Petals Shorn, A Rose Lost to The Twilight Veil

by firestarthndrclan

In the world of Remnant, many things exist that few humans know about. Among the world of humans are many races of creatures and beings, some dangerous, and some are benevolent. A young girl happens to stumble across a scene from a nightmare, only to be plunged into an eternal nightmare when sharpened fangs pierced her neck. Rated M for many reasons.

4. Descent

"I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage." Friedrich Nietzsche

"Even something as simple as spite, can become the most powerful drive in the hands of a strong-willed man." NasuadaNightingale

Bold: Important note to the story

Italic: Important message to a specific character or event

"Message" Inhuman Speech

"Message" Speech

'Message' Thought's

|Boom!| Noise/sound effect

---

Once this chapter is finally finished; I have one thing to say to all of you once said by Bryan Cranston...

"You have no idea what's coming."

---

Scene Segment: Deceiving Devilry

"Ruby...I know what you are now." Those words had Ruby's mind racing and panicking, her thoughts going a thousand miles per minute to figure out if he father found out her secret and how.

'Calm down Ruby. You need to play the fool like you did with Ozpin.' Deep breath in, deep breath out, that calmed Ruby enough to talk to her father without slipping up.

This was not something she could brush off, for if her father knew about her secret...he was a threat to her and her newfound plans to rule. If her plans succeeded, she would rule until the end of days, for she had eternity to do so.

Yet, those same plans were being threatened before they had truly even begun.

"What are you talking about Dad?" Ruby controlled her voice to have both confusion and apprehension mixed into it, doing her best since she was still new to doing such a thing.

"Don't lie to me Ruby. You know what I'm talking about, or do I need to mention your new feeding habits?" A deep growl built in Ruby's throat at the mention of her feeding habits.

'He must have found out somehow...but how did he? How do I manipulate them into thinking I'm not evil? Maybe I can...what was that condition people could have? I think it was called Dissociative identity disorder? Perhaps I can make them think vampires have a Primal and instinctual side they can't control?' The corner of her lips stretched upwards at that idea, for it wasn't necessarily a lie.

As a Vampire, Ruby did have those kinds of malicious instincts; to dominate, devour, and destroy. She loved having them now, but her father and uncle didn't know that, and she'll keep it that way until she got stronger.

Now she had to use her acting skills once more, twisting the truth and utter lies to her whim, twining it around her finger with sinister gracefulness. Ruby had done it twice now, and the third times the charm as they say.

"I didn't want to do that Dad! I...I...I...lost control of myself!" Adding a hint of anguish and venom to the speech made it seem more vitriol, adding another layer of believability to her words.

All she had done with her acting was use mostly half truths, the only complete lie she had used, was the lie of what she told Yang had happened to her. Half truths are far more believable than lies, after all.

"Becoming a vampire has changed me, how much? I don't know yet. It's just...when that terrible thirst hits me, all I can think about is blood and drinking it from other people! I feel like a monster!" Finishing that last bit with a fake sob, Ruby waited to hear her father's reaction with a fanged smile.

"Oh, Ruby...I'm so sorry I doubted you. Can you control it at all? Or does it burst out when you deny yourself...blood?" Ruby stayed silent for a few seemingly infinite seconds, her breathing heavy over the scroll line to give the image she was struggling to answer him.

"I...can't really control it right now. It's like those desires are another sentient side of me, the instinctual and primal side of me given form. When I attacked that boy, my mind and body were on autopilot, it felt like a lucid nightmare..." Heavy footsteps came through on her father's end of the call, her heightened hearing recognizing it as the boots her uncle wore.

'So that's how he found out.' Ruby mused while waiting for her uncle to speak to her.

"Ruby, how often do you need to drink blood? Will you lose control if you miss a single feeding?" Ruby frowned as didn't honestly know the full answer to his question, but it seemed that at the very least, she needed one feeding per day to continue functioning.

If she wanted to be at peak efficiency? It likely had to be two or more feedings. That wouldn't be something they would like to hear, though. It would be safer to just say one feeding, that way they would be less anxious about her possibly being caught, which she would try to never let happen anyway.

"I think just one feeding a day would satisfy the thirst, so it would be about two blood bags at Beacon." The barely audible sighs of relief reached Ruby's ears over the scroll making her grin.

"Have there been any other...changes?" Concern was evident in her father's voice when he asked the question.

That was a dangerous question to answer. Her abilities have increased by magnitudes besides her aura, and her appearance had changed quite shockingly compared to what she looked like before.

This was a good opportunity to create a credible alibi, though. Ozpin will surely notice her altered appearance and will likely ask her family about it. She would tell them it was because of her drinking enough blood for it to happen, shifting the focus away from if she had been truly corrupted or not.

"There have been...other changes. My...hair and skin color changed earlier, I think it might have been a response to getting enough blood from feeding on that boy. My hair is completely black and my skin is an alabaster white color now." Snapping a picture of her face using her scroll's camera, she sent it to her father's scroll which arrived in a few seconds.

A small snort came from her Uncle when he saw the picture, finding the photo funny for some reason.

"You went from a Emo-dresser to a real Goth?" Ruby hissed sharply at her Uncle for that joke, turning the previous snort into a short barking laugh.

"I'm surprised you remember how I dress when you've got so much alcohol in your blood. Maybe I should try getting drunk off of it as payback?" There was a loud spit take and the sound of coughing following it, causing Ruby to chuckle at how she had slaughtered his jab at her.

"Can't handle my new bite Uncle?" This time, it was her father that did a spit take before roaring with laughter.

Her little jabs at her Uncle had definitely turned their attention away from the question of if it was really blood that changed her looks. If she continued to mislead, lie, and manipulate them, she would be less suspicious, but she was for sure going to hell when she died.

Not that that wasn't already a guarantee with the two teenagers she had already murdered...and the many more souls that would follow them while she continues her bloody path forward.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH RUBY?!" Qrow howled with both confusion and slight embarrassment at being flambéed verbally by his previously sweet niece.

"She's downstairs and to the left with the group of devils." That one killed their laughter while it fueled Ruby's own, her darker chuckles unnerving her father and uncle slightly.

Looking up towards the shattered moon, Ruby slowly stopped her chuckling when she gauged what time it was. Lowering her head to look at the hill Ozpin said the bullhead would be at, Ruby placed her left hand over the call end button.

"Well, it's time for me to go. Ozpin sent a Bullhead to pick me up before morning, that way I don't become ashes from the sunlight." Hissing slightly with a short wince from remembering the one time sunlight had touched her, Ruby ended the call before her family could reply.

Letting out a soft sigh from the fact that she had so comfortably did what she did, Ruby raised her head to the moon with a pensive look as she got up. The strands of her onyx black hair blew behind her from the wind drifting across the land and her pale skin glimmered in the radiant moonlight.

Those silver eyes that now held so many secrets, so many lies, so much...darkness; stared longingly at the celestial body sitting in the heavens.

It was such a beautiful sight, one that would be her pleasure to enjoy for all of time.

Her heart no longer beat, her lungs no longer breathed, none of her organs functioned. Ruby was a corpse, one kept functioning by dark powers and an unending thirst for crimson ichor. There was no doubt that Ruby didn't think her life would end up this way, but if she were to be honest? She wouldn't have it any other way right now.

Placing one hand over her still heart and the other over the moon, Ruby could envision her ideal future; an image of a throne where she would sit every single day watching her empire eternal. That image kept repeating in her head, causing her lips to turn upwards in a smirk, one that would send chills down a persons spine.

It would be hers eventually, it all would...she just needed to be patient...patient enough to build an empire from the shadows. She would start it all at Beacon, where she can find others to join her in her conquest.

Bending down on the roof, Ruby then leaped upwards in an arc high over the town she had spent so much time in when she was younger. The new vampiric strength she had, propelled her across the black sky with the beauty of an artist's masterpiece; silent, umbral, and utterly gorgeous.

The breeze that had brushed against her before now slapped against her with the strength of a mighty gale, and with the feeling of flying through the air...she had never felt more alive than now.

A loud laugh boomed from her lips with her veined vampiric teeth glinting sharply in the silver light. The darkness within her had won over the light, the shining white hopeful light that filled her soul was now a sickening and suffocating infernal shadow.

A single mistake had rebirthed her; created something that had both replaced and returned her essence.

It was The Deceit of a Devil.

---

Scene Segment: Foreboding Uncertainty

Scene Break: ?

Green eyes looked at the sky filled with stars through a glass window, their gaze filled with wondering and a fair bit of loneliness. A loud knock on the door to the room made them suspire and turned to the door, already knowing who it likely was.

"Come in!" A faint feminine voice passed beyond their lips, waiting for confirmation if it was who they thought it was.

They were proven right when a man with windswept crimson hair walked in, his grey eyes looking down at them where they sat on their bed.

"Are you done packing for Beacon yet, Πριγκίπισσα?" Rolling her eyes at the nickname her father had called her, she nodded her head without a word.

She had always been like that, shy and not speaking when she didn't need to. Once her semblance had appeared during training...that had been forcefully changed. She was a household name in her home Kingdom now with a few of the other nine Kingdoms knowing about her a little less.

Norðr vegr and Wakoku seemed to like her almost as much as her own Kingdom...and she frankly hated it. There were many who saw only her fame and not the girl who had created it, the one who liked peace and quiet more than much else.

Now she would be going to Beacon; a combat school where people would hound her constantly...yet, it was still her best option. The only thing she knew how to do as a career now, was the art of combat.

Gone were the days where she could have chosen a different path. Maybe Beacon would be the start of something new? Something different than what she had know so far in life? Glancing over at the mirror that laid upon her dresser, the sight of her reflection made her pause.

Long fiery red hair trailed down from her scalp while emerald green eyes stared at the glassy image, luscious pink lips were turned down in a slight frown at herself. Turning back to her father that was looking over her suitcase (and trying to avoid looking her lingerie thankfully), she barely noticed a flash of motion in the mirror out of the corner of her eye.

For a split second, she could have sworn that something was missing from her reflection. Twisting her body around gracefully on her bed, she saw nothing of the anomaly she thought she had seen in the mirror.

Shrugging off the unease she felt building in her chest, she focused her attention on the last of her luggage for Beacon sitting on the rack besides her bedroom door...her weapons.

Something told her to grab those weapons and keep them close. Perhaps it was her subconscious trying to deal with the unease she felt from the mirror? Something didn't feel right...like reality had shifted ever so slightly.

"Οι Σπαρτιάτες δεν παραδίδονται." She whispered under her breath in the old tongue, the language of her ancestor's long since past.

Even saying those words made the uneasiness worse, for she had never lived up to that mantra in her own opinion. She had been weak-willed as a little girl, one that would want to give up rather quickly, unlike her ancestor's renowned tenacity.

The sound of her father slamming her suitcase shut startled her, causing her to jump an inch off of bed's quilted comforter. Quickly standing up from her bed, she walked over to her weapons and stored them in their respective holsters along with struggling to not show how tense she felt to her father.

Of course she loved her father, but he could be rather overprotective at times with what had happened...to her mother. She grabbed her suitcase with one hand while hugging her father goodbye with her other.

"Stay out of trouble over there Πριγκίπισσα. Do try and make some new friends at Beacon, won't you Pyrrha?" The gentle kiss on her head from her father made her hug him tighter, the strange anxiety she had felt before momentarily forgotten.

"I'll try Dad." Pyrrha whispered when she let go of the hug and walked through the door.

Going down the stairs that lead into the massive foyer of her home, Pyrrha took one last look around the home she wouldn't be able to see for a long time. Her eyes stopped on the portrait of her mother, who she was nearly a carbon copy of...except for her father's scarlet colored hair.

"I'll come back to visit when I can Mom..." Turning away before she could let the sadness overtake her, she made her way outside where the taxi awaited her.

The chill of the night seeped deep into her, the eeriness of the foreign world of night always creeped her out. Opening the door to the taxi, Pyrrha stored her luggage in the trunk and closed the door upon getting in the backseat. The car began moving to the nearby airport while Pyrrha stared up at the glimmering stars that filled the night sky.

It would be a long four years, wouldn't it?

---

Scene Segment: Suffocating Sins

Scene Break: ?

The patter of high heels rolled off the walls of the empty hallway, they sounded rushed, yet still somehow graceful. Hoarfrost blue eyes shined harshly in the darkness of the hall, filled with many clashing opposites and similarities.

Pride, Doubt, Determination, Cold, Warmth, and an insatiable Hunger for power. In-between the lengths of derelict shadow, a window illuminated a patch of area with the light of the moon. Walking through the strip of light, the female's features were revealed.

Long white hair twisted into a ponytail that fell off the top of their head, their skin was a soft cream color that shimmered ethereally in the silver light, and a jagged scar that trailed from her left temple and through her eye while ending to the right of their nose.

Upon their hip sat a long and thin blade, it looked like a mix between a rapier and a cutlass, the tip curved up in a sharp hook that could rend flesh. A long chain made of silver hung around her neck, at the bottom also hung a silver cross with a halo behind it.

She wore a dressed adorned with many snowflake and cross symbols, the airy fabric swaying with the motion of her walking. One could very aptly call the young woman stunning, perhaps even Aphroditic, but that image was somewhat tainted by her eyes, those eyes of frightening intimidation.

Shadows engulfed her form when she walked past the light, only her blue eyes remained visible. The sound of her footsteps faded away as she traveled down the eerie hallway, the tempo of them never swaying or changing.

A set of three knocks echoed down that lengthy corridor, a series of unintelligible commands came from behind a massive stained glass door patterned with a single crest, a shattered snowflake.

Inside that girl's hoarfrost blue eyes, now shown a single powerful emotion, rage. So much rage it was overwhelming, every single last ounce of it directed at what laid in front of those eyes, that desecrated symbol that rightfully belonged to her.

With the loud sound of turning gears, that colorful glass door was thrown open to reveal a man sitting at a desk with stacks of papers littered in front of him, his lips turning into a scathing sneer upon seeing the young woman.

"Good, you're here. Tell me, my daughter, what do you make of these?" A single sheet of paper was held out in his hand while the girl took it from her hands. Her brow furrowed as she read over the paper, confusion evident on her face with every new sentence she read.

It was a forensics report, but this was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The proteins in every cell it contained were so...misplaced! Everything was so damn wrong! Lifting her head to her father, the girl gave him a single raised eyebrow.

"Confusing, isn't it? This blood was found in a newly discovered dust mine, the problem about it was that there was no body nearby it belonged to. We tested the blood on some beef, and it was found to have some incredible properties." The rage that had been in the girl's eyes was replaced by another newer emotion, voracity.

Those were her most innate sins, Greed and Gluttony. The sins she was trying to get rid of for her faith, but it was proving almost unachievable. She had an insatiable hunger and greed for power, the power for her to be free of her chains, to never again be hurt like she had been...

Like she had been that day.

"It can alter living tissue in ways I've never seen before. Half of the beef we tested seemed to rot away while the other half's muscle fibers exploded in density. We tested it on lab rats, who promptly...changed and had to be put down." Shivers ran across the body of the older man, his eyes seemed to darken and made the girl nervous at what could faze her father of all men.

Then the voices in her mind started their inane howling, the cacophony demanding she take the blood for herself to gain more power. The blood seemed powerful, very powerful, if it could unnerve one of the most powerful men on Remnant with what it could do.

She wanted it, she wanted it for herself and consequences be damned. Even if this blood had a chance of killing her, she wanted it! She had long since lost many of her natural inhibitions, some even call her a Sociopath, but all she needs to do is remember that day.

When her life had been turned upside down and she had to find outside sources to maintain her sanity.

"I thought you would find this interesting given the intellect you've displayed in the last few years. You're now free to go pack for Beacon...though you'll eventually find I was right about that subject." Giving a curtsey to her father after his dismissal, the girl turned around and walked through the giant stained glass doors.

A giant |clang!| rang out behind her when the doors closed and bathed the hallway in darkness. Breathing a sigh that held the many emotions that burned within her breast from talking with the man that was her father, she walked back up the corridor at a slower pace than she had earlier traveling it's halls.

Silence engulfed the air around the girl while cruelly leaving her alone to her thoughts. The hell that was her mind kept playing over her life she had lived that could be summed up in so few words.

Silence, coldness, loneliness, misery, betrayal, and slight insanity.

Being left alone was a torture that she had endured for most of her early life, and it wasn't until her older sister had left home, that she did finally get any attention. That attention had twisted her, and she knew it had, because it brought out the worst in her that she tried to now contain.

The gluttony of power and greed she had were the same as his, her father's. She didn't notice where she was walking as the memories and feelings kept rolling through her head, her right hand instinctively clutching the cross hung around her neck to comfort herself.

Faith could be both a burden and a blessing, and which it was for her? She didn't truly know which one it was yet. She had some Pride in the fact she had made it this far in life despite the challenges she faced, that she had maintained her humanity even when given the chance to be a monster.

That blood...even if she got the power she craved from it...would it be worth the cost of her humanity...and maybe even her soul?

Power corrupts even good people they say, but was she a good person with who she was? Ironically, even as much as she hated them, she was those stained glass doors bearing a broken symbol of her family, a myriad rainbow of emotions and thoughts that held no single unified color.

Stopping herself, the girl found that she had somehow wandered to the lab in her mansion home while she contemplated about herself. That hunger flared again and beckoned her to open the door, the temptation alluring to one so weak to it's commands.

Her hand reached for the door handle, before she ripped it back in an attempt to resist the temptations. Still they persisted, the demons locked within her head were whispering to her mind, asking her if whether having more power was truly a bad thing?

Hoarfrost blue eyes dimmed slightly in response to the machinations of her own warped mind, her hand sharply reaching out and yanking the door open. The door creaked open and granted her the sight of no living soul in the room within, all the scientists likely having gone home due to having her father's favor.

Gliding forward with little thought and almost as if she was on autopilot, the girl came to a vault labeled with a danger symbol, knowing the blood was likely to be in here. Using her semblance in a display of graceful skill and cunning, she opened the door by moving the locking mechanism within the door with a shimmering grey glyph.

A sharp hiss came rushing at her when the cold air within the vault was released. Inside were dozens of shelves and racks dotted with curious or clearly malevolent items that had not seen the light of day in a very long time.

All were categorized by danger level from one to five and further separated based upon the items listed name. Chills always ran down her back when she saw some of the things hidden in this room, especially the bones within danger level three...those bones that she had no idea of what they belonged to.

Charred and blackened with soot, those bones looked so much like a humans...but they seemed stronger and more durable if you looked at them closely. Wrenching her eyes away from those wretched things, her eyes scanned the room to find her prize.

The girl's father had never known she could get in here, so if she took the blood...someone else would pay the price for it. Would it be worth sacrificing another human's job and maybe even life for the sake of greed?

Was she truly ready to do something so awful? She had to decide right now, for she needed to leave for Beacon by the coming morning a few hours away. Spotting the thing she was looking for, the girl walked up to it and examined the small phial containing a dark brown-red substance inside.

It was viscous and had no smell, but it exuded an atmosphere that made shivers creep along her spine. A shaking hand reached out to grab the phial, her teeth biting into her lips while her eyes slowly closed.

Finally after ten agonizing seconds, her hand clasped the phial and stored it in a pocket within her dress. Knowing she couldn't take back such a damning decision, the girl quickly rushed out of the lab, through the vault, and towards her bedroom.

The question rolling around in mind was...

Was anything truly worth losing what made you human?

---

Scene Segment: Sanguine Den

Scene Break: Ruby

Air blasted off the enormous metal frame of the bullhead with it's landing at Beacon. Ruby had spent most of the time during the flight thinking of plans for her goals. She needed a ton of money for starters, luckily for her, she had a few somewhat dangerous places she knew of that she could take over.

Blood would surely be spilt and drank when she could make a trip to those places. Then there was the fact she needed underlings as well, competent people who can do her will and act as her lieutenants.

Those people she should be able to find here at Beacon. Opening her left eye from the seat she sat in, Ruby could see Ozpin waiting for her at the exit to the landing strip. Anger flushed through her mind at the sight of the one who had effectively put a manacle around her neck, but she kept her face neutral to avoid suspicion.

She had applauded him on the fact he took no chances based on what he knew, but there were many things the man did not know, herself being one of them. The man had never known who she truly was, no-one did.

Even her family had been barely able to pick up on it before it's entombment.

Ozpin might be able to formulate complex plans at a much faster rate than she could right now, but she was beginning to catch up to his level, quickly at that. Soon instead of him being the ones pulling along the strings of unknowing puppets, it would be her.

Gracefully getting up from her seat and walking to the bay's open door, Ruby turned to face Ozpin with an apprehensive face, using both her acting skills and the real apprehension she felt at being near such a man as Ozpin. Even forgoing his skills at planning, the older man was a lauded combatant Ruby knew would be very difficult to defeat.

He still had that cold look she had seen on his face days before, one that seemed reserved just for herself. The threat he posed was enormous, so if there was a chance to take him out with a high success rate, she would take it!

Alarm bells rang through her being the minute she stepped off the bullhead onto the ground, the combination of both Ozpin being near and the coming dawn conjoining into one. Ruby could feel the exhaustion inching towards her from needing to enter torpor before dawn.

Ruby gave Ozpin a single nod as a curtesy before pointing at the sky with a frown and gesturing for him to lead her away.

"You need to enter Torpor, right? Follow me." With a soft swishing of his clothes and a light tap of his cane against the ground, Ozpin turned back towards one of the enormous dorm buildings situated in the south side of the campus.

Falling in step with him, Ruby took the chance to examine and memorize the school grounds they traveled through. Escape routes, hiding places, potential feeding grounds, classrooms shown through windows, and more was what Ruby looked for as they walked towards one of the largest dorm buildings.

"I noticed you've had an appearance change. Any particular reason for that?" Tearing her eyes away from a nearby hedge row that could be a nice feeding ground after Ozpin's question, Ruby thought back to the excuse she told her family.

"As I told my family after you sent my Uncle to spy on me, it happened after I fed on a boy in the park. Also, before you say anything, Patch doesn't have much in way of big medical facilities, so I had to find some way to get blood." A grunt was all that Ruby got as an answer from him, so she went back to scanning the area as much as she could with her increasing exhaustion.

After about five or so more minutes of walking, they came to a hatch outside of the biggest dorm building. Ruby raised an eyebrow and looked at Ozpin with a questioning gaze, wondering silently if this is where he would have her sleep during the day.

"You're not the first vampire to come to Beacon. Some of the younger, and frankly more stupid vampires, will turn someone and abandon them soon after, like what happened with you. Since these people weren't turned willingly, we try our best to rehabilitate them and use them as hunter operatives." Lifting open the hatch after giving his explanation to a satisfied Ruby, they both looked through the dim light to see a rather well-kept room inside.

There were four beds with four nightstands next to each, a small kitchenette tucked into one corner, a hallway that led to a bathroom, and a small rec-room across from the bathroom. It was like a mix of a small home and a studio apartment, which was good enough for Ruby as long as there was no sunlight she had to deal with.

Very far behind the two, yellow light slowly creeped over the distant horizon as the sun began to rise. Ruby hissed sharply at the sun and raced inside her new dorm, promptly slamming the doors of the hideout in Ozpin's face.

Even as rude as it was for Ruby to slam the doors in his face, Ozpin could not help but chuckle slightly at the sight of a fearsome vampire acting like a scared cat.

"Don't forget that the initiation is tonight at sundown by the cliffs. Do try to be there on time, for you are doing a special assignment since Grimm won't even bother you...if you control your emotions that is." With his last piece said, the headmaster walked away while snickering slightly at the assignment he was going to give her.

Meanwhile, Ruby was dusting off the bed in the left corner with her hands. The layers of dust showed it had been a while since someone like her had been here. Once she felt she had dusted the bed enough, Ruby stretched with a yawn and then faceplanted into her bed as the sun rose outside.

The girl became still as she entered torpor with not even a wisp of breath passing by her lips.

---

Scene Segment: Antithesis

Scene Break: Yang

Golden light of the coming dawn slowly wormed it's way into the bedroom of Yang Xiao Long from a crack in the curtains, arousing the girl who had managed to fall back into a restless slumber after her Uncle's foreboding words and Ruby's scroll-call to her.

Soft swishing sounds came from the nearly adult girl as she slid the warm comforter off of her, rolling out of bed in a slightly jumbled heap. Vibrant blonde hair dangled down in a mess as the girl slowly stretched awake with a giant yawn.

Scratching her stomach absent-mindedly while getting up to take a fresh pair of clothes, she reached into her dresser to pull out her usual casual outfit; a pair of black shorts with a belt and miniskirt attached, a yellow tub top layered under a beige vest, and she finally took a pair of nearly knee-high boots from beside her dresser.

There was no need for her to take a shower when she did so before falling back asleep earlier. A frown drew itself across her face while she got dressed on her bed, when remembering all that had happened since Ruby's trip to Vale...

Ruby had always been somewhat anti-social, more so due to her nerdy nature than a true desire to be left alone, but recently that had changed. Her younger sister was never awake during the day and went out somewhere for the entirety of the night.

That was not even mentioning the hostility Ruby had shown to just about everyone. If this wasn't so un-Ruby-like, Yang might've joked her baby sister had finally gotten a boyfriend, but that would've joke died instantly with what had happened. The image of when Ruby met them after her apparent talk with Ozpin, her clothes drenched in blood and her bellicose attitude...

Shivers of ice crept along Yang's spine from the terrible thoughts about what might have had truly happened to Ruby, for she knew Ruby had been lying when she had called her earlier.

Their Uncle Qrow had been fierce in teaching Ruby to control her strength when using Crescent Rose. Mistakes could happen, sure, but Ruby was experienced enough to know a non-aura user at a glance.

Slipping on her left boot, Yang decided she would look for Ruby from the first moment she was on Beacon's campus. From what the news had been saying over the Dustnet, Beacon would be holding their initiation at night for the first time in a very long time.

If the news was true, that gave her the entire day to look for Ruby. Not to mention it was suspicious, Ruby gets invited to Beacon by it's well-known headmaster...and now it's changing it's initiation to one that had not been used in a long time?

Put those things together? It seems far too much to be counted as mere coincidences.

After straightening out her hair with a hairbrush, Yang grabbed her driving googles and the keys to her motorcycle while on the way out of the door.

Both her father and Uncle were still asleep, her uncle splayed out on the couch with a bottle of alcohol in his right hand even now. Heaving a sigh while looking at her drunkle Qrow passed out, Yang wrote a note on a notepad in the kitchen saying she left for Beacon early.

Her luggage was already packed and tied to Bumblebee; her motorcycle, which was waiting in the garage. Turning on the dust engine and flipping the kickstand up, Yang speed down the driveway towards the small airport Patch had.

Wind roared in combination with the low hum of Bumblebee's engine, the chilly morning air fresh with a bite that nipped at Yang as she rode towards her destination. Keeping her eyes on the road where other drivers surrounded her, most of the thoughts crossing through her mind were about the sense of uneasiness that wrapped itself against her mind.

Things were changing, possibly more than what she already knew, and those changes unsettled her. Ruby acting as the antithesis of her normal self, the fact her father and uncle had called her sister a threat, Ruby being covered in gallons of blood that night, the sense of heaviness that had suddenly surrounded herself...

Yang didn't like it, not one bit. A storm was brewing on the horizon, that much was certain to her...but the question was...

How big would it be?

For the rest of her ride towards the airport, that question tumbled around in her mind and put her in a quiet rumination. The road and other vehicles blurred in a giant mesh of colors and lights while Yang kept thinking.

Rock music played through the stereo she had installed on Bumblebee, the sound of the guitar and heavy vocals helping her focus on all that had found it's way into her world. Birds and insects started their grand symphony as the sun woke all life with it's warm dawn.

Blue skies and fluffy white clouds soared overhead while the temperature was cool and pleasant. Had Yang been in a better mood and mental state, she'd no doubt be enjoying such a gorgeous morning, but alas, that was not to be.

After twenty more minutes of thinking and driving with sun getting higher in the sky behind her, Yang realized that she would get nowhere with her questions without more crucial knowledge she needed. What happened to Ruby? Where had she gone to come back covered in blood? What made Ozpin invite Ruby early? Why did Yang feel like this was the start of something much worse?

Growling slightly at the feeling of helplessness flooding her with the mire of answerless problems she found herself drowning in, she gunned Bumblebee faster down the road, her golden hair flying in the wind behind her from the sharp increase in speed.

The radio trailed in the air behind Yang as she weaved her way through the increasing size of traffic. Soon afterwards of her mostly silent drive, she found herself on a bullhead flying towards Vale; where she would take another bullhead to Beacon.

Many other passengers milled about in the airship, conversing or busily checking their luggage. If Yang had been in a better mood, she might've joined a group to socialize and chat the time away...but today wasn't the day for that, either.

With all the worry and turmoil gnawing it's way through her chest, there was none of her natural need to connect with others...maybe Ruby's latest attitude shift was wearing off on her?

That thought earned an inward dark chuckle out of the blonde teen, one that she silently kept to herself. All of them were acting so differently than usual; Ruby, her Dad and Uncle, herself...it was like the world was a dreidel spinning quickly on a sharp edge; a thousand unknown possibilities on which way it might land.

Blue waters reflected off the windows of the ship with a bright sheen, the ocean between Patch and Vale mesmerizing in it's natural beauty. Such a sight was something to be treasured, but it held little interest for the brooding teen.

Closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the seat, Yang tried to tune out the world around her and focus on trying to gather her thoughts into a somewhat coherent pattern. Soon enough, the sounds of everything gave way to silence as the girl moved her thoughts into certain piles.

|Tap, tap, tap,| Yang's right index finger drummed out a melodic, yet intense, rhythm to help in her current task.

'If Ruby had been in Vale, where had she gone to have been in what seemed to be such a life or death scenario to end up covered in that much blood? Even the shadier parts of town like near Junior's isn't enough for her to go to that extreme...what am I missing here? What's the key to this stupid puzzle?' Minutes passed in seeming seconds with the numerous, and maybe outlandish, possibilities Yang went through in her mind to find an answer to her question.

There was also the fact she couldn't help feeling slightly guilty about it all, too. She was the older sister; older siblings were supposed to help guide and protect the younger sibling, but Yang hadn't even known Ruby had needed help until it was apparently too late...

Her heart ached; a sensation so devastatingly familiar to her. She knew what it was like to not have someone there when you so desperately needed it, both Ruby and her knew it too well. That ache suddenly turned white hot, becoming a mighty swell of rage both at herself and whoever had caused Ruby to change so drastically.

She would find whoever had done this to Ruby; that she swore on the soul she called her own.

A sharp jolt of the airship rocked Yang out of her thoughts, the sounds of the people around her blaring back into life with the breaking of her concentration. Yang felt the airship slow down as Vale came into sight just beyond the glass window.

'Heh, I lost track of time with all my thoughts...' She grabbed her suitcase and making her way to the doors that had a large crowd gathering around it.

Slipping her way through the throng of people as the door slid opened, she stepped out into the airstrip Vale had on the outskirts of the city.

Vale was an old city; nicknamed "The City of Rain". It had an old and dingy atmosphere to it, especially late at night. There were many abandoned buildings spread throughout the city, leftover remnants of the time of the great war between several of the ten kingdoms a hundred years prior.

Of the ten continents and corresponding nations, Vale was probably among the most populated, despite the feeling it gave off; how it left a dirty taste on your tongue when you breathed in the air.

Much of the infrastructure had stood for a very, very long time. The roads were still cobblestone in some areas and dozens of shops still had an odd assortment of trinkets and baubles. A visitor may think it was a city straight out of a horror novel, and to some extent, it was.

Many of the horror novels that lined the walls of Vale's bookshops; the cities in the vivid stories were inspired by the gritty and grimy city that was Vale. Moving quietly up the airstrip, Yang made her way towards a more private section where Beacon had it's own airships in a rented docking bay.

Beacon Academy was situated on top of a waterfall looming high over Vale. Compared to the damp and dark Vale so far below it, Beacon stood as a shining monument to those who's mission it was to fight Grimm.

A glimmer of white color caught Yang's attention out of the corner of her eye; seeing a slim figure with long hair slip away behind a pillar just as her head turned slightly to see who it had been. Shaking her head to gain her focus once more, Yang walked up to the security guard with the envelope that had been sent in the mail to her a week prior.

All she got from the man was a silent and somewhat creepy nod from him. Quickly moving away from the guard and towards where she could see Bumblebee being transferred into one of the cargo bays from her last flight, curtesy of the airstrip staff.

Looking around the area, Yang noticed she was one of the only potential students there. Then again, it was still very early in the morning, no later than about 10 A.M. It wasn't too surprising in retrospect, for Yang herself doubted she would be here so early, if not for the situation her family was in right now.

A family that suddenly had so many secrets between each member...

Slapping her cheeks lightly to clear away the last lingering thoughts about the events of the last few weeks; Yang went over to the small lobby reserved for Beacon's staff and students, hoping to catch a bit of shuteye before the initiation later that night.

Meanwhile at Beacon, a certain scarred feline was already exploring the halls of the esteemed academy.

---

Scene Segment: Dread in the Air

Scene Break: ?

Shadows seem to dance along the chilly stone corridors of Beacon interior, the morning light sneaking it's way through the school. A burst of white mist appeared from the mouth of a rather roguish looking young woman.

She was rather tall for a woman of her age and physique, standing just shy of five foot, six inches. She had a decent bust, but had a much more noticeable back half.

The first thing you could notice was her coarse black hair was braided in a single long ponytail, silently swaying in the breeze flitting through the lonesome hallway. Her single visible eye was a soft amber color that somehow oozed a darker inner light.

An eye patch covered the left portion of her face, decorated with a image of a Panther hunting a Lion. She was clothed in what many would call boys clothes; White shorts, a tight black T-shirt, a dirty cloak, and heavy combat boots.

One could easily assume her to be an unsavory type, which would not necessarily be wrong...

Shivers ran their fingers down her spine, but it wasn't due to the cold. Instead, it was due to how she felt a...reaction of some kind, her instincts warning her that something was wrong here at Beacon, that something did not belong here.

A sense of dread had settled over the school proper, a tense silence awaiting the storm's break. A bead of sweat trailed it's way down her face in spite of the morning chill. This dread, this...unease, it reminded her of that beast still roaming in the Emerald forest.

That...thing, it shouldn't exist, it couldn't exist! Yet, it's features were burned into her memory. The only thing that had kept her alive, was her underhanded fighting style and quick wits. If it had managed to land one blow on her...she be nothing more than a pile of gore laying in the forest right now.

Was something similar being stored here at Beacon? If so, why? Why would they risk exposing it to a bunch of greenhorn students? Old legends and tales wormed their way to the front of her mind; legends of creatures both terrible and fantastical, hated and revered, worshipped and reviled.

If...werewolves were real...why couldn't more of those fables be truly real? Were Vampires real? Were Fae real? Were Yokai real? What hid away in the hidden parts of this world? Did they fight the Grimm like humans and Faunas do ?

A pulse of pain rocked her skull from the mind boggling revelations and questions. Leaning her back against the wall behind her, the young woman clutched her head in her hand, trying to stymy the information overload.

The shadows around her swirled more violently as her semblance activated from her scattered emotions and thoughts, though, they were soon gone as the girl got a grip on herself.

'Even if they exist, they are not my concern. Finishing the initiation tonight is my priority. If I do run into that...werewolf, again, I can use my trump card to kill it.' One of her index fingers twitched towards her own shadow, which rippled like water for a short instant.

Giving herself a small smirk, the woman push herself off the wall and walked towards where the library was.

A little bit of relaxing reading would get her ready for tonight.

---

Scene Segment: Comradery

Scene Break: Pyrrha

Hours had passed since Pyrrha had left her home in mistral. She had spent those hours in a comfortable silence during the bullhead flight to Vale. This was so much more natural and comfortable to her, than the fake face she had shown during those many combat tournaments.

At the core of her soul, she was meek and timid, yet so little people knew that fact. The false self she displayed in public was what most people knew her as...

Now, as she stepped on the landing-pad of Beacon towards the later hours of the day, she felt the pressure of having to keep that same façade going once more. The pulse of her heart thrummed in her ears as nervousness spawned butterflies in her stomach.

With how the initiation had been changed this year; Pyrrha hoped that she would have some friendly teammates...that didn't know about her fame if that was at all possible.

She wanted people to look at her, not what her fame portrayed. Throngs of students milled about in the dying light of the sun, each gathering in groups or staying far away from the noise. Walking forward with a brisk pace, Pyrrha kept her head down to avoid people seeing her face.

It was impossible to hide her identity from so many other students around her, but she hoped it would be at least a little bit before it happened. With each student passing within a few feet of her, made her tense up from the nerves fraying from such stress and then relax once they didn't say anything.

Noticing a small well-kept forest garden off to her left, Pyrrha made her way over to it in hopes of having some level of seclusion. Soft grass and littered branches crunched under the soles of her combat boots, and the soft chatter of bird song came from the few trees scattered around the area.

Finding a bench towards the farther edges of the forest, she sat down on it with a relieved sigh.

'I hate crowds...' That had always been true, they would've made her a stuttering mess if not for the training she got from her tournament instructors.

"Can I sit here?" Pyrrha jumped when a deep male voice startled her as she looked up to see a young blonde man looking down at her, waiting to see if she would let him sit on the far end of her bench.

"S-sure." An undignified squeak and stutter left her mouth after having been surprised, which the boy politely ignored and sat down with a slight grunt.

"I'm guessing you don't like that many people around you, too?" A quick nod made him chuckle softly.

"I don't like it either, brings back some bad memories..." The somber tone present in his voice made the question she was about to ask had die in her throat.

Silence enveloped the two of them as they enjoyed the relative peace of this small forest compared to the landing pad. Still...with how this boy had seen her face, Pyrrha wonder if he even knew who she was?

Could her wish about being able to be seen by someone as herself somehow be granted? A soft breeze ruffled her bright red hair and the trees nearby, the trees groaning in response to the disturbance.

A reflex had Pyrrha quickly tucking her long hair behind one ear, which let her get a glance at the boy again.

He was rather handsome, with a stocky build that leaned more towards something akin to a powerlifter, but more toned around the arms, shoulders, and core. Using her martial weapons knowledge, and the fact he is apparently a beacon student, she assumed he used some kind of long-sword.

That was...a unique choice for a boy that had just entered an advanced school. Long-swords were difficult to use, for they were more heavy than a traditional short-sword, but less bulky than a great-sword.

Hitting the right balance and style for a practitioner took training, and some rather grueling training at that. Yet, with how he had mentioned bad memories, it was probably best to not ask too many personal questions about him.

Questions about herself, however, shouldn't be too bad...

"D-do you know who I am?" Her soft voice caused the boy to turn his head to her sharply, the words already leaving his lips once they made eye contact.

"No? Should I?" Pyrrha let out a small giggle after she relaxed when he didn't recognize her, the confusion in his voice was too funny and relieving for her.

"Maybe~." He grunted again in response to her small teasing, which made her giggle a little more for a bit.

It fell quiet again as Pyrrha asked no more questions. Slowly, the sun sank beyond the horizon and students outside the small forest made their way to the cliff adjacent to the Grimm-infested emerald forest.

Knowing it would soon be time for initiation, Pyrrha got up and extended a hand to the boy, who took it after a moment of hesitation.

"Good luck out there...maybe we will end up on the same team?" That question made the boy shrug, which was fine with how they had just met.

"Who knows? I've seen weirder things happen." They both set off towards the cliff, joining the mob of people their age walking to the same place.

A chance meeting of two similar souls, yet...how would the story between them be spun?

---

Scene Segment: Necrotic Bloom

Scene Break: Ruby

With the dying of the day and the start of the night, Ruby slowly awoke from her torpor. Silver eyes opened to see the roof of her new...underground dorm at Beacon. Sitting up with a stretch and yawn from habit, she rolled herself out of bed with a sinister grin adorning her ethereally beautiful face.

This was it...the start of her ambitions, her goals, her dreams of an iron throne. Here, at Beacon, she would find those who would become her captains; the enforcers of her will.

Ruby was no fool; if she was a vampire now, that meant there was a high chance of there being far more things that she now shared the night with. Some of them could probably kill her in seconds, so she needed to create her own...faction, for a lack of a better word.

She would gather power; whether it was money, manpower, weaponry, or any such thing. Keeping all this hidden from the man holding the noose to her neck would be tough, but she had to succeed.

Speaking of weaponry...she no longer had Crescent Rose. It was probably still in the warehouse down in Vale...and it would stay there.

It was a reminder of her old self, the one who was so utterly naïve and self-sacrificing. Ruby was a vampire now, a creature of cruelty and death, remaining naïve would kill her a second time...

Her hands clenched at that thought and her nails dug into her skin, she would NEVER experience death again! Her teeth were bared in a snarl with her lips pulled back, she felt the dark impulses and instincts that constantly tugged at her mind flare, begging her to dominate and devour anything that poses a threat to her.

The vampire who turned her had had powers in their fight, powers Ruby probably inherited as the...descendant of that bastard. She knew his blood was now in her body, for all her blood had been drained by him, and yet, she was still here as a vampire.

Until she discovered those powers still dormant, it was best she relied on her vampiric physical strength to deal with most Grimm that would be at the initiation. Ruby was going to relish tearing any and all Grimm she saw into little more than bloody chunks.

Turning into a vampire made her a hardcore sadist...oh how Yang would sob if she learned such a thing, but she'd be horrified if she learned who and what her little sister has become.

Nothing was left of what her family had initially known as Ruby Rose; nay, all that was left was a once familiar body and mind slowly rotting into something far more vile...

Thanks to her burgeoning skills in manipulation and some quick thinking, she had fooled her father and uncle with only a small nugget of truth. Yang, however, would react much more violently to the same nugget of information she told them.

Walking over to the small dresser beside her bed, Ruby noticed that in her rush to get to Beacon before dawn, she had not brought any luggage with her...

Perhaps as a good first teambuilding exercise; maybe her soon-to-be team should go shopping for what supplies they needed? ...Yes, that would be a great idea. She could also update her wardrobe, getting new stuff to wear that could make a powerful impression on people.

Ruby was beautiful thanks to her vampiric allure and physical changes, but add a set of alluring and stunning clothes to go with it? It would make her eventual shady dealings easier when they paid more attention to her appearance than her words.

Smiling sharply at her immediate plans slowly forming in her head, Ruby went over to the cellar doors to the hidden dorm and opened them with a strong push.

A gust of cold wind hit her after the doors clambered open along with the chatter of many students that her enhanced senses picked up. She hadn't had her nightly feeding just yet, but that would have to wait until after her initiation.

"Don't forget that the initiation is tonight at sundown by the cliffs. Do try to be there on time, for you are doing a special assignment since Grimm won't even bother you...if you control your emotions that is." Speaking of the initiation, Ruby wondered what this special assignment Ozpin had mentioned, would be.

'Maybe I need to take down a special Grimm type?' With her raw vampiric strength, there wasn't many Grimm could stand up to her for too long, so maybe it would be something else?

There would be no way of knowing until he told her, so she might as well head that way then. Walking towards the cliff overlooking the Emerald forest after closing back up her haven; Ruby felt the thirst for blood growing in her throat as she fell into the horde of students as a shadow.

The thumping of each persons heartbeat was tantalizing and the hum of the blood coursing in their veins appetizing. It took most of her will to not start feasting on the girl nearest her, for the girls smelled sweeter, and Ruby was a glutton for anything sweet.

Still striding forward as she was, the vampiress ignored the whispers starting around her as some people finally noticed her. Blushes ran their way through the crowd with how their minds were captivated by something so ethereal, yet still so...instinctually sinister.

It was both a sense of revulsion and attraction; twisting together to form a irresistible lure born of maliciousness.

Each of Ruby's steps was eerily silent and gracefully fluid. Her short black hair bounced on the wind currents; a shade of luxurious onyx that had a fiery incandescence from the moonlight. Her skin was a soft alabaster that seemingly shimmered in the light of the shattered moon.

Shadows seemed to deepen around her with every movement she made; slithering thorny vines enveloping her in a chilly hug.

Due to how she had never gotten the chance to change the night before, she was still wearing the slightly provocative outfit consisting of; a pair of black jeans with ripped knees, a black tanktop with a image of a wilted rose, her red skull bandana around her neck, and a pair of leather combat boots.

Among the students, Ruby alone had such revealing clothing, for many others were now wearing armor designed to protect them from the coming fights. Ruby, as a vampiress, would naturally be much more resilient than them, even without armor.

More than a few students found themselves subconsciously moving closer to Ruby, only to catch themselves after a few slow steps. Minutes passed as a crowd of students formed behind Ruby; sheep following a wolf disguised in baleful allure.

Within this throng of students, unknown to Ruby, was Yang; who was looking for Ruby in the wrong places.

Soon the cliffs overlooking the vast emerald forest came into view, along with the stoic face of Ruby's warden. It took some effort to keep her facial features still, just barely stopping her lips from forming a harsh snarl.

She couldn't mess up this chance at her goals. As loathsome as it was, she'd have to play nice with her jailer until she would be his own judge, jury, and executioner.

A subtle tilt of his head towards his left, told her that he wanted her to wait away from the other students; perhaps either because her mission was secretive...or he didn't trust her not to drain another person dry of blood.

He wouldn't be wrong on that latter part, Ruby would quite happily exsanguinate another human like a huntsman would a rare steak. She was a truly wicked girl, willing to do heinous acts with a devilish and charming smile if she could.

Stealthily walking away from the crowd of now nervous students that had been following her; Ruby sequestered herself in the shadows of where a section of the cliff jut out above the rest. The wait for the other students to be sent into the Grimm invested forest, would give her time to choose an ideal candidate for her partner...and potential vampire spawn.

Ruby would have break them, a necessary act to prevent them from even thinking of betraying her. Yet, before Ruby could spot anyone she thought would have potential, Ozpin stepped out with that blonde professor from the day she had been turned into what she is now.

"Tonight, you are here to be granted a chance to become the bulwark of humanity against the Grimm. You are here to become Hunters, the sword that cleaves humanity's foes asunder and it's shield-bearers that sacrifice flesh and blood for those who cannot save themselves." Slowly as the headmaster talked, the previous nervousness in the assembled teens died out.

There was no doubt some of them had lost family to one threat or another, perhaps other were just seeking the thrill of a life that would burn hot and short, and others merely wish to have the monetary benefits of being a hunter.

All were valid reasons no matter the motivation. Hunters were ever in short supply, Ruby knew that herself, for her mother was now laid in a rotting casket from being a foolhardy hunter...

"Many will call you a fool for risking your life for strangers, but just as many will thank you for saving them from threats they could never stop. You will learn here at Beacon what it will take to become a hunter, the threats of which we face; whether it be Grimm, humans, or something far more monsterous." Ruby caught the look he tried to subtly shoot her way...so she was part of that last phrase to him, wasn't she?

'He isn't wrong...' A depraved chuckle echoed through her mind as she thought of what his face would look like when she had a blade to his neck in time...

She was going to savor that horrified expression he will make like a fine wine.

"Step onto the platforms near the cliffs edge, you will be launched into the forest and the goal is to retrieve a set of relics at the old temple to the northeast." This time it was the blonde female professor who spoke, pointed at a line of weathered metal platforms about six feet away from the cliff's edge.

It took a few minutes for the crowd of potential students to break away and stand on a platform each. Among the students, Ruby noticed Yang looking around for her while Yang got her gear ready for her test.

Slinking further back into the darkness of the cliff outcrops to avoid Yang's scanning gaze, Ruby focused her attention on her sister. Out of every risky factor the young vampiress had thought of; Yang was, by far, the most perilous of them all.

She'd have to keep away from her sister, lest everything she was now working towards collapse to nothingness. If Yang were to know what happened to her, find out what her oh-so innocent baby sister has become? Well...familicide might become the only option left...

Turning her attention back to Ozpin after noticing he was about to speak again, Ruby leaned her back against a nearby rock, hoping the old bastard would get done with his child soldier recruitment speech.

It took her becoming a vampire and uncaging her true self to realize Hunters really were: Child soldiers bred for battle, usually by a family who had been hunters for generations...

Ozpin tried to claim the moral high-ground against her, but shit like this just made him a hypocrite! At least she was honest in the fact that she was now an immoral bitch.

"The first person you make eye-contact with shall be your partner for your four years here at Beacon, and likely for the rest of your life." Well...shit, that wasn't good for her plans.

Ozpin had mentioned she would have a separate test, so maybe he would choose her partner no matter what...Ruby could work around it though. Everyone has a weakness of some kind, she'd just find her future partner's weakness and break them with it.

Without warning, on the far right side, a student was flung through the air by the platform beneath his feet. His screams echoed back over the cliffs while his form sank quickly into the twin veil of the forest and night.

Students quickly began readying themselves and their weapons; A blonde boy unhooked a sword and shield from his back, a pale girl unsheathed a long thin rapier from her belt, a ravenette pulled out a sub-machine gun blade hybrid, a green-eyed beauty brandished a spear and shield.

Yang unfastened her shotgun gauntlets with a look of panic, no doubt looking for Ruby herself. The latter wouldn't show herself any more than she already had, though.

Them and more students were soon sent flying into the Grimm greenwood. The vampiress watched with a small smile tugging at her lips, knowing that a few would be mauled by Grimm, others would fail by being rescued...but the ones who passed?

They would possibly be her pawns eventually...

After the last student had been launched into the perilous woodland, Ozpin and his blonde assistant turned their attention to her.

"Miss Rose...in the deepest part of the forest, lies your target: A Lykan who has seemingly gone insane, having already devoured nigh on twenty poor souls at this point." Shivers wormed their way down Ruby's spine when she realized what she would be fight, something the old legends were terrified of; a Werewolf.

Werewolves were denoted as absolute killing machines, capable of rending entire scouting parties to little more than blood and viscera...Unless Ruby could unlock her vampiric powers, she doubted that she'd come out of this whole.

Was Ozpin actually trying to kill her?! This would be a trial by fire of the highest degree, where it would be all or nothing to simply survive! If this was Ozpin way of getting rid of her as a potential threat, she would claw her way back from the very depths of hell to spite him.

"ARE YOU INSANE?! YOU WANT ME TO FIGHT A WEREWOLF WHEN I'VE BEEN A VAMPIRE FOR LESS THAN A MONTH?!" Ozpin gave a frown at Ruby's response, clearly unhappy with her disrespect and attitude towards him.

"You will do it. I can see no-one here that has a better chance than you. You can regenerate, have unnatural physical prowess, and you can keep going even after losing a limb or two." Fuck...he had her there.

None of the students currently in the forest could fight Ruby herself, much less something far worse than her. Breathing an angry sigh past her lips, Ruby turned back towards the cliff while keeping the façade she presented to Ozpin up.

Where she cared more about the lives of others than herself...a naïve fool of a child. Her outburst at him probably didn't break that false image, for she had a valid reason to call him insane with her task being so difficult.

"Fine, I'll do it. Those students will get massacred if I don't." Giving the old codger the harshest side-eye she could, Ruby faced towards the cliff and began to sprint to the sharp drop-off.

Ruby's enhanced speed would appear as little more than shadowy blur while she prepared for her leap. Her hair whipped violently in the wind as she took off from the cliff, sailing far further into the forest than the other students had.

Twisting herself as she approached a tree taller than most of the others, Ruby grabbed the nearest branch with her left hand and slung herself forward, feeling the strain in her arm from the lunge that should've snapped them apart even with aura.

Curling into a tight ball while hurtling at the forest floor, Ruby slammed into the ground and preformed a landing roll to stop herself from becoming a smear of paste on the dirt, continuing for another twenty feet before her momentum gave out.

Quickly standing up after coming to a stop, Ruby immediately focused her senses to find her prey. Hundreds of heartbeats echoed in her ears as her hearing expanded, some human/faunas, others regular animals, but most were Grimm.

Far off in the distance she could hear gunfire of all calibers, even the familiar blast of Yang's shotgun gauntlets, Ember Cecilia. Putting her nose to work as well, Ruby sniffed the air to find traces of human or faunas blood since 'Ozdick' said the Lykan had eaten people.

It took her a bit, but the sweet smell of dried blood finally hit her nostrils, the direction coming from farther northeast in the forest. A smile dawned on the vampiress's face at having the best toolkit to find the beast so quickly.

Crouching low to the ground in a sprinters stance, Ruby took off like a bullet through the forest. Dodging in-between trees, roots, bushes, Grimm, and the occasional animal or two, she dove deeper and deeper into the belly of the woodlands.

Biting wind hammered cold nails into her skin, each of her footfalls leaving deep indents in the ground, the light of the shattered moon illuminating all to her vampiric silver eyes. If she still had a heartbeat, it would be beating fast in anticipation of such a thrilling hunt, a chance to prove that she was a real predator to all other supernaturals.

Seeing a pack of ten Beowulves in her path, Ruby kicked off the ground and soared towards a nearby tree trunk, which she then used a kickstand to launch herself up and over the heads of the Grimm. The Grimm barely had time to register what happened as she landed behind them in a roll and broke into a run again.

'I didn't need a single breath to do that...I love being a vampire.' It had been nothing but pure pleasure being such a despicable monster to Ruby.

Now if only she could feed again soon...but she'd have to wait until after this shitshow was over.

The scent of dried blood was getting stronger as she pushed farther into what would now be the Lykan's territory. Ruby kept listening for the sound of heavy footfalls, not wanting to be ambushed by a super-predator in it's own home.

Despite all of the loud ambience of the woods, Ruby faintly heard the sound of bones cracking ahead where her quarry supposedly laid waiting. Either it was an old kill the beast had been saving...or a student had been unlucky enough to meet it.

'Good. It's distracted, time for an ambush." Pouring more effort into increasing her speed, Ruby rocketed even faster at the unsuspecting victim.

One second...two...three; Ruby saw a patch of unbroken light ahead and pounced through the air. Breaking out from the treeline and into a clearing, Ruby saw the massive wolfman hunched over a broken human corpse.

It was a hideous thing; a matted coat of brown fur covered in gore, forest debris, and filth. Claws of steel daggers hung on it's paws, shoulders were easily the width of two Ursa Minor's, and it's mouth dribbled disgusting yellow foam as it devoured the recently deceased human.

Reeling back her left arm and clenching her fist as she darted at it, she hammered it's face with every ounce of her vampiric strength, knocking it back several feet and slamming her into the ground. Using the momentum of both her fall and attack, Ruby twisted her body around and dug her fingers into the ground, spinning herself to face the now very angry Lykan.

Throwing herself into a roll to her right to avoid the slavering jaws snapping at where her head had just been, Ruby came back up with a punch loaded with raw strength to it's temple, staggering it slightly.

If Ruby wanted to win against this bastard, she was going to need to be crafty and agile. A single hit from those claws could cripple her, sending into a blood frenzy with how she hasn't feed yet...and that meant death.

Snarls came from the beast's mouth, yellow foam now dribbling out in greater quantities, the sickly yellow eyes staring at her were bloodshot and looked crazed. Ducking under another lunge that she could barely see, Ruby narrowly dodged the claws swinging at her face after the dodge, the wind from the attack ruffling her hair.

This Lykan was faster than her by just a hair, but she had the advantage with a sound mind. Clearly, there was something terribly wrong with this werewolf. Ruby doubted they were supposed to froth that nasty stuff out of their mouth like this one was.

Twisting her body to avoid lethal lashing set of talons aiming for neck, Ruby retaliated with two sharp kicks to the beasts snout, once again staggering it. Wolves had sensitive noses, and one good hit to them was extremely painful to them.

Following up the kicks, Ruby leapt back to her feet and elbow jabbed her opponent in the throat, winding it as she then bashed it's nearest eye with another heavy jab. It lashed out blindly as she jumped back, the sound of fabric tearing echoed as it's claws finally scored a graze on Ruby's right thigh.

A sharp hiss left Ruby's lips from the pain of the cut. The cut wasn't deep and it still bled quite a bit, but it had already started regenerating. Less than three seconds was all it took for the blood to retreat back into her undead body and the skin to be unblemished again.

'SHIT! I forgot to bring my aura up again!' Being undead had somewhat messed with her practice of using aura, because she didn't feel and wasn't alive anymore.

The pounding of her heart before her fall would help Ruby maintain her aura shield, a rhythm that helped her subconscious focus on keeping it still beating and her alive. Distracted by the pain in her leg, Ruby failed to remember that the Lykan likely had hearing just as good, if not better, than her.

Her hiss of pain had given away where she was.

Wind shuffled and the ground shook as the Lycan was on her in an instant. Throwing up her arms coated in aura to cover her chest and head, Ruby was launched back with geysers of blood pouring from her shredded forearms.

Scarlet aura shattered in an instant from the sheer force of the Lykan's attempt to bisect her, motes of it's light drifting off into the night.

Massive gouges had been carved out of her arm's flesh, showing the bone underneath the ribboned tissue. Backpedaling as more swiping claws came her way, Ruby felt the thirst for blood growing in the back of her throat from the damage she sustained.

Rage; heavy and foreboding rage built within her chest as mind-numbing pain assaulted her from the gaping wounds in her arms that were regenerating quickly. She refused to meet her second death at the hands of a sickly MUTT.

As the tendons in her arms grew back and the skin slammed shut together, Ruby scarcely avoided a claw that would've torn her skull open. Opening her left hand into a talon gesture, she thrust it into the Lykan's left eye socket when it tried to bite her again with it's foamy jaws.

Pulling with a massive amount of might, Ruby ripped it's left eye out and threw it away. As blood sprayed in waves, the Lykan howled in pain. It was a noise that nearly deafened Ruby as she tried to roll away from it's rampage, only to be caught again by it's claws, this time cleaving her chest open and shattering her breastbone.

A pained scream tore past Ruby lips as the agony molested her senses, a red hot cleaver driving deep into her psyche. That scream soon turned into an animalistic roar as her vampiric darkness manifested itself in an attempt to save her life. Black color swallowed her vision as shadows wove themselves around Ruby, writhing in aberrant movement everywhere.

She disappeared from view as the gloom devoured her, sending chills down every living things spines and causing all but the Lykan to flee. Ruby reappeared from behind a tree just beyond clearing, springing at the Lykan with her left fist cocked back.

Ramming the fist into the Lykan's spine, a demented smile had grown upon her lips as she now fought with the same feral fury the Lykan had. The ground shuddered as the heavy Lykan fell onto it, but Ruby wasn't done yet.

Grabbing the neck of the beast with both hands, she heaved with all her monsterous strength, lifting the Lykan through the air and back onto the ground. Visible gusts of wind left it's mouth and escaped into the chilly night air, it's breath wheezing from being winded.

Tendrils of inky darkness resembling thorny plant vines wrapped themselves around the beast, trapping it's limbs and sawing into it's flesh with sadistic glee. Pained whimpers came from the now helpless beast.

Chunks of gore fell to the ground as the vines did their ghastly work. Each one stripped meat from bone in a torturous manner; a grisly revenge born from hatred.

A Flower born of Necrosis had bloomed in all it's heinous beauty.

Ruby stood over the beast's revoltingly filthy head as her veined fangs glimmered in the silver light of the shattered moon. Clamping her hands around the beasts jaws to prevent any attempts of resistance; Ruby leaned over it's with her mouth open before biting viciously into the Lykan's neck.

Blood poured from the wound as Ruby drank every mouthful she could get, the massive tear in her chest closing up faster as she drank more and more of the beast's life essence. Crimson color stained the alabaster skin around her lips, her throat bobbing up and down in tandem with her prey's weakening heartbeats.

With Ruby being in feral state, some amount of wasted blood splattered onto the ground as the wolfman's thrashing grew ever more frantic in an attempt to escape.

Soon enough, Ruby returned to sanity with the Lykan's now deceased body laying before her. Liquid life still dripped from her lips with each droplet hitting the ground below in violent allure. Despite having no need to breathe, Ruby found herself heaving in air in pained and excited gasps, the situation having given her an intense dark thrill.

She doubted any Grimm could've ever given her such a fight, not with both who and what she was now...

Calming herself down from the fight took several minutes, those said minutes more so trying to force down the...stimulation she felt. Once she had gotten control of herself again, Ruby turned to leave through the path in the forest she had arrived here from.

...That was until the sound of cracking bones echoed behind her.

Chills wormed their way down her spine as Ruby slowly turned her head to look behind her, hoping desperately that she was simply mishearing things. Silver eyes widened as the werewolf stood back up after it should've had not a single drop of blood left in it's body.

"ReeaAAeEEeEAAaaaaaAAAGG!" A deafening howl shook the forest and Ruby's ears as the wolfman howled in presumable torment.

The forest erupted into life as every living thing scrambled to get away from this anomaly. Horrible cries of the Grimm could be heard through the onslaught of noise, some sounding even slightly panicked, along with the halting of the distant gunfire from student hopefuls.

Thick muscles bulged and forcefully shook under it's skin. Cracking sounds betrayed how it's ribcage visibly broke with multiple parts of it piercing through the skin. Ruby took several steps backwards as the Lykan grotesquely changed into something much more horrifying.

Skin over it's lips twisted backwards; exposing the bleeding pink flesh of it's gums and the bone underneath the exposed area. Vibrations passed through Ruby's feet while the ground trembled with how it's leg's grew even bigger and shattered the damp earth under it.

Those sickly yellow eyes from before were now so bloodshot...that there was no white left in it's sclera, it's void-colored pupils had devoured the iris.

The matted brown fur that covered it's body was now lengthened considerably bleached it's brown hue stark white. The bone that made up it's tail tip burst out the tip in a spray of viscera, the now lethal underlying structure now exposed completely to the chilly air.

Vertebrae from it's spine thrust through it's back to create a twisted version of a sail made of it's own bone. That yellow foam that had dribbled from it's mouth before; now leaked out of every gnarly opening in it's body, the outline of the foam having taken a sinister orange appearance.

Ruby barely had the time to duck underneath the incoming claws aiming for her neck, then spring backwards to avoid the second overhead strike that would've splattered her into the ground.

Getting her balance from the backpedal, Ruby realized that if she had had a difficult time fighting this thing before, she sure as hell would have a much worse one now. Self-preservation instincts kicked into full throttle for Ruby. The sheer danger of the situation and the response to the Lykan's unnatural transformation triggered a need to escape.

Shadow tendrils speed away from Ruby's shadow towards the monstrosity, striking quick to latch themselves onto the thing's limbs. Deafening howls echoed over the forest as it struggled to break free of it's bindings, giving Ruby the opportunity to bolt away from it as fast as she could.

Every bit of her vampiric speed she could muster up was being used to try and get away from the horrifyingly transformed Lykan. Soon enough, she heard the telltale signs of shattering wood and bark in the distance as it gave chase to her.

Bouncing off of trees and slinging herself forward off of low hanging branches, Ruby cursed Ozpin for sending her on this hunt for a bloody fucking initiation test! How much information had he held back on telling her?!

Closer and closer the abomination got; trees were swatted aside in it's fervor to devour the one who had condemned it as it now was. Echoing booms traveled through the forest as the destructive chase continued; Ruby using the environment and her vampiric alacrity to shoot as a blur of black through the forest of death.

Wind brushed against Ruby from behind as a meat hook sized claw narrowly missed her, the strength of it launching her sideways and splinter several trees in her helpless state, each broken tree sending hot lances of torment through her battered body.

Soil and debris rocketed around as Ruby finally landed in a heap next to a cave entrance. Ruby groaned as she quickly stood up, seeing the ten meter long trench her body had dug into the terrain.

Both deep and shallow cuts lined her petite frame from her forced trip through the trees. Another groan passed her lips as she strained herself to move quickly once more, having little time to even attend to regenerating her wounds aplenty.

Once more she heard the horrifying screeches of the Lykan very close behind her as it gave chase again. Extending out her left palm towards the abomination chasing her, Ruby instinctually stretched her senses to the shadow trailing her, commanding it to slow down her pursuer in any way possible.

A cloak of twilight enveloped her silhouette while arms of umbral thorns raced off at the twisted horror behind her. Returning to the previous speed from before the beast had thrown her across the forest; Ruby tried to figure out a plan to take this thing down before things got even worse.

'Could some of the other students help me kill it?' It was possible that a group effort could bring it down, but that would mean revealing herself to everyone far sooner than she wanted to...

Yet...Ruby doubted she could kill it again by herself, it was just too strong now. She had only killed it first time due to both her frenzy and the surprise it inflicted on the Lykan...a stroke of pure luck than anything else.

She had gained access to a part of her inherited vampiric powers, but even they proved to be little more than annoyances to the berserk/mutated Lykan.

The old legends had mentioned Lykans were vulnerable to silver, problem was, she had none on her and probably didn't even have the experience needed to use even a silver sword. All she really had to use as a weapon, was her enhanced undead body.

Another deafening bellow came from behind her with the night getting darker around her instantly. Casting a quick glance to the sky above her made her eyes widen when an entire uprooted tree was now falling toward her at incredible speeds.

Throwing herself to the side in an effort to not become a squished vampire pancake, Ruby grunted as the earth collided with her body harshly and sent her into an uncontrolled tumble through the woods.

Blurry sights faded in and out of view as she hurtled through the undergrowth. Additional wounds battered her body as shrubs, roots, and low hanging branches whipped her body mercilessly.

Pain wracked her body as she came to a stop in a small game trail. A half snarl-half hiss passed her lips as the desire to rip this mutt apart into bite-sized chunks grew more appealing.

The longer this went on, the more furious Ruby felt at everything that had lead up to this. Ozpin holding the noose to her neck like a leash, her mother having taken both herself and the true Ruby to her grave, her naïve false self replacing her true self for so many years, that damnable vampire turning her...

It was making her feel oh-so murderous.

If she lived through this, she was going to put Ozpin and her team through hell just to be spiteful.

---

Scene Segment: Plunge Through the Veil

Scene Break: Pyrrha

Pyrrha was growing concerned of whatever had been making the ground quake and the air tremble. She had heard a distant terrible howl once or twice that scared her in a way Grimm had never done.

The cries were far too human-like while simultaneously being utterly monsterous, as if a person had been transformed into something horrible. With the worry and fear that had been building inside her, the Grimm eventually came running to her.

It hadn't been too much of a hassle for her to kill the first wave of low-level Grimm, but then came the second...and the third. She was starting to slow down as Grimm poured from the surrounding forest as a swarm of gnashing fangs and black fur.

Something had stirred the Grimm into a frenzy and Pyrrha wasn't sure if she even wanted to know how and why. Firing another shot of Akula's rifle portion, the bullet flew true as it obliterated a Ursa minor's head in a short instant.

Smoke trailed off the spent cartridge that ejected out of Akulo, it's previous spot was instantly replaced by a fresh 30-06 caliber shell ready to kill. Mist formed a white cloud as Pyrrha panted hard in effort, the sheer number of Grimm slowly wearing her down.

Adrenaline still surged through her body, fueling her strength to block a set of flashing claws with her shield Milo. The weight of the attack made Pyrrha grunt before she heaved and threw the Beowulf off of her and transformed Akulo into it's spear state using her semblance, then slashing the sharp spearhead across the Beowulf's soft underbelly.

Black blood splattered her torso from the kill, but she was already moving onto the next kill to decapitate another Beowulf hoping to avenge it's packmate. More unholy liquid sprouted from the stump of the beast's neck, showering her in even more dissipating Grimm viscera.

She hadn't met anyone yet due to this tide of Grimm, so she was still without a partner for now, meaning she had to deal with them all by herself.

As the battle went on, it sang a song of death that Pyrrha danced to. Back and forth she went as every Grimm felled was replaced by another set of crimson eyes and snapping teeth. Puncturing the neck of a Ursa major with Akulo's, Pyrrha ripped it out and spun it in a circle around herself to force the countless red eyes staring at her, back.

With a single second to recollect herself, she lowered her center of mass closer to the ground and hid the front of her body behind Milo with Akulo facing in front of her. It was a stance developed millennia ago by her ancestors, designed to be the ultimate counter-offense.

Even though she was fighting for her life, Pyrrha felt a smile dawn on her lips. Shy, meek, and weak-willed as she was around other people, facing down Grimm always brought out another more-hidden part of her.

It was exhilarating fighting the Grimm! The rush was almost sinful in it's pure ecstasy of looking death in the face. Staring ahead as a boarbatusk barreled at her, Pyrrha raised her shield to take the blow head-on to spear the demonic boar through with Akulo after it was stunned.

Closer it got as Pyrrha braced for impact, only for both the Grimm and her to be surprised as a black blur slammed harshly into the boar. Both the Boarbatusk and whatever hit it went tumbling across the damp forest soil, landing a heap a short distance away.

Apparently, the Boarbatusk died from the impact because dark mist floated into the wind as it evaporated, showing the figure of which had forced it's premature end. All the Grimm nearby started retreating with how their lone prey receiving backup.

Pyrrha felt her breath catch in her throat as a female figure slowly got up with a pained hiss.

The girl was beautiful, almost unnaturally so. Pale white skin that glowed faintly in the weak moonlight filtering into the forest, onyxian hair that seemingly shimmered with umbral fire, and silver eyes that entranced her with their semi-divine allure.

Trailing her eyes down a little further, revealed a glimpse of the girl's decent bust that had the same tantalizing allure as the rest of her visible skin. Her heart skipped a beat as she avoided the short glance into heaven she had just gotten.

Pyrrha was sure she was never into girls, but this mysterious teenager was making it difficult not to be overwhelmed by teenage hormones. Those silver eyes finally noticed Pyrrha staring at her, making the other girl mutter something under her breath which suspiciously sounded like a lot of vile swears and threats towards someone other than her.

"So you're my partner? Well...get ready because that bastard I'm hunting is coming, do try not to die." Pyrrha was at a loss of words for the strangeness of the situation she had suddenly found herself in.

It felt like her brain was short-circuiting. What did she mean by her hunting something? How was she fine after slamming into an armored at what should've been terminal velocity? Was she single?

...That last question made Pyrrha blush from how hormones were now screwing with her head. Quickly shaking her head to try and focus on whatever threat that the girl had mentioned was coming, Pyrrha tried to open her mouth to speak, but the words died in her throat as terrible roar came from close by.

Fear overwhelmed her at whatever had caused such a bloodcurdling screech. It was so loud her ears were ringing through her aura and it sounded like a human scream mixed with an animalistic cry of rage.

"Fuck, It's here! Hey, you! Get ready quickly, because if you don't fight with everything you have, you're gonna die!" Pyrrha even didn't have the time to answer back as a grotesque beast shattered the tree trunks nearest the girl and barely missed decapitating her instantly.

Bile rose within Pyrrha's throat after getting a full look at the thing. There was no way whatever it was, was a Grimm. Hells, it shouldn't even be alive!

Somehow, it was both vaguely wolf-like and humanoid in appearance. Bone had broken through the skin in multiple areas with even's it's rib-bones extending out of it's chest. Stark white fur clung to it's body in matted clumps. Claws far bigger than any Beowulf's stuck out from every digit on it's paws.

Vile frothing foam spilled out of every wound on it's body, falling to the ground in thick slimy pools. The skin around it's mouth had been pulled back to exposed bleeding pink gums and the jawbone.

A sharpened tail-tip of bone thrashed violently through the air, striking at all the fleeing Grimm. Primal terror welled up within Pyrrha, the fear of the unknown bringing it's full force to bear on her cracking mind.

Both the girl and the beast moved at speed she could scarcely even follow. Even though she looked human, the girl now looked just as monsterous with how she fought with the same feral attacks as whatever that abomination was.

Pyrrha was sure that no human, hunter or otherwise, could move at that kind of speed without breaking their body. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest from shock threatening to send her into cardiac arrest.

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF OR WE BOTH DIE, HUMAN!" The sound of the girl's frustrated and exhausted shout shook Pyrrha from her delirious state.

Her training kicked in as she used her semblance, Polarity, to shift Akulo into rifle form and load a bullet into the chamber. A soft click echoed as a fire dust round chamber with Pyrrha firing it soon after with no hesitation.

The sharp crack of Akulo rang out as the bullet screamed out with a burst of fire, soaring at the mutant and striking true just under the shoulder blade. A pained screech came from the beast as it turned to face Pyrrha, raising a massive arm to swing it's massive claws at her.

Raising her shield to block the incoming strike, Pyrrha braced for the impact unsure if she could even withstand it, she had to try, though, or she would be sliced sashimi.

"YOU IDIOT!" The beast lurched as the other girl yelled and grabbed the swinging arm while yanking it back with an inhuman strength.

Grunting loudly with immense effort, Pyrrha watched with amazement as the girl actually lifted the abomination off it's feet and threw it back a few feet.

"Don't try to take a hit from it! It already almost tore my arms off and you won't stand a chance if it did that to me! Stay back and hit it from afar!" So she would be playing the support role while this human-looking monster would play the tank?

Fine. Pyrrha could do that if it increased their chances of killing it. Backing up several yards, Pyrrha mounted Akulo on top of Milo as a stabilizer while steadying her aim for her next chance to shoot.

Slowing her breathing to calm herself enough to take the shot, Pyrrha began to grow curious as to who or what her new partner was. Whatever this monstrosity was, the girl seemed to just barely match it despite such a vast size difference.

It was mind boggling, really. Watching two beings who should've been impossible to exist; duke it out in a flurry of bone-shattering blows. The speed at which they moved was unreal! Both of them were moving like lightning without a movement based semblance!

Pyrrha was sure that a single one of those hits would shatter her aura while also leaving her completely helpless...

A flash of crimson drew Pyrrha's attention as the girl hissed from a giant gash opening on her right side. The shock of seeing the girl bleeding nearly made her drop Akulo. If she just got hurt...that meant she had no aura this whole time...

'HOW?! HOW IS SHE THAT STRONG AND FAST WITHOUT AURA?!' It feel like her mind was going to overload with how many impossibilities were happening before her!

No person was that powerful without the one thing that had kept humanity from being annihilated by the Grimm!

What was she?!

Appearing as a sable blur that Pyrrha could barely see, the girl limbo'd under a vicious lunge that passed to what seemed less than an inch over the tip of her nose. Lunging back up after such a near miss, the girl latched both of her hands around the abomination's neck as well as slinging herself onto it's back while now choking it.

The beast garbled as it tried to throw the girl off, who in response, tightened her grip along with turning to look at Pyrrha with a single unspoken command.

Take the shot!

Heeding that command, Pyrrha crouched lower to the ground together with setting the butt of Akulo's stock against her shoulder and it's barrel against Milo. Closing one eye and looking through the scope to hone in on the abomination's skull, she held her breath as the aiming reticle glinted in red color between the beast's eyes.

Fire roared out of the muzzle of Akulo as the 30-06 caliber shell screamed a bloody warcry towards her target. Stygian aura covered her left hand as she activated her semblance to ensure she didn't miss, guiding the bullet in a flash of coming death.

With the sound of shattering bone and pulping flesh, the shot hit home together with blast of gore from the creature's skull. After exiting the beast's skull, Pyrrha guided the bullet to go back through a second time, unwilling to fight whatever this was a second time.

Sure enough following it's brain being decimated, the beast stopped moving akin to a marionet who's strings had been cut. Teetering back and forth from it's lack of momentum, it fell face first onto the damp forest soil with a jolt going through the ground from it.

Pyrrha found herself panting from the shock of everything she had seen so far. Resting Akulo on her lap as she knelt down, she trembled slightly wondering if this was a fever dream. Odd giggles leapt out her throat unwanted, her voice sounding slightly psychotic to even her own ears...

This was nothing like she had expected Beacon to be like! Brothers, she wasn't even in Beacon yet! She still had to get a relic from the temple with...whatever her partner was! A shadow suddenly loomed over Pyrrha as the girl stood over her with an indecipherable face.

Somehow, Pyrrha felt like whatever this girl was, was far worse than what that wolf-thing had been. Looking up to meet those silver eyes with her own emerald ones, Pyrrha thought she had gone insane to think that what she had just witnessed, could be real...

Suddenly out of nowhere, she felt a pair of arms envelop her in a comforting hug. They were cold against her skin with no sense of warmth, yet...it felt warm in some way mentally. A soft hand brushed through her long red hair while the other girl brought her lips close to Pyrrha's ear and whispered three words in a silky voice.

"It's all right." Those three words resounded through her mind like gently ringing church bells.

Hesitantly, Pyrrha slowly wrapped her arms back against the girl, seeking some semblance of comfort in a world that had gone seemingly mad.

Unseen to Pyrrha as she pressed her face into the younger girl's chest, Ruby was smiling devilishly at fate for dropping such a perfect 'partner' at her lap.

Silver moonlight from the broken moon drifted onto the new residents of night, illuminating a scene that would forever haunt the world in years to come...

In that moment, of one seeking solace in an innocent act and the other sinister plots, two souls were forever lost to the Twilight Veil.

---

Annnnnnnnd that's it! Over 16,500 words for this chapter and around 7 months to make...

It was difficult to write this chapter due to mainly one reason: Setting up the characters.

The world building was much easier to do. Each character in this book is set up to be immensely complex, with each having their own desires, agendas, interests, and motivations.

Out of all the characters I made; which one did yall find the most interesting?

I hope yall liked the chapter, tell me what you thought and leave a vote if you'd like!