Blake had seen some incredible things between her time at Beacon and in the White Fang. In the last twenty-four hours alone, she had seen both Schnee sisters turned into faunus, the strict Glynda Goodwitch passing the entire class without a struggle, and even had her voice stolen for a brief time. Yet none of those events compare to the scene in front of her. Her team leader had managed to duplicate herself, thankfully color-coordinated for her convenience. Clearly, that man back in the shop didn't know his own product. It seemed to be able to create just fine. Maybe he meant the pen couldn't create something new. The two Rubies did seem different than normal, which bore further investigation. If her books have taught her anything, it was anytime someone was duplicated, one of them was an evil twin. The one in black should be the one she needed to separate from the rest of the team. If she was wrong, then she would get to spend time with someone with a respectable fashion sense. If the one in black was the evil twin, she would need to find the person responsible for that decision to have Weiss yell at them. Black was not evil.
Yang wrapped both of the duplicates in her arms. "I have two baby sisters now! This is so awesome!" The one in red eagerly embraced her sister, practically vibrating in excitement. She would, however, slip free from one of her sister's infamous bear hugs, to eagerly to embrace her other teammates. The one in black stiffened at the contact, but eased into the embrace. Once her red clone broke free, she oozed into the space vacated, not wanting to surrender anything.
The Ruby in red begged, "Can we go now? I wanna see the rally!" bouncing from corner to corner of the tiny dorm bedroom. Blake and Weiss glared at their rambunctious team leader, though for different reasons. Weiss was intrigued by the ramifications of the most recent change, yet her more cautious nature demanded she pay close attention to her partner. They knew next to nothing about the powers of the pen, other than the ability to alter one's very identity. Was this actually two copies of Ruby, or did she somehow get replaced by someone who looked exactly like her? The one in red certainly acted the part, but her duplicate seemed so much more mature and possessing a far superior vocabulary.
Blake was carefully watching the two copies for any proof of her suspicions over the top of her book. Regrettably, watching the two Rubies required her full attention; her book would have to wait. After carefully weighing her bookmark-less options, she folded over the smallest corner of the page she could manage. Yang would have to pay for taking her bookmark. "Ruby, it's been a long day. If you four want to go to the rally, feel free. I intend to continue to read my book."
The Ruby in black finally accepted the end of her hug when Yang decided to pull away. She had been hanging off the front of her sister for a moment before she let go. She cocked her head to the side, a bit like Zwei whenever Blake ordered him to stay off her stuff. "Do you not intend to support your fellow faunus?"
"Rubes, why are you talking like that? Did Weiss infect with you?" Yang asked, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards at the antics of her crimson-clad sister. She had managed to wrap Weiss up in her cape and was now carrying the heiress around the room like a baby in swaddling clothes.
"Ruby, let me go! I am not a child to be carried around. Yang, don't discourage her. It's about time she acted like an adult. It's a pity this one couldn't act more like her," Weiss scolded her. She finally slipped away from the Ruby in red's grasp, trapping her in a gravity glyph. The glyph would not last long, but it would give her a chance to get some distance between her and the demon in red.
Blake's eyes narrowed at the Ruby in black. The real Ruby would never question her actions like this. The person wearing a black version of her leader's clothes was apparently the evil twin. "I spent most of my life fighting for faunus rights with the White Fang. I am still fighting for rights, but the last thing I want to do is draw attention to myself. If anyone from the White Fang saw me, it would cause more problems than we need right now. I would prefer to avoid crowds for the rest of the day. And I have a new book and the prospects of a quiet afternoon."
The Ruby in black's shoulders slumped a bit. "Oh, I hadn't realized there would be extensive crowds today." In a much softer tone, she muttered, "I don't want to go anymore." Yang reached out to hug her half-sister, only to be rebuffed. She jumped onto her bed, partially concealed by her self-made drapes.
"We need nicknames for the two Rubies, regardless of what we intend to do. We can't just call both of you Ruby." Weiss pointed towards the Ruby in red. "We'll call the child Red, and the one who acts like an adult, Black."
In a perfect timed leap, Red found herself draped around Blake. With a single pull, she undid Blake's bow and scratched her ears. Blake's purring rang throughout the room, her golden eyes rolling into the back of her head. After a moment, Blake remembered herself. She pulled away from Red, whispering, "Please don't touch my ears. They are rather sensitive."
"Honestly, Weissy, that's just terrible. The one in black is Rutwo, the red one will be Ruby." Yang was still watching her apparently shy half-sister as she spoke, concern apparent to all who could see her. Ruby hadn't acted this extreme since they arrived at Beacon.
"You can't just create a portmanteau and call it a name. Names should have meaning, have power." While she was worried about the Ruby in black, her main concern was staying away from the Ruby in red. Thankfully, Blake was dealing with the terror at the moment, but she still watched her like a hawk.
"My sisters, my names. Deal with it, Weissicle."
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "I, for one, think one Ruby is plenty for anyone. We will have to determine what caused the difference in personality and appearance. May I have the paper?" Ruby slipped away from Blake and wordlessly handed the paper the original Ruby used to create the change to Weiss. She had written on the page 'Create a second Ruby Rose'. There was something about the writing bugging her, but she couldn't quite identify the problem. Unless her mind was trying to tell her this wasn't Ruby. Is it possible for auras to be separated from their bodies? The shenanigans of the day had already drained her of her wits. She would help to solve the puzzle. "Blake, do you see anything wrong with this?" she said, holding the page out to Blake.
Her task completed, Ruby joined her duplicate on her bed. She pulled the drapes open and sat on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling off the edge before pulling her clone onto her lap, hugging her.
"Weiss, you're a cat faunus. Your sister is an avian faunus. Today, wrong is relative. So what if Ruby made an evil duplicate? We lock her up, then you three go to the rally. I get peace and quiet for once, you three get to spend the day with Winter. Everybody wins." Blake glared at Yang while she was talking. Yang seemed to struggle with the notion of reading for entertainment. Rutwo stared at her, tears bubbling over her silvery eyes. Ruby pulled her sister in tighter, as if she could protect her duplicate from the words being spoken below.
"Blake! My sister could never be evil. How could you say that?" Yang was horrified at her partner. "Ruby is the bee's knees. Has she done anything to make you think that? And look at Rutwo. Does she look like some incarnation of evil?"
"Rutwo isn't evil," Weiss said rolling her eyes at the terrible name. "She happens to be a mature adult. The other one, she's a child and a danger to my sanity, but still not evil."
"I'm not calling either of them evil. Every book I've ever read about this happening, one copy is evil, the other is good. It's something we need to consider."
Yang looked at Weiss, then replied, "Nope. Not evil."
"Ditto. And even if she was a danger, we could stop her. We are not locking up my partner," Weiss confidently proclaimed. She doubled over as a red rocket shot from the bed, grappling her neck, a shower of petals bathing the room in red.
"I KNEW YOU CARED, WEISS!" The humanoid scarf hanging from Weiss's neck suddenly let go, clutching at her head. "Oww, that hurt." She quickly bounced back to her feet. "I'm fine."
"Ruby, you dolt, control yourself. You can't just fly off a bunk bed into someone! We could get hurt, you could break something. And if you touch my ears, you'll never see cookies or strawberries again. Are you sure you're fine?" Weiss straightened her clothes, then checked on Ruby. Her eyes had dimmed a touch, but Ruby appeared to be fine for the moment.
Ruby pouted at the threat. "But Weiss, your ears are so soft, at least as soft as Blake's," she whined to her partner.
"Fine. You want to play with ears?" Weiss stormed over to the pen, then snatched a page from her journal. In graceful, looping letters, she wrote 'Ruby Rose is a faunus'. The fuschia light grew around both Rutwo and Ruby, leaving them with dark wolf ears. "Play with your own." Weiss placed her journal and the pen back into their resting place in her desk.
"YAY! I match everyone else!" Ruby promptly started to rub her own ears. "Aww, they don't feel as good. Wait, maybe I need someone else to rub them. YANG!" Ruby jumped onto her sister, pushing the two of them onto Blake's bed, who just barely managed to avoid being crushed by her partner. "Scratch my ears," she said, deploying her puppy eyes. Under normal circumstances, her puppy eyes were nearly indefensible. With her new wolf ears, Yang stood no chance. She scratched her sister's ears, causing Ruby's right leg to thump against the edge of the bed. "Yang, if we're going to a faunus rally, you should match the rest of us."
"Would it mess up my hair? I've spent far too long taking care of it."
Rutwo hesitantly called out, "Not all faunus have animalistic ears. You could acquire a caudal appendage. It would ensure your hair would remain unaffected."
"A caudal appendage? A tail? That would work. You were paying attention in Grimm Anatomy! Why did you need my notes all semester?" Weiss looked up at Rutwo, who only shrugged in response. "I see."
"If you're sure, go for it, Weiss. I'm always up for something new. Thanks, Rutwo! Did you want to come down with the rest of us?" Eyes wide open, Rutwo vehemently shook her head.
"It you're sure." Weiss removed the pen and ordered it to change Yang into a faunus with a tail.
One lightshow later, Yang's new blond tail stretched out from her shorts. "Ouch, that pinches. Let me change." She snatched a yellow combat skirt Ruby had purchased for her last year for finishing in fourth place in the festival. She sprinted into the bathroom to change. A moment later, she returned to the bedroom holding her tail. "Look Blake, we match!"
"Joy. Doesn't the shuttle leave in ten minutes? You three should be leaving," Blake said flatly. Thus far, she's managed to not lose her spot in her book, but if Ruby continued, it was only a matter of time.
"Oh, right. Thanks Blake! Yang, you'll need to adjust on the way. Team RWY, to the shuttle!" Ruby threw open the door and started marching down the hall.
"Blake, could you keep an eye on her for me? Neither of them are acting like themselves." A nod later, Yang jogged after her sister, quickly accumulating to the new appendage. Weiss rolled her eyes, then slowly walked down the hall, closing the door behind her.
A/N: We're back! Ordinarily, I would take the time to address the guest reviews over the past week. However, since they all deal with Ruby's changes, I won't be answering any of them. We will find out the answers soon enough. I'd like to thank 'Guest' from 12/12 for the idea of messing with personalities. I chose to use Ruby as opposed to Weiss, because she's already had an arc devoted to her changes. I'd also like to thank TrimusicaDrag00n90 for the idea of changing Ruby in a wolf faunus.
The chapter isn't as edited as I would like, so I will be fixing some of it later. I just wouldn't be able to post anything until Monday if I waited. Thank you for your patience and for reading the story! I'll see you next time for A Yin to Her Yang and Consequences! Both chapters should be out within a week, baring unforeseen disasters.