Chapter 3.3- Side Stories 3

*The last part of the Free Hunt. Again, simultaneous to the previous two chapters, but this time, it's Stephen and Ruby's side of the story.

Ruby and Stephen trekked their way through the forest. They already had their weapons in hand and checked their surroundings for any Grimms. Stephen pulled out a journal and a pencil and began to write on a blank page. Ruby noticed what Stephen was doing and decided to ask him.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"It's a letter to my sister. She said she always wanted to become a huntress because of me and I'm just telling her how it's like." Stephen replied.

"Aww, that's so cute~!" Ruby said.

"Oh, come on. Wasn't Yang like that when you were still a kid?" he asked.

"Yeah. She was the one who inspired me to be a huntress." Ruby told him, "She also convinced mom to let me be a huntress. So, mom had Uncle Qrow enrol me in Signal, she also helped me build Crescent Rose. Me and mom got closer because of that, but…" She left the last word hanging. Stephen slightly tilted his head, wondering what happened.

"But?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter." Ruby responded coldly.

"I'm just trying to help, you know." Stephen said kind of seriously.

"I don't need your help, okay? I don't need anyone to help me in my problems. I'll just do fine with my problems on my own." She harshly responded.

Stephen fell silent. All he wanted to do was offer help and it was cruelly rejected. He felt disappointed that he couldn't help a fellow team leader in her problems and he didn't bother to offer any more help as they walked. In fact, no one was able to help Ruby when it came to her past. Everyone who tried were harshly rejected by her, even her own sister. All they could put in their minds were: 'What happened to Ruby before?' They reached a clearing after about thirty minutes of walking. The clearing was surrounded by trees and bushes and Stephen saw the carcass of a Boarbatusk in the middle. He brought out Vorpal and Crusher as Ruby folded up Crescent Rose into it's rifle form.

"We've been at it for an hour! Where're the Grimms?!" Ruby said in frustration.

"Patience. They're probably watching us right now." Stephen told her.

And Stephen was right. In the shadows of the trees, red eyes illuminated the dark followed by growling. Stephen saw it as did Ruby. Emerging from the darkness, Beowolves came into view. It was an entire pack of them and they slowly advanced towards the two. Stephen aimed Vorpal backwards, ready to launch himself towards the Beowolves, but Ruby darts forward and kill Stephen's target.

"My kill!" she yelled at Stephen.

Stephen has never seen her so aggressive and it disturbed him very much. Ruby focused on the approaching Beowolves, slicing them one by one with Crescent Rose as bullet shells flew out of her weapon. Stephen noticed that more Beowolves approached him from behind. He fired using Vorpal, killing the Beowolves in the front row. One tried to claw him, but he blocked it with Vorpal then struck it with Crusher. More showed up, but the two continued to push through and kill most of them. Bodies of dead Beowolves piled up the clearing as rose petals began to fly around them. Ruby made short work of them and she seemed more aggressive than usual. Ruby placed the edge of her scythe on one of the Beowolf's neck and fired, decapitating not only the one, but an entire line of Beowolves. Stephen was surprised to see what Ruby just did. He knew her skills very well, but she's never used these kinds of techniques before on them, even during their Grimm combat training, but this was surprising for him. Three Beowolves remained, two of them badly wounded while one only had a few broken spikes. Ruby approached them, anger in her eyes. The Beowolves ran away in sight of her, but that Ruby didn't stop. She was ready to launch herself, but Stephen tried to stop her.

"Ruby, they're not worth it." Stephen said.

"They are to me!" she yelled, breaking away from Stephen's grip.

"But, they're wounded-" Stephen said, but Ruby cut him off.

"We're trained to kill Grimms, I won't have to hear you hesitate to kill them. Now, come on!" Ruby told him.

And in that statement, she took off as Stephen reluctantly followed her. Ruby ran fast and Stephen knew he can't catch up. He fired Vorpal to increase his speed, almost catching up with Ruby. They reached the other side of the canyon, where Stephen saw Yang, Blake and Marco firing at two weakened Bull Leapers. Stephen the worried expression on Yang's face when Ruby ran past her, but Ruby didn't notice. They passed that side of the canyon and they made their way to an old bridge. Ruby managed to catch up with one of the wounded Beowolves and jabbed Crescent Rose into it's back, killing it. Ruby saw that the other two were at the other side of the bridge already and destroyed the stand keeping the bridge stable and the bridge already collapsed. Ruby aimed Crescent Rose behind her, ready to launch herself. Stephen caught up with her and noticed something. I studied Ruby's weapon, Stephen thought to himself, her magazine can hold at least thirty shots. She fired already twenty nine shots, so… He realized it and ran to Ruby.

"Ruby, no! You won't make it!" Stephen yelled.

"You don't know that!" Ruby yelled back and took fire.

Stephen blocked that shot as Ruby went off flying. She was half way from the other side and took another shot. But, the sound of clicking was heard instead of a shot. Ruby's widened when she realized why Stephen said she can't make the jump. She began to fall, eyes looking up to the moon as her descent began slowly. Stephen then jumped to her and grabbed her quickly. He aimed Vorpal downward and launched himself and her upward then he pointed Vorpal backward and fired again, sending them back to their original position. They tumbled upon landing and landed on the grass. Ruby looked at Stephen, he was exhausted and so was she. They both turned and looked at the moon. Ruby looked at Stephen and Stephen looked at her back.

"Thanks…" she said.

"No problem." He told her.

"But, we better get moving." Ruby said, getting up, "I'm sure the others are done with their part and they're probably on their way back tothe entrance."

"Right…" Stephen said, getting up as well, "I could use a coffee. And the bed."

They walked back to the entrance. Stephen looked at his fellow team leader. She seemed troubled and Stephen wanted to interfere and solve this, but she'll obviously deny it.

"Ruby, what happened back there?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She replied coldly.

"Look, I just saved you from falling. I thought you'd open to me so just tell me." Stephen said, his frustration slowly going up.

"I said I'm fine." Ruby responded irritatingly.

"Hey!" Stephen said grabbing Ruby by the arms, "You don't seem okay, alright. You brutally killed every Beowolf back at that clearing without any sympathy whatsoever, you pursued three wounded Beowolves to a canyon and you almost fell to your death just to kill two on the other side of that canyon. Just tell me now. Why'd you pursue those Beowolves? Why were you willing to nearly kill yourself just to kill them? Why?"

Ruby broke free from Stephen's grasp and looked down on the ground. She looked at Stephen and her lips began to quiver.

"My-my mom's dead, okay?"

"What?" he asked, shocked at what he heard.

"It happened a long time ago…" she began to explain as they made their way back to the entrance.

*(Another flashback, in Ruby's POV this time):

It happened when I was still fourteen. I was still Signal that time, training under Uncle Qrow and his knowledge on scythes. Mom and I finished building Crescent Rose before it happened and I was left to do the finishing touches myself. I was in my room in mom's house, fixing up Crescent Rose's ability to use Dust when my mom came in. She looked concerned at me and I wondered what's going on.

"What are you doing?" mom asked me.

"Just fixing up Crescent Rose's Dust abilities." I answered with a smile.

"Well, is it battle ready yet?" she asked.

"No, well, the Dust usage part, but the blade is in good form already." I told her.

"So, it's a no?" she asked.

"Yup." I answered.

"Then, we better go." Mom told me as she grabbed me by the arm.

I was wondering where mom was taking me and why it was such a hurry. We rushed down the stairs and I saw why. There were dozens of Beowolves outside our house and they seemed kind of angry. Mom brought out her broadsword/scythe out of it's case and turned to me.

"Ruby, I have to take care of these Beowolves by myself. Uncle Qrow will be on his way to pick you up." mom told me.

Tears started to flow down my eyes when she told me that. Mom was going to kill a pack without me?

"Mom, please don't!" I cried out, "I still want to learn from you! Why're you doing this?"

"I'm doing this to protect you, Ruby." She told me.

"But, I can fight mom! Please let me!" I told her.

"I'm sorry… but I simply can't." She told me as sheds a tear.

But, before I could say more, Uncle Qrow busted through the back door. His jet was outside, behind our Cliffside house. Qrow looked outside and saw that I really was in no condition to join in.

"Ruby! Summer told me I have to take you to your dad's, now!" Qrow told me.

"Mom! No!" I cried out as Qrow took me to his jet.

Mom approached the door and turned to me. Uncle Qrow let me go and I went over to hug mom.

"Don't worry, I'll be back. I love you, Ruby." She said.

"I love-" I said but I was cut off when a Beowolf broke through the window.

"Ruby, we have to go now!" Qrow told me.

"Mooom!" I cried out as mom exited the door.

And that was the last time I saw her before Uncle Qrow took me to my dad's where Yang was staying. I waited there for days waiting for mom to return from killing those Beowolves, but she didn't. I became worried and so did Yang, but I chose to find her myself. I left for our house, but all I found were piles of dead Beowolves, the house gone and a grave stone stood in place of it. There were construction workers everywhere so I turned to ask the one in charge. He was my mom's friend, an expert huntsman known as George Carn.

"What happened here?" I asked, very concerned on what they were doing.

But, George just asked me, "Ruby Rose? Is that you?"

"Y-Yes…" I said slowly.

"I bid you condolence." He told me, putting his hand on my shoulder, "Your mom was killed in this slaughter. She did kill all of these Beowolves, but some were able to kill her. I'm sorry."

"W-What about our house?" I asked, tears running down my eyes.

"The Beowolves destroyed it, so we had to push it off the cliff. But, all in all, I'm very sorry, Ruby." He told me.

That was the time I collapsed on the ground and cried. She said she'd come back, but she failed. If I fought there with her, she would still be alive, but she didn't let me. All that was occupying me now was grief, sadness and pain. I didn't even get to tell her I love her. When I returned, I had to lie to Yang that way she wouldn't be too worried, so I told her mom went missing. I then turned Crescent Rose into the sniper scythe it is now instead of the regular scythe Uncle Qrow wanted. I developed my hatred for the Grimm, mostly the Beowolves. And the worse part, I couldn't open up to anyone, especially my sister. That's why I ended up challenging people to hone my skills. That's why I'm so violent when it comes to hunting Beowolves, all because I'm grieving over the loss of my mom.

*(End of flashback)

"So, now you know," Ruby said, wrapping up her explanation, "Now, I'm just formulating my new plan, which is to gather enough strength so that I can avenge my mom."

"I see…" Stephen said, shocked at what he heard, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." Ruby said, "My…mom…would be…"

She couldn't finish, she became enveloped in sadness and grief. The mere thought of her mom's death is already enough for Ruby to go into a break down. Stephen didn't know what to say about what he heard. A mother-daughter relationship, ruined by the beast that has plagued the world for so long. If her mom allowed her to fight with her, she would've been alive, but he still couldn't understand why she didn't allow her to fight or why she abandoned her in order to protect her. Still, a girl her age, losing the person she loved and looked up to was too much for her to hold. Ruby continued to cry, a puddle of tears slowly began to form. Stephen approached her and comforted her.

"It's alright, Ruby." He said, "Dry those eyes of yours Ruby. Your mom maybe gone, but she'll still be alive in you. Do you really think you'll be able to fulfil your goals and avenge your mom if you're enveloped in too much sadness?"

She stopped crying and looked at Stephen. He was right and Ruby needed to accept it. She got up and hugged Stephen and he returned it.

"Thanks, Stephen…" she said, wiping her eyes as she hugged Stephen.

She now remembered why she wanted to become a huntress; it was to defend the world from the Creatures of Grimm and her mother was the person who encouraged her to carry out that task. Ruby let go of Stephen and returned to her normal, happy-go-lucky self then they continued walking back to the entrance.

"So…" Ruby said, trying to break the ice with Stephen, "You like anyone in my team?"

"Depends, you got sights on someone in my team?" he said.

"Ha, nice try, but I have my sights set on someone else." She told him.

"Ahh, I know who it is." Stephen said, realizing what she meant.

"No you don't." she said, slightly blushing.

"Yes I do. It's-" Stephen said, but got cut off when Ruby elbows his stomach.

"I repeat, you don't know." She told him.

"Still doesn't mean I'll tell you sometime." He said, groaning from the pain.

"Relax. Besides, I know who you like. You've been eyeing on her a lot lately." Ruby told him.

"Try me, Ruby." Stephen said, letting go of his stomach.

They continued to walk back to the entrance as they continued their little discussion. From the skies, a huge black figure loomed over the forest. It looked over at Marco's team and then at Gavin and Weiss and then at Ruby and Stephen. It growled and then sank it's head back into the forest, his red eyes illuminating the dark woods.

End of Chapter 3.3

a/n: I'm so sorry for the late update. My internet has a lot of problems and I have a lot of schoolwork piling in also. Also, it's cutting time from my writing periods and uploading schedule so you might expect some late uploads, but I'll try to squeeze in some time to get this story finished. Anyways, sorry for the late upload/short chapter. Reviews are still appreciated, just no spam. I will see you soon.