It's so hot… She thought tiredly to herself as she swallowed nothing in the vain hope that her parched mouth could quell her burning, dry throat. The hot midday sun beat down on her relentless from the cloudless sky above, her long scarlet colored chain-mail cloak and hood did little to shield her from the heat of the day and her armor grew progressively more uncomfortable and sweaty. A soft, exhausted sigh escaped her lips as she gripped the reins a little tighter, her hands gloved with gauntlets, a plate of black and red metal guarding the backs of each of her hands. She focused on the feeling of her sorrel steed breathing beneath her as it trodden faithfully along down the barren dirt path to keep her mind off of her thirst.

"We're running low on water." A woman spoke beside her from atop her roan horse, its coat chestnut colored with a subtle white tint.

"I know…" She muttered softly as she turned to the woman beside her. She was a beautiful distinctively tall and had long, flowing red hair and striking emerald eyes and a gold earring on one ear with a polished red bead hanging from its thin chain. She was clad in gold and red armor covering her chest and shoulders, leaving her arms bare while lower down she wore a cloth skirt that draped down like a sash on one side with bands of golden colored steel covering her thighs.

"What should we do?" She asked barely able to hold back the fretful tone behind her words.

"Don't worry Pyrrha," The cloaked woman said with a cheerful, reassuring voice. Slowly one of her hands left the reins and ascended up to her hood, red cloth mended underneath dense chain-mail. As she pulled her hood a bright and warm smile shined through and the gentle wind swept through her black hair, tipped a dark red and tied back in a ponytail that ran down to her mid back. Her eyes were a sparkling and brilliant silver that held at once gentleness and intensity in their mirror like surface and from her ear hung a thin gold chain with a polished and expertly cut ruby that glistened in the sun. "We'll be okay."

"Are you certain about that Ruby?" A teasing voice spoke up as a third horse, this one Palomino, its coat a dark gold and its mane and tail a brilliant blonde to match the stunningly beautiful woman that rode atop it with a playful smirk and mischievous lilac eyes. The woman wore little in the way of armor, only around her belly and back did any practical protection adorn her in the form of gold painted chain-mail hanging down from a tan leather jacket specially tailored for her, giving her mobility and modest protection around her stomach and where it cut off and her shoulders, draping down over her biceps with the yellow chain armor. From her hips she wore shorts and at her feet she wore leather boots the extended up to her knees. Lastly, from her ear hung a thin golden chain with a sparkling pale yellow gem at its end.

"Yes Sister, I'm certain." Ruby huffed, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm your captain, I would never let anything happen to my team."

"I understand that but on the other hand, in addition to being nearly out of water, our rations are running very low. If we don't get some food soon we'll have to eat our horses." Yang licked her lips as she looked hungrily at her sister's steed.

"I'll have none of that!" Ruby cried out, her annoyance at her Sister's antics taking her mind thankfully further off of her hunger and thirst. With a warm, loving smile on her face Ruby leaned down, gently resting her head atop her horses as she patted its neck. "Don't you fret Gale, I won't let my sister harm one hair on your body, you're safe."

"I think you might be a little too fond of your horse Sister, it's unsettling." Yang chuckled at her sister's expense, but this time, her commander seemed unperturbed.

"Oh you're simply envious that she gets more affection than you." Ruby cooed softly, still cuddling up to her horse, its ears twitching as she played with them.

"Eh-hem, back to the situation at hand." Pyrrha interjected as Yang sat on her horse's back with her mouth open but no witty retort leaving her lips. Ruby had decisively won that round. "We're nearly out of food and water and I haven't seen you have a drink since last night."

"Whoa, is that true Ruby?" Yang gasped, her worry for her sister and leader showing in her soft lilac eyes as she frowned, knowing it was just like Ruby to neglect herself if she thought it would help the team.

"I am fine, as the captain it's my duty to put my team first. A single day without water won't be enough to kill me so you can calm yourselves." She knew she didn't sound convincing and the enticement of helping herself to just a few gulps of the water they had left had been eating away at her all day, but still, she was a knight, and she wouldn't give in so easily.

"Ruby, I know you are just being noble but you must to keep up your strength. We wouldn't have made it this far without you, your team needs you at your best so drink." Yang's tone was strong and reprimanding, she the only one who could always get away with treating the commanding officer of their team in such a way, even before the Fracturing.

"I…" For a moment, it looked like the commander would protest, sticking to what she thought was right, but as she gazed into her older sister's eyes pleading with her as they glistened with worry and love, she knew she could do nothing other than give in. "Very well, I'll have a drink."

"I knew that would work on you. My little sister can be so stubborn sometimes but you really can't help it when you're given that look." A snort of laughter left her lips as she tried and failed to contain her amusement at the annoyed look on her sister's face.

"Just pass me the canteen before I change my mind." She sighed in defeat but even so, a small and happy smile pulled at her lips.

"I hate to be the pessimist here but what are we going to do?" A young man's voice spoke up he rode up beside Ruby, Pyrrha making way for him to pass off the metal container that held their remaining water. He was a well built man with blonde hair tied off in a shorter ponytail than Ruby's. His armor was more appropriate for a knight of his station with a sword sheathed at his side and strong plate armor painted white with gold around its edges covering most of his body short of his head. His horse was white with a black mane and black fur around its hooves.

"Have some faith in me Jaune." Ruby smirked after gulping down several mouthfuls of water, the fresh, clean, life sustaining liquid quenching her throat and sending cool satisfaction washing over her. "According to the map we only have a short while to go before we reach the next town."

"Yes but we don't even have any money, what are we supposed to do?" Jaune's brow was furrowed with worry as he dreaded the day he would have to sell his armor just to buy bread. It had nearly happened several times but his leader always managed to pick them up from their lowest points.

"I'm sure something will come to me." She giggled, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Jaune and Pyrrha looked at her with unease, not entirely certain she wasn't joking.

"Um, I think something is coming to us right now." Yang blinked, making certain that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

Everyone turned, following the brawler's gaze and sure enough, someone was running towards them and he appeared to be in quite a hurry. A peasant by the looks of it and as he drew closer they could see the panic and terror in his eyes. Instantly, the four knights were on high alert, they couldn't but sure whether this man posed a threat or if he was leading a threat to them.

"Help! Help!" The man cried out between panting, labored breaths as she slowed to a stop before the four warriors. "Y-you! Are you knights!? Please you have to help, my village is being destroyed by monsters!"

"Calm yourself and tell us where you came from? How far is it?" Ruby's eyes were sharp and focused and her voice commanding as she looked down at the trembling man.

"J-just a long run from here ma'am! Please, you have to hurry, my home is being destroyed!" He was begging, pleading with tears in his eyes for the help of the young woman and her team but it was pointless, Ruby was convinced from the moment he cried for help.

"Yang, take Gale, I'm going on ahead!" Without hesitating for a moment Ruby jumped down from her horse, her red and silver breastplate glinting in the sunlight as her cloak opened up from the short fall.

"Ruby are you sure? We don't know what's out there and-"

Whooosh!

It was too late. In a blur of red Ruby had vanished, leaving nothing but a burst of rose petals and a powerful gust of wind in her wake.

"She never listens." Yang smiled as she shook her head, taking Gale's reins, tying them to her own securely. Ruby would be devastated if she lost her precious horse so she made certain that the mare was safe and secure.

"We need to follow her!" Jaune's blue eyes burned with a intensity and conviction, he would follow Ruby into combat anywhere but as much as the rest of the team he hated the idea of her fighting alone, no matter her immense skill.

"Let's move!" And just like Ruby, Pyrrha took off without another word, lashing her reins and sending her horse into a full on sprint after her leader with her two teammates following close behind.

Less than two minutes at her top speed and she could hear the screams of the people in town as they ran and fought for their lives against a vicious onslaught. She pushed herself and her Semblance, her heart pounding in her chest and adrenaline coursing through her veins as the screaming grew louder and louder. She gritted her teeth, tensing her body as she prepared for what came next.

At full speed Ruby launched herself over a small hill, flying forward into the air over the town, her heavy cloak flowing behind her like the burning red tail of a comet as she soared through the air, rose petals trailing behind her. From above she could see it all, it was a small village and nearly half of it was already destroyed by unnatural creatures, monsters that still plagued the countryside. Many were smaller, looking much like wolves with gray coats and glowing yellow eyes that walking on two legs like a man and had large, black claws and bone like protrusions growing through their pelts. However, Ruby's eyes were drawn to a large blue skinned serpent that writhed across the land heading directly towards the village.

With a soft, focused breath she relaxed her body and reached for her back, underneath her cape before. The air exploded as Ruby propelled herself down towards the ground, petals blowing away behind her as she raced to stop the encroaching monster before it met the village, with its size as long as the mightiest trees, it would be able to decimate the small settlement with ease. She braced her body for impact and then…

Boooom!

The ground shook as dirt was sheared from the parched ground, a shockwave echoed through the town like thunder and the earth trembled at her landing, but even through the destructive forces at play, Ruby stood defiantly between the serpent and the village. With fierceness burning in her sharp silver eyes the young woman stepped out from the small crater she produced. In her left hand she held a unique sword, the weapon she designed herself, its blade long and curved inward in front of a central shaft with a gap in between, the razor sharp edge of the weapon extended all the way down past the hilt and on its other side, a much shorter, hook-like blade meeting its other half at a sharp and pointed tip.

The Serpent hissed, rumbling the ground and it approached before rearing up, its burning yellow eyes piercing into the small woman that stood so boldly before it. Its maw opened wide, its fangs dripping with venom as its body coiled, ready for a quick and deadly strike, but even so, the girl did not flinch.

Suddenly, a hot orange light burned in the beast's mouth as it took in a sharp inhale! In the next instant, a jet of flames spewed from its jaws, washing the ground below it in fire that scorched the ground and bathed the small girl in a raging inferno that persisted, the monster's malice and rage that it was the incarnation of palpable in every flicker of the flames that it focused on the woman that defied it!

Then, in a powerful gust of air, the flames were banished, embers flying in all directions as Ruby burst from the cover of her cape that protected her from the fire, the force of her flourish blowing away its attack and leaving nothing behind but smoldering rose petals and a very terrifying young woman who stood amidst a small sea of fire without fear or even rage. The girl walked forward, with a swing of her sword she snuffed out the fires before her, clearing her path as she moved calmly but intensely forward.

The beast let out a loud, threatening hiss, backing away at the woman's encroach as she reached reached up to the inner shaft of her blade where a rod of shining steel protruded from its unloaded side. Without taking her eyes off the beast for a moment, she pulled down hard on the rod, suddenly extending the length of the shaft and sending the two halves of the blade up forming an immensely terrifying and deadly scythe!

"I am Ruby Rose, youngest Grand Knight to ever be ordained in the former Empire of Ozsteria and as a knight, I am sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves." A confident smirk appeared on her lips as she walked forward, dragging her scythe along the scorched ground.

With a dark and powerful hiss the serpent gave no more ground, rearing its head back and opening its dripping fangs the monster struck with blinding speed, snapping its jaws down at the girl… but it was futile, its large head was knocked away by a twirl of her large scythe, its menacing blade cutting through its flesh, revealing to be nothing more than a thin veneer beneath which only an unnatural blackness lies.

"I will not let you harm these people…" With a cold and soft whisper, she vanished, leaving behind a flurry of scarlet petals as she almost instantly flew up into the air above the monster's head, the beast confusedly scouring the ground for her as she reared back her scythe. It was over in an instant, rose petals flew from the back of the weapon as she channeled her Semblance through her scythe, propelling it at speeds her muscles could never hope to and effortlessly cutting the beast's head clean off in a single strike before falling to the ground amidst its rapidly evaporating corpse. I hope Yang and the other's are here, cleaning up the weaker ones will take too long by myself, they need to protect the villagers.

Her grip tightened around the hot metal shaft of her scythe as she turned around, the serpent's body nearly gone as it vanished into black smoke. Her heartbeat was steady and her breaths soft as she walked into the town where she could still hear the screams of its citizens.

"Die you foul waste!" Yang screamed belligerently as she beat a standing wolf creature taller than herself with her metal knuckled gauntlets, her eyes burned a deep crimson and a hot yellow energy burning from all around her body.

"I said die!" With a final scream a blade shot out from her gauntlet atop her wrist, extending her reach by half her arm's length as she punched with the pointed tip, stabbing the monster through the skull before the sheer force of her strike blew its head apart in a haze of black smoke.

"Get away from them!" Jaune cried out defiantly as he rushed one of the wolf-like creatures, slamming into it with his shield, stoppings its pursuit of fleeing townsfolk and hurting it enough for elicit a cry of pain from before he decapitated it with a single slash of his sword.

"Last one!" Pyrrha reported while chasing the last wolf monster now fleeing the town, her team already having made short work of the weaker beasts. With a powerful swing of her arm Pyrrha let her round, bladed shield fly, stabbing the creature in the in the back, forcing it to yelp in agony. With her emerald gaze focused she enveloped her shield in her Semblance, bending the metal to her will as she ripped it from its hide and then slammed it down into its neck before leaping forward and stabbing it through its back with her spear!

With a long sigh Pyrrha withdrew her spear and brought her shield back to her arm as the monster's body faded away. Turning around she saw Jaune and Yang also coming down of the high of battle, Jaune sheathing his sword and Yang retracting her blades, all looking pretty worn out… except their leader who walked up to them with a proud and relieved smile.

"I'm glad you all arrived in time." Their leader grinned happily as she joined her friends. "Well that was enjoyable! Good practice, we can't afford to be getting rusty or complacent, we are knights after all!"

"Sister, I think you enjoy this perhaps too much." Yang sighed, thankful everyone was okay and no one in the village seemed hurt but but concerned with her sister's love of the fight.

"Nonsense, how can you enjoy it too much when it's a positive thing! We helped people here today, we should rejoice in that, we've won the battle, so now we get to celebrate, just like old times!" A bright, warm smile that shined like the sun and overwhelmed Yang's weariness of her sister's over the top personality. She was a good leader and a good person, one of the few sparkling gems of humanity left after the Fracturing in which their home fell apart. At least, that's how Yang saw her.

"Very well, you've worn me down." Yang conceded with a half smile. "Let's get drunk off our arses."

"Again, I hate to be the one to say this but we still don't have any money and it doesn't look like this village has much to spare." Jaune looked around, at least half the buildings were damaged, thankfully it seemed there was no loss of life, but still, they would need their resources to rebuild.

"Okay, so maybe it won't be a large affair with plenty of booze but we're out of food and drink, both the fun kind and the not. We saved their lives, surely they can provide us with something." Yang looked less than pleased, almost annoyed at Jaune for stating the obvious, but more annoyed at herself for not thinking of the villagers first.

"Excuse me good knights." An elderly man approached them slowly with his hands on a roughly made wooden cane. He was short with blue eyes, one pupil clouded and had long white hair and a scruffy beard. "Those earrings you're wearing, are you knights left over from Ozsteria?"

"Oh, um, yes! Thank you for noticing." Ruby blushed slightly, playing with the flawless ruby hanging from her ear, a symbol of her station.

"W-wait, you mean the cursed knights who sold their soul to the Warlock King for power derived from black magic!?" A younger man from the village looked terrified, having witnessed their immense power and now knowing they were part of the kingdom that fell. Ruby could only imagine the rumors he must have heard about her former lord.

"I guarantee you Sir that we very much do still have our souls." The captain glared at him, trying to suppress her irritation.

"We just saved your lives, be grateful you didn't become feed for the monsters peasant." Yang growled, stepping protectively between the man and her sister with her teeth bared.

"Sister, there's no need for that. We did not come to make enemies." With a gentle touch to her toned, muscular shoulder Ruby calmed the rage in Yang and with a bitter huff the brawler backed away leaving Ruby smiling at the men before her.

"On behalf of my team, I would like to ask you for your assistance. We've traveled a long way and still have a long journey yet ahead of us. We're low on rations and supplies and have no money. Please, do us the kindness of feeding and sheltering us for a time, in our stay we will work to help rebuild your village as recompense." With the softest, kindest smile she folded her scythe, turning it back into a sword as she knelt down on one knee with her blade stabbed into the ground in front of her. "Please… my team, my family is hungry. We need help."

"You do not need to take a knee for someone of my stature good knight." The old man smiled, bowing his head. "I am not oblivious to what you have done, my home might have suffered a terrible loss that could not be rebuilt if you had not intervened on our behalf. Whatever you may require, we will provide within our means."

"My eternal gratitude kind Sir!" Ruby beamed as she stood up, sheathing her sword behind her cape. "Still, once we are fed and rested, we shall help you rebuild. It's a knight's duty to help those in need."

"We would be most thankful for any help you may be willing to offer." He bowed again, this time bending his stiff, old back to show the extent of his gratitude. "The local tavern was unharmed during the attack, I'm certain they will be more than accommodating and may even have a place for you to sleep."

"That would be most appreciated." Yang wore a thankful but more eager smile, ready to drink and be merry after a battle.

"Come, it's right this way." The old man turned, gesturing for them to follow. With hope and relief in their hearts, the four knights followed. As Ruby had said, it all worked out.

"We need to figure out our next move." Ruby mumbled as she looked into her mug, her ale half gone and her head beginning to feel a fuzzy.

"Oh yes? And what might that be?" Yang hummed with a stupid grin on her face, already having gone through three mugs of mead and was currently working her way through her fourth.

"Well, we have two options. Ozpin is gone, we've spent the better part of the last two years searching for him all over the former central state of Ozsteria and we couldn't find a thing. Romillia is now but ruins. The options before us are thus; We proceed on course to Autumnae or we go further north to Gefrorene." She wasn't happy with either options, but they were the only two states still stable after the Fracturing that tore the Empire of Ozsteria apart into disparate states, most squabbling for power and crushing the citizens in their mad dash for the throne.

"Gefrorene is ruled by the Schnee barons whose patriarch Jacques Schnee now calls himself king of the newly formed country." Jaune took a sip of his beer, his spirits down at the reminiscing of their lost lord.

"And Autumnae is bordering it to the south west and is ruled by the Queen Cinder Fall. She's an unknown, rose up from nowhere to take power after the Fracturing and has secured it ever since unlike anyone other than the Schnees." Pyrrha's drink of choice was red wine which she savored with every sip.

"I'd vote for Autumnae in all honesty." Ruby muttered, chugging the last half of her ale before dropping the mug down on the table that sat around. "I've met the Schnees before, I don't like Jacques."

"At least we would be aware of whose toes we would be stepping on." Jaune playing the voice of reason again, though that's what Ruby counted on from him.

"That's true, the Queen is an unknown but I hear that her people are happy for the most part. I want to see that for myself." Ever since Ozsteria crumbled and Romillia was burned to the ground, they had encountered few thriving places. It was unspoken between the four of them but without a righteous leader to follow, they felt purposeless as knights… or rather, they would, if Ruby's indomitable sense of honor and chivalry didn't keep them on the right path at all times.

"If you going I go…" Yang giggled, throwing her arm around her sister, pulling Ruby in close as her drink sloshed around in her mug.

"I'm of like mind with Yang, I will follow your lead captain." Pyrrha raised her glass to Ruby with a relaxed smile.

"You've yet to lead us astray, I will follow wherever you go." Jaune gave a certain and affirming nod, raising his mug to her.

"Then we set off for Autumnae in first thing in the morning." It was warm… the smiles of her friends, Yang's a little too rough hug, the fire crackling nearby, the alcohol sitting in her belly. It was all warm and it was nice. Maybe after one more drink.