Haunting Melodies
Where are we going?
From here.. where do we go?
Are we all blinded by fear?
How do we know?
"Where are we going?", Malukah.
Optional music - Lost My Pieces, Toradora OST.
She remembered flying away, as far north as she can, until she ran out of fuel and crash landed in one of Atlas's myriad of valleys. She lived in a small crevice for months, hunting when she could no longer tolerate the pangs of her hunger and spending days on end curled up against the silent mountain walls. A pathetic, wretched wreck, reliving nightmares day and night until she broke down and hunted Grimm relentlessly for weeks. The slaughter ended only when she had nothing left in her and collapsed in a snow bank, sobbing silently to her mother, hoping to die.
She had come a long way since then. Dying would have been the easy way out. A single flick from Crescent Rose is all it takes for her painful reality to fade to blissful oblivion, but it's not what her companions would have wanted. It's not what she wanted. Ruby Rose is by no means weak willed, and though recovery was lengthy and tedious she finally rediscovered her will to live.
She passed by the husk of a small airship jutting out of a small crater in the ground. She caressed the rusty metal of Vermillion Spark, the aircraft that brought her here.
A few more steps and Ruby stood before the cliffside cavern that is her home.
The entrance was but a narrow slit in the wall of granite, barely half a meter long. It would be indistinguishable from the numerous similar features of the mountainous landscape except for anyone who knew where to look. She walked inside; several steps inside led her to a wooden door.
Unlocking it, she stepped inside. The unforgiving cold of the northern climate gave way to cozy warmth, and she inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of home.
Home.
She had discovered the hideout a year into her wanderings. It took her a few months to furnish the cavern into something resembling a home, and the six years she's lived afterwards served only to improve its conditions.
The granite floors were covered by soft deer skin, but the walls are laid bare. Crescent Rose wasn't exactly a carpentry tool, so whatever "furniture" Ruby had managed to create was rough-shod and tilted at odd angles. It doesn't bother her, however; as long as it serves its purpose, it stays.
She pressed the switches on her bedside for the dust-powered lanterns she had placed around the cavern. They lit up one by one, illuminating her humble abode.
The room was divided into three parts. The first is her workroom, where she carves wood, maintains Crescent Rose and cook, though she wasn't very good at that last bit. The second section is her living area. Books lay scattered everywhere and unfinished carpentry projects litter the floor. If she were to roam deeper inside she would find her supplies chamber - enough dust, ammunition and meals-ready-to-eat to last a decade.
For now, she was content to lay her scythe by her table and pull up her tree stump chair. She sat on it and began writing on her old Scroll. Dust knows how the old thing still manages to stay alive for over nine years, but it was welcome nonetheless.
"Day 3382. Clean hunt six kilometers away in the next valley. Got a deer. Food is getting scarce. Spotted a pack of Beowolves to the northeast heading south. It's kind of early for them to be going south but winter's been getting colder every year. Makes sense. Weather is getting colder. Might be a good idea to get some new fur rugs, a couple are getting rotten."
She hesitated before adding another line to her entry.
"Considering travelling south."
She let it linger for a few moments before she erased it with a shake of her head.
Enough daydreaming.
Ruby took a book from the floor, one of many strewn across the room. She sat on her bed and pulled up her badly sewn fur blanket to her neck. Accompanied by the lonely whispers of the wind outside, she read the Ninjas of Love for the thousandth time.
She awoke to a dark room. That's weird. She was sure she left the light on before dozing off. Shrugging of her covers, she stretched an arm to press on the light switches. She touched something stiff and cold. Glancing to the right, she met into the empty gaze of a dead cat faunus clad in black.
Why did you leave me? the apparition mouthed.
Ruby shrieked and leapt from her bed to feel an icy presence behind her. She whirled around to see her partner, blood gushing from the scar on her forehead.
I did my part. I became the best teammate you could ask for. Why did you fail me?
Ruby scrambled away, dropping on the cold stone floor in a heap of fur and tears. She got to her feet, pushed the door open and dashed out of the cavern. She ran as far as her legs could carry her, past the deafening blizzard and into the merciless forest of the Atlasian north. The black, dead pines towered above her, blocking the light of the moon like silent sentinels. She collapsed on a snowbank, sobbing, tossing and turning until she bumped into her Yang buried deep in the snow.
"Y-Yang?" Ruby said, not believing her eyes. Her sister seemed asleep, the familiar blonde mane radiating warmth.
"Rubes?" Yang said, opening her eyes, luminescent lavenders among a mountain of white. Ruby wanted to cry in relief.
"Can ya help me out here? I'm kind of stuck."
The blonde extended a hand.
A choked laughter was all she could manage. She pulled her sister out of the snow bank and they collapsed on the ground. Ruby wrapped her arms around her sister in a desperate hug before realizing there's nothing to hug.
From waist down, her sister was a mutilated mess of blood and guts.
"Where you been, lil sis?" Yang said, a hint of malice in her voice. "I've been lonely."
Ruby clambered away in horror. The elder Huntress frowned.
"Oh, this?" Yang looked down on her disfigured body.
"Guess I'm half the woman I used to be, eh?" her sister quipped.
The blonde's eyes shifted to malevolent red and hands shot out to squeeze her neck.
Ruby woke with a gasp.
Back in the safety of the cavern, she wept bitterly. Tears wet the crumpled pages of the book in her hand.
The panic attacks were less frequent now, but just as strong as they were since she arrived seven years ago. It got so bad she'd stay awake for as long as possible, going so far as to bashing her head against the walls to stay awake. She'd build a fire and burn her fingers over and over. She'd go out in the middle of a snowstorm in her underclothes.
Yet everything she tried was in vain. Her ghosts would always catch up to her, shadowing her days and haunting her nights. After a while she gave up, giving in to her nightmares.
She closed her eyes and forced a shuddering breath, trying to calm down. Inhale, hold. Exhale. Her quivering slowly faded, and she returned to reality.
Sick of wallowing in misery, she lifted herself off her bed and stretched. Grabbing Crescent Rose, spare ammunition and her trademark red cloak, Ruby opened the door. The blizzard had died out and the morning sun blazed brightly, gracing the treetops with golden crowns. Beowolves howl in the distance, closer than they had been yesterday.
Good. Her scythe whirred to life and she sprinted down the cliffside slopes.
Killing Grimm has always made her feel better.
A/N: I had free time this weekend and decided to publish the first chapter early. Reviews make my day! Thanks for the support.
-Deathwhisperer.