Chapter Text
Gjallarhorn. A relic that is still very much a mystery for SONG. Despite knowing what it was capable of, there was still so much that they didn’t know. Acting as a gateway between other worlds of all kinds, the amount of possibilities that Gjallarhorn had was practically endless. Elfnein ran constant tests on it, but that proved to be a bit difficult with how often it seemed like Gjallarhorn would fight back.
“You’re done, dess!”
Kirika slashed apart the last of the Noise that had come through Gjallarhorn. It had become a bit of a weekly thing for Gjallarhorn to bring in the Noise and cause a bit of havoc. It was a random pattern that they had no way of keeping track of. It was unclear why the relic had started acting up like this, as it had never done so before. As a result, each of the 7 Symphogear users would have a certain day they’d keep an eye on the Noise threat. Kanade and Serena would step up whenever one of the girls were unavailable.
The girl let out a breath (and a tired “dess”), as she sat down. Elfnein walked in with a bottle of water.
“Good job, Kirika-san.” Elfnein said, giving her the water bottle. “You took care of the Noise really fast.”
“Well, I have somewhere to be!” Kirika said. “Shirabe and I have plans later today, so I definitely want to be there!”
“I can understand that.” Elfnein said. “You can go now though.”
“But what about the Noise, dess?” Kirika asked. “I can stay here for a little bit longer if I have to. Shirabe will understand, dess.”
“I’ve been observing their attack patterns.” Elfnein said. “They likely won’t show up again for at least a day, considering what I’ve deduced. And even if they do, we’ll have someone else on standby. I think Kanade-san said she’d be coming later today, so we have it covered. You should go enjoy your day with Shirabe-san. I know she doesn’t like to be kept waiting, and neither do you.”
“Yay! You’re the best, Elfnein!” Kirika said, pulling her into a hug, before de-transforming and taking off with a spring in her step.
“She’s so energetic. I don’t know how she and Hibiki-san do it…” Elfnein said. She looked around the Gjallarhorn storage room, seeing shards of Igalima’s armor everywhere. “She’s been working really hard too. I’d better clean this up. Who knows what could happen if some of this fell through Gjallarhorn?”
Unbeknownst to Elfnein, several of the shards had already fallen through, and would change that other world forever.
“Ruby, don’t wander too far!”
5-year old Ruby Rose was running around the park without a single care in the world. Every step left rose petals behind in her wake. Her mother, Summer Rose was keeping up behind her, making sure she stayed safe. She had been taking Ruby to the park every few days to let her get some exercise, and it was a good choice. Ruby was a very, very energetic child, and one that caused quite a bit of chaos back home, much to Taiyang’s dismay. Yang on the other hand, found every time Ruby accidentally broke something to be quite funny.
So naturally, this gave Summer the idea to take Ruby somewhere there wasn’t anything to break. Or at least, things that would be perfectly fine for her to break since they didn’t belong to anyone.
She hoped so, at least. Since Ruby never seemed to get tired, and she had the uncanny ability to find trouble wherever she went.
“Ruby, be careful!” Her mother called.
“OK!” Ruby was zipping around the entire park as a red blur. If it wasn’t for her trained eyes, her mother wouldn’t have been able to keep track of her hyperactive daughter.
“Oh Ruby…” Her mother sighed. She smiled though, at the little bundle of joy her daughter always was. This stress was part of the agreement she had made when she decided to become a mother.
“Waah! Oof!”
Ruby had tripped, and Summer’s motherly senses kicked into overdrive as she rushed over to her daughter. Even faster than Ruby normally moved, actually. She sat her daughter up onto her leg, checking for any bruises or scratches.
“Owie…” Ruby rubbed her head as her mother looked over her. The young girl’s eye saw something shine in the grass; probably what he had tripped on.
“Are you okay, Ruby? Are you hurt anywhere?” Summer asked. “Just tell me if you are.”
“Mom, look at that!” Ruby said, pointing her hand to the grass.
Summer raised a brow, but looked into the grass. She ran her fingers through it, before she found what Ruby was pointing at. It seemed to be a red chunk of crystal, bigger than Summer’s fist.
“Pretty rock!” Ruby said.
Summer picked it up, holding it up to the Sun. “Hmm, it is indeed quite pretty, Ruby. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Like it! I like it!” Ruby said, reaching for it. “I want the rock!”
Summer had a thoughtful look on her face as her daughter kept trying to grab at it. “I have an idea, Ruby. You’ll like this.”
They had gone back to the house. Ruby was sitting on a stool in the workshop, while Summer was at work. The woman was going quite hard with the hammer, before making some smaller intricate movements with some carving tools. Ruby couldn’t see what her mother was doing, but was eagerly waiting to see what she was making.
“And the last touch…” Summer grabbed a small thread. “And voila, there we go!”
Summer turned around, keeping her hands behind her back. Ruby tried looking, but there was no way for her to see.
“What did you make, Mom?” Ruby asked, eyes shining with curiosity..
Summer smiled. “Close your eyes for a surprise, Ruby.”
Ruby nodded, before closing her eyes shut as tight as she could. She could hear her mother step forward, and felt something around her neck.
“You can open your eyes now, Ruby.” Summer said.
Ruby opened one eye, before following with the other. She looked down, before practically squeaking. Around her neck was the crystal she had found, shaped into a pendant that she could comfortably wear whenever.
“Do you like it?” Summer asked.
“I love it! Thanks, Mom!” Ruby jumped at her mother for a hug. “I love you so much!”
Summer laughed. “I love you too, Ruby.”
It had been ten years since then. Summer had disappeared, and Ruby had grown up into a strong young woman, an aspiring huntress. But at the moment, said aspiring huntress wasn't really having the best time.
Because Ruby Rose had done a lot of stupid and reckless things in her life since then, but today was almost definitely one of, if not the most stupid and reckless so far.
She thought the entrance exam to Beacon would be pretty straightforward. Get through the forest, grab the relic thingy and get right back without dying. That was pretty logical, right?
And flying on the back of a Nevermore wasn’t a stupid idea either, right? Well, her new partner Weiss had thought so, so sure there were gonna be some people that would disagree with her.
So when she reunited with her sister, as well as met some new fellow huntsmen and huntresses-in-training, her first thought was somewhere along the lines of showing off and proving herself. The only thing that she had proved was that she couldn’t take a Deathstalker head-on, as it batted her away with one of its pincers.
“D-Don’t worry!” She tried to reassure the others as she stood back up. “Totally fine!”
She turned around to face the Deathstalker again, firing a shot in its face. All that seemed to do however was make it madder than before. She took off running as the giant scorpion Grimm chased after her.
“Ruby!” Yang shouted, running towards her.
The Nevermore from earlier circled overhead, recognizing Ruby as the one that hitched a ride on her earlier. It flapped its wings, launching an array of feathers at Ruby, attempting to skewer her. They didn’t hit her, thankfully, but one of them managed to snag her cape. Yang tried to run to her, but the array of the feathers were in her way. Ruby was pulling on her cape, trying to get it free, but it wasn’t budging.
“Ruby, get out of there!” Yang called.
“I’m trying!” Ruby shouted back.
The Deathstalker crawled closer, and raised its stinger for the kill. Ruby could only look up helplessly at her impending death.
“RUBY!” Yang screamed.
Ruby closed her eyes…
“Roseo Igalima Reda tron~”
…and the words came to her.
The pendant around her neck shone brightly, causing the Deathstalker to take several steps back and the Nevermore to fly further away. The Deathstalker tried to stab down, but a circular shield was blocking it. The light grew so bright to the point you couldn’t see Ruby anymore.
“Ruby…?” Yang said.
The shield pushed back the Deathstalker, and the light faded to show Ruby was unharmed… but different. Her clothing had changed in overall appearance, but kept the red and black color scheme. There was a tight under armor that covered her torso, extending into a skirt. She wore white and red stockings with boots. But what stood out the most was the armor. The boots, wrists, shoulder and helmet were all protected, with a sharp design to all of them, giving a slightly sinister aura combined with the color scheme. She brandished Crescent Rose in one hand, looking down at herself in shock.
Wh-What the heck?! Ruby thought. What am I wearing?! And am I singing?! Why am I singing?!
“What’s going on?” Weiss asked, as she landed nearby.
“Is that… music?” Blake asked, as she ran up to Yang.
“She’s singing?” Weiss said, recognizing the tone. “Hm… she has a good voice.”
The Deathstalker tried to stab at Ruby again, but in a blur of speed, Ruby had sliced the tail clean off with a single clean strike.
“Whoa…” Yang said. “Where the hell did Ruby learn that?”
Ruby landed gracefully, still singing as she fought. The Deathstalker tried to slice her in two, but she swung her scythe several more times in quick succession. The Deathstalker was rendered into nothing but mincemeat. The Nevermore circled back around, and dove at Ruby, only for Ruby to aim Crescent Rose and shoot its wing. What surprised Ruby was that the shot was far more powerful than anything Crescent Rose was capable of. With that single shot, it tore right through the Nevermore, sending it plummeting.
Ruby bent her legs, before flying right at the Nevermore. She spun around, becoming a hurricane of blades and speed, before shredding right through the Nevermore’s gut and right out its back.
Petal Burst
Standing on one of the huge detached feathers, Ruby shakily “surfed” through the air back down to solid ground, stumbling a bit upon landing.
“Whoa…” Ruby said, seeing both of the Grimm remains dissipate.
“Ruby?” Yang asked, as she and the others walked up to her. “Wh-What was that?”
Ruby looked back down at herself, as her armor glowed, before transforming back into her regular clothes. Ruby held up and looked at the pendant her mother had made for her all those years ago.
“I… I don’t know.”