Chapter 1

The Grimm had been successfully eradicated by the valiant hunters and huntresses that had served throughout the war. There was much celebrations to be had throughout the kingdoms. The heroes of these battles were carried through the streets of the liberated cities and great celebration and fairs were thrown in favor of them. Slowly, however, this joy began to die away as the normality of life began to take its place. These heroes, once carried through the streets, were forced to beg for sustenance to the very people that had once shouted their names. Their names were still shouted, but they were shouted to get them out of the way of the emotionless, busy crowd. The memories of Grimm began to fade, and along with it the tales of the heroes.

"...so the balance of the world was once restored." Ruby finished her story as she brought up her hat for any lein people would spare for her. The once red cloaked warrior now sat at the edge of a road in Vale, recalling her tales of the war to whoever would listen in hopes of gaining money. Fortunately for her, the few people who had taken a seat each threw in a lein, thanking her for the story and wishing her luck. She looked up at each of them smiling and thanking them back for the donations they had given her.

Ruby Rose, once the Great War hero of the war against Grimm, was now a simple jobless nobody amid the other tens of nobodies. There weren't too many survivors of the war and most of the other survivors were arrested or found dead a while after the Hunters and Huntresses were no longer needed. The former hunters and huntresses tried to fit into normal society, but the population had grown due to the threat of Grimm being gone. The death rates plummeted and the birth rates rose causing a lack of jobs. The sad truth was that people weren't interested in hiring experts on Grimm, but people with everyday knowledge of numbers and statistics.

The remainder of the heroes banded together into small communities, knowing that all they had left in this world were each other. Ruby started to make her way back to the community where hopefully Yang and Blake would be waiting for her to come back. Yang was all the family she had left from after the war, their parents dying from Grimm attacks, and she was one of the motivations that got her up in the morning. Yang found Blake during the war after Blake had saved Yang from an ambush. After that incident, they stuck close together helping each other in times of needs,

"Hello sir... Have a nice day... Oh you look just adorable... Do you need help with that..?" Ruby greeted people around her as she was walking back with her possessions. Though everyone either ignored her or awkwardly gave a grunt of acknowledgement. No one wanted to associate with the ragged and disheveled figure, knowing that they would be thought to be one them if they did. Despite this however, she continued to smile and greet people which made some people she passed stop and take a look at her again. They all asked themselves why she was smiling so much or checking their pockets and bags to make sure nothing was missing. They had money, a job, and a home and she had nothing, yet why was she smiling so cheerfully?

Ruby eventually got away from the lights and chattering of the shopping district and slowly the scenery started to change. The fresh and colorful look changed into the color of rusted metal and peeling paint as the buildings were looking older and older. The walkways and road were all in poor conditions, riddled with holes and cracks that would take but never give back. She finally relaxed as she saw the familiar sign that marked her home.

"Welcome To The Slums

Home of the poor and

True heroes of this world"

The official sign read "Polorian District" but someone had spray painted the sign to read "Poor District"

Everyone knew each other in this part of the district, but everyone was either to busy worrying about how they would survive the next day or reporting to their own community with what they had obtained that day.

Ruby walked past the boarded up stores and makeshift fires to the collapsed building that held her group. She could see the usual black smoke from their fire and knew Yang was probably huddled around the oil barrel for warmth. She entered through the hole in the side wall and was greeted by her sister Yang.

"Hey little sis, how did it go today? Get anything with those stories of yours?" Yang asked in reply when she saw Ruby walk in. Her cheerful attitude survived everything, despite the harsh conditions, and was sometimes the only thing that kept the group sane.

"Yeah I did! I got $26 today, we can finally afford medicine for Nora!" Ruby replied cheerfully heading into the next room to tell Ren and Nora the great news. Blake and Yang gave out small cries of cheers at the prospect of medicine. Nora had suddenly gotten sick and this was worrying to the rest of the group. Nora was usually energetic and immune to most diseases, so they were worried when she suddenly started becoming weaker and weaker. They were informed by Ren that Nora was fine, but would get better quicker if they could get some medication.

"Hey Ren, Nora we have enough money for the medication you need!" Ruby told them as she entered to room. Ren looked relieved as Nora smiled weakly. "Those meds will really help Nora recover, we can finally stop worrying." Ren said after hearing the good news.

"Where are Pyrrha and Jaune? Aren't they usually back by now?" She asked Ren

"They said they be out longer trying to get some more money for Nora. They should be coming back now."

Ruby grabbed the money for the medication and started to head out. "The pharmacy is still open now, I'm going to buy the meds right now. Besides, Jaune and Pyhraa are that way too, so I may run into them."

Ren got up to stop her, but she was gone in a flurry of roses in a flash. She just needed to go the the pharmacy and get back, nothing too hard or as life threatening as taking on an army of beowulves. She slowed down her run to a walk after she reached the edge of the slums, she didn't want to get arrested for suspicious activities.

The city always roared with activities, even during the night. The colorful signs flashed bright neon colors as people were walking around exploring the massive variety of stores open at the hour. Ruby loved the nightlife of Vale, she would just walk around and observe the shops and people as the lights flashed colorful messages. But she didn't have time to explore as she usually did, needing to get to the pharmacy before it closed. She began to navigate her way through the waves of people, weaving her way through flawlessly. The cloaked girl was almost through the crowd when someone came slamming into her, knocking her back and sending the money flying into the wave of people.

"Ow, watch where you're going!" The person shouted as she got back up, brushing herself off as she did. Ruby didn't notice what she had said, too busy flying about trying to save what money she could. She grabbed some of the Lein but it was flying all over the place, making it harder and harder to grab as people walked by.

"Hey are you listening to me? Are you going to ignore me? Hey!" The stranger shouted until finally grabbing Ruby's shoulder, forcing her to look at the person she had knocked down.

"I'm...I'm so sorry... It won't happen again... goodbye." She apologized and then started to feel tears flowing out of her eyes. She had just lost all of their money because she was to careless, and now Nora would pay the price for her mistake. She walked away, not bothering to answer the questions the person was asking. All she could see was that the person had worn mostly white, her clothes blending perfectly with her icy cold eyes.