The old man panted as he leaned against the wall, a small amount of blood escaping the corner of his mouth. He steadied himself on his walking stick, staring down the young thief. It was true, he hadn't been lying about his strength, and he showed no signs of fatigue.

"Gimme everything you got, last chance"! The mugger shouted at the old man, cracking his fists threateningly.

"I've already told you" the old man pleaded, trying to steady his breathing "I'm a farmer, I don't use money."

"Don't give me that bullshit, everybody uses money here, how'd you even get here if you don't got cash"?!

The thief had lost his patience. He lashed out at the old man with a hard punch. The old man, remembering his training, braced himself. A long, piercing scream echoed through the streets of Vale. The Oldman who had been bracing for impact, followed by a sharp re-acquaintance with the ground, opened his eyes. They immediately widened.

Red.

He could not see the mugger for the large red cloak, billowing before him was obscuring the old man's vision. However, when gravity inevitably took effect and the cloak fell, the old man saw what had happened. He gasped at the gory sight before him.

The muggers strike had never reached him, for his fist had instead been impaled on a hulking scythe blade, held firmly by the red hooded figure. Directing his eyes down, the old man also saw that a second figure, shrouded in shadow had stabbed the muggers shoulder. This perfectly timed assault had rendered the poor bastard quite incapacitated.

The old man was weak at the knees from the abuse he had suffered, and couldn't bring himself to run, or even back away. After the mugger writhed in agony for a few moments, the mysterious pair let him go. They each withdrew their weapons from his flesh and allowed him to slump to the floor, whimpering in pain and fear.

The old man's eyes had adjusted more to the murkiness of the ally and he got a better look at the duo. The shadowy figure was a girl, clad in black. A long travelling cloak hung around her shoulders and her hands were bound in brown gloves. Her black hair fell untidily beside her yellow eyes. Atop her head was a little black bow. In her right hand, she held a funny sort of Knife, sword…gun whip…thingy, (The old man did henceforth refer to it as the 'thingy').

The red figure was kneeling down besides the bleeding man and spoke softly to him in a young lady's voice.

"Hold still."

The old man couldn't see what she was doing but her body began to glow as she knelt and when she stood up a few moments later, the mugger was laying on the floor, completely healed of his injuries. He stared disbelievingly at his hand and felt his neck, expecting blood or pain but found none. Realising that he could now do so, the mugger scrambled to his feet and ran for his life. The red girl called out to him, somewhat lamely:

"Please don't do it again"!

She then sighed, transformed her weapon skilfully into a small sniper rifle, and placed it on her lower back beneath her cloak. Taking down her hood, she turned to the old man, who could now see her clear as day. She was a pretty girl no older than eighteen, with red highlights in her jet black hair. She wore an outfit that one would have mistaken for maids attire if they did not look properly, for its pallet was black and red (and not particularly sexy, not that this crossed the old man's mind, for he was a prude and such things did not occur to him).

Her exposed knees were pink and clearly frostbitten and her boots were muddy. The scarlet cloak around her neck and shoulders was held in place by a handsome silver broach of a rose. Her face was fair and cute and her eyes were deep silver. They were the peculiar thing about her. They seem to cut through the gloom as if it was dawn.

The girl smiled at the old man and approached him. She spoke in a sweet, friendly tone.

"Hi, are you okay. Sorry we couldn't've gotten here sooner, here…let me see… "

She began to check the man over for injuries, checking his face for scratches and testing for any broken bones. She assumed given his age, such a beating would've caused some permanent damage. She was shocked however, to find nothing. Not a scratch on the guy and his bones all checked out.

"Woah…you must have some tough aura"

"We can't stay here long" muttered the other girl. "Hurry up and let's get out of here."

The red girl finished checking the old man and turned to her. She looked weary.

"We've been running for hours, I doubt he'll consider us much of a threat right now."

But the girl in black wasn't listening; she was looking around the ally way, checking for anyone who might be coming. She seemed jumpy as hell.

"You really don't think you can beat him, do you"

The girl in black did not answer right away. She looked away from the red girl before replying.

"You saw what happened...how strong he is."

The red girl kicked a discarded soup can in protest.

"We could've taken him, if you hadn't frozen up like that-"

"I can't…I…I don't…part of me still loves him."

The red girls face contorted in fury, but she spoke in an almost deathly whisper

"Love him? After what he did to Beacon, to all those people, to my sister"?

"He still loves me somewhere inside"!

"Really"!? The red girl shouted. "Was it the part that stabbed you or the part that mutilated Yang?"

"Um…Excuse me"?

The heated conversation was diffused by the interjection of a very confused old man. He did not for the life of him know what these girls were shouting about.

The girl in black blushed with embarrassment; she had clearly forgotten that he was present. The red girl made a squeaking noise and immediately stepped forward.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Ruby Rose, and this is my team mate, Blake."

"Belladonna…charmed" Blake said quickly only looking at the old man for a moment before turning back to Ruby. "In any case, it's not safe here anymore, the White Fang are everywhere and they're attacking any humans on sight."

"Oh, I guess they love us then- I'm touched" Ruby muttered sarcastically under her breath.

"Are you two running from the law or something?" the old man probed uncertainly. If these girls were fugitives, they were the most pleasant criminals he had ever seen, so young as well.

"No no no" Ruby said exasperatedly. "We're huntresses".

The old man scratched his beard and frowned.

"Sorry miss…err- Rose, but I'm not from around this place, what exactly do you hunt?"

Ruby face palmed and began to wish she could start arguing with Blake again instead of this.

"We hunt the creatures of Grimm; you know what they are right?"

"Well yeah, they're those nasty black and white creatures that attack my farm sometimes. But they're never too hard to handle."

"Yes bu-"

Ruby stopped talking and started, flabbergasted at the old man. Blake was looking at him curiously as well. The old man began to feel taken aback; he hadn't said something strange or anything. Even so, they looked at him like he was some sort of strange creature they'd never seen before.

"You fight Grimm?" Ruby asked, sounding mystified.

"Well…yeah"

Ruby and Blake continued to stare at him, their faces wrought with disbelief. This decrepit old geezer had been going toe to toe with the creatures of Grimm? It just didn't add up. Was he a hunter or Just a powerful civilian?

"Would'ya please stop staring at me like that" the old man said amusedly.

But Ruby and Blake would not stop. They were scanning the old guy with their eyes, trying to locate what it was that gave him the strength to take on such terrible foes. A weapon, a secret supply of dust, something!

"How did you say you defended your farm again"? Ruby asked, slowly and clearly.

"Same way I did everything when I was young" said the man. "By punchin' em."

…

Silence rang across the ally once again.

"P...Punching" gasped Ruby.

"I see" muttered Blake.

The old man was starting to get inside these two confused girls heads. True fighting off those things was normal for him to do with his fists, but this culture was used to using weapons after all.

"It's normal where I'm from" The old man added quickly, as the two huntresses were looking quite at a loss for words.

"But how do you…I mean…that's impossible." Ruby started at the old man as she stated this. He couldn't actually be telling the truth…could he?

The old man straightened up slightly and raised his hand towards the sky.

"Here, I'll show ya."

With slightly pained look on his face, the old man tensed his body and his hand began to glow. The yellow light flared up into a blaze. Ruby and Blake watched in silent amazement. It was like his hand was on fire. Angling his hand straight up, so as to not injure anyone, the old man gritted his teeth in effort and a huge ball of golden energy shot with a startling speed from his hand and lit up the sky like a firework. Ruby and Blake watched it go; it must have exited the atmosphere at such a speed.

"That was amazing" Ruby's voice sounded dreamy, still in awe of the spectacle.

"Yes that was quite impressive, how did -hey"! Blake exclaimed as the old man nearly collapsed, only managing to steady himself with his walking stick.

"Are you ok" Blake said as she took the old man's arm over her shoulder to steady him.

"Y-yeah…sorry about this" the old man stammered out, panting hard. Not as tough as I used to …geez… used to be so easy…"

The man seemed to sag a little more under the weight of his fatigue. This time Ruby had dashed to his other shoulder, supporting him fully now.

"We should get out of here" Blake whispered, very seriously. "Do you have a home sir"?

"Of course" the old man said weakly. "I'll show you."

Picking up his walking stick with her free hand, Blake and Ruby left the ally way, carrying the mysterious old man to his home.