Once again Ruby felt as if she was in someone else's haze, someone else's time, someone else's misery. Who's memories she intruded upon she didn't know.
Ruby remembered wandering through the woods, hiding whenever she heard someone coming. Hunger prevailed over everything, as did an emotion that she couldn't quite place, and one that she would learn in time was called 'loneliness'.
Her Aura was shot, so to speak, after the release of all her emotions at once inside the cave. Her existence was so scarce upon the world that Grimm thought of her as nothing more than an animal.
For months, Ruby remembered doing nothing for foraging for survival and nearly dying several times. Not necessarily wishing for death, but not necessarily wishing for life either. The fact that she had survived alone at a young age was nothing short of a miracle from the gods above.
Or perhaps better worded as a 'curse' from the gods above. Wandering the forest forever, never seeing another person, and never truly living. Unable to die and end her suffering, but unable to speak to those that looked like nothing more than demons, black whispy monsters without a form.
For a while, they had hunted her in the woods. Come in parties of six or more, screaming in some guttural tongue to bring her out of hiding to— what Ruby thought— was to devour or torture her. She trusted the shadow people even less than Grimm, fearing them as one might the monster under the bed.
Her village had been destroyed by her hand in the beginnings of spring, and it was now approaching winter. Trees that had offered her hiding had no leaves to cover her with, animals that roamed now lay in hibernation, and the rags she wore did nothing to curb the impending frost.
Ruby could no longer feel her fingers. When she pressed them against her face they were numb and stiff, curled inward like dead bugs.
The hollow of the tree she sat in afforded little shelter from the elements. There was no store of food— she hadn't thought to do such a thing. There was no assistance from cruel Nature, who scarcely noticed the young silver eyed girl freezing to death.
Ruby was a dead man walking, or sitting in this particular instance. She had no ally, no god of the machine to help her. She had avoided the kindness of her fellow man, shirking it as nothing more than thinly veiled cruelty.
There was, however, a god who wished for entertainment. One that saw potential within two bloodlines that would be buried if the young girl were to die, and two dozen or so years of entertainment could be squeezed from her.
The god cruelly smiled upon her, implanting in her mind a direction, and within her body a fire that would warm her legs and feet.
As if moved by a marionette, Ruby willed the body to move. Her bones complained but complied, and moving in a seemingly random direction, Ruby trotted forward, her feet shuffling through the snow as they became a lovely shade of purple.
The young Huntress caught the eye of mother Nature, as the death of the girl had been a certainty not yet fulfilled. In spite of whatever force had urged her onwards, the blizzard bore down even harder, pushing directly against her, tearing at her face with wind and snow.
The body had never been Ruby's, but it no longer belonged to its original owner, becoming the proxy for a skirmish between two gods. One would supply her body with power to fight against the cold and unforgiving wrath of mother Nature, and the other one raised her winds, doing all they could to prevent passage out of pure spite.
Ruby no longer felt cold as she trudged through the snow, the white flakes having piled up to her waist. Her body had been given purpose and was carrying it out, walking in a direction imposed by a cruel god.
At last, Ruby saw the destination through the miasma of snow. A light from a window.
Ruby felt the urge to live come from the body and heeded, making one last, desperate push through a storm that had only just begun.
Three times, three times the body's fist beat against the door and demanded entrance. Three times she was denied before falling face-first into the snow.
Three seconds passed before she was hauled inside.
The scythe rang out as Ruby squeezed the trigger, embedding the blade deep into the carpet floor. She'd jolted awake, although she didn't know why.
There was no light in the room, although that was because she'd closed the curtains. Memories were flowing back into her, of what exactly she'd done and why.
With great effort she managed to lever the scythe out of the ground, and at the same time heard the reason why she had awoken. There was a tapping at her chamber's door, or perhaps she'd misheard and it had been a rapping at her window.
Then ever so slowly, the window opened, revealing the light of the moon one ray at a time. The foot of an aging but not dust Qrow stepped through, one who surely did not bear the title of 'Nevermore'.
"Hi Uncle Qrow."
"Hey, kiddo. Is everything okay?"
Ruby hesitated before shaking her head.
"What's wrong?" Qrow asked, sitting next to her.
"...why aren't you a shadow person?"
Qrow looked at her blankly. "A what?"
"You're not... scary. You have legs. Nobody at school has legs."
"Everyone at school has perfectly normal legs and knees, Ruby."
"They don't! They look scary! Like monsters..."
Qrow was no longer sure of his thought that Ruby was simply anxious of other people. "Can you draw what people look like?" He asked, handing her a paper, pencil, and book to draw on.
Ruby hadn't practiced art beyond doodles, but months of drafting had made her more proficient at sketching, leading to a haunting drawing of a black, formless monster on the page in no more than ten minutes. All the while Qrow had watched.
"This is what they look like."
"Everyone looks like this? Even Yang?"
"I don't think Yang does." Ruby said, shifting uncomfortably.
"Do your teachers? Classmates? Can you draw your partner... _?"
"They all look like this." Ruby said firmly.
"Okay." Qrow said, thinking. "Why did you barricade the doors?"
"One of the shadow people wouldn't let me leave. I thought they were coming to take me back."
"Let you leave where?"
"Signal. They said there was a Grimm attack and I had to come inside."
"Were you waiting outside for me?"
Ruby nodded.
"What was the name of the... shadow person?" Qrow asked.
"They don't have names. I can't hear them."
"You don't know the name of any of your teachers? The students?"
Ruby shook her head. "I can't hear them."
"So when I say _, you don't hear anything?"
"There's just... static? Like when Yang didn't set up the TV right."
"But you know my name, Yang's, Taiyang's, Summer's... is there anyone else you know the name of?"
"Professor Ozpin."
Ruby's stomach growled.
"I'll make something. Hang tight, kiddo." Qrow said, easily moving aside the makeshift barricade. Once he made sure the door to Ruby and Yang's room was closed, he set to work making food, and opened up his Scroll, calling the first number that came up under his contacts.
It took ten rings for Ozpin to pick up.
"Is something the matter, Qrow? Some complication with the Grimm attack from earlier?"
"Ozpin, do you know what 'shadow people' are?"
There was silence on the line for a moment as Ozpin took serious thought to the question. Qrow shoved a frozen meal into the microwave, watching as it spun, and waiting for the old man to answer.
"...I believe I do." Ozpin finally answered. "It's time I was frank, Qrow."
"Were you lying before?" He asked sarcastically.
"Straightforwardness has never been a virtue of mine. Please understand that this is conjecture, and why I withheld this information. At the moment, you are one of the few people on this planet that I trust, and that is not without reason. Anything that might threaten this relationship, I had to treat carefully."
"Go on."
"...I believe Summer is trying to take over Ruby's body." Ozpin lied. "Her whereabouts for the last few months were sparse, but with the Grimm attack today, and Ruby seeing these shadow people—"
"I didn't say Ruby saw shadow people."
"Correct. Conjecture, Mr. Branwen. Conjecture. She is, is she not?"
"She is." Qrow relented.
"Then may I continue?"
Qrow grunted.
"Specters, ghosts, Aura given form is a dangerous thing. I allowed Summer to exist partially out of respect for her deeds in life, and under the guise that she had calmed after her initial outburst after her funeral. This was a false pretense, and given the events of today, I see no path other than termination."
Ozpin's wording chilled Qrow, but he did his best not to let it show in his voice. "She's the one making Ruby see shadow people?"
"It's the only logical conclusion. That, or Ruby somehow summoned the Grimm herself, which I find unlikely if somewhat possible. These two events must be linked, although I admit that I cannot say definitively Summer is the cause. Even without this new progression, I do not tolerate the harming of citizens, especially potential Hunters, and was planning to ask you to lay her to rest regardless. This simply accelerates the timeline. Do not mistake the thing Summer is at this moment, as anything more than a shell of her former self."
Of Ozpin's lies and misdirections, of all of these things, his last statement rang true. Summer leaned in the corner, stewing in hatred. She'd known it was a bad idea to trust Qrow, and was paying the price for her foolishness. None of this would have happened if she had simply eliminated him to begin with. Ozpin would be forced to find a new pawn to manipulate, and that would cost him valuable time Summer could use to train Ruby.
"I won't. What do I do?"
"The damascus knife should suffice. I assume you still have it?"
"Yeah."
"Go to Dinah's Cliff. I am certain that Summer will reveal herself there. And when she does, run the knife through her heart." Ozpin said gravely.
"What happens if I miss?"
"...I would prefer not to say. If you do, there'll be little you can do, even if I did tell you." Ozpin said truthfully. "And bring young Ruby with you."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"It's better than leaving her alone, and there's a better chance that Summer will appear if you do."
"If you're sure about this..."
"I am." Ozpin said coldly.
The line went dead at the exact moment the microwave beeped.
Qrow sat on his counter, just thinking for a moment. He rubbed the flask Summer had given him, the white spot he'd seen on occasion once again showing up on it.
He sighed, placing the flask down as he stared at the corner where he knew Summer was.
"Talk to me, Summer." Qrow invited, gesturing with a hand towards the empty corner. "Why are you doing all of this?"
He received no answer, for what could Summer tell him? In her mind, nothing she said would matter. Nothing would change his view on Ozpin, nothing would allow Qrow to know the true state of the world, that Hunters were disposable and nothing more than entertainment. To know that she only wanted to protect her daughter, and doing it the only way she knew how.
The T.V. did not flick on to show her bloody visage. There was no assortment of letters in the air. Nothing to indicate that Qrow was even right in his guess that Summer was there.
He put his hands down, feeling foolish. "Shit."
Eyeing his flask once more, he drank from it heavily, feeling his head begin to numb. It'd been days since he last drank, and he feared that after tonight, numbness would be his normal state.
Taking the meal out of the microwave, he entered Ruby's room and handed it to her. She was still sitting on the floor, waiting patiently in the moonlight that matched her eyes.
"You okay to come with me somewhere tonight?"
Ruby nodded as she ate.
"Good. Thanks, kiddo."
Qrow ruffled her red tinged hair, sitting on the floor next to her as he pondered over memories long gone, wondering when they would be buried with him.
"Your mother... was the bravest person I ever met."
Ruby didn't say anything or acknowledge him.
"She was always alone. Even... even on our team she was alone. We did our best, tried to be friends, to understand her, but one day— she just stopped trying. She stopped trying to understand people, to get close to them. I don't know if she was just tired of trying or someone said something to her, but I should've asked. I should've asked why."
If Qrow had asked why, dear reader, this story would be set decades later, with different offspring. But he didn't, as not even the gods can turn back time. The building up of regrets was Qrow's hobby. Wailing about things he'd never, or would never be able to do. About how his bad luck made everybody's else's lives worse. About how he thought he could connect with Summer over their loneliness, their disconnection from the rest of humanity.
But this thought would never come to fruition. He never made these desires real, and thus never had the chance to find out if he would succeed. As I know for a fact that he would have, and Summer never would have seen those shadowy figures again, seeing unimportant people for what they were, those with their own lives and dreams. Not as monsters, ethereal things that she had to protect for no apparent reason.
Poor Taiyang never had it in him to do what needed to be done, to needle Summer until she hated him, but had accepted humanity as her fellows. He simply didn't love her enough. He lacked the strength and mental fortitude to do so, and thus Summer scattered, although kindly is not what I would describe it as.
Summer watched the two sit together, one little more than a puppet who could do little more than feel sorry for himself and follow orders, and the other the reaper heir who would put down the one who pulled Qrow's strings.
"Ruby, listen for a second."
Putting down her fork, she gave Qrow her full attention.
"Your mother was the bravest and stupidest person I ever knew." He said, rectifying his earlier statement. "She never tried to figure out anyone else's view, never tried to fix herself. All she did was pin her issues on other people, blaming them for not understanding her. People have no obligation to understand her, but she just didn't get that. But even though no one understood her, and she understood no one, she still laid down her life for them. I'm not going to tell you any bullshit about how somewhere deep down she really did understand them, I'm just saying... she tried her best. And she loved you and Yang. I never saw her so happy when you two were born, both times she was... proud. She wanted you to grow up to be like her, to help other people even if you didn't get them, especially if you didn't. And that's a goddamn noble act, Ruby. I wish I was half as brave as her. Every time I had to fight alone, I was scared. I was scared that no one would even find my body or know that I was really dead. But Summer wasn't. I bet you that she died with a smile on her face. Fuckin' idiot, that's what she was."
Qrow was silent, swaying slightly. The alcohol had hit his system harder than he expected.
"All I'm saying is... your mother was the bravest and saddest person I ever knew. How many people came to her people? Was it just you guys? And Raven... she was probably there too." Qrow said, rolling his eyes. Ruby didn't notice that this name was exempt from the static that others had, her mind focused on her drunk uncle's words. "No one was there. You remember the guy we went to the funeral for? What was his name..."
Qrow opened his scroll, searching through his notes before finally finding it. "Anton. Me and you were the only people at his funeral. He's got no family. He didn't have any stake in whether or not humanity lived or died, but he died saving me anyway. Your mother died saving some backwater village in the middle of Vacuo with no thanks, knowing she would never get any form of gratefulness from them, and doing it anyway. She's a Hero, not a Huntress. A Huntress would've fallen back, let the village get destroyed, and so what if a few people die? She would still live to see another day and save more people. But she didn't, she stood her ground and died. Died alone, and smiling..."
Ruby looked uneasy when Qrow took another swig from his flask.
"I bet your mother saw the shadow people. That's the great part. Gods only know why she did, but I bet she protected everybody even though that's all she saw them as. I wonder what she saw me as... All I'm saying, Ruby, is that... is that... I loved your mother." Tears streamed down his face. "And I'm glad that even if it wasn't for too long, that she was happy. Because I think she was with you guys. And I just wish that she'd had a better life. Do you get it, Ruby?"
Ruby nodded slowly, although she had no idea what her uncle was on about. Though she still felt melancholy from his words.
"And it must be my bad luck, because I've got to kill her again. I've got to put her down for good, this time. I don't even know why she stayed— she has to have stayed for a reason, but she's hurting people on purpose now. And that's something she never would have done, ever. You've got to keep this a secret from everybody, okay?"
"Even Yang?"
"Even Yang." Qrow said solemnly. "Especially Yang."
"Can I talk to mom before you kill her?" Ruby asked, in the way only a child could ask such a question.
"Yeah." Qrow said, choking. "You can."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Took a little bit of a different approach this chapter so I'd be curious to see thoughts on it. Thanks for reading, as always.
