I don't own RWBY. Be warned, this chapter gets dark.

SKLT: Topazu

Even light shines in the darkest of hours

"Topazu!"

Just few more minutes. Topazu thought to herself as she shifted to her side in her bed.

"Topazu! Wake up!"

The twelve-year-old rolled again to her side only to feel a firm yet gentle hand shake her shoulder and a voice that sounded identical to her father rang into her ears.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. You don't want to miss the apple picking don't you?"

That immediately perked up the usually shy girl as her green eyes shot open and she was greeted with the smiling, bearded face of her father. It also helped that today the Dust Apples (called so due to being fertilized by powdered Dust) were ripe for harvesting. She could just imagine biting into them. She then shot out of bed and raced towards the door.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa! I didn't think you'd be picking apples in your nightgown this time." her father Chokoreto commented. As soon as he said that, Topazu looked down to see she was still in her nightclothes. She blushed before she walked into her closet to get changed. After she came out, dressed in her topaz sundress and light gold slipper shoes, she and her father picked up their baskets and walked outside.

They turned slightly left to the corner to a tree decorated in glowing apples that seemed to reflect the mid-morning sun.

Topazu excitedly ran towards the small apple tree and set her basket down. Chocoreto chuckled at hs daughter's enthusiasm especially seeing as this was the only day he ever saw her crawl out of her shell.

"Settle down, sweetie." he told her, "Dad's not as fast as he used to be." With that, the widower set his own basket down and looked around the bustling village of Sanctuary as children played in the streets and people began their morning conversations.

Topazu and Chocoreto's village was a Dust Village, called so because of the Dust depositories underneath its foundation. Since then, the Dust had been applied to everyday life; fertilizer, weaponry, clothing, anything except food. However, it was also a village known for less than acceptable living conditions, especially when the winter came, which sadly was the reason Chocoreto's wife couldn't make it upon giving birth to Topazu, leaving his daughter the only thing to remind him of his beloved Anba. There was also a reason a wall was constructed around the village: villages outside the walls of either Vacuo, Vale, Mistral or Atlas tended to disappear. Although the actual cause was unknown, the likliest was Grimm attacks. The gunners on the wall were there just to make sure no Grimm got in, even the flying ones.

"Papa! Look at this one!" Topazu rang out. The chocolate-haired man turned to see her holding an apple as big as his fist gleaming with all the colors of the morning sun. To think that a tree as small like that could produce a fruit that big. Chocoreto smiled at his daughter's prize.

"That's quite an apple, Topazu." he commented.

"What do you think it tastes like?"

"Only way to find out is to take a bite of it."

With that, Topazu rubbed the apple with the hem of her shirt and bit into it. The sweet and tangy juices washed over her tongue as her teeth sank into its crisp flesh.

Unfortunately for them, today was the very day Sanctuary's peace was shattered.

It started with the clanging of a bell and the gunners rushed up to the five-mile-high wall, Dust guns in hand. Topazu stopped and paused as her father turned his gaze to the horizon.

"Papa? What is it?" Topazu asked, pulling on his shirt.

Chocoreto turned to face his daughter, fear in his eyes.

The answer to her question did not come from her father.

"GRIMM!"

With that, Topazu felt her father grab her wrist, her apple falling from her hands as he rushed back to their home just as the gunners unleashed a torrent of Dust-tipped bullets from atop the wall. Father and daughter were almost home until they heard a sharp booming noise. Then another, this one louder. The two turned just to see the wall dent, cracks beginning to spider outwards. Then, suddenly, the walls that had protected Sanctuary for twelve years, keeping it around longer than any other village outside the walls of Remnant's four kingdoms exploded as an enormous, jet-black, serpentine shape burst through it.

The Grimm was enormous, only slightly shorter than the walls it had breached. At a first glance, one would think this was a King Taijitu, however, the only thing this Grimm shared was that it looked like a snake. King Taijitus never got that big, or at least ones that were recorded. Whereas Taijitus looked like vipers with two heads (a black one where the tail should have been), this looked like a cobra with four eyes and a tail that ended in a spear point. Its face looked like it had a shovel-blade for a lower jaw. However, its 'blade' quickly retracted with a sickening pop. The Grimm scanned its surroundings until it spread its hood and let out a hissing screech into the sky.

Unfortunately, for the villagers of Sanctuary, it did not come alone. Soon after, hordes of Beowolves and two-legged reptilian Grimm called Creeps began flooding into the village.

Amid the chaos, Chocoreto and Topazu ducked into the house, the screams of the villagers and roars of the Grimm still seeping into the house, albeit muffled. Chocoreto had his arms wrapped tightly around Topazu who was just now starting to shudder in fright and he could feel her tears running down his shirt. Suddenly, there came a bashing at the door, causing Topazu to jolt. Chocoreto held her close before navigating her beneath her bed.

"Stay there, no matter what happens or what you hear do not come out from under your bed." he ordered. He then picked up his Dust Rifle and went toward the doorway as the sound of wood exploding and the scraping of claws on the floor filled the air. There was a brief pause that was broken by the sound of her father's rifle firing followed by growls and Chocoreto yelling. Then silence.

For what seemed like an eternity, Topazu lay curled up under her bed, shivering, tears rolling down her eyes, horrified from the events that had now laid out. Suddenly, she heard something walking towards her. Papa? she thought. She was just about to come out... until she heard a growl and saw the shadow of a Beowolf. Her heart began to race even faster as sweat began to bead from her pores as she saw the feet of the Grimm enter her room, sniffing the ground. Her heart had now become a drum as the Beowolf's snout came closer and closer to her until eventually, she saw the feet of the Grimm in front of her.

She hoped and prayed to Oum that the beast would just leave. That it didn't find her scent and just give up. Unfortunately, like all other things that happened today, any and all hopes came crashing down. Topazu saw the Grimm's claws fold over the bottom base of her bed and it was tossed aside, shattering the wooden base on impact and leaving her in the open. She looked up and saw the Beowolf looming over her. Screaming, Topazu ran as the Grimm tried to slash where she once lay. Once it saw it missed, the beast turned and saw her running and chased after her.

Adrenaline coursed through her body as the twelve-year-old ran for her life in the house. Suddenly, she saw a body in front of her. Claw marks all over his body, still bleeding, his once cheerful gray eyes now dull and staring lifelessly and Dust Rifle broken in two... was her father. Topazu's eyes began to water as she stared at what used to be her father. She had lost the only parent she ever had. The man who would make her laugh in her saddest days, who told her stories as he put her to bed, who kept her safe to his dying breath, was now laying motionlessly on the floor. She then heard a growl behind her; the Beowolf that killed her father. However, fear was not running through her veins, nor sadness. It was anger. Pure. Raw. Anger.

Picking up half of what used to be her father's Dust Rifle, Topazu turned to face the Grimm, her green eyes now red within red, her hair whipping in all directions and a snarl on her face.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" The sound she made as she charged at the Beowolf couldn't possibly count as human. With a scream sounding like a roar, the girl hit the Grimm with the butt of the rifle in the head. She then hit it again. Then again. Then again. All while screaming at the top of her lungs. The Grimm was already dead after three strikes.

Suddenly, her anger passed as she blinked to see the dead Beowolf, already evaporating. It was also at that point she heard new sounds; missiles detonating, the dying screams of Grimm, something like shotgun blasts, machine guns and people shouting orders. The most she could make out was "concentrate" and "Apophis".

She walked out, still holding the lower part of the rifle to see the giant Grimm getting bombarded with missiles as robots and armored soldiers opened fire on the Grimm. The cobra Grimm, or Apophis as it was labelled by the soldiers, hissed and shrieked as what looked like big, boxy walkers fired missile after missile at it until it finally let out a death rattle and came crashing to the ground. Topazu heard the shotgun noise again and turned to see a woman in her mid-twenties toss aside a dead Creep. The woman was dressed rather ruggedly, with a tan vest covering a yellow crop top while an orange scarf rested around her neck. She wore a pair of brown shorts with a piece of gray cloth wrapped around her left boot. The woman also sported long, flowing gold hair that seemed to be on fire and a pair of fiery red eyes. Two golden gauntlets containing what appeared to be shotgun slugs rested on each of her hands, obviously being the source of the sound she heard. The woman then turned her head and both found themselves locking eyes.

The woman began to walk toward the shivering pre-teen and as soon as she was mere inches away from her, sat on her knee and looked her straight in the eyes. Topazu noticed her red eyes had turned lilac and her hair no longer seemed to be on fire.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked. Topazu just stood there unanswering.

"My name's Yang, what's yours?"

"T-T-Topazu."

"Okay, Topazu, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Topazu shook her head slowly. It was there she saw the broken half of her father's rifle and felt its smooth surface against her fingers. She remembered: Her father was dead. Her friends and neighbors, everyone... dead. What happened was no dream. It was a nightmare. A living nightmare. Topazu looked up at Yang, tears developing in her eyes, lip quivering, a lump in her throat before she burst into tears and wrapped her arms around the Huntress. The Grimm may have been killed off but she had just lost everything. As she was crying, she felt Yang stroke her hair while whispering, "It's gonna be alright. Just let it out."

While this was going on, a girl that looked the age of seventeen with curly orange hair, pale skin and green eyes walked up to them and cleared her throat. "Yang, we found a Dust depository, make that many depositories. The village was practically sitting on them."

Yang looked up at the girl, "Any other survivors?"

The girl shook her head. "Negative. That girl with you-"

"Topazu."

"What?"

"Her name's Topazu."

The girl paused for a moment, "Topazu is the only survivor."

Yang gave Topazu a sympathetic look, "Thanks for the honesty anyway, Penny."

"You are quite welcome, Yang. Is there anything else you want?"

Yang thought for a moment and then looked at the teary-eyed girl.

"Actually, Penny, as a matter of fact-"

"Adoption!?" blurted out the Atlas Adoption Center head, Magenta Cinch as she adjusted her half-circle glasses. She had just been handed adoption papers by Yang while Topazu waited outside on a bench.

"Yes, adoption. I would like to adopt Topazu Gorudo."

Cinch grimaced and tapped her nails. "No offense, Ms. Xiao Long, but um-"

Yang frowned, "But what?"

"It's just that, knowing you, you don't seem to be rather responsible with handling children."

"I get along with my niece pretty well, what's your point?"

"My point is that-"

"My point," Yang snapped slamming both hands on the desk, "is that I refuse to let a twelve-year-old girl who just had her entire village get slaughtered by Grimm spend time in an orphanage! That is unless you can find one that is civil to children with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

Cinch fidgeted before sighing, knowing not to further argue with a daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long. She then pulled out her pen and handed it to Yang. "Just sign here."

A scream from Topazu's room split the Xiao Long household in the middle of the night. The girl was covered in sweat, causing her nightgown to cling to her body. She heard the sound of bare feet thumping against the floor as Yang appeared in the doorway, dressed in her night attire of a tank top and shorts. "Topazu! What's wrong?"

Topazu looked at her adoptive parent with tear-streaked eyes. "I had another nightmare."

Yang walked over to the girl and laid on the edge of her bed. "Was it the same one?" she asked.

Topazu nodded, earning her a sympathetic look from the Huntress. "How about I sleep with you tonight?"

"But I'm twelve." Topazu bluntly stated.

"I know, but it's just for tonight."

Topazu thought for a moment before nodding, "Okay."

With that Yang nuzzled herself beside the girl and embraced her. After a few short minutes, both fell asleep.

Topazu may have lost a father in the last twenty four hours, but she gained a mother. That night, any and all nightmares ended with her being saved and riding on a gentle golden dragon named Yang.