A glimpse into what Ruby went through as a child, and a tiny bit of her teenage self.
Ruby's always dreamed in red. Even as a child, it was scattered throughout her subconscious imaginings. Red flowers littered her fields, red curtains in her house, her heroes all had red weapons with red hair to match.
She never thought to much of it, her red-filled dreams from early childhood. Red was the color of roses, like the ones daddy gave mommy. Red was in the fire that amazed her to look at, but not to touch. Red was love, peace, security.
Then she had 'the dream,' the one that still haunts her from time to time, and everything she thought she knew was shattered.
She was standing in a snow covered field, lifeless trees encircling her. She looked up at the gray sky, and watched as white petals fell from the sky. That was okay though, white was mommy's color, like her cape, which would wrap around her whenever she was scared. She laughed, running around as she tried to catch the petals. All of them slipped through her fingers. Until one finally drifted into her awaiting fingers. She stared at it with glee, grinning. Her eyes narrowed as the petal shifted though, turning bright red before melting into a little puddle of red stuff in her hand. She poked at it, curiosity blooming the longer she looked. It was like juice, except she had never seen red juice. It felt warm as it ran through her fingers, splattering onto the ground and turning the snow red too.
All of the petals were red now, and any she touched turned into the red stuff. These ones drifted towards her, almost following her around, unlike the white petals.
Staring into the distance, Ruby could see that the trees had parted. She squinted, she thought she could see a rock in the distance, but before the dream ended she had been shook awake.
She knew what the stone was now. A white slab sticking out of the ground, smooth and polished with a rose insignia carved into it. Now she could walk up to it in that dream, the trees only ever parting for it.
Back then though, she didn't have a clue. About any of it, about anything at all.
Mommy left the day after the dream, she would always remember their final moments together.
Mommy had smiled down at her, patting her head as she comforted her depressed child hood self.
"I'll see you soon honey. Don't worry about it, I'll see you soon." And then mommy never came back. Ruby had wanted to tell her not to go, not to leave her. Even without knowing the implications, the dream left a bad feeling in her gut. Her mommy was the strongest, nobody ever beat her, she knew that, but still…
None of it connected until a few days later, when daddy dropped a cup on the floor. He had been talking to someone on his scroll, when the glass had slipped from his fingers.
He sliced one of his fingers trying to pick up the pieces, he didn't even notice the wound until Ruby had pointed it out to him. She asked what the red stuff coming out of his hand was. He called it blood, and said it came out of someone if they got hurt.
That night, Ruby got the news, and she cried. She sobbed her eyes out, falling asleep with tears stains covering her face.
The dream came back again, except this time Ruby only cried through it. She didn't know what was happening anymore. Mommy wasn't coming back? But she always came back, always. She even said she would come back. So why wasn't she home? Maybe she was just late, she wasn't gone, just late. She could be home any day now.
The petals seemed to whisper to her, reassuring her. She didn't need it though, mommy was coming home. Maybe even tomorrow. Ruby could wait a couple days, mommy was just late, that's all.
Mommy didn't come, she never came. But the dream stayed, creeping in whenever she closed her eyes.
She knew now, she at least knew that the dream had been telling her something. She should have told mommy about it. Maybe mommy wouldn't have left then. Why didn't she just tell her?
What if she was just cursed? Mommy left. Daddy could leave. Yang could leave. Uncle Qrow could leave too. Everyone could leave. She would be alone. Maybe she could just ask them to stay. But she asked mommy to stay, and mommy left anyways.
Why did she even bother talking at all? It didn't change anything. Why should she talk to people if they could just leave? She shouldn't. Every time she did, it could be the last thing she ever said to them before they left her. She wouldn't talk. Not to anyone. She wouldn't lose anybody like that again.
The red petals falling around her turned into a flurry, swallowing her whole as she woke.
Now red was danger. Red was death. Red was getting hurt. Red was the color of blood. Red was the glow of grimm eyes as they tried to hunt her down. Red was pain, but a familiar and comforting one.
She wrapped herself in red, donning a cloak to represent the crimson roses from her dreams. It became a part of her. The girl who had roses fly from her whenever she ran. All her clothes had red on them, even if I told was just a tiny patch.
She's always dreamed in red. Watching the ones she loved become covered in it. Watching it engulf her as she stood helpless. Watching those same petals drift down towards her expectant hands. Smiling with bitter irony as she played with the red that sat in her finger tips, making trails in the snow as she walked towards the same cold rock that awaited her.
Red was ever changing before her very eyes, but it was always in her dreams.
Notes: (Not bold because now it won't let me for some reason)
To help explain parts of this chapter, I have to explain a certain head canon of mine involving silver eyed warriors, so just skip if you're not interested.
-First of all, I think silver eyed warriors have a connection with death. Even though they are meant to destroy grimm, the personification of destruction, I don't think it makes them the direct opposite of grimm. Ruby's power was pretty destructive on its own, even when Ruby had no control over it. I mean, look at Cinder. Does that look like the opposite of destruction?
-There was a clear implication in volume four with Ruby and Pyrrha during that nighttime scene. Sure the voice was part of a recording, but the voice in her dreams wasn't. Suggesting to me of some sort of an ability to connect to those who are dead.
-Also, in the song red like roses, the lyrics are written out as a conversation between Ruby and Summer. Something that would only be possible if Ruby had some kind of connection to the spirits of the deceased.
-That's just why the dream was like it was, an early manifestation of her abilities. Although it wasn't prophetic, the only reason it appeared was because Summer's death was already unavoidable.