RWBY The Broken (A RWBY Fan Fiction)

1

Seth walked down the rain soaked street, hood up, head down, with his hands in his pockets. On his back he wore a black backpack filled to the point of bursting with canned goods and a pair of blankets. He didn't know if it would be enough, but it was all he could get with his salary. His thick combat boots sloshed through the puddles, kicking up waves and knocking aside the various empty cans and other trash that was strewn across the street. Every time he passed a dark alley, he could feel a pair of hungry eyes boring into his back, as if a predator was watching him from the shadows. This was the bad part of town, one would either have to be crazy, extremely brave, or even both, to even consider walking through unarmed. Despite the hungry stares he received from the shadows, none of them decided to leave the shelter of the darkness. They recognized who and what he was and didn't want to risk their lives, even if he might be carrying something valuable.

It had been raining for two days straight and showed no signs of stopping. The gutters were backing up, bringing up the sewage passing through beneath the street creating lakes along the sidewalks, all a murky brown. Across the street, a pair of children splashed in one such puddle, until their mothers came running, herding them back into the worn-down complex they called home. Seth was fortunate enough to not be able to call this place home. He had a decent apartment in the nicer part of town, about a ten minute walk from his destination that he could easily afford. His wasn't a high paying job, but it was enough to carry on his way of life and then give some to those less fortunate.

Seth was a Hunter. From a young age, he had dreamed of hunting monsters and protecting the people from them. As he grew, he learned of his ability to control Dust, and trained until he was able to master his abilities, becoming one of the best Hunters his town, Bridgeshore, had ever produced. Before he could master his gift, however, his entire world would be destroyed.

Bridgeshore, which had no bridges nor shores, was small and hidden away in the woods. With a total of 30 inhabitants, the town barely managed to make it onto a map, let alone hold any interest. With nothing out of the ordinary, apart from a large Faunus population, Bridgeshore's occupants were allowed to carry out their without interruption.

The peace, however, was shattered one day when an anti-Faunus terrorist group, notorious for attacking without remorse or discretion, picked Bridgeshore as their next victim. At age 13, Seth watched as his entire town was gunned down and burned by a crowd of men and women wielding all kinds of weapons, murdering men, women, and children alike. They did not stop at the Faunus, however. The very act of living in peace with the "animals," as the Faunus were commonly referred to, was a serious enough crime to these individuals that they were considered to be, essentially, Faunus themselves.

Seth had tried to stand up to the crusaders, but didn't stand a chance against the overwhelming numbers and more experienced fighters. He was left for dead, and would have been, if it hadn't been for a patrol officer answering a report of seeing smoke coming from the town. Seth's life had been spared that day, but he would never be the same. Before the attack, Seth saw only the Creatures of Grimm as monsters and humans, alongside Faunus, to be the victims. Afterwards, however, he saw, not only the Grimm, but those who preyed upon others as monsters. He continued his training, after recovering from his wounds, with this revelation in mind. He applied for Beacon Academy, was accepted, and graduated with outstanding marks. After graduating, he took a job with a local hunter's guild, where he worked for two years, before leaving the guild and taking on individual jobs. These "hunts" were posted on a website where a hunter, or a huntress, can review and choose the job of their liking. Once a job is chosen, the employer will supply the information needed and the hunter/huntress will take care of the rest. For the most part, the employers are public security officials, sometimes even private contractors who need some extra muscle. It was a decent job, and Seth enjoyed it. He was able to fulfill his dream of hunting monsters and protect others at the same time. However, there was something more that he longed for. He couldn't think of what it was, other than just a gaping hole inside of him that he couldn't seem to fill, no matter how many monsters he fought and killed, no matter how many innocent people he protected.

He adjusted the backpack so that a can was no longer digging into his spine, tilted his head back slightly, and sniffed the air. Apart from his ability to control Dust, Seth was born with heightened senses, namely his sense of hearing and smell. It was all part of being Faunus. Each Faunus had their own unique ability ranging from fast healing to even the ability to fly. One trait, however, that most, if not all, Faunus shared was the ability to see in the dark. This proved to be a valuable trait, as it gave the Faunus an edge over the humans, especially in the Human-Faunus war.

The air was thick with moisture, but it didn't drown out the pungent smell of trash and general decay. Seth wrinkled his nose in disgust, grimacing. He chose to come to this part of town, not because of the atmosphere, especially not the smell, but to bring a piece of happiness back to the lives of some of his closest friends.

He rounded a corner, sidestepped a cardboard box with a sleeping man inside, and strolled up to the tall, imposing metal gate at the end of the sidewalk. The gate was the only thing standing between a small parking lot and a tall, worn building. The front of the building looked nice enough, apart from the broken windows, complete with bars covering them, and a broken sliding door, forever stuck halfway opened and halfway closed. The building used to be a prison before it ran out of funds and was forced to shut down. Since then, it had fallen prey to looters and the homeless. However, as the neighborhood fell apart, the homeless were forced to leave due to the amount of violent crimes in the area.

He slid the gate open, wincing as the hinges creaked painfully loud near his ear. Sliding the gate closed behind him, Seth jogged over to a broken window, slid in through the opening and stepped into the office within.

Shaking the raindrops off of his head, he repositioned the backpack once more, and quietly slipped through the door, making sure to close it behind him. Within there was a narrow hallway, with several other offices on either side. Seth ignored the hallway and used a nearby chair to boost himself through an opening above the door directly in front of him. Landing with a thud, he looked around the room. The office was small, with a desk and chair sitting in a corner and a broom closet in the other.

He opened the closet door, stepped in, and closed the door behind him. Inside, he had barely enough room to stand up straight, and it was uncomfortable, but he didn't plan to stay long. He rapped three times on the back of the closet, and waited.

The wall suddenly slid open and Seth blinked and shielded his eyes as a bright light shone through the opening, blinding him.

"Seth!" an excited voice called out from somewhere inside the light. "Seth's come bringing us presents!"

The light was suddenly extinguished, and Seth could once again see. Before him was a crudely constructed choke point. It had been designed to act as a cage for anyone who tried to force their way into the prison. There were other ways, of course, but this was the easiest way. On the other side of the bars, a group of five girls stepped out from behind desks, chairs, and out of doorways they had been hiding behind and in. They rushed forwards to the gate, each one trying to get the door open, forgetting that the gate was locked in their excitement.

"What'd you bring me, Seth?" one girl asked.

"Did you bring some food?" another one called out.

Seth couldn't help but smile as the girls bombarded him with questions as they fruitlessly struggled to get the gate open.

"Just wait a second and let me get the gate open," Jade, the oldest of the group shouted over the noise, rushing up from behind, a key in her hand. She was fourteen and, being the oldest, was the "unofficial" leader of the group. Whenever there was a decision to be made, she was the one that the other girls looked up to. She was a tomboy, fiercely independent, and didn't want help from anyone, no matter how much trouble she was in.

After a few more seconds of tugging at the gate, the girls finally let Jade get through and unlock the gate. Jade had short, brown hair and green eyes that could cut through steel. Around her neck, there was a necklace, no more than a strip of leather strung through a small, tooth-shaped green stone. No one knew the story behind it, whether her parents had given it to her, or if she had just found it and decided to wear it. Whatever the story, Jade never parted with that necklace and guarded it with her life.

Seth didn't have time to brace for the girls as the door swung open, and they grabbed him, pulling him after them. The girls led him down hallways and around corners until they finally reached the cafeteria where Seth relinquished his backpack, which the girls had been trying to pull off his back the entire time, and watched as they ran off with it to see what was inside.

Jade was the only one to remain at his side.

"Anything I should know about?" Seth asked her, watching the girls disappear into the kitchen.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, just a few of the girls talking about strange noises coming from the medical wing, and that Sam thinks she's coming down with a cold. Other than that, it's been fairly quiet." Jade always talked like someone twice her age, she had to take care of herself nearly ever since she was born, forcing her to mature faster than most. "We did find something earlier today, though."

"Oh?" He turned to face her. She nodded and waved at him to follow her and led him down a hallway, towards the cell block. The prison had been used to hold low security prisoners, such as thieves, vandals, and the like. Thus, it was made to hold a lot of inmates, but have relatively low security. There were two separate wings, each one able to hold forty comfortably, fifty if comfort wasn't an issue. They met at a T-shaped intersection with the main hallway that led to the cafeteria, kitchen, and the entrance. Jade led him into the southern wing, turning left at the T. Staying on the lower floor, she led him to the cell the furthest from the entrance.

Seth looked into the cell, not sure what to expect. Inside, it looked like an average cell with a bed, bookshelf, and a toilet, all worn down and dirty from the lack of cleaning and use. The thing that Seth noticed first was the hole in the ceiling of the cell. Somehow, the cell's ceiling had collapsed in on itself, opening a giant gap that led up to the cell above. The bed was just an empty shell of a bunk bed, with just the frame. A mattress had been found and put into the bottom bunk, but it was much too small. Sitting on that mattress was a large bundle of blankets.

No, there was something more to these blankets. Seth had brought these blankets to the girls a couple of weeks ago, just like he had for the past month, but they already had dirt covering them. Jade pointed at the bundle of blankets.

"We found her outside, shivering in the rain and cold. Probably would still be there, if we hadn't. She's hasn't said a word, not even told us her name. She seems to be scared of pretty much everything."

The blankets moved at the sound of Jade's voice. From out of the top of them, a head poked out, two large, purple eyes staring at them in fear. For a moment, no one moved, but then the girl inside leapt out of the blankets, throwing them towards the door. She leapt towards the hole in the ceiling, nearly made it but came just a little short, her fingers brushing against the edge. She slid down the wall, immediately trying to get away again and again, to no avail. She reminded Seth of a cornered animal, desperately trying to escape the predator stalking it.

The girl appeared to be no more than ten years old, with long, white hair. What stood out the most was the two large, white, feathered wings sprouting out of her back. It wasn't unheard of for some Faunus to have wings, but it was extremely rare. One of these wings was held at an awkward angle, a splint applied, holding it into place. The other one, she was flapping frantically trying to lift herself up higher.

"Is her wing broken?" Seth asked Jade, still watching the girl desperately trying to escape. Jade nodded. "It was broken when we found her out back. It took us forever to convince her we didn't want to hurt her. Once she finally calmed down, we brought her in here, patched her wing up as best as we could, and gave her those blankets."

Seth nodded. He could tell just by watching the girl that something had spooked her; what it was and how long ago it happened, he couldn't tell. "Did she tell you her name?"

Shaking her head, Jade slowly took a few steps into the cell. The girl stopped trying to reach the hole and, instead, began to back slowly away, never taking her eyes off of Seth.

"It's ok," Jade tried to calm the girl down. "Neither of us are going to hurt you, we just wanted to check on you; make sure you're alright."

The girl said nothing, just stood where she was, eyes wide with fear.

Jade sighed. "See what I mean? She won't say a word to us, no matter how hard we try."

"Has she eaten anything?" The girl was scarily thin, and appeared as if she was about to faint.

Shaking her head, Jade returned to Seth's side. The girl still didn't move, still staring at them as if they were about to pounce onto her.

They stood there for a few moments, Seth trying to think of what they should do. He didn't want to approach her; who knew what she would do.

"Let's see how the food's coming. We can't do much more here. If she's hungry, she'll come out when she smells the food." Jade followed him, but cast a glance back into the cell as they left.

He wanted to find out who she was, where she came from, and what had happened to her to make her like this, but it wouldn't solve anything to interrogate her, especially when she was so afraid. The questions would simply have to wait. The two of them returned to the cafeteria, where the girls were just finishing cooking the food.

Including Jade and the new-comer, there were seven girls who lived inside the derelict prison. They were all orphans, how they became so Seth didn't care to know, and had all found each other. They had formed this small group one night just to keep warm, as Jade had told him, but had stuck together after that, until they became as close to a family as they could. Together, the six Faunus girls sheltered each other from the dangers of the outside world, each carrying out some role.

Next in command to Jade was Samantha. She was part cat which included having ears, much like Seth's but feline. Another unique aspect of her was that her eyes were two different colors, one yellow, and the other blue. Also like a cat, she had retractable claws which she could use to climb on walls and in self-defense, if needed.

Next there was Lucy, the Owl. She had incredible eye-sight and could move without making a noise. As such, she would often act as a sentinel for the girls, sitting atop the roof nearly every day, watching the city, picking up threats before they could get close, except when it was raining, of course.

Thirdly, there was Kara. She was the caretaker, oftentimes acting as a nurse, treating any wounds the girls would suffer. She wasn't trained so most of her bandages were crude, consisting of only washing the wound out and wrapping it up in a, hopefully, clean cloth. Then she would wait until Seth would visit to let him give it proper care. She was part wolf, like Seth, sharing enhanced hearing, but lacked the sense of smell and fangs.

Next there was Giovanna. She was part lizard, but the only way one could tell was to look at her eyes, which looked just like a lizard's. An impossible task since her eyes had been gouged out by a group of drunk, anti-Faunus protestors. They had managed to corner her in an alleyway one night, and had gouged her eyes out, calling her a monstrosity. There was no doubt that they would have killed her had Seth not found her on his way back from the prison. He had rushed her to the hospital where they had taking care of her and then simply threw her back onto the street, blind and helpless. Seth had taken her back to Jade and the others where she was welcomed with open arms. Since then, she had learned to be able to navigate around the prison, using her hands to guide her. She had gotten so accustomed to doing so that she was now capable of finding her way through the prison without assistance, apart from the more hazardous parts of the prison. She didn't serve a specific role in the girls' community. She did whatever job that she could do, helping out where she could. She never seemed to complain about the fact that she didn't serve a specific role, she was just happy that she could help.

Lastly, there was Fiona. The last one to join the group, she was the youngest of the group, and as such, she received special treatment. She was babied, given the most food, the best bed, and the others did whatever they could to make sure that she was happy. Like Giovanna, she didn't have a specific role, but helped out wherever she could.

Now, with the addition of the new girl, assuming she eventually warmed up to the others and joined the group, they would have seven members to their family. Meaning, Seth would have to have to supply even more stuff to them, since they could only scavenge themselves so much in a day, especially in the neighborhood that they lived in. He was more than willing to do it, of course, it would just mean that he would have to find a way to carry a bit more stuff in his backpack.

The girls never stopped talking even as they sat down to eat. As they laughed, shouted, and screamed at each other around the table, Seth couldn't help but smile. Watching them enjoy themselves, even when they were living in such poor living conditions, gave Seth a bit of hope for the world. If six girls could be happy with very little then maybe the rest of the world could sort itself out.

The girls finished eating and were left staring at their plates, wishing for more. As they began to reluctantly clean up afterwards, Seth decided to inspect the traps. He left the cafeteria and walked the halls in the prison, stopping where he knew there was a trap. They all appeared to be untouched, and Seth started to head back to see if he could help out with anything else. He was about halfway back to the cafeteria when the sound of a portion of wall collapsing echoed down the hall, coming from the laundry room. Most of the walls that collapsed were either the ceiling or the second floor. The laundry wing had only one story, and Seth didn't recall seeing anything that would indicate that the ceiling was close to collapsing. Seth turned and decided to check it out. In this neighborhood, the best practice was to assume the worst.

Meanwhile, in the cell block, the girl had finally calmed down after Jade and Seth had come to see her. She had returned to the comfort of the blankets, but remained facing the door. After a while, the smell of food cooking drifted down the hall towards her cell, reminding her just how hungry she was. Within a few minutes, she found herself shuffling down the hallway cautiously, trying to find the source of the smell.

She explored through the rooms, opening and closing doors, none of them holding the source of food. She was almost to the cafeteria when she heard some noises coming from down a hallway. Despite the warning she felt in the back of her mind, she shuffled down the hallway slowly, watching for any kind of movement or threat. Heading down the hallway slowly, she slowly peeked around the corner. Inside was a dark, dank room with what appeared to be clothes washers at the far end of the room. The noise had stopped, but she was still curious as to what had made it. She slowly crept into the room, ready to bolt at even the slightest noise.

She got about halfway between the washing machines and the doorway when she decided that there wasn't anything worth seeing here and turned to leave. Suddenly, the wall to the right of Sasha burst open in a shower of brick and light, blinding her. A brick smacked her right in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and sent her stumbling backwards. She fell onto her back, bumping her broken wing on a sink counter. She winced as the pain raced down her shoulder blades and threw her spine all the way down into her legs.

When the dust settled, she blinked in the harsh light cast from multiple flashlights shone in her face. From somewhere behind the light came a voice.

"Hey, look! Our job's going to be even easier. One's even come to us."

The girl gasped in fear as multiple shadows moved in front of the lights and headed straight for her. She leaped to her feet and ran towards the hallway as fast she could. She had nearly made it to the doorway when her foot snagged on something and she flew forwards, past the door, and into the wall. She brought her hands up to protect herself, but still managed to hit her head on the wall, dazing her.

The shadows closed in around her.


End file.
