RWBY: Grimoire

Chapter One: Ruby Rose

"Watch over me, Mom." She shrugged the cloak on, and affixed it over her dress by using the silver rose shaped clasp.

"Let's go."

As she left the house, she heard a crow cawing in the distance. Its cry pierced the near quiet that the forest provided. But Ruby knew that if she concentrated, she could hear the other sounds; the animals, the rustling leaves, the scraping of the claws of grim--

She shook her head.

Her uncle had assured her that she was twice as good as the hunters he met in his travels. She had slain the occasional Grim here and there. She wasn't really afraid of them.

It was the unknown that she feared.

Ruby had spent most of her life up to that point in their family's cottage. She had made the occasional trip into town, but never to a city as large as Lichthaven, the city-state, saw Hunters from across the globe. It also acted as a major hub of trade, holding a significant portion of the kingdom's citizens behind its walls.

Just within its barrier sat Beacon Academy, a training ground for the future Hunters and Alchemists--where Yang currently resided.

Ruby checked the post box one last time before leaving the gates of her home. It remained empty. With a sigh, she dropped a letter inside, closed the gate behind her, and headed off.

Dear Dad,

Sorry, but I couldn't stick around any longer. I'm going to see Yang. You don't have to hurry. I've got plenty of dust--enough to use, and enough to trade to get to the city. I'll send you a letter when I reach town. Tell Zwei I'm sorry, and I owe him a million belly rubs when I get back.

Love, Ruby

The early hour had left the roads shrouded in mist.

As she walked, Ruby hummed a song from a record Yang had sent her.

"Mirror, mirror...Tell me... something..."

While they were too far out to use the radio, Ruby and Taiyang kept the house filled with sound with the use of records. One day, when Ruby had worn a record too thin, her uncle had gifted her with a small radio to carry for her visits to the nearby glen, where she and Yang had played games of target practice. There, she could listen to music with the use of a nearby tower. If she continued toward it, to the east she would come to the cliff where--

Ruby stopped again. Hours had passed since her departure, but she was all the closer to the next town. She could easily reach it long before nightfall, but if she hurried she could take a little detour...

Her little detour wound up costing her another hour of daylight. Crossing through the glen, beyond the gnarled trees, and across the fields she finally reached it. A cliffside, covered in flowers. And just at the cliff's edge sat her mother's grave.

It had been several years since Cerise Rose had been lost. Ruby could still remember her face, smiling as she kissed her goodbye before heading off with her father. It had been routine for her parents to leave her and Yang behind to go on missions. She had thought nothing of it.

But Taiyang and her uncle returned days later, bruised and bloodied, minds both adrift, carrying hearts full of sadness and her mother's crumpled cloak.

It had taken some time before Taiyang left the woods again, choosing instead to focus on Yang and Ruby's upbringing. But when he began to venture into the wider world again, he always made sure to visit the grave of his wife.

Now Ruby stood before the marble plaque, hoping to clear her mind of all indecision.

"I'm going to see Yang now. I want to believe she's fine, but I can't help but worry. Yang likes a challenge. She won't tell us if something is wrong. And she has that temper..." Ruby hugged her knees to her chest. "You were always good at cooling her down, making her talk it out. I have to get better at that. Well, wish me luck--"

The wind picked up, and a chill settled in. Small white snowflakes began to descend for the skies. Standing up and dusting off her clothing, Ruby looked skyward.

"Snow?" She frowned. "Didn't see that in the almanac. Oh well."

Saying her goodbyes to Cerise, Ruby walked back through the gnarled trees, now dusted with fresh snow. Tugging her cloak around her she continued to sing and hum to herself.

"...tell me something...Who's the loneliest of all?"

The melancholy melody was dangerous to sing alone, but she couldn't help herself. A sad song was an obvious choice for the day she was having.

Twigs snapped in the distance. She stopped. Over the rustling wind she could hear no wildlife, but instead quickening footsteps. Already reaching for her scythe, Ruby whirled around.

Grim. The monsters that plagued her world since olden times. Strange soulless beasts that preyed on mankind, possibly manifesting from thin air, attracted to negative emotion.

She ran her fingers across the groove of her scythe. If popped outward from its collapsed form into a fully functional weapon.

Five. Ten. Twenty Grim, taking the shape of wolves. A pack that had appeared to prey on her.

She scowled, anger building. Of course, it had to be wolves.

She swung her weapon back and pull the trigger. Recoil propelled her from the ground and she ricocheted her body from tree to tree, forcing the pack to follow her back out into the open field.

Gaining speed she now ran towards them, slicing through beast after beast. She didn't have to worry about bones or blood, as Grim held no such matter. Despite years of study, it wasn't clear what Grim were made of, only that their remains could be harvested.

Hooking her scythe around the neck of one beast she twisted and sliced through, decapitating the beast. While its head began to deteriorate, the body flailed backward. Ruby continued her movements, swiftly as she could go, and sparing as little ammunition as she could.

These small fry weren't worth her bullets after all.

When the last of the grim slumped onto the snow-covered ground she stopped, Scythe still raised. The only sounds around her were the falling bullet casings and the freshly lopped limbs of the Grim.

When it seemed as if no more would come, she eased her weapon back into its compressed shape and returned it to its holster.

Shaking off her rucksack, Ruby pulled out an empty sling bag and a pair of blacked pinchers. Stepping through the slowly disintegrating corpses she looked from hardy pieces of husk. Grim, aside from being an ongoing threat, had their uses. From their ruined forms came the husk pieces that when refined, could be turned into a refined substance, dust.

Now with a small haul of material, Ruby made her way back towards town, this time humming a happier town to keep her spirits up. With the husk pieces, she would be able to pick up a good meal from the local tavern, before heading off.

"Prepare for your greatest moments, prepare for your finest hour, the dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower..."