I do not own RWBY

Leaning back in her seat, Weiss watched the match bellow with critical blue eyes. She was the only member of her team in attendance for Team RABN's fight. Her team was currently out getting food or preparing for their match right after the current fight. Keeping her hands in her lap she silently judged the different fighting styles between the two teams. It was amazing to see Pyrrha Nikos fight in person instead of on a tv, but Weiss couldn't take her eyes from Ruby. Her fellow leader was fighting the staff wielder however Weiss was sure that Ruby could defeat him at any time she wanted. Yet the girl chose to fight him holding back.

Did Ruby mean to simply play around the entire match or was she holding back for some other reason? Sighing, Weiss shifted in her seat as she glanced around the arena. In doing so she was able to notice the dark-haired man watching from the upper level. He was someone she'd never seen before, but it was easy for her to track his gaze to Ruby. Was this man connected to Ruby in some way, if so, then why was the girl pretending to be weaker then she actually was? Turning her gaze back to the younger girl, she noticed the playful smile on the girl's face as if she was treating this like a show.

Now she understood, Ruby was holding back to put on a good show. It made complete sense that the younger girl would do something like this given her habit of playing around. Team RABN would win the fight that was to be expected. Standing, she stalked from the arena as the fight raged behind her. She had no desire to watch her fellow leader treat this as nothing but a game. It would be annoying if nothing else. She wanted to see the girl who forced her to struggle then made her feel defeated not this disguise the girl wore.

Ruby ducked around the boy's staff with the screams of the audience ringing in the background. She couldn't even hide the amusement she felt at his attempts to hit her; the worse part was that she hadn't even used her semblance in the battle, but he was struggling. Bolin growled as the girl danced around him as if she could read his every move. As the end of his staff slammed into the icy ground, Ruby kicked him in the chest sending him stumbling back. Grabbing the end of his staff she pulled him in her direction and stabbed Thorn at his face. She wasn't even using her main weapon against him.

With wide eyes, the boy tilted his head to the side to avoid her attack. Much to her amusement, he stumbled away trying to avoid the barrage of strikes she unleashed. Snarling he swung his staff at her head only for his eyes to widen when she caught it easily. Seeing something green from the corner of her eye Ruby released his staff and jumped back. As his green-haired teammate landed in front of him, Ruby looked over at Jaune who winced under her glare but made no move to look away from her. Instead, his blue eyes narrowed as he refused to back down despite his failure. He'd been supposed to keep her occupied, while she took out the staff wielder.

"Really Jaune," she scolded, although there was no heat in her words, causing their opponents to smirk, they thought she was angry about Reese getting away, but really, she was annoyed at having her plan ruined. Still, it was nice to know that he was willing to glare at her. Shaking her head Ruby sighed and said "whatever it doesn't matter. Just stay back."

Jaune nodded but he knew she was more amused than annoyed stepping back, he sighed slightly never taking his eyes from the reaper as she turned her attention to their two opponents. Sheathing her dagger Ruby unfolded her scythe deciding to finally get serious. As she took off with a grin he shook his head fondly while the red petals of her semblance drifted to the ground behind her. The first round of the tournament had pitted them against the team from Haven and Jaune had been ordered by Ruby to look like the weak link in their team. The fact he actually was the weakest link on the team wasn't important right now. Tightening his grip on his sword he looked over to where Blake was dodging gunfire wondering if he should help, then she literally diced the boy's aura to pieces. Yeah, he wasn't needed there.

"Jaune," Ruby screamed as Bolin got past her and charged the blonde. Reacting on instinct Jaune blocked the strike with his shield before kicking the boy's legs out from under him in a move that Blake had drilled into his head. As the shocked staff wielder fell Jaune slammed the hilt of his sword into the boy's head dazing him long enough to drain his aura. When he looked up and saw Ruby's exasperated look he shrugged. They both knew that if she hadn't wanted the boy to get past her then she would have stopped him.

"What," he questioned, and she rolled her eyes. Seeing Reese charge at her back he pointed behind her and said, "there's still the one behind you."

Ruby sighed and spun, catching the other girl in the stomach with her scythe she pulled. She made the movement look so easy and effortless that Jaune was sure she wasn't even trying right now. Reese yelped as she was pulled from her hoverboard and sent rolling across the ground until coming to a stop in front of Jaune as she winced. Reaching down Jaune grabbed the girl's arm and drained her aura until it came into the red.

"Sorry," he told the girl while Port announced that Arslan was the only one from her team left.

It wasn't all that shocking that their team was dominating the battle. Ruby smiled looking over to where Pyrrha was fighting the other girl with ruthless efficiency. Raising an eyebrow, she watched the redhead throw her shield then get in close with her spear it was easy to see that there were no wasted movements in the redhead's actions. Hearing a groan, she looked over at the black-haired boy she'd been fighting and offered him her hand.

Bolin considered the girl for a second before taking her hand with a less than satisfied expression. He felt like she hadn't been trying to beat him; in fact, it was the same feeling he got when one of the older students spared against them. Given they were second years it was insulting that a first-year defeated two-quarters of their team so easily. When he was on his feet he said, "you guys did good, but don't think you'll win so easily next time."

"Don't think Arslan can beat us all," Ruby asked amused. He scoffed looking over at his leader sadly even if Arslan did beat Pyrrha it wasn't possible for her to win this fight alone. No matter what his leader thought.

"Pyrrha's beat Arslan several times," he said referring to the two girls lives fighting in minstrel, despite all the times they'd fought his leader had never come close to winning. Frowning he admitted, "Arslan's never won and I doubt today will be the day she does."

"That sucks," Ruby said pouting she kind of wanted to fight Arslan. When he looked over at her curiously, she smiled and explained, "I really wanted to fight some more."

"Battle junkie," Blake teased coming to stand at her leader side with a smirk. Jaune coughed to cover up his laugh as their leader pouted. It was true that Ruby was more likely to spend her time fighting than doing anything else unless it was cuddling. As Arslan's aura went into the red, Ruby sighed in disappointment.

"Let's have a rematch before you go back to Haven," she offered while her team was pronounced victorious. Sighing she smiled as she led her team from the stage.

"Sure kid," Bolin said wanting another chance to fight the girl. Throwing a glance toward his own team he sighed as Arslan stomped from the stage with an expression of pure anger. She'd wanted to win so badly that losing made her so enraged. Running a hand through his hair, he helped Reese off the ground before going to collect their other teammates.

Skipping onto the fairgrounds Ruby headed for the cotton candy stand the instant she got a chance. Right now, she was really in the mood for something sweet especially after fighting. Seeing her direction Pyrrha grabbed the small girl by her jacket before she could run off and get a sugar high. She had no desire to see what Ruby was like with sugar. Tugging her leader toward her she laid an arm around Ruby's shoulder to keep her from running off.

"Ruby your hyper enough without sugar," she said while the reaper pouted like a child. Tightening her grip just in case Ruby tried to get away, she said, "We came for food, not sweets."

Mumbling Ruby allowed Pyrrha to lead her along. If she was being honest the redhead was warm and she didn't mind being hugged like this. Still, she hated not being able to have cotton candy. It wasn't like she acted like Nora or anything when she ate sweets. Ruby frowned wondering when Qrow was going to get to the school; he said he'd be here either today or tomorrow. She just hoped he didn't destroy the courtyard like in the original timeline. There were after all easier ways to greet someone.

"Might be hard to eat without your wallet," Emerald pointed out as she came up to them. While Pyrrha and the others spun around and started talking to the girl, Ruby escaped her teammate and made her way over to Mercury.

"That's not weird at all," she said sarcastically as he sniffed the boot he was holding. Looking at the girl he grinned. The amusement in his eyes caused her to relax especially when she noticed the warmth in his eyes.

"Just testing the leather," he stated putting the shoe back.

"Well I guess I should be glad you didn't test it by biting the leather," she teased before becoming serious. If she remembered correctly then he and Emerald would be fighting Coco and Yatsuhashi in the doubles round. Still, she needed confirmation before she could decide anything. Smiling she asked, "you and Emerald are going to the doubles, round right?"

"Oh no how did you guess our master plan," he cried dramatically, and she giggled. The sound drew the other's attention, but she didn't care. Emerald looked back amused while Blake sighed and went to collect her leader who seemed far more amused than usual, however, she honestly wasn't even surprised by Ruby's insanity anymore.

"Sorry about Ruby," the cat faunus stated. Mercury waved her off the grin never leaving his face.

"She's fine, although if you could make her stop hunting me down for sparring matches that'd be great," he stated lying through his teeth. If not for Ruby's sparring matches he would have gotten far too bored to survive these weeks at Beacon. The girl was amusing and honestly, he didn't mind having her around for short amounts of time.

When Blake looked down at her with a glare Ruby stopped giggling and defended herself by saying, "it was only twice and that was before our team trip."

"So, who's going to the next round," Emerald asked Pyrrha and was surprised when the girl pointed at Ruby and Blake.

"They work well together and Ruby loves fighting," Jaune said at the same time an arm was slung over his shoulder by Cardin. Stumbling the blonde growled as the other boy used him as a prop.

"Our little rose is going through," he asked smirking at the annoyance that crossed Pyrrha's face in response to her anger he tightened his grip. The girl still didn't like him although he could see why at this very moment since she especially didn't like him around Jaune. Looking at the two people of the group he didn't know he introduced himself, "I'm Cardin Winchester a friend of Ruby's."

"This is Emerald and Mercury," Ruby said slipping away from Blakes hold to skip toward him. Returning his grin she asked, "how'd your team do?"

"We didn't enter," he said much to her disbelief. Seeing her curious look, he rolled his eyes and told her, "I decided to have my team sit out since Sky and Dove are still hurt."

"Really I thought they were doing alright," she said softly. A week should've been more than enough time for them to heal.

"Sky broke his arm again," he stated. It was getting ridiculous how clumsy the blue-haired boy was being. This time he'd tripped out the window while complaining about Dove winning their racing game. Then of course Dove had dived out after him and the rest was history. He was definitely blaming this set of injuries on a training accident too.

"That's nice and all but Cardin could you lean on something else," Jaune said catching his attention. The other boy was far too heavy to keep them both standing.

The second the blonde spoke up Ruby took the chance to vanish using her semblance. There had been far too many people around her and she wanted nothing to do with being surrounded. Reappearing with a scattering of petals at the edge of the growing crowd she frowned before glancing around. It was almost time for it to all come crashing down. Looking up at the tower of Beacon she sighed before turning her back on the tower. It was time she stopped considering what she should do.

The start of the Vytal Festival, beginning of the end and all. I loved V3 mainly for the whole background scheme. Cinder was amazing. Anyway, the next chapter will include everyone's favorite birdman as well as Tai. Weird house husband Tai whose a fluffy puppy. So, what did you guys think of this chapter?

Stay safe and have a good day

- Shyla

ps. the Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter crossover is up