Bloody Evolution
I thus turned my gaze unto a world, one that has remained untouched. The fates here are a gathering storm, poised to erupt into flames. My brother sees a champion of his choosing, so does the younger one who is competing for loyalty. I, however, have eyes on one with great power whose heart is filled with an ambition to change the world. Her heart cries out for hope, and all it takes...is a prayer...and a little nudge in the right direction to bring about the change.
Chapter 1
Ruby opened her eyes to find herself floating in a featureless white void. Even though she could feel like she was lying on her back, there was nothing around her act as a point of reference. For all she knew, she could be standing straight. Maybe the gravity was wrong. Or there was no gravity at all. Her silver eyes darted back and forth and she desperately looked for signs of something, but even the horizon seemed empty. There was no world, bits and bobs, or even a cloud. Everything looked like it was painted over impeccably. The sensation of vertigo hit her, and Ruby suffered a bit of nausea, but not enough to make her throw up.
The more saliva she tried to swallow to keep the nauseating sensation down, the more it got worse. But before Ruby could finally lose her lunch, the gravity around her seemed to change. Now, she felt like it was beneath her feet, and that she was standing straight. With her feet firmly planted on non-existent ground, the young huntress began walking about to make sure she was not imagining things. Instinctively, she reached for Crescent Rose, but her hand only grabbed air. A sense of panic grew within her. There was no way she would let her beloved weapon out of her sight. There was nothing worse than losing her scythe (except for losing her mother) when she needed to get some comfort out of it.
"Looking for this, Miss Rose?" asked a feminine voice.
She looked behind her, then above her. It sounded like it came from two directions, but there was nobody there. When she looked to the front again, Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin. She let out a loud gasp of surprise when she came face-to-face with a birdlike creature dressed in what looked like a wizard's garb. In its right hand was an ornate ceremonial staff made of electrum and topped with an icon of an eye located in the middle of an open book. In its outstretched left hand was Crescent Rose, packed up neatly. With her surprise displaced and replaced by annoyance and slight anger, Ruby snatched her weapon away from the creature. The creature gave her a look of amusement, its beak curving into what passed as a smile as it noticed Ruby stroking her weapon like it was her child.
"You're welcome," it replied while leaning on its staff as if it lacked strength.
"Who're you?" Ruby asked in a cautious tone, though her annoyance had yet to leave her.
"I can be many things, but I suppose you can call me Ar'thava," it said softly. Despite sounding gentle, the way it looked into Ruby's eyes gave her the chills. Its white eyes were as smooth and glazed as the void they were in, but deep within burned an intense malefic fire that transmitted forbidden thoughts into Ruby's mind. "My lord has deemed you...an important agent, and has willed me to speak with you."
"I...don't...I don't understand," Ruby muttered as all pretense of annoyance at the creature melted away completely, replaced only by intrigue and cold terror. "Are you some kind of bird…...with teeth?"
Ar'thava chuckled and flapped its wings, flying around Ruby slowly as if examining her. "Like I said, dear Ruby Rose, I can be anything. And yes, I know who you are. As the saying of some non-believers go, "Knowledge is power". They're not entirely wrong."
"This is a dream, right? I mean, you can't be real. If you were real, there'd be-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a jar of cookies floated by Ruby's face. Her eyes widened with surprise, and she turned to look at Ar'thava. It gave her a knowing look, but was silent otherwise. Turning back to the mysterious jar of floating cookies, Ruby reached out to touch the crystalline vessel. It felt real enough. Reaching into it, she pulled out a cookie and ate it. The taste was as real as she could remember. In fact, it tasted exactly like the ones Ozpin gave to her on the day she met him. Even more intriguing was that she heard Ozpin's voice in her head, clear as day and as loud as a person talking, even as said person was absent.
"Ruby Rose. You...have silver eyes."
"It's funny that mortals are so easily sated by the mundane and familiar," the birdlike creature said while shaking its head. "No improvement."
"Hey, I'll have you know that I improve Crescent Rose all the time," Ruby chided after finishing her food. "See this? This wasn't there before. I added it myself," she added while tapping at a switch that allowed her to fire her weapon semi-automatically.
Ar'thava shook its head, unamused by the young huntress's attempts to counter its observation. "You can improve a weapon, but can you improve yourself?"
"Huh?" was all Ruby managed to get out when she heard the question.
"Think about it, Ruby. What are you? Who are you? What do you want in this world?" it asked while floating in an aimless pattern with Ruby tracking its movement. "I believe that…...you wanted to make Remnant a better place."
"I...do," Ruby said, but she looked away from Ar'thava. "But people keep telling me that there's only so much one huntress could do."
"And what is it that you can't do that most people can?"
Ruby gave the creature a dumbfounded expression. The was at a loss for words, but that was exactly what Ar'thava was expecting. She never knew herself besides having some rose-tinted view of what being a huntress is all about. Sure, it was scratched slightly after the Fall of Beacon, but the feeling of wanting to be a hero never left her. To the creature, her desires and ambitions laid before it like an open book. So many strings that can be pulled, oh so many hidden ones too. It smiled furtively and went close to Ruby. A wing wrapped around her shoulder as if the creature was sympathising her. She looked up at Ar'thava with a curious expression, wondering what the creature was up to.
"When there's a will, there's a way. What if I told you...that out there, in your world, lies a solution to defeating the creatures of Grimm once and for all?" Ar'thava said.
Ruby's silver eyes widened. She looked at it with her mouth slightly agape. "There is?"
"Remember when I said that knowledge is power? What if I told you that there is a library of great knowledge that could help you become the very best? Why, you could even surpass Huang the Great tenfold. You could do what he could never even dream of," Ar'thava replied.
Ruby knew who Huang the Great was. Doctor Oobleck could not stop talking about him when it came to the subject of past heroes. According to him, Huang was the first king of the Mistrali people who not only possessed great strength, but also a seemingly deep knowledge of Grimm. He sought to eradicate the dark creatures with strength and intellect combined, a warrior's code he named the Path of Unity. The code was to be an example for all future warriors to not only put emphasis on martial prowess, but also acuity. Doctor Oobleck mentioned that despite saying those, Huang leaned more to the intellectual side. He studied various scrolls and books, observed Grimm, and was even rumoured to study magick. Naturally, her teacher pooh-poohed the idea of magick as there was no such thing according to him. Then, on the eve of an assault on a Grimm hive, Huang disappeared without a trace. Some say he disappeared into a vortex of energy, others said he immolated himself through unknown means. To this day, what happened to Huang the Great remained a total mystery.
"Huang the Great was indeed knowledgeable, but he never understood the knowledge he sought after. He thought he knew what he was getting into, but his mind was not prepared for what was to be revealed to him. Had he the mental fortitude, perhaps he could have wiped out the Grimm once and for all."
"What exactly are you getting on here?" Ruby asked, this time her tone was laced with suspicion and her eyes narrowed at Ar'thava.
"Keep doing what you're doing. Everything will fall into place, and you'll understand in time," Ar'thava answered cryptically. "Your friends are waking up soon. But before we part ways, there's one more thing I need to show you."
Before Ruby could ask about it, the creature grabbed her head in a vice-like grip, its talons digging into her skull. Ruby cried out in pain as it drew blood, but she screamed even louder when her surroundings devolved into what looked like a tunnel of visions flying past her at light speed. If it were not for the pain of talons grabbing her head, she would have noticed that the visions going past her were like pictures of her childhood, from the day she was born to the day she left Patch with Jaune, Nora, and Ren. But even then, it when even further into the future, but it was all blurry at this point, until it stopped at a certain image of a handsome young man in black-red robes. He looked very much like a learned person, a scholar of the highest degree. But he exuded an air of mystery about him, and his gaze gave Ruby the same feeling when she looked into Ar'thava's eyes.
"He knows," said Ar'thava as its voice echoed around her. "And he's waiting."
With one last loud scream, the tunnel of visions was drowned out by a white light. Ruby's eyes flew open and sat up immediately. Nora, who was busy cooking a pancake over the campfire, quickly dropped the pan and rushed over to her friend. Jaune and Ren were nowhere to be seen. Ruby took rapid and deep breaths, her eyes wide with confusion and terror. She touched her head for bloody wounds, but her skin was whole. However, the insides of her head pounded on her skull, and the pain also struck out at the back of her eyes. She felt something dribble out of her nose, and heard Nora gasp. Ruby rubbed the wetness with a finger, and when she looked at it, it was stained with crimson liquid.
"Oh no, oh no, where's the tissue?" Nora muttered quickly while rummaging through her backpack for a tissue packet.
"W-where're we at?" Ruby asked calmly as if nothing had happened. Sweat rolled down her cheeks, and her clothes were wet from her sweat as well.
Nora did not answer her until she found what she was looking for. She handed the packet to Ruby, who proceeded to wipe away the blood from her nose. Thankfully, it had stopped hemorrhaging, but it made her nose feel uncomfortable. The smell of cooked pancakes penetrated her nasal blockage, and at the same time, her stomach growled at her for not getting something to sate its rage. Her friend was quick to pick up on the signal and went to retrieve it for her. As Nora poured syrup onto it, Ruby licked her dry lips. She frowned when she tasted chocolate, like the chocolate of cookies…
"Geez, Ruby, you gave me a scare there. I thought an Ursa got you," Nora said with a chuckle. She handed her a plate of pancakes, which Ruby accepted quite readily.
"Wouldn't be surprised if one got here. These pancakes smell good," Ruby replied with a smile. She bit a chunk out of the pile and nodded her head in approval. "Soooooo good!"
Nora beamed. "Jaune taught me this one. He told me to add a bit of blueberry squeezings into the better. I thought that was heresy, I mean, who puts that in pancake batter right? Then, I argued with him, and he showed me how to do it. Then I was like 'No, you don't put blueberry in pancakes'. And then he was like -"
"Nora, I get it, you now know that blueberry pancake is actually a thing."
"Welllllll...I knew it was a thing, but I kinda didn't like it. So…...yeah."
"Um...right," Ruby said, not knowing what else to say at this point. She was quick to change the subject though. "Where's Jaune and Ren?"
Jaune's loud and high-pitched scream and the sounds of Stormflower firing at full auto answered her question. Nora rushed over to a stump where Magnhild was leaning against while Ruby dropped her plate and leapt out of her sleeping bag. Her friend tossed Crescent Rose at her, and Ruby deftly snatched it from the air an unfurled it into scythe form in one swift move. They rushed towards the sound of battle where Ren was engaged in combat with a Stone Geist while Jaune was attempting not to get squashed.
Yang Xiao Long had just woke up from a nightmare of her own, a nightmare of the man that lopped off her right hand during Beacon's final hour. Who would have thought that even a 15-minute nap could bring about a long nightmare that felt like it just happened yesterday. Looking at the stump that used to be her functional hand, the brawler felt a semblance of rage boil within her soul. That asshole of a faunus. Thinks he is such a fighter. Not only did he take her arm, he hurt a friend she cared for, her friend who happened to be his former lover.
She gritted her teeth as pain shot up from the stump. It was a sensation that reminded her of what a failure she was. If wishes could come true, right now, she wished she could go back to Adam Taurus and grind his face into the dirt and sever his head. Right as she started thinking about the gory details, the edges of her vision seemed to tint red. Her head and eyes began to throb violently, and it hurt to the point where she had to lie down on the couch to sooth the pain. When it finally subsided, Yang took a deep breath and sighed. The red in her vision was gone as well, but it concerned her.
She looked at the box on the table which contained the artificial hand her father got for her. It was nice gift, but it never seemed to get her enthusiastic about it. Yang sat up slowly and opened the box to give the hand one more look. It was sleek and polished, definitely a good tool for beating people up. If Ruby was around, she would probably come up with many ways to further enhance it, maybe even turn it into a proper weapon instead of just a replacement arm. Heck, Yang could come up with a few ideas for it too, turn it into Ember Celica even. But that was for a later date. Right now, she needed to get back her strength so she can exact revenge.
"Yang, you're up," Taiyang said as he emerged from the kitchen. "Just in time for lunch. I made steak and eggs, just the way you like it."
"Rare?" she asked with a smile.
"Yep, and I say this may be my best effort yet. You seem to take on your mother's liking for rare steak," Taiyang chuckled.
"What can I say, a dragon's gotta need her meat done right," Yang joked, though her attempts to laugh came off as forced. She still felt hopeless.
Taiyang noticed his daughter's distraught expression and went to sit beside her. He patted her shoulder and said, "You alright?"
Yang sighed. "I wish I was, dad. Have you ever felt so...helpless, so useless?"
"Still thinking about what happened at Beacon?"
Yang nodded her head silently.
"When your mother ran away, I felt the same way too. For months, I swear to Oum I felt like I hit rock bottom and maybe even beyond. The solution to this is simple, but doing it is always the hardest part," Taiyang said.
"And what did you do, dad?" the blonde brawler asked while looking at him hopefully.
"I kept going. A goal in life is always the best guidance you have when steering through emotional turmoil. In my case, I had you to look after. You are the reason why I remained happy." He smiled at her. "And I'm happy to see that you've grown up to be the strong huntress that you are. It's all that I can ask for."
Yang playfully slugged her father's arm with her left hand while chuckling. "That's so sappy and cheesy."
"Haha, but you can't deny it's true," Taiyang declared while rubbing his arm.
"Yeah, you're right, dad. Thanks."
"Now c'mon, food's getting cold. After lunch, how's about we go to town for a while? I need to get some Dust supplies and we've got guests coming over."
Yang remained seated while Taiyang went back to the kitchen to set the table. She looked at her gauntlet, and at the same time, the image of a dying Adam Taurus flashed in her mind. It made her grin, and her eyes reddened as her scowl deepened. Her father had a point. A goal in life is exactly what she needed as motivation to get stronger. Whatever force was giving her such motivation, it was certainly nudging her in the right direction.
She would live to see Adam ground to gore and bone.
A/N: If there's one thing I love, it's corrupting characters. I'm sure Warhammer 40k fans already know which side the sisters will eventually lean towards. I did plan this as a one-shot, but if there is interest in seeing this continued, I'll keep writing. Until then, I'd like to hear from ya!