"Sooo, how did you two meet?" Jaune asked as they were headed to the auditorium.
Blake and Ruby shared conflicted glances. Neither knew what to answer to the oblivious boy.
"Um, we met-" Blake started.
"We met in a group of activists for the equality of all races, my mom was one of the people who were hired to help protect the organizer." Ruby half lied. It was mostly the truth except it wasn't a simple "group", it was the White Fang, the same White Fang that was infamous for violent acts and crimes. Not that the Branwen tribe was any better.
"That's cool! So, you guys are like childhood friends?" Jaune asked again.
"Yes, you could say that." Stated Blake coolly.
-flash back-
"Ruby make sure to stay close to me at all times, okay?" Raven said.
"Yes, mother!" Ruby responded obediently .
"You too, Vernal." The elder woman nodded towards the brooding teen.
"Yeah, whatever." Vernal rolled her eyes, exasperatedly.
Today was Ruby's first hands-on mission with Raven. She was the same age as Neo when said girl had first went on her mission. Ruby was 8 and Vernal was currently 15 years old.
"What are we even doing here?" Vernal continued.
Sighing, Raven turned around to face Vernal, "We are here because the Belladonna family has hired us to be makeshift bodyguards for this rally." Raven only brought 3 people, which were Ruby, Vernal and herself. She was pretty damn confident in her own and Vernal's combat capabilities.
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that." Vernal shrugged, not caring about anything.
"Ruby, your task will be to guard their daughter, Blake Belladonna, she's a year older than you so I think you two will get along just fine but, remember to keep yourself in my line of eyesight." Raven warned.
"Yes, ma'am!" Ruby mock saluted, causing a small chuckle to erupt from Raven's throat.
Clearing her throat, Raven finished, "Anyway, let's go."
"Okayyyy~"
"Sure, whatever."
Walking around for a couple of minutes, they reach a mansion in the back-middle of the island. This was the Belladonna household.
Knock, knock
"Yes?" Came a deep, throaty, voice from the other side of the door.
"We're the hired guns." Raven said monotonously.
"Ah, wait a minute, please." The presumed Ghira Belladonna began shuffling the locks on the door, opening it wide, showing his large, warm aura.
"Hello there, little one, what are you doing here?" Ghira asked, curiously.
"I'm here to watch mommy work!" Ruby gushed, almost vibrating,
Ghira nodded in affirmation, then he turned towards Vernal in the same quizzical way.
"Why- "
Raven stepped in immediately, not wanting Vernal's rudeness become the deal breaker for this good paying job. But, of course, Vernal didn't see that point of view, she huffed in exasperation.
"Vernal is the other guard, she's talented."
"Alright then, come on in." He stepped aside, letting the trio pass inside. "Kali! Blake!"
A set of footsteps came, both at different speeds. The first to come was a small cat faunus, with shoulder length hair, a purple scarf around her neck and cargo shorts. "Daddy!" The little kitten babbled, "Who are they?" She asked tilting her head a bit.
"These are the people who will protect us, honey."
"Isn't she a little too young to guard?" Kali commented.
"I don't think she will be participating in the guarding as well, right?" Ghira inquired.
"Actually, my little cardinal, will be protecting your child." Raven smirked proudly.
"Is that right?" Ghira kneeled down to Ruby's eye level, "I'll be counting on you to protect my little girl." Ghira winked, showcasing a full warm, smile.
"I won't disappoint you, sir!" Ruby giggled.
"Daaaad, stop it!" Blake blushed, her ears flattening against her head.
"Hello! I'm Ruby!" The small human girl chirped.
"Blake," She started, gulping her embarrassment, "My name's Blake." She offered a small smile which was returned tenfold.
-flash back end -
"Guys, I think I see the entrance." Ruby quickly switched topics, not wanting to elaborate any further.
"Yeah! You're right, let's go!" Jaune chirped.
Jaune was one hell of a happy-go-lucky guy. Ruby almost envied his nativity and carefreeness. The same could be said about Blake.
"Jaune! I saved you a spot!" Yang shouted, waving the blonde knight down.
"H-Hey, I gotta go, I hope I see you guys later!" He stuttered, waving goodbye enthusiastically.
"Great, now where are we going to find a nice, quirky, person like that?" Ruby pouted.
"Here." A mature sounding voice answered.
The ladybug duo snapped there heads towards the voice and found a very familiar face.
It was none other than...
Someone they didn't know, who the hell was this chick?
"Uh, hello?" Ruby greeted in confusion.
Blake just nodded, acknowledging the presence.
The red headed amazon seemed to be waiting for a response, like expecting them to know her.
"Who exactly are you?" Ruby decided to ask.
Blake knew but, she felt as if she needed to keep her mouth shut.
The teen looked utterly baffled at Ruby's reaction, or rather lack of reaction.
"Do you- Do you really not know me?!" A blast of happiness washed over Ruby. The Amazonian was strangely excited about the aspect of Ruby not knowing her.
Oh well.
"No, I don't think so." Ruby smiled awkwardly. It was convincing enough, she couldn't act like how she normally would at the tribe, because then she would be singled out quick. At times like this, she wished she had retained her naivety.
"My name is Pyrrha Nikos!" Pyrrha grinned like crazy, outstretching her hand out in an eager handshake, which Ruby reluctantly returned.
"I'm Ruby, Ruby Branwen."
"Blake." Blake budded in, in a friendly way.
"YOU!" A shrill voice interrupted the mood.
"For fucks sake! What the Grimm, do you want?!" Ruby growled, turning around begrudgingly.
"I-I, uh," Weiss suddenly felt tiny compared to Ruby, like when she was a child. Like how father makes her feel when he was angry.
"U-Uh, I-I," Ruby mocked cruelly, forgetting that Pyrrha was still right there, "Speak clearly, Schnee."
"Ruby, I think that was a bit too harsh." Pyrrha said, feeling conflicted with her new-found friend's attitude.
"Yes, I agree with Pyrrha." Blake said, surprising herself and Ruby.
"Whatever," Ruby rolled her eyes but, bit back her snarky attitude, "So what did you want, Weiss."
"N-Nothing!" Weiss turned on her heel and left just as quickly as she had arrived.
"Well, that was certainly interesting." Ruby said sarcastically.
"The speech is starting." Blake stated.
-line break-
"Is this place taken?"
Ruby chuckled, "Of course not, Blake." She patted the empty spot beside her.
"Thanks." Blake unrolled her bedroll and brought out a candle out of nowhere, setting it down right next to her bed. She sat down gracefully, with a book in hand, which piqued Ruby's curiosity.
"What's that book about?"
"It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body." Blake answered, without taking her eyes off of her book.
Sounds a bit like Ozpin, if that's even his real name. Ruby thought to herself before answering Blake out loud, "Sounds interesting, you'd have to let me borrow it sometime."
"Could you two please quite down, please?" Came a submissive sounding Weiss.
"Were we really that loud?" Blake questioned.
"Yes! I-I mean, yes, a bit." Weiss corrected herself quickly.
"Alright, we'll keep it down, even though we were already going to sleep." Ruby shrugged, not feeling up to bully the white themed girl.
"Thank you." Weiss bowed a little before, quietly walking away.
"Alright, Blakey, lights out!" Ruby clapped her hands jokingly.
Blake rolled her eyes, simply closed her book, reaching over to grab the candle and blowing it out, enveloping their spot in complete darkness.
-line break-
The air whistled in Ruby's ears, as she flew across the sky. Is this what Raven felt whenever she shifted to her bird form. It felt calming and peaceful. At times like these, Ruby envied her mother's "curse". Although she couldn't envy it much, since she had a curse of her own.
CAW!
"Ah, fuck, stupid crow." Ruby cursed under her breath as her flight was cut off by the oblivious bird.
Quickly detaching her duel wielding scythes from her back, she spun them around in a beautiful arc and slashed at a tree trunk, causing her to slow down her fall.
So much for the calming moment, Ruby thought sadly.
Before touching the ground, Ruby tucked her head in and rolled into a summersault, padding the fall more.
What was the relic this time around? Raven had told her that the relics seemed to change for every new year.
At least the headmaster had the decency to point them in the right direction. Ruby hummed as she thought.
The partner thing could be troublesome too; she didn't have anyone in particular that she wanted to be teammates with, other than Blake. And that was a very slim chance of happening.
Who else did she know that she could be able to work with? Jaune, no, not a chance, Ruby laughed at the thought.
Pyrrha, maybe, although she was a bit too quirky for her taste, but she did seem capable in a combat sense.
Yang, hell no.
Now, who else could see work with? So far, she only knew Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha and-
"Weiss." Ruby spoke out loud.
"Drat."
Ruby stifled a laugh at Weiss's childish curse.
"Wha- What's so funny?!" Weiss stomped her feet in a fit.
"Nothing." Ruby said, still chuckling, "Anyway, it seems that we are partners now, Ice princess." She teased.
"I'm not an ice princess!" Ice princess rebuked.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, spoiled brat." Ruby joked.
-line break-
"Ruby?"
Ruby felt a sense of déjà vu when she heard her name being called out like that, but there was a difference in the way her name. The first one was out of curiosity but, this one was out of fear, nostalgia, awe, and self-hatred. But Ruby did not care, after killing the nevermore, she didn't feel like dealing with the inevitable. It might be inevitable but, she could prolong it for a little while longer.
"Ruby?!" Yang asked once again, more desperately.
"Do you know her?" Blake probed.
"Yeah, do you?" Weiss inquired further.
"I did, a long time ago, very long ago but, not anymore." Ruby lamented as, she walked away towards the school.
Weiss and Blake shared a questioning glance, before following in toe.
-line break-
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by… Cardin Winchester!"
Ruby clapped politely, along with the rest of the audience, as the new team's faces filled the screen.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." Amid clapping followed. "Led by… Jaune Arc!"
"L-Led by…?" Jaune sputtered.
"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin applauded.
A grinning Pyrrha shoulder bumped Jaune but, it caused her team leader to topple over onto his butt.
A yawn erupted from the young girl, very unlady like. Listening to Ozpin's voice for this long was boring beyond belief.
"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Branwen. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by… Ruby Branwen!"
Now that woke Ruby up, she knew that she was talented but, not, leader type of talented. Ruby eyed Weiss from the side, knowing that her being leader will make complications. A yellow mane came into view, blocking the albino girl off. Her eye conflicting between many emotions. Ruby did not like it one bit.
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year." Ozpin muttered under his breath.
Once again, Ruby turned on her back on Yang and quickly walked off. She'll deal with it tomorrow.
Or as later as she can prolong this. Hopefully forever.
-Line break-
A/N: I appreciate reviews like the recent ones. So thank you! Hope this chapter is somewhat enjoyable!
