Prologue 2 Part A: Things Left Behind
Since The moment the sentence was announced Ruby hadn't stopped thinking. Going over every detail of what she had to do to achieve her new goal. She had immediately recognized that her new path would be far more difficult than graduating Beacon, but she felt that she was prepared to do whatever it took.
Her most immediate obstacle was hiding her intentions from anyone who would stand in her way. She had intentionally avoided crossing paths with her teammates when she left the courthouse. Not just because she didn't want them catching on, she didn't want their pity. No, she wanted things to go back to how they were before. They never would though, and Ruby had come to accept this fact. She was now on a separate path from them and whether it would ever cross again she couldn't say.
Now she had to figure out how to hide her plans from the two men who were sitting in the front seat of the car with her. Her father was driving her home after the trial ended and all the paperwork was finished out. Seated next to him was Ruby's true concern, her uncle Qrow. Her father wouldn't be a problem so long as she brooded and acted upset he would likely buy into it. On the other hand Ruby always found it impossible to hide something from Qrow. Somehow he always seemed to see straight through her, thus Ruby had decided her only chance against him was to avoid him as much as possible.
The car slowed down and came to a half as it pulled into a driveway next to brick house on the outskirts of Vale. It was nothing extravagant but it was large enough for their family to live comfortably, and Ruby had called it home for many years. Taiyang unfastened his seatbelt and turned around to speak to Ruby.
"Hey Rubes, when we get inside would you mind talking to.." Ruby abruptly cut him off as she quickly made her way out of the car and slammed the door.
"Give her some time Tai, I'm sure that it's a lot for her to process. Becoming a huntress was everything to her." Qrow spoke softly to Taiyang.
"I'm worried about her. She spent the last three months in police custody, and hardly saw us or her friends. I'm not certain spending more time alone is what she needs right now." Taiyang said solemnly.
"Alright, if it make you feel better I'll go speak to her." Qrow replied as the two exited the vehicle.
Ruby had made her way into the house and had quickly gone straight for her room. Ruby's mood immediately brightened when she walked in to see Crescent Rose sitting on it's wall mount. When she was arrested she had her weapon on her, and remembered being told that since it wasn't needed as evidence that it was turned over to her father.
Realizing that she would need Crescent Rose soon, she decided to immediately set to work on making sure it was in top condition. Grabbing a rag and a bottle of clp Ruby quickly began disassembling the weapon. Ruby had lost herself in the task of weapon maintenance when she was jolted by a sudden knock on her door.
"Hey Ruby, would you mind talking to me?" Came Qrow's voice from the other side of the door.
Ruby began to panic realizing that he might think something's amiss if he came in and saw the task she was currently occupied with.
"Go away!" Ruby shouted hoping he would leave.
Instead she heard the click of the doorknob turning as Qrow helped himself into the room. Ruby inwardly cursed her father for removing the locks from her and Yang's doors.
"Hey kid, you can't keep quiet forever." Qrow said before he suddenly stopped perplexed when he saw what Ruby was doing.
"Weapon maintenance?" Qrow questioned her.
"Uh, I was trying to distract myself. Now would you go away?" Ruby said nervously.
Qrow's expression relaxed and he spoke again.
"You're just as easy to read as your mother." Qrow said softly.
Ruby fidgeted nervously worried he had caught on to her.
"You don't know what you're talking about. Would you just leave me alone?" Ruby replied frustrated.
"Ruby, you're planning on doing something foolish aren't you?" Qrow questioned her seriously.
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as Ruby tried to think of how to reply. Her chance didn't come however as Qrow spoke again.
"I see, you're still just as determined as ever."
Qrow said proudly. He placed his hand on Ruby's head and continued.
"I won't try and stop you. Just know that no matter what we love you and will always be here for you. I'll always be proud to call you my niece, and I'm sure she'd say the same if she were still here."Qrow said caringly before turning and walking out, shutting the door behind him.
Ruby sat there dumbfounded staring at the place Qrow had just stood, as she felt hot tears begin to roll down her face. It was then that she realized what she was losing. Her dream now meant leaving everything behind and moving forward. Her friends, her family, her home, her innocence, she had to give it all up. However Ruby had already decided she wouldn't regret anything. She turned around and went back to her task preparing herself for what was to come.
"Thank you." She whispered as she began.
Prologue 2 Part B: Decisive Action
Night had come, the shattered moon out in full tonight. Ruby had realized it would likely be best to wait a few months until she put her plans into action. However being on probation, meant that It would be harder to move freely. Though she was willing to wait, she had been informed immediately following the trial that as part of her probation, she had to bring Crescent Rose with her to her first meeting with her probationary officer and turn it over to him. So she wouldn't wait.
Ruby had prepared a backpack with some clothes, hygiene items, and some money she had saved up as well as a bit she had stolen out of her father's room. Though she felt bad about it, she knew she would need it if she hoped to accomplish her objective. Once she was sure her father had went to sleep she began to make her way out, choosing to exit via her window and not risk waking Taiyang.
Leaping from her window and landing with a soft "thud," as her feet hit the grass. She chose to take one last look back at the place she had called her home, and the memories it held. Deciding that she was ready Ruby prepared to use her semblance when a voice caused her to jump.
"So this is goodbye, huh?" Qrow said from behind her.
Ruby turned and looked solemnly at her uncle.
"How do you do that?" Ruby questioned her uncle.
"Comes with experience I guess. You're father is going to be pretty upset when he realizes what you're doing." Qrow said amusedly.
"Oh, have you figured out what I'm planning? " Ruby questioned intrigued, now that she realized he wasn't going to stop her.
"I have a rough idea, and foolish is certainly an understatement." Qrow said slightly mockingly.
"You're far too much like your mother."
"Please tell my father that I love him." Ruby replied timidly.
"That's not what I had expected but I'll make sure to pass the message along." Qrow said.
" I won't apologize for my actions, because that would be the same to me as regretting them." Ruby said in a serious manner.
"I , Ruby Rose." Qrow said softly.
Choking back tears Ruby replied,"Goodbye, Uncle Qrow."
With that red filled Qrow's vision, rose petals scattering in every direction filling the place Ruby had just been. Now alone in the dead of night,Qrow allowed a single tear to fall down his face.
Now a good distance away Ruby was moving fast across the rooftops and alleyways of Vale. She recognized the need for haste. Her plans were undoubtedly a violation of her probation. Worse yet if both her father and unknown probationary officer realized what she was doing she might be facing a very challenging manhunt.
Now arriving at her destination she realized she wasn't entirely sure who she was looking for inside. She herself had never actually entered the place, but knew that her sister had come here when in search of information. Ruby was aware of the kind of world she was stepping foot in, but she had decided that there was no point in turning back now.
Walking up to the door Ruby saw a large man standing in front of it, a bouncer, she was assuming.
"Sorry little miss but this place isn't for children." The large man said mockingly.
In a blur, Ruby pulled Crescent Rose out, sliding the bolt to the rear and chambering a round. She knew that to continue farther she would have to change. She couldn't keep being the innocent little girl.
"Get out of my way, or I'll blow your fucking head off." Ruby spat out the words somewhat awkwardly. Ruby had a distaste for profanity, but she was willing to sacrifice that if meant she would be taken seriously.
With little fuss the man moved out of her way. She began to walk in as she saw him squeeze something on his collar. Realizing it was likely some sort of panic button she regretted not just taking him out to begin with. Deciding It didn't matter too much Ruby continued into the building.
Entering the building Ruby's senses were immediately assaulted by the blaring music and vibrantly colored lights. She then found numerous firearms pointed at her by men in dark suits with red sunglasses.
"This'll be fun." Ruby said aloud.
Deciding her best bet was to start tearing into the minions before her, until she saw someone who looked important she vanished in a flurry of rose petals. Ruby went straight for the first guard in front of her, taking him out with a simple knee to the face. Then transforming Crescent Rose into scythe form Ruby swung it around before landing and took another guard out with a hit to the chest. Moving out of the way of a guard trying to tackle her she swung Crescent Rose down slamming him into the floor with a sickening,"crunch," he stopped moving. Thought Ruby felt bad, she knew she hadn't killed him and pushed any further thoughts about the man out of her mind.
It was at that moment Ruby saw a man standing over near the bar who seemed to issuing out orders. Vanishing in a flurry of petals Ruby appeared before the man transforming Crescent Rose back into it's gun form and shoving it against his chest.
"I have some questions for you. Call off your dogs." Ruby told the man.
"They aren't the ones you should worry about honey." The man said mockingly.
Ruby then suddenly felt something impact her side sending her flying away from the man.
"I told you the dogs weren't the worst of your problems." The man said.
Ruby immediately got back to her feet. Ready to fight, she saw two girls before her one in a red dress then other white. They looked to Ruby to be twins. Realizing that with a hit like that they had to be able to use aura. Ruby decided not to hesitate and quickly fired a volley of four shots at the two girls, expecting it to do some damage. Instead she was surprised to see them dodge and deflect the rounds.
They then quickly closed on Ruby. The one in red went straight towards Ruby slashing at her with what appeared to be claws. Ruby evaded and backed up only to receive a kick to the back sending her flying back into the red girl and being subsequently knocked sideways into a wall by a hit to her chest.
Ruby used her semblance to get out from between the two girls, transforming Crescent Rose back into scythe form. Now going on the offensive ruby began to take swings at the girl in red. Unfortunately all her attacks were seemingly dodged or deflected. Ruby Then noticed the girl in white close in towards her blind spot. Ruby took one more wide swing at the red girl forcing her back, then directing her attacks at the girl in white to keep her at a distance. This kept up for a few more rounds of switching between the two when the girl in white had finally slipped in under one of Ruby's wide swings, delivering a kick to her stomach and sending her sliding across the ground.
Looking up at the two girls, Ruby went to stand back up when the one in white spoke.
"Hey Miltiades, isn't that the girl from the news?" The girl questioned her partner.
"You mean the coward? Oh my god, it is her!" The girl in red exclaimed.
The two began laughing. If there was any further conversation between the two Ruby didn't hear it. Ruby felt humiliated at the situation. She was being outclassed by them, judged by them, mocked by them. However the humiliation hardly compared to the rage she felt at the moment. Ruby couldn't think, so she decided she wouldn't bother.
In the blink of an eye scarlet rose petals filled the room, flying around as if caught in a storm.
Ruby suddenly appeared feet from the girl in red with the end of Crescent Rose jammed against her chest.
"Block this you bitch!" Ruby screamed in anger. Squeezing the trigger of Crescent Rose and recocking the weapon again, and again, and again, and again. Doing so with such speed it was difficult to tell how many rounds Ruby had fired. The girl in red fell to the ground clutching her chest. Her aura had absorbed a lot of damage, but her chest had been torn apart regardless. Her ribcage was crushed with some broken ribs poking out of her dress and blood seeping from gashes in her skin.
The girl in white immediately lunged at Ruby attempting to deliver a kick to Ruby's head only to feel no resistance at all as her leg moved through a sea of rose petals. It looked like more rose petals were coming out of her leg that was in the air. Realizing she could no longer feel her leg and the petals she was seeing come out of her leg was just blood, she let out a blood curdling scream.
Ruby silently walked back over to man from before. She felt herself nearly throw up but chose to choke it down. Now wasn't the time to show weakness. Everyone in the room stared silently at the girl terrified of incurring her wrath.
"Please, I'll give you anything want, there's no reason to hurt me." The man spoke with fear in his voice.
" Shut up. You're going to answer my questions. Whether or not I'm pleased with the answers will determine if you make it through the night in one piece" Ruby said spitefully.
"Okay anything you want." He replied.
"I need fake papers; a passport, birth certificate, and photo id. I also need a way to get to Atlas that can't be tracked. I'll need it all by sun up tomorrow." Ruby told the man.
He was about complain about the timeline when he decided it wasn't worth it.
"Alright, it'll be hard but I'll have everything ready. Just wait here." He replied nervously.
He had been tempted to leave to recruit help but had instead decided that if she was heading to Atlas he likely wouldn't see her again, so it'd be less trouble if he just gave her what she wanted.
True to his word he had everything by morning and shortly thereafter Ruby was in an airship transporting some questionable cargo to Atlas. The beginning of Ruby's crucible was fast approaching.
Prologue 2 Part C: Redemption
The airship Ruby was aboard landed in a run down looking airfield. If not for the fact that She were here she would assume It was no longer in use. Likely the reason why the vessel landed there. She saw trucks driving up towards the airship, likely to move the cargo to. It was evening now and Ruby could see the lights of Atlas against the dark skyline. Ruby looked to the north too see a large mountain range illuminated by the dim light of the moon.
That was her final destination. In the northern Mantle region is where she would spend the next two years of her life. Ruby felt far than she had anticipated. This was her first time travelling outside the kingdom of Vale. She wished that she had more time to enjoy Atlas, but she was in a hurry. As for her business in Atlas it would have to wait for the morning. So for the time being she decided to go and find a hotel for the night.
Originally she had planned to sleep on the street for the night. In the end she hadn't had to pay for her papers and the trip over to Atlas as planned, so she had plenty of lien left. Ruby began to walk the streets of Atlas searching for a hotel room. She saw a taxi driving up from behind her and flagged it down. She got in only to stare in shock when she saw the driver was not a person but a robot.
"Destination mam?" The machine questioned Ruby.
Ruby stated blankly before answering,"The nearest cheap hotel, please."
"Acknowledged." It replied and began driving.
A few minutes later the taxi pulled up in front of a shabby looking hotel named, Atlas Accommodations. Ruby entered the building and was greeted by a middle aged woman. After a brief exchange Ruby handed the woman a few lien and in return was handed a key to a room.
Upon her arrival in the room Ruby was pleasantly surprised that the room didn't look as bad as she had expected. She took a quick shower and went to sleep. She had left her scroll behind, so she had no way of setting an alarm, but wasn't too worried about the time she woke up. She had slept for a while on the airship so she wasn't completely exhausted. Though she was asleep moments after climbing into bed.
When Ruby awoke it was ten am. She got up and took a shower again. Ruby figured that she would be leaving such simple luxuries behind soon, and she might as well enjoy them while she can. When she was done she got dressed and got all her things together. Going back down to the front desk to hand her key in, she stopped and asked the attendant where she could get a good meal at.
The place that was recommended to her was only a couple blocks away so she elected to walk there. Ruby made sure now that it was daylight, too keep her hood up. She wasn't sure if her trial had made the news here in Atlas, and she decided she'd rather not find out the hard way. When she got to the restaurant she chose to sit at a table near the back corner. An attractive young waitress came up to take Ruby's order.
"Hello and welcome to the Hideaway. What would you like to order?" the girl asked Ruby in a friendly voice.
Looking the menu up and down Ruby quickly decided and replied.
"I'll have the number three omelette, and cookies and milk."Ruby said curtly.
The waitress snickered and the replied,"Alright, it'll be a few minutes sweetie."
It annoyed Ruby to be laughed at but she expected as much ordering cookies with her breakfast. The meal arrived shortly thereafter. Ruby found the food to be even better than she expected. Paying her bill and leaving a sizeable tip Ruby left the restaurant.
Ruby walked over to the street and flagged a taxi down. Getting in she was greeted by another metallic face.
"Take me to the Atlas Armed Forces Recruiting Center." Ruby ordered the machine.
"Acknowledged." The robot replied the same as the previous one Ruby used.
Now that it was daytime and Ruby could see Atlas better she found herself quite impressed with it. She knew that they were ahead of Vale technologically, but it was a whole different thing seeing it in person. The cars all looked fancier, the buildings taller, the airship more plentiful. Even the clothes people wore here seemed far different than Vale's fashion. Ruby wished she had more time to spend here, but knew that she had more important matters here than tourism.
The taxi pulled up at their destination, a large ornate building that looked to serve multiple purposes. Although it seemed that all those purposes were military. It was a large steel and concrete building, there were large steps leading up to the building with large stone pillars on either side of the building's front. She paid the robot and exited the vehicle making her way up the steps.
She walked into the building and saw what looked to be a reception desk with a tall man standing at it. Walking up to the desk she asked for directions to where she needed to go and was directed towards the east wing of the building. Arriving at the east wing she found a similar set up . Asking once again about where she needed to go she was directed to an office down the hall.
Ruby walked down the hall to the office and knocked on the door.
"Come in." Replied a deep voice from the other side of the door.
Ruby walked into the office to see a tall man with brown hair who looked to be in his late twenties. He had soft features and looked far more friendly than Ruby had expected.
"Hi there I'm Staff Sergeant Williams. Go ahead and take a seat." He said as he directed her to a chair sitting in front of his desk.
"It's nice to meet you I'm Ru..Scarlette Summers. I was wondering if you would be able to help me." Ruby said almost blowing her identity out of sheer nervousness.
"Well if you want to enlist then you're in the right place. As long as you are old enough." He told her.
"I am eighteen, but it isn't the Atlas Armed Forces I'm interested in. I actually want to volunteer for the Redemption Corps." Ruby replied, barely forcing the words out of her mouth.
SSG William looked insulted and spoke again,"Look I'm actually really busy so if you came here to joke around you need to leave."
"I'm completely serious!" Ruby yelled at the man.
A stunned expression came over his face before he spoke again.
"Look I don't know what movie or videogame this fucked up delusion of yours stems from, but you don't have any reason to join the Redemption Corps." He replied mockingly.
Ruby had begun to feel insulted and was losing her patience.
"My reasons are none of your goddamn business!" She screamed at him.
"Reasons like what? If you want to die there are much simpler ways to kill yourself. Some innocent girl like you has no reason to join a band of murderers and rapists." He mocked once again.
Ruby's patience had come to an end and she was growing tired of arguing with the man.
"So you're saying you want help me then?" She asked.
"Quit whining it's for your own good. Now just leave I'm tired of dealing with you."He droned on.
"Have it your way." Ruby replied as she stood up and pulled Crescent Rose out. She chambered a round and pointed it at his head.
"So then all I have to do is become one of those murders, right?"Ruby asked coldly.
"You're fucking nuts!" He shouted, anger painting his face.
"I'm determined. If not you then I'll kill someone else. You might as well do your duty and sacrifice yourself for the greater good then, right?" Ruby questioned the man unwaveringly.
After a moment of tense silence the man spoke again.
"Goddamnit, fine. Take a seat Ms. Summers, just don't say I didn't warn you." The man said softly.
A/N
So apparently some people are actually reading this which is neat. I originally intended this chapter to be three but I decided to do it like this instead. 1 more prologue chapter left.
Also im still on mobile So there may be weird typos and stuff. I tried to find as many as I could and fix the shit, but I'm sure a few got by me.