Disclaimer: I do not own the RWBY franchise, it belongs to Rooster Teeth.

Legionary multiverse one, Origins of the 31st Huntress.

Chapter 1- Fallen Heroes

'Pyrrrrrrrrha!' Ruby screamed in utter despair, she had just been forced to watch another of her best friends die in front of her. She wouldn't accept it, she couldn't.

Her eyes felt so cold, icy silver expanded across her vision until it obscured everything around her. Voices seemed to whisper around her; to give in, to let the sliver take control now. After all, she had suffered enough hadn't she? And it would be so easy to simply.. let go.

NO! She thought desperately, those thoughts were not her own. She had get rid of this silver somehow, internally she grappled with a reaction built into her very genetic make up. And by some miracle she managed it, she forced it out of her body by sheer power of will.

The results were devastating, pure sliver energy poured from every opening in Ruby's body. It spilt outwards in a wave, obliterating everything in it's path.

'Ruby...' Yang sat on Blake's bed with her arms wrapped against her chest, it had been almost two weeks since her sister's death and she was an emotional wreck. The blond had tear-lines streaking her cheek all hours of the the day; she smelled of cheep beer and cigarettes, and the worst part was she didn't even care. What was the point? What did it matter if she drunk herself into a crying stupor every night and woke up screaming and flailing every morning? Who cared? She was just another stupid failure of a Huntress.. hell she wasn't even strong enough to off herself, gods she had thought about it, even going so far as to stick the damm gauntlet in her mouth before she chickened out.

She could hear Blake and Tai in the kitchen making dinner, meaning that one of them -probably Blake- would come back up soon. Why her partner even stuck around at this point was a mystery to her, now that Beacon was gone she was under no obligation to babysit her sorry ass. But she stayed regardless, a constant presence even if that meant sleeping in the same bed or dragging her back to the house when she was to drunk to stand.

Her father had tried encouraging her to resume her Huntress training, even if it was just sparing a little with him each day. Yang had tried to oblige him once, but soon found herself screaming something incoherent and storming off to the local bar to drown her sorrows. The following day she was woken by a blinding headache to find Blake sitting at her bedside in the hospital. Tai didn't suggest sparing again.

Part of her was grateful to him for staying out of her business, but another part wished that he would push her so she would have somewhere to direct her anger. Letting her off easy was like reaffirming her own fears that Ruby's death had broken her, and everyone else knew it too. Everyone was going easy on her because they didn't think she could take any more. And to be perfectly honest, she couldn't.

After a time the position she was in became uncomfortable so she got up off the bed and wandered to a seat by the window. Outside she could see the sun setting over Tai's carefully tended flowerbeds. Beside them she could see the lake she had played in when she was young, and over to the left was the thin expanse of trees that separated the house from the rest of the village. Even in her current state Yang could admit the scenery was beautiful, it brought about nostalgic memories of a distant version of herself- one that wasn't plagued by grief and regret.

She heard the door opening but didn't bother to turn her head.

'You should knock before you enter' she said dully, not caring who it was.

'Ah, but that would ruin the surprise now wouldn't it' the distinctly slurred voice of uncle Qrow was enough to make her at least look up.

'What do you want?' Yang glared at him 'here to tell me to get back out there? Because it's 'my duty as a Huntress?' To bad, go find some other dumb fuck to clean up this mess!' Qrow seemed surprised by the outburst but showed no sign of leaving.

'I'm not here to tell you to do anything' he said evenly 'I just feel obligated to clear some things up- to tell you what really happened that night on the tower'

Yang raised an eyebrow but didn't openly object to him continuing, taking that as permission to stay Qrow sighed and tossed her his flask.

'You might want that' he said 'now.. where to start.. tell me, what's your favourite fairy tale?'

It was dark.

So unbelievably dark.

Pyrrha felt so utterly weak that she couldn't even muster the strength to open her eyes. She was lying with her legs curled into her chest, red hair undone from it's usual bunch and sprawled in a circular fashion around her naked body.

Her mind was still fragmented from exhaustion and pain when the door opened. When toxic red light spilled into her cell she scrambled away on pure instinct, tripping over her own hair and sprawling on to the freezing metal floor.

She could hear the thudding of shoes coming closer, and with them multiple voices could be heard as well.

'So what do you think?'

'I don't know, the jump took over a week and her mind could be lost already'

'I don't care about her goddam mental state! When will she be fit for combat?'

'Watts.. sir I... I'm uncertain, according to the scan her muscular structures are in peak condition; she obviously took her Huntress training very seriously- but the issues lie in her lower leg, she's been shotdirectly through her Achilles' tendon. Normally I would recommend a mechanical substitute but..'

'But what?'

'The wound is surrounded by third degree burns and the inside is.. well see for yourself. It's like the arrow was made of fire.'

When a hand reached down to pull at her ankle, Pyrrha whimpered and curled herself into an even tighter ball. Regardless they grabbed her foot, sending bolts of searing pain up her leg.

'You see? I can't work with that'

'I understand. Is that the only issue?'

'Yes sir'

'Wonderful. I'll take her.'

'Are you sure sir? I can-'

'Yes'

'Of course sir'

Pyrrha shivered, overhearing the conversation was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She had just been sold to a man who obviously didn't care for her wellbeing at all, it was all far to familiar. Only this time she was a cripple, no chance of running away when your body has failed you. She started sobbing into the floor but was quickly silenced by a sharp kick to the chest that sent her crashing into the opposite wall.

'This is... a lot to take in..' Yang was conflicted about how to react, on one hand this changed nothing -her sister was still dead- but on the other, what Qrow was saying answered a lot of questions that she had never even thought to ask. It was something new, something that was impossible yet fascinating enough to distract her for now. But one question still had to be answered.

'What does any of this have to do with Ruby?'

Qrow looked at the floor, it seemed he had been avoiding this particular topic.

'Ruby was.. a very special girl. She had sliver eyes, a rather unique trait don't you think?

'Oz has told me many stories over the years, some of them true, some of them not. But there was one he told me from a very long time ago, before Huntsmen, before the war even. It was a story of two great powers constantly raging against one another, a wizard who fought to defend Remanent, and a witch who sought to erase it. When the host was killed in battle, the power would simply move onto another host, and another, and another, constantly growing stronger in an endless cycle of conflict.

'To aid the defence of Remanent the wizard gifted four young women the power to harness the seasons. When united they were nature's wrath incarnate, capable of toppling mountains in their seemingly infinite power.

'The witch found herself outnumbered and was exiled into another plain of existence by humanity's forces. However exile was not enough to truly stop the witch, and her pure rage was given form in her creations; the first Grimm. While no longer able to enter Remanent herself she forced her abominations out into the world to wreak havoc and destroy all in their path.

'But the Grimm were mindless creatures, they had numbers and strength, but lacked discipline or comprehension of strategy. A small battalion could take out a hoard of Grimm so long as they employed certain tactics.

'The witch saw this and and knew that none of her own creations would be able to truly stand up to humanity's combined might. Divided however, she could aniline them easily. The witch began to gradually send trickles of her power out into the world, corrupting and spreading mistrust across Remanent. The once peaceful and diverse cultures of humanity suddenly wanted nothing to do with one another. The wizard and his maidens were forced into hiding, soon forgotten by most of the world.

'As well as this, a rather unfortunate side effect of the witch's corruption was that it occasionally became a genetic trait that got stronger with each passing generation. A person with said genetic trait would have the ability to control the Grimm; to command them, and to eventually, become them.

'At first there were many physical signs of genetic corruption, but they all eventually merged into one, single trait. Silver eyes.'

Oof. Well that took a surprisingly long time to write. Sorry about the massive exposition dump at the end.

And yeah, I killed both Ruby and Cinder in the first chapter. Kinda says it all huh? No one is safe! (Except maybe Nora, she's my girlfriend's favourite character)

Lastlyplease write a review. Write one of those big long ones that poke holes in every aspect of the chapter, I need to improve my writing abilities greatly if I am to have any hope of doing this series justiceto improve I need criticism.

P.S. I could really use a beta reader so if anyone's interested in going over my chapter drafts I would be super grateful!