aight so this is chapter 2. still a prologue chapter, the next one should be a timeskip. i had some trouble in certain parts trying to work out the dialogue for salem and qrow and i think i did pretty okay except for a certain part with qrow but honestly its not that bad imo

this chapter is supposed to get the story to a point where a timeskip feels like it belongs, but i also used it to emphasize the current dichotomy between ruby and yang in the story so far

anyways in future chapters i plan to have branching butterfly effects that make it so the other characters in the cast dont seem boring or one dimensional compared to ruby and yang, cause while the story is at its core about them, i also wanna explore other characters within this fic

also, i work full time and although my social life isnt exactly stellar, i do sometimes do things on the weekends to so im not sure what the upload schedule for this is gonna be. so just a fair warning about that.

enjoy

Yang slept most days. Sleeping meant she didn't have to think or feel. When she slept she was just, nothing. But in the hours between when her body could not force itself to sleep, she just picked a spot on the ceiling and stared. This, she found, was the best way to avoid thinking about what had happened. The curtains were kept closed and the light was only ever on when uncle Qrow stopped by, usually to make sure she ate. The first few nights she was there she refused to eat a single bite, so Qrow would sit down and try to talk to her until she finally caved. She didn't feel hungry, and the feeling of food sliding down her throat made her feel sick. But the presence of Qrow was calming, albeit problematic. Though it made her feel safe, it also forced her to accept the reality of those painful events that she desperately tried to deny having ever occurred.

She looked over at her right side, still bandaged up. Qrow had told her the doctors said the burn marks would remain for the rest of her life, but she would much rather deal with physical scars than the ones she bore in her heart.

Right now, Yang was in the middle of her usual ritual of staring at the ceiling, but this once full proof plan to repress was starting to falter. She started thinking about things she didn't want to, as if she didn't even have control over her own thoughts. And that feeling of a lack of control made it all feel worse. Images of Ruby flashed through her mind, thoughts of never being able to see her again tore through her attempts to ignore them. The hopelessness she felt as Qrow explained what had happened to her father and ruby still haunted her every waking moment. Just then, her uncle walked into the room, but Yang didn't move. She continued to stare emptily at the ceiling, far too deep into her own head to notice her uncle's arrival.

"Yang"

Silence followed.

"Yang? Are you there?"

And still nothing.

Qrow sighed, and walked over to the window. He grabbed hold of the curtains and wrenched them open. The sudden flow of light brightening the room snapped Yang out of her trance and forced her to close her eyes that had gotten used to the dark.

"Gah! What was that for!" Yang cried, still rubbing her eyes and slowly trying to open them as they adjusted to the sudden change in brightness.

"It's your own fault, next time answer me." Qrow walked over to the nearby desk and grabbed a chair as Yang began to maneuver herself so that she was sitting comfortably upright on the bed.

"What do you want anyway? I already ate today."

"I'm getting to that, don't get ahead of yourself." Qrow rebuked as he set the chair in front of Yang so that the back of it was facing her. Then he sat in it backwards, leaning his body against the chair and letting his arms dangle over it. "Look at me Yang."

Yang hadn't looked her uncle in the eye since he had told her what happened to her dad and sister. He hadn't said anything about it until now, but Yang still couldn't bring herself to do it, and just started at the chair instead. Her uncle just gave a sigh and continued.

"I- I know that it's hard right now." Qrow paused, as if to gather his thoughts before saying: "Tai was.. He was like a brother to me, in the truest sense of the word. A man I could rely on no matter what. Someone who would always help if you just said the word. And Ruby? The joy she brought was more than a guy like me could ever deserve."

Yang carefully listened to her uncle. It wasn't like him to be so vulnerable, and she saw that as meaning that what he had to say to her right now was important.

"My relationship with my sister is… strained, to say the least. And I've always had trouble getting along with most people." Qrow took a deep breath before he spoke again. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you guys were the only people I could truly call my family. And the pain that comes with losing two of you is worse than I could have ever imagined." Qrow reached out and placed his hand on the top of Yang's head tilting it upwards until their eyes met.

"But kid, when I tell you that the moment I found you still breathing amid the smoking rubble was the single happiest moment of my life, you'd better believe me."

Yang was frozen. Her uncle's eyes were determined and filled with emotion. His face blurred as her eyes filled with tears, the first ones to come since she had heard the news about her family. She had pushed down everything in hopes that she could simply pretend it didn't happen, but now she let everything flow out. Cries of anguish and sobs of heartache filled the air. Qrow rose from his chair and Yang jumped onto him, burying her tears in his chest, holding tight as an unbreakable hug between family was formed.

It took some time before Yang finally released her uncle.

"*sniff* sorry, I got your shirt dirty."

"Heh, don't worry about it kiddo. I got plenty of em."

"Um, all that crying really tired me out. I think I'm gonna go to sleep now. But, can we talk again when I wake up?"

Qrow gave a grin. "Sure thing firecracker, I'll be there whenever you need me."

And with that, Yang went to bed once more. But this time, she was excited for the time that she would spend once she woke up.

Ruby spent most of her time awake. Her habit of only getting a few hours of sleep followed her even into this new environment she found herself in. She was in a castle in a place where it never seemed to be day. She had her own room, which was well decorated and had a very comfortable bed that seemed to go to waste due to Ruby"s aforementioned habit.

In the mornings, which were only discernible from any other time thanks to the numerous clocks placed around the castle, Ruby would make her way to the kitchen and make herself something to eat. Then, she would take her time exploring the castle. There were quite a few locked rooms but there were enough unlocked ones to make her search interesting enough. The instructions she received from Salem were fairly unrestrictive. She attempted to recall the conversation they had only a few days prior just after she awakened.

"Ah, you're up, little rosebud."

Ruby slowly rose out of bed, reacting to the voice she had just heard. It seemed… familiar. Once she looked at the woman standing over her bed the memories of what had happened a day prior rolled in. The stranger that knocked on the door, the murder of her father, the decimation of her home. Where it all got fuzzy however were the memories of what happened just after Salem had introduced herself. Ruby's head throbbed. Noticing the girl wincing in pain, Salem decided now was the time to explain just what had happened.

"My darling Ruby, do you remember what happened yesterday?"

"I remember… my dad, and my home… and I remember meeting you. But after that, it's all just... mushed up."

"Then allow me to clear things up. You asked me for a favor. To grant you revenge against the man that killed your father. I then gave the condition that if I was to help you achieve your goal, then you would help me achieve mine. You seemed to agree quite quickly to that, and I gave you your revenge." After finishing speaking, Salem gestured over to the knife that lay on the bed stand. Ruby's memories seemed to accept this explanation as they began to fit into place inside her head. All the way up until she plunged the dagger into Tyrian's heart. After that moment, her memories went blank.

"That's… right. I remember now, but, where am I? Where is this place?"

"This, Ruby, is your new home. You have nowhere to go back to, so you can just stay here with me."

Once again, Ruby felt surprised that Salem's voice was so calming. Everything seemed to fit into place when she was with her. Everything seemed to make sense. Ruby felt that, so long as she was alongside Salem, everything would turn out fine.

"Thank you. For letting me stay here." Ruby said softly, truly meaning every word she spoke.

"Of course, my sweet rosebud. You're free to explore your new home to your heart's content. Just be sure not to go outside, it's very dangerous around here. Soon enough I will introduce you to the other people you will be seeing roaming around. Now, I must attend to business. I shall see you soon, little rose."

And that was the extent of the conversation they had. A few hours later, Salem came to retrieve Ruby and introduced her to 3 other people whom she would apparently be seeing now and then. The first one she recognized as the large man who had grabbed her the night her father died. His name was Hazel, and he only said one thing to Ruby.

"I'm sorry about your father."

He then walked off into the castle. The second was the tall man with the large mustache named Arthur, who only spared her a glance and returned to drinking his tea. But the third one seemed to take more of an interest in her. A pretty young woman with fierce amber eyes. She was definitely older than Ruby, but also far younger than the other two. She introduced herself to Ruby personally.

"Hello Ruby, my name is Cinder. It's so good to meet you."

"Hi, uh, nice to meet you too"

And with that, Ruby was left alone. In the days that followed, she didn't see any of the three who had been introduced, but Salem did visit her at least once a day to ask if she needed anything. Today, Ruby was finishing up her full exploration of the castle. As she reached the final room she paused in front of it. What would it be this time? Hopefully not another boring storage room. Ruby had found some amusing places, like a music room with a grand piano, a large dining room with a huge chandelier, a room covered wall to wall in different maps, and finally a room that seemed to be used for combat training. But most rooms seemed to simply be storage for all manner of things.

Finally, without any hesitation she pushed open the door to the last room, and what lay within, was the largest cache of weapons she had ever seen. Swords, axes, spears, bows, whips, hammers, and things she didn't even know the names of were all placed along the walls of the room. Ruby was always enchanted by weapons, but she was still too young so she had never been able to have one of her own. As she looked around the room, she examined each and every armament until she saw one that made her stop dead in her tracks. Sitting on the wall was a scythe made of a pure black material she couldn't identify. Light seemed to get sucked inside of it, never to return. She reached her hand out to touch it, but just before she could.

"Ah, so this is where you were." Salem said, Standing at the doorway "Does that one interest you?"

"Oh im sorry, I didn't mean to touch it if that-"

"Nonsense, didn't I tell you? This is your home. You're free to do anything you desire. Here, take it." Salem said as she picked up the scythe and handed it over to Ruby, who was visibly overjoyed to receive it.

"Wow, it's really light!" Ruby swung it from side to side, surprised that she was able to handle it so easily despite her small stature.

"Do you want it?" Salem said with a curious smile

"Can I really!" Ruby excitedly asked.

"Hmm, you're a little young at the moment. Let's start you off with a smaller, wooden one. So you can get used to it without any worries about hurting yourself. Then, once I think you're ready, yes, you can have it"

"Thank you! Thankyouthankyoutankyou!" Ruby shouted "I'll get super skilled super fast so I can have it as soon as possible.

"Well, I look forward to when that moment arrives."

Ruby didn't sleep at all that night, far too excited about the endless flow of possibilities that lay ahead of her.

When Yang woke up, she felt like she had woken up for the first time since the incident. Qrow came by a few minutes after she awoke, and they had another conversation about how happy they were that they still had family to hold on to. But Qrow had another thing he had wanted to ask about, and once the conversation had died down he decided now was the best time to bring it up.

"Hey Yang, when I found you, you had all these wounds and yet, there seemed to be no rubble anywhere near you, like a wave or something pushed it all away."

"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, something did happen, but it's kind of hard to explain. I think… I think it was my semblance."

"Woah, your semblance? You mean you unlocked it in the middle of all that? Actually, now that I think about it, unlocking a semblance during a stressful situation isn't uncommon. So, what happened?"

"I don't know, I think my hair caught on fire, and then I was filled with all this strength. Anger too. I was so mad but I'm not sure why. Anyways, My body exploded with power. Literally. And it forced everything away. Then, my hair turned back to normal and I passed out."

"Hmm, so it's a power increasing semblance. Although that doesn't seem like everything, I think that's the core of it." Qrow paused to think for a second before continuing "Hey, I've been wanting to ask you this for a while now. Do you want to… train? Under me? I mean before this whole thing you wanted to be a huntress and, if you still do, well. You've got the greatest huntsman who ever lived as your uncle. So I could give you a few pointers. Plus, exercise isn't a bad way to blow off steam."

Yang chuckled a bit before answering. "Sure Uncle Qrow, I'd like that.

After that, Qrow left and the weight of yet another long, heavy conversation hit Yang like a truck. She decided to grab some food, more than making up for how little she had eaten the past few days, and then she went back to sleep. Dreaming of all the things fate may have in store for her now.