I woke up, or rather opened my eyes. I was no longer in the room I was in before it all feel dark on me. I was...where Was I? And what room was I before? I looked around. It was darkness, but it wasn't really dark. I could see, but there was nothing to see. There was milky white, thick fog that would go no further up then over my knees. And I felt tired. That's what I felt the moment I stopped assessing my surroundings. I was exhausted.

But I saw a light in the distance. Although I would rather sit down, or even lay down and rest, for some reason I felt I had to go towards that spot. So I did. I pushed my legs forward, I moved towards it.

I'm not sure how long I walked, when I saw the first thing t hat was different. Something that would stand out from how this place looked up till now. Sitting on a ...rock? Was that a rock? Sitting on top of it was a man. He looked horrible, as if he was eaten in one piece, half digested and then spit out once more. I could see parts of his muscles, bones and skull showing off.

"We meet once again Kiddo. Although It'll be probably the last time we might see each other face to face. At least for a bit I hope." I blinked. Did he know me? Did I know him? I did...Qrow. I think his name was Qrow. I think I also knew him. We meet, in...somewhere. I can't quite remember.

"You're quite confused about your current situation. A lot of folks are. Mostly they don't have aura to keep them going in a situation like this, so they just lay down and ...well, I can't spoil it. But Suffice to say, You have two options now, Pipsqueak." The man looked at the light for a bit, before looking back at me.

"I can't affect your decision, as it would break some rules I can't break. So I'll try to be as to the point as I can. You either have a reason to go towards that light, and resume what you promised to do. Or you decide that You don't have much care for all that, that you would rather sleep. And you'll lie down and do that." I listened to him intently. Mostly because this place was so quiet, and hearing his voice, however strange it was, was...nice.

Then I caught up to what he said. To continue what I promised? Did I promise something to him? I don't remember. Do I have a reason to go towards that light? I'm tired, and I don't think I do. Maybe I should just do that, and lay down. Sleep sounds wonderful right now. This white mist is...

"White." I heard another voice say that. Or was that my voice? It was. I remember, its my voice. White...I Know something important about that. About that color, white. White and Icy blue. White, White, White...

"Wiess." It was my voice. Name, I remember a name. I remember I...We Did a thing. I was becoming someone important. A huntress. To protect people I care. People I care...people I care? My dad, and...Yang. I remember. Names and people. I have a purpose to continue. I have a reason to not give up.

I pushed my legs forward, towards the light. The fog started to feel like thick snow, but I kept moving towards the light. I had to. I had a reason. I remembered now. I had to. I could not give up.

"Seems I wasn't wrong about you. Hope we'll have plenty of successful hunts." I heard him, this Qrow person, speak behind me. But I couldn't look away. If I did, I would stop. And if I stopped I would not be able to move forward again. I had to focus on the light. One leg at a time. Push forward.

I had to.

oooOOOooo

I heard it skitter along the ceiling. Twelve steps. I had to keep my guard low and look around. I couldn't make it think I knew he was there. I kept my weapon in its staff form, the plan was to not enrage it, but only to frustrate it, so it can be baited outside of this abandoned factory place thingy, or whatever it was. I'm sure Weiss would be glad to explain to me next time I'd ask what the hell was this place before it was abandoned.

Ten steps.

It was approaching, so I stood in place. I wanted to count the last steps without messing it up by my own movement. I was to frustrate it, and bait it out of the building. Then Weiss would strike it, while It would get mad at me. I was a bait basically.

He was above me. Now to wait for the sound when he decides to pounce. That single scritch he would make against the surface of the ceiling.

There...

I jumped back, just in time. One second delay and I'd be underneath him. I had to thank the green dust for my improved reflexes on that. I prepared my staff. I had to get into a defensive position.

There it was, the same thing...well Not the exact same thing, but the same type of monster that began this whole situation for me. How did Weiss call it? A Mesothelae? I'd just go with ugly spider to be honest.

I saw his red beady eyes, it observed me, it was surprised I avoided it. It wasn't stupid, it was judging me, was I a worthy prey, or would I be too much of an issue.

It had to decide on something, since it lunged forward. Two of his eight legs moved to try and pin me down against the ground. I jumped to the left, avoiding one of them, and spun my staff to deflect the other.

It stopped. It was testing me. I was small, but my aura and the dust I was on would make me quicker and stronger. He was confused by that, something of my size would not posses such strength, even if I could be nimble.

But I wasn't doing anything aside from defending myself, he wasn't afraid, just curious, or perhaps confused. After a bit he continued his assault. He kept trying to to get me with just two of his front claw like legs. He was pushing me forward, and I admittedly did loose ground for him.

I knew what would happen soon, I'd get cornered against a window. And if I understood the layout of this place, then the window behind me was a thirty meters drop down.

While the plan wasn't exactly me jumping out of the window, it was to lure him out. And what better way then to pretend you have no other way. This thing would survive the jump, so he'd eagerly follow what he would think was already a free meal.

With that in mind, I continued our little dance. I kept it simple, dodge and parry, dodge and parry. Nothing fancy. Weiss told me to not try and be a hero. I was just to survive long enough. Then again was jumping out of window being a hero? I don't think so.

That moment arrived. He was aware I had nowhere else to move. He stopped his barrage of swings and looked at me. I could bet he was thinking he had the upper hand. He was enjoying the moment. Ugly ass spider. I'd say it out loud but I was afraid Weiss would listen in. She disliked me cursing. And I disliked her reprimanding me with a slap at the back of my head. Not really hurtful, just annoying.

My train of thoughts was interrupted as he lunged at me. I had no other choice, I jumped backwards and soon I found myself dropping down. Now I knew something this ugly bastard didn't know. I had a trick. Weiss told me to do a ...whatever She called it. I called it a force push. Now she told me something about ten meters and two meters before I hit ...crap.

Was it two or ten. Would ten be too much? Or did she tell me that Ten was exactly what I should and told me two was an example of bad. Or was it the opposite, ten being too much because it was example and two was just right cause it was closer.

I took my gamble, cursing my lack of attention when she actually said important stuff, and decided for the two meters.

I summoned my aura and once I almost hit the ground, I released the energy towards the ground.

And as I hit it, I understood the error of my ways. I tumbled across the ground, cursing under my breath. The initial impact and the tumble across the ground was of course taken care of my by aura. It still hurt, but I wasn't damaged. Yet there was an issue.

Once I hit one of the containers, I saw it. My aura would break like glass. I was exposed. And I saw the black, hairy spider approach me. He knew he had me, and I knew the same. It didn't help I dropped by weapon somewhere along my tumbling parade down to this spot.

Then it appeared. A white glowing circle above him. How did Weiss call them? Glyphs? The light confused the thing for a few moments, before a big spear of ice pinned him to the ground that came from the white circle.

The beast started to flail in agony, and I had to lunge to the side to not accidentally get hit or swiped by its claws. That would be ironic to die from something like that. Soon it would turn into dust. I could feel myself breathing heavily. I felt my body starting to really hurt as adrenaline would slowly stop working in my system.

"Really, Ruby? Jump out of window? And just flop onto the ground? I thought I told you to use your aura when you would get into a situation like that." There it was, and there she was. The white haired girl. She approached me and moved her arm to help me out. I accepted it with a groan.

"I did." I tried to defend myself, but of course that only would get me into a worse position.

"You forgot when to use it, didn't you?" The vampire girl mused with a smirk. I couldn't help but sigh in defeat.

"Yes..." I hung my head low. She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and brought me closer.

"Well for a first hunt, I would say you did a good job. The monster's is slain, you're alive, and we can head back." She said and I smiled. True, I survived.

And from today, I'll protect everyone.

Authors Note:

Originally I wanted to post this at the same time as I would post the second ...installement? Into the overall story I'm trying to tell with these. But I felt kind of bad for leaving a story open for gods know how long. So Instead I'll officially close this story with this, and once I'm done with writing the sequel (and will move on to it) I'll just update this story with another note that will help people who are interested to navigate towards said sequel to this.

While this is the ending note, I'll have to say it was an adventure. A lot of comments and reviews under this story helped me improve, and motivated me to find solutions and tools to make my stories read and feel better. I know I have still a long way till I'm anywhere close to being considered a decent writer, but I'll try my best to get there...one Day. Possibly, maybe. I'm not sure. And I want to thank all of those people. You all know who you are. Give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it!

I have tons of ideas for this story, and I need to slowly start to compose and plan how to use them. In the meanwhile I really want to focus on finishing my other ongoing stories, and perhaps start another Whiterose bigger story when I get time to get to it. Which I hope won't be that long. I actually hope to post at least a prologue with an explanation for the general idea of said story today. Why explanation? Well because it'll require one. You'll see. Once more I'll ask for a bit of trust. Especially if you want to read some Whiterose slice of life fluff.

To all who enjoyed the story, I'm glad you did. I once more want to thank everyone who commented and left a review under this story. It really motivated me to write this piece (and not only this), and I'll see you next story!