Reclaiming in Black
Chapter 1: New old friends
A city burned. The walls surrounding it are immense, created to defend man, woman, and child from humanity's most dire enemy, but now they served a different purpose; they contained the chaos within, a barrier between the beasts and the madness. The city was vast, a fortress in disguise, and in all its immense glory it burned. From it issued bitter ash and desperate screams, dancing together in the chilled night air, rising up into the void that was the sky as the last, stuttering breaths of civilization. Countless dire-lights flickered within, and the bastion walls yet still served their purpose, a buffer against a sea of roiling, ravening blackness.
The Grimm had come, and they circle the last stand of the White Fang like crows, exalting in the slaughter, the pain, and the despair.
And yet they could feel that, even then, hope burned bright within that doomed place. Bright spots of relief, the cheers and roars of the victorious as they struck down their hated foe once more, one final time.
Brightest among them was a woman, a flare of righteous anger and resolve, standing atop the husk of a car in an abandoned street. On the opposite end of the street stand two figures, easily seen for the flames that surrounded them on all sides, implacable rage thundering through both their veins.
"It ends here, Cinder!" The lone woman shouted, deftly hefting her weapon with an ease borne of years of grueling training and experience. She looked young, in her early twenties at most. Her singular, gleaming silver eye was hard, screaming defiance and challenge. Her hair was cropped short, hardly reaching her chin, a choppy mix of black and crimson. Her otherwise delicate features were marred only by a large eye mask covering the left side of her face, a simple black embossed with a white rose decal; her symbol. She was fairly tall, sitting just under six feet in height.
Her outfit was colored consistently black and red. A corset wrapped around her waist, coming to rest just beneath her breasts, atop that was a light long sleeve jacket, and beneath it an elaborate black belt with her rose decal on her left hip. Beneath the belt, tied around her hips lay a barely visible, but familiar, orange scarf. Beneath a sizeable combat skirt sat black pants tucked into charcoal grey steel-toed combat boots, topped with white fur trim. Adorning her right hand and forearm was a firing-gauntlet, steel studded red leather armor. Wrapped firmly around her shoulders was a long, well worn red cloak.
Both the man and the woman snarled in response to her challenge, and the battle was begun.
Ruby Rose spun Crescent Rose, her high-impact sniper-scythe, in a precise circle, handily deflecting the red dust blast that Roman Torchwick had attempted to blindside her with. The improved weapon, with a serrated edge and longer, sharper blade gleamed wickedly in the wavering firelight. Cinder, teeth bared in feral rage, screamed in frustration. The sounds of the battle happening in the streets around them echoed eerily in the night.
"Why won't you die?!" The flame-wielding criminal screamed. Ruby deigned not to answer, shifting into a low stance in order to begin her attack. In a blur of dented metal and shattered tarmac, she tore along the street toward her opponents. Torchwick hardly had time to move, hissing a low breath as he narrowly dodged an unbelievably fast slice from the Crescent Rose aimed to hew his neck from his shoulders. Only the glint of the weapon's blade provided by a streetlight on the derelict road had saved his life as he stumbled backward from the deadly strike. Cinder capitalized on what little time she had gained, throwing her arms out in a gesture, not unlike that of welcoming a friend, unleashing a wave of potent fire magic in an attempt to turn the scythe-wielder into ash. As Cinder summoned a dazzling variety of flames Ruby approached, weaving gracefully within the napalm bolts and towering, twirling pillars of flame, systematically moving in and approaching her target.
"You've been trying to kill me for years! But it's too late now! You can't beat me Cinder!" Ruby yelled, dashing with her weapon raised toward the insane woman.
"I refuse! We are so close! Give up; you're the last one left Rose, victory will be ours!" Cinder roared in response, as Torchwick re-entered the fold, intercepting Ruby and engaging her in close combat.
Ruby swung vertically, from low to high, the weight of her weapon lending her swing immense power. Torchwick spun in a tight circle to the side, dancing around the blow, only to be startled when with a harsh bark the rifle discharged, allowing Rose to spin it in another upward, smaller upward strike at immense speed. His arm jarred, even reinforced with a heavy burst of his Aura, as he swung his cane in an attempt to deflect the broad blade. Ruby didn't even slow down, using the momentum to turn Crescent Rose around her midsection like a demented hula-hoop, the blade extending outward in a straight line. Roman cursed and dropped into a low roll to avoid the spinning strike at his midsection, receiving a sharp blow to the head as Rose kicked him in the head for his effort.
Roman was sent skipping down the street, tumbling and flailing, Rose's heavily Aura enhanced blow carrying an immense amount of power. Snapping her head up, Rose used her semblance to run to a wall, dodging a massive ball of obsidian shards conjured by Cinder. She met the wall with a sharp crack, the brickwork beginning to crumble beneath her heels. Completely horizontal, standing in the middle of the wall, she jumped off with all her power toward the recovering Roman, causing the already damaged bricks to explode inward in a shower of dust.
Torchwick swung upwards, concealing the act of one of his arms dropping to his side, reaching for a sidearm As always, trying to gain the upper hand with feints and trickery, but Ruby had seen it all before, and he had slowed considerably already, her previous attack seemingly having shaken him.
The skill difference was plain as day. Ruby, a prodigal student trained by one of the deadliest hunters on Remnant, Qrow the Hewer, then sent to the world's most prestigious combat school, and finally honed by years of combat. She was a storm of steel and fire, a truly beautiful expression of death brought down to the mortal realm.
And then there was Torchwick, the world's greatest thief, super-criminal, ladies man, man's man, three times most eligible bachelor of the year, General of White Fang revolution and hunter dropout.
His cane, precious as it was to him, was totally inadequate weapon to take on a master of one of the deadliest, most well-designed weapons in the world. It was a scant few seconds, hardly a to and fro before Ruby had taken complete control of the fight and began asserting her dominance. She unleashed an incredible barrage of jumping, rolling strikes, and slashes, breaking through his hard-fought defense before he could even register the weakness. With barely a whisper, three slashes land on his body, the first two draining his aura completely in their attempts to save his limbs.
His Aura drained, the final attack hits home. His eyes widen as an intense burning pain registers. He gurgles and rasps as blood bubbles and erupts from the final, long, precise cut across his throat.
Walking up to him, Ruby plants a slow kick into his chest, pushing him over and sending him sprawling in the dirt, clutching at his neck and scrabbling feebly as he breathed his last. "After all these years, and you barely last a minute." Ruby said softly, her voice pained. "If only this could have happened sooner." She shook her head as his hacking, shuddering body slowly stilled, her scythe trailing blood as she flicked it through the air to clean it.
"Die!" The briefly forgotten opponent screeched. An immense fireball is flung from her fingers, burning white hot and fierce as a small sun. The ball collides, and a fantastic explosion turned everything in a ten-meter radius to all but dust. An ominous cloud of debris floated through the now darkened street, lit only by the shattered moon hanging solemnly above.
"Finally! Yes! Yes!" Cinder cackled joyously, her breathing labored and harsh from her exertion. Pure, undiluted satisfaction burnt through her as she searched the space where her most deadly - and final - opponent once stood. Her laughter was cut abruptly short when a small object fluttered into her line of sight. Her hand snapped out and grasped it in an instant, reflexes still strung high. She regarded the small object, rubbing it between her long fingers.
A single, blood red rose petal.
Her eyes widened in brief panic, but before she could so much as move the fierce satisfaction in her chest was replaced by a meter of curved, serrated steel. Her feet were lifted off the floor as the blade was forced to protrude even further, curving messily upward from her stomach toward her face. Her screams were horrifying, laced equally with anguish and impotent rage, subtly mixing with the sound of her rapidly pooling bodily fluids.
"Grimm take you, bitch." A voice growled in her ear. "This is for my friends." Ruby said as she yanked the long blade out of her opponent. A spray of blood gleams as it flies off her weapon, glistening like morbid liquid jewels in the moonlight.
Cinder fell to her knees in agony, clutching the gaping wound in her chest in a pointless endeavor to survive. The tear is vicious, large and undeniably spells her imminent end. Her lifeblood slips and gushes through her fingers, forming a stick puddle all around her.
"After all these years... All this time you hunted me… And for some time I was running and fighting just to survive. But every time I got better, learned a little more. You were your own worst enemy. You turned me in a warrior you couldn't defeat, sculpted by your own hand. Now, look where we are." Ruby gestured expansively to the destroyed White Fang city-bastion. "I told you, Cinder. I told you, years ago, that you would die by my hand. Everything you did, everyone you killed," Her voice caught but she steadied herself. "It was for nothing." She hissed viciously, looking down her nose at her fallen enemy.
Slowly Cinder raised her eyes, meeting Ruby's own silver orb. Ruby hardly had time to think before she realized Cinder's eyes were burning; the telltale burning of her preparing one of her most powerful spells. Cinder gave her a vulpine, haunting smile, far too wide to be truly sane. Her dust infused body and clothes produced an ominous, incredibly bright light as she harnessed her favored element. A heavy shimmer of heat appeared around her almost instantaneously.
Ruby didn't wait to stick around. Turning she activated her semblance to escape Cinder's final dread work. The subtle vibration she felt as she ran at impossible speeds was buzzing louder than it ever had before. Her scattered trails of petals were wide and long, indicating just how hard she was pushing herself.
Cinder erupted. A massive wall of white fire burst forth, forming an incandescent, doming explosion. It traveled unnaturally quickly, gaining ground on Ruby.
Ruby gritted her teeth and ran even faster, determined to outpace her foe's last, desperate gamble. The white explosion closed in. The vibrations intensified, and her limbs began visibly shaking.
Everything was crystal clear for a moment as the fire reached right behind her. The sour taste of ash and blood in her mouth, the cold sweat pouring down her body, the slight pains of the minor burns she sustained in her battle. The weariness and fatigue of her long war were suddenly extremely acute. The street was equally suddenly detailed in the extreme, every crack and break in the concrete burning into her senses.
The fire nipped at her heels and she pushed through the crystalline moment. She forced her aura and semblance to give more, to move faster. She felt like she might come apart she was vibrating so intensely.
The world started to tunnel oddly as she reached hitherto unknown speeds, the landscape stretching and warping like water poured down a pipe. The fire was centimeters from her back. She pushed once more, as hard as she could, and then she leapt. The fire closed in around her.
It didn't burn.
The fire fed the energy coursing through her being. The image of the street shifted and marred jaggedly. She was tossed to and fro as the world around her ruptured. Suddenly everything was pushing and pulling. All she could see and feel was her being moved in a thousand directions at once, inwards and outwards...
After an indescribable period of time, the sensations lessen. The world shifted back into focus, pouring in around her in reverse. The vibrations lessened. With an odd whooshing, fluttering sound she was thrown into her new surroundings.
It was a veritable explosion of red rose petals as she started falling. A hard wooden floor rose up to meet her. Without thinking she landed in a neat roll, reaching and unsheathing Crescent Rose in a defensive twirl as she came upright.
"Wha-" "Gah!" Two voices yelped, startled, followed by a scream of fright, audible hissing, and a growl. Ruby quickly took in her surroundings. Wooden floors, beige walls covered in posters, some bookshelves walling off a corner, desks and two sets of beds, conjoined by colored something making bunks…
Her eye snapped to the occupants before her, all of whom were staring at her. A girl with yellow eyes, long black hair and a bow, crouched in a ready posture on her bed, pistol drawn. A girl with lilac eyes and long yellow hair, standing tall, gauntlet clad hands raised ready for combat. A girl with ice blue eyes and white hair, placed in a duellist's stance, sword pointed down and ready.
A girl with identical, large silver eyes staring right back into her own, scythe clutched in loose, trembling fingers.
"…Mom?" Fifteen-year-old Ruby Rose choked.
The questions sound frighteningly loud in the small room. Ruby regards her younger self with a wide, silver eye, mind reeling. The sheer impossible implications of the situation overcoming all of her faculties briefly. The silence stretches on and she still finds herself unable to move, thinking furiously.
"Who are yo-" A voice begins. Ruby snaps her single, silver eye to look at the owner. The speaker visibly starts when she sees a distinctive eye color peering back. Yang finds herself unable to finish her sentence.
The woman is still crouched, scythe held behind her but poised to strike. Her outfit and features send a thrum of familiarity with each of the people in the room. Yang feels her jaw go slack, hands falling to her sides as she looks at her. A small chin, small light lips, high cheekbones, a delicate brow and one single, gleaming sterling silver orb. On the other side of her face is a large, black eye patch with a distinct white rose decal…
"No way." Yang breathes. The woman takes in a shuddering breath, standing straight and tall, sheathing her weapon. None of team RWBY is in the right mind to reciprocate.
"Yang?" The woman says, her voice eerily like her little sister's, but defined and matured. "Yang is that-… am I dead?" She questions, looking at her hands, turning them over and staring at them.
Team RWBY is silent, drinking in the sight of the woman before them. The red and black outfit bears a striking resemblance to the ensemble worn by their young team leader. She is tall, just under Yang's height. Her clothes look dirty and slightly torn, and there is the distinct tang of gunpowder and blood clinging to her form.
"What is your name?" Weiss demands. The woman continues looking over hands, then up to Weiss. She scans the room, going over the four young women. Evidently, she finds something she is looking for because her hand goes to her mouth. She stumbles slightly, latching onto a nearby chair for support.
"I'm not dead…?" The woman says, muffled by her hand. Tears burn in her eye. She looks up to gaze at Yang. With a deliberate motion, she reaches to her waist, grabbing a large length of cloth. Long and orange, one end is heavily stained with blood, apparently unable to wash out. Yang sucks in a huge breath. With a few slow steps, she approaches the woman.
Hands shaking, she takes the proffered item. She flips it over and reads one end.
"Property of Yang Xiao Long, official badass." Yang reads with a weak smile. She reaches up to the scarf on her neck. "Property of Yang Xiao Long, official badass." She says again, reading her own scarf. "My dad made me this scarf." She explains.
Obsidian staired, in shock, at the events unfolding.
"Oh my god." Blake says from her perch, eyes wide. Weiss looks like she is having a panic attack.
"This is impossible." Weiss says in a hushed voice, her hands shaking in shock. If she had the same, one-of-a-kind scarf...
"You're me." Young Ruby says with wonder in her voice, looking a little star struck. The older woman gives her a once over.
"I really was a cute kid." She says, tears now rolling down her cheek, but a wry smile tugging at her lips. A heavy silence fills the room again.
"Sis?" Yang says and two people look at her. She takes a deep breath and releases it. "Why do you have my scarf?" She asks quietly. Deep down, she knows the answer before she asks.
The older Ruby's features drop, taking on a haunted, sorrowful look. Her lips press into a thin line. She takes a couple of quick breaths. Her whole body trembles as she looks at Yang. "I...its... Yang. I am so sorry, Yang. I couldn't... there was so much blood. I couldn't-" She says but stops when her voice cracks. She closes her eye forcefully, hands fisted. Despite her efforts, tears start streaming down her face and a sob escapes her mouth. "I am so sorry-" She continues, her voice hoarse and cracking with grief, now sobbing openly, her entire body shaking with repressed grief as she falls to her knees.
Her eyes fly open in surprise when she feels a familiar warm weight press into her, rubbing small circles on her back. "Shh, it's ok sis. It's ok." Yang says comfortingly, chin propped atop the woman's head. Apparently this is too much because her composure breaks completely.
"Yang!" Adult Ruby wails, wrapping her sister in a hug. Leaning forward she cries into Yang's shirt. Her grip is tight as she holds onto the sister she thought she had lost forever. "Oh my god, Yang!" She cries, seeking comfort. Yang simply continues rubbing small circles on her back, her own eyes filling with tears.
"It's ok sis. I'm fine." She reassures. Adult Ruby takes a while to stop crying and shuddering, the effect of Yang's reassurances and comfort obvious. Blake is watching avidly, eyes bright and intense. Weiss is shifting uncomfortably, completely out depth with current happenings. Obsidian was recovering from his shock enough to sheath his sword.
Young Ruby is currently still a little too shocked that an older version of her just time-traveled into their dorm to do much of anything.
Older Ruby eventually breaks the hug from Yang, a definite pang going through her heart as she looks upon the worried visage of her big sister. She turns and looks at her younger self. "I bet you think we'd something cool if we traveled into the past, but apparently the first thing we do is cry." She says jokingly. Yang snorts and chuckles fondly. Young Ruby has a strange look pass over her face, but it is gone quickly.
"That's kind of disappointing." Young Ruby retorts lightly. Adult Ruby looks at her two friends and big sister, something ugly uncoiling and fading away as she sees them happy and healthy.
"I wouldn't call it disappointing." Adult Ruby says, looking around the room. She lets out a long breath. "Definitely not disappointing. In all fairness, I am still not convinced I haven't died."
Yang punches her in the arm. Adult Ruby hisses in pain when she is stuck on one of her light burns. "Feel that?"
"Yes." She replies, sounding a little pissed.
"Then you aren't dead." Yang says lightly. Older Ruby pauses, turning to Yang.
"Thanks... I think?" Her hair shakes shaggily when she tosses her head to clear it. As she does so, she sees the sixth occupant of the room. A young man, with a furry short shirt/pants combo, and one she doesn't recognize. "What?"
Everyone pauses again, the developing situation barely less confusing than the last.
"What?" Obsidian asks, confused.
She looks to the girls of RWBY she knows, and to the man she doesn't confused. "You have a guy on your team?" she turns to ask the girls.
Yang us the first to respond, "Ya, since day one."
"I didn't." Older Ruby says slowly.
"So you aren't from just the future." Obsidian speculates, "You're from an alternate future?"
The room pauses, as we all consider the ever increasing insanity occurring around us. "Well then…" Obsidian begins, "Miss Rose, it is nice to kinda meet you."
"Ruby Rose, sister, hunter, and baker extraordinaire at your service." She says grandly. Weiss is rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hands.
"How?" She questions, sounding thoroughly exasperated, flailing her arm as if to gesture to the world in general. Older Ruby knows just what to say to push her buttons.
"I ran really, really fast." Older Ruby says cheekily, turning her hand flat and pushing it through the air with a 'woosh' sound effect. Obsidian's laugh was welcome, but Yang' laugh sends another painful jolt through adult Ruby, but also a warm feeling of contentment and peace. Weiss's full body twitch is also priceless.
"You ran so fast you went backward through time?" Blake intervenes incredulously.
"Well there was an explosion too, but yeah, seems like." Adult Ruby says glibly, standing up.
"That's awesome." Young Ruby says fist pumping dramatically. Adult Ruby laughs lightly, her soft voice filling the room. Yang and young Ruby freeze.
"You have Summer's laugh." Yang says softly, looking between her younger and older-younger sister. Ugh. Adult Ruby shrugs lightly.
"I am, or really we are, her daughter." Adult Ruby says softly. "Out of everything, having her laugh is one of my greatest treasures."
"You look a lot like her." Yang says, gaze still switching between her two sisters. Young Ruby looks torn between anguish and joy at the similarities between her as an adult and her mother.
"We do." Adult Ruby confirms. "Now as much as I want to sit here and talk, I need food, a shower, and sleep. The questions can wait. Time travel is unsurprisingly a little exhausting." She says with a sigh, rubbing her face. "And I smell like the battlefield. Weiss would kill me if I crashed like this." She mutters.
"Probably." Weiss agrees. Adult Ruby starts slightly, having forgotten she was in the same room as her old partner. Before she has a chance to say anything a bundle of clothes and a towel smack her in the back of the head. She turns to give Yang a gimlet eye, her sister waving cheerily at her.
"Enjoy!" Yang says. "Just... try to avoid being seen. That'd be bad, I think." She says, brow furrowed. Adult Ruby snorts.
"I am pretty sure I can manage to sneak through a school full of children, Yang." She says dryly, picking up the bundle of clothes. Yang opens her mouth to retort but Ruby's form wavers and disappears in front of her eyes, like mist blown away by a strong gust of wind. A few stray rose petals flutter in the air.
"That was fast." Young Ruby says with wide eyes.
The shower is long and hot. With her aura having healed the worst of her small burns, it feels amazing. She scrubs out her own gear in the shower, content to sit under the warmth and work out the filth in her clothes. The tension she carries eases greatly, the mixture of joy and pain at seeing her old team as well a second chance is nearly overwhelming. The addition bore watching, as he may only be the beginning, but even so, she can feel new hope flickering proudly in her heart.
It's nearly perfect, but for some dust damned reason, her damaged eye is itching abominably. After a brief inspection, she writes it off as irritation, placing her eye mask over it once more.
After her shower and cleaning, she dons the pj's given to her by Yang. A pair of black shorts and a tank top, which fits her, if only barely. Her sister had some ridiculous boobage, as she well knew.
She moves out of the bathroom with honed stealth, a shadow in the hallways of Beacon, flitting to and fro silent and unseen. Before long she comes to a halt at a familiar sight, the faded and slightly cracked door to her dorm.
"-so cool!" She hears herself squeal. A distinctly weird feeling.
"I don't know if you should be touching that, Ruby." Blake's velvety voice says. Adult Ruby has to force down a shudder at hearing her again. She'd studiously avoided looking at her earlier, but she knew that it was going to be a problem.
But she could deal with that later.
"Pfft! It's mine, I can do what I want." Ruby retorts.
"It is not yours. How would you feel if she came in here and touched your Crescent Rose." Weiss questions.
"The addition you are so keen to look at might mean that some parts work differently, and if you break them, it is entirely possible that replacements haven't been invented yet." Obsidian says.
'Ah, so little me decided to have a look at the future Crescent Rose? Can't really blame her, I'd do the same thing... I did the same thing? This is going to be a pain.' Adult Ruby thinks, opening the door slowly.
"She's me. She could put her baby back together in her sleep." Little Rose replies with a scoff.
"Probably." Adult Ruby says, leaning in the doorway, watching the scene in front of her, noting absently the tent in the middle of the bed constructs. For all their protests, Blake, Obsidian, and Weiss seem pretty interested in her weapon, sitting in a circle around Ruby who has her future scythe unfolded in her hands. Sheepish silver eyes rise up to meet her amused gaze.
"I um... uh..." Her younger self says unsurely, like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Adult Ruby smiles calmly at her.
"What do you think, little Rose?" Adult Ruby poses, purposefully using their mothers old pet name for her. Young Ruby's eyes widen in surprise, but a genuine smile splits onto her face. She'd loved being called that as a kid too. Her younger self's eyes are bright and excited.
"It's amazing! You lengthened the blade and removed some of the bulkier mecha-shift. The balance is unbelievable. Did you upgrade your sniper as well? I don't even recognize the mechanisms! And what's with the extra ammo chamber? I can't find any other guns, but why would you need a revolver's-" Young Ruby babbles. Older Ruby can't contain her mirth, her laughter bubbling up and sounding through the room.
"You guys were right, I really was crazy about weapons when I was a kid." Adult Ruby says, gesturing toward Blake and Weiss. Blake cracks a grin at her and Weiss scoffs. Obsidian's notched eyebrow does nothing but fortifies the stoic demeanor.
"Of course, I am pretty sure the dunce would replace us with talking guns if she could." Weiss says dryly. Young Ruby's cheeks go red in embarrassment. Adult Ruby gives her a questioning eyebrow, a gesture she'd perfected under the tutelage of Blake.
"That dunce and I are the same person, snowflake." Adult Ruby says with laughter in her voice. Weiss feels her own cheeks pink a bit at her inadvertent insult. "Mecha-shift comes a long way in eight years, the upgrade is great but fairly standard. Lighter and stronger. The blade is sharper and serrated, I made it using dust reinforced steel with a small diamond edge." She continues, walking forward and taking the weapon from her younger self. In an expert twirl, she spins it around easily, inspecting it. The five teens watch her avidly. In only a black tank top and shorts, the cords of steely muscle are rippling visibly. A small litany of scars dot around her form, but it doesn't detract from her beauty, only adding to the sense of danger and strength emanating from the woman in front of them. "The sniper is of my own design. I'd say it has roughly three times the power of mine when I was fifteen, but with twice the kick. You won't be strong enough to use it for a while." She explains. "The revolver chamber is based off Myrtenaster's dust cycler, I use it to store crystals for casting."
"What kind-" Obsidian begins, cut off by "You can use dust spells?" Blake asks with surprise in her voice. Adult Ruby glances at her and notes the almost imperceptible smattering of pink on her cheeks. 'Oh dust... damn it all.' She thinks before continuing as if nothing is wrong.
"With Weiss as my partner, I was bound to pick something up, even if I am a dunce. And to the first question, Ice, with a smattering of lightning." Adult Ruby grins. Weiss's lip twitches in amusement and a little pride. "Where's Yang?" She asks, noting the absence of her older... younger sister.
"I return from the hunt!" Speaking of the devil... "And I come bearing gifts!" Yang says cheerily. In her arms is a tray full of food. Sandwiches, strawberries, cookies, and milk. Adult Ruby laughs and claps her hands in front of her in delight at the sight of her favorites.
"Get over here, proud huntress, I haven't had strawberries in months!" She says, overjoyed at the sight of the little red berries. Yang gasps a little melodramatically as she hands her the tray.
"Months?! You can barely go a week without! The last time there was a shortage I found you in the fetal position in the bathroom at our house in Patch." She says hand pressed to her heart. Young Ruby whines a loud "Yaaaang!" in response. Adult Ruby chortles in amusement, then moans in joy as she pops a berry in her mouth. Weiss, Obsidian, and Blake go bright red at the sound. Yang laughs heartily. "Jeez sis, I didn't know they were that good." She says, waggling her eyebrows.
"Shut it, you overgrown firelighter." Adult Ruby says, flicking a berry at Yang's face. Obsidian smiles and Blake laughs at the insult. Adult Ruby shoots her a triumphant grin as Yang splutters indignantly, wiping strawberry juice off her nose. She also catches her younger self eying the tray. She meets her eyes and pats the floor next to her, then gestures toward her food. Her younger self still looks unsure, so she grabs another strawberry and bites into it, right in front of her, humming in delight. A blur and then she finds herself sitting next to little Ruby, who happily begins devouring the strawberries. "Thought so." She says with an amused voice.
The others watch in fascination as the two parallels share a meal. When young Ruby stares longingly at the milk and cookies, adult Ruby without even being prompted takes the milk carton and pours half in the glass, pushing it towards her other self. She receives a beaming smile for her effort.
The cookies are demolished in record time, each Ruby giddily munching away at the pile of delicious sugary treats. In unison, they grab the last two cookies and down their milk. Both lets loose 'ahhhh's of satisfaction. Both Ruby's have a milk mustache. They look at each other before young Ruby giggles and they turn to the team in sync with wide, dopey smiles.
"Did a single one of your eating habits change over the X years with the team?" Obsidian asks.
Dual "Nope"s ring out from the pair, before another round of giggles.
"Oh dust, there's two of her." Weiss moans into her hands. Young Ruby looks affronted, wiping her mustache off on her arm. Adult Ruby just looks amused.
"This is surreal." Blake says distractedly.
As Weiss and young Ruby get into a small heated argument about the benefits of Ruby duplicating, they miss adult Ruby cleaning her lip with a long, lazy swipe of her tongue.
The two black members of the team do not. And Yang doesn't miss their reaction. Blake's eyes dilate, her bow twitches and her cheeks go are healthy red. Obsidian goes a softer red, as his eyes seem to warp, and his arms snap down by his sides. There gaze locked on the older Ruby's mouth.
Oh she was never going to forget this. And that bow...
"Thanks, Yang, I needed that." Adult Ruby says with a happy smile, unknowingly breaking the tension. Yang shifts her attention and lifts her hand in a thumbs up.
"You're welcome, Ruby." She says. Young Ruby turns to look at her at the mention of her name. Adult Ruby picks up on the problem.
"You should just call me Rose, you've got a Ruby of your own." She says smiling, but her voice is a little sad. As happy as she is to see everyone healthy, it is still strange to be a newcomer in a group she leads for eight years of her life. Young Ruby surprisingly gives her counterpart a one-armed hug.
"It's ok, I don't mind sharing." She says brightly, cutting right to the heart of the matter. "You're me, and I am not going to be weird and tell everyone they can't call you by your name."
Adult Ruby gives her younger self an assessing look. "This might sound a little self-serving, but you're a good kid. But I don't mind, I'm used to it. Thanks anyway." She says, ruffling her younger counterparts hair. Young Ruby puffs her cheeks in outrage, pushing the hand off her head. She knows that her older self remembers how much she hates that. The teasing grin she gets in response is further proof. Suddenly, Rose yawns loudly. "Seriously though, I need to crash. I haven't slept in a week." She says tiredly.
"A week?" Yang gasps in horror. She shrugs, but before she can say a thing Blake cuts in.
"What was that you said about smelling like the battlefield?" She asks sharply. She almost flinches when one incredibly hard silver eye looks at her piercingly.
"Nothing I am going to talk about tonight." Rose replies, face stony and the rebuke clear in her voice. Blake quails a little when she realizes she might have overstepped the bounds with her question. This wasn't a child she was questioning, but a woman and full-fledged hunter to boot. Weiss looks pensive, lost in the implications of everything that has just occurred. Yang shifts uncomfortably at the unfamiliar harshness that the Rose is exhibiting. Ruby elbows her in the ribs.
"You're cranky, you need sleep. I'd know." Ruby says simply. Rose's countenance softens.
"You're right." She shakes her head and Blake relaxes, relieved to be let off the hook. "Anyone got a spare pillow, I can sleep in the corner with my cloak." She hikes a thumb at the floor in the corner of the room, and for just a moment, everyone pauses at the misstep.
Yang predictably comments first, "Wow sis, just met the man and already open about some shack time."
Several reactions occur. Obsidian goes absolutely scarlet, his breathing halts slightly, and his whole body seems to solidify. Blake and Weiss go a less specular red and begin to sputter. Younger Ruby blushes and blinks at Yang and Older Ruby looks at the three all but glowing red and starts laughing, hysterically. As the red three begin to regain natural colors, Ruby pokes Older Ruby in the ribs again.
"You can use the tent." She says cheeks puffed.
"I noticed that, but who's is it?" Older Ruby asks. She walks over and strokes the side.
"Obsidian's," Yang says, still amused.
Older Ruby looks at the still slightly red boy asking, "What's it made out of? It crazy soft."
"Stabilised Beowulf." He responds.
"Oh." She replies. Before she can continue she yawns loudly again. "...Ok, I'm tired. Night guys." She bends, and crawl into the tent.
Yang, who to her credit replies with barely a pause."Night sis one, sis two." breaking away and giving Ruby a hug.
"Well, sis two is sleeping now. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow." Rose says.
"This entire night is insanity. I am going to wake up tomorrow morning and all this will have been a fever dream." Weiss nods to herself and slips into her bunk.
Yang chuckles at Weiss before climbing up into her own bunk, lying down and losing herself to her thoughts. Blake similarly follows, falling into bed, deep in her musings. The night had been the single most surprising and unreal of her seventeen years of life. The lights turn off with a few flicks.
"Goodnight, teaaaaam RWBY!" Two distinct voices say into the darkness above Weiss's bunk. The soft sound of giggling is heard, along with Weiss's groan as she buries her head in her pillow.
"Kill me."
Rose laughs softly, getting comfortable and closing her eyes in the familiar space of her old dorm.
This was the start of a new, interesting life for her.
Rose is woken in the middle of the night by the sound of Ruby muttering and making noises in her sleep. A nightmare. She used to have a lot of those.
Rose does the only thing she can think of in her situation. From her lips, a quiet lullaby comes forth, lilting and comforting. A song about a hero and his princess, and her magical rose. It was her favorite, it had been all these years.
Her mother used to sing it to her when she had nightmares.
Little does she know that Ruby's nightmare had woken the other members of team RWBY with her feeble cries in the night. They are surprised when a soft voice sings lightly into the dark, comforting and calm. They can hear Ruby's piteous sounds fade into the relaxed murmur of restful sleep.
Yang feels her eyes burn, recognizing the song for what it was, the familiar lyrics wrapping around her like long, slender fingers, squeezing her heart. The voice itself tugs at her memories of times past, and the woman she grew to love as her own mother.
Weiss can't help but wonder who Ruby really is, to have grown into the woman she had met a few hours before. Is she the giggling, happy school girl that she seems to be? Somehow, this intense, slightly haunted woman that she grows into bears what looks to be the onus of a long, hard life.
Blake listens, feeling oddly glad to hear the woman's soft song in the night. She is nearly as startled as Rose when her Faunus hearing picks up on the barely audible sentence issuing from the sleeping Ruby.
Obsidian closes his eyes, more than slightly unnerved by the events of the night, but secure in the knowledge that for tonight everyone was ok and more than a tad curious as to what Older Ruby can tell them about the future, and what it holds.
"Thanks, mom..." Ruby says softly.
Rose had a feeling her new, interesting life was going to be more complicated than she first thought.