He lived to tell that tale.

A tale that none would believe in. Where a boy would shout wolf, and no one would come to save them.

Of blood and tragedy, stands the teen who walked on soil meant for war. He had worn armor- armor that was long since damaged and dented. He held a sword that promised victory- a sword that was chipped and too aged to be used ever again. He wielded the eyes of a hero- a hero that's long since been lost to the sands of time.

The village he once protected was no more, only flames and ruin conquer this once lively home. The blonde had a blank face drawn on by pain and sorrow. When tears formerly ran down his face and left a trail, dirt smudged across his cheeks and hair. In his arms, he carried a red-headed girl in bronze, her head tucked into the crook of his neck, and body unmoving. Weapons of swords, spears, guns and shields were scattered about the battlefield.

All he could do now, was to look up at the ashy skies and the strange head wearing that of a mask that stared down upon him. He was a soldier. The one in his arms was a soldier, his battle partner. But where would he tread now? This was the last push they were to have of this war, but at what cost? He had no strength to carry on, there was no inspiration in him any longer to move forward.

Why did he bother to stay?

To up and leave was easy, as most people would say. Yet, his mind refused while his body wanted to give up.

The blonde gazes up at the dragon's head that remained just above him, as looking at it's entire being, the dragon of scaley white and red features with blackness taking up its flesh watched him. It didn't engage any hostile activity, or even move. Its enormous size taking up the rest of his front view as the blonde blankly stared with sadness.

It asked him a question. He answered it.

He questioned it.

It answered back.

:: ! ::

She felt a nudge against her side, jolting her awake and staring at the front of the classroom wide-eyed, "Hwuzzah! I'm awake, all clear, no Grimm, take-off!" Ruby blurted out sporadically and then blinked, realizing where she was.

Her partner could only sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose, shaking her head disappointingly, "We're in class, you dolt. Pay attention. You fell asleep again."

"Eugh, but it's so hard to pay attention with all of Professor Port's ramblings…" Ruby smashed her forehead against the desk, not noticing the others that were laughing at her expense, "How are you not falling asleep, Weiss?"

"Unlike you, I am well trained for everything. Dealing with a professional's constant sputterings is something natural." She hmph'd proudly, crossing her legs and arms as she leaned back against her seat.

The silver-eyed girl rose her head and simply gave Weiss a deadpanned look, "You fall asleep all the time in Professor Oobleck's though."

"W-what? No I don't!"

"She's right. You do." Blake had suddenly added in, causing Weiss to look around Ruby and glare.

"Where did you come in?!"

The resident faunus rested her cheek against her palm as she multi-tasked boredly, "I took the volunteer route to join the conversation and help out Ruby. That's all." She gestures to her side, "Besides, Yang's passed out."

Both Ruby and Weiss took the privilege to look around Blake, finding the brawler sprawled out across the desk. Snoring and drooling all over.

The red reaper spared a look to Professor Port. This conversation that he was having now- rather than his usual rambling- apparently was something that caught her interest.

"Every individual with a soul will have a special trait to them. A 'semblance'. There are those who unlock it earlier at a young age, or perhaps unlock it when they're older. The oldest one can be to definitely unlock their semblance is atleast their teens."

"What if there's someone who doesn't have one?" A background student asked.

The professor retorted with a laugh, "That would mean that character would have no aura- not even a soul in them! Everyone has a semblance and aura, it is virtually impossible to come across someone without such!" Professor Port would lean against his desk, folding his hands together and looking to the entirety of the class.

"There is a report due next Monday about dragon-type Grimm, so be prepared to present them by the time it happens!" Professor Port looked at the clock hanging above the chalkboard, "You all may use the rest of your time to collaborate with your comrades and anything relevant to the subject." The professor sat at his desk, pulling out a manilla folder as he got to some paperwork.

Ruby's eyes shone at the possibility of a group collaboration, perking her head up and grinning madly, "Team project about the report after Professor Oobleck's! No one go anywhere else unless it's for-" The bell at that moment.

"-lunch!" She poofed, vanishing from sight and leaving nothing but a trail of roses. Weiss and Blake look at one another, shaking their head at the same time. Yang's head perked up, her left eye half-lidded while the other remained just as wide, drool hanging off the corner of her mouth, "Eh? Wha? No Grimm, take-off. Egggggh." Forehead, meet desk. Desk, meet forehead.

Thud.

:: $ ::

"I find it most productive that we all go study in the library, where there's peace and quiet," Weiss said, crossing her arms as the team walked down the corridor. Ruby idly hummed to herself, trying to remember what it was that specifically got her interested about dragon-based Grimm to begin with. Sure, there was the sea-type dragon Grimm, but there were surely a few others she wanted to know about.

"It'll be noisy in there, considering all the people that also have the same report due, Weiss." Blake had said with a small book in hand for her to read.

"We have four days, it'll be a piece of cake! Let's just go out somewhere and have some fun, plenty of time to kill-"

"Oh no you don't! Remember the last report we had to do and you decided to procrastinate on?! You were lucky you even made away with a dead 'C'!" The resident ice queen scolded with a hateful glare in her eyes.

"Well… there's always the library I tend to go to whenever there's a lot of people. But that means we'll need an airship to Vale." The faunus closed her book for once, going through her scroll, "Says it's open until midnight, so maybe we can finish up the report in one go?"

Yang groaned in the background while Weiss contemplated it, "We could. I wouldn't mind that at all, gives us Friday and the weekend to relax afterward."

Ruby smiled, shrugging to her team, "We all agree on this?"

The WBY of RWBY all nod conclusively.

It wasn't long until they arrived in Vale after taking the airship that the four walked around the streets, Blake leading the way to the library she spoke of before. But as she lead on, the rest would find gradual change in how lively Vale was and slowly becoming quieter and quieter with less people. Ruby shuddered, "Blake, are you sure we're going the right way?"

She received a sigh in response, "Yes, I'm sure. It may look rather sketchy, but the library I'm talking about is rather rich in resources and books. It's not that far guys, come on."

The faunus kept leading the way until they all arrived infront of a three-story building. Examining the other buildings, Ruby found that this building was the tallest one out of all the other ones. At the front of it was a sign with a corner being chipped off.

'A Good Read'

"What kind of name is that?" Yang chuckled, receiving a glare from Blake. Leaving Yang to stop and thin her lips into a flat line. Getting the gist of 'shut up'.

Team RWBY entered, as to the three of them's surprise, the library itself was brighter than it looked on the outside. A nicely lit building on the inside with a spiral staircase in the center, leading all the way up to the third floor where the library was filled with a nearly infinite abundance of books and shelves. There were spaced out areas where soft bean bags were placed with couches and coffee tables.

"Neat, they have vending machines here?!" Yang blurted out loudly, Weiss immediately slapping her on the back of the head and putting an index finger infront of her lips. "Oops. Sorry." The blonde blushed, ducking her head a little lower.

There didn't seem to be anyone here, even at the desk. Ruby glanced to where Yang recently said something about vending machines. "Woah." Ruby muttered, walking over to the vending machines that actually did exist. Looking up to the sign above it, it said 'Eating Area'. She assumed that this care-free library had a dedicated spot where people could eat and read at the common place.

"Where's the owner of the library..?" Weiss asked as she walked around the library, taking in the various sections there were. Yang eyed the food inside of the vending machine, shrugging, "Dunno, but the library is chill as heck."

"He might be around here, it's a big library and rarely anyone comes here. I always did wonder how he managed to keep it up most of the time if there's not much activity going on." The B of RWBY selected a few books from a nearby shelf that was relevant to their report project, "He's familiar with me though, so he shouldn't have a problem if you guys are my friends."

"You sound like you know him really well, Blakey~."

Blake walked over casually, pinching the blonde on the bridge of the nose, hard enough to force Yang on her knees, "Shut it, you."

"Okay okay, uncle, uncle!"

Weiss sighed at their antics. The heiress settled down at a table and opened a few books, blinking as she went through their content, "Odd, this library actually has books older than the ones at Beacon. This one dates back to atleast half a century ago. Even the pages are a little chipped, even though books these old would've been a total ruin."

"I can only guess that he tries to keep all of the books intact," Yang added, "There's atleast two million books here… must be pretty patient with cleaning all these books on his own."

Ruby took a seat on the other side of the table, flipping through a book to find rough sketches of the Grimm. Finding more than just what she aimed for, she also found other various Grimm that she's never heard of. An Endilker? What was that? It looked more of a deerish kind of Grimm with incredibly long antlers that were… on fire?

"Ruby, are you paying attention?"

"Huh? Say what?" Ruby blinked several times and looked to her partner, "Sorry Weiss, this book has a lot of Grimm I've never heard of."

Weiss leaned over the table to look down at the book's contents, "What do you mean you never heard of? We've went over every kind of existing Grimm there is in Professor Oobleck's…" Her words trailed off, the Heiress actually perking a brow and questioning what she was seeing, "A Caporo?" She mutters, sitting back down in her seat and shaking her head, "Clearly, that's just some kid's make-up Grimm. Now come on, we have some work to do."

Yang and Ruby internally groan at the stacks of books Blake let slam down onto the table.

She felt eyes cast upon her. Like some unphysical presence, she felt it. Rejecting to shudder, the silver-eyed huntress turned her head halfly to the staircase. Finding no one there, or anyone at all within the library entirely other than her and her team. It was then that Ruby felt something thwaking her hand, "Ow!"

Weiss glared at her, holding her pencil up and wagging it towards Ruby, "Study, you!"

:: # ::

Yang fell dead asleep on the desk.

Weiss's head was just dozing off as she tried to stay awake.

Blake wasn't even putting mind to their work anymore, Ruby already knew she was reading her usual novel, just within the cover of one of the other books.

Ruby got up, groaning and yawning as she stretched briefly, "Hey guys, I think it's time we headed back. It's getting dark and we don't want to miss the last airship."

The heiress nonverbally agreed, giving a nod and standing up while packing up her things and shutting some of the books closed, "Wha- (yawn)- What are you going to do about Yang?" Blake shut her book, "I don't think I can carry her…"

"Don't worry about it," Ruby said, clearing some concerns, "I'll wake her up in a few minutes. You guys go ahead back."

"Are you sure, Ruby? Yang's a mess when it comes to wake-up calls. Especially in the middle of the night."

"Yeah, I can handle my big sister." Ruby smiled at her sister's sleeping state, "Besides, studying takes a lot out of us. All of us finished our reports, well, except for Yang."

"Have some faith in Ruby, Weiss, other than that, we'll be heading out. See you back at the room, Ruby." Blake tucked away her novel and started out for the door, Weiss also giving a wave, "Be sure to call me on the Scroll if anything happens."

Ruby nodded back and heard the door close behind them. Spending one more glance to Yang, she went off to find the bathroom. Taking a tour of the library's deeper depths and seeing what kind of categories it had. It spanned from fairy tales and a plethora of theory books on Grimm. It seemed like every single book in the world was just crammed into a measly space of three floors.

Eventually finding the bathroom, the reaper washed her face with water briefly and walked out. Ruby rose an eyebrow. When did the lights turn off?

Taking precautious steps forward, she found light, but from a different source. Looking up, she never had actually realized that the center of the library's ceiling was glass, which allowed the moonlight to fill the building naturally. In the center with it- right beside the spiral staircase- a sakura tree, a mother to leaves of pink. Each one magically reflecting light as if they were gemstones in the shape of leaves.

It felt as if the world was being unfolded right before her eyes, but three times as beautifully.

What is with this library?

To Ruby… the titled 'Good Read' seemed to be an understatement.

Walking over to where Yang was, Ruby saw her half-sister still sleeping where she was, but a warm and cozy violet blanket was placed over her. A bunny-shaped pillow was placed right beneath the blonde's head. The books that were there originally were gone now, put back into their respective places.

'Someone's here..? Where?'

She took one more gander of the environment. There wasn't anyone. She couldn't sense anyone at all other than Yang.

Treading to the front of the library of where the entrance was, her silver orbs focused upon someone who was standing outside. Watering some potted plants that were aligned along the outside walls of the library.

She couldn't make them out perfectly, considering how dark it was and that her eyes haven't perfectly adjusted to the darkness yet.

That's when she saw it.

The massive snakes that slithered across the street and after a younger girl that was screaming for help.

Ruby's immediate response was to draw her scythe, bursting out the front doors and rushing forward, only to stop as a wave of wind blew against her. Her eyes widened, her irises shrinking slightly…

Now across the street, a black jacketed man with faded jeans and converses had put both of his hands up, holding the King Taijitu by their fangs and stopping their forward advance. The girl behind him was turned around, staring at his back with terror.

The man seemed to be in his teenage years in terms of age, as their sapphire eyes focus intently upon the Grimm preying on the girl. Blond locks of hair blowing along the wind as well as his hoodie. From where the King Taijitu was, the ground was cracking apart along with walls belonging to some of the buildings.

The moon was re-mending itself.

It was that day, that Ruby met a stranger at the library.