The next day, Ruby sat down with Neo and explained Aura, she explained how it was the power of the soul made manifest, she also explained semblances, and how each one was unique to one person, and could grow and evolve with them. Then Ruby unlocked Neo's aura, Ruby placed her hand on her daughter's chest, and said her mantra, "For it in passing that we achieve rebirth, Through this, we become a Beacon of Hope and Salvation to Protect all. Infinite in time, and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, uplift thee."

Neo's aura flared as it was unlocked, then in a sudden burst, the world was faceted, the whole room looked like it was inside of a crystal, with reflective edges cutting through the air, Ruby knew that this was her daughter's semblance, and she went and tried to touch one of the illusions.

Meanwhile Neo was looking at her hands, the soft pink glow coming from them awed her, and she could feel her aura all around the room, then she felt a strange sensation, like someone had a hand on her, but not on her body, she looked over to where she felt it, and saw her mother there, with her hand on a strange apparition in the air. Her mother looked to her and said, "Neo do you know what this is?"

Neo Walked over and looked at the floating crystalline structure, noticing that the whole room was in a similar state, the structure felt familiar to her, and she reached out with her aura, and once she was sure, she smashed one of them with her fist.

The Whole Room exploded with Pink, White, and brown rose petals, and once Ruby saw this she gasped, Neo's illusions used to shatter into shards, like glass... now they shatter into rose petals?
"Congratulations kiddo, you found your semblance."

Over the course of the next two years, Ruby, Rumpole, and Sino Trained Neo in the basics of hand to hand, Scythe combat, Swordplay, and shooting. Then when Neo was 13, she was enrolled at the primary combat school of Umbra Academy, in Vacuo.

Neo went to school and learned, but didn't make many friends, while at Umbra she only made one friend, a quiet girl by the name of Scarlet Wine, the two seemed to bond over not talking much and would spend a hefty amount of time together either studying in silence, training in silence, or reading in silence.

After her first year in Umbra, with the help of her mother, Neo designed her weapon, She designed it based on her Granduncle's weapon, Harbinger, which her mother had shown her pictures of. The weapon was a short sword with half of the blade split vertically, running down the center was a rifle caliber barrel, the whole sword, barrel and all had cuts in it running down the entire length, with a push of a button, the blade folded and the grip extended, making a blade very similar to harbinger, but much smaller.

With another push of a button, the blade straightened out, and the handle retracted, then part of the blade split down the edge and separated with a telescoping divider coming down to complete an angled fore-grip, then the actual hilt of the sword rotated, and out of the cross guard came a telescoping stock and mag well, making a short bullpup rifle.

The Weapon was also capable of firing in short sword mode, but only as a load one shoot one style, as the sword mode had no magazine, but instead had a chamber hatch on the cross guard., not unlike the hatch for the tube on a shotgun.

Neo spent hours designing and crafting her weapon, and just like her mother, she cherished it dearly, after weeks at the table, and months at the forge, she finally produced her masterpiece. Neo had given it a lot of thought, and after almost a year of deliberation, most of which was spent making the weapon in the first place. Neo decided to name her weapon Faceted Crescent.

She had picked that name due to the crystalline nature of her semblance, and to pay homage to her Mother's weapon. Her friend had also designed a weapon, though a bit simpler, she named it Rosette Gamble, it was a simple set of swords, that could lock together to make a double bladed staff, she also carried a heavy caliber handgun she named Carmine.

It turned out that both Neo and her friend were massive weapon nerds, just like Neo's mother. Neo and Scarlet grew very close over the next few years, acting as near sisters at times, with many many sleepovers and time spent together.

After their last year at Umbra the two applied to Shade academy. Both were accepted, and now they awaited initiation.

Ruby had been preparing for this day for a long time, First, all the way back when she had first met Oz, she had gone into vale with one goal in mind, Ensure that Mini-Ruby gets into beacon. She knew she had to the minute she found out that she could remove Neo from the equation, Second, she had put out feelers all over remnant looking for clues as to where Salem's operatives go when they need to retreat. Third, Ruby had spent the better part of the last decade forming strategies and putting together carefully crafted plans to defeat Salem. Fourth, Ruby had an absolute ****load of money... Ruby had been living for free, working a full time high paying job, and only paying for food, for just about a decade and a half. Ruby was absolutely loaded, and all of that money was put into searching for Salem's hideout, wherever she may be.

Ruby had put so much effort into locating Salem, and finding out what her minions were doing. That she had actually started to find results. Through her efforts, she had found out that Cinder had been adopted by a hotel owner in atlas, satisfied that nothing was wrong with that, she had let it be. Only to find out that she had murdered 4 people and disappeared seven years later. She had also found out about Arthur Watts, and his death in the paladin incident. She had left a tip through Pietro that she had spotted Doctor Watts alive and well, associating with escaped criminal Tyrian Callows. That information, coming from a trusted source, had put both men on the Atlas's most wanted page.

She had also discovered that Hazel Reinart, was already part of Salem's crew long before she ever came back. And had decided not to worry about it. Ruby was now in her mid 30s and, armed with her knowledge, was ready to stop the fall of beacon.

****
And So concludes the Preamble. This is the last one for 10 days, I'm going on vacation. I'll see you all on the 3rd of January with the start of the Shade Arc. Also, Golden Cookie to AK632612, stop sussing out climaxes of arcs that haven't even started yet. It makes my job harder :(