Right, so, a new story I wanted to have a go at, focused more on the characters than any huge over-arcing plot. I'll say I'm looking forward to this one really, if only because I want it to be more grounded, drama focuses.

There still is a plot, but I'd say it's less grand than what I usually plan out.

Whether I can actually manage that is anyone's guess but hey.

It's more relaxed story I think, one where the Grimm aren't the focus.

Yeah there'll be mentions of them, but this is an AU so, well you'll see how soon.

Hopefully you'll like it, I'm pondering whether I should state the pairing for this story outright or leave it until it actually happens but I think I might leave that up to you guys. let me know if that would make it more convenient for you or not.

Also, because I got asked to do this in another story in most recent chapters, I'll throw a heads up that this is rated M for a reason. mostly for freedom sure, but if it's something that deeply effects you, be prepared for blood and gore.

It shouldn't be excessive to a ridiculous amounts but for when it is here's the warning.

…

A young girl stumbled as the train shunted. She knocked into a person, who scowled at her when they realised she was a kid. They probably though she was some kind of disrespectful youth, or some other stereotype like that. She mumbled an apology all the same, but kept her eyes to the ground, clutched the handle of her suitcase nervously.

That had been the third time already. The overhead train from Patch to Vale was a rickety one, which honestly made her feel queasy considering it was the only way to the city from the island, and you know, travelled over the ocean but would it have really been that much of a big deal for the archetices or engineers or whatever to just make it a little bit more comfortable?

The answer was no apparently, as it shunted again and Ruby tripped, falling into a woman who looked none to please as to being bothered. The teen shrank back on herself, apologising again.

She couldn't even steady herself, too short to reach the handles above and stuck in the middle of the crowded train. She was at the mercy of momentum as it was.

Mercifully, the train came to a stop at the station a few minutes later though, and let Ruby disembark. Unfortunately, that came in the form of being carried away in a sea of bodies.

Ruby nearly had a panic attack right then and there.

She just couldn't deal with people. Especially like this! She could barely talk to them without suffering an anxiety attack, let along be this close to them.

The exit was a gift, but she couldn't stop to savour it since more people were getting off behind her.

She headed down the stairs in front of her along with everybody else and to the glass door leading outside. She peered through the glass and grimaced at what she saw:

The weather was quite frankly awful. Nearly gale force winds and a torrent of rain so heavy she could barely see out.

She bit her lip. She couldn't wait here though. She had somewhere to be. Steeling herself, she reached into her pocket, pulling out a small scrap of paper. Her eyes scanned over it once, twice before she nodded and stowed it away again, pulling up her hood and gripping her suitcase as she made a break for it.

The rain almost instantaneously soaked through her clothes but she did her best to ignore it, turning to her left and running down the street, she counted each block as she passed it.

First, second, third, fourth, wait, it split her- never mind, there was fifth, and six and- no, this time it really did, there was a fork in the road as cars sped past.

How was she supposed to know where she was going in a place like this?

The signage in this place was terrible.

She glanced to her side and saw a coffee shop. Nearly without thinking she hurried in, out of the storm and was met with the warm air and dryness.

Thank goodness for the small mercies.

She looked around. There were a lot of people here, taking shelter form the rain just as she was, not many paid her much mind thankfully, and those that did lost interest quickly. She glanced back out the window.

The rain just looked even more horrible.

She was lost, no doubt about it. yeah it was her first time in Vale but of course her luck meant she could barely make her way down the street!

She was too afraid to ask anyone for help either, what if they ignored her? Or worse, what if they didn't?

They might just get angry at her for bugging them, they were strangers right? You weren't supposed to talk to strangers.

Maybe… someone who worked her could give her directions. That would be easier right?

With that decide, Ruby got into line, uncomfortable at the close proximity to others, but okay as long as they didn't touch her. It didn't take long for it to be her turn, and the person behind the counter – a young man, maybe just turning eighteen – smile politely at her.

"Good afternoon," the redhead greeted. "May I take your order?"

"A-ah, yes." Ruby nodded. "C-can I h-have a coffee please? With cream and sugar."

"Huh." He said, scribbling down the order.

"A-and can that be to go please?"

"Of course, anything else?"

She glanced at his name tag. Fox, then back up ti his face, the big round glasses looked almost heavy duty, but they took away the edge of intimidate Ruby might have felt from the tanned male.

"Actually, I was hoping you'd give me directions." She said, pulling out the pieced of paper again and hesitantly sliding it across the counter. "I need to find someone, but I don't really know where to go."

Fox looked down at the paper, it was an address, and frowned.

"Who exactly are you trying to meet, drug dealers?"

"I…I'm sorry?"

"This address leads to a really shady part of town. It's full of thugs and all kinds of people you wouldn't want to meet late at night."

That was… not good news. If she was having doubts before then they just got even worse. The way he was talking about it didn't make it seem like there was any good reason for a sane person, let alone a fifteen year old girl, to venture to that part of town.

But…

He shot her a look. "But you're going to go anyway, aren't you?"

She gave him a hesitant smile that caused him to sigh. He took out a pen and scribbled something onto the back of the paper she'd handed him.

"These are directions to the general area," he explained. "Follow them and you should be able to find the place you're looking for from there. Trust me, you'll know the place when you see it."

She thanked him, paying for the coffee with some of the lien she had from her dad's old wallet and hurried back outside. It was still raining, but it was a little bit lighter than before.

She took a look at the note and ran down the street, careful not to slip on the ground as she did so.

It took her a good ten minutes, maybe more to notice a change in her surroundings but when she did it was a big one:

The buildings were… run down. People wandered the streets with their faces shrouded by hoods or caps and there were more than a few people sitting on street corners and throwing up into the gutters.

This definitely wasn't a nice part of Vale.

Ruby made sure to keep her head down, just moving through as fast as she could. Not many people payed her much attention, at least the rain was useful for making people want to be literally anywhere else.

Not long later, she came to a stop outside a tall building wedged between two others almost identical. It was an apartment complex, or whoever passed for on this side of town.

It was the place, and it was out of the rain, so Ruby didn't waste any time going in.

There was some kind of lunge, although considering it consisted of mainly just a stairwell and a few chairs in an open space maybe that was a bit of a stretch. There were a few people just laying about but Ruby made sure to steer clear of them.

She checked the address again, keeping an eye on the floor levels; first, second, third, fourth. On the seventh floor she stopped, making her way down the hall and stopping at the eleventh door on the left.

She swallowed and knocked the door twice.

There was a beat of silence, then a lot of shuffling and the sound of chains being pulled away.

Ruby took a step back as the door opened and shrank in on herself as she took in blood-red eyes. A woman with wild dark hair looked around blearily, then realising the caller was shorter than her, looked down.

"Yeah?" came a somehow gruff voice.

"U-um," Ruby tried. "A-are you Raven Branwen?"

Those red eyes narrowed. "Who's askin'?"

"M-my name is Ruby Rose. My dad said I should come find you."

The woman didn't look impressed. "And? You're still not ringing any bells here brat. Are you going to waste my time more or what?"

She licked her lips. Okay, so this woman wasn't entirely friendly. That was okay. Totally fine. She just had to not freak out and she could explain things, yeah.

"Well?"

The girl flinched. "Sorry… my… my dad said you and him were close."

The dark haired woman scoffed. "Oh yeah? I don't know anybody by the name Rose, so I guess not."

"His name wasn't Rose. It was Xiao-Long."

"…what?"

The teen swallowed again, the woman's voice had gone flat. She mustered the courage to look up and hold the gaze of those red eyes no matter how feeble an attempt it might have been.

"Taiyang Xiao-Long," she said again. "H-he told me to come and find you."

…

…

A few minutes later, Ruby sat on a couch inside the… apartment. If it could be called that.

In front of her was a low coffee table, and on the other side of that another couch. There was a dingy little TV on her right and Ruby was fairly sure she could see a few cracks in the ceiling.

The whole place was shoddy. It was liveable, but there were clear signs of poverty here, or at least similarities to the rest of the area. In front of her was another mug off coffee she'd been offered (and she was relieved to find it was at least clean)

Across from her, the woman named Raven Branwen watched her suspiciously, a cup of tea in her hands. If Ruby had been feeling braver, she might have asked is she didn't feel the heat for it, since she was holding its porcelain sides rather than its hands, but as it was she stared at the floor, unsure of what to say.

Raven wore a dark tank top and leather jacker, baggy pants and some kind of red sash on her waist. Her wild hair draped down to her back, and there were tired lines under her eyes.

Ruby didn't think she herself looked like much though either and she was sure Raven agreed; in a soaking red hoodie, black pants and red buckled high boots, there actually wasn't much else.

The only things remotely unique were the red tips on her dark hair and her silver eyes.

Which honestly didn't seem like much in the face of Ravens.

"So," the woman said to break the silence. "You're Tai's daughter?"

It was a question, directed at her, so Ruby nodded. "Yes." She said, the froze when she realised she didn't know what else to say. Was there something she was supposed to say? Was this an interrogation or just honest questions?

Raven seemed to pick up on that and sighed, leaning back into the seat. "So how old are you kid? What are you doing in this part of town?"

"I-I'm fifteen…" she stuttered, answering the first question quickly. That was good right? Oh, wait, there was still the second one. "Dad… he told me to come look for you."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" she grunted. "I mean, what the hell could he possible have been thinking in that thick head of his? He thinks he can just appear in my life again after seventeen years?" She looked like she wanted to spit to the side or something equally awful, but retrained herself in the presence of a little girl. "Where the hell is he anyway, why isn't he with you."

"He's dead."

Raven blinked.

Slowly.

"…I… what?" the woman stumbled, her voice had gone… quiet.

"He passed away last week," the teen told her in a flat voice, no, a void one. "He gave me your address and told me to find you for… whatever."

Raven stared at her, looking at a complete lost. Ruby squirmed suddenly under her wide-eyed gaze, courage apparently lost before the woman seemed to shake herself free.

"Why me though? I mean, what about you mom?"

"She died last year." Ruby mumbled, and Raven actually flinched at that. Ouch, another landmine she'd managed to trip on. She was going two for two.

She breathed a heavy sigh and ran a hand though her hair. "Shit." She muttered. "Just… shit."

The younger girl cleared her throat. "He told me you were a friend. Before he… you know. He said I should come find you and you could help me. He-" she reached into her suitcase and pulled out a slip of paper. A letter. "Gave me this… I haven't looked at it, but he said it was for you."

The adult took it warily, and after a moment's hesitation opened it. she took the slip of paper and read through it. She gasped and looked like she might even fall over, and maybe the face she was already sitting is what saved her from such a fate.

"This-" she stared at the paper. "This is a special guardianship order!"

"I-it is?"

Raven sent her a sharp look. "You didn't know?"

Ruby shook her head frantically. "No. I told you I didn't look."

The red eyed woman gave a reluctant sigh. "It's already filled in and everything. All it needs is my name… Tai wants… he wants me to look after you. Is he serious? After what he did?"

The fifteen year old wilted. "Is there something wrong?"

"Wrong?!" Raven barked incredulously, but stopped when Ruby visibly recoiled. She licked her lips and ran a hand through her hair again. "Do you even know who I am kid?"

A shake of Ruby's head.

Raven just sighed louder. "I… was Tai's wife… before he ran out on me."

Ruby stared. She… hadn't been filled in on that. "I… didn't know."

She laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I can tell." Her eyes fell to the paper again. "He runs out on me seventeen years ago and I don't hear anything from him, not even a word and next thing I know his kid shows up with this."

"I-I'm sorry," Ruby stuttered suddenly standing. This had been a bad idea. What had she been thinking? No, it was too much, far too much to ask a stranger something like that. What had her dad been thinking? "I-if you don't want me here I understand, I… I can find someplace else."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Where?"

The girls silence was telling.

The woman looked down at the papers again. A frown mulled across her features. She was thinking, making a decision on something.

"…Son of a bitch." She stood up, moving over the kitchen top on the left and found a pen in one of the drawers. Before Ruby could even gasp, Raven wrote her name down on the appointed line. She sighed. "Leave it to Tai to give me an choice where the only decent thing to do is say yes. Ugh, I'll sent the documents in tomorrow morning." She glanced back at a stunned Ruby.

"You got a change of clothes?"

The teen nodded rapidly. "Y-yes," she said. "I brought everything I could with me."

"Well good." Raven grunted. "Sorry to say we don't have any extra rooms, this place is too small for things like that."

"It's fine." Ruby assured her, relief was already flooding through her. She hadn't really known what to expect, but knowing that she would at least have a roof over her head made her feel a whole lot better. "I can sleep on the couch, I promise I won't be a bother."

"We'll see." She turned towards another door, reached in, and tossed a towel towards Ruby, who caught it easily. "Make sure to dry yourself off, you're drenched."

"Right."

"Oh and," Raven said again, turning back to her. "If you hear any noise at night, you can just ignore it. this whole place is kind of loud around midnight. Yeah?"

"That's fine." Ruby assured her, "Thank you Miss Branwen, I mean it."

Raven blinked, before turning away and coughing. "Yeah well, you're welcome. It's already late so… you might as well go to sleep, we can figure out the rest tomorrow."

A smile spread across the teens face, and with one last hesitate look Raven nodded and headed towards her own room.

With that, Ruby got to work at peeling her wet clothes off, and wringing herself dry with the towel.

It only took her a few minutes, and she got into her white and red pyjamas afterwards.

It wasn't too hard for her to find a blanket, and when she did, turned off the lights lay down on the couch.

Ruby was tired from her trip, so it took no effort to let herself drift off to sleep.

…

…

It was a bad dream that woke her up, one filled with smoke that she couldn't remember. It faded from her mind as soon as she opened her eyes, and Ruby wasn't sure if it was ever there.

She blinked, bleary eyed for a few moments as she took in her surroundings.

Where… oh, yeah right, Miss Branwen and let her stay on her couch. It felt as if she'd simply shut her eyes for a few moments, but Ruby could tell it was morning. A quick check on the scroll at her side confirmed that. It was eight in the morning. Usually she'd have been up earlier but hey, she'd had a busy day yesterday.

She yawned, stretching her arms behind her back. She didn't know when Miss Branwen would be up, so maybe she would just see if there was anything to eat and try not to bother her.

Thankfully, as run down as this part of Vale seemed to be at least there was a working fridge in the apartment and hey, milk!

Her clothes had dried overnight, so she quickly slipped them on and searched for a bowel, maybe some cereal.

Luckily Miss Branwen wasn't a crazy person, and put the cereal on one of the bottom shelves.

She laughed at the thought. Who even put food on high selves? That was just ridiculous, and she wasn't just saying that because she was short.

She yawned again as she sat down at one of the chairs around the kitchen table top. Mentally, Ruby was already thinking up a plan. She needed a plan if she was going to keep her promise to Miss Branwen and not be a bother. It wold be pretty bad if she came along and just ended up being another mouth to feed without helping in some way.

Yeah, that was it, she needed to-

"Who the hell are you?"

Ruby startled, and made to spin around in her seat when a hand clamped around the back of her neck.

Ruby gasped as she was lifted off the ground. She grasped desperately at the arm that had her by the throat now, straining to breathe.

A golden mane and a pair of lilac eyes greeted her when she looked down, as well as an angry snarl.

"What?" the blonde snarled. "You some sorta street rat? Fuckin' answer me!"

Oh Ruby answered alright:

By planting her boot right in her face.

"Son of a-"

Ruby's attacker was cut off as she kicked out. There was a crunch and a crash as Ruby fell onto the table, knocking the bowl to the floor and shattering it.

The blonde stumbled back, gripping the table top and growling at her. She lunged, but Ruby saw it coming.

The girl ducked under the grab and slammed her shoulder into the other girls' stomach.

Ruby could tell from one look at the other girl - built like a fighter – that she was way stronger than her. She was heavier too, and taller. So instead she did what she thought was probably the smarter option and aimed to through her off balance.

A blow to the stomach could do that if done right, and since Ruby herself was small and quick, she managed to stick a foot out while she was at it, wanting to duck past and trip her attacker up.

She didn't expect a hand to clamp a vice grip around her arm.

She yelped.

They both went tumbling to the floor with a bang and Ruby on the bottom.

A hand came down and wrapped around her neck again, but this time her legs shot out, locking her attacker in a chokehold as well.

"You little fucker!" the blonde snarled.

Ruby grit her teeth and snarled back, squeezing tighter even as her vison swam, limbs buring from the strain.

"What the fuck is going on here?!"

Both girls looked towards the voice, for Ruby that meant looking straight up from her angle.

"Mom/Miss Branwen!"

They froze.

"What!?"

"Oh for god's sake." Raven scowled. "Yang get off of her, now."

The blonde now revealed to be Yang, was quick to do as she was told, more for the fierce glare her apparent mother was giving her.

Said mother gave Ruby a look. "You alright?"

The girl checked, rubbing a hand against her neck. It didn't feel too bad, but since it had been such surprise, and the fact that Ruby didn't like touching, it had caused quite a panic in her.

"Yeah," she said after a moment, if only to assure the adult giving her a waiting look. "I'm fine."

The other girl was still glaring at her too, except now she was clutching the left side of her face in pain. "Who the hell is this brat mom?"

Raven sighed, walking over to Yang and prising her hand off her face with a little bit of effort.

"You really got it good. What the hell happened?"

"She kicked me in the face."

"You attacked me!" Ruby shot back.

"Yeah well-"

"Both of you quiet." Raven barked. It shut them both right up. "Both of you. On the couch. Now."

That the order of a voice more than slightly intimidating they did as they were told, making sure to take opposite sides. Yang still glared at Ruby as Raven reached into a compartment below the fridge and tossed a bag of ice Yang's way.

The blonde mumbled something of a thanks and put it against her face. Yeah, that was going to be a black eye.

Raven sighed and stood at the end of the coffee table, looking at them both squarely. "Right, so I'm guessing some kind of explanation is in order, for all the good it'll do now. Shit. Ruby, this is Yang. She's my daughter."

Ruby swallowed. Now that she had a good look at her, she could see some of the resemblance, but more that that, she could see the resemblance to Taiyang.

Which meant…

"Yang, this is Ruby Rose, she's staying with us now."

"What?" Yang squawked. "Why?"

The dark haired woman closed her eyes and rubbed he bridge of her nose. "It's complicated. It's just…" she sighed again as if trying to figure out a way to deliver the news gently. Ruby wilted and Raven decided to just batter through the problem. "Yang, mean Taiyang's second daughter… she's your half-sister."

The girl's response was less than expected.

In that it was a long, drawn out silence.

"That's… that's a joke, right?"

"No, it isn't."

Yang looked to Ruby, who's dumbass under scrutiny, decided that the genius thing to do was wave at the person she'd just kicked in the face.

The blank look she got in return wasn't promising.

Yang stood up. "I'm taking a walk."

"Take her with you."

"Wha- are you serious?"

Raven's glare said she was. "She's new to Vale, show her around."

The blonde threw her hands up, letting out a huff. Ruby sent a look to the dark haired woman, but Raven just shrugged.

"Go on, I'll clean up here."

Ruby nodded, and as Yang threw open the door she ran to catch up

…

…

"H-hey would you just wait up a second?"

The blonde most certainly did not, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets and keeping her eyes front even as Ruby caught up beside her.

She didn't stop and as they walked down the street people began to look their way.

"Come on would you at least talk to me?"

"Stop following me." The older girl grunted.

"Look I'm sorry I-"

"Stop."

Ruby flinched. "W-what?"

Yang glared at her. "Don't apologise, I ain't gonna listen to some brat who lies to my face about feeling bad."

"B-but I am sorry."

"I grabbed you first, you seriously tellin' me you feel bad for fighting back?"

"I'm sorry for hurting you yes!"

The blonde's eyes bore into her, and the teen fidgeted under the gaze.

After a moment Yang let out a huff of air. It was coming into autumn now, so her breath could be seen clearly.

"Whatever. That still doesn't explain why you're following me."

The shorter girl blanched. Why was she following her? Because Raven had said she would show her around! The blonde knew that!

But… that wasn't what she was asking… she was looking for her reason. Why she'd actually decided to follow.

"W-well," Ruby stuttered. "Y-you looked pretty upset back there when you met me s-so I wanted to… wanted to…" she stopped. What had she wanted to do? It had just been instinct to run after the blonde and she honestly had no idea what to say.

Yang seemed to realise that, and let out another puff of air. She started moving again and when Ruby didn't make to follow she turned back to glare.

"You coming?"

"R-really?"

"Mom wanted me to show you around, might as well do that so she ain't naggin' at me later. So come on."

Ruby nodded rapidly, and scurried after Yang, coming up to walk beside her.

The older girl watched her out of the corner of her eye, and when she got nothing from that she grunted.

"So where you from?"

"H-huh?"

"Oh for-" Yang groaned. "Are you going to stutter every time you speak? What's wrong with you?"

Ruby shrank in on herself. "S-s-sorry."

Yang bit her tongue and groaned again. "Right, uh-huh. Let's just forget about that for now. Can you just… answer the question?"

"…Patch. I'm from Patch."

"The island huh. Not from Mistral or Atlas?"

"No," Ruby answered honestly. "I wouldn't even have the money to travel from places like that safely."

"Eh… guess so," Yang shrugged. "It's not like you could be from anywhere else I guess. Patch is like what, the only place part from the city that's liveable. Do they have a barrier over there?"

"T-they do," she said. "But it's mostly just the sea that protects the place. A-at least that's what mom said."

"Uh-huh… your mom."

There was a pause. What was with that tone?

"So," Yang went on. "What's Patch like? Good weather? Nice people? There's a town there right?"

Ruby shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dunno."

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Again the teen flinched, and Yang had to bite back the instinct telling her to shake the girl for some proper answers. Really, all she was doing was talking, why was she shaking like a leaf?

"I-I didn't go into town. Just stayed around home."

Yang blinked. "You're like fifteen right, what, you didn't have any friends?"

"Nope."

She blinked again, looking ahead of her for a moment. They'd gotten to the nicer part of Vale now, filled with people going about their business.

"Well shit." Yang didn't really know what else to say to that. Course her mouth and brain didn't always work together, so of course it ran off even more.

"So let's summarise this yeah? I get home last night, lights are off, I think nothing bout' it. I go to bed, wake up the next morning and find a girl I've never seen before eating our food. Turns out, she's my long lost half-sister from a dad who ran out on me when I was born. Turns out he had another kid, who shows up without warning when my mom says, hey, this kids going to be living with us, have fun! Then after getting a kick that's definitely gonna lead to a black eye, that kid follows me out and tries to talk to me, where I learn that apparently she's some kind of weirdo who's stayed in her cabin in the woos her whole life… that about it."

"…"

"Is it?"

"…Yes." Came the murmured reply.

"Why did mom even say yes to you? Not like her to be so nice to a fuckin' stranger. What, she was just like yeah, stay here even though I know nothin' about you?"

"I… yes?"

"And you're telling me you don't think that's weird? Like at all."

"I-I don't know."

"Doesn't sound like you know anything."

Ruby felt her teeth clench. "Do you have to k-keep talking like I'm idiot? I- I haven't, I mean baring earlier I haven't done anything to you."

Yang huffed. "Listen kid, I'm just being honest, you should get used to it."

"Doesn't mean you have to be a j-jerk about it."

"What was that?"

Whatever the response could have been was cut off by the sound of a horn.

A really, massive and very, very loud sounding horn.

Ruby practically jumped out of her skin at the sound, though people around them all looked towards the same direction, south.

Yang was looking at way to, with an annoyed frown, followed along as the crowd headed towards the horn. Ruby, not wanting to be left behind, hurried along as well.

It was a bit of a ways in the direction of the crowd, in fact, people didn't stop until they reached the city gate, the only entrance and exit possible by foot in the entire city. Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch as it opened.

Ruby tensed. Why were they opening the gates?! There were Grimm out there!

"Relax," Yang yawned beside her. When had she gotten there? "They're just coming back."

Ruby blinked. "Who's coming back?"

The blonde looked down at her in surprise. "You… don't know? No, of course you don't why would that be thing you know about." She sighed, as if irritated by Ruby's lack of knowledge, looking towards the gates as people returned.

"Those, are the hunters."

…

So, first chapter. This is a lot easier to write than what I'm used to honestly, so hopefully I can get you hooked with these first few chapters.

I'm not sure about update schedules but hopefully I can keep to at least a bi-weekly tope of cycle.

It would be nice to be able to update multiple stores a week, but I'd say I'm not good enough for that yet, or that I procrastinate too much for it.

I'll figure that one out later.

But until the next chapter, let me know what you think, If you like it hopefully you can follow and favourite too.

First chapter but not much to say unless you want to ask me anything, so feel free to do that as well, anytime.