Metal like Roses
By ReaderWarrior
I do not own Mistborn or RWBY.
Before the Beginning
Vin was scared. Terrified. Granted, in the life of a Mistborn Skaa who helped overthrow a century-long dictatorship, this was common. But Vin was used to it, used to the constant fear of dying. Dying to an assassin, dying to poison… but not someone else dying. Not him, not Elend.
Vin held Elend in her arms as he was slowly bleeding to death. The mist creature, one she thought she could trust now lingered in a corner, after slicing across Elend's chest. His misted blade striking across Elend, causing him to fall to the ground with shallow breathing. Vin quickly rushed to his side, pulling one of the few people in her life to care for her close to her bosom.
Vin whispers softly "I love you. Elend, I love you." Vin turns to look at the mist creature, angry and confused. "Why?! Were you not helping me? Did you not lead us here to save the world?!"
The mist creature only stands there, watching. But something about it feels... sad?
Reen's voice echoes in her mind: Anyone can betray you. Anyone.
Elend's breathing slows but does not falter. Vin looks back down at Elend and strokes his hair. He looks up at Vin, shock burned into his eyes. Elend forces a small smile then turns to the pool. Vin looks over at the glistening pool, hearing its call in her mind. The Well of Ascension. The powers of a god
I can still save him. Vin looks back at Elend who coughs blood. Oh, Elend. I love you.
Vin sets Elend down and walks over to the pool, stepping inside the pool of liquid-like metal. She takes step after step until she is neck-deep in the pool. As Vin submerges herself fully, her mother's earring begins to burn. Hastily, Vin pulls it out and drops it to the depths of the Well, vanishing from her sight.
At that moment, Vin touches godhood. The Well's power floods into her. The essence of the power that she stepped into seemed to absorb itself into her. Filling every fiber of her with the powers of Infinity. Anything became possible. She could move the planet. She could create continents. She could destroy whole kingdoms.
She could save Elend. She could keep him alive and safe. All she would have to do is to take the power for herself. Like Rashek did so many years ago. Like the Lord Ruler.
But Vin knew what Elend would want, what he would ask of her to do. He would want her to let him die and save the world. He would be the selfless hero who sacrificed himself for the Skaa and innocents in the city above. He would want her to release the power.
You know what you must do. The power spoke into her mind, whispering kindly into Vin's ear. I must defeat the Deepness.
Vin sobbed silently as she sees a vision of Elend looking towards the pool, silently pleading for Vin to do what was right, to leave him to die. To save everyone except for the person she cared about most.
"I love you," whispers Vin as she releases the power of the Well of Ascension unto the world. The cavern begins to shake and rumble as Vin returns to mortality. Gray light shines around her, coming through her and under her. One last thought permeates Vin's mind as she blacks out. A single sentence screaming out from her mind.
I am FREE.
Ruby was scared. Terrified. Granted, in the life of a Huntress who killed demon-like monsters of nightmares, this was common. But Ruby was used to it, used to the constant fear of dying. Dying to a Grimm [1], dying to an evil bandit… but not someone else appearing in a flash of light like one of the old gods!. Not this, not crazy stuff like this.
It was supposed to be a routine Search-and-Destroy. Headmaster Ozpin sent Ruby and her team to go kill some Grimm that were getting too close to Vale. And too close to a small outskirt village.
And, all was pretty much routine. Ruby was enjoying the sound of Crescent Rose slicing and folding in the heat of battle. Blake was being a sneaky ninja, using her semblance to distract smaller Beowolves[2] before reappearing behind them with a slice of her katana-pistol, Gambol Shroud. Weiss was speeding across the field with her glyphs, stabbing and freezing Ursai [3] that got too close to the town. Her rapier, Myrtenaster, was a streak of silver with excellent grace and form from its wielder. Lastly, Yang was punching any Grimm who dared get too close to her half-sister, Ruby. Ember Celica, Yang's shotgun gauntlets fired shot after shot with each punch, pushing back and dissolving any Grimm close enough to try and attack them.
"Hey Rubes, don't you think that there's been a lot of Grimm lately? More so than usual?" Yang yells over her shoulder as she fires off another shot. Weiss stabs another Grimm, sliding back over to her teammates as it falls down, disintegrating into a pile of ash.
"There does seem to be a large increase in Grimm numbers, maybe with the Vytal Festival coming up, they can sense the tension between the schools," Weiss calls out before summoning a stream of fire to burn away a few more Grimm.
Blake backflips to where the rest of her team is. "Possibly, but this is a lot, even for that. JNPR said that they were having problems with them too when they went out a few weeks ago as well". Blake pops off a few shots from Gambol Shroud at one of the last 2 Grimm in the area, leaving only an average-height Beowolf.
Ruby quickly runs over to it, "mine!" Crescent rose quickly unfolds as Ruby uses her semblance to speed around behind and above it, before slicing down on its head. Ruby lands on her feet, her scythe half penetrating the soft earth as the Grimm vanishes. "Who cares," she asks, "it's not like we can't handle it. As long as we're here, we can handle anything!" Ruby sheathes her weapon as she walks back over to her team.
It was at this moment, 'anything' became 'almost anything'.
As Ruby ran back to her friends, a loud booming could be heard as a gray light burst forth. Weiss gasps as Blake gets into a defensive position. Yang rushes forward. "Ruby!"
Ruby just stares into the light. It felt warm, comforting. It… reminded her of Summer Rose, her mother.
The light began to dissipate, dimming until all that remained was a girl, about 17-18 years old and unconscious. Yang quickly ran up to Ruby and grabbed her shoulders.
"Are you ok?! Ruby? RUBY!" Yang shakes Ruby as she returns to reality.
"Huh, yes! Yang stop! I'm fine!". Ruby looks over Yang's shoulder as she turns to face the young woman on the ground. Weiss and Blake step tentatively towards them.
"Who is that?"
Well, there you go! My first ever attempt at fanfiction. I hope you all enjoyed it and want to read more. If you have any comments, please let me know what you think. Thoughts, predictions, ideas, comments, and even criticism is accepted (but please be nice about it).
[1] Is Grimm capitalized or lowercase? Let me know what you think.