I do not own RWBY or any of the images or videos. The art and video belong to their respectful owners, and RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum. May he Rest In Peace.

Somewhere in the depths of the Emerald forest, The Second Narrator slept peacefully in a hammock of their own strings.

They had their fedora draped over their face, despite wearing a mask. Their foot hung off the hammock lazily, as they swung back and forth.

Suddenly the ground began shaking. Trees shook, animals scurried off, and the Narrator fell out of their hammock. Fingers cut off by the wires as they fell face first.

"Ah fuck!" They shouted as their fingers dangled uselessly in the air. "The hell is going on?!"

Suddenly the trees broke apart as a herd of Goliaths strode through the forest. Their tusks knocking down trees and their feet crushing anything below them.

Leading the slow charge, was a great Elder Goliath, its body was a literal walking tank as its body was covered in alabaster white armor.

The giant old Grimm turned to look at the human? Faunus? Person? Narrator lying on the ground.

The two stared each other down, both being reading each other's mind through their eyes.

.

.

.

"Sup, bitch?" The Narrator greeted as they stood up.

The Elder Grimm let out a war cry from their trunk as it prepared to kill the Narrator.

"Yeah, yeah hold up." The Narrator reaches up and plucked their fingers from the strings. They reattached their fingers with Karma as the Goliaths approach.

"Okay, here we go now kiddos!" Their voice called out as they rested back a fist. Their fist burned with Karma as they lunge at the Elder Grimm.

The Narrator tore through the Grimm's body, black blood and gore spilled out as they summoned a ball of plasma in their hands.

They threw the ball at another elephant and the plasma exploded in a fiery ball of death and destruction.

A blue transparent bubble surrounded the area as the tree and bits of the ground rose mid air.

"Come on kiddos, we can't overwhelm the bastard kiddies yet now, can we?" Their eyes burned with a blue glow as the air itself grew heavy.

"Let's play."

~ ~ ~

Valerie walked back home, her left eye black and lip busted.

This was how it was everyday. She left her mom, went to school as a loner, got bullied, and walked back home.

Everyday.

Valerie sighed, as she crossed the street. Why did the universe hate her? Why was she the one that everyone hated? She just wanted to go home and read manga, like Narooto and Two Piece. And watch anime like Our Villain Institution and Two Kick Men.

"HEY KID! WATCH OUT!" A voice called out.

"Hm? Wha-?!"

BEEP! BEEP! SKRRRRRRR! CRASH!

A truck crashed into Valerie knocking the girl away. A terrible crack was heard as her spine was broken. Her blood pooled around her body as people all surrounded her.

Valerie could barely hear voices around her, people were shouting, others were filming, and some didn't even stop to pay attention.

Was this it? Is this how her shitty life ends. Maybe she would live a better afterlife...?

A bright light shined from above, and she could feel her soul leave her body.

~ ~ ~

Valerie's lungs filled with air as her eyes shot open.

Where was she? What happen? Didn't she die?

Okay, okay, take a moment and think.

She had a... weapon? And strange crystals? And Aura?

Memories went through her minds as she understood where she was.

She was in one of her favorite shows! JNPR!

This was her chance to aspire to something! To be something greater than-

"WATCH OUT!" A voice called out.

"Huh-?"

Pyrrha shoves away the girl as a beta Beowolf chases her.

Valerie picks herself up as she turns behind her. What the hell was-?

Several hundred Grimm trample over the girl, claws, paws, hooves, and pincers stomp over the girl. She tries to scream, but her throat is crushed under a hoof.

After the Grimm leave, what's left is a mangled mass of flesh and gore, flattened and grounded. Ha! This ain't no self insert! Not in my story! Ya get isekai'ed in my story I'll isekai your ass into another!

Regardless, Pyrrha ran her ass off as Grimm chased her down. She leaped over a fallen log, the Grimm behind her crushing it.

Dammit! There were far too many, and Pyrrha knew when to fight and when to flee. If she had any ammunition or range weaponry, she'd be able to slow down the monsters, but she's only tiring herself out. She had to find the extraction point.

Ren leaped from tree to tree, his skills and speed allowing him to keep up with the spartan. A Scareqrow flew at him, but he slashed it down like a fruit.

They were running out of time, any later and they may miss the extraction.

Suddenly, very faintly, the sounds of gunfire and shouting could be heard. There were explosions and clanging of weapons as well.

"I can hear them! We're getting near!" Ren shouts as he hops down next to Pyrrha.

"Good! We'll be able to get cover and wait for the bullheads!" Pyrrha throws Miló at a upcoming Boarbatusk. The javelin pierces the monster's skull, and is yanked out as Pyrrha passes by.

Soon the tree line is seen as they approach the clearing. They burst out of the underbrush and are graced with the sight of several huntsmen in training who are currently battling Grimm.

It was chaos, students were dying left and right just as Grimm were.

They were all unorganized and scattered across, everyone trying to protect only themselves.

One student notices the two huntsmen fleeing and runs over. He slings a heavy mini gun as the barrel begins spinning.

"GET DOWN!" He screams as he releases a hellfire at the incoming Grimm.

Unlike Coco's, this mini gun wasn't made to be compact. Ergo, it's heavy, faster, and has a helluva lot more bullets.

The pieces of lead tear through the Grimm's forces, Beowolf, Ursa, Boarbatusk, etc, etc. but despite the increasing death, Grimm continue to charge forward.

The mini gun boy stops his barrage of bullets, his barrel glowing red from the heat.

"Okay then, take this you fuckers!" The boy's gun then shifts and changes as the barrels fold in on themselves. Next, the heat of the barrels is sucked into a single point as the mini gun turns into a giant cannon.

The boy slaps in a Dust cartridge, before charging up his weapon. It lets out a hum as the Grimm grow closer and closer.

"Die!" He shouts as a pure beam of fire shoots out. The concentration of heat cuts through the Grimm like literal butter. The smell of cooking flesh fills the air, as the Grimm are all incinerated into ash.

Soon the canon overheats, and begins to shut down on its own. The Dust cartridge is shat out empty as the canon releases jets of steam.

"Holy shit! Why didn't you do that before?!" A girl asks.

"Because the cool down takes far too long and I only have a certain amount of shots like that." The boy drops his weapon, the heat too strong.

"Besides I-" a Nevermore then swoops in and grabs the boy. The boy screams in pain and fear as the talons dig into his Aura-less body. The Nevermore drops the boy from the sky and he plummets down before splatting against the ground.

"VULCAN!!!" The girl rushes off from the safety of the group and heads over to the boy.

"No wait!" Another boy chases after her but is held back by a blonde boy.

"Stop! Look you'll die out there!" Jaune points out as a murder of Scareqrows fly over to the duo.

"Vulcan! Vulcan! Don't leave me!" The girl sobs as she holds her friend's hands.

He was a mangled mess, blood pooled around him, as most of his bones were crushed, and his spine was not supposed to be like that.

The girl sobs more, as she pulls out a grenade.

"YOU BASTARDS!!!" She screams as she pulls the pin.

But the Grimm reach her first, and the crows begin eating away at her flesh. She's soon swarmed as screams and gurgling came out. The grenade then exploded killing the most of the Grimm.

Jaune cursed under his breath at another life lost. Dammit! Where the hell were the bullheads?! They were getting pick off one by one!

The boy he stopped was then pounced on by a Beowolf. He screamed as the Grimm's claws and jaws tore through his Aura and soon flesh.

Jaune just stood there shook in fear as he simply watched the boy get eaten alive.

When he did snap out of it, he let out a cry before slashing at the Grimm. The sword knocks away the Grimm, but it doesn't kill it.

The Beowolf snarls at the blonde boy and lunges at him, but Jaune blocks the monster, before stabbing his blade into its stomach.

The Grimm fades to dust as Jaune runs over to the boy.

"Hey! Hey! Fuck! Don't, don't die on me!" Jaune shakes the mangled corpse, his hands becoming red.

"Jaune!" A voice calls out.

The blond turns are to see Pyrrha and a green guy run towards him. Pyrrha slashes down a Beowolf, as the green samurai kills it.

"Pyrrha! Oh, thank Oum your safe!" Jaune hugs the red head, momentarily forgetting the boy. "H-have you seen Ruby?!"

"No, I haven't." She confesses. "There were Grimm chasing us, and we didn't have any Aura or ammo. So Ruby left us and the Grimm followed her."

"Yeah, I think I know why. Did she ever meet-"

"Her sister? Yes, she did." Pyrrha finished for him.

"... how bad?" Jaune asks seriousness in his voice. Ruby was more important. More so than the boy who had died already, even if he was the cause.

"She turned off her emotions."

Jaune takes a moment to process what the red head said. On one hand, Pyrrha was safe and most Grimm would be focused on Ruby, but... most Grimm would be focused on Ruby. It's the perfect chance for them to leave, but they can't abandon Ruby!

"Jaune!" Weiss runs over, her hair band had torn leaving her snow white hair flowing out. "We got a signal! The bullheads are coming!"

"That's... good. That's good." Jaune looked to the mini gun, then at Pyrrha. "How long?"

"They said it will be about fifteen minutes. Until then we have to hold out until then."

Jaune took a breath, his hands we're shaking but he clenched them closed. This wasn't the time to have a panic attack here.

"Okay, okay... right." he took a breath to calm himself. "Most of the Grimm are focused on Ruby, but there's still a lot of them making their way over here." he explained to the others and himself. "The Grimm threat is still approaching and... we still have ammo, people, and we have the land to our advantage." People began surrounding the blond, listening to his ranting.

Jaune looks over to their environment. There was a series of cliffs and hills behind them. A natural barrier.  He turns to the forest, there was a good distance of nothing but grass and small rocks until the underbrush.

"The cliff and hills can act as a barrier for our backs, the clearing is great so we can just mow them down." More and more students group around him. "Weiss, do you have any Earth Dust left? We can create small clusters of rocks as a form of barrier to slow down the Grimm."

"I only have a little left, I'm low on everything else." she answers.

"I got some!" a voice calls out.

"Yeah me too!"

"Will Ice do?"

"Did I leave the oven on?"

More and more students group around the blond, everyone of them believing his plan.

Jaune looks among the crowd of students all pitching in to help their survival. He smiles as for a moment he's not in the Emerald forest, but in a storage room with civilians. He blinks away the memories, this wasn't the time for this.

"Right, okay!" he hops onto of a small rock, and cups his hands out.

"Alright everyone, listen!" he shouts gaining everyone's attention. "We have our backs against a wall and a clear open area in front of us! We can mow down any Grimm in our path." More students join the crowd.

"I want all ranged fighter to get to a higher ground to shoot down anything that comes out of those trees, you'll act as support. I want all melee fighters to form a wall around the temple, they will take on any Grimm that get by."

People begin running around, everyone running to their place.

"Anyone with a gun and melee weapon get in the middle of the two, you'll act as support for the front lines. Help each other, we're all in this together!"

"Jaune!" Weiss calls out his name. "You said you needed me?"

"Right!  I want you to make something like Czech hedgehogs. Not too big, but enough so that we won't be overwhelmed. Spread them throughout the clearing, and if you have enough create a line of them around us."

"You got it!"

"Okay, okay." Jaune took another breath, the excitement giving him chills. He looks back to the forest, worry on his face. "Ruby, wherever you are... I hope you're safe."

~ ~ ~

"Hello child." The ivory white woman greeted as the young rose stared up at her.

"What's a young girl such as yourself doing in a place all alone out here?" The woman approached Ruby, seemingly gliding over the ground. Her black dress hid her feet as the woman squat down to the young girl.

"Are you alright?" She asks once again.

Ruby can only nod, her fear keeping her quiet. She did her best to hide her fear, but the woman could easily see through her mask.

"Do not be afraid child, I will not harm you." The woman smiles softly at the young rose, her eyes carrying that same gleam a mother would bear.

Ruby simply shook her head her eyes flickering back to the woods behind her.

The woman noticed the girl's silver eyes, noting how she checked behind her.

"Are you running from someone?" She asks as she stands.

Ruby could only nod before a voice calls out.

"Ruby!!! Where are you?!" The girl flinches at the yell, subconsciously scooting closer to the woman.

"Do you wish to be away from them?" The woman looks down at the girl. Her red eyes gaining a gleam.

Ruby nods once more, her tiny hands clutching the woman's dress.

"Very well, I will take you with me." she smiles. "But in return you will be under my command, I will aid your growth under my guidance, so that you may grow strong and fight those that harm you." The woman gives the girl a calculating look at the girl. Her red eyes neutral awaiting an answer.

Ruby takes a moment to process the offer. Leave the monsters that hurt her? Grow stronger under anyone else other than them? And be able to get her revenge? It was too good to be true, but ultimately Ruby made her choice.

"No." She answers.

"Good then we'll be on our-... excuse me?" The woman is caught off guard at the child's answer. How could she refuse her offer? She'd had been stalking the poor girl with her Grimm, and her 'family' had done nothing but neglect and abuse her! So why?

"I... I said, no." Ruby answers firmly. "I like your oof-, urf-, offer, but... my mommy said that I shouldn't hurt people. I need to be nice even if..." she trails off.

The woman stares down at the young girl, an image of the girl's mother replaced her. And for a moment the woman believed she was the mother, reincarnated. But, Summer C. Rose is dead.

"So, you refuse my offer?" She asks coldly.

"Um, yes." Ruby suddenly gains a feeling of uncertainty and fear from the woman. "I really apree-, like your off-, offer, but I can't-"

"Even after I commanded my Grimm to stop themslves from devouring you? Even after I offered you a proposal some could only dream of?"

Ruby let's go of the woman's dress, her tone becoming similar to that of the monsters.

"You humans never cease to disappoint me. It seems I'll always be right about you no matter what." The Grimm woman's eyes glowed red, a frown on her face.

"U-um, I'm really sorry, but my momma said-"

"Your mother is dead Rose!" The woman's hands grip the girl's throat raising her far above the ground.

"And soon you will be too." The woman's eyes glow red with Karma. A sneer on her "This is your last chance, come with me or die like your mother did."

Ruby struggles to breathe as the woman's hands blocked her breathing. She tapped on the hands several times, her vision fading. The hands then loosened themselves from her throat, but didn't let go. It was just enough for Ruby to breathe and speak.

"Choose your words wisely child."

"Okay, okay, I'll go, but what's your name?" Ruby croaks out, her hand reaching behind her dress. "My mommy told me not to trust a stranger, so if I know you're name we won't be strangers."

The woman simply stares at the girl, suspiscion in her eyes, but she obliges. "I'm glad you made your decision, my dear." The woman sets Ruby down. She squats to her level, giving her that same smile. "My name is Salem. May I ask for yours?"

Ruby grabs her item under her dress, she gives Salem a sweet smile. "My name's Ruby. Ruby C. ROSE!"

Ruby pulls out a sharp piece of metal and stabs it into the woman's eye. Black blood spills out like oil as lets out a scream of pain. Ruby is shoved away by the Grimm woman as she screams out in pain, but soon her body goes limp. The metal had apparently pierced her brain.

Ruby huffs in panic as she tries to calm herself, but the slowly approaching Grimm don't help her.

"S-stay back! I'm not afraid! I-I'm n-not scared! I'm strong!" Ruby squawks out, but she's only lying to herself.

But the Grimm stop their approach as a golden glow takes over. Ruby whips around to see the body of Salem standing, the wound gone.

Instead what stood in its place was a cold furious look from the woman as she approached the young girl. The smell of ammonia filled the air, Salem looked down to see the girl dress was wet.

"Pathetic. You call yourself strong, and yet you coward in fear." She grabs the sharp scrap metal and inspects the tool. "Though I am impressed you managed to kill me, not bad for a little girl."

The piece of metal glows red in heat before it quickly melts and drips onto the ground.

"But what is a child to a queen?" She stops in front of the Rose.

"What is a queen to a god?" She grabs Ruby by her dress and lifts her once more.

"W-what if I don't believe i-in god?" Ruby asks fear clearly present in her eyes, and yet she reach behind her again.

Salem merely narrows her eyes as she wraps a hand around the girl throat again. "Then you are nothing to me." Heat began emitting from the Grimm woman's hand.

Ruby began struggling once again, the heat burning into her skin. She grabbed her other item under her dress and swung her fist at the woman.

But Salem caught the tiny arm. "Did you really believe I would fall for the same-" another arm swung by and a blade slashes across the woman's throat.

Salem dropped the girl and stumbled back, black blood spewed out as she tried to stop the bleeding. She falls to the ground, the sounds of gurgling fill the air.

Ruby picks herself up and tries to run, but the Grimm block her path. She tries to run somewhere else, but they block her path as well. She knew she killed Salem the first time. If she didn't die the first time, she knew she wouldn't die this time as well. She just needed time.

But unfortunately for her a golden glow filled the area. From the ground several Grimm hands reached out and grabbed her. She tried to scream but the air was knocked out from her lungs as she was slammed down.

"You claim to be strong?" Salem's voice was clearly angry as she approached the girl once more. "I have had enough, I offer you an opportunity of several lifetimes and you throw it back into my face." she reaches down and rips off the back of Ruby's dress showing off her bruised and beaten back.

Salem pauses at the sight, but shrugs it off. "I see..." a solemn tone takes her voice. "It is no wonder you decided to run, but..." her hand begin glowing with a burning heat, the heat transferring to her ring.

"What I don't understand, is why you didn't accept my offer!" Salem slams her fist into Ruby's left shoulder. The punch's force didn't hurt as much, Ruby was somewhat used to it. But it was the searing burning heat of the ring that made her scream her lungs out.

Ruby screamed and screamed and screamed. She couldn't even flail around as the Grimm arms kept her completely still. Tears and snot spilled down her face as the heat from the ring seemed to burn even more.

"I won't kill you, no, that'd be far too easy." Salem shoved the ring even further, making Ruby scream out even more. "Instead I'll make sure you are hunted. This brand will attract Grimm of all sorts no matter where you are." she began applying dark magic into the girl's skin.

Somehow, despite screaming at the top of her lungs, Ruby screamed impossibly louder as the magic burned into her. Her throat tore itself apart from the screaming to the point where she couldn't even scream anymore, but she still tried.

"You wanted to be strong, then fight. fight your way through the hoards of Grimm that will come. Let those that you love die as you fail to defend them. Continue to fight until you die Ruby Rose." Salem jerked her hand off the girl's back, some burnt skin sticking to the ring. On the girl's back was a brand burnt into the girl's back, it glowed with a dark purple and red energy before fading away.

"RUBY!!!" a voice shouted out, followed by several gun shots.

But Ruby could barely comprehend anything as she slowly faded from consciousness. All she saw was the red, black, and gold colors blurring around her with muffled shouts.

~ ~ ~

Yang ran through the forest as best as she could. The fires were growing bigger and soon she'd be engulfed by them. She swung Dragkov with one hand, cutting down a Beowolf, but her swing wasn't clean. She held onto Ruby, who was on her back. She had passed out after her fight with the... monster. She didn't know Grimm like that existed, she didn't even know if it was a Grimm.

Yang leaped over a stream, her legs were burning, but she pushed through.

Despite the Ruby scaring off the Grimm, ain't that a story, they had came back with reinforcements. Yang could maybe fight them off, but Ruby was her main priority. She couldn't let her sister die after she just found her! Not while she could do something.

A Boarbatusk charged in from the side, and Yang swung at it. The blade cut into the bone and flesh, and Yang continued to run but was yanked back. She looked back to see Dragkov stuck in the Grimm's corpse.

"Shit!" Yang tries to free her weapon. And that was another thing! The Grimm didn't fade away when they died! Their bodies just stayed there as they very slowly faded away.

Yang yanks her sword out of the Grimm and runs off. She was losing too much time! The Grimm were gaining on them! The extraction point was too far!

Yang searched for a place where they could hold out until then.

There! A cave in the distance! But its blocked!

Yang pushed her legs more as she sprinted to the cave, it would do for now!

Yang clenched her teeth on Dragkov and pulled out Ember Celica. She threw a punch, the specialized round screaming out before exploding. The wall of stone shook as the rocks fell away. Yang took the chance and dove through the opening before more rocks closed the entrance.

"We," huff, "we made it." Yang wills herself to not drop onto the ground. She lets go of Dragkov, the massive blade clanging against the ground, before she slowly sets Ruby onto the ground.

Yang entire back and hair was matted with blood, but she didn't notice. Instead she began rummaging through Ruby's medical bag, hoping to find something to stop the bleeding.

"Come one, come on! There's gotta be something in here! What the hell is 'peenikillin'?" Yang tosses away a bottle of penicillin.

Ruby then coughs out what is probably fatal amounts of blood, but hey, plot.

"Ruby!' Yang rushes over to the red head. "Ruby I-... fuck!" Yang curses as her eyes begin to tear up. "Oum, Ruby! I'm so sorry! I-, I'm sorry I can't help you! I'm sorry that I-, that I-..." tears are now freely pouring from the blonde's eyes as she hug her sister.

"Don't leave me Ruby... Don't don't leave me... I'm... sorry. I'm sorry." Yang pushes her face against her sister's body, muffling the crying.

. . .

A hand then places itself on her hair, blood oozing out. Yang picks her head up to see Ruby glaring up at her.

"Stop... pressing me..." she groans out, her right eye closed.

"Ruby!" Yang jerks off the red head. "You're alive! W-whadda-? Whadda I do? How do I help you?!"

"The bag... pink... crystal..." Ruby groans out, she coughs out more blood that should probably still kill her, but hey, plot armor again.

"Pink crystal, pink crystal got!" Yang runs to the bag and rummages through it. When she does, she pulls out a metal container with Ruby's emblem on it. She opens the canister and a pink glows fills the room. She runs back over to Ruby sliding on her knees.

"Okay okay! Now what?!"

"Crush it." Ruby instructs.

Yang obliges and crushes the pink crystal over Ruby, she spreads the pink dust over the girl's wounds. At first, nothing happens, but a red glow similar to Aura glosses over Ruby. Soon, slowly but surely, the dust stops the bleeding, before healing the wounds.

"Holy shit." Yang watches in fascination as Ruby's body heals slowly. The process is slow, but it doing it damn job. "What is it?"

"It's-" Ruby coughs, no blood coming out. "It's a artificial Dust I created." She takes a breath. "The crystal is white at first, but if you continuously apply Aura to it, it'll store the energy, hence the pink color."

"Cool." Yang replies intelligently.

"Though, the crystal won't store the Aura forever, so I have to continuously apply Aura or use it." Ruby takes a breath, blood no longer filling her lungs. "It only works with the correlating Aura, use the wrong crystal... well," she lets out a chuckle. "haven't figure that out yet."

"I see." Yang nods, happy that her sister wasn't going to die.

The two stayed in a somewhat comfortable silence, the only sounds being the glow of the crystal and the occasional dripping from the cave ceiling.

Soon the Dust crystal faded away, leaving reaper's wounds mostly healed. Ruby slowly sat herself up, her chest wound and muscles aching in pain. Yang reaches out to help her, but Ruby slapped away her hand.

"Don't touch me." Ruby sat up, taking a breath.

"H-hey! I'm just trying to help!"

"I don't need your help. I was fine in my own before, and I was fine before you came."

"What the hell?! I just saved your life!" Yang snaps.

"After you're the one who put it in danger in the first place?" Ruby snaps back. "If you'd hadn't jump in my fight, I wouldn't have been impaled in my stomach." she touches her cheek scars with her tongue and hand.

"I was trying to help!"

"Right, like how you got your ass beat? If so, great job." the red head remarks sarcastically.

"And about that too! How could you just leave me there! I almost died!"

"Shame. Then I suppose we're even, excluding what you did." Ruby evades the question. She walks over to her bag, and shuffled through it, organizing it.

She pulled out a roll of bandages before she applies it on her wounds. She wrapped it around her shirtless chest, her arms, and her stomach. By the time they finished she looked like a partially wrapped mummy.

Yang just growls before punching the cave wall, but soon regretted it as she had no Aura. She curses as she shakes her hand in pain.

Ruby huffs in amusement, popping a pill for the pain. She slung her bag over her shoulder, before picking up Silver's Edge. She compacts the weapon, turning it into its briefcase form. She picks up her assault rifle, wooden sword, and revolver, before walking further down the cave.

She didn't show it, but her body still aches in pain. But it was nothing she hadn't dealt with before.

Yang huffed before picking up Dragkov. She slung it over her shoulder and began following the red head.

"If it feeds your ego, I am grateful for your aid." Ruby states.

"What?"

The Reaper sighs. "Thank you for helping me."

"... you're welcome." Yang replies, before she asked another question. "Why did you go so far to kill those Grimm?"

Ruby momentarily pauses in her step, but continued on.

"Grimm are attracted to me. If I fled they would have followed." She states vaguely.

"...why?"

"I have a brand on my back that attracts them. It also slows their metabolism, so that they don't fade immediately."

"... why?" Yang asks again. Ruby stops herself from sighing, knowing the blonde was trying to irritate her.

"Grimm can regenerate lost mass by consuming the corpses. They become stronger, faster, more violent, all to kill me."

"Why?" Her eye twitches.

"... that's none of your concern."

"Why?" Ruby turns to face Yang, her silver eyes neutral but not dead.

"Because you aren't involved. And because you aren't involved, you aren't significant. And because you aren't significant, you don't deserve to know anything. And because you don't know anything, you're either pawn for me to use or an obstacle in my way." Ruby turns away, leaving the blonde frozen in shock.

"Ruby, wait up!" Yang chases after the red head. She follows the light until she sees a hole in the side of the cave.

She stops dead in her tracks when she sees several Grimm all surrounding the hole. Yang grabs her Dragkov ready to fight, until she notices the Grimm don't attack. They just stare.

"What...?" Yang slowly passes by the hole, never taking her eyes off the Grimm. Her back presses against something and she whips around, ready to swing. Until she notices it was Ruby.

"Oh hey, Ruby... you scared me! Listen, I know I did some really bad stuff and... hey are you even listening?" The blonde taps on the girl's shoulder, but she doesn't respond.

Yang walks around Ruby to see her staring at something further in the cave. She follows her line of sight and well she can't even explain what she sees.

It looks to be some sort of shrine of worship. A great old, old temple. There's a black torii with white and red markings. The stone is cracked, and the pillars are weathered. The stairs are broken and there's a red ash floating out of the cracks and holes.

Up the stairs, the shrine has a small statue of what looks to be a humanoid with no sets of any features. No face, no genitals, no muscles or any of the sort, but the shape of it is vaguely male. It kneels in a resting position, while the two statues that accompany it are broken and missing.

The area around it is dead and barren, but in the center in a small pot is a small delicate blue flower. Glowing in the dark.

"Whoa..." is all Yang can say. There's a vague sense of warning she's getting from her instincts, but they're drown out by a feeling of negativity welling up inside her.

'Why do I feel so... angry?' Yang takes a step forward, a feeling of hatred and anger overtaking her.

'It's that shrine... I, I don't like it. It's so... horrible!' Yang walks faster climbing up the steps. She pulls out Ember Celiac, a round loading in. She pulls back a fist preparing to destroy the statue.

"Stop!" Ruby shouts out. "Don't destroy it!"

Yang whips her head to Ruby, her eyes already burning red. "What?! What is it?!" She snaps her voice unusually angry.

"Don't destroy the statue! There's... there's something not right about it." Ruby cluthes her brand, her nails dig into skin. The brand was burning with a pain she'd never felt with any Grimm. In fact, it hurt so bad she was bleeding!

"Why does that matter?!" Yang turns to face Ruby. "This... this thing is wrong, right?! So we need to get rid of it!"

"Xiao Long, I know you're nothing but a pathetic mass of flesh less than that of a Neanderthal but for the sake of yourself don't break that fucking statue!" Ruby shouts her brows furrowing.

A silence rein between the two, before Yang responded.

"I always thought you were a worthless piece of shit." She insults.

"... what?" Ruby jerks her head up at the blonde.  She knew something was wrong, but everyone has their limits. Her eyes sparked with Red Karma, her wounds healed slightly, but it mainly focused on her fists.

"Yeah, you always were an annoying fucker, always crying at every single thing." Yang begins walking down the stairs. "It's make sense cause your whore of a mom fucked our uncle-"

Ruby shot herself at the blonde and drove her fist forward.

But Yang parries the fist, and sucker punches the girl.

Ruby's sent flying, but Yang grabs her cloak and yanks her forward for another punch.

The Reaper coughs out saliva, but she grits her teeth. She glares at the blonde her eyes burning red before she shoots forward.

She bounces off the walls like a spring, gaining more and more momentum before launching herself at the blonde.

Yang pulls out Dragkov and swings at the red head, but her blade just phases through the roses.

Ruby lands behind Yang before launching her head into the blonde's back.

Yang shouts out in pain as both she and Ruby are sent across the cave.

She gets up and sends a glare at the red head, who stares down at the blonde.

Yang screamed as she swung Dragkov, before throwing it at Ruby.

Ruby leaped over the flying blade, before she realized where it was heading. But when she did it was too late.

BOOM!

The mass of metal crashed into the stone statue. The figure broke apart into several pieces, apparently hollow.

When the dust settled, what was left was a hollow stone statue with a black sludge leaking out.

At this point Yang had snapped out of her trance and fell to her knees.

"Ugh, what... what happened?" She groaned out, before a knee crashed into her face.

"You bloody idiot!" Ruby shouted, her face red in rage. She turned to the statue noting how more and more sludge poured out despite the statues size.

The sludge then rose up taking a very vague shape of the upper half of a humanoid. It fell down its 'body' failing to form.

Ruby's brand burned even more to the point of bleeding. She turned around and prepared to run away, but she stopped remembering Yang.

If she left her, she would die(yay!), but if that sludge is anything like the Grimm shoggoth(aw shit!). Dear Oum, what a pain.

Dammit! Stupid dilemma! Why couldn't she left Yang to die without the consequences biting her in the ass?!

Yang groaned as she tried to pick herself up, until she felt arms help her up.

"Ruby?" She moaned out, ugh she felt like absolute shit fuck.

"Shut the hell up. Why couldn't you have used a smaller sword?" Ruby complained as she dragged both Dragkov and Yang through the cave.

As they approached the broken cave exit, a Grimm sniff around smelling humans. Until its face was blown off with a sawed off.

Ruby fires the other shell killing it, before reloading it. She fires both shells at another Grimm, before slashing down a Grimm with her wooden sword.

Yang stumbles out, Dragkov in her back, before Ole' Reliable was tosses at her.

"Come on we have to go." Ruby sheathes her sword. "I'm not responsible if you can't keep up."

"Yeah, yeah." Yang shakes her head, before expanding Ember Celica.

A deafening roar was then let out from the depths of the cave. It was so strong that it shook the cave and the ground.

The two girls turn to each other before running off.

Another roar was let out as several Grimm began converging into the cave. The Grimm ignore the two girls, something they took advantage of.

After a several moments, a black clawed hand grips the edge of the cave, before a set of markings glow from the darkness/

6,324 words excluding the disclaimer and Author's Note. I am open to criticism and opinions.

So, looks like Jaune has a traumatic event just like Ruby, and probably everyone else in this story! Nah, not really.

I feel like this chapter was a bit rushed and/or crappy. Almost like hey, i just need to get this done to advance. maybe I used all my brain juice on that last chapter. Regardless, exams are approaching any I won't have as much time to work on the chapters. I'll still try to post every week, but no promises.