I had this idea buzzing about for a while, first wanted it to get done as a webcomic, but it's ain't exactly easy to get someone to draw a comic for some rando with an 'idea', so I just fell back on writing it. Excited to finally get the first chapter out there after weeks of redrafting it. I'm a sadist at heart, so this premise is very fun and interesting for me to play with, though I think some of you will catch on to what exactly this is inspired by.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this!

A quiet day can offer you many things. And a high priority Huntsman mission deep in Atlas's frozen sea provided many quiet days. A calm chapter in the frequent shake-up of your life's story where nothing can steal away your thoughts, where the calm folding of Atlas's tide soothed the mind, where the distant peaks of glaciers burned the true beauty of nature into your soul and where the only distraction was the soft chill of snow running down your back, keeping you grounded in reality. In the quiet, you had time, you had peace, you had room to think and to ask the questions you never got to appreciate before.

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

Weiss regarded her leader with the waning attention that only sister-in-arms who fought side-by-side with this scythe-wielding oddity could. She didn't scoff, still owing the girl at least offer attention and interest in the question, but there was something deeply comical about the small girl standing on the railing. Such a forcefully solemn frown hanging under the veil of her hood, the cloak itself ruining her attempt to perch like a bird as it flailed in the wind just enough for Weiss to worry that it would snatch Ruby up like a hot air balloon. "That's the fifth time you've asked that."

To her credit, Ruby managed to hold back the tortured moan of a child. Hopping off the railing to avoid any unfortunate accidents with her cape, she landed into a crouch, pulling up her cloak around her knees to push away the chilling winds. She looked up at Weiss with a face that lacked its usual color, lips pursed and silver iris's lazily listing to the side, but Weiss couldn't tell if it was because of the cold or because she was bored. "Well, 'Are we there yet?' didn't seem right when we're not moving." Ruby's fingers poked out between the folds of her cloak, wiggling to gesture to the rest of the Atlas Military Vessel before ducking back under the warm protection of the cloth.

It was times like this that Weiss was relieved to have been raised in Atlas, where the icy tundra surrounding mantel and choking the atmosphere had become commonplace to her body and aura. That's not to say that she couldn't feel the cold. Just watching the ship's crew pick away at the strips of ice infesting the ship made her exposed cheeks feel the pinching of the wind. Still, it wasn't as bad as her friends were making it out to be, no need for Ruby to pack five layers or for Nora to start plucking Yang's hair to get a fire going.

As composed and blunt as ever, Weiss reiterated to her leader what she knew she had sure said before, keeping her tone matter of fact. "We're here because when drawing straws, we drew the red one that puts us guarding the rear-"

The rushed assault of Ruby's wacky flailing arms prompted Weiss to stop her response short, reduced to a quirked eyebrow and thin, disapproving lips. "No, not why we're here in this exact spot. Why are we here, in this universe, in general?" The girl drew out her pronunciation, trying her best to inject an underlying mellowness to her tone that came out as subtle and intelligent as cracking a chair over someone's head.

"Because Salem enraged the God of Darkness and got the first generation of humanity erased?"

Ruby's face scrunched up at the short answer, shuffling closer to Weiss to give her partner the whole disappointed pouting routine where her body language seemed to deflate. "When you put it like that it sounds so depressingly simple."

Weiss crouched down slightly, bringing her index finger up to poke at Ruby's puffed-out cheeks, looking ever more sadistic and cold with that mocking grin. "Welcome to life, Ruby, glad to see you finally joined us."

The condescending finger was pushed away as Ruby shifted her weight to balance on her toes, staring at the silvery sheen of the floor with overblown dismay. "Don't you think it could mean more? That we were meant for more?"

To her credit, Weiss didn't scoff too hard at her leader's half-assed attempt at being 'deep', though the reason for why Ruby was asking these sudden questions eluded her. "Ruby, you're far too young to have an existential crisis."

The heels of combat boots squealed against the metal as a small body scrambled to its feet, taking a dramatic, yet exasperated, pose to valiantly defend some wounded pride with more than enough exaggerated flailing. "I'm not having a crisis! I'm just saying, maybe we could talk about it." Ruby paused, taking a moment to quickly pull her arms back into a casual stance across her chest, immediately recognizing that she was cold again. With her body heat secured, she quietly continued. "I was raiding the local café yesterday and I saw this group of friends. They were in a fierce debate about the current state of Atlas and how they've been dealing with the recent accusations about the SDC." At Weiss's expression of lacking belief, Ruby straightened her posture and tried to make her voice more 'serious'. This meant wagging her finger profusely like when Mr Port told his stories in class. "Are they abusing their Faunus workers? Is this the SDC's fault? Is this just an unfortunate consequence of the workplace culture due to the increased Grimm activity?"

A moment of silence was taken. Weiss leaned back, squinting slightly with a critical gaze over Ruby as the words still didn't click together in her head. "You were listening in on a group of random people so you could hear them discuss business and class politics? Really? You?"

The overused pout appeared once more, her stance widening as knuckles dug into hip bones. "Look, I don't know what most of that stuff means, yeah, but they were having a heated discussion. They were taking an interest in things and not just because it was life and death. We haven't done that since you were a snobby jerk back in Beacon!" At the frown tugging at Weiss's lips and the disapproving glare, Ruby cut herself short to awkwardly laugh and assure Weiss that no offense was meant. "We don't talk anymore, Weiss. Yeah, we joke, we jab, we make quips and speeches to other people, but we don't engage with each other."

The moment her heart-felt confession ended, Weiss was upon her, fingers pulling at her cheeks like a Grandma, as she held Ruby's head tightly in place. "Oh god, you've been reading internet blogs again. Ruby, we told you already, you shouldn't expose yourself to that stuff, you know it makes you loopy." Ruby did not appreciate the prodding, but Weiss had a surprisingly strong grip. "You're not going to start making a fuss out of Qrow's name being spelled with a 'q' again, are you?"

Pale hand batted at Weiss's wrist, turning that tugging frown into the closest thing the Heiress could muster to a teasing smile as Ruby huffed. "I'm just saying that I want you to know that I'm ready to have serious or informative talks with you, Weiss. I'm not just a bundle of one-sided speeches, jokes, and worries. I can have a conversation about our situation and discuss your… Uh… Concerns. I can debate cookies, I can think about philosophy, I can question existence, blah, blah, blah. Just know that we don't have to agree all the time and can argue about stuff. Because that's what best friends do." Getting that all out in one go seemed almost too much for the girl, leaving Ruby sucking back in breath stolen by the cold as she quickly added "…And I'm REALLY, REALLY BORED. Where the hell is this thing!?"

Her complaints weren't without merit. It had been three days since they sat in Ironwood's briefing room at 4 in the morning, coffee cups held between fingers like lifelines, where the good General went over their mission. Reports started with an old tale passed between fishermen of an ancient beast born from the ice around Atlas, dragging boats and islands down to the sea bed never to be seen again. Then that tall tale turned into rumors, then into social media stories until the military vessel 'The Dwarf' was found in a flaming heap in the harbor of a port town. The crew was dead outside of one survivor, who only ended up gunned down when he displayed how determined he was to blow up the ship and take everyone else with him.

"We're investigating sightings, Ruby. It might not even show up today." Weiss knew it made no difference to Ruby, but she had to stress not to get anyone's hopes up. Ironwood has dispatched multiple teams to investigate what happened to the Dwarf, evidence suggesting an attack from a massive sea creature, possibly Grimm. Though team RWBY just saw it as a basic 'Find Monster, kill Monster' mission. It wasn't the first time they were picking up the pieces of a Grimm attack. At least, it probably didn't have anything to do with Salem.

Ruby looked like she was ready to vomit, pulling a long face and leaning over the railing with a steel grip on the bars. "You're just trying to make me suicidal now, aren't you?"

There was a quick eye roll before the Heiress moved to lean over with Ruby, taking a deep breath of the crisp sea air as she stretched out her right hand, gesturing at the shining landscape before them. Weiss could never get over how amazing the sea looked when the light hit it just right, turning it's rippling surface into liquid crystal dancing with the sun's gaze. "I don't see the big deal. This is the perfect opportunity to relax. A mission without Salem coming after us, the sight of the calm sea, the air of nature. Just us on a boat mile away from the shore, in the center of all this beauty."

In sharp contrast to Weiss's breath-taking awe, Ruby sunk to her knees as if she were being forced to be for her life under torture. The same reaction she'd give whenever her father dragged her along on a fishing trip. "How can you stomach all this nothing?! I need action! Why can't I have just paired off with Yang or Jaune?"

Weiss scoffed, extending an accusatory finger right at Ruby's button nose. "Because you'd goof off with Yang and I don't trust you two hormonal teenagers still starting out your relationship alone!" The implication left hanging wounded Ruby greatly. Is she still on that? I swear, I lie to Weiss once about 'training' with Jaune, and I never hear the end of it. "As second in command, I have to make sure our team leader remains focused and vigilant."

Whatever witty retort Ruby could think of was given pause as she locked Weiss with a tilted stare, bewildered. "Since when are you second in command?"

A cross of the arms coupled with Weiss's second round of rolling her eyes. "You're the leader and I'm your partner, thus I am the leader who steps up to the plate when you are unable too. Perfectly logical." She punctuated her claim with a soft poke against Ruby's nose, standing tall with firm confidence in her 'facts' and 'logic'.

"I'm starting to think you're chomping at the bit for a mutiny."

Weiss shrugged. "Well, if anyone were to lead one, I'd be the only one able to do so efficiently."

Ruby gasped with an exaggerated offense, giving Weiss a hard jab in the ribs that a traitor like her deserved. "You're a mean, mean lady."

"I've got movement right side!" Any sense of teasing or back and forth was immediately wiped away by the screeching of Nora's voice over their scrolls, jumping the two huntresses into 'serious' mode. Ruby threw crescent rose over the side of the ship, hooking it onto the rail and falling into a scouting position, peering into the serene blue abyss surrounding them through the most advanced scope a weapons nut could modify. Behind them, military personnel scattered across the ship, picking up weapons and calling out codes to their fellows in arms as they rushed to their stations.

Weiss took up the position behind Ruby, adjusting her posture and raising her beloved rapier with ice dust in toe. Glyphs scrawled themselves on the ship's hull, reaching into Weiss's dust supply with invisible tendrils and dragging ice out between the writing, forming a row of neat ice spikes jutting out of the ship's side. The scroll's activity did not falter. "Don't you mean starboard?" Jaune's voice joined the call, accompanied by the background noise of his feet scraping across the metal floor in a hurry.

There was a throat-based sound that Ruby could only identify as a grunt from Nora, a glance to the side allowing Ruby to catch a brief glimpse of the gingerbread avenger bouncing up on top of the boat's head, trying to get a better perspective before jumping out of sight. "I don't know your made-up terms, Jaune."

Yang joined the fray too, her voice bouncy and energized as her loud and quick footsteps echoed across the ship, almost knocking over a few crew members along the way. "I can see it too! It looks big, might just be our little Messy!" The click of her gauntlets thrusting back into place could be heard even without the scroll, sharing her sister's enthusiasm for activity and dissatisfaction with the previous tedium.

"Messy, seriously?" The blade of Gambol Shroud zipped past Weiss and Ruby as Blake joined in the conversation, soon the cat faunus's agile body coming into brief view as her makeshift grapple shot her across the deck.

"I got sick of calling it 'Weird Alien Fishy Thing'." Ruby resisted the urge to come into the conversation and point out that her suggestion for the name was far superior. A great leader must remain focused on the mission after all, and Ruby was an amazing leading lady, in her own opinion. "Blake, think you can fish it out? It's picking up speed!"

The expected response came in a dull, sarcastic tone. In the corner of her eye, Ruby caught movement just off to the side of her, but by the time she whipped around to the front of the ship, the waves had splashed whatever visuals against the bow. "Yeah, I'll just pull it out of the water with that super strength I don't have."

With speed carrying her feet and Weiss clinging to her hood, the duo launched themselves towards the ship's nose, chasing the brief glimpse of movement. "Come on, if anyone's gonna catch a big fish, it's gonna be the cat." Silence fell over the comms as everyone could feel the cheery grin struggling to contain Yang's laughter at her own joke, which only reminded many how punchable Yang was.

"I swear to god, Yang-" The panicked silence snuffing out Blake's response echoed across the ship, locking everyone into place before Blake's voice returned in a bellow. "Watch out, it's heading right for us!" Action slowed to a full stop, voices dropped to listen to the subtle thrashing of the waves against them, launching all hands on deck to brace themselves against the nearest wall. Ready to move, ready to take the impact, ready for action. As her friendly neighborhood android would say, Ruby was combat-ready, no matter how hard the air, thick with expectation, weighed down upon her shoulders. Ruby held onto the railing while Weiss grounded herself in her glyphs, both of their legs crouched low, building up tension in the springs in their legs fuelled by the pressure of their beating hearts.

Until finally, the ship made contact… With a soft pop that Ruby almost didn't hear.

"Oh," Yang stated.

"Oh?" Weiss's teeth ground together as she slacked her posture to glare down at her scroll.

There was nervous laughter. "False alarm, it's just a bowie caught on a bunch of junk. Seems some smaller fish were dragging it all." Yang's voice picked up in tone, letting out a soft coo as she watched the group of fish with their tiny little fins. However, before Weiss could verbally tear Yang a new one, they heard a sharp and shocked gasp as Yang added on. "The fish just swam straight into the engine propellers."

Instinctively, Ruby's body shivered as she imagined the cute fishies getting shredded into Blake's favorite meal. Jaune chirped in, relief evident in his voice at the prospect of not having to meet this beast yet. "Jeez, you'd think they'd have seen the blades."

To her credit, Ruby wasn't too loud with her groaning as her body deflated against the railing, Crescent Rose hanging loosely from her fingertips. She looked up at the now relaxing Weiss through half-lidded eyes, not sharing her boyfriend's relief at the situation. "Is it too much to ask for something to just happen!?"

It was only when Ruby noticed that her body was violently flung overboard, her eyes locking with the wide terror of Weiss's, that her ears registered irony ramming the side of the ship with the force of five trucks. Soon after, her nerves caught up with the present situation and she felt her insides smacking against her rib cage as the sudden jolt in the ship's position.

"RUBY!" The panic caused by that shrill shriek and the sight of the crystal sea below getting closer finally kicked the rest of her senses into gear. Ruby tightened her grip, thankful that Crescent Rose didn't slip from her, and slammed her feet into the ship's hull, kicking off the metal surface to try and pivot her body. She threw around the weight of her weapon to assist with forcing her small stature around, flipping her to face upwards where Weiss's bright hair stuck out over the railing. Quickly - and with a smidge of guilt about breaking Atlas property - Ruby dug the tip of her scythe into the side of the ship, slowing her descent into an abrupt stop.

Desperately, she clung to her beloved savior, hiking her legs up to wrap around the shaft and give herself more leverage. After a few seconds of dead silence without issue, Ruby decreed that she was safe for now and could let out a sigh of relief. "I think we found the Grimm…" Her weak joke earned a groan from Weiss up top, but the two were happy to still see one another in one piece. Not content to stick to hanging while the Grimm was probably preparing a second attack, Ruby slowly turned her position, spinning her body on top of her only platform and carefully pushing herself to stand atop Crescent Rose. It was like a tightrope walk, just as scary, just as precarious and made her happy she weighed as little as she did despite the occasional sweet tooth binge.

At Weiss's encouragement, Ruby looked for what she could do to climb back up. She couldn't exactly just jump back onto the deck from here and she didn't have enough room nor stability for a running start to make Weiss's glyphs work. Deciding to set her sights lower, Ruby looked around for a lower deck window she might be able to jump into or at least get a crew member's closer help from. However, try as she might, the closest window was just out of reach of her stumpy arms. She shouted back up to Weiss "I can't reach!".

Weiss waved back down, casting a glance over her shoulder before turning back with an idea. "Hang in there, I'm gonna get some rope." Another loud crack echoed across the ship as Weiss disappeared, making Ruby jump to grab the line of torn open metal left by her last-minute save. To make matters worse, there was a sudden impact on her forehead when a bundle of rope was dropped down upon her with eh tip lash out like a whip.

"Oh, you did that on purpose!" Ruby yelled up at what she assumed was Weiss, taking hold of the rope and slowly pulling herself back up, kicking Crescent Rose back into her hands along the way. With the panic subsiding, Ruby's mind fell back on Professor Port's 'Five Steps of Combat Strategy'. Step one: Evaluate Enemy Position. With this in mind, as she pulled herself back on board and breathed in the sweet scent of unwashed decks, she dug out her dropped scroll and spoke firmly into it. "Blake, you have the best sight, keep your eyes on Messy."

"Got it. Currently, it seems to be circling us." As she said it, Ruby looked over the railing once more, taking care to hook her toes under the railing and keep her ground, spotting the waves overturning in high heaps over a shadow that weaved under the ship. The shadow at first seemed as big as just a normal shark, but around the dark shadow, a lighter shade stretched out around it, five times bigger, then an even slighter color wept under the ship, giving hints of many layers to this leviathan. Ever turn of it's body brought with it tidal waves that almost reached the railings and hit the ship with enough force to be noticed.

Even with special ammo, Ruby had a hard time convincing herself that Crescent Rose would be of much help.

Ren, who to Ruby's knowledge was positioned around the ship's artillery, spoke softly with his usual cautiously optimistic manner. "Perhaps it's unsure of what we are yet, friend, obstacle or dinner."

"Or mate."

Ruby had to cover her ears as Wiess scornfully yelled "Yang!"

There was a moment of pause, presumably for Yang to take a second look over the ship and shrug at the offense Weiss seemed to have taken. "I'm just saying, this ship looks awfully phallic. Maybe we should tell it that we're just not that kind of Atlesian vessel."

They shook off Yang's humor, Ruby moving up the stairs to the ship's quarterdeck to check on the non-huntsman personnel. Jaune passed her on his way to slip into the captain cabin, probably making sure the engines were ready in case they needed to make a quick escape. Once more, Ren reported in "Harpoon on standby."

This prompted Ruby's gaze to return to their curious fish friend, finding it still poking at the ship. She leaned out slightly over the side, looking from the shifting sea and to where Ren stood by the harpoon cannon, judging how close the creature was to the firing range. "Alright, Ren, it should be heading towards you in a few seconds. When you see your shot, take it. Yang, get ready to help pull!"

"Excuse me for a minute," Blake's voice was hesitant, carrying a heavy load of worry over the comms ", but are we really going to pin all our hopes on a harpoon pulling a giant fish Grimm in?".

Looking through the captain's window, Ruby could see Jaune leaning over a vast array of monitors and buttons alongside other crewmen, answering Blake for her. "No, we're counting on the harpoon keeping it close so we can fire the sedation rounds from the ship's defense guns. Ironwood wants us to try and take this thing in alive and the hard-light net can't do jack if it's thrashing around. Remember how easily that Grimm back at Argus tore through the shields?"

Blake paused to consider this, a disapproving hum coming out as a distorted beep over the transmission. "Alright. I don't like it, but it makes sense. Just hope Atlesian tech is up to the challenge."

As the bellowing cracks and whirls of machinery ripped across the ship from the harpoon starting up, the rest of Ruby's friends began to come into clearer view, converging around the general vicinity of the harpoon in case the creature took a swipe at Ren first. Seeing this, Weiss, while hunkering herself down with some self-made ice wedges to grab a hold of, spoke into everyone's ears. "Better brace for impact, I don't think it's going to go easy on us!"

They could all hear the length of the harpoon unfurl as the tip was shot outwards and pierced the unknown. No visual confirmation of the shot was needed as a few seconds later they felt the pullback of the creature's raw emotion, pain characterized through the massive strain on the canon when the chain was yanked hard and the wail, shrill and inhuman, that engulfed any other sound they could make. Yang could be seen moving under Ren's position, hands now shooting out to grab a hold of the chain and already it was a struggle. She didn't expect it to be easy, but it took her by surprise when the moment she had the chain in her grasp, she was violently slammed into the railing by the pull from down below. The only reason she didn't immediately go overboard was a combined effort of Ren wrapping the end of Gambol Shroud around Yang's waist, with Blake pulling her end around the solid foundation of the radio tower for support.

Despite this, another violent pull urged Yang forward, the sudden movement almost making Blake topple off her perch. Quickly, Ren and Yang moved closer to Nora, who stood by eager to play a game of whack-a-cracken if the creature rose from the water. "Grab onto Nora for support!"

"Thunder thighs, don't fail me now!" Fortunately, Nora was able to keep herself still for once, digging her heels into the ground as Yang and Ren clung to her waist. However, when the ship bucked against the force of a large body crashing against it under the cover of a wave, Ren found his grip wasn't as good as Yang's. His body went over Nora's head, not over the railing, but flung across the ship. Jaune, who rushed out onto the deck hoping to help, found himself quickly meeting the floor when Ren's head crashed into his gut, turning both of them into a crumpled heap.

Ruby wanted to rush to their aid, but she found her legs paralyzed at the painful vibrations of the ship shuddering, the forceful attack's reverb not letting up this time. The wail engulfed them once more, only this time louder and forceful enough to tear away at their eardrums. It was like the sound wasn't even coming from anywhere, it was just there, scratching at their skin, pulling at the small corners of their minds, slipping in one venomous song that told them to look towards the source. Before them, the sea parted and the waves seemed to flee in distress, and from this seam in the blue void, a figure shrouded from color pushed through, stretching the cut into a wound, into a gateway from the underworld below. The figure ascended, looking more like a rising mountain than a fish, no eyes were visible as it's gigantic form blocked out any semblance of light to the point that merely it's shadow casting over them gave the impression that it had suddenly become night time. The colossus towered over them and it called to them.

"H-holy cow, h-how big is this thing!?" Yang's voice immediately jumped into almost choking, the confirmation of the creature's gargantuan size, looking to see that the harpoon snap in half like it was an elastic band, was almost enough to make her collapse.

Following this revelation, the ship shifted, the floor reworking itself to give rise to thick, implosion rail guns that looked like toys facing the creature. From their barrels came crimson blasts that pelted that beast's scaly surface, every explosion giving them just a quick flash of the body towering over them. While the scream that followed made Ruby drop to her knees in pain, it at least confirmed that the explosive dust rounds were actually hurting the creature. It was clear to everybody that capturing this thing was out of the question. Ruby yelled to the crew operating the guns "Keep firing! KEEP FIRING!". All at once, the darkness was extinguished by a flashing combined assault of cannon fire and the Huntsman's adding what they could and taking up arms. Every few seconds, another roar boomed over them, another claw embedded in their minds and reverbing through their thoughts. It was as if every roar forced them to feel the creature's pain, it's anger burned in their frontal lobe, it's power overwhelmed their noses, it's desperation thumped in their hearts, all while they little by little made pull away. It was an uphill climb every step of the way, not only because the wailing made them want to drop their weapons and curl up into a ball, but every time it moved, it swept waves up in its fins, carrying the vessel around the formation of ice tipped rocks surrounding them, every step threatening to capsize the entire ship.

Unfortunately, soon the cannon fire was cut short, swallowing everyone in the darkness of the creature's shadow once more, the metal barrels overheated by discharging so much high-temperature dust. Panic crept into their hearts, little by little, knowing that this monster could very well crush the ship with it's breath in the time it would take for the guns to cool down. Ruby wanted to turn back and check on her teammates, but no one could take their eyes off the towering figure, a single ray of light hitting them from the center of it. A golden shimmer emerged from the darkness, the shape resembling a closed flower growing from the untamed soil, it's petals covering it's core.

"What is that?!" Was all Weiss and Nora could yell as the flower began to unwrap, petals spreading out to rest against strained scales and burned flesh, a bumbling core revealed that slowly pushed it's way past the petals.

Blake rushed past Ruby and straight to the control room, bashing on the windows and yelling out for everyone to hear. "What matters is that something's coming out of that. We need to run, now!. Initiate the engines, turn the ship starboard, I think it's launching something at us!" No later had she said that the core exploded in an array of toxic purple fumes, leaving a trail of smoke behind it as it sailed through the air. "INCOMING!"

In a split second, Ruby could have managed to get out of the way, so could Blake, but Jaune and Ren could not, so in a brief look shared between them, the two rushed to pull their friends to their feet. None of them could even feel the impact, all they had was a flash of sludge before their head crashed against the metal surface. For the next few moments, Ruby couldn't feel anything, not her legs giving up, not her body screaming for relief, not even the raging throb of her head after it banged against the floor, all she could feel was the cold. People spoke around here, some even yelled, but she couldn't make anything out, all fading into the background like static, all blurring together into a single, hurtful note that repeated in her mind. A distressful song screaming through chords of her nightmares.

Without prompt, without a transition, without warning Ruby was back on her feet, the rain now pounding against the back of her neck, the night's sky sheltered by a thick fog and footsteps filling her ears. However, the first thing her mind registered was that she was covered in thick, purple sludge. "Eeeeeeew, I don't even wanna know where THIS came from."

She heard similar comments from Ren as he helped Jaune and Blake get up, their clothes stained with a similar substance. The rest of their friends crowded around them, relief evident in their faces and their clothes completely clean. It was only then that Ruby and co noticed the lack of action, the ship wasn't moving, the sea was calm and their hard-to-miss attacker was nowhere to be found. "Where'd it go?" Jaune was the first to ask, his sword tightly gripped as he whipped around furiously to try and catch even a glimpse of their foe.

"Everything's gotten real dark and murky real quick. It could be anywhere." Ruby spoke slowly, throat tightening at the prospect of that thing somehow having the element of surprise on top of everything else. Taking into consideration how dark it was, she looked to Blake as her first bet. "Blake, you see anything?"

"Nothing." The cat girl's voice came out as a cross between fear and shock, a short gasp of breath following it, her ears and nose twitching for the chance at finding anything. "No movement, not even the sea, everything's just black."

Nora tried her best to look positive, her face splitting into a forced smile as she suggested: "Think it might have run away?".

Weiss shook her head. "Why attack us in the first place if it was just going to flee when it has the advantage? Doesn't make any sense, even for Grimm."

"So, what? We wait for it to pop out and then smash it?" The blond brawler punched an open palm to emphasize her point, her face leaving no mystery to the doubt leaking into her eyes.

Even though they spoke, it didn't sound like their voices reached far, as if the air around them choked all the volume out of them. As Jaune cautiously approached the railing to peer over the edge, his normal voice came out as a whisper, barely audible over the bleak rhythm of his beating heart. "No, our priority is to get out of here." He tried to breathe deeply, but he only found that his breath just shook all of the air out of him. "We came expecting just an annoying big fish, this thing is far more dangerous. Almost ripped the ship in half."

Ren opened his mouth to speak, but he hesitated, fearful of adding more bad news to the situation. After more silence settled in, he took the first step forward and opened his arms. "Sounds nice, but uh… Question: Which way do we go?" Everyone followed his gesture, the fog stretching over to the edge of their vision until even the sea looked like a stand-in for clouds. No more could they see the formation of rocks, no glaciers, no life, no stars, no direction or anything they could recognize as a landmark. How could they escape from here if they didn't know where here was in relation to everything else?

Another minute was drawn out by nerves and worried glances, the only noise being the repetition of Weiss tapping her foot to tune of her thoughts. She clicked her finger, just managing to blurt out "Uh… Uh... The ship. The ship plots the route. The ship's computer should have navigation data."

Those who didn't know how the ship's worked that well didn't question it, they just trusted Weiss's word and were just happy to find some progress. Ruby cleared her throat, projecting her voice louder to overcome the oppressive silence of the atmosphere, pointing to Jaune, Ren, and Nora as she talked. "Alright, you guys get back in there. And check if the canons can fire again. Me, Yang, Weiss, and Nora will stay out here since we are better equipped to fend that thing off if it comes back."

A mocking salute from Nora and a combined round of cheers from the rest had everyone split into activities, Nora and Yang taking up point in front of Weiss while Jaune and CO made their way forward, Jaune punching his fist in the air as he called over to Ruby. "Knock 'em dead, Honey."

Ruby scoffed, happy to feel the tension dissolve at the injection of small pleasures back into the dynamic. "Do I ever do anything else?"

Then the ship rocked again.

As if fate had sensed the brief relief and decided to pounce upon it, with no chance of predicting it, out of nowhere a thick tentacle that could easily tear through buildings shot out of the fog and cut through their cluster of bodies. They were all knocked flat on their backs as the limb ripped the captain's cabin from it's foundations, reducing it to just a pile of broken metal in just a few moments before their very eyes. To make matters even worse, the tail end of the tentacle smacked against the back of the radio tower, breaking through the bottom half of it and sending the top half bearing down on the passengers.

No one needed to think before their bodies shot up, weighed down by the pain of the previous blow, rushing to outpace the falling tower. It wasn't a slow fall, it was one quick movement that would have claimed them all if they were a split second too slow. However, as they looked back, a blood-curdling scream told them that one person was a split second slow.

"Oh crap!" Jaune rushed back through the resulting impact cloud while holding back muffled cries, about ready to puke out all his fears and disgust as he looked down at his teammate. Before him, trapped under the immense weight of the tower, Nora Valkyrie was in a state of shock. She could spare a second to cry, only gawk at the twisted mess her body had become and the split moment of her spine suddenly being yanked out like a broken plug.

"NORA!" Ren collapsed by Nora's body as Jaune tried desperately to push the fallen tower back, hoping that for a moment, he could develop the power to move mountains, the power to be useful, the power to not let another teammate die. "Breathe, Nora, Breathe!"

"M-My leg, it crushed my legs…" She couldn't even look at Ren, her voice so small and so distant. There was no energy to it. She sounded like she'd given up, she could not give up. She was going to get through this.

"You'll be okay!" Ren yelled it at her, hoping that if he was loud enough then the heavens would hear him and grant them a solution to save their friend. This wouldn't be how it ends, not for them, not for the Beacon Prodigies. They'd survived worse.

The slick wet addition of the rain didn't make it any easier to grip the metal nor any easier to touch the painfully cold surface either. Jaune lashed out in his panic. "Why wasn't your aura up!? There was no reason to let your guard down." He knew he was out of line, that scolding his friend for what could be her death was a terrible thing to do, but he couldn't think, he couldn't help, he could only see all those nightmares flooding back before his eyes. He was no closer to saving her. Why wasn't anyone else saving her? Did they expect him to be able to save his own damn friends?! "Yang, help us. PLEASE!"

As if the call knocked her out of a trance, only now did Yang head over to them, closing the gap between them in just a few seconds with her speed, not stopping for anything as she charged dead ahead. Her hair lit up like a beacon in the darkness as her shoulder rammed into the beam, the force carried by her momentum plus her explosive power-up was just enough to launch the beam into the air and off the ship, thankfully freeing Nora. However, that didn't make it any easier to look at the girl below them. Her legs were mangled, flesh almost flattened with every bone fragment causing a series of disgusting bumps under her skin.

Another violent shake of the ship trying to knock them back down, followed almost immediately by a sweep from the tentacle, this time the offending claw hammering down from the other side of the ship, just barely missing Blake as her ears heard it's approach. "How is it moving like that? It's going around the ship, but I can't see anything! I can't even hear it until it's right on top of us. It's like it's coming out of nowhere."

Weiss already had her knight up, shield ready to bat away the next attempt by the creature, frustration stretching her face to reveal gritted teeth. "It must be the fog." She turned to the group, barking out "Ren, get Nora inside." Before whipping back around to watch for the next attack.

The rest of the group formed a circle around their wounded companion, empowered by rage at the sight of Nora hurt, but also dampened by how bad this situation was going. Jaune didn't need to verbalize his gratitude for the protection, hoisting what was left of Nora between him and Ren, absolutely terrified that moving her would just put her in more pain. "You'd still think we'd hear something."

Nora's eyes struggled to stay open as she looked up at her friends, her family for as long as she could. "Jaune… Ren… I'm sorry, I was just…" That she was distracted? That she was cocky? Maybe she was just plain scared. Unfortunately, none of them ever got to hear the end of the sentence as the tentacle materialized from the fog once more, it's pointed end like a hunter's spear, penetrating her broken body. Jaune fell to his knees from shock and Ren, who instantly regretted it, instinctively jumped back. Neither could move to stop it as Nora, along with the metal panels of the wall, were violently yanked back, swallowed by the dark fog before they could register she was gone.

"NORA!" No one knew who screamed it, just that the scream overpowered all other sounds in the void. The anguish of the first blood taken threatened to shatter it all.

Yang didn't think she could stand up to the goliath even with her semblance active, but like hell she was going to let one of her friends go without a fight. Without a second thought, she charged ahead towards the railings, ready to plunge overboard and take Nora back by as much force as she could muster. "Don't worry, I'm on it. Gonna serve up this jelly fish with half a pound of whoop as-" Beneath her feet, the metal turned to tin foil as it was ripped apart in a nanosecond, tentacles sprouting up from both sides and in one simple flick of the wrist, they dragged Yang down into the abyss. She didn't even have time to scream.

"YANG!" It all happened so fast, Ruby's body acted before her mind could process it, before the fresh tears could touch her cheeks, lunging forward only for her arm to be held by the firm grip of her boyfriend.

"Ruby, you can't!" He couldn't muster anything more than a whimper, the only reason he didn't jump in after her to get Yang and Nora was that his legs refused to move. He couldn't save them, he knew he couldn't save them, but he could save her. He could save someone. They couldn't lose Ruby too, what would they do without Ruby?

To his credit, he at least managed to hold her, pulling her into his embrace where her tears burned holes into his shoulder. "We have to go after her, it's got her!"

They needed to be calm. There was no choice, if they continued to lose their heads, they couldn't save anyone else. This idea repeated in Jaune's head, his voice shaken and his arms holding onto Ruby like she was the last life preserver. "We… We can't do anything without a clear head." No sooner had he said that had the fog parted again, only this time it wasn't a tentacle shooting out to grab one of them. No, it was a limp form landing on the deck with a pathetic thump. It was a body. "Oh my… God…"

There was no saving her. Her body was twisted, mangled, chunks missing, eyes glazed over and every inch completely deprived of life. Just a bloated corpse with a broken metal arm forming a jagged knife that cut into her stomach, leaving the slab of flesh to hang back, barely still attached to the body. Ruby didn't know if she was going to throw up or just completely shut down. "Yang… No… No… No no no no…"

Blake cried for them, her knees hitting the deck as she shrieked into the night. "How could this have happened? THIS SHOULDN'T HAPPEN!" She should have heard something, she should have done something, she should have saved her… It should have taken her instead of Yang.

The void was cruel and gave them no time to mourn, the ship leaned once more as it was rattled by more desperate crashed by the creature. Everything not nailed to the ground fell back, multiple bodies groping the air for something to grip as they fell down the ship. Fortunately, they soon felt their backs hit the railing, clinging to their raft in the eye of the storm. Jaune found the pain currently racing through his back an effective method of calming his nerves, just enough he could try and communicate a statement. "Another hit! If we don't get a plan out of here soon, we'll sink!"

Beside him, his teammate wasn't having as much luck calming down. Scrambling to the edge of their position and peering out into the fog, Ren desperately cried out. "NORA!"

Jaune and Blake launched themselves at the boy, half-convinced he was about to attempt to jump overboard. "Ren, Ren, Ren. REN!"

When Ren found that, no matter how hard he struggled, he wasn't moving an inch, his shoulders sagged. His desperate cries sinking into painful sobs. "S-S-She's gone…"

Quickly, Ren's body was turned around to stare straight into the despairing blue eyes of his leader, Jaune taking hold of Ren's shoulders and trying to talk him down. "Ren, I need you to focus on the here and now. We need you to use your semblance, coat the boat so we can get out of here."

"We can't just leave people behind, Jaune!"

The mere mention made Jaune halt and stole his voice, prompting Ruby to help Jaune's point while choking back her own tears. She had to think of her team no matter how distraught she was. "We're sitting ducks right now, if we leave now and get reinforcements, we might be able to-"

"Move it!" The teens split apart as the tentacle ripped through the railing between them, shooting off like an even larger harpoon and penetrating the floor behind them, digging in deeper and deeper until everyone could hear the loud burst of metal breaking as water rushed into the lower decks.

"It's breached the hull!" Ruby cried out, eyes wide and heart frozen. It wasn't like there was anything they could do about it anyway, as more tentacles sprouted from the void, swarming around the ship, stripping it of its metal flesh inch-by-inch. Over time, the ship grew unstable, quaking and breaking under the imbalance and pressure. There was nothing they could do about it. Ruby couldn't run, she couldn't fight, she couldn't stop this, only stand there as a tentacle shot towards her and smacked her down, causing everything to go black once again.

But like before, it didn't feel like a prolonged slumber or a sickening crack that shut her brain down for a moment, it was a simple cut to her waking up. A blink and she was staring up at a cold ceiling surrounded by shattered kitchen utensils, feeling the soft lull of the ship as the sea carried it. There wasn't a point of entry, there wasn't anything she recognized, just the room in isolation. There was no dizziness, there was no confusion, she wasn't even allowed to be distracted from her situation for one moment.

She struggled to her feet, feeling the full brunt of however far she dropped weigh down on her shoulders. There was nothing she could do. The moment she tried to walk, she felt a red hot pain scream in her right leg, causing her body to crumble against the nearest table, clinging to the rim while she held in the scream she was desperate to let loose. In situations like this, she'd have the protective aura of Crescent Rose to calm her, but she only now realized that it was nowhere to be found. Okay… Stay calm… You can walk with a limp. You can turn this situation around somehow.

Presumably, she was assumed dead, so the first step was trying to get in contact with everyone else. Regroup, if possible. Well, unless- "No… No…" She wouldn't entertain the thought. She thankfully found her scroll in her pocket and staggered onwards. "Guys? Guys? Jaune? Blake? Weiss? Anybody? Respond!" She didn't realize until she heard the echo of her voice that her inner turmoil was betrayed in her desperate cries. She wasn't calm, she wasn't collected or measure, she was scared. She was begging for just anyone, anyone, to respond and tell her the worst hadn't come yet. "I'm in the lower decks… My leg is broken… I need a status report…" Even while trying her best to carefully drag her leg along, the sting of broken bone lingered, reignited with every step she took. "Is anybody out there?" It felt shameful, crawling around in this state, where her voice was so shaky, where her eyes throbbed from the tears she refused to let trickle down her cheek. She thought that if she just focused on what was ahead she'd distract herself from her heart being torn apart, but all she could see in the dark corridors were her friends calling out for her to save them, to be the hero she always proclaimed herself to be.

Ruby tried noting how featureless the walls were, how degraded and rusty everything looked, but no idle thought could survive for more than a few seconds. She couldn't escape her own despair no matter how hard she tried. There was nothing she could do. She was so starved for something to distract herself with that the moment she caught a glimpse of something white passing through the end of the featureless tunnel, she rushed forward hoping to high heaven that it was who she thought it was. "Weiss? Weiss, are you okay? We need to-" Rounding the corner she found Weiss. Weiss's body. She sat slumped against the wall, her hair littering the ground and her stomach torn open. "Oh god… NO… No…" There was nothing she could do. Form Weiss's stomach sprouted more tentacles, their pointed ends shapes like fangs that crawled towards her, followed by more tentacles sprouting up from the ground, the ceiling, the walls, the doors, surrounding her. "It's everywhere. The ship is going down. No, no, this isn't how this is supposed to end. There has to be something I can do."

She tried to back away, but there was no way to go. She reached for Crescent Rose, but it wasn't there. She tried to close her eyes, but her body just wouldn't let her see anything else. Her eyes… Yes, her eyes! The Grimm killing light of the Gods could save her. However, as quickly as the embers of hope burned they'd flicker back into despair as she found herself unable to unleash her sacred power. There was nothing she could do. "Work dammit, work! I need you silver eyes to work! Please, I don't want to lose anybody else." She didn't understand. The eyes triggered when she sought to protect those she cared about most, why wouldn't they work? Was this her own failure or a sign that her divine gift had abandoned her? Ruby crumbled, unable to stop the tears from flowing as she stared down certain death.

There was nothing she could do.

"It can't be over… Not like this…" She punched the floor, desperately searching for a way she gets out of this alive, for a way this could get better, but nothing came to mind. All she could see was how she died, how her friends died, how she failed. She failed to be a hero, she failed to be a huntress, she failed to be Ruby Rose. Why was she here? Did she fail at her purpose?

There was nothing she could do.

Ruby Rose got to her feet, shaking. She talked to herself and only to herself. "If the ship is down… And the team is down… And there's no way out… Then there's only one thing to do." There was nothing she could do, so Ruby gritted her teeth, whispered to all the people she loved under her breath and charged forward, ready to face the end as she faced the beginning: screaming and kicking. "Make sure no one died in vain… Let's go out with a bang then!"

Ruby Rose plunged herself into the abyss.

In that moment there was both everything and nothing. The world was gone, nothing existed, it was just her in the abyss, dragged under the waters where the light touched nothing. Above her, she could see her life floating in snapshots of memories. She could see Yang pulling her around the garden in her go-kart. She could see Zwie bursting out of a box as a birthday present. She could see her mother standing by the cliff tops ready to show her the best view of the sunset. She could see her fight with Torchwick, the meeting with Ozpin the formation of team RWBY. All the good times they had. The fun nights with team RNJR by the campfire. The reunion. Her first kiss with Jaune after the battle of Haven. When everyone affirmed to her that they'd still follow her even if Salem was immortal. That they trusted her.

They trusted her.

And she failed them.

The memories began to drift away as she was pulled deeper, the pressure on her throat becoming apparent, crushing her lungs with… Nothing. She panicked, reaching out to grab the memories, to grab them and hold them tightly to her chest so they never left her. They were her memories. Her life. She needed them. She couldn't leave them behind.

Her name was Ruby Rose.

Sister of Yang Xiao Long.

Leader of Team RWBY.

Girlfriend of Jaune Arc.

Slayer of Grimm.

Hero of Vale.

Lover of Cookies.

She had red hair.

She wore a combat skirt.

She was Ruby Rose.

She was Ruby Rose!

She was Ruby Rose?

She had to be Ruby Rose.

She wanted to be Ruby Rose.

"For the last few months. You have been immersed in the virtual roleplaying game, 'Remnant: Shadow War', as with all total immersion simulations, you will experience an initial slew of amnesiac symptoms. Do not panic, this is natural and, in time, your mind will piece your life back together. Please remain calm and follow the instructions of any aides as they assist you in the recovery process."

And suddenly, she was awake, submerged in green liquid and trapped in a pod.

"On behalf of Merlot Corp, let me be the first to say: Welcome back to reality!"