AN: OK so first things first this is the third installment of my Ruby Worm Cross 'the Grimm Queen'. If you did not realize that there was a second post of this idea... well I should know better than to try updating the same thread without waiting 24 hours. Just backtrack one post for the second Grimm Queen snippet. This is all I've got for the idea so far and I'm not likely to have any more until I've gotten caught up on RWBY and had time to give this some serious thought. But anyway, hope you enjoy! read and review please!

The Grimm Queen 1.3

More than a hundred rounds, and a long walk around the campus later Taylor finally re-entered the dorm room she shared with team JNPR. She wasn't avoiding her roommates, really, she wasn't! She was just... Giving them time to adjust to the new information. She would electrocute anyone who said otherwise.

She slipped the door open the bare minimum to slip inside and kept her head down only glancing up out of the corner of her eye as she entered. Ultimately the attempt at a subtle entrance was pointless as team JNPR had zeroed in on her as soon as the door opened. Taylor cringed at the attention.

Ren and Nora displayed impressively impassive masks. Phyrra showed a great deal of concern, and Jaune fidgeted awkwardly. For a moment no one moved or spoke than Nora stood and moved towards Taylor with purposeful steps. Taylor expecting the worst cringed and looked away from the girl. She then immediately squeaked in surprise as Nora swept her up into a hug.

"It's OK." The orange haired girl said, her voice uncharacteristically firm and serious. "This doesn't change anything."

Taylor snorted a in a mix of amusement and relief. "Liar, it made you serious, if that's not a change nothing is." The sarcastic quality of the words was lost as her voice almost broke from relief. Nora pulled back to give Taylor a stunningly bright grin. "Thank you." Taylor said sincerely. The others simply nodded to show their support and the room descended into companionable silence.

It was everything Taylor could have hoped for. It was a relief. Right then and there she decided that these were people she wanted to know, wanted to keep close. They had her back, and she fully intended to have theirs if and when they needed her.

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Breakfast was as it had been the day before; Ren silent and methodical as he ate, Nora chattering bubbly away as she devoured her meal, Pyrrha and Jaune quietly discussing class as they picked at their food. Taylor watched it all, smiling over a cup of black tea, reveling in the feeling of being accepted.

That feeling of serenity shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces when the members of team RWBY took the seats around her and her temporary team, especially because Weiss had decided to sit directly across from her. Taylor's scowl made her opinion perfectly apparent to everyone, and had JNPR sitting stiffly, waiting to see how things played out.

"I'm sorry." Weiss said, miserably, her head bowed. "My father, he uses your name interchangeably with the White Fang… I, listened to him, and didn't even think to check my facts. I'm sorry for what I said, and how I've been acting towards you."

Taylor's mouth hung slightly open and her eyes were wide as she tried to process just what kind of parallel universe she may have slipped into. Ruby fairly beamed with happiness and pride for her partner.

"I, um wow. I just, wasn't expecting that. Umm, apology accepted, I guess." She said looking thoroughly out of her depth.

Weiss gave a firm nod before focusing on her breakfast to the exclusion of anything else.

Ruby's squeal of delight was followed by her glomping Weiss and babbling about being proud of her. The young leader still had to worry about the relationship between Blake and Weiss, but this was a good start after yesterday.

Weiss spluttered for a moment before shoving Ruby off. Ruby not put out in the slightest shifted focus to Taylor, a wide grin on the young leader's face.

"What's your farthest Grim kill shot?" Taylor's grin slowly grew to match the young leader's.

"Mile and a quarter." She said radiating smug. "You?" Ruby's jaw dropped open just a little before she wined lowly.

"Four fifths of a mile." She pouted. "How did you manage a shot that far?" Several of the other teens were paying attention too now. Taylor grinned cheekily.

"Because Thunder is a sniper rifle, and only a sniper rifle."

"Wait, no mechashift?!" Ruby shouted sounding aghast.

"Mmhmm. Well, that and .408 rounds are made almost exclusively for sniping whereas .50 cal is more likely to come out of a machine gun, so the rounds I'm using are held to higher quality control standards." Ruby gaped before shaking her head.

"Ok, I knew about the differences in the ammo, but I use the recoil from the .50 cal rounds to boost my speed. A smaller round wouldn't work as well for that, but what does the mechashift have to do with anything?" Ruby pouted.

"Ahh, well the mecha shift itself, not a lot. The issue is that because it's also a melee weapon you spend a lot of time swinging it around and slamming it into things. No matter how well made it's always going to cause something to come a bit loose. That's fine if you're some machine gunner hosing things down at a couple hundred yards, but for those long shots? Every little bit counts. Though I'd bet you can eek out a full mile if you tuned everything and didn't swing it around before making the shot." The feathered girl advised kindly. Ruby was now thoroughly pouting as she nibbled at a strawberry. Pyrrha hummed thoughtfully before asking her own question.

"Does that mean your only weapon for close combat is your knife? That doesn't seem like enough."

"I can personally assure you that it is plenty." Weiss deadpanned. Taylor, Yang, and Nora chuckled a little at that.

"My knife, and my semblance. I don't want to carry less ammo for Thunder, and a second gun would mean carrying at least double the ammo, or making do with less ammo for sniping. I've thought about making a second knife, or maybe even a short sword to use with my knife, but I've never been able to decide quite what I want." Taylor admitted with a shrug.

Ruby stared at the feathered teen before pulling out a pad and pen to start sketching while mumbling to herself as she worked.

"Oh, oh! Ooooor you could use a Grimm to carry all the ammo you could ever want! We could get you an Ursa, and make it saddlebags! And a saddle! Then you could ride it!"

Taylor just blinked. "Why the hell didn't I think of that." She said, frowning.

"It would slow you down though. Ursa aren't exactly known for being distance runners." Blake reminded.

"Yeah but think how much ammo one could carry. It'd be like a walking armory! Maybe even enough for two teams!" Taylor hummed thoughtfully. "If my range was better it might make for a decent suicide bomber against hordes too."

"Have you considered using a different kind of dust? I know lightning dust is hard to control for distance attacks. It's why I mostly stick to ice and fire dust." Weiss asked. Taylor nodded thoughtfully.

"Lightning dust, makes me feel safe." She hedged. "It's saved me more than once. Honestly, I never really tried to branch out. Though I guess it couldn't hurt to try using other types."

From there the conversation moved on to classes and the group of teens truly began to relax around each other. Blake and Weiss kept their distance from each other, but Ruby's request that they make an effort hung over both. For now, at least they could be civil while they evaluated each other. Taylor still wasn't sold on being friendly with Weiss, but figured the apology earned her a second chance.

"Hey, Taylor, umm?" Ruby fidgeted looking a bit nervous about whatever she was going to say.

Taylor had to fight hard not to give in to the sinking sensation in her stomach as she wondered if Ruby was going to turn on her now. She had seemed alright before, but maybe she was just putting on a brave front? She was after all the youngest in the group. It made sense Ruby would have the most trouble accepting that Taylor had killed someone. "Yes, Ruby?" She asked, trying not to let her rising fear into her voice.

"I umm, I've only met a few people who, you know, aren't named for colors." Instantly all the tension bled out of Taylor and a bemused, if exasperated look slid onto her face.

"So, you're wondering where my name comes from then?"

"Yes?" Taylor gave a fond sigh followed by a light chuckle.

"My Mom never really liked painting or drawing. She appreciated it, but she always said the only art that moved her was the written word. She taught literature, she loved the classics, the old dramas and romances. She studied the novels from before the war as much as she could. Always digging through old shelters and refugee tunnels, always hitting estate sales and rummage sales looking for lost works." Taylor smiled fondly lost in old memories.

"She would do her best to restore them, copy them so that they would still be there for future generations. Letting those stories die, even the ones she hated, was unthinkable. About a year before I was born she stumbled across a story that was written right before the war kicked off. Right before they started burning the books and the paintings. She thinks most copies were destroyed before they could be sold, it's a miracle the one she found survived at all, though the cover was badly damaged and she never found the title or author of the book. She worked on copying it all through her pregnancy, and she fell in love with the story and its characters."

"What was it about?" Blake cut it. As a book lover Taylor's story was really catching her interest.

Taylor smiled wryly. "It's about a world where semblances exist, but the Grimm don't. Not like we know them. Humanity has spread across the whole map, there are hundreds of cities and billions of people." The idea of so many people, of a world without Grimm gets smiles from everyone.

"But it's not perfect." Taylor continued on not wanting them to get the wrong idea. "Instead people use their semblances to stop or commit crimes. Sometimes whole cities are practically controlled by gangs. There was even mentions of a small country ruled by just one person with a really powerful semblance." Taylor's words destroyed the idyllic image the others had been developing. "There are also three monsters. Creatures with powers of their own and seemingly impossible to kill that can destroy whole cities and sink islands. The governments are ineffective and there are people all over manipulating things to suit themselves. It's a mess of a world that's slowly falling apart, with a few people trying to cover up the cracks."

That brought the mood right back down.

"That doesn't seem like a very nice story." Ruby mumbled.

"Yeah, it sounds really dark." Jaune agreed. Taylor only shrugged. The two weren't wrong, but the story was all about the darker sides of humanity, about how even against things that threaten humanity like the 'Endbringers', or the endless Grimm they represented, humanity could not put aside their differences to fight a common enemy. Or at least not for very long. The message might not be pleasant, but that did not make it any less accurate.

"The main character is this fifteen year old, idealistic girl named Taylor. She dreams of being a hero. She gets sucked into things way over her head and has to fight her way out. She grows from this awkward, naive girl with no confidence into a level headed tactician, a vicious fighter, and a real survivor. Mom wanted me to be strong, just like the Taylor from the story."

Taylor smiled warmly down at her tray, lost in memories of happier times when her mother was still alive.

Blake hummed thoughtfully. "I'd love to read it sometime. It sounds like an excellent book."

Taylor smiled warmly back. "I don't think it ever made it into reprint, but there is a website my Mom and some of her colleagues set up for it, and all their other finds on the net. I'll send you a link."

Before conversation could shift to another topic Phyrra pointed out the time and the group choked down the last of their breakfasts before heading off to class.