So, remember last chapter in my autor's note, when I said I was going to have two major OCs. Last chapter, we met one of them, Jaune's mother Azura Arc. This chapter, we'll meet the other one.


I had a reviewer ask me if this was going to be a Lancaster (Jaune x Ruby) story. I PMed this reviewer and explained to them, and I'm going to share my answer with you, my wonderful readers. Lancaster is my OTP. There are many ships in RWBY that I love, but Lancaster is top of the list. That being said, I haven't decided yet. My reasons for listing Jaune and Ruby as the main characters and the creation of the image actually came from my inability to make a decision. When I was coming up with the story, I had no idea who I wanted to be the main character, Ruby or Jaune. While many moments I have planned out could be interchangeable between them, certain events would be influenced by who the protagonist was. My inability to make a decision got so bad that I finally decided to make BOTH of them the protagonists. And the story is going to switch off between them. Lancaster may or may not happen…I have not decided yet; we'll see.


Disclaimer: RWBY is not mine. It is the glorious brain child of the brilliant Monty Oum (rest in peace), and it the property of Rooster Teeth Productions. I do not profit from this work.


The Secret Academy

Ruby Rose

It was just another, regular day in the small town of Patch. Well, almost regular. You see, if it was a regular day, Ruby Rose would be going to school. Lately, however, the fifteen year old has been plagued by recurring headaches. At first, she was able to shrug them off, but as they went on, they became more severe; to the point where Ruby's father, Taiyang Xiao Long, kept her out of school when she had one of her spells. Why the different last names? Well, when Ruby was old enough, Taiyang told her about her mother and that she had died. To honor her mother—whose name was Summer Rose—Ruby asked to take her maiden name, which Taiyang agreed to.

Ruby was a petite girl. She had beautiful, pale skin and dark brown hair which turned red at the tips. Being fifteen, Ruby was at that stage in her development between a being a girl and being a woman; while her womanly features had begun to develop, she still retained her more childish features, such as her cute round face. She had also had large silver eyes. Despite being forced to stay home, Ruby was dressed to go out. She had on a black v-neck t-shirt was a red rose on the front, and blue jeans.

Currently, Ruby was sitting on a couch in the living room of her house. Next to her, the family corgi, Zwei, was curled up asleep. It had been a slow, boring day for Ruby. Just outside, the sun had finished setting and night was beginning to rise. Ruby got up, turning on some lights in the house as well as the porch lights outside for her dad since he'd be coming home from work soon. She sat back down next to Zwei and turned on the TV, switching it to the news. Her dad liked the news when he came home from work.

"—if you have any information." The anchor, Lisa Lavender, was concluding a story as Ruby switched to the news. As she went on to her next story, a picture of a full moon appeared at her side. However, the full moon in the picture was colored red. "In other news, hundreds of eyes will be on the sky tonight to view the full moon. But, what is so special about this moon?" She asked rhetorically before going on. "Well, tonight, people will get the chance to view a rare, one-in-a-lifetime phenomenon known as the Blood Moon." She explained. "The moon will appear a dark red color, hence its name. According to myths and legends, the Blood Moon was once believed to grant amazing power to witches and sorcerers. The Blood Moon is said to occur only once every three hundred years, and scientists have no explanation to the phenomenon as of yet."

"I'm home." Ruby's father, Taiyang Xiao Long announced as he burst through the front door.

"Hey Dad." Ruby looked up at her father and smiled.

Taiyang was a handsome, middle aged man. He had unruly, light blonde hair, bronzed skin, and shocking electric blue eyes. He was dressed semi-formally; a blue, long sleeve, button-up collared shirt and black khakis and brown loafers. Tai, as he was known affectionately by his friends, was a teacher at Signal High; Ruby's school.

"How are you feeling today?" Tai asked his daughter. In his hands was a paper bag full of groceries.

"Mostly bored." Ruby sighed. "I haven't had a headache most of the day, save for this morning." She told him. "I could have gone to school."

"You're probably right." Tai walked over to the couch and kissed his daughter's head. "Call me overprotective, but I just want to make sure that whatever this is has passed first." His eyes held something unreadable in them, almost like he was hiding something.

"Okay. Overprotective." She giggled.

"Why you!" He set the bag down and wrapped his daughter in his arms, tickling her senselessly.

"Oh! Ah!" She squealed as she broke out laughing. "Stop! I give! Uncle! Uncle!"

When she surrendered, Tai stopped, laughing just as much as she was. He picked up the bag and stood back up. "I'm gonna go start dinner." He said, before stepping into the kitchen.

Ruby stood up from the couch, stretching. "Alright." She said. "I'm gonna take Zwei for a walk." Hearing the W word, the black corgi's ears popped up, he lifted his head up and tilted it, curious.

"You sure?" Tai popped his out of the kitchen. "I can always do that later."

"It's fine dad. I've been cooped up in here all day." She smiled at him as she walked to the door. Zwei hopped off the couch and trotted over to her feet.

"But what if you have another attack?" He asked, worried.

"Dad, I'll be fine." She reassured him. "Besides, a nice walk usually does my head good."


Patch was a small town. The kind of place where everybody knows everybody. People would wave to each other as they drove by; people who seemed like strangers would greet each other like old friends. To sum it up in one word, it was quaint.

Ruby walked down through town with Zwei, the dog following her without a leash; he was a good boy. The girl stopped for a moment to look up at the night sky. The large full moon was blood red, just as Lisa Lavender had said. And Ruby couldn't help but note that, despite its macabre name, the Blood Moon was actually really pretty.

Ruby was looking at the Blood Moon for so long that she became distracted and someone brushed by her. She was quickly shaken out of her thoughts and turned around to utter an apology for being in the way."

"I'm sor—" she cut herself off as she caught a look at him. It wasn't that he continued walking that made Ruby stop. It was the long tail flicking behind him. Ruby stared at the tail, shocked. She was just as equally flabbergasted by the pointy cat ears on top of the man's head.

Ruby rubbed her eyes. She opened them again to see the man's tail and ears had vanished. Ruby stared wide-eyed for a moment. Did that really just happen? Did she really see that?

She didn't get another moment when it happened. Suddenly, Ruby's head was assaulted by pounding sensation as she had another one of her headaches. The girl winced and bit her lip, trying to hold back the cry that threatened to break out. Ruby's eyes screwed shut as her hands grasped her head; it felt like a massive weight was crushing everything, trying to take all the room in her skull.

Through the pain, Ruby felt someone's hands on her arms. She forced her eyes open to see Tukson, the owner of a local book shop.

"Ruby?" Tukson asked, concerned. Ruby was one of Tukson's best customers, and as Ruby spent more time in his store, the two had become good friends. "Are you okay?"

Ruby opened her mouth to try and answer. But, before she could, her vision kept changing on her. One moment, she saw Tukson as he was. Then she'd blink, and his appearance would change entirely. Now, Tuckson's hands, which were still her arms supporting her, had long claws instead of nails. She looked up to his face; his canines were much longer than normal and his hazel eyes were now bright yellow with vertical pupils like those of a cat. Every time Ruby blinked, her image of Tukson seemed to shift between the normal one and the more animal looking one.

Ruby cried out as another attack hit her. This time, the force of it brought her to her knees, slipping out of Tukson's grasp. He was about to say something when the ground shook. Everyone stopped what they were doing and scattered, trying to find suitable cover from the surprise earthquake.

Ruby's mind was too focused on the pain to notice the earthquake. Tears blurred her vision as the pain continued to go on. As he continued to clutch her head, she looked at the sky. Through her blurry vision, she thought she could see a… well, whatever it was it was silhouetted as it flew in front of the Blood Moon. All Ruby could tell was that she'd never seen anything like it. Much like with Tukson, she'd blink, and then the shape would vanish, only to blink and have it reappear again.

All at once, the pain subsided. Ruby's eyes went wide as she slowly regained her senses. That wasn't all; the earthquake had stopped at almost the same time. Ruby looked around. People slowly, cautiously, rose to their feet. Aside from some shaking, the earthquake didn't cause too much damage.

Ruby got to her feet. She moved at the same, slow, cautious pace as everybody else. Though, she was more concerned about another debilitating headache than another earthquake. However, despite her caution, she felt fine. Actually, she felt better than fine. She even felt better than before the headaches started.

"You okay Ruby?" Tukson's voice asked.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine n—" her voice cut off as she looked at Tukson.

Instead of the man she knew and called her friend, his alternate animal self was in her sights. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to rub away the hallucination, but it didn't break. He still looked like some sort of animal.

"Is everything alright Ruby?" He asked.

Unable to comprehend what was happening, all Ruby could do was nod.

"Uh…y-yeah." She stammered. "I'm fine. I was just…having another headache." It technically wasn't a lie. "Excuse me." She said quickly. "I should probably be getting home."

Making sure Zwei was still at her side, Ruby bolted.


"Ruby!" Tai bolted out of the house. He ran to his daughter, taking her into his arms and holding her tight. "I got so worried. Are you alright?"

Ruby shook her head furiously as she buried herself in her dad's embrace. In her troubled mind, she thought that maybe her dad could help her, as ridiculous as what happened seemed.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Tai asked, calming down seeing that his daughter was unharmed after the earthquake.

"I…I had another attack." Ruby started off slowly.'

"What?" Tai gasped. "How bad was it? Are you okay?"

"I…" Ruby hesitated. "I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"During the attack I," she took a deep breath, "I started seeing things. And then, the attack stopped, but … I was still seeing things."

Tai was silent for several moments. Ruby didn't seem to notice that he too was mustering up the courage to ask her. "What kind of things?"

"I was so weird." Ruby looked up at him. "People…looked like animals." She tried to explain. "I mean, I saw a guy with dog ears and a tail. And then there was another guy," she left out that it was Tukson, "and he had claws."

"Easy Ruby." Taiyang gently rubbed her cheek. "There was a lot going on." He placed his hand on her back and led her into the house. "Do you think you can handle some dinner?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I think I'm just gonna go to bed." She began walking up the stairs to her bedroom. Zwei hopped onto the stairs and was at her side.

"Oh. Okay." Tai watched her. "Good night. I'll see you in the morning."

She smiled at him. "Goodnight dad."

Later that night, Taiyang peaked in on his daughter. Seeing she was asleep, hugging Zwei close to her, he closed the door, letting her dream.

He walked down the hall, away from her room and back down the stairs. Once he was in the kitchen, he pulled out his phone, dialed and number, and waited.

"Hello?"

"Oz? It's Tai…"


(Earlier that night, just before the Earthquake)

The dark entity had been trapped in that pit for fifteen years now. The spells and runes that lined its prison constantly sapped her power, leaving her completely drained. Though it was too dark to see, she lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. She'd managed to find a position where her bare skin barely came into contact with the silver net draped over her, as touching it caused her unbelievable pain. It was night. She could tell that much; the nighttime made it so dark in the pit that she couldn't even see her hand if it was a half an inch from her face.

But something about this night felt different. What it was she couldn't tell. Yet, despite the spells on the wall, she felt power returning to her. How was this possible?

Against her better judgment, she rolled over. She was surprised to find that the silver net, which only ever caused her excruciating pain only lightly stung. She was flabbergasted. Just what was going on?

The only light within the deep pit came from her glowing red eyes as she looked up. And that's when she saw it. Shining in the night sky, through the grates of her prison was a beautiful, crimson full moon.

'A Blood Moon.' She thought to herself. 'Of course.' She realized. 'The legends always said that the Blood Moon granted unbelievable power.'

She felt her power continued to glow as she allowed her body to bathe in the rays of the moon. It was amazing how it felt. After being powerless for so long, she felt rejuvenated.

She knew she didn't have much time. She needed to act fast. Gathering what power she had gained, she used it quickly. Her red eyes were swallowed by the darkness. Because of the black abyss, no one could see what had happened, but it could felt. She unleashed her power as a shockwave, which echoed through the pit and shoo the earth, quaking it. As she bathed in the light of the Blood Moon, her power continued to grow.

Suddenly, CRASH! The grate over the bit burst open with enough force to make the world shake. A shapeless black fog flowed out of the hole and burst into the night. Visible against the bright red moon, the plume of mist shot across the night sky.

She was, at last, free.


"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Ruby's scream filled the house. "I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

Ruby ran down the stairs, haphazardly dressed in black pants and a red hoodie. She ran into the kitchen to see her dad, sitting at the table, sipping coffee.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Ruby asked. "We're going to be late!"

"We're not going anywhere Ruby." Taiyang said calmly. "I called you in and had a sub come in for my classes."

"Dad?" Ruby asked, tilted her head.

Tai gestured to the seat across from his. "Sit down Ruby. We need to talk."

Ruby did as her dad asked her. "What's going on?" She enquired.

"Ruby, how much do you remember from last night?" Tai asked.

"I remember going out after you came home." She recalled. "I remember the earthquake and having another attack." She gasped suddenly. "I remember seeing weird animal people!" She exclaimed. "I don't know what happened. I think I was hallucinating." She tried to apply logic.

"It wasn't a hallucination Ruby." Tai said. "You actually did see them. They're called Faunus." He explained.

"Faun…us?" Ruby sounded out the word.

"Yes." Tai went on. "They're a part of a different world. A bigger world. A world that, until last night, you were not apart of."

"Dad you're starting to freak me out. What are you talking about?"

"Ruby," Tai looked at her seriously, but still with all the love of a father, "what if I told you magic existed?"

The serious moment was broken. Ruby broke out laughing. "I'm not five anymore dad. I don't believe in things like that anymore."

Tai didn't respond. Instead, he held out his hand. In front of him, his coffee cup levitated off the table. Ruby's mouth dropped. The cup floated across the kitchen and slowly lowered itself into the sink. Ruby turned her stunned face back towards her father.

As if to drill in the point, Tail held his palm out, forming a fireball in it. "Like I said Ruby, magic is real." He reiterated. "And it's actually a huge part of you."

"But if it's part of me, how come I'm just now finding out about this?"

"Your mother and I agreed to tell you only when your aura awakened."

"My aura?" Like a curious kitten, Ruby's head tilted.

Tai clenched his hand into a fist, snuffing out the fireball. "Aura is the physical manifestation and personification of one's soul. It does many things for us. Perhaps, the most important attribute of our aura is that is opens our eyes to the world around us. For most of their lives, the auras of regular humans remain dormant, thus they remain blind to the greater world. But to people like us," he gestured between Ruby and himself, "our aura will "awaken" at some point in our life. And when it does, we can see the magical world as well as the normal world. Our aura awakening is also what allows us to use magic." He explained.

"Although, your case is unusual."

"What do you mean dad?"

"You see, on average, a person's aura will awaken, if it awakens, usually at age 17. Though not uncommon, to have it awaken in someone younger is strange."

Ruby recalled the past few weeks. "So my headaches?" She asked.

Tai nodded. "It was aura awakening." He confirmed. "If you remember, earlier this year, Yang went through the same thing. Now that your aura has awakened, it should stop altogether."

Ruby's eyes widened. Tai was right, before she went off to college, her older sister, Yang, had experienced similar headaches. By the time she'd left, however, they seemed to stop altogether.

"So Yang is…like me."

Tai nodded. "And she didn't really go to college." He revealed. "There's a school for people like us." He told her. "Magic users go there to develop their skills and hone their gifts. Many of them usually train to fight evil."

"You mean like superheroes?" Ruby asked, her silver eyes sparkling with admiration.

"Yes, sort of." Tai answered with a chuckle. "Though, of course, that's not the only course of study. Some people just wish to control their powers."

"I want to fight evil!" Ruby said, awestruck. "You've always taught me that helping people was the best thing to do, and I've always agreed. What better way than fighting evil?"

"You sure you don't want to think anymore on that?" Tai asked. "I just dropped a huge bomb on you, and your response is basically to run towards it."

Ruby nodded. "I know. But I think I should learn what I'd be getting into and make a decision then. Not before."

Tai couldn't help the proud smile on his face. He placed his hand on Ruby's head and ruffled her hair. "You remind me so much of your mother." Ruby looked up at him and smiled.

"So, what do I have to do?" Ruby asked. "How do I get to this school?"

Before Tai could answer, the front door blew open. Both Ruby and Tai stepped out of the kitchen to see what happened. Standing in the front doorway was a middle-aged woman of average height. She appeared to be in her late forties, her age starting to show on her kind face. She had olive green eyes which were magnified behind the lenses of her black cat eye glasses. Her hair seemed to puff up and expand as it hung behind her in thick, wavy curls; it was a fiery orange-red color and looked almost like a lion's mane. She was dressed in a black suit jacket which was buttoned up over her torso. Beneath the jacket, a long beige skirt flowed all the way to her feet. Large red roses were embroidered going diagonally down the bottom left side of her skirt. Wrapped around her shoulders was a shawl that matched the skirt, beige with large red roses. The final pieces of her… eccentric attire were fingerless red gloves on her hands.

"Ruby Rose?" The woman asked in a sugary sweet voice.

As Ruby stepped forward, she pointed to herself, as if asking the woman if she was who she was looking for.

The woman smiled. "My name is Priscilla Peach." She introduced. "And I'm a teacher at Beacon Academy."


So that second OC that I kept bringing up…it's Professor Peach who was mentioned in both RWBY and RWBY chibi, so I thought it would be fun to include her. As for her name, Priscilla, I've noticed that with a lot (not all) of the teachers in RWBY, the CNR (Color Naming Rule for new fans to the series) is applied to their last names (Peter PORT, Bartholomew OOBLECK, James IRONWOOD), so I followed suit with Professor Peach.

This chapter was ultimately way longer than I thought it was going to be. Usually, 1,000-1,800 plus words is my average chapter length. So longer chapters, like this one, may happen occasionally, but don't look for them to happen too often.

Please leave me a review.