Authors Note: This is my very first attempt at writing a fanfiction. I welcome all constructive feedback.
The story will alternate between current events of team RWBY's mission and the past events of Cinder's attack on Beacon, I apologize if the format becomes confusing.
The past events assume that the Vytal Festival takes place right before team RWBY's second year and starts three months after that.
I started writing this right after Volume 3, Episode 6: Fall and that is where I separate from the official RWBY timeline. I tried to keep as much inline with new episodes as much as possible. The Penny vs Pyrrha fight never happened as Cinder enacted her plan right after Yang's match against Mercury.
Present Day
"Ruby no!" Blake's yell echoed across the battlefield.
Ruby had been leading her team along the edge of a forest for around three weeks now. Traveling over a hundred miles by foot and stopping at various villages on the way to maintain their supplies, her team was headed to a remote location near the southern coast of the continent. The farther south they got the wilder the territory and the more dangerous the Grimm became; now the little reaper stood in the midst of a horde of the agitated creatures. She extended her scythe behind her, flicking the blade out to a wider angle and focused on the beasts in front of her. The cold evening air permeated through the cloth of her combat skirt, chilling the muscles that were sore from the days of constant fighting but was refreshing to her mind that was weary from strain of the events from the last nine months; she was determined to keep fighting.
"Stop Ruby!" Blake's call came again.
Ruby purposely disregarded Blake's cry and charged forward towards the titanic armored Ursa standing in front of her, cutting down multiple Beowolves along the way. With the assistance of the force of an expended dust cartridge, she lept up and tried to slash through the Ursa's mask. To Ruby's dismay, Crescent Rose merely slipped off of the mask upon contact causing the girl to land clumsily and heavily on her legs and making her knees buckle under her. Before she could regain her balance the Ursa swiped at her, she tried to avoid the Ursa's paw but it still landed a glancing blow on her shoulder knocking Crescent Rose out of her hands. The following swipe followed almost immediately, too fast for Ruby to try to dodge it. As Ruby struggled to retain consciousness, all she could hear was the snarl of the Ursa and the booming report of Weiss' revolver; all she felt was the cold shadow of the Ursa rearing up again for yet another strike. Ruby smiled to herself.
You'll have to come for me now, she thought as she fell unconscious.
Six Months Ago
"We're getting deployed again." Sighed Ruby. The young huntress-in-training was sitting on the edge of her bed reading the newest message that arrived on her scroll. "the increased Grimm attacks have shifted to a different direction on Beacon, bigger ones too."
Ruby heard the rest of her team grumble at the new information that she just provided to them. They looked and sounded as fatigued as she felt. They had been fighting off Grimm attacks for three months now, picking up the slack when professional Huntsmen and Huntresses couldn't provide the support that Beacon and Vale needed to fend off the Grimm attacks. Despite this, Ozpin had insisted that the students at Beacon still maintain their normal course load; it was a very draining cycle.
Ruby's mood flipped from disgruntled to happy as she continued to read information from her scroll.
"I have good news though." Her teammates perked up at her comment and Ruby looked at her sister."Dad."
Yang gave Ruby a quizzical look.
"He is arriving later today, he and Uncle Qrow are the Huntsmen that we are getting deployed to support." the team leader continued.
Blake and Yang, especially Yang, seemed pleased as they both stopped grumbling and proceeded to smile, Weiss, on the other hand, did not seem to be as excited. The snow-haired girl brought her finger and thumb to the bridge of her nose; sighing and slowly shaking her head.
"What's wrong Weiss?" asked Ruby with a chipper tone as she jumped off of her in a cloud of rose petals and appeared next to her teammate; lightly bumping the heiress on the shoulder, "You still mad that uncle Qrow kicked Winter's butt?"
"Hmmpphh!" Weiss' reply was as telling as could be.
With her partners indignant dismissal Ruby turned and jumped back up onto her bed and took her scythe out of its holster on her back and laid it on her lap. Turning it over the red-cloaked girl slowly extended and unfolded the moving parts of her weapon, carefully inspecting to for grime and dust and ensuring that it would work when she needed it in battle.
As Ruby and her team prepared their gear Ruby's thoughts turned to their current situation. The Vytal Festival and its tournament had been cancelled after the first one versus one match. Ever since Yang was tricked into shooting Mercury in the knee, Grimm had been attacking Beacon and the surrounding area non-stop. They did not know whether this was because continued unseen actions by the woman in red, or that the cry of negative emotion from the incident reached farther than they had thought. Judging by the size of some of the Grimm besieging them could have been traveling for months. The larger, smarter ones have been congregating away from the city, preparing to attack en masse.
Putting her scythe back in its holster, Ruby looked down at her gauntlets. She had originally tried to make punch daggers, but they proved to large and heavy that they became unwieldy. It slowed her down and disrupted her timing with her scythe. After hearing her complain one too many times, Weiss stepped in and assisted Ruby in the construction of new bracers that could generate blades made from unrefined dust. They would require a little more focus to use, but the lighter weight wouldn't impede any of her other actions. Despite the craftsmanship of her new bracers, Ruby still prefered to use Crescent Rose, even though her scythe had its weaknesses.
Shortly after the Grimm attacks on Beacon started, the White Fang had attempted to infiltrate Beacon. While they were attempting to tunnel into some of the lower levels, they had accidentally collapsed the floor in the room Ruby had been in. She fell into a maintenance corridor that was too narrow and confined for her to use her signature weapon. The White Fang soldiers had quickly subdued her and were preparing to execute her. At the last minute, when Ruby thought everything was over, Yang saved her. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, the brawler jumped between Ruby and the blade that was meant for her neck. Ruby had never seen Yang burn so brightly before, her blonde hair was not visible under the flame the wreathed it, her crimson eyes more fitting of a monster of legend than any mortal. By the time Yang carried Ruby to safety, only two of the White Fang soldiers, out of the company of seventy five, survived to be taken prisoner. After that, Ruby and her team evaluated their gear and equipment, trying to fill in any weaknesses they had.
Ruby thought back to the fights that Yang fought for her because she was incapable, the childhood Yang gave up to help raise Ruby, the time and energy that her sister spent teaching Ruby how to use her new gauntlets. Yang was always there for her. Someday, Ruby vowed, she would find some way to pay Yang back.