I Don't own anything. RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth

Bloody Mary

"She's in a better place".

That's what they told Ruby when she was only four. She didn't know what that meant, all she knew, as she stared blankly at the wall in front of her, was that her mother was gone. Never coming back. And Ruby knew it was all her fault, if she hadn't gone into the forest to play, then her mother wouldn't have died protecting her from that Beowulf.

The way her mother's blank eyes stared up at her a she pleaded for her mommy to answer her, replayed over and over in her mind. Slowly breaking what was left of her fractured psyche.

That night, Ruby cried herself to sleep, completely silent. Not making a sound. Not a peep. She was completely silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, nearly six years later, Ruby was nearly ten and still hadn't said a thing since the incident. She barely felt any emotion. She was numb, broken, and she couldn't care less. Emotions were a weakness. And Ruby didn't like weakness. Those six years taught her something, something important. She had lost something that, in most people's eyes, everybody starts off with, and seldom few ever lose.

Ruby Rose had lost her sanity. Well, she hadn't lost it completely, she had some of it, enough to retain some sense of intelligence. She was just slightly off her rocker, she held herself back enough to live a normal life. She did not however, stop herself from killing when something set her off. Luckily for her, very few things could do this. But it happened.

It wasn't really noticeable, she was normally just regarded as that one weird quiet girl what didn't talk. But, if she ever smiled that smile, you know you have done something to set her off. And that you need to run Now. It could happen so suddenly, you don't realize what happened until you were nearly dead.

The first ever example of this occurring, was a week after the incident. Her father decided that they were fit to go back to school even after what had happened a week prior. The day was going great, people weren't talking to her, the teacher left her alone. But then, that damn sixth grade kid decided it would be fun to pick her up by her hood and taunt her about her mother.

The faculty noticed something was wrong as soon as she started smiling like a maniac, but they were too late to stop her. No one knew where she got the pencil, all they knew was that there shouldn't be that much blood in a sixth grader's left arm.

The kid survived, but his left arm had to be amputated because of her semblance that had apparently unlocked as a result of the trauma from seeing her mother die and she had used it on his arm.

When the doctor told Ruby what her semblance was, Ruby was ecstatic. She loved her semblance, it was perfect for her. Most people would see it as disturbing or unnatural, she thought it embodied her state of mind perfectly.

Her Semblance was: Blood Manipulation.

It allowed her to do nearly anything that used blood. From insects to faunus, she could control it all. She could even control the blood of Grimm, although not for long as it evaporates. She could even control her own blood while it was in her body, moving it faster through her veins heating her up and, somehow, allow her to move at speeds even alpha Beowulf would be hard pressed to keep up with. She could even make it solid for a limited time, creating shields or simply make her enemies die by making their blood solid while in their bodies, killing them instantly. This required utmost concentration though and almost never worked when she needed it to in combat situations so she never really used it.

The most useful ability, in her opinion, was something she called "blood leak". As the name suggests, it prevents the blood from clotting, eventually leading her victims to be completely drained of all blood in their body. That's what she did to that sixth grader although, to a lesser extent. Not that it was her intention at the time, she wanted him to die.

He deserved to die. That damn kid would die. And she would kill him herself, she swore it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruby browsed the shelve of the weapons store she was in, looking at the various parts, trying to find the perfect ones for what she was about to build. Her simple steel sword wasn't going to cut it in Atlas. She was surprised she even got in, considering her *condition*. But she wasn't complaining about it, it was a chance to test her skills against something other than the grimm inhabiting the woods behind her house.

Finding what she needed, Ruby paid the clerk and left the store. Heading toward her house, Ruby suddenly stopped as she heard a cry of pain coming from the alleyway to her left, laughter followed soon after.

Slowly walking towards the alley, Ruby pulled up her hood and melded to the wall becoming nearly invisible in the darkness of the night. As she silently walked through the alley, she came up on a scene that made her vision bleed as red as the blood soon to be painting the alley walls. A man was hunched over a girl, who couldn't be any older than fourteen, holding hear down tearing off her clothes.

Ruby silently walked up behind the man with her sword in hand eyes glowing a deep crimson red behind her hood. The girl, upon seeing Ruby, stopped struggling and her eyes widened when she saw the steel sword in Ruby's hand. The man, noticing the girl stopped struggling, let out a low laugh.

"Finally stopped resisting huh. Don't worry you'll feel real good soo-". That was as far as the man got before Ruby plunged her blade into his shoulder and twisted it, before ripping it out harshly.

"AAHHHHHH-!" Ruby quickly used her semblance to place his own blood over his mouth and hardened it. She noticed the girl was gone. Good. She shouldn't have to see what was going to happen to this man, she had been through enough.

Ruby would be gone before the cops came, she always was. But for now, she was gonna have some fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Thirty Minutes Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh that was sooooo fun! It was amazing, there was so much blood, and she Loved It.

Ruby walked out of the alley with a bright smile on her face. This would normally be an adorable thing to see on any normal ten year old, but this particular girl was absolutely not a normal ten year old, if you couldn't tell by the blood covering her from head to toe.

Ruby practically skipped her way home, happy that she found her calling. She loved killing. It was so much fun and very addicting. She had never had so much fun doing it before.

Sure she had done it before, but only in self defense. A ten year old girl walking around at midnight made for a very tempting target for all kinds of people. Killing them was always a chore that she never enjoyed because she always had somewhere to be. It was like playing Pokemon and going into a cave without any repels, it was annoying.

But That was amazing. She knew what she was going to do with her life. She was going to kill those who prey on the weak and helpless. She was going to purge this corrupt city of filth like that man. She just needed a name and she had a perfect one picked out.

She was so exited on her way home, she never noticed the woman watching her from the rooftops twirling a parasol in her hand, a twisted smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ruby entered her house, still covered in blood, she saw her step-sister, Yang waiting for her in the living room not even pausing as she caught sight of the blood covering her sister.

"Another pervert?" Yang questioned, like it was normal to see her ten year old sister come through the door covered in blood. It was, but it was still odd

Ruby nodded in affirmation, not exactly lying but not telling the whole truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back at the Alley~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the entrance to the alley, one could see yellow police tape and flashing police lights. Inside the alley was a completely different story however.

Blood. Blood was everywhere. It clashed beautifully with the grayish black walls of the alleyway. It was like a painter had gotten angry with his work and tried to ruin it with a bucket of red, only to make it more wonderful than before. Further in was less like a beautiful painting however, and more like a terrifying hellscape. Entrails covered the walls, dismembered limbs scattered about the ground. And in the middle of it all, a body missing it's arms and legs, unrecognizable to anybody who might have known him when he was alive.

"Who the fuck could have done this" one officer asked, deeply disturbed. "I don't know." another responded, "But whoever it was, they were kind enough to leave us a message."

And indeed they did. Four words, created with the man's blood

"Bloody Mary Was Here"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Five Years Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruby Rose walked into a dust shop not really looking for anything specific, she was just bored. She had spent the last five years training her semblance. Her nightly escapades really helped in that regard, her control over blood had improved exponentially. She had gotten to the point that she could create massive constructs of blood with simply a thought. She had learned that she could absorb people's blood for later use, this gave her a nearly limitless supply of blood for her to control.

Her control over Grimm blood had improved too, but not nearly a much. She could still somewhat control the shape of the blood and could make it stay longer before evaporating but that was it. She didn't really mind though, her weapon was more than enough to deal with nearly any Grimm.

She loved her weapon, she called it Misery. It was a simple yet complicated weapon. She created it by combining her blood with Grimm blood and hardening it into the form of a sword before it had a chance to disappear. Because the Grimm blood was combined with her own, it prevented it from evaporating. The end result was amazing as, because the weapon was made of blood, Ruby could manipulate its shape with her semblance changing it into nearly anything she could think of.

A tap on the shoulder snapped Ruby out of her thoughts. Turning around, she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. She felt a spark of excitement, maybe today wasn't going to be so boring after all.

"Put all your valuables on the ground!" The man commanded. Ruby was confused but slightly excited. She hadn't been able to kill anybody in about a week. The criminals were just too afraid of her to keep committing crimes during the night as that's when she usually goes out to hunt. As such, this was a very rare opportunity and she wasn't going to waste it.

Ruby reached behind her back slowly. The man, thinking she was just getting her wallet out, didn't react quick enough as she pulled her sword out and quickly separated the man's head from his shoulders.

As Ruby watched the now headless body fall to the floor with a dull thud, she grinned, 'This is going to be fun', she thought to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of chapter 1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~