Children – especially very young children – had a very short memory span. It was made particularly obvious when a young child would grow up and remember almost nothing from their childhood.

Sometimes though, there were moments which would burn themselves into the memory of a child and that memory would stay forever.

Ruby Rose remembered such a particular moment from her childhood when she was around three years old. She remembered a visitor she had let into the house once he showed her his huntsman licence – her mother had drilled that into her very early on. She remembered how that said huntsman wanted to talk with her dad, so she showed him to the kitchen. Her father had ushered her out of the door and closed it after telling her to go up to her room. She didn't.

Sometimes she wished she had.

Hearing that huntsman talk, telling her father that Summer Rose's status had officially been moved to Missing In Action – that particular moment ingrained itself so very deeply inside of her.

She still remembered the feeling of something heavy suddenly sitting in the pit of her stomach, of an invisible hand squeezing her heart painfully as clearly as if it was yesterday.

And then days and months blurred into each other. She would ask her father and sister, she would ask her uncle.

"Where is mommy? When is mommy coming back? Why isn't mommy coming back? Is mommy lost? Are you looking for mommy? Have you found mommy?"

No one would ever answer.

A year passed. They gave up the search.

At first, after the funeral was over and her dad and her sister Yang did their best to move on, Ruby knew they were of the mind that she would quickly forget. She was still young, after all.

But she didn't. She never did. That feeling of her heart being squeezed, of something heavy sitting in the pit of her stomach never went away. She would grow up with it, learn to live with it. It simply became a part of her.

Twelve years had passed since the day she let that huntsman into their house. Now, a top student at Signal Academy, Ruby Rose found herself in a dust shop because the tip of a trusted friend had led her there.

Beneath a red cape her mother had gifted her when she was two – or so her uncle Qrow said since that she couldn't remember – she was clad in a tight-fitting black combat-dress with black stockings and combat boots. Her weapon of choice, which was inspired by what her mother used, was secured below a black leather belt she wore low on her hips.

Pretending to read a magazine in a far corner of the shop, she concentrated on any sounds and voices inside the shop or entering it – she had been trained well by her friend after all. Distractions in a foreign environment and at times, even in a familiar environment, were invitations of the worst kind for any danger.

Soon enough, her patience was rewarded when the shop's door-bell rang, signalling that a customer entered. Ruby's head, covered by her cape's hood, tilted just the slightest bit towards the voices, her eyes widening at the obvious robbery going on. Her friend had been right after all.

"Alright kid, hands up where I can see 'em!"

Her body stiffened slightly at the voice coming from behind her. So, Roman Torchwick – she assumed her friend was right about that one too – had sent a few men to check if there were other customers.

She turned around, her cape wrapped around her to look more like a cloak, covering her body up. "I need to talk to your boss." Her voice was soft, yet clear.

"My boss is Junior, kid," the grunt chuckled, then went back to frowning again. "Also, I said hands up where I can see 'em!"

Ruby sighed. "I need to talk to Roman Torchwick, whatever he is to you. Move out of my way."

"You seriously are sui-"

He was cut off when Ruby activated her semblance. She was dashing forward in a whirlwind of crimson rose petals, her elbow – powered by her speed – hitting the grunt in his stomach and knocking him through the window. Hand-to-hand was an important topic with her friend.

"If you just rely on your weapons and being good at fighting Grimm, you will lose against any opponent who is even the slightest bit proficient at hand-to-hand and fighting other people."

Keeping her semblance up, the colours of the world bled into various shades of red. Her countless petals danced in the whirlwind while she was hovering above the ground at high-speed. She dashed at the next grunt and reappeared again, stray petals slowly floating onto the ground and disintegrating. In the middle of his surprise, he swung at her reflexively, but she ducked and elbowed him into his stomach as well, his weak aura protecting him at first. After activating her ability once more and dragging him into it, she then flew out of the window, reappeared with her opponent in midair and dropped him down two stories. He'd live.

"I don't want to kill people."

"I'm not telling you to walk around and kill people at random, you idiot child! You have this idea set in your head – this 'mission' of yours – so you need to be prepared to do things like this. You will have to travel all over Remnant. It will be dangerous and I'm not talking about Grimm. Remember what I told you about your eyes?"

"People will try to kill me because of them…"

"People will try to kill you because of them. If you want your mission to succeed, you do what I say. If you don't want to die, you do what I say. I'm risking a lot just by bothering with these secret lessons as it is. Now at least do me the courtesy and slit this traitor's throat."

Back in her semblance, she spiralled towards the ground and landed gently after slipping out of it once more. The guy she dropped was stirring feebly, his breathing irregular. His aura didn't survive the fall and he most likely felt the largest force of the impact with the ground. He and the other one should have just let her talk to Torchwick. She didn't want to hurt them.

Rub then looked towards the shop and saw the shocked faces of the other grunts and, indeed, Roman Torchwick. She walked up towards him. "I need to talk to you, Roman Torchwick."

His eyes wandered up and down her body and a snort escaped him. He puffed on his cigar before he spoke. "Now that's an obvious colour scheme if I ever saw one. I would enjoy a chat with a fan, but, unfortunately, I am busy."

Ruby furrowed her brows. "I wasn't asking, but a friend told me to expect you to be annoyingly difficult."

"Your friend seems to know a bit about me. I think it's only fair I know a bit about them. Got a name?"

"I'll quote what they told me when I asked for their name: 'my name is nothing you need to be concerned about'." She cocked her head to the side while he kept looking at her with mild amusement. "All I want is for you to answer –"

She cursed at the sound of approaching police cars, sirens blaring through the night.

"Well, that's my cue, Little Red," Roman Torchwick said while tipping his hat at her. "You seem like a nice kid, so keep off the streets, do well at school and all the jazz, yeah?" Then, without any warning, he shot a whistling, explosive dust round at her, forcing her to slip into her whirlwind of rose petals and split up into three streams. Once back together, she looked around and saw Torchwick already halfway up a ladder on the side of a building, while his...hirelings?...disappeared into the night, the two she took out abandoned as liabilities to their escape. Back in her semblance, as tired as she was for using it so many times already, she raced after him and straight up the side of the building. She quickly got past Torchwick and waited for him on the rooftop, a bit out of breath now. She could just barely make out his angry mutterings over the noise from below, the closer he got.

"Who are you working for?" she asked him once he was on the rooftop as well. "And where is Neopolitan?" His sudden angry scowl caught her off guard. "Technically, the second question is from my friend. They can't be seen around here, so…" She shrugged. "I really only care about the first question. I need that answer, Torchwick. I know you are the kind of criminal who is only loyal to himself." Well, she didn't really, but she was told he was. Her friend was right with everything so far, so they most likely were about this as well.

He almost stomped towards her, only stopping when he was right in her personal space. "Listen well, Red," Roman began, an angry and cutting edge to his voice, his slick humour gone completely when he was prodding at her chest with the end of his deadly cane. "Your friend stays away from Neo and there won't be any problems. I'm a nice and understanding guy, but not so much when it comes to my Neo." He then walked past her to move on to the other end of the rooftop while still talking. "Secondly, ratting out business partners is suicide. Being loyal only to myself comes with not being suicidal."

The sound of an airship drowned out the police cars' sirens from below and a heavy gust of wind forced her to protect her face and eyes from the rooftop's dirt with an arm. She glanced up to see a Bullhead hovering for Roman to step in.

"I admire your persistence, Red, but seriously: this is goodbye."

Her eyes widened at the large fire-dust crystal thrown at her and the perfectly aimed round from Torchwick's cane flying at it. The heat of the following explosion didn't hit her right in the face, though. Instead, she didn't feel anything. Opening her eyes, she saw a large protective glyph in front of her and a blonde, serious-looking, bespectacled woman maintaining it.

In the distance, she could just make out the Bullhead escaping and Torchwick with it.

Aw crap.

"Ruby Rose. You...have silver eyes." Ozpin stared, for a few uncomfortable seconds, intently into those eyes of hers. He then sat down, pushing a plate with cookies and a glass of milk towards her.

She couldn't resist and took one.

"Yes, Sir. I've been told they are pretty," Ruby replied softly and nibbled on the cookie in her hand. She had been told. By classmates. Her sister. Her uncle and dad.

But, she also had been told just how unique they were. By her friend. Ruby even had gone as far as to use them. The mindset was hard to get into, with the constantly lingering thought and heartache of her dea-vanished! Of her vanished mother. Still, she was learning and getting better at it. The mindset still was all about her own ideals after all. Protecting lives was what she wanted to do. Cherishing loved ones was not hard.

Protecting herself violently, whenever necessary, was just something she had learned to do. It was what it was. Her life's mission had no room for fairy tales and naivete.

One didn't exclude the other. Her friend had taught her as much; with a scoff, but she taught her all the same.

"They are, indeed," Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, said with a small smile. "Now, I would like to know where you have learned to be this proficient with your semblance at such a young age?" He proceeded to show the footage of her brief tussle with those two grunts and her dodging of Torchwick's shot at her. "Apparently you are quite decent at hand to hand as well."

"I trained a lot, Sir." It wasn't a lie.

"I see. And why is that?"

"I want to be a huntress. I want to protect people. Like my mother used to."

Something in the Headmaster's and the blonde huntress's expression visibly softened. It was clear they knew who she was. It came with the name, it came with the cape. It came with her father being a member of Beacon's strongest ever team.

"I do remember Summer Rose quite fondly. I can only imagine you won't disappoint me either."

Her eyes widened at first, then narrowed. She didn't misunderstand, did she?

"You do know who I am, do you?"

"Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

He smiled at her. "Hello."

"Nice to meet you, Sir."

"So," he leaned back in his chair, his hands neatly folded in his lap, "are you interested in joining my Academy a bit early, Miss Rose?"

Words Of Nush: This is my first attempt at a longfic after two one-shots. I had this idea for a while and the outline is quite thorough, with a clear ending noted. The way to get there is the real challenge. I plan for around 2k to 3k words per chapter. It should be a decent amount for a good read and to fit in enough information and story in each chapter. The few lines from canon I took were for flavour mostly. Anything coming from now on will diverge quite a bit from the show (aside from the established major plot points). Ruby will be a very different person here than in canon. More grey morals, less naivete, less fangirling over other huntsmen and huntresses. Just more mature and everything. Also, she is obsessed with her mother's fate – it's why I changed a bit of her design to look like a mix of her usual look with what Summer looked like in the V6 reveal.

All of that is not to say that I dislike Ruby in canon. She's best girl with Weiss!

And, by the way, Ruby's 'friend' is a Canon character. Just so you know.

Also, this will be an M(A) rated fic, with sex and other naughty things. Read on at your own discretion.

Hopefully, managed to intrigue some of you!