Mother's Wish Chapter 1

"Ruby wake up" Ruby's mothers voice came through her door. "I'm wake mom." She pulled herself out of bed and changed into her normal clothing.

Ruby was ten years old right now and lived with her mother and father on a mountain above a small town, while Ruby had only gone there a few times with her mother to the small shop her aunt owned. Ruby always wanted to go with her mother, mainly to see her cousin, who was Ruby's best friend. Her name was Yang and she was two years older than Ruby with long blond hair and purple eyes.

"Ruby?" her mom called her again "Coming, mom" as she made her way down the stairs. This was how everyday started Ruby would eat breakfast with her parents then going about with the morning chores, helping her mom with the dishes and cleaning off the table. After the chores were done with Ruby went off the play in the snow and too wait of her mom to call her for lunch, and afternoon chores.

Ruby had been out for quite some time and her mother had yet to come get he, so she made her way home only to see the back of a large wolf like animal it had black rough fur that was raised on its back.

The beast was facing her father who had a sword drawn, he saw her out of the corner of his eye "Ruby get inside NOW!" Ruby was shocked her father never yelled unless it was important, she didn't know what was going on she ran past him and into the house where her mother was standing holding a small glass vile of red powder. "Mom, what's that thing outside?" Ruby ran up to her mother and hugged her "Don't worry about it daddy going to take care of it."

After a short time there heard a scream of pain as Ruby's father was cut across the chest by the wolf. "Daddy?" Ruby looked at the door and heard foot steps outside the door. "No, please not Ruby" he mother whispered as the beast ripped the door from its hinges, she through the vile, she was holding, at it. The vile broke over the beast in a red cloud as it ran at her mother and cut her chest open with its large claws. Ruby was in shock she couldn't even scream, that is when her mom who was still barely alive grabbed a log from the fire place while it was still burning a through it a the wolf, it was still covered in the powder from before and burst into flames. It started to screech in pain and ran out the doorway into the snow only to collapse in a mound of burnt flesh. Ruby ran over to her mom who was holding her bleeding chest. "Mommy? Tell me what I need to do to help mom." Ruby was crying uncontrollably, but her mom just smiled at her. "Ruby dear...I want you to go to town...and find you aunt." she coughs up some blood before she can speak again. "Find her and stay there...you can't stay here any longer." Ruby couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Mom, no I can't leave you here if I do that you'll...you'll die! Once again her mother just smiled at her. "Ruby, you can't change what is going to happen, so I want you to go and live with your aunt, I want you to be happy with your life and not...and not be held back by me and your father." She took her hand the wasn't covered in her own blood and rubbed Ruby's cheek. "You can have a life there, you can make friends have a dream to fallow and you can live happily, you might even find love there." Ruby could no longer hold back the sobs, before she was just crying silently but now she could barely get a word in between her sobs and heavy breathing. "No...I can't live happily...not without you and dad." Her mother kept smiling, but her voice became stern, after hearing what Ruby said. "Listen Ruby...it's too late for me and dad...we can't stay here anymore either." She started to cough again and then smiled one last time. "We love you, Ruby, but you need to find someone else to love." She closed her eyes and shortly after her breathing stopped. Ruby was silent aside from her crying she said nothing and made no other noise besides whimpering and heavy breathing between sobs.

The next day Ruby made a grave for her parents and buried them on a small cliff near her home. When she returned she made food and eat it in silence, when she was done she grabbed her mother's cloak from its spot next to the door and left, she knew where she had to go, she couldn't live on her own out there on the mountain.

Kanika Rose was the name of her aunt her husband had died shortly after Yang was born, but she kept the last name of her father, Xiao Long. It took some time for Ruby to make it to the town while she could see it from the cliff she buried her parents it was still a long walk and by the time she got there night had already fallen. Ruby made her way to Kanika's home while she didn't know the town that well she knew how to get to the shop, and her aunt's house was connected to the shop.

(Knock knock) "I'll get it mom." a tired voice came through the other end of the do, Ruby had never been around long enough to hear Yang when she was tired but she still knew her voice all too well. Yang opened the door. "Ruby? What are you doing here?" Ruby looked up at her with tears hanging on the corners of her eyes. "Ruby? Come inside." She grabbed Ruby's hand and brings her to the living room well her mother, Ruby's aunt, sat drinking tea. "Ruby, what are you doing here so late, without your mother?" Having her mother mentioned brought the tears to the surface and Ruby could no longer hold them back. "They... they… They're gone." was all she could say between her crying and ragged breathing. "What do you mean they're gone?" Kanika wasn't quite sure that she had heard Ruby right. Ruby stopped her crying for long enough to tell her what happened. "A big wolf thing came...and when Dad tried to fight it...it...it killed him." She went silent for a moment. "And then I came inside..." She couldn't hold her tears anymore but she kept talking through them. "And it cut mom's chest open." They stared at Ruby in disbelief. "Aunt Summer is gone!? But she was strong she used to be a huntress." Kanika grabbed her knees trying to hold herself up. "Then how did you get out, Ruby?" Once again Ruby held her tear just long enough to answer. "Mom set it on fire with some weird red powder and it ran outside and died." She fell silent after that, the only noise was her quite whimpering every so often. Yang took Ruby up to her room and put her down in bed she stayed there with her until she fell asleep. Kanika walks in to see Ruby sleeping and Yang laying next to her but not asleep yet. "I'm going to go up to her house to get her things and such, can you make sure she's safe until I get back?" Yang looked at Ruby, then back to her mother. "If you don't come back, I'll never forgive you." She said with a smile. Kanika knew Ruby wouldn't lie about something like this, but she still needed to get her clothing along with the rest of her stuff, she also wanted to pay her respects to her sister…

Yang woke up the next morning to the sound of her door opening, she was still half asleep but she could tell that her mom had just returned with Ruby's stuff. She put down two boxes and a couple bags before she turned to them and saw that yang was awake. "Good morning Yang." She smiled but her face was sad and her voice was hollow. " Is all of that Ruby's?" Yang was still tired but she sat up as quietly as she could o she didn't wake Ruby up. She had calmed down during the night but she still had a forlorn look even in her sleep. " this is all the stuff I could carry, not all of it is Ruby's." she looked very tired, it was clear that she hadn't gotten any sleep and that she had spent the whole night waking up the mountain and then the whole morning walking back down with a full load.

Over the next couple weeks Ruby hardly left the house and only talked when she needed to. Yang still shared her bed with Ruby and almost every night Ruby had nightmares, Yang would do what she could to calm her but it only helped so much. By this point Ruby had been told that since Kanika was her net closest relative that she was now considered her daughter and was also now Yang's sister but it wasn't until around a month after her parents died that she finally went back to the Ruby that Yang knew.

Ruby woke up early that morning and had gotten the first good night in the last month. She didn't have a nightmare about her parents instead she had a dream about her father, it was one of the times he was telling her about hunters and huntresses. And when she woke up she knew what she was going to do with her life when she got older.

"Good morning mom" Ruby said as she came down the stairs. Kanika was at a loss for words she hadn't heard Ruby say anything outside of the occasional yes or no in the last month. It had been the first time she was up before Yang but Kanika was to surprised that Ruby had called her mom. Before she could say anything Yang came barreling down the stair with a worried expression. " where is Ruby have you...seen...her" Yang was just as shocked as her mother to see that Ruby was up before her but not just that Ruby was smiling. "Good morning sis" Ruby waved at Yang and smiled "a good morning Ruby."

End