Chapter Two
When the anniversary of her third year back-in-time hits, Ruby… gives up.
It is not a sudden thought. There is no flash-of-lightening hitting her with the idea. Ruby is in the middle of a book, reading a language she still has trouble with, when she registers the silence in the library. She realizes this is the last library to investigate, because time magic is little less than a theory in this world and this is it. She sets the book down, looks around the bookshelves, and does the math in her head.
She has travelled around the world. She trades defending towns and gathering supplies for nights and breakfasts in inns. She learned how to read the ancient language of Remnant. She's never been better at killing Grimm solo.
Her clothes rip and tear all the time now, no matter how strong her aura. Crescent Rose constantly needs sharpening, among other repairs. She's down to her last hundred bullets. Nothing tastes the same. She hasn't had a warm shower in-
Three years.
Ruby has been entertaining the thought for a while. Today, she stops searching for a way home.
(Today, she starts apologizing to people who are not born. She'll never stop apologizing to Blake, who may never be born.)
Today, Ruby starts planning on saving the world.
On the anniversary of the fourth year, Ruby quietly toasts to herself in the darkness of a no-name inn's room. "I hope you're okay without me, guys."
For all she meets new people, smiles and helps and works to be a good person, Ruby is lonely. She refuses to go to the Brothers and ask for help. If Jinn taught her anything, it's that everyone is bias. Ruby is an anomaly in the world. They are more likely to keep her forever or destroy her on sight than to help her return home.
It is with acceptance that Ruby enters the tower. As of now, everything changes. On the fifth anniversary of her being in pre-Remnant, Ruby tells her only friend in this world everything that could have been.
(What she never gives out, is her full name. Who here cares about Ruby Rose, when The Ruby Reaper is what they have dubbed her?)
"I won't," Salem says, clutching Ruby's hands tight as the women cry together. "I won't. How could they?"
Ruby once asked if Salem wants her father dead. The answer was no; he should continue to live in fear of the powerful girl he locked away. Fear, that she will ruin the world. That she is the boogeyman in the night.
"What will you do about them?" Salem asks, angry and cold, calculating and vicious, the same way she looks when her father is brought up.
"At first, I planned to ignore them," Ruby could not fathom what she would do if she saw them here. "Now…" she plans for the freedom of the relics.
Salem agrees.
This is all long before Salem falls in love and leaves. After that, the only thing to change is time. Ruby spends time making the kingdom Salem is to rule better. She assists traders, gives money to orphanages and schools. She buries the dead, stops bandits, helps the next-queen's subjects, and lowers the Grimm population. The only person destined to ignite the Brothers' wraith has no plan to, so Ruby does this to make sure what could have become her home is a better place. She wishes for her friend to be happy.
("Pick an island," Salem says, gesturing to a world Ruby has travelled but not grown up in. They are friends, and Salem has learned throughout their travels that happiness with others is better than happiness alone. "We could claim it. I could send someone to claim it. And… and we can name it Patch."
Ruby does not answer- cannot answer through her own hug, laughter, and tears.)
Ruby promises she will not go for Jinn until after Salem is wedded. Time, Ruby would laugh if it wouldn't sound so bitter. It's all a matter of time. Would this be the start of the end of the world?
As the maid of honor, Ruby should oversee wedding plans, preplans, and post-plans. However, Salem - as a woman raised with royal elegance and locked away from choosing her own paths for so long - takes charge of her own wedding plans, leaving few things to Ruby. As best friend, the shorter woman will be back for the bachelorette party – Remnant style – and the rehearsals. Ruby has gifts, matching flowers, and patterns gathered from all over the kingdom for Salem to choose from. Never, in her life, would Ruby have thought this is where she would be when she dreamed of bettering the world.
Some days she does not know if she would rather be in her own time or here. (Salem would be unable to handle the grief if Ruby left. Ruby would not know how to be normal after so long in pre-Remnant.) Ruby only spends one day a year mourning for all she has lost through time (she apologizes whenever she thinks of a Faunus). She lives to make the world a better place (she lives with the guilt of possibly committing the extinction of a race not yet existing).
"You'll let me know if he pressures you into anything?" Ruby stresses, swinging her feet as she sits on her bed in the castle. Salem sighs, wiping away the new makeup Ruby brought. The taller woman's on-the-run disguise is finally falling away, so she can choose tones that highlight her features instead of hiding them. Ruby knows Salem's most looking forward to having long hair again. "I mean it. If you feel uncomfortable at all, you must let me know. If he's taking advantage of you," of how Salem is still learning to emote and share her feelings with others, "I want to know I can pull you away from this." Or destroy the king for harming her friend. Ruby's seen her precious people hurt enough that she would kill for Salem (and oh, didn't that feel so wrong to come to terms with).
"Yes," Salem slams the lipstick onto the vanity. "But you cannot harm him. We will travel again. I can learn about the world between saving everyone. Just… I want this."
"I know," Ruby is soft, glancing away. "I guess I'm just too worried. It's hard to look out for you when you're not at my back."
"You could stay," Salem offers once again. "I will need bodyguards. Who better than you?"
Ruby laughs to keep the hurt at bay. "Maybe one day. Do you need me to pick up any orders?"
A short trip south has Ruby clearing a path for travellers as well as shopping for the wedding. She places orders for materials, gets the scoop on local gossip and danger reports, and manages to catch a ride on a nevermore heading towards the castle.
"Bye bye, birdy," Ruby hums as she decapitates it when they reach the bounds of the castle's view. She falls.
Her semblance activates when she reaches high speeds, allowing her to move through the air without the wind lashing back. With this, she can turn and twist until just set for a landing strategy. It's her aura that takes the brunt of the impact, the ground cracking slightly under her.
It's the sight of him that makes her pause. Seeing him with a cane and not the fabled staff is a punch to the gut.
"Must you always make such an entrance?"
Ruby's gaze snaps to Salem, and the world restarts. She does what she's always done these past years and ignores the sight of the legendary hero. No matter how much she is breaking inside, confronted with the consequences of time, Ruby pulls back her hood with a smile. "Nice to see you too, Queenie."
Salem rather use a fake name than that nickname, "I told you not to call me that."
Ruby shrugs because it is all she can do in reply. She rushes over to her friend to greet her with a hug. Never, will Ruby ever admit how lonely she is. "I missed you."
"I know," is Salem's way of saying 'I missed you too.'
Ruby laughs, never looking back at the man she has too much to tell, and nothing to say to.
;;;
Before the wedding is not the first time she sees Ozma. For all this place claims otherwise, the world is small. With speed as her defining character trait, the world is even smaller for Ruby.
She sees the legendary hero twice before her third year. The first time she only remembers his name because Jinn sticks her knowledge in minds forever-and-always when she answers a question. However, it does not always connect right away. So, Ruby sees The Legendary Hero Ozma and tilts her head in confusion about why she might know him on sight.
When it does come, it hits like a brick. Ruby gasps and clutches her head, shielding her eyes and groaning softly as she curls into the table of the bar, resting her head on the cool wood. None of it is enough to stop the tears. The sobs can be held back, but the pain in her chest is a blazing cold fire. The reminder of her future is ordering a meal across the room, and she could possibly stop his curse here and now.
She would never know what to say. Ruby is gone from the bar by the time he turns around. Doom him or ruin the chances of finding a way home. The selfishness of the choice haunts her until she decides to make a change. The only other time she sees him, it is a fleeting glance in a market and neither gives the other more than a sideways look. She likely looks to be some scuffed-up kid, while he walks by with a regal bearing, looking for whatever he is shopping for. Ruby appreciates her insignificance as she flees the town that night.
Once deciding to change fate, Ruby has to pass him on his way to Salem's tower. She tries not to wonder if he ever notices. (She fails.)
With Salem, they never run into him. Salem cannot fathom why Ruby feels indebted to a man she hasn't met. She knows Ruby wants to be at least friendly with the hero, but cannot understand why the history Ruby knows holds her back. Ruby tries to explain it - tries to formulate how it would not be right to withhold this information if they ever became acquainted but she would never know how to talk about it without driving him away - but Salem still cannot understand. The blonde's answers are, "Just lie to him," or, "then don't bring it up. We're the only two who know, and I'm certainly not going to talk about it with him."
(Ruby has made sure to never lie to Salem, but to also make sure the woman does not trust every word completely. On the smaller woman's past, Salem believes every word. "Who would believe me, if I told them you came from a time past the end of humanity?")
Salem does understand that the Ozma-situation is something Ruby feels guilty about (among other emotions). So, Ruby takes to avoiding Salem and the castle occupants after the initial welcome back. Ruby knows the dining schedule, and sneaks into the kitchen when it is all be clear. Salem should be breaking into her room to 'wake her up' about now. When she realizes Ruby is gone, she'll alert the underlings to bring Ruby to her at once. With Ozma also in the castle, Ruby knows she is on a time limit before Salem eventually coerces her to properly meet him.
Ruby does not count on Ozma finding her first. "I believe those were meant for lunch."
There is a cracker in her mouth, one hand on a cupboard and the other with a bowl of mixed fruits and a cheese block. For a second, she forgets, can't help the yelp and the muttered, "Sorry Oscar."
It's most disappointing to swallow and realize the voice isn't his. Ruby flicks her eyes around, looking for some kind of stalling tactic. What would Yang do? Pun. Blake would have run, which Ruby can't do with her feet frozen to the floor. Weiss doesn't stall. Punning it is.
She uses the time to regroup. Time. It's run out, and she has to face someone who will hopefully never be cursed by the Brothers. The cold storage hides her goosebumps and freezes the tears before they can form. His name is Ozma. It strikes her suddenly that he would never have the favourite drink of Ozpin or Oscar. They will never be the people she knew. Ruby moves with purpose to the chocolate cupboard, to make a drink that has yet to be officially invented.
"You are a hero," Ozma tells her.
I'm not, Ruby wants to say. How can I be a hero, when I've doomed my friends and family from being born? "I'm not a hero. Definitely nothing like you, Mr. Legends-Are-Told-About-Me. Your reputation precedes you."
Ruby does not say, so many people lived because of you.
She tries not to think, so many will not live because of me.
Ruby uses a handmade match to light the fire below the pot. She takes her time answering him. Finally, finally, she can look without crumbling.
Ozma is everything she thought he'd be. There is gentleness in his face, ease in his regal posture, and warmth in his hazel eyes. She can look at him and see so many similarities, but nothing that ties him to her friends. He is his own person. She is able to smile, to be proud of the time-altering choice as long as it means he won't be hurt. A legend who never died. "That you are a brave, kind man."
She'll never stop missing the future, but Ruby promised herself that she would form a life here. If they ever become friends, she'll tell Ozma what she can of her past. For now, it's time to enjoy the simple things. Things like hot chocolate and good conversation.
When Salem joins them, Ruby is too busy being teased to notice her soul feels a bit brighter.
;;;
(Ruby wonders how people used to look at her and see Summer Rose.
For Ruby, it is so easy to look at others and acknowledge them as their own person. This is the one thing she can't bring herself to miss about Remnant.
In this place, those who know her call her Ruby. What started out as fear has turned into a plan. Her full name will stay a trick question, for everyone's sake.)
;;;
Heroes and Heroines from all over arrive for the wedding. Ruby meets and greets more people than she thought possible, sticking to Salem whenever she cannot escape to the market or beyond. The ladies of the courts are bundles of venom dripped words and backhanded complements. If only Weiss were here, Ruby muses more than once. Her tattered, dirt-stained cape stands out against the backdrop of glimmering dresses, sharp suits, and regal armours. No matter how many layers Salem manages to shove Ruby into, the cape is always on top and the rose emblem pinned somewhere in view.
As a treat, Ruby's managed to get enough metal and put together a moulding for the blacksmith. There is no dust to load into the bullets, and it is more for training than to do any real damage. Ruby and Salem book a morning on the training grounds to practice with their guns. The guards are told to bring earmuffs while Ruby heals from the sounds with her aura and Salem with magic. Crescent Rose does not like the homemade bullets, so Ruby stops quickly and helps her friend. This is more therapeutic then any warm bath, and together the women forget about the incoming wedding to blast small holes into an archery target.
Of course she noticed Ozma arriving; his entrance wasn't subtle. When he asks, "What does a pistol do?" and she has to explain it once again to this world, Ruby isn't sure she can hide how much it breaks her heart. The familiar things of home have no place here.
"Can you use any other weapons?" Ruby asks, trying not to eye the staff too much. It barely resembles Ozpin's cane. At least that doesn't remind her of the past. Her question gets them talking about other weapons. Ruby starts gushing about some of the things she's seen.
Salem breaks in by shooting the target. "You two need to spar," the woman says, smiling. Her temerity look doesn't falter in the slightest at Ruby's squeak. "Test yourselves with other weapons."
"Ah, no, it's fine," Ruby holds her hands up and takes a deliberate step away.
"I am afraid I do not have the time at the moment," Ozma declines, sounding almost wistful. He turns to her with a beatific smile that would have anyone under the full-force of it caving to his whims. Anyone except Ruby, who chokes and just feels guilty. "I would greatly enjoy a spar with you one day."
"…Sure," Ruby manages to force out, feeling like garbage. She is already getting flashbacks to spars with Oscar. This is unfair.
She would never be able to give her all against Ozma. Not after everything she's been through. He may be his own person, she will always see him as Ozma first, but some promises last longer than time.
Ruby will not hurt him (again).
;;;
Time passes, as it does. Salem sends her on a mission. Ruby has the strength and stamina for days of fighting, which leaves no issue against the hoards of Grimm encroaching the boarder. The issue is her being solo, so no one is there to stop the few Grimm slipping through her perimeter. Ruby must backtrack to get the stragglers. From the hundred or so at the beginning, it's the laggard dozen she's drawing to her position when Ozma comes jumping off a horse and throwing a ball of fire.
"Glad you showed up," Ruby smiles, high from adrenaline and battle. Every part of her zings like a live wire, her aura urging her to keep moving. She stands beside Ozma, taking in the sights of growling darkness. The pleasure of having someone by her side makes Ruby stronger, poised. Here, she knows nothing will stop the two of them. "I take the left ones, you take the right ones?"
"That can be handled."
Ruby takes the agreement and runs with it. She's missed this so much. Ruby misses having a partner (she misses Yang, Weiss, Blake, having a team) while knowing it is not do-or-die because someone has her back. Not all plans have to be her plans. Someone else can help her, can keep her within limits, and add a range of attack patterns she can never do alone. Ruby tries so hard to be a jack-of-all-trades fighter, but she does not have magic.
Ozma does. He fights with stiff-yet-flowing movements. There is realism in all he does. He is magic and power tightly coiled. Each attack is an extension of himself, and only rarely does he enter close range with the enemy. He is electric green and knightly silver. A dashing pillar of hope.
Part of Ruby yearns to ask for an adventure with him. A partner. Someone who, beyond any reason of doubt, has her back.
When the battle is over, and he's about to collapse, Ruby helps him to his horse with light banter and a wonder if she deserves his kindness.
She will not stall in her goals. Once the wedding and dangers have past, she will leave.
So yes.
Er... no and yes.
She will not ask for an adventure, but maybe one day they can hang out.
;;;
Ruby's place at the table is on the other side of Salem. Ruby is bridesmaid, family, and best friend all in one beautiful dark red dress that highlights Salem's lilac purple one. Ruby gives her speech, toasts to the happy couple, and does all she can to keep an eye out.
(If the king is a little bit scared and cranked up security after their 'talk', well then it only makes Ruby's job easier. She hopes he's more impressed than scared, though. A tiny, slip of a woman describing what she can do if he hurts her friend? Now what about The Ruby Reaper swearing to destroy the kingdom if Salem dies tonight?
All hypothetical questions, of course.)
By the next morning, Ruby's foiled three assassination plots, destroyed the reputation of several court men and women, and managed to avoid any fan boys and girls crowding around the heroes. Salem let her wear boots, thank goodness. No offers to dance with her, thank goodness. Ruby sighs and kicks her feet up on the garden bench, enjoying the view of the honeymoon suit as she watches for any early morning assassins.
Yes, Ruby did see more than she cared to see of the couple while foiling assassination number two. Hopefully this all blows over soon, because she does not have the patience to pull too many all-nighters.
No, Ruby is not sticking around for the actual honeymoon. After today, she has decided to get as far away as fast as possible.
"I'm not going to miss this," Ruby lies to herself.
She's had fun. It has not been lonely. There is free food everyday and the only regular help she provides is with assisting elders in the market or keeping the kids busy for a few hours. Sometimes she helps train her favourite among Salem's guard. This has been nice.
So nice, she writes letters instead of saying goodbye.
;;;
Ozma,
By the time you're reading this, I'll probably be halfway across the kingdom.
The first line of her letter comes unbidden when they stop mere feet from each other in the hall. Her hood covers most of her face in shadows, while Ozma's is clearly surprised. Ruby had been trying to leave unnoticed. Of course he proves her wrong. They are both too silent when walking, neither of them noticing another presence until faced with the sight of the other.
Ruby can hear an echoing sadness when he asks, "You are leaving?"
It tears into her heart. "Uh-huh." She doesn't want his disappointment. She never wanted him to be so nice and friendly that this would hurt so much. This, is why she wrote a letter (scratched out several drafts to find the words to say to him) and this is why she wished to leave while no one was awake.
"Why?" he asks, like he's not ruining her plans. Faced with the upsetting him, Ruby looks towards the darkness beyond the windows of the hall and reminds herself why. Salem does not approve of the plan. Ozma and everyone else would not understand if she told them. Ruby may not owe anyone, but it still feels like she does. She swore to protect all she could, yet this will likely risk others for a handful of people. "You could have everything if you stayed."
Salem promised that, too. The truth is that Ruby will never have everything she wants. It's impossible. So, Ruby responds to Ozma with the same answer she gives Salem, "Maybe one day." One day, she may accept everything they can give and find peace. Ruby tightens her grips on her backpack, strengthening her resolve. "There are still things I need to do."
Ozma looks like he understands as he lets her pass. She's surprised he falls into step beside her. What is unsurprising is Salem at the castle entrance. The guards and servants love their new queen, someone was always going to tattle on Ruby.
"Let me fight for your future," Ruby asks-yet-not-asks of Salem. Only when her friend acquiesces does Ruby feel the relief in her next step. She saved Salem from the tower. She trained the woman and gave her a weapon borne from memorized blueprints of a future that can no longer be. Now, it is time to arm her friend. It is time to go against everything Ruby grew up doing and gift the ultimate protection to the new queen.
Now is the time to find those powerful beings, those young souls, and their prisons.
It is time to meet the so-called God of Light.
Time to free Jinn.
;;;
Dear Salem,
I hope your honeymoon is going well. This letter will be a nice treat for when you get back! It's only been a week, but I have so many stories to tell you!
;;;
Dear Salem,
The snow is up to my thighs in some towns! I remember how much you hated cold-weather travelling, and I'm glad you're likely warm and dry in your huge castle. I've been stuck walking everywhere!
;;;
Hi Salem!
The snow has finally melted around the port towns, but I cannot cross just yet. Hopefully water travel starts again before the trees regain all their leaves.
;;;
Well Salem, I've made it to the lands that would have become Mistral. Even without all the space-rock craters it is difficult to travel through the winding paths. I know it would have been shorter if I had tried to cross the frozen ocean, but I guess I am still stalling. At least this way I can help some more people on my way up to the dragon's shrine!
…
Hopefully this letter will reach you before I make it. Start preparing some defences.
;;;
Oh My Goodness, Salem!
Today I met another queen! Apparently, word of heroes travels faster here? She tried to recruit me. Don't worry, I turned her down! You're the only queenie for my heart! Anyways, can't talk much. Currently trying not to get caught by her favoured warrior who doesn't want to take my no to her queen for an answer. Will tell you more when I finally lose her! Shouldn't take longer than a week.
Hope you're doing well!
From your BFF, Ruby
;;;
Hi Salem.
Tomorrow I do it. I guess I hope writing this will help me gather some nerve. I won't lie; I'm scared. I know it's not the Jinn I knew, and I know it may not work. The L. Bro might not even agree to an audience with me. None of this is even accounting for how scared I am if I succeed. But you already know this. We've been over it so many times, I can still hear you calling me an idiot for risking it. I bet you're calling me that even now.
I know I don't owe the relics anything, but I can't willingly leave them imprisoned. That's not who I am. Thank you for supporting me the best you can. This plan makes both our skins crawl, and I know it can't be easy keeping it from your husband for so long. I do hope you told him eventually. No secrets withheld from the ones we love, right?
I'm still stalling, aren't I? Sorry. A part of me hopes you don't get this letter. If you do, remember I miss you. I love you. You are my best friend. I know you won't ever make the decisions another version of you did. I gladly take the burden of facing down the Brothers. Live and be happy, no matter what happens to me.
If you ever need to escape, you know where Plan Z is.
Good luck. I'll try my best to see you as soon as possible.
I am glad I got to meet the real you.
Your Best Friend Forever, Ruby
;;;
Ruby pauses at the threshold, in the middle of the paved walkway. The young tree and bright pond lay before her, flowers abound. She remembers a school. In the future, there could have been a door. Once upon a different time, a Spring Maiden sealed Jinn in a vault.
Ruby steps forward to change destiny once again.
He appears when she reaches the platform. Golden leaves swirl from the tree, circling part of the water and drawing forth golden light from the depths. He is the yellow of a new morning sun. He is at least three times her size. His form is solid power, with antlers branching in perfect symmetry.
The God of Light is textbook passive aggression. He releases just enough power that Ruby's eyes ache. He stands over her, walking the same pace and stopping the same time she does. The symmetry is supposed to unnerve, as is his nakedness and eyeless gaze.
None of this is new to Ruby. She does not bow under the pressure, does not worship at the sight of his otherness. Her aura shudders as his power tries to touch, but she does not flinch. Ruby folds her hands behind her back and eyes him with unnerving intensity. This is the closest she has been to a Faunus in years. Because she is Ruby, she does not judge him by his other timeline's self. She still has a bone to pick with that God of Light. This one grates on her by continuing to flare his power to no effect.
Ruby is the one to come to him, so it is polite if she talks first. "If you're done, I would like to issue a challenge."
"A challenge?" he says, a little mystified. A little curious. "Why would you feel the need to challenge me?"
"You are keeping souls imprisoned." Ruby does not cross her arms. She does not accuse. The wind stops moving and the world goes silent at her fact, which he does not believe to be true. He once may have told Salem this world was a beautiful experiment. The afterlife he implies cannot be endless. Ruby does not touch that can of worms (not now). "I wish to challenge you for the freedom of the Relic of Knowledge."
"Freedom?" it is almost like he cannot believe this. As though he did not see it coming. Ruby thought Jinn may have kept him updated on her plans. "The Relic of Knowledge is only magic. Knowledge is free to all of humanity. You, however, are not one of our creations, are you?"
Ruby is dust and ashes. She is time undone and an unstoppable space. The woman is dead magic and the will to survive. "I am human," Ruby tells him. "You have no ownership of me, though."
Maria was wrong. Her laser eyes did not come from the dwindling magic of the Light Brother, no matter the evidence. Humans and Faunus of her time came from dust, ashes, and the few people not caught in the God of Darkness' kill-ray. Those with silver eyes have the active ability to absorb or reflect light to save those they love from the darkness. Only being around large amounts of magic activates the power. Ruby can absorb magic.
(Why do people see her as Summer Rose?
Some would say because Ruby is a phoenix.
Now, they say she is the Reaper.)
Behind her aura, Ruby's eyes are dry with the itch to release and refill.
"Do you want this power for yourself?" the Light Brother asks her, revealing the lamp.
"No," Ruby answers honestly. "I just want her free."
With that said, Ruby is more than a curious new toy. Now they set the challenge.
;;;
"You have three questions," the God of Light recaps as he drifts the lamp through the air. Ruby reaches out, eyes never straying from his form. When her hand curls around ring, it hums familiarly. "Use them wisely."
Three questions. The questions must be about events which have passed. If one of the questions cannot be answered, but should be able to, then Ruby wins the Relic of Knowledge. If she loses, he gets her strange shield power.
He gets her soul. Ruby wonders if he realizes that.
The God of Light never even told her how to activate the lamp. She expected this of the Darkness Brother, but passive aggressive in front of her may still be upset about her opening statement. Ruby rubs a finger over the glowing blue center. "Jinn."
The floating blue woman looks so young. Her hair is short, she looks to her creator with admiration, and she's much smaller. Like a teenager. Jinn looks so hopeful.
This Jinn does not have the memories of the God of Darkness attempting to genocide humanity. Ruby's heart aches thinking about what she's going to do. "Can you read minds?"
Jinn and the God of Light look curious about the question. Jinn answers, "I cannot."
"Should you know the full past of every person or thing who has been on this world?"
"Yes," Jinn smiles winningly over her shoulder at the God of Light. "It was what I was made for."
Ruby thinks he looks almost indulgent at his creation. The human woman takes a deep breath. There are many, many things she could ask and get the same result. Ruby goes for the simple, yet dooming, "What is my full, real name?"
Jinn probably could have guessed, with all the hints, but a guess is different from knowing.
A deal is a deal.
;;;
Jinn does not feel the cold, but that does not mean Ruby will let her run around practically naked. Today Jinn is trying out being a woman, and none of Ruby's clothes fit. Their shopping trip isn't going well, since Jinn likes covering the least amount of her body possible and what-could-have-been-Mistral encourages long coverings with fancy embroidery. The leaves are browning, so any summer apparel is a rare sight. Ruby ends up modifying a fancy too-large chest binder into a bra-like item which could be mistaken for what-could-have-been-Vacuo tops. Jinn goes commando under the long-turned-mini skirt she bought.
"I do not think I like being a woman," Jinn says that night as they take dinner in their inn room. "Everyone looks at me with… more looks. Possession, you have explained. All of this fear, though…"
"To start," Ruby swallows hard and sets her food aside. Salem, at least, had previous knowledge of humanity from a human point of view. With Jinn, Ruby must think hard on how it affects the young spirit who's only experience is what she knows and what she was created with. Jinn lived with a God, no matter that she was created for humanity. "If you want to be a woman, no matter the age, I will help you feel comfortable. If you hear anyone say anything negative near us, point me at them and I'll make sure to stop their hate." With words or fists. The time she had to defend child-looking Jinn from a physically aggressive bigot a few days ago stands forefront in her mind. "Next point, the fear is a combination of your otherness and the Light Brother's disapproval."
He respects Ruby won. Does not mean he has to like it. By extension, his worshipers have been a problem since they left.
These talks with Jinn are often. The Relic of Knowledge is curious about the world she only knew of. Like Salem, Ruby offers Jinn an adventure to discover herself. Preconceived opinions or factual knowledge is not the same as connection real-time emotions. Jinn would rather talk to Salem then go adventuring. Ruby can understand that.
The cold weather comes fast and sudden on their trek to the ship ports, keeping them away from what-could-have-been Vale until it all melts. The Northern lands report snow in amounts they are unprepared for. Ruby fights the creatures of Grimm who Jinn attracts, letting the now-tween girl have a semi-permanent home life until the weather turns. Ruby is paid in food, a place to stay, and lessons for Jinn.
"Just because you know how to cook, doesn't mean you can cook!" Ruby laughs and urges Jinn to take the freshly caught game to someone who can teach her to cook it. Goodness knows Ruby can't show her how to make anything but char.
"They've decided on names for the baby," Jinn says, curled up beside Ruby as they spend time making shapes in the night sky. Ruby lowers her hand to turn curiously. She's never asked, but Jinn enjoys keeping her updated on the little goings on around Remnant. The first free knowledge had Ruby surprised to learn Ozma kept her letter for so long. "Spring if it is a girl. Zwei for a boy." Jinn's face scrunches. "Wasn't that your puppy's name?"
Ruby laughs and answers affirmative.
;;;
Ruby absolutely attributes all her deep-emotional thoughts and working through concoctions of feelings to her comics and discussions about Blake's recommended porn-with-plot collection. Ruby is in no way qualified to have discussions a certified therapist would be able to work through. Ruby went to school to fight monsters, not to work through trauma. Not even her own trauma. Beacon got destroyed before she could think about those classes. So, what Ruby does do is notice small signs and talk about what's wrong before it builds up and explodes. This skill was refined with Weiss, who's polite mask is only cracked to those who know her.
Jinn knows all of this and is excited to meet Salem, so that she has someone to talk to who understands her plight. Ruby can start the blue-skinned girl down the path, but it is Jinn who decides what is good for discovering herself and what is not. Ruby makes sure the girl is happy, because that is all Jinn has asked of her. They talk through emotions, Jinn finally asks why Ruby never questions for more information than how Jinn's day went, and Ruby destroys the lives of all who try to hurt them.
Meeting Salem is all hugs and smiles. The blonde woman and Jinn are the only two people Ruby does not have problems touching. So many parts of this world are different. Touching in Remnant was rare, saved only for family or strong friendships. Ruby still shies away from surprise touches, still avoids her eyes at the public kissing and swinging hands of couples. At little baby Spring being pushed into her arms, Ruby freezes with fear so obvious Salem takes her child back and makes sure the maids know not to offer the little one to Ruby.
Salem understands old habits are hard to break.
"She is adorable when she says things so matter-of-fact," Salem giggles behind a hand, watching Jinn hover above the cradle trying to educate months old Spring about easier ways to signal she's hungry. Salem stands near Ruby, but not touching. It's a nice scene for the redhead, even with guards at the door. "I am glad she chose to stay."
Ruby brushes off the small dig. "I am too." Her hand subconsciously feels the ring of the small lamp around her belt. A keepsake more than anything. Jinn and it are no longer tied since her inability to give Ruby's name. "Thank you for taking her in."
The king agreed with his wife to adopt Jinn. The decision finally has Ruby warming up to him. Salem tries to convince Ruby to stay, to watch the children grow up as part of their family, but Ruby declines once more. "I won't press my luck," Ruby promises. "A challenge for one more Relic."
"Be safe," Salem sighs as she sees the woman to the door, Spring in one hand and Jinn clinging to her dress. "Don't get this world destroyed."
Not after all this effort.
;;;
The snow falls early this year. Ruby had made it as far as she could, pushing limits in her attempt to make it before the warm seasons ended. Her path becomes obstructed by constant Grimm and weather problems, slowing her arrival down to months away instead of weeks. Make it she does, though. Ruby does not pause as she arrives to the top of the God of Darkness' shrine. No matter the terror filling her veins, colder than the ice layering the lakes and stones kilometers away, Ruby steps quietly forward with her head held high.
The Darkness Brother does not scare her. She has seen this all before. "I wish to offer a challenge."
"You are the human who beat my brother," he cackles with glee. "I will not be so easily defeated or swayed."
To him, Ruby offers her eyes if he wins.
With them, Darkness would never be subdued by Light again.
;;;
The Darkness Brother is a sore loser, but Ruby expected nothing less. With a sword at her hip and a child in her arms, Ruby runs through air to get away. The Grimm are persistent, but she is Ruby Rose. The sky rains red petals as soft snow scratches her semblance like hail. When she finally crashes back into earth, it is with the grace of a falling meteoroid. The red trails into nothing behind her, Ruby twisting and skipping to stop her momentum. She almost tangles with the sword but catches her stumble before a fall.
Now, she must show the Relic of Destruction how to live freely.
;;;
Today the Relic of Destruction is a boy called Excalibur. Ruby shows him an icecap melting, large slabs crashing into each other before crashing into the water below. "Beautiful, isn't it? Sometimes you can see rainbows where the snow goes flying everywhere. These melt so fast in spring and summer, depleting the lands the animals can hunt on or even travel across. If they melt too fast at one time, it can strand animals and people, and flood the valleys below.
"But without the melting, the world would be consumed in ice. The water would not flow, and the lands would dry up. The fish could not swim paths to lay their eggs. The destruction of the ice is necessary for life to continue. The destruction of the lands it forms on is necessary for preservation and the survival of those who live on the ice."
He hums, watching another large chunk of ice fall in silence.
;;;
"Call me Lady," the Relic of Destruction tells Ruby in the morning. She looks like a blonde Jinn, favouring the fur lined cape Ruby gave her instead of the chains Jinn enjoys. Ruby takes her into a valley today.
"None of this would be here without the flood that tore up the area a decade ago," Ruby tells her. "An entire village was lost. Now, everything is coming back. Yes, it was a terrible fate for the area. People came together in time of crisis and helped whoever they could. There are two villages now, and this place is one of the largest crop producers for its kingdom. One of the well-known heroes of the kingdom was a survivor of the tragedy."
"But what did they lose?" Lady asks bitterly.
"Many lost everything," Ruby reaches up to tap the hand on her head. Lady sits on her shoulders, glancing around the fields upon fields of crops. "Humans are a lot stronger than you give us credit for. We will always mourn for our losses. There can always be something to motivate us forward."
;;;
"Attila," she names herself, looking more a teenager than her usual child form. She holds Ruby's hand tightly and gazes around the desert as they walk. "It freezes at night, and yet is so hot in the day."
"For most, the desert is their worst enemy," Ruby says, passing her water pouch to the teen. Attila matches the colour scheme of the sword today. She is in a shirt, shorts, and sandals, and of course the fur cape. "Its illusions can crush even the strongest of minds. No one can overpower the desert, except nature itself." Ruby smiles fondly as she remembers her time's history. "One day, under the right conditions, this will all be gone. There will either remain scorched rocks or oases. The desert seems endless and eternal, but every chapter finishes eventually."
;;;
"Tsurugi," they say a little hesitantly. They look up at Ruby with caution. "Can I be Tsurugi today?"
"Of course," is her even reply. It is better than the time they wanted to be Crocea. Ruby does not dissuade them from trying to find themselves. Some names hurt more than others.
"What will we see today?" They ask, a little excited. Last week was a building scheduled for demolition.
Today will be a little special. "I want to tell you a story, if you want to listen to it. If not, there's going to be more walking." More saving villages from the herds of Grimm appearing everywhere. More keeping an eye out for the soldiers who have disappeared in the night.
"Why can't we do both?"
"This… isn't a story I want to tell on the road."
They agree and settle across the bed from Ruby. It takes her a couple breaths to smile and start, "Once upon a time, humanity was destroyed."
She tells them humanity came upon the world once more, along with the Faunus.
The woman explains all the advancements the world made without magic.
She recites the wars. Destruction held a large cost yet was essential in creating peace between kingdoms. With it, the King of Vale halted the next end of humanity.
Ruby explains her past.
"I destroyed all that could have been," Ruby tells them solemnly. She looks at the sword she laid on the bed, remembering things that will not be. "Maybe one day it Will Be, but not how I remembered it." She smiles brokenly at the person she saved. "I hope in doing so I saved you from feeling the destruction of ninety-nine percent of life. It's still your choice what you wish to do with your freedom. I… did not want to keep this from you."
By the end of the night they are asleep, curled beside each other. Ruby keeps one hand protectively encircled around the former Relic of Destruction. In dreams, they see the world covered in ashes.
Tsurugi decides they don't like that future and they start down the path to change it.
;;;
"Today, I want to be called Goujian," she says with shaking hands.
Ruby calmly picks her up. "Just for today?"
"Just for today."
;;;
"Hello," the androgynous child with a fur cloak bows to Queen Salem. "My name is Mercy."
Mercy joins the royal family. They take one look at the innocent bundle named Summer and promise to protect the fiery soul until their dying breath.
"Any more kids planned?" Ruby drawls as she sips tea with her best friend.
Salem snorts. "He wants a son, of course. I put my foot down during labor. No more planned. Every child after this will be a happy accident.
"I always wanted a real family… Four young kids and a kingdom is enough for now."
;;;
"Your mother says you've been acting odd," Ruby drops next to Jinn on the bench.
"I knew you were coming," Jinn states, looking up from her homework.
"Do you want to tell me what's up?"
Jinn bites her lip and looks towards worksheets again. Knowledge does not mean she can apply it correctly, even if she knows the answers before hand.
"Does it have anything to do with the missing warriors?"
Bingo. Jinn cringes under the weight of what she knows. "It was father's idea."
Father, meaning the God of Light. Daddy is the king. "Do you want to tell me?"
Jinn sniffs and shakes her head. "But I should. You should know."
"Then I'll figure it out," Ruby promises, ruffling the being of magic's hair. "You do not have to tell me anything you do not want to say." What would have been bias is replaced by the uncertainty of a teenager with too many allegiances. "We'll talk about it all after I find out what is going on. Just, talk with your mother if it becomes too much for you, okay?"
"Promise."
They shake pinkies.
;;;
She does not hear footsteps, but the voice is unmistakable, "Ruby!"
Her breath catches and she's not ready to see him. Not after so long. When she turns, Ozma is smiling that charming grin that tears her insides to pieces. She can't move, not in the face of a person truly, expressively, happy to see her. She does the quick math in her head and realizes it's been-
Two years.
Over two years. She left him a letter so long ago, and he still smiles like she matters to him. Does she deserve this kindness? Is it alright to feel breaking and wholesome as she faces him unprepared?
Ozma's hands fall open, arms in a gesture Ruby recognizes from Remnant as 'hug?' when he tells her, "It is wonderful to see you again."
Ruby takes a step. Then another. Her chest warms away the icicle of fear. He is happy to see her, even after all this time. She's ecstatic to see him. Ruby rushes forward and wraps her arms around his middles, pressing her face into his shirt and telling him, "I missed you."
Admitting that opens the emotions and thoughts she has so long ignored. Ruby misses the small chats between them. She misses his voice and the gentle way he moves. Their little talks were a highlight of her day, no matter how much she tried to press them into the back of her mind. She loves sharing a warm drink with him and knowing he's on the sidelines watching her spar with Salem's guards.
Ruby misses the way his face crinkles slightly when he chuckles. The analyzing gleam when he sees a fight. The way he is human, but always seems so much more.
Ruby forces herself to step back and away from his reach. She still feels warmed from the returned hug, almost embarrassed by her slip as she tucks away her emotions for a freak-out later. Her team would be proud. Maybe Yang wouldn't, but Yang would have been trying to convince Ruby to admit everything she just realize and- no. Not happening. "How have you been?"
"Well," Ozma's hands rest easily at his sides, face passive. Not any sign on him that he read into the hug. "And yourself?"
"I've been doing alright," Ruby forces a smile and winks. How dare he be so pretty. "Still in one piece."
"You are lucky," Ozma sounds stilted. "Most who deal with Gods do not walk away."
"Oh." That sucks the emotional turmoil out of her. Ruby feels the blood drain from her face in horror that he knows. Salem never specified what she told him. After a little pause, Ruby hopes he's silent because he doesn't know the full story. It would hurt, but she wouldn't blame him for hating her. He's probably angry. That's why he's becoming more and more tense. "So, you heard about that."
The next words look like he's pained to even say them, "I'm glad you are alive."
He's too nice, Ruby thinks with poisonous guilt. He hates me. How can he not? It's everything she's feared. He is the one person she never wanted to disappoint. She tries so, so hard to show she isn't affected by it. "It would take a lot more to kill me."
The pause is tense. He steps forward and opens his arms out wide, "May I have another hug?"
Ruby silently steps into his arms. When he doesn't stab her in the back, her body relaxes at the warmth and comfort while her mind panics. What did Salem tell him?!
More importantly, does he not hate me?
And Most Important: I have to avoid being around him with Jinn in the room because she might figure out I'm in love with him and tell Salem.
She is definitely in-love. If it were a crush it would have gone away from the two years apart. Yang would be so disappointed Ruby didn't ask him on a date the moment she realized her feelings.
Rare times he reminds her of Oscar and Ozpin, but Ozma is Ozma. And she loves him.
If Salem finds out, she'll never let Ruby live this down.
;;;
Ruby gives Ozma the sword. With ease, he cuts through training dummies with what was once the material form of the Relic of Destruction. Ruby does not hand it over lightly. So many thoughts race in her head before she comes to the decision, with only minor regrets seeing him wield it in the training yard. It will never be the same item the King of Vale used. It is the best sword in the world, but it comes with no price. The only requirement is to keep the pointy end away from the wielder's body.
He can use it. He's proved this to her with the training she's seen him do. Ozma will need the protection it can offer. Especially now that Ruby considers him a friend, she will not let him face whatever is slowly creeping through kingdoms and stealing the best warriors. She will not let him face his old friends who have fallen into insanity.
He is leaving soon, but Ruby will be starting a perimeter around Salem's kingdom in a few days. Ruby's job will become messenger and tank. She will be the evacuation and defence all in one.
Ruby could have said no. However, she is not the type of person to leave others to the mercy of monsters. Ruby was trained to fight monsters. It is the one thing she is good at.
She does not owe this world anything, but she will make sure there is something for the next generation. It is the least she can do, seeing as she destroyed the future destiny had planned out.
Ozma is kind enough to grant her one last hug before she devotes herself to a fight she knows will be a long one. When she waves goodbye to him, she's also wiping away the tears of what could have been. There are things she still needs to tell him, and no time to say them.
The coming battles need all their attention.
Ruby whispers one last apology to the man he could have been and seals that chapter with one last tear of never more.
;;;
Ruby's life becomes measured in battles. She remembers the day only because of her deliveries. She saves and consoles the people the best she can. She fights, always at her best and never less. One by one, the insane people she meets she knocks unconscious. So far there is no cure for whatever destroyed their minds, and most end up dead because they are such a risk. Ruby mourns each loss. The hardest are the people she knows, but then when is fighting anyone easy? The worst are the ones who pretend to be normal, and everyone is too scared to disagree with them until Ruby comes and knocks them out. The rumors say the world bends to the pretender's will.
Sleep becomes a rare luxury.
Ruby always counts her bullets. The last hundred from her time are always in reach and never touched or seen. Her new rounds are for emergency, when her scythe or fists cannot do the job. Ruby is quick and light on her feet, and no one here has an aura to stop a fist moving twenty-plus miles per hour.
By the time Ruby is called back to the castle, she is running on caffeine and hallucinating her old teammates. Ruby barely leaves her room as she breaks, only emerging days later when the sleep and real food has healed her psyche enough to talk with Salem. Her best friend helps pull her back to her usual self, and it take cuddling with the children to help Ruby relax and process everything she's been through.
"Ozma is here," Jinn tells her at a bad moment. Ruby, still with her eyes closed, mutters unintelligibly. "He wants to see you."
"Ruby is not fit for company," Salem says, no compromise in her voice. Mercy pauses in braiding Ruby's hair to keep Summer from falling off the couch. Salem scoops up her youngest and places her next to Spring and Jinn.
"I'll see him," Ruby mutters.
"No, you won't," Salem says, steel voice then softening, "not like you are. He will worry. You will upset him, and that will upset you. That is not the outcome we want."
Ruby may have wanted to avoid him, but not like this. "When does he leave?"
Jinn gives the answer.
Ruby goes through dozens of drafts, but she manages to write him a letter. Jinn offers to take it to him, since her mother will not let Ruby leave the royal wing of the castle. It takes weeks for Ruby to get back into a mental state that Salem can okay her back into the field. "You must take it slower. If anything like this happens again, I will remove you from duty altogether."
Ruby does not tell her than she would go vigilante just to keep Salem's kingdom safe. The redhead agrees and slowly makes her way to the front lines to help push back the constant barge. Word is that the other kingdoms are not doing any better.
Refugees have said that at least two kingdoms have fallen after some pretenders killed their monarchs, and the guards killed the pretenders. With no one left to rule, chaos has erupted across the land and draws more Grimm. It has become a crude cycle.
Ruby still cannot understand why.
;;;
Ruby is helping in the port town, carrying three large crates to horse-and-cart. The preserved food will be moved to three villages inland. This town is destroyed, as well as two towns they'll have to pass through. Ruby is the only guard for the village transporters. She is the only one people trust, with her speed and skill known all throughout Salem's kingdom. They may not trust her as The Ruby Reaper, but they know she will get them through provision gatherings alive.
Ruby is looking forward to sleeping when she returns to camp.
She sets the crates on the cart and rolls her shoulders. The footsteps behind her alert her to another person, but she doesn't think much of it until the disbelieving, soft exclamation of, "Ruby."
She startles so bad she almost slips on the soft ground of the early-ended winter of the new year. Ruby gapes as her chest warms with the sight of him. "Ozma?"
"It is good to see you," he smiles charmingly and holds his arms out like he is expecting a hug.
And Ruby pauses for a short step. She's been at this so long, has so many old habits, that there is a screeching feeling inside her saying not to touch him. This is not a good friend or family. Whether it be paranoia or her huntress sense, Ruby wonders for that split second what if he is a pretender?
It should be a farfetched idea, but Ruby has the time to think thanks to her semblance. His smile is charming. His stance is too relaxed in such an unknown environment. Ozma's eyes are hazel, but there is a flash – almost a glow – at the correct angle of light. What really seals her suspicions: Ruby remembers hearing his footsteps.
The woman smiles widely and takes a step forward, wrapping her arms around him in a hug that makes her skin crawl. What's worse, she can taste the overpowering magic around him. It feels like Choice.
"It's so good to see you too," Ruby replies automatically, always alert for the stab in the back that's supposedly killed the other rulers. It doesn't come, and he steps back with a little too perfect of a smile. "What are you doing out here?"
Ruby makes small talk. The hints would never be noticeable if she had never known Ozpin and Oscar. The way Ozma holds himself now is different from how he held himself the last few times she saw him. He is stiller, no smaller fidgets or a breeze to rustle his outfit. He holds his cane wrong. He looks and speaks like Ozma, but there is none of the man in how he moves.
Ruby is very good at pretending nothing is wrong. Her eyes don't dry or water, even as her heart shatters for the first time in years.
In her mind, Ruby starts apologizing to Ozma.
;;;
Hi Salem!
You'll never guess who I met up with a few days ago. Ozma! We're returning to the castle after we deal with the nevermore nests that we stumbled into last night. We should be a month at most. I hope you get this letter before then, so you can prepare for our arrival.
;;;
Dear Salem,
Prepare Plan C
- Your BFF, Ruby
A/N: Ruby's POV got too long. There will be one more chapter. I want to say a really big thank-you to everyone who has read, followed, favourited, and/or reviewed. The support truly means a lot. (Thank you Guest, Guest, and RandomShtScinceWhenever for your reviews! I am so glad to hear you all like this!)
One more chapter.
I hope everyone is enjoying the story