A long boring note: Huh. I guess we're doing this. All right. It's neat to see so many people are already into an idea like this. Just for the sake of it, we should probably explain why we're doing this. We enjoy RWBY, but personally, we think it always had some problems. For us, what really hooked us into the concept was the first trailer, and that beautiful haunting tone it had. So, we were a little disappointed to find out that the actual show itself tended to skew very light. That, and the fact that admittedly, the first season kind of ignores its main cast for about half of its runtime so we can get a bunch of Jaune episodes. The purpose of this story, and the challenge we laid ourselves out for writing it, was trying to recapture the sort of dark enchanted feeling of a classic Grimm fairy tale/dark fantasy, while refocusing a lot of the narrative around the interactions and relationships within Team RWBY itself. We're going to try our best to keep as much of the basic framework of the original intact (four girls go to a school to learn how to fight), but add a bunch of new and surprising twists to make the whole thing a bit juicier. And darker. Seriously, that is the last darkness warning you're going to get. That's not to say there won't be anything charming and fun, but seriously, we might go some places. That's your warning. That's it. Done. Anyway, if you like what you see, let us know. We're usually terrible with releasing new chapter updates, but it has been scientifically proven in the most advanced laboratories that feedback makes write faster. That's not a joke. Anyway, enjoy.

"You have no idea how much trouble you're in."

That was not a true statement. Ruby was very much aware of how much trouble she was in. She could immediately tell how much trouble she was in when she saw her father march into the police station at two in the morning, with a vicious scowl on his face. She knew she was really in trouble when during the long ride back home, he refused to say a single word to her, no matter how many times she tried to explain herself. And then she knew she was really, really, really in trouble when upon re-entering her home, his first and only command to her was to go to bed, and an explanation that he would talk to her in the morning. He believed that she should have slept and reflected upon her actions before he verbally tore her heart out.

He was foolish to assume that she would be able to sleep.

That was one of the main reasons she was trembling as she sat on the living room couch at precisely 9:30 AM, her father towering above her with his arms crossed, burning holes through her heart with his disappointed gaze. The television was on behind him, where a white-haired newscaster was reporting on a tragedy that had taken place the night before. Ruby only picked up a few words through osmosis—White Fang, transport rig, eight wounded—but enough for her mind to form the building blocks of a rendition of the events. Normally, a terrorist strike like that would consume her attention for hours as she scoured through all the necessary details, but she was distracted by the irony of the fact that her living room was about to become the location of her own personal tragedy.

"Look, dad," Ruby said timidly, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"You're damn right I have a lot of questions," stated Tai. "My first question… what the hell is that?"

Tai gestured to the couch, and Ruby nervously glanced at the massive crimson scythe that rested upright against the back, its blade directed toward her head.

"That's Crescent Rose," said Ruby said, crossing her legs.

"What?"

"It's a… steel-bladed scythe that transforms into a bolt-action, .50 caliber sniper rifle," Ruby said quickly.

"Why does it have a name?" he asked, discouraged.

"I gave it a name."

"Why did you give it a name?"

"Because… I might have… built it," Ruby explained.

"You built that thing?" Tai asked, growing increasingly concerned. "What did you build it out of? How did you build it? Who taught you how to do something like that?"

"Well, I built it out of stuff lying around the house, mostly," said Ruby cautiously. "It took me two years. Okay, twenty months. I mainly used pieces of scrap metal from anything that had already broken, or sometimes I bought material online using my allowance money."

"I thought those packages were make-up?" asked Tai.

"No. Machinery. In tiny boxes. Anyway, I made it down in the basement—"

"Okay, okay, never mind that," Tai shook his head. "Who taught you how to use it?"

Ruby gulped. "Um… I might have been receiving some training from Uncle Qrow."

"Qrow" The word left Tai's mouth with disdain. She suspected that he already knew Qrow was somehow responsible. Whenever something went wrong in their household, Tai always seemed to blame his bad-luck-brother-in-law. Usually, it was a sign of frustration, but she knew that the scythe gave her away. Not many Huntsmen knew how to handle scythes, and of those who did, her Uncle was the only one alive to pass on the knowledge.

"He shows up about once a week to help me practice," said Ruby. "We would go out back in the woods, and he would teach me everything he knew. He's been doing that for the past few years."

"Unbelievable," Tai muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I am going to kill that man. I swear to God, if he ever shows up again—"

"He won't!" Ruby stuttered. "I promise, he won't be helping me anymore."

"You're damn right he won't," Tai claimed. "As far as I'm concerned, we're selling that scythe to the scrap yard."

"Wait, what?" Ruby exclaimed.

"And you're grounded for a month," Tai added. "And, you are going to pay me back every coin you spent building this dangerous thing. Quite frankly, you're lucky I'm even letting you off that easy."

"Dad, come on. You're being ridiculous!"

"I'm being ridiculous?" Tai vented. "You've been practicing in the middle of the woods with that homeless lunatic behind my back for years, you spend my money on extremely dangerous weaponry without my consent, and you sneak out of the house in the middle of the night to go to Vale, one of the most crime-ridden cities in the entire Kingdom, all so you can buy Dust, which you're not even legally old enough to get. That is dangerous, and reckless, and so stupid of you. Do you know what could have happened to you in that city? You could have been robbed, or raped, or killed—"

"I was fine!" Ruby protested. "I know how to take care of myself. I fought those bad guys, and I won."

"You got lucky," said Tai. "You're a fifteen-year-old carrying a weapon too big for you, who is way out of her element. If those goons happened to be armed, you would be dead right now."

"They were hurting someone," said Ruby. "I couldn't just let them get away with it. Besides, I had a chance to escape. I only chose to fight them because I knew a hundred percent that I would win."

One out of five odds.

"Ruby, can't you see that this is bigger than that?" Tai groaned. "I'm thinking about your future, too. You have an arrest on your record now. That is permanent. Any school or any job you ever apply to is going to know about what you did. And they're not going to pay attention to the fact that you stopped a criminal. They're going to look at the fact that you tried purchasing Dust without a license, and all of the property damage you caused to that store, and the fact that you cut someone's arm off. They're going to take one look at that weapon, and think you're not reliable enough to work for them. Nobody—and I mean nobody—is going to look at what you did and think you are the person that they're looking for."

Suddenly, there was a sharp knock on the door, and Tai groaned. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's the mailman. Wait there. This isn't finished."

As Tai walked to the door, Ruby judged her options. The money and the grounding didn't bother her as much, but the thought of losing Crescent Rose, after all the hard work she put into it, was something she couldn't afford. Her first thought was to run upstairs and get Yang. Tai was nicer to his children when they were together, and Yang would certainly argue in her favor. Wouldn't she? Surely, she wouldn't side with her father. Yang wasn't the kind of person who cared about what Ruby did with her life, so long as she did it well. When she snuck out of the house, Yang didn't rat her out; she merely told her that if she was going out to buy liquor, she needed to buy enough for the two of them. That might have been a joke, though. Probably was a joke. It was a joke.

Unfortunately for Ruby, she did not have the chance to think of any other options, because her attention was instantly drawn to her father, who was standing in stunned silence in the open doorway. Ruby strained her neck to peer around him, and when she saw the "mailman" that had garnered her father's attention, the silence overcame her as well.

Ruby did not have objective standards of strength, intellect, or beauty, but it was clear just from a single glance that the woman possessed all three in spades. Her posture: straight. Her shoulders: broad. Her age: late forties. Her blonde hair: pulled back into a bun. Her complexion: fair. Her eyes: green. Her mouth: affixed to a permanent scowl. Her dress: formal. White, long-sleeved, button-down shirt. Black pencil skirt that extended to the knee. Black high heels. Violet handbag made from fine leather. Her purpose: unknown.

"Glynda," Tai muttered nervously. "It's… it's good to you again."

"Hello, Taiyang," the woman named Glynda said plainly. "It's been a long time."

"Yeah. How long has it been? Twenty years?"

"Twenty-six," Glynda said with certainty. "The night of our graduation. I see you've been quite busy since then."

"Well, yes," Tai stammered. He coughed into his hand. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I was sent here on behalf of the Kingdom of Vale. Right now, I'm just admiring your house," Glynda stated calmly. "Mind if I come in?"

"You know, this really isn't the best time—"

"I think it's the perfect time," Glynda stated. "You really would not want to keep me waiting. So, may I come in?"

Tai took a deep breath, and slowly, he moved out of the way, allowing her to step inside the house. Her heels clicked against the wooden floorboards she moved swiftly and efficiently inside. Tai shut the door behind her, and moved quickly towards the stairs.

"If there's something wrong with Yang's admission, I'll go get her—"

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with Yang's admission," said Glynda. "I'm here to talk about…"

Her eyes darted around the room, searching, studying, before she finally noticed the terrified girl on the couch, sitting next to a piece of weaponry twice her size. Ruby nearly melted under her gaze.

"Ah, Ruby Rose," Glynda said confidently. "Exactly the person I was looking for."

"H-hi," Ruby responded in kind. She timidly stuck out her hand, which Glynda gripped and shook forcibly. Ruby could have sworn her arm was about to be ripped out of its socket. Glynda cocked her head, carefully observing the girl as she spoke in monotone.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Glynda Goodwitch, Professor of Aura and Semblance Studies at Beacon Academy. Is that your weapon there? On the couch?"

Ruby nodded, mortified to utter a single word.

"Very impressive. It's self-made, I assume?"

"Y-yes," Ruby said meekly. "And it also… turns into a, um, .50 caliber sniper rifle… I'm sorry did you say you're from Beacon? The Beacon? The official Huntsmen school of Vale Beacon?"

"I did, yes."

"And you and my dad know each other?"

"We both went to Beacon when we were students," her father quickly jumped in. "I didn't know she had taken a job there. It wasn't like we were close when we knew each other, anyway."

"Your father and I dated for about ten months before he dumped me," Glynda said with a simple shrug. Tai smacked himself in the forehead. "It's in the past, however, and completely irrelevant as to why I'm here. And although it's true that I never entered a relationship since that point, please do not take it to mean in any regard that your father broke my heart beyond the point of repair. I merely fell in love with my work, is all."

Ruby blinked. "That… okay, I guess…"

"Ruby, do you understand what we at Beacon Academy try to do?" Glynda asked seriously, returning to her mission without missing a step.

"I… yes, I think so," Ruby said, trying to keep track of everything being thrown at her.

"Well?" Glynda asked impatiently. "What is it?"

"You take students from different combat schools in the Kingdom, and train them to become Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"Essentially, you're correct," Glynda explained. "But what are Huntsmen and Huntresses, specifically?"

Badass, Ruby immediately thought, though she quickly brushed that aside. She tried to pick the answer that would least offend the most likely incredibly dangerous woman in front of her. "Soldiers?"

"Not quite. Huntsmen and Huntresses are—aside from Dust—the most valuable commodity a Kingdom can ever produce. They serve as our first and last line of defense against threats that seek to destroy us from both within and without. They are those who have displayed a mastery of combat techniques, and a mastery over their own Soul, allowing them to perform feats that would normally be impossible. Huntsmen and Huntresses are not just soldiers. Anyone can go to a combat training school, or join the Valian military. They are meant to serve as the best and brightest our Kingdom has to offer, and our role at Beacon Academy is not to create soldiers, but to find these people and refine them so that they can best serve Vale, and Humanity at large."

Glynda walked over to the couch, and took a seat next to Ruby, placing her hands on her lap. Ruby awkwardly scooched to the side. Even at close proximity, Ruby could see that the professor's breathing was steady and low, and that her eyes never broke away from their conversation.

"Ruby, do you know how many students are accepted into Atlas Academy every single year?"

"I don't know," Ruby replied honestly.

"One thousand," stated Glynda. "Despite being the smallest of the Four Kingdoms, Atlas accepts nearly one thousand students every year from its military and research schools, and trains them to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, through whatever methods they find… adequate. Haven Academy, in Mistral, accepts roughly half that number. Shade Academy accepts two hundred students every year because of Vacuo's naturally poor conditions. Do you know, Ruby, how many new students Beacon Academy accepts every year?"

Ruby did know. It was difficult for her not to know of the number. When Yang received her acceptance letter, she literally would not stop talking about how lucky she was to have beaten such impossible odds, and how talented she must have been in order to get accepted to such a prestigious school. It was, to be fair, a great source of accomplishment, and Ruby was very glad for her half-sister. But because of that bragging, the number had been burned thoroughly into her brain, and she answered Glynda's question without hesitation.

"Forty. They stay for four years, so there are never more than one hundred and sixty students attending Beacon at any one time."

"Correct," said Glynda. "Vale is the largest Kingdom in the world, with a population of fifty million, and with over one hundred and fifty combat schools inside our borders. We receive thousands and thousands of applications every semester, and if we wanted to, we could accept every one of them. We could create the largest army of Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world. But our Headmaster, Professor Ozpin, follows a very simple yet powerful belief: quality over quantity. Our mission at Beacon is to create the best Huntsmen and Huntresses possible, worth more than a hundred of our enemies. That means we search thoroughly across the entire Kingdom for the best possible students, and sometimes during our search, we are taken to places we did not expect. Today, that place happens to be your doorstep."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're getting at," Ruby said, feeling a strange pang in the back of her throat.

"We are aware of what you did last night in the City of Vale, Miss Rose," claimed Glynda. "Roman Torchwick has been one of the most bothersome nuisances plaguing the Kingdom for years. He's led countless raids against Dust shops and storage facilities, and no matter how many Huntsmen we sent to track him down, he always just managed to escape capture. When he did get captured, he always broke out of jail within the hour, and vanished without a trace. We're already spread thin as it is; with so much space to cover and only so many Huntsmen in the Kingdom, we didn't think we would ever be able to catch him. But then, out of nowhere, you come along and catch him when he's least expecting it—in the middle of an easy heist. And not only do you take him down singlehandedly, but you also took down four of his top lieutenants without breaking a sweat. I saw the footage from the surveillance cameras across the street, and Ozpin agrees with me: You are a natural at this."

Glynda reached out and placed her hand on top of Ruby's, feeling the girl tremble beneath her touch. "Ruby, your talents are being wasted at an ordinary public school like Southtown High, acting like an ordinary girl. Ordinary girls do not build one of the deadliest weapons on the planet in their basement. They don't stop dangerous criminals like they were a random pack of loiterers. Ozpin sees an incredible amount of potential within you, Ruby, just like he saw in your mother, and your father, and now your sister. That is why I—on behalf of Beacon Academy—would like to offer you a four-year scholarship to our school, where you can become a Huntress."

In that moment, Ruby's heart stopped beating, and she died. At least, she was fairly certain that she died, because that was the only logical explanation for what she had just heard. Her? A Huntress? She wasn't supposed to be a Huntress. She was supposed to be an engineer, or an accountant, or something that most certainly was not being a Huntress. She didn't deserve that honor, or that power. That was reserved for people with talent, and she wasn't nearly talented enough. All she did was stop a robbery. She wasn't ready. Yang—she was ready. She had trained her entire life to be a Huntress, and if Ruby suddenly swooped in at the last moment and got everything Yang had ever worked for handed to her on a silver platter, that wouldn't be fair to either of them.

And yet, despite all of that, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she accepted. She would become a Huntress. An actual, real-life Huntress, and she would get to be a hero. She thought about the moment she caught Torchwick; how the pride soaked through her from saving another life, how the adrenaline pumped through her veins like the greatest drug she had ever taken, how for the first time in years, she truly felt alive. Was she really going to waste the rest of her life staring at numbers on a screen? So what if she didn't think she had the experience? Glynda believed in her. Ozpin believed in her. Maybe that would be enough.

Ruby opened her mouth to answer.

"No way."

It wasn't her words that echoed through the room like a shotgun blast. Tai hovered behind the both of them, his face fierce, eyes closed, arms crossed over his body. Ruby went numb, while Glynda merely looked at the bitter man with an emotionless squint.

"She's not going with you. She's staying with me."

"Tai, if you would reconsider…" Glynda began, but Tai cut her off.

"Ruby is staying. That's final. Now get out of my house." Without another word, he stormed away, leading a near-violent trail into the kitchen. Glynda did not move, unfazed by his request. Ruby watched him leave, and she felt a small piece of her break apart inside of her.

"Wait here," she said hastily to Glynda. She chased after her father into the kitchen, where she arrived just in time to see him pull down a wine bottle from the top shelf in the pantry, and fiddle with the cork. It was the only source of alcohol they had in the entire house. He didn't see her enter, or if he did, he was ignoring her. With an unamused huff, Ruby marched over to her father, and gave him a forceful shove on the back.

"Hey, watch it," he grunted, lightly swatting her away to continue fiddling with the bottle.

"What the hell was that?" Ruby asked in a hushed tone. Despite its volume, her voice was fierce. "You're just going to decide what I'm going to do with my life for me?"

"Yes, I am. That's what happens when you're fifteen, and I'm your parent," responded Tai, refusing to look away from his bottle.

"That's not fair."

"That's entirely fair. You're a child. You don't know what you're doing. When I taught at Signal, I saw hundreds of children just like you. None of them were prepared for the real world."

"I'm not just some kid, Dad," Ruby pleaded. "They want to give me a scholarship. They know how strong I am."

"Strength isn't everything."

"Which is why I'm smart, too. And fast, and brave, and everything else they want me to be."

"Ruby, when I retired from my role as a professor," Tai explained, "I did it because I realized that sending children off to become warriors wasn't something I wanted to be involved in. I'm not going to let you go off with Ozpin of all people, so he can train you like one of his little pets."

Ruby bundled her fists. "Yang gets to go to Beacon."

Tai groaned, and finally turned to her, his face bright red. "That's different."

"No, no it isn't," Ruby protested louder. "That is literally you being hypocritical. You are more than willing to send Yang off to the exact same place for the exact same amount of time, with the exact same people, and you actually have to pay for her tuition! Why does she get to train to become a Huntress, while I don't? Is it because she's older than me? Do you think she's just a better fighter than me? Tell me."

"For the record, I don't exactly like the idea of Yang becoming a Huntress either," said Tai, frustrated. "If she decided tomorrow that she wanted to become a pastry chef instead, I would be ecstatic. But we both know that Yang is a firecracker; once she decides she wants to run off and explode, there isn't really much we can do to stop her, so better to make sure she is at least trained properly than to force her to go out on her own. You remember the biker incident."

Of course, Ruby remembered the biker incident. Roughly five years prior, the family of three was driving through the City of Vale when they parked at a local rest shop to use the bathroom. A biker gang happened to be parked in the same area, and Yang—by complete accident—knocked over all of their bikes. When they tried to attack Tai out of revenge, Yang used her Semblance to singlehandedly kick their butts into retreat. As a reward, the twelve-year-old Yang kept one of their motorcycles, which she then taught herself how to ride and customize to her own liking. She still kept it in the garage; a permanent trophy of one of her earliest conquests.

"So, is that your qualification now? Beating up criminals counts as proof that we're ready to become Huntress, because if so, I have a lot of evidence I'd like you to take a look at," Ruby said angrily, her voice no longer in a whisper.

"I don't know what else you want me to say," Tai moaned.

"I want you to be honest with me," Ruby demanded. "Why won't you let me go? Do you really think I'm not capable of doing it? Are you just mad that I didn't tell you about my training sooner, so you want to sabotage my whole life?"

"Sabotage? Is that what you think I'm doing?" Tai asked, outraged.

"It sure feels like it," Ruby sneered, losing control. Every moment of anger from her entire life suddenly rose to the surface, and she couldn't stop herself from letting it out. "Every day, all you make me do is study, and read, and stare at a wall until my head was filled with nothing but numbers. I never had any friends because you would never let me play with anyone because that detracted from the time I could have been learning another stupid multiplication trick. You raised me to be cut off from everyone, so I could succeed, but I don't feel like I've ever succeeded at anything. You are more than content to watch me spend the rest of my life in a box than watch me be happy. I don't want to go to Southtown High. I don't care about applying for some stupid job. All I want is the chance to actually be someone, and they are finally giving me the chance to do it, but all you want to do is chain me down."

"You really don't seem to get it, Ruby," Tai shouted. "Being a Huntress doesn't make you anything! It certainly doesn't make you a hero! It doesn't come with fame, or glory, or power. Huntresses don't change the world, or defend the Kingdom. Huntresses die. That's what they're best at. That's the reason why there's always such a shortage of these people; not because they're so valuable, but because they're easy to discard after their done. I've seen Yang in action, and I know she can handle herself, but you are not at all prepared for what the world has to offer. This isn't a damn fairy tale, and you aren't going to get any happy ending! You're going to end up dying for these people, just so they can turn around and pretend that you've never existed in the first place! I know you think you can, but you can't, and I'm not going to lose you, too—"

And like that, for Ruby, everything snapped into place, and her anger disappeared. Tai was breathing heavily, and he did not seem to notice the tears running down his cheeks. His face turned dark, and he forced himself away from his daughter, finding solace in staring at the unopened bottle of wine. His shoulders moved up and down as he tried and failed to collect himself. Neither of the said nothing for a long moment, but finally, he managed to choke out a single sentence.

"You have her eyes… you know that?"

Ruby didn't know what to say. She didn't think there was anything else to say. Not knowing what to do, Ruby unclenched her fists, carefully approached her father, and gently wrapped her arms around him.

"Dad… you know she would have wanted me to go," Ruby begged. "I have never asked you for anything my whole life. Never. Not once. I know it can't be easy to watch us both go, but… being a Huntress, being able to live out beyond all of this? That's all I've ever wanted. I promise you I'll be safe. Yang will look after me, and I'll talk to you every single night if you want, just… I want to be myself for once. Please…"

No more words were exchanged. They simply felt each other's company, father, and daughter, knowing full well that it might be the last time they had a moment like that for a very long time. Five minutes later, Ruby emerged from the kitchen alone, where Glynda was standing ready to meet her. Ruby approached her in stride, sticking her hand out, ready for anything.

"I accept your proposal," Ruby said confidently. A small grin cracked on Glynda's face, and she proudly shook Ruby's hand. Ruby shook it back, making sure to keep a tight grip so as not to lose her arm.

"Very well, Miss Rose. I believe you've made a wonderful decision. If I'm not mistaken, you are currently taking some summer classes, but you can unenroll from those rather easily without worrying about the consequences. Now, the semester starts in about a month, but its never too early to start planning—"

"Hey! Dad! Ruby! There's a super fancy car parked outside!"

Glynda was cut short as her and Ruby's attention was suddenly drawn to the stairwell. Yang bounded down the stairs, and was halfway down before she noticed the company staring at her from the living room, and paused. Her face was dreary; she had clearly only woken up a few seconds before deciding to parade herself downstairs. Her long blonde hair was disheveled, flowing and poking up I every direction imaginable. That was not the most obvious indicator that she had just woken up, however; that would have been the only thing that Ruby and Glynda were actually looking at, which was the fact that was only dressed in her extremely fitting yellow underwear, her body glistening with sweat. Ruby's face turned beet red, and she hurriedly pulled a hand to her face to block her gaze. Glynda merely stared at her, her face unchanging.

"Ah. You must be Yang Xiao Long. The other child," Glynda said calmly.

"Yep. You Ruby's tutor or something?" Yang asked with a disinterested yawn.

"Um, Yang, this is Professor Goodwitch," Ruby stammered. "She's a professor from Beacon Academy."

"Oh. Ohhhhhh… shit," Yang said mildly, snapping herself awake. Despite her awareness, she did not bother speaking nor acting with any urgency. "So, what you're saying is… it's probably a bad idea for me not to be wearing any clothes, isn't it?"

"Probably, yeah," Ruby said, stumbling over her words. Glynda continued to examine her with tepid enthusiasm.

"Now, that level of fitness… definitely a trait picked up from her father," she commented mindlessly.

"Yang. Please. Clothes. Now!" Ruby said with increasing desperation. Yang rolled her eyes and flashed a relaxed smile as she headed back up the stairs.

"Fiiiine. I'll put on something for this obviously important meeting," she paused just before she vanished from sight, turning around to Ruby to give a knowing wink, "unless you don't want me too."

"Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod."

"Jeez, Ruby, you are so easy!" Yang called out teasingly from upstairs.

"Do you enjoy making me uncomfortable?" Ruby cried back.

"Yes! I really do!" Yang responded proudly.

Ruby hung her head in embarrassment. She would have to go to school with that woman from now on. Maybe Beacon wouldn't be so great after all.