It was all there. The girl's eyes were silver, not gold. Her hair had just the right amount of red tinge at the tips. And even her goofy smile was there. The was no mistake, this preteen is- was- will be Ruby Rose. And yet she called Weiss sister.
"...Winter?" Weiss wasn't sure she wanted an answer.
Ruby looked around. "Almost, maybe in a couple weeks. You think there's gonna be a lot of snow this year? I wanna build a snowman!"
Weiss shook her head. Of course, it wasn't Winter. This world could change people but not that much. Still, Weiss couldn't help feeling more than a little guilty. All this time spent chasing after Ruby, and Weiss's own sister was somewhere out there perhaps in a worse state than even Cinder was. And who even knew what was happening to whitely or her mom in this. Or even-
"Snow?" Ruby said, coming close again. "It's okay, we can stay in too. You can read me that book you like."
No. Winter is strong, she'll be fine. Weiss has to focus on herself for now and the matter at hand. She looked up. "It's fine, sis." The word made Weiss shiver but she kept smiling. "I just realized I forgot your name."
Ruby giggled. "That's silly. I'm still me, Rose Red."
No denying it now. This was definitely Ruby. But what did this world do to her to turn her into a child in the middle of the woods with a basket.
"Oh, this?" Ruby said when Weiss asked, "I was delivering food to Grandma, but she was out. You want some?"
That raised even more questions but Weiss's stomach beat her to the punch with a long low growl. Ruby giggled and handed her a piece of cake. It was plain, and undercooked without even so much as icing on it. And yet the crumbs broke off in Weiss's mouth like tiny sweet stars. How long had it been since she had real food? This morning at least and if the Kleins were be believed a lot longer than that.
"Sheesh, there's gonna be more at home Sis."
Weiss looked up, dimly aware that there were crumbs all over her face. The word 'sis' still stung a bit coming from Ruby but there was another word that piqued her interest. "Home?"
"Yeah," Ruby laughed grabbing her hand. "Come on, mom's waiting for us."
Weiss started to point out that Ruby didn't have a mom and Weiss might as well not have one either, but a pair of big silver eyes caught her with her mouth open. A split second passed with neither moving. "Do you have any napkins?"
The road was dirty but much more even than the forest. It was a quick walk through the woods and over the river. Well through the river in Ruby's case. She insisted on wading through the river, despite the bridge being readily accessible, before complaining that her soaking red hood weighed her down the rest of the way. As Weiss stood on the bridge's edge she had to wonder if the girl's demeanor changed to fit her regressed body.
Nah. This is Ruby she was talking about. This kinda stuff is normal for her.
Probably.
The "house" turned out to be little more than a cottage. Two rose bushes did little to spruce up the drab wooden walls of the outside. In fact, the mismatched red and whites of the different bushes just came off as completely tacky. The inside had no more than one room with a plain rug and a couple of chairs around a wooden table, and an extra rocking chair to the side. A rickety staircase led somewhere but Weiss doubted it could be much considering this building was barely more than a story tall. There wasn't even a kitchen, just an iron pot in a fireplace near a table. Zwei was sleeping near the fire, and tending to the pot was a person in a short tan dress with short yet shaggy yellow hair. Then the person turned around and Weiss saw the blond stubble.
"Yang?" Weiss couldn't help but ask. This man was easily twice Yang's age with blue eyes instead of violet. Still, the resemblance was uncanny.
He paused from the pot. His brow furrowed, trying to remember something. Then Ruby yelled, "Mom," And went in to hug him and all the pain was gone from his face.
Weiss hesitated then stepped in and set her rapier at her side before taking a seat at the table. She watched as the man ruby called mom offered her a some stew and started pouring a glass. There was something different about this man. He had a similar energy to Yang but was much less direct, and more gentle about it. More like Ruby frankly if she was off her sugar high for once. And Ruby called him 'mom'. If it was actually Yang then why would this universe change her sex only to pretend as if it hadn't? No, this was someone else like her and like Ruby. Their father?
"Here you go," said the man who was not Yang as he placed a pot in front of her. It smelled like an overcooked shoe, but Weiss knew her manners and placed her wooden spoon in any way. She took a small sip. Then another. Then ten more in rapid succession.
"Sheesh," Said the man who was not Yang, "It's like you haven't eaten in weeks. Where'd our shy little snowflake go?"
"It's just that good tonight, Mommy," called Ruby.
Actually, it wasn't. The soup wasn't awful but it wasn't fantastic either. It was remarkably plain. No fancy ingredients that vied for your attention. Just a plain old, slightly sour soup. Weiss was in love. "More please?"
Ruby's father went to get another pot with one hand while holding his dress with the other so that it wouldn't fall into the fire. "How was the trip? Is grandma doing alright?"
Ruby quickly sucked up her soup. "I didn't see her. Looked like her house was attacked by a Beowulf."
Weiss sat up, her arms flailing out to the sides a bit like she did when she was surprised. This wound up being poor timing as a man in a dress right behind her holding a pot of hot soup that was now spilling all over the floor.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Weiss said, preparing herself for the barking demands that would surely follow had this been her own father.
"No problem Snowflake," said the man Ruby called mom, "I'll make some more."
Weiss looked on in amazement. Nothing. No grounding, no threats to take away her inheritance, or cut her off. Just a casual brush off. The man strolled back to the fireplace saying, "I don't know why you're so surprised though. Grandma knows how to deal with beowulfs. What did she do this time?"
"She took all the water out of her trough. Then she tricked the Beowulf into jumping into it and it went splat!" Ruby lightly pounded her fist into her palm.
The man Ruby called mom just now set aside a bowl of soup for himself. "That's Grannie Silver-hair for you. Bring her some more food next week. She should be back by Sunday"
"Wait, if she won why didn't she stay home?"
The man stared at Weiss. "That's just what Granny does. She outsmarts some grimm, takes off for a bit, then comes back home."
"Maybe she went off to kill more of their Grimm friends," Ruby added helpfully.
"Yeah, that must be it," said Ruby's dad nodding, slowly. He stared down at his soup with empty eyes, not touching it. A smile quickly returned to his face as he put down his spoon. "Hey, Snow White, why don't you read us that book again?"
"Aw, yay! Storytime!" Ruby cheered. Then the girl ran towards the fireplace and reached up to an old book off the mantle.
The man sat down in the rocking chair and motioned for Weiss to join him despite the lack of any other chairs. When she did not he nodded. "Right, sorry. You're fourteen now. A bit old to still sit on your ma's lap."
Weiss's smile grew even more strained. Fourteen? Did he really just say that she was fourteen years old? But before Weiss's panic attack could fully manifest Ruby shoved the book into her hands.
The book looked old and dog-eared and yet the pages were remarkably kept up. They were nearly stark white. Weiss opened to page one and started reading. The story was about a team of hunters in training but it wasn't about their training. Rather it was about the main guy falling in love with this kinda mean girl on his team with a name like a bird. But he was afraid the girl's twin brother, who also was named after a bird, and had to go to his female friend to figure out what to do about it. It wasn't exactly the kind of story you read to your kids on long winter nights and Weiss couldn't figure out why the protagonist couldn't just leave the bird twins alone and ask out his friend. Still, it was a good story and she found herself lost in it until a hand gently brushed her hair.
"I think that's enough for tonight, Snowflake, don't you?" Weiss had been standing before, wasn't she? Why was she sitting on the dirty floor, leaning against this man's leg? And why was it so hard to get up? Ruby's dad had to nudge her off so he could wake up the girl that was asleep on the cuddling Zwei on the rug. Ruby stood up and rubbed her eyes. Weiss waited till the girl was at the staircase before she followed.
The attic of the cottage was six feet tall at its highest point and sloped downwards on the sides so even Weiss had to duck. There were two beds on either side, a single circular window, and two old dressers. One with a red rose on top, one with a white rose. It wasn't just the fact that it was a poor cottage that bothered Weiss. That was something she'd been looking forward to for a while actually. It's that this was clearly a child's bedroom. Weiss watched Ruby lay down in her night-dress, the girl couldn't be more than 12 at most.
And how old was Weiss now? Ruby's dad said that she was only 14 and her nose did look a bit softer in the mirror. Things have felt off but she thought that was the ridiculous dress she woke up in. The weirdest part though was how normal this all felt. Compared to Cinder's perkiness and the seven Kleins, this was tame. And why shouldn't she also be changed in some way? Honestly, she was starting to feel left out.
Weiss tried to work up a panic for her state. She tried to puzzle out how the first cottage with the Kliens and the coffins fit into this new life being gien to her. And she tried very hard not to think about Cinder. But Weiss was tired, and perhaps if she went to bed now she'd make up again in Beacon and this whole mystery would've just been a bad dream. Weiss put on a nightgown stitched just for her and laid her magic mirror down on the dresser. She left the rapier downstairs but that was okay, she could get it tomorrow. The bed by the window was waiting for her.
"Goodnight Ruby."
The girl in the bed next to her giggled. "My name's still Rose."
"Sorry Rose Red," Weiss mumbled.
"It's okay. I like being called Ruby."
Weiss did not respond. She was already asleep.
….
Weiss awoke to a knock outside. She turned over in her bed to look through the window. A great black mass was banging on their door. The sleep fell straight from Weiss's eyes in fear that an Ursa was at the door. But when it looked up at her it had not a mask but a bearded man's face.
"Please let me in." Said the bear. "It's cold and I have nowhere else to go.
"I'm still dreaming," Weiss mumbled. She laid back down in her bed, head away from the window.
"Wait no please, little girl. This is real. I'm half frozen and need a place to warm my hide!"
Weiss threw the covers over her head but it did little to negate the sound. How was Ruby still sleeping through this? It must be a dream, this was too weird even for this world. But the bear kept yelling about needing a place to stay so Weiss threw the blanket up and yelled, "Don't you have your own cave to stay in?"
The bear almost looked offended. "Excuse me, my family has a house. Had a house. It's kinda been taken over."
"Fascinating" Weiss said, supporting her head with her elbow. She might as well just go with this at this point. No use in fighting.
The bear pawed the ground and looked at the door again. "If you let me in I'll pay you."
"In what? Honey? No thanks."
"Not honey, money. Real human money." The bear's voice was getting frantic. "I used to be human too you know. Not just any human, a real prince! If you let me stay by the fire for just one night it would break the curse! I'll turn back to a handsome prince and we can get married, and you'll be a princess! Your sister too, I have a brother who's also cursed that she can marry."
Weiss slammed the window shut.
"Fine, I'm no prince but I do have money. It's just you know back at the house, which my parents won't let me back in since they like that stupid blonde girl more than me."
Weiss laid back down but the Bear with the beard kept screaming
"Please, I can't go back there. Not with that stupid blondie and her creepy friend with the eyepatch."
The window opened. "What creepy friend with an eyepatch?"
You know I should probably start taking writer's notes here like the people I follow do. If you haven't been finding this from my tumblr this story is an update of something I wrote back around the time of seasons 4 and 5 and man I am glad I updated it. As such I can promise at least 7 chapters and probably more based on your reactions and on how my grad school apps go.
And yup, we have Ruby now though don't think this means Cinder's out of the story just yet. And it seems like they're taking inspirations from a fairy tale other than just red riding hood and snow white. Perhaps Monty should've looked the official German origin of Snow White a bit more before naming a character after it. Especially since there may be some other rwby characters to already inhabit it.
Oh and I realize I'm being inconsistent on which characters are getting physical transformations and which aren't. That's really just because of some are inhabiting their inspirations like Weiss and Ruby while other characters are playing supporting roles in their stories, like Taiyang and team WTCH. Honestly considering I originally wrote this not long before coming out of gender fluid the amount of male characters wearing dresses probably came from that.
Anyway, more about what Cinderella has been up to next week. See ya then!