Ruby was going to explode.

In a literal sense she was just too full of excitement, any more and she would end up popping just like a balloon. Ruby just couldn't believe it, first the fight with the fancy villain and seeing Cinder and then being given all those tasty… what were they called again? Cookies? Yah cookies. After being given all those cookies she had also just been invited to Beacon! The very place that she had been trying to get into!

Mom was going to be so proud! Maybe there were more head pats in her future? Oh she certainly hoped so, her canine side certainly enjoyed it that was for sure. Even the stars would probably enjoy getting their heads patted every once in a while.

The night had gotten far colder, the only warmth available to Ruby was the cloak draped over her shoulders. Clinging to it subconsciously she continued walking down the dark street, the lamps flickering with a dying light. This was presumably the much dirtier part of Vale, and it certainly smelled like it. The filth that seemed to fill the very air, unwashed bodies and the scent of dried blood.

Blood. Normally such a smell would excite her, get adrenaline flowing and make her hands itch to grab Crescent Rose. This isn't a battle though, so the only thing it actually brought to mind was disgust.

This city needed to be cleansed, in more ways than one. First perhaps a proper scrubbing, but also the purging of those who creeped in this night and defiled the stars' gazes. She could hear it, their words, their actions. How desperately Ruby desired to give into the song of Grimm, to bask in its ever growing darkness.

Their words were so enticing. Ruby could do it, end all of the corruption right now and kill those whose moral compass was clearly off the rocker. This was not the time however, she had a job that required her attention more than the creation of a few corpses. Besides, leaving a trail of bodies would only bring on unwanted attention from the authorities and possibly Ozpin.

Although… Tasting the tang of blood and releasing just a little bit of the ever growing pressure being built up by the Grimm within her, it was almost enough to make her want to rampage just a little despite the risks. Ruby dug her fingers into her arm, taking a shaking breath before reasserting control over her emotions. She needed to keep moving. The melody could wait.

One particularly boarded up two story building drew the wolf girl's attention. This was it, the meeting spot. She had almost lost her way in all the excitement earlier, but this is where she was supposed to go to relay her information. It wasn't particularly hard for Ruby to get in, there was a set of boards that had a gap just large enough for her to squeeze into.

The inside of the building was rather barren, a bit of trash here and there but empty nonetheless. It was perfect. Clearing her throat and walking up the stairs Ruby was greeted by a familiar site, or rather a familiar creature.

A dark jellyfish of sorts revealed itself to Ruby, drifting closer until it met her in the center of the room. Only then did it shimmer, its surface changing until the black mist lifted to reveal the beloved face of her dearest mother. Her stark white face and deep obsidian eyes were so familiar and welcoming to the wolf girl, she could hardly contain herself.

"Ruby… my darling… you have something to report?" Salem's voice was soft and sweet, flowing so smoothly that it almost felt like she had practiced the line. The Grimm, the seer, reaching out with its thin tentacles and embracing the girl in a sort of hug.

"Yes mother, I have much to tell you about" Ruby beamed, hugging the Grimm in return as if she was hugging Salem herself. Speaking of Salem the woman smiled warmly at her adopted daughter, her eyes although usually fierce held a sort of proud glow to them. "I have been invited to attend Beacon Academy!"

There was a moment of silence as Salem's eyes widened and the tentacles froze, she could hardly believe her ears! Ruby? Invited to attend one of the most prestigious huntress academy's in the world? What was Ozpin thinking!

Ruby recounted the events which had taken place not hours ago, perhaps exaggerating a few parts but for the most part she kept to the truth and the straight story. All the while Salem nodded, her eyes never leaving her beloved daughter's face through the Seer's surface. Ruby didn't quite understand her mothers silence nor her expression, it almost looked as if her mind was elsewhere.

The girl didn't particularly mind it, after all her mother was trying to unite all of humanity. The Grimm and all the deaths were simply a means to an end, if the people just stopped resisting there would be no need for more violence. The Grimm honestly weren't all that bad, Ruby got along with them fine.

"Ruby you will need to be careful, Ozpin will surely be keeping a close eye on you. Especially since you've already caused a scene in his kingdom" Ruby paused her nuzzling on the Seer, although she didn't really know if it cared or not that she was rubbing against its surface.

"Gotta be careful! Gotcha! That means noooo physical transformations!" The girl nodded her head in an almost way too energetic manner. A small laugh sounded from the Seer, Salem quickly covering her mouth to hide her reaction to her daughter's puppy-like nature.

"Yes my darling gem, if you are discovered I am quite certain that Ozpin will attempt to have you killed, and we can't have that… Arthur will be arriving in Vale in roughly a week to give you some much needed supplies for this new development."

"Alright… Well that's all I have to report mom!"

"You have done well my little wolf, keep in touch however always be wary of your surroundings. I would not put it past Ozpin to have one of his insufferable agents follow you. Keep an eye out for crows… they are his eyes" Ruby nodded, bowing to the Seer and her mother as it retreated. The connection blurring before finally dissipating into the mists of darkness that was the floating jellyfish.

Silence fell once more, only broken by the occasional creaking of the building's foundations. Orientation for Beacon Academy didn't start for a few weeks so there was time to get familiarized with the rest of the city.

The cold night only made itself more known as an icy wind blew through the gaps in the boarded up windows. Shivering just a little, Ruby made her way over to a relatively clean corner, clean being a loose term since this entire building could probably require a fair amount of bleach dowsing and heavy scrubbing.

She wrapped herself in her cloak, the interior lined with fur taken from wolves. It was warm and seemed to envelop her in a kind of fluffy cloud. Sighing happily the wolf girl curled herself up in the cloak, utilizing an arm as a pillow and soon drifted off to pleasant dreams.

These dreams were filled with days spent running with the Grimm, memories of when she was younger. Her laughter echoing throughout the valley as little legs tried their absolute hardest to keep up with the much larger forms of the Beowolves.

Those days were gone but they still were fresh in her mind, the smells and sounds. All of it was still there, and the Grimm were such playful creatures as her mother had shown her. Many of her younger years had been playing with the Grimm, often getting a little scraped up but still having a blast all the same.

While these dreams and memories were pleasant they left her with a bittersweet taste when she awoke the next day. A sense of longing so to speak. She missed the valley which she had grown up in, the black bubbling pools and dim crystal growths.

The sun was rather rude today, shining directly in her face and upsetting Ruby so much that she didn't even have the patience to roll over and try to fall back to sleep for five more minutes.

Sitting up she smacked her lips at the stale taste of morning breath… bleck… Ruby shook her head a bit to chase the clouds of sleep which clung to her still and stretched. The soft click of bones returning to their rightful positions was always a satisfying one, especially after resting on such a hard floor with only her cloak to cushion her. Hopefully beacon had beds… wait… had humans invented the bed yet!

Panic took Ruby over as she imagined a world where the ground was her only place of rest. And then she realized how stupid she was being… of course humanity had made beds! Geez she could be so dumb sometime!

Yawning she stood up and walked over to the window, the streets were much busier then they had been the night before. Even if this was the unsavory portion of the city, life still seemed to flourish in the filthy streets.

A few minutes later Ruby was walking the rather smelly streets. Vehicles hurtling by and spewing nasty fumes as they went. They almost made her want to throw up with her enhanced sense of smell making it a hundred times worse. She wasn't even able to single out individual scents anymore, it was an overwhelming feeling that made her audibly whine a bit and cover her nose. Breathing through her mouth was the only option left.

Now she could practically taste it, Ruby just wanted to throw up now and then burn down the entire block. Resisting the urge to hurl she continued on her way block by block, taking in all the sights as her surroundings started getting… well… nicer.

The roads appeared to be well maintained and the amount of people living in boxes and alleyways had diminished significantly. It also didn't reek nearly as much as earlier, although Ruby still refused to breathe through her nose yet. The people around here were also dressed much nicer, a few pointing at her as if she was the weird one here.

It didn't make sense to her for people to wear flimsy cloth that wouldn't hold up in a fight. Ruby's own clothing had been covered in leathers and light steel plating for added defense while not weighing enough to cut into her agility. So to her all of these people with their tiny skirts and small shirts were just people asking to be killed if something did happen.

Wandering around had its benefits for someone gathering intelligence on a city. It often revealed much about its inhabitants and law enforcement as well as the general security of shops and homes. It appeared to her that the response time for members of the police was far too slow to stop any major incursions, evidence being the dust robbery the night prior. The fight had been quick but with all the noise no one had shown up until long after everything had been concluded.

Something else of note was the fact that criminals appeared to have access to advanced technology and vehicles capable of air travel. How one was able to obtain such a thing… well Cinder had probably had something to do with it since she appeared to be the one who had driven it to aid in the fancy thieves escape. Alright so she couldn't shit on the city for criminal air traffic but there were plenty of other things she could in fact say.

Such as the three separate murders she heard when entering the city, one of which had been quite messy. A small flare of irritation rumbled deep in her mind, a reminder that thinking of the negative wasn't the best thing to do right now. Especially since she was trying to keep a low profile and find some food. Just one slip up was all it would take for Ruby's acceptance into Beacon to be revoked and her mission to be a complete failure.

Caught up in all the analytic thinking and analyses, Ruby turned a corner rather abruptly without looking where she was going only to almost run into a short old lady attending to her flower stand. Stumbling back just a bit she fidgeted nervously when the elderly woman set her piercing blue eyes on her.

"Hmmm? Oh hello dear, come for a flower?" Gone was her intense look and now replaced with a kind gaze, although Ruby was still a bit confused by the sudden transition. The woman in question was rather short, her back hunched with the weight of many years that could be seen embedded in her face.

"Well no I was just walking by…" Ruby was interrupted by a low growling sound emanating from the down direction. Embarrassed, she tried to divert attention away from her grumbling stomach however two fluffy gray fox ears popped up from the old woman's seeming mass of gray and white hair. A Faunus?

"Hmmm sounds to me like you haven't eaten anything yet, well neither have I but I have some bread that should be done in just a few minutes. Why don't you join me?" Without even bothering to wait for Ruby's answer, the woman abruptly turned around and hobbled her way towards a door almost hidden amongst the many flowers.

This was not at all what she had expected to happen this morning. Was this normal for the people of Vale? To be invited into random people's homes for breakfast? Curiosity bloomed inside of the wolf girl as she peered past the plants and into the building, the old woman beckoning for her to follow.

With no other option, and mostly so that she didn't appear to be rude, Ruby followed after her, making sure as to not brush any of the delicate petals off of the plants as she went. The inside of… well Ruby could only assume that this was the old woman's home. The inside was clean and absolutely chock full of plants, all manner of plants as well, not just flowers.

"Well hopefully this is enough, I wasn't expecting guests today" Seemingly appearing from thin air, the old fox woman was humming and limping her way to a small table dominated by a particularly large fern. In her hands was a small plate with a fresh loaf of bread, some butter, a knife, and two glasses of water.

"Thank you" It wasn't normal for Ruby to be shy but she also had not expected to be invited to a random old person's home and offered breakfast. Actually she had honestly been planning to steal something from the market later once it got busier thus dividing the shop owner's attention.

"So… you must be new to the area, I haven't seen you here before, or at least in the community that is"

"The community?" Ruby was almost hesitant to ask as she sat down across from the old woman, who proceeded to cut the bread and offer her a slice. The smell was tantalizing, almost drooling as she accepted the piece and the butter it came with. It wasn't so much that it tasted good as much as it was the texture that surprised her.

The bread was fluffy yet firm, the crust containing all the goodness of the world and presenting itself with a golden brown hue. Add the butter and it only enhanced the experience more so by giving it a moist salty flavor. Ruby's tail began to wag violently behind her, although it was rather awkward thanks to the chair. This elicited a chuckle from the old woman and a blush from the owner of said tail.

"Oh yes the Faunus community, you must really be from out of town if you don't even know about it. Ah i'm getting ahead of myself, I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Abigail, but feel free to call me Ma" Abigail took a bite of her own slice, humming happily as she swayed in her seat.

"Yah, I only arrived a few days ago. My name's Ruby, and… thanks for the food."

"But of course dear, we Faunus have to look out for each other. No one else will if we don't. So what's a young girl like you doing traveling in a new city dressed like that? I've only seen hunters and huntresses flaunt their styles like you do"

"Well I am trying to become a huntress, I've been accepted into Beacon recently and school doesn't start for a few more weeks so I thought it might be best to familiarize myself with the city." This caused Abigail to pause her slathering of butter on another slice of bread. She brought her ghostly blue eyes up to meet Ruby's silver, remaining silent for a few moments before speaking again.

"A huntress you say? Well I suppose that is a rather important career that requires many able bodied individuals, have you considered perhaps lending your skills to your fellow Faunus? I can think of many who would be desperate for the chance to learn from someone who had been accepted into Beacon"

"What's wrong with being a Huntress? Wouldn't I be doing the same thing anyways?"

"No, there is a very distinct difference between Human huntresses and Faunus huntresses that I don't think you will be happy to know" Abigail set down the knife and took a bite of her bread. Seeming lost in thought for a few moments this gave Ruby time to actually study the elderly woman.

Her wrinkled hands were lined with scars from years of work and experience. These faint lines rose up her arms before vanishing into her sleeves. Long graying hair was tied back in a messy sort of bun, three distinct letters could be seen burned into her skin near her collar on the right side. Although faded with time and healing, Ruby could still see the three distinct letters that had been left.

S.D.C.

Someone had scarred this woman a long time ago, and was probably the culprit of the numerous old burns that Ruby was now able to identify scattered across her feet and lower legs. Something began to boil inside the wolf girl as she tried to imagine what kind of people would even do this kind of thing, much less entertain the idea of burning letters into people.

Ruby admitted that she herself could be very violent at times and wasn't afraid to have peoples blood stain her hands, however scarring people for life and then forcing them to live with those scars and memories was not something she approved of.

"I'm sorry I appear to have been lost in thought… Where was I?" Abigail's voice startled Ruby enough for her anger to diminish to a pile of smoldering embers. Clearing her throat the girl responded, although her excitement had been severely diminished.

"You were telling me about the clear difference between Humans and Faunus in the huntress world" There had been one thing that Ruby had not yet corrected that the old woman had just been assuming. By all technicalities, Ruby was not a Faunus. She technically also wasn't a human. The closest comparison that could be made to another species would either be Salem or the Grimm.

"The humans believe that they can continue to ignore the plights of the Faunus people as long as it does not directly affect them. Any requests we make for assistance from hunters and huntresses is usually sent to the bottom of an ever growing list moderated by the police. Faunus hunters are also often looked down upon as inferior and refused service or payment on completion of freelancer business, they also get paid less per completed commission."

The words sank in slowly, like bricks disappearing below the surface of a puddle. None of this made sense to Ruby, equality should be easy! At least that's what she had thought. Something had to be done! Why isn't anyone doing anything! She hadn't been taught this, had not known about the state of the world before being sent here. All she knew was how to fight, how to survive, not how to navigate a racial struggle between two parties.

It was infuriating, this feeling of not knowing everything. Ruby wanted to be able to understand, to be able to tell Abigail that she was sorry for everything that was happening. But it wasn't her place to do this, she didn't have the right. Ruby wasn't even a Faunus! Sensing the struggle to understand from the young woman, Abigail sighed before giving her a tired smile.

"Don't fret, child, if you do become a huntress I'm sure that you will be a great example that we are not an inferior race. I've known quite a few warriors who were very much like you several years ago and now their leading the equal rights movements all across the world" This brought some comfort to Ruby, but still it wasn't enough to douse the whispering voices of Grimm which feasted upon the negative emotions that dwelt within her. "You'll find your path soon enough. The world is a very dark place but every now and then there come people bright enough to chase away the monsters that hide in the shadows. I've seen it before, and I believe it will happen again"

The voices coiled and spoke sweet nothings in her ears, like snakes they tried to twist and squirm their way into cracks that formed in her mental state. Pushing her to act, promising power to vanquish enemies that were not even here. It only took a second for Ruby to shut them out, still it shocked her how easily this part of her had risen up in response to the things Abigail was telling her.

Her hands curled into fists, shaking ever so slightly as she took several calming breaths. This was dangerous, but so was everything. Every fight, every conversation, everything required emotion or affected them in some way. A constant battle between two wolves was residing within Ruby. one which desired the consciousness to make her own actions, and the other which often tried to wrestle for control and watch everything burn.

"Thank you… for the bread, and for talking with me this morning. I've learned a lot" She lifted her head, smiling warmly at the elderly fox woman. Abigail returned it, standing slowly and walking over to the seated Ruby.

"My child, it was just bread and the ramblings of an old woman. I should be thanking you for keeping me company, it's been a very long time since someone has joined me for breakfast." clasping both of Ruby's hands in her own, Abigail pressed a small metal object into her hands. "Something to remember me by, now would you like a flower before you go? I've probably taken up quite a bit of your time"

"A rose please?" Ruby bowed her head in thanks as she watched the old woman hobble off and disappear among the many flowers and plants that populated her home. Looking down at her hand she wondered what had Abigail possibly given her?

Silvery metal glinted in her hand, a pendant fixated and swinging from a chain. It was the head of a wolf, three distinct scratches could be seen carved into the surface but not quite a part of the original design. It was very well done, beautiful craftsmanship.

"Alright now, here you go, it's quite a find really. Usually the Roses don't bloom this early but I managed to coax one out early" Abigail returned holding what could only be considered as the most vivid red rose that Ruby had ever seen, although she hadn't seen that many before. Its petals almost looked like they had been dipped in blood given how rich the color was.

"Thank you… it's beautiful" Ruby breathed, gently grasping the stem before pulling it close.

"Ah it's nothing dear, now go on I'm sure you have lots you need to do today" Abigail saw Ruby to the door, waving goodbye as the wolf girl walked down the street before vanishing behind a passing crowd of rowdy high schoolers. Kids these days, always so noisy with their 'hip' slang and whatnot.

Ruby felt like there had been so much she had failed to ask, so much she had wanted to know. There were of course things she would need to discover and change herself. She needed to remind herself that Salem had a plan, to unite all the artifacts and bring humanity into a new age. To build a utopia. It was Ruby's job to help her, her desire, her mission!

Still, it felt like… she could do more to help right now. To help those like Abigail. Maybe she could?

Hello sorry for the late chapter everyone

Funny story, this actually wasn't meant to be the second chapter, and I mean none of this. The meeting with Salem was material for a backstory and Abigail was something that I had actually just pulled out of a notebook that happened to be sitting on my desk at the time.

I did have a fun time writing her however, almost reminded me of Maria. ah well their both old.

anyways as always I love hearing your thoughts on the chapters, which I know will not always be the best, this is a writing exercise after all.

Have a great day everyone and ill see you next Wednesday for chapter three, well at least ill certainly try to post then haha.