Red Prologue.

"I'm sorry to say this Ms Rose. But I just don't know what we can do for Thorn anymore." Thorn stirred in her bed. Was it a dream. She could hear people talking. "She's too volatile. Always getting into fights with the other students." Whenever she woke up. She found that her every need has been catered too.

"Please, just give her one last chance." Soft swaddling comfort wrapping her in a cocoon of bliss. Smooth fabric was compressed tightly around her arms and chest. "She doesn't mean to misbehave." Stains of dried blood crusted lightly onto its interior. "She just takes after her father." She heard the sound of a beating fan swishing somewhere above causing cooled lofting air to sink softly spreading out over the bed.

"I understand Ms Rose that this is hard for you to believe." Thorn opened her eyes to a bright room. "She… just isn't safe to keep in school any longer." Illuminated by the rising sun. "She never plays with the other children." Thorn's throat was parched, looking around she saw the empty glass. "She is just too dangerous to keep around." Thorn swayed out of the bed. Her feet swinging idly.

"I understand but... this is coming from nowhere." Thorn poured some water into the glass filling it halfway.

"This is the only time we found it necessary to tell you." Taking a sip she felt its healing touch cleanse her dry bloodied mouth. "She has been getting into fights the whole semester." Thorn shifted towards the bathroom.

"But. Please just let her finish the year. She'll do anything." Thorn stared into the mirror.

"I guess we can have her take individual classes away from the other students." Her pale complexion was painted slightly blue. "But thats no way to treat a child." Bruises stained the lower parts of her cheeks. "No ten year old girl deserves to be kept away from others." The area surrounding her eye was black as night.

"I… I have no idea what else to do." Thorn pressed the cold towel to her eye. "She's so quiet, even when she was younger she never played with others." It sent icy pain searing through her skin. "She hates being my daughter." Thorn bit down on the cloth drowning out the agony. "I don't know if it was the fame or the attention." Thorn inhaled, taking in a deep breath. "She never wanted it." She exhaled taking slow steady breaths. "But she never forgave me for it." Thorn caught her face in the reflection. Anger built up fast, and without warning she punched the mirror shattering it… into millions of shards.

"I have an idea Ms Rose." Thorn screamed as the glass cut into her skin. "Why don't you send her to Signal?" Thorn hammered her bloodied fist into the mirror again and again… again and again. Until their was nothing left.

Thorns sting don't they?

6 years later.

"Thorn!"

"Thorn!"

"Thorn!"

"Thorn!"

Thorn cracked her neck laughing a little as she got back on her feet.

"You fight well." Thorn raised her fists above her face readying her defensive guard.

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself." The big bulky guy swung his fist towards her.

She bobbed right dodging the brutal attack. He jabbed her but she slapped his fist away. He grunted angrily and dove in for the tackle. Thorn pressed her hands against his shoulders, she flipped herself over his head. He went head first into a locker, a loud thud emanated from the crash his skull made against the metal. He was furious now. Making Thorn chuckle. He spun around just as fast throwing her to the side with strong arms. Thorn skidded on her heels. The generic male approached slowly.

"Time for my secret move." Thorn braced her body, every muscle tensing. Her back arched backwards leaning back on her feet, she twisted her waist to the right, winding up her move. She swung her arms suddenly to the side pivoting her body. Her legs left the ground. She extended her right leg. The heel of her boot smashed into his chest with colossal force. He buckled growling in rage. His aura flaring up in deep silver.

Arms reached out from behind grabbing her from behind holding her in a nech hold. Thorn chuckled. She slammed her head backwards the blunt force alone sent ripples across his face. She braced her fall flipping back onto her feet. Crouching low she readied for the next fighter.

"Kyah!" She swept her leg low catching her foot from under him. Knocking her on her ass, hard! Thorn kept up the momentum from the kick using it to bend and twist her way back onto her two feet. The main leader of the group was still stumbling.

"An angry opponent is a stupid one." Thorn sprinted towards him moving in for the finisher.

Leaping straight towards him her left knee swinging down while her right replaced it. Her knee collided with the side of his head, bringing him down once and for all. A small blood patch emerged on his skull, and soon a small pool of crimson began to collect. Thorn looked unfazed by the wound. The other students backed away in silence. After a few seconds the boy began to stir, getting up on his feet. He shook Thorns hand before walking in silence.

"Thorn Rose. You have... grey eyes." A familiar voice broke out through the crowd. Thorn's face lit up with glee.

"Uncle Ren!" She turned around throwing herself at the older man. His hair was starting to wither but he still had the full head of luxurious black and a faded streak of pink.

"Nice moves. I see your mother taught you that one. How is Ruby? I haven't seen her in the longest time." Lie Ren gently patted his green cloak down, dusting away imaginary dirt from its flawless flowery design.

"That makes two of us! Ruby never comes around she's always out, fighting the good fight and all that patriotic bullsh…~" Ren raised his eyebrow when Thorn stated Ruby instead of mother or mom. He stopped her before she could finish.
"Watch your language. I may be the cool uncle but I'm also a professor so you can't swear in front of me… Its unprofessional." Ren lightly punched Thorn on the shoulder making the younger girl beam widely.

"What brings you out here? Is the lovely Aunt Nora too much to handle?" The subtle hinting in the words made the older man blush gingerly.

"No. Not that. I don't know if you knew but as Headmaster it is my duty to give a speech to the graduating students of Signal. Pitch Beacon as the School they might want to attend in the future. And accept applications, that's the boring part." He winked before walking her down the hall, the other students were beaming with jealousy at the girl in red.

"Do you think I can sit in and watch?!" Thorn asked bouncing up and down with joy her cheeks puffed red and her face looked like it was literally going to explode.

"Oh alright. But you will see it next year. Its always a repeat. Don't tell that to the other students." Ren walked Thorn towards the great hall of Signal.

He sat her down in the front row. So she had a grand view. He said so she could hear the acoustics better. Thorn instantly thought. What acoustics?

"Erhem. I like to say I'll keep these brief. But I tend to lose myself. So bare with me." Professor Ren spoke up silencing the crowd only to have a follow up of friendly laughter from his joke. Thorn was ecstatic to finally see this. The graduating students always made so much hype!

"Beacon. There are too many things to say that you don't already know. So I would like to give you all a history lesson. Ten years ago when the Grim war started. I was still a Huntsman. As you all know we fought the Grimm almost driving them to utter and complete extinction in the Vale. As we had finished up taking them to the very brink. A strange phenomenon happened. They evolved. Mutating. Our theory at the time was Natural Selection. They had forced themselves to evolve to fight the invaders back. Soon after that new species joined the fray things we had never seen before. Around 80% of all Hunters were annihilated in the initial counter strike. 10% were killed in the retreat." Professor Ren stopped momentarily. He took a sip from his teacup with the Beacon symbol on it.

"Only a few made it back to the city. The Grimm remained in the confines of their controlled region. Their numbers now heavily outweighed our own. All hope was lost… Until Juane Arc led the remaining Hunters into battle. He rallied every available force we had, every ally. Under his leadership we fought our demons with minimal casualties. Keeping the devils from our gates. As we fought them back, the balance had been restored, between both the creatures of Grimm and the citizens of the vale. However Jaune Arc was lost in the battle, missing in action. Since then I have dedicated my life to training the new Hunters of tomorrow. When my old headmaster passed away I took on his mantle to make a difference in the world for the present, and the future. Application forms for Beacon will be being handed out to you as we speak. If you are planning to attend Beacon after graduating please sign in the form and leave it in the box at the entrance. Good luck to all of you future Hunters out there. I hope to have the honor of teaching many of you after the summer. Thank you." Waves of ovation and cheering filled the room, of course everyone wanted to sign up for Beacon.

But over the years the selection process had become stricter. Courtesy of Professor Nikkos and her new system for acceptance. So getting a spot in the top was no a competitive rivalry between everyone. Of course many new they didn't have the grades or the scores. But they applied anyway, many were surprised and got accepted. The System for Acceptance is different from other schools current methods. It evaluates the persons heart, their soul, their personality their drive. Those with iron determination and a kind heart could be selected. Even if their scores were bad. It made the bullies have to rely on their skills alone to get in. It was great system and it worked.

"Here you go." Someone handed Thorn the sheet of paper.

Thorn's hand trembled. She wasn't a member of the graduating class, If given the form anyone could potentially sign it. The system takes care of the rest, it doesn't even pass the hands of a professor. Thorn quickly filled out the sheet, she knew that if Uncle Ren saw her…. Sneaking out she carefully placed the small piece of paper inside the box. Careful not to alert him.

"Sorry Uncle. I can't wait another year. Not when I can do this now!"

"I know you can't, and that's why I didn't see a thing. You're the spitting image of Ruby when she was your age. You know that right?" Ren had caught her, and he was smiling.

Snow drifted down gently settling on the leathered surface, of her tight fit coat. It pressed deeply on to her body the material was stretchy enough that her joints could bend with relative ease. It was mostly black, her over coated leather pauldrons were colored blood red. She coat trailed down forming the ending of a dress, with black a black and red hemline. The snow was melting giving it a sleek moist appearance. She had a black hood buried deep into her leather jacket. She chose to wear tights instead of pants giving her the choice of maximum flexibility.

The below zero degree atmosphere was getting to her exposed hair. Long ebony black trailing a little below her shoulders a single red streak going through the inner layer. The ice formed at the end forming the smallest of crystals. Frost coated the top part of her head like a small white hat. The Eternal cliffs, were not exactly the safest place to go out for a 'hike'. But at the very top. Someone was waiting for her.

The woman's shoulders were sleek grey, her face was like poetry in motion. Yet it cracked slightly from age and withering. Her head was to coated in a layer of snow. Pale petals circled round her, they appeared to be wisps of a large flower. Its remains lay buried at her feet, the stem sprouting with a fruitless flower. On her face it read;

Summer Rose, Thus kindly I scatter

All of the joy that Ruby had ever had was taken the minute that she died. Thorn never knew her grandmother, but she had heard tales of the legendary scattered rose…

Thorn placed the small seed in the crusted snow. Its warmth melted it slightly, digging itself into the ground. The flower began to grow rapidly. Taking its place over the one that had died. In a matter of seconds the small seed had flourished into a beautiful white rose.

Small graceful steps as Thorn back tracked. Following her faint footsteps back home. The trail led through thick forests notorious for the Grim living within. Thorn was always the exception. The Proto-Wolves had learned to steer clear. Which was a shame, to her. They were ever so fun to fight. However today… was not Thorn's day…

Thorn had the strangest feeling. She felt a slight prickling sensation on the back of her spine. LIke someone was staring! Thorn dove forward flipping over the enormous black claw. She ducked low dodging the next swing.

"Meta-Ursa… Poop." Thorn turned to run, but she was nearing the cliff. She only had one option.

"Alright. I want you to meet my top ladies. Autumn Rose and Spring Rose. I know the names aren't very original. I'm working on them!"

The Meta-Ursa didn't seem to care about her weapons all that much. Its black furred body was enormous a large scar went down its enormous back it trailed all the way down to the heads. Two massive white masked heads snarling and yapping at the young girl. It must have been 8 meters tall.

"Well. Your big." Thorn's hands disappeared into the cloak. Pulling out two small red and black weapons. She clicked a button on each one and the weapon extended. Identical copies of each other. Two small scythes about 1 meter in length, curving sharply at the blades edge the weapons themselves were primarily colored rose-red with black trims. At the hilt a few centimeters from the guard a long ebony clip filled with hundreds of small bullets. A little ways upwards a leather grip, just beyond that a ring shielding the trigger with Thorn's fingers hovering over them.

Thorn carefully lowered her weapons to the snow drifted earth. The curved blades sliced through frost. It started off as a walk, her pace quickened turning into a run, then bursting with acceleration she sprinted dicing and chopping her weapons through the air. It swung with its whole arm.

Thorn's eyes visibly vibrated, as the snowfall began to slow, the Meta-Ursa's imminent strike began to decelerate, Thorn's heart stopped, in that moment only her eyes could move as the world around her froze. Her mind became eidetic, analysing with keen observation. The details so vivid they literally swam outwards at her. The Meta-Ursa, a strike force so great it would crush her if it made contact. It was crashing at an angle of 47 degrees and would make contact in approximately 3.67 seconds without the recurring element. Its second swing if dodged would come in 6 seconds later with recovery time. Giving Thorn a 6 second attack window.

The surrounding area was unobstructed she could easily hop to the right or backwards or roll forwards. The best plan would be to jump upwards over the angle of attack and get closer, however the jaws of a Meta-Ursa have so much force they can bite through titanium alloys. Such strength was hardly appealing to Thorn.

"Alright Thorn think! Claw coming down hard, defense lowered on right side due to arm being exposed: First, right offensive arm point of attack. Two, spine exposed on the upper arch of its back, paralyze the lower half of the body. Three, head will be crying outwards in pain due to spine severance, full decapitation of both heads. Summary of prognosis: dead in 25 seconds, combative effectiveness permanent."

The snow began to fall. The claw began to move, and soon Thorn regained control of her body. Thorn leapt high into the air, ascending over the claw as it smashed into the snow. Thorn began cutting in diagonal hacks up the Grimm's arm. 5 seconds.

Thorn sprinted along its arm carefully clambering onto its back. Thorn's fingers squeezed the triggers on the scythes. They lit up with red flashes peppering the Ursa's back in the hundreds as she sprayed into its flesh. Once reaching her target Thorn sliced vertically with great strength cutting into the spine. Miss calculation of force, her weapon buried itself into the black flesh.

"Oh no!" Thorn screamed desperately trying to remove the bladed weapon. Her arms were frantic, her plan lost in translation. The Ursa roared reaching round to sweep her off its back. Thats when it came an unexpected variable. A whirling shadow of black, and the arm came tumbling off.

"Grit your teeth well, Strongest one. My weakest attack… might shake you up a little." An out of placed snazzy one liner. A black clad figure. It could only be…

"RARGH!" The boy yelled slashing his sword with tremendous strength cutting into the beast hacking into its underbelly.

He rolled under its snapping jaws. He thrust his sword into the bottom of one head. The tip of sword bursting through the top of its skull. His blade buried to the hilt. Thorn recollected herself. She carefully removed her weapons. Moving in for her finisher.

She leapt into the air, her body twisting into a spin. Not fast enough! Thorn squeezed the triggers on both weapons the small yet rapid recoil of the submachine guns, her spin became a high speed tornado of red and black petals.

"Red like roses motherclucker!" She screamed as her scythe cuts through the neck of the beast, decapitating it with a sick crunch. The head hit the floor and so did Thorn. The body began to dissolve into wispy black steam.

"Mark? What are you doing here? I didn't need saving!" Thorn squealed at the older male, her face squished into an angry mess.

"I don't need a reason to save someone. Do I Thorn." Mark answered softly his lips quivering into a kind and gentle smile.

A blooming rose amongst the wilting flowers.

Her thorns are her scars;

they're guarding her heart.

A/N

Part one of the four prologues of my Legacies. Soon the other children of RWBY will be revealed. Hope you enjoyed this first installment. As always if you took your shoes off during this reading I give you a million hypothetical fan fiction dollars. Au revoir :)