Chapter One: Meeting

I

Ruby

The brand that had forever taken away all vision in her left eye throbbed painfully. For the past three weeks it had been, and in the direction she was going - the location of the next apostle Uncle Qrow had put on her list - she knew that it would only get worse. She couldn't tell how much longer she had to go - the only map she had was lost a week earlier - but the reaper could tell she was getting there. The harder to bear the brand became, the closer she came to her next target. Closer to the Godhand.

Not much more than a year prior she would have called the pain currently embedded in her eye unbearable, but she knew by now. She knew that this wasn't true pain. The faces of her friends flashed in the broken embers of her memory, and that fed her need to carry on. Dad, She thought of him also, when it got this tough. If I told him what happened, would he forgive me? The face of her sister, bleeding, barely even twitching came to her now. First Raven, then mom, and finally Yang. He doesn't even know. The reaper told herself that Qrow had already broken it to him at this point. Of course, he has. He may be a bit of a jackass but even he wouldn't keep that from his brother.

Her cape was torn now, not completely useless as the hood she oh-so-needed was still somewhat intact. But the cloth was still a shell of its former glory. The small bandana that covered the bottom part of her face, however, was completely intact, doing its job perfectly, as well as the eyepatch which covered the brand in its entirety but couldn't quite keep the blood from seeping out slightly. In the days of Beacon, the reaper was considered to be: "One of the cutest girls in the class!" Back then those words brought a shade of embarrassment to her cheeks, now though, the memory of them brought a shade of rage. She was still young, at the age of 21, small too, in fact - Barely two inches taller then she was back in the day where she could be called "Cute" without giving the origin of the word a broken nose - But she radiated maturity. Her short black hair was streaked with red - After one of her first real battles, while her hair was still soaked with blood, she decided that she liked the way the bit of red mixed in with her hair, so she kept the look by dying it. - The large scythe she wielded in battle could be seen protruding from her back menacingly, keeping most bandits and other idiots away.

It didn't keep all of them away though, especially when they found she was a woman, and a young one at that. Just a few days before now, she had run across a small group of bandits that attempted to rob her, stupid ones at that as there were only four of them. She had only run across situations like this a handful of times in the year she had been on the road, but in those few encounters, she had learned not to talk, for obvious reasons. Most of the time all she needed to do to get her "attackers" away was twirl her weapon around a bit, then they ran away with their tails between their legs. Not these men though, that seemed to only egg them on. The reaper could see warts and blisters that marred the skin of these men, the way their ribs poked out of their skin - as if said skin were nothing but a cheap wrapping paper purchased from a con-artist who was barely trying. - The reaper who had once been known as Ruby sighed at this. It wasn't a battle, or at least, not what anyone that has even the most minimal amount of honor would call a battle. It wasn't even a massacre really, she didn't know what to call it, to her it felt as if she were simply putting down a pack of starving rabid dogs.

She could see the castle now, that great, magnificent, and terrible thing, peeking over the hills. That's also when she saw it. She couldn't tell why, but she didn't want to believe it, a tiny glowing speck flying toward the castle. An elf. Her first instinct was to take out Crescent Rose and shoot it into oblivion, but then she remembered the true revelation about the elves of the misty valley, she remembered Jill and Rosine, yet another thing that the Godhand would pay for dearly. The reaper calmed down instantly and attempted to yell it down. 'Attempt' being the keyword. She hadn't used her vocal cords for over a month, the last time she had was when she bade Jill farewell after making sure Rosine wouldn't pose any further threat. The look in her eyes. That fear that pervaded Jill's face had been somewhat familiar, the reaper thought. When Weiss and I first met Salem, the girl named Ruby emerged briefly from the shadow of hate that was the reaper. A smile came to her face at the memory, that battle of life or death that seemed to be the turning point of their little groups lives at the time was now completely inconsequential compared to the nightmare that laid ahead of them.

Once again those faces which always pervaded her thoughts. Jaune: the charming naive goofball. Ren: the quiet stealthy archer. Nora: The loud and bombastic berserker. Pyrrha: The gladiator who you could always count on to help…...the first to go. Blake: The ninja who could go completely unseen in a battle. Yang: The beloved big sister who would always lighten up the mood. Weiss: The traitor.

The reaper was Ruby again for that brief moment of flashback, and the smile widened on her face, transforming into a full-blown grin. Which was corrected moments later into a scowl that cut into your very soul. She attempted to yell at the elf again, and this time it worked to perfection, yelling so loud it could rival crescent rose when fired. "Hey! You! Fairy thing!" The tiny elf turned around in her direction, its face displaying complete shock - At the volume of her scream or something else, the reaper didn't know - and flew down to meet her.

"Uh, you can see me?" The flying creature's voice was high pitched and very feminine, the reaper questioned briefly if elves even had specified genders, due to them being completely naked and having no genitals to tell. While many others would have found the voice to be annoying, the reaper had spent enough time with Nora and Yang to get used to high pitched, obnoxious voices.

"Well, I'm talkin' to you aren't I?" The reaper said sarcastically, her voice croaking slightly due to its first use in a month being an obnoxiously loud scream. The elf just shrugged in response.

"Yeah, I guess. It's just that usually nobody can see me unless I make direct contact with them, and even then sometimes it takes a bit of force." The elf then smiled, crossed its left arm in front of it and shoved a fist through it, giving visual for its previous statement. A small grin came across the reapers face unconsciously, but it was covered by her bandana and it hid her amusement from the flying creature. Since her cover of gender was already blown just by talking, she quickly corrected that and pulled it down, revealing the rest of her face to the elf, who cocked his head curiously. "Wow." He said with childlike wonder. "I've never seen a girl that scarred up before." The fairy-like thing then proceeded to gasp and cover his/her mouth and sputter several apologies. The reaper waved its apologies off, completely unoffended.

"No problem little guy." Her small smile was still on her face now, her scowl disappearing as soon as she concluded that this was, in fact, a real elf, and not another demonic imposter like Rosine. God, it feels good to smile the reaper thought. While she was able to get some of her pent up playfulness out with Jill the morning after she stayed in the windmill, a month was still a long time to go without smiling, and she could feel that this little guy would give her some much-needed amusement, and just like that, the reaper went into brief hibernation, and Ruby emerged from the darkness. "What's your name pipsqueak?" She asked it, using Qrows old nickname for her on him. It didn't get the expected effect as the elf simply crossed its arms and beamed with pride.

"The name's Puck! Master of Elf Dimension style!" He then struck a pose that Ruby assumed to be a fighting pose. She just smiled and shook her head at him, before asking the real question on her mind.

"Why are you hanging around here? Do you know about the apostle who rules this place?" Just like that, the reaper was creeping back out again. Puck just cocked his head, as if thinking, then his eyes widened.

"A-apostle? You mean one of those high demons? The ones that take human form?" The reaper was now back in full force.

"What do you know about the one who resides here, The Count?" The elf shook his head and sighed.

"Sorry, I know a little about apostles but I didn't know one was here until you just pointed it out, but-", Puck cut himself off, his eyes widened a bit. "I know who could help you!" He yelled sharply. "The guy I followed here, that's probably why he came here too! He hunts the apostles too!" Ruby's eyes widened, the prospect of there being another like her filled her with a joy she hadn't felt in over a year.

"Really?!" Ruby was smiling now and grabbed Puck out of the air sharply but gently. "Does he have a brand like this?" She pulled off the eyepatch with the hand that wasn't holding Puck and showed him the brand. The elf didn't struggle, only looked at her brand in shock, then nodded.

"Yes!" Puck yelled, "Yes! He has one exactly like that! Only it's on the back of his neck not on his eye." Ruby was still smiling.

"Who is he? Where is he? Can you take me to him?" She let the elf go and he hovered in front of her, smiling also.

"I can take you to him, I didn't lose sight of him that long ago so I can find him again, he's a really big guy in a black cloak and he has a sword on his back that's even bigger then he i-", Puck cut himself off as he saw the scythe sticking up from her back, then looked back down into her eye. "I think he may actually like you. His name's Guts."

II

Guts

He had made it into the castle gates, as he had done several times now. The man standing before the gargantuan structure - the building was impressive even by Midland castle standards - looked much older than his actual age of 22, his face marred in an almost graceful pattern of scars. The swordsman was an incredibly tall man, towering over many of the people - or demons - that he met along his travels. He wore a black cloak that reached down to his ankles, and the hilt of a seemingly massive blade sticking up over his head. His right eye was gone, along with his left arm, which was replaced with a metal prosthetic. The man radiated pure intimidation, but that didn't stop the occasional unlikely and stupid bandit from attempting to rob him, those men were typically taken care of easily. He had a tingle in the back of his neck, not the pain of the brand that he had gotten so used too, but just a small tingle, as if something was about to change. The swordsman had developed somewhat of a sixth sense in the year since he'd been branded. He always knew when something bad was about to happen, whether it be moments before or mere seconds. This wasn't the same feeling, he already knew what he would find beyond these glamorous castle walls would be hell incarnate. At this point, hell could be considered a casual walk in the park. No, the feeling that was something-.

The swordsman's train of thought came to a complete standstill as he heard a familiar high pitched voice of that nuisance elf he somehow knew would force its way back into his life. "Guts! Hey Guts, you big dummy! I found someone you really need to meet!" That caught the swordsman's interest. Who the hell could he be talking about? The possibility blurred through his mind that the bug was just trying to lure him out so he could start following him again, but that scenario was quickly proven wrong. The elf could fly, it would be able to find him easily, especially with all its strange powers. The swordsman resigned himself and sighed loudly, stepping back from the castle gate and swept through the sky with his eyes, looking for the annoying elf, it didn't take him long to find the creature, but before the swordsman could call out to it, the elf flew right into his face, a look of pure innocent excitement graced its features. "There you are! Come on follow me, you gotta meet her!" Her? If the swordsman's curiosity wasn't peaked before it most definitely was now. The bug flew off and the swordsman followed it.

"Hey, bug! Who're you takin' me to?" The swordsman questioned. The elf glanced back at him, the excited look from before still very much present.

"Don't worry, you'll see soo-", the elf cut himself off, "There she is!" the elf pointed excitedly in front of him, and that's when the swordsman saw her.

The girl that stood only a few yards in front of him looked to be quite young, the girl whos red cloak would have made her practically glow from a mile away, at least three or four years younger he would've guessed, then he got closer, and got a good look at her face. An eyepatch covering her left eye, and a bandana around her neck, he could see that she was older than he originally thought, maybe by about three years at that. Her uncovered eye was a bright and piercing silver that he had never seen in anyone's eyes before, but what really caught his attention was what was sticking up from her back. The curved blade of a massive scythe that was easily as big as his dragonslayer hung over her head as if she were the manifestation of death itself. That, the eyepatch, along with the abundance of other scars that covered what he could see of her skin gave the girl an incredibly intimidating look, especially for a girl of only about five and a half feet. The girl in red looked up at him and gave a small smirk that made the one eye he could see pop with an attitude of playfulness Judeau would have fallen head over heels for. That thought made the swordsman feel the need to kick himself, the lingering sadness of a year earlier winning its battle against the overbearing anger for a brief moment.

The swordsman stopped in his tracks about three feet away from the red-cloaked girl, his cautiousness winning him over even though some part of him knew it was unnecessary. It didn't take long for the girl to close the distance between them and pull off the eye patch covering her left eye. The swordsman stopped dead in his tracks, shock pervading through every corner of his thoughts. There it was. The brand of sacrifice. Stamped firmly into her left eye. Her eye was still open, but the pupil was completely gone, making her eye take on the appearance of a cloudy bowl of milk. The swordsman was Guts again, that lone mercenary who wandered searching for a true purpose in his life and found it in the most unlikely place, with a group of strangely likely people. The sight of the brand gave him a reason to pause, was this girl a hawk? The thought went through his head but was quickly stomped out aggressively, that couldn't be. There wasn't another female in the hawks, he would've known if there was, she must've been someone different.

Her smirk was still there, and she held out her left hand, "Ruby", She said. Guts stared at her hand, still in a slight state of shock. "Well? I mean, the scars are bad but I'm sure I don't look too freakish. And, I mean, if you do feel that way then that's the pot calling the kettle black don't you think?" Her voice was soft and gentle, the opposite of the voice you would expect from a girl who radiated strength and maturity the way she did. Her armor was also strange, her legs were covered completely in spiky iron that looked just as sharp as the most masterfully crafted blades in all the kingdom. Her entire right hand was enveloped in a gauntlet of the same style, with the hand in the shape of a razor-sharp claw, a piece of armor that balanced both defense and offense in equal proportion, the opposite arm, however, was completely lacking any sort of armor, the only form of cover being a leather fingerless glove adorning it. Other than that, most of her left arm was bare. Her chest was plated in the same armor as her legs, only designed in a way that it most likely wasn't as dangerous as the rest of her set. Her head was also unarmored, only hooded in a tattered old crimson red cloak, the red cloth flowed out behind her in the wind, almost making it seem as if she had crimson wings.

Finally, the swordsman snapped out of his trance, and held out his hand to the reaper "G-Guts", he stammered out truly feeling like he had stepped back through time five years. The day when Judeau, Pippin, and Rickert had first dragged him off to have a drink with the rest of the band.

A/N: So yeah, not abandoned, but you guys shouldn't expect regular updates either...just sayin'.