Alright, so normally I like to either completely finish writing a story, or get a solid number of chapters in before posting, But this time is the exception. Though I do intend to keep pushing this, I make to promises that it will ever be finished if for some reason I take a wrong turn and kill the direction I wanted this story to go.
RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.
There was a gasp for breath. A scythe stood planted into the ground by its tip. Laying from atop it's shaft was the red cloaked warrior who carried it into battle.
Her foot rested on the flat of the hook, holding up her and keeping balance while the rest of her limbs lazily hung down. If it wasn't for the burning buildings around her one would think it was a relaxing evening. But instead it was the end of a long battle, Yang was unconscious in a nearby garden a massive cut going clean through her cheek; Ruby wouldn't have been surprised it a part of her tongue was missing to from the wound. Blake was on the other side of the courtyard struggling to stay awake no doubt just as tired as the rose. Weiss was... somewhere, she might be in Beacon's main hall, but she wasn't sure. She did know the heiress was ok though, maybe a little battered and bruised but nothing major.
A small thud could be heard as Blake finally went under with a smile on her face. The rose relaxed as well, looking up at the moon high in the sky. Though the stars were hidden from the glow of the fire and the smoke-filled skies she knew they were there in their full splendor just as always, and she helped to ensure they always would be.
A smile covered her face and she removed the cloth over her right eye, though she couldn't see through it, the feeling of the midnight breeze brought her more joy then anything else at that moment, save a chocolate covered strawberry. The relaxing breeze was interrupted by a sudden chill. A presence appeared out of nowhere and her very being was suddenly filled with absolute terror, if only for a second before familiarity kicked in. She didn't even have to look to know who, or rather what, it was to know. She had, had brush ups with the ominous being many times before.
The humanoid figure 'floated', maybe walked; the woman couldn't tell, past her toward the man whose blood now covered the crimson reaper's weapon. Clad in a black cloak with the hood pulled up leaving the face nothing but a empty void that the rose was sure people could lose their sanity in should they stare to long.
A bony hand extended from one of the long black selves, though covered in a sickly pale toned skin. It lacked muscle and anything else that would make one believe that it should be able to move on its own, it was literally just skin and bone.
A dull blue crystal was wrapped in the skeletal fingers of its owner. It held the gem out in front of it before the corpse of the man who had seeked to bring the world as close to destruction one could get without actually killing off the human race. The gem left the hooded being's hand and floated to the mentioned dead. Sinking into the body's center causing blood to spurt out, yet it passed through the flesh without not leaving a mark.
Ruby looked around, this undertaker had only appeared before her, and sure enough with Blake having gone under she was once more the only one to witness the act.
The gem exited the body after a few moments and returned to its owner's hand. It was exactly the same as before, but now there was a small pin sized light shinning from the center. Last time, she witnessed this act, this was the point where she had passed out from blood lose, she had never seen what happens after.
The pale walker adjusted the gem in its hands and after a moment a small fracture appeared in the once perfect surface. Another moment and the gem unnaturally shattered into dust in hand.
Without a moment's hesitation the being looked over to her. She knew what was coming, she knew when she had first meet it. Though no matter how much she tried steeling herself to the thought, no matter how much she told herself she wanted this, the thought of death was still frightening to those who were on the brink, either figuratively or in this case literally, looking upon Death.
A whisper echoed through her mind. It was her voice, like her conscience speaking to her. Only these weren't thoughts of her design.
"And so it is done," Though it was her own voice it still sent a cold chill down her spine, and her every being was telling her to abandon everything and just get away. She didn't move though, she couldn't out run it even if she could. She did make this deal fully knowing the outcome.
"Cinder Fall, Roman Torchwick, William Wyte, and now Kazachin Hussar. The four beings who you deemed a threat to the world are dead. Slain either by your hand, or another's. Their souls now rest once more in the void where once they came." Ruby gulped, she knew what was coming, but as it drew closer the brave face she put on started to crack as Death literally approached.
"It is now done, their souls have come early. Now your's will return to death." The true reaper's hand stretched out before her. Dying wasn't pleasant the first time, and she didn't relish in the cold grip claiming her again.
The fingers made contact around her face, two on her forehead, two on her cheek and the thumb on the opposite side. She grimaced as the cold surrounding the hand approached, but was replaced when the fingers made contact to reveal them warm. They were actually really warm, like the perfect warmth; the touch was almost enough to make the tired girl pass out from the comfort of the grip on her. She almost did too, but a single through echoed through her head in a last-ditch effort to stay awake.
"Wait!" She shouted.
The grip was removed from her face and she saw the pale figure flex the tips of its fingers, whether in annoyance or patience she couldn't tell, but she swallowed what felt like a rock in her throat to speak. Realizing she was actually wanting to speak and not just a instinctual outcry for life, the hand was pulled further way, the whole of the fingers flexing in front of her as they went.
"I- I," She swallowed what felt like another rock in her throat before continuing with a much more firm voice then before.
"I want to make a request."
The voice returned to her mind, slightly agitated in tone, but not yet angry. "And by what right do you have to ask ME, for another request?"
"Well, since I have already defied death, so to say. Might I be able to defy time as well?"
She could feel a painful rush fill her mind as the reaper crushed through her mental fortitude with ease, and raced through every thought and memory she could remember in her head; even ones she would have to struggle to call upon. After a moment the being left, Ruby's brain throbbed like someone had smacked it with a hammer then put it back inside her skull. The echoing voice in her mind did nothing to help with the pain either.
"You would have me defy time in such a matter just so you can repeat our original agreement?"
"Eh, yes...?"
"In the many centuries and millennia no mortal has ever asked such a thing of me...
Very well."
Ruby blanked at what she just heard. She didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she just felt the over barring need to.
"Wait, really? Even after you just said all that stuff?"
"In all this existence's time, none have asked me to perform such a feat for such a... 'pure' intention, as such I have never done so. You though, Ruby Rose, you are the first mortal in a long time that has... 'interested' me. I wish to know as well, can time be changed? Or is it of stone never to be moved once laid? Will you achieve what you seek? Or will the hopelessness of seeing the events unfold before you, unable to be changed break you?"
"Well then, I guess we'll just have to see." Her confidence had immediately returned upon hearing the words of acceptance, and Ruby was looking forward to doing the one thing she had always hoped she could do:
Fix the world before this whole mess started.
There's your prologue, little shorter than I intended, but it's to good of a cliffhanger to not use. And it's a prologue not an actual chapter.
Also I don't normally tell people to leave reviews, I like to think people are smart and grown up enough to do that on your own, but since I've yet to get any for any of my RWBY stories I really want you people to do so. I can't get better if I only have my opinion to lead off from.