Usually, when you get your soul-mark, it's a sign of celebration, of happiness, of relief. But all Ruby felt was the exact opposite. She felt dread, fear, and sadness. Her soul-mark was the same color as her sister's, and the same handwriting. The difference was the phrase. Yang's said "Blake", just one simple name. Was that the name of their soulmate or were they speaking of someone else? Ruby wouldn't know until it happened.

Ruby's phrase was a bit longer and embarrassing due to its implications, "It's heiress, actually."

Apparently she will be corrected about some girl, Ruby doesn't know why or whom, she didn't want to know. Ruby thought it was a little funny how the phrase was written so carefully and so beautifully. In a beautiful dark purple tint.

That's why Ruby decided not to tell her sister. She couldn't ruin her sister's happiness. Ruby was glad that her mark appeared on the inside of her arm, she could easily hide it with her long sleeve shirts, even when she wore her sleep attire, she could just not wave her arms around, and hide it.

Ruby knew their soulmate wasn't going to be shared. If she was then Ruby was pretty sure that Yang would have another mark with Ruby's own red handwriting, like how her mom, dad and Raven (Yeah Ruby knew about Raven, it wasn't hard to figure out after Yang had dragged her out to look for her after her mom died) had each other's colors and handwriting, but Yang didn't. And neither did she, she didn't have any type of yellow handwriting. Why had the Gods given her such a cruel joke. Was she destined to be in love with someone that didn't love her back? What had she done to deserve this?

Ruby felt like sobbing, and she did. Quietly and alone in her bedroom as she slowly and painfully fell asleep.

-line break-

"Come on Rubes, it's time to get ready to go to the airship!" Yang bursted into Ruby's room, loud as ever.

The blonde joyously bounced to Ruby's bedside, shaking her vigorously, waking the poor red head.

"Okay! Okay! I'm up, I'm up!" Ruby cried, turning over to face the wall, hoping Yang will leave. The younger girl wasn't sure if her eyes were puffy and she wasn't going to risk finding out now.

Yang huffed, walking back to Ruby's door, "You better be up and ready in a couple of minutes!" She tapped the side of the door, showing off her soul-mark on her wrist, before heading out and shutting the door.

Ruby sighed, swinging her legs over her bed, planting her small, pale, feet onto the cold, wooden floor, causing the rose to shiver slightly. She had to get ready. She was going to attend Beacon now. A couple of years early but, still, she was grateful.

Ruby shook her head, ridding her mind of all thoughts except for the thought of getting ready.

After Ruby carefully put on her combat attire, she packed a duffel bag with essentials and a couple of clothing outfits, including her nightwear. She was now ready to travel. Now to wash her face. She probably looked awful, bags under her eyes, redness surrounding her iris, and to top it off, she probably also had a painfully red nose from crying.

She entered her bathroom, quickly washing her face, making her feel refreshed and ready to start the day.

"Yang! I'm ready, let's go!" Ruby shouted in a slightly forced giddiness. She was absolutely stoked to attend Beacon, but she still couldn't get rid of her bitterness. It was okay though, she loved her sister more than the small bile of anger in her stomach.

Yang popped her head from her respective bedroom and grinned. "Alright sis, lead the way." She chuckled, following after a scoffing Ruby. "Whatever." Ruby scoffed playfully.

-line break-

Yang tackled her sister into a bear hug, as they took off on an airship towards Beacon, crushing the air out of her. Ruby felt a slight bit of resentment as Yang's wrist touched the back of Ruby. She didn't want to be reminded of her destiny of loneliness. She didn't want to be reminded of her jealousy-

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" The older sister exclaimed.

Ruby half hissed, half gasped, "Please stop."

"But I'm so proud of you!" She released Ruby from her death grasp.

"Really sis, it was nothing."

"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees."

Ruby rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "I don't want to be the "bee's knees", okay?" She glanced down at her knees, almost as if contemplating what 'bee's knees' would look like, "I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."

Yang frowned at Ruby's reaction, she had expected more of a... pazaz. "What's with you? Aren't you excited?"

"Of course I'm excited... I just-" Ruby sighed heavily, "I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything." And I don't want to be there when you meet your soulmate nor, do I want to be reminded at every moment, Ruby thought bitterly.

Yang gave her sister a one-armed hug, soothing her sister, not knowing she was only aggravating the reaper. "But you are special."

"Yes. Yes I am." Ruby said through gritted teeth.

-line break-

"Wow." Yang and Ruby both awed as they stepped out of the airship.

Yang grinned as she looked at Beacon in all its glory, "The view from Vale's got nothing on this!"

Deciding to ignore Yang, Ruby quickly latched onto something she loved, something that wasn't marked by destiny. "Oh my gosh, sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And that girl has a fire sword! A freaking fire sword!" Ruby tried to go up to the girl to check out her weapon but, was sadly and painfully pulled away by her hood, "Ow! Ooww!"

Ruby quickly slapped Yang's hands away, as she adjusted her hood to a less tight knot.

"Easy there, little sister. They're just weapons!" Yang dismissed, not understanding how precious weapons were to Ruby.

A harsh scoff escaped Ruby's mouth, her mouth slipping into a tight frown, "Maybe they mean nothing to you but, they mean everything to me Yang. They're an extension of ourselves, they don't require a fate set soul-mark. Whatever, you wouldn't understand." Ruby huffed, feeling her anger steam off a little.

"Where did this come from?" Yang glowered, "Is this because you don't have a soul-mark? Well I'm sorry but, that isn't my fault, Ruby! Get over it, maybe you're a late bloomer, maybe you just aren't meant to-" Yang was cut off by a heated glare from her younger sister, causing her to quickly shut her mouth, before turning away from Ruby. "Oh look at that! My friends are here, I'm gonna go catch up with them. 'Kay, see ya, bye!" And with that Yang swiftly ran away from Ruby, accidentally or maybe even purposely pushing Ruby as said girl fell back into a luggage cart, sending cases flying.

"What are you doing?!" A voice screeched.

"Uh, sorry?" Ruby sarcastically apologized, not feeling the best.

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, grabbing a case from under her, before it being snatched from her hands.

"Give me that! This is Dust-mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!" The girl covered in white continued to screech. How had this girl not lost her voice by now.

"Look-"

The girl took out a red vial from the case. It was clearly not sealed right. Ruby could see a bit of Dust leaking out. "What are you, brain-dead?" She scolded. "Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!"

"Ye-Yeah I-" Ruby felt a speck of Dust get caught in her throat, making Ruby cough violently.

The girl clad in white disregarded the fact that a girl was coughing up a storm, almost coughing up her lung, to continue her yelling, "Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself?!"

What the rich, snooty girl failed to realize was that she was just adding more and more Dust upon the poor girl. Ruby always had a sensitive nose and today it wasn't any less sensitive.

Ruby sneezed.

And Ruby exploded.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

Of course the older girl would put all the blame on Ruby.

"Look, girl-" Ruby tried to speak up again, only to be cut off again.

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

The reaper felt the anger boiling up inside her again.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters, so... watch where you're going!"

You can only bottle up so many emotions. She could let go a little, this wasn't her sister so it was a little okay.

"Look, I was trying to apologize, you stuck up bitch!" Ruby growled, her hands trembling.

"It's heiress, actually."

Ruby's heart dropped. No. This wasn't supposed to happen so soon. She wasn't prepared to face this yet. Ruby's anger flipped into dread, as if it were a light switch.

This was her soulmate- Her sister's soulmate. "Blake.." Ruby felt her mouth say in a hushed whisper.

It might have been a figment of Ruby's imagination but, she thought she saw Blake's bow twitch, before her stare was directed onto her.

"Who are you?" Blake asked heatedly.

And that was all it took for Ruby to know that she wasn't a soul-mark for Blake. No surprise, no smiles, just pure confusion. Pure, suspicion, tense confusion.

"I- Your-" Ruby stuttered before exhaling a big huff. She didn't know she was holding her breath. "I'm Ruby." She finally answered.

Blake frowned, her brows forming a crease. "How do you know my name."

"Hey! I'm still here you know?!" The annoying Dust girl butted in to Ruby's relief, because Blake seemed to quickly shift her glare back onto the other girl.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Weiss smirked in obvious triumph, "Hmph! Finally! Some recognition!" She gloated, turning up her nose into the air as she spoke.

Blake grew an evil glint in her eye as she tore down into the girl's ego, "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Caught off guard, Weiss stomped her foot, visibly getting angry, "Wha- How dare- The nerve of... Ugh!" She turned on her heel and walked off with her manservants on toe.

"Great, um- thank you, Blake." Ruby turned to Blake, only to find her already leaving the vicinity, only sparring her a side glare as she walked away.

Ruby dropped to her knees, her heart pounding in her ears, "Welcome to Beacon."

A hand loomed over Ruby's crestfallen face. "Hey...I'm Jaune."

She took his hand, pulling herself up from the ground. "Ruby." She squinted her eyes at the guy. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

-line break-

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" Jaune finished ranting, walking alongside Ruby, who nodded along.

"Yeah, it is a valid sickness, but, you should start taking motion sickness pills before you travel Jaune, it could be the deciding factor of a life or death situation."

"Right?! But yeah, I'll buy meds for it soon, anyways, the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue - ladies love it!"

Ruby had a pretty hard time believing that bold lie, she giggled, already feeling better from earlier. "Do they?"

"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind." Jaune babbled, before slumping forward in defeat.

Ruby rolled her eyes playfully, "So... I got this thing!" She pulled out Crescent Rose and stabbed it into the ground.

"Woah! Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!" Ruby grinned proudly.

"A-wha..?" Jaune asked dumbfounded.

Ruby cocked it, as she smiled still, "It's also a gun."

Jaune nods, understanding now what it was, "Oh. That's so cool!"

"So what've you got?"

"Oh! I, uh..." Jaune unsheathed a sliver blade, with a blue hilt, "I got a sword!"

"Oooooh!" Ruby fawned, inspecting every inch of the sword.

"Yeah and I have this shield too!" He unclipped his scabbard, rose his arm and expanded the metal into his defense.

Ruby reached forward and lightly touched his shield, "So, what do they do?"

Jaune caught off guard, accidentally expanded and unexpanded his shield, before placing it back onto his belt, "The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..."

Ruby tilted her head to the side in confusing, "Wouldn't it still weigh the same?"

"Yeah, it does..." Jaune sighed dejectedly.

Ruby chuckled, "Well I'm kind of a weapon's buff, so I guess I kinda did go overboard in designing her."

Jaune choked on air, "Wait- you made that?"

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons!" Ruby patted her sweetheart. "Didn't you?" She asked curiously.

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune looked at his sword fondly, with a small smile.

"That's amazing, that was a long time ago and your sword still looks as sharp as the day it was forged! It must be forged by the best of the best!" Ruby admired, looking over the sword again.

Moving on, Ruby switched subjects, "So why'd you talk to me back there? In the courtyard?" She was honestly curious as to why.

"Eh, why not? My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'"

Ruby hummed in acknowledgement before stopping abruptly, scanning her surroundings, "Hey, where are we going?"

Jaune frowns, "Oh, I don't know! I was following you!" He quickly looks around, "Y-You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some kind of recognizable landmark? Is, uh... Is that a 'no'?"

Ruby laughed nervously, "Yeah, that's a 'no'."

-line break-

A/N: Yeaaahhhh, new story ahhhh. Me and my horrendous update schedule ahaha. Well I'm so angsty so why not make a one-sided soulmate thing. Idk what will be the end game but you know, whatever happens in the story happens. Just know it won't be Rosegarden or Lancaster. Those are a definite no. Anyways reviews are heavily appreciated! Makes me want to update a lot faster!