Hello everyone! This is simply a test chapter of a story I am thinking about writing at some point in the future. Simply testing the waters to see if people may like it or if I could even write it well enough in the first place. The story is planned to be pretty big and from my point of view, epic as hell. Don't know if I will ever get to it but that depends on how well people like this chapter. Apologies ahead of time for grammar or anything. I suck at it lol

Enjoy!

Ruby and Weiss ran through the narrow walls of the cave. They could still hear the sounds of intense fighting echoing against the walls as their friends fought against Cinder and her allies, buying them what little precious time they could.

"Do you have any idea where we're even going?" Weiss asked as Ruby pulled her along by the arm.

Ruby didn't answer. If she was being honest, she had no idea where she was going. The tunnels in the cave were starting to get even smaller and narrower but for some reason, instead of turning back and helping the others, this…. force kept pulling her forwards. As if, it was moving her body closer and closer to whatever her destination was against her will.

"Ruby, what's going on?" Weiss questioned; her voice laced with concern.

The redhead said nothing as she pulled Weiss faster, not allowing her any moment of rest, even as the walls started to close in on them. Now Weiss wasn't claustrophobic but it was starting to get a little too close for comfort, especially given her already small stature, not that she would ever admit such a thing. Deciding to trust Ruby, she kept moving, breaking open a vial of fire dust to use as a torch to light the way.

After a few more minutes, though, the tunnel had gotten so small that both girls were now crouched over, almost to the point where they had to walk on their hands and knees. That was the final straw.

"Ruby." Nothing. "Ruby!" Still Nothing.

With a frustrated growl, Weiss grabbed a hold of Ruby's hood and lightly yanked her back, knocking her out of whatever trance she was in. "Ruby what the hell is going on with you? I've been trying to get your attention for ages now and you just keep pulling me forward and ignoring me. Now." Weiss removed her hold on the hood and leaned against the cave wall, "not that this isn't a lovely workout but where the hell are we going?" she said with a lightly frustrated tone.

"I-I don't know Weiss. I just," Ruby took a breath and looked back at the dark tunnel ahead of them, "I just know that I must keep moving forward. That something is down here. Something, familiar." She looked back at Weiss, sweat brimming at the top of their heads, causing both girls hair to cling to their skin. Ruby couldn't help but marvel at how even though they had been crawling through this dark, damp, and dangerous cave, Weiss hadn't even complained or even mentioned that they should turn back. She really had come a long way from being the prissy heiress she knew back at Beacon.

"What?"

The word made Ruby snap out of her thoughts and focus. "Huh?" Ruby said in confusion.

"You're smiling. Why are you smiling?"

"Oh." Ruby blushed and scratched at the back of her head as she turned away from Weiss. "I just thought about how much you have changed from back when we were at Beacon you know? Instead of being the prissy and entitled heiress you were, you're more driven and are willing to deal with stuff like following me through a dangerous cave without question."

"I'd follow you anywhere dolt." Weiss whispered, hoping Ruby didn't hear. However, given their proximity and the way the sound bounced off the cave walls, the redhead most definitely heard, causing her to blush madly like the color of her cloak. Weiss taking notice at the blush and reaching the conclusion that Ruby did in fact hear her, soon matched her in color and both girls refused to make eye contact.

"Thanks Weiss." Weiss whipped her head gaze back to Ruby who was looking at her with a smile. "Thank you for trusting me." She reached out a hand and place it on top of Weiss's pale hand.

"Always Ruby."

Both girls were now looking at each other, their eyes never breaking contact as they started to slowly lean closer to one another. Soon they were a mere few inches apart before as the earth below them started to shake.

"What the..." Weiss started to say in shock but never finished as the ground below them gave in causing both to fall.

Both girls started to scream as they fell with chucks of the ground they previous stood upon fell beside them.

Her reflexes kicking in, Weiss quickly conjured up a gravity glyph below them slowly decelerating the speed at which they fell to the point where they were almost hovering in mid-air before it disappeared, causing the pair to sudden fall belly first onto the ground a few feet below them.

The pair laid there for a time, surrounded by a cloud of dust and rubble.

After a few moments and giving her body a quick mental check to see if anything was broken, Ruby lifted her head off the ground, groaning in pain as she did. While nothing was broken thanks to both Weiss's glyph slowing them down and her own aura, that didn't exactly mean that falling several feet felt onto solid ground was going to leave nothing bruised or sore. Taking a small look around, she noticed that the room was pure darkness as she could see nothing in front of her. Next to that she realized was that the room was freezing cold as she could see her breath in front of her and while her aura was keeping her warm, she was still shaking from the freezing air that filled the room.

"Cough. Cough."

Turning her head, she saw Weiss start to pick herself off the ground, the vial of fire dust still in her hand, somehow unbroken and giving off a small aura of light around them, before trying to clean all the dirt and grime off her combat skirt. Eventually seeing that it was a futile effort, Weiss let out a sigh of frustration before turning towards Ruby and holding out her hand. "You okay?"

With a small cough, Ruby took a hold of Weiss's hand and was gently pulled to her feet. "Yeah. Thanks. Smart thinking with the glyph by the way." She said as she stood on her feet.

"Thank my reflexes." Weiss said with a small smile that lasted only a moment before she frowned and start to look at the area around them. "Now, where are exactly?"

Ruby followed Weiss's movements, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the insane level of darkness around them but could only make out a few things. One of them however looked like something useful.

"Hey Weiss, over here." Ruby walked towards the item in question, stopping before it. "What do you think it is?"

Weiss stepped closer and examined it. It seemed to be just a rather large bowl sitting on top of a pillar of sorts and inside she could see that it was filled with some sort of fine powder.

A light bulb went off in her head as she came to a realization. Taking the fire dust in her hand, she popped open the vial and poured a small amount onto the powder. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, causing the former heiress to let of a huff in frustration before a small glow began to appear from within the powder. Within an instant the powder ignited and a large roaring flame emerged from the bowl, causing both girls to cautiously step back.

Ruby then heard a whoosh sound followed by cracking from behind her. Both girls turned to see another bowl ignite, followed by another, then another, before the entire room was lit up as dozens of the bowls were ignited and filled with a large flame.

As the room lit before them, both girls could only gasp, mouths wide open at the room in front of them.

The room itself was massive. At least four stories tall, with massive gray stone pillars in a row along its walls. The walls themselves were barren rock but the pillars it seemed had pictures and symbols etched upon them from top to bottom, telling what it seemed to be a story of sorts.

Weiss stepped to the closest one and ran a hand along the symbols. "Their beautiful. Someone must've spent a lot of time on making these. While I can not even guess as to what they say, I'm sure that whatever it is must've been important. Don't you agree Ruby?" Silence. "Ruby? You there?"

Turning her gaze from the pillar in front of her, she saw her partner simply standing in same spot as before, her eyes open wide and unmoving as they looked straight ahead. "Ruby okay?" Weiss walked to her partners side. "Ruby? Ruby what is it?" she asked in concern. Not answering her, Ruby simply started to walk forward. Weiss's gaze followed Ruby. "Ruby why don't you answ…. oh my god." Weiss's mouth opened in shock as her breath was quickly taken away.

At the end of the room were four statues, standing side by side, each as tall as the room itself and carved into the very wall behind them. It wasn't the size of the statues that shocked Weiss though but the intricate design on which they were made. Each statue was designed off that of a beautiful woman. So well designed that they were almost realistic, as if the woman themselves were turned into the statues. Each wore a set of what looked like ancient armor that seemed to at least a thousand years old. Looking at the statues Weiss saw that each was holding something in their hands. Focus her eyes, Weiss saw that it was a chain. Following it, she came to see that something frightening laid at the end of the chains.

Kneeling directly in front of Ruby was another statue but this one was not massive but that of average size and nor was it of a woman but a man. Each arm was stretched out, a chain wrapped around each of his wrist. Another was wrapped around his neck and the final one was wrapped around his waist, each seemed to be holding him in place.

The man looked just as realistic, if not even more so than the woman that seemed to be holding him captured. His armor almost like that of theirs, if not slightly bulkier and almost worn from what seemed like years of damage. His face was handsome with his chiseled features and his hair short, just barely reaching his eyes but shaggy looking. His eyes though were closed as if he was simply resting instead of being in his current predicament.

Looking down, Weiss could see that while the walls were that of the cave itself, the floors were tiled with smooth gray stone with a massive symbol etched into it, almost covering the entire floor.

"It means family." A voice said, causing Weiss to take a small jump back.

Turning, she saw Ruby looking at her, still standing in front of the statue of the man.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"The symbol." Ruby said as she nodded to the etching in the floor. "It means family."

Weiss looked the symbol before turning to Ruby, her face contorted in confusion. "How do you know that? You can barely learn Atlassian let alone learn a completely ancient language that you most likely have never seen before since I never have."

Ruby let out a small chuckle and shrugged. "I don't know. I just," she took a breath, "I just look at it and the word just popped into my head."

Weiss looked at her partner quizzically, not fully believing her. Getting an idea, she pointed towards one of the pillars, "What about those symbols, can you read those?"

Deciding to give it a shot, Ruby walked towards the pillar Weiss was pointing at and looked over it for a moment. "It talks about a betrayal and death. Something was stolen or something like that." She started to move her hands slowly over the drawings, getting a strange sense from them. "I'm not sure if that's right or anything. Honestly, just staring at it gives me a headache." Ruby said as she closed her eyes started to rub the sides of the temple between her fingers.

Weiss stood next to her partner and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hmm. Well is this place the one you were looking for or…"

"FREEZE SCHNEE!"

Quickly turning around, weapons drawn, Ruby and Weiss came face to face to several White Fang members with several more repelling down a rope as they came from the same hole that Ruby and Weiss fell through in the ceiling. After the last members reached the ground, the partners were surrounded by around a dozen members of the White Fang.

"Crap. These guys must've someone got by Yang and the others." Ruby muttered, Crescent Rose fully extended in front of her.

"No matter. They will fall just like their comrades up top." Weiss smirked are readied Mystranster.

One of the White Fang, a lizard Faunas from what the lizard tail behind him said, let out a small laugh. "It is you who shall fall Schnee. You're allies above us are losing as we speak."

"Last I saw, that blonde one had her fancy arm of hers completely crushed by Cinder did I not?" said another, a bear faunas with a smile on his face, earning a few hums of agreement.

Ruby growled as they laughed.

The lizard Faunas spoke again. "Don't worry. They will all get what's coming to them. Especially that bitch of a traitor and the Schnee whore."

That was it. Ruby charged forward screaming in rage, her weapon ready to kill. She had started to swing Crescent Rose at the lizard Faunas when a sudden chill hit her, causing her to lose speed and her body to suddenly grow heavy and strained.

'BANG'

Ruby felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as the bullet ripped through the flesh. Falling to the ground on her side, she clutched the bleeding shoulder, dropping Crescent Rose in the process.

"RUBY!" Weiss yelled. Thinking quickly, Weiss spun the cartridge of her rapier and slashed horizontally in a large arch, releasing a large gust of wind dust at the men causing them to fly back and slam into the wall several yards behind them, knocking them out. Quickly taking advantage of the moment, Weiss ran to Ruby's side.

"Ruby! You okay?" Weiss exclaimed as she placed a hand on Ruby's uninjured shoulder.

Ruby rolled over onto her back, a pained expression on her face that seemingly relaxed once she saw Weiss. "Yeah. Just a flesh wound. My aura should take care of it in a sec." She then looked at the wound, expecting her aura to start working on it but nothing happened. Instead, the wound blead and blood began to fall onto the floor. "What?" Ruby whispered in surprise. "Why isn't my aura working?"

Weiss looked at her wound, a worried look on her face. "I don't know but we have to get you out of here." Weiss grabbed a hold of Crescent Rose and folded it back up before handing it to Ruby who was able to barely able to get to her knees and placed it onto the latch on her back. Weiss then took a hold of Ruby, throwing her uninjured arm over her shoulders. Though Ruby was adamant against it, Weiss was having none of it as she helped the girl to her feet and was prepared to carry the girl if she had to.

Looking around, Weiss noticed a tunnel at the end of the room beside on of the statues of the woman that she prayed would lead them out. Just as her and Ruby were just passing the statue of the chained man and halfway to the tunnel, a bullet rang through the air, causing both to stop.

"Where do you think you're going?" said a strained and frustrated voice.

Looking back, they saw the White Fang members had gotten back to their feet and while some were still coming to from the effects of being knocked unconscious., more than half had their weapons trained on the pair.

"Ruby." Weiss whispered. "Can you fight?"

The redhead let out a small chuckle followed by a pained groan. "Beside you? Always."

Both girls smiled but before they could ready themselves, the leader spoke. "Die Schnee." And the sound of a dozen shots rang throughout the room.

…

Weiss and Ruby remained motionless; their eyes closed as they prepared to die. However, they both felt nothing. No impact, no pain. Weiss was starting to wonder if she was already dead and that it was simply that fast.

Taking a chance, both her and Ruby opened their eyes which widened at what they saw.

A dozen bullets stood mid-air, a mere couple inches from their faces, still spinning for a moment before falling to the ground in quick succession like mere coins.

The sudden sound of something hitting the ground caught the attention of both girls as they turned to see several White Fang members drop their weapons and back away in fear. Slightly confused, both girls suddenly heard someone breathing behind them. Slowly turning, the came eye to eye with a pair of burning red eyes belonging to that of the chained man.

"Run." The statue said with a gravely deep voice, and with that word, the world shook.

The statues behind him quickly began to shake and crack as several pieces began to break off. One of them that was holding one of his arms finally crumbled, causing the chain to fall before the other started to quickly follow.

Realizing that they were running out of time. Weiss grabbed a hold of Ruby and pulled her towards the tunnel and out of the room.

The White Fang members quickly realized the same thing as they tried to follow but the doorway soon collapsed in front of them, effectively trappings them. The men turned in just in time to see the final chain break and the statue of the man stand to his feet and turn his gaze upon them.

…

Ruby and Weiss ran through the tunnel, ignoring the screams behind them. The earth continued to shake around them as they moved, parts of the tunnel collapsing behind them.

"Ruby, you okay?" Weiss asked as they ran, still holding onto Ruby.

"Yeah. Just peachy." Ruby groaned as she clutched her wound but kept moving. "So, what was that?"

"I'd rather not think about it right now. Just keep going. We can figure it out after we escape this hell hole."

"Right."

The two kept traveling down the tunnel, evading the falling rubble, eventually seeing a small amount of light. As they got closer, they heard yelling and once they reached the surface, they came face to face with Yang, Blake, team JN_R. and Qrow on one side and on the other was Cinder and dozens of members of the White Fang along with Mercury and Emerald. The sky that was once sunny and blue was now cloudy and a brought a chilly cold to the air. The two groups had stopped fighting it seemed once the ground began to shake. Littered on the ground were several bodies of White Fang but while Cinder's group was much smaller than before, Ruby and Weiss could both see that their friends had been losing the fight as Cinder was in perfect condition with Emerald and Mercury were only mildly hurt with just a few cuts and bruises.

Jaune though had his leg bandaged up just above the knee in a red fabric that they could only guess was his sash since it was missing. Nora and Ren were both covered in dirt and their clothes were torn in a few places but besides that they looked only exhausted from the battle. Qrow and Blake were the both in good condition but Qrow had a thin cut over his chest that thankfully was not deep enough to bleed terribly while Blake was bleeding from her lip. Yang though was on the verge of passing out, having seemed to have pushed her semblance to the limit as Ruby could still see the remains of smoke whispering off her body.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Cinder yelled at them; her face full of anger but Ruby could see a hint of fear as well.

"Ruby." Yang said, her face was a tad bloody from a cut above her eye and yet the fact that worried look on her face clear.

"What, what did we do?!" Ruby shouted.

"You released him didn't you?! DIDN'T YOU?!" Cinder screamed in rage as she tightly gripped the handles of her swords in front of her.

"Who?" Weiss asked as she moved Ruby and her closer to Yang and the others.

"You…" Cinder paused as the ground finally stopped shaking. The world stood quit.

Everyone turned their head towards where Ruby and Weiss escaped the tunnel as the sound of heavy footsteps echoed. Each step, acting like a heartbeat for everyone standing. Qrow and a few others readied their weapons while some stood in fear.

"You freed him. You did it." Cinder whispered in clear fear as she took several steps back.

"Who? We freed who?!" Weiss shouted.

The figure stood out into the sun, before them. Several remaining pieces of stone falling from his body revealing a set of black armor with red lines intricately woven through it in a beautiful design. Though in several places over his shoulders, arms, and legs, the armor and fabric beneath it were torn apart from year of wearing revealing the white, yet muscular skin beneath it. His black hair moved under the breeze of the wind, and his red irises gleaming under the dark, cloudy sky.

"Cain." Everyone stared as the man stood before them. A devilish smile forming on his face as Cinder spoke. "The God of Darkness."

A chuckle echoed from the being's lips, his eyes scanning the two groups, "This is going to be so, much, fun."

And there we have it. I hope you all enjoyed it and please leave a review!