Chapter 1
Bruised and bloody, A 21 year old Ruby Rose slowly began trying to pull herself back up; her aura trying its best to mend her wounds and her eyes, Only to go at the pace of a snail. "Dammit.. why did it have to end like this?.." she coughed out to herself slowly; trying to feel her surroundings for her scythe.
"Stay down." Salem, with a swing of her arm, force slammed the bloodied girl back onto the cold floor; coughing out some blood. "You've lost, girl. Your plan was a failure. Without your friends, you're nothing."
The sound of heels clicked as the deathly pale figure walked closer to the down girl; a smile formed on her face as she crouched down to meet her eye to eye.
The two have been fighting for hours now, and both were at their limit; that was until Salem landed a cheap shot at her opponent's eyes with a blast of pure magic. bringing the struggle to an end. The Grimm queen quickly recovered, while the girl tried her best to continue fighting blind.
With those eyes out of commission, the queen easily began turning the fight around however, And soon enough, the huntress was down. Her aura would regenerate soon, the Queen thought. She'd have to end this quickly.
her red eyes closely observed the blind girl's own eyes. "I will admit, you've fought braver than most; and you've made it quite far. It's a shame I'll have to end your run here." Her smile grew, as she forced her head to face her directly. "You've earned my respects, Rose."
A sharp pain erupted in the bloodied girl's stomach a moment later; her mouth filled with blood before she coughed it out, and her once bright silver eyes flickered with light, earning a small look of surprise from the witch, before they lost their light completely.
It took a moment before she actually registered the blood stained arm going straight through her stomach.
"Goodbye."
With a quick tug, the lifeless body fell to the floor, unmoving. Salem grinned.
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Silver eyes slowly opened up, only to meet darkness. Her body was floating around, and her red cape and hood seemed as if gravity had no effect on them. She searched her surroundings, for something, anything at all, but only saw the dark void staring back at her.
"H-Hello..?" Ruby gasped out, realizing her throat was dry. As expected, no response came. Her body was sore, and her limbs felt heavy.
'Where am I?' She thought, feeling a small ache from her stomach.
'Why am I here?' The pain in her stomach grew.
'What do I do?' Her stomach pain grew even worse, to the point of being unbearable.
'Oh.' She realized.
"I-I died.." She spoke in a whisper. Her breathing hitched as she slowly pulled her knees up to her face; realizing where she was. "This is the afterlife..?"
"It's so.."
"..lonely."
"No one is here.." Her eyes scanned the void again, hoping to see anything other then the dark. "..Why..? Why do I have to be alone..?"
A conclusion came to her head.
"It's b-because I failed.. I-I failed everyone. I couldn't beat her. I couldn't avenge any of you guys. I-I'm sorry.. Weiss, Blake, Y-Yang.. everyone.." her eyes began overflowing with tears, as the guilt began to overwhelmed her. she pulled her knees closer and wrapped herself in her cloak. "I'm so s-sorry."
A huge amount of time had gone by, hours, days, or possibly years at this point. Ruby couldn't tell as she continued floating across the dark void. She had stopped crying at some point, but only because she didn't have any tears left to shed. She had lost her voice too, at some point. She had tried talking to herself. But only ended up coughing and rasping, so she stopped trying, leaving her with only her thoughts.
She had accepted that she was stuck here, with nothing to do but wrap herself in her cloak for comfort. It was a sad display from the last huntress from Remnant, but she accepted it as the norm now.
Until something happened.
Light.
A huge flash of white light appeared, blinding her even when she covered her eyes. A flash of panic erupted from her, as her body seemingly was pulled toward the light.
Although, surprising; she felt a sigh of relief escape her lips, finally something had happened in this void of darkness.
The light grew, slowly covering her whole.
"You deserve much more then this. Being all alone."
A voice spoke, alerting her. She couldn't see who or what it was, as the blinding lights covered her vision.
"I'll save you from this place, I'll take you to another place, one similar to your own."
The voice, was calm, and although surprising, held comfort within it.
The lights dimmed and all sound was muted soon after.
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In Japan within a city called Musutafu, Silver eyes opened again, this time staring at the cloudy blue skies. She slowly pulled herself up and began to take a look at her surroundings admiring the dirty alleyway she was in. Finally, some color. She would be shedding tears right now if she hadn't ran out before.
'Where am I now..?' Ruby wondered; Dusting herself off, and trying to balance herself after being off her feet for all that time. She still wore her possibly centuries old attire and her hair had grown just a bit longer, (V7 outfit, but hair similar to Blake's V1.)
She didn't like the long hair at first, but after a while it grew on her. Literally.
Anyways, she continued making her way out of the alley, eventually reaching the sidewalk, where she saw many, many people walking about, both in casual wear and in some strange costumes. There even seems to be Faunus here too.
It surprised her. As far as she knew, she was the only living, non-corrupted human on Remnant left. Unless, this wasn't Remnant at all. That would explain the unique buildings, and technology in this city.
She went along with that theory, seeing as it was the most plausible she could come up with. Ruby continued walking, blending easily into the crowd. She got a few looks, but she didn't mind the attention. It was welcoming, actually.
Her eyes scanned the city, taking in everything she needed to know. Apparently the city was called Musutafu, inhabited by both civilians and heroes. That explains the funny costumes. There was also a bunch of merchandise for said heroes, specifically merch of a man named 'All Might.'
'Ah.. This place.. it's so comforting.' She thought, pulling her hood over her head. 'It's so nice here.. But why do I deserve to be here?'
'I failed everyone, left everything behind, and all I get is to go to some nice, relaxing place.. I don't deserve to be here.'
An explosion erupted within another alleyway, causing civilians to flee, screaming in the process, although some brave or stupid stayed, recording the scene with their phones.
Ruby quickly made her way to the destination, semblance not needed. Once there, her eyes caught something foul.
Some type of monster, a sludge monster rampaged around the alleyway, causing fires to spread and throwing trash and other things around to get some distance between the crowd. And within the sludge monster was a young boy, blonde and possibly around the age of 13-15.
"Haha! This boy's body will do! You got quite a quirk I can use!" The sludge gurgled. The blonde continued struggling, sparks emitting from his palms as he tried to pry himself out.
The bastard was trying to steal this boy's body..
Logically, She waited and scouted the crowd in hopes of a hero arriving. Sure, there were already a few there. But seems they couldn't do anything about it right now. She didn't completely understand this world yet, and she didn't know the consequences if she just rushed in there too. Also, she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself. She enjoyed the company after being in the void for so long, but she was still the shy and timid girl at heart.
Even so, once she saw another green haired boy, possibly the blonde's friend, run toward the sludge, she knew he was going to get himself killed.
So she made up her mind.
Within a second, she burst forward, semblance active and aura working.
A red blur flew by the running boy's face right when he tossed his bag over, books that were inside, hit it cleanly in the eye. The red blur meanwhile quickly blasted toward the sludge villain at blinding speeds.
"The hell?! What're you doing kid!? I've got your friend here and you try to ru— Huh..?"
The sludge didn't have time to react as the blonde was forcibly pulled out of his body, and was laid next to the green haired boy.
"K-Kacchan!" The boy yelled, shocked to see the boy right beside him.
"D-dammit I didn't need help Deku!" The blonde barked back.
As the boys bickered, Ruby slowed to a halt, catching her breath once she knew he was okay.
"Dammit! You took my prey!" The sludge turned toward her, "Hmm.. You're not bad yourself. Maybe I'll just take your body instead!"
Tendrils quickly shot toward her, which she easily dodged with her semblance. A smirk plastered on her face once she saw the anger building up in those eyes.
"Dammit! Stay still you brat!"
'Seems anything physical won't hurt the damn thing..' Ruby thought, dodging more tendrils. 'Though, when that kid threw his bag, he managed to stun it by hitting it's eyes. That'll do.'
Dodging another set of tendrils, she quickly grabbed a trash can lid and hurled it at it's eyes, striking it directly, turning red.
"AAGH! Dammit! Y-You'll pay for that!" The slime growled. Shooting out even more tendrils.
She dodged easily, the speed of which the tendrils were coming toward her were slow compared to foes she fought before, and the way it attacked was too predictable.
She grabbed another lid, and tossed it, toward the other eye, only for it to react fast enough, and catch it.
"The same trick won't work on me twice!"
Tendrils shot toward her again, she could've dodged easily, but-
"Is that so? I'll take it from here then." A booming voice echoed behind her, and a speed that was on par with hers, blasted In front of her. A huge muscular man arrived on the scene, taking the full force of the sludge.
The man turned toward Ruby, a full smile plastered on his face. "Whoever you are.. I thank you for risking your life for these two."
The girl nodded in return, before the man turned to the green haired boy.
"A-All Might.." the green haired boy muttered.
"I really am pathetic.. I told you the traits of what makes a true hero, but I haven't been living up to that, have I..?" The man told the boy.
"Pros are always risking their lives! That's the true test of a hero!" All Might yelled even if blood splattered out of his mouth. He pulled back his fist, power surging through it, before yelling out as loud as he could.
"DETROIT SMAAAASH!!"
His fist connected. Blasting the sludge into smithereens. Ruby couldn't believe her eyes. The punch was too powerful, enough to make your ears pop, and winds speeds to increase tenfold. The punch was also strong enough to cause a small tornado.
She stood there silent, and mouth agape, along with everyone else in the crowd, dumbfounded by this man's power.
He stood there, a smile still plastered onto his face, before lifting his arm up in victory.
Cheers were heard soon after, before erupting into full out cries of his name.
Ruby watched the scene unfolded in front of her. A small smile formed on her face as she watched the Number One Hero put smiles on everyone's faces.