Hello again, everyone. FoxHunt5 here, with the first chapter of the story I've been alluding to. This fic follows the story of team FIRE, specifically Eskay and Raven. Any and all comments are welcome. Lastly, this chapter goes out to UknownHero, Cardinal67, RollieMcFly 27, and O-Elf-Sama (ElfCollaberator). Love you guys!

Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. If it were otherwise, I would make Zwei plushies a thing.

FIRE Away Chapter 1

"Oh, crap."
"Oh, CRAP"
"Ohcrapohcrapohcrap…"
Today was definitely not Ruby's day. First she got separated from her field trip group, then she had gotten lost in the woods, and to top things off, she had stumbled onto a pack of Beowolves.
All things considered, this was not how she would've liked to spend her first year at Signal. A hundred thoughts raced through her head.

'Gotta get outta here!'
'Gotta find Qrow!"
"Gotta get Crescent Rose"
"Gotta-"
Her cloak got caught on an unseen tree branch, derailing her train of thought. She turned to try and fix it, desperately tugging at it and the branches, only getting it more tangled.
She heard a Beowolf howl not far from her. In desperation, she pulled with all her might at the cape, but to no avail. She began crying out, hoping someone would hear her.

"Pleeease! Someone, help me!" She cried out, knowing that no one would help her.

'Oh, Dust. I'm going to die.' The realization hit her like a train.
'Yang. Uncle Qrow. Dad. I'm so sorry.' She closed her her eyes as she heard the Beowolves approaching, dragging her oblivion behind them.
They were taking a really long time about it. Tentatively, she opened an eye.

Someone- a Hunter, by the looks of it- was attacking the Beowolves. In fact, he was slaughtering them. Ruby watched in awe as he effortlessly dispatched the Grimm, appearing and disappearing around the clearing, taking out the monsters in ones and twos.
She gazed incredulously as her mysterious rescuer showed abilities she could only dream of having. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the battle was over. Ruby glanced around, shocked at how… efficient the man was at killing Grimm. She looked around for him.

"Are you alright, little one?" Came a darkly smooth voice behind her. She turned to see her rescuer was… really intimidating.

The first thing Ruby noticed was his stature. He seemed tall, about as tall as Qrow. One thing that really stood out, though, was his mask. It was mostly white, with Grimm markings on it. It covered everything above the mouth, turning his face into a horrifying skull. Aside from that, he wore a baggy grey uniform of some sort, and had an aged sword strapped across his waist.

"Are you alright?" he repeated, snapping Ruby back to reality.

"Y-yeah. Thanks." The man smiled warmly, gently removing Ruby's tangle cloak from the tree. "You are unharmed?" Ruby nodded. "What's your name, little one?" She hesitated. Would it be alright for her tell him? She wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, and he looked pretty scary. But then again, he did just save her life. And he was being pretty nice to her.

"Ruby," she eventually answered. "My name is Ruby." There wasn't any harm in giving him her first name, right?
"Ruby," he repeated. "What a lovely name."
"Uhh… thank you" Ruby muttered, starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.

The man looked around, sensing her disease. "I'm guessing you're a bit lost." Ruby nodded. ""I saw what looked like a field trip group nearby. You with them?"
She looked up at him. "You saw them? Where?"

"Over that way a bit" he said, pointing to the right. Ruby hastily thanked him, then rushed off to tell her friends what happened.

"That was just… sickening." The man turned to a flutter of wings, revealing a Faunus as they settled. She had on the same outfit as him, though hers had holes cut for wings. Her hair was a deep pitch black, barely kept in loose strands. Her dark emerald eyes-
"I hope you're not trying to be some kind of cliche saint to little lost children. Take it from me, Essy, that's not you." He breaks from his "study" of her.

He sighed. "If I've said it once, I've said it a million times…"
"I know, I know, 'My name is Eskay, not Essy', blah blah blah."
The man, Eskay, groaned. "What am I going to do with you, Raven?"
His partner smiled mischievously. "Question is, what are you gonna do about the guards following us?"
"Dust," he cursed. "Already?"
Raven nodded. "And they look pissed."

"Prisoners 13509 and 2208," came a megaphone-enhanced voice, "We have you surrounded. Again. Walk this way with your hands in the air."
"Speak of the devil," Raven sighed, "and he shall appear."
Eskay nodded. "We'd better get going, lest they set the drones on us again." The pair of them shivered, recalling the painful shocks they received the last time the drones were set on them. He turned, and began walking towards where he heard the voice.

"Hold up!" called Raven, grabbing his shoulder.. "We don't need to turn ourselves in! We can keep this up awhile longer!"
"No" Eskay growled, a dark tone entering his voice. "The furthest we got to freedom, we ended up starving, with no one to help us. And last time, they almost killed you with the drones. It's best to get this over with now." He continued walking.
"But Eskay," Raven whimpered, fear entering her words, "they'll put us in the cage again."
Her partner spun on a dime to face her. "Then why did you follow me? They only cage you if you break the rules." Raven fell silent.

"There you are!" Eskay and Raven turned to see a tall, familiar prison guard.
"Hello, Samuel. The usual, I assume?"

The man offered a small grin. "You obviously know the drill, Eskay. Hold out your hands. You too, Raven." They both complied, holding out their wrists. Samuel clapped a pair of glowing red handcuffs on the prisoners, slightly cutting off their circulation.

"Ow!" Raven exclaimed. "That wasn't necessary, Red."
"I've told you," Samuel groaned. "My name is Reid. Samuel Reid. Not Red, and not Reddy either. Re-" He shook his head. "Nevermind. The camp's that way." He pointed to his left. "You know the drill. If you run, the cuffs activate, and you burn. Any questions? Good. Let's get moving."

And with that, I have officially started my first real fanfic! This is...
Kinda underwhelming. Huh.
Anyway, be sure to read, review, curse me out, whatever.
Until then, this is FoxHunt5, signing off!