Chapter Text
“Not where, but when you’ll be needed most.” Ruby smiled, watching her team and Jaune enter the gateway. She turned back to the Blacksmith.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” With that, Ruby turned back and stepped through.
But as Ruby stepped through, she didn’t see any of her friends. It seemed to be a… city? The concrete she stood in felt like any other she had seen, but the city felt wrong.
The alley she was in felt fairly similar to those in Mantle, but the cars she saw at the end looked far too different. She couldn’t sense that everpresent scent of Dust that existed in every city she’d lived in. The cars were using some other propellant that felt far dirtier, small tufts of smoke coming from each one.
Almost on instinct, she pulled up her hood and began to make her way onto the street. As she got out in the open, she was suddenly assaulted by so much… humanity? In the distance, huge towers reached into the sky, similar to Atlas, the only difference is how far they really were from her.
Atlas and Vale are easily the largest cities on Remnant, and both combined wouldn’t even be half the size of this place.
The next thing she noticed was the crowds. There were just so many people everywhere! How had this place not been destroyed by Grimm? No one was carrying weapons, no stores sold them, she couldn’t find so much as a police station!
Then… a scream. No matter what city she was in, the Grimm were always at least something to keep in mind. Had the defenses already been overwhelmed?
Without giving it a second thought, she used Crescent Rose to hook herself onto the side of a building. Kicking upward, she managed to reach the top, somehow without using Aura. Another yelp gave her a better direction, letting her fire off toward the action.
—
“P-please- I- my m-mom needs me, just let me go-“ But this… thing didn’t care. The monstrous, quadrupedal form of the curse simply continued advancing, claws bearing back. The man closed his eyes, silently saying his final prayers.
But instead of death, he heard a loud squelch. When he opened them, it was to a… teenager. She had a hood up, but her face was undeniably young. That didn’t matter nearly as much as the giant scythe currently embedded in that monster’s head, purple blood spewing from the wound.
She said something, but he barely registered it. After a few seconds to properly comprehend that he was still alive, he managed speaking again.
“I-I don’t speak English, Japanese?”
The girl tilted her head, quirking an eyebrow. She said something else, but again it was in English. Before he could even think of getting out a translator app, he heard a very faint scream.
The girl’s head snapped toward it, she gave a wave and bowed her head, then she was just… gone. A trail of rose petals followed her path up between the buildings, slowly falling to the ground.
—
Petal Burst felt… weird. It certainly never felt ‘normal’, she loved that tingly feeling and the almost electric sensation of moving in it, but it felt different than normal. She didn’t move faster, nothing was wrong.
And that… what she had rationalized as a very, very strange Grimm also hadn’t dissolved like Grimm normally did. She pulled out her scroll mid sprint, of course there isn’t a connection because that would be too easy, but that wasn’t why she checked.
Aura Remaining: 0%
That couldn’t possibly be right. She had just used Petal Burst, her Aura hadn’t broken. Of course her scroll was broken, too. Her musing was cut short as the second scream’s originator was revealed. This time a woman, probably about 40 or so.
But this ‘Grimm’ was even stranger. It was blue, with at least 14 arms and only 3 legs. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a Grimm. But that didn’t matter, there was still a woman in the crossfire. She stomped down, slamming the end of Crescent Rose into the monster.
This time, however, it didn’t die. Instead, the creature reached up and grabbed her arm, hurling her to the side. Ignoring the pain, she stood up and reclaimed Crescent Rose from the thing’s chest. She brought her Aura through the weapon, relishing in the familiar red-
Instead of the normal soft red, what looked like red flames covered the entire scythe. The flames weren’t hot, they were almost cool. As she waved Crescent Rose, the flames followed. They weren’t her Aura, but something about them felt like her.
Acting on instinct, Ruby jumped. Immediately after, four of the thing’s hands joined together and slammed into where she had just been. She swung Crescent Rose, firing a bullet behind her and using the recoil to catch the monster’s neck with the blade. With a hard pull, its head lobbed off, quickly dissolving.
“Are you alright, ma’am?” Ruby smiled, her turning to the woman. This one seemed to at least recognize what she was saying, nodding.
“Y-yes- that t-thing didn’t get to me, b-but- I- what the hell was that?” Her words seemed slightly strained, like she was having trouble speaking them.
“If I’m being honest, I’m not quite sure. Definitely isn’t a Grimm, I know that at least.”
“G-Grimm?” Ruby winced. Head injuries never ended well.
“Oh boy… that’s not my job… hmm- just get to a hospital? I don’t know where they are, and I have some things to figure out.” Ruby turned, jamming her scythe in the wall to climb back onto a building.
“O-okay? W-wait! What are you? Sorry, my English isn’t great, that might not be the best word-“
Despite the woman’s worry, Ruby felt almost nostalgic for that question, even if she last heard it only a day or two ago.
“I am a Huntress."