A Tale's Beginning
Remnantian Year 871
One. Two. Breathe. One. Two. Breathe. In and out. Relax as best as possible. Imagine a peaceful place with peaceful thoughts.
A girl with black hair with red tips and wolf ears atop her head threw her hands up in frustration. She could not understand how to relax like how she was being taught. The girl just grunted as she pulled a red hood up over her head, letting herself fall into the embrace of the blood-colored garment. She felt herself fall backward onto a cold and tough, yet grassy, ground as she felt her eyes that glistened a bright silver close tightly, so desperately trying to drown out the world around her.
“Come on Ruby. You know you can’t participate in combat classes at Signal until you learn how to meditate. You know it’s a vital part of being a huntress,” A blonde, scruffy-looking man told her and Ruby shot up from the ground with a jolt.
“I’m trying Uncle Taiiii…” Ruby whined as her ears flattened themselves against her head, showing her downtrodden mood, “Besides, I’m a light sleeper anyways. Why is meditation so important anyways?”
“You know why Rubes. We went over this yesterday. Meditation lets you relax before sleeping to prevent negativity from alerting any grimm where you are and if you’re vulnerable or not,” Tai explained to her as she began to absentmindedly pick at the grass that the two of them sat on, “You’re just as stubborn about this as Raven was.”
This statement immediately sent Ruby alert, ears shooting up in excitement and she began to bounce in excitement. Ruby looked eager to know more about what Tai had said.
“So I’m like Mama with this?” Ruby seemed excited at the prospect. Tai sighed as he shook his head at her eagerness that hadn’t been there for meditation.
“Maidens give me strength,” Tai whispered to himself before he nodded in response, “Yes, Raven always said that meditation was an idiotic and unnecessary action to take when we could also be ambushed by bandits anyways. Couldn’t exactly disagree with her there, bandits are a big problem for huntsmen. Just make sure to always have someone on watch when the others are sleeping, meditation or not,” Tai yawned as he looked up at the sky, taking note of how the sun was beginning to set “I can’t do much else to help you with meditation that I haven’t told you already. So long as you keep working to try to meditate, I’ll make sure to sign the paperwork tonight to let you go to Signal. Just know, they won’t be as easy on you there as I am here. Nor will I be if you’re in my classes.”
“Yeah yeah, sure,” Ruby stretched as she stood up, her wolf tail wagging as she did so, “Can we go home now? Uncle Qrow said he and Yang would order pizza tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah kiddo. Before dinner though, you gotta take a shower. And make sure to wash your ears and tail properly this time. We don’t need to be pulling your fur out of the drain again.”
“But it takes soooo long,” Ruby complained as they began to walk through the forest where they had been trying to meditate in one of its clearings. Ruby kept a pace ahead of Tai as they both walked in relative silence as the yearning sun of the evening began to fade into the twilight hours of dusk. Ruby seemed more relaxed than when she had tried to meditate as she walked through the woods, often looking up at the trees as birds flew off when they approached. Soon enough the girl and her uncle had reached a house close to the edge of the woods, where the lights inside shone brightly as a beacon amidst the newly arrived dark of night. As they approached, a small robin with a yellow stripe down its back made its way onto Ruby’s head and began to peck at her ears.
“Hey! Cut it out, sis!” Ruby shook her head to try to get the bird loose, but the small robin, if at all possible, gave a grin and flapped its wings wildly to keep annoying Ruby.
“Yang, cut it out or you don’t get to have your veggie pizza tonight,” Tai warned and the robin immediately flew off of Ruby and onto the ground, where the bird proceeded to morph back into a teenage girl with long blonde hair and a frown on her face.
“You aren’t keeping me from my pizza, dad,” Yang growled lightly and Ruby snorted in amusement as Tai shook his head in exaggeration.
“Ruby, go shower. I’m sure your meat lover’s pizza will still be hot once you’re done. Doubt it’s even here yet,” Tai told the red-cloaked girl and she immediately shot inside, too excited at the prospect of the pizza arriving to even refute her uncle about cleaning herself up first.
“And you young lady, have you showered after your training today?” Tai questioned and Yang gave a sheepish grin that immediately confirmed for him that no, she had not showered.
“I wanted to eat first. ‘Sides, Rubes probably needs it more than I do, especially if she chased after a group of birds when trying to meditate again,” Yang joked lightly and Tai sighed as they both made their way inside and sat down in the living room while the shower sounded from their bathroom.
“Where’s Qrow?” Tai asked with a yawn as he relaxed into the couch as Yang turned the television on. Yang just shrugged as she began to flick through the channels.
“Dunno. Think he said something about someone calling him or whatever,” Yang uninterestedly responded as her channel surfing landed her on a news channel. She was about to keep searching when Tai held up a hand, signaling for his daughter to keep it on this channel. Yang in response tossed him the remote and pulled out her scroll and began to ‘scroll’ through it. Tai instead decided to focus on the news as the headline had caught his attention.
“Welcome back to VUNE, your swift messengers of Vale’s latest news. Today, the Valean government and its governed people have passed a national law for all provinces in Vale that has been in debates and voting blocks for years. Yes, that's right citizens, our government, and its system have finally been able to pass its Faunus Voters bill into law. For those of you who have not been up to date on the news or need the refresher, this new law was first proposed decades ago after the founding of Menagerie. Time and again, voters and politicians have vetoed and fought against this bill, citing we had been dragged into too many wars about the faunus and did not want to cause more controversy. For years, this has been the most widely discussed and debated bill that we have ever had the pleasure to vote on. But with the rise of the White Fang party in Vale, it seems voter turnout for the bill to pass through the populace vote was through the roof, and many people, both faunus and human alike, want to see this law passed. It seems that over time, more and more politicians in all of our provinces have begun to see faunus as not just subhumans, but as equals. This is a remarkable landmark in the Faunus Rights Movement and can be largely be owed to the peaceful protests and debates had by the founder of the White Fang and current Chieftain of Menagerie, Ghira Belladonna. Now, we tune in to the Capital of Vale where Chieftain Belladonna, White Fang’s current leader, Sienna Khan, and the headmaster of Beacon Academy and aide to the government, Professor Ozpin, are joined by many government officials to discuss the passing of this new law,” The news reporter cheerfully reported and Tai smiled slightly at this news. He knew that if Ozpin was making an appearance like this, then Qrow must’ve left earlier after ordering dinner to discuss security for this event with Glynda, even though Qrow was on vacation time and neither of whom usually worked security for these things. That’s just how Qrow was though, trying to make sure things went well for Ozpin, a man Qrow had worked with for years. He would probably be back before long though, as Qrow wasn’t one to be too invested in political happenings. Tai was happy at this turn of events with the law though, as it now meant that Ruby and Yang could both now vote once they reached adulthood. Finally, his girls could make their own choices in the future.
“News is boring,” Yang groaned in her boredom, completely zoned out of what was going on as important as it may be, instead focused on some mobile game she had decided to mess around with. Soon enough, the sound of the shower stopped and Ruby ran out of the bathroom in her pajamas just as the doorbell rang.
“Pizza!” Ruby excitedly cheered as Tai walked over to the door to answer it and get their pizza. Instead, what Tai got when he opened the door was seeing Qrow leaning up against the wall of the house, looking sheepish.
“Forgot your keys again?” Yang called out from her chair as Ruby slumped onto the floor dramatically, letting her ears fall and her tail to droop. Tai just ignored this and let Qrow enter the house.
“Heya kiddos. How was training?” Qrow asked to try to make conversation but Ruby just looked up and pouted.
“Nope!” Ruby refused in response to her uncle, making Qrow tilt his head in confusion.
“Huh?” Qrow questioned her answer and Ruby just crossed her arms and raised her head upwards.
“She’s not gonna speak until we get food,” Yang answered for him as she tossed her scroll to Ruby and began to head up the stairs, “Imma see if I can spot the delivery boy.”
“Don’t forget to clean up your feathers!” Tai called out as Yang opened the window at the top of the steps and Yang rolled her eyes in response.
“Yeah yeah, I know. You let Ruby take you into the shower one time, I swear,” Yang muttered to herself as she jumped out of the window, transforming back into the robin she was earlier, and began to fly off towards the east, where the town was.
“I still think I should be able to transform into a wolf too,” Ruby decided to speak instead of keeping quiet until dinner and Qrow just smirked and rubbed her head with a smirk.
“Well, then you wouldn’t have your ears or tail. Yang’s special kiddo, the first child born with that ability instead of having it unlocked.”
“Like Mama and you had done with Professor Ozpin,” Ruby smiled at him and he gave a nod of confirmation.
“It’s still not a widely known thing. If some people found out that me, Raven, and Yang could turn into birds, well…” Qrow answered as he rubbed his neck with slumped shoulders and Ruby nuzzled into his side.
“I won’t let anyone hurt my family,” Ruby promised him and Qrow just gave her a smile in response as they both sat and waited for the arrival of their dinner, content for now to just relax and wait.
Remnantian Year 875
Ruby now found herself sitting on the cliffside in front of a lone stone grave. The grave was adorned with the carving of a rose and a saying alongside the name of the deceased.
Summer Rose
840-868
Like petals, I scatter
Ruby often found herself sitting in front of her Ma’s grave before or after important events in her life. She had been doing so since the day the grave was placed on the cliffside. No matter her family’s opinion of her spending too much time there, she’d still manage to sneak around them to talk to the ghost of her dead mother.
“Hey Ma. Been a while. Think it was my birthday a couple months ago when I last visited. Since then though, a lot’s happened. Yang got accepted into Beacon and she of course celebrated by getting drunk, as she usually does. Uncle Qrow assured me she didn’t get in based on Professor Ozpin’s favoritism either, she made it all from her skill and uh… yeah skill. Still working on my vocabulary. Language is still my worst class at school. It’s always been easier to just let Crescent Rose do the talking for me. Speaking of, I added another mechashift weapon to Crescent Rose recently. Now it’s a scythe, sniper rifle, and now… drum roll… a longsword! Uncle Qrow says now the only difference between our weapons is he has a shotgun in it instead. I do wanna try experimenting in the future with different gun types alongside the sniper. Would be more versatile, though Qrow says I'm pretty versatile already. After we did the upgrades on my weapon, I learned that most people’s mechashift weapons only shift from inactive to a single weapon. Seems kinda weird to me since the more options you have in a fight with the grimm, the better. Heh, just realized I’ve been rambling about my weapon yet again. Sorry, Ma. But where was I before? Oh yeah, Yang’s going to Beacon and I’m going with her. I kinda may have stopped a robbery with the help of Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin offered me to start at Beacon this year. So uh, guess someone did get on with favoritism playing a factor. Hopefully, no one thinks I’m special. I just wanna be a normal girl. Well as normal as can be with being a faunus,” Ruby rambled on and on but stopped with a heavy sigh, “Hopefully with how well the faunus rights activism is doing, my teammates won’t be bigots. Here’s hoping Ma. Wish me luck.”
Ruby finished her conversation with the thought of her mother with her sliding down in front of the grave and found herself curling up in on herself in front of it. The now small-looking girl whimpered quietly as she stared at the rose on the grave.
“I miss you Ma. I miss Mama too…” Ruby felt tears begin to fill her eyes as she felt her eyes begin to grow heavy and yawned, “Gonna take a nap with you. Always gives me good luck.”
Ruby felt herself drift out of consciousness rather quickly as she felt herself relax in the presence of her Ma. Didn’t matter to Ruby if she had to sleep on the ground, she just wanted to be close to her. Even if she was gone forever.
As Ruby began to sleep at the resting place of one of her mothers, a black bird with striking red eyes watched from the trees in silence, uncertain of what to do. The bird proceeded to transform back into a human, an adult woman with unruly black hair and sharp red eyes. The woman watched Ruby reach out in her sleep for a hug, but no one was there, making the young wolf faunus whimper quietly.
“I’m sorry my red gem. You deserved much better than me as your mother,” The woman quietly apologized as a single tear fell from her eyes to the ground below, quickly finding its way below the ground, out of her sight. The woman jumped down on the forest floor and looked away from Ruby and gazed further into the forest as she pulled out a sword and sliced through the air. From this action came a red and black portal appearing and the woman walked through without another word.
But unbeknownst to both the woman and Ruby, another bird watched both of them from the trees as well. Yet another black bird with red eyes, but now a crow, not a raven. The bird fell to the ground and transformed back into Ruby’s Uncle Qrow, shaking his head as he looked at where the woman had been.
“I wish you could forgive yourself, Raven. I know Summer probably already has. Ruby would too. Dunno bout Yang, but you need to forgive yourself first,” Qrow frowned as he turned away and walked over to Ruby and lightly shook her shoulders, carefully avoiding stepping on her wagging tail.
“Hhh… mmm? Uncle Qrow?” Ruby yawned as she looked up and Qrow shook his head.
“Come on kiddo, you know Tai doesn’t like you sleeping out here. Especially since you start school in a couple of days. You need to be in good shape for initiation,” Qrow scolded her lightly and Ruby sniffed the air.
“Does it smell like rain and fire out here?” Ruby asked and Qrow felt his heart clench tightly as he heard those words and thought back to something Summer had once said to him.
“You know, Raven’s portals actually do have a smell.” Summer randomly informed as she sat down on the stairs of their house next to Qrow as he downed a drink from his canteen. They had both watched as Raven had left through a portal just moments prior.
“Really? What’s it smell like? You and her sex life?” Qrow taunted with a chuckle to himself at his own joke.
“Really Qrow?” Summer deadpanned at him and shook her head, “No it smells like fire and rain in a strange combination. It’s hard to put into exact words.”
“Huh. I get the fire part cause of the color, but rain? That’s weird to smell, isn’t it?” Qrow questioned her and Summer shrugged.
“Dunno. That’s just what it smells like,” Summer responds and Qrow shrugs, not sure what to say to that.
“Guess so,” Qrow let the subject drop and the two of them began to discuss other things.
Qrow didn’t know how to respond to Ruby’s question as he had never smelt that scent, but he immediately knew what it was. But he couldn’t tell Ruby what it was. It would break her heart to know one of her mothers was watching her but not interacting with her at all.
“Dunno kiddo. You’re still waking up after all,” Qrow deflected the subject easily as Ruby stood up and tilted her head slightly.
“I guess… maybe I was dreaming about using Crescent Rose with fire dust in the rain again,” Ruby shrugged, not quite too interested in her dreams nor the smell now, “I’ll race you home Uncle.”
“No semblance then. Wouldn’t be quite fair,” Qrow smirked and Ruby pouted and shook her head.
“No transforming then. You’d win through flight then,” Ruby retorted back and Qrow gave a slight grin.
“I can work with that,” Qrow stretched his neck as he pulled out his weapon, Harbinger, and pointed it at the ground and suddenly a loud ringing shot out into Ruby’s ears as Qrow propelled himself through the forest with just his shotgun’s recoil. Ruby shook her head to regain her bearings and scowled.
“Fine, if that’s how you wanna play it,” Ruby proceeded to try to reach for her weapon on her back but couldn’t find it, “Oh come on! I left it in my room again?!”
Soon enough, Ruby found herself panting at the stairs of their house and slumped back onto the sidewalk. She saw a crow on the roof looking down on her and her only response was to raise her middle finger in response as the crow turned back into Qrow and he began laughing at her misfortune.
“Better luck next time kiddo. Now go get cleaned up,” Qrow jumped in through the attic’s window and Ruby just silently trudged her way inside and made it upstairs to her room, where she slumped onto her bed and groaned. She did not quite feel like taking a shower now.
“Not gonna leave Crescent Rose here anymore. Can’t believe he won in a race,” Ruby grumbled to herself before rolling over on her bed to face the ceiling and giving a smile as she began to talk to seemingly nothing, “But I’ll be better than Uncle Qrow one day. I’ll be just as good as you Ma. That’s a promise.”
Ruby let her eyes begin to drift close again, allowing herself to fall into slumber. She did not know why this visit of hers to the grave took so much out of her today, but it had. As her mind slipped from reality into dreams, Ruby’s mind was filled with nothing but the thought of meeting her Ma again and being even stronger.