A/N:This isn't like my usual fanfics, so if you're looking for light-hearted humour with a sprinkling of romantic stuff, then this isn't it. I didn't actually do a Halloween (read:scary/horror) fic for Halloween because technically that's Ruby's birthday, so it would've been rude for me to release a fic like this. This is a horror fic, I'm making out a bigger deal of it than it actually is but I don't want to surprise people who have read my other work and think this is like the other stuff I've wrote. It's not.

So...yeah. Enjoy?

"Mom?"

Her voice was filled with disbelief, and she blinked, trying to dispel the illusion before her.

The illusion didn't fade. Summer Rose gave her a smile, a warm, loving smile that was eerily familiar to her despite the fact…

Despite the fact she was dead. Summer Rose had died. Hadn't she?

"Hi sweetie." Summer said softly, voice filled with love and a quiet authority. A sharp pain burned through Ruby's stomach, making her clutch her belly and lean forward with a sudden cry. "Ruby!"

Warm arms wrapped around her, engulfing her in a cocoon of safety and comfort and protection. The pain disappeared as quickly as it came, replaced with a feeling of sheer elation as Ruby felt the gentle warmth of her mother holding her close, a warmth that had been missing all her life.

"M-Mom? Is that really you?" Ruby asked, eyes welling with tears of joy and fear. What if it really was an illusion? Really was a dream?

Another sting of agonising pain, this time her shoulder. Just as quickly it left as Summer Rose held her tightly, pressing against her so that Ruby could hear the soft rhythm of her beating heart.

"Of course sweetie." Summer replied, smile on face as she kissed her forehead and cradled her lightly in her arms. "What's wrong sweetie? Do you feel well?"

"I thought you died…" Ruby whispered, tears still streaming down her face. Was this real? Could this be real? Please let it be real!

Another stinging pain shot through her thigh, making her wince and lean against Summer for support. Her mother held her with ease, giving Ruby a worried look.

"Sweetie, I think you might have a fever." Summer murmured, pressing her hand against Ruby's forehead. "Did you have a nightmare? Frequent weird dreams? You might have an infection in your blood if you do."

"You…I…" Ruby panted. Her head hurt. Her body hurt, her stomach, shoulder and thigh most of all. What was going on? What was happening? Summer Rose was dead, she had died years ago.

"Where are we?" Ruby asked, finding the strength to push against her mother. Summer let her go, worry clearly growing as she did so.

"Patch." Summer answered, giving a look that looked so familiar to Ruby it physically hurt to see. "Sweetie, did you fall and hit your head or something? I'm getting really worried about you."

Patch. Patch. Her home.

She wasn't supposed to be there. She had been travelling. With…With her uncle! Yang as well! There were others…people…friends…her team! Team RWBY!

But where? They'd been heading to Mistral to track down Cinder…then…then…

Argus? No, they hadn't been to Argus yet. They were supposed to though, to get to Atlas.

So why was she in Patch?

"Where am I?" Ruby demanded, stepping away from Summer Rose and glaring around her.

It hurt to step away from the one person she wanted to see, to be able to hug and love. It hurt even more to see the pain in her face, the sheer hurt in her similar silver eyes as her daughter stepped away from her.

"I just told you, we're in Patch Ruby." Summer replied, voice choking up suddenly. "Please sweetie what's wrong? You clearly aren't okay?"

The pain was growing, spreading across her body like a disease. Except it wasn't connected. Random parts of her body flared with pain suddenly, making her wince and stumble.

It hurt, the pain. She…She had been in a train crash, going to Argus…there was Grimm and then they had crashed…

"Talk to me sweetie." Summer pleaded, and Ruby felt her heart break as tears shined in her mother's eyes. "Please Ruby."

Shelter…they were looking for shelter…trying to find somewhere warm…somewhere safe…

"You're not my mom." Ruby said quietly, holding her head as pain lanced through it. Her mind felt foggy, like she had hit her head and couldn't remember something. "M-Mom's dead. Who are you?"

"I-How could you say such a hurtful thing?" Summer gasped, tears falling and rolling off of her cheeks. "I am your mother. Your mother Ruby Garnet Rose. How dare you…How dare you even say such a vile thing!"

"You are not my mom!" Ruby shouted, feeling sheer fury radiate through her at the fact this…this apparition was daring to scold her in the form of her mother, the same mother she never had the chance to love or appreciate or get angry at and apologise and make it up with hugs and cookies.

"I-I…" Summer sobbed, holding her head in her hands. "I don't even know what to say Ruby. W-Why would you say that? Have I done something wrong? Am I that poor of a mother that you hate me?"

Ruby felt her throat clog up and she choked with horror and guilt. Was she just hallucinating the other things? Was she being given a chance to be with her mom, a chance she was spitting at?

The pain was unbearable now, she couldn't stand anymore. Ruby fell to her knees, the pain in her head growing, like a hundred thousand tiny icicles had been implanted in her brain.

Shelter…Farm…A farm…The farm…Brunswick…

Brunswick Farm…

The pain was too much to bear. Ruby's eyes opened and a flash of silver light engulfed the dark catacombs.

The Grimm shrieked and soon ash was drifting around her. Ruby blinked, head throbbing and eyes aching as she took in her surroundings through bleary eyes.

A spider's web above her and she could see Weiss' unconscious form nearby. Footsteps echoed around her, and a piercing scream echoed through her ears. Ruby winced, trying to sit up and turn around to see whoever had screamed so loudly, so shrilly-ily, but an inexplicably, cripplingly agonising pain forced her to lean back down with a soft exhale.

Her hand fell to her stomach, trying to clutch the pain away, only to touch something warm and squishy. Ruby looked down, only for her eyes to widen at the sight of her belly torn open and guts splattered across her corset, rips and tears visible and some grey, mushy gunk on the floor nearby.

'It was chewed up.' She realised. She was being eaten by the Grimm.

Her eyes fell to her shoulder, where crimson blood pooled against the damp, grey stone of the catacomb, the well she had gone down just minutes earlier. Blood squirted from exposed veins and arteries and she saw broken pieces of her bones sticking out from the pooling blood like islands in an ocean.

She was dying.

"Oh." Ruby exhaled softly, eyes fluttering as she saw her sister appear over her, face filled with fear, tears streaming down her face and desperate pleas echoing in her ears.

"Stay with me Ruby! Get some help damnit Blake! Please Ruby, don't leave me!"

Ruby tried to speak, tried to apologise, but the blood was welling in her throat now and all she did was cough it up, splattering her face in the red, sticky liquid.

'I'm sorry Yang.'

Ruby's eyes widened and became glassy. A soft exhale gurgled from her and her chest stilled.

The last thing she saw was Yang screaming in grief, and Weiss blinking tiredly as she awoke from whatever had knocked her out.

"Ruby?" She whispered, the sound piercing through Yang's mourning wail and echoing in Ruby's ears as she drifted off into an inky blackness.