Hello! I wrote this one shot for the RWBY subreddit's Monthly Fanfiction and Fanart Contest, or MonCon for short. If you like this story, please vote for me over at /r/RWBY when the time comes! Thanks, and enjoy!

The broken moon was full tonight, as the city of Vale was cast in a ghostly sheen. The pale moonlight spilled from the cloudless night sky and illuminated the buildings, creating stark shadows. The majority of the buildings looked as though they were empty, because they were.

The town square, however, was bathed in artificial light. Almost every resident of Vale was packed into the central gathering place, reveling in celebration. For tonight was a special night.

It was New Year's Eve.

The square bustled with cries of joy and glee, as the citizens of Vale gathered to celebrate the change of the year. About an hour from now, the ceremonial ball drop signaling a new year would occur. People everywhere were singing and cheering, sharing drinks and smiles, reveling in the aftermath of a year that saw nothing but peace throughout the kingdom. A large crowd gathered in the square, waiting for midnight to strike. There were even Faunus there, mixing with the human population without any distrust or discrimination from either side. A large number of Vale's police force were there as well, observing the crowd for any problems.

As the party-goers cheered and screamed in delight, no one noticed a cigar tip flare in the shadows of a dark alley.

The light from the cigar illuminated a rough youthful face with heavy eyeliner framing green orbs. A lick of red hair poked out from beneath a black bowler hat.

The tall figure dropped his cigar and stubbed it out with the tip with his cane. He proceeded to walk down the alley, melting into the shadows.

He glanced behind him, ensuring he wasn't followed. He walked down the alley as it led him to a deserted street, away from the bulk of the crowd of people. A slight breeze tugged on the bottom of the man's white trench coat, as he watched a mixed group of humans and Faunus move to join the larger party in progress down the street.

Let the idiots drink themselves silly, the man thought to himself. The more people that are partying, the less people that are around the main city.

For what he was about to do, Roman Torchwick preferred not to have any distractions.

The Remnant Museum of Dust History was a large marble building on the outer fringes of Vale. The museum was famed throughout Remnant as being the leading institution on the study of Dust. The state of the art laboratory on the top floor was rumored to have extremely rare Dust samples from around the world. The white stone the museum was constructed of appeared to glow in the ghostly moonlight. The museum was relatively far away from the town square, which meant this area of Vale was completely deserted.

Perfect.

Roman had heard whispers that a highly powerful Dust crystal was discovered in a Schnee Dust mine a few weeks ago. The Schnee Dust Company sent the specimen to the Dust Museum to have its properties tested. Roman caught wind of what was happening, and had decided that he was going to break into the lab and steal the crystal and sell it to the highest bidder. As for how to break in, Roman turned to Junior Xiong, a local club owner who had a knack for information. All Junior wanted was a modest cut from the sale, and he got Roman blueprints and security features of the museum.

Roman walked around to the side of the museum and looked up. A metal railing rang around the edge of the roof. Roman raised his cane and fired the grappling hook handle, locking onto the railing. He ascended quickly to the top. There were no security measures atop the building. Just a simple roof-access door. Roman smiled to himself. This job would be just as easy as Junior had said it would be. Roman went to break the lock on the door, but found it to already be unlocked.

Really, really easy, he thought. He opened the door and slipped inside.

Roman made his way down the staircase that led from the roof. The stairs ended in front of a door that, according to the specs that Junior had given Roman, led into the high-tech Dust lab. There were no cameras in here, but there were sure to be cameras in the lab. Roman pulled out his scroll to see the security layout. There- a power box mounted in the stairwell. All he had to do was snip the antenna and the cameras ability to record would be disabled. He looked up at the wall and discovered the gray unit bolted to the wall.

He also discovered the antenna wires were already cut.

Okay, he thought. First the door was unlocked, now the wires are already cut? This can't be a coincidence. Is someone else here?

Roman readied himself as he opened the door.

The lab was dark. Roman located a switch on the wall and flipped it, activating industrial lights mounted on steel rafters. Bright light bathed the lab. Steel tables gleamed with glass beakers and metal instruments. Roman looked at the far wall. According to the information that Junior had provided, the rare specimens were kept in a cabinet on the wall. Roman moved towards the cabinet, but stopped when he noticed the doors were already open. A box, large enough to hold the crystal he was after, sat empty on the shelf.

Someone had been here first.

Roman looked around the lab in frustration. He would have seen, would have heard, someone else. Were they still here? Roman slowly walked down the rows of the lab, searching for movement.

He didn't notice a figure hiding in the rafters above him.

The girl kept to the shadows of the rafters. Two eyes, one brown, one pink, watched the man in the white coat search the lab. A curious smile appeared on her face as she cocked her head quizzically, her mane of strawberry-chocolate hair swaying. With grace, she let go of the steel beam and dropped to the floor, her white heels clacking on the tile.

Roman turned at the sound and discovered the girl. She was short, almost like a child. She wore a white coat with a black corset. She held a satchel in one hand, and what looked like an umbrella in the other.

"Well, there, aren't you just the cutest!" Roman said to the mystery girl. He pointed at her satchel with his cane. "Mind telling me what's in the bag?"

The girl didn't say a word. She reached into the satchel to pull out a green Dust crystal the size of a grapefruit. Roman's eyes flared hungrily at the sight of the crystal.

"So, I see that we are after the same thing.' Roman said, stepping towards the short thief. "Why don't you be a good little girl and give it to me?"

The girl smiled and shook her head. She blinked, hey eyes changing from brown to white to pink and back to brown.

Roman frowned. "Not much of a talker, I see. Let me make this clear, then." Roman raised his cane. A target reticule popped up from the tip. Melodic Cudgel will make short work of this brat, he thought. "Give me the crystal and I'll let you leave alive. I would hate to have to hurt such a pretty face."

The girl cocked her head like a confused puppy. She smirked and turned to walk towards the stairs to the roof.

Roman sighed. "Wrong choice, little lady!" He aimed and fired a burst of energy from the tip of his cane. The girl flipped to avoid the shot, letting it connect with a file cabinet, blowing it apart.

The girl recovered from her flip. She slung the satchel over her neck and raced up the stairs.

Roman cursed and gave chase. He made it to the roof, just in time to see the silent girl preparing to leap off.

"Not so fast!" Roman aimed and fired at the girl. The shot connected. What happened next could only be described as bizarre.

The girl blew apart in a thousand fragments with a sound of something similar to breaking glass. The pieces crumbled to the roof.

Roman was thoroughly confused as to what just happened. He had never seen anyone do something like this. He slowly stepped forward to investigate. He halted at the edge where the girl had stood. Nothing. Not a trace.

This just keeps getting weirder, Roman mused. Suddenly, he sensed something, or rather someone, behind him.

He turned just in time to see the girl rush him, umbrella in hand. Roman quickly fired his cane, only to have the blast blocked by the girl's umbrella.

"Enough of this," Roman growled, as he threw a punch in the girl's direction. She easily dodged the strike, and began to move back, drawing Roman in. She ducked and spun, swiftly dodging every one of Roman's punches. She smiled as she did so, arrogantly toying with the taller red-headed man.

Roman tried to fire his cane point blank, but the blast was blocked by the umbrella. The girl weaved around and landed a high kick to Roman's chest, sending him sprawling to the roof, Melodic Cudgel clattering from his hands.

Roman groaned and tried to rise, but a white boot pinned his chest to the ground. He looked up and saw the girl, multicolored eyes staring back. Her pink-brown hair flowed down her back. She held her umbrella in one hand. The other grasped the handle and pulled. A thin blade, built into the handle, sang out of the sheath.

The girl smiled devilishly.

Roman panicked. I'm going to die here, he thought. At the hands of a pint-sized manic, no less!

The girl rose her blade, ready for the kill, when she hesitated. She craned her head, as if she was listening to something.

Roman strained to listen too. Then he heard it.

The church bells were tolling the stroke of midnight. It was now New Year's Day.

The girl looked down at Roman. She took the point of her blade and lightly cut a gash across Roman's cheek. Roman winced. "What the hell, little lady? If you're gonna kill me, don't toy with me f-"

Roman was cut off as the girl grabbed the collar of his coat, pulled him up, and mashed her lips against his.

Roman tried to gasp in surprise, but found it difficult with the girl's tongue worming inside his mouth.

Finally, they broke apart. Roman wheezed as he caught his breath. The girl pulled him closer again, this time licking Roman's lacerated cheek, lapping up the blood there. She unceremoniously let go, causing Roman to fall back on his rear.

Roman was speechless, to say the least. He looked up to her. The girl smiled back, as she lashed out one last time, boot connecting with his head. Roman blacked out.

When he woke about an hour later, the girl was long gone. He groaned and rose to his feet, as the increasing sound of sirens reached his ears. Roman looked over the edge of the roof to see several Vale Police cars en route to the museum.

Roman gathered his cane and leaped off the roof of the museum, landing perfectly below. He melted into a dark alley, and made it a few blocks away before allowing himself a reprieve.

Vale Police cars roared past, oblivious to the man in the white trench coat slowly walking away from the museum.

Once he was away, he checked himself over. Apart from the cut on his cheek, that girl didn't appear to hurt him in any other way. Who the hell was she? Roman mused as he patted himself down, ensuring his belongings were untouched. He frowned, as he felt something in his front pocket that shouldn't have been there. He reached in and found a folded piece of paper. He pulled it out and opened it. It read:

"Nothing against you, Roman, but my employer demanded I bring them this crystal. Maybe I'll let you have the next one. We'd make a great team, if you'd want to consider it. Don't worry about tracking me down. If the need arises, I'll find you again.

Signed,

Neopolitan, Master Thief

P.S. It's a New Year's tradition to kiss someone at midnight. I'm glad I was able to share that with you."

Roman folded the letter and shoved it back into his pocket. He strolled down the street, feeling light as he mixed in with the crowd of party goers leaving the town square. He thought back to that girl, the feeling of her lips on his. He smiled.

He certainly would consider it.