Ok the poll is closed and the results are 13 yes, 6 no and 1 for scrapping the idea, looks like 10 Little Hunters is being made into a proper story. I'll post a message here once the first chapter is out. Anyway enjoy the chapter.
I don't own RWBY if I did Sun and Neptune wouldn't be so useless.
It was dark and it was quiet, but it was not silent as a soft sobbing could be heard over the sound of crackling fire, the smell of burning flesh filling the air. There were no lights on in the room and only the glow of the flames stopped it from being pitch black. The harsh glow from the flames revealed knocked over chairs and desks, destroyed doors and windows and three corpses with a blonde crying over them. The white and black one's bodies looked like they'd been attacked by some kind of animal. Both bodies had obviously been torn to shreds by sharp claws. As well as this there were numerous bite marks on them and the white one had clearly been killed by a bite to the jugular. In contrast the red one's body looked far more intact, there were no bite or claw marks to be found. In fact one could almost mistake her for sleeping if not for the large pool of blood flowing from her chest. The only living thing left in the room, the blonde, was cradling the red one in her arms. The heat from the flames became intense as the fire began to rapidly spread throughout the room. If the blonde noticed the fire approaching her she didn't care, choosing instead to simply hold the red one tighter as if protecting her from the flames.
Glancing at the white and black one, tears started rolling down her cheeks, "Why?! Why did it have to be this way? I'm so sorry…we tried, God knows we did, but we weren't good enough," sobbed the blonde as cracking was heard from the ceiling.
The cracking grew louder as the ceiling began to bend and break, pieces beginning to fall to the floor. Still the blonde didn't move and just looked up at the roof with a strange look of acceptance on her face, "don't worry I'll be joining you guys soon."
The ceiling gave one last groan before it collapsed and a soft whisper was heard before the room became silent, "please forgive us Ruby."
Red gasped as she opened her eyes and woke up panting, covered with sweat. Throwing the sheets off her bed she glanced at her teammates and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing them sleeping peacefully in their beds. Jumping down from Fort Ruby she headed to the bathroom before splashing her face with water, attempting to banish the memories of what she just saw as well as keep down her dinner. Frowning Red looked up at the mirror deep in thought, 'that felt too real to be a nightmare, in fact it almost felt like a memory flash but that's impossible.' As her stomach finally settled she got changed into warm clothes and made her way to her private sanctuary, hoping to find some sort of peace to calm her panicking mind. Shutting the door behind her Red didn't see Yang open her eyes and stare at the door with a worried look on her face.
Yang looked at her hand as the WBY od RWBY plus Jaune sat down for their first round of Remnant: The Game while the rest of JNPR sat at the table across from them reading or in Nora's case sleeping, 'these noobs don't stand a chance,' thought the brawler, happily. The blonde's smile grew as she destroyed Jaune's air force followed by Weiss attacking her own naval fleet. After years of playing this game with Ruby throughout their childhood the two sisters had become near unbeatable at it. Thinking about her sister Yang's smile dropped as she remembered last night. 'She looked really upset maybe we should get her to play? It might cheer her up,' wondered the brawler. Turning to look at Blake, her frowned deepened. The Faunus was doing her best to conceal it, especially when Ruby was around, but Yang knew something was bothering her. She had become even more reserved and anti-social than usual, rarely saying more than a couple of words a day.
"Sup losers I'd like you to meet my friend Neptune. Neptune meet Yang, Blake and our resident Ice Queen over there," introduced Sun as he and his blue haired friend walked over to them.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" whined Weiss.
Yang smiled as she watched Neptune begin flirting with the heiress which only grew in length as she saw Weiss begin to lightly blush. 'Well this is going to be some great teasing material,' she thought with a wide grin.
Looking around the table a confused expression grew on Sun's face, "hey where's Red? She seemed like the kind of person to love board games."
"Ruby was called to the Headmaster's office again remember," informed Yang.
"Speaking of which do you guys have any idea when she'll be let out? I wanted to ask her about some of the things I saw on Earth," asked Jaune.
"Earth? Where's that?" replied Sun.
Instantly all of team RWBY glared at Jaune while his own team just shook their heads, "we'll tell you but you have to keep it a secret from everyone," informed Yang with a glare.
Both Sun and Neptune swallowed under her gaze before nodding. Seeing this they all explained what little they knew about Earth, watching as they both gave them looks of disbelief. "Ok guys funny joke Red put you up to this didn't she?" said Sun in disbelief.
"I wish it was Sun, why do you think everyone's taken such a big interest in her," replied Yang, giving the loud sigh.
Sun and Neptune were silent as they began to digest this new information, "Why'd they call it Earth? I mean who names their planet after dirt?" asked the monkey Faunus.
Everyone blinked as they turned to face Sun, Neptune even face palmed while lightly shaking his head, "really Sun? Out of everything they told us that's what you don't get?" muttered his annoyed teammate.
Pyrrha took this as an opportunity to walk over to the table, "Jaune I know you're curious about Earth, we all are but if we keep asking her questions about it, it might hurt her feelings," lectured the red head.
"I know Pyrrha but this is something important, I wouldn't ask otherwise," he replied, catching everyone by surprise.
"What is it Vomit Boy? It must be pretty big for you to act like that," asked Yang, placing her cards on the table as she leaned forward.
Red didn't blink or look away from Ozpin as he made his move, attempting to determine whether or not it was a trick. The headmaster just smiled as he reached for his cup of coffee and immediately she ignored her aura, choosing not to take the vulnerable piece and instead reached for the King.
"You're using the King?" asked Ozpin with raised eyebrows.
'Trying to distract me with conversation Ozpin? Well two can play at that game,' thought Red grinning. Moving her piece forward she shrugged, "if the King doesn't lead how can he expect his men to follow?"
The headmaster blinked before giving a light chuckle, much to Red's confusion. "Someone else once said something very similar when I asked them. I see it runs in the family," he explained, seeing her expression.
Red nodded as the game continued, "Headmaster why did you want to see me?" she asked, curiously.
"There is someone who I want you to meet," he replied.
She frowned, "and does this someone have something to do with that fleet of airships parked outside your window?"
Ozpin gave an amused smile, "it seems you and Glynda are capable of agreeing on some things after all. Yes this person does, he is an old friend and I expect you to be on your best behavior Miss Rose."
"Yes Headmaster," sighed Red. "But why do you want him to meet me?"
"I think you fail to realize just how unique you are Miss Rose, after all it's not often we can examine an Earth aura of such a…docile individual. Why your very existence itself has provided evidence for numerous theories that were pure hypothetical beforehand," he explained.
Shrugging she took his Bishop before responding, "speaking of aura I was wondering, Yang told me that you had information on Earth aura. Would you let me have a look at it?"
Instantly Ozpin froze as he reached out for his next piece, it passed quickly though and Red was left wondering if she'd imagined it. "Why do you asked Miss Rose?" he questioned, his voice devoid of emotion.
"No reason just curious," she lied, alarm bells starting to ring in her head.
Ozpin just frowned, "so it wouldn't have anything to do with you sneaking into Emerald Forest yesterday?"
Red swallowed nervously, "how do you know about that?"
"Your scroll sent me an emergency message the minute you left school grounds, don't forget the police still want you arrested for helping the White Fang," he replied.
Seeing her guilty expression he sighed, "I'm not going to ask what you were doing there all I'm going to do is ask that you be careful Ruby. As a team leader you must put forth the needs of you team ahead of your own."
Red clenched her fist as memories of last night flashed into her mind, "it's for their sake I'm doing this Ozpin. I need to get stronger to protect them and that means using every weapon at my disposal."
Ozpin frowned, "very well Miss Rose but still I urge you to use caution, often in our attempts to halt the future we can end up bringing it closer," he warned.
Red nodded and they both descended into an uncomfortable silence as each focused on the game in front of them, trying to regain the light hearted atmosphere they had shared. Finally after another twenty minutes Red grinned, "checkmate," she announced, triumphantly.
"What's this? The great Ozpin beat at his own game?" called an amused voice behind them.
Flipping around Red saw a black haired man in a white overcoat with what seemed to be a strip of metal above his right eyebrow. Ozpin got up from his chair and walked over to the man before shaking his hand, "James it's good to see you."
The man smiled, "and you as well Ozpin, now who is this?" he asked, turning to Red.
"She is the one I was telling you about earlier, Ruby Rose meet James Ironwood, Headmaster of Haven academy and General of Atlas' military," introduced Ozpin.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ruby, tell me how is your uncle Qrow nowadays?" greeted Ironwood as he held out his hand.
Red eyed his hand wearily before remembering what Ozpin said, "same to you General, Qrow has told me all about you," she lied, shaking the offered hand.
The general blinked and an amused smile grew on his face, "really? Isn't that strange I was under the impression that you had lost most of your memories."
He turned to Ozpin who had his own smile on his face, "you're right she is a good liar," agreed Ironwood.
"It's alright Ruby, the General here knows all about you," assured Ozpin, noting her alarmed expression.
"I see forgive me General but my last experience with a military left a lot to be desired," she apologized.
He waved of her apology, "yes I heard about that rest assured you have nothing to fear from me Miss Rose."
Seeing Red nod the general then turned to the headmaster, "Ozpin we need to talk," he said, seriously.
Frowning Ozpin turned to her, "very well you're dismissed then Miss Rose, the General and I have some business to catch up on."
"It was good to meet you Ruby, perhaps we could talk later. After all it isn't every day you meet someone from another world," said Ironwood.
"Umm…sure I guess," replied Red as she left the office.
Shutting the door behind her Red grinned as she activated her aura, briefly glowing a dark red as she pushed herself up against the door. Using her enhanced senses she fist pumped the air as the two headmasters' conversation became clear as a bell.
"…o that's her is it? I'll admit she's not how Qrow described her," came the general's voice.
"From what I've seen the joining of the two auras wasn't the smoothest transition. I doubt anyone could go through that and come out unchanged," replied Ozpin.
"What did you tell Qrow?" asked Ironwood.
"Nothing not even her own father knows," informed the headmaster.
Red's eyes widened, 'they haven't even told Ruby's family yet, there's no way I can fool them! God how will Qrow react, there's no way I could beat him, he taught Ruby everything she knows,' realized the reaper. 'Ok relax Red you just need to keep your distance from them until you can come up with a plan, but what if we're sent home on holidays? I guess I could get Yang to cover for me,' she thought with a sigh.
"Ozpin this is his niece we're talking about, he won't be happy when he finds out you've kept this from him," argued Ironwood.
She heard a sigh before Ozpin spoke up, "I'm aware of that but you and I both know that if we tell him he'll immediately come rushing over and right now we need him focused on his mission."
This time the general gave a sigh, "alright Ozpin I'll kept my mouth shut but when he finds out give me some warning would you? I want to be well out of the kingdom when he does," he joked, weakly.
"Still are you sure that keeping her here is such a good idea, we both know what Earth aura is capable of," continued Ironwood.
Red frowned as she pushed herself further up against the door, 'so they do have information on my aura I knew it! But what is he talking about? Why would it be a bad idea?'
"She's different James, over the past months she hasn't displayed any of the tendencies we've come to associate with them. In fact this might even be a blessing in disguise. An Earth aura and a Remnant one working in harmony, we might be looking at one of the strongest hunters to have ever lived," argued Ozpin.
"So you're willing to risk the safety of all the students at Beacon on the chance that she may be different from the others. What if you're wrong Ozpin? Can we really afford to take that risk?" replied Ironwood.
Red never heard Ozpin's reply as the dreadfully familiar sound of heels clicking against floor tiles rapidly began approaching. Deactivating her aura Red quickly pushed herself from the door and began walking back to her dorm, passing Glynda on the way back. Glancing behind her she saw the professor walk into Ozpin's office, deciding not to push her luck any further she continued down the halls in search of her team.
Placing her cards on the table Yang leaned forward, suddenly curious of what Jaune would say next, "What is it Vomit Boy? It must be pretty big for you to act like that," she asked.
Everyone turned to face the blonde as he took a deep breath, "Well apparently after Ruby broke us out of the base she took us to her old home on Earth to lay low. When I woke up I was in a strange room with no one to be found."
"Wait wait wait back up a sec. You saw where she used to live? What was it like?" interrupted Yang.
Jaune frowned as he thought back to the house, "well it was a suburban area but very spaced out compared to Vale. Her room was also filled with books, what looked like a computer and posters of some type of cartoons she called anime."
Ren immediately looked up at this, "Jaune are you sure she called them anime?" he asked.
"Err…yeah positive, why?" replied the blonde as they turned to the eastern boy.
Seeing everyone looking at him Ren sighed, "Anime is short for animation. It's a style of animation for cartoons that originated in the Eastern kingdom. I just find it strange that two separate worlds would have so many similarities, it seems almost too much of a coincidence to me."
They all frowned at this, but none of them were prepared for what Jaune said next, "if you think that's a coincidence just wait until you hear this. So I woke up and began searching the room when I found a something odd. There was a plastic case that contained some kind of disc and the title of it was called RWBY. Now does anyone want to guess who the four girls on the cover looked like?"
There was a deep silence as everyone's mouth dropped open before Weiss stood up glaring at the blonde, "you waited until now to tell us!" she exclaimed.
The knight shrunk under her gaze, "I wanted to ask Ruby about it yesterday but then she showed us the aura trick and I kind of forgot," he admitted, ashamed.
"It's alright Jaune you had a lot on your mind at the time," reassured Pyrrha, placing a hand on her partner's shoulder.
Neptune frowned, "Jaune wasn't it? Are you sure you saw what you think you saw? After all didn't you say you were drugged at the base? Maybe it was just some kind of side effect from that?" he said, offering his opinion.
"No Jaune might be right, remember back when we 'reintroduced' ourselves to Ruby. She acted like she already knew us, in fact at the time Blake and I thought she was simply faking her amnesia," argued Yang.
"That's assuming that this disc is about us and not just a coincidence," shot back the heiress.
Blake shook her head speaking up for the first time, "any other circumstance I would agree with you Weiss but too many things add up. We just assumed she knew about the Shipyard incident because of her aura however she might have already known it was going happen."
"Now the question is do we confront her about it?" asked Pyrrha.
"Confront who about what?" came a female voice behind them.
Spinning around Yang found herself staring at Ruby, who cocked her head to the side with a confused expression on her face. Noticing everyone looking at her she frowned, "umm…why is everyone staring at me?"
Really sorry about the short length of this chapter, I had to rewrite it three times and I'm still not happy with how it turned out. I'm kind of glad you guys wanted 10 Little hunters to be turned into proper story, I need a break from writing this fic for a while.