Our Piece of Hell: a RWBY Fanfiction

Chapter One: Lonely Rose in the Dark

A/N: This and the next chapter will be introductions to the two sides. I think they will be vital to the story, but we'll see. By the way, they're all the same ages as in the show.

Chapter One

"Crimson, you really must take care of your wings. They were so lovely before." An orange haired man spoke down to the girl in the red hood who sat by herself in the darkness. But, it wasn't really darkness. Everything was black, but she could see just fine.

"Leave me be. They are supposed to be this way."

"You would certainly look much better if you at least tried to take care of them. Just because all of the other Crimson had wings like that doesn't mean that you have to."

Her head snapped up, her silver eyes sharp and streaked with irritation. Her hood slipped off of her head at the sudden movement, her hair not shining, for there was no light. "Roman, I have told you before and I will tell you again. Tradition matters more than looks. If the wings of the red before me were decaying and made of shadow and bone, mine shall be. If their blood ran cold and they flew out of hell on wings of fire, I will do what they did and be as they were. Leave me! The darkness itself is smarter than you!"

He bowed before turning around. "I am sorry, my lady. I was only trying to help." He swiftly opened a door that wasn't there before, exited, and shut it again just as quickly. It disappeared as it had before.

The girl looked at her wings, touching them and wishing. Wishing she wasn't there, wishing she was surrounded by people. No, not surrounded by people. Surrounded by people who actually cared about her. Friends. So, she called for the closest thing she had to a friend. "Yang? Please come here."

The door appeared and opened, revealing a blond girl, fire surrounding her feet at her quick summons. She smiled, stepping in. "Hey, sis! What's up?" The girl's eyes looked far away and Yang questioned her. "Ruby? Is everything alright?"

She shook her head sadly. "No, nothing is alright. A war is coming and I have no one. The only person who I can really consider a friend is you. I need to go out, but they won't let me. Even if I did go out, people would recognize me and hate me for just being who I am. Crimson. What a wretched title to hold." She would have cried, if she could, but her soul was void of emotion. She had never been taught anything but hate, anger, and disappointment. The small bits of other emotions like love and happiness left her confused because of lack of experience. The love came from Yang. She was her only family after all, even if they weren't blood related. She treated her like a sister. She became used to it, but it also made her weary. How she wished for love from others. True good wishes. "I need to get out of here. Even my wings are dying from staying in here. In the fiery dark. For once, I just want to be a normal girl. A normal girl, with normal wings." She looked down, embarrassed by her outburst. "Sorry you have to listen to this."

"Do you have everything?"

What? Confused, Ruby looked up. "What do you mean?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "I mean we're going. Now."

"What? You can't possibly-"

She grabbed her hand, yanking her up. "Weren't you the one who was just complaining? Come on! We're grabbing Nora and Ren first though! They would love going on a trip to the other side!" Yang was now excited, and when she was excited, she always carried out her wishes unless stopped. "We have to be quiet, or they'll catch us. It'll be just like when we were little!" She whispered, leading Ruby through the garden outside the door, jumping behind bushes and actually attempting to sneak. She silently fumed, but was surprised when they successfully snuck out and found Nora and Ren in the forest. She let Yang do the talking, staying back shyly. Nora and Ren had stopped talking to her once she became Crimson two years ago, and she hadn't really talked to them since. The four of them used to be great friends when they were little, always going on adventures together. Did they stop seeing her because they were afraid of her? Or were they angry at her? Finally, her thoughts were interrupted as Yang started talking. "Yo! We're crossing the border to get Ruby some friends, wanna come?"

She was so straight forward about it and she didn't even bother to lower her voice. Ruby looked around, checking to see if anyone was around to have heard that. Not seeing or sensing anyone, she looked back at Yang, hissing. "Yang, you NEED to be quieter! What if someone hears? I'm not supposed to be leaving, let alone outside the garden!"

She just rolled her eyes. "So, you guys coming or not?" She smiled hopefully at them and Nora swung down from the tree branch she was hanging on, bouncing on her heels and giving Ren puppy-dog eyes.

"Oo! That sounds fun! Let's go, Ren! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Ruby couldn't help but smile. In two years, Nora had become no less childish.

He ignored her for a moment, instead looking intently at Ruby. She shifted under his gaze before coming to the conclusion that he had probably been keeping himself and Nora away from her. A spark of anger sifted in her belly, but she gave him an awkward smile. The best thing at the moment was to regain his trust so they could go. Nora obviously looked to him to make big decisions. She felt her palms start to get sweaty in her nervous state, but he finally spoke. "I suppose it can't hurt..."

Nora jumped, hugging him. "Yay! How long are we going to be gone? What time are we leaving? What should I bring? What should I wear? Is anyone else coming? What are we going to do there?"

Yang scraped the toe of her boot on the ground. "We're leaving now. We'll only be gone a few days. You only need to bring yourself and we're the only ones going. We're going to find some other kids. We'll have to hide our wings…"

Ruby's jaw dropped. "ONLY a few days? They'll definitely notice I'm gone by then!" She groaned. "Oh, we'll be in soooo much trouble!" Remembering Yang's last words, she snapped her fingers and her wings were hidden. Not that there was much to show.

"So? What could they do to you? We'll get you some friends, have some fun, come back, get in trouble, wait a while, and do it again! We should make this a thing! Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Suddenly, Ruby was being dragged again, and before she knew it, the trees and landscape became lighter and more illuminated. She heard crunching behind her and looked back to see Nora and Ren running to catch up behind them.

Nora giggled, having not lost any breath from the run. "Hee hee, this is going to be so much fun!"

"Just like old times." Ren said behind them, but she could hear the smile starting to form on his face.

Meanwhile, Yang screeched to a stop in front of her, causing a Ruby sandwich as Ren bumped into her. Nora had already moved on ahead. "Ok guys, we're here!"

Ruby moved from behind Yang but stopped in her tracks at the sight before her, mouth opening in shock.

She was standing on the edge of the grounds of Beacon Academy.