A/N: Title comes from Come Alive by Beth Crowley
"This world was created to end." Ruby has been taught that since her earliest days. Mom and her Grimm were meant to have destroyed this world long ago, and it's only through the efforts of foolish Hunters that it continues. Oh, it's not that the Hunters are evil. Mom always told her that good and evil don't exist. There's just those dedicated to keeping the world turning long after it was meant to stop, and those dedicated to letting the world end as it was supposed to. The foolish Hunters consider the Grimm evil, but that's just silly.
So Mom had tasked her with infiltrating Beacon Academy and seizing the relics within. Ruby had been excited. She'd help Mom end the world, just as the Brothers had decreed so long ago. Mom had insisted she couldn't tell anyone about her mission, but Ruby was sure there was a chance to meet someone who'd be receptive to doing the Brothers' bidding. It was a holy crusade, after all.
She literally runs into her first friend before Initiation. After they'd crashed into each other and stumbled to the ground, he'd offered her a hand up. "Sorry about that," he said shyly as he pulled her to her feet. "I really need to pay more attention to where I'm going."
"No big deal," Ruby had said, equally shy. It really wasn't a big deal. When the world ended, such petty concerns as being knocked over would be as naught. Still, he was being so friendly. So much more than Mom's devotees ever were that Ruby smiled at him. He smiled back, and something danced in Ruby's chest.
The boy introduced himself as Oscar Pine, and she introduced herself as simply Ruby. Mom had never used a last name, and Ruby had never been given one, so "Ruby" was all she had.
They became fast friends, despite ending up on different teams. She managed to befriend a few other people, too. A fiery young woman with blonde hair, who felt familiar in a way Ruby couldn't explain, named Yang Xiao Long. An awkward young man named Jaune Arc. Being with them was so bright after a literal lifetime of darkness. As her mission to claim the relic continued over the months Ruby, for the first time in her life, wondered if destroying the world was really necessary when there were kind people like her friends in it. Oh, she understands that the destruction isn't punishment, merely a necessary part of the cycle, but Ruby is just now realizing Mom never really explained the cycle. Or why the Brothers' want to destroy the world beyond, "So they said, and so it must be."
But Mom hadn't told her that Grimm actually killed people. Mom had never told her about loved ones left behind by those deaths. And, slowly but surely, Ruby starts to question things. Oh, she still reports the movements of Ozma and his inner circle as best she can. Mom needs that information, after all. But... why do they have to die if they're serving the Brothers' so faithfully. Why do her friends have to die? Ruby doesn't understand.
Beacon's dance comes and Oscar, gently nudged forward by Jaune and Yang, asks if she'd go with him as a date. Ruby... doesn't know what a date is, but something in the way he asks brings the dancing things back into her stomach. So, she says yes. The dancing things dance harder and Oscar beams at her so she assumes she's making the right choice.
She talks to Yang about the dancing things afterwards, and Yang gives her a toothy grin. "You're in love with Oscar," the blonde tells her. "Don't worry about it, he feels the same way. You'll see."
I... I'm in love with Oscar? Ruby thinks, surprised. But more importantly. Oscar is in love with me? She's surprised by the idea. But she's more surprised by how much she likes the idea, or the fact it turns the things dancing in her stomach to a full on dance routine.
And so it came the day of the dance, when Ruby was supposed to further her mother's plan. But... she didn't. She couldn't bring herself to leave Oscar's side. If this was what being in love felt like, then... How could she ever give this up? Mom had insisted there was no such things as good and evil, but now... This felt good. This felt right. Dancing with Oscar and being around him. Loving him, and apparently being loved right back. How could destroying this be right? Even if the Gods' wished it so. It just... didn't make sense.
And in that moment, Ruby decided. She'd never give this up. Not for her mother, not for the Brothers'.