Bloom

Disclaimer: RWBY is the intellectual property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. I claim no ownership.

It was dark. And cold. Despite being completely wrapped up in her mother's blanket, all little Ruby could feel was bitter coldness.

Her hero...her light...the person she looked up to every second of every day of her life...was just gone. All that was left behind was a broken man, unable to fully care for his children; and two little girls, one wishing, hoping, praying to see her mother again, and another desperately trying to keep them all together.

Ruby tightened her grip on the blanket and drew it closer around her, desperately trying to recreate the warmth and safety of her mother's arms. It was useless, though. Nothing could recreate the feeling of her mommy holding her close. Not her daddy's empty comfort. Not Yang's trembling arms. Not this stupid blanket.

Nothing.

"Mommy...," she whispered. The lump in her throat became to much to bear, and tears began to flow down her face. She shut her eyes tight and tried to will them back. She had to be strong. Mommy had always told her that Huntresses had to be strong.

"Mommy," she whispered again, desperation coloring her voice. She buried her face in the blanket, but that only made it worse. The scent of her mommy's perfume had sunk into it and filled Ruby's head with memories.

The heartbroken little girl muffled her sobs in the blanket. If Yang heard her, she would come and try to make her feel better. But she could never stop herself from crying with Ruby, and all it did was make the tiny ravenette feel bad because her big, strong sister was hurting too.

So Ruby grieved in the cold privacy of her parents' room, wrapped up in the blanket her mother would tuck her into whenever she had a nightmare.

The soft click of the door opening made her little heart skip a beat. She quickly dried her face with the blanket and tried to force down the sadness clogging up her throat. Ruby was still a child, however, and could not forcefully hide away her emotions. The lump stubbornly remained and her frustration caused fresh tears to spring from her eyes. So she tried to remain perfectly still. If she stayed still, then maybe they wouldn't see her.

"Ruby...?"

She curled tighter into herself. She knew that voice. It was Uncle Qrow. She knew he had to be sad about her mommy leaving too, so she kept quiet.

It was apparently useless, though, because she felt him sit on the bed, right next to her.

"Can we talk?"

Unwilling to let the strain her throat betray her, Ruby stubbornly shook her head and renewed her grip on the blanket.

"How about you just listen?" he gently offered.

She kept quiet for a moment before nodding lightly.

Her Uncle sighed quietly. He was silent for a long moment before he begun to speak.

"I know...that this must be hard for you, Ruby. It's hard for all of us. Your mother was...she was just an amazing woman...and we all miss her very much."

As he spoke, she bit her lip to keep from crying again.

"But," he continued, "She wouldn't want us all to be stuck like this. She would want us to keep her in our hearts, but to keep living our lives at the same time."

That struck something in Ruby, and she couldn't keep herself from speaking past the lump.

"I don't wanna live without mommy."

There was tense silence for a beat, and before she knew what had happened she was in Uncle Qrow's arms, still wrapped up the blanket. The suddenness of it briefly shocked her out of her depression.

"Don't you ever say that...," she heard her uncle say, his words were firm but pleading. "Don't you ever say that, Ruby. Your mother loves you so much, it would hurt her to hear you say that."

The tone of his voice made her tear up again. His arms were wrapped completely around her and were holding her close to his chest. One hand was pressed softly against her head, and he was lightly rocking back and forth. For one shining moment, she almost felt like she was back in her mommy's arms. It was too much for her, and she began to cry.

As the first sobs left her throat, her uncle eased the cover off of her head and she pressed her face against his chest.

"I want m-mommy back!" she cried, pulling out her hands to hold onto Qrow's shirt. For a long moment, she just cried into her Uncle Qrow's chest; and he held her tightly, letting the fragile little girl grieve for her lost mother.

Even as her sobs began to die down and her eyelids grew heavy, the sorrow lingered in her chest. She didn't know what she was going to do now. Her whole word seemed upside down and she had no clue how to right it. She was lost and afraid. It was then and there that she decided she didn't ever want to feel like this again. She didn't ever want anyone to feel like this.

"U-Uncle Qrow...?" she hiccuped, determined to get it out before exhaustion could claim her.

"Yes, little one?" he asked softly, still rocking her.

"C-Can you te-teach me to be a Hun-Huntress...?"

Unbeknownst to her, Qrow smiled.

"Ruby, I will teach you to be the greatest Huntress Remnant has ever seen."

That was all Ruby needed to hear, and she let sleep take hold of her.

Thirteen year old Ruby looked nervously towards the entrance of Signal Academy. She had left the house confident and glowing, but her nerves gradually swallowed it up until she was left a weak-kneed kitten standing helpless in front of the school.

This was it. According to Uncle Qrow, this would be her first step to becoming a Huntress. Once she had begun her classes and crafted her weapon, he would officially take her under his wing. She had looked forward to this day for years, but now it felt like she was standing at the base of a very high mountain, looking up.

Students walked past her, seemingly unaware of her plight. Those that even spared a glance were more than happy to write it off and keep walking. It didn't seem like she would be getting any support from her peers.

'Come on, Ruby. You can do this. You're going to be a Huntress! You can't let this stupid nervousness get to you!'

She gathered her courage and swallowed deeply before lifting her foot and putting it down in front of her.

Then she did it again.

And again.

Before she knew it, she was walking through the entrance and towards the auditorium. Ruby couldn't help but grin and bask in this one, tiny achievement. She could do this.

'I can't do this,' Ruby thought to herself, trying to keep her shame from showing up on her face and failing miserably.

She gripped onto the handle of one of the school's practice swords and began trying to tug it out of the wall. While doing so, she tried to ignore the whispers and giggles directed at her.

Reckless Ruby, they called her. Any weapon she picked up would inevitably end up lodged in the wall or knocking out a fellow student. It wasn't a small deal either. After unlocking their Aura and discovering their Semblance, every student taking Introduction to Hunting had to choose a base form for their weapon before they could begin designing and crafting their own. She couldn't help it that every weapon she picked up just felt clumsy and useless.

When she finally pulled the sword free, the teacher spoke up.

"Why don't you take a break, Ruby?" she offered, "You've been making a big effort, maybe some rest will do you some good."

Ruby lowered her gaze and nodded. She placed the sword back on the rack and made her way to one of the seats lining the room. For the rest of class, she practiced keeping tears from forming.

"Still nothing?" Qrow asked her, leaning against the archway leading to the school.

Ruby averted her eyes and muttered, "I don't wanna talk about it..."

"That bad, huh?"

She threw her arms up in the air and began to vent, uncaring of the other students that looked their way.

"I just don't get it! Why can't I use any of the weapons right?! The only one I was almost sort of liked was the staff, but it still felt awkward! It just feels like I'm waving around a big stick!"

The girl slumped in despondence, "How am I supposed to be a Huntress if I can't even use a weapon...?"

Qrow rubbed his chin and looked up in thought, "'A big stick', huh?"

A sly grin suddenly made its way across his face and he beckoned Ruby to follow him.

"I think I've got just the thing for you," he said.

They had returned home before her father and Yang, which wasn't a surprise. Yang liked to socialize and her dad likely had a lot of paperwork to finish - which led to Ruby wondering if Uncle Qrow was a really fast worker or just ditched it all.

Said uncle led her to the backyard before suddenly spinning around and unfurling his scythe with a flourish. Ruby jumped in surprise and began waving her arms in a desperate plea.

"Wait, wait! I'm not ready for sparring yet! I don't even have a weapon!"

Instead of attacking her, Qrow held his weapon out to her with one hand and looked at her expectantly. Ruby looked at it, then him, than at the weapon again before looking back at him.

"You want me to...hold it?" she asked hesitantly.

Her uncle said nothing, but the slight motion of his arm affirmed her question. Ruby reached out with both hands and carefully accepted the weapon. The moment he let go, she felt the full weight of it. The head hit the ground and she strained to hold up the handle.

"Your Aura, Ruby," Qrow reminded.

Right, Aura. She took a deep breath - which was considerably hard considering she was still trying to keep the weapon from completely falling - and let the light of her Soul coat her being. The excess strain disappeared immediately and the scythe suddenly felt much lighter. She lifted it up higher, spreading her legs and shifting her weight to accommodate the heavier end and keep herself balanced.

Her uncle smiled and nodded, "Very good. Now, give it a whirl."

Ruby blinked, "'Give it a whirl'?"

Qrow nodded and stepped back several paces, "Just swing it around a bit, get a feel for it."

The teen glanced nervously at the lethal weapon in her hands before moving it around a little bit. She slowly swung it side to side like she was chopping with an axe. When she was confident that it wouldn't fly out of her hands, she twirled it once and was delighted to find that the motion felt smoother than anything she had tried before. Something clicked in her mind. The reach made her feel secure and the heavy blade filled her with confidence in its killing power.

She slowly spun the weapon in front of her, taking care to do so at an angle so the blade wouldn't get planted into the ground. Ruby grinned and spun it faster and faster. Unfortunately, she had just begun her training, and her clumsy, inexperienced fingers let the weapon slip out and fly off to the side. Before she could even display horror at her slip up, Qrow appeared off the side of its flight path and snatched the weapon out of midair. Rather than halting its momentum though, he went with it and spun it around himself in an impressive display of skill.

When the momentum had completely bled away, he planted the haft into the dirt and looked at her proudly.

"Well, I'm happy to inform you we've found your weapon of choice. Unfortunately, you suck at it right now, so we'll have to work on that."

Ruby spun her precious Crescent Rose around, striking at invisible enemies in a seamless dance of hypothetical destruction. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that this was right. Her weapon was elegant and effective, in both melee and ranged combat. The peers that had once mocked her for her apparent lack of talent were now eating dirt in every spar.

That was irrelevant, though. She didn't care about beating her peers - too much, that is. What mattered was that she was strong. She was going to become a Huntress.

She ended her routine suddenly, her weapon pointing forward with the tip of the blade hovering just above the ground. Her breathing was slightly heavier after having completed three freestyle routines in a row. She snapped her hand back and folded Crescent Rose back into its compact form and looked down at it in pride.

Ruby swore to herself that she would never experience loss again, and she would do everything in her power to ensure that no one else would either.

Crescent Rose unfolded again and Ruby began anew.

A/N: To be quite honest, I'm really proud of this one. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.