The Phantom Reaper

by usernamesarebullshit

After her first day, Ruby got the impression that her and Yang's probation was gonna be... easy enough. That was until other worlds, stealing hearts and Velvet Rooms with psychotic wardens got into the mix. What's a high school student turned Phantom Thief to do?

2. Into The Metaverse

The Phantom Reaper Chapter 2: Into The Metaverse

A.N: Sorry if there are some grammatical errors my beta couldn't get back to me in time

…

Ruby hadn't been more confused in her entire life.

How had she not seen this before? What was this castle? Was this place really supposed to be the school? And if it was, why had it changed so fast? So many questions ran through her mind as she tried to wrap her head around this turn of events. It didn't help that the guy next to her wasn't any help. He seemed just as lost as she was, maybe even more so considering he was an actual student here.

"Did the drama club change up the school's appearance, maybe? Perhaps they were trying to generate buzz for their most recent production," he theorized, his hand resting in his chin.

"I doubt it. I was just here yesterday and everything looked normal then."

He winced. "Ah, well, the sign over there does say 'Beacon'. I guess we might as well head inside. Unless you've got any other ideas?"

Ruby shook her head. "Not really. Unless I'm still dreaming." She paused and looked down at her arm, waiting for a moment before pinching herself. "Yeah, no. This is definitely real," she stated simply. The guy looks at her weirdly for a second before he shakes his head and they walk forward.

If the castle was meant to be purely aesthetic, then they did a great job changing up the place. Ruby crossed a drawbridge into the main courtyard, stepping over a moute that almost looked real. The courtyard was surprisingly small, and a little cramped. A bunch of wooden shelves and barrels were dumped over to one side, while the other was pretty barren and seemed to lead to nothing. A huge set of beautifully designed double doors stood in front of them. Ruby and the other guy paused, looking over the doors in amazement.

"Wow. If this is some kinda promotion, they're really going all in," he observed.

"Totally. It's kinda hard to believe this was a normal school just yesterday," Ruby agreed.

"Yeah…" he lead off, looking to the side. Ruby shifted her gaze to him for a moment, wondering if something was wrong. He shakes his head. "Let's head in already. It would suck if we were late," he mentions offhandedly as he pushes open the door. Ruby isn't sure how to respond and simply walks in with him.

They step into the entrance of the school, or castle, depending on how she looked at it. The entrance was huge, way bigger than Ruby remembers the entrance being before. There are two hallways leading off on either side of them, and in front of them stands a large staircase leading up to a chair that almost looks like a throne a king would sit in.

Alright, now Ruby was starting to get suspicious. I can maybe believe that they decided to dress up the school for some reason. But this is actually bigger than the main entrance of Beacon. It's impossible for them to renovate the building that quickly, Ruby realizes, surveying the surroundings as she did.

"This is starting to get freaky… the sign outside did say 'Beacon' right?" he asked her.

Ruby turned to him. "I'm know it did!" she exclaimed. The boy looks like he's about to say something back, but he stops suddenly. Behind her, Ruby can hear a loud clanking sound. She turns around and raises a brow, wondering what was making such a racket.

She almost jumps out of her skin when she does. "Aah!" she shrieks, flailing about for a moment before calming down. The thing that startled her turned out to be another man. Well, she assumed it was a man, anyway. She couldn't tell because 'he' was wearing a knight costume. Shiny metal plates covered the entirety of his form, making him look like a medieval era old fashion knight. An expressionless clay mask covered his face, making it impossible to uncover his identity. "Geez, dude; you scared the crap out of me!" Ruby complained, looking over the knight.

"Hey, can you help us out? This is Beacon academy, right? We wanna know if we got lost or something. Oh! My name's Ruby, just so you know," she explained. "...Cool costume, by the way," she adds when he doesn't respond.

"Uh, Ruby? I think we should leave…" the guy behind her says uneasily.

"Huh? Why?" Ruby asks, looking to him. The clanking sound from before starts up again, and when Ruby looks back she sees another knight now standing beside the first. Now she takes a step back, feeling the same unease as the boy behind her. She bumps into him, and when she looks up she notices he's looking ahead. Following his gaze, she realizes a third knight is approaching them. "Uh, is there some kind of problem?" she asks shakily. The knights start to close in on them. "Well?! Will you just say something?!" she shouts.

"You are trespassing on Lord Watts castle. Don't resist!" one of the knights demands.

Ruby lowers herself a bit. "This is crazy! We need to get out of here!" she cries, tapping the boys shoulder as she starts to run. Before she can get too far, she bumps into another one of those knights. Apparently more had appeared while they were talking. Ruby's eyes widen and the knight suddenly acts, slamming his shield into Ruby's chest. She wheezes and stumbles back, coughing up a storm as she tries to regain her composure.

"Woah! What the hell's your problem?!" the boy shouts, getting in the knight's face. As Ruby is still trying to recover from having the wind knocked out of her, something strikes her in the back of the head, hard.

She's unconscious before she hits the ground.

…

"Hey… Hey! Get up! Ruby!"

Ruby's eyes snap opened. She tries to sit up, and almost immediately regrets it. "Ugh…" she groans, rubbing her head to try and alleviate the pain. Her head feels like someone tried to break it open with a jackhammer. She sits up, slowly this time, and looks around her. The same blond boy from before crouches in front of her. Ruby realizes almost immediately he was the one who woke her up.

He sighs. "Thank god, you're finally awake," he greets, hanging his head. He looks back at her, concern clear in his eyes. "Hey, are you alright? You took a pretty heavy hit back there…"

Ruby rubs her head a bit more. "Ngh… Yeah, I'll manage. How about you?" she asks in turn.

He points to himself. "Me? I'm fine. They bruised me a bit while they were taking me down here, but nothing serious," he explains. His words remind Ruby to look around and figure out where she even is.

She's in a prison cell.

Another one… Ruby ponders, thinking back to the Velvet Room. This one is a good degree larger than that one, though equally barren. This one didn't even have a toilet. Just a bed-which she was currently sitting on-and a couple of wooden barrels resting by the cell bars. The brickwork on the place looks incredibly shoddy, with weeds and dirt peeking through some of the cracks.

"Why are we in a cell? I'm so lost…" she bemoaned as she rose to a stand.

"I wish I could tell you that. I'm just as confused as you are. All I've been able to gather is that this place has some sort of 'ruler' and that those guys from before answer to him," he offers.

Ruby looks around, troubled. She walks to the bars, placing her hand against them and peering out. The surroundings look like an honest to god dungeon, with cells lining the walls and a river running through the center of it that separated the two sides of the room. Ruby can't even comprehend what she should do. The only thing she could think about was the rising sense of dread welling up within her.

A haunting scream echoes throughout the hall.

The sound rings in Ruby's ears, filling her being until it's the only thing she can think about. Eventually, her gaze hardens, and she turns back to the boy in the cell with her. He's standing off to the side, looking equally, if not more frightened than her. "We need to get out of here," Ruby declares, and her words seem to spark life into the boy.

"I agree," he says, walking up to her. "I was looking around earlier while you were still knocked out. The bars are scarily well made, so there's nothing we can do to mess with them." He sighs. "I can't think of much else we could do. Do you have anything?" he asks.

Ruby looks around once more, her eyes locking onto the walls of the cell. "There are tons of cracks in the wall and stuff. Maybe we could find the weakest point and break them?" she offered.

He shook his head. "Even if we could find something strong enough for that, the walls to either side of us only lead into other cells. Not to mention the noise that would make would just attract those knight guys to us," he explained.

Ruby sighed deeply. "Well other then that I've got nothing. There has to be a way out though, right?" she asked.

"Surely," he replies, though he doesn't sound sure of himself.

"My, oh my. Just look who it is managed to fall into my grasp here," a delighted voice drawled. Ruby and her friend whip around, finding themselves face to face with someone eerily familiar. Ruby recognizes him as the guy who had pulled up when she was waiting under the awning, but the other guys reaction is a whole lot more prominent.

"Watts! What in the world are you doing here!" he cries, pointing at the man. Now that she is paying more attention she takes note of how he is dressed. He wears a simple small golden crown around his head. A sweeping blue robe hangs from his shoulders, ending around his ankles. Under that he wears an immaculate blue overcoat over a grey dress shirt. Unwrinkled blue dress pants flow into dark blue dress shoes. He looks gaudy and ridiculous, but he stands tall as if looking down on them.

"Watch the way you speak to me, peasant! I am the king of this castle after all," he declares. Ruby notices that he has two of those knights with him, and wonders why that is. "I must say I didn't expect to find you here, Arc. Have you come to grovel for forgiveness?" Watts asks, grinning madly.

"Wh-what are you going on about? Please just let us out!" Ruby pleads.

"She's right! I know you and I don't get along, but keeping us here is just psychotic!" Arc shouts.

Watts glared at them hotly. "Are you talking back to the king? In my castle, that is a very serious offense. I believe the punishment is… death."

Ruby's eyes widen. Death? Was he serious? Her mind spun from how quickly things had escalated. Just this morning she had been flustered over undressing in front of her guardian, and now she was being threatened with death in a castle? It just didn't make any sense to her.

The door to the cell opened before she could think on it any more. Four guards steps in ahead of the 'king', spreading throughout the small room and inadvertently pushing Ruby against the wall. Watts jabbed a finger at Arc. "We'll start with him first," he declares.

Arc's face flashes in anger and he charges forward, shoulder checking one of the guards and pushing him out of the way. "I'm not about to take this lying down!" he roars.

"Know your place, rat!" one of the knights shouts, slamming the guard of their blade into his chest. Arc wheezes and keels over, hacking up a storm as he tried to breath properly again. He rests on his knees, taking deep breaths as he looked around the room at everyone.

"Well would you look at that. Someone's rather spirited today," Watts commented, watching the display with a smile. Ruby can't comprehend how someone can find a man fighting for his life amusing, but she ignores him as she turns back to Arc.

Right as Ruby is about to help him out, he fixes his gaze on her. "Well what are you waiting for?! Get out of here! Just go!" he screams. Ruby freeze's finding herself unable to move as she processes his words. Is he really asking me to just leave him here? Is he crazy?

"Well? Aren't you going to run away?" Watts asks, turning to her. Ruby's horrified gaze turns to him, and the toothy smile he wears makes her heart stop. He sighs dramatically. "What a waste. Your friend just gave you an out, are you really going to let their sacrifice be in vain?"

Ruby still can't bring herself to move.

"...Fine then. Guards!" He snaps his fingers, and suddenly two swords cross over Ruby's neck. She gasps and presses herself against the wall, trying to greaten the distance between her and the cold steel inches away. Watts cackles and turns his attention to the blonde still on his knees. "Where did all your energy from earlier go? On your feet, peasant!"

He remains on his knees, glaring definitely at the 'king'.

Watts scowled. "If that's how you'll have it, then fine! Guards!" he commands. The two remaining knight's drag him to his feet, clutching onto his arms and preventing escape. Watts walks up to him and cracks his knuckles. "I don't typically involve myself in these petty squabbles, but considering it's you, Arc, I think I might have myself a little fun," he leads off with a laugh.

His fist lashes out, striking Arc across the jaw.

"Stop it!" Ruby cries out, as Watts rains down blows on the poor boy. He pauses as she shouts and turns to her. Ruby can feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. This man was supposed to be a teacher, right? How could he be this cruel? And to one of the students at his own school no less! It doesn't feel real to her, and she almost wants to deny it's happening entirely.

"Don't worry. The time for you to die will come shortly, there's no need for you to shout," Watts patronizes, as if speaking to a very stupid child. He turns back to the blonde, "Guards, if you would…" he leads off. One of the golem like creatures steps away, but the other is quick to act. It grabs him by the collarbone and shoves him against the wall, aiming the tip of it's blade at his throat.

"What's the matter? Are you simply going to watch?"

A haunting voice explodes inside Ruby's head. She gasps and a constant, hot wave of pain resonates throughout her head. It feels like her skull is being split in half, but despite the unbearable migraine Ruby can still hear the mysterious voice clearly, as if it were whispering in her ear.

"Are you forsaking him to save yourself? Death awaits him if you do nothing. Was your previous decision a mistake then?"

The pain in her head seems to reach a fever pitch, and even though it doesn't lessen at all Ruby finds himself able to focus. Able to focus just enough to remember a cold night not to long ago. To remember a drunk man trying to force himself on a woman. To remember the worthless police who had arrested her for trying to help, and the justice system which had punished her for defending it. She remembers all these things, and can only really respond one way.

"It wasn't." she growls out, a blood boiling anger starting to coarse through her. All of the sudden the pressure in her skull seemed to almost double, and she wailed with pain as it felt like something was trying to claw its way outside of her head. For half a second she wonders how the other occupants of the cell might be reacting, but a spike of heat prevents her from doing so for long.

"Very well… I have headed your resolve. Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I… Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name, and release thy rage! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to hell itself!"

After one last, powerful cry of pain, Ruby finds herself able to concentrate again. Just as she does, Watts gestures to Arc, still struggling helplessly against the grip of the knight. "Execute him!" the 'king' cries out.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ruby roars, cutting through the tension in the room like a cannon.

Watts stops and turns his gaze to her, an ugly scowl maring his features. "What was that?" he asks lowly, taking a step toward Ruby. She doesn't cower at all. She stares into his eyes, imagining him as everyone who had caused her life to end up like this. All of that hate and bile was thrown behind her gaze, and she focused it like a fine point at the man before her. "You truly wish to be killed that much? Fine! Guards! Leave the ignoramus for later, we'll start with this one."

The guards do as he commands, the one who had been holding Arc up letting him fall to the ground before turning his attention to Ruby. She doesn't falter in the slightest, staring through the guard to glare at Watts. "That look in your eyes irritates me!" he scowls. The guard from before doesn't slow in its approached, stepping forward and raising its sword above its head. It holds that pose for a second, as if to intimidate Ruby, but it doesn't work.

Just as it's about to bring the blade down, something clicks in Ruby's mind.

A whirlwind abruptly erupts from seemingly nothing, throwing two of the guards on their ass and completely incapacitating the other two. Ruby stands hunched over slightly, but when she rises something is different about her. She now wears a domino mask over her eyes. It's blood red and has little dashes of black around the eyes. Ruby reaches up to touch it, as if just realizing it were there. She isn't sure why, but she's suddenly filled with the intense desire to tear the mask off. She listens to it, as she digs her fingers underneath the mask and begins to pull. "Ah!" she yelps, hesitating for a second as a flare of pain ignites from where she pulled.

After a moment, she ignores it, and continues to rip the mask from around her eyes. Her flash starts to peel away as she does; a sickening rrrrrip! Sound cascading through the cell as blood starting to explode around Ruby's eyes and cake her face. "Rrragh!" Ruby wails, and with one final tug the mask is separated from her eyes. Blood drips down her face and surrounds her silver eyes, which have now taken on a golden tint as she stares down Watts. "Huff… huff… heh," Ruby chuckles. A wild grin filled with madness and contempt screws itself onto her face, her eyes bugging out as a sensation of power begins to well up within her.

The blood caked over her face ignites into beautiful azure flames. They flickered and expanded, eventually cloaking her entire form and making her invisible to Arc and Watts. A scythe flashes out of the flames; it's a beautiful thing that has red, black and grey parts of machinery lining it. The strike from the scythe cuts through the flames, dissipating them in an instant and revealing Ruby's form once more.

She looks exactly the same-aside from the scythe of course-but it's the thing standing behind her that frightens both Watts and Arc. It stood at nine feet tall, it's sparking cheshire cat grin eternally etched onto its face. Flowing red wings matched the color of his red coat and pants. He had a snow white ascot secured around his neck and long, twisting chains cascaded around him. Ruby's smile still gleams with madness, but it is more tempered now.

"Ha ha ha! What a truly beloved sight. I see you have finally awakened to your power,"

Ruby smiles. "Or is it more accurate to call it yours, Arsene?"

Although it's impossible, it seems as though Arsene's grin grows even wider. "As much fun as postulating like this may be, we have a contract to sign, no?"

Ruby closes her eyes and brings her scythe down to a resting position. "Yes… lend me your power!"

Arsene laughs heartily. "But of course. With my speed, you will always be fast enough to save any who may be in needing. Allow this Semblance which once rested deep within you to burst forth! And with it, thou hast acquired the strength to wield Crescent Rose to its full potential! I am thou-!"

"-Thou art I!" Ruby finished, and her eyes snap open. Arsene's form falls on top of hers, the two of them occupying the same space as if one or both of them were ethereal. All of the sudden, there's an explosion of blue light that blinds the two other people again. When this one falls away, Ruby Rose almost looks like an entirely different person.

Her Beacon academy uniform is gone, and what now replaces it is hardly recognizable. A pitch black corset with red trim on the sleeves and skirt covers most of her form. An immaculate silver rose pendant is attached to a black waist cincher. Black leggings led down into black combat boots with red lacing and soles. A silver cross also hangs on her waist, and two more much smaller versions of the same cross connect a long, flowing blood red cloak to her neck. The red and black domino mask from before hangs over her eyes, masking her identity from anyone who might not have known her.

She holds one arm forward, and from an explosion of azure flames appears the scythe she was holding earlier. She stares down at Watts-the supposed 'king' of this place-and points her weapon at him. "Well? Aren't you going to run away?" she asks tauntingly, throwing his words back at him.

"...Wh-what in the hell is going on?!" the blonde boy she had just saved wailed, looking up at Ruby in shock and awe.

Watts clenches his teeth and drags himself to a stand. "Enough of this! Strike her down, guards!" he howls, gesturing wildly at her. The two remaining guards bring themselves to their feet, but they don't approach her, at least not initially. A black, tar like substance started pouring out of the suits of armour. Thick sludge spilled out of every orifice imaginable, coalescing into a pile on the floor. That pile shifted around for a second before exploding outward, an entirely new creature now standing where it once was. It wore a tattered robe and witches hat, and only it's hands and head wear visible. The hands were clothed in whites gloves and it's head was that of a jack-o-lantern, the cut out eyes and mouth gleaming brilliantly.

Two of these jack-o-lantern creatures were now in the cell with Ruby, but she didn't feel any fear as she faced them. "Hee-ho-hee! You were a fool to challenge lord Watts, and now you'll pay the price!" one of them shrieked. It thrust it's hand forward, and a spout of fire shot toward Ruby, threatening to burn her alive. The flames never struck, however, Ruby appeared to have disappeared from the monster's view. A whirlwind of red rose petals dashed forward, appearing in front of the creature before it could even comprehend what was going on.

The rose petals fell away, and Ruby could be seen as soon as they cleared the air. Her scythe whipped out, cutting through the halloween-themed mage in a clean slice. The creature cried out before falling to the ground, disappearing entirely in a puff of black smoke.

The other enemy was quick to react, blasting a spire of flames at Ruby much the same way the other one did. Ruby spun to the side, avoiding the blast as it crashed down next to her. She didn't know where the blonde boy was now, but she wouldn't exactly blame him if he were hiding; it wasn't like he could hope to fight these things, after all. Crescent Rose arched upward, severing the things hand from its body. It wailed in agony, but it didn't have to suffer for long as Ruby twirled her weapon and thrusts with the end, impaling the monster on the spear point that was there.

It too faded into nothing, and when it did Ruby turned her attention to Watts-who has cowering on the ground-and Arc-who had his back pressed up against the wall in fear. Realizing she wasn't gonna hurt him, he rose to a shaky stand. Ruby's scythe vanished with a puff of azure flame's, and she turned to Arc with a small quirk of her lips. "Let's get the hell out of here already."

Watts had brought himself to a stand now. "D-don't think such a thing will go unpunished-"

"I've heard enough of this guy. You're right, let's jet," the blood boy announced. Ruby wasn't about to fight him on that and charged out of the cell, Arc following close behind. When they stepped out of the prison, Arc shut the cell door behind them and locked it with a circle of keys she just noticed he possessed.

"When did you grab that?" Ruby asked.

He turned to her with a smile and twirled the keys. "They were lying on the floor after you knocked out those weird monster things. I grabbed 'em on our way out," he explained.

Watts slammed his arms against the cell, startling them both. "Don't think you've escaped just yet, knaves! More of my guards will come for me!" he cried out. Let them, Ruby thought confidently, standing to her full height.

Of course, it was at that exact moment an explosion of Azure flames ignited, and Ruby found herself in her Beacon academy uniform once more.

"Wh-what the hell?! What happened to your weird clothes?" the blonde boy asked.

Ruby looked down at herself, equally as confused. "I honestly have no idea… and I thought I looked pretty cool!" she added after a moment.

The other boy sighed and shook his head. "Like we have time to be arguing about this now." He straightened. "Alright, let's find a way out of this creepy dungeon," he posited, making his way down the hall.

Ruby was quick to join him, she couldn't agree more…

…

Glynda Goodwitch could not believe the position she was currently in.

A transfer student wasn't a big deal, not normally anyway. People transferred schools all the time! In fact, Glynda had taught more than a few of them during her time as a teacher. Most of the time she met them with sympathy. After all, adjusted to a new school environment was hard for most kids. Finding new friends, learning the school's layout, adjusting to different teachers, and having to study for exams on top of all that? It was difficult for a teenager. Especially if they were transferring to a prep school like Beacon.

But a student with a criminal record…

That was a new one. Glynda had been a teacher for a good while now, so problem children were nothing new to her. She had dealt with a few pretty directly, in fact. But a typical troublemaker and a student arrested for assault were two very different things. It didn't help that she already had so much on her plate. Dealing with this and managing my normal school work? Not to mention that other thing…

Glynda sighed, something she'd been making a habit of recently. The thing was, she had been willing to be optimistic. Maybe she wasn't she bad? Maybe it was all a misunderstanding? After all, Ruby Rose certainly didn't look like someone who would randomly sock someone out of the blue. So yeah, Glynda had been more than willing to give Ruby the benefit of the doubt and think that she was really trying to make up for her actions.

All of that had flown straight out the window when she was late.

On her first day no less! You had to be a special kind of crazy to be late on your first day of school after being put on probation. And that wasn't even the worse part! Being late was one thing. If Ruby Rose had chosen to walk into class a few minutes late to make a 'statement' or something, fine, whatever. It was stupid, very much so, but Glynda could forgive that.

But being five hours late was too much.

Ruby already hadn't exactly been in her good graces before this. But now that she was skipping her first day, Glynda couldn't keep the same optimism from before. "And her sister came here just fine, too…" she said aloud, sighing once more. Many of the other teachers in the faculty office glanced at her with sympathy, no doubt knowing about her situation. Glynda choose not to focus on them and crossed her arms, looking at the door. "Ms. Fall said she slept in today, but even so she's still way too late…"

She'd better have a good goddamn explanation for this… for her sake.

…

They ran into their first roadblock not long after they left.

After crossing some broken bridges and climbing a flight of stairs, Ruby and Arc found themselves standing in front of a drawbridge. Now, that may sound pretty simple. Just walk across it and continue on their way, right? Problem was; the bridge was drawn up, and Ruby couldn't find a way to lower it for the life of her. "Maybe we should just kick it down!" Ruby growled as she frantically searched the area for anything useful. The mysterious power that she had awakened too back in the cell hadn't returned to her, and thankfully the two of them hadn't run into anymore of those strange monster knights.

Yet, anyway, there was no telling what would happen if they couldn't find a way around this soon.

"Hey! You two look like you're having some trouble!" a boyish voice called from behind them. Ruby and Arc whirled around, wondering who could have possibly found them. Ruby spied him in the cell sitting behind them. And man, hadn't that been eery. On their way up Ruby had seen a good number of cells similar to how hers looked, with some cells even hanging dangerously above open water. Frighteningly enough, some of those cells had actual people in them. Ruby had been more than ready to try and save them too, but as Arc had been quick to point out, they made neither the resources nor time to do so. He had tried to keep his face neutral during the exchange, but she could tell the idea of leaving these guys behind to whatever fate may befall them hurt him too.

Back to the matter at hand, Ruby and Arc approached the cell behind him, looking down at the figure that had called out to them. He was only about three feet tall, with a big, bulbous head and short, stocky body. If Ruby had to best describe it, he looked like a cat mascot for a sports team. Snow white tufts of hair lined the insides of his cats ears; his tail was black with a white tip and his paws gripped at the bars tightly as he tried to get their attention. He looked like he wore a black mask over the top of his face, while his neck was adorned with a yellow neckerchief and a black belt with large poaches hung from his waist. His body was a deep black while his hand and feet paws were both snow white.

"Um… I have no idea how to respond to this," Arc announced. Ruby simply continued to stare at the cat.

"Don't worry about that!" it cried out, shaking the bars once more. "Listen! You guys are trying to get out of here, right? I can show you the way! Just let me out first, okay? The keys are right there on the wall!" the cat ranted frantically, gesturing towards a ring of keys hanging from the nearby wall.

Arc frowned. "How are we even supposed to trust you? I mean you look like one of those creepy monsters we've seen around here!" he cried out. Ruby ignores him, already retrieving the keys from their spot on the wall.

"Trust me, I'm not a shadow. I mean, come on! Why would they lock me up if I was on their side!" he exclaims.

Ruby inserting the key into the lock alerts the two boys to her presence.

"W-wait a minute Ruby! Aren't you being a little hasty?!" Arc frenzied, waving his arms.

"Don't worry; it's fine," Ruby dismisses, unlocking the cell and opening it.

The cat creature steps out. "Ah~! Freedom at la-"

Ruby is on top of him before he can finish.

"Oh aren't you a cute little boy?! The cutest little boy in the whole wide world? You are! Yes you are!" Ruby cheered, rubbing his head and scratching under his chin. The cat freezes in shock, completely baffled by Ruby's affectionate actions, but soon enough he succumbs to the petting and is puddy in her hands. A large blush develops on his cheeks and he starts to purr, waggling back and forth in her arms.

Arc gapes at the duo, just as flabbergasted as the cat was initially. After a moment his face tightens uncomfortably. "I...I wanna pet the monster cat too…" he says under his breath.

The creature sparks back to life and glares at him, struggling out of Ruby's hold. "I am not a cat! My name is Morgana!" Morgana clarifies. He huffs and walks forward, approaching the drawbridge before turning to face them. "Anyway, I'm a man of my word, so I'll show you two how to get out of here," he tells them with a smile. He points to Ruby. "Alright, highlights, come over here for a second."

Ruby cocks her head, confused. "Me?" she asks. Morgana nods and she shrugs, walking up next to him. "Okay… what am I supposed to do?"

"You see that statue over there?" he asks in turn, pointing to the side. Ruby looks over there and sees what he's talking about. Next to the drawbridge sits a stone bust of Watts decked out in his 'king' outfit. Ruby isn't sure how she didn't notice it before; it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Ruby steps over to it. "Is this what you're talking about?"

Morgana nods. "Yeah. Now then, pull on that things jaw," he instructed. Ruby raises an eyebrow, but after a moment she does as he says. Surprisingly, it works, and the drawbridge lowers a second later.

"Wow. How did you know that would work?" Ruby asked, impressed.

Morgana smirked. "I saw them use it a couple times when I was locked up."

Arc scowls behind them. "Of course he would use a method like that. Egomaniac that he is," he ranted.

Morgana looks back at him, then turns to Ruby. "Looks like blondie over there has a real problem with this guy…" he whispers.

Ruby shrugs. "I guess. Anyway, let's get out of here," she posites. "Hey dude, we're about to leave," Ruby reminds Arc, bringing him back to the world of the living.

"Right, sorry. Got a little distracted there," he apologized before following them across the bridge. The cobblestone clicked under their feet when they stepped off of the drawbridge. Looking around, Ruby noticed a hallway leading down to a staircase.

"Is the exit through there?" she asks, looking at Morgana.

He shakes his head. "No, that only leads down to the dungeon," he informs them. Suddenly his ears perk up and he faces right, looking down the walkway. "Crap! We took too long, there's a shadow coming!" he shouts. Ruby's eyes widen and she follows Morgana's gaze, turning right to find herself facing another one of those knights from before.

Arc jumps back and falls on his ass, crawly away quickly as he cursed. "Shit! There's more of them?!" he exclaimed in fear. Ruby would've been tempted to call him a scardy-cat, but after facing these things in their true form she really couldn't blame him.

The shadow shudders and breaks away, coming apart into two forms that now stood facing them. One was the jack-o-lantern creature from before, while the other takes the form of a pasty looking child with flower petals surrounding his head.

Morgana leaps over Arc to face them. "Geez, you guys really are amateurs," he chastised. He points to Ruby. "Hey you! You can fight, right?" he asks. Ruby's eyes widen in realization. Up until recently, she had never even been in a real fight. But she had handled that giant scythe with ease, not to mention the crazy powers she now possessed.

Ruby steps forward and grins, a strange sense of excitement filling her. "Yeah, I guess I can!" she exclaims. Her clothes abruptly explode into azure flames, and when they die down she's wearing the same outfit she had back in the cell. She reaches her hand out, and like before Crescent Rose burst to life in her grip. She twirls the scythe and brings it before her. "All right, let's cut these guys down!" Ruby shouts.

Morgana smiles wildly. "I like your style, highlights! Let's do this!" he exclaims. A silver saber appears in his grip much the same way her scythe did. Ruby nods and rushes forward, sprinting straight on at the flower petal creature. She closes the distance quickly and lashes out, looking to hack off the things legs. It jumped over her blade, but Ruby was quick to react and adjusted her grip, whipping the blade upward to try and slice its throat open. The creature veers back, just barely avoiding the blade of her scythe before touching down. Ruby jumps back from it's counter assault and tsks, trying to come up with a plan of attack.

"Wow, you guys really are amateurs," Morgana taunts, leaping up onto Ruby's shoulder. Her flips in front of her and bears his saber, and Ruby notices that the blade seems to be laced in some strange, grainy substance that's an emerald green in color. He slices forward, and to Ruby's surprise a large gust of wind kicks up and flies toward the flower creature. The wind seems to coalesce until it looks as sharp as a sword. When it connects with the monster a second later, it's legs are torn from its body and it's collapses to the ground with a cry of pain. Morgana is on top of it before it can suffer for long, severing it's head from its body and effectively killing it.

The jack-o-lantern creature sends forth a blast of flame which Morgana is quick to avoid. Ruby starts, now back to her senses as she raced at the monster. "Don't think I forgot about you!" it cried, another gout of fire being sent towards her. Ruby maneuvered around the attack with her superior speed, turning into a flash of red rose petals as she sped all around the walkway. She appear again directly under the halloween themed mage and grits her teeth, suddenly feeling a lot more tired than she did previously. The gears and other mechanisms in her scythe started shifting suddenly, and the blade of Crescent Rose was abruptly lurched straight forward, like the point of of spear.

"Haaah!" Ruby cried out, trusting her scythe upward into the belly of the creature. The blade punctured into flesh and burst out the other end, completely impaling him and leaving her weapon drenched in blood. The creature wailed in a agony before dissipating entirely. The blade of Crescent Rose shifted back into its neutral position-completely clear of any mess because of their enemy's vanishing act-and Ruby turned back to face Morgana.

The cat regarded her with a look of immense interest. "Nice job rookie! Your Semblance is simple, but pretty strong!" he cheered.

Ruby tilted her head in confusion, her clothes returning back to normal. "Semblance? Are you talking about those crazy powers you guys were using? I've been wondering about that myself…" Arc said, joining the conversation now that the battle was over.

Morgana turned to regard him as well. "You pick up on things quickly blondie. But you're right, highlight's speed back there was her Semblance. It's an ability she can use to fight shadow's here in the Metaverse," he explained, though honestly it just confused Ruby all the more.

"Then was that thing with your sword your Semblance? And what do you mean by Metaverse?" Ruby asked.

Morgana scratched at his head frantically. "Argh! I'd explain it to you all normally, but we don't have the time right now! The longer we wait here, the easier it'll be for shadows to find us! It doesn't help that you don't seem to have full control over your powers yet!" he cried, startling both Ruby and Arc.

"Y-your right. I'm sorry. It's just that this place is one big question mark to us…" Arc told him, looking at the dungeon around them.

Morgana sighed. "Like I said, I'll explain it all later if you really want me to, but for now we need to make it out of here," he pressed.

"Alright Morgana, we'll follow your lead," Ruby reassured. She looked to Arc and he nodded, asking Morgana to show them the way out. Soon enough, they were racing through the dungeon once again. As they did, questions started swirling around in her head, clouding her focus as she raced after the cat. What was this place? How did it get here? Why was Watts the supposed 'king' here? What about her power? And Morgana? If this 'Metaverse' wasn't the same as reality, what was going on up there?

Frustratingly, Ruby couldn't hope to answer any of these questions. That was the most vexing thing. For all of her fear and confusion, she didn't even have the slightest clue why any of this was happening. The three of them ended up reaching a staircase, thankfully without running into any more of those 'shadows' as Morgana called them. "All right! We're at the home stretch now, it's just up here!" the cat cried, racing up the steps with them close behind. After a moment, they crested the stairs and stepped into the main hall where Ruby and Arc had been captured. Morgana raced down the hall, running down the other hallway that connected to the main hall until he stopped in front of a door.

Without any prompting, Arc pushed the door open and stepped inside. Ruby followed in after to find herself in a barren square room with a couple of shelves sitting in the back. "Are you sure we'll be safe in here?" the blonde asked.

"Don't worry. The shadows rarely ever check in here," he tells them.

Ruby sighs. "Ah, that's a relief. I don't know why, but I feel super tired all of the sudden," she expresses, yawning lightly.

Morgana nods. "That makes sense. Even using your Semblance for small things takes a little out of you. Especially if you just awakened to your power," he told her. Ruby was inclined to believe him, what with how sluggish she felt right now.

"That's good and all, but where's this exit of yours?" Arc asked pointedly.

"Cool your pants, blondie. It's right up there," he chastised, pointing at a ventilation duct sitting above the shelfs.

"My name's Jaune. Jaune Arc," Jaune clarified, grumbling. He turned his head to the back of the room and groaned. "So I'm guessing the exit is through that vent right?" he asks, and Morgana nods. "Alright then. Might as well do something useful for you guys, seeing as how you kept me alive and all that," he rambles, attempting to climb up the shelves. They teeter and shake, but hold still, and Jaune carefully makes his way to the vent using them. When he's finally level with it, he brings his leg back and kicks, breaking the covering off and revealing a hole just large enough for a person to crawl through. "Aaah!" he suddenly yells. Jaune comes crashing down and topples the shelf over in the process. Ruby winces, it looked like his kick had sent the shelf off-balance and thrown it on its side.

"Nice one, Jaune Arc," Morgana snickers.

"Can it, cat," he grumbles. Ruby moves to help him up but he waves her off. "I'm fine," he tells her as he brings himself to his feet.

Morgana straightens. "Alright, you two. It's time for you to get out of here."

Ruby and Jaune pause. "You're not coming with us?" Ruby asks, concerned

He shakes his head. "Sorry, but no. I still have some business I need to take care of here. You don't have to worry about me though, I'm much too graceful to be taken surprise by the shadows here again," he adds at the end, no doubt noticing her worried expression.

Ruby still hesitates for a moment, but she nods. "Alright, if you're sure…" Morgana's confidence doesn't waver, and Ruby takes that as a sign he'll be fine. With Jaune's help, she climbs up the shelfs to the vent.

After sparing one last glance to Morgana, the two teens exit the castle.

…

Morgana didn't leave the small square room immediately. He stood them contemplatively, watching the infiltration point he had uncovered with interest.

Another person with a Semblance, huh? It looked like his infiltration of this Palace was going to be much more interesting than he had thought. He put his hand to his chin in thought. He had a lot to consider now, especially in regards to the Metaverse.

"Those two might actually be pretty useful… Especially the one with highlights…"

…

When Ruby's senses finally returned, her and Jaune found themselves standing in the middle of the street. Right in front of the alley that Jaune led her down initially, as a matter of fact.

"You have returned to the real world," her phone chirped, much to Ruby's confusion.

"Oh, man. We're really here, right? Like, this isn't an illusion or anything?" Jaune asked nonsensically.

Ruby looked around her-taking note of the storefronts and the passing pedestrians-before turning to Jaune. "Yeah… I think we're good."

Jaune lets out the largest sigh of relief Ruby's ever heard. "Oh thank god. When Watts had me up against the wall back there, I seriously thought I was gonna die," he admits.

Ruby smiles at him. "Then… I guess it's a good thing I was there," she says.

"No kidding."

The two of them enjoy a moment a silence, processing everything that happened to them.

...It doesn't last long.

"Hey! You two! What do you think you're doing!" someone shouts to the left of them. Ruby and Jaune turn to find two police officers approaching them. They look incredibly aggravated, as if they would rather be doing anything else. Ruby looks at them confused, wondering why they were picking them out of the crowd. The officers stop in front of them before Ruby can realize. "What are you two doing out of school?" one asks gruffly.

"What do you mean?" she asks in turn, and for some reason Jaune face-palms.

The officer eyes her shortly, like he couldn't believe she just asked that. "Well if you really need me to spell it out for you, missy. Those are Beacon uniforms you're wearing, and last I checked classes were still in session, so what are you doing out of school?" he asked incredulously.

Ruby's eyes widened comically. Oh crap! I'm so dead! She realized. "O-oh! Um, well… you see-"

"-Our train got super delayed because of the accident yesterday. We live pretty far out from Beacon, you see, so when we finally gave up and decided to walk here it took us a while," Jaune cut in, saving her from herself. Ruby looked at him out of the corner of her eye, wondering why he hadn't mentioned anything about the castle. Ruby was about to speak up herself when Jaune continued. "We're sorry for all the confusion, officers. We were just on our way to school when you stopped us," he told them, and Ruby was surprised by how good he was at lying.

The officers eyes them for a moment longer, humming occasionally, but they nodded. "Well, I suppose it's fine if you're already on your way there. Just be careful to make it on time from now on."

Jaune nodded and walked away, grabbing Ruby's hand when she didn't initially follow him. She let him drag her along for a little, looking at him curiously. After a second, she couldn't keep quiet anymore. "Why didn't you tell those cops about the castle?"

Jaune pauses and lets go of her hand, rubbing his head sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess that did seem pretty weird," he comments.

"Well, yeah. You got all cagey all of the sudden." She crosses her arms and frowns. "Do you have a problem with the police or something?" she asked.

"N-no! Nothing like that! It's just that, well… Do you really think those guys would believe anything we said?" he asks. Ruby looks down, reminded of the disapproving looks the police in her hometown gave her when she was arrested.

"Yeah… I guess you're right." She shakes her head, trying to banish her thoughts somewhere else. "Anyways, let's get to school already. We're already mega late," Ruby complained and walked ahead, Jaune following close behind. The two of them weaved through the back alleys, just as they had when they first tried to get to school. This time, when they emerged from the tight alleyways, the imposing form of Beacon academy greeted them.

"What the hell? It's perfectly normal now. But it's not like I changed my route at all from last time…" Jaune muttered.

Ruby shrugged. "If you're looking at me for answers, you're not gonna get anywhere. I'm just as confused as you are."

He sighs. "I know you are, Ruby. I'm talking to myself more than anything. I mean, don't you want an explanation for everything that happened today?"

"You'd better believe it. But right now, I'm more concerned with what my guardian will do to me if I'm any more late for school," Ruby explained.

Jaune blanched. "Oh crap, yeah. Let's get going already," he said, walking toward the gate. The two of them stepped through without any issue, entering the school before parting ways to get to classes. Ruby walked up to the second floor and made her way to the faculty office. If she remembered right, her homeroom teacher should be in here in order to show her to her classroom. Ruby wondered for a second if she might not be, what with her being at school so late, but didn't dwell on it long before she opened the door and stepped inside.

Sure enough, sitting in a swivel chair was the frustrated form of Ms. Goodwitch.

She turned to regard Ruby, disappointment clear in her gaze. "So, you actually decided to show up?"

"Ehehe… hah," Ruby laughed awkwardly.

Goodwitch's gaze was flat. "Do you at least have a reason for your tardiness?"

Ruby's mind raced as she tried to find a suitable answer. After a second, something came to her. "I live a while away from Beacon, you know. The train got super delayed and by the time I decided to just hoof it, a lot of time had passed," she offers, using the same lie Jaune had spun earlier.

Goodwitch tilted her head. "Well… I suppose you are unfamiliar with the area," she relents, and Ruby swears the gesture almost seems to pain her. She shakes her head, "Even so, you're still far too late. I'll let this go for now, but if you attempt to pull something like this again, don't be surprised if you're expelled," she chastised.

Yes. Expulsion. I really appreciate the constant, non-stop… REMINDERS OF MY SITUATION! Ruby seethed with hidden rage. She took a deep breath and let it out, calming herself and helping her think. "I'm very sorry I disappointed you, Ms. Goodwitch, I promise it won't happen again," she said, bowing deep to the ground.

Goodwitch sighed. "Alright, enough of that. Class is about to start, so I'll show you to your homeroom." Ruby stood up and nodded. Goodwitch walked out of the faculty office and down the hall, Ruby dutifully following behind. Goodwitch stopped abruptly in the middle of the hall. Ruby awkwardly came to a stop beside her, having not expected this. "Alright, listen. When you're introducing yourself to the class, try and be quick about it. We don't need you sharing any unnecessary details."

"R-right. I understand," Ruby replies sheepishly. And like that, they were back on their way. As they were making their way to the classroom, they passed a couple of female students walking together.

"Do you think that's her?"

"You mean the transfer student with the criminal record? It's gotta be. That or her sister, anyway."

Ruby is so lost in thought that she doesn't hear the exchange. After a little more walking, the two of them step into the classroom. Ms. Goodwitch takes up her place behind a podium standing at the front of the room while Ruby stands a little away from her, waiting to be introduce.

The classroom itself is fairly standard. It's a simple square shape and has a multitude of desks lining the center of it. There's a chalkboard at the front and back of the room, and windows line the right wall. There are about twenty-two students in the class, and all of them seem to be looking at her out of the corner of their eye. The heavy gaze everyone sends her makes Ruby anxious, and she has to try to stop herself from fidgeting.

"Alright everyone, settle down," Goodwitch demands, and her voice seems to carry authority. The students do so, and after a moment of silence Goodwitch gestures to her. "We have a new transfer student here with us today. She… um, wasn't feeling well, so we decided to let her attend from the afternoon on…" she finished lamely. Ruby winced but didn't say anything; she couldn't imagine this was any easier for the teacher than it was for her. "Would you please introduce yourself to the class," Ms. Goodwitch asked.

Ruby started before turning to the class, puttin on her best smile. "My name is Ruby Rose. I hope we can all get along," she says cheerfully, hoping her acting was convincing them.

"That's the one with the criminal record? Seriously?"

"She looks so small and harmless, though."

"Maybe it's all an act?"

"Yeah. You let your guard down for a second, and she'll go wild on you."

Whisper much the same to those resonate throughout the classroom, and each word makes more color drain from Ruby's face. What the hell?! How do they know about my record!? Only the teachers should know about that! Ruby wondered, completely baffled. Ms. Goodwitch looks almost as surprised as Ruby's feels, and she turns to the poor girl with a look of sympathy. "A-alright, that's enough of that!" she shouts, and once again the class settles. She coughs into her hand and scans the room, though Ruby isn't sure why. "Okay. There doesn't appear to be many seats left, so… why don't you sit over there, behind student council president Nikos," she tells her, pointing to a seat by the window.

Ruby doesn't say anything, she just walks over to the seat wasn't an idiot, she knew her record was permanent and going to follow her wherever she went. Beacon, though, this was supposed to be the one place she could pretend to be normal. She was supposed to struggle making friends at first, but ultimately coming to trust a select few people. She was supposed to be getting praise for smoking everyone on the track team. She was supposed to be Yangs tag along whenever her and her army of friends went hanging out. Now the chances of any of that happening were slim to none, and all because she had some stupid label put on her.

"I remember you…"

The voice came from her left, and Ruby's gaze snapped to it. There was a girl sitting there, with bright red hair and emerald eyes. Ruby recognized her almost immediately. She was the girl she had met earlier, under the awning while it was still raining. The girls words seem to come out of her almost unconsciously, and she isn't even looking at her when Ruby regards her. "You're that girl…" she says back, just as nonsensically. Ms. Goodwitch addresses her and Ruby freezes before quickly taking her seat.

"Hey, do those two know each other?"

"I don't know, maybe they're dating?"

"I doubt it. She must've hit on Nikos before she came here."

"Oh man, imagine what Mr. Watts must think. Everyone knows those two are dating."

"Ugh, that side of the room is totally rotten."

The words wormed into Ruby's head and infecter her like a virus. She tried her hardest to pay attention to what Ms. Goodwitch was teaching, but just as she was starting to focus she would hear a snippet of conversation about her and stop. She hadn't even been in the school for a whole day and already rumours were being thrown around. She beat a person within an inch of their life; she carried a knife on her at all times, some people even suggested she was a member of the freaking Yakuza. The vitriol of her fellow students made Ruby feel sick. She almost wanted to stand up and explain the real story to the class, but she knew they wouldn't believe her.

She was lucky enough to have the whole hour pass without being called on by the teacher, and she wondered if Ms. Goodwitch might have done that on purpose. Who am I kidding? She sees me as just as much of a burden as everyone else here, she lamented cynically. Ruby sighed and grabbed her school bag, slowing bringing herself to a standing position. The rest of the students seemed to tense up as she did, and the gesture only brough Ruby further down. She trudged defeatedly through the classroom and slid open the door, stepping out into the hallway.

"Excuse me, Ms. Rose," Goodwitch called out making Ruby stop in her tracks. As she did, an unexpected migraine raged in her skull. Her perception seemed to warp, the hall of the school changing in one lined with red carpeting and stain glass windows.

"Ugh…" she grunted, clutching her head. Everything returned to normal a second later, but that didn't stop Ruby from feeling confused. "Is this place… a castle?" she asked aloud, bewildered.

She wasn't looking at Goodwitch, but she can imagine the look she gave her. "What are you talking about? This is Beacon academy," she replied simply. "...Are you all right?" she asks suddenly.

Ruby shakes her head and turns to face her. "Yeah… I'm just a little tired, I guess," she tells her distractedly, looking off to the side. Eventually her gaze falls back to the blond teacher in front of her.

She returns the gaze, any emotion she felt locked behind her emerald green eyes. "Well, anyway, I thought I might as well tell you to keep your head down. I'm not sure how those students got a hold of your record, but now that they have you'd best keep a low profile," she lectures sternly.

Ruby feels a heat rise up in her stomach, and tries to force her mounting frustration down. It's hard, however. Ruby feels fairly confident Ms. Goodwitch had nothing to do with her leaked information, but it was still her job to keep that knowledge secret, along with the rest of the teachers.

"Hey! What's going on?" a familiar voice asks from behind. Ruby turns around to find herself facing the same blonde boy from before. Jaune smiles brightly and walks up to her, his steps measured and confident. Ruby is relieved by the distraction, she knew she would've done something stupid if he hadn't shown up then.

"Uh, nothing much. I'm still getting situated, you know?" Ruby responds quickly, grasping onto the metaphorical life line he threw her.

"Mr. Arc. I didn't realize you were familiar with Ms. Rose," Goodwitch interjected, and her voice had an unusual edge to it.

Jaune turned his bright smile to her, not missing a beat. "We ran into each other earlier. As the elder, I thought I might as well lend a hand to my junior. There isn't something wrong with that, is there?" he asked innocently.

Ruby suddenly felt very small, like she was a bystander watching a car crash. "Nothing at all. I was just surprised by your association with one another. Although, I would think you have better things to be doing at the moment," Ms. Goodwitch intoned.

Jaune's eyes hardened, though his smile still remained in place. "Yeah… I guess you're right," he said passively as he stepped away. While he was walking by her, he leaned into her ear and said "Meet me on the roof."

Ruby nods subtly before looking back to miss Goodwitch. She imagines Jaune wants to talk about what happened in the castle, and if she's honest so does she. Goodwitch sighs heavily. "I can't believe this…" she drawls while rubbing the bridge of her nose. Her gaze snaps to Ruby and she stiffens. "Listen here. I'm sure it seems great to have a friend at your new school, but trust when I say you shouldn't associate with Mr. Arc."

"And why's that?" Ruby asks a little defensively.

"He's nothing but a problem child. And considering his pension for whistle blowing, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who leaked your record," she accused. Ruby's eyes widen and she looks off to the side. She's fishing… Ruby realizes. There's no way Jaune could have done that. For one, he was a student-and supposedly a problem child like her-so there was no way he could've gotten a hold on that information. Also, he didn't know even know she was transfering here at all, let alone all the other baggage she was carrying with her. He could've just been a really good liar, but she's doubts it.

"Alright, I'll keep everything you said in mind, Ms. Goodwitch. If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be…" she told her with a bow. Goodwitch waved her off and Ruby was quick to leave, racing up the stairs to the roof. Normally she would've checked up on Yang-she was dealing with the same thing Ruby was, after all-but this was a special circumstance. She wasn't even sure she could properly explain her supernatural experience to her sister, let alone get her to believe it. But Jaune had gone through it with her, if there was anyone she could to confide in right now, it was him.

She crested the stairs to the roof a second later. A small space sat on the unofficial fourth floor with a door to the ride leading out to the roof. Ruby took that door and found herself greeted by the early fall air. She found Jaune pretty quickly, leaning against a large ventilation unit standing next to a couple of empty desks. Aside from that the roof was pretty barren, and smaller than Ruby expected it to be.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Jaune greeted with a wave.

"...Not so good, honestly," she answered after a moment.

Jaune looked down but didn't reply, it was clear he had heard about it too. "Yeah… I heard the rumours too. You know, about your criminal record…" he led off, clearly uncomfortable approaching the subject.

"I-I know it seems bad, but I promise most of it's not true! And even if-"

"Woah, hold up. You don't have to explain anything to me, I had a feeling most of it was BS. And even if it wasn't-" He gave a goofy grin that brightened Ruby's mood just a touch. "-you saved my life back in that dungeon, so I can't believe you're all that bad."

Ruby feels a smile spread across her lips. An honest one from the bottom of her heart. "I… thanks. For that, I mean. After today… I really needed it."

Jaune claps her on the shoulder. "No problem. I owe you that much after everything that happened today," he clarified. Ruby chuckled a little and shook her head. Deciding to get a little more comfortable, Ruby sat on one of the desks laying around. Jaune returned to his spot leaning on the wall, a small frown on his face. "Though, I guess that's as good a segway as anything to talk about it…"

"The castle, you mean?"

Jaune nodded. "Well, that, yes, but also something else…" he lead off.

"What's that?" Ruby asked curiously.

Jaune looked her dead in the eye. "I think I know who leaked your criminal record."

Ruby's jaw dropped. "What?! How?! And who was it?!" she shrieked.

Jaune patted the air with his hands. "C-calm down for a second! I'm just guessing; I don't know anything for certain…" he told her.

Ruby sighed and her expression dropped. "Sorry for blowing up like that," she apologized. "Anyways. I wanna hear your 'theory', it's probably a better guess than I could make."

"Yeah, No problem." He faced forward. "I think it was Watts who did it."

"You mean that old guy in the castle? You said he was a teacher here, right?"

Jaune nods. "Yeah, Watts teaches physics and english here."

"It's weird to think that he was also the guy who held us captive," she posited. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh crap! Do you think he remembers me?! Is that why he told everyone about my record!" she rants.

Jaune shakes his head and Ruby deflates. "No, that's not it. I have a class with him and he was totally normal. I even tried directly talking with him. He was a dick-like he always is-but not at all like he was in that castle."

"Wow. He seriously doesn't remember any of that? Now I have a ton of more questions about the whole thing."

"You're telling me. I mean, completely disregarding everything else about that castle, I just wanna know why it's here," he explains. "Looking exclusively at the facts; that huge castle occupies the same space as this school. We took the exact same route to both places, and yet we ended up in two totally different locations? It's…-"

"-Supernatural…" Ruby finishes.

"Yeah, to say the least."

Ruby holds her hands in front of her. "...I know it seems kind of stupid. But the thing I'm most curious about is those weird powers I used back there."

"I don't think it's that stupid," Jaune assures, turning to face her. "That's been weighing on my mind a lot too. I know I can't actually do the math or anything, but I swear I saw you move faster than a car at one point. That's not physically possible, nor is materializing a scythe out of thin air or a talking cat which walks on it's hind legs."

"Oh yeah, Morgana. His fur was really soft," Ruby added with a smile.

Jaune looked like he was about to say something else, but paused. "...How soft?"

"It's a secret~" Ruby teased, giggling,

"Oh come on! I like cats too, ya know!" he exclaimed indignantly. Ruby laughed; it felt good to do so after such a trying day.

"We-we're getting off topic," Ruby managed after she calmed down. She shakes her head. "You know, since we have so many questions about this castle, maybe we should try going back to it?" she offered.

Jaune turned to regard her with wide eyes, his mouth slightly agape. When five seconds passed and he still hadn't said anything, Ruby tilted her head at him curiously. That seemed to make him regain his composure. "You know, that might not be so terrible an idea. I mean I wouldn't really be able to help you if we ran into something bad, but it's not like we're magically gonna find answers by sitting here and talking."

"I was thinking the same thing. The only problem is… we have no idea how to get there," Ruby pointed out dejectedly.

"Crap, you're right," Jaune realized. He looked off to the side and the two of them were silent for a while. "Damn, it's starting to get late. If it's all the same to you, I think we call it here for tonight and try to find some answers tomorrow. If you want to, that is," he added at the end awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'm down," Ruby assured and stepped off the desk, picking up her school bag along the way. She starts walking toward the rooftop exit.

"Oh, right. One more thing before you go."

Ruby stops and turns to face him. "Yeah?"

"I get we kinda already know each other, but I still want to formally introduce myself. I'm Jaune Arc, it's nice to meet you," he declared with an infectious smile.

She returned it. "And I'm Ruby; Ruby Rose."

"Well, Ruby Rose, I hope we can get along together."

"Me too," she says. And for the first time that day, Ruby finally feels happy.

…

The walk home had been tense. Despite Yang's constant attempts to make her feel better.

After the initial questioning of why she was late-Ruby had given her some crock and bull story to explain it-Yang had been trying to lift her spirits as they made there way to Yongen-Jaya. Ruby appreciated her sister, or course, and it was nice that she was trying to help out. The truth of the matter, though, was that no amount of reassurances could spare her Cinder's wrath. While she was on the train she had received a text from her guardian.

"We need to talk."

It was short, simple, and filled Ruby with more anxiety than any four word text should. The rest of the train ride home her stomach had been churning. Cinder hadn't exactly been subtle about her readiness to throw them out if needs be, so Ruby could only imagine how she felt hearing this on their first real day on probation. Her mind raced with the possibilities, imagining many different scenarios that could play out and how she would respond. She tried to come up with a plan in her head, thinking about what would leave her best off. In the end she decided she would just grovel for forgiveness and hope for the best. It was all she could do, really.

"Well, looks like we're here," Yang announced. Ruby's gaze shifted to the two-story building and she sighed. "You know, I can be there with you," she offered, concern maring her face.

Ruby turned to her. "No, it's fine. I mean, try and look at this from her perspective. She's just taken us in, and then the first thing I do under her care is skip school? It doesn't make her look very good, and it certainly doesn't do a whole lot to make her like me…" she lead off.

Yang sighed and scratched her head. "Sometimes I think you're too nice, sis."

Ruby shakes her head and unlocks the door, stepping inside the house. Cinder is already inside, sitting on a couch in the first floor living room. Ruby drops her school bag on a nearby chair. When she feels Yang hovering over her, she gestures for her sister to go upstairs. After a second of hesitation, she does so. Ruby ambles into the living room. There is a couch sitting opposite Cinder, and Ruby takes and looks to her guardian.

"I got a call from your school today," she states, and she does not look pleased.

Ruby gulps, loudly. "Y-yeah…" she manages, looking down.

Cinder sighs and closes her eyes, her frustration showing on her face. "I don't have much time to waste on this, so I expect you to listen closely."

Ruby rubs her hands together, fidgeting. "I-I'm so sorry for everything that happened! I promise I didn't mean to-!"

"Stop." Cinder demands, cutting off Ruby's outburst. "I don't care for any explanations or excuses you have to offer me. I'm simply going to tell you what's expected of you, and you are going to meet those expectations," she tells her, and her tone freezes Ruby in her seat. She takes a long drag of her cigar before continuing, and it's only now that Ruby realizes she's smoking. "I'm not sure whether this was supposed to be some sort of petty 'statement' against authority or some other such nonsense, but I suppose it doesn't really matter in the end."

Ruby want to interrupt and say something, but she can tell from the look she's giving her doing so would only upset Cinder further. "I honestly don't care what it is you do under my care. I'm not about to try and control your life; doing so wouldn't benefit me at all," she states, and the declaration surprises her. "However… when you take action that directly affects my life, that is something I will not tolerate. In the same way I am giving you the freedom to do as you wish here, I expect the same to be true in return. I will not have the two of you antagonizing me or my livelihood. So, to put this little rant of mine to a close… I am willing to let this discrepancy slide, but it you even attempt to do anything that may negatively reflect on me again… I will not be so lenient. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I… understand. Sorry," Ruby tells her, bowing her head slightly.

Cinder takes another drag of her cigar. "Good." She smiles, and the gesture makes Ruby shudder. This is the same as the small grins and cocky smirks Cinder had given her before. This smile was strangely… sinister, as if it had some malevolent intent behind it. Cinder stands before she can process it, exiting the house to return to her job.

Ruby sits there for a while, lost in her thoughts. After some time, she walks up the stairs. Her and Yang eat alone that night, and Ruby retires to bed almost immediately after. As she lays there, she reflects back on everything that happened today.

Ruby turns off her lights and forces herself to sleep. She has a big day tomorrow, after all.

A.N: I know people will probably find the lack of Yang in the story weird, but I promise that's going to change really soon. I just thought this was the best way to introduce Jaune and the dynamic he's going to have with Ruby. Also, Ruby's awakening! If it wasn't already obvious from the chapter itself, awakenings, Persona's and combat in general are going to be a bit different from how they are in the game. I hope I'm keeping everyone entertained with this. Also, please R & R. Even if it's just a small one to say you enjoyed the story. Getting reviews honestly really helps me feel motivated to keep writing. Which also means quicker updates for you! So it's a win-win! Next chapter will hopefully be as soon as this one. Also might be a little shorter. I'm starting to realize that the content I want to cover with each chapter is turning out to be more than I expect, so I might try to slow down a little from here.