Ch. 1 Brother and Sister Adventure

"EEEEEH! I can't believe we're in Vale!" An energetic girl exclaims as she looks around with sparkling silver eyes.

Her neck length black hair that fades to red is covered by the hood of her red cloak. The black long sleeved blouse and skirt match the night sky. The wind comes down the street and causes her hood to slightly fall as someone walks up next to her.

"This isn't our first time here, Ruby" The guy shakes his head.

He's dressed similarly to Ruby, color scheme and cloak wise. Where Ruby wears a blouse he prefers a black hoodie over a red long sleeved shirt. Just below his diaphragm is a waist cincher that matches Ruby's, although he mostly wears it as more of a belt and fashion statement. And instead of a skirt he wears black pants.

While his hair color is the same as Ruby he prefers to keep it shorter than hers, mostly because people assumed he was Ruby's sister in the past.

Unbothered by the comment Ruby puts her hands on her hips while her cloak is blown by the wind. "You're right, BUT it's our first time here alone! We can do whatever we want! The night is ours Daemond!"

"Ruby, most of the shops aren't even open right now. And the only reason you're happy it's night is because it means that there are less people out" Daemond reminds Ruby the downside of night time while also commenting on her fear of large crowds of people.

Ruby narrows her silver eyes and looks into her brother's equally bright silver eyes. "I know you're just as socially awkward as I am Daemond, so let's go enjoy Vale while we can!"

"Hah~. I could be training-" Daemond sighs and comments before being cut off.

Ruby crosses her arms over her chest and steps in front of Daemond. "Dad says it's good to take a break from training time to time, and it's not like you haven't trained all day today anyway. Now stop complaining and let's go see if there are any Dust shops open! They should have the latest Weapon Magazine!"

As Ruby begins walking down the street Daemond follows behind her. They've been to Vale a few times, it was basically a giant city with its various districts. It definitely deserves to be one of the four Kingdoms of Remnant.

It reminds him of his old world, Earth. He had died and been reborn in this world, Remant.

What he once thought was only a work of fiction had become his new reality.

He went from being an 18 year old high school graduate to newborn baby in seconds, and the whiplash only got worse from there once he realized who his family is.

His parents are none other than Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose. When he was born he already had an older sister, Yang Xiao Long, who was a year older than him. And after a year on Remnant he had a younger sister, Ruby Rose.

When Ruby was born he finally let go of a worry that he had replaced her in the story. But he still had plenty other things to worry about. Like when the next time he would need his diaper changed. He was basically an adult trapped in a baby's body.

But now he's 16 years old and finally hit his growth spurt, finally reaching 5'11". It was long overdue and his dad Taiyang Xiao Long was worried that Daemond would stay as short as Ruby and Summer. But Daemond was his father's son and became quite the lady killer. The added height and body mass also helped his monster fighting as well.

"Daemond~! Hurry up!" Ruby calls out to her brother from up ahead.

"Yeah, yeah…" Daemon adjusts his cloak around his neck and picks up the pace. He stops reminiscing and joins his sister as they make their way to various dust stops to see if they're open.

——— 30 minutes later ———

Ruby practically skips next to Daemond as they approach their 11th dust shop. Her mood unhampered by the fact the previous dust shops were closed, a few of them permanently.

Lately there have been a string of robberies at dust shops, but at last one of them are bound to be open, even at this hour.

As they round the street corner they find it, From Dust Til Dawn.

Ruby sees that the shop is open and scratches the back of her head. "Probably should have checked this place out first…"

"Yeah, probably…" Daemond emotionlessly repeats. He was just enjoying the night air, and keeping an eye out for a certain orange haired henchman.

Having the knowledge of what might happen in the future can only get him so far, and it's not like he remembers everything accurately or that everything is still the same as it was in the show. Heck, the series could only show so much on the budget it had.

Ruby runs ahead, having waited long enough to read what new weapons could have been made. Or what different technology had been invented to move forward the production of weapons. Atlas, another one of the four Kingdoms, has been steamrolling in this field, making leaps and bounds in utilizing gravity dust in weapons and a few other fields.

Daemond is used to having to follow Ruby and her random bursts of energy and speed. He passes alleyways and closed shops uneventfully before standing in front of the shop.

*Ding~*

When they enter a bell goes off alerting the shop owner.

Inside the store they see an old man behind the counter. There are Dust crystals in display boxes around the old man and at the back of the shop. Tubes of various colors of dust line the rest of the shop. There are also shelves of miscellaneous items, similar to convenience stores. Not many shops stay open this late so dipping into the Dust and the mundane items is basically double dipping profits wise. But it also means that there would be less Dust compared to other stores that solely sell Dust, this is why Daemond assumes this store hadn't previously been robbed.

"W-Welcome to From Dust Til Dawn, h-how can I help you two?" The old man hesitantly asks.

Ruby doesn't notice the man's hesitation. "Do you have the latest issue of Weapons Magazine?!"

The old man points over towards one of the aisles of shelves. "Issue 228 just arrived a few days ago…"

"Really?! Thank you!!" Ruby waves and bursts into a storm of rose petals.

"Don't use your- oh whatever…" Daemond watches as the rose petals shoot off towards where the old man was pointing. He takes his hood down as he brushes off the petals that fell on him.

Walking up to the display cases, and the old man, Daemond looks at all the various colored crystals of Dust. "Sorry about the mess"

The old man was confused and still a little bit scared. "N-not a problem. Can I help you find something?"

"Just looking" Daemond walks around the display cases surrounding the counter. He reaches into his cloak as he pulls something out.

The old man's heart sinks as he holds his hands up, his fears coming true. He just didn't think it would be tonight. "The Lien's in the register!"

Daemond looks up at the man, pulling out his Polaroid camera that is rather futuristic and small. "Wha?"

"Oh! Oh…" The old man lowers his hands and places one of them over his heart. "You nearly gave me a heart attack young man, I thought you and your friend over there…. Nevermind"

"My sister is just obsessed with weapons and we've been looking for a place that sells the latest Weapon Magazine" Daemond explains as he turns around and holds up his camera.

*click* *churrrrrrrrr*

A black polaroid is printed from the camera as Daemond brings out a book from beneath his cloak.

The book is red with four short arrows pointing towards the center where his rose emblem is, and on the top of the spine it has a carabiner attached to it. The carabiner allows him to not have to worry about the book being left behind and hooks onto his lower back beneath where he keeps his weapon.

As the polaroid slowly develops Daemond opens the book and begins writing on the white beneath the photo.

The shop owner watches this happen and can't help but peek at the book. It's filled with page after page of photos, each page having four to six polaroids on it. The photos are mostly of what looks like the same few people in different places. "Been a while since I've seen someone use one of those. Usually everyone just uses their scroll nowadays"

A scroll is basically the equivalent of a smart phone in Remnant, except it's advanced to the point of having a holographic screen.

"I like having a physical photo rather than a digital one" Daemond says while he finishes writing the date and the store's name down just as the Polaroid fully develops. It shows Ruby happily reading a magazine with her hood up and her headphones barely noticeable.

After taking a few seconds to reminisce about what might happen Daemond finally places the polaroid in the book next to a photo of Taiyang and their small dog, Zwei, standing outside their house. This photo was taken when Daemond left with Ruby and Yang on their trip to Vale earlier that day.

*Ding~*

As if on cue the door to the shop opens. A certain well dressed orange haired man enters the shop followed by 4 goon looking guys dressed in matching outfits.

Each henchman has a black suit and hat with a pair of red sunglasses. They also each have a pistol and a melee weapon ranging from baseball bat to pocketknife. Two stand on either side of the orange haired guy, who is none other than the infamous Roman Torchwick himself.

Roman Torchwick, the guy who's been robbing all the Dust shops around Vale. On top of his orange hair, which his bangs cover his right eye, sits a black bowler hat. He wears a red lined white suit with black pants and shoes. Covering his hands are thick black gloves that reach halfway up his forearms. In one hand he has a cane and the other hand is a gun that he points at the shop keeper. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?"

Daemond closes his book and puts it away. "I have an inkling of one, yeah…"

Roman raises an eyebrow at the kid as his goons pull their pistols out and point them at the kid. Roman internally groans at the cheap goons he hired, why do all four of them need to pull their pistols on a kid.

The shop keeper ignores his weirdly relaxed customer and holds his hands up. "P-please! Just take my Lien and leave!"

"Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, calm down, we're not here for your money" Roman charismatically coos before addressing his goons. "The three of you go get the dust"

Three of the goons begin grabbing all the dust they can get their hands on. One begins emptying the display cases while the other two begin filling smaller canisters with dust from the bigger tubes that line the room.

Roman studies the kid who seems to not care that the store is being robbed or that a gun is pointed at him, but something out of the corner of his eye grabs his attention. "Hey, go bring that person back over here"

The goon looks at Roman then points to himself.

"Yes, you! Go, go, go" Roman shoos the henchman towards the cloaked figure.

*click* *churrrrrrrrr*

Roman turns back to the kid wearing a red cloak. "So, what's your deal Red? You know this is a gun, right?"

Daemond shakes the polaroid, even though it doesn't help it develop. "I know, but I think it's a little too small for me to have to worry about it"

Roman tilts his head and holds his pistol up as he inspects it. "Too small to worry about?"

*CRASH!!*

The sound of the front window breaking sounds out throughout the store. Everyone looks outside to see Ruby standing over a henchman laying on the ground.

Roman motions towards the girl "What are you waiting for? Go get her!"

The henchmen run out of the store and begin fighting Ruby who pulls out her red weapon from her back. The weapon transforms from its compressed storage mode into a giant scythe.

"She a friend of yours?" Roman asks as he turns back to the kid in front of him only for him to quickly cross his arms infront of his face.

*BANG!!!*

Roman is sent flying from the shop by an explosion.

He rolls twice and lands on his feet as he skids to a stop, using his cane to help slow himself down.

Daemond is holding a red high impact sniper rifle as he walks out of the shop. A small smirk on his face as he walks out of the shop. "This is more of the caliber YOU would need to concern me"

Roman pats his pant's pockets before rolling his eyes. "Silly me, I left my sniper in my OTHER pants"

Ruby styles on the henchmen as she pummels them, leaving Daemond to deal with Roman all on his own.

Daemon rests the sniper over his shoulder as he shows the polaroid he took of Roman. "You don't mind if I keep this, do you?"

Roman squints as he looks at the photo. "Not at all, it looks like you captured my good side perfectly. Actually, do you think I can have that one? Or do you have a copy?"

"Yeah…. No. And this is the only copy" Daemond says while putting the Polaroid away.

"That's too bad, I'm afraid this is where we part ways!" Roman takes this opportunity and points his cane at the kid. The end cap of the cane flips up and becomes a crosshair.

*Bang!*

A burning red projectile flies out from the cane towards Daemond.

Looking back at the shop for a moment Daemond knows he can't dodge, unless he wants the entire shop and nearby stores to be wiped off the Vale map. So he flicks one of the many switches on his weapon which transforms into a greatshield that nearly touches the floor when he holds it.

*Thunk* *Boom!*

Daemond drives the bottom of the shield into the concrete below just as the projectile makes contact and explodes.

Smoke and dust fill the air for a moment, but fades quickly to reveal the shop still intact with Daemond in front of it.

Ruby finished taking down the goons when she watched her brother quite literally tank an explosion. After making sure her brother is okay she looks down the street and spots the orange haired robber climbing a building. "He's climbing to the roofs Daemond!"

The old man exits the shop with a surprised look.

Daemond flicks a different switch and the greatshield transforms into a rifle-spear. He turns to the shop keeper and asks: "you alright?"

The old man can only nod in response.

Daemond takes aim with his rifle and lines up his shot. "You get up there and cut him off, I'll stall for a few seconds"

"Meet you there!" Ruby shouts before bursting into a storm of petals.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Daemond shoots near Roman's hands almost causing the criminal to fall.

Daemond decides that he should catch up to Ruby by now. He brings the spear back over his shoulder and throws it as hard as he can.

It arcs through the sky and impales the wall next to Roman as he makes it up to the roof.

"Ha! You missed!" Roman gleefully shouts before jumping onto the roof and looks down the street. He groans as he sees Daemond full sprint charging down the street. "Don't you know when to call it quits?"

Ruby appears on the other side of the building Roman is standing on. "I can ask you the same thing"

Roman turns around and is reminded that there is a second Red. "Well, aren't you two persistent…"

Ruby readies her scythe when she hears the start of an engine.

*Vmmmmm*

A Bullhead, an airship, comes up from an alley behind the building, directly behind Ruby.

As the doors of the Bullhead open it reveals the silhouette of a woman, parts of her chest and arms light up a fiery red color.

*Fwoosh!*

Ruby bursts into petals, narrowly avoiding a wave of fire that gushes out from inside of the Bullhead.

Roman takes this opportunity and runs to the Bullhead as the flames are replaced with a smokescreen.

Ruby emerges from the flurry of petals in the center of the roof. She staggers as she gets her bearings back. It was pure instinct that activated her Semblance and saved her from the inferno.

At that moment Daemond leaps up to his spear. He grabs it and uses his momentum to swing his feet up over his head. The spear is pulled from the wall and Daemond does a flip midair, flicking another switch on his weapon.

He lands in a kneeling position on the far side from the Bullhead, where Roman once stood. His weapon finishes transforming back into its sniper form as he surveys his surroundings. Looking around he sees scorch marks on the roof near the Bullhead, and the smoke cloud momentarily obstructs his view from the far part of the roof.

"You alright Ruby?" Daemond asks as he takes aim at what's in the smoke.

Ruby looks back and gives him a thumbs up. "Locked and loaded, ready whenever you are"

"Alright, I'm let's finish this quick" Daemond can tell Ruby is a little out of breath, probably due to her using her semblance too much too quick. It doesn't mean she's reached her limit, she's just approaching it.

The smoke clears out to reveal Roman hanging onto the side of the Bullhead's door with a feminine figure behind him.

Roman pulls out a red crystal from his jacket. "End of the lines Reds-"

*BANG!!!* *BOOM*

Daemond didn't wait for Roman to finish monologuing and took the shot when he saw his target, the Dust crystal.

The explosion is intense but… weird. It was a raging fire one second but immediately died down before being ejected from the Bullhead entirely.

The blast was completely redirected, towards Ruby!

Daemond's eyes widened and he tried to get to his sister but she was too far away and he just wasn't fast enough….

"Ahh!" Ruby shouts, only to not feel a thing beyond a strong gist of wind. She opens one eye and sees that she's surrounded by floating purple glyphs.

Daemond's heart plummets when he saw Ruby engulfed in the flames, but he quickly realizes that his sister was saved when he sees a woman wearing a purple cape on the adjacent side of the roof.

He had gotten cocky, and took the shot without thinking, obviously one of the Maidens who specializes in fire could redirect an explosion, especially from a red Dust crystal. Even if she is only a half-Maiden.

However, now isn't the time to regret previous actions.

The flames die down as quickly as they appeared and the woman who just arrived flicks her weapon, a thin black riding crop. And it looks oddly more sexual in person, like some S&M or BDSM related weapon to discipline someone.

Daemond now understands why it's called The Disciplinarian…. He surprises himself with how stupid he can be from time to time.

Anyway, with the flick of her weapon she disperses the smoke revealing the Bullhead yet again this time Roman is wincing while holding his left arm which is looking a little crispy. His once pristine white suit is basically a charcoal black on the left side.

The woman on the Bullhead motions towards the cockpit. Roman glares back at Daemond one last time before retreating inside.

"Damn Huntress…" Roman mutters. As much as he would have loved to see the Reds get torched he knew that the Huntress would be able to stall long enough for backup to arrive, and now he needs to pilot one handed.

The purple caped Huntress doesn't waste time and points her weapon above the Bullhead as a storm cloud forms. With a flick of her wrist large jagged hail starts falling onto the Bullhead.

A red glow emits from the Bullhead and a blast shoots out at the Huntress.

The Huntress is the least bit concerned as she blocks it with a glyph. The blast connects and scatters around the Huntress, and Ruby.

Daemond takes this chance while everyone is distracted and flicks another switch on his weapon as it transforms. The sniper separates in two and Daemond holds one half in either hand as he rushes forward.

The embers embedded in the roof begin to glow as the woman on the Bullhead holds her palm out.

The Huntress tackles Ruby out of the blast radius. The roof where they were previously standing explodes, but before the debris and rubble can fall the Huntress flicks her wrist. The material of the explosion and parts of the roof magically float through the air and flies at the Bullhead forming a giant arrow.

The woman in the Bullhead fires multiple blasts at the arrow which destroys chunks, but the arrow reforms just as quickly.

Daemond gets close to the Bullhead as his weapon finishes transforming into gauntlets similar to his sister Yang's weapons. They're gauntlets that fire potentially explosive shotgun shells, except instead of yellow his are red and travel up his arm almost to his elbow.

The arrow is about to hit its target, the woman who has magical powers, when the Bullhead suddenly jerks to the left, making the arrow miss the woman but tear through the other side of the Bullhead and knock it off balance.

The storm above the Bullhead had ended but the spikes it hailed down remain embedded into the Bullhead and the surroundings.

As the glowing woman stumbles to keep her balance Daemond leaps from the roof and into the Bullhead.

As he lands in the Bullhead he gets in a boxing stance with his hands up protecting his face. He is on the balls of his feet and closes the distance in an instant.

He throws a left jab that catches the woman off guard, but she blocks with her hands. However the right hook Daemond puts his all into connects on the side of her head.

*SMACK* *BOOM*

When his punch lands it triggers an explosion that shakes the Bullhead further off balance, and even destroys some of the interior.

The woman is sent rocketing into the wall just outside the cockpit where she catches herself. The only damage she took was her hair going from neat and curly to disheveled and a little frizzy. "You insolent little brat…"

Daemond still can't see the woman clearly. He can usually see pretty well in the dark, however, even his eyesight can't discern what this woman looks like. But he doesn't need to see her to know that this is Cinder Fall, half Fall Maiden.

Cinder pushes off the wall as she throws her glowing arms out towards Daemond. The embers coming off of her arms fly at Daemond and take the shapes of crude swords.

Daemond doesn't waste time as he punches the barely passable swords out of the air. If Cinder had the full power of the Maiden he might be a little more screwed. But the swords aren't formed properly and easily shatter with a single punch.

Cinder continues the assault as the Bullhead gets back under Roman's control and lifts into the air.

*BANG* *BOOM*

Daemond speeds up his punches and when he gets the chance he fires an explosive towards Cinder. She spins to her right which causes her arms and chest to grow brighter as she prepares a big blast.

The explosion did miss Cinder, but not his target. The parachutes were blown to shreds along with the Bullhead's wall.

When Cinder finishes spinning she unleashes an explosion that sends shrapnel flying throughout the interior of the Bullhead. Daemond covers his face with his gauntlets and gets hit by the full force of Cinder's trump card attack.

Daemond is flung from the Bullhead and is about to slam into the roof when a purple glyph forms beneath him.

The Huntress sets Daemond down on the roof as she watches the damaged door of the Bullhead barely manage to close. She knows she can't stop it as it continues to rise into the night sky. Even if she could bring the thing down she wouldn't want to endanger the citizens of Vale that she has sworn to protect.

As Daemond gets his feet beneath him the Huntress notices that his Aura is still intact after being hit pointblank from the flames and shrapnel of that last attack. This kid is stupid lucky and she guesses he doesn't even know it.

Daemond hits his knuckles together as he flicks another switch, transforming his weapon yet again back to its sniper form.

He can feel the gaze from the woman but ignores it like most things. "Ruby, Rose Bombardment"

Ruby's eyes widen as she understands what her brother wants to do. There's a second of hesitation but she trusts her brother's judgement. She spins her giant scythe, Crescent Rose, around her body as it transforms into its sniper form. Once Crescent Rose is in sniper form Ruby kneels down in a stance similar to her brother.

""Let's start the fireworks!"" Ruby shouts in tandem with Daemond.

*BANG* *BANG!!!*

They fire their weapons simultaneously and their Dust infused bullets collide in a massive explosion.

Yes, it missed but the first explosion is used so that the sibling pair can adjust their shots accordingly.

The Huntresses eyes widen but before she can react it's already over.

*BANG* *BANG!!!* *BANG* *BANG!!!* *BANG* *BANG!!!* *BANG* *BANG!!!*

Three consecutive shots connect to the Bullhead and it explodes in a glorious ball of fire in the night sky. The streets of Vale are bathed in light, even the roof the siblings and Huntress are standing on.

From the ball of fire in the sky Daemond can see an arc of light flying further away, which is likely cinder carrying Roman. He would assume she would leave him to die, but she still needs him for some of her future plans since he isn't done yet.

Either way, it's not like they can follow them at the other side of Vale or potentially outside the walls. Besides Daemond has other problems to attend to.

Ruby lowers her weapon, as she stares up at what she has done.

"They survived Ruby, that abnormal arc of light is them. Something is telling me we will see those two again" Daemond informs his sister.

For all Ruby knew she just killed the two on the Bullhead, but as she looks closer at the weird trajectory that her brother pointed out she accepts that it is true.

Tossing her previous thought and emotions to the side Ruby bursts into rose petals and appears next to the Huntress. "You'reaHuntressright?! Wow!ohmygod, canIgetyourautograph?!"

The sudden use of Ruby's Semblance coupled with the rapid fire jumble of words distract the Huntress who clearly isn't pleased, evident by the frown on her face.

Daemond sets his weapon down on the roof as he lets himself sprawl out on the ground. He was expecting action, but that was a close one. His Aura was nearly depleted from Cinder's attack when he was launched from the Bullhead, and he can feel the exhaustion taking its toll on his body.

Not to mention he got carried away and nearly killing Roman and Cinder, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Their death not being bad, the repercussions of their death? That's a whole different story.

What he was concerned about was that he dragged Ruby into it and that she almost got killed on more than one occasion. Not to mention the lasting mental weight of tonight. She also saw her brother almost die, so in the end tonight was more of a loss in the grand scheme of things.

He simply looks up at the sky as the fiery bullhead comes crashing down on the docks side of Vale. The weight of the situation weighs his body down along with the mental exhaustion.

Something he didn't know how to feel about was the fact that he crippled a man today. Sure the guy was a criminal, but he was still a person. Sure he sparred with people but he never fought someone to the death. And killing Grimm is like drinking water or breathing, it's just the way of life in this world.

It shakes him more than he would care to admit, but he knows sooner or later he will have to take someone's life. You can prepare for it all your life, but you never know what it feels like until you actually do it. He took a man's arm, what would it feel like to take a life.