Chapter Text
I quickly ran through the woods as the man-grim chased after me.
What is that? A new grim? I thought as I ran to uncle Tai’s house.
I burst through the treeline and into the clearing of the cabin.
“Damion, what’s up?” Tai asked, making his way towards me.
“Man-Grim thing!” I yelled as I stopped for a second.
That one second would change not only my life, but the lives of those who I considered family. I felt as claws raked through my back as I screamed in pain. I felt a warmth spread through my body as a maw grabbed my shoulder and threw me aside. I looked up to see Tai running towards me as the sound of a weapon shifting filled my lupine ears. My vision then went dark. I woke up in the hospital and noticed that my dad was in the room.
“Hey Damion,” he said, putting his flask down.
“Dad, what happened?” I asked.
“A lot. After you went unconscious Tai brought you to the house while I fought the Hybrid,” he explained.
“Hybrid?”
“A rare condition where a person can transform into a Grim, when you got bit the curse was transferred to you. It will take some time but you can learn to live with it. Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon said that he would let you learn at the school so in case something happens you can be surrounded by people who can at least defend themselves,” dad said.
“I’m going to hurt people?” I asked before I could feel all of the negative emotions around me.
“Son, take a breath and focus on me,” dad said, standing right next to me. “You won’t, Oz knows what he’s doing.”
“A-alright.”
Five Years Later
“Hey dad, do you think we could just kidnap Ruby?” I asked, walking with him up to Uncle Tai’s house. “My team I mean.”
“Damion, you would do more harm than good. I’m trying to convince him that she’ll be fine, that she’s not Summer or Hope,” dad sighed, using mom’s name for the first time in a while.
A year after I was sent to Beacon Yang and Ruby were caught in a Grim accident. Yang got away without a mark because of her aura being unlocked, however Ruby got hit by a Nevermore’s feather. They found that it nicked her heart, but used a dust infused cage to keep it from getting worse. While her aura naturally kept it working without having to worry about running out, the dust would deteriorate and she would have heart attacks. The doctors gave Ruby an injection that kept the dust from deteriorating and actually helped restore any dust that had deteriorated. After that she still wanted to become a huntress, but Uncle Tai wouldn’t allow her to get any training.
We got to the door and I knocked. And Yang answered the door. Her face was happy, but after she looked at us it fell slightly.
“Yang, is it Ruby?” Tai asked, appearing behind her.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Qrow, where is she?” he asked, glaring at dad.
“What are you talking about?” dad asked.
“You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been talking about training her for years,” Tai said.
“Oh, I think I understand. Ruby decided to do what I told you she would do. She ran away and tried to find a way to get training. Well, I have no clue,” dad admitted.
“Really? You seriously think I would believe that she would come up with a plan to run away and do so at the age of ten?”
“What, do you think that I would tell her what to do or anything?”
“Damion, do you know where she’s at? I know you have been saying she should be trained too,” Tai demanded, turning to me.
“I don’t, but if I did I wouldn’t tell you. I will ask my teammates to look around for her,” I said. But I won’t tell them to get her back here.
“Really Tai? You go to blaming those who were trying to help instead of looking at the plain facts that point to the most possible answer? Ruby got fed up with you and Yang blocking her from following her dream and ran away. Now, I’m going to try to find her before she gets hurt,” dad said, turning away.
“Qrow! Don’t think that I don’t know how you think! I know that you have her!” he yelled.
“Damion, see if DRKNS can help,” dad sighed as we walked away.
“Yeah,” I muttered, calling Natasha.
Five Years Later
“Yo, what did you need Oz? Want my lesson plans for the first semester or something?” I asked, walking into the police station. “Or did a second year student get arrested?”
“Neither, this time,” he said. “I would like you to meet a person who I am thinking about putting into Beacon early,” he explained, motioning to the interrogation room.
I followed him over and looked in to see a young girl with dark hair ending in red tips and silver eyes sitting at the table. She wore light leathers and had a sheathed katana next to her.
“Is that Ruby?” I asked, trying to be surprised.
“Damion, we both know that you and your father have been in contact with her master for years now,” Ozpin said.
“Eh, I had to try. What did she do?”
“Stopped a dust robbery before she collapsed on the roof in pain, luckily Glynda was there too.”
“She’s too reckless and has a heart condition,” Goodwitch spoke up.
“One that she’s trained to deal with, probably focused on the fight and didn’t take her medication on time,” I explained. “It’s no different than when I don’t take my time to meditate and relax.”
“I had already talked with her and offered her a place given her conversation with a teacher of my choosing,” Ozpin explained.
“I get what you are saying,” I said, walking over to the door and opening it.
I walked in and sat across from her. She had grown up and a little taller too. I was tall like my father now and wore a black hood similar to her red one which was also reinforced but had a white motif too, one that I knew why it was there. She looked at me and I could tell that she didn’t know who I was. But my silver eyes made her try to study me.
“So, you are the girl who Ozpin wants to join Beacon early. Why?” I asked.
“Aren’t you young to be a teacher?” she asked.
“Aren’t you young to be hunting the creatures of Grimm?” I shot back. “So miss-”
“Rose, Ruby Rose.”
“Alright, Miss Rose, why should we let a girl who hasn’t gone to school in Beacon?”
“Because I know how to kill Grimm.”
“I can guess, with how you keep Scattered Rose next to you as well as Frost Bite. I actually know who’s weapon that was, and that it was a passing weapon. I also know that you were being trained by Rei since five years ago when you ran away from Patch, so tell me Rubes, how did she go out?” I asked, watching as her eyes went wide when she realized who I was and that I knew she was being trained. “She stopped sending updates a year ago and since dad and I are supposed to help keep track of them we suspected that something happened.”
“She went out like a hero of old, fighting until her last breath,” Ruby chuckled. “So, you’re a teacher now Damion?”
“Yup, I am going to teach a special class that requires my special skills. It’s a study of the mythical Grimm,” I explained. “So, are you willing to let me help you with your new abilities as well as keep them from your team?” I asked.
“Well, I kinda have been explaining it as a secondary semblance from a traumatic experience,” she said as a small movement happened under her hood.
“Ruby, are you hiding something?” I asked.
“Um, during the transfer process I was injured,” she explained. “Um, now I’m like you,” she added, lowering her hood and revealing that on the top of her head were two arctic fox ears.
“Alright, um, huh, that’s going to be a little more difficult to explain away to Yang,” I said.
“I’m not going back there,” she growled.
“No, but Yang is going to Beacon this year, it’s statistically impossible for the two of you to not run into each other and she will understand that something happened,” I said.
“I believe that I can help with that, Ruby’s grandmother was a Fox Faunus, recent studies have shown that when they are injured at a young age people with a genetic connection to Faunus despite not being born as one gain features. We can simply say that from her injury as a child and running away caused the dormant gene to awaken,” my father said, walking in.
“Uncle Qrow,” Ruby muttered.
“Hey pipsqueak,” he replied. “So, who else knows?”
“Um, my traveling companion,” Ruby said, cautiously.
“You mean friend?” I asked. “You have her scent on you. I can smell it. A panther, wait, is her name Blake Belladonna?” I asked, recalling a mission from a few years ago.
“How did you know?” Ruby asked.
“Simple, I am close with her father and some other acquaintances,” I said, lightly chuckling a bit.
“So, we have to explain Ruby unlocking a second semblance as well as becoming a faunus, gods this is going to be a headache,” dad said, taking a sip from his flask.
“That’s just the whiskey,” I sighed.
“Some things never changed, huh?”
“Sadly no,” I said, knowing that Tai and Yang both still believed that she couldn’t be a huntress. “I’m gonna work something special out with Ozpin given your special needs,” I added. “Dad, catch her up on anything she needs,” I said, walking out of the room.
“What are you thinking?” Goodwitch demanded.
“That the Winter Maiden needs to know how to fight and having a special team dedicated to that would be best,” I said.
“Hmm, how would you go about this?” Ozpin asked.
“Every year you change how teams and partners are decided. Make it so that half of them start in the forest and the other half are sent in via the springs? First person to lock eyes type of thing, but it can’t be with someone who started where you did. That’ll almost guarantee that she can trace and control her land to where her companion is, that’s one. As for her team… give me a bit of time to look at the other initiates.”
“Actually, I was recently informed by General Ironwood that one of his specialists wished to come here to get her hunting license. Since she was a possible candidate before Ruby to be the Winter Maiden she would be a good teammate. She’s slightly older than the rest but would be good nonetheless,” Ozpin said.
“Wait, Winter Schnee?” I asked, recalling her famous duels with my dad. “And isn’t her little sister going to Beacon too?”
“Correct on both accounts. I believe that the true reason she wants to come is to be able to undo the conditioning that their father has put her under to simply be inconsiderate and spew whatever anti-Faunus crap he claims to be facts,” he admitted.
“This year just became even more of a headache,” Goodwitch sighed, walking towards the door.
“Glynda, about halfway into the second semester I am going to have my team meet me at the cabin with a random team for special training. Could you please ensure that the other students don’t make their way there at that point? Except for maybe team CFVY,” I asked.
“I can do that, but why team CFVY?”
“Simple, they’ve worked with me and I trust them. Ozpin gave my father and I permission to spread the number of people who know and help keep the maidens safe. They remind me of my team, chaotic and troublemakers, but when it comes down to it they can be serious and trustworthy to not only get the job done, but get it done in the best way possible,” I said.
“Another team STRQ,” she sighed.
AN-
This wip was started two years ago… I got inspired to finish it when looking for another RWBY fic. I got no clue. Make sure to follow, favorite, comment, and kudos! Link Out!