Hi there everyone! This is going to be my first serious attempt at a long-term story. It's inevitably going to be absolutely awful and make you tear your hair out, but please, enjoy! Don't expect detailed fights or anything like that, most fights are going to be abbreviated fights that already happened in Canon and used mostly to just further conflicts. Reason being twofold. Firstly, I don't trust myself to not absolutely butcher fight scenes, maybe later on in this I'll write out a few longer scenes and see how that goes, but for now, short fights that aren't very well described.

Secondly, and more importantly, I don't want this to be a fighting fanfiction. While there will be a few fights, they'll usually only be a paragraph or two long and not really talk about the actual fighting, so consider that your warning if you were hoping to hear a super-detailed account of Ruby butchering her way through Grimm. I want it to focus more on Ruby teaching team RWBY, JNPR, and maybe a little bit of karmic justice for CRDL alongside some wise words of wisdom.

FAIR WARNING: This is going to be a pretty brutal first chapter. If a moderately detailed description of death isn't your cup of tea, I'd recommend you avert your eyes.

Oh, also...

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: I don't own RWBY. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth

Prologue

Ruby Rose.

A rather quaint name, and not one many would attribute to a rather skilled huntress. Then again, the same was always said about her mother, Summer Rose. At 15 years old, Ruby managed to catch the eyes of one Headmaster Ozpin during a dust robbery, in which she subdued at least 5 armed men non-lethally and without major damage to anything other than a single window.

Because of this, Ozpin saw fit to enter Ruby into his school, Beacon Academy, 2 years ahead of any regular student, leaving her isolated amongst her peers as a child, and causing no small amount of strife upon her arrival.

Of course, this all changed during the initiation, during which Ruby resolved to prove herself to everyone, and above all prove that Ozpin was right to let her into his school early, and that he definitely shouldn't send her back to Signal. And prove herself she did. Using her beloved Scythe, Crescent Rose, she cleft her way through the Grimm in the Emerald Forest, meeting up with another applicant, Olive, and making their way to the "ruins" to retrieve "relics", as Ozpin so vaguely put it.

Upon reaching the aforementioned ruins and seeing only chess pieces dotted around on pedestals, Ruby decides to simply pick one at random, not sparing a moment to think about which to take. Upon grabbing the relic, another pair arrive at the ruins, and after brief introductions, they take their own relic, matching the one in Ruby's hand.

Thus, team ROVR (Rover) was formed, made up of Ruby, our lovable heroine, Olive, the shy support, Violet, the slightly nuts brawler, and Roux, the brave skirmisher. Together, these 4 girls tore their way through the 4 years they spent together in Beacon, absolutely obliterating any Grimm that fell upon their path in missions, and happily integrating themselves as a much beloved team within Beacon and Vale as a whole.

Those 4 lazy years seemed to just blitz past team ROVR, and somewhere in the mix of killing Grimm, saving grateful townspeople and eating their way through batches of cookies, the team found themselves graduating Beacon almost too soon. Of course, they still had each other, but suddenly being faced with the unfamiliarity of not having Beacon to return to was a very jarring experience for the girls, but one they got over swiftly.

Upon leaving Beacon, ROVR spent the next year simply doing what Huntresses do best, and what they had already been doing for so long, saving people with a smile.

But, of course, reality rarely stays this agreeable, as Ruby found to her horror during one ill-fated mission.

"So Ruby, what are we even doing out here? Seriously, all that's here are rocks, dirt and trees."

"Seriously Violet, do you think so little of me" Rolling her eyes, Ruby spins on her heel and walks backwards, "that you think I'd drag us across Sanus for absolutely no reason other than to go camping?"

Violet sticks her tongue out, only to jump as Roux leaps onto her back.

"Onwards noble steed! To victory or Sovngard!"

Sighing, Violet jumps, throwing Roux straight over her shoulders and right into her arms.

"Seriously guys" Ruby looks back at them, face twisted into a grimace, "Can you at least keep it to the bedroom?"

"Nope!" Both Violet and Roux look over at Ruby completely unabashed.

"Guys, I really think we should be a bit more careful." Olive digs the tip of her shoe into the dirt while staring at her teammates. "You can leech off each others faces when we actually get to a town."

"Aww, Olive, are you jealous of us?" Violet starts nudging Roux and giggling, "I think she's jealous of us."

Blushing furiously, Olive glances towards Ruby for a split-second before averting her gaze, suddenly finding her shoes to be the most interesting thing in the world.

"N-No! Why would I be J-Jealous of you two? It's not like I want anything like that, it sounds disgusting!"

Despite her fervent protests, it's pretty clear to all three other girls both her embarrassment and her attraction towards their leader.

"Ok guys, let's stop playing 'Who can embarrass Olive the most' and get back on task. Now, to answer your original question Vi, we are out here to see whether there's any truth to the rumors of some new Grimm in this area. According to the locals from the nearby town of Grimmsbane, there's been some disturbing reports of strange scuttling noises and acidic corrosion around the base of the walls, yet despite their best efforts, they can neither identify what's causing the sounds and damage, nor can they attribute the damage to any known Grimm acid attacks."

"Ergo?" Violet tilts her head in confusion. "Why would they send US out here? I mean, we aren't exactly investigative material. Take you for example. Your greatest skill is slicing things apart with your scythe. Mine is punching things so hard they turn inside out, Olive just sits back and uses her semblance and rifle, and Roux runs circles around them and slashing about with daggers. None of that screams 'Grimm investigators' to me."

Ruby scratches her head, "Yeah, but in that same vein, we're all really good at combat. Any of us could probably hold our own against an average Goliath alone, and together we're probably strong enough to take almost any ancient Grimm in a 4v1. So if this new Grimm is so dangerous, who better to send after it?"

"I guess...but how are we gonna find it? Like they said, it's not exactly som-"

Before Violet could finish her sentence, the air is filled with the most blood-curdling wail the girls had ever heard. It was like a crescendo of hatred and pain, a symphony of promised pain and death.

Bursting out of the undergrowth, a horde of Beowolves flooded from the trees into the stunned Huntresses.

Violet recovered first, smashing her gauntlets together and bracing herself against the charge.

"Come on fur-balls! Come to Mama Violet!"

Soon all 4 girls were back to back, covering each others backs and carving up any Grimm that dared attack.

Being young and full of aggression, the Grimm threw themselves into the slaughter, with barely any concern shown towards life or limb, only the mindless frenzy of the battle.

The battle, however, was short-lived, as not 5 minutes after the attack had begun, a loud howling was heard, and, aside from a few of the more aggressive Beowolves, the majority fled back to the tree-line, leaving the girls to clean up the remaining Grimm.

"Well," Ruby panted and embedded her scythe into the dispersing corpse of one of the new Alpha Beowolves that attacked the group, "that was interesting. Anyone ever see Grimm retreat before?"

"Well, Grimm commonly retreat...FROM MY AWESOMENESS!" Violet proudly boasted, before receiving a smack on her head from Roux. "Ow Roux, my feelings!"

"Thank you Roux. Now Violet, this is serious." Ruby put on her best serious face, "Have any of you ever seen Grimm, GRIMM, retreat before?"

"Oh." Was all Violet could manage as she realized the severity of what just happened.

"Yes, exactly. Now, that howl at the end sounded normal, but there must have been something else, since the only other time I've seen Grimm 'retreat' is when other prey is around, and there shouldn't be anyone within a good few kilometers."

Glancing around, Ruby notices that her team is actually rather tired from the sudden melee, especially after several days of hard trekking through wilderness.

"Ok, so what now boss?" Ever the voice of reason, Roux quickly brings Ruby's attention back to the matter at hand. "I mean, should we try to track those Grimm, find out what caused that noise?"

"Not right now. If we get into a protracted fight, we'd probably get worn down." Before any argument could be raised, Ruby quickly adds, "Look at us right now. After a few days of hard hiking, we're all quite tired. We should find somewhere to spend an early night, and wake up nice and ready to take on...whatever's out there."

"Sounds good."

"No problems here."

"Uhh, R-Ruby? I may have a problem." Grinding her toes against the ground, Olive desperately glances around to avoid making eye contact, while Roux and Violet both roll their eyes at the adorable display. IN combat, Olive is fine talking with Ruby, but the instant they are in a normal setting, she let's her affection get the better of her.

"What is it Olive?" Ruby stares at the girl with a warm smile, before her face drops, "You didn't get hurt did you?"

"Oh, n-no! No, I'm alright...It's just that...one of the Beowolves slashed my bag, and kind of...b-broke the signal booster."

Ruby takes Olive by the shoulders, though the gesture causes both other girls to giggle at the height difference between the two girls, while Olive's blush returns with a vengeance.

"Olive, it's fine. We aren't that far from town, and from there we can just use a Bullhead radio to tell Vale what we find out here."

Sighing, Ruby then takes her hands off Olive and smiles. While it's not the end of the world, it does mean that they won't be able to speak with anyone through their scrolls until they return to town.

"Now then, let's go find somewhere nice and set up cam-" Facepalming, Ruby then turns to face Olive again. "Olive, what else was on your bag?"

Olive then frantically looks back, and moans when she says "T-The tents..." before covering her face with her hands.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby looks around.

"Ok, well I guess we'll have to find a cave or something. Without the tents, I don't want us being out of shelter if it suddenly rains. Well, let's get moving, we don't want to be out here when those Grimm come back!"

Traipsing off towards the trees, Ruby can't help but feel a creeping sense of unease spread through her body.

"We'll be fine, we have our weapons, our dust, and each other. Just because some Grimm ran away isn't the end of the world! Right girls?" Ruby happily yells.

When nobody responds, Ruby spins around, "Girls?", only to have a black mass swing towards her face, then darkness.

"AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

Ruby lunges awake to the sound of a horrendous scream, made worse by the dark, enclosed space she now finds herself in, and the throbbing headache she finds herself stuck with.

Grabbing her head with both hands, Ruby buries her head between her legs and waits for the pain to hopefully recede, to the point where she can hear herself think, before getting up and having a look around. A cursory glance around reveals jagged stone walls and a sturdy metal door. Aside from a bowl filled with water, another bowl with some gruel, and some scattered grass on the ground, her room is barren.

Except for the blood.

Splashed on the walls, floor, door, and even some dripping down from the ceiling, the room Ruby finds herself in is practically coated in a layer of blood. At first glance, Ruby mistook it for some kind of reddish rock, but upon closer inspection, and with the heavy stench of copper filling the room, she lurches back and almost vomits at the sight of so much blood.

Terrified, Ruby frantically lurches around the room, still holding her head in her hands, and frantically searches for any indication of where she is or where her team-mates are, crossing her fingers and begging to anybody that would listen, that the horrifying scream that woke her was not one of her teammates.

After a few minutes of frantic searching, she gives up on that idea and approaches the door, fearful of what kind of person would do something like this. Certainly nobody she'd ever want to know, judging from the fact that the knocked her out and left her to wake up alone in a room covered in blood. Definitely not her kind of first impression.

Pushing against the door, Ruby almost leaps back when the door actually starts moving, then steels herself and presses against the door again, gasping when, instead of stopping or triggering some kind of trap, the door simply swings open.

Paranoia sets in and Ruby almost curls up upon realizing that nobody could possibly be stupid enough to simply leave a prisoners door unlocked, and that they must have some kind of trick or trap set up to mess with her.

Smirking to herself, Ruby once again steels herself and mentally prepares to use her semblance in case of trouble. Whoever did this to her will regret messing with Ruby Rose!

That is, as soon as she finds them. Cautiously tip-toeing down barren caves, occasionally taking branching paths and keeping her ears pricked, Ruby can't help but let out a sigh at how boring walking through this cave is. Still terrified, but walking for who knows how long without hearing any indication of anyone else being in these caves would make anybody a little bored.

Finding another off-shoot, Ruby stands at the entrance for a moment before smacking her head, then wincing at her stupidity as she clutches her head again, mentally chastising herself for bringing her headache back.

She then recalls what exactly her teacher told her when she asked about finding her way through caves, since more than once Ruby and her team have had to enter winding caves to eliminate subterranean Grimm, and having a reliable method of getting back out is always good.

She then licks a finger and presses herself against the wall of the cave, focusing as hard as she can on any kind of gust, anything to indicate where the air for this cave is coming from. And, after a few moments of hopeful fear, she feels the faintest of gusts. No more than a feather-lick of wind, but enough to tell Ruby which way air is flowing in from.

And that's when it hits Ruby.

Should she go deeper into the cave, and hope that her friends are there, since surely whoever has captured them would keep them as far from the surface as possible to lessen the likelihood of escape, or should she escape and hope her friends are on the way out, like her, since her cell is back the way the wind came from, indicating that she'd been going deeper into the caves.

In the end, Ruby decides that it'd be suicide to attempt to go deeper, since if her friends are down there, they likely would be surrounded by whoever captured them, and Ruby doesn't have her sweetheart, so fighting them would be a terrible idea. While no slouch, Ruby simply doesn't trust her hand to hand abilities against people who are actually armed, especially if they are capable of sneaking up on and capturing huntresses.

So, with a heavy heart and a firm promise to find her team, Ruby begins the arduous trek to where she hopes to find the surface, fearful yet hopeful of what she'll find.

A few hours later, Ruby finally spots something that makes her blood freeze.

In the middle of a large clearing in the cave, is a table. Sat at the table is the first sign of life Ruby had seen since she was knocked unconscious. Two men were sat there, both with their backs to Ruby, and conversing with each other about something that Ruby couldn't make out.

However, what truly froze Ruby was what one of the men was wearing. Draped over his neck was a necklace of fingers. Human fingers.

Fighting the urge to vomit, Ruby could only stare in horror as the men, seemingly unfazed by what the man was wearing, continued talking. One of the men then gestures towards the others wrist. Abruptly, they stopped talking, stand, and made their way towards another cave.

Following along, Ruby desperately listened out for any indication of where they were going, but the men seemed content to simply walk down the cave, with not a care in the world, seemingly thinking themselves safe here in their nest.

Frowning, Ruby wished she had her sweetheart, she'd take those men down and drag them back to Vale to answer for whatever sick things they'd done to get those fingers.

Rounding several more corners, Ruby then noticed that she could hear something in the background. Unsure of what it was, Ruby kept listening while the men seemed to speed up slightly, until Ruby identified it as men cheering at something. At what, she could only guess, though with the thought of what that man was wearing, she could only hope it wasn't anywhere near as bad as taking somebody's fingers.

Licking her finger and focusing, Ruby notices that the men have been heading towards the source of air for most of their journey, only now turning towards a tunnel away from the air-flow. Frowning, Ruby decides to keep following the men towards the cheering, hopeful to find some explanation of who these men are, where her sweetheart is, and most importantly, where her team is.

Finally, the men round one last corner, and almost break into a run, apparently eager to arrive at whatever their journey has been taking them towards, while Ruby follows along at a decent distance.

Until she spots what exactly all the ruckus is about.

A crude arena, little more than a pit surrounded by stone, where men stand and look down into the arena, watching and cheering as two people fight inside this hole.

Glancing around from the shadows, Ruby can't pick out anything specific from any of the men around the arena, nor do the combatants look vaguely familiar. Taking a closer look at the arena walls, however, has Ruby clasping her hands over her mouth to muffle a sorrowful wail, collapsing to her knees.

There, impaled on the many crude iron spikes that line the walls of this arena, is the bodies of her team-mates.

Mouths contorted into silent screams, each of her three team-mates have been brutally impaled onto the spiked walls, several spikes impaling through their bodies, and limbs splayed out at random.

Roux, the brave skirmisher, with a spike through her head, whilst her arms are twisted like demented twizzlers.

Violet, the slightly nuts brawler, with her hands cut off and impaled on either side of her head, whilst other spikes jut out haphazardly from the rest of her body.

And Olive, her shy friend, her head removed and stuck like some horrifying ornament above her equally impaled body.

And all Ruby can ask is 'Why?'

Why would somebody even do something like this? And why is she still alive? Why isn't she down there, on that wall, on display like some horrifying decoration?

Gathering as much will as she can muster, Ruby bursts out of the cave, taking great gasps of air, barely staying conscious through her hyper-ventilating. She runs, and runs, trying to run as far from that hell-hole as she can. Instinctively following the flow of air, Ruby barely notices the very few, scattered monsters wearing human skin that witness a red blur pass, the only evidence of her passing being the red petals and the breeze that blows past them.

After a few minutes of Semblance-fueled running, she finally bursts out of the cave, but doesn't stop. She runs and runs, barely noting where she came out, only caring to run from that nightmare, and praying that she wakes up before those monsters catch her again.

"Hey Russet! Get over here you lazy bugger! You don't want to miss the Bullhead, do you?"

Sighing, Russet swivels her head around to get a faceful of blonde hair, though at this distance it's more akin to a lions mane than something a human would call hair.

"Yang, we're fine, we have tons of time to get on board, it doesn't leave for like," Russet checks her watch, "5 minutes at least, we have time."

Yang then all but drags Russet along behind her, all the while yelling on about how they still need to actually be on board, and how she wants to scout out all the good looking boys before anybody else sink their claws into them.

"Seriously Yang? That's your reason for wanting to get on board early, scope out cute boys?"

"GAH! Not just cute, Russet! Hotties, Cuties, Ladies!" Yang says the last one with a wink to Russet, "They're all fair game in the loving embrace of Yang! Not like you can really party until at least one Yang-Bang!"

Facepalming, Russet, simply wrenches her arm out of Yangs grip, muttering all the way.

"I swear, even after 4 years together at Signal, I still hate your stupid puns. Can't you hold off on tail-chasing and puns for one day? One. Day. It's all I ask."

"Aww, that's sweet that you think you could get that much time away from these puns. But neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow shall keep this Yang from making her assigned pun-deliveries! Besides, it's our first day entering Beacon, we have to start our new school life off" "Please don't Yang." "With a YANG!"

"I hope you're happy now. At this point I can't even muster the energy to tell you just how bad that pun is."

"Aww, c'mon Russet, you know you love 'em. I mean, look at scraggly over there. He's practically green with envy over how you've hogged my puns to yourself for 4 years!"

Russet glances over to see the aforementioned boy, who definitely looks a shade too green to be very normal.

"Uhh, Yang, I don't think he's green with envy..."

"Hmm? Wha..." Just as Yang takes another look at her friend, Russet jumps out of the way, while the unfortunate boy is rather violently sick into a nearby trashcan.

"Eww dude. Well, I guess the view ain't for everyone." Yang says, patting the poor, sick boy on the back while he wipes his mouth off on his sleeves.

"Uhh, Yang, don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but you should look down."

"What? Oh GROSS!" Glancing down, Yang looks at her shoes, to find one of them covered on vomit.

"Ew, keep away Yang! Don't try wiping that on my jeans! Piss off Yang, that's disgusting!"

At the same time, Ruby begins her stroll down the center of Beacon, eager yet apprehensive on meeting students who, for the first time, she'll be teaching, rather than sharing a class with. Glancing around, Ruby can't help but hide in her cloak slightly at some of the stares that the students loitering around are leveling at this odd girl who clearly is too old to be there for initiation, yet also can't be another student, since the school is closed right now to both visitors and already enrolled students, and all regular students should be away from the school to allow for the new students to arrive and settle in.

Noticing a student who clearly is far too immersed in trying to wrap their head around the useless Beacon maps that were handed out, Ruby decides to step in, marking this down as her first kind act of the school year.

Only to then have to use her semblance when she realizes that said student is seconds away from smashing into a trolley covered in dust containers.

Grabbing the student by the wrist, Ruby swiftly spins on the spot, redirecting the student away from the cases, thus averting disaster. Then, she could place her hands on her hips and smile as the student praised her awesome abilities for averting disaster!

Or at least, that was the plan.

"WHAT DO YOU DOING?"

Ruby glanced back at the shrill voice, noting the rather odd choice of attire that this white-clad girl was wearing. Her heels were the biggest offender, far too tall to be a good choice in combat, they'd just be asking for her to slip up and injure her ankle during a dangerous situation. The combat skirt is a nice touch, much like her own skirt, allowing good mobility, whilst making a frankly awesome fashion statement.

The strangest part about her outfit though was her crest. Ruby tried, but couldn't for the life of her recognize what it was. She knew she'd seen it, somewhere, but couldn't place it. Whatever the crest was, the girl had just practically screamed at her, probably be a good idea to actually talk to her.

"Uhh, what do you mean?" Ruby stares at the new girl, eyebrow raised.

"WHAT DO I MEAN? I mean why are you swinging people around like toys, especially right next to my dust?!"

Sighing, Ruby folds her arms across her chest. "Well excuse me for preventing someone from falling straight into this pile of dust, but considering how despite how slowly that guy was walking, you apparently took no notice of him, even when he was seconds away from smashing face-first into this stuff. Maybe, instead of going so hysterical at me, you should say something like 'thank you for saving my dust', and probably also saving that guy from being blown into the sky."

"Seriously? You expect me to say thank you to some student who, instead of calmly stepping between that boy and my dust, decides to swing him around like an improvised flail, and risk knocking all of my dust around, possibly setting it off? Couldn't you have just stepped in front of him and stopped him calmly, like a rational person?"

"Listen Princess, I don't know if you noticed, but I didn't exactly have much time to calmly stop him when he was two steps from that dust. Also, what do you mean 'Student'?" Unfolding her arms, Ruby leans forward, causing the girl to stumble back a step, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I mean student. As in, someone attending this academy to be come a huntress. Don't tell me you're just a visitor?"

Rolling her eyes, Ruby stares back at the unflinching gaze of this girl, temper fraying from the sheer nerve of this girl.

"Well, excuse me, but I'm actually a teacher her-"

Before she could get another letter in, the girl steps back towards her, glaring straight into her eyes.

"There's no way you're a teacher here. You can't be more than 3 years older than me. Even at your oldest, you'd still be IN Beacon, let alone being experienced enough to actually teach here! Don't even try to pretend you're anything other than a student or visitor."

And, just like that, the girl spins on her heel and marches off, with her dust cases in tow, leaving a very irate Ruby to glower at her back.

"Well that's a fine how-do-you-do Princess!" Ruby yells after the girl, before muttering under her breath "Stupid Snow-White Stuck-Up Bit-No, bad Ruby! No swearing your mouth off at the students. Deep breaths. Even if she does deserve it."

With this, Ruby turns and starts walking towards Ozpin's tower, a determined glint in her eye.