Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Being young in this world was the strongest power that anyone had, Ruby decided. Maybe it was because when you were a child, you were seen as equal to any other child. Maybe it was because you often got looked over, and being looked over allowed you more freedom. Or maybe it was because you haven't matured yet and nobody knows you're one of them .

An omega, a lesser, weaker, more vulnerable version of a normal person. Something that doesn't deserve protection from the world but requires it, a begrudging acknowledgement that humanity had this glorified underclass. 

And Ruby hated it. 

From the second Ruby was born, the niggling acknowledgement that one day she would fall into this broken underclass was always at the forefront of her mind. Of course, it was somewhat obfuscated when she was a child; her body was immature and disguised the signs well, but as she grew older, it became more and more apparent that the dreaded swirling mass of ink plastered on her shoulder would soon morph into that horrid letter. 

For some, it wasn't obvious; it wasn't just a matter of looking at a child when they were born and knowing what they would one day be. A beta would almost certainly struggle to know. Their biology is almost uniform, a universal average. Not only was it normal for an omega or alpha to express at least some traits of a beta, but it was almost expected, standardised in fact. A normal omega had some capacity of competency, a normal alpha had some capability of rationality, both traits associated with betas. But for alphas and omegas, the extremes of this spectrum, sometimes their truth was obfuscated thusly by the malaise of nominal normalcy. They fooled themselves blindly on the sheer hope that they would be a beta, only for the moon to catch their mark on their sixteenth birthday and show the truth clear as day. 

But Ruby wasn't fooled. There was no use baselessly hoping, no use baselessly believing that on that faithful day her mark will ring true with something other than that crooked horseshoe. It would break everything she hoped to build, no more fighting, no more grimm, no more days out with friends. She would have to dedicate her life to finding a worthy alpha to serve for the rest of her life. And maybe, just maybe, if that alpha found it within themselves to allow her the freedom of free action, then she could continue to live her dream under their directions. 

But that was unlikely. 

Ruby continued yet though. She fought despite her growing lack of ability to refuse the word of an alpha; she mingled despite her scent maturing and growing more alluring, and worst of all, she argued with the very thing she should never speak against. 

“He was going to die!” Ruby's voice snapped, echoing against the cinderblock walls of the interrogation room. She could practically hear her barked words vibrate the very steel chair she sat on. 

“That was none of your concern, Miss Rose” The woman snided, her harsh emerald eyes boring a hole into Ruby's chest. 

She was an alpha; that much was clear. Everything she did screamed authority, from the way she stood, back straight and eyes blazing, to the words she spat on the table between them. Ruby didn't even need to see her mark to know; she just knew that this woman demanded respect from her, and Ruby had to do everything in her power to prevent herself from buckling under her words. 

Ruby tried to match the woman's intensity, to glare her own blazing inferno of authority with her soft silver eyes. It took every fibre of Ruby's being to do so, like her brain itself was straining on her consciousness. It didn't work, of course. Ruby could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks, subtly dripping off her chin, and the tall wolfish ears perched on her head pressed as far back as the thin string-like muscles in them could bear, but the message was clear. 

Ruby Rose would never bow to you. 

And this purple cloaked woman seemed… remarkably shocked, adjusting those oval glasses perched on her nose as her eyes studied Ruby's face. It was like she was searching for something, a crack in Ruby's defences for her to exploit, ready to defend her authority with gritted teeth.

She was acting like Ruby was challenging her… and Ruby supposed she was. 

It wasn't unusual for alphas to fight; it was expected, in fact, many debates and arguments often devolved into a fistfight with claws and teeth intermingled within. Alphas liked the ideas of territories, a house or family they must defend against all else. It was rare that an alpha saw an omega as a threat, and Ruby… may have just made the mistake of becoming one. 

That was okay, though; win or lose, her point would be made clear, but as this woman tensed, ready to answer her challenge, the door behind her opened. 

“Glynda!” an almost cheerful voice chirped, strutting forwards with a plate in hand. The ashen-haired man strutted along with a cane, tapping with every step he took against the concrete flagstones. His crinkled green eyes seemed kind and welcoming, a stark contrast to his colleague. “Are you scaring this dear poor girl?” 

“Sir, I-” Glynda attempted to answer only for his tutting to break her off in a second. 

“Now now Glynda, we've spoken about this! Dear Miss Rose here is only fifteen, which means…?” he asked, looking at the blonde woman with a knowing glance, his smile playful although clearly fake as he teased an answer out of her. 

She sniffed, the snort near as ferocious as that of a raging bull, her teeth gritted together with a strength so strong it threatened to shatter them in her mouth. 

“We. don't. Fight. her.” She said through a spring trap maw, every word inching between her lips like it was physically painful to say. 

“I am terribly sorry for my dear associate here. Glynda, she means well, truly, but she can be a little… dominant, as an omega would say. He chuckled carefully, almost studying Ruby's face for a reaction as he said that. One that Ruby barely gave, doing little more than wiping her face of the slick tears that had drooled free from her eyes. 

The man was… gentle, remarkably so, Ruby couldn't tell what he was even as he navigated the room with ease. The way he'd spoken to the woman led Ruby to believe that he too was an alpha, but that warm cheery look plastered on his face as he slid a plate across the metal table said otherwise. 

A beta maybe? Or even a…

Ruby dashed away that thought in a second. It was almost impossible for that to be true. She knew who he was, what he did, just how much power he held. Besides, it didn't matter anyway; whatever he was, he brought a peace offering. 

A gooey, chocolaty peace offering that made Ruby drool. 

Cookies, oodles of cookies, white chocolate chip, dark milk, triple chocolate with hard shell sugar sweets mixed in, gross oatmeal but Ruby can ignore those, and- 

“Please, help yourself” He smiled loosely, motioning forwards as Ruby launched into motion, instantly shovelling as many as she possibly could into her mouth. It was almost a struggle to remember to breathe between bites; every chocolaty cakey mouthful was quickly replaced by another. A feat that both adults in the room watched with a mix of mild horror and amazement. 

In a moment, they were all gone, well, mostly all gone, leaving nothing but scattered remains of oatmeal flavoured hate disks piled haphazardly in the middle. Ruby had been careful to pick around them and the shrivelled remains of raisins trapped within their crumbly falsehoods. 

Ruby didn't care about whatever health food lies they muttered into her ears; they were gross, and not even chocolate could fix that. 

The man was… impressed? That wasn't the right word, but the beguiled look plastered on his features seemed neutral at best, at worst amused. He wasted no time, though, before holding out his hand to the still angered woman, finding it filled quickly with a scroll, the hard light screen already primed on a shudderingly familiar scene. 

“Where did you learn this?” He asked, carefully pressing play, there on the screen displayed Ruby, cloak billowing in the wind as she twirled expertly with her scythe. The muffled sounds of gunfire crackling the scroll's speaker weren't unmissable, nor were Ruby's expert dodges of the bullets flying past her head. If Ruby's uncle were here, he would have praised her on letting them get so close but avoiding them still. 

“Signal academy?” Ruby said, more so asked, it wasn't hard for someone like him to get that kind of information. It made her question why he was asking it in the first place if just one look at her student ID would solve that riddle. 

“Signal academy taught a little girl like you all of that?” He almost scoffed, showing quite clearly that he didn't truly believe Ruby's answer fully. “I should give Barnaby some credit. I thought his teaching style was quite lax, but apparently not” 

Ruby almost winced at the jab; both of them knew that the headmaster of Signal couldn't teach a dog to sit, let alone a student to do that. 

“Well actually…” Ruby started, watching as the man's eyebrow peaked. “My uncle Qrow taught me most of that. He's a professor at Signal Academy. But it was my idea” 

“Now that is interesting, Miss Rose”, he said before motioning to Glynda carefully “Because Qrow Branwen is quite a close friend of myself and Glynda's. And he knows, as well as we do, that you are a non-combatant; you are not supposed to be receiving combat training. Yet here you are with combat records well above most and field training.” 

He motioned to the scroll again, this time instead of footage it showed Ruby's student records and a long scrolling list of combat grades going back five years. All with sharp red letters of ‘non-combatant’ stamped at the front in such harsh lettering that it threatened to shatter the scroll in two. 

Ruby's blood had long gone cold, her fingers near trembling as she held them close. She knew that those scarlet letters had cursed her school life for years; every examination was a fight to convince her teachers that it was a clerical error. Over time, it grew easier, of course, and she'd dreamed of where she was today, sitting across from him, showing him everything she'd ever accomplished despite herself and what she was. 

Yet even with him, everything was a curse on her, a condemnation to what she wanted. 

“Miss Rose, I know very well that you are an omega… or well are very likely to be” He said as Glynda beside him flinched with shock. Ruby couldn't blame her; nearly fighting an alpha on such petty grounds wasn't exactly behaviour well known of her ilk. 

But how did Ruby hope to hide it from him? He had her medical records, every sniding remark her father made to her school condemning them for testing her, every time she slipped up and submitted, put in clear, unforgiving text right there on his scroll. It was silly for her to believe that he would ignore it or, at the very least, let it fly. 

Not in this world, not in this reality where status was everything. 

“Do you know who I am?” He then asked, trying to meet Ruby's eyes, but Ruby could barely get hers off a small scuff mark on the table. Ruby didn't want to look at him; she didn't even want to think, but she answered him anyway. 

Like a good little omega would. 

“You're Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy” Ruby's voice was small; it lacked a lot of the energy it once had. Ruby had once found power within herself to stare down what was probably the most terrifying woman she had ever seen, but here, after just one sentence, she lacked the ability to look in the eyes what was probably a very underwhelming beta. 

“Hello”, he said, his voice soft, a lot softer than it was before. They sat in silence. He didn't move, he didn't say a word, Ruby didn't even know if he was breathing, all before she spared a glance up. He was…

Smiling

Before that cocksure grin was plastered on, a clear falsehood decorating his face for the sheer rectitude of being a headmaster. Here, though, it reached his eyes; not only that, but it morphed his entire face into one of mirth. He wanted this, he wanted this all along, he wanted her to roll over and show her weakness for him to dig into. It was sickening to Ruby; it was exactly why she hid her truth in the first place. She had no grounds to stand on here. He knew that, she knew that, even Glynda knew that. 

Ruby was in his trap, and now he could tell her to do whatever he wanted. 

And all Ruby could do, all she was ever allowed to do, was play his game.

“Hi”, she responded, eyeing him critically despite her heart burning in her chest from doing so. She hated this; she so desperately wanted to leave, to go home and face whatever fate her father saddled her with for this stunt. Whatever her father did to her would be nothing compared to sitting here with her failures laid on the table, forced to obey this snake of a man.

But Ruby knew that he wasn't going to let her go just that easily. 

“Miss Rose, you know what I see in front of me?” Ozpin said with Ruby shuddering, of course, he would make her say it, just to rub dirt in an already pouring wound. 

“An omega”, Ruby said, as simply and as clearly as she could despite the tremble in her hands and tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Her body was screaming at her to beg for some kind of forgiveness, to just submit to him totally and completely. But Ruby tried to fight it back; it was all she could do against him. 

“No”, He answered simply, that…

Huh?

Why would he say that? 

Ruby was an omega. 

Why would he say no? 

“But I am, sir”, Ruby insisted. It was hard to ignore Glynda eyeing every single one of her motions like she was the most interesting thing in the world. 

“Yes, well, that is true, but it is not what I see”, Ozpin said simply, adjusting his half-moon glasses with a wiry hand. “What I see is quite simply a girl, a girl who is frightfully terrified of her surroundings, but… rightfully so. I see a girl who, despite her fear, chose to try and overcome it, to fight and push back on the world that chose to see her as lesser. When you came in here after saving a life and putting many well-deserving individuals in prison, you didn't just sit and accept the consequences. You stood and fought, you challenged my dear associate here, a woman which frankly I've seen far greater people crumble under. So no, Miss Rose- Ruby, if I would, I do not see an omega; I see you, and what a brave girl that is” 

Ruby was… speechless, her own bewildered eyes looking back at his with an innumerable amount of shock. His eyes were piercing; they gazed far past hers and into something that could only be what she held inside. He wasn't lying, he was amazed, he thought she was brave. 

Ruby wasn't brave. There was nothing brave about what she did. She hid who she was; that was deceptive. She fought despite the danger; that was reckless. She wasn't brave; she was cowardly. True bravery would be accepting her fate and moving on despite of it, yet here she was rejecting her own biology, what she was fated to be, what she would be condemned to in a matter of a month. 

But that… painfully real, actually non-fake, genuine smile said otherwise. He wasn't smiling to deceive her; he was smiling because he found a way past her defences, so he could talk to her without the bravado of fakery she presented. 

And that was… terrifying, but it was also the most liberating thing Ruby ever felt. 

Was this… the freedom she would achieve if she actually became a huntress? The true unwavering availability to be seen and not condemned, to be trusted as capable, to be seen as strong, even though everything about her wasn't? 

“I need to ask you a question, Ruby”, he said, carefully tapping away on the scroll in his hand. 

“Of course”, she said almost immediately, no sir tainting her words; honorifics were something she despised, and he didn't so much as comment on it. 

“Would you like to come to my school?” he asked, that sickeningly sweet smile dancing across his face as he held out that scroll before him. 

A sharp line of “sign here” laced the page. 

Ruby couldn't have said yes fast enough.

Chapter Text

Alphas were both Ruby's greatest fear and her greatest strength; they were strong, near disastrously so, everything about them was designed to take what they wanted and do it efficiently. But they were also emotional, terrifyingly so; their emotions were big, chaotic, and erupted violently with the slightest of prompts. But despite all that, they were compassionate, protective to a fault. If you found yourself well and truly in the good books with an alpha, no matter who, they would rather die than allow you to get hurt.

But with all that, well and good and true.

Why did Ruby see all of the negatives in her father's eyes?

Tai-Yang was a violent man; that aspect of him was no secret to Ruby. He was an alpha, a hunter at that, the most prestigious and well-deserved profession an alpha could ever acquire. Their disposition uniquely suited for such a job. But that disposition that served them well in a forest full of grimm did not lend them any favours in a house such as this.

Ruby barely flinched when another vase flew past her head; it was not the first of the night, and nor would it be the last. The pottery exploded against the wall behind her, but nothing but dust glanced off her skin. Despite the stupor the surfacing sun brought in these fretful hours of the morning, and the drunken embers the liquor cabinet stoked, Tai had yet to even hit Ruby once with each and every thing he threw.

It was clearly intentional.

This was what alphas did after all, they ruled by fear and command, and this was distinctly the former of the two. He was trying to goad her into some lasting fear response so he could make his point clear. An act that Ruby has seen her father do before, not only to herself, but to her sister. Yang, an alpha in her own right, had all the means and motives to stand against him, all things that Ruby lacked, but she was far too immature to face him and have even a chance to win.

Even with age, Ruby would never have that chance to win.

The news about Ruby's new enrolment hadn't gone well. The tears and sobbing, not to mention the vase throwing, didn't exactly spell out the happy reaction most parents would express when they hear that their daughter has been awarded the opportunity of a lifetime. But Tai wasn't most parents, he was a single father, Ruby's only father, raising two kids out in the woods far from any respect of civilised society.

There was little that was going to come to Ruby's aid here… and well… she had an airship to catch.

A plate sailed over Ruby's head, she blinked as she heard the rush of air and morphed her face into the smallest of minute winces as the slightest of stings glanced her ear tip.

That was too close.

And Tai knew it.

The man stumbled back with all the lack of grace a man of his stature could provide. His eyes blown wide, hands trembling as he stared at his daughter like that plate had just torn Ruby's head from her neck.

Ruby didn't blink before muscular arms were wrapped around her, she didn't breathe before he cradled her ear like a baby, and she didn't move before those tears sprang from his sapphire blue eyes anew. The words that boiled from his bubbling, sob-filled mouth were unintelligible to Ruby. A drooling string of pleasantries and apologies as he inspected the fur-covered appendage with a surgeon's scrutiny, looking for a single defect that could perhaps be caused by his porcelain projectile. Whatever anger he had has clearly boiled over into hot and heavy tears that coated his face like sweat.

"Are you okay?" He choked out after a garbled string of nonsense. Ruby didn't really know how to answer that.

Was she okay? probably not, it wasn't exactly good or normal for a child to have their parent throw things at them and then cry out a bathtub's worth of tears. But on an esoteric level, whatever trauma that caused was a future Ruby's problem. When it came to the here and now, that was still a complicated question to answer, but largely…

"Yeah, yeah, Dad, I'm okay", Ruby nearly choked out, grabbing hold of his hand in hers. She could feel his nails near sharpened to points, how they ghosted over her skin like they were haunting her body. He didn't seem ashamed of his acts, merely disappointed as he carefully pulled her ear tip forwards, pressing all of the lightest kiss to it before standing.

The scene would have been tender; Ruby would have beamed up at him on any other day. Admired her father and the man that he was. That is, if it wasn't for the Ruby-shaped outline of splinters decorating the wall. Instead, Ruby had to stand here, had to watch as he clumsily scraped lines of snot-slickened tears from his face. Ruby had to look at this man, her father, with an amount of fear that no matter their standing, no child should ever see their parents with.

It was poisoning her, and Ruby so desperately wanted to leave.

Ruby wanted to not just run out that door, but to sprint to the nearest port, to hop on the fastest ship, to go to Beacon and live out the rest of her free life there. But she couldn't, she had no money, she had nothing to her name, never mind the airship cost, the tuition would destitute her for life. But that, again, felt like a future Ruby's problem; regardless of the consequences, she had to leave, and with Tai? That felt like an impossibility.

"Why do you always do this, Ruby?" He asked, pinching his brow bridge with his hand. "It's those teachers all over again, you fill their heads with lie,s and now I have to go in and fix everything"

"I was just trying to help-" Ruby said, only to squeak when glass shattered against the wall, far from her head, but the smell of spilt liquor quickly filled the area.

"Like hell you were!" Tai barked, his voice cutting through the air like glass. "You could have died! Does that never occur to you? Or do I need to get it through your thick head? It's always something like this, Ruby, you wanna fight so you fight, and then you come home hurt. You want to do combat training, so you do combat training even though I tell them not to let you, and what happens? You break your arm and come back to me sobbing. Is this the new thing? Do you get your thrills from robbing a dust shop? Do I need to expect more calls at four am in the fucking morning, saying you've been arrested?"

"Dad, it wasn't-"

Smash

"I don't care, Ruby!" He snapped out, refilling his hand with another glass. "I know what you're gonna say, 'it wasn't like that', 'it's not my fault', you could have been defending the king of Vale for all I care. None of that changes that you are an omega, you're not supposed to be doing this shit. I know you wanna be big and strong and scary like an alpha. Is that something you wanna be? An alpha? Fucking look at me, Ruby"

"Dad-"

"Look at me!"

Ruby's brain seared with the command; it felt like someone had etched it onto the very grey matter of her frontal lobe with a stone chisel.

She couldn't disobey.

No matter how much she strained against her own body, how much she fought her own muscles as they pulled her neck taught, how much she tried to squeeze her eyelids shut. None of it mattered; she was going to look at him, she was going to look at all of him, even if she didn't want to.

And it was a sorry state to lay eyes on.

He looked old, far older than a man of his age should look, bags welled under his eyes like they were keeping back a raging river. His hair, once shimmering and golden, now lay matt, pitifully highlighting the greys they once kept hidden. But worst of all, his teeth, sharp, dog-like, thicker than a pencil they hung in empty air as a threat. A threat of bloodshed, a fight that Ruby would not win, he was her dad, but here he was… ready to prove his dominance.

Ruby didn't want to see this; she didn't want to look at this man ever again.

"Is this really what you want to be?" Tai spoke, towering over Ruby as those pointed canines carved daggers into every word he spoke. "An alpha, a protector, someone who has to threaten his own fucking daughter because she won't stop trying to kill herself?"

No, this isn't what Ruby wanted.

"Leave", He snapped out as Ruby trembled. There was no connection left between her mind and body. Whatever was there had snapped; she had no agency in her actions.

In a blink, she was gone.

Ruby hated the feeling of powerlessness. It tremored through her body like an earthquake, rocking every facet of what made her Ruby as she cracked along her fault line. Ruby never wanted to be powerless; she never wanted to be incapable. But… what could she do? The airship to Beacon left tomorrow, and despite Tai's obvious objections to harming Ruby, she wouldn't put it past the man to stop her from leaving anyway he could.

So Ruby cried.

It wasn't hard for her to do; whatever dam she had in her mind was crumbling at the seams. Every word Tai had spat at her face was like an earthquake, ripping through her body, cracking her along her fault lines. And now, in the dissolution of peace, she could do little but look on at the carnage he caused.

Tears felt like acid on her skin; they scoured everything they touched, threatening to glue her eyes shut with every pearl of salty ichor that winked its way out from underneath her lids. She didn't sob; she barely whimpered, only sniffling carefully as she stared at the fur-matted carpet of her room.

Her bedroom was tidy, it was neat by any sense of the word, boots lined up by the door like little soldiers off to war, hoodies and cloaks hung in their places, bed perfectly made and kept. Ruby didn't like to be a tidy person, but she had to keep it kept. Her shirt was clean, not only that, but freshly ironed, every wrinkle bullied out by heat and steam. Ruby took some sick joy in watching her tears mar that perfect surface. Her hair was perfectly combed, the uniform dull brown strands pressed into a style Ruby never chose. The euphoria that racked her body when she scraped her head against her hands was addictive.

Ruby wanted to ruin everything her dad wanted her to be, to screw up her room, crease her shirt, and mess up her hair. She was a fighter, not some pet waiting in his little shelter for a new owner. Everything was boiling inside her, the disgust, the frustration, the sheer unbridled anger, but her face didn't show any. Just a dull, unsharpened emotion that Ruby couldn't begin to pin down.

She was an omega after all, omegas weren't anything, they weren't emotional, they weren't strong, they weren't capable. And Tai could never see her as any of that; he couldn't look past what she was to what she is. Ruby's heart ached with it all, pain both as sharp and as dull as anything ever said to her tonight. The disastrously strong need to be held and the lingering disgust of touch plagued her.

Ruby wished her mother were here, to hold her when her father was scary, to sing to her when the world was mean, to dry her tears when they flowed free. But Tai screwed that up, too.

Ruby's ears twitched, the tall appendages perched on top of her head flicked around like grass in the wind. Ruby barely registered it at first, all until they both focused, pointing to a spot on the wall, following it like a heat-seeking missile. Footsteps, heavy, like a thundering rhino, stumbling, like a newborn, and breathing, that sharp growling husk.

Ruby knew that sound well, and it only meant two things: either dad or…

"Yo Rubes, you 'ight in there?"

Yang… her voice was scratchy, slurring out and through the door like a loose conglomerate of syllables, all falling out of her lips at once. Ruby heard a dull thump against the door, and a small, weak smile squeaked its way out of her lips, Yang clearly having collapsed against her bedroom door.

"Yeah… I'm okay," Ruby tried to say, all that came out was weak and unintelligible, a crackly mess from start to end that's response was only a sigh.

A heavy, deep sigh.

"Rubes, ya' know you're not very good at lying to me", Yang said, her heavy hand pushing open the door as she all but fell into the room. She was dishevelled, hair running off her head every which way, with a beer bottle clasped between her fingertips. She stepped forward, only for her leg to buckle, before bracing herself against the wall with a heavy breath.

But… Ruby sat and watched anyway, amazed as her sister hauled all of her dripping muscles like they were dead weight. Nearly grinding her feet into the floor as she did so, all before she stumbled, barely catching herself, and then collapsed into a heap right next to Ruby.

The golden-haired woman stank of beer and cheap body spray, clad in barely enough clothes to be considered clothes. Her shimmering, nearly iridescent locks were thrown back in a loud heap as Yang took a long swig from her beer bottle, greedily gulping down the liquid bread.

"You 'now dad doesn't know what he's talkin' about, right?" Yang grunted out, rubbing her clawed hand over her stomach carefully. Ruby shuddered as those tired lavender eyes looked at her. Ruby could barely see her own sister, her vision swarmed by fog.

"I… know but…" Ruby said before sniffling, only to squeak when a heavy arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her senses were soaked in warmth, like her body was dunked in a hot spring; the flowing locks that her sister cherished felt like a heated blanket on her chilly skin.

And Ruby relished it.

Instantly, her body shook, trembling against Yang's as she tried to worm as close as physically possible. Yang was… shocked at first, but reacted swiftly, nearly gathering up as much as her sister as she could before carefully squeezing the girl in a dauntingly light hug. Even drunk, with the evidence of her inebriation still clasped in her hand,d she was gentle, cradling Ruby as tenderly as she could.

It hurt Ruby how much she needed this, how much she wanted to be held and never to be let go again. Yang and the safety that she provided was addicting, like nicotine to her brain, and Ruby, for once, allowed herself to wallow in it, languishing in the wellspring of sheer love and protectiveness that spilt forth from the girl. Yang was well practised, her fingers clawed that they were still itched behind Ruby's ears with a careful tenderness that bore purposeful to not even break the girl's skin. Yang muttered, near whispered the gentlest of reminders in her ears, telling her it was okay and to let it all out, despite 'letting it all out' involving various mucuses sliming down the blonde's shoulder. Every shuddering sniffle Ruby trembled out was hushed, every choked word she drooled out was returned by three far more positive ones, and every tear she blinked away was dabbed into non-existence with the corner of Yang's shirt.

"I-I'm sorry", Ruby whimpered, nearly mewling out as Yang refused to allow her to squirm out of her arms. Even when she tried, the blonde still wouldn't let her leave her cage of terrible warmth and love.

"Don't be, Dad's a dick", Yang slurred out, pressing a chastening kiss to Ruby's cheek. "So… what are you gonna do 'bout it?"

"W-what?" Ruby asked, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve as she looked at her sister, bewildered. Do about it? What on remnant could Ruby do about this?

"Well, ya know, you're Ruby! You really not gonna go to Beacon because dad told you no?" Yang said with a smirk, but… that smirk dipped slightly when Ruby sighed.

"I'm… It's not that simple, Yang," Ruby nearly whimpered out. Of course, it wasn't that simple; nothing ever was. She couldn't just go to Beacon; no matter how much she wanted to, she was just a kid, no money, no nothing. Even after she turned sixteen, it wasn't just like a bank would let an omega open an account for no reason. "I can't afford that, I can't even get dad to let me to go, face it, Yang, it's not happening… I thought when Headmaster Ozpin offered me it, everything would be fine, that's it, I'm in Beacon, but I can't even get out of this house."

"Rubes…" Yang sighed, pulling Ruby into yet another delicate hug. "You're such a strong kid, smart as fuck and fast too, but you're a dumbass sometimes"

"Wh-what?" Ruby said, nearly looking at Yang, shocked as the girl chuckled, leaning back on Ruby's once pristine bed.

"Come onnn! There's more than one way to leave a house, and besides, who said Dad had to approve?" Yang said with a mischievous smirk, all before eying the window as Ruby's eyes blew wide. "You know Dad did tell you to leave"

"But-but the tuition! I couldn't possibly-" Ruby couldn't even finish her sentence, not before a shimmering gold and blue card was produced in front of her. It was not from any bank Ruby had ever seen; the front all spelt out some weird Atlesian word that rolled off the tongue like poison.

"Call it a combat school graduation gift from uncle Qrow", Yang said, that smirk even more unwavering as she floated the card in front of Ruby's face nearly tauntingly, all before she snatched it out of the blonde's hand, eyeing it astonished.

"Yang-" Ruby started only for a slightly clammy beer-smelling finger to press against her lips, along with a shushing tone from her sister.

"Kid, you've got a life ahead of you, more than what I can say for dad. Go on, get out there, the longer you wait for someone to tell you permission to do what you wanna do, the longer it takes for shit to get done," Yang said as Ruby nearly sprang to her feet, tears long gone from her eyes and determination set on her face. Her bedroom window, a porthole to the outside, had once been something she looked from longingly, now… well, by the time their dad had noticed she was gone, it would already be too late.

"Yang, thank you," Ruby said carefully as Yang smirked, watching her sister pry open the window with a careful hand.

It was a long way down to the ground, but Ruby knew she had a long road ahead. She couldn't let the drop scare her, not with her renewed sense of vigour on her shoulders.

"I'll see you tomorrow", Yang practically chirped as Ruby's slipper-clad foot smacked against the windowsill. "Oh, and Rubes?"

"Yeah, Yang?" Ruby asked, gazing into the eyes of her sister, the woman in her life who has always loved her unconditionally.

"I'm proud of you", She slurred out in that half-drunk tone, the words cutting into each other syllable by syllable to form something resembling nearly nothing close to the intention. But Ruby knew what she was trying to say, and no matter how slurred it was, tears welled up in her eyes all the same.

"I love you", Ruby mewled back, and in one swift motion.

Jumped.

"Miss Rose"

"Miss Rose"

"Miss- ugh, Ruby Rose, you wake up this instant!"

Ruby’s eyes snapped open in a second, coughing pathetically as she did so. The sun was near blinding, swelling her vision with red pain as she could barely focus, her senses swarmed by nothing but the buzz and hustle of a port. She blinked, carefully, one eye at a time, before zeroing in on a blonde and purple smudge in front of her, a towering woman with fierce emerald green eyes and a less than happy expression to go with it.

"Miss Rose, I have you to know this is far from proper", She snapped as Ruby looked around carefully. Morning had clearly begun, airships pulled into land before speeding off once full of passengers. Her cold and painfully hard bed of the night being little more than a public bench. But before her, in all her wonderful splendour, was none other than a clearly irate Glynda Goodwitch, ticking away the time it took Ruby to respond with an irritated tap of her crop against her crossed arms.

"You're Yawn here", Ruby said, stretching out her stiff back as the woman sniffed.

"Of course I'm here, I get a very worried report about a so-called homeless student, and I find it to be you? Miss Rose, I surely hope you're not this much trouble for the rest of the four years I have to oversee you" She sighed with clear irritation in her throat, but in a second, she swallowed it before turning heel "Come along"

"Wait- what?" Ruby said, as the woman huffed, eyeing her again with those sharp eyes.

"Do you wish to get to Beacon or not? I said come along," She sniffed.

Ruby was instantly at her heels seconds later.

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy was everything Ruby ever assumed it was, a monolith of human progress and power. Ruby was practically pressed to the window of the airship the entire ride, her tail swaying behind her weakly and gently grazing the back of her legs with each pass.

It was quiet, deathly quiet aboard the airship; she could barely hear anything aside from the quiet hum of engines through the insulated walls. An entire passenger deck, ready to be filled with prospective students, was instead open for Ruby to explore.

Ruby didn't really know what she expected; it wasn't like she had any of her papers with her. A normal chartered airship would have turned her away at the door without so much as an acceptance letter. Although it's not like Beacon isn't full of stories of people sneaking their way onto the so-called secure airships.

Ruby sighed, trying to dispel some of her nerves, watching as the airship circled Beacon Tower with a slow and wide breath. Dawn had long risen and settled across Vale, leaving little more than an orange tint to the horizon as the last embers of morning light dispelled.

It was almost silly to think that this was Beacon, her dream school, her dream… everything. Ever since Ruby was little, her head was filled with stories of the glory of huntsmen. The sheer amount of tales and fables that filled her ears could complete a library—the majesty of their providence, the beauty of their sacrifice, the power of their strength. And Ruby was told from the time she was little, in the very words of her mother and father, that she could one day be honoured to serve a hunter as their mate.

But here she was, soaking in the sagacity of Beacon Academy, not as a wife, or a mate, or some well-honoured pet, but as a student. It was all so-

"Excellent", Processor Goodwitch snapped, her face warped with carefully controlled rage as her claw-tipped fingers tapped across a hard light dust screen. The obnoxious sound was only mildly drowned out by the click of her heels against the carpet-covered metal of the floor. "Congratulations, Miss Rose, you have successfully delayed all beacon operations today by two hours. I would award you with a medal for the astounding level of disruption, but I do doubt a simple moniker could convey the glory of it"

"Sorry?" Ruby offered carefully, watching a very non-amused expression be glared in her direction.

"Regardless, I have been charged with dealing with your… state," Glynda snapped, motioning loosely to Ruby as the girl hesitantly looked down at her dress. Ruby knew the frilly skirt and hood were a bit of a strange choice, not to mention the corset and boots. But compared to what the headmistress of Beacon herself was wearing, it wasn't that dissimilar.

In fact, she was showing less skin than the teacher herself. The discovery that boob windows were apparently A-okay in the Beacon code of conduct would be something that Yang may find herself delighted by… for one reason or another.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Ruby asked, pulling at her frilly sleeves as the woman rolled her eyes.

"It's not what you're wearing, it's what you look like", she almost spat, before sighing, matching forwards towards the observation window. She spared no moment before practically barking, "Come here"

Ruby hesitated, her body near locking up at the strict tone. Conflict was welling up inside her as two sides of her mind fought over whether she should obey such an order. But her turmoil wasn't left unanswered for long; a deep and long sigh so large that it felt like it rocked the airship itself left the headmistress. This was paired with what could be described as a softened look, all before the command was followed up with a single solitary

"Please?"

The single word didn't dispel the entire battle raging inside her; it certainly didn't quell her mind, which was screaming at her to ignore it. But it did make the decision easier, with Ruby hesitantly shuffling to the blonde woman's side.

In the short span of time Ruby spent turned away from the window, the airship had already begun its landing sequence, slowly dropping to the ground, revealing more and more of the courtyard below. It wasn't exactly bustling with students, nor was it crowded with staff; it was early, and there must have been only twenty or so individuals to see.

And they were all Alphas.

Ruby could spot them from a mile away, the multicoloured hair lacking the blacks and browns common to that of omegas. Broad shoulders, hard jaws, claws hanging from hands like icicles. And Ruby lacked all of that; she was tiny in comparison to Glynda, her hair a muted black without a single streak of vibrancy in its strands, and Ruby was bereft of so much as a single sharp nail to scratch someone with.

"It is no secret that a huntress is an alpha's job", Glynda sighed, barely even flinching as the airship jostled as it settled on the landing pad. "Almost all of us are alphas; it's practically the only thing we can do. Of course, there are some Betas and the scant few Omegas in the mix, but this… this won't do"

Ruby almost trembled. She expected something like this, a lengthy, winding statement about how she should rethink her choices and turn back. And from whom better to deliver it than the headmistress herself?

"I'm not rethinking this", Ruby almost growled, the slightest rumble of the most primal noise welling in her throat.

Glynda didn't even flinch.

"You are afforded a certain amount of leeway due to your, let's say, adolescent status, your title as an omega is not legally distinct, and as such, you can stand here without the word of a mate." Professor Goodwitch stated, every word flowing from her sharp tongue like a carefully thought out speech. She turned on her heel, facing Ruby as the girl had to crane her neck to look the woman in the eyes. "Regardless of your adolescent though, you stink of omega, never mind how you look. I can hardly expect the student body to control themselves enough for you to take two steps out of that door without being bred"

Her arm towered over Ruby as it pointed sharply towards the rampway. Ruby almost gulped as she viewed the door with a small amount of fear. Ruby knew Alphas could be aggressive; it was practically what they were most known for. But her experience with mature and sexually frustrated alphas was limited, so limited in fact that it was all secluded to a single individual. Yang. And whatever familial bond they had and Ruby's potent scent luckily kept the blonde's lustful urges far and away from the young girl. Here though… Ruby would lack such protections, not until her sister arrived at least.

"As I am doubtful that would be a… optimal outcome of your time at Beacon, luckily for you, you are hardly the first omega to be part of our student body and will unlikely to be the last. Although… your circumstances are peculiar," Glynda stated, eyeing every inch of Ruby with critical emerald eyes. It was a look Ruby was familiar with: judgment, wonder, and a hint of curiosity. Like she was studying Ruby like she was a lab rat, just waiting to be used in some new experiment.

Glynda, though, despite the hollow attempts at professionalism, was an alpha through and through. It was easy for Ruby to spot the whispers of delight on her face as a thought flashed behind her eyes. It was a slight, subtle discrepancy that would have been lost to most, but Ruby wasn't most; she was the least anything could ever be in all factors of the word. And picking up on that small little grin was the closest Ruby could ever get to a mainstream omega.

"Come along, please, we have much to do", Glynda stated, that please was drawn out, poisoned by intentions, jabbing its way through her statement like a thorn through her tongue. It was manipulative; the alpha clearly trying to tiptoe around Ruby's moral misgivings, as if it were a game where the headmistress could use a cheat code to avoid. It was a cheap tactic, but it worked, preventing Ruby from baulking just enough to come to heel.

Ruby's ears couldn't help but press down at the visage of the rampway door. Ruby had been delighted by the idea of gallivanting through Beacon's famous courtyard for the first time. But the less-than-gentle announcement about the apparent lack of conduct most students had successfully put a substantial damper on Ruby's mood.

"I thought you said-"

"That you could be bred? Why yes, that is still a possibility," Glynda almost sniffed as she slid her fingers across the keyway, hastily tapping in a code that easily lowered the ramp. "But I suppose you will just have to stay close now, won't you miss Rose? And do try and keep your pheromones to yourself"

Well, that wasn't really how pheromones worked, Ruby thought, but having to glue herself to the side of a very dominant alpha in the vague and blind hope that she would protect her from roving bands of undergratified students was undoubtedly not the introduction to Beacon which Ruby hoped for.

But hey, the day was still young.

The ramp was slow to open, a laborious task that was loud and unnerving to the wolf faunus.

But in seconds, Ruby found herself engulfed by a thick purple fabric that nearly strangled the air from her lungs. Both due to its encompassing weight, but also the pungent wash of syrupy lavender that made Ruby drool and wheeze at the same time. All before almost being forcibly marched forward by a harsh, clawed hand lodged onto her shoulder, manacling the two bodies together like a tungsten chain bound them.

Of course, the most terrifying woman Ruby has ever met would also have one of the most suffocating pheromones Ruby has ever been forced to endure. Ruby had to fight off the many opportunities to sneeze, cough, and hack out the nursing home like aroma that she was obligated to suffer through.

This was going to be a long walk.

"Take this"

The forced push through the apparently magnificent and breathtaking beacon courtyards was nothing more than a fluttering mirage of purple fabric for Ruby. Whatever scant glimpse Ruby did manage to acquire was stunning, though - vast fields of multicoloured flowers, carefully arranged not just by colour but also by density. A statue lay dead centre of this wash of colour, depicting two hunters, alphas, a woman and a man standing valiantly on a cliff overlooking a beowolf ready to pounce.

"And that"

It was a sight that probably shouldn't have been seen in between the flap and flag of a tendriled cloak in whatever breakneck pace Professor Goodwitch insisted on strutting. A matter that Ruby was sure she had to revisit in time, perhaps not while her arms were being filled with various ointments and lotions, though.

"And this-"

"Are all of these really necessary?" Ruby asked with a huff, looking down at the very clinical shampoos and oils that were being shoved upon her. The blank packaging and very scientific names printed across them didn't exactly instil Ruby with any confidence.

Nor did the towel and scrub brush that had yet to be handed to her either.

"In the manner that they are crucial for you staying safe on Beacon grounds? Yes," Glynda huffed, her harsh and almost sarcastic tones echoing against the shower room walls. It was a spacious area, one sprawling with lockers and a very exposed shower area that left little privacy to be had. Thankfully, though, it was empty apart from the pair, with the doors locked and the occupants kicked out. It did little to dispel the stink of sweat and gym shorts, though.

"What even are they?" Ruby asked only to watch the woman roll her eyes with a great look of disdain before growling out.

"Fur shampoo, scent blockers, pheromone replacers. You are lucky, Miss Rose. Most don't get this opportunity, but your status as a faunus may allow you some level of leeway with your peers, just enough to fool them," Glynda sighed, just before piling yet another nondescript bottle into Ruby's arms. Fool them? What did she mean by fool them? It wasn't like Ruby could do much to hide what she was, but the amassing pile of various lotions may allow her to do just that.

"F-fool them? You mean you're trying to make me look like an alpha?" Ruby asked carefully, watching those emerald eyes once again roll back before returning to their stays.

"Trying is the keyword there", Goodwitch grunted while digging around in a huge leather bag that had to be half the size of Ruby. All before loosely motioning to the showers with an open palm, "Now go on, hop to it, I don't have all day, you know"

Ruby sighed, the air slipping between her lips like coarse sandpaper. Getting undressed behind her prospective teacher wasn't on her bucket list today, nor was it on any of her lists or in any of her buckets. In fact, Ruby surmised that this was, quite frankly, the thing she least ever wanted to do. But Glynda wasn't asking; she was telling, as light as her tone attempted to be.

It was awkward, but thankfully, the teacher kept her eyes fixed directly on her scroll the entire time. Leaving Ruby to a faint amount of peace as she scrubbed and scraped every inch of her body with soaps and lotions that all felt, smelled, and tasted like acid from a chemistry set on her skin. They were scouring, nearly removing the top layer of her flesh, making her hair feel brittle and crispy under her fingers. The oils did offer some benefit, though, hydrating her newly damaged locks and quickly replacing her natural odour with something that could only be described as 'floral', not necessarily a specific scent, but just nonspecific enough that her own natural musk would be more additive than subtractive.

Ruby was given little time between stepping out of the water and reclothing herself before she was shoved headfirst into a sink. Forced to stand there half hunched over, half gripping the porcelain with a towel around her neck as toxic gunk was brushed onto her hair by a less-than-skilled hand.

It was degrading, in a way, to be pulled around like a rag doll by harsh, uncaring hands. But as fake nails were glued to her fingers and the dye set, the results spoke for themselves.

Ruby looked…

Unique

Glynda was right, this might actually be just enough to fool someone. Long gone was Ruby's simplistic, matte black; now replaced with red highlighting that nearly glowed in the artificial lights, every end and tip of Ruby's tail, ears, and hair was coated with the bloody vibrancy. Ruby's nails now lay topped with 'claws' so to speak, the sharpened nails didn't quite resemble those of a true alpha, but it was similar enough that it wouldn't raise any eyebrows. But what possibly sold the look were the fangs, too glued to Ruby's very body, stuck over her teeth in a way that irritated her tongue to brush against. It was flimsy, all of it was flimsy; the second someone pressed past, just a surface glance, the ruse would be up. But…

It was just enough.

And that was all that Ruby needed.

Glynda looked… impressed? Maybe pleased by the outcome? Regardless of the specific emotion on her face, the woman was almost gleaming with some macabre joy, eyeing Ruby as if she were her artistic masterpiece, ready to be put on display. It was almost uncanny to see the woman's face split into that emotion, but that was a weight Ruby would have to bear as she brushed out her tousled locks.

"I do believe that would just about do", Glynda announced, walking around Ruby like she was a statue to be studied. Peering at every inch of her with those curious emerald green eyes, while a hand lay settled on her chin as if pondering the great questions of remnant "Of course, your height is of some issue"

"It's not like I can grow two feet suddenly", Ruby scoffed, carefully slotting her scroll and purse back into their various pockets.

"Can you not?" Glynda asked, looking slightly disappointed when Ruby shook her head no. In any other context, Ruby supposed that would be a silly question, but in a school full of people with various trained auras and semblances, it was always a possibility. "Oh, no bother, it shan't be too noticeable."

"What now?" Ruby asked, eyeing the teacher as she almost looked startled by the question before sighing.

"Well, Miss Rose, I do suppose this is where we part ways. Of course, my duties to your let's say protection will be continuing., But… for now, whatever trouble you do incur from now on is yours to bear," Glynda huffed out, her voice almost aspirated as she spoke, but she held little malice towards Ruby. Perhaps it was the harsh words, or the riding crop, or even the muscles thicker than Ruby's head, but the woman did paint an intimidating image. But the last two hours or so were anything but intimidating, Ruby supposed, perhaps a little awkward at times, but Goodwitch seemed uninterested in swaying Ruby through fear.

And that was something Ruby could respect.

"If you succeed in the initiation tomorrow, I will supply you with this mess to be reapplied at your own behest. It should last well enough until then," Glynda said, loosely motioning to the red-stained pile of once pristine supplies.

Yeah… Ruby hoped they got cleaned first.

"I suppose I should say thank you, Professor Goodwitch", Ruby said, gazing up to the headmistress as the far older and far stronger woman almost looked upon her with a… kind expression. For all of a split second, her face warped into one of gentle tenderness before being quickly dashed away.

But Ruby saw it nonetheless.

"I suppose you should miss Rose, but you have hardly the time for that. I do so suspect that the first… real… airships are landing soon, and you have a sister who is attending, do you not?"

Ruby answered with a rapid nod.

"Then you are dismissed"

And with that… Ruby found herself leaving. It was easy stepping out of that room, not a lick of embarrassment on her shoulders, nor any guilt for leaving the woman to clean up.

Ruby just felt… light.

A little scared too, she supposed, wandering through Beacon's wood-sided halls unguided was a daunting feat. Not to mention the students who slowly started lining the walls passing by her in rapid succession as the school slowly came to life for the day.

They were all alphas, just like before, with multicoloured hair and everything. Sure, a few betas mixed in, but not a single one paid Ruby any mind. Letting her pass unbothered, unpestered, not even a lingering glance spared her way.

It was liberating.

It was something Ruby hadn't felt in years, the sheer sensation of going through a second without a single eye staying on her too long to be comfortable. Ruby could have basked in the feeling for aeons.

But Ruby had a goal in mind, the courtyard, yet again. Perhaps she could take a better look at the guards while waiting/looking for Yang. A question that could later be answered, Ruby surmised, carefully twitching her ears as she listened closely for the sound of engines.

The halls were long, winding, unending, doors lining every surface both further in and further out. Every step towards the sounds of humming airships brought Ruby closer to the crowds of students. Likely attempting to see the arriving students.

But Ruby wasn't here for them, slipping through easily as her short stature allowed and popping out on the other side.

Ruby almost smiled when she spotted the airships, carefully landing where she had just landed an hour prior. Even more so as a flash of shimmering gold caught her eye, encased just past the viewing deck glass of an airship.

Yang, it must have been.

Ruby took one singular step towards the airpads-

CRASH