aye this my first fic so i dunno how its gonna turn out but whatever

the core of this AU is what if ruby and yang were separated when they were young and then went down different paths, eventually meeting back up in the future and then yaddah yaddah hijinks ensue

i imagine ruby to be around 9 in this chapter so yang would be around 11

i dunno if i really wrote them well enough to be that young but honestly in this chapter there wasnt much delving into their inner thoughts in the first place so its like whatever dude

anyway this is like the prologue and the next chapter might be one too

either that or a timeskip i dunno yet

If the next chapter is still prologue stuff then the third one will probably be a timeskip one

enjoy

As dusk wrenches the sun from the sky it scatters countless shadows into the forest floor beneath it. And as night completes its conquest, clouds loom in to obscure the moon as if to forbid any light from piercing through. In the middle of this black ocean of trees lay a single house, and from within lay 2 girls. One, a blonde girl with lilac colored eyes, already asleep as if to follow the sun to rest until morning. The other, a younger, red haired girl with silver eyes, seemed to copy the moon since, even though night had taken the sky, she seemed to take it as a prime opportunity to escape the confines of her bed.

"Yang? You up?" whispered Ruby, not expecting an answer but rather confirming that her sister was, in fact, asleep. When Yang did not respond, Ruby was satisfied and began climbing out of her bed.

Ruby moved slowly across the room, being especially careful not to step on any creaky floorboards as she made her way to the window. This had been her nightly routine for a while now, ever since her mom left on an especially important mission, and never came back. Ruby would stay up late at her bedroom window staring at where the shadows met the clearing. At first it was just in case her mother returned, but enough time had passed that Ruby, young as she might be, knew that would never be the case. Now? Now It was just because she couldn't fall asleep and needed something to help pass the time away. She would sit at the window and stare at nothing in particular until her eyes began to feel heavy. Then, she would climb back into bed, and drift to sleep.

Tonight the subject of her late night observation was a dragonfly. They weren't necessarily rare by any means, but they were enjoyable to watch due to their unpredictable movements. Ruby watched the dragonfly zip from one place to the next, until all of a sudden it was plucked out of the air by a swallow and whisked away. This seemed like the perfect event to close the night on, so Ruby began to get up and turn back toward her bed when suddenly, a shadow of something out in the yard caught the corner of her eye.

Ruby turned her head back toward the window and froze. A silhouette emerged from the shadows and crept across the grounds. For the slightest second, Ruby's heart swelled with thoughts of her mother finally returning, but these hopes were crushed immediately as a sliver of moonlight illuminated the face of the shadowy intruder. He stood fairly tall, with a long braid and a tattered cloak. However, what truly shocked Ruby was the cruel smile he wore. How could something as simple as a smile give her such a feeling of unease?

Just as quickly as it appeared, the sliver of moonlight was banished once again as the man in shadow stepped toward the front door of their house. Ruby was confused. They didn't usually get visitors. Especially not ones she didn't recognize, and especially at this time of night. Determined to satisfy her curiosity, she crept carefully to the bedroom door, and cracked it open just enough for her to slide through. The light coming from downstairs meant her dad was still awake, so she maneuvered slowly and quietly until she was at a position where she could see the front door.

As if on schedule, a series of knocks came from the door. They were firm yet frantic and differed greatly in intensity. Ruby heard her father get up from where he must have been sitting, and make his way to the door. The knocks continued until finally Ruby's father opened the door and asked

"Can I help you? Did you get stranded out here or something? There's a town pretty close to here if you want me to point you in the right direction.".

The man standing at the door gave a wicked chuckle. His posture was crooked, his arms held awkwardly in front of his chest, his head held slightly upward as his twisted smile betrayed any good intentions he might have pretended to have. As Taiyang began to tense up, the visitor spoke: "Ohhh no no nooooo! There's no need for directions. You see, I have arrived at my destination! As dictated by the goddess!"

Taiyang began to assess his surroundings. Years of experience told him what was about to happen and he needed to prepare himself for what was to come. His balance shifted slightly, his posture slowly correcting itself as he attempted to fluidly move into a fighting position without alerting the man in front of him. But the visitor was simply too sensitive to the electricity in the air that sparked just before a fight and lunged at Taiyang just before he could complete his form. They both crashed to the floor and when Taiyang opened his eyes, a blade appeared right above his head, crashing downward. Just before the weapon could meet its mark, Taiyang unleashed a powerful aura-filled kick that sent his attacker out the door and into the night, and followed him out to continue the battle.

Ruby stood frozen, unable to utter even a noise as she had never seen anything like this before. It was the sound of battle bleeding through the open doorway that jolted her back to her senses. She was scared, terrified, but she made her way down the stairs and peeked out of the doorway, bearing witness to the deadly exchange.

The two faced off far away from where Ruby stood, at the border just before the clearing turned into forest. The battle was fierce and short. The shadowy attacker wielded two unique blades that offered some protection to his hands, meaning that the bare handed Taiyang had to be twice as careful in his approach.

For a fight to the death between two highly skilled Huntsmen, it was quiet. Save for the grunts and roars of each combatant, there was no clash of weapons or sounds of bullets being fired. They seemed to be almost dancing, until the sound of metal against flesh broke the silence as the intruder managed to slash Taiyang's arm.

"GAH- Nnngh..." Tiayang attempted to silence himself so he didn't wake his sleeping daughters. Unfortunately one of them was already awake, and bearing witness to his struggle.

"DAD!"

It was an innocent cry out of worry for her father, but its consequences would leave everlasting scars. Taiyang immediately turned to look at his daughter, surprise written all over his face. But then, that look of surprise turned into a twisted look of pain as the shadowy intruder used this chance to use his tail, which had been hidden so far, to stab directly into Taiyang's heart and deliver a lethal dose of poison.

"DAD NO!" Ruby screamed as she bolted out the door and ran as fast as she could towards her father, who lay motionless on the ground. She ran faster than she ever had before and then ran faster still. She continued to accelerate at a speed that surprised even the man with braided hair. Suddenly, she burst into petals, moving at blinding speed and instantly appearing at her fathers side. "Dad please, wake up!" but he did not respond. Ruby buried her face in his chest and began to cry.

"Ohhhh poor girl... does it hurt? Do you want it to stop? Ehehee, don't worry. I'll make it stop." The deadly tail raised again, poised to strike until it was stopped mid lurch by a massive, muscular hand.

The owner of the hand spoke, his voice low and gravelly. "Tyrian. You know her orders. The child is to be delivered to her grace unharmed."

"Ah! Of course Hazel! Oh heaven forbid I do something to upset our goddess." Tyrian replied "How unfortunate, that fight wasn't nearly exciting enough. Hmm what could I do instead… AH!" As soon as Tyrian finished his sentence he used his tail to swipe a crystal of pure fire dust from Hazel's overcoat, and before Hazel could stop him, he threw the crystal toward the house and shot at it. The ensuing explosion blew the house apart, bursting what was left over into flames.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Ohhhh I beg to differ, my friend. Now then, shall we?

Hazel looked down at the little girl crying over her fathers corpse and grimaced. Then he gently, but firmly, picked her up and held a rag over her mouth and nose until she stopped struggling. Then he fastened restraints on her and put her over his shoulder. "Let's go."

When the explosion happened, flames enveloped the house, Yang was awake before she even realized it. Time slowed as if it was trying to accommodate her confusion. She was flying through the air, bits of wood and shards of glass flying all around her as pillars of flame bursted from every which way. A sudden searing heat on her right side forced any drowsiness away to be replaced with sharp pain and a flood of adrenaline. When she finally hit the ground, time resumed its normal speed as rubble rained down on her.

Planks of wood, bits of metal, even chunks of rock crashed down, trapping her completely. The flame was getting closer, ready to reduce her to ashes, when she remembered Ruby. All panicked thoughts ceased until she thought of only one thing.

I have to find Ruby. It repeated in her head louder and louder. Her body struggled, surpassing its limits out of a necessity to find her sister. Her hair began to glow, and she thought that the flames had finally reached her.

But this was different, the fire didn't hurt. The burning sensation she felt wasn't pain, but strength. Power. Rage. She exploded out of the pile of rubble pinning her down, forcing everything away. In awe of her own feat, she stood dazedly for a time, looking at her own hands until she was finally brought back to her senses. Standing in the middle of the wreckage breathing heavily, she thought Good, now I can go find Ru- Then the flames in her hair were extinguished, and she blacked out.

When Yang woke up, she was met with a familiar face. "U- Uncle Qrow?"

She watched as the worry and stress on her Uncle's face melted into relief and happiness. "Hey there firecracker, you feelin' alright?"

"Yeah, I guess. Where are we? What happened?

"We're in town. The explosion happened about 3 days ago. I found you not long after it happened. It's lucky I came to visit when I did."

Yang looked around, and then froze when she saw her right arm. Bandages all the way up to her shoulder and then more along the right half of her torso. Noticing this, Qrow spoke "You must've been caught by the flames pretty bad, the doctors say you'll have the scars for the rest of your life."

"Yeah, I kinda remember something like tha- wait, Ruby! Dad! ARE THEY OKAY?"

Qrow looked at Yang with a deep sadness in his eyes as he spoke "Tai- your dad, he…He was found dead in front of what's left of the house. Looks like there was a pretty serious fight. And Ruby? She hasn't been found. At all. Not a trace. Now that you're up i'm going back to looking for her"

Yang didn't react at all. She just stared at Qrow with an empty expression. She couldn't think anymore, she didn't want to think anymore. She didn't want to feel anymore. She was completely overwhelmed and the tides of panic kept rising until she was fully submerged, and finally, she blacked out for the second time.

When Ruby woke up, she was met with an unfamiliar face. A cold, wicked face. She had ghostly white skin, with fearsome red eyes and a black diamond mark on her forehead. She was objectively quite beautiful, however her demeanor exuded an eerie darkness, deeper than anything ever seen before. Ruby was scared, she looked around. While she herself was bound on the floor looking up at this terrifying woman, there were others in the room kneeling before her as well. This included The large man who grabbed her and the man responsible for her father's death. However, there was also a young woman dressed in red wearing a cunning smile, and a slender man with a unique mustache. The pale woman spoke "Hello my dear" Her voice was strange Ruby thought, it has a sense of comfort that her young mind desperately clung to. The woman continued "I am Salem. What is your name?"

"R- Ruby… Ruby Rose." Ruby managed to choke out whilst tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. She began to remember what happened before she passed out, but the sheer weight of fear prevented her from acting out her emotion any further

"What's troubling you Ruby? You seem upset"

"H- He" Ruby turned towards Tyrian "He killed my dad". At this, Salem put on a face of sympathy as she spoke her next words

"Oh my poor darling, I'm sorry. How does that make you feel?"

"S- sad…"

"Wrong." Salem reproached. "Anger. Hatred. That is what you feel."

"But..."

"It's true isn't it? Don't you feel angry at the man who killed your father? It's only natural to hate him. To want revenge." When Salem spoke these words, it felt as if the whole world reverberated them. They crept their way into Ruby's head. Corrupting her confused naive thoughts. "You want to hurt him. Make him feel what he made your father feel. What he made you feel. You want to kill him. Destroy him." At these words, Tyrian's ears cocked a bit. He wasn't sure what his goddess was planning, but he was sure it would turn out to be interesting.

"I want to hurt him… kill him… destroy him. I want to." repeated Ruby, unsure of what her true thoughts were anymore. She was overcome with anger, with hatred. She wanted revenge.

"Good. Then I shall help you get what you want. However, in return, you must help me get what I want."

"I will do… whatever it takes... Just help me.''

With those words spoken, Salem raised her hand. The bindings placed on Ruby disappeared, and dark clawed tendrils erupted from the floor, capturing Tyrian. As this happened, his eyes began to widen and he opened his mouth to shout, but it was covered by another shadowy appendage. Then, Salem tossed a silver knife on the ground in front of Ruby. A 7 inch blade with a plain wooden handle. Ruby picked it up and brandished it.

As Ruby stared at her reflection in the knife, she was surprised to see just how much hatred her eyes harbored. This only made her resolve even stronger, as she slowly made her way toward the man that took everything away from her. She stood over him, knife raised. She could see the fear and confusion in his eyes as he frantically struggled to escape his prison. Good. He should know what it's like to feel fear too.

The knife plunged downwards and struck true, piercing the heart of its victim. But this wasn't enough. Ruby was no longer even conscious as the hate and anger brought forth by Salem took control. Her vision went red and her mind went blank but her body, fueled with rage, continued on. She stabbed and twisted, sliced and ripped. Blood and sinew painting a blooming rose of death onto the floor. Finally, she stopped. Her body finally hitting its limits as she fell towards the floor only to be caught by Salem.

Everything was quiet. The other three followers of Salem stood in utter shock. One only felt repulsion toward the gruesome scene. Another felt pity for both their comrade and the girl. But the final one felt that the little girl laying in their master's arms would grow to become a powerful tool just waiting to be used.

"Rest well, little rose." Salem said with an almost motherly voice "For when you wake up, you will belong to me"