Here we are with Mirrored Eyes! This is my first attempt at a genuine AU, and as such, I've diverged massively from actual RWBY canon. So, I hope you enjoy this; I'm excited about this story - which will be released on a bi-weekly basis if I can manage it.

Anyway, enough chit-chat, let's get into it!

Chapter 1

Summer Rose was many things to many people. First and foremost, she was a devoted mother and loving wife to her family. She loved her daughters and husband more than anything in the world and would do anything for them.

To the rest of Remnant, she was a huntress; and an accomplished one at that. Leader of the "coolest team at Beacon," if her partner was to be believed. She'd led them on countless missions to slay monsters, stop bandits from attacking villagers, rescue kittens from trees, and everything in between.

However, her most defining trait, to those who could recognize it anyway, was her eyes. Her silver eyes. A feature that few could call their own. One that struck fear into the hearts of monsters, and gave lesser men hope. Though, to those who possessed the silver eyes, they were a curse. A sign that they were to be hunted for the entirety of their lives.

Summer was no different. Ever since the day it was revealed to her how set apart she was from others, she knew she was destined to look over her shoulder at all times. For years, she lived in fear of the threat that hunted her, never trusting shadows, keeping her weapon handy always.

Eventually, she came to accept her lot in life; and her paranoia finally subsided when she fell in love. Taiyang helped her find peace, and she was genuinely grateful for that. Summer lived without fear with her husband and stepdaughter. She forgot all about her eyes and the danger they posed to her and her loved ones. And her happiness only flourished ever more when she was blessed with a child of her own.

How quickly her smile fell when the baby girl opened her eyes. The beautiful infant was the spitting image of her mother; pale skin, cute little nose, dark hair with crimson ends. And her eyes, oh gods, her e... they were enchanting. Like deep pools of mercury that captivated and pulled you in, little Ruby's mirrored orbs were no different from Summer's.

The tears she shed that day were ones of joy, mingling, and merging with sorrow. A deep-seated fury and sadness that her little angel was doomed to suffer the same fate as her own.

As Ruby grew older, Summer saw the blatant similarities between the two of them. The young girl always went on about how she was going to become a huntress 'just like mommy.' Every day, she and Yang would run and play in the woods around the family home, pretending to be heroes of Remnant. They would stay out late, coming in at the last minutes before sundown, tracking in mud and twigs and fireflies with them. Summer and Taiyang ran themselves ragged trying to control the girls.

And yet, no matter how hard she wished it weren't so, she found herself grinning from ear to ear whenever she pictured Ruby growing up to follow in her footsteps.

A protector of the innocent.

A beacon of light and hope fighting the dark hordes of the Grimm.

A huntress.

Beeeeeepppp… Beeeeeepppp!

Ruby groaned into her pillow as her scroll screamed for her to wake up. She had been having the most fantastic dream, too. She was the queen of Remnant, and her first decree was that all cookies in the world belonged to her. What a beautiful fantasy it had been, swimming through a sea of chocolate chip goodies and milk… she sighed with delight, even thinking about it.

Beeeeeepppp… Beeeeeepppp!

And then the retched alarm had to go a rip her back into reality. Cold, uncaring, adult reality.

"Ugh… Shut up!" Ruby growled as she reached out from under the covers to silence the device. "I get it, you've been sent to make me miserable. Mission accomplished. Now, shut the heck up!"

Beeeeeepppp… Beeeeeepppp!

Ruby hated mornings, especially Monday mornings. No matter how much fun she'd had over the weekend, the responsibilities of the real world were always there to ruin her good mood into the dirt with a steel-toed stomp. Even when Ruby was little, dad would have to drag her out of bed. When she'd hit her teens, even Uncle Qrow woke up before her - which was saying something, considering he was hungover more often than not. Nowadays, the young woman realized it probably had something to do with her keeping vampire hours, staying up way late into the night playing video games or reading comics. Did she regret it, however? Nope, not in the slightest, but now she was an adult, and such behavior had consequences.

Like being forced to wake up a 4 a.m. every freaking day.

Beeeeeepppp… Beeeeeepppp! The scroll screeched again, just before her finger found the snooze button. Of course, Ruby never waited for the snooze to run its course. If she did, she would just keep pushing the button and never get up. That was an unfortunate lesson she'd learned the hard way. She'd almost missed Yang's sendoff to Beacon because of that little mistake.

With all the vigor of a freshly reanimated corpse, the short woman rolled out the warm, enticing expanse of covers that was her bed, and shambled across her little apartment to the bathroom. Taking a look into the mirror, she was treated to an exclusive sneak-peek at a pair of stunning designer bags hanging under her lidded silver eyes. "Hey there, sexy," she yawned. "Ready to kick some butt?"

The shoulders of the zombie in the reflection sagged.

"Yeah… me too."

The very moment she stepped into the shower, Ruby felt all of the early-morning drag from waking up drain from her body. She also screamed as she suddenly found herself on her rear, eyes wide, breath rapid, limbs splayed out like a soaking wet ragdoll, water pouring down over her.

Water that just so happened to be freezing cold!

Needless to say, she finished her shower quite promptly, teeth chattering all the way.

When she emerged from the bathroom, still wrapped in a towel, Ruby started up the coffee maker and then tiptoed over to her dresser. Her typical casual attire didn't really vary too vastly from her work outfit. Slipping on a short black skirt with stockings and a graphic tee depicting some video game or another form of nerdy media. Her short, dark hair was easily brushed into her preferred style with the aid of a mirror.

When she finished grooming herself, she set about her signature pep-talk that no one else got to see. "Alright," she said. "You are Ruby Rose, slayer of cookies, the hero of little kids' birthday parties, bearer of Yang's stupid jokes." She clenched her fist as her voice took on a more inspirational tone. "Are you gonna let something as puny and inconsequential as Monday beat you?"

"NO!" she yelled back at… herself.

"No, you're not. You're gonna get out there and show the world what you're made of. And look damn good, doing it, too."

"Yeah!" Ruby fist-pumped the air.

"Yeah!"

Beeee-

"SHUT UP!" both she and herself shouted at the poor, innocent coffee-maker.

Now fully awake and with a mug of abominably sweet "coffee" in hand, the day of Ruby Rose, baker extraordinaire, could begin in earnest. Descending the stairs from her apartment, she entered her office. Which was to say it was a kitchen that she spent most of her working hours in. Albeit small, her business really was an incredible sight in her eyes. Along the back wall, a long counter was home to a stove and large griddle. Sat beside that were two huge ovens sat, ready and waiting to prepare the day's products. Both a walk-in fridge and freezer for all her raw ingredients adorned the next wall. A couple of baking sheet racks stood in the corner beside them. On the opposite side of the room, a tall pantry housed the dry goods. In the center of the room, a large table represented Ruby's main workstation, where she would make her magic.

Out front, there was a counter where the register sat, a glass display case ran along its length. A rotating tower of plates stood on top, next to the cash register. Arranged around the room were a few tables and chairs for customers to sit and enjoy their treats.

All in all, it wasn't much, but it was hers. With a little financial help from Taiyang, a stupid name from Yang, and a dream, Ruby was now supporting herself. Admittedly, she could have probably made a lot more lien if she'd set up in Vale, but Patch was home. The people there were friendly and liked her, for the most part. She wouldn't have just left such a sweet little community. Not without a good reason, at least.

Nope, Bread Like Roses was on Patch to stay.

Tying a red apron around her torso, Ruby went about her daily routine for opening the bakery. There were ovens to preheat, ingredients to assemble, and confectionaries to concoct and line the displays out front with. As she strode over to the freezer, she synced up her scroll with the sound system she'd recently had installed. Within a second, rock and roll began blasting out through the speakers, vibrating the kitchen with wild bass tones.

Would she wake up her neighbors? Probably. But it was Monday, and Ruby felt she was owed the chance to make the rest of the world as crabby as herself. Besides, if Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had any issues with Sweet Boulder, they would have come and to fight her for the right to party.

Thankfully, no one came knocking at her door, and she was able to rock out in peace. Soon enough, there was all manner of little cakes and cookies, decorated and arranged in glass cases like relics from a bygone age. If Ruby were honest, her creations should have been classified as holy artifacts, but, sadly, they merely passed as delicious and incredibly fattening. Not entirely worth a fortune, but enough to make a living.

Placing her hands on her hips, Ruby looked over the bakery. "Not too shabby," she said, nodding. "Okay, let's get this party started, shall we?" With a little flourish, she then flipped on the old, neon "Open" sign she'd bought at a nearby flea market. Sadly, the music wasn't considered appropriate for business hours, so she had to switch to more contemporary tunes. Coral Taylor's gruff vocals were all too suddenly replaced by, slow, soft, jazz. The kind of thing you'd hear in a hipster coffee shop.

"Bring it on, Remnant," Ruby said. "What'cha got in store for me today?"

The older woman offered a tired smile as Ruby handed her a paper bag, filled to the brim with peanut butter cookies. "Thank you so much, dear," she said. "I'm not sure what I'd do if you hadn't been here."

"My guess is you'd have to turn to supermarket off-brand cookies for little Ashley's party," Ruby supposed with a glance at the small girl hanging off her mother's hip. "Speaking of which…" she rounded the counter and knelt down to meet the girl's eye level. Dramatically feigning sneaking an extra cookie to her, Ruby stage whispered, "Keep this between us, okay?"

When Ashley snatched up the treat and nodded, Ruby gave a smirk and a wink to her mother.

Ruby waved and let out a sigh as the pair walked out the door, welcome bell ringing over their heads. It hadn't been the busiest of days, but she'd had decent through-traffic so far. It was getting nigh on five in the evening, closing time was coming up fast.

She looked around at her domain, the bakery that she'd poured six months of her life into. It hadn't been easy, not by a long shot, but whenever she saw someone walk out that door with a smile on their face and a bag in their hands, all the effort was made worth it. That was why she did it, she realized. At first, she opened Bread Like Roses as a way to make some money off one of her hobbies. Now it was clear that the reason she got up at such ungodly hours, worked her butt off all day, only to collapse into bed and do it all again, it was to make people happy.

Smiling and nodding to herself, Ruby went to work, sweeping up the dirt that had accumulated on the floor over the day. Without even looking, she thumbed a few keys on her scroll, and the bakery was filled once more with the heavy tones of rock music.

It took her a little over fifteen minutes to get the floor swept so clean, you could eat off it. Next, she moved on to wiping down the few tables she had and the counter. This was her least favorite part of the job; if she could afford it, she would have hired somebody to do all the cleaning up for her. But, such was not to be, and she had enough bills to pay herself with adding someone else's paycheck onto them. So, with a determined expression, Ruby worked on. The faster she wiped, the sooner she could clock out.

She was so engrossed in her task, in fact, that when she felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder, Ruby screamed like a schoolgirl and swung a washrag-clad fist around. Eyes fused shut, she felt her hand impact with her assailant's face, punctuated by a muffled and slightly squishy thud.

"AH!" a feminine voice cried. "Oh, gross! Seriously, Ruby?"

Ruby's heart pounded like a drum in her chest as she slowly peeked one eye open. When she saw who her mystery caller was, a feeling of pure relief washed over her, swiftly followed by a sense of guilty amusement.

"Yang?" she horror-laughed.

Yang bore a face of straight annoyance, her lilac eyes lidded at half-mast, and her lips drawn into a thin line. She let out a groan as she peeled the dirty and slightly damp cloth from her face.

"No. The tooth-fairy," Yang said. "Geez, if I had known I'd get that kind of welcome, I would've worn a ski-mask."

Ruby chuckled nervously. "S-sorry about that. I guess I was a little distracted, and you kinda snuck up on me."

Her sister's look gradually morphed from irritation to a kind of acceptant smirk. "Oh, I'm absolutely beside myself with fury. How dare you attack me with such a deadly weapon as the simple washcloth?" The two of them quickly devolved into a fit of giggles as Yang pulled her into a warm embrace. "It's good to see you, sis," she said softly.

A sentiment Ruby could commiserate with. It had been a long few months since she or dad had spoken with Yang in person. She and her team had been on some huntress business out in the countryside of Vale. They'd kept in contact, of course, but scroll calls were so... impersonal compared to face-to-face conversation.

The two of them eventually headed up the stairs, into Ruby's tiny apartment, and settled at the kitchen table. "So, what's up?" Ruby asked as she placed two cups of "coffee" down in front of herself and Yang. "What's been happening in the wide, wide world of huntressing?"

The blonde shrugged. "Nothing much, honestly. Just a few missions here and there. The team decided it was time for a break, so I figured I'd come home for a while."

"What do you mean, nothing much?" Ruby squawked. "You're gone off doing gods know what for two months, and now you shrug and say it was nothing?" She knew that now she was a fully licensed huntress, Yang would be around less. But two months? That wasn't normal. Even uncle Qrow was able to come and visit every couple of weeks when they were kids. Now, it seemed as though he and Yang both were spending more time in the field, with little to no explanation as to why. Ruby my not have cared for being a huntress herself, but she still liked to be informed on when and how her big sister was risking her life. "What's happening out there that's keeping you away for so long?"

Again, Yang's shoulders raised, and she held up her hands in a manner that said, 'I don't know what to tell you.' "There's just been a few more Grimm sightings than usual out on the frontier, alright? Not anything to worry your pretty little head over, but enough to keep us busy." She smiled and leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up and crossing them on the table. "In fact, the girls and I have been making a killing - literally and metaphorically."

There was something about how matter-of-factly she answered that left Ruby unsure. But Yang was home, and really that was all that mattered to her. "Okay then, I guess that makes sense."

"Enough about boring stuff like that, though," Yang dismissively waved a hand. "What's been going on with you? Has my baby sister found herself a dashing rogue for me to threaten?"

Ruby groaned. "Ugh, Yang, you're terrible."

"You know you love me."

/-/

The sun was just beginning to set on the isle of Patch when the golden-haired woman departed from the bakery. Her younger sister leaned out the door, waving a hand and calling out final goodbyes as she walked down the street. The girl then closed the glass door and locked it from the inside. Soon after, all lights on the first floor of the building were out, and the curtains drawn on the second.

In an alley across the street, a figure leaned against a brick wall. He donned a leather cloak with the hood pulled up the shroud his face. If anyone on the street saw him, they didn't comment on him. Most likely, he was a sojourner, taking a brief respite.

Glancing to his left and right, he made sure none were around to spy on him. He then retrieved his scroll and opened it. Pulling up all the images he'd taken over the past few hours, he stopped on one and zoomed in. The screen displayed the young woman from the bakery. Black hair tipped with red, pale complexion, thin frame. But what truly interested him were her eyes.

Those big, beautiful, silver orbs that rested in her skull. They identified her as the one he'd been seeking.

"My, my," he whispered to himself, "so it's true? She really is the child of Summer Rose." His golden eyes widened, and his mouth split into a wicked grin. "Truly a stunning likeness."

Tyrian Callows slowly looked up to the second-floor window, where the girl's apartment was located. "Well, my dear Ruby Rose," he chuckled. "I simply cannot wait to make your acquaintance."

Oh no! Tyrian's already here! Whatever shall our sweet little MC do?

There we go, the first chapter. So, already, you can see quite a few things are different here than in canon. But believe me when I say we're just scratching the surface of the new stuff here.

Feel free to favorite, follow, or review, it lets me know people are enjoying my stuff - and, just between you and me, it also gives me a hit of that sweet-ass drug called dopamine!