Bloodflower: A flowering plant of the milkweed genus. Known for its beautiful red and orange color. However, when its leaves or stem are broken, a poisonous milky sap is released that can cause severe injury. All I'm gonna say for now is that this flower has a connection to Ruby in some way.

Author's Note: I've got a ton of things to say, but I don't wanna ruin the prologue with my spiel, so I'm gonna throw a longer note at the end of the chapter. Be sure to check that out! Also, the cover pic for the story is AMAZING, I know! But I definitely did not make it, since my artistic skills are nonexistent xD. The guy who made it is ghoul_edits on instagram; just punch his name into google for a ton of awesome Tokyo Ghoul crossover stuff. I would leave a link, but fan fiction won't let me :(. Really, really recommend checking him out.

Mandatory Disclaimer: I do not own any of the series depicted in this story, nor do I own any of the music. In fact, I own nothing xD.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Prologue: Hope

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Hope.

What, exactly, is hope?

An emotion?

A desire?

A feeling? A wish for the future?

Or is it something else entirely?

Perhaps the nature of hope can be better understood by looking to the past.

In 19th century, the four kingdoms of Remnant faced a crisis of unfathomable magnitude. During this time, abominations known as Ghouls ravaged the four kingdoms, spreading war across the land and increasing their numbers at an alarming rate. Try as they might, humanity was outmatched. Their war with the ghouls - if you could even call it a war, that is - cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, diminishing humanity to a shadow of what it once was.

The reason for the Ghouls' success was twofold. The first advantage Ghouls had over humans was in their superior regeneration and toughness. To begin with, ghouls could rarely be injured with conventional weapons such as swords, spears, and even guns. But worse still, Ghouls possessed incredible recuperative powers; even if a Ghoul was somehow wounded, they could simply regenerate any sort of non-fatal injury.

The second advantage Ghouls possessed was in their predatory organ known as the Kagune. The Kagune - formed from RC cells released by a Ghoul's Kakuhou - was sharper than steel, yet more flexible than rubber: the ultimate type of weapon against which humans were no match. Especially powerful Ghouls possessed what was known as a Kakuja - a transformation of the Kagune in which the organ took over one's body, providing them with impenetrable armor and even greater strength.

The most horrifying aspect of Ghouls, however, was none of the above. Rather, it was the fact that they looked, talked, walked, and functioned exactly like humans, and yet the only food they could consume was HUMANS themselves. In order to survive, Ghouls were forced to eat humans, lest they die a slow, painful death from starvation. And so, for years Ghouls ravaged humanity, killing, eating, and feasting on their prey.

In the year 1890, however, everything changed. For the first time in decades, humanity felt hope as a family of Ghoul Hunters known as the Washuu clan created the CCG (Commission of the Counter Ghoul) and took the first step in what was a long, but hard fought, series of victories for humanity. Daikichi Washuu, head of the Washuu clan, was a brilliant commander and an incredible tactician.

Daikichi was succeed by his son, Yoshiu Washuu, who was a scientific genius and an incredible fighter. Yoshiu, in collaboration with Adam Schnee, created what is today known as the Quinque - a weapon forged from the remnants of a Ghoul's Kagune - which permanently turned the tide of war in humanity's favor. Slowly but surely, humanity struck back, killing thousands more Ghouls with each battle. Led by the CCG, man took back what was rightfully his own and punished the righteously punished monsters that had caused them so much pain. Now, finally, man had HOPE.

Or so the history books would have you believe.

A popular phrase among historians is, "History is written by the victors," and such a notion couldn't be any more true. In his victory, mankind portrayed Ghouls as heartless monsters who deserved the punishment they received, ignoring the countless innocent Ghoul Men, Women, and worst of all, Children that they slaughtered. Any Ghoul who tried to live peacefully was treated no differently than the Ghoul War Leaders who were the true criminals, and was slaughtered without a second thought.

Which begs the question ... who was the true monster in this war?

Today, Ghouls still exist, but are hunted and oppressed each day by the CCG, forced to live in the shadows with the exception of a select few. They lead lives of misery, devoid of hope or happiness, while the CCG continues to hunt and kill innocent Ghouls - the majority of their members either too corrupt or too afraid to fight the true criminals amongst Ghoulkind.

Worse still, the CCG has grown so powerful that it now controls much of the education system, building new academies each year, in which children are taught to hate Ghouls and continue the ever-worsening cycle of death and hate. It is, in short, a world full of evil and despair.

So then what, exactly, is hope? Well the truth is, it really doesn't matter.

Because whatever hope is …

IT DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS WORLD.

.

.

.

UPDATE ON KANEKI: Since so many people are asking, I'm gonna say here that Kaneki is the SECOND MOST CHARACTER in this fanfic, but unfortunately he doesn't really appear till chapter 16. From then on, he is an incredibly important character. I apologize for introducing him so late; I just wanted to make sure I developed Ruby's character enough before doing so.

Author's Note:

Okay guys, prepare yourselves for an INSANELY long author's note. I don't wanna give away too much about this series, but there are a few points I wanna get across first.

First thing: If you have not read the Tokyo Ghoul MANGA, you'll probably be confused. You definitely don't have to read it if you don't want to, but you may have to look up some stuff. Let me know if you guys are confused and I'm happy to provide directions to various pages on Tokyo Ghoul lore. In fact, I suggest looking up the history of the Washuu Clan if you aren't already familiar with it (just google "Washuu Clan").

Next, this story is definitely not gonna be a full blown tragedy, but it's definitely gonna have some tragic elements. I WILL be killing major characters off, and while that clearly doesn't mean I'm gonna pull an Akame Ga Kill and just kill every important major character, there will be a few impactful deaths. And there will be some graphic content, as well as some torture scenes. I mean come on, it's Tokyo Ghoul so I gotta throw a few in there, right? I swear I'm not a sadist guys ... believe me? xD

Alright next, this is gonna be an alternate universe that's sort of a fusion between the worlds of Remnant and Tokyo. For starters, Dust and Aura do NOT, I repeat do NOT exist. The reason why is that I didn't want to over-complicate the story. With Ghouls and Quinques running around, as well as a ton of characters to manage, I'd rather not make the world over-complicated. So, no dust, no Aura, just ghouls, Quinques, and normal human abilities.

Additionally, team RWBY's weapons have been replaced with Quinque versions of their old weapons. All of their weapons are going to be called the same, and similar in concept, but with some minor changes and the fact that they're made from Ghouls' Kagune.

Also on that note, the world in general is going to be VERY Tokyo Ghoul centric. It's called Remnant, but the history of this world very much resembles that of Tokyo Ghoul, as you saw in that prologue there with the Washuus and all. However, the characters are going to be VERY RWBY centric. It's a story about how the characters of RWBY cope with a world full of Ghouls, Ghoul Investigators, and a ton of very sickening & f*cked up things.

Next, unfortunately I am going to have to cut some characters out for this fan fiction. For instance, Touka is not in here. Really sorry about that guys; I just already have four really prominent female protagonists in team RWBY, so I had trouble finding a place for her. Other characters might play a more minor role, like for instance I'm not sure how much Hinami will be doing. If you guys really want me to include a character that I've cut out, though, I am open to suggestions.

One more thing: team RWBY might seem a little more ... powerful? than in the actual series. Ruby, especially, is very strong and considered a prodigy. Weiss is as well, and her interactions with Ruby are going to form the basis for this story, to some extent. Also, there are going to be a lot of parallels between Arima and both Ruby and Weiss. It's brought up time and time again that they're the future of the CCG. This won't make sense now but it will once you read the next few chapters.

Blake ... well the situation with her is similar, but I'm not gonna go into detail because I don't wanna spoil you guys. I'll be honest and say that I don't have a solidified place for Yang yet, and I haven't mapped out her character, but she will also be pretty strong.

Kaneki WILL be in this fanfic. He just ... might not appear until much later. As in, not in the first arc at all potentially, but he WILL be a major character mark my words.

Oh and with regards to TIMELINE; this takes place after Kaneki has been tortured by Jason and received his white hair. Specifically, Kaneki was tortured and left Anteiku on December 19th, and the story starts at the beginning of Beacon's spring semester, so about a month or a month and a half after Kaneki left Anteiku. Additionally, I will be following the events of the manga, so Kaneki will NOT be joining Aogiri Tree, and instead will be forming his own group along with Shuu, Banjou, etc.

Otherwise, I think that's about it! So be sure to review, favorite, follow, etc. if you enjoyed, and let me know what you think I can improve on! I am definitely open to changing minor elements of the story, if you guys would like me to.

Thanks for tuning in and have an awesome day!