Whelp, I have nothing to say. Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I take no credit, everything belongs to their owners...characters in RWBY aren't mine...other stuff.

"Ruby, what are you doing?"

I asked when I saw her halfway into a bush. "Bhu! Shhhhhh!" She said with a finger to her lips. She grabbed my hand and forced me into the bush next to her. I gave Ruby a look before turning my head to see what had grabbed her attention. It was her uncle Qrow and her sister Yang dueling it out. Yang was already really good, probably the best in her class, it was no wonder that she was practicing with a full-fledged Hunter. It was rather impressive really. To watch her fight toe-to-toe with her uncle Qrow. Even if it was for about thirty seconds. Yang was still…my point was proven when we saw her land on her back.

"Hey, why isn't she training with your dad?" Ruby blew air through her lips causing them to make that little 'phht' sound. "Dad said that Uncle Qrow would make a better combat teacher than he ever could." I removed a leaf from my short silver hair. "Well you sound happy about that." I said, propping my elbow up and leaning into my hand. She made a growling sound then pounded her fists into the ground before sinking down and saying, "I just want to see my dad be…be…"

"A badass?" I suggested. "You shouldn't curse, but yeah. That." I rolled my eyes and threw some grass into the hair that she always kept up. "Should we really be hiding in the bushes?" I asked. "Yes. I feel more sneaky that way." "Well, I hate to break it to you my dear friend, but maybe you should find another way to be sneaky." "Why?" "Ruby, please look up."

She looked up and saw her uncle and sister looking down on us, smiling.

"Y'know Ruby, I'm pretty sure dad said to stay away from practice sessions that aren't supervised by the school." "Oh geez, would you look at the time." Ruby said, looking down at her wrist. In a flash of rose petals she was gone. I got up and dusted myself off. "And how are you doing with your weapon Miss Psychelette?" I looked up at professor Qrow and raised my wrist with a smile. "Webster and I are doing great."

I had gotten my weapon eight months ago when I turned 13. It was universal law that no child under thirteen and not enrolled in a combat academy should ever hold such dangerous weapons. Ruby didn't have a weapon yet, but I could already guess what she wanted. That was probably why she was hiding in the bushes. "I still don't know how to incorporate a gun though." I said, rubbing the back of my neck. I knew how to use Dust to my advantage, but a gun? How could I put that into a pair of metal gauntlets? Mine weren't like Yang's. Mine were more like thick bracelets. Webster was able to shoot out string to wherever my fingers pointed at. I could easily apply Dust with just a flick of my wrist. How could I put a gun in that?

"Aw, you don't need a gun! Your wires are enough to earn you a nickname already!" Yang said with a big grin.

I hadn't heard of this.

"And what's my nickname?" She put an arm around me, and with a slow motion of her arm she said dramatically, "the Silver Spider. Pretty intimidating right?" Great, all the more reason for people to stay away from me. "Can spiders even be silver?" I asked with a smirk. "I, uh. I don't know. Huh. Well that's not important, it's just a nickname. They don't need to make sense."

Professor Qrow was walking back to the open field saying, "Yang, would you like to continue our lesson or would you rather work on your people skills?" She leaned down and whispered in my ear, "He just likes to kick people's butts, pretty terrible right?" "Yang." "Cooooomiiinnngg!" She said in a light hearted tone.

I sighed and went on the dirt path that lead back to the park. A silver spider huh? I suppose it could always be worse. I rubbed Webster softly as if I was comforting him. I had always been somewhat feared. It wasn't because of my personality or anything. It was my semblance. I'm able to 'Shadow Dive'. That means I can completely immerse myself inside shadows. I can't blame people really. I mean, it's something that would be useful for an assassin. Heck, there have even been some rumors that I can control people by using their shadows. There was even a rumor that at night, I go into the woods to mingle with my Grim friends. Sure, I know some people that ignore the rumors, but none more so than Ruby.

I walked out of the path and saw Ruby being ganged up on. I examined the situation. There was an ice cream scoop on the ground and a stain on the guy's shirt. It looked like his friends were trying to calm him down, but he still looked mad. I sighed.

There was never a dull moment with Ruby in my life.

I came up behind her and sized up the guy. "Bhu, help meeee. It was a total accident." She said, moving behind me. He had to be around Yang's age, possibly a bit older.

"What's an older guy like you bullying a little girl?" I asked him.

"Bullying!? She knocked into me and ruined my favorite shirt! I demand some sort of compensation!"

"Compensation? From a twelve year old? That's kind of lame." I said crossing my arms.

"Bro she's right. Just let it go." A boy with dark hair said. He kept his hair up in a tiny ponytail.

"No, I'm angry!"

The dark haired boy and I rolled our eyes. I grabbed my wallet from my back pocket and took out a twenty. "This should be good right?" I said, handing it out to him.

"Bro, you're not seriously going to take this girl's money right?" The dark haired boy asked him.

"Damn straight I am!" And he swiped it out of my hand. He walked off with his other friends while the dark haired boy stood in place, shaking his head. He turned towards us and took out his own wallet and fished out a twenty. "Here," he said, "sorry for that guy. He's really hot-blooded."

I shook my head. "Its fine, Ruby shouldn't be so unnaturally clumsy." "I can't help it!" She said, stepping out from behind me. She started to tap her pointer fingers together. "It was an accident…"

"Huh, so your name is Ruby?" She nodded her lowered head. He smiled at her before saying, "Well hi Ruby. I'm Xerxes Erosmyth." He held out a hand. She saw this and shook it saying, "Ruby Rose." "Well, Ruby, would you please accept this?" He said, putting the money in Ruby's hand. "Oh well, um, I did mess up his shirt." She put the money back in his hand. "Also, it was Bhu's money. I can't take it." He ran a hand through his hair. "You two are pretty stubborn huh. Well then how about I give you a ten instead? Will that work?"

I shrugged. "If you're that determined to give us money then fine." He chuckled. "Yeah, well, it just doesn't sit right with me," he gave me the ten, "to take money from a cute girl." He said, looking me in the eyes with a small smirk. What is that supposed to mean? I felt heat rise to my face as I put the money in my wallet. "Yah, well, are we done here? If so then let's go Ruby." I turned towards her and saw that she had a playful smile on her face.

Ruby, you idiot. Stop that.

"Actually, I don't think caught your name." That's a lie. I turned to look at him, doubt written on my face. But he just held out a hand and said "Xerxes Erosmyth." Wanting to leave, I shook his hand. "Bhu Psychelette."

"Bhu huh?" Slowly, he brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my hand all the while looking at me with his dark eyes. My face instantly lit up and felt my hand suddenly become sweaty. "That's cute." He said, his lips barely brushing against my knuckles.

"Thanks, my parents thought of it." I said taking back my hand. I turned my back on him and said, "Okay later. Ruby let's go." I gripped the hand that he held as I walked away, hoping the blush from my cheeks would go away. She giggled before saying goodbye to Xerxes.

"Wait, Bhu." I heard her say behind me. As if. You're the fastest person I know. "I think he likes you." She said with a smug face. "H-he just doesn't know who I am." I said, pulling my white scarf up to cover my mouth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, starting to walk backwards. "People are starting to call me the Silver Spider."

"That's not accurate, your hair has purple and gold in it."

"That's not really the point." "Yah, I guess nicknames don't have to make sense." I snorted. "What?" "Sometimes I forget how alike you sisters are." "Oh really?" She tried to turn around but her foot caught the other and she fell down. I bent down in front of her.

"Today is just not your day is it?" I said. "No," she rested her head on her arms, "it really isn't." "Do you want to get up?"

"No, no. let me just," she took a deep breath then let it out, "feel the weight of crushing humiliation." I laughed and stood up. "Come on, let's go help the nice cat lady that lives near here." She smiled up at me and got up.

"I like her cats. They're all so cute and fluffy." We started walking towards the lady's house. "Yeah, I guess they are. But are you going to be okay? I've never seen you be so clumsy." "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! I mean, who even eats an ice cream in the late fall, early winter!?" "Does it really matter now?" "Well, I guess not. But hey, how old do you think that Xerxes guy is?"

I hmphed and shoved my hands into my sweater pockets. "How should I know?" "Well I think he's around Yang's age. I should ask her if she knows him." I looked at her and she was already looking at me with a hand that barely covered her smile. I turned my head to the side.

"Do what you want." I mumbled. "Don't worry Bhu, I'll make sure this ship sails smoothly." She said, linking an arm through mine. "There is no ship." "None you want to admit." "Ruby I know you love helping people, but this is one of those things that I don't need help with." "Nah, don't say that." "Is this kind of stuff even in your field of expertise?"

She was quiet for a good three seconds.

"Whelp. I guess it's time to start."

"No, no. I don't need this." I said, shaking my head. "But whyyyyyy? I've never seen you blush before. Never ever!" "Well that's because…gosh, be quiet! It was a one-time thing. He just caught me off guard. Besides, he probably has more interesting girls to flirt with."

"Please don't ruin my happiness for you."

I sighed. There was no winning with Ruby. "Just don't embarrass yourself." She unhooked herself from my arm and started to march up to the door. "Me? Embarrassed? Don't make me laugh. Ha. Ha. Ha."

We spent the majority of the day at the cat lady's house. We made sure to rid ourselves of the cat fur before we exited her house.

"So do you know what kind of weapon you want when you turn thirteen?" I asked her. "Do you even have to ask? I want a scythe! And it's going to go, BOOM, BAM. And then SLICE." Ruby said, imitating the sounds with her hands. I smiled and pulled my scarf up. It was getting late.

"Shouldn't it be time you headed home Ruby? Your dad is going to yell at you again." She groaned. "It must be nice living by yourself." I shrugged. "I guess, at least I don't have a curfew." We stopped at a corner, under a street lamp. "Are you going to be fine going home by yourself?" She asked me. I held up my wrist and smiled at her. "You should get going. Even with your speed, you can't run away from your dad's wrath." She shivered. "Good point. Okay then. See you tomorrow!" I waved goodbye as she sped off, leaving the usual rose petals.I breathed out a long breath before putting my hands in my pockets and headed towards my apartment.

Five years ago, my parents died and I got handed down to my aunt, who was never home. It wasn't so bad. The apartment was really nice and my aunt sends me money every month she wasn't around. This month just happened to be one of those months. I noticed that I could see my breath now. It's probably going to snow any day now. I felt a strong breeze blow from behind me and it made me shutter. I just want to go home and take a hot bath.

I realized that the sun had gone down, and the only lights I had going for me were the lampposts and the occasional car. Man did I ever hate the dark. I knew all too well that the dark held many secrets that I was not going to find out. I didn't even like to Shadow Dive too often. The dark was infinite, it was easy to get lost in it. So whenever I did Shadow Dive, I made sure to make it really quick. It was weird being me. I was afraid of the thing that I'm closest to.

I saw my building and quickened my pace. I walked through the doors and was welcomed with a warm touch of air. I nodded to the night security guard and entered the elevator. Ruby's birthday is coming up soon. What should I get her? Maybe I'll make her something sweet. A cake? The elevator stopped and I headed towards my room. I swiped my card in front of the scanner and opened the door. The motion sensing lights turned on as I took off my shoes in the door way. I through my wallet on the table and went to the bathroom.

A good twenty minutes later I got out and pressed the play button on the answering machine. "Hey Bhu bear!" I flinched at her nickname for me. "Just calling to see how you were doing. It's going to be around that time. So I was thinking that we could do something together when I get back! Call me whenever you can. I'll see you soon!"

I guess I should call her right now. Even though it's dark, it's not that late out. I picked up the phone and dialed her number. After a couple of rings she answered. "Hey Bhu-Bhu! How's it going?" I sat down on the couch. "I'm doing good. So you wanted to make plans?" "Yup, I'll be home in about two weeks. I know that day will already be in the past, but we should still do something you know?" "Yah, I agree. Maybe we should go out to eat for lunch or something." "Definitely. We could also check out some of your favorite places like that old book store and go to the go-karts."

I nodded my head, smiling to myself. "Yeah, that sounds like fun." "Good, I'll be arriving sometime in the morning on Tuesday. Make sure you don't have any plans that day all right?" "Uh, I do have school you know." "Oh my gosh! I blanked that out! Dang it. Then I'm taking you out of school and we're going to have fun. Okay?" I laughed, then said, "Okay, sounds good." "All right then, I'm gonna go. Love ya kiddo!" "Yup, love you too, bye." I hung up the phone and walked to the kitchen. After eating my meal and reading a bit, I decided it was time to go to sleep.

I slipped under my sheets and let my head sink into my pillow. I felt myself being tugged, as if gravity was wanting me help its kitty out of a tree. I let it pull me through my bed and into the dark. The only light that was visible came from where I sank. The dark was cold, and sad, but it made me happy. It was like seeing an old friend. I extended out my hand, and let what felt like a satin cloth slip through my fingers.

I suddenly felt my body jerk back.

What felt like claws dug into my middle section and gripped my throat. I opened my mouth but a claw covered my mouth.

It's hot.

My eyes widened in fear as I reached out towards the only light I saw.

It's hot.

My hands got yanked back, and my eyes got covered.

It's hot.

I started to hear growling in my ears and felt various things brush against my feet.

It's hot.

I'm burning.

I felt teeth biting at my neck.

I'm going to catch on fire!

My fingers felt the soft poisonous touch of the flames that I knew were behind me.

Stop it.

Desperate, I bit down on the flesh that covered my eyes and for a split second it loosened its grip on my hands.

Help me.

Not wasting any time, I wrenched one of my arms loose and frantically tried to grasp at that one light that I knew was still there.

Someone help me!

The darkness still had the majority of my body as it tried to pull me down deeper and deeper.

Someone heLP ME!

I shook my head violently, causing whatever it was to uncover my eyes and dragged its claws into my scalp.

Someone HELP ME!

What was either tears or blood ran down my face as I kept trying to reach that damn light.

SomeONE HELP ME!

The creatures started pulling on my outstretched arm, trying to force it back down.

Damn it!

They kept scratching at my arm, digging their claws into my shoulder as my whole body kept sinking lower and lower into the burning dark. They kept dragging. Deeper and deeper until my only light became a flicker.

Don't let me sink! Please!

I couldn't breath, my eye sight started to blur. I felt like I had lost control. Now it was like my body wanted to sink. Everything started to tingle. I couldn't take it.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!"

I shot up from my bed shaking uncontrollably. I quickly turned on my lamp and looked around the room. Out of breath, I took a look at where I was laying and patted it down with my hand. I took a look at the clock, it was four twenty-five. I started to take deep breaths and scooted all the way back to the head board, gathering my blanket in my hands.

It wasn't real. It wasn't real. It wasn't real.

I slowly, shakily, pressed down on the shoulder that was pierced. I held back a sob when I felt some pain. I dropped to the side, clinging to my blanket as I shook.

It was real.