Chapter Text
Yang walked alone down the cold alleyway, deep into the winter night. She had been sneaking out of Beacon after curfew for the last couple of nights, keen on continuing with the unsolved business pre-Beacon. Ruby and the rest of the team didn’t have to know, and she also didn’t want to worry JNPR. All she needed right now was for her search efforts to not be in vain, and for her contacts to keep on digging. That’s what she was paying them for, after all. She had been too preoccupied to visit them for the past weeks due to schoolwork and all that has been going down. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Yang was able to find some time for herself and resume what had felt like to be her lifetime task. Finding her damned mother.
Unbeknown to Yang, three figures lurked in the shadows, following her to the designated meeting destination. Those three figures were very much the three main people she did NOT want to get involved. The rest of team RWBY. “Guys… I still don’t think this is a good idea. Yang probably has her reasons for doing what she does,” Ruby tried in vain to dissuade her teammates, and right her wrong when she told Blake and Weiss about Yang’s recent nightly disappearances.
“Yeah,” Weiss snorted, “probably.”
“Yang used to do this all the time back before Beacon!”
“What, sneaking out?” Weiss looked at Ruby skeptically.
Ruby’s face fell, “Not really…”
“Then-”
“Be quieter you two. I’m surprised she hasn’t noticed us already considering the amount of noise you make,” Blake interrupted, ending the small quarrel between the two partners. She turned to the short team leader. “Ruby, if this turns out to be something unimportant, we can all forget about it and go on with our lives. If this is, however, something significant, we deserve to know and most importantly, help her.” Ruby whined but asides from that remained quiet, expressing her consent.
The three returned to observing the brawler as she leaned back against the brick wall of a building. Nothing happened for what seemed like hours due to the cold but was probably only just a few minutes. Ruby was giddy with nervousness and was just about to jump out and tackle her sister to the ground demanding explanations, when a shady looking person entered the alley from the other side. Weiss, Blake and Ruby froze and stared ahead at what was happening. “It’s been a while, Blondie,” the man acknowledged, eyeing the girl up and down. “I see you still haven’t changed,” he smirked.
“Shut up and tell me what you’ve got. You did say you found something,” Yang demanded, dismissing his remarks. Most of the people in Vale were decent and good natured; however, every city has it’s… few odd people.
“Demanding as always, missy. What about the lien in exchange for the information?” the stranger asked. He was smiling but his dark green eyes hinted at something more sinister behind it.
“We’ll see about the value of the news you’ll give me, then we can discuss the price,” Yang replied, narrowing her eyes. She wasn’t exactly afraid. She was a very capable huntress-in-training and it’s not like she hasn’t done this before, but this guy in particular always gave her the creeps. Whether it was his smile, eyes, or even the eerie air around him, she never liked him. Unfortunately, he did always bring her useful material. “That’s how it was last time, that’s how it’ll be today.”
“Last time was a long while ago, Yang. A lot happened since.” The man began slowly walking aimlessly near the girl in the alley.
“If you don’t give me the information now, Russ, you can say goodbye to any lien,” Yang stated coldly, eyeing the man. There was silence for a good few seconds before the man, Russ, let out a breath of air and a humourless chuckle.
“As you wish,” he conceded. He began walking to her, and the three hidden teammates were ready to jump in and stop him from getting any closer. They didn’t know what was going on, who this Russ was or why even was Yang talking to him. He couldn’t be anymore fishy than he already was, and the fact that Yang was interacting with him was ringing alarm bells. What was this information that Yang kept talking about? Why were they meeting here in this deserted alleyway? What was going on?? The man leaned closer to the brawler and whispered something to her. Whatever it was, she went rigid and closed her hands into tight fists. He then backed away slowly and grinned. Yang broke out of her stupor and threw a bag of coins at him. He caught it and looked inside to inspect the amount received. He continued smiling as he closed the bag, and took another step back towards the way he came from. “As always, pleasure making business with you,” he called at her as he turned, still grinning, and began walking away. Yang stayed still for another minute before she shook her head and turned towards her own direction. She froze on the spot once she saw what was in front of her. Or rather, who.
“Yang? We need to talk.”