Little Red

by Outlandish Storyteller

"Don't fall." That's the only thing Ambrosius told Ruby. He never explained what would happen. She thought she would die. No, she couldn't be more wrong. She wakes up on a dying Remnant, humanity trapped in a dark war and on the brink of extinction. She comes face-to-face with a dark version of herself -who turned against the world.

5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone, long time no see! How many months has it been since chapter 4? Sorry for the very very very long wait. Since I've kept ya'll waiting for a number of months, I've decided to post two chapters for you guys. Chapter 5 and chapter 6. Anyway, I don't have much to say, so I hope ya'll enjoy the double chapters!

/-/

"Get up…"

Ruby drifts deeper and deeper into her dreams. Sleep, something she desperately needed in this mad and backwards world, despite getting smacked by Glynda and her wand. Muffled shouting and screaming fills her ears. Where is it coming from? Why is someone shouting? Is it a Grimm attack?

"Get up!" A male voice shouts. The man is much louder now, and he sounds angry. Furious from the sounds of it. She can feel him ringing in her ears. "Get up and move! Now!"

BAM! A sudden blow kisses her right in the jaw —it feels like a punch. The surge of pain jolts Ruby awake, finding herself staring at a concrete floor on her hands and knees. She winces and groans from the blow to her left cheek, tears starting to well up and flow from her eyes. Scrapes and light bruising cover her arms, throb with an unignorable pain.

"Why did you leave yourself open?! Get up!" A man shouts furiously behind her.

Ruby rolls over on her butt, looking up at the furious man that punched her.

Taiyang Xiao Long.

Tai towers over Ruby, glaring down at her with a look of disappointment and frustration. He is shirtless and toned with lean muscle and various scars decorating his body like a trophy wall, from claw marks to old bullet wounds. An old burn scar —oddly shaped like a literal handprint— brands the left side of his face. Lastly —and the most jarring— is his metal right arm. His arm looks similar to Yang's prosthetic. No, it looks more advanced. More cybernetic like what General Ironwood has. Despite the arm appearing to be a part of his body, she can make out the angular lines in it that runs from his balled up fist to his shoulder.

Now sitting up, she gets a good look at her surroundings. She's smack dab in the middle of a gigantic courtyard, one she slowly recognizes.

Who'd thought Beacon would be like this?

She and her father aren't the only ones in the courtyard —or, training ground would be more accurate. Groups of children, looking to be in their prep-teen to early teens, run about in a frenzy with their weapons in hand. Huntsmen and huntresses, who Ruby assumes are the professors, scream at the fledgling huntsmen at the top of their lungs. Barking insults and swears at the students.

A young man slows down behind his group, stopping to take his breath. Almost in an instant, a giant bull faunus of a huntsman charges and knocks the fledgling off his feet. The young man lands hard on his back, clearly winded and dazed from the blow. Two huntsmen and a huntress surround the boy with the bull faunus, screaming and cursing for him to pick up his weapon and move.

Ruby shivers, feeling sorry for the boy.

Tai screams in rage. "Stop sitting there! Move! Move your feet and get up! You think the enemy will stop just because you fell down?! It'll be a cold day in hell before one of my daughters gets eaten or burned alive on the battlefield! GET UP!"

Trembling, Ruby slowly rises to her feet. She looks up at her scarred and rough father, feeling a bit intimidated by his glare. She doesn't want to do this anymore. She hates this. She hates her dad treating her this way. Her lips tremble, trying to muster the courage to speak her mind.

"Dad," Her voice finally comes out, shakingly and with fear. But, for some strange reason, it sounds much younger than it normally does. "I…don't wanna do this. I don't wanna fight!"

Tai shrieks. "What did you say?! What did you JUST say?!" He marches up to her with all fury and anger, squeezing her cheeks with his hands and pulling her close.

She looks him in the eye, his anger is clear as day. But there is a hint of something else there…

"Tai stop!" A woman shouts in a very demanding tone. A sudden swift of white swoops in and yanks Ruby from Tai's grip. A woman in a white hooded cape stands betweens her and Tai, staring the raging man in the eye.

M-Mom?

"What do you think you're doing, Summer?!"

"You're being way too hard on her, Tai! She's just a child!"

Tai blinks. "Just a child? Too hard?! Look up there!" He points towards a group of green and black robed men and women lined up on the edge of an vantage point of the training grounds. Ruby stares up at the robed people in awe, immediately recognizing them.

Sorcerers.

Each and every member of the group watches the huntsmen from behind their hoods, only their mouths and chins visible from what she can see. All except two. Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. Ozpin stands in the middle of the group with both hands resting on top of his cane as usual. Glynda stands close to his right side with her arms crossed. The entire group of magic users fix their calculating gaze directly at Summer, Tai, and Ruby. Mainly on Ruby.

Ruby can feel their eyes digging into her. Observing her. Studying her.

"You see that?" Tai says to his wife. "They are watching. This place is filled with children but they are only looking at her! And you know why! It's those eyes of hers! Eyes she got from you! And you know they're gonna send her to the frontlines the moment her training is over! BOTH of our daughters are going to the frontlines, Summer!"

Summer bites her lip, visibly shaking with clenched fists. "I know… But that doesn't mean we have to sour our relationship with our children just get them ready for war. Tai… I know you're scared for them. I am too. I'm terrified. But we can't treat them the same way our parents treated us. We want to grow them, not break them."

"You've seen what this war does to people!" Tai barks, raising up his cybernetic arm for her and Ruby to see. "It chews them up and spit them out! And if they survive, even if they come back with fewer limbs, they're sent back out there! There are more dead kids out there than adults, and you're telling me I'm being too hard?!

Summer twists her lips, clearly wanting to say something in the argument.

Tai points at Ruby. "She's ten years old, Summer. Ten. We have seven years to get her ready. Even less for Yang. So stop babying them and help me get them ready." Grabbing his shirt and coat with those last words, he storms off and leaves the training grounds.

Summer lets out an audible sigh before turning her attention to her daughter. She walks over with a warm smile and crouches to eye level. "Hey my little rose bud. you hanging in there?"

"Dad hates me, doesn't he?!" Ruby asks her mom with a low grumble, feelings of frustration and loathing swelling up inside her. "It's because I don't wanna fight! I don't wanna kill people! That's why he keeps yelling and hitting me, isn't it?!"

Summer winces at the venom in her daughter's tone. "No. He doesn't hate you."

"Then why?!"

"Because he's scared and for the right reasons, a lot more than you think. Take a moment to look around you and think, you're not the only one going through this. Yang has to deal with it too."

"I… I know. But it feels like he's on me the hardest. And what did he mean about my eyes? Why is the Wizard and the other sorcerers interested in me? What did I do?"

Summer sighs again, her warm smile turning into a somber one. "You're…unique, Ruby. Like me." Her eyes give off a subtle glow and a spear seemingly made of light appears in her hand.

Ruby watches in awe, as if she watches a movie unfolding in front of her.

"We…have a special power."

"More special than semblances? More than the sorcerers' magic?"

A small chuckle escapes Summer's lips. "In a way, yes. It's the reason why huntsmen and semblances exist. And sorcerers have been studying it for a long time…"

"What does our power do? Where did it come from?"

"For me, so far I can only summon weapons and shine a blinding light from my eyes. But somehow, I feel that's only the surface of it. As for where it came from, there are theories and speculations but nothing concrete. Some think it's a form of latent magic. Others think it's a blessing from the gods to help us in this terrible war. So in a way, we're special, like the heroes in the story books you loved so much."

Summer dissipates the spear with sigh before continuing. "Ruby, there will be a day where you'll be sent to the frontlines because of this power. You'll be expected to lead. I will teach you everything I know. I will get you ready. But promise me, Ruby. No matter what happens out there, no matter who you lose. No matter what decision you make, promise me you'll keep moving forward."

"Y-Yes ma'am…"

"I wanna hear you say it. Keep moving forward."

"Keep moving forward…"

Summer raises her voice a little. "Louder!"

"Keep moving forward," Ruby speaks up.

"Again!"

"Keep moving forward!"

Summer wraps Ruby in a warm embrace, not caring that they are in the middle of a training ground. "Remember those words," she whispers. "You'll need them."

/-/

"You can't be serious! They wanna do what?!"

In a blink of an eye, the dream changes like a television channel. Ruby is no longer in the training ground filled with scattering kids and screaming huntsmen. She finds herself in the grand hallways of Beacon. It's quiet and empty. The only souls present are herself, Summer, and…Glynda?

"Please tell me you're joking!" Summer yells at Glynda with her fists clenched tight. "They wanna fast track her!"

"You've heard me precisely, Miss Rose." Glynda responds in a cold and callous tone while tapping away on her scroll. "Your daughter is recognized as a prodigy. She has far surpassed her peers and has shown very exceptional skills and talents. So we think it would be best to move her ahead two years."

"Two years?! Then that would mean…"

"She'll be much closer to deployment," Glynda answers for Summer, ignoring her distress.

Summer breathes hitches in her throat and her eyes widen with terror. "No! NO! Please, you can't do that! She's only fifteen. Fifteen! There is still a lot for her to learn, more I can teach her! It's too soon, Glynda! Please!"

The sorceress lets out a subtle sigh, pushing up her glasses before lifting her gaze from her scroll.

"Please…" Summer pleads through a sob she fights to keep down. "Her father just died. Forever lost to us… Can you at least talk to Oz- the Wizard and convince him to reconsider this… Just please give us time…"

Glynda's hard exterior softens a bit, a hint of sympathy showing through. "I'm sorry, Summer. Time isn't something we have. And… if your husband were still here, he'd say the same… Those eyes you and your daughter have, they have helped Vale a lot. Project Artemis existed because of your power, giving birth to generations upon generations of huntsmen who can push back against the Witch's grimm and maidens. We owe your kind a lot, even if Ozpin is too distracted to realize that."

"Children are dying!" Summer shouts. "How is that helping Vale?! If this war never happened, then there would never be any huntsmen and everyone would be living a normal life! These children would have a childhood!"

"Then fight to end the war," Glynda answers plainly. "Getting angry over how things turned out will do nothing for us. Salem will continue her conquest until all of Remnant is under her thrall. We can't allow that. So it has been decided, Ruby Rose will be moved to the advanced groups. When will she be deployed after her training is yet to be determined. I'm sorry."

Remaining firm in her words, Glynda turns on her heel and departs, leaving a shaking and clenched fist Summer. Summer slams her fist into a nearby wall locker, hard enough for the rattling to travel the halls. Ruby doesn't know what to think about what she had just witnessed.

"M-Mom?" She calls out while approaching the woman. Before she could reach her mother, everything changes in a blink of an eye.

/-/

Ruby opens her eyes to the blaring roar of an aircraft engine. Taking a moment to take in her surroundings, she immediately recognizes the hull she's in. She's in a bulkhead. She looks to her left and right, immediately noticing her team sitting with her.

Weiss sits to her right, inspecting Myrnaster's functions and counting her dust capsules. Her eyes remain fixated on her weapon and gear, a lot more focus than Ruby has ever seen her. Blake sits farthest away from Ruby. She taps her fingers on her scroll, her yellow cat-like eyes periodically shift from left to right as she analyzes the contents on the screen. And lastly, sitting on Ruby's left, is Yang.

Ruby couldn't help but worry about her sister's state of mind. Yang sits hunching over with her head in her hands and bouncing her right heel up and down repeatedly. The laid-back and carefree energy she's known to have has slowly been withering away, becoming a far cry of the sister she grew up with. The bulkhead remains dead quiet, all except for the blairing of the engines.

Weiss breaks the silence with a long and tired sigh. "How many times have we done this? How many battles have we seen so far?"

"I don't know," Blake replies plainly while still occupied with her scroll. "I've lost count after a while…"

"For a while now I've been… contemplating things. Like… What caused this war to start in the first place? Why has it been going for so long? Why are we still fighting?"

Blake pauses with her finger hovering over her scroll, her ears drooping with a small frown on her lips. "Well, when you've been fighting someone for hundreds of years, it's hard for anyone to remember. Everyone is just following what they were taught to do…."

Weiss sighs silently and looks back to Myrnaster. "Yeah… Just like us."

"What does any of that matter right now?" Yang cuts into the conversation with a serious tone. The pair bring their gaze to their team heavy hitter, still hunched over with her head resting between her hands, the position she has been in for the past couple hours. "Instead of wondering about what happened way back when, we need to focus on what's gonna happen in the next five minutes."

"Don't you think that was a little blunt?" Weiss remarks.

Blakes shakes her head. "No, she's right." She presses a button on her scroll, revealing a hologram of the battlefield they are heading into. "The Vale-Atlesian alliance finally managed to get Mistral forces out of Sanus and push their way into Anima. That being said… we're going into uncharted territory. So far we've been lucky because Vale knew the landscape of Sanus. But since we're going into Anima…"

"Mistral now has the home field advantage…" Weiss finishes for her.

Keep moving forward.

"We can get through this," Ruby hears herself speak up. Her voice sounds a little shaky and her hands rest on Crescent Rose with a subtle tremble noticeable only to her. "No matter what happens, if we keep moving forward, we can end this. We can make things right."

"And what makes you so sure?" Blake asks with a questioning look.

Ruby squeezes her grip on Crescent Rose a bit. "In a way… we're like the heroes in the books."

Weiss let's an audible sigh and Blake droops her ears as she stares in disbelief.

Yang growls, finally lifting her head and making eye contact with her sister. "Not this crap again! Why are you still hung up on those stupid fairy tales, Ruby?! How many times do I have to tell you? The world is NOT a fairy tale! Did Pyrrha get a happy ending? Velvet? Dad? This is what dad was trying to tell us! Being a hopeful idealist is not gonna help us survive. The only two things we can rely on are the people to our left and right, and our own two hands!"

Ruby tightens her grip on Crescent Rose even more. "And what kind of person was dad before he died? The war made him into so much of a realist that he was afraid. Fear pushed him to be the way he was, the things he did. I know we're fighting in a war but we can't end up like him, Yang. The real world may not be like the fairy tails, but… they remind me that we have to fight with hope, not fear. We have to keep moving forward. Just like the heroes."

The bulkhead grows silent.

Before anyone can say another word, the pilot's voice buzzes on the intercom. "We are arriving at the drop zone. Team RWBY, prepare to jump in approximately one minute."

"That's our cue," Yang stands up along with the rest of the team. The sound of explosions boom outside, making the bulkhead rock and sway.

The pilot comes back over the intercom, "Get ready to jump in three, two, one. Go go go!" The bulkhead door slides open, showing the huntresses a full display of the mayhem they are about to literally jump into. Fireworks of bombs, whistling of missiles, and the bang-bang-bang-bang of machine guns fill the sky with screeching Nevermore and other winged grimm.

The ground below is just as chaotic. The girls witness a fire fight of bullets and magic. Vale and Atlaisan forces against Mistral and the grimm.

Huntsmen and Grimm lead the charge for their respective sides. Heavy hitter class huntsmen clash with the hordes of grimm, creating openings for other huntsmen classes -glass cannons and scouts- to slip through.

Valean-Atlasian soldiers move in behind the huntsmen, firing back against the Mistrians with their Dust powered weaponry. In the midst of the chaos, the team catch sight of Vale's sorcerers locked in a destructive contest of power with the maidens. Both sides wield the power of nature at their fingertips.

Team RWBY jumps out of the aircraft and the dream changes again.

/-/

"Don't tell me you're serious, Yang?!" Blake tries her best to keep her yelling to a dull roar. "That's Devil's Breath! We can't use that?!"

"What other choice do we have, Blake?!"

Team RWBY stands at an outpost on a hillside that overlooks a ruined town in a valley. A giant black tree sits at the center of the ruins, its roots stretching to every inch of the town and entangling it in its grip. Mistrian soldiers have turned the ruins into a military compound, surrounding the tree with their activities. Much to the girls' horror, this particular tree spawns the very creatures they've trained to fight all their life, grimm. Broods of grimm form within the twitching and pulsating inky body of the tree, red eyes and snarling mouths emerging by the dozens. Young grimm that are fresh and ripe for war are led and loaded onto a freight train that runs through the valley.

Blake and Yang —who Ruby reluctantly ordered— killed two Mistrian soldiers that were acting as lookouts for the compound. The team discovered a mortar tube with incendiary rounds.

"A choice that doesn't involve burning people alive with a spontaneous combustible gas!"

"Oh that's real ironic, Blake! You and I just killed two people not too long ago!" Yang points to two dead soldiers lying on the ground. "I crushed one of their throats and I'm pretty sure you cut the other one's spinal cord. We've been crossed the line, Blake! Actually, is there even a line?!

"I concur with Blake," Weiss says. "We've seen what Devil's Breath does to people. I can't with a good conscience do something like this."

Yang cocks an eyebrow. "Um, hello? Open your eyes! We are standing at the edge of an enemy camp that is MAKING grimm! Someway, somehow, the Witch Kingdom found out how to make FREAKIN' grimm! If that doesn't ring an alarm to you two, then I don't know what will! And if you have any other option, then please tell me! Yeah, we could just bust in the old fashion way! What can a bunch of measly grunts do to a few supersoldiers? But guess what? There is also a nest of grimm down there along with a freakish tree that keeps popping them out like a whore who can't keep her legs closed! If we don't do this now, we'll definitely have hell to pay, which could end with one or all of us dying!"

A moment of silence falls on the team.

Yang sighs. "Look, it's not like we're using it on civilians. Weiss, you know the rules better than anyone else."

Weiss sighs. "When using Dust, chemicals, or any type of incendiary weapons, it is prohibited to use on civilian populated areas."

"Exactly"

Blake still avoids eye contact. "I still think we have other options guys…"

"Ruby," Yang turns to her sister, snapping her out of deep thought. "It's your call."

"U-Um…"

"Sorry to throw this on you little sister, but you're the leader. What you say goes."

"Uh. C-Can't we just wait for mom's team to get here?"

"We don't have time to wait on mom, Ruby. We need to act now. If we don't, more people are gonna end up like dad, Pyrrha, and every ally we've lost in the senseless bloodbath."

Ruby swallows, taking a moment to ponder her decision. We can't do this. Not like this, but… She looks back over the ruins, watching the tree germinate and birth more batches of grimm from its inky body. "And there aren't any civilians down there, right?"

"No…" Blake answers. "There aren't…"

Keep moving forward, Ruby. Just keep moving forward. "Okay… Set it up."

With begrudging looks from half the team, the order is received. The mortar tube is set and incendiary rounds are ready to be launched. Ruby controls an enemy surveillance drone with her scroll, giving her a bird's eye view of the enemy camp.

Ruby swallows and takes a deep breath, "Target the rails first, we can't let that train leave."

"Roger that," Yang replies, dropping the round into the tube and looking away before it shoots straight into the air. The team watches the round soar over the enemy camp with a dreadful whistle for everyone to hear.

"INCOMING!" A soldier shouts from below.

The mortar hits the train tracks with a big BOOM and a deadly cloud of red, right in the middle of the camp. It didn't take long for the screams to come, horrible, gut-wrenching screams. The cloud immediately ignites into flames and spreads, causing any flammable materials such as fuel, oil, and ammunition to explode. Just as Team RWBY wanted, the grimm are getting burned by the devil's breath… but so are the soldiers.

No turning back now.

"There's still more," Ruby tells her team. "Back'em into a corner…"

More rounds are sent, hitting their targets one by one —vehicles, buildings, and tents— and blanketing the area in a toxic red smoke. Fire latches onto and eats away at the tree, making it scream a disturbing, high pitch screech like a wounded animal.

Weiss jumps back. "W-What was that just now?!"

"That's what I'm wondering," Yang replies. "How are we looking, Ruby?"

"No one's moving…" Ruby said sombrely, flying the drone under the carnage they just caused. "Everyone's dead… It's over…"

"Come on," Yang tells the team while placing a gentle hand on Ruby's shoulder. "You know what to do. Make sure nothing is left."

The ruins look like the beginning of a nuclear apocalypse. Fires continue to burn and plumes of grimm ash and smoke lingers in the air. Weiss leads the team, using her wind dust to clear the area of toxic smoke as they move further into the camp. Ruby grips Crescent Rose tightly as she passes by charred and maimed bodies, the stench of burnt flesh forcing her to use her hood as a mask.

A faint wheeze grabs Ruby's attention. One of the soldiers is still alive, just barely.

"Want me to take care of them?" Yang asks in a slightly cold tone.

Ruby shakes her head. "No… I'll do it. You guys go ahead."

She makes her way to the dying soldier, putting Crescent Rose away in the process. It was her decision that caused this person's suffering. How can she bring herself to pull the trigger? Upon reaching them, Ruby's breath hitches in her throat when she gets a good look at them. "Oh gods…"

A girl —looking to be around Ruby's age, probably older— clings on to what bit of life she still has. She looks up at Ruby in fear and anguish, her face severely charred with tears running down her cheeks and every wheeze she makes clearly causing her discomfort.

Even the Mistrians are using children.

"She's… just like me." Ruby kneels down and takes the girl's hand into her own. "I'm… I'm sorry. I wish I didn't… I'm sorry…"

The girl continues to wheeze, eventually taking her last breath and her eyes become hollow and empty"

"Uh… Ruby!" Weiss snaps their leader back to reality. Jumping to her feet, Ruby runs over to her team who are standing in front of a building, frozen like deers in headlights as they stare straight ahead.

"What is it? You guys find something?" Following their stunned gaze, Ruby feels all the strength leave her legs and falls to her knees. Smokey and charred corpses -human and faunus- fill a room in front of the huntresses, all of them seeming to be shackled to one another by their wrists and ankles. The longer she stares the more she begins to realize their clothing —what's remaining of them.

Most of the corpses are garbed in casual, everyday clothes. Families, varying in age, all huddle together; stuck in their position moments before their death. Among the charred bodies, a few of them wore the uniform of Valean and Atlaisan soldiers.

Weiss breaks the silence when she runs off somewhere and vomits due to the unsettling sight and the unbearable stench.

Yang finally snaps out of her shock. "Wha- What the he-"

"This is all your fault!" Blake shoves Yang in an outburst of rage. "I told you we shouldn't have used that stuff! I told you!"

Yang stands her ground. "Cool it, Blake".

"Cool it?! We JUST committed a war crime!"

Everything around Ruby seems to drown out and fade into the background. Her eyes can't look away, the result of their actions burning into her mind. Why were there civilians here? Were the Mistrians really imprisoning Animites, their own people? And the Valean-Atlasian soldiers… How could they have known they were here too?

What have I done?

Blake throws up her hands in the middle of her argument and stomps off. "I can't take this! I can't stay here!"

"Hey, hold on! You can't just run off, now out here!" Yang yells, chasing after an emotional distraught teammate.

Ruby remains fixated on the smoldering corpses, not noticing that her team had left her. I didn't want this… We were supposed to stop the grimm. I didn't want this!

In the midst of her turmoil, a sudden gust of wind and petals blow past and yanks Ruby by her hood. Moments after being thrown, a thunderous boom erupts with a massive wave of heat. Ruby hits the ground and rolls to a stop, ears ringing and a bit disoriented. The building that housed the charred prisoners lays in rubble and flame, completely leveled with nothing left.

Ruby looks up and sees her savor, "M-Mom?"

Summer stands with her back facing Ruby, glaring at a red cloaked woman with a bow-like weapon on top of a building. The woman lowers her bow, glaring back at Summer with eyes burning with literal fire.

Another maiden?! Ruby immediately scrambles to her feet and draws Crescent Rose.

"You huntsmen are a real nuisance," The maiden glares as she leviates and descends with an intimidating grace in the light of the scattered moon. Golden runes reflect off the moonlight, giving her red cloak and dress a haunting glow as she touches down. Her face is set upon them, grim with animosity. "Your little stunt has cost me valuable resources for the Hex Tree."

Hex Tree? Ruby wonders when she looks up at the burning tree. "Wait. W-What resources?"

The maiden points her bow at the building she just leveled —where the corpses were.

It didn't take long for Ruby to put two and two together, the realization chilling her to the bone. "Oh my god… The grimm were…"

"I remember hearing about you," the maiden motions the Summer. She removes her hood, revealing long black hair with ember eyes that still burn with fire. "Summer Rose, The White Death. Or so they call your kind."

"Cinder Fall," Summer identifies the woman by her appearance and attire. "The Maiden In Red."

Cinder gives a sly smile. "Good, we can get straight to the point. I've never worked on a silver eye before. Perhaps you two will make the subjects I've lost." As if on cue, the wind begins to pick up, blowing from behind Cinder and pushing against the mother and daughter.

Ruby swallows and readies herself alongside her mother, recalling a recent battle her team had with a maiden that has her nerves shaking.

"RUBY!" Yang and the girls call out from further down the street, running to aid their leader.

Cinder snaps her fingers and the ground suddenly shakes violently. Giant black roots erupt from the street, blocking the rest of Team RWBY from joining the fight.

Wait! The tree is still alive?!

"It came to my attention that Amber was killed by a group of children," Cinder said, mainly looking towards Ruby. "Can't give you any real credit for that, considering she was a fledgling herself."

The Hex Tree -even though on fire- begins to morph and change shape, becoming a massive squirming blob of mouths and roots.

Cinder's sly smile turns wide and sinister "But allow me to show you what an experienced maiden is capable of."

It's… It's a giant grimm?!

Ruby hears Summer swear under her breath, a worrying grimace set on her face. It's clear she never wanted her daughters out here.

/-/

"Mom? MOM?!" In the aftermath of a war torn street of fire, rubble, and roots, Ruby sits in the road with her arms wrapped tight around her dying mother.

Summer clenches her teeth with a heart-breaking grimace, letting out cries as she writhes in pain. Her eyes are shut, bleeding profusely with a long cut running across them. An arrow pierce her breastplate and sticks out of her chest, but the arrow isn't what's causing her so much pain. Something worm-like slithers and spreads under her skin, making more gut wrenching cries from Summer.

What do I do?! Gods please! What do I do?!

"Help! Someone help, please! Yang! Weiss! Blake! Someone please help! I don't know what to do!" Ruby cries out into the chaos with tears and snot running down her face. She has completely forgotten that she's in a warzone, completely forgotten that Cinder is still out there somewhere. The only thing on her mind right now, is her mother.

Fighting through her pain, Summer shakenly reaches up and grabs on to her daughter's collar. "Ruby… Go… Find Yang… Find your team and leave…"

"NO!" Ruby snaps and shakes her head frantically. "I'm not doing that! I can't! I don't wanna leave you!"

"Ruby… You-"

"I-I can carry you! Yeah, yeah! I can do that! I'll use my semblance to get us to the others! And Weiss and Blake are pretty good at mixing dust into medicine, they'll figure something out! Then we'll call a MEDEVAC and-"

"Ruby…," Summer smiles weakly, placing her hand on her daughter's cheek. To Ruby, her hand feels cold. "I love you…"

Ruby breaks, latching onto Summer's hand and pressing her cheek firmly in her palm. "Mom, no… Please don't go…. I don't wanna lose you too. I can't…"

"I know… I don't wanna go either…"

"Mom, we need you… I need you…"

"I'm sorry I brought you into this world…," Summer gently strokes Ruby's cheek with her thumb. "It's your turn now… Be the hero this world desperately needs… End this tragic story of ours…," her smiles widen a bit more. "Be there for Yang… and keep moving forward…" Summer suddenly tense up and clenches her teeth in intense pain. She screams a frightening cry as she writhes and clenches her chest. A single black root bursts out of Summer's chestplate, startling Ruby and forcing her to jump and scurry away.

More and more roots burst out of Summer's chest, growing into a small tree with her body impaled and hanging on its branches.

Ruby snaps, pulling her hair so hard that she might it rip from her scalp. "No… No. No! No! No! NOOOOOO!" The final nail in the coffin has been hammered in —she can't take it. "AHHHHHHH!" Her eyes begin to glow brighter and brighter as she cries and wails into the night, a sudden massive surge of energy building up until she can no longer contain it. She feels like she's going to explode.

With a final cry, her vision fades with a huge shine of white with a black fog shortly taking its place around her.

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"MOM!" Ruby jolts awake from her frightening nightmare. Cold sweat drenches her face as she stares up at the cement ceiling, panting heavily to catch her breath. Oh. It was just a dream. Oh thank gods.

Taking a moment to calm down and collect herself, she looks around the room she's in. It's a small room, big enough for a single person. Three cement walls surround her, completely bare and bland. A small metal table and a chair sits in the middle of the room with a single light bulb shining down. She lays on a beaten down, twin sized mattress with a spring frame that, unfortunately, makes her back ache.

Ruby notices the bars that make up the fourth wall of the room. A jail cell?

She groans and rolls over to the edge of the bed, making a few creaks as she sits up. She rests her head in her hands, staring at the floor while she groans from the dull pounding. "What… happened to me?" She takes a moment to try and remember what happened before she ended up in this jail cell.

Oh, right. We got away from Little Red. And then Professor Goodwitch… hit me.

That explains everything.

In the middle of digging through her thoughts, her mind goes back to the dream she just had. Most dreams she's had in the past, she would normally forget or vaguely remember. But not this one. This one stuck with her and she remembers every bit of it. The terrible war. What her team did to those people. Summer dying… Everything.

"What… was that dream?"

"Ruby?" A suddenly, yet unfamiliar voice calls out to her, directing in front of her!

Ruby gasps and jerks her head up, seeing a woman with a white cloak standing next to the table. She wasn't there before. In fact, Ruby remembers being the only one in this jail cell. The two stare sit there, staring at each other without a word. Ruby can't shake the feeling that she has seen this woman's face before. It takes her a moment, but then it hits her.

"M-Mom?"

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Hey guys! Before someone say it in the comments, yeah, I used the white phosphorus scene Spec Ops: The Line. Just felt that the tone would fit.

Chapter 6 is up, so go ahead and check. You guys have a good one and have a bless day or night.