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Scene 1:

Something Interesting This Way Comes

? Pov

It was supposed to be an easy job. Just bust in, take the Dust, and leave. The shop didn't have anything fancy security systems or anything, and I wasn't exactly worried about being seen, seeing as how I was already a wanted criminal. It's not like the old shopkeeper could do anything to stop us, he was hardly a threat.

But…

For some reason…

Something in my gut didn't like this at all. It felt that there was something special about this place. Not the shop itself, Dust 'till Dawn wasn't anything special. No

There was something inside the shop my gut didn't like. Something unsettling, something dark, something I've never encountered before. Even Grimm didn't make me feel like this. My instincts were telling me that this was a very bad idea.

And I didn't become a wealthy criminal mastermind by ignoring my instincts.

Even still, I couldn't just not do it. My employer wouldn't be very happy with me if I did that, and she can get rather…intense… when displeased. So, I decided I would be cautious, and if anything came up I had plenty of men to throw at the problem.

When I walked in I directed my men to get as much Dust as they could, and like the good little henchmen I paid them to be, they did it.

Then I noticed one of the guys was missing. I think his name was Steve or something, I don't remember, they all look the same to me. In any case, whoever it was, he wasn't here where everyone else was. It's also where the Dust was, so there was no reason for him not to be here.

This…annoyed me. Nothing like incompetent henchmen to ruin a good heist.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

That's when the bloodcurdling cry of Steve echoed through the shop. Everyone stopped what they were doing, even me, as we all just stood there wondering what the hell that was about. It was at this point my instincts started to yell at me to get the fuck out of there.

,"Okay~…. go check that out," I said impatiently to one of the guys. I didn't want to just leave immediately, but I sure as hell wasn't checking that out myself.

He looked at me in fear, looked toward the corridor leading to the back of the shop, then looked back to me.

I frowned and motioned again, so, reluctantly, he walked to the back of the shop, weapon in hand.

I looked back towards the rest of the men and noticed they had stopped collecting Dust. I sighed, realizing that these guys were hardly worth the money I spent on them. Fortunately, I had plenty of it and wouldn't be running out anytime soon.

"What are you doing?" I asked harshly.

They all turned to each other, looking back and forth wondering how to respond. One of them looked to me and tried to respond.

"…uh….we-"He began

"Not collecting Dust, that's what you're doing." I interrupted, my irritation at their incompetence growing.

"Yeah, I know boss, it's just-"Another tried to say.

"I don't care, I don't pay you to whine, I pay you idiots to steal Dust, so…" I reminded them, hoping they got the message.

Fortunately, despite being brain dead morons, they were still intelligent enough to get that message.

"R-right boss. Sorry." Another apologized as they all got back to work stealing Dust.

It didn't take long for me to notice that I had sent the second guy in search of…Bob? Was that what his name was? Whatever, it had been several minutes since I sent idiot 2 after idiot 1, and idiot 2 hadn't said anything. Once again, my instincts were screaming at me to leave, and this time, I decided that it was about time I did that.

That being said…I might as well take…extra…precautions.

I turned to the remaining henchmen, who had just finished up collecting Dust from the primary dispensers.

"Alright you idiots, you did a not completely shit job at collecting that Dust, but Bob and Steve are being a little quiet. Why don't you morons find out why, while I take the Dust back to the Bullhead?" I "Suggested" to them.

They looked at each other nervously again, but were smart enough to know the difference between a suggestion, and a "suggestion". So, following my orders, they dispersed and searched the shop for idiot 1 and 2.

Meanwhile, I took the Dust they had collected in the briefcases and left the shop. I decided to wait for a couple seconds outside the shop to see if anything would happen. Instead, nothing happened.

There was total, absolute, silence.

I couldn't see any of the men moving around the shop, the shop keep, couldn't hear any screams of pain or surprise.

Nothing.

Then, I recognized there was a slight, quiet, whisper like, buzzing. It was like the buzzing you hear from a TV that's on, but isn't playing anything, it's just on. It unnerved me, and I don't know when it started, I just realized it had been there the whole time. I don't know how, but I just knew it was connected to…whatever…was going on in that shop. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the lights in the shop went out.

Okay~…that's creepy. I thought to myself. I should probably leave now

So, with that thought, I turned around to make my way to the Bullhead Cinder was waiting for me in.

And was instead met with someone standing behind me.

"AH!" I yelped, jumping away from the person who managed to sneak up on me.

This person, whoever they were, they were incredibly stealthy. After all, they managed to sneak up on me, a master thief. They wearing a tattered, shredded really, red hooded cloak. The hood covered their head, so I couldn't see their face, so I couldn't tell too much about them, but considering their short height, they barely came up to my stomach, and their androgynous body shape, I was willing to bet they were a child.

More importantly, this was the source of my bad vibes. My instincts were telling me to leave now.

"Hey…kid…" I began to say as I tried to move past them towards the Bullhead. I circled around the kid, not daring to look away until I was completely past the kid.

At that the kid looked up, looking me in the eyes with their own hollow silver eyes.

Now that I could see their face I could tell that this kid was probably a girl, likely no older than 12. She was…unsettling to look at. Her face was mostly expressionless, but her eyes held a degree of curiosity. That being said, she just …radiated…a sort of unease, of creepiness.

That, of course, was before I noticed the rather large splotch of blood on her cheek, blood she didn't seem to care about.

"Uh…right, so…bye kid." I said, now having circled around her, the entire time I didn't dare take my eyes of the creepy girl.

Now that she wasn't in my way anymore, I turned back around, faced forward, and ran toward the building the Bullhead was behind.

At least…

….That's what I wanted to do.

Instead, when I turned around, the girl was once again in front of me, staring straight into my eyes again.

I jumped in shock, surprised by her second appearance.

How did she? I thought, turning back to see if she was still behind me, and if this was her creepy twin or something.

Instead, I only saw empty air. Turning back, I noticed she hadn't moved from the spot and was still staring at me with mild curiosity, like a child looking at a bug crawling on the ground, deciding what to do with it. She just looked at me, unblinking, with those soul-piercing silver eyes.

"Uh…could you…move, kid?" I asked, unnerved by her presence.

In response she just tilted her head to the side, still not taking her eyes off me.

"…Roman…Torchwick?" She asked slowly, as if not sure if she was right.

"Uh…yes?" I responded hesitantly, not necessarily liking the way she said that. There was no fear or recognition in the way she said it. She was checking to be sure she was right for some... unknown purpose.

At that, she smiled, a small smile, but sweet. It was the innocent smile of a child, filled with no true malice. She looked pleased, happy that she was right, that she had found who she was looking for, but as for why, I don't know. Frankly, the sweetness and innocence of the smile, combined with the blood on her face, disturbed me. Not quite as badly as Neo's could, but it still reminded me of the little psycho.

"Good." She said simply, yet it held a small degree of emotion in it, perhaps…hope?

Anticipation?

No sooner had she said this before the world changed around me. I felt a sense of vertigo, a powerful tingling sensation on my skin, and a tickling feeling my mind. The buzzing grew louder, before being drowned out by the sound of rushing winds and water, like some kind of hole sucking me through to somewhere. The world around me became enveloped in a black and white.

? pov

I was just out doing errands when I got an alert that a Dust store nearby was being robbed.

There had been a long string of robberies, the work of Roman Torchwick, an infamous and wanted criminal. No one really knew why he needed that much Dust. He could sell it for quite a price, but he could just as easily steal money, so it was doubtful that was the reason why.

I was hoping that I would be able to get him to tell me himself when I got there.

So, I made my way over there, using aura boosted jumping to launch myself across rooftops faster than normal running.

On my way there I noticed a slight…buzzing…noise. Like the sound of a radio when it's on, but nothing's playing, not even static.

Everything else, however, was quiet. Not a sound around me, which was odd, even given the time of night. It unsettled me, it was never this quiet in Vale, and it was that quiet that allowed me to hear the buzzing. Aside from my footsteps on rooves, my own breaths, and the wind whipping past my ears, it was the only sound I could hear.

Then, it wasn't.

BOOM!

An explosion before me thundered, sending a shockwave that shattered windows and activated car alarms. A huge fireball rose into the air from ground zero, lightning arcing between the billowing flames, lighting up the dark sky like a second sun. Smoke poured from the devastation of the blast, hiding the shattered moon from sight.

I stopped my running in reaction to the blast, bracing myself for the shockwave. As I gazed at the fire and smoke I debated whether to go there, and help out where I could, or pursue Torchwick.

Then, I realized, to my shock, that the explosion came from the same area the store was in. With that realization, there was no doubt in my mind that Torchwick was the cause. I made my way to the site with added urgency, dropping everything to make it there in time to do…something.

When I finally arrived. I was…surprised…at what I saw before. Almost too surprised to act.

On a roof before me, Roman Torchwick was fighting some child wielding a simple, bloodstained, scythe. The child was wearing a tattered, blood red, cloak, with dark clothes underneath. Their hood was up and their back was turned to me, so I couldn't really identify too much about them, other than their general age based on their height and shape.

The child was holding their own quite well against the infamous criminal, especially since he was a fighter on par with several veteran hunters.

That being said, he was an experienced criminal without concern for human life, and this child was just that…a child. The child was losing, slowly but surely. Torchwick was pushing her back with his reinforced cane, putting them in the position to be blasted by him with the cannon hidden in it.

Suddenly, the child made a mistake when they swung their scythe, over-extending themselves. It wasn't a big opening, and most opponents wouldn't be able to take suitable advantage of it. That being said, Torchwick wasn't most opponents.

Using the opening, he kicked the child in the chest, knocking the child away from him and slamming them into the wall of the building that rose up behind them. Stunned, the child was helpless when Torchwick drew a red Dust crystal from his pocket and threw it at the child, taking careful aim with his cannon as he did so.

If he hit that crystal, another fiery explosion would go up right in the child's face. There was no way they would survive that. There was only one option left to me.

Just before the crystal ignited, I jumped in front of the child, pulling up a shield to deflect the heat and fury of the blast. When the fire and smoke cleared I saw Torchwick hold a stunned expression on his face, wondering where I came from.

I glanced behind me and found a silver eyed girl in the blood red cloak looking up at me. He face was calm, cold, and placid, but her eyes held muted surprise, with a touch of suspicion.

I brought my eyes forwards again, and without another word, sent bolts of dust magic at him in an attempt to subdue him. He dodged, staying light on his feet, never staying the same place twice. As he bobbed and weaved through my blasts, he returned fire with his cannon, forcing me to block or dodge in return.

For a while, it was a stalemate, the two of us equally matched, neither able to gain an upper hand on the other. Fortunately, I wasn't alone.

Suddenly, a blur of red appeared behind Torchwick, and with a resound WHACK he was knocked unconscious. I looked at him, laying there, blood seeping from the back of his head, then back up to see the girl standing over him, her scythe blade reversed and the blunt side covered in a small splotch of blood.

She was bent over, her hood throwing her face into shadow, but I could hear her panting, her breathes shallow, and see her body tremble.

A small part of me was pleasantly surprised about what she had done. I saw great potential in her, one day she could grow into being a strong and capable huntress.

Most of me, however, was furious. This girl had endangered hers, and the lives of all around her by engaging this criminal in combat. If I hadn't appeared when I had, she would have died. The idea of a little girl fighting the battles of adults infuriated me.

However, before I could utter even a word of this to her, she collapsed.

The girl fell forward, landing face down on the roof behind the man she knocked out.

My rage quickly gave way to concern, as I rushed over to make sure the girl was okay. I rolled her over to get a closer look at her face, and to see if she was still breathing.

I was startled to find a profuse nose bleed and her skin unnaturally pale. Her eyes were closed and her breathes were weak and shallow, but present. Her hood pulled back, I was able to see her messy black hair that turned red at the ends and reached just past her shoulder. As I went over her body to check her for injuries I noted a large gash on her right shoulder, bleeding profusely.

I didn't notice it before because the blood blended in perfectly with the crimson cloak, but I now that I could I couldn't help but be surprised that the girl fought this well despite the serious wound to her shoulder. In fact, she must have an incredible will for a child to have stayed conscious and have fought through the pain.

What could have driven you to have fought so fiercely against a superior opponent? Arrogance? Or something else? I thought.

This girl couldn't have been older than 12, just old enough to enter a hunter academy, and already she was skilled enough to fight through a crippling injury, and even hold off a trained, ruthless, criminal. Even as much as I wanted to scold the child for getting involved, I knew I would have never have been able to capture Torchwick without her help, let alone even see him if she hadn't held him back.

I looked at her weapon of choice closely. It was a fairly simple scythe. All it appeared to be capable of doing was folding into a more compact form for easy storage. Of real note was the materials used. It was hardly made of high-quality materials. I doubt she would have been able to kill more than a handful ofGrimmm with this thing before it started to fall apart. It appeared to be made of scrap, handmade too.

What worried me, however, was the prominent bloodstains on the blade itself.

I looked down, off the roof and toward the store Torchwick had been robbing. The shop, formerly known as Dust 'till Dawn, was now little more than a burning crater. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, it was likely just collateral damage, but it looked like someone decided to detonate all the Dust in the store at once, which primarily consisted of fire and lightning Dust.

So there was probably no actual evidence of what really happened. We'd have to rely on witness testimony alone.

Looking back at the pale and dying girl, I decided that this could wait till later.

I pulled out my scroll and made a call to someone I thought would be very interested in what I had found.

"Hello, Ozpin? It's Ms. Goodwitch. I found something…interesting." I said.

A/n:

Hello, it's me again.

A while ago I couldn't understand why FF writers, or writers in general would start new stories when they hadn't finished the one they were already working on.

Then my muse decided to be an asshole.

Don't get me wrong, she's a beautiful asshole, but an ass nonetheless, and as a result, I get it now.

So what I'm trying to say is that I was writing Blood, Thunder, and Steel when I got the inspiration to write about five different things.

I'm not going to start writing five different things, because...

no.

just...no.

In any case, this is my new RWBY story I started to write cause I love the show and I had a fucked up idea.

Also, in case you're wondering, it IS loosely, kind of, connected, a bit, to BTS, though not in any way that you'll be able to make said connection quite yet.

Have no fear, though, BTS isn't dead.

It's actually kind of crucial that I finish it, otherwise somethings that come up much later in here won't make as much sense.

Or be as awesome.

Oh, and finally, this story is kind of dark

And by kind of...well...

Read the next chapter, there you'll get a good idea for what I'm talking about.

Let's just say, I picked a good name for this story.

Oh, also, my A/n's can be long, boring, needless, and filled with potential maybe spoilers.

Read at your own risk

Unless its at the beginning of a Scene