Disclaimer: I don't own either RWBY or Digimon.
A/N: Gonna be a short author's note at the beginning. Not much to say aside from its finally the end of the prologue. I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far. Now without further ado.
R
To children currently enrolled in school, the minutes leading to the final school bell before summer vacation always feels like an eternity. The ticking of the clock like nails on a chalkboard, reminding the children that they aren't free yet, that they're still in school, that summer hasn't started yet. This is where we find 8 year-old Ruby Rose, a short girl with black hair with red tips, pale skin, and silver eyes. She's wearing a sleeveless, red hoodie with a small cape that barely reached her waist attached; a white shirt underneath her hoodie; a black skirt; and a pair of black shoes. Some kids make fun of her cape, they call her childish and say that she's a baby, but Ruby doesn't care what they think; her mom wore a cape so that means that capes are cool, end of discussion. She was currently fiddling with the edge of her cape, waiting for the final school bell to ring, like every other student in the classroom; everyone was simply excited for the next few months without homework, and where they can play and mess around to their hearts' content. To no one's surprise, Ruby was the first one out of the classroom when the bell finally rang, she has always been faster than anyone else her age, even some of those older than her. But something other than her excitement for summer was fueling her steps; every year, her family would always visit someplace special at the end of every school year, the grave of her mother, Summer Rose. It was her excitement for Summer that fueled her speed. Ruby didn't need to stop by her locker, she had already emptied it a few days ago, and instead headed straight for the front of school to meet her dad. She didn't have that many friends, so there wasn't any need to stop and see them first.
When Ruby left the school building, she immediately started looking for her dad, she didn't want to waste anymore time. Her mom's grave is by a cliffside past a forest filled with Grimm, so Ruby can't visit it without her dad or uncle accompanying her. Because of this, her visits are extremely special and important to her, more than most things in the world, even cookies. Once she spotted her dad waiting by the parking lot, she bolted at full speed in his direction until she quite literally ran into him. Falling down from the force, Ruby looks up the towering figure of her dad, Taiyang Xiao Long. He was muscular and had tanned skin; wild, golden blonde hair; and blue eyes. He wore a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve missing to show off his heart shaped tattoo, a leather vest, an orange bandana on his left arm, a small piece of armor on his right shoulder, brown cargo pants, and black shoes. "I thought we talked about looking where you're going when you run. Are we gonna need a father-daughter chat again?" He asked, laughing at Ruby's small mistake. At the mention of the dreaded "father-daughter chat", Ruby's eyes went wide and she immediately replied, "No! The last one lasted for like 3 hours, I don't want to go through that again. Please, it's soooooo booooring."
"It lasted for 15 minutes, and that's only because you kept interrupting me. And it's not boring, it's educational. And maybe if you actually listened to it for once, I wouldn't have to repeat it. And you didn't even apologize this time, I might actually talk for 3 hours now." Taiyang didn't miss a beat with his reply. They have this same argument all the time, its become almost second nature to them. And even though they were "arguing", both of them couldn't stop smiling.
"Heh, sorry," Ruby scratches the back of her head in embarrassment. "I'm just super excited to visit mom today. I have so much to tell her today."
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"Well, I gotta tell her that I graduated to the next grade, that I'm getting better at making her cookies, and that I got taller than the last time we visited." At that last reason, Taiyang bent down and began looking at Ruby, he even mimicked using a measuring tape. "You got taller? I don't see it, you're still my short little Ruby. It's not nice to lie you know."
"But I'm not lying! I grew half an inch since last time!"
The two were then interrupted by a third voice, "Now Ruby, don't get too short with Dad. You know he's just teasing." Walking over to them was Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long. Another blonde, but she had fair skin and lilac eyes. She was wearing a light brown shirt that reached her waist, black shorts, an orange belt going over her shirt, brown shoes, a yellow bandana over her neck, and two small, red ribbons divided her hair into pigtails.
"Yaaaaaaaaang! I'm not short! I drink milk! One day, I'm gonna be taller than everyone!" Ruby began to pout, much to her family's amusement. She was always easy to tease, and the payoff was always worth it.
"Ok, I promise I'll lay off a little bit."
"Thank you." Ruby's pout turned into a satisfied smirk...for a few seconds until she realized what Yang just said, and returned to pouting. Taiyang decided to interrupt before Yang could make another joke, "I know you two are having fun right now. But since that you're both here, how about we get a move on?" He puts his hand on top of Ruby's head saying, "I know somebody is eager to visit your mother's grave." The family set out to the grave of Summer Rose.
Part of their yearly visit to Summer's grave is that all of them have their visit completely alone; while one person is talking to the grave, the other two are off to the distance letting the other have their time alone with Summer. Every year the visits are done in the same order: First is Taiyang, followed up by Yang, and Ruby is the last to speak with Summer. This is because Ruby take up more time talking to Summer than either of the other two. While one of them is speaking to the grave, the other two are completely silent, not wanting to disturb the third despite being some ways away.
While Taiyang and Yang were having their conversations with Summer's grave, Ruby was starting to grow anxious. She had so many things to tell her mom about, and yet she couldn't remember most of them. Not to mention that she didn't have enough time to speak about every thing, so she had to trim them down to the most important, but she can't decide on what's important and what's not. Should she talk about things that her dad and Yang might've already talked about, or should she focus on stuff without the other two? With too many thoughts in her head, she didn't catch Yang walking back to them until Taiyang tapped her on the shoulder. Noticing that it was now her turn, she musters up all of her courage, and begins walking to her mom's grave.
Standing before the gravestone, Ruby stares at the familiar inscription: "Summer Rose / Thus Kindly I Scatter"
"Hey, Mom. It's me, Ruby, but you probably already knew that. I passed another year of school, just barely though. Dad wasn't really happy when I barely passed History and Math with a C, but I still passed, so there's that. Oh! I got a little bit taller the last time we met, half an inch. Pretty soon I'll be taller than Yang. Then she'll be the little sister." Ruby's hesitation and anxiety slowly eased away as she kept speaking about the events of her life. "I made a new friend, I think. We worked on a history project together, and sat at the same lunch table for the year, so I think that makes us friends." Ruby has a little trouble making friends, partly because of her naivety, and partly because Yang insists on vetting anyone who gets close to Ruby, often scaring off would-be friends. "Yang's gonna be able to enroll into Signal in a few years. I wish I was older so that I could enroll the sooner. Dad's already teaching me about Aura and stuff so that I'll be ready, but I wanna hurry up and become a Huntress like you." At this point, Ruby ran out of important things to talk about and started rambling about anything and everything: the newest episodes of her favorite shows, the movies she likes now, the foods she's been eating, and other small things. She was perfectly content just talking and talking and talking, until she was interrupted by a small cough. The interruptor was an awkward looking Taiyang.
"Ruby, I hate to interrupt you, but we were supposed to leave 20 minutes ago." Ruby couldn't help but feel embarrassed. She always did this, always talked for longer than she meant to, despite the fact that they couldn't stay too long because of the Grimm. She says her goodbyes to Summer's grave, and the trio leave for home.
The trip to the Xiao Long cabin wasn't filled with much talking, the trips back are usually solemn despite the energetic natures of both Ruby and Yang. When they finally arrived at the cabin, Taiyang was surprisingly cheerful, much to the shock of his kids, he's usually the last one to cheer up after a visit to Summer. Once the three of them entered the house, Taiyang gestured for the two of them to sit in the living room, and left without a word. The sisters were a little suspicious about how he was acting, but they couldn't really do much about it, so they sat on the couch, waiting for their dad to return.
It took a few minutes, during which the two of them overheard things moving and falling down in another room, but Taiyang returned with his hands behind his back. Ruby couldn't help the curiosity bubbling up inside her, the only time they ever do something like this is either for something serious, or for getting gifts. Because of Taiyang's cheerful demeanor, and the fact that his were hidden behind his back, it was safe to assume the latter.
"Now I know that this happens every year, but you two really made me proud this year. Not like you didn't make me proud every other year, but this year both of you made me especially proud. So, I decided that some rewards are in order." Yang and Ruby were practically bouncing on the couch with excitement. Ideas of present running through their heads, everything they ever hinted at, or said that they wanted flashing before their eyes. "To start things off," his eyes focus onto Yang, who only got more excited at the sudden attention. "While I don't have a physical present to give you-" Yang's expression dropped a little bit. "But! I was thinking that since you're getting older, and Signal is only a few years away, we could begin your training-" He was interrupted by an extremely happy squeal from Yang, who ran up from the couch and began hugging her dad.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank-" Taiyang took a hand from behind his back, and placed it on Yang's head, a small smile adorns his face.
"That we could start your training in small ways. You're still too young to really get into training, but we could still do stuff like finding you a fighting style." Yang backed away in embarrassment. Ruby couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Yang. She really wanted to start training, but she understood that she was too young right now. "And now for Ruby." She squeaked at the sudden attention, not expecting for it to be her turn so soon. Taiyang walked over, bent down, and handed her a wrapped box. Looking into his eyes, Ruby slowly started unwrapping her gift until it was just a brown box. "Go ahead and open it, you deserve it." Hesitating for only a little bit, she opened the box. Inside was a red sheet, no longer hesitating, Ruby gently grabs the sheet and pulls it out of the box.
"You're old one is so small and torn, I thought that it might be time for a new one. I know it makes you feel close to your mother, so I wanted this to be extra special. I had it tailored specifically for you, there's only one like it in all of Remnant. I even made it bigger than it needed to be, so that you could grow into it." Ruby didn't know what to say. In her hands was a new cloak, hood and all. It was longer than her current one by far, her new one reached all the way to her ankles. Yet she didn't put it on, she just held it in her hands and hugged her dad, thanking him for the present.
"I was also thinking, that since the two of you are older and more responsible, that later in the summer, we might get a pet. Again, might get a pet. Nothing is set in stone right now."
That afternoon was spent celebrating and playing games. And after an eventful dinner, one where Ruby "accidentally" threw a pepperoni into Yang's hair, resulting in a family food fight, the young Rose retreated to her room. There, sitting on her bed, was the box containing her new cloak.
Ruby was immensely conflicted: she loved her dad, and wanted to wear his gift, but her old cape was made by her mom before she died. Wearing the new one would feel like rejecting her mom's love, but not wearing the new one would feel like rejecting her dad's. She looked at her cape, she really did outgrow it, and it was extremely worn, and had small rips and tears sewn together by a needle. Yet she couldn't replace it, it just meant so much to her. But how could she explain it to her dad, that she didn't want to wear his gift that he probably spent a lot of money on? Her thoughts are interrupted by a small yawn escaping her lips. This is future Ruby's problem because present Ruby is too tired to deal with it. She put the box in her backpack, someplace she couldn't physically see it, and didn't even both changing into her pajamas, she was just too tired. Heading straight for her bed, she took one look at her backpack, before sleep inevitably took her.
A loud sound woke Ruby from her slumber. Quickly opening her eyes, she saw bright lights from outside her window, strange multi-color lights she's never seen before. She crept closer to her window, slowly moving inch by inch, until she got close enough to open it. The sky was the most beautiful thing she's ever seen, it looked like a rainbow, but better. Ruby was so focused on the lights, she didn't notice the glowing light rising from beneath her window, until it was floating level with her face. And within that glowing light was the same device mysteriously appearing across Remnant. She was just a little kid, with something new and exciting within her reach, so of course she grabbed it without hesitation. The device started pulling on her arm, lifting her off the ground. She tried letting go, but her hand wouldn't listen. She reached out, attempting to latch onto anything to prevent her from leaving, but in her panic, she grabbed her backpack by mistake.
As the mysterious lights in the sky faded away, Ruby Rose was nowhere to be seen.
A/N: And that's a wrap. The prologue is finally finished, and the real story can finally begin. I know that stretching the prologue out to 4 chapters seemed like a weird decision, but I wanted to give each character time to shine before the official start to the story, instead of trying to cram all of their relevant information into a single chapter. But enough about that. Since all the main characters are revealed, leave a review and tell me who you think their partners are going to be. Or just tell me your favorite digimon. They might just make an appearance at some point. Don't forget to point out any mistakes I've made, or areas that I can improve, this is my first fanfiction after all, so I'd appreciate all the help I can get. From this point onwards, the chapters are going to get longer, so the wait time between chapters will larger, so please be patient if it's been a week between updates.
Also, can we get a round of applause for Taiyang, one of the best dad's ever? Dude had a divorce; is a widower; takes care of both his daughters, who look like carbon copies of both his wives, pretty much singlehandedly; doesn't let his own fears get in the way of his daughters' dreams; and his constantly trying to help them grow and improve while offering them a shoulder to lean on should they choose to. Dude doesn't get enough credit. And now his daughters are gone. Their reunion in the next few Volumes better be the best thing to ever grace our screens, or else I'm gonna have a serious problem. Rant over. Sorry, just had to talk about a character I feel like is overlooked by the community.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed and don't mind extended wait times between chapters. I'm trying to get these out to you has fast as I can, without having a drop in quality. Tell me what you thought of the chapter, of the fic as a whole so far, and stuff like that. Because next chapter, we're going digital.