Chapter 1: Grief

The gravestones were neatly laid out and had been recently cleaned. Ruby looked at them one final time before departing. Every time she was assigned to a mission she visited that place. Seeing their friends' graves reminded her not only of how precious time was, but also of how it could all end in a matter of seconds if she was ill-prepared or careless. Lying under the cold stone ground were team JNPR, or whatever remained of them: Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren; all four of them were lost because of Salem's actions.

Pyrrha was the first one to be taken; she foolishly tried to challenge Cinder, even though she had no chance, and most likely no hope of defeating her.

Ren and Nora were next; they perished in the battle for Mistral while trying to fend off the Grimm and keep the citizens safe. Nora fell to the poison of a King Taijitu after the battle and Ren died shortly thereafter due to the large number of serious injuries he withstood while fighting.

Jaune was the last, and by far the most brutal death, Cinder had burned him alive when he tried to face her in order to avenge his fallen friends. He tried his best and fought well, but in the end he was no match for her maiden powers.

"I'll be back soon" Ruby promised to herself, "or at least I hope I will. "

The task given to her by Ozpin was to travel to one of the few remaining areas of Remnant that weren't under Salem's control: the island home of a tribe of Silver Eyes. She was to bring the tribe of roughly one hundred people safely back to help with the struggle against Salem. The problem was, none of the members of the tribe were warriors. Ruby was the last Silver Eyed Warrior alive.

The ship ride to the Silver Eyed settlement took a few days; luckily the crew didn't encounter any type of aquatic Grimm on their way to the small island just off the southern shore of Vacuo. The landscape of the place was mostly green, with very few areas covered in snow. The village was located in what could be considered the center of the island; it was built deep inside a valley giving it the natural protection it needed. Before arriving on the island, Ruby had estimated it would take about a day and a half to get to the small village. Upon arriving on shore, however, she realized that she would need about two or more days to reach the village.

"Are you sure you'll be safe going alone Ruby?"

"Yes, captain; and besides they'll only trust me, if any of the intel we gathered on them is right. "

"Ok, just wanted to be sure. And there's no need to be so formal, you can just call me Scarlet, we've known each other for quite some time by now, we should be able to call each other by name. "

"If you insist, " Ruby shrugged. "Anyway, I better start walking; it'll be a long road. "

"We'll wait for your return, then. And hopefully the tribe's, as well. "

This Silver Eyed settlement was the last of a small group discovered a few years before Salem began her campaign. While Ozpin had thought that all of those that possessed Silver Eyes were hunted down and killed by Salem's minions, a rather surprising source gave the information that secluded groups of Silver Eyes had been in hiding since her attack. It took a while to find and convince them all to join Ozpin's cause, but now that long work was close to its end.

Ruby knew that the trek to the settlement would be tiring; what she didn't expect was for it to be as uneventful as it was. She expected to come across at least a few Grimm, but found none through the entire journey which worried her. It could be that she was just being overly cautious, but things were too quiet for it to be any good; she had a feeling that this was the calm before the storm. After approximately a day of travel, she reached what she had marked on her scroll as the halfway point of her path to the tribe. Tired and stressed, she felt the best option was to lie down and rest for a few hours, maybe eat something; overexerting herself would only bring her more harm than good.

Ruby opened her eyes; she was standing in a large white hall that was rather empty, but its architecture showed that no expense was spared in the construction of this luxury. On the farther end of the room stood a white throne a dark figure sat upon it; another was at its side, as if waiting for a command, and just a little farther behind was a figure she recognized: her Uncle Qrow Branwen.

"You made a mistake, not running away with her, " the figure on the throne said.

"How can you be so sure?" Qrow responded dryly.

"You're all big talk, Qrow Branwen; if I didn't have other business to attend to, I would kill you myself. "

"I'd like to see you try. "

"That's quite enough, kill him, " said the figure on the throne to the other that stood beside it.

And so the other responded; it lunged forward in an almost feral manner, attacking with the blade it held with savagery. It threw cuts, thrusts and several other attacks at Qrow, which he either dodged or blocked with his weapon, but he didn't seem to be giving his all; something was holding him back, and that worried Ruby.

"Wake up, you know that this is not you, " Qrow said to the dark figure.

It responded only with a feral grunt and continued attacking. After a while the shadow managed to land a hit on Qrow, cutting his calf and forcing him into the ground. With Qrow at his knees, the shadow circled him to look at his eyes; they were empty but Ruby knew he was sad. He probably felt he failed everyone by allowing all of this to happen.

"Sorry pipsqueak, I won't be able to help you anymore, " Qrow turned his gaze to the shadow. "I know you're still in there, and I just want you to know that all of this isn't your fault; it never was. "

And with those final words, the shadow thrust its blade through Qrow's heart, still showing no emotion, still unfazed by his wound. After a short while Qrow's body went limp and fell on its side, the blood staining the perfectly clean white floor as the shadow walked away.

Ruby woke up to a low buzz, sweating and trembling. She looked to her side and found the source of the buzz; it was the alarm she had set on her scroll so she wouldn't oversleep. Turning it off with a sigh, she dusted herself off and packed the little camping gear she had. On the remainder of her way to the village, she couldn't help but think of her nightmare. Could that really have happened? No; her uncle was the best fighter she knew, second only to Ozpin, and there was no possible way he could lose- or so she hoped.

It took Ruby another day and half to reach the village but it paid off shortly after her arrival. When she got to the limits of the small settlement, her presence was already reported to what she assumed to be head of security, who came to meet her at the gate.

"State your name and business in this place, " the man said in a commanding tone

"Give me your name and I'll give you mine, " Ruby responded.

"Very well, " he sighed. "My name's Ash Auburn; I'm in charge of securing the gates. "

"Well Mr. Auburn, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Ruby Rose. I'm here to bring a message from Ozpin. "

"And how do we know we can trust you?"

"I think this is reason enough," she said, revealing her silver eyes which had been hidden under her hood until then.

"You're one of us, " Ash said perplexed "I… we thought, the others were all dead. "

"You're not the first one. Now may I come in? As I said I have a message from Ozpin to your leader. "

"Yes, yes you may. "

"Thank you. "

The place was as the information gathered by Qrow specified; nothing more than a couple of buildings and some small fields to keep the village fed. The leader's house was in the center of it all, only a bit bigger than the rest but still rather simple. An old woman sat in front of the house; she seemed to be expecting Ruby.

"Hello my child. I take it you have a message from Ozpin for me. Am I correct?"

"Yes ma'am. "

"Now, what is the message Ozpin has for me?"

"He wants you to join him, help in the fight against Salem. "

"Is that all?"

"Yes ma'am, that is all. "

"Very well then; we will be joining your cause. "

"Wait really? I mean I expected this to be a bit harder, but I'm thankful either way. "

"We will depart tomorrow, if that's okay with you. "

"I'm completely fine with this. No need to rush; take as long as you need. "

"You are a kind soul my child. "

"Please, just call me Ruby. "

"Very well, Ruby. Would you mind filling me in the details on Remnant's current situation? As you can probably gather, we don't know much, isolated in here as we are. "

"Yes, and I would be happy to do so. "

"Thank you. "

"Well, the situation on Remnant isn't the best currently; over the last couple of years Salem has unfortunately made significant progress in taking control. There are only a few areas left that she hasn't conquered yet, and these are protected by what is being called The Resistance, led by Ozpin. Not only she has most of Remnant's territory, but she also has currently two out of the four Relics and all maidens are on her side, either by force or by choice. "

"Things are not looking good for our side, are they?"

"No ma'am they're not. But we still have hope, and I have a feeling we can win this war. "

"I hope you're right my child. I hope you're right. "

By the following afternoon, Ruby had started to lead the Silver Eyed tribe back to Scarlet's ship. The return trip took nearly twice as long, due to the increased number of people. It was still as uneventful as the way to the settlement. Now that Ruby thought about it, the concentration of people that share the silver eyes trait should be enough to keep the Grimm kilometers away at least; that was hopefully the reason they had spotted none in this travel.

The way back to Beacon took about a week, which was a little bit longer than the usual trip would take, due to Scarlet wanting to be sure everything would go without a problem. His care showed results after arriving at Beacon; the hunter academy had now become a somewhat fortified outpost to the so-called Rebels. Most of the Silver Eyes were exhausted but in good condition. They were asked by Ruby to report to Ozpin the following day; after all they had been through, they had the right to rest. Ruby, on the other hand, had no such courtesy. She knew it would be best to report immediately, and so she did.

When she got to Ozpin's office, Weiss was already there, but something was wrong; she was holding herself, rocking back and forth, tear stains still fresh on her face, and what she said made Ruby's world shatter before her very eyes.

"I'm so sorry Ruby, Qrow is gone. "