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Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter

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It had been three years now. Three years since the world began to crumble. The war which had overtaken Remnant was violent and bitter, and the kingdom of Vale had been hit hard – almost half had been lost to the rebels and the darkness. What remained was surrounded by a heavily-guarded, heavily reinforced 50 meter wall. As far as could be determined the other three kingdoms were in about the same shape, but at this point communication between them was tenuous at best.

Despite being right on the border, Vale City had fared somewhat better than the kingdom as a whole, only loosing portions of its northern districts to the opposition. Beacon academy had also withstood the onslaught, and was currently being used as a base of operations for the hunters and huntresses assisting in the defense of Vale. Regular classes had long since been cancelled, but most of the students had elected to stay and help with the war effort.

…

Team RWBY had of course been among those who had stayed, and they quickly became prominent figures in the fight against darkness. Between Weiss' family name and connections, Blake's insider knowledge and infiltration skills, Yang's tenacity, Ruby's tactical excellence, and the sheer power evinced by each one of them, it wasn't long before Ozpin and the other leaders were calling upon them personally to give advice and run special missions. And their effectiveness in active combat soon meant that the presence of even one of them could help strengthen the resolve of the other fighters.

And Ruby wasn't complaining about any of this. No, she was happy with whatever they could do to end this war and make the world a safe, happy place once more. It was just that, well - they almost never got to fight as a team anymore. At the moment, Yang was down in the southeastern part of the kingdom rallying some wavering troops, Blake was on some highly classified top secret spying mission, and Weiss was all the way over in Atlas assessing the situation there and trying to get communications with Vale reestablished.

As for Ruby, tonight she was on patrol in the no-man's land (now called 'The Zone') which extended for two miles beyond the walls surrounding Vale. These patrols were run constantly on a randomized schedule along the entire length of the wall to thin the Grimm populations and ensure the enemy did not attempt any operations in The Zone without Vale having warning of it.

Currently, she was working her way through an area which used to be part of Vale City. With the light of the moon she could just make out the tower of Beacon from where she stood in one of the upper floors of a ruined high-rise. Ruby would be reporting back there at the end of her current shift, and she could not wait. The nights had been getting chillier lately, and hot cocoa and cookies with friends in front of a warm fire had never sounded better.

Having determined there were no Grimm active in the immediate vicinity, Ruby set off again – making her way from building to building as she scanned the ground below for any sign of suspicious activity. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, noth– wait. Ruby backtracked to get a better look at the flash of dingy white which had caught her eye. The thing was mostly in shadow, but a dark something protruded from it into the slash of moonlight cutting into the alley. It looked kinda like a person, though it would be very strange for a person to be lying out here in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. It could be a trap of course, but if so it was a very poor one. There was no set route for patrols, so no one could have known that she or anyone would be coming this way – let alone spot the odd bundle lying in the alley. Well, trap or no, Ruby had to at least take a quick look.

Using a windowsill on the opposite building to assist her, Ruby hopped down quietly into the alley. Whatever this was she would have to be quick. Despite having seen almost none on this patrol she knew Grimm had a nasty habit of showing up without warning when you least expected it, and she would rather not fight in these cramped quarters. With that in mind she hurried over to the mysterious form. It was definitely a person, lying face down and wearing dark trousers and a formerly-white coat. There was no sign of animal ears or a tail, so this was probably a human. It was hard to tell what color their hair was, what with the darkness and the dirt and – was that blood? – matted in it, and their right arm and leg were twisted at odd angles. Clearly whoever this was had been through something awful before ending up here. Poor thing. Well, at the very least she could turn them over and get a picture of their face. Maybe there would be a match in the database and they could figure out who this person was.

Stowing Crescent Rose on her back, Ruby carefully turned the body over – and froze. She knew this person. Even though his face was bruised and swollen, and it had been almost two years since she had last seen him, she knew exactly who this was.

Roman Torchwick - the gentleman-criminal of Vale.

What in Remnant's name was going on that would make Roman Torchwick's remains show up - !

The body before her had just drawn in a shallow, ragged breath. He was alive?! Ruby leaned closer to check and noticed his lips working as though he were trying to say something. She got closer still, her hand going to his shoulder to let him know someone was there, trying to catch whatever it was he was saying. It came out in a barely-there rasp –

"…help…"

"…info…for…"

"…help..."

Somehow, Ruby found herself smiling wryly at him. "Idiot. I'm one of the good guys, I woulda' helped you anyway." But how to get him back to Beacon? Sure, she was larger and stronger now, but he still looked rather heavy and she didn't want to injure him further while in transport…

Ruby's musings were cut short by the cry of a Nevermore which sounded entirely too close for comfort. If she wanted to help Torchwick they would have to leave now. Without another thought Ruby hoisted him up over her shoulder and sped away in a cloud of rose petals.

.-.-.-.

Hey everyone! AvocetsInFlight here.

Recently I finally got around to watching the second season of RWBY, and while watching I had the sudden thought that it would be interesting to see what the fandom had done in terms of Torchwick pairings. Sooo, I came over here and looked it up and lo and behold there was Peeves' lovely fic "Still Dreaming".

I read it, I loved it, and I became completely hooked on Rosewick. (Admittedly, I tend to be a complete sucker for bad guy/good girl pairings…) But there is not nearly enough material out there for Rosewick, so I decided to contribute something myself.

So, hope you all enjoy this, and let me know what you think!