I DO NOT OWN RWBY
There were many Grimm residing in the forest. It was evident as Ruby was constantly attacked by them. After killing the group of beowolves, another group soon followed her as she walked towards the clearing. It was fortunate that none of them were an Alpha. It didn't take long for Ruby to finish them all off once she got into the rhythm of fighting, though once they're all dead the same thing happened, another group replaced them. It was slowly draining her of her aura, which was something she didn't have much to begin with. She didn't know the reason as to why the Grimm were following her, she remained apathetic the whole time she was traveling in the forest, which usually kept the Grimm at bay.
After killing the last beowolf that attacked her, she then climbed a nearby tree to not be seen by any of the Grimm that may soon come for her. As expected, she saw a another group of beowolves run towards her, only this time, they didn't stop to attack her. They ran past her and towards the direction of the clearing. Ruby then began following them the best she could, jumping from branch to branch as quietly as possible, as fast as possible. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't something she couldn't do either. There were many instances when she almost slipped and fell. Sometimes she actually fell, only for her to use her semblance to get back on track. It took a while, but the beowolves finally stopped.
There, Ruby saw a woman, probably around her age, with a face contorted with rage. The woman's sky blue eyes scanned her surroundings before attacking the Grimm around her with her twin swords. As one beowolf died, another two would then take it's place. The woman was frustrated, it was evident at the sound of her voice as she cursed. Her long, red hair tied into a ponytail didn't help as one of the Grimm wolves behind her grabbed it and yanked. Ruby cringed at the sight. That's one of the reasons she never let her hair grow out. Unlike Yang, she didn't care if her hair was damaged nor does the thought of her hair being out of place fuel her desire to kill Grimm. The only reason she didn't bother to tell Yang to shorten her hair was because it never affected her fighting. In fact Ruby would most definitely say she liked it when her sister obliterated the ones that dared to touch her hair.
Seeing the woman not even trying to hide her emotions made Ruby understand why the Grimm were coming this way. She noticed the woman stab the Grimm that was yanking her hair, only to have another bite her other arm. The fight was brutal, Ruby could see blood and bullet shells all over the floor as corpses of Grimm began to evaporate. The woman had been fighting for a while. The Grimm didn't bleed, which meant this woman lost a lot of blood and if there was blood involved, then it would mean the woman's aura was gone. She would die if she kept fighting now. Not knowing what else to do, Ruby hid her face in her cloak and jumped into the fight.
She picked up a dagger that the woman threw at one of the beowolves, and began to attack. None of the Grimm seemed to notice her, probably because they were too focused on the other woman who seemed to be blinded by rage. Ruby sliced the Grimm closest to her as silently as possible. As soon as she was close enough for the woman to notice her, Ruby used her semblance to stand beside her and slice the beowolf that was about to bite the distracted woman's head off, in half. Now that she was in the middle of the fight, she could count the number of Grimm. 37. It was fortunate all of them were beowolves.
"Calm down, Miss. We don't want to attract any more of these things."
"I didn't ask for your help."
"A thank you would have been enough."
The very brief conversation seemed to calm the woman down, at least a little. The woman may not act like it, but she was relieved to see the cloaked woman come to her aid. Ruby pushed the woman out of the way as she noticed one of the beowolves pounce in her direction. As soon as it was within range, she grabbed the Grimm and used its body to block another beowolf's oncoming claws. Her body may seem frail, but underneath all the leather and cloth was a well defined body, which was the result of years of fighting against both her allies and enemies. Ruby may not be as strong as Yang, neither is she as skilled as her in hand to hand combat, but she still knew enough for her to defend herself against a mere beowolf. Or a pack of beowolves if she had the time. She ripped the decapitated beowolf's arm off of it's body and shoved it's claws into the other beowolf's neck.
The other woman killed three more beowolves, using her twin swords to slice the Grimm coming her way. Despite having lost so many blood and a depleted aura, the adrenaline running through her body kept her going. She noticed that the red hooded woman still had aura and made the quick decision of tossing both twin swords to her. She then pulled out her other weapon, which was a whip and used it to keep the Grimm at arm's length. If the hooded woman was as skilled as she seemed, then she would know what to do. She saw the woman's semblance after all, she had no doubt that with the weapon she lent, the fight would end quickly.
Just as expected, Ruby understood what the woman's intention was. She dropped both the dagger and the claw, leaving it to completely evaporate, and picked up the twin swords. She then turned into a flurry of roses, slicing every Grimm she encountered in half until all of them evaporated into nothingness. Ruby wiped off the sweat that dripped down her chin with one hand and put the other one her knees as she felt exhaustion overtake her body. Noticing that the woman was still emitting the feeling of anger, she made the quick decision of knocking her out.
The first thing that came to Keegan's mind when she woke up, was that there was someone more powerful than her close to her. And whoever that person was knocked her out, which rang alarm bells in the blue eyed woman's head. She reached into one her pockets and drew one of her daggers. She stood up and tried to back away from the hooded woman who was now trying to calm her down, only for her to slip. Keegan didn't notice that they were currently rested on top of a tree branch. Neither did she notice the other woman use her semblance to chase after her the moment her foot made contact with thin air. She felt the other woman's hand grab her arm and pull her back, but she didn't let go.
"Calm down. I'm not here to hurt you." The hooded woman said in a calming voice. Keegan would have believed her, if she wasn't knocked out earlier.
"What makes you think I would believe you after what you did?"
"All I did was save both of our asses. I thought you knew that, but it seems like you were too busy throwing a tantrum to notice." Keegan was slightly offended at the statement. She didn't really want to call her little episode a tantrum. She could feel herself getting mad at the hooded woman, and before she could say anything, the hooded woman let out an exasperated sigh.
"You know what, I'm sorry for knocking you out, if that's what you're upset about. In my defense, you were attracting a lot of Grimm and we would have died if I didn't do what I did."
"So you weren't gonna kill me?"
"Nope." The hooded woman said, popping the 'p'. Keegan nodded but didn't say anything, which then led to an awkward silence as the two stayed on top of the branch. Keegan didn't know whether she should trust the woman or not. She didn't know her name, where she is from, not even her face. Then again, other than hiding her face, the hooded woman never gave her a reason to be suspicious of her. If the woman wanted to kill her then she could have while she slept, heck, the hooded woman could have just ignored her while she was being attacked. She looked down and noticed a few bandages on her arm and abdomen. Oh right, she was bleeding.
Now that she was calm, Keegan sat down and took a breath.
"What's your name? If you don't mind me asking." She had a hunch that the hooded woman would most likely use an alias, but still, she wanted to try.
"Ruby."
Keegan knew it was her real name based on the sound of her voice and how quickly the woman answered. Either that, or Ruby mastered the art of lying.
"Oh. I'm Keegan, Keegan Hee. You're not from around here, are you?"
Ruby didn't know what to answer that question, mainly because she didn't know where she was in the first place. She looked at her companion's clothing and noticed that it looked slightly Mistralian.
"No."
It was awkward silence after that. Again. Ruby didn't really want to tell the woman her name, she really didn't, but she didn't want to lie either. The best thing she could do is leave out her last name. After all, Ruby isn't exactly an uncommon name
"Keegan, you should rest. I'll keep a look out."
Keegan nodded and thanked Ruby before she leaned against the tree and fell asleep. The sun's position told her that it was still noon, which meant she still had time to let her companion rest.
Ruby thought about the situation she was in. If this was Mistral, then that would mean Ruby was still in the place she died when she woke up. Based on her latest notes, she should currently be in Vacuo doing a mission.
It dawned on her the more she thought about it. The date, the place. It was all the same. The her in this time should be doing THAT mission.
She remembered it because that particular mission was the reason she almost lost her eyes.
She lost her sight for a few months after the incident during that happened in the mission. It was hard for Ruby during her time of recovery, especially after she was told that she couldn't use her Silver Eyes' ability anymore. Though it wasn't all bad. Ruby learned how to fight without relying on her sight during her recovery, since it was possible that some of Salem's minions would attack her while she was at her lowest.
'But I woke up yesterday in the evening. If I was supposed to lose my silver eyes today, then...'
Something clicked in her head. Ruby drew one of the twin swords and looked at her reflection. Silver. Here eyes were silver. Not gray. This must be the reason why the gods had her travel back in time instead of bringing her back to life on the spot. Ruby couldn't fight the smile that somehow made it's way onto her face, heck she didn't even try.
.
.
.
Ruby climbed down the tree now that her companion was rested and calm enough to not attract any Grimm. She herself had a few hours of rest while Keegan was asleep, she got some of her aura back as well, but that didn't mean she was up for another battle with the Grimm without her trusty Crescent Rose. Speaking of weapons, she still had her companion's twin blades. While Keegan was asleep (and knocked out), Ruby found out that one of the swords could turn into a shotgun, and the other could turn into a rifle. She didn't really plan on doing anything with the weapon without the owner's permission, but those small red buttons were too tempting for Ruby to resist.
Once the two were on the ground, Ruby handed the twin swords back to Keegan. "Thanks. What do you call them? Your weapons I mean."
"Well, this is Break." Keegan gestured the orange sword, the one that could turn into a shotgun.
"And this is Zoom." She then gestured the red sword, the one that could turn into a rifle. "How come you don't have any?"
"I have a weapon... Well I had a weapon. I dropped it." Ruby said dejectedly. She then walked to the direction of the clearing. Again.
"Can you make it again?"
Ruby nodded to answer the red head's question.
"Let's go to my house then, I think I have a few materials left. You can make your weapon with it. Consider this payment for saving me."
Ruby nodded and followed Keegan to her house.
.
.
.
Ruby wanted to ask why Keegan lived in the middle of nowhere.
Her house was somewhere past the clearing and was a bit far into the forest. It seemed inhabitable, but it looked the red haired woman made it so that she could live in the forest infested with Grimm. It seems like her companion knew her stuff when it came to technology. It was evident when she saw the traps laying around the house that only activates when the Grimm was nearby. There were also five turrets surrounding the house. One aimed at Ruby once she got close but stopped when Keegan gave a command.
Also, is it possible to call a house, a bunker? Ruby didn't know the answer to that question. The house, where Ruby assumed Keegan lived in, was heavily armored and it seemed indestructible, but it still looked welcoming.
"Hey, who made this?" Ruby spoke with curiosity in her tone, her thumb pointed at the direction of her companion's house. She had a hunch that it was Keegan herself, but she wanted to hear the red head say it
"This?"
"The house, the traps, the turrets, everything I'm seeing right now. Who made this? Must be a damn genius. I wonder how much time and money this cost." Ruby cupped her chin as she spoke. She knew she was feeding Keegan's ego when she said that.
"Oh. I made it." Keegan replied nonchalantly. She opened the door and invited Ruby in.
Ruby was greeted with pleasant warmth the moment she stepped in the house. Inside was the same as any regular houses, with a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a guestroom.
Ruby turned to her companion and raised a brow. She still had her hood up, but the gesture seemed to reach Keegan despite not being able to see it.
"Well Ruby, when you live alone for many years you tend to do crazy things to stay alive. I didn't actually make this house, but I'm the one who made it livable. How I made it that way? Let's just say I had way too many time in my hands back then, as well as money, and I didn't really need it. Also, I'm a prodigy when it comes to technology." Keegan winked after her brief explanation(?) and walked into her kitchen, leaving Ruby nodding to herself in the living room.
Ruby looked around the house. Keegan told her to make herself at home, but also said that she will kill Ruby if anything in her house was stolen. While looking around, Ruby found out that the house was powered by solar energy and hydroelectric energy. It would explain where Keegan got her electricity from.
.
.
.
After the two finished eating dinner, Keegan took Ruby to the basement, where she would make Crescent Rose. Again.
"Why aren't you suspicious?" Ruby asked just as Keegan was about to leave the basement.
"What makes you think I'm not?" Keegan turned back to face Ruby as she answered the question. She crossed her arms and raised a brow.
"I just don't want to owe anyone. Once you're finished with your weapon I will ask you to leave. If you steal from me, or do anything to harm me, then I will have no choice but to kill you."
Ruby nodded.
"So the inside of your house also has traps. Got it.
Ruby noticed Keegan's posture become tense.
"Ok calm down. I have no intention of stealing anything from you, I also don't want to kill you."
Keegan's posture relaxed a bit.
Ruby knew that she had to gain this woman's trust. She knew her companion would be very useful to her, the fact that she lived in an inhabitable location and was able to make the things she made on her own proved it. If she wanted to stop Salem, then she would need Keegan's help. Not to mention that she might need to make a fake ID if she wanted to find a job somewhere.
Ruby made the decision to remove her hood. She kept her eyes on Keegan as her companion's blue eyes widened, not expecting Ruby to show her face after she just threatened to kill the raven red haired woman.
"I know It won't be easy, but you should try to not be paranoid while I'm staying in your house." Keegan stared at Ruby for a few minutes, as if she was memorizing her appearance. After a while, she nodded and went back out to the living room.
Ruby sighed and sat on a nearby chair.
'This is gonna be one hell of a life.'
A/N: I suck with names.
I might edit the chapters again one day. Once I get my shit together, then I might be able update this story more often with longer chapters. Don't expect too much though.
I'd like to thank you for reading my shit story, as well as apologise for writing this thing in the first place.