Original upload date: 6/22/2020

Revised upload: 4/8/2022

It's weird coming back to this chapter. I feel a strange mixture of both pride and disgust. I'm disappointed in how badly this first chapter was written, but that also makes me recognize just how much better I have gotten

Please, feel free to follow and comment on predictions, thoughts, etc. I am always looking for new ways to improve my craft. Tell your friends!

Metal like Roses

By ReaderWarrior

I do not own Mistborn or RWBY.

Prologue

Vin was scared.

Terrified.

Granted, in the life of a skaa Mistborn (especially one who helped overthrow a century-long dictatorship), this was a common enough emotion.

But Vin was used to such feelings. She was used to the constant fear of dying. To an assassin, to poison… but not someone else dying. Not him, not Elend.

Vin held Elend in her arms as he slowly bled to death. The mist creature, an ally she thought she could trust, now lingered in a corner after slicing across Elend's chest. He, it, had led them to a secret vault underneath Kredik Shaw, the castle of the dead tyrant. Allomantic pulses that were echoing in her mind helped locate the secret location.

But when they arrived, the mist creature had struck across Elend's chest with an invisible blade and caused him to fall to the ground with shallow, painful breaths. Vin quickly rushed to his side, pulling one of the few people in her life to care for her close to her body.

She whispered, "I love you. Elend, I love you," over and over, hoping for a response. But when he didn't give one, she turned to look at the mist creature, angry and confused. "Why?! Were you not helping me? Did you not lead us here to save the world?!"

The mist creature, the only other occupant of the room, just stood there, silent and watching. But Vin can almost seem to sense that something about it feels... sad? Remorseful?

Reen's voice echoed in her mind: Anyone can betray you. Anyone.

For the first time in a while, she was worried her brother's teachings were true. However, she was distracted by the sudden lack of breathing coming from her lover. Vin Looked back down at Elend and stroked his hair. He looked up at her, shock burned into his eyes but forced a small smile before turning to the pool. Vin looked over at the glistening Well, hearing its call in her mind. The Well of Ascension. The powers of a god.

I can still save him, she realized. Vin looked back at Elend as he coughed blood. Oh, Elend. I love you.

Vin layed Elend down and walked over to the pool, stepping inside the pool of metallic-seeming liquid. She took step after step until she was neck-deep in the Well. Nothing happened at first. However, when Vin submerged herself fully, her mother's earring began to burn. Vin hastily pulled it out and dropped it to the depths of the pool, vanishing from her sight.

At that moment, Vin touched godhood. The Well's power flooded into her every pore. The essence of the power that she stepped into seemed to absorb itself into her, filling every fiber of her with the powers of Infinity. Anything became possible. She could move the planet. She could create continents. She could destroy whole kingdoms.

She could save Elend.

Vin could keep him alive and safe. She could preserve him. All she would have to do is to take the power for herself. Like Rashek did so many years ago. Like the Lord Ruler.

But Vin knew what Elend would want, what he would ask of her to do. He would want her to let him die and save the world. He would be the selfless hero who sacrificed himself for the skaa, nobles, and innocents in the city above. He would want her to release the power.

You know what you must do. The power spoke into her mind, whispering kindly into Vin's ear. I must defeat the Deepness.

Vin sobbed silently as she saw a vision of Elend looking towards the pool, silently pleading for Vin to do what was right, to leave him to die. To save everyone except for the person she cared about most.

"I love you," whispered Vin one last time. She then released the power of the Well of Ascension onto the world. The cavern began to shake and rumble as Vin returned to mortality. Gray, metallic light shined around her, bursting through her and around her like a shadow. One last thought permeated Vin's mind as she felt pushed and stretched into unconsciousness; a single sentence screaming out through her mind.

I am FREE.

Ruby was scared.

Terrified.

Granted, in the life of a Huntress who killed demon-like monsters of the night (and day), this was common.

But Ruby was used to it. She was used to the constant fear of dying to a Grimm or dying to an evil bandit… but what she was not used to was someone appearing in a flash of light like one of the old gods!

It was supposed to be a routine Search-and-Destroy mission. Headmaster/Professor Ozpin had sent Ruby and her team (RWBY, and yes, it does get confusing) to go kill some Grimm that were getting too close to a small village just outside of Vale.

And, to be honest, it was all pretty much routine.

Ruby was enjoying the sound of Crescent Rose slicing and folding in the heat of battle. The scythe-rifle combo enabled her to move across the battlefield quickly to get in close or also snipe from far away.

Weiss was speeding across the field with her glyphs, stabbing and freezing ursai that got too close to the town. Her rapier, Myrtenaster, became a streak of silver with excellent grace and form due to the skill of its wielder.

Blake, being a stealthy target, used her semblance and its ability to create shadow-like copies of herself to distract smaller beowolves before reappearing behind them with a slice of her katana-pistol, Gambol Shroud.

Lastly, Yang was punching any Grimm who dared get too close to her half-sister/team leader. Ember Celica, Yang's shotgun gauntlets, fired shot after shot with each punch, pushing back and dissolving any Grimm close enough to try and attack them as well as allowing her to move forward in small bursts.

"Hey Rubes," Yang called out, "don't you think that there's been a lot of Grimm lately? More so than usual?" The blonde yelled over her shoulder as she slammed her first into an ursai's stomach.

Weiss stabbed another, sliding back over to her teammates on a stream of glyphs as it fell down, disintegrating into a pile of ash from the deadly strike. "There does seem to be a large increase in Grimm numbers, maybe with the Vytal Festival coming up, they can sense the tension between the schools," Weiss offered out before summoning a stream of fire to burn away a few more Grimm. Her normally white glyph glowed red and the heat of it warped the air around it. The familiar symbol of the Schnee crest was evidence of Weiss using her semblance as she summons the attack.

Blake, backflipping out of nowhere, joined in the conversation. "Possibly, but this is a lot, even for that. JNPR said that they were having problems with them too when they went out a few weeks ago as well". Blake popped off a few shots from Gambol Shroud at one of the last two Grimm in the area, 'killing' it and leaving only an average-height beowolf as the sole survivor of the pack.

"Mine!" Ruby yelled out as she ran towards it. Crescent Rose quickly unfolded as Ruby used her semblance to speed around, behind, and above it before slicing down on the beowolf's head. Thanks to her constant care, the sharp blade of her weapon easily sliced through the monster. Ruby landed on her feet, her scythe half-penetrating the soft earth as the Grimm vanished.

"Who cares?" she asked, referring to Yang's original comment. "It's not like we can't handle it. As long as we're here, we can handle anything!" Ruby sheathed her weapon as she walked back over to her team with a large smile on her face.

It was at this moment that handling 'anything' became 'almost anything'.

As Ruby ran back to her friends, a loud booming could be heard. A bright gray light burst forth from nowhere which caused Weiss to gasp and Blake to get into a defensive position.

Yang rushed forward as well. "Ruby!"

Ruby just stared into the light. It felt warm, comforting. It… reminded her of her mother.

The light began to dissipate, dimming until all that remained was a girl, a little bit older than they were, and unconscious. Yang quickly ran up to Ruby and grabbed her shoulders.

"Are you ok?! Ruby? RUBY!" Yang shook Ruby as she returned to reality.

"Huh? Yes, Yang stop! I'm fine!". Ruby looked over Yang's shoulder as she turned to face the young woman on the ground. Weiss and Blake step tentatively toward them as well.

"Who is that?" they all ask, equally confused.

Well, there you go! My first ever attempt at fanfiction. I hope you all enjoyed it and want to read more. If you have any comments, please let me know what you think. Thoughts, predictions, ideas, comments, and even criticisms are accepted (but please be nice about it).