Hey guys sorry it took so long. I've been working on 2 other fanfics along the way. I'll be taking longer also since I also have a job now yay. So hold on guys, I'll post when I can.

I don't own RWBY, Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum do.

I don't own Rangers Apprentice, John Flanagan does

Chapter 7

An Innocent Rose dies

Halt POV

It's been a day since we left the castle for red mount and a day since Ruby showed her true colours. But after that even she hasn't said a word. She just keeps looking at the ground like it's going to help her or its distracting her. Whatever it is, the others are ignoring her.

We stop for lunch, next to a small lake for lunch. It's a pleasant place, and has a calm feel to it. Horace takes Ruby down and ties her to a tree, but we probably won't need it. She is being quiet and hardly moved since yesterday. She won't even touch her food. She sits slumped on the ground looking down.

I look at the other and see they have gotten back to normality at least. Ruby just stays quiet, like she is thinking. Like she is trying to remember something. I see will look at her then speak.

"What are we going to do with her"? He asks me.

"I don't know. But I don't think it will end well for her" I say grimly. I look back to Ruby and she is now looking up at the waterfall and the cliff. He mouth slightly open. She stands and starts walking to the rock face but the rope stops her. She looks at it and starts to pull.

Ruby POV

I feel the rope around my wrists, restrict me from moving. I move my right hand and feel a pop of my hand. I pull my hand through and untie my other hand. I pop my thumb back into place and run to the cliff face, I start climbing and I'm already above them. I keep climbing and I look down. I see Will climbing the wall and gaining fast. After 5 minutes I get to the top and run to where I'm going. I slow down at the edge of the cliff and fall to my knees. I cross my legs and close my eyes. I breathe slowly. I open my eyes again and look into the distance. I close my eyes and focus on my forgotten memories.

Ruby POV

Flash back

My seven year old self was out on the courtyard thinking about recent events. She looks over to a group of girls around Yang. At this point in life Yang saw Ruby as more of a thing, then a sister. Ruby walks away wearing her mother's cloak. She holds the fabric close to her heart as she walks through the halls.

She then hears laughter and annoying voices. It's the resident bully's. She looks behind her and they look like they want to really mess with her today. Yang's home sick with a fever. She has been getting fevers a lot lately. She looks at the boys as they look around trying to find someone to harass. She stands up and leaves the oval and heads to a small court yard where she can be alone and be happy. Or so she thought.

She feels a set of hands throw her into the bench nearby. She gasps at the impact. She is groaning in pain. She sees it's the schools bullies. They are just laughing at how she can't do anything. She sits up. She wishes she was fast enough to get away and strong enough to fight back and make them pay like a hero. The group's leader says something but she can't hear anything. It all comes through as fuzzy static. She stands and try's to move but her legs hurt. She feels the leader grab her cloak.

Her cloak. Her precious cloak. The present her mother gave her for her birthday. That day was special but it wasn't done here in Vale. It was done somewhere else. In the kingdom…

A ripping sound is heard. She suddenly becomes really aware of her surroundings. She looks at her cloak and it's been ripped down the middle. She stands there stunned and shocked. The bully's throw her into a tree and laugh. They turn away and start to walk away when a rose petal fly's past from behind them. They look and are scared. They see my younger self standing with a wide eyed face. My body had a red glow on it. It was a deep red. Like blood. It also had shimmers of black. Her skin had small blotches of red. They slowly form petals and float away. But when they looked into her eyes are filling with black and red. She looks at the boys and charges.

Younger Ruby POV

Red. That's all I see. A small sound is in my ear but I can't tell what it was. I can slightly hear Max. The school bully screaming please. Please what. Please can I have a cookie? What does he want?

The next word rang through my mind. 'Mercy'. The word rang through me. Why does he want mercy? I can hear the other bullies screams of pain and agony. For what felt like an hour. I could hear pain filled screams and pleas smashing through my mind. I see the red and black slowly fade. I look up and see the sky is blue and the tree is green. I then look around me and scream. Well if you can call it a scream. A high pitch raspy noise breaks from my throat.

When I look at the corridor, I see teachers and students looking at me horrified. I see kids scared and teacher petrified. I see max and his gang on the ground after being pounded. They are all alive but just. I feel everything start to get blurry. I look around and stumble. I fall to the ground and just miss the bench. I feel tired and I fall asleep. Knowing something has changed about me. That was the day I was no longer sweet innocent Ruby. That was the day I became dangerous and empty.

Will POV

I follow Ruby up the cliff. She's good at climbing I'll give her that. I reach the top not long after her and I see her siting on the edge. She is breathing slowly. I watch her sit there, as silence fills the air. I watch her and wait to see what happens.

I hear a whisper and see its Ruby. I listen to what she is mumbling and I'm shocked. The event that happened 2 days ago has happened before. I look at her worried. I move to the edge and wave, I signal that its ok but I don't convince myself. I approach her when I see a faint red glow cover her. She seems at peace. I see a flicker of black and white flow around the red. They split off her and form on her sides. One makes a lady in white and the other makes a girl of darkness.

They look at me and nod. The one in white places her hands on Ruby's head and white mixes into the red more making a pick colour. Then the darkness places her hand on Ruby's shoulders and darkness seems to flow out of Ruby and into the girl of darkness. The one in white flickers slightly and a slight tear forms in her eye as she vanishes. The girl of darkness speaks.

"Sorry for leaving a mess. I don't get out much" It says. Then I realise that its Ruby's dark side. "Ruby is slowly losing the light inside her. Soon her sweet and innocent appearance will change to what she is really. She is a fine actor but she won't need to fake happiness much more." It says. "If she gets that mad again, frightened or extremely sad then she will become darker. Show her there is light in life and save her before she becomes dark. For darkness can't exists without light and light without darkness". She says as she fades.

Ruby starts to stir and awaken. She seems confused at first then she sees me and looks worried.

"Do I need to be tied up again" She asks looking at me. I don't know what to reply with. I just shake my head. She grins a bright grin and stands. It's like whatever that was took the emptiness and sadness and filled her back up with love and joy. She smiles and starts climbing down. "Are you coming?" She asks before her head disappears. I shake my head and move over to them.

Horace POV

They had been up there for almost an hour when we see them climbing down. Something about Ruby seemed different. She seemed more cheerful. I see Will climb down not long after her and he seems a bit shaken. I look at him confused as he gets on Tug and starts off. Ruby just skips along next to him. She seems to realise something and waits for me.

"May I have my sweet heart back"? She asks. It's taken her a bit to figure out I still had it. She looks at me with puppy dog eyes that could put a puppy to shame.

"No. Not till we reach the castle". I say. She seems kind of dejected. She nods and trudged over to will and Tug again. She pets Tugs main and smiles to him. She opens a pouch on her belt and gives Tug one of those cookies. He seemed to like them. Ruby then says your welcome. She seems almost like a ranger. Horace says with a smirk, imagining Ruby in green and with a bow. It seemed to fit. And she did have an empty pouch that she could put her red cloak in.

They move through the forest when they finally reach Wensley Village. We ride through the village and everything seems calm. As we go up the street we see Jenny's restaurant, The Heaped Platter. We wave at Jenny as we go past. We move deeper into the village. I look up to will and see that Ruby is gone. I look around but I don't see her. Her weapon is no longer on my saddle.

"WILL, SHE'S GONE" I call to my friend.

He looks around then looks down an ally. He sees something. He nods at Tug and jumps off and runs down the ally.

Ruby POV

We are entering a village that looks amazing. I can see a bakery, a blacksmith, an inn, guard house, merchant huts and houses. I'm amazed at all of this. I look down an ally when I see a familiar flicker of gold hair. I look and see gold hair go around a corner.

"Yang" I mumble to myself. I look at the group as they seem distracted by a restaurant. I sneak back to Horace's horse and take Crescent Rose from his saddle and move down to the ally. I move down as fast as I can and I look around the corner. I see a group of 3 men and a blond girl that definitely was not Yang talking. One sees me and points. I quickly react and run to my right. I manage to move faster than they could move. I hear Horace's voice yelling to Will.

As I run, I hit a dead end. I also trip and slide. I slowly get onto my knees as one of the men grab me. The other 2 help him hold me down. The woman, looks me over and speaks.

"She will do. Why don't you show her some obedience before you take her to my pleasure house"? She says with an evil smile. "From how well she ran, I can only imagine she will please many customers". She says. She heads off as the three men smirk. I squirm and move but I can't move. I thrash around, trying to get out but it's no use. One reaches for my skirt when I plant my boot into his nuts.

Fear starts to seep into me, like a waterfall after a monsoon. I'm shaking and my strength seems to just get sapped from my body. But I kept fighting. I manage to grab Crescent Rose, but one of them took her off me and threw her away. I try to fight back but it's no use.

One of them almost has his hand up my skirt and his other is about to grab my chest, when I see an arrow slam into and through his hand. I look up and see Will standing there with another arrow at the ready. One pulls me into a hold and a knife is at my throat. I feel the fear grow, tenfold. I close my eyes but it gets worse. Flashes in my head of past events come and go. I see my mother being attacked. I almost black out before I open my eyes. I see the men on the ground and Will walking over to me. I start to fall and start mumbling.

"I'll be good. Just don't hurt my mommy" I say as I hit the ground unconscious. I feel myself lose all happy feelings and I will with emptiness. I don't feel hope anymore. Just faith.

Will POV

I look for Ruby but I don't see much. I move down the ally and pass a blonde haired lady. She's smiling. I hear noise coming from where she walked from and head that way. I look ahead and see 3 men. I recognise the red and black skirt that Ruby has on. I nock an arrow as I see a hand about to grab her breasts. I shoot and take his hand away. I nock another arrow and aim. I see Ruby fall to the ground and the men run away.

I move over to her and see a ball of light leaving her. Ruby seems to have harder features now. I can feel an empty and lonely aura being projected off of her. I pick her up in my arms as I hear her mumble the same thing over and over again.

"I'll be a good girl, just don't hurt mommy". She kept saying. She was restless as I carry her. We reach the others and they seem a bit worried. I shook my head as I put her on tug. We slowly make our way to the castle. Then Ruby says something new. Something that makes me question her past.

"But you promised not to hurt her if I let you". She says as she stops moving and sleeps.

Ozpin POV

I look at a file of Summer. It shows her life. She appeared when she was 10, then vanished with Ruby when she was 4. She then returned Ruby at the age of 6 and never returned. She is currently M.I.A. I look at the file and notice matches in the runes in the bedroom, to an old temple that Summer went missing at.

I take a drink from my coffee. "Gin and Tonic is a neutral for coffee" I say as I continue reading. I go to my book shelf and study it. I find a book on ancient runes and look for them. I study late into the night. Trying to find a way to find the team RWBY.

Jaune POV

I sit in my room looking around the room. Team Ruby have been gone almost a week with no clues but some strange runes on the floor of their room and a strange piece of paper in their room. I look at my team. We all sit their quiet, even Nora. We wait to find out what we could do. I turn on the TV and wonder what's happening. The news shows the white fang robbing more stores since Team RWBY vanished.

"Ok that's it. Until RWBY get back we will do what they started and stop the white Fang" I say looking at my team as they look at me.

"I'm in" Says Nora, bouncing onto her bed.

"I'll do it if you do Jaune" Pyrrha states, standing up with a smile.

"I'll have to go to keep Nora to check. So I'm in". Ren states in his famous flat tone.

"Great. Well team, let's kit up and get ready to move out" I say as I take my shirt off and put my normal shirt on. I turn and see Pyrrha in only a skirt and a black bra. I quickly look away. I finish changing. I look and see my team is ready to go. Pyrrha is blushing. I feel my heart starting to pound.

"Ok let's go" I say moving to the door. Do I like her? I say in my head as we move down the corridor and head out into the city.

Hey guys sorry this took so long to get sent out. I've been really busy and I'm doing 3 stories at once. It's a slow process but I will post when possible.

Next chapter

A hollow smile of a new life