"Everything that lives is designed to end.

We are perpetually trapped in a never ending spiral of life and death.

Is this a curse?

Or some kind of punishment?

I often think about the gods who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle.

And wonder if I'll ever get the chance to kill them."

On a quiet Friday evening, inside a cozy little Dust shop situated in the middle of downtown Vale, little red riding hood was grabbing a few phials of Dust to make a purchase. Her headphones were on and her silver eyes lazily looked back at the old store owner that manned the register.

The old man was used to interacting with a variety of people. He was used to customers that were a little boisterous, customers that looked clueless, and a lot more, so he didn't mind being stared at when behind the register more often than not.

But rarely, there were customers whose gaze made him feel slight discomfort. Little red riding hood was the said customer in this case.

As he bagged her purchase, he noticed the girl unsheathing her weapon from underneath her cloak and swung it back as soon as the door opened when a man in a white suit and a bowler hat came in, halting his swagger and send him outside where a group of men in black caught him. And she did all that without even breaking eye contact with him.

If he felt slightly awkward about her gaze, he was now terrified that the girl had just attacked a customer. He was about to voice his complaints and threaten to call the cops on her when she spoke up and turned to walk out the door.

"I'll be back for those, call the cops."

He was confused that his violator was the first to suggest calling the cops, so he looked outside the window. And he quickly changed his stance and understood little red riding hood's intentions when she saw the face of the man in the bowler hat.

Quickly, he nodded at the girl despite her back turned to him. He speed-dialed for the cops and hoped for the best. Just as he finished explaining his concern, he quickly remembered that little red riding hood looked no older than his grandkid, and so he worried for her safety.

So he looked out the window again and he was in for another surprise to see the girl swinging a giant scythe around, dealing with the thugs as if she was merely dancing among them.

A minute or two passed and the skirmish between them had nearly come to an end with Roman Torchwick, the man in the bowler hat, managed to escape her. He watched as his little customer disappeared in a rush of rose petals, appearing in midair behind Roman and struck him crosswise with her scythe, sending him flying up and onto the roof of the building he was escaping to.

From there, he waited anxiously for both the girl and the cops to arrive. He heard the sound of battle going louder for a moment until it stopped altogether.

Three minutes later, the cops arrived and the girl came back for her purchase, looking no worse for wear.

"Thank you," He heard the girl say in an almost monotone voice.

He nodded again and handed her bag of Dust phials but when she was about to pay, he humbly refused her.

"Thank you for saving my shop." He smiled gratefully.

The girl looked back at him, eyes still seemingly bored and unemotional even after tonight's events. She politely shook her head sideways, refusing the kind offer.

"I only did what was right," she said.

He was about to counter the girl again but the girl's strong gaze made him relent. So with another grateful smile, he nodded and accepted her payment. When the cops came in, they spoke to the girl but they quickly let her go when the tall blonde lady intervened and took her with her.

In a dimly lit room, the little red riding hood sat by a table as the lady that took her paced around as she reviewed the footage of the skirmish from before.

"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady." The blonde lady sternly reprimanded. "You put yourself and others in great danger."

Meanwhile, the one being sternly reprimanded didn't utter a word in response. She was used to juvenile troublemakers clamming up when they're called to her office, so she continued unperturbed of the lack of response.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home," She said in feigned sweetness, "with a pat on the back." She paused in her steps and quickly but lightly slapped the tip of her riding crop at the table. "And a slap on the wrist." She ended curtly and sternly.

Again, no response.

Her eyebrow ever so slightly rose at the lack of a reaction, but before she had the chance to get a reaction out of her, a gray-haired man, holding a plateful of cookies and a mug of hot coffee walked in.

"Ruby Rose." He paused to give the lady a wry smile before taking a seat directly in front of the girl and leaning in to get a closer look at her face. "You... have silver eyes."

Normally, when a stranger came slightly uncomfortably close, a person's reaction would be to back away and respond with an odd look.

This was not the girl's reaction.

As he stared into her silver eyes, she stared right back at his brown eyes unperturbed.

Amused, he sat comfortably in his chair and put on a gentle smile. "So, where did you learn to do this?" He tilted his head at the footage the lady was showing her.

Mechanically, she spoke, "Signal Academy."

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Yes."

"I see," He said while offering the plateful of cookies to her.

She only gave the cookies a bored glance before locking eyes with him once more.

"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder with that skill before — a dusty old crow," He mused.

Surprisingly, she nodded at that as a response.

"Tell me, just out of curiosity, is he your teacher?"

"Yes."

"I suppose that's no surprise." He smiled. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"To be a huntress."

"To slay monsters?"

"To help people."

Her voice sounded resolute compared to her monotonous answers up until that point so they were surprised and quite pleased that she wasn't completely unemotional as her behavior suggested. Though, unlike the lady who was standing behind him, he found that the resolution in her voice did not match the dullness of her silver eyes.

"Do you know who I am?"

She nodded. "Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy."

He chuckled. "Hello."

She nodded silently.

"Would you like to come to my school?"

"I've already sent in my application."

Surprised, "You have, have you?" he smiled at the pleasant news. "I didn't expect you to have already graduated with how young you look. However, given the skill you showed us tonight, I suppose that's no surprise."

"Thank you, sir." She humbly nodded in gratitude. "I was given the opportunity to accelerate two years when the school acknowledged my capabilities."

[Signal Academy Valedictorian, Ruby Rose, saved a local Dust shop in Vale from a robbery by the infamous Roman Torchwick. She refused to be interviewed but we managed one with the Dust shop owner...]

News of the previous night's events was the hot topic in the morning alongside faunus civil rights protests by the White Fang. But for the girl in question, it wasn't anything to be bothered about.

She sat by one of the airships headed for Beacon Academy and most eyes went to her when the news was reported on the hologram projector. Unminding the various curious glances sent her way, she let her mind drift off as she listened to the music softly playing on her headphones under her red hood.

"You've really made the news, huh?" The girl who sat beside her commented amusedly. "I totes regret not coming with you last night, it could've been us there!" She laughed. "And who knows, we might've caught Torchwick."

Ruby side glanced at the person beside her and went back to staring outside the window in front of her. "I doubt it, Yang. Torchwick has had both the VPD and the VHG on his tail for the past few months. The only reason I came out victorious that night was because he focused on getting away, not fighting me. He let his goons take the fall while he ran."

"I'm sure a coward like that's no match for us if we teamed up on him." Yang grinned as she leaned back and relaxed on her seat. "You're underestimating yourself, Ruby."

"And you're overestimating us."

Yang gave her a wry look and sighed. "Alright, alright. My bad."

"Hn."

"But for reals, I'm sure we'd be fine."

"Yang."

"Come on, Ruby, what do you think our chances are? I'm just curious!"

Ruby sighed and pulled her hood and headphones down. She mulled over the question for a bit and answered flatly. "50-50."

"See? That's not so bad!"

"50-50 we'll die, Yang."

"Only if he tries, right? He's never killed any of the people he robbed."

"Only the ones that get in his way, yes."

"Yikes." Yang flatlined her lips. "Guess we'll just have to take ourselves up a notch in Beacon."

"Regardless, we will," She said while wearing her headphones and hood back on.

With her face hidden under her red hood, the smile on Yang's face faded as she looked back at her little sister.

AN: Cover Art is by Izumi Sai