Dirt flies through the air as a blade cuts a hole into the ground and Ruby lunges forth in an attempt to cut the dummy in front of her - but fails. She falls face-first into the soil, groaning in defeat and getting a mouthful of the dirt in the process.

Qrow walks up to her. "You know, I thought you were bad with my scythe, but you're complete garbage at this, too," he chuckles, extending a hand towards her. She takes it with a sulk and a grubby hand.

"I'm not garbage, this is just hard to master!" she replies while dusting off her clothes. He raises an eyebrow.

"And who said she would do her best to learn and train, hm?"

She sighs. "Yeah, that's me." Sand crunching beneath her feet, she assumes her stance for what seems like the hundredth time and lifts the weapon in front of her while Qrow steps back and takes out his flask to take a swig. "But I'll still do my best!"

"Alright, but remember," he calls from behind her, "you aren't just there to protect and defend - you're there to incapacitate or kill your target so they won't do the same to you, so go big or go home!"

She lets out a battle cry as she bursts forth in a flurry of petals and slashes through the bunch of dummies in front of her in frustration.

He claps twice as he approaches her heaving figure, hunched over the shreds of what remained of the mannequins. "That was good form," he tells Ruby, who's panting from the effort. "You could use your Semblance and combine it with your skill, and that's good, but you have to have a backup attack in case your Aura depletes, and basically save Aura for more important things."

"Like?" She shake her arms to free the tension in her muscles.

"Protecting your body from fatal wounds, using your Semblance during an emergency, activating Dust for the canisters in your scythe." He raises the flask to her. "Those kind of things."

"Then what do you think I should be doing instead of using my Semblance, then?"

Logically speaking, she doesn't have much to work with, Qrow thinks as he surveys her Aura levels with his scroll. Her speed is what fuels her movements, but constant use of it would deplete her energy and opportunity to survive in a fight. He subconsciously lets out a sigh.

"You know, you could work on some signature moves that could utilise all parts of your weapon," he tells her, handing her a bottle of water he had beside her. She takes it gratefully (and gleefully, with sparkling eyes) and gulps it down while he steps back and surveys her figure, a hand to his stubble. "You're literally harmless without your weapon-"

"Hey!"

"-so you have to make sure you're even deadlier than your enemy when you do have it."

Qrow isn't even sure that she can handle attacking with such a huge weapon, given her small frame and crappy footwork, but she does have determination and passion, so he'll work with that.

"Slash through," he says. "Cut through everything all at once, and don't leave anything unscathed."

He glances at Ruby and is relieved to find that she isn't at all averse to his suggestions (unlike a certain someone from his team). Rather, she seems excited about the whole prospect.

"Yes!" she exclaims while punching the air. "Finally, some actual action that doesn't need boring planning!"

Huh. Seems like she's motivated by the mere prospect of action rather than calculations and formulating plans. He shrugs and smirks to himself - his motto for battle is "fuck the rules and dump the enemies' bodies", after all. Though he'd rather not tell Ruby that right now.

"Good that you're so excited about it," he says instead, and steps on the feet of some dummies lying around. They spring up to face Ruby, who readies her weapon and has the most thrilled and absolutely silly expression on her face as she takes her position again.

She disappears in yet another flurry of petals, but it isn't long before she emerges behind a dummy and slices through it with gusto, swinging her scythe in a circular motion Qrow has never seen being done before, and cuts right through the standing figures in a few swift hand motions. He inspects the scroll in his hands.

Barely an inch of her Aura had been used up for her Semblance.

This is going much better than he'd expected.

He lets himself smile and pat Ruby on the back so hard she nearly falls over, but she returns the smile with a huge goofy grin of her own. "Was that good? Did you see me defeat those dummies, like- whoosh, bang, phew!"

It certainly was good, for a technique he's never seen before. Except-

"Your posture was horrendous," he starts, prodding her back with his own scythe when he draws it out of its place. She squeaks and stiffens. "If you hunch during an attack, you'll break your back, and I don't want to be arrested for injuring my own student while helping her practice one of her most promising attacks, you know."

The praise that comes along with the scolding brings a sheepish smile to her eyes, even as she laughs awkwardly and scratches the back of her head. "I-I guess I was so excited, I forgot about it," she tells Qrow, who simply ruffles her hair.

"It's still kinda garbage, even though it was a good attempt, so you better start practicin' if you want to master that weapon of yours." She nods vigorously and begins preparing her next assault on more of the dummies that Qrow produces from the storeroom nearby.

One can watch Ruby slice through figure after figure tirelessly, fuelled by only her drive to use the weapon properly and the bottles of water and a pack of dinner Qrow brings for her as she continues to brutally cut up the apparitions in front of her, watching intently when he shows her new techniques with his own weapon. This takes place every evening, after classes and right before lights out.

It goes on for a few weeks.

—

"Uh, Uncle Qrow, how do you use this part of the gun again?"

"Honestly, I don't know crap about your gun. Mine's a shotgun, yours is a sniper, though I can tell you that all you need to do when shooting is aim in front of the target. You'll hit it for sure."

He takes another swig from his flask and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and sighs at the sight of Ruby staring at him in complete confusion. "Alright, alright, I'll try and teach you how to aim and all that," he says. She squeals again and beams up at him, and he can't help but smile back at her.

"Thank you so much, Uncle Qrow!"

—

If she had walked in with such a heavy piece of metal a month or two ago, she'd probably keel over and get crushed by her own hand-crafted, heart-loved weapon after taking a single step out of her dormitory. Her friends would sigh and help her up and scold her for trying to bite more than she could chew (she doesn't know how on earth she could even eat metal and paint and Dust in the first place, but whatever). Uncle Qrow would laugh at her. She would be a mockery. Probably. Most likely.

But it isn't a month or two ago. It's now. She walks into class with Crescent Rose fitted snugly over her skirt, slotted into her belt, swishing her cape so that everyone would get a good look at the machine like it's nothing. Well, it is nothing, at least to her. Muscles have probably popped up on her arms like big fat oranges already.

Though, they haven't.

Anyway.

No one notices at first. They wave good morning to her before focusing their attention back to their assignments and papers or to the table where their drool lies from a good nap, but soon enough, she's being overwhelmed by strange looks from everyone around.

"Isn't that thing pretty heavy to carry around like that?"

"Do you even know how to use it in the first place?"

"Isn't it too early to be bringing it all around the place right now?"

She stops walking to her seat and faces all of them with a smile. "I guess I love weapons too much!" she says for everyone to hear. Beryl, who's sitting at the back of the class, gives her a thumbs-up. "And who knows, maybe we'll need it or something!"

Ruby doesn't answer any of their probing questions once she finishes, just smiles at them and shrugs with her trademark grin plastered onto her face as the teacher walks into the room.

"Alright, everybody, I hope you remembered to bring your journals, because we'll be going out to the forest to study the different plants out there!" she says as she sticks her head into the room. Ruby's never actually noticed before, but now she keeps her eye on the retracted blades secured at her belt, and watches her secure a few Dust canisters in her weapons in awe.

The rest of the class immediately revs up with chatter and scraping chairs as they file out of the room. Ruby joins Beryl at the back.

"Isn't it exciting?" the Faunus whispers.

Ruby's eyes widen in confusion. "What is?" she asks.

She produces a bag of cookies from her bag, fishing it out as carefully as she can."I have cookies to last us for the whole trip, so you don't have to worry about getting hungry during the lesson!" Ruby squeals at the sight and makes grabby hands at the foil bag. It rustles noisily.

The teacher raises an eyebrow at them, but doesn't say anything and continues her roll call. Beryl's shoulders sag in relief.

"We'll eat them later, so you can lay your hands off the bag now, Ruby," she laughs.

Ruby groans in disappointment just as they begin to walk off.

—

"Alright, everyone, take out your journals and get this down! This is very important when you're in battle, especially if you're injured and you need to recharge quickly for the next fight!"

They're standing in a clearing in the woods. It's close enough that a student could jog back in five minutes, but far enough that their class would be free from any distraction (read: shouts of overexcited students in sparring classes). Ruby likes this class - it means she can take a break from breathing the stale recirculated air of the homerooms, and at the same time, observe the baby Grimm that crawl along the plants.

"This, everyone, is a useful plant that you can find nearly everywhere, but it's easily confused with the poisonous leaves of another tree, so to tell them apart, you do this..."

The teacher's voice fades out of her bubble as Ruby tunes in to another conversation near her.

"...and what makes you think that you're so special?"

It comes from behind her, and Ruby pretends to take down notes as she continues to listen, despite Taiyang's lectures on eavesdropping and how rude it is. Whatever, she doesn't care.

"All I'm saying is that I don't need this lesson about flowers and herbs and weird crap that grows here!" the person says, swinging his book around. "We're here to learn how to fight, plus, I'm too good to get injured!"

"And you're also saying that you're better than me, who dutifully takes flowery, sissy notesdown?" the other growls. "You're being so complacent!"

"Yeah, I'm saying that! And I'm not!"

"You are!"

The tension in the air's so strong Ruby has to take a step forward to avoid tripping over the ropes by mistake. She tries to concentrate on the lesson going on in front of her.

"Hey, Ruby." Beryl nudges her. There's a sense of urgency behind her prod, so Ruby looks up from her book and gives her a quizzical look.

"What's wrong?" she asks. "Did you miss out the last part? Don't worry, I've got it covered-"

"No, not that!" the Faunus hisses. She nods towards the two bickering students behind them. "I have a bad feeling about them. Remember how one of the teachers told us about how Grimm are drawn to negative feelings? Might arguing lure one here?"

Ruby glances back nervously. It's true that Grimm are attracted to the negativity that people exude. She's experienced that firsthand, with Yang's teary confusion and Ruby's fear drawing the three Grimm to them.

"And it's in the middle of the woods, too-"

An Ursa Major bursts through the bushes behind them and charges towards the two squabbling students.

(Ruby secretly marvels at the perfect timing, but now isn't the time to make jokes like these, so she swallows her witty observation and maintains a straight face.)

Everyone starts to scream, and the teacher pulls the blades out of her belt and brandishes it at the Grimm. It snarls at them, unfazed by the threat in front of it.

"Everybody, get behind me! Don't go anywhere, and don't panic!" she shouts as she leaps towards the monster. It lets out a roar and begins slashing at her with its paws.

As if she hadn't even spoken, the class continues to shriek their heads off in terror, huddling together in an attempt to hide from the attack. Ruby catches sight of the two students and watches as they try to blend in with the others, shame sticking to their cheeks in a bright flush.

The Ursa stops its advance for a moment and stands on its hind legs, letting loose a howl towards the sky.

The ground trembles along with the terrified class, and from all around them, smaller, but equally deadly Ursa Minor burst through the foliage. Their gazes are set on the students, never once leaving them unnoticed.

Ruby looks up at the teacher, but her blades are currently interlocked with the Grimm's claws, and she can't possibly help them now.

There's only one thing to do.

She pulls Crescent Rose off her waist and charges towards the Ursa nearest to her with a cry, pulling a trigger and unveiling the scythe sealed within the metal.

"Go away, you huge not-cute teddy bear!" she screams as she blocks a slash from the Ursa's paws and throws it off the weapon with a swift maneuver. It slams against a tree, but gets back up in seemingly no time and charges at them once more.

By now, the rest of the smaller Ursai have their attention on her, and they begin to head for the tiny form standing in front of her entire class.

She tightens her grip on her weapon and grits her teeth. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared out of her mind, but she knows she can't let the fear control her. So she leaps forth in a burst of Aura and roses and knocks the Ursai back, away from them, away from their much more vulnerable selves.

They shake their heads once, twice, and head for her again.

Her arms are shaking in the first waves of exhaustion, and she knows she can't hold up much longer, even with the training she got from Qrow. She advances once more and pushes them back with decently-aimed shots of gravity Dust that throws them off balance and crashes them into the ground. But again, they get back up and gallop towards her, eyes burning even brighter with the taste of killing on their tongues.

One of the Ursai get to her before she can process what's going on in front of her, and she is mercilessly hurled into a tree behind the class. Crescent Rose is flung across the clearing, landing a few feet away from her.

She silently thanks her Aura's presence as it crackles through her body.

Pushing herself up, Ruby catches sight of their teacher charging at the Grimm. Each aim at the Ursa is filled with no mercy, no pity, only hatred, only vengeance. With each attack swiping her away, another series of strikes knocks and injures the Grimm further. There isn't any thought of sparing her enemy, no intent on letting it go that easily.

Ruby then looks back at the smaller Ursai heading towards her and clenches her fists.

This can't go on, she thinks as she wipes away the sweat forming on her forehead. I need to make sure they can't attack again, like what Uncle Qrow told me, or we'll never survive!

She leaps to her feet and grabs her weapon off the ground, pushes a foot back into the dirt, gripping her scythe in the position Qrow had taught her-

"I said, go away!"

-and breaks into a sprint, swinging the weapon into a Grimm's skull. The Ursai growls in pain as the bone gives way under the pressure of the scythe and splits into several pieces with a satisfying crunch. She leaps away from the creature's flailing claws and snapping jaws and back to the ground.

Cocking the gun of her weapon, she slams the tip of the weapon into the ground and fires, the glowing Dust hitting the now-exposed flesh of the Grimm and exploding in a display of sparks and flames. With a cry of agony, it falls to the ground with a heavy thud and heaves a last breath as its eyes lose their deadly glare.

Its corpse begins to disappear in a trail of dark smoke. She watches it sizzle and pop, the last of its limbs breaking apart and snaking into the air in flaky chunks.

Her shocked gaze switches to one of utter amazement as it shifts from the dead Grimm to the scythe she's still holding on to dear life, and back to the fading body in front of her.

"So this is what my weapon can really do?" she gasps, bringing the scythe closer to her and watching each of its parts shift and groan when she retracts its blade and forms into a gun. For a short moment, she's lost in a fantasy, imagination running on and on as she conjures all the possibilities of new fighting styles and uses for it.

Then she's pulled back to reality when the other students begin to scream at her, and she catches a whiff of the odour of death clinging onto the Ursa lurking behind her. Startled and caught by surprise, she stumbles forward and is rewarded for her mistake with a punch in the back, sending her tumbling face-first in the dirt.

She spits out the leaves that have found their way into her mouth and furrows her eyebrows in concentration. From the corner of her eye, the teacher pulls her blades across the Ursa's exposed chest in quick slashes.

Standing back up, she launches herself towards the Grimm with her Semblance, pushes them over - a tough job, considering they're all much heavier than her, but she does it anyway by some sort of miracle her Semblance and scythe gift her - and propels her weapon against their underbellies in the clockwise motion she'd practiced so hard to get correct.

They howl in anguish as they, like the first Ursa Minor, begin to disintegrate and fade into the air around them.

Just as Ruby straightens back up and starts to prepare for the next wave of Grimm, they all hear a thud and a sinister sizzle from the simultaneous fight next to them. All of them turn, only to be greeted by the sight of their teacher panting from exertion, gripping the blades that drip with black smog and hovering beside the collapsed corpse of the Ursa Major, its head-

The class begins to scream at the severed head in horror, the sight of its lifeless eyes unsettling even the calmest of the students.

But Ruby takes it all in, not the slightest bit perturbed by the gore. Instead, she watches in amazement as their teacher glances back from where she stands, lunging at the rest of the Ursai that surround the students without even so much as a break to catch her breath.

With one, two, three skilled cuts to the throats and a crushing of the skulls of the Grimm into the ground, they let loose yelps of pain as they fall to the ground and are left to die. Their teacher sighs in relief, sheathing her weapons and beginning a roll call to make sure none of the class has been hurt or gone missing.

Ruby slumps to the ground and students rush up to her to thank and congratulate her win over the Grimm, the two arguing Hunters among them, but she is too tired to respond. Instead, she seals Crescent Rose and looks up at the teacher - one of the many trained warriors in the school who kept fighting, never backed off, never took a break from the battle she was engaged in.

"So this is what it's like to be a Huntress."

Her hazy thoughts are swept away by a hand waving a familiar bag in front of her.

"This was supposed to be for us to share, but I think you're pretty cool for saving all of our lives from those Grimm there, so you can have the entire bag of cookies," Beryl says, grinning at her.

Ruby laughs. Well, cookies are definitely part of being a Huntress too, if it went by her conclusion.

-

Well, this was a helluva ride. Sorry for the long long long long wait since the last chapter. Hoped you enjoyed this one :D The next one would probably be posted after my eyas (which ends early October, which also means I'll be celebrating and burning my notes so I won't get to writing it till much later, sorrynotsorry!!). Thank you for sticking with me all this while!

(take this as part 1 of your birthday present Vulpes_Darksider)