We were heroes, once upon a time. That meant the world to me. It was everything I had ever wanted to be. To be able to help someone get their happy ending. But alas, a hero never gets the happy ending the rest of the world does. It all started with, dare I say it, a Yang.

***present time - Beacon Academy Heroes Memorial Cemetery***

The heavens weep on a day such as this. Good. It will never know my pain of losing the last family I had. I never thought a mission could go so wrong. A simple Grimm hunt, turned Man hunt.

There was no warning. A simple blast of gunfire, and my world was turned on its axis. Like a cut thread, she was gone. Yang Xiao Long, my beloved sister, was shot directly in the center of her chest. A fatal wound with an incendiary dust bullet. Even with my semblance I never would have been able to save her. As I watched her be buried into the ground in her black and yellow coffin, I couldn't help but look over at my teammate Blake. They were dating after all. They were the cutest couple one could imagine, and the only ones that knew that I was dating our final teammate, Weiss. Both of which were crying silently. I looked on with my burning amber eyes, and remembered the day everything changed, and everything that followed.

***Flashback –Two Weeks Previous***

"Team RWBY, you have been specifically requested for this mission. It is a routine Grimm hunt, with nothing more than the occasional Nevermore popping in. It is in a large forested area on the outside of Vale. Do you accept?" Professor Ozpin asked with a knowing gleam in his eyes. He took a sip of his coffee and waited for the answer.

"Yes, of course we accept. Who do you think we are? Quitters? Psh, as if." I said in a casual way that only I could. My silver eyes glowing with anticipation of a decent hunt to relax the nerves.

"Very well you leave in a few hours. Stay safe and come back alive girls." I gave him an excited wave as I left and got my team ready. We all were ready in less than an hour and left early. We got in the bullhead and flew for a two hour trip. I crawled up to Weiss and melted into her side in the way only I could. She gave me a hug and we stayed like that the entire trip.

We found ourselves a few hours later just finishing off the Grimm when I got a call on my Scroll.

"Ruby, are you done with the hunt?" I nodded and began to say more but he cut me off. "Good. Torchwick is in your area and is currently on the run. Cut him off and capture him." I nodded as he hung up. It seemed as if something was off though, I quickly shook it off and looked at my team.

"Alright girls, looks like Roman is nearby and we have been tasked with cutting him off and trapping him. Let's go catch us a bad guy!" I shouted doing a fist bump in the air. They all nodded and we took off in the direction we thought he was in. sure enough there he was in a clearing, but there was something wrong. He wasn't running, nor did he look like he was out of breath or anything. If anything, it looked like he was waiting for us.

"Good evening children, Red. It seems that in all the confusion, none of you thought to use a decryption program on your scrolls. Isn't that common Knowledge for hunters these days? Get with the times ladies! Even a child could hack into a bank nowadays. Allow me to introduce you to some friends of mine. They will absolutely love you." He said with a sinister tone. From the trees around us dropped what I could only guess was a few hundred repurposed Atlesian Knights. I nodded my head and the team itself took off in the four cardinal directions. We destroyed many of them and the only one taking them out faster than me was Yang. It wasn't much of a surprise, not when you think about it. She finished with her foes mere seconds before I did, with Blake and finally Weiss finishing as well. We all turned towards Roman only to see him pulling the trigger on the Melodic Cudgel. With no time to prepare an aura shield, it would go through whatever body part it touched. Unfortunately, it just so happened to be pointed right at Yang's chest. I had enough time to catch her and then Roman turned and walked away with a smirk on his face.

"No, Yang! C'mon, talk to me! Yang!" I cried as I held her. Her long blonde hair splayed out on the ground, splashes of crimson in it. She mouthed the words that I didn't want to hear, and in that moment I knew, my sister was gone. Her last words were the two that my mother had said to me the day she died. Same with my father. Two little words, to wreck a life.

I'm sorry.

I cried and wailed out my sorrow and didn't even register that Blake and Weiss were near and had called the Academy for an EVAC team. No one had noticed that as my tears continued to fall, my eyes lost their silver color, and burned deep amber, smoldering like two blistering infernos. My Aura was gradually released and began to blow the wind around us leaving rose petals scattered around and eventually small fires began to burn. I didn't notice any of this, nor did I notice that the petals began to turn a deep onyx color. In the end I had to be sedated I order for her body to be moved.

I woke up a few hours later in team RWBY's dorm, and I was alone. It hit me like a ton of bricks that I was the last Rose other than Uncle Qrow. And he was only by marriage at best. I sat up to find I was in Weiss' bed and that there was a note next to the pillow.

Went out to get a few groceries for when you wake up. I love you.

-Weiss

I sighed and shook a little bit as I cried. I walked over to Yang's closet and grabbed something that she tried to keep hidden from me, but I knew she had this bad habit anyway. I grabbed her pack of cigarettes and her Zippo lighter and began to smoke one. I didn't move when Blake came in for the night, nor did she do more than widen her eyes at me smoking a cigarette. She walked over to me and took the cigarette away and then hugged me as the tears began anew. That week went by so fast; nothing we could have done prepared us for the funeral that was to take place. We were a broken team, and no one knew how to fix us.

***Current Time***

The tears in my eyes began to dry as her casket was finally dropped into the bottom. She was placed right next to my mom's grave here at beacon. Which no one but a select few knew was empty. Her real grave was on a snowy cliff top just outside of Patch.

The funeral began to disperse and soon the only ones left were myself, and Ozpin.

"He could have killed us all on that mission if he felt like it. He hacked into my scroll and told us exactly where he was only he did it using your face and voice." He looked at me with sad eyes and I knew what I had to do. "I'm leaving Ozpin. I'm going after him. And I won't stop until I find him. He should know, when you pluck a rose, be prepared for the thorns." And with that I turned around to go to my dorm. When I arrived Weiss was out and Blake was still in her bed crying. I took the box that was on my bed and opened to reveal Ember Celica. They were not buried with Yang because I had wanted to keep a piece of her close to me. I grabbed my cloak and scythe then began packing my bags. Blake looked over to see what I was doing and got up to hug me.

"This is not the way you want to go Ruby, it will eat you up inside and eventually destroy you. Please don't go." She said with tears coming down harder than before. I hugged her back for a quick second and let her go. She looked into my eyes and gasped. "you've already made up your mind then. You're not going to stop until you kill him are you? Ruby this is not the way to go! Think about Weiss! Think about me! What would your sister think of your choice?" she cried harder and hugged me closer. I sighed and then gently knocked her out to catch her. I set her on her bed and grabbed my bag. I left a note on Weiss' desk and made my escape.

And thus began the Hunt for a man who took the last family I had.

And thus began the tale of

A Heroes Fall