Chap.7 Survivor

It turned out that Ruby's presentiment was correct.

Everything was chaotic.

So many things happened, but she knew, that what she could do now, was what she was best at.

Originally, she planned to fight and resist with everyone else, but at the moment she saw Ironwood's ship fall, she immediately had a strange impulse.

She certainly knew who did that.

Oh, if the opponent was him, it would be perfect. Ruby ground her teeth and left the group. She found a locker, then rushed to her target riding it.

Her specific target, Roman Torchwick.

Perhaps they could bring all the things to an end today.

When Roman heard the loud sound above the ship, he didn't have the accurate judgment as Ruby had- Oh he was enjoying himself, nothing was supposed to disturb him. Anybody like him, who had been locked up for so many days and bored to the extent that almost had mushrooms growing on his head, would not like to be disturbed when he was released finally.

He impatiently smacked his lips, asked Neo to see what happened. The moment she saw the red riding hood, a trace of banter flashed in her eyes. She was probably the only one who knew what stories had happened between these two people. Therefore, she took out her scroll, took a picture, then sent- After completing the series of actions quickly, Neo blinked her eyes towards the little huntress who just turned round. She could not help but regret, she would like to see Roman's expression when he received the photo.

His expression deserved to have a look indeed, which was mixed with silence, testiness and cloud. Roman uttered a roar from his throat, showing a disgusted expression. He really forgot that there was such a "little trouble" which he had not solved yet. It could not blame him, after all, at this time he had more interesting things to do. It was not the time when he was locked up, had nothing to do but making fun of a naive little huntress, he was free now. So, just fight quickly, and bring all the things to an end immediately.

"Oh, you cannot be serious…" He murmured impatiently and unplugged his scroll roughly, striding up to the top of the ship.

When he went to the deck, the little huntress was fiercely fighting with Neo. He grabbed the opportunity, raised Melodic Cudgel and fired a shell, which just knocked her into the air. He laughed at her, this felt just excellent. He looked at her embarrassedly hanging herself on the deck with her gardening tool, then slowly walked towards her and erected the cane in front of her, "Oh… Little Red, Little Red, I sincerely hope the reason you come here is that you decide to take my advice." He lowered his voice like before, "I can teach you a lot…" But the red girl answered through her gritted teeth, "Stop dreaming…!" He exaggeratedly had his hand over his heart, "Oh, it hurts a lot when my heart is trampled." He pretended to be pathetic with a pleasant tone, "That's life. You were that enthusiastic when you wanted to go after me. Now I finally invite you, but am cruelly refused… Sure enough the popular sayings are reasonable, the one who falls in love will lose, huh?"

"You…!" Ruby had no leisure for replying his teasing. Her heart was still strongly beating, she could clearly hear the sound which just like drum after she saw a large group of endless Grimm rush towards the direction of Vale. That moment her blood almost froze, the scene that the train broke through the tunnel came to her mind. What would happen if so many Grimm rushed into the city?

Roman looked at her expression and chuckled, "Oh, still enthusiastic. It seems that the reason you refused me was not because you didn't love me anymore huh? So you are just determined to be the hero of Vale, aren't you? Are you doing so even though you need to betray the love between us?"

"What are you doing! Without these ships, the grimm will destroy everything!" Ruby shouted at him, even ignored his provocation. Her blood was cold like ice and a sense of shock slipped across her mind. Only this man would regard the sadness in her eyes as "enthusiastic". She shouted at him, but only received a ruthless answer. She looked up and saw the cruelty without any temperature in his eyes, which in sharp contrast with his pleasant tone and the spark that shone at the tip of his cane: "That's the plan!"

Ruby struggled to elude, and then continued to fight against Neo who attacked towards her. She fell a few times during the fight, a ferocious griffin passed over her head, and her heart convulsed once again. Some indescribable grief rose from her heart while looking at the two people who stood together far away. She did not understand, why did they do this!

"But why! What do you get out of it?!"

Why did you do this!

Roman snorted in terms of the boring question, "You're asking the wrong question, Red. It's not what I have to gain, it's that I can't afford to lose."

Ruby didn't understand what he said, and she didn't want to understand now. She rushed to him, but was immediately kicked out by Neo who came out from his back. She had used up all the fighting skills she was good at, but these two people cooperated perfectly. Eventually she was hit by Roman's shell to the edge of the deck. At the crucial moment, she was just able to hang herself there with the Crescent Rose merely.

She saw the man's face appear in her sight, "I, may be a gambling man, but even I know there're some bets you just don't take. Like it or not, the people that hired me are going to change the world. You can't stop them, I can't stop them. You know the old saying, "if you can't beat them…"

Ruby was reelingly hanging there. There was only that man within her sight. She stared at his eyes tightly, his voice came into her ears word by word along the wind. She stared at his eyes, she should not be distracted but a thought suddenly came to her mind while listening to him and staring at him. She didn't even think about it for a second before interrupting him and loudly shouting, "So this is not your plan! There indeed are some people behind you, they are the people who planned everything! This is not what you want to do!"

Roman was almost angered to laugh by her obsession. At this time, this very moment, the situation had already been like this, and she is still saying this kind of lines? Inexplicably, some indescribable anger rose in his mind, "Don't you understand Red? This is never the key point! Never! Who planned it, what do I think and whether it is right or not are never important! Whether I plan it or not and whether I want to do it or not, 'my' role or 'my' thought, none of these matters!"

Ruby didn't understand. "If 'your' thought doesn't matter, why did 'you' do this!"

Roman could feel that the anger provoked in his heart burned more and more prosperous. He was burned to dry inside, crack and restless. This anger became more and more intense, he almost could not control it. This made him surprised at a moment, because he had not experienced uncontrollable feeling this intense for a long time. He tried hard to restrain the grumpiness which was strange and made him uneasy, showed a horrible smile to her, "Oh Red, listen to me carefully, okay? I said, because I can't afford to lose!" He growled the last sentence out, kicked her weapon which she used to hang herself, Crescent Rose slid a little. Ruby screamed, and her body swayed. She tried to calm herself, and kicked away the Griffin gliding under her. Roman squinted at the girl hanging there and made a gesture. Neo came up and aimed at her with her umbrella. Ruby gasped and pondered the countermeasure, then she heard him talk again, "Since you care about these kind of meaningless things so much… meaningless 'meaning', Red. How about you tell me, what does my thought mean to you?" His voice was full of irony, obviously he didn't think it was a meaningful thing. She swallowed to moisturize her throat which was achy because she had been breathing deeply for a long time, then angrily looked up at him, "It is meaningful!" Her sight stabbed into his eyes like a sharp blade, "Your thought, is meaningful. It is meaningful to me! I want to know what you think. I want to know how I should treat you!"

He stood high above and contemptuously glanced at her, "I appreciate your concern. I have said I was touched. But I don't need your judgment, my humane Red."

She clenched her teeth, "I don't want to judge you! I just want to know how I should treat you!"

"Oh, is it true?" His voice suddenly became smooth and gentle, but Ruby quickly caught the dangerous sense from it. "Then, go to hell with your meaning. If you cannot understand, perhaps this will truly teach you how to treat me indeed." However, Ruby's reaction was quicker than him, or much quicker than Neo. She quickly pressed the button on the handle which she had observed before. The open umbrella fabric rushed out with the girl with two-colored hair, and rapidly disappeared in the night sky. Roman's pupils dilated at the moment, stunningly shouted, "Neo!" Of course, the hand he stretched out did not reach her, and Ruby had already climbed to the deck.

"At least I still know how I should treat you now. No matter what you think, we will stop them. And I, will stop you! That I'll bet!"

Roman looked at the red girl's eyes. They glistened, tough and firm, indomitable and invincible. It seemed that nothing could shake them. The last trace of reason in his mind cracked. The anger that emerged from every corner endlessly rose from his heart. He looked at Ruby who rushed to him, and raised his cane. This ridiculous girl did not even pick up her weapon, as if she would be able to win if she shouted aloud enough. How stupid. How arrogant! His action seemed to be more decisive and ruthless than every time before. Ruby was soon knocked to the ground by him. He came to her, said in a mocking tone, "You got spirit, Red. But this is the real world!" He gave her a hysterical attack and knocked her down again. "The real world is cold!" Another attack. "The real world doesn't care about spirit!" Ruby struggled to fight back, kicked his legs which made him step back a few steps, but it didn't calm him, "You wanna be a hero? Then…" Ruby struggled to raise her body and interrupted him, shouting aloud, "I don't just 'want' to be a hero! I will do what a hero should do, I will knock down the bad guys, help people, and do everything I can!" Roman roared, "Oh, what's the difference!" He approached her step by step with his face hided under the shade, "Tell me Red, how is that different!" "Oh you will not understand will you! The difference between them!" He stomped on her chest, his cane poked to her throat cruelly, harder than ever before. "Yes, you are right, my little hero. I do not understand!" His expression almost twisted, terrible light like beast shone in his eyes. "Trust! Justice! Heroes! How ridiculous! These noble and great words… How stupid! To trust the heart under the flesh, but never see how dark hides in! To promote the justice high above, but never see how dirty behind it! To be the heroes admired by, but never see how miserable their fates are!" He took back the cane and grabbed her collar to lift up the girl who was coughing hard, approaching her eyes. "Oh my little Red… when you are squandering your arrogance, when you are willing to die for some funny reasons, do you know how many people would abandon everything, for the rubbish you just easily give up!"

The girl finally breathed smoothly, but struggled in his hands and looked at him, "You are wrong! I will prove to you, people are worth trusting, justice is for protecting, and being a hero… is meaningful! The reason I want to be a hero… is not funny!"

Roman was extremely exasperated to smile. That again! That again! This kind of stupid, unreasonable, arrogant answer! "Inflexible, huh? Wanna be a hero? Then play your part and die like every other huntsman in the history! That is your fate!" He threw her on the ground. And her eyes horridly dilated.

"Ask for me! I'll do what I do best. Lie. Steal. Cheat. And…"

Survive.

Roman didn't make it to say the last word.

He was hit by a huge impact force, and then fell backward. Suddenly, his senses slowed to the extreme, even time seemed to be slower. His eyes were frighteningly wide open, as he watched the scenes in front of his sight changing with his falling- watched the dark shadow gliding through over him. Every inch of his skin was trembling, for the infinite fear just brushed past him.

That was the threat of death.

Until he fell heavily on the ground, his consciousness finally caught up with the reality. His feeling returned. Then he suddenly felt the strength around his waist which was tightened. He came to realize what just happened: Ruby rushed to him, sprang upon him on the ground to elude the grimm.

She saved him.

However, the crisis had not ended, more grimms rushed over towards them. Ruby exhausted efforts to release the semblance and then rushed towards the side with Roman, eluding another attack. As she exhausted hard, she fell on the ground with him. She quickly stood up and shouted at him, "Leave here!" She looked around and saw the location of Crescent Rose, then quickly rushed towards it. Roman finally reacted, instinctively raised Melodic Cudgel to shoot and dodge the attack of the rest grimms. There were too many of them! He knew that he could not beat so many beasts, but he could not escape, he would die if he fell from here. The door to the inside of the ship was too far away from him, he could not break through the beasts' obstruction and made into it. He eluded another attack and fired to fight back, but was clear that he could not resist too long.

"Hold me!" However, at this very moment, he heard her voice again. Then, he was sprang upon once again by her and rushed out. Ruby held Crescent Rose, and held around Roman's waist with another arm, rushing to the edge of the deck with an acceleration, and then jumping into the air. She made Crescent Rose to fire down to make them slow down, but the task was not done well because of two people's weight, and it became torpid when she was carrying another person. They were about to collide! If they landed at the current speed, they would be seriously injured at least… Ruby clenched teeth and quickly thought. Then another shot sound exploded by her ears. Roman cooperated with her and shot towards the ground together. When they were close to the ground, she heard him say, "Separate!" The two put forth their strength together to bounce towards the opposite directions, both safely landed relying on the horizontal buffer strength, although their postures were kind of poor.

Ruby fell to the ground and gasped for a moment, then looked at the direction of Roman, "Good cooperation." She said, and then it sank to silence between two of them.

Roman lowered his head and looked at the ground in front him. He slowly covered his eyes, then suddenly burst into a horrible laughter. His laughter slowly become higher from the intermittent low sound, and almost revealed a bit of sense of crazy at last. Ruby vigilantly looked at his direction and stood up, clenching her Crescent Rose tightly.

Suddenly, his laughter stopped. He put his hands down, stood up and looked at the direction of Ruby. It seemed that he had restored his gentle appearance. "Red, why saved me."

"Um…" Ruby hesitated for a moment. In fact, she did not understand either. When she saw the dark shadow rush to Torchwick, she rushed out without thinking about anything. At the moment, saving him was like the instinct carved in her body. She kind of felt that she could not bear seeing the man die in front of her in that way, but it seemed that this could not be regarded as an answer. Then she suddenly reminded of Jaune's words, "… Because I wanted."

His eyes twitched slightly, then he snorted, "Stupid." He paused, whisking the dust on his clothes, "You will regret for it, Red. I will not be lenient because of this kind of stupid thing that you saved me."

Ruby tightened her body and posed the gesture for fighting, but only to see him turn away. She stunned for a second, "Hey! I did not let go!"

He slightly turned round and glanced at her, "I thought you might have something more important than catching me, little hero?"

Ruby blankly looked at his back, and then looked at the direction of Beacon. She then clenched her teeth, turned around and rushed over there.

Chap.7 FIN.

Suddenly recall the time when I finished this chapter four month ago, at my birthday. I finished it as a present to myself. I had imagined for several times how I would feel after finishing it, I thought I might be excited for he was finally saved. However, after finished it, I sank into great anxiety. Am I doing it well enough? Though I know it's me who write this story, I always want my work could give readers this kind of impression: They the characters make their own choice themselves, it's natural of the story happened. I didn't know if it's enough for her to do it… after what happened in the previous chapters. I hope you would feel it was Ruby who saved Roman but not me the writer. Whatever, it's the best I could do.

The story goes here and it means I do not have original plots as a reference anymore. I've already finished 15 chapters till now, and it gets harder and harder. Upset, depression and anxiety are not strange during the process, self-doubt every day and also know I could not satisfy everyone. Whatever, I'm happy if only I could finish it with my best.

Hope I could finish the originally Chinese version before my next update, prepare to finish it before vol.5 starts. I want to do a whole amendment before the translation of next chapter. So, another two months, maybe more… thanks for your patience and hope you enjoy it.