(This is a story of RWBY, envisioned as more of a Witcher type world. Things are different, technology is less advanced, people are less armed, and Huntsmen and Huntresses are both less common, and viewed differently than the heroes they so often are framed as in the canon RWBY world. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.)
(also to note, all the main characters will be a few years older, young adults.)
A flash of red, and then a splatter of crimson.
The blade of her scythe cut down just another beowolf with ease, before she was forced to jump away to avoid the blows of the others. Ruby looked over the pack and sighed to herself, shaking her head. Yeah, beowolves weren't worth much, they weren't challenging, and they tended to just be a nuisance…but that was to someone like herself, to most people? They were real threats, and that's what always kept her from just ignoring the contracts…as much as her wallet would thank her for doing so.
Before she could finish her thoughts, the beowolves howled and went for an attack of their own. Two charging her, bearing claws and teeth, and attempting to get her with whichever may manage. In turn, Ruby jumped over them and spun herself around, slicing through them with her scythe, before landing on the legs of one of them, feeling its absence after a moment, landing her on the ground as it faded from under her. Her gaze then instead shifted to focus on those there were still here.
Ruby smiled, even if beowolves weren't interesting to fight by comparison…fighting always made her feel alive, regardless. She looked over the remainder of the pack, there were still another five.
Three of them charged headlong, embracing a reckless strategy in an attempt to kill her, jumping at her and reaching out to tear her to shreds.
As they moved, Ruby dives to the side, doing a quick roll before running towards one of the ones that hadn't attacked. Scythe in hand, she closed the gap, and before the beowolf could attempt to attack her, she cut it down.
The last one stood alone, watching her, with thicker armor over itself, it was clear this one was older, though not that much older, than the others, the leader of their pack.
The three she'd avoided moments before though, now came at her again, forcing Ruby to once again focus on them. She felt for just the right spot on her scythe…there. Pressing a button, the head of her scythe was released from its standard position, and with a well-practiced movement, the head fell into the straight version, the blade now mostly lined up with the rest of the scythe, before she let go of the button, and it locked into place.
With that, she ran to meet the three beowolves, and in a long, powerful swing, cut them down as they sprang for her, their blood splattering over her, as both halves of their bodies fell to the ground, before quickly dissolving.
Ruby didn't waste any time watching that though. She turned to face the last one of the pack. Silver eyes met the red of the beowolf's, staring not at them, but almost into them, as they blankly stared back, without the slightest emotion. Without moving her eye from it, she hold out her scythe at the ready, and gets a solid footing, her boot digging into the soil beneath her, and then she waited.
Time passed slowly for that moment of silence, where only the sound of the wind hit Ruby, the beowolf completely silent, just like the rest of its pack now was.
Then, the moment was over, the silence broken, as the beowolf raised its head to howl in anger, its claws ready to tear Ruby apart…Ruby too moved. A quick few steps, and then, a sudden burst of speed, becoming a blur of red. Ruby passed right past the beowolf before it could even manage a strike at her, and its howling promptly ceased. The wind howled, almost mocking the beowolf's own howl, as its body fell to the ground, split in two.
Ruby pressed the button to release the head of her scythe and then slammed the bottom of it into the ground, the head falling down, and locking back into its normal, curved form. She then turned, and watched the last moments of the body fading away, into nothing.
She smiled, a job well done, and looked down at herself to see how she fared. No tears, nothing really, besides some blood stains on her front. They always bled, but only before dying, after they died, they always just faded away, leaving what blood wasn't in them anymore to just linger.
Ruby sighed at that, having quite a bit of splatter on her front and side, but that's what made wearing red a nice advantage, people didn't notice it most of the time, still, she had wash it out when she could.
With the job done, Ruby started walking back towards the village she'd gotten the contract from. It wasn't too long a walk, so she decided to put away Cresent Rose. She reached up, and grabbed the head of her scythe, pressing two buttons one on either side, and pulling down the blade towards the body, before letting it go, that now locked in place. Then she unlocked the scythe's handle with a twist on a part of the handle, and slid it into itself, before twisting it back, and locking it. Then she holstered her weapon and continued on into the village.
It wasn't that far, since the reason the contract even existed was they were close, maybe a mile or two from the edge of town. She passed a farm that had had its fence destroyed by the grimm, or, so she'd been told. He reported them, and the village Headman had made the contract, which she had found today after breakfast at the inn. She wouldn't mind a little money, but really she'd done it to help, before she parted, near her destination now.
Once she got into the main village, she headed straight into the Headman's office, just a room of his own house with its own door for people to come through as they needed. Ruby walked through, and happily slammed down the contract on his desk before he could even ask why she was there or who she was, since, last night she'd simply been another traveler.
"There you go! One pack of beowolves, all taken care of." Ruby gave him a proud smile, even if beowolves were simple, she always felt good about taking care of a contract.
The Headman looked down at it, then up at her. It wasn't the most obvious thing to see, but her clothing was stained with blood splatter, simply making the spots a darker red than usual. "Alright…you're sure you got all of them?"
Ruby nodded, "Of course, down to the pack leader."
"Hmm…alright, one moment." The Headman pushed back his chair, and stood up, walking over to a safe and pulling out a key. He was an older man, Headmen of villages tended to be somewhere around middle age, or, so Ruby had found. He had a full head of hair that barely managed to brush against his neck, the color all but faded in his locks to a pale white, hints of once brown hair lingered though, the ends of strands, and some altogether unchanged yet.
After a moment, he walked back over and held out a handful of silver lien. "Thank you, miss…?"
Ruby reached out and took the handful of silver coins, fourteen, like the contract had offered, and reached down, putting them in her rather light coin pouch. "Ruby, Ruby Rose." She filled the gap for him, smiling.
"Thank you miss Rose." He nodded, "I'm glad a huntress happened by, I was worried I'd need to pay for someone to come…or put peoples' lives in danger to fight them ourselves."
Ruby reached up and scratched her head, her smile getting a little goofy looking, "I'm glad I could help sir, could've gotten a lot worse than a destroyed fence."
"Well, I hope you know, we're all very grateful. I could even see about getting you a free night at the inn if you plan on staying longer." The Headman offered, a small smile on his face, as she hoped to give something to show his gratitude, as they both knew the contract pay had been quite small, even if neither brought it up.
Ruby waved him off casually, "No, no, it's fine, really. I actually only stayed the night to let my horse rest and get some food…though the bed was pretty soft…" Ruby trailed off a moment before silently bringing herself back to attention, "but, yeah, no, I actually really need to be on my way, I'm meeting someone in Vale."
"Ah, of course, I won't keep you any longer miss."
She nodded, "I hope your village stays grimm free for a while." Ruby noted, before turning back towards the door and walking, giving a little wave back without looking at the man. She reached back and shut the door behind herself before heading back over towards the inn.
After a quick visit to her room to pick up her pack of supplies for the road, Ruby dropped off her room key and said her polite farewell to the innkeeper, before heading over to the stables. Passing a few other horses, she found her own there waiting for her, a magnificent white steed she'd named Summer. She reached out and greeted the horse with nice pats on the head, smiling at her; Summer reacting in kind with a happy nicker.
"Alright girl, stable hand shoulda fed you breakfast…what do you say we go see Yang, huh?" She pat her head just a bit more before holding her hand gently against the side of Summer's face.
Summer blew out air at her and pushed her head into her hand.
Ruby nodded, just letting that be a yes, and put the saddle back on, taking a few moments to get it secure, before letting her out of her stall and leading her out of the stables. Once they were out, Ruby didn't wait a moment more before getting upon her back. She leaned forward and getting ran her hand over Summer's neck. "Alright girl, let's get going." She sat back up and ushered Summer forward, at a good, quick pace.
If Ruby was lucky, she'd reach Vale before nightfall.
(Please feel free to review or message me about what you thought, I'll get a second chapter out by the end of the week.)