They were running through the forest as fast as they could. The smaller of the two was in the lead. Ruby had always been fast thanks to her semblance. Normally she only used it to goof around, but right now she was using it to its full potential. Her Mom had told her to run, so she did just that. She kept looking back though. Her mother seemed slower than usual, and as much as Ruby wanted to do what her mother had told her, she didn't want to leave her behind. She bit her lip, making her decision. She slowed down giving her mother time to catch up.

"What did I tell you!? They are gaining on us and you are faster than me! Run and get out of here!" her mother screamed. She was livid. Her daughter had just broken the one rule she had set allowing Ruby to come with her.

"I'm not leaving you!" the little girl screamed back. What's the big deal? She thought. Wouldn't we stand a better chance together anyways? Two is better than one, right? Ruby glanced back at her mother. She noticed a red blotch at the bottom of her white cape. When did that get there? It's probably from the Beowolf. She stop staring at her mothers cape and looked up at her mothers face. She was giving Ruby a look so filled with rage that if looks could kill, Ruby would have keeled over. The red head's eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away and kept running, not wanting to anger her mom any further.

Her mother was going to start reprimanding Ruby, but decided against it. Now was not the time. Her daughter was already crying and they couldn't afford to delay any longer. They needed to keep running.

This wasn't supposed to happen this way. It was supposed be easy. Ruby's mom thought to herself as they ran. It had been Ruby's birthday two weeks ago, and the only thing the girl had wanted was to go on a mission with her. After hours of pleading and her daughter making a face that was so adorable it would stop a death stalker in its tracks, she finally gave in.

"Fine, but only on one that I choose, and no matter what you do as I say, understand?"

"EEEEEEP! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" The young girl squeaked as she attached to her mother giving her the biggest hug she could muster up. "I'll do awesome, I promise! You'll see! I'm going to go practice right now!" With that the girl detached from her mother and disappeared leaving a trail of rose petals and making a sweet smell hang in the air in her previous spot, thanks to her semblance. The young girl ran to her room retrieve her weapon, Crescent Rose. The weapon was a High caliber rifle-scythe hybrid.

The entire weapon was red and black, which matched Ruby's choice of clothes, especially her red riding hood cape and her deep, rose red hair. All except for the large blade, which was a dazzling silver that was only outshined by the girl's large, breathtaking and unique silver eyes. She had made her weapon only a few months prior, but in the short time she had become an extraordinary fighter thanks to the help of her Uncle Qrow, who was the best scythe wielder in all of Vytal.

Normally Ruby's mother would never take anyone with her on a mission. This wasn't a normal situation however. She was a huntress, and a rather good one. In fact, she was the top out of all of the Hunters and Huntresses in her sector, thanks to 15 years of experience. That plus how unusually talented Ruby was, and the fact she would only allow her to go on a mission of her choosing that she knew was easy, she figured letting herself break her rule just this once would be fine. She couldn't have been more wrong.

She had requested a mission the next day making a note on the request that it HAD to be a low difficulty mission. She had received a letter a week later that had a mission that was exactly what she wanted. There was a small pack of Beowolves living in a cave near the edge of town that had been harassing the villagers that lived on the outskirts. There were only supposed to be 15 or 16 of them. 20 at the most. When the duo had arrived right before sun down, they had found way more than they expected.

She had gone ahead to scout, leaving Ruby hiding out a small ways back. As she looked into the rock formation her eyes grew large and her heart began beating so fast and with such force, she was surprised it didn't beat right out her chest. The report was partially correct. There were around 20 Beowolves. What it didn't mention was the half a dozen death stalkers. As she tried to sneak back she noticed a flock of a dozen or more Nevermore off in the distance. This amount of Grimm would normally require two or more teams of four. The duo would be helpless if the monsters discovered them. She continued toward the edge of the forest, but right before she made it back to the tree line, she made a rookie mistake.

She relaxed.

She became less aware of her surroundings and practically ran right into a Beowolf scout. She froze for a moment, shocked by the creatures presence. The monster howled, and swiped at her with its long, razor like claws. Her reflexes kicked in, and she rolled out of the way, but as a consequence of the brief pause, the creatures claw caught the back of leg, cutting deep. As she came out of the roll, she jumped up into the air, using her momentum to carry her behind the Beowolf. Before the beast had time to react, she had reached up and twisted its head, a cracking sound emanating as its neck shattered. The creatures body slumped to the ground and she went with it, grabbing at the searing pain pulsing through her leg. She pulled her hand away to look at the wound and cursed. It cut a lot deeper than she had thought, severing most of the muscles rendering her leg near useless. She wiped her hand on her cape and stood, not liking the feeling of her cape matting against her bloody leg. A chill ran up her spine as a chorus of howls echoed out from the cave. Knowing a chase was sure to follow, she ran, ignoring the pain coursing through her leg. Her only thought being of Ruby and wanting to get her back to safety.

And now the two girls raced through the forest trying to get back to town, the only place where they would be safe. Ruby's mom explained what happened, leaving out the part about her leg.

"That's why you need to go! Get to safety. I promise I'll be right behind you." Ruby's mom shouted, trying to make the young girl understand.

"No mom, I'm not leaving you! If they catch you, you won't stand a chance by yourself. At least with me here we can guard each others backs," the young girl Argued. She looked ahead as she ran, waiting for her mothers inevitable counter, but when none came, she looked back over at her mom. What she saw surprised her and almost made her stumble. Her mother was crying. "M-mom, what's the matter? Why are you crying?" Ruby questioned, her voice trembling slightly.

"Please Ruby. I'm begging you." her mother pleaded as she pulled back her cape, revealing the gash on her leg. "I can't keep this up. Please go on without me. There is no way we are going to out run them at this pace."

As if on cue they heard a screech from way up in the sky. As Ruby turned to look horror passed over her. She saw a small, lone nevermore up in the sky, and coming from it was the creatures bullet like feathers heading straight at her. Time slowed down. Ruby felt like she was moving in slow motion. She stared at the projectiles as they moved towards her at an alarming rate. She was frozen, knowing there was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. A second before the feathers pierced her, something crashed into her and knocked her out of the way. She looked over and saw her mom colliding with her. Her eyes grew wide in horror as she registered what was happening. As she slid off course she heard an ear splitting scream.

"MOM!" Ruby wailed, as she planted her feet, coming to a complete stop and at the same time pulling Crescent Rose out from its strap on her side. She shot the nevermore, piercing its skull killing it instantly, and in one fluid motion, re-holstered her weapon. She ran over to her mom's body lying crumpled on the ground. With tears streaming down her face, Ruby reached out with her trembling hands and turned her mom over to inspect the damage. As she moved her mother she screamed in agony. The girl winced at the sound, but proceeded to turn her mom, stopping when her mother laid on her back. Ruby shuttered. The blood. There was so much of it.

Her mothers once white cape matched her own in color. And the wounds. They were so deep Ruby was pretty sure she could see the dirt on the other side, though she couldn't be sure because the ground was turning a bright red all around Ruby's mom at an alarming rate. Tears were welling in Ruby's eyes as she sat there shocked, frozen in place from the sight of the bloody, mangled mess that used to be her mother's torso. She then began violently shaking and bawling uncontrollably, unable to do anything else besides turn her head and vomit. The girl collapsed and curled up into a ball, waiting for whatever was coming for her.

"Ruby."

"MOM!" the young girl choked through her tears as she looked up. She began to cry even louder when she saw her mom's face looking at her with a weak smile. Her mother was crying as well, though not for herself.

"I am so sorry..." her mother choked out, though barely managing a whisper.

"P-please mom! Please d-don't die! Don't l-leave me!" Ruby whimpered as she put her face in her mother's shoulder, mixing her tears with her mother's blood.

"You have to go. More are on the way. You can get away i-if you leave right now." she whispered as she winced in pain.

"W-why!? Why did you do that!?" Ruby sobbed.

Her mom winced as she lifted the girl's chin. Her tears flowed faster as she stared in Ruby's bright eyes, the young girls tears only making her eyes even more bright. "Because you mean the world to me. Never forget that. I'm sorry I'm leaving you, but I will always love you." In one final breath she leaned forward ignoring the pain, and kissed Ruby on the cheek, leaving a bloody imprint of her lips. She collapsed back down, exhaling for the final time.

"MOMMMM!" Ruby shouted as she shot up, but unable to move any further, something wrapped around her waist, restraining her. She felt wetness all over her face and her throat was raw.

"It's OK! Everything is going to be fine. Just calm down."

Ruby continued thrashing and crying as she looked to towards the voice and at the same time, struggling against what was restricting her. There was a figure holding her, using its whole body like a restraint, but the hold was more protective than anything.

"It's me, Weiss. Nothing bad is going to happen," the figure whispered in Ruby's ear. Ruby whipped her head toward the sound of the voice and saw the icy blue eyes of her teammate Weiss Schnee staring back at her. The girl's long, snow white hair was falling partially in front of her face. Ruby stopped flailing, but cried even louder, the image of her mom's body etched in her mind. She turned the rest of her body toward the white haired girl and curled up into the comforting embrace of her friend. She rested her head in the girls warm shoulder and continued sobbing, the dream still present in her mind. "Shh, it's okay." Weiss whispered as she rubbed Ruby's back and tried to calm her down. For the next hour she spoke and comforted the crying girl until slowly Ruby's crying turn into low, soft whimpering and then slowly into a heavy sleep.