Chapter 1: When you Wish Upon a Star

Copyright: RWBY is the creation of the late Monty Oum, and is the intellectual property of Rooster Teeth.

This story begins approximately two months after Season 3 of RWBY. Spoilers ahead!

Somewhere in the wilderness of Mistral...

Two months later, and the world of Remnant was still reeling from the fall of the kingdom of Vale. The various kingdoms of the world were being flooded with refugees now without a home, government officials were at one another's throats over the claims of the enigmatic Cinder Fall at the Vytal Tournament, and one of the largest cities on the planet was now overrun by Grimm. It was enough to make most people break down and weep.

Luckily, Ruby Rose was most assuredly not most people.

Despite the traumatic events she had gone through, the young Huntress had refused to yield to terror; instead, she had struck out with the three surviving members of Team JNPR and headed for Mistral, trying to uncover some clue as to Cinder's location in a quest to avenge their fallen friends. But even with her iron will, Ruby still had her limits.

The redhead sighed sadly as she struck together the pieces of flint she held in her hands. Sparks flew from the collision and fluttered onto the pile of twigs and kindling below it, quickly consuming the fuel in rapidly rising flames. Ruby quietly sat down on the ground and watched the fire as it set to work burning through the pile of firewood she and the other three members of Team JNRR had managed to scrounge up, raising her hands to the flickering light in an attempt to warm them up.

"Hey, you feeling alright, Ruby?" Jaune Arc, the redhead's impromptu teammate and former leader of Team JNPR before the events at Vale, quietly asked, kneeling down to deposit the pile of fresh logs in his arms next to the silver-eyed girl and sitting down next to her. Behind him, Ren was working on setting up the last tent, holding up a tent pole while Nora hammered it into the ground with her bare fist. "You've been acting, well, un-Rubyish all day."

It was true; even while her teammates had occasionally slipped into bouts of melancholy over the fall of Beacon, Ruby had refused to let herself become depressed, bravely soldiering onwards with the determination of someone over twice her age. Today, though, it seemed that the red-hooded Huntress's determination had finally run out-she had been lagging behind all day instead of walking in front like she normally did, half-heartedly picking at her food and being uncharacteristically silent, not even responding to Nora's attempts to cheer her up.

"Hmm?" The younger girl looked up from the now quite sizable blaze, seemingly noticing the blonde knight for the first time. "Oh, h-hey, Jaune. I'm fine, don't worry about it. It's just…" Ruby fell silent for a bit and gave a small sniffle. "We're going up against impossible odds here. Cinder has Grimm, she has White Fang, she has Atlas robots, and she has the Fall Maiden's powers. All we've got is four Hunters and Huntresses who didn't even finish their second year at Beacon. I mean, we've taken down some pretty crazy things, but this… we're really, really out of our league here."

"Aww, c'mon, Ruby!" Nora suddenly interjected, popping out from out of nowhere behind the red reaper, despite being a head taller than her younger friend. "Since when have you ever worried about the odds?" The pink bomber wrapped her arms around Ruby in a fierce hug, making sure to allow the scythe-wielder to breathe. "You and your team cleared out, like, a bajillion Grimm in Mountain Glenn, took on a giant Nevermore on your second day at Beacon, and captured a master criminal on your own while he was in a giant robot! We'll be fine as long as we've got you!"

The silver-eyed Huntress managed a small smile as she relaxed into Nora's embrace-despite her seemingly airheaded personality, the hyperactive hammer-wielder knew exactly how to make people feel better. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She finally said, blinking away the tears in her eyes as a bit of her old enthusiasm starting to show in her voice again. "Still, I just feel... a bit down, is all."

"Well, if you're feeling upset," Jaune spoke up again, pointing at the sky, "There's something overhead that might make you feel a little better."

"Huh?"

Ruby turned her silver eyes skywards; sure enough, a shooting star was streaking across the night sky, a trail of twinkling particles lagging behind it like a long tail as the comet flew past.

"Ooh, make a wish, make a wish!" Nora chirped, her red hair bobbing along with her as she hopped up and down in excitement. "Heck, who knows; with all the crazy stuff we've seen lately, maybe it'll come true!"

The younger Huntress' smile widened a bit more at her teammate's suggestion, her mind going back to the fairy tales she had read years ago; tales of puppets coming to life, true love blossoming, and magic weapons being revealed all by the power of a simple wish.

"Ah, what the heck." Ruby finally conceded, her eyes still glued to the streak of light. "I wish…" A small frown appeared once again as the young reaper mulled it over for a moment before finally deciding. Yeah, it was unlikely, but that was the beauty of wishes, wasn't it? They didn't need to be feasible.

"I don't care what it takes; I wish for the power to make things better again." She finally murmured to the dark sky, just as the shooting star disappeared beyond the horizon.

At the same time and a million and ten worlds away, something stirred in the shadows between space and time. The young Huntress' wish had barely been audible even to her teammates, but it had reached one particular set of ears. A pair of eyes twinkling with delight fell upon Remnant, and a smile that would have charmed the Devil himself grinned a wicked grin.

The simple little wish had been heard. It was time to have some fun.

Alright, ladies and gents, here it is: the first chapter of an all-new story, just for SP00KY Season! To be a bit more specific, this story is based around one of the key aspects of Halloween - that is, dressing up in costumes. Back during the earliest days of Halloween, it was believed that Halloween was the night that the dead were permitted to walk the earth once more, and that by dressing up as monsters and spirits, one could avoid being harassed by supernatural creatures. It's a tradition that goes back for centuries; of course I had to homage it while writing about my favorite holiday!

Exactly what will this theme entail, you ask? That, my friends, is a question that will have to wait for the next chapter! Each installment in this story will handle the 'costume' of at least one character of RWBY, starting with Ruby Rose herself. What will her guise be on this frightful holiday? I shan't spoil it, but I will give you a clue - try to figure it out!

Our favorite reaper will be taking the mantle of another red-cloaked monster slayer. However, this wanderer of the night is a fan of decidedly... bloodier methods.

The answer will be revealed in the next chapter, Blood and Bullets! This is GlarnBoudin, signing out!