Ozpin's Little Rose

Chapter 3: Fishing for answers

Ruby and Yang stood in scythe-wielder's room picking up the last of things they needed to pack for Beacon.

"So, what were we talking about before Uncle Qrow called?" Asked Yang, she rubbed the top of her head and looked out the window, the sun had come up about an hour prior, but the clouds meant that room was dark.

"We were talking about how the cookies that Professor Ozpin gave me tasted like the cookies Grandpa use to get me." Ruby said.

"You mean Granduncle." Yang replied.

At this Ruby's face adopted a pout "Yang! Are we really going to go through with again?"

"Well we could go to dad and ask him who is right?" Was Yang's reply.

"Alright fine let's go ask him!" Ruby said as she and Yang made for the door.

The two went downstairs where Taiyang was making breakfast, the light was obscured by the clouds and made the place seem a little disturbing, the cold biting their skin wasn't making them any more comfortable either.

"Dad we need to ask you something." Ruby asked as she approached the man.

"Sure girls what is it?" Taiyang replied with a smile on his face.

"Well do you remember Grandpa, he used to give me cookies when I was around 3, remember?" Ruby asked in her meek little voice.

At that moment Tai's smile faded fast, his expression portrayed a little fear and caution.

*Oz you didn't! Why did you have to give her those cookies! Ruby never forgets the taste of any sweets! What do I tell her? I wish either you or Qrow were here, you were always better at lying than I am.* He thought

Tai was lost in thought for a sizable amount of time, trying his best to come up with an excuse, just standing there, frozen.

"Um dad are you okay?" Yang asked, concern riddling her face.

Yang's voice finally shook him out of his daze. "Oh what yeah I'm fine Yang. And Ruby yes I remember him and the cookies. Why do you ask, do you want me to try and get them again?"

"Well no, that's not it. You see we were wondering who he was to us?"

Tai was at a loss at what Ruby meant. "I'm... sorry?" Tai asked as if for clarification.

"Well you see I remember that I always called him Grandpa." Ruby said

"But I always called him Granduncle. So we were wondering who is right on this?"

At that moment Tai became a little relieved that was their question. This he could work with.

"Okay you both know that you two have different mom's by blood right?" Tai asked

They both nodded their heads. "Yes."

"Well Ruby's Grandpa was like an Uncle to me so before you were born I would have Yang call him Granduncle. I guess I just got used to telling you to call him that, even after Ruby was born.

He then rubbed the back of his head, "When Ruby was born, Summer would just refer to him as 'Grandpa' whenever Ruby was around" Tai said as he gestured to his younger daughter.

Both girls nodded at that.

"Great, now then let's have some breakfast shall we?"

Both of the girls beamed and ran to the table to eat.

...

Later that night Ruby was in her room, Yang had finished her shower and had turned in for the night, leaving Ruby in her room.

She thought about what her father had told her and Yang, in truth it gave her more questions than answers. She didn't 100% believe his story, in truth it wasn't very believable.

Wouldn't her father think about correcting Yang after he married Summer, surely it would have been easier to have both siblings call her Grandfather 'Grandpa'.

Especially considering that her parents hadn't intended on telling them that they weren't full siblings. No they had to find that out for themselves.

In a way it made the two siblings paranoid when they grew up, if their parents lied to them previously about the two sister's origins, then it meant that they may have lied about... other things.

It certainly didn't help that that wasn't the first time that Ruby realized she was being lied to.

Ruby looked down at her first gift from her Grandfather. She had it since birth, it was a silver rose shaped locket necklace that he had made for her personally. But instead of having a picture like other lockets, it had a green gem shaped like a cog. In the center of the cog was a small ruby. When the ruby gem was pushed, an angel with silver wings and eyes in a lovely starlet red dress would appear. She had long black hair and a rose braid on the right side of her head along with bright silver eyes.

A song would start to play and Ruby could hear her mother sing a lullaby, one of her favorites was one her Grandmother made when Summer was an infant. The angel would start to dance around with rose petals of all colors would falling to the ground, similar to a snow-globe.

Tai would always use the locket to get Ruby to sleep ever since her mom died.

And that was where Ruby's paranoia originated, Ruby found something out about the green gem cog. If you press the top half of the cog it would click. You could chose a different person to sing it and it would show the name of who sang the song. If you pressed it to the right it would say mom, Then it would say dad, then Grandma, after that Grandpa. Then it would just repeat as it cycled through different lullabies.

The last song that was put in was from her Grandpa, it was all four of them singing the original lullaby as a group, the one that her grandmother made. each time the same angel would dance to the song.

And that was what caused Ruby's original paranoia. The times where it said dad was the one singing, it didn't sound like Taiyang, it was more gravely and slightly deeper than his normal voice.

She went up to him the night she heard the realized this and asked him to sing mom's lullaby. He told her he couldn't remember the song, that he would just open the locket put it by her and would leave the room for it to play.

It was a poorly executed falsehood to say the least. She knew that her father rarely forgot anything like that, especially if they had significance to Summer.

Ruby said it was okay and she would be fine if he sang a different song. She came to regret that though, her father didn't sound like anything like the man who sang in the locket. In fact she was pretty sure Grimm could sing better than Taiyang.

That was the start, it crossed Ruby's mind that Tai may not be her real father, she loved him, truly, but she occasionally felt disconnected to him, especially when he was obviously lying.

She never told Tai or Yang about her theory. She kept that to herself, afraid that she might hurt her father or her sister, in one way or another.

Lucky Ruby was unlike Yang with her mom. Ruby wasn't looking for her dad or her Grandpa. When she first started to see that she might not be Tai's daughter, she wondered why her real dad would leave her with him as well as her Grandpa's sudden absence, Ruby never got her answer, but she didn't pursue it.

"Oh you're playing Mom's song." Yang said in the doorway.

"Yeah I have a lot on my mind so I thought this would help me sleep" Ruby replied before a confused look passed her face. "Wait, why are you not asleep, you took a shower half an hour ago?" Ruby asked

"I was just thinking" Yang replied while yawning

"Good night Ruby."

"Good night Yang."

...

Ozpin was planning on leaving his office, when his watch fell out of his pocket. He grabbed it before it hit the ground, looking at it, he opened it up and went to the green gem. It played a memory that he had thought about for some time.

It was the day he, his wife, Summer, and Qrow were all singing Summer's old lullaby that Lunar would sing.

It was for the locket that was going to be given to Ruby.

Everyone but Qrow was having fun with it. Qrow was a very good singer and could of made a fortune in the music world, but alas he didn't seem to have the motivation. Ozpin noticed Qrow put his hand gently on Summer's stomach. He put more heart into the song. Ozpin closed the pocket watch and left his office. "I wonder if she still has that locket." he thought as the elevator door closed behind him.

There really wasn't much I could do with this one. It's short and too the point. It's when things get meatier is when you'll see actual narrative change. See ya soon.