The Royal Test

Summary: Ruby Rose had taken his tail, so he was going to take something of hers, of equal value.

This is going to be my first dark!rwby fic. As such this is rated M for later chapters and their contents which will be listed at the top of each chapter if applicable so you'll know [somewhat] what you're getting into. This is also a bit of an AU with the timelines, but starts around the end of V6E8, so minor spoilers ahead if you're not that far. I hope you enjoy this rather deranged story with me.

"Oscar!" Weiss called while surveying the streets for their lost companion.

"What Jaune said must have really gotten to him." Blake was frowning as they walked side by side.

Yang was with Ruby, mainly because Blake had insisted Weiss came with her. Probably to continue to avoid that talk they should really have, the one about how Blake left soon after the Fall of Beacon. To be fair, Weiss had left soon after as well, it just hadn't been her choice. And she wished she had been able to stay instead, a sentiment she hoped Blake shared if her and Yang were ever going to get over the past and start trusting each other like they used to.

"He was angry, just like we all were when we first heard the truth. It was expected."

"Then we should have stopped Jaune from getting physical with him. It's not Oscar's fault and Ozpin won't talk to us as it is. We need his advice more than ever." Blake let out a sigh as she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"I know." Weiss stopped beside her, raising an arm to rest a hand on her friend's shoulder. "But we need to find Oscar first. We'll figure out how to get through to Oz later."

Blake had her fingers pressed to her temples, rubbing at what she could only assume was a nasty headache from the look on her face. "Except he doesn't even know how to win the war we're in. If that woman can't be killed then she needs to be kept prisoner somewhere, a place where she can't break free. But how do we make something like that when we don't even understand her capabilities?"

Weiss squeezed lightly at her shoulder. "Ironwood was one of the people Ozpin trusted. I'm sure he's been working on something that would help us."

"We can hope, but that doesn't mean it'll be that easy." Blake's hands fell away from her face, eyes scanning the streets once more and Weiss' gaze followed hers. Her heart sunk a little when she didn't recognize the few people out as the young farm boy from Mistral.

He was only missing for over an hour, but it made her nervous. While he didn't hold any information himself he was a catalyst for one of two people that had been at Remnant's birth since the beginning. As crazy as it all was, magic was real and with that being the case there had to be some way to defeat Salem - even if it didn't necessarily kill ker. If it came down to it they had one last question for Jinn they could use. The problem was finding the right question to ask.

She glanced up, seeing the stars twinkle in the sky, the broken moon hovering over them... a street light flickering before dying completely and leaving her and Blake in a light blanket of darkness. Something hit her hard a second later, and she watched as Blake went flying sideways into the same alleyway as her.

Weiss gasped when she hit the concrete, gritting her teeth a second later as she pushed herself up and grasped at her weapon.

"Don't be so hasty now."

A boot came flying at her head and she ducked away, letting out a shout a second later when another appendage hit her wrist, causing her to drop her rapier and roll away.

"Quiet," the voice hissed, sending a shiver down her spine from the sheer animosity it possessed. Both boots filled her vision and she looked up to see a cloaked man, concentrating for a second so a glyph appeared when he tried to kick her again. Something he hadn't expected from the flash of frustration in his golden eyes.

"Hah!" Blake launched herself at their attacker, gambol shroud flashing in the moon's light as she struck at the chest area. There was another glint right before they connected though, what looked like a pair of blades were holding hers' back, and then surging forward. The man shoved Blake right up against a wall and then another pair of blades hit the faunus square in the stomach.

Blake doubled over from the impact, only being supported by the wall and the other pair of blades keeping her pressed to it. His left arm drew back and then forward first, his arms exchanging the blows, one always left to keep Blake affixed to the wall and then striking at her again and again within seconds until her aura broke from the abuse.

Weiss forced herself back up to her feet, extending a hand to cast another glyph to stop the next blow from connecting with its target. And the man stopped, seeming to freeze for a moment before his head tipped towards her, as if just remembering she was there.

"Miss Schnee," the voice hissed, eyes flashing once more, but this time they weren't gold. A pair of teal eyes gleamed at her. "You're coming home with me."

Before she could respond there was a metal gleam in the air, not a blade, but it nicked Blake in her left shoulder and the girl visibly winced before he pulled his other arm back and she slid down the wall to lay at his feet.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Weiss snapped back, not even chancing a glance at her weapon after seeing how quickly he dispatched Blake from the fight. She would never reach it in time before he got to her. She had only seen it for a second, but he had another weapon on him besides the blades, and it moved a lot quicker.

The man seemed to snort at her words as he took a step toward her and she preemptively took a step back. "I'll give you a choice. Come quietly and I won't touch a hair on your friend's head. Or make this hard and I'll skin her alive like the animal she is."

A cold breeze seemed to pass through her at those words. There was no doubt the man meant what he said, but there was no guarantee he wouldn't hurt Blake even if she did go with him without putting up a fight. Besides that, she didn't want to go with him. At the very least she could get the others to Blake's location so he didn't have time to do such a gruesome thing. If he was really being paid by her father he should prioritize getting her back to Atlas, anyway.

Weiss' curled her hands as she took a step forward, in the next second her right hand was extended to put up a glyph in front of her, while her left hand flew back to her pocket where she kept her scroll. Her fingers activated it, turning it on from memory and frantically moving across it as she tried to remember exactly where the distress signal was.

And the man was already moving the moment she stopped approaching him, as if turning herself over. His blades met her glyph, but she held it in place as he giggled on the other side. She saw that same metal gleam from the corner of her eye, but then she felt something wrap around her waist and yank her forward so she crashed into her own glyph, her scroll slipping from her fingers to tumble to the ground.

With her concentration broken it shattered on the impact and she had begun to scream when a blade was pressed to her throat, cutting off the sound as she felt her aura struggle to stay intact. The man was as close to full out laughing as one could get with all his sniggering, but not quite loud enough to be considered such. "Are you done, then?"

Weiss opened her mouth to say something when the air was knocked out of her, her aura broke and she was left gasping, not sure if he had hit her with his blades or simply kicked her.

"Go to sleep, Miss Schnee."

The coil around her waist seemed to tighten and there was a single prick at her neck, seconds later her vision went blurry, her arms falling lifeless at her sides as she couldn't even tremble in the man's grasp. I can't move. The sound of Blake sputtering out a few coughs were dulled when they reached her ears. And finally her vision went black: two little white orbs dancing in the darkness.