Author's note: Alright so I wasn't planning to post this for quite a while but I decided I like feedback too much. I am going to post one chapter every weekend. Could be Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Doesn't really matter. What I am going to say is I already have the Prologue, and Chapter 1 and 2 written. Chapter 3 is half way done. I've been writing about 2,000 words a day. I just started this on like Monday this week. Story is currently about 11,000 words

I do work. I'm 23 years old and in the military so there are some days when I'm just too damn tired to write. I don't know why but I've recently become a little... obsessed with RWBY. My current goal is to have 100,000 words written by about half way through March. I like ideas and input and others nonsense. I don't mind criticism.

I also reserve the right to post early. I'm sure everyone hates when author's just post a chapter days before its expected. How horrible! Anyways, I'm going to try and keep myself about 3 or 4 chapters done that aren't posted yet so even if I have a bad week, you guys still get something new.

I am also going to point out that I am notorious for starting a story and then never finishing it. I have written one full length story that was completed. I have attempted to write like 10. So... thats like a 10% shot. That being said... That was back in 2008. I was a kid. I am now an adult and I have free time, boredom, a borderline obsession with this show, and I really want to complete this story.

If you have any questions, feel free to put them in the reviews/Private message me/whatever. I'll try and respond. I might just respond 'Wait and see'. We'll see.

Now enough rambling from the author.

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.

Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another. - Ernest Hemingway

Every fairy tale and legend starts somewhere. There is one legend that harkens back to the First Grimm War. The details and facts have been mostly lost to time but its underlying message has remained.

Once upon a time the human race lived in relative peace. The Grimm were known to exist but never interfered with human kind. The black and white predators would only attack humans if a human attacked first. So it was believed that the Grimm were a relatively peaceful group of animals. Humans of course had heard the theories of how the world had begun and that Grimm were manifestations of destruction but, without proof of the supposed violent nature, humans ignored the thought.

One day a woman with silver eyes arrived before the human's council of elders and informed them that the Grimm would be attacking. The council requested proof and she told them that she had lived through it. She claimed that she had spent the last 6 years fighting a war only to wake up before it happened. She wished to stop that future. The council laughed at her and told her she had a simple nightmare. Over the next few weeks the attacks began and the truth behind her words was revealed.

It is said, that using her special semblance, which was redacted from historical records, she saved the human race and beat back the Grimm. At the end, upon saving the world, she realized that she had no reason left to live. By stopping her future she had lost the people she had come to know in the future. The woman with silver eyes decided at that moment that she would wander the Grimm infested outlands rather than stay in the human lands. She was never seen again but her heroics were remembered.

Several hundred years later, a second Grimm war came. The humans were unsure of what to do. Last time, a woman with silver eyes had stopped the onslaught. They knew that they had helped her fight but helping and stopping a war are two different things. A year into the war a woman was discovered fighting Grimm on the outskirts of one of the colonies. She had lost everyone she loved and was fighting for vengeance. Her eyes were silver and her methods for destroying the Grimm was outclassing even the best hunters. The council demanded her presence and asked her about her family history.

She informed them she was adopted at a young age and did not know her family history. The council decided she was their best chance and had her trained formally for the next year. In the end, she was the tipping point in the war, but lost her life to a Grimm. The council feared that their heroes had been genetic and would never be born again. Thus the council tucked away the story as a piece of legend and focused instead on training the best of the best. If the heroes could no longer be born with the power to protect them, then they would make better heroes. This was the start of the academy project.

I am Ruby Rose. I am proof that the silver eyes are not a genetic power passed down. My silver eyes marked me as a hero. Not due to genetics, just a mark that my soul could handle the pain. I understand now the pain that the two heroes before me went through. For only with pain and suffering can one unlock the power I now wield. I have seen things you would not understand. I have done things that I do not understand.

Yet… it has all been because it must. 15 years ago I attended Beacon Academy. 15 years ago I attended with my best friends, my sister, and the woman I came to love. Over the last 15 years a third Grimm war has been waged. I have lost each and every one of my friends and family. Some I held as they died. Some I heard about on the news as the casualty reports came in. Each death woke something in me. It continued until all that was left was anger, sadness, desolation. If I wasn't human, I'd be one strong Grimm with the negative thoughts I hold. That is why I am writing this final letter to you, the council of Vale.

You need to understand that each of the girls you continually send to save you over the hundreds of years have sacrificed far more than you could ever comprehend. None of them wished to live after what they been through. I don't wish to live after all of this.

This is why I am going after Cinder and Salem tonight. I understand they are with a Goliath. I understand that no one has been able to get near them since the culling started. I will get near them. I will kill them. And if I don't… well, nice to know you.

I signed the note with a grim satisfaction, no pun intended. Heh, Yang would have appreciated that. I thought to myself.

Okay… lets not think about Yang right now… gotta go avenge her death… yep yep…all of theirs…

I stood and grabbed my scythe. I had replaced the Crescent Rose a while ago with Wilted Rose. The blade was larger and the handle longer. It still had a sniper rifle but the bullets were a slightly smaller gauge than the previous rendition. The casing was significantly bulkier though. Why? Inside Wilted Rose was Thorn. Thorn was a second much smaller Scythe that could also turn into a sword. It made versatility a lot easier.

I was known by most of Remnant as the Bloody Rose of Remnant, Slayer of Grimm, Protector of the Realm. Most survivors in Remnant knew that I had arrived just by looking at my cloak. I had to replace the old one but the new one was both practical and pretty. It was dark red with black fur lining it. Underneath it was my armor. I learned long ago that not wearing armor was foolish and my skirt was just asking for someone to chop off my legs. After wearing it all for 10 years, it felt like my trousers and armor were just part of me.

I had lost my right arm in an early assault when I was 17. The new prosthetic was a dark red and came in handy during a fight. I took the arm loss a lot better than Yang had when she was 17 and Adam had chopped hers off. She eventually dealt with her pain and became a brilliant huntress. She didn't even fall to a Grimm though… the damn White Fang killed Yang… I shook my head. Stop thinking of the past… we're here to finish this.

I took a deep breath and began the 5 mile walk to Cinder and Salem. Today was the day I kill them. I knew it in my bones. During the trek I hummed some of my favorite songs to myself. One lyric though stuck out to me and I found myself singing quietly aloud, "Only the strongest will survive. Lead me to heaven, when we die. I am the shadow on the wall. I'll be the one to save us all."

As I got closer I could see the Goliath that Salem was standing on. It was a massive beast with two tusks. It seemed unconcerned with Salem's presence.

This new Grimm war… it was unlike the previous. This one was brought on by a human. I was going to kill that human today.

I took a deep breath and then bellowed, "Salem, it's time we finish this. It's time I take you back to the depths you crawled out of!"

Salem's eyes glanced down at me and she cackled. She didn't look afraid, just amused, "Awww look the Protector of Remnant has come to tell me I'm being naughty." She glanced somewhere behind her, "Be a dear and kill her."

Then I heard the voice of Cinder, "Of course Mistress." Cinder was Salem's right hand. She had over the years absorbed the power of each and every Maiden. She was said to be terrifying and capable of killing dozens of hunters in minutes. Yet, she was not me. She could never live up to the power of the silver eyed warriors of Remnant.

I smiled, "Hello Cinder." I pulled out Wilted Rose and Thorn. My blades flashing, "Let's dance."

Cinder activated her Maidenhood and hovered in the air, "You have always been a thorn in my side Red. You die today." If it had been any other situation I would have laughed at the pun. The fact remained, Cinder wasn't the target. She was just in the way.

Ice started to rain at me. I swatted it away with Thorn as I leapt out of the storm's focal point. She then turned to me with a glint in her eyes. "Can't stand the cold? I'm sure the heat will be more to your taste then." The look on her face was gleeful.

I furrowed my brows. I hadn't fought Cinder since she had taken on the Summer Maiden's powers. My brain started trying to figure out what she meant and that was when I found out. I felt like my feet were going to liquify and the sheer amount of heat seemed to be boiling the very air. I felt the heat bursting up and getting more intense. As I leapt in the air I saw the ground being consumed by molten lava.

I finally allowed myself to use my powers at full strength. I ran forward with all my speed and as my eyes flashed red I rammed Wilted Rose into her head. I swiftly jumped behind her and prepared for another attack. She looked dazed for a moment and then she took out her infamous bow and arrows.

The bow trained on me and within moments it fired. I moved out of the way and the arrows went for the wall. Her own semblance took control of the arrows and redirected them through the wall and back around. As she did this she used her Maiden powers to imbue each arrow with a different effect of pure magic. Soon a frost arrow clipped my boot. It hurt like hell for a split second, but my aura was strong enough to heal the wound. My foot however, would not budge. An idea formed in my head as I stowed Thorn back in Wilted Rose.

She walked forward laughing, "The great Ruby Rose, finally will fall." Her bow turned into two blades and she lazily went to strike me down. I reached out, breaking my ankle as I removed my foot from the ice and grabbed her by the throat.

"Don't worry bitch. I won't be falling to you." I poured all my strength into my left hand and crushed her windpipe until her aura stopped protecting her. Then, I kept crushing. I dropped Cinder's corpse on the ground and felt the power of the Maiden's attempt to go into me and then reject me as a host.

I then walked forward as my aura fixed my ankle. Blades in hand I approached Salem, "I guess that makes you next," I growled.

Salem laughed at the death of her lieutenant, "Well, its too bad she didn't get to live to see the final stage. It would have killed her though." Salem said with a shrug. She began waving her hands and started to construct something of pure aura. I rushed to stop her and she only laughed harder, "Now child, don't you wish to have a front row seat to the end of Remnant? The Grimm and I have spoken all these years and I know the only hope for the world is in the death of us all." Then she activated it. I couldn't stop her and the ground rumbled beneath us.

Whatever it was she had done, it started glowing brighter and brighter. I felt fear for the first time in ages. I decided there was no way this could destroy all of Remnant. No explosion could do that. So I ran. I ran faster than I have ever run in my life. As I ran I felt the heat catching up to me. I ran faster. I ran until I realized I no longer had legs. The explosion had caught up and was destroying my body. In a last ditch effort I activated all of my silver eyes powers and tried to force my body to mend itself. It failed to mend and I felt my body die.

I groaned as I woke up with my face on a hard floor. I heard yelling, "Miss Rose are you okay?" I looked up and saw Professor Ozpin's face. Ugh, I must be dreaming, he's dead. Then again, I'm pretty sure I'm dead. Is this heaven? I figured if I was dreaming or dead it didn't matter, I might as well enjoying seeing a familiar face.

I picked myself up off the floor and saw that I was standing on the stage where we were announced as Team RWBY. Everyone else was lined up exactly as we had been on that day. "Yeah, I think I'm alright. What happened Professor?"

Ozpin rose an eyebrow at me, "You fainted right after we announced your team name." He pointed behind me and I turned around curiously. Standing before me was Yang, Blake, and Weiss. Team RWBY was standing there alive and well.

"Nope." I murmured as the darkness descended on me again.