I like to start off and say I don't own RWBY, nor its characters, but I own this world piece and the history that comes with it

Hello again! Sorry for a later upload, I went to parents this past week and didn't have my gear with me. (Kinda of hard to bring a full computer from across state huh?). For starters thank you so much for the review! To clarify, this story will have a lot of OCs but the main focus is on the original cast, though perspectives will change healthy throughout.

Rant incoming so skip to end if you don't care. To me, what makes a world you need to have a consistent character roster less things get stale, (just my opinion don't hate too much) but not an overabundance to a point where people get left out, forgotten, or just underused. "Doesn't RWBY already have enough side characters to choosefrom" One might ask. Yes, but I don't know them enough to consistently use them. But more importantly, I will butcher a character if I need to progress the plot one way or another and that will leave a horrid taste on everyone's mouth. Like I said before, I rather butcher my own character by accident then another's, I don't think I'm alone when someone's favorite character gets absolutely miswritten. Is it overused, probably, is it dumb maybe, but is this my story and world to creat4e and have messy fun with? Yupp! So sorry for any new timers or old if you hate it but that's how I roll!

Tldr: Ocs a plenty, main focus on main characters of show, I write what I write, and flame me for my transgressions...

Back on topic, I also fixed the last chapter, got frustrated forgetting a detail like that. (It was a small one but pissed me the hell off when I noticed it, lol) If you see any more, please yell at me to check it, I don't have a beta nor time to find one and am writing this with cola induced stress. (Cause coffee makes me sick) No more ranting, now's another chapter where I proceed to ruin the main cast despite not wishing, and more than likely wrong weapon maintenance. Sorry in advance, hope you enjoy!


Chapter 2: A Second Meeting Covered in...Books... (Ruby Rose)

Getting back to the rest of the group was a much simpler task then leaving, yet Ruby managed to lose her way a couple times. A fact that her sister made sure to remember. "How can you get lost twice? Twice! We have a team locator, and a tracker app. Just-"

"I get it! Stop rubbing it in!" Ruby scowled at her older sister, but due to her tired muscles, healing bruises, and already small stature, it only looked like a severe pout.

"Alright Alright Sorry Rubaby." The older blond relented. "Don't call me that!" "So how was your "mission"?" Yang asked, curiously.

Easing up, Ruby smiled brightly as she gave a small retelling of her adventure, minus the whole almost dying portion. Cause the last thing I want is to give Yang more reason to baby me...

"You know I still believe you should have had someone to partner up with, say I don't know… YOUR PARTNER!" The heiress reprimanded, throwing her arms in the air.

Giving a wince and a blush at her obviously upset partner, Ruby apologized. "Sorry Weiss! I...Well I…" Her fellow teammates stared expectantly as she gave her reason for going solo in the first place.

"Iwantedtoprovemyselfandkindaneededtogoonmyownsorryforditchingyoupleaseforgiveme!"

Ruby fidgeted under their continued stares and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable outburst or telling off for being selfish/dumb. Instead, she was surprised to find a pair of arms wrapped around her body. Then choked as they squeezed tight.

"Aww! Is our little Rubaby starting to be independent? You know we still love and care for you regardless of your status." Yang said with mock parentally love squashing Ruby in her massive bust.

"C-cant...B-reath…!" Managing to push herself off, Ruby took major breaths of air as Yang gave a halfhearted apology. "Sorry for not helping you Weiss… I hope it wasn't too bad."

"I got stucked with Arc and Pyrrha since MY team left me…"

"Ah…" Giving another wince as she knows how bad Jaune can get when saying his affection towards the white-haired girl, Ruby bowed down and apologized once more. "Sorry Weiss…"

Seeing at her genuine attempt at apologizing, Weiss only gave her a small glance before turning around, not before responding. "It's fine… Just rely on your team instead of inane bravado, ok?"

Getting the white-haired girl's forgiveness, Ruby slams into her back joyfully. "Thanks Weiss, and I promise I will rely on you more!" "Hey I said team you dolt!"

Smiling at the two's antics Yang looked over towards her partner giving a Cheshire like grin. "Hey Rubes… I think it's time for a celebration since you know… we did technically do a major Grimm hunt and whatnot… thinking something like a group hug or something…" The blond laughed as her fellow teammates gave varying reactions, frozen mortification, pure happiness, and betrayal.

Before anyone else could say or do anything, their small leader scooped them into a group hug with a smile that reached both ends. "We're awesome! Go team RWBY!" The four girls revel in their separate/shared success in the day's mission, all the while Ruby wonders about the lone huntsman, she met named Steel.

Another day, another set of admittedly boring classes, Ruby found herself roaming the academy whenever she had a free period. Well, more like trying to hide from the heiress whenever she wants to do an intense study session. Despite the current manhunt that is happening in the background, Ruby felt the need to do some maintenance on her baby, that being the Battle Scythe that can turn into a high-powered rifle, as she didn't trust the impact the weapon took during the hunt. She also was supposed to get a checkup for her injuries, but…

Images of a hectic Nurse office, along with a weird takeover of a section of the room with a sign crossing off the Head of the medical staff, then a quick demolition from said Head along with several thrown needles…

Yeah… not going anywhere near that… Shaking off the terror those memories brought, Ruby continued her way towards the weaponsmith/workshop section of the school, a part where she admittedly, needed to look at the map a couple times. Yet, in the end she made it with no problems whatsoever. Alright Crescent Rose! Let's get you nice and shiny shall we!

Pulling the door handle, the last thing Ruby expected was to repeat the dust incident, but she found herself feeling a bit more guilty towards Weiss as she barely managed to land properly from the decent size explosion. Coughing and wiping extra debris from her face, she looked to see a newly familiar figure doing the same.

The Midnight Blue haired "Steel" looked up from his perspective catching sight of the dusty huntress, they held a strong gaze as the two recognized the other in the most eloquent way possible.

"YOU!" "ME!"

"W-what?" "I-ahem…" The screaming duo took a second to regain their composure as they restarted the interaction.

"Heh… Good to see you too Rose." The Blue haired huntsman stated casually, running a hand through his messed-up hair.

"Ah… Yeah good to see- Wait a minute!" Ruby said back only to remember the beowolf in the room. Pointing an accusing finger, she stated the obvious. "You blew us up!"

Coughing some extra dust, he returned the observation. "Well technically I blew myself up, you uh… opened the door at the wrong time.

"Er, yeah but how!?"

He looked at the aspiring huntress and gave a small sigh, he answered her as she finished fixing her person. "Weapon maintenance. Apparently, Mecha-shift weapons aren't very safe when dealing with hot internal components and dust."

"Well yeah… You have to use a thin four-centimeter cast to line the inner mechanisms, otherwise you get an unbalanced reaction due to the different temperatures." Ruby added knowingly.

"I know, the thing was, students get first pick, so I had to do it by hand. Got the first set right, but when it came to my tonfas, the angle of the first lining was a bit hard to do thus igniting the fire/lighting dust set up." He admitted.

"They always have extras in the back if you ask one of the in-house smiths. I remember the same concerns, but if a lot of people did show up then a two-point-five-centimeter cast should be a substitute as long as you are ok with a slower process."

"Huh… Thanks Rose you know your stuff. Let me guess, intelligent in mechanics?" The blue hair asked curiously.

With cheeks matching her friend's hair, Ruby shyly answered. "W-well I do a lot of home maintenance on my baby, so I had to be. Not that I didn't want to, so many cool weapons and hunters in the world so you know…" She smiled happily as she found new interest in the huntsman before her as he seemed to share her interest in weapons. Then the most obvious fact finally settled in, reminding her of something far more interesting.

"HOW ARE YOU HERE!?"

Wincing at the noise shift, the huntsman poked at his ear before answering. "Wow, ok back at the yelling. I thought we established I was doing maintenance too."

"I mean here! In Beacon. Where only students can be!"

Noticing that fact. The huntsman remembered their purpose as well, giving a signal of "oh that's right". "Right! Knew I forgot something. Thanks Rose!" He turned to take off, leaving a somewhat stunned Ruby behind.

"Wait Ste-"

"There you are!" "Eep!" An angry Weiss seemed to appear from the shadows as she gave the hooded huntress a harsh scolding on skipping out on needed studying, all the while Ruby could only guess what he was doing. And I didn't get to do a check up on Crescent Rose either… This sucks…


After a long study session with Weiss, questionably needed from Ruby's perspective, she headed to the library to see if they had school related material or comics. Definitely not another attempt at hiding from Weiss while she had her back turn. Definitely here because I'm looking for books. Yup! Glancing over her shoulder making sure the coast was clear. Ruby finally found a spot to settle. With a relaxing sigh she pulled a small weapons magazine from her bag as she gazed at the different types. Man… so many… Makes me wonder what Steel has… A snore could be heard nearby... I saw a sword similar to Jaune's last time… But he also said a tonfa… A louder snore rang out, seemingly echoing throughout the room. He also also said mecha-shift so… different forms? What if he has more? And more importantly what was he doing here? Is he a student? Another snore broke out then a sound of confusion and a yelp which was followed by a crash. Looking around, a startled Ruby heard the crash close to her and silently hoped someone braver would check. Someone braver? I'm a huntress darn it! If I can kick Grimm butt and be awesome then I can help my fellow students! With a look of determination, Ruby checked the disturbance in intention of helping, only to find the person of interest moments prior surrounded by dust and books.

"You!" She shrieked out.

"Me…" He repeated weakly. Reminding herself that he was injured, Ruby helped the huntsman up. Then when everything was stable, started her train of questions.

"HowAreYouHere?Whyareyouhere?Areyouok?NeedMeToGetSomeHelp?What'syourWeapons?"

The injured huntsman stared softly, then he opened his mouth to answer only to cough heavily. After a minute or so, and a bottle of water, he spoke. "Hehe… good to see you too Rose… Twice in one day. Looking for me?" he added with a cheeky grin.

Instead of normally blushing at comments like that, Ruby immediately answered "Yes!".

Staring in quiet shock at the huntress in red, the huntsman in violet mumbled something under his breath. "Just like her…" Ruby, not catching the hidden sentence, flushed a bit at the uncomfortable silence that was created, and explained. "I-I mean you're not supposed to be here… Did you break in! Are you a-"

"Whoa-Whoa let's not get too hasty Rose. and Keep it down." He wildly gestured, looking past the aisle they were in. After making sure the coast was clear, he turned back to a suspicious Ruby.

"I knew it! Why would you be scared of being found out if you didn't break in. Oh no that makes you a bad guy!" backing up slightly, her eyes widened at the revelation. "Then I was saved by a bad guy, why? Dad never said what to do when that happens." Shaking and hyperventilating, the huntsman grabbed one of the bottles to calm her down as she downed it in a few gulps.

"Chill Rose chill!" He started as she still drank. "No, I'm not some super villain. I just wasn't supposed to show up until later. Ozpin himself invited me after all"

Hearing this, Ruby took deep breaths until she felt calmer. "O-Ozpin invited you?" Turning a complete one-eighty, she stared with stars in her eyes. "I knew it! I-I mean yeah… a bad guy wouldn't help a huntress. But really the Headmaster Ozpin!? Who are you Ste-"

"You'll have to find out."

Blinking at the interruption, Ruby tried to say something else, till the huntsman made to leave.

"No spoilers or anything but… There might be an announcement soon, Rose." Leaving her once more, after cleaning his mess, he turned to say one last thing. "I hope to see you again, Rose."

Being left alone again, this time Ruby felt curious at the message. "Hmmm… I wonder what that means… But if Headmaster Ozpin invited him then I guess I trust it then. He hasn't made any questionable decisions before, he's the headmaster after all." She said as in Ozpin's office the old man sneezed randomly.

Picking up her stuff, she reluctantly went back to "study hell" with her partner making notes to grab evidence for her library stay. In the background, Steel gazed at the Huntress in red before sighing disappointedly. "Listen little Red… things aren't as black and white as you think…" He turned to walk away, back to the room he was assigned along with his team as a certain knight trained in the background.

Here's another one for the bag. No, I don't know what that meant. Erhm, more info about "Steel" Ruby being sneaky and hiding information (pretty sure that is a bit ooc in the first volumes but I'm taking liberties with changed events that happen prior, more on that in a later chapter) and everyone's favorite noodle getting screen time later. If I had to say who are the main protagonist in this portion of the series, it has to be Ruby and Jaune. Just means they get the most screentime compared to others but doesn't mean they're safe from pain. (Spoiler?) Regardless, I hope it wasn't too bad once again, and please let me know if I messed something up. Either way, till next time on Cross Fates!