Chapter Text
Blake laid sleeping in her bed with her right arm curved to behave as a secondary pillow when she heard the first boom. Her left cat ear flinched at the noise as her muscles tensed and ready to shoot out of her bed. Her hand instinctively reached for the gun she kept under her pillow, fingers gripping the cold steel as she waited for the inevitable goons to break down her door for her to shoot. The barrel of the handgun directed at the door while Blake briefly used her free hand to wipe away a small amount of drool.
But no rival gangsters broke in, no gunshots rang out, and no screams rang through the halls of Beacon. There were more booms, however - booms of music emanating from the old cafeteria down below. Someone, it seems, had turned up the music even louder than it already was. At the legs of the bed frame, the Faunus gangster could sense the subtle vibrations from the music.
"Right… right, no need to be worried." Blake had to forcefully pry her fingers from her hidden pistol like they were fused to the grip. "The fighting's over. You're safe. You don't have to act like everything is going to kill you anymore."
There was another deep boom of music, the bass so powerful that it shook the Faunus's room and caused a trickle of dust to drip down from the ceiling and onto her head. The specs of dust had turned some of her black comforter red. Luckily for her, it was not the explosive dust. Then again, Ruby may not be that careful.
"Although, I would really like to get a full night's rest."
Blake had to cover her sensitive ears so she wouldn't go deaf as she approached the party, though she feared going blind as well when she saw all the spinning and flashing lights emanating from the hall.
"Note to self, get noise protection earbuds."
"Whoo hoo, this is what I'm talking about! Party till you drop!" Yang's voice was barely audible to the people around her as she danced in a sea of red clothing. "Someone turn up the music again! I can't feel it in my teeth yet!"
"Please don't." Blake's tired voice was too soft for her friend to hear, but Yang still smiles when she spotted the distinctive black bow.
"Ah, there you are, sleepy head! Finally back from your little nap?" Yang kept dancing.
"Yang, I left the party two days ago," Blake's deadpan expression was enough to clearly display her annoyance through the music.
"Wow, now that's what I call a cat nap!" Yang replied. "It's good to have you back, though! Now we can finally see if that Bellabooty of yours can really match mine on the dancefloor!"
"Yang, I wasn't just sleeping while I was gone. I was working, talking to distributors, managing all of our money." Blake's voice was very deliberate and clear, her intonation similar to the way a parent addressed their child. "All in all, I'm very tired from today, and I'd like nothing more than some peace and quiet".
"Nuh-uh, you're not getting out of this contest that easily!" Yang doubled the pace of dancing, twisting and shaking without so much as a care in the world. Her clothes waved along her movement, almost to project some grace. "Loser has to buy the whole gang drinks!"
"I already bought the drinks." Blake raised a clipboard and tapped a tired finger next to an exorbitantly high number. "I'm the one who bought everything for this party because that's my job."
"So, what you're saying is… I already won?" Yang smirked boastfully as her party dance shifted seamlessly to her victory dance. "Drinks on Blake!"
"Wait, Blake's here?" A red flash suddenly zipped across the dancefloor, weaving in between the dancers and carefully avoiding touching peoples bodies in potentially awkward ways - right up until it reached Blake. "Welcome back, Blake! We missed you so much!"
"Hello, Ruby." Blake sighed tiredly as the young ganglord lifted her up off the ground in a powerful hug. Bullets from her bandoliers pressed painfully into Blake's chest as the hug continued, adding to the awkwardness that only one of them seemed to notice. "It's good to see you too, but I'm afraid that I'm not staying. I'm just stopping by to get Yang to turn down her music."
"Turn it down?" Ruby looked at her incredulously as she plopped her lieutenant back on the dancefloor. "For what? Now that we've taken over the city, we can party every day from now on!"
"I'd hate to be the one to break it to you, boss, but just because we control the city doesn't mean we get to stop working," Blake's eyes scanned around the room to spot various expenses that went over the party budget. I mean seriously, why do The Saints need an ice sculpture of Ruby standing over bodies of other gang leaders? That is going to be fun to pay for...
"Uh, yes it does," Ruby countered, not missing a beat as she kept dancing. "We won! Game over, in a good way!"
Blake simply sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That doesn't mean that we can just slack off. We still have drugs to push, hit jobs to do, territory to protect-"
"Nuh-uh!" Ruby wagged her finger at Blake in time with the music as she reached into one of her pockets to pull out a map of Vale. The whole thing had a layer of red crayon scribble over it, with a few glittery golden stars glued around Beacon for good measure. "As you can see, the whole city now belongs to The Saints!"
"Yes, we eliminated the other gangs and control all of Vale's underground, but that doesn't mean people won't still try to muscle in on our territory or try to do business on the side." Blake gently pushed the piece of paper away so she could actually look her boss in the eye. "In fact, we have a monopoly on crime incentives others to-"
"Upupupup!" Ruby forced the scribbled map back into Blake's face and held it there. "Do you see any non-red spots on this map, Blake? Do you?"
Blake rolled her eyes.
"No, Ruby, I do not."
"Yep! And that's because we won! Game! Over!" Ruby tore the map up in her hands and tossed the remnants up into the air, letting it rain down like a shower of red confetti. "Now we can do whatever we want, whenever we want! And right now, I want to have fun here!"
"Alright… but please, for those of us who don't want to party, can you keep the music below ear-destroying levels?" Blake winced briefly as booming bass continued to shake the room.
"Oh, alright, if that's what you want, Blakey!" Ruby motioned toward the DJ in the room to turn down the music, eliciting a loud "Laaaaaame!" from where Yang was dancing.
"Thanks, boss." Blake finally uncovered her ears and left the room.
"Let me guess - it didn't work," a voice said as the Faunus left the cafeteria.
Blake turned around and saw that Weiss, wearing a pair of white pants and a white sweater, sat in a chair down the hall from the cafeteria. The ex-heiress was currently loading bullets into magazines, but she didn't seem to be in any hurry to do so. It was almost as if she was doing out of habit instead of actually gearing up for a fight.
"You tried to get them to stop earlier?" Blake walked over, taking a seat beside her friend.
"I did last night." Weiss slammed a magazine into her pistol, adjusting its components to make sure nothing was broken or jammed. "I'd say that all this power has gone to their heads, but I'm not sure if they've always been this stupid."
"Can't argue with you there." Blake noticed that she actually had quite a large crate of magazines that still needed to be filled besides Weiss' chair. "So, was exactly are you doing here then?"
"Couldn't sleep," Weiss replied matter-of-factly as she continued loading.
"The music get to you too?" Blake reached down to hold an empty magazine than a handful of bullets.
"No - my room is next to Yang's, so I invested in soundproofing a long time ago." Weiss stuck out her tongue disgustedly as unpleasant memories ran through her head. "Though sometimes even she's loud enough to get through that."
"Well, if that's not what's keeping you up, what is?" Blake angled her thumb to load a bullet into the magazine.
Weiss reached under her seat and took out a White Fang mask. Blake shot up in her seat as she saw it clang onto the coffee table, the eye slits of the mask seemingly landing on her as it came to a stop. She could see that the left side had a bullet hole through it, and a few drops of its owners' blood were splattered on the outside.
"Where did you get this?" Blake tried to keep her voice calm, but there was still a clear desperation hidden underneath it.
"Southside." Weiss either didn't see Blakes distress or simply didn't care, as she kept working. "I heard some rumors that what's left of the White Fang are trying to start themselves back up again, so I went down to check. Low and behold, I find this motherfucker trying to recruit someone in the trailer park."
"Well… this shouldn't be too bad, right?" Blake rolled her shoulders back to relax in her seat again. "Just some sore losers that we can mop up in a week or two."
"Maybe… but things were not all that simple." Weiss clicked another bullet into place, the sound reverberating through the tension in the air. "Before he bled out, he said something about 'Brother Adam' avenging his death. Now, it could just be the ramblings of dying man and nothing else, but… Blake, you're leaving marks in the chair."
"What?" Blake looked down and realized just how hard she had been gripping her armrests. "Oh, right, sorry!"
"Whatever," Weiss said with a dismissive roll of her eyes. "Anyways, I'm going to go investigate some more tomorrow to help make sure the White Fang stays dead. You want to tag along?"
"I… think I'm going to be busy tomorrow." Blake stood up from her seat and began walking back towards the dormitory. "I need to go call Sun."
"Whatever floats your boat," Weiss's voice trailed off as the echoes of Blake's footsteps faded away. "I can handle this myself anyway."
"Augh…" Yang clutched her throbbing head then used her index and middle finger to rub at her temple in circles. Either the world increased its speed ten fold or the blonde needed pitcher of coffee. Her skull throbbed so hard it felt like a piece of metal with a mind of its own rattled around inside her head. She could tell the way she was being jostled around that she was moving, attempted to blink a dozen or so times, but her vision was so blurry she couldn't tell much else. "What the… where am I?"
"Rise and shine, sleepy head!" Yang rubbed her eyes and glanced at the direction of the noise. Ruby's pearly white teeth appeared from the rearview mirror back at her collapsed sister. Her red car buzzed speedily through the busy streets of Vale as peppy music blared through the speakers. "Are you ready for day five of partying?"
"Day five… has it really been that long?" Yang's right palm rubbed her forehead then struggled to sit upright. "I think I must have lost track sometime during day three… man, I always thought the term 'drinking too much' was an excuse from people who hated fun, but it feels like I could vaguely understand what they mean now…"
"Well, I hope your liver is not ready to quit its day job, because the Yacht I ordered has finally arrived!" Ruby practically jumped up and down in her seat, which didn't help her reckless driving at all. "I had to make it an extra big one to make sure that the whole gang could fit on it! It's a good thing Cinder wasn't using that stash of cash anymore!"
"The whole gang? Wow, you really are going all out." Ruby suddenly made a hard left turn, causing Yang to slam into one of the doors. "Gah! Oooooh, my stomach… Ruby, could you maybe… stop driving so rough for once?"
"Sorry, it's just… I'm so excited!" The young gang leader gripped her steering wheel so hard that the leather squeaked. "I know there's supposed to be a storm today, but I just think that it's just going to make the party even better!"
"Storm?" Yang reflexively clutched her stomach even harder.
"Yeah, it's going to rock the boat like crazy! Maybe even turn it into a big, watery bouncy pit!" Yang hand to struggle to stop herself from gagging. "Plus, all the water and lightning is going to look super cool! It's just a shame that I can't take Smiley out with us - apparently they don't make collars that big. Oh, we're here!"
The car screeched to a halt as it reached the docks in northwestern Vale, curved and scattered clouds battled for dominance in the sky, and turned white with lightning. Aside from the massive yacht, easily the size of a small freighter, there did not seem to be much else around besides water and sand. No cars, no people, and certainly no other gangsters.
"Uh… I'm sorry, Rubes, but I think I might be partied out for the moment." Yang had to clear her throat before continuing. "I think I'll just crash in this car, okay? I'll… catch up with you."
"Okay, but I'll be back for you in a few hours - I'd hate for you to miss all the fun!" Ruby got out and slammed her door, eliciting one last groan as Yang collapsed onto the floor of the car. "Now, where is everyone..?"
Ruby reached into her battle skirt pocket and quickly looked through her scroll.
"I know Blake said she had a date and Weiss said she had more 'work' to do or something, but did really no one show up? I invited everyone!" Ruby quickly read through her messages to find a positive reply. "I mean, Blake invited everyone because I still have… some names to learn, but still! They're my homies! A little storm shouldn't have scared them off!"
"Well, not everyone's as brave as you, you know," a voice suddenly spoke up behind Ruby. "Though, they'd probably just call it stupidity if they had any spine at all."
"Ah! Velvet!" Ruby turned around and gave the rabbit Faunus a strong hug. "I'm so glad you could make it! Things are always so much more exciting when you're around!"
"Nah, girl, not exciting - chill~" Velvet hugged back lightly before Ruby finally plopped the taller girl back onto the ground. "So, is this your new beauty, mate?"
"Yep! Meet the S.S. Crimson!" Ruby struck a pose in front of the yacht and shook her hand dramatically. "Do you like her/ And could you tell me what 'S.S.' mean?"
"I think it means 'Steam Ship,' but I think Crimson works with an engine. So the E.S. Crimson would fit better. 'Engine Ship' Crimson." Velvet's right hand rested at her hip.
"I guess it's too late to change the letters." Ruby peered over the railing to check at her crudely painted on name to the yacht. "Oh, I know, I'll say it stands for 'Saint's Ship'! That way it can be a homie too!"
"Well, whatever its real name is, I can already say that she's ten times better than the boats that I started out running my drugs in. Oh, speaking of which…" Velvet went back to her car and pulled out a large wooden crate. "I've got a little gift for you! Something to remind you of me before I go on a little business trip!"
"Business trip? You mean…" Tears swelled up in Ruby's eyes. "You're not going to party with me?"
"Relax, mate, relax!" Velvet's soft, accented voice, helped calm the ganglord down. "I'll be back soon, I promise! I'm just going to meet some friends of mine for a job, and I'll be back in town tomorrow morning, assuming everything goes right."
"Augh, more work! I hate it so much!" Ruby stomped. "We won, darn it! We shouldn't have to work anymore!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm just a 'homie' - work never stops for me." Velvet shrugged smoothly, the ocean waves slowly picking up speed and crash against each other. "You're the boss, though, and that means that you can do whatever you want, right?"
"Right…" Ruby replied, arms drooping a little.
"And you can do it whenever you want, right?"
"Right!" Ruby straightened her spine a little.
"And if you want to get on a boat and party your ass off, who's going to stop you?!"
"No one!" Ruby jumped a full foot in the air as she cheered, rose petals trailing behind her like speedlines.
"That's the spirit!" Velvet punched her boss playfully in the shoulders. "Still, a real shame that none of your buds could make it. This gig could have been a real banger!"
"Eh, we'll have plenty of time to do more parties later." Ruby picked up the box of foul-smelling drugs and put it under her arm. "It's not like the boat's going anywhere - other than out to sea, of course."
"Right on!" Velvet gave Ruby one last hug before heading back to her car. "Catch you later, Red!"
"So long, Velvet!" Ruby backflipped onto the Crimson and kicked away the stairs that lead up to it. "Stay rad, okay?"
"You're the boss!" Velvet winked then pulled away.
And with that, the boat shoved off towards the coming storm.
"Whoo hoo! Party here! Party over there! This is the life!" Ruby shouted over the sound of pouring rain, waves already rocking the boat back and forth. It wasn't anywhere near capsizing, since the boat was so large, but it was still being jostled quite a lot. The music Ruby played over the deck was loud, but even that was drowned out by the swirling waters all around her. "Yeah, this is so much fun, I… I… blech!"
Ruby unceremoniously ejected a day's worth of digested candy onto the deck of the yacht. It was a disgusting taste, but the rain meant she could more-easily wash her mouth out.
"Okay… maybe.. I can take dancing off the table for a while." Ruby walked over to the speakers playing music and picked up her two red machine guns off them. "Come on Little Red, Ogama, we're going to just… watch some cartoons."
Ruby left the bottle of wine she'd been drinking rolling around the deck as she descended into the lower levels of the ship. She had already toured the ship once already, but she could still barely remember where anything was. Eventually, though, she managed to find her way into the main bedroom and plopped herself down onto the queen-sized bed in front of a large TV.
"Okay… I'm starting to see why some people might not want to party… literally all the time…" Ruby put down her guns and went for the remote, the ticking of the clock on the wall only just louder than the sound of the rain outside. "I'm sure there's more baddies and maybe even some goodies that could use some more beating… yeah… just because I control the city doesn't mean I have to stop working. I bet it can even be fun!"
Ruby raised her remote towards her television and hovered her thumb over the on/off button.
"But all that can start… tomorrow."
Thunder cracked at the water with a burst of orange light for a split second. The shockwave of momentum forced the water to forcibly crash against itself. The hull of the yacht cracked apart directly down the middle. Confetti meant to use for the boat party waved and swirled into the water around on fire.
With no time to react, the entire hull of the ship went from a pristine white to scarred black streaks on the metal. The water now eager to engulf what remained.
And just like that, the S.S. Crimson was snuffed out.