A girl in a red dress stood in front of her mother's grave. It was an old grave. The vines were dying around it, but the first snowfall of winter already threatened to bury the name and inscription.

The girl was growing old as well. She was nearly a woman and yet still so vulnerable. She knew she could not stay here for much longer. One eye was concealed by her black bangs clinging to her dirty face. The other shined like a precious metal in the light of dawn. It stared into the tree above her mother's grave. There she saw a single white bird.

"Oh dear bird in the hazel tree, Oh dear mother when will I ever go free?"

The white bird cocked its head to the side. It flew into branches before flying back with a pair of objects in its beak. They would've shattered if the girl hadn't caught them.

. . . . . . . . . . .

There was only one thing that was the same between this world and Remnant, and it just had to be the Grimm. Weiss cursed as she dodged another swipe. The Beowulf she was fighting was sloppy and reckless, she could've killed it easily if her mind was on the actual battle. But Weiss was more focused on the semantics. If the Grimm existed then why was there no dust? Even if this was the past then people should still be embedding their blades, clothes, or even skin to get an edge on the constant terrors, especially this far outside the kingdoms. Were the kingdoms even made yet?

As that thought passed over her, the Beowulf lunged and bit into Weiss's arm. Much to Weiss's surprise, it hurt like hell. This was also a poor strategy on the Beowulf's part as now Weiss's full attention was brought back to the fight, and the Beowulf's neck was right there.

Weiss was careful to clean the evaporating Grimm off her blade before using it to cut another length of cloth from her dress and wrapped it around the wound. "Most useful this thing has been all day." She muttered. While Weiss was no stranger to maneuvering in fancy dresses that was usually at parties and other events that only felt like life or death situations. They were nothing like her battle skirts with protective frames not only kept the skirt from hindering her stances but also provided a layer of padded armor in case her aura gave out.

That was the problem. The beowulf hadn't touched her once until the very end, and yet it ripped through her aura like it was nothing. Unless it was nothing. Weiss took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. Panicking wouldn't help. There's a simple way to test this.

The dirt in front of her glowed as a glyph appeared on the ground. It was smaller than usual and could probably fit in the palm of her hand. Still, it was there. Weiss allowed herself a smile, and changed the runes on it. Soon a small glowing bird flew out of the glyph before landing on her shoulder.

"That's it?" Weiss snapped. The bird disappeared in a puff of light. It will have to do for now. Weiss picked up the small bag she made by severing her dress's puffy shoulders and tying them together. She took out the one occupant of the bag, a small hand mirror.

"Mirror mirror, show me Ruby Rose." Nothing. Not even her own reflection shone on the mirror's dark surface.

"Show me Rubiini Ruusu." She said, trying her best at Ancient Mantleian, if that's where this was. Again, the mirror was dark.

"Show me the loneliest of them all." The mirror responded, and soon an image of a girl in a tattered red dress with short black hair came up. She was still scrubbing the same floor, and her face was still staring down at it. Weiss sighed.

"Show me how to get to her." The mirror zoomed out to the outside of a large house and then into a neighboring forest, placing two dots on where Weiss was now and where the house was on the map like some kind of medieval GPS.

Weiss had to admit, this ancient past or whatever it was had some perks. The mirror already proved itself nearly as useful as a scroll. Perhaps even more so since it didn't require Wifi. Maybe once she knew whatever name this world assigned Ruby, they could facetime. Of course, it wouldn't be as simple as just Ruby's name in an ancient tongue. That may be what happened for her but if the nameless prince was any indication this world played by its own rules when it came to names and not everyone was included.

This entire place was so frustrating! Nothing made sense. Why and how were they even here? Weiss went over her theories again. The past was definitely out as it did not explain how the Kliens fit in and why they all got new lives they've always led. The Kliens said she did all the cleaning for them, and every time Weiss got a good picture of Ruby she was always cleaning the same spot. While someone making a world that reduced her and her friends to house servants was an interesting idea, it's far too impossible for anyone back home to do and too mild for any God to punish her with as some kinda weird afterlife. That left the possibility Weiss was in a coma after a fight she can hardly remember and this whole thing is just some sick dream she's having before the real afterlife takes her. That's a bit disheartening but if it's true she can't do anything but push on.

Just a couple more steps and Weiss's dot was right on top of the one for the mansion. She cleared a few more bushes and there it was. The mansion in question was quite disappointing. Sure compared to the cabin she came from it was a palace but compared to Schnee manor it was hardly more than a shack. Still, it's where Ruby was being held so Weiss gathered her breath and knocked one of the tacky bronze knockers.

"Hello?" The man had olive skin, golden eyes, and salt and pepper haircut. He also had a gigantic black mustache that threatened to consume his face. Still, that wasn't as strange as the dress. Long and grey with a red turtleneck and yellow accents that complimented his eyes. Weiss couldn't say that he looked particularly bad in the dress, it was simply unexpected is all.

"Yes, it is real silk. No, you cannot have it. I don't care what happened to that mess in the woods, I'm not giving hand-outs. Good day."

Weiss stuck her foot in the door. "Oh no, I'm sorry that I look...inappropriate, but I'm not here for a new dress. I was wondering if a friend of mine was in there."

"I assure you, neither of my daughters would associate with one of your status. Now good day."

Before the mustached person could close the door on Weiss's foot again, a shrill but masculine voice called out from upstairs, "Who is it, mother dearest?"

"Nothing Sweetie." called the man at the door, "Just a filthy peasant."

Peasant?

"If she came a long way, let her in." Came another gruff voice.

The mustached mother grimaced and opened the door. The foyer was only two stories tall, and the stairs were an ugly yellow that thought itself gold. On them were two of the strangest people that Weiss had ever seen.

One hulking mass standing on the left staircase. They were tall enough to compete with Yatsuhashi and wore a two-tone olive dress, that accentuated their beard. Their shortsleeved dress showed off their huge forearms, and large leather belt played the part of sash around just under their partially exposed chest. They stared at her with cold calculating golden eyes.

Another figure jumped down from the right staircase and landed uncomfortably close to Weiss. "Well well well, look at our little visitor. An ugly dwarf in a ripped up dress!"

This freak was really one to talk. The brown skirt of thedr dress was even more tattered than the clean cuts of Weiss's. THey at least confirmed that this definitely was not the past as such a skimpy top would have never been allowed back then. Even now Weiss had seen more than she wanted to as she was eye level with the black bar which was the only thing connecting the sides of his white top. She at least had to give them credit for being the only one to go full out on the cross-dressing thing. His pale face was hairless and he had a long braided ponytail that brought to mind the image of a scorpion stinger.

Now, ever since returning to Atlas after the fall of Beacon and Blake and Yang's relationship Weiss had been reexamining a lot of her conceptions about class, the Faunus so perhaps she shouldn't judge how the two people at the staircase were dressed. Though at least when Jaune wore one at prom he made it look good. Besides, much like with noble Purple clad they didn't seem to presenting themselves anyway imparticular. Moreso than this was a role they were playing given to them by some unknown director.

"Well, aren't you here to talk to one of my daughters?" Asked the mustached mother. They looked nothing like either adult children around her other than the fact that they had the same golden eyes.

Weiss stepped away from the skinnier daughter. "Actually, I was hoping there was another...person, here I could talk to. Do you have a maid or something?"

"Oh," coed the daughter in the skimpy dress. "She means the ugly one."

"She's a good-for-nothing." Exclaimed the mustached mother.

"She's in the sitting room. Follow me." The tall daughter turned and left the foyer. Weiss hesitated before she felt the other two pairs of golden eyes burrow into her back. She walked out quickly.

The sitting room looked just like it did in the mirror. Same blood-red walls and black carpet currently scattered with ashes. A girl in tattered red rags crouched on her hands and knees picking up fallen ashes, sorting them either back into the fire or into a pot. Her face was down, concentrated on her task, but Weiss could see the crop of black hair pop up in the firelight. She reached out but hesitated. Everyone is so different here. There's no way to tell if Ruby would remember her or even herself for that matter.

"Hello." Weiss said softly. "What's your name?"

The girl turned around. She was older than Weiss expected, though that could've just been the abuse she suffered in this house. Two short scars creeped out from under her bang on the wrong side of her head and crawled over her nose. The eye was not silver but gold.

"Cin...Cinder..." Said the girl in the voice of a chain smoker. "Cinderella."