She dwells with beauty, beauty that must die.
And joy, whose hand is ever at his lips.
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might.
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
Chapter 4-
The next morning the two girls woke up slowly the next day, a feeling of pure content settling into both girls as they were relaxed for one of the few moments they were able to be with everything Ruby did.
Eventually they had to get out of bed and get ready for initiation which was that morning, the two got showered and dressed with a quiet habit.
Once they had showered separately and dressed for the day ahead, Ruby attached her weapon onto her back while debating with herself about wearing her red cloak.
Neo who had just finished putting her boots on as she picked up her umbrella, twirling it around in her hand, "Ruby?" Neo asked.
"Do you think the red cloak would give me away?" Ruby asked.
"I doubt anyone would realise who you are, maybe some suspicions but you'll be fine." Neo assured Ruby.
"I guess, are you ok?" Ruby asked as she put her cloak around her neck and letting it cover herself, and placed her headphones over her wolf ears, to keep them hidden and kept down.
"I am, but I'm worried about initiation." Neo said, moving into Ruby's waiting arms.
"Are you worried that we won't be paired up?" Ruby asked, stroking Neo's short hair gently to comfort the girl who always worried that Ruby was going to leave her.
"Don't worry Neo, I don't plan on leaving you and there's ways we can become partners anyway." Ruby explained, offering words of comfort to her girlfriend.
Neo nodded her head once more saying, "Are you sure?" Neo asked, still worried.
Ruby smiled as she kissed Neo passionately on the lips, "I'm sure Neo, I love you and I'm not going anywhere." Ruby said with a soft smile.
Neo had a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she buried her face into Ruby's neck to hide her embarrassment.
"Come on, we better get down there." Ruby said, gently urging Neo to walk.
The pair made their way hand in hand down towards the launch pads, they discovered they were the last to arrive and they drowned out Ozpin as he explained everything to the students, as they already knew what was going to happen.
As the first students started to get launched in the air Ruby leaned over to Neo and gave her a chaste kiss and a reassuring smile as she was launched into the air in front of Neo.
Immediately after being launched in the air Ruby started to fire her weapon as she slowed down enough for Neo to catch up.
Neo was able to teleport just in front of Ruby in the air as she spotted a Grimm bird she could land on top of as a marker.
Ruby grabbed Neo into her arms, getting the girl to wrap her arms around Ruby as she started to fire behind her to pick up speed even further.
As the ground started to grow closer Neo let go of Ruby as she opened up her umbrella, letting herself float down to the ground below while Ruby deployed her scythe and anchored herself into a tree, letting the weapon bite into the tree to slow her down.
The two girls landed in front of each other and were quick to look up into each other's eyes to seal the deal that they would be partners for the next four years.
"So seems like we're stuck with each other for the next four years." Ruby teased.
Neo just slapped Ruby's arm with a smile saying, "Come on, and let's go get this over with." Neo said, walking in the direction of the ruins.
As the girls were walking they heard a loud howling sound nearby, signalling the fact there were Beowolves nearby.
Dropping into a low crouch Ruby acted on pure instinct as she let loose a howl of her own in return, her tone challenging in return.
Neo standing beside Ruby knew what was going to happen as she brought her umbrella up, waiting for the Grimm to show.
It didn't take long as the first Beowolf came sprinting out of the trees in response to Ruby's call, Neo blocked the creatures first strike as she pushed the arm down and away from her she spun around drawing the blade inside the umbrella's handle before pushing it into the neck of the creature.
She twisted her blade before pulling it out of the breast as it died, dissolving into the air around it while more Beowolves came barrelling out of the forest behind the first one Neo killed.
Ruby had forsaken her weapon instead using her hands where her nails had turned into sharp claws as she attacked the creatures, ripping out necks and even tearing heads off the creatures as she killed them.
The two worked together in perfect unison as Neo would block attacks made by the Beowolves while Ruby would attack them while they were stunned, Neo would kill any sneaking up on Ruby at the same time.
The two were working flawlessly until finally all of the Beowolves were dead and the two were standing side by side, barely sweating.
"You ok?" Neo asked.
"Fine. You?" Ruby breathed out, getting her body back under control.
"I'm good, ok to move on?" Neo asked.
"Yeah, I'm good. Let's get this over with." Ruby said, standing up straighter as both girls began to walk once more.
They didn't come across anymore Grimm until they reached the ruins where they found different chess pieces.
Neo chose a golden horse chest piece, handing it over to Ruby who put it into one of her pouches but as they were able to leave they saw more students arrive.
One pair came riding an Ursa into the clearing while another was chased by a Deathstalker while a group of three came with a Nevermore in the sky after them.
Sighing to herself Ruby looked towards Neo giving her a look saying, 'Seriously?' as she saw all the creatures coming at them.
"Neo!" Ruby shouted out while the other students got their relics.
Neo jumped forward holding out her umbrella towards the Deathstalker who smashed into it but only to find out that the group was no longer there.
"What was that?" Jaune asked, surprised.
"It's Neo's semblance, come on we need to get back anyway we don't have to beat them." Ruby stated, getting everyone to start moving as the Deathstalker realised what happened.
All of the students started to run away from the Grimm as they reached a ruined area with a stone bridge and tower at one end.
Running forward the students all split up, JNPR stopped at the start of the bridge as they turned to fight the Deathstalker while RWBYN dealt with the Nevermore.
The fight ended with Ruby decapitating the Nevermore with the other girls help to launch her into the air to catch the creature's neck.
When they reached the academy once more, Neo helping to transport the students back up the cliff they were quickly checked for any problems and then the process of teams being done.
When they announced the teams and the leaders there was surprise when Ruby was named the leader of team RWBYN, which was oddly a five person team.
For the next two weeks all of the new students were slowly getting into the habit of lessons and the teachers, alongside all the new work.
These two weeks were the most peaceful for Ruby and Neo as they hadn't left the school but as an important date was quickly approaching it would change.
Exactly two weeks after the start of term Ruby and Neo had boarded an airship to take them to Patch, they were going to see Ruby's uncle Qrow while at the same time doing something else.
While they left confused teammates behind and knew they would be questioned when they came back three days later, they didn't care too much.
The trip to Patch took almost ten hours to complete by airship but when they arrived they were met by Ruby's uncle.
Qrow wore black trousers with black shoes and a grey and white shirt with a tail on the back and an old tattered black and red cloak.
He had short black and grey hair that was slightly spiked up around the front, he met his niece and her girlfriend off the airship with a wide smile.
He hugged his niece while Neo stood awkwardly to the side until she was pulled into the hug as well, with Qrow saying.
"Come on Neo, you're family." Qrow said welcoming.
Neo blushed but accepted the hug which lasted almost two full minutes until they all broke away with Qrow asking, "So how's my little pup?" He asked.
"I'm good uncle, what about you?" Ruby asked.
"Good, I'm good been busy teaching the students at Signal with the term just starting but they understand why I need the next couple days off." Qrow explained, "Anyway, how are you two settling in at Beacon?" He asked.
"It's going good, we've been put in a team together as a five woman team and according to Ruby there's another Faunus on our team." Neo explained.
"Really? What type?" Qrow asked.
"Cat, which suits her perfectly although she hasn't told our team yet." Ruby explained.
"Ah well I can understand that, who else do you have on your team?" Qrow asked.
"We have Weiss Schnee which is interesting and a woman named Yang Xiao Long who uses shotgun gauntlets." Ruby explained.
"Really? Now that's interesting and I'm surprised you don't know Yang." Qrow said.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"Yang's your cousin, my brother Tai is her father which makes you the girl's cousin, then again you and Summer always stayed away from the rest of the family." Qrow said.
"I guess I'll need to have a look into my family more on the other side." Ruby explained, knowing her focus was on trying to find her out who her father was when she wasn't fighting the White Fang.
"You should, I can set up a meeting with Tai and some of the family to introduce you." Qrow offered.
"Thank you but I don't want to just yet, I want to have a look myself first." Ruby said.
Her uncle and girlfriend understood this, ever since her mother died she was untrusting of most people and the only people she really trusted were her uncle and Neo.
The rest of that first day was spent resting and catching up with each other as they returned to Qrow's modest home.
That night Ruby and Neo slept in one of the guest rooms together and the next morning Qrow cooked breakfast for the two girls who woke up slowly.
Once they had eaten breakfast Ruby got dressed and ready into her Red Reaper outfit as it was dubbed by Qrow, once she was done and making sure Aria was ok with Neo she set off.
Qrow was planning on showing Neo Signal academy as he had found out she had never seen it, after that he was going to take her around Patch town.
Ruby on the other hand was trekking through the islands snowy forest in an attempt to reach a cliff edge where a single stone rested.
She rested by the stone with her feet hanging off the cliff as she sat next to the stone talking, "Hey mum, it's another year without you." Ruby started to say.
"Neo's doing good, we both are. We've been accepted into Beacon Academy whose headmaster knew you. He's called Ozpin and he says he might know Dad, I still haven't found out who it is yet but I want to." Ruby explained.
"Anyway I just wanted to see you again, it's getting easier each year with Neo's help but I still miss you." Ruby said, wiping away her tears.
"I'll come by and visit again soon I promise." Ruby said, leaning down to kiss the stone.
Ruby stood up as she started her long walk back to the town, it was already past midday when she had finished with talking with her mother but it wasn't long into her walk back that she heard something.
She heard the howls of hunting Beowolves and dying screams of humans. Her ears tried to perk up from underneath her hood and headphones but they couldn't.
Using her semblance to reach the screams her weapon was already deployed and ready to be used at a moment's notice.
When she reached the site of the screams Ruby spotted over two dozen Beowolves in a large clearing.
Ruby saw the blood and torn bodies of humans laying around everywhere but she spotted a woman in a pure white cloak attempting to fight off the Beowolves with a normal rapier but struggling to do so as her left arm was bleeding heavily.
Ruby's protective instincts kicked in as she rushed towards the Grimm, making quick work of the Grimm as her blade sung as she killed all of the Grimm.
When she had finished she found herself face to face to the woman she had saved, or rather the woman was at Ruby's face which was hidden by her hood.
As Ruby's attention turned to the prone woman she instantly recognised her and schooled her confused look into her Reaper mask. Ruby knew full well that only her mother's resting place was in the forest, and only Qrow and Neo knew where it was, neither of which would of told this woman.
"Why is Mizu Schnee out here in the middle of nowhere? In a Grimm infested forest with incompetent guards." Ruby stated emotionless, her blade sticking in the ground near the prone woman's body.
A/N
So Mizu is an OC as we don't know the Schnee family names, she and Winter will play an important role in the story and to some degree Weiss as well although not as much early on. The next chapter or two will be a little heavy on the talking but that will quickly go.
This story is very much one I'll be in for the long haul, I will work on my other stories when I have inspiration to do so, until then this will be the main story I have.
A note for anyone reading Masters of Fate, that one will not be continued. It is too much for me and I believe I have overstretched myself a little with the idea on that one.
Anyway that's pretty much it, so thanks for reading and see you next time.