Volume One, Chapter One:
Memories Of Innocence
Dear Diary… is that cheesy? I don't know…
Ruby Rose, circa - Should I make it Earth's or Remnant's year? Arrgh!
My Name is Ruby Rose, I was born on the Planet of Remnant, October 31st, 1566 PE.
My friends told me I should write about who I am and what happened to me that caused me to recount this story. Not just for my sake but for those that will come after me and read this. Gods, just thinking about all the months I've spent trapped in this other world, this city, the dead city that is literally hell on Earth! Yeah, bad joke, I know. But the main thing is, all these memories, times of happier days that flood my mind, make me laugh like nothing ever happened but then I cry, and not in a good way. So much has been lost, so much of myself was lost. The faces I'll never see smile back at me, the voices that shall forevermore remain silent… some of those voices that were silenced by me.
But it's okay, those that surround me today are the reason why I can still smile, who support me while we not only survive but live our life here underground; the Marines and the Raiders - Also known as the Vikings, the Spartan Rangers, their commander Colonel Miller, Khan the Wiseman. But most importantly, my friends, my family, and... the person I entrusted my heart to. Heh, it's pretty funny, really, this all came about from just crossing dimensions to another World, suffering from the Apocalypse! Just a stroll through the park, right?
To quote a wise Ranger I know, "Life is weird. One random event drags another with it, like links in a chain. And you are pulling that chain out of a deep dark well… The links emerge from the dark water… And what is to drink in that bucket that's on the end of the chain? That's a mystery…"
That's one of the many lessons I learnt being here when I have to make a choice, And like they say; "You can't drop the chain, either… you always have to drink from that bucket." The man really is too wise for his own good, ironic since his name is literally Idiot both in Russian and Valerian - or English if you're from Earth.
This is Who I Am, the person molded by the absolute nightmare that is the Moscow Metro and its varying challenges. Now, let me tell you Who I Was before the nightmare started;
Mountain Glenn, our first mission as a Huntress team. We weren't even supposed to be there! It was not a mission meant for first-year Beacon students, but Professor Ozpin bent the rules to prevent us from breaking them. Our assigned teacher was Doctor Oobleck. Gods! Even with how annoying he was, even how Boring his classes were! I actually miss him, to this day…!
You always have to drink from that bucket...
Remnant, August 6th, 1582 PE (Post-Establishment)
Mountain Glenn Ruins
"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle, teeming with death and hostility, and you brought… A Dog?!" Dr. Oobleck stared down at Ruby intensely, slowing down his speech.
"I-uhh…!"
"Genius!" The Huntsman exclaimed, scooping up the dog from Ruby's bag with his heightened speed and then started to twirl it in the air.
"Canines-are-historically-known-for-their-perceptive-nose-and-heightened-sense-of-sound! Making-them-excellent-companions-for-hunts-such-as-ours!" Oobleck stated in his hyperspeed tongue.
Ruby smiled proudly as she remarked, "I'm a genius." much to the annoyance of her confounded teammates.
Blake silently sighed, "So, what are your orders Doctor?" She asked.
"Ah! Yes! Straight to the chase, I like it!" Oobleck stated while abruptly dropping Zwei in his hands. Turning to face team RWBY, he explained, "As you have been informed, the Southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now there are several possible explanations for this behavior. One of which being, Grimm." His students looked back at him with confused stares, glancing at each other.
"Uhh, what?" Ruby questioned.
"Grimm, a creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment," Oobleck said matter-of-factly.
"What?!" Yang shouted in fright, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake turned with her, the latter in muted surprise while Ruby couldn't hide her glee at the prospect of a fight.
A lone Beowolf calmly trotted into view down the street, Team RWBY readied their weapons to challenge it but Oobleck interceded, "Stop." Weiss, Blake, and Yang glanced back at him while Ruby just deflated at being interrupted.
A, "Huh?" Escaped Blake's lips.
Oobleck continued, "There are a number of reasons why Grimm would congregate in this particular area. Most likely of which would be their attraction to negativity. Sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred, all qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harbouring ill intent." He kept his pace to show how serious he was.
Then Ruby asked, "So, what now?"
"We wait, we track, if the specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey," Oobleck explained.
Yang relaxed her stance, "How long do we wait?" She spoke with a disappointed voice.
Oobleck cupped his chin, "It's uncertain, hours, days, week, why-lone-Grimm-have-been-known-to-stay-isolated-from-the-pack-for-months - And there's the whole pack..." He spoke true, the rest of the Grimm pack wandered into view from around the same corner down the street as the first one.
Weiss was absolutely stunned, "What?"
"And now they've seen us." Their teacher informed them bluntly.
"What?!" Weiss asked again with increased volume.
"AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!" Oobleck reiterated rather loudly in Weiss's ear.
Ruby awkwardly raised a finger to ask, "I take it tracking is out of the question."
"An accurate assumption, yes," Oobleck responded.
Yang glances back at Dr. Oobleck while resuming her fighting stance, "What's the plan then?" Down the street, the Beowolf pack bellowed snarls and growls as they began charging at the Huntsman and Huntresses-in-training.
Said Huntsman's face was calm and reserved as he stood back to allow his students to take this fight. "Show me what you're capable of." He ordered.
Team RWBY jumped into action. Cutting into the lesser Grimm and tearing them apart. The rest of the day was spent in a similar manner. Hunting down Grimm packs or nests and eliminating them, while also keeping an eye out for any possible criminal activity, in the ruined city.
The group had made camp that night in one of the many abandoned buildings, with Ruby taking first watch. As they settled in for the night around the campfire that was built, Ruby snuggled into her lookout post on what was left of a destroyed balcony, shifting Crescent Rose into Rifle-mode then laying it in her lap. Her teammates had taken to the sleeping bags around the fire while Dr. Oobleck slept on the landing above them.
Try as they might, Ruby's sister and teammates couldn't sleep, and she started to hear them murmur in discourse and debate about the meaning of what they thought being a Huntress was, questioning themselves after being interrogated on the matter by their teacher earlier in the day. She mostly ignored it to focus on keeping watch but did perk up and listen in a little as Yang mentioned her by name.
She caught a bit of Yang's opening sentence, "-Wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said. Ever since she was a kid, she dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything in return." She spoke softly. "Even when she couldn't fight, she knew that's what she wanted to do."
There was a brief pause before her Sister continued. "That's why she trained so hard to get where she is today."
Then Weiss's voice blatantly interjected, "Well, she's still just a kid."
Ruby rolled her eyes, 'Gee, thanks Bestie.' Came her mental retort.
Then came Blake's opinion, "She's only two years younger, we're all kids."
"Well… not anymore." Came Yang's voice, with a dry chuckle. "aheh, I mean, look where we are! In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth?"
Blake replied with, "It's the life we chose."
"It's a job," came the voice of reason from the Heiress, "We all have this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads. But, at the end of the day… It's a job to protect the people." Ruby subtly glanced back to the fire, watching her partner explain to her other teammates, "And whatever we want will have to come second."
Unbeknownst to them, above them where Oobleck's slumbering form laid, a smile crept onto his face as he heard his student come to the correct answer to the quiet question he had been throwing at them all day.
An hour later, Ruby was still pondering her own answer while keeping a lone Beowolf in Crescent Rose's scope as it patrolled the urban wasteland below her. 'I mean, Weiss isn't wrong… but it still doesn't change the fact that being Huntress is the coolest job a girl could dream of. And, if I'm being honest here, being a Huntress is one of the few remaining things I can do to be closer to mom… Speaking of which.' She reached for her belt, pulling off her treasured rose emblem, 'I hope you're watching over me, mom. I promise to be the best Huntress I can and make you proud in heaven.' Kissing her inherited memento and storing it, she glances back out to the square to see the Beowolf she was scoping before had moved. Switching from a seated position to crouching, she shouldered Crescent Rose and started scanning.
She was quick to reacquire the Grimm, but what truly baffled her was that it was neither calmly wandering the soulless remains of civilization nor lining up to attack her, instead it had bolted in the opposite direction of her. Its fangs were bared, and wolf-ish ears were flattened in anger as it charged an unseen foe. But now, the weirdness would only intensify for Ruby; The Beowolf was repulsed back by what seemed like an invisible forc- the assailant made itself known! In a flash, it fazed into reality with a hand hovering high over the lesser Grimm's dissipating corpse. What could best describe this... creature,was purely and wholly terrifying - something that will haunt Ruby's nightmares for months; it was a tall, slender frame, with long arms ending in large hands that had four long digits swaying just below the knees. The whole body was coloured in a dark, ashen grey, that in the moonlit setting of the night, almost seemed jet black. Even in the low light, the eyes were the most chilling, they were nothing - just empty darkness with no whites nor pupils.
Its head started tracking from the fizzing cadaver below it to Ruby… even from this distance, she just knew it was looking straight at her! Next came something new, a feeling, a presence that felt like it was reaching out to her, then pain. The worst headache she had ever known flooded into her mind, blurring her vision when-
"It is Her!-It is Her! The Demon's child-child..." a ghostly, soft, and deep voice echoed internally from one ear to the other, with an accent she had never heard before.
Her already fading vision was attacked by a flash of white light, when her eyes adjusted, she found out she was laying down. Righting herself up, she discovered she was in some 'room', the borders were nothing more than an ethereal white light blocking any view beyond it. Then she noticed the floor, the smooth floor beneath her feet was somehow made up of chunks of rubble, debris, and rebars. Suddenly she forcibly had to hold back her dinner, as the floor she stood on was littered with corpses… human corpses! An unknown driving force made her legs start to take slow steps forward through the field of death, and ahead of her a dark shape was forming, then a full shadow blocked out some of the white light surrounding them. As she was forced closer to it, stepping over another dead corpse - this one actually seemed to be wearing a White Fang uniform - the shadow evolved into a figure, a live humanoid figure before more details started revealing themselves.
The person's clothes and gear were something Ruby had never seen before. The shoulders and combat vest were branded with a word, all the same word but the script was foreign to her so she couldn't understand it. The helmet they wore had a distinctive, stylized red M painted on the forehead, it's face shield was down, covering everything but the eyes that showed through a clear visor; the eyes! Clouded, but fierce silver eyes, piercing the young girl's very soul! She could feel the combatant's emotions, they pulsated into her from those eyes, feeling like a dark cloud inside her; Sadness, Loneliness, Hatred, Rage, and a pure, unbridled desire to kill her where she stood.
The combatant stared for a moment then shook their head, "Arrgh! Ubiraysya iz moyey grebanoy golovy!" She spoke, no, screamed! With a female voice! In a language she had never heard before.
Her rage and desire to kill finally took control, raising the assault rifle that until now was held at low-ready and directed it at Ruby's position. She tried, she tried to do well, anything; shout, run, shield her face, but her body wouldn't adhere to her commands forcing her to watch as this unknown fighter was about to gun her down. But before the trigger was pulled, something else happened. The 'enemy's' eyes began to glow, growing in intensity by the second until once again she was thrown into dark blindness with white noise ringing in her ears.
"Ruby…? Ruby? Ruby!?" Yang finally got Ruby to snap out of it. She had woken up to take the next shift, but when she called out to her sister, she didn't reply. When she managed to get through to her, her sister sucked in a deep gasp of air like her life depended on it. "Gods, Ruby! You okay?! You weren't reacting to me at all. It looked like you were gonna shoot something but then you started violently shaking and hyperventilating!"
Her heart was working overtime, her lungs pumping more air than needed, using Crescent Rose's scope she frantically darted her aim to find her quarry. Nothing… just gone. The Grimm had evaporated too. Her hands suddenly felt weak; Crescent Rose slipping from her grasp. She immediately seeked out the closest source of warmth and comfort, latching on to her sister, burying her face in Yang's ample buxom, and tightening her grip making it actually rival with her blonde sister's patented bear hugs. It wasn't till afterwards did she realize that tears were flowing unchallenged to the point that Yang's top started getting a little soaked.
"Shh, hey, hey!" Yang cooed then tried calming her little sister while rubbing circles on the small of her back, "Shh, it's okay, Big Sis Yang's here… what happened? Was it something you saw?"
"I-lt was… i-it was, I don't even know what it was!" All Ruby could do was babble words while sniffling and hyperventilate in between tears, "T-There was a Beowolf-it sensed something, I went to attack it b-but It was dead before I could blink! Then that thing appeared! I-It materialized out of nothing and just waved a hand to bring down a whole Grimm, without even a-actually touching it!" Her breath was starting to steady but her body just wouldn't stop shivering.
Yang was having a hard time processing this internally but didn't let it show for Ruby's sake, she knew there had to be more to this. "This creature, describe it. Was it a new kind of Grimm?"
"No! Gods, that was what made it worse! It was a real, alive beast-thing! No Grimm-bone armour, no red eyes, nothing like a Grimm. And it was huge, twice my size, long arms going to the knees, barely had a face, and the eyes! Empty pitch-black eyes. The skin was black-grey-ish too. And I-I haven't even begun to list out the worst part of it all!" Hidden in Yang's chest, Ruby sucked in a sisterly-infused scented gulp of air and exhaled a shaky breath, then Ruby lifted her head, finally showing that though the tears had stopped, they were threatening a second assault.
Yang forced the 'fear' frog down her throat, why even Yang Xiao Long would be a little apprehensive after a description like that about a non-Grimm monster and then told that was only half the trouble! "U-Uhm, well don't leave me hanging… heh, tell Big Sis more about this spooky monster." She let out through a forced smile.
"After it killed the Grimm, it looked right at me! Like it knew I was there…! I… I think it had a semblance, some mind-control type, 'cause when it looked directly into my eyes, I felt like something was reaching out to my brain in the most painful way possible!" The younger sibling convulsed at the memory of just moments ago. "I think… I think it forced some kind of-I don't know-illusion? Vision, maybe? Into me, because one minute I'm looking at this thing through Crescent Rose's scope, the next I'm in a place shrouded in white light, with the floor covered in dead bodies. I don't know what, but something made my legs press forward through the blood and death around me. And then... She showed up." Ruby spat out at the end after trying to hold back her stomach from all the death all over again.
Yang's wide, confused stare barely shifted from the bomb that was just dropped, "She?"
Ruby shrugged her shoulders while keeping a tight hold of her older sister, as she raised her eyebrows in equal confusion, "Some kind of Soldier, I know it was a woman because she spoke, but in a language I'd never heard anyone on Remnant speak before so I couldn't understand her. She had a uniform I've never seen before and a helmet that covered her face. She actually had silver eyes, like me, but also different…" She hesitantly paused, Yang raised an eyebrow, silently begging her to go on. "It was the emotions they held... I could actually feel her emotions, and it wasn't pretty; it was like the moment she laid eyes on me, I had committed the worst sin possible! So much hate, rage, sadness, it just poured into me like a dam. Then I felt her desire, no, intent! She wanted to kill me right there, taking the rifle she toted up to my head! I… I c-couldn't even move, or do, well, anything to stop her!" her breathing was starting to pick up again while trying to recount everything.
"I thought I was gonna die there, but instead of shooting me, her eyes started glowing. Next thing I knew, you were shaking me awake." This whole time, she tried to keep her voice down for Blake and Weiss, but failed at every attempt; they had heard the whole thing! Blake's face tried to be calm, but the information her leader just handed out had her eyes betraying her face. Weiss lost all control of her jaw, unsure whether she should believe her partner… but the amount of detail she gave, and the fact she never lied to the Heiress before made her think that the impossible might be possible.
Yang looked out over the square from their overwatch position, "Well, I don't see your monster out there-"
"-B-But, I saw it!"
She immediately placed a finger on her sister's lips, "And I believe you, Ruby. But right now all we got as evidence is hearsay and that there might be a humanoid animal out there in the ruins killing Grimm with a telepathic semblance, whether or not it's actually hostile to us, we'll have to find out when we see it again. And we'll deal with it as a team! Right girls?" She and Ruby turned their heads over to the two other Team RWBY members. Blake nodded, but Weiss stayed silent, "Right... Weiss?"
She just frowned a serious face, "What you say shouldn't be possible, but as Huntresses, if there's a threat, as your teammate and partner, I'll be there to help deal with it together." Ruby's face suddenly dusted itself with the lightest shade of pink.
She shook her head, 'Now's not the time to be thinking about that kinda stuff…'
"Thanks, Bestie!" Ruby spoke with a genuine, if meek smile, taking a deep breath she steadied herself, "Yang?" She spoke softer so only she could hear her, "there's one more thing… before the vision happened, that creature… I think it spoke to me… or something… It… It called me 'the Demon's child'..."
Yang hesitated, not sure how to respond to that. She held Ruby tightly, continuing to rub her back gently "It's alright… Whatever this thing is, we'll handle it together. As a team."
Ruby looked up at her again and smiled softly. Yang ruffled her hair gently, messing it up a little and causing Ruby to sputter and freak out "Gah, stop it!"
Yang laughed softly and hugged her again "And hey. You also got Profess-Doctor!-" she paused and looked back to see Oobleck still asleep above them. "Right. Well you still got Oobleck, and Zwei's even here" she turned around again to look at the dog, just for him to be missing. "Where's Zwei?"
"He snuck off downstairs just a second ago," Blake reported.
Ruby deflated, "Ugh, I'll go get him. I need to clear my head anyway or I'll just be bringing more Grimm down on us!" she scooped up her dropped weapon, shifting it to compact-form, and went to leave.
"Shout out if you see anything again, okay Ruby?" Yang called out as her sister began the flight of stairs down to the ground floor.
When she was halfway down her legs started to wobble, forcing her to lean on the crumbling sidewall as support, not realizing the effects of before still lingered, "Woah, geez! that whole stuff with my head? That was just way too scary! Even worse than all the known Grimm in the world, combined! I'd rather face those Goliaths Doctor Oobleck showed me before, solo, then deal with that again!" She mumbled to herself, rubbing her face and shaking the feeling off. "And what did it mean, 'Demon's Child'!? Was it referring to the Soldier I saw? I mean, yeah, she had silver eyes, but Mom's been dea-gone, for thirteen years!"
Ruby jumped the remaining flight of stairs to the ground floor, making her way to the blown-out doorway leading to the street, "No way she could still be alive… but… maybe… ugh, no! It's just that thing's mind games! Now, I have a Corgi to locate." she leaned out the door frame to scan the street, she began to call out just barely above a whisper, "Zwei? Zwei, where are you? Zweeiii-huh?" Across the street, Zwei was relieving himself on the stump of a former lamp post. She could only sigh and smirk with a cocked eyebrow at the family dog's antics, "Zwei, this is a wasteland. You literally could've done that anywhere." she remarked with a scoff. Her furry companion only yipped a reply.
"What was that?" a distant male voice asked. Ruby immediately scooped up Zwei and ducked for cover. Pressing her back against a graffitied dumpster, she leaned out to peek over her shoulder. At a nearby cross-intersection, two White Fang sentries were seen patrolling.
The second one spoke, "What was what?" His tone showed he was clearly annoyed with something.
"I thought I heard a Beowolf... or… something…" The first one said with a shrug.
White Fang goon number two just grunted, "Hrrnnn, Let's just finish our patrol and get back to base. This place just gives me the creeps." They turned to their right, backs facing Ruby as they headed down the street. "Anyone check-in on comms?"
The first White Fang shook his head, "Nah, the radio's been quiet. Weird, but not unexpected from that damn rusty Great War antique!" His partner nodded in agreement.
Ruby dropped her furry partner while crouching, bringing out Crescent Rose, shifting it to rifle mode, and scurried off quietly to follow these two. She bounded from cover to cover as stealthily as she could, Zwei however was loosely following her, lolling his tongue, and was curious at what his human was doing.
The second one decided to verbally vent, "Hahh, I just want to be done already, I can't stand that human, Torchwick! Why Brother Adam chose to partner with a guy like him, is beyond me! First, we get ordered out of the city because a few Huntsman got nosy, then he's got us filling that stupid train with all that dust!"
"Yeah! I hear you, Brother Cobe! And we stole all that dust for this?! To blow a hole in Vale and let Grimm in?" Ruby's eyes shot wide open, covering her mouth before she could gasp! "I mean, come on! How're we supposed to get equality if there's no government or infrastructure to uphold it?" Ruby silently pulled out her scroll to call her team but couldn't get a signal, she was too far from Vale's CCT.
'Cobe' just shrugged, "I don't know… Hey… what's that? Look! Down the street!" Ruby looked ahead of the White Fang to see what they saw. What came into view sent a familiar chill to her very bones, and all the colour in her face ran and hid from the world in fear! Down the street stood a shadow, a silhouetted figure stood plume center of the road about fifty metres ahead of the sentries and a hidden Ruby. What was frightening about it was that it was the same frame as the creature Ruby saw not ten minutes ago… and it wasn't alone… two more shadowy figures stood scattered on the road near the first. Ruby heard whimpering, she glanced down to see even her Corgi companion was afraid! Ears flattened, short tail curling up what little it could to show it's submissive fear with eyes pleading his human to run.
"What the fuck, what are those?!" the unnamed White Fang member shouted in terror. The figures started to move, fazing from one position to the next, growing ever closer to them.
"I-I-I Don't Know!" Cobe's voice started stuttering, starting to back-pedal three metres behind his partner as the unknowns closed in on them, "Shit! Shit! What's going on here!?" If Ruby wasn't having nightmares after the first time these things showed up, she was going to now, as its fuel began to pour! Two of the creatures fully materialized in front of the unnamed White Fang, one dead center in front of him and the other flanking its buddy to its rear-left, the center one raised its arms to splay the hands on either side of the man's head, the Faunus raised his Dust-laser rifle to meet it. At the same time, the third showed up a metre away from the one named Cobe, its right-hand mere inches from his face. Though covered by a Faunus mask, his face was locked in terror.
It only seemed to get worse from there, as time seemed to be slowing down, Cobe's masked face moved - his focus shifting from the towering behemoth, to his partner. He looked at him with equal terror that should've been directed to the monste-, "GAAHHH! You're not gonna take me Freak! Ahh, I don't wanna die!" He held down the trigger on his rifle, the hiss and cracking of laser fire breaking the silence of the night. Ruby gasped loudly at what she saw, as the first Faunus now had two sizzling holes in his back cutting deep inside him, his mind was too unfocused to raise his Aura. the man slumped, dropping his rifle but not falling down, suddenly unsheathing a dagger.
"Grraahhh!" He bared his fangs back at Cobe, literally, with four canines gleaming in the moonlight. His uniform had come loose, his Faunus mask and hood slipping off, as he sped to his former companion. His blonde-haired head revealed Cat-ears, he had pale green eyes that were glazed over, but full with intent to kill those in his path. Cobe fired three more shots, all missing the mark, as the other one jumped on him and forced them to the ground, knocking the rifle out of Cobe's hand. "Die, you Grimm fuck! You killed COBE!" Taking the combat dagger in both hands, the Faunus plunged the weapon into Cobe's left eye, piercing the Faunus mask before a wet squelching noise was heard. But he didn't just stop, he started to repeatedly stab the face of the now-dead comrade; with half of his victim's face starting to cave in as more flesh and bone was ripped out with each retraction of the blade.
"Hah! Hrrnn! Graahh!'' After administering the final blow, leaving the dagger embedded in the body's skull, the man leaned back. He seemed to be coming to his senses, as he was taking notice of his hand, blood-caked up to his forearms. His face was permanently morphed from rage to absolute horror as he was unable to process what had happened. "Brother Gods Above! What Have… I… Done?!" He wheezed out the last word as the life was sucked from his eyes, the adrenaline subsiding, leaving him to succumb to his own wounds, his lifeless body slumping to the side…
Ruby couldn't speak, how could a fifteen-year-old talk after a show like that! The shakes from the first time came back, and boy did they make her feel unsteady, her hands couldn't keep a hold on Crescent Rose. it slipped out of her hands, dropping to the floor and accidentally Discharging A Dust Round…!
She froze… She didn't want to look up lest be caught in their Telepathic semblance, which they all somehow possessed! And an Invisible-Poltergeist type power to boot! But she still needed to fight, in case the worst was about to happen. So, with what dwindling, meek, courage she could scrounge up she rapidly collected Crescent Rose again. Shifting it to Scythe-form, she began twirling it around to get the feeling back in her fingers, and slamming it down, the tip of the blade embedded itself into the bitumen road. The Creatures were still there staring at her, they hesitated, but they seemed to have got the message as the three humanoid beasts started to take steps back, then were turning and sprinting on all fours in direction of a building entrance, not before vanishing their physical bodies into their shadow-forms then disappearing completely.
"Pah! Hah… Hah… Oh, Gods!" Ruby finally let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, shifting Crescent Rose back to Compact-form and storing, she went to run back to her team but stopped, glancing back she took notice at the signs of the building those things supposedly were running to.
Metro Entrance, Glenn Station to Vale.
Then she looked back at the dead White Fang bodies, face full of distraught over their fates.
'They did mention something about a train full of Dust… I need to tell Professor Oobleck!' Not bothering to correct herself on her teacher's official title, she started to sprint back to camp with tears streaking from her eyes, "Gods Above! This is just too INSANE! First one, now three?! And if there really is an underground part of the city, is that where those things have been hiding all this time?! Does that mean Mom, 'The Demon', Actually faced them when she left? But How Could That Be!? Dad said Mom went missing on a mission North of Va-'' Crunch! Ruby wobbled to a stop, her canine second right by her, she looked down to see the ground had dipped with a spider web of cracks… with Zwei and her at the center!
"Uh-oh!"
The ground gave way, opening a void to the dark abyss below, she was able to grab a handhold at the edge of the hold, while snatching the Corgi by the scruff of its neck. They dangle there for a moment, Zwei whimpering and Ruby grunting to hold on tighter. Swinging her arms a bit she was able to throw Zwei back onto solid ground. However, the shift in weight caused the rubble chuck she was grasping to come loose!
"GAAHH!" She then fell down into the pitch-black darkness, Zwei's head poking over the edge barking was all she could see until the distance was too great. Before she adjusted herself to prepare for landing, she slammed into the roof of a three-story building in the undercity, Her Aura clinging to hold itself together, however, the trauma to the head caused her to slip into unconsciousness.
Pain. Her Aura had taken the impact for her but didn't stop it transmitting the pain of pancaking a surface to her nervous system.
Taste. She started to come too, enough to get functions in her face, and now she could taste dry dusty dirt in her mouth.
Sight. Her eyelids flexed and squeezed shut tighter, then fluttered open with great resistance. Her eyes took in what information they could through her haze, her blurred vision slowly started to focus; she was belly down on a concrete floor, her left-hand inches from her nose whose fingers were curling in to make a fist. Blinking a few times, she sent commands to the arms, and though they screamed in great protest, she managed to get them under her and pushed up. Elbows wobbled as she found the strength to sit up.
Ruby took some deep breaths, then stood up to get her bearings, and laid beyond her was astonishing! The vast view before was like the city above, but underground! Decayed and dilapidated buildings dotted Mountain Glenn's entombed undercity.
"Woah! This is kinda cool, creepy, but cool! Now… how do I get back?" Before she could start exploring for an exit, a rumbling sound was heard above and she thought she heard screaming…
"RRRUUUBBBYYY!" She looked up to see Weiss falling straight for her, flailing her arms.
"Gaah-!" She was cut off as the two girls slammed into each other, "Guuhhh… Why…?" When Ruby opened her eyes again, her cheeks started to feel warm, as she was nose to nose with her partner - icy blue eyes staring back at her silver ones, unlike Ruby's look of embarrassment, she held no emotion save for annoyance.
Around them the rest of their party landed with more skill and grace; Yang firing off her gauntlets to decelerate herself, landing in a tuck-and-roll technique, Blake was next, swinging in on her ribbon before retracting Gambol Shroud and impacting the ground in a low squat. Doctor Oobleck came down next, using Antiquity's Roast's Flamethrower-form to soften his landing while he cradled Zwei in his free arm. Blake and Yang deactivated their weapons then stored them.
With Weiss still on top of her, she could only croak out a small response as she blushed, "I-uhh… eheheh…" She only got a huff back before Weiss sat up still straddling her partner.
Her cross face still held true, "You Dolt!" Weiss began as she sent a right jab to Ruby's left shoulder which she flinched at. "Where were you?! First, you tell us about a big scary non-Grimm monster, then you disappeared after Zwei left and when you didn't come back, you started making us worried sick!"
"I'm really sorry!" Ruby meekly replied.
"Hmph! As Team leader, it is your duty-" Weiss practically shoved her index finger into Ruby's face, making her let out a tiny 'Eep!' "-to take care of the team and be responsible, we can't be worrying about you all the time!"
Weiss finally got up and offered a hand to her partner, to which Ruby gladly accepted and was hauled to her feet. She took account of all those present before asking, "So what happened to you guys?"
Doctor Oobleck dropped Zwei and pushed up his glasses then took a step forward, "Well, Miss Rose. After a certain amount of time since you had left and didn't return, and Miss Xiao Long couldn't find you from her watch post, the girls thought it prudent to wake me and inform me of your encounter with this mysterious semblance-carrying Creature of yours. Now I will ask you… is what you say truly accurate? A telepathic semblance and the ability to go invisible?" Ruby frown then nodded, "Most concerning… And-Most-Fascinating!" He smiled proudly before taking a sip from Antiquity's Roast.
"Uhh… What?" Yang replied with a dumbfounded face.
"Think-about-it-Students! An-entirely-new-subspecies-of-humanoids-like-the-Faunus-has-just-been-discovered! Why-as-an-archeologist-and-historian, to-be-apart-of-history-in-the-making-is-most-exhilarating!" He grinned madly as he threw his hands in the air to emphasize his point, his thermos flying up with his right hand, spraying coffee behind them., "Ahem, as to how we fell. When we went to search for you, we could only find the Canine here - barking over the edge of a newly formed hole. When we went to inspect it, the ground was, unfortunately, more unstable than first predicted… the ground under us gave way, and down we fell." He finished, taking another sip of coffee.
"Now-Miss-Rose, as-I-have-already-informed-your-teammates; allow-me-to-catch-you-up!" Their teacher took a pause to sip his coffee again and slowed himself down. "As you can see, Young Lady, The city above wasn't the only attempt by the people to make a settlement outside the walls of Vale, after the first city fell, the people dug out a new one under the old ruins in the mountain, with an underground train going to and from Vale. It worked for a time… However, subterranean Grimm managed to breach the city… turning what you see before into the world's biggest tomb! The railway leading to Vale has since been sealed off. Students, I must apologize, for our hunt for Criminals and Terrorists may have been unfruitful due to my negligence in not factoring in the undercity… Our targets may very well have been hidden under our feet for the entire duration of the mission without us finding a single clue! Ahead of us now, lies our objective, be prepared for hostile attacks from this moment forward!" Weiss, Blake, and Yang simultaneously acknowledged him.
Ruby hesitantly raised her hand, "Uhh-Um… Proffes-"
"Doctor!"
"Doctor Oobleck, about those Criminals…When I went to get Zwei I spotted some White fang guys… When I followed them I overheard them talking about a train loaded with Dust they were going to use to attack Vale… Then more of those Things attacked and… killed them… or each other… I don't know what happened, there are three of them and they just came up to the Fang guys, and the next thing I knew they were attacking each other like they were Grimm…"
"That is most disheartening to hear, Miss Rose! Come-Students, we-must-proceed-down-to-the lower-part-of-the-city-and-disable-the-train-before-it-can-leave! Be-on-high-alert-for-patrols-and-ambushes!" Oobleck's orders were halted when an explosion was heard far across the entombed city, followed by screams and gunfire, "Ladies, with me!"
Oobleck scooped up Zwei the Corgi and bounded off the three-story building landing in the street below, his charge of Huntresses-in-training followed suit withdrawing their weapons and were running after their teacher. Ruby's instincts were flaring, something was off… there was no roar of Grimm, no indication that the Grimm's attraction to the area had allowed them to find the undercity so soon! Something was definitely wrong here…
As they ran the length of the city, drawing closer to the sounds of battle, the one thing that stood out for the group was the screams emanating off the nearby battlefield. No joyous rally to face one's foe, no angry cry of defiance… These just held a single wafting tone, one sole emotion that was echoing across the entire city from the combatants, which Team RWBY assumed were the White Fang, in the face of the unknown adversary.
Before she could react, Ruby's vision started to blur…
"She is here!-She is Here!" The same voice from before stated.
"Has she come-Has she come-to Destroy Us?!" Another voice asked.
Fear!
The stench of fear that was pulsating off the, as of yet unseen battlefield, began to infect Ruby. She stumbled in her march to battle, Her sister, Yang, managed to catch her and steady her little sister as they ran… She could see the young one's silver eyes staring off to space in blank terror!
'No! No.. No No-No-No! Not Now!' Ruby started to lose control of her heart and her hands started shaking again.
"Like Mother-Like Mother, Like Daughter-Daughter…" The first voice replied matter-of-factly. Ruby was too out of it to notice, but Yang's pupils dilated… She had heard them too!
Her vision and hearing started to come back, taking notice that her party had stopped a few corners away from the fighting, they all crouched around her with faces of worry as she had been carefully lowered down to the pavement.
"Ruby?" Blake asked, her bow-hidden cat ears flattened to show her concern. Her eyes darted right to see Yang, her pupils retracted and bottom lip quivering… Ruby's arm flew up to Yang's shoulder at semblance speed, grabbing a tight, shocking grip on her sister.
"D-Did you hear it?!" Yang jittered quick, short nods.
"Hear what?" Weiss asked a cocked eyebrow, her face showing she was scared to know.
"Those things! They're here, somewhere! They got into Ruby's and my head! I'm betting we heard the same thing, yeah?!" She looked down at her sibling who meekly nodded.
"S-Something about Mothers and Daughters…" Ruby squeaked out, to which Yang replied with her own nod.
"Gods." Weiss gasped out, "They really do all have a telepathic semblance… or something…" Ruby and Yang could look on in terror quietly.
Dr. Oobleck cleared his throat, "Ladies, while I understand your fear and heightened stress levels, I need to remind you to try and reign them in, lest we bring Grimm down on us!"
Yang gave an incredulous look, "Are you serious, Sir? These… these things aren'tGrimm, if Ruby is right, these are sentient beings who are actively assaulting our minds! How can we be calm at a time like this?!"
"Guys…?" Blake interjected.
"Yeah, Blake?" Ruby asked her.
"Do you... hear that…?" Her eyes were tracing the abandoned buildings around them, going high from window to window, while her bow twitched continuously.
Weiss frowned, "I don't hear anything."
Blake matched her frown, "Exactly!" she responded in a heavy quiet tone.
She was right! None of them could hear anything beyond their own breathing… What happened to the sounds of battle?! That question hung in all their hearts. Oobleck got up, quietly and softly stepping over to the next corner of their intended path, taking his Thermos, Antiquity's Roast, and shifting it to its Flamethrower-form. Motioning his students to follow, he silently crept around the corner. Team RWBY got up to follow, Ruby Shifting Crescent Rose to Rifle-mode, Yang reactivated Ember Celica, Weiss spun Myrtenaster's chamber till Ice-Dust was selected, and Blake readied Gambol Shroud in Gun-form. Keeping close to their teacher, they wordlessly stalked closer to their objective.
Passing over a mound of rubble in the street from a collapsed building, their target came into sight down the road; the Mountain Glenn Train Station. Still keeping silent, Dr. Oobleck waved his hand to his students before breaking into a quiet trot as he picked up the pace, Team RWBY following suit and Zwei behind them, trying to keep up as much as his stubby legs could. The Train Station was straight ahead past a T-intersection at the end of the road, however you could only turn right due to the left road being blocked off by mountains of concrete, metal rebars, and sharp glass. As they neared the intersection, A White Fang Fighter stumbled into the middle of it.
He seemed heavily exhausted, a pistol hung loosely in his right hand as his left was busy… holding a nasty and bloody wound to his left side. Team RWBY readied themselves to fight but Oobleck held up his hand, he glanced back at them shaking his head. Antiquity's Roast was turned back into a thermos, Oobleck adjusted his glasses and took on the least threatening posture and facial expression he could. Calmly but slowly, he walked towards the injured Faunus with the intent of providing aid.
Unfortunately, it was too late, the Wolf-tailed Faunus keeled over, dropping to the cracking, cold, hard bitumen. Ruby's nerves had been too sensitive recently, she screamed, clinging to Yang for comfort. Oobleck rushed to the body, pressing two fingers to the man's neck before sighing in defeat, the Huntsman back to his four terrified Huntresses-in-training and sadly shook his head.
He started to mentally curse his luck, 'Damn it, Ozpin! This is turning into more of a horror movie than a mission… why, I would have brought actual fourth-year students here if I'd known, and not young first-years!' He sighed again, then got up to his full height and faced to address said first-year students.
"I'm sorry, students, for young ladies such as yourselves to see a sight like this... so early in your training. Haah, however… As Huntresses, if there is one thing you now must learn if you are to continue in this career, is that beyond the safety of Vale's walls, even beyond the frontier settlements, death… is a constant here in the wastelands. And if this poor fellow is any indication, I fear more fallen bodies may lay ahead, as they seem to have lost this battle…" Oobleck could look on solemnly as Team RWBY gulped.
"L-Let's just stick to a simple plan; get to that train, disable it from leaving then head to the surface and call for backup, sound good, team?" Ruby asked quietly. The rest nervously nodding their assent.
Oobleck smiled, trying his best to boost their morale, "An excellent plan, Miss Rose! I'll take point!"
But before they could press on, Ruby started to feel dizzy, a familiar pain reaching her head… around her, her teammates and teacher were also clutching their heads in agony…
"Even when forced-forced-to come to this other world, our cries for help-help-are answered with fear and hostility… Is THIS all of Humanity are capable of-of?" The same, resentful, voice started again. Having been exposed to it before, Ruby was taking the pain and mental invasion better than the rest, she gritted her teeth through the pain and readied Crescent Rose.
First-timers; Weiss, Blake, and Yang, however, weren't coping as well… the voice they heard had them panicking worse than Ruby did when it all first started. With such a strong attack hitting everyone's minds, their very Auras felt threatened! Each Huntsman and Huntresses' Auras glowed and pulsated as if they were being physically punched, and if it weren't for them protecting their bodies, they would have collapsed due to the telepathic link overloading their minds and nervous systems.
"If this Whelp-If this Whelp-is anything like her mother… She can take us Back!-Back!-Back to the air we breathe!" The second voice came back to debate with the first, Yang locked eyes with her younger sister, both faces frozen in confused fear…
'Same again?' Yang silently mouthed to her sibling, to which she got a nod as a reply. The message confirmed they were once again hearing the same thing.
"Ruby Rose-Ruby Rose…" Her heart stopped, "Daughter of the Silver-Eyed Demon-Demon-... We Need You! You have a power-You have a power-locked deep inside you-inside you-... The power to take us Home!" The second voice sounded like it was pleading with her.
The humans and cat-Faunus collected themselves, Oobleck showing a serious, concerned look for his Students, "Quickly, now! We must disable the train before It can harm the people and then retreat to the surface! forget fighting, just run for It!"
"Yes, Sir!" They started to charge around the available right-turn, heading in the direction where the collapsed White Fang member had come from, his wounded body leaving a bone-chilling, bloody trail for them to follow.
They reached their destination but then skidded to a halt… what lay before them would stick with them for years.
Bodies. So many bodies. It was a massacre… dozens of White Fang Faunus lay dead or dying, lying in varying states of dysfunction and dismemberment… By Oobleck's educated eye, he guessed about a hundred casualties, looking over the closest corpses, some had just dropped dead on the spot! Blood leaking from their nose and ears, all four if they were an ear-trait. The others were more disconcerting; it seems as though half of the White Fang forces had just suddenly turned on their friends… many had been cut, decapitated, dismembered, or ripped into fleshy husks! The cause of which trailing to a Brute of a Faunus, slumped down to his knees, his right hand still held tight on his chainsaw-bladed sword, the chain and blade were caked and gunked up with fresh blood, bone fragments, and bodily flesh of all kinds. His cause of death was a crater-sized hole in his chest cavity going all the way out his back.
Passed the station and down tracks, where portions of the dead littered, was the train; the locomotive near the tunnel entrance leading to Vale, behind it were two flatbeds, fully loaded with stolen Atlesian Paladin prototypes, following along were a dozen freight cars, the last three being 'marked' with the carnage of the battle.
That was it! Ruby couldn't take it anymore… She held it back during the vision with the Soldier, She held it back when those two White Fang savagely murdered each other! But this was TOO MUCH! The stench of blood and death wafted in the air until she dropped to her knees and hunched over as a hand flew up to her mouth, she tried to hold it in again… But she just couldn't hold it in anymore, she felt a wrenching feeling in her gut before the dam burst. The feeling raced up her throat till stomach bile and half-digested food matter from dinner fled from her mouth and leaked in between her fingers. She continued to heave and coughed out her entire stomach.
Weiss wasn't far behind, the smell was tickling her nose and the sight of her partner caused her own guts to expel, staining the brim of her combat skirt and one of her heels.
Oobleck didn't express anything, but he knew he had to do something, "Stay here girls, I'll go handle the train alone, instead." Yang and Blake nodded, Blake had knelt down to aid her leader, wiping her mouth with a handkerchief. An arm around the small girl's shoulders to comfort her as she shivered and convulsed from vomiting, while Yang had Weiss in her arms, rubbing circles on her back. Oobleck went to move ahead of the group and into the blood-soaked field of death but was stopped… the same looming darkness returning to their minds.
The three grey-skinned Creatures from before had materialized their bodies a mere half-a-metre from the group, facing Ruby head-on in a wedge formation. Time slowed to a crawl, Oobleck was fumbling to bring his weapon to bare; new species or not, he would defend his endangered students. Yang had immediately sprung to action, readying to throw a dust-powered punch to the central monster's mouth. But it was too late, for the creatures were faster; the central beast casually raised its arm to Ruby, she could only watch with tears overflowing from her eyes as the ghastly thing inched its hand to her head. When its palm made contact with Ruby's brow, everything went white for everyone.
It Had Started…
When her vision came back, Ruby found herself, 'FALLING!?'
"AAHHH-Guhh! Ow..." Ruby quickly pushed herself up to check her surroundings. She was back in the Creatures' 'Dream-world', if the jigsawed design of rubble that made up the hallway she was in had any meaning. Ruby shook her head, her headache still present but fading… what was replacing it was a weird itchy-stingy feeling in the back of her eyes.
While figuring which way to turn, another quick flash appeared; She felt something, something was behind her. Slowly glancing over her shoulder, the colour from her face immediately ran cold, and her jaw slacked. One of the grey creatures stood tall, a good two metres behind her, a glow emanated behind it, and shone over its shoulders towards Ruby.
Before she gave it a chance, she was off running, the debris made hallways turning out to be a maze of some kind.
"Even Children-Even Children-Hated by their parents wish to love and understand them… we wanted to understand humans. We wish-We wish-to understand your people of the other world-other world, Remnant, too." The second, empathetic, voice boomed into her head, pleading its case.
"But even as we are forced to this new world, by the Demon-Demon! We are met with Fear and Bloodshed! We offer Peace, but are given a blade to our throats!" The first, resentful, voice retorted.
Tears were flowing unchecked as Ruby ran as fast as her legs could take her down the hallways, frantically trying to find an escape, she turned right, she turned left, but couldn't reach the end of this maze.
Flash!
"Ahh!" She screamed and skidded as the Creature had appeared in front of her! She doubled back the way she came but found the hallway behind her had changed… offering a different route to the one she took. To gain some distance, she activated her semblance, forcing her semblance to take her faster and faster, rose petals began to shed off her cloak till she made it to the end of the hall and took the new right turn. She began to repeat the process of long halls and sharp turns until she was trapped! She ran and ran around a left turn that seemed to loop around itself with no exit. Ruby really started to panic as she ran this infinite loop until a small voice in the back of her head asked, 'If That's not working, how about the other way?' Ruby paused, anything was worth a shot now, and started to double back; three turns later she was back on a new hallway.
Flash!
"Ahh! Ahahaha-Oww!" She had made a few more twists and turns before the flash came again, this time causing her to flat-face into a T-intersection. Her top lip now felt wet, and her tongue tasted a tangy-iron flavour to it, she then brought two fingers up and when she saw them again; they had been dipped in a sticky red fluid… "Huh?!" She reapplied her fingers and they came back tipped with more of her blood. Somehow her Aura had failed, and now she was bleeding from the nose. This made her fear of the unknown reach new heights, and the sting in the back of her eyes was increasing.
Flash!
Her eyes shot up, acting on her instincts she checked and low-and-behold, It was calmly stalking her down the left path. As she went to start running again down the opposite hall, rubbing the blood away with her sleeve, her adversary spoke again.
"We Seeked Out-We Seeked Out-Humanity in the tunnels to offer an alliance," 'Resentful' remarked, before it spat out, "Then She showed herself… The Silver-Eyed Demon!-Silver-Eyed Demon!"
The 'Empathy' started, "She could understand us-us-but refused to listen… killing our kin in her path…" The voice sounded deeply saddened at that fact, "We questioned her-questioned her-why-why-she did this, but in doing so, we unknowingly brought forth her memories-memories. And… Her power-power…"
"I don't understand!" Ruby screamed back, "Humanity in the Tunnels?! Demons?! I don't know ANYTHING about that!" As Ruby ran, she was presented with a closed 'airlock' of some kind with a wheel crank on the door, her only option was to open it and hope this was an escape.
"Hrrkk!" The crank seemed to be slightly rusted, forcing Ruby to apply as much strength as she could but a lack of sleep was giving just as much resistance as was the door. Then a tipping point was reached and the wheel flew, releasing the screw bolt causing the door to fly open. Quickly stepping through and slamming it shut, Ruby then leaned against the airlock, taking long raspy gasps of air to catch herself up after running for so long. The temperature had somehow dropped as steam now puffed with each breath.
After her lungs started behaving themselves, she started assessing her surroundings. She was outside? With a raised eyebrow and curled lip, Ruby gazed on at the snowy forest she was in… it was somehow familiar. It was like a world of silver, where everything sparkled in the moonlight.
Snow-covered trees? Check. Windy breeze? Check. Shattered moon? Check again. Weird airlock with monsters behind it? She glanced at the door she was leaning against then shivered, 'Check! Ok, so… I'm still under their telepathy, but hopefully I can 'think' my way free… yeah, leave the jokes to Yang, Ruby.'
"Hah, this day has just been a rollercoaster of weird, creepy, terrifying, then weird again…"
Seeing as there was no need to run, she just explored calmly ahead of her. The fear and pain she had been feeling was gone, her nose still stung a little, but otherwise, the only thing was the unexplainable feeling building in her eyes. Despite all this, Ruby couldn't help but feel a warm nostalgia being here, it was a false projection of course, but… she knew this place somehow. Soon the trees started to lessen, giving way to a clearing that led to a snow covered cliffside knoll. Then it hit her like a train; this was the Cliffside Forest on Patch, with her mother's grave just ahead - maybe it meant something being brought here, she could only guess as to why.
Stepping out of the treeline, she made her way to the grave, audibly crunching snow with each step. Halfway across, she could see the grave, but someone was also there, their white cloak softly fluttering with the breeze. She didn't notice them before because said cloak blended well with the environment, they seemed to be inspecting the grave and were deep in thought. Ruby took another crunch into the snow, drawing the attention of the cloaked figure.
"Oh, hello there young girl. Are you lost or something?" a voice spoke from the hood. Somehow it was similar to a voice she heard today.
"Ehehe, yeah, you could say that…" Ruby replied with an awkward smile while rubbing the back of her head.
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't notice you, I was… distracted." Though she replied honestly, Ruby was having trouble gauging her emotions under the hood.
"Y-Yeah, been there, bought the shirt. hehe" she laughed, so did the cloaked person.
The hooded one turned back to the grave, "Well, I was just thinking… about a certain day in my past, a very defining day for me actually, I had to make a choice that day. Two paths I had to choose, with very different challenges and outcomes. I eventually picked one, but in doing so, I fear I hurt the ones I love."
Ruby's smile dropped, "Oh… I'm sorry to hear that."
The person shrugged, "Don't be, I made peace with it a long time ago. Had to make a new life out of it but I managed."
A far-off explosive rumble was heard, both Ruby and the mystery person looked behind them. Above them, above the treetops, high in the sky, a large missile of some kind was climbing. It raced faster, higher, smoke billowed as its thruster propelled it up to the clouds. Then two more were seen chasing after the first, then their flight path changed at the desired altitude; they curved back to the ground, at one's best guess, they would impact just beyond Patch's shore.
"And it looks like History may repeat itself, but for you, Ruby…" She nearly got whiplash snapping back the hooded person, their hands began going up to their hood. "I'm sorry, of what happened and… what's to come. My only regret was not watching you grow up, Little Gem." Off came the hood… There she was, Summer Rose, as she was from little Ruby's memories from thirteen years ago, but she was only showing a sad smile.
Flash! Boom!
Before she could get a word in, Several things happened at once, behind her, the three Creatures had finally caught up. Staring Ruby down, not with hostile intent, their emotions felt fearful, of what? She couldn't decipher. In front of her was more interesting… to say the least.
The missiles made landfall far from them on Patch's border. Instantly changing the landscape; Three mushroom-shaped clouds now dominated the skies above. The snow just evaporated, the trees were burnt back to the trunks and were charred black, the explosions were so bright it almost seemed like day. Ruby shielded her eyes until they adjusted. When she looked again, Summer had somehow changed too, she was now wearing the uniform of the Soldier from before but the helmet face shield was flipped up, she looked older, tired, and her emotions felt different. Like in the first vision, all Ruby could feel was Sadness, Loneliness, Hatred, Rage pulsating off her mother - but this time it was not pointed at her, it was pointed at her victims; like before, Ruby took notice of the floor, bodies scattered in front of her, all with a small collection of bullet wounds. Bullet casings and empty magazines were sprinkled around the dead, with the assault rifle laid near the last human corpse.
By the cliffside, the gravestone was blocked from Ruby's view due to the corpse of a dead 'Dark Creature' of the same kind that stood behind her right this minute. It had Summer's boot on its 'neck' area, its chest cavity smashed and cut to ribbons by the axe that Summer held in one hand, the axe's blade oozing freely of freshly sourced blood.
The view caused her tears to well up, and the intense feeling in the back of her eyes grew.
"NO!" She screamed then turned back to face the three ten-feet tall beasts behind her, shouting in their face. "Mom's not a killer! She's… She's… She's d-d-dead! SHE'S DEAD! OKAY?! She disappeared when I was a baby and never came home! Why are you showing me this?! Why are you doing this to me, to my friends?!" Behind them the blastwave from the missiles was racing to consume them, the heat was getting intense, evaporating any tears Ruby shed.
To her right was a creature with a red glow behind it, she guessed was 'Resentful', to her left was a white glowing creature, 'Empathy', she imagined. The middle third one had no glow to it, it took a step forward, "Little one, we are sorry, but this is the only way for us to seek out your hidden powers and activate them. To open a void to the world we call home. And now we have a task for you, some of our kin fear our chosen one will take the wrong path, which will mean death to both races. Ruby Rose… you must become the catalyst, the bridge between our people, our worlds."The calmer, more soothing voice echoed to her mind. He brought up his hand and lightly tapped Ruby's forehead. He looked at her with his big, pleading eyes. "Break the cycle, little one. Else… I truly fear what will befall our two races…"
That was it! That was the trigger! The feeling, the energy that had been building in her eyes raced forth, Ruby's eyes shot wide open - white light poured out of her, but her body was not used to it yet. She was spent - darkness overtook her just as the approaching blastwave's flames licked her back. In the depths of her subconscious, all she could feel around her was weightlessness - like she was drifting, floating to somewhere. She didn't regain consciousness for several hours…
CUT!
Well! What a whopper! I actually had more planned, but it ended up on 10k before I could get to part two… but it was worth it! The detail, horror, and psychological writing I did was something I have never written before in my life! Not bad for a first try if I do say so myself!
Rose of the Metro was originally started by the Author Wernher von Braun, under a T-rated fic. I was so inspired, that I decided to have a crack at it since he had zero intentions of picking it up again and has left it off to me.
As this is a Redux (HEH!), EVERYTHING is being overhauled and started from scratch. What ya gonna expect in my Fiction? A Metro story that sticks to its M-rating, horror, psychological mind-fuckery, adventure, action, and 'Romantic' rendezvous.
Now I can't take all the credit, no, I got a Co-Author and Beta whose a great friend of mine, Wesley9516. He's had a portion of writing tidbits here and there, Beta checking grammar and scene flow.
Take it away, Wes!
Hey, Wes here, you probably don't know me as the author of Dustfall. I'd been a fan of Rose of the Metro long before I met Ghost. We'd both been working on another author's project together (Ruby-B312) when he approached me about working on this. Of course, I had to accept. As is the duty of all true patriots of Metro series. Most of this chapter was written by Ghost, he deserves the credit for this (and the flak). But I promise I'll actually write a paragraph or two in the next chapter. That's all, thanks for reading folks. (No really! Yell at Ghost, not me!)
And now a word from the Original Author, "I am glad to find out that while I am unable to finish the Rose of the Metro, my story is able to inspire the Author to write his own story. Thus, I give my support for this story." - Wernher von Braun.
Hope you lot enjoyed it!
See you next time on, Rose of The Metro: Redux
*Edited, 15/06/21 - glitched up and messed with me, wiping all my formatting, Bolds and Italics etc.*