1. I don't own RWBY

2! I may have some explaining to do at the

End of this so the chapter is Not as long

as you might think. It's about the same

as the last one. Okay, meet you when you're done.

...

Ruby landed in a burst of petals on the ground of Emerald forest. She breathed deeply as she took in her surroundings. Not sensing danger she started a slow jog through the forest in order to find the relic.

On her way she killed every Grimm to stand in her way with ease cutting through them with Crescent Rose like butter.

After what seemed like forever she could see a clearing just beyond the trees ahead. Ruby could sense an Aura somewhere close, but couldn't see them. She waited a while to see if the person would come from their hiding space but saw no one. Acting cautiously, a habit drilled into her by the past two years, Ruby went back into the forest until she could no longer see the clearing. She then used her semblance to burst into petals and drift on the wind.

She let the wind carry her to the presence she felt and appeared just past it. It was a girl just slightly shorter than herself with long hair tied together high on her head ending in a curl. She appeared to be hiding behind a pillar looking into the forest. 'Maybe she's just waiting for a partner? That makes sense. OR! Maybe there's a grim!' Ruby thought excitedly and leaned over to try and see what she was looking at. Seeing nothing but forest she frowned.

"Whatcha looking at?" Ruby asked but jumped back as the girl in front of her yelped and fell forward. Startled, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose and readied herself. When no Grimm came, her shoulders slumped and her head tilted to the left and looked at the girl staring directly in her eyes.

"Why'd you scream?" Her mouth hung open still staring at Ruby's eyes. "Umm, you okay?" Ruby put Crescent Rose on her back, sat down in front of the girl, hugged her knees and waited. "Whoa." Ruby breathed. "Your eyes are kinda like mine." This finally snapped the girl out of whatever spell she was under and she shot up to her feet. She looked away from Ruby and to the relics.

"I guess we're partners then." She said calmly "It doesn't look like anyone else has been here. Let's pick one and go." at this Ruby smiled. She walked up to the relics and picked one up. It was a marble with swirling gray and silver. She rushed over to her new partner and showed it off.

"Look! This one matches our eyes!" At this the girl's eyes widened and she looked away. She grabbed the marble from Ruby and walked back towards the cliff.

"Come on, before the Grimm swarm." with a smile Ruby followed happily. Ruby didn't mind the grumpiness or the bossiness, it reminded her somewhat of Weiss when they first met. Taking another look she saw the girl's weapon, a rapier, just like Weiss.

She smiled and wondered if the traits were common with all wielders of the weapon she giggled at the thought. The girl looked back at Ruby questioningly.

"What's so funny?"

"Your weapon is so cool! It looks like a pistol but it's a Rapier! Does it have bullets? Does it change into a pistol? Ooh ooh! Maybe a Shotgun! No. It's too elegant for that ahhhh it's just so cool!" with wide eyes she just watched as Ruby nerded out. "Ahh, umm. Heh, sorry about that. I really like weapons."

Ruby stood to her full height, took a deep breath and looked her new partner dead in the eye. "My name is Ruby Rose." Ruby smiled and stuck out her hand. "And I can't wait to kick Grimm butt with you!" For a while Ruby stood there with her hand out while her partner just stared at her with wide eyes.

Ruby was about to put her hand down and apologize for being weird when the girl spoke.

"Ilia. My name is Ilia Amitola." A small smile and they shook hands. "And if you don't hurry up your wish might be granted in this forest." She turned around and kept walking "Don't get me wrong I have no problem killing Grimm but I'd rather do it after we get this test over wi-"

A low growl came from the forest in front of them and both Ruby and Ilia stood still. Scanning the trees Ruby spotted six Beowolfs' emerging from them. She stepped to the left of Ilia and unfolded Crescent Rose to her scythe form.

"There's three behind us." Ilia quietly said "I don't see an alpha but it could just be waiting. Watching." Ruby nodded and took another look around debating how they should do this without getting caught in each other's way. Ruby bit her lip at the thought of injuring her new partner on day one. 'Would she ask for a different partner? Should I just ask her to stand back while I take care of them? She said she'd rather wait till after the test anywa-'

Suddenly a Beowolf rushed her. Knowing Ilia was so close caused Ruby to freeze up but once the Grimm was within swiping distance she jolted out of her uncertainty and brought the blade of her scythe in an upwards angle. As her blade made contact with the grimm it slumped forward. Looking up while cutting through the grimm she saw Ilia pulling her weapon out from the skull of the Beowolf as she flipped over it to Ruby's left side. Ilia landed as Ruby's swing came to a halt. She looked from Ilia to the disappearing grimm and back. 'It was dead before I even touched it.' Ruby thought as she looked at her new partner.

"Snap out of it!" Ilia said as she swung her blade to the floor. "I've got the three in the back. You think that hunk of metal can keep the rest at bay till I'm done?"

Slightly peeved at Crescent Rose being called a 'hunk of metal' she pouted and nodded in affirmation and turned her attention to the five remaining Beowolf that were now barreling straight for her. Activating her semblance she charged them full speed. Two of the Beowolf separated from the charge at seeing this and rocketed to a safe distance to see what would happen.

Ruby jolted out of her semblance as she appeared behind the three charging Beowolf. Spinning, Crescent Rose easily sliced through all three of them so fast that their claws were still reaching for where Ruby use to be in front of them.

Ruby saw confusion in their eyes as they hit the ground followed by fear before they finally began to disappear. Ruby looked to the other two who both had their tails between their legs. One Beowolf quickly turned and made a run for the forest soon followed by the other. Ruby slammed down Crescent rose ready to take a shot when from out of the forest came an Alpha who slammed his claws into the first Beowolfs chest shoving it to the ground on its back. The Alpha then began ripping into the Beowolf with repeated strikes. Finally the Alpha snapped the Beowolfs neck with its jaw.

Growling fiercely at the second Beowolf the Alpha motioned it forward. Reluctantly the Beowolf charged for Ruby again. Ruby put a bullet through its head and it collapsed to the ground and disappeared. Enraged the Alpha roared out and made its way to Ruby dodging the bullets she would send its way. In no time the Alpha reached her and tried to rip her throat out. Ruby dodged, semblacing till she was just behind the Alpha and rematerializing so that her leg was still in front of the Alphas back paw. Yanking her foot back while spinning away thus bringing up her other foot to meet the Alphas butt.

The Alpha let out a yelp as it went face first into the grass. With an angry snarl it whirled around and lunged for Ruby who hadn't yet landed. Using her semblance she rocked back out of the Alphas reach.

When she reformed she was met by the sight of the Alpha spasming out on the ground. A sparking yellow leash wrapped firmly around its neck held by a conflicted looking Ilia.

Not wanting to waste time Ruby aimed Crescent Rose and shot the Alpha dead. The yellow leash dulled and retracted back into a rapier. Ilia looked like she was struggling for words and Ruby's heart sunk. 'Was I that scary?' she immediately thought but the longer she looked the more she recognized confusion rather than fear. Finally Ilia found her words.

"Did you really just kick that grimm's butt?" She asked and Ruby smiled widely as she placed Crescent Rose on her back.

"Okay. Four, no. Five things!" Ruby declared. Ilia's eyes widened but made no move to interrupt.

"One! Her name is Crescent Rose, and she is not a hunk of metal. Two! It's a whip!? Three! You stole my kill." She said with a pout before resuming her list.

"Four! Yes. Yes I did. I am a man of my word." She said, puffing out her chest with hands on her hips. "Uh, err I mean woman...female. Girl...Lady?" Ilia chuckled as Ruby pondered on how to say that without calling herself a dude and still sounding cool.

"Okay. And five?" Ilia asked as she placed her weapon on her hip.

"Huh? Oh! Right!" Ruby cleared her throat and stood straight. "And Five!" Activating her semblance, Ruby bolted at lightning speed and kneeled next to Ilia's side. Raising both hands she shrieked out "It's a Whip!?" While frantically gesturing to the weapon. Ilia couldn't help but let out a full blown laugh at Ruby's excitement. Ruby smiled and let out a chuckle herself. 'Operation find a super awesome partner complete!'

.o.

"-Emerald Sustrai and Ruby Rose you will be team AERO led by Oscar Pine"

"Wooooo! Way to go sis!" Ruby could hear her sister call from the stands

"Yannnng." Ruby whined as she buried her head in her hands. "Why are you so loud?" a light chuckle came from her side and Ruby looked to her new partner.

"Looks like you've got a fan." Ruby pouted at the statement and looked over to Yang and made eye contact with the grinning Weiss next to her. She made a point of motioning for Weiss to get her under control and was relieved to see Weiss rise from her seat and put a hand over Yang's shoulder.

"She's just excited but don't worry Weiss will calm her down."

"Weiss?" Ilia asked quietly.

"Yeah! We're friends, they're sitting next to each other." Ruby motioned over to her as they started walking back to the stands. Ruby's smile, however, faded when she looked back to her sister only to see a smirking Weiss standing next to a shimmering knight who held an excited looking Yang.
"FIRE!" Yang yelled.

"AH!" The knight had hurled Yang full speed at Ruby and her new teammates Yang successfully tackled her sister to the ground.

"Heya sis! Weiss said I wasn't cheering loud enough for you to hear. Sooo she helped me get closer!"

"Betrayal!" Ruby shouted from beneath her sister. "Yang get off!"

"Alright." Weiss called from behind Yang. "You two have had your fun. Get up." Yang laughed and received an elbow in the gut for her crimes as the two got up from the floor.

"What part of that was fun?" Ruby dusted herself off and Weiss reached over to pull out a rose from Ruby's hair, and brushed her fingers across her forehead in order to remove hair from Ruby's vision.

"Well aren't you popular. Not even a week at Beacon and you've got a bitchy Schnee doting on you. And a bimbo...well literally on you." Ruby's cheeks immediately grew red as she whipped her head around to stare at Emerald.

"Wha, no! This. AH! Yang is my sister! And Weiss is just my friend!" that earned a faux hurt look from Weiss and an uproar of laughter from Yang. Followed by chuckles from Emerald.

"But Ruby." Weiss said putting her hand over her heart. "You said we were besties."

"WE ARE!" Ruby yelled in a panic as Yang laughed even louder Emerald joining in and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, calm down." Emerald gasped between bouts of laughter. "It was just a joke."

"Yea sis. Chill." Yang said as she calmed herself, still holding her sides. "Em and us go way back."

"Huh?" Ruby asked with confusion written all over her face.

"It's a long story. But basically I met them like a year and a half ago. Ozpin recently allowed me into Beacon this year even though I technically blew my chances a few years ago."

"Oh," Ruby said, scratching her head and looking around, "that's great! Umm. Hey, where'd the rest of our team go? I wanted to introduce my partner to you guys." Ruby pouted

"Don't sweat it, they probably went off to explore." Yang offered

"Beacon is an interesting place." Weiss agreed

"Yeah maybe tomorrow Ruby." Emerald said, offering a kind smile.

"Right." Ruby said with a smile and followed the three girls off to celebrate. Ruby couldn't help but be slightly saddened that her partner left without saying anything but she did her best to remain positive for her sister, her bestie and her new teammate. "Tomorrow."

...

Blake was enjoying her new favorite book on the roof of her team's dorm when she heard loud stomping coming up the stairs. Not wanting to bother with the noise she closed her book and stood ready to slip by the intruder before they knew she was there.

"-th a stupid SCHNEE!" Blake heard as the door slammed open. Hearing her teammates name startled her so instead of slipping inside she remained to study the newcomer as she flopped down onto the ledge of the roof with shoulder slumped. Suddenly Blake saw brown hair change to blue and her eyes widened.

"Ilia?!" Startled, Ilia almost fell off the roof but when she saw Blake she relaxed.

"Ugh. You know, my heart's been through a lot today. Could you maybe give me a break here Blake."

"You. You actually came." Blake said in disbelief. "I thought, I mean when I didn't get a letter from you I just assumed…"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't want to tell you that I was trying to get in until I knew for sure. No sense in getting hopes up over something that could possibly not happen."

Blake smiled, about a year ago Ilia had tracked her down and sent a letter explaining how she had left the White Fang not long after Blake had, due to Adam starting to take orders from a human. The letter was filled with accusations and hurt, but ended with a return address and a hope of understanding why? A need for closer perhaps. Ilia and Blake had been friends for quite some time, and she knew that at the very least Ilia deserved an explanation.

She sent a reply and got one back. They had been communicating this way ever since only stopping after Blake had, for the third time suggested Beacon. Though they had repaired the relationship some and moved past the slightly awkward confession of Ilia's old crush on her, Blake had worried that she had overstepped her bounds.

Seeing her now was a weight lifted off her shoulders.

"So, you're here? You've got your team already?" Ilia gave a weak smile in response.

"Yeah. I made it." Blakes ears tried to flatten underneath her bow at the memory of Ilia's blue hair and the name she yelled upon stepping onto the roof.

"I assume you met Weiss?" Ilia rolled her eyes

"Yeah. I met your teammate."

"She's not that bad Il-"

"She's a Schnee!" Ilia yelled her skin red before recoiling in on herself and changing to green. "Sorry. I know you said she was your teammate, and she was nothing like the rest of them. I guess I just, wasn't as ready to see her as I thought I was." Not knowing what to say Blake just sat next to her old friend and looked out on Beacon campus. A while passed with the two sitting in silence. Blake hoped her friend would be okay. She had known both Ilia and Weiss for a long time, and it would be distressing to have them at odds. However, she understood things would take time.

"Why do you still hide?" The question was sudden and filled Blake with unease.

"It's easier." Blake said quietly.

"Yeah. That's how I used to feel too." There was a pause and Blake knew what Ilia wanted to say but hoped she wouldn't. "What else do you do as a human." it wasn't a question it wasn't said with hurt or anger, just a calm defeated understanding that hurt Blake more than she thought it could. "Just like the city of dreams."

"No. Beacon is nothing like Atlas."

"Then why do you hide." Ilia said with yellow in her eyes "if it's so different why do you hide. Does your team even know?" Blake was silent at that. "Yeah. These are the people we're supposed to trust with our lives and you can't even trust them with a secret." Ilia got up and walked back to the door. "It's been a long day. I need some sleep. See you tomorrow Blake." Before Blake could react Ilia was already gone.

...

Alright Hello there! Spoiler warning just in case you skipped to the end first. I will talk about the episode. Yes, I plan to continue the story, Okay. Spoiler mode activate.

...

~Pew Pew~

...

I wrote this with the assumption that you know the characters so I don't bore you with certain descriptions and explanations.

Okay so, obviously Beacon never fell in my little daydream. I understand that two years is a huge gap and a little rushy but in future chapters there will be information fillers kinda like how Blake 'recalls' mailing Ilia.

Also! The whole mailing thing. I know it sounds kinda weird and I have no idea if its canon or if its been explained at all but Ruby is writing to the gang back at signal in the first season. That kinda led me to believe that only Hunters and upstanding members of society are allowed to even have a scroll. Seeing as how Ilia is ex-White Fang getting a legal one is probably difficult for her.

Speaking of Ilia! I have no idea if her Lightning Lash is a rapier like Weiss buuuut it looks like it to me. Which is why my brain told me she'd be a good match with Ruby in terms of fighting style, grumpiness and other reasons.

Anyway back to that two year gap. I know why Beacon didn't fall. I never planned on saying why because it would have to be out of the main four characters point of view. I mean I can write it but breaks from the main characters kinda bug me. So, I'll think about it and you wonderful readers can tell me your opinions. If you want.

Speaking of readers. Hello there. I'm talking to you now. To everyone who favorited and/or followed. Or are planning on favoriting and/or following. Or to anyone who just, I don't know, follows like a little ghosty.

Whether its now or sometime in the future.

Thank you.

I appreciate the time you took to get lost in my head with me and honestly it means a lot. I understand that some of my choices may not be...well yours, and after reading this chapter and seeing Emerald all buddy buddy with Yang and Weiss. If that's something you hate and you now have lost interest. That's cool I get it, and still. Thank you. Yeah...so. Yeah.

I plan on keeping to a...sort of schedule. One Chapter every two weeks so the next chapter should be coming out on April 16th. With the acceptation of this second Chapter. Sorry about that. I just saw people were interested and it kinda motivated me into adding the touch ups on this one after I finished my homework.

What I mean by sort of schedule is if I have time I'll just start writing. So say its like April 9th and I have the next chapter done. I will probably release it April 9th. However, I'll only do that if I have the chapter after that done so that April 16th still gets a chapter.

I'll try not to write so much next time I just felt some clarification was needed. I'll warn you before hand like this one so you aren't ambushed by, well...me.

Okay. That's enough of me and my nonsense. Thank you all again for taking the time to read. I hope you smiled at least once. Aaaand yeah.

April 16th

Bye-bye Ghosties

Deactivating Spoiler Mode.

Pew

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