Hey guys, again I apologize for the lack of updates I will be getting to writing again later on this evening. This was something I was hoping to do later on after I did all my others but ever since Monty Oum's passing I feel it is important that I get this to you guys sooner rather than later. Which honestly I wish I did this earlier in the month and it upsets me that I never did. Why I decided on this fanfiction was originally for any and all RWBY fans out there, plus any of my veteran readers who are in the process of reading my other stuff already. However now that Monty's gone I've decided that this is one of the only current things I can do to honor his memory. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy this, my own little creative way of paying tribute to a great artist who was a great inspiration for me and I'm sure a lot of you guys as well.
Somewhere in Snowy Forest…
Our fireplace seemed like a warm blanket compared to the outside winter snow as I sat with my brother Jack trying to make sure I wasn't about to freeze like a baby Ursa in hibernation. I rubbed my hands together as Dad walked in with some logs. Now my brother Jack, he sort of was whacked with most of Dad's genes, he had the same boyish face, dark emerald hair, he even inherited Dad's protective streak of looking out for others. Although he was much thinner compared to our father's slightly muscular build. I wasn't any different, we both shared the same bright emerald green eyes, only I got most of our Mom's half of the genes. Despite my boyish face I inherited our mother's long hair, only instead of her long black hair mine was a bit more of a brighter jade. Dad would even tell me that I got mom's beautiful smile that always seemed to attract a person's attention. He'd even say when I grin it was always the crooked mischievous grin that always gave way to her childish rebellious side. Honestly I could always never see the resemblance between me and my folks but I loved them anyway.
"Grace Spades if you pass out in that blanket a Nevermore might come to pluck you out and take you away." Mom said as she came out from the kitchen wiping her hands off from washing the dishes as her husband fed some extra logs into the fire. I immediately squeaked as I hopped up off the floor and glared at her; my face a deep crimson from embarrassment.
"Mo-o-o-m! I'm only 4 years old! You know that stuff doesn't scare me anymore!" I said in a deep and outright lie as I could feel my legs trembling under my dress. Dad chuckled as Jack grinned at me and raised his fist into the air.
"Don't worry Grace! If a Nevermore tries carrying you off I'll just punch it in the eyes over and over until he lets you go!" Jack said still carrying a goofy grin on his face as he shook his clenched fist tightly. I could only giggle as my fears of being a bite-sized Nevermore snack instantly dissipated. Jack was only 4 years older than me and he was already my hero, even with all the spooky bedtime stories he would read to me at night he'd always end off with "Don't worry Grace, there isn't a Grimm for miles or anywhere on the continent that break through me to get to you". It was always so reassuring especially with how goofy he always looked when he grinned.
"Alright bedtime you two, we got a long day tomorrow if we are going to go to Forever Fall forest to get that honey you always wanted." Dad said as he picked up my sleepy form already about to lose consciousness again from the warmth of the fireplace. I never liked admitting it but it was always fun when Dad would carry me, it always made me feel so safe. As Dad set me down on my bed and tucked me in, Jack walked in and immediately began looking for another book to read me another story. Despite his energy he looked about as sleepy as I was, Dad chuckled as he ruffled his hair.
"Try not to put our little princess to sleep too fast alright Jack?" He said as Jack blushed and nodded before hopping on the side of my bed smiling down at me.
"So Grace, how about I tell you about the huntress who saved some faunus from a giant pack of beowolves?" He said as he gave up looking for a story book and decided to make one of his own up. I could only squirm with glee as I smiled up at him. "That's definitely a new one big bro!" I said excitedly as he chuckled, happy to put another smile on my face as usual.
He grinned and began to tell his tale. "Well there was once this beautiful huntress, who back before the kingdoms got situated helped keep the peace in protecting people from the creatures of Grimm."
He could see that my eyes were glistening with admiration that a beautiful huntress would care so much about a race of beings that; since the war many years ago hadn't been getting good treatment by their fellow humans. I used to hear Dad complain about how sickening it was at how the faunus were always treated. Mom would always have this look on her face as if she was about to cry every time she saw news involving a faunus being assaulted or beaten on her scroll.
I then imagined myself as being a heroic and adventurous huntress, out to protect the faunus from dirty bad people who'd look to harm or belittle them. When Jack finally finished the story I had already drifted back down onto the pillow and fell asleep. The last thing I heard before I began to dream was Jack's muffled footsteps as he went to bed himself.
I had only slept for at least a couple of hours before I woke up to a massive chill in the room. As I opened my eyes I looked around, the window was wide open and Jack's bed lay empty; the covers haphazardly tossed off to the side as if he had woken up in a hurry.
"Jack…?" I whispered as I got out of bed and stepped towards the window trying to close it. It was then I heard the most horrifying sound I had ever heard in my life. The sounds of howling echoed in the bitterly cold forest; dozens of them, and that was when I realized what was making those sounds.
"Beowolves…!" I muttered as massive dark furry figures began wandering out of the forest brush, their red eyes glinting in the darkness like jewels as the moon eerily reflected off of their bone-like masks. They didn't seem to notice me as they walked towards the house with hungry demonic snarls that made my heart freeze as overwhelming fear began to fill my being. T
The door suddenly slammed open behind me as I heard Jack's voice call out. "Grace stay away from the windows…!" He said as he quickly pulled me away from the open window, the snarling and howling outside getting louder and louder as the terrifying Grimm creatures drew closer and closer.
"Big brother…? What's going on?" I said as my teeth began to chatter from the cold and being scared. He didn't answer as we went to the living room and found our Mom and Dad; Mom was holding a kitchen knife while Dad had his rifle in hand.
The both of them seemed to be trembling with fear as well as Dad tried to take charge of the situation. "It's okay honey we are going to be fine just stay away from the windows!" he said as suddenly we heard a loud bang ram into the front door.
"Oh God…they are trying to get in." Mom mumbled as the outside looked like a sea of crimson red eyes circling the house as if they were sharks. And from the barking we could all hear I somehow knew there was an alpha somewhere out there giving orders to try and find a way in to get at the humans inside. Finally as we heard loud thumping noises on the roof it suddenly cracked and broke open as a single beowolf came through. Dad quickly turned and fired one burst from his shotgun as the scatter pellets shredded its skull sending the corpse hurtling into the fireplace. He turned and smiled at us as blood from the creature had splattered onto his face and shirt.
"See honey? We are going to be alright." He said just before the door busted open along with most of the wall as another beowolf came through, its arms wide open and claws at the ready. This time Dad wasn't so lucky as he turned and fired another burst only to barely wound the creature before its jaws closed right onto his shoulder. Mom and I both screamed in fright as Jack stood there silently shocked and horrified as his own father was being horrifically ripped apart in front of him.
"We have to get out of here now!" Mom yelled as she picked me up and tried to make a run for the entrance that the Beowolf had just come through only suddenly I was launched over onto the floor. As I hit my head on the floor I was momentarily stunned; my vision blurred as I tried to stand up when all I could do is turn and see my mother's body, only her head was missing as the vulpine culprit began tearing into the rest of her with its sharp teeth.
And where was Jack? Was he dead too? Was I going to die alone? I tried to slowly crawl away until I saw Jack next to me slowly grab hold of my sleeve and slowly drag me into a corner where he began to smear more blood and gore onto our already crimson soaked bodies. As I tried to speak Jack quickly held up his finger telling me to be silent as more members of the pack began to enter the house to feast on Mom and Dad's corpses. Some even began searching the house to sniff us out as well. It was then that I noticed that Jack and I were sitting beside the fireplace where Dad had killed the first beowolf and that Jack must have smeared its blood on the both of us to throw off our scent from the rest of the pack. I quickly clung onto Jack as I tried to hide the horrific sight that was playing out before me in my mind. Only this sight would remain buried within my mind and within my nightmares for many years to come. As hours passed I felt my clothes begin to cling to my skin as the stinging cold from the snow outside began to grow more harsh. I kept silent however as we watched the beowolves continue to move about the house before finally they retreated back into the forest outside.
As we were finally granted some breathing room I tried to speak, only my lips felt as if they had been completely frozen shut. I could only tremble violently as Jack looked down at me.
"Oh no…" He whispered before he struggled to stand up as well and carry me to our room where we would normally keep all of the blankets. As we entered the room we saw that it had been trashed, the bed was practically destroyed, sheets had been torn and claw marks covered the walls. Jack immediately noticed that my drawer where my other clothes were had been knocked over face down and broken open as the majority of my winter clothes inside had been torn apart.
"J-Jac…k…..I'm so cold…." I stammered as I could see the terrified look in my older brothers' eyes. He quickly opened the closet and pulled out as many blankets as he could. From the shivering I could tell he was becoming very cold as well. The only thing keeping him from keeling over like I was pure adrenaline; he sighed nervously as he said.
"Alright Grace I've got an idea but you're going to need to trust me alright?" He said as I did all I could to slowly nod. He then proceeded to undress me as he wrapped some blankets together to try and form a makeshift tunic. I tried to help me as much as I could as my bare skin felt as if it was screaming at me in agony from the searing cold. He then put the tunic on me as I helped him wrap as many blankets around me as was possible to keep me warm. It was then I collapsed to the floor and lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes again I looked up to see my brother with tears in his eyes shivering from the cold as he loaded me into our little red wagon and piled more blankets into it to hide me away and keep me as warm as he could. As I tried to move I heard him pick up the front handle on the wagon and began to pull it as hard as he could, towing me away from what was once our home. The howling from the beowolves still echoed in the forest all around us as questions of whether or not my brother and I were going to escape alive still remained in my mind.
"It's going to be okay sis…we are going to be fine…I'm not going to lose you like Mom and Dad…" were words I could hear him muttering like a prayer before I felt myself drifting off into unconsciousness again.
I could hear my heart beating slowly as I lay there. I knew I was dying of something that my mom told me about. I think it was called hypothermia, I was so scared, I didn't want to die, I didn't want Jack to die, and he was the only family I had left. The wind seemed grow calmer as it almost seemed to whistle a sweet lullaby in my ears. It was so sweet and soothing I almost felt tempted to let it take me away.
It was only then that sounds of howling woke me up again as Jack struggled to pull the wagon along. As the wind began to grow harsh I began to hear distant barking and snarling growing closer and closer as loud rapid footsteps in the snow resonated with it. And with each breeze and gust of wind I could hear the beowolves as if they were right behind us. Was it me, or was the wind actually helping me? I was sure that the cold had either already killed me or I was becoming seriously delirious. As the wagon stopped I tried to sit up. I saw Jack walk to the side and pick up a snow covered fallen branch and step in front of me brandishing it as a weapon.
"I'm not going to let them take you Grace…" He muttered as the same pack from before rushed from the darkness of the forest and surrounded us snarling as they saw Jack with the tree branch. And from between the crowd a large giant beowolf as a large crack lay present on its mask forming into a scar ending down at its muzzle as it seemed to give Jack a crooked evil grin. Jack tried running at it and took a swing of the branch as if it were a sword. The creature easily dodged Jack's feeble attempt and lightly nudged him causing him to fall over to the ground. The alpha male was enjoying itself toying with the human prey before it finally devoured the child.
"No…no…" I muttered watching the nightmare begin again before my eyes. As I struggled to get out of the wagon a swirling of snow began to form around us from the growing intense wind. I let out a large scream and pulled my arm out through the blankets as my hand seemed to be glowing with a bright green energy. This caused the gust of wind to suddenly increase in strength as branches on trees began snapping, some trees themselves breaking from their roots and smashing into some of the Grimm creatures that surrounded us. Others struggled to remain on the ground as many were lifted into the air and crashed into the surrounded trees; their bodies impaled on the sharp branches.
As the alpha male beowolf itself prepared to finish off Jack a branch caught in the gust immediately plunged through his chest killing it instantly after letting out a loud yelp. As the gust finally cleared I could hear the rest of the pack retreating in terror as I collapsed in exhaustion back onto the wagon bed and slept. It was only until after Jack and I had crossed the border into the Vale Kingdom and entered the city of Vytal that I learned that night was the first night that my semblance had awoken and my aura was the only thing keeping me alive.
And there you have it folks! I hope you guys enjoyed the start of Grace's adventure in Vale. I'll get updates for my other stories up this evening so I'll cya guys later!
