Silver Eyes. Such a... unique, shall we say, color. Brown, blue, green, pink, red, purple- even multi-colored irises are common. However, that special variety of grey that is an almost luminous shade is all but unseen in modern Remnant. Ancient fairy tales speak of Silver-Eyed warriors, capable of slaying all but the mightiest of Grimm with but a glance.

However. There was one, possibly fatal, weakness these warriors had. Should their eyes be damaged, or even destroyed, their powers would be damaged, or perhaps even lost forever.

Of course, these are but fairy tales, are they not?

Deep inhale, center crosshairs upon the target's center mass, exhale.

'Fire.'

CRACK

The Beowolf roared in agony as the high-caliber round tore through its insides, shredding flesh and bone and ripping its faux-life away.

The shooter stood from her prone position after ensuring that there were no reinforcements coming for the dead Grimm and moved onwards, her silver eye darting around the forest as she pulled her scarf up to her nose, hiding most of her face from the frosty winter air. The forest seemed to hold its breath as she ghosted through it, as if awaiting a great battle.

The only warning she was allowed was the crackle of twigs behind her as the Beowolf lunged for her with a triumphant howl.

It was enough.

She dissolved into a burst of rose petals before reforming behind the beast, rifle already centered upon the base of its skull. A swift pull of the trigger later and the Grimm was dissolving upon the ground- sans head.

The rest of her trip went without incident, the familiar path carrying to her destination.

Except, it didn't.

Rather than her mother's memorial, what stood before her was a ramshackle building, leaning to one side it was constructed of rotting wooden planks. Immediately a sense of fear rooted itself in her gut. Unbidden, her feet began to carry her closer to the building even as eyes like fire ignited within it, glaring out at her figure with unrestrained hatred. Every step towards the shack made the fear in her gut spread, becoming heavier and heavier until it felt as if it would drag her to the ground.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Ruby Rose awoke from her dream abruptly, shooting upwards as her alarm went off with a gasp. She groaned and slapped the infernal machine silent, clambering out of bed, easily grabbing the black eyepatch to her right as she walked by despite the lack of vision. She held it in her hands, examining the rose emblem embossed in the material for a moment.

She sighed and slid it on, looking into the mirror mounted on the wall.

Same choppy, black-to-red gradient hair, the fringe brushed to obscure the patch that covered everything from her forehead to her cheekbone, extending all the way back to what remained of her ear. A small adjustment to make sure the hearing aid was settled in properly. She pulled her cheek back; despite the fact that the swelling had long-since gone down, the implanted teeth still felt off in her mouth. Her tank top clearly showed off the surgical scars where they had reconstructed her shoulder, which she rubbed self-consciously.

She brushed under her one eye and stared into it, the sharp silver orb almost glowing in the dim light of the early morning. She sighed again.

"Well... time to get going." She told herself, turning to her closet to grab the outfit she had laid out the night before.

Black, knee-high combat boots with leather straps instead of laces and thick, crimson soles. opaque leggings with a few holes in them and a gray decal on the left leg, and a not-quite-mini-combat-skirt that left just a bit of a gap between the hem and top of her leggings. Around her waist went her belt- a sturdy, dark crimson construction that had two pouches on her hips and a polymer holster on the back that she wore at an angle, the buckle a metal rose in bloom, much like the one on her eyepatch. She wore a cream top that exposed her shoulders and collar bones under a black corset with crimson lacing in the front which left only a hint of cleavage exposed. Ruby quickly threw a leather harness on that closed over the sleeves of her top, keeping them in place, as well as crossing over her shoulders and back, giving her ample support for carrying her main weapon, Crimson Rose.

She threw the rifle over her shoulder and made sure that her ammo pouches were full before leaving her room, snagging her ragged scarf on the way out and throwing it over her shoulders, the frayed ends falling down to her calves. Ruby ghosted through the house, not a single other soul waking as she left.

Somewhere nearby, a crow cawed.

She glared in its direction before turning back to the path to the ferry. The first boat of the day was leaving soon, and she needed to be at the airfield by noon. That left just enough time to visit some of her favorite Dust shops.

She could already tell today was going to be a long day.

To those of you wondering, yes, I am still alive. Whether that's fortunate or not is up to you. I don't really have much to say other than sorry, and that the reason i was gone for so long was because life kicked me in the balls until I stopped noticing.

Real quick, this story idea was something that was contributed to me by Coeur Al'Aran back in mid 2018. While the base idea came from him, he has no hand in the direction of this story.

As you all can tell, I'm rewriting this story because I'm dissatisfied with the content, the quality of the content, and how what I wrote is not what I promised. Apologies to the people who were hoping for me to pick up where I left off, but I promise you this will be better.

Both of these chapters were written at 3 AM fueled by spite and Red Bull, so if you spot any spelling or grammatical errors or anything else you feel is worth mentioning, please leave it in the comments or PM me as you see fit.

Stay sane y'all, cause I sure as Hell wont.

~MindsandMirrors