging into her arms and drawing blood. Blake drew her into a hug as she shuddered and spasmed. The sound of turbines drew our attention as a small aircraft landed a short distance away. Weiss and I immediately recognized the small girl who stumbled out.

"Neo!" Weiss shrieked. The two of us ran closer and realized that the aircraft was a stolen Atlesian army ship, and that Neo was covered in blood.

"Roman...." was all she said before she collapsed into Weiss' arms. I ran into the ship to see a grisly sight. Torchwick was strapped to a medical gurney, skin terribly burned. Areas that weren't black were blistered and red, and Ruby teared up and quickly rolled him out.

"We need to get to the infirmary now!"

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Well this turned a little more bloody. Happier chapters ahead (hopefully). Shoutout to ForeverRosewick, thanks for following!

~Nonnie

Updated February 03, 2020; 4:49PM.