Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to RWBY; all rights belong to Rooster Teeth. Also, this story takes place sometime during the events of Volume 4, but does NOT follow the established canon timeline. Also, there are a few elements of mental torture, physical torture, and other similarly related themes. If you aren't a fan of those things, I recommend not reading. Other than that, please enjoy!

The first thing that Ruby initially became aware of when consciousness hit her, was the fact that it was dark, pitch black, in fact. It was so dark that she couldn't tell if her eyes were open, covered by something, or if it was just that dark wherever she was. The second thing she knew was that it was cold, and that she was lying on what felt like a cool, smooth surface, almost like glass. Blinking her eyes a few times, she groaned when her head started throbbing, an obvious sign of a headache, and as she lifted her hand to grab the side of her head, she felt a long scratch that ran from the middle of the right side of her face, all the way down her head until it stopped above her eye, then continued again underneath for a bit. Overall, the scratch felt like it was almost six inches long, and it was still very sore to the touch.

"Ow... what happened?" Ruby asked aloud, looking around as she sat up, feeling a little light-headed. "And where am I?"

Her questions were met with silence, the only thing she could hear was a very quiet, almost imperceptible sound of wind from somewhere else, and the sounds of her own breathing. After waiting for a few moments, listening to the silence, she started trying to figure out where she was, and what had happened. Where was the rest of her team, anyone for that matter? The last thing she remembered was her and her team sparring out in the Emerald Forest with Team JNPR. It had been going well, nothing really of interest having occurred really... Except for the few Ursa that had suddenly come out from deeper in the woods.

Ruby blinked a few times as her brain started replaying the events in her head.

"Great, we're surrounded. Now what do we do?" Weiss complained as she wiped a few drops of sweat from her forehead.

The eight teenagers had all been sparring together for the last hour, and were all exhausted from doing so; so when a pack of seven large Ursa came charging out of the forest, they were all a bit less prepared than they should have been.

"Well, clearly, we should either run, or fight. And from how tired we all are, I say run," Jaune said as he raised his shield.

"No, we need to fight! There's no way we can outrun them all!" Ruby said, shaking her head as she loaded a magazine into Crescent Rose.

"Are you serious? We're all exhausted Ruby, for once I agree with Jaune," Weiss complained.

Weiss' response was in the form of a trio of gunshots as Ruby fired at one of the bear-shaped Grimm. The Grimm roared in anger at the attack before charging forward, raising a clawed paw to swipe at Ruby, who had yanked Crescent Rose's blade out of the ground and was running to meet the enemy, scythe raise above her shoulder to strike.

"...I guess we're fighting then..." Blake said casually before she followed Ruby into the fight that had started.

Ruby was a blur of red and black as she danced between the lumbering Grimm, easily outmaneuvering them as she danced over and under their paws while occasionally landing a hit in with her scythe. Despite the fatigue from the sparring she felt, she was having a blast, getting to let loose on some actual targets. It was almost therapeutic in a way, hacking and slashing away at the Grimm.

It felt like almost an hour to Ruby before something snapped her out of her adrenaline fueled frenzy, making her stop in her tracks when she heard a loud scream of pain.

"Nora!"

Ruby blinked several times as she came to a stop away from the remaining three Ursa then looked over her shoulder with a concerned look to see Nora lying on the ground in a heap next to a rock, blood pooling around a small gash on the back of her head that was staining her vibrant, orange hair a deep crimson. A wave of regret hit Ruby like a ton of bricks, and she watched as Ren abandoned the fight to tend to his partner.

"We need to get out of here, she's hurt bad!" Ren shouted as he picked Nora up and began running, Jaune and Pyrrha following while Pyrrha fired warning shots at the pursuing Grimm.

Ruby shook her head a few times as she watched Team JNPR start retreating, then called out to her own teammates, turning to open fire at the Ursa.

"Team RWBY, we're leaving! Come on, I'll cover you!" Ruby shouted between gunshots.

Weiss turned her head after a summoned Beowulf cleaved one of the Ursa in half with its claws, then nodded as she turned tail to follow the others. Yang and Blake weren't far behind, with Blake being supported by Yang as the two of them limped to safety.

"Jaune was right... we should have run," Ruby muttered before she started backpedaling, still firing Crescent Rose.

As the eight teens continued their retreat, with Ruby bringing up the rear, the Ursa snarled and barked in their own language as they chased them, with several other Grimm joining the group to form a large horde of monsters. Yet still, Ruby kept on firing to give her friends enough of a head-start to get some distance before Ruby finally turned and began running herself. Ursa, Beowulves, Boarbatusks, as well as a handful of Deathstalkers were all following her as she kept shooting into the horde, dropping empty magazines every ten seconds in lieu of a fresh one.

Just a few more seconds...

One, two, four more Grimm were killed as Ruby put rounds through their skulls, and when she went to aim and fire at a Beowulf that had gotten too close, all that she got was a loud click as her scythe jammed.

Ruby's eyes widened in horror as she looked down at the jammed weapon, shaking her head frantically as she lifted it and tried to clear the jam, her ears still alerting her to the large number of Grimm that were following her. Letting out a loud yell of frustration, Ruby threw her scythe to the ground and turned to run, intent on coming back for Crescent Rose later, when it was safe.

Ruby's legs broke into a dead sprint as she tried to catch up with the others, her Aura having been depleted during the fight and leaving her unable to use her Semblance anymore; something she was mentally berating herself for. But the angry animalistic sounds from behind her were getting louder... closer. She really hoped that she was close to the others, because she wasn't sure how much longer she could run.

Her hand dug into her pocket and pulled out her scroll, almost dropping it in her haste to call the others, and as she put it up to her ear, she silently prayed that Weiss would answer quickly. There were only two rings before she heard her partner's voice on the other end.

"Ruby! Where are you?"

"Weiss, I'm a bit behind you guys, but the Grimm are right behind me, get ready to fight 'em off! I'll be there in-"

Ruby yelled in pain as something hit her from behind, knocking her off her feet and sending her through the air for several seconds before she slammed into a tree. There was a loud, almost deafening crack as her head hit the trunk, and her vision went blurry almost immediately from the impact; reaching a hand up to her head and looking at it slowly to see her fingers covered in blood as things got distorted and out of focus.

"W-Wait... just hold on Weiss..." Ruby mumbled as she used the tree to try and help her stand back up, her head making her dizzy and nauseous, which forced her to sit down again. Her head started throbbing and she blinked slowly a few times before she fell over on her side with a groan.

"I'm... on my way..."

Ruby was quiet for several minutes as she finally remembered what had happened, a sense of dread filling her as she realized that she had fallen unconscious after hitting her head, unconscious in front of all of those Grimm. She crossed her arms and shivered as she rubbed her upper arms, trying to console herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't safe. Her eyes looked around the darkness, hoping to find some sort of light source, but she still wasn't able to find anything.

"Am I dead..? Is this what happens when you die?" She asked herself.

"You're not dead... not yet." Another voice said as a reply to her question, causing Ruby to freeze in a mixture of surprise and fear.

"Who's there?" Ruby shouted as she looked around again, this time becoming aware of a pair of faintly glowing, red eyes.

"Awake at last, I see. You had me worried. I was afraid my pets had done more damage than what I had permitted."

Ruby squinted, hard, in an attempt to make out anything else besides the eyes that glowing among the darkness, her head hurting again from straining so hard.

"Who's there? Where am I?"

Ruby's eyes screamed in pain when a bright purple flame was ignited, bathing her surroundings in an ominous purple glow that forced Ruby to close her eyes to avoid being blinded.

"You are safe, for now, Little Rose. As for where you are, you are in my home. A guest of honor, as I do not usually allow outsiders within the sanctuary of my domain," The voice said in a regal manner.

Ruby uncovered her eyes, blinking several times as she opened them up, only to find that she couldn't see properly. Her vision was... wrong, like someone had blocked her right eye with something. But she hadn't felt anything over her eye when her hand had felt the area before. Ruby's heart sank as her fingers grazed over the skin surrounding her eye, wincing slightly when she felt that the skin was warm to the touch, as if it had been heated. She quickly surmised that her eye was injured somehow, something that worried her even more.

"Who... are you?" Ruby asked again as she brought her attention back to the other person in the room, the Huntress realizing that the other person was a woman. A woman who sent chills down Ruby's spine just by standing there; she was deathly white, with black and red lines crisscrossing her skin like a network of veins that were on the surface of her skin, while she wore pure black robes that went to the floor. She was staring at Ruby with soft smirk on her lips, a smirk that betrayed the almost predatory look in the woman's black and red eyes; but she made no movements for the moment, simply standing there with a purple ball of flame hovering above the palm of her hand.

"You may call me Salem, Little Rose. And please, relax, you are safe. I promise."