Hello everybody! Thank you for those that reviewed, favorited, and/or followed, which is quite a surprising number to me. Thanks! Here's the second chapter of Stark Contrast, and this came out sooner than I thought it would. I'm having fun with this and riding the energy while it lasts!

Anyway, more at the bottom, so here's the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Edit: 11/19/17. Small changes and touch up. Blake now has a scar on her cat ear.

Considered Chapter titles: Wait, what?... huh?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You should have tested it out before you gave it to Rose," Yang shouted at Weiss.

"I did, you slut! I even tried the White Dust as well for your information! If you had been paying attention to that instead of ogling Belladonna's ass, you would know that!" Weiss shouted back. "It only worked for Mistress, since I made it for her anyway."

"And you'll do whatever she tells you too, won't you, otherwise…" Blake said condescendingly before she trailed off suggestively.

Weiss' eye twitched and she lifted a hand to rub her scar, but stayed silent, glaring at Blake.

"Yea, I thought so." Blake said with a sneer.

Ruby was so confused at the moment it wasn't even funny. I was fine one moment, and then the crystal shattered and I got knocked out. Then when I woke up, Yang seems to hate me now, Blake's more vindictive (yay me for fancy words!), and Weiss is… almost the same before she lightened up, she admitted before she got back on track. What happened to them?

"Whoa, hey guys, let's calm down here. What's going on?" Ruby said, trying to figure out her own question.

Yang rolled her eyes, "That's what we're trying to figure out here Rose. Obviously something went wrong with the Dust and did something to you. Now if your Ice Bitch would figure that out sooner rather than later that'll be great."

"Well, I feel fine. You're all the ones acting strangely," Ruby pointed out, once again ignoring the vulgarity. "Maybe the Dust affected you guys instead of me?"

"Right," Blake drawled, "and the Dust is the reason why your entire outfit changed."

"Not the entire thing," Weiss muttered semi-defensively on Ruby's behalf.

"Huh?" Ruby looked down at herself. My boots are fine, combat skirt looks good as always, corset's tied up correctly, got my sweetheart with me, and… Mom's cloak that she gave me…that's fine, no holes or tears whatever. She shook her head and looked up, "Nope, nothing's wrong with me."

She had two sets of narrowed eyes, and one cautious pair looking at her after that statement, from Blake, Yang, and Weiss respectively. Blake started counting off, "One: Your eyeliner is gone now. Two and three: Your cloak and leggings have switched colors. Four: You're being a hell of a lot 'nicer' than you've ever been."

Ruby scowled. All of those are just normal parts of my outfit. Hasn't Blake ever… never mind. It's the Dust, it has to be. It's affected everyone else. She paused and took a second glance at the three of them. They're the ones that look different though. Weiss skirt was a little longer and not as wide, and had a slit down the side for maneuverability. She was also wearing a red and black collar around her neck with what suspiciously looked like a rose embroidered on the front. Specifically her rose.

Blake wasn't wearing her bow so her kitty ears were on full display for the world to see. However, her right Faunus ear had a thin scar along the front now. The ribbon wrapped around her right arm was longer and went up to her shoulder, and the metal brand on her left was wider, covering most of her upper arm. She was also wearing fingerless gloves on her hands as well. Her vest was a little shorter and showed off more of her midriff.

Yang's vest was even tighter and shorter, showing off even more skin than before. Her boots were brown at the tops, but transitioned to black the lower it went. The most surprising thing Ruby saw was that she had a dragon tattooed onto her right leg that was yellow, gold, orange, and brown that stretched across her exposed leg.

"Seriously, I'm fine. You're the ones that are dressed up and acting funny," Ruby pointed out.

"We're the ones that are fine; you're just being your irritating regular self." Yang said.

"Okay, I think the Dust did something to you all, and you think that the Dust did something to me, so why don't we figure out what exactly happened?" Ruby said. Either that or I'm hallucinating. Oh Oum, maybe the Red-Black crystal was a hallucinogen and I'm high! Definitely different than what I thought it would be like - not that I would ever do something like that! Yang and Dad would ground me so hard I'd never see sunlight again!

Yang rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She went over and grabbed a chair and sat in it. Blake just leaned against the wall. Weiss strangely enough shuffle-walked over to Ruby.

"Do you need anything Mistress; water perhaps?" She asked. Mistress? Okay, where did that come from? That's just wrong on so many levels…

"I'm good. And Weiss, we're teammates. Why are you calling me mistress? That's a little freaky…" Ruby said.

Weiss' eyes widened. "I'm sorry for bothering you Mistress." She bowed and backed up rapidly. Ruby was seriously creeped out now.

"Okay, yea, something's definitely wrong here."

This time it was Blake that spoke up. "Fine, since everyone is pussy-footing around the subject- shut up Firecracker," she cut Yang off before she could start, "I'll deal with this. Rose; what happened from your perspective."

"Well, Weiss gave me a Red-Black crystal and I coated it in the White Dust and was putting my Aura into it to activate it but decided not to risk it after it was not doing anything but then Weiss distracted me and I pumped a little too much Aura into the crystal and it flashed and I got knocked unconscious then Yang… wait," Ruby said all that in one go before she paused and realized something, "did you slap me?" If she did then it would explain why my face is stinging right now. But Yang would never hit me like that.

"Yea, it was a helluva lot more fun since you weren't putting up a fight this time." Yang said with a cackle that was brimming with malice. This time? What?

"That wasn't what happened," Blake said. "Schnee didn't get anywhere near you Rose, you just went ahead and pushed your Aura into the thing after you got the White Dust."

"Why do you keep calling me Rose?" Ruby asked. "It's like we're strangers to each other now."

"And that's another thing off about you, you've done a complete about-face in personality," Blake pointed out. "The first day as a team you commanded us to use your last name except for Xiao Long, who just uses it to piss you off."

Ruby shrugged, "Why would that make me mad? It's my last name. And why would I make you call me by my last name? It's Ruby."

"Okay Rose, this isn't funny anymore," Yang said, "not that it was to begin with, so you can drop the act now. We know how much you hate your birth mother, so just cut it out."

"My birth mother? Summer? What do you mean?" Ruby questioned. Why did Yang say it like that? She was a mom to both of us: Super-Mom in fact. More than Yang's mom anyway.

Yang's hair glowed and wisps of flame started coming off it. If her eyes weren't already red, they would have changed by then. "Don't speak that whore's name! May she rot in hell for all I care!" Yang growled. Ruby was shocked. I've never heard Yang say a bad word about Mom unless it was how she left us… Ruby knew the truth, but jus couldn't say it. The pain was still there.

Blake and Weiss were looking at Ruby as if they didn't know who she was anymore. Ruby was much the same way at them. "I'm surprised at you Mistress, usually you can't stand the thought of that woman," Weiss said.

"This isn't funny anymore, alright?" Ruby said, taking a step back, trying to get herself under control. "Let's just go back to our room, wait this out and forget this happened."

"Alright Mistress." Weiss said, with Blake snickering.

"And please stop calling me that!" Ruby pleaded.

Weiss backed up with a half apologetic; half confused look on her face. "As you wish." Blake snickered again and Weiss turned on Blake, "How about I give you a scar to match mine?" She snapped.

"Rose is the only one that can give me a scar like yours, and frankly, you asked for it in the first place." Blake retorted.

"Just like how you are?" Weiss growled as she unsheathed Myrtenaster.

Blake cocked an eyebrow and lazily reached for Gambol Shroud on her back.

Ruby shook her head. Seriously, any moment now Dust, wear off. Don't take your time.

Right then, Yang's scroll went off. Yang answered it, "Yea what?" She immediately paled, "Oh, Miss Goodwitch, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Weiss snorted. There was a silence and Yang's face regained its color. "Yea, she's with us," Yang growled, and then looked up at Ruby, "Did you forget to turn on your scroll Rose?"

Seriously, you can stop with the act now please. Ruby reached into her pocket and took out her scroll. "Nope, it's on."

"She says it's on," Yang answered the question. There was another silence. "Alright, I'll get her ass over there." Yang hung up and looked at Ruby again. "Apparently your Grimm are running ape-shit all over the place."

Ruby blinked. "My what?"

"Dear fuckin' God, we don't have time for your shit Rose. Head on down to the Grimm Pit and get your mutts under control. Oum knows why you're obsessed with Beowolves, although that Nevermore balances it out a bit."

"Wait, what?" Ruby's head was spinning. What does she mean, 'get my Grimm under control?' I don't have any Grimm; it's impossible to capture Grimm for long periods of time. I don't even know how Professor Port captures his. Does he wrestle them? And where's this Grimm pit?

"Grimm, yours, Grimm Pit, GO!" Yang said as she stepped closer, and on the last word, she grabbed Ruby and shoved her to the door.

"But I don't even know where to go!" Ruby cried out.

"Fucking hell Rose, did that crystal give you brain cancer? Let's go since our esteemed leader has no clue what the fuck she's doing." Yang said to the other two members of their team as she grabbed Ruby roughly by the cloak and drug her out the door. Blake and Weiss followed.

"Yaaaang! I can walk myself!" Ruby moaned as she was dragged through the hallways.

"I'm not even trusting you with something as simple as that," Yang growled. "Honestly, if you didn't have to take care of your Grimm, we'd have another sparing match right now. Oh, I'd beat you so hard…" Yang trailed off as she became lost in a daydream. Though the vicious grin on her face made Ruby deeply uneasy.

Ruby took advantage of Yang's lapse in concentration and yanked her arm out of Yang's weakened grasp. "Look, just take the lead and I'll follow you. How had can it be for you to be civil right now?" Ruby was starting to get annoyed.

"Very," Weiss deadpanned.

Yang just grunted and continued walking, ignoring her question. "Ahh man, really wish I knew what was going on," Ruby moaned to herself. She followed her sister, who was acting less and less like it, in silence, trying to figure out what was going on.

Beacon was the same, except the people looked edgier than before. She recognized some people from different classes, but they were also different, and had slightly different weapons than she remembered.

The path that they took led them outside to where Ruby knew was a rocky plain. The reality of what was there surprised her though. This wasn't here the last time I checked.

For over a square mile, there was a hole in the ground, filled with pens and chains, all holding Grimm. Beowolfs, Boarbatusks, Creeps, Ursi, a few more exotic Grimm, you name it. Some were chained down, but the rest of them weren't putting up any resistance and were just walking around their Dust wire enclosures. There were even artificial pools for some aquatic Grimm.

Ruby blinked. Why are we keeping this many Grimm? And why aren't they all in cages? Or dead?

Ruby really didn't have time to worry about it as she noticed a rather large commotion close to where they were. There were Hunters and Huntresses trying to subdue a rather large number of Beowolfs without actually killing them, which was strange and difficult as the Beowolfs were not attacking, but watching, striking when a Hunter got too close. She noticed that most of the Beowolfs were close to Alpha status, with large potions of their bodies covered in the bone plates and spikes, signifying that they were 'B' class Grimm and smarter than your average Grimm.

"Well, looks like we got here just before things got too bad," Weiss commented. After a moment, she said, "Well Mistr- uhh, Rose, what are you waiting for?"

"Huh? What?" Ruby broke out of her stupor and looked at Weiss.

"Get control of them." Weiss said as if it were natural.

"Yea, and how am I supposed to do that?" Ruby said sarcastically. Maybe the wrestling idea isn't too far off.

"You don't remember how to control your Grimm?" Weiss asked, surprised.

"Not surprising," Yang muttered.

"Well I didn't know I had Grimm until today, nor have I ever had Grimm!" Ruby shouted. "It's impossible to control them!"

"Where have you been the last eighty years?" Yang questioned sardonically. "Maybe that crystal did give you amnesia."

"Wait… if says that she doesn't have control over them…" Blake started.

There was silence. Then... "Fuck, they're wild then, aren't they?" Yang muttered.

"How is that even possible though? They're not dead and Rose isn't either." Blake said.

"In any case, she could use a Black Crystal and recapture them; after all, they were, or are her Grimm." Weiss offered.

"Black Crystal?" Didn't Weiss make them then use them to make the Red-Black crystal? What does that have to do with right now? She said she was going to get rid of them, so why is she mentioning it?

"Goddamnit, it's what we use to capture Grimm Rose! Get your head out of your ass!" Yang yelled.

Ruby growled and turned to Yang, bracing herself to do something that has only happened on a rare occasion. "Yang, as your sister, I would deeply appreciate it if you'd stop yelling at me, otherwise I'd take you up on that spar right now. And as I recall, you've never beaten me before when I've had a weapon. Keep that in mind." Partially true, but they've ended in a draw more often than in an actual win.

Weiss smirked. "Finally, some of the old Ruby shows up!"

"Never beaten you before? That's a load of Ursa shit and you know it!"

"Shut up!" Ruby yelled. "This isn't the time or the place for this. Now lets go kill some Grimm." Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and put it into rifle mode.

"Where are your Crystals?" Weiss asked, and then stopped, "Oh wait, you left them back in the Dust room, now I remember."

"Kill them? Are you sure you want to do that? You've spent years gathering those Grimm-" Blake started.

"What are we?" Ruby interrupted, not listening anymore. "We're Huntresses. It's our job to kill Grimm. If you aren't going to help, then back off." Ruby growled, seriously annoyed with her so-called team. This is worse than when Weiss was going on and on about Blake being with the White Fang. Without waiting for a response, Ruby leapt down the little lip of the pit and started towards the escaped Grimm. She pulled back the bolt once on Crescent Rose and chambered a round, then took aim at a Beowolf through the scope. She stabilized herself, bracing for the recoil. At this point, I don't need myself rocketing backwards.

She fired once, and the Dust round sailed straight and true into the Beowolf's red eye, causing its head to explode into a bloody Grimm mess as the high-impact Dust sniper round passed through it. The Hunters that were around that particular Grimm looked back in surprise, looking for where the round came from.

Ruby continued walking and aimed at another Beowolf, this time at its mouth. She fired once, causing its lower jaw to be blasted off. When it turned to look at her, she fired a second round through the roof of its now exposed mouth, once again causing its head to explode.

The other Beowolfs now noticed this new threat, and seeing that she was by herself, chose to attack her. Prey on the weak, the small and helpless. Except this girl is a warrior inside. Ruby was literally shivering with anticipation for the fight.

Just as the Beowolfs were about to maul her, she activated her semblance and jumped up, clearing them by at least ten feet and leaving behind a cloud of red petals. Crescent Rose spun around and another Beowolf lost its head with the help of a Dust round. Ruby then unfolded her sweetheart all the way as she came down and fired another shot into the air, accelerating her downward and impaling a Beowolf in the skull with the spike at the end, driving it into the ground.

The next one attacked her, so Ruby pulled the end of her sweetheart out and spun it in a down-up diagonal, hooking the point of the scythe into the Beowolf's jaw. The momentum carried over and she partially flipped the Grimm, flinging it to the ground. Once it stopped, Ruby took another shot and hit the Beowolf point-blank in the chest, causing a hole the size of two fists to appear. She used the recoil to jump and spin backwards.

She landed in front of another Beowolf who was slashing with its claw. Ruby semblanced away and hooked Crescent Rose onto it's left leg and fired, cutting the leg off. Before it could fall all the way down, Ruby brought the scythe up and jumped up onto it's back and fired, separating its head from its body.

She landed and saw that the other Beowolfs were watching and considering her, since she had just taken out six in about half a minute. Ruby looked around and saw that a bunch of other hunters were just staring at her. "What are you waiting for?" Ruby shouted at them, "Kill them!"

To follow her own orders, Ruby pointed Crescent Rose behind her, fired, and activated her semblance at the same time. She flew forward, crossing the distance between her and the Beowolfs in an eye blink. Crescent Rose spun diagonally left to right and was aided with a shot to cut the Beowolf in half. She reversed direction to deflect a claw swipe before darting in and swinging her sweetheart again. Finally, something that makes sense right now! Ruby though. The feel of battle once again filling her veins as she ducked, weaved, ran, and shot her way through the Grimm, never staying in the same spot for more than a second.

There were only a few more Grimm left and they weren't Beowolfs and were 'C' class instead. A Boarbatusk started its spin attack and Ruby waited until it was almost on her before sidestepping and bringing Crescent Rose up at an angle and pulling like a lever. The Boarbatusk went up into the air and stopped spinning, squealing at the sudden loss of ground under it. Ruby jumped and shot behind her to get the distance in the air, then swiped her blade through the soft underbelly of the Grimm.

Both she and the Grimm started falling down to the ground as her momentum ran out. Ruby looked around and saw that a Beowolf was about to attack… Cardin, of all people, who had just killed a couple of Creeps with a swing of his mace. As much as she disliked the guy, he was still a fellow hunter and couldn't very well let him get impaled in the back. Ruby angled herself so that Crescent Rose would be right next to the Beowolf's neck, then fired when she was in position. The shot rang out and she was flung in the opposite direction, but it worked as the Beowolf fell dead, with its head next to it.

Ruby surveyed the area and saw that the Grimm had been taken care of. She looked back to Cardin, whose armor was black, strangely, and went over to him. "Good job," she said.

Cardin turned and looked down. His eyes were confused for a moment before they widened. "O-oh, uhh, Rose! I'm sorry! I couldn't keep your Grimm in your pen. Forgive me!" He sounded fearful. A stark contrast to his usual bragging, boisterous self.

"Why are you sorry? I told you to kill them," Ruby said, confusion once again setting in.

"Rose! What the hell was that!?" Ruby winced as she turned and saw the rest of her team coming towards her. Yang looked angry and confused, which might have been a positive in this case.

Ruby shrugged. "I took care of the Grimm," she said casually.

"You spent years capturing them, and now you've wasted all that! All of them are dead now!"

As if to prove her wrong though, a giant 'caww' came through the pit and they all turned to see that a Nevermore was about to break free of the chains holding it down to the ground. One had already been shattered by Ruby's last shot, and as they watched the last chain on its other foot broke.

With a triumphant cry, the Nevermore flew upwards in the air. It stopped and looked down at the collection of people, and Ruby could see its red eyes narrow.

This day keeps getting better and better, Ruby groaned in her head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, things aren't going very well for Ruby at this moment. Of course, it wouldn't be a story then, just fluff.

In the first draft of this chapter, I originally wanted to have Ruby and Yang fight, but as my ideas for this story got more fleshed out, another opportunity presented itself in the form of the Grimm Pit. Don't worry, you'll have that sisterly fight later on eventually.

How's my battle scene? I tried to make it different than the Red Trailer, but there are still elements of it in there.

More to come! Don't forget to R.R.F.F!

-OrangeGalen