RWBY Re:START

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: RWBY and the world of Remnant is the creation of Monty Oum. God rest his soul.

"Well, that was unpleasant," sighed Weiss as she and Ruby walked out of the police station where Ms. Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin had spoken to them about the thwarted robbery while the police locked Roman in one of their holding cells. Though, to be accurate, Ms. Goodwitch chewed them out for taking on several dangerous criminals instead of leaving it to the police, with Ozpin arriving mid-rant to remind her that, had they not intervened, Torchwick would have made off with a fortune in stolen Dust, as well as taking an interest in Ruby due to her Silver Eyes and once again offering her a spot at Beacon Academy, "I definitely did not miss having Professor Goodwitch lecture us."

"Yeah, that wasn't any fun," said Ruby, "especially not the second time around. But all's well that ends well, right? At least I got into Beacon again."

"Indeed," agreed Weiss, "I'm not sure it would be as enjoyable without you."

"That's my BFF!" cheered Ruby.

"Not your BFF," protested Weiss, though there was no heat to the protest.

"Well, it has gotten late, and I need to close up the shop," sighed Weiss as she checked the time on her Scroll, "it was nice seeing you again Ruby."

"You know," said Ruby, "maybe you could stop by our house tomorrow for dinner? I'm sure dad would love to meet my BFF."

"I'm not your BFF," said Weiss again before smiling softly, "but I would be happy to accept your invitation."

"Great! You remember my Scroll number, right?" said Ruby happily getting a nod from Weiss, "Awesome! I gotta get home, but I'll see you tomorrow!"

"I look forward to it," said Weiss as Ruby rushed off to catch the ship that would take her back home, leaving the former Schnee Heiress to head back to From Dust Till Dawn.

The ride back to Patch was fairly uneventful and once there, Ruby hurried back to her home, remembering how worried her father had been the first time around, but she had barely opened the door when she was grabbed and pulled into a strong yet comforting embrace, the smell of her sister's favorite shampoo and conditioner indicating just who was hugging her.

"Oh my gods Ruby I was so worried," whispered Yang Xiao-Long as she held her sister close, holding her as if she was afraid she would vanish, "when I went to check on you and you were gone, I was afraid something had happened to you."

"Yaaang," protested Ruby as she squirmed out of being smothered by her older sister, "I was just out in Vale. Nothing dangerous."

"Vale?" said Yang before coming to a realization, "Right! The thing with Torchwick. Are you seriously calling that not dangerous?"

"It was Torchwick!" protested Ruby, "It's not like…wait, I didn't tell you about that yet. So how…"

Ruby faced her sister and looked into her lilac-colored eyes, seeing a level of maturity within them along with a seriousness that she often saw in her own silver orbs after the Fall of Beacon.

"…Yang?" said Ruby hesitantly, "Are you back too?"

"Ruby?" said Yang, her eyes widening, "Is…is it really you?"

"It's me Yang," said Ruby with a smile, "I came back too."

"Gods Ruby," said Yang as she pulled her sister into another hug, "when I woke up back here and you were gone, I didn't know what to think. The last thing I remembered was us fighting Salem, then there was that big blast and…"

Ruby rubbed her sister's back as she started to ramble, "It's ok Yang," she said soothingly, "we're all ok, and that's what matters."

"Heh, yeah," said Yang as she wiped a stray tear and chuckled, "look at me. Some big sister I am, needing to be comforted by my little sis."

"You're a great sister," said Ruby, "you always were and always will be."

"Thanks Rubes," said Yang, "so, did everything go according to plan in Vale?"

"Yup!" said Ruby happily, "We even managed to capture Torchwick this time around, and Miss Goodwitch didn't scold us as much before Ozpin stepped in."

"That's a relief," sighed Yang before catching something amiss, "…wait, what do you mean 'we'?"

"Oh right!" said Ruby, "I met Weiss in the city as well. It looks like we weren't the only ones to come back, and she's been here for a month or so making changes. Apparently, she cut off ties with her family and made a fresh start working at From Dust Till Dawn."

"Huh," said Yang, "didn't think the Ice Queen had it in her. I'll have to ask her about it later."

"Actually," commented Ruby, "I invited her over for dinner tomorrow, so we can catch up then."

"Really?" said Yang in surprise, "That'll be great. We'll have to watch what we say around Dad though, but it'll be like the Team is back together. If only Blake was here, then we'd be complete…"

"Don't worry Yang," said Ruby, noticing how her sister had trailed off sadly, "even if she didn't come back, we can always be her friends again."

"You're right," said Yang with a soft smile, "thanks Rubes. Though, you still gotta clear it with Dad."

"Right," chuckled Ruby sheepishly, "almost forgot about that."

xXsceneXx

As it turned out, Taiyang was thrilled that his youngest daughter had started to make some friends outside of her classmates at Signal. Once she told him that Ozpin had offered for her to enroll at Beacon a year early, once he finished lecturing her about taking police business into her own hands without a Huntress license, he declared that they were going to celebrate, and her new friend was more than welcome to join them.

And thus, the next night found the two time-displaced sisters working to set the table while their father worked on putting the finishing touches on dinner in the kitchen.

"Ruby, do you have the extra plates?" asked Yang as she draped a tablecloth over their dinner table and started to get out a centerpiece that Summer Rose had bought for special occasions, "I've kinda got my hands full here, so I'll need you to finish setting the table."

Suddenly a red blur shot into the room before flying around the table, depositing plates, napkins and silverware in perfect positions, before coalescing into the form of Ruby Rose, the teen smiling cheekily.

"Show off," chuckled Yang, "so when is your friend showing up?"

"Not sure," said Ruby, "according to her message, she should be here any time now."

Just at that moment, the doorbell rang and Ruby let out an excited squeal, "I'll get it! I'll get it!"

Caught up in the excitement of seeing her partner again and finally having her over for dinner, Ruby dashed off to get the door in a blur of rose petals. Barely restraining herself in glee, Ruby threw the door open to reveal Weiss standing there with a bemused expression and a potted plant in her hands.

"I hope I'm not late," she said before glancing past Ruby and noticing the rose petals left from her semblance, "though I didn't expect you to be this eager to see me again."

"Oh y'know," said Yang as she walked up and ruffled her sister's hair, "Rubes was so eager to see her friend again that she couldn't wait. Can't say I blame her, I've heard a lot of good things about you, Ice Queen."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at the specific nickname that Yang had referred to her with, and glanced at Ruby, getting a confirming nod from her future/former teammate, "So I see you've returned as well, Xiao-Long."

"You know it Weiss-cream," said the blond with a grin, causing the former heiress to sigh at the pun, "so, what's been going on?"

"Nothing that remarkable," said Weiss, "as I told Ruby, after realizing what had happened, I took steps to establish my own independence. To that end I cut ties with the Schnee family and traveled to Vale so I could find my old Team. Though I was not expecting you two to have come back as well."

"Yeah," said Ruby, "when I woke up in my own bed, I almost thought it had all been a nightmare, but I remembered facing off against her and the vivid final moments of our last stand."

"Yeah," said Yang with a grimace, "that didn't go well."

"Understatement of the century," agreed Weiss, "but maybe that's why we're here now?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby as she glanced at her (future) partner.

"Maybe we've been given a second chance?" offered Weiss, "A chance to do things over. To do things right."

"Yeah," said Ruby as a determined light appeared in her eyes, "this time, we can make sure our friends survive. We can win!"

"Though maybe we can talk about this after dinner," offered Yang, "after all, Dad's really excited to meet Ruby's new BFF."

The former heiress gave her teammate a flat look, but Ruby simply crossed her arms defiantly with a smug expression.

"Anyway," said Weiss with a long-suffering sigh, "I'm not late, am I?"

"You're just in time," said Taiyang from behind his daughters, causing the three girls to jump as they hadn't noticed him approach, "You're Weiss, right? Ruby's said a lot about you."

"Really now?" inquired Weiss as she took in her teammates' father.

Weiss had never personally met the Rose/Xiao-Long family patriarch, Team RWBY not having had the chance to travel to Patch what with the whirlwind of events following the fall of Beacon and the subsequent parting of ways the Team temporarily went through, so she took this opportunity to gauge the man that raised two thirds of her Beacon Team.

Weiss's initial impression was that Taiyang was a house-husband. He had a cheery and friendly demeanor and wore cargo shorts and a tan shirt with a white apron draped over his front that read 'Kiss the chef' on the front, along with an absolutely adorable picture of Zwei's face embroidered into the fabric. On his hands were two pink oven-mitts and he seemed to be rather relaxed and a bit carefree. However, Weiss realized that, when she looked past all of her initial observations, the truth was vastly different.

Tight cords of muscle that many bodybuilders and athletes would kill for could be seen in his arms along with several fading scars from what appeared to be the claws and fangs of Grimm, and a hint of tension beneath the relaxed surface, showing that, even though he was not on edge, Taiyang was always ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

All in all: he was a Huntsman. A trained professional one that had seen his share of battle and learned from those experiences as well, and if she was to be honest, he stood at a level far beyond where they had been at, even before their trip backwards in time.

"Don't worry," said Taiyang with a laugh, "Ruby's been going on and on about how great you were. It's almost as if she's known you for years."

"Well," said Weiss nervously, "we did have a bit of an adventure the other night."

"I heard," said Taiyang, "congratulations on catching Torchwick by the way. I heard he'd been confounding the Vale police for years now."

"I was just defending myself and my place of employ," said Weiss, "it was nothing special. I owe Mr. Shopkeep a debt for giving me a job and a place to sleep during my time in Vale."

"Either way," said Taiyang, "you handled yourself quite well. Both of you did. I'm sure you'll do well at Beacon when the term starts."

"You know about that?" said Weiss in surprise.

"Ozpin and I are old friends," explained Taiyang, "plus, Ruby was very excited about it and told us all about the two of you being accepted."

"I see," said Weiss with a chuckle before remembering the plant in her hands, "oh right! I brought this as a thank you for having me over. Ruby mentioned that you do some gardening and I thought you'd appreciate this addition to your garden."

"Why thank you," said Taiyang, "I don't think I've seen this breed before."

"It's a special one I cooked up," said Weiss, "it's a dahlia blossom that has been infused with trace amounts of Dust, giving them a natural luminescence and making them more resilient."

"Well," said Taiyang with a smile, "I'll be sure to get it planted right away. I hope you're hungry. I've cooked up my famous meatloaf for tonight's dinner."

Beacon's cafeteria had served meatloaf a few times during Weiss's time at the Academy and it hadn't been that bad to be honest, so Weiss smiled, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Great," said Taiyang, "I'm going to go check on it, so you girls have fun."

With that, Taiyang left the room allowing the three members of Team RWBY to share a look. They were going to take full advantage of this second chance. This time, they were going to do things right.