changed Rose.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds where singing, and the sound of the clockworks ticking away around him setting the perfect background noise. For this reason, he was paranoid. It was days like this Salem had a habit of ruining. It had been literally thousands of years and she was just as predictable as ever, at least he changed things up every once in a while.

His eyes had told him that Salem was getting loud. The last report before the spy went dark said she'd been tinkering with some twisted magic. A new attempt to kill him or get at the maidens, possibly both. The fact that he didn't know definitely made his already paranoid mindset worse.

It was a tearing sound from behind him that alerted him to a new presence, ravens semblance allowed her to do something similar. Maybe she had returned, he knew she hated him, but he still held on to hope that she would see past that anger.

"hello raven, it's been some time, no?" he spoke out to her, peeking over his shoulder.

The sudden pain rupturing his chest was a surprise to be sure. As was the alabaster sword he could see coming through the front of his shirt.

"really Ozma, of all the minions, you though I was the bandit" Salem's cold tone spoke out.

"to be fair she would… chough… she would also run me through like this." Ozpin struggled out.

"yes… well… this is a little different" she glided around to his front, the smug smirk on her face making the aged wizard worry for what she had planned. "this sword has my magic infused into it. If my experiments are anything to go by this should block you from moving on to your next host at least. Best case scenario you'll just pass on to the afterlife like a normal human." As she spoke, she circled behind him, his breathing becoming more laboured. "it's a shame really, you've been an admiral opponent all these years, I'll almost miss you." And with that she ripped the blade from its place in his chest.

With that, Headmaster Ozpin, the great wizard, the latest host for Ozma, died.

…

There was a strange man on her floor. He laid there, breathing softly, a small smile on his face but tightly clutching his cane/staff/thing to his chest as if it was the only think keeping him from crying out in pain. He had bleached white hair, a posh suit with a green tie and small green tinted glasses on his face.

The young girl was now in a bind. The five-year-old Ruby needed to get downstairs to say bye to her mother before she left on a mission to be a hero. And yet she daren't move in case she woke the strange man and he turn out to be not nice.

Slowly she crept towards him before poking his cheek. When he didn't react, she released the breath shed been holding, she tiptoed around him and slipped down the stairs. Afterall, if he was a bad man then her farther would go and sort him out after mommy had left.

…

Ozpin was having a strange morning. Waking up in a child's bedroom, on the floor, and definitely outside of vale was a jarring experience. Not knowing who's house he was in he chose to stay put, whoever the house owner was he could come to him. It would be better to explain the situation if he didn't make them think he was a bandit or a thief or something.

"Ruby, ghosts don't exist… yes I know what you think saw in your room was Ozpin but he's dead… sure but nothings there." The sound of Tai's voice from somewhere in the house was calming. The big bear would understand the situation. …

Ruby didn't know what was happening anymore. Her dad had just been in the same room as the strange man, and yet he'd found nothing. He'd even walked through the man's chest.

Ruby had kept quiet, if her farther didn't see the ghost then he likely wouldn't believe her if she told him. So, she sat on her bed, and he sat on the floor, the pair just looking at each other.

"hello, I'm professor Ozpin." It was him the broke the silence.

"I know, I'm Ruby Rose." She replied. "what are you doing here?"

"I don't know." Ozpin replied. Slowly he rose from his seat on the floor and held out a hand to Ruby. His body surrounded by a pale green sheen of aura. "may I?"

Ruby simply nodded at this. Ozpin laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder and closed his eyes. Suddenly Ruby's body was surrounded by a black and white ethereal glow. A black shimmering layer similar in appearance to water sat below a shimmering, semi-clear layer of white aura which clung close to her like some kind of sea mist.

That was strange for many reasons, Ozpin thought. Firstly, she had her aura and, apparently, a semblance. Secondly, her aura was black. Third, it was also white. And finally, it was layered.

"wow… Ruby do you know what aura is?" Ruby nodded, "do you know what semblances are?" again Ruby nodded, a smile spreading across her face, "Ruby I think that at some point you've managed to unlock both your aura and your semblance and because of the nature of what I think your semblance is you haven't noticed."

"what is my semblance?" asked Ruby, a massive smile now plastering her face.

"I think it allows you to see and interact with dead people" Ozpin replied.

Ruby looked a bit shocked at that. However, after a moment she looked up at him with a star struck expression.

"what now?" she breathed out.

"Ruby, what's your favourite fairy tale?"

…

Months had passed and Summer hadn't come home, which was worrying for Ozpin. The mission he'd asked her to do should have only taken her a few weeks. It was a simple reconnaissance after all. A routine check-up to make sure Salem wasn't attempting some kind of offensive.

Ruby was getting worried, to be truthful so was he, so he stepped up what story's he told her. Truly old ones that the world had forgotten. Sure, the story of the seasons was a good story, despite not actually happening like what the fairy tale says, but stories like the silver eyed warriors or the girl in the tower, those where the truly antient stories he chose to tell to distract the young girl.

He had just come to the end of one such tale. Ruby lay asleep on her bed, and he was now stuck in the house and its surrounding woods. One of the drawbacks of Ruby's semblance was that he couldn't stray too far from her side. Maybe 500 meters at most.

"Oz… what's going on? What's happening?" a meek voice suddenly called out from behind him.

"Summer?" the young woman behind him was like an older version of her daughter. The only difference being the more mature look that summer sported. After a brief delay he answered, "what's the last thing that you remember?"

She looked shocked for a moment "Salem has a new pawn, some deranged scorpion faunus, he stabbed his stinger through my throat, then I woke up here, in my daughter's room." As she spoke her voice became more and more distressed

Ozpin just looked on in sympathy. "summer… I don't know how to tell you this… but you, and me, we're dead." Summer ayes widened and started to collect tears "summer, your daughters semblance means that we are bound to her somehow. How I don't know, neither do I know why, I just know that she, and only she, can see and interact with us as if we where alive. Her aura and semblance unlocked themselves some time ago. In truth I was planning on treating this as a just another, if strange, reincarnation. However, I guess circumstances have changed."

"Ozpin, what have you been telling her whilst I've not been around?" summer asked, her tone warning Ozpin to be careful about what he said.

"not much yet, she's too young now, I've made it a point to tell her all the fairy tales I know but that's it. To her they are just stories." The old wizard said.

Sighing at Ozpins reply summer glanced around the room before asking the obvious question "what now?"

…

The following 18 months had been eventful. Ruby had reacted surprisingly well to summer dying and coming back due to her semblance. That being said the rest of the family had slowly became more and more sad and depressed, and they watched summer get first declared missing in action, then killed in action. Attending her own funeral had been a strange experience for Summer, however that was overshadowed by the appearance of two mysterious figures during the wake afterwards.

The two young women had stumbled confused into the clearing, stared at each other briefly before appearing to introduce themselves. Then one of the guests and the Xiao long-Rose family had walked through one of the women.

That was when it dawned on Summer, these two where now in the same situation she was in not much more than a year earlier, scared and confused as to what was happening to them, and here she was, watching from her daughter's window.

To her relief, her daughter was the one to approach the two women. She appeared to invite them in. after a brief delay the trio along with Ozpin entered the younger Roses bedroom.

The first of the pair to enter the room she recognised. May Ragnarsson, the spring maiden, or at least the previous spring maiden. A tiger Faunus, and not a fighter by a long way, she had a pair of large ears atop a nest of red hair with clear blue eyes peering out from beneath. Down her arms ran a series of stripes, Summer also knew that these could be found across her body, only avoiding her

head. Those had been the source of many problems. Having multiple traits was rare amongst faunus and those with them were often treated as savages. May was socially ostracised and forced to leave menagerie shortly before receiving her powers. Her passive nature mixed with hurtful stereotypes on top of the pressures of carrying the maiden powers got to her, causing her to flee her training early on. She was wearing a bright, short-sleaved dress which dropped to her shins along with a pair of soft trainer style shoes. Practical for every day use but only served to highlight her desire to be a civilian.

The other girl was a mystery the Summer. She was human, had a head of light pink hear and turquoise eyes. Despite her short stature she was definitely a fighter, her short sleeves and cropped top reviled lean and defined muscles. She wore a black, strapped crop top with bear arms. these contrasted her legs, which were covered by long, white trousers, over the top of which heavy silver greaves sat. Around her waist a black sash was tied from which armour plates hung down the sides of her legs, she had a large, bearded axe attached to her waist as her weapon.

Ozpin was the one to introduce them, "Summer, you already know May, and this is spring."

"What's happening?" May asked, not bothering to acknowledge Summer.

"is it safe to talk openly here?" Spring interjected.

"we should keep an ear out for someone coming to check on Ruby, as everyone else thinks she's alone up here" Ozpin answered, "as for what's happened to you guys, What's the last thing you remember?"

May and Spring simply looked at each other, then to Ruby, who was just sat in on her bed listening to the adults talking, "should she be here for this, should someone so young know any of this?"

"Ruby was always going to learn the truth eventually, I was always going to have her in the know, it's only fair after all" Ozpin replied, "summer can you fill her in?"

"Ruby, has Ozpin told you about the story of the seasons yet?" Summer asked.

"yea, an old wizard had locked himself away, he was visited by four young women who helped restore his faith in humanity and helped him to come to see beauty in the world. In a sign of his gratitude, he gifted them with portions of his own magic." Ruby replied, "why?"

"It's real, it actually happened."

Ruby, in a surprising display of intellect then replied with, "where they maidens before they died?"

"Yea-"

"WAIT WE'RE DEAD!" spring exclaimed.

"it would explain an awful lot," said a pale May.

"yes, Ruby they were maidens. When the wizard was cursed with immortality, when he transferred his magic, some of the curse went with it. As a result, it passes down to the last person who the maiden thinks of before she dies, as long as that person is a young woman." Ozpin supplied Ruby. "May was the last spring maiden and Spring was the first spring maiden."

"why is this a secret?" again the adults in the room where surprised by Ruby's insight.

"Because the Maidens are hunted for their magic," came Mays rather blunt reply, "magic is very powerful and if it well into the wrong hand a lot of people could die."

Ruby knew that there was more to it than that, but she also didn't want to push her luck. They would tell her more in time, she just had to be patient. After a moment of silence, she decided to speak up, "I want to be a huntress."

Everyone just looked at her with a mixed variety of shocked at her little outburst, after a moment she continued, "I want to learn how to help people, how to use my powers to do that, and how to defend myself if I ever need to."

Everyone just turned to Summer that. Summer herself simply closed her eyes, sighed, then turned to Ruby, "yes we will train you to be a huntress."

A/N:

So… my first fanfic. Please let me know what you all think and any and all constructive criticism is welcome. I'm new to, well, everything so even little buts of advice ae welcome. That being said I hope you guys enjoyed.

Full credit goes out to sakuralovelight and their story, Soul Rose, which formed the basis of my own story. Originally this was going to be a simple adoption but after thinking more over the last week or so I've decided to make this my own from the start. As I said, if you want to see what I've got to work off of go check out Soul Rose.

Anyway, I've been wanting to write fanfiction for a while and decided to finally do it after seeing Soul Rose and thinking "hey, this has a lot of potential, why not see this through as my own."

Little warning, in a university student and, as the end of the semester approaches, I'm going to be swamped with assignments. Ill try to sort out some kind of regular schedule in a month or so's time but until then updates may be sporadic.

A/N 2:

Had some issues with line breaks, working on it.

Thankyou all for reading, Phyco