Chapter 1: A Ghost and a Spectre

Memories.

No, something more than that.

Premonitions.

They were infrequent at first. Just a smell or just a tiny sound. A flash of red. A hint of charred wood. The faint, sweet smell of iron, combined with the stench of blood. Then the scenes truly came. They were visions straight from a nightmare. Battlefields were the ones that lingered the longest. It was because of the thousands of dead bodies that lay strewn across the various backgrounds. Some were placed in the wilderness, others in small towns. But the one she remembered most was the school. There were so many young faces, so many lifeless faces. A shattered tower hung in the background with a massive black beast frozen atop it. She reached out into the scene, trying to touch one of the fallen bodies. Her arm remain locked by her side. She was cursed to be victim to these horrific sights. She screamed in frustration, in pity. There were so many lives wasted, she could sense. They died in fear, alone, cut off from the ones they loved.

There was a small scuffling sound. She looked up, body wavering. One girl, no... a woman stood at the center of it all. She bore a very distinct tattoo emblazoned to her back. Her head cocked sideways. The woman started to turn, the jewelry on her ankle tinkling, and her short red dress whipping through the wind. Her eyes burned orange, like flames. The woman raised a hand, orange energy encircling it. The energy itself was the most intriguing. It seemed to whisper, agony promised whispers, sorrow promised whispers. The flames intensified in a blaze, scorching the bleak night air.

Then it was gone. The woman, the school. It was all gone.

Scenes started to flash by again. She struggled to keep up with them all. A bright neon mess of hair. Blonde streaks, followed by hot anger and loud explosions. Black monsters that seemed to spawn from nowhere.

Four young girls. Red, White, Black, Yellow.

Then there was nothing, just the sound of wind whipping by. This too, eventually slowed down, to a vacuum sound, much like a plastic bag being sealed.

All was silent.

In the end, there are no heroes...

The heroes of stories always die for their cause...

There is no such thing as a happy ending, no such thing as justice.

Life is just a story...

A tragedy, a play put onto stage, a book of empty words, meant to distract everyone from its cruel truth...

Ghost flew the air, traveling at a speed that no human should without being inside some sort of sealed device. Gravity pulled on her, and she landed unceremoniously into the snow beneath her, face first. She groaned pitifully and lay there for a moment, tangibly examining her body to make sure everything was where it should be. Head. Check. Torso. Check. Ass. Check. Legs. Check. Feet... Wait...

She desperately scrambled around looking for her left foot. Her hands found it, but it was ice cold. Her boot had apparently been flung off during her marvelous arc through the air. She sighed in relief and turned herself over, looking at the sky. It was night out, and powdery flakes of snow were drifting downward. The crisp breeze smelled absolutely heavenly. She took a deep breath and exhaled, watching it disappear in a puff of steam. The moon... She looked at the strange shape hanging in the air. It was broken. No... Yes. Broken, shattered. It's half was stuck in the process of crumbling away, while the other half stayed strong and resolute. In a fragile sense, it was beautiful.

Finally gaining the will to stand up, Ghost barred her fists and struggled up out of the two feet of snow. She spun in a circle, examining her surroundings. It was nearly too dark to see anything at all, but she did see a glint of red. It was a long humanoid figure, kneeling in the snow. She crept forward, the white blanket crunching uncomfortably loud underfoot. As she got closer, she could start to make out what the figure was sitting in front of. It appeared to be a marker, then she realized, it was a tombstone. It was emblazoned with some text and a single rose.

The red cloaked figure suddenly stood up, and Ghost simultaneously froze, falling to her knees, unable to stand any longer. The figure whipped around, alert. It saw the kneeling woman and started running towards her. Ghost's vision swam into blurriness and she fell forward, her energy sapped. A faint voice called out. A female's voice, a young girl's voice, "Miss! Miss! Are you okay?"

Ghost barely grunted back, before losing consciousness completely, "Mnphhh. Fnnnhhhnk nuhhh."

Blackness enveloped her whole being.

"Ah. You're awake finally."

Ghost's eyes slowly opened. Her body felt like lead. The last thing she remembered was falling face first into the snow, and a small red cloaked figure running toward her. Her vision cleared. She was lying in bed, a blanket decorated with patterns of flowers covering her. To her immediate right was a middle-aged man with scraggly blondish brown hair, who was sitting down, a concerned look written on his face. He smiled, holding a cup out to her, "Here. You've been out for a couple of days."

She glared at him, then the cup. Her head poked forward, nose sniffing suspiciously. The man chuckled, "It's just water. Trust me. I wouldn't be trying to kill you after doing so much patching up."

She kept her glare but put her lips to the rim, letting him pour the the liquid down into her mouth. She swallowed. It was definitely water, and it tasted so good. Her chapped lips begged for more, but she ignored them. She spoke, voice still slightly hoarse, "Who are you?"

"My name is Tai. What's yours?"

"Ghost," she answered.

Tai chuckled again, his smile seemingly eternal, "That's a hell of a strange name, but I suppose that's what it is if you say it is."

"Tell me what happened."

"My, you're a demanding soul," he winked, "My daughter found you unconscious in the snow out by the cliff. She dragged you back to our home, which is where we are now."

Ghost sighed, a pang shot through her ribs and she clenched her teeth. Tai reached over, reprimanding in a worried tone, "Be careful! You had three broken ribs."

His hand brushed against her bare forearm. Ghost's hand responded autonomously, flying up to grab his wrist in a terrifyingly tight clench. Her entire body screamed in protest at her sudden movement, but she still didn't let go. Tai wheezed in surprise, his arm felt like it was going to snap in two. Ghost's eyes widened at what she was doing, and she just as quickly removed her hand. She murmured, "I'm sorry, you just surprised me."

After a slight hesitation, Tai laughed, a deep jovial one, "I'll tell you. I've never had a woman grab me that hard before. I don't think I've had a man grab me that hard either."

Ghost smiled slightly, "Physical contact with strangers is uncomfortable for me."

"I would say so. Stranger danger, you know!"

Ghost's attention wavered, a small movement at the entrance to the room catching her eye. Tai saw her eyes shift, and he leaned back, calling out, "It's okay, come on in girls."

On cue, two young girls walked in. One was very young. Her entire outfit, along with her hair, was black and red. Her eyes though, were silver... very similar to Ghost's. The other girl's hair was gold, and hung in a fiery mane down her back. She wore a slew of different clothing choices, but the most prominent were her orange scarf and orange tube top that did little to cover her midsection. Tai introduced them, "Ghost, these are my daughters."

He pointed to the shorter one, "This is Ruby."

Ruby waved, a friendly grin exactly like her father's plastered to her face, "Hi!"

Tai cocked his thumb to the other one, "And this is Yang."

The blonde smiled too, "Sup."

Ghost did her best to mirror their friendly natures, "Hello. My name is Ghost. Thank you, to whichever one of you brought me here. I probably would be dead out there if not for you."

The younger girl, Ruby, blushed slightly. "... was me..." she murmured, looking at her feet.

Realization smacked Ghost straight upside her head, and she asked, "Ruby, that's your name, right? Ruby, did you see another person near me?"

Ruby shook her head, "Nope, just you."

"Are you sure? Would've been a man. He would have been in all black too."

"Nope, sorry. Just you," she frowned bashfully.

Tai asked, "You were with someone?"

Ghost muttered, "Yes, my brother. He jumped after me. He's probably half way across the world, knowing him. Dumb idiot is probably underground somewhere by now."

All three of the other occupants said, "Jumped?"

Ghost snapped back to reality, "Oh! I'm sorry. It's complicated. I'm sure you would be bored with it anyway."

Tai smiled understandingly, "Of course. It's no issue at all. Your secrets are yours alone. Here, let me help you up, and I'll take you to your stuff."

He extended a hand, which Ghost graciously accepted, letting him pull her to her feet. She looked down at her clothing. She was dressed in dull gold sweatpants, and a gray t-shirt that was extremely baggy, especially around the chest area. The older sister, Yang, leaned in and down, whispering, "I changed you. Those are my clothes too. By the way, you said brother? Is he as gorgeous as you?"

Yang's eyes travelled up and down several times, checking the recently recovered woman out. Even in the horribly undersized clothes, she was a sight to behold. Her hair was pure white, and hung in an extremely bobbed cut. One side lay near her chin, while the other sat against the base of her neck. Her eyes too, gleamed white, looking almost like crystals. The rest of her body, though blanketed by clothing was ridiculously trimmed. She boasted a barely distinguishable six pack, and her appendages held muscles that were neither too corded, nor too small. In other words, she was in the area that was extremely fit, but not too masculine.

Ghost coughed, chuckling, "No, my brother is uglier than I'll get out."

"Shame. Your looks should run in the family," Yang sighed, looping her arm through Ghost's and helping her along, "I know mine sure do."

They hobbled into the room directly across from the one they were just in. It smelled like metals and various oils. There was also the slight tinge of gunpowder and treated lumber. Ghost eyeballed it, spotting her clothing, which was spotlessly clean. Above all, she saw her weapon placed on a mantle, glistening from a fresh cleaning.

Tai walked up to it, admiring, "Your weapon. It's absolutely beautiful. I'm sorry if my maintenance of it offends you in any way, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to clean such a perfectly made sword."

He gently picked it up with two hands, one finger from each on the flat of the blade. Ghost reached out and gingerly grabbed its hilt. It was an uchigatana, whose blade was all black. It seemed to devour all light that fell upon it. The handle and cross guard were both cream, the hilt wrapped in leather that was the same color and purity as snow. Ghost smiled at its pristine condition and took the plain wooden sheath from the offering hand of Tai. In one swift motion, she sheathed the blade and knelt down. She said, "Thank you for all you have done for me. Will you allow me to change back into my clothes?"

Tai nodded and shooed everyone out of the room, "Take all the time you need."

The door closed. Ghost retrieved her clothing from the table in front of her. She pulled the clothes she currently wore off and wiggled into her own. White pants, leggings more like, made from only the lightest, most porous material. White long sleeve shirt, and accompanying hoodie made from equally as light material. A silky, translucent, asymmetrical skirt, that flared open in the front stopping halfway across her hips width wise, and angled in the same fashion as her hair. Finally, a white scarf wrapped snugly around her neck, allowing her to tuck her mouth into it with ease. She rotated her arms and legs, testing for flexibility. Everything was in perfect working order.

Ghost opened the door, and walked outside, her side still paining her, causing her to hold it with one hand. She turned left into what appeared to be a living room. Tai was sitting on a couch, watching his two daughters shoulder something like luggage. She raised a single eyebrow in curiosity, "Going somewhere?"

Yang popped up from her crouching position, shoulders laden with straps and bags hanging every which way, "Yep, we're headed to Beacon!"

"Beacon...?"

Tai nodded, "Yeah. Beacon is Vale's Huntsman Academy."

"Huntsman Academy...?"

He smiled, "You're not from around here, are you?"

Ghost grinned childishly, "Nah, not really."

"Where are you from, then? That is, of course, if you don't mind me asking."

"Somewhere you wouldn't know. Another world," she brought a hand to her chin, "I know it's hard to believe, but I'm not actually from Remnant."

Tai cocked his head questioningly, "Not from Remnant, huh? Miss Ghost, you'll have to explain that foreign concept to me sometime. Where do you plan to go now?"

She laughed shakily, "I'm actually not sure. I'm a traveller of sorts. Where would you suggest I go?"

"I would suggest you hitch a ride with Ruby and Yang. The headmaster of their Academy will probably take a particular interest in your weapon."

"Alright, when do you two leave?"

The two younger girls simultaneously said, "Right now!"

"Oh," Ghost said, "Well then, shall we?"

Yang raised a fist in mock conquest, "We shall!"

Tai stood up and gathered his daughters in a massive bear hug. Ghost awkwardly inched away toward the exit, but was soon run over by the fleeing girls. Tai wiped a handful of tears away. He sniffed, "While you're there, make sure they're okay. Just think of it as paying me back."

She smiled, giving a lazy two finger salute, "I would do it as a favor, from friend to friend. Until next time, Tai."

"See ya," he waved, "One last thing, I nearly forgot to ask."

"Hm?"

"Come on!" Yang shouted from the aircraft hovering several hundred feet away.

Tai hurried up with the rest of his request, "What is your weapon's name? It looks very familiar."

Ghost turned and jogged away, shouting back with an upturn of your lips, "He goes by many names! I call him: Reaper!"

Tai paled, as his suspicions were confirmed. This woman, whom he had sent with his daughters, was a danger to not only them, but Vale too, and quite possibly all of Remnant.

"So, Ghost, what else does you sword do?!" Ruby spewed excitedly, staring longingly at the blade attached to the older woman's back.

Ghost drawled back, "Nothing else, just a sword."

"Really? That's boring," Ruby frowned, "I mean. That's okay, I guess. Are you a Huntress?"

"I guess you could say that. I hunt," Ghost stood up and walked over to the window. They had just transferred from the small aircraft that had picked them up from Tai's house to a much, much larger ship that held several hundred people. All of whom, she assumed were headed to this Beacon Academy place as well.

Yang cut in, "But you told Dad you weren't from around here, so how can you be a Huntress?"

"What, exactly, is a Huntress?"

Ruby's eyes took on a new gleam, "They're warriors that slay the Grimm, and keep peace in the kingdoms. They're brave, kind warriorsandiwannabeonesomedayanditssoexcitingcauseimheretwoyearsearlyanditsoromantic-"

Yang gave a slicing motion with her hand, from behind Ruby's back, and Ghost laughed. The young girl kept her gibberish going for a solid twenty seconds, until she realized no one was actually paying attention, at which point she crossed her arms and pouted slightly. Ghost returned to the conversation, "So, Hunters and Huntresses... hunt... Grimm? What are those?"

Yang answered, slapping her mouth across Ruby's mouth to stop any more gibberish from coming out, "Grimm are the soulless monsters that exist in this world. They're drawn to negative emotions and only seek to destroy humanity."

That's what people used to call us, Ghost winced internally. She voiced, "So they hunt Grimm, monsters, really. And they protect the... kingdoms. I guess that describes me more or less."

Ruby jumped in glee, "Ohmygoshijustmetanotherhuntresstellmeareyoureallystrongimeanreallygoodimeanreallyskilledhowmanygrimmhaveyoukilledohwaityourenotfromaroundherewhatkindofmonstersdotheyhavewhereyourefrom..."

Ghost just blinked and laughed. Her attention was caught by a blonde boy running past, hands at his mouth. His face was green and his eyes were bulging. He collapsed in the nearest corner and started heaving the contents of his stomach onto the ground. The three girls scrunched their noses in disgust, stood up, and hurriedly walked away. Not a minute later, the intercom dinged and a female's voice came over the air, "We're on the landing approach to Beacon Academy. We will be landing within five minutes. Please steady yourselves. When we land, head directly to the auditorium past the courtyard. Your luggage will be delivered to the necessary places."

They continued their small talk leisurely over to the bay doors of the aircraft. The entire ship rocked slightly, and then was completely still. The doors lowered, and everyone peered out. A magnificent castle, from a fairy tale, loomed in the distance. This was Beacon Academy.

Ghost, Ruby, and Yang strolled through the courtyard, admiring the many, many arches, fountains, and trees. It was all surreal, and on a massive scale. Even to Ghost, who had seen many things during her travels, this was impressive.

"What are you DOING?!"

Ghost turned to see what all the fuss was about. She just barely caught a glimpse of Yang running off at record speed with a gaggle of friends, leaving her alone with Ruby. The red clad girl was left in a daze, staggering around like a drunkard. Unfortunately, she had run straight into another girl wearing a similar combat skirt, but in white.

Ruby cheeped out, "Sorry..."

"Sorry? Do you have any idea the amount of damage you could have caused?" the other girl berated.

"Uh..." Ruby picked up one of the silver briefcases she lay among.

The girl snatched it from her and opened it, examining the contents, "This is Dust, mine and purified from the Schnee quarry."

"Uh..."

The girl took a vial from the case and shook it in Ruby's face, letting a mist of its contents surround her face, "What are you, braindead?"

Ruby sniffed, and that was it, she was set off into a hysteric of desperate inhales, "Uh... ah... ahhh... ahhhhhh..."

"What do you have to say for yourself, huh?"

"AHHCHOOO!"

Ruby sneezed, and the air in front of her exploded, quite literally. Ghost just raised her eyebrows in surprise. This day was turning out to be interesting, very interesting. She glanced at the vial, which had previously been in the random white girl's hand. It had fallen a distance away, and was now picked up by a... girl in black, with a particular large bow on top of her head. She stalked over to the arguing two, and said a few words, to which the random white girl gasped in shock, and turned her anger to her. The girl with the bow simply walked away, no care in the world, leaving the rampaging girl to her tirade. Ghost smiled slightly and walked over to Ruby, grabbing the hood of her cloak and dragging her away. Ruby called back desperately, "I'm sorrrrryyyyyyyyyyy!"

"Don't mind that girl, she probably thinks she's some kind of princess," Ghost chuckled.

Ruby jabbed her pointer fingers together awkwardly, "Heiress... actually... Oh hey!"

They both looked up. They blonde boy from the ship earlier was standing in front of them, quite confused looking to be honest. Ruby squinted her eyes and said, "Hey, aren't you that guy from the ship who kept vomiting?"

The boy whined back, "Hey! Motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!"

Ghost cackled, giving him a mock thumbs up, "Motion sickness. Sure. Okay. What's your name, since I don't want to have to call you the officially dubbed 'Vomit Boy.'"

He blanched somewhat and answered, "Name's Jaune Arc. Nice tooooo meet ya!"

"Oh for the love of..." Ghost muttered, "More horny, awkward teenage guys. When will it stop."

Ruby perked up, "What's horny? You mean he's got like, horns or something?"

Ghost just slapped her own forehead.

Ghost and Ruby finally made it into the auditorium. There were so many people in there. It made Ghost involuntarily scratch at her neck there were so many. She was naturally anthropophobic. Even though she had trained herself to stand being around a number of people, this was nearly too much for her. The number of people she was around was inversely related to how well she functioned. It really was something she was trying to work on, but she was born like it.

"Oh god! It's happening again!"

"You're lucky we weren't blown the side of the cliff!"

"Oh my god, you really exploded."

Ghost turned away, a smile on her lips. She already knew what was happening. She spotted the random girl, Ruby, and Yang all engaged in another argument. The random girl from earlier was busy waggling some kind of brochure in front of Ruby's face and going off on another tirade about liabilities, to which the red cloaked girl was completely zoned out. The random girl sighed, "You really want to make things up to me?"

"Absolutely," Ruby said sheepishly.

"Then read this," the random girl snapped, "and don't ever talk to me again."

Yang interjected, "Look uhhh, Weiss, I'm sure you and my sister got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over again and try to be friends, okay?"

Ruby cleared her throat, "Alright! Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out, we could go shopping for, uh... school supplies!"

Weiss threw her hands up, in a blatantly mock display of folly. Her tone of voice echoed the same mockery, "Yeah, we can paint our nails, and try on new clothes, and talk about cute boys, like cute, blonde, and... scraggly over there."

She jabbed her finger to a distanced Jaune who was obviously listening in. "Huh?"

"Wow, really?!" Ruby leaned forward, too innocently.

Weiss's expression flatlined, "No."

Ghost nearly choked laughing. The girl was arrogant as hell, but she certainly had a sense of humor.

A clearing of a throat over a microphone caught everyone's attention, "I'll... keep this brief. You travelled here in search of knowledge, to hone your craft, and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is..."

The man speaking had white hair, glasses, a cane, and a cup of coffee. This must be the headmaster, Ghost thought to herself. His eyes scanned the crowd, until they fell onto Ghost. Or rather, the hilt of her sword. She flushed slightly and looked down, suddenly awkward. He knows.

The headmaster continued, "All I see is wasted energy. A need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

He took a last long look at Ghost, then stepped away, offstage. The blonde woman standing next to him walked up to the microphone. More glasses, but no cane, and no coffee cup, but rather a riding crop. Oh my god, they're all perverts.

The woman spoke, "You will all gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"Something about him seemed off," Yang mused.

Ruby added, "Yeah, it's like he almost wasn't there."

Weiss narrowed her eyes, "That is Professor Ozpin you're talking about. Be more respectful, you dun-"

Really, enough is enough. Ghost strode toward them, raising her voice in irritation, "Okay, Weiss... Schnee... Ice queen, whatever your name is. Enough is enough."

Another voice. One unfamiliar to everyone but Ghost, "More like bitch queen, if you think about it."

Weiss turned around to the source, preparing her tongue for another scathing rampage. But both her's and Yang's jaw dropped, figuratively smacking the floor with a resounding thud. The man who had spoken stood right in front of them, a mirror image of Ghost. He was clad in black where white was on Ghost, and white where black was on her. Yang spluttered out what everyone else was thinking, "Are you Ghost's brother?"

He nodded, smiling. Ghost laughed, "You idiot, where did you get blasted out from?"

Chuckling too, he responded, "I ended up in some kind of body of water. This was the closest thing to civilization I could find. I had to hitchhike on a supply ship. It was unbelievably cold in there."

Ghost just shook her head, still shaking in mirth, "Girls, guy over there eavesdropping. What was your name? Jaune? Ladies... Jaune, this is my twin brother, Spectre."

Jaune frowned. Another guy to outshine him.

Ruby shook her head in wonder, "Another weird name."

Weiss's jaw stayed on the ground, her eyes straying everywhere they should not have been.

The black bow girl from earlier, Blake, stood in the distance monitoring the whole scene, but her amber eyes, too, lingered on Spectre curiously.

Yang whispered to Ghost, "You lied. He's hot."

We are not just characters in stories or shows...

We certainly are not one dimensional words on pages, or colorful beings created simply for enjoyment...

We live our story in your heart...

And our story is a tragedy.

Hello!

Welcome! I'm just here to share my own little adventure with you all. I hope you enjoy what I have in store! If not, then that's too bad I suppose. Nothing I can do about that if it's something major. If it's something small I can fix it for sure. Fan fiction will remain fan fiction for a reason, I suppose. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and were intrigued somewhat! I hope to see you in later chapters!

Also, I want to credit the lovely cover art to n3kozuki. I love his artwork! If you want to see any more of his work, check him out on deviantArt!

Until next time,

Angel