This was a little idea I had - it was only supposed to be a short little thing, but ended up a little longer than that.

Don't worry, I'm still writing Red Carpet Romance! But I needed a little more angst in my life, apparently.

As another long workday drew to a close, the sidewalks grew flush with businessmen and women leaving their offices, issuing a collective sigh of relief to be free for the evening. Some were heading out to dinner or drinks with friends and coworkers, some were setting off to run errands, while most were on their way home to their families for the night.

But one thing was the same about every single one of them - they were in a hurry.

She walked amongst them with calculated slowness, being jostled every so often by a particular man or woman who was in more of a rush than the others. Sometimes they apologized; but most times they did not.

The rudeness, the constant hustle and bustle, the crowds...none of it bothered her in the slightest. After all, she was the only one who wasn't in a rush. She had nowhere else to be, but right here.

This was her office - the evening streets of downtown Vale, teaming with the well-off men and women who staffed the towering buildings in the very heart of the city.

Veering inconspicuously to her right, she bumped elbows with an older gentleman talking rapidly into his scroll. She quickly raised her hand in apology for her mistake, a gesture he returned with a hasty wave before continuing his route away from her.

A few paces away, when she was certain she'd disappeared within the crowd of people once again, she opened the wallet within her hands - pulling out the Lien in the main fold before tossing the rest into the trashcan as she walked by.

The entire action took less than ten seconds and didn't even cause a break in her stride. She could feel that she had collected four bills from the wallet and would guess it was around forty Lien, but she would have to count it later.

People might think that with so many witnesses swimming nearby it would be incredibly difficult for her to do what she did, but the opposite was true. Nothing provided a veil of anonymity better than a mass of people intent on getting to their own destinations, reaching their own goals.

This was a pickpocket's heaven. A great lake where the fish were practically begging to be caught.

And while she wasn't the only 'fisherman' in the vicinity, she was one of the privileged few.

It wasn't exactly noble work, but finding legitimate work was extremely difficult for someone with her...background.

Well, finding a job wasn't as difficult as keeping it. She had found that her bow would work for awhile, but, eventually, people became curious as to what was under the bow. There had been several close calls and the last thing she needed was for people to find out who she truly was and spreading the information. If that happened, she could be blacklisted from ever getting a job again.

She didn't want to go back to the White Fang...and she couldn't hold a 'regular' job...so she did this.

While not ideal, it allowed her to keep living - to keep surviving another day. And maybe one day things would be different...at least, that's what she kept telling herself. There could be a day where she didn't think about what made her 'different,' what made her less valuable...

Even though her 'job' was unscrupulous, she still operated under her own personal code of conduct. She only took from those who had something to spare - businessmen, rich housewives, those who wouldn't miss a few Lien in their pockets. And she only stole enough to keep herself fed, pay her dues, and maintain a warm, dry place to sleep.

That at least allowed her to sleep at night.

Plus...and she hated to admit this...but she was really good at what she did. Her semblance went a long way in helping her disappear whenever she got into trouble and her natural ability to blend into the shadows had helped her out of more than a few jams. But it was her quickness and slight of hand which gave her an enormous advantage over any other petty thief.

Unfortunately, this month she was running a little...behind. The family living a few blocks from her, who were far less fortunate than she was, had had a medical emergency just last week. Their daughter, a friendly little girl who always waved to Blake when she saw her, had needed an emergency medical operation.

When Blake had learned that the family didn't have enough funds to pay for the surgery (up front, as the hospitals always demanded of 'their kind')...well, an anonymous donation had been slipped under their door in the middle of the night.

But there were consequences to every action, and this one was no different. It left her making up ground trying to scrounge up enough money to pay for her monthly...'thief license.'

And Cinder did not take kindly to being paid late or less than their agreed upon amount.

In a best case scenario, she would merely lose her location - being knocked down to one of the lower neighborhoods or further away from the city center. But she had a feeling that she wouldn't be so fortunate.

There was a reason Cinder had given her the downtown district - and that was because Blake was one of the most consistent thieves around. Cinder knew that she could count on Blake to provide a steady stream of cash while also not alerting the authorities to their presence in the area.

If the woman ever found out that Blake was holding back for her own morales...well...thankfully there was no way she'd ever find out.

"Excuse me, sir."

She ducked her head in apology, but he didn't even bother to glance her way.

Shaking her head, she repeated the process from earlier - grab the cash, dump the wallet, carry on.

The impersonal nature of these people never ceased to amaze her. She walked through this crowd daily, she made eye contact, said 'hello' even, and yet...not once had anyone ever stopped to talk to her.

It was a lonely life, sometimes...

"Sorry 'bout that," a gruff voice said after a tall man bumped into her side.

"It's no problem," she replied casually, accepting his apology even though she'd been the one to veer into his way at the last second.

He ended up only having one note in his wallet - a wasted effort on her part.

The evening was fully upon them now, with the sun dropping behind the tall skyscrapers and the sidewalks thinning out as the masses reached their next destinations and settled in for the night.

This was normally when she would call it quits and head home, herself. Lifting wallets became exponentially more difficult and risky when the crowds dispersed, since casually bumping into strangers would now be seen as out of the ordinary and suspicious.

Stepping off into the entryway of a downtown apartment building, she nonchalantly pulled out her collection of Lien from the evening. Counting it quickly, she stuck it back into her pocket with a sigh.

She was going to be short this month unless she somehow managed to find someone who had just made a substantial withdrawal from the bank. And since that was highly unlikely...well, she still had a little more time to at least make the gap a little smaller before turning herself in to Cinder.

But in this type of environment, where the marks were growing fewer and further in between, she was going to need to take a bigger risk if she had any hope of making it appear as if she'd been giving it her best effort this month.

Her eyes scanned the streets surrounding her - their amplified night vision allowing her to see clearly even in the weakening light. They were useful in times like these, but also a hindrance - nothing drew curiosity and suspicion faster than her moderately glowing eyes at night.

That's when a potential mark appeared - rushing down the sidewalk in front of her, passing Blake by without noticing her presence. The girl was about her age, with long, wavy blonde hair and nice looking clothes. There was potential for some money there, definitely - either a shopping trip unfulfilled or an expensive night out on the town.

She stepped out of the shadows behind the blonde, silently trailing the girl while sizing up this new opportunity.

The blonde was distracted, which was another plus - currently speaking on the phone while gesturing widely with her freehand. Best of all, Blake could already spot her wallet, sticking out of the girl's back pocket.

She picked up her pace until she was matching the girl's stride step-for-step from twenty yards behind. Like a predator stalking its prey, the blonde still had no idea she was even being followed.

"No, Ruby, I'm not going to do that!" the girl was saying. "Well I don't care what Weiss says - I'm not some charity case for her to set up with strangers."

In a split second, she made the decision to go for it.

Her feet broke into a run as she quickly approached the girl from behind. A run-by, that's what she was going to do - if she executed it perfectly, the blonde would never even feel the wallet leave her person.

She reached the girl in seconds and slid the wallet easily from the blonde's back pocket - one of the cleanest and quickest lifts she could remember. Smiling to herself, she didn't pause for a second - continuing at a run without so much as a glance backwards.

"Hey!"

Her feet instantly broke into a sprint at the yell, shocked that the girl had even realized what had happened. The lift had been completely clean - Blake hadn't even touched her.

But that wasn't the worst part of it. The footsteps rapidly hitting the pavement behind her told her that not only had the girl felt Blake steal her wallet, but she was now pursuing her.

Flying around the next corner, she hoped that her familiarity with the area could be used to her advantage. All of the best alleyways...hiding spots...all she needed to do was duck out of view for a second and she could lose the girl entirely.

But she quickly realized that something was wrong.

This wasn't some typical, run-of-the-mill glamor girl - afraid of breaking a nail or stubbing a toe.

No, this girl was fearless...and fast.

Flipping the switch to high gear, she stretched her legs out to their full stride, trying to put some distance between her and her pursuer. But it was no use - she could still hear the pounding footsteps behind her, maintaining distance or even closing in.

Reaching an alleyway, she released one of her shadow clones - running straight ahead while she ducked to the right.

But the girl didn't fall for the fake - not even pausing for a split second. How did she…?

They were flying through a deserted alley now, the buildings hedging them in on both sides while their feet crunched against the loose pebbles on the pavement. There was another small alleyway cutting across up ahead - as soon as she reached it, she released another shadow clone in an effort to cause confusion.

No success - the girl was still right on her heels. Chiding herself for pickpocketing someone who was clearly in superb shape, she could feel her stamina beginning to wear out, fueled now only by the adrenaline of not wanting to get caught.

That's when she noticed the newly installed chain link fence at the end of the alley - blocking their path back to the main street beyond.

It was just what she needed.

This girl might be fast, but there was no way she could scale a ten foot fence as quickly as Blake could.

Pushing her legs harder, she tried to wring the last few drops of energy from her screaming muscles - preparing herself to leap upwards to pull herself overtop the fence. It would have to be fluid...flawless...or the girl would make it to the fence in time to grab ahold of her.

PHWOOSH

A ball of flame suddenly lit up the fence in front of her - the abrupt wave of heat sending her screeching to a halt. The footsteps also came to a stop behind her, realizing that with her lost momentum, Blake was now trapped.

Staring at the wire until the flames flickered out, she then hesitantly turned around to face her victim.

The girl was huffing nearly as much as Blake was after their sprint through the streets, and for just a brief moment, she could have sworn that the blonde's eyes were blood red. But after she blinked, she found that they were actually a beautiful shade of lilac.

Gorgeous would have been just one of many similar adjectives that could be used to describe the girl - although even that word seemed to be inadequate in capturing her true beauty.

As soon as their eyes connected, Blake felt a current of energy cut through the air between them. Taking a step backwards, the energy extended a little further towards her, clearly emanating from the figure standing in front of her.

She didn't say anything, waiting for the girl to speak first.

"I'm sorry - I didn't mean to scare you…"

The apology threw her into confusion immediately, wondering why someone she'd just stolen from was now being so considerate of her feelings.

"I just...you can keep the wallet and the money, just...please can I have the picture inside?"

The girl wasn't angry or upset...she was pleading with Blake, as if Blake was holding the very girl's life in her hands.

Blinking at the sudden change in dynamic, she flipped the wallet open in her hands - eyes flicking back to the blonde every half second to make sure this wasn't just some trick to divert her attention. Finding the aged, wrinkled photograph in the front of the wallet, she carefully pulled it out and looked at it closely.

On it were two little girls - one clearly the blonde standing in front of her, along with a smaller brunette. They were wrapped in the arms of a pretty older woman with similar brunette hair and a wide smile - her eyes a shimmering silver unlike any Blake had ever seen before, but clearly duplicated in her daughter. All three were grinning into the camera as if it was the best day of their lives.

Scrawled on the bottom corner of the photo in black ink were the words: "Me, Ruby, and Mom" written in a child's sloppy handwriting.

"It's the only picture I have of the three of us together…"

The words cut through her like a knife, now realizing why the girl had chased her so far - why she looked so afraid of letting Blake out of her sight.

It had nothing to do with losing money...and everything to do with losing this photo of her mom.

An overwhelming feeling of sympathy came over her at that moment. She didn't know who this girl was...a few seconds ago, the blonde had merely been another stranger in a city filled with them. But now...with this photograph held in her hands...and the staticky energy pulsating from the blonde's aura...she could feel herself being drawn in.

She knew what it was like, to lose a parent. And she too had a treasured possession...the most important thing to her in the world - Gambol Shroud. It had been her mother's...and Blake had trained herself with the weapon until she could consider herself to be a master - the sword and sheath singing to her when in her hands. If someone stole Gambol from her...she would chase down thieves or murderers or psychopaths without batting an eye in order to get it back.

Stuffing the photo back into the wallet, she tossed it to the girl. While the blonde was focused on catching the item, Blake sprinted past her, taking the next corner and using her last burst of energy to throw clones in every direction while she scaled the nearest fire escape.

"Hey wait!"

Hiding herself in the shadows of the second story of an apartment building, she held her breath as the blonde ran back into view. The girl paused at the intersection of the two alleyways, eyes searching in all directions for any sight of her.

Freezing her muscles and slowing her breathing to an almost unbearably slow pace, her heart pounded loudly while waiting for the blonde to give up her search.

And, eventually, the girl did give up. Letting out a loud sigh and throwing one last glance towards the chain link fence, the blonde ducked her head and slowly walked out of the alley - headed back the way they had come.

Blake watched intently as the girl walked almost directly underneath her feet - not noticing her amber eyes peering out from the shadows.

Her mind was reeling from recent events - the chase...the fire...the lilac eyes and photo of a stranger's family...somehow these things had caused her to make a decision based upon feeling, rather than logic.

Rational thinking under pressure was one of her strong suits...or so she had thought. But, for some reason, that girl made her feel flustered and emotional. It was inexplicable and unnerving.

A glance at the time told her that she was about to miss her deadline to meet Cinder and hand over what money she'd managed to scrape together. With a sigh, she jumped down from the fire escape and made her own way back to the main road.

She would accept whatever consequences there may be for her actions. This would be the first time she missed a minimum cut, so it would hopefully be a reasonable punishment.

Her thoughts should have been focused on what she would say to Cinder...but instead, they kept drifting back to the blonde she had just 'met' and the energy that seemed to exist between them.

Of course, that was just her foolish thinking - another likely side effect of all the worn out romance novels she rented from the libraries to pass her time alone.

But the girl with the lilac eyes was meant for the world of Vale - she would walk amongst the throngs of people and receive stares of admiration for her beauty.

And Blake...well, she could receive stares too, but not the kind people normally want to receive.

It might be nice to dream about, but she couldn't give in to that romantic side of her. People like that didn't exist for people like her.