'Why? Why am I having these dreams once more?' She thought as she stared into the darkness.

These dreams that she'd been having for the past couple of weeks, these nightmares kept plaguing her sleep with revolting images or something worse. There she was, standing in a room full of darkness- not a sound was heard in these desolate plains. She hadn't had these dreams before coming back to Vacuo, and certainly not after her mother's death.

She began to walk around the void, keeping an eye out for anything that stood out in any form. Unlike the previous nightmares, nothing seemed to come out- usually there was a bloody figure of whatever the remains were of her mother or a large creature made of shadows but nothing was unexpected.

Ruby quickly inspected her clothing- it was different as well. She wasn't dressed in the rags she wore as she ran from the hunters nor her usual leather armor when fighting the abominations- it was still her tunic and her mother's cloak.

"This is weird," the crimsonette muttered to herself.

"What is weird?" A voice asked behind her.

The wolf faunus jumped before she turned around towards the source of the voice, but when she did she found no one there.

"I swear I'm going crazy." Ruby uttered as she turned back, only to be greeted with a woman standing before her.

"Now, we can't have that- it's been a while since I had decent company." The woman said.

The crimsonette fell back as she let out a yelp- she braced herself to hit the floor, but her arm was caught by something. When she looked to see what caught her arm, she saw nothing.

"That isn't a proper way to greet someone- you should at least say hello." The mysterious woman added with a smirk.

"Who are you?" The younger girl asked as she recovered from her fall. The woman had pale white skin in contrast to her black clothing. Black veins covered her arms while she wore her white hair in a bun, and the only exception to her monochromatic attire was her blood red eyes.

"How rude, questioning someone after they helped you," The pale woman said, "But if you must know, I used to be antiquated with your mother."

Silver eyes narrowed at the older woman as Ruby took a step back, "You knew my mother?"

"Of course, we knew each other for a long time. Well, before her dea-"

"Don't finish that sentence." The crimsonette interrupted, "That still doesn't explain who you are."

The white-haired woman let out a chuckle, "Let's just say I'm someone who has been watching for a while."

"Watching me?"

"Not just you, but everything. How the lands have changed, how the kingdoms evolved or crumbled, and how the races are killing each other."

"What are you, then?" Ruby asked as she rested her hand on the grip of her crossbow.

"I'm the shadows where the light doesn't reach, the one most feared in the past." The pale woman stated with a smile, her red eyes glowing in the darkness as a large silhouette formed behind her, "I'll see you soon enough."

The dark outline towered over the two of them, until it eventually formed into a large black dragon. It had a larger bone mask covering its face along with several bone spikes attached to its body. It extended its wings and looked as if it were about to pounce on the crimsonette. She felt the ground underneath her disappear as she began to free fall into the void below, her screams going unheard as her body kept falling. The last thing she saw was the large dragon flying at her with its jaws open and ready to swallow the red-clad girl.

"What the- oof!" Ruby woke up and slammed her forehead against the trunk of a tree. The crimsonette howled in pain as she caught herself from falling from the branch that she was perched on.

"That's one hell of a wake up call..." she muttered to herself as she rubbed her forehead. She quickly inspected herself to see if anything was different, any marks or strange cuts. The wolf faunus let out a sigh and quickly scanned the area before she dropped down from the tree, pulling her bag from another tree branch and beginning to walk through the forest.

'I must really be going crazy'

Unlike the forest in Atlas, Vacuo's was practically a rain forest but without large rivers cutting through the woodlands. The wolf faunus pushed past some of the shrubbery as her boots splashed in the mud. Eventually she came to a clearing along a cliff side, which offered a view of the rest of the forest before her. Her eyes, following along the cliff side, locked on to her destination- she let out a sigh as she began her hike.

As much as she wanted to avoid going to the Forever Fall Cliffs, she knew it was her best bet for getting back to Atlas. She shuddered at the memory of running to the cliffs, but the crimsonette shook her head and proceeded to trek through the forest. Ruby occasionally glanced back towards where she had slept and wondered what she imagined in her dreams.

Was the woman real? Had that woman really known her mother, and if so, why hadn't her mother mentioned her before? Her questions remained unanswered as she made her way through the woodland, trying to understand the connection between her mother and that woman.

Blake dismounted her horse as the group of faunus stopped by a small creek, quickly surveying the surrounding for any traces of the red-clad assassin. After the small attack on Fort Shade, a few of the guards wanted to purse the Reaper in hopes of catching them off guard.

As they said, "It would be the most effective way of dealing with the Fang's worst problem."

She was against sending out men and wasting resources to hunt down the bloodthirsty hunter but after sending a report to the White Fang Command, they were ordered to track down the Red Reaper anyway.

The ebony-haired girl let out a sigh as she slumped against the nearest tree- of course, she didn't need to join the tracking team due to her father's orders. Apparently, when word got back to the main camp, several soldiers saw her father looking pale before fainting after receiving her report. The messenger also noted that she was ordered to stay by Saber's side until further notice, which was pretty tough since Saber volunteered to join the tracking team despite his wounds.

The medics back at the castle tried to keep Saber in bedrest but the stubborn faunus said that he wouldn't forgive himself if he didn't come along. In addition to the royal protector's argument, the ebony-haired girl also came along for her own reasons. She was told that she could assist in finding the assassin but couldn't engage in combat.

It didn't matter to her, as she wasn't hunting down the Reaper anyway- at least not on this journey. She had a debt to repay to the crimson-haired medic, and she'd see to it that Ruby's life was safe from the White Fang. She mentally cursed herself once more for dragging the young girl into this mess, but she'd be lying to herself if she said that she hadn't grown attached to the energetic medic.

The cat faunus let out another sigh as she slumped further. What was going on with her? She would try to spend as much time with Ruby every time she didn't need to write a report or to check up on the castle- hell, most of the time she would look forward to talking with the crimsonette. She would find her company very relaxing compared to most people she talked to, and recently her stomach would start to feel... strange the more time she spent with Ruby.

Blake stared straight up into the cloudy sky, through the leaves and branches. By the looks of it, in a couple hours it was going to be raining. She prayed that the rain wouldn't be that bad, as they were already having trouble tracking the red-clad assassin.

A shout interrupted her thoughts as one of the trackers ran back to the main party with something in their hands. She didn't move from her spot as several other trackers gathered around him, but after a couple minutes they all nodded and called everyone to mount up. The ebony-haired girl rose from her spot and made her way towards her steed, quickly mounting it as Saber pulled up beside her.

"Is there something troubling you, Miss Belladonna?" He asked.

"What did I say about calling me that, Saber? Just call me by my first name." Blake replied as she steered her mount towards the rest of the trackers.

"My apologies, it's just been... stressful these past couple of days." Saber admitted as he rode next to her.

"I second that- with more troops being sent out to the front lines, it's been hard just trying to keep track of everything."

"Not to mention trying to keep the masses from freaking out about the Red Reaper being here in Vacuo."

"Lets just hope that the rumors haven't spread towards the main cities." The cat faunus muttered as the two followed behind the group.

"From what I've heard, only the guards and command are aware of it. The guards have already been sworn to secrecy- as for command, they're keeping it to themselves until we either track them down or the Red Reaper escapes." Saber reassured.

"That's a relief- I don't think we can deal with a wide spread panic attack." Blake added.

The male faunus nodded in response as they continued in silence, a few minutes passing before the tanned faunus spoke up.

"Mis- Blake, what are you planning to do when we find them?" He asked hesitantly.

"Our orders were to deal with the Red Reaper. After that, we head back to Fort Shade." She replied.

"I understand that, but what do we do when we find them? Command didn't mention anything about dealing with Ru- the medic."

"No, they did not," Blake muttered as she realized what he said, "Saber, what are you proposing?"

"If I'm not being too bold..."

Blake nodded for him to continue.

"Do you think that this is the best course of action?" Saber asked hesitantly.

Ruby camped under the mouth of a cave just as the rain began to fall. If there was one thing that she hadn't missed about Vacuo, it had to be its flash rainstorms. She briefly glanced around the cave before sitting against the stone wall- she was already feeling uneasy just being here. The crimsonette looked around the cave once more, noticing something... familiar the longer she kept looking.

The faunus stood up from where she sat and inspected the cave. Her eyes began to adjust to the shadows of the cave and she spotted something in the corner. She hesitantly made her way towards the object as it glinted in the darkness, praying that what she was seeing isn't what she thought it was. A lump formed in her throat as she reached for the leather object, her hand shaking before her fingers wrapped around it.

Ruby brushed the dirt from the leather until she was left with a dagger in her hands. She felt sick as she dropped the weapon, immediately putting a hand onto the stone wall as her other free hand covered her mouth. She felt like her rations were about to come back up before she took deep breaths to calm herself.

'Shit, why now?'

The crimsonette eyed the fallen dagger before she turned away. She wanted to get moving again- anything to get away from here.

"Ru-by..." A distorted voice was heard behind her, causing the wolf faunus to turn around with her crossbow drawn.

"Not again..." Ruby muttered as she scanned the cave.

"Ru-n Ruby..." The voice came from behind her once more.

The wolf faunus turned again with her weapon raised, only to be greeted with a figure dressed in a white cloak. Ruby stepped back as she tried to steady her crossbow, her hand shaking as the figure approached her.

"Ruby..." The white cloak slowly turned into crimson as blood began to drip down onto the stone floor as the figure approached her.

"S-stay away!" Ruby cried as she backed up against a wall, her eyes not leaving the approaching figure. Her hands shook in fear as she felt the cold from the stone wall.

"Y-you are- alw-ways, my li-ittle rose." The distorted voice became clear to her, sounding hauntingly familiar while sending shivers down her spine at the same time.

"N-no, I'm not- I left..." the wolf faunus' voice cracked from sorrow, tears beginning to form along the edges of her vision, "I left you- to-"

The younger girl stopped as she looked up to see her mother's face- her mother's hair was a dark shade of crimson and her eyes shone a darker silver. Blood trailed from the corner of her mouth as the sclera surrounding her metallic irises were black as the night. Her smile was nostalgic yet haunting at the same time.

"Wha-" Ruby stood still as a board as her mother's hand brushed against her cheek.

"Shh, it-" Her mother's smile morphed into a sinister grin as black fluids began to leak from her eyes, her voice changing to an ear-piercing screech, "-was going to happen anyway."

The crimsonette suddenly felt a pair of hands clutching her throat as she was being pressed against the stone wall. The sudden strike caused her to drop her crossbow as her back slammed against stone. Her vision blurred as she kept clawing at the hands around her throat, and out of the corner of her sight she spotted another figure in the cave. Even through her cloudy vision, she saw the white hair and the same black dress from before.

'She's here again? Why-' She was wrenched out of her thoughts as she was pulled towards the floor, her back slammed against the ground while her mother kept her grip on her throat. Darkness began to encroach along the edges of her vision as she tried to pry her mother's hands off her, and in desperation her left hand reached out to where she dropped her weapon- her hand gripped around something before she grabbed it and bashed it against her mother's face.

The attack was enough to knock back her mother, and bought more than enough time for her to follow up with a kick square in the chest. The impact was enough to send her mother a couple feet away as Ruby stood up pointing whatever she had in her hand at her. She quickly noticed that she picked up the dagger that she discarded earlier and unsheathed the dagger.

Her mother didn't move from her spot as she stared down the crimsonette, her smile growing wider as a looming shadow began to form behind her. The cave around her began to morph into darkness as her crimson cloak slowly turned to black.

"Don't be scared, it's only fate that we submit to the darkness." With that, her mother melted into a black puddle, leaving the young faunus in the void alone.

In the next moment she felt a burning knife impale her left hand, causing her to drop her dagger and scream out in pain as the darkness began to morph again. The void shifted into the gray outline of several buildings, some covered in white flames. Ruby didn't have enough time to take in the change of the environment as the pain increased by tenfold. She felt her knees buckle as she laid on the floor.

"Ruby..."

"-by..."

"Ruby!"

Several distorted voices called out her name as she cried out in pain. She held her hand close to her chest as she writhed on the ground, and when she looked up from the floor and saw six shadows in front of her. They formed into silhouettes of people that she couldn't identify- only three of them kept calling out her name as the others pursued those who were shouting.

One of the shadows stumbled as the one chasing it stood over them, wielding something that was darker than the shadows themselves. They raised the dark object over their head as the shadow extended their hand to block the attack, and for a second she imagined that she saw two yellow orbs on the shadow's face as they cried out.

"RUBY!"

...

The red-clad girl woke up in fright as she shot up from where she slept. It took her a moment to get her bearings as she realized that she was still at the mouth of the cave, and that the rain had stopped as light began to flood the stone chamber. The crimsonette rubbed her eyes before she inspected her left hand, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary as she checked. She let out a sigh of relief as she slumped against the stone wall, however her attention was drawn towards the insides of the cave. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust but she caught the outline of the dagger from... whatever hallucination she just had.

She cautiously approached the weapon and scooped it off the ground, examining the dagger and brushing off the dirt. The carving on the sheath became prominent and clear as she finishing dusting off the weapon. The blade glinted in the light as Ruby pulled it out of its scabbard, a line of rust trailing alongside the side. She inspected the base of the blade and let out a sigh.

R.R.

Ruby sheathed the dagger and pocketed it as she left the cave. She had spent enough time in this cave. Sunlight assaulted her eyes, causing her to instinctively squint until her eyes adjusted. The clouds had mostly parted while several puddles dotted the ground outside the cave. She quickly stopped by one of them and saw her reflection. She had dark bags underneath her eyes and her hair was messy- when was the last time she'd gotten a good night's sleep?

It doesn't matter right now- she needed to get to the Forever Fall Cliffs. Just as she slung her bag on her back, something caught her attention as she spotted movement through the tree line. She saw someone riding a horse and wearing plated armor, and they had a sword attached to their belt with a white mask over their face. A few moments later she saw several more figures approach from behind them.

"Great-" the crimsonette pulled her mask out of her bag and placed it over her face as she ran through the forest, "-just when I thought I was in the clear."

Sorry, school work has been piling up lately but I'll try to update my stories as often as possible.
Also CH11 on the 11th, talk about coincidence.