Author's Note Okay so starting off, this is a crossover between RWBY and the Soulsborne series as a whole, With emphasis on Demon souls and DS3. I'll be plucking bits and pieces from throughout the different games. For those curious as to what point the story branches off into AU, the primary point of deviation begins with the Unkindled giving up and allowing for the Age of Dark to come. there came a new age in the future known as the Age of Dust. This is long after the age of fire faded from memory. Roman Torchwick, the Unkindled who linked the fire twice over and lulled the old one back to it's slumber awoke from his own self imposed rest some seven years ago. He has more or less followed the same events as canon up to the story's commencement.

I suppose I should give some warnings about the themes expressed and such. This story deals with quite some dark topics (human trafficking, mental disorders, substance abuse come later chapters etc.) and I don't plan to sugarcoat any of it for you, there shouldn't be to much explicit stuff but the themes will be present. You have been warned.

It was a stormy night in Vale, though the storm could better be classified a hurricane. Thunder roared and lightning crashed while the wind did it's best to throw him any which way it could. It was his favorite kind of weather he supposed, it kept most people who'd bother him well inside and away from him. Indeed it was on these rare occasions that he felt like walking the streets alone, just him and his thoughts.

Sometimes he let his mind return to the lands of Boletaria, the rotted festering blight of a kingdom that first endowed him with the plague of undeath. Most often his thought of Lordran, where he was forged in the fires of the kiln of the first flame and tested against countless demons and monsters. Lastly he need not think hard to remember much of Lothric, the land where the lords of Cinder chose to abandon their thrones and he was consumed in flames one final time. It was these lands where Roman had marched time and time across the twisted broken ruins of embers and ash, fighting through the monsters that defied him to do his duty, slay the Archdemons, fill the lordvessel, or drag the lord's souls back to their thrones where they belonged.

He reminisced with the swirling winds the memories of the numerous monsters he'd slain, all the enemies he'd fought and the pain he'd suffered for. For what, he asked. Nothing had really changed in the end. Sure the beasts were kept out of the city for now, but they'd be back, they always managed to get inside. Somehow they always did, and then the age of dark would approach once more. He supposed he was hardly blameless, after all he'd helped the White Fang get several such beasts inside the city walls himself. Yes he supposed his new life as Roman Torchwick wasn't the greatest string of decisions he'd ever made, but it was his life now and those kingdoms of yore were his distant past.

He had adopted the facade of the dastardly thief some six years ago, when he'd first come to Vale. Really, it was simply a mask he used to amuse himself and torment the utterly incompetent Vale Police Department. Oh how very satisfying it was to serve as a maniacal villain to Red's chipper young superhero. Ahh Red, also known as Ruby Rose, she was the best nemesis he'd had in a long time. The closest had been a dogged detective that had come close twice, but they'd ended up reassigned after continually failing to catch him. Red was strong, faster then even he was, and frankly had a lucky streak to easily rival his own. If he was being honest, he found her moralizing positively adorable, though the few times he'd managed to fluster her were by far some of the most endearing sights he'd seen.

If the situation was to present itself, Roman thought idly he'd love to look into trying to get her to join him, she certainly knew how to use that weed whacker of hers to an exceptional degree and her speed would make her a first class thief. Red was simply too much fun and had too much potential to let go to waste. If Cinder actually pulled off her little coup, he'd have to see if he could somehow get Red's little teammates out of Vale, as a reward for the great amusement she'd given him over such a short span.

Still, fun though his little games with Red were, he did on occasion miss being a hero. Missed believing what he was doing was right. Missed being able to wake up in the morning and not on some level hate what you had become. Most of all he missed that part of him that had hoped, hoped that maybe this time when the fire was linked things would turn out better. That part died when he first stepped foot in Remnant and saw what a travesty he had helped create.

Well except for that one little side job he'd kept up all this time, Something even Cinder remained unaware of. That job still involved some heroic work he enjoyed, but no one not involved directly could be allowed to know about it.

Maybe he should consider looking into going straight, he mused as he stepped through a rarely used alleyway and over the decaying corpse of a homeless man. He'd been beaten to death three days ago, but as it was just some bum in an area no respectable citizen would ever travel through the city was taking it's sweet time getting to it. Getting protections for betraying the White Fang could be dangerous, after all the government could be just as evil as Cinder when it needed to be. The benefits, however could also be incredibly lucrative. If he betrayed Cinder and turned on her at the apex of her plans, and in doing so force her to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, it sounded wonderfully poetic to him. Roman would consider it if he could somehow get Neo out of this life with him. She was more than just a bodyguard, She was family. including perhaps Junior, and in her own way Red, Neo could be said to be one of only three people he genuinely cared about in this blood soaked world. There was no way he'd abandon her, she was loyal to him to the end, and he was the same, that was the end of the matter.

Roman remembered how they'd met all those years ago. When an early job had gone well and truly south, Neo had ended up taking a dust bomb they'd been paid to deliver almost point blank to the face after the device had 'malfunctioned'. As a result Neo had been left bedridden for close to four months, though it was a miracle she even survived. He didn't know her back then, she was just his partner for that particular job, a system based ironically on the one used by the very people assigned the task of stopping them. Otherwise, they had never crossed paths before. The job had been a setup that Atlas had created hoping that by organizing a false raid on a dust shipment from Atlas they could disassemble a decent chunk of the illegal dust trade that existed from Atlas to Vale. They had been hammering away at this problem for years by that point, with negligible results.

It failed to create any major disruption in the trade, but it did manage to decapitate the decently sized street gang that he had gotten the job from. From this gang's ashes he, with the help of his right hand Neo, would eventually rise to becoming the de facto power broker across the poorer districts of Vale. It was during this time that he'd met Junior, the closest thing he had to a best friend.

He'd paid for an underground doctor a modest sum to fix the damage and he'd personally cared for her afterwards. Roman made sure that she made a complete recovery. Couldn't let the idea he abandoned his comrades get around, it'd make his future partners less likely to stick their necks out for him on the next job. Reputation meant everything in the underworld, if protecting that reputation meant spending a little extra, extra money or extra time, then so be it.

Sure it was time consuming, but after the job had gone south he'd needed to lay low until the heat had fully blown over, which took even longer as the Schnee did all in their power to uproot that thorn in their profit margins once and for all, and did manage to take several of the, at the time, big names in the trade out of the equation, but new people stepped in before the bodies were even cold. While that was going on outside his apartment, Roman focused on using his plenty of newfound extra time to devote to this little mute girl. Once she'd fully recovered, he'd sent her on her way and didn't expect for them to cross paths ever again. He certainly hadn't expected to see her a week later when she'd shown up at his apartment in a tattered coat, shredded pants and a worn out t-shirt. Neo had managed to locate his apartment from memory. It was the dead of winter with mounds of snow some of which were taller than she was. Had he left her out there, Roman had no doubt she'd have chosen to freeze to death on his doorstep rather than return to her home.

After bringing her in and preparing the guest room for some use, it would become her permanent room later, he sat her down and managed to establish communications with a pen and paper. Turned out she was from a rather abusive home, her father was an alcoholic that had hit her several times in the past, once even breaking her arm when she was four. her mother was an addict that when not high was blamed Neo for all of her problems. Her parents had thrown her stuff out of the house, the whole box and a half's worth of things, and were renting out her room when she'd returned after her four month absence. There had been no search, not even a missing person's report. As she recounted her story she clutched a torn up stuffed animal, a dog, Roman wasn't a master seamstress but he could sew, so he'd patched up the little plush and offered her the spare room for as long as she'd wanted, and she'd been there with him ever since.

As Roman walked along the wet, asphalt road, having finished his walk and feeling positively radiant, he noticed someone standing on the edge of a rooftop nearby, it looked to Roman like they were thinking of jumping. It would be the eighth one this week, and it was only Tuesday night. He supposed there were downsides to living on the edge of 'suicide alley'. Honestly it was his fault in a way, A while back he'd stopped those who tried to commit suicide here near his original home and using the soul arts had helped to heal them, they were often afflicted with crippling injuries and other problems resulting from the lack of adequate medical assistance for those in the poorer areas of Vale. The legend had stuck, even though he rarely stopped anyone anymore people still came here to do their grisly deed.

Roman couldn't really say what made him climb the fire escape and seek out this particular poor soul on the roof, but he did. Perhaps the storm had simply put him into the right mood for a bit of charity. Perhaps it was fate. Regardless Roman made his way up and with the near deafening typhoon encapsulating them it wasn't until he placed his hand on their shoulder that the would-be jumper seemed to notice his presence. They already seemed to be in the middle of jumping, so he seized their hand and managed to keep her from falling into the alley below. When he saw who it was he was holding he found himself almost losing his grip in surprise.

"...Well, hello there Red."

Previously that day

"Weiss, please wait, just tell me what's been bothering you."

"If you don't know, then it must not really be that big a deal to you." before Ruby could reply Weiss had stormed out of her room. It had been going on like this for close to a month, and it wasn't just Weiss. Blake, Jaune, even Yang, her own sister, seemed to grow more distant as time went on, and Ruby hadn't the slightest idea why. Things had been so great at first, everyone had been so friendly, Except for Cardin and his team but they were just a few bad apples. Now most people either ignored her or scowled at her as she walked past and she didn't know why.

She didn't know about the rumors that were the cause of her social ills. Certainly Ruby did not know how deeply team CRDL had spread the vile slander among the student body of Beacon. That she was a fraud, a liar, a whore. Most of the rumors had failed to take any sort of root, But let it never be said Cardin Winchester was a man to give up on a idea once he'd started it. Soon enough a few rumors did indeed begin to spread and independent from team CRDL did the lies begin to snowball. Rumors turned to stories to Theory to fact by word of mouth and if Ruby had done half the things that it was whispered she had, she wouldn't have been willing or able to show her face in Vale ever again. So pervasive were they, that some of them had made their way to the normal citizens of Vale. Ironically, The criminal element was one of the only groups to openly dismiss the rumors, after all they'd dealt with the little redhead's vigilantism enough firsthand to know that there was no way that the rumors could be true. If they were true then there'd be a lot more of them walking the streets free men. instead of rotting in Vale's prison.

This social issue was combined with a continual string of nightmares had left her thoroughly deprived of sleep, and unceasingly anxious. The toll of such emotions was beginning to become pronounced, with black circles beginning to form under her eyes, and a nervous habit of looking over her shoulder, even when she was sure she was alone. It must have been close to three weeks since she'd had a good nights sleep. She'd tried everything she could think of, medication, folk remedies, listening to debates by the Vale council, nothing worked. She was at wit's end and she didn't know where to go from here.

The nightmares always consisted of her fighting monsters. Some resembled animals, some looked like they might of once been human, still others were of an indescribably alien persuasion. She saw herself dying over and over and it was always so painful in her dreams, that early on, she would wake up screaming. Weiss had complained about waking everyone else up in the middle of the night and had threatened to make her wear a muzzle to keep her quiet while she slept. The nightmares had recently begun to include someone else. he looked like a knight in shining armor, glowing bright Yellow, like a sun. He wielded a sword and shield and he'd rush forward and provide aid while she struggled desperately to survive the monstrosity that night. Sometimes Ruby swore she heard him calling out to her, but it was always too distorted to make out.

Tired and confused, Ruby took her cloak and decided to go for a walk and try and clear her head. She failed to check the weather report that said it was going to be storming in a few hours and so failed to prepare accordingly. As she stood in the empty dorm room, she couldn't help but feel a sense of isolation creep in, she felt alone even when her team was with her and in the silence of this room it never felt more stark than it did now.

Seeing her head off into Vale as dusk was approaching only gave the rumors added vigor, soon it would reach the point where truth and lie would be irrelevant the sheer momentum of the rumors alone would be enough. After all, even if those rumors were false, there was no way all these rumors could be false, where there's smoke there's fire, so something had to be going on, right?

Present

She was so very lost, somehow Ruby managed to end up on the shadier side of town and had ended up losing her way entirely. Even with the map on her scroll, the area had so many twists in it that she couldn't figure out where to go time and time again. Or perhaps it was her poor night's sleep coupled with the heavy rain that covered her scroll's screen that was the problem. Ruby thought about using her scroll to call her team to pick her up, then thought against it she couldn't let anyone see her as needing help, she was the leader of her team, she could handle walking around Vale by herself.

As she stood on the roof of this building trying to get her bearings, jumping slightly at each of the massive booms of the thunder she had failed to hear Roman sneak up on her. Suddenly she felt his hand on her shoulder and she jumped in surprise. Ruby lost her footing on the slick roof's edge and she began to fall. Her hand reached out for something to grab onto, anything would suffice. It ended up being Roman's arm. To say she was surprised would be an understatement, the fact that he wasn't trying to throw her down into the alley below a moment later was similarly shocking.

"...Well, hello there Red."

"Torchwick!"

"When last I checked, any particular reason you've decided my block stuck out as the one you wanted to try and end it all on Red? Perhaps you just loved the view of lines and lines of worn down broken old apartment complexes or maybe the sweet stench of human misery gave it that je ne sais quoi?"

"What? What're you talking-" Whatever she was trying to say to him failed to reach it's destination as it was drowned out by the sudden crackle of thunder and the howling winds that seemed to return with renewed vigor. It actually became somewhat difficult to keep a grasp on her hand as the wind built up enough speed to begin pushing the young huntress in training every direction it could muster.

"Well this is hardly the place for conversation, enjoyable though it is to see you in your current state, so how about you and I go back to my place and get something to drink?"

Hefting her up, he produced a set of handcuffs and cuffed her hands, restraining her further with a second set of cuffs around her ankles he wrapped her up in her own red cloak tightly enough to where she better resembled a roll of red carpeting and hefted her onto his shoulder as she began kicking and screaming, but to no avail, the weather simply drowned out her words and the heavy rain made visibility next to impossible. He took her to his current penthouse about a block away. The doorman didn't ask, and Roman didn't provide an answer. Good, he had chosen well on whom to employ here. She tried calling out to the people as they passed, but they ignored her or shied away. If they weren't people intimidated by the infamous crime lord, they were criminals like him. If Roman was doing something to the little brat who'd been making several of their lives an absolute hell, all the more power to him. By the time he'd reached the top floor Ruby wasn't fighting nearly as much as he'd expected and he managed to get into the apartment with minimal issue.

A multitude of things began to run through Ruby's mind as Roman sat her down on his couch in what was admittedly a really nice apartment. Two floors, nice comfy furniture, a awesome TV along with a game system, she kind of wished the dorm rooms in beacon were as nice. It was also all so well kept and clean, back at her dorm only Weiss really kept anything clean, everyone else just left things where they landed. Ruby had never thought of Roman as a neat freak until she sat there surveying his home, now she began to wonder what other things were there that she didn't know about him.

Roman made two mugs of hot chocolate for them while Ruby examined his penthouse. Suicide talks always required full sobriety given the importance of the issue so he resisted the urge to add something special to his drink. When he returned Roman found her staring holes in a particular spot on his wall. After following her eyes for a few minutes and noticing nothing, he decided she must be in her own little world, probably mulling over whatever it was that drove her to attempt suicide tonight.

What was she supposed to do, think Ruby think! You were currently captured by your greatest foe, what do you do in the situation? Escape, that was what she had to do, escape. But wait, escape to where? With the storm raging outside, it was so bad she still couldn't tell where in Vale she was. And what if she ran into other criminals or thieves, Crescent Rose was in her dorm back at Beacon so she didn't have any weapons to protect herself. Well, she could just use her speed to run away then, but what if she ran the wrong way and got even more lost. How would she get these these cuffs off her, start with that okay. She was brought out of her planning to see Roman holding out a cup for her to take and staring with his face a few inches from hers.

"Earth to red, come in Red, you still with me?"

"Ahh, um yeah, where are we?" suddenly aware of how she had been caught unaware Yet, for whatever reason she felt perfectly safe here. It was a strange feeling to say the least, after all she was sitting on a couch with Roman Torchwick Sitting beside her both of them drinking hot cocoa, or at least she was, he probably had something stronger in his cup. Wait what if her drink was poisoned! She waited patiently to feel the poison work it's way through her system, and waited, and waited. Staring in fear at the mug with a cat emblazoned on the side.

"The drink's not spiked Red. If I'd wanted to kill you, I'd have shot you back on the roof, or let you finish what you were try to do back on that roof. Now I believe we have a bit to discuss don't we?"

"W-we do?" What could he want to talk to her about? Why was he being so nice, they were enemies, he should hate her. What did he think she was trying to do back on that roof?

"Let me start by saying that regardless of what you're going through you should know you have people that care deeply about you and worry for you."

That's what you start these talks with right? You tell people that there are people who care about them. From there Roman was clueless, he could slay demons the size of buildings with ease, pull off complex heists in his sleep, but convincing someone to metaphorically step away from the ledge, that was something he didn't do particularly often anymore so he was unsure of where to take the conversation from there.

What? What did he mean by that surely he couldn't be, oh no, nononono. This must be like that book Blake had loaned her about the dastardly ninja thief who'd fallen in love while fighting the other, good ninja. She was too young to get married to him, sure Roman wasn't ugly, in fact he actually had really nice eyes now that she got to see one of them so closely, and he had a well toned body and when he smiled certain way... But but, no hold on. Hold on. She must be reading too much into what he was saying right there's no way-

"Red, you mean a lot to me, if you're having issues, I'm more than willing to listen, okay?" That wasn't great, but that was close enough to the proper thing right? Roman wasn't quite sure if that was the right way to start to get her to open up about her problems but that was there wasn't any major problems with the sentence right? Sure that wasn't really the case with their relationship, but he could really bring that up and expect her to be honest with him. Best to just lie and hope for the best.

Ruby's face now better resembled her , no doubt about it, Roman Torchwick was in love with her, Ruby was certain of it now there couldn't be any other meaning to those words. What should she do, what-

"Red, please tell me-"

Oh god. He was going to ask if she loved him or not, oh no, what should she say, no? What if that made him angry, she was at his mercy right now. Should she say yes? What if he thought she was lying or wanted to do… Things. She didn't know what things because Yang had snatched the book from her before she'd gotten to that part, but there was definitely some things that he might want to do to her. At this point Ruby could easily be said to be several shades redder than her cloak

"-What made you want to try and kill yourself tonight?"

"...What?"

"Red, you were on a roof in suicide alley. You frankly look like you haven't slept in days and appear to in generally be in a pretty bad state. What else could you possibly be doing there?"

"What, I was just lost, my scroll's map was so confusing and with the storm I was trying to get a better perspective." The relief on his face was palpable, and while she was happy that he wasn't about to declare his undying love, a very small part of her did kind of wish he had, she'd never had someone confess to her and a tiny part of her wanted someone to desperately...

"So then why did you try to jump?"

"I slipped when you snuck up on me!" Ruby replied, slightly louder than she had intended.

"I didn't sneak up on you, and keep your voice down, you'll wake-" The sound of a door being opened on the second floor was audible. "-her."

Neo walked out in a set of pink pajamas, holding a little plush toy and rubbing her eyes. she stared down at them for a moment frowning

"Hey Neo, everything's fine just go back to bed." Roman said as he looked at his still half-asleep bodyguard/ little sister.

She scowled at him for a moment before signing to him,

Why's she here? I don't like it when you bring people here to home.

I Found her on a roof in suicide alley turns out she was just lost. I'll return her in the morning. As deep as we are in the slums she'll never find this place again.

She stood there for a moment scowling, before walking downstairs and proceeding to slump against him on the couch, resting her head on his shoulder. Neo took his hot coco from him while he idly ran his hands through her multi toned hair and Roman only gave a half hearted protest. She began to drink and had to resist the urge to spit it out. He always added so much sugar to his drinks, it was so sweet it was almost painful. This would wake her up faster than the time it would take to turn on the coffeemaker. After a short but not unpleasant silence the power began to flicker.

"I'm going to go get some candles, you two play nice." Roman said as he got up to retrieve them in case the power was to go out. The two sat in silence for a moment until Neo took out her Scroll and began to type.

So, what's it like?

"Huh, what's what like?" Ruby said, confused as to what Neo was talking about.

What's it like being able to walk the streets whenever you want to, what's it like to get to go to school, are there dances? Are you single, do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a girlfriend?

"Beacon's pretty nice, and no I don't have a boyfriend…" Ruby replied slightly flustered by the line of questioning

What's it like… To be normal.

"What? I don't really think that I'm normal…"

It was at this point that Roman reentered the room carrying a pillow, some blankets and a couple candles.

"I just got a call, one of Junior's boys says he found something. I'll be out late tonight, get the guest room ready in case he needs to stay over tonight. Red, the storm's supposed to let up around three, so I'll take you back early tomorrow. Neo, make sure you and Red have something to eat, you have Junior's number so call him if something goes wrong. Don't wait up on me." With that he turned and almost made it to the door before Neo had managed to grab him around the waist, holding him there.

"Neo, look I know you don't want me too, but this is a job that has to be done. I've told you a hundred times, you can't come along on these jobs. I'm not risking your life too."

Neo didn't care, she hated these late jobs, these other jobs. She knew he did them to keep her and Junior safe, if he didn't she knew that they were the first people that the demons would prey on, but why couldn't he let her come with him. She was safe when he was with her, and she was strong enough now to protect him. Why couldn't he see that? The tears were few but they were more than visible enough that Roman was able to clearly see them. He bent down and wiped the tears from her eyes before pulling Neo into a brief hug.

"Don't worry I'll be back to make you breakfast in the morning, just like I always am. I promise, now I really need to go before this thing gets away."

With that Roman broke her grasp and departed. Neo went to the coffee machine and turned it on, she started brewing a cup and sat back down next to Ruby, dejected.

"Is he going out to rob someplace without you?" Ruby asked, confused at the oddly emotional display, did she always do that when he went out to rob banks by himself, what made this one so different?

I wish, that call meant something's going on that involves things the police can't or won't handle. If he needs the guest room ready then that means those 'things' are involved.

What were 'those things', they didn't sound like people. Were they some kind of Grimm? Why would Roman Torchwick hunt Grimm? "Well whatever those 'things' are, couldn't you guys get some huntsmen and they could-" Neo shook her head no.

These things, they're like grimm only smarter, they sense hunters and run away before the hunters arrive and wait for them to leave before returning. And they like attacking criminals, because they don't contact anyone until it's too late. Roman can track them though, so sometimes he gets calls to deal with them.

"Why would he do that? He's the monster that brought hundreds of Grimm into the city!" The moment that those words left her mouth she regretted it. Roman wasn't a monster, he was a thief, a criminal but he didn't go around torturing people for fun, he was trying to survive and while she condemned him for his methods, she felt that perhaps she could maybe understand his thought process. It still bothered her as she had racked her brain several times and had continually failed to understand what roman had hoped to accomplish when he brought all of those Grimm into Vale, it was just so unlike his previous MO. Before Ruby could say anything, however, she was greeted with the feeling of being slammed into the wooden floor and Neo's hands curling around her throat.

Neo was livid, but her face was as placid as ever, showing only a sly sadistic smirk. how dare she judge them. Who gave her the right to condemn them, to call him a monster? This little redhead didn't know anything! She didn't know how he'd saved her life, or how he'd protested bringing Grimm into the city. Worst of All she was here, she was in the space reserved for just her and Roman. That thought, of this girl defiling this sanctuary, and to be ungrateful on top of it. Neo couldn't take it, no rather, she refused to put up with such a transgression.

We don't have a choice! If he didn't do it she'll kill us! Neo practically smashed the scroll into Ruby's face, while Neo kept her hold and seemed to be positively shaking with rage, apparently Ruby had accidentally struck a very sore nerve, She hoped this wouldn't prove a fatal mistake.

"You have to?" Ruby managed to croak out. The idea of Roman Torchwick being forced to do these things by someone else was possible, yet there was no one Ruby knew of that seemed capable of doing such. The question of how Roman and Neo saw their job suddenly surfaced in her mind. This thought quickly vanished replaced with a sense panic as she struggled desperately to get the other girl off her as the edges of her vision began to blacken. Ruby suddenly felt the pressure around her throat disappear, and after a few deep breathes of sweet wonderful air, her vision returned to normal. Neo got off her and looked somewhat ashamedly at her, though the anger was till clearly visible.

I'm sorry I overreacted

"It's okay… I forgive you. Well we're going to be here a couple hours, do you have any movies?" Ruby squeaked out, hoping to distract Neo as well as trying to hide the terror that Neo had instilled in her. This wasn't so bad Ruby repeated in her mind, like an insane mantra. It was kind of like a sleepover, like one she'd had back at Signal. Maybe a bit more violent but so long as she avoided setting Neo off until Roman came back, she could hopefully get out alright. Dear aura, Ruby hoped Roman came back soon, things here were so much safer with him around. This place suddenly felt much harsher, as if some illusiory dream was shattered, leaving her trapped in reality.

What she'd typed before stuck out again in her mind, they didn't have a choice? That would explain how different Roman was now compared to when he fought her in the past. And it explained why he, a thief was working with the White Fang, ostensively a terrorist group. How then, maybe she could help them get away and then they wouldn't have to do these things.

I have a few movies.

Neo got up and retrieved a small stack of DVDs with such titles as, Friday the 15th, Night of the living Grimm and Atlas Chainsaw Massacre. Ruby would come to sorely regret not voicing a protest to Neo as she slid the first DVD into the console and pressed play.

The rain was a utter deluge when he'd gotten to his car. The rain didn't let up a fraction while Roman drove to the warehouse by the docks. The roads could better be classified as rivers and even the simple short route here was an arduous journey. Good, that meant less of a chance of anyone stumbling across them and interfering. Even in the rain they were conspicuous, a pair of knights lounging on some boxes while being pelted by the rain. Clad in tattered black cloaks, covering plate mail singed black. Roman knew the armor still managed to radiate it's golden embroidery if the lighting was right and he could attest firsthand to it's durability. He was dressed as he normally was, bowler hat, white coat, the only major difference was the mask. It was white porcelain with two holes for eyes, otherwise there was no mark on it. He'd taken it from a pack of assassins that had hollowed back in Lordran, it was a good luck charm for him, and if this really was what Junior's source had said it was, he'd be certain to thank his lucky charm once more.

The blade had appeared and disappeared on his radar repeatedly for close to a year now, and tonight he would finally return the blade to it's rightful place. He got out of his car and walked to the front door of the warehouse that the illegal auction was supposed to be taking place at. Adam Taurus stood out in the rain waiting for him. While Roman did appreciate their promptness, it was still pouring and he felt perhaps next time they ought to bring an umbrella. wouldn't that be it, he needed their help fighting a demon and they all ended up with colds from standing out in the rain.

"You're sure the deal is going down in there?" the imposing bull faunus asked after Roman had gotten out and made his way to them.

"I'm certain Adam, have I been wrong yet? And for God's sake man is it so hard to pack an umbrella when you know it's raining?" Roman replied. Honestly, Adam had been working with him on this little side project for close to two years, Roman wished for a little more faith from the man.

"Had an umbrella," one of the knights said as they fell in behind the two, "Wind went and blew off to who knows where."

"Now, while I enjoy standing out in the rain as much as the next thief, should you get the door or will I?"

"I'll do it." Turning to the door, Adam gave it a swift kick. the door leading into the warehouse flew inwards with immense speed, ripped off it's hinges by the immense physical power that had been infused into it. It crushed a poor mafia gunman who'd been standing guard in front of the door. Inside were stacks upon stacks of storage containers. Slightly off to the side several well dressed men and women were sitting on benches while an auctioneer stood on a podium apparently getting ready to sell the next item. There were only three guards, mostly for show as no one had expected any trouble. Roman needed to handle this delicately if he didn't want this to devolve into senseless carnage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, everyone here is going to die!" There we go, nice and subtle. The underground auctioneer and his patrons stood silently for a moment unsure how to react before seeing the black knights at which point it became utter pandemonium. The Black Knights were a bit of an urban legend now amongst the criminal sector of Vale. They were the boogeymen appearing suddenly two years ago. They appeared at random, following an agenda that no one barring the knights themselves seemed to know. What was understood was this. If a black knight crossed your path, you were going to die. In fact, you were going to die soon. If not by their hands then it seemed as if by the will of fate itself. It was a pain making so many death out as accidents, but if there was anything more important to organized crime then reputation, it was legend and superstition. In fact less than thirty people had been killed so far in the past two years, but rumors were powerful tools and by the end of the first year many were convinced that the knight's body count numbered in the hundreds. Seeing three such angels of death threw a proverbial switch within the criminal mind and shifted their survival instincts into overdrive.

They began running every which way in hopes of escape, like roaches fleeing from the light they scattered amongst the containers, or made haste toward any visible exit available. Hoping desperately to arrive at some form of safety. Adam utilized his greater, aura enhanced, speed swiftly outpaced them and proceeded to sever their legs, leaving them to die from shock and blood loss in a dingy little warehouse by the docks. After a minute Adam returned to the front of the warehouse. Roman shot the few stragglers and silence once again fell across the warehouse a few minutes after the violence had erupted.

"Anyone left?" Roman asked, the annoyed glare that Adam had been sporting since they'd arrived was a sufficient response.

"Of course not."

"Boss, we normally just let them run and get away, what made today so different?" A cat faunus asked him, Mary if Roman remembered correctly.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked my favorite little catgirl, you see this was actually a request of our fine mutual friend and associate Mr. Taurus." Roman said with a slight flourish gesturing to Adam. "He requested it after discovering what was to be the main merchandise of this particular auction." Roman said while looking at the now slightly bloodstained inventory guide clutched in the hands of the now very dead auctioneer. Strutting over to a particular container he looked at the container and saw it match the one listed on the paper. "Shall we have a look at this merchandise?" With a loud bang Roman blasted the lock off with his cane, and calmly pushed the doors outward, allowing the others a good view as to the container's contents. While Adam was aware of the contents, the two with them were stunned and horrified in equal measure.

Inside were seven faunus women, chained to the walls of the container. From here the smell of disease and bodily waste was overpowering, Roman could only guess how long they'd been chained like that, unable to move. Other vile odors wafted towards them from the end of the container where the women were and forced Mary and the poor dog faunus, Isaac, to take a couple steps away or risk losing control of their stomachs. Working slowly so as to be as gentle as possible, they managed to extract all of the women from the container. Finding a small office with a sink and some buckets, they began to clean off the filth covered women and did their best to treat their injuries. It was a haunting sight, they were malnourished to an extreme degree, with their skeletons plainly visible under the skin so painfully stretched over it. three were unable to stand and two proved incapable of walking without assistance. In total only two could walk unassisted and between them only one of them still seemed able to speak. She told them about a hunter who had offered supposedly to get them into Vale without issue in exchange for money and other 'services'.

They had all heard of this scam before. Ex-hunters while not common, they were common enough to have seen multiple iterations of this scam with real hunters involved, making breaking such scams up rather hazardous This scam had tricked plenty of innocent people, who just happened to have issues that barred them from enjoying the protection of the city's massive defensive fortifications. Things had only grown worse with more and more regulations that allowed less and less people in, and practically excluded most faunus from getting in. This created a market smugglers and by extension a new avenue for people to be captured and sold on the slave markets.

Banned in all the kingdoms, the slave trade subsisted due to one major group, the Schnee Dust Corporation. Known only perhaps to two or three top executives, the Schnee Corporation had found the slave trade simply too appealing regarding its profitability to pass up. About one third of those kidnapped by the trade ended up mining Dust for the Schnee at designated 'black sights'. There was such demand due to the high mortality rate, the slaves were sent only to the most grueling unsafe and risky of mines, those mines that couldn't be found on a map as even acknowledging their existence could threaten the whole operation if someone was to take but a cursory glance in that direction. Where instead of being given a coffin as most employees received, they were given an urn to hold their ashes, and often the ashes of whomever else they could fit inside of the container.

Roman left the rest of the knights to deal with the women and began breaking open the other containers that held the other faunus, and a couple humans in equally dismal shape, that were still locked in other storage containers. Not everyone survived and he found one particular container where a boy perhaps in his his-teens was still clutching the hand of his very dead mother, sobbing softly. The boy was filthy, his shirt rotted and far to small for him. The Mother's corpse was infested with insects, no doubt having a deleterious effect on the boy's health. Roman could see the swarm of flies circling her head buzzing slightly and the fat yellow maggots contrasting with the corpses long jet black hair. He needed Adam's help to pry the boy away from his mother, once they did so, he simply stopped moving at all, reminiscent of a puppet with it's strings cut.

He moved the sickly and most grievously wounded closely around him while Adam and the others got the rest into range of Bountiful Sunlight, the miracle he was about to channel. No one resisted, they were simply too broken from the months of misery at the moment to do much of anything. He noticed Adam, Isaac and Mary were also in range, that was fine after what they'd seen Roman didn't begrudge them wishing for a degree of solace.

Now came time for the miracle itself. He started softly as the soul art began, its glow was muted at first as he softly sang it's effect was barely visible. As his voice increased in volume so too did the brightness as the magic began to flow more readily. Wounds and pain from their mistreatment began to heal and fade, both wounds of the flesh and wounds of the mind. When he'd finished the final crescendo Roman better resembled the sun, or perhaps more aptly an inferno, with as much light as he was radiating.

Bountiful Sunlight was a powerful healing spell, It was a song that could mend souls as well as bodies. As he looked among the faces however he saw the seeds of hatred had been planted deeply, and despite his powers he saw that such emotions would not fade anytime soon. It reminded him of the king all those years ago, his speech as to the pain all suffered, and would continue to suffer. Honestly he couldn't blame them, pain was the best fertilizer for hate. Undoubtedly word would have spread about who it was that was financing this Auction, and while they might see himself and the other human prisoners and not feel the hate stir inside he doubted they would ever extend the courtesy to the rest of humanity, especially those from Atlas, a country synonymous with their abusers.

It broke his heart when he caught sight of a small child, a little girl, perhaps no older than eleven. She was sitting there, her eyes beaming with joy and hope that the miracle had instilled in them all, and to see beneath it all the pain and suffering she had endured was heart wrenching. No one should suffer as she had, but especially not an innocent child like her. He wanted to go over and hug her. To tell her it would be alright, to pick her up and promise her that no one was going to hurt her ever again.

He resisted the urge. There was still a job to do, and Roman hated making promises he knew he wouldn't be able to keep. Sometimes the world was cruel, this was a day where the world was not being cruel, the world was being a hateful sadist that enjoyed nothing more than twisting the knife in deeper. Mary had walked up to him while he surveyed the crowd. Her nervousness was rather obvious, to him at least. her tell lied in her body language, in how she carried herself. When she was slightly leaning forward and added emphasis was subconsciously placed on her right foot, that meant she was nervous and was ready to run if something went wrong.

"Isaac and I are going to head back, Adam says he's got to talk to you about something, don't know what. Don't worry about these people we'll take them and get them to one of our safe houses, from there…" she trailed off, unsure on what exactly the White Fang would do with this bunch of former slaves.

"I would suggest leaving the rest up to those who get paid to handle such matters, wouldn't want them to not be earning their keep, now would we? Now Mary, while I do appreciate being kept up to date, was there by chance something you wished to discuss with me?" she nodded hesitantly then looked around to see if anyone nearby was eavesdropping.

"It's about the plan. You told us that Demons come when people suffer, a lot like Grimm do, only the couple of time we fought Demons with ya, they were practically bulletproof. Won't there be a lot more demons running around if the plan get's done the way we think it will?" The anxiety in her voice was well founded, the idea of masses of Demons, possibly aided by swarms of Grimm, roaming free inside Vale's walls was a terrifying thought. Not to mention on a personal note, that Cinder had just recently immolated some poor soul alive in front of the rest of the White Fang for questioning the operation's plan this late into the operation. Even if they were among friends, if by some means this conversation was passed along they could both be in serious danger.

"I've been considering that. I wouldn't worry, if I'm right that is exactly what Adam and I will be discussing tonight i'm sure we'll come up with something. Just remember, we've managed to hold them off for this long with no one yet finding out, we can handle one bad night."

"I know it's just, I've got a real bad feeling boss is all I'm saying, just thought you should know."

"I appreciate it my dear. Now please, I need to retrieve what it is we came here for in the first place. I imagine there'll be a little excitement to round off the night as well."

"Is it one of them boss?"

"Yes, Just a Vanguard, but still a demon nonetheless, and I thought I told you, call me Roman or at the very least sir. When we're doing these jobs, we are both setting our lives on the line. Calling me boss just feels strange while attending to such matters."

"Yes bo-, I mean yes sir."

"See, that's not so hard now is it?"

He smashed open the glass display case and retrieved the great-sword within. Northern Regalia, it was forged by mixing two demonic blades together into a single mass of unrepentant hunger. He would've recognized the tainted blade anywhere and it recognized him as well, practically giddy with glee at feeling it's old master once again holding it. As he inspected the blade he sensed the Demon that had been waiting for an opportunity all this time finally made it's move. The Horned beast materialized directly outside the front door, wreathing the Warehouse entrance in a fog gate. Roman and Adam stepped outside to confront it while the two knights moved the civilians back and ensured no inquisitive soul would accidentally walk through and get caught in the crossfire.

In the rain the creature's massive frame stood unmoving, giving it the appearance almost of a statue. It's silhouette was illuminated by the raindrops reflecting the broken moon's pale light. Three glowing yellow eyes beamed a look of unrepentant hatred at them, it's long ivory teeth formed a twisted toothy grin as the Vanguard gazed upon them silently. It's fat gut was deceiving and as it hefted it's massive iron axe up with it's spike encrusted arms with tremendous speed, it's strength and rippling muscles became readily apparent. Roman knew it might indeed be a long night still, and hefted Regalia up onto his shoulder and the blade began to glow while Adam grasped the hilt of his blade. Oh how hungry Regalia was it had been so long deprived. The Vanguard would serve as a wonderful feast for the soul-starved great-sword. The demon let loose an ungodly howl and charged them with blistering speed.

And done. I think I'll try and update this on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, the chapters will hopefully be between this length and around half of it. Until next time.