Ruby walked into the city of Orario, the bustle feeling familiar; so this was the town where gods lived? If she was going to find her team, it was going to be here. The last thing of Remnant that she remembered was falling off the bridge.

Gods. Ruby could hardly believe it, as she slipped through the crowd with her hood on. What were they like? Were they as cruel and careless as Light and Darkness could be? They took people in, made them their "children", so they couldn't be all bad, right?

Where to first?

Probably to get Crescent Rose fixed, the blade had broken considerably in the fall, and the barrel was beyond saving.

That's why she had been relying on one of Penny's stone swords to kill monsters and make money as she approached Orario.

Penny…

Another spadeful of dirt on the grave. Of Mantle, of Atlas, of Vale. Of Pyrrha.

Gods, she was tired…

Actually, when was the last time she slept?

Ruby continued through the city until she found a smithy, stepping inside. A young man was hammering away at a sword, and he looked up eyes widening as he took her in.

"Can I help you?"

"I need a new blade forged for my scythe," Ruby said tiredly, unfolding Crescent Rose. The man's eyes widened as he stared at the chipped scythe.

"That'll cost you a pretty penny," Ruby hid her flinch at the turn of phrase, laughing sheepishly.

"I don't… I don't have any money…" Ruby said dejectedly, having spent it on food, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Then I'm sorry, but I can't help you, as much as it would be interesting working on a commission for such a… Unique weapon."

"I can work!" Ruby blurted out, "Twenty, thirty, even forty commissions, or delving the dungeon! Please, I really need to get Crescent Rose fixed."

"You're a smith yourself?"

"My school taught us to forge our own weapons," Ruby said.

The man chewed his cheek, thinking visibly, before finally saying, "Twenty, and I'll lend you my forge to make a new blade. That's the best I can do."

"Ok," Ruby said, nodding rapidly and taking off her cloak, hanging it on a wrack and grabbing a heavy leather apron from it, "Where do I start?"

"How about with a name?" The man said.

"Oh, I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose."

"Jerod," the man said, "come on, let's get you to work. On a trial piece, make sure you're up to snuff on fhe quality I expect, otherwise this deal will never work out."

—

Jerod walked out of his house a week later, watching the girl glow with red energy, inserting the almost completely forged sword into the forge and letting the energy flow into the flames.

The girl pulled out the glowing hot blade, gripping the hammer and letting the red energy flow around it. She began to hammer away, pulling the blade out into a longer form as she did so. The process repeated itself over and over again, heat, hammer, heat, the aura of energy visibly flowing into the forming blade as she did so.

Jerod couldn't help himself, he asked, "Hey, girl?"

"Hmm?" she said without stopping.

"You part of any Familia?"

Ruby paused at that, just for a second, before continuing, "No."

"You ever thought about joining one?"

"No."

"You should. They'll help you a lot. And considering you were willing to go dungeon diving to get that scythe of yours fixed, you could use the help. If that sword turns out good enough, I could use some connections I got to get you in with the Hephaestus Familia."

"Connections?"

"I'm a member myself," Jerid admitted, briefly turning around and lifting his shirt to reveal the twin swords crossing a volcano that marked him as a child of Hephaestus, "We're always looking for fresh blood. And, while I don't want to sound like I'm blackmailing you into it, I'll cut the number of swords you need to make me in half. Familia gotta help each other out, you know?"

Jerod watched Ruby worry her lip, before saying, "I don't know, I'm going to have to leave eventually…"

"That happens," Jerod shrugged. It was true, while most Familia clung together, occasionally members drifted away and asked their Goddess to let them go, either so they could join another Familia or to retire completely.

"Then… I guess," Ruby said with a sigh, heating the blade a final time before quenching it, pulling it out with a satisfied nod. She picked up one of the ready-made hilts and began to gently hammer it in place, before going to the grinding wheel and beginning to rhythmically push her foot on the pedal to get it moving, grinding an edge onto the blade before handing the finished project to Jerod. He looked it over, examining the sword. It was damn near perfect. Some minor imperfections, but that was to be expected from a girl relatively new to the forge.

"Alright," he said, "Come with me."

—

Hephaestus was hammering away at her newest work, neck length red hair pulled into a tight ponytail to keep it from getting involved in her progress. A knock came from the door, and Tsubaki stepped in, the eyepatched women staring at each other.

"What did you need?"

"It's Jerod, he brought someone who wants to become part of the Familia," Tsubaki said, brushing a bit of hair out of her face. Hephaestus put down her hammer, following Tsubaki out and finding a girl with hair just barely shorter than Hephaestus's own, tarnished silver eyes and wearing a strange outfit for a smith, a skirt, bodice and arm length fingerless gloves. Hephaestus would admit, her interest was piqued, especially after the girl held out a sword for her to take.

The blade was alive, in some ways. It had a soul, which was something that Hephaestus associated with only the best smiths, so how had a novice, and this was a novice's sword, done it?

"Come with me," she said gruffly, and the girl followed her into her private quarters, "What's your story…?

"Ruby."

"Ruby. I can tell you have a story about you."

"I… I don't think I'm from this world."

Hephaestus raised an eyebrow, "That's a strange thing to say; why do you say that?"

"In my world, there were monsters called Grimm," Ruby admitted, "They overran most of the world. Travel from one location to another was dangerous, even by air. It wasn't like here, where you might come across a goblin or two along the way to Orario. And there was no city called Orario, we only had a few cities, and none of them in the open as much as Orario."

"I see. Then why do you want to join my Familia?"

"I," tears began to fall, "I wanted to protect that world, but… Everything I did just seemed to make things worse. I-I can't, I don't…"

Hephaestus reached out and patted the girl on the back, letting her cry.

"I kept losing friends," she said finally, quiet sobs still coming through, "I just want to… I just want to stop… Even if it's for a bit, I want to just… Not to have the weight of the world on my shoulders. The dungeon, it's not going to destory the world, and smithing… It'll let me just forget about that…"

"I see. Show me your back."

Ruby did so, undoing her bodice and lifting her shirt, showing light scars on her back. This was a fighter, she could tell. Drawing a dagger, she pricked her finger and let a drop of blood fall on Ruby's back.

The drop engraved Hephaestus's Flana on Ruby's back, her stats appearing alongside the the twin swords over a volcano.

Strength I0

Endurance I0

Dexterity I0

Agility I0

Magic I0

Skills:

Petal Burst: The ability to turn into rose petals, increasing agility significantly.

Auraic Blacksmith: The ability to infuse her Aura, soul, into anything she smiths.

Hephaestus hummed, before saying, "welcome to the Familia, Ruby. Now, why don't you go to the guild and mark yourself as a Adventurer, then test that sword you made in the dungeon. What do you normally use to fight?

"Normally? This," Hephaestus felt her jaw drop as Ruby pulled a box that unfolded into a giant scythe off her back, before saying dejectedly, "She's damaged though, so I can't use her right now."

"Let me see it- her- I'll do my best to fix the blade."

"It's not just the blade, it's also the barrel," she said.

Barrel? Like… A cannon? She had a miniature cannon in her weapon?

Oh, they were going to great things together once she got a chance to pick Ruby's mind for advanced engineering.

—