Edit [02/14/16]: Grammar fixes and minor tweaks.

Prologue

Grimm, the creatures of darkness; monsters of destruction. Soulless entities that thrive to eliminate man from existence.

When man was born from dust, these harbingers of fear sought to destroy everything and anything that pertained to mankind.

However, man was persistent and passionate.

Using their resourcefulness, mankind forged a new power to combat the darkness. Dubbing this newfound force of nature as 'Dust'.

Now equipped to defeat and defend from the Grimm, man was able to create a temporary peace, build civilizations, and most importantly continue living.

Of course this did not come without repercussion, for the Grimm were just as resourceful.

It is lost in the history of mankind when or how the first event occurred, but the Grimm became capable of infecting their darkness into a person. As if in retaliation to their dwindling numbers, the Grimm evolved to remedy the loss.

Humans and Faunus alike could be cursed. Over time they would lose all sense of self and become a creature of destruction. Although man was persistent, and able to weaken the curse, it could never truly be eliminated.

Those infected with the darkness were simply labelled as 'Cursed'. Cursed ones often displayed traits specific to those Grimm they were cursed by. Growing bone like masks over their faces, eyes glowing crimson, and sometimes a black cloud would surround them.

Depending on which creature they took after, a Cursed one could behave similarly to its animalistic ways.

There are various ways in which one could become Cursed.

The most common way to receive it is through a bite.

Though wounds inflicted by claw, tusk, stinger, and other such methods are not capable of cursing a person.

Due to the manner it is received, those who are bitten are able to have the effects of a curse counteracted with the help of modern medicine and Dust, if they are treated within a certain time frame.

Another method, which a person could become Cursed, is through the literal sense of the word. It does not happen often, unlike getting bit, and so it is considered a rare case.

Grimm that are not able to bite are more likely to use this approach. This form of the curse is actually easier to control, as there isn't any actual darkness within the person's body. However they often display having a weaker Aura than average, making them more susceptible to Grimm attacks.

A final process for becoming cursed is even rarer than the previously mentioned methods. It only occurs when new life is introduced into the world, though the effects aren't immediately noticeable.

A child born with the curse; dubbed Grimm-born, is birthed with a body housing a being with a soul, and one without. The two often clashing for ownership of the vessel.

A Grimm-born's strife often ends undesirably for the child of Dust.

In the archives of history, there has never been any record of a Grimm-born that has overcome the dark creature within.

Often, tales of that kind would end with the Grimm usurping control over the shared vessel, or the body being destroyed by the two conflicting hosts.

Grimm-born children have been feared, as they are seen as a monster worse than the creatures of Grimm themselves.

There is worry that the strength one has when their Grimm-like qualities come to the surface then provide the Grimm with an aura they can use against mankind.

With this fear there came lack of reason. With this lack of reason, man believed that the best 'cure' for a Grimm-born should be death.

It was not unreasonable, then, for a young mother to want to protect her child from such dangers.

When Summer Rose had discovered her young daughter, Ruby Rose, to be a Grimm-born she was fearful.

Not of her child, but rather for her.

She was aware that the rest of the world would see her daughter as a monster.

Not wanting the government to discover Ruby and take matters into their own hands, she came to the decision to hide.

After much debate with her husband, Taiyang, and their elder child, Yang, they eventually came to an agreement.

Summer would take Ruby with her to an old family cabin, secluded in a forested area far from their home town on the island Patch, raising her until she was able to control the creature inside.

For years the two lived relatively in peace, with rare visits from Yang and Taiyang.

Ruby was, for the most part, able to keep the creature within her from surfacing.

However, on certain nights the curse seemed stronger, as Ruby would be unable to contain the beast any longer.

It was on one such night that Ruby's view of the world changed, and it was one of the many reasons she chose the life of a Huntress.

A/N: So, this is an AU a friend had created a while back on tumblr. I took an interest in it and promised to write something for it. Then I kinda forgot about it for a while, until a tumblr post of us conversing the idea reminded me of it. It would be nice to see my friend's AU gain more notice. Of course I would love to hear feedback on what readers think of this AU, since it's just a newborn concept.

Not sure how often I will update this since I've got other series going on, and then there's life. So if you are interested please be patient with me.

So yeah. Reviews are appreciated and thank you for taking the time to read this.