Broken Chains (RWBY/SWTOR)

[ThatOnePsycho]

*Loud sweating*

Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna take shit for this?

Anyone who reads Fur and Fire's probably gonna go "Oh, so Psycho's ran out of ideas", I don't know literally everything about Star Wars like I do most my fic subjects, Ruby comes off as kinda OOC in Chapter 1 (deliberatly)...

Alright, enough delaying. Broken Chains. So, this was actually an old project of mine (I started it before Walking the Planes) that I dusted off and restarted a couple of weeks back. I'm happier with this version than the original, since I brought in all of Team RWBYJNPR.

------

Kory sat in the shuttle leading down to Korriban, feeling it shudder has it hit some turbulence. The entirety of her 'class' was sitting around, a small group of men and women.


By the end of the year, all but one of them would be dead.


The chilling thought ran through her, causing her to grip the underside of the metal bench. All but one of them would be dead. How would it happen? Would they kill each other, or would the Sith do it?


Wasn't that the same thing in the end, though? Whoever survived would be Sith.


That made Kory slightly sick. Whoever survived would become one the ones who enslaved them in the first place?


"So," one on the giant twins leaned forward. He had two gouges, one on each side of his lips, dark bruising around his eyes, and a strip of hair on his chin, "Whatcha do?"


"What do you mean?" The man across from her asked. He was bald except for two long strips of hair.


"I mean, we're all here because they found out we could use the Force, right? So, what did you do so they found you? Me and Balek," he pointed his thumb at his twin, "stopped the mine shaft from caving long enough for the other slaves to get out."


"Sent another slave into the ground during fight," the other man said, "I'm Niloc, by the way."


"Wyrd. What about you?" Wyrd asked Kory.


"Routine check," Kory said, "They do them once a year on Kalsunor."


"Same," Gerr said, "I'm Gerr."


"Wish we had that on Ilum," Wyrd said, "What about you?"


Kory's turned to the young woman currently curled up in the corner, the vibroblade they had all been given leaning next to her as she drank in the datapad in front of her, typing something out. After a couple of seconds, her silver eyes jumped up, "Sorry, what was that?"


"How'd you get found? I'm Wyrd, by the way, and these three are Balak, Niloc and Kory."


"Oh," She stored away her datapad, "I'm Ruby. I smashed an apprentice through the wall."


"Really?"


"Yep!" Ruby grinned just a bit too widely, and Kory got the brief feeling the other woman wasn't entirely sane.


"Anyone got any plans for if you win this?" Niloc asked.


"Not really," Wyrd said, and Balak shook his head.


"No?" Kory said. She didn't want to be Sith.


"Haven't thought about it," Gerr said, "That we're still actually here's still a big shock."


"Well, I do," Niloc said, "I'm gonna be big in the Sith world, I mean, have you seen them? Beautiful robes, manors, servants-"


"-'servants'," Ruby cut in, moving two fingers on each hand. Kory got the feeling she was subtly insulting Niloc, but he was too into it to tell.


"Yeah! It's gonna be great. What about you, Ruby know what would you do?"


"Get my weapon back, first. Then find my family," Ruby said simply.


"Bah! That boring-" the shuttles shook as it landed, the back opening, "Well, looks like we're here, eh? Let's go get started."


Niloc cheerfully grabbed his vibrosword, walking out of the shuttle.


Kory grabbed her own smaller one, a vibroblade, sliding the sheath into the clasp on her back as everyone caught up with Niloc.


Waiting for them was a red haired man, a small beard hung from his chin and he had a tattoo on his face. It started at his right temple, went below his eye and then up, expanding into a red triangle on his forehead that was mirrored immediately next to it, minus the eye part.


"Good," He said, his tone carrying barely restrained contempt, "You're here. I am Overseer Harkun, and I have been assigned to guide you rabble through your trials. As such, I will instruct you on the most basic part of our order. The Code of the Sith," Harkun started pacing, "Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength, I gain Power. Through Power, I gain Victory. Through Victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall set me free."


"Out of curiosity," Ruby said, her voice having taken a strange tone, "Were those last two always in there, or did you just add them to make us slaves feel good about our sel-"


Harkun span, lightning jumping from his fingers into Ruby, sending the woman into convulsions, "You will not disrespect the Code around me, slave."


Ruby, to her credit, staggered back up quickly, apparently shaking off the last of it with ease, "Yes, sir."


"Good," Harkun said, looking angry at her defiance.


"Now, for your first task, each of you will fight through the tomb of Ajunta Pall right outside this dock. Within you will find Lord Spindrall, speak to the doddering old fool, he will judge whether you are worthy of our academy wasting more resources on you. Go, now.


The doors slid open, and they each ran for the tomb.


---


Ruby landed in the sand dune, allowing her Aura to break her fall. Drawing her vibrosword from its sheath, she felt a stab of longing for Crescent Rose as she activated it. But she knew where her baby was, and would be getting it back as soon as she finished on Korriban.


As the k'lor'slugs charged at her, Ruby span, letting the vibroblade cleave the first in two. Even a cheaply made weapon was enough to break through the child's carapice.


Throwing out her hand, Ruby called on the merger training she had been given to blast another with lightning. Spinning the vibrosword in one hand, Ruby watched the third.


Well then…


Ruby used the Force to yank it closer, cutting the slug in two and going down the steps, turning off the blade and cleaning it with a rag. That was something to be missed about Grimm (one of the few), they cleaned up after themselves. She had learned that the hard way with Crescent Rose.


"Excuse me," Ruby's eyes trailed down to the man standing at the foot of the steps, he was wearing red plastoid armor, "I take it you're part of the acolyte group that just passed by?"


"I am," Ruby said, throwing aside the rag.


"Damn," he said, "Then I suppose you're too busy to hear me out?"


"Hear you out about what-?" Ruby paused


"Sergeant Cormun, Fifth infantry company, Korriban regiment," Cormun saluted briefly.


"Sergeant, you have my attention."


"Have you seen the k'lor'slugs yet, acolyte?"


"A couple of small ones," Ruby said.


"Big ones are even more disgusting, mouths bigger than your head. We're here on what should have been a routine sweep to thin them out."


"Didn't go according to plan, then?" Ruby asked, stepping down to look around the area. There was a hastily made barricade with several more infantry holding blaster rifles.


"We thought it best to eliminate the nest, ma'am. They breed like rats, and that's foiled all attempts to clear them out. They," Cormun looked distraught, "They killed three squads of my men."


Ah, crap… what would an Imperial want to hear…?


"Their sacrifice will be remembered," Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder.


"Thank you, Ma'am."


"You want me to take out the slugs?"


"After a fashion. Before they died, my men managed to plant the explosives we were going to use. I have the detonator here," Cormun lifted up the cylindrical item, "It's short range one. We hadn't thought we would need more. And now," Cormun stared at Ruby, "Ma'am. A single squad would walk out of here alive after the fight to get it into range. I don't fear for my own life, but my men… they have families."


"I understand," Ruby said, "I'd do the same… have done the same. You want me to go do it, I take it?"


"Yes. I know it's much to ask from a Sith, even one who is just an acolyte, but… it is said that one of you is worth twenty normal men."


"I'll do it," Ruby took the detonator, storing it in her robe as she drew her sword again, walking out the barricade, she looked to the opposite direction, where she saw one of the others stepping over a body, looking shaken.


Ruby focused on the way guarded by several large K'lor'slugs, turning on her sword and spinning it, she lowered herself for a second and activated her Semblance.


---


Pyrrha closed her eyes, hearing the cheers above her. They were different from the ones she had been once used to. Bloodthirsty.


"And now, it's time for the main event!" Pyrrha drew Milò at the announcer's call, stepping forward. She didn't like this, but she had to do it.


"In this corner, from parts unknown, the Bloody Warmaiden who climbed through the ranks at a meteoric pace!" Pyrrha still wasn't sure how someone had managed to come up with a worse name than 'The Invincible Girl', but they had managed, "Pyrrha Nikos!"


Pyrrha waved with one hand, a smile instantly plastered on her face. She knew this song and dance by heart.


"In the other corner, the champion of Karagga himself! Barada!"


The Klatooinian stepped from his spot, and the slowly prowled around each other.


"Nice and easy Nikos," Barada said, "Just take the fall. We got a big name Sith family watching."


Pyrrha's green eyes scanned the crowd, locking onto them, a man and woman in black robes, "The payout's three times what you offered me."


"Yeah," Barada gave a nasty smile, "but you'll live long enough to use that third."


Barada moved with speed unusual for his kind, swinging an axe at her.


However, he was painfully slow compared to…


Pyrrha dodged, raking Milò across Barada's back lightly. Enough for him to know she could have won right there. He wanted to give the damn imperials something to watch?


Pyrrha span, driving her leg into his spine and sending him flying back.


"You're making the last mistake of your life today, Nikos."


Pyrrha didn't say anything, but ducked under Barada's swing as she struck him in the chest with Milò's pommel.


She regretted it immediately as he drove his knee into her jaw, followed by an elbow to the skull to send her into the ground.


Barada grabbed her by her hair, pressing Milò to her throat, "Interesting weapon. I think I'll-"


Pyrrha stomped backwards, cracking Barada's leg and spinning into another kick. As he flew away, she grabbed Milo out of the air without looking, eyes locking on the imperials.


To her shock, the man who had caught her eye was nodding.


Pyrrha's instincts screamed at her to dodge, and she span, catching the needle in her arm. As Barada grinned at her, she felt her arm start to lose feeling, "Let's see you fight now, Nikos."


Pyrrha's grip on Milò grew tight. He thought she would die here? That would just make Ruby's sacrifice be in vain.


Pyrrha exploded into a whirling storm of metal, taking off one of Barada's arms on the first swing, followed by several deep lacerations to the chest, before taking his head off.


"The… the winner is Pyrrha Nikos?" the announcer sounded confused, even as Pyrrha walked away and out of the arena. She needed the med pack she kept in her apartment.


She got two blocks before Karagga's goons caught her. Four heavy nonhumans in plastoid armor.


"Move," She said.


"You were supposed to take the fall," one said.


"I never agreed to-"


"I said, you were supposed to-"


"I believe she heard you the first time. I'm quite glad she didn't, or else I wouldn't have met someone truly interesting," Pyrrha span, staring at the imperial man seated on a bench. He hasn't been there a second ago…


Now that she could see him up close, she could make out the bruising around his golden eyes, and the lines maring his face. His brown hair was just visible under the hood he wore.


"Would you boys mind leaving me to talk to Miss Nikos alone?" he asked, waving a hand.


"Yeah, of course," the leader nodded dumbly, walking away with his friends.


"Now, I am Lord Alister Temere, and I have a proposal for you, Miss Nikos."


"I don't care," Pyrrha shot back, turning away.


"They'll come for you eventually," He pointed out, like he was discussing the weather, "I'll give you a way off planet, a place to stay and a large quantity of credits. Larger than you should have made today."


"And what do I have to do?"


The Temere smiled, "Teach my idiot of a daughter to fight."


---


Ruby cut down another slug. The moment she had detonated the explosives, they'd been attacking her en masse, but she was close enough to see the exit. A flick of her hand sent a wave of Force behind her, sending most of the remaining ones back.


Turning, Ruby followed that up with another blast of lightning, allowing frying another couple of slugs.


"It's the acolyte! She's coming this way but there's a ton of k'lor'slugs chasing her!"


"Then what are you waiting for? Give her some help and fire!"


"But, sir if we hit her…"


"You won't, fire!"


Bolts of red and green flew around Ruby as she bobbed and weaved to avoid the storm of plasma while also cutting down several more. The ones that were hit by bolts generally stopped moving, a burning hole in their carapace.


One particularly large one was withstanding the onslaught well, the bolts of plasma bouncing off it.


Ruby cut down two more, jumping off a third's head to rain another bolt of lightning on the large one. Landing on its back, Ruby called out to the guards, "Sergeant! When it opens its mouth, fire into it!"


"Ope-?"


Ruby flipped her vibroblade around and drove it through the K'lor'slug's eye. The creature shreaked, thrashing about in an attempt to remove Ruby, however bolts flew into its mouth, leaving it to collapse dead.


Ruby stood, walking towards the barricade, "I blew it up."


"And we took out the broodmother from the looks of it," Cormun smiled, "We can handle the rest from here, ma'am. I'll make sure to wire some of the credits to your account when I get back. Oh! I'm sorry, I just realized I never got your name."


"Ruby Rose. What so you mean, credits?"


"The Imperial Military keeps a healthy supply of credits to pay for third party assistance. With our alliance with the Chiss Ascendancy and the Mandalorians, it's just a good idea. We are also allowed to use it to pay Sith who have not been assigned to assist our regiment but do so anyways."


"Does that happen often?"


"Not as much as some of us should like," Cormun said, "You made at least one friend among the military today, ma'am. I'll leave you to get back to your trial."


Ruby nodded, giving a small smile as she turned away, reaching for another rag to clean her blade as she went.


It took twenty minutes for her to arrive in front of another long staircase, watching as Kory walked up it. The other acolyte looked to be on the verge of tears.


"Hey," Ruby stopped, "Are you alright?"


Kory shook her head wildly, her grip on her sword tightening. The blade was coated in red, "I don't like it here."


"Neither do I," Ruby said, "but we're stuck here for now. Keep your chin up, ok? I'll see you in Harkun's office."


Kory nodded, continuing on her way.


Ruby walked down the stairs, looking around the room. On either side of the walkway leading to another staircase were men and women. Some were beating at dummies with vibroblades, others blasting them with weak jolts of lightning and others yet still were mediating. Her eyes were drawn to a large bloodstain on the floor, some of it fresh.


The sound of her boots on stone was the only sound as Ruby approached the stairs. Walking up them, Ruby stopped behind the man kneeling in before a dais, "Lord Spindrall?"


"Slave," Spindrall stood, turning towards her. He had dark shadows under his bloodshot orange eyes and a grey beard, "You are the last member of Harkun's newest group, sent to learn from the mad man in a cave?"


"I am," Ruby said evenly, hiding the jolt of anger, "Lord Spindrall, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"


"Why does anyone come here? Can't you feel it, the power of the Dark Side that inhabits this tomb?"


Ruby closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the thrum of energy, "I can."


"Stand still a moment, slave," Ruby tensed as Spindrall walked around her, before he grabbed her vibroblade, drawing it, "You haven't bloodie- no, wait. You've been cleaning the gore off?"


"Yes."


"You aren't a normal slave, are you?"


"I'm not a slave," Ruby said through gritted teeth.


"There is a quite easy way of judging that," Spindrall span her blade, handing it to her, "Do you see those four down there?"


Ruby followed his eyes, staring at the four watching them, "Yes."


"They are disgraced former acolytes, training under me in hope of regaining some semblance of honor. They want two things from you."


"What?"


"They want your spot as an acolyte, and they will take your life to get it. If you aren't a slave, if you are worthy of being Sith, cut them down."


Ruby didn't want to be Sith, but if it meant getting back to her family…


Ruby walked down the stairs, the acolytes watching her and parted as she reached them. The moment she past them, the first struck.


Ruby deflected his blade, grabbing his face and sending Force lightning crackling through it. As the next stepped forward, Ruby immediately blasted them, striking out and severing their head.


The last two attacked together, and Ruby snapped her hand out, grabbing a second vibrosword to deflect both strikes. Jumping back, Ruby threw a blade at one, blasting the other with lightning until he stopped moving.


The last jumped at her, holding both blades. Ruby sped herself up as fast as she could go without creating petals, hitting him in mid air, and hiding her flinch as his organs splattered across the floor.


"Well done, acolyte," Spindrall stepped down from his place, "You were correct, you are no mere slave, unlike the last one. I will give you several pieces of advice, then send you on your way. First, use your lightning to empower your blade. It will assist you when you get your saber. Next, harness your hatred of Harkun. It will allow you to become more powerful."


"I don't hate Harkun," Ruby said.


"But you will," Spindrall nodded, "You should go now. Follow the walkways to reach the academy, acolyte."


It took an hour to exit the tomb, but as Ruby entered Harkun's office, she couldn't help but feel satisfied.


Something quickly wiped by the nasty grin on the overseer's face, "Good, the last you has arrived. Now you can find out what the Hermit has decided about you slime. Acolyte Kory, step forward."


"Yes, Overse-" Harkun's saber ignited, cutting off Kory's words... and head. Ruby couldn't keep the look of surprise off her face. She knew they would be killed for failing, but hadn't expected it to be so… quick.


"She was a weak, pathetic worm. Even that lunatic Spindrall could see that," Harkun stepped behind his desk, hitting a holographic button, "I have sent each of you your room numbers. I would suggest getting some rest, you'll be up early tomorrow."


Ten minutes later, Ruby was in her room, eyes focusing on the other bed. Would that have been Kory's?


Pushing down the thought, Ruby plugged her datapad into the terminal and typed in seven addresses into the holomessage she had been composing before hand and hit send.


---


Pyrrha stared at the address in front of her, reaching out and tapping it with a shaking hand. A brief letter popped up.


Hey, guys.


I'm not sure if any of you use these addresses anymore. I hope you do, it's only been six months, but…


Anyways, sorry it took so long to contact you, but this is the first time I've gotten to a terminal since Voss. I hope things have been ok for you all.


So, this is the hard part. I might need some help. I'm typing this out in the back of a shuttle heading towards the Sith academy on Korriban.


Yeah. I know. Apparently I'm Force sensitive, who knew?


I'll try and message you guys whenever I can.


Love you all,


Ruby


Pyrrha brought a hand up to her mouth, feeling hot tears start to run down her face. Ruby was alive?


Pyrrha opened a new tab, starting to type.


Ruby,


I'm- Dust, what to say? -so happy you're alive. We feared the worst after Voss. I won't lie, things have been difficult, since we lost you.


I decided to go my separate way from the rest for a bit, though I have stayed in touch with them. I'm currently living with a wealthy family, training their daughter to fight. It's not the best job, but it keeps me fed, which I'm sure makes you happy.


I'm not sure if the rest have seen your message yet, nor how much they told you. Forgive me if I repeat anything that they already told you.


Blake, Yang and Weiss are all still together, though I expect one of them to break off to find you after they see it. Blake and Yang both took your 'death' harder than most of the rest of us, but Weiss kept them together well. You'd be proud. You probably are proud.


Jaune enlisted with the Republic military and should be deploying before too long. I haven't heard much from Ren or Nora in a bit, though they were with Yang and the others last I heard.


I'll try and figure a way to help you out too.


With love,


Pyrrha.


Pyrrha leaned back, rubbing tears from her eyes as a choked, giddy laugh rose up from deep inside her. Ruby was alive, Ruby was alive!


A knock came from the door, drawing her attention, "Yes?"


"Miss Nikos? You're late for your lesson," the young woman in the door said, "Lord Temere sent me to fetch you."


"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said, "I'll be right there. Thank you for reminding me."


Pyrrha walked to the place she kept Milò, checking the blade briefly, before flipping open the clasp at the bottom to check the mechanism within.


It had taken a year and a half to get enough money to convert Milò, Gambol Shroud, Stormflower, Myrtenaster and Crocea Mors into vibroweapons. The Job had been intended to start the even more expensive process of getting the guns modified into blasters.


Pyrrha stepped into the hall, walking towards the large room the Temeres kept for training.


The Temeres were… tolerable. Lord and Lady Temere had done their best to make her feel welcome in their Athiss estate, but… they were imperials.


Their daughter, however, was unlikable. Pyrrha hadn't met anyone as repulsive as Aalale before, not even Cardin. Jaylana and Alister were, at the very least, moderates among their peers. They were proud members of the Empire, but they didn't approve of violence for its own sake. Aalale always asked Pyrrha to teach her the most painful places to strike, ones that would cause her opponents to die writhing in agony and always threw a fit when Pyrrha refused.


"You're late," the brown haired woman said, leaning on the vibroblade she trained with, "You kept father and mother waiting."


"I'm sorry," Pyrrha directed at Alistair, who was seated in a armchair to the side of the arena, "Something came up that I had to deal with."


"Do you want to reschedule?" Alistair asked calmly, his golden eyes watching her, "Aalale doesn't depart for a couple of days, if it's important."


"Father!" Aalale gasped like he had implied something horrific about her, "This is supposed to be my final test to you! I've prepared all week!"


"Pyrrha has a life outside this family," Jaylana cut in.


"It's been dealt with as well as I can for the moment. Thank you though," Pyrrha smiled at the duo.


"See!" Aalale swelled, "She understands me proving my skill is more important than whatever minor thing she has in her life!"


Pyrrha glared at the back of Aalale's head. Ruby wasn't minor.


"I do hope you prove yourself," Alistair rebutted, "if you're anywhere close to last month's showing, I'd be better off sending Pyrrha to Korriban over you."


Aalale bristled, "She isn't even Force sensitive!"


"Then how is she able to beat you so handily?" Alistair's eyes were focused on Pyrrha, ignoring Aalale's stomped foot, "Ready, Pyrrha?"


"Yes."


"Then you two may start whenever you wish," Alister said, tenting his fingers as he rested one foot on his knee.


"Good," Aalale smirked, lunging at Pyrrha, "I've been waiting for this!"


Pyrrha sidestepped the telegraphed strike, doing a half spin to keep track of Aalale. As the heiress span, swinging at Pyrrha with something between a roar and a shriek, the champion leaned away from the attack.


Pyrrha smashed Milò into Aalale's skull, watching her stager back as she readied herself for the inevitable attempt at retaliation.


She wasn't disappointed, Aalale charging at her with a mad shriek, giving up all attempts to give a sense of decorum as she attacked Pyrrha again and again.


The champion turned each blow away with ease, stepping back to offset the force of the strikes.


"Pyrrha," Alistair barked, "I've seen enough, end this."


Pyrrha did so, catching the next attack and sweeping Aalale's feet from under her, catching the vibroblade in the air and shutting it off. Dropping it, Pyrrha turned off Milò and stepped back as Alistair walked towards his daughter.


"Father?" Aalale panted as she pushed herself up, staring at her approaching parent, "Why did you stop it?"


"What," in the four months she had worked for the Temeres, Pyrrha had never heard Alistair's voice like this. Barely above a whisper, with an icy rage coursing through it, "was that?"


"I was proving my ski-"


"Your skill? At what, making a fool of yourself? Look at you, you're out of breath after- what was it, Jaylana dear? Ten strikes?"


"Fourteen."


"Now look at Pyrrha. She's hardly broken a sweat. If this was a real battle, you'd be dead."


"If this was a real battle, I would have won!"


"And how did you expect to do that while swinging around your sword like a child playing pretend?"


"Father-"


"No. This has gone on long enough, Aalale. You're almost a full grown woman but you act like a child. We've afforded you every chance to become a powerful Sith, and you've squandered it with nothing but excuses. We asked you why you had been avoiding your combat training and you said you weren't content with the training droids we bought you. So we hired a trainer, and you've wasted her time as much as anyone's. What now, do you intend to blame it on Pyrrha?


Aalale staggered up, clutching her vibroblade, "I- She didn't-"


"She didn't what? Throw this fight? Lavish you with unearned praise? Pyrrha is a saint compared to what the trainers of Korriban would do to you."


The hairs on Pyrrha's neck stood on end. Something was about to go wrong.


"Father, I-"


"No," Alistair cut her off again, "I'm done with your excuses. Go to your room, I need to call Tremel."


"Why?" Aalena asked, looking on the verge of tears.


"Why? Because you're clearly not ready, anyone can see that. Maybe in another year, if we're both lucky, but presenting you to Darth Baras as you are now would make our entire family look like we think he's a fool."


"I- I-" a dark look came across Aalale's face, and she span, turning on her vibroblade and leaping at Pyrrha with a scream.


Pyrrha dodged, but Aalale was immediately upon her, swinging repeatedly, "This is your fault! You made me look like a fool!"


"I did everything I could!" Pyrrha shot back, "Half the time I had to drag you into here!"


"Shut up!"


Pyrrha turned aside her student's blade, keeping herself calm as Aalale fell into a renewed rage.


Finally, Aalale opened herself too wide, and years of combat experience kicked in as Pyrrha stepped into her guard, angling Milò's blade up and impaling Aalale.


As Aalale fell back, Pyrrha was suddenly painfully aware she was in the room with the parents of the woman she just run through.


Alistair was merely watching her however, seemingly examining her, "Pyrrha, I have an offer for you."


"What?"


"I seem to be out an heiress," Alistair said, "And you seem to be Force sensitive. A friend of mine opened up a position for Aalale at the Korriban Sith Academy. It's the most prestigious academy in the Empire. Would you like to go?"


Pyrrha opened her mouth to refute, before her mind pulled something up.


I might need some help. I'm typing this out in the back of a shuttle heading towards the Sith academy on Korriban.


Sith academy on Korriban.


I might need some help.


"I'll go," Pyrrha nodded. She had no love for the Sith, but if it meant Ruby had a friendly face, Pyrrha would gladly go.


"Then you should start packing," Jaylana said, standing up and dusting off her skirt as she walked to Alistair, "The shuttle will be here within the next couple of days."


"I'm- I'm sorry."


"She made her choice," Alistair said softly, "I can't have very well expected you to just lie down and let her kill you, could I? Just- leave us alone for a few hours, would you Pyrrha?"


"I- Yes, of course."


As Pyrrha stepped out off the room, she heard Alistair speak, "Damnit Laney, why couldn't you have understood I was trying to keep you alive?"


---


Blake staggered out of her room on the Golden Dragon, nodding to Ren, who was already walking around the kitchen. The martial artist held out her mug, allowing Blake to snag it as she went with a mumbled thanks.


Looking out one of the windows, Blake stared at the waves crashing upon the sands as she settled into one of the chairs wondering if she should go out and eat on the beach.


The Dragon felt too empty now, without Pyrrha, Jaune and, especially, Ruby.


Blake's grip on her mug tightened. She didn't think any of them had realized just much losing their leader would hurt. Still hurt.


Yang had, unsurprisingly, taken it the hardest. She had them on the first non-empire base they had come across, Nar Shaddaa, and launched herself into a multiday long bender. Blake had been half a mind to join her, with how bad the heart ache was.


Pyrrha had requested to be left on Nar Shaddaa, taking a small portion of their money and disappearing into the Smuggler's Moon. Feeling guilty, Blake had suspected (and later outright confirmed through messages) about being the last one on the ship. Survivor's guilt.


There had been a lot of that over the first couple of months.


Nora had been unnaturally quiet and Blake had occasionally found the explosives expert just sitting on one of the couches bolted to the ship, staring blankly at a wall. Sometimes, when Ren had been busy, Blake would join her. Pulling up stories and jokes her parents told her back on Menagerie.


Ren had been as impressive as ever, but there were slip ups that gave away that he was feeling Ruby's death just as much. An extra plate of food at dinner, always almost placed at Ruby's seat before he caught himself and put it in the center. A pause in his speech when he'd turn to where Ruby usually was.


Jaune had gone quiet immediately after, speaking only a handful of sentences over the next week. The first time they hit a republic world, he had, quite calmly, informed them that he was enlisting in the army and marched off to do so, headless of their calls.


Weiss had held it in the best, busying herself with taking on all Ruby's responsibilities except leadership, which had passed onto Jaune. Once he had left, though, Weiss had taken on that duty too. Finding jobs, haggling the payment, Weiss had taken to the life of a smuggler with bizzare ease.


Blake was used to hiding scars, though she had admitted to Pyrrha that she had been hiding it until she could get away from everyone else. Ruby's death had been painful.


The younger woman had always seemed so alive, whether she was complaining about whatever trouble Yang and Nora had gotten into at port or playing dejarik with Ren, Jaune or Pyrrha. Less than a day before her death she had been arguing with Weiss about an apparent error Weiss thought she had found in Ruby's ledger of their credits. Weiss had stalked out of the room, smiling smugly at actually getting one over on Ruby in math.


Turns out Ruby had known of the error before Weiss pointed it out, purposefully omitting the credits she had spent on a blaster so Weiss would have a longer ranged option in a fight.


"Heeey!" Blake snapped from her thoughts as Nora sat down across from her, a stack of pancakes on her plate, "How's everything goin'?"


"Fine," Blake said, smiling across the table, "How are you?"


"Fine," Nora said, starting in on her first pancake, "One sec, got some mai-"


"Is something wrong?" Blake asked as Nora froze, eyes wide as she stared at her datapad, pancake hanging from her mouth, "Nora?"


"Check- check your mail," Nora breathed out, not breaking her stare.


Blake did, turning on her datapad to check her mail… and froze, "No…"


"Yes!" Nora leapt up, grinning triumphantly as she turned the corner, "Ren! Food can wait! Help me wake everyone else up, it's suuuper important!"


As Nora ran down the hall, banging on every door as she went, Blake opened the mail. As she read it, shock gave way to worry, then determination.


Ruby was alive. Ruby was alive.


Ruby was alive and in Empire territory, being forced to go to one of their academies and become a Sith.


Under the table, Blake clenched her fist, feeling her ears nearly flatten.


Which meant, no matter what it took, Blake was getting into Empire territory and protecting Ruby.


---


Jaune reread the mail for the twentieth time, feeling something coil in his gut.


He wasn't sure which was worse, Ruby being dead, or being forced to become part of their 'noble' class.


Jaune sent off a short message, pleading with Ruby to stay strong, but that he couldn't help at the moment.


And he really, really wanted to be able to, but he was getting his first deployment soon.


Jaune had put his training with Pyrrha to good use. Beyond the roof of their dorm in Beacon, they had gone out of their way to train on each planet, experiencing how more and less gravity would affect you when fighting on desert sand, or ice, or in the heart of a jungle. And look where it had gotten him,Carida, one of the Big Three, and legitimately this time. Top of the class in close range combat, forward assault and search and destroy.


Jaune's datapad beeped again, carrying official Republic mail. He was being assigned to a small force in the Outer Rim, looking for signs of imperial movement. To be deployed within the week.


Good. Ruby might be (relatively) safe, but there were other people who could be in danger because of the imps. And if an opportunity to save Ruby came up? All the better.


Now he just needed to get through the remaining time he had to sit around and wait.


Jaune pulled up his friends addresses hoping to get in a holocall about the news.

---

Christ if I know parings (other than Renora and Freezerburn), Part of me is going Ladybug, part of me is going Milk and Cereal, and part of me is going "Why not both?"

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Ruby dodged around a droid, slashing at the set of exposed wires. As the training droid shutdown, Ruby turned towards the combat master, calmly sheathing her sword.


Then the hairs of her neck stood on end and she span, drawing her vibroblade as quickly as she could.


The new droid's blade clattered to the ground as Ruby took off its right arm, but a blade sprang from its left arm, slashing at Ruby. Ruby severed the central mass of wires, pushing it away as another droid stepped forward.


"Form two!" Inquisitor Jarobi barked and Ruby shifted forms. Taking one hand off the vibroblade, she lowered the weapon into the starting position. She tightened her stance, turning her torso slightly as she did so.


Form II: Makashi focused on footwork and keeping yourself from being disarmed in combat. Fluidity, balance, precision.


Sith Inquisitors traditionally preferred either Form II, Form I: Shii-Cho, or Form VI: Niman. Form I was the opposite of Makashi, focusing on sweeping strikes to disarm the opponent. Form VI, however, was a blend of the five preceding styles. It wasn't as good at anything as the other forms, but had none of the weakness.


Ruby wasn't sure if she liked any of them. Weiss, Pyrrha, Jaune and Blake had all let her try out their swords, and she was decent with them, but she had been trained to use a scythe in combat.


Still, after two weeks of near non-stop training, she was getting used to the three styles. Especially Makashi, which was similar to what she had been using beforehand. Don't block when you can deflect, riposte when the chance came.


The first attack came, and Ruby stepped back as she deflected each strike, waiting for the droid to open up.


When it did, she ran her vibroblade through the droid's 'head', activating the programming that made it shut off.


"Hmm…" Jarobi paced around her, his eyes examining her, "You're performing well today, Ruby. Keep this up, and you could very well become a powerful Inquisitor."


"Thank you, sir."


"No-" Jarobi sighed as her datapad beeped, "I hope that's important."


"It's from Overseer Harkun. He wants my class at his office as soon as possible."


"Then you may go," Jarobi turned, walking towards another training Acolyte, "Form six!"


Ruby stepped out of the training room, walking through the metal hallway towards Harkun's office. She had been able to avoid talking to the Overseer much, but even those few conversations were causing Spindrall's prediction to come true.


"Took you long enough, slave," Harkun sneered as she stepped into the room, the rest of the acolytes already gathered, "Ignoring your betters?"


"No. I was training with Inquisitor Jarobi, but then I got called to deal with an over inflated ego. You can message him if you don't believe me."


Harkun's sneer grew worse as he hit a button on his desk, "Jarobi?"


"What, Harkun? I'm busy."


"The Rose slave is claiming she had been training with you."


"She was until you sent for her," Jarobi said, "I do hope this is actually important, Harkun. It's a hour and a half until we break for the day, you could have waited until then."


"Yes, yes," Harkun hung up, a scowl creeping onto his face, "Alright, so you were training. For once."


"As opposed to the slacking off we've all been so busy with," Ruby snarked, "I'm sure we'd all like to get back to that, so why don't you tell us why you called us here?"


"We'll see how confident you are after this. Ffon, come in!"


"Yes, Overseer," Ruby looked behind her as a black clad man stepped forward. His eyes were a orange that bordered on red, while his skin was as crimson. As he stepped closer, she noticed the bony ridges on either side of his nose.


"Meet our newcomer, Ffon Althe. Sith blooded, and more powerful than any of you could ever hope to be. He will be Lord Zash's apprentice, you slaves might as well throw yourself from the Valley, you'd be saving us all time."


"Soooo…" Ruby stretched out the word, "You called us here to boast about how you're so scared of a bunch of slaves that you're attempting to rig it. You know that makes you look bad, right?"


"Pah!" Harkun scoffed, "if you had an ounce of Sith blood, you might stand a chance against Ffon, slave."


Ruby rolled her eyes, "Is that all? Because apparently I have a suicide note to write, 'dear everyone, Overseer Harkun is such a cowa-"


Harkun's hand sparked meaningfully, "Don't test me, slave. Everyone else can leave, you stay."


Ruby kept the mask up as they left. Be something other than Ruby Rose for the moment, "So why're you keeping me around? Hoping that if I miss an hour of training, I'll lose to your pet?"


"You'll be gaining a roommate as of later today."


"Not Ffon, I hope?"


"Scared?"


"No, it'll just be so much harder to frame you for his death if we're sharing a room."


"I bet you think you're funny?"


"Pretty," Ruby shrugged. Throw up enough sarcasm, and they couldn't hurt you. Couldn't find what would hurt you.


"Yes, well. This is the heiress to a powerful Sith family, you will behave in her presence. That we have to have her bunk with a slave is bad enough, it'd be worse if you're unruly."


"Oh, I'm sure it will be fine. We'll braid each others hair, plot murders. Normal Sith stuff."


"Cute. No self respecting Sith would touch you."


"...Yeah, sure, let's go with that," Ruby said with a shrug, "I'll go clean our room. Bye Harkun."


---


Pyrrha ignored the quaking as the shuttle entered through the atmosphere, staring at the message in front of her.


Heiress? Heiress? She hadn't signed up for that-


"I seem to be out an heiress."


Had, had that been a twisted offer of adoption? She knew the Sith valued strength, but to up and adopt your daughter's killer?


And why hadn't either of them mentioned this to her? She didn't want to be the heiress to a Sith family. She'd only agreed to this so she could find Ruby.


"Uh…" Pyrrha's eyes turned to one of the black suited guards across from her, "is everything alright, Lady Temere?"


No. That was where she drew the line, "Don't call me that."


"Ma'am?"


"Just call me Pyrrha, I insist."


"Are you sure, Lady Temere? It's improper for the soldiers to speak that way."


"Yes," even if she had wanted it, wasn't Jaylana still Lady Temere?


"Very well, Lady Pyrrha."


Pyrrha stifled a sigh. Good enough for now.


"How long until we land?"


"One minute. I suggest being ready."


Pyrrha checked Miló again, before sheathing it, waiting for the shuttle to land as she did. She could do this. Compared to tournaments and Grimm, this couldn't be that hard. Right?


The first thing Pyrrha noticed about Korriban was the heat. The air seemed to shimmer close to the metal landing pad they were on, and she she saw an endless field of sand below them.


Trust the Sith to build their most prodigious academy in the heart of a desert. Beacon was built on a cliff overlooking the sea, Haven was lined with trees, Sanctum into one of the floating islands. Sith had worlds, and they built their academy in a desert.


Stepping out of the sun, Pyrrha walked to the salt and pepper haired man sitting behind a desk, "Are you Overseer Tremel?"


"Huh?" The man's head jumped up from the display he was looking at, allowing Pyrrha to get a good look at him. The dark skin of his face was marred with lines and there was an almost dead look in his brown eyes, "Ah! I didn't hear you land, apologies," the man stood, "I am Overseer Tremel, yes. You are Pyrrha Nikos?"


"I am," Pyrrha said.


"Well then, stand still a moment so I can get a look at you," Tremel stood, pacing around Pyrrha, "Well, you weren't what I was expecting, but Alistair doesn't tend to make mistakes on such matters. You are, at least, physically strong. And you're not a slave."


Pyrrha blinked at the spat word, "Slave? What do you mean?"


"Alistair didn't tell you? The Dark Council, Darth Malgus and the Emperor have, for some reason, decided to allow Force sensitive slaves to attempt to become Sith," Tremel shook his head, "Disgusting."


"Wouldn't more Sith be a good thing?"


"Normally? Yes. But slaves are slaves because they were weak. Introducing too much of that bad blood, letting it rise so high? That will destroy us."


Pyrrha didn't say anything, keeping her disgust hidden. If Tremel was an example of a normal Sith…


The things she did for the ones she loved.


"Where do we begin, Overseer?" Pyrrha asked. The sooner she got free, the sooner she'd be able to find Ruby.


"Good. Aalale wou-" Tremel stopped, "She wouldn't have taken the initiative like that. Beyond that door is the tomb of Ajunta Pall, within you will find a Sith Warblade. Retrieve your new weapon and meet me in my office at the main academy."


"I'm fine with Miló," Pyrrha said, reaching up to touch the sheathed blade.


Tremel clicked his tongue, "Yes, Alistair did say something about that. Retrieve it nonetheless. Even if you never use it, being able to say you own a warblade that you personally retrieved from the tomb of the first Dark Lord will strengthen our claim that you are worthy of being Darth Baras's apprentice. Even after your departure from Korriban, it will be a sign of your strength."


Pyrrha nodded, walking towards the door, "Then I'll see you in your office."


"Yes. And Pyrrha?"


"Yes?"


"While you're in there, there's been an infestation of tomb robbers thinking they can take our legacy. If you eliminated them, it would also make you look better."


Wasn't she technically tomb robbing?


"Yes, Overseer."


"Good," Tremel nodded, "I'll leave you to it."


Pyrrha drew Miló, walking the brief distance between her and the tomb, sighing as sand got into her boots.


As she stepped into the tomb, Pyrrha met the eyes of a young man. He was wearing brown synth weave armor, a mass produced vibroblade on his back and a blaster on his hip.


He grabbed the blaster, firing a bolt at her. Pyrrha saw his eyes widen as she dodged around his shot. She dodged around the next two, closing the distance between them as his face paled.


"Sith!" He called down the hall as he grabbed his vibroblade, slashing at Pyrrha as it hummed.


Pyrrha caught his arm, running him through as she did.


"No!" Pyrrha dove out of the way as a stream of blaster bolts scorched where she had been.


Two more guards were running towards her, holding bayoneted blaster rifles. Pyrrha span around another two bursts, throwing Miló at one of them.


The moment Miló sunk into his chest, Pyrrha activated her Semblance, catching the blade as it flew back and launching herself across the space with unusual strength, cutting through the other.


Looking down at them, Pyrrha sighed.


"I'm sorry."


---


"I don't like this," Yang said for the twentieth time, carrying a box full of relics into the ship.


"I know," Blake said, carrying another with Ren, "None of us do. But you've still got that bounty on you and are the only one who can fly the ship."


"Yeah," Yang lowered the crate, walking out onto the landing pad as Blake jogged to catch up with her, "I know. But it doesn't feel right, flying a bunch of dusty old relics to the Jedi while Ruby needs our help."


"Me and Nora will make sure nothing happens to her," Blake promised, eyes trained on where Nora and Ren had stepped away, talking quietly.


After a minute of talking, Nora latched onto Ren in a back breaking hug. Ren didn't hesitate to return it, resting his head on Nora's.


With Yang incapable of going, they needed a heavy hitter tagging along with Blake. While Yang trusted her partner, everyone agreed that it would be safer if someone that could cause a lot of destruction if things went wrong came along.


"Tell Ruby I love her when you see her," Yang instructed Blake again, "and make sure she stays healthy."


She had sent messages to Ruby with those words everyday, but it wasn't the same as saying them personally.


Blake smiled at her, just a tiny quirk in the corner of her mouth, "And you make sure the Dragon stays in one piece. I don't want to bring her home only for there to be no home to bring her to."


"Relax," Yang said, "I could handle my baby in my sleep!"


"I know. And we can protect Ruby. I'm not leaving her behind again. Not now, not ever."


"Good," Yang smiled, punching Blake in the shoulder, "You gonna wait for Weiss before heading off?"


"No need to," Weiss came up next to Blake, her white coat buttoned up to her neck, "I'm here."


Weiss reached into pocket, handing Blake a golden card.


"A credit chip?" Blake asked, turning the card over.


"Yes," Weiss nodded, "It has four thousand credits on it. That should be enough to keep you going for a month or two. Just in case you can't find work."


"Thanks," Blake smiled again.


"And if something goes wrong, let us know so we can help. Ruby's not going to be happy if you two die trying to save her."


"We will," Blake nodded, "And you three stay safe. We'll call you when we get settled in."


"Still doesn't make much sense to me," Yang said, "Heading into Hutt space to get to the Empire."


"Korriban is in the Stygian Caldera," Ren said as he and Nora walked to them, "It'll disrupt any attempts to make a jump through it, Empire has the only way in and out locked down."


"And even if it wasn't, Korriban has to be heavily defended," Blake said.


"Yeah," Yang said, "but how does going to Nar Shaddaa help?"


"There's some big bounty hunter thing happening soon," Nora said, jumping in place slightly, "We're gonna find a way in."


"And that helps-?"


"We'll start on Dromund Kaas, the Empire capital planet."


"And from there to Korriban?"


Everyone shared an awkward look.


"No," Weiss finally broke it, "Then they wait."


"What?"


"There's no way they'd let us on Korriban," Blake said, "Dromund Kaas is the closest we can get. We're still going to be viewed as mercenaries, they won't trust us enough to let us onto Korriban. The moment Ruby gets off Korriban, we make a beeline for her and we get out. But that's the best we can do. The only other thing we can do is trust Ruby."


"This sucks," Yang sighed, "Like, really sucks."


"It's better than it was a couple of weeks ago," Weiss pointed out.


Blake's datapad chirped, and she looked down, "Our ship's going to start boarding soon. We're in the fifth group, but we should go."


"Yeah," Yang nodded, "We'll- just don't pull a Pyrrha, ok?"


"I won't," Blake said, grabbing her bag and walking away, Nora joining her a second later.


Yang watched them go, before turning and climbing into the Dragon, retracting the gangplank once Weiss and Ren were on.


"Hold on," Yang said, hands a blur as she got the Dragon into the air, clearing the Coruscant atmosphere at borderline illegal speeds, before punching in the coordinate of Tython, "Oh boy."


"What?" Weiss asked, sitting at the Dejarik table with Ren.


"It says it'll take six hours to get there," Yang said, reaching for the button to turn autopilot off, "I can get us there in fou-"


"No," Weiss said sharply, "We're carrying priceless relics, not guns. We'll do this properly."


"Fine," Yang sighed hitting the confirm button on the autopilot array.


As they leapt into hyperspace, Yang threw up her legs onto the front, pulling out her datapad to play a game.


---


Pyrrha stepped into the chamber, walking towards the mummified body clutching a long sword. As she sheathed Miló, keeping an eye on the rusted droids lining the walls, Pyrrha couldn't help but be reminded of Jaune.


She hadn't heard from him since her self-imposed exile. Hell, she hadn't heard from most of her friends since then.


It had been, oddly enough, Blake who had broken the silence. A month and a half after she had disappeared into Nar Shaddaa, Pyrrha had gotten a message from the cat faunus. In it, Blake had detailed how Jaune had left for the Republic military.


Pyrrha had spent three days procrastinating about responding to it, before sending a message back. A short apology for Ruby, before asking her if the rest were angry at her.


Blake's message had said no, that they never had been. That they all were worried about her.


Pyrrha's grip on the blade grew tight. They shouldn't have been, it was her fault.


Pulling the sword from the mummy's hands, Pyrrha took a moment to examine it. The pommel was curved away from the blade, a red gem embedded in the center of it. The gladiator ran a hand along the leatherbound hilt, reaching the guard. It was clearly intended to block, as each side of the warblade's guard was bent towards the blade, to catch the opponent's blade.


The blade itself was quite simple, a straight blade made of a red tinged metal extended for about… twenty five inches? Dust she didn't know. She'd ask Ruby when they saw each other, she was good at that. Weapons, math and mechanics were Ruby's area of expertise.


The blade seemed to hum in her hand, a pleasant, enticing sound instead of the toneless hum that came from a Vibroblade. As Pyrrha looked around, however, she quickly found a problem. There was no sheath, no way to carry it back while keeping Miló in hand.


The blade humming again, causing Pyrrha to smile. Well, it couldn't hurt to use the sword once. Ruby tried out weapons all the time, even if she always returned to Crescent Rose.


As if that thought had triggered some hidden mechanism, four of the droids sprang to life, drawing conventional swords as they stood between her and the exit.


Pyrrha felt a grin slid onto her face as she wrapped her off hand around the lower portion of the blade. The blade hummed again, like it was excited.


As the first droid stepped forward, Pyrrha launched herself forward, her sword cleaving though the droid before it had time to react. And the one after that.


The next one had enough time to attempt to block, her weapon sinking into the rusted blade. Pyrrha pushed harder, cutting through the sword and droid in one strike.


Before the last droid could move, Pyrrha leapt at it, her new blade cutting though it as easily as its kin. Pyrrha looked down at her sword. It need a name… how about…?


"Ýmnos," Pyrrha breathed through a haze, staring at the sword in her hand. Ýmnos, in turn, hummed in what could only be approval.


With Ýmnos's song in her ear, the walk out of the tomb and to Tremel's office didn't seem to take as long.


As she walked down the hall leading to Tremel's office, she was stopped by a pair of young men.


"Hey there, acolyte! Stop right there," the smaller of the two said, pushing off the wall he was leaning against, "Let me have a look at you."


Pyrrha took a moment to do the same. His hair was shaved in several spots, and he had a cross shaped scar across his face. On his back was another sword.


"So you're Overseer Tremel's secret weapon, eh? You're impressive to be sure, but the old man took too long to make his move."


"You seem to have me at a disadvantage, you are…?"


"I'm Vemrin. Unlike you, I fought and bled for everything I have. I demand your respect."


"And you have it," Pyrrha said, "but Korriban is a big place, surely there's enough room for both of us?"


"I'm glad to hear you say that. There's plenty of room behind me. Listen, if Tremel had made his move a year ago, when I had first got here, you might have had a chance. But he didn't. Now you're too little, too late."


"This is ridiculous Vemrin!" The other man said, reaching for his vibroblade, "let's just kill her and hide the body!"


Ýmnos hummed as Pyrrha tensed, moving the sword slightly. Before they could come to blows, Vemrin placed his hand on his lacky's chest.


"We're not on Balmorra, Dolgis. There are rules and traditions here. We'll leave the cheating and shortcuts to Tremel and her."


"I'm not going to go down easily," Pyrrha warned.


She was going to get Ruby and herself through this, no matter what.


"You think highly of yourself, don't you?" Vemrin scoffed pushing past her, "Coming, Dolgis?"


"I'll be right there, Vemrin," Dolgis said, before turning to Pyrrha and standing to his full height. It probably would have been more intimidating if Pyrrha wasn't nearly as tall as he was, "Listen here, you bitch. Acolytes aren't allowed to murder each other, but accidents happen. It isn't murder if there's no one around, understand?"


"Are you threatening me?" Pyrrha asked incredulously, "Outside the Overseer's office?"


Dolgis froze, looking over to Tremel's office like he had just remembered where he was, "Point is, I'm warning you. Vemrin is the alpha monster here. You mess with him, you die."


"I'm not scared of you," Pyrrha said bluntly.


"Well, you should be," Dolgis scowled at her, before marching away.


Pyrrha watched him go, before walking into Tremel's office. With the Overseer was a woman around Pyrrha's age and they both turned to her.


"Ah, Pyrrha," Tremel said, "You've got the blade, good. Let me see if for a moment, would you?"


Pyrrha handed Ýmnos to Tremel. The Overseer examined the weapon.


"Father," the other woman said, "Who is this?"


"This is Pyrrha. Alistair sent her," Tremel said.


"I thought he was sending Laney?"


Tremel sighed as he closed his eyes, "Aalale is dead. She attacked someone stronger than her."


The other woman closed her eyes, shaking her head, "Damnit, Laney."


Pyrrha stood there awkwardly.


"Back on topic," Tremel said, "Well done, Pyrrha. You completed this trial perfectly. Your next one will be tomorrow. Take your blade and-" Tremel hit something on his desk, and a chirp came from Pyrrha's datapad, "-that is your room number. We're supposed to fill up each room, so you'll be bunking with a slave. My friend Harkun is her Overseer and says she's trouble. Inform me if she is too much, we'll deal with it."


"I'm… I'm sure we'll get along fine," Pyrrha said, turning and walking out.


It took a few minutes to find the room. She would drop off her stuff and go to look for Ruby.


"So," A familiar voice said as the door swung open, "You're my roommate? I don't know what they told you but- Pyrrha?"


Pyrrha let Ýmnos fall from her hands, "Ruby?"


Sitting on a messy bed, though when Pyrrha had entered she had been sprawled out on it and staring at the ceiling, wearing red robes was Ruby.


---


Ruby stood from her bed, walking with a calm she wasn't feeling. She pulled Pyrrha into the room, looking around the hall furtively. Once she confirmed that nobody else was around, Ruby withdrew, hitting the buttons on the panel next to the door to shut and lock it.


Then she promptly span around and tackled Pyrrha onto the bed behind them.


"Pyrrha! What are you doing here?! No, nevermind," Ruby babbled as she wrapped her arms around Pyrrha, "Dust, I'm happy to see you! I mean, I didn't expect help this quickly when I sent that lett-" Ruby stopped, pushing herself up so she was straddling Pyrrha.


Pyrrha, for her part, was staring up at Ruby with wide eyes, her red hair splayed out like a halo on the equally red sheets.


Ruby hid her own flinch at the crack of her hand on Pyrrha's cheek, watching the gladiator raise a hand to touch the red spot, "What-?"


"You idiot," Ruby seethed, "You and Jaune both. I stayed behind to keep you safe and you leave everyone else? Do you know how worried I was when I got your message? And now you're here! I don't know how you got to Korriban, but there's no way they'd let us get off. And, and-" Ruby froze again, "You need to go."


"What? Why?" Pyrrha asked.


"I'm supposed to get a roommate later today. They haven't shown up yet and-"


"I think I'm the roommate," Pyrrha said.


"Wuh-?" Ruby stared at Pyrrha in bewilderment.


"That family I mentioned… they were Sith. I had to kill their daughter in self-defense and they asked me to come here. I agreed so I could protect you."


Ruby blushed slightly, "Oh."


Pyrrha's face suddenly became serious, "Ruby. They said I was bunking with a slave."


"Former slave," Ruby corrected. There was no point in denying it.


Ruby tensed for a quarter of a second as Pyrrha pulled her close, before returning to hugging Pyrrha.


"Oh, Ruby," Pyrrha sounded choked, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."


"It's not your fault," Ruby said, "I'm fine. It's over now."


Those scars were hers to live with. Not Pyrrha's. Never Pyrrha's.


"This is my fault," Pyrrha mumbled, "I should have paid more attention, realized you weren't actually on the Dragon."


"I thought I was the one who threw my datapad in?" Ruby asked, "how is that your fault?"


Pyrrha didn't answer, merely tightened her hold on Ruby. Ruby hugged her back, ignoring the part of her that was pointing out, with justifiable confusion, that she was in the midst of comforting someone for something that had happened to her.


Still, Pyrrha was here! Ruby had expected to go at least a year without seeing any of her friends!


"Pyrrha," Ruby said, "It doesn't matter. You're here now. I missed you."


Ruby heard Pyrrha swallow, "I missed you too. More than you could know… Oh! I had something I wanted to ask you. Can you get off of me for a moment?"


Ruby rolled off of Pyrrha, staring at the metallic roof and resisting the urge to give a mad laugh. When she had been told she was getting a roommate, she had been prepared to slide the mask of sarcasm on at all times. There would have been nowhere it was safe to just be herself.


But it was Pyrrha! Pyrrha was here! She could be herself around Pyrrha! Well, almost herself.


"So!" Ruby popped up, a grin on her face, "Whatcha need?"


Pyrrha had picked up the sword she had walked in with, hesitating briefly before offering it to Ruby, "I retrieved it as my first task. I was wondering what you could tell me about it."


"Sure!" Ruby grabbed the sword, examining it. The first thing she noticed was that it was lighter than it probably should have been, "Lets see… Longsword, probably around-" Ruby stuck out her tongue, "Four feet. Not sure what kinda metal though…" Ruby span it once, experimentally, "It's really well balanced," Ruby closed her eyes for a moment, "and radiating the Dark Side."


"Is it safe?" Pyrrha asked, worry creasing her face.


"Pyrrha, it's a sword."


"You know what I mean," Pyrrha sighed.


"Should be fine, yeah," Ruby handed Pyrrha back the sword, "Pretty much everything old does that here. Do you have a name for it yet?"


"Ýmnos," Pyrrha said, leaning the blade against the wall of their room. Something about that it was their room made Ruby want to giggle madly, which she did, "are you alright?"


"I'm fine," Ruby said, "Just happy you're here. Whatcha gonna do with Ým- whatever?"


"I'll get a sheath for tomorrow," Pyrrha said.


"Ok! Hey," Ruby frowned as she realized something, "Where's Akoúo̱?"


Pyrrha stopped, reaching behind her, "I left it on the Dragon."


"Why?" Ruby cocked her head, "It's still a good throwing weapon."


"It didn't feel right, carrying a shield after…"


"Pyrrha," Ruby said, swapping from happy to worried, taking Pyrrha's hand gently, "You took this really hard didn't you."


"Yes," Pyrrha said, looking back at Ruby, "I'm sorry. I'm going to make this up to you, no matter what it takes."


"Make what up to me?" Ruby asked, "You didn't do anything wrong."


Pyrrha crouched slightly, bringing her even with Ruby, "I promise you, I'm going to keep you safe until one of us leaves Korriban. If it's me, I'll wait for you. And if it's you, I'll do whatever it takes to finish here and meet with you."


"I hope you realize I'm not going to sit around like a damsel," Ruby said, remembering the stories she had loved on Remnant, "We're going to get through this together, Pyrrha. Ok?"


"Ok," Pyrrha smiled back at her.


"Great," Ruby chirped, grabbing Pyrrha by the arm and dragging her towards the door, "Come on, let's get something to eat while you tell me what you've been doing!"


---


Ren felt the Dragon shift, tilting downwards as they slowed rapidly. Ren calmly stood, breaking from his meditation and walking out of his room.


Weiss was seated before the chess set she kept in a corner. Her right hand was holding her datapad, blue eyes trained on it as her left hand messed with the pawn before her left rook. The black piece spinning idly. The datapad chirped and Weiss let go of the piece and reached across, moving one of the pawns on the white side.


Weiss, Ruby and Pyrrha had been happy to see the game existed in the Galaxy, even if it had never become as popular as its circle based cousin. The set had fallen into disuse after they lost Ruby and Pyrrha. Jaune would play on occasion, but he had been focused on whatever thoughts had driven him to join the Republic military.


"Who are you playing with?" Ren asked, leaning on the railing across from Weiss as she moved a black pawn, typing something into the datapad.


"Ruby," Weiss said.


Ren nodded, closing his eyes and listening to the rattling of the ship. The Golden Dragon had been a bit of a clunker back when they had bought it, five years before. The first set of jobs they had ever done were to get the parts Ruby and Yang had needed to fix the various failing systems of the XS. Still despite that, Yang could make the ship dance when the need arose.


"Alright you two," Yang called, "We'll be entering Tython space in a minute or tw-"


Attention unidentified vessel. You are approaching Tythonian space. Identify yourself or you will be shot d-


"Shut up, would ya?" Yang sighed. Whatever she had done, the warning immediately halted.


The holocommunicator in the center of the ship beeped, informing them of someone attempting to hail them.


"I've got it," Ren said to Weiss, who was halfway out of her chair. Turning, Ren walked to it, hitting the button to take the call. The machine flickered on, "Hello?"


Standing in the projected light, flickering slightly, was an older woman with her hair in a bun. At Ren's word, she smiled and Ren was distinctly reminded of someone's grandmother, "Hello. I am Master Yuon Par. I take it you are the freighter bringing my relics?"


Her relics? "We are, Master Par."


"I'm glad to hear that," she said, "Normally, you would be required to land at the station and take a shuttle down, but from what I hear, you're carrying a rather large load. Is that true?"


"Yes," they were being paid by the crate, so Weiss had them pack as many as they could onto the ship.


"Then I have permission to grant you permission to land on the planet," Yuon said, "due to safety concerns, however, I must inform you that you will be restricted to certain areas of the temple."


"Of course," Ren said, "That is reasonable, we are outsiders."


"Thank you for understanding," Yuon said kindly, "I'll head over now to meet with you. My apologies if you get there a bit before me."


Ren sat down as the hologram flicked off, preparing himself for the turbulence of landing. He wasn't disappointed, the entire ship rattled slightly as they entered the atmosphere, through it stopped after they got lower. They really needed to get that stabilizer fixed.


"Damn," Yang breathed, "Ren, come look at this!"


Ren stood from his seat, making his way to the co-pilot seat and looking out. Stretching out as far as they could see was nature. A mountain range was to their left and below them was a giant forest with a raging river through it. In front of them...


"That must be the Jedi temple," Ren said, watching the building approach.


"Yeah," Yang reached over, hitting a switch, "Hey! Anyone picking this up?"


"Yes," a calm voice said, "You are the freighter Master Par mentioned?"


"Yep! We're starting our approach now."


Once they had landed, Ren was the first out, stepping off while Yang finished the sequence to open the cargo bay and turn off the Dragon. Yuan was actually already there, alongside a large trandoshan.


"Ah! It's good to meet you face to face," Yuon said, "This is my friend, Qyzen Fess. Qyzen, this is… oh," Yuon turned away from Qyzen, "my apologies, I was so excited about these relics I forgot to get your name."


"I'm Lie Ren, it's a pleasure to meet you Qyzen, but if you don't mind me asking, what is a trandoshan doing on Tython?"


"Tracking prey, Little Hunter," Qyzen said, staring down his scaled snout, "Beasts of Tython very large, very strong, good for Score."


"Score?" Ren asked.


"Scorekeeper watches us, sees all, knows all. Prey award points. Large prey, strong prey, more points," Qyzen gestured as he spoke, something Ren was going to assume was a smile on his face, "More points, more honor when meeting Scorekeeper."


"Interesting," Ren said, "Do you have a large score?"


"Not one for boasting," Qyzen said, "Yes. Should probably return to hunt. Will be back later, Yuon, Little Hunter."


"Yes, I'll see you later, Qyzen," Yuon said, before smiling at Ren, "Thank you for that. Many disapprove of my friendship with Qyzen. It's good to meet someone else that can see beyond his race, Lie."


"Ren," Ren said automatically.


"I'm sorry?"


"Everyone calls me Ren."


"Do you want to be called Ren?"


"Yes."


"Very well, Ren," Yuon said, "I should probably start in on these relics."


"Are you an archaeologist, Master Par?"


"Of sorts," Yuon said, "I travel across the Galaxy, trying to learn more about the Force from the past. I won't bore you with the details, Ren."


"That doesn't sound particularly boring," Ren said, "We can learn a lot from the past."


"Indeed we can," Yuon said, "but some of my colleagues think I take my interest too far. Would you mind assisting me with the first crate, if it doesn't bore you? I have many relics to go through."


"Sure," Ren said, "Where do we start?"


"Maybe," Yang called, "with helping us actually get them off the ship?"

 

[Tolack]

RWBY & JNPR fighting Sith? Watched.

 

[Carstein]

Oooh, this is going to get a watch. A fantastic premise, a fantastic handling of the setting, and a general fantastic quality of writing? I eagerly await the next chapter.

"Why not both?"

Click to shrink...

Also this. Purruby is adorable.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Oooh, this is going to get a watch. A fantastic premise, a fantastic handling of the setting, and a general fantastic quality of writing? I eagerly await the next chapter.

Also this. Purruby is adorable.

Click to shrink...

You can already see the Ruby-Pyrrha side of things tinge the writing (Especially starting next chapter). A bit of Blake-Pyrrha too.

RWBY & JNPR fighting Sith? Watched.

Click to shrink...

I'd crack a joke about fighting Sith when two of them are training to be Sith... but Sith politics is rife with murder (makes you kinda wonder why Thanaton throws a fit).

 

[Assembler]

RWBY/JNPR as the SW:TOR protagonists? I'm hooked already. Hopefully we get to meet some of the canon companions as well.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

RWBY/JNPR as the SW:TOR protagonists? I'm hooked already. Hopefully we get to meet some of the canon companions as well.

Click to shrink...

*Qyzen gives pointed lizard-cough*

The companions will get their time to shine, and will in fact get extra scenes based around their own connections with each other (Mako and Qyzen know each other, for example).

 

[BloodRevan]

Prefer White Rose, but I'll give it a try.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

Does something about the format seem weird to you guys, or am I just seeing things?

---

"Pyrrha. Pyrrha. Pyyyyrrhhaa!"


Said woman moaned pitifully, weakly batting away at the finger prodding into her side, "Go away."


It returned seconds later, "Dust, you're acting like Yang with a hangover. Listen, training starts in an hour. Unless your trainers are a lot more lenient than mine, 'I overslept' isn't gonna cut it. I'm done with the shower, it's your turn. Then we can go get some food."


Pyrrha sat up, squinting at her underwear clad roommate. Ruby still had a towel thrown over her shoulder, her red tinged hair dripping slightly.


"We have a shower?" Pyrrha asked half asleep, watching Ruby dry off her hair.


"Yeah," Ruby stopped, jerking a finger towards her side of the room, where a door sat open, "It's good. Warm."


Ruby pulled off the towel, leaning back to throw it into the bathroom. Pyrrha broke her eyes away from the… distracting movement that created, "Do you mind… um.. do you mind putting on some clothes?"


"I need to get dressed anyways," Ruby stretched, leaving Pyrrha even more flustered, "You're stuff should be in the other dresser."


"Oh," Pyrrha said, glad for any distraction from Ruby, who was bending down to grab something from her dresser. Yanking open the dresser and grabbing the first pair of matching clothes, Pyrrha booked it into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.


Well, at least she knew for sure that Ruby was Yang's sister.


Cleaning herself quickly, Pyrrha switched into the clothes she had grabbed, opening the door, "Ok, I'm- are you alright?"


Ruby was giving her datapad a glare, though once she heard Pyrrha's voice, she immediately broke the glare, smiling calmingly, "My Overseer wants to see my group after breakfast, time for the next trial."


"Then why were you looking at it like that?" Pyrrha asked, grabbing her own datapad and checking it. Tremel wanted to see her too.


"He called me away from training yesterday to threaten my group and tell me you were coming," Ruby said, standing up, "Ready?"


"Yes," Pyrrha finished sliding on Miló's harness, adjusting it before looking over at Ýmnos, "I need to get a sheath at some point."


"We'll go grab one once we break," Ruby said, "We should go get some food."


"Yes," Pyrrha said, "and maybe you could tell me what you've been doing the last two weeks?"


"Yeah," Ruby stopped in front of the door, looking sheepish, "When, uh… when we step out, I'm gonna start acting weird. Gotta keep myself safe, right?"


"Yes," Pyrrha agreed, though she wasn't sure what Ruby meant.


"Just, I'm still your friend, ok?" Ruby said.


"Ok?" Pyrrha asked, worried now.


"Ok," Ruby's smile slid off her face as the door opened, overtook by something that would have been more in place on Blake or Ren's face. Closed and guarded, "So. Other than teaching us to use the Force, we're being made to learn to fight with swords. I'm best in my group, of course."


"I bet," Ruby wasn't as good as Pyrrha or Blake with swords, but she had been capable enough with them, "Do you need help training?"


"That'd be great," Ruby said as they rounded the corner, passing by a pair of large twins, "You're better than the droids they put us up against. They'll probably want you to pick a Form when you get to training though."


"It can't help to learn something new here," Pyrrha said. She couldn't exactly just refuse to train, could she? "What are the forms?"


"There's Shii-Cho," Ruby started, "it's about getting rid of your opponent's weapon without hurting them. Then there's Makashi, lots of foot work there, it was made to counter Shii-Cho. It's what I'm training right now."


"Really?" Pyrrha stared at Ruby as they grabbed a pair of trays, walking towards one of the lines for food, "Why?"


Ruby's voice dropped as she grabbed some strawberries, there were several foods that were nearly identical to home, grown across the Galaxy, "It reminds me of Weiss and works with my semblance. Next is Soresu, it's about deflecting blaster shots. Then Ataru is… weird."


"How?"


"It's really flashy," Ruby said, "Spinning and jumping and stuff."


"Like you with Crescent Rose?"


"More," Ruby said, "It's… hard to explain. Easier to see it."


"Ok," Pyrrha said, sitting down with Ruby.


"The next form is kinda two in one. Shien and Djem So. They're a more aggressive defense. Niman is a combination of the others. The last major Form is Juyo."


"What's that one about?" Pyrrha asked, watching Ruby wolf down her food, "Hungry?"


"Gotta run soon," Ruby said in between bites, "Harkun's office is on the other side of the building and he's already looking for reasons to hate me, I don't need to give him more. Juyo's all about embracing your emotions and using them to hit your opponent hard. It's a very Sith style."


Pyrrha was reminded of Aalale's last moments. The frenzied attacks that had been stronger than anything else she had ever done, "I'll have to think about those."


"Mh," Ruby said, finishing her food and grabbing the tray, "Meet me at our room after, ok? We'll get that sheath for Y- whatever. See you."


"See you," Pyrrha responded instantly, watching Ruby casually throw her tray onto a bin as she walked out of the mess hall. Looking around, Pyrrha saw a young man walking towards her, his hair shaved similarly to Vemrin's, with a vibrosword too large for him on his back.


---X Ruby X---


Ruby stood across from Harkun with the rest of her group, waiting for…


"Sorry I'm late," Niloc skidded into the room, "I was busy. There was this cute redhe-"


"Nobody wants to hear about how you harassed some poor girl, Niloc," Ruby cut him off. The other acolyte was something of a buffoon. Convinced that he would win this, survive in the world of Sith politics, and have women fawn over him.


Harkun gave a snort of laughter, "What do you know? Rose can be funny. I'd say don't do that again, but I doubt you'd stay alive long enough to try."


"So, what's our trial?" Ruby asked.


"You'll be proving your worth at one of the essential parts of a Sith Inquisitor's duties. Information acquisition. You will each be given a task to prove your ability to use your cunning, skill and intuition in gathering information for the Empire. Understand?"


"Yes, sir," Ruby chorused with her group.


"Then I will give you all your assignments," Harkun pulled something up on his terminal, "Rose, you will be assisting Inquisitor Zyn. An apprentice has been murdered and the only witness is refusing to talk."


"Fine," Ruby nodded.


"Niloc, you will be assisting Inquisitor Arzanon. He is here rooting out traitors. Gerr, Inquisitor Urinth has suspicions that there is a Republic spy on Korriban. Root them out. Wyrd, Lord Samus needs help hunting another traitor, you will assist him. Balak, a pair of slaves murdered a Lord, find out why. Ffon, Lord Abardon has asked for you to assist him in using a holocron to find weak blooded amongst our staff. Those from slaves."


"What?" Niloc bristled with rage, "Why should he do that? We're all slav-"


Harkun blasted Niloc with lightning for a moment, silencing the boy, "That isn't for you to decide, boy. Be gone, all of you!"


As they filed out of the room, they split into two smaller groups. Ruby and Wyrd went one way, while the others went towards the exit hall.


"So," Balak said. His voice was surprisingly soft for such a large man, "Who was that redhead you were talking to today? You don't mind me asking that, right?"


"No. She's my roommate, Pyrrha Nikos."


"Truly? She's not from our group, obviously. Do you get along?"


"Yeah," Ruby said. Why wouldn't she get along with Pyrrha?


"Well, do you mind putting a good word in for Wyrd? He was interested in her. So was Niloc, he was hitting on her when we left."


Ruby felt an unfamiliar feeling as she stared blankly at Balak, like her entire body was dunked in ice and she missed a step, "That's not really something I do…"


"Ok," Balak nodded, "it didn't hurt to ask, right? Only one of us is making it out of here alive and if it were my choice, it would be Wyrd, so I wanna make sure he'll be fine."


Ruby nodded along, keeping her face empty. She hadn't become close to any of the others. Kory's death establishing that if she wanted to get home, the others had to die.


"Well, I'll see you later, Ruby," Balak smiled, nodding as he entered the room opposite her assigned one.


"Acolyte," the fat man across from her stopped pacing, the red tattoos on his lips moving with his smile, "You've arrived."


"Really?" Ruby said, "I thought I was twenty feet back!"


The man laughed, "I opened myself up to that one, didn't I? Now, put aside the jokes at my expense for a moment so I might explain why you are here."


"Harkun said something about a murder?"


"Yes," Zyn said, "What we call 'an unauthorized murder'. A rivalry between apprentices grew too heated and now we have a body. The only witness was an acolyte named Alif, but he has been stubbornly refusing to speak. He is through that door," Zyn jerked his head towards it, "I'll be watching you through the holocameras, do whatever it takes to get him to talk."


"Yes, sir," Ruby opened the door, stepping in and hearing it click meaningfully, "Hello… Alif, was it?"


"Listen," the man strapped to a diagonally reclined table said, face bruised, "I know why you're here. I'll tell you what I told the rest. I don't know anything about this."


Ruby delayed answering him as long as possible, eyes roaming the set of bloodied tools presented before her, "I'm here to help you-"


"Banthashit," Alif spat, "You're here to torture me, like all the others!"


"Not if I don't have to," Ruby grabbed a rolling chair, pulling it closer to the table, "Please, Alif, for both our sakes, don't make me have to."


Ruby had enough to deal with without the guilt of torturing someone on her mind.


"I don't! Please, you have to believe me."


"Even if I did," which she didn't, "Do you really think the next person to walk through the door will? I'm not going to hurt you unless you make me have too. Here," Ruby hit the familiar controls on the side of Alif's table, loosening his restraints slightly, "does that help?"


"Why- why are you doing this?" Alif asked.


"I'm your friend, Alif. The only one who you're going to get in here. Help me so I can help you."


"But- I-" Alif stopped, "He'll kill me if I say…"


"And you don't think they'll get this information from you anyways? Alif, if you tell me, I can use it to argue that you deserve leniency. Otherwise, they'll torture you until you give, and then kill you right alongside them."


"I- I know," Alif said quietly.


"Then who was it? We can protect you from him."


"Esorr Kayin."


"Thank you, Alif. I'm going to leave now, I need to set up your protection."


Somehow.


As she stepped out, Zyn looked up from where he was reading something on his datapad, "Well done, acolyte."


"The killer-"


"There's no need to repeat it, I heard it loud and clear, though I wish I hadn't."


"Why?"


"Kayin's master sits on the Dark Council. I can not punish him myself, though I suspect Lord Necus will deliver retribution."


"What about Alif?"


"What of him?"


"Kayin will kill him if we keep him here. He needs to be moved."


"That is not your decision to make."


"You're a member of the Korriban Sith Academy, the greatest institute in the Empire. You have to be able to send him somewhere! Or are you scared of an apprentice?"


"Girl…" Zyn said warningly. That didn't work…


"You said you can't punish Kayin. Imagine how angry he will be if he loses his chance at killing the one who got him caught."


Zyn sighed, "Oh, fine. I have a Darth on Dromund Kaas who owes me a favor. I'll send Alif to her. As for you, I will send a message to Harkun that you passed. Not that it matters."


"What? Why?".


"I received a message not to long ago. A member of your class attempted to assault another member in the Valley. In the ensuing struggle, the other acolyte threw his assailant over the edge."


"Another 'Unauthorized murder'?"


"Normally there would be an inquiry, however given that this happened in broad daylight, there is little need."


"Who were involved, if you don't mind me asking?" Ruby already got the feeling she knew who survived.


"Niloc and Ffon."


"And Niloc died?"


"Yes. You may return to your room for the day, Acolyte. We traditionally allow you to have the rest of the day off after a trial."


---X Pyrrha X---


Pyrrha stepped into Tremel's office, waiting for the Overseer to finish his conversation with someone over his holocommunicator, "-not sure about this. She's powerful, yes, but will she be enough?"


"Tremel," Pyrrha stopped at the tone in Alistair's voice, "if Pyrrha isn't enough, nothing will be. She is worthy."


"There was talk of her speaking with her roommate, a slave."


"Is this roommate powerful?"


"Harkun-"


"I didn't ask what Harkun thinks. I wanted to know whether she was powerful."


"...I do not know."


"Then until we find out, I will trust Pyrrha. What do you think, Pyrrha? Is she strong?"


Pyrrha froze as Tremel turned, "Acolyte! How long have you been there?"


"I just arrived," Pyrrha said.


"This slave," Alistair said, "Is she strong?"


"Yes."


"How do you know?" Alistair asked, "It's been less than a day."


"We knew each other before we came to Korriban," There wasn't any real point in hiding it, "Since before she was a slave."


"How did she become one, if she's strong?"


"She stayed behind to protect me and our friends. We had assumed she died, but…"


"Clearly not," Alistair finished, "Tremel, whose slave was she, anyways? There are Sith lords who surviving under long enough to get to Korriban is testament enough."


"I don't know," Tremel said.


"Then, once again, I will trust Pyrrha on this matter. I should go, Lord Marr is supposed to contact me later."


The hologram cut out, leaving Pyrrha and Tremel. The Overseer seemed to search Pyrrha's face for a moment, "You truly believe this slave is worthy of being Sith?"


"Either side would be lucky to have Ruby," Pyrrha said instantly, "I'm- I'm just happy she's alive."


And that Ruby seemed to be willing to accept Pyrrha's assistance.


"Ah," a wistful look came across Tremel's face, "I understand. You are here for your trial, I assume?"


"Yes, sir."


"Very well. I want you to go to the academy prison and speak to the head jailer, Knash. There will be three prisoners for you to pass judgment on. Once you are done, you may return to your room for the day."


"That seems like a short day."


"It is customary to give acolytes the day off once they finish a trial. Your," Tremel coughed, "friend will no doubt be the same. You were only reunited yesterday, use it well."


"Thank you, sir. Before I go, would it be possible for you to send me videos of the Lightsaber Forms? Ruby tried explaining them to me, but I always preferred a visual example."


"Of course, I'll send them to your room. I even have some recordings of the more esoteric styles. And if I find anything out about your friend, I'll be sure to inform you."


"Thank you," Pyrrha repeated, before stopping, "Uh… where is the prison?"


"Across the atrium and down the right hand corridor. And Pyrrha?"


"Yes?"


"While I will hold my tongue at Alistair's request, I must remind you of your position. The Temeres are a powerful family and Alistair is taking a heavy risk naming an unknown his heir. Think hard about whether you want to be seen consorting with this girl."


"Why wouldn't I?" Pyrrha asked.


"She could become your weakness," Tremel warned, "You're enemies could use her to get to you."


"Ruby isn't a weakness," Pyrrha snapped. Ruby could never be a weakness to Pyrrha. In this horrible, twisted situation they were in, she couldn't think of anyone she would rather have at her side.


"...Very well. Go to your trial."


Pyrrha did. As she arrived in the atrium, she ducked behind the meditation stone as the boy who had been flirting with her (what was his name? Nilus?) stalked through the room with a murderous look on his face.


When Pyrrha reached the jails, she found the first time on Korriban where she couldn't sit quietly.


Leaning against the wall was a balding man, a small machine with a trigger in his hand. He was talking with a twi'lek girl who couldn't be older than sixteen, "Another word from you little bird, and you'll be in for a world of hurt."


"Chirp," the blue skinned twi'lek said dryly, "Chirp, chir-"


"Alright, that's enough of that," the man said, placing his thumb on a wheel at the back of the item and pulling the trigger. The twi'lek immediately started to spasm, clawing at the collar around her neck as the man slowly started to push the wheel up, "That'll teach you to be mouthy. You know what we do with people like you, girl? We break 'em. Then, once you're nothing but a husk, we'll give you to a Sith, who will finish the job. They'll make you nothing more than a-"


"Stop that!" Pyrrha yelled, stomping over and ripping the device out of his hands. The moment she did, the twi'lek, who was curled up on the floor, stopped her spasms, "Never do that again!"


"And who are you to tell me what to do, girl?" the man said, "Give me back my trigger."


"You were going to kill her," Pyrrha said.


"Nah. Those things are designed to cut out before that point. She'd survive. I take it you're the Acolyte Tremel brought in?"


"Yes. You're Knash?"


"I am. Come on, I've got some real treats for you," Knash said, gesturing for Pyrrha to follow him, "So, I should inform you that you're rather odd. Normally we send your type off world for the interrogations. You will normally be expected to pass judgment after we got the information, and you'll be the one swinging the sword during an execution. Tremel had these three shipped here specifically for you. He seems to think you're Exar Kun come again or something. Here's the first one."


"You think bringing in some new girl will get me to crack?" the woman behind the bars laughed.


"This one was sent to assassinate an imperial spy in the Yavin system. Throughout her torture, she maintained the story that she was hired anonymously."


"Listen, girl. Hopefully your better then him at comprehension. I didn't know he was imperial and I don't know who hired me!" the woman barked.


"So you don't work for the Republic?"


"No. I don't care about politics. I do my job to keep myself fed and alive, pissing off one of the big guys isn't a good way to stay alive for long."


"Then why didn't you do your research? Knash snorted.


"Why should I of? Listen I've been doing this since before the cold war started. I've never heard of either side hiring a freelancer to assassinate a spy like this."


"You gave Imperial Intelligence a right good headache trying to find you, for someone who keeps insisting this was just business. Right, you heard her story. Time for you to make your decision. What do we do with her? Execution? Lock her away to rot? Bleed her till she relents? It's up to you."


Pyrrha swallowed. She needed to do this. For Ruby. But want to do? What to do?


"Well?" Knash said.


"Give me a moment," Pyrrha said, thinking aloud, "So you're a free agent who killed a member of Imperial Intelligence. How long did it take them to find her?" Pyrrha directed the last bit at Knash.


"Bit over a month and a half," Knash said.


"Would Imperial Intelligence take her?" Pyrrha finally said.


"What do you mean?" Knash said.


"She was able to hunt down and kill one our," Pyrrha stomach rolled at that word. There was no denying it, she was becoming part of the Empire now, "Men and stay hidden for a month and a half. She's clearly a capable assassin and she didn't break under torture. Would Imperial Intelligence take her?"


"Yeah," Knash nodded, "I see your logic there. I'll send a message while you deal with the next one."


Pyrrha nodded, trying to keep her disgust hidden. She was part of the Empire.


It was for Ruby, Pyrrha reminded herself firmly. She was doing this to protect Ruby, not because she held any love for the Empire. Ruby had suffered because of her, the least Pyrrha could do was be her defender.


"Please," the bald cyborg in the next cell started the moment she stepped near, "I am a fellow Sith, grant me trial by combat."


"That pile of waste is Devotek. He was a Sith champion, before he botched a mission and got a thousand imperial lives snuffed out."


"I served faithfully, flawlessly, for twenty-four years! One mistake and they threw me away," Devotek stepped closer to the bars, "They left me here to rot. Please, give me a weapon, let me die a warrior."


"Can I do that?" Pyrrha asked Knack.


"If you really want to. Vibroblades are in there," Knash pointed at one of the crates strewn around the room, hitting a button on his desk that caused the bars of Davotek's cell to pull up.


"Thank you," Devotek walked over, grabbed a vibroblade and a smaller vibrodagger. Turning them on, he turned to face Pyrrha.


The gladiator turned on her own sword, preparing to fight as the familiar weight of Miló settled in her hand.


"Interesting design," Devotek said, "I've never seen one like it. Come, fight, die."


Before Pyrrha had time to think, Devotek charged at her, his blades a seemingly random blur of chaos. Even with her moving as quickly as physically possible, several strike got through, causing thin cuts to appear along her arms.


Gritting her teeth, Pyrrha hit a button on Miló, unfolding the sword into a spear and using the extra length to hold of Devotek's assault. Eventually, Devotek attempted to swing down, and Pyrrha blocked with Miló, struggling slightly under the weight. He shouldn't be that strong, not without.


"You're a skilled fighter," Devotek said, pressing down harder, "but you have yet to use the Force. Why? Why deny yourself this power?"


Because it was her first day here and she didn't know how?


Pyrrha was aware that wouldn't be an excepted excuse, however, so she looked around. Knash was reading something, apparently unconcerned with the fight to the death happening in front of him. Eventually her Aura would give out, and then it would be a swift death.


Pyrrha refused to go down like this. She wasn't going to force that pain on Ruby so soon after being reunited. Reaching out, Pyrrha felt herself touch something greater, and her Aura seemed to revitalize itself. The cuts, which had been sluggishly healing, sealed closed immediately.


Slowly but surely, Pyrrha forced herself up, grinning at Devotek as a look of shock appeared on his face.


Devotek bounded back, throwing his dagger at her while in the air and wrapping his other around the sword, landing in a stance. Pyrrha dodged around the dagger, ignoring the wet thunk it made, and charged to meet Devotek.


Pyrrha met each of Devotek's blows, Miló moving into position to block each strike before it happened. The moment Devotek slowed, running out of steam from his frenzied attacks, Pyrrha capitalized on it.


Miló slashed through his arm, sending his blade falling to the ground. Before it did, Pyrrha grabbed it, using it to run him through.


"Ah," Devotek stared down at the bloody blade in his gut, "It seems the Force prefers you as its master. Well then, at least I die with honor. End this."


Pyrrha lifted her sword, and Miló hummed as it severed Devotek's head.


"Well," Knash said, walking over and poking the body with his toe, "Looks like the old fool still had some fight in him after all. Unfortunately, he killed your third when he threw the dagger."


"Is that a problem?" Pyrrha asked worriedly.


"No. I'll count you stopping me from shocking the twi'lek as one. She's a prisoner and you made a choice about her. You're free to go."


Pyrrha nodded, trying to keep a smile off her face as she went to find Ruby.


She wanted to train now.


---X Jaune X---


Jaune moved through the halls of Ryloth's Revenge, nodding to a pair of crewmembers as he entered the hanger bay and climbed onto the ramp of Fortitude-transport he had been assigned to. Training kicked in as he saluted to his CO, "Sir!"


"Corporal Arc," the grizzled sergeant nodded, "Sit down, we'll be leaving in five."


"Yes, sir," Jaune slid into his seat opposite Sergeant Horner, "Where's the rest of our squad?"


"On the way. I'll inform you of our mission once they're here."


Jaune nodded, checking his SR-25. Protocol said they were supposed to be informed of missions a day in advance. Protocol meant nothing compared to reality.


There had been a sudden jump to hyperspace, followed by a bulletin for each of the squads to report to the hanger.


It took three minutes for the rest of their nine man squad to climb into the shuttle, the pilot immediately shutting the loading door and beginning the process of sealing everything off.


"Men," Horner said grimly, "immediately prior to our jump, the captain was received orders from General Garza. An unusually well equipped Sep movement has seized control of Eriadu."


"Eriadu?" Karle asked. The large brick of a man was frowning, "Where's that?"


"Seswenna sector," Rabi answered immediately, "would the Imps care about Eriadu? Why not Dzass IV? Or Seswenna? They took it during the war…"


The Mirialan trailed off, fingers reaching up to touch a scarred symbol under her eye.


"I don't know," Horner said, "and we don't need to know. The Imps want it, so we don't want them to have it. Our job is to join with the rest of the forces sent and liberate Eriadu."


Euva coughed, the Zabrak clutching her rifle, "But if we don't know why they-"


"Leave that to SIS. They'll figure out that stuff."


"What are we supposed to be doing?" Jaune asked.


"The men of the Revenge have been assigned to sector H-7," Horner pressed a button on his right bracer and the ceiling mounted holoprojector turned on, "centered around the charmingly named Old Factoryville."


Jaune felt the shuttle take off as they exited hyperspace, "Is Eriadu a industrial planet?"


"Yes."


"Could that be why the Imps want it?" Jaune asked.


"Not likely," Horner said, "The Imps have their own industrial worlds, it'd take too long to refit everything to hit their specs. They want it for other reasons. Put that out of your mind for now, soldiers. Unfortunately, Factoryville has anti-air all around in. We'll be landing outside of their range and fighting our way it. Revenge 3-2 has two tasks as we march towards the actual RV. First, we are to take out three missile batteries along our path, second we are to eliminate the commander of those batteries."


"How far out are we landing?" Karle asked.


"Forty clicks out. Should take us a day to reach the first battery. We'll commandeer a vehicle there."


"Rules of engagement?" Morsil, their Chagrian explosive specialist, asked.


"Assume hostile until proven otherwise. Weapons loaded, out, and ready to fire on the signal."


"And if we find some Imps?" Jaune asked.


"Imps are always hostile. Shoot them," Horner said as they landed, "Corporal Arc, you take point."


---X Blake X---


Blake sat up and turned off her datapads alarm, stretching out and hissing as her back cracked and popped. Once she was done with that, she typed out a message and hit send.


Hey, are you awake?


As she waited for a response, Blake took a quick shower and changed. Grabbing her datapad, she smiled at the response.




Ruby

Still sleep late?


Blake

Different planets, Ruby.


Ruby

Right. What's up, Blakey?


Blake rolled her eyes and gave a sigh. Only Ruby and Pyrrha could get away with that.


Blake

I wanted to make sure you were alright. They're treating you ok, right?


Ruby

I'm fine. I miss you, though. How are you?


Blake

I'm ok. I wish I could be there with you. I don't like the idea of you being all alone.


Ruby

That's ok. Guess who showed up last night?


Blake

Who?


Ruby

Pyrrha!


Blake stopped, staring. Pyrrha? How had Pyrrha gotten to Korriban so quickly?


Blake

WHAT!?


Ruby

Yeah! Apparently she was living with a Imleri family and they sent her to Korriban!


Blake blinked as Ruby suddenly added Pyrrha to the chat.


Pyrrha

Hello?


Ruby

See!


Blake smiled.


Blake

Hi, Pyrrha. Are you alright?


Pyrrha

What do you mean?


Blake

You're on Korriban, right? Are you alright?


Pyrrha

I'm fine, thank you. How are you?


Blake

Fine. I need to go, me and Nora need to go meet with Vito.


Ruby

Tell him I say hi!


Blake stored her datapad with a snort, going to meet Nora.


"Blake!" the bruiser was seated on a bench in the lobby, grinning as she flicked through a comic, "Ready?"


"Yes," Blake said, walking out the door and to the nearest cab, "Have you talked to Ren?"


"Yeah. They're with the Jedi now, he seemed to be having a fun time. Him and the person they were bringing the stuff to have been chatting."


Blake nodded, leaning against the cab door. They were in the mid-city of Nar Shaddaa. Subcity Kaead.


It took them almost an hour to reach the market were Vito's business was on. If Blake looked up and squinted, she could almost see the sky.


Blake always wondered how Vito had gotten such a good piece of real estate. Pushing open the door, she ignored the tickling bell.


"Welcome!" The twig of a man behind the desk said, "if you ne- Blake, N! What are you two doing all the way out here?"


Vito was short, his balding head barely reaching Blake's chin, and one eye a normal blue and the other an unblinking black.


"We need your help, Vito," Blake said, walking further into the shop, "We need some supplies."


"Of course! Anything for you girls, what do you need? Spice? I got a shipment of glitterstim coming in if you can wait a week. Or do you guys need a job? I'm all stocked up at the moment, but I know people who will pay good money for people who work like you do."


Blake made a gesture, towards a very specific part of the counter in front of Vito. His eye widened, and he reached down, turning off the recording devices.


"Ruby's alive," Blake said without preamble.


"She is!?" Vito laughed, face stretching into a grin, "Stars, where?"


"Korriban."


"Oh," the smile crumpled, "Oh, no…"


"Yeah."


"What do you want me to do? I'm good, I know, but even I can't touch Korriban."


"Ya know the Great Hunt?" Nora asked, "We're gonna join it!"


Vito blinked, reaching up and tapping his prosthetic eye, "That isn't an easy thing to do, N. E'ery hunter worth their blaster wants into that thing."


"We can do it," Blake said. It didn't matter what it would take, they would get to Dromund Kaas.


"Not saying you can't. Stars know you're some of the best the Galaxy's got, but a gun and determination will only get you so far. The competition is gonna be the most skilled, dangerous sons of bitches out there."


"Which is why we're here. We need equipment, we'll pay whatever it takes."


Vito turned, pushing open the two doors leading to his back room, "Come on, then. I got some stuff that you'll like."


--- X Nora X---


By the time Nora and Blake made the short walk around the counter and into the back room, Vito had several briefcases on the table in the center of the room. The fixer came from behind a rack, his four prosthetic legs clicking on the floor as he did.


Nora still wondered how he lost his lower half.


"Right, we'll start with the stuff for N first," Vito grabbed one of the cases and opened it. Inside were a pair on gauntlets, "A pair of B-3 knuckle mounted vibroblades. I know you like being loud, but sometimes you'll be paid to take them in quietly. Try 'em on."


Nora caught them, sliding them on and hitting a button. The moment she did, they moved, the panels shifting until they were comfortably fit to Nora's hands. Another button saw a pair of wide blades jump from them, "Nice!"


"Next," Vito cracked open another, flipping it around to show a pair of slightly bulky, rectangular bracers, "X-12 wrist-mounted rocket launchers. Capable of firing antipersonal, AP, EMP, and a bunch of other payloads. Only problem is you gotta reload after each shot."


Nora put them on with a grin, "I love bombs."


"I know you do," Vito said, opening the third, "Next is for the both of you. Shield generators. They're not Echani or Mando, so they won't soak up a punch, but blaster fire will be eaten," Nora opened her mouth, "Yeah, yeah, I know. That funky Aura stuff of yours. Still, won't hurt to have a redundancy, right?"


"Right," Blake cut in, "And for me?"


"First, I got one more thing for N. Got a couple dozen power packs for you, since Ren gave you one of his blasters."


Nora touched one of the two guns that made up Stormflower, "Thank you."


"It's fine. Those are on the house, by the way. Now, for you, Blake, I got a couple of things. Not as much as for N, but you ain't the type to be rattling anyways. For you, I got a bunch of cryo and ion grenades."


"Thanks."


"Not done," Vito said, "I also have a stun glove and a stealth pack. For when you need to go non-lethal."


"How much is all this?"


"Normally? Twenty thousand credits. I'll take it from the money I owe you all from that last job."


"Thank you," Blake said, "We need one more thing."


"What?"


"A place to stay."

---

Prefer White Rose, but I'll give it a try.

Click to shrink...

That's because you're boring (I'm joking). I'm fine with almost anything when reading (unless it's really creepy) but my preference when writing is Ladybug or Milk and Cereal

 

[orchamus]

To hell with it, to for both, don't think I've seen that before, it's be interesting if nothing else. If that doesn't work though milk and cereal all the way, if only because Jaune is not a favorite and taking the wonderful Pyrrha from his clutches. Great fi c so far, I love the girls have n another world gifs you do, all epic.

 

[Tolack]

"You said you can't punish Kayin. Imagine how angry he will be if his chance at killing the one who got him caught."

Click to shrink...

Uhh... Are you missing a word or two here?

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

To hell with it, to for both, don't think I've seen that before, it's be interesting if nothing else. If that doesn't work though milk and cereal all the way, if only because Jaune is not a favorite and taking the wonderful Pyrrha from his clutches. Great fi c so far, I love the girls have n another world gifs you do, all epic.

Click to shrink...

Jaune's not my favorite character either. Though he'll be playing a fairly large role on Chains.

Uhh... Are you missing a word or two here?

Click to shrink...

...Goddamnit, I thought I fixed that. Thanks for pointing it out *scampers off to correct it*.

 

[AgentA910]

I am loving this so far. As for ships, Purruby or Ladybug are my preferences here.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

*Makes comment half expecting a bunch of people to shut him down*

*Receives almost nothing but encouragement*

Welp, Purruby it is.

 

[JessesanMan]

I like the story so far, but Milk and Cereal is just weird to me

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

I like the story so far, but Milk and Cereal is just weird to me

Click to shrink...

We all have our preferred parings.

 

[Castle_Bravo]

We all have our preferred parings.

Click to shrink...

I'd prefer not to pair. You know, just for novelties sake.

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

I'd prefer not to pair. You know, just for novelties sake.

Click to shrink...

So your preferred paring is Character/

Nah, I get you. But inevitably, characters would start acting gay wether I want want to or not. I accepted that after the last time I tried to do a fic without parings (Walking) got, like, five chapters before Ruby/Blake and Chandra/Nissa started to ignore that mandate.

 

[JessesanMan]

We all have our preferred parings.

Click to shrink...

But it's soooooo weird. Pyrrha's basically a young adult. Ruby's a young teenager. Even it it's really only a two year and change difference, their maturity levels are so distant that it still looks a feels like a kid and a grownup. Not to mention I usually 'rank' (I don't actually rank anything but I can't think of another word for 'approve of') pairings by basis in cannon, which is why I can 'meh' at WhiteRose or Bumblebee, or heck, even Sunnybees, while totally buying in or believing into BlackSun and ReNora, but then those weird ones like Milk and Cereal or Yang x Ren just don't sit right with me. They just seem...off.

 

[Arturia]

as a person who doesn't follow RWBY shipping why is Ruby x Pyrrha called Milk and Cereal?

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

But it's soooooo weird. Pyrrha's basically a young adult. Ruby's a young teenager. Even it it's really only a two year and change difference, their maturity levels are so distant that it still looks a feels like a kid and a grownup. Not to mention I usually 'rank' (I don't actually rank anything but I can't think of another word for 'approve of') pairings by basis in cannon, which is why I can 'meh' at WhiteRose or Bumblebee, or heck, even Sunnybees, while totally buying in or believing into BlackSun and ReNora, but then those weird ones like Milk and Cereal or Yang x Ren just don't sit right with me. They just seem...off.

Click to shrink...

And Ren and Nora don't have different maturity levels? Hell, Pyrrha and Jaune don't? Ranking people's compatibility off how mature they act ignores many outside factors. Someone whp is super serious might not necessarily want a partner who is the same. Further, Pyrrha acts mature a lot of the time, but even before she starts to struggle in Volume 3, there's a few signs that she's still, you know, a teenager. Hell, there's a few scenes that imply her life as the Invincible Girl actually stunted her emotional growth (she all but admits that at one point) to some extent. As she says, she didn't have much in the way of real friends before coming to Beacon, since everyone assumed she was better then her.

Ranking parings based off likelyhood of them being canon has it's own problems. If everyone did that, to give an example, NanoFate from Nanoha wouldn't be borderline canon. That's just how a lot of Japanese media portrays prepubescent female friendships (See: Romantic Two Girl Friendship), it wasn't supposed to be a sign they would get together. But people liked the paring enough that it reached the writers and seiyuu, many of whom have expressed their feelings that, while they probably couldn't ever directly show it, they're just as convinced it's canon as the shippers.

You're also comparing their canon ages to them in Chains. Pyrrha's twenty two, Ruby's twenty. They've known each other for the better part of six years now.

Spoiler: not actually a spoiler, just a bit of a tangent

In fact, I actually tend to write Ruby as demisexual and demiromantic, hence her completely missing that she's feeling a combination of jealously and possessiveness over the fact that half of her class has expressed interest in Pyrrha. She knows things can be interpreted certain ways (her maniacal giggling at how "her and Pyrrha are sharing a room" can be misconstrued), but doesn't really understand what attraction feels like enough to realize it at this point.

as a person who doesn't follow RWBY shipping why is Ruby x Pyrrha called Milk and Cereal?

Click to shrink...

Pyrrha's face was on a cereal box (she's a celebrity tournament fighter, which is why she resorted to gladiator combat when she needed money), Ruby has a line where she takes being told to 'grow up' at face value and proudly declares that she drinks milk (funnily, RT would go on to get Vic Mignogna to voice her mentor and uncle Qrow).

 

[FelixNeko]

I had to look up what all the shipping names are. The names people have come up with are silly.

That said, I'm really liking this story and am definitely looking forwards to more.

 

[JessesanMan]

Well, it's your story, I'm reading it either way so long as the rest is good. Just because I don't understand it doesn't mean I hate it.​

 

[ThatOnePsycho]

I'm trying to decide Ruby's secondary lightsaber style (for when she doesn't have Crescent Rose and Makashi isn't the best option). I already know Pyrrha's two.

Classes are going to be a more grey thing (Jar'kai Shadow!) So it doesn't technically need to be one of the traditional styles for an Inquisitor (especially because Ruby has Pyrrha there to work with). They're less about techniques and more of what their job is to be (Consulars are diplomats, Inquisitors... inquire). Like how Blake is a stealthy Bounty Hunter

 

[Blaflaix]

Ruby: Sith Inquisitor

Pyrrha: Sith Warrior

Jaune: Trooper

Yang: looking very Smuggler-ish

Ren: friendly with Jedi Consular

Weiss: in the general vicinity of Jedi Knights

Blake and Nora: on Nal Hutta looking into the Great Hunt

I think it's obvious what's going to happen here.
Blake will proceed with the Great Hunt as a Bounty Hunter and Nora will be recruited as an Imperial Agent!
I think Nora will make an amazing Cipher.

"Agent, your instructions were to remain unseen."
"I was unseen!"
"You smashed down the door and disables your opponents with an improvised pancake launcher... you didn't even kill them to prevent them from identifying you!"
"But all they saw was a flying door and pancakes to their faces. It was perfect!"