"Pet, what did you see?"

The Darkness' questioned the little creature. Her stomach was laying flat on the ground, her body still as her eyes were. narrowed and focused on something in the darkness of this forest of snow.

"A-a deer." She whispered, hesitant and weak. A day or two had passed since it punished her, and it had tracked this little beastie down. Normally, it wouldn't care about animals, unless incredibly angry. But it had feed the Maggot.

"Good girl." It congratulated, patting her head with a foreign gentleness. She flinched, her breath hitching as she shook. The Darkness rather liked that; fear was aways so delicious. It found that fear made everyone more beautiful. Even Victor in all his hideous deformities was so beautiful before Jackie ended him.

Regardless, it stood tall. Of course it knew exactly where the deer was, the animal was in the darkness after all. So the Darkness stood, snapping its fingers. A squelching sound and a pained grunt echoed throughout the forest. The little pet quickly covered her eyes, startled and fearful.

The Darkness vanished into the shadows, grabbing onto a hoof, the Darkness pulled it onto its shoulder and hauled the carcass back into the clearing. Tossing it near the pet, it decided too sit by a tree. Resting was something it did rarely, for while not possessing a physical form of its own, it was ever present and active. Constantly whispering forbidden desires into the souls of mortals and the like.

The pet looked at the dead animal with a little sympathy, but primarily disgust. Ha, of course, how could it forget? Maggots love their food being cooked! It snapped its fingers, the corpse bursting into purple flames not a moment later. The pet backed away, startled and amazed at the same time. Her eyes were wide, sparkling almost from the unholy flames reflection.

It waited for a minute or two, before slightly moving its hands and causing the fire to evaporate into little more then a few embers. The pet looked at the now roasted flesh of the beast, hesitantly reaching an arm out.

"It'll burn." It warned her, and she quickly retracted her limb. She looked at it, little silver eyes sparkling in the moonlight. The Darkness could see fear and confusion in them, but also a question. It decided to be generous, after all the pet was acting well behaved.

"What's on your little brain, Pet?" The Pet didn't speak at first, averting her gaze. Just when it was about to ask... a little more forcefully, she looked at it again.

"I want to go home..." She mumbled barely above a whisper. At first, it was about to strike her. Kick her. Maybe snap her pretty little neck. But in its anger, an idea emerged. One that made it smile. And caused distant Gods and ethereal Spirits of the dead to call out in terror and weep as they could only watch the already sinister fate of Remnant grow so much darker and more sinister do the Darkness twisted desires.

"I can let you see them, if you like." Her eyes immediately lit up with hope. It was even... cute. Not as cute as those fearful eyes, however. Regardless, it raised an arm, and she flinched as its hand touched her head. And that was when the lie began.

"Qrow?" Inquired Taiyang. Taiyang was a tall, muscular man. He wore a tan shirt with short sleeves, covered by a small, brown vest. On his left arm, above his elbow was a red band wrapped around it. He wore dark yellow shorts and a pair of brown shoes. On his right shoulder was a pauldren, and a black tattoo of fire further down. His hair was short and a faded yellow color. His eyes were blue.

Qrow Branwen wore black shoes, and dark blue skinny jeans. On his chest rested a white shirt, which broke off into three points on his waist. His upper chest was exposed to the world, and his neck adorned with a silver cross. His sleeves were rolled up by his elbows, leaving the rest of his muscular arms exposed. Around his left wrist was a band. His hair was black as sin, and his eyes a dark red. On his chin were the remnants of a poorly shaved beard. His eyes were a light red. He wore a red cape on his back, which held several holes and was withered.

Qrow turned to look at his old friend, seeing a smile scratching ear to ear. Qrow groaned, taking a swig from his flask.

"I'm not watchin' that little shit." He mumbled, clearly annoyed and angered. Taiyang shook his head, still smiling like a giddy child.

"No! That bitch is gone!" Instantly Qrow stood, knocking the chair he was seated upon down. Qrow's eyes were wide, disbelieving.

"What!? No way! You're lying, ain't ya?" Taiyang shook his head, opening up the little cabin's freezer, pulling out a cold bottle of Jack.

"Her slut mother left with her today, and now their both dead. Beowolf food. Isn't this amazing!? That bitch and her whore mother are finally gone!" Qrow looked as though someone decided too give him a lifelong supply of liquor and cheap booze. In other words, he was giddy as a child.

"Oum yes! That little shit was nothing but a burden since the day she was born! A waste of semen, if you ask me." Both of the men laughed, joyously celebrating the disappearance of the little bitch. Of course, both went silent as the door creaked open, and little, tired Yang walked in, rubbing her right eye.

Yang wore what could only be described as dirty rags, not because she was hated but because she just preferred how they looked. Small black shorts hung down too her knees, and she was currently shoeless. Her hair was long and a beautiful gold, with her eyes being lilac in color.

"Daddy? Uncle Qrow? What's going on?" Taiyang kneeled down to be eye to eye with his eldest daughter, forcing on a frown.

"Ruby and Mommy... their not coming back." A quiet minute passed... followed by another, and another. Until, finally, Yang stated to smile.

"Their gone? For real?" And the joyous mood returned, with Taiyang grinning as he nodded.

"Yes," Yang yelled, clenching her fist hopping into the air, "I aways hated that lazy half-sister! She was aways so dumb, right?"

The illusion faded into shadows as the Darkness retracted its limb. Yes, that should be enough. The Darkness knew how best too sow the seeds of hatred in the hearts of man. It may not be the most charismatic, but it was and aways will he highly, highly manipulative. And it waited, waited for the inevitable whining or crying or whatever the Maggot would do.

Instead, she just stood in place. Silent, staring at it. Maybe it broke her? Pushed her too hard? Perhaps it should of merely created an illusion of her family being killed by Darklings? Or those 'Grimm' her mind thought of. It raised a razor sharp claw under her chin, a pet held no use if it would not obey her master.

"No..." She whispered, barely audible even with its hearing. It lowered its finger, tilting its head. It could see the beginning of tears. Yes...!

"No what, Pet?" It asked, already predicting the Maggot's response. She fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands as she started to cry. It remained silent, taking great joy in how those little whimpers grew into great big, ugly sobs.

"Pet, what's wrong?" It mockingly called out, barely restraining its laughter, "is that they don't care? Is that you're Mommy drowned in her blood? Or maybe that your stuck with me now?" She didn't answer, it didn't care to hear one. The pet cried and sobbed and screamed her little lungs out. She cried herself too sleep, and it couldn't help but smile.

"You wasted your only meal for this week, Pet." It spoke to her sleeping form, before bursting out into mad laughter and crazed giggles. Soon, she would be truly a worthy pet of the Darkness... soon...

Runeion — That's a good idea, for a Jackie raising Ruby story. But I'll definitely keep in mind Jackie coming back, if you guys want it.

While I didn't really reference it, hell, when I made the first chapter I probably had different intentions for the backstory, but right now I'm operating off the ending of Darkness 2 where Jackie gave in and accepted the illusionary world as reality, falling for the Darkness' trap. In fact, after this goes up, I'll probably revisit the first chapter and change a couple things here and there.

As aways, please leave any and all comments or criticisms!