Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ruby Rose knew her mother had died before anyone told her.

Her mother had told her herself.

“I love you so much, Ruby, and I’m so, so sorry.”

She heard them whispering about how strange it was that she didn’t cry.

“Stay safe. Stay away from the people who’ll want to use you, for your eyes and for your gifts.”

About how weird it was that she’d just smiled sadly, and told them right back that she knew.

“I only wish that I could have seen you grow up, my baby girl.”

She had seen how her sister had broken down, had hugged her through her tears, even as the older girl yelled at her to show you feel something.

“Watch out for Yang. Brothers know your big sister’s going to be trouble.”

She wasn’t sad when her mother died.

“And follow your heart, little rose.”

Her mother would be with her.

“You’ll never, ever be alone. I’m with you, Ruby.”

Always.

Ruby sniffled to herself as she wiped the last of her tears away from her silvery eyes, smiling down at the cliff top headstone that marked her mothers grave. Despite the rumors that had followed her throughout elementary school, she wasn’t heartless and cold hearted enough to never cry over her mother.

She just never saw the point in grief. Her mother was with her, in the little flashes of skills she had never learned and reflexes she had never trained. She was with her in the way that she knew how some books ended without ever having read them, with her in her neuroses and irrational fears.

Uncle Qrow always remarked on those, in the sort of sad tone the rest of her family had when they spoke of her mother.

Summer Rose wasn’t the only one who was always with her- she could feel them, always pushing on the barrier between her conscious and unconscious mind. Nudging her away from danger, teaching her fighting styles not taught for a hundred years, occasionally slips of memory.

They had been the ones to teach her how to hide herself away from the spotlight, how to fade into the background as a standard above-average Signal student. They were the reason she kept a loaded gun under her pillow and a bag full of supplies in her room. They were the ones who had told her how to best hide her unusualness.

Doctors.

Summer had protested for a bit, arguing that adolescent development patterns meant that if she went in too early, she could be flagged by the system, and play right into someone searching for her’s hands. Once she turned 13, however, Summer had joined the chorus in begging her to get professional help. In saying that none of them had experienced anything similar, and that she had the potential to snap like a stale cookie if she stayed untreated.

So she told her pediatrician that she heard voices, and was promptly recommended a herd of child psychologists.

Two weeks later, she was on unpronounceable medication, had therapy twice a month, and her father looked at her like she was an unstable bomb. Qrow was the one to explain that the only other person that he knew with any sort of diagnosis was his sister.

Yang heard him say that.

She started looking at her the same a week later.

So she was Ruby Rose, the crazy loner girl with a sniper rifle powerful enough to kill a man in a single magazine, who had had paranoia drilled into her by dozens of centuries worth of dead girls since she was five.

Yippee.

Clicking the transformation button, Bloody Rose shifted back into its carrier form, which hooked cleanly onto the back of her top, underneath her cloak. Wiping away one last tear, Ruby started back towards the trail into Patch proper.

Bloody Rose was, as most things were, inspired by the voices. They claimed that there would come a time, no matter how well hidden she was, that someone would come for her. That the style of weapons, built around dismemberment or high explosives, used primarily for Grimm would become a hindrance. As tempted as she was to replicate her Uncle Qrow’s scythe form, there were comparatively few scythe wielders in the chorus for her to draw from. There were, however, centuries worth of sword and rifle users at her disposal.

As her mother was the closest, metaphysically and chronologically speaking, to her, a sniper rifle similar to her mothers would be easy to learn. Hours spent watching gladiator fights helped give her a sense of where to draw inspiration from: swords and rifles dominated the competitive scene, with most breakout champions using one or the other, at least. They were common, simple to use, and hard to master. The perfect combination for a show.

Ruby would be ahead of anyone else using an automatic rifle or a sword if she used them, but against more specialized weapons? Practically useless.

So she went deeper, analyzed the archived footage from the Valian tournament scene going back years, pulling up designs and filling notebooks worth of graph paper with her own. Finally, she came to a conclusion.

A sniper rifle, configured in a lever action style and silenced. A quick pull of the lever farther forward would fold the barrel and under barrel back into a short sword styled like a butterfly knife. With the press of another trigger, the blade would detach from the rest of the weapon, connected with a carbon fiber chain to the base in a version of a Kyoketsu.

Simple. Adaptable. Deadly.

Bloody.

Ruby sighed, pulling her hood back over her head, shielding herself from the cold. It was frigid out, snowy, on top of the cliffs above her hometown. The winter was always chilly in Patch, especially in the northern areas. It was, however, relatively safe in its isolation, something they found agreeable. There hadn’t been a major Grimm incursion in recorded history, and nothing more severe than an Ursa has been spotted in Ruby’s lifetime.

There were some of the more obstinate voices that argued that it would be better if she lived somewhere harsh and unforgiving, to toughen her up, but she had had eons to become battle hardened. All of them deserved a rest.

The red-haired girl crunched through the snow, shivering slightly underneath her cloak and corset. Aura protected her from getting serious frostbite, but she definitely still felt the cold. Even her inner fire couldn’t quite protect her from the bristling wind, barely kept away from her by the thin layers of fabric.

Pushing her way through a thicket of brambles, Ruby exhaled in a cloud of water vapor as she entered a clearing.

A growl, to her left.

Ruby cocked her head to the side, listening for more sounds.

Was it a dog? A wolf? Or a whole pack of Beowolves, preparing to attempt to tear the flesh from her bones? Another growl sounded to her right as her ears twitched.

Beowolves.

Ruby smiled eagerly, brushing her cape to the side. A voice had once said, in parody of a book she’d read, that it wasn’t like she was addicted to fighting.

It was just that her body had developed a severe violence deficiency.

Flipping into the air, pushing off of the Beowolf’s skull with her left hand, Ruby turned into a spin, expanding Bloody Rose into rifle form, before sounding into a three point landing in front of the leading Grimm.

She smirked, ignoring the chorus's requests to not get cocky.

Spinning the rifle into an aiming position, Ruby fired, carving a path through the monster's flesh before it exploded into ash and dust.

A howl rang out behind her, giving way into a pained whimper as she flicked the lever, chambering a new round, dodged the side, and fired again.

She was practically surrounded now, dozens of Beowolves entering the clearing from all sides, Alpha clearly visible in the center of the mass.

Actuating the lever, Ruby smiled as she slid two rounds into the side loading port.

A fair fight.

The first two to leap at her went down quickly as she bashed one in the skull, dashing into rose petals to get behind the other, lining up a clean shot with the skull. Dust and ash exploded into the wind as she spun around, flicking the lever all the way around to slash through the neck of a third with her sword form. Evaporating into rose petals as a black and white maw approached her throat, Ruby stabbed the sword into the ground, swinging into a kick. As the beast stumbled, the girl kicked up snow in the eyes of the one behind her, yanking her sword out of the ground to fling the blade forward, embedding it in the eye socket of her foe.

Another howl sounded in the middle of the pack.

She had to move faster.

Kicking her Semblance into high gear, the girl whirled around, blade sinking into the throat of another Beowolf as she tugged it to the side, colliding it with a second. The off-balance beast tripped over the chain as she shifted back into rose petals, retracting the blade and flicking it back into rifle form.

A series of gunshots in quick succession broke the line, providing her with an useless exit path. Lining up another shot as the pack charged her, Ruby slid a fire Dust round into the chamber, aiming at the base of a tree that lined the clearing. Firing, Ruby leaped backwards as the wood splintered, flaming logs crushing another pair of Beowolves.

She fell into a rhythm after that: a staccato pulse of cartridge ejections, gunshots, and the sounds of Grimm dying around her. Rose petals, ashes, and gun smoke mixed together in a hazy cloud that hung over the battlefield as she cut through the beasts, until only two creatures remained standing.

Her, and the alpha.

Calmly lining up the last shot, an ice round, Ruby smiled. A good fight, she thought to herself as an icicle shattered the Grimm’s mask, pulverizing it’s brain and scattering it into ash. Full of twists and turns.

Sighing, she put her hood back up. She really was a prodigy, huh?

“Do you know how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?”

“You… have silver eyes.”

Terror, only barely evaded by the sound of Summer Rose whispering in her ear. That’s Professor Ozpin. He’s a good man.

Distantly, she thought that she heard another voice. One stronger, yet infinitely older than any of the others.

Daddy?

Ruby closed the door as quietly as she could when she walked into her childhood home, softly removing her shoes. A lamp clicked on in the sitting room opposite the front door, blinding her. Bloody Rose was in her hands before she could blink, pointing at the source of light.

Her tired eyed father looked back at her.

“You’re late.”

Ruby inhaled, distantly noting the fact that she had just come back home in the middle of the night with singe marks covering her clothes.

“Dad, I just missed the ferry, that’s all. You know how long it can take to get back and forth between Vale and here. I wasn’t doing anything-“

The sound of a Scroll clicking open reached her ears. A familiar voice of an old man followed close behind as a video message played.

“Mr. Xiao-Long, I’m writing to let you know about an incident involving-“

The scroll clicked closed.

“You were arrested, Ruby.”

The small girl flinched backwards. “I didn’t-“

“It doesn’t matter. Just… go to bed. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”

Ruby bit her lip, lowering her rifle.

“Dad… can I at least go to Beacon?”

“No. I don’t care what Ozpin says, I’m not going to reward that sort of violent behavior.”

Ruby bristled, clenching her weapon with white knuckles.

“Yang shot up a club, and I’m the violent one?”

“Yang isn’t like you!”

“What do you mean by that? Is it because she’s normal? Because she looks like you? Because you don’t have to see my mom every time you look at he-“

“Go to bed, Ruby.”

The man’s voice was hard in the way that left no room for arguing.

“No! This is stupid! Qrow will agree with me-“

“Your uncle’s part of the problem! He got you into Signal, and that’s as far as I’m letting you go.”

Ruby scoffed, stepping forward. “And Yang? Yang gets to go to school? Yang gets to bring home a different boy or girl every weekend? She gets to shoot up a club looking for Raven when-“

“Do not talk about Raven!”

“Why not? Isn’t she why you hate me?”

Taiyang slammed his hand on the side table, rattling the lamp on top of it.

“Go. To bed.”

Ruby turned, walking towards the stairs up to her and Yang’s rooms. “I’m going, regardless of what you say.”

“Bed.”

Ruby resisted the urge to make a rude gesture at him. Reaching the top of the stairs, she sniffled, wiping away a line of angry tears that had started running down her cheeks. Yang is waiting, right outside of her own room.

“So, you got arrested, huh? Welcome to the family! I should throw a party!”

The older girl was slurring her words, because of course she was.

“Not in the mood, Yang.”

“Not in the mood for a party? Come on! I’m being serious! That’s so cool, you know? Special little Ruby. Why’d you tell dad about me, though?”

“Not in the mood.”

Yang laughed, turning back into her bedroom. “See you at Beacon, I guess. We both know dad can’t stop you, and I don’t care enough to even try.”

Ruby flinched back.

“Night,” Yang said as she pushed open her bedroom door, “don’t let the bedbugs bite, little sister!”

No response.

Ruby sighed as she pressed open her door and flipped down on her bed.

Oh, how she wished that she never inherited these stupid magical season powers.

Maybe then she could have been normal.

As Yang predicted, their father folded to her pleas, in the end. He hugged her the night before the two sisters needed to be at the airship port and told her to stay safe.

He wasn’t at home in the morning.

Neither was Yang, who stumbled home after Ruby was already done with breakfast, sporting a series of bruises on the skin her tank top exposed. Ruby wasn’t sure whether they were from hickies or from fighting, and she didn’t care, despite the sounds of Summer Rose’s tears in her skull and the love she had for her sister.

She didn’t care.

She just kept oiling the mechashift joints of Bloody Rose while she thought about the Bullhead pilot from the week before. The moment that she had appeared, blasting jets of fire at her and Professor Goodwitch, the chorus had gone wild. It had gotten to the point where she simply was unable to move, noise rebounding inside of her skull painfully. It had nearly been enough to make her throw up.

She had taken twice her normal dosage when she got home in a desperate attempt to get them to shut the hell up, something that prompted another round of lecturing. She had understood exactly what they were trying to say after a third round of pills and a handful of over-the-counter painkillers. There were 3 more people in the world like her, and she had just met one.

Not exactly, a voice muttered, she wasn’t quite as strong as one of us. Not even as strong as someone who first got them.

The part of Ruby Rose that had barely practiced with her powers was sort of terrified by that.

The part of her that craved a good fight was thrilled.

Torchwick had been beyond frustrating to fight. He was better than her without using magic, but she could crush him the second her fire got involved.

Ruby sighed as she reattached the blade segment to the rest of the body, steadfastly ignoring the sounds of Yang chewing beside her. The other girl crunched down on the last bite of cereal before starting to talk. “So. Big flight today!”

Ruby ignores her.

“Going to Beacon! Going to Beacon, with your big sister!”

A final click as the bottom section snapped into place.

“Will you please talk to me? I’m trying, Ruby. I know that I’ve been bitchy to you for the last couple months, and I know I was really nasty to you the night you were arrested, but I was drunk, so please. Just give me a chance.”

Ruby hoisted the rifle onto her back, compacting it into carrying form.

“You really don’t get it, do you.”

Ruby hurried across the room, tugging on her cloak as she did so. Pausing, she turned around to face her sister. “I’ll see you at Beacon.”

Closing the door, the smaller girl leaned back, knocking her head against it and exhaling. Interacting with Yang was exhausting at times. She really did try, even when Ruby shut her out whenever the voices got bad or someone at school bothered her or any of the dozens of other reasons that she iced up. It wasn’t that she was mad at her sister for treating her like she was a burden, it was just that she got tired of it occasionally. She knew who she was to Yang: the little sister who didn’t show a hint of emotion when they lost their mom, who ignored her for most of their childhood, and turned out to be more alike to the mother she loathed than she thought.

They loved each other, in that way that sisters did. But that didn’t stop Yang from getting drunk and getting snappy at her, or looking at her like she was going to snap. It didn’t stop Ruby from being bitter.

Rose petals dancing in the wind, Ruby started for the airship port.

The ride to Beacon was fine.

She spent most of her time dodging her sister by hiding in a dark corner next to a dark-haired girl who was curled up in a book, and pretending like she didn’t have a massive migraine whenever she glanced at someone and the voices started clamoring over themselves with who they reminded them of.

The dark haired girl, who was almost certainly related to Kali, from Combat 101, didn’t pay her any mind, thank the Brothers, even when she occasionally whimpered in pain. When the loudspeaker came on, announcing the beginning of their descent, the girl snapped her book shut.

“Are you okay?”

Ruby lifted her head from her knees, nodding slightly. The girl nodded back, slowly.

“Good.”

As she stood and started to walk away, the girl turned back.

“You know, if you have pain issues, the Beacon infirmary should have something for you, once we get there.”

And that was it.

I think I want to be friends with her.

Summer chuckled in her ear. She’d be a good balance for Yang. They would make good partners.

How are partners decided, anyway? I feel like I should know before we get there.

The entire chorus went silent, and the sudden change in volume almost made her ears pop.

You’ll see.

Ruby sighed, closing her eyes again.

“Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a…”

“Do you have any idea who I am?”

Schnee. No one else can have that shade of hair, especially with that level of… attitude.

Ruby shrugged.

“No idea.”

“Why, the nerve-“

Black haired girl saves the day, and Ruby wants to hug her.

“Oh, by the way, what book were you reading?”

The girl stops, turns, and purses her lips.

“The Man with Two Souls.”

She reminds me of Raven. She took some time to warm up to Taiyang and I.

Ruby smiled.

“I hope you enjoy it! See you tomorrow!”

“…thanks.”

The girl walked away.

Thank the Brothers that she’s gone.

Summer laughed outright at that.

You know that you need more practice socializing with alive people, sweetheart. Baby steps, remember?

“Sure. Baby steps.”

Smiling, Ruby pushed herself upwards.

Things were going to be great.

Chapter Text

Ruby was the only one clapping after Ozpin’s speech.

Maybe it was narcissistic of her to believe that she understood the old man’s ramblings better than the others, to believe that she was above what he spoke of, but it was true. Call them both cynics, but Ozpin spoke the truth- knowledge without direction was meaningless. It was a waste of resources and time to bother to teach people who didn't have the drive to do anything with what they learned.

She, however, was different from the rest of the group that Ozpin spoke to. Her only goal, and one she would fight for until Bloody Rose shattered, her teeth had broken off, and her nails were dulled, was to survive. She had the knowledge that came from years and years of experience. Smiling broadly as Professor Goodwitch continued to explain the plan for the rest of the night, Ruby tuned herself back into the chorus in the back of her head.

As the incessant sound gave way to actual, understandable words, Ruby’s smile disappeared. Her mother was talking, conversing back and forth with an older woman.

He wasn’t like that with my class. Much more encouraging, a lot less cynical.

Wasn’t like that with mine either, little Summer. Think something was bothering him?

What could bother Ozpin? He’s… Ozpin.

The older voice snorted. You always did worship him too much.

Another voice, younger in age but far, far older chronologically, whispered into the cavern that was Ruby’s skull.

What if it’s mom?

At that, it took every ounce of will in Ruby not to scream out in pain at the wave of sound that exploded into existence, overwhelming her senses completely. She started to wobble, pressing herself up against the wall to keep from fully collapsing, the noise feeling ike it was pounding into her brain, leaving fist sized bruises as the chorus shouted over each other, and Brothers it hurt.

Vaguely, through tear-clouded eyes, she could see a face moving in front of her, and a flash of blonde hair is all the confirmation she needed.

She stumbled forward, pushing herself towards the other person. She may not have been very pleased with Yang, but her sister having another bullet in the chamber of shit she could make fun of her for when she was drunk was nothing compared to the pain shooting through her skull. Closing her eyes, Ruby forced herself to listen to the sounds of the chorus, trying to catch what the hell they were talking about.

Before she could hear much more than a few phrases, her mother’s voice cut through the chaos, loud enough to rattle her teeth if it was real.

Enough. We’re not telling my daughter about her just yet.

Who?

Silence. It almost felt like whiplash, the speed at which her question shut the chorus down.

Ruby exhaled sharply as the pain subsided, finally able to think.

“Not that I’m not happy about a cute girl hugging me out of nowhere but, uh, are you okay?”

Looking up, Ruby pushed off of the body she had grabbed onto, moving back against the cool stone wall. It was just her luck that she grabbed onto a stranger instead of Yang in the middle of one of her episodes, especially a rapidly reddening boy.

“Goodbye.”

Some of the chorus started laughing as the boy adopted a poleaxed expression, barely visible from the corner of her eye as she speedwalked away.

It’s your faults I’m this way in the first place, she grumbled back, so would it kill you to not laugh at me whenever I mess up?

Oh, sweetie, Summer Rose said, we’re not laughing at you.

“Sure feels like it.”

“H-hey! Wait up!”

Ruby spun around, wincing in pain as the boy stopped short of her, out of breath.

“Here, I just… uh, wanted you to have these. They might help.”

Held in his extended arm, while the other arm wiped the sweat from his brow, was a bottle of over-the-counter painkillers.

“My sister gets migraines.”

Plucking the bottle from his hands, Ruby smiled.

“Thank you, uh…”

“Jaune! Jaune Arc. Short, snappy, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it!”

Ruby barely heard the second part of the sentence as the chorus erupted into cries of ”I knew an Arc, once!” and “spectacular family! Keep an eye on him.” and, in one case, “you know, I was an Arc.”

“Heh. Big… big name. What sort of weapon do you use?”

“Oh! It’s uh, a sword. Passed down through the family since way before the Great War.”

Removing the sword from his belt, he continued.

“Its name is Crocea Mors.”

If the chorus went wild over the name “Arc,” they went berserk over the sword. Ruby winced in pain until the chatter was quieted down by the voice of a young girl, who couldn’t be older than Ruby.

That’s the sword that killed me.

Ruby smiled again, teeth slightly gritted. “It’s been nice talking to you, but I’m going to go take some of these and go to bed. Thank you, again.”

Jaune smiled back, almost blindingly. “Anytime!”

Good kid. Too bad the world will beat it out of him.

Ruby! There’s no need to be so cynical. He’ll do fine, I’m sure.

Did you see how out of breath he was from running down the hall?

…I hope he does fine.

Ruby had a complicated relationship with a lot of things.

Her parents, for one. Her sister, the chorus of voices in her head, relationships in general, for and, most importantly of all, sleep.

She hadn’t properly slept since she was five years old; since she started dreaming of death and fire, of the ends of every single Maiden before her.

They didn’t come in any particular order, and it was pure luck that she hadn’t been forced to watch her mother‘s death play out. A masochistic, twisted part of her wondered how, exactly, her mother had died. Grimm? A rival maiden? Maybe just being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

No matter which way it happened, it meant that Ruby spends a good amount of her nights tossing and turning, desperately trying to fall asleep so that she can rest, while simultaneously being absolutely terrified of dreaming. She had landed next to Yang, somewhat to her dismay. It was nice that she wouldn’t get yelled at in the morning for any noises she made in her sleep-- her sister was more than used to them-- and Yang was definitely bearable sober, but it also meant that her sister would bug her in the morning.

Talk about how worried she was about her sister, about how she should talk to her, and all Ruby wished was that she would shut up. Ignoring her mothers admonishments, Ruby forced her breathing to even out. She had orientation tomorrow. She needed her rest.

And she couldn’t fall asleep.

“Fuck.”

Ignoring her mother’s scandalized Ruby! and Yang’s unconscious muttering, Ruby pushed herself up onto her elbows, glancing around the room.

The black-haired-girl was still awake, reading from a thick book underneath a lone lamp, curled up slightly into the armchair she sat in. On the other side of the room, a pack of girls that Ruby vaguely recognized as Yang’s friends were still awake, whispering to each other in the way that they did when they were cooped up in Yang’s room and Ruby had to pretend she didn’t hear every word.

It wasn’t that she hated Yang’s Signal friends, they were just so extra that she couldn’t deal with them most of the time.

Stepping over sleeping bodies, Ruby spun into her Semblance, wincing slightly when she landed with a loud creak on the floorboards.

Pushing open the old wooden doors, wincing again at the sound the hinges made, Ruby spun around, slowly pulling the door closed behind her.

“You know, Miss Rose-“

Yelping, the red haired girl spun around, eyes sparkling slightly as miniature ice crystals formed in the space between her fingers. The magic dropped from her fingertips, fading back into nonexistence, as Professor Ozpin’s face came into view.

The man eyed her carefully, lifting an eyebrow just above his glasses.

“You know, Miss Rose, you really shouldn’t be leaving the main hall.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I was just going for a walk to clear my head.”

The headmaster smiled softly..

“Well, don’t let me stop you. I wouldn’t recommend going too far outside the castle at night, however. The Grimm have been acting up a bit lately.”

Sheepishly, Ruby rubbed at the back of her head.

“Don’t worry, sir. I wasn’t planning on going outside. Just going to wander the halls.”

Ozpin’s eyes crinkled slightly at that, looking every bit the part of a kind grandfather.

“Good. Oh, and Miss Rose?”

“Hm?”

“Do be careful.”

Ruby smiled at the headmaster, offering one of the more genuine smiles that she’d given out in years.

“I will. Thank you.”

Lavender never wanted to be a Huntress.

Her sister had, had dreamed of going to Atlas academy her whole life, had passed all the tests and initiations and every single little hoop they had made her jump through, only to die months after graduating.

She knew her sister had died before anyone else had.

She saw her one last time, as her sister told her about the power she had gained and was about to give, about Maidens and fire and the people who would hunt her down.

And now she was here. Bleeding out on a road to Vale, grasping her stomach to keep her intestines from spilling out into the snow.

It hurt like nothing before had hurt, it hurt so much that she knew she was going to die.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?”

A girl. Red haired, silver eyed, cloaked in white.

“Oh Brothers! Qrow, Raven, call a Bullhead! Taiyang, with me.”

This girl… this girl would do.

“Stay with me, Miss. Please, please don’t go. Please-“

Darkness.

Ruby rubbed her stomach, still a bit sore, as she strapped Bloody Rose to her back.

Dreams were dreams. The past was the past.

Grinning wide, the girl’s eyes sparkled as she faced the morning sun.

She had monsters to kill.

Chapter Text

Falling felt like freedom.

It felt like ecstasy.

It felt like a pulse of magic on a warm day, like a blast of fire tearing a whole through a steel target. It felt like first kisses and summer nights on a rooftop, it felt like everything pure and free and wild in the world.

Falling felt like Ruby could do anything, go anywhere, be anyone. Warmth flooded the girl as she spun her rifle into sword form, flinging the blade forward to catch on a tree. Falling like this, swinging down towards the ground at a controlled angle, almost felt like she knew exactly what would happen. Like she had control over every variable, like she didn’t have to worry over every tiny little detail.

Rolling to a jog on the ground as she pressed the actuator to retract the Kyoketsu was the final, and Ruby’s least favorite, part of a good fall: the gut jolting moment when she hits the ground. Not hard enough to hurt, but just hard enough to jolt her back to reality, where she had to keep everything bottled up inside, all of her power and paranoia and anxieties, bundled up to keep others from truly knowing her. One of the first things her mother had told her was that being a Maiden was the worst thing that had ever happened to her, besides being torn away from Ruby and Yang.

It was a sentiment that many of the members of the chorus agreed with; to constantly live in fear of death, of being sure that something was around every corner, was a terrible thing.

The Emerald Forest was pretty, at least. All sorts of shades of green were on display; jades and limes and, well, emeralds, all beautifully saturated in the canopies above her. The air felt crisp in a way that put Ruby on edge- something about the lack of Grimm ash on the wind made her nervous.

Her therapist might say something about her preferring a more physical, knowable threat to one that was completely unknown; that life itself felt like a threat if there wasn’t anything in particular to fixate on. She didn’t particularly care for her therapist at times.

Huffing, Ruby slid to a stop behind a tree, catching a breath to slow her heart rate. There wasn’t time to dwell on her own issues. She was in a forest full of Grimm, starting the biggest test of her life. She had to go north, towards the relics. Along the way, she had to find someone who wasn’t entirely useless (and preferably not Yang) to be her partner, try and keep from getting into scenarios that might force her to use her magic, all the while being as impressive as possible for Ozpin and the other teachers.

No pressure, though.

Breathing in one last time, Ruby twisted around the tree she had perched on, flicking Bloody Rose back into sniper form. She didn’t like this position. She didn’t have nearly enough clear lines of sight, she didn’t have someone else with her to watch her back: it felt like a perfect recipe for disaster.

Sighing, she shifted the stock off of her shoulder. It would be a long walk north.

Half an hour. It took half an hour for her to find anyone. That had to be statistically unlikely- the forest wasn’t that big, and there were a lot of people in it. Most of them must have been killed or extracted after half an hour— the vast, vast majority had looked ridiculously incompetent.

If she had to pick between being partnered with one of them and her current partner, she thinks she would have gone with the former.

“For someone who moves so fast, you sure do excel at wasting time!”

If she asked hard enough, would they reassign her? She would pick anyone. Someone who needed extra tutoring, someone with no partner, her sister, she wasn’t picky. As long as she could be with someone who didn’t insult her at every turn.

“And nothing to say for yourself? At least you know your place.”

Ruby ground her teeth together, smiling through her frustration. She wouldn’t hurt this girl. Her attendance was reliant on her good behavior: her father had said so, Ozpin had said so, Summer had said so, so unless she wanted to be back on Patch for another two years, she would be polite and cheery.

She wasn’t a big fan of partners. They were useful, sure, but in her experience, being that close to someone just meant that it would hurt all that much more when they betrayed her, or left her, or slit her throat in her sleep for her powers: it wasn’t worth it. And if you had a partner who you hated, that just meant that you couldn’t ever count on them.

It was a stupid system, and she had a stupid partner.

“The only reason that I’m with you right now is because the alternative is that blonde boy, and he cannot stop flirting with me, that fool.”

Ruby bit into her lip, almost hard enough to draw blood.

She’s trying to rile you up, Ruby. Just ignore or distract her.

Nodding imperceptibly at her mothers words, Ruby sighed.

“So, what’s a Schnee doing outside of Atlas?”

“I knew you recognized me! You insolent little brat!”

Brothers damn it. She was starting to get frustrated enough that she just knew that there had to be Grimm closing in on them, and even the murmured reminders from the chorus to calm down and breathe were only adding fuel to the rapidly growing fire.

The first howl, echoing off of the trees to their right, confirmed her guess. Weiss fell silent beside her, rapier drawn as she slowly turned.

An older, gruffer voice cut through the quiet.

That’s textbook footwork for Atlesian academy students. Use some of their tactics, and she might respect you more.

Ruby huffed internally as she flicked her rifle into sword form. I don’t want her respect. I could take care of this without her.

Don’t get so full of yourself, Rose.

Movement caught her eye to her left, giving her a precious second to spin around, a second spent swinging Bloody Rose in an arc through the first Beowolf’s neck, cleanly beheading it. Leaping upwards in a swarm of rose petals, Ruby kicked the body down into the dirt, spinning around to watch as her… as Weiss impaled another through the snout.

“Not bad, Schnee.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

They fall into a rhythm after that. Not quite a harmony, not quite together, but they had their backs to each other as they cut through the pack. Just as they began to slow, a group of four emerged from the trees, charging towards Ruby.

Dancing sideways, she reextended her rifle barrel and snapped off a few quick shots, obliterating the kneecaps of a the first two, before flinging the Kyoketsu in between one of the collapsed beasts eyes, pulling along the fibers in rose petal form to kick the blade deeper, flipping over the disintegrating corpse with a giggle as she fired a third shot, knocking the other grounded Beowolf into the tree.

Partner!

She can watch herself, mom.

The third Beowolf exploded into ash as she sped up, leaping forward to sever the claws and cut the throat, only for the fourth to take its place.

Her eyes glimmered slightly as she rolled underneath its attack, cutting through its stomach in a maneuver that would gut a real animal. Bursting into petals and reforming midair, Ruby smiled broadly, before a scream rang out.

Turning around, rifle raised, Ruby watched as the alpha, oh Brothers the alpha Ruby you idiot, tackled Weiss to the ground. The beast growled, black, tar-ish spittle landing on the ground next to the girl. She was struggling, and Ruby knew that she should take the shot, save her partner, but a part of her wanted her partner to save herself. To prove herself more than a whiny brat. Ruby could have used her eyes, or her magic, or her Semblance, or a first year Atlesian tactic. If Weiss wanted to be her partner, she needed to prove that she could match her on at least one front.

If she really does know her drills, she’ll know her way out.

A few familiar voices in the chorus were screaming at her, and her head was bursting as her scope lingered on the skull of the Grimm, watching as Weiss held it back with her bare hands.

Ruby Rose, I did not raise you to do this sort of-

Wait.

Seconds passed, Weiss fighting back the beast, before Ruby sighed.

“Weiss! Remember your training! Every Grimm has a soft spot on-“

“Its stomach!”

The small girl kicked forward, causing the Grimm to flinch off of her slightly. As it raised its head, Ruby squeezed the trigger.

There we go.

Summer’s disapproval and disappointment was snaking through their connection.

You can’t do something like that in the field unless you want to get her killed.

I know. I just want to shake her up.

Somehow, the disappointment gotworse.

Weiss stood, shaking slightly as she retrieved her rapier. Ruby smiled broadly at the girl.

“It looks like we make a pretty good team, huh?!”

The waifish girl looked up at her, still quivering.

“I guess we do.”

“Hey, have you seen my sister? Short, red cape, red hair, big gun?”

Blake looked through the sides of her eyes at the blonde.

“Nope.”

“Are you sure? She’s… a bit fragile, I don’t want her to get a bad partner.”

“Still nope. And if your sister is that fragile, should she even be here?”

“No, she shouldn’t. I love her, but she’s just…”

Blake sighed. She signed up to kill monsters and stop terrorists, not to listen to fucking family drama.

The cave was dark, and wet, and Pyrrha felt like she just might throw up if she was in it for any longer.

She wasn't a fan of wet textures in general, but she could generally deal with them. When it was wet rock, on her skin, and she could barely see her partner in front of her, much less the walls? She wasn't sure if she could make it, regardless of how unbeatable or invincible she was.. A drop landed on her arm, and she flinched hard, scratching at the spot.

Soft, warm fabric brushed against her fingers, and she reflexively grabbed on.

“Here.”

The boy’s, Jaune’s, voice echoed through the cave.

“I’m sorry?”

“My jacket. You look uncomfortable, and my little sister always likes wearing a jacket when it’s wet out.

“O-oh! Thank you.”

She could just barely make out a blinding smile on his face, and it was absolutely adorable.

“You know, Oz, no matter what Glynda or Tai say, I really do think this is a good thing. She’s doing a lot better, and I think she can handle this. Become a great Huntress.”

“You’re not just here to talk about your niece, Qrow. What did you find?”

“I’ve got a lead on the Summer Maiden. Atlas Academy, girl named Wisteria. She had a sister.”

“And Salem?”

“Something’s coming, Oz. Something big, and I don’t know what. Nobody does, just that something is going to happen.”

A sip.

“I was afraid of that.”