For as long as humans have existed, the world had been full of tales of superheroes. Some wore capes and masks, while others relied on their own extraordinary abilities to fight for justice and protect the innocent. Over the years, the world had seen countless heroes rise and fall, each leaving their own unique mark on history. Not all of them were of the 'super' variety, but they were heroes nonetheless.

Symbols of hope and justice that stood alone fighting evil and protecting those that could not themselves. The hero would always win, it was a fact sewn out of the threads of fate itself.

But for one young girl in a small village, she realized she didn't have to read stories about heroes.

She could become the hero.

"Tell me, sweetie, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Summer Rose asked the small figure in her arms.

"I wanna be just like mommy! I wanna be a Huntress! I'll save everyone just like you!" The tiny figure cheered in her mother's arms while wrapping her arms around the Huntress. Summer wanted more than anything to see her family happy, she would support her daughters no matter what they did. Although she would be lying if she said she wasn't frightened. The life of a Huntress was a very dangerous one, with constant life-or-death scenarios, with skill being the determining factor of survival.

Not like she was much different from her daughter. She dreamed of becoming a Huntress all the same.

"Hehe, you wanna be a hero? You'll have to work very hard, but Mommy will help you become an awesome Huntress just like me," the woman replied to her daughter. If her daughter was determined to become a huntress then the least she could do was make sure her daughter was strong enough to protect herself against the Grimm.

"Really?! You promise?!" The girl asked with admiration in her eyes.

"Of course, your Daddy and I will help you be strong. It's because we both love you so much that we want to see you happy. But you have to remember that it's very dangerous to become a Huntress. Being a huntress means putting the lives of everyone else before your own, it means having unwavering conviction and an unbreakable will. It means years of hard work and practice to make sure you're strong enough. It will be very difficult, but if you're so determined to be like your mommy then I believe you can do it."

The young girl nodded frantically at her mother. "I promise! I'll work harder than anyone to be like you!" She crawled out of her mother's arms and walked to the center of the room. "I'll be a hero that saves everyone with a smile on my face! I want to be the kind of hero that can make everyone feel safe!" The girl threw her fist into the air, striking a heroic pose. "I'll be the greatest hero in the world, just like my mommy!"

Summer could only giggle at the tiny girl's antics. "Ok sweetheart, but before you become a huntress, there's something that I need to tell you." The tiny figure ran up to her mother, silver eyes sparkling in anticipation. Summer took a deep breath before speaking. "Just because hunters have these powers, it doesn't mean that they can't be used to do bad things. You have to make the choice to help people rather than hurt them. These powers can be used to kill as easily as they can be used to protect. So you have to remember some people don't use these powers with noble intentions, I don't want you to be one of those people."

The small girl was listening very intently to her mother's words with a bright smile on her face. Her mother continued. "When you have the power to help people, then you must use that power to help people. I want you to become a better hero than I ever could be."

"That's impossible! My mommy is the best hero ever! You're MY hero Mommy!" The small girl cried in her mother's arms. Summer could only stare at her daughter and try not to cry at how sincere she was being. This was the girl who would take over for her one day, the girl who would take her legacy and make it something truly special, she just knew it.

"Thank you, honey. But I still want you to try to be stronger than me. Can you promise me that?" Summer asked the child.

"I promise! I swear it! I'll make you proud Mommy, no matter what!" The young girl yelled with determination. "I'll be strong enough to protect you, and Daddy, and Yang, and Uncle Qrow, and myself!"

Summers' smile showed that she believed every word her daughter was saying. After all, she was the same exact way as a child, so full of determination and drive to achieve that goal of being a huntress. As a child, she always thought that saving people was the coolest thing anyone could do. She always wanted to be a symbol that people could look up to. She wanted parents to tell their children stories about how she saved the day with a smile on her face. She wanted to be a hero.

"Ok sweetie, I believe you, I know you'll be stronger than me someday." Summer wrapped her arms around her daughter and pulled her close. "I love you so much my little Rose," she spoke softly into her daughter's short black hair.

"I love you more Mommy." The tiny warrior pulled away from the embrace to look her mother in the eyes.

"There's one more thing that I need you to remember my darling."

The child stared deep into her mother's silver eyes, listening intently to every word. "What is it, Mommy?"

Summer Rose spoke, "Whatever life holds in store for you, you must never forget these words. With great power, there must also come great responsibility."

Ruby Rose swore never to forget those words for as long as she lived.

11 Years Later

Ruby Rose always loved comic books. She would read stories of grand adventures where an amazing hero would be faced with impossible odds and yet still come out on top. She would watch movies where an incredible hero fights a dastardly villain and the fate of the universe rests with that one hero.

But there was so much more to a comic book than simple action-packed fight scenes. There was so much heart and soul put into the stories that Ruby loved to read. Every hero had a human side that made them truly great because the greatest thing about humanity is the ability for them to change themselves. Not just through hard work or preservation, but through their desire to protect others no matter the cost.

Humans can do amazing things when they desperately want something. She always wanted to live out her own adventure like in the comics. She wanted amazing powers that she could use to be a protector. She wanted more than anything to be the hero that people spoke about for generations to come. She wanted to tell her children that despite everything that life threw at her, she always found a way to stand back up.

She wanted to make her mother proud.

Even if she didn't have incredible powers, she still had a loving family that was willing to do anything to help Ruby be greater. That was more than most heroes from the comics could say anyway.

15-year-old Ruby Rose never had what someone would call a "happy" life. Sure it started out pretty sweet, she had a loving family, she was well-fed, she had a great education, and she had the best combat teachers she could ask for. Sure, she didn't have many friends, but she didn't really need them. She got by just fine by herself and her sister. She never felt like she absolutely needed friends to be happy. Although the lack of friends had made her a bit socially awkward. But all in all, life started out pretty sweet

It's terrible how fast all her happiness was taken away.

It's a story as old as time. She kissed her mother goodbye as she went off on a mission, promising to spend time together when she returned. She told her mother that she loved her as she walked out the front door.

That was the last time Ruby would see her mother.

No one knows what really happened on that mission, the only certainty was that Summer Rose had been killed. A body was never found. Ruby kept hoping that her mother was just lost and that she would be home any day now. She was the strongest in the world after all. Right?

As days turned into weeks, months, and years, Ruby had to accept that she would never see her mother again. It was easily the worst time of her life. But she didn't take it as badly as some did. Her sister took it even worse, she was already abandoned by her real mother, so losing another mother figure must've been a devastating blow.

Her Uncle Qrow turned to alcohol, lots and lots of alcohol. Qrow and Summer were best friends, losing someone that you've known since middle school must've hurt more than she could imagine.

Her father, Taiyang Xiao Long, easily took it the worst of all of them. His first wife Raven Branwen left him and their newborn baby girl in the middle of the night with absolutely zero warning. She didn't even have the decency to leave a note. Luckily, her father fell in love again. He fell in love with the leader of their Beacon team STRQ, Summer Rose. They were happy together, he even managed to forget about Raven in favor of his new wife. They even had a daughter together.

After Summer's death, Taiyang started drinking heavily, he was wasted more often than he was sober. He even forgot to take care of her as a toddler more often than not. If it wasn't for her older sister Yang, then Ruby didn't know if she would've even survived. Yang was the best older sister in the world. Still grieving over Summer's death, she picked up the slack that her father refused to pick up and gave Ruby all the love and affection that she could ask for, and she never asked for anything in return.

After a few years, her father got over his funk and decided to be the father that would make Summer proud. Ruby of course forgave her father, as she understood what he was going through.

Ruby doesn't remember much about her mother, she died when Ruby was only 5 years old. She didn't know what death really was at that age. She would always ask 'When is mommy coming home?' Only to get the same answer every single time.

"She's sleeping with the angels."

She missed her mother, obviously, but even more than that, she was determined to keep her promise to her. Ruby Rose would become the best hero she could be.

Ruby spent all those years training hard to become the strongest huntress she could be. Yang and Uncle Qrow would train her whenever she asked, and she would even train on her own time when no one was looking. Uncle Qrow always says that rest is just as important as training but she kept training until she physically couldn't move anymore.

Of course, being a huntress isn't just about strength. Her mother was very smart, she graduated top of her class after all. Ruby studied hard. She studied until she couldn't keep her eyes open. She kept writing notes until her fingers would blister. Ruby was determined.

Ruby had a fascination for weapons, particularly Mecha-Shift weapons. Just the idea of having multiple weapons in one package was awesome. Ruby wanted to build her own weapon using the skills that she studied so hard to learn. After many months and constant revisions, she did it. She created the weapon of her dreams. A beautiful red and silver scythe with a massive razor-sharp blade. It also doubles as a highly compact sniper rifle, that could fire any commercially available sniper ammunition.

She named it Crescent Rose.

Her baby.

Ruby was lucky to get one-on-one scythe training from her Uncle. He used a very similar weapon, which was actually where she got the inspiration for Crescent Rose. She admired how strong her Uncle was, he was even stronger than her father, a fact that he was more than happy to constantly remind her about.

Slowly but surely, her strength, skill, and intelligence had risen to a point where she was good enough to join Signal Academy. A school designed to teach future hunters how to further their abilities. But Signal was just a prep school, it was to prepare her for something bigger and better.

Beacon Academy

The school her mother graduated from, Ruby was determined to get accepted into Beacon when she was 17. It was supposed to be the best hunter school in Vale, and possibly the whole world. It was for the best of the best, only the most elite warriors were even considered. Only about 3% of students that applied got the chance to take the entrance exam. Even if you got to take the exam, only about 20% of those students got accepted.

She had her work cut out for her. But she made a promise, and she fully intended to keep it.

She would be a hero.

With great power, comes great responsibility!

But Ruby Rose had no idea what plan fate truly had for her.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Ruby Rose slapped her hand on her nightstand a couple of times trying to find the alarm clock. She didn't bother opening her eyes, she was way too tired for that. After fumbling around for a few seconds, she successfully managed to silence the loud device.

"Nnngg," Ruby groaned under her blanket. She might've pushed herself too far while training last night and her muscles were still sore.

Still, Ruby forced herself to sit up and get the day started. She let out a tired yawn and stretched her aching muscles while allowing her eyes to adjust to the brightness in the room caused by the sun gleaming through the window.

Ruby slid out of bed and made her way to her closet to pick out some clothes for her day. She chose a black long-sleeved blouse with a high collar and red trims on the sleeves. Her skirt was black with the same red trim along the hem. She also wore a large black belt with a shimmering silver buckle designed to resemble a rose. The buckle was something she had designed herself and she was quite proud of it. Last but not least, she wore a brilliant red cloak with a hood attached to her shoulders with silver pins shaped like crosses.

She quite liked this outfit, she thought she looked really cute in it. She smiled to herself in the mirror when she examined her outfit.

"Perfect."

Ruby headed downstairs ready to start her day. Her father was already making breakfast while her sister was probably in the shower trying to wash that mane she called hair. Ruby didn't know why Yang kept her hair that long, she just assumed that she was a masochist who liked torturing herself with hair that was too hard to maintain. Ruby didn't care either way.

"Morning Dad!" Ruby called cheerfully from the bottom set. "What's for breakfast?" Ruby smelt sausage, which was one of her favorites, along with bacon and hashbrowns.

"Good morning Ruby. It's not quite ready yet, can you do me a favor and feed Zwei?"

The corgi's ears perked up at the mention of his name. His tail began to wag frantically as he ran to the short huntress.

"Arf!" The corgi barked happily.

"Zwei!" Ruby rubbed the dog's head as it began to lick her face. "Who's a good boy? You hungry?" Zwei answered her question by running over to his empty food bowl waiting patiently.

Ruby filled a cup with dog kibble and poured its contents into Zwei's bowl. She also filled up his water dish with fresh water. She scratched behind his ears as he dug into his meal.

"Gooood Morning!" Ruby spun around to see that Yang had finished her shower and was now dressed and ready for the day. Her gauntlets were folded away on her wrist to prevent an accidental discharge. She wore a tan jacket that left her midriff exposed with golden brown piping and short puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this, she wears a low-cut yellow crop top with her emblem on the left breast in black. Ruby had no idea why Yang liked to show off that much skin. She would die of embarrassment if she tried something like that.

"Morning Yang," Ruby greeted her sister. "Sleep well?"

Yang stretched her tired muscles and let out a loud yawn. "Yeah, I slept alright. Are you excited for today Ruby?"

Today was a special day for Ruby Rose. Her signal class and she would be taking a field trip to Oscorp Industries, the number one weapon manufacturing company in the world. Ruby had never been inside the building before. Mainly because their security was very strict and she would never make it passed the lobby.

The CEO of Oscorp, Norman Osborn is a brilliant man and someone that she respected greatly. She had only seen pictures of him online but never in person. Being able to talk to the man would be a once and a lifetime experience. Sadly he was a very busy man and so Ruby likely would never get the chance.

Nevertheless, she would be visiting Oscorp for the first time today, it was a dream come true for her. She could just imagine all the amazing weapons that she would be able to see. She would also love to be able to talk to one of the designers to get some tips on improving Crescent Rose, maybe she could even show off her sweetheart to one of them!

"Of course I am! I get to see so many beautiful weapons in one place. I can actually talk about them without someone almost falling asleep. I'll be where I truly belong." Ruby was vibrating with excitement at the prospect of weapons. She had no friends to discuss her interests with and Yang was more into partying than weapons anyway.

Yang ruffled Ruby's freshly brushed hair. "Glad to hear it, sis."

The smell of a completed breakfast penetrated Ruby's nostrils. She started to drool as she made her way to the kitchen table. "Thanks, Dad." Ruby dug into her delicious fatty breakfast with reckless abandon as she fantasized about the day ahead.

Ruby jogged at a brisk pace toward Signal Academy, she could've used her semblance to shorten the walk to only a few minutes, but she decided to take things slowly today.

Signal Academy was a school designed to train future Hunters so they would be ready for further education like Beacon Academy. Ruby's end goal wasn't Beacon though, it was just to become a professional huntress. Ruby actually couldn't care less about how she obtained a huntress license, as long as it was legal. If she could skip Beacon altogether and just become a professional as soon as she finished Signal then that would be great.

Alas, that was never going to happen so she had to study hard to earn herself a place at Beacon once she graduated.

Her sweetheart was strapped to her back and she was ready to face the challenges of the day.

She entered the double doors of Signal Academy along with a few other students that happened to be arriving at the same time as her. The school wasn't massive but that was okay considering Patch was such a small place, there was never an abundance of students.

Homeroom was canceled for the day due to the field trip so all the students just gathered by the bus stop so attendance could be taken. She spotted her homeroom teacher Ms. Maroon standing with a few students that had arrived before her.

"Good morning, Ms. Maroon!" Ruby greeted with a pep in her step as she approached the nice lady.

"Ahh, Ms. Rose, good morning. Glad to see you could join us today."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Ruby wouldn't say it out loud, but she was only so excited because of all the cool weapons she would get to see. "Any idea when we'll be leaving?"

Ms. Maroon checked her wristwatch and scribbled something down on her clipboard before responding. "The buses will depart in 20 minutes. You can get on the bus and wait if you'd like."

"Rodger that!" Ruby saluted before boarding the bus. She took her seat near the front so she would be the first one off once they reached their destination. She was giddy with excitement and anticipation. She would likely never be able to see the inside of Oscorp for a very long time after today or even ever. She made sure to bring her camera and notepad to record every little detail about the company.

The next 20 minutes were by far the longest 20 minutes of Ruby's life. She had to count down every single second just to make sure that time hadn't suddenly ceased to function for the sole purpose of ruining her day.

Fortunately for the young Huntress, time seemed to be working just fine, all of the students had arrived and they were ready to depart.

"Oscorp, here I come."

As far as buildings go, Oscorp was the single tallest building in Vale at 108 floors and that wasn't including the subfloors. It didn't look too outstanding from the exterior, apart from the hundreds of windows that climbed the building. Ruby could only imagine how much it must cost to get them cleaned.

Ruby had seen Oscorp many times in the past. It was really close to her favorite weapons mechanic and ice cream shop, but she had never been inside due to her knowing that she wouldn't make it five feet before getting kicked out. She could outrun security with her semblance but it just wasn't worth it.

Ruby exited the bus and marveled at the sight of the beautiful skyscraper with her beautiful silver eyes sparkling in excitement. The rest of her class simply walked around the awed Rose.

Ruby Joined the rest of her class a few seconds later after she was sure that she wasn't dreaming.

The lobby was exactly what she was expecting it to be. It was just a normal lobby with people going about their jobs, both Humans and Faunus alike.

Ruby was already scribbling in her notebook despite having seen nothing interesting yet. She really wished she had a friend that she could discuss this kind of stuff with. It got a little lonely being the only one in school who is so passionate about weapons.

"Ms. Rose!" Called out her teacher.

"Eep! Umm, yes?" Ruby replied shyly.

Ms. Maroon's gaze was sharper than the tip of Crescent Rose. Ruby had to fight the instinctive urge to apologize to the class.

"I know you're excited Ms. Rose, but please pay attention, this is important."

Ruby saluted her teacher. "Yes, mam!"

"Good." She directed her attention to the entire class rather than just the red-hooded warrior. "Alright, class, today you have been granted a rare opportunity to witness firsthand the process in which Oscorp makes their weapons. As such, I expect you all to be on your best behavior. I will tolerate no misbehaving today. Do I make myself clear?"

Ruby nodded along with the rest of her class. She wouldn't dream of ruining this amazing opportunity that she had been given.

"Good," Ms. Maroon responded. "Now then, this will be your guide, Mr. Cobalt." The entire class directed their attention to a man who looked to be in his mid-60s with a bald head and massive glasses.

"Thank you, everyone. My name is James Cobalt, please just call me James though, it makes things much easier for me, and you. I am the head of the Weapons Manufacturing Division or WMD. I know that all of you already have your own weapons, and I've gotta say, I'm seeing some very impressive designs among you all, I'm very impressed."

Ruby glowed with pride that someone appreciated her hard work.

"It would be wise for all of you to make contacts within this company when you become hunters. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know. It pays to have someone on the inside that's capable of making you something that can save your life. Don't underestimate the necessity of making friends."

Let's see, I have a grand total of ...0 friends! Yaaaay... Curse my social awkwardness! Oh well, I can make my own weapons so not like it's a big deal or anything.

"Please follow me and I'll give you a tour of our department."

This was it! This was what she had been waiting for all these years!

A few minutes of walking later and the class came upon a dozen engineers working on what looked to be millions of tiny robots that all seemed to be trying to form together to make something useful. The robots however just ended up falling apart into a small hill of useless metal after a few seconds.

James looked disappointed at the outcome of the test they were performing.

"This is something that we have been working on for years now. The idea of being able to construct any weapon imaginable through the use of these tiny machines called Nanites. Unfortunately, the machines aren't smart enough to interact with each other in any meaningful way."

The engineers began to clean up their mess and resume their research. "We can get a nanite to communicate with about 100 others but that's not nearly enough to construct a weapon. They also aren't very strong so they would be more of a burden than anything. Due to their small size, the battery isn't the best either. Nanotechnology is showing some promise in the medical field, but not for combat."

Despite every weapon in the world being inferior to her baby, Ruby still had a fascination for them. Sometimes she even got ideas from other designers. She absolutely loved watching how someone else crafted a weapon. She could listen for hours about how one very specific part of a very complex weapon worked. Also, the design and mechanical feats that she saw were amazing.

She once saw someone make a Mecha-Shift chainsaw. That was awesome!

Crescent Rose was a heavy weapon. About 150 pounds to be exact, but due to Ruby's Aura and training, she was more than strong enough to wield a weapon like her sweetheart. Still, carrying around a weapon of that size all the time would be dangerous and annoying. That's why she added a Mecha-Shift form that made her sweetheart a lot more compact and easy to carry but didn't make it any lighter.

Still, if these engineers managed to perfect this nanotech nonsense someday then the massive bulk of her baby would be a thing of the past. She could make the nanites cover her body when her baby wasn't in use, only to come together to form the beautiful scythe that was Crescent Rose.

Still, there was the problem of ammunition as well as the nanites battery, not to mention the insane cost of such a weapon. It just wasn't worth worrying about now.

For the remainder of the tour, James showcased many new weapons and bits of technology that were being worked on. Ruby was particularly interested in the massive silver glider that seemed to be fully operational. It had multiple turrets installed within the machine that could be called upon with a thought.

Eventually, they came upon the genetics lab where they tested the effects of Aura on other creatures. Particularly mice, rabbits, and spiders.

Ruby was always a curious child, yes she loved weapons more than anything, but it was always essential to have more knowledge when you wanted to become a hunter. Armor was an immediate no for Ruby, she was a fighter that relied on her vastly superior speed to overwhelm an opponent, having a heavy hunk of metal on her chest would make her semblance practically worthless unless she suddenly got much stronger and faster.

Actually, the only thing in this building that she knew nothing about was genetics. She knew the basics yeah, like how a child would inherit traits from both of their parents. Ruby was a rare case in which she looked nothing like her dad and was a practical mirror image of her mother. But she knew that was rare.

She decided to pay close attention to James when he began to explain their research.

"As you are all no doubt aware, every single living creature that has a soul can also have an Aura, and these small creatures are no exception." James gestured to many different glass cages that had many different species of spiders within them.

"Spiders are an interesting species, they're also very smart. They use their Aura to enhance their own abilities, like this one here." Ruby's gaze zeroed in on the glass case that James was pointing to. "This one uses its Aura to jump great distances." Sure enough, the spider's legs glowed with Aura before it jumped from one stick to another.

"While this one over here uses its Aura to enhance its strength." Ruby could see the spider moving something that was many times larger than it.

"Of course, some of these creatures had discovered their semblances at one point. One mouse discovered a semblance that allowed it to grow to a massive size, it wasn't fun cleaning up after that mess. Also, one of our spiders had unlocked a semblance that allowed it to generate its own bioelectricity."

Ruby remembered what it was like when she discovered her semblance. Breaking her entire body was not fun.

"We gave Aura to all of these spiders, which transformed them into 15 Aura-enhanced super spiders."

Ruby examined all the spiders in their individual prisons. Each one of them looked very different from the others. Some looked deadly while others just looked plain scary. However, one of the cases was completely empty, apart from some spider webs that had been spun from the inside.

"There's 14," Ruby explained to James.

James was silent for a few seconds. "I beg your pardon?" He eventually said.

"Umm...O-One's m-missing," Ruby said shyly while pointing to the empty cage.

James walked over to the empty cage and examined its contents. "Huh, I guess the researchers are working on that one." James dismissed the missing spider rather quickly.

"Okay, please take this time to look around without disturbing any of the researchers. If you have any questions then please come ask me." Ruby didn't need to be told twice, she immediately headed for the weapons to check out some more cool stuff.

There were many weapons here, and some of them were even on display for important visitors. There was a gun that was confirmed to shoot the fastest bullets in the world, as well as some experimental weapons with blades that took much longer to dull.

Ruby stared at the giant sword currently perched on a pedestal at the far end of the room. Apparently, this sword was used by a legendary warrior way back before Mecha-Shift weapons were even a thing. Yes, she loved her baby, but everyone should have an appreciation for the classics. It all started here after all.

She brought up her camera and snapped a picture of the blade before moving on. There were so many weapons in this place that it was impossible to walk ten feet without being distracted by something cool. Not that Ruby minded in the slightest.

Ruby examined the entire room while taking various pictures of all sorts of weapons. This was weapon heaven and she would make damn sure that this trip was worth it.

Oscorp doesn't just work with weapons, they also research dust, robotics, and genetics. Ruby had a pretty clear understanding of the first three, but the genetics portion of Oscorp was one that she didn't know much about.

Being the curious child that she was, Ruby made her way back to the genetics lab to see all of the cool insects with Aura. They didn't just test Aura with insects, they did human tests as well. Ruby even saw a bear in a massive glass cage.

Ruby was drawn to the spiders for some reason. She always had a fascination for the arachnid species, they could do so many things without Aura. They could jump super high, they were super strong, they could climb walls, and even spin their own web. The spiders were just really cool.

Ruby brought up her camera in preparation to take a picture of the glass cases. She made sure her camera was in focus before snapping the picture.

Then a blinding pain shot through her left hand.

"Argh!" Ruby whipped her hand around in a desperate attempt to remove whatever had caused her so much pain. A small red and blue spider crashed into the ground before scurrying away under a piece of machinery.

Ruby examined the rapidly forming and very painful welt on her hand. There were two distinct spots on the welt that conveyed that the spider had bitten her. She really hoped it wasn't poisonous but even if it was, her Aura should take care of it in a few hours.

"Ms. Rose." Ruby looked up to see her teacher had called her. "We're heading back to the school now. Please follow me."

Ruby obeyed while trying to hide the bite mark. She never liked causing trouble for anybody and her Aura was much larger than average anyway so there was no reason to worry.

"I'll be fine."

I'm not fine!

Every muscle on Ruby's body felt like it was on fire. She felt nauseous, the pain in her hand had only gotten worse, and she was on the verge of passing out! She couldn't even stand up straight, she was constantly lolling back and forth trying to stay balanced. Her teacher looked her way and spoke up. "Ms. Rose, are you alright? You're looking kind of pale." She asked with concern.

Panicking, Ruby replied, "I-I'm fine, just t-tired is all. I just need some s-sleep." Ruby could tell that her teacher didn't believe her but luckily she decided to let it go.

Ruby boarded the bus with massive difficulty and collapsed into the first empty seat. She felt as if every muscle in her body was being stretched to its absolute limit. Crescent Rose on her back only made things worse with the weight.

Oh great, now her eyes were burning, she couldn't even see in her lap. She didn't have the strength to lift her head off the cold hard glass window on the bus.

Her arms felt like they were being filled with lead while her blood felt like it was literally boiling underneath her skin. Her muscles were expanding and contracting like crazy. She could see her arms convulse like there was a parasite living beneath her skin, and the pain was only getting worse.

This is gonna be a fun ride home.

Ruby stumbled through her front door, practically blind at this point, she wanted to cry, but she could barely breathe.

"Ruby, is that you?" Ruby heard a muffled voice that she recognized as Yang.

Oh perfect, just perfect, now I can barely hear.

"H-Hey Yang. I don't feel well, I'm gonna s-sleep. Don't come in or you might catch something," Ruby replied to her sister, her voice trembling and scratchy.

Ruby clearly looked horrible, the look in her sister's eyes showed that perfectly well. She looked like she'd seen a ghost. "O-Ok, do you need anything? Are you sure you don't want a bite to eat?"

"N-No, thanks. Had a bite already."

"Here take this with you please." Yang handed her a full water bottle with shaky hands.

Ruby didn't realize how thirsty she was until she saw the bottle offered to her. She slowly reached out to retrieve the offered liquid. "T-Thanks Yang. You're the b-best." Ruby proceeded to open the bottle and drink the entire thing in three seconds. She was drinking it as she'd never seen water before in her life. It made her throat less sore, and she could breathe easier now too.

Yang retrieved the empty bottle and watched her sister hobble up the stairs to her room. She could barely even grip the doorknob her hands were so sweaty. After multiple failed attempts, she managed to collapse into her room. Crawling forward and kicking the door shut behind her, Ruby slowly started to lose consciousness.

She never made it to her bed.

AN: Yes I know Patch is an island but I'm changing it for convenience

The other chapters are gonna be much longer, this one is just to get things started.

Please tell me if my writing is any good. Feel free to make fun of me mercilessly in the reviews if it's not.

This story won't be updated too frequently due to my busy work schedule. But I'll get to it when I can. But I do promise there won't be a year-long gap between chapters.