The three people who actually follow my account might wonder why the hell I'm writing another story, when I have several ongoing ones already. The answer is that, while I know it would be probably better to focus on one story at the time, I just have too many ideas and not enough self-discipline not to use them.

This is an alternate universe fic. The setting does not diverge from the original timeline at any specific point in time, it is simply a different world with some parallels to the original. Likewise, each character, while bearing similarities to their original counterpart and having a similar basic personality, is a different person shaped by different experiences and has a different set of goals.

Another thing to remember is that here, the narration will be written from a singular perspective. It means that information available to the narrator, and thus the readers, will often be limited and/or unreliable. Sometimes the distortions will be obvious, sometimes not so much.

Also, this story is bound to be dark. As in, Black Out The Sky level dark, or at least somewhat close to it. Topics like slavery, racism and abuse are central to the plot and will be explored at length. You read at your own risk.

With that overly long intro out of the way, let us begin.

Ruby descended down the stairs, careful not to trip and fall down. Nearly every one of her muscles ached after a day of work, although it wasn't really work itself that made her so tired. There was only so much to do in a single household and the girl was used to menial labor by now. Rather, it was this constant tension that exhausted her. The knowledge that any mistake or negligence on her part would earn her a beating, maybe a lashing if she annoyed her owner enough. She still had some marks on her back, a reminder of the last time she accidentally broke something. At least she managed to avoid abuse that day, save for the insults that stopped bothering her a long time ago.

After finally managing to reach the bottom of the stairs, Ruby eyed the basement's contents. Everything was exactly as she left it, not that there was much stuff there. The only items there were an old rug that made for her bedding, a water bowl, now-empty food bowl, a lamp hanging from the ceiling and Ruby's spare set of clothes lying folded in the corner.

Ruby's living quarters were not comfortable by any means. But then again, who would be concerned about her comfort? She was just a slave, expected to work from dusk till dawn and be grateful she had a roof over her head.

She fell down on a mat that made for her bedding. To be fair, those conditions were hardly the worst Ruby had been kept in over the years. Unlike some before him, her current owner fed her every day, if only because he found it amusing to have her eat from a bowl, as befitting of a dog faunus. She was fairly sure her tail was that of a wolf, though correcting her master was obviously out of the question.

Ruby's life was less than perfect to say the least, but then again... she couldn't imagine, let alone lead any other.

As most faunus, Ruby had been born a slave. She had been separated from her parents at a young age, taught to follow orders and perform basic jobs and then sold to some human who needed a domestic servant. From then on, her life had been nothing but an endless, repetitive cycle of working and sleeping. The only difference between one day and another was whether she was fed, beaten, both or neither. She still couldn't decide which one of the latter two she liked more.

And it would continue up until the day she died. It wasn't pessimism on her part, there was simply no other option. Ruby knew that in the past at least some faunus used to be free, but that has changed... how many years ago? Before her birth, surely. There was no change in sight, no chance for humans to ever stop holding the faunus in bondage. There was no chance for Ruby to break free on her own either - even if she evaded capture, there simply was nowhere for her to run towards. Unless she were to live in a forest with actual wolves - which was a cool idea, but hardly realistic - there was no place for her outside closed walls. Her current life, harsh it could be, would just have to continue.

Still, at least that day was over. With no more duties to perform and no other way to spend her time, Ruby could just let sleep take her away…

"Animal! Come over here!"

Or not. Ruby stood up again with some effort and then made her way up the stairs with even more effort. She would much rather stay in the basement rather than have to deal with her owner right now, but disobeying a direct order would certainly earn her a punishment and not one she would soon forget.

A few seconds later Ruby found herself back on the ground floor of the house. It was fairly clean - no prize for guessing who should be thanked for that - but by no means well-ordered in the usual sense. There were weapons placed in strange places, pieces of paper lying here and there and the furniture itself was placed rather inefficiently. The owner of the house claimed to prefer practicality over esthetics, whatever those words meant. To Ruby it seemed like he was too lazy to rearrange things and too proud to let his slave decide what should be placed where. Though of course, that wasn't an opinion she would ever voice.

Upon making it to the living room, Ruby saw her owner sitting on a couch. Cardin Winchester, a licensed huntsmen who graduated from Beacon Academy a few years back. Ruby wasn't sure how he had managed that, since huntsmen were supposed to be noble warriors and not petty jerks who enjoyed tormenting animals, but that that was just another opinion she would never state out loud.

In spite of Ruby's worries, he didn't appear upset at her or anything else for that matter. In fact, he seemed quite content, as if something just went his way.

Somehow, that worried her even more.

"Ugh, it took you a while." Cardin commented. Ruby opened her mouth to give him an apology, but he wouldn't let her speak. "Doesn't matter. I have some news for you."

Ruby came a bit closer, but still kept her distance. She stood there with her hands put together and her muscles tensed, prepared to immediately follow an order if she was to be given one or to curl into a ball if she were to be beaten.

"I don't really like talking to you, so I'll be brief. I'm selling you to someone else. Everything is arranged already, so you're officially not my problem anymore."

Ruby found herself surprised at those news, but only mildly. Being sold wasn't new to her by any means - she passed through many owners over the course of her life, most of whom only needed her for a year or less before handing her over to another human. She had only lived with Cardin for a few months by now, but she supposed it made sense that he wanted to be rid of her already since, as he made abundantly clear many times over, he wasn't fully satisfied with her service.

They weren't exactly bad news either. While Cardin deserved some credit for feeding his slave regularly, he was pretty brutal when it came to punishments. Ruby doubted her new owner would be much worse than him.

"The guy's name is Jaune Arc. Fellow graduate from Beacon. Ever told you about him?"

Ruby shook her head. Cardin bragged about his time in Beacon Academy and his later 'career' as a huntsmen quite often, but he rarely mentioned other people aside from his teammates. He was just that self-centered, it seemed.

"Well, he is a full-fledged huntsmen now. Maybe not as good as me, but a cool guy nonetheless. We fought together during the Fall of Shade and he is a hell of a fighter. Knows how to deal with faunus as well."

And Ruby could already see the problem. Anyone whom Cardin liked, especially for their attitude towards the faunus, was not a person Ruby wanted to be around, let alone to have power over her.

Still... how bad could it be?

"His father was a general in the Valean army." Cardin continued. "Served during the Faunus Rebellions. I believe the whole Arc family hates your kind, and Jaune surely does."

The Faunus Rebellions. Ruby didn't know much about them, since nobody bothered to properly tech her history - she had only been taught how to read and count before being sent to work. As far as she knew, it came down to a bunch of faunus who got way over their heads and tried to overthrow the humans, only to get crushed by the Kingdom's combined effort. The lucky ones died fighting or got enslaved again, while the unlucky ones got horribly executed as an example to the rest of their species.

Ruby didn't really care about the specifics anyway. All that mattered was that the rebellion was the reason for much of the hatred humans bore against the faunus and that being owned by someone whose family fought in that war was less than perfect.

"He actually owned a slave a few years back. A female one, though one a bit older and more valuable than you. It didn't stop him from killing her though."

Ruby could swear it just got colder in the living room. It really was less than perfect. It was far less than perfect.

"Yup. I'm not sure what exactly happened, he doesn't really talk about that much. Maybe it was intentional, maybe he got a bit carried away while disciplining her. Or maybe she actually showed some guts killed herself, preferring death to staying with him. Maybe you can ask him once you get there."

Crap. The majority of slaves died either from some disease they caught or, in the case of those performing hard labor, work-induced exhaustion. Most humans valued their faunus enough not to kill them or torment them to the point of suicide. Ruby always thought that, since she wasn't tough enough to work in the mines or in the fields anyway, she would survive until full adulthood at worst and until old age at best. Unfortunately, it looked as though she wouldn't get even that lucky.

"I figured I would tell you that, just so you have a chance of surviving." Cardin said, undoubtedly taking enjoyment from seeing Ruby afraid. "Anyways, that is all. You can go back to your hole for all I care."

Luckily, Ruby still had enough self-control left to bow before leaving and slowly stepped back. After she was out of her owner's sight, she rushed towards the basement.

She needed some time to think. She had been in many bad situations before. Even some really bad ones. But that...

That was really, really bad.

/-/

A night passed by. Ruby caught very little sleep, despite her tiredness. She kept imagining and, after sleep finally overtook her, dreaming up different scenarios, most of which were pretty grim. During the day she was ordered to perform some final tasks, such as cleaning the basement now that she was about to depart it. In a way, she was grateful for being given something to do, as any distraction from the stressful thoughts was welcome at that point.

If Cardin had been honest with her, then she was about to be handed over to some sort of cruel monster who already tormented one slave to death. It was a terrible situation if there ever was one, but as per usual, Ruby didn't exactly have many ways to change it. She could simply make a run for it, but the chances of escaping successfully were pretty much zero, as there wasn't anywhere she could run towards. And after getting caught she would get punished in some horrible, possibly lethal way. She could only play along.

Before leaving she took time to do something unusual for her, that is look in the mirror. She generally only did that to see whether the wounds were healing well and such, but that was different. For the first time in quite a while she was concerned about her appearance, though not for the reasons humans tended to.

Ruby wore a black shirt that was ripped in more than one place and trousers that have seen better days as well, both dirty and covered in stains. Ruby's skin wasn't in great condition either, as every patch of it bore some signs of damage, mostly in the form of bruises and red marks. Though it couldn't be seen in the mirror right now, her feet have acquired quite a few cuts as a result of going barefooted almost all the time. Even her tail looked miserably right now, hanging down as a result of its owner's anxiousness. To put it bluntly, Ruby was a picture of misery.

But that would hopefully work to her advantage. She could hardly expect any compassion from a human, especially one that hated the faunus instead of just despising them, but maybe she could still earn some pity. At the very least, signs of abuse would tell her new master that she had already been trained properly and that there was no need to inflict even more pain. Then again, it would also imply she had been disobedient in the past...

You know it's pointless. Ruby's mental voice of reason spoke. Even if appearance really does matter here, you can't exactly change it very much, can you? Just do as you are told and keep your mouth shut, like always. If it won't persuade the guy not to hurt you, nothing will.

Ruby had to concede that point. Pessimistic as it was, voice of reason was usually correct and gave her useful, if repetitive advice.

She heard another voice, one that didn't come from inside her had. She couldn't make out the exact words, but it seemed like Cardin was calling her.

Ruby immediately spun on her feet and headed towards the exit. At no point did she feel an urge to look behind her - she had no fond memories of living in this house and she was glad to be leaving it, even though what awaited her could be worse yet.

As she opened the exit door the faunus was hit with a wave of cool air, as expected of an autumn evening. She shivered slightly, her clothing doing little to shield her from the cold, but she still made her way outside, closing the door behind her.

Cracked moon provided Ruby with more than enough light to see clearly. As expected, Cardin was waiting for her next to the car. A small truck to be specific, with two seats at the front. Not that both would be occupied. Ruby approached the vehicle and wordlessly jumped into the trunk. She half-expected her (former?) master to rebuke her for not arriving fast enough and maybe even inflict some punishment, but he only slammed the lid shut, leaving her in darkness but not harming her in any way. He probably wouldn't do much even if he thought she deserved a punishment, as that would mean handing his friend a damaged product.

A sound of igniting engine could be heard, indicating that the car was about to start. And surely, a few seconds later Ruby felt a pull. It wasn't very sharp, as the vehicle was accelerating slowly, but she was sure there would be at least several sudden stops along the way, so she curled up as to not suffer any injury to the head. Just the charms of travelling in the trunk of a car.

The ride lasted maybe an hour, though it wasn't like Ruby had a way to tell exactly. Regardless, soon after the truck stopped for real and the engine was turned off, the girl was let out. As in, harshly shoved into the driveway of a house, barely managing to land on all fours. Ruby did have rather fast reflexes, which came in handy from time to time.

As she stood up, the girl examined the house she would be staying in. From the outside it looked similar to the one she just left - not big enough for a full family, more than large enough for a single resident and a servant. It was, however, in far better state, as there were no signs of age visible. The building was probably very young, or was maintained exceptionally well.

Ruby couldn't make out more than that, as almost immediately after getting up she was pulled by her hair and dragged towards the entrance door. Cardin was often like that - taking any excuse to remind her of her place.

Then again, if what she had been told was true, her new master would probably make her miss the previous one after a while.

Upon reaching the entrance, Cardin rang the doorbell. He still kept one hand in Ruby's hair, as if he feared she might try to run away. To be fair, nerves made that prospect seem extremely tempting. Yet even still, Ruby had enough common sense to know that pulling off something like that would make for a really bad first impression.

After a few moments and multiple clicks of locks the door opened. In the entrance stood a young man whom Ruby could only assume to be Jaune Arc. He certainly looked like a huntsman - while he wasn't as tall as Cardin, he still stood at least a head taller than Ruby. He had blonde hair, fair skin... and that's just about all she was able to make out before she lowered her head and focused her attention on the ground. Some humans found it offensive when a faunus met them in the eye and she already resolved herself not to take any unnecessary risks.

She must have looked truly pathetic at that moment. Subdued, wearing torn clothes and lacking the courage to even raise her eyes. Then again, that was how she wanted to appear.

"Evening." Cardin said. "I brought the animal you asked for. Not sure why you'd want that one, but here you go."

"You'd be a pretty poor vender, you know that?" Arc spoke. The tone of his voice was little higher than she would have expected from somebody of his stature, though the contrast wasn't as jarring as with Cardin. Was that just a thing with huntsmen?

"Whatever. She is barely worth the food she's getting anyway." Ruby could tell Cardin had an urge to spit at her, but apparently even he had some semblance of manners. "Annoying too. Sure you don't want a whip or something?"

"Won't be necessary." Arc said dismissively, causing Ruby to shiver slightly. Did he already havea whip readied? Or maybe he had even worse methods devised for her? "Would that be all?"

"Looks like it. I better drive back home."

"Farewell then." Arc replied. They might have shook hands - Ruby wouldn't have seen that, as her eyes were still focused firmly on the ground. Unfortunately, that meant she didn't see Cardin before he barged past her, nearly toppling her to the ground. Still, she managed to stay standing as her former owner walked off back towards the car.

She then heard Arc let out a long, exasperated sigh. It caused Ruby to tense immediately. Has she already managed to annoy him somehow? Should she expect a punishment?

No, she literally hasn't done anything as of yet. There was nothing she could be punished for, other than breathing perhaps. Then again, her new owner didn't really need a good reason to hurt her. Some humans would discipline their slaves on the first day simply to show them what kind of punishments they could expect.

"Ruby, is that right?" The question took Ruby by surprise, but she answered as quickly as she could.

"Yes, master." she said meekly, still not raising her eyes. It was seemingly a correct kind of response, as she received no rebuke. Instead, her master approached her and gently lifted up her chin.

"Hey, look at me. I don't bite." He said calmly. Ruby hesitantly lifted her head up in response and stared the young man into his blue eyes that seemed to be judging her thoroughly right now.

She felt somewhat uncomfortable this way - looking a human in the eye could be read as challenging them, something that Ruby was desperately trying to avoid. She instead wanted to show herself as submissive, which was entirely accurate anyways. There was no challenge from her, no resistance, she was just waiting for the next order and would gladly carry it out.

Apparently, she succeeded at looking miserable, as Arc only gave a her a comforting smile. He then turned towards the door and stepped back inside the house.

"Come in." An order came. Ruby was quick to obey - she stepped through the doorframe and into the house. She welcomed the warmth of the interior, though obviously she had more important things to worry about than temperature.

The inside of the house was just about what she expected. Spacious, mostly empty and with visible signs of a huntsman living around there, such as stains of Grimm ichor on the floor. It was more orderly than Cardin's house, but not quite as clean - its owner needed a slave for something after all.

"Will you lock the door please?" Arc asked. Ruby once again obeyed immediately, turning to face the door. It had two locks and several chains on it, which indicated a slight paranoia on behalf of its owner. Naturally, she didn't share this observation with said owner and instead shut the door and began working on the locks. It took her a while to get through them all, upon which she turned back towards her owner, awaiting further orders.

"Thanks. Now follow me. I'll show you where you can sleep" With these words, Arc turned around and walked deeper into the house.

Ruby followed, mentally sighing in relief. Apparently, there wasn't any day-one discipline prepared for her. For the first time since arriving to this place, she felt somewhat safe. Still, she wouldn't let her guard down. Not when she was still in the presence of a human, especially that particular one.

Arc led her upstairs, which surprised Ruby a fair bit. She would usually sleep in the basement, or next to the fireplace if it was really cold. Rooms on the second floor were always reserved for actual residents of the house.

Maybe he wanted her to sleep in the attic. It would actually make sense considering how her owner undoubtedly perceived her. A worthless item that should be stuffed someplace where it won't bother anybody.

But weirdly enough, Arc ignored the clap in the ceiling which likely lead to the attic and instead walked towards one of the doors and held it open, gesturing for Ruby to come in.

Upon entering the room, Ruby blinked. And then she blinked two more times.

The room was fairly spacious. It contained a wardrobe, a small desk and a bed standing in a corner. There was a carpet covering the central part of the floor. The wall opposite to the door had a curtained window on it and a heater beneath. A lamp was hanging down from the ceiling and was now illuminating the room.

"Is there something wrong?" As her master said that, Ruby realized that she had been standing still for several seconds.

"Um..." She struggled to find the right words to say, but ultimately settled on asking a straight-forward question. "You want me to sleep here?"

"Well, yes." The blond man answered bluntly. "It is late and you do seem tired. Is there any problem?"

"No!" Ruby was quick to reply. "It's just... shouldn't I be sleeping on the basement floor or something like that?"

Arc stayed quiet for a second, as if pondering what answer to give. Ruby realized that she had just questioned his decision, which could get her punished. Luckily, it didn't seem like her master was very angry.

"You might be right." He finally said with a shrug. "But there is no actual basement here, so that will have to do."

Ruby blinked a couple times more. This time, she really couldn't come up with anything to say.

"Anyways, you should get some sleep." Arc said, as he turned around and passed through the door. "Night."

As her master closed the door, Ruby kept standing still, processing what just happened.

So, this guy didn't have a basement to put her in, so he instead prepared a nice, clean room for her. That... didn't really make much sense. He could have sent her pretty much anywhere. Living room, corridor, or just this room but without the redundant comforts. She supposed the clock would keep her from oversleeping and the sheets would serve to keep her warm, but the rest wouldn't make her any more efficient. So why bother?

I've got a better question; Why does that even matter? Ruby's voice of reason pointed out. Are you going to walk over to him and explain why he's wrong and that he should treat you worse? Yeah, thought so. Just take what you're given and don't think too much.

That sounded like a very good advice. It wasn't like she could question her owner's decisions - he could keep her in whatever place he wanted. If that place happened to be nice and cozy, who was she to complain?

And Ruby did really need some sleep. She had barely caught any the night before and she would be needing all of her strength soon - the first day in a household was always harsh like that. She would probably be worked to the bone over the next day.

Ruby turned off the light, as it was unlikely she would be able to sleep with it being so bright. She then approached the bed, squashing the inclination to take off the bedding as she has done numerous times, and instead lied down on it.

It was soft. Almost annoyingly so. Ruby was pretty sure she used to sleep on a bed back in her childhood, but she couldn't really recall what it felt like. Was it normally like this? Could you really sleep on something like that?

She was snoring a few moments later.