Two orbs, flames licking the edges, boring through the blackness around. They seemed to stare, unblinking, burning into her memories. 'But, how could you?' A voice echoed through the darkness. A laughter, light and airy, came from the burning orbs, as another voice spoke.

'It was the only choice I could make. But what do you know of life changing decisions? You're still a child. And you could never hope to defeat me. What chance did they have?' The orbs disappeared, three different ones taking their place. One blue, one lilac, and one amber. They floated around each other, before something happened. The blue cracked down the middle, then slowly started to fade, until it could no longer be seen. The lilac flashed to a brilliant, bright crimson, before flickering and fading. The amber moved back and forth somewhat frantically, then disappeared into thin air.

The two original orbs reappeared, 'See? Well, this has gone on long enough. It's time to join your mother.' Another laugh, this one more cynical as a third orb appeared, engulfed in flames. It was small, but it quickly grew, both in size and intensity. The heat of the flames burned brightly, hungrily consuming everything it touched. Including the arm that came up to block the wave of heat. The orb connected, shattering, throwing fire everywhere. The heat raging as loudly as the screams of pain. It burned so passionately, so painfully, that she almost didn't see another amber orb. 'It's time to die, Ruby Rose' The final orb drew closer, until...

"Ruby, can you hear me?"

Ruby's eyes shot open, panicking, she scrambled backwards, curling up into a ball. She was panting loudly as she shook, looking around the room in fear. She was huddled in the corner of her bed, in the dorm she shared with her teammates. She noticed her white haired partner looking at her with concern.

"Ruby, are you ok?" Weiss said, an unusual note of caring in her voice.

"Wha-What happened?" the young leader asked, still tightly curled to protect herself.

"That's what I'm supposed to ask you, dolt." Weiss replied, attempting to calm her partner. "I woke up, and heard you mumbling and tossing, so I got up to check on you. You were muttering something incoherent, until I heard you say something about your mother, and what sounded like groans of pain."

Ruby stared back at the white haired girl, the dream retracting back into the depths of her mind, 'What was that? Where those eyes? And what about my mother?'

Weiss reached out, gently touching the shaking girl curled up in her bed, attempting to reassure her. "What was your dream about, do you remember?"

Ruby uncurled her legs, relaxing as she stretched back out and looked at the wall opposite her. "N-no, I don't really. It's kinda fuzzy, and I can't really remember w-what happened. Sorry." She hoped her shaky tone was enough to cover up the lie.

Weiss picked up on it, however, but didn't want to press her while she was still shaken up, resolving that she would ask when they returned from classes. "Alright, well, in any case, I'm gonna head into the shower," She said as she jumped down to the floor. "You'd better have yourself ready before I get out, lest Yang takes your spot." Weiss shut the door to the bathroom, and water was heard running a moment later.

Ruby sighed, stretching her muscles out and attempting to calm her mind. 'No use worrying about that now, I'll have time to think about this later today. For now, I have to remember that Ozpin wanted to talk to me alone after classes were done. I wonder what he has to say.'

Ruby carefully descended from her bunk and started to get ready for her eventual shower. She noticed Blake already up and in her uniform, a book in her hands, and shot a quick salutations to her teammate. Normally, the bookworm wouldn't look past the binding to address a simple greeting, but the interaction between the two partners had her worried.

Lowering her book slightly, Blake spoke quietly, "Did you have a bad dream, Ruby?"

The red head stopped suddenly, turned around, and looked at the faunus with hesitation. "Did... Did I bother you?"

The faunus in question responded with the shake of her head, "No, Ruby, but I am worried. Weiss isn't wrong, you were muttering in your sleep. I could even hear it over Yang's snoring. Is there anything you want to talk about?" Blake punctuated her point by closing her book and setting it on her lap.

Ruby finished grabbing everything she needed and sat next to her teammate, the running water and the growls of the bunk above them were the only sounds that broke the silence between them. After a few moments, she finally responded. "I was calling out? I don't really remember much of the dream, just these large flaming circles, and..." Ruby cut herself off, finally continuing with "Did you hear what I said?"

Blake decided to forget about what was left unsaid, answering the question instead. "Nothing definite. It was mumbled, and I don't think anything was repeated. More like conversation."

"Oh, ok." The young leader drooped her head at the lack of information, hoping for something she could use. 'Now this is going to be driving me nuts all day.'

The faunus placed a gentle hand on Ruby's shoulder, drawing silver eyes to her own. "I don't want to force you to talk about anything you don't want to, but when you're ready, we're here to listen. And I don't just mean your sister and I. Weiss isn't heartless, no matter how much Yang likes to joke that she is. If there's a problem that you need help with, I'm sure she's willing to help her partner."

As if on cue, the water for the shower shut off. Ruby, however, simply shook her head, looking down to the floor. "What if she thinks I'm childish, or irresponsible? Or maybe she can't help? What then?"

This made Blake giggle, "This is Weiss Schnee we're talking about, of course she can help. And if she doesn't even try, then she's broken her promise to you already."

Red hair whipped around, confusion apparent on her face, "Wait, what promise?"

Black hair shook as a smile took her face. "The promise Weiss made at the beginning of the year, about being the best teammate ever. Did you forget?"

Ruby's cheeks turned redder than the tips of her hair, "Wha- n-no, of course not, but how did you know about that? I never told anyone, and Weiss is too proud to admit it!

"I'm too proud to admit what?"

The young leader was shocked, flubbing for anything to get her out of the situation. "Um, uh, n-nothing, don't worry about it, W-Weiss, it's ok ,I'll just, uh, go ahead and-" The next thing the other girls knew, a few rose petals replaced the young girl, and the door to the bathroom slammed shut violently.

"Huh, wha-What happened? What's wrong?" Yellow hair started to move as lilac eyes tried to find the cause of her awakening.

After a short shower from Ruby, and what felt like an hour from Yang, the team grabbed their gear. Team RWBY left their dorm, ready to take on the day of classes ahead of them. The four girls were walking through the hallway, Ruby bouncing around excitedly, and Weiss mentally preparing herself for a day of dealing with their leader. Yang, on the other hand, had yet to fully shake the sleep from her, while Blake tried to make sure Yang never went off course.

They met up with team JNPR just before heading out of the dormitory, Nora dragging Ren back inside, while Jaune and Pyrrha lazily trailed behind. Nora blazed past the other team with a quick greeting, Ren following with a greeting of his own before they flew around a corner out of sight.

"What's got them in such a hurry?" Weiss asked, turning to the last half of team JNPR.

"Ren didn't get the chance to grab his stuff for class, so Nora decided to help," Pyrrha said.

Ruby stepped up and said, "Well, since it's still pretty early, let's wait for them and walk to breakfast together."

Both Yang and Blake simply nodded their heads and waited for the return of the bubbly Nora and her unfortunate captive. Once both teams were set, they set out towards the cafeteria.

As they got out of the dormitory, they were greeted by a familiar brunette. Ruby almost didn't realize she was there, and nearly ran into her, but was able to successfully dodge away. Weiss, on the other hand, was not as fortunate. Having her eyes closed to take in the day before her, she collided right into the woman in her path. Weiss, at first, gave off a disdainful expression, before realizing who it was. Relaxing into an almost apologetic stance, she recomposed herself before looking at the amber-eyed beauty before her. Blake, Yang, and JNPR, a few steps behind, rounded out the teams, stopping behind Weiss.

"My deepest apologies, I wasn't looking at where I was going. Are you alright Ms..." Weiss trailed off, not knowing what to call the woman before her.

"Cinder... And no need to worry. It was an honest... mistake," Cinder replied with a straight expression, looking straight into Weiss' eyes before turning to her side to look at the first person who had nearly made the same mistake. "You're Ruby, correct?"

Ruby perked up, trying to compose herself from the unexpected question directed at her. "Uhh, yes, yes I am. Nice to see you again, Cinder," Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head, remembering the last time they saw each other was similar to Weiss' experience now.

"If under different circumstances," Cinder whispers smoothly. Continuing, in a louder voice, but never losing the soft and velvety tone, "If you'd excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

Cinder gently glided past Weiss, Blake, and Yang, now fully awake and suspicious of the black-haired woman, disappearing into the building that RWBY and JNPR just exited. "Oh, of course, have a good day!" Ruby shouted back at Cinder.

Yang turned back to her team after keeping a close eye on Cinder and said, "Am I the only one getting a strange feeling about that woman?"

Blake visibly tightened and simply replied, "No"

Ruby spun back around to the courtyard, "Well, we can't worry about that, I'm sure she's fine. We have breakfast to get to!" The rest of team RWBY followed their peerless leader into the rest of the day. Team JNPR looked at each other, confusion on their face as they followed team RWBY

Back in the dormitory, Cinder gracefully strode to the window on the second floor, watching Ruby with an observant gaze. "How did everything go with the little twerp?" said another woman, gently stepping towards Cinder.

"As eventful as ever, Emerald. But you have other business to attend to. Make sure Mercury stays on schedule as well. Everything will come together in time," Cinder gently turned her head to look at her doting lackey.

"At once," Emerald gently bowed her head and stepped back into the shadows.

Turning back to the window, Cinder couldn't help a grin "The time is almost here. Everything will work out, just you wait." Cinder turned and headed back through the dormitory, avoiding any watchful eyes that hadn't made their way to classes yet, and stopped in front of one door in specific. Pulling out a scroll, she placed it up to the lock. The identification for Weiss Schnee emerged on the screen, and a lock clicked out of place, allowing access into the room.

Cinder gently opened the door, looking around at the dorm. With the exception of Yang's sleepwear hastily discarded in her rush to get to the shower, it was surprisingly neat. The black haired woman noted that she would have to be careful as she slid the door closed silently behind her.

AN: Hello everyone, and welcome to the first official chapter of my first Fanfiction story. I hope you all enjoyed it and want to see what happens next.

First, I would like to point out that this story is rated M for a reason, though there will be no sex scenes. That being said, that shouldn't deter people away from this story, since I have some pretty interesting things planned for the characters in this story.

Now, I will try my best to keep a consistent update schedule, every Thursday, though the time will be different. I will also let you know if a chapter will be delayed. I have written out until chapter 6, and have the whole story planned out in stone, but all I need to do is put it in words and keep it consistent.

Please review and follow if you would like, it helps out tremendously.

-MM