Since I know someone is bound to ask, Salem and the relics have been added to the list of things not featuring in this story. I can't bring this up in-story because they just don't exist in this AU.

The closer Ruby got to her family's cabin, the less patient she became. She didn't dispel her glider until she was inside the front gate, nearly crashing into the door in the process. She grabbed for the door and found it locked. Of course it's locked, its past frickin' midnight! Ruby used her Keyblade to open the door, without any thought to the fact she was breaking into her own house. "Dad! Dad!" Ruby ran back to her father's room, shouting for him all the while. "DAD!"

Taiyang woke up quickly, but groggily.

"Dad, I need the Gummiphone!" Ruby cried.

"Ruby...?" Taiyang shook the cobwebs from his head, and his brain registered the situation. "Ruby!? What are you doing here?"

"I need to use your Gummiphone!" Ruby repeated.

Taiyang sat up, noticing his daughter's panic. "Did something happen? What's going on?"

"Please!" Ruby insisted.

Taiyang frowned and fumbled open his bedside drawer. The Gummiphone inside was snatched by Ruby before he could even reach for it. He watched his youngest desperately flick through the contacts. She started making calls, watching the screen intently. "Ruby, what's going on?"

Ruby didn't hear her father. She started making call after call. Someone pick up, please… Kairi, Aqua, Riku, someone!

Yang entered the room, looking between Ruby and Taiyang. She turned to their father, "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Taiyang admitted.

"Someone has to pick up..." Ruby muttered quietly. She stared at the device in her hand as another call went unanswered. "… they have to..."

Yang approached her sister and slowly took the Gummiphone from her hand. With her free hand, Yang took Ruby's arm and gently pulled her away. "Let's get you to the kitchen. You can sit down and I'll make cocoa, okay?" Ruby was quiet and followed her sister absentmindedly.

A few minutes later Ruby was seated at the dining table, her dad sitting across from her while Yang hovered by the kettle. Taiyang spoke first, "First things first… are you hurt?"

Ruby slowly shook her head. "Nothing a Cure won't heal."

"So… what happened?" Taiyang asked cautiously.

Ruby's head drooped. "The heartless attacked the Land of Departure."

"What!?" Yang practically shouted in surprise, "I thought that place was, like, super protected!"

"It's supposed to be," Ruby agreed. "Maybe… maybe it's just because there were so many of us..."

Taiyang's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Ruby searched for where to start. "Tomorrow was going to be a big deal. One of my class of trainees was supposed to take her Mark of Mastery, and there was no way she was going to fail. It would have been the first wielder recruited and trained to Master since they started rebuilding."

"They mentioned something about that back when they scouted Ruby, didn't they?" Yang recalled foggily.

"Everyone showed up, even the inactive wielders from Twilight Town," Ruby explained. "Master Aqua said something like, it was the most wielders together at the Land of Departure since even before she was training. Maybe there was just so much light there it attracted heartless powerful enough to break our defenses."

Yang came into the dining room with Ruby's cocoa, setting it in front of the girl. "So, um… You don't have to answer, but… what happened to everyone else?"

Yang flinched once her sister's eyes began to water. "I… I don't know," Ruby admitted. "I didn't see them fall… and I woke up alone on the beach in Vale."

Taiyang scratched his chin in thought. "Maybe they all woke up on their own home worlds, like you woke up on yours?"

"Or they followed the Land of Departure as it fell into the Dark Realm..." Ruby mentioned cryptically. "And even if I knew how to get into the Realm of Darkness, my armor..." she looked down at her broken vambrace.

"So what can you do?" Yang asked.

"I have no idea..." Ruby's head finally dropped right onto the table. "I was hoping... someone would answer... the Gummiphone... but..."

They waited for a moment as Ruby became quiet. "But…?" Yang asked to no response. Then she heard light snoring. "Rubes?" The worn out wielder was fast asleep.

"I guess she's been through a lot," Taiyang nodded. "Take her to her room and get some sleep yourself. I'll stay up and watch the Gummiphone, just in case."

Yang nodded, giving him the device before picking up her sister. Taiyang grabbed Ruby's untouched cocoa hoping the sugar would help him stay awake for at least an hour or two.

Ozpin and Glynda returned to the former's office at Beacon. The Headmaster turned to his associate. "Glynda, do you remember team STRQ?"

The question caught Glynda's attention. "How could I forget? With Qrow and Raven as your agents, at least until Raven ran off back to her bandit tribe. Not to mention what happened to poor Sum-" her eyes widened. "Summer!"

"Precisely," Ozpin nodded. He sat at his desk and began to access Vale's public database. "Summer Rose."

Glynda shook her head, "You don't think..."

Ozpin answered by pulling up Summer Rose's file. "She had a daughter, about fifteen years ago. A daughter she named..." He read the file, confirming his suspicions. "Ruby Rose."

"Taiyang still lives in Patch, correct? Yang will be here this year..." Glynda looked over the information. "Why would Ruby tell us she's from 'far away'?"

Ozpin used Summer's file to navigate to Ruby's. The girl had less than a handful of publicly available records. Ozpin's access as Headmaster of a Huntsmen Academy allowed him to view everything, but even then it wasn't much. Ruby was never enrolled in Combat Schools like Signal, and although she was in standard education until she was twelve, she was pulled before her last year even ended. After that, there were no records at all. No schooling, working or traveling… it was like she vanished off the face of Remnant.

And then she reappears, quite out of the blue, with fighting skill rivaling a Beacon third-year. "Perhaps Taiyang could enlighten me..."

Glynda overheard Ozpin and frowned. "You're not calling Taiyang over Ruby joining Beacon, are you? I admit her records paint an interesting picture, but I still think you're blowing things out of proportion."

Ozpin thought for a moment before bringing up the recording of Ruby's fight. He set it to the room hologram to blow up the image. "Watch, and tell me what you see."

Glynda rolled her eyes, but humored Ozpin. In her experience, he was usually right about things. Not that that stopped her from arguing. She sat through the entire recording from the street fight to the girl's impressive use of Dust on the rooftop. "I see the same thing I saw before, an incredibly talented but still very young girl."

Ozpin paused the playback at video-Ruby launching a fireball. "I see that… and I think about the girl I met. What she had, what she did. I see that," he pointed at the fireball again, "and I know, that has nothing to do with Dust."

Glynda scoffed, "How else could she possibly-" She cut herself off as she saw the look on Ozpin's face. "You're serious."

"Always," Ozpin confirmed. "That, Glynda, is magic if I've ever seen it."

"You don't think she attacked Amber?" Glynda asked.

"She's far too skilled to be new to her power," Ozpin deduced. "And she also doesn't strike me as a villainous type. No, I think this is something else. But that doesn't mean we can't be careful. She could be dangerous if she were captured by our enemies."

"And that's why you want her at Beacon so badly," Glynda understood, "to keep an eye on her, protect her if need be."

"And learn," Ozpin added, "I don't know how she could possibly have magic, and that alone is concerning. The method may also be available to our enemies. I'm going to call Taiyang tomorrow, and if nothing else, perhaps I can glean some information that fills the gap in her record."

The Shadows were everywhere, teeming from cracks in the once opulent courtyard ground. Ruby did her best to fight them off, but they seemed stronger than the Shadows she had faced on other worlds during her training. For every one she did manage to destroy, two more immediately took its place. She had already lost sight of Chloe and the others. She had seen Master Aqua for a moment as well, but she disappeared as well. As Ruby defended herself, she finally caught sight of another wielder."Master Kairi!"

Kairi turned to face her student. "Ruby!" The two began to run toward each other, but were suddenly cut off by a massive fissure. Darkness began to pour through the crack.

"Master Kairi!" Ruby reached out futilely. "Master, what do we do? What do I do!?"

Kairi's posture relaxed, her face blank. "Ruby. Follow your heart and stay safe."

The cloud of darkness intensified and completely obstructed Ruby's view of her Master. "KAIRI!" The younger wielder stepped back and was soon surrounded by Shadows. She raised Crescent Rose, her two-handed grip tightening desperately. "Follow my heart? What does that mean? What do I do?" She didn't have long left. The Land of Departure was falling to darkness, and she couldn't stop it.

The ground beneath her feet crumbled. She felt the pull of darkness and feared what it meant. Her Keyblade began to glow, attempting to stave off her dark fate. She needed to escape, but she didn't know how. Trying to follow her Master's advice, she reached out to her own heart for a solution. Her Keyblade's glow grew stronger and the darkness rushed in. Ruby vanished as the heartless swarmed and the world crumbled into the void…

Ruby woke with a start. Sunlight filtered the window of her room. My room. In dad's cabin. On Patch. In Remnant. Yesterday… yesterday really happened. She immediately jumped to her feet and raced into to the dining room to find her sleeping father next to an empty mug and the Gummiphone. She snatched up the device and checked for missed calls. Nothing. No one called. No one…

Ruby didn't know what to do. She was trapped on Remnant and didn't even have the assurance someone besides her made it off the Land of Departure alive. She dropped the Gummiphone, slowly walked to the couch, and curled up onto it.

That was the state Yang found her sister in almost a half an hour later. The blonde frowned and sat next to her sister, allowing Ruby to bury her head into Yang's shoulder. "I don't know what to do, Yang..." Ruby confided between quiet sobs.

"Hey, if you made it out, I'm sure the others did too," Yang assured.

Ruby shook her head, "You can't know that..."

Yang thought for a moment, looking to her bracelet. "Maybe not, but you can, can't you?"

"What?" Ruby looked up to her sister.

"You're connected to them, right?" Yang reminded her. "I remember all those books you used to bring home during visits. I know you connected with her, and I don't believe you studied with other trainees without connecting to them as well."

Ruby sat up, realizing her sister was right. She raised her fist to her chest and closed her eyes, reaching out to her own heart. For a moment she felt as though she had returned to her Dive, standing atop the stained glass tower. Around her she could feel the pulses of Kairi and her fellow trainees. Distant, but they existed. She opened her eyes and smiled. "I felt them..."

Yang smiled as well, "Told ya so."

"Still..." Ruby's smile faltered, "I don't know what to do next. Until someone comes for me, or I find a way to leave, whatever comes first… I'm stuck."

"You can't fix your armor?" Yang asked.

They both looked to her cracked vambrace. "I didn't even know it could break like this," Ruby informed Yang, "it should be like the full armor. Y'know, made of light, self repairing..."

"I don't know," Yang reminded her, "which sucks, cause I'd love to help you think about ways to fix it."

"Master Riku did say something once about how someone who's not an expert can help you think outside the box..." Ruby mentioned off-handedly.

"Makes sense, I guess..." Yang rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I'll let you know if I think of anything."

"Thanks..." Ruby nodded. Without a topic to focus on, her mind began falling into the funk again.

And Yang could tell. "Well, I'm gunna make breakfast. Wanna help?"

Ruby snapped to attention. "Uh… Yeah, sure. What are we doing?"

"Let's check the kitchen," Yang stood and stretched, "and we'll figure it out."

As they passed the dining area on the way into the kitchen, Ruby stopped short by her father. Her eyes passed down to the Gummiphone. Taiyang opened his eyes in time to see her pick up the device. "Ruby?"

"Oh. Morning dad. Yang and I are making breakfast," Ruby told him.

Taiyang looked to his youngest with confusion. "Are… you okay?"

Ruby looked back to Yang before returning her gaze to her father. "No. But I'm a little better than I was last night. I think everyone is still alive. Since I can't travel, that will have to do for now."

Taiyang nodded, understanding. "Here, I'll help with breakfast too."

"Um… are you sure the kitchen is big enough for all of us?" Ruby asked.

"Hey, I miss you, alright, kiddo?" Taiyang ruffled his youngest's hair, "so I'm gunna spend time with my daughters, 'kay?"

Ruby smiled, "All three of us? We're gunna make a mess of this kitchen."

"A mess?" Yang laughed while pulling out pots and pans, "We're gunna destroy this kitchen!"

"C'mon," Taiyang patted Ruby's back and walked to the pantry.

Ruby looked down at the Gummiphone in her hand one last time. She wanted to have it on her in case someone finally called back. But until then...She pocketed it and ran into the kitchen to join her family.

A small girl with multicolored hair, clothing, and eyes stormed into the 'abandoned' warehouse deep in Vale's Industrial District. The pink, brown and white creature blurred past an airship scorched by lightning, past two bored looking teenagers on a couch watching TV, and straight into an office nearby. Within that office was the last woman the small girl would ever want to offend. Usually, that is. Today, however, the small girl was a little to livid to worry about that right now.

The woman in question had dark hair with ashen tips, a tight red dress and cold amber eyes. Eyes that the multi-colored girl fearlessly stared down while slamming a newspaper on the table. The ashen-haired woman idly glanced at the headline. ROMAN TORCHWICK FINALLY IN CUSTODY. "There were… complications," the woman explained. "Besides, this was the plan. Eventually."

Mismatched eyes rolled in their socket. The girl pulled a pen out of somewhere and wrote across the newspaper, 'After the General showed!'

"Things happen, Neopolitan. Get Emerald and Mercury," the woman waved the direction she assumed to two teenagers to be. "This doesn't change the plan. Only modifies it."

Neo reluctantly nodded and left the office. The woman turned back to what she was doing before that girl's rude invasion. Namely, watching the video feed from the Dust store robbery. The way that girl moved, how she handled Dust. It was unnatural.

If it even was Dust.

It was hardly the first time that thought had crossed the woman's mind. Ever since she had learned true magic existed, she had desired it for her own. She had even managed to steal half of the mythical Fall Maiden's elemental power. Now she was scheming to steal the other half from right under Ozpin's nose, and she wouldn't let anything stop her. The power of the Maidens was the strongest on all of Remnant, after all.

Or it was. What this little girl could do… Multiple elements, displacing her weapon, the raw strength behind her attacks. It was leagues above what her own paltry, inexperienced fireballs could do at the moment. And she hated when someone was stronger than her. "I'll just have to finish taking taking what's mine from Ozpin. That will put me on the same level as this girl. Then I'll beat her, study her, and I'll take her power too. It all belongs to me."

"Cinder?"

The ashen-haired woman turned to face the voice calling her name, the ever loyal Emerald Sustrai. Next to her was the ever bored Mercury Black. Her trusted subordinates, as much as she trusted anyone. Which was not at all. "You wanted to see us?" Emerald continued.

"Is this about you letting Roman take a fall?" Mercury cut in.

Cinder stepped up to the planning table. She didn't get this far by being hasty. The little girl would come in time. For now, she had a plan to restructure.