So this is my first story. Yes I am new to this, so the writing is probably going to be horrific. But this is when I ask for your help. If you can tell me what I am doing wrong in my writing style it would help me alot. I should probably also point out that this is NOT an insert. I know that most people have a negative attitude towards them, and I can understand why, but while this story is in first person it is in no way an insert. There will be different POVs throughout this story, especially later on.

There will dark themes like thoughts of suicide and PTSD that will come up later in the story, along with thoughts of suicide. I will warn you about what chapter they will come up in.

With that said, I hope you enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of the characters of RWBY. All OC's are of my own creation. All rights go to Rooster Teeth Productions.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

"Ugh, you fucking bastard..."

I was awoken by the sound of my alarm clock. I wanted to sleep for another five minutes but my friends were going to arrive at my door. Today we were going to go hiking. I turned off my alarm clock and got out of bed. I sluggishly made my way to my bathroom stopping in front of the mirror. I took in my appearance. I was 5'11" in height, my body lean but still in good shape from my years in track. My ash-blonde hair and blue eyes complimented my pale, almost white, skin. A gift from my father's side of the family. Sighing I went through my morning routine. Running my hand through my mid length hair I realized there was still time before my friends arrived.

After getting myself ready I decided to check my phone messages when I heard a knock on the door. Opening the door there was a blonde girl, who was a few inches shorter than me. This girl was Azura Hood, my best friend. The girl was only a year younger than me, but she had the mind of a thirteen year old. Her thick Louisiana accent was one of the things that made her stand out from everyone else, the other being her amazing looks.

"Hey Ash!" She said as we hugged each other.

"Hey Azura."

After we stopped hugging I turned around and closed the door, and we started walking towards the black Chevrolet Colorado belonging to Gray Ketchum, who was sitting in the driver's seat next to his younger brother, Hunter. I got in the back with Azura after putting our things in the bed of the truck.

"Hey Krieger, how's it going?" Gray asked as soon as I entered the truck.

"It's going well," I answered as I closed the door. "Still eating crayons with your Marine buddies?"

"You know it," Gray replied sarcastically. "I ate all the blue ones with my platoon before I came back."

"How are the rest of those Jar-heads treating you Gray?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"They're all a pain in the ass, but the Corps' not something I plan on leaving any time soon." He said. To me it sounded like he was unsure of himself, but I doubted he would leave the military to do anything else. "I still think you should have joined with me, Ash."

Gray joined the Marine Corps right out of high school and wanted me to join with him. Azura, however, convinced me not to. At least not until after college. That didn't stop Gray from always pestering me to join.

"You know I'm doing college first." I told him. "It's not like the military will disappear within the next three years."

"Well if you become an officer, the Corps would be lucky to have that mind of yours." He said. I turned to look at Azura, who was looking out the window, Ignoring the conversation between Gray and I.

During the rest of the ride we talked about other things to get Azura into the conversation. Upon arriving at the trail, we all got out of Gray's truck. As soon as we got out of the truck I couldn't help but stretch.

"Azura's still sore about you wanting to join, isn't she?" Gray asked.

"Yeah, and I don't blame her..." I looked down at the ground, thinking back to the day that had always been stuck in my mind.

"We all miss him, Ash. Azura is just worried about you. She doesn't want to lose you."

"I know." I said in a low whisper.

"It's better if you listen to her anyway," He said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You're lucky to have her as a friend. I don't know anyone in the Corps whose got my back like Azura has yours."

I couldn't argue with him, Azura was my best friend after all. And with everything both of us had been through up to that point it seemed like there was no chance of our friendship ever ending.

"I know how you feel about this, but has there been any news about your sister?" That was something I was expecting him to ask. I had already accepted what had happened, but that wouldn't stop anyone from every asking for answers.

"It's been three years, Gray," I told him. "I think it's safe to assume-"

"Hey guys!" Hunter called to us, interrupting me. "Are we gonna go or what?" He and Azura already had their backpacks on, ready to go.

"Yeah, just give us a minute!" I called back. "Look Gray, she's been missing for three years, and there still has been no news on her. Marigold's gone."

Gray opened his mouth to speak, but instead let out a sigh, accepting that I was right. She was gone, and she was never coming back. We grabbed our backpacks and began walking up the trail with Azura and Hunter.

We had been walking along the trail for about an hour. We used to walk up this with a few other people over the years, but since the majority of us who graduated went to out of state schools, it was just us now.

We got to a point where we usually stopped to take a break. I took off my backpack and sat on a log next to what used to be a stream. The drought had really messed this place up good. Azura sat down next to me, looking like she ran a few miles.

"Well that's my workout for the next few months." I said jokingly.

"Yeah, same here." Azura said, chuckling slightly. Then something caught Azura's gaze, which appeared to confuse her."Was that cave always there?"

"What cave?" I was confused by what she asked. She then pointed to a cave I had never noticed before. "Oh, I never noticed that."

And then Azura gave me the terrifying 'lets go explore this shit' look.

"Oh God, please no."

"You mean oh God yes!" She replied, jumping up and grabbing me by the wrist and dragging me towards the mouth of the cave. And it didn't look like I had a choice anymore.

"Uh- Hey Gray!" I called to the Marine, "We're gonna explore this cave, we'll be right back!"

"Ok, but don't go too far in!" He called back. I was hoping he would say no, but I got the exact opposite. Azura and I entered the cave and began looking around it.

There was no way this cave was here before, I thought to myself. We would have explored something like this a long time ago. But if this was here before, how come we never found-

My thoughts were cut off when I saw a figure wearing a white and red cloak standing about thirty feet ahead of us, at what looked like a corner. This made me stop dead in my tracks, staring at the figure, which turned to it's right and began to walk off.

"Azura did you see that?"

"The person wearing the cloak?"

She saw that too?

Azura and I looked at each other as if to question if we were going crazy. I looked back down the cave and started to walk forward slowly with Azura following close behind me. The further into the cave we went, the darker it started get. But when we were about to turn the corner the figure was at, we saw a flash of light and stopped. We peeked around the corner to see what caused it, but it was too dark to see. Azura then took out her phone and turned the flashlight setting on, which illuminated much of what was in front of us. I was about to take another step when the mysterious light flashed again, only this time it didn't fade as quickly as it did before. Further down the cave was an opening that was large enough for us to walk through. We started walking towards it when it flashed again, and it faded at a slower rate than it did previously. It seemed like the closer we got to it, the slower the light would fade.

When we finally got to the opening, we noticed what was causing the flashing light, and where it was. In front of us was a cavern, lit up by a white light emanating from the tip a stalagmite resting on a small rocky island in the center. This was surrounded by a shallow pool of water. The white light began to flash again, only this time it did not fade.

I decided to go take a look at whatever was the cause of that light and walked towards the pool of water. I stopped when I thought I heard something, like a whisper.

"Did you say something?" I asked Azura.

"No, I didn't." She replied.

I was about to walk into the water when I heard it again, this time clearly hearing the whisper and what it was saying.

Ash.

It was calling my name...

Ash.

I realized that it wasn't Azura whispering, the voice sounded nothing like her. The whisper seemed to be coming from whatever was glowing on that stalagmite. I stepped into the water and started walking towards the small island. The whisper started to get louder as I got closer to the island. As I did I noticed what the source of the light was: a small white crystal about half the size of my ring finger resting on the top of the stalagmite, which was about four feet tall.

I seemed to be drawn to the gem as I started walking towards it, curious as to what it was and why it was glowing. As I drew nearer the voice started to speak louder and more frequent than before. I was now standing in front of the stalagmite, staring at the glowing white gem. I moved my hand up to the gem to pick it up, and as I did it began to glow brighter. I picked up the gem, and the voice stopped talking, and the gem stopped glowing. I didn't even realize Azura followed me to the gem until I saw her out of the corner of my eye standing on my left, also staring at the gem.

Suddenly the cavern began to shake, and it's roof of the cave began to crumble and fall.

"ASH!" I heard Azura scream. She looked terrified, and I probably had the same look on my face. My attention was drawn back up to the roof of the cavern, chunks of which started to fall close to us. The entire cavern was starting to fall apart around us. I looked over to the opening where we came from and saw a large piece of the cavern falling to the ground in front of it, blocking our only way out. I grabbed Azura and brought her into a crouching position and covered her body with mine. I closed my eyes and waited for the next rock to fall onto me, though it never came. I was able to see a bright light through my closed eyes and then suddenly everything went black.

And in that unexpected moment our lives would change forever.