Bloody Sakura Rose: A Chance Meeting

By chance they were both searching Vale at the same time.

---

Come the weekend and teams RWBY and JNPR were prepared to make their outing to Vale, to start searching for any clues about Marluxia. Ruby was brimming with excitement, a change which had shown through the past few days in classes, her mood had improved and she had been participating more. She still had moments where she was uncharacteristically quiet, and that was fine, her friends answered for her when that happened. There was no time to fall into the uncertainty she had been wavering between for the past few days, for today was the day she would find answers. She didn’t notice Ren and Pyrrha had all but glued themselves to her side as Blake and Jaune lead the way to the bullheads, nor did she notice Weiss, Nora and Yang watching her with exasperated smiles.

The trip to the city was short and when they stepped off the bull head, the two teams made their way towards the library; it wasn’t that far from where the bullheads normally landed anyway. As Weiss had explained it, it was only logical to go there as they kept a few public records that could be checked for any trace of Marluxia. Nora kept bouncing ahead, dragging Ruby with her, though the pair always stopped when either Blake or Ren called them back.

Eventually they make it to the library. Weiss and Ren immediately walk towards the back of the library, where the public records are kept, while the rest of the group found a table to sit at. Ruby was fidgeting in her chair while waiting for her friends to rejoin them. The pair came back with two books and Weiss had a frustrated expression on her face. The books were a registry of visitors from outside the Kingdom, old enough that the information in it was all but obsolete.

“Sorry Ruby,” Ren said with an apologetic smile. “These were the only two we could find that could have the information we’re looking for.”

“I suppose a lot of the information that we are looking for will be inaccessible to us as we aren’t full hunters and huntresses yet,” Pyrrha suggested with a sigh, before smiling. “That is alright though. We have a start.”

Ruby smiled back at the red head, before looking at the book that Weiss had, over the heiress’ shoulder. Both books ended up on the table with the teams looking over them both. For the next hour they were silent, reading the information. Well, Weiss, Ren, Pyrrha, Blake and Ruby were reading, some surprise at the fact Ruby was reading, while Jaune, Nora and Yang were searching old newspapers on their scrolls, not actually reading, just scanning.

It was actually Ruby who pointed it out first. There was a small entry on Marluxia entering Vale on a date just over seventeen years ago. It was the only entry however. Apparently, according to the book, Marluxia had never left. Ruby knew this wasn’t true though. Her mother’s journal proved that.

“Where did he go?” she asked quietly. “How did he manage to leave undetected?”

No one had an answer for the young reaper. Desperate for more information, Ruby stood up and started searching the shelves in the library again, looking for anything. It took another hour for her to come back with nothing. There was a disheartened look on the reaper’s face, and she walked past the group and out of the library. Team JNPR and the rest of team RWBY all hurried to pack up and follow her out.

The two teams called out to the young teen, calling her back, calling her to wait. Ruby kept walking though, pulling up her hood as she went, walking away from the library and the feeling of hopelessness. There was nothing in the library about Marluxia, Professor Ozpin didn’t have many answers either, and her mother’s journal was filled with only moments of her time with the man. There was nothing to be found.

Weiss decided that enough was enough.

“RUBY ROSE!!!”

Ruby paused and looked back as her partner marched up to her and placed her hands on her hips. The young reaper cringed at the angry expression on the heiress’ face. Instead of yelling however, Weiss, in a display she would deny later, wrapped her arms around Ruby, her expression softening.

“I know we couldn’t find anything in the library you dolt,” she murmured to the younger girl. “But that isn’t reason to give up. We’ll find this Marluxia, if we need to we’ll ask one of the Professors to help us get to records that we can’t access, we’ll ask people around where your mum was doing her missions. We’ve only looked in one place.”

“Yeah Rubes,” Yang said cheerfully as she walked up beside Weiss. “I know your semblance is speed, but you gotta slow down a bit here and be patient.”

Weiss took a step back and smiled slightly as Ruby took a breath and nodded with a small grin. The young reaper mumbled out an apology, before squawking in indignation as Yang ruffled her hair playfully. This light hearted moment was interrupted however by a smooth and polite voice.

“Excuse me, but you wouldn’t happen to be the daughter of Summer Rose, would you?”

The two teams spun around to face this new voice, only to find themselves looking at the man from Summer Rose’s drawings. He was wearing a black, long tailed vest with ragged ends, over a long sleeved white shirt that had a high collar, with darkened magenta pants tucked neatly into his black boots. It wasn’t the clothes that Summer had drawn, but Ruby recognised the man none the less.

“…… are you Marluxia?”

---

Lauriam sighed, sitting outside one of the many cafés in Vale, tea in hand, but already cold, he had been sitting there for two hours and he had barely sipped his drink. His eyes were downcast slightly and he seemed to be lost in thought. Today he was asking around about Summer Rose. Sure, he knew the woman was dead, but he wanted to know about her family, about her daughter. His daughter. No one was willing to answer his questions, or they didn’t know, and the man didn’t want to press too hard, only to find himself arrested.

That was how he found himself here, outside the café with cold tea in his hands. Another sigh escaped his lips and he put the teacup in his hands down, next to some lien, and he stood up and walked away. Nobody stopped him. He sneered as the idea of stuffing his hands in his pockets flitted across his mind; such an action belonged to an old acquaintance. Yet another sigh and his face fell again. All he wanted to do was find_

“RUBY ROSE!!!”

The pink haired man paused, his head turning in the direction that the shrill exclamation had come from. There he saw the white haired teen from the newspaper he had read a few days ago, in a dress to match her hair, marching up to the black-red haired teen. She looked even more like Summer in person than she did in the newspaper. She had the hood of her red hood pulled up as well, causing a flash of concern to pass over Lauriam’s expression.

He watched as the white haired teen hugged the younger girl. He saw the yellow haired teen walk up too. He couldn’t hear the conversation they had, but it seemed to cheer the younger. Lauriam decided to approach the group, wanting to confirm this younger girl’s identity. The white haired teen had called her Ruby Rose…. But was she really…?

“Excuse me, but you wouldn’t happen to be the daughter of Summer Rose, would you?”

His question prompted eight teens to look at him with shock, giving him the chance to notice them all properly. Along with Ruby, and her two companions he had first noticed, Lauriam also noted a black haired girl with amber-gold eyes, looking at him with an impassive expression, a hyperactive looking girl with orange-red hair, a black haired boy who had a pink streak in his fringe, and then off to the side slightly, a red haired girl with green eyes who reminded Lauriam too much of the man who had betrayed him, and a blonde boy who could have been that other boy who had joined the Organisation.

“…… are you Marluxia?”

The hesitant question was asked by the youngest girl, Ruby. Lauriam visibly cringed at the sound of his Nobody name. It was an unwanted reminder really. However the pink haired man couldn’t complain really, since he was following his memories as Marluxia to find this girl.

“That is no longer my name,” he said with a small cough, trying to hide his discomfort with the name. “I am called Lauriam now. I do wonder how you know of me though. Last I knew, Summer was adamant that she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say, that was the impression that Lauriam got when quite quickly the blonde got angry, her lilac eyes turning red. Lauriam held up his hands in surrender, showing that he was unarmed, usually a universal sign that one meant no harm, but he was forced to step aside to dodge the teen as she literally flew at him to punch him.

“Yang, no!” Ruby cried. “Let him talk!”

“But Ruby!” the blonde_ Yang protested. “He left you! Left mum! If he had stayed then_”

“Then Ruby would have been noticed by someone you would not have wanted the attention of,” Lauriam interrupted. Why was he saying this? He wasn’t entirely sure why, as Marluxia, he had cared if Ruby had been discovered or not. Marluxia didn’t have a heart after all. However for some reason, that explanation felt right. So he accepted it as the answer he gave. It certainly caught the attention of the eight teens however.

“What do you mean?” the black haired girl asked. Lauriam noted that her bow twitched, was she a faunas, like the other humanoid people he had seen with animal traits? Question for later, for now he looked at Ruby with eyes expressing his confliction. He wanted to talk to her, about Summer, about himself, but not here, with her friends, because the explanations he had were only for Ruby’s ears, and perhaps Headmaster Ozpin’s as well. Momentarily he wondered how to deal with this.

“Would it be possible to speak with the Headmaster of Beacon?” he asked himself, choosing to ignore the question asked of him. “It would be better for him, and Ruby if she so desires, to hear what I have to say first, and Ruby deserves to hear it as well.”

There were underlying emotions in that simple request. Pain. Hurt. Fear. Confusion. Despair. Ruby’s silver eyes met the ocean blue eyes of Lauriam. The young girl was an empathetic person clearly, as she seemed to see all of that. Her expression softened, relaxed as she tilted her head to the side, smiling.

“We can take you to Beacon,” she offered, gaining a reprimanding glare from the white haired teen. Of course, none of the other teens trusted him. He looked at them all again and decided it was safe to assume that they were all Beacon students.

“Ruby, what are you doing?” the white haired girl hissed quietly into Ruby’s ear. Though Lauriam heard the question, he didn’t react to it, especially when he heard Ruby’s reply.

“We’re bringing him to Ozpin, there are eight of us, and he is unarmed. Maybe he has a hidden weapon but we’d notice if he went to pull it out. There is literally nothing wrong with doing as he asks.”

Lauriam smiled slightly, realising that this white haired teen thought he was a threat to Ruby. Well… that wasn’t entirely wrong. Marluxia, any connection to Marluxia, could be a threat to the young teen. His thoughts couldn’t continue however as whatever argument the girls were having ended and the white haired teen begrudgingly gestured in the direction behind her and she started walking. Taking it as an invitation, Lauriam followed after, almost laughing as the teens got into a loose formation around him, looking natural about it, as if they were just walking and HE was the escort. The pink haired man noted that it was the group who was escorting him however.

It didn’t take the teens long to lead Lauriam to the bullheads. He did well to hide his hesitation of stepping onto such an unfamiliar machine, the perpetual smile on his face now he knew he was drawing from Marluxia. There wasn’t anything more he could do.

The ride to Beacon was a short few minutes, however the silence amongst the group, and the looks being traded between the teens, made the trip drag out.

---

Ruby watched the man from the corner of her eyes, curious about him. He was certainly more expressive than her mum had described. Was he not a Nobody anymore? What was a Nobody? These questions didn’t have answers currently, so instead she tried to see if she could see any of herself in his features, after all, if he was her father, then surely something about her would look alike with this man.

His hair, it spiked out like hers. Ruby remembered that her mum had smooth hair, it always fell in soft waves, but her own hair, while not as wild as Mar_ Lauriam’s hair, it did not sit flat, it kinked out in places at random. Ruby could see that similarity. There was also his stance. The way he stood, it was… so similar to the way she would stand. Ruby wondered if he had a similar weapon to her.

She looked away from the man after she realised she was starting to stare. She pushed her eyes in the direction of Beacon, which was drawing near. They would be landing soon. Ruby sighed and pushed herself up from the chair she had been seated in.

Once the bullhead had landed, Ruby, Ren and Blake, through a silent discussion, were the ones chosen to lead Lauriam up to the Headmaster’s office, while Weiss and Jaune went to find Professor Goodwitch, and Yang, Nora and Pyrrah returned to JNPR’s dorm room to discuss Lauriam’s appearance in Vale.

Blake and Ren left Ruby with Lauriam at the elevator up.

“Are you sure Ruby?” Blake asked with a concerned expression, one which was echoed on Ren’s face as well. Ruby smiled and nodded, giving the faunas an enthusiastic thumbs-up as she walked towards the doors of the elevator. Blake asked one more question that made the young reaper pause.

“Do you trust him?”

“Well I trust that he won’t try anything from here to the top floor.”

The door to the elevator closed before Blake could protest the provided response. It wasn’t a proper answer; it wasn’t really the answer to Blake’s question. Lauriam gave Ruby an appraising look as the elevator started moving up.

“So what is the honest answer to your friend’s question?” he asked curiously. Ruby blinked, looking up at him, silver once again meeting blue. She hadn’t expected such a simple question, though she supposed it was a logical question. The answer Ruby gave to the pink haired man was an answer she had to think about. She was silent in the few moments it took to actually think her response.

“I don’t know.”