Door: A RWBY College AU

Chapter 1: Happy Birthday To You

"Make a wish Ruby! The sooner you blow out the candles, the sooner we can get to the best part!"

Ruby looked at the smiling faces that surrounded her, Yang's smile especially broad, Ruby herself wearing a small smile of her own. Her mothers and sister just finished singing Happy Birthday to her and were waiting for her to blow out the seventeen candles lit atop her layered strawberry cheesecake.

"You know, you guys could have just gotten the number candles instead. I'm sure someone is getting a slice with wax on it," she said dropping her head a little so her dark bangs obscured her left eye, the silver of her right peering a little bashfully at her family.

"What's the fun in that? Now make a wish! Otherwise someone getting a wax slice is totally all on you," Yang replied still beaming from the other side of the table.

Ruby was essentially stalling due to the lack of a wish. She had nothing in particular that she wanted to wish for, or rather, not a wish that could come true. She looked at her mothers, Summer and Raven, and her sister Yang, all smiling at her from across the table. In the end she just settled for taking the opportunity to silently express how grateful she was to have such a loving family, her father included as he would be showing up after his shift at the hospital ended. I love you all so much. And with that, Ruby blew out all of her candles in an attempt and a half.

"Yes!" Yang ran around the table and enveloped her baby sister in a massive hug. "Time for presents! I'll go get them." And with that, she was off.

In this time Raven had cleared the table to wish Ruby a happy birthday again complete with a hug before calling and following after Yang. "I'll help you with those. You're so excited one would think it was your birthday. Don't want you to accidently drop anything." She was met with a 'Thanks Mom two!' before rolling her eyes and following her oldest into the other room. At this point Summer Rose had cleared the table as well to wish her daughter a happy birthday again.

"Happy Birthday my little rose," she said as she gave her a hug and a kiss on the top of her head.

"Thanks Mom A." Ruby said returning the hug.

Summer chuckled. "It seems your father's odd sense of humor is a dominant genetic trait. I'm sure he'd be oddly pleased to hear that."

Ruby chuckled as well in response to this, recalling how her father often refers to Summer and Raven as 'mother of my children one and two' or 'A and B'. "Don't get his hopes up Mom. Then he might think there's a chance that either me or Yang have whatever gene it is that possesses a person to enjoy golf." Summer laughed at that.

"Never!" Yang chimed in hearing the tail end of that as her an Raven walked back into the kitchen and sat her gifts on the table. "Come on, open mine first!"

Ruby sat down at the table, Yang absolutely beaming and infecting Ruby with her excitement as she motioned for her to open a square package. She tore the wrapping paper away and was met with a brown box. "Just what I always wanted!" Ruby exclaimed in feigned over the top excitement as she clasped her hands together. "I've been needing to mail off a package."

"Oh Ruby, come on. Open it!"

The red head chuckled as she opened the box. What she found when she opened the box was an assortment of art supplies: watercolor paints and brushes, oil paints, a few small canvases, a set of sketching pencils, some charcoal, and at the bottom, a black hardcover sketch book with her name a the bottom right in red foil. She opened it to find a small inscription on the inside cover: To my dearest baby sister. Happy seventeenth birthday. Now go art like heck! Love, Yang. Ruby was incredibly moved. She rounded the table and wrapped her sister in as much of a bear hug as her small arms could give out.

"Thank you so much Yang!" she told her sister as she actively tried to squeeze her tighter, failing miserably.

"I knew you'd love it!" Yang replied wrapping her sister up in the bear hug Ruby tried giving her, picking her up off the ground a few inches and jostling her gently side to side.

"Yang.. too tight." Ruby managed to breath out through her smile.

"Oh, sorry Rubbles." Yang relinquished her hold on her sister, smiling still, and ruffled her hair once her feet were back on solid ground.

"You've got a couple more Ruby." Raven said. "And another one once your fath—".

At that moment the door in the kitchen burst open startling the occupants of the kitchen, a slightly disheveled looking man with golden hair looking around at the scene in the kitchen a little wildly before exclaiming "Dammit! I thought I'd make the candles."

"Tai! For the love of Oum.." Summer sighed, her hand resting over heart.

"I'm sorry." He huffed. "I got off early and wanted to make it in time to see Ruby blow out her candles and open presents" he finished as his face showed slight disappointment before a mysterious arm pushed him the rest of the way into the kitchen.

"Come on Tai, I say we made it plenty of time. Hey kiddo, happy birthday," the owner of the mysterious arm said as he closed the door behind him.

"Dad! Uncle Qrow!" Ruby bounded over to the two giving them each a hug as she smiled widely at them. "You missed the candles, but I've only opened one present and the cake is still intact. Come on." Ruby grabbed her father's arm and dragged him to the table as he let an excited 'Alright!' loose as he hadn't missed much.

"Mine second kiddo," Qrow threw out following them over to the table, eliciting a 'Hey!' and a furrowed brow from Tai before sitting his modestly sized package on the table. "Oh come on Tai, you gotta be quick." Qrow smirked.

"I'm opening all of these, trust me!" Ruby chimed in. The atmosphere in the room had done a great deal toward lifting Ruby's mood, though her family was unaware that her mood needed a pick up. What plagued her mood was what always plagued her mood, even at the brightest times, but this moment she was sharing with her family on her birthday offered Ruby a brief repose from that which always clouded any day. With this small blessing unknown fully in her mind, yet fully known in her heart, Ruby opened the present from her Uncle Qrow and a black pocket watch with red jewels on the front was revealed. Ruby marveled at the gift as she opened it to reveal a simple inscription on the inside: To Ruby. Love, Uncle Qrow. Before Ruby could jump up to attempt to crush her uncle in a 'bear hug', he had already made his way over to her and gave her a kiss on the top of the head. "Happy Birthday, kiddo."

"Thank you Uncle Qrow! It's beautiful.." she said as she turned the watch over in her hand and marveled at it once again.

"These next! From your mother and I." Raven said quickly, eliciting a 'Oh, come on!' from Tai that in turn elicited laughs from everyone else. "What did Qrow say about being quick?" she said to him and winked. The expression on Tai's face could only be described as taking on the form of a salty pout. Ruby tore open the wrapping on two presents that Raven pushed in front of her. "Sweet!" Ruby found herself to be the owner of a brad new pair of black, patent-leather Mr. Martin boots and a red hoodie with the logo of her favorite band, The Cushions, on the back.'

"Thank you both so much!" Ruby said as she stood and gave her mothers a hug.

"Think nothing of it my little rose." Summer said as Raven smiled at her and ruffled her hair.

"This one next Rubes!" Tai said a little too adamantly as he all but slammed the present he'd been nursing on the table, lacking the tact of Raven to wait precisely enough time to let the moment between Ruby and her mothers resolve.

"Yours is kind of the last one Tai" Raven said as she smirked at him and Summer laughed at his expense.

"Oh, come on." Tai groaned throwing his hands into the air in defeat.

"You kinda walked into that one Dad." Yang said shaking her head.

"Plus with how hard you slammed it on the table, I'd be surprised if I wasn't broken." Summer chuckled.

"Ruby, my dear," Tai started, regaining his composure and ignoring the chuckles reverberating through the room. "Happy seventeenth birthday. I know you're going to put it to good use." He finished as he smiled lovingly at her.

Ruby's interest was peaked as she started to tear away the shiny red wrapping paper. She gasped. Beneath the wrapping paper was the latest model of the Kanon Renegade DSLR line. She opened the box to find a bright red camera with a duo of matching lenses "Dad! What!? Thank you!" she fumbled excitedly with her words as she jumped up and threw her arms around him. "I'll call her Crescent Rose." Ruby cooed.

"I remembered you saying that you were wanting to get into making videos and also remembered that the model you got for Christmas way back when was the last Renegade model Kanon made before they started making them with video capabilities. And also wasn't red." Tai's smile was as broad as the one Yang had been wearing all night. "Regardless of what you choose your Art primary to be, I wanted to make sure you had the perfect tool to suit your needs."

"What Dad said!" Yang chimed in.

"Thank you all so much." Ruby's voice was small, but her heart swelled immensely as she made another round of giving everyone hugs.

"Speaking of primaries," Summer started, "tomorrow is the big day. As much as I know everyone would like this party to drag on into the AM, we have an early start tomorrow. So le—"

"Cake!" Ruby interrupted knowing where her mother was going with this.

"Yes, cake." Summer finished wrapping her 'little rose' in another hug.

The warm atmosphere continued throughout the night as the cake was cut and eaten, a few games were played, and a movie was watched, the mood only waning a bit when Tai tried to insist they let him see who was playing a round of golf he spotted as they scrolled through the TV guide. ('NO.' Ruby, Yang, Raven, Summer, and Qrow protested.) The night ended with Tai and Qrow bidding the others goodbye as they headed back to Vale, Tai letting the girls know he'd see them tomorrow sometime on their 'big day'.

"Alright girls. While you don't necessarily have a bed time, it'd probably be better to make sure you are well rested. And make sure you have everything you need packed." Summer concluded with a smile and a wink at Ruby who had begun to marvel at her camera again.

"Fiiiiiine," Ruby replied. "Yang! Help me take this to my room?"

"Sure thing Rubbles."

Yang had finished helping Ruby deposit her presents into her room before heading off to check her own luggage before bed. Ruby packed her new hoodie and pocket watch, leaving her boots out as she was intent on wearing them tomorrow, and her new camera into her suitcase before she sat her old one back on the desk.

Beacon. Tomorrow she was going to start Beacon University in Vale with her sister. Ruby had always dreamed of going to Beacon. Their Art Programs were some of the best in all of Remnant. She had always dreamed of going to Beacon. As Ruby thought of what tomorrow entailed for her, that small blessing that shone down on her when she was surrounded by her family and their love began to wane. Ruby found herself sitting on the floor against her bed, having at some point fished her wallet from the front pocket of her suitcase. She retrieved a photo from the wallet and was somewhat absently staring at it, seeing it and yet not seeing it. The picture was of a younger version of herself, around twelve or thirteen, beaming next to a girl with blonde hair and dark skin who was beaming equally as bright as the younger version of herself. Ruby didn't know when the tears started to pour or when that which always plagued her began to settle a dark cloud back around her. She never pulled the picture out to look at it. She was more or less afraid to. Unlike photos people usually kept in their wallets to show people, given the situation should arise, she kept this one tucked deep inside her wallet, taking solace in the fact that it was there, that all the memories, the good and the bad, but mostly the good, were real, and that her friend had been. As Summer approached her daughter's slightly cracked door to check on her and wish her a good night, the sound of Ruby's quiet sobs reached her ears.

"Ruby?"

She gently pushed her youngest daughter's door. Once her form came into view, her heart panged with concern as she saw Ruby's small frame shaking slightly, head between her knees, a photo clutched in her hands as her breaths hitched and came a little unevenly as she sobbed.

"Ruby?"

She made it over to her daughter in three long strides before she crouched by her side and wrapped her arms around her. Despite all of this Ruby didn't seem to notice her mother's presence until her mother said her name a third time and rocked her slightly, causing the younger rose to jump. Ruby lifted her head from her knees and noticed her mother for the first time, eyes filled with concern. Ruby immediately wrapped her arms around her mother and buried her head into her collar, sobbing harder than she had been before, never relinquishing her hold on the old photo.

"It's okay Ruby, I'm here." Summer whispered soothingly to her youngest, rocking her still.

"We were supposed to go to Beacon together," Ruby sobbed.

"I know my little rose, I know. It's okay, I'm right here."

Summer continued to rock back and forth with her daughter, whispering what she hoped were words of comfort to her. And as she did, the hand that still held the photo was wrapped around her in such a way that when she turned her head slightly, she could see the beaming face of a thirteen year old, and years dead Arslan Atlan.