"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!"
Ruby yelled between her teeth as she sprinted with all her energy through the deep snowy woods.
"Supposed to be a simple extermination mission huh?" Ruby complained between deep breaths. "Come to Atlas they said, we will get together, have a few laughs. Pffft."
This is the last time she took a mission from Ironwood. The moron gave her bad intel, had her dropped off way too close to the herd of Grimm, and worse yet.
"THE GOD DAMN RADIO DOESN'T WORK!"
She was pissed. She silently swore to herself that if she ever got back to the city, she was going to shove the sharp end of Crescent Rose straight up his ass.
Ironwood had called her up while she was at home in Patch, getting things planned out for Yang and Blake's upcoming wedding. She was the maid of honor for Yang and was chosen to help with the planning. Not a lot of stuff was shoved onto her plate thankfully, Blake and her mom were taking care of it for the most part, but as the maid of honor, she was figuring out Yang's bachelorette party, getting the invitations sent out, talking with the random stores to try and get things set up such as the catering, but even though it was only a small thing, it was still a pain in the ass. Though not as much as Yang egging her on and on about getting a date for the wedding. She thought about asking Jaune but decided against asking her best friend to be her date since it would have been weird even though she knew he had a thing for her but also since she knew Pyrrha had a thing for him. Ironwood's call was a bit of a blessing to get the chance to escape from all that and get a nice workout killing a few Grimm.
But she was wrong.
She was so so wrong.
When she arrived at the site, she took a careful approach. The intel suggested that it should only be a couple dozen Beowolves and maybe a Goliath or two held up in an abandoned town that fell to them a good couple months ago. The former would be rather simple, but the latter would be a little troublesome. Thankfully, she was a top ranked huntress who would easily overcome such odds.
However, that was not the case. The Grimm seemed to have been gathering numbers.
Looking through her scope, she counted at least a hundred Beowolves, several Goliaths, and worse, a Death Stalker. The Death Stalker would be very difficult. Its armor was already a pain to cut through, but it would be an achievable feat with a good few, well-placed strikes to make it shatter and effectively render it vulnerable. This one, though, seemed to have evolved from living so long and its armor had a glimmering shine to it and would no doubt be a hell of a lot more difficult to damage.
After realizing that this mission was going to be much more work than she or Ironwood realized, she pulled out her radio and attempted to contact her evac to get her out of there, but she received no signal. She tried several times but got nothing. Growling in frustration, she turned around, planning to make the long trek to the nearest town that was miles away- only to be frozen in place upon discovering that the Grimm had surrounded her. She could only assume they snuck up on her while she was attempting to call for help.
"F*ck."
Using her semblance, she cut down the Grimm in a flash. This, however, seemed to call all the others to her location and soon enough, she was surrounded yet again.
The fight seemed to last forever but she knew deep down that it had only been a few minutes. It just seemed that —no matter how many she cut down— more and more just seemed to take their place. It didn't take too long for her to feel her aura start to reach its end point and she was almost out of ammo.
Making a decision, she used her semblance to tear through a path out of the town and took off at top speed. Her aura only lasted a few minutes before exhausting itself, but it gave her a good head start. The Grimm were still very much able to track her, so she needed to keep running until she was able to give them the slip.
Running for what seemed like hours, she could feel her legs begin to give out. She was down to her last few bullets and whatever energy she had left had almost entirely depleted. She couldn't bring herself to give up though. She would never forgive herself in this life or the next if she simply let herself succumb to her situation- giving up meant certain death.
Taking a breather, she hid herself up in the trees to get a good view of her surroundings, also in hopes that she could see a town or something nearby, or even a simple hiding place until the Grimm lost interest in her.
Scouting the area through her scope on Crescent Rose, she noticed there wasn't a single man-made structure within miles. The Grimm were close and while she could hide up in the tree and hope they failed to detect her, she knew that would not work. Beowolves could climb trees quite well and while she would be able to hold them off for a while, they would eventually get her.
Just as she was about to put her weapon away, she caught a glimmer of the sun reflecting off of something in the distance. After adjusting her sights, she was able to see just the bare makings out of a building far off in the distance. She couldn't tell what it was, but whatever it may be, it was still better than just hanging out in the trees.
As she clambered her way down, she heard the howling off in the distance and knew that they had caught her scent and were on the move.
"Damn it!" Taking a deep breath, she went on her way with whatever energy she had left and headed for the structure off in the distance. By the time she had arrived on the outskirts of her destination, the sun had set and stars filled the sky. This sucked, considering Grimm had perfect night vision and she could barely see jack shit.
Reaching her goal, she discovered the remains of a town and what looked like a very old temple of sorts. Many centuries ago, people would worship a large variety of gods raging from deities of war to those with control over the weather. Over time, though, people started forgetting the gods and moved on towards more reasonable things like science, and thus, began the modern age of humans. Temples like this one were considered protected structures since very few of them still existed. This particular temple, however, looked like it hadn't had visitors for ages.
Many of the small structures seemed to have been out of concrete and clay, but had fallen apart over the centuries. Holes lined the roofs and walls with vegetation surrounding them as nature had begun to take the area back. She wasn't sure what they were used for- but soon after having a quick look inside, she could see things like shelves filled with books and beds lined up along the wall.
"Must have been a home or something." She whispered.
However, after heading further into the building and taking another look, she could see what looked like medical equipment such as scalpels, scissors, wraps of cloth that seemed to be gauze. Along the wall were a series of shelves that were filled with bottles of unknown liquid of various colors. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she popped open the lid of one of the glass bottles that had some sort of clear liquid inside. Taking in the smell, she immediately put the lid back on and contorted her face in disgust.
"Ugh, smells like alcohol."
Putting the bottle away, she figured that this shelf was filled with what she could only guess was medicine and other things. Taking into account that these structures were at least a millennium old, using alcohol to sanitize wounds was rather advanced for such a time. Even using equipment such as what she saw was impressive. She figured that whoever lived here from that time was rather intelligent when it came to such things and that this place was used like a hospital of sorts.
Having seen what, she headed out of the building and continued to investigate, in hopes of finding somewhere safe to rest for the night. That was the plan- at least, until that very moment: sudden footsteps could be heard, running towards her at an alarming pace. She turned to see trees rustling in the distance moving, with what was disturbing them coming closer and closer. Without hesitation, she took off towards the large structure in the center of the uninhabited town.
As she reached it, she couldn't help but marvel at the architecture that stood before her. The temple was large and built purely out of white marble in a square-like design. While some would find such a choice weird for a place of worship, it seemed to be fitting for this place. Pillars lined the front of the building with steps leading up to the entrance, each made of a gorgeous and pure white marble that seemed to have not wavered in the flow of time as she could not see a single crack in it. Her eyes flickered to the top of the structure and saw what seemed to be a series of mural carvings that seemed to detail what a story of sorts and in the center was a large six-pointed snowflake. The artwork was so detailed that she could only guess the time it must've taken to get it done with that level of precision.
She was unable to really get a good look at what other fabulous works of art decorated the area, as she rushed inside but stopped in her steps once she noticed what was resting at the end of the hall.
Standing at the end was the large statue of a woman. It was made out of marble just like the building itself, but there was more to her than that. The outfit she wore resembled a robe, with what could only be assumed to be pure golden clasps at the shoulders holding it together. The robe was so well and intricately carved that it seemed real, sinuously draping over the curves of the statue. Golden bracers encased her wrists, with a simple blue gemstone gleaming off the back of her hands. Adorning her neck, a necklace, also made out of gold, glistened, carrying a silver snowflake center piece. An exact replica of the symbol found on the wall carvings, except for the diamonds that lined the edge of it and the red ruby shining in the snowflake's middle. Finally, a silver tiara was resting atop her head, her hair set up in a ponytail, flowing down her back all the way down to her knees. Her face, though, was what got her attention. Even though it was merely a statue, it seemed like the woman it was modeled after was standing right there before her.
At the base of the statue was a set of stairs leading up to a stone table that Ruby assumed was reserved for offerings- to whatever Goddess this temple was built for. She remembered that, back when temples were popular, people would leave gifts for the deity in hopes that it would be enough to appease them and get them to grant their blessing upon them.
Hearing racing steps behind her, she ran forward and headed up the stairs leading up to the table. Dropping down to a crouching position on top of the stone table, she readied her rifle and prepared to use the entrance of the temple as a way to funnel the Grimm into a straight line, hoping to take more than one out with a single shot. After that, she would have to switch to melee and hope that she could take out the Grimm one by one as they came in.
Finally, after a few moments, the first Beowolf arrived.
BANG, reload.
BANG, reload.
BANG, reload.
She repeated the process over and over again, her ammo draining as Grimm after Grimm fell to the floor, dissolving into black smoke, until she finally heard the dreaded click of her gun, being unable to fire as she was out of ammo. Thankfully, her skilled shooting seemed to have made the Grimm outside hesitant to go in as they seemed to have stopped barreling in for the moment, giving her a second to gather her thoughts and breathe.
As she scanned her surroundings for an emergency exit, she couldn't see a single door or window that led to the outside.
"Maybe hiding out in here wasn't a good idea after all."
She was running out of options and was feeling tired from all the running, on the verge of passing out due to her adrenaline slowly fading. Unable to come up with any ideas, she decided to do something crazy, something that only someone on the verge of death would attempt.
Opening up her backpack, filled with her ammo and essential supplies, she pulled out an apple, a bar of chocolate, a half-eaten cookie-
MUNCH
Okay, never mind the cookie.
...And finally, she took off her scarf. It was a red scarf with her Rose emblem etched in white on one end that was a gift from her mother from many years ago.
Laying all the items on the table, she clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, doing something she never thought she would ever do.
She prayed.
"Whatever Goddess this temple belongs to- I plead to thee! Please accept my offerings. I need your assistance!
"I know that this is sudden, especially since it has probably been a while since you last had a visitor, but I am asking- no, I am begging you for your help! My gifts may not be what you were once used to, but they are all that I have. Everything resting on this table is yours if you grant my request. Please save me."
Time passed and she was met with silence.
'Of course, this wouldn't work.'
Suddenly the entrance to the temple was torn apart with Ruby covering her face from the flying debris, the blast being so strong that it caused her to knock Crescent Rose off the table and across the floor several yards away from her. Lowering her arms, Ruby let out a gasp as the armored Death Stalker stood before her, having used its strength to tear burst through the marble walls. Grimm after Grimm rushed over the rubble until the entire room was filled with them.
Ruby knew this was it. With the Death Stalker here and her weapon out of reach, there was no way she was going to be able to defeat it.
'I'm so sorry Yang, Blake, Dad, Uncle Qrow. I let you all down. I should've been more careful or asked for help. I only hope you can forgive me.' Closing her eyes, she could sense the Death Stalker pulling back its stinger and charging forward, pointing it towards her. 'I'm sorry mom. I'll see you soon.'
With a sad smile, Ruby readied herself for her demise.
Moments passed, but the cold embrace of death didn't come. Pain didn't flow through her body, nor did her bones break from the impact. A few more moments passed, and Ruby thought maybe the Death Stalker was taking its sweet time to kill her- but after a couple more seconds she was getting curious and opened her eyes.
"AHHHHHH!" after letting out a scream and falling backwards off the table, Ruby picked herself up and could only stare wide-eyed at the image in front of her.
The Stalker's stinger was only a couple inches from where her face had been, yet that wasn't what surprised her. It was the fact that the stinger and the Death Stalker itself were completely encased in solid ice. Not just that- the entire room with all the Grimm was frozen as well.
"What the f*ck?" she whispered.
'CRUNCH'
Jumping at the sound, Ruby slowly turned her head towards the source and her eyes opened wide and sweat dripped down her face.
Sitting with one leg crossed over the other on the other side of the table was an amazingly gorgeous woman. Her hair was in a ponytail and a snowy white that looked like silk flowing down her back. She was dressed in a robe, with a pair of sandals on her feet and had an assortment of jewelry on her person.
'CRUNCH'
And she was eating the apple that Ruby had placed down.
"I have to say- this apple isn't as good as the ones back home, but it isn't half bad. Thankfully, it's ripe enough to be red and sweet. The sour, green ones are not really of my liking." She said, before taking another bite out of the apple, finishing it off and then reaching down to pick up the chocolate bar. "This chocolate, however, is frozen solid. Would have been nice if you had let it thaw a bit before gifting it to me, but I can forgive you. I will just save this for later." The candy then suddenly disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.
"Wh-Who- …are you?" Ruby questioned.
The woman turned to her, eyebrows raised in confusion. "What do you mean? You called for me, didn't you?"
Ruby wanted to answer but was stunned by the woman's beauty. Her eyes were an amazing deep blue, like that of the ocean, her skin a creamy porcelain white that, while it would look weird and out of place on anyone else, on her, it only seemed to enhance her beauty. Down her left eye was a scar, which, instead of blemishing her face, added a hint of seriousness to it that fitted the woman perfectly. Her eyes traveled downwards until she was looking at a pair of pink lips. It was clear that this woman, Weiss, was not wearing any makeup and she obviously didn't need it. The pair of lips seemed to be calling to her, Ruby couldn't help but wonder how they would taste, how they would feel. Her thoughts slowly started heading towards some rather unclothed thoughts that were making her face flush a nice red. Thankfully she was knocked out of such thoughts before they could get too far.
'Snap, snap'
"Hello? Anyone in there- you dolt?"
Ruby was startled out of her dazzled state, only to notice the woman standing before her was snapping her fingers at her. With her standing so close, Ruby was immediately pulled into the deep blue of her eyes, as if she had fallen into the ocean, but instead of drowning, she felt safe, warm, and comfortable in its embrace.
It was also then that Ruby noticed that the woman was a few inches shorter than her. Not by a whole lot, but enough that she had to look down a bit to meet her eye to eye.
"Uh, yes?" Ruby said, hoping that this woman couldn't hear her thoughts or notice how red her face was.
"Idiot. Thousands of years and the first person to call me here is her." The woman muttered under her breath, shaking her head before looking back up. "I said, didn't you call me here?"
"Uhhhhhh, maybe?" Ruby shrugged, confused. "My radio is broken so I didn't use that, and I honestly have no idea who you are."
"You have got to be kidding me." The woman slapped a hand against her head and let out a sigh. "See that statue?" she pointed towards the idol Ruby had been praying to.
"Yes."
"Take a closer look at it, then look at me."
Ruby raised an eyebrow in confusion before doing as the woman told her, examining the statue again. She then turned towards the woman before looking back at the statue. This happened a couple more times before her eyes widened in surprise and her mouth dropped open.
"You…your…you're-." She stammered.
The Goddess' expression broke out in a smug smile "Yeah. That's me." She gave Ruby a small curtsy. "My name is Weiss. Goddess of Wisdom and Wealth. As well as patron of Health and Beauty."
"A- a Goddess?"
"Yes. A Goddess."
The two stood there in silence. Nothing but crickets chirping in the night, echoing through the temple.
It took Ruby some time to recover from the initial shock, enough so that Weiss went back towards the table and picked up the scarf the huntress had left there, carefully examining it.
"So- you're a Goddess?"
The Goddess, Weiss wrapped the scarf around her neck. "As I said, yes. Please pay attention. I'm not fond of having to repeat myself. This is a gorgeous scarf, by the way. It feels soft and does a great job at keeping my neck warm."
"Uh- thanks, but may I ask what you are doing here?"
"You called me." Weiss returned her attention to the brunette. "You prayed to me and offered me these gifts in exchange for my help. I answered, so here I am." She spread out her arms as if to emphasize her point.
"So, you did this?" Ruby waved to the frozen Grimm.
"Of course. Not so difficult really. The Grimm are annoying pests and have been such since the beginning of this world. Don't know why Cain created such beasts- He was young and foolish when he did so." Weiss shrugged. "All it takes is a small blast of my ice and it's done. Though they did destroy my temple that was so generously built for me and stood for thousands of years so I did get a good amount of enjoyment in doing this." She took a few steps forward, until she was right in front of the frozen sculpture of the Death Stalker. Reaching out, she flicked one of her pinkie fingers at the Grimm, causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces instantly.
"Incredible." Ruby whispered in awe.
Weiss returned the compliment with a small smile that made Ruby's hear skip several beats. "Thanks."
Walking back to Ruby, she stood right in front of her. So close that could smell the cool mint that was the woman's breath. "Now then, it's time for me to accept my last gift."
Ruby's face was a bright red with Weiss standing so close to her. "Uh, what do you mean? The chocolate, apple, and scarf were all that I had to offer."
"Not exactly. Do you remember what you said? Everything resting on this table is yours if you grant my request. Please save me Right?"
"Yeah, I think so." Ruby confirmed.
"Then, while those items were on the table, they were not enough for me to accept the request, but those items were not the only thing resting on the table, were they?" Weiss smirked.
Ruby searched her brain, thinking about what this Goddess was hinting at.
'All that was on the table were the apple, candy, scarf. Nothing else. Thinking back to what I put there, I had put it all down after I sat… on… it.'
It was then that Ruby understood what Weiss was getting at, her eyes opening wide as the realization hit her.
"You finally get it." Weiss smiled as she reached out and gently cupped Ruby's face with a soft hand.
"You're my final gift."
And with that Weiss's face inched forward... (OwO)