《RWBY: Rewritten》


 Chapter 1: The Island of Patch (Ruby)

    My mom used to tell me stories about Heroes.


    The heavy clouds cried down mass amounts of snow, in the cold I could see my own breath, and my teeth started to chatter. And as the light slowly faded and the shattered moon rising, I only knew that it would only get even colder.


    She said they always prevailed, even in the darkest of times.


    The graduation exam for Signal was really not pulling any punches. They stranded us on the Island of Patch, infested with many low-level Grimm and had already been abandoned long ago, leaving only remnants of small villages and farms that had onced settled here. No civilians and a lot of Grimm walking freely - the perfect place to train Huntsmen.


    The test was only to get from one side of the island to the other end. traverse the forest, and meet the instructors at the designated checkpoint, and I still somehow managed to mess up.


    Unfortunately for me, I had gotten myself lost. With the cold biting at me, and the light fading, I cling to my red hood, hoping that it would give me comfort. Unaware of where I was going, I managed to end up in a forest clearing, and I was Immediatelt greeted by the ravenous growl of Grimm


    Flanking me from all sides were these werewolf-like Grimm, and immediately, Crescent Rose - My scythe - was in my hands, between me and the Grimm, ready for a fight. I look to my ammunition, and found that I had ran out.


    Red like roses, fills my head with dreams and finds me.I remember my mom singing that song to me, I don''t know what it means - don''t really remember the full song either - but it comforts me as the Grimm approach.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The scythe in my hands feels a hundred times lighter, I charge at one of them, and a single slash - taking off one''s head completely. I then regained my stance, readying for the next attack.


    The shadow-werewolf-demons then growl at me, ignoring all sense of caution and began taking swipes at me with their claws. I dodge the first one''s attack, then the next, and the next, and then - I couldn''t keep up. A lucky strike from one of the Grimm had managed to knock me a few meters into a tree, where my back was unpleasantly greeted with a hard tree trunk. I stumble to get up, a red aura surrounded my body, and it began to flicker like a bad lightbulb. There was no running away now I knew I had to kill them all. I charged at the Grimm once more.


    Again my body felt lighter, the Grimm''s movements looked like they''ve slowed. Easily, I began to attack each one of them, all the slashes I made felt as though I was cutting through air, as if my dull scythe was a hot knife, and their necks butter. I obseved the situation more, and saw that my movements had causes a trail of rose petals. I didn''t know what exactly I had done, but I didn''t care. One after another, my speed increased, and everytime I chopped one of their heads off, the easier it became.


    Soon after, I had decapitated all the heads of the Grimm that surrounded me - a total of fifteen. Red rose petals littered the ground dotting the cold white forest floor, as well as some remains of the Grimm...some bones, and the disgusting black sludge their flesh turns into after they die - Biology class in Signal was really infomative.


    Not long after, Imade my way through the forest. After a good hour of the cold biting at me, carefully avoiding any paths tha will get me even more lost, and sneaking my way past the surrounding Grimm that inhabit the island, I was lucky enough to get to the test checkpoint.


    Greeted with the warm bonfire in the center of the camp and the white tents that surrounded it, I began looking for any other students who got here before me, but found none.


    "Ah, so you finally decided to show up," I turned my head to the voice''s direction, and saw a man with dark hair, white clothes, and a greatsword strapped on his back, stand before me with a big grin on his face. "Congratulations Ruby, You passed."

 Chapter 2: Legacy (Jaune)

    My blade is my soul, and it shall sever my enemies.I recited my grandfather''s mantra in my head, as I need it for the coming battle. Once again my home is under attack, and once more, there are no Huntsmen to protect us.


    "If only you were here," I look towards my grandfather''s portrait - A strong long-haired blonde man in white and gold armor that even a king would admire - and let out a heavey sigh. "But you''re not." And thus I grabbed my sword and headed out of my home, towards the chaos.


    The town of Randel was once a peaceful border town that separated the Mystral kingdom from the armies of Grimm in the west, and served as one of the great frontiers of the expeditions to the Grimm infested lands. But as time went on, the talented Huntsmen and Huntresses soon gave up on the west after many casualities at the hands of extremely powerful Grimm.


    With the Huntsmen gone,the Grimm surrounding the area have grew stronger and attacked constanly, causing the people of Randel to retreat farther and farther towards the east, but not before countless deaths of commonfolk just trying to defend their families. After all the chaos, the great City of Randel has been reduced into the size of a small village.


    My blade is my soul, and it shall sever my enemies.I repeat my grandfather''s mantra again, hoping I would bring me solace. I found none.


    The town''s homes were set ablaze by the attacks, and the fire became to big to put out. Some of the town''s men had already gone to face against the Grimm.


    "Jaune, get your sisters and evacuate with your mother." I feel a hard slap on my shoulder come from behind me as my father stopped me in my tracks.


    He was about in his late forties, had a more darker blonde hair than mine, and to my surprise he was wearing granpa''s white and gold armor, and strapped on the armor''s belt was also my grandfather''s sword and sheathe. the expression he gave me was even more of a shock...he wasn''t a serious person at all, but right now, he glared at me with intense authority that I could not ignore or look away,but seeing his eyes, I knew what his intentions were.


    "I''m not gonna let you fight alone!" I rebelled for the first time. How couldn''t I? I wansn''t gonna let him go on a suicide mission.


    "I won''t be alone Jaune, the other fathers are with me," He removed his hand from my shoulder, and as I turned I saw thirty other men about his age. There were less than ten of them, and their faces told me that they were prepared to die. "Randel had already fallen long ago." He gave me a sigh and walked passed me. "I know that you know how to use a sword, but I won''t let you come with us to die."


    "Die?! What are you talking about you dumb old man?! We''ll kill the Grimm attacking, and rebuild our homes!" I raised my voice to rebel against his wishes, but my eyes were already in tears.


    As the Grimm finally appeared, and the men armed with pitchforks and poorly made swords charged back at them, miracuously keeping them at bay...for now atleast.


    It was then I finally realized the severity of the situation.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Rendel had only thirty families living in it, and none of us were trained Huntsmen. The nearest sanctuary that would accept any refugees was miles away. The Grimm hunt and crave the flesh of man, so to buy them time...the only idea the men had was to sacrifice themselves in order to buy time for their families to escape and find refuge.


    "Please son," His expression changed from serious to such a saddened state that I could not describe. "Just -"


    He was interrupted by the sound of a lion''s roar and the flapping of giant wings. I look to the skies, and even in the dead of night the flames from our burning homes provided me enough light to see the Grimm, and it was a monstrocity. The creature was pitch black in color, it had the body and head of a lion, wings of a gigantic bat, and a tail of an enormous scorpion.


    Not a second later, it descended - right next to us. With such force, the great impact of if was enough to knock us both prone. It''s stong, it''s fast, and very smart. As it left a small crater on the ground from where it landed, it quickly found the gap on the armpit area in my dad''s armor, and immediately attacked with its tail, injecting venom in my father''s bloodstream, causing the veins on his arms and face to turn black.


    "Dad!" I was only a few feet away. I wasn''t thinking, I had my sword, and my father just got attacked by this Grimm. With my eyes in tears, and my throat yelling as loud as it can, I ran towards it as fast as I could.


    My blade is my soul, and it shall sever my enemies.Granpa, I hope you''re watching.


    I felt weightless for a few seconds as I put all my strength into one swing at the Grimm, but I felt no impact. As I began to halt, I realized that the scorpion tail that had impaled my chest. "I should''ve worn some armor...." I began to cough blod. "How stupid of me." I was sure that I''d feel pain, but I didn''t feel anything.


    I turned around, and saw the Grimm, and found it was slashed on the side of it''s torso, and it was impaled with my blade. The beast roared with pain as it thrashed around - dragging me along with it. Tossing me around like some lifeless doll, I''m sure I got hurt somewhere...probably everywhere, but I still felt no pain.


    A few more minutes of thrashing in pain, it then finally succumed to its wound. Meling into a black tar susbstance, and leaving bones behind. The tail finally dissapeared, as I was expecting to find a gaping wound on my chest, you could only imagince my face once I saw that aside from my torn clothes, I was completely fine.


    "Jaune.." I hear a raspy voice.


    "Dad?"


    Then I saw him. Laying on the floor with the veins on his face now completely black. I checked the surroundings to make sure if it was safe, and It had seem to have quieted down. Rushing to him, I felt all the more uselsess. I knew from one close look that he woudn''t make it, and so....I waited.


    After that, I just stayed beside him, and help eventually came. The nearby cities had dispached some Huntsmen and Huntresses, but they were too late. They killed some of the Grimm, but a lot of homes had already been destroyed, people had been killed - one of whom was my dad. When I went to look for my mother and sisters, I turned up with no results. The Huntsmen told me they must have fled far away from the borders of the Mystral kingdom, or where somewhere hiding in the forests, in either case, I don''t know where the remaining memebers of my family are.


    I was now separated from my family and had nowhere else to go."Become strong Jaune, you''re m--our legacy." I remembered his last words to me. I knew I had to find my family, but I was too weak, I can''t fight Grimm as I am now.


    There''s only one place to go.


    Mystral''s Huntsmen Academy wouldn''t ever let me - a commoner, a refugee - enter their walls. Knowing that, I grabbled what I could: The parts from the armor my dad was wearing, most of it was damaged and only the top half was usable. The sword and scabbard the belong to my granpa - the one that my dad never got to use. I prepared some money and food for the trip as well.


    To Beacon Academy.

 Chapter 3: The Worst Teacher (Ruby)

    "Congratulations, You Passed."


    As I turned... I saw him. Dull red eyes, spiky black hair, wearing a white dress shirt and a red cloak, standing out from all the other intructors at camp who were more dignified and...sober. Most people who were in Signal knew about the rumors, he was Beacon''s best and worst combat instructor all at the same time - best when it comes to fighting, worse when it came to anything else. Even when slouching and probab...definately hungover, I couldn''t help but be happy once I saw him.


    "One of the best Huntsmen in the continent."I remembered my mother''s praise for him.


    "Uncle Qrow!"


    He stepped towards me, and gave me a pat on the head. "You got me worried there for a second kid, not many kids your age could take out that many Grimm by themselves."


    "It''s not that big of a deal." I brushed off his praise with a smile on my face. I haven''t seen him for nearly a year now, he was probably busy with training the students at Beacon Academy, meanwhile I was still in Signal trying to learn how to fight, and training in all the other more boring skills needed in order to hunt Grimm.


    Beacon Academy, one of the only places in the world that produced Huntsman - Great warriors strong enough to fight Grimm - and researched about the mysteries of Grimm. Located at the edge of Vytal, the great city at the southern tip of civilization, it was the only Huntsmen Academy that was near the borders, and was in constant threat of Grimm attacks, because of this, those who graduated were very few in numbers, but those who did were some of the strongest fighters in the continent.


    "Why? How? What are you doing here?" I barrage him with questions as I peeked behind him, looking for any other of my fellow Signal students, but once again found no one my age.


    The camp was on the edge of the island, and was questionably place on a cliff that was more than three-thousand feet above the blistering cold sea whose waves crashed down the rocky bottom. The grassy medows were covered with at least a foot of snow, and even some of the teachers were having a hard time getting around as they seemed to be in disarray as they went about camp. Keeping aware of my surroundings, I was only able to hear a few mutters here and there as they were discussing something I assumed was important, and had nothing to do with the graduation exam.


    I started getting worried. What had happened while I was gone? Had the other studentsalready complete the exam and left already, am I really the last one to complete such a simple test? I began to panicinternally for my incompetence as I started to make an akward smile and began concocting some strange noises that could be interpreted as some weird laugh.


    A sudden hard slap on my shoulders then made me stop. "Kid, you got skills, but your sense of direction is way off," He looked at me with a face more serious than I had ever saw before. "You passed, but barely."


    "Huh?" My only response was I tried to compose myself.


    "We''ve evacuated all the other students in the island, you''re the only one left."


    "But the exam only started -"


    "Twelve hours ago," He too his flask out from under his cloak, and began taking a small sip - or what anyone else would call ''chugging half the booze in the container.'' "Look the other students left the island hours ago, and your the last one."


    "Now way....am I really the only one who..." I stopped myself before I could finish, If say it out loud, than it would only make me feel worse. "Well I guess there''s no surprise there." My mood just turned from great to terrible.Am I even good enough to become a Huntress?


    I felt a warm hand pat my head. "You''re not doing anyone any favors talking like that," He tried to reassure me, and it worked, but only slightly. "Besides, I''d say you''re pretty amazing, being the only one who actually passed this exam." He romoved his hand from my head, and gave me a smile to replace it.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "The only one?..." I was confused, happy, but very confused.


    "A report," He showed to me some documets he pulled from his cloak - How much could he fit in there? - and I couldn''t believe what I read. "A Dreadnought-class Grimm had been detected not too long ago," He quickly stashed away the parchments back into his cloak. "Since it was an emergency, they couldn''t find anyone else, so they sent me along with these losers," He gestured at the men in Signal''s teacher uniforms who were panicking behind him, and fiddling with some high-tech gear.


    I chuckled a bit as he said that. "So the exams were cancelled?" I asked him with the most serious look I could muster.


    "Technically they weren''t, we just evacuated all the students on the island," He took a sip from his flask, and fixed his posture a bit. "All except one, the only one student who took a detour from the main path, and was assumed dead," He looked at me with a grin.


    The exam was to get from one side of the island to another without any help from teachers and especially the fellow students who were taking the exam. They gave us maps of what routes to take, and some amminution for our weapons, if we were to encounter Grimm. We were to complete the exam in under twenty-four hours. It would be an easy task, except that I had lost my map, and I sorta forgot to take some ammo, thinking about it know, I definitely forgot to take some ammo with me. Thus I spent half a day traversing through the cold woods infested with Grimm...But hey I got lucky, and Uncle Qrow said I passed, so it wasn''t too bad.


    "Did I make you worry?" I asked apologetically.


    "I looked for you for hours," He sighed as he finished his liquor, and hid the flask back in his cloack. "Luckily you didn''t run into the Dreadnought-class Grimm, your father would have never let me hear the end of it if you got hurt."


    "How is he by the way?"


    "How''s who?"


    "My dad."


    "I wouldn''t worry about your old-man, he--"


    The sound of beeping interrupted our conversation. The camp was soon filled with alarms that were so loud that I''m surprised that the surrounding Grimm hadn''t spooted and attacked our camp yet. The noise carried on for some very..verypainful seconds before my ears stopped suffering.


    "Okay! Who was the smart guy that turned the alarms of max volume!" Qrow angrily yelled out as his ears were in much pain than mine were. His vision and hearing prowess were much higher than a normal person''s, you''d normally call it a gift, but it was also a curse, as extremely bright light and loud noises were very painful for him.


    A Huntsman wearing a cozy brown jacket approached him - Honestly, we were taught how to resist the cold and other extreme environmental conditions in the first day of class, he must not be able to use his aura well. "Apologies Sir! But the Dreadnought--"


    A tree was then thrown at our direction, I didn''t even see where it came from, or even realized what had happened, but I was already at the other side of the camp, and my Uncle was carrying me. "Ruby, you might want to run now." He let me down, and as he did, the monster appeared before us.


    Skin black as coal, it''s four-legged body was massive, measuring up to what I could estimate would be five horses, but it''s head..or heads is what stood out most, serpent-like in nature, resembling that of a cobra, and they were five of them! It quickly cause all the chaos it could as it sprayed this acidic liquid from its mouth, melting the surrounding tents, and some poor Huntsmen as well.


    "A Hydra!" I shouted. I was taught about it''s existence inside a classroom. It''s said that that the poisonous liquid that it can spray from its mouth can even melt through thick iron, its jaws could bite through anything, and its heads would regrow if they were cut-off - Biology class in Signal was really detailed!


    "Amatures." he looked at the remains of the Huntsmen that fell victim to the Hydra. I sensed he was sad - frustrated that he couldn''t save them - but the look on his face, I only saw anger. "Ruby get back, I might cut you up too if you get too close."


    With his command, I obediently followed. I stood back, and saw how strong my Uncle really was. He drew his sword, and charged at the Hydra.


    I heard rumors that Huntsmen - real Huntsmen were faster than a bullet. I was told that they were strong enough to lift a boulder, and I was told that they were the only one capable of killing the most dangerous of Grimm. Seeing him face that Grimm, I instantly knew that those rumors were true.


    As I saw Uncle Qrow rush the beast with his giant sword. The attacks were all precise, and he made them effortlessly as if his hands were empty. He slashed the creature with the greatsword endlessly, severing its legs. He moved so fast that the heads weren''t able to react at all before he finished his assault.


    I stared at the battle with amazement, the Grimm he was fighting should''ve took a team of Huntsmen to kill, but in a few minutes, my Uncle had came out of the battle without a single scratch on him. Before me was a Huntsman unlike any other, and I saw his skills of a Huntsman - one of the best - first-hand for the first time.


    Can I really become strong enough to be a Huntress?