Hey guys! It's been a while!
I'm very sorry for being inactive for several months, but I needed to take a break to take care of some business as well as clear my head of a whole bunch of negativity. But now, I have returned!
So, anyone who's read SLFR before will notice that this is a rewrite of the previous version, which has been deleted because I felt I could do better. So, I will be making a lot of changes to this story, especially to the characters. Some of you may like these changes and some of you may not, but I honestly prefer the changes I'm making. Though I don't believe the changes are too major, so hopefully you can accept them.
But anyway, without further ado, let's get to the first chapter!
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
"I can't believe they even make weapons like these!" a certain, dark-haired girl stated to the boy next to her, amazement in her voice. "These are awesome!"
This girl was Ruby Rose, a fifteen-year-old girl from Vale. She had black hair with red tips and silver eyes. Her outfit consisted of a black long-sleeved blouse with red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing on the front, a black skirt with red trim, a pair of black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles.
In a shop named From Dust Till Dawn, the girl was browsing through a weapons magazine, constantly admiring the weapons she came across. The boy next to her simply nodded his head and hummed in agreement as she gawked at the different items.
This boy was Forrest Xiao-Long, Ruby's brother. He had green hair and hazel eyes. His outfit was a dark green jacket, grey shirt, black pants and dark green sneakers. There was also a bracelet on his left wrist that was mostly silver except for a small part that was dark green and had the words "The Castleton Will Never Falters" written on it.
"We need to get going," Forrest said to Ruby.
"Aw, can't we stay a little longer? Just a few more minutes?" Ruby begged.
"No, we have to go now," Forrest replied. "Dad will probably freak out if we're not home soon."
Ruby pouted at him with sad, puppy eyes. Forrest frowned and closed his eyes, but when he opened them, Ruby was still making the same eyes at him. He tried looking away, but out of the corner of his eye, much to his dismay, he saw Ruby continue.
'Must… resist…' Forrest desperately thought to himself. He hated those adorable eyes of hers!
"Okay, fine." he answered finally. "Since I'm feeling so generous, you can have five more minutes. But no more." He made sure to emphasise the last part.
Ruby ceased the puppy eyes and pounced on her brother, wrapping him in a giant hug.
"Ohhh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed. "You're the best brother ever!"
Forrest gently pushed her off of him.
"I know, now hurry up. Your five minutes starts now, so be ready to leave soon." Forrest ordered.
Ruby smiled and nodded, pulling out a pair of red headphones and putting them on. She turned and looks back at her magazine as she pressed the button on her headphones, playing the last song she listened to.
Forrest frowned at her, but eventually, his frown became a smile as he let out a small sigh.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?"
Hearing this made Forrest curious as to who had just entered the store. Rather than looking towards the entrance like most people would, he simply activated his Semblance. He sensed six people at the entrance. One of them was, of course, the shopkeeper. As Forrest focused, he sensed some ill intent coming from the five who had just entered.
'This can't be good.' he thought.
After a few more seconds, he noticed one of the people approaching them. A man with a black hat and suit with a red tie and sunglasses prepared to load some dust into a canister. However, the man turned his head and saw Forrest and Ruby, with their backs turned towards them. He then drew a sword from a sheath on his belt.
"Alright kids, put your hands where I can see them." the man ordered.
Neither of the two children put their hands up, Ruby because she couldn't hear him and Forrest because he didn't care.
"Hey! I said hands in the air!" the man repeated.
Forrest nudged Ruby's shoulder with his elbow, prompting her to look at him. Once he had her attention, he gestured towards the man with his head. Ruby took down the hood and removed her headphones from her head as the two finally turned to look at the man.
"Yes?" Ruby asked.
"I said, put your hands in the air! Now!" he repeated again, clearly irritated.
Forrest raised an eyebrow, as did Ruby.
"Let me guess, you're robbing us?" Forrest inquired.
"Yes!" the man replied, very agitated at this point.
Ruby and Forrest looked at each other, before smirking at the man.
"Ohh." they replied in unison.
At the front of the store, three of the other men, dressed the same as the one who had just spoken to Ruby and Forrest, continued loading the dust into their canisters. While waiting for the men to finish their business, the fifth man, presumably the leader of this little group, leaned on the counter.
He had dark green eyes and orange hair with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner could be seen on his left eye. He sported a white coat over a black shirt, long black pants and brown shoes. His look was completed with a black bowler hat, a grey scarf and black gloves.
He barely gave a visible reaction when one of the men was sent flying into a shelf at the front of the store. One of the other grunts approached the man in the bowler hat, who gestured with his head to investigate. The grunt ran to the back of the store, pointing his gun at the two teenagers.
Launching the grunt's helpless body through the window, Ruby and Forrest leapt out, pulling out their weapons. As the other three grunts, one of which had just recovered from being thrown into the shelf, looked out the window, they saw Ruby holding a sniper rifle, which unfolded into a scythe, and Forrest holding a crossbow, which transforms into a spear. The two turned towards the criminals, Ruby spinning her scythe rapidly before stabbing the blade into the ground and Forrest spinning his spear before resting it on his shoulder. Ruby then clicked the button on her headphones, ending the song she was listening to prior to this incident.
"Okay…" the man in the bowler hat said, clearly not amused. He looked to his men before giving the order. "Get them."
As the man who was launched through the window recovered, he joined the other three men as they ran out of the store and charged towards the teenagers.
Ruby swung around on her scythe with one arm and kicked one of the men in the face. She then removed the blade from the ground before firing the weapon and using the recoil to give her scythe momentum in order to hit another henchman with the butt of the weapon, launching him into the air. One of the other men was about to fire his gun at Ruby, but as he pulled the trigger and the bullet flew out, Forrest jumped in front of Ruby and swung his spear, deflecting the bullet. The man continued firing, but as Forrest made his way towards him, he continued to spin his weapon, deflecting the shots. As he approached the man, he hit him the leg with with the handle of his spear, knocking him off balance. As the man started to fall, he hit him over the head with the same part, knocking him unconscious. As the last henchman attempted a sneak attack, Forrest stabbed the spear into the ground and spun on it, kicking the man in the face with enough force to send flying. The grunt landed in front of the ginger-haired man, unconscious.
"You were worth every cent. Truly you were." the man muttered sarcastically.
"Well, Red, Green, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening," he said, pulling his cigar out of his mouth and throwing it on the ground before crushing it with his cane. "And as much as I'd like to stick around," he pointed his cane at the siblings, "I'm afraid this," the bottom of the cane opened up, revealing a scope, "is where we part ways."
A red blast fired out of the cane, heading straight towards the duo. Forrest jumped to the side and rolled while Ruby fired her weapon into the ground, launching her upwards and above the blast. The red shot hit the ground where the two were standing previously, exploding and sending rubble from the street everywhere. Ruby landed and Forrest stood up, dusting himself off. As Ruby looked around for the ginger-haired man, Forrest activated his Semblance. He immediately located the man.
"Up there!" he alerted Ruby while pointing.
Ruby followed where he was pointing and saw the man climbing a ladder on the side of a building. She turned to the shopkeeper.
"You okay if we go after him?" she asked him, earning a short "Uh-huh" in response. Ruby pointed her scythe at the ground and as Forrest held onto her, she fired a shot, the recoil launching them to the top of the building in no time. They saw the man running to the edge of the building.
"Hey!" she yelled out.
The man stopped running but didn't turn to look at them.
"Persistent…" he muttered.
The two siblings prepared to fight him before they heard a noise. Next to the building, a Bullhead pulled up, the hatch opening. As the man climbed inside, he turned to the duo.
"End of the line, kids!" he yelled, holding up a red Dust crystal.
He threw it at their feet and fired at it. The two kids braced themselves as the shot resulted in a large explosion. The man cheered, before noticing something on the roof. A "Huh?" escaped his mouth as he saw another person.
This person was a blond woman with green eyes behind ovular glasses. She was wearing a white shirt, a purple cape, a black skirt and black, knee-high boots with black stockings. In her hand was a riding crop.
However, the strange part was that in front of her was an odd, purple circle, which must've shielded her and the kids from the explosion. Ruby smiled at the idea of getting to see a pro-Huntress in action, while Forrest's expression remained neutral.
As the blond woman waved her riding crop, several purple streaks shot out, hitting the ship with significant force. After stumbling around in the back, the ginger-haired man made his way to the cockpit, where a brunette woman wearing a red dress struggled to keep the Bullhead steady.
"We got a Huntress!" he announced to the woman, who left him to control the ship while she dealt with the threat.
The blond woman fired a blast above the aircraft, similar in appearance to the one the man fired at Ruby and Forrest, except this one was purple instead of red. A dark cloud appeared above the aircraft and, as the woman flicked her riding crop downward, large, sharp crystals began raining out of the cloud. Most of them struck the ship, with one even plummeting through the windshield and narrowly missing the man's head.
Meanwhile, in the back of the Bullhead, the brunette woman made her way to the opening. Her arms and chest lit up as she fired a burst of energy at the blond woman, who blocked it with another magic circle. The flame splattered on the roof behind her and the brunette woman raised her hand. A bright orange circle appeared beneath the blond woman's feet and she backflipped as a pillar of fire exploded out of it, with pieces of the roof flying everywhere. The shards magically came together to form an arrow and, as the woman swung her riding crop, the arrow launched at the aircraft. The brunette woman fired several more bursts of energy at the arrow, which shattered, but then reformed, continuing on its trajectory. However, the ginger-haired man managed to turn the Bullhead, causing the arrow to strike the side of the aircraft and split apart. The large arrow then reshaped into several smaller arrows that flew towards the opening. The brunette woman responded by summoning multiple orange rings, which expanded. As they hit the shards forming the arrows, the shards were destroyed.
Ruby, finally taking action, converted her scythe into its rifle form and fired a few shots at the brunette woman. However, she responded by blocking them with her bare hands. Forrest stepped up as well, converting his spear into its crossbow form. He fired several bolts, which the woman responded to by shooting more bursts of energy at them, destroying them in midair. She then waved her arm and more orange circles appeared beneath the trio. After the blond woman waved her riding crop, Ruby and Forrest found themselves thrown clear of the resulting explosion, which the woman managed to frontflip away from. The blond woman looked up in time to see the hatch closing, realising the explosion was a diversion for the two criminals to make their escape. The Bullhead finally turned and flew off. As she watched the aircraft fly away from the building, Ruby and Forrest stood up. They turned to the blond woman who assisted them.
"You're a Huntress." Ruby pointed out, as the blond woman turned to her.
Ruby's face showed just how excited and awe-stricken she was, as she asked the Huntress, in perhaps the most fangirl-esque voice imaginable, "Can I have your autograph?", all the while Forrest covered his face with one hand, listening to his sister's antics.
Although this may surprise you, the two siblings were not rewarded for their efforts against the two criminals. Instead, here they were in a dark room, with a single light hanging from the ceiling and a table in front of them.
"I hope you two realise that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly." the blond woman sternly informed them, pacing through the room. "You put yourselves and others in great danger."
"They started it!" Ruby retorted. Forrest merely put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, as if to tell her to calm down.
"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home…" the blond woman finally stopped pacing in front of the door, "...with a pat on the back…" Ruby smiled at this, "...and a slap on the wrist!"
The woman smacked her riding crop on the table to emphasize her words, with Ruby letting out a startled yelp.
"But," the woman continued, "there is someone here who would like to meet you."
The woman moved away from the door and a grey-haired man with brown eyes behind dark glasses walked in. His outfit was a black suit over a dark green buttoned vest and shirt, dark green pants and black shoes. He was carrying a plate of cookies and a mug.
"Ruby Rose," he said in a calm voice. He leaned in to inspect Ruby. "You… have silver eyes."
"U- um…" Ruby muttered as she frowned in slight discomfort. Forrest also looked at him suspiciously, although his Semblance didn't detect any ill intent from the man.
"So!" the grey-haired man continued. "Where did you learn to do this?" He gestured with his head towards a tablet that the blond woman was holding, showing Ruby and Forrest fighting.
"S- Signal Academy," Ruby replied, smiling nervously.
"They taught you to wield one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" the man questioned.
"Well, one teacher in particular," she replied.
"I see." the man said.
He placed the plate of cookies on the table in front of Ruby and Forrest. Ruby took a cookie and ate it in one bite. Seeing no attempts to stop her, she devoured them one after another.
"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before." the man explained.
Ruby offered the last cookie to Forrest, who shook his head as he replied "No thanks."
"A dusty old crow…" the man continued. Ruby, about to eat the last cookie, perked up at this.
"Hmm, that's my uncle!" she attempted to say, but due to all the cookies in her mouth, the words came out as a mess that was so incomprehensible, it couldn't even be considered gibberish. The man raised an eyebrow at this.
"Ruby, how many times do you have to be told?" Forrest irritatedly reminded Ruby. "Don't talk with your mouth full."
Ruby swallowed the last cookie before wiping her mouth on her sleeve.
"Sorry." she apologised before repeating her sentence. "That's my uncle, Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. Now, I'm all like-"
She began making random 'martial arts' noises while showing off her 'martial arts' moves, most of which were just her swinging her arms randomly. She even ended up hitting Forrest right in the face by accident.
"Sorry!" she apologised quickly while Forrest gave her an unhappy glare.
"So I've noticed." the man said. He sets his cup of coffee on the table. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well, I want to be a Huntress," Ruby answered, turning back to the grey-haired man.
"You want to slay monsters?" he questioned.
"Yeah!" Ruby began explaining. "I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon!" She slowly began talking faster and faster as her enthusiasm grew. "You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought 'Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!' I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, gosh, you know!"
Her rant ended with her flipping out, staring at the two adults with a crazy smile. Forrest was again covering his face with one his hands, exasperated from yet another of his sister's crazy rants.
After silence filled the room, the grey-haired man began to speak again.
"Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin." Ruby answered. "You're the headmaster at Beacon."
"Hello." Ozpin greeted, a faint smile on his face.
"Nice to meet you." Ruby returned.
"You want to come to my school?" he asked.
"More than anything," Ruby confirmed.
After Ozpin gave the woman a look, she turned her head away, humming her disapproval. Ozpin looked back at Ruby.
"Well, okay."
Ruby grinned in excitement at the news. She turned to her brother and squealed, hugging him.
"Yeah, yeah, congratulations and all that," Forrest said. "Now please get off me."
Despite saying this, he had a smile on his face. Ruby let go of him as he straightened himself up.
Ozpin then turned to look at said boy.
"And you, young man," Ozpin said, causing the boy in question to perk up. "I don't believe I know who you are."
"Right," he remembered. "I'm her brother, Forrest Xiao-Long."
"I see. So where did you learn to do what you did?"
"Same place as her," Forrest answered while gesturing to Ruby. "Signal Academy."
"And I suppose that you want to be a Huntsman?" Ozpin questioned.
"Yeah."
"And what is your motivation?" Ozpin continued interrogating.
After a moment of silence, Forrest answered.
"Well, I want to be a Huntsman because it's the best way that I can help others. My father once told me, 'All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.'"
As Forrest said this, he subconsciously gripped the bracelet on his wrist.
"And ever since then, I decided I that I refuse to be the good person doing nothing. So here I am."
Ozpin looked down in thought, soon looking back at the green-haired boy.
"And I suppose you're planning to attend Beacon as well?" he inquired.
"That's right."
"How old are you?" Ozpin asked.
"Seventeen."
"Well…" Ozpin smiled at them, "It seems that we now have two new students."
Forrest smiled.
"Thank you, Professor Ozpin," he said. "This means a lot to me."
"No need to thank me," Ozpin replied humbly. "Just be prepared to work hard. School starts in a few weeks."
The two siblings smiled at each other.
Aboard an airship, a girl tackled Ruby and Forrest into a hug, crushing the air out of them.
This girl was Yang Xiao-Long, Ruby and Forrest's sister.
She had lilac eyes and blond hair. She was wearing a brown jacket over a yellow shirt with a black fireball emblem on the left breast, black shorts, a brown belt and brown knee-high boots. Under her boots, she had orange socks, with the left one reaching up above her knee. She also had a purple bandanna right under her left knee, an orange scarf around her neck and black fingerless gloves on her hands.
Yang was seventeen, making her the same age as Forrest and two years older than Ruby.
"Oh, I can't believe my brother and sister are going to Beacon with me!" she exclaims. "This is the best day ever!"
"Please, stop…" Ruby begged, struggling to breathe.
"Yeah, seriously…" Forrest agreed.
"But I'm so proud of you!" Yang said, finally letting go.
"Really sis, it was nothing." Ruby modestly stated.
"What do you mean? It was incredible" Yang exclaimed. "Everyone at Beacon is gonna think you're the bee's knees!"
"I don't wanna be the bee's knees!" Ruby replied. "I don't wanna be any kind of knees! I just wanna be a normal girl with normal knees!"
"What's with you?" Yang asked. "Aren't you excited?"
"Of course I'm excited… I just…" Ruby answered before sighing. "I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything.
Yang walked over and gave her a one armed hug, smiling warmly.
"But you are special," she reassured her.
"Yeah, taking on a criminal isn't something that just anyone can do." Forrest agreed." That does take a lot of talent."
"Well, I mean, yeah, but you were helping me." Ruby reminded him.
"Maybe, but you played a big part." Forrest retorted.
Ruby was about to reply but was interrupted by a man's voice, coming from a broadcast on the screen near the window of the airship.
"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities."
On the screen was a mugshot of the man Ruby and Forrest stopped robbing the Dust shop.
"If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."
The screen changed to a woman with light purple hair and yellow eyes. Underneath, a name was displayed; Lisa Lavender.
"Thank you, Cyril." she replied. "In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organisation has now disrupted-"
The screen shut off and a hologram appeared, displaying the woman who helped Ruby and Forrest fight Torchwick and the woman in red.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon." she greeted.
"Who's that?" Yang asked.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch." the woman replied, as if answering the question.
"Oh." Yang realised.
"You are among a privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."
The hologram disappeared and Ruby gasped as she rushed over to the window, with Yang and Forrest following her. Several other students let out cries of surprise as well. The three siblings looked through the window, seeing their town, Beacon Academy and even Signal Academy. The three shared smiles at the view.
"This view is amazing!" Forrest excitedly exclaimed. "This is something I wouldn't trade for all the money in the world."
"Look!" Ruby pointed out. "You can see Signal from up here! I guess home isn't too far after all."
"Beacon's our home now." Yang reminded her.
The three heard a groan and look over, seeing a fellow passenger hunched over, holding his stomach and clamping a hand over his mouth. He rushed past them to the back of the airship.
"Well, I guess the view isn't for everyone…" Yang said.
"It was a nice moment while it lasted," Ruby replied.
"Yeah…" Forrest agreed.
"I wonder who we're gonna meet," Ruby said. "I just hope they're better than Vomit Boy."
Forrest glanced down at the floor and saw a spot on Yang's boot.
"Hey Yang, don't freak out, but you have puke on your shoe." he pointed out, causing her to yelp as she saw it.
"Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross!" Yang exclaimed as she started flicking her boot, trying to get it off.
"Hey! Don't flick it at me! Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Meanwhile, Ruby was holding her stomach since it was in pain from laughing so hard.
Well, here we are! The end of the rewritten Chapter 1!
Now, you may have noticed that the biggest difference between this version of SLFR and the original is that in this version, Forrest can actually talk. Will this change much? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.
Other than that, this chapter has remained the same for the most part, only dialogue changes (since Forrest can actually talk now). However, future chapters will be more different due to the changes I have in store for them.
Also, since the chapters have already been written, all I need to do is edit them to fit the new version of the story. This means that until we get to Volume 2, the time between each chapter will be a lot shorter. I'm talking several days at most.
But anyway, thank you for reading and I hope that you're excited to read the next few chapters, because I'm excited to write them!
Be sure to leave your thoughts in a review, because I always love reading reviews and seeing what you guys think!
And as always, have a great day!