February 13, 2021

The cry of a firehouse siren awoke Penny as she slept in her new apartment at 2:10 in the morning. She said to herself as she rolled out of bed to watch, "Ugh... Let's see what it is..." She then opened the window of her apartment and watched as she saw a few people pop out of the apartment buildings nearby to get to the station. One volunteer even opened the window to their apartment and ran down the fire escape to the street.

She used a radio scanning app on her phone to listen to a feed that broadcasted the dispatch and fireground channels of city fire District 2. As she saw Ambulance 201 pull out, a firefighter on board radioed, "Fire Alarm, Ambulance 201's en route with a crew of 6, all interior."

"10-4," said Blake's voice. "Fire Alarm to Car 5."

Penny thought to herself, "Wow! Blake must be working overtime. That's gotta suck if she's working this late."

"Car 5," replied Arthur Kirkridge.

"We are getting multiple calls reporting flames pouring out of the 3rd floor, everyone is attempting to evacuate."

"10-4. Fire Alarm, I'm pulling up right now on a 5-storey tenement with fire on the street side on the 3rd floor out of 2 windows. We have several people streaming out of the building and at least 2 people waving what appears to be clothes trapped on the 4th floor. We also have the building's fire alarms going off and several police officers on scene. Make this a Code 99."

As Penny pondered what this code meant, she saw red and yellow lights flicker from the station as Truck 201's driver started up its lights. Soon after, Truck 201 pulled out of the station. The truck's mechanical siren blared loudly throughout the street, a sound unfamiliar to Penny, who was used to pneumatic hi-lo horns or electronic hi-lo sirens on blue-lighted Atlesian emergency vehicles. "Fire Alarm, Truck 201's responding with 10, 8 interior."

"I wonder if any of Team RWBY or Ren are on that truck," Penny said to herself. "I can only imagine how tired they must be right now, since it's 2:14 right now."

Later that day, Ruby and Delwyn met at the Royal Palace with Delwyn's mother, Callwen the Queen Mother. She was 53 years old and held a good opinion of Ruby. Before she was married to Delwyn III, she was the heiress to a powerful bank and had met the former king when they both attended a private high school.

"So I called my brother," she said as she continued a funny story. "He's flipping out because they couldn't stop the transaction from happening, and he tells me that if the transaction goes through, the company will lose over 400 million lien (A/N: over 280 million US dollars). He explains to me the reason why one of our traders sold 1,000,000 shares for 1 lien (A/N: 70 US cents) rather than 1 share for 10,000 lien (A/N: 7,000 US dollars) was because she spilled coffee or something on the keyboard and in her confusion she must have typed in the numbers in the wrong places."

"Holy shit," Ruby said before she caught herself. "I mean, uh... I apologise for swearing."

"It's fine, dear. Trust me, my brother swore like a God damn sailor over this. Let's just say the phone lines turned blue that day from all the f-bombs that were yelled over it by the many executives of the bank." She then laughed. "Lesson learned, don't put a drink near your keyboard if you're doing something really important. Anyways, I believe this is the first time we've truly got to know each other, Ruby. If you're nervous or anything, don't be. Sure, I may be the Queen Mother, but in this room, we're both just people talking, that's all."

"You're right," Ruby replied. "It's just... It's so cool meeting with rather powerful people on a regular basis."

"If you think it's cool meeting them," Delwyn said. "It's even better, but also a lot more challenging, being them."

"You're right about that," Callwen replied. "You 2 remind me a lot of me and my husband when we first started dating. Sure, I had met royals before, and I was in an influential family, but even so, it was a big eye-opener for me to see what the crown prince of a nation had to deal with."

Then, Ruby sat up and said, "Excuse me for a minute, I have to use the restroom." She then left and went into a nearby bathroom.

Callwen then turned to her son. "She's a really nice girl, Delwyn."

"She sure is," he replied. "She sure is."

Then, Callwen dropped a big question. "So, are you going to ask for her hand eventually?"

Delwyn immediately paused. He intensely blushed and his heart began to race at the thought of him and Ruby being married one day in the Royal Palace. "Uhh... Well... I... How long do you think I should wait?"

"Well, you 2 have been a 'thing' since December, right? I'd wait until late next year to make that decision."

Delwyn nodded. He then thought to himself, "But what about Ruby's sexuality?" "I'm a bit worried, though..." He had not told his mother nor anyone else at the Royal Palace that Ruby was bisexual, and he had also not told anyone of how exactly they met. (A/N for those too lazy to go back to Season 1: Ruby first met Delwyn IV when she was going on a pub crawl with Yang shortly after coming out in Vale's "LGBT district," the Mayer-Mateo neighbourhood.)

"About what?"

"Well..." "Fuck, how do I break this to my mom?" Delwyn began to get worried. "I'm worried because Ruby is..."

"A commoner? That's nothing to be worried about in this day and age, dear."

"No, not that, mom. It's that-"

"I'm back," Ruby then suddenly returned, causing Delwyn to stop the conversation. "Hmm, I sense something tense here. What's going on?"

"Uh... Ruby, come here, I need to whisper something to you." Callwen got the hint and looked away. Ruby leaned into Delwyn's mouth as he said, "My mom doesn't know you're bi. I think we need to tell her."

Ruby nodded and turned to Callwen, saying, "Your majesty, I need to tell you something about me that me and Delwyn think is very important."

"Go ahead," Callwen said. She understood this was serious, but had no idea what Ruby was talking about.

"You see, I am not straight." Ruby then sighed. "I am bisexual, and I always will be. Even though I am attracted to women alongside men, I love Delwyn with all of my heart, and I will never abandon him. I do not care what others may think of me because of this important part of me and my life. I cannot change who I am."

Callwen paused. She then said, "Well why didn't you tell me that before? I would care more about what I watch on TV then that."

Ruby then breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

Delwyn then said, "But what about the populace? What if me and Ruby do actually get married one day? How will they react to a Queen that is LGBT? Will Parliament approve?"

"Stop worrying, dear." Callwen's tone of voice was calming. "They will. If God forbid they do not because of that, I would not blame you if you chose to abdicate the throne and give it to your younger sister. Hell, I'd do it myself. If the nation really cares that much, then, to be honest, Vale doesn't deserve a King and Queen like you 2 then."

As with Delwyn, Ruby blushed at the thought of marrying Delwyn. She said, "Well, that's a long ways away anyways, so we don't have to worry about that now, right? Right."

"Yeah," Delwyn replied. "It sure is, and we got a lot of time to make that decision."

February 15, 2021

"Hey Theresa," said Denis. "Can you come with me to the rec room for a sec?"

Theresa, who had been cleaning the area around her gear locker, said, "Got it. I'll be right over."

When she entered the rec room, Denis said, "C'mon, sit over here next to me." She found a seat next to Denis facing the TV.

She asked, "What's up?"

"My parents argued last night real bad," he said in a somber tone. "My dad left in a huff and took his car to his parents' house." He then sighed. "This is the first time it's happened."

Theresa felt a lot of sympathy for her boyfriend. "That's happened to me before. In fact, many things have happened to me due to my family."

"Say," Denis replied curiously. "You never told me about that. What happened?"

"Well... You are the first person outside of my family to know this, so..."

June 10, 2009

"Alrighty," a gendarme from the Royal Valeanian Gendarmerie's Childcare Enforcement Division said as he handed a contract to a man and a woman. "Just sign here, stating that you will assume interim custody of Theresa Mikusch until a later date when permanent custody will be established."

"Thank you," said the man. "Our niece will be well taken care of." He then signed the contract.

Theresa, then just 4 years old, said to her uncle and aunt, "What's gonna happen to mama?"

Her aunt replied to her as her faced became sad and her tone shifted, "Theresa, your mama... Your mama can't live with you anymore..."

"What? Why?" The young child became teary-eyed as this dawned on her young mind. "I love mama, though."

"I know, sweetie, but... Something came up..."

"My mom was a drug addict... Bad..." Theresa said in the present year of 2021. "My father was stabbed to death outside of a bar when I was 7 months old, which caused her downward spiral. They never caught the guy who killed him."

"Oh my God... Compared to you, my troubles seem like nothing..."

"Don't say that, Denny." She then hugged him. "Don't ever say that. I'm not going to invalidate your parents' problems, okay? If you want me to, I'll stop my story here and let you talk."

"No," Denis replied. "Keep going."

"Well, my uncle was my dad's brother. My mom was an only child. My aunt and my uncle were about to divorce in 2015 when I was 10. Then, my aunt shot herself before the proceedings could begin."

October 10, 2015

A 10-year-old Theresa was sitting at the kitchen table of her aunt and uncle's apartment alongside her 13-year-old cousin Mark. Though they were cousins in theory, they were brother and sister in practice. Theresa was drawing on a piece of paper with Mark, who was showing her how to draw cartoon characters from various shows that she liked. "You're doing great," Mark said to her.

"Awww, thank you." Theresa brushed off some eraser shavings and looked at a drawing of a character from a Vacuonimation show she and Mark both watched. (A/N: "Vacuonimation," defined as cartoons and animations from the Kingdom of Vacuo, hold a similar place in Remnant pop culture as anime in real life.)

Suddenly, a loud bang emanated throughout the apartment. Mark said to himself quietly, "What the fuck..."

Theresa innocently asked, "What was that?"

Mark then stood up and ran upstairs, asking, "Mom, what was that?"

Theresa stayed downstairs, wondering what happened. She thought to herself, "That was very loud."

Then, the sound of a bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the apartment before Mark yelled, "Oh my God, Mom! No!"

In the present, Theresa began crying. "Why did she do it... Why..."

Denis panicked as he thought to himself, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, I made her cry! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" "Uhhh... I'm sorry I brought it up, Tracy..."

"No, no, don't say that." Theresa was adamant in her demand. "Don't be sorry, Denis." She then gave him a kiss. After splitting, she said, "I'm glad I got that out of me. I pray your parents resolve their problems."

"Thank you," Denis said as he wiped tears off of his girlfriend's face. "Now, need me to get some towels or something?"

"No, I'm good. I've gotten used to just wiping shit off my face with my sleeve." She then laughed.

Then, the pagers in the station went off, followed by the siren tones and the alerting bells in the station. As Denis and Theresa rushed into the apparatus bay, the siren started up as more people at the station ran to get their gear on.

After putting her gear on, Theresa ran to get on the ambulance, popping open the back door and climbing aboard just as it was pulling out of the station. To her surprise, there were no open seats in the back. A firefighter pointed to the stretcher and said, "You can sit in there if you wanna."

She laughed and said, "Eh, why not?" She then wiped her eyes again to get the last tears out.

Meanwhile, Denis got aboard Truck 201 as he and several other volunteers waited for more personnel to show up. As thoughts of the previous conversation raced in his mind, several volunteers raced into the station. He asked the driver, "What's the info on the call?"

"Reported kitchen fire on the 17th floor of an apartment building," the driver replied. "It's in that new North Vigilant company's first due. I'm telling ya, kid, they're kind of a mess. All their gear is different types, and both of their engines are over 20 years old."

"Well, they're new," Denis replied. "They need time to get everything straightened out."

"Yeah, true. About 10 of our guys left to join them, I know that. These new fire companies are draining the older ones a bit, but they're also pulling in new guys as well. Besides, with recruitment at an all-time high for us, we recouped our losses in no time."

Eventually, 3 and a half minutes after the tones dropped, all 10 seats were filled on the truck. Ren, who had grabbed the officer's seat next to the driver, radioed, "Fire Alarm, Truck 201's en route with a crew of 10, 9 interior."

"10-4."