AN: Nope, not forgotten about this. Also, I'm thinking about changing the title, so, in case it happens, I'll mention it somewhere to avoid major confusion.

As many things as he liked and actively enjoyed in his occupation as Beacon Academy's headmaster, as many things he wished he hadn't had to do. One such thing was standing next to Taiyang Xiao Long and watching the man's youngest daughter – the daughter he hadn't seen in a decade – through a window, in her bed, still, except for the gentle rise and fall of her chest. The girl was unbelievably pale. A breathing mask covered most of her face and various tubes and cables connected her to multiple machines.

"Instead of seeing her like this...I…"

Ozpin glanced at Taiyang from the corner of his eyes. Thick stubble covered his face, dark rings were under his eyes. His hair was unkempt and his posture hunched. He smelled of alcohol. Very little of his appearance gave away that, once upon a time, he had been part of the strongest Team Beacon Academy had ever produced in its long and proud history.

"Given the situation, I found it prudent to break my promise to her again." Ozpin sighed. "I wished I had broken it earlier. Had I known that this…" He shook his head, rubbing his cane's grip absentmindedly with his thumb.

"And you don't have anything? Not a single lead?"

"The nurse –"

"– noticed Ruby's crazy increase of her heart rate and called the doctor, yeah, yeah." Taiyang rubbed his face. "I don't know what to think. What to say."

"I don't expect you to." He looked at the young girl, a constant frown just about visible on her face. "I can't think of anything that would cause this. In all my years of existence...I feel genuinely lost, Taiyang."

Taiyang didn't answer. All he did was to exhale, almost forcibly. Ozpin couldn't blame him. There was nothing else he – they – could do.

A wide, lush field of green stretched far into the horizon. The sun was bright in the sky and there wasn't a single cloud in sight. The temperature was just right and the occasional breeze made her hair dance and her ears twitch playfully. It was a beautiful place, even if she didn't have a single clue where she was.

Ruby didn't really care, though. She grinned and let herself fall, the grass tickling her thighs through her stockings. She sighed happily and enjoyed herself, letting the warmth and peace wash over her.

"Ruby."

Her eyes shot open and her ears stood at attention.

"Ruby."

A voice, sounding as if a thousand voices were layered into one, called her name. She sat up and tilted her head, catching it calling for her again.

"Ruby."

She got to her feet and looked around. It was, even with her superior hearing, difficult to pinpoint where it was coming from; as if from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"Follow the sound of battle."

Ruby blinked and tilted her head again, concentrating. As if on cue, she heard the roars of beasts, followed by their whimpers. She heard the sound of a blade cutting through the air and slicing through flesh. It was distant, but it was clear.

"Come, my child."

Getting up to her feet, Ruby started to walk towards the battle. She felt strangely drawn towards it, as if it wasn't really her decision to go there, even though she was walking consciously. The best she could compare it to was for someone to be pulled by a string in a direction they were taking anyway.

While she was walking, the scenery remained stoically the same. The vast fields appeared to not change at all, the same lush green was all around her.

She couldn't say for how long she had been walking. Trying to get a read on the sun in the sky hadn't helped because, even though it felt like she had been walking for quite a while, the sun's position hadn't changed an inch. No matter how many times she glanced up, the sun's position remained the same. It was weird.

The sound of battle at least was getting closer and soon, on the horizon, she could see a lone, blindingly glowing figure fighting a horde of beowolves with a greatsword that almost had the shape of a cross, similar to –

Ruby's eyes widened. No way.

Silver light enveloped the battlefield, forcing Ruby to cover her own eyes in reflex.

"Tu vas koma." The voice was gentle, soft, calming.

Soft steps closed in on her, the sound of bare feet on earth and grass giving it away, though it slowly changed, growing heavier with the clang of metal

Ruby gasped and fell to her knees. "Are you...at tu –?" She didn't dare to look up.

"Selys, the Goddess of Light, Battle and Courage?" The soft voice chuckled. "Yes, my child. I wished I did not have to meet you so soon. You are standing right at my doorstep, little one."

"Oh." Oh. She remembered. The agony, as if her insides were melting, as if some acid or poison was eating away at them – it had been horrible and she'd rather be here and at peace than alive while suffering through that.

"I remember you praying. I remember you wishing to still live on." The Goddess sounded curious. "Has that changed?"

"I-I – I mean, no, b-but –" She wasn't much of a speaker, to begin with, but having to speak directly with the Battle Maiden was scary on a whole 'nother level.

An armoured hand grasped her by the chin and gently tilted her head up. With a gasp, she stared wide-eyed at the most brilliant Silver Eyes she could imagine. They looked like forged steel, the eyes of a true warrior, of someone whose entire existence was based on battle.

"You may gaze upon me, child. I have taken this form to not overwhelm you. A fleeting look on my celestial form is more than enough to burn away the eyes of lesser humans." The hand grasped her cheek and a thumb stroked her just under an eye. "You, however...I granted you a look because you have been blessed with my eyes. But you are still human. A second longer and you would be blind."

"T-thank you, m-my Goddess!"

"You are welcome, child. Now stand up. We have much to discuss."

Ruby quickly got to her feet and, for the first time, got a good look at the human form the Battle Maiden had taken for her. She looked like a tall woman with soft features and unblemished skin – at least on her face. Her hair was blonde and framing her youthful face, reaching just past her chin. The rest of her body was covered in simple, steel-plated armour. On her back, she had her sword and it looked exactly like the one she was praying with every morning and evening.

"So...I'm not dead yet?" she asked the Goddess.

"You might as well be," the Battle Maiden answered easily. "There is not much keeping you from death's clutches."

"Oh."

"Indeed. Do you remember what happened to you?"

"I-I...there was t-this...Grimm, I think?" Ruby shuddered at the memories. "It...it talked. It wanted my eyes and I-I couldn't move."

"You were cursed, child." The Battle Maiden looked at her with something akin to pity. "A terrible curse was cast upon you by one of the Eldritch Shadows."

"El-what Shadow?" Ruby asked, her head cocked to the side in confusion.

"Eldritch," the Goddess repeated with a soft smile. "Walk with me, my child."

"Y-yes, Ma'am! M-my Goddess!"

The Battle Maiden raised a brow at her. "Just 'Battle Maiden' should suffice, should it not?"

Ruby just shrugged shyly, her tail swishing gently back and forth behind her as she followed the Battle Maiden. If it weren't for the whole being-on-her-literal-deathbed thing, she would count herself as the most blessed person alive. She got to gaze upon the Battle Maiden herself! Upon the Goddess, she drew her courage from. She was walking side by side with the Goddess, whom she would pray to every morning after waking up and every night before going to sleep.

She glanced at her and blushed furiously at the knowing smile on that soft and gentle face. Could she read minds? It would be so very embarrassing if she had heard her fangirling over her.

"Do you have an idea where we are?" the Battle Maiden asked suddenly while they were still walking at a gentle pace.

Ruby hummed in thought. "You said I am not dead yet and that I am on your doorstep. Is this like...some kinda in-between?"

"Indeed," the Goddess nodded. "You are at the edge of my realm, and if you were dead you would be here to be judged by me. Only those with the hearts of a true warrior would I allow to pass on. Cowards and traitors have no place here."

"Oh." That sounded a bit harsh.

"Is it truly?" the Goddess wondered out loud, confirming the mind-reading thing, much to Ruby's mortification. "Would you wish to have the fellow soldier, who left you to die, or who betrayed you and your friends, to live the rest of eternity in the glory of my realm with you? In the glory of battle, bravery and companionship?"

"Ugh, no," she admitted, kicking an invisible pebble while frowning.

"They will get passed to the appropriate Gods of the Pantheon. A traitor and coward I would pass to Quyn. The God of Cloak and Shadow, of Deceit and Treachery." Then, the Battle Maiden sighed. "He is one of the few of us who remain."

Ruby's head whipped to the side so violently, she felt like she almost broke her neck. "What do you mean?!"

"That which you call Grimm, we call Shadow. It is all-consuming, relentless and it is destroying us one by one." Her voice was heavy and tired. "It is corrupting us and our realms."

"But...I just saw...you killed Grimm, didn't you?" Ruby stopped walking, forcing the Goddess to stop as well and to face her.

"I have the best tools, of course," the Goddess said, indicating her eyes, "and I have many souls blessed with my eyes fighting in my realm. They are fighting the greatest and most glorious battle of all." The Goddess took a step towards her, her face serious, making Ruby gulp nervously. "But for how much longer? Countless souls have already been devoured by the Shadows and countless more will be – and each devoured soul becomes another Shadow. In due time, even I will fall."

Ruby's heart stopped when the Battle Maiden placed an armoured hand on her shoulder. "Deities are fallible, Ruby Rose. Deities can fall. Even I will fall if this continues."

Every word made her heart sink more and more and she looked down at her feet, frowning. "You mean...Gods can die?"

The Battle Maiden withdrew her hand and chuckled, but it was devoid of humour. "No, my child. I wish we could. I truly wish we could."

"Then what –?" She stopped, confused. She looked back up at the armour-clad Goddess with a questioning look.

"The Eldritch Shadow cursing you...used to be Tohyn. The God of Death and Disease. Or a projection of his corruption in your world, to be exact." Steely eyes gazed at her meaningfully as Ruby covered her open mouth in shock, her eyes wide as saucers. "And there are more such abominations yet in your world, hidden for centuries upon centuries."

"F-for how long has this been going on?" she asked with a trembling voice.

"Too long to truly remember, but our end is inching ever closer." She then placed a hand on her back and gently urged her to move. "Come, child. I wish to show you what is awaiting my realm."

They walked for a while longer in silence, Ruby now sporting a constant frown, her thoughts rampaging in her head. Gods had been fighting an eternal battle against Grimm and were losing it. Grimm were eating souls and multiplying – if she understood that correctly. Did that mean –?

"I cannot say, child. I cannot say what happens when a mortal gets consumed."

Ruby sighed. It was difficult to comprehend all of this information – the good, the bad and the things she still had no answers for.

A few moments of more walking and the environment finally began to change: the slope of a hill came into sight and as Ruby looked around herself, she saw a vast series of rolling hills that hadn't even been there a second ago. It was as if they had just appeared out of nowhere. Shaking her head and accepting this as something that just might happen in the realm of a deity, she kept walking and began climbing the hill's gentle slope. Before long they were at the top and a breathy gasp escaped her.

"Wow." Her eyes were wide and her heart was beating a million miles a minute. "This is so cool…"

The rolling hills appeared to be surrounding a familiar-looking temple of white and red polished stone. She could make out large pillars framing the building, each tipped with the depiction of an ancient weapon of some kind; there were spears, swords, maces, morning stars, bows, crossbows...it was beautiful beyond words. The ornate, dome-shaped crimson roof with the Battle Maiden's sword-cross was also gorgeous.

Next to her, the Goddess gave a gentle laugh, reminding her that she could hear what she was thinking and making her blush in embarrassment again.

They climbed down the hill and took a steady pace towards the temple. The closer she got, the clearer the gargantuan size of it became, dwarfing her into insignificance. Even when she craned her neck as far back as she could, the roof had disappeared and only perfectly polished stone walls were visible. They reached large, dark, wooden doors with intricately carved arts of a woman warrior in various battle poses with her large, cross-shaped sword. They opened without anyone touching, revealing a place of worship she hadn't visited in a long time. It made her feel guilty. She quickly walked over to a stone basin to wash her hands before folding them for her prayer at the threshold, closing her eyes and whispering it under her breath.

Once she was done, she quickly joined the patiently waiting Battle Maiden, who looked at her with kind eyes. They walked between the aisle, left and right from them rows upon rows of benches.

"I admit, your prayers are one of the few I hear regularly anymore. It makes them all the dearer to me."

"Heh...thanks, I guess." Ruby scratched the back of her head nervously. "I don't know much about kids my age, but I know Granny Maria isn't religious. I also was never really sure whether Gods were real or not, but I always found it comforting to think that there is something out there to protect us and the ones we love."

"That makes me glad to hear, Ruby Rose."

"After you saved me from dying that first time, though, I knew you had to be real. And now…" Ruby shrugged. Nothing else needed to be said. Then she frowned. "I'm not just dreaming, am I?"

"No, child." The Battle Maiden then motioned for the large marble altar in front of them.

They took a few, shallow steps leading up to it and, once they were standing in front of it, the Battle Maiden placed an armoured hand on top of its surface. With a deep rumble, marble slid on marble as the surface parted itself in the middle, revealing a swirling vortex of thick smoke. It rose higher and higher, began surrounding them, the sound of violent winds rushing past her and filling her ears and then it stopped. Her eyes and ears swivelled about wildly, taking everything in.

All around her were different landscapes but all these different landscapes had one thing in common: dark, black clouds covered the skies, only disrupted by crimson lightning. Pools of oozing black liquid were visible, peppering the dead environment like a perverse version of an oasis. Crimson, glowing rocks with black veins were jutting out of the grounds like open fractures. There were, of course, the mountains and oceans and forests distinguishing one environment from the other, but what really helped were the different temples she could see. What disturbed her the most, however, were the black creatures with bony white armour plates and glowing red eyes walking around these holy lands.

"These are the corrupted realms," the Battle Maiden explained. "All nineteen of them."

Ruby gasped, her hands covering her mouth. "But – but there are twenty-four Gods!"

The Battle Maiden nodded. "We Gods have fought valiantly for millennia, but our powers wane. We need…" She sighed and closed her eyes, before her steely gaze locked with Ruby's once more. "We need help, my child. We need someone to fight our fight on your side of existence."

"We are fighting already!" Ruby said, sounding offended. "We have fought Grimm for as long as we can remember!"

"You are only fighting one symptom of this sickness."

She cocked her head to the side, looking confused. "Umm, sorry, but I don't understand."

"Fighting wave after wave of these abominations is all good and well, my child, but it will win you nothing. There will always be another wave. There will always be more." She made a sweeping gesture, indicating the corrupted realms of the Gods and the countless Grimm prowling them. "But where do they come from? What or who is creating them, if something is creating them at all? Where is the heart of all of this? How do we rip it out and crush it?"

Ruby nodded, a clear understanding on her face. "Okay, I get it now." She turned around, taking in the sight of all the other realms. It was eerie to see. Could that be the fate of Remnant as well?

"It will be, eventually."

"What should I do?" Ruby asked the Goddess. "How can I help?"

"You are as courageous as I have expected you to be," the Goddess said with a small smile. "I am glad you asked because there is something you could, indeed, do to help us fight this war – not just for us, but for every other mortal being living on Remnant."

Ruby stood at attention, grim determination on her face – no pun intended.

"Keep doing what you are doing, but more," the Battle Maiden said. "You have seen the Eldritch Shadow. There will have to be trails. Something to finally give us a hint that may give us a lead to come out victorious."

"W-well, there was that cave…" Ruby muttered shyly, unsure if it would be helpful or not.

"I have seen what you have seen, my child," the Goddess said. "It is a good starting point, but not more. I wish we could interact with the mortal plane more deeply, but, alas, we are bound by balance and its limitations." Then she laughed without humour. "Not that we could ever abandon our realms even if we wanted to and were able to. We would just leave them to be devoured and corrupted without any resistance."

"I will do it then," Ruby declared with fierce determination. "As you said: this is not just about Gods, but also about all of Remnant!" She then deflated a bit, scratching her head. "I dunno, I just always thought that Grimm just, y'know, kinda sorta were part of our lives…"

"They are much more than that and much worse than a nuisance that mortals of Remnant have to deal with." The Goddess glanced at the corrupted realms once more before exhaling forcefully and making a sweeping gesture with her hand. The vortex reappeared, swirling around them again and, a moment later, everything was sealed shut in the altar. "Whatever the source of the Shadows is, it is capable of moving between your world and our realms. It is dangerous beyond words."

Right. Right.

She would have to see what she could find out about that cave and the writings and paintings and everything. Would it lead to something capable of ending a godly war? She hoped so. She wanted to live and love and maybe...no.

She wanted to ask but she also didn't want to ask. Her fear of certainty dwarfed the relief said certainty would bring. No. Some other day maybe. She wanted to hold onto hope for as long as it was healthy.

The Battle Maiden nodded with a smile and understanding look. Ruby was glad that she couldn't read anything in that expression that would hint at one answer or another.

"Are you ready to return then?" her Goddess asked.

Ruby took a breath and nodded. "Yes."

"Very well. I hereby declare you my champion, Ruby Rose. I hope this will be the last time we come face to face for a long time, my child."

"It was – it was an honour! I promise to pray even more!" It was such a good feeling to know that her prayers didn't just get lost in the wind.

"An honour I have granted you happily. Your courage and purity of heart speak for themselves. Now then," the Goddess said, turning to fully face her, "farewell, Ruby Rose. And best of luck. We all will need it."

She then leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead, but before Ruby had the chance to squeak and blush, her very bones felt as if on fire and a moment later her eyes snapped open. When had she even closed them? She was about to sit up but a mask covering her mouth and nose pulled her back. Glaring white light was blinding her, an alarming beeping noise was giving her a headache and, bit by bit, the burning in her bones bled over to horrific pain everywhere.

Fatigue was creeping in quickly again as silhouettes of people came into her line of sight, poking and prodding and, thankfully, shutting that beeping noise off.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, did Ruby realize that she was, indeed, back. Back in a hospital bed. Back in her world. Back in Remnant. In the back of her mind, as sleep was slowly coming to claim her, did she wonder whom she could even tell what she had seen, where she had been, what she had learned. Likely no one, but it didn't matter.

She wished she had her sword-pin in her hands. It was okay, though. Before falling asleep again, she managed another prayer.

She hoped, wherever her mum was, that the Battle Maiden was keeping her safe.