First episode of volume 2 aired last week and there was just one line that inspired this fic. You'll know it when you read it, probably.

A/N: There's gonna be a lot of POV shifts with the breaks so just be aware of that.

*Just a plea to not murder me in the future. I wrote this after only having seen one episode of Emerald's character so I'm well-aware that when we get future material, this probably won't be what her character is like. I'm just here to have a good time.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Protecting A Rose

Chapter 1.

She stood with posture erect, hands folded behind her back just as Cinder had instructed her to at a young age.

Like a soldier, like the expendable pawn she was.

But Emerald liked to believe - in some crevice of her mind - that Cinder harbored some form of favoritism toward her above all the others; even if it was just an iota, that was enough. She had always been one of the people closest to Cinder, and she intended to maintain her position even at the cost of her life.

Or anyone else's.

She looked seriously up at the woman in red, keeping her eyes trained on Cinder's mouth, focusing on the words she was speaking, absorbing them into her body; Cinder's orders were her lifeblood, after all. Every new line of them fueled Emerald to strive another day, and now was no different as she listened to the details of Phase 2.

She really liked the sound of it.

It was always a bit hard to keep her eyes away from Cinder's, especially when Emerald felt the eager excitement spreading through her veins like it was now. But making eye contact with her at the wrong time could be interpreted as a challenge or insolence, and could consequently mean certain death.

In Emerald's case, it was usually just scolding, but she never wanted to upset Cinder, so she avoided her eyes until she was asked for confirmation that she had heard every word the woman said.

"Do you understand?" Her voice carried over the dark air like a bat gliding, bearing its fangs.

At last, Emerald lifted her gaze and met Cinder's.

"Yes, ma'am."

Short, fast, and confident, like any proper soldier.

The grin she received from Cinder was more than enough of a reward for her, but it appeared the woman had an added bonus this time.

She strode up to her, heels clicking with perfect sound every time, their approaching echoes promising something worthwhile. Emerald closed her eyes as Cinder reached her, savoring the airy feeling of the hand on her head, ruffling lightly, as one would pet a dog.

And that was fine. She could be Cinder's servant in every sense of the word, so long as it meant things like this. Such a simple touch provided her with enough motivation to send all of Vale into chaos, but she knew she needed to focus her energies on the current mission.

"Good girl," Cinder cooed with a killer smile. She ran her hand down Emerald's cheek, tracing the line of her jaw and sending and unseen shudder through her pet's body before curling the nail of her index finger beneath the girl's chin. "Now pack your bags, dear. Classes start in two days."

"Guys, guys! Classes start today!" Ruby chirped excitedly. "I can't wait oooh gosh. Well, I mean I'm sure I'll be bored with all the lectures again by next week, but it's the feeling of going back and seeing everyone again in class and learning new material and the exchange students are gonna be showing up soon and-"

"Whoa there, little sis." Yang gently covered the girl's mouth with her palm. "Just chill for a sec, 'kay? I know you're excited but that's no reason to forget to breathe. Again."

"Hey!" Ruby wriggled away from her. "That was one time!"

"Still," Weiss spoke from across the room as she fixed her hair. "It's almost as though you're forgetting we have a week's worth of detention now because of that food fight yesterday."

"Ugh, I was trying to forget that part..." Ruby slumped dramatically down onto her partner's bed. "Weiss, why did you have to start that food fight?"

"Excuse me? You're the one who made that bold declaration, JNPR are the ones who threw the pie in my face, and Yang's the one who had them start tossing food in the first place!"

"Hey, don't pin this on me!" the accused whined.

"Um, guys?" Blake spoke up only when she needed to. "We should probably get going."

"Oh, you're right!" Ruby jumped up again and gathered her books quickly, slipping them into her bag. "Let's go, let's go! I wanna meet all the new people in our first class before it starts!"

Weiss and Yang let their brewing argument drop in favor of Ruby's excitement, and they too packed their things before following their leader out into the halls.

As soon as they made their way over to the main building, the atmosphere changed drastically from the easygoing air of the dorms.

The halls were busy and bustling with students making their ways to their lockers and lectures. However, some were dressed in their combat attire, not yet having received their school uniforms.

Those were the people Ruby was after.

She bounced excitedly at the edge of the crowd, and Weiss had to hold her by the hood to keep her from darting off.

"What's gotten into you?" she wondered, grunting with the effort of attempting to keep the girl still.

"Really." Blake was puzzled as well, turning her attention to Yang. "I mean, when I first met you two, you were basically forcing Ruby to socialize with me. So why is she so eager to do it now?"

"Oh, Blake," Yang sighed hopelessly. "It's not socializing she wants."

"What do you-"

"Just watch."

Blake's ears pricked curiously beneath her bow as her eyes strayed back to their young leader.

She quickly understood what Yang was getting at.

Ruby was quite literally bouncing up and down as jovial cheers squeaked past her lips, and it took everything Weiss had to keep her from running off as she gushed: "Oooh my gosh! He's got dual blades! And oh, oh! She's got a bow and elemental arrows! Ooohh holy cow and she's got-"

"Okay, I think you've seen enough for one morning," Weiss decided, taking both of Ruby's wrists and leading her away. "We need to get to class."

"Uwaah but Weiss! This is the only chance I'll get to see any new weapons before the tournament and that's so far awaaaayy! Everyone's gonna be putting them in their lockers from now on! C'mooon I just wanna see!"

"Sorry, sis." Yang slapped a palm to her back. "But Weiss is right- hey, that rhymes!"

"Oh my god..."

"Okay." Blake intercepted them before it could tumble any farther downhill. "Let's just get to class, alright?"

"Okaaay..." Ruby whimpered.

She trailed behind Weiss on their way to class then, holding onto her hand like a lost child in a crowd of strangers. They had gotten a little ways ahead of the other two, separated a bit amidst the flow of people.

Weiss could feel the disappointment palpably wafting around her partner, and when she cast a glance back over her shoulder, Ruby's head was hanging dejectedly. Weiss sighed and pulled her to the edge of the crowd to a quieter wall, taking a breather from the swarm.

Weiss wanted to cheer her up; she could not stand seeing Ruby so downhearted, even over something as simple as this. She turned to face her and let go of her partner's hands, only to hold onto her shoulders instead.

"Alright, think of it this way," Weiss began, and Ruby slowly lifted her head with a pitiable sniffle. She met Weiss' eyes, kind and soft now that they were out of plain sight, and there was a small, reassuring smile on the heiress' lips as she addressed her. "The tournament isn't very far off. So just think of it like a game; you wouldn't want to spoil the super-cool surprises of everyone's new weapons before they got a chance to use them in combat, now would you?"

Ruby thought on that point for a minute until her lower lip finally stopped trembling.

"Yeah..." She nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right, Weiss. It wouldn't be any fun to spoil all the cool weapons and abilities now. I'd wanna see them in action!" A wide grin upturned her lips. "Thanks, Weiss!"

"Good. Now let's get to class." The older girl turned away with a faint smile, glad that she could cheer her partner up.

As Ruby followed her through the crowds again, the brunette caught sight of a rather peculiar person, and could not keep her eyes from straying.

A girl with hair the color of lamb's ear leaves was staring back at her. Her eyes were deep crimson, and for a moment, Ruby might have thought she was a bit scary, until the girl broke out into an amiable smile. Ruby returned the gesture briefly before following after Weiss.

Maybe now that she had her own team, making new friends would not be so hard.

Emerald hissed as yet another student knocked into her, offering only a brief apology.

If not for Mercury to quite literally hold her back, she probably would have turned the hallway into a slaughter house by now.

"Bastards... she growled. "I swear, the next person who does that is getting flayed."

"No they're not," her companion sighed. "Not unless you want Cinder to demote you. Or worse."

She shuddered.

"Nothing's worse than that. Fine," she grunted, opting to change the subject.

At least they were not the only two inconspicuous people around Beacon.

Dozens of others also lacked a uniform, and Emerald grimaced at the thought of having to wear such a flimsy thing. She had been groaning both internally and externally about that tidbit all morning.

Presently, however, Mercury snapped her out of that reverie.

"Come on," he said, taking her by the arm. "We've gotta find the main office so we can get our stuff. And make sure you keep an eye out for the people we're looking for."

"I know that, dumbass," she hissed, yanking away from him. "It doesn't matter how many people are here at this place. Finding people to match that description shouldn't be too..."

Her voice trailed off as her feet stopped moving.

The sounds of the boisterous school around her died away for a split second, all other bodies turning gray in her eyes as she found exactly what she was looking for.

There was no mistaking it was her.

The girl with the red cloak.

The one that had intercepted one of Cinder's plans at a Dust shop a few months back.

Her target.

Her prey.

Emerald's lips curled into a devilish, hungry smile.

But she hid her exposed teeth behind her lips just as the girl looked toward her, and Emerald immediately softened her expression. When the girl smiled back, she knew she had her precisely where she wanted her.

A few seconds later, they broke eye contact as the girl was led away, and the world resumed motion in Emerald's eyes.

"Hey!" Mercury's voice ruined her fun yet again. "I said we gotta go. What's your deal?"

But Emerald did not snap at him this time. Instead, she turned slowly, showing him her hunter's smile.

"Oh, this is going to be fun, Merc. So much fun."

The first day back in classes after their two-week recess was refreshing to Ruby.

It felt good to get back into the swing of things, and surprisingly enough, she believed Weiss had rubbed off on her in the sense that she felt she was getting used to the routine of lectures; having some time off was nice and all, but she had felt so lazy with not much to do over break.

The prospect of training practices for the tournament was probably what she was most anticipating. Even the detention was not as bad as she had initially thought, considering her entire team was there with her.

At first, she was really scared that Weiss was going to be mad at her, scared that the heiress was going to be mortified at having gotten detention.

But Weiss never once complained as they served their sentence of cleaning cafeteria dishes for an hour after classes. In fact, Ruby could tell she was enjoying it, not only because Weiss was a sucker for cleaning and organizing things, but because she got to do so with her team – even if Yang was being an idiot most of the time.

Weiss only yelled once when the blonde had stacked her dishes dangerously high:

"Yang! Put them back immediately! What if they break and fall? Someone's going to get hurt, you oaf!"

It was obvious to Ruby that her partner was only looking out for all of them.

When they had finished up, Weiss had put her hands on her hips and declared she was satisfied with the work they had done that day, and maybe – just maybe – she would not mind doing this again for the rest of the week.

But they still had homework assignments, and Weiss was not about to let them start falling behind in their lectures.

She had made sure they all finished their assignments, even going so far as to help Ruby with her final one when the clock had passed 11PM and the young leader still had yet to change into her pajamas. Weiss had quickly assisted her in finishing up and insisted Ruby get some rest.

And Ruby knew it was because of Weiss that she presently felt so rejuvenated as she took her seat for their first class of their second day back.

Yang and Blake sat a few rows away from her, but Ruby was glad that Weiss' spot was right beside her. Especially now, considering the seat to her left that had been vacant up until this point was going to seat a new student starting today.

It was painfully obvious to Weiss how nervous her partner was about that, and the heiress herself was a bit conflicted as well; part of her wanted Ruby to make more friends and be happy with her new relationships, but another part of her wanted to keep her team to herself, keep an eye on them, especially her young leader.

She wanted to be Ruby's best teammate, and Weiss was unsure of if she should achieve that by letting Ruby make new acquaintances, or if she should keep her away from others.

Either way, Weiss wanted to protect the girl first and foremost. But holding a casual conversation with someone she would only see every other morning should not be so bad, right?

But it was clear just how nervous Ruby was, and Weiss slid in beside her to get her attention.

"Listen, if you're that uncomfortable with the whole thing, we can switch seats. That way you can still be near them, but not terribly close. I won't mind being next to them."

Ruby looked up at her, and for a second looked as though she might take Weiss' offer.

But she shook her head.

"No... I wanna do this! I wanna be brave and s-say hi to someone new! I mean, I'm sure they're gonna be nervous about everything too, right?" She made a triumphant fist, pretending it was not shaking as she presented her partner with a small smile. "But thanks, Weiss. I know you're just looking out for me, but I'll be okay this time!"

"Alright..." Weiss sat back in her seat. "But if you change your mind, just let me know and we can switch."

"Okay," Ruby nodded.

Students continued to file into the classroom for several more moments as the professor prepared the lecture for the day.

But there was a tangible shift in the atmosphere then, and several murmurs went up, indicating the new students had arrived.

There were three of them for this class – two girls and a boy – and they all went down the aisles to the professor's desk to greet him.

Ruby got a good look at all of them, recognizing the girl with light-green hair she had seen yesterday in the hallway, only now she wore the standard uniform. That girl had smiled kindly back at her, and Ruby prayed the empty seat beside her would go to her.

When the professor directed her toward Ruby's row, it was clear that was the case, and the brunette felt a bit of a bubbling in her stomach.

Weiss noticed who was being sent to sit beside her partner as well, and she did not know how to feel about it. She was unsure of whether she liked the fact that it was a girl sitting with Ruby. As far as she was concerned, boys were either brainless barbarians or brazen brutes, and girls were either ditzy airheads or cunning tramps.

Well, at least that was how Weiss viewed strangers, until they proved themselves otherwise.

Perhaps a girl would be easier for Ruby to communicate with, at least.

Weiss nudged her partner, her final silent inquiry as to what it was she wanted to do. But Ruby gave a small shake of her head, indicating she wanted to stay in her current seat.

Weiss nodded, accepting her decision before directing her gaze to the new arrival.

She seemed... awfully confident with herself, holding her head high as if she owned the place. It irked Weiss a bit, but she kept her comments to herself as the girl took her seat beside Ruby, though she still kept a wary eye on her.

Ruby was a mess, hands clasped together in her lap and fingers fumbling with her skirt as she cast nervous glances at the girl. I-Is this a good time to talk to her and say hi? Did I miss the right timing?! Oh, god...

"Hello."

"Eep!" Ruby jumped, and Weiss quickly whipped her head to the side to see what was amiss. But it was just a great overreaction on Ruby's part; the new girl had spoken.

"Sorry...?" Emerald said uncertainly. Geez, what's up with this kid?

"Oh! No no no no, it's fine, it's totally fine!" Ruby peeped. "I just was trying to think of when to say hi and then you caught me off guard when you said it first and uh... h-hi..." She lowered her head in silent apology for the small disturbance she had caused.

Emerald blinked her dark red eyes at her, not sure what to make of this girl. Ugh. But I have to make a good first impression on her. How the hell do I do this...?

"Well..." She dragged the word, and Ruby gulped. "My name's Emerald. What's yours?"

The brunette perked up instantly.

"Ruby! Ruby Rose! It's nice to meet you, Emerald!"

"Y... Yeah. Sure," she grimaced.

Watching the scene, Weiss could not tell if the new girl was nervous, or if it was something else about her that threw the heiress off. Either way, Ruby was happy, and Weiss let it slide, directing her attention back to the front of the room.

"S-So!" Ruby continued in a hyperactive stammer. "So like um, i-if you need a tour around the school or something, I could help you out!"

"They gave us a tour yesterday, actually." I don't need your help.

"O-Oh, right... W-Well if you need help with any of the lessons, just ask me!"

"I think I'll be fine..." What could you possibly teach me that I don't already know?

"I... I see..." Ruby felt she might cry.

Emerald froze, realizing she would fail her mission at this rate. As much as she knew this was going to be annoying as all hell, she cleared her throat and spoke up.

"But... I don't really know where the cafe is. Maybe you could show me sometime...?" Just something. She just needed this girl to trust her for a while.

That clearly would not be too difficult.

Ruby straightened up instantly, a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

"Yes-Yes of course! I can go anytime! Oh, just not after classes this week cause um we... kinda got detention for something ahaha. B-But next week for sure-"

"Ruby." Said girl turned around when her partner spoke her name. Weiss met her eyes and spoke patiently. "If you want to go with her, then go. I'll tell Professor Goodwitch you're helping one of the new transfer students. I'm sure she'd be delighted to hear that. Just Yang, Blake and I are more than enough to clean up the cafeteria, and I'm sure she'd rather have you do that. If you want to." She made sure to give Ruby the option to refuse if she wanted to; the last thing Weiss wanted to do was force her to go along with this.

"Weiss..." Ruby looked to her a bit nervously. This meant she would be alone with Emerald... She knew full-well that Weiss was giving her the opportunity to make new friends, but also was not forcing her to; she wanted Ruby to make whatever decision she felt most comfortable with. "Then..." she mumbled. "If you could... tell Professor Goodwitch... that'd be great, Weiss."

Weiss held her gaze, silently asking her if she was really okay with this. Ruby felt a prickle of warmth at her partner's concern, but she had made up her mind. She nodded and smiled.

"Alright." Weiss agreed before lowering her voice to a whisper so that only Ruby could hear. "Just keep your scroll on you, and if you need me for any reason, I'll get to you."

"Mmhm," she murmured. "Thanks, Weiss."

A slight huff from Emerald reminded Ruby of her presence, and she quickly spun back around. "Oh, right! Let me introduce you!" She slid to one side to present her partner. "Emerald, this is Weiss! She's my partner!"

The heiress dipped her head in greeting, giving nothing away in her expression as she met the new girl's eyes.

"Welcome to Beacon," she said with a smile that she had perfected over the years, one that was impossible to tell whether it was genuine or not.

Emerald felt the corner of her lip curl up into a faint snarl, but it was almost undetectable.

"It's good to be here," she said sweetly.

Their gazes held as they tried to read one another, neither giving so much as an inch.

Weiss tried a different method instead.

"So, what brings you here, anyway? Are you just here for the tournament? Why Beacon of all places?" She would make her judgements based on the girl's answers.

Emerald narrowed her eyes, honestly caught off guard by the question. That's none of your damn business- she wanted to snap.

"Well..."

But before she could say any more, the professor called for attention. Ruby quickly looked to the front of the room.

"Oh! Class is starting! Let's talk more later, okay?" She slid back into place between the two girls-

-but not before their eyes met one last time, hard and indifferent.

"Ugh!" Emerald knocked her fist against the wall of their dorm room. "What a passive-aggressive bitch! I mean, god!"

She had been pacing the room for ten minutes that evening as Mercury sat on his bed languidly, flipping through a comic book. So far, they had been put in a room together with no other students, therefore Emerald had deemed it safe to be able to talk aloud about their private matters.

Damn good thing too, because she had a hell of a lot to say.

Mercury looked up from the comic with feigned interest.

"Are you still going on about the Schnee girl?"

"Yes!" she spat. "But god, you should've seen her this morning! The way she was talking to me. What a snide little shit. Let me tell you, the second the little red moron spilled the beans about her being the Schnee heiress, I almost jumped for joy. I can't tell you how happy it makes me in knowing the White Fang are ruining her family business a little more each day and we're a part of that," she said proudly.

"That's great," he said, clearly uninterested. "But the most important part is that you talked to the leader, right? Do you think she trusts you?"

"Hell if I know," she growled. "It's only been one day, and with the way that bitch kept talking to me, she might've gotten her suspicious." She punched the wall again before unclenching her fist. "But I did get the little one to talk a bit. It was hard not to strangle her though, I'll tell you that. Every damn time I opened my mouth, all she did was stutter back or talk rapid-fire. So annoying. I can't wait to-"

"That won't be for a while yet," he cut her off. "So for now, just stay focused. And don't forget to report to Cinder."

"I know," she snapped, pulling her scroll from her pocket.

She loved calling Cinder, but loved it even more when the woman answered. Sometimes she was busy, but it was clear this evening that she had set aside time to speak with Emerald specifically.

Seeing her projection on-screen and hearing her voice was wonderful after suffering an entire day at Beacon Academy. She stayed professional as she spoke with Cinder, delighted when the woman seemed proud of them for finding the red-cloaked girl already.

"Just stick to the plan and all will go perfectly," Cinder promised. "I know these things may take some time, but the sooner the better. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Red lips curved into a smile. "That's my girl. You're doing so well already, so as you're going about the mission, do have some fun with those girls."

"Really?" It was an unexpected invitation, but not unwelcome in the slightest, and definitely not one she was foolish enough to refuse. "Thank you, Cinder."

"Of course, child." With that, the call was ended.

That was probably one of Emerald's favorite things about working under Cinder's wing; she let Emerald play with her food first before going in for the kill.

And her prey, the girl with the red cloak – Ruby – she was young, naïve, impressionable, trusting, eager for friendship and acceptance.

Emerald could hardly wait to coax her onto her back, have her expose her belly-

-and then lunge at her throat.

With the compromising thought in mind, she decided to retire for the night, eager to meet up with her unsuspecting target again tomorrow.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang had finished up their detention work in the cafeteria.

Weiss had been correct in guessing Glynda would approve of Ruby skipping in exchange for helping out a new student. The heiress had taken a bit of solace in the fact that Glynda had gone to confirm Ruby was where she should be and with whom she said she was with – that way, Weiss knew the professor had seen her leader and knew she was alright.

But Ruby was late in coming back to the room, and Weiss was starting to grow worried as she stared at her scroll. When the click finally came at the door, she looked up sharply, relieved to see her partner walk in.

"Sorry I'm late!" Ruby said. "We ended up talking a lot."

"Aw, your new friend?" Yang asked - Weiss had told the others where Ruby was.

Ruby stammered in response. "I-I don't think we're close enough to be called friends yet..."

"Oooh, I'm so proud of yoooou~!"

"Yang, no don't-!" But she was hoisted up into a crushing hug, groaning and struggling against her sister's grip.

"Easy, Yang," Blake chuckled.

The blonde hummed and set Ruby down, receiving a headbutt to the chin in retaliation.

"Either way," Weiss spoke up. "I hope she didn't cause you any trouble."

"Who, Emerald?" Ruby asked. Weiss winced when she said the girl's name so familiarly. But Ruby shook her head. "No, not at all! Well, she was a bit awkward with talking, but so was I! We're kinda the same in that sense, heehee."

"Geez, Weiss." Yang rolled her eyes at the heiress as she rubbed her sore chin. "Why do you gotta be suspicious of everyone?"

"I'm not suspicious of her!"

"Really now?"

"Oh, hush. She's just done nothing to prove herself to me yet..."

"Prove herself?" Yang parroted. "So she's gotta prove herself before you can let her be friends with my sister?"

"You know what I mean."

"Alright." Again, Blake interjected them. "Let's just call it a night, you guys."

Yang simply shrugged and climbed up to her bed, leaving Weiss sitting on hers, a bit miffed. Ruby noticed – of course she did, she always did – and crawled up next to her partner.

"It's okay, Weiss!" she beamed. "Like I said, I was nervous and she was nervous and it was a little weird for a while, but we got past that! I think if I just talk to her whenever I can, we can become friends!" She leaned into Weiss' side. "But thanks for worrying about me. It's... kinda nice to know you're looking out for me like that."

"...Yeah, yeah," Weiss sighed. "I'm sorry I'm being paranoid about this. Don't let me spoil your chances at making new friends. Just..." She bit her lip. "If she ever makes you feel uncomfortable or something, just get out of there."

"Okay." Ruby reached for Weiss' hand, curling her pinky around her partner's. "I will, Weiss. Promise."

That admittedly made the heiress feel better.

"Good. Now let's get to bed. Every day is one closer to the tournament and we need all the sleep we can get."

"Right!"

With a salute, Ruby climbed up onto her bed.

Once she was up, Weiss turned off the light and murmured goodnights to the others before curling beneath her blankets.

She would do her best to let Ruby be, even if it meant Weiss felt that stifling prickle in her chest.

A/N: I know this isn't what's gonna happen in the canon so please don't eat me, thanks. It's fun to write new characters like Emerald and Cinder, even if I don't end up getting their characters down pat.

Please review!