Chapter 1: Crater-face

August 2014

Moon Rock Falls, Ontario, Canada

"Hey uncle Qrow! I'm home!" Yang yelled as she walked into the house, bearing the contents of the mailbox in her hand. She was just returning from the gym, where she works as a personal trainer and she wore her black sports shorts and her yellow tank top. She entered the living room of the one story building. A semi-circle of various types of seating arrangements faced the general direction of the TV placed against the front wall, to the right of the door. A cluttered coffee table sat in the middle of the room. A few meters ahead and to Yang's left was the main hallway to the bedrooms, bathroom and appliance room and ahead of her, separated from the living room by a small dining room table was the kitchen.

The look was relatively old-fashioned. The walls were of a plain, off-white colour and on them was hung various family photographs, among other things. The kitchen was adorned with white cabinets and appliances and all the furniture aside from the leather couches and chairs of the living room were simply wooden. Mounted on the wall above the television set was a Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk 1 rifle.

Immediately upon entering the home, the smell of stir-fry Yang knew Qrow was preparing only fueled her growing appetite. It made her look over to the kitchen where she expected to find her uncle slaving away at the dish. She was mistaken and found only a pan of stir-fry lying on the stove cooking itself, a half-empty beer bottle on the counter beside it.

"Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked, perplexed. The man was nowhere in sight. His dish left to fend for itself. Yang knew he couldn't be far. He wandered sometimes. Especially in the last two years.

Yang heard noise from one of the bedrooms. A few things falling over, it sounded like. Tripping and swearing, followed by stumbling and rushed walking. Qrow's head peeked out from the side hallway like a meerkat poking its head out of the ground.

"There you are Yang. Sorry, I lost myself for a moment. Must get back to cooking before the dish gets too overdone." Qrow returned to the kitchen to tend to the food, taking a swig of his beer once he got there. He wore a pair of dark-coloured shorts and a red t-shirt, covered by his large white cooking apron which was stained with various substances like grease, blood and sauce.

"Don't you mean 'burnt'?" Yang commented, dropping her backpack down on the couch and siting herself beside it.

"I don't need you criticizing my cooking Yang, not after that horrendous 'meatloaf' you tried to poison me with last week." Ah, the meatloaf. Would Qrow ever let her live that down? It couldn't have been that bad for a first try.

"You're exaggerating," she called at him. He put everything down and turned around. He placed his hands on his hips and stared at her for a moment.

"Am I, now? Yang, I don't know if you are aware of this at all, but meatloaf is not supposed to be green in the middle," Qrow spoke, before shaking his head and returning to the stove. Alright, maybe it was that bad.

"Shut up, okay." Yang, having lost the little dispute, decidedly quit the conversation. She decided to flip through the stack of mail she had picked up earlier. A few bills, some notices, nothing that caught Yang's eye as interesting. All boring stuff that she'll be handing off to uncle Qrow for him to deal with. She was about ready to throw the pile to the side when she got to the last one, and recognized the handwriting on the envelope. She dropped all the other envelopes and held this one up.

"Uncle Qrow, I think we got another one!" Qrow dropped most everything he was doing and awkwardly rushed over to Yang, who was now standing by the couch she was previously siting on. She tore open the envelope recklessly with her fingers and clumsily pulled out what turned out to be a postcard. The postcard was a cheap souvenir postcard that displayed on one side a large photo of the Grand Canyon. Yang flipped it around to see the back portion which contains the 'to' and 'from' sections. The former was left blank, but the 'from' section was not. It was signed "Crater-face".

Yang grinned in amusement, uncle Qrow doing the same just behind her. Crater-face was Ruby's nickname she got on the first day of high school when she tripped on the steps outside and fell face first into the pavement, blessing her with a torn cheek she had to deal with all day long. Despite, she didn't want to give up on her mission to get through the first day. What a trooper. The nickname was spread during the first day and stuck with her through four years, and she hated it.

"Well at least we know her sense of humour seems intact," Qrow cut into the silence. They must have been staring at the card for a good few minutes. Yang nodded before answering.

"Yeah, and she even had the sense to sign it on the Grand Canyon one too. She makes me proud." Usually Ruby signed her postcards with 'Rose', so this one was refreshingly playful and both Yang and Qrow kept staring at the postcard. It took a few more moments before Yang started smelling something. Something smelled… charred. Burnt.

"Do you smell that?" Yang asked her uncle as she turned to face him. His eyes slowly widened, and his face contorted from its original amused smile, to surprised shock, and finally horrified realization.

"Crap." Qrow wasted no time rushing to the kitchen to tend to the stir-fry flambé he had accidentally left on the stove and created. He clumsily attempted to get rid of the fire with his cooking towel, but it soon caught fire as well. Yang found it funny that he had not noticed immediately, and laughed when he did and hastily threw the burning cloth into the sink, abandoning that attempt to rid the pan of the flames.

"Well, while you take care of your 'dish', I'll go and put this with the others, 'kay?" Yang started walking towards the side hallway that led to the other rooms of the house. Qrow glanced at Yang as she left.

"Yang, I could really use your help here for a moment please!" he called, somewhat overwhelmed by the cooking blunder he found himself in. Yang laughed outright.

"You know how I am with fire; I'd only make it worse! Good luck with that by the way!" she yelled back as she walked into the hallway. She passed by a few doors before arriving at a red one on her left. She opened the door and walked inside. This was Ruby's room. Left unchanged for over two years. Yang took a moment and breathed deeply. She walked over to the bed and placed the postcard on it, next to a very large pile of other postcards. Yang and Qrow had been receiving them just about once every two weeks, ever since Ruby left. Almost all of them signed 'Rose', only a few signed with other nicknames and titles attributed to her. Yang took another look around the room, before turning back, leaving the room and closing the door behind her. When she got back to the kitchen she found Qrow standing in the middle of it with a smoking pan in his hand. The food inside, completely charred. He looked up, and offered a guilty smile.

"So, uh… are you good with pizza for tonight?" he asked nervously.

The convenience store television set buzzed with static and a minor news story that had already been repeated a few times over the course of the day. The store clerk was an older Asian gentleman with squinty eyes and long grey hair that seemed to have been exiled from the top of his head. He sat peacefully on a chair behind the counter, reading a book entitled 'The Fountainhead'.

It was just a little past eleven-thirty. The store was deserted. Empty. The only reason the clerk was still there was the franchises 'Open 24/7' policy, which was more than a little ironic considering the store's name. If the clerk had his way he would have closed almost an hour ago. Hell, usually he would. It's not like there are many people who drive by during daylight hours to begin with, let alone the dead of night. He's never received a complaint for being closed at night. It just so happened that today he had been having family disputes and preferred to stay the night in the store to read in peace than go back home to the hell storm that would surely await him.

Suddenly the bell to the shop door rang, indicating someone's entry. The much unexpected sound shook the old man from his literary daze. After placing his bookmark and putting down his novel, the man stood up and put on a smile for this rare customer. Said customer soon came into view. The clerk saw a seemingly young girl walking slowly through the aisles. She was dressed mostly in red and black. A skirt, leg, chest and arm protectors, as well as a vivid red cloak composed her visibly well-worn attire.

"Good evening to you, miss," he offered nicely. The girl didn't answer, and instead dodged to a blind aisle. The clerk shrugged and sighed. At least he tried to make conversation. The attempt was made and that's all that matters.

A few minutes later the girl showed back up at the front counter, now with a number of desired items. The mixed-matched pile included two bottles of motor oil, a few dozen batteries, a roll of duct tape, a can of WD-40, a bottle of Tylenol, a 24 pack of pads and a six pack of Corona.

The clerk punched all the items into the register one-by-one, the girl seeming to cringe a little with each one. Once the old man got past the pads, which he did very swiftly, he got to the beer and stopped.

"Do you have any ID miss?" As soon as he spoke those words the girls shoulders slumped.

"Seriously?" she whined in complaint. The man shrugged and nodded.

"Ughh. Fine. Keep it." The clerk nodded again and put the Corona away behind the counter.

"That'll be $ 67.81, miss." The girl cringed in response, but pulled out the cash a paid nonetheless.

"Would you like a bag?" the old clerk asked with practiced ease. A question that came naturally.

"No that's fine." The girl proceeded to shove everything in the backpack she pulled off her back. After accomplishing said task and slinging the pack again, she moved to the door.

"Have a nice evening miss," the old man called after her as she left. She stopped and answered:

"Yeah. Sure, you too." The girl then walked out into the darkness of night.

The cool Nevada air felt refreshing to Ruby this night. She made her way to her dear Red Rider, and just as she did a brown older model Ford pickup truck rolled into the almost empty lot. The four men riding in the truck were all loud and rowdy, shouting profanities and slurs and cheers. Ruby didn't doubt that a fair bit of alcohol was an influential part of their midnight ride. The non-sensical hooting, laughing and yelling diminished only slightly as the men disembarked from the vehicle, just to come right back up again as they walked.

"Hey Cardin, look at that," one of the men said to another, pointing at Ruby. The other man grinned.

"Oh yeah, I see Russel," he said. The group slowly made their way to her, as she tried her best to ignore them and get her bike ready to leave.

"Hey you there! Whatcha doing 'round here so late at night?" Ruby continued to ignore them as she made sure everything was in order and well secured.

Perhaps she was ignoring them a little too well, because by the time she was ready to hop on and leave they were on top of her. Cardin, the bigger of the four, stepped between Ruby and her motorcycle, while the short and scrawny Russel as well as the stubbier brown-haired fellow surrounded her from behind. The last of the four, a taller long-haired guy, stood on the other side of the bike.

"How much do you think this piece of scrap metal's worth, Lark?" Cardin asked the man behind him, all the while keeping his threatening gaze on Ruby. She took a step back and tried to prepare herself the best she could to deal with the confrontation. Y'know, in case it got a little too unpleasant.

"Maybe a thousand. It is a little older, well used too." Cardin nodded.

"Not too bad. Russel, Dove. The girl. What do you guys think?" Ruby didn't really like where this was going.

"More than the bike, for sure,"Russel answered. Dove nodded in agreement.

"Would you guys mind just, I don't know, leaving me alone please? I'm not in the mood to deal with this right now." Actually Ruby would never be in the mood to deal with this kind of thing. Who in their right mind would? Cardin burst out laughing. The other guys followed somewhat, but more reservedly. This, either because they were too dim-witted to understand why he was laughing or because they didn't really find it funny. Probably the former. Ruby rolled her eyes impatiently. When Cardin finally stopped laughing, something that took some time and happened gradually, he replied.

"I'm sorry, I just found it funny that you thought you had a say in this." Ruby was about to retort when the sound of the convenience store door and bell caught everyone's attention.

"What's going on out here?" the old clerk from the store asked earnestly, stepping out the door. Cardin nodded to Russel, who walked towards the man while pulling a large hunting knife from his back pocket.

"You shouldn't shove your nose in other people's business, old man," he said. The clerk raised his hands in the air submissively as the knife was pointed at him.

"Please! I don't want any trouble," the man said.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before interrupting," was Russel's reply. The space between him and the clerk was getting shorter with each passing second as Russel moved closer and closer, his knife poised to strike. At the same time, Dove moved closer to Ruby from behind. As she evaluated the scene, she determined things were coming to a climax, one for which the outcome she didn't particularly like. In light of this, she took action.

Reaching behind her cloak with her left hand, Ruby pulled out her CZ 85 B handgun she carried in her waistband and swung her arm back, clogging Dove in the face with the steel gun. Before anyone else could react, Ruby turned and pointed the weapon at the windshield of the men's truck. Then she fired. The deafening shot echoed throughout the mountainous wilderness around them, and everyone but Ruby, whom was prepared for it, recoiled to an almost squatting position. The shot hit its mark, spider-webbing the glass to the point where it was hard to see through it. Seeing this, Ruby moved to her next objective. She walked around Dove 'til she was behind him, the young man having fallen to one knee after getting hit in the face and hearing the shot. Ruby kicked him in the back of the other knee and put the gun to his head. After a moment, everybody got back to their feet. They looked to Ruby, whom was holding Dove by the back of his shirt collar.

"Since you wouldn't listen to me before, let me make myself more clear. Leave, please," Ruby spoke in the silence that had risen. Ruby looked to Cardin, who was frowning almost angrily. She shifted her gaze upwards to Lark behind him, who was staring fearfully at his buddy Dove being held at gunpoint, and whom seemed to have taken a step back from the bike. She moved her eyes over to Russel and the old clerk. Russel was still holding the knife to the man, and gave no indication of backing down. His expression was cold and almost emotionless, perhaps only a bit of anger showing through.

"Drop it!" Ruby yelled, shoving her weapon into the back of Dove's head for emphasis. Lark looked over to Russel, then Cardin. Neither seemed to want to back down.

"Come on guys! Just drop it okay? It isn't worth it." He looked around again. Russel adjusted his stance, but did not falter. Cardin groaned angrily.

"Guys!" Lark yelled. Cardin groaned again before speaking, and when he did it was low and spiteful.

"C'mon Russel. This bitch's too much trouble." Russel put the knife away, and very reluctantly walked back towards to busted truck. Cardin followed soon after, and Ruby watched them until they were less than a few feet away from it. She pushed Dove forward to the ground and backed up a few, keeping her handgun tracked on Dove's head. Lark smiled in relief for a few moments before walking around and helping him back up. They walked back to the truck as the engine rumbled to life. Cardin honked the horn a few times.

"Hurry up let's go!" he called to Lark and Dove. Ruby tracked them in her sights until they got in the truck and it started to move. It turned back and returned the way it had come. As it drove away one of the guys yelled out:

"Fuck you, bitch!"

Ruby put her weapon away and turned around to see the old clerk behind her.

"Thank you miss! You saved my life!" He was exuberant, if a little awkward.

"Really, i-it's nothing…" Ruby stuttered nervously, feeling uncomfortable with the awkward praise.

"Wait here," the man interrupted. He jogged over back to the store and disappeared inside. Ruby shifted from one foot to the other, waiting uncomfortably. It took less than a minute for the clerk to return, but that time seemed to drag on for much longer. When he did come back outside, he was carrying the six pack of beer Ruby had to leave behind. She stared at the Corona, puzzled by its reintroduction to the scene. The clerk presented it to her.

"Here, you take it," he said, handing the case to her. Ruby thought to refuse for a moment, she felt it was a little dishonest to take something she hadn't paid for and was also not allowed to buy in the first place, but then she thought 'Hey, free beer!' She accepted the case and smiled at the man thankfully.

"Thank you," was all she could think of saying. The old clerk shook his head in disagreement.

"No need to thank me; I think you earned it. You have yourself a nice trip, and be careful out there," he told her with an honest, well-mannered smile. Ruby shrugged.

"I can handle myself," she answered honestly. The clerk chuckled a bit and smiled.

"I don't doubt that." Ruby started to pack the small case of beer in with the rest of her things as she continued.

"I think you should get a shotgun or something, in case those guys come back. Something tells me they don't exactly… like you very much anymore," Ruby paused to say, a little unsure of how to word her thought.

"I'll keep that in mind. Have a nice night." The old gentleman started back off to the store.

"You too!" Ruby called after him as he waved to her. Ruby mounted her motorcycle, which she hugged when she did, and pressed the starter. The engine roared to life, the powerful feeling flowing through her once more. She put her helmet back on, and rolled out of the parking lot and onto the road. The old clerk watched her leave from the door of his store. When she wasn't in view anymore, he decided to go inside.

He had barely sat back down on his chair behind the counter when something on the television caught his eye. A news story he had not seen on earlier was playing. He grabbed the remote on the counter and turned the almost absent volume up to a volume at which he could hear it clearly.

« "-ort that there has been another sighting of her, this time just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. This is one of over two hundred reports of vigilantism by a girl all across North America. It's still unsure of whether all these reports are of the same person or not. Early sightings of the 'Little Red Riding Hood', as they call her, date back about two years, and some believe she was active before that even. Most interesting part of this story is that no one seems to have any information on her whereabouts. The police are currently working on tracking her down by following the sightings. Back to you Lisa."

"Thank you Cyril. Remember if you have any information on the girl's whereabouts you are urged to contact your local police force immediately." »

The old clerk turned off the television and sat down on his chair. He looked over to his left, where the store's telephone lay lazily on the side of the counter. He started to reach for it, but soon stopped his arm mid-way. After a moment of thinking, the man shook his head and grabbed his novel and opened it back up at the page from which he had last left off, and he continued to read.

The sun was rising in the early hours of the morning. Ruby could see it peeking over the mountainous forest to her right. She had been riding for hours now and it was becoming increasingly harder for her to focus on the winding road ahead of her. She yawned. She was tired. She started thinking about stopping in the next town she came across and sleeping in a motel as she sometimes did. More likely however was that she'd head off into the woods some and set up camp for the day. She preferred to only stop during the day since she had observed that people were less inclined to attack her or rob her during daylight. Sunlight had that strange effect on people. Made them feel like everything they did could be plainly seen, even if there was no one else around.

Suddenly the forest that surrounded Ruby's ride so far opened up into plains, the trees pushed back to the feet of the hills and mountains far to both her left and right sides. The winding road turned straight, and the sun's raying beams shined clear down upon her. Ruby took a moment to awe at the beautiful scenery that had presented itself to her. Often in her travels did she see scenes like this. She loved the North American countryside. There was something peaceful and relaxing about it, something the big cities could never hope to simulate. She hated cities and completely avoided them.

After having been looking to her left for a few moments, Ruby turned to her right, and saw something that took her very much by surprise. It was something she had never seen before. 'It's a castle!' Calling it a castle was a little of an overstatement. What it was, was more of an estate or a mansion. However its primarily stone exterior and medieval European styled construction made that a somewhat excusable mistake. Towers sprouted form the four corners of the seemingly square building. A fifth and much smaller tower came out of the centre. It was impressive and imposing, standing at least thirty meters tall at its highest point. The stone it was made of was an almost white colour, though closer observation revealed it was actually a very light grey. The roofs were the only things that appeared to not be made of the stone, its wooden shingles coming off barely lighter than black.

Ruby stared at the building in awe. She stopped paying attention to the road. She noticed now that the building sat in the middle of a fenced-off property which backed right into the forest behind it, and whose front wrought-iron gate came right up to the road ahead. The property was massive. Hundreds of acres of land, easily.

As Ruby came to pass by the front of the estate, the rising sun came into alignment with the centre tower of the building. It created the effect that the sun's beams appeared to be emanating from the tower. It was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. 'Top five for sure…' Ruby thought to herself. She wondered curiously who might live in such a place. As she passed by Ruby's wheels began to drift towards the left.

Staring at the mansion a little longer after passing it, Ruby decided it was time she turn her attention back to the road. She could only stare for so long. When she did look forward, she found herself staring at a vehicle coming straight for her. Her heart raced and she jerked the handlebars to the right, as she found herself to be on the wrong side of the road. At the same time however she tapped the brakes, which was a very grave error. Her front wheel locked up, and with the right-hand turning motion set on by the steering, her rear wheel skidded towards the left, making the motorcycle's left side slide towards the imminent threat.

By this time there was nothing Ruby could do. She had lost complete control of her beloved Red Rider, and there was only a second or two between herself and the white sedan-like vehicle. She braced herself for the impact. She and her bike slammed sideways into the front-end of the other vehicle. Ruby felt her leg crunch and crack between the side of her Suzuki and the car's bumper. She didn't have much time to think about it though, as her momentum threw the rest of her body over the hood of the car and her head, right on the windscreen. She heard the cracking of the glass, and felt the concussive force flow through her head, then everything went dark.

Author's Note: So this is way overdue and I know that all too well. I don't think anyone's interested in my excuses so I'll skip that part. I'll be completely honest and say I'm a little disappointed in the reaction to the Prologue. I was relatively proud of it. Ah well, I can't control how you all like/dislike it. One thing I would like though is if some of you all left a review or something. If you like it, let me know. If you don't like it, let me know. I don't bite, don't worry.
Anyway, enjoy, and if you have any questions or comments, go ahead and leave a review or send me a PM! I'd love to hear from you all.

TCR